Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg

Richard J. LeFevre (1931 - 2000)

1991

watercolor and mixed media on paper

In the wake of the Battle of Antietam and General George McClellan’s unwillingness to move his army in pursuit of the retreating Confederates, President Abraham Lincoln removed McClellan from his position as commander of the Army of the Potomac and installed General Ambrose E. Burnside in his stead. Burnside’s plan was to seize the Confederacy’s capital city of Richmond by feigning an attack on Gordonsville, Virginia. Instead he planned to move his troops across the Rappahannock River into Fredericksburg and send his troops into Richmond via the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad. The Battle of Fredericksburg took place in and around that city from December 11 through 15, 1862. Not fooled by Burnside’s subterfuge, General Robert E. Lee (pictured center) arrayed his army—supported by the forces of Lieutenant Generals Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and James Longstreet—in strategically key defensive positions as Burnside’s forces advanced. Longstreet’s men were notably well protected on a hill known as Marye’s Heights. Standing behind a four-foot stone wall enhanced with log breastworks, the Confederates repulsed wave after wave of federal attacks, causing great loss of life. Watching from what became known as Lee’s Hill, the Southern general observed the following about the nature of successful warfare.

Bequest of the Artist