THE WASHINGTON ARTILLERY ON MARYE’S HILL l-IRING UPON THE UNION COLUMNS FORMING FOR THE ASSAULT.
A HOT DAY ON MARYE’S HEIGHTS.
BY WILLIAM MILLER OWEN, FIRST LIEUTENANT, C. S. A.
the night of the 10th of December we, of theNew Orleans Washington Artillery, sat up late^ our camp on Marye’s Heights, entertaining some
Dsitors
m an improvised theater, smoking our
P 1 P es > and talking of home. A final punch havingeen brewed and disposed of, everybody creptOder the blankets and was soon in the land of^od. i u
an hour or two we were aroused by theport of a heavy gun. I was up in an instant, forthere should be another it would be the signalat the enemy was preparing to cross the river.r ; Florence, a civilian in the bivouac, bounced, h e had a concealed spring under his blanket,cried out, “Wake up! wake up ! what’s that ?”e deep roar of the second gun was heard, and wewhat we had to do. It was 4 o’clock. Ourders were that upon the firing of these signalsuus we should at once take our places in the^doubts prepared for us on Marye’s Hill, andWait developments. “Boots and saddles” wasUn d e d, and the camp was instantly astir, and inle F* morn i n g we were on the Plank road
adiug th e hill. The position reached, our nineh Were placed as follows: Two 12-pounder°witz ei . g and two 12-pounder light Napoleon iba* 8 ^ le Com P a “y> uuder Captain Eshle-Lieutenants Norcom and Battles, wereUp 111 Gie work on the extreme right of the lineU^ to the Telegraph road; two 12-poundertai^M- 011 guns Gie 3d Company, under Cap-tiy 11 . * 61 ’ a, 'd Lieutenant McElroy, in the center;q 0 3-inch rifle-guns of the 1st Company, underQuires and Lieutenant Brown, on the left,^ord 0 a little brick-house and in front of the Wei-dhd f ra 7 e y ai 'd, and one 10-pounder Parrott rifle,Uextt '' J ' eu * enail l Galbraith, of the 1st Company,^ 0 the Plank road leading into Fredericksburg ,k'itl® 0om P ail y, under Captain Richardson,d'eleo- 1 ° Ur ^ a P°l eon guns, moved on across theOrn ® ra l > h road to the right, and reported ast ro ^ le< ^ 1° General Pickett for service with hisdoubt- 8 ' ^Giout delay the men made the re-Ujg^t S as Slui g as possible, and finding the epaule-pj , n °t to tlieir liking, went to work witha hd j, aru \ s hovel throwing the dirt a little higher,eil Kii as ^^ ou h l g embrasures to fire through. Thetfi e ' 16ers objected, and said they were “ruiningto j. y ° r ks,” but the cannoneers said, “We haveSu^ * ^ lere j not you; we will arrange them toPigly° U f* e ^ Ves '”. General Longstreet approv-
8ai ^> “If you save the finger of a mail’sth e ’ la l does some good.” A dense fog coveredSom™ Ulltr y, and we could not discern what wasT n jf 0nhl the town.
W as °1 the 12tli was also foggy, and it
We eo . Un Ll 2 p. m. that it cleared off, and thenden se ] ' 8ee the Stafford Heights, across the river,c°l Unin y P ae ked with troops. At 3 P. M. a heavyhear the ln ° Ve ^ ^ own toward one of the bridgesihg So gas-works, and we opened upon it, mak-them u 6 8 ^ en( tid practice and apparently stirring^°caliti. rot hgiously, for they soon sought coolers - While our guns were firing, the enemy’s
97
long range batteries on the Stafford Heights openedupon us, as much as to say, “Wliat are you aboutover there?” We paid no attention to their in-quiry, as our guns could not reach them.
At dawn the next, morning, December 13th, inthe fresh and nipping air, I stepped upon thegallery overlooking the heights back of the littleold-fashioned town of Fredericksburg . Heavyfog and mist hid the whole plain between theheights and the Rappahannock, but under coverof that fog and within easy cannon-shot lay Burn-side’s army. Along the heights, to the right andleft of where I was standing, extending a lengthof nearly five miles, lay Lee’s army. The buglesand the drum corps of the respective armies werenow sounding reveille, and the troops were pre-paring for tlieir early meal. All knew we shouldhave a battle to-day and a great one, for the en-emy had crossed the river in immense force, uponhis pontoons during the night. Oil the Confeder-ate side all was ready, and the shock was awaitedwith stubborn resolution. Last night we hadspread our blankets upon the bare floor in the par-lor of Marye’s house, and now our breakfast wasbeing prepared in its fire-place, and we were im-patient to have it over. After hastily dispatchingthis light meal of bacon and corn-bread, thecolonel, chief bugler, and I (the adjutant of thebattalion) mounted our horses and rode out to in-spect our lines. Visiting first the position of the10-pounder Parrott rifle oil the Plank road, wefound Galbraith and his boys wide-awake and readyfor business. Across the Plank road, in an earth-work, was the battery of Donaldsonville Can-noneers, of Louisiana , all Creoles and gallantsoldiers. Riding to the rear of Marye’s house, wevisited in turn the redoubts of Squires, Miller, andEshleman, and found everything ready for instantaction. The ammunition chests had been taken offthe limbers and placed upon the ground behind thetraverses close to the guns. The horses and limbershad been sent to the rear out of danger. We drewrein and spoke a few words to each in passing, andat the 3d Company’s redoubt we were invited bySergeant “ Billy ” Ellis to partake of some “caf6noir” which liis mess had prepared in a horsebucket. Nothing loath, we drank a, tin-cupful, andfound, not exactly “Mocha,” or “Java,” but thebest of parched corn. However, it was hot, themorning was raw, and it did very well.
At 12 o’clock the fog had cleared, and while wewere sittingiii Marye’s yard smoking our pipes, aftera lunch of hard crackers, a courier came to ColonelWalton, bearing a dispatch from General Long-street for General Cobb, but, for our information aswell, to be read and then given to him. It was asfollows : “ Should General Anderson, on your left,be compelled to fall back to the second line ofheights, you must conform to liis movements.”Descending the hill into the sunken road, I mademy way through the troops, to a little house whereGeneral Cobb had his headquarters, and handedhim the dispatch. He read it carefully, and said,