Following the Flag, from August 1861 to November 1862, with the Army of the Potomac
by Charles Carleton Coffin · English · Gutenberg #43641 · 433,540 chars · public domain (US)
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Title: Following the Flag, from August 1861 to November 1862, with the Army of the Potomac
Author: Charles Carleton Coffin
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Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FOLLOWING THE FLAG, FROM AUGUST 1861 TO NOVEMBER 1862, WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ***
[Illustration: Yours truly Charles Carleton Coffin (signature)]
FOLLOWING THE FLAG
FROM AUGUST 1861 TO NOVEMBER 1862
WITH THE
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
BY
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN
AUTHOR OF "MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD," "BOYS OF '76,"
"BOYS OF '61," "WINNING HIS WAY," ETC.
NEW YORK
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN SERIES
UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
By CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN
Following the Flag.
Four Years of Fighting.
My Days and Nights on the Battlefield.
Winning His Way.
_Price, postpaid, 50c. each, or any three books for $1.25_
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
PREFACE.
It will be many years before a complete history of the operations of
the armies of the Union can be written; but that is not a sufficient
reason why historical pictures may not now be painted from such
materials as have come to hand. This volume, therefore, is a sketch
of the operations of the Army of the Potomac from August, 1861, to
November, 1862, while commanded by General McClellan. To avoid detail,
the organization of the army is given in an Appendix. It has not been
possible, in a book of this size, to give the movements of regiments;
but the narrative has been limited to the operations of brigades and
divisions. It will be comparatively easy, however, for the reader
to ascertain the general position of any regiment in the different
battles, by consulting the Appendix in connection with the narrative.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
Introductory 9
I. Organization of the Army of the Potomac 11
II. Ball's Bluff 22
III. Battle of Dranesville, and the Winter of
1862 38
IV. Siege of Yorktown 49
V. Battle of Williamsburg 65
VI. On the Chickahominy 82
Affair at Hanover Court-House 84
VII. Fair Oaks 88
VIII. Seven Days of Fighting 108
Battle of Mechanicsville 111
Battle of Gaines's Mills 115
Movement to James River 121
Battle of Savage Station 123
Battle of Glendale 125
Battle of Malvern 131
IX. Affairs in front of Washington 138
Battle of Cedar Mountain 140
X. Battle of Groveton 147
The Retreat to Washington 157
XI. Invasion of Maryland 158
Barbara Frietchie 160
Battle of South Mountain 165
Surrender of Harper's Ferry 171
XII. Battle of Antietam 175
Hooker's Attack 187
Sumner's Attack 194
The Attack upon the Center 206
Richardson's Attack 212
General Franklin's Arrival 216
Burnside's Attack 221
XIII. After the Battle 238
XIV. The March from Harper's Ferry to
Warrenton 250
Removal of General McClellan 269
APPENDIX.
The Organization of the Army of the Potomac,
April, 1862 278
LIST OF DIAGRAMS.
PAGE
Ball's Bluff 29
Battle of Dranesville 41
Battle of Williamsburg 69
Battle of Fair Oaks 91
Battle of Mechanicsville 112
Battle of Gaines's Mills 116
Battle of Glendale 128
Battle of Malvern 134
Battle of Groveton 149
Battle-Field of Antietam 180
Sedgwick's Attack 198
French's and Richardson's Attack 208
Burnside's Second Attack 232
INTRODUCTORY.
For more than three years I have followed the flag of our country
in the East and in the West and in the South,--on the ocean, on the
land, and on the great rivers. A year ago I gave in a volume entitled
"My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field" a description of the Battle
of Bull Run, and other battles in Kentucky, Tennessee, and on the
Mississippi.
It has been my privilege to witness nearly all the great battles fought
by the Army of the Potomac,--Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg,
at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, the North Anna, Coal Harbor and at
Petersburg. Letters have been received from those who are strangers to
me as well as from friends, expressing a desire that I should give a
connected account, not only of the operations of that army, from its
organization, but of other armies; also of the glorious achievements of
the navy in this great struggle of our country for national existence.
The present volume, therefore, will be the second of the contemplated
series.
During the late campaign in Virginia, many facts and incidents were
obtained which give an insight into the operations of the armies of the
South, not before known. Time will undoubtedly reveal other important
facts, which will be made use of in the future. It will be my endeavor
to sift from the immense amount of material already accumulated a
concise and trustworthy account, that we may know how our patriot
brothers have fought to save the country and to secure to all who may
live after them the blessings of a free government.
FOLLOWING THE FLAG.
CHAPTER I.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
The battle of Bull Run, or of Manassas, as the Rebels call it, which
was fought on the 21st of July, 1861, was the first great battle of the
war. It was disastrous to the Union army. But the people of the North
were not disheartened by it. Their pride was mortified, for they had
confidently expected a victory, and had not taken into consideration
the possibility of a defeat. The victory was all but won, as has been
narrated in "My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field," when the arrival
of a brigade of Rebels and the great mistake of Captain Barry, who
supposed them to be Union troops, turned the scale, and the battle was
lost to the Union army.
But the people of the North, who loved the Union, could not think of
giving up the contest,--of having the country divided, and the old flag
trailed in the dust. They felt that it would be impossible to live
peaceably side by side with those who declared themselves superior to
the laboring men of the Free States, and were their rightful masters.
They were not willing to acknowledge that the slaveholders were their
masters. They felt that there could not be friendship and amity
between themselves and a nation which had declared that slavery was
its cornerstone. Besides all this, the slaveholders wanted Maryland,
Kentucky, and Missouri in the Southern Confederacy, while the majority
of the people of those States wanted to stay in the Union. The Rebels
professed that they were willing that each State should choose for
itself, but they were insincere and treacherous in their professions.
Kentucky would not join the Confederacy; therefore they invaded the
State to compel the people to forsake the old flag.
A gentleman from Ohio accompanied a Southern lady to Columbus, on the
Mississippi, to see her safely among her friends. General Polk was
commander of the Rebel forces at that place, and they talked about the
war.
"I wish it might be settled," said the General.
"How will you settle?"
"O, all we ask is to have all that belongs to us, and to be let alone."
"What belongs to you?"
"All that has always been acknowledged as ours."
"Do you want Missouri?"
"Yes, that is ours."
"Do you want Kentucky?"
"Yes, certainly. The Ohio River has always been considered as the
boundary line."
"But Kentucky don't want you."
"We must have her."
"You want all of Virginia?"
"Of course."
"You want Maryland?"
"Most certainly."
"What will you do with Washington?"
"We don't want it. Remove it if you want to; but Maryland is ours."[1]
[Footnote 1: Ohio State Journal.]
Such was the conversation; and this feeling, that they must have
all the Slave States to form a great slaveholding confederacy, was
universal in the South.
Besides this, they held the people in the Free States in contempt. Even
the children of the South were so influenced by the system of slavery
that they thought themselves superior to the people of the Free States
who worked for a living.
I heard a girl, who was not more than ten years old, say that the
Northern people were all "old scrubs"! Not to be a scrub was to own
slaves,--to work them hard and pay them nothing,--to sell them, to
raise children for the market,--to separate mothers from their babes,
wives from their husbands,--to live solely for their own interests,
happiness, and pleasure, without regard to the natural rights of
others. This little girl, although her mother kept a boarding-house,
felt that she was too good to play with Northern children, or if she
noticed them at all, it was as a superior.
Feeling themselves the superiors of the Northern people, having been
victorious at Manassas, the people of the South became enthusiastic for
continuing the war. Thousands of volunteers joined the Rebels already
in arms. Before the summer of 1861 had passed, General Johnston had a
large army in front of Washington, which was called the Army of the
Potomac.
At the same time thousands rushed to arms in the North. They saw
clearly that there was but one course to pursue,--to fight it out,
defeat the Rebels, vindicate their honor, and save the country.
The Union army which gathered at Washington was also styled the Army
of the Potomac. Many of the soldiers who fought at Manassas were three
months' men. As their terms of service expired their places were filled
by men who enlisted for three years, if not sooner discharged.
General George B. McClellan, who with General Rosecrans had been
successfully conducting the war in Western Virginia, was called to
Washington to organize an army which, it was hoped, would defeat the
Rebels, and move on to Richmond.
The people wanted a leader. General Scott, who had fought at Niagara
and Lundy's Lane, who had captured the city of Mexico, was too old and
infirm to take the field. General McDowell, although his plan of attack
at Bull Run was approved, had failed of victory. General McClellan had
been successful in the skirmishes at Philippi and at Rich Mountain.
He was known to be a good engineer. He had been a visitor to Russia
during the Crimean war, and had written a book upon that war, which was
published by Congress. He was a native of Pennsylvania and a resident
of Ohio when the war broke out. The governors of both of those States
sent him a commission as a brigadier-general, because he had had
military experience in Mexico, and because he was known as a military
man, and because they were in great need of experienced men to command
the troops. Having all these things in his favor, he was called to
Washington and made commander of the Army of the Potomac on the 27th of
July.
He immediately submitted a plan of operations to the President for
suppressing the rebellion. He thought that if Kentucky remained loyal,
twenty thousand men moving down the Mississippi would be sufficient
to quell the rebellion in the West. Western Virginia could be held
by five or ten thousand more. He would have ten thousand protect the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Potomac River, five thousand
at Baltimore, twenty thousand at Washington, and three thousand at
Fortress Monroe. One grand army for active operations was needed, to
consist of two hundred and twenty-five thousand infantry, six hundred
pieces of field artillery, twenty-five thousand cavalry, and seven
thousand five hundred engineers, making a total of two hundred and
seventy-three thousand men. In his letter to the President, General
McClellan says: "I propose, with the force which I have requested, not
only to drive the enemy out of Virginia, and occupy Richmond, but to
occupy Charleston, Savannah, Montgomery, Pensacola, Mobile, and New
Orleans; in other words, to move into the heart of the enemy's country,
and crush the rebellion in its very heart."[2]
[Footnote 2: General McClellan's Report, p. 4.]
It was found a very difficult matter to obtain arms for the soldiers;
for President Buchanan's Secretary of War, Floyd, had sent most of the
arms in Northern arsenals to the South before the war commenced. But,
notwithstanding this, so earnest were the people, and so energetic the
government, that on the 1st of October, two months from the time that
General McClellan took command, there were one hundred and sixty-eight
thousand men in the Army of the Potomac, with two hundred and twenty
pieces of artillery; besides this, the government had a large army
in Kentucky, and another in Missouri. The Rebels had large armies in
those States, and were making great efforts to secure them to the
Confederacy. It was not possible to send all the troops to Washington,
as General McClellan desired.
The Rebel army was commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. He had
about seventy thousand men, with his headquarters at Manassas. Some
of the spies which were sent out by General McClellan reported a much
larger force under Johnston, and General McClellan believed that he
had one hundred and fifty thousand men. Strong fortifications were
erected to defend Washington; General Johnston wished very much to
take the city, and the people of the South expected that he would gain
possession of it and drive out the hated Yankees. He pushed his troops
almost up to General McClellan's lines, taking possession of Munson's
Hill, which is only five miles from the Long Bridge at Washington.
The Rebels erected breastworks upon the hill, and threw shot and shells
almost to Arlington House. From the hill they could see the spires of
the city of Washington, the white dome of the capitol, and its marble
pillars. No doubt they longed to have it in their possession; but there
were thousands of men in arms and hundreds of cannon and a wide river
between them and the city.
One bright October morning I rode to Bailey's Cross-roads, which is
about a mile from Munson's Hill. Looking across a cornfield, I could
see the Rebels behind their breastworks. Their battle-flags were waving
gayly. Their bayonets gleamed in the sunshine. A group of officers had
gathered on the summit of the hill. With my field-glass, I could see
what they were doing. They examined maps, looked towards Washington,
and pointed out the position of the Union fortifications. There were
ladies present, who looked earnestly towards the city, and chatted
merrily with the officers. A few days after, I saw in a Richmond paper
that the officers were Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Johnston, and that
one of the ladies was Mrs. Lee.
General Lee was within sight of his old home; but he had become a
traitor to his country, and it was to be his no more. Never again would
he sit in the spacious parlors, or walk the verdant lawn, or look upon
the beautiful panorama of city and country, forest and field, hill and
valley, land and water,--upon the ripened wheat on the hillside or the
waving corn in the meadows,--upon the broad Potomac, gleaming in the
sunshine, or upon the white-winged ships sailing upon its bosom,--upon
the city, with its magnificent buildings, upon the marble shaft rising
to the memory of Washington, or upon the outline of the hills of
Bladensburg, faint and dim in the distance.
He joined the rebellion because he believed that a state was more than
the nation, that Virginia was greater than the Union, that she had a
right to leave it, and was justified in seceding from it. He belonged
to an old family, which, when Virginia was a colony of Great Britain,
had influence and power. He owned many slaves. He believed that the
institution of slavery was right. He left the Union to serve Virginia,
resigned his command as colonel of cavalry, which he held under the
United States. He accepted a commission from Jefferson Davis, forswore
his allegiance to his country, turned his back upon the old flag,
proved recreant in the hour of trial, and became an enemy to the nation
which had trusted and honored him.
The summer passed away and the golden months of autumn came round. The
troops were organized into brigades and divisions. They were drilled
daily. In the morning at six o'clock the drummers beat the reveille.
The soldiers sprang to their feet at the sound, and formed in company
lines to answer the roll-call. Then they had breakfast of hard-tack
and coffee. After breakfast the guards were sent out. At eight o'clock
there were company drills in marching, in handling their muskets, in
charging bayonet, and resisting an imaginary onset from the enemy. At
twelve o'clock they had dinner,--more hard-tack, pork or beef, or rice
and molasses. In the afternoon there were regimental, brigade, and
sometimes division drills,--the men carrying their knapsacks, canteens,
haversacks, and blankets,--just as if they were on the march. At
sunset each regiment had a dress parade. Then each soldier was expected
to be in his best trim. In well-disciplined regiments, all wore white
gloves when they appeared on dress parade. It was a fine sight,--the
long line of men in blue, the ranks straight and even, each soldier
doing his best. Marching proudly to the music of the band, the light
of the setting sun falling aslant upon their bright bayonets, and the
flag they loved waving above them, thrilling them with remembrances of
the glorious deeds of their fathers, who bore it aloft at Saratoga,
Trenton, and Princeton, at Queenstown and New Orleans, at Buena Vista
and Chapultepec, who beneath its endearing folds laid the foundations
of the nation and secured the rights of civil and religious liberty.
Each soldier felt that he would be an unworthy son, if traitors and
rebels were permitted to overthrow a government which had cost so
much sacrifice and blood and treasure, and which was the hope of the
oppressed throughout all the world.
In the evening there were no military duties to be performed, and the
soldiers told stories around the camp-fires, or sang songs, or had a
dance; for in each company there was usually one who could play the
violin. Many merry times they had. Some sat in their tents and read the
newspapers or whatever they could find to interest them, with a bayonet
stuck in the ground for a candle-stick. There were some who, at home,
had attended the Sabbath school. Although in camp, they did not forget
what they had left behind. The Bible was precious to them. They read
its sacred pages and treasured its holy truths. Sometimes they had a
prayer-meeting, and asked God to bless them, the friends they had left
behind, and the country for which they were ready to die, if need be,
to save it from destruction.
But at the tap of the drum at nine o'clock the laughter, the songs,
the dances, the stories, the readings, and the prayer-meetings, all
were brought to a close, the lights were put out, and silence reigned
throughout the camp, broken only by the step of the watchful sentinel.
The soldiers soon grew weary of this monotony. They had been accustomed
to an active life. It was an army different from any ever before
organized. It was composed in a great degree of thinking men. Many of
them were leading citizens in the towns where they lived. They were
well educated and were refined in their manners. They knew there was to
be hard fighting and a desperate contest, that many never would return
to their homes, but would find their graves upon the field of battle;
yet they were ready to meet the enemy, and waited impatiently for
orders to march.
There were grand reviews of troops during the fall, by which the
officers and soldiers became somewhat accustomed to moving in large
bodies. All of the troops which could be spared from the fortifications
and advanced positions were brought together at Bailey's Cross-roads,
after the Rebels evacuated Munson's Hill, to be reviewed by the
President and General McClellan. There were seventy thousand men.
It was a grand sight. Each regiment tried to outdo all others in
its appearance and its marching. They moved by companies past the
President, bands playing national airs, the drums beating, and the
flags waving. There were several hundred pieces of artillery, and
several thousand cavalrymen. The ground shook beneath the steady
marching of the great mass of men, and the tread of thousands of hoofs.
It was the finest military display ever seen in America.
It was expected that the army would soon move upon the enemy. General
McClellan, in a letter to the President, advised that the advance
should not be postponed later than the 25th of November. The time
passed rapidly. The roads were smooth and hard. The days were golden
with sunshine, and the stars shone from a cloudless sky at night; but
there were no movements during the month, except reconnaissances by
brigades and divisions.
The Rebels erected batteries on the south side of the Potomac, below
the Occoquan, and blockaded it. They had destroyed the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake Canal, so that the Union army and
the city of Washington were dependent on the one line of railroad to
Baltimore for all its supplies. It was very desirable that the Potomac
should be opened. General Hooker, who commanded a division at Budd's
Ferry, wished very much to attack the Rebels, with the aid of the navy,
and capture the batteries, but General McClellan did not wish one
division to move till the whole army was ready. December passed, and
the year completed its round. Cold nights and blustering days came,
and the army, numbering two hundred thousand men, went into winter
quarters.
CHAPTER II.
BALL'S BLUFF.
There were but two events of importance during the long period of
inactivity in the autumn of 1861,--a disaster at Ball's Bluff and a
victory at Dranesville.
In October General Stone's division of the Army of the Potomac was at
Poolesville in Maryland. General Banks's division was at Darnestown,
between Poolesville and Washington. General McCall's division was at
a little hamlet called Lewinsville, on the turnpike leading from the
chain bridge to Leesburg, on the Virginia side. The main body of the
Rebels was at Centreville, but there was a brigade at Leesburg.
It is a beautiful and fertile country around that pleasant Virginia
town. West of the town are high hills, called the Catoctin Mountains.
If we were standing on their summits, and looking east, we should
see the town of Leesburg at our feet. It is a place of three or four
thousand inhabitants. There are several churches, a court-house, a
market-place, where, before the war, the farmers sold their wheat, and
corn, oats, and garden vegetables. Three miles east of the town we
behold the Potomac sparkling in the sunlight, its current divided by
Harrison's Island. The distance from the Virginia shore to the island
is about one hundred and eighty feet; from the island to the Maryland
shore it is six or seven hundred feet. The bank on the Virginia side
is steep, and seventy-five or eighty feet high, and is called Ball's
Bluff. A canal runs along the Maryland shore. Four miles below the
island is Edward's Ferry, and three miles east of it is Poolesville.
In October, General McClellan desired to make a movement which would
compel General Evans, commanding the Rebels at Leesburg, to leave the
place. He therefore directed General McCall to move up to Dranesville,
on the Leesburg turnpike. Such a movement would threaten to cut General
Evans off from Centreville. At the same time he sent word to General
Stone, that if he were to make a demonstration towards Leesburg it
might drive them away.
On Sunday night, at sundown, October 20th, General Stone ordered
Colonel Devens of the Massachusetts Fifteenth to send a squad of
men across the river, to see if there were any Rebels in and around
Leesburg.
Captain Philbrick, with twenty men of that regiment, crossed in three
small boats, hauled them upon the bank, went up the bluff by a winding
path, moved cautiously through the woods, also through a cornfield, and
went within a mile and a half of Leesburg, seeing no pickets, hearing
no alarm. But the men saw what they thought was an encampment. They
returned at midnight and reported to General Stone, who ordered Colonel
Devens to go over with about half of his regiment and hold the bluff.
The only means which General Stone had for crossing troops was one
flat-boat, an old ferry-boat, and three small boats.
Colonel Devens embarked his men on the boats about three o'clock in
the morning. The soldiers pushed them to the foot of the bluff, then
returned for other detachments. The men went up the path and formed in
line on the top of the bluff. By daybreak he had five companies on the
Virginia shore. He moved through the open field towards the encampment
which Captain Philbrick and his men had seen, as they thought, but
which proved to be only an opening in the woods. But just as the sun's
first rays were lighting the Catoctin hills he came upon the Rebel
pickets in the woods beyond the field. The pickets fired a few shots
and fled towards Leesburg, giving the alarm.
The town was soon in commotion. The drums beat, the Rebel troops then
rushed out of their tents and formed in line, and the people of the
town jumped from their breakfast-tables at the startling cry, "The
Yankees are coming!"
General Evans, the Rebel commander, the day before had moved to Goose
Creek to meet General McCall, if he should push beyond Dranesville. He
had the Eighth Virginia, the Thirteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth
Mississippi Regiments, and a squadron of cavalry and four pieces of
artillery.
Captain Duff, commanding a detachment of the Seventeenth Mississippi,
was left at Leesburg. As soon as Colonel Devens's advance was
discovered, he formed his men in the woods and sent word to General
Evans, who hastened with his whole brigade to the spot.
