The weekly Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1860-1863, 1862-12-25
Important Report from General
BuFnsIde.

Q
The Fredericksburg 44Sairi
"HEAbeRs AMY OF THE poruMAo,
"FALM UTH, DE ember 10
"To IL ". HaTeek, General IN Chief,
Washin9tOnE
General, hive the honor to offer the
following reasons for moving the Army of
the Potomac across the RappahannocE
sooner than was anticipated ty the Pes
ident, the Secretary Of War, or yourself.
and for crossing at a point different from
IRE one indicated TO you at our las, meet.
Ing at the Presidents During ny prep
ara'ions for crossing a: he place | had
drSt selected, discovered that b, enemy
bad thrown large portion Of his force
down the river aud elsrw here. thus weak
ening his delsrses in front; and | also
discovered that he di! not anticipate the
crossing ol oui troops a, Fredericksburg,
and hoped hy rapidly throwing the
whole command over at hat place tU sep
arate, by vigorous alIack, the forces OF
Me enemy on the river below from the
forces behind and on the crest in he rear
of thr town, in which case we could fight
him wi b great advantage 10 our lavor.
10 do this we had to gain a hight on tie
extreme right of the crrst, which high,
commanded the new road lately made b,
the enemy for purpose, Of more rapid
communicative along his lines; tia, e 10
ed his positions "iOng tie tight crest
would have been scarcely tcna,le, aud hp
could have Leen driven from hem eas y
by an attack on his front in connpc y
With movement on the rear oil lhs
crost.
Glow near we came TO accomplishing
our object tu'urs repmts will SHOW, hnl
Tor the fault and un xpec;eG and lnavoid.
"bl" delay in building the bridge, givin :
the enemy "a hours more to G,pc"n tate
ais forces in / is strong position, we
would almost certainly have succeeded, 10
which case the battle won j hav~ been in
my Oplninn lar moro decisive than if w.
had crossed At the places first selected.
"Aslt was, we came very near succese
Failing in accomp plIshing he main Jhjs I
we remained ~ OideT battle iwo da, s.
long enop-h ~ decide that the en- my
ould not come out Of his alrorgholiS 10
light us with Ills infantry; after which We
crossed TO his side of lh river unmoIeN
VI -Wrhou tne loss c! men or property
AS the day broke, our long lines of lrOopa
were seen ma ching 10 Their di1erenI po
sitlons as If going Oh parade. Not the
least deInoraIzaliOD existed. TO the
brave ufficers and soldiers WHO accomp.
Ilshod The Ieat of reCro sing tie river 10
the face o the enemy, owe everything
For the failure in the attack | am resppn.
slblc. as tie extreme gallaOlrJ, courage.
aud snduranc shown by th, IN was never
exceeded and would have carr. d the
pUnIs had II beOn possible. To tile fam.
HES AMI Iiiende ol the dead | can only
of my heartfelt sympalhirs but for the
wounded | can offer my rarnesI payers
for their comfortable and !inal recovery
"fhe fact that | decided 10 move from
WsrIonton on 10 his line rather against
he opinion Of the President, Seor tary Of
War, and youfself, and that you lett the
vi ole movement III my hands, without
giving me orders, makes me responsible,
L VIII visl! you very soon aud give you
more definite informatiun: and finally
will send you my delaied reporl.in which
a special acknowledgment will be made
oi the services ct the different grand di
visions. division corps, my general in
sal, and tn departments of the Army
Of tho Potomac. TO whom / AM so much
lndeot d fJr their suppor! and h arty CO
operation. .... ...
l will add here that the movsmsn
was made earlirr than you expected, and
after the P'esidenI, Sr rotary. and your
self r,queslng mo not to be in haste, for
the reason that we were supplied much
sooner by the different Ltau departments
than wa. anticipate cd when saw you.
Our killed amounts to eleven hun
dred and fifty two, our woun cd 10 about
nine Thousand aud our prisoners TO about
seven hundred. which last havr been pa
rol ed and ex hanged for about the same
number taken by US TIE wounded men
were all renewed to lhiN side o the river
nd are being well cared for, and the
dead were all burio uadol a Az oI
truce The surgeons report much
larger proportion of slight wounds than
usual sixteen hundled and lhlrty two
only being treated in hpSpiras. an
glad to represent the army Al the present
time to be in good condi ion Thanking
Government for that entire support an,
confidence which ! have alwa,s received
from them, remain. General, very re
spectIul y, your obedienl servant,
"A h. BURNsIDs,
"Maior G O Commanding.