Fredericksburg, Part 3: Slaughter on Marye's Heights

If you put every man on the other side of the Potomac on that field to approach me over the same line, and give me plenty of ammunition, I will kill them all before they reach my line. -General James Longstreet to General Robert E. Lee on Marye's Heights

At about the same time General Meade began his advance against the Confederate right, General Edwin Sumner prepared his grand division for an attack against the left. As the morning fog lifted, the orders for Sumners men to advance were called out. They marched through the streets of the town toward the heights occupied by the Confederates. Marye's Heights was the nearest, about 600 yards outside of Fredericksburg (Goolrick, 1985).

The terrain was similar to that which the Confederates would march across the following July at Gettysburg: a wide-open plain with few trees and houses from which to gain shelter and fences that would slow the advancing troops' movement. Additionally, there was a small canal 200 yards toward the Heights that could only be crossed on three bridges. This advance, of course, would also be hindered by incessant artillery fire coming from Longstreet's batteries on Marye's Heights.

The Confederate position was arguably the most secure and formidable of any position held by either side at any point of the War. Near the base of Marye's Heights was a sunken road lined with a stonewall on the side of the Federal advance. Using the stonewall for protection, the Confederate troops had maximum cover from enemy fire, for the road was sunken enough that the soldiers could stand and fire and all but their heads were shielded from Federal bullets. This shoulder high protection, coupled with the openness of the field the Federals had to cross, rendered the Confederate position practically impregnable.

Lafayette McLaws' division had the honor of defending the stonewall. Brigadier General Thomas Cobb's brigade was placed along the sunken road while Brigadier General Robert Ransom's 24th North Carolina, placed in well-dug trenches, extended the line to the left about 250 yards from where the wall ended (Goolrick, 1985). Additionally, McLaws had 7,000 men in reserve behind him on the hill to back up the 2,000 he placed at the wall. And certainly ample artillery was ready for action on the ridge above. All was in place for the slaughter that was about to ensue.

The attack began with Sumner's order at 11:00 a.m. The first division to move forward was General William French; his brigades were those of Nathan Kimball, John Andrews, Oliver Palmer, respectively. Bayonets fixed, French's division appeared in the open field and immediately came under murderous artillery fire. Though holes were being torn in the lines, the division marched in a perfect line towards the heights. Confederate Lieutenant William M. Owen recalled the scene:

How beautifully they came on! Their bright bayonets glistening in the sunlight made the line look like a huge serpent of blue and steel. The very force of their onset leveled the broad fences bounding the small fields and gardens that interspersed the plain. We could see our shells bursting in their ranks, making great gaps. But on they came, as though they would go straight though and over us.

Kimball's brigade was the first to approach the wall. When within about 100 yards of the Confederate line they took deathly barrage after barrage of fire from the Confederate muskets. The unremitting storm of lead knocked down waves of oncoming Union troops, but still they marched. Some troops got within 40 yards of the stonewall but were cut down immediately. The rest ran for cover or began to withdraw, all rendered powerless by the deadly Confederate blazing line. It took just 20 minutes to reduce Kimball's numbers by one-quarter.

Andrew's brigade was next in line and achieved similar results. Under the murderous fire Andrews suffered 50 percent casualties in 15 minutes. The same would be for Palmer's brigade. French's division was out of action in a matter of less than one hour. But the attacks would continue, this time lead by Major General Winfield Scott Hancock.

Hancock's division also consisted of three brigades, in order or appearance was that of Samuel Zook, Francis Meagher (The Irish Brigade), and John Caldwell, respectively. Zook lead his men in with great confidence, the same confidence French's division marched with just an hour before. But that confidence turned to uncertainty and then chaos as Zook's brigade suffered a similar plight to all of French's brigades. "The losses were so tremendous that before we knew it, our momentum was gone, and the charge a failure," recalled one of Zook's staff officers (Goolrick, 1985).

Meagher's Irish Brigade followed. As they marched bravely toward their certain demise, the moved toward a portion of the Confederate line that was also held by a regiment of Irishmen. "The Confederates recognized their countrymen by their green emblems, and someone exclaimed, 'What a pity. Here comes Meagher's fellows.' Then the Georgians took aim and mowed their fellow Irishmen down" (Goolrick, 1985, p. 77). As the Irish Brigade faltered, so too did that of Caldwell. Hancock's division lost over 40 percent of its total strength in the mêlée--2,049 men--more than any other division would lose in any battle during the War, North and South (Goolrick, 1985).

