Fredricksburg (1862)

After twice turning down command of the Union Army of the Potomac General Ambrose E. Burnside had command of that army thrust upon him. Burnside knew his limitations and knew he would never be able to command the Army effectively but there was no way he could turn the command down. In respinse to the pressure he was under from President Abraham Lincoln and General-in-Chief Henry Halleck General Burnside launched into an aggressive campaign into Virginia. Initiall things went well as the Federals gave Lee the slip and arrive at the Rappahannock well before the Confederates. General Edwin Vose Sumner urged an immediate crossing of the river but Burnside had begun to panic and decided to wait for his pontoon bridges to come up. After almost four days of the Federals doing nothing the Confederates began to arrive. Lee had predicted that Burnside would fight northwest of Fredericksburg and deployed Longstreet's Corps accordingly as Jackson's Corps rushed to the battle but upon seeing how... Read more

Another Union blunder and another Union general dismissed by Abe.