28. B&L, 3:107–8, 129–30; Herman Haupt to his wife, December 9, 1862, Haupt Letter-book, Haupt Papers, LC; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:684; Stephen B. Oates, Woman of Valor, 103; J. Cutler Andrews, North Reports the Civil War, 323.
29. Noel G. Harrison, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, 1:102–6; Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 186; B&L, 3:108, 126; Howard, Autobiography, 1:321–22. I have greatly benefited from William Marvel’s sympathetic, perceptive, and generally persuasive analysis of Burnside’s thinking and difficulties during this period, in Marvel, Burnside, 171–72. To keep the Confederates from concentrating their forces, Burnside had Federal pickets at Port Royal convey false information to their Rebel counterparts and even had a corduroy road constructed opposite Skinker’s Neck. Union gunboats also steamed up the Rappahannock, exchanged fire with Confederate artillery, and remained in position even after the Army of the Potomac began crossing at Fredericksburg. See O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 12–14; ORN, ser. 1, 5:190–98.
30. Bruce, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 505; December 9–10, 1862, Rice Diary, FSNMP; McAllister, Letters of Robert McAllister, 238–39; William Teall to his wife, December 10, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Wren, Captain James Wren’s Civil War Diary, 94; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 35; History of the 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 28.
31. December 10, 1862, Taylor Diary, FSNMP; John R. Coye to his wife, December 10, 1862, Coye Letters, FSNMP; John W. Ames to his father, December 9, 1862, Ames Papers, USAMHI; New York Irish-American, January 3, 1863; Dexter, Seymour Dexter, 114–15; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 140–42.
32. B&L, 3:86; Giles, Rags and Hope, 147–48; Cogswell, Eleventh New Hampshire, 64.
33. Stephen B. Oates, Woman of Valor, 105; Orwig, 131st Pennsylvania, 96; Howard, Autobiography, 1:327; Small, Road to Richmond, 59. For a general treatment of prebattle apprehension and preparation, see Keegan, Face of Battle, 237–38.
34. William Gilson to his wife, December 10, 1862, Gilson Letter, FSNMP; George H. Mellish to his mother, December 10, 1862, Mellish Papers, HL; Virgil W. Mattoon to his mother, December 10, 1862, Mattoon Papers, CHS; Ansell W. White to his mother, December 10, 1862, White Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; James R. Woodworth to Phoebe Woodworth, December 10, 1862, Woodworth Papers, Hotchkiss Collection, CL.
35. James B. Post to his wife, December 10, 1862, Post Papers, CWMC, USAMHI; Lancaster (Pa.) Daily Evening Express, December 23, 1862; John Russell Bartlett, Memoirs of Rhode Island Officers, 239; Lusk, War Letters of William Thompson Lusk, 242–43; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 185; George L. Prescott to ?, December 10, 1862, Prescott Papers, MHS. For a useful discussion of the relationship between tension, plausibility, and the will to believe favorable rumors, see Kapferer, Rumors, 65–85.
36. Castleman, Army of the Potomac, 256–57; Dawes, Sixth Wisconsin, 108; Samuel K. Zook to E. J. Wade, December 10, 1862, Zook Papers, CWMC, USAMHI. Psychologists have analyzed the persistence of wishful thinking, but they have also noted, without necessarily worrying about the apparent contradiction, the prevalence of dark rumors. In part, bad news simply spreads more rapidly and readily. See Kapferer, Rumors, 132–35.
37. Flemington (N.J.) Hunterdon Republican, December 19, 1862; Asa W. Bartlett, History of the Twelfth New Hampshire, 492; Daniel M. Holt, Surgeon’s Civil War, 57–58; December 11, 1862, Elmer Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; William Watson, Letters of a Civil War Surgeon, 40; Brewster, When This Cruel War Is Over, 198–99.
38. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 77–82; Small, Sixteenth Maine, 57–58; Craft, History of the One Hundred Forty-First Pennsylvania, 30; Waitt, Nineteenth Massachusetts, 164; Henry, “Fredericksburg,” 99–100; Joseph Bloomfield Osborn to Mary Osborn, December 10, 1862, Osborn Papers, LC. For Federals and Confederates alike, patriotism and nationalism were abstract but nevertheless real ideas that motivated many soldiers. Commanding officers could thus straightforwardly instruct men to do their duty, noting that the folks back home expected no less. See McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 90–103; Sprenger, 122d Regiment, 133–34; John H. Rhodes, History of Battery B, 136.
39. McAllister, Letters of Robert McAllister, 239; Newark (N.J.) Daily Advertiser, December 18, 1862; December 10, 1862, Jackson Diary, IHS; December 11, 1862, Lewis Nettleton Diary, Nettleton-Baldwin Family Papers, Duke; Sturtevant, Josiah Volunteered, 67. For an analysis of the relationship between religious faith and battle performance, see Samuel J. Watson, “Religion and Combat Motivation in Confederate Armies,” 29–34.
40. Gregg, Life in the Army, 75–76; Gaff, On Many a Bloody Field, 208.
41. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 67–71; December 6, 9, 1862, Abernathy Diary, USAMHI; Virgil W. Mattoon to his mother, December 10, 1862, Mattoon Papers, CHS; Lusk, War Letters of William Thompson Lusk, 243; Orlando Willcox, Forgotten Valor, 403; December 11, 1862, Woodworth Diary, Hotchkiss Collection, CL; Henry Brantingham to his wife, December 8, 9, 1862, Brantingham Letters, USAMHI.
42. McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 36–38, 52–53; William Teall to his wife, December 10, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Edward J. Nichols, Toward Gettysburg, 149; History of the 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 28; Pullen, Twentieth Maine, 46; Frank Moore, Rebellion Record, 6:96; John R. Coye to his wife, December 10, 1862, Coye Letters, FSNMP.
43. Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 36–37.
44. J. E. Brown to Mollie Matthews, December 10, 1862, Matthews Papers, MC; Edward Porter Alexander, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 385; M[oxley] Sorrel to Edward Porter Alexander, December 10, 1862, Alexander Papers, SHC; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 301.
45. Shotwell, Papers of Randolph Abbott Shotwell, 1:395–96; Susan Leigh Blackford, Letters from Lee’s Army, 143–45; Pender, General to His Lady, 194; W. H. Andrews, Footprints of a Regiment, 98–99.
46. CCW, 1:652–53, 667; OR, 63–64, and ser. 1, 51(2):955. Burnside was still apparently relying on balloon reconnaissance to determine Lee’s positions. The heretofore idle cavalry received vague orders to follow the infantry divisions as they crossed the river. See William Allan, Army of Northern Virginia, 470; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 37–41; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Jackson, 574; CCW, 1:747–48.
47. Walker, “Couch at Fredericksburg”; Walker, Second Corps, 145; Jacob Lyman Greene, Franklin and the Left Wing at Fredericksburg, 10; Palfrey, Antietam and Fredericksburg, 141, 143; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 128–29.
48. Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 42; Clausewitz, On War, 433, 533.
49. OR, 87–88, 840–41, 954–56, and ser. 1, 51(2):856; Woodbury, Burnside and the Ninth Army Corps, 211–12. Evidently appalled at the prospect of crossing directly into Fredericksburg, the engineers returned to their camps on the night of December 9 singing a line from an old British soldier’s song: “O why should we be melancholy boys, Whose business tis to die” (Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, 107–8).
50. OR, 842, 845; John W. Ames to his father, December 9, 1862, Ames Papers, USAMHI; McClenthen, Narrative of the Fall and Winter Campaign, 32.
1. Weather Data, Georgetown Weather Station, December 11–15, 1862, FSNMP (unless otherwise specified, all other references to temperatures during the battle of Fredericksburg and the Mud March come from this source); Billings, Hard Tack and Coffee, 384–88; Forbes, Thirty Years After, 13; OR, ser. 1, 29(2):465–66. Clausewitz commented that weather is seldom a decisive factor in battle but that fog could be an exception to this rule; see Clausewitz, On War, 143.
2. OR, 169, 173–74, 201, 203, 214–16, 452–53, 514, 621; Gilbert Thompson, Engineer Battalion,25–26; New York Times, December 14, 1862; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 15–16. A third bridge was constructed the following day; see OR, 107–8. After the war a brief, pointless controversy erupted in the columns of the National Tribune about the relative contribution of the Regulars and the New Yorkers to the laying of these pontoons. See Beardsley, “Crossing at Fredericksburg,” 3; Willey, “Who Laid the Pontoons at Fredericksburg?,” 3; U. D. Wood, “Who Laid the Pontoons?,” 3; Gilbert Thompson, “U.S. Engineer Battalion,” 3; Vogl, “Who Laid the Pontoons?,” 3; P. M. Evans, “Who Laid the Pontoons?,” 3; Gilbert Thompson, “Who Laid the Pontoons?,” 3.
3. OR, 106–7, 448–49, 844; Marvel, Burnside, 175–76; Atlas to Accompany the Official Records, plate XXX, maps 3 and 4. Some historians have suggested that Burnside should have hurried Franklin’s men across the bridges and marched them toward Fredericksburg to flank the Confederates out of the town. See Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 130–31; Kenneth P. Williams, Lincoln Finds a General, 2:524–25; Daniel E. Sutherland, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, 37–38.
4. OR, 523, 534–36; Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, January 1, 1863; B&L, 3:131; James Lorenzo Bowen, Thirty-Seventh Regiment, 108–9; Woodbury, Second Rhode Island, 127–28; William P. Carmany to his brother and sister, December 19, 1862, Carmany Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Elisha Hunt Rhodes, All for the Union, 89–90, 92; Nelson V. Hutchinson, Seventh Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 110–11; Frank C. Park to “Friends at Home,” December 17, 1862, Park Letter, FSNMP; Springfield (Mass.) Daily Republican, December 19, 1862. Franklin later informed McClellan that because it was getting dark, he had asked Burnside to delay crossing the bulk of Left Grand Division until the following day. See Franklin to McClellan, December 23, 1862, McClellan Papers, LC.
5. Seigel, For the Glory of the Union, 107–8; Locke, Story of the Regiment, 157–58; Orson Blair Curtis, History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan, 88; Lucius B. Shattuck to Ellen Shattuck, December 11–14, 1862, Shattuck Letters, MHC; December 11, 1862, S. W. Gordon Diary, FSNMP; Werkheiser Memoir, 3, FSNMP.
6. Alexander Morrison Stewart, Camp, March, and Battlefield, 278; Tyler, Recollections of the Civil War, 64–65; December 11, 1862, Halsey Diary, USAMHI; Kearney, “Letters from the Field,” 187; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 46:581.
7. Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” October 25, 1895; John Harrison Mills, Chronicles of the Twenty-First New York, 273–74; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 55–56; Bicknell, History of the Fifth Maine, 167. Fear often spawned strange mishaps. When a sergeant in the 19th Indiana carelessly shot off a finger, his comrades might easily have wondered just how accidental it was. See December 11, 1862, Jackson Diary, IHS.
8. Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, 110.
9. Ibid., 108–15; OR, 168, 170, 175–76, 179–80; Cahors (N.Y.) Cataract, December 20, 1862; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 44:91, 108–9, 123, 178.
10. Bruce, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 510; OR, 170, 226, 258–59, 349–50; Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 208–9.
11. OR, 578.
12. OR, 546–47; Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, 2:444; Edward Porter Alexander, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 384–85; Robert E. Lee to William M. McDonald, April 15, 1868, Lee Letter-book, VHS.
13. OR, 568–69; William Allan, Army of Northern Virginia, 472; Wert, Longstreet, 209–12.
14. OR, 578; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:369–71; Edward Porter Alexander, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 382–83; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 181–82.
15. OR, 545, 573–76, 1058, and ser. 1, 51(2):661; December 11, 1862, Latrobe Diary, VHS; Musselman, Caroline Light, Parker, and Stafford Light Virginia Artillery, 53.
16. OR, 600, 605; B&L, 3:86; Clement Anselm Evans, Confederate Military History, 4:365; Dinkins, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 257. In examining the role of Barksdale’s men in the fighting on December 11, I have heavily relied on the thorough and perceptive tactical analysis in Hawley, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade.”
17. B&L, 3:86–87; Dinkins, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 257; Cummings, “Bombardment of Fredericksburg,” 253; Hawley, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 12–13; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 300–301; OR, 578, 601, 604–5; Oscar J. E. Stuart to Anne E. Stuart, December 17, 1862, Dimitry Papers, Duke; Richmond Daily Examiner, December 12, 1862. Some soldiers still saw such sharpshooting as cowardly and unsporting, but such qualms would rapidly disappear. See Linderman, Embattled Courage, 147–55. Three dozen Federal guns had been hauled down to the riverbank to support the bridge builders. Aside from the obvious fog problem, the guns themselves proved less than reliable—five stock-trails were shattered by the force of firing. In his official report General Hunt pulled no punches: “They [several twelve-pounders] were defective, and is almost needless to say, contract work, the contractors being Wood Brothers, of New York” (OR, 182).
18. Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 187; Woodbury, Burnside and the Ninth Army Corps, 213; Charles Carelton Coffin, Four Years of Fighting, 142–44; Judd, Story of the Thirty-Third, 238; New York Times, December 13, 1862; Teall, “Ringside Seat at Fredericksburg,” 23–24.
19. OR, 180–82, 196, 827–28; Naisawald, Grape and Canister, 236–41; William Teall to his wife, December 11, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Tom Josiah to his wife, December 11, 1862, Josiah Letter, FSNMP; Robert S. Robertson, “Diary of the War,” 73; Longacre, Man behind the Guns, 129–34.
20. OR, 191, 194–95, 199, 204–5, 267, 335; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 40. According to one estimate the Federals fired some 9,000 rounds. See George N. Barnard to his father, December 16, 1862, Barnard Papers, MHS.
21. Thomas H. Parker, History of the 51st, 268–69; Henry J. H. Thompson to his wife, December 11, 1862, Thompson Papers, Duke; Bicknell, History of the Fifth Maine, 168–69.
22. Galwey, Valiant Hours, 56; Brainard, One Hundred and Forty-sixth New York, 29; John S. Crocker to his wife, December 11, 1862, Crocker Letters, CU; Wightman, From Antietam to Fort Fisher, 86; d’Entremont, Southern Emancipator, 175–76.
23. December 11, 1862, Willand Diary, NHHS; George H. Allen, Forty-Six Months, 173–74; David Beem to his wife, December 18, 1862, Beem Papers, IHS; Elias H. W. Peck to his wife, December 12, 1862, Richardson Collection, ISL.
24. Henry Lewis to “Cousin Charlie,” January 3, 1863, Lewis Letters, GLC; Bruce, Twentieth Massachusetts, 208–9; John H. Rhodes, History of Battery B, 138–39; Walter A. Eames to his wife, December 20, 1862, Eames Letters, USAMHI; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, December 22, 1862; Chapin, History of the Thirty-fourth Regiment, 80; Bryan Grimes to his brother William, December 25, 1862, Grimes Family Papers, SHC; Amory Allen to his parents, December 17, 1862, Allen Letter, FSNMP.
25. Sanford, Fighting Rebels and Redskins, 191; John H. Rhodes, History of Battery B, 137–38; William Chambers Bartlett, “Incident of Fredericksburg,” 468–69; Judith Brockenbrough McGuire, Diary of a Southern Refugee, 180; Thomas Rice, “All the Imps of Hell Let Loose,” 13; Croffut and Morris, Connecticut during the War, 291; Brogan, American Civil War, 100.
26. New York Irish-American, January 3, 1863; New York Tribune, December 12, 1862; Richmond Daily Examiner, December 18, 1862; Susan Leigh Blackford, Letters from Lee’s Army, 149; Henry Willis to his father, December 15, 1862, Henry Willis Letter, FSNMP; J. H. Wallace to William Ware, December 13, 1862, National Bank of Fredericksburg Correspondence, FSNMP; Samuel S. Partridge to “Dear Ed,” December 17, 1862, Partridge Letters, FSNMP. After the Federals occupied the town, some of the volunteer firemen among them tried to douse the flames, but during the night “falling timbers from the burning houses would crash among the embers and send up showers of sparks” (“Personal Recollections of the First Battle of Fredericksburg,” 4, UT). See also Joseph Ripley Chandler Ward, One Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania, 114. Despite what seemed to many observers a devastating bombardment, defective guns and ammunition hampered Federal gunners all day. According to Hunt the 20-pounder Parrotts sometimes posed as much threat to Union soldiers as to Confederates. Besides their doubtful accuracy, these guns tended to burst. Some shells exploded prematurely, making artillerists reluctant to fire them over friendly forces. The most common problem was poorly made fuses that either failed to ignite or did so too quickly. See OR, 189–90, 192, 200–202, 207, 211, 225; New York Times, January 11, 1863.
27. Philadelphia Inquirer, December 13, 1862; Lucius B. Shattuck to “Dear Ellen,” December 11, 1862, Shattuck Letters, MHC; Willard J. Templeton to his sister, December 11, 1862, Templeton Letters, NHSL; Beidelman, Letters of George Washington Beidelman, 166.
28. Griner, “Civil War of a Pennsylvania Trooper,” 50–51; December 11, 1862, Butler Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; December 11, 1862, Gilpin Diary, LC; History of the 127th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 118; Chamberlain, Through Blood and Fire, 38.
29. Charles Thomas Bowen to his wife, December 18, 1862, Bowen Letter, FSNMP; Locke, Story of the Regiment, 159; Virgil W. Mattoon to his mother, December 10–15, 1862, Mattoon Papers, CHS.
30. Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, 2:446; Robert E. Lee, Wartime Papers, 357–58; Polley, Soldier’s Letters to Charming Nellie, 88; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 22, 1862.
31. Abernathy, Our Mess, 18–19; December 11, 1862, Henley Diary, FSNMP; J. C. Lloyd, “Battles of Fredericksburg,” 500; Robert A. Moore, Life for the Confederacy, 122; Hawley, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 15–16.
32. OR, 579, 603, 606–7, 618–19; Lang, “Letters of Lang,” 344–45; Oscar J. E. Stuart to Annie E. Stuart, December 17, 1862, Dimitry Papers, Duke.
33. OR, 601; Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, 2:447; Hotchkiss, Make Me a Map of the Valley, 99; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 180.
34. Boggs, Alexander Letters, 243–44; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 170–71; William Ross Stillwell to “My Dear Mollie,” December 14, 1862, Stillwell Letters, GDAH; Patterson, Yankee Rebel, 87–88.
35. Times (London), January 1, 1863; Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, December 15, 1862; Robert Franklin Fleming Jr., “Recollections,” FSNMP; Susan Leigh Blackford, Letters from Lee’s Army, 150; Noel G. Harrison, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, 2:8–9; Jane Howison Beale, Journal, 127–29; Alvey, History of the Presbyterian Church of Fredericksburg, 41; Asa W. Bartlett, History of the Twelfth New Hampshire, 405; Raleigh Weekly Register, January 7, 1863. One account of civilians under fire composed years afterward included a stereotypical tale of slaves hiding in a cellar with their white family. Loyal “Uncle Charles” loudly prayed for “old missus and de chillens” but also bravely went upstairs for food in the midst of the shelling. A white woman asked “Aunt Sally” to go back up to the kitchen, but the slave refused, saying that she doubted “Gin’l Lee hisself cud stan’ up making coffee under that tornady” (Mrs. Frances Bernard Goolrick, “Shelling of Fredericksburg,” 573–74, and “Frightful Experiences at Fredericksburg,” 513). Even after the Federals occupied the town, a seventy-year-old woman who had braved the bombardment in her house continued to spout “secesh” talk to the officers using it as a headquarters. See Charles Howard to his mother, December 13, 1862, Brooks Collection, LC.
36. Blair, “Barbarians at Fredericksburg’s Gate,” 154; Frank Moore, Rebellion Record, 6:97; [Heinichen,] “Fredericksburg,” Maryland Historical Society; Raleigh Weekly Register, January 7, 1863; “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 262; Hotchkiss, Make Me a Map of the Valley, 99; December 12, 1862, Butler Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; William Henry Tatum to his brother, December 17, 1862, Tatum Papers, VHS; David Holt, Mississippi Rebel, 141–45.
37. Lacy, “Lee at Fredericksburg,” 604; J. E. B. Stuart to Flora Cooke Stuart, December 9–10, 1862, Stuart Papers, VHS; J. E. Brown to Mollie Matthews, December 10, 1862, Matthews Papers, MC; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 181; Jane Howison Beale, Journal, 131–33; Cadmus Wilcox to his sister, December 17, 1862, Wilcox Papers, LC; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:94–100; Mrs. Frances Bernard Goolrick, “Shelling of Fredericksburg,” 574.
38. December 11, 1862, Malloy Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 13, 15, 1862; Oscar J. E. Stuart to Annie E. Stuart, December 17, 1862, Dimitry Papers, Duke; George Clark, Glance Backward, 27; Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, 128; Richmond Daily Examiner, December 15, 1862; Jane Howison Beale, Journal, 133; McCrea, Dear Belle, 173; New York Times, December 14, 1862.
39. Berkeley, Four Years in the Confederate Artillery, 35–36; Conn, “Conn-Brantley Letter,” 439; Shotwell, Papers of Randolph Abbott Shotwell, 1:407; Susan Pendleton Lee, Memoirs of William Nelson Pendleton, 240–41; Lacy, “Lee at Fredericksburg,” 606; Athens (Ga.) Southern Banner, January 7, 1863; Pender, General to His Lady, 193–94; December 12, 1862, Hume Diary, LC; McDonald, Woman’s Civil War, 98–99; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 13, 16, 1862; Lynchburg Daily Virginian, December 16, 1862; William Wallace White to “Dear Mitt,” December 24, 1862, White Letters, GDAH.
40. CCW, 1:656; OR, 88–89, 170, 175–76, 179–80; Howard, Autobiography, 1:323; Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 187–88. Porter Alexander believed that some of Burnside’s troops should have crossed in boats before the fog lifted and could have easily done so. See Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, 291.
41. OR, 221–22, 282–83; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 30:671, 680; Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, 116–17; Herring, “Crossing of the Rappahannock by the 7th Mich.,” 3; Oesterle Memoir, 6, CWTI, USAMHI; Frank Moore, Rebellion Record, 6:101–2; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 41; Stephen B. Oates, Woman of Valor, 107. A thirteen-year-old drummer, Robert Henry Hendershot, supposedly exemplified the bravery of the Michigan troops. Young Hendershot helped push the boats into the water and, against orders, insisted on crossing with the other soldiers. Apparently something of a hellion, Hendershot did not quite live up to his newly minted boy hero image when he later enthusiastically helped plunder Fredericksburg. Nevertheless, exaggerated newspaper stories of his dash made him an overnight celebrity. He later met Lincoln in Washington and appeared at P. T. Barnum’s museum in New York. Separating truth from romance in any account of the Hendershot episode remains difficult. See Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, December 31, 1862; Charles Carelton Coffin, Four Years of Fighting, 149; Gerry, Robert Henry Hendershot, 2–45.
42. OR, 283–84, 600–601; Howard, Autobiography, 1:324–25; Sidney B. Vrooman to Zachariah Chandler, December 25, 1862, Chandler Papers, LC; Hawley, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 18–19.
