University of Virginia Library

CHAPTER XXXII.

For three weeks the two armies lay thus in sight and almost
within hearing of each other. General Burnside's inactivity was
contrary to the views and wishes of his subordinate commanders.
General Sumner had wished to occupy Fredericksburg on the
17th of November. On the 19th General Hooker had urged a
crossing of the Rappahannock by the fords above the town. At
first the Federal commander had waited for his pontoons, but by
the time they arrived the Confederates were so strongly posted
in his front that he wrote to Washington excusing his delay on
that ground.[1] He then contemplated crossing at Skinker's
Neck, fourteen miles below Fredericksburg, and Federal gunboats
were sent up the Rappahannock to facilitate this plan.
General D. H. Hill's division, of Jackson's corps, with some
powerful artillery, was therefore sent down to Port Royal, and so
effectively attacked the gunboats as to change General Burnside's
opinion of the feasibility of advancing by that route. He
then "concluded that the enemy would be more surprised by a
crossing at or near Fredericksburg"[2] than elsewhere, and "determined
to make the attempt"[3] there. All his preparations
were made by December 10, and the movement of the Federal
army began before daylight on the 11th. Pontoon-bridges were
to be laid down at different points to allow the passage of the
troops. The fire from the Stafford heights was so severe that
the Confederate troops who were protecting the crossing below
the town, near the mouth of Deep Run, had to be withdrawn,
and the bridges there were laid down before noon. In the town
itself the sharp-shooters effectually prevented all efforts to construct

the bridge until late in the day. About four in the afternoon
a furious bombardment from one hundred and fifty pieces
of artillery caused the Confederates to retire, and the bridges
there were completed. During the night, and under cover of
the dense fog, the next day, December 12, the Federal army
crossed the Rappahannock and took position on the plain in
front of Lee's army. Franklin's grand division crossed at the
lower bridges, as did Hooker's Third Corps and Burns's division
of the Ninth Corps. Sumner's grand division crossed opposite
the town. Hooker's Fifth Corps was held in reserve. Burnside's
report gives to Franklin sixty thousand men, to Sumner
twenty-seven thousand, to Hooker twenty-six thousand,—a grand
total of one hundred and thirteen thousand. The effective
strength of the Confederates was about sixty thousand men,
lying from the Rappahannock River above Falmouth on the left
to the Massaponax Creek. The left was held by Longstreet's
corps; and Jackson's, on the right, held the ground in front of
Franklin's command; D. H. Hill's and Early's divisions of
that corps marching up from Port Royal on the night of the 12th.

The following letters written on the spot give the details of
these two days, 11th and 12th. Sandie Pendleton wrote on the
11th,—

General Pendleton wrote in the early morning of the 13th,—

". . . Two nights ago we were aroused by our signal-guns,
and everything made ready for battle. All day, day before yesterday,
there was heavy cannonading by the enemy, and brisk skirmishing
from before dawn by our riflemen on the river-bank in
Fredericksburg and below. Our artillery did not fire at all, because
no suitable object was presented. The enemy tried their
pontoon-bridges, and by night, under cover of great guns, succeeded
in getting down several. Night before the last a good
many crossed into the flat below the town, and a good many
into the town. Yesterday, as the day before, a murky, smoky
atmosphere covered everything, so that there was no discerning
of objects a half-mile off. The Yankees, however, fired a good
deal, and our batteries occasionally. As I rode to the front
early in the morning, General Jackson, Sandie, etc., rode up, and
we went on together to the position of my large guns,—a high
point. They stayed but a little while; I rode round the batteries
all day. About three the smoke in a great measure cleared up,
and the shelling became severe on both sides. We look for
warm work to-day, or whenever the atmosphere is clear enough.
Alas! for the blood and suffering and death, and especially of
so many unprepared."

On the morning of the 13th of December the two armies lay
within less than two miles of each other, waiting for the lifting
of the fog to engage in their deadly struggle. Ninety thousand
men and two hundred and twenty pieces of artillery had crossed
into the plain: forty thousand men and one hundred and four
guns under Sumner on the Federal right at Fredericksburg;
fifty thousand men with one hundred and sixteen guns under
Franklin at the lower bridges.[5] Behind these, across the river,
were their infantry reserves and a powerful force of heavy artillery,

so situated as to sweep the plain in their front and the Confederate
position beyond. The Confederate left, opposite Sumner,
was held by Longstreet's corps. Jackson's corps held the right
from Deep Run to the heights above the Massaponax Creek.
Two hundred and fifty pieces of artillery were posted where it
was thought they would prove most serviceable. The infantry
was in a high state of efficiency and eager to try the issue with
Burnside's men. The artillery had been much improved and recruited
since Sharpsburg, and was now massed systematically, so
as best to defend the Confederate positions and deal destruction
to the enemy's advance. The delay occasioned by the dense fog
gave time to Generals D. H. Hill and Early to bring up their
divisions from the neighborhood of Port Royal and take the
positions assigned them,—Early in Jackson's second line, D. H.
Hill as the reserve. A. P. Hill's division held the front line
along the railroad and in the woods bordering it. Upon the
heights behind were stationed artillery, with orders not to fire
except upon the advancing enemy. A general attack was expected
along the Confederate lines, and officers and men were
watching for their opportunity.

