The Battle of Fredericksburg had fought from 11 to 15 December 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between the Army Confederate General Robert E. Lee of Northern Virginia and the Union of the Potomac Army, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside, as part of the American Civil War. The futile EU frontal strikes on December 13 against the deep-rooted Confederate defenders behind the city are remembered as one of the heaviest battles of war, with the Union killing more than three times heavier than those suffered by the Confederation. A visitor to the battlefield described the battle for US President Abraham Lincoln as a "butcher shop."
Burnside's plan was to cross the Rappahannock River in Fredericksburg in mid-November and race to the Richmond Confederate capital before Lee's forces could stop him. The bureaucratic delay prevented Burnside from receiving the necessary pontoon bridge in time and Lee moved his troops to block the crossings. When the Union forces were finally able to build bridges and wade under fire, urban battles in the city resulted on December 11-12. Union forces prepared to attack the Confederate defense position in the south of the city and on a strongly fortified ridge in the west of the city known as Marye's Heights.
On 13 December, Major General William B. Franklin's "major division" was able to penetrate the first line of Lieutenant General Stonewall's Confederate Jackson's south line, but was eventually repulsed. Burnside ordered the majestic division of Major Gens. Edwin V. Sumner and Joseph Hooker made a double frontal attack on Lieutenant General James Longstreet's position at Marye's Heights, all of whom were repelled with huge losses. On December 15, Burnside withdrew his forces, ending a failed Union campaign at the East Theater.
Video Battle of Fredericksburg
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Military situation
In November 1862, Lincoln needed to demonstrate the success of Union's war effort before the North public lost confidence in his government. The Confederate Army had moved earlier in the fall, attacking Kentucky and Maryland, and although each had been restored, the soldiers remained intact and capable of further action. Lincoln urged Major General Ulysses S. Grant to step up against the Vicksburg Confederate stronghold, Mississippi. He succeeded Major General Don Carlos Buell with Major General William S. Rosecrans, hoping for a more aggressive stance against the Confederacy in Tennessee, and on 5 November, saw that his successor Buell did not encourage Major General George. B. McClellan in action, he issued an order to replace McClellan as commander of the Potomac Army in Virginia. McClellan had stopped Robert E. Lee at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland, but was unable to destroy Lee's army, or chased Lee back to Virginia quite aggressively for Lincoln.
McClellin's successor is Major General Ambrose E. Burnside, commander of Corps IX. Burnside has built a reputation as an independent commander, with successful operations earlier in the year on the coast of North Carolina and, unlike McClellan, has no clear political ambitions. However, he felt he was not eligible for military level command and objection when offered a position. He only accepted when it was made clear to him that McClellan would be replaced in any case and that the alternative option for command was Major General Joseph Hooker, whose Burnside was disliked and unbelievable. Burnside took command on November 7th.
Burnside Plan
In response to the encouragement of Lincoln and general leader Major General Henry W. Halleck, Burnside planned a late autumn attack; he communicated his plan to Halleck on 9 November. The plan relies on fast movement and fraud. He will concentrate his troops in a manner seen near Warrenton, pretending to be a movement at the Culpeper Court House, Orange Court House, or Gordonsville. Then he will quickly move his troops to the southeast and cross the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg, hoping Robert E. Lee will sit still, unclear with Burnside intent, while the Union Armed Forces make a swift movement against Richmond, south along Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Fredericksburg. Burnside chose this plan because he was worried that if he moved directly south of Warrenton he would be hit by a flanking attack from Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, whose corps was at that time in the Shenandoah Valley south of Winchester. He also believes that the Orange and Alexandria Railroad will be an inadequate supply line. (Burnside is also influenced by McClellan's plans began to develop just before he was relieved.Note that Lee had blocked O & A, McClellan considered the route through Fredericksburg and ordered a small cavalry force commanded by Captain Ulrich Dahlgren to investigate the condition of the RF & amp; P.) While Burnside began assembling a supply base in Falmouth, near Fredericksburg, the Lincoln administration entertained a long debate about the wisdom of his plan, which was different from the president's preference for the southern movement at O ​​& amp; A and a direct confrontation with Lee's army instead of a movement focused on the city of Richmond. Lincoln reluctantly approved the plan on November 14 but warned his general to move at high speed, undoubtedly doubting Lee would react as Burnside had hoped.
