The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-06-28
FREDERICKSBURG. VA, THURSDAY, JUNE %, 1900.
THE BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG


ton Post.
Recently the eyes Of the nation were
again focused on the little, quiet half
town. half city Of Fredericksburg
nestled 40 snugly in a pocket OF the
beautiful dreamy Rappahannock River
The President Of the United States
was there the General Of the army 4,
Nelson A. Miles the adjutant general &,
H. O. Oorbiu, william J Sewell. SOL
dier. colonel, general, and Senator, and
the new president Of the Society Of the
Army Of the Potomac, as well General
O. d. Ruggles. u. s. A, the gray
haired. stern visaged, bat genial gov
ernor Of the Soldiers Home at Wash
ington gentle, kindly Amos Oum
mings. some time soldier. between
times editor, now statesman General
Daniel L. Sickles. one OF the four sur
vlvors among the corps commanders OF
the gallant Army Of the Potomac. and
Gen. Horatlo O. King. for many years
SO ,etary Of its society these were the
most conspicuous Of the host OF YAM
kee invaders who, as the guests OF Sen
,tor sewell on his special train, went
% Fredericksburg on Friday, May %,
70 attend the annual meeting Of the
Society Of the Army Of the Potomac
AN ENTHUSIASTIC RECEPTION.
sneh meeting Such greeting Who
can describe the warmth OF feeling Of
this generous welcome from the boys
in gray to the boys in blue!
Fredericksburg covered herself with
glory. Thirty. eight years before she
lay snllen, dark and quiet while 100
Yankee cannon vomited shot and fire
from Falmouth Heights through and
over her deserted streets, searching
Marye's Hill beyond. Now. sweet
peace. generous welcome Tempora
mutanter. SO we 90. The boys In gray
we're there in force as they were nearly
forty years ago, but their leaders were
not. Lee. Jackson. Hill ,McLaws. Pick
EFT, Ewell and Ksrshaw, like Burnside
Hooker Hancock. Meade, Gibbons
Sumner and the other leading actors IN
that tragedy had crossed the divide and
sleep the dreamless sleep. Since then
their comrades and successors. former
friends and foes united, have been
making history. changing the map oi
the world. aud making the starry ban
ner known and respected in the far dis
taut Orient and among the Thousand
islands Of the sea.
Sitting at an open window OF she
Exchange Hotel, the gentle Southern
wind, fragrant with the breath OF mag
nolia and honeysuckles. stealing softly
in. watching the passing throng on the
street below, one cannot but remember
in his musings that this same little
quiet. sleepy Fredericksburg has placed
milestones along the roadway Of a great
nations history from its infancy, till,
like England's drum belts, its shadows
encircle the world.
WHERE WASHINGTON TLAYED.
Locking down street and rcross the
ouiet river at its foot, it is b'rd to be
lieve that just beyond on the hillI
George Washington, ajolly. rollicking
happy boy unconscious Of future great
ness. spent many of his boyhood days
In this town his honored mother
Mary Washington. lived and died. Th'
old house In which she lived remain
and Is little charged. The back yard
In which she loved TO work among be-
cherished flowers, strange TO say, in al
these mutations and oonvulsions o
time and history. remains about tn
same.
Time passes swiftly. More than
hundred years have flown since theI
and Fredericksburg has slept quietl.
on.
Then came the tragedy. A battle o
giants woke the little town from 1t
slumbers. Two hundred thousan'
armed men are gathered on its hills tn
, bravest and best Of the land One han
dred and fifty cannon from the height
across the river on the 18th Of Decem
her. 1862, belched a storm OF iron hal
on the devoted little town, and thei
,, echoes we're heard round the world.
At night 10000 soldiers were masse
in these quiet streets, alert and read
for the next days carnival Of death
Gallant fellows they but not NOR
so than their sleeping foes msssed o.
, those hills behind the town.
Attorney. General Griggs, in a recent
ly published address, is reported as aptl
saving that deeds of heroism appeal
the imagination ana live forever, Will
triumphs Of craftsmanship and orator
are soon forgotten.
! Thermopylae, the Old Guard of Water
! loo. the Light Brigade at Balsklavf
Pickett's charge at Gettysburg-a
:, these are as familiar as househol
words 10 che schoolboy. Now come
= another prose epic from the pen Of on
= Of EnelAnd's gifted writer's, thrillin
= every heartstring with the touchiu
story Of the charge Of the Highlan
= Brigade and the burial OF Wauchop'
: its gallant leader, at Modder River
BRAVERY OF THE TROOPS.
(. Where is the writer who ever did ju
tice TO the herolsm Of those sturdy co
}. umns who on the morning Of Decemb
18, 1862. thronged through the stree
/. Of Fredericksburg, deployed on q
:, open fields beyond amid hail OF col
10 vsrging artillery fire from the semici
g ole Of hill-tops. and marched steadily
n to glory and death at the stone wall