_LAST CAMPAIGNS OF THE YEAR_ 1863.
I.
THE CAVALRY OF LEE'S ARMY.
In a work of the present description, the writer has a choice between
two courses. He may either record the events of the war in all
quarters of the country, as bearing more or less upon his narrative,
or may confine himself to the life of the individual who is the
immediate subject of his volume. Of these two courses, the writer
prefers the latter for many reasons. To present a narrative of
military transactions in all portions of the South would expand this
volume to undue proportions; and there is the further objection that
these occurrences are familiar to all. It might be necessary, in
writing for persons ignorant of the events of the great conflict, to
omit nothing; but this ignorance does, not probably exist in the
case of the readers of these pages; and the writer will continue,
as heretofore, to confine himself to the main subject, only noting
incidentally such prominent events in other quarters as affected Lee's
movements.
One such event was the fall of Vicksburg, which post surrendered at
the same moment with the defeat at Gettysburg, rendering thereafter
impossible all movements of invasion; and another was the advance of
General Rosecrans toward Atlanta, which resulted, in the month of
September, in a Southern victory at Chickamauga.
The immediate effect of the Federal demonstration toward Chattanooga
had been to detach Longstreet's corps from General Lee's army, for
service under General Bragg. General Meade's force is said to have
also been somewhat lessened by detachments sent to enforce the draft
in New York; and these circumstances had, in the first days of
October, reduced both armies in Virginia to a less force than they had
numbered in the past campaign. General Meade, however, presented a
bold front to his adversary, and, with his headquarters near Culpepper
Court-House, kept close watch upon Lee, whose army lay along the south
bank of the Rapidan.
For some weeks no military movements took place, and an occasional
cavalry skirmish between the troopers of the two armies was all which
broke the monotony of the autumn days. This inactivity, however, was
now about to terminate. Lee had resolved to attempt a flank movement
around General Meade's right, with the view of bringing him to battle;
and a brief campaign ensued, which, if indecisive, and reflecting
little glory upon the infantry, was fruitful in romantic incidents and
highly creditable to the cavalry of the Southern army.
In following the movements, and describing the operations of the main
body of the army--the infantry--we have necessarily been compelled to
pass over, to a great extent, the services of the cavalry in the past
campaign. These had, nevertheless, been great--no arm of the service
had exhibited greater efficiency; and, but for the fact that in all
armies the brunt of battle falls upon the foot-soldiers, it might be
added that the services of the cavalry had been as important as those
of the infantry. Stuart was now in command of a force varying from
five to eight thousand sabres, and among his troopers were some of
the best fighting-men of the South. The cavalry had always been the
favorite arm with the Southern youth; it had drawn to itself, as
privates in the ranks, thousands of young men of collegiate education,
great wealth, and the highest social position; and this force was
officered, in Virginia, by such resolute commanders as Wade Hampton,
Fitz Lee, William H.F. Lee, Rosser, Jones, Wickham, Young,
Munford, and many others. Under these leaders, and assisted by
the hard-fighting "Stuart Horse-Artillery" under Pelham and his
successors, the cavalry had borne their full share in the hard
marches and combats of the army. On the Chickahominy; in the march
to Manassas, and the battles in Maryland; in the operations on
the Rappahannock, and the incessant fighting of the campaign to
Gettysburg, Stuart and his troopers had vindicated their claim to the
first honors of arms; and, if these services were not duly estimated
by the infantry of the army, the fact was mainly attributable to the
circumstance that the fighting of the cavalry had been done at a
distance upon the outposts, far more than in the pitched battles,
where, in modern times, from the improved and destructive character
of artillery, playing havoc with horses, the cavalry arm can achieve
little, and is not risked. The actual losses in Stuart's command left,
however, no doubt of the obstinate soldiership of officers and men.
Since the opening of the year he had lost General Hampton, cut down in
a hand-to-hand sabre-fight at Gettysburg; General W.H.F. Lee, shot in
the fight at Fleetwood; Colonels Frank Hampton and Williams, killed in
the same action; Colonel Butler, torn by a shell; Major Pelham, Chief
of Artillery, killed while leading a charge; [Footnote: In this
enumeration the writer mentions only such names as occur at the moment
to his memory. A careful examination of the records of the cavalry
would probably furnish the names of ten times as many, equally brave
and unfortunate.] about six officers of his personal staff either
killed, wounded, or captured; and in the Gettysburg campaign he had
lost nearly one-third of his entire command. Of its value to the army,
the infantry might have their doubts, but General Lee had none. Stuart
and his horsemen had been the eyes and ears of the Army of Northern
Virginia; had fought incessantly as well as observed the enemy; and
Lee never committed the injustice of undervaluing this indispensable
arm, which, if his official commendation of its operations under
Stuart is to be believed, was only second in importance in his
estimation to the infantry itself.
