Burnside was frantic over the repeated failures. He was determined that the heights should be carried, and ordered Hooker, his only remaining general, to do it. Hooker went across with his three divisions, made a careful reconnoissance, and saw that to carry out the command meant the massacre of all his troops. He returned to Burnside and begged him to recall his order. He refused, and Hooker attempted to obey, leading 4,000 of as brave men as ever shouldered a musket; but before they could reach the stone wall 1,700 lay helpless on the icy earth and the remainder fled. Had not night been at hand, Burnside would have ordered another charge and sacrificed hundreds of more lives, but he concluded to let the men live until the next morning. Already 1,200 had been killed, almost 10,000 wounded, and several thousand were missing. The commanders gathered around Burnside and insisted that the army should be brought across the river before it was annihilated, but he refused. He was resolved on sacrificing several thousand more under the ghastly name of a "charge." At last, however, he became more reasonable and listened to his officers. Perhaps the shrieks of the wounded, who lay for two days and nights where they had fallen without help, produced some effect in awaking him to a sense of his horrible blundering and incompetency, for, when the bleak, dismal morning dawned, the intended "charge" was not ordered. The Army of the Potomac had been wounded so well-nigh unto death that it could not stand another similar blow. [Illustration: LATEST MODEL OF GATLING GUN.] On the cold, rainy night of December 15th, the wretched forces tramped back over the river on the pontoon-bridges, having suffered the worst defeat in the army's whole history. It was in the power of Lee to destroy it utterly, but it slipped away from him, just as it had slipped away from McClellan after the battle of Antietam. The Union losses at Fredericksburg were: Killed, 1,284; wounded, 9,600; missing, 1,769; total, 12,653. The Confederate losses were: Killed, 596; wounded, 4,068; captured and missing, 651. Total, 5,315. SUMMARY OF THE YEAR'S OPERATIONS. The eventful year had been one of terrible fighting. It had opened with the Union successes of Forts Henry and Donelson, followed by Pea Ridge, Pittsburg Landing, and Corinth in the West, the naval battle between the _Merrimac_ and _Monitor_, the capture of Roanoke Island and of New Orleans. Bragg's invasion of Kentucky was injurious to the Union cause, while, as we have seen, the campaign against Richmond had been a series of disastrous failures. Still, taken as a whole, the year showed a decisive step forward. The Union line had been advanced across the State of Tennessee, substantial progress had been made in opening the Mississippi, and the blockade was enforced with a rigidity that caused great distress in the Confederacy.