May 4. — General Benham received orders to build another bridge, which he managed to do with the remnants of two trains. It took some six hours to finish the bridge, and before it was done the enemy began shelling it, sending their shot and shell disagreeably near the bridges, but luckily not hitting them. One sergeant of the 15th [New York Volunteer Engineers] was killed. The enemy got in Sedgwick’s rear, and retook Fredericksburg. Sedgwick was hard pressed on all sides, and during the night sent for General Benham, when it was decided that he should retreat.
War Diary and Letters of Stephen Minot Weld.
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