Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1863-05-13

held their ground, until near day; and at early
dawn Of the holy Of holies the fight began on both
ends Of the line, and by eleven O'clock the firing
had ceased. On the upper end Of the line, near
and were in full retreat towards the river On the
lower line, near Fredericksburg however, they had
succeeded in carrying Marye's Heights, and were
rioting in the wild excess of Joy They had stofmed
they said the Gbrater of America, and their route
to Richmond was plain and easy, little remember
ing that they had hurled column of fully ten
thousand upon one regiment in 'front.' and thus
gaining the rear of the rest of Barksdales brigade
But "the best laid schemes of men and mice gang
aft aglee, land whilst the Yankees were felicating
themselves on their splendid successes, and i'm
agining themselves to be in the rear of oy
army Gen. Lee was so maneuvering as to meet tie
enemy, who were now throwing themselves forward
from the town on the plank road. About four
o'clock on Sunday evening, McLaw's division, in
Guiding Wilcox's brigade ct Anderson's division,
met the advance column of the Yankees, under Gen.
Scdgw,ck, at Salem Church, four miles beyond
fredericksburg on the plank road and our line Of
battle was formed at right angles with the plank
road The battle here ragged for about two hours,
but the Yankees were repulsed with considerable
loss including some five to six hundred prisoners.
Our line on the telegraph road meantime, had been
formed at Shocks, about three and half miles out
from town.
Early on Monday morning La@ton's old brigade
now Con- Gosion's, supported by Gen. Smiths and
Gen. Hayes all Of Early's division, advanced to.
wards Marye's Heights, and charged them without
the firing Of gun, driving the enemy from post
ton from which less than twenty-fo1r hoars before
he had disodged Barksdale's gallant Mssissippians
after most heroic resistance, in which the enemys
loss was quite considerable. In this condition mat
tiers remained until about five o'clock in the evening"
when general advance was ordered. At the firing
of signal gun, General Early moved upon the enc
my from the right end Gems: Anderson and Nc
Laws from the left. The enemy, who held a posi-
ton on the plankroad extending up and down, were
quickly dislodged and driven with great loss from
the field. Their resistance was slight. The charge
was grand. Eary's men, and especially the Lousi-
anians, under Hayes. walked over the enemy as 81
ants over pigmies, while from above, the men Of
Anderson and McI4aws, who had been constantly
marching and fighting for five days, showed no
signs of relaxation, but marched boldly and fearless
ly up to their appointed work. The result was the
enemy was driven in confusion towards Banks
Ford, across which he succeeded in making his way
during the night-not, however, without serious
loss In killed. wounded and prisoners. Gen. Hoke,
of the North Carolina brigade in Early's division,
was wounded in this charge. Whilst this was 60
ing on, Barksdale's men were holding the stone
wall, Maryes hill and the heights commading
the plankroad, SO as to prevent movement on
our rear out from Fredericksburg. But this was
hardly necessary. Yankee desire for a general
advance had been satisfied, and by nightfall the
the Yankees had begun to prepare for the third and
last time to evacuate Frederic ksburg-and by day
break our pickets were in the town, which is once
again in the hands of Barksdae's men.
Though the enemy at Charlottesville did not re-
cross the river at the United States ford until day.
there has been no general engagement since Sunday
only some occasional skirmishing and feints Of
attack to up their retreat across the river
Hooker, though having the choice Of position, did
| not oH.. l.,x - Il
! threw himself the defensive, thus forcing our
! men to contend against him in this fight against
vastly superior numbers aided by breastworks, for
tications ard distractions of all sorts. But they
were of little avail jackson turned their flank and
fell upon their rear And Jackson's boys did their
work with all their might and main. They charged
faster over the battle field than they marched to it,
and their cheering as they drove the enemy before
them broke upon the air with fine, inspiring effect
and told too phnly that our men were terribly in
earnest and were fighting for home, fol- wos.n,
manhood and indspe.sence. m -sucn a cause u
worse than base not to strike heavy blows for
freedom and the right.
but General Lee has proved himself more than a
match for him, and his splendid army now lies a
part dead on the south side of the Rappahannock a
part wounded on its north bank, and some here,
too and a large part of the advance is already near
your city. Hooker had drawn every man from the
Notifications, and came prepared With eight days
rations-i e., eight days hard tack; three days
cooked meat and eight days cattle in herd and
eight days coffee. Hooker made his men speech,
telling them he had advantage of position and was
bound to 60 forward; all that he asked of them was
to fight. He had summoned every maa from the
forti6cations, and had uncovered Washington, and
must have put into the fight from fret to last, not
a man under one hundred and fifty thousand.
The bravery, fortitude and endurance of our men
IN all Of these enpapempntS cannot he tOo hiuhlv
praised or too gratefully remembered by the coun-
try. 1t would seem invdious to make special al.
lusions where all fought we'll. but it is due to
candor and truth to say that the troops of NcLaws
and Anderson were oftener engaged than any other
troops, they being engaged in fighting and march
ment, from Thursday night until Tuesday morning.,
period Of four days and nights While 70 D. Ii.
Hills old division, commanded by Gen. Rhodes,
and T:mblcs division, led by Gen. Colston, Early's
division, led by Early himself and A. P. Hills men
under their favorte leader, the country is indebted
The cavalry, too, claim share Of this glorious
work, for while the infantry were thus being en-.
gagged, one brigade under Fitzhugh Lee met the en-
envy near Spotsylvana Court House and succeeded
in whipping and driving back to Charlottesville,
certainly two brsdes Of cavalry, and perhaps four,
killing the Colonel of the 9th N. Y. Cavalry and
two Captains, and taking some sixty prisoners.
The battle field which reaches from Freder,cks-
burg to point above Wilderness, some twelve
miles up from town, and out to the river, with the
exception Of about two miles between Salem and
Zoar churches, attests the skilful aiming and dead
ly destruction of our artillery. The Yankee dead
and grounded are strewn over the entire country.
Yet had it not have been one of the most thickly
wooded sections Of land in Virginia, the Yankee
loss would have been far greater.
Over this same field Of battle are scattered, in
immense Quantities, blankets, overcoats, canteens
knapsacks, haversacks cartridge boxes, and any
quantity of rifles, muskets and various other equip
nents of the soldier: Our boys, however, found
but little to eat. The Yankees had well nigh de
voured the commissariat, still good quantity Of
hard tack with some coed cooked meats and cof
fee, were found in the Yankee baversacks. We
also captured some freshly slaughtered meats, and
some corn and oats all of which are unite yalua.