The Battle At Fredericksburg

Hooker sent another assault at them from Fredericksburg with Humphreys two brigades leading and catching up with Sumner’s assault. There was a bunch of brigades to the left of them but they still failed to the fact that Lee had set up the defenses very well. The same thing was happening with Franklin, he would attack but nothing good would come out of it. By the end of the next day Burnside decided to have everyone retreat to Fredericksburg.

When the North heard about the huge loss of this battle everyone was mad at Burnside. People were even willing to make a peace treaty with the South after that defeat. But most of the people were mad at President Lincoln. The main reason for them being mad at the President was that they just needed someone to blame it on since they probably heard about the pontoon problem. A couple days after the battle Burnside sent a battle report to General in Chief Halleck. In the report Burnside wrote of the failures of getting the pontoons on time but said that he would take full blame on it. He said that it makes him more responsible that he didn’t get orders from the President or anyone.

The South was celebrating everything when they heard about this battle. They were saying that Major General Lee could never be defeated and that they were going to win the war. Their President was welcomed graciously when he came back to Richmond after a trip to the deep south.

Burnside on the other hand, was thinking not so much of the loss, but of the next battle. He decided that he would try to go around Lee and charge him from behind, but the President didn’t let him, so he decided he would do nothing for the rest of the winter since it was so cold.

I have told you who the generals were in the “Battle at Fredericksburg” were, what happened at the battle, and the aftermath of it. So the next time you become a major general think of this and have large numbers, but also have smarts and timing.