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[135] fate of those who preceded them. They fell by thousands under the judicious, steady, and unerring fire of my guns, encouraged and aided by the gallant conduct of the brave troops in the road in front of us. At five o'clock P. M., after having been engaged four hours and a half, against over-whelming odds of the enemy, I was compelled to relinquish the post of honor to Woolfolk's and Moody's batteries, Alexander's battalion, having one gun disabled, and having exhausted all the canister, shell, and case-shot, and nearly every round of solid shot in the chests; more could not be supplied, in position, in time, the train being several miles distant. On the fourteenth my guns were held in reserve. On the fifteenth I took position in the works on the extreme left of our line, the position before occupied by Lane's battery, which I occupied until the eighteenth instant. On the eighteenth all my batteries were again concentrated in camp. The second company, Captain Richardson, was, during the engagements, attached to Pickett's division, in reserve, and was not engaged.

It is my duty, as it is my pleasure, to say, in behalf of my officers, cannoneers, and drivers, that upon no field during this war have men behaved more gallantly. To Captains Eshleman, Miller, and Squiers, and the brave officers and men under them, is the service indebted for the gallant defence of Marye's Hill against the stubborn and overwhelming assaults of an army of over fifty thousand men. To Lieutenant William M. Owen, my adjutant and only aid, I am, as usual, indebted for zealous and fearless conduct on the field, in the performance of all his duties. Before closing this report, I may be permitted, without being invidious, to direct the attention of the General commanding to the gallant conduct of Captain Eshleman, in directing, and Lieutenant Norcom, fourth company, in executing the order, in taking one of the Napoleon guns from the work, where it was out of range, and placing it between two of the redoubts, on the open field, there continuing it in action, entirely exposed to the enemy's infantry and sharpshooters, during the greater part of the engagement. My loss in this engagement is three killed and twenty-four wounded.

I have the honor to be,

Very respectfully,

J. B. Walton, Colonel of Artillery, commanding.


Report of Colonel Crutchfield.

headquarters artillery command, Second army corps, January 3. 1863.
Lieutenant-General T. J. Jackson, commanding Second Army Corps, A. N. V.:
General: I have the honor to submit the following report of the operations of the artillery of this corps in the engagement near Fredericksburg, December thirteen, 1862:

The heights on the right of our line were held by fourteen guns of the batteries of Major-General A. P. Hill's division, under Lieutenant-Colonel R. L. Walker, and consisting of the batteries of Captains Pegram and McIntosh, (four guns each,) and sections of the batteries of Captains Latham, Johnson, and Crenshaw, commanded respectively by Lieutenants Potts, Clutter, and James Ellett. This position was a commanding one, and afforded admirable advantage against a direct assault from infantry; but, what was more important, so controlled the ground in front as to force the enemy to open a heavy cannonade .upon it, in the hope of silencing these batteries, before they could move any considerable mass of their infantry down the plain, as would be necessary should they endeavor to turn our right. On the other hand, it was liable to the disadvantages always attaching to a fixed position, that it must receive a concentrated fire from many points, added to which the formation of the ground at the top of the hill was such as not to afford much protection to men, and hardly any to the horses. It was, of course, a position of great importance; and it being specially necessary that its batteries should be able to open an effective fire upon the enemy's infantry in the plain below, should they endeavor to move down the river to threaten or turn our right, I directed Lieutenant-Colonel Walker to keep his guns concealed as well as he could, and not to allow himself to be drawn into an artillery duel, but, disregarding the fire of the enemy's batteries, to reserve his own for their infantry when it should come within effective range. On the left of our line were posted twenty-one guns, as follows: Just at Bernard's cabins and to their left, nine guns, consisting of six rifles, two Napoleons, and one six-pounder, of the batteries of Captains Davidson, Raine, Caskie, and Braxton,--all under the immediate direction of Captain Davidson. Some two hundred yards in front of these, to their right and beyond the railroad, were placed twelve guns, consisting of six rifles, three Napoleons, and three six-pounders, from the batteries of Captains Carpenter, Wooding, and Braxton,--all under the immediate command of Captain J. B. Brockenbrough. Captain Carpenter's battery was commanded by Lieutenant McKendree. From the first it was evident that the enemy's attack might be expected upon our centre, where the heights on our right descended to a level with the plain, and a point of woods running out into the field offered them early and good shelter, or that they would endeavor to turn our right. A considerable artillery force was held ready to meet this latter contingency by moving out and taking position in the fields to our right, so as to cross its fire with the batteries of Lieutenant-Colonel Walker. The centre of the line was our weakest point, since Lieutenant-Colonel Walker's guns could not oblique their fire to the left sufficiently to hope to prevent the enemy's seizing the point of woods referred to, at the distance at which it was. The batteries near Bernard's cabins more directly controlled “ this point, but only by a quite oblique fire to the right. So that there were some eight hundred or a thousand yards of our front, near the centre, undefended by a direct artillery fire to the front. ” I examined the ground carefully in


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