The Battle of Fredericksburg (Part 1: The Evacuation)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Battle_of_Fredericksburg Now under the command of General Ambrose Burnside, the Army of the Potomac aims to once again invade and destroy Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. This time, Lee's army is spread out along Fredericksburg. Burnside needs only to cross his army across the river and attack the fractured Confederate army. If that had truly happened, you wouldn't be watching this video now. In one of many instances of sheer incompetency and sluggishness on the part of General Burnside, he rejected General Hancock's plan to move a division across the river to secure a bridgefront, saying he would wait for the pontoon bridges to arrive before crossing. This gave Robert E. Lee all the time he needed to bring much of his army together, and station picket troops along the banks of the Rappahannock from where the Union forces would be marching. Civilians were still in the city when the Union began turning artillery weapons on the city in an attempt to drive Confederate skirmishers out, and battles began taking place in the streets, while Burnside's troops massed into the city, and Lee's troops occupied Marye's heights. Before any arguing starts, let me say on my own that I fully and wholeheartedly believe that despite Robert Duvall's familial ties to the Lee family, I firmly believe Martin Sheen is a far superior Robert Edward Lee than Robert Duvall.