In terms of the chronology, the battle of Fredericksburg took place in December 1862, a few months after the bloody aftermath of Antietam. Lincoln, once again chagrined by General McClellan's reluctance to take advantage of his opportunities, has replaced him with General Ambrose Burnside. It is a precarious time for the nation and the Army of the Potomac - and for Abraham Lincoln. Many Northerners, especially the Radical Republicans in Congress, voice their doubts over Lincoln's capacity to oversee the war and lead the nation to victory. The Emancipation Proclamation has just been signed, yet the Radicals do not think the measure goes far enough; at the same time, Lincoln fears the Proclamation may be shot down before it is implemented unless his Army can give him a victory in the coming days. I don't think I'm giving anything away when I say that Fredericksburg proved to be a thorough military disaster for the North. In these pages, the reader is privy to the political machinations in Washington that threatened to weaken if not destroy Abraham Lincoln and Secretary of War Stanton during the crucial days of late 1862 - and this is an aspect of Lincoln's Presidency that traditionally receives far too little attention.

General Burnside is truly a tragic figure (and the fact that Kingseed can make me feel true pity for a Union general proves just how talented a writer he is). Although Lincoln and Stanton gave him command over the Army of the Potomac, neither had much confidence in him or his abilities; the generals serving under him, especially the brash and opportunistic Hooker, considered him incompetent, and the soldiers under his command still resented the dismissal of the popular McClellan. Burnside also has little confidence in his own abilities, yet he comes up with a plan to strike Robert E. Lee and the Confederate Army a crippling blow. He plans to move his 120,000 men to Fredericksburg and surprise the enemy there, before General Lee has time to react and shift his defensive forces. Victory would put Richmond in Burnside's sights. The plan might have worked, but Confederate spies get this information to Lee fairly quickly and, once Burnside's force is in position to cross the river, the skies open up and mire the Army of the Potomac down for days in the muck and mire; to make matters worse, the pontoons needed for crossing the river arrive much too late. Days pass as Burnside's indecision precludes any move whatsoever; meanwhile, on the other side, Lee's forces hunker down and fortify their positions. When Burnside does formulate his strategy, it is a recipe for disaster. Thousands of soldiers fall in a doomed attempt to take an impregnable hill, while Confederate forces on all sides make mincemeat of their Northern attackers.

The soldier's experience is revealed through several minor but important characters on both sides. The plight of the Union soldier, thrust into a fight he cannot possibly win, truly brings home the horrors of war. That horror is also revealed in the form of a most unusual young woman. Emily Foster swore revenge on the Yankees when Union soldiers burned her home and killed her father in cold blood; she voluntarily went to work as a spy in Washington, extracting important information from officers entranced by her charms. In the face of discovery, she escapes the city by signing up as a nurse, and her experiences among the wounded Yankee soldiers of Fredericksburg force upon her a change of heart. The human tragedy is revealed most strongly in the forms of the dead and maimed boys caught up in a senseless war, and the sight of so much blood and anguish douses much of the hatred in her heart.

I feel as if I have barely skimmed the surface of this novel in my review. Kingseed seamlessly interweaves the strategic realities of the historic battle and the human horrors of war with the political machinations of power-hungry men (in the government as well as the Army) to present a comprehensive look at the battle of Fredericksburg on numerous levels. We experience the fight alongside the soldiers on both sides and are touched by rare moments of humanity in the midst of man's ultimate inhumanity to man. We survey the field alongside Lee and Jackson as the Union forces walk right into a deadly trap of their design. We marvel at the ineptitude of the tragic General Burnside and the lack of cohesion and central authority in the ranks of the Army of the Potomac. We bristle at the treachery of men such as Salmon Chase and the Radical Republicans, and then watch in awe as Lincoln thwarts their insidious plans by means of his vintage political acumen.

Wyatt Kingseed has truly captured the essence of this critical period in the history of the War Between the States. The complexities of this novel are remarkable to behold, and Kingseed never allows any facet of the convoluted story to fall by the wayside. I daresay you will learn more about the battle of Fredericksburg and its larger significance from this impressive novel than you will from the pages of most history books.