Fire in the Streets traces the Fredericksburg Campaign from the Rappahannock River, where Union soldiers crossed under Confederate fire, through the streets of the city and onward to the battlefield at Marye’s Heights. Explore the places where artillery turned Fredericksburg into a city under fire, Union soldiers fought their way into town, and repeated attacks against the Confederate defenses came to a devastating end.
The tour is divided into two parts and can be completed together or separately. Follow the route, explore each stop, and discover the stories behind the streets, buildings, and landscapes that witnessed the Battle of Fredericksburg.
Part I: The River Crossing and Street Fighting
Fredericksburg became the epicenter of much of the fighting in Virginia during the Civil War, because of its location at the midpoint between the two opposing capitals. It sat strategically on the main north-south highways and railroads, but it was also nestled along the Rappahannock River, which formed a major obstacle for any Federal advance against Richmond. The Union Army of the Potomac crossed the Rappahannock in 1862, 1863, and 1864, resulting in four major battles in the Fredericksburg area. The fighting tallied over 100,000 casualties, freed tens of thousands of enslaved people, and devastated the landscape.
This walking tour will focus on locations related to the Fredericksburg Campaign in November-December 1862. Driven by a need for victory on the eve of Abraham Lincoln signing the Emancipation Proclamation, the Union Army of the Potomac found itself in a novel struggle with Confederates from General Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia. The walking tour is divided into two parts that can be done together or separately.
Major General Ambrose E. Burnside moved his Union army to Fredericksburg, arriving on the heights overlooking the town on November 17, 1862. The Union commander had ordered pontoon bridges to be waiting for him here so he could cross the Rappahannock River without slowing down. Unfortunately for Burnside, the bridges were delayed for 10 days, giving General Robert E. Lee ample time to concentrate his forces around Fredericksburg and block the road to Richmond.
As you leave the Fredericksburg Visitor Center (601 Caroline Street) turn right and walk along Caroline Street. Many of the buildings around you date back to the Civil War. Turn right on Amelia Street and walk one block to Sophia Street. Turn left on Sophia Street and walk 3 blocks to Hawke Street. Stop at the historical markers facing the river.
Across the river you can see Chatham—the big house on the hilltop. It served as both a Union headquarters and a hospital during the Battle of Fredericksburg. On December 11, Union engineers attempted to construct pontoon bridges here. Confederate pickets—or guards—heard them preparing their bridges and alerted Robert E. Lee. Two signal cannons fired at 5:00 a.m., calling the Confederate army to concentrate at Fredericksburg.
Confederates from Brigadier General William Barksdale’s Mississippi brigade occupied the houses and outbuildings overlooking the river crossing. They could hear engineers building bridges in the early morning fog but could not see them until their bridges were half completed. Confederates immediately opened fire. Workmen crumbled to the deck. Others retreated to find cover on the far bank of the river.
Union cannons attempted to drive out Barksdale’s Confederates. Over 170 cannons bombarded the town, sending a storm of bursting shells through the town. A Confederate officer watched a, “line of angry blazing guns firing through white clouds of smoke and almost shaking the earth with their roar.” The countless exploding shells reminded an onlooker of a, “swarm of fire-flies.” Several buildings collapsed and others went up in flames, casting a “great black canopy” over the town.
Confederates hid among the rubble, biding their time until the engineers returned to the bridges. Then Barksdale’s Mississippians resumed firing until the engineers retreated and the cannons renewed their bombardment. This cycle went on for hours. In a desperate act, Union soldiers from the 7th Michigan Infantry piled into pontoon boats and started across the river, determined to drive the Confederates away from the bridge site. Barksdale’s marksmen fired at the attackers, but the embankment in front of you prevented the Confederates from seeing the second half of the river. The Federals successfully landed and advanced to clear the riverfront houses. This was arguably the first riverine assault under fire in American history—and the first beachhead established under fire by Americans. The rules of warfare were changing.