Movement to fight
The Union Army began marching on November 15, and the first elements arrived in Falmouth on 17 November. Burnside's plan quickly became chaotic - he ordered the pontoon bridge to be sent to the front line and assembled for a fast Rappahannock crossing, but due to administrative carelessness, the bridge did not arrive on time. Burnside first took over the pontoon bridge (along with many other provisions) on November 7 when he detailed his plans to Halleck. The plan was sent to Brig's attention. General George Washington Cullum, chief of staff in Washington (accepted on 9 November). Plans called for both rivers and ground movements from the pontoon train to Falmouth. On November 14, the 50th New York Engineer reported that the pontoon was ready to move, except for the lack of 270 horses needed to move it. Unknown Burnside, most of the bridging is still above the Potomac. Communication between Burnside Cyrus B. Comstock and Engineer Brigade commander Daniel P. Woodbury's staff indicated that Burnside had assumed that the bridge was on its way to Washington on an order given on 6 November.
As Major-General Edwin V. Sumner arrives, he urges him to cross the river immediately to scatter the token Confederate army of 500 people in the city and occupy the commander's heights to the west. Burnside became anxious, worried that the falling autumn rains would create unusable dots and Sumner might be cut off and destroyed, ordering Sumner to wait in Falmouth.
Lee initially anticipated that Burnside would hit him across Rappahannock and to protect Richmond, he would take the next defensive position in the south, the River of the North Anna. But when he saw how slow Burnside (and Confederate President Jefferson Davis expressed reservations about planning for combat so close to Richmond), he directed all his troops to Fredericksburg. On November 23, all Longstreet corps had arrived and Lee placed them on a ridge known as Marye's Heights to the west of the city, with Anderson's division on the far left, McLaws just behind the city, and Pickett's and Hood on the right. He was sent to Jackson on November 26, but the Second Corps commander had anticipated the need and began forcing his troops from Winchester on Nov. 22, covering as many as 20 miles a day. Jackson arrived at Lee's headquarters on November 29 and his troops deployed to prevent Burnside from crossing downstream from Fredericksburg: division D.H. Hill moved to Port Royal, 18 miles down the river; Beginning 12 miles down the river at Skinker's Neck; A.P. Hill's at Thomas Yerby's house, "Belvoir", about 6 miles southeast of the city; and Taliaferro along RF & amp; P Railroad, 4 miles south of Guinea Station.
Boats and equipment for a pontoon bridge arrived in Falmouth on November 25, very late to allow the Potomac Army to cross the river without a fight. Burnside still has a chance, because at that time he only faces half of Lee's army, has not been dug, and if he acts quickly, he might attack Longstreet and beat him before Jackson arrives. Once again he wasted his chance. The full bridge arrives at the end of the month, but this time Jackson is present and Longstreet is preparing a strong defense.
Burnside originally planned to cross his army in eastern Fredericksburg at Skinker's Neck, but a forward movement by a Federal warship into it was fired and drew the Early and D.H divisions. Hill into the area, a movement seen by Union balloon watchers. Now assuming that Lee had anticipated his plans, Burnside suspected that the Confederacy had weakened the left and their center to concentrate against him on their right. So he decided to cross right in Fredericksburg. On December 9, he wrote to Halleck, "I think now the enemy will be more surprised by the crossing directly ahead of us than any other part of the river.... I am sure that the enemy's enormous forces are now concentrated in Port Royal, remaining resting on Fredericksburg , which we hope will change. "In addition to its numerical advantage in troop strength, Burnside also has the advantage of knowing its troops can not be effectively attacked. On the other side of Rappahannock, 220 pieces of artillery have been found on a ridge known as Stafford Heights to prevent Lee's army from making a major counterattack.
Maps Battle of Fredericksburg
Fight power
Union
Burnside organized the Army of the Potomac into three so-called Grand Divisions, an organization that included an infantry corps, cavalry and artillery, consisting of 120,000 men, of whom 114,000 would be involved in upcoming battle:
Confederate
Robert E. Lee Northern Virginia Army has nearly 79,000 men, with 72,500 people involved. His troop organization at the corps was approved by the Confederate Congress act on 6 November 1862 and consisted of:
- First Corps Lt. Gen. James Longstreet belongs to Major Gens division. Lafayette McLaws, Richard H. Anderson, George E. Pickett, and John Bell Hood, and Brig. General Robert Ransom, Jr.
- Second Corps Lieutenant General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson belongs to Major Gens division. D.H. Hill and A.P. Hill, and Brig. Gens. Jubal A. Beginning and William B. Taliaferro.
- Artillery Reserves under Brig. General William N. Pendleton.
- Cavalry Division under Major General J.E.B. Stuart.
Two soldiers in Fredericksburg represented the largest number of armed men who had faced each other for combat during the Civil War.