General Stone placed Colonel Baker, commanding the First California
Regiment, in command of the forces upon the Virginia side of the
river. Colonel Baker was a Senator from Oregon,--a noble man, an
eloquent orator, a patriot, and as brave as he was patriotic. During
the forenoon a portion of the Twentieth Massachusetts Regiment,
commanded by Colonel Lee, was sent over.
Just before twelve o'clock General Stone sent word to Colonel Baker
that the force of the enemy was supposed to be about four thousand.
Colonel Baker was in doubt whether to remain or whether to send over
more troops; but word came to him that the Rebels were advancing, and
he ordered over the Tammany Regiment of New York troops, commanded by
Colonel Cogswell, and Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar's California Regiment.
Colonel Baker went over about two o'clock in the afternoon. By constant
effort, he succeeded in getting about seventeen hundred men over during
the day, and three cannon,--two mountain howitzers and one rifled gun.
It was nearly three o'clock in the afternoon before General Evans began
the attack. He had captured a courier the day before, sent by General
McCall to General Meade, and from the despatches learned that General
McCall was only making a reconnaissance. This information led him to
bring all his forces back to Leesburg, and it also delayed his attack
until late in the afternoon.
Captain Duff, of the Seventeenth Mississippi, was reinforced first by
four companies of the Thirteenth and Eighteenth Mississippi, commanded
by Colonel Jennifer. About two o'clock the Eighth Virginia arrived from
Goose Creek, commanded by Colonel Huntoon. Other reinforcements were
near at hand.
"Drive the Yankees into the river!" was General Evans's order.
He had the advantage of position, being on higher ground than that
occupied by Colonel Baker. But he advanced very cautiously.
Colonel Baker formed his men on the eastern border of the field in the
edge of the woods. The Fifteenth Massachusetts was on the right,--next
there was a portion of the Twentieth Massachusetts, which had been
sent over, and then the California and Tammany regiments. The Rebels
began to fire at long range. Some of them climbed into the trees,--some
secreted themselves in the shocks of corn which were standing in the
field,--some crouched behind the fences and trees. Colonel Baker, to
save his men, ordered them to lie down.
Colonel Jennifer, commanding a Rebel regiment, with a party of
skirmishers, went round the north side of the field and came upon the
Fifteenth Massachusetts, but the men of that regiment fired so steadily
that the Rebels were forced to retire.
At the southwest corner of the field was a farm road, down which the
Rebels advanced. The howitzers and the cannon were placed in position
to rake that road, and the Rebels were compelled to leave it and form
in the woods.
It was apparent to Colonel Baker and all of his command at three
o'clock that the Rebels outnumbered them, but they prepared to make a
brave fight. The fire from both sides began to be more fierce and rapid.
At this time General Gorman had crossed the river at Edward's Ferry,
three miles below, with fifteen hundred men. General Evans, to prevent
a junction of the Union forces, moved his troops into a ravine, and
came upon the left flank of Colonel Baker's command.
"I want to find out what the Rebels are doing out there," said Colonel
Baker to Colonel Wistar, "and I want you to send out two companies."
Colonel Wistar sent out Captain Marco with one company, and went
himself with the other. About fifty yards in front of Colonel Wistar
was a hill, and behind this Evans was preparing to make a charge.
Suddenly the Eighth Virginia, who had been lying upon the ground,
sprang to their feet, and, without firing a shot, advanced upon Captain
Marco. His men, without waiting for orders, fired, and for fifteen
minutes there was a very hot time of it,--the two companies holding
their ground against the superior force. Captain Marco had deployed his
men as skirmishers, while the Virginians were in close rank, and so
destructive was the fire from Captain Marco's command, that the Rebel
lines gave way.
But it was at a fearful cost that the brave men held their ground so
long. During this time all their officers, and all their corporals and
sergeants but three, and two-thirds of the men, were killed or wounded!
They fell back at last under command of a sergeant, carrying with them
a lieutenant and fourteen men of the Eighth Virginia prisoners.
The Rebels having reformed their line, came down upon the left flank of
the California regiment. Colonel Wistar saw them in the ravine, faced
four of his companies to meet them, and gave them a volley which threw
them into confusion, and, after firing a few scattering shots, they
ran up the ravine, and disappeared behind the hill.
For an hour or more the firing was at long range, each party availing
themselves of the shelter of the woods. The men were ordered by Colonel
Baker to shield themselves as much as possible, but himself and the
other officers stood boldly out in the hottest fire.
"That is pretty close!" said Colonel Baker to Colonel Wistar, as a
bullet came between them. Soon another ball cut off a twig over Colonel
Baker's head.
"That fellow means _us_," he said, pointing to a Rebel in a distant
tree. "Boys, do you see him? Now some of you try him," he said to
company C, of Colonel Wistar's regiment. The soldiers singled out
the man, who soon tumbled from the tree. He repeatedly cautioned his
men about exposing themselves. He wanted to save them for the final
conflict, which he knew must come before long.
"Lie close, don't expose yourself," he said to a brave soldier who was
deliberately loading and firing.
"Colonel, you expose yourself, and why shouldn't I?"
"Ah! my son, when you get to be a United States senator and a colonel,
you will feel that you must not lie down in face of the 'enemy.'"
He knew that it would be asked if he was brave in the hour of battle.
It was his duty to expose himself, to show his men and all the world
that he was not afraid to meet the enemy, and was worthy of the
position he held.
[Illustration:
1 Union Troops.
2 Rebel Troops.
3 Road by which the Rebels advanced.]
One of the Mississippi regiments tried again to outflank Colonel
Baker's left. The Rebels came within fifty feet of the California
regiment; but the constant and steady fire given by that regiment again
forced them back. It was an unbroken roll of musketry through the
afternoon. The Union soldiers held their ground manfully, but their
ammunition was giving out. The men, as fast as their cartridge-boxes
became empty, helped themselves from the boxes of their fallen
comrades. They could not obtain reinforcements for want of boats,
although there were troops enough upon the Maryland shore to overwhelm
the enemy. The boats were old and leaky, and were used to carry the
wounded to the island. General Stone had taken no measures to obtain
other boats. He was at Edward's Ferry, within sight and sound of the
battle. He had fifteen hundred troops across the river at that point,
and he might have ordered their advance towards Leesburg. They could
have gained General Evans's rear, for there was no force to oppose
them. The troops stood idly upon the bank, wondering that they were not
ordered to march. So the brave men on the bluff, confronted by nearly
twice their number, were left to their fate.
"We can cut our way through to Edward's Ferry," said Colonel Devens.
"If I had two more such regiments as the Massachusetts Fifteenth, I
would cut my way to Leesburg," said Colonel Baker.
He went along the line encouraging the men to hold out to the last.
His cool bearing, and the glance of his eagle eye, inspired the
men and they compelled the Rebels again and again to fall back.
Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar was wounded, but refused to leave the field.
He remained with his men and kept a close watch upon the ravine and
the hillock at his left hand. He saw that General Evans was making
preparations for a desperate onset. He was gathering his troops in a
mass behind the hill.
"Drive the Yankees into the Potomac," said General Evans, again. He had
more than two thousand men.
"There is not a moment to lose. A heavy column is behind the hill and
they are getting ready to advance," said Colonel Wistar, hastening to
Colonel Baker.
Lieutenant Bramhall was ordered to open upon them with his rifled
gun. He brought it into position and fired a round or two, but two
of his cannoneers were instantly killed and five others wounded.
Colonel Baker, Colonel Wistar, and Colonel Cogswell used the rammer and
sponges, and aided in firing it till other cannoneers arrived. Colonel
Wistar was wounded again while serving the gun. They could not reach
the main body of Rebels behind the hill, but kept the others in check
with canister as often as they attempted to advance.
The force behind the hill suddenly came over it, yelling and whooping
like savages. Colonel Baker was in front of his men, urging them to
resist the impending shock. He was calm and collected, standing with
his face to the foe, his left hand in his bosom. A man sprang from the
Rebel ranks, ran up behind him, and with a self-cocking revolver fired
six bullets into him. Two soldiers in front of him fired at the same
time. One bullet tore open his side, another passed through his skull.
Without a murmur, a groan, or a sigh, he fell dead.
But as he fell, Captain Beirel of the California regiment leaped from
the ranks and blew out the fellow's brains with his pistol.
There was a fierce and terrible fight. The Californians rushed forward
to save the body of their beloved commander. They fell upon the enemy
with the fury of madmen. They thought not of life or death. They had no
fear. Each man was a host in himself. There was a close hand-to-hand
contest, bayonet-thrusts, desperate struggles, trials of strength. Men
fell, but rose again, bleeding, yet still fighting, driving home the
bayonet, pushing back the foe, clearing a space around the body of the
fallen hero, and bearing it from the field.
While this contest was going on, some one said, "Fall back to the
river." Some of the soldiers started upon the run.
"Stand your ground!" shouted Colonel Devens.
Some who had started for the river came back, but others kept on. The
line was broken, and it was too late to recover what had been lost.
They all ran to the bank of the river. Some halted on the edge of the
bluff and formed in line, to make another stand, but hundreds rushed
down the banks to the boats. They pushed off into the stream, but the
overloaded flat-boat was whirled under by the swift current, and the
soldiers were thrown into the water. Some sank instantly, others came
up and clutched at sticks, thrust their arms towards the light, and
with a wild, despairing cry went down. Some clung to floating planks,
and floated far down the river, gaining the shore at Edward's Ferry. A
few who could swim reached the island. All the while the Rebels from
the bank poured a murderous fire upon the struggling victims in the
water and upon the bank.
Lieutenant Bramhall ran his cannon down the bank into the river,
to save them from falling into the hands of the enemy. Some of the
officers and soldiers secreted themselves in the bushes till darkness
came on, then sprung into the river and swam to the island, and thus
escaped,--reaching it naked, chilled, exhausted, to shiver through
the long hours of a cold October night. Of the seventeen hundred who
crossed the Potomac, nearly one half were killed, wounded, or captured
by the enemy.
There was great rejoicing at Leesburg that night. The citizens who had
been so frightened in the morning when they heard that the Yankees were
coming, now illuminated their houses, and spread a feast for the Rebel
soldiers. When the Union prisoners arrived in the town, the men and
women called them hard names, shouted "Bull Run," "Yankee Invaders,"
but the men who had fought so bravely under such disadvantages were
too noble to take any notice of the insults. Indians seldom taunt
or insult their captives taken in war. Civilized nations everywhere
respect those whom the fortunes of war have placed in their hands;
but slavery uncivilizes men. It makes them intolerant, imperious,
and brutal, and hence the men and women of the South, who accepted
secession, who became traitors to their country, manifested a malignity
and fiendishness towards Union prisoners which has no parallel in the
history of civilized nations.
There was great rejoicing throughout the South. It gave the leaders and
fomenters of the rebellion arguments which they used to prove that the
Yankees were cowards, and would not fight, and that the North would
soon be a conquered nation.
It was a sad sight at Poolesville. Tidings of the disaster reached
the place during the evening. The wounded began to arrive. It was
heart-rending to hear their accounts of the scene at the river bank,
when the line gave way. Hundreds of soldiers came into the lines
naked, having thrown away everything to enable them to swim the river.
The night set in dark and stormy. After swimming the river, they
had crowded along the Maryland shore, through briers, thorns, and
thistles, stumbling over fallen trees and stones in the darkness, while
endeavoring to reach their encampments. Many were found in the woods in
the morning, having fallen through exhaustion.
Thus by the incompetency of those in command, a terrible disaster was
brought about. General McClellan and General Stone were both severely
censured by the people for this needless, inexcusable sacrifice. Grave
doubts were entertained in regard to the loyalty of General Stone, for
he permitted the wives of officers in the Rebel service to pass into
Maryland and return to Virginia, with packages and bundles, whenever
they pleased, and he ordered his pickets to heed any signals they might
see from the Rebels, and to receive any packages they might send, and
forward them to his quarters.[3]
[Footnote 3: Testimony before Committee of Congress.]
When these facts became known to the War Department, General Stone
was arrested and confined in Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, but he was
subsequently released, having no charges preferred against him.
Lieutenant Putnam of the Twentieth Massachusetts, who was so young
that he was called the "boy soldier," was mortally wounded in the
battle, was carried to Poolesville, where he died the next day. He
came of noble blood. His father was descended from the ancestor of old
General Putnam, who fought the French and Indians on the shores of Lake
Champlain, who did not stop to unyoke his oxen in the field, when he
heard of the affair at Lexington, and hastened to meet the enemy.
Rev. James Freeman Clarke, at his funeral said:--
"His mother's family has given to us statesmen, sages, patriots, poets,
scholars, orators, economists, philanthropists, and now gives us also a
hero and a martyr. His great grandfather, Judge Lowell, inserted in the
Bill of Rights, prefixed to the Constitution of this State, the clause
declaring that 'all men are born free and equal,' for the purpose, as
he avowed at the time, of abolishing slavery in Massachusetts, and he
was appointed by Washington, federal judge of the district.
"His grandfather was minister of this church, [West Church, Boston,]
honored and loved as few men have been, for more than half a century.
"Born in Boston in 1840, he was educated in Europe, where he went
when eleven years old, and where in France, Germany, and Italy he
showed that he possessed the ancestral faculty of mastering easily
all languages, and where he faithfully studied classic and Christian
antiquity and art. Under the best and most loving guidance, he read
with joy the vivid descriptions of Virgil, while looking down from
the hill of Posilippo, on the headland of Misenum, and the ruins of
Cumæ. He studied with diligence the remains of Etruscan art, of which,
perhaps, no American scholar, though he was so young, knew more.
"Thus accomplished, he returned to his native land, but, modest and
earnest, he made no display of his acquisitions, and very few knew
that he had acquired anything. When the war broke out, his conscience
and heart urged him to go to the service of his country. His strong
sense of duty overcame the reluctance of his parents, and they
consented. A presentiment that he should not return alive was very
strong in his mind and theirs, but he gave himself cheerfully, and
said, in entire strength of his purpose, that 'to die would be easy in
such a cause.' In the full conviction of immortality he added, 'What is
death, mother? it is nothing but a step in our life.'
"His fidelity to every duty gained him the respect of his superior
officers, and his generous, constant interest in his companions and
soldiers brought to him an unexampled affection. He realized fully that
this war must enlarge the area of freedom, if it was to attain its true
end,--and in one of his last letters he expressed the earnest prayer
that it might not cease till it opened the way for universal liberty.
These earnest opinions were connected with a feeling of the wrong done
to the African race and an interest in its improvement. He took with
him to the war as a body servant a colored lad named George Brown, who
repaid the kindness of Lieutenant Lowell by gratitude and faithful
service. George Brown followed his master across the Potomac into the
battle, nursed him in his tent, and tended his remains back to Boston.
Nor let the devoted courage of Lieutenant Henry Sturgis be forgotten,
who lifted his wounded friend and comrade from the ground, and carried
him on his back a long distance to the boat, and returned again into
the fight.
"Farewell, dear child, brave heart, soul of sweetness and fire! We
shall see no more that fair, candid brow, with its sunny hair, those
sincere eyes, that cheek flushed with the commingling roses of modesty
and courage! Go and join the noble group of devoted souls, our heroes
and saints! Go with Ellsworth, protomartyr of this great cause of
freedom. Go with Winthrop, poet and soldier, our Korner, with sword and
lyre. Go with the chivalric Lyon, bravest of the brave, leader of men.
Go with Baker, to whose utterance the united murmurs of Atlantic and
Pacific Oceans gave eloquent rhythm, and whose words flowed so early
into heroic action. Go with our noble Massachusetts boys, in whose
veins runs the best blood of the age!"
I saw Colonel Baker often as I rode through the army. He had a great
love for his soldiers. I had a long talk with him a few days before his
death. He felt keenly the humiliations which had come upon the nation
at Bull Run, but was confident that in the next battle the soldiers
would redeem their good name.
Colonel Baker was mourned for by the whole nation. Eloquent eulogies
were pronounced upon him in the Senate of the United States. It was on
the 11th of December, and President Lincoln was present to do honor to
the dead.
Senator McDougall spoke of his noble character, his great gifts, his
love of music and poetry. Many years before they were out together upon
the plains of the West riding at night, and Colonel Baker recited the
"Battle of Ivry" as if in anticipation of the hour when he was to stand
upon the battle-field:--
"The king has come to marshal us, in all his armor drest;
And he has bound a snow-white plume upon his gallant crest.
He looked upon his people, and a tear was in his eye;
He looked upon the traitors, and his glance was stern and high.
Right graciously he smiled on us, as ran from wing to wing,
Down all our line a deafening shout, 'God save our Lord the King!'
And if my standard-bearer fall, as fall full well he may,
For never saw I promise yet of such a bloody fray,
Press where ye see my white plume shines amid the ranks of war,
And be your oriflamme to-day the helmet of Navarre."
Senator Summer said of him:--
"He died with his face to the foe; and he died so instantly that he
passed without pain from the service of his country to the service of
his God, while with him was more than one gallant youth, the hope of
family and friends, sent forth by my own honored Commonwealth. It is
sweet and becoming to die for one's country. Such a death, sudden, but
not unprepared for, is the crown of the patriot soldier's life."
CHAPTER III.
BATTLE OF DRANESVILLE AND THE WINTER OF 1862.
On the old turnpike which leads from the Chain Bridge above Georgetown
to Leesburg there is a hamlet of a half-dozen houses, called
Dranesville. The great road to Alexandria joins the turnpike there,
also a road which leads to Centreville. Near the junction of the roads,
on the west side of the turnpike, there is a large brick house, a
fine old Virginia mansion, owned by Mr. Thornton, surrounded by old
trees. Just beyond Mr. Thornton's, as we go toward Leesburg, is Mr.
Coleman's store, and a small church. Doctor Day's house is opposite the
store. There are other small, white-washed houses scattered along the
roadside, and years ago, before the Alexandria and Leesburg railroad
was built, before Virginia gave up the cultivation of corn and wheat
for the raising of negroes for the South, it was a great highway.
Stage-coaches filled with passengers rumbled over the road, and long
lines of canvas-covered wagons, like a moving caravan.
It is a rich and fertile country. The fields of Loudon are ever
verdant; there are no hillsides more sunny or valleys more pleasant.
Wheat and corn and cattle are raised in great abundance.
On the 20th of December, 1861, General McCall, whose division of Union
troops was at Lewinsville, sent General Ord with a brigade and a large
number of wagons to Dranesville to gather forage. On the same morning
the Rebel General Stuart started from Centreville with a brigade bound
on the same errand.
General Ord had the Sixth, Ninth, Tenth, and Twelfth Regiments of
Pennsylvania Reserves, with four guns of Easton's battery, and a
company of cavalry. One of the regiments wore bucktails in their
caps instead of plumes. The soldiers of that regiment were excellent
marksmen. They were from the Alleghany Mountains, and often had the
valleys and forests and hillsides rung with the crack of their rifles.
They had hunted the deer, the squirrels, and partridges, and could
bring down a squirrel from the tallest tree by their unerring aim.
General Stuart had the First Kentucky, Sixth South Carolina, Tenth
Alabama, Eleventh Virginia, with the First South Carolina Battery,
commanded by Captain Cutts, also a company of cavalry. The two forces
were nearly equal.
General Ord started early in the morning. The ground was frozen, the
air was clear, there was a beautiful sunshine, and the men marched
cheerily along the road, thinking of the chickens and turkeys which
might fall into their hands, and would be very acceptable for Christmas
dinners. They reached Difficult Creek at noon where the troops halted,
kindled their fires, cooked their coffee, ate their beef and bread, and
then pushed on towards Dranesville.
An officer of the cavalry came back in haste from the advance, and
reported having seen a rebel cavalryman.
"Keep a sharp lookout," was the order. The column moved on; but General
Ord was prudent and threw out companies of flankers, who threaded their
way through the woods, keeping a sharp eye for Rebels, for they had
heard that the enemy was near at hand.
On reaching Dranesville, General Ord sent a company down the
Centreville road to reconnoitre. It was not long before they reported
that the woods were full of Rebels. General Ord formed his men on both
sides of the Centreville road. He sent the Ninth and Twelfth west of
Mr. Thornton's house, into the woods, posted the Bucktails in front of
the house, put three of Easton's guns into position on a hill east of
it, put the Tenth Regiment and the cavalry in rear of the battery on
the Chain Bridge road, sent one cannon down the Chain Bridge road a
short distance to open a flank fire, and directed the Sixth Regiment to
take position west of the Centreville road, to support the Bucktails,
and detached one company of the Tenth to move down the Alexandria road
to cover the flanking cannon.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF DRANESVILLE.
1 General Ord's line.
2 General Stuart's line.
3 Road to Georgetown.
4 Road to Alexandria.
5 Road to Centreville.]
Standing by Thornton's house, and looking south, we see the Rebels on
a hill, about half a mile distant. General Stuart plants his six guns
on both sides of the road, to fire toward the Bucktails. The Eleventh
Virginia and Tenth Alabama are deployed on the right of the road, and
the Sixth South Carolina and the First Kentucky are sent to the left.
