December 13, 1862 Saturday
As the fog rose in midmorning from the plain southeast of Fredericksburg, Federal troops drove toward the hills defended by Jackson’s Confederates. The Battle of Fredericksburg had opened. Spirited assaults by troops of George G. Meade and John Gibbon dented Jackson’s lines for a short time, but William B. Franklin’s Left Grand Division was repulsed and thrown back to the low ground from whence it started (
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fr ... rmmap.html ). From the city itself, Edwin V. Sumner’s Right Grand Division, backed by Joseph Hooker’s Center Grand Division, debouched against Longstreet’s corps. Longstreet’s men were posted on and at the foot of Marye’s Heights, a ridge behind the city. Confederate and Union artillery added to the crescendo of battle as time after time the Federals approached the stone wall along a narrow road at the foot of Marye’s Heights, only to meet murderous fire. They fought for feet and yards until late afternoon (
http://www.civilwar.org/battlefields/fr ... tsmap.html ). A futile, wild, fantastic, direct slam by Federals against the exceedingly well entrenched Confederates of Lee failed miserably. Burnside’s action counteracted McClellan’s slothfulness, but at the cost of defeat, blood, and carnage. This winter day at Fredericksburg tested men and officers alike to the utmost. The heroism was there, but not the strategy. Brigadier General Maxcy Gregg (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxcy_Gregg ), CSA, is mortally wounded during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, when a Federal charge on his lines caught the Confederate troops by surprise. He dies on December 15, 1862. Brigadier General Thomas Reade Rootes Cobb (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Reade_Rootes_Cobb ), CSA, dies defending the "Sunken Road" during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, bleeding to death after having his thigh shattered by a rifle shot. Brigadier General Conrad Feger Jackson (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_F._Jackson ), USA, dies instantly, after being shot in the head by a minie ball, while leading his troops during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. Brigadier General George Dashiell Bayard (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_D._Bayard ), USA, is mortally wounded by an artillery shell fragment at Brigadier General William Buel Franklin's headquarters during the Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He dies on December 14, 1862.
Gen Lee remarked, “I wish these people would go away and let us along.” A Federal said, “It was a great slaughter pen…. They might as well have tried to take Hell.”
The cost – 1284 Federals were killed, 9600 wounded, and 1769 missing, a total of 12,653 casualties for the proud Army of the Potomac. An estimated 114,000 men were engaged. For the Confederates, 595 were killed, 4061 wounded, and 653 missing for 5309 casualties of about 72,500 engaged. The result – Federals remained in the city, Confederates on the hills.
There was fighting elsewhere: at Leesburg, Virginia; on Southwest Creek, North Carolina; and a Federal raid Dec 13-19 on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad from Corinth to Tupelo, Mississippi. Patrick Ronayne Cleburne, CSA; Franklin Gardner, CSA; and Ambrose Ransom Wright, CSA, were appointed to Major General. The following appointments were made to Brigadier General: Zachariah Cantey Deas, CSA; Roger Weightman Hanson, CSA; Lucius Eugene Polk, CSA; Edward Cary Walthall, CSA; and Marcus Joseph Wright, CSA.
At Murfreesboro, Tennessee President Davis, on his Western inspection tour, reviewed Bragg’s army and conferred with his generals.