43. Weymouth, Memorial Sketch of Lieut. Edgar M. Newcomb, 106–8; Captain John G. B. Adams, “Sunshine and Shadows of Army Life,” 452; Waitt, Nineteenth Massachusetts, 165–72; Moncena Dunn, “Fredericksburg,” 6; B&L, 3:121; John Gregory Bishop Adams, Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment, 50–53; J. E. Hodgkins, Civil War Diary, 16; Frin-frock, Across the Rappahannock, 28; Hawley, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 18–19; December 19, 1862, E. P. Miller Diary, FSNMP; Henry Ropes to John Codman Ropes, December 18, 1862, Ropes Letters, Boston Public Library. A surgeon in the Second Corps later claimed that Sumner had ordered his men to kill any man, woman, or child found in a house from which shots were fired at the Union soldiers, but there is no corroborating evidence for this story. See Grant Memoir, 2, NYHS.
44. OR, 283–84; Waitt, Nineteenth Massachusetts, 171; Bruce, Twentieth Massachusetts, 198–205; Miller and Mooney, “20th Massachusetts and the Street Fight for Fredericksburg,” 113–21; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 41–42; Henry Ropes to John Codman Ropes, December 18, 1862, Ropes Letters, Boston Public Library; George N. Macy to “Dear Colonel,” December 20, 1862, Hancock Papers, USAMHI; Stephen Longfellow, “Fredericksburg,” 3; Miller and Mooney, Civil War, 83–90; Abbott, Fallen Leaves, 15; Dinkins, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 257–58.
45. Miller and Mooney, “20th Massachusetts and the Street Fight for Fredericksburg,” 122; Henry Ropes to John Codman Ropes, December 18, 1862, Ropes Letters, Boston Public Library; Miller and Mooney, Civil War, 142–93 passim; George N. Macy to “Dear Colonel,” December 20, 1862, Hancock Papers, USAMHI; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Touched with Fire, 90–91.
46. OR, 583; List of casualties from Barksdale’s Brigade, December 18, 1862, McLaws Papers, SHC; J. E. Hodgkins, Civil War Diary, 16; MSH, 10:531; 11:234, 255, 264, 271, 12:505, 507, 632, 885–86; December 18, 1862, E. P. Miller Diary, FSNMP.
47. OR, 174, 310, 331, 345–46, 579, 603, 605; B. Dailey to Julia Dailey, December 14, 1862, Dailey Papers, FSNMP; December 11, 1862, Henderson Diary, FSNMP; “The Eighty-Ninth Infantry at Fredericksburg,” in Third Annual Report of the State Historian of New York, 49–55; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 45:370.
48. OR, 569, 601, 606; Lafayette McLaws, “The Battle of Fredericksburg,” in Addresses Delivered before the Confederate Veterans Association of Savannah, 76–77; B&L, 3:88–89; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 42–43; Hawley, “Barksdale’s Mississippi Brigade,” 19–22; Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, 130–31; Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, 2:337–38.
49. Bliss Memoir, 4:20, USAMHI; Daniel Reed Larned to “Dear Henry,” December 11, 1862, Larned Papers, LC; OR, 64, 846.
50. OR, 65, 218–19, 262–63, 285; Henry Ropes to John Codman Ropes, December 18, 1862, Ropes Letters, Boston Public Library; Gregg, Life in the Army, 79; History of the 127th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 119–21.
51. OR, 277–78; McDermott, 69th Pennsylvania, 23; Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2, 1863; Joseph Ripley Chandler Ward, One Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania, 112–13; John Day Smith, Nineteenth Maine, 30; Banes, Philadelphia Brigade, 135–37; Walter A. Eames to his wife, December 20, 1862, Eames Letters, USAMHI; Dority, “Civil War Diary,” 10.
52. OR, 331–32; Wightman, From Antietam to Fort Fisher, 86–87; Bruce, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 518–20; R. P. Staniels to “My Darling Selina,” December 16, 1862, Staniels Letter, FSNMP; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 37–40.
53. Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:101–2; OR, 578–80, 588, 608–9, 625, and ser. 1, 51(2):659–61; Burroughs, “Reminiscences of Fredericksburg,” 636; Coles, From Huntsville to Appomattox, 78. Yet on the night of December 11, Lee still remained somewhat uncertain of Burnside’s intentions, and he left half of Jackson’s men guarding possible crossing points downstream.
54. Goodson, “Letters of Joab Goodson,” 134; W. H. Burgess to David McKnight, December 20, 1862, McKnight Family Papers, UT; Stearns, Three Years with Company K, 146; December 11, 1862, Ware Diary, SHC; Thomas Rowland to “Dear Aunt Emily,” December 21, 1862, Rowland Papers, MC; Shand Memoir, 162, SCL; December 11, 1862, Shipp Diary, VHS.
55. McKinney, Life in Tent and Field, 81–82; Tillinghast, Twelfth Rhode Island, 26–27, 242–44; Jacob Henry Cole, Under Five Commanders, 105; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 147–52; Sawyer, Military History of the 8th Ohio, 91; Relyea Memoir, 70, CHS.
56. Tillinghast, Twelfth Rhode Island, 217–18; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 146–47; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 192–93; Goss, Recollections of a Private, 123–24; December 11, 1862, Charles S. Granger Diary, CWMC, USAMHI.
57. Frank Moore, Rebellion Record, 6:92; Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics, 722; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 37; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:148; History of the 127th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 121–22; Ayling, Yankee at Arms, 81–82; McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 158–59; Albany (N.Y.) Atlas and Argus, January 1, 1863; Brian A. Bennett, 140th New York, 104; J. E. Hodgkins, Civil War Diary, 16.
58. Albany (N.Y.) Atlas and Argus, December 15, 1862; Lapham, “Recollections of the Twelfth R.I. Volunteers,” 19; Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, 114–16; Bruce, Twentieth Massachusetts, 206; Osborn, No Middle Ground, 92; New York Irish-American, January 3, 1863.
1. Even sympathetic historians have criticized Burnside for not attacking on December 12 before Lee could reunite his scattered forces. See Marvel, Burnside, 178; Marvel, “Making of a Myth,” 22–23; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 130; Nevins, War for the Union, 2:347–48. For a pointed, concise, and perceptive critique of Burnside’s early tactical mistakes, see Daniel E. Sutherland, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, 38–39.
2. Marvel, Burnside, 178–79; Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 188; William Teall to his wife, December 12, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Tillinghast, Twelfth Rhode Island, 31.
3. OR, 269, 276, 289–90, 304; Kepler, Fourth Ohio, 92–93; Borton, On the Parallels, 57–58; Cory, “Private’s Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 135–36; Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 116–17; MSH, 10:626; J. E. Hodgkins, Civil War Diary, 16–17; Charles H. Eagor to his wife, December 12, 1862, Eagor Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI.
4. OR, 226, 240, 254, 260–61; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 154–59; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 53–54; Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 210; Sheldon, “Twenty-Seventh,” 24–25; MSH, 10:711, 1000; December 12, 1862, Willand Diary, NHSL; New York Irish-American, January 3, 1863.
5. OR, 315–16; Thorpe, Fifteenth Connecticut Volunteers, 33; December 12, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Hopkins, Seventh Rhode Island, 39–40; Boston Journal, n.d., FSNMP.
6. Walcott, Twenty-First Regiment, 240; Haydon, For Country, Cause, and Leader, 296–97; December 12, 1862, Cutcheon Autobiography, MHC; A. A. Batchelder to his parents, December 16, 1862, Batchelder Letter, FSNMP; Burrage, Thirty-Sixth Massachusetts, 26; Henry A. Allen, Sergeant Allen and Private Renick, 169; R. P. Staniels to “My Darling Selina,” December 16, 1862, Staniels Letter, FSNMP; December 12, 1862, Charles S. Granger Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; Henry Lewis to “Dear Cousin Charlie,” January 3, 1863, Lewis Letters, GLC; Bliss Memoir, 4:21–22, USAMHI; Bartol, Nation’s Hour, 48–49. Around 2:00 P.M. Brig. Gen. Amiel Whipple’s small Third Corps division began crossing the river to the strains of a band from the 12th New Hampshire playing “Bully for You.” A well-aimed Rebel shell ended the concert, shattering the bass drum and scattering the musicians, much to the amusement of onlookers. Crowded Fredericksburg could accommodate no more troops. After crouching along the riverbank dodging Confederate artillery rounds, this division had to retreat back across the bridge. Even this minor fiasco had produced a scattering of casualties among troops under fire for the first time. See OR, 110, 358; Walcott, Twenty-First Regiment, 240; Sprenger, 122d Regiment, 139–41; Isaac Morrow to his brother, December 21, 1862, Morrow Papers, HCWRTC, USAMHI; Paige Memoir, 20–21, USAMHI; December 12, 1862, Mancha Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; Nathan Chesley to “Friend Sawyer,” December 19, 1862, Chesley Letter, FSNMP; Asa W. Bartlett, History of the Twelfth New Hampshire, 40–41; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 39:459.
7. OR, 108–9, 523, 527; Edmund Halsey, Brother against Brother, 92; Flemington (N.J.) Hunterdon Republican, December 26, 1862; December 12, 1862, S. W. Gordon Diary, FSNMP; Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, January 1, 1863; Joseph Bloomfield Osborn to Joseph M. Osborn, December 18, 1862, Osborn Papers, LC; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3: 782, pt. 2, 40: 540; Foster, New Jersey and the Rebellion, 505; December 12, 1862, Halsey Diary, USAMHI; Haines, 15th New Jersey, 30; John Ripley Adams, Memorials and Letters, 81; Henry Ryerson to his sister, December 23, 1862, Anderson Family Papers, NJHS. After the Sixth Corps had crossed, Brig. Gen. George D. Bayard’s cavalry brigade moved slowly over the bridges and skirmished with Confederate pickets beyond the railroad. Whether these forays provided any useful intelligence information is doubtful, though ironically they largely marked the extent to which Burnside used his cavalry during the battle. See O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 23–24; OR, 109; Tobie, First Maine Cavalry, 105–6; William Penn Lloyd, First Reg’t Pennsylvania Reserve Cavalry, 38; December 12, 1862, Lloyd Diary, SHC; Pyne, Ride to War, 104–6.
8. OR, 109, 453; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 137–38; Charles E. Davis, Three Years in the Army, 162; Gearhart, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 24–25.
9. OR, 485–86, 510; James B. Thomas, Civil War Letters, 126–27; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3: 686–87; Lucius B. Shattuck to Ellen Shattuck, December 11–14, 1862, Shattuck Letters, MHC; Dawes, Sixth Wisconsin, 109–10; Otis, Second Wisconsin, 66; Maxson, Camp Fires of the Twenty-Third, 117–18; Orson Blair Curtis, History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan, 89–90; Darius Starr to his mother, December 25, 1862, Starr Papers, Duke.
10. Best, History of the 121st New York, 41; B&L, 3:142; Woodward, Our Campaigns, 232.
11. Noel G. Harrison, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, 2:14–15; Galwey, Valiant Hours, 58; John Worthington Ames, “Under Fire,” 440; Abraham Welch to his sister, December 27, 1862, Welch Letter, SHC; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 76; Augustus Van Dyke to his brother, December 23, 1862, Van Dyke Papers, IHS; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 15, 1862; Thomas Rice, “All the Imps of Hell Let Loose,” 13; Page, Fourteenth Connecticut, 80; Roberts, House Undivided, 140.
12. Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 44; History of the 127th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 122–23; Frank Moore, Rebellion Record, 5:98. Although Mark Grimsley is right that much of the looting was aimed at wealthy secessionists, he exaggerates the restraining influence of high-ranking officers and ignores the fact that many soldiers proved less than discriminating in their choice of targets. A Lutheran chaplain believed that several Union generals actually wanted the looting to take place. See Grimsley, Hard Hand of War, 108–9; Stuckenberg, Surrounded by Methodists, 38.
13. Cory, “Private’s Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 134–35; Kepler, Fourth Ohio, 92; R.S. Robertson to his parents, December 12, 1862, Robertson Papers, FSNMP; J. E. Hodgkins, Civil War Diary, 17; E. A. Walker to “Friend Knight,” January 24, 1863, Walker Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI.
14. McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 160–61; Croffut and Morris, Connecticut during the War, 291–92; Walker, Second Corps, 154; Thomas Rice, “All the Imps of Hell Let Loose,” 12; Joseph Ripley Chandler Ward, One Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania, 114–15; Todd Reminiscences, 78, SHC.
15. David Beem to his wife, December 18, 1862, Beem Papers, IHS; Milo Grow to his wife, December 18, 1862, Grow Letters, FSNMP; Waitt, Nineteenth Massachusetts, 176.
16. O. Leland Barlow to his sister, December 16, 1862, Barlow Papers, CSL; Charles J. Borden to “Dear Friend,” December 18, 1862, Borden Papers, Duke; G. O. Bartlett to Ira Andrews, December 18, 1862, Bartlett Papers, GLC; Lancaster (Pa.) Daily Evening Express, December 23, 1862; Lord, History of the Ninth New Hampshire, 224–25, 249; Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 115; Robert S. Robertson, “Diary of the War,” 74; John L. Smith, 118th Pennsylvania, 122; Oliver Willcox Norton, Army Letters, 129; Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2, 1863; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 45.
17. Bruce, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 521, 527–28; Reichardt, Diary of Battery A, 74; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 156–57; Asaph R. Tyler to his wife, December 15, 1862, Tyler Letters, FSNMP; Moe, Last Full Measure, 210–11; Amory Allen to his parents, December 17, 1862, Allen Letter, FSNMP; Hopkins, Seventh Rhode Island, 42; Wren, Captain James Wren’s Civil War Diary, 97; Ford, Fifteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 223.
18. John S. Weiser to his parents, January 1, 1863, Weiser Papers, CWMC, USAMHI; Isaac Lyman Taylor, “Campaigning with the First Minnesota,” 236; Henry H. Holt to Luther Eaton, December 17, 1862, Holt Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; Dority, “Civil War Diary,” 10; Thomas D. Grover Smith to “Dear Mother,” December 18, 1862, Thomas D. Grover Smith Letter, Turner Collection, USAMHI; Beidelman, Letters of George Washington Beidelman, 166–67; Joseph Ripley Chandler Ward, One Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania, 115; Charles Augustus Fuller, Recollections of the War of 1861, 78.
19. Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 54–55; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 161; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 193–94; J. L. Smith to his mother, December 26, 1862, John L. Smith Letters, FSNMP.
20. Spangler, My Little War Experiences, 62; Joseph Ripley Chandler Ward, One Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania, 115; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 42; Howard, Autobiography, 1:325; Hough, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 13, FSNMP; Waitt, Nineteenth Massachusetts, 174–75.
21. Walker, Second Corps, 153–54; December 12, 1862, Butler Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; History of the Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, 81–82; Waitt, Nineteenth Massachusetts, 175–76; Reese, Sykes’ Regular Infantry Division, 186.
22. Cory, “Private’s Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 136; Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1:29; Imholte, First Minnesota, 108; Aldrich, History of Battery A, 160; Powell, Fifth Corps, 398; Currier, “From Concord to Fredericksburg,” 252–53; Bruce, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 528.
23. Abbott, Fallen Leaves, 155–56; G. O. Bartlett to Ira Andrews, December 18, 1862, Bartlett Papers, GLC; Cavins, Civil War Letters of Cavins, 122; Marvel, Ninth New Hampshire, 995–96; Henry Grimes Marshall to “Dear Folks at Home,” Marshall Papers, Schoff Collection, CL.
24. George W. Ballock to his wife, December 18, 1862, Ballock Papers, Duke; P. H. Hilliard to his wife, December 21, 1862, Hilliard Papers, Duke; George W. Barr to Vinnie Barr, December 18, 1862, Barr Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Henry Willis to his father, December 15, 1862, Henry Willis Letter, FSNMP; Charles Dwight Chase to his father, January 11, 1862, Chase Papers, NHHS; Willard J. Templeton to his sister, December 11, 1862, Templeton Letters, NHSL; Charles F. Stinson to his mother, December 17, 1862, Stinson Letters, USAMHI; A. B. Martin to “Dear Ann,” December 19, 1862, Martin Letter, FSNMP; Thomas Rice, “All the Imps of Hell Let Loose,” 13.
25. Gambone, Zook, 106; December 12, 1862, Henderson Diary, FSNMP; McCrea, Dear Belle, 175; December 12, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 209; Indianapolis Daily Journal, December 24, 1862.
26. Joseph N. Haynes to his father, December 21, 1862, Haynes Papers, Duke; A. A. Batchelder to his parents, December 16, 1862, Batchelder Letter, FSNMP; Aaron K. Blake to his sister, December 18, 1862, Blake Letters, CWMC, USAMHI; Ephraim Jackson to “Dear Brother and Sister,” December 20, 1862, Jackson Letters, FSNMP; December 14, 1862, Rice Diary, FSNMP; Beidelman, Letters of George Washington Beidelman, 162–63.
27. New York Tribune, December 15, 1862; John S. Crocker to his wife, December 12, 1862, Crocker Letters, CU; Thomas Rice, “All the Imps of Hell Let Loose,” 14; December 19, 1862, Webb Diary, Schoff Collection, CL.
28. Roland R. Bowen, From Ball’s Bluff to Gettysburg, 141; Royster, Destructive War, 253–54; Everard H. Smith, “Chambersburg”; Reid Mitchell, Vacant Chair, 7–11; Ellis M. Stevens to Daniel Stevens, December 12, 1862, Stevens Papers, CSL.
29. OR, 222; Chamberlain, Through Blood and Fire, 44–45; New York Herald, December 14, 1862; Cory, “Private’s Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 134; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 41, 99; Simonton, “Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 257–58; Under the Maltese Cross, 105. Couch did not repeat his claim in a later article for the Century Magazine series but instead admitted that there had been “considerable looting” (B&L, 3:108).
30. Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1:29; OR, 344; December 12, 1862, Butler Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; Cowtan, Services of the Tenth New York Volunteers, 161–62; Howard Owen Edmonds, Owen-Edmonds, 41–42; Borton, Awhile with the Blue, 37; B&L, 3: 108–9; Hopkins, Seventh Rhode Island, 42–43; Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 188–89.
31. George L. Prescott to ?, December 11–12, 1862, Prescott Papers, MHS; Tillinghast, Twelfth Rhode Island, 175; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, December 27, 1862; Herbert C. Mason to his father, December 17, 1862, Mason Letter, FSNMP; John Godfrey to Horace Godfrey, December 14, 1862, Godfrey Papers, NHHS; ? (an unidentified member of the 24th New York) to “Dear Jeemes,” December 18, 1862, Lyons Family Papers, U.S. Military Academy; Darrohn, “Recollections,” 8–9, FSNMP; R. P. Staniels to “My Darling Selina,” December 16, 1862, Staniels Letter, FSNMP.
32. John Wilkins to his wife, December 18, 1862, Wilkins Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 115; Abraham Welch to his sister, December 27, 1862, Welch Letter, SHC; Osborne, Twenty-Ninth Massachusetts, 205.
33. Civil War Damage Inventories, Drawer 491, Clerk of the Circuit Court of Fredericksburg; December 29, 1862, Alsop Diary, VHS; Jane Howison Beale, Journal, 74–75.
34. Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 22, 1862; Charleston Daily Courier, January 8, 1863; Figg, “Where Men Only Dare to Go!,” 94; Blake, Three Years in the Army of the Potomac, 157; Goss, Recollections of a Private, 134; Thomas Rice, “All the Imps of Hell Let Loose,” 14.
35. December 12, 1862, Latrobe Diary, VHS; Oscar J. E. Stuart to Annie E. Stuart, December 17, 1862, Dimitry Papers, Duke; Francis Marion Coker to his wife, December 18, 1862, Coker Letters, UG; John F. Sale to ?, December 23, 1862, Sale Letter, FSNMP; Isaac Howard to his father, December 25, 1862, Howard Family Papers, SHC; Thomas Rice, “All the Imps of Hell Let Loose,” 14.
36. Augusta (Ga.) Daily Constitutionalist, January 4, 1863; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 18, 1862; Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 18, 22, 1862; Blair, “Barbarians at Fredericksburg’s Gate,” 156–58; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 15, 1862; Charleston Daily Courier, January 8, 1863; Atlanta Southern Confederacy, January 7, 1863. Editor Edward Pollard included poignant details of refugee suffering, the bombardment of Fredericksburg, and the sack of the town in his yearly compilation of contemporary war history. See Pollard, Southern History of the War, 1:540–41, 547–49.
37. Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 23, 1862; Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 20, 1862; Edmondston, “Journal of a Secesh Lady,” 322. Although northern newspapers barely reported, let alone criticized, the soldiers’ behavior, a New York Times editorial later conceded that plundering by Federal armies would most likely spur the Rebels to redouble their efforts to win independence. See New York Times, January 4, 1863.
38. Professor Lowe had his balloon ready to go, and signal stations had been established; but Burnside learned little about the strength or deployment of Lee’s forces. Fog and smoke along with sometimes sloppy staff work hampered communication. For intelligence problems, see William Allan, “Fredericksburg,” 133; OR, ser. 3, 3:294; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 10: 446; Hagerman, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 80–81.
39. OR, 89–91, 109, and ser. 1, 51(1): 1021; B&L, 3:109, 133–34; CCW, 1:707; Jacob Lyman Greene, Franklin and the Left Wing at Fredericksburg, 12–13; William B. Franklin to St. Clair Mulholland, January 13, 1881, Mulholland Collection, MOLLUS; Marvel, Burnside, 180. With regard to the advice of his generals, Burnside either refused to commit himself or left the impression that he would follow their counsel (much of the evidence is sketchy, contradictory, or of questionable authority).
40. “Personal Recollections of the First Battle of Fredericksburg,” 8, UT; OR, 545, 1060.
41. OR, 569–70; B&L, 3:89–91; Walters, Norfolk Blues, 47; Patterson, Yankee Rebel, 85. This officer in his own way simply echoed the classic definition of a strong defensive position. See Clausewitz, On War, 409.
42. Hotchkiss, Make Me a Map of the Valley, 99–100; Lenoir Chambers, Jackson, 2:277–80; OR, 641, 1060; O’Sullivan, 55th Virginia, 42; James Power Smith, “With Stonewall Jackson,” 28; W. G. Bean, Sandie Pendleton, 87.
43. Conn, “Conn-Brantley Letter,” 439; W. H. Andrews, Footprints of a Regiment, 97; Samuel D. Buck, With the Old Confeds, 71; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 2:476.
44. Early, Narrative of the War, 170; Handerson, Yankee in Gray, 52; Edward Waterman to his sisters, December 19, 1862, Waterman-Bacon-Sanders Family Papers, Houston Regional Library; December 12, 1862, Hodnett Diary, UDC Bound Typescripts, GDAH.
