The grand army of the Potomac has at last set out in pursuit
of the rebels, who have abandoned their fortifications at Centreville and Manassas,
and fallen back on the line of the Rappahannock river.
The new position where it is believed the rebels intend to
make a stand, is along the bank of the Rappahannock river, from Port Royal up
to Fredericksburg, thence along the south bank of the river up as far as the
junction of the Rapidan with the North Fork of the Rappahannock, thence along
the Rapidan as far as the base of the Blue Ledge Mountain. This line of defence is thus described:
The country is very hilly, and is cut into wild and deep
ravines, particularly is this the case for some eight miles below
Fredericksburg, all the way up to the base of the mountain ridge. There is a wooden bridge at Fredericksburg
leading over the Rappahannock and county of Stafford, and one at the Village of
Falmouth, which is in the county of Spotsylvania. Falmouth is a mile above Fredericksburg, and
there are but three fords in the river between Fredericksburg and the mountain;
one at the Wilderness, which is about a mile from the Rapidan; another where
the railroad crosses; and a third about three miles northwest of Orange Court
House. At the breaking out of the
rebellion it was a matter of serious discussion by Beauregard, Lee and Johnson
[sic] whether this should not be the line of fortification instead of Bull Run
and Manassas. The Manassas railroad,
bringing provisions from the valley, cause them to select Bull Run, the Rapidan
and Rappahannock being made strong by extensive military engineering in the
meantime.
The river is deep and narrow below Fredericksburg – 160 yards
wide and fifteen feet deep. Above
Fredericksburg and at Falmouth the great falls of the Rappahannock begin, and
extend all the way to the source. The
banks are ragged, broken, and precipitous, and covered with the original growth
of the timber. The river here is deep
and rapid. Upwards of twenty thousand
slaves have been a Fredericksburg since the 10th of May, 1861, and the negro
men have been at work on various fortifications all along the river bank for
months past. This line of defense was
began anterior to the fortifications along Bull Run, and was destined as a sort
of cover in case of defeat at Bull Run.
The swampy country of the Matapony, east of the Junction of
the Mat, the Ta, the Po and the Ny, and indicated by a line reaching from Port
Royal and Louisville, thence down the Matapony to the [Pamunkey] and the York
rivers, from the extended line of fight from the mountain to the bay. The abandonment of the whole Lower Potomac
and the Rappahannock, below Port Royal is because they are untenable on account
of the ready approach of boats and being easily outflanked by a force reaching
them there. The country is the best
possible one for defense along the whole Atlantic slope, and the last and only
stand the rebels can make is here along the Rappahannock river. They have never mad the extensive ratifications
at Richmond that have been erected at Fredericksburg.
– Published in The Burlington Weekly Hawk-Eye,
Burlington, Iowa, Saturday, March 22, 1862, p. 3
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