This Day In History | Civil War December 13, 1862 Battle of Fredericksburg

http://www.historychannel.com/tdih/tdih.jsp?category=civil ^

[mainepatsfan]

This Day In History | Civil War

December 13

1862 Battle of Fredericksburg

Confederate General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia repulses a series of attacks by General Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The defeat was one of the most decisive loses for the Union army, and it dealt a serious blow to Northern morale in the winter of 1862-63.

Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac in November after George McClellan failed to pursue Lee into Virginia following the Battle of Antietam on September 17. Burnside immediately crafted a plan to move against the Confederate capital at Richmond. This called for a rapid march by the Federals from their positions in northern Virginia to Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River. Burnside planned to cross the river at that point and then continue south.

The campaign began promisingly for the Union. The army moved quickly down the Rappahannock, but then stalled across the river from Fredericksburg. Due to poor execution of orders, a pontoon bridge was not in place for several days. The delay allowed Lee to move his troops into place along Marye's Heights above Fredericksburg. The Confederates were secure in a sunken road protected by a stone wall, looking down on the open slopes that stretched from the edge of Fredericksburg. So strong was the Confederate position that one Rebel officer claimed that "a chicken could not live on that field when we open on it."

Unfortunately for the Union, Burnside decided to attack anyway. On December 13,

Burnside hurled 14 attacks against the Confederate lines. Although the Union artillery was effective against the Rebels, the six-hundred yard field was a killing ground for the attacking Yankees. No Union soldiers reached the wall at the top of Marye's Heights, and few even came within fifty yards of it. "It is well that war is so horrible, or else we should grow too fond of it," Lee observed to General James Longstreet as they watched the carnage. A bitterly cold night froze many of the Union dead and wounded.

Burnside considered continuing the attack on December 14, but his subordinates urged him to cease the madness. On December 15, a truce was called for the Union to collect their dead and wounded soldiers. Burnside retreated northward under the cover of darkness and rain. The one-sided nature of the battle was reflected in the casualty figures. The Yankees suffered 12,653 killed and wounded while Lee lost only 4,200. General Joseph Hooker replaced Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac in January 1863.

[75thOVI]

My wife's Great,great,great Grandfather, Levi Moreway (th US Inf.)spent a couple of cold nights on the ground in front of Marye's Heights. He never got to talk much about it as he caught a cannonball the hard way outside Petersburg. The family says to just chalk it up to "Reparations".

[75thOVI]

I don't know why it droped the ordinal. That should be 12th US Infantry.

[mainepatsfan]

Have you seen Gods and Generals?

[Past Your Eyes]

My great great grandfather and 2 of his brothers served in the 5th, 6th and 9th NH Regiments. One of them died in January of 1863 in Falmouth, VA at the huge Union encampment across the river from Fredericksburg. One of them died October 1, 1862 in Sharpsburg, MD shortly after the battle of Antietam. My g-g-grandfather survived but was discharged in 1862 with physical disabilities that haunted him the rest of his life. It didn't stop him from having a large family, though.
The three brothers' names are David, Henry and Levi Dearborn.

[R.W.Ratikal]

The battle of Fredericksburg was just one of the battles lost by the Union army. In the first years of the War for Southern Independence the North lost every time it met with Confederate forces.

The North had all the advantages. Blockade of ports, War material, a navy, money, resources, control of the river and rail networks, and a larger population. The one thing it did not have was a people fighting for their homes and families.

Northern generals and armies were out-fought by the Southern rag-tag forces almost every time the South could force the reluctant Northern armies to fight.

At one point Lincoln asked McCelland, "If you are not going to use the army, can I use it?"

Most of the money spent by Lincoln was to keep soldiers in the field. The desertion rate was large and soldiers went home in droves when their time was up. Many were foreign immigrants who did not speak English.

The Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1862 freeing slaves in the "states in rebelion," in the hope that they would turn on their white masters. It didn't work. (Slaves were not freed in the Northern states until after the war.)

