AGAIN IN FRONT OF RICHMOND.
Longstreet absent on Leave, nursing his Wounds--Hears of the Death of
Cavalry Leader J. E. B. Stuart--Returns to Virginia--Assigned to
Command on the North Side of James River--Affair on the Williamsburg
Road--Lee's Apprehension of Grant's March into Richmond--Closing
Scenes of the Campaign of 1864 about the Confederate Capital--General
Benjamin F. Butler's Move against Fort Fisher--Remote Effects on the
Situation in Virginia.
From the Wilderness I was taken to the Meadow Farm home of my friend
Erasmus Taylor, and carefully nursed by his charming wife until put on
board of a train for Lynchburg and taken to my good kinswoman, Mrs.
Caroline Garland, who had lost her only son and child, General Samuel
Garland, killed two years before at South Mountain. From her hospitable
home, when strong enough for a ride in the fresh air, I was taken to the
home of a cherished friend, Colonel John D. Alexander, at Campbell
Court-House. But a raiding party rode through the village early one
morning, which suggested a change, and I was taken to my kinsfolk, the
Sibleys, at Augusta, Georgia, and after a time to other good friends, the
Harts and Daniels, at and near Union Point, on the Georgia Railroad.
Before I was strong enough to sit more than a few minutes news came of the
change of commanders in the Army of Georgia,--the superseding of General
Joseph E. Johnston by assignment of General J. B. Hood, and I was asked to
take command of the corps left vacant by assignment of General Hood.
Answer was made that when able for duty I would be prepared to obey
orders.
Later came sadder news from Virginia announcing the fall of our Cavalier
J. E. B. Stuart. The most famous American rider fell mortally wounded
on the 18th of May, 1864, near Yellow Tavern, in a cavalry engagement with
General Sheridan, just then budding into fame. Stuart, endowed by nature
with the gifts that go to make a perfect cavalryman, improved and
cultivated through years of active warfare, experience, and discipline,
was the embodiment of all that goes to make up the ideal soldierly
character,--the bold, dashing dragoon. His death was possibly a greater
loss to the Confederate army even than that of the swift-moving General
"Stonewall" Jackson. Through all the vicissitudes of war he held his
troopers beside him peerless in prowess and discipline. After his fall
their decline came swifter than their up-building had been accomplished by
his magic hand.
[Illustration: Erasmus Taylor. Chief-Quartermaster First Corps, Army of
Northern Virginia.]
In society he was gay, bright, and genial, abstemious to a degree. In idle
hours of week-days he was fond of his banjo-player, Sweeny, but he was
devout withal, and to him the grandest, sweetest music was "Rock of Ages."
To this day that sublime air never fails to bring before my mind's vision
his noble figure. May his great spirit rest near "The Rock of Ages"
always! Amen!
About the 1st of October I was strong enough to ride horseback, and after
a little practice, and having become weary of idle hours, took leave of
wife and children, and travelled back to Richmond to find our great
commander and his noble followers.
The general seemed worn by past labor, besides suffering at seasons from
severe sciatica, while his work was accumulating and his troubles
multiplying to proportions that should have employed half a dozen able
men. The military staff of his head-quarters was made up of excellent,
intelligent, active, zealous young men, more than anxious to anticipate
his wants and to meet their official obligations, and it is a source of
gratification to write that they were efficient, affectionate, admirable,
and polite. But facts will not justify like commendation of the purveying
department. Complaints had been made early in the war and continued of our
inefficient subsistence department at Richmond. The diminishing resources
of the country called for exceptionally earnest, methodical, business
faculties in these departments, especially that of subsistence, but,
unfortunately, as our resources became more circumscribed, the officers,
instead of putting forth stronger efforts in their business, seemed to
lose the energy of their former service, and General Lee found himself
called upon to feed as well as fight his army. Although anxious to assist
in his severe trials, and relieve him of part of his work, I feared that
he might think a cripple an additional incumbrance, and wrote the chief of
staff,--
"RANDOLPH'S HOUSE,
"NEAR RICHMOND, VA., October 18, 1864.
