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The Battle of Fredericksburg begins in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate army of Northern Virginia and the northern army of Potomac, commanded by Major Gen. Ambrose Burnside.
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Union engineers began to assemble six pontoon bridges before dawn on Dec. 11, two just north of the town center, a third on the southern end of town, and three farther south, near the confluence of the Rappahannock and Deep Run.
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River crossing's south of the city by Franklin's Left Grand Division were much less eventful. Both bridges were completed by 11 a.m. on December 11 while five batteries of Union artillery supressed most sniper fire against the engineers.
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Summer's right grand divison began crossing on December 12. Hooker's Center Grand Division began crossing at 4:30 p.m. but the bulk f his men did not cross until December 12.
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The "Grand Division" of Maj. Gen William B Franklin was able to pierce the first defensive line of Confederate Lt. Gen. Stonewall Jackson to the south, but was fianlly repulsed. Burnside ordered the grand revisions of Maj. Gens. Edwin V. Sumner and Joseph Hooker to make multiple frontal assaults against Lt. Gen James Longstreet's position on Marye's Heights, all of which were repulsed with heavy losses.
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Hooker's Center Grand Division crossed on December 13, using both the northern and southern bridges
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Early on December 13, Jackson recalled his divisions under Jubal Early and D.H. Hill from down river positions to join hsi main defensive lines south of the city
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During a dinner party on Dec 13, Burnside dramatically announced he would lead his old IX Corps in one final attack on Marye's Heights, but his generals talked him out of it the next morning.
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Burnside asked Lee for a truce to attend to his wounded, which the latter was graciously granted.
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Federal troops retreat across the River
