145 years ago, Confederate soldiers were watching across a cold and frosty Rappahannock as Federal troops nervously prepared for their early morning task — fastening pontoon bridges across the freezing river for an assault on Fredericksburg City and the heights beyond.
General Burnside writes to General Halleck the day before:
“I think now the enemy will be more surprised by a crossing immediately in our front than any other part of the river. … I’m convinced that a large force of the enemy is now concentrated at Port Royal, its left resting on Fredericksburg, which we hope to turn.”
Lee’s left was resting on Marye Heights. General Stonewall Jackson, as it turned out, waited for the brunt of the Federal assault slightly to the south of Fredericksburg…
This might be a good week to go visit Fredericksburg, if anything but just to take in the scenery and imagine as it was. After all, quite a bit that defines who we are today as a nation happened in Fredericksburg City and Spotsylvania County.