The  heights  touched  the  Eappahannock  a  mile  above
the  city  and,  going  back,  extended  with  their  knolls,
woods,  and  slopes  southward  all  along  my  front,  leav-
ing between  them  and  the  wide  river,  besides  the  city,
much  undulating  open  ground.  The  Marye  Hill  was
about  the  middle  of  the  curve.  South  of  the  Marye

320


Burnside  Assumes  Command  of  Army  of  Potomac

Hill  the  ridge  ended;  thence  there  stretched  farther
southward  a  wooded  space  of  lower  ground ;  again  an-
other abrupt  height,  the  highest  part  of  which  was
named  Prospect  Hill;  then  the  high  land  gradually
sloped  off  to  the  Massaponax,  a  tributary  of  the  Eap-
pahannock  which,  running  easterly,  bounded  Lee's
position  and  covered  his  right  flank.  After  taking  a
good  look  at  this  suggestive  landscape,  I  wrote  a  friend
December  10th :  "  Before  you  get  this  letter  you  will
have  the  news  of  a  battle.  I  try  to  rely  on  the  Sav-
iour in  these  trying  hours.  ...  I  have  no  forebodings
of  disaster,  but  I  know  the  desperate  nature  of  our
undertaking."  I  was  unusually  sad  in  the  prospect
of  that  battlefield,  sad  for  my  men  and  for  my  per-
sonal staff.  Experience  had  already  taught  me  its
lessons.
