Burnside Takes Fredericksburg

Lets say that instead of waiting on the other side of the Rappahannock that General Burnside takes Major General Sumners advice and fords the River to take Fredericksburg which was only guarded by around 500 men. I’d assume the city would be easily taken and that Lee would take his position at the North Anna River. What happens next? What are Burnsides options? Can he take Richmond and win the war?
 
While could have ordered Sumner to capture the town of Fredericksburg itself, without a pontoon bridge Sumner cannot cross the river in large enough numbers to occupy Marye’s Heights, just the town itself. Not to mention the very legitimate fear that rising water levels would mean the isolation of Sumner's force. Sumner even later claimed that Burnside was right.

An easier POD would be having the pontoon bridges arrive at Fredericksburg on November 20-22, then Burnside should be able to capture Fredericksburg before any meaningful Confederate opposition be made to resist the crossings. IOTL, Lee anticipated the fall of Fredericksburg and had planned to concentrate the Army of Northern Virginia at North Anna. However, Burnside had successfully surprised Lee and thus the Army of Northern Virginia was still on the move. I believe Lee had intended to slow Burnside with an advance guard of McLaws' and Ransom's Divisions while the rest of Longstreet's and Jackson's Corps concentrated at North Anna.

Assuming the Army of the Potomac was fully concentrated at Fredericksburg by November 24, Longstreet should be in place at North Anna while Jackson is still in the process of marching to North Anna but is closing in. Burnside might be reluctant to attack Lee, due to a lack of knowledge of Jackson's location after crossing the river. Lee is in trouble; assuming no fighting breaks out between the advance guard and the Federals, Lee has only 38,320 men to cover the North Anna, far less than what he had during the Overland Campaign. Still, Lee was not the only one with severe trouble, Burnside was seriously struggling with keeping his men fed due to atrocious roads. So the way I see it:
  1. Burnside decides to establish winter camps at Fredericksburg and resume the campaign when May begins. This is fairly unlikely for Burnside. The man was pressured by Washington to win a major battle for the sake of the Emancipation Proclamation. Besides, it would seem like a waste to throw away the initiative after surprisingly Lee badly.
  2. Burnside attacks Lee's North Anna position. Lee's North Anna position is formidable, so long as Lee strongly contests the crossings, Burnside will have a hard fight securing a crossing. The main advantage Burnside can expect is his overwhelming numerical superiority over Longstreet. If Burnside breaks through one of the crossings, Longstreet will have a hard time containing the breach. However, Jackson's arrival makes a successful crossing a double-edged sword. If Lee throws a strong counterattack against one of Burnside's bridgeheads, it is probable that the bridgehead collapses with heavy losses. Whatever the result may be, Burnside must go into winter camps fairly soon. There was not much time to continue the campaign before winter made operations too difficult.
 
Burnside attacks Lee's North Anna position. Lee's North Anna position is formidable, so long as Lee strongly contests the crossings, Burnside will have a hard fight securing a crossing. The main advantage Burnside can expect is his overwhelming numerical superiority over Longstreet. If Burnside breaks through one of the crossings, Longstreet will have a hard time containing the breach. However, Jackson's arrival makes a successful crossing a double-edged sword. If Lee throws a strong counterattack against one of Burnside's bridgeheads, it is probable that the bridgehead collapses with heavy losses. Whatever the result may be, Burnside must go into winter camps fairly soon. There was not much time to continue the campaign before winter made operations too difficult.
I see. But if Burnside attack could he have won? And if he just decides to go into winter camps I think he would just be replaced in Washington because all of his initiative would’ve been lost. The alternative to going the Fredericksburg route I believe was going south down the O&A to Gordonsville and Culpeper and attacking Lees Army there (Correct me if I’m mistaken). Would that have proven to be a better route, it was the route that President Lincoln supported, and could it have led to victory in Richmond?
 
