The bullet-pocked Innis house bears witness to the battle./Kurt Repanshek

Fall is a season of transition in the National Park System, from long, hot days with crowded roads and trails, to cooler, crisper weather that beckons you to make a few more trips before winter sets in. Here is the second of four suggestions to jump on now, or to add to your to-do list.

An Uncivil War

Robert E. Lee'™s surrender of Confederate forces on April 9, 1865, to Ulysses S. Grant in the McLean House at Appomattox concluded one of the bloodiest wars in human history. Shattered, the nation began the long healing process that would expand the federal government and cement our unity. It'™s a brutal story, an important part of American history never to be forgotten. Their names were written in blood a century-and-a-half ago: Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania. Thankfully, these sites of struggle are preserved today with numerous national historical parks, and make for a wonderful tour in the cooler fall weather.

The Arlington Memorial Bridge between Washington, D.C., and Arlington, Virginia, metaphorically joins the Lincoln Memorial and our national cemetery, previously Robert E. Lee'™s plantation. This epic struggle can be visualized by traveling 50 miles south along I-95 to Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park.

There, explore the defensive position of the Confederate forces at the Sunken Road and stone walls, which protected their riflemen as they shot down the orderly approach of Union forces. Splintered boards at the Innis House bear witness to what mayhem a lead ball can enact on flesh. More than 8,000 Union troops attempted to take Marye'™s Heights above. It was the most one-sided victory by Lee of the war, though, since not one Union soldier succeeded. You may visit the resting place of 15,000 Union troops near the historic home; over 85 percent of the graves holding unidentified soldiers.

A dozen miles south along U.S. 1, visit the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, which commemorates a duel between Grant and Lee two years later. It was near here that the Confederate General Thomas 'œStonewall' Jackson fell to friendly fire.

Take a side trip to the Wilderness and Chancellorsville battlefields to the west, or head south for a few hours along I-64 to visit the spot where the surrender took place '“ Appomattox Court House. A pencil Lee used on the surrender terms is still preserved. On the Court House grounds, take a few moments to visualize the reality of what happened here and how it changed history forever.