Battle of Fredericksburg The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11 – 15 , 1862 , in and around Fredericksburg , Virginia , between General Robert E . Lee ' s Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac , commanded by Maj . Gen . Ambrose Burnside . The Union army ' s futile frontal attacks on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city is remembered as one of the most one - sided battles of the American Civil War , with Union casualties more than twice as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates . Burnside ' s plan was to cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg in mid - November and race to the Confederate capital of Richmond before Lee ' s army could stop him . Bureaucratic delays prevented Burnside from receiving the necessary pontoon bridges in time and Lee moved his army to block the crossings . When the Union army was finally able to build its bridges and cross under fire , urban combat resulted in the city on December 11 – 12 . Union troops prepared to assault Confederate defensive positions south of the city and on a strongly fortified ridge just west of the city known as Marye ' s Heights . On December 13 , the " grand division " of Maj . Gen . William B . Franklin was able to pierce the first defensive line of Confederate Lt . Gen . Stonewall Jackson to the south , but was finally repulsed . Burnside ordered the grand divisions of Maj . Gens . Edwin V . Sumner and Joseph Hooker to make multiple frontal assaults against Lt . Gen . James Longstreet ' s position on Marye ' s Heights , all of which were repulsed with heavy losses . On December 15 , Burnside withdrew his army , ending another failed Union campaign in the Eastern Theater . Background and Burnside ' s plan . In November 1862 , President Abraham Lincoln needed to demonstrate the success of the Union war effort before the Northern public lost confidence in his administration . Confederate armies had been on the move earlier in the fall , invading Kentucky and Maryland , and although each had been turned back , those armies remained intact and capable of further action . Lincoln urged Maj . Gen . Ulysses S . Grant to advance against the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg , Mississippi . He replaced Maj . Gen . Don Carlos Buell with Maj . Gen . William S . Rosecrans , hoping for a more aggressive posture against the Confederates in Tennessee , and on November 5 , seeing that his replacement of Buell had not stimulated Maj . Gen . George B . McClellan into action , he issued orders to replace McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac in Virginia . McClellan had stopped Robert E . Lee at the Battle of Antietam in Maryland , but had not been able to destroy Lee ' s army , nor did he pursue Lee back into Virginia aggressively enough for Lincoln . McClellan ' s replacement was Maj . Gen . Ambrose E . Burnside , the commander of the IX Corps . Burnside had established a reputation as an independent commander , with successful operations earlier that year in coastal North Carolina and , unlike McClellan , had no apparent political ambitions . However , he felt himself unqualified for army - level command and objected when offered the position . He accepted only when it was made clear to him that McClellan would be replaced in any event and that an alternative choice for command was Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker , whom Burnside disliked and distrusted . Burnside assumed command on November 7 . In response to prodding from Lincoln and general - in - chief Maj . Gen . Henry W . Halleck , Burnside planned a late fall offensive ; he communicated his plan to Halleck on November 9 . The plan relied on quick movement and deception . He would concentrate his army in a visible fashion near Warrenton , feigning a movement on Culpeper Court House , Orange Court House , or Gordonsville . Then he would rapidly shift his army southeast and cross the Rappahannock River to Fredericksburg , hoping that Robert E . Lee would sit still , unclear as to Burnside ' s intentions , while the Union Army made a rapid movement against Richmond , south along the Richmond , Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad from Fredericksburg . Burnside selected this plan because he was concerned that if he were to move directly south from Warrenton , he would be exposed to a flanking attack from Lt . Gen . Thomas J . " Stonewall " Jackson , whose corps was at that time in the Shenandoah Valley south of Winchester . He also believed that the Orange and Alexandria Railroad would be an inadequate supply line . ( Burnside was also influenced by plans McClellan began developing just prior to being relieved . Aware that Lee had blocked the O & A , McClellan considered a route through Fredericksburg and ordered a small group of cavalrymen commanded by Capt . Ulric Dahlgren to investigate the condition of the RF & P . ) While Burnside began assembling a supply base at Falmouth , near Fredericksburg , the Lincoln administration entertained a lengthy debate about the wisdom of his plan , which differed from the president ' s preference of a movement south on the O & A and a direct confrontation with Lee ' s army instead of the movement focused on the city of Richmond . Lincoln reluctantly approved the plan on November 14 but cautioned his general to move with great speed , certainly doubting that Lee would cooperate as Burnside anticipated . Opposing forces . Burnside organized his Army of the Potomac into three so - called " grand divisions " , organizations that included infantry corps , cavalry , and artillery , comprising 120 , 000 men , of whom 114 , 000 would be engaged in the coming battle : Robert E . Lee ' s Army of Northern Virginia had nearly 85 , 000 men , with 72 , 500 engaged . His organization of the army in corps was approved by an act of the Confederate Congress on November 6 , 1862 . The two armies at Fredericksburg represented the largest number of armed men that ever confronted each other for combat during the Civil War . Movement to battle . The Union Army began marching on November 15 , and the first elements arrived in Falmouth on November 17 . Burnside ' s plan quickly went awry — he had ordered pontoon bridges to be sent to the front and assembled for his quick crossing of the Rappahannock , but because of administrative bungling , the bridges did not arrive on time . Burnside first requisitioned the pontoon bridging ( along with many other provisions ) on November 7 when he detailed his plan to Halleck . The plan was sent to the attention of Brig . Gen . George Washington Cullum , the chief of staff in Washington ( received on November 9 ) . Plans called for both riverine and overland movement of the pontoon trains to Falmouth . On November 14 , the 50th New York Engineers reported the pontoons were ready to move , except for a lack of the 270 horses needed to move them . Unknown to Burnside , most of the bridging was still on the upper Potomac . Communications between Burnside ' s staff engineer Cyrus B . Comstock and the Engineer Brigade commander Daniel P . Woodbury indicate that Burnside had assumed the bridging was en route to Washington based on orders given on November 6 . As Maj . Gen . Edwin V . Sumner arrived , he strongly urged an immediate crossing of the river to scatter the token Confederate force of 500 men in the town and occupying the commanding heights to the west . Burnside became anxious , concerned that the increasing autumn rains would make the fording points unusable and that Sumner might be cut off and destroyed , ordering Sumner to wait in Falmouth . Lee at first anticipated that Burnside would beat him across the Rappahannock and that to protect Richmond , he would assume the next defensible position to the south , the North Anna River . But when he saw how slowly Burnside was moving ( and Confederate President Jefferson Davis expressed reservations about planning for a battle so close to Richmond ) , he directed all of his army toward Fredericksburg . By November 23 , all of Longstreet ' s corps had arrived and Lee placed them on the ridge known as Marye ' s Heights to the west of town , with Anderson ' s division on the far left , McLaws ' s directly behind the town , and Pickett ' s and Hood ' s to the right . He sent for Jackson on November 26 , but his Second Corps commander had anticipated the need and began forced - marching his troops from Winchester on November 22 , covering as many as 20 miles a day . Jackson arrived at Lee ' s headquarters on November 29 and his divisions were deployed to prevent Burnside crossing downstream from Fredericksburg : D . H . Hill ' s division moved to Port Royal , 18 miles down river ; Early ' s 12 miles down river at Skinker ' s Neck ; A . P . Hill ' s at Thomas Yerby ' s house , " Belvoir " , about 6 miles southeast of town ; and Taliaferro ' s along the RF & P Railroad , 4 miles south at Guinea Station . The boats and equipment for a single pontoon bridge arrived at Falmouth on November 25 , much too late to enable the Army of the Potomac to cross the river without opposition . Burnside still had an opportunity , however , because by then he was facing only half of Lee ' s army , not yet dug in , and if he acted quickly , he might have been able to attack Longstreet and defeat him before Jackson arrived . Once again he squandered his opportunity . The full complement of bridges arrived at the end of the month , but by this time Jackson was present and Longstreet was preparing strong defenses . Burnside originally planned to cross his army east of Fredericksburg at Skinker ' s Neck , but an advance movement by Federal gunboats to there was fired upon and drew Early ' s and D . H . Hill ' s divisions into that area , a movement spotted by Union balloon observers . Now assuming that Lee had anticipated his plan , Burnside guessed that the Confederates had weakened their left and center to concentrate against him on their right . So he decided to cross directly at Fredericksburg . On December 9 , he wrote to Halleck , " I think now the enemy will be more surprised by a crossing immediately in our front than any other part of the river . . . . I ' m convinced that a large force of the enemy is now concentrated at Port Royal , its left resting on Fredericksburg , which we hope to turn . " In addition to his numerical advantage in troop strength , Burnside also had the advantage of knowing his army could not be attacked effectively . On the other side of the Rappahannock , 220 artillery pieces had been located on the ridge known as Stafford Heights to prevent Lee ' s army from mounting any major counterattacks . Battle . Crossing the Rappahannock , December 11 – 12 . Union engineers began to assemble