Speaking, as I did earlier about Fredricksburg...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK-nYaNBKRU

Good video about it.

One of the textbook examples of massive incompetency, and continuing to throw "bad money after bad" so to speak.

Many ways such a superior force, even beyond the bridges arriving late and losing the element of surprise, could have carried the day.

IMO...

1. Make the left (Union left from Burnside's perspective) a delaying action, or as 1A, after the breakthrough exploiting it by reinforcing it and pressing his attack by supporting it with more of a center, and not preparing for such a foolish attack on the center. Had this failed, continue the diversion, shift the reserve of the attack to bolster the defense in case of a Jackson counterattack, and shift some to the center, for the left of the feint in preparation for 2.)

2. Making his center attack after this a diversion, and when it utterly failed, stopping to commit nearly his entire center and what could have been a right flanking maneuver into the grinder against a superiority dug in force fighting on perfect defensive ground, and well rested at that.

3. Flanking around right and enveloping Marye's Heights and removing the advantage of a superior defensive position by an inferior force. (If this envelopement was successful, Lee/Jackson would have not have a superior position and no one would have had high ground. At best, the Confederated withdrew to another battle north of Richmond, if the attack on the left (Union left) went anywhere, it may have lead to an advance straight to Richmond, ending the war much, much earlier.)

4. Maybe doing better counter battery firing by superior, and longer range and rifled (more accurate) artillery at nearly ANY point in the battle (less likely to succeed, but he didn't even try it except to attack one single cannon used by Pehlam which delayed them by over an hour.)

Burnside IMO, was one of the biggest fools of the war, maybe only superseded by that of both Lincoln (who did so out of politics) and the Union Population (who did so because Democracy is piss poor at fighting total war in many cases). A lot of the former was influenced by that latter...

Kevin