The army continued, nevertheless, to amuse itself at the expense of
the cavalry, and either asserted or intimated, on every favorable
occasion, that the _real fighting_ was done by themselves. This
flattering assumption might be natural under the circumstances, but it
was now about to be shown to be wholly unfounded. A campaign was at
hand in which the cavalry were to turn the tables upon their jocose
critics, and silence them; where the infantry were doomed to failure
in nearly all which they attempted, and the troopers were to do the
greater part of the fighting and achieve the only successes.
To the narrative of this brief and romantic episode of the war we now
proceed. General Lee's aim was to pass around the right flank of his
adversary, and bring him to battle; and, although the promptness
of General Meade's movements defeated the last-named object nearly
completely, the manoeuvres of the two armies form a highly-interesting
study. The eminent soldiers commanding the forces played a veritable
game of chess with each other. There was little hard fighting, but
more scientific manoeuvring than is generally displayed in a campaign.
The brains of Lee and Meade, rather than the two armies, were matched
against each other; and the conflict of ideas proved more interesting
than the actual fighting.
II.
LEE FLANKS GENERAL MEADE.
In prosecution of the plan determined upon, General Lee, on the
morning of the 9th of October, crossed the Rapidan at the fords
above Orange Court-House, with the corps of Ewell and A.P. Hill, and
directed his march toward Madison Court-House.
Stuart moved with Hampton's cavalry division on the right of the
advancing column--General Fitz Lee having been left with his division
to guard the front on the Rapidan--and General Imboden, commanding
west of the Blue Ridge, was ordered by Lee to "advance down the
Valley, and guard the gaps of the mountains on our left."
We have said that Lee's design was to bring General Meade to battle.
It is proper to state this distinctly, as some writers have attributed
to him in the campaign, as his real object, the design of manoeuvring
his adversary out of Culpepper, and pushing him back to the Federal
frontier. His own words are perfectly plain. He set out "with the
design," he declares, "of _bringing on an engagement with the Federal
army_"--that is to say, of _fighting_ General Meade, not simply
forcing him to fall back. His opponent, it seems, was not averse to
accepting battle; indeed, from expressions attributed to him, he
appears to have ardently desired it, in case he could secure an
advantageous position for receiving the Southern attack. It is
desirable that this readiness in both commanders to fight should be
kept in view. The fact adds largely to the interest of this brief
"campaign of manoeuvres," in which the army, falling back, like that
advancing, sought battle.
To proceed to the narrative, which will deal in large measure with the
operations of the cavalry--that arm of the service, as we have said,
having borne the chief share of the fighting, and achieved the only
successes. Stuart moved out on the right of the infantry, which
marched directly toward Madison Court-House, and near the village
of James City, directly west of Culpepper Court-House, drove in the
cavalry and infantry outposts of General Kilpatrick on the main body
beyond the village. Continuous skirmishing ensued throughout the rest
of the day--Stuart's object being to occupy the enemy, and divert
attention from the infantry movement in his rear. In this he seems to
have fully succeeded. Lee passed Madison Court-House, and moving, as
he says, "by circuitous and concealed roads," reached the vicinity of
Griffinsburg, on what is called the Sperryville Road, northwest of
Culpepper Court-House. A glance at the map will show the relative
positions of the two armies at this moment. General Meade lay around
Culpepper Court-House, with his advance about half-way between that
place and the Rapidan, and Lee had attained a position which gave him
fair hopes of intercepting his adversary's retreat. That retreat must
be over the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad; but from
Griffinsburg to Manassas was no farther than from Culpepper
Court-House to the same point. If the Federal army fell back, as Lee
anticipated, it would be a question of speed between the retreating
and pursuing columns; and, as the narrative will show, the race was
close--a few hours lost making the difference between success and
failure in Lee's movement.
On the morning of the 10th while the infantry were still near
Griffinsburg, General Stuart moved promptly down upon Culpepper
Court-House, driving the enemy from their large camps near Stonehouse
Mountain. These were elaborately provided with luxuries of every
description, and there were many indications of the fact that the
troops had expected to winter there. No serious fighting occurred.
A regiment of infantry was charged and dispersed by the Jefferson
Company of Captain Baylor, and Stuart then proceeded rapidly to
Culpepper Court-House, where the Federal cavalry, forming the
rear-guard of the army, awaited him.