"COLONEL W. H. TAYLOR,
"_Assistant Adjutant-General_:
"SIR,--I have not reported formally for duty, because I doubted the
propriety of being assigned, in my crippled condition, to position now
filled by officers of vigorous health. If I can be of service in any
position, I prefer to go to duty. If there is nothing to which I can
be assigned on this side of the Mississippi River, without displacing
an efficient officer, I will cheerfully accept service in the Trans
Mississippi Department.
"The doctors give me little reason to hope to recover the use of my
arm even within a year; hence my desire to be assigned for duty, or to
have an extended leave of absence.
"Very respectfully, your obedient servant,
"J. LONGSTREET,
"_Lieutenant-General_."
An order came assigning me to command on the north side of James River and
Drury's Bluff, and Pickett's division on the south side, along Bermuda
Hundred front as far as Swift Creek. On the north side were the local
defence troops under Lieutenant-General Ewell, and Hoke's and Field's
divisions and Gary's brigade of one thousand cavalry.
There had been severe fighting on that side a few days previous, in an
attack of the Federals upon Fort Harrison of our line, which resulted in
the capture of the fort; then a more desperate fight of the Confederates
to recover it, which was not successful. The loss of Fort Harrison broke
our line off a little near the river, and caused a new line to be taken
from that point to our left, where it joined the line occupied in 1862,
when General McClellan was against us. The line of the north side extended
from Chapin's Bluff on the James River, by Fort Gilmer, across north of
White Oak Swamp to the vicinity of the Chickahominy at New Bridge. Hoke's
and Field's divisions occupied the line from Fort Gilmer, covering Charles
City road on the left, and Gary's cavalry had a strong picket force on the
Nine Miles road, with vedettes, to guard and patrol the west side of the
swamp and the south side of the Chickahominy. The crossings of the swamp
were heavily obstructed by fallen timber. The batteries at Chapin's and
Drury's Bluffs were manned by officers of the navy and sailors, and other
organized artillery and infantry, and the local defence contingent lined
out towards Fort Gilmer. My men had become experts in fortifying, so that
parapets and dams along the front grew apace. Our officers during their
experience in East Tennessee had become skilled as foragers, and soon
began to find in nooks and corners of Northern Virginia food and forage
which relieved General Lee of the trouble of supplying the men on the
north side, and my troops were beginning to feel comfortable. But there
were more serious embarrassments on the south side, and desertions were
becoming more numerous from day to day.
Towards the latter part of October, General Grant conceived a plan by
which he proposed to extend and advance his left, so as to get the
Southside Railroad and connect this new point with his line of
intrenchments. At the same time he thought to have General Butler on his
extreme right break through the lines on the north side into Richmond.
For his left attack he ordered the Second Corps, under Hancock, to be
supported by parts of the Fifth and Ninth Corps. General Lee had his Third
Corps (A. P. Hill's), Heth's and Wilcox's divisions and Mahone's in
reserve. Hancock's advance was met by Mahone's division, and the entire
march of the different commands was arrested after a severe rencounter, in
which Mahone got a number of prisoners and some pieces of artillery,--the
latter not brought off, as the enemy held the bridge.
According to the reports of the Adjutant-General's Office the Federal
losses were 1284. The Confederate losses were not accurately accounted
for, but the Federal accounts claimed two hundred prisoners taken at one
time, and other losses equal to their own.
I was informed of troops crossing the bridge to the north side on the
25th, and that the crossings continued at intervals till after the night
of the 26th. The plan of operations contemplated that General Butler
should have "twenty thousand men north of the James where Longstreet was
now in command."[199] These were parts of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps,
commanded by Generals Terry and Weitzel. General Terry was to make a
fierce demonstration against our front along the Darby and Charles City
roads with the Tenth, while General Weitzel was to march the Eighteenth
across White Oak Swamp and get in the unoccupied lines on the Williamsburg
road, or between that and Gary's cavalry on the Nine Miles road.