45. OR, 643; W. R. M. Slaughter to his sister, January 4, 1863, Slaughter Letters, VHS; Hubbell, Confederate Stamps, Old Letters, and History, appendix, 8; Edward Hall Armstrong to his father, December 18, 1862, Armstrong Letter, Duke; John S. Brooks to Sarah A. Knox, December 20, 1862, Brooks Letters, SHC; Laboda, From Selma to Appomattox, 68; William S. White, “Diary of the War,” 144–45.
46. “Personal Recollections of the First Battle of Fredericksburg,” 1, UT; OR, 588; Dickert, Kershaw’s Brigade, 182; Coles, From Huntsville to Appomattox, 80; Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of Jackson, 397.
47. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 23; B&L, 3:136; Judd, Story of the Thirty-Third, 252–53; Coles, From Huntsville to Appomattox, 77; Noel G. Harrison, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, 2:76–82; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 138–39.
48. Villard, Memoirs, 1:360–61; December 12, 1862, Charles S. Granger Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; John Smart to Ann Smart, December 17, 1862, Smart Letters, FSNMP; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 55; Loyd Harris, “Army Music,” 291–92.
49. Charles E. Davis, Three Years in the Army, 162–63; Cook, Twelfth Massachusetts, 80; George H. Allen, Forty-Six Months, 164–67; Elizabeth New Jersey Journal, January 6, 1863; Blakeslee, Sixteenth Connecticut, 28; Cogswell, Eleventh New Hampshire, 66.
50. Ford, Fifteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 224–25; December 12, 1862, Shepard Diary, FSNMP; William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 155; December 12, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life, 131; Joseph E. Grant, Flying Regiment, 47; Bosbyshell, 48th in the War, 96; Virgil W. Mattoon to his mother, December 10–15, 1862, Mattoon Papers, CHS; Peter Welsh, Irish Green and Union Blue, 43; December 12, 1862, Furst Diary, HCWRTC, USAMHI.
51. Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 1–9; Blake, Three Years in the Army of the Potomac, 149.
52. James R. Woodworth to Phoebe Woodworth, December 12, 1862, Woodworth Papers, Hotchkiss Collection, CL; Melcher, With a Flash of His Sword, 11; Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 210; Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 117; J. Cutler Andrews, North Reports the Civil War, 325; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 15, 1862; Charles F. Powell to his parents, December 12, 1862, Powell Papers, CWMC, USAMHI.
53. Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 29–32; December 12, 1862, Charles S. Granger Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 152; Cavins, Civil War Letters of Cavins, 120; O’Reilly, “Pennsylvania Reserves at Fredericksburg,” 8; Trobriand, Four Years with the Army of the Potomac, 363–64.
54. Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 122–26; McAllister, Letters of Robert McAllister, 240; Charles H. Eagor to his wife, December 12, 1862, Eagor Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; Hackett, Christian Memorials, 79–81.
1. Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee, 2:451; Clausewitz, On War, 103–4, 186, 249. For evidence of Burnside’s physical and mental exhaustion, see Marvel, Burnside, 174–206 passim.
2. Undated statement of James Allen Hardie, ca. December 1862, and Extract of Letter from Hardie to Ambrose E. Burnside, March 12, 1863?, Hardie Papers, LC; OR, 90–91, and ser. 1, 51(1): 1021; CCW, 1:707; Marvel, Burnside, 203–4. Reynolds had also stayed up—until 3:00 A.M.—before going to bed in disgust. See B&L, 3:133. Franklin later testified that “the staff officer who brought the order” strengthened his restrictive interpretation of Burnside’s order. See CCW, 1:709–10.
3. OR, 457.
4. Historians have usually made cases either for or against Burnside, but what John Keegan has labeled the “accusatorial” approach to battle history tends to oversimplify greatly the many factors affecting the outcome of a battle, including communications and staff work. See Keegan, Face of Battle, 75–77.
5. OR, 90, 110, 114.
6. Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 57; Castleman, Army of the Potomac, 260; OR, ser. 1, 51(1):1021; B&L, 3:133–34; CCW, 1:708, 710; William B. Franklin to George B. McClellan, December 23, 1862, McClellan Papers, LC. Franklin also claimed to have discussed the order with Reynolds and Smith. In an appearance before the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War only a few days after the battle, Burnside attributed the failure of Franklin’s attack to the strength of the Confederate positions. But during additional testimony in early February 1863, he sharply criticized Franklin for “a lack of alacrity and strict adherence to the spirit of the plan” that prevented a successful assault on the high ground near Hamilton’s Crossing. Privately he claimed to have trusted Franklin’s discretion. Surely, Burnside said, Franklin realized that “I did not cross more than 100,000 [men] over the river to make a reconnaissance.” See CCW, 1:655–56, 723–24; Ambrose E. Burnside to Mr. Sturgis?, June 7, 1863, Burnside Papers, entry 159, box 3, NA.
7. See, for example, Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:380–81. Later critics of Burnside’s tactics have thoroughly dissected and criticized the orders issued on December 13. See, for example, Jacob Lyman Greene, Franklin and the Left Wing at Fredericksburg, 16–19; Palfrey, Antietam and Fredericksburg, 162–65. Some students of the battle have maintained that the attack orders were vague because Burnside had thoroughly discussed his plans with Franklin and the other generals on December 12. See, for example, Woodbury, Burnside and the Ninth Army Corps, 228–29; Marvel, Burnside, 175–76; A. Wilson Greene, “Opportunity to the South,” 312–13. Artillery officers testified that Franklin hardly needed the entire Sixth Corps to guard the bridges and suggested that he should have launched a much stronger attack. Hooker agreed with this assessment in his congressional testimony. Even commentators most critical of Burnside have pointed to Franklin’s timidity and what the artillery chief of the First Corps deemed his “natural laziness.” Given his engineering background, Franklin may also have been inclined toward a strict interpretation of Burnside’s orders. See [De Peyster,] “Fredericksburg,” 201–7; CCW, 1:670, 670, 687–90; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 147–48. Part of the difficulty with the battle plan may also have stemmed from the anomalous position of both the grand division and corps commanders in the recently reorganized Army of the Potomac. To be sure, Franklin’s defenders have also been quick to adopt his interpretation of Burnside’s orders. See Swinton, Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, 248; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 66–67; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 132; Jacob Lyman Greene, Franklin and the Left Wing at Fredericksburg, 19, 31, 35–38. The soundest conclusion is that both Burnside and Franklin bore considerable responsibility for the ineffectual assault on the Rebel right. Confederate defensive positions as well as the tactical performance of commanders and troops on both sides also greatly influenced the results of the fighting on this part of the field.
8. Charles, “Events in Battle of Fredericksburg,” 66.
9. Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 47–49; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 36, 47; OR, 378.
10. Clausewitz, On War, 348.
11. A. Wilson Greene, “Opportunity to the South,” 296–97; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 38; Susan Leigh Blackford, Letters from Lee’s Army, 145–46; Early, Narrative of the War, 167–68; OR, 449, 453. Shortly after the battle, Franklin greatly exaggerated the steepness of Prospect Hill, falsely reporting it “well abattied.” The enemy’s lines, he said, were “impregnable.” See William B. Franklin to George B. McClellan, December 23, 1862, McClellan Papers, LC. Federal cavalry had not reconnoitered the ground; Yankee horsemen did little during the battle itself but watch. “Cold, idle, and anxious,” Charles Francis Adams Jr. described them. See OR, 220–21; Indianapolis Daily Journal, December 20, 1862; Denison, First Rhode Island Cavalry, 182–83; William Penn Lloyd, First Reg’t Pennsylvania Reserve Cavalry, 38; Charles Francis Adams, Cycle of Adams Letters, 1:211.
12. OR, 630–31;Col.G.F.R.Henderson, Civil War, 62; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 61; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 27–29. During the morning D. H. Hill’s Division moved into a position in reserve behind Early and Taliaferro.
13. OR, 636–37; A. Wilson Greene, “Opportunity to the South,” 300–301; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:377–82. I have relied heavily on the meticulous analysis of artillery placement in O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 29–32. For tactical details and analysis of the fighting on the Confederate right, O’Reilly’s book is superb.
14. Two regiments from Col. John M. Brockenbrough’s rightmost Virginia brigade later moved to support Archer, while the rest backed up Walker’s batteries. Pender’s brigade was stationed to the left and rear of Lane’s brigade and behind Davidson’s artillery. Brig. Gen. Edward L. Thomas’s Georgia brigade held a position to the rear of the gap between Pender and Lane.
15. OR, 630–32, 653–64; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 27–28.
16. OR, 645; Pender, General to His Lady, 191; James I. Robertson Jr., Hill, 157–61, 167–68.
17. Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:114; Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, 131; Lenoir Chambers, Jackson, 2:383; John William Jones, Christ in the Camp, 88; John W. Stevens, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 89–90; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Jackson, 578–79; Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, 2:346–47; Worsham, One of Jackson’s Foot Cavalry, 152–53. Some sources claimed that Jackson noticed the gap and even predicted the Federals would attack there, but several authorities have raised objections to this version of events and have argued that Jackson deserves some criticism for the faulty brigade alignment. See Dabney, Jackson, 610; Douglas Southall Freeman, Lee’s Lieutenants, 2:341–42; Nolan, “Confederate Leadership at Fredericksburg,” 39–40; James I. Robertson Jr., Jackson, 651–53.
18. CCW, 1:710; OR, 91, 449–50, 453–54; Hitchcock, War from the Inside, 101; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:334, 342–43; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 196–97; William B. Franklin to John C. Ropes, May 15, 1895, Ropes Papers, Boston University.
19. CCW, 1:702; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:332, 339, 341–42. Meade’s division was reportedly the smallest in the First Corps, though Reynolds later testified it was the largest. Frank O’Reilly notes that some of Meade’s troops had been detached for other duties, but the numbers remain uncertain. See O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 202.
20. Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 143; George Meade (the general’s son) to his mother, December 21, 1862, Meade Papers, HSP; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 35–36; OR, 91. Franklin and Burnside likely were still confused about the road system, and Burnside apparently wanted the troops moved farther down the Richmond Stage Road to flank the Confederate right. For a detailed analysis of this question, see Marvel, Burnside, 185–86.
21. OR, 510–11; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 25, 1862; History of the 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 30; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 139.
22. B&L, 3:77; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:116–17; [De Peyster,] “Fredericksburg,” 199; Charles, “Events in Battle of Fredericksburg,” 66; Walter H. Taylor, Four Years with General Lee, 80; L. Minor Blackford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 207–8; Davidson, Diary and Letters, 63; December 13, 1862, Jones Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; Mockbee, “Historical Sketch of the 14th Tennessee,” 33, MC.
23. OR, 533; Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, 131; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:117; Jedediah Hotchkiss to Sara Ann Comfort Hotchkiss, December 13, 1862, Hotchkiss Papers, LC. For various versions of the first quotation, see the Times (London), January 13, 1863; James Power Smith, “With Stonewall Jackson,” 30; Dabney, Jackson, 611.
24. Charles Minor Blackford to Mary Blackford, January 12, 1863, Blackford Family Papers, SHC; William Willis Blackford, War Years with Stuart, 192–93; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 173–74; William Woods Hassler, Pelham, 138; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:112–13.
25. William Woods Hassler, Pelham, 145; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 40–41; Shreve, “Reminiscences,” 5–6, Jefferson County Museum; R. Channing Price to his mother, December 17, 1862, Price Papers, SHC.
26. Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” October 25, 1895; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 42–43; OR, 185–86, 199–200, 458, 510–11; Harper, Civil War History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 181–82; Shreve, “Reminiscences,” 5–6, Jefferson County Museum; Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 132–33; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:30–31; History of the 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 30–31.
27. Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:382–83; William Woods Hassler, Pelham, 145–46; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 43–46; OR, 91, 458, 510–11, 514–15; Cooke, “Right at Fredericksburg,” 1; Naisawald, Grape and Canister, 249–50.
28. OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:779–80; OR, 91, 458, 511, 514–15.
29. Mertz, “Jackson’s Artillerists,” 77–78; Cooke, Wearing of the Gray, 122–23; OR, 547, 631; George William Beale, Lieutenant of Cavalry in Lee’s Army, 63–64.
30. CCW 1:708; OR 215, 461–62, 466, 468; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:688; Irvin Cross Wills to James W. Wills, January 1, 1863, Wills Family Papers, VHS.
31. OR, 461–62, 476–77; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:688, 779–80; Lucius B. Shattuck to Ellen Shattuck, December 11–14, 1862, Shattuck Letters, MHC; Orson Blair Curtis, History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan, 91–92.
32. Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 141; OR, 454, 458; Milans, “Eyewitness to Fredericksburg,” 23; Naisawald, Grape and Canister, 250–51; Gearhart, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 25; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 48. The sources are inconsistent on times and duration of the various artillery attacks. I have largely followed O’Reilly’s lead on these matters. Part of the problem stems from the fact that during artillery duels, and indeed combat in general, men do not accurately note the time. See Dean, Shook over Hell, 64–65.
33. OR, 649, 679; Robert H. Moore, Danville, Eight Star, New Market, and Dixie Artillery, 25–27; Bohannon, Giles, Allegheny, and Jackson Artillery, 28; Carmichael, Purcell, Crenshaw, and Letcher Artillery, 102–3; December 13, 1862, Jones Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; December 13, 1862, O’Farrell Diary, MC.
34. McIntosh Manuscript, 7–10, SHC; Hatton Memoir, 375–79, LC; OR, 636; Mertz, “Jackson’s Artillerists,” 82–85; Kimble, “Company A,” MC; Dabney, Jackson, 613–14; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 2:556, 4:236; Nisbet, Four Years on the Firing Line, 123. For a discussion of the psychological impact of coming under intense artillery fire, see Dean, Shook over Hell, 65–66.
35. OR, 454; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 49–51.
36. Pennypacker, Meade, 100; McIntosh Manuscript, 9–10, SHC; McCreery Recollections, section 10, 1862–63, VHS; Cooke, “Right at Fredericksburg,” 1; OR, 480, 637–38, 645–46, 649; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 51–53; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:383–84.
37. OR, 631; McIntosh Manuscript, 10, SHC; December 13, 1862, Furst Diary, HCWRTC, USAMHI; Isaac Hall, History of the Ninety-Seventh New York, 110; Catton, Glory Road, 44; Small, Sixteenth Maine, 72.
38. McClenthen, Narrative of the Fall and Winter Campaign, 37; Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” November 3, 1895; OR, 486, 482–83, 514; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:30–31; MSH, 2:131, 7:201; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 58:88.
39. L. Minor Blackford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 208–9; Charleston Daily Courier,December 13, 1862; William Meade Dame to his mother, December 15, 1862, Dame Letters, FSNMP; Carmichael, Purcell, Crenshaw, and Letcher Artillery, 149.
40. OR, 186, 450, 483, 515–17, 637; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 2:969; Charles E. Davis, Three Years in the Army, 164–65; Small, Road to Richmond, 65.
41. OR, 637–39, 677, 679; Robert H. Moore, Danville, Eight Star, New Market, and Dixie Artillery, 25–27; Fonerden, Carpenter’s Battery, 41–42; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:384–85.
42. OR, 650, 662; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:664–65.
43. OR, 649; Cooke, “Right at Fredericksburg,” 1; December 13, 1862, Jones Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; McIntosh Manuscript, 9–10, SHC; Brunson, Pee Dee Light Artillery, 23–24; Charleston Daily Courier, 13, 1862; Carmichael, Lee’s Young Artillerist, 75; MSH, 10:743; Carmichael, Purcell, Crenshaw, and Letcher Artillery, 105.
44. Driver, 1st and 2nd Rockbridge Artillery, 34–36; OR, 638–39; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 58; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:385; Steve Dandridge to his mother, December 19, 1862, Bedinger-Dandridge Family Papers, Duke; Richmond Daily Whig, January 9, 1863.
45. Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 141; OR, 458–59; Naisawald, Grape and Canister, 254–55.
46. William S. White, “Diary of the War,” 146–47; Edward A. Moore, Cannoneer under Jackson, 161–63; Poague, Gunner with Stonewall, 54–55; Driver, 1st and 2nd Rockbridge Artillery, 34–36; William B. Bailey to C. C. Bailey, December 17, 1862, Bailey Letters, HCWRTC, USAMHI; OR, 186; Lee Memoir, 4–6, FSNMP.
47. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 64–65; CCW, 1:705. For a thorough and perceptive assessment of the performance of Jackson’s artillery, see Mertz, “Jackson’s Artillerists,” 94–95.
48. Scales, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 212–13; Edward Waterman to his sisters, December 19, 1862, Waterman-Bacon-Sanders Family Papers, Houston Regional Library.
1. Mulholland, “At Fredericksburg,” 3. For a pointed critique of the conventional “battle piece,” see Keegan, Face of Battle, 69–73. For common physical and psychological reactions of soldiers heading into combat, see Wiley, Life of Billy Yank, 69–70; McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 36–45; Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 15–19.
2. Cleaves, Meade, 91; Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” November 3, 1895.
3. OR, 518–19; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 36; Thomson and Rauch, History of the “Bucktails,” 233; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1:585; History of the 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 32–33; December 13, 1862, Taggart Diary, USAMHI.
4. Silas W. Crocker, “Charge of the Pennsylvania Reserves,” 3; Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 45–54; Keegan, Face of Battle, 36–40.
5. Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1:31; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 25, 1862; OR, 511, 513, 518–19; O’Reilly, “Pennsylvania Reserves at Fredericksburg,” 16–17.
6. Sypher, History of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps, 414–15; OR, 511, 518–19; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1:551, 2:699–700; Silas W. Crocker, “Charge of the Pennsylvania Reserves,” 3; Krick, “Maxcy Gregg,” 293–310; OR, 646–47, 651–52; Caldwell, History of a Brigade of South Carolinians, 57–61; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 85–88; Outz, “Maxcy Gregg at Fredericksburg,” 15–23; Norton Reunion Speech, 1886, SCL: Benson, Berry Benson’s Civil War Book, 31–33; Clement Anselm Evans, Confederate Military History, 6:171–72.
7. Caldwell, History of a Brigade of South Carolinians, 61–62; Clement Anselm Evans, Confederate Military History, 6:172; MSH, 11:268, 12:555; OR, 519–20, 560; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 88; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:30–31; History of the 121st Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 32–33; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 25, 1862.
8. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 63; Archer, “James J. Archer Letters,” 139; Atlanta Southern Confederacy, December 30, 1862; Keeley, “Civil War Diary Relates Records of Famous Company”; OR, 657–58, 660–61; Dyer and Moore, Tennessee Civil War Veterans Questionnaires, 2:637.
9. Whether the Georgians had actually dug rifle pits or held a shallow depression is unclear in the contemporary accounts.
10. Woodward, Our Campaigns, 235–36; December 13, 1862, Woodward Diary, HL; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1:585–86, 2:727–28, 851–52; Carlisle (Pa.) Herald, December 26, 1862; Cumberland Valley (Pa.) Journal, December 18, 1862; OR, 560, 658–59, 660; Atlanta Southern Confederacy, December 30, 1862; Keeley, “Civil War Diary Relates Records of Famous Company”; Folsom, Heroes and Martyrs of Georgia, 35; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 88–92. After-action reports sometimes refer to the “collapse” of a regiment; in this case, “collapse” meant 54 casualties and at least 100 men taken prisoner. Yet the numbers hardly recapture the horror. Take, for instance, the case of an unidentified private who was struck in the front of the head, suffered a severe skull fracture, was captured, was transported to a Washington hospital, was operated on for the removal of several bone fragments, but finally succumbed to pneumonia. See MSH, 7:258.
11. Benneville Schell to his father, December 28, 1862, Schell Letters, FSNMP; OR, 661; Lindsley, Military Annals of Tennessee, 326; Mockbee, “Historical Sketch of the 14th Tennessee,” 34, MC.
12. J. H. Moore, “Fredericksburg,” 182–83; OR, 646, 657, 659–60; F. S. Harris, “Gen. Jas. J. Archer,” 19; Fite Memoir, 80–81, TSLA; Lindsley, Military Annals of Tennessee, 238; Archer, “James J. Archer Letters,” 138.
13. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 36; Warner, Generals in Blue, 246; November 8, 1862, Eaton Diary, SHC.
14. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 77; Atlanta Southern Confederacy, December 30, 1862; OR, 657, 661; Lindsley, Military Annals of Tennessee, 326; Thomson and Rauch, History of the “Bucktails,” 233–35; Mockbee, “Historical Sketch of the 14th Tennessee,” 34, MC.
15. OR, 521–22; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 2:670, 791, 821, 851–52, 884–85; Pittsburgh Daily Dispatch, December 22, 1862; Bright and Bright, “Respects to All,” 33–34; Beaver (Pa.) Weekly Argus, December 24, 1862; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 58: 683; CCW, 1:692; OR, 139–40, 512; Pittsburgh Post, December 24, 1862; December 13, 1862, Taggart Diary, USAMHI.
16. OR, 520; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 36, 83; Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” November 10, December 6, 1895; December 13, 1862, Heffelfinger Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Cumberland Valley (Pa.) Journal, December 18, 1862.
17. Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1:614–15, 639; Woodward, Third Pennsylvania Reserves, 208–9; Milans, “Eyewitness to Fredericksburg,” 23.
18. OR, 520; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 2:762, 4:464–65; Gearhart, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 26–27; December 13, 1862, Boyts Diary, HSP. The figures include some casualties sustained during the later Confederate counterattack. Given the number of serious leg wounds in both regiments, Lane’s North Carolinians must have paid some heed to the officers’ standard admonitions to fire low. See MSH, 11:232, 240, 275, 276, 286, 294, 299, 330, 12:443–44, 475, 482, 504, 519, 524, 526, 535, 543, 605, 793, 794, 800.
19. OR, 654; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:657; William G. Morris to his wife, December 18, 1862, Morris Letter, SHC.
20. OR, 654; J. H. Lane, “Twenty-Eighth North Carolina Infantry,” 332; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 2:475; William G. Morris to his wife, December 18, 1862, Morris Letter, SHC.
21. Gibbon, Recollections of the Civil War, 100–101; Isaac Hall, History of the Ninety-Seventh New York, 109.
22. Small, Road to Richmond, 62–65; CCW, 1:691, 700, 715; OR, 480; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 139.
23. Warner, Generals in Blue, 495–96; Jack D. Welsh, Medical Histories of Union Generals, 332; OR, 484, 503; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 10:867. For conflicting accounts of and rationalizations for the behavior of the 88th Pennsylvania, see OR, 508–9; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 5:70–71; Vautier, 88th Pennsylvania, 90–91.
24. OR, 503, 505–8, 654; Locke, Story of the Regiment, 163–65; John D. Withrow to Sarah Withrow, December 28, 1862, Withrow Letters, FSNMP; Todd, Ninth Regiment, N.Y.S.M., 224–25; Jaques, Three Years’ Campaign, 128–29; December 13, 1862, Robert S. Coburn Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 45:214–29; MSH, 11:262, 296, 12:471, 484, 495, 534, 550, 580; Philadelphia Press, December 27, 1862; Isaac Hall, History of the Ninety-Seventh New York, 111–12; Howard Thomas, Boys in Blue from the Adirondack Foothills, 114.
