Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1881-01-06

OacA 8gainln the nefd and assigned to the
| command of the Ninth corps. Referring tc
| to the pain and annoyance of his wounds hi
once said, laughingly: IF am ever hit agar
hope it will settle me at once. / want nc
| more wounds.
When the customary and expected change
was made in the command of the Army of the
| Potomac, after the first Fredericksburgh. ar
| interchange of commanders was ordered be
tween the Ninth and Sixth corps which PLACED
General 8 Badly" Smith in command of the
one, and General Sedgwick as the chief Of the
other. He joined the corps at the camp on the
Rappahannock, known as White Oak Church
When he came he was kindly received, ever
enthusiastically, notwithstanding the corp:
greatly mourned its late commanders, bott
Franklin and Smith.
p The winter passed monotonously enough.
1t was dismal camp, and the days went by
right heavily until at the openins of Spring
our ancient labor was resumed and once more
the faithful old army of the Potomac fonnt
itself again upon the hated pontoons. crossing
the ris.E eof death preliminary to the battles
which made up the sad record OF The Chan,
cellorssille campaign. Inasmuch as this cam.
paign. and The events Connected with it, con
stitute perhaps the most important part oil
Sedgwick's history. i shall devote more of my
time To it than to any other of the actions in
which he was enga ged. Is
The movements of General Hooker at tina,
time were singularly well planned. Our
army occupying the Falmouth Heights and
the left bank OF the Rapnalannoek was con-
ffonted by the army of General Lee occupying
the opposite bank, the City OF Fredericksburg,
'Marye's Heights and the river above aud be-
low the city, distance of several miles. .'I
Hooker's plan consisted of transferring the
greater part of the army rapidly and secretly
some twenty miles above Lees position, cross
ing the river 10 force, marching tothe flank
and rear Of the rebel line and compelling the
enemy TO evacuate q strongly fortified posi-
ton and come out and give battle outside his
works In order to save his communication
with Richmond.
While the. movement was In progress Sedg-
wick was left near his original camp few
miles below Fredericksburg in command of
three corps OF the army composing the left
wings These were his own, the sixth corps,
the first under command of General John f.
Reynolds and the third under command of
General Daniel E. Sickles. With this strong
force be was to cross the river, threaten the
enemy's fortified position below Fredericks
burg and without bringing on if he could
avoid II general engagement SO conduct him.
self as to make the enemy believe that it was
his intention to dr. so at any moment. In
other words he was left to create q Formidable
diversion, but still strong enough to fight if
necessary. The crossing of the river was &C
conplished in the night time. The enemy's
pickets occupied the opposite bank and were
within talking. distance OF our men. The
rumble OF heavy wagons CARRYING the pom
toon boats could be heard across the river, and
it was therefore determined that the boats
should be carried down upon the shoulders of
the men. The light brigade under, General
Calvin E. Pratt, we're assigned to this iMpor
tant duty. After much delay, trouble and
vexatissn, the boats we at last launched before
the enemy had any full realization of what
was about to occur. The night was dull and
foggy, but sounds could be heard at an I'M.
usual distance. Two or three times from the
opposite bank the rebel pickets hailed with
the usual sHalloa there Yank, what's going
on over there3 What are+you doing Our
.pickets occasionally, replied Johnny we're
coming over after you" This style Of con-
vtrsatiOn occurred at intervals during the
night, as some unusual sound attracted the
enetns's attention. When the boats were
launcned and manned by soldiers Of the eE-
gineer brigade as oarsmen, the troops of Gen.
eral David A. Russell were embarked, sixty
men in boat, and in deathly silence, the oars
scarcely making ripple in the water, forty
boat loads pushed from the shore side by
side, and were lost in the fog before they had
gone twenty feet from land. The dead silence
still continued while those upon the shore
watched with beating hearts and listened with
anxiety not to be described. 1t seemed an
everlasting time while each one peered
through the fog which fell like pail upon the
gallant band that had left US for the other
shore. the river is not more than eighty or
progress of the boats, owing probably to the
necessity of rowing with great silence, was un-
usually slow. There was ominsus stiffness on
the further bank. There seemed to be no move
ment of troops; we could hear no rumble of ar
tillery. Suddenly upon the damp night air
there rang from the enemy one single, clear
word, distinctly heard in all the boats,
and across upon our bank and we'll under
stood. That word was 'Fire!" The blaze of
musketry in the fog along the Whole river
bank for two hundred yards seemed like the
silent, sudden opening # one great mouth OF
flame. The crash that followed took away
some of the scenic effect of this brilliant dis
play, and was of itself robbed of its effective
ness by the uncomfortable accompaniment OF
rafting bullets, which, fortunately for those
in the boats, were aimed too high to do much
harm except upon the innocent spectators
who had not yet embarked. The rebel yell,
familiar as it was to all of us, never seemed SO
ominous and disagreeable. Nothing was
heard from the boats except here and there
word OF command or encouragement, and af-
forwards, as the fire from the further bank
continued and grew after the first volley more
struggling, the anxiety for one word from Rus
sell grew grave and great. In few seconds
boat was seen returning, and our hearts grew
chill, believing that the attempt to land had
been abandoned, as the boat, however, came
out OF the fog, it was seen that it was empty
except as to the oarsmen. Then, in another
Instant. clear, loud, exultant cheer, followed
by another and another, told us that the works
ON the further bank were ours. The boats
made another trip, carrying other regiments,
AID then the bridges were rapidly land down
and completed soon after daylight In the
meantime a SECOND crossing was effected abmit
one mile further below on the river, where
Reynolds threw acr3ss one of his divisions.
For three days we remained in this position.
skirmishing every day, keeping two divisions
ON the enemy side of the river, the rest of
the Command in readiness to cross. Mean
while Hooker. with the rest of the army. had
rapidly and admirably accomplished the cross
ing of the river and the great flank march
which formed the essential feature of his
plan OF action With Slocum in advance, lie
;" % sweeping uobH upDH TIC cuetHy Sflank,
capturing even their outlying piekets2s Upon
Hookers arrival on the held,3 for reasons
never fully. explained Orr understood, The
checked SlOcuni's further advance in the di.
rection of Fredericksburg, contracted his own
lines and seemed to assume the defensive,
and maintained it during the rest of tlf,se un
fortunate operations. Meanwhile he with
drew from Sedgwick's command first SicKles'
corps and then Reynolds, which had to march
to join him by way of one of the upper fords.
and Sedgwick was left at Franklin's crossing,
three miles below Fredericksburg, with the
Sixth corps alone, which numbered at that
time about 1900 men, On Saturday night
Sedgwick had one division of his command
cross the river and deploy in front of the en-
emy's works, extending about four miles be-
low the city. An order from Genera; Hooker,
received at half past II at night. directed him
to take up his bridges, march to Fredericks-
burg upon our side of the river, relay the
bridges, cross with his command, capture the
CITY, take the heights which dominated the
town, known as Marye's flights; march out