November 27, 1862---Fools rush in . . .

NOVEMBER 27, 1862:       

Lincoln and Burnside, meeting at Aquia Creek, discuss the attack on Fredericksburg. Lincoln is already vexed at Burnside’s dilatoriness, which smacks too much of McClellan, and he is very concerned about Burnside’s plan to make a full frontal assault on the heights across the river. He encourages Burnside to ford the river northward of the city (as General Sumner had suggested) and sweep down on the city from the Confederate side. Burnside, who “wants not of heart but of head,” rejects the President’s suggestion.