and crossed the river at a height of perhaps
thirty feet. It was a wooden structure, and rested on piers of logs and
stone. There is a considerable fall in the river, opposite and above
Falmouth, the bed of which, at this place, is one mass of rough, broken
rocks, extending up the river as far as I could see. Owing to the long
continuance of dry weather, the river is very low, and could be easily
forded, I should think, any where in the vicinity of this place. I
believe it is generally acknowledged to have been a great mistake, in
not crossing the river and occupying the heights, now in the possession
of the enemy, which could have been easily done at the time our first
detachment arrived here. I think one with a good pair of boots could go
over dry shod. The bridges were burned at the time of Burnside's
occupation last summer. Since then the people about here habitually
crossed and recrossed the river with their teams. Our Generals, having
had experience last winter, which was unusually rough and stormy, had
fears, no doubt, of having their communication cut off if they crossed,
through the rise of the river alone, and thus find themselves in a tight
place before the railroad bridge could be completed. The banks of the
Rappahannock, at Falmouth and beyond Fredericksburg as far as I could
see upon the northern side, are very high and precipitous,--I should
think, upon an average, sixty feet above the level of the river. On the
Fredericksburg side the bank is not as steep. The heights back of the
city, and occupied by the enemy as their first line of defence, and
three-fourths of a mile from the river, are but very little higher than
those occupied by our batteries immediately upon the bank.
Fredericksburg, as we stand on the bank opposite, seems almost beneath
our feet, and, of course, at the tender mercies of our batteries. There
is a wagon-road between Falmouth and Fredericksburg, upon the northern
side of the river, running close by the edge at the foot of the bank.
Along this road our line of pickets are stationed. Upon the opposite
side, along the river, is the wagon-road occupied by the pickets of the
enemy. Our repulse at Fredericksburg somewhat discouraged the soldiers,
but as time passed by they gained courage again. Immediately after the
battle, newspapers in opposition to the administration appeared in camp
and were sold in large quantities. These scurrilous sheets were eagerly
sought after and read by the sol