six pontoon bridges before dawn on December 11 , two just north of the town center , a third on the southern end of town , and three farther south , near the confluence of the Rappahannock and Deep Run . The engineers constructing the bridge directly across from city came under punishing fire from Confederate sharpshooters , primarily from the Mississippi brigade of Brig . Gen . William Barksdale , in command of the town defenses . Union artillery attempted to dislodge the sharpshooters , but their positions in the cellars of houses rendered the fire from 150 guns mostly ineffective . Eventually Burnside ' s artillery commander , Brig . Gen . Henry J . Hunt , convinced him to send infantry landing parties over in the pontoon boats to secure a small bridgehead and rout the sharpshooters . Col . Norman J . Hall volunteered his brigade for this assignment . Burnside suddenly turned reluctant , lamenting to Hall in front of his men that " the effort meant death to most of those who should undertake the voyage . " When his men responded to Hall ' s request with three cheers , Burnside relented . At 3 p . m . , the Union artillery began a preparatory bombardment and 135 infantrymen from the 7th Michigan and the 19th Massachusetts crowded into the small boats , and the 20th Massachusetts followed soon after . They crossed successfully and spread out in a skirmish line to clear the sharpshooters . Although some of the Confederates surrendered , fighting proceeded street by street through the town as the engineers completed the bridges . Sumner ' s Right Grand Division began crossing at 4 : 30 p . m . , but the bulk of his men did not cross until December 12 . Hooker ' s Center Grand Division crossed on December 13 , using both the northern and southern bridges . The clearing of the city buildings by Sumner ' s infantry and by artillery fire from across the river began the first major urban combat of the war . Union gunners sent more than 5 , 000 shells against the town and the ridges to the west . By nightfall , four brigades of Union troops occupied the town , which they looted with a fury that had not been seen in the war up to that point . This behavior enraged Lee , who compared their depredations with those of the ancient Vandals . The destruction also angered the Confederate troops , many of whom were native Virginians . Many on the Union side were also shocked by the destruction inflicted on Fredericksburg . Civilian casualties were unusually sparse in the midst of such widespread violence ; George Rable estimates no more than four civilian deaths . River crossings south of the city by Franklin ' s Left Grand Division were much less eventful . Both bridges were completed by 11 a . m . on December 11 while five batteries of Union artillery suppressed most sniper fire against the engineers . Franklin was ordered at 4 p . m . to cross his entire command , but only a single brigade was sent out before dark . Crossings resumed at dawn and were completed by 1 p . m . on December 12 . Early on December 13 , Jackson recalled his divisions under Jubal Early and D . H . Hill from down river positions to join his main defensive lines south of the city . Burnside ' s verbal instructions on December 12 outlined a main attack by Franklin , supported by Hooker , on the southern flank , while Sumner made a secondary attack on the northern . His actual orders on December 13 were vague and confusing to his subordinates . At 5 p . m . on December 12 , he made a cursory inspection of the southern flank , where Franklin and his subordinates pressed him to give definite orders for a morning attack by the grand division , so they would have adequate time to position their forces overnight . However , Burnside demurred and the order did not reach Franklin until 7 : 15 or 7 : 45 a . m . When it arrived , it was not as Franklin expected . Rather than ordering an attack by the entire grand division of almost 60 , 000 men , Franklin was to keep his men in position , but was to send " a division at least " to seize the high ground ( Prospect Hill ) around Hamilton ' s Crossing , Sumner was to send one division through the city and up Telegraph Road , and both flanks were to be prepared to commit their entire commands . Burnside was apparently expecting these weak attacks to intimidate Lee , causing him to withdraw . Franklin , who had originally advocated a vigorous assault , chose to interpret Burnside ' s order very conservatively . Brig . Gen . James A . Hardie , who delivered the order , did not ensure that Burnside ' s intentions were understood by Franklin , and map inaccuracies about the road network made those intentions unclear . Furthermore , Burnside ' s choice of the verb " to seize " was less forceful in 19th century military terminology than an order " to carry " the heights . South of the city , December 13 . December 13 began cold and overcast . A dense fog blanketed the ground and made it impossible for the armies to see each other . Franklin ordered his I Corps commander , Maj . Gen . John F . Reynolds , to select a division for the attack . Reynolds chose his smallest division , about 4 , 500 men commanded by Maj . Gen . George G . Meade , and assigned Brig . Gen . John Gibbon ' s division to support Meade ' s attack . His reserve division , under Maj . Gen . Abner Doubleday , was to face south and protect the left flank between the