Ambrose Burnside's Role In The Battle Of Fredericksburg

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought in Fredericksburg, Virginia, Spotsylvania County, along the Rappahannock River. The geography of this place affected the outcome of the war battle and which war the war was headed. Fredericksburg lies at the junction of two rivers, this river is the reason this battle turned out the way it did, resulting in a Confederate victory. Prospects hill played a minor part in keeping General Ambrose Burnside’s men back from breaking General Robert E. Lee’s line of defense. Marye’s Heights also played a pivotal role in this battle, and the sunken road there gave cover to the rebel soldier keeping the federals back.

The Army of the Potomac had been given to General Burnside for his command by president Abraham

Lincoln. Burnside's predecessor, George B. McClellan had won the Battle of Antietam and stopped General Robert E Lee’s assault to the north. When Lincoln found out of McClellans victory at Antietam he was glad, but angry that McClellan did not pursue Lee’s army. Lincoln wanted more aggressive attacks, attacks that were not in the likes of McClellan, so Lincoln replaced him with Burnside. The election had favored the Democrats in the north that Fall of 1862, and the impending Emancipation Proclamation made the Republican president desperate for the war to be over. Lincoln desperately needed Richmond in Union captivity, and to do so he ordered Burnside to push toward Richmond by passing through a place known as Fredericksburg (Franklin, 2009).
Burnside had never lead an army of this size (120,000 men).

When the Army of the Potomac came to the river, Rappahannock, which was about four hundred feet wide at the town of Fredericksburg they were surprised to find their pontoon bridges had not arrived already (Pfanz, 2-3). General Edwin Vose Sumner informed General Burnside of a possible attack route if they forwarded the stream a little ways more, but Burnside refused in the hopes that his pontoons would be arriving soon to take the Army of the Potomac across the Rappahannock River and into Fredericksburg. This river caused one major problem for Burnside, his failed hastiness allowed General Lee to regain knowledge of where the Army of the Potomac was located and gave much needed time to Lee to counterattack Burnsides campaign into the south to capture Richmond. Lee had to make sure all roads south were blocked for when Burnsides army crossed over the river. With his 78,000 rebel army he knew he did not have the numbers for open battlefield warfare so his men took to the hills. The hills and river offered a geographical favor to Lee’s army and the river gave them time to get to Fredericksburg, regroup, and organize there among Marye’s Hill and Prospect

Hill.
To Burnsides dismay, many factors including: “bad weather, bad roads, bad communications and administration, the engineers and bridges had not arrived” (Knauer, 101). The supplies and pontoons had been left in Berlin, Massachusetts where the army of the Potomac had crossed a different river earlier. Burnside called on General in Chief, Henry Halleck to get the boats to Washington D.C. and from there down to Fredericksburg. The boats were sent out but Halleck had forgotten to put a rush on the delivery, and finally arrived days later (Pfanz, 2). While Burnside waited, Lee had placed General Longstreet's men inside the town of Fredericksburg. Longstreet’s sharpshooter often shot at the men working on the bridge, and finally under political pressure, Burnside moved three regiments in boats across the river and attacked (Voorhees, 82). The wait was over, but the hardest part was yet to come.
On the morning of December 13th, Burnside was ready to attack.

Changing his battle plans in a short amount, rather than using the plans he had been training his troops to use for weeks chose a different plan of action. Confederates had fled from the city streets and onto Myre’s Hill and Prospects Hill and waited for Burnsides arrival. General George Meade lead the assault on Prospects Hill hoping to cut off the northern flank from Richmond and move in closer. Meade was successful in creating a six hundred foot gap in the southern flank, but need support badly. When no support came, Confederate reinforcements rushed in and pushed Meades army back. The war reached a climax when Confederates pushed the Meades army back into Fredericksburg, a place known as Slaughter Pen (Mackowski, 2012). After this, Lees line was restored and fighting resumed on Myres Hill. Lee’s men were occupying a strong position in a sunken road behind a stone wall allowing them to take out waves and waves of Burnside's men without heavy losses themselves (Davis,

98)..
At the end of the battle federal soldiers were scattered over the open field. Two days later, the Union forces retreated back over the bridges. A shattering loss for the Union and Lincoln resulting in thirteen thousand soldiers dead and wounded. Lee only lost half of that number. The Union cause fell into its darkest hours and southerners felt independence was closer than ever thanks to Lees brilliance. It was not Lee’s brilliance that won the war, however, it was the river. This geographical feature gave Lee the time to organize a counterattack before Burnside could push further toward Richmond. Had the river not been there, Burnside would have reached Richmond faster than Lee (Voorhees, ). I am not saying Burnside would have won had the river not delayed his march, I am saying Burnside would have captured moved in closer to Richmond and had a stronger chance at capturing the Confederate capital, for however long he could keep it.