Battle of Fredericksburg December 13, 1862

[fallendown]

Today marks the 154th anniversary of the Battle of Fredericksburg, an entirely lopsided battle that cost the Union over 12,000 men while the Confederates lost only 4,200. This battle, along with the nearby Battles of Chancellorsville, Salem Church, Wilderness, Brandy Station, and Spotsylvania Courthouse, all hold a special significance to me because I was born and raised here.

I was born in Fredericksburg in a hospital that bears the name of George Washington's mother. My daughter will begin her freshman year of university at a school that also bears the same woman's name. Our city is steeped in history. It was the boyhood home of George Washington at Ferry Farm, where he allegedly chopped down a cherry tree, and threw a coin across the Rappahannock River. It was the home at various times to people like John Paul Jones, the famous naval captain. It was the home of Hugh Mercer, patriot and physician, who was killed at Princeton in 1777. It was the home of both George Washington's mother and father, Mary and Augustine, as well as his sister and brother-in-law, Elizabeth "Betty" Washington and Colonel Fielding Lewis. It was once the home of James Madison, the 5th president of the United States.

Fredericksburg had much history before the Union decided to bombard it on December 12th of 1862. The bombardment infuriated Lee, as did the Union takeover of Chatham Manor, where he met his wife. I won't go into much detail about the battle, but I'd like to hear your thoughts about the battle. What were parts that inspired you about the battle? Was it the Union Charges against the sunken road? Barksdale's gallant defense of the town on the 12th? 

My most inspiring moment would have to be Major John Pelham's artillery attack on the federal line on the far right flank of the confederate line on the 13th. Pelham, at 24 years of age,  commanded J.E.B Stuart's horse artillery. Pelham, without permission, moved two rifled gun's along with a squadron of cavalry far in advance of the Confederate lines. Due to his constant repositioning of his gun section, he held up the entire left flank of the Union Army for hours, forcing the union to divert artillery and men to attack his position. Finally with one gun down, mounting casualties, and repeated pleas from Stuart to withdraw, he finally returned to his own lines. Lee would call him "the gallant Pelham". At Nicodemus Hill at Antietam just 4 months before Fredericksburg, Stonewall Jackson would say "It is really extraordinary to find such nerve and genius in a mere boy. With a Pelham on each flank I believe I could whip the world." On March 17th, prior to the Chancellorsville campaign,  he would accompany J.E.B Stuart to witness Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry defending Kelly's Ford from federal cavalry, and while standing in his stirrups guiding Lee's cavalrymen through an opening in a fence he was struck in the head by a small shell fragment, fell and never regained consciousness. He died the following morning in Culpeper. J.E.B Stuart would make the following announcement:

 

"The major-general commanding approaches with reluctance the painful duty of announcing to the division its irreparable loss in the death of Major John Pelham, commanding the Horse Artillery. He fell mortally wounded in the battle of Kellysville, March 17th, with the battle-cry on his lips, and the light of victory beaming from his eye... His eye had glanced on every battlefield of this army from the First Manassas to the moment of his death, and he was, with a single exception, a brilliant actor in them all. The memory of "the gallant Pelham," his many manly virtues, his noble nature and purity of character, are enshrined as a sacred legacy in the hearts of all who knew him. His record has been bright and spotless, his career brilliant and successful."

— J.E.B. Stuart, General Orders #9, March 20, 1863, Official Records

Edited December 13, 2016 by fallendown