Chapter 2: The Confederates Achieve a Major Victory at Fredericksburg

After the debacle at Antietam, President Lincoln sacks McClellan and replaces him with Major General Ambrose Burnside as Commander of the Army of the Potomac.

An eight week lull ends on December 11 when Burnside sends pontoon boats across the Potomac to attack the Confederate town of Fredericksburg. This action lasts for five days with wave after wave of blue soldiers being mowed down by Lee’s defenders arrayed behind stone walls along Marye’s Heights.

Union casualties of 12,410 cost Burnside his job, and on January 26, 1863, Major General Joseph Hooker succeeds him.