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| Stone Wall at Marye's Heights |
"Night steeped the battlefield in darkness and cast an eerie pall over the combatants. Only an occasional shot, the shrieks of the wounded, and the creaking of ambulances carting the maimed to hospitals broke the stillness.
A member of the Philadelphia Brigade recalled that 'the wounded lay everywhere about us, and to assist the stretcher-bearers in finding them quickly, these poor fellows were told by their comrades to groan continually until they were found.' '
O'Reilly, Francis AugustÃn. The Fredericksburg Campaign
We blogged about the Battle of Fredericksburg here. This blog is about its aftermath.
Darkness
"It was a dark and cheerless night. Joshua Chamberlain remembered that he spent the night curled up with cadavers, pulling their capes over his head for warmth....'There was a singular conflict in our breasts,' recalled a Union private. 'We wished the hours away and yet dreaded to have the darkness disappear.'"
Divisions
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| Gen Ambrose Burnside |
Meanwhile, across the river, Burnside convened a council of war to decide what to do next. The grand division commanders gathered at the Phillips house. Their gloomy reports depressed Burnside, who struggled to stay awake. A witness thought the army commander appeared 'dead with sleep' and showed 'evidence of great nervous exhaustion.' Burnside ended the discussion after an hour when he announced that he personally would lead the Ninth Corps in an assault on Marye’s Heights in the morning."
The Fredericksburg Campaign
Politics
A sloppy 'chain of command' was the immediate reason our second great grandfather* , Joseph S Merrick, fought hand-to-hand with Rebels on that day. (blog post here). But the broader was politics.
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| (click to enlarge) |
"President Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation in the midst of the Civil War, announcing on September 22, 1862, that if the rebels did not end the fighting and rejoin the Union by January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states would be free." - American Originals ArchivesLincoln needed a decisive Union victory before January to convince Southerner's the threat of 'free slaves' was real. That's why he replaced General McClellan with Burnside in November. General Burnside had produced his Fredericksburg Campaign plan to Lincoln than. When the pontoon bridges were delayed, and the troops couldn't cross...
"'I deem it my duty,' Burnside informed the War Department, 'to say that I cannot make the promise of probable success with the faith that I did.' The Washington government, however, insisted that Burnside must continue the winter campaign. The general-in-chief allegedly prodded Burnside to 'fight a battle now, even if he is to lose it.'.
Postponement
When Burnside decided to lead another attack, he ...
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| Gen Edwin V Sumner |
"...had superseded his subordinates, both Sumner and Hooker. The Center Grand Division commander protested vehemently. One officer reported that Hooker’s 'whole appearance and manner of talking indicated disapproval and almost insubordination.' The other generals also objected, but Burnside refused to change his mind. ...
The general arrived (the next morning ed.) at the Phillips house fifteen minutes late for his own attack. He appeared uncertain of his plans. ...Sumner took the opportunity to quietly suggest to Burnside that he needed to talk to his subordinates. 'General, I hope you will desist from this attack,' the elder whispered. 'I do not know of any general officer who approves of it, and I think it will prove disastrous to the army.' Burnside heeded his confidant’s suggestion. ...He postponed the attack and summoned a council of war."
The Union was in charge of the city of Fredericksburg on the northern end of the battle. The Merricks - on the other end - were not so fortunate.
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| Gen William B Franklin |
"All of the grand division and corps commanders attended the council of war except Franklin’s generals, who dared not leave their front for even a brief time. No one at the meeting supported Burnside’s preference for another assault. Officers voted unanimously to remain on the defensive, and Burnside yielded “with expressions of greatest reluctance.” - The Fredericksburg Campaign
The Merrick boys spent their holidays in their tents on a snowy Virginia riverbank while the Generals planned for their next adventure.
Plan
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| Pontoon Bridges 1862 |
"The day after Christmas, (General Burnside) began making preparations for a new offensive. This would involve feints at the fords upstream of Fredericksburg to distract the Confederates while he took the bulk of the Army across the Rappahannock River seven miles south of town.
Finally, he planned for a cavalry operation on a grand scale, something that had never been done so far in the Eastern Theater...It was an imaginative and inspired plan, but once again doomed to failure."
Read more: WikiwandMud March
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| Mud March Jan 20, 1863 |
"The movement commenced on the morning of January 20, 1863. That night it began to pour. High winds whipped through the army’s columns and camps, rendering it impossible to set a fire or erect a tent, while the heavy rains continued to fall. ...the rain did not stop.The Merrick boys got new commanders. General Hooker replaced Burnside.
The mud swallowed wagons and cannon as soldiers struggled to make their way through the quagmire. As Dodge observed, 'The horses sank into mud up to their bellies, and it is said down near the river you sometimes have to put sticks under the mules’ necks to prevent their being engulfed in the very slough of despond.'
Burnside called off the movement on January 22, but it took his men several more days to make their way back to their previous encampments.” The Fredericksburg Campaign
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| Battle of Chancellorsville |
"The Battle of Chancellorsville, fought from April 30 to May 6, 1863, is widely considered to be Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee’s greatest victory during the American Civil War. Facing an enemy force nearly twice the size of his own, Lee daringly split his troops in two, confronting and surprising Union Gen. Joseph Hooker. " - HISTORY.comGeneral Reynolds - the breakdown in the 'chain of command' for reinforcements at the Slaughter Pen - replaced General Franklin under Hooker and was 'missing-in-action' at Chancellorsville as well. This time it worked out for our ancestors. The 136th Pennsylvania Infantry mustered out of service on May 29, 1863. They would all serve again.
The Mud March and Fighting Joe Hooker
Joseph S Merrick: The Fredericksburg Campaign - Winter of 1862
Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc. - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.
Original Military Records (hosted large zoomable files)
Velorous C Merrick: Muster Roll US Register of Deaths US Burial Register Pension Index National Internment Card
Elias Merrick: Death Certificate
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