The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-23 00:00:00

9, most extraordinary sandwiching of opposing
forces together.
"Skirmishing occurred along.the whole line until
half-oast 5 o'clock in the evening. when the rebels
attacked us from t%o ways. The Union forces
were at the time arrayed in an arc, both wings rest-
ing on the river, the right at Banks's Ford.
" We were arranged in two lines of battle, the
enemy attacking, the second division of the second
and Hovee's at first approaching them diagonally
from Fredericksburg and the country directly be-
yond. General Mills's brigade, consisting of the
33d New York, 77th New York, 20th New York,
49th New York, together with the Vermont brigade
and the 7th Maine, bore the brunt of the charge,
repulsing the enemy handsomely. The Vermont
brigade were on the left of General Mills. General
Mille's and other troops made a counter charge,
hut reinforcements coming up to the enemy we were
not able to drive them. The 77th acted nobly, but
the 20th New York behaved very disgracefully, as
it did at White Oak Swamp, and falling back,
brought a cross fire on the 33d. Their colonel, how-
ever, behaved himself most bravely. The other lines
of battle were now attacked by overwhelming num-
bers and obliged to fall back to the river. While
the battle was raging terribly our siege guns on this
side of the river opened a fire on the enemy from
behind, but they advanced so far in driving our
forces, that the shell, after a short time, failed to
reach them. Our forces were pursued back steadily,
musketry and artillery fire continuing all night.
Our guns made terrible havoc among the enemy,
as they charged repeatedly on them in solid column.
The artillery reserved their fire until the charging
parties came within a few rods, and then poured
the shot and canister into them at a
fearful rate. Having broken the column
they would fall back to a new position, and
prepare to receive another column. General
Hayes, of Louisiana ; Gen. Berry, of Early's divi-
sion, and Col. M'l)owell, of the 54th North Carolina,
were killed, among many other rebels.
" Gen. Brooks, on our side, was wounded. Gen.
Mills is killed or wounded, and Col. Taylor has com-
mand of the brigade. Lieut.-Col. Corning ---,
33d New York, wounded. Lieut.-Col. Martindale,
26th New Jersey, killed, and many other valuable
officers killed and wounded. The Vermont Brigade
suffered very severely, as well as many other com-
mands.
"An officer from Banks' Ford this morning in-
forms me that the 2d Corps, together with 20 pieces
of artillery, crossed over the pontoons at Banks'
Ford early this morning, and covered the retreat of
the 6th Corps, as it came back over this side of the
Rappahannock. But the artillery firing which is
now going on in the rear of Fredericksburg inclines
me to doubt the statement, and believe that the
corps is still on the other side, trying to fight its
way to the river. Last evening the rebels opened
artillery on the bridges, and damaged one of them
considerably, but it was repaired by our engineers.
One bridge cannot, I think, be reached by their
guns. Our artillery on this side kept up a rapid
fire on the rebel guns during the night. The am-
bulances have been bringing in the wounded
all night. It is reported that Gen. Sickles has been
killed on the extreme right.
" Wednesday Morning, May 6.
"The 6th Army Corps succeeded in cutting its
way through the enemy, reaching this side of the
river yesterday morning. The rebels made hercu-
lean efforts to surround it, but were foiled in their
endeavours. They succeeded in getting on three
sides of the force, and then opened a battery on the
bridge which served for a retreat. How it got sway
in so good a condition is a great mystery to all of
us. Yet the corps suffered severely, having been sub-
jected to the ordeal of four heavy battles within 36
hours, fighting the last two against overwhelming
odds, and when hope of escape seemed wellnigh
gone. Prior to this disaster, the 6th Corps was the
finest in the Army of the Potomac. During these
seven days' battles, it has done the work on the left
from the very first, constructing thic e of the bridges,
doing all the skirmishing, storming the Federicks-
burg heights, and rushing on to the support of the
right. Who is reponsible for this successful flank-
ing of the force, lam unable to say. One thing is
true, however. After taking the heights, the corps
pushed rapidly on up the river, regardless of heavy
firing from guns planted in the wood crest at the
left of the city, and as we moved on in our rear the
road from this crest was unguardedly left open, and
when the overwhelming force of the enemy appeared
there was not a corporal's guard, in comparison, to
resist them.

