Burnside was unable to receive the requisite pontoon bridges on time due to bureaucratic delays
Another interesting fact about the Battle of Fredericksburg is that Burnside was unable to receive the requisite pontoon bridges on time due to bureaucratic delays. On November 15, the Union Army began moving, and the first forces arrived in Falmouth on November 17. Burnside's plan rapidly went awry, he had ordered pontoon bridges to be rushed to the front and built for his speedy crossing of the Rappahannock, but the bridges did not arrive on time due to administrative blundering.
On November 25, the boats and supplies for a single pontoon bridge arrived in Falmouth, far too late for the Army of the Potomac to cross the river without opposition. Burnside still had a chance because he was only facing half of Lee's force, which had not yet dug in, and if he acted swiftly, he might have been able to attack Longstreet and destroy him before Jackson arrived. He squandered another opportunity. The complete complement of bridges arrived by the end of the month, but Jackson was already present, and Longstreet was planning substantial defenses.
Burnside had intended to cross his army east of Fredericksburg at Skinker's Neck, but an advance movement by Federal gunboats to that point was fired upon, drawing Early's and D.H. Hill's subdivisions in that domain. Burnside surmised that the Confederates had weakened their left and center in order to concentrate on Lee on their right, assuming Lee had foreseen his plan. As a result, he opted to cross at Fredericksburg directly. In addition to his numerical superiority in soldier strength, Burnside had the knowledge that his army. On the other side of the Rappahannock, 220 artillery pieces were stationed on the Stafford Heights ridge to prevent Lee's army from mounting major counterattacks.
