In June, 2006, the Friends of Stafford Civil War Sites (FSCWS), a local Stafford County Non-profit, identified a Civil War Union Army encampment, battery, and road remains on undeveloped land owned by Stafford County and Fredericksburg, VA and proposed a park be built to preserve them.
The plan was approved, and time was donated by local construction National Guard units to pave the roads, and build everything in order to make this park happen.
In May 2013, the park opened, and Stafford county incorporated it into its park system.
This park gives examples of batteries, and some of the remnant encampments of the 135,000 soldiers that camped in Stafford county in 1863. Currently, some remains are marked with laminated plastic as to specific ruins, but there are also permanent interpretive signs.
Park Hours(please follow them):
Mid-March thru October 31: Monday-Sunday, 8 AM-8 PM
November 1 thru Mid-March: Monday-Sunday, 8 AM-5:30 PM
Now on to the cache. The purpose of this cache is to get you to visit each of the stops and see as much of the park as possible. This is not a cache and dash, but it's not an incredibly long cache. The coordinates take you to the entrance of the park. Drive in and then you have to find and visit each of the 5 parking area/stops and get numbers to fill in the following coordinates:
N 38 AB.CDE
W 077 FG.HIJ
Stop 1:
B,500 Union soldiers were buried around the Stafford camp and were moved to National Cemeteries between 1866 and 1870.
(follow the trail into the woods)
Sgt. Wilhelm Francksen marched 13 miles in A days.
Stop 2:
(park and follow trail into forest)
C number next to the 3-inch Schenkl (Shell)
This Battery has how many cannons now? Subtract 2 from that number. This is D
(walk down the corduroy road downhill to the right from the battery)
The Daniel Bridge took its name from Peter V. Daniel born in 178E
Stop 3:(Need to do minor math here-subtract 4 to get the number needed for F)
Vulcan Materials Co. donated Nearly F(-4),000 tons of Stafford stone and gravel to this park's construction.
Stop 4:
(park and walk into the forest here)
The steep approaches would been cleared of trees in 18H3
Stop 5:
Pick one:
At Chancellorsville, which type of ethnic soldiers became scapegoats for the loss(the number is G)
1. African-American
2. Irish-American
3. Swedish-American
4. German-American
5. Native-American
(On the Union Battery sign)
The parapet was 3I feet thick
(Walk across the road to the signs there)
Major General Hooker directed that the road could carry artillery at all times on February 1J 1863.
You can check your answers for this puzzle on GeoChecker.com.
The final location for the cache is located in the forest about a tench of mile ACF. The parking and trailhead are behind the gate at Stop #5. Follow the road along the cleared area. The area is owned by the Stafford county, and I got permission from the park officials for the placement.