Fredericksburg, Battle of
Fredericksburg, Battle of (1862).After repelling the Confederates at the battles of Antietam, Perryville, and Corinth, the Union forces in the fall of 1862 renewed their offensives against Richmond, Chattanooga, and Vicksburg. President Abraham Lincoln replaced Gen. George B. McClellan with Gen. Ambrose Burnside in November 1862 in command of the Army of the Potomac. Burnside proposed to move toward Fredericksburg, Virginia, as a preliminary to an offensive against Richmond. Moving quickly, his army covered 40 miles in two days, leaving Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee guessing as to its destination, but confused orders and bureaucratic bungling delayed the arrival of pontoons for bridging the Rappahannock River for a week. These delays and Burnside's own...
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