The Smoky Hill and Republican union., December 20, 1862, Image 1

About The Smoky Hill and Republican union. (Junction City, Kan.) 1861-1864

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THE SMOKY HILL AND REPUBLICAN UNION.
"TVE JOIN OURSELVES TO NO PARTY THAT DOES NOT CARRY THE JFLAG, AND KEEP STEP TO THE MUSIC OF THE UNION."
Volume II.
JUNCTION CITY, -RTAlNrSAS, SATUEDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1862.
Number 8.
PCBUSnED EVEBY gATCEDAT KOHynTG BT
Wil.S.BLAKELY, - - - GEO. "Vv MARTIN.
-A.t Junction City, Kansas.
OFFICE IN BRICK BCILDING. CORNER OF
SEVENTH & WASHINGTON St's.
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CALEB GBAYMARSH.
BV MARY KYLE DALLAS.
Old Caleb Graymarsh dwelt in the New
England village of M , bard by his own
stone- walled, black-chimneyed factory,whicb
belched forth fire and smoke all day, and
shone like some ogre's palace half the night
with the fires and lights which glimmered
through the windows, and shed a crimson
gleam over the waste and barren land about
the building. For it was a stirring place,
this factory, and work people were there
among the whirring machinery night and
day. Stronir, stalwart fellows, with be
grimed hands and faces old men, who
could just totter up the stairs women, tidy
and trim, and some of them very pretty,
and little children, who, had they been
born of wealthy parents, would only have
been permitted to leave the nursery under
the guardianship of a maid. There was
occupation for all M at the great fac
tory, and, in the eyes of his employee?,
Caleb Graymarsh was a man of mighty
wealth and power. Fabulous tales were
told of his possessions in real estate, and
the women folks hud a legend amongst
thera that the tea service, which some
had seen glittering on the factory tabic, was
made of solid dollar?, melted down for the
express purpose, and that throughout the
house the furniture was covered with real
silk velvet. It was a pity, they said, that
poor Mrs. Graymarsh could not have lived
to see all this, but rfad died when Caleb
was a young man struggling for the fortune
which was now his. A few years before
Cure bad been a tiraple white slab in the
old graveyaid, bearing the words: " lvttty
Graymarsh, aged 20." But of late, a
splendid marble monument had arisen
there, with a flowery inscription upon its
face, and the figure of an angel bending
over it. A showy thing, with nothing
artistic about it; yet though that dead girl
who would have been an elderly womnn by
that time bad she lived, slept no more
peacefully beneath the costly structure than
she had beneath the simple slab, there was
something touching in the sight when one
thought that by its erection the old man
had striven to make his lost wife participate
in the only possible way in the wealth
which he so valued.
It is hard to think of most old business
men as young lovers strange to believe
that smiles or frowns from one woman were
once of greater moment to them than the
riso or fall of stocks has now become. And
the grim old factor, whose brows were puck
ered into a continual frown, and whose
mouth had become a straight, stern line,
with groove-like wrinkles on either side of
it, scarcely looked like " the hero of a love
tale." Yet Caleb Graymarsh had been
young once, and had loved his little Kitty
with a strong manly earnestness. She was
tho sole lovo of his life, the only woman
who had ever made his heart beat. When
he won her, siinplo country girl that she
was, no monarch was ever fonder of his
Cjucen, although all but his wife believed
him cold-hearted, and wondered what charm
young blue-eyed Hetty had found in his
stern face.
Only Caleb Graymarsh himself knew
how well he loved his wife, and, when the
sod was piled above her breast, he knelt
above it, tearless and speechless, and prayed
silently that God would let him die also.
We talk of wishing for death very often,
but only those who have drained the cup of
suffering to the very dregs ever pray for it
so earnestly that they would not shrink nd
tremble if their sinful prayer were answer
ed, and the bolt from heaven were seen
descending. One of those rare and terrible
moments came to Caleb Graymarsh as ho
knelt above his young wife's grave, but
none who knew him ever guessed it. They
saw, a few moments afterwards, a plain,
homely workingman, with a crapo about
his hat, riso to his feet, and plod slowly
homeward, alid, seeing no tears in his eyes
and bearing no complaint from his lip?,
thought he did not feel much, and so left
bim. And Caleb Graymarsb, having no
living kindred, and not being at that time
rich enough to have made friends, took the
wailing baby from the woman who bad
cared for it while he followed its mother
to the grave, and nursed it all chat night,
feeling a strange comfort in the soft cheek
he held against his own, and in the uncon
ecIous trifling of those tiny fingers about his
ftce.
