THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG
The silent city of military graves at Fredericksburg is a memorial of one of the bloodiest battles of the war. General McClellan failed to follow up the retreating Southern army after the battle of Antietam, and thereby lost favor with the authorities at Washington, and was relieved of the command of the army, which was handed to General Ambrose E. Burnside, who took command of the Army of the Potomac on November 9, 1862, and on the following day McClellan took leave of his troops.
Burnside changed the whole plan of the campaign and decided to move on Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River. His army moved forward in three divisions, under Sumner, Hooker and Franklin. They were delayed several days in crossing the river, due to the failure of the arrival of the pontoon bridges. A council of war was held on the night of December 10th, in which the officers were opposed to the plan of battle, but Burnside was determined to carry out his original plan immediately. After two days of skirmishing with the Confederate sharpshooters he succeeded in getting his army across the river on the morning of December 13th.
General Lee had by this time entrenched his army on the hills surrounding Fredericksburg. His line stretched for five miles along the range of hills, surrounding the town on all sides save the east, where the river flows. The strongest position of the Confederates was on Marye's Heights, in the rear of the town. Along the foot of this hill was a stone wall about four feet high, bounding the eastern side of the Telegraph road, being depressed a few feet below the surface of the stone wall, and thus it formed a breastwork for the Confederate troops. Behind this wall a strong Confederate force was concealed, while higher up the hill in several ranks the main army was posted. The right wing of the Confederate army, consisting of about 30,000 men, commanded by "Stonewall" Jackson, was posted on an elevation near Hamilton's crossing of the Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad. The left wing was posted on Marye's Heights, and was commanded by the redoubtable Longstreet. The Southern forces numbered about 75,000 men.
The town proper and the adjoining valleys had been occupied for two days by the Federal troops, marching to and fro and making ready for a decisive conflict, which required no prophet to foretell was near at hand. Franklin's division of 40,000 men was strengthened by a part of Hooker's division and was ordered to make the first attack on the Confederate right, under Jackson. Sumner's division was also reënforced from Hooker's division and was formed for an assault against the Confederates, posted on Marye's Heights.
From the position taken by the Confederate forces their cannons and field artillery poured shot and shell into the town of Fredericksburg. Every house became a target, though deserted except by a few venturesome riflemen. There was scarcely a house that escaped. Ruined, battered and bloody Fredericksburg three times was a Federal hospital and its back yards became little cemeteries.
All this magnificent battle formation had been effected under cover of a dense fog, and when it lifted on that fateful Saturday there was revealed a scene of truly military grandeur. Concealed by the curtain of nature, the Southern army had entrenched itself most advantageously upon the hills, and the Union force massed in strength below, lay within cannon shot of their foe. The Union army totaled 113,000 men.
When the fog lifted in the forenoon of December 13th, Franklin's division was revealed in full strength marching and counter-marching in preparation of the coming conflict. Officers in new uniforms, thousands of bayonets gleaming in the sunshine, champing steeds, rattling gun-carriages whisking artillery into proper range, formed a scene of magnificent grandeur, which excited the admiration of all, even the Confederates. This maneuver has been called the grandest military scene of the war, yet after all this show, Burnside's subordinate officers were unanimous in their belief in the rashness of the undertaking. It is said by historians that the Army of the Potomac never went down to battle with less alacrity than on this day at Fredericksburg.
The advance began about the middle of the forenoon on Jackson's right, which was made by the divisions led by Generals Meade, Doubleday and Gibbon, who endeavored to seize one of the opposing heights on Jackson's extreme right. The advance was made in three lines of battle, which were guarded in front and on each flank by Jackson, whose artillery swept the field by both a front and an enfilading fire as the attacking columns advanced. And as the divisions approached within range Jackson's left poured a deadly fire of musketry upon them, which mowed down brave men in the Union lines in swaths, leaving broad gaps where men had stood.
On the Federal columns came, only to be swept again and again by this murderous fire, but were at length repulsed.
The Confederate lines were broken only once by a part of Meade's division, which captured a few flags and several prisoners. The lost ground was soon recovered by the Confederates. Some of the charges made by the Federals in this engagement were heroic in the extreme. In one advance knapsacks were unslung and bayonets fixed; a brigade marched across a plowed field and passed through broken lines of other brigades, which were retiring in confusion from the leaden storm. In every instance the Federals were driven back in shattered columns.
