<P> The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11 -- 15 , 1862 , in and around Fredericksburg , Virginia , between General Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac , commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside , as part of the American Civil War . The Union Army 's futile frontal attacks on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city are remembered as one of the most one - sided battles of the war , with Union casualties more than three times as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates . A visitor to the battlefield described the battle to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as a `` butchery . '' </P>
<P> The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11 -- 15 , 1862 , in and around Fredericksburg , Virginia , between General Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac , commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside , as part of the American Civil War . The Union Army 's futile frontal attacks on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city are remembered as one of the most one - sided battles of the war , with Union casualties more than three times as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates . A visitor to the battlefield described the battle to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln as a `` butchery . '' </P>
who was involved in the battle of fredericksburg
who was involved in the battle of fredericksburg
General Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Union Army of the Potomac , commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside
General Robert E. Lee 's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia Union Army of the Potomac , commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside