...he results obtained came to be compared with the efforts they had cost. At the East the month of December alone had seen the Army of the Potomac exhaust its strength in vain against the redoubts of Fredericksburg , whilst Sherman, on the Mississippi, experienced a bloody check before Vicksburg; finally, at the centre, the last day of the year had been marked by the sad battle of Murfreesboroa, so desperately f...