Show 3 ule nie UIE lie lle BATTLE OF fredericksburg the long expected battle which was believed by thousands would deal a death blow to the belIon rebellion re and open the he road to richmond by way of ig i g has been fought at rt th that at place and resulted in the most moat disastrous defeat which h I 1 ch the federal arms areas have sustained since the ibe tho commencement 0 of the destructive internecine war which is raging with maddening fury a large portion of our once free and happy country contrary to the th e anticipations of the government and of the many wito who considered the army of the Io potomac tomae invincible under the brave and galant burnside and that when arrayed against the ei et emy on an the field of battle would under that celebrated coin commander annihilate the confederate arm army y which bad been bm ed edat at and in the vicinity of fredericksburg fred ericksburg to oppose the occupation of the right bank of the rappahannock Rappa hannock by the Yar yankee ikee Inva invaders invader ders dere the well veil A 11 af al pointed ad d thoroughly disciplined army of the potomac numbering as per report upwards of oue hundred and eighty 0 thousand ih th usand men co commanded M by the best officers as alleged which abe tee country could pr duce hag has been defeated and compelled to retire across the river after having hiving occupied fredericksburg four days day and made several unsuccessful attempts to d ie lie the enemy from their works on the hill bills ij the rear of the city the details ct of the operations from th the commencement to the termination of the ba tle or the be series of battles and the retirement of f the union army arm y to the borth side of the have not yet been received meagre accounts which have been hent sent over the wires are BO so disconnected that it ia ls bite quite quile impossible to give a very co cise history inthe f the movements of the federal troops agid and of the conflicts in which the several divisions of the union army were engaged erl eri t waged maged the first movement made by gen burnside is a reported to have been OB on be the jd night light ht of ot the loth dinst and soon after the enemy became advised thereof and signalized signalizes the divisions divit lons ions of their army aoda the rappahannock Rappa hannock by sending up rockets to inform them that the 41 yankees were coming the work of constructing ting three pontoon bridges across the river at fredericksburg waa was commenced as stated at dive five on the morning of the lith and ana when they had been about half completed the builders were compelled to abar abat abandon don tho the work and ana retire the fire of the enemy so severe that the engineers and workmen could not withstand its effect they returned again te to the wi ik and were ivere again repulsed according c to the published statements four un unsuccessful afu I 1 at temps attempts were made during that day under cover of a heavy cannonade which was kept up lip on the city and the rifle pits near the bank of the river nearly ten thousand rounds of ammunition are said to have been fired bj b gen geri burnsides artillery doing great execution burning up a considerable portion of the business part of the be tow nand killing and wounding scores of the ibe confederate troops the carnage carnale t is r s reported to have bave been terrible terril rie the entire army is said to have been ben under arms near the river ready to cross crosa over as syi soon as the bridges should be completed compi e t through the shower of leaden and iron imail which wag wab hurled burled upon them by the enemy most profusely prof esely from their batteries rhale rifle pit pita and ana other works ol 01 defense which had been beeh pro pra prepared pared for the occasion every effort to drive the confederates from their ride rifle pits and earth works alon aion along the river i acre vere unavailing until an enfil enfilading enfilading aling fire was inada imada to bear upon them so effectually that they were forced to abandon the pits which enabled tiie engineers to complete the I 1 bridges bridgges and ard ii at about five in the after noun noon mee mae be arlly arcy crossin crossing over and poon eoon drove the enen enery every y back to their ine lne ne of works in the rear of the thil city although 7 they ought fought f desperately and deat out death de ath with a heavy hand the federals are depre represented dented to have been not very merciful ful and many of the enemy were slain in the greets of the city before it was in complete occupation of tho tho the graid grard graid army the d vision under gen franklin crossed three thre miles below the city and met with but little ion while putting in their pon tons tous the morning af pf the 12 h was so f fegy eggy that evereth ever bryth ng was enveloped in comparative da kness most of the forenoon the troops are ente I 1 to have been in moti n crossing over at an early hour gen sum Suu ners division taking the