A "sampler" begun by young Martha “Patsy” Fitzhugh before her death in 1793 has returned, Chatham, the place of its creation. It’s likely the sampler has not been at Chatham since the Fitzhugh family moved away from the house in 1798. The sampler will be on display at Chatham at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park for the next three months.

How did Civil War troops mark Christmas? Head to Chatham at Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia on December 18 for some insights.

Created separately and with different purpose from the vast nature preserves of the West, America’s battlefield parks took a long, often circuitous route to full integration into the National Park System.

In 1864 a bucolic meadow turned into a roiling, bloody battlefield for nearly a full day as 20,000 Union troops attacked thousands of Confederate soldiers determined to hold their lines.