Battle
Crossing Rappahannock, 11-12 December
Union engineers began building six pontoon bridges before dawn on December 11, two to the north of the city center, one third at the southern end of the city, and three further south, near Rappahannock and Deep Run meetings. The engineers who built the bridge right across the city came under fire from the Confederate shooters, especially from the Mississippi Brigade brigade. General William Barksdale, in the city's defense command. Union artillery seeks to drive out snipers, but their position in the basement of the house makes the fire of 150 weapons largely ineffective. Finally the Burnside artillery commander, Brig. General Henry J. Hunt, convinced him to send the infantry landing party on a pontoon boat to secure a small bridge and drive out the snipers. Colonel Norman J. Hall volunteered to become a brigade for this task. Burnside suddenly became reluctant, wailing to Hall in front of his subordinates that "the effort means death for most people who have to make the voyage." When his men responded to Hall's request with three cheers, Burnside relented. At 3 pm, Union artillery began bombarding preparations and 135 infantry from Michigan to 7th and Massachusetts to 19 swarmed around small boats, and the 20th Massachusetts soon followed. They managed to cross and spread in the line of battle to clean snipers. Although some Confederates surrendered, the battles were walking on the road through the city when the engineers completed the bridge. Sumner's Right Main Division began to cross at 4:30 am, but most of its men did not cross until December 12. Central Division Hooker Center crossed on 13 December, using the north and south bridges.
The cleaning of city buildings by Sumner infantry and by artillery fire from across the river started the first major battle of city war. Union gunners send more than 5,000 bullets to the city and mountains to the west. At nightfall, four Union Union brigades occupied the city, which they looted with anger that had not been seen in war until then. This behavior angered Lee, who compared their destruction with the ancient Vandals. The destruction also infuriated Confederate forces, many of whom were natives of the Virginian. Many Union parties were also shocked by the devastation caused to Fredericksburg. Civilian casualties are very rare in the midst of such widespread violence; George Rable estimates no more than four civilian deaths.
The river crossing to the south of the city by Franklin's Left Grand Division is much less important. Both bridges were completed at 11 am on December 11 while five Union artillery batteries supplied most sniper fire to engineers. Franklin was ordered at 4 pm. to cross all his orders, but only one brigade was sent before dark. Resumed at dawn and finished at 1 pm on December 12th. Beginning on December 13, Jackson remembers his separation under Jubal Early and D.H. Hill from below the position of the river to join its main line of defense in the south of the city.
Burnside verbal instructions on December 12 outlining the main attack by Franklin, backed by Hooker, on the south side, while Sumner makes a secondary attack in the north. His real orders on December 13 are vague and confusing to his subordinates. 5 pm on December 12, he made a cursory examination on the south side, where Franklin and his subordinates pressed to give a definite order for the morning attack by a large division, so that they will have sufficient time to reposition their troops overnight. However, Burnside objected and the order did not reach Franklin until 7:15 or 7:45 am. When it arrived, it was not as Franklin had expected. Instead of ordering an attack by a whole large division of nearly 60,000 people, Franklin retained the position of his men, but sent "a division at least" to seize the high ground (Prospect Hill) around the Hamilton crossing, Sumner was to send a division through the city and Telegraph Road, and both sides must be ready to perform all their orders. Burnside apparently expected this weak attack to intimidate Lee, causing him to retreat. Franklin, who originally supported the onslaught, chose to interpret the command Burnside with very conservative. Jail. Gen. James A. Hardie, who delivered the order, do not ensure that the intention Burnside understood by Franklin, and map inaccuracies about the road network make that intention is not clear. Furthermore, Burnside choice of the verb "to seize the" less powerful in military terminology rather than the command of the 19th century "to bring the" heights.
Southern town, December 13
December 13 starts to get cold and overcast. A thick fog enveloped the ground and made the soldiers unable to see each other. Franklin ordered the commander of Corps I, Major General John F. Reynolds, to elect a division for the attack. Reynolds chose his smallest division, about 4,500 people commanded by Major General George G. Meade, and commissioned Brig. The division of General John Gibbon to support the Meade attack. The reserve division, under Major General Abner Doubleday, had to face south and protect the left wing between Richmond Road and the river. The Meade Division began moving at 8:30 am, with Gibbon trailing behind. Around 10:30, the fog began to rise. They move parallel to the river at first, turning right to face Richmond Road, where they begin to be attacked by a trapping fire from the Virginia Horse Artillery under Major John Pelham. Pelham started with two cannons - a Napoleon 12-pounder smoothbore and Blakely being rifled - but continued with only one after the last was disabled by a counter-battery fire. "Jeb" Stuart sent word to Pelham that he should feel free to withdraw from his dangerous position anytime, in which Pelham replied, "Tell General I can keep my position." The Iron Brigade (formerly Gibbon command, but now headed by Brigadier General Solomon Meredith) was sent out to deal with the Confederate horse artillery. This action was mainly done by the 24th Michigan Infantry, the newly registered regiment who joined the brigade in October. After about an hour, Pelham's ammunition began to thin and he backed off. General Lee observed the action and commented on Pelham, age 24, "It is very noble to see such courage in such a young person." The most prominent victim of the Pelham fire was Brig. General George D. Bayard, a cavalry general badly wounded by a shell while standing in reserve near Franklin's headquarters. Jackson's main artillery battery remained silent in the fog during this exchange, but Union forces immediately began receiving direct shots from Prospect Hill, notably the five batteries directed by Lieutenant Colonel Reuben Lindsay Walker, and the Meade attack halted approximately 600 meters from its original destination for nearly two hours by this combined artillery attack.
