The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1903-01-16

to that view. Franklin and his general
officers read the orders as prescribing
widely separated attempts to seize points
which might be the positions from which
further action could be planned, accord
ing to developments" This construction
Is effectively strengthened in a dispatch
sent by Burnside to Franklin at % min
utes after 2 in, the afternoon, the first
communication from the superior to the
inferior officer since the order received
at half-past 7 in the morning. In the
afternoon order, General Burnside said
that the instructions Of the morning were
SO far modified as to require an advance
upon the heights Immediately in my
front" These are Marye's Heights. II
Burnside had meant that Franklin shoua5
then make a general advance, he should
have said so. 1t was only at 8 o'clock
that Franklin received a request from
Burnside by the lips of a staff officer to
make a diversion, II he could, in favor of
General Sumner, who was hard pressed.
But Franklin had already met first q
check, then a repulse; and Jackson soon
afterwards was preparing to make a gem
eral assault upon him.. Without the re-
scinding Of the order to hold his whole
grand division in readiness for a rapid
move down the Richmond road, Franklin
was paralyZed for strong offensive work.
He had already lost heavily, in the four
divisions Of Reynolds corps, while two
divisions Of Smiths corps had also been
1 oAioSA > = hou lIIe ell
envy strong at every point In front OF
him. Lee had been able to throw back
easily the forces which Burnside had sent
against Marye's Heights, and was in q
situation to reinforce jackson. If the lat
ter needed 1t. ITO attack the heights in
his immediate 'front.'" says Colonel
Greene. Franklin must either advance
his line as 1t stood against a strong posi-
ton with a nearly equal number of men
behind breastworks, which would have
been slaughter, or. in order to mass his
troops so as to attack strongly and With
hope of success at any given point. which
meant long delay for the necessary move
ments, must strip his line elsewhere,
which would have given the enemy the
chance to break through, take him in rear
and reach his bridges"
Already Jackson had a division Of in
fantry besides Stuart's cavalry on the old
Richmond road, ready to attack his left
But Jackson's advance was met by a tre-
mendous artillery fire, both from Frank
ms. batteries and from others across the
river, the short winter day was nearly
ended and the confederates withdrew to
their entertainments.
More than II. 500 union soldiers were
killed, wounded and missing. OF this loss
1852 were to be credited to TSanklin's
grand division; but Jackson, WIN Mad OPP
posed him, had lost 1864, and the *elation
OF these numbers is somewhat Significant
of the nature of the fighting.
General Burnsides contradictory and
preventative course after the battle Is a
sufficient condemnation of him. After the
troops had recrossed the Rappahannock
he said to General Smith that ta had it
in mind to relieve Sumner from command,
place Hooker under arrest and
in of the army"
In a still later interview. with both
Smith and Reynolds, he said: 81 made a
mistake in my order to Franklin: I should
4 ha va 1froNfn1E hin, 70 /, fhnt1fn ~
Hamilton's at all hazards"
THAT Is to say comments Colone
Greene, "he should have ordered Frank
lin to carry out his plan, in which Smith
and Reynolds fully concurred, and given
him the means to do SO and the time to
prepare. In a still later interview, he
said the mistake was In Franklin's not
getting the order soon enough; that he
started 1t at 4 o'clock, but that Hardie
delayed for breakfast. The order was
dated by General Parke (his chief of staff
at SOS. This was but the beginning os
afterthoughts.''
General Palfrey has said Of some OF
General Burnside's testimony in his own
Justification before the committee on the
conduct of the war: There is the short
and painful criticism to be made upon this
statement. 1t cannot be true General
Franklin testified before that COMMITTEES.
under the personal assurance given him,
by Burnside that he had handed to the
committee his own order to Franklin un-
der which he acted on the 18th. Frank
lin supposed that in considering his action
the committee had before them and in
their minds the order which had governed
him. Colonel Greene says: But in this
he was betrayed. General Burnside never.
gave themSthe' order, nor any inkling Of It.
They never heard Of 1t until months Alter
ward, and too late to prevent the utter
ance of their damnatory Judgment Of the,
II man whnSa. GraaT nnnnrf11pjfu NM Dr,.c,
purpose, greatly planned, that order
wholly destroyed"
General Franklin never evinced any rre-.
ctpitate haste to rush before the word in.
his own defense. On the contrary, his At.
titude had been the calm awaiting OF t:let
assured vindicatton of time and the sane
judgments of men. His pamphlet on the
battle of Fredericksburg is modest and
temperate in tone. Only to his friends and
his old companions in arms has he frankly:
characterized the circumstances which
were distorted to blast his military career
that another might escape just execrltiou.3
He mas now arrived at the very last
stage of human existence. Old age and
feeble health are henceforth his masters.
His friends know that 1t is time that the
last word of this discussion as to the re-
sponsibility for the disaster Of Fredericks-
burg should be said, SO that while the
brave old warrior still lives all doubt OF
his entire freedom from guilt in the mat
ter may be forever laid at rest. 1t is for
that reason that Colonel Greene wrote his
brochure.
In a letter to General Mulholland, .datec
Hartford, April 20, 1881, General Franklin
wrote: q
"Burnside's going to sleep, instead q.
issuing his promised orders, is at the bot
tom of all the trouble. II
For this he never should be forgiven"
The absolute impregnability of the cen-
trail rebel position to an attack from the
front is well expressed in a boast of an
artillery officer on that side, that the guns
were so placed that "a chicken could not
live" within the c%oncentric arc of their
fire on the plain below.
1t was across this plane, while Frank
lin was carrying out his order to make a
reconnaissance in force on the right, hat
Burnside sent the divisions of his left