The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-01-02

senator wilson, anu SO IOrIL, IL IL salu,
have proceeded, or are about to proceed,
to the Rappahannock, to Congressionally
investigate the causes Of the reverse suffer-
ed by our men on that river The author
tiles would do well to know and to make
known the whole truth about that matter,
for the disaster was of such magnitude and
character that we cannot afford to have 1t
repeated.
1t would be well to ascertain why, with
the enormous forces at our disposal in Vir-
ginia, being in the aggregate nearly, per-
haps quite, twice those Of the enemy
forces sufficient to garrison Washington so
that the most timid need not have fears
for its safety and spare one, hundred and
fifty thousand men against RichInOnd-we
did not take as our base of operations
against that city the nearest approach to
it by the navigable waters of Virginia, of
which we have undisputed command !?
| And why were the enemy allowed three
weeks to fOrtify the Fredericksburg
heights, while we waited until they were
ready, only to push our naked, unsupport-
ed columns of infantry upon their batter
les of siege guns? We are immensely
stronger in artillery than the enemy, and
their batteries that destroyed our troops
were planted within range of the hills on
the north side of the river. Why could
we not have had battery of half dozen
UNDERGROUND Parrots, with reliable am
munition, made ready to support the
charge Of our infantry? Such battery
might have changed the fortunes of the
fight. The guns were at Washington.
We're they not sent forward because some
blunderer ofhigh degree had heard of the
wooden guns at Centreville, and concluded
that those on Fredericksburg heights were
of the same character? We had battery
of twenty-pound Parrots in good position
| and much was expected of them, but in
the critical moment it appeared that the
ammunition at hand for them was unrelia-
bic. The shells were defective and burst
too soon, killing our own men. Who made
those shells?
That Fredericksburg was trap, was an
opinion current in our army before the at
/ tempt to advance from it was made 1t
was clear to the most ordinary cOmprehen-
sion, that the enemy had not been at work
for three weeks on batteries commanding
the town for the mere fun of digging. Ii
| the enemy did not want us in town and
to advance from it, why did they not try
to batter us out of it? Senator Wilson
and so forth, will find that we played the
enemy's game perfectly, up to the moment
that We commenced the evacuation The
| country has cause for cOngratulatiOn in
the fact that our Generals were enabled to
| understand the necessity of a retrOgrade
movement to save the army. 1t was a
| most critical position, and Gen. Burnside,
| Saturday night, ordered an attack to be
made upon the enemy's batteries at day
light Sunday morning, our troops to ad-
vance from the city in three columns
The divisions to be engaged were assigned
their places and duties in this enterprise,
but General Sumner protested strongly
against the movement, saying it would be
fatal to the army, that Burnside yielded,
and the country was spared repetition on
an enlarged scale of Saturdays blunder
and disaster.
1t is possible that if we 90 behind the
management of our Generals on the Rap
pahannock, we will find that there has
been in the public mind an undue appreci-
alton of mere fighting qualities in officers,
and depreciation of the generalship that
does not underrate the enemy, that dis
plays foresight, is wise in precauton, and
Indifferent to the noise of those whose pas
sons have the better of their Judgment.
Concerning the future Of the winter cam
paikn in Virginia, it is unlikely that any
thing important can be Immediately, and
possible that nothing decisive can be even
remotely accomplished, on the present line
of operations. But the position of the en-
envy on the Rappahannock can be turned
by the abandonment Of AcQuia Creek as a
base, and movment down the river to a
points where its shores are commanded by
gunboats, and where supplies can be land
ed from transports, which can ascend the
Rappahannock as easily as the Potomac.
The true base OF operation against Rich
mond is, however, on the James River,
and the more promptly the Army of the
Potomac is sent back to the position from
which Gen. Halleck withdrew it in August
last, the more speedily it will fulfill its les-
tiny in possessing Richmond The logic
OF events, in our Judgment, leads to this
conclusion, irresistably. - Cia. CONNER
ciuI.