Through the obscurity of the early morning came sounds indicating
activity along the Federal line; the words "Forward,
guide centre," were distinguished, and as the mist partially lifted,
about nine o'clock, a large force was seen moving in line of
battle upon Jackson. As they advanced into the plain, Major
Pelham, of Stuart's horse-artillery, opened an enfilade fire upon
them with two guns, which held them in check for an hour, and
did not withdraw until four Federal batteries were turned upon
them.[6] General Meade then continued his advance by the flank,
his artillery shelling the woods and heights, endeavoring to find
out the exact position of the Confederate lines and batteries.
According to orders, no reply was made to the Federal cannon;
but when the infantry had come within less than eight hundred
yards, Colonel R. L. Walker on the right opened upon them
such a storm of shot and shell from fourteen guns on the heights
in their front as caused them "to falter and retreat."[7]

About one P.M. a furious cannonade from the Federal guns
announced the main attack on Jackson's entire line. Under the
protection of this heavy and well-directed fire the infantry again
advanced upon A. P. Hill. As before, the Confederate batteries
played upon them destructively. Towards the left the advance
was checked by the heavy artillery fire. Towards the right,
however, they pressed on to the railroad, driving the troops
stationed there, and striking an interval in the line, where a
marsh separated two of Hill's brigades, penetrated the first line,
turned the flanks of those brigades, and thus gained a temporary
advantage. A desperate conflict then took place. The second
line, under Early, came rapidly up, "crashing through the
woods,"[8] and after a severe struggle drove the enemy back out
of the woods and to the railroad. A part of Early's command
then attacked the force sheltered under the railroad embankment,
and drove them across the plains to their batteries. During
all this infantry fight the artillery was incessantly engaged. The
enemy constantly shelled the woods and heights, and the Confederate
guns poured their concentrated fire into the enemy's
troops wherever they could be perceived.

A tremendous cannonade from the Stafford heights had been
opened in the early morning upon Longstreet's corps, holding
the centre and left of the Confederate position; but no attack
was made there until towards mid-day. General Sumner being
directed to attack and seize the heights in the rear of Fredericksburg,
ordered forward French's division, followed by Hancock's.
"At eleven A.M. the advance division moved in three
columns of battalions by brigades."[9] The orders given were to
advance, drive the pickets of the enemy, and go into their works
with them.[10] "Marye's Hill," the special point of attack, was
defended by an infantry force posted in a sunken road and a
ditch and behind a stone wall at its base; by the Washington
Artillery on its crest; by a concentric fire from other batteries
so placed as to sweep the plain in front; and by a reserve force
of infantry and artillery stationed on the southern slope of the
hill. As the attacking column moved forward, the batteries on
the Stafford heights opened a furious fire upon the Confederate

position with a view to silencing their artillery. But here, as on
the right, the Confederate guns made no reply, and fired only
upon the advancing infantry. Notwithstanding the murderous
fire thus directed upon them, the Federal troops moved bravely
towards the hill; but when the infantry in the sunken road and
behind the stone wall opened upon them with musketry, their
already depleted ranks seemed to melt away. Hancock followed
French, and Howard Hancock, until at last Hooker's whole reserve
force was ordered into the attack. General Hooker remonstrated
with General Burnside, at first by message and then
in person,[11] but the commanding general insisted that the crest
must be taken.

This, the sixth and last attack, was made at a critical moment,
when the guns of the Washington Artillery on the crest of the
hill were being relieved by a part of Alexander's battalion. The
Federals, seeing these guns withdrawn, and being relieved for a
time from the galling fire which had checked the preceding columns,
supposed it to indicate a drawing back of the Confederate
line, and pressed forward with spirit. The infantry in the sunken
road and on the hill had been reinforced, and received the
assault with a terrific fire of musketry; and the fresh guns on
the crest, coming rapidly into action, opened upon the foe with
such vigor that "the attack was almost immediately repulsed."[12]
Night found the attack "repulsed at all points, and the day's
work" for the Federal army "a failure."[13]

"The attack had been so easily repulsed, and with so small a
part"[14] of the Confederate army, that it was confidently expected
to be renewed the next day, and preparations were made during
the night to receive it still more vigorously. General Burnside,
in his report, says that he "directed preparations to be made for
another attack on the morning of the 14th, but countermanded
the order." Mr. Swinton[15] says that "he resolved to form the
Ninth Corps in a column of attack by regiments, and lead it in
person to the assault," but desisted on account of the "urgent
entreaties of General Sumner." All day Sunday and Monday
Lee's army lay thus, expecting and hoping for another Federal

advance. The night of the 15th was dark and stormy, and
under the cover of the wind and rain the host which had moved
out with so much confidence stole back to their camps under the
protection of their great guns.

