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The Civil War
(1861-1865)
 Battle of Fredericksburg 1862

Battle of Fredericksburg 1862
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 10
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   7.26

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    suicidal, pontoon, better, wounded, tactical, entrench, president, victory, bridges, succeed, artillery, surrounding, position, launch, problem, army
     content words:    President Lincoln, On November, General Burnside, Rappahannock River, On December, General George Meade

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Battle of Fredericksburg 1862
By Mary L. Bushong 		  
1     President Lincoln had a problem. He needed the war to go better, but he could not find the right generals to do the job. His current general, McClellan, moved too slowly. On November 7, 1862, Lincoln chose to promote General Burnside to be the man in charge.
 
2     Lincoln ordered Burnside to go and attack Richmond. The man quickly formed a plan and put it into action. He would march south and cross the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg and move on to Richmond from there.
 
3     He planned to cross on a pontoon bridge and take over the town before Lee could move into position to block him. Though many of Burnside's officers doubted the plan, he quickly put it into action. Everything moved as he wished until he reached the river. There he discovered that his pontoon bridges would be 17 days late in arriving.
 
4     Those days, which slowed down Burnside, also gave Lee a chance to save the situation for the Confederates. They were able to entrench themselves, not only in the town, but also in the hills surrounding it.

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