25. OR, 496–97, 499–501, 503, 654; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 143–44; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 2:475, 556–57; Frinfrock, Across the Rappahannock, 87; Scales, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 209–10; Wetmore, “Story of a New York Boy at Fredericksburg,” 3; Howard Thomas, Boys in Blue from the Adirondack Foothills, 111–12; McClenthen, Narrative of the Fall and Winter Campaign, 44.
26. OR, 480, 486–87, and ser. 1, 51(1):172; CCW, 1:715; McClenthen, Narrative of the Fall and Winter Campaign, 38. The regiments joining Root were the 12th Massachusetts, the 88th Pennsylvania, and the 136th Pennsylvania.
27. William F. Fox, Regimental Losses, 132; OR, 488–90, 646, 654–55; Augusta (Maine) Kennebec Journal, January 2, 1863; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 25:592–93; Small, Road to Richmond, 66–67; Bisbee, “Three Years a Volunteer Soldier,” 116; Small, Sixteenth Maine, 65–67, 72–81; William G. Morris to his wife, December 18, 1862, Morris Letter, SHC; Irving Smith to Lusey Smith, December 22, 1862, Smith Papers, Duke; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:374–75, 2:35–36.
28. OR, 493, 498; Cook, Twelfth Massachusetts, 80, 83; Isaac Tichenor to Michael Leonard, March 17, 1893, Tichenor Letter, FSNMP.
29. OR, 491–92; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 45:557; Kress, Memoirs, 3–4; Barber, Civil War Letters, 109.
30. OR, 494–95, 502; McCoy, “107th Penna. Vet. Volunteers”; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 3:858, 5:71; James B. Thomas, Civil War Letters, 124–25, 127–28, 130; Vautier, 88th Pennsylvania, 91.
31. Palfrey, Antietam and Fredericksburg, 158–59; OR, 454, 519; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 2:851–52; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 143–44.
32. OR, 646, 651; Dunaway, Reminiscences, 56–57; O’Sullivan, 55th Virginia, 42.
33. Early, Narrative of the War, 170–73; Greer, “All Thoughts Are Absorbed in the War,” 30; OR, 663–64.
34. OR, 647, 664–65, 669–70; Early, Narrative of the War, 172–73; Macon (Ga.) Daily Telegraph, January 6, 1863; Bradwell, “Georgia Brigade at Fredericksburg,” 19; Mills Lane, “Dear Mother: Don’t Grieve about Me,” 202; Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, 135; Sandersville Central Georgian, January 14, 1863; Savannah Republican, January 6, 1863.
35. OR, 520–21, 664, 673–74; Ashcraft, 31st Virginia, 43; Early, Narrative of the War, 173–74; Harper, Civil War History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 181; Gearhart, Reminiscences of theCivil War, 26–29; Winchester (Va.) Times, February 11, 1891; Wingfield, “Diary of Capt. H. W. Wingfield,” 20–21. Walker’s men had passed through Brig. Gen. Elisha F. Paxton’s “Stone-wall Brigade” from Jackson’s old division. The division was now commanded by Brig. Gen. William B. Taliaferro.
36. OR, 664, 672; Nisbet, Four Years on the Firing Line, 124; Early, Narrative of the War, 174; William Calvin Oates, War between Union and Confederacy, 166; Edward Waterman to his sisters, December 19, 1862, Waterman-Bacon-Sanders Family Papers, Houston Regional Library; McClendon, Recollections of War Times, 159–60; S. G. Pryor, Post of Honor, 299–300.
37. Meade, Life and Letters, 1:338; B&L, 3:136; OR, 72, 90, 113–14, 355, 358–59, 361–62, 364; CCW, 1:704–5, 708; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:767–71.
38. CCW, 1:691–92, 705–6; OR, 512. Birney later testified that he received only one request for assistance from Meade. See CCW, 1:706. Both Birney’s division and, later, Sickles’s division had been detached from Hooker’s control, and Franklin does not appear to have been coordinating the various commands.
39. Pennypacker, Meade, 102; Hitchcock, War from the Inside, 134–35; Thomson and Rauch, History of the “Bucktails,” 236.
40. Cleaves, Meade, 92–93; George G. Meade to his wife, December 30, 1862, and William B. Franklin to Meade, March 25, 1863, Meade Papers, HSP; Meade, Life and Letters, 1:337–40. Meade’s censure of Reynolds in the December 30, 1862, letter to his wife was excised from the published version of the general’s correspondence. In his official report, congressional testimony, and private correspondence Franklin passed the proverbial buck to Reynolds, claiming the impracticality of using Smith’s Sixth Corps to support the attack. His excuses for the timid use of his sizable forces shifted and multiplied as time went on. See OR, 449–50; CCW, 1: 661–62; William B. Franklin to St. Clair A. Mulholland, January 13, 1881, Mulholland Collection, MOLLUS; William B. Franklin to George B. McClellan, December 23, 1862, McClellan Papers, LC. Reynolds took a similar tack. He told the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War that the troops supporting Meade had not moved quickly enough, but he dithered about who might have been responsible for the delay. In his official report Reynolds claimed the Confederates’ strong position had foiled the “brilliant attack,” though privately and before the committee he also faulted the performance of Meade’s and Gibbon’s divisions. See CCW, 1:699–700; OR, 455; Edward J. Nichols, Toward Gettysburg, 155.
41. OR, 522; Berks and Schuylkill (Pa.) Journal, January 10, 1863; Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” December 20, 1895; Kerbey, On the War-Path, 133–34; George H. Allen, Forty-Six Months, 163–64.
42. Reuben Schell to his father, December 17, 1862, Schell Letters, FSNMP; OR, 139–40, 512–13; Nathan Pennypacker to ?, December 15, 1862, Pennypacker Letters, Chester County Historical Society; CCW, 1:702; Frinfrock, Across the Rappahannock, 99; Charles Frederick Taylor, “Colonel of the Bucktails,” 356; James H. McIlwaine to Emma McIlwaine, December 14, 1862, McIlwaine Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; Franklin Boyts to his parents, December 21, 1862, Boyts Diary, HSP.
43. Franklin Boyts to his parents, December 21, 1862, Boyts Diary, HSP; Richard K. Halsey to “Friend Keck,” December 15, 1862, King Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; William Hamilton to his mother, December 18, 1862, Hamilton Papers, LC; Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” December 20, 1895.
1. OR, 91–92; Robert S. Robertson, “Diary of the War,” 75; New York Herald, December 17, 1862; Herman Haupt to his wife, December 13, 1862, Haupt Letterbook, Haupt Papers, LC; Clausewitz, On War, 140; Jacob Lyman Greene, Franklin and the Left Wing at Fredericksburg, 25–26n. Shortly before the attacks began on the Federal right, one of Lowe’s balloons ascended; it went up again two hours later, and yet again around 4:00 P.M. The fog and smoke likely prevented the men from seeing much, and there is no evidence that Burnside gained any useful intelligence in this way. See OR, ser. 3, 3:294; William Teall to his wife, December 13, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 1862. For an analysis arguing that Burnside was in essence reversing his battle plan and hoping that an attack by his right might bolster the assault by his left, see Daniel E. Sutherland, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, 51–52.
2. Welcher, Union Army, 1:708–9;Noel G. Harrison, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, 2:120–21, 134–38, 160–61; OR, 617–18, and ser. 1, 51(2):954; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 298; William Teall to his wife, December 9, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 188; [De Peyster,] “Fredericksburg,” 200–201; Marvel, Burnside, 188–89.
3. Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 298; B&L, 3:88; William Allan, Army of Northern Virginia, 468; Squires, “‘Boy Officer’ of the Washington Artillery,” 20; Boggs, Alexander Letters, 244; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 44–46.
4. Hagerman, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 88, 122–23; Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 117–35; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 48, 63; OR, 565–66, 587; Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, 279; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 175. In a much-cited passage Longstreet quoted Porter Alexander as saying, “General, we cover that ground now so well that we will comb it as with a fine-tooth comb. A chicken could not live on that field when we open on it.” Alexander later wrote that he did not remember making such a remark. See B&L, 3:79; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 169.
5. Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 63; OR, 552–53, 569–70.
6. OR, 570; B&L, 3:75–76; Speairs and Pettit, Civil War Letters, 1:75; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 172; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 308.
7. OR, 90.
8. OR, 94; Marvel, Burnside, 204–5; Marvel, “Making of a Myth,” 17–21; Clausewitz, On War, 95, 209, 360; William F. Smith to John C. Ropes, March 9, 1895, Ropes Papers, Boston University. Burnside apparently knew little about the terrain (especially the millrace, the Sunken Road, and the stone wall), and by remaining at the Phillips House, he could not see the strength of the Confederate positions. At 9:30 A.M. on December 13 Federal signal officers sent Sumner information about rifle pits and other entrenchments in the Confederate line, but nothing about the Sunken Road or the stone wall. See William Allan, Army of Northern Virginia, 481; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 52–53; Hagerman, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 79, 81; OR, 119, 151–56; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 10:444–48; Cushing, “Acting Signal Corps,” 102.
9. William Teall to his wife, December 13, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; CCW, 1:660; B&L, 109–10; OR, 222, 286. Although Couch could communicate with the Lacy House by telegraph, first the fog and, later, dense smoke blocked Sumner’s view of the fighting. See OR, 165–66; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 10:448–49; Robert S. Robertson, “Diary of the War,” 75.
10. Warner, Generals in Blue, 161–62; Patricia L. Faust, Encyclopedia of the Civil War, 292; Howard, Autobiography, 1:338; Cavins, Civil War Letters of Cavins, 112; Elizabeth Blair Lee, Civil War Letters, 229.
11. OR, 570, and ser. 1, 51(2):661–62; Galwey, Valiant Hours, 59–60; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 308; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 176–77; Baker, Reminiscent Story of the Civil War, 44–45; December 13, 1862, Latrobe Diary, VHS; B&L, 3:97.
12. The 1st Delaware had been detached from French’s Third Brigade.
13. As a tactical response to growing firepower, West Point instructors began to emphasize the deployment of more skirmishers than had been used in the past, and this became standard procedure during the war. Another development—seen on several occasions during the battle of Fredericksburg—was for troops to advance at the double-quick. See McWhiney and Jamieson, Attack and Die, 99–100; Hagerman, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 10, 20.
14. Charles Carelton Coffin, Four Years of Fighting, 158; OR, 286–87, 291–92, 570; Lamb, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 236; Battle-Fields of the South, 508–9; Charleston Daily Courier, January 8, 1863; Edward Porter Alexander, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 449–50; December 13, 1862, Latrobe Diary, VHS; B&L, 3:79; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:387. The Federal artillery fire from Stafford Heights directed against Longstreet’s gunners was not especially effective in part because of the distances involved but also because of defective shells that either exploded prematurely or did not explode at all. See OR, 184, 192, 195; Thomas H. Parker, History of the 51st, 280–81.
15. B&L, 3:79; OR, 291–92, 298, 570; Sawyer, Military History of 8th Ohio, 93–95; Franklin Sawyer, newspaper clipping in Samuel Sexton Civil War Memoirs, Sexton Papers, OHS; Baker, Reminiscent Story of the Civil War, 47–48; Battle-Fields of the South, 508; Noel G. Harrison, Fredericksburg Civil War Sites, 2:172–73; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 51:46.
16. At least three members of the 1st Delaware did not survive amputations, a lieutenant died at home a month later from a head wound, and one private who had been hit in the lower third of his right thigh had to suffer through three amputations between December 14, 1862, and May 7, 1864. See MSH, 7:120, 10:752, 11:252, 257, 12:632.
17. Borton, Awhile with the Blue, 38–39; OR, 74, 287, 292; unsigned report (courier or staff officer?), December 15, 1862, Kimball Collection, IU; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:388–89. Kimball’s seemingly cool indifference led some soldiers to conclude that he would readily sacrifice their lives for a promotion, but even the general’s critics conceded his bravery. See Charles Gibson to his sister, January 6, 1863, Gibson Letters, FSNMP.
18. Landon, “Letters to the Vincennes Western Sun,” 338–39; Cavins, Civil War Letters of Cavins, 118, 120; December 13, 1862, Lambert Diary, IHS; Augustus Van Dyke to his father, December 14, 1862, Van Dyke Papers, IHS. For a fine discussion of how Union soldiers found it difficult to describe their combat experiences, see Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 45–54.
19. Baxter, Gallant Fourteenth, 118–19; Charles Gibson to his sister, January 6, 1863, Gibson Letters, FSNMP; Cavins, Civil War Letters of Cavins, 120; Sawyer, Military History of the 8th Ohio, 100. Some initially reticent soldiers became much more voluble in memoirs as time and distance made more graphic descriptions easier to write. Compare, for example, David Beem to his wife, December 14, 1862, Beem Papers, IHS, and Beem Memoir, FSNMP.
20. Civil War soldiers in similar hot spots, fearing either to advance or to retreat, would often stop and occasionally exchange shots at close range, rarely with good result. Nor was the tactic effective at Fredericksburg. See Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 137–63.
21. Foster, New Jersey and the Rebellion, 519–21; Borton, Awhile with the Blue, 40–52; Borton, On the Parallels, 62–70; OR, 74; Isaac Hillyer to his wife, December 18, 20, 1862, Hillyer Letters, FSNMP.
22. OR, 290, 292–93, 295, 299; Foster, New Jersey and the Rebellion, 570–71; Edward Hutchinson to “Dear Emma,” December 18, 1862, Hutchinson Letters, FSNMP; December 13, 1862, Rice Diary, FSNMP; Sawyer, Military History of the 8th Ohio, 95.
23. William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 184; McCash, Cobb; Rufus Kilpatrick Porter, “Sketch of General T. R. R. Cobb,” 184–93; W. H. Kirkpatrick to J. C. Newton, January 25, 1863, UDC Bound Typescripts, GDAH.
24. OR, 608, 625; Rufus Kilpatrick Porter, “Sketch of General T. R. R. Cobb,” 194–96; “General Thomas R. R. Cobb”; Athens (Ga.) Southern Banner, December 24, 1862; Sutton, Civil War Stories, 19–24; Charles, “Events in Battle of Fredericksburg,” 66; Atlanta Southern Confederacy, December 31, 1862. The more common reference to the “slaughter pen” at Fredericksburg refers to the area between the railroad and the Richmond Stage Road on the Union left.
25. OR, 287, 303, 308; Cowtan, Services of the 10th New York Volunteers, 162–63; George F. Hopper to his brother, December 21, 1862, Hopper Papers, USAMHI; Cory, “Private’s Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 137.
26. Hitchcock, War from the Inside, 115–28, 141–45; Cory, “Private’s Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 136–38; OR, 309; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:244. An officer in the 8th Ohio thought that few of Andrews’s troops actually reached Kimball’s position. See Sawyer, Military History of the 8th Ohio, 95–96.
27. OR, 300–302; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:206; Hirst, Boys from Rockville, 73–74; Darrohn, “Recollections,” 9, FSNMP; Spangler, My Little War Experiences, 64–67; Page, Fourteenth Connecticut, 81–92; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, December 23, 1862; Amory Allen to his parents, December 17, 1862, Allen Letter, FSNMP; Croffut and Morris, Connecticut during the War, 292–93; McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 161–62; Washburn, 108th Regiment, 26–27, 113, 238. The types of wounds for these regiments are carefully documented in MSH, 7:122, 250–51, 266, 9:243, 10:632, 707, 773, 774, 964, 987, 11:269, 270, 329, 12:468, 481, 532, 733–34. A few pieces of artillery behind French’s men supported the attack, but their position and the terrain undermined their effectiveness. See OR, 289; Nelson Ames, History of Battery G, 51–53; John Pellett to his family, December 21, 1862, Pellett Papers, USAMHI.
28. Edward H. Brewer to Mary Brewer, December 27, 1862, Brewer Papers, CSL; McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 162; OR, 131; George F. Hopper to his brother, December 21, 1862, Hopper Papers, USAMHI; Walker, Second Corps, 192–93; John S. Weiser to his parents, December 17, 1862, Weiser Papers, CWMC, USAMHI; Nevins, War for the Union, 2:348.
29. OR, 580, 588–89, 607–8, 629–30; Rufus Kilpatrick Porter, “Sketch of General T. R. R. Cobb,” 194–96; Preston, “Death of Cobb,” 28–41; Joseph Henry Lumpkin to his daughter, December 30, 1862, Lumpkin Papers, UG; Jack D. Welsh, Medical Histories of Confederate Generals, 43.
30. OR, 222; David M. Jordan, Hancock, 57; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 86–88.
31. OR, 227, 258–61; Third Annual Report of the State Historian of New York, 39; Sheldon, “Twenty-Seventh,” 21; Samuel K. Zook to E. J. Wade, December 16, 1862, Zook Papers, CWMC, USAMHI; George C. Case to his parents, December 17, 1862, Case Letters, FSNMP; Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics, 557; Frederick, Story of a Regiment, 134; Walker, Second Corps, 168–70; Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 211–12, 216. A member of the 57th New York was shocked to see a “motley crowd of men” still cavorting about in women’s clothes while others continued to loot the city. One especially brazen fellow was lugging about a stuffed alligator. See Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 210–11.
32. Gambone, Zook, 116; OR, 130; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 1862; MSH, 10:703, 705, 708, 714, 749, 760, 764, 801, 940, 952, 968, 977, 982, 11:141, 172, 238, 259, 265, 269, 299, 300, 388, 400, 403, 12:452, 456, 468, 471, 509, 511, 524, 532, 606, 794–5, 821, 884.
33. Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 308; OR, 570, 608, 625–26, 629–30; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:389–90; Charleston Daily Courier, December 30, 1862; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 2:297, 439, 3:69–70; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:808–9; Alexander Routh to ?, December 22, 1862, Routh Letter, East Carolina University; December 13, 1862, Samuel Hoey Walkup Journal, Walkup Papers, SHC; Sloan, Guilford Grays, 55–56.
34. Conyngham, Irish Brigade, 330–37; Maria Lydig Daly, Diary of a Union Lady, 201–2; Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, 466–67.
35. Thomas Rice, “Desperate Courage,” 60; Burton, Melting Pot Soldiers, 119–21.
36. Thomas Rice, “Desperate Courage,” 62; OR, 240; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 15–16, 70.
37. OR, 241; Bosbyshell, 48th in the War, 96–97; Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, 466–67; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 164–67, 71; Harper, Civil War History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 177; Third Annual Report of the State Historian of New York, 40; New York Irish-American, January 3, 10, 1863; Conyngham, Irish Brigade, 341–42, 348; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 43.
38. Mulholland, “At Fredericksburg,” 3; Mulholland, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 1; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 60–62; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 171–75; OR, 249.
39. Conyngham, Irish Brigade, 342–43; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 62–63; Philadelphia Grand Army Scout and Soldiers’ Mail, October 6, 1883; OR, 246, 248–50; New York Irish-American, January 3, 1863; Thomas Rice, “Desperate Courage,” 64; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 175–76.
40. Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 64–67; OR, 248; Philadelphia Grand Army Scout and Soldiers’ Mail, October 6, 1883; OR, 246, 250–51; Thomas Rice, “Desperate Courage,” 68; Power Memoir, FSNMP; Peter Welsh, Irish Green and Union Blue, 43, 46; Third Annual Report of the State Historian of New York, 40–43; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 176–81; New York Irish-American, December 27, 1862, January 3, 10, 1863. The shouting, the close physical contact on the battlefield, the presence of friends, and the tight-knit character of the companies all steadied nerves and buttressed courage. Adrenaline rushes, moments of remarkable calmness, and the maddening sight of dead and wounded comrades all sustained even hopeless assaults such as the attack of the Irish Brigade at Fredericksburg. See Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 110–22; McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 36–45.
41. Thomas Rice, “Desperate Courage,” 64, 66; “Sacrifice of Federals at Fredericksburg,” 370; Richmond Daily Whig, December 24, 1862; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 74–75; Woods Reminiscences, UDC Bound Typescripts, 147–48, GDAH; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 187; Pickett, Heart of a Soldier, 65–66; Jane Howison Beale, Journal, 76; Patterson, Yankee Rebel, 90–91. Cobb’s well-sheltered brigade had fewer casualties than many single regiments in the various Federal brigades, and many of the injuries were minor. See OR, 558; Athens (Ga.) Southern Banner, December 24, 1862; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Constitutionalist, December 27, 1862.
42. OR, 244; Conyngham, Irish Brigade, 344–35; Third Annual Report of the State Historian of New York, 44; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 44:471; New York Irish-American, December 27, 1862; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 3:1129–30; Peter Welsh, Irish Green and Union Blue, 40. Descriptions of a brigade reduced to a shadow of its former self quickly reached the northern press. See Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 1862; Albany (N.Y.) Evening Journal, December 20, 1862.
43. Uriah N. Parmelee to his mother, November 20, 1862, Parmelee Papers, Duke; Warner, Generals in Blue, 63–64; OR, 233–34; Stuckenberg, Surrounded by Methodists, 41; William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 152; December 13, 1862, Willand Diary, NHSL; Rodney H. Ramsey to his father, December 27, 1862, Ramsey Letter, NHHS; Third Annual Report of the State Historian of New York, 39.
44. OR, 230, 233–35, 238; December 13, 1862, Willand Diary, NHSL; William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 150, 154–61, 164–65; Waite, New Hampshire in the Great Rebellion, 283–84. Cross was hit by a sizable shell fragment in the breast and another small piece that knocked out two teeth. Spitting out blood and sand, he could not move and so lay there in a deadly crossfire between the Rebels in front and friendly troops in the rear. “I awaited death,” he later scribbled in his journal. See William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 152–53.
45. Henry, “Fredericksburg,” 100. OR, 230, 233, 236, 238–39; December 13, 1862, Kerr Diary, FSNMP; Samuel V. Dean to his wife, December 17, 19, 1862, Dean Letters, FSNMP; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:519–20. Colonel Cross later claimed both publicly and privately that several new—albeit unnamed—regiments had faltered during the fight, that officers without a scratch feigned being wounded to leave the field, and that consequently his New Hampshire boys had suffered much higher casualties. See OR, 235; William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 154. For a sobering account of the wounded in the 145th Pennsylvania, see Stuckenberg, Surrounded by Methodists, 43–44.
46. Charles Augustus Fuller, Recollections of the War of 1861, 78–80; OR, 236–38; Civil War Reminiscences, ca. 1890, 36–38, U.S. History Manuscripts, IU; Elmira (N.Y.) Weekly Advertiser, December 27, 1862.
47. George W. Ballock to Jenny Ballock, December 18, 1862, Ballock Papers, Duke; Uriah N. Parmelee to his mother, December 18, 1862, Parmelee Papers, Duke; William F. Fox, Regimental Losses, 139, 281, 301; Walker, Second Corps, 192; OR, 129, 228, 231; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 54–55; Hancock, Reminiscences of Winfield Scott Hancock, 92–93; Charles Amory Clark, “Campaigning with the Sixth Maine,” 416; George W. Barr to Vinnie Barr, December 21, 1862, Barr Papers, Schoff Collection, CL. In letters written home the men often detailed the exact losses in their own companies. See Levi L. Carr to his sister, December 26, 1862, Carr Letter, CWMC, USAMHI.
