Audio
Fredericksburg Driving Tour, #5, Union Breakthrough
Transcript
"The battle has raged fiercely today. The rebels occupy an advantageous position. Our troops are on an open plain, while they occupy a ridge in our front, and are sheltered by dense wood but about 1:30 P.M. one part of the line made a forward movement, our division, as usual, taking the advance. This was a fearful movement. We left the field over which we advanced, thickly strewn with our dead and wounded. We drove the rebels from their position in the rail-road cut at the edge of the wood. On entering the woods our line was thrown into confusion by a misunderstanding of orders, but our men pushed on boldly and reached the summit of the hill. During the confusion I received a shot through both legs, completely disabling me. Our men were soon after attacked by the enemy in heavy force, and being weakened by the great slaughter in our ranks while advancing, and wholly without support they were driven back over me in disorder. All that we gained at so fearful a cost is lost." Sergeant Jacob Heffelfinger, 7th Pennsylvania Reserves On the afternoon of December 13, 1862, as his division broke through the Confederate line, US Major General George G. Meade sent multiple requests for support. None were answered. Meade was furious; victory was almost in his grasp. What support Meade eventually received was too little, too late. Meade later proclaimed to Major General John F. Reynolds, "My God, General Reynolds, did they think my division could whip Lee’s whole army?" The Union assault on the Confederate right at Prospect Hill, while initially successful, ultimately failed. Afterwards, facing a demoralized army, the Congressional Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War investigated who was to blame for the US defeat at Fredericksburg. On the morning of the battle Burnside’s orders did not prioritize one front over the other. However, in the aftermath of defeat the committee’s focus quickly shifted away from Major General Edwin Sumner and his Right Grand Division’s the doomed assaults on the Sunken Road, to Major General William Franklin and his Left Grand Division on this end of the battlefield. For his part, Franklin claimed that Burnside’s orders downplayed the importance of his front, instructing him to send "a division at least" and seize the heights "if possible." Franklin stated during his interrogation by the Committee, "It is my opinion that if, instead of making two real attacks, our whole force had been concentrated on the left – that is, our available force – and the real attack had been made there, and merely a feint made upon the right, we might have carried the heights." The debate came down to an argument over the orders that Burnside sent Franklin and two questions: 1. What was the intent of Burnside’s orders? and 2. Should Franklin have been more aggressive based on the orders he received? The congressional committee concluded that Franklin was at fault, reporting, "had the attack been made upon the left with all the force which General Franklin could have used for that purpose, the plans of General Burnside would have been completely successful, and our army would have achieved a most brilliant victory." Politics and the powers of hindsight most certainly played a role in the committee’s decision to place the blame of loss on Franklin. As a result, Franklin’s military career with the Army of the Potomac was over. The question over Burnside’s true intention on the morning of December 13, 1862 is one still debated by historians and strategists to this day and will likely remain a point debate for years to come. The outcome, either due to Burnside’s lack of clarity, Franklin’s poor leadership, or a combination of the two, however, remains the same: the US Army lost its best chance at victory at the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Description
The best chance for a battlefield victory for the US Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg was to exploit a hole that Confederate forces left in their defensive line in the woods near Prospect Hill. While US forces did break through this line, they were unsupported and quickly fell back. Part 5 of the Fredericksburg Driving Tour explores the circumstances and consequences of this lost opportunity.
Credit
NPS
Date Created
12/10/2021
Copyright and Usage Info