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SUMNER’S “RIGHT GRAND DIVISION”

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THE PHILLIPS HOUSE, BURNSIDE’S HEADQUARTERS.

FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN WHILE THE HOUSE WAS BURNING.

should doubt if his judgment concurred. It was only chivalrous attachmentto Burnside, or to any commander. But there were not two opinions amongthe subordinate officers as to the rashness of the undertaking.

Somebody told Burnside of our views, and he was irritated. He asked usto meet him the next night at the Lacy House. He said he understood, in ageneral way, that we were opposed to his plans. He seemed to be rather

severe on Hancock,—to my

: - , , surprise, for I did not think

that officer had said as muchas myself in opposition tothe plan of attack. Burn-side stated that he hadformed his plans, and all hewanted was the devotion ofhis men. Hancock made areply in which he disclaimedany personal discourtesy,and said he knew there wasa line of fortified heights onthe opposite side, and that itwould be pretty difficult for us to go over there and take them. I rose afterhim, knowing that I was the more guilty, and expressed a desire to serveBurnside, saying, among other things, that if I had ever done anything inany battle, in this one I intended to do twice as much. French came inwhile I was talking. He was rather late, and in his bluff way exclaimed:“ Is this a Methodist camp-meeting ? ”

The heights on the morning of the 11th, before the bridges were thrownacross, did not offer a very animated scene, because the troops were mostly hid-den. The bombardment for the jmrpose of dislodging the sharp-shooters whounder cover of the houses were delaying the bridge-making, was terrific, whd ethe smoke settled down and veiled the scene. After the bombardment hadfailed to dislodge the enemy, the 7th Michigan and the 19th and the 20thMassachusetts of Howard’s division sprang into the pontoons, and rowingthemselves over drove away Barksdale’s sharp-shooters. This gallant actionenabled the engineers to complete the bridges. Howard’s division was th 0first to cross by the upper bridge [see map, p. 74], his advance having a livelyfight in the streets of Fredericksburg. Hawkins’s brigade of Willcox’s corpsoccupied the lower part of the town on the same evening, and the town was notsecured without desperate fighting. I went over the next morning, Friday,the 12th, with Hancock’s and French ’s divisions. The remainder of Willcox’scorps crossed and occupied the lower part of the town. There was consider-able lootiug. I placed a provost-guard at the bridges, with orders that nobodyshould go back with plunder. An enormous pile of booty was collected ther 0by evening. But there came a time when we were too busy to guard it, andI suppose it was finally carried off by another set of spoilers. The troop 8of the two corps bivouacked that night in the streets and were not p eV '