Waterfront Commission Orders: Fill & Download for Free

Scott Walker.I am going to have a hernia from trying to restrain myself enough here to avoid a BNBR warning.I started teaching in Wisconsin right about when Walker was elected. I watched him absolutely dismantle public education, destroy professional morale, and make it virtually impossible for me to ever feasibly retire if I chose to stay with the field.Now, lest you accuse me of simply taking it personally, that wasn’t even remotely where he stopped.He tried to eliminate the longstanding “Wisconsin Idea” promoting humanities and the advancement of human understanding through the University of Wisconsin and replace it with a new mission statement that effectively could be summarized as “get people jobs.” When it came out, the people of the state went nuts. He blamed it on a rogue staffer and denied that it was ever meant to be in any final drafts. Some court fights over state emails and records later, and some dutiful reporters found out that not only was this not true, Walker himself ordered it over the objections of his people on the UW board, then lied about it to protect himself politically.It was discovered that during his recall elections, his campaign illegally coordinated with various PACs in violation of state campaign laws. An investigation was authorized by a nonpartisan board of highly respected judges, and then contested at every step until a nearly hand-picked state Supreme Court, in a nakedly partisan move, ended the investigation and ordered all records destroyed in an unprecedented move of doing so without even oral arguments.Then, he got the state legislature to repeal all of the campaign finance and anti-coordination laws that he violated just for good measure and dissolved the Government Accountability Board and replaced it with a politically partisan-appointed ethics commission and elections commission.Side note: you know why that Government Accountability Board was created in the first place? Because of a scandal a decade earlier with a partisan-appointed ethics board and elections board.Oh, but he wasn’t done yet, no sir.In a budget omnibus bill dumped in the public’s lap right before the 4th of July holiday, a full month after the deadline for a state budget, (I seem to recall him campaigning on “fiscal responsibility,” but I digress,) Walker got the leaders of the legislature to anonymously hide a provision to gut the state’s open records law. That law that required him to turn over those emails where he demanded that the UW ditch the Wisconsin Idea.And after that bombed, he decided that he could just do it with executive fiat instead by re-classifying text messages sent on government devices as exempt from those open records laws, and telling his staff and Republican legislators to only use that instead of emails from there on forward.He auctioned off state-owned public land, prime waterfront land, in auctions that just met the legal requirements of notice, but which were publicized to significant campaign donors, who bought that land at prices outrageously below the going market rate.And then there’s the Foxconn boondoggle and new Bucks arena. Funny how there was four billion dollars lying in the state treasury after he swore up and down for years that we couldn’t adequately fund education and transportation because the state was broke.And that’s just the big stuff.As far as I’m concerned, he should be in prison for the criminal corruption he engaged in just in his time in the governor’s office, to say nothing of his time in politics previous to that.Voting him out of office is at least a good consolation prize.

Boris Malagurski did a great analysis of the Belgrade Waterfront project, i believe this will give some insight in that project."Belgrade Waterfront - Balkan Dubai. The largest construction project in Europe. Luxury city on the Sava - Belgrade on the water. This is the future home for 14,000 people and another 20,000 jobs. When the new top of the capital rises 160 meters into the air from this the forty-storey tower will offer the most beautiful panoramic view of the capital. "Impressive. When I found out about the "Belgrade Waterfront" project, I have to admit that I really liked the idea. That part of the city has a huge potential, the designed buildings really look modern, yes they may not be to my taste but there will always be problems with aesthetics - when the Eiffel Tower was built eminent writers, architects, artists and intellectuals in Paris launched a petition against which is today a symbol of Paris.And that's how the criticism of "Belgrade Waterfront" seemed to me, as if people who always minded something were complaining.Radmilo Marković: Regarding Belgrade Waterfront, everything is disputable, literally.Literally. However, when scratched beneath the surface of this project, something starts to stink. The first controversial point are the deadlines that were set in 2014.Aleksandar Vučić: The Belgrade Tower, the largest, most beautiful and most important building that will represent the new landmark of Belgrade, and we have agreed that before the end of 2016, the exterior of the Belgrade Tower will be completely finished.2016 passes and nothing from the tower.Aleksandar Vučić: It was impossible that the Belgrade Tower was to be completed by 2016.Journalist: In June 2014, you announced that.Aleksandar Vučić: I don't know. I thought it could be over, as you can see it is rising.Maybe the president needs more time to build the tower, so it has been moved to 2017.Journalist: Until when is it realistic for everything we see in the pictures to be over? You said tower by the end of 2017.Aleksandar Vučić: Until the end of 2018 and the beginning of 2019.Journalist: Everything?Aleksandar Vučić: Well, everything.2018 and 2019 passed and the tower is not finished yet.And we should not forget that this is not just a promise given for the Belgrade Tower, but for the entire Belgrade Waterfront.Journalist: As of today, if I can count, how much is that?Aleksandar Vučić: Five years.Journalist: Well, we have been building Prokop for 20 years or so, and we haven't built it. And in 5 years it will all be over? I say again from your mouth to God's ears.Either God has a hearing problem or it may be a little too promising for people to vote for someone.And if we look at what exactly people voted for, we come to another controversial point - the agreement on Belgrade Waterfront.The contract for the Belgrade Waterfront project worth 3.5 billion euros was signed in April 2015. According to him, Serbia owns 32% and