2nd Battle of Fredericksburg

(Marye's Heights) & Salem Church

Marye's Heights the ultimate goal of the Union forces.

The fighting at 2nd Fredericksburg and Salem Church comprises an important if often overlooked, phase of the Chancellorsville Campaign. Major General Joseph Hooker, commander of the Union army, began the campaign by splitting his forces. While Major General John Sedgwick's VI Corps crossed the Rappahannock River below Fredericksburg to hold the Confederates' attention, Hooker sent three corps (later reinforced to six) across the river above Fredericksburg, turning the Confederate' left flank. General Robert E. Lee responded by diving his army as well. While Lee led 45,000 men west to engage Hooker's main force at Chancellorsville, Major General Jubal A. Early remained at Fredericksburg with 12,000 men to block Sedgwick. After two days of fighting, Hooker ordered Sedgwick to seize the heights behind Fredericksburg and march to his assistance at Chancellorsville.

At daybreak, May 3, 1863, Major General John Sedgwick's 25,000 troops, stood facing Early's 12,000 across a seven-mile front. Early concentrated his strength near Prospect Hill, where Union troops had enjoyed brief success during the Battle of Fredericksburg the previous year. Sedgwick, however, attacked Marye's Heights, five miles further north. Although Marye's Heights was a strong position, fewer than 1,000 men of the 18th and 21st Mississippi Infantry regiments of Barksdale's brigade and seven guns of the Washington Artillery the ground defended it. 8,000 Confederates had successfully defended the previous December.

At 12:30 a.m. on May 3 rd , the Battery was awakened and ordered to hitch up the guns. An hour later they moved out towards the right of the Lacy house, to cover the laying of a pontoon bridge. The only opposition was a rebel gun which fired a single shot which when screaming overhead. By 7:00 a.m. the bridge was complete and after the infantry, Battery B made its crossing of the Rapidan.

The Lacy House above the Potomac River, looks across at the villiage of Fredericksburg.

Despite the paucity of Confederate defenders, Sedgwick's first two attacks against Marye's Heights failed, recalling images of the December 1862 slaughter. During a truce to remove the wounded, Union soldiers discovered how few Southerners held the ridge. Confident of success, they renewed their attack and on the next try succeeded in capturing the heights. Brigadier General Barksdale stated,

"After a determined and bloody resistance by Colonel Griffin and the Washington Artillery, the enemy, fully twenty to one, succeeded in gaining possession of Marye's Hill; at all other points he was triumphantly repulsed... It will thus be seen that Marye's Hill was defended by but one small regiment, three companies, and four pieces of artillery. A more heroic struggle was never made by a more handful of men against overwhelming odds. According to the enemy's own accounts, many of this noble little band resisted to the death with clubbed guns even after his vast hordes had swept over and around the walls."

Early rallied his troops and retreated down the Telegraph Road blocking any direct advance by Sedgwick on Richmond.

Sedgwick instead headed for Chancellorsville. In his path were 10,000 Confederates led by Major General Lafayette McLaws and Brigadier General Cadmus Wilcox. These Southern troops held Salem Church ridge, four miles west of town. The sun was low in the sky when Sedgwick reached Salem Church and deployed his corps for the attack. Utilizing just one of his three divisions (Brooks'), he made a costly and unsuccessful frontal assault against the center of the Confederate line. Nightfall put an end to what Sedgwick termed a "sharp and prolonged attack."

On May 4 Lee took the offensive against Sedgwick. Jubal Early reoccupied Marye's heights at dawn, cutting off the Union general's escape via Fredericksburg.

Later in the day, Lee brought General Richard Anderson's division from Chancellorsville to fill the gap between Early and McLaws. At sunset, Sedgwick found himself confronted by Confederates on three sides. When Lee attacked at 6 p.m., Sedgwick was forced to retire across Scott's Ford. The following day, as Sedgwick's soldiers returned to their winter camps, Lee hurried west to resume assaults on Hooker. Before he could attack, however, Hooker withdrew across the Rappahannock, bringing the campaign to an end.

The fighting at 2nd Fredericksburg and Salem Church prevented Sedgwick from striking the main Confederate army at Chancellorsville while it was engaged with Hooker. By forcing Lee to divert two divisions to Chancellorsville at a critical moment of the battle, however, Sedgwick may have unwittingly, spared the Union army a much greater defeat.