THE MARYLAND CAMPAIGN
1862
General Lee knew, however, that he did not have men enough to take by
assault the strong fortifications around Washington, and he, therefore,
planned to cross over into Maryland before the Federal army had
recovered from its defeat, when its commanders were least expecting him.
In order that he might completely mislead them and make it appear that
he was beginning a general attack on Washington, he ordered Stuart and
his troops to advance toward that city.
In their advance, they engaged in several sharp skirmishes with the
Federals, finally driving them from Fairfax Courthouse, where, amid the
cheers of the inhabitants, Major Von Borcke planted the beloved
Confederate flag on a little common in the center of the village.
The people of this section had been under Federal control for several
months and their joy at seeing Stuart and his troops was unbounded. They
flocked to the roadside to get a glimpse of the great cavalry leader.
One lady, who had lost two sons in battle, came forward as the troops
passed her home and asked permission to kiss the general’s battle flag.
She held by the hand her only surviving son, a lad of fifteen years, and
declared herself ready if it were needed to give his life too for her
country.
On September 5, General Stuart and his forces crossed the Potomac. Four
days later, General Lee moved his entire army across the river, encamped
at Frederick, Maryland, and sent General Jackson to capture the strongly
fortified Federal arsenal at Harper’s Ferry.
Major Von Borcke, from whose _Memoirs of the Confederate War for
Independence_ we shall borrow several interesting incidents of this
Maryland campaign, tells us that the crossing of the cavalry at White’s
Ford was one of the most picturesque scenes of the war. The river is
very wide at this point, and its steep banks, rising to the height of
sixty feet, are overshadowed by large trees that trail from their
branches a perfect network of graceful and luxuriant vines. A sandy
island about midstream broke the passage of the horsemen and artillery,
and as a column of a thousand troops passed over, the rays of the
setting sun made the water look like burnished gold. The hearts of the
soldiers crossing the river thrilled at the sound of the familiar and
inspiring strains of “Maryland, my Maryland,” which greeted them from
the northern bank.
[Illustration: Copyright, 1914, by E. O.
Wiggins
From photograph owned by Gen. T. T. Munford
MAJOR HEROS VON BORCKE]
The enthusiasm of the Maryland people at Poolesville, where Stuart first
stopped, was boundless. Two young merchants of the village suddenly
resolved to enlist in the cavalry and they put up all their goods at
auction. The soldiers with the eagerness and carelessness of children
cleared out both establishments in less than an hour. Many other
recruits were made in this village, all the young men seeming to feel
the inspiration of General Stuart’s favorite song,
“If you want to have a good time
Jine the cavalry.”
At Urbana, a pretty little village on the road to Frederick, where
General Stuart with one division of his forces camped for several days,
a most exciting ball was held on the evening of September 8. There were
many charming families living in the neighborhood, and General Stuart
and his staff decided to give a dance at an old, unused academy located
on a hill just outside of the town. The young ladies of the neighborhood
willingly lent their help, and evening found the halls of the academy
lighted by tallow candles and draped with garlands of roses and with
battle flags borrowed from the regiments of the brigades. Music was
furnished by the band of a Mississippi regiment. The ball, which had
opened to the rousing strains of “Dixie,” was at its height, when a
young orderly rushed in and to the accompaniment of distant shots
reported that the Federals had driven in the pickets and were attacking
the camp.
Wild confusion prevailed. The officers got rapidly to horse and anxious
mammas collected their daughters. Upon reaching the scene of action,
General Stuart found that the danger had been overestimated and the
Federals were already beginning to retreat. In a short while, they had
been driven back; and by one o’clock, the staff officers had brought the
young ladies back to the academy and the ball had a second and more
auspicious opening. Dancing continued until dawn, when some soldiers
wounded in the skirmish were brought in, and the ball room was soon
converted into a hospital and the fair dancers into willing if
inexperienced nurses.
The next day, General Fitz Lee’s brigade was engaged in a skirmish, and
the day following Colonel Munford, who was commanding Robertson’s
Brigade, had a sharp encounter with Federals at Sugar Loaf Mountain. By
Sept. 11, the Federal cavalry was attacking in such force that General
Stuart saw that it was necessary to order a retreat toward Frederick.
General Fitz Lee commanded the advance; Colonel Munford protected the
rear, which as it approached Urbana had a sharp skirmish with the
closely-following Federal cavalry. General Stuart and his staff,
however, did not tear themselves away from their friends in this
hospitable little village until the Union troops were within half a mile
of the place and several shells had exploded in the street. From Urbana
the cavalry went to Frederick. Many years after the war was over, Mrs.
