No other general on either side of the American Civil War had the opportunity to end the war in a single day that Union General Ambrose Burnside had on December 12, 1862. Burnside's plan to cross the Rappahannock River and surprise Robert E. Lee's overextended Army of Northern Virginia was a brilliant one, perhaps the boldest stroke conceived during the war.Unfortunately, the plan for a river crossing in winter was overly ambitious, and Burnside was...