Battle of Fredericksburg
After Union Army commander George B. McClellan failed to pursue Robert E. Lee’s retreating forces at the Battle of Antietam, President Abraham Lincoln removed McClellan from command, replacing him with Ambrose Burnside on November 7th, 1862, with orders from Lincoln to advance on the Confederate capital at Richmond Virginia.
Fortifications at Fredericksburg
A week later, Burnside had advanced two Union corps to Falmouth, across the Rappahannock River from Fredericksburg Virginia, which prompted Lee to rush his 80,000-man army to the hills above Fredericksburg, digging high-ground fortifications along a three-mile line of defense before the bulk of Burnside’s forces could arrive.
Burnside’s 120,000-man army found the waters of the Rappahannock too deep to ford, adding a lengthy and mismanaged delay during the construction of pontoon bridges across the river. Lee offered only token resistance at first, preferring to wait for Stonewall Jackson’s troops to reach Fredericksburg.
Battle of Fredericksburg
On December 13th, Burnside ordered Gen. William B. Franklin to lead his left flank on Lee’s right, commanded by Jackson, while the remainder of Burnside’s forces attempted to assault Confederate General James Longstreet’s First Corps at Marye’s Heights.
As the bloodbath ensued, Union general George Meade managed to pierce Jackson’s line, but when Franklin botched an opportunity to move his 50,000-man force against the bulge in the Confederate line, by the time the battle ended in defeat for Union forces, the Army of the Potomac had suffered 13,000 casualties compared to 5,000 on the Confederate side.
Who Won the Battle of Fredericksburg?
The crushing Union Army defeat sent Union morale into a plummeting free-fall, while victory for the Confederates pumped new life into the South after Lee’s failure at Antietam.
While Burnside took ownership for the Union defeat, many in Washington blamed Lincoln for pressuring his commander into an odd-off offensive, prompting a majority of Republican senators to call for the reorganization of Lincoln’s cabinet, in particular, the removal of Secretary of State William Seward and Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon Chase.
Refusing to bow to congressional pressure, on January 26, 1863, Lincoln asked for Burnside’s resignation, replacing him with General Joseph Hooker as commander of the Union Army.