“The Strongest Line of W

The main line of entrenchments behind you was only one part of the entire defensive network established here by the Confederates. Southern soldiers removed all the trees in front of their works to create a clear field of fire. They used the wood to improve their fortifications, build winter quarters, or as fuel for heating and cooking. They also established a variety of obstructions in front of their lines.<br><br><i>Abatis</i>, a French military term, served essentially as the Civil War-version of barbed wire. The Confederates interlaced these solid rows of pointed tree branches and tangled brush at various intervals from their main fortifications to pin down attackers at optimum rifle range. <i>Fraise</i>, another French word, was a line of thick, sharpened limbs and branches buried in the ground at an angle to act as a barrier to assault. Occasionally the Confederates would string telegraph lines as trip wires throughout the open fields.<br><br>Pamplin Historical Park has removed the vegetation on selected portions of the battlefield to restore the landscape to its 1865 appearance, thus recreating the visual relationship between Confederate defenders and Union attackers. Today these clearings are discreet breaks in the forest. In 1865, this ground was nearly as barren as a desert.