"It is well this is so terrible! We should grow too fond of it," said General Robert E. Lee as he watched his troops repulse the Union attack at Fredericksburg on 13 December 1863. This collection of seven original essays by leading Civil War historians reinterprets the bloody Fredericksburg campaign and places it within a broader social and political context. By analyzing the battle's antecedents as well as its aftermath, the contributors challenge some long-held assumptions about the engagement and clarify our picture of the war as a whole.

The making of a myth : Ambrose E. Burnside and the Union High Command at Fredericksburg /William Marvel -- Confederate leadership at Fredericksburg / Alan T. Nolan -- It is well that war is so terrible : the carnage at Fredericksburg / George C. Rable -- The forlorn hope : Brig. Gen. Andrew A. Humphreys's Pennsylvania division at Fredericksburg / Carol Reardon -- The Yanks have had a terrible whipping : Confederates evaluate the Battle of Fredericksburg / Gary W. Gallagher -- Barbarians at Fredericksburg's gate : the impact of the Union army on civilians / William A. Blair -- Morale, maneuver, and mud : the Army of the Potomac, December 16, 1862- January 26, 1863 / A. Wilson Greene.

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