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covering Banks' Ford, the head of the column reaching near Dr. Taylor's.

From day to day General Sedgwick threateningly deployed his skirmishers, opened his artillery, and displayed his glittering infantry to incite General Early to exhibit his strength, but General Early was neither alarmed nor provoked by these demonstrations; he kept in the shade of the woods, while his men smoked their pipes and enjoyed the show.

But General Sedgwick had serious work to do, and it is presumable that he was not a little perplexed by General Early's dogged quietude; his objective was the rear of General Lee's army at Chancellorsville, and he knew that General Hooker anxiously expected him. At eleven o'clock the night of May 2 he received an order from General Hooker directing him to "move immediately in the direction of Chancellorsville, until he connected with the major-general commanding; to attack and destroy any force on the

road, and be in the vicinity of the General at daylight."

"I commenced, therefore, to move by the flank in the direction of Fredericksburg, on the Bowling Green road" (says General Sedgwick), "General Newton taking the advance, followed by the Light Brigade (Colonel Burnham) and Howe's division. I was ordered to take up all the bridges at Franklin's Crossing and below, before daylight, which was done under direction of General Benham."

General Barksdale gave prompt notice to General Early of the activity of the enemy, and was called in and his brigade disposed as follows, viz: Seven companies of the Twenty-first Mississippi, Colonel Humphreys, were posted in the road at the foot of Marye's Hill, their left extending to the Orange Plank road; on their right the Eighteenth Mississippi, Colonel Griffin, and three companies of the Twenty-first Mississippi prolonged the line, extending down the Tele

graph road (at the foot of Willis Hill) to Hazel Run. The Seventeenth Mississippi, Colonel Holder, covered Lee's Hill with the Thirteenth Mississippi. Colonel Carter on the right extended in the direction of Howison's. A regiment of Hays's brigade was stationed on the right of the Thirteenth Mississippi to cover the batteries on Howison's Hill.

At dawn (third) General Wheaton's brigade of Newton's division entered Fredericksburg and immediately moved into position on the first ridge back of the town, near where the two railroads diverge, cutting their way through the hillock. General Wheaton threw forward the Sixty-second New York Regiment "to learn something of the nature of the defenses, etc., of the enemy; the regiment advanced within two hundred and fifty yards of the heights (Willis Hill), when it was opened upon by a heavy fire of musketry and artillery. Having in a few seconds lost sixty-four

officers and men, it fell back; thirty musket-balls pierced its flag" (showing that the Mississippians knew how to shoot).

General Sedgwick then put his batteries in position "to shell the enemy until the troops could be formed for another attack," McCarthy's, Harn's, and Butler's eighteen guns on the hills, near the railroads, behind Wheaton's brigade, and Cowan's six guns in front of Ferneyhough's house (just south of the Hazel). These twentyfour cannon poured a terrible fire of shell and shrapnel upon Brown and Squires. "The practice was excellent," says Colonel Tompkins, General Sedgwick's chief of artillery, as well it might be. Brown and Squires returned no reply; their orders were to reserve their fire solely for the infantry. Undaunted, they stood amidst the iron hail, awaiting the opportune moment.

GIBBON CROSSES INTO FREDERICKSBURG

A pontoon bridge having been thrown across the Rappahannock near the Lacy house about 6.30 A. M., two brigades of Gibbon's division-Hall's and Laflin's-accompanied by two batteries of artillery-Adams's and Brown's Rhode Island-crossed into the town and rested on Princess Anne street.

About eight o'clock a column of white smoke rose from the hill in Stafford, where the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad cuts through (near north end of bridge); another column of smoke went up from near the church at Falmouth; these were signals immediately responded to by the enemy's artillery in Falmouth, hitherto concealed from our view. They opened a brisk fire on Dr. Taylor's Hill, where were two guns (Cobbs's) of Wilcox's artillery. Simultaneously, Hall's and Laflin's brigades moved up the street and

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