Fredericksburg Campaign, December 1862

The Battle of Fredericksburg began on the morning of December 11, 1862, when Confederate sharpshooters opened fire on Federal engineers building a pontoon bridge for the Union Army of the Potomac to cross the Rappahannock River. Fredericksburg's defenders included approximately 16,000 men of Brigadier General William Barksdale's Mississippi Brigade, McLaw's Division, Longstreet's Corps. As combat loomed, many residents had already evacuated, and Union artillery fire aimed at suppressing the Southern marksmen drove the remaining civilians out as more than 9,000 shells struck the town, damaging chimneys, houses, and fences, with some damage still visible today. After Union troops forced their way across the river and into Fredericksburg, the two sides fought through streets and around buildings wrecked and left burning by the artillery. As darkness fell, exhausted soldiers fought a final fierce firefight in this area before the Confederates withdrew, their day-long defense having given the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia time to concentrate on the heights beyond town.

Fredericksburg, Virginia · United States