Richmond Road and the river . Meade ' s division began moving out at 8 : 30 a . m . , with Gibbon following behind . At around 10 : 30 , the fog started lifting . They moved parallel to the river initially , turning right to face the Richmond Road , where they began to be struck by enfilading fire from the Virginia Horse Artillery under Major John Pelham . Pelham started with two cannons — a 12 - pounder Napoleon smoothbore and a rifled Blakely — but continued with only one after the latter was disabled by counter - battery fire . " Jeb " Stuart sent word to Pelham that he should feel free to withdraw from his dangerous position at any time , to which Pelham responded , " Tell the General I can hold my ground . " The Iron Brigade ( formerly Gibbon ' s command , but now led by Brig . Gen . Solomon Meredith ) was sent out to deal with the Confederate horse artillery . This action was mainly conducted by the 24th Michigan Infantry , a newly enlisted regiment that had joined the brigade in October . After about an hour , Pelham ' s ammunition began to run low and he withdrew . General Lee observed the action and commented about Pelham , age 24 , " It is glorious to see such courage in one so young . " The most prominent victim of Pelham ' s fire was Brig . Gen . George D . Bayard , a cavalry general mortally wounded by a shell while standing in reserve near Franklin ' s headquarters . Jackson ' s main artillery batteries had remained silent in the fog during this exchange , but the Union troops soon began to receive direct fire from Prospect Hill , principally five batteries directed by Lt . Col . Reuben Lindsay Walker , and Meade ' s attack was stalled about 600 yards from his initial objective for almost two hours by these combined artillery attacks . The Union artillery fire was lifted as Meade ' s men moved forward around 1 p . m . Jackson ' s force of about 35 , 000 remained concealed on the wooded ridge to Meade ' s front . His formidable defensive line had an unforeseen flaw . In A . P . Hill ' s division ' s line , a triangular patch of the woods that extended beyond the railroad was swampy and covered with thick underbrush and the Confederates had left a 600 - yard gap there between the brigades of Brig . Gens . James H . Lane and James J . Archer . Brig . Gen . Maxcy Gregg ' s brigade stood about a quarter mile behind the gap . Meade ' s 1st Brigade ( Col . William Sinclair ) entered the gap , climbed the railroad embankment , and turned right into the underbrush , striking Lane ' s brigade in the flank . Following immediately behind , his 3rd Brigade ( Brig . Gen . Feger Jackson ) turned left and hit Archer ' s flank . The 2nd Brigade ( Col . Albert L . Magilton ) came up in support and intermixed with the leading brigades . As the gap widened with pressure on the flanks , thousands of Meade ' s men reached the top of the ridge and ran into Gregg ' s brigade . Many of these Confederates had stacked arms while taking cover from Union artillery and were not expecting to be attacked at that moment , so were killed or captured unarmed . Gregg at first mistook the Union soldiers for fleeing Confederate troops and ordered his men not to fire on them . While he rode prominently in front of his lines , the partially deaf Gregg could not hear the approaching Federals or their bullets flying around him . He was shot through the spinal cord , dying two days later . Confederate reserves — the divisions of Brig . Gens . Jubal A . Early and William B . Taliaferro — moved into the fray from behind Gregg ' s original position . Inspired by their attack , regiments from Lane ' s and Archer ' s brigades rallied and formed a new defensive line in the gap . Now Meade ' s men were receiving fire from three sides and could not withstand the pressure . Feger Jackson attempted to flank a Confederate battery , but after his horse was shot and he began to lead on foot , he was shot in the head by a volley and his brigade fell back , leaderless ( Col . Joseph W . Fisher soon replaced Jackson in command ) . To Meade ' s right , Gibbon ' s division prepared to move forward at 1 p . m . Brig . Gen . Nelson Taylor proposed to Gibbon that they supplement Meade ' s assault with a bayonet charge against Lane ' s position . However , Gibbon stated that this would violate his orders , so Taylor ' s brigade did not move forward until 1 : 30 p . m . The attack did not have the benefit of a gap to exploit , nor did the Union soldiers have any wooded cover for their advance , so progress was slow under heavy fire from Lane ' s brigade and Confederate artillery . Immediately following Taylor was the brigade of Col . Peter Lyle , and the advance of the two brigades ground to a halt before they reached the railroad . Committing his reserve at 1 : 45 p . m . , Gibbon sent forward his brigade under Col . Adrian R . Root , which moved through the survivors of the first two brigades , but they were soon brought to a halt as well . Eventually some of the Federals reached the crest of the ridge and had some success during hand - to - hand fighting — men on both sides had depleted their ammunition and resorted to bayonets and rifle butts , and even empty rifles with bayonets thrown like javelins — but they were forced to withdraw back across the railroad embankment along with Meade ' s men to their left . Gibbon ' s attack , despite heavy casualties , had failed