the partner from the United Arab Emirates, the company Eagle Hills, owns 68% of the capital.In order to expropriate the land for the construction of the Belgrade Waterfront, a lex speciale was passed, ie a special law designating the Belgrade Waterfront as a project of public interest.In this way, the government violates the Constitution itself, since according to the letter of the Constitution, buildings in the field of education, health, social protection, culture, communal infrastructure or residential buildings intended for the socially endangered population can be declared public.Well, maybe the socially endangered population will buy apartments in Belgrade's Waterfront, where a square meter costs between 2,800 and 7,800 euros.But just put up with a few moments of a boring legal story because it is important to analyze how you as citizens are damaged by the Belgrade Waterfront agreement.The land for the project was leased to the Arab investor free of charge. Whose property is it then?Siniša Mali (former mayor of Belgrade): You can't get both. Either you sell the land, which we did not want to do, or you lease it without compensation, but you become a co-owner of the company and share a third of the profit that is made from it.But according to the contract, the investor not only receive the land on lease, but can also become the owner.Converting property rights without additional payment, they say, means that the investor can become the owner of the land, even though he will only use it. The state did not receive compensation for that.And here it becomes clear that it is a matter of private financial interests and not public interests as the Belgrade Waterfornt project was presented to the citizens.The agreement also states that Serbia will not pass laws and change plans that could endanger Belgrade Waterfront, which, in the opinion of the project's opponents, means a loss of state sovereignty.Of course, this is the abolition of sovereignty, because how can a private law agreement regulate what the citizens of Serbia will democratically decide in the future?Especially if one day it is determined that these private rights are in conflict with the public interest or are even contrary to public order. And in the contract, we also found out when the Belgrade Waterfront should really be completed. It won't be in five years.The deadline for implementation is 30 years, and the first evaluation of the construction is in 20 years. But is everything justified if Belgrade Waterfront is such a good idea that it simply had to turn an eye little on the laws, bureaucracy and the Constitution, especially if it was the dream of the greatest mayor Belgrade has ever had?Aleksandar Vučić: That idea has existed since the time of Branko Pešić, even before that. He dreamed of the Belgrade Waterfront.Branko Pešić did dream about lowering Belgrade to the rivers, but not about this.This is how "W Hotel" should look like in three years, which will bring Belgrade a visionary design, playful luxury and "Whatever Whenever" service, which means that hotel guests are provided with the service "whatever they want - whenever they want".I'm sorry, but "whatever they want - whenever they want" sounds like a slogan for a brothel. Since the Second World War, the general plans foresaw that there would be a cultural center of Belgrade, but the purpose was changed for the construction of luxury apartments and hotels, and the capacities were also changed.One hundred hectares of space in the Sava amphitheater and almost 2 million square meters of residential and business space.Dragoljub Bakić (Serbian Academy of Architecture): Do you know what 2 million square meters means? You will build a house easily, although it is not easy in that mud, it is expensive, but when you build houses, you have to live in them. You will move in 20 to 25 thousand people.And here traffic appears as a big problem.Dragoljub Bakić: We have calculated, if you want 20 thousand people there, you must have six lanes, each direction in Savska must have six lanes. Is that possible? It's not. Can you expand Nemanjina? You can not. And Karađorđeva? You can not. You are making a 45-meter boulevard on Belgrade Waterfront to pour it into Karađorđeva,, which is 7 meters away from the Mixer House. How is it possible?The question also arises as to how the planning of an underground garage for 50,000 cars will be built on land full of groundwater.How will drinking water be provided?Dragoljub Bakić: We need, we have calculated, 25 million cubic meters of water a day for such users. So how? Well, Belgrade doesn't have that water.Sewage is also a seemingly unsolvable problem.Dragoljub Bakic: They don't even have a sewer there. They are no longer allowed to pour faeces into the Sava. They can not. The Danube Commission banned it.And when we hear things like this, somehow it doesn't matter anymore whether you like the idea as much as I liked it in the beginning, but what matters is whether a project like this is engineeringly feasible. Politicians, who are not experts, say they are.Experts who, in the opinion of politicians, have no idea and all of them just hate Vučić say they are not.Branko Pešić would never allow something like this, no matter how many promises he received from the alleged Arab investor, which brings us to the next point of controversial.I believe that when you build quality you just need to plan well.And that quality is questionable.Teša Tešanović (Journalist): I talked to the masters who did it, they say it's such a bad quality that it's terrible. These are the cheapest materials, the worst installations. Everything is set up so that the worst is done and the square is sold at some crazy prices.And then why would anyone buy an apartment in Belgrade Waterfront?Teša Tešanović: You know how it works? You have a company and the company operates successfully. I tell you: "The company is great, you have no inspections, you have no problems with taxes, the law. And when you are already doing such a nice job, buy an apartment in Belgrade Waterfront for 5,000 euros per square meter, you will have children to live, to look at that view. " And then you say "You're right, it's in my best interest to buy an apartment." You buy an apartment to get rid of fools, not to cause problems with business.And then a logical question arises: If the investors of the Belgrade Waterfront project are Arabs,if the construction is bad,if they create long-term problems for the infrastructure of the Serbian capital from trafficto sewage,why would the ruling elite make so many