BY H. G. O. WEYMOUTH, CAPTAIN, 19TH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT.
( UN' the morning of the 11th of December, 1862,^ about two hours before daylight, the regi-mental commanders of Colonel Norman J. Hall’s"bird Brigade , of Howard’s Second Division, Sec-°ad Army Corps , were assembled at brigade head-barters to receive preliminary orders for theApproaching battle. Our brigade commander in-0l 'med us that our regiment was to be the first to® r °ss the upper pontoon-bridge, which was to® laid by the engineer corps by daylight, andhat we were to hold and occupy the right of the°Wn until the whole army should have crossed,hen the Right Grand Division, comprising the6c ond and Ninth Corps, would charge the heights,® u Pported by artillery in front and on the rightank. On our arrival at the river at daylight we,°hnd but a very small section of the bridge laid,i? e °nsequence of the commanding position whiche enemy held on the right bank of the river,e °reted as they were behind fences made musket-P r °of by piling cord-wood and other materialsgainst them. After a fruitless attempt of eight°urs’ duration to lay the bridge where the enemya d absolute control of the river front, the ideat>, aS abandoned, and notice was sent down to us at^ e river that the enemy would be shelled from the® l ghts, with orders to take to the pontoon-boats and° ss and dislodge the enemy in order to enable theth ^ ltleer corps ho complete the bridge. The instant® ^hillery ceased firing, the 7th Michigan andh Massachusetts took to the boats and poledr °ss the river under a heavy musketry fire froma ? 61 >emy. The 7 th Michigan was the first to makeanding, and marched up Farquhar street in a0 r ®°h line from the bridge. They immediately be-of tvf Sever ely engaged, and the first two companieshe 19th Massachusetts that had crossed went
forward and joined them. A few minutes later theremainder of the 19th crossed, formed in line onthe bank of the river, left resting on Farquharstreet, and advanced, deploying as skirmishers inoi’der to drive back the enemy from the westernpart of the city. We were met with such resist-ance by Barksdale’s brigade, very aptly styled byGeneral Longstreet “Confederate hornets,” thatit was nearly dusk before we gained the north sideof Caroline street. It was now apparent that ourthin line could not make any farther advanceagainst the formidable barricades the enemyhad erected on the south side of the street, con-sisting of barrels and boxes, filled with earth andstones, placed between the houses, so as to forma continuous line of defense, and the left of ourline was forced to fall back down Farquhar street,fully one-half the distance from Caroline street.On reporting our position to a staff-officer our bri-gade commander ordered the 20 th Massachusetts to clear the streets. They marched up Farquharstreet in company or division front, and on reach-ing Caroline street wheeled to the right; but beforethe full regiment had entered the street the enemy,from their snug retreats, poured such a deadly fireon them as to force them to retire with great loss.
This action of the 20th enabled our left to re-gain our position on Caroline street, which wasmaintained until Barksdale withdrew his com-mand to the heights, about an hour after dark.At about 11 o’clock General Howard crossed overto learn our position. Informing him that theenemy had retired in our front, I asked him if weshouldmove forward. After making some inquiriesconcerning our right, he thought nothing would begained by doing so. We remained in this positionuntil about noon of the 13th.
THE PONTONIERS AT FREDERICKSBURG.
BY WESLEY BRAINERD, MAJOR 50TH, AND COLONEL 15TH, NEW YORK ENGINEERS.
JpSOM certain remarks made by various writers6r j Jt see pp. 107 and 126] on the battle of Fred-S ' 3Ul ^’ ^ m ight be inferred that there wasfoundation for the general impression that0o , fh 0 pontoons arrived in time, the crossingt r „, ”, have been made before the enemy concen-*Ui£rhi an ^ ^e disastrous defeat which followedS t thus have been avoided.
Netvv^ a °* * S ^ 16 en ?P neel ’ s (15th and 50thtw 0 ^ 0 l 'k)> with two full trains and material fortiy e q 0 ntoon ~hridges, each 420 feet i ' 1 length, ar-r ear ff'Posfte Fredericksburg and bivouacked inher 9 ^uey house on the afternoon of Novem-
acr 0s anc i could have thrown two bridges
haq J? stream without opposition that nightfor <> 6 heen allowed to do so. There was no8 tre e t° f enern y i" the city, and General Long-’ w 'th the advance of the Confederate army,V °L. m 9
had by a forced march occupied a portion of theheights in rear of the city on the 21 st.
I distinctly remember that General Sumner rodeup to our position soon after our arrival on the 27thand asked Major Ira Spaulding, of the 50th NewYork , and myself if we could throw a bridge acrossthe river that night, to which we replied that wecould throw two bridges across in three hours if hewould give us the order to do so. After a littlehesitation, he replied that he would like to give usthe order, as there was certainly nothing to opposeits execution, but that he did not care to assumethe responsibility, fearing that it might conflictwith General Burnside’s plans. He also remarkedthat he could have forded the stream with a part ofhis command at Falmouth several days before hadhe been allowed to do so; he then rode away. Wewere ordered back into camp, and the “ golden
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