FREDERICKSBURG DESERTED.

595

Longstreet's position; where the troops arrived the 1st of December. But on the 21st of November, Sumner had summoned the town to surrender, under a threat of cannonading it the next day. The weather was rainy and tempestuous, and only a few hours of darkness were allowed the inhabitants to remove from their homes. General Lee assured the city authorities that he would pledge himself not to use the place for military purposes; but that he could not permit the enemy to occupy it. Although no garrison was within its precincts at that time, to justify the outrage of a bombardment, yet the Federal Commander refused to retract his threat, and only extended to the people the poor privilege of a prolongation of the time for removal to forty-eight hours. Nearly the whole population of the city now deserted their homes, at the beginning of winter, and with an unexampled patriotism, accepted all the horrors of exile, rather than submit to the yoke of the enemies of their country. The hombardment was, however, deferred.

When General Jackson arrived near Fredericksburg, several Federal gunboats had appeared at the village of Port Royal, upon the Rappahannock, twenty miles below. As the positions. upon the southern bank were there less strong, it was surmised that the enemy might design a landing or a crossing. General Jackson was therefore directed to send the division of D. H. Hill to guard that place. When he gave him this order he said to him: "I am opposed to fighting here. We will whip the enemy but gain no fruits of victory. I have advised the line of the

These words were pro

North Anna, but have been overruled." phetic. The objection which General Jackson stated had also been maturely weighed by the Commander-in-Chief; but it was counterpoised by other considerations, which he did not feel at liberty to disregard. To adopt the North Anna as his line of defence, would have been to surrender to the occupation of the

enemy, a breadth of thirty-five miles of territory. The Confederate Government was reluctant to submit to the political effect of such a retreat; and the waning resources of the Commonwealth warned them to relinquish no space to the enemy, which might yield important supplies for the sustenance of the army.

General D. H. Hill proceeded to Port Royal on the 3rd of December, constructed a slight entrenchment above that village during the night, and the next day, chose positions for his artil lery. Carter's battery of Parrot guns was placed on a commanding hill west of the place, and Hardaway's, with one English Whitworth gun of great power and range, was posted three miles below. On the 5th these two officers opened upon the Federal gunboats with such effect as to compel them promptly to change their position. By retiring behind the village they shielded themselves from the fire of Carter, but were still exposed to that of Hardaway. They now proceeded to vent their spleen in a dastardly outrage, which, were it not overshadowed by so many others more enormous, would fix upon them the detestation of all men. Although the peaceful village was not occupied as a position by any Confederate battery or other force; the ships of war now opened a furious bombardment upon it, without a moment's notice. The little town was battered half into ruins; but although all the females, aged, sick, and children, were caught within it, in unsuspecting security, the superintending mercy of Providence delivered them all from death. The only casualties were the killing of a dog, and the wounding of a poor African slave. But while this dastardly attack was proceeding, Hardaway continued pertinaciously to pound them with his Whitworth shot, until they gave up the contest, and retired with loss down the river, running the gantlet of the guns of Major Pelham's horse artillery, which lined the bank. A few days after, they returned toward Port Royal with five additional ships; but

were again driven away by the artillery of Hill, reinforced by Colonel Brown from the reserves.

A few miles above Port Royal an insignificant stream, at a place known as the Hop Yard, enters the Rappahannock. The attention of General D. H. Hill was somehow called to it, as offering an eligible place for the passage of the enemy; and he resolved to examine it thoroughly. He found that the configuration of the country did, indeed, give special advantages to the force attempting to pass from the north side, and moreover, that there were marks not to be mistaken, of its occupation for that purpose by the enemy. When these facts were reported to General Jackson, he immediately appreciated their importance, and sent the division of Early to the place, which began diligently to fortify the southern bank. The reports of the Federal Generals subsequently disclosed the importance of these precautions. Halleck had himself selected the Hop Yard as the place for crossing, and Burnside had planned a surprise there, which was relinquished when they perceived that the ground was pre-occupied.

Meantime the Federal Government was urging that unhappy commander to force the line of the Rappahannock before further obstacles were accumulated in his front; and he was excusing himself by complaining that his pontoon trains had not been forwarded to him from the upper Potomac. Twenty days were spent in these mutual criminations. Of the merits of the quarrel, it is enough to say, that the delay of the bridge trains probably evinced the incompetency both of himself and Halleck. But the interval was diligently improved by him in perfecting his communications at Acquia Creek, fortifying the heights north of the Rappahannock, and arming them with the most potent equipment of heavy guns ever marshalled in the field by any general. The lavish preparations of his government supplied him with an

apparatus, compared with which the gigantic artillery of Napoleon was puny. Besides innumerable field batteries of lighter guns, which were intended to march and fight with his divisions of infantry, one hundred and eighty heavy cannon, some of them throwing shot of a hundred pounds' weight, frowned upon the town and its approaches, from the opposing hills. The "grand army" was now arranged into three great corps, under Sumner, Hooker, and Franklin, which made an aggregate of one hundred and twenty-five thousand men, besides a corps of twenty-five thousand more, under the German Sigel, which performed the duties of a rear-guard.

Upon the 10th of December, Burnside at length received his pontoon trains; and he determined at once to prepare for forcing his way in the front of the Confederate army, and beginning his onward march to Richmond. He was confronted, upon the heights before Fredericksburg, by the corps of Longstreet. At Port Royal was the division of D. H. Hill; between him and Longstreet, was the division of Early; and the remainder of Jackson's corps was held in reserve about Guinea's Station, ready to support either point. The cavalry division of Stuart guarded the course of the Rappahannock for many miles above and below; and prosecuted, with their usual audacity, their raids within the enemy's lines. The defensive force may be stated with substantial, although not with exact correctness, at sixtyfive thousand men of all arms. Of these, General Jackson's corps included about twenty-five thousand effective men.

The impressive drama which was now about to occur upon the plains of Fredericksburg, presents to the student of history one of the most brilliant examples of defensive warfare. To comprehend its true merits, he must acquire a distinct conception of the topography of the arena, upon which it was enacted. The general course of the Rappahannock, though sinuous, may be