The Buchanan County guardian. (Independence, Buchanan County, Iowa) 1858-1864, 1862-12-30

you will desi It, from this attack / do
not know of any general officer who APP
proves of it, and / think it will prove
disastrous to the army" Advice Of
that kind from Sumner, who has always
been in favor of our advance whenever il
was possible, caused me to hesitate
kept the column of attack formed, and
sent over for the division and corps com
manders, and consulted with them.
They unanimously voted against the
attack. went over TO see the other
officers of the command on the other
side, and found that the same opinion
prevailed among them. then sent for
Gen. Franklin, who was on the left, and
he was eff the same opinion. This caus-
ed me to decide that ought not to make
the attack | had contemplated and be.
sides, the President had told me not to
be in haste in making this attack that
that he would give me all the support be
could, but he did not want the army OF
the Potomac destroyed.
felt that l could not take tie respon
sibility of ordering the attack, notwith
standing my own belief at the time that
the works of the enemy could be carried
While OH his way here, Hooker, on
the morning of the Goth November, wrote
me note, which l received on the 2isi,
in which he suggested that he would
cross his force over the Rappahannock at
the ford nearest the town, Richard s
Ford. and move rapidly down to Saxton S
Station, and take possession there. He
stated that he had three days provisions,
and tina; he could meet any force of the
enemy in front of him.
| replied that | was always very glad
to take the advice of my general officers,
and should be 10th to move without con
sultng them; but could notl approve
of the move he had suggested, because
in the first place he would have to march
some thirty six miles to Saxton's Station
1t was raining. and he would have ia
ford two rivers, which might rise and cu
him off from the main body of the com
mand, and as | had no means Of crossing
at Fredericksburg, would be prevented
from sending him supplies and assist.
ance, and although he might reach Sax
tons Station and not meet any force o.
the enemy at that time, yet it would b.
very hazardous movement to throw a
column like that beyond the reach of it,
proper support.
Gen. Hooker thanked me, and said he
made it as a suggestion, and the weather
as it was raining, rendered it, of course,
impossible 10 make the movement
Q.-What reason do you assign fol
the failure of your attack ?
At was found impossible to get
the men up to the works-lhe enemy
fire was too hot. The whole Of the com
mand fought most gallantry. The enc
my themselves say they never saw oul
men fight SO hard as OH that day.
Q.-Were the enemy's works very
strong?
A.-Their works were not strong
works, but they held strong positions
1t is possible the points of attack were
wrongly ordered. Ii such is the case
can only say | did it to the best of my
ability. 1t is also possible that we would
have done better to have crossed at Skin.
ner's Neck, but for what | sup
pose to be good reasons, felt we had
better cross here, that we would have a
more decisive engagement here, and that
il we succeeded in defeating item we
would break up the whole of the army
here, which, think now, is the most de
sirable thing, not even second to the ia
king of Richmond. For if this army
was broken up, though they might de
fend Richmond for while, they could
not make any protracted defense there.
Q.-(By Mr.. Gooche. do l under.
stand you to say that 1t was your under
standing that Gen. Halleck and Genera
Meigs, while at your headquarters in
Warrenton, and before you commenced
the movement of your army, sent orders
to Washington for the ponioons to be-
Immediately forwarded to Falmouth ?
A.-That was my understanding Ger
tainly.
Q In your judgment could the
for you to cross the Rappahannock wher
you expected, if all possible efforts had
been made by those charged with thai
duty !?
A.-Yes, if they had received their
orders in time.
Odd the non- arrival Of these pom
toons at the time you expected proven
your crossing when you expected te
cross, and interfere with the success O
your plan
A.-Yes.
Mr.. Blackwell, of Pittsburg. the frient
Of Secretary Stanton, who j. Wesley
Green, in his Chicago Times imposture
says gave him letter TO the Secretary
publishes card in the Pittsburg Ga
zette. pronouncing the statement utterly
false and saying that he never saw o.
heard Of Green until the publication ap
peared over his name in the Times