The cavalry is drawn up behind the battery.
Having defeated the Yankees at Manassas and Ball's Bluff, the rebel
soldiers were confident that they would win an easy victory. As soon
as General Stuart formed his line, Cutt's Battery opened fire, sending
shells down the road towards the Bucktails. The guns were not well
aimed and did no damage. Easton's battery was hurried up from the
turnpike. So eager were the artillerymen to get into position, that one
gun was upset, and the men were obliged to lift it from the ground.
But General Ord told the men where to place the guns. He jumped from
his horse and sighted them so accurately, that they threw their shells
with great precision into the Rebel ranks. The cannonade went on for a
half-hour, Easton's shells tearing the Rebel ranks, while those fired
by the Rebels did no damage whatever. One of Easton's shells went
through a Rebel caisson, which exploded and killed several men and
horses. So severe was his fire, that, although the Rebels had two more
guns than he, they were obliged to retreat.
Meanwhile General Ord's infantry advanced. The Ninth came upon the
First Kentucky in the woods. The pines were very dense, shutting out
completely the rays of the winter sun, then low down in the western
horizon. At the same time the Bucktails were advancing directly south.
The men of the Ninth, when they discovered the Rebels, thought they
were the Bucktails.
"Don't fire on us,--we are your friends!" shouted a Rebel.
"Are you the Bucktails?" asked one of the Ninth.
"Yes!" was the reply, followed by a terrific volley from the Rebel line.
The Ninth, though deceived, were not thrown into confusion. They gave
an answering volley. The Bucktails hearing the firing advanced, while
the Twelfth followed, the Ninth supporting them.
Upon the other side of the road a body of Rebels had taken shelter in
a house. "Let them fellows have some shells," was the order to the
gunners.
Crash! crash! went the shells into and through the house, smashing in
the sides, knocking two rooms into one, strewing the floor with laths
and plaster, and making the house smoke with dust. The Rebels came out
in a hurry, and took shelter behind the fences, trees, and outbuildings.
"Colonel, I wish you to advance and drive back those fellows," said
General Ord to the commander of the Sixth Regiment.
Captain Easton ordered his gunners to cease firing, for fear of
injuring the advancing troops. The Sixth moved rapidly across the
field, firing as they advanced. The Rebels behind the fences fired a
volley, but so wild was their aim that nearly all the bullets passed
over the heads of the Sixth. In the field and in the woods there was a
constant rattle of musketry. The men on both sides sheltered themselves
behind trees and fences, or crept like Indians through the almost
impenetrable thickets.
The Bucktails were accustomed to creeping through the forests, and
taking partridges and pigeons on the wing. Their fire was very
destructive to the enemy. Stuart's lines began to waver before them.
The South Carolinians fell back a little, and then a little more, as
the Bucktails kept edging on. The fire of the skilled mountaineers was
constant and steady. It was too severe for the Rebels to withstand.
They gave way suddenly on all sides, and fled in wild confusion down
the Centreville road, throwing away their guns, clothing, knapsacks,
and cartridge-boxes, leaving one caisson and limber of their artillery
behind in their haste to get away. Nearly all of their severely wounded
were left on the field. The Union loss was seven killed and sixty-one
wounded, while so destructive was the fire of the Pennsylvanians that
the Rebel loss was two hundred and thirty.[4]
[Footnote 4: Norfolk Day-Book.]
The affair, though short, was decisive. The effect was thrilling
throughout the army. The Union troops,--held in contempt by the
Rebels,--defeated at Manassas, Ball's Bluff, and at Bethel, by superior
forces, had met an equal number of the enemy, and in a fair fight had
won a signal victory. It was a proud day to the brave men who had thus
shown their ability to conquer a foe equal in numbers. They returned
from Dranesville in high spirits, and were received with cheers, long
and loud, by their comrades, who had heard the distant firing, and who
had been informed of their victory.
Christmas came. The men were in winter quarters, and merry times they
had,--dinners of roast turkey, plum-pudding and mince-pies, sent by
their friends at home. After dinner they had games, sports, and dances,
chasing a greased pig, climbing a greasy pole, running in a meal-bag,
playing ball, pitching quoits, playing leap-frog, singing and dancing,
around the camp-fires through the long Christmas evening.
The winter passed away without any event to break the monotony of
camp-life.
Officers and soldiers alike became disaffected at the long delay of
General McClellan. The President and the people also were dissatisfied.
President Lincoln, being commander-in-chief, selected the 22d of
February, the birthday of Washington, on which all the armies of the
Union were to make an advance upon the enemy; but it was midwinter, the
roads were deep with mud, and the order was withdrawn. General Grant
all the while was winning victories at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson,
and General Sherman and the navy had taken Port Royal, while the great
Army of the Potomac, on which the country had lavished its means, and
granted all that its commander asked for, was doing nothing.
The President, in March, issued an order to General McClellan to
complete the organization of the army into corps, with such promptness
and despatch as not to delay the commencement of the operations which
he had already directed to be undertaken by the Army of the Potomac.
General McClellan complied with the order.
The First Corps was composed of Franklin's, McCall's, and King's
Divisions, and was commanded by Major-General McDowell.
The Second Corps was composed of Richardson's, Blenker's, and
Sedgwick's Divisions, and was commanded by Major-General Sumner.
The Third Corps was commanded by Major-General Heintzelman, and was
composed of Fitz-John Porter's, Hooker's, and Hamilton's Divisions.
The Fourth Corps was commanded by Major-General Keyes, and was composed
of Couch's, Smith's, and Casey's Divisions.
The Fifth Corps was composed of Shields's and Williams's Divisions, and
was commanded by Major-General Banks.
It was a long, dull winter to the soldiers. They waited impatiently for
action. Camp-life was not all song-singing and dancing. There were days
and weeks of stormy weather, when there could be no drills. The mud
was deep, and the soldiers had little to do but doze by the camp-fires
through the long winter days and nights. Thousands who had led correct
lives at home fell into habits of dissipation and vice. Their wives and
children haunted their dreams at night. A sorrow settled upon them,--a
longing for home, which became a disease, and sent thousands to the
hospital, and finally to the grave. The army early in the winter began
to suffer for want of something to do.
Some of the colonels and chaplains saw that it was of the utmost
importance that something should be done to take up the minds
of the men and turn their thoughts from the scenes of home.
Lyceums, debating-societies, schools, in which Latin, German,
arithmetic, reading, and writing were taught, were established. The
chaplains,--those who were true, earnest men, established Sunday
schools, and organized churches, and held prayer-meetings. God blessed
their efforts, and hundreds of soldiers became sincere Christians,
attesting their faith in Jesus Christ as the Saviour of men by living
correct lives and breaking off their evil habits. Under the influence
of the religious teachings there was a great reform in the army. The
men became sober. They no longer gambled away their money. They became
quiet and orderly, obeyed the commands of their officers in doing
unpleasant duties with alacrity. Some who had been drunkards for years
signed the temperance pledge. They became cheerful. They took new views
of their duties and obligations to their country and their God, and
looked through the gloom and darkness to the better life beyond the
grave. Several of the chaplains organized churches. One noble chaplain
says of the church in his regiment:--
"I received into its communion one hundred and seventy members, about
sixty of whom for the first time confessed Christ. At the commencement
of the services I baptized six young soldiers. They kneeled before me,
and I consecrated them to God for life and for death,--the majority
of them baptized, as it proved, for death. I then read the form of
covenant, the system of faith, to which all gave their assent. I
then read the names of those who wished to enter this fold in the
Wilderness; those who had made a profession of religion at home, and
came to us as members of Christian churches, and those who now came as
disciples of the Redeemer.
"Then followed the communion service. This was one of the most
affecting and impressive seasons of my life. The powers of the world
to come rested on all minds. The shadow of the great events so soon
to follow was creeping over us, giving earnestness and impressive
solemnity to all hearts. It was a day never to be forgotten as a
commencement of a new era in the life of many. It was a scene on which
angels might look down with unmingled pleasure, for here the weary
found rest, the burdened the peace of forgiveness, the broken in heart,
beauty for ashes.
"Our position increased in a high degree the interest of the occasion.
We were far from our churches and homes. Yet we found here the sacred
emblems of our religion, and looking into the future, which we knew
was full of danger, sickness, and death to many, we have girded
ourselves for the conflict. It much resembled the solemn communion of
Christians in the time of persecution. Our friends who were present
from a distance, of whom there were several, rejoiced greatly that
there was such a scene in the army. General Jameson was deeply moved
and afterwards said it was the most solemn and interesting scene of his
life.
"Again, on Sabbath, March 9th, the religious interest continuing, we
held another communion. At this time twenty-eight were received into
the church. Seven young men were baptized. The interest was greater
than at the former communion, and it gives me the greatest satisfaction
to know that this season, which gave to many the highest enjoyment ever
known on earth, when the cup of thanksgiving was mingled with tears of
gratitude, prepared for the sacrifice that was to follow. Many who were
there never again partook of the wine of promise until they drank it
new in the kingdom of God, and sat down at the marriage supper of the
Lamb."[5]
[Footnote 5: Peninsular Campaign. Rev. Dr. Marks.]
CHAPTER IV.
THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN.
The Rebel army suddenly evacuated Centreville, Manassas, and the line
of the Potomac, carrying off everything of value. The Army of the
Potomac moved on the 9th of March to Manassas, beheld the deserted
encampments, returned to Alexandria, and sailed for Fortress Monroe.
General McClellan decided to advance upon Richmond by the Peninsula,
between the York and James Rivers. General McDowell, with McCall's and
King's divisions, was stationed at Fredericksburg, to cover Washington.
Blenker's division was detached from Sumner's Corps, and sent to the
Shenandoah Valley. All the other divisions sailed down the Chesapeake.
The troops landed at Newport News and went into camp.
The Rebel General Magruder occupied Yorktown. He was fortifying it and
the Peninsula, erecting batteries to command York River, and to cover
the approaches by land. The iron-clad Merrimack, with the Teazer and
Jamestown gunboats, were in the James River. Admiral Goldsborough, with
the Monitor, the Minnesota, and several gunboats, was watching them,
and guarding the shipping at Fortress Monroe.
General McClellan submitted his plans to the President. He had two
methods of operation in view;--one, to attack Magruder's works, between
the York and the James, which might require siege operations, and a
delay of many weeks; the other, to obtain aid from the navy, attack
the water-batteries at Yorktown, silence them, and then go up the York
River with his army, sailing to West Point, within twenty-five miles
of Richmond. Admiral Goldsborough could not spare gunboats enough to
attack the batteries, and therefore General McClellan adopted the other
plan.[6]
[Footnote 6: General McClellan's Report, p. 66.]
On the evening of April 3d the army received orders to march the next
morning.
It was a beautiful night. The sky was cloudless. A new moon shed its
silver light upon the vast encampment. The soldiers had been waiting
two weeks. They were one hundred thousand strong, while the Rebel force
did not number more than ten or twelve thousand.[7]
[Footnote 7: General Heintzelman's testimony.]
They expected to move to victory. They sang songs, wrote letters to
their friends, burnished their guns, heaped the fires with fresh fuel,
and rejoiced that after so many months of waiting they were to be
active.
There were some who had a true appreciation of the work before them,
and realized that they might fall in the hour of battle.
One who had fought at Bull Run, whose heart was in the great cause,
prepared his last will and testament. At the close of it he wrote:--
"And now, having arranged for the disposition of my worldly estate, I
will say that, possessing a full confidence in the Christian religion,
and believing in the righteousness of the cause in which I am engaged,
I am ready to offer my poor life in vindication of that cause, and in
sustaining a government the mildest and most beneficent the world has
ever known."[8]
[Footnote 8: Maine Adjutant-General's Report, 1862, p. 142. Captain
B. M. Smith.]
At three o'clock in the morning the soldiers were astir, roused by
the drum-beat and the bugle. The fading fires were rekindled. Their
coffee was soon bubbling on the coals. Before daylight they had their
knapsacks packed, their tents taken down, and all things ready for the
march. By sunrise they were on the road, General Heintzelman's corps
leading the column. The roads were deep with mud, and the marching was
heavy, but so enthusiastic were the soldiers that by ten o'clock the
head of the column encountered the enemy's pickets in front of Yorktown.
Both armies were upon historic ground. It was at Yorktown that the
British army under Lord Cornwallis laid down its arms in 1781. It
was a flourishing village then. There were fine mansions, surrounded
with shrubbery, shaded by old oaks and lindens. Virginia in those
days had many wealthy families. The Peninsula was the first settled
territory in America, and many of the planters had immense estates.
One of the signers of the Declaration of Independence resided at
Yorktown,--Governor Nelson. His house is yet standing,--a large
two-story brick building, which General Magruder occupied for his
head-quarters. It bears the marks of shot which were fired by the
Americans during the siege in 1781. Governor Nelson commanded the
Virginia militia then. He was a noble patriot, and aimed the cannon
himself at his own house to drive out the British who had possession of
it.
Cornwallis had a line of earthworks around Yorktown, and those which
Magruder erected were on pretty much the same line, only Magruder's,
besides encircling the town, also reached across the Peninsula. The
English general had between seven and eight thousand men. General
Washington and Count Rochambeau had about fifteen thousand. They were
large armies for those days, but very small when compared with that
commanded by General McClellan.
It was a long march which the French and American troops made to reach
Yorktown. They marched from New York, in July, through Philadelphia,
Baltimore, Annapolis, Mount Vernon, and Williamsburg. They had no
transports to take them down the Chesapeake, besides, there was an
English fleet in the bay which might have captured the entire army had
it moved by water.
In the American army were officers whose names are inseparably
connected with the history of our country,--General Knox, Baron
Steuben, Lafayette, General Clinton, General Lincoln, Colonel Scammell,
the brave New Hampshire officer who was shot by a Hessian soldier. In
the French army were Count Rochambeau, Marquis St. Simon, and Baron
Viomeil. In the bay floated the English ships of war, and outside, near
Cape Henry, was the Count de Grasse, with his formidable fleet.
On Sunday morning, the 13th of October, the place was completely
invested. The Americans of the allied army moved down the road leading
to Hampton, and swung round by Wormley Creek. General Lincoln
commanded the right wing, and had his head-quarters near the creek.
Lafayette, with his light infantry, and Governor Nelson, with the
Virginia militia, were on the north side of the Hampton road, while
south of it were the New England and New Jersey and New York troops,
under General Clinton. They held the center of the American line. The
left wing of the Americans, on Warwick River, was composed of Maryland
and Pennsylvania troops, under Baron Steuben. On the west side of the
Warwick were Washington's and Rochambeau's head-quarters, on the south
side of the road. The French troops held the ground from this point to
York River west of the town.
Lord Cornwallis capitulated on the 16th of October. On the 17th his
fine army marched out from the town along the Hampton road about a mile
to a field, where the soldiers laid down their arms. The American army
was drawn up on the north side of the road and the French on the south
side,--two long lines of troops. The British army marched between them,
the drums beating a slow march, and the colors which had waved proudly
on so many battle-fields closely encased. It was a sorrowful march to
the British soldiers. Some of them cried with vexation, and drew their
caps over their faces to hide their tears. Lord Cornwallis felt the
humiliation so deeply that he delegated General O'Hara to surrender up
his sword.
It was an imposing scene. Washington and all the generals of the army,
with their suits, in rich uniforms and on fine horses, the long lines
of soldiers, the colors waving in the breeze, the British army in its
scarlet uniforms, the crowd of spectators from the country who had
heard of the news, and had hastened to see the surrender, made it one
of the grandest sights ever seen in America.
On such ground, hallowed by noble deeds, the troops of the Union, as
their fathers had done before them, were to carry on the siege of
Yorktown.
The Rebels also undoubtedly felt the influence of those stirring times
of the Revolution. They believed that they were fighting for their
liberty, and were engaged in a just war. But sincerity is not certain
proof of the righteousness of a cause. Chaplain Davis, of the Fourth
Texas regiment, has this vindication of the rebellion, written by the
camp-fires at Yorktown:--
"How many pleasing recollections crowd upon the mind of each soldier
as he walks over these grounds, or sitting thoughtfully by his fagots,
recalls the history of the past, and compares it with the scenes of the
present. The patriots of the Revolution were struggling for liberty,
and so are we. They had been oppressed with burdensome taxation,--so
were we. They remonstrated,--so did we. They submitted till submission
ceased to be a virtue,--and so have we. They appealed to Parliament,
but were unheard. Our Representatives in Congress pointed to the
maelstrom to which they were driving the ship, but they refused to
see it. Our fathers asked for equalities of rights and privileges,
but it was refused. The South asked that their claim to territory won
by the common blood and treasure of the country be recognized, and
that our domestic institutions, as guaranteed by the Constitution,
be respected. These petitions were answered by professed ministers of
the Church of Jesus Christ in raising contributions from the sacred
pulpit on the holy Sabbath of Sharpe's Rifles, to shed Southern blood
on common territory. Their Representatives declared, upon the floors
of Congress, that they were in favor of 'An Antislavery Constitution,
an Antislavery Bible, and an Antislavery God!' What is now left us?
Naught but the refuge our fathers had,--the God of Justice and the God
of Battles. To him have we appealed, and by his aid and our good right
arms we will pass through the ordeal of blood and come out conquerors
in the end."[9]
[Footnote 9: Campaign from Texas to Maryland, by Rev. Nicholas A.
Davis, Chaplain Fourth Texas. Richmond, 1863.]
Many thousands of the Union soldiers were thinking, reflecting men.
There were ministers, professors in colleges, school-teachers, and
learned and scientific men. Few there were who could not read and
write. Thousands of them had been teachers and scholars in the Sunday
schools. They had thought the war all over, and discussed the causes
which led to it. They were familiar with the history of events,--of the
struggle between Slavery and Freedom; for the possession of Kansas,
where men and women were driven out, their buildings burned, or
themselves thrown into rivers, or deliberately murdered, for preferring
freedom to slavery. They recalled the attempt to compel the people of
the North to return the slaves who were escaping to Canada,--also the
kidnapping of free citizens of the North; the imprisonment of men and
women for teaching a slave to read the Bible. They remembered that a
Northern man could not travel with safety in the South before the war,
that Slavery was opposed always to Freedom, that the system crushed
the poor laboring men without distinction of color, race, or clime or
country; that it was overbearing, imperious, aristocratic, arrogant,
and cruel; that it kept the people from obtaining knowledge; that it
was the foe of industry, the enemy of science, art, and religion.
They remembered the words of Mr. Stephens, of Georgia, the
Vice-President of the Confederacy, who in the beginning opposed
secession; who said to his associates in the convention which carried
his State out of the Union:--
"It is the best and freest government, the most equal in its rights,
the most just in its decisions, the most lenient in its measures, and
the most inspiring in its principles to elevate the race of man that
the sun of heaven ever shone upon. Now for you to attempt to overthrow
such a government as this, unassailed, is the height of madness, folly,
and wickedness."[10]
[Footnote 10: Stephens's speech.]
They remembered that Mr. Stephens asked those who were plotting treason
these questions: "What reasons can you give to the nations of the earth
to justify it? They will be calm and deliberate judges in the case;
and to what law, to what one overt act, can you point on which to rest
the plea of justification? What right has the North assailed? What
interest of the South has been invaded? What justice has been denied,
or what claim founded in justice and right has been withheld? Can any
of you name one governmental act of wrong deliberately and purposely
done by the government at Washington of which the South had a right to
complain? I challenge the answer."
They remembered that the Secretary of War under President Buchanan, Mr.
Floyd of Virginia, had removed all the arms from the Northern arsenals
to the South, that the slaveholders might be well prepared for war, and
ready to seize the city of Washington.
They remembered that Mr. Toucey of Connecticut, who was President
Buchanan's Secretary of the Navy, had sent nearly all the ships of
war into foreign seas, that they might not be at hand in the hour of
rebellion, when the government should pass into new hands, and that
the Secretary of the Treasury stole millions of dollars of public
funds intrusted to his care. They reflected that all of these men had
forsworn themselves, that they were traitors and robbers, that they had
deliberately, through years of power, planned to rebel, to destroy the
government, and bring ruin upon the people if they could not have their
way. They believed that without cause the Rebels had fired upon the
flag, and inaugurated the war, and that to defend the flag and restore
the Union, by crushing out the rebellion, was a duty they owed to
their country and to God. They recalled the words of Thomas Jefferson,
uttered long ago, in his notes on Virginia, who said, in view of the
complicity of the South with slavery:--
"I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that his
justice cannot sleep forever. The Almighty has no attribute that can
take side with us in such a contest."[11]
[Footnote 11: Notes on Virginia.]
Those thinking men remembered the words of the great man who wrote
the Declaration of Independence, and they also remembered that the
oppressed and down-trodden of all lands were looking to America,--to
the principles of the government of the United States,--as their hope
for the future. They did not forget their homes on the breezy hills
of the North and in the sunny valleys, nor the church-bell, nor the
school-house, and other things dearer to them than life. They must
fight to maintain them. Their liberties were assailed. They could not
falter in such a contest.
