The Fate of War: Fredericksburg, 1862

The Union assault on the critical Confederate stronghold of Fredericksburg, Virginia, along the Rappahannock River in December 1862 was one of the most significant and storied battles of the Civil War. In The Fate of War: Fredericksburg, 1862, historian and professional psychologist Duane Schultz uses this key moment in Civil War history to address how soldiers and civilians react to the stress of war. Using letters, diaries, and memoirs, including those of Clara Barton and Walt Whitman, Schultz's account, grounded in careful research, reveals the triumph and failure, courage and cowardice, compassion and cruelty of the people--the ordinary and high-ranking, soldier and civilian, men and women--who came together one terrible day.