Aquia Creek Wharf

Railroad tracks lead to the wharf at Aquia Creek, in Stafford County, the northern terminus of the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. A strategic transportation hub, the landing was defended by Confederate fortifications early in the Civil War. However, in March 1862, Confederate forces abandoned the Aquia Creek batteries in order to fight in the Peninsula Campaign. Alexander Gardner made this stereographic glass-plate image in February 1863, when Union forces controlled the wharf.