He had thought very little of the baby
while his wife lived : save as a pet and play
thing, it was well enough for him to have,
but now he experienced a new feeling to
wards it. It was part of her. Their mutual
love had created it. It would grow, per
haps, to have her form and features. He
wished it were a girl instead of a boy ; and
yet even now he felt that he was not quite
desolate, since God had left him this. And
so, when the morning dawned, and the
golden sunbeams crept through the bed
room window, they fell on Caleb Graymarsh
fast asleep with bis baby on his bosom.
He put the child to nurse nest day, and
went about his work, as usual. Whatever
were his feelings, he never spoke of them
to an' one, and, young as he was, he had a
grim, unsocial way with him which encour
aged no one to seek his confidence. On
Sundays, instead of going with most of the
other men to drink and frolic, or joining
the few more sober-minded at church, Caleb
Graymarsh went to the country place where
his baby was at nurse, and kept it with him
under the green trees all day long. And
the child, unconscious as it really must have
been, was so strangely happy and contented
that one might easily have harbored the
belief that its little eyes saw what other
eyes couia not see, nna reaa the tender
secret of that rough workingman's soul.
Year after year passed by, and plodding
care and industry helped Caleb Graymarsb
to climb the ladder of fortune. At first,
some deft handiwork brought him higher
wages; then ho becamo foreman, ana at
last a partner in the very establishment
which he had first entered a friendless boy,
ordered and cuffed about by any one who
choose to take the trouble.
The steps were short and easy after this,
and, twenty years from the day on which
he had knelt beside his young wife s grave,
the black chimneys of his own factory arose
above the roofs of the trim New England
town, and people spoke of Caleb Graymarsh
as a person of wealth and influence.
In his life, this man had married two
strong passions the love for his dead wife
and the greed of wealth : not a miser's love
of hoarding, but the pride of possession.
Caleb Graymarsh liked to sec envious eyes
turned upon him, and was fond of boasting
and display. Very little sympathy had he,
either, for a poor man. What he had done
he believed that others might do also.
Those who worked for him knew this, and
expected no kindness from him. He was
strictly just, and sometimes even rewarded
success by liberality ; but ho never com
passionated failure or misfortune. Few
heartily liked him, but all, with one accord
seemed to warm towards his son, young
Harry Graymarsh, a genial, good humored
fellow, just come to man's estate, and hand
some enough to turn the heads of all the
girls in M . He was as Caleb had
hoped he might be, his mother's image,
lie had her blue eyes and fair hair, her
gentle smile and impulsive heart. Old
Caleb had merely education enough to ena
ble him to read and write and cipher in an
imperfect manner; but his son had been
taught as well and thoroughly as any lad
throughout the land. The grim factor
looked what he was, n workingman risen to
prosperous circumstances and wearing good
clothes, but the son, strange to say, might
have been of roval blood for any thing you
could have guessed to the contrary.
In European lands, a peasant's child
looks always like a peasant, and the fea
tures of an artist's son betrays his lineage ;
but here, I know not why, a man needs
only a pretty mother and a good education
to look from head to foot a gentleman.
Once home from college, young Harry
Graymarsh was often seen in the factory,
passing, with a kindly look and laugh,
along the ranks of grimy workmen who
toiled in the lower part of the building, or
pausing to chat with some blushing girl who
moved with light step and graceful arms,
bare to the dimpled elbow, amongst the
whirring wheels and springs upon the upper
floor. Even the bent old men and the pale
factory children had a word or two from
him, and many a comfortable blanket or
warm shawl found its way, at Christmas
time, to the dwelling of some poor old
workman " dreadful bad with the rheuraa
tiz," at the bidding of Master Harry.
There came at last among6t the forces in
the woman's room one which, to the eyes
of Harry Graymarsh, was wonderfully beau
tiful. An Italian sort of face, with liquid
black eyes, and hair so dark that there was
a purple gloss upon it in the sunshine. It
was the face which first attracted the factor's
son, but it was the soul which riveted the
chain which beauty first twined around his
heart.
