Battle of Fredericksburg – Plan of Attack

Burnside

On December 12th, 150 year ago today, the Federals, as on the previous day, began with a bombardment. They crossed the river on the pontoon bridges they had built, and began digging rifle pits. Examining the Federal movements, Lee decided that this was indeed the real attack. He had been slow to arrive at that conclusion because he did not think Burnside would be foolish enough to attack Fredericksburg directly. But now he finally resolved to order up Stonewall Jackson's forces, which had been scattered to guard a large area. The two days Burnside had spent in preparing for the attack had thrown his plans into disarray and given Lee time to bring up his entire army. If he had attacked immediately, he may have caught Lee more off guard and had a better chance of success.

Battle overview

Burnside examined Lee's 8 mile long line and saw that it bowed inwards in the center. He could not attack there without coming under crossfire from the flanks. That left the two flanks, and he decided to attack both. However, his orders were not for the forceful attack his subordinates expected. Franklin, on the Union left, was instructed to send forward at least one division to seize the high ground, as was Sumner, supported by Hooker, on the right. Burnside thought that he would simply be able to brush Lee off without committing all of his forces. He would find out the next day how wrong he was.

Battle of Fredericksburg - Day 1

Movement to Fredericksburg

Burnside had moved his army to Fredericksburg in a hope to quickly cross the river and get around Lee's flank. But his plan had failed when the pontoon bridges did not arrive, and he did not move quickly to find another way across the river. Now, as the Federals began their river crossing 150 years ago today, they were facing Lee's entire army on the heights across the river.

Pontoons

Burnside had several options for crossing the Rappahannock River, but he chose the one he thought would be least expected. Instead of attempting a flanking movement, he would strike directly across the river into Fredericksburg, hoping that Lee by guarding other crossings had weakened his center enough for Burnside to have a chance there. Fredericksburg would be a tough nut to crack. On either side of the river were high bluffs, Strafford Heights on the Federal side and Marye's Heights on the Confederate, and in between on the southern side of the Rappahannock was the town of Fredericksburg. Lee had over 70,000 men in his two corps, half the number of Burnside. They had recovered from their reverse at Sharpsburg and had, increased in numbers and morale. They were confident that they could put up a good fight and whip the Union army, even with its new commander.

Pontoon Crossings at Fredericksburg

On December 11th, 150 years ago today, the Union engineers began working to assemble the pontoon bridges around Fredericksburg. Their work would not go on unopposed. Guarding the town itself was the Mississippi Brigade of Brigadier General William Barksdale. His sharpshooters, hidden in the houses of the town, were well positioned to shoot down the Yankees working on the bridge. The Federals tried to meet this threat with an impressive bombardment, 150 cannon raining down shells into the town. But the Mississippians, protected by the houses, were mostly unhurt by the fire.

As the guns died down, the bridge builders rushed forward. Barksdale's men picked them off with their rifles, foiling several efforts to put the six pontoon bridges across the river. Lee had told Barksdale that he was free to retire, as all was ready on the heights to receive a Union attack, but Barksdale replied, "Tell General Lee that if he wants a bridge of dead Yankees, I can furnish him with one!" The Mississippians drove back nine Federal attempts to cross the river.

Henry Hunt

At this juncture Burnside was convinced by his artillery commander, Brigadier General Henry Hunt, to send landing parties across in boats to establish bridgeheads and clear out the sharpshooters. Colonel Norman Hall volunteered his brigade, and with the army commander's approval, set off in small boats. Although losing some men along the way, they were able to dash across the river, land and began a fierce house to house fight with the rebels. Falling back slowly, in constant contact with the Union troops, Barksdale did not return to the safety of the Confederate lines until after dark. One small Mississippi brigade had held up the entire Union army for a day. But it would take more than that for the Confederates to prevail in the coming days of the Battle of Fredericksburg.

