Waitt, Ernest Linden, History of the Nineteenth regiment, Massachusetts volunteer infantry , 1861-1865

[173] behind the fences running parallel to the river and there a horrible sight met their gaze. The rebels lay thick along the fence, just as they had fallen, killed by round shot and shell. Some lay with their heads severed, others with arms and legs gone and still others mutilated in a terrible manner.

It was freezing cold that night. The river was skimmed over with ice and the men had to keep moving to prevent their freezing to death.

Gen. McLaws, in his report of the defence of Fredericksburg says:

‘On the 25th of Nov., my division marched into the city. Detachments were immediately set at work digging rifle pits close to the edge of the river bank, so close that our men, when in them, could command the river and shores on each side. The cellars of the houses near the river were made available for the use of rifle men, and zig-zags were constructed to enable the men to get in and out of the rifle pits under cover. All this was done at night, and so secretly and quietly that I do not believe the enemy had any conception of the minute and careful preparations that had been made to defeat any attempt to cross the river in my front.’

There were many remarkable escapes during the day. Private O'Connell, one of the recruits who had joined Co. C at Bolivar, had seven bullet holes in his overcoat collar, some of the bullets having gone deep enough to cut his shirt collar, but not harming him.

At daybreak on the morning of the 12th the right of the Union line was withdrawn from the warehouse and the regiment stacked arms and remained on Caroline street until noon of the 13th. This period of inaction gave the men an opportunity to look around at the ruin which had been caused by the Union artillery. The city had suffered heavily,—in one house nine cannon shot holes were counted and fragments of shells, broken plaster and demolished roofs everywhere greeted the eye. Some members of Company D entered a fine house and found the table in the dining room just as the family had left it,— the food untouched and the coffee cups full. Some of the chairs were tipped over, others were pushed back. The cause of the evidently hasty departure was plain. A cannon ball had come in at one side of the room, passed directly over the table and