Sir: In compliance with your orders, I submit the following summary of military operations since my last annual report:
Department of West-Virginia and army of the Potomac.
When
General Burnside relieved
General McClellan from his command on the seventh of November of last year, the army of the Potomac was on the south side of the
Potomac, under instructions to pursue
Lee by a flank march on the interior line to
Richmond, hugging closely to the
Blue Ridge, so as to observe its passes and to give battle to the enemy whenever an opportunity occurred.
On reaching
Warrenton, however,
General Burnside proposed to give up this pursuit of
Lee's army toward
Richmond, and to move down the north side of the
Rappahannock to
Falmouth, and establish a new base of supplies at
Acquia Creek or
Belle Plain.
This proposed change of base was not approved by me, and in a personal interview at
Warrenton I strongly urged him to retain his present base, and to continue his march toward
Richmond in a manner pointed out in the
President's letter of October thirteenth, 1862, to
General McClellan.
General Burnside did not fully concur in the
President's view, but finally consented to so modify his plan as to cross his army by the fords of the upper
Rappahannock, and then move down and seize the heights south of
Fredericksburgh, while a small force was to be sent north of the river to enable
General Haupt to reopen the railroad and to rebuild the bridges, the materials for which were nearly ready in
Alexandria.
I, however, refused to give any official approval of this deviation from the
President's instructions until his assent was obtained.
On my return to
Washington, on the thirteenth, I submitted to him this proposed change in the plan of campaign, and, on its receiving his assent rather than approval, I telegraphed, on the fourteenth, authority to
General Burnside to adopt it. I here refer not to
General Burnside's written plan to go to
Falmouth, but to that of crossing the
Rappahannock above its junction with the
Rapidan.
It has been inferred, from the testimony of
General Burnside before the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the
War, that his plan of marching his whole army on the north of the
Rappahannock from
Warrenton to
Falmouth, had been approved by the authorities in
Washington, and that he expected, on his arrival there, to find supplies and pontoons, with gunboats to cover his crossing.
In the first place, that plan was never approved, nor was he ever authorized to adopt it. In the second place, he could not possibly have expected supplies and pontoons to be landed at points then occupied in force by the
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enemy.
Again, he was repeatedly informed that gunboats could not at that time ascend the
Rappahannock to
Fredericksburgh.
General Burnside did not commence his movement from
Warrenton till the fifteenth, and then, instead of crossing the
Rappahannock by the fords, as he was expected to do, he marched his whole army down on the north bank of the river, his advance reaching
Falmouth on the twentieth.
Lee's army, in the mean time, moved down the south side of the river, but had not occupied
Fredericksburgh on the twenty-first.
The river was at this time fordable a few miles above the town, and
General Sumner asked permission to cross and occupy the heights, but it was refused, and no attempt was made to effect the passage till the eleventh of December, by which time
Lee's army had been concentrated and strongly entrenched.
This passage, however, was effected without serious opposition, with the right wing and centre, under
Sumner and
Hooker, at
Fredericksburgh, and the left wing, under
Franklin, on the bridges established some miles below.
It was intended that
Franklin's grand division, consisting of the corps of
Reynolds and
Smith, should attack the enemy's right, and turn his position on the heights in the rear of
Fredericksburgh, while
Sumner and
Hooker attacked him in front.
But by some alleged misunderstanding of orders,
Franklin's operations were limited to a mere reconnoissance, and the direct attacks of
Sumner and
Hooker were unsupported.
The contest on the right wing, during the thirteenth, was continued till half-past 5 P. M., when our men were forced to fall back, after suffering terrible losses.
Both armies remained in position till the night of the sixteenth of October, when
General Burnside withdrew his forces to the north side of the
Rappahannock.
General Burnside has been frequently requested to make an official report of these operations, but has furnished no information beyond that contained in his brief telegrams, sent from the battle-field, in one of which he uses the following language: “The fact that I decided to move from
Warrenton to this line, rather against the opinion of the
President, the
Secretary of War, and yourself, and that you have left the whole movement in my hands, without giving me orders, makes me the more responsible.”
The loss of the rebels in this battle is not known.
As they were sheltered by their fortifications, it was probably less than our, which, as officially reported, was one thousand one hundred and thirty-eight killed, nine hundred and fifteen wounded, and two thousand six hundred and seventy-eight missing. Most of the missing and many of the slightly wounded soon rejoined the regiments and reported for duty.
It was alleged at the time that the loss of this battle resulted from the neglect to order forward the pontoon train from
Washington.
This order was transmitted for
Warrenton to
Brigadier-General Woodbury, then in
Washington, on the twelfth of November, and was promptly acted on by him.
General Burnside had supposed that the pontoon train was then in
Washington or
Alexandria, while it was still on the
Potomac, at
Berlin and
Harper's Ferry,
General Burnside's order to send it to
Washington not having been received by the officer left in charge there.
General Burnside had only allowed time for transporting pontoons from
Alexandria, when they had to be first transported to that place from
Berlin.
Delay was therefore entirely unavoidable, and, on investigation of the matter by
General Burnside,
General Woodbury was exonerated from all blame.
General Hooker relieved
General Burnside from his command on the twenty-fifth of January, but no advance movement was attempted till near the end of April, when a large cavalry force, under
General Stoneman, was sent across the upper
Rappahannock, toward
Richmond, to destroy the enemy's communications, while
General Hooker, with his main army, crossed the
Rappahannock and the
Rapidan above their junction, and took position at
Chancellorsville, at the same time
General Sedgwick crossed near
Fredericksburgh, and stormed and carried the heights.
A severe battle took place on the second and third of May, and on the fifth our army was again withdrawn to the north side of the river.
For want of official data, I am unable to give any detailed accounts of these operations or of our losses.
