 | ||
 |  |  |
Bombardment of Fredericksburg
To use any of the clipart images above (including the thumbnail image in the top left corner), just click and drag the picture to your desktop. You may also control-click (Mac) or right-click (Windows) and choose "Save file to disk" from the pop-up menu. Click here for help downloading and using clipart files.
* A TIFF file is a high-resolution (240 dpi) format. TIFF files should be used only if you are printing the clipart. Do NOT use TIFF files for clipart that will displayed on a computer screen. Click here for help downloading and using TIFF files. File Name: fredericksbu_11530
Description: "Bombardment of Fredericksburg, Va., by the army of the Potomac, commanded by General Burnside, Thursday, December 11th, 1862. Our correspondent's report of this event: 'At ten o'clock General Burnside gives the order, "Concentrate the fire of all your guns on the city and batter it down!" You may believe they were not loath to obey. The artillery of the right- eight batteries- was commanded by Colonel Hays; Colonel Tompkins, right centre, eleven batteries; Colonel Tyler, left centre, seven batteries; Captain De Russy, left, nine batteries. In a few moments these thirty-five batteries forming a total of one hundred and seventy-nine guns, ranging from 10-pounder Parrotts to 41-inch siege guns, posted along the convex side of the arc of the circle formed by the bend of the river and land opposite Fredericksburg, opened on the doomed city. The effect was, of course, terrific, and, regarded merely as a phenomenon, was among the most awfully grand conceivable. Perhaps what will give you the liveliest idea of its effect is a succession, absolutely without intermission, of the very loudest thunder peals. It lasted thus for upward of an hour, fifty rounds being fired from each gun, and I know not how many hundred tons of iron were thrown into the town. The congregate generals were transfixed; mingled satisfaction and awe was upon every face. But what was tantalizing was, that though a great deal could be heard, nothing could be seen, the city being still eveloped in fog and mist. Only a denser pillar of smoke defining itself on the background of the fog indicated where the town had been fired by our shells. Another and another column showed itself, and we presently saw that at least a dozen houses must be on fire. Toward noon the curtain rolled up, and we saw that it was indeed so. Fredericksburg was in conflagration. Tremendous though this firing had been, and terrific though its effect obviously was on the town, it had not accomplished the object intended. It was found by our gunners almost impossible to obtain a sufficient depression of their pieces to shell the front part of the city, and the Confederate sharpshooters were still comparatively safe behind the thick stone walls of the houses.'"— Frank Leslie, 1896
Source: Frank Leslie, Famous Leaders and Battle Scenes of the Civil War (New York: Mrs. Frank Leslie, 1896)296-297
Keywords: civil war, city on fire, bombardment of fredericksburg, townon fire, setting fire to a town,
Copyright: 2009, Florida Center for Instructional Technology. See license.
| Main Menu | Site Map | Search | License | Clipart Help |
Clipart ETC is a part of the Educational Technology Clearinghouse and is funded by various grants. Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology, College of Education, University of South Florida. Email the project manager.