Closely following this incident,--namely, November 30,--the Twenty-ninth was by order of General Sumner transferred from the Irish Brigade to that of Colonel B. C. Christ, General William W. Burns’s division of the Ninth Corps, the latter being then commanded by General Orlando B. Willcox.
On the 3d of December, the regiment was sent on picket opposite Fredericksburg. The Confederate pickets, on the opposite shore of the river, were poorly clad, only a small number having overcoats, though the weather was cold. On the next day, at dark, the regiment was relieved, and on the 5th, a detachment was again sent to Belle Plain as a guard to a wagon train; the weather was very severe, a cold, driving snow-storm lasting nearly all day. The movements of General Burnside, which resulted in the battle of Fredericksburg, were now in progress; inspections of the troops were frequent; and on the 9th, Colonel Barnes made an inspection of the arms and equipments of the regiment.
On the 10th, the men were ordered to have three days’ rations in their haversacks, and to have on hand sixty rounds of cartridges each.
On the morning of the 11th, the Brigade of Colonel Christ was ordered under arms, but did not march till nearly four o’clock in the afternoon. Upon reaching the river, the order was countermanded, and the Brigade returned to its camp, the men being allowed to enjoy a good night’s rest.
At eight o’clock on the morning of the 12th, the Brigade was again ordered under arms, marched to the river, and crossed on a pontoon bridge. The enemy had previously been dislodged from the formidable works on the water-side of the town, and hence no opposition was made to the crossing of the Brigade. The regiment remained near the river all day, and, except a portion of the afternoon, was not under fire. The air was filled with a thick fog, and was intensely cold; without tents or any adequate covering, the men spent that long, cheerless, winter night on the banks of the river, half paralyzed with the cold, waiting for the day to break, which, as they supposed, was to usher in a terrible battle, and in which it then seemed probable they would take a conspicuous part.
When the day came, the fog-cloud lifted, and the sun shed upon the waiting army its cheering beams of warm light. Soon after sunrise, the order came for the Brigade to form in line of battle, but it did not move till near nightfall. For the first time in its field life, the regiment was on the reserve line all day, but within full view of the battle, which raged and roared from sunrise till far into the night. When it was quite dark, the line was advanced into the outskirts of the town; the men not being permitted to enter the houses, remained in the streets. The battle had gone against us, and during the night some of the shattered regiments, which had been at the front all day, filed sadly through the streets on their way to the river, telling their story of disaster as they passed along.