Fredericksburg

Before the sun had even risen in the early morning of December 11th, 1862, engineers of the Army of the Potomac under General Ambrose E. Burnside, began constructing a series of pontoon bridges. These bridges were to be used to ferry Northern troops across the Rappahannock river into the city of Fredericksburg, held by General Robert E. Lee, leading the Army of Northern Virginia. Over the next few days Burnside's army would lead an attempt on the town and surrounding area that will leave the Union Army in defeat. It would be one of the largest and deadliest battles of the American Civil war, and featured large scale urban combat and was the first major river crossing under fire to be conducted by the United States (http://www.civilwar.org). This battle was a very important point in the South prolonging the war and keeping the North from victory. I will analyze this battle in detail, using the principles of war which are, objective, unity of command, offensive, mass, maneuver, simplicity, economy of force, security, and surprise.

In late 1862, the Union Army was desperate for a large victory over the Army of Northern Virginia, and to seize Richmond, the capital of the Confederate States of America (Mackowski). This capture of the Southern Capital was the main objective of the northern war effort, hoping that the capture of the capital and the Confederate government would bring an end to the war. Bringing the war to victory from the North would reunite the Union, which was president Lincoln's goal. The South's main objective of the war was to continue to fight the North and keep them from achieving victory, and on some occasions to defeat the Union Army and capture their capital of Washington. If the South had won the war their go...

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...ilwar.org). The battle was seen as a major and inspirational victory for the South in a time when the war looked very good for their cause. In the North the battle was seen as another disastrous defeat, and the cause of the war was beginning to look bleak (Rable). The tide of the war would ultimately shift but the battle of Fredericksburg was still one of the Union's biggest failures during the war. Several months later when the Union soldiers repulsed a massive Confederate assault at the battle of Gettysburg, Union soldiers cried out "Fredericksburg" (Rable), showing just what an effect the battle had on Union troops. Burnsides failure at Fredericksburg was ultimately due to his failure to adhere to the principles of war, and use his troops properly. One month after the battle Burnside would be replaced by yet another Union general, mostly due to his failure here.