to support Meade ' s temporary breakthrough . After the battle Meade complained that some of Gibbon ' s officers had not charged quickly enough . But his primary frustration was with Brig . Gen . David B . Birney , whose division of the III Corps had been designated to support the attack as well . Birney claimed that his men had been subjected to damaging artillery fire as they formed up , that he had not understood the importance of Meade ' s attack , and that Reynolds had not ordered his division forward . When Meade galloped to the rear to confront Birney with a string of fierce profanities that , in the words of one staff lieutenant , " almost makes the stones creep , " he was finally able to order the brigadier forward under his own responsibility , but harbored resentment for weeks . By this time , however , it was too late to accomplish any further offensive action . Early ' s division began a counterattack , led initially by Col . Edmund N . Atkinson ' s Georgia brigade , which inspired the men from the brigades of Col . Robert Hoke , Brig . Gen . James J . Archer , and Col . John M . Brockenbrough to charge forward out of the railroad ditches , driving Meade ' s men from the woods in a disorderly retreat , followed closely by Gibbon ' s . Early ' s orders to his brigades were to pursue as far as the railroad , but in the chaos many kept up the pressure over the open fields as far as the old Richmond Road . Union artillery crews proceeded to unleash a blast of close - range canister shot , firing as fast as they could load their guns . The Confederates were also struck by the leading brigade of Birney ' s belated advance , commanded by Brig . Gen . J . H . Hobart Ward . Birney followed up with the brigades of Brig . Gens . Hiram G . Berry and John C . Robinson , which broke the Rebel advance that had threatened to drive the Union into the river . Any further Confederate advance was deterred by the arrival of the III Corps division of Brig . Gen . Daniel E . Sickles on the right . General Burnside , who by this time was focused on his attacks on Marye ' s Heights , was dismayed that his left flank attack had not achieved the success he assumed earlier in the day . He ordered Franklin to " advance his right and front , " but despite repeated entreaties , Franklin refused , claiming that all of his forces had been engaged . This was not true , however , as the entire VI Corps and Brig . Gen . Abner Doubleday ' s division of the I Corps had been mostly idle , suffering only a few casualties from artillery fire while they waited in reserve . The Confederates withdrew back to the safety of the hills south of town . Stonewall Jackson considered mounting a resumed counterattack , but the Federal artillery and impending darkness changed his mind . A fortuitous Union breakthrough had been wasted because Franklin did not reinforce Meade ' s success with some of the 20 , 000 men standing in reserve . Neither Franklin nor Reynolds took any personal involvement in the battle , and were unavailable to their subordinates at the critical point . Franklin ' s losses were about 5 , 000 casualties in comparison to Stonewall Jackson ' s 3 , 400 , demonstrating the ferocity of the fighting . Skirmishing and artillery duels continued until dark , but no additional major attacks took place , while the center of the battle moved north to Marye ' s Heights . Marye ' s Heights , December 13 . On the northern end of the battlefield , Brig . Gen . William H . French ' s division of the II Corps prepared to move forward , subjected to Confederate artillery fire that was descending on the fog - covered city of Fredericksburg . General Burnside ' s orders to Maj . Gen . Edwin V . Sumner , commander of the Right Grand Division , was to send " a division or more " to seize the high ground to the west of the city , assuming that his assault on the southern end of the Confederate line would be the decisive action of the battle . The avenue of approach was difficult — mostly open fields , but interrupted by scattered houses , fences , and gardens that would restrict the movement of battle lines . A canal stood about 200 yards west of the town , crossed by three narrow bridges , which would require the Union troops to funnel themselves into columns before proceeding . About 600 yards to the west of Fredericksburg was the low ridge known as Marye ' s Heights , rising 40 – 50 feet above the plain . ( Although popularly known as Marye ' s Heights , the ridge was composed of several hills separated by ravines , from north to south : Taylor ' s Hill , Stansbury Hill , Marye ' s Hill , and Willis Hill . ) Near the crest of the portion of the ridge comprising Marye ' s Hill and Willis Hill , a narrow lane in a slight cut — the Telegraph Road , known after the battle as the Sunken Road — was protected by a 4 - foot stone wall , enhanced in places with log breastworks and abatis , making it a perfect infantry defensive position . Confederate Maj . Gen . Lafayette McLaws initially had about 2 , 000 men on the front line of Marye ' s Heights and there were an additional 7 , 000 men in reserve on the crest and behind the ridge . Massed artillery provided almost uninterrupted coverage of the plain below . General Longstreet had been assured by his artillery commander , Lt . Col . Edward Porter Alexander , " General , we cover that ground now so well that we will comb