General Meade was already moving in the direction of the Rappahannock.
The presence of the Southern army near Griffinsburg had become known
to him; he was at no loss to understand Lee's object; and, leaving
his cavalry to cover his rear, he moved toward the river. As Stuart
attacked the Federal horse posted on the hills east of the village,
the roar of cannon on his right, steadily drawing nearer, indicated
that General Fitz Lee was forcing the enemy in that direction to fall
back. Stuart was now in high spirits, and indulged in hearty laughter,
although the enemy's shells were bursting around him.
"Ride back to General Lee," he said to an officer of his staff, "and
tell him we are forcing the enemy back on the Rappahannock, and I
think I hear Fitz Lee's guns toward the Rapidan."
The officer obeyed, and found General Lee at his headquarters, which
consisted of one or two tents, with a battle-flag set up in front, on
the highway, near Griffinsburg. He was conversing with General Ewell,
and the contrast between the two soldiers was striking. Ewell was
thin, cadaverous, and supported himself upon a crutch, for he had not
yet recovered from the wound received at Manassas. General Lee, on
the contrary, was erect, ruddy, robust, and exhibited indications of
health and vigor in every detail of his person. When Stuart's message
was delivered to him, he bowed with that grave courtesy which he
exhibited alike toward the highest and the lowest soldier in his army,
and said: "Thank you. Tell General Stuart to continue to press them
back toward the river."
He then smiled, and added, with that accent of sedate humor which at
times characterized him: "But tell him, too, to spare his horses--to
spare his horses. It is not necessary to send so many messages."
He turned as he spoke to General Ewell, and, pointing to the officer
who had come from Stuart, and another who had arrived just before him,
said, with lurking humor: "I think these two young gentlemen make
_eight_ messengers sent me by General Stuart!"
He then said to Ewell: "You may as well move on with your troops, I
suppose, general;" and soon afterward the infantry began to advance.
Stuart was meanwhile engaged in an obstinate combat with the Federal
cavalry near Brandy, in the immediate vicinity of Fleetwood Hill, the
scene of the great fight in June. The stand made by the enemy was
resolute, but the arrival of General Fitz Lee decided the event. That
officer had crossed the Rapidan and driven General Buford before him.
The result now was that, while Stuart was pressing the enemy in his
front, General Buford came down on Stuart's rear, and Fitz Lee on the
rear of Buford. The scene which ensued was a grand commingling of the
tragic and serio-comic. Every thing was mingled in wild confusion, but
the day remained with the Southern cavalry, who, at nightfall, had
pressed their opponents back toward the river, which the Federal army
crossed that night, blowing up the railroad bridge behind them.
Such was the first act of the bustling drama. At the approach of Lee,
General Meade had vanished from Culpepper, and so well arranged was
the whole movement, in spite of its rapidity, that scarce an empty box
was left behind. Lee's aim to bring his adversary to battle south of
the Rappahannock had thus failed; but the attempt was renewed by a
continuation of the flanking movement toward Warrenton Springs,
"with the design," Lee says, "of reaching the Orange and Alexandria
Railroad, north of the river, and interrupting the retreat of the
enemy." Unfortunately, however, for this project, which required of
all things rapidity of movement, it was found necessary to remain
nearly all day on the 11th near Culpepper Court-House, to supply the
army with provisions. It was not until the 12th that the army again
moved. Stuart preceded it, and after a brisk skirmish drove the enemy
from Warrenton Springs--advancing in person in front of his column
as it charged through the river and up the hill beyond, where a
considerable body of Federal marksmen were put to flight. The cavalry
then pressed on toward Warrenton, and the infantry, who had witnessed
their prowess and cheered them heartily, followed on the same road.
The race between Lee and General Meade was in full progress.
It was destined to become complicated, and an error committed by
General Meade came very near exposing him to serious danger. It
appears that, after retreating across the Rappahannock, the Federal
commander began to entertain doubt whether the movement had not been
hasty, and would not justly subject him to the charge of yielding to
sudden panic. Influenced apparently by this sentiment, he now ordered
three corps of the Federal army, with a division of cavalry, back to
Culpepper; and this, the main body, accordingly crossed back, leaving
but one corps north of the river. Such was now the very peculiar
situation of the two armies. General Lee was moving steadily in the
direction of Warrenton to cut off his adversary from Manassas, and
that adversary was moving back into Culpepper to hunt up Lee there.
