Washington, whither he had been summoned from the west, to assume the
chief command of all the armies of the United States. It was felt by the
government that there ought now to be a military head of affairs.
McClellan was still on the James river. On assuming command, General
Halleck visited General McClellan at Harrison’s Landing, and took
counsel with him, as to future movements. But the respective plans of
the two generals did not coincide; and, of course, the policy of General
Halleck prevailed. McClellan wished for reinforcements, and desired once
more to advance against Richmond, by way of the Peninsula. General
Halleck, however, ordered him to evacuate the Peninsula, and join his
forces to those of the Army of Virginia. The latter had, meantime, been
formed, by the consolidation of the forces under Banks, McDowell, and
Fremont, its command being intrusted to General Pope. This officer took
the field on the 27th of July, being charged to protect the city of
Washington, guard the valley of the Shenandoah against further rebel
raids, and, by bold advances against Richmond from the north, to
distract the attention of the foe from the projected movement of
McClellan’s forces, from Harrison’s Landing to Acquia Creek. The Army of
Virginia consisted, at this time, of twenty-eight thousand men, and was
stationed in the vicinity of Culpepper and Fredericksburg, on the
northern bank of the Rapidan river.
It was the 7th of August when General Pope learned that the rebels were
crossing the Rapidan, in great force. Those of his troops which had been
dispersed for the sake of observation, received orders to rally
immediately at Culpepper. Crawford’s brigade of Banks’s corps was,
during the forenoon of the next day, dispatched towards Cedar Mountain,
in order that it might, so far as possible, retard the movements of the
enemy. General Banks, on the evening of the 8th, had arrived from Hazel
river; and early on Saturday morning he was sent forward with his corps
of seven thousand men to join General Crawford.
The rebels had already, on Thursday, the 7th of August, stationed
themselves on an eminence near Culpepper Court House, called Cedar
Mountain; having crossed the Rapidan under command of General Stonewall
Jackson. General Sigel, by forced marches, was hastening to the support
of General Banks.
About five o’clock in the afternoon the rebels assailed General Banks
with a destructive fire of both artillery and infantry. General
Crawford’s brigade was conspicuous in the battle. It consisted of the
Tenth Maine, Twenty-eighth New York, Forty-sixth Pennsylvania, and Fifth
Connecticut. The enemy’s batteries were stationed on Cedar Mountain,
considerably above the positions occupied by the Union troops. The two
forces were about a mile from each other: and the battle was waged by
artillery alone. The rebels rapidly increased the number of their
batteries, and concentrated a fire of terrible severity upon the Union
troops.
At last, at six o’clock, the order was given to charge, and the troops
sprang forward, at the full run, with bayonets ready for a desperate
charge. Before they had proceeded far the enemy opened a most
destructive fire upon them, from his batteries. A wake of the dead and
the wounded was left in their track as they pressed heroically forward
under the terrific fire of the rebels. But at length retreat became
inevitable, and the brave patriots reluctantly retired.
Night terminated a most unequal conflict. General Pope’s official
account gave the number of General Banks’ troops at seven thousand;
while the rebel accounts stated that the enemy on this occasion were
fifteen thousand strong. Both parties claimed the victory; but assuredly
it did not belong to the Union troops, though they might well feel
satisfied with their own conduct. They had held at bay a force
outnumbering their own two to one.
Generals Banks, Pope, and Sigel held a conference at about midnight.
They had selected for the night bivouac a hill which overlooked the
battle-field. Suddenly, while they conferred as to their future
movements, the party were put to a flight by an unexpected shower of
bullets from some rebel pickets, who had, unawares, crept quite near
them.
Sunday morning dawned upon the two armies, and saw each one in the same
position which it had occupied on the previous night; but both the Union
and rebel army had suffered too severely to renew the fight immediately.
Monday was a melancholy day; and was spent in the sad duty of bringing
in the dead and wounded. The rebels were slowly retreating, and left
many of their dead upon the field. They were pursued, as far as the
banks of the Rapidan, by General Buford with a column of cavalry. The
National loss on Saturday was fifteen hundred; that of the rebels was
much less.
