four o'clock in the morning before
The crescent hill blazed and roared with unceasing fury . Only the darkness was kind at last . And then the men in blue planted the frozen bodies of their comrades along the outer battle line as dummy sentinels , and under cover of the night began to slip back through Fredericksburg and across the silver mirror of the Rappahannock to their old camp , shattered , broken , crushed . It was four o'clock in the morning before John Vaughan 's regiment would give up the search for their desperately wounded . Only the strongest could endure that bitter cold . Through the long , desolate hours the pitiful cries of the wounded men rang through the black , freezing night , and few hands stirred to save them . A great army was fighting to save its flags and guns and reach the shelter beyond the river .