She was not ignorant, and poor though
she was, there was an innate refinement in
her every movement. And so, by slow
degrees, from a casual interchange of words,
they came to whispered conversations by
the river side, and long summer evening
rambles in the great green woods, and,
before long, he bad told her how beautiful
she seemed to him, and how tenderly he
loved her ; and the girl, by blushes and
silence rather than by words, had revealed
the secret of her heart to him. And then,
one glorious day, when the sun was setting
and great flocks of birds were flying home
ward across the cloudless sky whea the
distant mountains were all flam m3 aranr
quivering leaf upon the tree tops was a
shimmering point of gold, Harry Gray-1
marsh and Alice Lee were betrothed to
each other; and so perfectly did she love
him and trust his love for her, that she
never thought, " He is rich and lam poor'
bnt only, " He loves me 1"
Whether in those summer rambles Harry
Graymarsb ever thought of his father, I do
not know. He had never been thwarted by
him in all his life, and perhaps he could not
imagine that the rod of parental authority
should first be wielded in a matter of such
import; besides, what was there in beauti
ful, modest Alice Lee to awaken any one's
aversion? Certain it is that, when one
evening, sitting on the bank beside the
river, with his arm about the waist of his
betrothed, Harry lifted his eyes and saw
his father standing behind him. He felt
bashful and confused, but not alarmed.
The old man vanished as softly as he
appeared, and Alice did not even see him,
but a storm was brewing, and it broke over
Harry's head that very evening.
" Do you know that you are tho son of
the richest man in the place ?" said Gray
marsh, standing crimson with rage before
bis son ; ' that you might marry an heir
ess if you like ? and here I find you making
love to a girl in my own factory, and you
say you mean to marry her you actually
say that to my face 1"
" I repeat it," replied Harry, " we are
betrothed !"
There were hot words between the father
and son after that ; taunts and reproaches,
the first which had ever passed their lips,
and the sun went down upon their wrath.
They parted for the night in anger, and
neither slept. It is an awful thing when
those who love first quarrel, and wounds
are made which are the harder to heal for
the memory of past tenderness. Old Gray
marsh bad been in his own way a tender
father, and Harry always a dutiful son. A
stern parent and a bad child could have been
reconciled more easily.
Since affluence had given him the oppor
tunity to be more idle, old Caleb had felt
some touches of the gout, and one of them
twinged and tweaked him the next morn
ing. Therefore he sent a grudging message
to Harry, telling him that he must go in
his place to the factory that morning, and
received an angry but obedient answer.
Then, before Harry was off, a servant left
the house with a note for Alice Lee, bid
ding her not to go to work that day, but
present herself before him in an hour's
time. She must be got rid off, he thought,
He would bribe her to go to some distant
place. This common factory-girl could not
wed his Harry, But when she stood be
fore him in her modest beauty, it was very
hard to speak to her as he had intended.
This was no coarse creature ambitious of
wealth and sotting snares for the rich man's
son; something of the soul of Harry's dead
mother shone upon the old man from her
earnest eyes, and he felt softened. They
were together in a little loom, the windows
of which looked upon the factory, Bhe
standing near the casement with her bon
net, and her eyes fixed upon the dark pile ;
he seated at the table trifling with some
papers and wondering how to begin. In
the silence, the whir, whir, whir of the
machinery came plainly to their cars, and
Caleb thought the noiso was strangely loud
and distinct. He remembered that impres
sion long after, and wondered tbat.it did
not trouble him more at the moment. As
it was, he only thought " What shall I
say ? Why does that girl in her shabby
dress look so much like a lady that I am
afraid of insulting her by words which
seemed so easy a while ago?"
Softened though Caleb was, be was still
a grim, hard old man, and his mind had
been made up too firmly to change it now.
He opened his lips, closed them again,
cleared his throat, and began :
" Miss Alice Lee, I have something to
say to you. I shall makeyou angry, I
suppose, but I can't help it. You'll please
attend to roe."
She did not look at him, but stood star
ing, in an awful manner, from the window.
"I'm speaking to you. Do you hear
me?" the old man repeated; but before
the words had left bis lips Alice had turned
and caught him by the arm, and there was
an awful roar, like the voice of some fiend,
an explosion which shook the house, a
chorus of wailing screams and groans, and
then a terrible silence. There were great
black torrents of smoke pouring from the
windows of the factory, and the wall to
ward the side where most of the great
engines were, bulged, and tottered, and fell,
and the roof caved in, and before them in
an instant, as though some fiend had been
at work, stood a ruin, black and horrible,
smoking and steaming, and seeming with
its awful, yawning jaws to groan and scream.
And from the lips of the father and those of
the betrothed maiden broke one word, simultaneously-"
Harry."
It united them in their great love and
terror. They clung together, feeling the
link between them for the first time. Both
loved him, and he oh! what was he now?
a living, breathing being, or a mass of crush
ed flesb, senseless helpless, lost to them
forever? Together they rushed out into
the open air, seeking him or what remained
of him.
