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- Feb 23, 2013
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Part I - March to Battle
Postwar Chicago printmakers Kurz & Allison decided to concentrate on the successful bridging of the Rappahannock River, improbably directed by General Ambrose Burnside in person at far right, rather than the disastrous assault on Mary's Heights that followed.
November 11, 1862 on the verandah below of the Warren Green Hotel in Warrenton, Virginia, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan said goodbye to the assembled officers and many of the men of the Army of the Potomac, which he had led for over a year. McClellan had finally been relieved of command by order of President Abraham Lincoln because of his seemingly habitual tardiness in pursuing his Confederate opponents despite the victory in September at the battle of Antietam or Sharpsburg, Maryland. This change of command set in motion the actions which were to lead to the tragedy on the Rappahannock River known as the Battle of Fredericksburg only a month later.
McClellan, at right above, was replaced by the commander of his Ninth Army Corps, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside at left, whose own mishandling of his part in the battle at Antietam had contributed largely to the failure to destroy the Confederate army and served as an inauspicious forecast of what was to come. Another witness to the Union change of command was according to legend Rebel scout, spy, and raider Capt. John S. Mosby at center who soon brought word to his superiors, alerting them to impending movement by the Federals.
Burnside divided his huge command, numbering some 120,000 men, into three formations called the Right, Center, and Left Grand Divisions. The army had previously in the year had its infantry divisions grouped into army corps; now those corps were again grouped into the three Grand Divisions led by the men above. From left to right: Maj. Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner, the oldest general in the army had formerly led the Second Corps but now commanded the Right Grand Division; Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker now led the Center Grand Division and had only recovered from a wound in the foot at Antietam - in this photo taken around this time his left hand grips the handle of a cane he soon afterward discarded; Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, who had led the Sixth Corps at Antietam where his lackluster leadership kept it out of the battle now led the Left Grand Division.
Burnside knew the Lincoln administration had promoted him to the command of the army in the expectation that he would continue the forward movement begun by his predecessor; the target for his army was the town of Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River, as seen above from a line of hills known as Marye's Heights; Burnside hoped that by sudden, unexpected, and atypical hard marching a part of his force could arrive and cross the river before the Confederates realized what was happening. Fredericksburg had been occupied previously during the spring and summer months of 1862 by Federal units for varying periods of time but thus far had been spared any real action; that would soon change, however, as Union troops of Sumner's Right Grand Division seized Stafford Heights on the opposite riverbank from the town.
The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, though having suffered disproportionally high losses in the just-completed Maryland Campaign, was nevertheless probably at its peak, some 75,000 superbly led men grouped into two evenly-balanced army corps with attached cavalry and artillery led by the men above: Gen. Robert E. Lee at center, at the height of his powers before health concerns began to worry him, flanked at right by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet leading the First Army Corps; and at left by Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson commanding the Second Corps. When Lee learned of the Federal change in command he was at first uncertain exactly what it meant, but soon sent elements of Longstreet's corps to Fredericksburg, while retaining Jackson's corps at Winchester in the Northern Shenandoah Valley as shown on the map below.
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.posix.com/CW
After arriving before Fredericksburg Burnside foolishly waited several weeks for the arrival of promised pontoon boats with which to bridge the Rappahannock, thereby throwing away the element of surprise he had achieved through his unexpectedly rapid movement. At first, only elements of Longstreet's corps occupied Marye's Heights and could offer little in the way of resistance to the Federal host; fortunately, they were soon joined by Lee and the rest of Longstreet with Jackson coming up fast from the Valley. Still, Lee remained unsure of Burnside's intentions, at first sending Jackson far to the east to cover possible crossings downstream as shown on the map. At long last the pontoons arrived, and on the foggy morning of December 11 Burnside finally sent his leading elements across the river under heavy fire from the Mississippi brigade of William Barksdale, as depicted in the print at the top of this page.
Despite eventually driving the Mississippians away, it took Sumner's men the rest of the day and most of the following one as well to cross into the town where they sheltered in the streets for the night and began to systematically loot the largely abandoned houses. Fredericksburg was the first large town or city to feel the destructiveness of shelling during the war, and although not as severe as later at Vicksburg, individual houses were greatly damaged by deliberate vandalism and looting of the occupying Federal army. The house pictured here, currently a restaurant, is one such survivor dating to the 1700's and is located on the very first street nearest and parallel with the river. Like its now-vanished neighbors it was likely used, as were most of the houses in town, as a hospital following the battle.
Next, Part II - Franklin vs. Jackson at Hamilton's Crossing
Postwar Chicago printmakers Kurz & Allison decided to concentrate on the successful bridging of the Rappahannock River, improbably directed by General Ambrose Burnside in person at far right, rather than the disastrous assault on Mary's Heights that followed.
