The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought on December 13, 1862, in the midst of a cold snap that only added to the miseries already incumbent upon any engagement. After Federal General Ambrose Burnside's command battered itself to pieces against Marye's Heights and Prospect Hill, held by Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia, many of the Union wounded were left overnight to die of exposure on the frozen battlefield.

Thanks to Joel Craig of the Fifth New York Volunteer Infantry, Company A, for contributing this poem from the April 11, 1863, Poughkeepsie Telegraph.

"The Snow at Fredericksburg"