Fitzhugh Lee, General Lee

[222] been moved to Orange Court House, was, about the 26th, ordered to Fredericksburg also. There was much deliberation in Lee's movements. His army was stretched out from the mountains to the river, and it was only after he was satisfied that the Federal army had gone to the Rappahannock that he moved Longstreet, and not for nine days afterward did he direct Jackson to unite with him. He knew a large army changing its line of communication with its base of supplies required time to assume the offensive.

When Sumner arrived at Falmouth, a little village on the left bank of the river a mile above Fredericksburg, with his thirty-three thousand men, across the river was only a regiment of cavalry, a battery, and four companies of infantry. Four days afterward Longstreet arrived, and his attempt to cross then would have been resisted. The surrender of the town had been demanded by Sumner just before the arrival of Longstreet. If not granted, the women, children, aged and infirm, could have sixteen hours to leave their homes, and then “I shall proceed,” said Sumner, “to shell the town.”

Fredericksburg, a typical Virginia town, is built on a plain every foot of which is commanded by the heights opposite in Stafford County. A plunging fire would destroy it, and Sumner's threat was a serious one to the inhabitants. The man of the house was in the Southern army, and it was a heart-rending experience for the women and children to have their homes and their household goods battered to pieces with cannon. Before the expiration of the time arranged, Longstreet arrived and told the authorities he would not occupy the town for military purposes, and that there was no reason why it should be shelled, and this being communicated to Sumner, he decided not to execute his threat.

It was not wholly Burnside's fault that he was sluggish in his preparations. The railroad to the Potomac had to be prepared, his pontoons were late getting up, and many unexpected matters had to be considered. The twenty-four days which elapsed before he delivered battle were greatly appreciated by Lee. It gave him time to concentrate his army and deploy and strengthen his line of battle on a most defensible position. He