A soldier in the 17th Mississippi recalled the bombardment and the river crossing. “There were six men in the basement of [a] two-story house, and any one of them now living will testify to the fact that the house was torn to pieces, the chimney falling down in the basement among us…A few moments after the batteries opened, several regiments of Union infantry came yelling down the hill toward the river, laying hold of the boats and coming over toward where we were stationed. As they came up the bank we tried to get out at the end of the house.”
The 7th Michigan drove the Confederates from the 17th Mississippi out of the houses, allowing engineers to complete their bridges. The 19th and 20th Massachusetts ferried their men across the river before the bridges were done. The Michigan and 19th Massachusetts then ventured deeper into the town to expand their bridgehead. Federals moved through the backyards on either side of Hawke Street. The 7th Michigan were pinned down in a blind alley on the left of Hawke Street. The 19th Massachusetts quickly backed up when Barksdale launched a surprise counterattack down the street. A watching Union soldier said, “The 7th Michigan were deployed on the left and a short distance up the street at the foot of which we landed, and the 19th on the right, both holding houses, fences, etc., and exchanging shots with the Rebels who wee a little farther back.”
Follow the path of this Union advance up Hawke Street to Caroline Street.
The Federal commander threw the 20th Massachusetts into the fight. With no time to deploy, the Union regiment charged in column down the middle of Hawke Street. They paused briefly when they spotted the 7th Michigan trapped in the blind alley about halfway down the block. When the Michigan regiment did not advance, the 20th Massachusetts pushed ahead without them. They entered the intersection of Hawke Street and Caroline Street—and walked into a firestorm. The regiment lost 97 officers and men in just 50 yards around this intersection.
Back at the river, the Union bridge-builders quickly completed work on the bridges. Burnside pushed forward addition fighting men to protect the bridgehead. As darkness fell, Confederates focused on the 20th Massachusetts, which allowed the 19th Massachusetts to infiltrate a row of buildings on the east side of Caroline Street and open a point-blank firefight with the Confederates positioned in buildings across the street.
Turn left on Caroline Street and proceed two blocks to the interpretive sign in front of the Central Rappahannock Regional Library. After reading it, continue down Caroline Street to Lewis Street and turn right. Proceed up Lewis Street to Princess Anne Street.
As the last detachment of the Mississippi brigade fell back, its commander learned the advancing Federals were being led by a former classmate from Harvard Law School. Mortified at the prospect of retreating from a onetime comrade, the Mississippi officer subsequently halted his men to make a stand, jeopardizing the Confederate plan to relinquish the town. He eventually had to be placed under arrest and another officer detailed to bring out the command.
Turn left onto Princess Anne Street. Proceed down Princess Anne Street to the old Market House which now houses the Fredericksburg Area Museum.
As the Confederates started to withdrawal from the town, part of their rearguard sparked a new firefight. Part of the Mississippi rearguard, under Lieutenant Lane Brandon, traded shots with a small band of Federals under Captain Henry L. Abbott. Brandon and Abbott had been inseparable friends at Harvard and according to one Confederate, Brandon “lost his head completely.” He ordered an attack, jeopardizing the Confederate retreat. Brandon’s superior had to arrest the lieutenant and have another officer withdraw his men.
Barksdale stationed his reserves here at the Market House and in the adjoining Market Square. From this location, he dispatched reinforcements to the town wharf area where his troops were opposing a second Union river crossing. As Union troops fought their way into town from both bridges, most of Barksdale brigade reassembled in the vicinity of the Market House before abandoning the town. The Market House also served as General Barksdale’s headquarters and the general was nearly killed when a Federal shell dislodged part of the slate roof, which gashed the general’s head.
Proceed down Princess Anne Street to George Street.
On December 12, Union troops poured across the pontoon bridges into a town where many buildings were still smoldering from the previous day’s bombardment. A newspaper correspondent described the wreckage: “In some cases the whole side of a house has been shot away, roofs and chimneys have tumbled in, window frames smashed to atoms and doors jarred from the hinges.” Some Northern units deployed near the edge of town where they skirmished with Southern pickets. The rest of the Union striking force massed in the town to await a renewal of serious fighting.
