So I’ve heard a song by josh turner called “Tears Of God”, and in it he has a line in the song that says “Engaged in heavy battle, till there came that cloudy draw, When silence took the battlefield men just stood in awe.” He goes on to talk about how the men literally just stopped fighting on both sides. Does anyone have any info on what exactly happened or if this is even true? The song is somewhat religious and “country”, I’m in no way trying to push religion on you, or musical preferences, I just wanted to know the story in less of a song type nature where “words need to rhyme” for it to sound good. TIA! Tears of God- Josh Turner
EDIT the answer may be in the song, and went over my head, so please only serious answers. Also, no rush, it’s not for school or anything just personal interest in the subject.
The heavy fighting in the battle of Fredericksburg occurred on Saturday, December 13th. The battle occurred from when the fog lifted around late morning, until darkness and the futility of the Union attack brought the battle to a close.
The union Commander, Ambrose Burnside, was initially planning to continue the attack in the morning. However morning fog on Sunday December 14th, delayed the attack as it had the previous day, and the Confederate armies used this time to fortify their position further. Burnside took council with his subordinate commanders and decided not to renew the previous day's assault, although there was some ineffectual long range shooting.
That night, the northern lights were seen above the battlefield. The following day, the Union army called for a truce to bury the dead and aid the wounded, which was agreed to. Afterwards, Union forces withdrew across the river during the night.
"Cloudy Draw" presumably refers to the foggy morning of the 14th when the armies sat in front of each other and kind of waited around to see if either would attack. Probably not very silent with desultory gunfire, but I guess it was much more quiet than the battle of the previous day. Close enough to be covered by poetic license, but perhaps the day long wait in between the battle and the unusual occurence of the northern lights wouldn't sound as dramatic.