48. John R. Brooke to St. Clair Augustin Mulholland, January 8, 1881, Mulholland Collection, MOLLUS; Edward Porter Alexander, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 450–52; Samuel K. Zook to E. J. Wade, December 16, 1862, Zook Papers, CWMC, USAMHI; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 25, 1862; David M. Jordan, Hancock, 63; Walker, Second Corps, 172–74; Mulholland, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 1; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 195–96; New York Times, June 16, 1889; Alotta, Stop the Evil, 59; December 13, 1862, Willand Diary, NHSL; CCW, 1:658.
49. Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 212; George C. Case to his parents, December 17, 1862, Case Letters, FSNMP; William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 153; Harper, Civil War History of Chester County, Pennsylvania, 183–84; Borton, On the Parallels, 70–71, 73–74.
50. McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 183–86; Rodney H. Ramsey to his father, December 27, 1862, Ramsey Letter, NHHS; OR, 257; Gambone, Zook, 125. For a discussion of how people surrounded by the dead expect to be killed themselves, see Lifton, History and Human Survival, 159–64. Although Lifton primarily studied survivors of Hiroshima, his insights on psychological responses to death are consistent with and shed additional light on soldier experiences at Fredericksburg.
51. New York Irish-American, January 3, 1863; Sheldon, “Twenty-Seventh,” 28–30; Philadelphia Grand Army Scout and Soldiers’ Mail, October 6, 1883; OR, 242–44, 250; Corby, Memoirs of Chaplain Life, 133; Borton, On the Parallels, 79; Cowtan, Services of the Tenth New York Volunteers, 168; Thomas Rice, “Desperate Courage,” 70. Meagher’s performance at Fredericks-burg—hobbled by a badly bruised knee, he went back into town for a horse and missed the attack—raised some questions. How serious was the knee injury? Had he been reluctant to stand with his men? No direct evidence from Irish Brigade troops supports any imputations of cowardice. Hancock’s report explicitly defended Meagher, but the sudden withdrawal of the two New York regiments is not that easy to explain. Was Meagher’s report on Fredericksburg so long—over six pages in the Official Records—because he sought to cover up his own derelictions in a flood of verbiage? Perhaps, but the sketchy record also justifies giving the always controversial Meagher the benefit of considerable doubt. See OR, 228, 240–46; Burton, Melting Pot Soldiers, 124–25; Athearn, Meagher, 120; Villard, Memoirs, 1:371.
52. Hagerman, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 3–27; Griffith, Battle Tactics of the Civil War, 29–60, 73–90; Frank and Reaves, “Seeing the Elephant,” 101–3; OR, ser. 3, 2: 736–37. Because the Federals also had to advance uphill (however slightly), the Confederates had geometrical and psychological advantages. See Clausewitz, On War, 352.
1. Stegeman, These Men She Gave, 72; Hodijah Lincoln Meade to Jane Eliza Meade, December 17, 1862, Meade Family Papers, VHS; McCreery Recollections, section 10, 1862–63, VHS; Pendleton, “On Marye’s Hill,” 1; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 186–87.
2. OR, 586–87; William Henry Tatum to his brother, December 17, 1862, Tatum Papers, VHS; December 13, 1862, Duffey Diary, VHS; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 172–73, 175–76; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:388–89; Speairs and Pettit, Civil War Letters, 1:78–79; Charles Minor Blackford to Mary Blackford, December 14, 1862, Blackford Family Papers, SHC. One of the guns exploded on the thirty-ninth round; the other, on the fifty-fourth round. Although Lee and Longstreet were standing nearby when one of the pieces burst, they were unharmed.
3. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, 127; OR, 580, 592–99, 625; B&L, 3:81, 92; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 64:424–25; Wyckoff, Second South Carolina, 53–58; Shand Memoir, SCL; Dickert, Kershaw’s Brigade, 183–88; Newberry (S.C.) Herald and News, January 3, 1902; Wyckoff, Third South Carolina, 86–95; Simpson and Simpson, Far, Far from Home, 165–67; E. R. Willis to his father, December 18, 1862, E. R. and McKibben Willis Letters, FSNMP.
4. Robert Franklin Fleming Jr., “Recollections,” FSNMP; Dickert, Kershaw’s Brigade, 203; Shand Memoir, SCL; Wyckoff, Second South Carolina, 56.
5. B&L, 3:113; OR, 223. Before sending Howard in, Couch reportedly transmitted a dispatch through the signal corps saying, “It is only murder now.” On its face this does not sound like a message normally sent through such a channel, and the source is distinctly unfriendly to Burnside. The truth of the statement, however, is undeniable. See Walker, Second Corps, 175.
6. John Ripley Adams, Memorials and Letters, 91; Ford, Fifteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 218; John A. Carpenter, Sword and Olive Branch, 39–40; Charles H. Howard to his mother, December 13, 1862, Brooks Collection, LC.
7. OR, 263, 278, 281; Banes, Philadelphia Brigade, 140–42; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 31, 1862, January 2, 1863; McDermott, 69th Pennsylvania, 24; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:148; History of the 127th Pennsylvania, 125–31; Gregg, Life in the Army, 80. The 127th Pennsylvania was also sent forward with Owen’s brigade because the 71st Pennsylvania had been detached for picket duty. Howard later described meeting the wounded Col. Nelson Miles of the 61st New York who—though seated on a stretcher and holding the “lips” of his neck wound together with his fingers—offered suggestions on where to reinforce Hancock. See Howard, Autobiography, 1:342.
8. OR, 263, 284–86; Waitt, Nineteenth Massachusetts, 178–83; J. E. Hodgkins, Civil War Diary, 17–18; John Gregory Bishop Adams, Reminiscences of the Nineteenth Massachusetts Regiment, 53–54; Bruce, Twentieth Massachusetts, 215–16, 221–22; George N. Macy to “Dear Colonel,” December 20, 1862, Hancock Papers, USAMHI; Gray and Ropes, War Letters, 55; Abbott, Fallen Leaves, 148–52; Miller and Mooney, Civil War, 92. A second lieutenant in the 19th Massachusetts was later awarded the Medal of Honor for grabbing both the regimental and national colors as a cannonball tore through the U.S. flag. See U.S. Army Department, Medal of Honor, 119. Given the heavy losses on December 11 in Hall’s brigade, it is difficult to separate the totals for December 13, and the estimate of 500 casualties is conservative. See also the long list of officers killed or wounded in Walker, Second Corps, 193–95.
9. OR, 130, 263, 269, 274–75; Minnesota in the Civil and Indian Wars, 1:29–30; Imholte, First Minnesota, 110; Moe, Last Full Measure, 212–13; Chapin, History of the Thirty-fourth Regiment, 81–84; Ford, Fifteenth Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, 229; Charles H. Eagor to his wife, December 14, 1862, Eagor Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; Roland R. Bowen, From Ball’s Bluff to Gettysburg, 141.
10. OR, 311, 316, 318–19, 325, 330; George Washington Whitman, Civil War Letters, 75–76; McCrea, Dear Belle, 176. Sturgis had earlier attempted to wrest command of the Ninth Corps from Willcox based on seniority. In light of this dispute it is certainly noteworthy that Sturgis’s was the first division in the Ninth Corps to be sent into the bloodbath. See Orlando Willcox, Forgotten Valor, 396.
11. Wren, Captain James Wren’s Civil War Diary, 108; C. L. Rundlett to his parents, January 30, 1863, Rundlett Letter, FSNMP. The accusation was also made later that Ferrero had melodramatically promised to lead the charge but then was not seen again until the guns fell silent. See Cogswell, Eleventh New Hampshire, 46.
12. OR, 326, 329; Willard J. Templeton to his sister, December 11–14, 1862, Templeton Letters, NHSL; Cogswell, Eleventh New Hampshire, 23–24, 45–48, 51–57, 481–82, 553–54; Paige, Experiences in the Civil War, 31–36; Currier, “From Concord to Fredericksburg,” 254–55. Ferrero’s men reportedly fired between 60 and 200 rounds each.
13. OR, 327; James Madison Stone, Personal Recollections of the Civil War, 110–12; Walcott, Twenty-First Regiment, 240–43, 251; New York Times, March 11, 1885; Stephen B. Oates, Woman of Valor, 113–14.
14. History of the Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, 84–90; OR, 328–30; Thomas H. Parker, History of the 51st, 268–73; Frank Moore, Rebellion Record, 6:102–3; December 13, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; James Pratt to his wife, December 16, 1862, Pratt Collection, USAMHI. On the many arm wounds and amputations, see MSH, 10:537, 576, 592, 705, 706, 710, 724, 752, 757, 763, 771, 976, 977, 983.
15. George Washington Whitman, Civil War Letters, 78–79; Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, 304–5; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 187–88; OR, 555; Berkeley, Four Years in the Confederate Artillery, 36–37; Macon (Ga.) Daily Telegraph, December 29, 1862; Lucius S. J. Owen to his mother, January 5, 1863, Owen Letters, CWTI, USAMHI; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:387.
16. OR, 316, 319–21, 323–24; Lord, History of the Ninth New Hampshire, 196–97, 226–27, 243–44; Marvel, Ninth New Hampshire, 99–103; Tillinghast, Twelfth Rhode Island, 37–41, 176–78, 204–5; Bosbyshell, 48th in the War, 97–98; Joseph Gould, Story of the Forty-eighth, 97–103; Joseph E. Grant, Flying Regiment, 48–53; Lapham, “Recollections of the Twelfth R.I. Volunteers,” 27–35; December 13, 1862, Beddall Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; George Henry Chandler to “Dear William,” December 18, 1862, Chandler Papers, NHHS; Jackman, Sixth New Hampshire, 122, 127–28; A. A. Batchelder to his parents, December 16, 1862, Batchelder Letter, FSNMP.
17. OR, 323; Hopkins, Seventh Rhode Island, 43–48, 325–26; Bliss Memoir, 4:25–30, 39, USAMHI; U.S. Army Department, Medal of Honor, 119; Narragansett (R.I.) Weekly, December 25, 1862.
18. Henry C. Heisler to his sister, December 18, 1862, Heisler Papers, LC; OR, 117, 129–32.
19. OR, 647, 662; Davidson, Diary and Letters, 63–65; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:375, 665–66, 2:170, 586.
20. OR, 646, 652–53, 655; Folsom, Heroes and Martyrs of Georgia, 149; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Constitutionalist, December 23, 1862, January 14, 1863; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 2:36; Macon (Ga.) Daily Telegraph, December 30, 31, 1862; Atlanta Southern Confederacy, January 13, 1862; Fitzpatrick, Letters to Amanda, 37. It is also important to remember that even though A. P. Hill’s line had been penetrated, Brig. Gen. William B. Taliaferro’s entire division was only lightly engaged. Posted behind Gregg’s and Thomas’s brigades, this mixture of Virginia, Louisiana, and Alabama regiments sustained a few casualties from the shelling. Bull Paxton’s brigade eventually moved forward along the military road to aid Gregg’s shattered command. Some of Gregg’s South Carolinians appeared so demoralized that they hardly wished to be rallied, but by the time Paxton had reached them (rather tardily, according to Frank O’Reilly, the closest student of the fighting), the Yankees were more or less in full retreat. In describing their experience most soldiers stressed their continuous and terrifying exposure to Union shelling. See OR, 675–78, 680–87; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 122–24; Edwin G. Lee to F. W. M. Holliday, December 22, 1862, Holliday Papers, Duke; G. R. Bedinger to his mother, December 23, 1862, Bedinger-Dandridge Family Papers, Duke; “Last Roll,” 419; Samuel J. C. Moore to Ellen Moore, December 15, 1862, Samuel J. C. Moore Papers, SHC; Joseph W. Griggs to his father, December 19, 1862, Griggs Family Papers, VHS; December 13, 1862, Firebaugh Diary, SHC.
21. OR, 450, 520; Woodward, Third Pennsylvania Reserves, 209–10; Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” December 6, 20, 1895; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 25, 1862; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 85, 791; Beaver (Pa.) Weekly Argus, December 24, 1862; December 13, 1862, Taggart Diary, USAMHI.
22. Woodward, Our Campaigns, 186; Nathan Pennypacker to ?, December 19, 1862, Penny-packer Letters, Chester County Historical Society; A. J. Alexander, “Fredericksburg”; OR, 359. Stoneman’s description also included Gibbon’s forces.
23. OR, 664–65; William Calvin Oates, War between Union and Confederacy, 166–67; Early, Narrative of the War, 175; Henry W. Thomas, Doles-Cook Brigade, 225; Nisbet, Four Years on the Firing Line, 124–25; Ujanirtus Allen, Campaigning with “Old Stonewall,” 194–95.
24. OR, 664–65; Mills Lane, “Dear Mother: Don’t Grieve about Me,” 202. For a perceptive critique of these impetuous and piecemeal counterattacks, see Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 107–8. Perhaps to palliate the behavior of his own men, Col. Clement A. Evans—who took command of the brigade after Atkinson was wounded—reported that a treacherous Yankee had pretended to surrender and had then attempted to fire at his captors before a “bayonet thrust” from a brave captain in the 33rd Georgia “prevented the intended barbarism” (OR, 670).
25. CCW, 1:705–6; OR, 362, 368, 373; Trobriand, Four Years with the Army of the Potomac, 370.
26. I have followed Gary Gallagher’s lead in rendering this quotation. See Gallagher, Fredericksburg Campaign, vii, xii.
27. Mills Lane, “Dear Mother: Don’t Grieve about Me,” 202; OR, 670–71; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, January 15, 1863; Savannah Republican, January 6, 1863.
28. OR, 484, 671; Naisawald, Grape and Canister, 256–57.
29. Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 3:249–50; Ellis C. Strouss to his mother, December 19, 1862, Strouss Papers, CWTI, USAMHI.
30. OR, 362, 373–75; Edward Kalloch Gould, Major-General Hiram Berry, 218–19; Houghton, Seventeenth Maine, 28–33; Portland (Maine) Eastern Argus, December 27, 1862; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 58–59; Petty, “History of 37th New York,” 117. Other than the 5th Michigan, which actually charged toward Atkinson’s men, Berry’s brigade suffered only “light casualties.” This phrase appears in much Civil War battle history, but in this case it still meant that more than seventy men were hit. See O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 149; OR, 134.
31. Crotty, Four Years in the Army of the Potomac, 73; OR, 364, 671; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:767–71; George Lewis, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, 129–32; Edwin Winchester Stone, Rhode Island in the Rebellion, 188; Savannah Republican, December 22, 1862; Bradwell, “Georgia Brigade at Fredericksburg,” 19; Macon (Ga.) Daily Telegraph, January 6, 1863; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, January 15, 1863; Gregory C. White, 31st Georgia, 62–64; Mills Lane, “Dear Mother: Don’t Grieve about Me,” 202.
32. OR, 365–67; Babcock, “114th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers,” 1; Hagerty, Collis’ Zouaves, 125–38; Hays, Sixty-Third Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 165–66; Grew, Fredericksburg; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 19, 1862. Collis was later awarded the Medal of Honor for leading this timely charge. See U.S. Army Department, Medal of Honor, 119. Robinson’s other four regiments remained behind lying in the mud supporting batteries. Although Birney later praised his division for standing firm and the new regiments for fighting well, other accounts suggested considerable straggling, including men cowering along the riverbank. See Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Reserves, 4:674; Scott, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 66–67; Craft, History of the One Hundred Forty-First Pennsylvania, 31–33, 37; OR, 363; James Coburn to his parents, December 17, 1862, James P. Coburn Papers, USAMHI; Bloodgood, Personal Reminiscences of the War, 50–52; Kokomo (Ind.) Howard Tribune, December 25, 1862; McCabe Memoir, 9, FSNMP; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 144; Martin A. Haynes, Second New Hampshire, 145–46.
33. Gregory C. White, 31st Georgia, 65–66; OR, 366, 671; Carlisle (Pa.) Herald, December 26, 1862; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 2:728; Grew, Fredericksburg.
34. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 167; Bradwell, “Georgia Brigade at Fredericksburg,” 19–20; Savannah Republican, January 6, 1863; George W. Nichols, Soldier’s Story of His Regiment, 60–61.
35. CCW, 1:715–16; Gibbon, Recollections of the Civil War, 104; OR, 459, 480, 482, 484, 487–88, 492, 499, 501, and ser. 1, 51(1):172; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 143; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 5:153–54; McClenthen, Narrative of the Fall and Winter Campaign, 39–41; McCreery Recollections, section 10, 1862–63, VHS; Kress, Memoirs, 4; James B. Thomas, Civil War Letters, 127–30; Isaac Tichenor to Michael Leonard, March 17, 1893, Tichenor Letters, FSNMP; Vautier, 88th Pennsylvania, 91. For a careful analysis of the complex tactics, again see O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 159–65.
36. Small, Road to Richmond, 67; December 13, 1862, Brown Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; OR, 138; Small, Sixteenth Maine, 66–67; Samuel C. Starrett to his father, December 24, 1862, Starrett Letter, FSNMP.
37. McClendon, Recollections of War Times, 62; William Alexander Smith, Anson Guards, 168; W. R. M. Slaughter to his sister, January 4, 1863, Slaughter Letters, VHS; Trobriand, Four Years with the Army of the Potomac, 370–71.
38. OR, 92–94.
39. OR, 93–94, 111, 118–19, 128, 450, and ser. 1, 51(1):1020–21. CCW, 1:709–11; William B. Franklin to George G. Meade, April 1, 1863, Meade Papers, HSP; Woodbury, Burnside and the Ninth Army Corps, 221–22. Birney believed there was still more than enough time for Franklin to have launched another assault on the Confederate left. See CCW, 1:707. Even Burnside’s critics have questioned Franklin’s performance. See Palfrey, Antietam and Fredericksburg, 174–82; Kenneth P. Williams, Lincoln Finds a General, 2:531–32. It is difficult to defend Franklin’s actions on December 13, but a case can certainly be made against an attack by his rather widely scattered forces. See Whan, Fiasco at Fredericksburg, 71–72, 133; Warren W. Hassler, Commanders of the Army of the Potomac, 166; William Allan, Army of Northern Virginia, 508–9. For the closest analysis of the orders, see Marvel, Burnside, 191–92. Why Burnside dispatched staff officers with orders rather than using the telegraph wire from the Phillips House to Franklin’s headquarters is a mystery. There was apparently confusion at the time when the wire was strung, and the contemporary evidence is uncertain and contradictory. See OR Supplement, pt. 1, 10:446–47; Plum, Military Telegraph, 1:335–36; OR, 153–54, 157–59; Cushing, “Acting Signal Corps,” 103.
40. OR, 462, 476; Marvel, First New Hampshire Battery, 26–28; McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 114–15; December 13, 1862, Holford Diary, LC; Lucius B. Shattuck to “Dear Ellen,” December 11–13, 1862, Shattuck Letters, MHC; William Speed to Charlotte Speed, December 29, 1862, Speed Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Vaclav Dusek to his parents, December 1862, Dusek Reminiscence, FSNMP; Gaff, On Many a Bloody Field, 210; Partridge, Letters from the Iron Brigade, 68.
41. Smithe, Glimpses of Places, and People, and Things, 32–33; Watertown (N.Y.) Daily News and Reformer, December 26, 1862; Virgil W. Mattoon to his mother, December 10–15, 1862, Mattoon Papers, CHS; Gates, “Ulster Guard,” 524–25; Dexter, Seymour Dexter, 117; John Lucas Harding to his father, December 16, 1862, Harding Manuscripts, IU; Abram P. Smith, Seventy-Sixth New York, 188–92; Orville Thomson, Seventh Indiana, 143.
42. CCW, 1:709; OR, 523–24, 647; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 4:169–70; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 168–69; Samuel B. Fisher to his sister, December 18, 1862, Fisher Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 40:47. After crossing the railroad and running into Confederate reinforcements, Hatch was hit in the right thigh. He died after an amputation; his last recorded words were “Tell my friends I charged upon that Railroad and took it.” See MSH, 11:237; Newark (N.J.) Daily Advertiser, December 26, 1862.
43. OR, 622–24; Confederate Soldier Reminiscence, “My War Story,” NCDAH; Hatton, “Gen. Archibald Campbell Goodwin,” 134; William H. Clairville to Mary Clairville, December 17, 1862, Clairville Papers, Rutgers University; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 3:268–69, 406–9; J. W. Armsworthy to his wife, December 18, 1862, January 12, 1863, Armsworthy Letters, FSNMP.
44. Baquet, History of the 1st New Jersey, 225–28; OR, 140–41, 528, 558; Foster, New Jersey and the Rebellion, 95–96, 505–6; Henry Odgen Ryerson to his sister, December 23, 1862, Anderson Family Papers, NJHS; Haines, 15th New Jersey, 31–33; Polley, Hood’s Texas Brigade, 139; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:309; Kenneth W. Jones, “Fourth Alabama Infantry,” 200–201; Wagner, Letters of William F. Wagner, 26–27. The Sixth Corps’ medical director reported 457 casualties of 22,000 effectives. See MSH, 2:134.
45. Hugh Roden to his family, November 12, 1862, Roden Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; CCW, 1:706–7; OR, 360, 378–79, 383; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 172–73; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:748–49; Elizabeth New Jersey Journal, January 6, 1863; December 13, 1862, Charles P. Perkins Diary, CWTI, USAMHI.
46. Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 5:386; Dexter E. Buell, Company B, 27th New York, 16; George H. Mellish to his mother, January 2, 1863, Mellish Papers, HL; Woodbury, Second Rhode Island, 132; John S. Bumps to his mother, December 19, 1862, Hunter Family Papers, CWMC, USAMHI.
47. Bicknell, History of the Fifth Maine, 173; Newark (N.J.) Daily Advertiser, December 30, 1862; OR, 531–32; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 7:1; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 27, 1862; Sanford McCall to his niece, December 17, 1862, McCall Letters, Western Michigan University.
48. George Chandler to his father, December 25, 1862, Chandler Letters, FSNMP; Siegel, For the Glory of the Union, 109–11; Evan Rowland Jones, Four Years in the Army of the Potomac, 100–101; John Southard to his sister, December 22, 1862, Southard Family Papers, NYHS; Pittsfield (Mass.) Sun, January 1, 1863; Morton Hayward to his sister, December 19, 1862, Hayward Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics, 580; William P. Carmany to his brother and sister, December 19, 1862, Carmany Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Tyler, Recollections of the Civil War, 65; Sanford Truesdale to his sister, December 17, 1862, Truesdale Papers, University of Chicago; Joseph Bloomfield Osborn to Joseph M. Osborn, December 18, 1862, Osborn Papers, LC. When some black servants joined the 20th New York behind an embankment, white officers and men drove them away with bayonets. “Let the damned nigger[s] be killed—how dare they come here among white men,” one fellow shouted. See George E. Stephens, Voice of Thunder, 215.
