Battle of Fredericksburg

The Battle of Fredericksburg was a major battle in 1862, when General Ambrose Burnside of the Union invaded the Confederacy. His goal was to attack Richmond; however, he was blocked by 75,000 Confederate forces who took up positions at Marye's Heights, outside of the town of Fredericksburg, Virginia. He launched several unsuccessful attacks on the heights, and each time, it cost him more and more bluecoats killed or wounded. In the end, he was relieved from command and Robert E. Lee managed to keep Virginia safe from Union invasion.

Pre-battle Summary


Christmas approaches, yet nothing could be moew festive than the drury weather towards the end of 1862. Displeased with the inactivity of Mc Clellan, Lincoln directs General Burnside to go on the offensive and attack Richmond. Union guns shell Fredericksburg, setting the town on fire. The Union army crosses the river and loots the city. Lee now has 75,000 men on the heights overlooking the burning city. Lee couldn't believe the Union would attack his well-fortified positions, but his misjudges Burnside's recklessness. The order is given: Burnside orders his men to attack Lee's two fronts.

Battle
The squad, led by an old sergeant, was ordered to cross the bridge that led to the enemy artillery under John Pelham. Then, the unit came under heavy fire from the guns, and lost one of its soldiers. Jeremy Burnet and whoever in his squad was left advanced to the enemy positions in front of the Rappahannock River Bridge, and cleared out the area of Confederate soldiers. Soon, Burnet was joined by another squad of Union troops from the Union side of the river. A melee battle on the bridge was horrible, some of the Union and most of the Confederate attackers dying in the hand-to-hand melee. After the short skirmish, Burnet made it to a new officer, who gave him orders to eliminate a Gatling Gun position that was mowing down his division. The officer and most of his men were killed before the position was cleared of enemy troops. Then, Burnet focused on taking out Pelham's cannons. He shot all of the crews of the guns dead, before blowing up a nearby barricade using explosive barrels. When he advanced, he met several Confederate soldiers counterattacking and killed them all.





Soon, he met up with the Union attack on the bluffs, fighting against Confederate soldiers near their cannon emplacements that overlooked the Union lines. Burnet and the soldiers came across a man hurling gunpowder barrels at the Union men from a wagon, and one of the Union soldiers shot him and blew up the wagon. He ordered Burnet to take down the gatling gun near their encampment and rip down the Confederate flag. A massive Union charge took place, and the gatling crew were killed. Then, after killing most of the soldiers in the camp, Burnet took down the Confederate flag and raised the Union one.

Aftermath
Though the battle was near won, Jeb Stuart's brigade saved the day for the Confederacy. Attack after attack, Burnside did not realize his folly. Openly weeping, he implored for another attack but had to withdraw. 13,000 Union soldiers never returned home; they were killed, wounded, or captured and/or missing. After the battle, Burnside was dismissed.

Trivia

 * The game depicts the Union as capturing Marye's Heights, but in real life they never took over the base.

Videos
thumb|500px|right|Walkthrough of the battle.