g
directly to the fatal wall was crowded; indeed, caps bearing the
regimental numbers were found, as has since been ascertained, close by
the wall, and a Lieutenant who was stunned in the fight and fell almost
at its base, was taken prisoner. Nearly every officer who had entered
the fight mounted, was at this time upon foot. In the tempest of bullets
that everywhere prevailed the destruction of the force was but a
question of brief time, and to prevent further heroic but vain
sacrifices the order to retire was given. With the Brigade, the Regiment
fell back, leaving one-third of its number in dead and wounded to hallow
the remembrance of that fatal field.

"This way, Pap! This is the way to get out safe," shouted a Captain as
he rose, from the rear of a pile of rubbish, amid the laughter of the
men now on their backward move. The burly form of the exhorting Colonel
was seen to follow the no less burly form of the Captain, and father and
son were spared for other fields.

An effort was made to reform after the firing had slackened, but the
increased darkness prevented the marshalling of the thinned ranks. Out
of range of the still not infrequent bullets and occasional shell, and
drowsy from fatigue, the men again lay upon their arms at the foot of
the slope; and the battle of Fredericksburg was over.

What happened upon the left, where the main battle should have been
fought, and why Franklin was upon the left at all, are problems that
perhaps the reader can pass upon to better advantage than the writer of
these pages. His "corner of the fight" has been described, truthfully
at least, whatever the other failings may be.

We had left the field; but the Rebels had not as yet gained it. Pickets
were thrown out to within eighty yards of their line, and details
scattered over the field to bear off the wounded. No lights were
allowed, and the least noise was sure to bring a shell or a shower of
bullets. In consequence, their removal was attended with difficulty. The
evil of the practice too prevalent among company commanders, of sending
skulkers and worthless men in obedience to a detail for the ambulance
corps, was now horribly apparent. Large numbers of the dead, and even
the dying, were found with their pockets turned inside out, rifled of
their contents by these harpies in uniform.

But little rest was to be had that night. At 8 P. M. the troops were
marched back into the town, only to be brought out again at midnight