The National tribune., 1908-01-23

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as their swift Southern legs could car
~ them and it was altogether proba
BILE that they would not arrive to-
late. And when il is remembered tha
the bridges were not thrown early oil
the 11thi and that the attack was no
made nor the army crossed that day
and that the attack was not made th
following day. hor until more than 4
hours after work on the bridges wa
begun, ifwin be clear that all dreams
of surprise had vanished. and tha
the circumstances were well suited t.
filling the minds of Burnside's lieuten
ants with grave misgiving."
Gen: Hurt and the Artillery.
Gen. HUNT was Chief of Artillery il
Burnside's army. In that capacity
he had charge of all the guns on the
Federal side of the river. '.In order
he says, ito control the enemy's move.
ments on the plain, to reply to an6
silence his batteries along the crest OF
the ridge, to command the town. to
cover and protect the throwing of the
bridges and the crossing of the troops
| and to protect the left flank of ths
army from attacks in the direction OF
the MaSsaponaX River, it was neces-
saTy to cover the entire length with
artillery, posted in such positions as
were favorable to these purposes"
To attain these ends, Gen. Hun,
placed 40 rif1ed guns, of which six were
2O-pounder PARROTS, on the right
from Falmouth down to a ravine about
500 yards below Falmouth. From the
ravine to the neighborhood of the mid
die bridge, he stationed "a light rifles
and IA light 12's. On the crest of the
high ridge. below the middle bridge.
were 27 rified guns, of which seven
were four and one-half inch siege guns,
eight were 20-pounder PARROTS, and IL
were light rifles. On what was left
below, as far as Pollocks Mill, were
eight 20-pounder PARROTS and "a
three-inch rifles; 147 guns in ALL"
On the confederate Side.
AS before stated. Marye's flights
were a natural fortification OF the
strongest character. They form two
terraces. The farthest back from the
town begins on the Rappahannock at
point called Taylor's Hill, about $50
feet above the ordinary level of the
river. The second terrace. that near
est the river, projected toward Fred
ericksbnrg like a huge redan with bas-
tiOns and flanks. Comparatively slight
depressions broke this great natural
rampant into three sections. the one on
the northwest being called Stansbury
Hill, and that at the southeast was
called Marye's Hill or Marye's Hights.
Both fianks of this terrace turned in
ward toward the higher terrace, which
commanded it completely. To COM
plete the simile of a great natural
fortress, there was a broad. deep canal
running along the foot of the point
where it turned into Fredericksburg.
and this was then continued past
hty Iar 70
carry off the waste waters of the canal
into Hazel Run. This made an obsta-
Gle fully as difficult of passage as the
moat of an artificial fortress. The de-
fensive character of the Hights was
still further increased by a retaining
wall running along the telegraph road
at the base of the ridge and above the
level of the road like a parapet. On
the summit of Marye's Hights was the
substantial residence of the Marye
family. which gave the hill its name.
Lees army had crowned the summit
of the two terraces with lines of
breastworkss and epaulements for ar
tillery. and In addition to these a stone
wall at the base was made into a per-
feet protection for the men who were
stationed behind it. Thus, Burnside
proposed toy assail, directly in front, a
triple line, 6f heavy works. all within
easy supporting distance of one an
other, and; to these lines the authori-
ties in Richmond had sent all the ar
tillery available. 1t was a far more
difficult defensive work than those
which the Allies had besieged for near
ly two years at Sebastopol.
From his position on Stafford
Hights, less than mile away. Burn
all these formidable works and could
make no mistake as to their nature.
After the battle all of Burnside's SUBJ
ordinates, except Sumner, testified that
they had become impressed by the
strength of the works and were op-
posed to a direct assault upon them
These belong to the "after the event"
class of assertions however, which are
always to be looked upon with some
suspicion.
The early part of December had
been rainy. but this had been succeed
ed by unusually cold weather Then |
came one of those sudden changes so |
common in Virginia with the weather
to almost Spring tempera- |
ture. Every morning there was a |
thick fog in the valley, which the |
bright sun dispelled toward noon, with
The roads apparently getting in good
for movement.
Bombnrding Fredericksburg.
Burnside issued his orders for battle, |
md the laying of the bridges began at
o'clock on the morning of Nov II. |
No opposition was encountered in lay
ng The lower bridges and these were
in the forenoon so that
Franklin's Grand Division might be-
gin crossing.
1t was far otherwise with the upper
bridges. A dense fog filed the val
ey, but in some manner the thrusting
'ut of the pontoons became known to
he enemy, and at o'clock in the
morning, when the boats had reached
lbout two-thrds of the way across the
ream. two signal guns were fired from
Marye's flights and the Confederate
lrmy stood to arms.
Barksdale's Brigade, which was oc-
Fredericksburg, rushed to the
'iverside. deployed as skirmishers
long the bank, and opened fire thru
he fog, aiming at the noise unavoid-
IDLY made by the pOntoniers. Tho
here had been the strictest injunctions
or maintaining silence. and against
loing anything that could possibly at
ract the attention of the enemy, ii
vas impossible to prevent making
loise sufficient to distinctly advise the
only a few hundred
ards away, as to what was going on.
Under such fire as this, unaimed tho
t might be, the men crowded on the
,ontoons soon. began to fall with such
apidity that the work had to cease Ii
rhe pontoniers were brave and self
and did not desst until they
lad suffered severe loss, including two
'fiicers, but IL was not in mortal flesh