Dispatches of General Lee had been captured by the Federals, and it was
ascertained by these documents that the rebel general proposed to
destroy General Pope’s small army before he could get reinforcements;
and the great strength of Lee’s army, as compared with that of the
Union, was indeed appalling. Already that immense army was crossing the
Rapidan, and by the 18th of August its whole line confronted the forces
under General Pope.
General Pope was obliged to retreat as far as the Rappahannock, where
his army took a position beyond the north fork of the river.
The enemy continued to advance, and on the morning of the 20th, drove in
the Union pickets and made an effort to cross the river at Kelly’s Ford.
It was of the greatest importance to General Pope to retain
communication with Fredericksburg, for by that way he was eagerly
looking for reinforcements; and, therefore, his army bravely resisted
the efforts of the rebels to cross the river, keeping up the resistance
for two days. But the rebels slowly began to gain their object; and
ascending the river, endeavored to turn the right of the Union army
under General Sigel. At Sulphur Springs, they effected a crossing. The
position of the Union army at this time was very perilous. General Sigel
had orders to resist the rebels at every point below Sulphur Springs,
and was at the same time expected to extend his line toward Warrenton.
General Lee sent a large detachment of his men up the river, keeping the
great ranks of the rebel army in front of General Pope’s line.
There remained one of three things for General Pope to do; to retire by
Fredericksburg, and thus lose direct communication with Washington; to
abandon the line of the Rappahannock, by falling back on Warrenton; or
to bring his whole force to bear upon the rebel flank and rear, then
marching up the river. He chose to fight. The attack was made on the
23rd, in the morning, after a heavy rain, which had raised the
Rappahannock several feet, carrying away the bridges, and rendering the
fords impassable. General Sigel was ordered to attack the rebels at
Sulphur Springs; and he did so, driving them back over the river. They
destroyed the bridges behind them. He then moved down to Waterloo
Bridge, whence General Pope’s line extended to Warrenton.
Further advances of the enemy were perceived on the afternoon of this
day. A large force of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, belonging to
Stonewall Jackson’s command, were seen in the valley between Blue Ridge
and Bull Run mountains, steadily marching toward Rectortown. General
Pope now abandoned his line of communication with Fredericksburg, and
made no attempt to oppose the rebels crossing at the Rappahannock
Station.
General Pope, however, deserves great praise for having, during eight
days, resisted this advance of an overwhelmingly large army, But finding
it impossible to withstand it on that line any longer, he chose a new
position, well adapted for defence, extending his army from Warrenton to
Gainesville.
Reinforcements for General Pope’s army had by this time arrived, so that
his numbers were increased to fifty-five thousand. But the rebel army
numbered one hundred thousand. Day after day, for about a week, raids,
skirmishes, battles, surprises, marches and counter-marches rapidly
followed each other; and the rebels succeeded in seizing Manassas
Junction, where they captured a large amount of stores.
A junction was now effected by the strong forces of the rebel Generals
Jackson and Longstreet, at a point east of the Bull Run mountains.
Just before this junction General Pope had attacked Jackson at Manassas;
and the engagement was a very fierce one. The conflict raged
desperately, and it was difficult to decide which side would win the
day; but after a long and deadly fight the patriots were beaten back
towards Gainesville. The rebel loss in this battle was very severe—more
so than that of the Union army: but the exact numbers cannot be stated,
for no official report of the disasters was allowed to be published. The
National troops lost six thousand men. During this time General Halleck
had sent many dispatches to General McClellan ordering reinforcements to
be sent to General Pope: which orders could not, at first, be obeyed,
for the reason that General McClellan’s troops, after their long
fighting during the retreat, were not in a suitable condition to go into
battle.
General McClellan, however, used all possible diligence in sending on
reinforcements, and telegraphed General Halleck on the morning of the
29th, “Franklin’s corps is in motion; started about six o’clock, A. M. I
can give him but two squadrons of cavalry. I should not have moved him
but for your pressing orders of last night.”
