If Burnside had forded the river before the pontoon train, which was delayed in a bureaucratic foul-up, actually arrived, late, could he have secured the town and the heights beyond it and made a successful advance on Richmond. The Army Of The Potomac before Meade and Grant are in command is a succession of commanders who simply can't decide to advance and keep advancing until the enemy has retreated into a position from which he can only surrender. McDowell, McClellan, Pope, Burnside, and Hooker all bungled away tens of thousands of men and the morale of the army, with the exception of McClellan for morale.