it as with a fine - tooth comb . A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it . " The fog lifted from the town around 10 a . m . and Sumner gave his order to advance an hour later . French ' s brigade under Brig . Gen . Nathan Kimball began to move around noon . They advanced slowly through heavy artillery fire , crossed the canal in columns over the narrow bridges , and formed in line , with fixed bayonets , behind the protection of a shallow bluff . In perfect line of battle , they advanced up the muddy slope until they were cut down at about 125 yards from the stone wall by repeated rifle volleys . Some soldiers were able to get as close as 40 yards , but having suffered severe casualties from both the artillery and infantry fire , the survivors clung to the ground . Kimball was severely wounded during the assault , and his brigade suffered 25 % casualties . French ' s brigades under Col . John W . Andrews and Col . Oliver H . Palmer followed , with casualty rates of almost 50 % . Sumner ' s original order called for the division of Brig . Gen . Winfield S . Hancock to support French and Hancock sent forward his brigade under Col . Samuel K . Zook behind Palmer ' s . They met a similar fate . Next was his Irish Brigade under Brig . Gen . Thomas F . Meagher . By coincidence , they attacked the area defended by fellow Irishmen of Col . Robert McMillan ' s 24th Georgia Infantry . One Confederate who spotted the green regimental flags approaching cried out , " Oh God , what a pity ! Here comes Meagher ' s fellows . " But McMillan exhorted his troops : " Give it to them now , boys ! Now ' s the time ! Give it to them ! " Hancock ' s final brigade was led by Brig . Gen . John C . Caldwell . Leading his two regiments on the left , Col . Nelson A . Miles suggested to Caldwell that the practice of marching in formation , firing , and stopping to reload , made the Union soldiers easy targets , and that a concerted bayonet charge might be effective in carrying the works . Caldwell denied permission . Miles was struck by a bullet in the throat as he led his men to within 40 yards of the wall , where they were pinned down as their predecessors had been . Caldwell himself was soon struck by two bullets and put out of action . The commander of the II Corps , Maj . Gen . Darius N . Couch , was dismayed at the carnage wrought upon his two divisions in the hour of fighting and , like Col . Miles , realized that the tactics were not working . He first considered a massive bayonet charge to overwhelm the defenders , but as he surveyed the front , he quickly realized that French ' s and Hancock ' s divisions were in no shape to move forward again . He next planned for his final division , commanded by Maj . Gen . Oliver O . Howard , to swing to the right and attempt to envelop the Confederate left , but upon receiving urgent requests for help from French and Hancock , he sent Howard ' s men over and around the fallen troops instead . The brigade of Col . Joshua Owen went in first , reinforced by Col . Norman J . Hall ' s brigade , and then two regiments of Brig . Gen . Alfred Sully ' s brigade . The other corps in Sumner ' s grand division was the IX Corps , and he sent in one of its divisions under Brig . Gen . Samuel Sturgis . After two hours of desperate fighting , four Union divisions had failed in the mission Burnside had originally assigned to one . Casualties were heavy : II Corps losses for the afternoon were 4 , 114 , Sturgis ' s division 1 , 011 . While the Union Army paused , Longstreet reinforced his line so that there were four ranks of infantrymen behind the stone wall . Brig . Gen . Thomas R . R . Cobb of Georgia , who had commanded the key sector of the line , was mortally wounded by an exploding artillery shell and was replaced by Brig . Gen . Joseph B . Kershaw . General Lee expressed concerns to Longstreet about the massing troops breaking his line , but Longstreet assured his commander , " General , if you put every man on the other side of the Potomac on that field to approach me over the same line , and give me plenty of ammunition , I will kill them all before they reach my line . " By midafternoon , Burnside had failed on both flanks to make progress against the Confederates . Rather than reconsidering his approach in the face of heavy casualties , he stubbornly decided to continue on the same path . He sent orders to Franklin to renew the assault on the left ( which , as described earlier , the Left Grand Division commander ignored ) and ordered his Center Grand Division , commanded by Maj . Gen . Joseph Hooker , to cross the Rappahannock into Fredericksburg and continue the attack on Marye ' s Heights . Hooker performed a personal reconnaissance ( something that neither Burnside nor Sumner had done , both remaining east of the river during the failed assaults ) and returned to Burnside ' s headquarters to advise against the attack . Brig . Gen . Daniel Butterfield , commanding Hooker ' s V Corps , while waiting for Hooker to return from his conference with Burnside , sent his division under Brig . Gen . Charles Griffin to relieve Sturgis ' s men . By this time , Maj . Gen . George Pickett ' s Confederate division and one of Maj . Gen . John Bell Hood ' s brigades had marched north to reinforce Marye ' s Heights . Griffin smashed his three brigades against the Confederate position , one by one . Also