concessions to some foreign investors? So much propaganda, so much pressure to buy apartments there?Aleksandar Vučić: I am proud and happy to have been a part and to be a part of this magnificent project.But how is the president part of this project? Does he benefit in any way from the alleged Arab investment? Are investments at all Arab?Saša Radulović (former Minister of Economy): While I was Minister for 4 months and 23 days, I did not see any Arabs. Only two law offices in Belgrade and Dinkić's team that negotiated everything. This leads me to say that it is not really Arab money, but our money that is laundered through the United Arab Emirates, where a percentage is taken for money laundering, and that the money is then returned to Serbia as an investment, say, Belgrade Waterfront.And then it seems that Belgrade Waterfront is less a construction project and more a money laundering project, our money that politicians have been extracting from the Serbian budget for decades. And while a good part of the public was involved in the demolition of illegal buildings in Savamala, somehow it seems that this is only a small part of a much wider crime against Belgrade and the whole of Serbia. And maybe Arabs have nothing to do with the Belgrade Waterfront, a similar project has already been seen in the Arab world, in a city that has suffered a lot recently.And this is not the first time that Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, which was once nicknamed "Paris of the Middle East", has been destroyed.It lost that nickname after the outbreak of a brutal civil war in Lebanon in 1975.In 1990, the war ended and Rafik Hariri businessman billionaire, later prime minister of Lebanon offered Beirut a lease of land in the very center of Beirut and that he and his construction company "Solidere" turn it into "Singapore Middle East".Excavators razed everything to the ground destroying historic buildings.Luxury marinas, shopping malls and apartment buildings were built - some even had limousine lifts.When the construction of the Solidere project began, citizens were delighted that the war was over and that something new, modern and luxurious was being built in their city.But when they realized that the streets were sold, that everything was privately owned and that all that was financed with public money, it was already too late.Isn't Belgrade Waterfront Serbian Solidere, a symbol of a system that uses the money of the impoverished majority to make the minority at the top rich?And all that could have been different, this part of the city could have been what it was intended for - the cultural seat of the city.For the Lebanese it may be too late but for us it is not because a few buildings do not make up the city.

There are a lot of candidates, but the one I'd go with might surprise a few people.The Battle of Fredericksburg, Virginia.No, not the Battle of Fredericksburg fought on December 13, 1862. And not even the Battle of Fredericksburg fought on May 3, 1863. I'm talking about the combat that took place at Fredericksburg on December 11, 1862, the day Ambrose Burnside fell ass backwards into two profound "firsts" in American military history.Kurz and Allison lithograph of the pontoon bridge debacle on December 11, 1862Specifically, the battle on December 11, 1862 resulted in the first amphibious/riverine crossing under fire in American military history, and the first instance of sustained urban combat in American military history. Given the subsequent course of warfare, breaking those two thresholds in a single instance of combat is worth more attention, I've always felt. Unfortunately, the action on December 11, 1862 has always been overshadowed by the debacle that followed two days later beneath Marye's Heights.Major General Ambrose E. BurnsideAmbrose Burnside took command of the Army of the Potomac on November 7, 1862, after Abraham Lincoln finally lost his patience with George B. McClellan and sacked him. Burnside was a reluctant commander who had turned down offers of command at least once, and probably twice, before this moment. He turned it down that day as well, but was arm-twisted into taking the job with the threat of his least favorite colleague, Joseph Hooker, getting the gig instead. Among the reasons for Burnside's reticence was his genuine belief that he was not up to the challenge of overall command. That's going to be important later on.In spite of his lack of confidence and his reluctance to take the job, Burnside actually did pretty well out of the gate. Within two days of taking command, he had reorganized the Army of the Potomac into "grand divisions" and come up with an ambitious plan of campaign against Robert E. Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia.The initial movements in the Fredericksburg CampaignAt the time he took over the reins of command, the armies in Virginia were situated well west of their usual area of operation. The Army of the Potomac was concentrated at and around Auburn, Virginia, about 50 miles west-southwest of Washington, D.C., and 90 miles north of the Confederate capital city of Richmond. The Army of Northern Virginia was spread out in a wide arc to cover all avenues by which the Federals might advance. James Longstreet's corps was concentrated around Culpeper Court House, which was west of Auburn and farther from Richmond than the Army of the Potomac. "Stonewall" Jackson's corps was even farther away, in the Shenandoah Valley. Burnside saw that, by a direct march from Auburn to Fredericksburg, the Army of the Potomac might interpose itself between Richmond and the Confederate army, either opening the door to capturing the capital or forcing Lee to pursue recklessly to prevent that from happening.The War Department was lukewarm on Burnside's plan, believing that Lee's army and not Richmond should be the object of any campaign. Lincoln, also lukewarm on Burnside's plan, quickly assented because he was more concerned there should be some forward movement before the end of 1862 than he was about what the specific movement should prioritize.Burnside set the army in motion on November 15, and the advance elements reached Falmouth, on the north bank of the Rappahannock River opposite Fredericksburg, on the 17th. For an army used to marching at the methodical pace preferred by George B. McClellan, this was no small feat. What's more is that it took Robert E. Lee completely by surprise. Lee had anticipated that the fighting was done for the winter months, but reasoned that if any Federal advance did happen before spring, it would come down