Early on the 27th, General Terry moved out with the Tenth Corps and made
demonstration for formidable attack, putting his infantry in sharp
practice along the outer edge of our abatis, and his artillery in practice
near the roads. Our sharp-shooters opened in reply from behind their
breastworks and held a lively rattle of musketry for quite a time. The
delay in making more serious work told me that some other was the point of
danger, which must mean the unoccupied lines beyond White Oak Swamp. Field
was ordered to pull his division out of the works and march for the
Williamsburg road, Hoke to cover the line of Field by extending and
doubling his sharp-shooters.
[Illustration: Charles W. Field. Major-General Commanding Division of
First Corps.]
When the head of General Field's column got to the Williamsburg road the
enemy's skirmishers were deployed and half-way across the field
approaching our line. Just behind the trenches was a growth of pines which
concealed our troops until a line of sharp-shooters stepped into the
works. Their fire surprised the enemy somewhat, as they had seen nothing
but part of Gary's cavalry, and their skirmish line gave up the field for
their heavy infantry.
The open in front of the breastworks was about six hundred yards wide and
twelve hundred in length, extending from the York River Railroad on the
north to a ditch draining towards the head of White Oak Swamp on the
south. About midway of the field is a slight depression or swale of five
or six feet depth.
Quickly following the repulse of the skirmish line, and just as Field had
adjusted the infantry and artillery to their trenches, came the Eighteenth
Corps bursting into the open and deploying on both sides of the road in
solid ranks. They were at once in fair canister range, and soon under the
terrific fire of a solid line of infantry,--infantry so experienced that
they were not likely to throw as much as one bullet without well-directed
aim. At the first fire they began to drop, and they fell more rapidly
until they reached the swale, when the entire line dropped to the ground.
They had just enough cover there for their bodies as they spread
themselves closely to the ground, but not enough to permit them to load
or rise to deliver fire without exposing their persons to our fire. To
attempt to retreat would have been as disastrous as to advance; so they
were entrapped.
General Gary reported that the field of the Nine Miles road was clear, and
was ordered to come in on the flank of the entrapped infantry and order
surrender; but before he was there another report reached him of a
formidable force advancing against his squadron on the Nine Miles road. He
was sent on a gallop to meet this. Meanwhile, the troops hiding under the
swell of ground found ways to drop off on their right under the railroad
cut, and many others got away down the dry ditch on their left, until
Captain Lyle, of the Fifth South Carolina Regiment, got a force out on the
flank and secured the surrender of the remainder. He picked up about six
hundred prisoners.
General Gary's guard on the Nine Miles road held an open work by a section
of artillery and a squadron of cavalry. The advance against it was so well
executed, and our cavalry so interested in the operations on the
Williamsburg road, that the guard was taken by surprise and pushed away
from its post by the first attack, losing its field-works and a piece of
artillery. Gary soon made amends for the careless watch by dismounting his
brigade and marching in line of battle at right angles to the line of the
enemy, striking him in flank, recovering the lost cannon, and driving him
back the way he came. Under cover of the night the Federals returned to
their fortified lines, where they were as strong as were the lines held by
the Confederates in their front.
The Confederates lost: Field's division, 45; Gary's cavalry, 8; artillery,
11; total, 64. Federal "losses, killed, wounded, and missing, 1103."[200]
General Grant sent orders to have the positions gained by his left held
and intrenched, but they were abandoned because they were weak in the too
extended line.
After the loss of Fort Harrison, General Lee became more anxious for his
line on the north side, and rode out to witness the operations on that
front, under the threatening of Butler's forces; and as our cavalry had
made no report of the enemy crossing the swamp, he was not quite satisfied
to have the troops moved over to the Williamsburg road, but did not order
them retained. His idea was that the north side was the easier route of
Grant's triumphal march into Richmond, and that sooner or later he would
make his effort there in great force.