The alternative to going the Fredericksburg route I believe was going south down the O&A to Gordonsville and Culpeper and attacking Lees Army there (Correct me if I’m mistaken). Would that have proven to be a better route, it was the route that President Lincoln supported, and could it have led to victory in Richmond?
Well, that was the starting point of the Fredericksburg Campaign. The main problem is the O&A Railroad. Frankly speaking it’s bad at doing its job. It handled notably less volume than the RF&P, and had another notable disadvantage; it led away from Richmond. Charlottesville was about as close as it could lead towards Richmond. The Lincoln administration liked this route because it did keep the AotP more or less between Lee and D.C. Most of the AotP generals, particularly McClellan's adherents, disliked this route however. In fact, McClellan started the idea of the Fredericksburg Campaign to get away from the O&A, Meade in late 1863 pleaded to move away from the O&A to Fredericksburg and Grant seriously considered it before rejecting it due to its inability to keep the army supplied.
 
Well, that was the starting point of the Fredericksburg Campaign. The main problem is the O&A Railroad. Frankly speaking it’s bad at doing its job. It handled notably less volume than the RF&P, and had another notable disadvantage; it led away from Richmond. Charlottesville was about as close as it could lead towards Richmond. The Lincoln administration liked this route because it did keep the AotP more or less between Lee and D.C. Most of the AotP generals, particularly McClellan's adherents, disliked this route however. In fact, McClellan started the idea of the Fredericksburg Campaign to get away from the O&A, Meade in late 1863 pleaded to move away from the O&A to Fredericksburg and Grant seriously considered it before rejecting it due to its inability to keep the army supplied.
That makes sense. Could Burnsides have done what Hooker did later in 1863 and what would happen if Burnsides bit the bullet and went south and attacked Lee around Culpeper or Gordonsville as he planned and as some in Washington wanted him too? I think he didn’t want to do that because Jackson was relatively close but I’m not sure it looks like he was in the blue ridge at the time.
 
Could Burnsides have done what Hooker did later in 1863
That’s a definite no. Burnside had the fords examined. Recent rains had made all of the lower Rapphannock fords impassable, and the continuation of the rains threatened that if Burnside crossed any force at US Ford, which might have been possible, just a little more rain would leave it completely isolated. (His instinct was right about the weather, as it turned out)

Burnsides bit the bullet and went south and attacked Lee around Culpeper or Gordonsville as he planned
Burnside never intended to attack Lee at Culpeper or Gordonsville. From the start, Burnside was intent on moving to Fredericksburg. While Halleck and Lincoln were not pleased, Haupt agreed with Burnside on the shorter and more defensible route.
 
While could have ordered Sumner to capture the town of Fredericksburg itself, without a pontoon bridge Sumner cannot cross the river in large enough numbers to occupy Marye’s Heights, just the town itself. Not to mention the very legitimate fear that rising water levels would mean the isolation of Sumner's force. Sumner even later claimed that Burnside was right.

Couldn't the houses and fences of the town of Fredericksburg be used as building materials for a bridge?
 
Couldn't the houses and fences of the town of Fredericksburg be used as building materials for a bridge?
Possibly, but there are several problems to this. While Burnside could cross the river onto Fredericksburg, there is a very real concern as to whether or not a respectable pontoon bridge could be built out of the town's materials in reasonable time. I'm not an expect on ACW engineering, but building a pontoon bridge was not a small affair. It is fairly questionable if Federal engineers could just disassemble houses and use them for material. Pontoon bridges were usually constructed with far thicker logs than anything that could be salvaged from a 19th century house. A pontoon was 31 feet long and each bridge at Fredericksburg required eighteen to twenty pontoons to stand up to the rigors of carrying an army across the river.
 
Possibly, but there are several problems to this. While Burnside could cross the river onto Fredericksburg, there is a very real concern as to whether or not a respectable pontoon bridge could be built out of the town's materials in reasonable time. I'm not an expect on ACW engineering, but building a pontoon bridge was not a small affair. It is fairly questionable if Federal engineers could just disassemble houses and use them for material. Pontoon bridges were usually constructed with far thicker logs than anything that could be salvaged from a 19th century house. A pontoon was 31 feet long and each bridge at Fredericksburg required eighteen to twenty pontoons to stand up to the rigors of carrying an army across the river.

Those are reasonable concerns, but any such bridge would only have to last until the pontoons actually arrived.
 
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