The Union artillery fire lifted as the Meade forces moved forward about 1pm. Jackson's roughly 35,000 powers remain hidden on the wooded ridge ahead of Meade. The tough line of defense has an unexpected disadvantage. In the division line of A.P. Hill, a triangle of forests that runs out of railroads is swampy and encrusted with thick bushes and the Confederate has left a 600-yard slit between Brigadier's brigades. Gens. James H. Lane and James J. Archer. Jail. Brigadier General Maxcy Gregg stood about a quarter of a mile behind the gap. Brigade 1 Meade (Colonel William Sinclair) enters the gap, climbs the railway embankment, and turns right into the bushes, attacking the Lane brigade on the side. Following immediately behind, the 3rd Brigade (Brigadier Feger Jackson) turned left and hit Archer's side. The 2nd Brigade (Colonel Albert L. Magilton) came to support and mix with the leading brigades. As the gap widened with pressure on the sides, thousands of Meades reached the top of the hill and ran to Gregg's brigade. Many of these Confederates had piled guns in shelter from Union artillery and had not expected to be attacked at the time, so were killed or captured without weapons. Gregg initially thought the Union soldiers had fled from the Confederate army and ordered his men not to fire at them. While he rode in front of his line, Gregg, who was half deaf, could not hear the approaching Federer or their bullets flying around him. In a daze, a bullet hit his spine and wounded him fatally; he died two days later. Colonel Daniel Hamilton of 1 South Carolina took command, but Gregg's brigade was completely directed and no longer an organized unit for the rest of the day. James Archer was meanwhile pressed hard on his left side and sent a message for Gregg to strengthen him, unaware that he had been shot and his brigade had been destroyed. The 19th Georgia Flag was captured by 7th aides of the Pennsylvania Nature Reserve; it was the flag of a Confederate regiment that was captured and detained by the Potomac Army in battle. The Georgians run and run. The 14th Tennessee rejected the onslaught for some time before also breaking; a large number of his men were taken prisoner. Archer frantically sends a message back, summoning the brigades of John Brockenbrough and Edmund Atkinson for help. With ammunition on both sides running low, hand-to-hand combat occurs with soldiers stabbing each other with bayonets and using muskets as a club. Most of the regiment's officers on both sides also fell; on the Confederate side, Tennessee 1 went through three commanders in a matter of minutes. 15 the Meade regiment also lost most of their officers, although Meade himself survived the unscathed battle despite being hit by heavy artillery fire.
Confederate Reserve - Brig division. Gens. Jubal A. Beginning and William B. Taliaferro - moved to the commotion from behind Gregg's original position. Inspired by their attacks, regiments from Lane and Archer brigades gathered and formed a new line of defense in the gap. Now the Meade army received a shot from three sides and could not resist the pressure. Feger Jackson attempted to flank Confederate batteries, but after his horse was shot and he began to lead on foot, he was shot in the head by volley and the brigade fell back, without a leader (Colonel Joseph W. Fisher soon replaced Jackson in command).
For true Meade, the Gibbon division is ready to move forward at 1pm. Jail. General Nelson Taylor proposed to Gibbon that they complete the Meade attack with bayonet charges against Lane's position. However, Gibbon stated that this would violate his orders, so the Taylor brigade did not move forward until 1:30 pm. The attack had no advantage of the gap to be exploited, as well as Union soldiers lacking a forest cover for their progress, resulting in slow progress under heavy fire from Lane brigades and Confederate artillery. Soon after Taylor was the brigade of Colonel Peter Lyle, and the progress of the two brigades stalled before they reached the railroad tracks. Committed to reserve at 1:45 pm, Gibbon sent a brigade under Colonel Adrian R. Root, who moved through the survivors of the first two brigades, but they soon stopped as well. Eventually some people from the federation reached the top of the hill and had some success during hand-to-hand combat - people on both sides had spent their ammunition and used bayonets and rifle butts, and even empty rifles with bayonets thrown like a javelin - but they were forced to retreat across the rail embankment along with the Meade forces on their left. Gibbon attacks, though many victims, failed to support the breakthrough while Meade and Gibbon themselves were injured when a bullet flick hit his right hand. Jail. Gen Nelson Taylor took over the division's command.
