Now, when Sedgwick had concluded upon a general assault, he can scarcely
be blamed for over-caution in his preparations for it. Four months
before, a mere handful of the enemy had successfully held these defences
against half the Army of the Potomac; and an attack without careful
dispositions seemed to be mere waste of life. It would appear to
be almost supererogatory to defend Sedgwick against reasonable time
consumed in these precautions.
There had been a more or less continuous artillery-fire, during the
entire morning, from our batteries stationed on either side of the
river. This was now redoubled to prepare for the assault. Newton's
batteries concentrated their fire on the stone wall, until our troops
had neared it, when they directed it upon the crest beyond; while like
action was effected to sustain Howe.
Instructions were issued to the latter, who at once proceeded to form
three storming columns under Gen. Neill, Col. Grant, and Col. Seaver,
and supported them by the fire of his division artillery.
Sedgwick at the same time ordered out from Newton's division two other
columns, one under Col. Spear, consisting of two regiments, supported by
two more under Gen. Shaler, and one under Col. Johns of equal size, to
move on the plank road, and to the right of it, flanked by a line under
Col. Burnham, with four regiments, on the left of the plank road. This
line advanced manfully at a double-quick against the rifle-pits, neither
halting nor firing a shot, despite the heavy fire they encountered,
until they had driven the enemy from their lower line of works, while
the columns pressed boldly forward to the crest, and carried the works
in their rear. All the guns and many prisoners were captured. This was a
mettlesome assault, and as successful as it was brief and determined.
Howe's columns, in whose front the Confederate skirmishers occupied
the railroad-cutting and embankment, while Hays and two regiments of
Barksdale were on Lee's and adjacent hills, as soon as the firing on his
right was heard, moved to the assault with the bayonet; Neill and Grant
pressing straight for Cemetery hill, which, though warmly received,
they carried without any check. They then faced to the right, and, with
Seaver sustaining their left, carried the works on Marye's heights,
capturing guns and prisoners wholesale.
A stand was subsequently attempted by the Confederates on several
successive crests, but without avail.
The loss of the Sixth Corps in the assault on the Fredericksburg heights
was not far from a thousand men, including Cols. Spear and Johns,
commanding two of the storming columns.
The assault of Howe falls in no wise behind the one made by Newton. The
speedy success of both stands out in curious contrast to the deadly work
of Dec. 13. "So rapid had been the final movement on Marye's hill, that
Hays and Wilcox, to whom application had been made for succor, had not
time to march troops from Taylor's and Stansbury's to Barksdale's aid."
(Hotchkiss and Allan.)
The Confederates were now cut in two: Wilcox and Hays were left north of
the plank road, but Hays retreated round the head of Sedgwick's column,
and rejoined Early. Wilcox, who, on hearing of Sedgwick's manoeuvres
Sunday morning, had hurried with a portion of his force to Barksdale's
assistance at Taylor's, but had arrived too late to participate in the
action, on ascertaining Sedgwick's purpose, retired slowly down the
plank road, and skirmished with the latter's head of column. And he made
so determined a stand near Guest's, that considerable time was consumed
in brushing it away before Sedgwick could hold on his course.
Early appears to deem the carrying of the Fredericksburg heights
to require an excuse on his part. He says in his report about our
preliminary assaults: "All his efforts to attack the left of my line
were thwarted, and one attack on Marye's hill was repulsed. The enemy,
however, sent a flag of truce to Col. Griffin, of the Eighteenth
Mississippi Regiment, who occupied the works at the foot of Marye's
hill with his own and the Twenty-first Mississippi Regiment, which was
received by him imperfectly; and it had barely returned before heavy
columns were advanced against the position, and the trenches were
carried, and the hill taken." "After this the artillery on Lee's hill,
and the rest of Barksdale's infantry, with one of Hays's regiments, fell
back on the Telegraph road; Hays with the remainder being compelled to
fall back upon the plank road as he was on the left." Later, "a line was
formed across the Telegraph road, at Cox's house, about two miles back
of Lee's hill."
