Fredericksburg Film To Focus On Civilians
By Deborah Fitts
Feb/March 2003

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. - The civilian experience of the Civil War will be the focus of a new movie being shot for Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park.

" I don't think anyone's ever tried something like this - to tell the civilian story, which is integral to the battle," said Acting Superintendent John Hennessy. "Fredericksburg was the first American city during the war to be ravaged and bombarded and looted. And, in November 1862 as the Union army approached, there was a civilian exodus that probably rivaled Kosovo in 1994 or Poland in '39."

Hennessy said that, in fact, the plight of Fredericksburg's residents was representative of the fate of many Southern communities as the war ground on. "Here they suffered a level of hardship that would foreshadow vividly what would come more generally in 1864 and '65 to people across the South."

The 18-minute film will be shot throughout the coming seasons of this year and will premiere next year at the park's headquarters, Chatham Hall. Hennessy said it will comprise "vignettes" with costumed actors and will feature "the words of the people who lived here and passed through here, before, during and after the war."

The film is the latest in a series of three by the park to update its aging audio-visual programs. Last April the park premiered a new one-hour film on the battle of Fredericksburg that shows at the Fredericksburg visitor center. A 22-minute film on the battle of Chancellorsville will premiere in May at the Chancellorsville visitor center.

Hennessy said the civilian film will help to spotlight Chatham, which he called "probably one of the more underutilized places of the National Park Service." Its appeal has flagged in recent years due in part to the fact that the "temporary" exhibit there dates from 1977, he said.

Built in 1771 on a bluff overlooking the Rappahannock River and Fredericksburg, Chatham Hall was "Fredericksburg's greatest manor house," said Hennessy. It served as headquarters for two Union generals, Irvin McDowell in the summer of 1862 and Edwin Sumner at the time of the battle of Fredericksburg that winter.

Clara Barton helped nurse Union wounded there after the battle, and Walt Whitman came looking for his wounded brother. Lincoln visited Chatham in 1863, making it "probably the only private home in America visited by both Lincoln and Washington," Hennessy said.

The park's films are being shot by Media Magic of Michigan. They are written by the park and are being produced in partnership with the Friends of Fredericksburg Area Battlefields.

The award-winning, one-hour film in the Fredericksburg visitor center cost the park only $10,000 because it was essentially a "gift" from Media Magic, Hennessy said. The Chancellorsville film cost the park $50,000, one-tenth of its cost, he said, and the civilian film will cost the park $100,000, with the park for the first time retaining the rights.

The films are sold at the park's bookstores. Hennessy said that given the high cost of installing new exhibits, the films are an economical and appealing vehicle to tell Fredericksburg's story. And thanks to the Friends, "We've managed to get them at a fraction of the cost. Everybody wins, especially the visitors - and the taxpayers too."