Slaughter Pen Farm bears witness to Medal of Honor Day (Source: The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star)
Nowhere in America has the Civil War Trust invested so much to preserve battlefields as in Spotsylvania County, Virginia. And Spotsylvania鈥檚 Slaughter Pen Farm鈥攚hich historian Frank A. O鈥橰eilly calls the 鈥渧ery heart and soul of the Fredericksburg battlefield鈥濃攊s arguably the most special of all the historic places there which the Trust has protected over many years.
Retired Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Richard P. Mills writes in that Slaughter Pen Farm 鈥渋s a perfect place to reflect on service members鈥 sacrifice -- especially on National Medal of Honor Day. I know, having walked there.鈥 He describes how five Union soldiers鈥 courageous actions under fire on that field during the Battle of Fredericksburg earned them the Medal of Honor, the U.S. military鈥檚 highest decoration for valor in combat.
Mills, the president and chief executive officer of the Marine Corps University Foundation at Quantico, is a member of the Trust鈥檚 Board of Trustees.
