MG Hancock’s Division at the Battle of Fredericksburg

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MG Hancock’s Division at the Battle of Fredericksburg

Introduction of the battle of Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg was the meeting place of the Armies of the Potomac and of Northern Virginia because of political pressure for the Union to achieve a decisive military victory. Winfield Scott’s Anaconda plan, which would have strangled the Confederacy into surrender through economic warfare, was overshadowed by impatience in Washington D.C., and by the aspirations of officers who were students of the grand Napoleonic victories that occurred less than a century prior.

President Abraham Lincoln demanded a decisive victory. He was tired of his military leadership’s inability to decisively engage and defeat Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Allowing the war to drag on was to the Confederacies advantage. Lincoln was so frustrated that he relieved General George B. McClellan for failing to defeat Lee at Antietam, and replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside, who proved to be very conservative in battle against General Lee. Knowing that General Lee was a student of Napoleonic warfare, Burnside feared that Lee always had a large Corps in reserve waiting to flank should he be decisively engaged from the front.

A Brief Background of Hancock and his Chain of Command

Major General Winfield Scott Hancock was a member of the West Point Class of 1844. He was commissioned into the infantry and served in the Mexican War. Prior to the battle of Fredericksburg, Hancock had earned a great reputation as a combat leader for his actions in the peninsular campaign.

General Hancock’s first line supervisor was Major General Darius N. Couch, who was the commander of the Second Corps. Major General Couch’s Second Corps fell under General Edwin V. Sumne...

... middle of paper ...

...he 150 he lost on the initial invasion of Fredericksburg. On 14 and 15 December Second Corps moved back into Fredericksburg. By 0100 on the 16 December they had all re crossed the Rappahannock.

Works Cited

Caldwell, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p233

Couch, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.221

French, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.286

Howard, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.262

Hancock, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.226

Longstreet, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.578

Meager, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.240

Ransom, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.517

William Marvel. “The Making of a Myth: Ambrose E. Burnside and the Union High Command at Fredericksburg,” in The Fredericksburg Campaign: Decision on the Rappahannock, ed. Gary W. Gallagher (Chapel Hill, 1995).

Zook, “Report,” OR, ser.1, vol.21, pt.1, p.253

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