Between 1.30 and 2.30 of the afternoon several orders and messages were sent by General Burnside calling on General Franklin to renew the battle of the left. Before 2.30 he received from General Burnside, through his aide-de-camp, Captain Goddard, this despatch:
“Tell General Franklin, with my compliments, that I wish him to make a vigorous attack with his whole force. Our right is hard pressed.”
Under ordinary circumstances this would be regarded as a strong order, but Franklin had gone far enough in his first battle to be convinced that an attack by his “whole force,” the other end of the army “hard pressed,” would be extremely hazardous. If undertaken and proved disastrous, he could have been made to shoulder the whole responsibility, for a “wish” implies discretion. It is not just to the subordinate to use such language if orders are intended to be imperative. Men bred as soldiers have no fancy for orders that carry want of faith on their face.
The losses at Fredericksburg were as follows:[113]
UNION ARMY.
| Organization. | Killed. | Captured or Missing. | Wounded. | Total. |
| Right Grand Division (Sumner) | 523 | 4281 | 640 | 5,444 |
| Centre Grand Division (Hooker) | 352 | 2501 | 502 | 3,355 |
| Left Grand Division (Franklin) | 401 | 2761 | 625 | 3,787 |
| Engineers | 8 | 49 | 2 | 59 |
| Artillery Reserve | .. | 8 | .. | 8 |
| Aggregate | 1284 | 9600 | 1769 | 12,653 |
CONFEDERATE ARMY.
| Organization. | Killed. | Captured or Missing. | Wounded. | Total. |
| First Army Corps (Longstreet) | 251 | 1516 | 127 | 1894 |
| Second Army Corps (Jackson) | 344 | 2545 | 526 | 3415 |
| Stuart’s Cavalry | .. | 13 | .. | 13 |
| Aggregate | 595 | 4074 | 653 | 5322 |
During the night, before twelve o’clock, a despatch-bearer lost his way and was captured. He had on his person a memorandum of the purpose of General Burnside for renewing the battle against Marye’s Hill in the morning. The information was sent up to general head-quarters, and orders were sent General Ransom to intrench his brigade along the crest of the hill. Orders were sent other parts of the line to improve defences and prepare for the next day in ammunition, water, and rations, under conviction that the battle of next day, if made as ordered, would be the last of the Army of the Potomac.