In addition to the damage wreaked by combat action, the town suffered from a more deliberate destruction. Looting had begun the night before as infuriated soldiers who had fought through these streets plundered the homes and businesses of Fredericksburg. They were joined the next day by increasing numbers of troops who regarded the town as a prize of war. One soldier recalled: “Furniture of all sorts is strewn along the streets…Every nameable household utensil or article of furniture, stoves, crockery and glass-ware, pots, kettles and tins, are scattered, and smashed and thrown everywhere, indoors and out, as if there had fallen a shower of then in the midst of a mighty whirlwind.”
The war deeply impacted the once quiet town. Endless columns of infantry and cavalry, accompanied by artillery and supply wagons, churned the streets into mud. Stacked muskets sprang up everywhere as the troops settled in to wait for the next day’s assaults. Looting continued unabated, the chaos punctuated by an occasional shell whistling overhead, fired from the Confederate batteries emplaced on the heights beyond.
If you wish to continue your tour through the events of December 13, 1862, you may proceed from this point with Part II. If you wish to return to the Visitor Center, proceed down George Street to Caroline Street and turn right to 601 Caroline Street.
Part II: The Assault on Marye’s Heights
Remain standing at the point where you finished Part 1, or, if you are starting at the Visitor Center on Caroline Street, turn right and proceed down Caroline Street to George Street. Turn left on George Street and proceed to Princess Anne Street. On the morning of December 13th, Northern troops deployed in line of battle along these narrow streets. At approximately 10 a.m., they heard the crash of artillery as Union and Confederate forces engaged south of town. Union forces were preempted by a Confederate attack when Maj. John Pelham’s cannon opened fire on the Federal lines forming to attack. Couriers soon galloped up with orders for the troops waiting in town to advance and the Union assault columns pushed forward. Federal commanders in town had their attack orders before 11 a.m.—they attacked at 11 a.m.
Cross Princess Anne Street and turn left. Note the Courthouse to your left. Its cupola served as a Union signal station and observation post. Cross Hanover Street and turn right.
There are lots of accounts of Union troops stating they exited town on Hanover Street, but they really meant George Street. One soldier noted that the Hanover Street he marched out had a big bend in the road. Another identified Hanover Street as the street with all the churches—plural—on it. Technically, when the troops leave the city—George Street runs into Hanover—so they did exit the town on Hanover—they just didn’t march through town on Hanover Street.
Once you cross Prince Edward Street, you will see a large frame house, “Federal Hill,” on the left that sits at an angle to the street.
Federal commanders saw the Confederate artillery commanded all of the exits out of town, so they chose to march their troops out George Street. Because of the bend in the road, Confederate cannon could not fire down the length of the street. The town also extended for a couple of blocks closer to the Confederate lines with a well-appointed suburb called Liberty Town and Sandy Bottom. The park you passed on the right, Hurkamp Park was the town’s Corporation Burying Ground in 1862. Union artillery set up inside the cemetery and tried to offer cover fire for the Federal infantry forming on this hilltop. Here is where Union soldiers caught their first glimpse of the killing field leading to the Confederate stone wall and Marye’s Heights.
Continue down George Street to Kenmore Avenue, which in 1862 was not a street but a millrace or canal ditch with three feet of water in the bottom of it. There were only 3 bridges across the millrace at the time of the battle. Advancing troops crammed toward the bridge here, only to discover the Confederates had removed the floorboards. Soldiers bottlenecked as they tip-toed across the exposed bridge stringers, while others had to wade through the water. Confederate artillery played havoc with the troops bunched up by this bridge. One Union soldier called this low ground: “The Valley of Death.”
Cross Kenmore Avenue and pause by the embankment to your left.