49. Mundy, No Rich Men’s Sons, 100; Albany (N.Y.) Atlas and Argus, December 23, 1862; Albany (N.Y.) Evening Journal, December 23, 1862; MSH, 12:735; Best, History of the 121st New York, 42–43; James Lorenzo Bowen, Thirty-Seventh Regiment, 112–13; December 13, 1862, Taylor Diary, FSNMP; Howard Thomas, Boys in Blue from the Adirondack Foothills, 113; Fifth Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics, 723–25. Burns’s division, which had relieved the Sixth Corps guarding the bridges, also came under fire but, even worse, had to watch the terrible slaughter throughout the day. Before crossing Deep Run, the men had witnessed the first charges on the stone wall and now feared joining the fight themselves. “The anxiety and mental suffering I experienced during the day and night was the worst I ever passed through,” wrote one assistant surgeon. Some men kept springing to their feet in expectation of heading into action. Despite several close calls, the entire division had suffered only twenty-seven casualties. See OR, 132; Cutcheon Autobiography, MHC; Joseph P. Vickers to his parents, December 16, 1862, Vickers Letter, FSNMP; Haydon, For Country, Cause, and Leader, 297–98; George B. Felch to his father, December 15, 1862, Felch Letters, FSNMP.
50. Hagerman, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 6–13; Royster, Destructive War, 34–47, 68–78; Clausewitz, On War, 206, 370; Cooke, Jackson, 232; Dabney, Jackson, 619–21. Jackson would have undoubtedly agreed with Clausewitz that tactical success leads to strategic victory. See Clausewitz, On War, 228.
51. Daniel E. Sutherland, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, 59; OR, 638–40; Poague, Gunner with Stonewall, 55–59; Driver, 1st and 2nd Rockbridge Artillery, 34–36; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:391–92; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 175–76.
52. Orson Blair Curtis, History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan, 93–94; William Speed to Charlotte Speed, December 15, 1862, Speed Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; John Wesley St. Clair to his family, December 17, 1862, St. Clair Letters, SHSW; Dawes, Sixth Wisconsin, 110–11; John Harrison Mills, Chronicles of the Twenty-First New York, 276–79; Henry F. Young to his father, December 17, 1862, Young Papers, SHSW; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:690–94; OR, 474–75.
53. Clausewitz, On War, 526; Caldwell, History of a Brigade of South Carolinians, 61; James I. Robertson Jr., Jackson, 660–61; Hotchkiss, Make Me a Map of the Valley, 100; OR, 647, 652, 666, 687; Early, Narrative of the War, 176–78; O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 176–77. A ferocious fighter, Hood later claimed he was ready to advance when Jackson’s orders were countermanded. In his official report Longstreet praised the late afternoon charge of Law’s brigade, but controversy later erupted about Hood’s apparent passivity. Pickett supposedly suggested a flank attack against Franklin’s right. Longstreet claimed that such a move would have been consistent with the day’s orders and would have brought destruction of Burnside’s army. But in light of the Confederate victory, Longstreet did not press the matter of Hood’s negligence. The evidence does suggest that Hood was behaving with what was for him unusual caution on December 13, but how much his men might have accomplished is doubtful, given the strength of Franklin’s reserves. See Hood, Advance and Retreat, 49–50; OR, 570; Walter Harrison, Pickett’s Men, 71–72; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 317; B&L, 3: 84; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:804–5.
54. Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:128–30; Cooke, “Right at Fredericksburg,” 1; Vivian Minor Fleming Reminiscence, 22–23, FSNMP; L. Minor Blackford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 209–10; Charles Minor Blackford to Mary Blackford, January 12, 1863, Blackford Family Papers, SHC.
55. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 178–80; OR, 360, 463, 634; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:693; W. R. M. Slaughter to his sister, January 4, 1863, Slaughter Letters, VHS; Edward Hall Armstrong to his father, December 18, 1862, Armstrong Letter, Duke; Norman, Portion of My Life, 156–57; Hubbell, Confederate Stamps, Old Letters, and History, appendix, 8; December 13, 1862, Pickens Diary, UA.
56. OR, 558–62.
57. Spencer, Civil War Marriage in Virginia, 150.
1. Herman Haupt to his wife, December 13, 1862, Haupt Letterbook, Haupt Papers, LC; Clausewitz, On War, 102, 106, 190, 211, 240; Keegan, Face of Battle, 106; Marvel, Burnside, 192–93.
2. CCW, 1:667; Daniel Reed Larned, Pencil Notes on the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11–15, 1862, Larned Papers, LC; OR, 95, 356–57. Only old Sumner remained steadfast. In fact, Burnside and several staff officers worried that he might impetuously cross the river to personally join one of the assaulting columns. See Whittier, “Comments on the Peninsular Campaign,” 288–89; Sanford, Fighting Rebels and Redskins, 192–93.
3. OR, 95, 356; CCW, 1:667, 669–70, 723–25; B&L, 3:114; Stine, Army of the Potomac, 289–90; Sanford, Fighting Rebels and Redskins, 193.
4. OR, 399, 404–5; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 213; George M. Barnard to his father, December 16, 1862, Barnard Papers, MHS. It is worth noting that Butter-field had written about the shock value of assault tactics in battle. See Hagerman, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 19–20. After the meeting with Burnside, Hooker brought several batteries across the river. But the artillery already in town had been firing for several hours with little effect, and the battery commanders appeared more interested in protecting their guns from Rebel shells than in attacking the Confederate positions. Only seven of nineteen batteries attached to Sumner’s grand division went into action. See CCW, 1:667; Naisawald, Grape and Canister, 246; OR, 183, 193; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 3:742–43, 745–46.
5. OR, 72, 116, 162, 404–5. Ironically, some Pennsylvania soldiers in Griffin’s division had played euchre that morning while waiting to cross the river. See John L. Smith, 118th Pennsylvania, 120–21.
6. OR, 408–9; Powell, Fifth Corps, 388–89n; John Lord Parker, Twenty-Second Massachusetts, 225–26; Everson, “Forward Against Marye’s Heights,” 1; William W. Hemmenway, “Reminiscence,” CWTI, USAMHI; George M. Barnard to his father, December 16, 1862, Barnard Papers, MHS.
7. Despite using some cavalry and four infantry companies, General Patrick could not clear the town of looters. See Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 189.
8. John L. Smith, 118th Pennsylvania, 122–25; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 6:1311; J. L. Smith to “Dear Mother,” December 26, 1862, John L. Smith Letters, FSNMP; Donaldson, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 179–89.
9. John Lord Parker, Twenty-Second Massachusetts, 224–28; Edwin C. Bennett, Musket and Sword, 114–17; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 194–97, 206–9; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Union and Advertiser, December 20, 26, 1862; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, December 22, 1862; Mundy, 2d Maine, 216–18. The brigade suffered some 500 casualties. See OR, 135.
10. OR, 570–71, and ser. 1, 51(1):174–75.
11. William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 188–94; Boggs, Alexander Letters, 244–45; B&L, 3:93; OR, 576; Krick, Parker’s Virginia Battery, 99–100; Edward Porter Alexander, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 545–55; Dickert, Kershaw’s Brigade, 188–89.
12. OR, 407–8; History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery, 496–510; Waugh, “Reminiscences,” FSNMP.
13. OR, 185, 267–68, 580–81; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:764–65; Walker, Second Corps, 177–79; John H. Rhodes, History of Battery B, 139–40; Chester F. Hunt to his mother, December 19, 1862, Hunt Letter, USAMHI; Providence (R.I.) Daily Journal, December 24, 1862; Henry Ropes to “Dear John,” December 20, 1862, Ropes Letters, Boston Public Library.
14. OR, 311, 393, 397; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4: 1310; Joseph H. Leighty to his sister, December 26, 1862, Leighty Papers, CWMC, USAMHI; James Crowther to his sister, December 28, 1862, GAR.
15. OR, 405, 410; Zerah Coston Monks to Hannah T. Rohrer, December 17, 1862, Monks-Rohrer Letters, Emory; Guiney, Command Boston’s Irish Ninth, 154–55; McNamara, History of the Ninth Massachusetts, 254–59; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 3:455–56; George H. Nichols to his mother, December 14, 1862, Nichols Letters, Schoff Collection, CL; Francis Jewett Parker, Thirty-Second Massachusetts, 129–32; Albany (N.Y.) Evening Journal, December 20, 1862; Haerrer, With Drum and Gun in ’61, 87; December 13, 1862, Bancroft Diary, MHC.
16. See the older but cogent critique of these assault tactics in Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 91–93.
17. OR, 411–13; Melcher, With a Flash of His Sword, 11–13; Chamberlain, Through Blood and Fire, 38–40; Chamberlain, “My Story of Fredericksburg,” 152–53; Gerrish, Reminiscences of the War, 76–78; December 13, 1862, Berry Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:1253; Simonton, “Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 252–54; Brunswick (Maine) Telegraph, January 2, 1863; Judson, Eighty-third Pennsylvania, 101–5.
18. Anthony G. Graves to his father, December 19, 1862, Graves Letters, FSNMP; Nash, Forty-fourth New York, 115; MSH, 10:710, 711, 730, 920, 11:268, 285, 303, 12:472, 482, 798.
19. Orwig, 131st Pennsylvania, 113–14; Under the Maltese Cross, 95; OR, 72, 116, 223–24; New York Times, December 17, 1862; B&L, 3:114–15. In examining the performance of Humphreys’s division, I have relied heavily on Reardon, “Forlorn Hope,” 80–112.
20. OR, 223–24, 399, 430–31; Carswell McClellan, General Humphreys at Malvern Hill and Fredericksburg, 10–15; Under the Maltese Cross, 537; Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP; Beidelman, Letters of George Washington Beidelman, 167.
21. Humphreys, Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, 178–80; “The Battle of Fredericksburg,” Harper’s Weekly, January 10, 1863, 17; Under the Maltese Cross, 96–98; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 38. Nearly a quarter-century later, of course, he considered the whole attack “a very great mistake.” See Humphreys, Humphreys at Fredericksburg, 27.
22. OR, 431; Kerbey, On the War-Path, 145–46. A member of the 131st Pennsylvania later described Mexican War veteran Allabach as having “an eye like an eagle ... the finest looking officer I ever saw. He was a brave man, a great soul” (Hutchison, “Fredericksburg,” 271).
23. OR, 443–48; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:225–26; December 13, 1862, Cavada Diary, HSP; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 39; Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP; Orwig, 131st Pennsylvania, 115–18.
24. Helman, “Young Soldier in the Army of the Potomac,” 154; OR, 74, 132; Humphreys, Humphreys at Fredericksburg, 12–13. Partisans of the Second Corps hotly denied that their men posed any serious obstacle or tried to discourage Humphreys’s men, and heated post-war controversy eventually erupted. See Walker, Second Corps, 181–87; Carswell McClellan, General Humphreys at Malvern Hill and Fredericksburg, 23–24.
25. Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:396–97; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 177–79; [Heinichen,] “Fredericksburg,” Maryland Historical Society; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 312–13; OR, 590; Shand Memoir, SCL. Porter Alexander later described Humphreys’s late afternoon charge as “utterly hopeless” but representing a “high type of disciplined valor” (Edward Porter Alexander, Military Memoirs of a Confederate, 307). As the double-shotted canister devastated Humphreys’s regiments, one survivor from an earlier assault reportedly commented, “Great gods, if only one of those shells would take Burnside on the head” (Kepler, Fourth Ohio, 98).
26. Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP; OR, 431; W. C. Ward, “Unable to Help,” 3; John C. Anderson to his family, January 10, 1863, Anderson Letter, FSNMP. At the same time, Humphreys shifted Tyler’s brigade to the left of Hanover Street in preparation for these troops to join the assault. See OR, 431. Less than a month before the battle, a pious lady had written to Humphreys warning that the general’s reputation as a “profane swearer” placed not only his own soul at risk but the army’s fate as well. Humphreys replied after Fredericksburg that he never swore at the Almighty, only at his fellow man. See J. D. Mather to Humphreys, November 19, 1862, and Humphreys to Mather, January 1, 1863, Humphreys Papers, HSP.
27. OR, 432, 444–48; Orwig, 131st Pennsylvania, 118–19; Under the Maltese Cross, 101, 539–40; December 13, 1862, Cavada Diary, HSP; Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP.
28. Carswell McClellan, General Humphreys at Malvern Hill and Fredericksburg, 20–23; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 18, 1862; OR, 74, 275, 437, 439–40; Werkheiser Memoir, 9–10, FSNMP; Rowe, Sketch of the 126th Pennsylvania, 15–18.
29. Welsh and Welsh, “Civil War Letters from Two Brothers,” 156–59; OR, 437, 440; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:128–29; December 13, 1862, Cavada Diary, HSP; William O. Campbell Memoir, 8–9, FSNMP; John Phillips to his family, December 18, 1862, Phillips Letters, FSNMP; Rowe, Sketch of the 126th Pennsylvania, 18–19; Werk-heiser Memoir, 12–13, FSNMP.
30. Humphreys, Andrew Atkinson Humphreys, 180; Hutchison, “Fredericksburg,” 268–69; OR, 137, 440–41; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 4:185, 225–26, 283, 8:802; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 18, 1862; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 39–42; List of killed and wounded in Humphreys’s division, December 16, 1862, Humphreys Papers, HSP. At least nineteen of the seriously wounded men in the division later died after amputations. See MSH, 11:47, 239, 262, 266, 270, 271, 303, 380–81, 12:490, 504, 511, 518, 526, 747, 793, 798.
31. OR, 312, 332, 338–39; Marvel, Burnside, 195; Wightman, From Antietam to Fort Fisher, 89–90; John England to Ellen Hargeddon, December 17, 1862, England Papers, NYPL.
32. OR, 335–36, 344–45; December 13, 1862, Harvey Henderson Diary, FSNMP; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 42:773.
33. OR, 332, 335–37, 343–47; Kimball, Company I, 103 N.Y.S.V., 117; Joseph H. Haynes to his father, December 21, 1862, Haynes Papers, Duke. For a good description of how Confederate artillery responded to Getty’s assault, see Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 179.
34. R. P. Staniels to “My Darling Selina,” December 16, 1862, Staniels Letter, FSNMP; OR, 338, 340–41; Henry H. Holt to Luther Eaton, December 17, 1862, Holt Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 45–62, 65–69, 94; Aaron F. Stevens to “Dear kindred and friends,” January 5, 1863, Aaron F. Stevens Papers, NHHS; Charles F. Stinson to his mother, December 17, 1862, Stinson Letters, USAMHI; Ephraim Jackson to “Dear Brother and Sister,” December 13, 1862, Jackson Letters, FSNMP; Portsmouth (N.H.) Daily Morning Chronicle, December 29, 1862; Aaron K. Blake to his sister, December 18, 1862, Blake Letters, CWMC, USAMHI.
35. OR, 332–33, 348, 352–54; Gallup, “Connecticut Yankee at Fredericksburg,” 203; Henry Lewis to “Dear Cousin Charlie,” January 3, 1863, Lewis Letters, GLC; Providence (R.I.) Daily Journal, December 27, 1862; Lewis Nettleton to “My own dear love,” January 18, 1863, Nettleton-Baldwin Family Papers, Duke; Henry Grimes Marshall to Hattie Marshall, December 14, 1862, Marshall Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Henry J. H. Thompson to Lucretia Thompson, December 11–15, 19, 1862, Thompson Papers, Duke; Asaph R. Tyler to his wife, December 15, 1862, Tyler Letters, FSNMP.
36. OR, 116–17, 336, 357, 415, 418–22, 424–25; CCW, 1:668–69; Powell, Fifth Corps, 387–88; John D. Wilkins to his wife, December 15, 18, 1862, Wilkins Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Charles Thomas Bowen to his wife, December 18, 1862, Bowen Letter, FSNMP; Anderson, “Civil War Recollections of the Twelfth Infantry,” 391; Thomas H. Evans, “‘Cries of the Wounded,’” 30–31. Howard’s men complained that Humphreys’s retreating troops were little more than a “mob.” Like most of the withdrawals that day, this one was disorderly. Isolated regiments remained in position only to discover that the rest of the brigade had slipped back into town. “We returned tired, forsaken, and dispirited,” one member of the 155th Pennsylvania wrote. “Our bands mournfully filling the air with requiems for the dead.” See Beidelman, Letters of George Washington Beidelman, 168; OR, 74, 278–79, 432; Welsh and Welsh, “Civil War Letters from Two Brothers,” 156–57; Under the Maltese Cross, 102–3; Reardon, “Forlorn Hope,” 80, 98. In Sykes’s division Brig. Gen. Gouverneur Kemble Warren’s brigade of New Yorkers remained in reserve behind Buchanan and Andrews. Even these men suffered from Rebel shells. See Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Union and Advertiser, December 27, 1862; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, December 27, 1862; McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 203–4.
37. Daniel Reed Larned to “My Dear Henry,” December 16, 1862, Larned Papers, LC; John Smart to Ann Smart, December 13, 1862, Smart Letters, FSNMP; Bicknell, History of the Fifth Maine, 177; Hitchcock, War from the Inside, 127; Walcott, Twenty-First Regiment, 244–45; Werk-heiser Memoir, 13–15, FSNMP; History of the Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, 90; Annals of the War, 261.
38. Reuben Kelley to his sister, January 8, 1863, Kelley Letters, FSNMP; Thomas H. Evans, “‘Cries of the Wounded,’” 32; David V. Lovell to his sister, December 19, 1862, Lovell Letter, Gregory A. Coco Collection, USAMHI; Brogan, American Civil War, 97; Scott, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 67; Isaac Morrow to his brother, December 21, 1862, Morrow Papers, HCWRTC, USAMHI; Houghton, Seventeenth Maine, 33; Annals of the War, 264; McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 204. To some men on both sides, the sounds of the wounded horses seemed almost worse than the soldiers’ cries, a phenomenon also observed in the Napoleonic wars. See History of 127th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 133; Brett Memoir, 14, FSNMP; Keegan, Face of Battle, 201–2.
39. Grimes, Extracts of Letters, 25; Riggs, 13th Virginia, 28; Fredericksburg Free Lance, December 24, 1910; Sanford W. Branch to his mother, December 17, 1862, Sexton Collection, UG; Dickert, Kershaw’s Brigade, 196–97; Benson, Berry Benson’s Civil War Book, 33; Ujanirtus Allen, Campaigning with “Old Stonewall,” 197; Hunter, Johnny Reb and Billy Yank, 316; New York Herald, December 17, 1862. On the limits of humans’ ability to close the mind to such horrors, see Lifton, History and Human Survival, 153–54.
40. Mundy, 2nd Maine, 219; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 69; Jackman, Sixth New Hampshire, 125–26; Annals of the War, 261; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 42; December 13, 1862, Taylor Diary, FSNMP.
41. Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 198; Amos Hadley, Life of Walter Harriman, 132; New York Tribune, December 27, 1862; Peter Welsh, Irish Green and Union Blue, 46; New York Irish-American, December 27, 1862; Kepler, Fourth Ohio, 97–98; Robert S. Roberston, “Diary of the War,” 75; MSH, 2:102. One badly wounded soldier, who apparently feared being taken prisoner, mistook approaching Federals for Confederates and committed suicide. See Thomas H. Evans, “‘Cries of the Wounded,’” 33.
42. McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 189–95.
43. Annals of the War, 262; MSH, 2:102, 131; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 52–53; Haines, 15th New Jersey, 35; Gordon Willis Jones, “Medical History of the Fredericksburg Campaign,” 251–52; OR, 163; Letterman, Medical Recollections of the Army of the Potomac, 73; William Child, Fifth New Hampshire, 163. One surgeon complained that some amputations were so poorly performed that a second operation was then required, though given the numbers of wounded and the conditions in the buildings, that is hardly surprising. See Castleman, Army of the Potomac, 262.
44. Bardeen, Little Fifer’s Diary, 122–23; Duncan, Medical Department of the United States Army, 191; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 52–53; Castleman, Army of the Potomac, 262; Abraham Welch to his sister, December 27, 1862, Welch Letter, SHC. Although the cramped quarters and time of year made Fredericksburg distinctive from most other Civil War engagements, the experiences of the wounded on the field and their first hours in the hospitals fell into a familiar pattern. See Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 32–37.
45. Keegan, Face of Battle, 195–97; Melcher, With a Flash of His Sword, 13–14; George M. Barnard to his father, December 16, 1862, Barnard Papers, MHS; John W. Ames to his mother, December 15, 1862, Ames Papers, USAMHI; Kerbey, On the War-Path, 155; Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, January 2, 1863.
46. Simonton, “Recollections of Fredericksburg,” 254; Brainard, One Hundred and FortysixthNew York, 36; Henry Lewis to “Dear Cousin Charlie,” January 3, 1863, Lewis Letters, GLC; Joseph Bloomfield Osborn to Joseph M. Osborn, December 18, 1862, Osborn Papers, LC; Thomas H. Evans, “‘Cries of the Wounded,’” 32; Albany (N.Y.) Atlas and Argus, January 1, 1863; Davenport, Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, 345.
47. OR, 65, 73, and ser. 1, 51(1):1025; CCW, 1:653, 709; William Teall to his wife, December 13, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; B&L, 3:117, 127, 137. Franklin later vaguely informed McClellan that he had supported Burnside’s plan even though Sumner and Hooker appeared “demoralized.” See Franklin to McClellan, December 23, 1862, McClellan Papers, LC.
48. Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 316; OR, 546, 555, and ser. 1, 51(2):662; Clausewitz, On War, 258, 263. Stuart and Hood may have argued that the Federals were whipped and would not attack, but the evidence on this is doubtful. See Henry Kyd Douglas, I Rode with Stonewall, 205–6; Hood, Advance and Retreat, 50; Cooke, “Right at Fredericksburg,” 1. Jackson’s most careful biographer has raised doubts about the oft-told tale of Jackson dozing off during the meeting, suddenly awakening, and declaring the Confederates should drive the Yankees into the river. See James I. Robertson Jr., Jackson, 662.
49. OR, 566, and ser. 1, 51(2):662; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, 316; Hager-man, Civil War and Origins of Modern Warfare, 123; Wyckoff, Second South Carolina, 58–59; Caldwell, History of a Brigade of South Carolinians, 65; McNamara, History of the Ninth Massachusetts, 261; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:397–98; G. M. Sorrel to Edward Porter Alexander, December 13, 1862 (two dispatches), Alexander Papers, SHC.
50. S. G. Pryor, Post of Honor, 299; Charles Minor Blackford to Mary Blackford, December 14, 1862, Blackford Family Papers, SHC; Handerson, Yankee in Gray, 53–54; Charles, “Events in Battle of Fredericksburg,” 67; December 13, 1862, Wise Diary, Duke.
51. Johnstown (Pa.) Cambria Tribune, December 26, 1862; Samuel K. Zook to E. J. Wade, December 16, 1862, Zook Papers, CWMC, USAMHI.
1. John Worthington Ames, “Under Fire,” 432; A. A. Batchelder to his parents, December 16, 1862, Batchelder Letter, FSNMP; Sprenger, 122d Regiment, 144–45; Musgrove, Autobiography of Captain Richard Musgrove, 50; Samuel Edmund Nichols, “Your Soldier Boy Samuel,” 58; Thomas Bowen to his wife, December 18, 1862, Bowen Letter, FSNMP.
