Fredericksburg, Virginia
December 11-15, 1862
Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, now in command of the Army of the Potomac, decided to strike for Richmond by taking a corps across the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg. On November 14, Burnside set out for Falmouth, on the north side of the river across from Fredericksburg. The rest of the army soon followed. The 113,000 Union troops were organized in three divisions of two corps each. Burnside had to advance quickly for his plan to succeed, but delays enabled Gen. Robert E. Lee to entrenching his army of 74,000 men on the heights behind Fredericksburg. The terrain was a natural defensive position, and Lee's field fortifications made it suicidal for the Union troops (see map). Lee allowed Burnside to cross the river largely unopposed, confident that Burnside's troops would be annihilated by the waiting Confederates. On December 11, Union engineers laid five pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock, and the Federal army crossed over on December 12. On December 13, the bloody battle of Fredericksburg was fought. Burnside's only slim chance was to mass his forces in a concentrated attack at one point in the Confederate line, but instead he sent them in piecemeal attacks, mounting a series of futile frontal assaults on Prospect Hill and Marye’s Heights that resulted in staggering casualties. (Observing the slaughter, Lee commented "it is well that war is so terrible, or we should grow too fond of it.") Gen. William B. Franklin was ordered to attack Stonewall Jackson's position, but he failed to get more than half of his 50,000 men into action. Gen. Meade’s division, on the Union left flank, briefly penetrated Jackson’s line but was driven back by a counterattack. Nearly 13,000 Federals were lost; the Confederates suffered fewer than 5,000 casualties. On December 15, Burnside called off the offensive and retreated across the river, ending the campaign. Burnside initiated a new offensive in January 1863, which quickly bogged down in the winter mud. The abortive “Mud March” and other failures led to Burnside’s replacement by Maj. Gen. Joseph ("Fighting Joe") Hooker in January 1863.
© 2004 David C. Hanson, Virginia Western Community College
