The daily Evansville journal., 1862-12-18
The War on the Kappa.
sn.t i hammock.
BRIDGE BUILDING-DARLNG
OF ENGINEERS
FREDERICKSBUR AFTER THE
CANNONADE. -.~.l
rTeIegraph oorre.yon,sehos n. Y. qs.ne,

! [Tslegraf'h oorresYoHdenos n. Y. Times.1 10
/ FREDERICKSBURG, Va, Thursday night,
December | lth
I localize this letter Fredericksburg
but it is assuredly living" Fredericks
burg mo more 20 A city soulless, rem
by wreck of war, and shooting up in
flames athwart nights sky, is the pretty
little antique spot by the Rappahannock
erewhile the peculiar scene of dignifed
ease and retirement.
i The advance of the Right Grand Di
vision of the Army of the Potomac rests
here tonight, after a series of operations
which are certainly among the most ex
traordinary of the war To those who
retired to rest, uninformed Of what night
was destined to bring forth, the specta-
Gle this morning must have seemed
strange enough to be the improvisation
of the magcians art. One hundred and
fifty pieces of cannon covered the circu-
lar sweep of the nights of Fredericks-
burg; 100000 men in battle array had
sprung from the earth, and lay, ready
for the advance, behind those nights
| But to the initiated, who spent the night
in vigils and knew what work crowded
its busy hours, it was all intelligible
enough. All night artillery came, and
came with its ceaseless, heavy rumble;
and as each battery arrived from the
rear, it was posted in the place selected
for it by the Chiefof Artillery All night
| the perpetual tramp of men moving to
the front filed the air Pontooh trains
unwound their long, snake-like forms,
and were drawn, each boat by its team,
down to the rivers brink
1t had been determined, in council of
war, held on Wednesday, that, instead of
extending our lines of operations along
the river from Falmouth to Port Con-
way, the entire army should be crossed
at or near Fredericksburg
Five pontoon bridges were to be
thrown across the river, the first at the
Lacey House, which lies directly oppo-
site the end of the main street of Fred
ericksburg, half mile below Falmouth;
ths thea fesS9s Fs S Sa bTa within few a0S hR Fb
stream, and on these the grand division
of Gen. Franklin-the left-would cross,
while Summers and Hooker's grand di-
visions-right and center-would use the
three upper ones
1t was about three o'clock this morn
ing when the boats were unshipped from
the teams at the rivers brink. Swiftly
and silently the Engineer Corps proceed
ed to their work A dense fng1flled the
v3lleys and water margin, through which
++Ihe bridge builders appeared as spectral
| forms. The recital of the Times spe-
cial correspondent with the left will in
| form YOU of the details of the construc-
ton of the two lower-Franklin' bridges
Work there was performed with perfect
success-the Engineers being allowed to
complete the first without any interrup-
ton whatever, while the construction of
the other was but slightly interrupted by
the fire of the rebel sharpshooters.
We were not SO fortunate with the up
per bridges The arti6cers had but got
fairly to work, when at FIVE o clock the
firing of two guns from one of the enc
mys batteries announced that we were
discovered They were signal guns.
Rapid volleys of musketry, discharged al
our bridge builders, Immediately follow
ed. This was promptly responded to on
our side by the opening of several bat
teries. The fog, however, still hung
densely over the river. 1t was still quite
dark, and the practice of the artilleristt
was necessarily very much at.arandom
= The Engineer Corps suffered severely
from the fire of the sharpshooters con
, cealed in the town. The little band wal
being murderously thinned, and presently
the work on the bridges slackened, anC
; then ceased.
Meanwhile the firing of our batteries
posted about mile from the river, wa
: kent up vigorously. The effect was sin
guiar enough, and it was difficult to be
lieye that the whole affair was not
, phantasmagoria. 1t was still quite dark
: the horizon around being lit up only b.
! the flash of projectiles, which reappeare'
{ in explosive fame on the other side 0
. the river
Daylight came, but with it came no
clearness of vision for on-lookers. Th
mist and smoke not only did not Tighten
but grew more opaque and heavy, hug
. ging the ground closely. Our gunneri
however, still continued to launch thei
missiles at O venture The rebel batter
les hardly returned our fire, and TIN
s chariness of their ammunition they pre-
+ served all day-not dozen rounds bein
e fired during the whole forenoon.
e Toward o'clock large party of Ger
' eral Officers, among them General Burr
. side, the Corps Commanders, and man
others of high rank, had congregated i
Y front of and on the balcony of Genera
Summers headquarters, Phillips House
: situated about mile directly back Of tn
Lacey House. The performance cou!
be heard, but not seen-the stage wa
R obstinateiy hidden from view, and a
were impatient that the curtain shenl
= rise. Aids and couriers came and wei
with messages to and from the batterie
and bridges. t s-yeega3 =. e8
At 81 o'clock official notification wa
received that the two bridges on the e.
treme left were. completed, and Genera
Franklin sent 10 Gen. Burnside to kno