The first Union division to cross the canal ditch immediately deployed on the rising ground, somewhat protected from artillery and musketry fire by the slope. Federal troops fixed bayonets (spear-like weapons attached to the end of their rifles) and charged up the slope to attack the Confederates waiting for them several hundred yards away. Crossing the summit in front of you, the Federal met a murderous fire which would only get worse as they pushed ahead.
Follow the Union Army up Hanover Street to Littlepage Street.
The large brick house in the middle of the block with the porches overlooking the street (801 Hanover Street) was here at the time of the battle and known as the Rowe house. Union surgeons may have used the house to treat wounded soldiers. Late in the day, Federal artillery briefly set up opposite the Rowe house. At the time of the war there was a cluster of homes and businesses centered around the intersection of Hanover and Littlepage Streets. One Union officer called it a “a little hamlet whose straggling buildings gave some protection.” When the Federals passed Sarah Sisson’s store at the intersection, Confederate artillery could no longer depressed their cannon tubes to hit the attackers—but that was exactly where Confederate infantry in a sunken road at the base of heights opened fire. The Union soldiers did not stand a chance and their attacks quickly fell apart. Soldiers took cover around Sisson’s store and along a small depression—or swale—that ran parallel to Littlepage Street.
A Union officer watched this and subsequent attacks from the vantage point of the courthouse cupola. He reported: “I had never before seen fighting like that…There was no cheering on the part of the men, but a stubborn determination…I don’t think there was much feeling of success. As they charged, the artillery fire would break their formation and they would get mixed; then they would close up, go forward, receive the withering infantry fire and those who were able would run to the houses and fight as best they could; and then the next brigade coming up in succession would do its duty and melt like snow coming down on warm ground.”
Cross Littlepage Street and turn left. As you cross Kirkland Street, look to your right and glimpse the Confederate infantry position at the end of the street, bordered by stone walls along Sunken Road.
Successive waves of Union soldiers attacked into the teeth of concentrated Confederate musket and artillery fire. As you walk along Littlepage Street, note the alleyway on the left, half way down the block. The ground drops off in the alley, revealing the slope of the swale where the Union troops took cover when their attacks had failed. Many of the Union soldiers could not go forward and they could not retreat. They were stuck in that swale for the rest of the day. With each passing attack, more and more Union soldiers joined the survivors in the swale.][I’d drop the Hazard’s artillery here. Hazard’s and Frank’s artillery both set up opposite the Rowe House and never made it this far.]
Proceed along Littlepage Street to Mercer Street. Pause beside the brick Allen Stratton House (700 Littlepage Street). This house stood at the entrance to Fredericksburg’s agricultural fairgrounds, a 10-acre lot called Mercer Square. Because of the fairgrounds, Stratton’s house was surrounded by open ground, making it easy for Confederates to see the Union attackers. The Federals launched wave after wave of attackers against the Marye’s Heights and the Stone Wall. Soldiers not only sought shelter in the swale, but also gathered around Stratton’s brick house. A Union officer in this vicinity observed: “The smoke lay so thick that we could not see the enemy, and I think they could not see us, but we were aware of the fact that somebody in our front was doing a great deal of shooting. I found the brick (Stratton) house packed with men; and behind it the dead and the living were as thick as they could be crowded together. The dead were rolled out for shelter, and the dead horses were used for breastworks. The plain thereabouts was dotted with our fallen.”
Turn right onto Mercer Street and follow it towards the Confederate lines until you reach Willis Street.
From here you can readily see the strength of Lee’s defenses. Infantry in the sunken road in front of you laid down a continuous hail of lead while artillery on the heights behind them raked the field with a devastating fire. Union troops took advantage of a board fence and orchard behind Allen Stratton’s house to get closer to the Confederate lines here. Their attacks fell apart just 50 yards from the Stone Wall at the end of the street.
Turn left on Willis Street and follow it to Lafayette Boulevard.
Most Union soldiers probably never made it this far, but quite a few did. Not one of them ever reached the Confederate line.
Turn right on Lafayette Boulevard. In the gathering twilight, elements of the Union Ninth and Fifth Corps advanced over the broken fields to your left and rear against that section of Marye’s Heights directly in front of you.