Quick dispatches passed between General Halleck and General McClellan
till the 30th; by which it appeared clearly that General McClellan’s
army was in no condition to send reinforcements to the aid of General
Pope; and that he deserved neither the accusations of tardiness,
cowardice, or treason, which were hurled against him. On the 29th and
30th the main body of the rebel army, under General Lee, was pressing
forward through the mountains, elated with what they claimed as
victories, strengthened by strong supports under Longstreet, and
confident that they were pursuing a resistless march for the invasion of
the North. And they had good right to feel elated; for the men who
pushed forward, while they were poorly fed, half-starved, scantily
clothed, with bare feet, torn and bleeding, were not made of stuff to
anticipate defeat.
The corps of Generals Sumner and Franklin had now arrived to the
assistance of General Pope, who could not refrain from bitter complaints
that they had not reached him sooner; but he was prompt in preparations
to resist the enemy’s advance upon Washington.
The rebel army rapidly gathered all its force before the forces of
General Pope. The centre was commanded by Colonel Lee; the right by
Longstreet; and the left by Jackson. The Union troops spread out in a
line that confronted the enemy; the Union batteries crowned the hill
which they had occupied in the disastrous battle of Bull Run. The more
advanced portion of the line at Grovetown was composed of the corps of
Generals Porter, Sigel, and Reno; General Heintzelman held the right,
and General McDowell the left.
Already the pickets of the combatants, so close as to almost blend with
each other, had engaged in a brisk skirmish; but this was lost sight of
in the destructive, murderous fire of artillery which, from opposite
heights, hurled forward missiles dealing swift death upon the infantry
alike of patriots and rebels.
The Union forces on both right and left advanced in small numbers, at
about one o’clock, to dislodge the enemy’s sharpshooters, who were
gradually forced to fall back; but at the same time the Federal army was
driven back by the enemy’s artillery. Porter, who supported King’s
division, was ordered to advance by the road, and attack the enemy on
the left. He took a position which covered the front of Reno and
Sigel—the latter being near the centre, and next to Heintzelman.
Rickett’s division was detached from McDowell’s corps to aid in the
movement of General Porter, but when the rebel column pressed upon the
Union left he was speedily returned to his former position.
Porter advanced upon the enemy, who was behind breast works, at about
four o’clock, and a furious fire from the rebels was immediately opened
upon him. Pressing forward till they came within musket range, they
fought fifteen minutes with the utmost desperation. A second and third
line advanced from the woods, endeavoring with all their strength to
press back the enemy, but the efforts of the patriots proved
ineffectual. The rebels were plainly getting the advantage, and as the
smoke from the continuous firing died away, the Union soldiers in ever
increasing numbers could be seen scattering away toward the woods. Sigel
received the men of Porter’s repulsed columns, and they were reformed in
the rear. It was about five o’clock, and the rebels were exultantly
advancing along the whole line. Jackson, notwithstanding he had suffered
much from Porter’s advance, came down heavily on Sigel’s left. Milroy’s
brigade received him bravely, and he was boldly repulsed. Supports were
being continually pushed forward to the assistance of both sides, and
the battle raged furiously. But the rebels continued to gain the
advantage, and pressed forward in concentrated masses. The Federals were
mowed down as grass before the scythe: but they still dealt dreadful
destruction upon the enemy, till they were finally compelled to retreat,
which they did slowly and in good order.
It was eight o’clock before the guns ceased to thunder forth from their
fearful mouths, but the groans of the wounded and dying still continued,
and made the air alive with a noise far more terrible than the thunder
of war.
It was a most complete victory to the rebels, and a bloody battle to
all. The loss on both sides was very heavy; but that of the Union much
greater than the enemy.
Shortly after midnight the whole Federal army had crossed Bull Run. No
time was lost in posting batteries to command the bridge; and the rear
guard bivouacked till daylight at a point two miles before reaching
Centreville. Jackson at the same time led his troops to the north of
Centreville, endeavoring to turn the Federals’ right, that their
connection with Washington might thus be cut off. General Pope,
anticipating such a movement, had drawn back his troops to Germantown,
where, on September 1st, he fought a sharp engagement with the rebels,
fiercely repulsing them. General Kearney was repelled in this
engagement. As the darkness gathered around the combatants, he rode
forward to reconnoitre, and passing the Union pickets, approached so
close to the enemy that a rifleman’s bullet pierced his body, and he
fell to the earth, dead. Here, also, fell Colonel George W. Pratt, of
New York, while leading his regiment of Ulster county boys in its first
charge. A more accomplished mind, or braver spirit, never yet was given
to a country.
