Engines of Destruction
The Battle of Fredericksburg
On December 13, 1862, nine Confederate cannon on this knoll helped repulse one of two major Union attacks against Jackson's front. At noon, Union infantry crashed into the Confederate infantry line to your right-front. Captain Greenlee Davidson's cannoneers fired double rounds of canister at just 300 yards' range. "The Yankees broke ... and you never saw such a stampede in your life," Davidson wrote.
Before and after this attack, Davidson's men engaged Union cannon in fierce duels. By day's end, the Confederate artillery was battered, Bernard's Cabins were in ruins, and the surrounding landscape was scarred. "The grove of pines in my front," said Davidson, "is no longer entitled to the name of a grove."
"The head of the column went down like wheat before the reaper. Another and another volley in quick succession completed the work...Canister from a Napoleon gun is a terrible engine of destruction."
-Captain Greenlee Davidson.
Marker can be reached from Lee Drive, on the right when traveling east.
Courtesy hmdb.org
