The Project Gutenberg ebook of History of the United States, Volume 4, by



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Mansfield was killed and Hooker borne from the field wounded, Sumner coming up barely in time to pre­vent a rout. Once more the Confederates were pushed through the cornfield into the woods.

1862] THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS 87



Here, crouching behind natural breastworks--limestone ridges waist-high--­the southern ranks delivered so hot a fire as to repulse Sumner's men. Thus, all the morning and into the afternoon the tide of battle surged back and forth through the bloody cornfield, strewn with wounded and dead.

General Winfield S. Hancock.

88 CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION [1862

On the Confederate right no action took place till late in the day. Burnside then attacked and gained some slight advantage. But re-enforcements from Harper's Ferry came up and were put in against him, forcing him back to the creek. During the next day McClellan feared to risk a battle. Being re-enforced, he intended to attack on the following morning; but Lee, who should have been crushed, having but 40,000 men to McClellan's 87,000, slipped away in the night and got safely across the Potomac. The Union loss was 12,400; that of the Confederates probably about the same.

The general dissatisfaction with McClel­lan's slowness caused his removal early in November, Burnside succeeding him. The new commander, who, as the head of the army, was an amiable failure, proposed to move directly against Richmond, but Lee flung himself in his path at Fredericksburg.

Fredericksburg lies on the south bank of the Rappahannock. Behind the city is a gradually ascending plain, bounded by heights which bend toward the river. Lee's army, 80,000 strong, lay in a semicircle along these heights, its wings touching the river above and below the town. Two rows of batteries, planted on the heights, swept the plain in front and flank. A sunken road, sheltered by a stone wall, ran along the base of the declivity. Burn­side's army of 125,000 men occupied a range of hills on the north side of the river.



1862] THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS 89

General Ambrose E. Burnside.



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