The dead and wounded lay in heaps. Soldiers were fleeing and officers were galloping to and fro, urging their lines forward.
At length they received orders to retreat, and in retiring from the field the destruction was almost as great as during the assault. Most of the wounded were brought from the field after the engagement, but the dead were left where they fell.
During this engagement General George D. Bayard was mortally wounded by a shot that had severed the sword-belt of a subordinate officer who was standing by.
While Franklin's division was engaged with the Confederate right, Sumner's division was engaged in a terrific assault upon the works of Marye's Heights, which was the stronghold of the Confederate forces. Their position was almost impregnable, consisting of earthworks, wood and stone barricades, running along the sunken road near the foot of the hill. The Federals were not apprised of the sunken road nor of the Confederate force concealed behind the stone wall, under General Cobb. When the Federals advanced up the road they were harassed by shot and shell at every step, but came dashing on in line notwithstanding the terrific fire which poured upon them. The Irish brigade of Hancock's division, under General Meagher, made a wonderful charge, the Irish soldiers moved steadily up the ridge until within a few yards of the sunken road, from which the unexpected fire mowed them down. When they returned from the assault but 250 out of 1,200 men reported under arms from the field, and all these were needed to care for their wounded comrades. This brigade, as we will notice later, distinguished itself at Gettysburg and other engagements. It lost more men in killed and wounded than any regiment that left the State of New York. When returning to be mustered out in 1865, it had only forty-seven men out of 950 that enlisted four years before on first leaving for the front.
Sumner sent column after column against this strong position, but they were repulsed with great slaughter. The approach was completely commanded by the Confederate batteries.
Not only was the Confederate fire disastrous upon the approaching columns, but it also inflicted great damage upon the masses of the Federal army, and it is said that in front of Marye's house, which was in the center where the charge was made, the Federals fell three deep in one of the bravest and bloodiest charges of the war.
Six times did the Federals, raked by the deadly fire of Washington's artillery, advance to within 100 yards of the sunken road, only to be driven back by the rapid fire of the Confederate infantry concealed there. The Confederates' effective and successful work in this battle was not alone due to their strong position, but also to the skill and generalship of the leaders, and the courage and well-directed aim of their cannoneers and infantry.
The whole plain was covered with men, the living men running here and there, their broken lines closing up and the wounded being carried to the rear.
The point and method of attack made by Sumner was anticipated by the Confederates, and careful preparation had been made to meet it.
As the Federal columns advanced without hurrah or battle-cry, their entire lines were swept by a heavy artillery fire, which poured canister and shell and solid shot into their ranks from the front and on both sides with frightful results. The ground was so thickly strewn with dead bodies as seriously to impede the movements of renewed attack. These repeated assaults in such good order caused some fear on the part of General Lee that they might eventually break his lines, and he conveyed his anxiety to General Longstreet, but his fears proved groundless.
General Cobb, who had so gallantly defended the Confederate position at the sunken road, against the onslaughts of the Federals, fell mortally wounded and was carried from the field.
His command was handed to Kershaw, who took his place in this desperate struggle. The onrushing Federals fell almost in battalions; the dead and wounded lay in heaps. Late in the day the dead bodies, which had become frozen from the extreme cold, were placed in front of the soldiers as a protection to shield the living.
The steadiness of the Union troops and the silent and determined heroism of the rank and file in these repeated but hopeless assaults upon the Confederate works were marvelous indeed, and will go down in history as a monument to the memory of those who were engaged in this terrible conflict.
After these disastrous attempts to carry the works of the Confederate left it was night; the Federals had retired; hope was abandoned, and it was seen that the day was lost for the Union forces. The shattered Army of the Potomac sought to gather and care for the wounded. The beautiful Fredericksburg of a few days before now had put on a different appearance. Ancestral homes were turned into hospitals. The charming drives and stately groves, and the pleasure grounds of the colonial days, were not filled with grand carriages and gay parties, but with war horses, soldiers and other military equipments, and had put on the gloom that follows in the wake of a defeated army after a great battle.
The plan of Burnside had ended in failure. In his report of the battle to Washington he gave reasons for the issue, and in a manly way took the responsibility upon himself and most highly commended his officers and men.