Then for the first time the Confederates became aware of the
extent of the destruction and disaster they had inflicted upon
their assailants. Only one of Longstreet's divisions and parts
of two of Jackson's had been actively engaged, though all had
suffered somewhat from the enemy's incessant artillery fire.
Five thousand two hundred and nine in killed, wounded, and
missing were reported on the Confederate side. The Federal
loss is given as twelve thousand six hundred and fifty-three, and
we have seen that upon Marye's Hill Sumner's whole corps,
with part of Hooker's, had again and again been thrown, while
Meade, Reynolds, and Birney had fruitlessly attacked Jackson's
position.

The Confederate infantry actually engaged had, as they always
did, fought most gallantly, and those who were compelled to lie
inactive suffered much from the enemy's shot and shell; but to
the accuracy, efficiency, and persistent bravery of the artillery
was largely due the success of Lee's army in this battle. Generals
Lee, Longstreet, Jackson, A. P. Hill, and the other Confederate
generals in their reports speak again and again of the
"rapid," "destructive," "well-directed," "demoralizing," "murderous,"
"accurate," "efficacious" fire and "extraordinary effect"
of their guns at all points, and of the "unflinching courage,"
"unshaken steadiness," "animation and spirit" with which they
were "admirably served," and repeatedly mention with high
commendation individual commanders and batteries.[16] The

tribute paid to the Confederate artillery by the Federal commanders
is even more emphatic as to the prominent and important
part it played in the repulse of Burnside's army. Their
reports—from those of Generals Burnside, Franklin, Sumner,
Hooker, French, Hancock, Howard, Couch, Meade, Reynolds,
Birney, etc., to those from the officers commanding brigades,
regiments, and companies—all characterize the fire of the artillery
opposing their advance as "murderous," "deadly," "terrific,"
"destructive," "continuous," "severe," "galling," "vigorous,"
"furious," "heavy," "cross and concentrated." These epithets
are so constantly repeated—varied by references to the "storm
of shot and shell," "the severe front and enfilading fire" from
the batteries—as to show the power and success of the Confederate
cannon. In some instances—as we have seen the case
with Major Pelham—special reference is made to the injury inflicted
by particular guns. General Franklin says, "We were
annoyed continually by firing from the other side of the Massaponax
from long-range guns." General Birney says that, "At
4.30 P.M. the enemy opened upon our left a battery of Whitworth
guns that enfiladed my command, which annoyed us greatly;"[17]
and several times mention is made of "a Whitworth gun planted
on Sunday, 14th, in the head of the Massaponax,"[18]
doing great
damage.

The consciousness that the position, defended by such an
army, could not be carried, induced the withdrawal of the Army
of the Potomac, and made it necessary for General Burnside to
try some other route to Richmond.

On Sunday, the 14th, Sandie Pendleton wrote to his mother,—

". . . I am here at head-quarters and have a chance to write,
because I was badly bruised in the fight yesterday. In the afternoon,
as I went with an order to General Taliaferro to advance,
I was struck by a musket-ball, which went through both over- and
under-coats, and was stopped by striking the knife in my pants
pocket. It saved my life, as the ball would have gone through
the groin and fractured the hip-joint. I am very stiff and horribly
bruised. I did not leave the field, and shall return this

morning. We held the right. The artillery fire the heaviest I
ever saw, surpassing that at Malvern Hill. On the left, at Falmouth,
they tried to take the heights and were signally repulsed.
On our side they tried to take the heights, and our artillery
played upon them with considerable effect."

On the I1 th General Pendleton wrote,—

". . . Well, the Yankees are gone! The battle of Saturday
proved much more important than we at the time knew. I could
see that the destruction of the enemy was terrific, but had no just
idea of the terrible loss of life on their side. The blow was so
stunning they could not advance again Sunday. Monday, again,
they remained stationary, and we, of course, would not leave our
position, so strong by nature and stronger by art, to attack them
in the plain, taking for granted they must attack us if they expected
to accomplish anything. Yesterday morning we looked
for the great fight of the war. But lo! when dawn appeared no
Yankees remained this side of the Rappahannock, except dead
and wounded. They had used the dark, rainy night to cover
their retreat back to the hills of Stafford, and were out of our
reach.