" Up to this time everything was working admi-
rably. We were both in the front and rear of the
enemy, and had we been content to rest on the
Fredericksburg Heights, without ',pushing on, we
should have had the rebels in a tight place. All
this advantage is now lost. The Heights have been
recovered, and operations suspended by us on the
left. The history of Sunday, Monday, and Tues-
day would furnish volumes of incidents. The

wounded in Fredericksburg, medical stores, &c.,

were saved by some one organising the stragglers
in the streets into a picket line facing the Heights
taken possession of, thereby causing the enemy to
think we had a considerable force both in the city
and on this side, which was far from the case. Dr.
Foot, of the 82d Pennsylvania, left a wounded man
he was dressing, snatched a musket, and rallied
several of the men.

" These pickets, or skirmishers, kept up a fire on
the rebels until all our wounded and stores were got
across the river.

"The remains of Captain Strong, sth Wisconsin ;
Capt. Knickerbocker, 43d New York; Capt. Robin-
son, 61st Pennsylvania; Lieut. Cooms, 43d New
York, were interred in the yard of G. H. Rowe ;
and Sergeant Hinman, of the 65th New York, toge-
ther with several others of Newton's division, in
Robert T. Hunter's division,
" The bridges opposite the city were taken up at
daybreak yesterday. The last soldier to leave the

city was Alex. Camel, of the 23d Pennsylvania,who
delaying, or being left until after the bridges were
taken up, stripped off his clothes, and pushing them
on a boat before him swam across.

"The 16th and 21st New York have suffered very
severely ; in fact, both the Ist and 2d brigades of
Gen. Brook's division are badly cut up. The 62d
New York has lost very heavily, both in officers and
men. Had our forces not been so outnumbered by
those of the enemy, we should have administered a
terrible punishment to them when they attacked
and drove us towards the river, since we had the ad-
vantage of position, being on higher ground. We
had such a long line, however, to defend that the
various regiments had to be shifted from point to
point to resist fresh attacks of the enemy. We cap-
tured a large numberof prisoners, though compelled
to leave most of our wounded on the field. Nearly
one whole brigade, consisting of one general, 20
captains, 39 lieutenants, and 2,000 privates which
charged upon us, were, I am informed, ensnared
into cur lines and taken prisoners. I trust the in-
formation may not prove untrue. -We certainly
killed the colonel, lieutenant-colonel, and major of
the 7th Louisiana, and the lieutenant-colonel
and major of the sth Louisiana. There is no question
as to our having mowed the rebels down by whole
regiments when they charged upon our batteries.
They lay in hopes on the battle field. Not a gun was
taken,though so manycharges upon them were made.
The corps retired in good order across the river, say
ing their camp equipage, mule trains, &c., with the
exception of a few which were gobbled up in the mo-
mentary panic which ensued when the enemy made
their appearance in our rear above Fredericksburg.
The road was fil ed with ambulances (which 'lad
been conveying the wounded all night to the city
from the bat le-field of Sunday evening), pack

mules, and vehicles. A part of them fled back to
the city, and a part on to the force beyond. While

g
storming the Heights a shell from one of our siege
planted 3n this side of the river exploded a
rebel caisson behind the redoubts, and killed 16
horses. The shell struck the first two in line
tibe-
hind the caisson, after exploding it, and hurled the
14 others down the steep precipice in the rear, into
h
chasm beneath. They presented
a hideous deep yawning
eons sight as they lay at the bottom, dead and
dying.

" Colonel Taylor, of the 33d New York, reported
killed in the fight of Monday evening, is unharmed.
Lient.-Colonel Corning day
wounded in the arm.