Fredericksburg battle game: the one break in Lee's line
Pontoon bridges, an open river plain, and a marshy gap in Jackson's line that nobody was holding. Fredericksburg is part of River Crossings in Civy War.
One scenario, playable from either side. Every battle runs five minutes on the clock against a Green, Regular or Veteran enemy: the attacker has to break the line before nightfall, the defender has to hold.
Fredericksburg
River Crossings
December 13, 1862 · 1 p.m.
As the Union, break Jackson's line and take Prospect Hill. Meade's Pennsylvania Reserves go straight across the open fields, with Gibbon's division on their right and Doubleday's watching Stuart's cavalry on the left. In front of Meade is a marshy finger of woods the Confederates have left empty. Birney's and Sickles's divisions are crossing the bridges behind you; bring them up before Jackson's reserves arrive.
As the Confederacy, hold the ridge from Deep Run to Hamilton's Crossing. Jackson has his corps stacked in depth: A. P. Hill's brigades along the railroad in front, Early and Taliaferro behind, D. H. Hill in reserve, Walker's guns on the hill and Pelham's horse artillery out on the plain. If the Federals find the gap between Lane's and Archer's brigades, plug it and send Early's division in.
The battle
In December 1862 Ambrose Burnside's Army of the Potomac crossed the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg on pontoon bridges, with Robert E. Lee's army waiting on the high ground beyond. On December 11 the 8th Florida of Perry's brigade helped Barksdale's Mississippians fight the bridge builders at the town. Below Fredericksburg, Franklin's Left Grand Division crossed by the Bernard house and on December 13 faced Stonewall Jackson's corps on a wooded ridge at Prospect Hill.
Meade's division broke into the marshy gap, struck Lane's and Archer's flanks and surprised Gregg's brigade, mortally wounding Maxcy Gregg. Gibbon pressed Lane on the right. But no supports came forward in time, Franklin kept most of his men idle along the River Road, and Early's division drove both divisions back across the plain until Birney's fresh division stopped the pursuit. Meade lost about 1,850 men of some 4,500; Federal losses on this end of the field came to about 4,800, and Jackson's corps lost about 3,400.
It was the one place at Fredericksburg where the Federals broke Lee's line. The open ground the Pennsylvanians crossed is now called the Slaughter Pen Farm. The attacks on Marye's Heights behind the town failed too, and Burnside withdrew across the river on the night of December 15. Fredericksburg was one of the worst Union defeats of the war.
Free or paid
Paid: part of River Crossings, a one-time purchase that unlocks Dam No. 1, Fredericksburg, North Anna and Natural Bridge (Ball's Bluff, the first, is free). The map is B. L. Blackford's map of the battlefield of Fredericksburg, published in 1866.
Fourteen battles, the Drill Field and the Field Manual are free. The Historical Campaigns, Grant's Campaigns, The Western Campaigns and River Crossings are optional one-time purchases that restore on every device signed in to the same Apple ID.