the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad towards Longstreet at Culpeper. Lee knew that Burnside was on the march the day the Federals stepped off, but he did not divine their destination until they arrived at Falmouth. He set Longstreet and his corps off towards Fredericksburg, with large elements heading further south towards the North Anna River, in anticipation that Burnside would win the race to cross the Rappahannock.Everything seemed to be going off without a hitch for Burnside thus far. It was only when he reached Falmouth himself that he realized a critical element of his plan was missing. You see, the bridges that had once spanned the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg had long since been burned, so the only way to cross the river there was by a bridge constructed with pontoon boats. And those pontoon boats were nowhere to be found when the advanced elements arrived at the river.Pontoon boats, as they would appear when mobilized for transport over landThey would not be soon in coming, either. Through a misunderstanding between Burnside and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck at Washington, the pontoon boats were not forwarded to Falmouth with all possible speed. Halleck did not appreciate the urgency, and Burnside did not make it apparent the pontoons were so urgently needed until he'd already arrived at Falmouth. There followed an administrative bungling of epic proportions, such that the first pontoon boats did not arrive in Falmouth until November 25, eight solid days after the Army of the Potomac first had need of them.In the meantime, the Army of Northern Virginia had made up the ground lost to Burnside between the 15th and the 17th. Longstreet's entire Corps had arrived at Fredericksburg by November 23, two days before the first pontoon bridges began to arrive. When Lee saw that Burnside's whole force was at Falmouth, he called for Jackson to force march to the Fredericksburg area on November 26. Jackson's entire corps was in the vicinity by December 3.Burnside now faced an unpleasant situation. He had lost the advantage of inside position, and now needed to cross the Rappahannock River against a determined foe in significant force. Lincoln and the War Department were expecting an engagement before the end of the year, so he couldn't simply stand pat and wait for spring. Burnside took his time after losing the race to Fredericksburg, feeling that there was no longer any advantage to be gained by speed. Better to plan meticulously and come up with a sound plan before trying to force the Rappahannock.Except the plan he came up with was, for lack of a better word, dogshit. It revealed the greatest flaw in his command ability; his inability to anticipate and adapt to changing circumstances. He'd had a decent plan in early November, and he'd executed it to near perfection before events outside of his control derailed it. Now, the best idea he could come up with was to force the river right at the town of Fredericksburg, in the delusional belief that Lee had dispersed most of his army up and down the river to prevent crossings at other places.It was true that Lee had dispersed much of his army, but that didn't make crossing at Fredericksburg any wiser. Firstly, because it was the most easily defensible part of the line held by Lee, with low ridges and hills ringing the floodplain around the town of Fredericksburg that would need to be carried by assault no matter in what force Lee held them with. Second, as the very central part of Lee's line, and with numerous good roads in the vicinity, it was the easiest place for Lee to quickly concentrate the entirety of his army, should he suspect a major attack there. Burnside's subordinates almost unanimously believed the crossing at Fredericksburg to be a terrible idea, but Burnside did not take their criticisms well, and decided to go ahead with the operation.The Rappahannock Valley around Fredericksburg, Virginia.The matter settled, the engineers of the Army of the Potomac were ordered to prepare constructing pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock. Two bridges were to be constructed opposite the town itself; one at the north end and one at the south end. A third set of bridges would be constructed further downstream. Construction was to begin before dawn on December 11, 1862.The night of December 10-11, 1862 was cold, the mercury hovering just above freezing. In the pre-dawn darkness, the volunteer engineers of the 15th New York and the U.S. Army Engineer Battalion moved their pontoons near the shore of the Rappahannock at a place that would come to be known as Franklin's Crossing. A mile upriver, across from the town itself, volunteer engineers from the 50th New York did the same.On the other side of the river, a brigade of Confederates from Mississippi waited quietly for any attempt by the Yankees across the river to come their way. Having been posted in the town for some time now, they were used to hearing noises from the Yankees on the other side of the river, but this night was different. The noises were louder, with thuds and bangs and the sounds of hammers and wheeled vehicles. Something was up. Their commander, Brigadier General William Barksdale, rousted two of his regiments, the 17th and 18th Mississippi Infantry, and had them deploy in the buildings along the riverfront. The buildings there had been reinforced, along with rifle pits constructed in the adjoining yards, and basement walls knocked out so men could move freely without exposing themselves. Barksdale kept his other two regiments, the 13th and 21st Mississippi, in reserve deeper into town. He sent word to his division commander, Major General Lafayette McLaws, that bridge-building had begun opposite the town. McLaws forwarded him reinforcements in the form of the 8th Florida Infantry, and told him to wait until the engineers were well out into the river before opening on them.Confederate Brigadier General William Barksdale, in command of the Rebels holding FredericksburgShortly before dawn, the air temperature began to rise quickly, and a thick blanket of fog carpeted the banks of the Rappahannock. The Federal engineers considered themselves lucky, as the fog would hopefully give them cover past daylight. As 5:00 a.m. neared, the bridges both up and downstream were reaching across the halfway point of the river. Some of the engineers no doubt began to suspect this job might be easier than they'd feared.And then all hell broke loose.Barksdale’s Mississippians engage the Federal engineers from the