The Fredericksburg Campaign: Decision on the Rappahannock (Military Campaigns of the Civil War)

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Summary: ritcal essays by the Foremost Experts on Lee's Best Battle
Review: A great collection of essays by those historians most familiar with the Battle of Fredericksburg. Burnsides excellent biographer, Wiliam Marvel, writes a very balanced essay on Burnside and his high command that was still full of McClellan political generals and some that were inept. Burnside shares blame for failed opportunities but was primarily let down by Franklin who proved to be incapable or neglectful in providing a strong attack on the Confederate right that was necessary to attack the heights of the town on the confederate left. The objective critic of Lee, Alan Nolan, writes an essay substantiating why this battle was Lee's greatest and how Longstreet was so capable that his great critic Douglas Freeman had to praise him. A. William Greene who spent many years with the park service at Fredericksburg (he's now at the new Pamplin Civil War Museum in Petersburg) writes of Burnside's last and lost attempt at continuing the campaign, the mud march. Difficult in bad weather but made worse by the political generals who contributed willingly to his failure. The other essays contribute to the realities of war, the carnage and the effect on Civilians and how the virtually destroyed Pennyslvania Division were later to shout "Remember Fredericksburg" at Gettysburg.

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Summary: A correction for your on-line review.
Review: Your review of Gallagher's book on the Battle of Fredericksburg has the date wrong. It was fought on Dec. 13, 1862, not 1863.