The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1862-12-30 00:00:00

RTER.
29.

REPULSE OF THE FEDERALS AT
FREDERICKSBURG. - REPORTED
LOSS OF 20,000 MEN.

No sooner had General M'Clellan been super-
seded by General Bumaide in the command of '
the army of the Potomac, than the New Com-
mander-in-Chief resolved upon marching upon '
Richmond by way of Fredericksburg, The
thing, however, was easier resolved upon than
done. On arriving at the northern bank of the
Rappahannock rivers Opposite Fredericksburg,
he demanded the surrender of that city; but the
pontoon bridges he had expected from Washing-
ton had not arrived, and General Bunaside was
obliged to wait there some six weeks before his
onward march could be continued. At last the
pontoon bridges arrived, and early on the
morning of the 11th December, the Confede-
rates, discovering that the troops were preparing
to cross the river, opened with their artillery,
but using it with great reserve. There were,
however, in the cellars and behind the walls of
the houses fronting the river, some Confederate
sharp shooters, who succeeded in killing several
patties of Federal engineers. Then commenced
the bombardment of the city by the Federate,
and the place was soon laid in ruins; still, the
sharp shooters remained in the streets to the
very last. About a quarter past nine on the
morning of the 12th, General Franklin's grand
division began its transit some three miles below
the city. The fog, however, prevented the play
of artillery ; but in the middle of the day the
Federals, who were now the sole occupants of
the city, discovered that dear weather brought
them showers of iron hail, heavy and destruc-
tive. It must strike everybody who has the
slightest acqnaintance of the tactics of war that
the moment Burnaide got his army across the
river he was in a most dangerous position.
Before him was an unseen enemy, with
whose strength he was but imperfectly
acquainted, and behind him a deep river. It
was a position which called for instant action,
and Burnside, ttraprehending the danger, lost
no time in bringing on an engagement. On the
12th, the day after he had got his army South
of the Rappahannock, he "opened the ball,"
and a bloody "dance of death" was the result.
The Federals begun the advance with their right
wing, in the midst of a dnnse fog, and tv6M re-
oeived with the heavy artillery of the enemy,
who seem to have fully anticipated and pre-
pared for the attack. Ths Federate, now placed
face to face with the Confederates for the first
time since the army was placed under the com-
mand of General Burnside, received, according
to the mild language of a friendly telegram,
what is called " a check." The Federal com-
mander was thin made 10qt-tainted praetidally
with the fighting ability of the "rebels." Be
was not to be daunted, hoivpver, by a first
failure. In fact his critical position Would not
pertifit him to remain inrietiiie--he !inlet advante
or run the risk of a tremendous defeat. His
resolution was soon taken. Having reinforced
the division that had been driven back, he again
charged the enemy, and was again repulsed with
the heaviest slaughter, although the troops are
reported to have fought with the most deter-
mined courage. General Lee'e position on the
heights commanding the city was found to be
impregnable. During the onslaught, the Federal
Generals Bayard and Jackson were killed, and
five other Generale *ere wounded, among whom
wail General Meagher, of the Irish Brigade.
The Time correspondent, in noticing this battle,
says it was "one of the fiercest, and decidedly
the most calamitous of the war, to the Federal
army." Burnside admita his lost in killed to
amount to 15,000 men, and some reports
assert that it is at least double that number. The
whole of the two succeeding days was spent by
the Federate in removing their wounded and
burying their dead ; and on the night nf the 15th,
after a 'hurt and earnest Connell of War, General
Burnside issued orders to recrpse the Rappahan-
nock. The movement wile safely, eifeeted in the
darkness, amid A storm of wind and rain, the
Confederates offering no opposition, and being,
probably, unaware of the moVement. The
Federal army has therefore retraced its steps to
Falmouth, where it is now encamped, and thus
closes the first act in the drama under General
Burnside's command, and, it is believed, the end
of the winter campaign.