Demolished! Post-War Farmhouse at Slaughter Pen Farm Removed

Slaughter Pen Farm’s last modern structure, a postwar farmhouse, is now gone!

Like most things with Slaughter Pen Farm, good things come to those who wait! On Friday, July 26, the demolition of the house began and today it's complete!

Demolition at Slaughter Pen Farm, Fredericksburg, Va. Melissa A. Winn

Removal of the house is the final phase of a complex restoration process that has cleared numerous non-historic structures from the landscape over the past decade and a half. Its removal clears the way for a new interpretive plaza and restoration of the landscape to its 1862 appearance. We couldn’t be more excited for that, and we thank YOU for your hard work, patience and generous giving that has made this moment possible.

An illustration of the planned Slaughter Pen Farm Interpretive Plaza Dale Watson

The acquisition of the Slaughter Pen Farm on the Fredericksburg battlefield in 2006 was a landmark purchase for the American Battlefield Trust. Not only was the $12 million purchase price the highest, by far, in Trust history, but the acquisition was the most complex we had ever attempted. With governmental support, in large part by the Commonwealth of Virginia, donations from Trust members and friends, and in partnership with Central Virginia Battlefields Trust, Slaughter Pen Farm was saved in perpetuity. It took nearly 16 years to pay off. We celebrated that day in May 2022, and we celebrate today the removal of the last modern structure impeding the landscape’s wartime interpretation.

The 208 acres that have been saved here are among the most historic on the Fredericksburg battlefield, what Fredericksburg Campaign expert Frank O’Reilly calls “the very heart and soul” of the field, “the point where the battle was won and lost.” 

‘The True Battle for Fredericksburg’

As Union troops assaulted Marye’s Heights, about five miles north, on December 13, 1862, thousands of blue-clad soldiers crossed the flat, open plain of the farm, advancing under fire toward Confederate lines along Prospect Hill bordering the farm on the southwest. 

This lesser-known assault was actually the main objective of the Union battle strategy – the “true battle for Fredericksburg,” as O’Reilly puts it. Before the fighting ended, 9,000 Union and Confederate soldiers had fallen. Survivors called the battlefield “the Slaughter Pen.”

Five soldiers were later bestowed the Medal of Honor for their actions on this field on that bloody day: George Maynard of the 13th Massachusetts, Charles Collis of the 114th Pennsylvania, Philip Petty of the 136th Pennsylvania and Martin Schubert and Joseph Keene of the 26th New York Infantry.

Since taking ownership of the property in 2006, the Trust has focused on restoring the land to its wartime topography. We’ve gradually removed several derelict farm outbuildings and, in 2009, installed an almost two-mile educational walking trail — popular with locals, students of history and military units participating in staff rides.

The removal of this last modern structure from the field clears the way for a planned interpretive plaza that will share with future generations the stories of these hallowed grounds.

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