So they reflected as they sat by their camp-fires in the starry night,
or lay upon the ground where their fathers achieved the last great
victory which secured their independence.
The corps commanded by General Heintzelman, when it came into position
before Yorktown, stood upon the ground which General Lincoln had
occupied in the siege of 1781. General Sumner's corps had the center,
and occupied the ground which Baron Steuben and General Clinton held
in that siege. General Keyes's corps came to the Warwick River, at
Lee's Mills, almost opposite the spot where General Washington had his
head-quarters, while General Franklin was held in reserve to move up
York River on transports when the enemy was driven from Yorktown.
General Heintzelman arrived in front of the works, and was greeted with
shells from Magruder's batteries. While the cannon were booming on
that afternoon of the 4th, the following brief telegram was sent over
the wires from Washington to Fortress Monroe:--
"By direction of the President, General McDowell's army corps has been
detached from the force under your immediate command, and the General
is ordered to report to the Secretary of War."
General McClellan received it on the 5th. He remarks:--
"To me the blow was most discouraging. It frustrated all my plans
for impending operations. It fell when I was too deeply committed to
withdraw. It left me incapable of continuing operations which had been
begun. It compelled the adoption of another, a different, and a less
effective plan of campaign. It made rapid and brilliant operations
impossible. It was a fatal error. It was now of course out of my power
to turn Yorktown by West Point. I had therefore no choice left but
to attack it directly in front as I best could with the force at my
command."[12]
[Footnote 12: McClellan's Report, p. 79.]
This brief despatch will demand the patient consideration of historians
in the future, who, when the passions and prejudices of men have passed
away, calmly and dispassionately review the causes of the failure of
the Peninsular campaign. On one hand, it is alleged to have been the
fatal error; that it was an unwarrantable interference, which made
it impossible for General McClellan to conduct the campaign to a
successful issue.
On the other hand, it is asked how the presence of McDowell would have
enabled him to go to West Point without the aid of the navy, which he
could not have.[13]
[Footnote 13: See page 50.]
How did it compel the adoption of another plan, inasmuch as the order
for the troops to advance and attack the works at Yorktown was issued
on the 3d, and they marched on the 4th, and were engaged with the
enemy before General McClellan received the orders? It is claimed,
therefore, that the issuing of the order was not a fatal error; that
it did not compel the adoption of another plan; that no other plan
was adopted; that it did not leave General McClellan incapable of
continuing operations already begun; that it did not deprive him of
the power of taking West Point, inasmuch as he never had had the
power; neither did it compel an attack directly in front, for that had
already begun; and that the President in making the change was only
enforcing the conditions on which he accepted the plan of a movement
to the Peninsula,--the retention of a force sufficient to cover
Washington,--which General McClellan had not complied with.
In the correspondence which passed between the President and General
McClellan, the President has this explanation and vindication of his
course:--
"My explicit directions that Washington should, by the judgment of
all commanders of corps, be left entirely secure, had been entirely
neglected. It was precisely this that drove me to detain McDowell. I do
not forget that I was satisfied with your arrangement to leave Banks
at Manassas Junction, but when that arrangement was broken up, and
nothing was substituted for it, of course I was not satisfied. I was
constrained to substitute something for it.
"And now allow me to ask you: Do you really think I should permit the
line from Richmond _via_ Manassas Junction to this city to be entirely
open, except what resistance could be presented by less than twenty
thousand unorganized troops? This is a question which the country will
not allow me to evade."[14]
[Footnote 14: President Lincoln's letter,--Testimony, p. 321.]
It will be interesting to see how the situation was viewed by the
commanders of the two armies on the Peninsula. General McClellan's
troops in front of the enemy, present and fit for duty, numbered one
hundred thousand strong.[15] He asked for reinforcements. He wrote thus
to the Secretary of War:--
[Footnote 15: Adjutant-General's Report,--Testimony, p. 315.]
"It seems clear that I shall have the whole force of the enemy on my
hands, probably not less than one hundred thousand men, and probably
more. In consequence of the loss of Blenker's division and the First
Corps (McDowell's), my force is possibly less than that of the enemy,
while they have the advantage of position."[16]
[Footnote 16: McClellan's Report, p. 79.]
"I was compelled," says General Magruder, "to place in Gloucester
Point, Yorktown, and Mulberry Island, fixed garrisons, amounting to six
thousand men, my whole force being eleven thousand; so that it will
be seen that the balance of the line, embracing a length of thirteen
miles, was defended by about five thousand men. On the 5th of April
the enemy's columns appeared along the whole front of my line. I have
no accurate data upon which to base an exact statement of his force;
but, from various sources of information, I was satisfied that I had
before me the enemy's Army of the Potomac, with the exception of the
two _corps d'armée_ of Banks and McDowell, forming an aggregate number
certainly of not less than one hundred thousand, since ascertained to
have been one hundred and twenty thousand.... Thus with five thousand
men, exclusive of the garrisons, we stopped and held in check over
one hundred thousand of the enemy. Every preparation was made in
anticipation of another attack. The men slept in the trenches and under
arms, but to my utter surprise he permitted day after day to elapse
without an assault."[17]
[Footnote 17: Confederate Reports, Official, p. 516.]
Siege operations commenced,--spades, picks, and shovels were given to
the troops, and they began to throw up the breastworks. It was a slow,
tedious, laborious undertaking. The mud was very deep, the ground
soft, and it rained nearly every day. The woods were very dense. There
were new roads made. The brooks were bridged. Some of the soldiers
made gabions, or baskets of wicker-work, for the batteries. The teams
floundered through the mud axle-deep. Thousands of horses gave out from
sheer exhaustion. When the breastworks were ready, the heavy guns,
their carriages, and the ammunition had to be hauled.
It was almost impossible to accomplish the work. The horses could not
do it, and regiments of men were detailed to drag the cannon through
the mud.
The soldiers worked faithfully and enthusiastically day and night,
through drenching rains, lying down to sleep in their wet garments,
upon the water-soaked ground. Fever made its appearance, and thousands
were sent to the hospitals, worn down by their hard labor and exposure.
The bullets of the enemy killed very few of those noble men, but
thousands sickened and died.
While the batteries were getting ready, there was a spirited affair at
Lee's Mills on the 16th of April. General McClellan decided to make
a reconnaissance at that point, and, if everything was favorable, to
throw a portion of his force across the Warwick River, and gain a
foothold upon the western shore. There was an old field on the east
side of the stream, which was overgrown with young pines and oaks. A
line of skirmishers, under cover of a heavy artillery fire, crept down
through the pines to the edge of the stream. The Rebel battery upon the
other side answered the Union artillery with solid shot and shells.
Colonel Hyde of the Third Vermont was ordered to cover the stream
with two companies. The crossing was just below the dam, over which
the water poured in a silver sheet. The creek was swollen with rains,
but the sons of Vermont were not the men to falter. They plunged
in up to their necks. Their ammunition was soaked, but they pushed
on up the other bank, with a cheer. They were met by the Fifteenth
North Carolina. They did not stop an instant, but rushed upon
the Carolinians, who fled to the rear in great confusion, and the
Vermonters took possession of their rifle-pits. The commander of the
Carolinians, Colonel McVining, fell mortally wounded, also many of his
men, before the impetuous charge of the Green Mountaineers. But Rebel
reinforcements were at hand. Anderson's brigade advanced, and the
handful of men was obliged to recross the stream. The golden moment
for throwing a division across and breaking the enemy's line was lost.
Later in the day a second attempt was made by the Fourth and Fifth
Vermont regiments to cross upon the dam, but the Rebel batteries swept
it, and the attempt was not successful. The losses during the day were
about one hundred on each side.
The month of April passed before the first siege guns were ready to
open fire. Meanwhile Magruder was reinforced. On the first day of May a
heavy battery near York River began to throw shells and solid shot into
Yorktown. That night negroes came into General McClellan's lines and
reported that the Rebels were leaving Yorktown, but their story was not
believed by the General. Preparations were made to open a fire from all
the guns and mortars on the 4th of May.
General Magruder kept close watch of the operations, and when General
McClellan was ready, quietly retreated towards Williamsburg. He ordered
his artillerymen to keep up a heavy fire through the night, to spike
the guns just before daybreak, and leave the place. So through the
night there was a grand uproar of artillery along the Rebel lines. The
gunners seemed to vie with each other to see which could fire most
rapidly and throw away the most shot and shells. They took no aim, but
fired at random towards the Union lines.
At daybreak it was discovered that there was no sign of life or
motion in the Rebel camp. The guns still looked frowningly from the
fortifications, tents were standing; but the troops were all gone, and
Yorktown was deserted.
They carried off all their light artillery, nearly all their provisions
and supplies, but left fifty-two heavy guns in the intrenchments. They
planted torpedoes, and connected them with wires and cords. A Union
soldier hit his foot against a wire and an explosion followed, which
blew off his legs.
General Magruder, by showing a bold front, with eleven thousand men at
first, had held an army of a hundred thousand in check, and gained a
month of valuable time for preparations for the defense of Richmond.
CHAPTER V.
BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.
The first battle in the Peninsular campaign of the Army of the Potomac
was fought at Williamsburg, one of the oldest towns in Virginia. It was
settled in 1632, and was capital of the Colony for many years before
the Revolution. William and Mary's College is there, which was endowed
by the king and queen of England with twenty thousand acres of land,
and a penny on every pound of tobacco sent out of the Colony, and
duties on all the furs and skins. The college buildings were designed
by Sir Christopher Wren, architect of St. Paul's in London.
The colonial governors resided at Williamsburg. The courts were held
there. The government buildings were the noblest in America. The
Governor's residence was a magnificent edifice, with a great estate
of three hundred acres attached, laid out in lawns, parks, groves,
flower-gardens, and peach-orchards. It was intersected by a brook.
There were winding graveled walks, shaded by oaks and lindens.
On public occasions, and on birth-nights, there were grand receptions
at the palace, as it was called, where all the public officers and
gentlemen assembled to pay their respects to the governor. The judges
and counselors, in flowing robes and powdered wigs, the gentlemen of
the Colony in broidered waistcoats, ruffled shirts, buff breeches,
black stockings, and red, yellow, green, blue, or purple coats, with
gold and silver shoe-buckles, and ladies in silks and satins, rode up
in their carriages, driven by coachmen, and attended by footmen in
livery.
During the sessions of the House of Burgesses there were gay times.
The town was filled with visitors. The wealth, fashion, and refinement
of the Colony gathered there. It was there in the House of Burgesses
that Patrick Henry uttered the patriotic sentiment,--"Give me liberty,
or give me death." It was from Williamsburg that Sir William Berkeley
wrote to the King's commissioners, thanking God that there were no
common schools or printing-presses in Virginia. Washington, when but
twenty-one years of age, mounted his horse at the palace-gate, for
his long journey to the head-waters of the Ohio, chosen by Governor
Dinwiddie, out of all the aristocratic families of the Colony, to bear
a message to the French commander in that far-off region; and there,
at the same gate, he dismounted from his horse on the 22d of January,
1754, having faithfully accomplished what he had undertaken.
East of this old town, a small stream, which rises in the center of
the Peninsula, runs southeast and empties into College Creek. Very
near the head-waters of this stream another has its rise, which runs
north to the York River, and is called Queen's Creek. On both streams
there are mills. The main road from Yorktown to Williamsburg runs on
the high land between the head-waters of the creeks. About a mile east
of the town the road forks. General Magruder had thrown up a strong
fortification at that point, which contained thirteen guns, and was
called Fort Magruder. There were ten other earthworks which effectually
commanded the roads, the ravines, and all the approaches from the east.
In pursuing Magruder, General Stoneman, with the cavalry and Gibson's
battery, went up the Yorktown road, and came out of the dense forest
in front of Fort Magruder. The guns opened fire, throwing shells,
which killed and wounded several of the cavalrymen. Gibson brought his
battery into position and replied. The Sixth United States Cavalry
moved on towards the fort, but were met by infantry and cavalry, and
were compelled to fall back with the loss of thirty men. Gibson was
obliged to move his guns, for the batteries in the fort had the range
of his position. The mud was deep, and one of the guns sunk to the
axle. The horses tugged and pulled, but they also sunk. Other horses
were added, but the ground was marshy, and gun and horses went still
deeper.
The Rebel gunners saw the confusion, and threw their shells upon the
spot. Some burst harmlessly in the air, some fell into the mud, others
tore up the ground and covered the artillerymen and teamsters with
earth, others burst among the horses and men. The Rebel infantry came
down upon the run, and Captain Gibson was obliged to leave.
The night came on dark and dismal. The rain fell in torrents. The
troops who had been marching all day were drenched. The roads were
narrow and muddy. There was a want of arrangement in the order of
marching, and the divisions became confused. Wagons broke down,
artillery sunk in the mire; but the troops were eager to get at the
enemy, who had eluded their commander, first at Manassas, and now at
Yorktown. They marched, some of them, till midnight, and then, without
kindling a fire, lay down drenched, upon the dead forest leaves, having
had no dinner, and without a supper. The rain-drops dripped from the
trees through the night, but the soldiers were in line at daybreak,
ready to move again in pursuit of the enemy.
General Hooker being in advance upon the Lee's Mills road, came upon
the enemy's pickets posted along a deep ravine above the mill-pond, on
the stream which empties into College Creek.
General Smith's division, when the army advanced from Yorktown, was on
the Lee's Mills road, but it moved towards the north and came in front
of the enemy on the Yorktown road.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.
1 Hooker.
2 Hancock.
3 Sumner.
4 Longstreet.
5 Hill.
6 Fort Magruder.
7 Williamsburg.]
General Hooker's skirmishers, as soon as they saw the enemy, dashed on
and drove them across the ravine, and approached within musket-shot of
the fort. The artillery in the fort opened with a rapid fire of shells,
but the skirmishers concealed themselves in the underbrush, and gave
so deadly a fire that they silenced the guns. No gunner could show his
head without getting a ball through it.
General Hooker formed his division in line of battle. His first
brigade was commanded by General Sickles, and was composed of the
First, Second, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Excelsior regiments from New
York. His second brigade, General Grover's, was composed of the First
and Eleventh Massachusetts, Second New Hampshire, and Twenty-sixth
Pennsylvania. The third brigade was composed of the Fifth, Sixth,
Seventh, and Eighth New Jersey regiments, and was commanded by Colonel
Starr,--in all, about eight thousand men.
The First Massachusetts had the left of the line, then the Second New
Hampshire, Eleventh Massachusetts, with the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania
on the right. The other brigades did not arrive till nearly noon. They
formed on the left of Grover's brigade, towards the mill-pond.
The Rebel force in position behind the forts is supposed to have been
about thirty thousand, commanded by General Longstreet. A Rebel officer
states that it numbered not over twenty-five thousand.[18]
[Footnote 18: Battle-Fields of the South, by an English Officer in
the Confederate Army. London.]
During the forenoon but a small force confronted General Grover's
brigade, but in the afternoon dark columns appeared south of the fort,
and, advancing down the ravines, crossed the stream above the mill-pond.
They attacked General Hooker's left wing in great force. The
skirmishers were driven in. Bramhall's battery came into position as
the enemy advanced. "Shell with short fuses!" shouted the captain to
his gunners.
The shells exploded in, around, and above the advancing columns, which
still kept coming on. The musketry began,--quick and sharp volleys; yet
the lines came on, across the open space, through the woods.
"Canister and spherical case!" was the order to the gunners. The cannon
spouted a deadly fire, filling the air with terrible hail. The Rebel
lines were checked. Foiled in the attack upon the center, they advanced
once more upon the left flank, and the contest went on with increasing
fury, like the rising of a winter tempest.
Grover and Sickles held their ground tenaciously, but were forced back
inch by inch and step by step.
The contest was in the edge of the forest, over fallen trees, where men
fell headlong in their endeavors to take new positions. The rain was
falling, the ground was miry. The men were worn and weary; but they
fought on, minding not hunger or thirst or exhaustion, calling for
ammunition. Their cartridge-boxes were empty, but they would not turn
their backs upon the enemy, or desert their comrades whose cartridges
still held out.
From noon till four o'clock General Hooker fought unaided. He sent to
Sumner for reinforcements, but Sumner felt that he could not spare any
men from his front. He sent officers to bring up the brigades in the
rear.
General McClellan was at Yorktown, and did not know there was a battle
going on till late in the day.
The Rebels saw that Hooker received no reinforcements, and pressed him
heavily. His troops supporting some of the batteries gave way. The
Rebels came on in a desperate charge, shot the horses, and five cannon
fell into their hands.
"Reinforcements! I want reinforcements!" was Hooker's cry. The
impetuous Kearney, whose division was the last to leave Yorktown, had
heard the roar of battle, and rode ahead of his troops. He was an old
soldier, had stormed the heights of Chapultepec, and was with Louis
Napoleon in the great battle of Solferino. He started back to hasten
forward his division, but it was already advancing.
The brave, energetic, resolute Berry, who commanded one of Kearney's
brigades, met an aide of General Sumner's.
"Who is engaged at the front?" he asked.
"Hooker is at it."
"Is he supported by Sumner?"
"No. Sumner is taking position farther to the right."
The road was filled with teams and troops of other brigades belonging
to Sumner's corps. Berry looked at the blockade a moment, then said to
a captain of one of his batteries,--
"Captain, go ahead and clear the road for my brigade."
"Let the march be upon the double-quick," was the order sent down the
line.
"Clear the road!" was the authoritative order sent up the line. The
troops, the wagons, the artillery, the ambulances, turned aside, and
the brigade went on.
His quick ear caught the sound of musketry,--a constant, steady rattle,
like the pattering of the rain-drops on the dead leaves.
"Throw aside your knapsacks, and place a guard over them," was his
order. The men, panting for breath, came to a halt, threw their heavy
knapsacks into a heap, and went on again, faster than before.
Kearney met them. "You have done well, General," was his salutation to
Berry. He stimulated the men, and fired their ardor with his own wild
enthusiasm. They rushed on through by-paths, across pastures and fields.
Hooker's line was giving way. It had been pushed back a mile, had
lost a portion of its guns, and the exultant enemy were advancing for
a decisive, a finishing stroke. Many had fired their last round of
ammunition, and stood with empty muskets. How earnestly they looked
towards the rear to see if the promised aid was ever to arrive!
Help at last. A dark column comes through the woods upon the run. A
wild, tumultuous cheer rends the air. The men who are ready to drop
from sheer exhaustion, who have confronted the enemy through the
lagging hours, feel new strength as Berry sweeps past them, deploys his
line right and left, and becomes a living barrier between them and the
tide already rolling on over the bloody field. The enemy advances, but
whole ranks go down before the deadly volleys given point-blank into
their faces by that body of men whose brows are wet with the sweat of
their fast running. The breaker is broken. The wave which was ready
to sweep Hooker from the face of the earth, instead of setting onward,
begins to recede. It is beaten down before the fiery breath pouring
like a furnace blast from the three thousand muskets.
The Rebels retreat. Berry advances. His volleys are steady and regular.
Nothing can daunt his men. They feel that they are a power. Kearney
sees that the time has come to decide the day.
"Give them the bayonet!" is the thrilling order which rings along the
line.
An officer, young in years, fair of countenance, polished in manner,
who has traveled at home and abroad, the same who in the silent hours
of the last night at Yorktown wrote his last will and testament, the
adjutant of General Berry, leads the men from Michigan. His voice rings
loud and clear above the wild uproar. The men follow where he leads,
into the leaden rain. They fall by scores, but on--on--on,--over the
bloody field,--over fallen friends and foes,--they press the foe,
regaining the ground, the lost cannon,--the victory!
"You are the hero of the day," said Kearney to Captain Smith, who had
led the charge so gallantly, as he returned and reported for further
duty, his clothes torn by the bullets of the enemy.
While this was transpiring on the left, there was its counterpart on
the right.
General Hancock was detached by General Smith to cross the milldam at
Queen's Creek, and attack the Rebels in that direction. He crossed
the stream with the Sixth Maine, Fourth Wisconsin, Forty-ninth
Pennsylvania, and Forty-third New York, Wheeler's battery, and a
squadron of cavalry.
He came upon a small party of Rebels, who rapidly retreated.
"I can go to Fort Magruder if well supported," was the despatch he sent
back to General Smith.
He could see the fort across the open plain, smoking and flaming and
throwing shells upon Hooker's command. General Smith sent the message
to General Sumner, requesting permission to send supports.
"Stay where you are," was the reply.
Again Hancock sent for permission to go on. Smith sent the request to
Sumner.
"Go," was the welcome answer.
The troops were on the march, when an aide from Sumner stopped the
movement. The Rebels were threatening an attack on the center.
"I want more force to support us. The enemy is coming in superior force
to attack me," was Hancock's third message.
His position was in a field near a farm-house, where the Rebels had
thrown up a square redoubt, which they had abandoned.
From the farm-house to the woods west of it there was a rail-fence.
