Maryland free press., 1862-12-19
THE WAR VS.. '
FROM BURNsIDE's ARMY.
Account of Saturdays Battle. (
Most Desperately Contested Fight Of the

| ne FOLLOWING account or tSaturday s. Dat tic
is from an army correspondent OF the New
| York Herald
FREDERIcKsBURG, Va, Dec. 4.--The bat
| tie yestesday was one of the most severely and
desperately contested of the whole war. 1t
ragged fercely throughout the entire day, and
| even after darkness had shrouded the field it
was kept up with determination on both
sides which seemed as though it was likely to
| last until one army or the other had become
SO exhausted as to be unable to maintain the
fight any longer. Tho fighting on our imme-
diatc front and right and beyond Fredericks-
burg was carried on by Gen. Summers grand
division, comprising tile Second and Ninth
srmy corps. Shortly after nine o'clock the
Second corps, Gen. Conch, which constituted
the right Of the attacking forces, moved out
from the upper part of the city, between the
plank road and westerly outskirts, with strong
detachmcnts ofskirmishers fhe enemy yiel.
ded gradually, though they contested ouf pro-
gress with great stubbornness, and for some
time the rattle of musketry was incessant.
At the same time that this movement was
commenced the batteries of the division sta.
toned on the bluffs across the river opened
with she'll to aid the exit of the rebels and
cover our odvance. The rebel infantry hav-
| ing fallen back to their first line of intrench-
ments and rife pits, their batteries opened
With vigorous and rapid fire upon our col.
umns, which now had come to a temporary
halt, awaiting the result of the artillery fight
ing. For some time our artillery on the bluffs
kept up heavy fire upon the rebel batteries
with such success that the batteries on Tay-
lor's Hill, nearly opposite Falmouth and
commanding our right flank, were finally ST.
lenced During this time the artillery of the
rebels was almost entirely devoted to the
shelling of our advanced troops. Occasional
ly they would send shot towards our bate
ries, but they fell short or lodged in the town
beyond. Handcock's division had the advance
supported by the other divisions of the corps
Gen Wilcox, Remained under arms in town
in readiness to obey the signal to advance to
the assistance and support of their comrades
wherever the could efectually do so. Soon
| after the whole corps deplored into line of bat
tie, with Hancock's division on the right, and
in this order moved forward to attack an storm
the rebel right batteries, white from all the
enemy's works terrible shower of SHE'LL
grape and shrapneH tore through their bleed
ing ranks, notwithstanding which they stead
lily pushed on to the rife pits, within short
distance of the first line Of intrenchments -
From the former they drove the rebels, making
prisoners of some, while the remainder took
refuge behind the earthworks.
This was accomplished after the most hero
ic and long continued efforts, under CALLING
and lnurderous fire.. Human nature tyas mn.
able to hold out against the terrible fire which
they now encountered, and they finally re-
tired, but in good order, carrying away with
them their wounded comrades. they fell back
to their original line of pickets thus holding
the ground which they first occupied, and
which they held until this morning, when they
were relieved by Gen. Stoneman's command
Just previous to the advance of COUGHS
corps, heavy freing and dense smoke on the
left indicated the fact that Franklin, with his
grand divisions, was advancing upon and had
| already engaged the enemy's right flank. To
open communication with him, therefore,
Gen. Wilcox detached his division under
Gen. Burns and sent it to the left BY the edge
of the river, with instructions to advance un.
der cover of the river bank until he could
place himself in close proximity to Gen
FTanklin's right. ... '.sJ h
Gen. Burns accordingly moved his division
forward, crossed Hazel run and took position
with his left resting on Deep ria, to the op
positc bank OF which Gen. Franklin's right
extended From this. location he was also
enabled to support, If Necessary, any demon, mon
stration having for its field of operations the
space of ground between Deep run and
COUGHS corps, and though the division did not
take part in the day engagement, it rendered
valuable assistance otherwise .s-s
About noon General Sturges was ordered to
the support of General Couch. So forming
his division, with General Ferreros brigade
in the advance, he moved obliqaely with and
on the left bank of General Couch, with the
intention of attacking the batteries which had
been enflating Couch's from the right centre
of the rebel position. He opened the attack
with General Ferrero's brigade, which de-
ployed into the line of battle parallel to the
enemy works, with General Nagle's brigade
formed in the rear, and within easy supper
ting distance. General Ferrero then advanced
pouring in terrific volleys of musketry, and
driving the rebels back. To retard this move
ment the rebels opened q raking fire upon his
left flank, upon discovering which General
Sturges ordered Nagle's brigade to advance by
the left flank, and forming into line of battle,
attack the enemy's battery on the left The
movement was accordingly attempted, but in
consequence of ravines which it was iniudi-
cious to leave in the irrear, General Nagle was
unable to carry out the order, and he then fell
back to the direct support of General Ferrero.
Couch 8 corps was falling back while this was
| trans spiring, and by the time General Nagle
had resumed his original position, was nearly
| off the field, leaving Sturgis alone in the ad-
vance, and upon his command the enemy now
| concentrated almost their entire force and the
| hight now became one Of the most desperate
| character.
| Despite the storm of missiles from the nu-
merous rebels works General Ferrero contin.
ued to advance, supported now also by Dick
erson's Battery, which was disabled in fifteen
minutes after coming into action, when its
place was relieved by another battery. At last
| by dashing charge, the brigade carried the
crest Of the hill, and approached within eigh-
ty PAGES of the enemy's intrenchments. Their
success, however, was not of long continuance
as the tremendous fire from the rebel batteries
soon rendered it necessary for them to retire,
which they did when the order to do SO had
been given for the third time. 1t was now
dark, and the division fell back to its original
position, after being six hours under fire
Gen. Sturgis' division may be said to have
borne the bruut of the fighting on the part Of
the Ninth corps and behaved most splendidly
throughout the whole affair. When Sturgis
was most warmly engaged, the Third division
under General Getty, advanced to his support,
executing a movement to his left similar to
that which he was making in relation to Gen.
Couch. After occupying for some time the
position first indicated by the order from Gen.
Wilcox, the division was formed for an attack
on the right rebel batteries, which had been
enfilading the ranks of General Sturgis; and
to the accomplishment of this particular OBJ
ject Colonel Haw kins' brigade, with Edward 8
and the Fifth Massachusetts battery, was par
ticularly assigned, while the Second brigade,
under Colonel Harlan, formed in the rear as
reserve support.
The order having been given to charge those
batteries, Colonel Hawkins brigade dashed
| forward nd in h.