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The New Nation White Oak Primitive Baptist Church

White Oak Primitive Baptist Church

The White Oak Primitive Baptist Church was built sometime between 1789 and 1835.  Still standing today are outbuildings consisting of a woodshed and men’s and women’s outhouses.  The property contains two cemeteries.

During the Civil War the church became the center, for seven months, of an encampment of Union troops. Around 20,000 soldiers of the VI Corps camped in the area. At that time the church served as a military hospital, a United States Christian Commission station, and as a photographic studio 

After the Civil War, some descendants of soldiers in the New Jersey 15th Infantry made reunion trips to the Fredericksburg battlefields and the White Oak Church. The group aided in repair of the church.  (right side photo:  Library of Congress)