This bloody battle was fought on December 12 and December 13 of 1862. The battle would have started a week earlier, but a major snowstorm prevented that. The Union Army crossed the Potomac River on Dec. 12, and many Union Soldiers would never again get to spend Christmas with their families. After the Yankee Soldiers crossed the river, they began to bombard the City of Fredericksburg. The next day, on Dec. 13, General Ambrose Burnside's Army attempted several attacks on the Confederate Flanks on Prospect Hill. The Confederate lines was protected by a stone wall. The Union Army tried several times to breach the wall and dismantle the confederate line, but with each try, there were heavy and bloody losses for the Union Troops. That night after after the repeated Union Attacks at the stone wall, many Union Soldiers which didn't die from their wounds, died from over  exposure to the cold as temperatures dropped below freezing. After a couple days of suffering and death, General Ambrose and the Union Army retreated back across  The Potomac.