Hancock threw out his skirmishers towards Fort Magruder, beyond
the farm-house. Wheeler's battery was brought up and placed upon a
knoll near the house. The Fifth Wisconsin and Forty-Third New York
were stationed west of the house behind the fence. The Forty-ninth
Pennsylvania was placed behind the house. Two companies of the Sixth
Maine held the abandoned redoubt, while the other companies of that
regiment were placed in support of the battery.
Two brigades of Rebels marched out from the forest into the field.
Wheeler's battery opened with shells. The Rebels were half a mile
distant, but, notwithstanding the fire, they moved steadily and rapidly
over the intervening space. The skirmishers which had been thrown out
from Hancock returned to the lines. The Rebels were near enough for
canister, and the six pieces of cannon threw it into the advancing
line. The Rebel cavalry dashed upon the Fifth Wisconsin, but only to
lose a dozen men and horses. The infantry were close upon Wheeler, who
covered the hillock with a murky cloud. Suddenly his fire ceased, then
with whip and spur and shout the pieces went to the rear and took a new
position and opened again. The regiments by the fence fell back and
closed up in closer order. The Rebels again advanced, and the musketry
began. The fight was at short range. The battery fired shell, canister,
and shrapnel, and made terrible havoc.
Hancock saw that the moment for decisive action had come. He waved his
cap to his troops. The officers along the line understood the meaning
of the signal. They spoke but one magical word. The men, as if animated
by an electric impulse, moved towards the enemy. Their bayonets became
a gleaming, glittering, bristling, moving hedge. They broke into a run.
Each man felt the enthusiasm of the moment. They heeded not the deadly
volleys, but went on through the storm, with a cheer louder than the
roar of the battle.
The Rebels did not wait to receive the blow, but fled in confusion from
the field.
It was a glorious moment. Berry at that instant was throwing in a
living barrier against the flood which had swept Hooker back. The
battle was won. Night came on. It had rained through the day, and the
men, victorious at last, lay down to sleep upon the field, while the
Rebels fled towards Richmond, leaving several cannon, many wagons, and
several hundred of their wounded in Williamsburg.
The total Union loss was two thousand two hundred and eighty-eight. The
loss to the Rebels was from two thousand five hundred to three thousand.
"Our loss amounted to about two thousand five hundred," says the
chaplain of the Fourth Texas.
When the news of the battle reached Richmond there was great
consternation, which was increased by the news of the blowing up of the
Merrimack on the morning of the 11th of May.
"In the President's mansion about this time all was consternation and
dismay," says Pollard, the Southern historian.[19]
[Footnote 19: Southern History of the War, Vol. II. p. 31.]
Jefferson Davis's niece wrote a letter to a friend in Vicksburg, but
the mail-bag was captured by the Yankee pickets.
"General Johnston," said the young lady, "is falling back from the
Peninsula, and Uncle Jeff thinks we had better go to a safer place than
Richmond. O mother! Uncle Jeff is miserable. He tries to be cheerful
and bear up against such a continuation of troubles, but oh! I fear he
cannot live long, if he does not get some rest and quiet.
"Our reverses distressed him so much, and he is so weak and feeble, it
makes my heart ache to look at him. He knows that he ought to send his
wife and children away, and yet he cannot bear to part with them, and
we all dread to leave him too. Varina and I had a hard cry about it
to-day.
"O, what a blow the fall of New Orleans was! It like to have set us all
crazy here. Everybody looks depressed, and the cause of the Confederacy
looks drooping and sinking; but if God is with us, who can be against
us? Our troops are not doing as well as we expected.... The regiments
most apt to run are from North Carolina and Tennessee.... I am afraid
that Richmond will fall into the hands of the enemy, as there is no way
to keep back the gunboats. James River is so high that all obstructions
are in danger of being washed away, so that there is no help for the
city....
"Uncle Jeff was confirmed last Tuesday in St. Paul's Church, by Bishop
Johns. He was baptized at home, in the morning, before church."[20]
[Footnote 20: Southern History, Vol. II. p. 31.]
The Confederate Congress adjourned hastily. They sent off their
families. The railroad trains going out were crowded with passengers.
The public documents were boxed up and sent away. Mrs. Jefferson Davis
took down her window-curtains, tore up the carpets, packed her silver
plate and pictures, and left the city.[21] The Treasury Department
removed its printing-presses to Georgia, and everybody prepared to
leave the city, which they feared was doomed to fall into the hands of
the Yankees.
[Footnote 21: Estvan's War Pictures from the South, p. 271.]
When the Merrimack was blown up, the James River was open to the
gunboats to Fort Darling, within ten miles of Richmond. The fort
mounted four guns. Three of the gunboats bombarded it on the 13th, but
were not able to silence the guns.
General McClellan's transports were at Yorktown and Fortress
Monroe,--an immense fleet. His army was within five miles of the James.
It will be for the future historian to inquire whether the army ought
not to have been sent up the James instead of the Chickahominy.
After the battle of Antietam, a wounded Rebel officer who was
left behind when Lee retreated, and who was General Magruder's
Adjutant-General, conversed freely upon the Peninsular campaign.
"We were very much surprised at Yorktown," he said, "when we saw
General McClellan make preparations for a siege."
"Indeed!"
"Yes, for we were ready to retreat at any moment. We had only a handful
of men compared with his great army."
"How many men had Magruder at that time?"
"Not more than nine thousand and five hundred fit for duty, and they
were strung out on a line thirteen miles long, from Gloucester to James
River. If General McClellan had acted with vigor, and pushed our center
as soon as he landed, he could have trampled us all down in the mud."
"But you had a large number of cannon, which swept the approaches, and
could have inflicted great damage."
"He could have covered his real attack by feints on distant parts of
the line, and Magruder's force was so small that he could not have
resisted an earnest attack. The woods were so dense that McClellan
could have effectually concealed all his movements."
"Some of General McClellan's officers were in favor of advancing at
once."
"It was, in my judgment, if you will allow a Rebel to criticise your
generals," said the officer with a smile, "his first mistake."
"Then you think it was a mistake on the part of General McClellan."
"Yes, for Lee's army had not reached us. Every day's delay on the
part of General McClellan gave us reinforcements. It gave us time
to fortify Richmond. The Confederate army was much reduced at that
time. The term of enlistments of many regiments had expired, and the
Conscription Act had not been enforced. The fortunes of the Confederacy
at that time were not very bright, I must confess. Even the Confederate
Congress closed its session and left Richmond, and, had it not been for
McClellan's delay and the energy with which troops from all quarters
were conscripted and rushed into Richmond, it would have gone hard with
us. And when we evacuated Yorktown, General McClellan did not do as I
should have done, had I commanded you Yankees."
"Ah! how so?"
"The Virginia, or the Merrimack, as you call her, was blown up on the
10th. It was a bitter pill to us, and if I were Jefferson Davis I would
hang old Huger, who commanded at Norfolk, for his cowardly conduct
in evacuating the place. When the Merrimack was destroyed, General
McClellan, instead of following us up the Peninsula through the mud,
ought to have re-embarked his troops and made all haste up the James.
Your gunboats went up to Fort Darling and got smashed, but if he had
landed below the Fort he could have carried it from the rear with his
infantry, for we had few troops there. He could have then brought his
gunboats to Richmond ahead of us who were paddling in the mud of the
Chickahominy."
"I suppose that General McClellan did what he thought was best at the
time."
"Probably; but it happened to be the very best movement he could have
made for us," said the officer, with a smile.
There was much suffering in the hospitals on the Peninsula. The medical
department was not well organized, but the delegates of the Christian
and Sanitary Commissions were present, and saved the lives of many men.
They saw a soldier in a tent one day who was fast passing away. He had
fought his last battle with the enemy of his country. He was a noble
man, but he was worn out by disease. He had worked in the slimy swamps,
on the fortifications, and was covered with filth. He had lost all his
strength, and was so weak that he could not raise his hand to his head.
They washed him, changed his clothing, lifted him from the damp ground
and placed him on a cot, gave him nourishing food, talked to him of
home, of mother, of Jesus, his best friend, of a better world. The
soldier tried to thank them, but was too weak to articulate the words.
He could only take the chaplain's hand, press it to his cheek, and
bathe it with tears of gratitude.
Thus the friends at home, by their Christian sympathy and charity,
sustained and comforted the brave defenders of their country, in their
last hours.
CHAPTER VI.
ON THE CHICKAHOMINY.
On the 16th of May the whole army, with the exception of Hooker's
division, which remained at Williamsburg, was at the White House on the
Pamunkey, where a permanent depot was established. The cavalry under
General Stoneman, and the infantry pickets, were on the banks of the
Chickahominy.
General McClellan called for reinforcements. In response, the President
informed him, on the 18th, that General McDowell had been ordered to
march from Fredericksburg to join him by the shortest route, but was
also ordered to keep himself in position to cover Washington, and
General McClellan was instructed to open communication with him.
"This order," says General McClellan, "rendered it impossible for
me to use the James River as a line of operations, and forced me to
establish our depots on the Pamunkey, and to approach Richmond from
the north. It frustrated the plan of the campaign."
It will be for the future historian to determine whether the order to
General McDowell to move overland compelled General McClellan to take
the Chickahominy route, and frustrated the plan of the campaign, or
whether, on the other hand, he had not chosen the route, by moving from
Williamsburg on the 10th, and establishing his head-quarters and depots
at White House, and throwing out his cavalry and pickets to Bottom's
Bridge on the Chickahominy on the 16th, two days before the orders were
issued.
The Chickahominy River runs north of Richmond, flows southeast, and
becomes an affluent of the James above Williamsburg. It is fringed
with forests and bordered by marshy lands, which at high water become
impassable swamps, but at low water the stream is fordable in many
places. The Rebels destroyed all the bridges as they retreated to
Richmond.
The army came to the river at Bottom's Bridge. The Eleventh Maine was
in the advance. They were brave, hardy men, from the lumber-swamps of
the Pine-Tree State. The Rebel pickets saw them, set the bridge on
fire, and fled. The Maine men gave them a volley, rushed forward, used
their caps for fire-buckets, and extinguished the flames, and with
their axes soon had it repaired for the use of the army.
Heintzelman's and Keyes's corps crossed to the southern bank, while
the other corps pushed up the northern bank, towards Coal Harbor and
Mechanicsville.
THE AFFAIR AT HANOVER COURT-HOUSE.
Fourteen miles north of Richmond is Hanover Court-House. A Rebel
force was stationed there, commanded by General Branch. On the 27th
of May, General Fitz-John Porter, with Emory's brigade of cavalry,
and Martindale's, Butterfield's, McQuade's, and Warren's brigades of
infantry, proceeded to drive the Rebels from the place, and make a
junction with McDowell. At noon General Emory, with the cavalry, came
upon the enemy about two miles east of the Court-House, where the road
forks,--the right hand road leading to the Court-House, the left hand
to Ashland.
Berdan's sharpshooters and Martindale's brigade were near by, and
General Porter formed in line of battle. The sharpshooters were thrown
forward as skirmishers. Benson's battery came into position in a field
on the right-hand side of the road, and commenced throwing shells over
the heads of the sharpshooters.
The Rebels were posted on a hill near a farm-house,--their line
reaching across both roads. General Martindale went up the Ashland
road, driving in the skirmishers. The soldiers heard the whistle of
a locomotive, and saw a train of cars upon the Virginia Central road
bringing reinforcements to the Rebels. Captain Griffin's batteries
were brought up, and a vigorous fire opened upon the railroad. The
Twenty-second Massachusetts and Second Maine were thrown forward to the
railroad. They tore up the track, and cut the telegraph-wire, under
cover of the heavy fire of the artillery.
While this was transpiring on the Ashland road, there was a sharp
contest on the road leading to Hanover. The Rebel infantry, concealed
in the woods, opened a rapid fire upon the Twenty-fifth New York, which
killed Lieutenant Fisk and wounded Lieutenant-Colonel Savage, and a
number of the men. The Rebels sprang from the woods upon the regiment,
and captured several prisoners. Colonel Johnson, commanding the
regiment, fell back upon the reserve, which was coming into position
in the rear, composed of the Seventeenth New York, Eighty-third
Pennsylvania in the front line, and the Twelfth New York and Sixteenth
Michigan in the second. They charged over the field, through the
hollow, up the slope beyond, and came upon the Rebel batteries by
the farm-house so rapidly, and with such force, that they captured a
twelve-pound gun, which the enemy had not time to remove. The Rebels
retreated towards the Court-House, followed by the cavalry, and all the
artillery and infantry except Martindale's brigade. General Martindale
sent two of his regiments up the railroad to join the main force at the
Court-House, while he remained with the Second Maine, Twenty-fifth New
York, a portion of the Forty-fourth New York, and two guns of Martin's
battery.
While waiting and resting with this small force, after the exciting
encounter of the afternoon, he was suddenly attacked by the Rebels, who
greatly outnumbered him, and who by a surprise hoped to rout and defeat
him, and cut off General Porter from the main command. But for more
than an hour he held his ground, till the column which had gone to the
Court-House turned back and rejoined him.
As soon as General Porter heard the firing, he moved the Thirteenth
and Fourteenth New York and Griffin's batteries down the road upon the
double-quick. The Ninth Massachusetts and Sixty-second Pennsylvania
were sent through the woods, across the angle between the Hanover
and Ashland roads, while the Eighty-third Pennsylvania and Sixteenth
Michigan pushed down the railroad. The troops last named moved with
great rapidity. They came suddenly upon the left flank of the enemy.
The Rebels evidently were not expecting to be attacked from that
quarter. They fled through the woods in great confusion. The cavalry
rode among them, and hundreds threw down their arms and gave themselves
up as prisoners.
General McClellan, in his Report, thus speaks of this gallant affair:
"Some two hundred of the enemy's dead were buried by our troops,
seven hundred and thirty prisoners sent to the rear, one twelve-pound
howitzer, one caisson, a large number of small arms, and two railroad
trains captured." The Union loss amounted to fifty-three killed and
three hundred and forty-four wounded and missing.
The force encountered was General Branch's division of North Carolina
and Georgia troops, numbering about nine thousand. Their camp at
Hanover Court-House was taken and destroyed.
General Porter fell back to Coal Harbor. The engineers made a survey of
the Chickahominy and of the approaches to Richmond, and began to build
bridges across the stream and throw up earthworks.
The days were hot and sultry. There were heavy thunder-storms,
succeeded by intense heat. The soldiers were provided with axes and
shovels, and were set to work in the dark, miry swamps, working all day
up to their waists in the muddy water. Disease in all its frightful
forms of fever and dysentery made its appearance. The air was full of
malaria. Hundreds died and thousands were sent to the hospitals.
One day a fine youth, who with ardor and enthusiasm had enlisted as a
soldier, was brought into the hospital. He had been taken violently and
suddenly with fever while in the marshes. The nurses laid him on a cot,
gave him cold water, bathed his hot brows. He had a likeness of his
mother, who had gone into the better land, and of his sister, who was
far away in his pleasant home, in a gold locket on his neck. He dreamed
and talked of home, and said, "I have a sister on my heart,--a sister
on my heart,--a sister,--a sister."
The disease made rapid progress. The fever burned within,--a consuming
flame which, before sunrise, had devoured all his young life. He was
buried in the afternoon beneath the forest trees.
It was wearing work, the bridge-building, the construction of roads,
and throwing up of intrenchments. Besides, there was the necessity of
keeping close watch upon the enemy. If there were sad scenes, there
were also amusing incidents.
A party of Maine boys, on picket, one day, saw a pair of wagon-wheels.
Not far off were the Rebel pickets, in an open field. The Down-East
Yankees thought they would have some fun. They mounted a log upon the
wheels, brought the mock cannon into position. One of them pretended
to sponge it, another put in the cartridge, a third primed, a fourth
sighted it, while a fifth stood ready to fire. The Rebels watched the
operation a moment, and then scampered for the woods to get under
cover! The Maine boys did not fire, but had a merry chuckle among
themselves, and a hearty laugh with their comrades when they told the
story in camp.
CHAPTER VII.
FAIR OAKS.
Seven miles from Richmond, near the York River Railroad, there is a
grove of oaks, so green, so beautiful and fair, that the railroad
station has received the name of Fair Oaks. A highway from Richmond
crosses the railroad near the station called the Nine-Mile Road. The
railroad runs east and the Nine-Mile Road southeast. The highway from
Richmond to Williamsburg runs parallel to the railroad about a mile
south of it, and is crossed by the Nine-Mile Road, a mile southeast
from Fair Oaks. At the junction of the two highways are seven pines,
standing in a cluster on the south side of the Williamsburg road.
The country around is level and covered mainly by a dense forest, but
there is cleared land along the Williamsburg road toward Richmond. On
the 23d of May, General Keyes was ordered to advance to Fair Oaks and
hold the position. General Couch's division was halted at Seven Pines,
while Casey's was thrown forward to Fair Oaks, encamped on Baker's
farm. General Keyes cut down the trees in front of his line beyond Fair
Oaks to form an abattis. They were also felled in front of Couch.
On Friday night, the 30th of May, there was a terrific thunder-storm.
The heavens were sheets of flame, and the clouds poured torrents of
water which deluged the country and flooded the Chickahominy.
Early in the morning on Saturday, the 31st, it was whispered in the
Rebel camp that General Johnston was going to attack the Yankees who
were South of the Chickahominy.[22]
[Footnote 22: Battle-Fields of the South.]
"In such weather?" it was asked.
"The bridges are washed away, and it is impossible for McClellan to
send over his right and center to the assistance of his left. His army
is divided, and we can crush the force on the south side before he can
reinforce it," was the answer.
General Huger's division moved out from Richmond at six o'clock, taking
the Charles City road, which is south of the Williamsburg road, and
which runs south of White-Oak Swamp. He was to make a long and rapid
march east, then turn north, cross the Swamp, gain the rear of General
Couch, and cut off his retreat to Bottom's Bridge. He was to reach his
position and begin the attack at eight o'clock. General Longstreet's
division moved down the Williamsburg road and halted in the woods.
General Whiting moved down the Nine-Mile Road and halted in the woods
in front of Fair Oaks.
President Davis and his Cabinet went out with Longstreet to see the
fight. Eight o'clock--nine o'clock--ten--passed, and there was no
sound of Huger's guns. He was toiling in the mud, moving at a snail's
pace. Longstreet and Whiting were impatiently waiting, concealed from
observation in the woods.
At ten o'clock, General Keyes's pickets captured an aide of General
Johnston in the edge of the woods. He was brought before General Keyes.
While the General was talking with him, two musket-shots were fired in
the woods, which produced an emotion in the young officer so marked
that it was noticed by General Keyes, who feared that something might
be going on in his front, and who immediately issued orders for his
troops to be under arms.
Eleven o'clock came, and General Longstreet, getting out of patience
at Huger's delay, ordered his troops to advance and begin the attack.
His skirmishers went through the woods quickly, and came upon Casey's
skirmishers on the Williamsburg road, and the firing began. But his
regiments were slow in getting on. His artillery sank in the mud.
The rapid increase of the fire along the picket line alarmed General
Keyes, who made quick preparations for whatever might happen.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS.
=UNION TROOPS.=
1 Casey's division.
2 Couch's "
3 Heintzelman's corps.
4 Sumner's "
=REBEL TROOPS.=
5 Whiting.
6 Longstreet.
7 Anderson.
8 Fair Oaks.
9 Seven Pines.][23]
[Footnote 23: The diagram represents the position of the troops
at the beginning of the battle.]
Casey's division faced towards Richmond; Naglee's brigade was on the
railroad,--two regiments north of it; Wessell's brigade was in the
center, near "Fair Oaks," and Palmer's was on the left, south of the
Williamsburg road. Spratt's battery was near the Oaks. Regan's battery
was in rear of Spratt's. Bates's battery was south of the Williamsburg
road, in a redoubt, while Fitch's battery was in rear of the redoubt.
Couch's division at Seven Pines was lying with Graham's brigade between
the Williamsburg road and the railroad, Devens's brigade on the
Williamsburg road, and Peck's brigade on the left.
Up to twelve o'clock there was little firing except by the pickets, and
the men in Casey's command laid aside their arms and prepared to eat
dinner. Soon after noon two shells were thrown into Casey's camp.
Suddenly there was a heavy roll of musketry in the woods. Officers
sprang to their feet. They knew that it portended trouble. There was a
quick saddling of horses and buckling on of belts. Orders were issued
in imperious tones.
The men left their coffee-pots and plates of rice, seized their guns,
and formed in line.
Casey's division was composed of undisciplined troops which had joined
the army after its arrival upon the Peninsula. The men had had no
experience, and yet they were placed in advance, nearest the enemy,--an
oversight which was dearly paid for.
The force which Johnston had brought out numbered not far from thirty
thousand. Casey's division numbered not far from seven thousand.
Like an avalanche was the advance of the Rebels upon this small,
undisciplined force. Generals Anderson, D. H. Hill, Jenkins, Pegram,
and Wilcox swept along the Williamsburg road, striking Palmer's brigade
on the left flank.
