CHAPTER XXVII.

CHANGE OF COMMANDERS.

GENERAL MCCLELLAN, meanwhile, advanced toward the Rappahannock, and his various columns were concentrating at Warrenton, when, on the 7th of November, he was, without previous notice, relieved of his command. Such was the sudden termination of the active career of an officer who had proved himself the most formidable adversary of the South.

The plans of General McClellan, when he was invested with the command of all the Federal armies, were comprehensive, and struck, to use his own phrase, "at the heart of the rebellion." He was not long continued, however, in the supreme command, and was sent with the Army of the Potomac to the Peninsula, where he was defeated, but by his excellent generalship saved his army from surrender or destruction. Thence he was ordered to Washington, and his abilities seem to have been recognized, since, after the defeat of General Pope, he rose again, as by right, to the command of all the forces, and with no orders except "protect the capital" commenced offensive operations against General Lee. The result was the battle of Sharpsburg, by which the advance of the Confederate commander upon Pennsylvania was checked, and his campaign defeated. Το disappoint the plans of a soldier so eminent as General Lee is no small proof of ability in the commander who succeeds in so doing; and the movements of General McClellan subsequent to the battle of Sharpsburg appear to have been able and judicious. He moved as soon as he could into Virginia, and his plans seemed excellently devised, when he was suddenly decapitated.

The explanation of this sudden withdrawal of confidence on the part of the Federal authorities must be sought for in the political histories of this period-it forms no part of our own subject

General McClellan was succeeded by General Ambrose E. Burnside, a commander of some reputation but moderate abilities, who is reported to have protested against his appointment to so great a command on the score of his inability to administer it. President Lincoln, however, insisted, and General Burnside assumed the direction of the army in its further operations. The result of affairs at Fredericksburg subsequently occasioned an official investigation; and from General Burnside's testimony before the committee, we are informed of his designs upon assuming command of the Federal army. Finding that General Lee confronted him in the upper Rappahannock, and that the way was barred in that direction, General Burnside conceived the project of making a demonstration in front of Lee to engage his attention, and, whilst his adversary was thus amused, of moving his main body rapidly down to Fredericksburg, where he would cross and turn his adversary's flank. Lee would thus be forced to fall back for the protection of Richmond, and the Federal army would move rapidly in the same direction in pursuit.

This plan of operations at once commenced by a feint on the upper Rappahannock, but it did not deceive the Confederate commander. No sooner had General Burnside put his main column in motion toward Fredericksburg, than General Lee, who had remained in the vicinity of Culpepper Court-House watching his opponent, made a corresponding movement across the Rapidan. General McClellan had moved rapidly southward only to find the army which he had left at Winchester facing him in front of Culpepper. General Burnside now no sooner appeared upon the hills of Stafford near Fredericksburg, than he discovered on the high ground opposite the gray lines of his adversary.

The intended surprise had turned out a failure; and from the latter part of November when these movements took place, to the middle of December, the two armies remained in sight of each other, divided only by the Rappahannock.

The large Federal camps were established in rear of the hills

opposite Fredericksburg, and their earthworks on this commanding position were soon mounted with heavy artillery intended to cover the crossing of their army. From "Chatham" and other residences overlooking the town, General Burnside and his officers constantly reconnoitred the Confederate position-the pickets dotting the banks of the river below, from above Falmouth to Deep Run. The river was thus guarded from United States ford, near the confluence of the Rappahannock and Rapidan, to Port Royal, twenty-two miles below the place.

The ground around Fredericksburg, on the southern side of the river, was well adapted to the repulse of an attacking force. From a point just above the town and immediately upon the stream, commences a range of hills which, diverging from the river, sweep around to Hamilton's crossing on the Richmond and Fredericksburg Railroad about four miles below, and a mile or more from the river. The ground thus enclosed is an extensive plain, through which, and parallel to the stream, runs the "River Road," a broad highway skirted with cedars, growing out of embankments, serving the purpose of fences. The ditches formed by throwing up these embankments furnished an impromptu species of intrenchment which shielded the Federal troops in no small degree from the Southern fire. Through the plain described wanders a small stream known as Deep Run, with precipitate banks, completely sheltering troops, as the stream approaches the river.