Stuart received a letter from a New York physician, who at the time of
the Maryland campaign had just won his title and a position on the staff
of one of the Union hospitals in Frederick.
He told about meeting General Stuart and then said, “I wish to bear
testimony to the fact that not only myself, but all the friends of the
Union cause in Frederick, so far as I could learn, were kindly treated
by both officers and private soldiers. I do not remember of a single
instance where private property was molested, nor was any taunt,
indignity, or insult offered to any person. Whittier’s ‘Barbara
Frietchie,’ which has attracted so much attention,—even that is
fiction.”
At Frederick, Stuart found that General Lee had already retreated across
South Mountain and taken a position at Sharpsburg on Antietam Creek,
while Jackson was investing Harper’s Ferry. Look at the map on page 95
and you will see that southwest of Frederick rises a small spur of the
Blue Ridge, called Catoctin Mountain on the other side of which is a
broad, fertile valley extending for about six miles to the base of South
Mountain. On the opposite side of South Mountain is Sharpsburg, and
across the same mountain to the south is Harper’s Ferry which Jackson
had been ordered to capture before he marched north to join Lee and
Longstreet at Sharpsburg.
Now you can see that until Harper’s Ferry fell it was necessary that the
cavalry should hinder the advance of the Federal army under McClellan
until Jackson could join Lee. This was especially difficult, because an
order from General Lee to General D. H. Hill, explaining fully the
commanding general’s plans and the location of all his forces, had
fallen into the hands of General McClellan and he was advancing a
tremendous army toward Sharpsburg as rapidly as possible.
As General McClellan’s forces advanced, General Stuart retreated slowly,
contesting every inch of ground. His retreat across Catoctin Mountain
was through Braddock’s Gap, along the same road where eighty-seven years
before, the young patriot, George Washington, had accompanied General
Braddock on the fatal expedition against Fort Duquesne. In this gap,
Stuart had a sharp encounter with the Federals. He and Major Von Borcke
who was commanding a gun on the height above the pass, narrowly escaped
being captured by Federal skirmishers who, under cover of the dense
forest, had worked their way around behind the gun.
Another sharp encounter took place on Kittochtan creek at Middletown,
half way across the valley, where General Stuart delayed the retreat of
his forces so long that they barely escaped capture and reached the foot
of South Mountain just in time to protect the two principal
passes,—Turner’s Gap which led directly through Boonsboro to Sharpsburg,
and Crampton’s Gap which led through Pleasant Valley to Harper’s Ferry.
It was necessary to hold these gaps and delay the enemy until Jackson
could capture Harper’s Ferry and unite his division with the remainder
of the army under General Lee. A heavy part of this work fell on the
cavalry and the artillery. The retreat of Generals Longstreet and Hill,
who had held Turner’s Gap until the afternoon of Sept. 14, was covered
by General Fitz Lee’s brigade which held the Federals in check at every
possible point. There was a sharp encounter at Boonsboro, where, in
charging, General W. H. F. Lee was ridden down by his own men and
narrowly escaped capture.
At Crampton’s Gap, which led through Pleasant Valley to Harper’s Ferry,
Colonel Munford gallantly checked the Federal advance until the evening
of Sept. 14, when the troops sent to assist him broke and retreated in
bad order through Pleasant Valley. General Stuart had been at Harper’s
Ferry conferring with General McLaws; when they heard of the engagement
at Crampton’s Gap, both generals rode quickly forward to meet the routed
and panic-stricken troops which they rallied and formed into line of
battle. The position that they held the next morning was so strong that
the advancing Federals hesitated to attack; just as the first shots were
being exchanged, the news of the surrender of Harper’s Ferry caused the
attacking party to begin a hasty retreat along the road that they had
come.
General Stuart at once reported to General Jackson, who requested him to
convey the news to General Lee at Sharpsburg. But even now Lee was in
great peril. He had with him, on the evening of Sept. 14 when the gaps
were stormed, only about 20,000 men; and McClellan’s army of more than
87,000 was advancing rapidly to attack him. Lee had now either to
recross the Potomac or to fight a battle north of that river.
