Abner Doubleday at the Battle of Fredericksburg

Abner Doubleday at the Battle of Fredericksburg

Introduction

In the Battle of Fredericksburg (12-13 December 1862), Abner Doubleday's division (Volunteer Union Troops) played a its role. In this battle I Corps was commanded by Major General John F. Reynolds and Abner Doubleday (1819-93) was assisting him with his division as a Brigadier General. He served as a major-general of volunteer Union troops in the American Civil War, fighting at Antietam, Fredericksburg and Gettysburg.

On 29 November 1862, Doubleday was promoted to major general of U.S. volunteers and his division participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia, on 13 December 1862. Although he commanded the 3d Division, I Corps, Army of the Potomac, at the battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia, in early May 1863, his men remained in reserve. This paper discusses the story of Abner Doubleday's Division at the Battle of Fredericksburg on 12-13 December 1862.

Discussion

In the American Civil War, Confederate victory 11-15 December 1862 over Union forces on the Rapahannock River close to Fredericksburg, Virginia. Although the Confederates halted the Union march on Richmond, losses on both sides were heavy: Union casualties were 13,000 dead and wounded; Confederate casualties 5,000, although many of them were lightly wounded.

The Union force, 125,000 troops under General Ambrose Burnside, was advancing south on Richmond, and Fredericksburg was the obvious place to cross the river. As the northern side of the river gave the Union artillery command of the town and vicinity, Confederate general Robert E Lee, took up a position with 85,000 troops on Marye's Heights, a range of low hills about two miles from the river.

Burnside's troops threw pontoon bridges across the river and captured the town of Fredericksburg 12 December. The remainder of the Union forces followed, and on 13 December the Union army advanced in massed formation toward the Confederate lines. The battle opened with an artillery duel, but this died away as the infantry approached their objectives. As they got within range, the Confederates poured a devastating fire into the ranks and 9,000 Union troops fell on the slopes of the hills. A second assault by the Union 'Grand Division' of 27,000 troops from Fredericksburg met with a similar fate and Burnside lost heart and withdrew his forces back across the river. Since Lee could not counterattack because of the river, and Burnside was reluctant to make a further attempt, both armies went into winter quarters and the battle ended.

Abner Doubleday

Abner Doubleday is known as the man who aimed the first Union shot of the war from Fort Sumter in 1861 and who played a key role in the Federal victory at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in July 1863. His career in the U.S. Army spanned over thirty years, yet Gettysburg proved to be the scene of Doubleday's greatest achievement as well as his most bitter disappointment. Despite his more than capable performance at Gettysburg, Brigadier General George G. Meade showed no faith in Doubleday and, perhaps reacting to an erroneous report, replaced him with a ...