concerned about Sturgis , Couch sent the six guns of Capt . John G . Hazard ' s Battery B , 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery , to within 150 yards of the Confederate line . They were hit hard by Confederate sharpshooter and artillery fire and provided no effective relief to Sturgis . A soldier in Hancock ' s division reported movement in the Confederate line that led some to believe that the enemy might be retreating . Despite the unlikeliness of this supposition , the V Corps division of Brig . Gen . Andrew A . Humphreys was ordered to attack and capitalize on the situation . Humphreys led his first brigade on horseback , with his men moving over and around fallen troops with fixed bayonets and unloaded rifles ; some of the fallen men clutched at the passing pant legs , urging their comrades not to go forward , causing the brigade to become disorganized in their advance . The charge reached to within 50 yards before being cut down by concentrated rifle fire . Brig . Gen . George Sykes was ordered to move forward with his V Corps regular army division to support Humphreys ' s retreat , but his men were caught in a crossfire and pinned down . By 4 p . m . , Hooker had returned from his meeting with Burnside , having failed to convince the commanding general to abandon the attacks . While Humphreys was still attacking , Hooker reluctantly ordered the IX Corps division of Brig . Gen . George W . Getty to attack as well , but this time to the leftmost portion of Marye ' s Heights , Willis Hill . Col . Rush Hawkins ' s brigade , followed by Col . Edward Harland ' s brigade , moved along an unfinished railroad line just north of Hazel Run , approaching close to the Confederate line without detection in the gathering twilight , but they were eventually detected , fired on , and repulsed . Seven Union divisions had been sent in , generally one brigade at a time , for a total of fourteen individual charges , all of which failed , costing them from 6 , 000 to 8 , 000 casualties . Confederate losses at Marye ' s Heights totaled around 1 , 200 . The falling of darkness and the pleas of Burnside ' s subordinates were enough to put an end to the attacks . Longstreet later wrote , " The charges had been desperate and bloody , but utterly hopeless . " Thousands of Union soldiers spent the cold December night on the fields leading to the heights , unable to move or assist the wounded because of Confederate fire . That night , Burnside attempted to blame his subordinates for the disastrous attacks , but they argued that it was entirely his fault and no one else ' s . Lull and withdrawal , December 14 – 15 . During a dinner meeting the evening of December 13 , Burnside dramatically announced that he would personally lead his old IX Corps in one final attack on Marye ' s Heights , but his generals talked him out of it the following morning . The armies remained in position throughout the day on December 14 . That afternoon , Burnside asked Lee for a truce to attend to his wounded , which the latter graciously granted . The next day the Federal forces retreated across the river , and the campaign came to an end . Testament to the extent of the carnage and suffering during the battle was the story of Richard Rowland Kirkland , a Confederate Army sergeant with Company G , 2nd South Carolina Volunteer Infantry . Stationed at the stone wall by the sunken road below Marye ' s Heights , Kirkland had a close up view to the suffering and like so many others was appalled at the cries for help of the Union wounded throughout the cold winter night of December 13 , 1862 . After obtaining permission from his commander , Brig . Gen . Joseph B . Kershaw , Kirkland gathered canteens and in broad daylight , without the benefit of a cease fire or a flag of truce ( refused by Kershaw ) , provided water to numerous Union wounded lying on the field of battle . Union soldiers held their fire as it was obvious what Kirkland ' s intent was . Kirkland was nicknamed the " Angel of Marye ' s Heights " for these actions , and is memorialized with a statue by Felix de Weldon on the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park where he carried out his actions . Details of this story ( first recorded in 1880 ) conflict with multiple after - action reports and may have been embellished and personalized for effect . On the night of December 14 , the Aurora Borealis made an appearance unusual for that latitude , presumably caused by a large solar flare . One witness described that " the wonderful spectacle of the Aurora Borealis was seen in the Gulf States . The whole sky was a ruddy glow as if from an enormous conflagration , but marked by the darting rays peculiar to the Northern light . " The event was noted in the diaries and letters of many soldiers at Fredericksburg , such as John W . Thompson , Jr . , who wrote " Louisiana sent those famous cosmopolitan Zouaves called the Louisiana Tigers , and there were Florida troops who , undismayed in fire , stampeded the night after Fredericksburg , when the Aurora Borealis snapped and crackled over that field of the frozen dead hard by the Rappahannock . . . " Aftermath . The Union army suffered 12 , 653 casualties ( 1 , 284 killed , 9 , 600 wounded , 1 , 769 captured / missing ) . Two Union generals were mortally wounded : Brig . Gens . George D . Bayard and Conrad F . Jackson . The Confederate