The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-01-02
sIMPORTANT TESTIMONY OF GEN.,
5as BURNSIDE ,AND.OTHERS.
REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON THE
e ~ CONDUCT OF THE WAR. -. {

As
F. .g ss1 WAsHNGroN, December %.
The report of the Committee on the
Conduct of the War embraces the deposit
tons of Generals Burnside, Sumner, Frank
lin, Hooker, Woodbury., Haupt, Halleck,
and Meigs. The Committee report the
testimony without comment. Burnside
said: When, after the battle of Antietam,
Mcclellan decided to cross the Potomac, I
said to him that, in my opinion, he would
never be able to take the army on that
route beyond the Rappahannoek, unless he
succeeded in fighting the enemy at some
place on this side; that if he proposed to
go to Richmond by land, he would have to
go to Fredericksburg, and in that he par
TALLY agreed with me. On the 9th of No
vember, after this conversation, Mcclellan
gave an order to Captain Drum, Chief of
Engineers, to have all the pontoon bridges
at Berlin and in that neighborhood, that
could be spared, taken up and sent down
to Washington, with aView of: getting them
down to this town, in case he decided to- go
Wy
The letter conveying that order was
written on the 9th of November; but, as /
understand, it was not received until the
18th of November. Burnsidespeaks of the
surprise with which he received the Presi-
dents order to take command of the Army
of the Potomac, and says that he had re-
peatedly expressed the opinion that he
Burnside was not competent to command
so large an army, and that Mcclellan was
the fittest person
He then says: s'Halleck came to me on
November II. On the 9th | made out a
plan of operations, in accordance with
Halleck's order, and / sent it to Washing
ton" He gives detailed account of this
plan, and speaks of the disastrous delay
in receiving pontoons, and says that on
the 10th he started to lead a column to
Fredericksburg, not knowing of the delay
The pontoons did not, however, start until
the 10Th, and that day it commenced rain
ing, which delayed them so much and the
roads became so bad, that when they got
to Dumfries they lifted the pontoons off
the wagons, sent to Washington for a
steamer and carried them to Acquia Greek
by water, sending the wagons round by
land. The pontoons did not get there
until the 22d or 23d of November After
the first delay in starting the pontoons, l
think they were sent as quickly as they
could have been, and the supplies and
Quartermaster'S stores have always been
in as great abundance as we could have
expected, for after the 10Th of November
the weather and roads were particularly
bad After reaching Fredericksburg I
saw at once there was no crossing the
Rappahannock with the army at that time.
1t commenced raining, and the river began
to rise. There was no means of crossing
except by going up the fords, and it would
be impossible to do that, because of ina
bility to supply the troops after they should
have crossed.
Sumner arrived here With his troops in
advance, He sent to me, asking me,
if he should cross the river. | did
not think it advisable that he should, at
that time. 1t was first decided to cross at
SINNERS Neck, about twelve miles below
here, but our demonstration was simply for
the purpose of drawing there as large q
force of the enemy as possible. / then re-.
tired, to cross. here, because, in the first
place, | felt satisfied that they did not ex-
pect us to cross here, but below in the
next place, ] felt satisfied that this was the
place to fight the most decisive battle; for
if we could divide their force by piercing
their lines at one or two points, especially
their left from their right, then a vigorous
attack with the whole army would succeed
in breaking their army in pieces, Two at
tacks were made, and we were repulsed,
still holding portion of the ground we
had fought upon, but not our extreme adj
vance That night went over the field
on orr right, and, in fact, was with the
officers and men until nearly daylight. I
found the feeling against an attack. re-
turned to my headquarters, and, after a
conversation with Summer, told him I
wanted him to order the 9th Army Corps,
which / Originally commanded, to form the.
next morning column of attack by regi-
| ments. 1t consisted of some eighteen old
regiments and some new ones. i desig-
mated the column to make d direct attack.
upon the enemy's works. + Thought
that these regiments, by arriving very
| quickly up after each other, would
be quite able to carry the stone wall
and batteries in front, forcing the enemy
on their next line, and by going in with
them, they would not be able to fire. upon
| us to any great extent. | left Gen. Sum
ner with that understanding, and directed
him to give the orders. The order was
given, and the order of attack was forIn-
ed. The next morning, just before the
column was to have started, Gen. Sum-
ner came to me and said, q hope you viii
! desist from this attack. + do not know Of
! any general officer who approves of it, and