Battle of Fredericksburg





The Battle of Fredericksburg, fought on December 13, 1862 between General
Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and the Army of the Potomac
commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, is today remembered as one of
the most one-sided battles of the American Civil War.

The battle was the culmination of an effort by the United States (Union)
army to regain the initiative in its struggle against Lee's smaller, but
more aggressive, army. Burnside was appointed commander of the Union army in
October in spite of the fact that his predecessor, Maj. Gen. George
McClellan had stopped Lee at the Battle of Antietam in September. Much of
the reason for this was McClellan's lack of aggressiveness.

Burnside, in response from requests from President Abraham Lincoln and
general in chief Maj. Gen. Henry Halleck, planned a late fall offensive in
which he hoped to cross the Rappahannock River, seize the city of
Fredericksburg, and then move southward along the roads to the Confederate
capital of Richmond, Virginia. But Halleck foiled this plan by delivering
the required pontoon bridges to Burnside too late to effect the quick river
crossing this plan required. By the time the pontoons were laid, Lee was dug
in south of Fredericksburg with a force of 72,564 men.

Still, Burnside went ahead with the crossing and elected to fight Lee
anyway. He counted on the numerical strength of his army, which numbered
117,000 effectives, to drive Lee out of his defensive positions and force
him to retreat toward Richmond. In addition to his numerical advantage in
troop strength, Burnside also had the advantage of knowing his army could
not be destroyed in battle. On the other side of the Rappahannock, 300
artillery pieces on a ridge known as Stafford Heights were enough to
dissuade even the pugnacious Lee from attacking Burnside.

Still, Lee was certain he would win the battle. He deployed approximately
20,000 men on his left flank, which was anchored on the ridge known as
Marye's Heights, behind a stone wall at the crest of the ridge. The rest of
his men were deployed along the rest of the front, also interspersed with
hills which made for an excellent defensive position. He assigned Lieut.
Gen. James Longstreet, his best subordinate at handling defensive
operations, to handle the left flank with his First Corps. On the right,
where there was some chance of counterattacking if the opportunity presented
itself, Lee posted the fiery Lieut. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and
his offensive-minded Second Corps.

After crossing the Rappahannock on December 11, Burnside's men looted the
city of Fredericksburg with a fury that enraged Lee, who compared their
depredations with those of the ancient Vandals. The destruction also enraged
Lee's men, many of whom were native Virginians. Over the course of that day
and the next, Burnside's men deployed outside the city and prepared to
attack Lee's army.

Battle opened on the morning of December 13, when the Union left wing
commander Maj. Gen. William Franklin sent two divisions into a gap in
Jackson's defenses on the right. However, Jackson quickly responded with a
withering counterattack that inflicted heavy casualties on the attackers,
and dissuaded Burnside from any more attacks on the Confederate right.
Instead, he decided to attempt to break the left.

For the next several hours, Burnside ordered division after division of his
army to assault Marye's Heights, only to see Longstreet's defenders mow them
down like blades of grass. In fact, Longstreet boasted to Lee that he could
hold off a million attackers from his position if only Lee would provide him
with enough ammunition. Fortunately, darkness and the entreaties of
Burnside's subordinates were enough to put an end to the attacks.

The armies remained in position throughout the day on December 14, when
Burnside briefly considered leading his old IX Corps in one final attack on
Marye's Heights, but thought better of it. That afternoon, Burnside asked
Lee for a truce to attend to his wounded men, and Lee graciously granted it.
The next day, he retreated across the river unmolested, and the campaign
came to an end.

The casualties sustained by each army showed clearly how disastrous the
Union army's tactics were, and Burnside was soon relieved of command. The
Union army lost 12,500 men, with more than 10,000 of them coming as a result
of the repeated attacks on Marye's Heights. The Confederate army lost only
4,201, most of them in the early fighting on Jackson's front. Longstreet's
corps lost only about 500 men.