The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1900-05-31


came when the war closed TO lay their
laurels at her feet ;and her ashes Tepose
here, under O beautiful monument
erected by the Daughters OF the Ameri'
can Revolution.
But there ara other memories OF
heroic tJps, suggested by this locality,
which come neal er home TO our be rts.
whose mournful splendor time cannot
pale.
Here, and within fifteen miles Of
this city. 50 Spotsy lvania county, more
great armies maneuovred, more
great battles were fought, more men
we're engPged In mortal combat and
more officers and privates were killed
and wounded than in any similar ter.
ritory In the world. More men fell
In the battles of this one small county
during the Owl War than Great Brit
ian mas lost in all her wars Of cen.
tory and more men were killed aud
wounded In four hours at the battle OF
fredericksburg than Great Britain has
lost in killed, wounded and prisoners
in her eight months war In Souta
Africa.
When the fog lifted it's curtain from
the bleak plains about Fredericksburg
on the morning Of Dec 13, 1862. the
sun flashed down on spectacle OF ter
rible moral sublimity;
One hundred Thousand Union vete-
rams, with two hundred and twenty
cannon. were in battles magnificent
ly stern array" and in motion, with
nothing 10 obscure their serried ranks
from the view Of their expectant adver'
saries safely sutTenched on the slipping
hills adjacent The different eub-diV'
isions OF this great army were COM
manded that day by consummate masters
of the art OF war, whose names and
brilliant exploits now illumine the pages
Of our national history, but its COM
mander. In chief was deficient in both
stategic and tactical ability, and
his most conspicuous merit seemed 80
be his perfect faith in the courage and
invincibility Of his army.
Gen. Burnside did not overrate the
magnificent courage and sublime SELF
sacrifice of bis army, whose contempt
OF death that day on the open plains
about Fredericksburg seemed 20 strike
the electric chain wherewifh We all are
bound, and q thrill Of admi. alton swept
down the line Of Lees army for four
miles whilst yet the battle ragged out
Gen. Burnside did underrate the strength
Of the positions which, without tnspeo-
tion or information. he rashly assailed,
and he did underrAte the valor OF the
men who held those positions The ap-
palling magnitude Of his mistake was
soon apparent, alike to bis officers and
his men, aud yet column after column
Of that devoted army advanced without
a halting step to the carnival Of death,
over a plain swept by the ceaseless and
terrible FIRE OF protected infantry and
\ artillery-a plain Of which Gen. e 2.
|-Alexauder. In command Of the OoDfed-
crate artillery posted on she heights, re-
marked the evening before, that mot o
chicken could live there when his guns
opened.
No honors awaited the daring of these
heroes that day; no dispatch could give
their names TO the plaudits Of their ad.
mirinQ oountrymen their advance was
unoheered by the b. pc of emolument or
fame, their death would be unnoticed,
and yet they marched TO their doom
with unbl; nohed cheeks and uufaltering
tread.
Pause for q moment and picture those
serried ranks as they marched, undts-
MAYED. with grim precision and In.
trepid step to certain death, and, very
many, TO unknown graves, and tell me
whether heroism did not have its
holy holocaust, and patriotism and
courage its grand coronation on these
plains about Fredericksburg; and tell
me whether q nations gratitude and
need of honor TO these uDknelled, IN.
ooffined and unknown heroes. who thus
| gave up their lives for their country, In
obedience to orders, should be measured
BIZ the accident of victory or defeat, or
by the unclouded grandeur OF the sacri
foe they cheerfuly made. Tell me
whether the msjsstic memorial which
that splendid old veteran, Gen. Butter
feld. proposes 10 erect on she plains OF
Fredericksburg 10 perpetuate the fame
of the Fifth Corps Will not commemo-
/ rate q higher type Of heroism than any
similar memorial 20 that Corps on the
heights about Gettysburg
Tell me whether there was not more
courage and more manhood required TO
assail Maryes Heights than to hold
Cemetery Hill
The charge of Pickett's Division ct
Gettysburg was far grandeur, even with
its dreadful recoil than was the defence
OF the stouewall at Fredericksburg and
the heroes Of the former deserve more Of
their country than do the latter.
NAPOLEON, after the battle OF Auster-
iitz addressing his army said: "Sol.
aiers. tt will be enough for one of you
10 say. L was at the battle Of Austeriitz;
for your oountrymen to say, There Is
brave man.
Impartial history will record that the
Union soldiers who fought at Freder'
ioksburR. Ohancellorsville. the Wilder
ness and Sootsylvania Oourt-house were
mot only brave men, but that their valol
on those immortal fields. decorated tn
Stars and Stripes with unperishaDl'
glory. And no American army OF th'
future. composed Of those who wore th'
blue and the gray or their descendants
will ever permit that glory to be tar
nished.
It was the brilliant prowess Of tn
| Confederate army on the battlefields o
Spotsylvania that shed such dazzlinl
lustre on the Union arms at Gettysburg
II we should blot out the battlehelds O
SootsylYania we should rob Gettysburg
Of all its glory and we should hlcl
from Gen. Grant half his anne ss
great commander, and shotld obscur
10 the future student Of the art Of wa
Grant invincible pertiuaoity and hi
sagaoious and successful policy Qf con
centration and attrition, which alon
explains and vindioates his famou
march Of eighty miles from Oulpepe
10. H. TO Petersburg with the loss o
tens Of thousands Of his brave troops
when he might have transferred hi
J army by transports to the shadow Q
she Confederate capital without the los
Of q man.
Grant knew that the destruction z
Lees army. and not the capture o
! Richmond was the profoundest strategy
The Army Of the Potomac, under th
consummate leadership OF Gen. Grant
won Infinitely more prestige ct Appo
nattox. where 8, 600 worn out Oonteu
/ owr4n than fN