Barksdale says, "With several batteries under the command of Gen.
Pendleton, and a single brigade of infantry, I had a front of not less
than three miles to defend, extending from Taylor's hill on the left, to
the foot of the hills in the rear of the Howison house."
Gen. Wilcox, he goes on to state, from Banks's Ford, had come up with
three regiments as far as Taylor's, and Gen. Hays was also in that
vicinity; but "the distance from town to the points assailed was so
short, the attack so suddenly made, and the difficulty of removing
troops from one part of the line to another was so great, that it was
utterly impossible for either Gen. Wilcox or Gen. Hays to reach the
scene of action in time to afford any assistance whatever. It will then
be seen that Marye's hill was defended by but one small regiment, three
companies, and four pieces of artillery."
Barksdale further states that, "upon the pretext of taking care of their
wounded, the enemy asked a flag of truce, after the second assault at
Marye's hill, which was granted by Col. Griffin; and thus the weakness
of our force at that point was discovered."
The bulk of Early's division was holding the heights from Hazel Run to
Hamilton's Crossing; and the sudden assault on the Confederate positions
at Marye's, and the hills to the west, gave him no opportunity of
sustaining his forces there. But it is not established that any unfair
use was made of the flag of truce mentioned by Barksdale.
The loss in this assault seems heavy, when the small force of
Confederates is considered. The artillery could not do much damage,
inasmuch as the guns could not be sufficiently depressed, but the
infantry fire was very telling; and, as already stated, both colonels
commanding the assaulting columns on the right were among the
casualties.
The enemy's line being thus cut in twain, sundering those at Banks's
Ford and on the left of the Confederate line from Early at Hamilton's
Crossing, it would now have been easy for Sedgwick to have dispersed
Early's forces, and to have destroyed the depots at the latter place.
But orders precluded anything but an immediate advance.
The question whether Sedgwick could have complied with his instructions,
so as to reach Hooker in season to relieve him from a part of Lee's
pressure on Sunday morning, is answered by determining whether it was
feasible to carry the Fredericksburg heights before or at daylight.
If this could have been done, it is not unreasonable to assume that he
could have left a rear-guard, to occupy Early's attention and forestall
attacks on his marching column, and have reached, with the bulk of his
corps, the vicinity of Chancellorsville by the time the Federals were
hardest pressed, say ten A.M., and most needed a diversion in their
favor.
Not that Hooker's salvation in any measure depended on Sedgwick's so
doing. Hooker had the power in his own hand, if he would only use it.
But it should be determined whether Hooker had any legitimate ground for
fault-finding.
Putting aside the question of time, Sedgwick's whole manoeuvre is good
enough. It was as well executed as any work done in this campaign,
and would have given abundant satisfaction had not so much more been
required of him. But, remembering that time was of the essence of his
orders, it may be as well to quote the criticism of Warren--
"It takes some men just as long to clear away a little force as it does
a large one. It depends entirely upon the man, how long a certain force
will stop him."
"The enemy had left about one division, perhaps ten thousand or twelve
thousand men, at Fredericksburg, to watch him. They established a kind
of picket-line around his division, so that he could not move any thing
without their knowing it. Just as soon as Gen. Sedgwick began to move,
a little random fire began, and that was kept up till daylight.
At daylight, the head of Gen. Sedgwick's troops had got into
Fredericksburg. I think some little attempt had been made to move
forward a skirmish-line, but that had been repulsed. The enemy had
considerable artillery in position."
"My opinion was, that, under the circumstances, the most vigorous effort
possible ought to have been made, without regard to circumstances,
because the order was peremptory." But this statement is qualified,
when, in his examination before the Committee on the Conduct of the War,
to a question as to whether, in his opinion, Gen. Sedgwick's vigorous
and energetic attempt to comply with Hooker's order would have led to a
different result of the battle, Warren answered: "Yes, sir! and I will
go further, and say that I think there might have been more fighting
done at the other end of the line. I do not believe that if Gen.
