the Battle of Fredericksburg

The battle of Fredericksburg was a big defeat for the union army. It was Burnside  (114,000 Union strong) against Lee (72,500 Confederate strong). Burnside had to cross a river so his engineers created pontoon bridges, which were just floating bridges, ahead of his troops. But, as they built the bridge, Confederate sharpshooters in the city kept killing the men so he abandoned that idea and resorted to bombarding with artillery and sending in men into the city. The confederates were soon driven out from the city and Burnside was able to complete the bridges. That night, the Union soldiers raided the city for anything such as furniture to burn, and more importantly food.  The next day, Burnside sent in some brigades to attack Lee. But Lee had the higher ground so is troops were able to repulse the Union troops over and over again.  The area that Lee was defending, the Sunken Road, was a road that was naturally fortified because it was sunken with the sides built up with a stone wall.   The soldiers could stand in the road, shoot over the wall and be protected.   In addition, the area the Union soldiers had to cross was about 1.5 miles of barren land that rose up to where the Confederates were defending the road.  FACT! I’m guessing you’ve never heard of Confederate Sgt. Richard Rowland Kirkland. Kirkland went onto the battlefield, with bullets and shells flying all around him, and gave wounded soldiers, both Union and Confederate, water. Both sides, realizing what he was doing, stop firing at him and instead started cheering him on. He would be killed later in another battle but he would be remembered as “The Angel of Mercy”. Now back to the battle. Burnside sent in more men, attacking Lee, but Lee had other ideas. Lee’s troops fired from behind the stone wall and Confederate artillery shot down from a hill [Maryse’s Heights] behind the troops. The Union troops didn’t stand a chance. They were mowed down like bowling pins. Determined to defeat Lee, Burnside sent waves and waves of Union men across the battlefield.  Burnside was running out of troops and couldn’t see a victory. At the end of the battle, low on troops, Burnside said that he would lead the charge himself but his commanders convinced him not to attack and instead retreat. Reluctantly, he agreed and all of his troops fell back across the bridges. Lee later reclaimed Fredericksburg and the battle was over. Burnside had 12,653 casualties while Lee only lost 5,377. This was a clear victory for Lee and a humiliation for Union troops. Why were the Union Generals so incompetent during most of the war????