At the time of European encounter, the indigenous inhabitants of the area that became Fredericksburg were a
Siouan-speaking tribe called the
Manahoac. English colonists recorded the name of the Manahoac village there as
Mahaskahod. The county court was moved to Fredericksburg in 1732. Hence, the community served as
county seat until 1780. The court was then moved to
Spotsylvania Courthouse, Virginia – closer to the geographical center of Spotsylvania County. This led to Fredericksburg becoming incorporated with its own court, council, and mayor. It received its charter as an independent city in 1879 and under Virginia law, was separated from Spotsylvania County. The city adopted its present city manager/council form of government in 1911. The city has close associations with
George Washington, whose family in 1738 moved to
Ferry Farm in
Stafford County near the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg. Washington's mother,
Mary, later moved to the city, and his sister
Betty lived at
Kenmore, a plantation house then outside the city. Several citizens played active roles during the
American Revolution (1763–1781). For example, a number of locals signed the Leedstown Resolves, which formed an association to protest the Stamp Act in the 1760s. In the 1770s,
Fielding Lewis, owner of Kenmore Plantation and brother-in-law to
George Washington, also operated an arms factory for the Continental Army. Other significant early residents include the Revolutionary War generals
Hugh Mercer and
George Weedon, naval war hero
John Paul Jones, and future U.S. president
James Monroe. Thomas Jefferson wrote the
Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom in Fredericksburg.
19th century During the 19th century, mills continued to be developed along the Rappahannock River, which provided water power. There were mills for grinding flour, processing and weaving cotton, and other manufacturing. Fredericksburg sought to maintain its sphere of trade, but with limited success. It promoted the development of a
canal on the Rappahannock and construction of a
turnpike and
plank road to bind the interior country to the market town. By 1837, a north–south railroad, which became the
Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad, linked the town to Richmond, the state capital. A much-needed railroad joining the town to the West's farming region was not finished until after the Civil War. During the
Civil War, Fredericksburg was strategically important because of its port location midway between
Washington and Richmond, the opposing capitals of the
Union and the
Confederacy. During the
Battle of Fredericksburg from December 11–15, 1862, the town sustained significant damage from bombardment and
looting by the Union forces. During that engagement, nearly 10,000 enslaved people left area plantations and city households to gain freedom by crossing the Rappahannock River to Stafford County and join the Union lines, part of a movement by enslaved people throughout the South in wartime. John Washington, a literate enslaved person who shortly crossed to freedom, wrote later about people watching the approach of Union troops across the river from Fredericksburg: "No one could be seen on the street but the colored people. and every one of them seemed to be in the best of humors." The
Second Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in and around the town on May 3, 1863, in connection with the
Chancellorsville campaign (April 27, 1863 – May 6, 1863). The battles of
the Wilderness and
Spotsylvania Court House were fought nearby in May 1864. The Washington Woolen Mill, a large three-story building, was converted to use as a hospital during the war. After the war, Fredericksburg recovered its former position as a center of local trade and slowly grew beyond its prewar boundaries. Neither the city of Fredericksburg nor the surrounding counties reached the 1860 level of population again until well into the 20th century. After the war, many freedmen moved to Richmond and
Petersburg, where there had been established free black communities before the war, and there was more work.
20th century to present In the early 20th century, as the
Jim Crow era continued in the South, there was widespread population movement. Many African-Americans left rural areas of the South for work and other opportunities in industrial cities of the North and Midwest in the
Great Migration. Some settled in Washington, D.C., where there were more opportunities, or further north. War-related buildup at defense facilities for
World War II added to the area's population in the 1940s. The 1960s brought renewed growth and development, fueled by the construction of
Interstate 95, which eased commuting and trade. By the 1970s, the city and the area had become a bedroom community for jobs in
Northern Virginia and
Washington, D.C. Headquarters agencies,
lobbyists,
consultants, defense and
government contractors, and a range of other businesses were part of the regional economy influenced by the
U.S. government. The city also benefited from its relative proximity to four military installations: the
United States Marine Corps'
Quantico Base, the
U.S. Army's
Fort Belvoir, the
U.S. Navy's
Dahlgren Surface Weapons Base, and the
Virginia National Guard's
Fort A.P. Hill. The
University of Mary Washington was founded in Fredericksburg in 1908 as the
State Normal and Industrial School for Women, to train white women for teaching K-12 and industrial skills. Adopting the name of Mary Washington College in 1938, the college was for many years associated with the
University of Virginia (then limited to white men) as a women's
liberal arts college. The college officially desegregated in 1964. The college became independent of the
University of Virginia and began to accept men in 1970. In 2004, the college changed its name from Mary Washington College to the University of Mary Washington. Two additional campuses for graduate and professional studies, education, and research are located in
Stafford County and in
King George County, respectively. Musician
Link Wray invented the
power chord of modern rock guitar in Fredericksburg in 1958 during an improvisation of the instrumental piece
"Rumble", a single subsequently released by Wray & His Ray Men. This innovation became widely used by rock guitarists. In the early 21st century, the local music scene includes a wide variety of genres. A commuter rail line – the
Virginia Railway Express – was established in the 1980s, providing passage to Washington, D.C. and other cities north of Fredericksburg. The city has become the regional healthcare center for the area. Retail, real estate, and other commercial growth exploded in the early 21st century, eventually slowing during the
Great Recession beginning in 2007. Hispanic growth skyrocketed from 2011 to 2020, with Chancellor Green in nearby Spotsylvania County becoming a local enclave. ==Geography and climate==