On the crest of hills here mentioned-extending from near Falmouth to the crossing, and thickly covered throughout nearly their whole extent by oaks, edged by pine thickets-the Confederate commander had formed his line of battle. Longstreet's corps held the left, extending from the river to a point about midway the length of the range, and just beyond Deep Run. Jackson, who had remained in the Valley until about the 1st of December, when he rejoined General Lee, held the right of the line, occupying the ground from Longstreet's right to Hamilton's crossing, where the range of hills descends into the plain. On the extreme right, in the extensive plain intersected by the "River

Road" and the "Old Richmond Road," running from the crossing to the former, General Stuart was posted with his cavalry and horse artillery to protect Jackson's flank, which it was probable the enemy would attempt to turn. The Massaponnax, a small stream with precipitate banks, formed the southern and eastern boundary of this plain, rendering any movement of the Federal forces beyond General Stuart's right impracticable.

Such was the disposition of General Lee's forces to repulse the intended advance of the enemy.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

FREDERICKSBURG.

GENERAL BURNSIDE had thus completely failed in his design. of stealing a march upon his opponent, and it is on record that he was greatly opposed to attempting the passage of the river in the face of Lee. The Federal authorities, however, had set their hearts upon striking a heavy blow before the spring, and General Burnside reluctantly acquiesced in a project which did not receive the approval of his military judgment.

Up to the 11th of December, no movement of any importance had taken place, though the enemy had made numerous attempts to produce the impression that they intended to cross below or above, not at Fredericksburg. Their troops were seen moving to and fro on the Stafford hills opposite, and the river bank was heavily picketed along the entire front.

The Confederate Generals awaited the threatened movement with confidence, and a well-grounded belief that in spite of the numbers of the Federal army, and the presence of such able soldiers as Sumner, Franklin, Hooker, and others in command of grand divisions, they would be able to repulse any attack.

It would seem that the enemy were, on their side, equally confident. The dismissal of General McClellan had been very

distasteful to the troops, but they were thoroughly disciplined, and ready to fight under any one; and the Northern journals, extensively circulated among their camps, had sedulously instilled the conviction that the "On to Richmond" movement was now certain of success.

The Confederate commander finally received reliable intelli gence that the enemy had finished their preparations for crossing, and were putting their troops in motion.

Before daylight on the morning of Thursday, December 11th, they commenced throwing two pontoons across at Fredericksburg, one above, the other below the destroyed railroad bridge. While engaged in this attempt, and swarming upon the boats, a destructive fire was opened upon them from the southern bank of the river, where Brigadier-General Barksdale was posted with his Mississippians, and this fire was so hot, that it at first drove the enemy back. They quickly renewed the attempt, however, and pushed on the work, in spite of the hail-storm of bullets from Barksdale, whose troops fought with desperation. The heavy fog slowly lifted from the scene, and then commenced, and was kept up all day, one of the most determined bombardments known in history. The enemy had planted more than a hundred pieces of artillery on the hills to the northern and eastern side of the town, and from an early hour in the forenoon, swept the streets with round shot, shell, and case shot-firing frequently a hundred guns a minute. The quick puffs of smoke, touched in the centre with tongues of flame, ran incessantly along the lines of their batteries on the slopes, and as the smoke slowly drifted away, the bellowing roar came up in one continuous roll. The town was soon fired, and a dense cloud of smoke enveloped its roofs and steeples. The white church spires still rose serenely aloft, defying shot or shell, though a portion of one of them was torn off. The smoke was succeeded by lurid flame, and the crimson mass brought to mind the pictures cf Moscow burning.

This incessant fire of heavy artillery on the town was kept up from daylight until dark. Barksdale's troops continued to