Outline

Introduction: During any war, most battles have a distinguished winner and loser, with considerable consequences for the latter. Others, though, have no victory, and others still have an insignificant and small outcome. These last battles, while not greatly influencing the outcome of war, may still drastically alter the military career of an officer while producing massive casualties. The Battle of Fredericksburg of the Civil War was one such battle and General Ambrose E. Burnside was one such officer. This single conflict completely ruined the newly acquired reputation of Burnside. Although he had turned down the Army of the Potomac twice, Burnside finally accepted control of the army in order to keep it from a rival, Joseph Hooker, in November of 1862. A month after he became the commander, Burnside led his men into Fredericksburg, Virginia. Early during this campaign against Lee, it was thought the Union would easily win due to the element of surprise. Through Burnside’s poor leadership, though, the Confederates were able to build up their forces and viciously slaughter the Northern soldiers. Though the damage was already done, the Commander of the Army of Potomac attempted to ratify himself and his men during that January. He achieved nothing, though, and was removed from his position shortly after this atrocious attempt. I.

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Ambrose Burnside had turned down the offer of commanding the Army of the Potomac on two occasions before reluctantly accepting the offer to block Joseph Hooker from getting the command. General Ambrose E. Burnside inherited the Army of the Potomac on November 7, 1862 from McClellan. Battle a. Aftermath a. Burnside attempted again in January of 1863 while they were still camped on the western side of the Rappahannock. They got caught in torrential rains that led to the “mud march”. This march did nothing but further lower the respect of Burnside throughout the Union. In his anger, Burnside sent a letter to Lincoln to remove the offending officers. Lincoln then replaced Burnside with Joseph Hooker.