Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 2.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[592] before a position which it was impossible to carry. On the left, Sturgis and Getty, each on one side of Hazel Run, kept up a lively fire of musketry with Pickett and the troops posted at the south angle of Marye's Hill; and without being able to approach the latter sufficiently near to menace them seriously, they found themselves exposed to a cross-fire from the batteries of Hood and McLaws, which caused them considerable losses. Out of six thousand men, Hancock's division had lost two thousand, of whom one hundred and fifty-six were officers; among the wounded, those who could drag themselves along formed a long column, extending as far as the temporary hospitals in the town of Fredericksburg. The others lay upon the ground for which the Federals were obstinately contending. It was in vain that Howard advanced on the right in order to support Hancock's efforts; Getty, crossing Hazel Run with two brigades, tried in vain to make a diversion in his favor by attacking the right of the Confederate positions; all these attempts only served to increase the number of victims without shaking the enemy. The moment had arrived for yielding, and the Federals retired behind a small rise of ground situated in front of the draining ditch which in some places afforded them somewhat of a shelter. Howard occupied the right of the line, Hancock and French, with the debris of their respective divisions, the centre, Sturgis, with a portion of Getty's troops, the left. There were no Union troops between Hazel Run and Deep Run, except on the very banks of the Rappahannock. It was about half-past 1, the precise moment when Jackson had driven Meade out of the Hamilton wood on the left. Burnside's plan for surprising and dividing the Confederate army had, therefore, completely failed. The two independent attacks which constituted the first part of this plan had each been made with more forces than he had directed to be employed, and with great vigor; both of these attacks had only succeeded, at the cost of immense bloodshed, in revealing the strength of the enemy's positions; and without having gained an inch of ground, it was the Federal army instead of Lee's which found itself divided into two fractions, each fighting a separate battle on its own side.

Everything demanded of Burnside to stop, and to give up his