Jackson launched a successful counterattack that drove the Union soldiers back with heavy losses
It is a fact that Jackson launched a successful counterattack that drove the Union soldiers back with heavy losses. According to Kate Lohnes (an editor of Encyclopaedia Britannica), on December 13, Franklin dispatched the Union forces to the left against an entrenched force led by Maj. Gen. Thomas Jackson. Franklin's men were able to breach the Confederate line, but ambiguous orders from Burnside caused Franklin to commit only one of his six divisions to the offensive. Franklin's failure to capitalize on this advantage allowed Jackson to execute a successful counterattack, driving the Union troops back with heavy casualties.
On the Confederate left flank, where Lieut. Gen. James Longstreet's corps held Marye's Heights, Burnside directed Maj. Gen. Darius Couch's corps launched a bayonet charge against the Confederate lines. The stone wall at the foot of the heights was lined with nearly every weapon Longstreet's corps could find a place to fire, while Confederate guns showered down on the invaders above them. Union artillery on the heights beyond the river was too far away to help. Division after the division was slaughtered, and not a single Union man made it to the wall. Sumner's and most of Hooker's brigades were completely destroyed, and the wrecks of the right wing were withdrawn that night. The Army of the Potomac withdrew to its camps at Falmouth on the night of December 15.
