SEDGWICK AT FREDERICKSBURG AND SALEM HEIGHTS.

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Pickets.” The road was filled with soldiers, some lying down, others resting° n their guns, but a passage was quickly cleared. At Hazel Run ColonelStaler and Colonel Hamblin were found standing together. Here the enemyrrLtl( le a determined resistance. Their pickets were but a few yards distant.On the other side of the creek the road made a sharp ascent and curved tothe right. In a subdued tone Colonel Shaler said: “ Colonel Hamblin, youhave heard the order from General Newton ? ” At once Colonel Hamblin left.

11 a moment there was the noise of hurrying feet, the troops quickly disap-peared in the dark; a shout, a bright, sudden flash, a roll of musketry fol-lowed, and the road was open.

It was the gray of morning when the advance reached the rear and left ofFredericksburg . A negro who came into the lines reported the heights occu-P' e d and that the enemy were cutting the canal to flood the roads. To ascer-tain whether this was true, another delay was caused. No one in the command^as acquainted with the topography of the country, and the advance was°°teLpelled to move with great caution through the streets and in the outskirtsM the town. As the morning dawned, Marye’s Heights, the scene of the6l ’ce attacks under Burnside in the previous December, were presented toour view. Several regiments were speedily moved along the open ground inle rear of the town toward the heights, and this movement discovered thejaiemy in force behind the famous stone wall at the base of the hill. Lee had®tt Early with his division and Barksdale’s brigade, a force of about tenl °usand men, to hold Fredericksburg Heights. They were protected bystrong works and supported by well-served artillery. It was at once felt. a t a desperate encounter was to follow, and the recollections of the pre-l0 us disaster were by no means inspiriting.

It was Sunday morning, the 3d of May, and the weather was beautiful,he town was perfectly quiet, many of the inhabitants had fled, not a person^ as to be seen on the streets, and the windows and blinds of the houses werek ° Se< I. The marks of the fierce cannonade to which the place had previouslye en exposed were everywhere visible.

soon as practicable and as secretly as possible, Sedgwick prepared totack the heights. Gibbon, of the Second Corps, who had been left on thehorth bank, crossed shortly after Sedgwick had captured the town and movedP the right, but his advance was stopped by the canal in front, over which^as impossible to lay bridges in face of the fire from the artillery andtantry on the hill. Sedgwick says, “Nothing remained but to carry the°i‘ks by direct assault.” The attack on Marye’s Heights was made undert ^ 1 e( ’tl°n of Newton. Two columns, each marching by fours, were formed one Plank and Telegraph roads, and were supported by a line of infantry fromLight Brigade on the left, commanded by Colonel Burnham. The rightv Uni; b under Colonel George C. Spear, was composed of the Cist Pennsvl-and the 43d New York . These two regiments belonged to the LightJ^de. This column was supported by the 67th New York and 82d Penn-7 ,, Van ia, under Colonel Alexander Shaler. The left column consisted of theMassachusetts and the 36th New York , under Colonel Thomas D. Johns.