He decided to make a stand, and on the night of Sept. 14, drew his army
across Antietam creek and took a strong position on a range of hills
east of the Hagerstown turnpike. Here he waited for Jackson who, by a
forced march, came up in time to take position on the left wing on the
morning of September 16. Even when reenforced by Jackson, Lee had a much
smaller force than McClellan.
On the evening of Sept. 16, McClellan attacked Jackson’s wing at the
left of Lee’s army, but was repulsed. At early dawn the next day, the
attack was renewed and the combat raged all day. When night ended the
bloody contest, the Confederates not only held their position, but had
advanced their lines on a part of the field. During the entire battle,
Stuart with his horse artillery and a small cavalry escort had guarded
the open hilly space between Jackson’s left and the Potomac river.
General Jackson in his report of this battle said: “This officer
(General Stuart) rendered valuable service throughout the day. His bold
use of artillery secured for us an important position which, had the
enemy possessed, might have commanded our left.”
The next day, Lee waited for McClellan to attack, but no movement came
from the hostile camp. Finding out through Stuart’s scouts that large
bodies of fresh troops were being sent to McClellan, Lee withdrew that
night to the south side of the Potomac, and by eleven o’clock the next
morning, he was again ready to give battle should the Federals pursue.
He had brought off nearly everything of value, leaving behind only
several disabled cannon and some of his wounded.
While Fitz Lee’s and Munford’s troops were left to protect the retreat
of the army, Stuart with a small force had gone up the Potomac to
Williamsport, hoping to divert the attention of the Federals from the
main body of the army and so enable it to cross the river unhindered.
This movement was successful, for large Federal forces were sent against
him, yet he maintained his position without reenforcements until the
night of September 20, when he recrossed the Potomac in safety.
During this short campaign, several interesting incidents occurred. On
one occasion, when the Federals were advancing toward Williamsport, a
young lady of the town obtained permission to fire a cannon that was
about to be discharged. After this, the soldiers always called that
cannon “the girl of Williamsport.”
Another time, Major Von Borcke tells us that he accompanied the general
on one of his favorite, yet dangerous reconnoitering expeditions outside
of the Confederate lines. They tried to keep themselves concealed by the
dense undergrowth, but they must have been observed by the pickets, for
in a short while Major Von Borcke heard the “little clicking sound that
a saber scabbard often makes in knocking against a tree,” and, looking
quickly around, he saw a long line of Federal cavalry. A few whispered
words to the general were enough; he and his aide put spurs to their
horses and once more justified their reputations as expert horsemen, for
they were soon hidden by the friendly trees, while their pursuers were
firing wildly in vain search for the escaped prey.
There were no serious engagements for the next few weeks and General
Lee’s army enjoyed a well deserved rest. The cavalry watched the
movements of the Federals and protected the camps from alarms. The
cavalry headquarters were delightfully situated near Charlestown on the
plantation of Mr. A. S. Dandridge. Because of its beautiful grove of
huge oak trees, this plantation was called The Bower. A comfortable old
brick mansion crowned the summit of a sloping hill on the sides of which
the tents of the camp were located under oak trees. At the foot of the
hill wound the sparkling little Opequan river. Here provisions were
plentiful once more, and the soldiers enjoyed fishing and hunting the
small game,—squirrels, rabbits, and partridges,—that abounded in the
nearby woods.
General Stuart had attached to his staff a remarkable young banjo
player, Bob Sweeny, who, with the assistance of two fiddlers and
Stuart’s mulatto servant Bob who rattled the bones unusually well,
furnished music around the camp fire for the men and served also on
serenades and at dances given to the officers at the hospitable
Dandridge mansion.
General Stuart was very fond of dancing, and when some of the young
officers of his staff were occasionally too tired and sleepy to want to
join in the fun, he would have them awakened and ordered to attend. Yet
they complained that when they did come the general would always get the
prettiest girl for his own partner.
But in spite of his joyous, fun-loving disposition, General Stuart was
always ready when duty called him. In his book, _Christ in the Camp_,
the Rev. J. William Jones says, “Stuart was an humble and earnest
Christian who took Christ as his personal Saviour, lived a stainless
life, and died a triumphant death.”
He tells us that General Stuart often came to get his advice in planning
services for the soldiers. Once when General Stuart wanted Dr. Jones to
recommend a chaplain for the cavalry outposts, the general said, “I do
not want a man who is not able to endure hardness as a good soldier. The
man who can not endure the hardships and privations of our rough riding
and hard service and be in place when needed would be of no earthly use
to us and is not wanted at my headquarters.”