After the battle Meade complained that some Gibbon officers were not prosecuted fast enough. But his main frustration was with Brig. General David B. Birney, whose division of the Third Corps has been appointed to support the attack as well. Birney claimed that his men had been subjected to destructive artillery fire when they formed, that he did not understand the significance of the Meade attack, and that Reynolds did not order his division ahead. When Meade ran back to confront Birney with a row of fierce cruel words, in the words of a staff lieutenant, "almost made rocks crawling," he was finally able to order the brigadier forward under his own responsibility, but harbored hate. for weeks. However, at this point, it is too late to take further offensive action.
The early division started a counterattack, initially led by Colonel Edmund N. Atkinson, the Georgian brigade, who inspired people from the brigade of Colonel Robert Hoke, Brig. General James J. Archer, and Colonel John M. Brockenbrough to fill forward from the train trench, riding the Meade men from the forest in an irregular retreat, followed by Gibbon. The initial order for his brigade was to catch as far as the train, but in the chaos many kept pressing on the open ground as far as the old Richmond Road. The Union's artillery crew proceeded to unleash a close-range shot shot, firing as quickly as they could load their weapons. The Confederacy was also struck by the late Birney brigade, ordered by Brig. General J. H. Hobart Ward. Birney followed up with the Brig Brigade. Gens. Hiram G. Berry and John C. Robinson, who broke the Rebel's advances that threatened to push Union into the river. Colonel Atkinson was hit on the shoulder by a tin shot and abandoned by his own brigade; The union soldiers later found and took him as prisoner. Further progress of the Confederation was hampered by the arrival of Brigadier's Corps III division. General Daniel E. Sickles on the right. General Burnside, who is currently focused on his attacks on Marye's Heights, was disappointed that his left wing attack did not achieve the success he had expected the previous day. He ordered Franklin to "advance his right and front," but despite repeated requests, Franklin refused, claiming that all his troops had been involved. But this is not true, because the entire Corps VI and Brig. The division of General Abner Doubleday of I Corps was largely empty, suffering only a few casualties from artillery fire while they were waiting in reserve.
The Confederate retreated back to the safe haven in the southern hills of the city. Stonewall Jackson is considering a counterattack, but Federal artillery and darkness are coming to change his mind. A futile Union breakthrough has been wasted because Franklin did not strengthen Meade's success with some of the 20,000 people who stand as reserves. Neither Franklin nor Reynolds were personally involved in combat, and were not available to their subordinates at a critical point. The loss of Franklin around 5,000 victims compared to Stonewall Jackson 3,400, indicating the ferocity of the battle. Duel fighting and artillery continued until dark, but no additional major strikes took place, while the battle center moved northward to Marye's Heights. Jail. General George D. Bayard, who led the cavalry brigade in Corps VI, was hit in the leg by a shrapnel and died two days later.
As the battle south of Fredericksburg subsided, the air was filled with the screams of hundreds of wounded men and horses. The dried sage grass around them burns and burns many people alive. Marye_Heights, _December_13 "> Marye Heights, December 13 Marye Heights, span>
At the northern end of the battlefield, Brig. General William H. The French division of Corps II prepares to move forward, subjected to the confederate artillery fire that descended on the fog-covered city of Fredericksburg. General Burnside's order to Major General Edwin V. Sumner, commander of the Right Division Right, was to send "a division or more" to seize the plateau west of the city, assuming that his assault on the southern end of the Confederate Line would be the decisive action of battle. The approach road is difficult - mostly open field, but interrupted by scattered houses, fences, and gardens that will limit the movement of the battle line. A canal stands about 200 meters to the west of the city, crossed by three narrow bridges, which will require Union forces to channel themselves into the column before continuing. About 600 meters west of Fredericksburg is a low ridge known as Marye's Heights, rising 40-50 meters above the plains. (Though known as Marye Heights, the ridge consists of several hills separated by a ravine, from north to south: Taylor's Hill, Stansbury Hill, Marye Hill, and Willis Hill.) Near the top of the ridge of Marye and Willis Hill, the narrowest lane - The Telegraph Road, known after the battle as the Sunken Way - is protected by a 4ft-foot stone wall, enhanced in places with wooden and abatis blocks, making it the perfect infantry defense position. Confederate Major General Lafayette McLaws originally had about 2,000 people on the front line of Marye Heights and there were an additional 7,000 reserve at the top and behind the ridge. The artillery direction provides almost uninterrupted coverage of the terrain below. General Longstreet had been convinced by the artillery commander, Lieutenant Colonel Edward Porter Alexander, "General, we cover the land now so well that we will comb it like with a toothed comb, a chicken can not live in that field when we open it."