General Casey's pickets were but a short distance from camp, and
they came streaming back in confusion, followed by the Rebels in
masses. General Keyes saw that it was no feint, but an attack by an
overwhelming force. He despatched a messenger to General Heintzelman,
who was behind him towards Bottom's Bridge, for reinforcements. The
firing became quick and heavy. General Sumner, three miles distant
across the Chickahominy, heard it, and ordered his command under arms.
The aide sent to Heintzelman lost his way in the woods, and was a long
while in bearing the important message. Keyes saw that there was danger
on Casey's left, south of the Williamsburg road, where the Rebels were
appearing in great force, and he ordered Peck's brigade of Couch's
division to advance and support Palmer. Spratt's battery, near Fair
Oaks, opened upon the Rebels as they came through the woods on the
right, supported by the Eleventh Maine, One Hundredth New York, One
Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, and Ninety-Second New York.
In the center, the One Hundred and Third Pennsylvania was sent forward
to sustain the pickets, but quickly returned in confusion.
The Rebel lines came into the open field, following the retreating
pickets. All of Casey's guns opened with canister, and the fire was
so severe that General Hill ordered his men to lie down, as it was
impossible to advance in the face of such a storm.[24] General Hill
dismounted from his horse, and criticised the fire of the different
batteries. Longstreet's line was more than a mile in extent, and yet
Huger and Whiting had not fired a cartridge. The fire was so terrible
from the batteries, and from Palmer's, Wessell's, and Naglee's lines,
that Longstreet changed his plan of attack, and, instead of advancing
directly upon the center, attacked on both flanks. Some of his
regiments filed towards the south, and crept through the bushes unseen
by Casey. The others moved north, some in front of Naglee, and prepared
to charge upon Spratt's battery. General Casey saw the plan. He rode
along the line, called upon three of Naglee's regiments to drive the
enemy into the woods. There was a rail-fence between the combatants,
but the troops sprang over it with a cheer, formed in line, and fought
the enemy face to face. The battle raged with great fury around the
Oaks.
[Footnote 24: Battle-Fields of the South, Vol. II. p. 4]
The enemy was held in check a few minutes by the three regiments, but,
being superior, advanced once more, firing as they came on. Naglee held
his ground till the fighting was at close quarters,--till some of the
Eleventh Maine were bayoneted. The order to retreat was given, and the
lines fell back, followed closely by the enemy, who made a rush for
Spratt's battery, and captured one of the guns.
Elated, the Rebels halted to reform their lines, before pushing on to
other successes. But while re-forming, Bates and Fitch opened wide gaps
in their ranks at every discharge of grape and canister. Once more
they came on, shouting and screaming, and delivering their volleys and
receiving the steady fire streaming from the rifles of Naglee's line,
reinforced now by a regiment from General Peck's brigade of Couch's
division.
Their line of march is from southwest to northeast. They come upon the
left of Naglee's position, curling round his flank, and pouring a
cross fire into the rifle-pits. Colonel Bailey, Major Van Valkenburg,
and Adjutant Ramsey of the artillery are killed, other officers are
wounded. The advancing host leap over the slight earthworks, seize the
guns, and prepare to turn them upon the backs of the men on Naglee's
right. It is no use to contend for the ground or the guns against the
superior force, and the men fall back once more. Casey's whole line
also retreats to that held by General Couch.
Up to this moment, Longstreet's grand division only has been engaged;
but two regiments of General Couch's division, who are moving up the
railroad to support Naglee, see across the field beyond the Fair Oaks
long lines of men,--some standing in battle line, and others advancing
in column along the railroad. It is Whiting, who is deploying his
forces from the Nine-Mile Road.
General Couch is made acquainted with the fact. He sends for the other
two regiments of the brigade. Whiting pours his troops into the gap
between Naglee and Couch, and cuts off the four regiments from the
troops at Seven Pines.
The regiments thus isolated are thrown back towards Grape-Vine Bridge.
While this is transpiring on the right, there is disaster in the
center, and on the left. The Rebels there are pushing on. Keyes rallies
his troops. He sends forward regiment after regiment from his second
line, to strengthen that in front, to hold his ground if possible,
but it is growing thin. It sways to and fro, and breaks at last. It
crumbles, piecemeal,--the troops hastening towards the Seven Pines. He
has one regiment still in reserve,--the Tenth Massachusetts.
He throws it into the broken gap. It requires nerve and muscle to
march in where all are fleeing,--to be a breakwater where the flood
sweeps all before it. But the regiment goes in as cheerfully as to a
dress-parade. They deliver their volleys with deliberate aim. They hold
their ground.
Three hundred yards in the rear, Heintzelman, Keyes, Casey, Naglee, and
other officers are rallying the men. Fugitives are stopped, regiments
which have been so stubbornly contesting the ground are induced to try
it once more.
"Had that regiment been two minutes later," says General Keyes, "they
would have been too late to occupy that fine position, and it would
have been impossible to have formed the next and last line of battle,
which stemmed the tide of defeat and turned it toward a victory."[25]
[Footnote 25: Keyes's Report.]
Thus far the Rebels have had it all their own way. Casey has been
driven a mile. His camp is in the hands of Longstreet. He has lost many
guns. Longstreet has made so good a beginning that, although Huger
has not made his appearance from the South, the prospect is good for
overwhelming the Union force on the southern bank.
But other actors arrive upon the ground,--the men who tossed their
knapsacks into the woods at Williamsburg,--who became a wall of adamant
on that memorable field. Berry and Jameson march up the Williamsburg
road and move out upon the left of the line forming behind the Tenth
Massachusetts. Berry pushes down into the border of the swamp; Jameson
sends one regiment to Peck and one to Birney, and moves straight on
towards the abattis of fallen trees in front of Couch's line along the
Williamsburg road with his two remaining regiments. His men lie down
behind the fallen trees and pour their volleys into the advancing foe,
moving on in stately grandeur. Jameson, unmindful of the storm around
him, rides up and down the line, exposed to the fire of the enemy, not
a hundred yards distant. Sheltered by the abattis, his two regiments
are immovable. Like a hillock in the path of an avalanche, they turn
the overwhelming force aside. It flows round them, right and left, but
does not advance along the road.
Berry, far down in the woods towards White Oak Swamp, is pouring
a terrible fire upon the masses, who still press toward Seven
Pines. He holds them in check, repulsing all the assaults. There,
in the thickest of the fight, is that young officer who made his
last will and testament at Yorktown,--the "hero of the day" at
Williamsburg,--animating the troops by his fearless daring, and there
he gives his life to his country, shot through the brain.
In the rear of Seven Pines is the hospital, full of weak and sickly
men, prostrated by fevers. They hear the tide of battle rolling nearer
hour by hour. A soldier from the front says that the line is giving way
and the Rebels are sweeping all before them. The words fall on the ears
of Lieutenant Rice, of the Eleventh Maine. He springs to his feet, and
grasps a gun. "All of you who can hold up your heads, follow me!" he
shouts.[26] Men who have not been able to stand upon their feet spring
up at the word. They are pale, sallow, emaciated, with sunken eyes and
hollow cheeks. They form in line, twenty of them, seize their muskets.
The fever is consuming them, but there is a warmer flame within their
breasts,--the unquenchable desire to save their comrades from defeat
and their country from destruction. Lieutenant Rice leads the weak and
tottering party to the front. He moves on close to the enemy. He is one
of the best marksmen of his regiment, and soldier after soldier falls
from the ranks of the enemy by his unerring aim. He fires seven times,
and then goes down before the bullets of the foe.
[Footnote 26: Adjutant-General's Report, Maine, 1862.]
There is Willie Parker of the Eleventh Maine, a mere boy, who beholds
the Rebel colors advancing from the woods, borne by a stalwart soldier.
"That flag must come down!" he says, as he raises his gun. There is a
flash, a screaming in the air, as the swiftly-whirling bullet passes
on. The color-bearer reels, staggers, and falls.
There is Sergeant Katon, the standard-bearer of the Eleventh, holding
up, as high as he can reach, the broken flag-staff, while kneeling
beside the dead body of Corporal Maddocks, who has fallen while
guarding the torn and tattered but precious standard,--all this while
the tempest surges around them, over them, through them; the very blast
of death!
An officer with one hundred men, who has been out on picket, comes up
the road.
"Where is my regiment?" he asks of the grim and veteran Heintzelman.
"I cannot tell you, sir."
"But I would like to join it."
"Very well, but if it is fighting you want, just go in, Colonel, for
there is good fighting all along the line."
The battle rages furiously. Five o'clock--six o'clock--half past
six--Berry holds them by the swamp, Jameson holds them with his three
hundred men on the Williamsburg road; but between Seven Pines and Fair
Oaks the tide is drifting on.
Jameson resolves to advance. The Rebels in front of him fall back along
the road to Richmond. Thus, while Whiting is pushing east over the
Nine-Mile Road, Jameson is marching west towards the Rebel capital,
driving all before him.
"Fall back" is the imperative order which he receives. He would a great
deal rather go on.
"What would you have done, if you had not been ordered back?" a friend
asked.
"I would have been in Richmond or in Heaven before night," was the
reply.[27]
[Footnote 27: Adjutant-General's Report.]
But he obeys orders. Yet he cannot go back the way he advanced; the
enemy is between him and Seven Pines. He faces south, picks his
way through White Oak Swamp, comes round to Seven Pines, and again
confronts the enemy.
The day is closing. Darkness is coming on. The Yankees are not yet
swept into the Chickahominy. Longstreet has had success, but it is not
a great victory. The Union line has been pushed back a mile and a half.
It has been broken,--almost disorganized. Berry's brigade is as firm
and solid as ever. Jameson's has been divided and sent to different
parts of the field. Casey's division has crumbled. Couch's has been
broken. A great crowd of stragglers is moving towards Bottom's Bridge.
Couch with two regiments and a battery have been pushed north towards
Grape Vine Bridge. Such is the position at seven o'clock, as Whiting,
fresh and vigorous, brings his brigade down the railroad to finish the
work of this day.
But now there is another actor,--General Sumner, who has crossed the
Chickahominy at Grape-Vine Bridge, and is pushing on with Sedgwick's
gallant division.
General Sumner ordered his corps to be under arms at one o'clock. As
the firing grew loud, he moved his troops to the Chickahominy and
waited for orders to cross. He commenced crossing at three o'clock,
but the swamp was flooded, and it was only by great exertion and
perseverance that he was able to get Kirby's battery to the south bank.
Gorman's brigade led the column, composed of the First Minnesota,
Fifteenth Massachusetts, Second New York Volunteers, and Thirty-Fourth
New York,--Gorman joined General Couch. Kirby, with his six Napoleon
guns, followed, and Dana's brigade closed the column, composed of
the Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts, Seventh Michigan, and
Forty-Second New York. General Sumner rapidly formed his line, facing
south. Whiting, up to this time, had been pressing straight on towards
the Seven Pines. He turned to crush this new force which had appeared
unexpectedly on his flank.
It is a cloudy night and darkness is stealing on, as the Rebels change
their front and move towards the north to sweep all before them. They
advance across the field and through the woods, delivering a rapid
fire. Suddenly there bursts a sheet of flame from Sumner's ranks.
The Rebels fall back, rally their broken lines, advance again, nearer
and with desperation. "Canister! Canister! Give them canister!" is
Kirby's order as he moves from gun to gun. The battle-cloud grows
thick beneath the heavy vapors rising from the swamp. Quick, incessant
flashes momentarily light up the deepening darkness. It is not possible
for men to face so terrible a storm. Vain are all the efforts of the
Rebel officers to rally their bleeding ranks.
Sumner has stood his ground. The time has come to advance. The
Thirty-Fourth and Forty-Second New York, Fifteenth and Twentieth
Massachusetts, and Seventh Michigan move forward.
There are two fences in front of them, and beyond the farthest one is
the Rebel line waiting their advance. The soldiers know that it will
be the last march of many, but with a cheer heard above the roar of
battle, they rush into the darkness, dash the fences under foot, and
spring upon the enemy's lines. It is the work of a minute. One short
struggle, a volley, a holding of the breath, muttered curses, shouts,
groans, a clashing of bayonets, the trampling of ten thousand feet, and
the field is clear of the enemy!
General Johnston has failed in what he intended to accomplish. He is
borne from the field at this hour, wounded by a shell from Kirby's
battery.
"As I rode down through the field," says a Rebel officer, "I met
Franks, one of Longstreet's aides, looking as blue as indigo. What is
the matter, Franks? Not satisfied with the day's work?" I inquired.
"Satisfied be hanged! I saw old Jeff, Mallory, Longstreet, and Whiting,
and all of them, looking as mad as thunder. Just to think that Huger's
slowness has spoiled everything! There he has been on our right all day
and hasn't fired a shot, although he had positive orders to open the
fight at eight o'clock in the morning."[28]
[Footnote 28: Battle-Fields of the South.]
There are indescribable scenes of horror after a great battle,--the
removal of the wounded, bleeding, dying, giving utterances to groans
extorted by the intense pain,--the work at the hospitals, where the
disabled, one by one, are laid before the surgeons. Yet, amid their
terrible sufferings, the men are often cheerful, and hopeful for this
life and the life which is to come.
A chaplain says: "Amongst the badly wounded was Joseph Bynon of
Alleghany City, Pennsylvania, a young man of the most generous nature,
universally popular in his regiment, and the staff of a widowed mother.
He was lying on a blanket near the house, wounded in the bowels. I
asked him about his sufferings. He replied, that he did not suffer
much, that he was faint from the loss of blood as he supposed. I saw
from his pulse that he had but a few moments to live, and said to him,
"'Joseph, are you willing and ready to die? I am afraid you cannot
live.'
"'Well, doctor,' he whispered, 'I should like to live; I love my
mother; this will be a great sorrow to her. And I should like to do
something for my little nephew and niece. But there is another life,
and I know I shall find mother there. I feel I have been a great
sinner; in many things I have done wrong; but ever since my conversion
I experienced in Camp Johnson, I have tried to follow my Saviour, and
now I die trusting. My mind wanders; I find it difficult to think and
speak. In praying to God, I may not say the things that are right; do,
doctor, lift up my hands and clasp them together, and pray for me!'
"I lifted up the hands crimsoned with his own blood, and pressing them
in mine, commended him to the Merciful One, who for us all had suffered
the bitterness of death. He repeated word for word, prayed for his
mother, and then said, 'O Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the
world, take away my sin; into Thine hand I commend my spirit!'
"The storm of battle raged again. The enemy's shells burst around
the hospital, and the wounded were removed. He was lifted into an
ambulance, but died before it reached Savage Station. Thus giving his
life to his country, he passed on into the service of his God."[29]
[Footnote 29: Chaplain Marks.]
At daybreak on Sunday morning, an orderly belonging to the Rebel army
rode out of the woods into the Union lines.
"Where is General Anderson," he asked.
"Here he is. What do you want of him?" said a colonel.
"I have a despatch for him from General Pryor."
"I will take it. Soldiers, guard this man. You are my prisoner."
The orderly was much astonished to find himself a prisoner. The
despatch gave information of the disposition of the Rebel forces for
the battle soon to recommence.
During the night the balance of Sumner's corps crossed the
Chickahominy, and at daybreak the troops, thus strengthened, were able
to renew the battle. Sedgwick remained where he fought on Saturday.
Richardson's division was next on his right. He formed in two
lines,--with French's brigade in front on the railroad, and Howard and
Meagher in the second line in his rear. Kearney, Couch, and Hooker,
with the remnants of Casey's division, were in the vicinity of Seven
Pines.
It would require many pages to give in detail the fight of Sunday
morning. It must be given as a picture.
It began at five o'clock. At that hour, the Rebels are discovered
south of the railroad in the woods in front of Richardson. Pettit
opens with shells, and the stillness of the Sabbath is broken by
deep reverberations rolling along the Chickahominy. There is a gap
between Richardson and Kearney. Richardson moves toward Seven Pines
to close it. From the woods where Pettit drops his shells, there is a
volley--another--another--and the men drop from Richardson's ranks. The
Rebels advance and attack French's brigade at short range. For an hour
the men stand in their places, and deliver their fire upon the columns
which are pushed against them. Reinforcements come up from Longstreet's
reserves. Howard is brought up from the second line to meet them. His
horse is shot. He is twice wounded in the right arm, and is forced to
leave the field. His arm is shattered, and the surgeon says it must
come off. He meets Kearney, who lost his left arm years ago.
"We will buy our gloves together, Kearney," is the salutation of this
Christian soldier and patriot.
But the onset of his brigade is magnificent. The rebel line is
shattered by the resistless charge.
Hooker comes up the railroad. He falls like a thunderbolt upon the
enemy in front, breaking, dividing, shattering them. They flee in
confusion. Sickles is advancing along the Williamsburg road, Berry and
Jameson are moving over the ground of Saturday between the Seven Pines
and White-Oak Swamp. Richardson and Sedgwick are also in motion. From
Fair Oaks to the swamp south of Seven Pines, the Union line advances
over the bloody field. It is like the swinging of a wide gate, with its
hinges near Fair Oaks, and reaching past Seven Pines to the swamp.
It is a triumphant march. The Rebels have failed in what they
attempted, and are fleeing with broken, demoralized ranks to Richmond.
Hats, caps, blankets, knapsacks, guns, all are thrown aside. The road
is filled with the fleeing fugitives. Heintzelman and Sumner press on
within four miles of the city. No troops oppose them.
"I have no doubt but we might have gone right into Richmond," says
General Heintzelman.[30]--"I think that if the army had pressed after
the enemy with great vigor, we should have gone to Richmond," is the
opinion of General Keyes.[31]
[Footnote 30: Testimony, p. 352.]
[Footnote 31: Testimony, p. 609.]
"They (the Federals) missed an opportunity of striking a decisive blow.
These opportunities never returned," writes Prince de Joinville of
France.[32]
[Footnote 32: Army of the Potomac, p. 79.]
General McClellan recalled the troops from their pursuit, and
established his lines as they were on the morning of Saturday.
The loss on the Union side was 5,737. The Rebel loss, as reported in
Smith's, Longstreet's, and Hill's divisions, was 6,783. Whiting's
division also suffered severely, so that the entire Rebel loss was
about 8,000.
A month passed by. General McClellan was preparing for a siege. There
were six bridges built across the Chickahominy, which required labor
day and night. The men were obliged to work up to their arms in the
water. Miles of corduroy roads were constructed. The ground was so
swampy and marshy that nothing could be done by horses. All the
timber hauled to construct the bridges and the batteries was drawn
by the men. The month of June was rainy. There were frequent storms,
succeeded by hot sunshine. Sickness, in all its frightful forms, made
its appearance. The men became discouraged. It was expected, day after
day, that the attack would commence; but the commanding officers
issued orders that no batteries should open till all were ready. The
army, meanwhile, began to be depleted of troops. Thousands were sent
to the hospitals, and other thousands were carried out to their last
resting-place, on the banks of the dark, dismal, sluggish stream, which
soon became the river of death.
Reinforcements were called for and received: McCall's division of
Pennsylvania Reserves, which reached the army on the 12th and 13th of
June.
On the night of the 13th, General Stewart, with 1,800 Rebel cavalry,
appeared in rear of the army. He came first upon two squadrons of
Regular cavalry, at Hanover Old Church, overpowering and capturing
them; then pushed on to Gorlick's Landing, on the Pamunkey, burning two
schooners and fourteen wagons; then moved to the railroad at Tunstall's
Station.
The train first arriving was one going east with sick and wounded men.
The engineer saw the cavalrymen on the track as he rounded a curve.
They motioned him to stop, but he put on more steam, and the train
rushed past with lightning speed. Hundreds of bullets were aimed at
him, but he escaped unharmed.
General Stewart crossed the Chickahominy at Long Bridge, below Bottom's
Bridge, and came upon a Union hospital at Baltimore Cross Roads. He
placed a guard over the hospital, and treated the sick men humanely.
But the fright was very disastrous to many who found themselves thus
suddenly in the hands of the enemy. Several died during the night.
In the pockets of one Union soldier, after death, the chaplain found
some touching and beautiful letters from a little brother and sister,
telling him how much they missed him, how they longed for his return,
how they counted the days until he might come back, but above all
telling how proud they were of their soldier brother. And they never
heard a drum beat nor a fife play without thinking of him, and feeling
glad that they had one noble brother to fight for their country.[33]
[Footnote 33: Chaplain Marks.]
CHAPTER VIII.
SEVEN DAYS OF FIGHTING.
The chances for taking Richmond became less with each day's delay.
While the Army of the Potomac were digging and delving in the swamps,
and constructing batteries, their ranks thinning out by disease, the
Rebels, also, were hard at work erecting defensive batteries, on firm
ground, and mounting guns of large caliber. Their ranks, instead of
growing thin, were filling up. Troops were hurried in from all parts of
the South. The Conscript law which the Confederate Congress had passed
was in operation, and was carried out with remorseless energy. Men were
compelled to enter the service.
The Union army in front of Richmond, on the 20th of June, numbered,
fit for duty, 115,102 men. There were 12,225 sick, and 20,511 absent.