So far six Union brigades had attempted to seize the stonewall, and all six had failed miserably, sustaining heavy casualties along the way. This began to dissuade other Union commanders from carrying out their attacks as ordered. General Darius Couch of the II Corps observed that further attacks would be "only murder now." But he was bound by orders to continue. And so he sent in General Howard's division to reinforce the attack on the center. Howard's three brigades under Joshua Owen, Norman Hall, and Alfred Sully attacked and failed like their other II Corps comrades.

Still, the carnage continued. Brigadier General Samuel Sturgis's division of the IX Corps moved onto the field now covered with lifeless corpses and freezing wounded soldiers. His two brigades predictably faltered as all the others did. The Federal attack had failed miserably and it seemed pointless to continue. Upon the retreat of Sturgis's division, the Federals called a temporary halt to the fighting to reorganize.

Despite the heavy losses Burnside remained loyal to his plan of attack. He ordered Hooker, whose men were held in reserve on the other side of the Rappahannock, to cross the river and attack the same heights from the same field. Riding out onto the battlefield, Hooker realized quickly the futility of such an attack: "...it would be a useless waste of life to attack with the force at my disposal" (Goolrick, 1985).

While Hooker was gone, General Daniel Butterfield ordered his V Corps' First Division under Charles Griffin in to relieve Sturgis and renew the attack. One by one Griffin's brigades went in and sustained heavy casualties. At one point, someone in Hancock's division mistakenly thought he saw the Confederates were retreating. To seize the moment, General Andrew Humphreys division of the V Corps was sent in to go after them, again charging the wall. They, too, failed miserably.

Goolrick (1985) describes the scene that followed Humphrey's initial retreat:

...Humphreys ordered his men not to load their rifles, but to fix bayonets and charge right over the masses of men prostrate on the little incline. Then he galloped his black horse along the lines shouting, "Officers to the front in this charge. Never mind the obstacles in the way! Charge!" And once again he led the way into the storm of artillery and musket fire. The Federals lying wounded on the ground called out to the attackers, "Halt! Lie down--you will all be killed," and some of them even reached up to clutch at the advancing troops to stop them. The brigade became disorganized (p. 86).

Once again the Federals retreated. And despite his firm objections, Hooker was ordered to send General George Getty's IX Corps division in on the left. Going undetected for a while under the twilight, Getty's men soon were barraged with fire and they too had to fall back. With night time soon upon them and with a total disgust for the day's butchery, Hooker called an end to the attack.

Seven times the Federals assaulted Marye's Heights; fourteen brigades in all marching piecemeal toward certain destruction against the Confederate stronghold. Over 7,000 of those who attacked the stonewall did not return. Only 1,200 Confederates fell during the attacks. Overall, the Army of the Potomac suffered 12,535 casualties. By comparison, about 5,000 Southerners fell prey to Union fire. Longstreet summed up the Federal attacks on December 13 by saying, "The charges had been desperate and bloody, but utterly hopeless" (Goolrick, 1985). A New York Infantryman said after the fighting that "we might as well have tried to take Hell" (McPherson, 1992).

That night, Federal units holding their position or pinned down near the enemy line could hear the agonizing screams of the freezing wounded, calling out for everything from water to death. The 20th Maine's Colonel Joshua L. Chamberlain described the experience:

(It was a ) smothered moan that seemed to come from distances beyond reach of natural senses, as if a thousand discords were flowing together in a keynote weird, unearthly, terrible to hear and bear, yet startling with its nearness; some with delirious dreamy voices murmuring loved names, as if the dearest were bending over them; and underneath, all the time, that deep bass note from closed lips too hopeless or too heroic to articulate their agony.

Like many of the men that night, Chamberlain slept between two frozen corpses to shield himself from the bitter December wind and used a third as a pillow (Goolrick, 1985). The screaming of the wounded was so unbearable to one Confederate officer that he ignored warnings from his superiors and tended the wounded on the other side of the wall. He was 19-year-old Sergeant Richard Kirkland.

The next day Burnside seemed as poised as ever to continue the assaults. He was determined, if need be, to lead the attack himself with his old IX Corps. After consulting his top commanders and realizing none of them supported any further savagery, he relented and made plans to withdraw. On the night of the 15th, the entire Army of the Potomac retreated across the Rappahannock undetected by Lee's Confederates. The Battle of Fredericksburg, one of Lee's most decisive and one-sided victories, had come to an end; and with it Burnside's command.

Sources

Goolrick, W.K. (1985). Rebels resurgent: Fredericksburg to Chancellorsville. Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books.

McPherson, J.M. (1988). Battle cry of freedom: The Civil War era. New York: Ballantine Books.

McPherson, J.M. (1992). Ordeal by fire: The Civil War and Reconstuction, (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.