Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1862-12-24

dsss "A pro- y Ssre q bridS1 rsslj be
could Ssye SaksS int u . Z 3 SslsS q on
the other side Of Il any tin within three days
after my arrival here, II the 1ontoons had beer
here, for do not think thele was much force
gard 70 the delay In making the attack, ! dc
not think that o. movement eohid Aave beet
made sooner thah II was made ~ 1'''-A
cross at SkihkSrss neck. n seemed 10 me that
you could scarcely cross river In the face Of
an enemy Of equal or superior force except by
surprise. Therefore AFTER the preparations wers
made to cross OF Skinker's neck, after large
number Of wagons had been sent BY the general
down there, In order to deceive the enemy,
was decidedly in favor, Of throwing the bridges
over here and carry the town a. we did carry Il,
which was by surprise, as the enemy were mass.
ing their troops down below, expecting wewere
going TO cross down there. / was In favor Of
crossing the Rappahannock, because neither
our people would be satis0ed to have our army
TO retire from this position or 60 into winter
quarters until we knew the force that was on
the other side Of the river, aad the only way In
which we could have that was by going over
there and feeling Of them. I think It was ne
cessary to have made the attack on that day
on Saturday. And II was necessary, therefore,
10 attack them In their strong works, and the
repulse was what frequently happens In cam.
paigns. The works were stronger than we be.
lieved them to be. knew y wasa very hazard.
Gus lhosenen.i pu' aia oc"rse @ tnss We s,'as
owing ,o the ensmv,s fortiGcatlons beino much
more formidable than we had supposed them to
be-:
c.xnr m "s "s Sdgid,na Tredericrsh He aid noi
know why the pontoon bridges did not arrive
in season, but Il they had been there when he
came, ne snona nave .anen ~ me ee s,es. An 'ear "
not considering Frcderleksburg as being Of any
consequence, except as being on the road TO
Richmond. l...t..7 g f..-r.-.... ....
Question. What reasons do you assign ior
not crossing, either above or beiow, where the
enemy have iortihedf
Answer. The reason was this We did not
attempt TO turn their left HANK, because there Is
river some two miles above here, and brough'
within the basin at the upper end OF the town
that runs along al q considerable distance from
the Rsppuhannock. In making the moyen. enl
to turn tho enemy's len Hank, IL force had
been sent up between the river and canal, the
canal would have to be crossed, and to do so, i
would he necessary to bridge II. The only way
TO have made that movement, would have been
TO have gone entirely on the ief OF that canal
and that would have exposed the troops all ths
way up TO fire upon their Hank from the bat
teries which had been erected all along III
there, without our being able TO return theil
hre al all. r.,. -. ... 4.
Our loss he estimates about 10000. II,
tho,obt ,hsre v,s too mpch, cro.tiny in IN,
army anu not suihe'eh' ' eonhuenee' 'no"sh
with great exertion, he thought the army woult
he in eycellent order apsln.
~, r,,, -
"~'o' 'e"o'a' W. d. f'A"A'" was neA' eh
amined.
He thought the arrangements for crossinl
Nh. r,vsr w.ra .u ,,o,, n,a,. ,,, ha .,war
-. ~ '.-''. .. "e'' .'., l', Wv y. a'"'
doubted our power TO cross at the points indi
Gated, and did not believe that the army coul,
| have crosseJ had the enemy ebo.ep to nre
F''
'en' "' -, :,
In regard TO the pontoon bridges, lie said
| UWho~xr "a ..,no.,. AM. s,, ,ho, a.,,,, :. -.
,no.,bis Eor an I~ T;sa.,s,s ,rh;cI Ha,S fSuo,,,d
| we we're rather astonishpd wb.n W.. cs me Sow,
bsre to Gns Tia, snmnsr hsd been mere far so,n
Jev. and had not rece,yod nc rontoon hr;agas
,I;nI thst II Inc ,nain ca,s ~ ME d,s
'''N 49, - - S'-'A
II was expected that the pontoon bridge
vould be ready on the arrival of the First arm
-. -, a., :, -, :. 49,. -, .
'''ps' "hen 'h1' CORPS was " nave efosSeu
once ana taken possession o' the heigh.S.
the pontoons had been there, there would hav
been very little difficulty In doing that.
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