The Ashland union. [volume] (Ashland, Ashland County, Ohio) 1854-1868, 1863-05-20
The Nine Days' CampaiGi on
the RappahannOcl,

ffthee RaPIIpaaihsa.nnnock.
TheanSosegF aphiS andael9ar description o
ths' resent ppayaftAidpSSEs5j anab: III RRiaippPPses faInoel
We. ,havesyet SCENTS given byfa correspondent
of the New York 1Eo5las we iccondenssee it in
to as small a space as possible, retaining it
main features. 1t3i ,at1I as1sn
Some ofdhe prominent obstacles before on
army on the Rappahannoek were these A
vide river ard forty miles Of sse,ees4fthtork
in front Of the cnemyfor their defense. Gu
base of snppiies was at Aqua landing, which
necessitated a crossing in front of The enemy
lworkaTV-k.zsS-U0 2AHO L.
THE PLAN.
Apottionf Of tho about half cgis
xasto cross the. river near Fredericksburg 70
two objects-frst, to- hold the enemy's fore.
at that point and second, to protect our am
mninnition and supplies while the o~ther7half o
the army should make a. crossing above the
Notifications, and sweeping down in the real
of Fredericksburg, takes strong position ant
hold it aotiI reinforced by the, other portion
of the army5 and thus the whole army wns ts
tbe concceanitrated in the rear of fredericksburg
7sss MONDAY & TUESDAY, April 81 andes.
ION Monday ApriiE 9th ire I'd corps; the
fftb, eleventh and ftwelahyi were ordered to
march with days iSstidns 70 Kellyis Ford
near tho Orange and Alexandra railroad,
b General Slocum, Of the tSslft6 corps was
placed in command, and on Taesiay night the
force intrusted with thu important part of ex-
eeuting the Hank movement had reached the
point at which they were ordered to cross the
ARarpahannock.n Tuesday night, also, three
other corps, the first, third, and sixth, were
sent to. Franklinis crossing, three miles below
Fredericksburg, to- be ready to iundcrtakei the
crossing simultaneously with the other corps
iat Kelly's Ferd on Wednesday morning,
awai nsg4B nj ,HHqlWEDNEsDAY, prile 29.
u Both divisieas of the army established them,
selves ON the west bank Of the river without
serious opposition from the enemy. Geenoral
Sedgwickj commanding the three. corps of the
left wing, made no forward demonstration cx-
. eppt to attract the rebels, and keep them from
tuning upon our troops, which were forcing
way toward I'D The rear Of the enemy
worksllf9 Onramsn pushed on toward the Ra-
pidan at GeTmpnapnisat Nils s., where they crossed
successfully, aud made. sonez1progresss before
"wednesday light. tn
T~HURsDAY3i ApriiS30i =
SedgRick still threatened the enemy, and
held thenrpean Fredericksburgwhile Slocum
pressedEou from Che Rapida6 and TOOK his to-
sition across the plank road (the enemy's line
9rstreat toward Gordonsyife Vat Chancellor1d
vi1el Eoaahss kSecondt Corpse hwbieh Chad
remained at Banks Ford, now moved up to-
the United States Ford, and crossed to join
G1no-.l fC1aa,p, e TIootar- cleo -
Joined, and took command OF. the four corps
thus concentrates in the rear of ,FrederieEs
burg and aerosssthe line ofathe qenemyis re-
treaty T1t,was now time for this dctachment
to take the defensive and hold their position I'm
til the other corps Should ioin them, and, the
thrs united De enabled to meet all the
forces whichdhe enemylmight0 bring against
them. Tuesday night fhereaw All sharp awefk
on both sides - outamaneuyer tho other aThe
enemy had now learned with sufficient Ger.
tainty that 4 large, force wash their rear, in
the direction of Cha lcelioryiIle,z and that
Stoneman'stcayahy was greatly cndanGering
their railroad communication, aud they were
moving accordingly away from Sedgwick to-
vile and the RapidaD, by the roads aA the
south of the plank road, which was ia our
possession - ~ x
.SJIIH hid 10
3si,.I s4s,T ss.iaas-a tessE FRIDAY. MaylI
While the First and TAird corps were mov-
ing FROM the left wing to jim General Hooker
at Characteristic, and while Jackson was to
king a cifcuitous route to reach the rear of
General Hookeris line between Charlottesville
the Rapidan, two diyis:ons-Sykes's of
the Fifth corps, aud Williams'so of the Twelfth
pushed on nearer to the rear of Fredericks-
burg, skirnishing and fighting with the enc
my, who showed slight resistance in that d.
ectiop..Tke enemy were thus driven before
them. for four miles when General Hooker.
some reason, ordered them to fall back and
rejoin- his lines at Charlottesville By night
his army was all concentrated except the
Sixth corps, and -reaaS for a forward move
mentr te.the rear Of Fredericksburg heights
The main body of the enemy had noWimosed
away from their works a: Fredericksburg. and
we're preparing to attack, our army on the right
in a direction from which, if beaten, they
successfully retreat, and from which it
vas hardly exPectsd they would meet u.s.
,Ai dain-ra pra bns ,zuiSAruRbAy,' May Ri
d tGeaernll Hooker occupied the day ~inaawait
ng an attack of the .fcnemya which was ek-
in front. Butsin the afternoon SIone-
jackson was found upon our extreme
and rear between 4Ghancellorsiile and
Jefmaniar Atas- biA ,mosSfiuriods auobfuesperr
tie attack was made and the irigBtsrof our
ines which was h slda by the 9Efeysehh Corps,
vas boz en- and the men, paaahiicrstriicken, fed
y confusion But Little L was lost b
The event, yetiit0 had a dbad, EFFECT upon afhe
entire army Saturday closed the operations
If the FIRST week wish-doubtful prospects as to
he final resrl1IToEi GAoa
: i1 Etis H9 =, sa 2 Id, ,asSis ST es II A5a,, May
zTheuassanlt of Grail Sedgwick upon the
Fights OF. Fredericksburg WIS cothmenced On
Sunday amor1inlg IA more a'deter@ained and
desperate, attack has, not ebeens made. TO al
most certain1desthithe men charged up and
:arriedsthe WORKS. reveithes2 artiilefists. FROM
md hsaviest artillery, and many prisoners of
war in their trenches. With the heaviest
osses, Sedgwieki followed up his success yith