Confederate armies had been on the Move in the fall of 1862 invading Kentucky and Maryland although each had been turned back the Confederate armies remained intact and capable of further action US President Abraham Lincoln needed to demonstrate the success of the Union war effort before the northern public lost confidence in his administration Major General Ambrose Burnside the commander of the ninth Corp had established a reputation as an independent Commander with successful oper ations earlier that year in coastal North Carolina he was appointed commander of the Union Army of the pomac in November 1862 Burnside though reluctant accepted the command and devised a bold plan to strike at the Confederate capital of Richmond Virginia by crossing the rapan river at Fredericksburg this plan aimed to outflank General Robert E Le's Army of Northern Virginia and advanced swiftly toward Richmond before the Confederates could regroup Burnside plan hinged on rapid movement and the element of surprise however logistical complications began to undermine the union strategy almost immediately a critical component of the plan was the timely arrival of pontoon bridges needed to cross the rapan river Lee was an experienced Commander he knew that the Union forces outnumbered the Confederates at Fredericksburg so instead of committing his entire Army to defend the city he decided to move his army onto the heights west of Frederick's B the slowness of the Union Advance allowed Lee time to fortify positions on the heights giving him a massive tactical Advantage Burnside organized his Union Army of the pomac into three grand divisions organizations that included infantry Corps Cavalry and artillery comprising 120,000 men of whom 114,000 would be engaged in the coming battle the right Grand division was commanded by Major General Edwin suner the center Grand division was commanded by Major General Joseph Hooker the left Grand division was commanded by Major General William Franklin the reserve was commanded by Major General France seagull Robert E Le's Army of Northern Virginia had nearly 79,000 men with 72,500 engaged the first Corp was under the command of Lieutenant General James Long Street and was placed on and around the ridge known as Mary's Heights to the west of Fredericksburg the second Corp was under the command of Lieutenant General Thomas J Stonewall Jackson they arrived at Lee's headquarters on November 29th and his divisions were deployed to the south of Fredericksburg to prevent Burnside from Crossing Downstream from fredicksburg the reserve artillery was under Brigadier General William Pendleton and the Cavalry division was under Major General Stewart assuming that Lee had anticipated his plan Burnside guessed that the Confederates had weakened their left in Center to concentrate against him on their right so he decided to cross the river directly at Fredericksburg on the 11th of December the union Engineers began building a bridge to allow the main Union Army to cross over into Fredericksburg these Engineers started to come under heavy fire from Confederate snipers located within the town on the other side of the [Applause] river so Union artillery began bombarding the Confederate positions this bombardment had little effect on the Confederate troops and instead destroyed a great deal of infrastructure at 300 p.m. 135 Union infantrymen from the 7th Michigan and the 19th Massachusetts successfully crossed the river on a boat under the cover of the Union artillery fire they engaged the Confederate skirmishers who were shooting at the union engineers once the skirmishers had been cleared More Union troops crossed on boats and combat raged on in the town the Confederates did not have a large number of troops in the town but they decided to defend it rather than Retreat to the west of the town to regroup with the main Confederate Force fighting proceeded Street by street through the town as the engineers completed the bridges this was the first major Urban combat in American [Applause] history the increasing number of Union troops gathering in the town finally forced the Confederates [Applause] back the union had successfully captured Frederickburg later that day four brigades of Union troops occupied the town which they looted with a fury that had not been seen in the war up to that point despite being ordered to stop this Behavior enraged Lee the destruction also angered the Confederate troops many of whom were Native virgins many on the union side were also shocked by the destruction inflicted on Fredericksburg River Crossings south of the City by Franklin's left Grand division were much less eventful and by the 12th of December most of the Union Army had crossed crossed over the river on the newly constructed Bridges and started preparing to attack the Confederates who had taken up defensive positions to the west and south of the town the union plan was simple Sumer and his right Grand division would attack long Street's men at the Heights on the Confederate right in order to create a diversion while Franklin's left Grand division would roll up Stonewall Jackson's men on the Confederate left on the morning of the 13th of December Major General William Franklin ordered his first core Commander Major General John Reynolds to select a division for the attack Reynolds chose his smallest division about 4,500 men commanded