By the time the fighting ended on Dec. 11, Fredericksburg was desolate. Fighting in the streets, combined with a bombardment by more than 180 cannons, had left the venerable old town shattered and in ruins. The few residents who had not fled Fredericksburg had seen their homes riddled with bullets, shot, and shell.
But the worse was yet to come. On Dec. 12, the Union army crossed the Rappahannock River in force, occupying Fredericksburg. Once across the river, Union soldiers engaged in a more lucrative pastime: For a few hours, discipline and order vanished as soldiers dashed from building to building stealing whatever they could find. Pillaging gave way to vandalism and wanton destruction. Soldiers bayoneted paintings, smashed mirrors and china, hurled glasses through windows, pulled down draperies, and tore up carpeting. Books from private libraries were hurled into the muddy streets; barrels brimming with flour were turned over and poured out onto the floor. The soldiers seemed to delight in destroying everything, wrote one witness.
The sacking of Fredericksburg was the most disgraceful episode in the history of the Army of the Potomac.
