Fredricksburg, VA

Union troops attack Confederates defending a rock wall on Marye’s Heights during a reenactment of the Battle of Fredericksburg. December 2012.

In December 1862 Union forces under Gen. Ambrose Burnside crossed the Rappahannock River and attacked the entrenched Confederate Army dug-in behind a stonewall on Marye’s Heights in the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia. After numerous attacks the Union troops were eventually forced to retire leaving 9,000 casualties on the battlefield.

In 2012 reenactors constructed a replica stonewall near the original site and reenacted this famous assault. Late afternoon light created silhouettes of the soldiers and highlighted the gun smoke as they marched into the battle.

By the end of this scenario hundreds of reenactors in Union blue lay “dead and wounded” all along the make-shift rock wall presenting a gruesome sight for the thousands of spectators who were watching from the sidelines.

The battle slowly subsides, a minute or two of near absolute silence as the smoke lifts and everyone takes in the macabre spectacle, a reenactor plays the most beautiful rendition of TAPS. At the conclusion the two armies mingle, shaking hands all around.

Image and text by Michael Falco