Confederate Armies & Departments in the Eastern Theater


< to November • December 1862to January >

The Army of Northern Virginia under General Robert E. Lee left its camps after the Union Army of the Potomac under its new commander, Major General Ambrose Burnside, crossed the Potomac River and moved south. Lee was able to move his army to a superb defensive position south of the Rappahannock River at Fredericksburg before Burnside could cross. On December 13 they fought the Battle of Fredericksburg, an overwhelming Confederate victory. It was the last serious fighting the army would see until May..