Currier & Ives Battle of Fredericksburg, Va. Dec. 13th 1862
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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC02881.35 Author/Creator: Currier & Ives Place Written: New York, New York Type: Print Date: 1862 Pagination: 1 lithograph : col. ; 30.6 x 40.6 cm. Order a Copy
Hand colored lithograph published by Currier & Ives at 152 Nassau Street, New York. Caption under title says: "This battle shows what undaunted courage, the Lion-hearted Army of the Potomac always meets its foes. After forcing the passage of the Rappahannock on the 11th in the face of a murderous fire from concealed Rebels, and taking possession of Fredericksburg on the 12th, on the morning of the 13th the Army rushed with desperate valor on the intrenchments of the enemy, and thousands of its dead and dying, tell of the fearful strife which raged till night put an end to the carnage. Though driven back by an intrenched and hidden foe, the Soldiers of the North are still as ready to meet the Traitors of the South, as in their days of proudest victory." Depicts rows of Union troops marching up Marye's Heights. Depicts dead and wounded soldiers in the foreground. A few dabs of blood can be found throughout. Slight tear at the bottom that has been repaired with tape on verso. Print is mounted.
On November 14, General Ambrose Burnside, now in command of the Army of the Potomac, sent a corps to occupy the vicinity of Falmouth near Fredericksburg. The rest of the army soon followed. Lee reacted by entrenching his army on the heights behind the town. On December 11, Union engineers laid five pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock under fire. On the 12th, the Federal army crossed over, and on December 13, Burnside mounted a series of futile frontal assaults on Prospect Hill and Marye’s Heights that resulted in staggering casualties. Meade’s division, on the Union left flank, briefly penetrated Jackson’s line but was driven back by a counterattack. Union generals C. Feger Jackson and George Bayard, and Confederate generals Thomas R.R. Cobb and Maxey Gregg were killed. On December 15, Burnside called off the offensive and recrossed the river, ending the campaign. Burnside initiated a new offensive in January 1863, which quickly bogged down in the winter mud. The abortive "Mud March" and other failures led to Burnside’s replacement by Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker in January 1863.
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