On the 13th day of December, 1862, the Army of the Potomac, under the command of Major-Gen. Ambrose E. Burnside, fought the battle of Fredericksburg, and met defeat with the loss of over 12,000 men. Four months later the Congressional Committee on the conduct of the war uttered its opinion to the world that Major-Gen. William Buel Franklin was responsible for the loss of that battle in consquence of his disobedience to the orders of Gen. Burnside. Probably no finding ever announced by that remarkable body ever occasioned more surprise; and none was ever more promptly and completely controverted; but it darked the soul and marred the career of the man it falsely and infamously accused. The slow pen of history has cleared up and will ever more surely clear his pure fame, and his name will stand secure among the posterities.    But for us, whose  lives have happily touched his through the long years since those eventful days, and to whom his rare intelligence, his dauntless heart and perfect truth and lovalty are as familiar as the constant stars, it is but a due tribute from our friendship and our  faith in a manhood that we have never seen fail in  any test, to read again the story of that disastrous day, note his part and bearing therein, and the cause and the manner of that cruel and wanton injustice; to learn how it came to be that the true patriot, the trained soldier, devoted to his profession, proud  to bear its high obligations and  jealous of  its honor, who won distinction on every  field of  action, whose wide knowledge, great skill, clear, sound judgment, and transparent sincerity made him the constant and trusted counsellor  of every superior and the reliable lieutenant of every commander, who shared the brunt at Bull Run, who fought the rear-guard battles from Chickahominy to the James, and held the pass of White Oak Swamp against half Lee's army on the critical day of Glendale, who won at Crampton's Gap "the completest victory gained up to that time by any part of the Army of the Potomac" -- to learn how it came to be that this man was accused of that to which  his every quality and act gave the absolute lie.

     Continuing Col. Greene describes the battle and actions of the various generals, Burnside's inexplicable conduct, etc., the continued confidence between Gens. Burnside and Franklin for several weeks after the battle, Burnside's resignation and the relieving of Gen. Franklin from command, and the hearing by the Congressional Committee, and closes as follows:

     When the committee visited Fredericksburg and Franklin was summoned before it, he asked Burnside if he had given or would give them a copy of the order under which he acted on the l3th, considering that all such orders should come from the commander issuing them. General Burnside assured him that he had already furnished the committee with a copy of it, and General Franklin gave his testimony throughout upon the faith of that word and upon the sup-position that in considering his action the committee had before them and in their minds the order which governed him. But in this he was betrayed. Gen. Burnside never gave them the order or any inkling of it. They never heard of it until months afterward, and too late to prevent the utterance of their damnatory judgment of the man whose great opportunity and great purpose greatly planned that order wholly destroyed.
     Four main points stand out distinct and clear: The only proper battlefield at Fredericksburg was the ground on which Franklin and Jackson confronted each other; the force at Franklin's disposal ought to have been used to adequate and decisive results; his own apprehension of both these facts was perfect, and his accordant scheme of operation was proportioned to both the opportunity and the resistance; at no point of time or of action was it Gen. Franklin's fault that, despite his urgent entreaty, his force was not allowed to essay its proper task on that day.

     In June, 1863, Gen. Franklin was ordered to the Department of the Gulf, and served in Texas and Louisiana until April, 1864, when he succumbed to a wound received at the battle of Sabine Cross Roads (where two horses were shot under him), and was given his first leave of absence, until November of the same year. From December, 1864, to November, 1865, Gen. Franklin was president of the board for retiring disabled officers at Washington, D. C., and in March, 1865, he received additional honor, being brevetted major-general of the United States army. He resigned his commission and retired to private life in November, 1865. In the various trying positions in which Gen. Franklin was placed, he always acquitted himself with honor, and his military record is one of which he has just cause to be proud.
     Selecting Hartford as his future place of resi-dence, the General came to this city in 1865. In November of that year he was chosen vice-president and general manager of the Colt's Patent Fire Arms Co., and retained that position until April, 1888. In 1868 he was elected president of the board of visitors of the United States Military Academy at West Point; was selected as the most suitable person to act as president of the commission for the erection of the new Connecticut State House, in 1872-73; was consulting engineer from 1873 to 1877, and superintendent of construction from 1877 to March, 1880. The magnificent Capitol is now the pride of the citizens of the State, and it is a remarkable fact that the cost of erection was kept within the appropriations made by the Legislature. In all the details of construction Gen. Franklin's controlling hand could be felt, and his vigilance was never relaxed.
     For fifteen years, from 1872 to 1887, Gen. Frank-lin was a member of the board of water commissioners of Hartford, and here his experience as an engineer was useful on numerous occasions; and at the Centennial Exhibition he was chairman of the committee of judges on Engineering and Architecture.
     In 1872 the National Independent Democratic Conventions of New Jersey and Pennsylvania telegraphed Gen. Franklin, asking if he would accept the nomination for President of the United States, to run against Horace Greeley. The General declined, stating as his reason that to defeat Greeley the party must stand as a unit, and concentrate its power. In 1876 he was chosen one of the Presidential electors on the Democratic ticket, and took part in the convention which nominated Samuel J. Tilden. From 1877 to 1879 he was adjutant-general of the State of Connecticut, and from July, 1880, to 1900, was president of the board of managers of the National Home for disabled soldiers.
     Additional honors awaited him. In June, 1888, he was appointed commissioner-general for the United States at the International Exposition at Paris, France, and in October of the following year he received the appointment of grand officer of the French Legion of Honor, a high compliment, and the only one of the kind to be paid an American. His miniature and insignia of the Legion of Honor have been accepted to appear on the "Cullom Memorial" now being erected at West Point Academy. A member of the New York Commandery of the Legion of Honor, the General was for several years its commander. He is a member of the Cinicinnati; Sons of the American Revolution; Sons of Colonial Wars; R. O. Tyler Post, No. 50, Grand Army of the Republic; and of the Army and Navy Club. He still retains his hold on the business world, and is vice-president of the Hartford Steam Boiler Inspection & Insurance Co.; a director of the Connecticut Mutual Life Insurance Co., of the National Fire Insurance Co., of Hartford, of Colt's Fire Arms Co., and of the Panama Railroad Co., New York.
     That Gen. Franklin attained high rank as an engineer is evidenced by his various deserved promotions. No man could have risen to the rank of major-general in the Civil war unless he was a born leader of men, and unless he had rare capacity for handling large bodies of troops. Returning to pri-vate life, unless he had executive ability of the highest order, combined with a superabundance of practical common sense, no man could be the controlling spirit of an immense corporation for over twenty years. Unless he was popular in the truest and best sense of the word, no man could have filled the honorable positions which have been awarded to Gen. Franklin without any seeking on his part.
     Gen. Franklin was married, July 7, 1852, to Anna L. Clarke, daughter of Matthew St. Clair and Hannah B. Clarke, of Washington, D. C. Mrs. Franklin died July 17, 1900, at the age of seventy-six years, at the home in Hartford, after an illness of about one year. They had no children.

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