Then & Now: Damaged Caroline Street house in Fredericksburg

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On Dec. 11, 1862, Union artillery pounded Fredericksburg, Va., damaging many buildings in the historic town along the Rappahannock River. Many private homes were later ravaged in intense street fighting and/or looted by Federal soldiers.

In May 1864, 17 months after the Battle of Fredericksburg, photographer James Gardner documented destruction in the town's lower Caroline Street neighborhood. He photographed two duplexes and the house at 130 Caroline Street above. Damage from fighting in 1862 was still readily apparent in 1864  -- see the enlargements below -- perhaps an indication that the house, built in 1855, had been abandoned by its owners.

The excellent Mysteries & Conundrums blog has a terrific post on the destruction wrought by both armies in the Caroline Street neighborhood. There's an interesting comment below the post from a 21st-century owner of the house at 130 Caroline Street. Posted on Dec. 11, 2012, the 150th anniversary of the Union's shelling of the city, he noted:

A previous owner put an addition on the north side of the house and I understand from one of the guys who worked on it, there was quite a bit of damage beneath the surface. There were also some broken floor joists by the front door that looked like a cannon shot had passed through. It was all repaired or covered over and we have no evidence of damage now. 

Interestingly, during the renovation they removed old wallpaper from the 2 bedrooms upstairs and revealed extensive graffiti from both sides. The graffiti has been preserved under plexiglass and researched by the National Park Service. Unit records from the Civil War are so good we have been able to learn quite a bit about those who wrote their names in the “commodious mansion on Caroline St.” as it was described in one account.

 After the war, the federal government paid the owner $400 as compensation for damage caused by the soldiers. That was a lot of money at the time considering the house was valued at $1,500.

To create the Then & Now, I used Gardner's photo and a cropped May 2012 Google Street View  image. Note the modern addition on the Caroline Street house.

In this cropped enlargement, note damaged steps, siding and broken windows ...

... and another enlargement shows more damaged siding ...

... while this cropped enlargement shows a large tent in the background, undoubtedly for Union troops.

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