A Chicken couldn't live on that Field

Fredericksburg sits on the western bank of the Rappahannock River, and by all appearances is a charming community. There is a historic downtown district that looks similar to Alexandria, with a variety of well kept shops, restaurants, and all the trappings of a vibrant tourist economy. Approaching it from the east as we did, you can see the church steeples rise high into the azure blue sky, and homes dotting the hillside. But behind this tranquility lies a bloody and horrific past. For the first encounter at Fredericksburg between the Union and Confederacy was one of the deadliest, one sided battles of the Civil War, and forced the North to alter their strategy to a scorched earth policy that ultimatley led to the Souths defeat. Briefly, the story goes as follows:

Embarrassed by General McClellan's repeated defeats and apparent lack of commitment in prosecuting the war, Lincoln replaced him on November 7, 1862 with General Ambrose Burnside. Burnside launched a winter campaign against the Confederate capital, Richmond, by way of Fredericksburg, a strategically important town on the Rappahannock River. The Federal Army of the Potomac, 115,000-strong, raced to Fredericksburg, arriving on November 17. There were only a few thousand Confederates on hand to challenge them, yet the Federal advance ground to a halt on the eastern bank of the Rappahannock, opposite the city. Burnside's campaign was delayed for over a week when material he had ordered for pontoon bridges failed to arrive. Disappointed by the delay, Burnside marked time for a further two weeks. Meanwhile, Lee took advantage of the stalled Federal drive to concentrate and entrench his Army of Northern Virginia, some 78,000-strong, on the high ground behind Fredericksburg.

With the arrival of the pontoons, Burnside crossed the river on December 11, despite fierce fire from Confederate snipers concealed in buildings along the city's river front. When the Confederates withdrew, Federal soldiers looted the town, from which the inhabitants had been evacuated. By December 13, Burnside was prepared to launch a two-pronged attack to drive Lee's forces from an imposing set of hills just outside Fredericksburg.

The main assault struck south of the city. Misunderstandings and bungled leadership on the part of the commander of the Federal left, Major General William B. Franklin, limited the attacking force to two small divisions - Major General George G. Meade to lead; Major General John Gibbon in support. Meade's troops broke through an unguarded gap in the Confederate lines, but Jackson's men expelled the unsupported Federals, inflicting heavy losses. Burnside launched his second attack from Fredericksburg against the Confederate left on Marye's Heights. Wave after wave of Federal attackers were mown down by Confederate troops firing from an unassailable position in a sunken road protected by a stone wall. Over the course of the afternoon, no fewer than fourteen successive Federal brigades charged the wall of Confederate fire. Not a single Federal soldier reached Longstreet's line. After the battle, Lieutenant Colonel E. Porter Alexander of the Confederate Army is reported to have told General Lee that "A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it." Lee's reply was short and poignant..."It is well that war is so terrible; else we would grow too fond of it".

On December 15, Burnside ordered his beaten army back across the Rappahannock.The Union had lost 13,000 soldiers in a battle in which the dreadful carnage was matched only by its futility. Federal morale plummeted, and Burnside was swiftly relieved of his command. By contrast, the morale of the Confederacy reached a peak. Their casualties had been considerably lighter than the Union's, totaling only 5,000. Lee's substantial victory at Fredericksburg, won with relative ease, increased the already buoyant confidence of the Army of Northern Virginia, which led subsequently to the invasion of the North the following summer.

Visiting the battlefield, one can only imagine the carnage that occurred at that place. Fredericksburg was one of many battlefields that we visited, but the impact of seeing the graves, the trenches, the Sunken Road from where the Confederates rained down their deadly fire upon the hapless Union soldiers stirred up strong images and emotions. The rest of the day was spent bicycling along country lanes, through forests and fields. Often times we were riding along the trenches dug by the Confederacy, some of which seemed to stretch for miles. We were both lost deep in our own thoughts, reflecting on what we had seen, and began to come to a greater appreciation of the enormity and horror of our nations Civil War.