"It is well that war is so terrible. We should grow too fond of it."
—Gen. Robert E. Lee at Fredericksburg
Most Civil War battles were fought during the spring and summer months. The armies of the North and South depended on dirt roads, primitive rail systems and long lines of supply, and generally avoided battle during the winter season. The battle of Fredericksburg proved the exception. The fierce battle that was fought in and around the old colonial city in Virginia for several days in mid-December 1862 shook not only the foundations of the old homes once visited by George Washington, but the very foundation of the Republic.
Fredericksburg was another in a long series of battles waged by Union army commanders intent on capturing Richmond, the capitol of the Confederacy. Gen. George McClellan tried, and failed, to maneuver his army to take the city in 1861 and again in early 1862.
In Washington, President Abraham Lincoln may have been more insightful than his commanders in understanding that, given the internecine nature of the Civil War, the Confederate army, and not the infrastructure of the Confederate government, was the enemy. Until the Confederate armies were defeated, there could be no Northern victory and no restoration of the Union.
As Lincoln struggled to instill this strategic vision he endured the arrogance of McClellan, the intellectualism of Henry Halleck, the bombast of Gen. John Pope, and the growing frustration, if not resentment, of the Northern newspapers and public. In November 1862, he finally settled on a new commander, the balding but flamboyantly mustached Ambrose Burnside.
The son of a South Carolina slaveholder who had freed his slaves when he moved north, Burnside graduated from West Point in 1847 but had resigned from the army to pursue private business interests in the early 1850s. He had been an inventor, a railroad executive and an officer in the Rhode Island militia. In early 1862, Burnside had produced one of the few bright lights of victory in amphibious operations conducted off the North Carolina coast at Roanoke Island and New Bern.
Burnside's appointment is more a testament to Lincoln's desperation than indicative of Burnside's fitness for the job of commanding the Union armies. Burnside had little confidence in his military abilities and had turned down command of the Union army two times before reluctantly accepting his promotion.
Lincoln needed a commander who could prevail on the battlefield. Burnside was one the few Union army commanders who had achieved anything positive on the battlefield and Lincoln needed a commander who would bring war to the enemy.
But as much as Lincoln wanted the focus to be the Confederate army, Burnside was still fixed on taking the Confederate capitol. Lincoln reluctantly approved Burnside's plan for a new campaign on Nov. 14, but urged that the operation be conducted with great speed. Burnside was quick to move his force, but he neglected the advanced deployment of pontoon bridges to allow his men to make a river crossing near Fredericksburg. As the days and nights passed — the bridges did not arrive until late November and were not assembled until early December — the Confederate army took position on the heights just outside Fredericksburg, using the time to erect breastworks, waiting for the anticipated Union attack.
Burnside's strategy depended on surprise and a rapid crossing of the river. Because of the delay, his plan was doomed before a single shot was fired. The long anticipated Union attack finally came on the morning of Dec. 11. The attack was preceded by an artillery bombardment that rained more than 8,000 explosive shells on the city. As the Union troops made their way across the river and tried to navigate through a maze of city streets, Confederate snipers fired from doorways and attic windows. Once the Confederates fell back to their entrenched positions, the Union army began ransacking the city.
Burnside renewed the attack on the morning of Dec. 13, when the bulk of the Union army was ordered to assault the strong Confederate positions above the city. The Union troops advanced under heavy fire against the Confederates. When a desperate Union bayonet charge was ordered, Southern artillery tore into the Union ranks. One survivor recalled that the "men fell like leaves in autumn."
The Union attacks continued, without success, hammering one after another as the Union troops tried unsuccessfully to smash through the Confederate position. In a single hour, the Union army lost nearly 3,000 men. Darkness finally brought an end to the slaughter.
Burnside issued orders to renew the assault on the morning of Dec. 14, with an eye toward suicidal immortality, offered to lead the attack personally, until his subordinate commanders rebelled. On the evening of Dec. 14 and Dec. 15, Burnside's army slipped away and went into winter camp. War would not begin in earnest until next spring.
The battle of Fredericksburg was a traumatic defeat for the Union cause. The Confederates suffered more than 5,000 casualties but inflicted more than twice as many on the Union army. Burnside was removed from command in January 1863 and the defeat continued to haunt the Union army.
Memories were still raw at Gettysburg in July 1863, when the Union troops repulsing the Confederate assault on the third day of the battle — veterans of the bloodbath at Fredericksburg — began chanting, "Fredericksburg, Fredericksburg ..." as the Union artillery vengefully mowed down the retreating Confederates.
A battle without either strategic or tactical value for the Union, Fredericksburg would test the Northern resolve and intensify Lincoln's search for a commander that might finally bring him victory as the sad year of 1862 came to a tragic close.
William F. Howard lives in Delmar. He has published several works on the Civil War, including "The Civil War Memoir of William T. Levey" (Northshire Press).