By: Dr. Elizabeth Hoole McArthur
To cross to the western bank of the Rappahannock, where Fredericksburg was located, Burnside needed to construct pontoon bridges. But when materials failed to arrive on time, his advance was stalled. Lee took advantage of the delay to entrench his army on the hills behind Fredericksburg.
Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson
Public Domain
Finally, on December 11, Union engineers began building the delayed pontoon bridges under relentless fire from Confederate sharpshooters from across the river. In retaliation, Burnside ordered the shelling of Fredericksburg, forcing desperate civilians to flee.
When the bombardment failed to dislodge the Confederates, Burnside ordered his troops to cross the river in boats, braving intense fire from Confederate defenders, finally establishing a beachhead. By December 12, Burnside’s army had crossed the Rappahannock, looting and vandalizing the town as they prepared for the coming assault.
The Union attack began on December 13, shrouded in dense early morning fog. Burnside’s strategy involved a two-pronged offensive. His first assault targeted Lee’s right flank under Lt. Gen. “Stonewall” Jackson to the south of the city. While this offensive gained initial success, Jackson's men ultimately repelled the Federals, inflicting heavy losses.
The second and bloodiest assault focused on Marye’s Heights, where Lt. Gen. James Longstreet’s Corps controlled the high ground west of town. At the base of the hill, along Telegraph Road, stood a four-foot-high stone retaining wall, behind which Brig. Gen. Thomas R. R. Cobb’s Georgia soldiers, including men from Whitfield County, were entrenched. The position was formidable: Confederate artillery commanded the heights, and the Georgians used the wall as cover, with additional troops reinforcing their line to maintain continuous fire.
To reach this stronghold, Union soldiers had to cross an open 600-yard, wide-open plain, exposed to rifle and artillery fire. Further complicating Burnside’s planned charge was a mill race across this field, 15 feet wide and 5 feet deep, filled with 3 feet of water. Longstreet’s artillery chief declared, “A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it.”
Gallant Charge of A. A. Humphreys' Division at the Battle of Fredericksburg
LOC
The slaughter began shortly before noon. General Cobb waved his hat in the air and shouted, “Get ready, boys, here they come!” The Georgians opened fire, and when the smoke cleared, the Union line had virtually disappeared. Soon thereafter, Cobb was mortally wounded by an exploding shell.
Brig. Gen. Joseph Kershaw’s South Carolina Brigade was brought up to reinforce Cobb’s men at the stone wall. Since the Georgians occupied the front along the wall, Kershaw’s troops “doubled up,” making the Confederate line four-men deep. Those in the rear loaded the muskets and passed them forward, allowing the Confederates to fire rapidly and continuously.
Throughout the afternoon, Burnside ordered wave after wave of his infantry across the open field toward the stone wall, to almost inevitable slaughter. Refusing to believe his situation was hopeless, Burnside sent no fewer than fourteen successive brigades. All were mown down by rifle and artillery fire from the Confederates’ nearly impregnable positions.
Not a single Union soldier reached the Confederate line, and few made it within 50 yards. Finally, about 7:00 p.m., the Union assaults ended. Behind the stone wall, about 300 Confederates had been shot, while in front, approximately 8,000 Union soldiers had fallen.
As night fell, the scene across the field was one of unspeakable carnage and suffering. Thousands of Union casualties were trapped in freezing cold conditions, without food, water, or medical care. Fredericksburg, one of the largest and deadliest battles in North American history, introduced the first major shelling of an American city since the Revolutionary War, the first opposed river crossing in U.S. military history, and the Civil War’s first instance of urban warfare.
Confederate troops behind the stone wall
Public Domain
On December 15, Burnside’s beaten army retreated across the Rappahannock. The Union had lost 13,000 soldiers in a battle in which the dreadful carnage was matched only by its utter futility. Confederate losses numbered about 5,000.
Burnside was soon relieved of his command. As Federal morale plummeted, Confederate spirits soared.
