Battle of Fredericksburg

Battle of Fredericksburg
Part of the American Civil War
Battle of Fredericksburg: the Army of the Potomac crossing the Rappahannock River in the morning of December 13, 1862, by Kurz and Allison (1888).
Date December 11–15, 1862 Location Spotsylvania County and Fredericksburg, Virginia 38°17′58″N 77°28′14″W / 38.2995°N 77.4705°W / 38.2995; -77.4705Coordinates: 38°17′58″N 77°28′14″W / 38.2995°N 77.4705°W / 38.2995; -77.4705 Result Confederate victory
Belligerents
United States (Union)	Confederate States
Commanders and leaders
Ambrose E. Burnside	Robert E. Lee
Units involved
Army of the Potomac	Army of Northern Virginia
Strength
122,009 "present for duty": ∼ 114,000 engaged (estimated)	78,513 "present for duty": ∼ 72,500 engaged (estimated)
Casualties and losses
12,653 (1,284 killed;  9,600 wounded;  1,769 captured/missing)	4,201 (408 killed;  3,743 wounded;  ? captured/missing)

Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania County Battlefields Memorial National Military Park
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Military Park
Virginia Landmarks Register
A piece of artillery forming part of "Longstreet's Line" on Marye's Heights during the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Area	4,601.1 acres (1,862 ha)
NRHP Reference #	66000046
VLR #	111-0147
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	October 15, 1966
Designated VLR	January 16, 1973

122,009 "present for duty":

78,513 "present for duty":

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside, as part of the American Civil War. The Union Army's futile frontal attacks on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city are remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the war, with Union casualties more than three times as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates. A visitor to the battlefield described the battle to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as a "butchery."

Burnside's plan was to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg in mid-November and race to the Confederate capital of Richmond before Lee's army could stop him. Bureaucratic delays prevented Burnside from receiving the necessary pontoon bridges in time and Lee moved his army to block the crossings. When the Union army was finally able to build its bridges and cross under fire, urban combat in the city resulted on December 11–12. Union troops prepared to assault Confederate defensive positions south of the city and on a strongly fortified ridge just west of the city known as Marye's Heights.

On December 13, the "grand division" of Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin was able to pierce the first defensive line of Confederate Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson to the south, but was finally repulsed. Burnside ordered the grand divisions of Maj. Gens. Edwin V. Sumner and Joseph Hooker to make multiple frontal assaults against Lt. Gen. James Longstreet's position on Marye's Heights, all of which were repulsed with heavy losses. On December 15, Burnside withdrew his army, ending another failed Union campaign in the Eastern Theater.