army lost 5 , 377 ( 608 killed , 4 , 116 wounded , 653 captured / missing ) , most of them in the early fighting on Jackson ' s front . Confederate Brig . Gens . Maxcy Gregg and T . R . R . Cobb were both mortally wounded . The casualties sustained by each army showed clearly how disastrous the Union army ' s tactics were . Although the fighting on the southern flank produced roughly equal casualties ( about 4 , 000 Confederate , 5 , 000 Union ) , the northern flank was completely lopsided , with about eight Union casualties for each Confederate . Burnside ' s men had suffered considerably more in the attack originally meant as a diversion than in his main effort . The South erupted in jubilation over their great victory . The Richmond " Examiner " described it as a " stunning defeat to the invader , a splendid victory to the defender of the sacred soil . " General Lee , normally reserved , was described by the Charleston " Mercury " as " jubilant , almost off - balance , and seemingly desirous of embracing everyone who calls on him . " The newspaper also exclaimed that , " General Lee knows his business and the army has yet known no such word as fail . " Reactions were opposite in the North , and both the Army and President Lincoln came under strong attacks from politicians and the press . The Cincinnati " Commercial " wrote , " It can hardly be in human nature for men to show more valor or generals to manifest less judgment , than were perceptible on our side that day . " Senator Zachariah Chandler , a Radical Republican , wrote that , " The President is a weak man , too weak for the occasion , and those fool or traitor generals are wasting time and yet more precious blood in indecisive battles and delays . " Pennsylvania Governor Andrew Curtin visited the White House after a trip to the battlefield . He told the president , " It was not a battle , it was a butchery . " Curtin reported that the president was " heart - broken at the recital , and soon reached a state of nervous excitement bordering on insanity . " Lincoln himself wrote , " If there is a worse place than hell , I am in it . " Burnside was relieved of command a month later , following an unsuccessful attempt to purge some of his subordinates from the Army and the humiliating failure of his " Mud March " in January . Preservation efforts . In March 2003 , the Civil War Trust announced the beginning of a $ 12 million national campaign to preserve the historic Slaughter Pen Farm , a key part of the Fredericksburg battlefield . The farm , known locally as the Pierson Tract , was the scene of bloody struggle on December 13 , 1862 . Over this ground Federal troops under Maj . Gen . George Meade and Brig . Gen . John Gibbon launched their assault against Lt . Gen . Thomas " Stonewall " Jackson ' s Confederates holding the southern portion of the Army of Northern Virginia ' s line at Fredericksburg . Despite suffering enormous casualties the Federal troops under Meade were able to temporarily penetrate the Confederate line and for a time represented the North ' s best chance of winning the Battle of Fredericksburg . The fighting on this southern portion of the battlefield , later named the Slaughter Pen , produced 5 , 000 casualties and five Medal of Honor recipients . The Slaughter Pen Farm was considered to be the largest remaining unprotected part of the Fredericksburg battlefield . It is also the only place on the battlefield where a visitor can still follow the Union assault of December 13 from beginning to end . Nearly all the other land associated with Union attacks at Fredericksburg — either on the southern end of the battlefield or in front of Marye ' s Heights — has been degraded by development . The $ 12 million acquisition of the Slaughter Pen Farm at the Fredericksburg battlefield has been called the most ambitious nonprofit battlefield acquisition in American history . In October 2006 the Department of the Interior awarded a $ 2 million grant based on the significance of the Slaughter Pen Farm . The money was provided through a U . S . Congressional appropriation from the Land and Water Conservation Fund . The fund supports non - federal efforts to acquire and preserve meaningful American Civil War battlefield lands . The program is administered by the American Battlefield Protection Program , an arm of the National Park Service . In addition , the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust ( CVBT ) committed $ 1 million toward the Slaughter Pen Farm fundraising campaign . In November 2012 archaeological investigations at the construction site for a new courthouse , remains of Union artifacts were recovered . These included ammunition , smoking pipes , and food tins . In popular media . The Battle of Fredericksburg was depicted in the 2003 film " Gods and Generals " , based on the novel of the same name , a prequel of " The Killer Angels " from which the earlier film " Gettysburg " was adapted . Both the novel and film focused primarily on the disastrous charges on Marye ' s Heights , with the movie highlighting the charges of Hancock ' s division of II Corps , the Irish Brigade , Caldwell ' s brigade , and Zook ' s brigade , and the 20th Maine Infantry Regiment ( V Corps ) . American author Louisa May Alcott fictionalized her experience nursing soldiers injured in the Battle of Fredericksburg in her book " Hospital Sketches " ( 1863 ) .