Simply Murder: The Battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 1862 [Paperback]

They melted like snow on the ground, one officer saidwave after wave of Federal soldiers charging uphill across an open muddy plain. Confederates, fortified behind a stone wall along a sunken road, poured a hail of lead into them as they charged . . . and faltered . . . and died. I had never before seen fighting like that, nothing approaching it in terrible uproar and destruction, said one eyewitness to the slaughter. It is only murder now.The battle of Fredericksburg is usually remembered as the most lopsided Union defeat of the Civil War. It is sometimes called Burnsides folly, after Union commander Maj. Gen. Ambrose Burnside who led the Army of the Potomac to ruin along the banks of the Rappahannock River. But the battle remains one of the most misunderstood and misremembered engagements of the war. Burnside started with a well-conceived plan and had every reason to expect victory. How did it go so terribly wrong?Authors Chris Mackowski and Kristopher D. White have worked for years along Fredericksburgs Sunken Road and Stone Wall, and theyve escorted thousands of visitors across the battlefield. Simply Murder not only recounts Fredericksburgs tragic story of slaughter, but includes invaluable information about the battlefield itself and the insights theyve learned from years of walking the ground.Simply Murder can be enjoyed in the comfort of ones living room or as a guide on the battlefield itself. It is also the first release in the new Emerging Civil War Series, which offers compelling and easy-to-read overviews of some of the Civil Wars most important battles and issues.About the Authors: Chris Mackowski is a professor in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University in Allegany, New York, and also works with the National Park Service at Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, which includes the Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Wilderness, and Spotsylvania battlefields.Kristopher D. White is a hislƒ˝