William Barksdale

Battle of Prairie Grove

The Confederates forces under Thomas Hindman were moving toward the smaller Union army under James Blunt in northern Arkansas. However, the Confederates encountered a reverse, when a large cavalry column under John Marmaduke was driven back at the Battle of Cane Hill on November 28th. Undeterred, Hindman set out with his main body on December 3rd. He had 11,000 men and 22 cannon. Blunt, with only 5,000 men and 30 cannon, did not fall back. Instead, he telegraphed for other Union troops in Arkansas to join him, and remained in a defensive position around Cane Hill.

Hindman

Hindman's plan was to send Marmaduke with the rebel cavalry to strike Blunt from the south as a diversion, while he hit the Federal flank from the east. However, as he drew close to the Yankees he changed his mind and decided to continue on around Blunt, receiving word that the Union reinforcements were arriving. Francis Herron, upon the receipt of Blunt's order, relentlessly pushed his men on a forced march so that he could arrive in time for the battle. Hindman, loosing his usual aggressive nature, took up a defensive position in the low hills of Prairie Grove.

Blunt

Herron began the Battle on December 7th, deploying his tired troops on Hindman's right and commencing a two hour artillery bombardment. Seeing that his artillery had been very successful, destroying the rebel guns and forcing the infantry to lie down on the reverse slope of the hill, Herron ordered an attack to make use of this opportunity without waiting for cooperation from Blunt's forces. However, the first two regiments set forward met disaster near the Borden House, meeting a counterattack from three sides. The Federals fell back, and soon were running back in disorder to their lines, having lost about half their number. Trying to make the most of this gain, the Confederates launched a disorganized attack on Herron's line, but were driven back by canister from the Yankee guns.

Herron ordered two more regiments to attack in the area of the Borden House, hoping to forestall any movements the Confederates might make. Again they were driven back after fierce fighting, and then drove back a southern counterattack. By this time Blunt realized that Hindman had bypassed his position, and so ordered his troops to march to the sound of fighting. Ignoring the roads and just marching through the fields, his leading elements arrived on the Confederate flank just as they were preparing to launch another attack. They surprised the Confederates and foiled their attack. The fighting continued to sway back and forth until nightfall put an end to the battle.

Herron

Although tactically the battle was a draw, neither army having won a clear victory, the Union certainly won strategically. The two Union forces had been able to join without being first destroyed by the Confederate attacks, and Hindman saw no choice but to retreat with no reinforcements or ammunition available to continue the battle on the morrow. He arrived with his defeated army in Van Buren, Arkansas on December 10th, and near the end of the month was driven out of the nortwest part of the state completely by an advance by the Yankee forces.

Battle of Cane Hill

In early 1862 the Battle of Pea Ridge, Arkansas had been fought, resulting in Confederate defeat. Now a Confederate army under General Thomas C. Hindman was advancing to try to regain that lost ground. He moved with 11,000 troops into the northwest corner of the state, where he planned to attack 5,000 Yankees under Brigadier General James G. Blunt, who were 70 miles from any reinforcements. Hindman sent Brigadier General John S. Marmaduke ahead with 2,000 cavalry to hold Blunt in place while the rest of the Confederates came into position.

Blunt, however, did not sit passively and wait for Hindman's plan to work. He headed south, and encountered Marmaduke 35 miles south of where the Confederates had expected. The outnumbered rebels were surprised by the Yankee attack on November 28th, 150 years ago today. Marmaduke ordered Col. Jo Shelby to delay Blunt and cover the retreat of the main Confederate force. Although the fighting stretched for nine hours as Blunt pursued the Confederates for 12 miles, there were few large clashes and the casualties were light. The Union lost 41 killed and wounded, and the South 45.

Although he was successful in driving back Marmaduke's thrust for the time being, the attack left Blunt even further from reinforcements. The campaign would culminate in the Battle of Prairie Grove, just nine days later.

Civil War Thanksgivings of 1862

Thanksgiving in Camp

 Although Thanksgiving as we know it on the fourth Thursday of November. did not come into being until 1863, during 1862 Presidents Davis and Lincoln both appointed times of thanksgiving, although on different days than those to which we are accustomed.