The South begin to lose ground in late 63 and early 64 when supplies begin to fail and when England and France failed to back the South.

Contrary to modern teaching, the Southern states had a Constitutional right to secede. Some of the New England states had almost left the Union earlier and part of Virginia seceded from the rest of the state during the war to become West Virginia.

The victorious North divided the South into military districts, appointed a military dictator for each district, and occupied the South for twelve years. During that period American citizens in the South had no Constitutional rights and had no representation in Congress. (Where is the ACLU when you need it?)

[mainepatsfan]

Any thoughts on this particular battle?

[Neville72]

"Northern generals and armies were out-fought by the Southern rag-tag forces almost every time the South could force the reluctant Northern armies to fight."

Yep, right up until Meade, Grant, Sheridan, Thomas and my favorite General of all time, William Tecumseh Sherman, got in the game. From that point on the treasonous rebels were doomed.

Sherman's quote, "My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom", is a good one that foretold the doom of the South.

[XRdsRev]

Here is a neat collector site that has some neat pics of artifacts dug from a Union Army encampment that was occupied by a portion of the 5th Army Corps before and after the Battle of Fredericksburg (Winter of 1862-63). Click on the link and then scroll down a bit and click on the "Diggin in Virginia" photo galleries. Enjoy. All the artifacts from the Diggin in Virginia 1 gallery were excavated from the camp of the 4th Michigan Infantry Regiment. The other galleries show artifacts excavated from various other camps including the 12th NY, 44th NY and 83rd PA Infantry Regiments. TreasureSpot

[Otho]

Fredricksburg was like Pickett's Charge in reverse -- Union soldiers being slaughtered rather than Rebels.

One important thing that decided the war was the accidental shooting (friendly fire) of Stonewall Jackson at Chancellorsville. He survived the shooting after an arm was amputated but then died of pneumonia, I think. The Battle of Gettysburg, which followed, was a close thing and if Jackson had been alive and commanding his troops there I think the South would have won the battle. That would probably have shortly ended the war on terms favorable to the South. See the movies "Gods and Generals" and "Gettysburg."

[mainepatsfan]

I just got a new book on Sherman's march not just through Georgia but also through the Carolina's.

[mainepatsfan]

Thanks.

[75thOVI]

Yep. Not a "bad" movie. But if you weren't familiar with the story, it was confusing as all get out. It left me vaguely disappointed. Although there at the end, the XI Corps troops that were trying to stop Jackson's attack were my own 75th OVI. That was pretty cool.

[mainepatsfan]

Ah the XI Corps led by Oliver Howard who grew up a few miles from my home. He screwed up big time by not securing his flank.

[mainepatsfan]

Gettysburg is one of my all time favorite films.

[Neville72]

What's the title? I'd love to read it.

[mainepatsfan]

"The March" by E.L. Doctorow. I haven't started it yet but a fellow Civil War buff recommended it to me.

[MBB1984]

Yes, they were treasonous along the lines of George Washington, Jefferson, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry and Ben Franklin.

The South simply wanted to be a self-governing nation, independent and separate from the United States. Secession was the ultimate defense from the tyranny of oppressive federal government. If that is treason, well, that's my kind of treason. We could use some today.

[XRdsRev]

Union Soldier's waist belt plate, struck by a canister shot ball. Probably resulting in a fatal wound. Dug at Chancellorsville Battlefield, Virginia. Union Soldier's Cartridge Box Strap Plate, struck by a case shot ball. Dug at the Fredericksburg Battlefield, Virginia.

[Neville72]

Thanks. I'll recommend one that I just finished.

John Brown, Abolitionist : The Man Who Killed Slavery, Sparked the Civil War, and Seeded Civil Rights -- by David S. Reynolds.

This book better than any other I've read captures the intense polarization that had occurred in the country in the 5 or 6 years preceding the outbreak of hostilities. It left me with the belief that war was the ONLY way the issue of slavery could have been settled.