Many of the inhabitants had left as soon as the musketry fire began, but the slopes behind it soon presented a sad spectacle.

Men, women, and children poured out from the town, bewildered with the din and terrified by the storm of shot and shell that crashed into it.

Higher and higher the crowd of fugitives made their way until they reached the crest; among them were weeping women and crying children, many of them in the scantiest attire and carrying such articles of dress and valuables as they had caught up when startled by the terrible rain of missiles.

In a very few minutes smoke began to rise over the town, followed by tongues of flame, and in half an hour the place was on fire in a score of places.
All day the bombardment went on without cessation and Fredericksburg crumbled into ruins.

Still, in spite of this terrible fire, the Mississippians clung to the burning town amid crashing walls, falling chimneys, and shells exploding in every direction.