by Major General George me and assigned Brigadier General John gibbons's division to support me's attack Confederate Major John pelum quietly moved his gun ahead of the Confederate line he opened fire on the advancing Union men stalling them John pelum was told that he should feel free to withdraw from his dangerous position at any time to which pelum responded tell the general I can hold my ground General Lee observed the action in Praise pelum age 24 he stated it is glorious to see such courage in one so young for an hour pmk lone gun delayed an entire Union Corp and prematurely revealed the union plan pelum finally withdrew only because he had run out of ammo Major General John Reynolds then ordered his Union artillery under the command of Colonel Wright to begin bombarding Jackson's Confederate positions in front of him Stonewall Jackson held back intending to wait for the coming Union assault after an hour of bombardment the artillery stopped firing and Colonel way wri advised Reynolds to begin the assault the union commanders did not know that the bombardment had done little damage to Stone W Jackson's men Major General George me and Brigadier General John gibbons's divisions totaling a combined 6,000 men continued moving forward toward Jackson's position once the union troops got close to the Confederate position the Confederates opened up with the full force of their artillery This ferocious bombardment stalls the union Advance at around 1: p.m. me's attack continues the Confederate had left a gap in their line around a swampy area which the Confederates had considered impassible me took advantage of this Gap and he sent men through the Gap while his other men engaged the Confederates nearby as a distraction hoping that the Confederates would not realize their mistake so some Union troops managed to get through the undefended part of the Confederate line allowing them easy access to kill many Confederate troops however the troops that me had sent through the Gap were unsupported and once Stonewall Jackson ordered his reserves to attack these men they were quickly pushed back Confederates under General James Thomas and James Lane then counterattacked General gibbons's Union forces who were also unsupported these men were also pushed back by the Confederates and most of the Union troops retreated back to their main line instead of advancing further Stonewall Jackson moved his men back into their original defensive positions hoping that the union would launch another attack this however did not happen the fight on the Confederate left came to a close as KN settled in on the morning on the 13th of December Major General Edwin suner received his orders to attack the Confederates located at mari's Heights on the outskirts of Fredericksburg he sent Major General couch in his second Corp to attack the heights Brigadier General French and his three brigades were sent forward first Confederate artillery opened fire on the Union brigades as they Advanced due to their elevated position the artillery fire was very effective installed the union advance help [Applause] French's men suffered severe casualties and failed to breach the Confederate defenses Major General couch sent Brigade after Brigade to attack the heights all had a similar effect for 2 hours the Confederates drove back attack after attack the union bodies were beginning to pile up as fresh troops had to walk over them to continue the attack despite this Slaughter part of the union plan was to maintain pressure on the Confederates at Mar's Heights and so more and more troops were sent into the fight Colonel Rush Hawkins attack would be the last attack of the day this too would fail get over there by the end of the day 7,500 Union soldiers were killed or wounded at Marie's Heights this number was massive compared to the 1,000 killed or wounded on the Confederate side as the sound of the battle faded the sound of the wounded soldiers who were stuck between the Confederate and Union lines began to fill the air Richard Roland Kirkland a Confederate Army Sergeant had a close-up view of the suffering and like so many others was appalled at the cries for help of the Union wounded Kirkland gathered canteens and in broad daylight without the benefit of a ceasefire or a flag of truce provided water to numerous Union wounded lying on the the field of battle Union Soldiers held their fire as it was obvious what Kirkland's intent was Kirkland was nicknamed the angel of Mary's Heights for these actions after the battle Burnside attempted to blame his subordinates for the disastrous attacks but they argued that it was entirely his fault and no one else's during a dinner meeting the evening of December 13th Burnside dramatically announced that he would personally lead his old ninth Corp in one final attack on Marie's Heights but his generals talked him out of it the following morning the casualties sustained by each Army showed clearly how disastrous the union Army's tactics were by the end of the battle the Union Army suffered 12,653 men killed or wounded in total with the majority of Union deaths being at Marie's Heights the Confederate Army suffered 5,377 killed or wounded Burnside asked Lee for a truce to attend to his wounded to which he agreed the next day the federal forces retreated across the river and the campaign came to an end with significant Union losses
