December 22, 1862---President Lincoln commends the troops at Fredericksburg

DECEMBER 22, 1862:        

General Ambrose Burnside meets with President Lincoln and the Cabinet to discuss the terrible loss at Fredericksburg. Although the public is now calling for Burnside’s head on a platter, Lincoln issues a public letter of praise to the troops:

“To the Army of the Potomac: I have just read your Commanding General’s preliminary report of the battle of Fredericksburg. Although you were not successful, the attempt was not an error, nor the failure other than an accident. The courage with which you, in an open field, maintained the contest against an entrenched foe, and the consummate skill and success with which you crossed and re-crossed the river, in face of the enemy, show that you possess all the qualities of a great army, which will yet give victory to the cause of the country and of popular government. Condoling with the mourners for the dead, and sympathizing with the severely wounded, I congratulate you that the number of both is comparatively so small.”