The fog lifted from the city around 10 am and Sumner gave the order to advance an hour later. French Brigade under Brig. General Nathan Kimball began to move around noon. They advanced slowly through heavy artillery fire, crossing the canals in columns over narrow bridges, and forming rows, with fixed bayonets, behind a shallow cliff protection. In a perfect battle line, they advance to a muddy slope until they are cut down about 125 meters from a stone wall with repeated gun fire. Some soldiers could get as close as 40 yards, but after suffering heavy casualties from artillery and infantry fire, survivors fell to the ground. Kimball was seriously injured during the attack, and his brigade suffered 25% of the victims. The French Brigade under Colonel John W. Andrews and Colonel Oliver H. Palmer followed him, with a victim rate of nearly 50%.
Sumner's initial order summoned Brig's division. General Winfield S. Hancock to support France and Hancock sent his troops forward under Colonel Samuel K. Zook behind Palmer. They meet the same fate. Next was his Irrigation Brigade under Brig. General Thomas F. Meagher. Coincidentally, they attacked an area defended by fellow Irishmen from Colonel Robert McMillan, the 24th Georgia Infantry. A Confederate who saw the green flag of the regiment approaching and shouted, "Oh my God, what a shame! Here comes the Meagher people." But McMillan urged his troops: "Give it to them now, children! Now it's time! Give it to them!" Hancock's last brigade was led by Brig. General John C. Caldwell. Leading his two regiments on the left, Colonel Nelson A. Miles suggested to Caldwell that the practice of marching in formation, shooting, and stopping to replenish, makes Union Union easy goals, and that shared bayonet costs might be effective in bringing work. Caldwell refused permission. Miles was struck by a bullet in his throat as he led his men within 40 meters of the wall, where they were fired upon as their predecessors. Caldwell himself was immediately attacked by two bullets and did not act.
The commander of Corps II, Major General Darius N. Couch, was disappointed at the massacre that occurred in his two divisions during the hour of the battle and, like Colonel Miles, realized that the tactics were unsuccessful. He first considered a large bayonet to attack the defenders, but when he looked at the front, he quickly realized that the French division and Hancock were not in shape to move forward again. He next planned for his final division, commanded by Major General Oliver O. Howard, to swing right and try to envelop the remaining Confederate, but after receiving urgent requests for help from France and Hancock, he sent the Howard men above and around troops falling instead. Colonel Joshua Owen's Brigade entered first, reinforced by Colonel Norman J. Hall's brigade, and then two Brig regiments. General of the brigade Alfred Sully. Another corps in Sumner's great division was Corps IX, and he sent one of the divisions under Brig. General Samuel Sturgis. After two hours of desperate battle, the four Union divisions had failed on a mission Burnside had originally given to one. Severe casualties: The II Corps losses for the afternoon were 4,114, the Sturgis division was 1,011.
When the Union Army stopped, Longstreet strengthened its ranks so that there were four rows of infantry behind the stone wall. Jail. General Thomas R. R. Cobb of Georgia, who had led the key sector of the line, was badly wounded by an artillery shell that exploded and was replaced by Brig. General Joseph B. Kershaw. General Lee expressed his worries to Longstreet about the battering troop breaking his line, but Longstreet assured his commander, "General, if you put everyone on the other side of the Potomac in the field to approach me on the same path, and give me a lot of ammunition, I'll kill all of them before they reach my line. "
By noon, Burnside failed on both sides to make progress against the Confederacy. Rather than reconsider his approach to dealing with heavy casualties, he stubbornly decides to continue on the same path. He sent an order to Franklin to renew the attack on the left (which, as described earlier, the commander of the Left Main Division disregarded) and ordered his Central Division, ordered by Major General Joseph Hooker, to cross Rappahannock to Fredericksburg and continue the attack on Marye Heights. Hooker did a private reconnaissance (something Burnside or Sumner did not do, either left in the east of the river during a failed attack) and returned to Burnside headquarters to suggest the attack.
Jail. General Daniel Butterfield, commander of Hooker's V Corps, while waiting for Hooker to return from a conference with Burnside, sent a division under Brig. General Charles Griffin to free Sturgis men. At this time, Major General George Pickett's Confederate Division and one of Major General John Bell Hood's brigades have marched north to reinforce Marye Heights. Griffin destroyed three of his brigades against the Confederate positions, one by one. Also concerned about Sturgis, Couch sends six Capt weapons. John G. Hazard's Battery B, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery, into 150 meters from the Confederate line. They were hit hard by the Confederate and artillery shooters and did not provide effective assistance for Sturgis.
