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composed of the following companies: Company A, Lieutenant Walcott; Company C, Lieutenant Longsfield; Company H, Lieutenant Brien; Company F, Captain Fitzgerald; Company G, Captain Dudley; and moved to the support of Captain Govan, of the Seventeenth Mississippi regiment, who was holding the enemy in check at the bridge, at the lower portion of the town.
Immediately upon arriving I ordered company G to his support, but found that he had all the men he could use to advantage.
This wing remained in line in the road, about one hundred yards in the rear of Captain Govan's position, unprotected, from A. M. to P. M. The dense fog, which had before concealed us from the enemy, then cleared, and they concentrated their fire upon this wing.
I immediately ordered the command to retire about three hundred yards, out of range of the enemy's fire.
About four P. M. Captain Govan sent to me for assistance.
I ordered forward Companies C and F, which order was obeyed with promptness.
In the mean time, Captain Govan received orders from General Barksdale to retire.
I then took position on the railroad, a short distance in the rear, leaving two companies at the deep cut on the road, and the other three I stationed near the Telegraph road, within supporting distance, and remained in this position until ordered by you, about ten P. M., to return to camp.
You, sir, have every reason to be proud of this wing.
From six A. M. to one P. M. they were exposed to the hottest fire I ever witnessed, and I saw no disposition on the part of officers or men to move from their position until ordered.
Captain Govan and the brave men of his command are deserving of the highest praise.
Up to the time he was ordered to leave his position, the enemy had not succeeded in laying a plank.
Braver officers and men than Captain Govan and his command cannot be found.
The following is a correct list of the killed and wounded of the right wing: Company A, one killed, two wounded; Company C, four wounded; Company H, six killed, three wounded; Company F, four wounded; Company G, two killed, five wounded. Total, nine killed, eighteen wounded, and three missing.
I remain your obedient servant,
D. W. Moody, Major Twenty-First Regiment Mississippi Volunteers.
Report of Captain Nance, commanding regiment.
Sir: As senior officer in command of the Third South Carolina regiment, the duty devolves upon me to detail the operations of the same in the recent engagement at Fredericksburg, Virginia.
The regiment was aroused about five o'clock A. M. on Thursday, the eleventh instant, by the firing of the signal guns; and soon afterwards a courier from Brigadier-General Kershaw notified the Colonel commanding that the enemy were attempting to cross the Rappahannock River, opposite Fredericksburg, and ordered me to occupy its place in the line of battle, previously designated.
Accordingly, the regiment was put in motion, and, about six o'clock A. M., was put in position on the hill on the right of the Telegraph road, and on the left of Captain Reid's, battery, with the Seventh South Carolina volunteers, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Bland, on our right, and the Second South Carolina volunteer regiment, commanded by Lieutenant John D. Kennedy, on our left.
Two companies of skirmishers, (Captain Hance's company, A, of rifles,) and Captain Nance's company, E, rifles, were deployed so as to cover the front of our regiment, and placed in the ditch at the foot of the hill, occupied by the regiments.
The orders given these company commanders were to hold their positions as long as possible, and, when compelled, to fall back upon the regiments.
Thursday and Friday witnessed no advance by the enemy upon our immediate lines.
On Friday night, the line of battle was changed from the top of the hill to its base, the regiments occupying the position previously held by the two companies of skirmishers.
This position was strengthened, during the night, by digging pits and throwing up earthen breastworks.
On Saturday morning, the thirteenth instant, the enemy opened fire upon the right and left of our lines, at about nine o'clock. About ten minutes before one o'clock P. M. Colonel Nance received an order from Brigadier-General Kershaw to extend his lines so as to occupy the works of the Second South Carolina regiment on our left.
This order was subsequently revoked, upon the information that Colonel Kennedy had left a company to do this.
About fifteen minutes after two o'clock P. M. a verbal order was extended by Brigadier-General Kershaw, ordering Colonel Nance to move his command, by the way he would designate, to the support of Brigadier-General T. R. R. Cobb's command.
The regiment was accordingly moved down the earthworks into the Telegraph road, then down the Telegraph road near the mill on----Creek, and then up the newly-made road to the top of the hill just in rear of the cemetery, and from that point across the field in the rear of Marye's house, where Brigadier-General Kershaw ordered, through Major Gaillard, of the Second South Carolina regiment, that the regiment should form in line of battle and advance on a line with the Second South Carolina regiment.
An order was received through Lieutenant A. E. Doby, aid-de-camp, to the effect that our right should rest upon Marye's house.
Soon after, Lieutenant A. E. Doby, aid-de-camp, insisted that the enemy should not be allowed to gain possession of Marye's house, and, although only six companies on the line, Colonel Nance promptly brought the line forward.
As the regiment reached the position, on a line with the front of Marye's house, it was exposed to a most murderous fire from the enemy, plainly visible from that point.
The line was ordered to move across the chain fence.
The remaining four companies had previously joined the advancing