Leaves of absence and furloughs had been granted freely. Officers and
men, on a slight pretext, found it not very difficult to obtain leave
of absence, and thus this army, through no fault of the government,
became greatly depleted.
At this time General Jackson was in the Shenandoah Valley with a large
force. By his operations there, it was found necessary to keep General
McDowell in position to cover Washington. On the 18th of June, General
McClellan informed the Secretary of War that deserters said troops were
on their way from Richmond to reinforce Jackson.
On the same day, a man entered the Union lines at Fredericksburg, who
pretended to be a Frenchman. He stated that he met from ten to fifteen
thousand men on their way to Gordonsville, going to join Jackson.
A despatch was also received from General Sigel, who was in the Valley,
that a large body of Rebels had arrived at Gordonsville.
All of this went to show that a grand movement was to be made in the
Valley, or upon Washington. Such, undoubtedly, the Rebel commanders
intended the government at Washington should understand their plan
to be. But they had no intention of marching down the Shenandoah
Valley, or of attacking Washington. They wished to prevent any more
reinforcements from joining General McClellan, and also to cover their
real point of attack.
General McClellan's army was still divided by the Chickahominy. Sumner,
Heintzelman, and Keyes were on the south side, and Porter and Franklin,
with McCall's newly arrived troops, were on the north bank.
The real object of the Rebels was to crush the force on the north
bank by a sudden stroke with their whole army. By the movement to
Gordonsville they allayed suspicion, and transferred a division to
a position from which it could be hurled upon the flank of General
McClellan's force on the northern bank.
All of the railroad cars and engines which could be obtained were
brought to Richmond over the Lynchburg road. Whiting's and Ewell's
divisions were placed on board and taken to Lynchburg, and thence to
Gordonsville where they joined Jackson; but not stopping there, were
brought with Jackson's army to Frederickshall, on the Virginia Central
Railroad. From thence this large force marched to Ashland, arriving
there on the 25th.[34]
[Footnote 34: Campaign from Texas to Maryland.]
General McClellan was informed by a deserter, on the 24th, that
Jackson, Whiting, and Ewell were at Frederickshall, and that it was
intended to attack his rear on the 28th.[35] The information was
confirmed on the 25th by negroes who arrived at the Union lines, and
stated that Jackson was at Hanover Court-House.
[Footnote 35: McClellan's Despatch. Testimony, p. 338.]
General McClellan's lines were more than twenty miles in length. His
extreme right was north of the city of Richmond, on the road called
the Brooke Turnpike. No change was made in the position of the troops,
no breastworks were thrown up to protect the rear and flank. The only
change was the removal of the head-quarters' camp to the south side of
the Chickahominy. General Fitz-John Porter was left in command of the
troops on the north side.
On the morning of the 26th, the Rebel forces in Richmond moved out
to join Jackson. General Branch's division marched by the Brooke
road. General A. P. Hill moved over the Mechanicsville Turnpike;
while General Longstreet and General D. H. Hill took the Coal-Harbor
road still farther east, and came to the Chickahominy at New Bridge.
General Magruder, with one division, was left on the south side of the
stream.[36] The Rebel force north of the Chickahominy numbered about
60,000; south of it, about 20,000. The Union army north numbered about
30,000; south, 70,000.
[Footnote 36: Pollard's Southern History, p. 329.]
BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE.
If we were to start in a skiff at the bridge on the Brooke road,
and float down the slow and winding Chickahominy three miles, we
should come first to Meadow Bridge, on the road leading from Richmond
to Shady-Grove Church. Two miles farther would bring us to the
Mechanicsville Turnpike. The little village of Mechanicsville is two
miles towards the north. Two miles below the Mechanicsville Bridge is
the Upper Trestle Bridge, built by General McClellan. Two miles farther
down is New Bridge, on the road leading from Richmond to Coal Harbor.
There is a high hill on the south side of the stream, on the plantation
of Dr. Lewis, where the Rebels had a battery which commanded the bridge
and prevented General McClellan from using it. There was also a battery
on the north side, which General McClellan had planted to prevent the
Rebels from crossing at that point, and cutting off the force which
he had advanced to Mechanicsville. Still farther down the stream were
other bridges which had been erected by General McClellan's engineers.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE.
=UNION TROOPS.=
1 Seymour's Brigade.
2 Reynolds's "
3 Griffin's "
4 Martindale's "
=REBEL TROOPS.=
A Hill's division.
B Branch's Brigade.
C Mechanicsville.
D Ellison's Mills.]
At noon the enemy was seen advancing upon Meadow Bridge. The long
column descended the bank, forded the stream above the bridge, and
disappeared in the woods.
The Bucktails, who had driven Stewart at Dranesville, were sent out
to support the pickets, but were surprised to see a body of cavalry
dashing into the road behind them. They faced about, drove the cavalry,
fell back to Mechanicsville, followed by the pickets.
General McCall, who commanded there, had thrown up a line of
breastworks on the east side of the creek. He formed his troops on the
slope, with his batteries on the crest of the hill. General Reynolds's
brigade had the right, and General Seymour's the left. General Meade's
brigade was brought up as a reserve. General Porter sent forward
Griffin's and Martindale's brigades, which took position on the right
of Reynolds. Having thus formed his line, he waited the advance of the
enemy.
The force which came in sight first was A. P. Hill's division, followed
by General Branch's.
A short distance from the Chickahominy, on the creek, was Ellison's
Mills. The road from Mechanicsville to New Bridge crossed the creek at
that point. Another road leading from Mechanicsville to Coal Harbor
crossed it farther up. Timber had been felled, rifle-pits dug, and the
artillery planted so as to rake the only two feasible approaches.
General Hill formed his line for the attack on Ellison's Mills, while
General Branch advanced along the upper road against Reynolds.
The battle began at three o'clock, and raged with fury till nine
o'clock. There were no movements in the Union lines. The men stood
in their places and poured an uninterrupted fire upon the enemy, who
were vainly endeavoring to cross the ravine and scale the heights. The
artillery, fifty pieces, rained solid shot, shells, grape, canister,
shrapnel, all sorts of missiles, producing great slaughter.
General D. H. Hill arrived with his division, and joined in the attack
upon Seymour at the Mills, but was received with a "murderous fire."[37]
[Footnote 37: Confederate Narrative, Rebellion Record, Vol. V.
p. 250.]
The united efforts of the two Hills and General Branch were not
sufficient to dislodge the two brigades which held the position.
Griffin, Martindale, and Meade were ready to lend assistance, but were
not engaged. Griffin only fired a few shots. The Union loss was eighty
killed and about two hundred wounded. The Rebel loss is supposed to
have been nearly three thousand. The assaults upon the rifle-pits were
made with great desperation, but the men could not get through the
impassable abattis, and were cut down by the constant and steady fire
of musketry and canister at short range.
But the advance of General Jackson by Coal Harbor made it necessary
to withdraw the troops from this strong position and concentrate the
entire force on the north bank, to cover the bridges which had been
constructed between the two wings of the army. During the night General
McCall's division was withdrawn, contrary to the remonstrances of the
brave men who had held the ground against five times their force; but
they did not know that Jackson was on their rear with 40,000 men.
General McClellan ordered the heavy guns and all the baggage to be sent
across the Chickahominy. He had already meditated a retreat to the
James River.
"Run the cars to the last moment, and load them with provisions and
ammunition. Load every wagon you have with subsistence, and send them
to Savage Station," was the order sent to Colonel Ingalls, the Chief
Quarter-Master at White-House.
THE BATTLE OF GAINES'S MILLS.
The battle which was fought on the 27th of June is known in the South
as the battle of Coal Harbor; in the North, as the battle of Gaines's
Mills. General Fitz-John Porter commanded the Union troops, and General
Lee the Rebel army.
Starting from the Chickahominy and traveling up the little creek which
supplies Dr. Gaines's Mill with water, we come to the battle-field,
which lies on our right hand, east of the creek. The ravine is narrow
and the banks on both sides are steep. General Porter has cut down
the trees which stood on the hillside, and has thrown up rifle-pits
and intrenchments. He is to hold the enemy in check, while General
McClellan makes preparations for a retreat to James River. He has
thirty thousand men against seventy thousand. Commencing on the creek
near the Chickahominy, we see on our right hand General Morrell's
division, with Butterfield's, Martindale's, and Griffin's brigades.
Upon the other side is Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and Whiting.
General Griffin's brigade is south of the road which comes down from
Coal Harbor. Across the road is General Sykes's division of regulars,
composed of Warren's, Chapman's and Buchanan's brigades, confronted
by Ewell's, D. H. Hill's, and Jackson's divisions. General Porter's
second line at the beginning of the battle is composed of McCall's
division, stationed near the center, in rear of Griffin. He has some
cavalry on the road leading to Alexander's Bridge.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF GAINES'S MILLS.
=UNION TROOPS.=
1 Butterfield's Brigade.
2 Martindale's "
3 Griffin's "
4 Sykes's Division.
5 McCall's "
6 Slocum's "
=REBEL TROOPS.=
A Longstreet's Division.
B A. P. Hill's "
C Whiting's "
D Ewell's "
E D. H. Hill's "
F Jackson's "
G New Coal-Harbor, Lee's Head-Quarters.]
Late in the day Slocum's division, of Sumner's corps, crosses Sumner's
Bridge and takes position in rear of Sykes's.
It is a hot, sultry day. General Lee is at Hogan's plantation, near
New Coal-Harbor, sitting beneath the portico of the farm-house,
absorbed in thought. He is neatly dressed in a gray uniform, buttoned
to the throat. Longstreet is sitting in an old chair at the foot of
the steps beneath the trees, eating a lunch, with his feet against a
tree, his uniform faded and torn, buttons missing, and his boots old
and dusty. Gregg, Wilcox, Pryor, Featherstone, and other generals are
there waiting for Jackson, who has been marching hard all the morning
to get into position. A courier comes down the Coal-Harbor road,
delivers a message to Lee, who mounts his horse and rides away to New
Coal-Harbor.[38]
[Footnote 38: Battle-Fields of the South.]
It is past two o'clock in the afternoon before Lee is ready to begin
the attack. There has been a cannonade all along the line north
and south of the Chickahominy. Magruder, on the south side, has
instructions to make a grand demonstration, as if he was going to
attack McClellan. It is his intention to keep him from sending troops
to Porter's aid.
Lee intends to make a grand onset and sweep Porter into the
Chickahominy. Under cover of a tremendous fire from the artillery,
A. P. Hill begins the attack upon Griffin and Martindale, but under
the superior and effective fire of Captain Griffin's United States
battery, Weeden's Rhode Island, and Allen's and Martin's Massachusetts
batteries, the Rebel batteries are "overpowered and driven from the
field."[39] The Rebel infantry advances through the belt of timber, and
descends the ravine. From the rifle-pits there are sudden flashes and
quick spirts of flame, and the battle-cloud becomes thick and heavy.
[Footnote 39: Campaign from Texas to Maryland, p. 46.]
It would require many pages to make a full record of the terrible
combat. How Longstreet urged his men into the woods,--how the battle
rolled through the forest and surged back again,--how brigade after
brigade marched against Martindale, Griffin, and Butterfield, only
to fall back with broken and shattered ranks,--how the ground became
thick with the dead and wounded,--how men fired into each other's faces
and fell almost into each other's arms, mingling their life-blood in
one crimson stream,--how Jackson pressed on over the plain, urging
his men nearer and nearer,--how the Pennsylvania Reserves went up to
aid the Regulars,--how couriers dashed through the woods, over the
bridges to General McClellan, who was on the southern bank, asking
for reinforcements,--how Slocum's division went over, reached the
field, held in check the dark masses forming upon the flank of the
Regulars and Reserves, and held the ground. The hours hung heavily.
Three o'clock,--four o'clock,--five o'clock,--and no break in the line.
Thirty-five thousand against seventy! But the pressure is terrible.
French's and Meagher's brigades are ordered over. But moments are
precious. Six o'clock; the onset is greater than ever. Every regiment,
every man, is brought to the front, on both sides. The artillery still
thunders, but the infantry are out of ammunition. Longstreet has been
hurled back as often as he has advanced, and so has A. P. Hill and D.
H. Hill, but Jackson is working toward the Chickahominy on the left.
Sykes's men, who have been facing north, are obliged to face east to
meet the troops moving in a steady stream down the road leading to Old
Coal-Harbor. Men begin to leave the ranks and move toward the rear.
There is a desperate rush from Jackson's brigades upon the guns. The
Union line gives way.
If there was a fresh division or a brigade even at hand, the tide might
be stopped. There are sixty thousand men upon the southern bank of the
river, but General McClellan is afraid that Magruder with his division
will make an attack.
Whiting's division, which has been held in reserve by Lee, is ordered
up. All of his desperate charges and onsets have failed. If Whiting
fails, the battle is lost.
The Regulars and the Pennsylvania Reserves are worn out. Their
ammunition is nearly gone. Porter orders up his last man. They can have
no more support. At this moment, after they have held at bay for four
hours the great host, they are called upon to withstand the last grand
charge of Jackson.
Whiting advances, he is received with grape and canister. His line
halts, wavers, almost breaks; but Jackson, Whiting, Hood, and Law
urge the men to push on. They leap across the ravine, halt a moment,
sheltered by the bank above them from the fire of the Union batteries,
and then leap the breastwork and seize the guns. There is a short
struggle, a falling back, a retreat, and the battle of Gaines's Mills
is lost to General McClellan.
Meagher and French have reached the field, but they are too late to
save the day. Twenty guns have fallen into Lee's hands, and several
hundred prisoners. The cavalry in the rear draw their sabers, dash
upon the exultant foe, but it is an ineffectual charge. The retreating
troops fall in behind French and Meagher, form a new line nearer the
Chickahominy, as the darkness comes on. They have been driven from
their first position, but Lee has not power enough to drive them into
the Chickahominy. He decides to wait till morning before renewing the
attack.
The morning dawns, and Porter is beyond his reach across the river,
with all his siege guns, ammunition, and supplies.
How near Lee came to losing the battle may be seen by the following
extract from the narration of a Rebel correspondent of the Richmond
Whig:--
"It was absolutely necessary that we should carry their line, and,
to do this, regiment after regiment, and brigade after brigade was
successively led forward; still our repeated charges, gallant and
dashing though they were, failed to accomplish the end, and our troops,
still fighting, fell steadily back. Thus for more than two mortal hours
the momentous issue stood trembling in the balance. The sun was getting
far in the west, darkness would soon be upon us, and the point must be
carried. At this juncture--it was now five o'clock--the division of
the gallant Whiting hove in sight. On reaching the field their troops
rapidly deployed in line.... The charge was made under the most galling
fire I ever witnessed; shot, shell, grape, canister, and ball swept
through our lines like a storm of leaden hail, and our noble boys fell
thick and fast; and yet still, with the irresistible determination of
men who fight for all that men hold dear, our gallant boys rushed on.
"Suddenly a halt was made,--there was a deep pause, and the line
wavered from right to left. We now saw the character of the enemy's
works. A ravine deep and wide yawned before us, while from the other
side of the crest of the almost perpendicular bank, a breastwork of
logs was erected, from behind which the dastard invaders were pouring
murderous volleys upon our troops. The pause made by our troops was but
a brief breathing space. The voice of Law was heard, 'Forward, boys!
charge them!' and with a wild, mad shout our impetuous soldiery dashed
forward."[40]
[Footnote 40: Richmond Whig, June 29, 1862.]
THE MOVEMENT TO JAMES RIVER.
On the morning of the 28th, General Keyes and General Porter, followed
by long trains of wagons and herds of cattle, moved towards the south,
through the dark forests of White-Oak Swamp. At White-House landing,
sloops, schooners, barges, and steamers were departing for Yorktown.
At Savage Station the torch was applied to all the stores which could
not be removed. Barrels of pork, beef, sugar, bags of coffee, boxes
of bread, were destroyed. A railroad train loaded with ammunition was
standing on the track. The engine was ready for use. Far down the
track, there was a pillar of cloud rising from the burnt bridge across
the Chickahominy. The cars were set on fire. The engineer stepped upon
the engine for the last time, and pulled the throttle. The wheels
began to turn. He opened the valve to its full width, and jumped upon
the ground. The engine sprang down the descending grade, propelled by
the pent-up power. It is two miles from the station to the bridge,
and over this distance it rushed like an unchained tiger. Sparkling,
crackling, roaring with increasing velocity, dashing along the fields,
over the meadows, through the forests, a trail of fire, a streaming
banner of flame and smoke, a linked thunderbolt, rumbling, growling,
exploding, leaping from the abutment full forty feet, bursting into a
million fragments, jarring the earth with the mighty concussion, and
disappearing beneath the waters, a wreck, a ruin forever!
General McClellan was obliged to leave some of his sick and wounded.
Many soldiers shed tears as they bade a last farewell to their comrades.
"I would rather die than fall into the hands of the Rebels," said one.
"O my God! is this the reward I deserve for all the sacrifices I have
made, the battles I have fought, and the agony I have endured from my
wounds?"[41] was the despairing cry of another.
[Footnote 41: Peninsular Campaign.]
"Do not be ashamed of your cause. Defend it boldly, and put your trust
in God"; were the words of one noble chaplain, Rev. Mr. Marks, who
would not leave them, but who remained to be a prisoner for their
sakes. They prayed together and sang a hymn.
"Jesus, my God, I know his name,
His name is all my trust;
He will not put my soul to shame,
Nor let it e'er be lost."
They were comforted, and resolved to meet their fate like men.
The Rebels made no attack on Saturday. They were compelled to repair
the bridges which had been destroyed, before they could cross the
Chickahominy. General Sumner commanded the rear-guard. He retreated
slowly on Saturday to Peach Orchard, and halted to destroy the supplies.
On Sunday morning a portion of Lee's army advanced to attack Sumner,
who was at Peach Orchard and Allen's Farm; but Hazard's and Pettit's
batteries, with Sedgwick's division, quickly repulsed them.
BATTLE OF SAVAGE STATION.
Lee's divisions, one after another, filed across the hastily repaired
bridges. General Franklin was north of the railroad. He saw them, and
sent word to General Sumner, who fell back with Franklin to Savage
Station. General Franklin was on the right, Sumner in the center, and
Heintzelman nearer Richmond on the left. There was a misunderstanding
of orders; and General Heintzelman moved across White-Oak Swamp, which
exposed Sumner's left flank to the enemy.
Through the long Sabbath hours, these troops stood upon the wide plain
facing northwest, seemingly motionless almost as statues, while the
long wagon trains moved into the woods towards the south. They were
the rear-guard, and on them depended the salvation of the army.
Following the wagons were thousands of sick and wounded, working their
way towards the swamp, urged on by hope of escaping the hands of the
Rebels. It was heart-rending to hear the words of those who were too
badly wounded to be moved, or who could not be taken away.
The sun went down. Evening was coming on, yet the twenty thousand
men remained upon that field awaiting the attack,--three lines of
resolute, determined men. Brooks's, Hancock's, and Burns's brigades
were in front; with Osborn's, Bramhall's, Hazard's, and Pettit's
batteries,--twenty-four guns.
It was past five o'clock before the enemy opened the battle. An hour
passed of constant artillery firing. Then the Rebels advanced across
the wide and level plain with yellings and howlings.
There was a stream of fire from Sumner's line,--a steady outpouring of
deadly volleys. It was twenty thousand against forty thousand. There
were answering volleys from the Rebel lines. Sumner's batteries left
off firing shell and threw canister, and the lines, which had advanced
so triumphantly, were sent in confusion across the field. Again they
advanced, and were again repulsed. Longstreet and Jackson, once more
under cover of the gathering darkness, urged on their reluctant
troops. Sumner brought up his reserve brigades. It was a short, sharp
struggle,--a wild night-tempest,--the roaring of fifty cannon, and
thirty thousand muskets. The evening was unusually calm. Not a breath
of air stirred the leaves of the trees. The stars shone brightly.
Strange the scene,--so weird and terrible upon that plain! A thousand
men dropped from the Union ranks, and thrice that number from the ranks
of the Rebels.
"Who are you?" asked an officer of the Fifth Vermont, dimly seeing a
regiment in the darkness.
There was a momentary silence, and then the question, "Who are you?"
"The Fifth Vermont."
"Let them have it, boys," were the words of command shouted by the
Rebel officer. The Vermonters heard it. There was no flinching.
Instantly their rifles came to their cheeks.
There were two broad flashes of light, two rows of dead and wounded.
But the Vermonters held their ground; and the Rebels, shattered,
repulsed, and utterly defeated, disappeared in the gloom of night. It
was hard for the brave men to go away from their fallen comrades and
leave them upon the field which they had defended with their life's
blood, but it was impossible to remove them; and the long lines closed
in upon the wagons, marched down the forest road, and at daylight were
south of White-Oak Swamp.
BATTLE OF GLENDALE.