buildings in FredericksburgAbout ten minutes before 5 a.m., the Federal engineers were alarmed to hear the distant reports of two Confederate cannon. Unbeknownst to them, this was the signal for Lee's army to begin concentrating at Fredericksburg. The engineers no doubt tensed up, fully expecting to be fired on immediately. But then, a minute went by, and all remained silent as the echoes of the cannon fire faded away. Five minutes later, it was still quiet. Finally, at 5 a.m. on the nose, Barksdale ordered his men to open fire. A few of the engineers recalled the sound of a Confederate officer breaking the eerie silence with an order to commence firing. Within seconds, the whole Fredericksburg waterfront across from the bridges was alive with musket fire."We were in the act of unloading a pontoon boat by sliding it off the hind end of a wagon that had been backed up close to the water. Captain [Augustus] Perkins was helping us and was pulling on a rope attached to the boat, and just as it slid off the wagon, the enemy opened a volley on us. Then the air was full of "bees," and all was confusion for a little while. The firing continued, and men, horses, and mules fell killed or wounded. Daylight soon came, and so did the ambulance men with their stretchers, picking up the dead and wounded. There lay the Captain. He had been instantly killed. I help lay him on a stretcher, and they carried him back up the hill he'd come down so full of life such a short time before, amid a roar of a hundred pieces of artillery which were belching shot and shell over our heads on the city, and the enemy beyond." - Sergeant Thomas J. Owen, 50th New York EngineersThe engineers, who were not armed, had no way to return fire, and the bridges offered no cover whatsoever. The only things in their favor in this unequal contest was the thick fog bank and the dim lighting, which no doubt helped to obscure them from their Confederate tormenters. Even so, staying on the bridges was a death sentence. The engineers who were not hit quickly abandoned their work to seek cover on the shore. As the engineers fled to cover, the Confederate fire tapered off. A few times, the engineers tried to return to their work, but each time they did, they were met with a storm of bullets.Brigadier General Daniel P. Woodbury, commanding the engineers of the Army of the Potomac, wrangled up about 75 volunteers from the 8th Connecticut Volunteer Infantry to go out on the bridges and provide cover fire. Despite being armed, these men found the bridges no more pleasant than the engineers had, and were soon forced back to cover after about twenty had been hit.The situation was at an impasse, as no work could continue on the bridges as long as the Mississippians occupied the far shore. Infantry fire had done nothing to diminish the Confederate fire, so something more effective would need to be found, and fast.Across the river, at the Chatham Mansion on Stafford Heights, Ambrose Burnside was seething. Once again, he had formulated a plan that depended on speed and surprise to be successful, and once again he was being met with frustration and failure. Some days earlier, he had believed that an agreement had been reached between himself, General Lee, and the city elders of Fredericksburg. That agreement was that no harm would come to the town as long as it was not occupied by Confederate troops. Yet now, hours after he'd hoped to have pontoon bridges across the Rappahannock, he was being stymied by Confederate infantry dug deep into the buildings of the town.Brigadier General Henry J. Hunt, Chief of Artillery for the Army of the PotomacBurnside called upon his Chief of Artillery, Brigadier General Henry J. Hunt. Hunt had position well over 150 artillery pieces on the commanding ground of Stafford Heights, overlooking the river. Feeling fully justified that Lee and the Fredericksburg elders had violated their agreement, he ordered Hunt to open up on the city with all his might. Hunt, a conservative Democrat who was very much in the McClellanesque "soft war" approach, was alarmed by Burnside's order. He went away resolving to fire only upon the buildings along the waterfront, where Confederate troops were firing from, in order to minimize the collateral damage.Federal artillery bombards the city of FredericksburgFor two hours, starting about 11 a.m. (at about which time the engineers at the lower crossing finished their work largely undisturbed), the guns on Stafford Heights pummeled the riverfront areas of Fredericksburg. Shells exploded in houses and streets, solid shot crashed through walls and roofs, and the areas were mostly wrecked. The engineers were told to be prepared to resume work on the bridges once the bombardment ceased.When it did so around 1 p.m., Burnside, and especially the luckless engineers, discovered something many American generals and fighting men would discover in the wars and decades that followed. Artillery bombardments (and aerial bombardment, for that matter) rarely is able to neutralize enemy infantry in an urban position. The Mississippians had kept their heads down through the shelling, and when it ended, they emerged from the basements and rifle pits they'd hid in and resumed firing on the Federals. Again, after losing more men to the fire coming from Fredericksburg, the engineers were forced back and work on the bridges could not go forward.Burnside again called on Hunt and expanded his previous orders. Now, Hunt was to fire on the town without care for whether the areas targeted were confirmed to be occupied by Confederate troops. Hunt believed that Burnside had ordered him to shell the town indiscriminately, and Burnside did not care to correct that notion. In his report, Hunt mentioned the moral quandary this put him in. He was already upset by being ordered to fire on the parts of town he knew to hold Confederate troops, but now it appeared he was supposed to shell the whole place, mostly because Burnside was extremely frustrated.Hunt, a consummate soldier, did as he was ordered to do. The town was shelled for the better part of another hour, with a few breaks in the firing to see if it had had any effect. Every time the engineers came out of hiding and crept towards the bridges, the Mississippians would open fire on them, and another bombardment would answer. Having seen that the orders he disagreed with on a moral level had failed to achieve their desired effect, Hunt approached Burnside with a new idea.Before continuing, it should be noted that the Confederates were incensed by this bombardment of the town of