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ion had not so much more been required of him. But, remembering that time was of the essence of his orders, it may be as well to quote the criticism of Warren-- "It takes some men just as long to clear away a little force as it does a large one. It depends entirely upon the man, how long a certain force will stop him." "The enemy had left about one division, perhaps ten thousand or twelve thousand men, at Fredericksburg, to watch him. They established a kind of picket-line around his division, so that he could not move any thing without their knowing it. Just as soon as Gen. Sedgwick began to move, a little random fire began, and that was kept up till daylight. At daylight, the head of Gen. Sedgwick's troops had got into Fredericksburg. I think some little attempt had been made to move forward a skirmish-line, but that had been repulsed. The enemy had considerable artillery in position." "My opinion was, that, under the circumstances, the most vigorous effort possible ought to have been made, without regard to circumstances, because the order was peremptory." But this statement is qualified, when, in his examination before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, to a question as to whether, in his opinion, Gen. Sedgwick's vigorous and energetic attempt to comply with Hooker's order would have led to a different result of the battle, Warren answered: "Yes, sir! and I will go further, and say that I think there might have been more fighting done at the other end of the line. I do not believe that if Gen. Sedgwick had done all he could, and there had not been harder fighting on the other end of the line, we would have succeeded." If, at eleven P.M., when Sedgwick received the order, he had immediately marched, regardless of what was in his front, straight through the town, and up the heights beyond, paying no heed whatever to the darkness of the night, but pushing on his men as best he might, it is not improbable that he could have gained the farther side of this obstacle by daylight. But is it not also probable that his corps would have been in questionable condition for either a march or a fight? It would be extravagant to expect that the organization of the corps could be preserved in any kind of form, however slight the opposition. And, as daylight came on, the troops would have scarcely been in condition to offer brilliant resistance to the attack, which Early, fully apprised of all their movements, would hav
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