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On November 9, 1862, Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac,and on November 15 he began moving Union forces southward toward Richmond. Burnside was under immense pressure from Washington to assume the offensive again and to force Lee to defend Richmond. The most direct approach to Richmond was to move due south and through Fredericksburg, Virginia, so that city became his ¤rst objective . As Burnside moved troops out of Warrenton toward the city, Robert E. Lee responded by putting his army into motion from Culpeper to Fredericksburg . Once there,Lee positioned the Army of Northern Virginia along Marye’s Heights above the town. Burnside and the Army of the Potomac took up positions at Falmouth across the Rappahannock River. The river created a formidable barrier for Burnside in his attempt to take the city. Although he planned to use pontoon bridges to cross the river, the needed pontoon delivery was delayed for weeks, and he was thus late in beginning his attack. As William Cowan McClellan observed,the Union bombardment of Fredericksburg started at midmorning on December 11, 1862, with the hope of knocking out the Confederate sharpshooters attached to Brig.Gen.William Barksdale’s command in the town. Barksdale’s Mississippians, acting as skirmishers , had delayed the construction of the pontoon bridges across the river by nearly eight hours. The construction under ¤re continued as the Confederates were slowly pushed from the vicinity of the river. Burnside launched wave after wave of almost suicidal attacks against the Confederate position. The main Confederate line along Marye’s Heights held, and Burnside broke off the attack with heavy casualties.The Northern press was highly critical of the Union defeat at the Battle of Fredericksburg. While Lee knew that Northern morale was low after the victory, he also realized that he had failed once again to destroy a signi¤cant portion of a 8 The Fredericksburg Campaign December 3, 1862–February 9, 1863 I am now compleatly bare footed. —William Cowan McClellan Federal army and that Burnside was still in motion attempting to cross the Rappahannock River further upstream. The 9th Alabama Regiment was assigned to Richard H. Anderson’s division , which was holding the far left of the Confederate line across the river from Beck’s Island. Cadmus M. Wilcox’s brigade now consisted of all Alabama regiments: 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th, and 14th. The 9th saw little or no action during the Battle of Fredericksburg, and later Wilcox’s brigade went into winter quarters near Scott’s Dam in log buildings with tent roofs.1 As the Battle of Fredericksburg opened, William McClellan was assigned to the position of provost guard at Richard Anderson’s headquarters. While William re®ected on the past year, he was informed that his older brother, John, had been wounded in the Battle of Murfreesboro, Tennessee, and had lost an arm. Throughout the month of January, intermittent skirmishing occurred between Confederate cavalry and Union troops occupying northern Alabama. The Southern newspapers chronicled the Union troop movements into northern Alabama and the depredation that was occurring there. Citizens from northern Alabama petitioned the Confederate government for more protection against the Union troops that were harshly oppressing them, and they noted in their petitions that the area was populated now only by the aged and the in¤rmed.  William Cowan McClellan to Matilda McClellan Fredericksburg,Va, Dec 3rd/1862 Dear Sister, I have just received your very kind letter of the 22nd, I cannot express my thankfulness to you for so many interesting letters it is indeed gratifying to read Them, I have written two or three letters since I have ben at this place informing you of the state of affairs in and around Fredericksburg, we are listening every hour for the signal gun to ¤re when the Southern Army is to meet the invading hords of the north and repell them as usual with great slaughter of the best men of the South. The Yankees are still on the North bank of the Rappahannock threatening to cross everyday. I suppose our Gens. are going to let some of them cross before the ¤ght commences , let them come we will meet them as we always have done December 3, 1862–February 9, 1863 / 195 determined however great their numbers to whip them or die in the attempt, with this determination we can never be whipped. The inhabitants of Fredericksburg are scattered all over the county. night before last 4...

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