Fredericksburg, while taking absolutely no ownership in their role in it. Robert E. Lee, observing the bombardment from Marye's Heights beyond the town, was recorded as saying, "Those people delight to destroy the weak and those who can make no defense. It just suits them." Yet Lee, in deploying Barksdale and his Mississippians in the town of Fredericksburg itself, must have been aware that their presence would invite that very response.Artillery damage inflicted on Fredericksburg by Federal artillery, December 11, 1862Hunt's new idea was this: What if infantry used some of those pontoon boats to cross the river and establish a bridgehead on the Fredericksburg side? Wouldn't the engineers then have the cover they needed to complete the bridges?Burnside waffled. He thought the idea was promising, but the expected toll in lives among the men making such an assault concerned him. It sounded to him like a forlorn hope. But, out of ideas of his own as to how to carry the river, he told Hunt that if he could find volunteers for the riverine assault, he would give it his blessing. Hunt, relieved that he no longer had to indiscriminately shell Fredericksburg, went off to find some infantry who were game.Colonel Norman J. Hall was something special. Only 25 years old, he was here at Fredericksburg in command of a brigade of the 3rd Division, Second Army Corps, his first battle in command of a brigade. Hall had already seen more combat than many men twice his age.Colonel Norman J. Hall, commanding 3rd Brigade, 3rd Division, Second Army CorpsBorn in 1837, Hall had gotten an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on the recommendation of then-Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. He graduated in 1859, 13th in a class of 22. A few years later, he found himself assigned to the U.S. Army detachment in the harbor defenses of Charleston, South Carolina. He'd gotten a front-row seat to the beginning of the war there, and came home one of the heroes of Fort Sumter. During the bombardment of the fort, a Confederate shell had knocked the pole holding the American flag to the ground. Hall ran out onto the parade ground, then on fire from Confederate shells, and replaced the flag and pole. He was slightly wounded for his troubles, suffering burns on his face and losing his eyebrows permanently.Hall returned to his native Michigan and helped recruit a regiment of volunteers, but was not given a commission at that time. He joined the Army of the Potomac in command of a battalion of artillery, and participated in many of the battles on the Peninsula. In July 1862, he was finally given the commission he had wanted, as Colonel of the 7th Michigan Volunteer Infantry. He led the 7th in the Battles of Second Manassas and Antietam, where he was wounded. The 7th Michigan lost 60% of its men at Antietam, including 20 of its 23 commissioned officers. Also wounded in the battle was Brigadier General Napoleon Jackson Tecumseh Dana, the commander of the brigade in which Hall's regiment served. When Hall recuperated, he was given command of the brigade in Dana's absence.So it was that Henry J. Hunt found him there on Stafford Heights on December 11, 1862. Virtually fearless and always eager for a fight, Hall volunteered his own 7th Michigan, commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Henry Baxter, for the daring assault. He committed the rest of his brigade in support. Hunt reported Hall's offer to Burnside, and Burnside gave the plan a green light.Hall had his men march down to the riverfront and deploy behind cover to wait for the signal to attack. That signal would be the end of another bombardment of the riverfront areas of Fredericksburg. A little past 2 p.m., the guns opened again, and fired with renewed vigor for about half an hour. The guns fell silent, and about 70 men from the 7th Michigan broke cover and ran for the nearest pontoon boats. A few of the nervous engineers were roped into serving as oarsmen, and the boats set off as quickly as they could.Men from Michigan and New York cross the Rappahannock in pontoon boats to establish a bridgehead on the Fredericksburg sideThe Confederates soon directed their fire upon them, and men began to get hit. Some Michiganders returned fire as best they could from the boats, while most laid down below the gunwales to obscure themselves. Lieutenant Colonel Baxter, in command of this first wave of the assault, was struck in the chest by a bullet that perforated one of his lungs. He survived the wound, but was out of the fight. As the boats were about a third of the way across the 400-foot span of the river, things were getting hairy, although casualties were still unexpectedly low. Only one man had been killed thus far.Then, when the boats hit the halfway point in the river, something fortuitous happened. The Rappahannock had bluffs on both sides of the riverbank, and on the Fredericksburg side, the buildings there had been built a short distance back of the river's edge because of this. Once the boats reached a point about halfway across the river, they achieved defilade. In other words, the 10-foot bluff on that side of the river served to obscure them from the Confederates in the riverfront buildings and yards, allowing them to cross the rest of the span without taking fire.The bluffs also proved a godsend when the boats grounded on the far side of the river. Instead of having to exit the boats and wade to shore under fire, the Michiganders were able to get ashore and form a skirmish line all while protected from Confederate fire, thanks to the bluff. Major Thomas J. Hunt, who had taken command when Baxter went down with his wound, gave his men an order that was rarely heard in this war. He told the men of the 7th Michigan to take no prisoners in the upcoming attack. Fortunately for a number of Mississippians nearby, his men largely disregarded that order.When the Michiganders were organized in a line, they leapt up over the bluffs and assaulted the nearest buildings. Having come ashore at the foot of Hawke Street, they moved into the buildings to the left of its intersection with Sophia Street, along the shoreline. The assault was remarkably successful. The Confederates here were driven from the buildings along the river in short order, with over thirty Mississippians taken prisoner. Barksdale responded to this new threat by ordering his reserve regiments up to join those on the riverbank, forming a new line in the buildings along Caroline Street, the next street up from the riverfront.At about the same time as the 7th Michigan made