Abraham Lincoln declared a day of thanksgiving on April 10th, 1862, with this proclamation:

It has pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe signal victories to the land and naval forces engaged in suppressing an internal rebellion, and at the same time to avert from our country the dangers of foreign intervention and invasion.
It is therefore recommended to the people of the United States that at their next weekly assemblages in their accustomed places of public worship which shall occur after notice of this proclamation shall be have been received they especially acknowledge and render thanks to our Heavenly Fathers for these inestimable blessings, that they then and there implore spiritual consolation in behalf of all who have been brought into affliction by the casualties and calamities of sedition and civil war, and that they reverently invoke the divine guidance for our national counsels, to the end that they may speedily result in the restoration of peace, harmony, and unity throughout our borders and hasten the establishment of fraternal relations among all the countries of the earth.
In witness whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 10th day of April A.D. 1862, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-sixth.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN

 Davis did the same a few months later, on September 4th, 1862, after the great victory at Manassas:

Once more upon the plains of Manassas have our armies been blessed by the Lord of Hosts with a triumph over our enemies.  It is my privilege to invite you once more to His footstool, not now in the garb of fasting and sorrow, but with joy and gladness, to render thanks for the great mercies received at His hand.  A few months since, and our enemies poured forth their invading legions upon our soil.  They laid waste our fields, polluted our altars and violated the sanctity of our homes.  Around our capital they gathered their forces, and with boastful threats, claimed it as already their prize.  The brave troops which rallied to its defense have extinguished these vain hopes, and, under the guidance of the same almighty hand, have scattered our enemies and driven them back in dismay.  Uniting these defeated forces and the various armies which had been ravaging our coasts with the army of invasion in Northern Virginia, our enemies have renewed their attempt to subjugate us at the very place where their first effort was defeated, and the vengeance of retributive justice has overtaken the entire host in a second and complete overthrow.
To this signal success accorded to our arms in the East has been graciously added another equally brilliant in the West.  On the very day on which our forces were led to victory on the Plains of Manassas, in Virginia, the same Almighty arm assisted us to overcome our enemies at Richmond, in Kentucky.  Thus, at one and the same time, have two great hostile armies been stricken down, and the wicked designs of their armies been set at naught.
In such circumstances, it is meet and right that, as a people, we should bow down in adoring thankfulness to that gracious God who has been our bulwark and defense, and to offer unto him the tribute of thanksgiving and praise.  In his hand is the issue of all events, and to him should we, in an especial manner, ascribe the honor of this great deliverance.
Now, therefore, I, Jefferson Davis, President of the Confederate States, do issue this, my proclamation, setting apart Thursday, the 18th day of September inst., as a day of prayer and thanksgiving to Almighty God for the great mercies vouchsafed to our people, and more especially for the triumph of our arms at Richmond and Manassas; and I do hereby invite the people of the Confederate States to meet on that day at their respective places of public worship, and to unite in rendering thanks and praise to God for these great mercies, and to implore Him to conduct our country safely through the perils which surround us, to the final attainment of the blessings of peace and security.
Given under my hand and the seal of the Confederate States, at Richmond, this fourth day of September, A.D.1862. 
JEFFERSON DAVIS

Burnside Demands Fredericksburg's Surrenders

Burnside's Headquarters

When McClellan was removed from command he was replaced by Ambrose Burnside. Burnside had long been a commander in the Army of the Potomac, and although he was a friend of McClellan and did not want the command, he was eventually persuaded to take it. Rather than following McClellan's example of slow movement, Burnside instead would move very quickly. His plan was to move to Fredericksburg, cross the river, and get around Lee's flank. Burnside was successful in arriving at the river before Lee, but his plan went awry in a critical area – the pontoon bridges to actually cross the river did not arrive. He had to remain there waiting for weeks while Lee could slowly decide where he could place his troops. For a while he had to cover many crossings as he did not know where the Yankees would cross, but by the time Burnside actually did cross at Fredericksburg he would have all his troops in position. The failure of Burnside to insure his pontoons arrived on time, or to move on without them, cost him an easy crossing. He wrote:

Had the pontoon bridge arrived even on the 19th or 20th, the army could have crossed with trifling opposition. But now the opposite side of the river is occupied by a large rebel force under General Longstreet, with batteries ready to be placed in position to operate against the working parties building the bridge and the troops in crossing.