A soldier in the Hancock division reported a movement in the Confederate line that led some to believe that the enemy might retreat. Despite the displeasure of this assumption, the division of V Corps Brig. General Andrew A. Humphreys was ordered to attack and exploit this situation. Humphreys leads his first brigade on a horse, with his men moving above and around troops that fall with fixed bayonets and unloaded rifles; some men who fell clutching the legs of their passing pants, urged their colleagues not to go forward, causing the brigade to become irregular in their progress. The charge reached within 50 meters before being cut by concentrated shotguns. Jail. General George Sykes was ordered to move forward with his regular V Corps army division to support the withdrawal of Humphreys, but his men were caught in a firefight and fired upon.
At 16:00, Hooker has returned from his encounter with Burnside, failing to convince the general commander to abandon the attack. When Humphreys was still attacking, Hooker reluctantly ordered Brig Brigps IX Brig. General George W. Getty attacked too, but this time to the far left of Marye's Heights, Willis Hill. Colonel Rush Hawkins, followed by colonel Edward Harland's brigade, moved along an unfinished railway north of Hazel Run, approaching close to the Confederate line without detection at dusk gathering, but they were eventually detected, shot and beaten back..
Union has sent seven divisions, generally one brigade at a time, with a total of fourteen individual charges, all of which failed, costing them from 6,000 to 8,000 victims. The Confederate Losses at Marye's Heights totaled about 1,200. The fall of darkness and Burnside's subordinate pleading is enough to end the attack. Longstreet later wrote, "The accusations were hopeless and bloody, but totally hopeless." Thousands of Union soldiers spent the cold night in December in the fields to get to the altitude, unable to move or assist the wounded because of the fire Confederation. That night, Burnside tried to blame his subordinates for the disaster, but they thought it was entirely his fault and no one else.
Stomach and withdrawal, December 14 to 15
During a dinner meeting on December 13, Burnside dramatically announced that he would personally lead the old Corps IX in a final assault on Marye Heights, but his generals spoke to him the following morning. The troops remain in position all day on 14 December. That afternoon, Burnside asked Lee for a truce to care for his victim, who was then given generously. The next day the Federal forces retreated across the river, and the campaign ended.
The testament to the extent of massacres and suffering during combat is the story of Richard Rowland Kirkland, a sergeant of the Confederate Army with Company G, Infantry Infantry Infantry 2 South Carolina. Placed on a stone wall by a road that sank beneath Marye Heights, Kirkland had a close view of suffering and like many others who were shocked to hear the shouting for Union's injured help throughout the winter night on December 13, 1862. After obtaining permission from his commander, Brig. General Joseph B. Kershaw, Kirkland assembled the canteen and in broad daylight, without the benefit of a truce or a truce flag (rejected by Kershaw), providing water for many injured people lying on the battlefield. The union soldiers held off their gunfire as it was clear what Kirkland meant. Kirkland was nicknamed the "Angel of Marye Heights" for this act, and was immortalized with a statue by Felix de Weldon in Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park where he performed his actions. The details of this story (first recorded in 1880) contradict some of the reports after the action and may have been decorated and personalized for the effect.
On the night of December 14th, Aurora Borealis made an unusual appearance for the latitude, possibly caused by a large solar flare. One of the witnesses described that "the beautiful view of the Aurora Borealis is seen in the Gulf states, the whole sky is a reddish glow as if from a great fire, but is characterized by a typical ray of light north." The event is recorded in the diaries and letters of many soldiers in Fredericksburg, such as John W. Thompson, Jr., who wrote "Louisiana sends the famous cosmopolitan Zouaves called the Tamil Tigers, and there are Florida troops who, unceasingly burned, stamped the night after Fredericksburg, when Aurora Borealis snapped and crackled over a frozen plane that was dead hard by Rappahannock... "
Aftermath
Victim
Union troops suffered 12,653 casualties (1,284 dead, 9600 wounded, 1,769 arrested/missing). Two Union generals were seriously wounded: Brig. Gens. George D. Bayard and Conrad F. Jackson. The Confederate Army lost 5,377 (608 dead, 4,116 wounded, 653 captured/lost), most of them in the initial battle in front of Jackson. Confederate Brigadier. Gens. Maxcy Gregg and T. R. R. Cobb were seriously injured. The casualties suffered by each soldier showed clearly how disastrous the tactics of Union troops were. Although the battle on the south side produces more or less the same casualties (about 4,000 Confederates, 5,000 Union), the north side is really one-sided, with about eight Union casualties for each Confederation. The Burnside people have suffered far more in an attack that was originally intended as a diversion rather than in its main endeavors.
