IN FRONT OF THE EARTHWORKS AT FORT ROBINETTE IN CORINTH, MISSISSIPPI
WITH colors flying, armament in first-class condition, and soldiers well-clothed and fed, the Union lines under the new command of Burnside began offensive operations against Virginia. This had been Lincoln's long desire. The scene of action was now to be forced away from the National Capital. On a bright morning in November, the men who had served under McClellan marched in three grand divisions to their new campaign. The Rappahannock was reached on the seventeenth, but the bridge across the river had been destroyed by the Confederates who were intrenched in Fredericksburg on the opposite bank. Pontoons promised by the Government had not yet arrived. "Where are my pontoons?" wired Burnside. "They will start to-morrow," came the reply from the War Department. It was the tenth of December before the engineers could build their bridges and in the meantime ill-feeling had arisen between Burnside and the Government. The fatal delay had enabled Lee to concentrate his army on Marye's Heights, overlooking Fredericksburg. The work of building five bridges across the Rappahannock was begun under a drawn musketry fire from the opposite bank of the river. Nearly every blow of a hammer cost a human life. Burnside ordered his artillerymen to open fire on the city. Fredericksburg became a mass of ruins. This photograph shows abutments of the destroyed bridge. The trees are cropped short by the artillery fire from the Union guns. The Confederate sharpshooters were concealed in the buildings on the opposite river front. Burnside ordered his men to cross the river on a line of pontoon boats. The sharpshooters were driven from their shelter while the bridge building was completed. The river was crossed. At dawn, the twelfth of September, both armies stood ready for combat.
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE RAPPAHANNOCK RIVER AFTER DESTRUCTION OF BRIDGE TO FREDERICKSBURG IN 1862
PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ALONG THE SUNKEN ROAD AT FREDERICKSBURG AFTER THE BATTLE IN 1862