The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1904-04-07

the fords. COUGHS Corps was moved be-
low Fredericksburg to make demonstrations
there, and the reserve corps under Sigel,
which had been united with the Army OF
the Potomac, was assigned the duty OF
guarding the line of the river and the
communications of the army. Preparations
for crossing were pushed on during the
10th, positions for artillery were selected,
the guns were brought up, the pontoons
were within reach short distance back
from the river. and it was determined to
make the passage on the following MORN
ing.
TIE ELEMENTS AGAINST HIM. !!
But during the night terrible storm
came on. and then each man felt that the
move was ended 1t was wild WalpurgiS
night, such as Goethe paints in the Faust.
Yet there was brave work done during its
hours. for the guns were hauled painfully
up the nights and placed in their positions.
and the pontOOns We're drawn down nearer
TO the river. But it was already seen to
be hopeless task; for the clayey roads
and fields, under the influence of the rain,
had become bad beyond all former expert
ence. and by daylight, when the boats
should all have been on the banks ready
to slide down into the water, but ID had
been gotten up-nOt enough for one bridge
and five were wanted. Moreover, the night
operations had not escaped the notice of
the wary enemy. and by morning Lee had
massed his army to meet the menaced cross
ing.
In this state of facts, when all the con-
ditiOns on which it was expected to make
successful passage had been banked, il
would have been judiciOus in Gen. Burn
side to have promptly abandoned an opera
| tion that was now hopeless. But it was
characteristic of that Generals mind Ga
characteristic that might be good or bad
according to the direction it took, never
to turn back when he had once put his hand
to the plow; and it had already more than
once been seen that tile more hopeless the
enterprise the greater his pertinacity. The
nights rain had made deplorable havoc
with the roads (4S) but herculean efforts
were made to bring pontOOns enough into
position to build a bridge or two withal.
Double and triple teams of horses anil
mules were harnessed to each boat ; but
it was in vain. Long stout ropes were then
attached to the teams and $50 men put to
| the task on each. The efforts was but little
more successful. F10undering through the
mire for few feet. the gang of Liliputians
| with their huge-ribbed Gulliver, were forced
to give over, breathless. Night arrived. but
the pontoOns could not be got up, and the
enemy's pickets. discovering what was GO
ing on. jOcularly shouted .out their intan-
tion to come over tomorrow and help
build the bridges"
BACK TO OLD CAMPS.
Morning dawned upon another day of
rain and storm. The ground had gone from
bad to worse. and now showed such spec
! tacle as might be presented by the ele-
mental wrecks of another Deluge An in
deseribable chaos of pontoons, vehicles. and
artillery encumbered all the roads-supply-
| wagons upset by the roadside guns stalled
in the mud. ammunition-trains mired by
the way. and hundreds of horses and mules
buried i'm the liquid muck. The army. in
fact, was embargOed: it was no longer a
question of how TO go forward-it was a
question of how to get back. The three.
days rations brought on the persons of the
men were exhausted. and the supply trains
could not be moved up. To aid the return
all the available force was put to work to
corduroy the rotten roads. Next morn
ing the army floundered and staggered back
TO the old camps. and so ended a movement
that will always live in the recollection OF
the army as the Mud March," and which
remains a striking exemplification of the
enormous difficulties incident to Winte,
campaigning in Virginia.
BURNsIDE's EXTRAORDINARY DEMAND.
The failure of this movement is sufi
ciently accounted for by those "sliags AM
arrows OF outrageous fortune the effec1
of which have endeavored to portray ant
the commander was certainly justified il