The Army of Virginia was ordered to withdraw to Alexandria on the 2nd of
September, a movement which made it necessary for General Burnside to
evacuate Fredericksburg.
Falmouth Station, containing large quantities of commissary stores, was
destroyed. Three bridges across the Rappahannock met a similar fate; and
Acquia Creek was shortly afterward abandoned, when the forces removed to
Alexandria.
At Alexandria, also, were concentrated the shattered divisions of the
splendid Army of the Potomac, awaiting the arrival of Pope’s Army of
Virginia.
MOVEMENTS OF M’CLELLAN.
On the 3rd of August, General Halleck issued an order to General
McClellan, directing him to remove his army from Harrison’s Landing to
Acquia creek. This order was received by McClellan on the 4th inst., and
though protesting against this change of plan as impolitic and
sacrificial, that officer took immediate measures to obey the unwelcome
command. To retire under the eyes of a vigilant foe, was not, however,
either a safe or an easy task; and it was not until the 14th of August
that the general movement of the Army of the Potomac commenced. The
occasion was, to the last degree, critical. Lee, as we have seen, had
been imperiling the Army of Virginia, under Pope, since the 7th of
August. Step by step that commander had yielded ground. The Capital of
the Republic was considered to be in jeopardy. Party feeling ran high.
Congress was divided. General Pope, on assuming command had issued a
very spirited address to his soldiers, giving them the assurance of
certain victory, and reflecting, with unmistakable sarcasm, upon
McClellan’s campaign. Then came the discomfiture of Pope, which, of
course, gave assurance to the partisans of McClellan. The tardiness of
the latter in reaching Acquia creek, and reinforcing the army of Pope,
was, in some quarters, confidently ascribed to a desire for that
general’s defeat. Danger and difficulty of transportation were in some
measure the causes of this tardiness. The movement which commenced at
Harrison’s Landing on the 14th of August, continued during ten days. On
the 24th inst., McClellan’s headquarters were established at Acquia
creek. From that point he held frequent communication with General
Halleck at Washington, and thence, also, he detached the corps of
Generals Franklin and Sumner to cooperate with General Pope—the latter
receiving these reinforcements on the 30th of August. At this juncture,
McClellan was detached from the remains of his army, and transferred to
the command of the defences of Washington. He arrived at the Capital on
the 1st of September. On the following day, the Army of Virginia, led by
Pope, was ordered to fall back upon the defences of Washington. This it
did, closely pursued by the bold and reckless enemy. The rebels
disappeared, however, on the following day, and it soon became evident
that they were operating in another direction,—that, in fact, they were
making up towards Leesburgh, on the south side of the Potomac. On the
7th of September, General Pope having been relieved of his command,
General McClellan left Washington, leading an army to oppose whatever
movement against that city might be intended by the rebel General Lee.
His advance was made along the north bank of the Potomac, his left wing
resting upon that river, his right upon the Baltimore and Ohio railroad.
General Banks, meanwhile, was left in command of the defences around
Washington. On the 8th, the rebels, who had crossed the Potomac into
Maryland, were in the vicinity of Frederick, the main body being in
front of McClellan’s advancing forces. Skirmishes now became frequent;
but it was not till the 14th of September, that any serious collision
occurred. That day, however, witnessed the desperate and important.
BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN, MD.
SEPTEMBER 14, 1862.
At the point known as Turner’s Gap, the South mountain is about one
thousand feet in height, its general direction being from northeast to
southwest. At a depression of about four hundred feet in depth the
national road from Frederick to Hagerstown crosses the South mountain at
right angles, through Turner’s Gap. On the north side of this road, the
mountain is divided into two crests or ridges by a narrow valley, which
is quite deep at the pass, but becomes only a slight depression at about
a mile to the north. There are two country roads, overlooking the
principal road, the one on the right, the other on the left; the latter
is known as the old Sharpsburgh road, and is nearly parallel to the
principal road, and about a half mile distant from it. When it reaches
the crest of the mountain it bends off to the left. The other road,
which is called the “Hagerstown road” passes up a ravine in the
mountains about a mile from the direct road, and heading toward the left
along the first crest, enters the turnpike near the summit of the pass.