Outskirts of the town

On November 21st, 150 years ago today, Burnside demanded the surrender of the town. Fredericksburg was one of the oldest towns in Virginia, and George Washington had lived just across the river. A bombardment of the town would be a catastrophe, deadly to the non-combatants in the town. This crisis was avoided for the moment when the Yankees relented from their treat upon Lee's assurance that he would not occupy the town. However, the citizens knew the armies would come their way sooner or later, and so the exodus from the town began, long lines of women and children leaving the town, carrying with them what good they could. Lee wrote of their conduct:

History presents no instance of a people exhibiting a purer and more unselfish patriotism or a higher spirit of fortitude and courage than was evinced by the citizens of Fredericksburg. They cheerfully incurred great hardships and privations, and surrendered their homes and property to destruction rather than yield them into the hands of the enemies of their country.

McClellan Removed from Command

Lincoln and McClellan

Lincoln had been dissatisfied with George B. McClellan, commander of the Army of the Potomac, for a long time. McClellan was very slow and cautious on the offensive, always demanding more troops and supplies without energetically putting them to good use. Even when he had been reappointed to command it was only because of the emergency of Lee's invasion of Maryland. After Lee retreated across the Potomac after the Battle of Antietam, Lincoln became more and more frustrated at McClellan's conduct. For weeks the army sat idle on the banks of the Potomac while Lee regrouped his army after a trying campaign.

But Lincoln decided to give McClellan one last chance. Because of the position of the armies, it appeared that the Federals had the chance, if they moved quickly, to get between Lee and Washington, forcing a battle on ground of the Yankee's choosing. However, McClellan failed yet again. Scouts reported that the Confederates had successfully blocked McClellan's road to Richmond. It was time for McClellan to go.

Burnside

Lincoln's order said:

By direction of the President, it is ordered that Major-General McClellan be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and that Major-General Burnside take the command of that army. Also that Major-General Hunter take command of the corps in said army which is now commanded by General Burnside. That Major-General Fitz John Porter be relieved from the command of the corps he now commands in said army, and that Major-General Hooker take command of said corps.

He wrote this on November 5th, after the midterm elections, when the Democrats had gained more seats in the House, and the Republicans in the Senate. The message was delivered early on the 7th, two days later.

The man chosen to deliver the message was Brigadier General Catherinus Buckingham, who was working at the War Department. He was entrusted with the task of giving McClellan the message informing him of his removal from command, and another to Ambrose Burnside to convince him to take the post. Buckingham went first to Burnside, who was completely shocked and immediately refused. Burnside said he didn't want the command and did not think he was fit for it. In fact, he had refused it twice before, and McClellan was a friend of his. Finally, after over an hour of discussions, Buckingham was able to convince him to accept the command.

Lincoln and his generals after Antietam

McClellan accepted the order removing him of command with little emotion. There was always some danger that the general being removed, especially one so well loved by the troops as McClellan, would try to stage a rebellion. McClellan would not do that. He would obey the orders from Washington. However, he did not believe he had made any mistakes warranting his removal from command. He wrote to his wife:

They have made a great mistake. Alas for my poor country! I know in my inmost heart she never had a truer servant. I have informally turned over the command to Burnside, but shall go to-morrow to Warrenton with him, and perhaps remain a day or two there in order to give him all the information in my power... Do not be at all worried - I am not. I have done the best I could for my country; to the last I have done my duty as I understand it. That I must have made many mistakes I cannot deny. I do not see any great blunders; but no one can judge of himself. Our consolation must be that we have tried to do what was right; if we have failed it was not our fault.

McClellan and his wife