|
Civil
War Home
Tour Home
Email H Sage |
|
|
The
Southern End of the Fredericksburg Battlefield
In
the distance, just above the nearer cannon, you can see a
stone pyramid built by railroad men some years after the Civil
War so that passengers on trains passing by would be able
to mark the spot where the famous battle occurred.
|
|
On
December 13, 1862, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of Maj.
Gen. Ambrose Burnside, attacked Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
at Fredericksburg, Virginia. The results were disastrous for
Burnsides cohorts. Lee's troops occupied a powerful position
along and in front of a ridge known as Marye's Heights. Wave
after wave of Union troops fell before the heavy rifle and cannon
fire, and at the end of the day thousands lay dead and wounded or
huddled in the streets of the city in confusion. Joshua Chamberlain
described the horrifying scene on the battlefield later that night
as he and other officers roamed among the wounded trying to ease the
suffering in any manner they could. President Lincoln, frustrated
after yet another costly failure, wondered: "What will
the nation think? ... The bottom is out of the tub."
Only General William Rosecrans' victory at Murfreesboro/Stones River
in Tennessee a few weeks later was able to lift Lincoln's spirits.
Historian James McPherson has called this time "The winter of
Northern discontent."
The
beautiful, historic city of Fredericksburg lies about 50 miles south
of Washington on Interstate 95. The Battlefield Visitors'
Center is easy to find by following the signs.
Return to Tour Home
Updated
November 30, 2002
|
