Battle of Fredericksburg: On This Day, 1862

The first Battle of Fredericksburg, fought December 11–15, 1862, has the distinction of being the largest Civil War battle, with a staggering total of 173,000 combatants. On December 11, Union troops came under heavy fire as they built bridges across the Rappahannock River. They crossed into the town of Fredericksburg the next day and clashed with Confederate troops, making this the first urban battle of the war. On December 13, 1862, Union troops led by General Ambrose Burnside faced off against General Robert E. Lee’s Confederate forces at Marye’s Heights on the outskirts of Fredericksburg. After two days of fighting, the battle ended in a Confederate victory. Union forces would return in May 1863, defeating the Confederates and gaining control of the town in the Second Battle of Fredericksburg.

Read "Fredericksburg, Then and Now," to learn how a student who grew up in Fredericksburg learned to appreciate her community’s place in history and, below, take a peek at several Gilder Lehrman Collection photographs and documents from the First and Second Battles of Fredericksburg.