its assault across the river, men from New York were doing the same a few hundred yards to the south, at the lower end of town opposite the middle crossing. Ambrose Burnside, seeing the enthusiastic response of Hall's Brigade to the plan of storming the opposite shore, had warmed to the idea and ordered the 89th New York to form a detachment for the same purpose. The crossing of these New Yorkers, about 150 men in six pontoon boats, met with even more success than the one at the upper crossing. Not a single man was killed in the crossing, although several were wounded, and just like with the Michiganders, the bluffs provided cover beyond the halfway point of the river. Once ashore, the New Yorkers assaulted the riverfront buildings and drove off the Confederates with little loss.By shortly past 3 p.m., the most dangerous waterfront areas of Fredericksburg were in Union hands. The engineers, now free of their tormentors, could resume work on the bridges. When Burnside and Hunt had conceived the idea of sending infantry across the river to establish a bridgehead on the far bank, they could never have imagined that success would be so total, and the cost so small. Clearly, judging from the ease with which the Federals took the most important sections of Fredericksburg, Barksdale and the Mississippians never expected the Yankees to try such a thing. The riverine assault had come as a complete surprise.That didn't mean victory was complete, however. The Federals still only held two small enclaves on the far side of the Rappahannock, and not in any great force. If the Mississippians rallied and counterattacked, it was not at all certain these small enclaves could be held. Reinforcements were sent across the river to help hold the bridgeheads already won, and to expand them if possible. The New Yorkers at the middle crossing were reinforced by the remainder of their regiment and stood firm, allowing the engineers to finish the bridge at that site. At the upper crossing, Colonel Hall determined to get his entire brigade across to the Fredericksburg side and drive the Confederates from the town. The stage was set for the bloodiest urban combat of the Civil War.Among the troops that filled out the balance of Hall's Brigade were two veteran regiments from Massachusetts, the 19th and 20th Infantry. These regiments had been engaged in virtually every major campaign of the Army of the Potomac since the fall of 1861. Both regiments were fresh from the debacle at Antietam, where their entire division had been ambushed on the left flank and routed. The men who remained were steady, tough, and resolute.The 20th Massachusetts in particular had a reputation as a hard fighting outfit. It was known through the army as "the Harvard Regiment," for the number of alumni and students in its ranks who hailed from that venerated Boston institution. The regiment had repeatedly proved the Confederate myth of "soft, citified Yankees" a baseless slander, and they would do so again on this day.No sooner had the pontoons that delivered the 7th Michigan across the Rappahannock returned to the Stafford side than Colonel Hall put several companies of the 19th Massachusetts in them and directed them across to shore up the Michiganders. These Bay Staters got across the river in short order, and moved into the buildings to the right of the intersection of Hawke and Sophia street, expanding the bridgehead a block north to Pitt Street. Satisfied that he had enough men on the Fredericksburg side to push into town, Hall gave the command to press on towards the next cross street, Caroline Street.Caroline Street would prove a far tougher nut to crack than the waterfront.Barksdale had brought forward all the troops he could muster within the town itself and concentrated them in the buildings at the intersection of Caroline and Hawke Streets. These Rebels concealed themselves in the houses, yards, barns, and basements along the street, such that the advancing Federals could hardly see where they were being shot from. The advance of the 7th Michigan and 19th Massachusetts quickly stalled against this formidable position.Colonel Hall called on Captain George N. Macy of the 20th Massachusetts to break the stalemate and storm the intersection. Hall and Macy decided to use the 335 men of the 20th as a sort of battering ram by assaulting the intersection in a column of companies, such that the depth of the formation was far broader than its width. At the head of the column making the assault would be Captain Henry Livermore Abbott, acting as the Major that day due to the heavy loss sustained at Antietam a few months earlier. Also leading men into action that day was Captain and future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.Future Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., then a Captain in the 20th MassachusettsCaptain Henry Livermore Abbott of the 20th MassachusettsWith bayonets fixed in the diminishing light of the late afternoon, the 20th Massachusetts rushed up Hawke Street towards the intersection with Caroline Street. As they did so, they predictably drew the bulk of the Confederate fire, and men began to drop in fearful numbers. Once they reached the intersection itself, their dense formation was exposed to fire all along Caroline Street. Captain Abbott, at the head of the column, watched in horror as his command melted away. Abbott himself would lead a charmed life this day, surviving this harrowing combat and the charge on Marye's Heights a few days later without so much as a scratch. Private Josiah F. Murphy, in the ranks not far from Abbott, was not so fortunate."We lay under the banks of the city, and as soon as the troops began to cross [the finished pontoon bridges], we were ordered forward. Our company formed in two platoons of about thirty men each at the lower end of [Hawke] Street and began to advance up the street. As soon as we came within sight of the Rebels, who were concealed within every house and behind every fence, they opened a terrible fire on us at short range, and our men began dropping at every point. Those struck in the vital parts dropped without a sound, but those wounded otherwise would cry out with pain as they fell or limped to the rear. But despite the terrible fire, we pressed on up the street. Where men fell and left a vacant place, other men stepped into their places, and although death stared us in the face, there was not a man who faltered. We had now arrived at the corner of a cross street called Caroline Street, and I, being on the left flank of the company, turned to look down the street to see if anything could be seen to fire at, and bringing my gun to the ready at the same time. At that moment, I felt a sharp stinging pain on the right side of my face, and presto! I knew no more. When I came to, I was lying on the ground where I had fallen, and the company had advanced a short distance up the street. The balls were still flying thick around me, and I realized I was wounded."