Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park is a unit of the National Park Service in Fredericksburg , Virginia , and elsewhere in Spotsylvania County , commemorating four major battles in the American Civil War . Park . The military park encompasses four major Civil War battlefields : Battle of Fredericksburg , Battle of Chancellorsville , Battle of the Wilderness , and Battle of Spotsylvania Court House . It also preserves four historic buildings associated with them : Chatham Manor , Salem Church , Ellwood , and the house where Stonewall Jackson died . The ruins of the Chancellor family mansion are included . There are two visitor centers staffed by Park Service rangers , one in Fredericksburg near the foot of Marye ' s Heights , and another at the Chancellorsville site . Exhibit shelters are staffed on a seasonal basis at Wilderness and Spotsylvania Court House . Chatham Manor in Stafford County is open daily . All sites are free . The park was established as Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park on February 14 , 1927 , and transferred from the War Department August 10 , 1933 . The lengthy name remains its official designation — 75 letters , the longest name of any unit in the national park system . It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15 , 1966 . The park includes 8374 acres ( 33 . 89 km ) , of which 7369 acres ( 30 km ) are owned by the Federal government . Over 500 , 000 people visit the battlefield each year . Cemetery . Fredericksburg National Cemetery was created by act of Congress , in July 1865 after reunification of the states , to honor the Federal soldiers who died in local battles or from disease . The cemetery was placed on Marye ' s Heights , a Confederate stronghold during the Battle of Fredricksburg . There are a total of 15 , 243 Civil War interments , of those , only 2 , 473 were identified . Graves of soldiers , known and unknown , are distinguished by their markers . Identified soldiers are buried in individual graves , marked by a rounded headstone inscribed with the soldier ' s name and state . Unknown soldiers were buried in mass graves , the headstones marking these plots contain two numbers . The first , upper , number identifies the plot while the second , lower , number identifies the number of soldiers buried in that plot . Approximately 100 20th century soldiers are buried in the cemetery , some of them along with their spouses . The cemetery allowed new burials until the 1940s . A separate cemetery exists on Marye ' s Heights which predates the Civil War , the Willis Cemetery . This cemetery is distinguished from the Civil War burials by its brick wall . The Willis home , which burned down before the outbreak of war , was separated by a gap in the ridge from the Marye ' s family home , Brompton . Previously known as Willis Hill , the name Marye ' s Heights came to identify the whole of the ridge as it gained national exposure in 1863 Located near the 127th Pennsylvania Volunteer Monument , and throughout the cemetery , are plaques containing verses from Theodore O ' Hara ' s 1847 poem " The Bivouac of the Dead " . O ' Hara wrote the poem to commemorate American dead at the Battle of Buena Vista , fought during the Mexican – American War . The first two octaves , and the first half of the eleventh octave are displayed in the cemetery : Civil War interments occurred in 1867 . The cemetery was transferred from the War Department on August 10 , 1933 . The following monuments and memorials are located in the Fredericksburg National Cemetery :