New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-05-03
WAR "REMINISCENCES.
Facts Regarding General Burnside an,
the Battle of fredericksburg.

Facts Regarding General Burnside and
the battle of Fredericksburg.
The following article from the Chicago
Eoening Journal will be especially inter-
esting to those who remember that General
Franklin handled the troops under the COM
mand of General Banks at the time of the
Mansfield disaster in the Red river cam
paign:
ELGIN, Illinois, April 20, 1871.
In reading the journal of the eighteenth
instant, the following paragraph in your
New York letter attracted my attention:
The latter General Burnsidel placed
high estimation upon the misguided officer
[the rebel General Hill. Upon several oc-
casiOns during the war they confronted
each other in battle, and had opportunities
of extending civilities and kindnesses to
the staff officers of each Other taken prison
ers. At Fredericksburg, Hill mainly con-
tributed to Burnside's defeat. The country
has, however, never known how near the
latter came to crushing Lees army upon
that occasion. Your correspondent, who
was present at the battle, received unques-
tionable proofs that had the movement of
the Pennsylvania reserves, upon Lees right
wing, been supported by the sixth corps
(which was not called into action-rOt
through its own FAULT, the captured road
leading to Richmond would have been held,
Lees line of retreat south would have been
cut off, and he would have been crushed be-
tween the upper and neither millstones.
General Lee took this view of the case and
IN a conversation held before his death with
certain colonel, whose name | withhold,
the confederate chieftain said that Burnside
came the nearest of all the Federal gener-
ais, before Grant, to destroying his army.
1 have watched public utterances, army
sketches, and military histories, since the
day of that famous battle, to see the opin-
ions formed of it, confident that some one
in porting over the facts would make Just
the statement above quoted, and the fame
of one of our best officers be cleared of
cloud which rested upon it.
No battle of the war was so severely criti-.
cised as was Burnside's first attack upon
fredericksburg. Because the general in
command preferred to submit in quiet to
the anathenas hurled upon him by scrib-
blers, backed as they were by the jealous
animadversions of weak-minded Jumped"
officers, it has been assumed that he was
guilty of gross blunder. Burnside was
accused of willfully and ignorantly throw
ing away the lives of French's and Towards
divisions upon the impregnable heights be-
hind the city. We have read how
iron-hearte6 Sumner wept as he saw
hisE brave corps dash upon hills |
bristling with artillery and rifles; how he
cursed Burnside, etc, and how the troops |
murmured at their commander Tor his heed |
less reck of life-to all of which the writer |
takes exceptions, and will state his reasons
therefor. Amid all this clamer, Burnside |
wisely held his peace, supported by the |
consciousness that some day the facts would |
be more fully known, and his course of ac- |
ton and plan of battle amply justitied-and |
it will be.
Permit me to go back little in time. By |
order of Mr.. Lincoln, General Mcclellan
was superseded in the command of the |
Potomac army by General Burnside. The |
army was then lying at and near Warren |
ton-tbe sixth corps, TO which the writer |
belonged, being at New Baltimore, a squalid |
Virginia four-corners. Despite General |
McClellan's evident unfitness as aq often
sive commander, he was favorite with the
troops, and the terrible blunder of Antietam
had not entirely torn the glamoF from
Little Mac"
AT the time of his removal it was vaguely
limited that big mutiny was brewing-that
it was barely possible the army would not
move under the new commander; that the
gallant heroism that won the stone bridge
at Autietam would never lead that army.
However, all passed off quietly. The two
generals reviewed the troops together, and
General Burnside took command.
AS the army slowly moved southwark he
perfected his plans of organization, and
when we arrived in front of Fredericksburg
the army was divided into three grand di-
visions, named the first the second, and the
third grand division.
The first division was composed of the
first and sixth corps, commanded by General
William b. Franklin; General W. F. Smith
commanding the sixth corps.
The army took up quarters, facing Lees
torces and prepared for battle Owing to
the halt at Warrenton, and the confusion
attending the change of commanders
Burnside being obliged to find his army
and get them well in hand-Lee had en-
camped upon the heights behind the town
and thrown up entertainments, which were
formidable indeed, and with river between
the forces he felt secure. The city of Fred
ericksburg is situated in a natural amphi-
theatre. just above, perhaps half mile, |
the Rappahannock crowds through hills.
These hills recede from the river on the side
of the city for nearly two miles, at which
point they are about one mile from the
river, when they bend once more sharply to
the east, and, at the distance of a mile or so,
once more appronch the stream. Upon
the east side there is not so much of
plateau. The hills upon the west,
around the whole plateau, were occupied
WIN Lees troops, forming great semi
circle OF armed men, with the accompani-
ment at every available point of frowning
batteries 1t was known to General Burn
side that JUST over the brow of these hills
was the road to Richmond. upon which Lee
depended. The General knew that if he
could once secure the command of this road
he could destroy the rebel army, as striking
the road at given point would cut the |
''snake"-as Mr.. Lincoln called it-in two.
To accomplish this it would be necessary to |
fight. To do this fighting Burnside made
ample preparations.
Some distance south of the city the hills
made regular and gradual slope to the
plain. Up this natural way it was deter