2. History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery, 508; Ted Alexander, 126th Pennsylvania, 130; W. C. Ward, “Unable to Help,” 3; Lancaster (Pa.) Daily Evening Express, December 23, 1862; Brian A. Bennett, 140th New York, 108–9.
3. Thomas Bowen to his wife, December 18, 1862, Bowen Letter, FSNMP; Weygant, One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Regiment, 71–72; Sim Siggins to Hannah T. Rohrer, December 22, 1862, Monks-Rohrer Letters, Emory; Under the Maltese Cross, 108–10; Aaron K. Blake to his sister, December 15, 1862, Blake Letters, CWMC, USAMHI.
4. Story of the Twenty-first Connecticut, 73–74; Thorpe, Fifteenth Connecticut Volunteers, 36–37; Aaron F. Stevens to his family, January 5, 1863, Aaron F. Stevens Papers, NHHS; John Godfrey to Horace Godfrey, December 14, 1862, Godfrey Papers, NHHS; Castleman, Army of the Potomac, 263–64; History of the Thirty-Fifth Massachusetts Volunteers, 90–91.
5. December 14, 1862, Charles S. Granger Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; December 14, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Washburn, 108th Regiment, 113; Lusk, War Letters of William Thompson Lusk, 247; December 14–15, 1862, Woodworth Diary, Hotchkiss Collection, CL; Joseph Bloomfield Osborn to Martha Osborn, December 15, 1862, Osborn Papers, LC; Albany (N.Y.) Atlas and Argus, January 1, 1863. At Burnside’s headquarters a soldier heard that Lincoln had sent instructions that no fighting should take place on the Sabbath. See Oliver S. Collidge to ?, December 14, 1862, Coolidge Papers, Duke.
6. Hooker opposed abandoning Fredericksburg but did not support another frontal assault.
7. William Teall to his wife, December 14, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; OR, 65, 120–21, 312; Todd, Seventy-Ninth Highlanders, 264–65; CCW, 1:653; Burrage, Thirty-Sixth Massachusetts, 27–28; John Godfrey to Horace Godfrey, December 14, 1862, Godfrey Papers, NHHS; G. M. Cutts to Ambrose E. Burnside, December 14, 1862, Franklin Papers, LC; B&L, 3:117–18; Orlando Willcox, Forgotten Valor, 391, 404–6; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 145; Daniel Reed Larned, Pencil Notes on the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11–15, 1862, Larned Papers, LC. For an excellent analysis of Burnside’s thinking, see Marvel, Burnside, 197–200.
8. William Allan, Army of Northern Virginia, 517–18; William Allan, “Fredericksburg,” 144–45; B&L, 3:82; Brogan, American Civil War, 96; Hood, Advance and Retreat, 50–51.
9. December 14, 1862, Latrobe Diary, VHS; December 14, 1862, O’Farrell Diary, MC; Thomas Rowland to his mother, December 14, 1862, Rowland Papers, MC; Berkeley, Four Years in the Confederate Artillery, 37; Henry Thweatt Owen to Harriet Adeline Owen, December 14, 1862, Owen Papers, VHS; Scharf, Personal Memoirs of Jonathan Thomas Scharf, 55; Athens (Ga.) Southern Banner, January 7, 1863.
10. Kershaw, “Richard Kirkland,” 186–88; “Fellow Feeling in the Army”; Trantham, “Richard R. Kirkland,” 105.
11. Robert Franklin Fleming Jr., “Recollections,” 4, FSNMP; Parramore et al., Before the Rebel Flag Fell, 49; David Emmons Johnston, Story of a Confederate Boy in the Civil War, 172; Milo Grow to his wife, December 15, 1862, Grow Letters, FSNMP.
12. OR, 571, 590; Ott, “Civil War Diary of James J. Kirkpatrick,” 89; Edward E. Sill to his sister, December 20, 1862, Sill Letters, Duke.
13. OR, 418–19; Reese, Sykes’ Regular Infantry Division, 182–85.
14. OR, 420, 425–27; MSH, 2:134; Reese, Sykes’ Regular Infantry Division, 175–82; John D. Wilkins to his wife, December 18, 1862, Wilkins Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; John W. Ames to his mother, December 15, 1862, Ames Papers, USAMHI; John Worthington Ames, “Under Fire,” 433–39; December 14, 1862, Bacon Diary, FSNMP; Charles Thomas Bowen to his wife, December 18, 1862, Bowen Letter, FSNMP; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, December 27, 1862; Thomas H. Evans, “‘Cries of the Wounded,’” 33. Andrews’s brigade suffered 140 casualties. Given the men’s position for much of the day, it is not surprising that most of the wounds were in the upper extremities, the back muscles, or the posterior. See OR, 426; MSH, 2:133, 135. A member of the 14th U.S. Infantry who slipped away into town under fire felt guilty about tempting God by “exposing myself so” (December 14, 1862, Bacon Diary, FSNMP).
15. Simonton, “Recollections of the Fredericksburg,” 254–56; Thomas Gouldsberry to his brother, December 25, 1862, Gouldsberry Letter, FSNMP; Apted Memoir, CWMC, USAMHI; Charles Bowers to “Dear Lydia,” December 19, 1862, Bowers Papers, MHS; Nash, Forty-fourth New York, 116; George M. Barnard to his father, December 16, 1862, Barnard Papers, MHS; December 14, 1862, Bancroft Diary, MHC; G. M. Sorrel to Edward Porter Alexander, December 14, 1862 (three dispatches), Alexander Papers, SHC; Edward Porter Alexander, Fighting for the Confederacy, 180; OR, 546; December 14, 1862, Seage Diary, MHC.
16. OR, 411; Melcher, With a Flash of His Sword, 14–15; Zerah Coston Monks to Hannah T. Rohrer, December 17, 1862, Monks-Rohrer Letters, Emory; John L. Smith, 118th Pennsylvania, 132; Gerrish, Reminiscences of the War, 78–79; Donaldson, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 189–90.
17. J. L. Smith to “Dear Mother,” December 26, 1862, John L. Smith Letters, FSNMP; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 200–201, 208–9; John Lord Parker, Twenty-Second Massachusetts, 230–32; December 14, 1862, Lockey Diary, MHC; James R. Woodworth to Phoebe Woodworth, December 15, 1862, Woodworth Papers, Hotchkiss Collection, CL; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 28:437, 446; Captain Charles A. Stevens, Berdan’s Sharpshooters, 222–23. Even in Hancock’s division, which had already sustained so many casualties, several more men suffered serious wounds that required amputations. See MSH, 10:723, 11:148, 286, 12: 797.
18. Moe, Last Full Measure, 215; OR, 273–74; December 14, 1862, Cavada Diary, HSP; Orwig, 131st Pennsylvania, 126–27; Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP; Isaac Lyman Taylor, “Campaigning with the First Minnesota,” 237.
19. OR, 634–35, 643, 666; James I. Robertson Jr., Jackson, 663; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:135–36; Hotchkiss, Make Me a Map of the Valley, 100–101; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:143.
20. OR, 685, 687; Coles, From Huntsville to Appomattox, 83; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:136–37; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 1:143; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 1:180, 6:410, 48:250; Samuel J. C. Moore to Ellen Moore, December 15, 1862, Samuel J. C. Moore Papers, SHC; December 14, 1862, Ware Diary, SHC; Joseph W. Griggs to his father, December 19, 1862, Griggs Family Papers, VHS; Ujanirtus Allen, Campaigning with “Old Stonewall,” 195.
21. Winchester (Va.) Times, February 11, 1891; December 14, 1862, Hawes Diary, VHS; Edward Waterman to his sisters, December 19, 1862, Waterman-Bacon-Sanders Family Papers, Houston Regional Library.
22. George E. Stephens, Voice of Thunder, 213; OR, 488; December 14, 1862, Latta Diary, LC; Blake, Three Years in the Army of the Potomac, 152–53; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 6:1185; Woodward, Third Pennsylvania Reserves, 218–19; Hanifen, History of Battery B, First New Jersey Artillery, 37–38; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:755–56, 759. Federal batteries occasionally lobbed shells into the woods, but official reports indicate that relatively few rounds were fired. See OR, 365; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:695, 748, 760–61, 768; George Lewis, First Rhode Island Light Artillery, 133–34.
23. Martin A. Haynes, Second New Hampshire, 147–48; OR, 383; Martin A. Haynes, Minor War History, 82; McAllister, Letters of Robert McAllister, 245–46; Bellard, Gone for a Soldier, 183.
24. OR, 120, 363; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:800, and pt. 2, 40:601; Virgil W. Mattoon to his mother, December 10–15, 1862, Mattoon Papers, CHS; Darius Starr to his mother, December 25, 1862, Starr Papers, Duke; Wyman Silas White, Civil War Diary, 113–14; Thomas J. Halsey, Field of Battle, 46; Best, History of the 121st New York, 44; Lucius B. Shattuck to Ellen Shattuck, December 11–14, 1862, Shattuck Letters, MHC; Haines, 15th New Jersey, 34; Houghton, Seventeenth Maine, 34; Storey, History of Cambria County, 250; Elisha Hunt Rhodes, All for the Union, 90–91; Milans, “Eyewitness to Fredericksburg,” 22–23.
25. George H. Allen, Forty-Six Months, 170–71; New York Irish-American, December 27, 1862; Small, Road to Richmond, 69; Borton, Awhile with the Blue, 54; Edward Kalloch Gould, Major-General Hiram Berry, 227; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 74–75.
26. John R. Young to Maria Van Wagonen, December 29, 1862, Van Wagonen Papers, University of Oregon; Anecdotes of Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith, ca. 1897, Hotchkiss Papers, LC; A. J. Alexander, “Fredericksburg”; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 60–61.
27. Blake, Three Years in the Army of the Potomac, 154; W. R. M. Slaughter to his sister, January 4, 1863, Slaughter Letters, VHS; Houghton, Seventeenth Maine, 33; OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3:789–90.
28. Anecdotes of Rev. Dr. J. P. Smith, ca. 1897, Hotchkiss Papers, LC; Charles R. Johnson to “Dear Nellie,” December 1862, Johnson Letters, HCWRTC, USAMHI; Goss, Recollections of a Private, 133–34; Bosbyshell, 48th in the War, 100.
29. Augusta (Ga.) Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, December 27, 1862; Scott, One Hundred and Fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 67; Perkins Memoir, 7, NHHS; Charles R. Johnson to “Dear Nellie,” December 15, 1862, Johnson Letters, HCWRTC, USAMHI; James T. Odem to Eleanor Odem, December 19, 1862, Odem Papers, UVa.
30. Tapert, Brothers’ War, 121; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 44; “Personal Recollections of the First Battle of Fredericksburg,” 18–19, UT; Cook, Twelfth Massachusetts, 80–81; L. Minor Blackford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 210–12. Temperatures rose high enough during the day for bodies to putrefy.
31. History of the Fifth Massachusetts Battery, 510–11; Herman Haupt to his wife, December 15, 1862, Haupt Letterbook, Haupt Papers, LC; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 23, 1862; Asaph R. Tyler to his wife, January 17, 1863, Tyler Letters, FSNMP; Siegel, For the Glory of the Union, 115; Oliver Wendell Holmes, Touched with Fire, 78. For perceptive analyses of the soldiers’ responses to battlefield deaths, see Hess, Union Soldier in Battle, 37–44; Linderman, Embattled Courage, 124–28; Frank and Reaves, “Seeing the Elephant,” 105–8. For a general discussion of burial details, see Dean, Shook over Hell, 68.
32. For insights based on a much more overwhelming experience of death, the bombing of Hiroshima, see Lifton, History and Human Survival, 127–28, 153–54. For a description of how the Civil War hardened soldiers to scenes of death and helped them suppress sentiment and sensibility, see Laderman, Sacred Remains, 137–40.
33. Catton, Never Call Retreat, 24; Richard Lewis, Camp Life of a Confederate Boy, 37; Coles, From Huntsville to Appomattox, 84; December 16, 1862, Conway Diary, GDAH; Shand Memoir, SCL; Burgwyn, Captain’s War, 42; John L. G. Wood to his father, December 18, 1862, John L. G. Wood Letters, UDC Bound Typescripts, GDAH; December 15, 1862, Pickens Diary, UA; William Calvin Oates, War Between Union and Confederacy, 168; Braddock Memoir, 25–26, MC. An artillery private tried to grab a pair of boots but desisted when he tugged on one boot and much of the man’s leg came with it (the dead man had received a mortal wound right above the knee). See Walters, Norfolk Blues, 49. One unlucky Rebel donned a Yankee overcoat and was mistakenly shot dead by a Confederate sharpshooter. For enterprising lads, it was worth taking a chance because even a bloody and soiled coat might fetch $40 in camp. See W. R. M. Slaughter to his sister, January 4, 1863, Slaughter Letters, VHS; L. Calhoun Cooper to his mother, December 18, 1862, Cooper Letters, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park.
34. Richmond Daily Examiner, December 19, 1862; December 17, 1862, Duffey Diary, VHS; William Henry Tatum to John Tatum, December 17, 1862, Tatum Papers, VHS; Thomas Clay-brook Elder to Anna Fitzhugh Elder, December 21, 1862, Elder Papers, VHS.
35. Rankin, 23rd Virginia, 54; Loehr, First Virginia Regiment, 32; Fletcher, Rebel Private, 51; Ujanirtus Allen, Campaigning with “Old Stonewall,” 206; William S. Campbell to his cousin, December 17, 1862, William S. Campbell Letter, FSNMP; Trowbridge, The South, 107; Charleston Daily Courier, January 8, 1863; Berkeley, Four Years in the Confederate Artillery, 39. Some men had a superstitious aversion to touching dead Yankees, and when one scavenger discovered a Bible on a body, he suddenly realized that these fellows, too, believed they were fighting for the right. See Young, “Civil War Letters of Abram Hayne Young,” 59; Abernathy, Our Mess, 20.
36. Small, Road to Richmond, 69–70; Henry Grimes Marshall to “Dear Folks at Home,” December 20, 1862, Marshall Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; William Teall to his wife, December 16, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; OR, 261–62; December 17, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Roland R. Bowen, From Ball’s Bluff to Gettysburg, 141. Federals foraging for food also took shoes, coats, and blankets from dead comrades. When the enemy stripped the dead, of course that became an outrage, but both attitudes and practices showed how inured some men had grown to corpses on battlefields. See Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 197–98; Annals of the War, 265; Lord, History of the Ninth New Hampshire, 230.
37. Cavins, Civil War Letters of Cavins, 118; Heffelfinger, “‘Dear Sister Jennie,’” 217; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 86; Allen Landis to his parents, January 1, 1863, Landis Papers, LC; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 60; John Dragoo to Daniel and Abigail Dragoo, December 18, 1862, Dragoo Papers, ISL. Northern newspaper coverage of Rebel “outrages” was surprisingly restrained. See New York Herald, December 19, 1862; New York Tribune, December 18, 1862; Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, December 23, 1862.
38. Mills Lane, “Dear Mother: Don’t Grieve about Me,” 208; December 16, 1862, Ware Diary, SHC; Shotwell, Papers of Randolph Abbott Shotwell, 1:432. A Richmond editor duly noted how careless the Federals had been with their dead but gently suggested that if Confederates really needed to strip the bodies, they should at least leave the underwear. See Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 22, 1862.
39. Laderman, Sacred Remains, 130–31; Francis Marion Coker to his wife, December 18, 1862, Coker Letters, UG; Bryan Grimes to his brother, December 25, 1862, Grimes Family Papers, SHC; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 20, 1862; Lynchburg Daily Virginian, December 20, 1862.
40. OR, 212–22; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 198; John Lord Parker, Twenty-Second Massachusetts, 232; Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 61; Walker, Second Corps, 188; History of the 127th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, 136–40; Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:400.
41. December 14, 1862, Hodnett Diary, UDC Bound Typescripts, GDAH; James Harvey Wood, The War, 110; David Holt, Mississippi Rebel, 145; Gunn, 24th Virginia, 38; Robert A. Moore, Life for the Confederacy, 124; December 15, 1862, Copenhauer Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; Hotchkiss, Make Me a Map of the Valley, 101.
42. McCreery Recollections, section 10, 1862–63, VHS; Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert, 137; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 22, 1862; Conn, “Conn-Brantley Letter,” 439.
43. Augusta (Maine) Kennebec Journal, January 2, 1863; Oliver S. Coolidge to ?, December 14–15, 1862, Coolidge Papers, Duke; Chamberlain, Through Blood and Fire, 43; Tyler, Recollections of the Civil War, 66; Edward K. Russell to his mother, December 14, 1862, Kirby-Smith-Russell Collection, FSNMP.
44. James Longstreet to R. H. Anderson, December 15, 1862, Alexander Papers, SHC; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 22, 1862; OR, 566–67, 576–77; W. H. Burgess to David McKnight, December 20, 1862, McKnight Family Papers, UT; Boggs, Alexander Letters, 245–46; Ott, “Civil War Diary of James J. Kirkpatrick,” 89; Burgwyn, Captain’s War, 40; Henry Alexander Chambers, Diary, 76. An excitable Virginian in Anderson’s division claimed there was cannonading along the lines all day. See December 15, 1862, Shipp Diary, VHS.
45. New York Irish-American, December 27, 1862, January 10, 1863; Conyngham, Irish Brigade, 354; McNamara, History of the Ninth Massachusetts, 267; Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, 471–72; Edward Field, “Irish Brigade,” 585–86; Mulholland, 116th Pennsylvania, 60–61. The original plans had been to hold the banquet in a festively decorated log house in the brigade’s camp across the river.
46. Wingfield, “Diary of Capt. H. W. Wingfield,” 21; December 15, 1862, Hawes Diary, VHS; James I. Robertson Jr., Jackson, 664.
47. OR Supplement, pt. 1, 3: 756; OR, 122; William H. Clairville, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 83, Clairville Papers, Rutgers University; Houghton, Seventeenth Maine, 34–35; Babcock, “114th Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers,” 1; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 61; John F. Hartwell to his wife, December 17, 1862, Hartwell Papers, FSNMP; December 15, 1862, Furst Diary, HCWRTC, USAMHI; Elisha Hunt Rhodes, All for the Union, 91.
48. Vail, Reminiscences of a Boy in the Civil War, 99–100; MSH, 11:226; December 15, 1862, Jackson Diary, IHS; Craig L. Dunn, Iron Men, Iron Will, 149.
49. D. R. E. Winn to his wife, December 18, 1862, Winn Letters, Emory; Francis Marion Coker to his wife, December 16, 1862, Coker Letters, UG; Hotchkiss, Make Me a Map of the Valley, 101; December 15, 1862, Hodnett Diary, UDC Bound Typescripts, GDAH; Milo Grow to his wife, December 15, 1862, Grow Letters, FSNMP; Samuel J. C. Moore to Ellen Moore, December 15, 1862, Samuel J. C. Moore Papers, SHC.
50. William Watson, Letters of a Civil War Surgeon, 41; A. B. Williams to his father, December 15, 1862, Williams Letters, University of Rochester; John S. Crocker to his wife, December 15, 1862, Crocker Letters, CU; Henry Willis to his father, December 15, 1862, Henry Willis Letter, FSNMP; Edward K. Russell to his mother, December 14, 1862, Kirby-Smith-Russell Collection, FSNMP.
51. Sturtevant, Josiah Volunteered, 75; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 199; Daniel E. Underhill to Samuel E. Underhill, December 15, 1862, Underhill Letter, FSNMP; John Harrison Mills, Chronicles of the Twenty-First New York, 279; Cornelius Richmond to his wife, December 15, 1862, Richmond Papers, FSNMP; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 45; Amos Hadley, Life of Walter Harriman, 139; Robert S. Robertson, “Diary of the War,” 76.
52. OR, 75, 121, 124–25; B&L, 3:118; William Teall to his wife, December 15, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; CCW, 1:659; Edwin V. Sumner to Ambrose E. Burnside, December 14, 1862, Stuart Collection, LC; Daniel Reed Larned, Pencil Notes on the Battle of Fredericksburg, December 11–15, 1862, Larned Papers, LC.
53. OR, 122, and ser. 1, 51(1):958; Marvel, Burnside, 199–200.
54. Daniel Reed Larned to “My Dear Henry,” December 16, 1862, Larned Papers, LC; OR, 124, 451; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 205; John L. Smith, 118th Pennsylvania, 137; J. L. Smith to his mother, December 26, 1862, John L. Smith Letters, FSNMP; Teall, “Ringside Seat at Fredericksburg,” 30. At 5:30 P.M. Hooker remained unsure whether the retreat was to take place. See OR, 124.
55. P. A. O’Connell to A. W. Dougherty, December 13, 1862, entry 544, Field Hospital Records, Adjutant General’s Records, NA; MSH, 2:102–3; Hirst, Boys from Rockville, 76; McCarter, My Life in the Irish Brigade, 202–4. Many of the wounded had been removed during the preceding two days as well.
56. O’Reilly, Jackson at Fredericksburg, 187–88; James B. Thomas, Civil War Letters, 127–28; Bates Alexander, “Seventh Regiment,” December 20, 1895; December 15, 1862, Latta Diary, LC; John Ripley Adams, Memorials and Letters, 78; Lucius B. Shattuck to “Dear Gill and Mary,” December 16, 1862, Shattuck Letters, MHC; December 15, 1862, Furst Diary, HCWRTC, USAMHI; Hartwell, To My Beloved Wife and Boy at Home, 35.
57. Joseph Bloomfield Osborn to Joseph M. Osborn, Osborn Papers, LC; Edmund Halsey, Brother against Brother, 95; December 15, 1862, Holford Diary, LC; OR, 451.
58. OR, 124; Henry Grimes Marshall to “Dear Folks at Home,” December 20, 1862, Marshall Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Lapham, “Recollections of the Twelfth R.I. Volunteers,” 36–37; Pullen, Twentieth Maine, 56–58; Tillinghast, Twelfth Rhode Island, 62–63.
59. Favill, Diary of a Young Officer, 213–14; Musgrove, Autobiography of Captain Richard Musgrove, 51–52; Galwey, Valiant Hours, 66; S. Millett Thompson, Thirteenth New Hampshire, 78; December 15, 1862, Charles S. Granger Diary, CWMC, USAMHI; Aldrich, History of Battery A, 165–66; Currier, “From Concord to Fredericksburg,” 256; Todd, Seventy-Ninth Highlanders, 60; OR, 401.
60. OR, 76, 125–26, 401; Brunswick (Maine) Telegraph, January 2, 1863; Nash, Forty-fourth New York, 116–17; Judson, Eighty-third Pennsylvania, 107–9; J. L. Smith to his mother, December 15, 1862, John L. Smith Letters, FSNMP; Donaldson, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 192; James R. Woodworth to Phoebe Woodworth, December 17, 1862, Woodworth Papers, Hotchkiss Collection, CL; Graves Memoir, 6, FSNMP; December 15, 1862, Stoner Diary, FSNMP; Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP; December 15, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Fourth Annual Report of the Bureau of Military Statistics, 155. A regimental historian later recalled the “intense agony” of men suffering from diarrhea who had not been able to move for more than a day. See Thomas H. Parker, History of the 51st, 274–75.
61. McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 205–6; Donaldson, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 192–93; Welsh and Welsh, “Civil War Letters from Two Brothers,” 156–57; Davenport, FifthNew York Volunteer Infantry, 352–57; OR Supplement, pt. 2, 42:636; Brainard, One Hundred and Forty-sixth New York, 42–44; Tilney, My Life in the Army, 34–38; OR, 401, 415–16.
62. OR, 403; Rowe, Sketch of the 126th Pennsylvania, 22–24; “An Adventure at Fredericksburg.”
63. John Smart to Ann Smart, December 17, 1862, Smart Letters, FSNMP; OR, 172–73, 175, 178; Charles Shields Wainwright, Diary of Battle, 146; Gilbert Thompson, Engineer Battalion, 27.
64. December 15, 1862, Furst Diary, HCWRTC, USAMHI; Bellard, Gone for a Soldier, 186; Sanford Truesdale to his sister, December 17, 1862, Truesdale Papers, University of Chicago; Vail, Reminiscences of a Boy in the Civil War, 100–101; December 16, 1862, Taylor Diary, FSNMP; Houghton, Seventeenth Maine, 35–36; Dority, “Civil War Diary,” 11–12; December 16, 1862, Berry Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Hanifen, History of Battery B, First New Jersey Artillery, 40; Robert Goldthwaite Carter, Four Brothers in Blue, 209–10.
65. Tillinghast, Twelfth Rhode Island, 64–65; Hopkins, Seventh Rhode Island, 50; Edward Hutchinson to “Dear Emma,” December 22, 1862, Hutchinson Letters, FSNMP; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 62; Henry Grimes Marshall to “Dear Folks at Home,” December 20, 1862, Marshall Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; Galwey, Valiant Hours, 66–67; Hagerty, Collis’ Zouaves, 129–30; Frank C. Park to “Friends at Home,” December 17, 1862, Park Letter, FSNMP; William B. Jordan Jr., Red Diamond Regiment, 30; Wyman Silas White, Civil War Diary, 117.
66. Abraham Welch to his sister, December 27, 1862, Welch Letter, SHC; Nathaniel W. Brown to Albert M. Given, December 23, 1862, Brown Letter, FSNMP; Alexander Way to his wife, December 17, 1862, Way Letters, FSNMP; McKelvey, Rochester in the Civil War, 163; McAllister, Letters of Robert McAllister, 242; December 16, 1862, Pope Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; Ayling, Yankee at Arms, 85; December 18, 1862, Latta Diary, LC.
67. Reardon, “Forlorn Hope,” 102; Weygant, One Hundred and Twenty-Fourth Regiment, 73; Thomas H. Evans, “‘Cries of the Wounded,’” 38; William H. Clairville to Mary Clairville, December 17, 1862, Clairville Papers, Rutgers University; Gallup, “Connecticut Yankee at Fredericksburg,” 204.
68. Edward Porter Alexander, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 463–64; OR, 333; Speairs and Pettit, Civil War Letters, 1:75; John F. Hartwell to his wife, December 17, 1862, Hartwell Papers, FSNMP; Dawes, Sixth Wisconsin, 114; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:147; Bidwell, Forty-ninth New York Volunteers, 139–40; Milo Grow to his wife, December 16, 1862, Grow Letters, FSNMP.
69. Sorrel, Recollections of a Confederate Staff Officer, 136–37; Samuel V. Dean to his wife, December 19, 1862, Dean Letters, FSNMP; William Teall to his wife, December 17, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Currier, “From Concord to Fredericksburg,” 257; Hopkins, Seventh Rhode Island, 51; William M. Owen, In Camp and Battle with the Washington Artillery, 195–97; Frederick, Story of a Regiment, 126; Fitchburg (Mass.) Sentinel, January 2, 1863. Bodies were dumped in these trenches despite War Department orders about specifying the place of burial and marking the graves with headboards. See Laderman, Sacred Remains, 118–19.
70. Landon, “Letters to the Vincennes Western Sun,” 340; Lord, History of the Ninth New Hampshire, 250; Hough, “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 14, FSNMP; Darrohn, “Recollections,” FSNMP; George E. Stephens, Voice of Thunder, 214.
71. Rauscher, Music on the March, 34; OR, 555, 641, 673, and ser. 2, 2:115–17; Marsena Rudolph Patrick, Inside Lincoln’s Army, 199; William Teall to his wife, December 17, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Bloodgood, Personal Reminiscences of the War, 57; L. Minor Blackford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 212–13; Samuel Penniman Bates, History of the Pennsylvania Volunteers, 6:1185n; December 14, 1862, Hamilton Diary, FSNMP; Ujanirtus Allen, Campaigning with “Old Stonewall,” 201. In Richmond prisoners from Fredericksburg languished in filthy conditions, witnessed several amputations, and occasionally died. See December 18, 1862–January 10, 1863, Heffelfinger Diary, CWTI, USAMHI; George W. Grant to his sister, January 19, 28, 1863, Grant Papers, Duke; Richmond Daily Dispatch, January 1, 1863.
72. John Smart to his wife, December 13, 1862, Smart Letters, FSNMP; Augusta (Maine) Kennebec Journal, January 2, 1863; Judd, Story of the Thirty-Third, 251–52; New York Herald, December 17, 1862; “Sacrifice of Federals at Fredericksburg,” 370.
73. Philip H. Powers to his wife, December 17, 1862, Powers Letters, Leigh Collection, USAMHI; D. R. E. Winn to his wife, December 18, 1862, Winn Letters, Emory; Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 18, 1862; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Constitutionalist, December 28, 1862, January 4, 1863; Jesse H. H. Person to his mother, December 25, 1862, Presley Carter Person Papers, Duke; Davenport, Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, 357; Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:148–49. Shortly after the war a young man showed a northern reporter to the icehouse burial ground. See Trowbridge, The South, 112.
74. Craig L. Dunn, Iron Men, Iron Will, 151; James Coburn to his parents, December 17, 1862, James P. Coburn Papers, USAMHI; Stephen S. Rogers to his mother, December 16, 1862, Rogers Papers, Illinois State Historical Library; December 16, 1862, Jackson Diary, IHS; Otis, Second Wisconsin, 67; Castleman, Army of the Potomac, 267; McAllister, Letters of Robert McAllister, 243; Albert, Forty-fifth Pennsylvania, 253–54; Henry F. Young to his father, December 17, 1862, Young Papers, SHSW; Robert S. Robertson, “Diary of the War,” 76–77; Pardington, Dear Sarah, 48; Edward K. Russell to his mother, December 17, 1862, Kirby-Smith-Russell Collection, FSNMP; R. S. Robertson to his parents, December 24, 1862, Robertson Papers, FSNMP; William Hamilton to his mother, December 18, 1862, Hamilton Papers, LC; Joseph P. Vickers to his parents, December 16, 1862, Vickers Letter, FSNMP.
75. OR, 548–49; James I. Robertson Jr., Jackson, 664; Scharf, Personal Memoirs of Jonathan Thomas Scharf, 57; B&L, 3:82–83; Clausewitz, On War, 84; Early, Narrative of the War, 180–82; Redway, Fredericksburg, 201, 218–19; Cooke, Lee, 192; Jedediah Hotchkiss to Sara Ann Comfort Hotchkiss, January 23, 1863, Hotchkiss Papers, LC. Only a few Confederates claimed that they had expected the Yankees to withdraw. See Von Borcke, Memoirs of the Confederate War, 2:142; Walter Clark, Regiments and Battalions from North Carolina, 2:226; Grimes, Extracts of Letters, 26–27. For perceptive and contrasting analyses of whether Lee should have been more aggressive, see Jennings Cropper Wise, Long Arm of Lee, 1:400–404; Col. G. F. R. Henderson, Civil War, 95–100.
76. Gannon, Irish Rebels, 147; David L. Bozeman to his wife, December 17, 1862, Bozeman Letters, FSNMP; Bryan Grimes to William Grimes, December 18, 1862, Grimes Family Papers, SHC; Battle-Fields of the South, 515; Joseph N. Haynes to his father, January 7, 1863, Haynes Papers, Duke; Malone, Whipt ’em Everytime, 66–67; December 16, 1862, Jones Diary, Schoff Collection, CL; Ott, “Civil War Diary of James J. Kirkpatrick,” 89–90. Because of the Union withdrawal, the Confederates captured substantial amounts of arms, ammunition, accouterments, and food. See OR, 571, 588; Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 18, 1862.
77. For incisive comments on defining and assessing defeat, see Clausewitz, On War, 142, 227, 230, 233–34, 254.
1. Thomas L. Livermore, Numbers and Losses, 96; OR, 129–42, 558–62.
2. For estimates that were remarkably close to the reported numbers, see G. O. Bartlett to Ira Andrews, December 18, 1862, Bartlett Papers, GLC; Henry J. H. Thompson to Lucretia Thompson, December 19, 1862, Thompson Papers, Duke; Electus W. Jones to his parents, December 17, 1862, Electus W. Jones Papers, Duke.
3. Haydon, For Country, Cause, and Leader, 299; John F. Hartwell to his wife, December 17, 1862, Hartwell Papers, FSNMP; Jonathan Hutchinson to his family, December 20, 1862, Hutchinson Letters, USAMHI.
4. Donaldson, Inside the Army of the Potomac, 189; Gallup, “Connecticut Yankee at Fredericksburg,” 203; George M. Barnard to his father, December 16, 1862, Barnard Papers, MHS; Emerson F. Merrill to his parents, December 17, 1862, Merrill Papers, FSNMP; J. McDonald to his sister, December 19, 1862, Lt. J. McDonald Letters, FSNMP; George A. Spencer to his mother, December 25, 1862, Spencer Papers, GLC; Joseph N. Haynes to his father, December 21, 1862, Haynes Papers, Duke; P. Borary to Johnny Borary, December 18, 1862, Borary Papers, GLC; William Speed to Charlotte Speed, December 29, 1862, Speed Papers, Schoff Collection, CL; William M. Sheppard to his wife, December 17, 1862, Sheppard Letter, FSNMP; Pardington, Dear Sarah, 49.
5. Thomas Claybrook Elder to Anna Fitzhugh Elder, December 21, 1862, Elder Papers, VHS; Cadmus Marcellus Wilcox to his sister, December 17, 1862, Wilcox Papers, LC; W. H. Burgess to David McKnight, December 20, 1862, McKnight Family Papers, UT; William Rhadamanthus Montgomery, Georgia Sharpshooter, 77; Borden, Legacy of Fanny and Joseph, 130; William Henry Tatum to his brother, December 17, 1862, Tatum Papers, VHS; Cutrer and Parrish, Brothers in Blue, 139; Hodijah Lincoln Meade to Jane Eliza Meade, December 17, 1862, Meade Family Papers, VHS; Isaac Howard to his father, December 25, 1862, Howard Family Papers, SHC; Unknown Soldier to “Dear Cousin,” December 19, 1862, Unknown Soldier Letter, FSNMP; William Henry Cocke to John Cocke, December 25, 1862, Cocke Family Papers, VHS; John R. Damron to his father, December 17, 1862, Damron Letter, University of Tennessee; J. S. Wilson to his father, December 19, 1862, Wilson Papers, MDAH; E. R. Willis to his father, December 18, 1862, E. R. and McKibben Willis Letters, FSNMP; James T. McElvaney to his mother, December 19, 1862, McElvaney Letter, FSNMP; Mills Lane, “Dear Mother: Don’t Grieve about Me,” 217–18; Austin, Georgia Boys with “Stonewall” Jackson, 58.
6. Jesse S. McGee to “My Dear Mollie,” December 20, 1862, McGee-Charles Family Papers, SCL; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, December 27, 1862; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Constitutionalist, December 27, 1862; Charleston Daily Courier, December 19, 1862; J. B. Jones, Rebel War Clerk’s Diary, 1:216–17; Edmondston, “Journal of a Secesh Lady,” 320.
7. New York Tribune, December 18, 23, 1862; Chicago Daily Tribune, December 18, 1862; Brooks, Mr. Lincoln’s Washington, 51; Emerson F. Merrill to his parents, December 21, 1862, Merrill Papers, FSNMP; Harrisburg Patriot and Union, December 20, 1862; Albany (N.Y.) Atlas and Argus, January 9, 1863.
8. Todd Reminiscences, 75–76, SHC; John Bratton to his wife, December 16, 1862, Bratton Letters, SHC; Shand Memoir, SCL; William C. McClellan to his father, December 25, 1862, Buchanan and McClellan Family Papers, SHC; William Rhadamanthus Montgomery, Georgia Sharpshooter, 78; Charleston Daily Courier, December 31, 1862; L. Minor Blackford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 213; Atlanta Southern Confederacy, December 27, 1862.
9. J. E. B. Stuart to George Washington Custis Lee, December 18, 1862, Stuart Papers, Duke; William Willis Blackford, War Years with Stuart, 196; Charles, “Events in Battle of Fredericksburg,” 68; Susan Leigh Blackford, Letters from Lee’s Army, 149; December 14, 1862, J. M. Mitchell Diary, FSNMP; Isaac Howard to his father, December 25, 1862, Howard Family Papers, SHC; E. R. Willis to his father, December 18, 1862, E. R. and McKibben Willis Letters, FSNMP; Edward E. Sill to his sister, December 20, 1862, Sill Letters, Duke.
10. Trout, With Pen and Saber, 126; Jedediah Hotchkiss to Sara Ann Comfort Hotchkiss, December 17, 1862, Hotchkiss Papers, LC; W. R. M. Slaughter to his sister, January 4, 1863, Slaughter Letters, VHS; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Constitutionalist, December 23, 1862; OR, 628.
11. Robert H. Simpson to “Dear Mary,” December 16, 1862, Settle Papers, Duke; Athens (Ga.) Southern Banner, January 7, 1863; J. G. Montgomery to his brother and sister, January 9, 1863, Montgomery Letter, FSNMP; Charleston Daily Courier, January 17, 1863; Henry Calvin Conner to “Dear Ellen,” December 18, 1862, Conner Papers, SCL; Brogan, American Civil War, 98–99; William Henry Stewart, Pair of Blankets, 75; “Battle of Fredericksburg,” 263.
12. Walters, Norfolk Blues, 49; W. H. Andrews, Footprints of a Regiment, 98; Hightower, “Letters from Harvey Judson Hightower,” 180; Charleston Daily Courier, January 9, 1863.
13. December 16, 1862, Latrobe Diary, VHS; S. G. Pryor, Post of Honor, 296; McPherson, For Cause and Comrades, 148–53; Rev. Nicholas A. Davis, Campaigns from Texas to Maryland, 104; Athens (Ga.) Southern Banner, January 14, 1863; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 23, 1862; Charles Kerrison to “Uncle Edwin,” December 18, 1862, Kerrison Family Papers, SCL; Thomas Claybrook Elder to Anna Fitzhugh Elder, December 21, 1862, Elder Papers, VHS; Benjamin Lewis Blackford to William Blackford, December 23, 1862, Blackford Family Papers, SHC; Brogan, American Civil War, 96. On how fighting can stir up “national” hatred where none existed before a war, see Clausewitz, On War, 138. For long-term effects of seeing so many dead on a battlefield, see Dean, Shook over Hell, 67–68.
14. Spencer, Civil War Marriage in Virginia, 152; McDaniel, With Unabated Trust, 122; Milo Grow to his wife, December 16, 1862, Grow Letters, FSNMP.
15. Richmond Daily Enquirer, December 15, 16, 24, 25, 1862; Milledgeville (Ga.) Southern Recorder, January 6, 1863; Richmond Daily Examiner, December 16, 1862; Charleston Mercury, December 17, 23, 1862; Augusta (Ga.) Daily Chronicle and Sentinel, January 1, 1863; Wilmington (N.C.) Daily Journal, January 9, 1863; Raleigh Weekly Register, December 31, 1862; Raleigh Weekly Standard, December 31, 1862, January 7, 1863; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 15, 1862.
16. J. Cutler Andrews, North Reports the Civil War, 74; New York Tribune, December 15, 16, 20, 1862; New York Times, December 15, 16, 18, 1862; Philadelphia Inquirer, December 15, 17, 1862; Baltimore American and Commercial Advertiser, December 23, 1862; Royster, Destructive War, 240; Boston Evening Transcript, December 15, 1862; New York Herald, December 16, 1862; Hartford Daily Courant, December 19, 23, 1862; Flemington (N.J.) Hunterdon Gazette, December 24, 1862; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, December 23, 1862; Carlisle (Pa.) Herald, December 26, 1862.
17. McDonald, Woman’s Civil War, 100; Emma Holmes, Diary, 218; Lusk, War Letters of William Thompson Lusk, 252–53; Catherine Eaton to Samuel W. Eaton, December 15, 1862, Eaton Papers, SHSW; Anzolette E. Pendleton to William Nelson Pendleton, December 18, 1862, Pendleton Papers, SHC; L. Minor Blackford, Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory, 207.
18. Orson Blair Curtis, History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan, 107; Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, 309; Susan Leigh Blackford, Letters from Lee’s Army, 149–50; Samuel V. Dean to his wife, December 22, 1862, Dean Letters, FSNMP; Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Letters, 4:304; Robert Wentworth to his daughter, December 25, 1862, Wentworth Papers, LC; Gearhart, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 32; Haley, Rebel Yell and Yankee Hurrah, 60.
19. Lifton, History and Human Survival, 169, 172–73; Becker, Denial of Death, 2.
20. Abbott, Fallen Leaves, 160; Welsh and Welsh, “Civil War Letters from Two Brothers,” 161; Orson Blair Curtis, History of the Twenty-Fourth Michigan, 82; Guiney, Commanding Boston’s Irish Ninth, 155; Kate Stone, Journal, 164–65.
21. Welsh and Welsh, “Civil War Letters from Two Brothers,” 155; Walter A. Eames to his wife, December 14, 16, 18, 1862, Eames Letters, USAMHI; Rohloff C. Hacker to his parents, December 18, 1862, Philip Hacker to his parents, December 31, 1862, January 14, 1863, Philip Hacker to his father, January 5, 1863, Philip Hacker to his mother, January 18, February 1, 1863, Hacker Brothers Papers, Schoff Collection, CL.
22. Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Union and Advertiser, January 3, 1863; William Teall to his wife, December 17, 1862, Teall Letters, TSLA; Rochester (N.Y.) Daily Democrat and American, January 23, 1863; January 9, 1863, Shand Memoir, SCL; Walt Whitman, Walt Whitman’s Civil War, 30–31; George Washington Whitman, Civil War Letters, 77–78; Laderman, Sacred Remains, 108–9; Gallman, Mastering Wartime, 57–60, 77; Gallman, North Fights the Civil War, 74–77. A correspondent at Falmouth later reported that a dead Rebel officer’s body had been returned to his family through the lines. He hoped that such an act of charity would “do much towards mitigating the horrors of this unnatural contest” (New York Herald, January 11, 1863). In the nineteenth century, middle- and upper-class people especially felt a strong need to grieve tangibly and publicly. See Pike and Armstrong, Time to Mourn, 11.
23. Abbott, Fallen Leaves, 150; J. C. Allen to “Cousin Sallie,” December 18, 1862, Milner Collection, GDAH; John H. Mitchell to Rebecca Mitchell, December 17, 1862, John Mitchell Letters, FSNMP; Hartsock, Soldier of the Cross, 169; G. A. Evans, undated statement, Brown Papers, Virginia Polytechnic; Laderman, Sacred Remains, 132–33; Hagerty, Collis’ Zouaves, 133–34; Cary, George William Curtis, 60; Paludan, “People’s Contest,” 319; J. T. Carpenter to Katie Froneberger, January 13, 1863, Carpenter Letter, FSNMP; Thomas Bell to “Dear Sir,” January 4, 1863, GAR; Norman W. Camp to Amanda Wolcott, December 20, 1862, Wolcott Letters, FSNMP. Whether Brown actually spoke the words quoted is not that important because they shed light on several common themes in the deaths of soldiers. Evangelicals increasingly emphasized reunion of families in the afterlife, rejecting traditional notions of the corpse representing sinful humanity. See Laderman, Sacred Remains, 51–58; Ann Douglas, “Heaven Our Home,” 65–68.
24. Raymond, “Extracts from the Journal of Henry J. Raymond,” 419–20; Brainerd, Bridge Building in Wartime, 310; Athens (Pa.) Gazette, March 11, 1897; William Withington to his wife, December 18, 1862, Withington Papers, MHC; Grant Memoir, 4, NYHS; German Reformed Messenger, January 7, 1863, 2; Miller and Mooney, Civil War, 24. For an argument that the Civil War generation experienced a “morbid” fixation on the dead body, see Laderman, Sacred Remains, 73–85.
25. Paludan, “People’s Contest,” 365–66; Miller and Mooney, Civil War, 24, 137; Ruggles, “Soldier and a Letter,” 89; McDonald, Woman’s Civil War, 100; Gallman, Mastering Wartime, 54–56.
26. Conyngham, Irish Brigade, 356–59; New York Times, January 17, 1863; “Mass for the Dead Soldiers of the Irish Brigade,” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, February 7, 1863, 304–5; New York Irish-American, January 24, 1863; New York Tablet, January 24, 1863; Cavanagh, Memoirs of Gen. Thomas Francis Meagher, 477. This first St. Patrick’s Cathedral, still standing at the corner of Mulberry and Prince streets, should not be confused with the present St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
27. Borden, Legacy of Fanny and Joseph, 130–31, 134–36, 139, 143. The pious believed that heaven released one from life’s trials, and reassurances about their passing to a better world provided considerable comfort. For a general discussion of this point, see Lifton, History and Human Survival, 174–75. The death of so many away from home, bereft of their women relatives and their own clergymen, caused further social strain by depriving families of the increasingly elaborate and prolonged rituals of grief. Unfortunately, students of death have largely ignored the Civil War’s massive carnage in assessing social attitudes and practices. See Ann Douglas, “Heaven Our Home,” 49–68.
28. Royster, Destructive War, 250–51; Richmond Daily Dispatch, December 16, 25, 1862; Providence (R.I.) Daily Journal, December 13, 1862; “Remarks at the Funeral of Lt. Col. J. B. Curtis, December 17, 1862,” Christian Inquirer, December 27, 1862, n.p.; Wellsboro (Pa.) Agitator, January 4, 1863. It seemed especially touching when a sickly youth defied his parents’ wishes, endured the hardships of camp life, and then fell in battle. See Richmond Daily Whig, December 24, 1862.
29. Christian Reformed Messenger, January 7, 1863, 2; Raleigh Weekly Standard, January 7, 1863; Molyneux, Quill of the Wild Goose, 61; Bacon, Memorial of William Kirkland Bacon, 20–41, 51–62, 78–81; Means, Waiting for Daybreak, 6–9; Goolsby, “Crenshaw Battery,” 349. On both the importance and the limits of religion as consolation, see Drew Gilpin Faust, Riddle of Death, 22–23.