"One Whitworth gun I had in a good position, and able to
shoot four or five miles, was the only one with which they could
be reached; this fired a number of times at their receding masses,
wagon-trains, etc., with what effect we could not well see. Some
of their long-range guns replied and sent thirty-pound shells
furiously about us, and, serious as the risk was, you would have
laughed to see generals, colonels, majors, and all squatting under
the breastwork every time the flash of one of those large guns
appeared. There is abundance of time after seeing the flash of a
gun two miles off to lie down or get under cover at hand before
the ball or shell arrives. The report comes before the missile,
and then the latter comes with great noise whether it explode or
not. . . . General Jackson's wing off for Port Royal. Burnside
may try there. . . . My hope of seeing you all at home this
Christmas must be disappointed. . . . In the hottest part of the
fight the other day, we really supposed that it was only a sharp
skirmish preliminary to the general battle. But they suffered

terribly. The ground was literally wet with the blood of the
slain Yankees, awful to behold! On all the battle-fields I have
seen nothing like it."

How severe was the blow inflicted upon the Federal army is
shown in their reports, and especially in the congratulations sent
by Mr. Lincoln to that army "on the courage with which" they,
"in an open field, maintained the contest against an intrenched
foe, and the consummate skill and success with which" they
"crossed and recrossed the river in the face of the enemy."

Besides the hardships of camp and dangers of battle, personal
and family anxieties pressed heavily upon General Pendleton at
this time. His parish in Lexington and his own home had
become crowded with refugees, who needed the services of the
Church and the consolations of a pastor. There was no prospect
of his soon resuming his ministerial work there, and after much
consideration he decided that it was right for him to resign the
rectorship and give opportunity for some other clergyman to take
it. On the 24th of December he resigned the parish and wrote
to his wife concerning it, "I feel great ease of mind as approving
this step." To avoid the great trouble of his family being rendered
homeless by his resignation, he offered to purchase the
parsonage at a fair valuation. The vestry were unwilling to sell,
but the Rev. Dr. Norton—himself a refugee from his church in
Alexandria, Virginia, who became temporary rector in Lexington
—refused to turn Mrs. Pendleton out, and rented the parsonage
to her on reasonable terms.

Colonel Edwin G. Lee, of the Thirty-third Virginia Regiment,
General Pendleton's son-in-law, had been attacked with severe
and prostrating lung-trouble. The hardship, intense cold, and
exposure of the days of watching and waiting for Burnside's advance
at Fredericksburg had so aggravated Colonel Lee's symptoms
that he was compelled to yield to the urgent advice of his
physicians and withdraw from the field. A grievous trial it was
to the young soldier—and to his friends—to be thus disabled from
sharing in the hardships and dangers of his brothers and comrades.
Too conscientious and considerate of the rights of others
to accept the unlimited furlough offered him, and leave his duties
to subordinate officers while standing in the way of their promotion,

he resigned his commission in the latter part of December,
1862, and was succeeded in command of the regiment by Colonel
F. M. Holliday, afterwards governor of Virginia. Colonel Lee
was recommissioned and assigned to duty in Richmond in 1863;
volunteered for active service in the spring of 1864, and was
afterwards sent to Staunton to command there and bring out the
reserves of the valley, and made a brigadier-general.

An extract from one of Mrs. Pendleton's letters written the
last week in December, 1862, gives some idea of the growing
scarcity of provisions and increase of prices:

"The object of this letter is to urge you to send to General
Jackson's head-quarters for a box which went to Mr. Lee this
morning. Let me tell you the contents of the box, that you may
be more anxious to get it: Turkey, six and a half pounds of sausage,
two tin boxes of apple-butter, a pair of chickens, souse-cheese,
four pounds of dried cherries, to be stewed with some of
the three and a half pounds of sugar, two and a half pounds of
butter, half-bushel of dried apples, and two bottles of catsup. Sue
had made a list of the articles and their cost, that Mr. Lee might
charge the mess with them. I will recapitulate for the benefit of
your mess: Turkey, two dollars; chickens, one dollar; apple-butter,
three dollars; butter, two dollars and fifty cents; sugar,
three dollars and fourteen cents; sausage, two dollars; dried
apples, two dollars; souse-cheese, fifty cents; catsup, fifty cents;
and dried cherries, two dollars,—in all, eighteen dollars and
sixty-four cents, besides thirty-seven and a half cents for the
box and one dollar and twenty-five cents' freight for the box to
Staunton. I have wanted to send you a box, but did not mean
to make you pay for it, though it is but right to charge the mess.
These are the prices we paid, except for the sausage and souse,-they
are less than the cost of the meat. If I had known you
would have gotten this box I would have put a ham in it."

It was during this campaign that General Pendleton was found
one afternoon by Major Page busily engaged with needle and
thread. The following interview took place:
"What are you doing, general?"

"Mending my trousers. The only thing I could find for a
patch was this old piece of a collar."

"Well, it's a great waste of time, for nobody'll ever be able to
tell one end of your shirt from the other!"

It is needless to say that this episode was duly reported by the
victim of it, and was soon known throughout the camp.