Fredericksburg, Battle of

The Battle of Fredericksburg is fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia in the Eastern Theater of the American Civil War.

'The combat, between the Union Army of the Potomac commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee, is part of the Union Army's futile frontal attacks on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city.

It is remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the war, with Union casualties more than twice as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates.

Burnside's plan is to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg in mid-November and race to the Confederate capital of Richmond before Lee's army can stop him.

Bureaucratic delays prevent Burnside from receiving the necessary pontoon bridges in time and Lee moves his army to block the crossings.

'When the Union army is finally able to build its bridges and cross under fire, direct combat within the city results on December 11–12.

Union troops prepare 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 is able to pierce the first defensive line of Confederate Lieutenant General Stonewall Jackson to the south, but is finally repulsed.

Burnside ordersthe 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 are repulsed with heavy losses.

On December 15, Burnside withdraws his army, ending another failed Union campaign in the Eastern Theater.

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