The Battle of Fredricksburg Essay

During September 9th of 1862 Confederate forces led by Gen. Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson commanded three divisions with the goal of seizing Harpers Ferry. At the time Harpers Ferry was a Union occupied town bordering Maryland and Virginia. For the Union front this was a main arsenal holding area that provided support to other forces. For the Confederates, they saw it as a major supply line allowing logistics to travel down south or north through the use of rail road systems. COL Dixon Miles, the Union commander at Harpers Ferry, received intelligence about the movement of enemy forces towards his location.

bloody and costly years for both sides we come to the date of July 1,

The Civil war cut our nation in two, Americans fighting Americans, brother against brother. A key battle fought westward was the turning point in the war: the Battle of Vicksburg.

The importance of this raid lay in the fact that they captured much-needed cannons and gunpowder.

In order to look into the lives of the U.S. citizens during the Civil War I decided to look into the first week from April 12, 1861 to April 18, 1861 of the New York Times. I looked into this week of articles to see how the New York Times covered the outbreak of the war and the people’s response to it. Some of the main war events covered were: call for Union to relinquish command of Fort Sumter and first shots of the war, reaction to the surrender of Fort Sumter, Lincoln’s Proclamation to add seventy-five thousand volunteers to the war efforts, possible attacks on Fort Pickens, and the Confederate reaction to Lincoln’s Proclamation. During this week, the north was obviously nervous and scared yet felt they would win as well as confused as to why the war was happening at all.

When General Joseph E. Johnson was badly hurt the command of his army was given to Robert E. Lee by Jefferson Davis. In Lee’s Eyes a good defense is a good offense. Lee’s army had a good offense so they attacked places under Union control like Beaver Dam Creek and Gaines. Joseph Davis and his friend Robert E. Lee talked to each other and thought about a second invasion to the north. General Jackson General Lee and General Davis all invaded Pennsylvania through a river that they

After the Union’s defeat at Fredericksburg in December of 1862, President Abraham Lincoln once again made a change in the Union Army’s leadership. General Ambrose Burnside was replaced with Major General Joseph Hooker. Hooker and Lincoln both agreed that the key to victory in the war was the destruction of Lee’s Army in a decisive battle (Sears 57-62). Hooker’s plan to accomplish this was to use his 130,000 soldiers and launch a double envelopment of Lee’s 60,000 men still camped at Fredericksburg.

Each general that was appointed commander of the army in the east had his own plans when it came to defeating the Confederates. Beginning with McDowell, the first general to command a large army in the war, the task seemed

     General McDonnell attempted to flank the Confederates by moving north and west, and began several attacks on the Confederates right flank and the center of the Confederate line at Henry House.

Lincoln felt that the destruction of Lee’s army should be the primary goal, not the capture of a Southern city, however, he approved Burnside’s plan. This was mainly due to the fact that Burnside was actually moving the army in pursuit of Lee. Burnside’s first act as commander was to divide his army into three grand divisions, the right commanded by Major General Sumner, the center commanded by Major General Hooker, and the left commanded by Major General Franklin. Once this was completed he set forth for Virginia with a compliment of 100,000 men.

The Battle of Hampton Roads, otherwise known as Monitor versus Merrimac, was the first engagement of two ironclad ships in battle. On March 8, 1862, the Merrimac, now christened the CSS Virginia, sunk two Union ships in addition to grounding another in an effort to prevent the Union from blockading southern ports. On March 9, the more significant battle began when the Confederate Virginia fired on the Union’s Minnesota. The Virginia then met its northern ironclad counterpart, the Monitor, at the mouth of the James River. The Virginia and the Monitor fired upon one another, though the incompetence of the crews rendered the shots ineffective. The volley continued for some time, causing people to flock to the shore, the docks, or nearby vessels in an effort to watch the action. Eventually, the Virginia had a successful shot at the Monitor, hitting the Monitor’s iron pilothouse. When the Monitor’s pilothouse was hit, iron shards flew everywhere and got into Commander Lieutenant John Worden’s eyes. This caused the Monitor to sheer off course and move into shallow water. The Virginia posed to attack the Minnesota, after deducing that the Monitor was out of commision at this point in time. Before attacking, the Virginia’s officers reported a leak in the bow, depleted ammunition, and that the steam powered engine was having trouble keeping pace. The battle ended in a draw as the Virginia headed back to its naval yard for repairs. The battle showed that in the future, all wooden ships and vessels would be obsolete in comparison to the ironclads that would soon became the new naval fighting

The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought towards the beginning of the American Civil War that spanned over the course of four years, April 1861- April 1865 and consisted of 50 major battles and thousands of minor battles. The Battle of Fredericksburg lasted exactly five days, December 11-15, 1862. Its location was centered on Fredericksburg, VA and surrounding areas along the Rappahannock River including Falmouth, Marye’s Heights, Stafford Heights, Prospect Hill, and Hamilton’s Crossing (Yandoh, 2001). The Federal Union and Confederates had the same goal. To preserve their way of life, but that’s where the similarities stopped. Both sides wanted a different way of life preserved. The Confederates goal was to gain independence from the politically oppressive North and to establish an independent nation that allowed slavery (Olson-Raymer, 2014). The Federal Union’s initial goal was to restore the Union. But, its goal changed when it became obvious they would lose the war. The Union decided to reunite states under a banner in which slavery was no longer acceptable or tolerated. “The war from beginning to end would be a noble crusade for democracy for all people, not just in America, but throughout the world” (Olson-Raymer, 2014).

In Virginia the first battle of the Civil War was fought, near Manassas, Virginia railroad junction, after which the battle is called (or First Bull Run, named after the flowing stream on the battlefield, if of the Union point of view). The armies in this first battle were not prodigious by later Civil War principles. The Federal services under Brigadier General Irvin McDowell were well thought-out into four divisions, of about 30,000 men. These divisions were commanded by Tyler, Hunter, Heintzelman, and Miles. The Confederate command structure was to some extent more unmanageable, including two "armies", with no division structure and thirteen independent brigades under Bonham, Ewell, Jones, Longstreet, Cocke, Early, Holmes,

The firing on that fort will inaugurate a civil war greater than any the world has yet seen…you will lose us every friend at the North. You will wantonly strike a hornet’s nest which extends from mountains to ocean. Legions now quiet will swarm out and string us to death. It is unnecessary. It put us in the wrong. It is fatal. –Robert Toombs. (Boerner paragraph 2).

The shocking battle that left many wounded or even dead on July 21, 1861 is said to be the beginning of the American Civil war. Just miles from Washington D.C in Manassas, Virginia, this bloody battle left nearly 460 Union soldiers dead and about 1,124 wounded, as well as 387 killed for the Confederacy and 1,582 wounded. The soldiers that were interviewed were saying that “ The battlefield was a bloodbath!”. More than 28,000 Union troops were pushed down into Virginia by President Lincoln to attack the Confederacy. The Union troops arrived in Manassas on July 18, Gen. McDowell (Union) had already set up two columns to attack. He planned to strike the Confederates troops left flank while a third circles the far right flank and south to create