Page:Confederate Military History - 1899 - Volume 3.djvu/485

Rh During the night of the 8th, the Confederates threw up rude and irregular defenses along the emergency line which they had taken, a part of it after dark. On the morning of the 9th, Lee rode along the line that had been occupied, but was not favorably impressed with it. At Ewell's suggestion, a somewhat elevated point, projecting between some of the southward branches of the Ny, near the right center, was taken into the lines and occupied by artillery; orders were also given for providing a second line of defenses, beyond the incurved line, as taken, on the right. Lee's position, as now occupied, extended, from the Po river on the southwest, where the Louisa road to Spottsylvania Court House and Fredericksburg crosses the big bend of that river, in the arc of a circle, eastward, across the Brock road and the Po-Ny watershed, to a branch of the Ny river; while from its right center sprang a horseshoe salient, northward, eastward and southward, around the crest of the spur between two small branches of the Ny and overlooking that river to the northeastward. Ewell's men were disposed within this salient, which conformed, in a general way, to a broad bend of the Ny. Hill's men were to extend the line to the left, to the Po, and Longstreet's were to extend it to the right, from the Bald hill southward and. then southeastward, covering the front of Spottsylvania Court House and the roads leading to Fredericksburg, thus leaving open no way to the southward on which Grant could move toward Richmond, as he had planned on the 7th. Held back by Hampton and Early, the most, of Hancock's corps had been detained on the Brock road, near and behind Todd's tavern, during the 8th, while Anderson with the First and Ewell with the Second corps were engaged with Grant's advance near Spottsylvania Court House.

On the 9th, Grant sent Sheridan, with his cavalry, on a raid, moving from Alsop's at 4 in the morning, to first destroy Lee's ammunition train, then strike the James, and open communication with Butler. Stuart safely guarded the ammunition train, but was not strong enough to prevent Sheridan passing his right and gaining the highway to Richmond. Early on the morning of the 9th, Burnside advanced across the Ny, on the road leading from Spottsylvania Court House to Fredericksburg, which he had reached by a circuitous march to the