Battle Of Fredericksburg Essay

The battle of Fredericksburg began on December 11, 1862, and concluded on December 15, 1862. This became one of the most one side victories throughout the Civil War. The Union Army of the Potomac Commanded by Ambrose Burnside sustained 13,353 casualties. Whereas the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Commanded by Robert E. Lee sustained only 4,576 casualties. Throughout this paper it will be shown how the use of artillery can have such an effect on a battle, and how those same tactics are utilized on today’s battlefield. Throughout this nation’s history artillery has played an invaluable role in war. This role, at times, being the deciding factor for victory in battle depending on how it is employed. The employment of artillery varies

One way that they did utilize the use of their artillery well was with the use of preparatory fires prior to assault of Fredericksburg on December 11, 1862. Though they had little effects on Confederate forces the use of preparatory fires on an objective is still a tactic that the Army uses today. During the battle though, due to poor emplacement of their pieces, the Union’s artillery was hardly able to engage the Confederacy’s positions beyond the town of Fredericksburg. According to Dastrup, Boyd (1992), “Only seven of the nineteen batteries that accompanied Sumner were used at all” (p. 102). This resulted in the Union’s inability to properly employ counter battery fires allowing the Confederates artillery to repeatedly halt Union infantry advances. After the battle it was discussed that another thing the Union failed on was lack of having chiefs of artillery with authority. The chiefs of artillery that they had were captains, and only had that authority to maneuver their own batteries. According to Dastrup, Boyd (1992), “Hunt pointed out that he could have shifted the idle guns and howitzers from Sumner to Franklin if he had held the proper authority” (p. 102). The Union’s artillery during the battle was not utilized to its full

Given the time that the Confederates had to prepare for their upcoming battle they took full advantage of what they could. First, they positioned their pieces on high ground for over watch of the city. This optimal location allowed them to fully engage the Union’s assaulting forces successfully halting wave after wave. Furthermore, not only was the location of the Confederate’s gun emplacement favorable. Prior to the start of the battle they had all their guns dug in. These dug in positions greatly contributed to the survivability of their batteries from Union counter artillery fire. At the beginning of the battle the Confederates had positioned a single piece in front of their lines to delay the first Union assault. This greatly contributed to the Confederates time to prepare for it successfully delayed the Union assault. Another tactic that was utilized was that during the battle the Confederates had their artillery pulling interlocking sectors of fire. Although positioning pieces in front of our lines isn’t something that is often done and artillery no longer requires direct interlocking sectors of fire the use of delaying fires and keeping multiple batteries within range of an engagement area are tactics stilled used