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As no such tactic existed, the commanding general wondered aloud if any unit could make such an attack – a “forlorn hope” or sacrificed unit in Napoleonic-era parlance . Colonel Norman J. Hall, 7th Michigan Infantry, volunteered his regiment and brigade. The brigade, badly attrited in earlier battles and camps to less than 1,000 men,…

Major General Ambrose Burnside commanded the Army of the Potomac after November 5, 1862.  He moved his army efficiently to the Rappahannock River only to discover the pontoon bridges had not arrived.  It soon became clear that a river crossing was to be made under the guns of the enemy and a plan was developed…

On December 11, 1862, a pontoon bridge was constructed across the Rappahannock River below the Lacy House.  Called the “Upper Pontoon Crossing”, the entire II and IX Army Corps of Sumner’s Right Grand Division waited in line to cross the bridge under construction. Barksdale’s Confederate Mississippi Brigade, deployed in Fredericksburg, inflicted heavy casualties on the…

The Battle of Fredericksburg (December 11-15, 1862) was fought from Stafford County… The Federal Army of the Potomac’s (AOP) headquarters; command, control and communications; about half the artillery fire support; intelligence networks; logistics and transportation systems; engineering systems; rear area security and civil-military operations; and medical evacuation and hospital infrastructure were all in Stafford. Burnside’s…

Not only were there printed orders for the Army of the Potomac, but there were also handwritten orders from the subordinate corps, divisions, brigades and regiments.

Prior to and after the Army of the Potomac’s November 1862 arrival in Stafford, printed orders from army headquarters circulated continuously preparing men and material for the approaching battle. The 135,000-man army marched to Stafford from Warrenton-Harpers Ferry, assembled and laid down its logistics and transportation infrastructure for the coming fight and planned campaign toward…

Confederate troops from southern states came to Stafford. They remained in Stafford for 12 months, from April 1861 – April 1862. During this occupation, on May 31, 1861, there was the first engagement of the Civil War between the shore batteries of the Confederacy and the U.S. Navy in the Potomac River at Aquia Landing.

As soon as the Confederates left Stafford, the Union forces arrived.  They came three different times: The first Federal Occupation was from April – September 1862 and lasted 5 months The second Federal Occupation was from November 1862 – June 1863 and lasted 7 months The third Federal Occupation was only for a month, from…

The Civil War began April 12, 1861, with the southern, Confederate forces firing upon the Union-held Fort Sumter in South Carolina.  Five days later, Virginia seceded from the Union.   Naturally there were numerous Southern sympathizers in Stafford and many formed into units to defend Virginia.  By the end of the war, around 1,000 Stafford…

On January 25, 1863, Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker assumed command of the Union AOP. On that day 85,000 officers and men of their 135,000 man army were “unaccounted for.” Placed in command of a defeated and demoralized force, they began a complete turnaround in which the men would receive better food and medical care and…

The Army of the Potomac’s “Valley Forge” took place between January 25 and April 27, 1863. Fighting off demoralization, sickness and disease, and privation, the army’s soldiers and animals persevered through the cruel and fickle weather. No known historian suggests this was not the army’s low point in morale and effectiveness for the entire war…

Seemingly impossibly, the AOP’s situation worsened after the battle of Fredericksburg. Burnside’s planned movement upriver through Bank’s Ford peninsula, Rappahannock crossing, and flanking attack was overwhelmingly overpowered by surface warming and heavy winds and rain. The 135,000 man-60,000 horse/mule-6,000 wagon-1,000 ambulance-414 artillery piece-army literally carved its way into the clay-loam soil and the rains turned…