The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-07 00:00:00

The Late Battle of Fredericksburg.

(FROM AN EYE-WITNESS.)

We ( Quebec Mercury) have been permitted to
make the following extract from the lett, r of a Cana-
diAn surgeon in the Federal army to a relative in
Montreal, dated from Burnside's headquarters on
Sunday last :--
"Being attached for the time to headquarters,
with nothing to do but to watch the progress of the
fight from the gallery of the Phillip's Mansion,
which commands a view of nearly the whole field
of operations on the other Bide of the river, Ihad
as good a sight of the battle after the fog lifted
about noon as from a box seat of a theatre. At in-
tervals the clouds of smoke obscured the scene, but
thesa
again they rolled off, and a gran
fight was exhibited. The battled onp Panorama
sideaa a owfa
carnival of cowardice. Whatever the newspapers
say, the highest officers here do not pretend to con-
ceal that the Union troops never fought so badly.
After h
got within point blank range of the
nothing could induce them to advance.
tefiyr had
fire,
n
enemy's
Fredericksburg was filled with stragglers in thou-
sands before the engagement had commenced, and
this went on all day, until before night more than
half the army had disbanded, and was skulking and
plundering about town. Including the reserves,
which went into action late in the afternoon, the
Union force engaged was not less than 200,000. I
do not think, from all that I can learn, the killed
killed and wounded will reach 6,000, and should
not be surprised to learn they are not more than
4,000. The position of the enemy, although good,
was not exceedingly strong, and so wide spread
that it was liable to be cut in half. It was not to be
compared to that held by the Russians at Alma,
which the Allies forced with so little difficulty ;
and I am satisfied that a European army of one-
fourth the Federal force would have carried it
with a single rush. But our men would not fight ;
when the columns were got within range, they
halted, began firing, every man on his own hook,
became confused, and fell back in a perfect mob
to be reformed. Seen from a distance, the attacking
columns looked like so many street mobs, on which
the police had made a sudden attack; a convulsion
seemed to shake each in its turn, it opened out
apparently with a desperate resolve to form line
and advance, and then came a regular sauce qui
pent, and every man ran for cover to the rear, as
though the devil were after him. Then the jeering
yells of the Confederates would ring out above the
dull booming of the cannon and the pattering of
musketry, and springing up from behind fences
and rifle pits, the dark, gray line would advance at
a run, and pour crushing volleys into the flying
rout. I don't believe on the Confederate left and
centre that our troops got within 150 yards of the
advanced defences ; and it is certain very few of
our wounded were too near to the enemy's line to
be carried off. On the right the fighting is said to
have been better. The greater part of the loss on
our side was among the skulkers in the streets of
Fredericksburg. We took and lost some prisoners
on our left, but on no other pert of the field were
the two armies sufficiently near to each other to
make captives. The greater part of our dead have
been left where they fell, but arrangements have
been made by flag of truce to bury them. It is
whispered, however, that it has been resolved to
retire the army to this side of the river, General
Burnside being satisfied it is useless to make another
attack on the Confederate position with such troops.
The material of the army is worse now than ever it
was ; a battle is the signal for ' skedaddle' among the
conscripts, substitutes, and bounty volunteers, and
a disaster in any other position would lead to disso-
lution. But for the guards at the bridge-heads
yesterday tens of thousands of skulkers would be
by this time well on their way to Washington.
Nothing is known of the enemy's loss beyond the
statement of one of Lee's officers, who came in with
a flag and permission for us to bury our dead in
front of his lines, that it is very small. This
would naturally be the case from his troops being
under cover of rifle-pits, earthworks, and woods,
and the rolling nature of their position allowing
them to be concealed, where neither rifle nor
cannon could reach them. The weather is as
cold as November with you; ice forms every night,
and does not disappear during the day; the roads
are very bad, and in consequence the distribution of
provisions irregular. There is a general talk of
winter quarters, and a general hope that the cam-
paign is ended until spring. All day long the cars
have been bringing up ammunition for the batteries
on this side from Acquia. Landing, the firing last
week having exhausted the magazines. A good many
of the wounded have been brought across the river,
and the hospital arrangements being bad, as nsua
arrangements are being made to forward all tha
can be moved to Washington."

AFFAIRS ON SUNDAY.
" Headquarters, Fifth Army Corps, Fredericksburg,
Dec. 15, Evening.
"It has been a quiet day for the Fifth Army Corps
—a far different one from that anticipated last even-
ing. If there had been any fighting this corps would
have come in for the first share, as it now occupies
the post of danger. Gen. Griffin's division holds still

the same position it held at the close of last evening.
Theylie in a ravine,the front of which is close on the
enemy's first line of cannon. It is about all a per-
son's life is worth to go to them or come from them.
The moment a human form shows itself on the brow
of the hill this side, a score of bullets salutes him
from the rebel sharpshooters on the opposite hill.
Lieutenant Ross, of General Griffin's staff, had his
horse shot under him early this morning in en-
deavouring to carry a message to one of the brigade
commanders. He says the bullets flew about his
head with a proximity and liveliness anything but
agreeeble. He escaped by crawling away on his
viands and knees. Similar salutations was tendered
to Lieutenant Case, also on General Griffin's staff.
He beat an active and, happily, secure retreat.

The regiment have lain on their faces all day, with
arms in readiness to spring to work when the order
should be given. This situation of affairs has ren-
dered it impossible to bury our dead lying on the
field—the dead being mainly ',those of General
Couch's corps, Sturgis's division, which this divi-
sion relieved."