Aurora.

This is coolbert:

This one I had forgotten. The transit of Venus across the face of the Sun only yesterday stimulating some thought on the topic.

Within the context of war, yet one more celestial phenomenon most unusual and intense, seen as an omen.

Celestial phenomenon normally taking the form of an eclipse [lunar or solar] or a comet. As a prelude to , during, or as in this case in the aftermath of a major military action.

In this case an aurora borealis, the Northern Lights!!

An aurora display of unusual and prodigious intensity, BLOOD RED, seen in the very aftermath of the Battle of Fredericksburg, 1862. Awesome and terrifying, a spectacle the participants taking proper note and making the proper appreciations from their own perspective.

Fredericksburg an acknowledged terrible defeat for the Union army, repeated charges of massed, bunched and compacted troop formations against dug-in and well prepared Confederate forces resulting in a stupendous loss of life, the attempted storming of Marye's Heights a futile offensive action that went horribly awry.

"The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in and around Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Maj. Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside. The Union army's futile frontal attacks on December 13 against entrenched Confederate defenders on the heights behind the city is remembered as one of the most one-sided battles of the American Civil War, with Union casualties more than twice as heavy as those suffered by the Confederates."

That main effort of the Yankee army repulsed, THAT BLOOD RED AURORA SEEN AS A COMMENT BY THE ALMIGHTY, YEA OR NAY YOUR CAUSE!!

"The Aurora Borealis streamed overhead in the winter sky, and Stonewall Jackson and the Confederates saw this as a sign that the almighty was celebrating their victory"

"nature put on a bizarre light show: the aurora borealis lit up the night sky--a weird thing to be happening so far south!"

"The evening of Dec. 14 was unusually quiet until suddenly the sky burst with an exciting display of moving red and blue colors known as aurora borealis. These Northern Lights that glowed and shot across the sky were rarely [extremely so] seen this far south in Virginia."

"Both armies were mesmerized by the light show and thought it might be a sign from the Almighty to them. Some victorious Southerners felt it was a testament to their successes and the righteousness of their cause. Northern soldiers felt it was a message condemning the slaughter that had just taken place."

Indeed, the Northern Lights seen so far south as Virginia and of such intensity is a very rare phenomenon "awesome and terrifying" both when considering the context of Fredericksburg!!

A synchronicity in action!! You  devoted reader to the blog judge for yourself.

coolbert.