Daily Democrat and news. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1859-1864, 1862-12-16
TELEGRAPHIC.
ArrenHO0N REPORT. y


Feon Was hs0geeo.
- eWAsurxoroH, Dee. "A.
Up to midnight no intelligence q I'M
ror4snca la been received from the
army.
There was occasional firing during the
might, but Of little consequence 10 Its re-
suite.
The taking Of several rife pits yester-
day evidently gave rise 70 the report that
the FIRST line Of eutseschments had been
taken.
A number Of wounded arrived tonight
and were conveyed to the several hospi
tai. Another boat load is on the way.
The Herald says, Of Saturdays battle,
that il ragged fcrcely through the entire
day, and even after dark.
Fighting in our immediate front and
right, and beyond, from Fredericksburg.
was carried on tiercely by Summers grand
division till o'clock.
The second corps, zen. Couch, moved
out from Upper Port City with stormlng
detachment Of skirmishers. The enemy
yielded gradually, though they contested
our progress with great stubborness, and
tor some tine the rattle Of musketry was
incessant.
At tho same time this movement com
menced the batteries Of the division sta
toned on the bluffs across the river, open
ed with shell to cover our advance. The
rebel infantry having fallen back to their
first line Of entertainments and rifle pits,
their batteries opened with vigorous
and rapid fire upon our columns, which
had now come to temporary halt,
awaiting the result Of the artillery fight
ing.
For some time our artillery on the
bluffs kept up heavy fire on the rebel
batteries with Tuch better success. The
batteries on Taylor's Hills, nearly oppo-
site ia mou h. were tina ly silenced
During this time the rebel artillery
were almost entirely devoted to Smelling
our advance troops.
Isncock's division had the advance,
supported by the other division Of corps
while the 9TH corps, Gen. Wilcox, re
NAMED under arms in town, in readiness
to advance.
Soon after the whole corps deploycc
into line of battle, and moved forward I,
attack and storm the rebel right batter
les, while from the enenys works a terri
BILE shoser Of shell. grape and schrapncl
tore through their bleeding ranks, not
outstanding which they stubborn,
pushed on to The rifle pits, within shor,
distance of the first line OF entertainments
From the former they drove the rebels
making prisoners Of some, while the re
mainder took refuge behiod the earth
works. This was accomplished after
most fierce and long continued efforts
under calling and mnrdcrous fire. Tn
abe TO hold out against the terrible fire
they now encountered, they finally re
tired in good order, carrying away thcil
wounded comrades. They fell back t.
their original line Of pickcts, thus hold
ing tho ground which they irst occupied,
and which they held until morni {, when
they were relieved by Stopeman's CON-
mand.
Just before the advance Of COUGHS
corps heavy firing and dense smoke on
the left indicated that Franklin was ad.
vancing upon and had air, ady engaged
the rebel right flank, and to open CON-
munication with him Wilcox detached his
division, under Gen. Burns, and sent it to
the left by the edge Of the river. with in
structions to advance under cover OF the
river bank until he could place himself
in close proximity to Franklin's right.
After hard fighting COUGHS Division
became unable to carry the rebel works.
The tremendous fire from their batteries
rendered it necessary for them to retire,
which they did, when the order had
been given for the third time.
1t was now dark, and tho division fell
back to its original position, after being
six hours under fire.
after severe fighting on Franklin's left
with varied success until dark, the rela-
tive position forms about the same as in
the morning, except that we had gained
half a mile or more on the left.
Wednesday evening our gunboats at
Port Royal, 81 miles from Fredericks-
burg, were fired into by rebel battery,
supposed to number about twenty guns.
One shot struck the coal schooner, and
killed Captain named Simmons. An.
other strnch the Carrituck, going into the
engine room, killing II. W. Smith, and
wounding three others. The firing was
rapid and continued till shutdown, when
the battery was silenced Thursday
morning the gunboats again opened on
the battery, but received no response.