Confederate reaction to winning news
The South erupted in victory over their great victory. The Richmond Examiner describes it as "a stunning defeat for attackers, a tremendous victory for the defenders of the holy land." General Lee, usually reticent, is described by Charleston Mercury as "joyful, almost unbalanced, and seems eager to embrace everyone who calls him." The newspaper also exclaimed that, "General Lee knows his business and the army does not yet know such a word fails."
Effects on Union
The opposite reaction is in the North, and both Army and President Lincoln are under powerful attacks from politicians and the press. The Cincinnati Commercial writes, "It can hardly be human nature for men to show more courage or generals to realize less judgment, than is clearly on our side that day." Senator Zachariah Chandler, a Radical Republican, wrote that, "The President is a weak man, too weak for the occasion, and the foolish or treacherous generals waste precious time and more precious blood in unspecified battles and delays. " Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin visited the White House after traveling to the battlefield. He told the president, "It was not a battle, it was a slaughterhouse." Curtin reported that the president was "heartbroken on the recital, and soon reached a nervous excitement bordering on madness." Lincoln himself wrote, "If there is a worse place than hell, I am in it." Burnside was released from command a month later, after unsuccessful attempts to clear some of his subordinates from the Army and the embarrassing failure of the "Mud March" in January.
Battlefield preservation
The Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park, was founded in 1927 under the Department of War and transferred to the National Park Service in 1933. It comprises over 8,300 acres covering parts of four Civil War battles - Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania Court House, The Wilderness and Chancellorsville.
In March 2003, the Civil War Trust (division of the American Battlefield Trust) announced the commencement of a $ 12 million national campaign to preserve the historic Livestock Redemption Place, an important part of the Fredericksburg battlefield. An area of ​​208 acres (0.84 km 2 ), locally known as Pierson Tract, was the site of the bloody struggle of 13 December 1862. On this land the Federal forces under Major General George Meade and Brig. General John Gibbon launched their assault on Lieutenant General Thomas "Stonewall" of the Jackson Confederacy which held the southern part of the Northern Virginia Army line in Fredericksburg. Despite suffering many casualties, Federal forces under Meade were able to penetrate the Confederate line for a while and represent the North's best chance of winning the Battle of Fredericksburg. The battle in the southern part of this battlefield, later named Slaughter Pen, resulted in 5,000 victims and five Medal of Honor recipients.
The Slaughter Pen Farm is considered the largest, unprotected part of the Fredericksburg battlefield. It is also the only place on the battlefield where visitors can still follow the December 13 Union attack from start to finish. Almost all other lands linked to Union attacks in Fredericksburg - either at the southern end of the battlefield or in front of Marye Heights - have been degraded by development. The acquisition of $ 12 million from Slaughter Pen Farm on the battlefield of Fredericksburg is called the most ambitious nonprofit battlefield acquisition in American history.
In October 2006, the Ministry of Internal Affairs awarded a $ 2 million grant based on the significance of Slaughter Pen Farm. The money is given through the appropriation of the U.S. Congress. from the Land and Water Conservation Fund. These funds support non-federal efforts to obtain and preserve meaningful US civil war lands. The program is administered by the American War Battle Protection Program, an offshoot of the National Park Service. In addition, the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (CVBT) committed $ 1 million to the Slaughter Pen Farm fundraising campaign.
In addition to the preservation of the Farm Fry Pen, the American Battlefield Trust and its partners have acquired and retained an additional 40 acres (0.16 km 2 ) from the battlefield in the other five acquisitions.
In November 2012, during an archaeological investigation at a construction site for a new courthouse, the remains of Union artifacts were rediscovered. These include ammunition, cigarette pipe, and food cans.
In popular media
The battle of Fredericksburg is depicted in the 2003 movie God and Generals, based on a novel of the same name, the prequel of The Killer Angels where the previous movie Gettysburg has been adapted. Both the novel and the film focus primarily on the disastrous allegations at Marye's Heights, with films highlighting the charges of Hancock's 2nd Division Corps, Irish Brigade, Caldwell brigade, and Zook brigade, and 20th Infantry Infantry Regiment (V Corps).
American writer Louisa May Alcott articulates his experience of caring for the wounded soldiers in the Battle of Fredericksburg in his book American heavy metal band Iced Earth wrote a combat-inspired song titled "Clear The Way (December 13, 1862)", and included it in their 2017 album Source of the article : Wikipedia
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