The silent city of military graves at Fredericksburg is a memorial of one of the bloodiest battles of the war. General McClellan failed to follow up the retreating Southern army after the battle of Antietam, and thereby lost favor with the authorities at Washington, and was relieved of the command of the army, which was handed to General Ambrose E. Burnside, who took command of the Army of the Potomac on November 9, 1862, and on the following day McClellan took leave of his troops.

Burnside changed the whole plan of the campaign and decided to move on Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock River. His army moved forward in three divisions, under Sumner, Hooker and Franklin. They were delayed several days in crossing the river, due to the failure of the arrival of the pontoon bridges. A council of war was held on the night of December 10th, in which the officers were opposed to the plan of battle, but Burnside was determined to carry out his original plan immediately. After two days of skirmishing with the Confederate sharpshooters he succeeded in getting his army across the river on the morning of December 13th.

General Lee had by this time entrenched his army on the hills surrounding Fredericksburg. His line stretched for five miles along the range of hills, surrounding the town on all sides save the east, where the river flows. The strongest position of the Confederates was on Marye's Heights, in the rear of the town. Along the foot of this hill was a stone wall about four feet high, bounding the eastern side of the Telegraph road, being depressed a few feet below the surface of the stone wall, and thus it formed a breastwork for the Confederate troops. Behind this wall a strong Confederate force was concealed, while higher up the hill in several ranks the main army was posted. The right wing of the Confederate army, consisting of about 30,000 men, commanded by "Stonewall" Jackson, was posted on an elevation near Hamilton's crossing of the Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad. The left wing was posted on Marye's Heights, and was commanded by the redoubtable Longstreet. The Southern forces numbered about 75,000 men.

The town proper and the adjoining valleys had been occupied for two days by the Federal troops, marching to and fro and making ready for a decisive conflict, which required no prophet to foretell was near at hand. Franklin's division of 40,000 men was strengthened by a part of Hooker's division and was ordered to make the first attack on the Confederate right, under Jackson. Sumner's division was also reËnforced from Hooker's division and was formed for an assault against the Confederates, posted on Marye's Heights. From the position taken by the Confederate forces their cannons and field artillery poured shot and shell into the town of Fredericksburg. Every house became a target, though deserted except by a few venturesome riflemen. There was scarcely a house that escaped. Ruined, battered and bloody Fredericksburg three times was a Federal hospital and its back yards became little cemeteries.

All this magnificent battle formation had been effected under cover of a dense fog, and when it lifted on that fateful Saturday there was revealed a scene of truly military grandeur. Concealed by the curtain of nature, the Southern army had entrenched itself most advantageously upon the hills, and the Union force massed in strength below, lay within cannon shot of their foe. The Union army totaled 113,000 men.

When the fog lifted in the forenoon of December 13th, Franklin's division was revealed in full strength marching and counter-marching in preparation of the coming conflict. Officers in new uniforms, thousands of bayonets gleaming in the sunshine, champing steeds, rattling gun-carriages whisking artillery into proper range, formed a scene of magnificent grandeur, which excited the admiration of all, even the Confederates. This maneuver has been called the grandest military scene of the war, yet after all this show, Burnside's subordinate officers were unanimous in their belief in the rashness of the undertaking. It is said by historians that the Army of the Potomac never went down to battle with less alacrity than on this day at Fredericksburg.

The advance began about the middle of the forenoon on Jackson's right, which was made by the divisions led by Generals Meade, Doubleday and Gibbon, who endeavored to seize one of the opposing heights on Jackson's extreme right. The advance was made in three lines of battle, which were guarded in front and on each flank by Jackson, whose artillery swept the field by both a front and an enfilading fire as the attacking columns advanced. And as the divisions approached within range Jackson's left poured a deadly fire of musketry upon them, which mowed down brave men in the Union lines in swaths, leaving broad gaps where men had stood.

On the Federal columns came, only to be swept again and again by this murderous fire, but were at length repulsed.

The Confederate lines were broken only once by a part of Meade's division, which captured a few flags and several prisoners. The lost ground was soon recovered by the Confederates. Some of the charges made by the Federals in this engagement were heroic in the extreme. In one advance knapsacks were unslung and bayonets fixed; a brigade marched across a plowed field and passed through broken lines of other brigades, which were retiring in confusion from the leaden storm. In every instance the Federals were driven back in shattered columns.

The dead and wounded lay in heaps. Soldiers were fleeing and officers were galloping to and fro, urging their lines forward.

At length they received orders to retreat, and in retiring from the field the destruction was almost as great as during the assault. Most of the wounded were brought from the field after the engagement, but the dead were left where they fell.

