The Vortex of the Civil War

Wow!  Over a period of 18 months, within a radius of 17 square miles, (how do you do a radius squared?) there were four MAJOR battles fought in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia resulting in over 100,000 deaths.  The immense amount of fighting here is why this area has become known as the "vortex of the Civil War."

Robert E. Lee famously said, "It is well that war is so terrible -- lest we should grow too fond of it." 
Amen and amen!

A vortex is something that tends to suck things to the center of the circle.  Because of Fredericksburg's location halfway between the capital of the Union and the capital of the Confederacy, Fredericksburg repeatedly drew war to itself.  When all was said and done, it took the people and city over 100 years to recover from the devastation - and they were guilty of simple geography.

On December 11, 1862 it started.  The Union Army of the Potomac under General Burnside accomplished a pontoon bridge crossing of the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg.  It would have been a military coup except for the fact that the pontoon boats that they were going to use to create the bridge were two weeks late, allowing Lee's Confederates time to reinforce.  As the Union engineers attempted to build the bridge, Mississippi sharp-shooters began to pick off the troops.  Burnside finally decided that they needed to send a few troops over by boat to clear out the sharp-shooters so the engineers could complete the bridge.  This would result in the establishment of the first beachead under fire in American history.  By the end of the day, they had managed to cross and take the city, but at a terrible loss of men.

December 13th, Burnside's plan was to continue his diversion in Fredericksburg in order to allow the other end of his battle plan under "Stonewall" Jackson a better chance of success - in essence, sacrificing those fighting in Fredericksburg.  He had no idea what the magnitude of that sacrifice would be.  By the end of the day, after the Union forces attempted FORTEEN different assaults by eighteen brigades on what was to become known as the Sunken Road and Marye's Heights, 17,000 Union and 5,000 Confederate soldiers would lay dead or dying.  Some "diversion."  That's over 1,000 men an hour.

Union troops were attempting to move the Confederates completely out of Fredericksburg.  The Confederates took positions here on the left of the Sunken Road as John so ably demonstrates:

For 900 hundred yards in front of John, the length of nine football fields, there are open fields - no buildings, no trees, nothing.  The Union soldiers are told to approach the Sunken Road in three waves in hopes each successive wave would reach closer and closer to the Confederates and ultimately be able to breach their line.  Marching shoulder to shoulder, the men attempted this plan FOURTEEN separate times throughout the day, and the very best they were able to do was reach within 50 yards of the wall.  (What's that old addage?  Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results is the definition of insanity?  THIS was insanity!  Oh, no.  It was a diversion.)

Do you know what's even crazier than that?  A whole lot of the Confederates that were killed were killed by friendly fire!  That's right, the Rebs up the hill behind John were shooting down in the direction of Union troops but ended up shooting their own.  Three times the men in the Sunken Road sent messengers up the hill to Marye's Heights telling them to adjust their fire, and ultimately to stop firing altogether, but it never did much good.

Are these things the definition of "fog of war"...

Check out all of the white bullet chinks on Brompton, the home at the top of Marye's Heights:

And the bullet holes still visible on the INTERIOR of the Innis house down on the Sunken Road:

Sorry for the quality of this photo; it was taken through a dusty window with the glare of the setting sun behind me reflecting on the glass.  It was a pretty little house:

But there are bullet holes in the siding around the doorway and other places on this side - from the Confederates up on the Heights.  The Union army was approaching from the OTHER side of the house.

The location of this house on the Sunken Road is easily seen on the very first of this series of pictures.

On December 15th, Burnside, because of the loss of so many troops, began to pull his troops back across the Rappahannock.  All of the blood, sweat, tears, death and destruction for NOTHING.  No ground gained.  No closer to the end of the war.  Tell me again why mankind does this ?