Mineral Point weekly tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1859-1868, 1862-12-24
BATTLE or SATURDAY.
Especial Dispatch to the Chicago Tribune

Washington, Dec Is, 1862
The Committee on the Conduct of the
War expects to leave tomorrow for Fred
ertcksbnrg to investigate facts concerning
the late battle.
r. U, Corwine is understood to be can
didate Tor the Assistant Secretaryship of
the interior In case Usher should be made
Secretary.
ihe National Wine Fair which had been
announced for committee for Ist OF .Janu
airy has been pos poned.
The President is understood to have
said that he has made up his mind as to
the appointment of Smith ! successor. hut
has told no one, not even Smith himself
OF It lie will not until the nomination
is sent to the Senate. This will be done
as soon as Smith is confirmed District
Judge, which will be probably at the first
executive session they have
Headquarters Army of Potomac.
Dec. Is, 1862
Yesterday the rebels sent, under a fac
or truce, request that we would bury
our dead
Col, Walton, Chief of Longstreets ar
tlhery, informed some OF our officers that
the rebel infantry force engaged on Gen.
Sumner front on Saturday was only two
brlgades, but that they had a larqe reserve
near by. lie said that our men exhibited
the greatest bravery, but he considered the
rebel position impregnable, and that a
force OF 100000 would find it impossible
carry the heights in the face of their bat
teries.
The rebel loss was small compared with
ours, from the fact they were proteeted nv
q stone wall and rifle pits
Our losses as before reported have been
considerably decreased by the arrival of
stragglers.
The enemy took nearly 500 prisoners
from US, a considerable portion of whom
were absent from their camps when we ev-
acnated the south side of the river.
The prisoners taken on both sides have
been paroled
It's stated that Lee and Longstreet came
down to day and held a conversation with
some of our officers
he tag OF truce was withdrawn to night
after all our dead were buried
Washington, Dec Is
The Joint Committee of Congress on the
Condnctof the War, in pursuance OF SEN
ator Nliklnson's resolution, adopted to-
day, lett W ashington to night for the Rap
pahannock, to inquire into the facts CON
nected with late events near Frederic ks
burg. They are accompanied by Senator
Wilson and several others
The correspondent OF the New York
tribune thus describes the carnage OF Sat
urday
1t is not using too strong an expression
to say that in this battle we were butcher
ed The loss of the enemy, in comparis-
on with our own, must be nsignifcant-
More than half the division of General
French were placed hors l!e combat be-
fore they had fred shot having orders
to Withhold their fire, charge bayonets and
rush upon the entrenchments. They an
ticipated no obstacle until they should
meet in hand to hand fight for the crest
o. the first range Of bills; but how little
they knew that they had to deal with an
enemy lying close upon the soft earth be-
hind low stone wall and half destroyed
fence, which we had not taken into our
calculations as an obstacle The enemy
watched the approach of French until ev-
cry nan In battle line came under the
ann OF the best sharpshooters ia the rebel
army In an instant almost before the
fence itself was discovered to be an obsta-
Gle, long thicl line of fame and smoke
streamed above the fence and wall. and
the moment the first yoliey was fired, 90
pieces Of artillery charged with grape and
canister, sent their Internal contents
straight through our advancing lines, "a
king them in front and upnn both fanks
Destruction so terrible never before has
been seen during this war French went
into the battle with 1000 men Two DAYS
after the battle only | 200 men reported
themselves. The entire loss of the corps
of Couch, consisting Of the divisions OF
Gen Howard, Gen French andG Han
cock, and which on the morning of the
battle contained forty regiments, old and
new, amounting to at least 10000 is now
10000 ! think the official reports will
not vary from this estimate more than 5 >
900 over or under
The losses in Reynolds corps of Frank
lin 5 grand division which were at first
supposed to be but 900, are to night con
sidered by some OF frankhn's staff officers
near 1900
The following based upon official re-
ports, as far as made out, and upon esti-
mates Of those who have the best facili-
ties for Judging of the losses, is as near
correct as can be obtained up to the pres
cut date:
Right Grand Division of Sumner-sec-
ond corps, Couch s-Howard 5 division
$50 ;-Hancock' 5 division, $500; French s
division, 900 Ninth Corps, Wilcox s.
Sturgis division 925; Getty s division 400
Total 800
Centre Grand Division, Hooker-Fifth
corps, Butterfeld's and Humphreys divi-
sion, 800; Griflin's division, 800; Syke' s
100 Total, $3.50
Left Grand Division-Franklin--
corps, REYNOLDS division, 900 !;
Mead's division, $50; Doubleday's divi-
sion, $50; total, $500. Sixth corps, Smith s
900
Total Right Grand Division, 1866; to-
tai Centre Grand Division 1850; Total
Left Grand Division, 1850 Entire total,
12,055
1t is believed that these figures will fall
under rather than exceed the official re-
ports.