Oh, the awful sight that summer sun
shone upon ! Men, dead and dying, crush
ed aad mutilated, lay stretched upon the
ground
The women of the village came
poqring through the streets, some .with
their bare arms wet with soap-suds, some
with babies on their bosoms, wailing and
shrieking, sobbing and fainting, clinging to
corpses which an hour before bad been
breathing men, peering with livid faces into
horrible black hollows in the wall whence
bands and feet protruded, listening for
groans under those piles of rubbish, that
they might hear the voice of some beloved
one amm those awful sounds ; and there,
amidst the ruins of his mighty factory,
stood the old man, calling aloud for help to
save his Harry.
"There's no hope for him, sir," said one
of the few workmen who remained unhurt.
" He was in the cellar. He went down to
sec what was the matter, when the odd noise
first began, and never came up again."
" Hush !" cried the old man. " Do you
dare to tell me there is no hope ! They
shall save Harry !" And then turning to
the trembling girl beside him, he repeated,
in a caressing way, " Never fear, my lass,
they shall save Harry ; and he shall have
you or what else he likes. I'll never
thwart him again. But if there is a God
above U9, he'll save my Harry."
This was the burden of his talk, while
laborers were hard at work digging away
the rubbish and bringing out dead bodies.
Men ground to pulpy horrors; beautiful
girls torn limb from limb! and children so
alike in this awful death that every one
was claimed and struggled for by twenty
mothers.
All day they dug and lifted iron weights
and masses of stone, but there was no sign
of Harry's body yet. At the bottom of
that awful pile, no doubt, he lay mangled
into shapelessness. Alice knew that it
must be so, but the old man kept saying
still:
They shall save Harry."
Dusk had come, and they worked by
torchlight now. All had been found dead
or dying, wounded and maimed. They
were carried to their homes. Yet still the
crowd were thick about the ruin, waiting
for the moment when what wa3 left of
Harry Graymarsh should bo brought into
the open air. An awful silence reijined
only the ciink of spade and pickaxe broke it.
Suddenly there was a shout, a lifting of
those hundred vo'ces. They had come to
the lower floor of the building, and part of
it remained entire. There was a little hope;
yes, more than a little for, listening, they
heard a faint voice calling to them, so it
seemed, though the words were inaudible.
Faster now: there arc great rafters to lift
and piles of stone and machinery to cast out,
But that voice inspires them. They work
as they never worked before, and at last
they hear the cry again. It comes from
the part of tho cellar where the floor yet
remains. And one great man, crouching
on his face, forces himself down into the
blackness and screams :
" Who is there ?"
And the answer is returned from the
awful cavern :
" Harry Graymarsh; help me if you can."
Then the men came out with a glorious
shout, and set to work like giants; and
even women came to help, as they thought
of the fair young face buried in that dark
ness. He may be maimed and wounded,
but at least he lives. And there is no
pause, no respite from that toil. At an
other time many there would faint beneath
it, but not now, for every lifted stone brings
them closer to the buried man and gives
bim a firmer lease on life. As the morning
broke the last is heaved aside, and the
bronzed giant, who before crept into the
cavern leaps down, and vanishes into the
shadows.
Silence, in which you might hear a pin
fall or a heart beat sihnce that freezes the
blood and then, breaking upon it, a wo
man's scream: a shriek from the lips of
Alice, as they bring the form of her lover,
blood-stained and senseless, to the light.
Not dead, oh, no! she thanked God for
that. The great beams had protected him.
He was bruised and'wounded, but not mor
tally; and in a little while his blue eyes
opened, and his pale lips whispered:
"Father!"
Then the old factor, kneeling by his
child as he had knelt upon his dead wife's
grave so long ago, took the white hand of
Alice in his own and placed in his son's.
" She is yours," he said ; " take her,
Harry, and be happy. Wealth isn't worth
as much as love. I should have known
that all along, remembering Hetty. Live,
Harry ! only live ! and I'll never do any
thing to grieve you !"
And Harry did live. Long before the
winter snows had come he stood a little
paler and thinner than before, perhaps, but
well and strong again before the altar of
the little church with Alice by his side;
and that night, when the moon was high,
and no one watched him but the angels,
the old factor stood beside his Hetty's
grave, and whispered words of yearning
love, which told that the soul of the young
lover onlv slumbered in its iron-bound
case, and that when death should set it free
it would rise, pure and unsullied, to meet
its angel wife in Heaven. A. T. Sunday
Times.