President Lincoln's verdict of this battle is reverse to the unanimous opinions of the historians. In his reply to Burnside's report of the battle he says, "Although you were not successful, the attempt was not an error, nor the failure other than accident."
After the battle the wounded lay on the field in their agony, exposed to the freezing cold for forty-eight hours before they were cared for. Many were burned by the long dead grass becoming ignited by the cannon fire.
The scene witnessed was dreadful and heart-rending. The Union loss was about 12,000, and the Confederates less than half that number. The Union army was withdrawn across the river under the cover of darkness, and the battle of Fredericksburg had passed into history.
Burnside, at his own request, was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, which was handed to General Joseph Hooker.
THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE
After the battle of Fredericksburg the Union army went into winter quarters at Falmouth, only a few miles away, while the Confederates took up their encampment for the winter at Fredericksburg.
General Joseph Hooker, who was popularly known as "Fighting Joe Hooker," had succeeded General Burnside in command of the Army of the Potomac, which numbered about 130,000 men, while that of the Confederates numbered about 60,000.
Hooker conceived the idea to divide his army and leave Sedgwick with about 40,000 men to make a feint upon the Confederates, stationed about Fredericksburg, and himself with the remainder of the army to move around Lee's army and take a position at Chancellorsville, a small place in a wilderness country only a few miles from Fredericksburg, and by doing this, take Lee by surprise. These plans of Hooker have been considered by war historians as being well laid if they had been carried out. Lee was on the alert, and had heard of Hooker's plans, and was not to be caught in the trap. Lee, paying little attention to Sedgwick, east of Fredericksburg, had turned to face Hooker. By rapid night marches he met Hooker's army before it reached its destination. His advance columns were pushed back by the Federals, who succeeded in taking the position which was assigned to them, Meade on the left and Slocum on the right, with adequate support in the rear. All was in readiness and had favorable positions when, to the amazement of all the officers, Hooker ordered the whole army to fall back to the position it had occupied the day before, thereby leaving the advantage with Lee, who moved his forces up to the positions which the Federals evacuated and began feeling the Federal lines with some cannonading during the evening of May 1st.
The Confederates were in extreme danger, having one large army in their front and another almost as large as theirs in their rear near Fredericksburg. But Lee decided to make one great and decisive blow at Hooker in front. During the night of May 1st Lee held council with "Stonewall" Jackson and accepted a plan laid out by him for Jackson to take part of the army and move around through the dense wood and rough country and fall upon the right flank of the enemy.
Early on the morning of May 2d the cannonading began its death-song and the infantry was brought into action. Before long Jackson began, with a portion of the army, to move off the field, and Hooker, observing this, believed that Lee's army was in full retreat on Richmond. This movement proved to be the undoing of Hooker's army, as Jackson was making for his right flank. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon when Jackson broke from the woods in a charge upon the unsuspecting troops of Hooker's right which was under Howard.
The approach of Jackson's forces was first intimated to the Federals by the bending of shrubbery, the stampede of rabbits and squirrels, and the flocks of birds in wild flight from the woods. First appeared a few skirmishers, then the rattling of musketry and the incessant roar of cannon. On the Confederates came in their impetuous charge. The charge was so unexpected and terrific that they carried everything before them. The Federal lines were swept as by tidal waves and rolled up like a scroll.
This crowning and final stroke of Jackson's military genius was the result of his own carefully worked-out plan, which had been approved by Lee.
General Hooker was spending the evening at his headquarters at the Chancellor House, rejoicing, as he thought, that Jackson was in full retreat and everything appeared to be going well. Presently the roar of battle became louder and louder on his right and an officer came up at full speed to notify him that his right was being fiercely attacked, was giving away, and would soon be in utter rout. Hooker made haste to the scene of battle and passed through brigade after brigade of his forces in retreat and confusion.
He was successful in having Berry re-form his division and charge the Confederates with fixed bayonets, which partly stopped the Confederates' advance. This gave the Federal artillery a few minutes to prepare itself for action. They finally succeeded in stopping the Confederate advance.
The mighty turmoil was silenced as darkness gathered. The two hostile forces were concealed in the darkness watching each other. Finally, at midnight, the order, "Forward!" was given in subdued tones to Sickle's corps. They stealthily advanced upon the Confederate position and at heavy loss gained the position sought for.