Sedgwick had done all he could, and there had not been harder fighting
on the other end of the line, we would have succeeded."
If, at eleven P.M., when Sedgwick received the order, he had immediately
marched, regardless of what was in his front, straight through the town,
and up the heights beyond, paying no heed whatever to the darkness of
the night, but pushing on his men as best he might, it is not improbable
that he could have gained the farther side of this obstacle by
daylight. But is it not also probable that his corps would have been
in questionable condition for either a march or a fight? It would
be extravagant to expect that the organization of the corps could be
preserved in any kind of form, however slight the opposition. And, as
daylight came on, the troops would have scarcely been in condition to
offer brilliant resistance to the attack, which Early, fully apprised
of all their movements, would have been in position to make upon their
flank and rear.
Keeping in view all the facts,--that Sedgwick was on unknown ground,
with an enemy in his front, familiar with every inch of it and with
Sedgwick's every movement; that he had intrenchments to carry where a
few months before one man had been more than a match for ten; that
the night was dark and foggy; and that he was taken unawares by
this order,--it seems that to expect him to carry the heights before
daylight, savors of exorbitance.
But it may fairly be acknowledged, that more delay can be discovered in
some of the operations of this night and morning, than the most rigorous
construction of the orders would warrant. After the repulse of Wheaton
and Shaler, a heavier column should at once have been thrown against the
works. Nor ought it to have taken so long, under the stringency of the
instructions, to ascertain that Gibbon would be stopped by the canal,
and Howe by Hazel Run; or perhaps to organize the assaulting columns,
after ascertaining that these flank attacks were fruitless.
All this, however, in no wise whatsoever shifts any part of the
responsibility for the loss of this campaign, from Hooker's to
Sedgwick's shoulders. The order of ten P.M. was ill-calculated and
impracticable. Hooker had no business to count on Sedgwick's corps as an
element in his problem of Sunday at Chancellorsville.
Sedgwick's movements towards his chief were certainly more rapid than
those of Sickles on Saturday, and no one has undertaken to criticise the
latter. Nor would Lee be lightly accused of tardiness for not attacking
Sedgwick in force until Monday at six P.M., as will shortly be detailed,
when he had despatched his advance towards him shortly after noon on
Sunday, and had but a half-dozen miles to march. And yet Lee, precious
as every moment was to him, consumed all these hours in preparing to
assault Sedgwick's position in front of Banks's Ford.
In order to do justice to all sources of information, and show how
unreliable our knowledge often was, it may be well to quote from Gen.
Butterfield's testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.
"From the best information I had at the time the order came, there was
not over a brigade of the enemy in the vicinity of Fredericksburg. This
information was confirmed afterwards by prisoners taken on Sunday by
Gen. Sedgwick. They told me they were left there with orders, that, if
they did not receive re-enforcements by a certain time, to withdraw;
that they did withdraw about eleven o'clock on Saturday night, but met
re-enforcements coming up, and turned back and re-occupied the works.
The statement may have been false, or may have been true." It was
clearly Early's march under his mistaken instructions, which the
prisoners referred to. "If true, it would show that a bold movement
of Gen. Sedgwick's command on Saturday night, would have taken Marye's
heights, and put him well on the road towards Gen. Hooker before
daylight." To the question whether the order could have been actually
carried out: "There was a force of the enemy there, but in my judgment
not sufficient to have prevented the movement, if made with a determined
attack. Night attacks are dangerous, and should be made only with very
disciplined troops. But it seemed to me at the time that the order could
have been executed."
Gibbon, on the contrary, is of opinion that the strict execution of the
order was impracticable, but that probably an assault could have been
made at daylight instead of at eleven A.M. He recollects being very
impatient that morning about the delay,--not, however, being more
specific in his testimony.