Battle of Fredericksburg • Tour the Battlefield • Monuments & Markers • Armies
It had been just a few weeks since the summer’s bloody battles, ending in the slaughter at Antietam. Both armies had rebuilt. Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia was at the greatest strength it would achieve in the Civil War – over 78,000 men. Ambrose Burnside’s Army of the Potomac at 122,000 men was very close to the peak it would reach at Chancellorsville. In terms of men on the field Fredericksburg would be the largest battle of any engagement in the Eastern Theater. The fact that only part of these men were actually engaged showed the limitations of Burnside’s leadership as well as the options given to Lee by the battlefield.
Select either of the armies to view its organization:
>Organization of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia<
>Organization of the Federal Army of the Potomac<
Both armies had made changes in their organization since the Battle of Antietam (or Sharpsburg) in September.
Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia
The Confederate Congress had authorized the creation of army corps, which the Unkon army had established in the Spring, and the rank of lieutenant general, which did not yet exist in the North. Longstreet and Jackson, Lee’s senior division commanders, were both promoted to the new rank and officially assigned to command the new 1st and 2nd Corps. This was not that major a change, as both corps had existed informally since summer as collections of divisions (usually referred to as Left and right “wings” of the army) reporting to the two senior major gennerals. But the change rippled down through both corps as officers were promoted with proper rank to divisions, brigades and regiments that had been led for much of the year by acting commanders.
The number of brigades had barely changed in three months, but several had been rearranged, mostly to fulfill President Jefferson Davis’ directive that as much as possible brigades should be made up of regiments from the same state. And most importantly, the hordes of stragglers that failed to keep up with the army in its invasion of Maryland and had “left only heros” on the battlefield at Sharpsburg had returned, along with new recruits. Unlike in the North, most of these recruits were absorbed into existing units, allowing the new men to benefit from the experience of the veterans.
Burnside’s Army of the Potomac
Ambrose Burnside was promoted on November 9 from commander of the 9th Corps to replace McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac. He introduced a much more radical change in the organization of the Army of the Potomac than what was going on to the south. Recognizing that the eight army corps that made up the largest units of the army were too much for him (or any commander) to properly control, he added a new level of command: the Grand Division. Four Grand Divisions were formed under what had been the army’s senior major generals. Each would include two corps along with attached cavalry and artillery. The theory was that now Burnside would have had as many commands to oversee.
Unfortunately, the change did not help. The actual result was the addition of one more high level headquarters between Burnside and a front line unit, with more overhead: additional staffs, aides, cavalry escort detachments, and paperwork. All of this took time and resources and made it much easier for staff mistakes to be overlooked – such as misplacing the pontoon train for critical days when it was needed to beat Lee to the south side of the Rappahannock. As soon as Burnside left the army the Grand Divisions were immediately dissolved.