During this engagement General George D. Bayard was mortally wounded by a shot that had severed the sword-belt of a subordinate officer who was standing by.

While Franklin's division was engaged with the Confederate right, Sumner's division was engaged in a terrific assault upon the works of Marye's Heights, which was the stronghold of the Confederate forces. Their position was almost impregnable, consisting of earthworks, wood and stone barricades, running along the sunken road near the foot of the hill. The Federals were not apprised of the sunken road nor of the Confederate force concealed behind the stone wall, under General Cobb. When the Federals advanced up the road they were harassed by shot and shell at every step, but came dashing on in line notwithstanding the terrific fire which poured upon them. The Irish brigade of Hancock's division, under General Meagher, made a wonderful charge, the Irish soldiers moved steadily up the ridge until within a few yards of the sunken road, from which the unexpected fire mowed them down. When they returned from the assault but 250 out of 1,200 men reported under arms from the field, and all these were needed to care for their wounded comrades. This brigade, as we will notice later, distinguished itself at Gettysburg and other engagements. It lost more men in killed and wounded than any regiment that left the State of New York. When returning to be mustered out in 1865, it had only forty-seven men out of 950 that enlisted four years before on first leaving for the front.

Sumner sent column after column against this strong position, but they were repulsed with great slaughter. The approach was completely commanded by the Confederate batteries.

Not only was the Confederate fire disastrous upon the approaching columns, but it also inflicted great damage upon the masses of the Federal army, and it is said that in front of Marye's house, which was in the center where the charge was made, the Federals fell three deep in one of the bravest and bloodiest charges of the war.

Six times did the Federals, raked by the deadly fire of Washington's artillery, advance to within 100 yards of the sunken road, only to be driven back by the rapid fire of the Confederate infantry concealed there. The Confederates' effective and successful work in this battle was not alone due to their strong position, but also to the skill and generalship of the leaders, and the courage and well-directed aim of their cannoneers and infantry.

The whole plain was covered with men, the living men running here and there, their broken lines closing up and the wounded being carried to the rear.

The point and method of attack made by Sumner was anticipated by the Confederates, and careful preparation had been made to meet it.

As the Federal columns advanced without hurrah or battle-cry, their entire lines were swept by a heavy artillery fire, which poured canister and shell and solid shot into their ranks from the front and on both sides with frightful results. The ground was so thickly strewn with dead bodies as seriously to impede the movements of renewed attack. These repeated assaults in such good order caused some fear on the part of General Lee that they might eventually break his lines, and he conveyed his anxiety to General Longstreet, but his fears proved groundless.

General Cobb, who had so gallantly defended the Confederate position at the sunken road, against the onslaughts of the Federals, fell mortally wounded and was carried from the field.

His command was handed to Kershaw, who took his place in this desperate struggle. The onrushing Federals fell almost in battalions; the dead and wounded lay in heaps. Late in the day the dead bodies, which had become frozen from the extreme cold, were placed in front of the soldiers as a protection to shield the living.

The steadiness of the Union troops and the silent and determined heroism of the rank and file in these repeated but hopeless assaults upon the Confederate works were marvelous indeed, and will go down in history as a monument to the memory of those who were engaged in this terrible conflict.

After these disastrous attempts to carry the works of the Confederate left it was night; the Federals had retired; hope was abandoned, and it was seen that the day was lost for the Union forces. The shattered Army of the Potomac sought to gather and care for the wounded. The beautiful Fredericksburg of a few days before now had put on a different appearance. Ancestral homes were turned into hospitals. The charming drives and stately groves, and the pleasure grounds of the colonial days, were not filled with grand carriages and gay parties, but with war horses, soldiers and other military equipments, and had put on the gloom that follows in the wake of a defeated army after a great battle.

The plan of Burnside had ended in failure. In his report of the battle to Washington he gave reasons for the issue, and in a manly way took the responsibility upon himself and most highly commended his officers and men.

President Lincoln's verdict of this battle is reverse to the unanimous opinions of the historians. In his reply to Burnside's report of the battle he says, "Although you were not successful, the attempt was not an error, nor the failure other than accident."

After the battle the wounded lay on the field in their agony, exposed to the freezing cold for forty-eight hours before they were cared for. Many were burned by the long dead grass becoming ignited by the cannon fire.

The scene witnessed was dreadful and heart-rending. The Union loss was about 12,000, and the Confederates less than half that number. The Union army was withdrawn across the river under the cover of darkness, and the battle of Fredericksburg had passed into history.

Burnside, at his own request, was relieved of the command of the Army of the Potomac, which was handed to General Joseph Hooker.