This stone wall was the sight of a deadly battle during the civil war. The battle of Sunken Road. The confederate army had taken position behind this wall with artillery on the hill behind them. The fields between here and Fredericksburg had been cleared for agriculture, and when the Union army attacked they were easily repelled in repeated waves. Thousands of soldiers died in a single day. The Fredericksburg National Cemetary holds the graves of about 16,000 soldiers from both sides, though mostly Union. Most graves are unidentified.