lead followed ly gen hookers corps there does not appear to have been much fighting done on that dav dar on arriving on the south side ot of the river and occupying occue yin g fredericksburg Frederic lisburg gen burnside ascertained certa ined fro from in deserters the be natu latue e position and strength of the works which consisted of two long lines of batteries on the heights back of the town own the first about a anile distan the second a mile in the rear of the fiest ile he also ascertained that the confederates had concentrated a large force there and in that vicinity and that their commanders gens lee hill longstreet Lon estreet sewart and jackson were determined to fight and give the yankees a warmer reception than they bad before received from the bonfe confederates aerates on any field of strife on the morning of 0 the the several divisions oe of the army having been arjang arranged bed ged as advantageously as possible q general attack was made upon the lines and a most desperate battle is reported to have been foight fought bt coLlinu ing from sunrise til till after dark gen franklin commenced the attack on n the right commanded by stonwall ston wall jackson and gained some little bet let no permanent advantage in the course of the day the other divisions and ana corps of the federal army in consecutive order from the left to the ight were led to the attack gen division engaging at ten ahn the battle became general and raged as stated with awful fury until the fhe curtains of night were spread over the scene assault after assault was made m a de upon the works but to no purpose other than to have bave ave men cut down by thousands as they marched upon the confederate batteries determined to conquer or die some little impression was made on the enemy by gen division as reported in 11 the he course of the afternoon but at inight wh when en the battle en ed he was compelled to fall back lack leaving his dead who fell near heir their works on the field such was the murderous agre fire of the enemy that they could not be brought away there was fighting done cn st the but how much has not transpired it was reported that great preparations were made on that day for a renewal of the attack on the tle en works on monday but so far as known there was not much fighting done at af cr er the close of the conflict on el A council of war ag as stated was held on monday when wuen it was waa determined to re retreat trea as any further attempt to carry the enemy 3 works woud aou d only result anth iu the sau bau slaughter 0 of the federal troops with no prospect in view of driving the confederates from their position which a correspondent declared were as impregnable as sebastopol sevastopol Seba to retire across the river was consi considered dred hazardous and every precaution was taken to induce the confederate comm commanders commander andem to believe that the fight would be renewed on tuesday morning soon after dark on monday night the a heavy win wind J storm prevailing the retreat was commenced mer men iced ced and before daylight on tuesday morning th thee entire army of the potomac had bad been transferred from the south to the north bank bajik of the rappahannock Rappa hannock and tha th bridges taken up so well had bad the retreat been seen planned and so silently were the nove ments of the toe various divisions execute bat hat the enemy were now apprised of what was vas tran transpiring until the withdrawal of 0 the grand arand army from their front and its it from the snare into which it had bad beba drawn bad had been completed thin terminated the great battle of fredericksburg ricks ricka burg which it not the most rever bever ever fought on this continent 1 must have bum been exceedingly florce fierce eee fie add anil bloody for it can not for a moment be supposed that such a numerous and wea we l disciplined army co commanded m by one of the bravest of men would have turned their backs upon their enemies until 1 I after their laiks had been greatly thinned by the operations of the fight the reports relative to the losses sustained by the union army from tie the time it left falmouth on the night of the loth till its on the night of the are meager and not very conclusive the fi 11 st statement made ot or the casualties in gen franklins franklina division represented that they amounted to about six thousand gen division must have buffered suffered according 11 to the various reports far more than franklins one corps that of gen french numbering seven thousand when it went into the battle coming out with only twelve hundred men the latest official report reports reduce the number of killed wounded and missing to less than twelve thousand which is certainly ceita not very great considering si the number of men engaged of that number only about twelve hundred are re ported killed it it is very evident that if the loss 6 sustained were no greater than stated the fighting figh was not so desperate da sperate as depre |