Between Hooker's and Sedgwick's divisions of the army stood the Confederate army flushed with the victory of the day, immediately in front of Sedgwick was Fredericksburg, beyond which loomed Marye's Heights, strongly guarded by Washington's artillery of the Confederates. These Heights were the battleground of a few months before when Burnside tried in vain to drive the Confederates from their crest.
Shortly after midnight Sedgwick began his march against Marye's Heights that was fraught with peril and death. At the foot of the slope were the stone wall and the sunken road, which was the battleground of a few months before in the battle of Fredericksburg. The crest and slopes bristled with Confederate cannon and musket. Sedgwick made his attack directly upon the stone wall in the face of a terrible storm of artillery and musketry. The first assault failed, but the second met with more success, as they succeeded in driving the Confederates from their strong position at the point of the bayonet by their overwhelming numbers. Sedgwick pushed on to attack Lee in the rear, but Lee was aware of his advance and dispatched General Early with a strong force to hold him in check and thus prevent his juncture with Hooker's army at Chancellorsville. Lee's army and that of Hooker's had been engaged since early morning in deadly combat.
While this engagement was at its height General Hooker, while leaning against a pillar on the porch of the Chancellor House, was stunned and felled to the ground and for some time it was thought that he was killed. This was done by a cannon ball, which shattered the pillar against which he was leaning. This injury incapacitated Hooker from active service the balance of the day and he gave orders for his army to retire, which was reluctantly done by his subordinate officers. When his columns began to retire from the field the Confederates increased their artillery fire, which played upon the retreating columns in blue. This fire marked the doom of the old Chancellor House, where Hooker had headquarters. The brick walls were pierced through by cannon balls and shells exploded in the upper rooms, setting the building on fire. Fragments of the demolished chimneys rained down upon the wounded in the lower rooms.
During the entire day's battle there were nineteen women and children, including some slaves, in the cellar where they had taken refuge. They were all removed before the complete destruction of the house by fire.
The long, deep trenches, full of Federal and Confederate dead, told the awful story of Chancellorsville. This scene will never be forgotten by the survivors of the battle. This was one of the greatest battles yet fought on the American Continent, and has gone down in history as being one of the greatest of modern times.
The Union loss was about 17,000, while that of the Confederates was about 13,000.
Late in the evening of the first day's battle General "Stonewall" Jackson was mortally wounded, in which the South suffered incalculable loss. After his brilliant flank march and the evening attack on Hooker's army had been driven home, at half-past eight, Jackson had ridden beyond his lines to reconnoiter for the final advance. By the sudden fire of musketry in his front, he discovered that he was within the enemy's lines. His party, suddenly turning back and riding at full speed, was mistook by his own men for the enemy, and his men, firing a volley of musketry, killed and wounded several of Jackson's party and mortally wounded Jackson by two shots in the left arm and one in his right hand. He was taken from his horse by the officers who were with him, among whom was A. P. Hill. It was found that there was no immediate conveyance for him to be carried within his lines. Presently the enemy discovered the commotion and mistaking it as an advance of the Confederate lines, began to shell the immediate vicinity with grape and canister, which necessitated the party with Jackson to lie down to escape the shower of lead which poured over them. The scene about them was an awful one. The air was pierced by the shrieks of shells and the cries of the wounded. Finally a stretcher was secured and Jackson was carried to the rear. One of the bearers was shot down and his place was taken by another. During the turmoil General W. D. Pender was met, who expressed the fear that his lines must fall back. General Jackson, in a clear voice, "You must hold your ground, General Pender; you must hold your ground to the last, sir." This was his last order to a subordinate officer.
It was first thought that Jackson's wounds would not prove fatal, but he developed pneumonia and gradually grew worse, and on the morning of May 10th it was apparent that he had only a few hours to live; at times he was unconscious and his mind apparently wandered on previous battlefields. During one of his unconscious moments he suddenly cried out, "Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action. Pass the infantry to the front!"
He then became silent and weak, and his last words were: "Let us cross over the river and rest in the shade of the trees."
When Lee heard that Jackson had fallen he said: "Any victory would be dear at such a price." It is thought by many that the result at Gettysburg would have been different had "The Great Flanker" lived to have been there. Henderson, the British war historian, said the fame of "Stonewall" Jackson is no longer the exclusive property of Virginia and the South; it has become the birthright of every man privileged to call himself an American.