Undone by the Mud: Vignettes of the Mud March
I n mid-January 1863, General Ambrose Burnside directed what proved to be his final offensive move as commander of the Army of the Potomac. Burnside’s aim was to steal a march on his opponent General Robert E. Lee, seize Banks’ Ford on the Rappahannock, and push into the rear of Fredericksburg. It was a bold move, but within two days of beginning, the drive was hopelessly mired down in the mud and the dejected Federals tramped back to their camps near Falmouth. The offensive became known as the Mud March, and it marked both the end of Burnside’s tenure as commander of the Army of the Potomac and the nadir of the war for his army. Today’s post will revisit the Mud March through the words of the men who were in the thick of it, slogging through the Virginia mud in a downpour. It is the picture of misery as our eyewitnesses will attest. All of the accounts comprising this post originated from Griff's incomparable Spared & Shared website .