Asses. By the last census there was
but one ass in the State of Rhode Islaad to
27,000 in tho State of South Carolina; aid
whoever is at a loss to account for the
rebellion, should aotice the prevalence of
that feciaa in all the rebel Staie,Tid
Report, p. 198. Providence Journal.
lord Brougham on the War.
At the recent inauguration of the Lord
Mayor of London, Lord Brougham spoke
as follows regarding America :
That cruel and unnatural war, which is
afflicting us so many miles off, is one of the
most lamentable events of our day. I do
not pretend to know more than my noble
friend at the head of the Government, who
has admitted that be cannot predict any
speedy termination to the conflict. Eng
land and France have looked with perfect
feeling of kindness and friendship toward
both the contending parties, for which rea
son, perhaps, they arc not much liked by
either. Laughter. But if there be little
chance ot any effectual advice being given,
or of any intervention of another descrip
tion being come to by the powers of Europe,
at least let them listen to their own advo
cates m this country we who supported
them half a century ago, when no one else
said a word in their favor we, who were
charged with being almost seditious, if not
treasonable, advocates of America, and
against our own country in the disputes
then existing; let them listen to our advice,
to our strong and earnest entreaty, that
they would as speedily as possible put an
end to this cruel and unnatural war. And
I will tell them that besides the ordinary
evils of war beside the waste of blood and
treasure, the suffering of every kind, the
anxieties and miseries involved upon the
whole country, and which they ought, by
all means, speedily to terminate, there is
another risk which they run, and which
they run more and more every month that
this contest is continuing I mean the
increased number of armed men habituated
to bloodshed, rapine and every sort of
violence, and in whom these habits arc
becoming their second and savage nature.
Then nc shall see the whole of America
consist of armed men brought up in war,
and in the habits which war engenders.
There is nothing worse than the tyranny
cf an armed mob. Cheers. Theirs would
be the worst kind of a yoke under which
men could live, and the worst foe to civil
liberty. For Heaven's sake, for their own
sake, for humani'y's sake, I trust they will
escape a fate at once so deplorable and so
degrading.
"WAB FRAZES."
Josh Billings takes a logikal vu of war
frazes :
''On tu Richmond," that is to say, if
the kussed rebels will allow it.
" Parallel lines," are them kind of lines
that never kum together.
"Militara necessita' 10 ofiser and a gal
on of whiska to every 3 privates.
" Onluce the dogs of war," but muzzle
the darn krittcrs ; if you don't somebody
will get hurt.
" War of exterminasbun," this fraze be
longs wholly tho to kommisara department.
" Advanse Gard," this is a gard tha hav
tu hav in our anna tu keep our fellers from
pitchin intu the enemy fruntwards.
" Rere Gard," this is a gard tha hav tu
hav tu keep our fellers, when tha are sur
rounded, from pitchin into the enema back
wards. " Awl quiet on the Pottermuck," this
shows what perfeck subjeckshun our fellers
are under.
" Militara straterga," trying tu reduce a
swamp by ketchin' the bilyour fever out
of it.
'' Pickets," these are chaps that are cent
out to borry turbacker of the cnoma, and
tu see if the cussed rebels has got a pass,
3T A young man, seeking employment,
went to one of our large cities, and on en
quiring at a certain counting room if they
wished a clerk, was told they did not. On
mentioning the recommendations he had,
one of which was from a highly respecta
ble citizen, he desired to see them. In
turning over his carpet bag to find his let
ters, a book rolled out on the floor.
" What book is that?" said the merchant.
" It is the Bible, sir."
" And what are you going to do with
that book in New York ?"
The lad looked seriously into the mer
chant's face, and replied :
"I promised my mother I would read it
every day, and I shall do it "
The merchant immediately engaged his
services.
gST The rebel Semmes has a daughter
now nt school in Philadelphia, his wife and
two sisters in Washington, while he is
roaming the ocean, sinking, burning and
destroying everything that crosses his path
bearing the American flag that flag that
covers and protects his family.
m m m
15-A sprightly editress, in reply to a
correspondent who asks her if she wears
hoops, exclaims : " Hoops, indeed ! why,
we don't uccar anything else !" The italics
are her own. We suppose she tells the
naked truth.
Two Quaker girls of our acquaint
ance ware ironing on the same table. One
asked the other which side Bhe would take,
the right or left. She answered promptly,
u It will be right for thee to take the left,
and then it will be left for me to take the
right."
W9 " I will kiss you Eve' amid the
comauon father of us all to our common
mother. -' Tdbn't care, A-ddm, if you do.r
TAKING OF FBSDERICESBUSO.