These were the closing scenes between the armies about Richmond and
Petersburg for the year 1864. The defeat of General Early in the Valley of
Virginia on the 19th of October concluded active work in that quarter.
Most of Sheridan's infantry was sent back to the Army of the Potomac, and
the greater part of Early's to the Army of Northern Virginia.
Kershaw's division of the First Corps had been left with General Early for
his battle of the 19th of October. In his account of the battle, General
Early alludes to its outcome and finality as a causeless panic started by
the break of his left division under General Gordon, followed by Kershaw's
and other troops. It is sufficient for this writing to say that the
general called the rout "thorough and disgraceful, mortifying beyond
measure: we had within our grasp a great and glorious victory, and lost it
by the uncontrollable propensity of our men for plunder."[201]
Kershaw's division was restored to duty with the First Corps in November.
Late in December I was informed of a move of the enemy's land and naval
forces against Fort Fisher in Wilmington harbor. The information was
despatched to General Lee at Petersburg, and brought a midnight order for
me to send Hoke's division to Wilmington. Hoke was relieved and on the
move before daylight. General Bragg was relieved of duty at Richmond and
ordered to Wilmington.
General Butler was in command of the land forces and Admiral Porter of the
navy. Between them, or under the direction of one or the other, was the
steamer "Louisiana," freighted with about two hundred and fifty tons of
gunpowder intended to blow up Fort Fisher. But its only tangible effect
was to relieve the commander of the land forces from further service in
the field.
In Georgia, General Hood led his army off from the front of General
Sherman at Atlanta, and marched west and north, and the latter took up his
line of march south for Savannah on the 16th of November.
These moves brought Sherman's army into remote bearing upon our army at
Richmond, and as a matter of course it began to receive more careful
attention from General Lee. In order to better guard our position on the
north side, I ordered, in addition to the timber obstructions over White
Oak Swamp, the roads leading around towards our left to be broken up by
subsoil ploughs, so as to make greater delay of any movements in that
direction during the winter rains, and wrote to ask General Lee if he
could not order the roads upon which General Grant would probably march
against the Southside Railroad broken in the same way; also suggesting
that the roads in Georgia upon which General Sherman was marching could be
obstructed in this and other ways so as to delay and annoy his march, with
the possibility that it might eventually be broken up.
The pickets along our lines were in more or less practice shooting at each
other from their rifle-pits until I ordered it stopped on the north end
of the line, as an annoyance, and not a legitimate part of war to carry on
the shooting of sentinels on guard duty. The example was soon followed by
the army on our front, so that the men on the picket lines became
friendly, and afterwards came to mutual agreements to give the other side
notice, in case of battle, in time for the pickets to get to their pits
before the batteries could open on them. Before the winter was half gone
the pickets established quite a bartering trade, giving tobacco for sugar
and coffee.
Our foraging parties of the north side were fortunate in collecting
supplies, and at times were in condition to aid our comrades of the south
side. But the officers found that they could only get a small portion of
the produce by impressment or tax in kind. They were ordered to locate all
supplies that they could not collect.
The chief of staff of the First Corps, Colonel Sorrel, was appointed
brigadier-general, and relieved of his duties by Colonel Osman Latrobe.
The Army of Tennessee, under General Hood, pursuing its march northward
late in November and early in December, came upon the Federal forces under
General Schofield at Franklin, and General Thomas at Nashville, Tennessee,
where desperate battles were fought, until Hood's army was reduced to
skeleton commands and forced to retreat. And thus with Sherman's
progressive movements in the extreme South, our own ill success in
Virginia, and an apparent general strengthening of the Federal cause, the
year 1864 drew to a close with little of happy omen for the Confederacy.