Lee’s object in these manoeuvres, besides the general one of embarrassing his adversary, seems to have been to gain time, and thus to render impossible, from the lateness of the season, a Federal advance upon Richmond.  Had General McClellan remained in command, it is probable that this object would have been attained, and the battle of Fredericksburg would not have taken place.  The two armies would have lain opposite each other in Culpepper and Fauquier respectively, with the Upper Rappahannock between them throughout the winter; and the Confederate forces, weary and worn by the long marches and hard combats of 1862, would have had the opportunity to rest and recover their energies for the coming spring.

The change of commanders defeated these views, if they were entertained by General Lee.  On assuming command, General Burnside conceived the project, in spite of the near approach of winter, of crossing the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg, and marching on Richmond.  This he now proceeded to attempt, by steadily moving from Warrenton toward the Lower Rappahannock, and the result, as will be seen, was a Federal disaster to wind up this “year of battles.”

We have spoken with some particularity of the character and military abilities of General McClellan, the first able commander of the Federal forces in Virginia.  Of General Burnside, who appears but once, and for a brief space only, on that great theatre, it will be necessary to say only a few words.  A modest and honorable soldier, cherishing for General McClellan a cordial friendship, he was unwilling to supersede that commander, both from personal regard and distrust of his own abilities.  He had not sought the position, which had rather been thrust upon him.  He was “surprised” and “shocked,” he said, at his assignment to the command; he “did not want it, it had been offered to him twice before, and he did not feel that he could take it; he had told them that he was not competent to command such an army as this; he had said the same over and over again to the President and the Secretary of War.”  He was, however, directed to assume command, accepted the responsibility, and proceeded to carry out the unexpected plan of advancing upon Richmond by way of Fredericksburg.

To cover this movement, General Burnside made a heavy feint as though designing to cross into Culpepper.  This does not seem to have deceived Lee, who, on the 17th of November, knew that his adversary was moving.  No sooner had the fact been discovered that General Burnside was making for Fredericksburg, than the Confederate commander, by a corresponding movement, passed the Rapidan and hastened in the same direction.  As early as the 17th, two divisions of infantry, with cavalry and artillery, were in motion.  On the morning of the 19th, Longstreet’s corps was sent in the same direction; and when, on November 20th, General Burnside arrived with his army, the Federal forces drawn up on the hills north of Fredericksburg saw, on the highlands south of the city, the red flags and gray lines of their old adversaries.