The Confederates concealed.
Not informed as to the movements of
Jackson's men, and supposing from the information he had gathered from the balloons sent up, that the greater portion of
Lee's army was down the
Rappahannock,
Burnside attempted to turn
Lee's right and secure the highway to
Richmond and defeat him by a flank and rear attack.
But a large forest concealed the
Confederate right, and the
Federal commander was greatly surprised, when he began the execution of his flanking movement with
Franklin's Corps, to find
Jackson in position at
Hamilton's Crossing, and that
A. P. Hill's 10,000 veterans were drawn up in double line, with fourteen pieces of field artillery on his right and thirty-three on his left; while
Early's and
Taliaferro's divisions were in order of battle in
A. P. Hill's rear and
D. H. Hill's division was in reserve.
Stuart's cavalry were in advance of
Jackson's right and played havoc on the
Federal lines as they advanced.
Marye's Heights were crowded with batteries, while under them, in front, there was a thick fence.
Franklin was ordered to begin the attack, on the
Confederate right.
Under cover of a dense fog, he deployed 55,000 men on the plain in front of
Jackson, and when the fog lifted, that chill December day, the
Federal lines, infantry and artillery, were revealed ‘in battle's magnificently stern array.’
In
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236]
anticipation of the coming fray,
Lee joined
Jackson to witness the opening.
Meade's division led
Franklin's advance with nearly 5,000 men, forcing back
Jackson's skirmishers.
Stuart, watching
Meade's forward movement, gave the onward marching host a raking enfilade with shot and shell from the gallant
Pelham's guns.
Recovering from this, however,
Meade again charged, only to have his line shattered by
Jackson's batteries, under
Lindsay Walker, and his entire advance driven back before the Confederate infantry could fire a gun.
