Kearny as Commander of the AotP at least by Early 1863

I'm planning on doing this for my TL anyways, say Antietam is Inconclusive rather than a Union Victory as the AotP is more battered than in OTL, thus McClellan is fired by Lincoln for this happening and Burnside is placed in charge of the AotP. Fredericksburg happens as OTL but the Union suffers worse than in OTL. Major General Phillip Kearney survives Chantilly. Would it be possible for Lincoln to replace Burnside with Kearny and if not, who would be in Kearny's way?
 
Make the post of Commander of the Army of the Potomac toxic enough that everyone with any political juice who is senior to him turns it down. Lincoln was fairly willing to put people with less seniority in command there, such as Meade OTL.


Although one wonders if a battle of Antietam would necessarily happen at all, it's probably easy enough to justify a Fredericksburg analogue happening at some point due to the road network in Virginia at the time. That said, it's hard to see what would change an alternate Antietam into an inconclusive battle per se since the AoNV will have to retreat from Maryland regardless afterwards. Which is the OTL basis for calling it a victory for the Union, since the battle itself didn't accomplish much otherwise when the attempt to encircle fell flat.
 
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