The road down to the river was in complete chaos. Wagons, artillery and men clogged the road being unable to move. Some mules and horses dropped dead in the road, completely exhausted after being driven to pull a load they could not move. After three days of this, Burnside decided to help raise morale by issuing whiskey to his troops. This turned out to be another bad idea. Soldiers got drunk and started fighting with each other. At times entire regiments were engaged in fistfighting. By the fourth day, January 23rd, Burnside realized he could not get cross the Rappahannock. He finally cancelled the order.