The Civil Wars' "Battle of Fredericksburg".. Irish brother versus brother.

This second week of December 2012 marks the 150th Anniversary of one of the greatest Union defeats of our American Civil War.. the Battle of Fredericksburg waged from Dec. 11thru Dec. 15th of 1862.

Many battles in many wars have gone wrong for the planners due to bad intelligence, failed logistics, or just bad luck that results in unreachable timetables that than lead to a battle lost whereas there could have been an easy victory. The Battle of Fredericksburg is in that long list.

Fredericksburg was a quaint little town in northeast Virginia on the Rappahannock River that fell in the way of the general Union strategy to take the Confederate capital at Richmond, Va.

I might add that the strategy to capture Richmond, Va. from the rebels was not Lincoln's idea but more an early plan formed by the Union generals, much to Lincolns frustration.

Lincoln had felt the destruction of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was more important than capturing their capital. He expressed this for months to Union General in Chief George McClellen and had just pressed the point further to "Little Mac" in the previous weeks after the "Battle of Antietam" ( just 3 months earlier ).

Many including Lincoln felt that Lee could have been further attacked and his army reduced in the days following Antietam .. God knows Lincoln urged him repeatedly to "finish Lee off".

Instead Lincoln will remove McClellen as Union commander for not pushing the fight..what Lincoln would call "the slows" and appoint General Ambrose Burnside as commander of the Union Army of the Potomac as of Nov. 7, 1862. ( we will get our term "sideburns" from his oversized facial hair.)

In brief..Ambrose Burnside was a good guy. And possibly one of the worst generals on the Union side ( taking into account that most of our best officers "went south" when the war broke out.)

The greatness of Burnside is he knew he was not a great officer. He declined promotion so many times that Lincoln forced him into the position. Once this volunteer from Rhode Island actually stated "give me a corp..but not the whole army"!

So the man that forced the carnage at "Burnsides Bridge" at Antietam is now the commander of the Union army around Washington..scary. ( it was admitted later that the bridge crossing at Antietam was questionable as there were several places to ford the creek rather than send young Union soldiers into a "funneled kill zone" as what a bridge crossing equates to.)

But Burnside is a good guy like I said..at least he was trying to warn them ahead of time..right !

So after taking command..the plan is generally to push on Fredericksburg promptly and take the town and surrounding high ground before Lee can arrive with his armies. Lincoln and Burnside both agree that speed is their best ally.

Basically assure victory by getting more men there..sooner. Dig in and force your enemy to the offensive ( make them attack you..attackers typically lose more.)

That is where the Union strategy falls apart. Not only is the Union army delayed in getting there ( although one Union army was there 2 weeks earlier when the river was low..did not need pontoons to cross..and Lee's army was not present. They could have taken the town without a major battle.) but the river is high after a few days rain....so they need pontoons to build a bridge now. It is already getting complicated.

Lincoln is rubbing his hands with worry back in Washington.. as his fears take shape as Lee is arriving as the bridge is being built. Now Lee is accumulating his corps and is placing them in well defended entrenchments on the river bank across from the Union army..in thr town itself..and especially on the ridges that offer the best "high ground" defenses.

The Union army now must build a bridge under while under fire losing many before they are even engaged.

Once they start to get across the bridge ( under heavy fire ) the Federals must engage secondly in an urban warfare as they fight house to house in the town after destroying much of the "small town quaintness" with artillery fire.

And the coup de gras to the Union army intelligence ( an oxymoron..I know) will be the final push as Union brigade after brigade will be ordered to march up the well defended high ground behind the town ( "Marye's Heights" ) getting cut to pieces by rebels well defended behind a nice strong stone wall.

Some Union breakthroughs went unsupported, and Burnside became so distressed during the following Union carnage ( he was witnesssed saying to himself over and over by headquarters " Oh, those poor men" .)

Burnside in despair, will actually try to lead an attack personally with his old IX Corp but fellow officers talk him out of it. Just to give him credit..He will take full blame for the disaster.

Battle outcome: Confederate victory. (costly Federal loss)

Soldiers Engaged: Union -114,000 / CSA -74,000

Casualties: Union-12,653 (1,284 killed)   /   CSA-5,377 (608 killed)

The tremendous loss to the Union will begin to take a terrible toll on Northern moral as wives and mothers read the names of their loved ones on the roles of the killed and wounded.

The "Battle of Frederickburg"  is only the actions of the armies here in the "Eastern Theater" of the Civil War. Remember the fighting also rages farther down south in Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky.

The United States of America is quickly becoming .. a "Nation of Sorrow".

Here is a link to my own site.. "Battle of Fredericksburg" featuring some fine books by the best CW authors on Fredericksburg.

And here you can watch a well done video/music mix of "The Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg" of our own Union army as they charge up "Marye's Heights" into fellow Irish immigrants who "fought for the gray". ( watch into minute 3:45 as one saddened Irish rebel states " this is murder".)  This an actual segment of the well done movie "Gods and Generals".

The Confederate "kill zone" was so efficient that the even tempered southern General Robert E. "Bobby" Lee would later remark.."It is well war is so terrible..or we should grow too fond of it".

Lee knew the commitment of his southerners..how long a war it could be..and the terrible losses that were possible. The future and history would unfortunately prove him right !

More to come as I "spin it backward" and we talk about the months leading up to this terrible contest and Union loss at Fredericksburg.