There it was that General McClellan’s army encountered the enemy, and
contested the pass called Turner’s gap, where the rebels in very strong
force resisted them bravely. The following is General McClellan’s
account of his army’s position, when about to fight the battle of South
mountain.
On the night of the 13th the positions of the different corps were as
follows:
Reno’s corps at Middletown, except Rodman’s division at Frederick,
Hooker’s corps on the Monocacy, two miles from Frederick. Sumner’s corps
near Frederick. Banks’ corps near Frederick. Sykes’s division near
Frederick. Franklin’s corps at Buckeystown. Couch’s division at
Licksville.
The orders from headquarters for the march on the 14th were as follows:
Thirteenth, half past eleven, P. M.—Hooker to march at daylight to
Middletown. Sykes to move at six, A. M. after Hooker, on the Middletown
and Hagerstown road.
Fourteenth, one, A. M.—Artillery reserve to follow Sykes, closely.
Thirteenth, forty-five minutes past eight, P. M.—Turner to move at
seven, A. M.
Fourteenth, nine, A. M.—Sumner ordered to take the Shookstown road to
Middletown.
Thirteenth, forty-five minutes past six, P. M.—Couch ordered to move to
Jefferson with his whole division.
On the fourteenth, General Pleasanton continued his reconnoissance.
Gibson’s battery and afterward Benjamin’s battery (of Reno’s corps) were
placed on high ground to the left of the turnpike, and obtained a direct
fire on the enemy’s position in the gap.
General Cox’s division, which had been ordered up to support General
Pleasanton, left its bivouac, near Middletown, at six, A. M. The First
brigade reached the scene of action about nine, A. M. and was sent up
the old Sharpsburgh road, by General Pleasanton, to feel the enemy and
ascertain if he held the crest on that side in strong force. This was
soon found to be the case; and General Cox having arrived with the other
brigade, and information having been received from General Reno that the
column would be supported by the whole corps, the division was ordered
to assault the position. Two twenty-pounder Parrotts of Simmons’ battery
and two sections of McMullen’s battery were left in the rear in position
near the turnpike, where they did good service during the day against
the enemy’s batteries in the gap. Colonel Scammon’s brigade was
deployed, and, well covered by skirmishers, moved up the slope to the
left of the road with the object of turning the enemy’s right, if
possible. It succeeded in gaining the crest and establishing itself
there, in spite of the vigorous efforts of the enemy, who was posted
behind stone walls and in the edges of timber, and the fire of a battery
which poured in canister and case-shot on the regiment on the right of
the brigade. Colonel Crooke’s brigade marched in columns at supporting
distance. A section of McMullan’s battery, under Lieutenant Croome,
(killed while serving one of his guns,) was moved up with great
difficulty, and opened with canister at a very short range on the
enemy’s infantry, by whom (after having done considerable execution) it
was soon silenced and forced to withdraw.
One regiment of Crooke’s brigade was now deployed on Scammon’s left, and
the other two in his rear, and they several times entered the first line
and relieved the regiments in front of them when hard pressed. A section
of Sumner’s battery was brought up and placed in the open space in the
woods, where it did good service during the rest of the day.
The rebels made several ineffectual attempts to retake the crest,
advancing with great boldness, but were on each occasion completely
repulsed. Pretty hot fighting had now been going on for about six
hours—the battle having began at six o’clock in the morning. About noon,
a lull occurred in the contest, lasting nearly two hours; during which
the rebels had withdrawn their batteries considerably to the right, and
formed columns on both the Union army’s flanks; while the rest of the
Union forces were coming up.
General Wilcox’s division was the first to arrive, and took position on
the right, having, however, sent one regiment to the extreme left to
assist that point against the rebels, who were moving against it.
The division of General Sturgis supported General Wilcox; that of
General Rodman was divided, the brigade of Colonel Fairchild being
posted on the extreme left; and that of Colonel Hanlan (under General
Rodman’s own supervision), on the right.