November 11, 1862 on the verandah below of the Warren Green Hotel in Warrenton, Virginia, Maj. Gen. George B. McClellan said goodbye to the assembled officers and many of the men of the Army of the Potomac, which he had led for over a year. McClellan had finally been relieved of command by order of President Abraham Lincoln because of his seemingly habitual tardiness in pursuing his Confederate opponents despite the victory in September at the battle of Antietam or Sharpsburg, Maryland. This change of command set in motion the actions which were to lead to the tragedy on the Rappahannock River known as the Battle of Fredericksburg only a month later.
McClellan, at right above, was replaced by the commander of his Ninth Army Corps, Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside at left, whose own mishandling of his part in the battle at Antietam had contributed largely to the failure to destroy the Confederate army and served as an inauspicious forecast of what was to come. Another witness to the Union change of command was according to legend Rebel scout, spy, and raider Capt. John S. Mosby at center who soon brought word to his superiors, alerting them to impending movement by the Federals.
Burnside divided his huge command, numbering some 120,000 men, into three formations called the Right, Center, and Left Grand Divisions. The army had previously in the year had its infantry divisions grouped into army corps; now those corps were again grouped into the three Grand Divisions led by the men above. From left to right: Maj. Gen. Edwin Vose Sumner, the oldest general in the army had formerly led the Second Corps but now commanded the Right Grand Division; Maj. Gen. Joseph "Fighting Joe" Hooker now led the Center Grand Division and had only recovered from a wound in the foot at Antietam - in this photo taken around this time his left hand grips the handle of a cane he soon afterward discarded; Maj. Gen. William B. Franklin, who had led the Sixth Corps at Antietam where his lackluster leadership kept it out of the battle now led the Left Grand Division.
Burnside knew the Lincoln administration had promoted him to the command of the army in the expectation that he would continue the forward movement begun by his predecessor; the target for his army was the town of Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River, as seen above from a line of hills known as Marye's Heights; Burnside hoped that by sudden, unexpected, and atypical hard marching a part of his force could arrive and cross the river before the Confederates realized what was happening. Fredericksburg had been occupied previously during the spring and summer months of 1862 by Federal units for varying periods of time but thus far had been spared any real action; that would soon change, however, as Union troops of Sumner's Right Grand Division seized Stafford Heights on the opposite riverbank from the town.
The Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, though having suffered disproportionally high losses in the just-completed Maryland Campaign, was nevertheless probably at its peak, some 75,000 superbly led men grouped into two evenly-balanced army corps with attached cavalry and artillery led by the men above: Gen. Robert E. Lee at center, at the height of his powers before health concerns began to worry him, flanked at right by Lt. Gen. James Longstreet leading the First Army Corps; and at left by Lt. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson commanding the Second Corps. When Lee learned of the Federal change in command he was at first uncertain exactly what it meant, but soon sent elements of Longstreet's corps to Fredericksburg, while retaining Jackson's corps at Winchester in the Northern Shenandoah Valley as shown on the map below.
Map by Hal Jespersen, www.posix.com/CW
After arriving before Fredericksburg Burnside foolishly waited several weeks for the arrival of promised pontoon boats with which to bridge the Rappahannock, thereby throwing away the element of surprise he had achieved through his unexpectedly rapid movement. At first, only elements of Longstreet's corps occupied Marye's Heights and could offer little in the way of resistance to the Federal host; fortunately, they were soon joined by Lee and the rest of Longstreet with Jackson coming up fast from the Valley. Still, Lee remained unsure of Burnside's intentions, at first sending Jackson far to the east to cover possible crossings downstream as shown on the map. At long last the pontoons arrived, and on the foggy morning of December 11 Burnside finally sent his leading elements across the river under heavy fire from the Mississippi brigade of William Barksdale, as depicted in the print at the top of this page.
Despite eventually driving the Mississippians away, it took Sumner's men the rest of the day and most of the following one as well to cross into the town where they sheltered in the streets for the night and began to systematically loot the largely abandoned houses. Fredericksburg was the first large town or city to feel the destructiveness of shelling during the war, and although not as severe as later at Vicksburg, individual houses were greatly damaged by deliberate vandalism and looting of the occupying Federal army. The house pictured here, currently a restaurant, is one such survivor dating to the 1700's and is located on the very first street nearest and parallel with the river. Like its now-vanished neighbors it was likely used, as were most of the houses in town, as a hospital following the battle.
Next, Part II - Franklin vs. Jackson at Hamilton's Crossing
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