"Glendale" is the euphonious name given by Mr. Nelson to his farm,
which is located two miles south of White-Oak Swamp. It is a place
where several roads meet; from the north, the Swamp road; from the
east, the Long-Bridge road; from the south, the road leading to Malvern
Hill; from the southwest, the Newmarket road; from the northwest, the
Charles City road, leading to Richmond. There are farm-houses, groves,
ravines, wheat-fields waving with grain. Upon the Malvern road, there
is a church. West of the church, a half-mile, is the mansion of Mr.
Frazier, where the Rebel lines were formed on the 30th of June.
At sunrise on that morning, all the divisions of the Union army were
south of the swamp. Richardson and Smith, with Naglee's brigade, of
Casey's division, were guarding the passage at the swamp. Slocum was
on the Charles City road, northwest of the church. Kearney was between
that road and the Newmarket road. McCall was on the Newmarket road,
with Hooker and Sedgwick behind him, nearer the church.
Porter and Keyes were at Malvern with the trains, two miles distant.
Lee divided his army. Jackson, D. H. Hill, and Ewell followed McClellan
down the Swamp road; while A. P. Hill, Longstreet, Huger, Magruder,
and Holmes made all haste down the Charles City road from Richmond, to
strike McClellan on the flank and divide his army. The President of
the Confederacy went out with A. P. Hill to see the Union army cut to
pieces.
Jackson reached the bridge across the sluggish stream in the swamp, but
it was torn up; and on the southern bank stood Smith and Richardson.
Hazard's, Ayres's, and Pettit's batteries were in position. Jackson
brought up all his guns. There was a fierce artillery fight, lasting
through the day. Jackson succeeded in getting a small infantry force
across towards evening, but it was not strong enough to make an attack,
and nothing came of all his efforts to harass the rear.
During the afternoon, the pickets on the Charles City road discovered
A. P. Hill's troops filing off from the road, west of Frazier's farm,
toward the south. They went across the fields, and through the woods
to the Newmarket road. While the main body was thus taking position, a
small body of infantry and a battery opened fire upon Slocum; but he
had cut down the forest in his front, forming an impassable barrier, so
that he was secure from attack.
General McCall formed his division of six thousand men, with
Meade's brigade, north of the road, Seymour's south of it, and
Reynolds's,--commanded in this battle by Colonel Simmons,--in reserve.
He had five batteries,--Randall's on the right, Kerns's and Cooper's in
the center, and Dietrich's and Kanerhun's on the left,--all in front of
his infantry, looking down a gentle slope upon an open field; on the
west there was a brook, fringed with a forest growth, with the farm of
Mr. Frazier beyond.
It was half past two before Hill was ready to make the attack. He
threw out two regiments as skirmishers, which advanced to feel of
McCall's lines; but they were repulsed by the Seventh and Twelfth
Pennsylvania Reserves. Hill had twelve brigades, six of his own and six
of Longstreet's. Magruder and Huger had not arrived. His plan was to
strike with all his force at once.
Brigade after brigade advanced, but recoiled before the direct fire of
the batteries, sustained by the infantry.
"The thunder of the cannon, the cracking of the musketry, from
thousands of combatants, mingled with screams from the wounded and
dying, were terrific to the ear and to the imagination," says a
correspondent of the Cologne Gazette.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF GLENDALE.
1 Smith and Richardson.
2 Slocum.
3 Kearney.
4 Sumner.
5 Hooker.
6 McCall.
A Jackson, Ewell, and D. H. Hill.
B A. P. Hill and Longstreet.
C Newmarket road.
D Quaker road. ]
"Volleys upon volleys streamed across our front in such quick
succession that it seemed impossible for any human being to live under
it,"[42] writes a Rebel officer.
[Footnote 42: Battle-Fields of the South, p. 170.]
Five o'clock! The battle has raged two hours and a half, sustained
wholly by McCall, and Hill has not driven him an inch.
The Rebels desist from their direct attack in front, and throw all
their force upon Seymour's left, south of the road. McCall sends over
the Fifth and Eighth Regiments from his second line.
"Change front with the infantry and artillery," is his order.
Hill is pushing along his left flank to gain his rear.
McCall orders a charge, and it is executed with a promptness and vigor
sufficient to check the advancing troops. But his line has become
disordered by the charge. Hill improves the opportunity, and hurries up
his reserve brigades, which fire while advancing.
The gunners of the German batteries leave their pieces. McCall rides
among them, rallies them a moment, but the drivers are panic-stricken.
They dash off to the rear, breaking through the infantry, and trampling
down the men. The Rebels rush upon the deserted guns with unparalleled
frenzy. The line of McCall is broken, and portions of his troops follow
the fleeing cannoneers.
General McCall tries to rally the fugitives, but they are deaf to all
his orders. They stream on through Hooker's and Sumner's line.
Will Hooker's men join the drifting current? Now or never they must be
brave. Now or never their country is to be saved. All hearts feel it;
all hands are ready. They stand in the gateway of centuries. Unnumbered
millions are beckoning them to do their duty.
Hooker has Grover's brigade on the right, Carr's in the center,
and Sickles's on the left,--just the order in which they stood at
Williamsburg.
The Sixteenth Massachusetts, led by the heroic Colonel Wyman, met the
pursuers. The Sixty-Ninth Pennsylvania, of Sedgwick's division, joining
upon Hooker's right, delivered at the same moment a fire upon the flank
of the enemy. Along Sumner's front, from King's, Kirby's, Tompkins's
Owen's, and Bartlett's batteries, flashed double-shotted guns. It was
as if a voice had said, "Thus far and no farther!" Hooker's infantry
came into close battle-line, delivered a fire, which forced the Rebels
over against Sumner's batteries; which, in turn, threw them against
Kearney, and against Meade's brigade, which had not joined in the
fight. Grover pushed on with the First and Sixteenth Massachusetts,
the Second New Hampshire, and Twenty-Sixth Pennsylvania, with reckless
daring. Hill was driven back over all the ground he had won, with great
slaughter.
It was a decided repulse, but costly to the Sixteenth Massachusetts.
Its noble colonel fell at the head of his regiment. These were the last
words of one of the soldiers of that regiment: "I thank God that I am
permitted to die for my country, and I thank him yet more that I am
prepared,--or at least I hope I am."
So complete was the repulse that the Rebel troops became a mob, and
fled in terror towards Richmond.
"Many old soldiers," says a Rebel officer, "who had served on the
plains of Arkansas and Missouri wept in the bitterness of their souls
like children. Of what avail had it been to us that our best blood
had flowed for six long days? Of what avail all of our unceasing and
exhaustless endurance? Everything seemed lost, and a general depression
came over all our hearts. Batteries dashed past in headlong flight.
Ammunition, hospital, and supply wagons rushed along, and swept the
troops away with them from the battle-field. In vain the most frantic
exertions, entreaty, and self-sacrifice of the staff officers! The
troops had lost their foothold, and all was over with the Southern
Confederacy!"[43]
[Footnote 43: Cologne Gazette account.]
General Magruder's arrival alone saved Hill from an ignominious flight.
Through the night there was the red glare of torches upon the
battle-field where the Rebel wounded were being gathered up. Great
was the loss. Up to daylight there was no apparent diminution of the
heart-rending cries and groans of the wounded. A mournful wail was
heard from Glendale during that long, dismal night.[44]
[Footnote 44: Hooker's Report.]
THE BATTLE OF MALVERN.
The battle-field of July 1st, 1862, bears the pleasant name of Malvern.
It is on the north bank of the James,--an elevated plain near the
river, but declining gently towards the north,--divided into corn
and wheat fields, bordered on the east and west and south by wooded
ravines. The estate is owned by Dr. Carter. Although it bears a name so
pleasant, there have been sad scenes upon those fertile fields,--not
alone the shock, roar, and horror of a great battle, but the low
wail of mothers for their infants, torn from their arms and sold to
slave-traders,--the agonies of men under torture of the whip, their
flesh torn and mangled by an unfeeling master.
"Was he a good master?" I asked of an old negro at City Point, in July,
1864.
"No, sir. He was very bad, sir. He was de wussest dat eber was, sir. He
was so bad dat we call him Hell Carter, sir. 'Cause we tink dat de Lord
will send him to de bad place one ob dese days, sir. He go dere sure,
sir."
The mansion is a quaint old structure, built of red bricks, surrounded
by elms, and commanding a wide panorama of the James, of the valley of
the Appomattox, and the distant Richmond hills.
The house was standing in the time of the Revolution, and was marked on
the map of Cornwallis.
West of Malvern are the Strawberry Plains. A streamlet, which rises in
the vicinity of Glendale, courses to the James through a wooded ravine
between the Strawberry grounds and Malvern. The hill is so sharp and
steep and high that General Barnard was able to plant two tiers of
guns upon the slope, and crown it with heavy siege guns. The trees in
the ravine were felled, and rifle-pits thrown up, extending along the
western side and across the open field towards the north, where the
slope of the hill shades into the level plain.
Eastward, the trees were felled and their branches lopped by the
pioneers. It was a strong position, and these preparations made it
impregnable. Lee must assail it from the northwest,--over the wide
plain, exposed to the fire of sixty cannon.
Porter's corps occupied the ravine between Malvern and the Plains.
Couch's, Kearney's, and Hooker's divisions held the front towards the
north. Sumner's and Franklin's corps held the left; the Pennsylvania
Reserves and the remainder of Keyes's corps, the center. The line
was semicircular, and so well concentrated were the troops, that
reinforcements, if needed, might be had with little delay.
In the James River, two miles distant, lay a fleet of five gunboats,
carrying heavy guns,--near enough to throw shells upon the Strawberry
Plains.
The Rebels advanced cautiously. Jackson, Ewell, Whiting, and D. H.
Hill moved down the Quaker road, while Magruder, Longstreet, Huger,
and Holmes came down the Richmond road. Jackson, D. H. Hill, and Ewell
appeared in front of Couch; Huger and Magruder, in front of Morell's
division of Porter's corps; while Holmes filed through the woods
towards the James, along the western edge of Strawberry Plains.
Although the distance from Glendale is but two and a half miles, it
was past ten o'clock before the head of Magruder's columns appeared in
sight. A. P. Hill's division, which had been so terribly shattered at
Glendale, was left behind.
Magruder shelled the woods and advanced cautiously. There was a
pattering skirmish fire through the forenoon, with an artillery duel at
long range.
Noon passed, and there was no apparent disposition on the part of the
Rebels to make an attack. They dreaded the terrible fire from the
numerous guns gleaming in the sun upon the hillside.
[Illustration: BATTLE OF MALVERN.
1 Warren's Brig., Sykes's Div.
2 Buchanan's " " "
8 Chapman's " " "
4 Griffin's " Morell's "
5 Martindale's " " "
6 Butterfield's " " "
7 Couch's Division.
8 Sumner's and Heintzelman's Corps.
9 McCall's Division.
10 Abatis.
A Jackson, D. H. Hill, and Ewell.
B Longstreet.
C Magruder and Huger.
D A. P. Hill.
E Holmes.]
General Magruder brought all of the cannon into position which could be
advantageously posted, and at two o'clock opened a rapid fire, which
was replied to by the batteries on the hill. He threw forward his
skirmishers at an earlier hour.
Jackson moved forward a division upon Couch an hour later, but it was
hurled back in confusion by the fire of the batteries, and the deadly
volley delivered from the rifle-pits.
Holmes, all the while, had been edging towards the river, to gain the
rear of McClellan, but the enormous shells from the gunboats, which
tore down the forests, paralyzed his soldiers.
There was a consultation among the Rebel commanders. Lee had intrusted
the command in his center to Magruder. His brigadier-generals did not
want to advance over the plain.
"I am unwilling to slaughter my brigade," said General Cobb, "but, if
you command me, I shall make the charge if my last man falls."
"I intend to make the charge, no matter what it costs," said Magruder.
The commanders went to their brigades, murmuring that Magruder was
drunk, that it would be madness to make the attack.[45]
[Footnote 45: Pollard, Southern Hist.]
Magruder formed his line in the woods. Armistead's brigade moved upon
the Union picket line and drove it back. "Advance rapidly, press
forward your whole line, and follow up Armistead's successes. They are
reported to be getting off," was Lee's message to Magruder.
It was past six o'clock before Mahone, Ransom, Wright, Jones, and
Cobb were ready. At the word of command, fifteen thousand men move
from the shelter of the woods and appear upon the open plain, moving
in solid phalanx,--close, compact, shoulder to shoulder, to capture,
by a desperate charge, the batteries upon the hillside. It is madness!
Success has made them reckless.
With shoutings and howlings they break into a run. Instantly the hill
is all aflame, from base to summit. Shells, shrapnel, and canister are
poured upon them. There is the bellowing of a hundred cannon, mingled
with the multitudinous rattling of thousands of small arms.
The Rebel lines melt away,--whole squadrons tumbling headlong. In vain
the effort, the men waver, turn, and disappear within the woods.
Magruder is furious at the failure. Again the attempt,--again the same
result.
The sun is going down behind the hills when he makes his last
effort. Meagher and Sickles go up from the right, and strengthen
Porter's center. There is a shifting of batteries,--a movement to new
positions,--a re-arranging of regiments. The artillery on both sides,
and the gunboats, keep up a constant fire.
The Rebels advance, but they are not able to reach the base of the
hill. "From sixteen batteries," says the chaplain of the Fourth Texas,
"and from their gunboats they beclouded the day and lit the night with
a lurid glare. Add to this the light and noise of our own artillery,
which had been brought forward, and, like an opposing volcano with
a hundred craters, it gleamed, and flashed streams and sheets of
fire,--while long lines of human forms cast their shadows upon the
darkness in the background, and each joined with his firelock in hand
to contribute to the terrors of the awful scene."[46]
[Footnote 46: Campaign from Texas to Maryland.]
Officers and men, in this contest, go down in one indiscriminate
slaughter. They are whirled into the air, torn, mangled, blown into
fragments. They struggle against the merciless storm, break, and
disappear in the darkness, panting, exhausted, foiled, dispirited,
demoralized, refusing to be murdered, and uttering execrations upon the
drunken Magruder.[47]
[Footnote 47: Battle-Fields of the South.]
Although the army was upon James River, and in communication with
the gunboats, and although the Rebels had been repulsed mainly by
the artillery, orders were issued by General McClellan to retreat to
Harrison's Landing. At midnight the troops were on the march, stealing
noiselessly away, abandoning the wounded.
"Although," says General McClellan, "the result of the battle of
Malvern was a complete victory, it was necessary to fall back still
farther, in order to reach a point where our supplies could be brought
to us with certainty."[48]
[Footnote 48: Report, p. 140.]
There were some officers who were much amazed at this order. They felt
that having reached the river and defeated the enemy with terrible
slaughter there should be no more falling back.
"It is one of the strangest things in this week of disaster," says
Chaplain Marks, "that General McClellan ordered a retreat to Harrison's
Landing, six miles down James River, after we had gained so decided a
victory. When the order was received by the impatient and eager army,
consternation and amazement overwhelmed our patriotic and ardent hosts.
Some refused to obey the command. General Martindale shed tears of
shame. The brave and chivalrous Kearny said in the presence of many
officers, 'I, Philip Kearny, an old soldier, enter my solemn protest
against this order for retreat; we ought, instead of retreating, to
follow up the enemy and take Richmond. And, in full view of all the
responsibility of such a declaration, I say to you all, such an order
can only be prompted by cowardice or treason.'"[49]
[Footnote 49: Peninsular Campaign, p. 294.]
CHAPTER IX.
AFFAIRS IN FRONT OF WASHINGTON.
The prospects of the Rebels, which were so gloomy in April, were
bright once more. They had driven the Army of the Potomac away from
Richmond. It was August. A month had passed and General McClellan had
shown no disposition to advance again upon Richmond. A consultation
was held in that city. President Davis said that the time had come to
strike a great blow. General Pope was in front of Washington with forty
thousand men. It was determined to crush him, invade Maryland, and
capture Baltimore and Washington. The Southern newspapers hinted that
Tennessee, Kentucky, and the whole of Virginia were to be recovered,
that Maryland was to be liberated from oppression, Philadelphia,
Pittsburg, and Cincinnati assailed.
General Lee's army numbered not far from one hundred thousand, having
been reinforced by troops from the South. Those troops who had fought
Burnside in North Carolina were hurried up; others were sent from South
Carolina, Florida, and Georgia. Conscription was enforced vigorously.
General Lee proposed to leave a force in Richmond large enough to hold
it against McClellan, while he sent the main body of the army to fall
like a thunderbolt on General Pope.
These preparations were known in Washington, and on the 3d of August
General Halleck, who had been placed in command of all the troops in
the field, telegraphed to General McClellan to send his army to Aquia
Creek as soon as possible. General Burnside's troops were withdrawn
from Fortress Monroe, and united to Pope's army.
General McClellan wished to remain upon the James and attack Richmond
from that quarter, but General Halleck felt that it was absolutely
necessary to unite the two armies. "You must move with all possible
celerity," was the telegram sent on the 9th of August.
But it was not till the 16th that the army broke up its camp and moved
down the Peninsula, to Yorktown.
While that despatch of the 9th was on the wires, Jackson, D. H. Hill,
Ewell, and Winder were engaged with Pope on the Rapidan.
General Pope had advanced from the Rappahannock, to hold the enemy
in check till the Army of the Potomac could be brought back from the
Peninsula.
BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN.
Fertile and fair are the farms of Culpepper, as beautiful as any in
the Old Dominion. They are watered by swiftly running streams. Their
slopes are verdant and sunny, sheltered by the Blue Ridge from wintry
blasts. Beyond the town of Culpepper, towards the south, there is a
hillock, called Cedar Mountain, which rises abruptly, and in shape like
a sugar-loaf. Near the Mountain is the house of Rev. Mr. Slaughter.
Robinson's Creek winds through his farm, south of the Mountain, on its
course to the Rapidan. North of the Mountain is the residence of Mrs.
Crittenden. The house is shaded by overhanging trees. It stands on the
west side of the highway leading from Culpepper to Madison. Standing
there and looking towards the Mountain, we see fields of corn and
wheat, groves and woods, bordering the field.
General Crawford's brigade of Banks's corps, in the advance from
Culpepper to the Rapidan, on the 8th of August, encountered Jackson's
pickets at the base of the Mountain, upon the farm of Mr. Slaughter.
On Saturday morning, the 9th instant, General Williams's division
joined Crawford. As the troops approached the farm of Mrs. Crittenden,
the base and summit of the Mountain seemingly became volcanic. There
was an outburst of flame and smoke, a screaming in the air, and the
deep reverberation of the cannonade.
Williams's batteries were soon in position, and replied with shot and
shells.
General Banks arrived. He formed a line of battle, placing Williams's
division west of the Madison road, near Mrs. Crittenden's house, and
Augur's division east of it, nearer the Mountain. On the right of the
line west of the house was Gordon's brigade, next Crawford, Geary,
Greene, and Prince.
Jackson, from his lookout on the Mountain, could see all the movements
of General Banks. He threw out a line of skirmishers. Banks did the
same. They met midway the armies, and began the contest. An hour
passed of rapid artillery firing. Then the infantry became engaged,
Jackson throwing his brigades upon Prince, turning his flank, and
pushing him back. At the same time there was a furious attack upon
Crawford. His men stood it awhile, then charged the Rebel lines, but
were repulsed. Gordon moved in to take his place. The left of the
line, Prince and Geary and Greene, was swinging back. Jackson was
moving fresh brigades upon the center, but Gordon held them in check.
His men dropped rapidly, but so destructive were his volleys that the
Rebel line wavered and then retreated. But other brigades were thrown
upon Gordon's right flank. They swept him with an enfilading fire, and
he, too, was compelled to retreat or be cut off. He retired past Mrs.
Crittenden's, across Cedar Creek. There Banks formed again, planted his
artillery, and waited the advance of the enemy.
Ricketts's division came up from McDowell's corps, ready to receive
Jackson, but the Rebel general was content with what he had already
accomplished.
During the night there was an artillery duel, and a skirmish among the
pickets.
In the morning, a white flag was displayed on the field, and the
wounded were gathered, and the dead buried. Officers from both armies
met and conversed freely of the war. General Hartsuff, and the Rebel
General Stuart, who were old acquaintances, shook hands upon the ground
where the contest had been so fierce.
General Jackson withdrew his forces after the battle towards
Gordonsville, to wait the advance of the main army, under Lee, while
General Pope pushed south to the Rapidan.
On the 16th, General Pope's cavalry captured a Rebel courier, who was
bearing a letter from Lee to Jackson, from which it was ascertained
that the whole of Lee's army was moving north from Richmond, to
crush Pope before McClellan could join him. General Pope was prompt
to act upon this information. He retreated to the north bank of the
Rappahannock, planted his artillery to cover the fords, hoping to hold
Lee in check till he was reinforced.
Lee followed rapidly with his whole army. He reached the Rappahannock
on the 21st, attempted to cross, but was foiled in all his movements.
Suddenly, on the night of the 22d, General Stuart fell upon the Orange
and Alexandria Railroad at Catlett's Station, in General Pope's rear.
It was a dark, rainy night. Many army wagons were there, and some were
burned. All the hor
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