work and will soon get it finished;
but General Barksdale bids me report that with the force at his command
he can repulse any attempt to cross."

The light was now breaking in the east, but the roar of musketry
continued under the canopy of fog. Generals Lee, Longstreet, and others
had now arrived upon the spot, and Vincent was surprised that no orders
were issued for troops to re-enforce those under General Barksdale.
Presently the sun rose, and as it gained in power the fog slowly lifted,
and it was seen that the two pontoon bridges were complete; but the fire
of the Mississippians was so heavy that although the enemy several times
attempted to cross they recoiled before it. Suddenly a gun was fired
from the opposite height, and at the signal more than a hundred pieces
of artillery opened fire upon the town. Many of the inhabitants had left
as soon as the musketry fire began, but the slopes behind it soon
presented a sad spectacle. Men, women, and children poured out from the
town, bewildered with the din and terrified by the storm of shot and
shell that crashed into it. Higher and higher the crowd of fugitives
made their way until they reached the crest; among them were weeping
women and crying children, many of them in the scantiest attire and
carrying such articles of dress and valuables as they had caught up when
startled by the terrible rain of missiles. In a very few minutes smoke
began to rise over the town, followed by tongues of flame, and in half
an hour the place was on fire in a score of places.

All day the bombardment went on without cessation and Fredericksburg
crumbled into ruins. Still, in spite of this terrible fire, the
Mississippians clung to the burning town amid crashing walls, falling
chimneys, and shells exploding in every direction. As night fell the
enemy poured across the bridges, and Barksdale, contesting every foot of
ground, fell back through the burning city and took up a position behind
a stone wall in its rear.

Throughout the day not a single shot had been fired by the Confederate
artillery, which was very inferior in power to that of the enemy, as
General Lee had no wish finally to hinder the passage of the Federals;
the stubborn resistance of Barksdale's force being only intended to give
him time to concentrate all his army as soon as he knew for certain the
point at which the enemy was going to cross; and he did not wish,
therefore, to risk the destruction of any of his batteri