“Fire on Caroline Street” by Don Troiani, depicting the assault of the 20th Massachusetts on the Caroline Street intersectionBy taking the lion's share of the Confederate fire, the 20th Massachusetts relieved some of the pressure on the 7th Michigan and 19th Massachusetts to their left and right, respectively, and these veterans were soon advancing in support. The fighting here was close in, house-to-house, and though it lasted only a few short minutes, it exacted a fearful price on both sides. After a few moments of this, it became clear to Barksdale that he had done all he could from this position. He ordered his Mississippians to extricate themselves from the Caroline Street buildings as best they could, and to reform a few blocks further west, near the floodplain.Map of the urban combat on December 11, 1862 in FredericksburgNow that the pontoon bridges had been finished, the town of Fredericksburg was soon flooded with Yankees. The remaining regiments of Hall's Brigade, the veteran 42nd and 59th New York and the rookie 127th Pennsylvania, were soon on scene in support of the Bay Staters and Michiganders. Several regiments of Brigadier General Joshua T. Owens' Philadelphia Brigade had come over on the bridges as well, and they were sent to expand the bridgehead to the south. They made contact with a few Mississippians from the 21st Infantry around the Market House, and a sharp exchange of fire ensued. The intensity quickly subsided here, however, as the Mississippians were on there way out of town and back to the main line on Marye's Heights.Barksdale covered his retreat by posting a detachment of the 21st Mississippi in a few buildings on the far western edge of town, with orders to hold position until after dark, but initiate no further combat on their own. The detachment was commanded by Lieutenant Lane Brandon. Brandon, interestingly, was a graduate of Harvard University, and when he took a few of the Federals in his front prisoner and asked them who he was, he was startled to learn that his old friend Henry Abbott was in command of them.Instead of being happy his friend was still alive, or hesitant to engage the enemy for fear of injuring or killing him, Brandon was instead incensed at the idea of having to give ground to him. Eyewitnesses describe Brandon as completely losing his head at this revelation, and in this state he deliberately disobeyed Barksdale's instructions and ordered his men to attack. Another short but intense firefight resulted from Brandon's recklessness, which only ended when Brandon was placed under arrest and his men ordered to disengage. By this time, darkness had fallen, and the remaining Mississippians in Fredericksburg took their leave.A day of firsts had come to a close.Both sides had a strong claim to victory. Barksdale, with only around 1,500 men, had held up the advance of the entire Army of the Potomac for a full day, allowing Robert E. Lee more than enough time to concentrate his forces at Fredericksburg in preparation for the Federal assault that would surely come. Burnside, although thoroughly frustrated by yet another attempt at speed and surprise being frittered away, had to commend his troops for an impressive performance. They had just crossed a river under enemy fire and driven him from an imposing urban position. Both of those things had never been done before in American history.The butcher's bill for the day's action is hard to determine with any precision. Because many of the units involved in the contest on December 11 were engaged again in the far larger and bloodier assaults on December 13, there is no real way to differentiate the losses from each day. Henry Livermore Abbott and some others in the 20th Massachusetts, which had lost more than any other unit by far, calculated that their loss on the 11th amounted to at least 97 men of the 335 engaged, with perhaps up to 113. Between the actions on December 11 and the assault on Marye's Heights on December 13, the 20th Massachusetts lost a staggering 175 men and officers at the Battle of Fredericksburg, out of 335 men engaged. The 50th New York Engineers, which certainly suffered all its losses on the 11th, lost eight men killed and 48 wounded. Total Federal losses were probably on the order of around 500 men killed, wounded, or captured.A report of casualties in Lafayette McLaws' Division indicates that the entire division lost a total of 244 men on December 11. According to that report, 29 men were killed, 151 wounded, and 64 were missing. There can be little doubt that the vast majority, if not every last one of these casualties, came from Barksdale's Brigade, as it was the only unit of the division engaged that day.A few of the leaders who played key roles in the contest on this day would see their luck run out before the war ended. William Barksdale, still in command of this same brigade of Mississippians, was shot in the chest in Longstreet’s assault on July 2, 1863, and died of his wounds the following day. Henry Livermore Abbott, who lived a seemingly charmed life on Caroline Street and at many other places, pressed his luck too far at the Battle of the Wilderness on May 6, 1864. Encouraging his men to fight while lying down, Abbott remained standing and took a bullet to the abdomen. He died a few hours later, just 22 years old. Norman J. Hall was wounded a few days later in the assault on Marye’s Heights, but survived. He returned to command this Brigade at Gettysburg, where it helped turn back Pickett’s Charge. The hard campaigning after Gettysburg and his Antietam and Fredericksburg wounds combined to deteriorate his health. He retired from active service in May 1864, and never rejoined the Army of the Potomac. He died at the age of 30 on May 26, 1867.Once the Army of the Potomac launched its grand assaults on Marye's Heights on December 13, the events of December 11, 1862 took a permanent back seat. The Battle of Fredericksburg, in memory, became the story of the massive wastage of life and abject failure of those assaults, and the innovation and success on December 11 were almost totally forgotten. It has to stand as one of the most overlooked engagements of the Civil War.