Dispatches from the headquarters of tho
Army of the Potomac, dated Dec. llth, 9
A. M., say : Everything last night was
bustle and actnity, as to-day was the time
fixed for crossing the rior. During tho
night pontoons were carried to the river,
and the artillery, consisting of 143 pieces,
placed opposite the city.
At five this morning the rebels fired two
signal guns, and during the latter part of
the night pickets were frequently seen
within their lines.
At five o'clock the construction of threo
bridges was commenced in front of the city.
When the bridges were about half completed,
the enemy commenced opening a murderous
fire of infantry from the houses on the river
bank. Up to this time not a shot had been
fired from our side. The engineers wero
driven from the bridges, and several wero
killed and wounded. At six o'clock Gen.
Burnside ordered all the guns to be opened
on the city. Tho cannonade, which was
continued to the present time, is terrible.
The city is ou fire, and its destruction ap
pears certain.
About 7, A. M., the enemy opened with
their heavy guns from their works, but so
far they have dene no sorious injury.
Gen. Franklin constructed his bridges
about three miles below the city, meeting
with but slight opposition. His troops aro
now crossing, and the gunboats arc shelling
the enemy for fifteen miles down tho river,
where they have becu concentrating their
forces for the past few days. The concen
trated fire of our batteries on the city ha3
had tho effect of driving back tho enemy's
infantry, and tho work on tho bridges has
been commenced again. The troops arc all
under arms near the river, prepared to rush
across as soon as the bridges are completed.
Later Thursday Nook. On an at
tempt being made to finish the bridges in
front of the city, the rebel infantry again
opened their fire, when our artillery in
position again opened on the city, the'resulfc
being that the city was fired in several new
places. The enemy has used very littlo
artillerv un to this time, as it would en
danger their men who are holding the river
front.
Gen. Burnside has just issued an order
to concentrate every gun upon the city, un
der cover of which it is believed the bridges
can be finished.
The killed and wounded do not amount
to more than fifty men.
Still Later Evening. But littlo
firing took place between one and two
o'clock, during which time all the available
batteries were placed in position, number
ing 17G guns. At a signal all opened on
the city. The fire was terrible, but still tho
rebel sharpshooters could not be driven
from their biding places. The shot and
shell went through tho houses, in many
cases setting them on fire and causing a
dense smoke, which, together with the
explosion of so largo a quantity of gun
powder, almost hid the city from view. fc.
It soon became evident that the bridges
could not be built except by a hold dash.
Volunteers were called for to cross the river
in small boats. The order was no sooner
given than hundreds stepped forward, but
could not all go. About one hundred wero
soon on their way, while the artillery
threw a perfect shower of hail on the other
side. They reached the oppesite shore, but
not without loss. With fixed bayonets
the' rushed upon the enemy, killing and
taking 101 prisoner., who were safely land
ed on this side.
At half-past four two bridges were fin
ished opposite the city, when tho troops
immediately began to .cross over. Tho
enemy were soon driven from their city
back to their line of works.
The two bridges in front of Gen. Frank
lin were successfully laid early in the day,
but his troops did not cross until the two
upper one3 were ready. A sufficient forca
is now on the opposite side of the river to
resist any attack that is likely to bo made.
The rebels fired but two guns in the morn
ing, and none in the afternoon, although
their works were in easy range. During
the forenoon the rebels burned the railroad
bridge outside the city. Between thirty
and forty houses were burnt in the business
part of the city. During the day -between
8,000 and 9,000 rounds of ammunition
were fired by our artillery.
A special from Washington to the Phila
delphia Press, dated the llth, states that
private dispatches received to-night from
Fredericksburg, say the greater part of
Franklin's division crossed safely, throwing
nut pickets to those of Hooker's at Freder
icksburg. The city is on fire, but it is
thcught that mo3t of the buildings can be
saved. The enemy has been skirmishing
all day with our advance, but are gradually
falling back. Our losses have been insig
nificant as far as known,
Gen. Park telegraphs : We are in full
possession of Fredericksburg to night, and
our troops are crossing rapidly. The whole
army will be over leady to engage the
enemy to-morrow.
)9 A Western paper says : " We want
to buy a good coon and possum dog, to hunt
our meat with during the year. It is fool
ish for a man to think about buying hog
meat, who is priatiog a newspaper for $2 a
year. A dog that will hunt' coon, poMOm,
and kill a aheep occasionally, will coumand
a good price at these "headquarters."