For many years to come, Union veterans would argue over who got closest to the Confederate Stone Wall.
Continue up Lafayette Boulevard to the National Park Service Battlefield Visitor Center. Gain a fuller understanding of the events of December 1862 by availing yourself of the excellent exhibits and literature there. Follow the National Park Service trail along the Sunken Road to the Richard R. Kirkland Monument. This brochure will resume its directions to guide you back to the City Visitor Center when you reach the Kirkland Monument,
Only darkness ended the fighting in front of the Stone Wall. Union soldiers continued to lie in the churned-up mud in the swale by Littlepage Street. When the sun went down, temperatures dropped, which added to the soldiers’ suffering. The sounds of battle were replaced with the cries of the wounded, begging for help. Federal soldiers attempted to save some of the wounded trapped between the lines. Many perished before help could find them. Soldiers on both sides hated the night, but they dreaded the coming day even more. ][Confederates didn’t strip Union dead until after the Federal army retreated—and they were promptly ordered to ditch the Federal uniforms.][It was unseasonably warm during the Fredericksburg Campaign—temperatures in the high 50s during the day and high 30s to low 40s at night. It never reached freezing, but because of the thawed ground there was lots of wet mud that saturated uniforms—and in cooler temperatures, it felt much colder. Old veterans frequently remembered the discomfort on the December battlefield—and later, their memories manifestly recalled they had fought in snow!]
Proceed down Kirkland Street to Littlepage Street. The relieving troops took up their position in the depression parallel to Littlepage Street.
At daybreak on December 14, Confederates opened fire all along the Sunken Road. Federal soldiers clung to the swale, moving as little as possible so they did not expose themselves. Both sides spent the day sniping at anyone who moved. Darkness eventually returned, relieving some of the intensity of the standoff between soldiers North and South. The night also amazed the soldiers with an amazing light show: the Aurora borealis or “Northern Lights.” It was rarely seen this far south, but soldiers wrote about the phenomenon with awe. Another day passed after that without renewing the battle, and under cover of darkness on December 15, Ambrose E. Burnside’s Union army abandoned the field and retreated. Everywhere Federals saw the unmistakable signs of defeat. A soldier from Maine noted, “We had to pick our way over a field strewn with incongruous ruin; men torn and broken and cut to pieces in very indescribable way, cannon dismounted, gun carriages smashed or overturned, ammunition chests flung wildly about, horses dead and half dead still held in harness, accouterments of every sort scattered as by whirlwinds.”
Follow the retreating troops back down Hanover Street. After you cross Kenmore Avenue, bear to the left and follow George Street back to Princess Anne Street.
Everywhere Federal troops hurried to evacuate the town of Fredericksburg and withdraw across the Rappahannock River before the Confederates knew what was happening. Much of the town had been converted into improvised hospitals for the wounded and soldiers mixed with ambulances, all of them heading back to the pontoon bridges. A Union officer wrote: “We marched past the court-house, -past churches, schools, bank-buildings, private houses, -all lighted for hospital purposes, and all in use, though a part of the wounded had been transferred across the river. Even the door-yards had their litter-beds, and were well filled with wounded men, and the dead were laid in rows for burial. The hospital lights and camp-fires in the streets, and the smoldering ruins of burned buildings, with the mixture of the lawless rioting of the demoralized stragglers, and the suffering and death in the hospitals, gave the sacked and gutted town the look of pandemonium.” During the night of December 15-16, under cover of a heavy rain, the Army of the Potomac withdrew across the Rappahannock River. The Battle of Fredericksburg was over. Robert E. Lee had won his most one-sided military victory, but it could not prevent Abraham Lincoln from signing the Emancipation Proclamation just two weeks later on New Years Day. The war would go on for another two years, much of it fought in the Fredericksburg area.
Follow George Street downhill to Caroline Street and turn right. Proceed 601 Caroline your starting point at the Visitor Center.