d and went back to the city to the place
under the river bank and had a good supper and a good drink of whiskey. It
is notorious that not a single general officer crossed the river in front
of the city at the Battle of Fredericksburg. It is not strange that
General Burnside should have failed in command of the Army of the Potomac.
Any officer who should have succeeded General McClellan would have met
with the same fate, that army was so divided by jealousies and
partisanship. Army correspondents spoke of these strifes and bickerings as
notorious and scandalous. The efficiency of the command was thus seriously
impaired by the internal dissensions. Before we went to sleep the report
was circulated about the regiment, that General Burnside would lead the
9th Army Corps against Mary's Heights the next morning, and Reno's old
brigade was to have the advance.

The next day, the 14th, we remained in camp down by the riverside all day,
and no attack was made. In the evening we went back to the same part of
the battlefield where we had fought, relieved some troops there, and we
were told we were to stay there through the next day and that we were to
hold that position at all hazards. We were about fifteen or eighteen rods
from the Johnnies' line at the foot of the hill. They were behind a line
of breastworks; we had almost nothing in front of us. The men we relieved
had dug up a little earth and had dragged together a few dead bodies, but
only a few. As soon, however, as our boys understood what was expected of
them, they set to work. But digging was pretty slow work with the ground
frozen and nothing but bayonets and case knives to dig with. But a good
many dead men were dragged together, so that some of the men had something
of a semblance of a protection. Thus we prepared for the day, which soon
came. But it did not seem as if it would ever pass. We could not fire a
gun. The Johnnies might fire as much as they liked. We must lie as still
as the dead men about us. But finally the day did pass, night came on; we
were able to get up and stretch ourselves and shake some of the cold from
our half frozen bodies. At twelve o'clock we quietly withdrew, passed
through the city, which was now deserted crossed the pontoon bridge and
went back to our old camp.

After a great battle there are no end of stories of experiences and
hair-breadth escapes going the rounds of the camp. The following story
which went the rounds at the time, appea