They melted like snow on the ground, one officer said--wave after wave
of Federal soldiers charging uphill across an open muddy plain.
Confederates, fortified behind a stone wall along a sunken road, poured
a hail of lead into them as they charged . . . and faltered . . . and
died. "I had never before seen fighting like that, nothing approaching
it in terrible uproar and destruction," said one eyewitness to the
slaughter. "It is only murder now."
The battle of Fredericksburg is usually remembered as the most lopsided
Union defeat of the Civil War. It is sometimes called "Burnside's
folly," after Union commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside who led the
Army of the Potomac to ruin along the banks of the Rappahannock River.
But the battle remains one of the most misunderstood and misremembered
engagements of the war. Burnside started with a well-conceived plan and
had every reason to expect victory. How did it go so terribly wrong?
Authors Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White have worked for years
along Fredericksburg's Sunken Road and Stone Wall, and they've escorted
thousands of visitors across the battlefield. Simply Murder not only
recounts Fredericksburg's tragic story of slaughter, but includes
invaluable information about the battlefield itself and the insights
they've learned from years of walking the ground.
Simply Murder can be enjoyed in the comfort of one's living room or as a
guide on the battlefield itself. It is also the first release in the new
"Emerging Civil War Series," which offers compelling and easy-to-read
overviews of some of the Civil War's most important battles and issues.
About the Authors: Chris Mackowski is a professor in the School of
Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University in
Allegany, New York, and also works with the National Park Service at
Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, which includes the
Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania
battlefields.
Kristopher D. White is a historian for the Penn-Trafford Recreation
Board and a continuing education instructor for the Community College of
Allegheny County near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served for five years
as a staff military historian at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National
Military Park, and is a former Licensed Battlefield Guide at Gettysburg.
Longtime friends, Mackowski and White have co-authored several books and
numerous articles for various Civil War magazines. They also co-founded
the blog Emerging Civil War, which can be read at:
www.emergingcivilwar.com.
