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Ford, pursued as vigorously as the nature of the country (hilly, furrowed by ravines, and thick-wooded) allowed, until dark, when the chase ended.
Before morning,
Sedgwick, with the remnant of his corps, passed to the north side of the
Rappahannock, over pontoon bridges, near Banks's Ford, under cover of thirty-two pieces of artillery.
In the space of two days he had lost more than one-fifth of his entire command.
Gibbon also withdrew from
Fredericksburg to
Falmouth that night, passing the river on pontoon bridges, just below the ford; and on Tuesday
Lee had only
Hooker to contend with, and was free to concentrate all his forces.
against him. So he recalled
McLaws and
Anderson, to add strength to his main army, leaving
Early and
Barksdale to hold the line of the river from
Fredericksburg to Banks's Ford, and prepared to strike
Hooker a crushing blow before night.
A heavy rain storm came on, which suspended operations, and caused a postponement of the forward movement until the next morning.
Meanwhile
Hooker had been busy in preparations to avoid or avert the blow.
When, on Monday night, he was told of the situation of
Sedgwick.
then hovering on the bank of the
Rappahannock, under the shelter of great guns, and utterly unable to co-operate with the main army, he determined to retreat across the river and save it. He conferred with five of his corps commanders
1 that night, when two of them (
Couch and
Sickles, whose forces, with
Slocum's, had borne the brunt of the battle on Sunday) agreed with him, and one (
Reynolds) did not express any opinion.
Finding himself in accord with a majority of his active counselors, and with his chief of staff,,
General Butterfield, who was present,
Hooker determined to retreat on the following day,
and made preparations accordingly.
2 The storm that restrained
Lee favored
Hooker, but it made the passage.
of the river a perilous task, for its banks were submerged at each end of his pontoon bridges, and the latter were in imminent danger of being swept away by the violent current at any moment.
The passage, covered by
Meade's corps, was safely made, however, without molestation, during the night, and, on the morning of the 6th,
the Army of the Potomac returned to its old quarters opposite
Fredericksburg.
On the same day the Confederate army resumed its former position on the heights in the rear of the city.
The losses of each had been heavy.
That of the
Confederates was reported twelve thousand two hundred and seventy-seven, including about two thousand prisoners,
3 and that of the Nationals was