The comedy of errors was soon terminated, but not so soon as it
otherwise would have been but for a _ruse de guerre_ played by
Generals Rosser and Young. General Rosser had been left by Stuart near
Brandy, with about two hundred horsemen and one gun; and, when the
three infantry corps and the cavalry division of General Meade moved
forward from the river, they encountered this obstacle. Insignificant
as was his force. General Rosser so manoeuvred it as to produce the
impression that it was considerable; and, though forced, of course, to
fall back, he did so fighting at every step. Assistance reached him
just at dusk in the shape of a brigade of cavalry, from above the
court-house under General Young, the same officer whose charge at the
Fleetwood fight had had so important a bearing upon the result there.
Young now formed line with his men dismounted, and, advancing with a
confident air, opened fire upon the Federal army. The darkness proved
friendly, and, taking advantage of it, General Young kindled fires
along a front of more than a mile, ordered his band to play, and must
have caused the enemy to doubt whether Lee was not still in large
force near Culpepper Court-House. They accordingly went into camp to
await the return of daylight, when at midnight a fast-riding courier
came with orders from General Meade.
These orders were urgent, and directed the Federal troops to recross
the river with all haste. General Lee, it was now ascertained, had
left an insignificant force in Culpepper, and, with nearly his whole
army, was moving rapidly toward Warrenton to cut off his adversary.
III.
A RACE BETWEEN TWO ARMIES.
The game of hide-and-seek--to change the figure--was now in full
progress, and nothing more dramatic could be conceived of than the
relative positions of the two armies.
At midnight, on Monday, October 12th, Lee's army was near Warrenton
Springs, ready to advance in the morning upon Warrenton, while three
of the four corps under General Meade were half-way between the
Rappahannock and Culpepper Court-House, expecting battle there. Thus a
choice of two courses was presented to the Federal commander: to order
back his main force, and rapidly retreat toward Manassas, or move the
Fourth Corps to support it, and place his whole army directly in Lee's
rear. The occasion demanded instant decision. Every hour now counted.
But, unfortunately for General Meade, he was still in the dark as to
the actual amount of Lee's force in Culpepper. The movement toward
Warrenton might be a mere _ruse_. The great master of the art of war
to whom he was opposed might have laid this trap for him--have counted
upon his falling into the snare--and, while a portion of the Southern
force was engaged in Culpepper, might design an attack with the rest
upon the Federal right flank or rear. In fact, the situation of
affairs was so anomalous and puzzling that Lee might design almost any
thing, and succeed in crushing his adversary.
The real state of the case was, that Lee designed nothing of this
description, having had no intimation whatever of General Meade's new
movement back toward Culpepper. He was advancing toward Warrenton,
under the impression that his adversary was retreating, and aimed to
come up with him somewhere near that place and bring him to battle.
Upon this theory his opponent now acted by promptly ordering back his
three corps to the north bank of the Rappahannock. They began to march
soon after midnight; recrossed the river near the railroad; and on
the morning of the 13th hastened forward by rapid marches to pass the
dangerous point near Warrenton, toward which Lee was also moving with
his infantry.
In this race every advantage seemed to be on the side of Lee. The
three Federal corps had fully twice as far to march as the Southern
forces. Lee was concentrating near Warrenton, while they were far in
the rear; and, if the Confederates moved with only half the rapidity
of their adversaries, they were certain to intercept them, and compel
them either to surrender or cut their way through.
These comments--tedious, perhaps--are necessary to the comprehension
of the singular "situation." We proceed now with the narrative. Stuart
had pushed on past Warrenton with his cavalry, toward the Orange
Railroad, when, on the night of the 13th, he met with one of those
adventures which were thickly strewed throughout his romantic career.
He was near Auburn, just at nightfall, when, as his rear-guard closed
up, information reached him from that quarter that the Federal
army was passing directly in his rear. Nearly at the same moment
intelligence arrived that another column of the enemy, consisting,
like the first, of infantry, cavalry, and artillery, was moving across
his front.
Stuart was now in an actual trap, and his situation was perilous in
the extreme. He was enclosed between two moving walls of enemies, and,
if discovered, his fate seemed sealed. But one course was left him: to
preserve, if possible, complete silence in his command; to lie _perdu_
in the wood, and await the occurrence of some fortunate event to
extricate him from his highly-embarrassing situation. He accordingly
issued stringent orders to the men that no noise of any description
should be made, and not a word be uttered; and there was little
necessity to repeat this command. The troopers remained silent and
motionless in the saddle throughout the night, ready at any instant
to move at the order; and thus passed the long hours of darkness--the
Southern horsemen as silent as phantoms; the Federal columns
passing rapidly, with the roll of artillery-wheels, the tramp of
cavalry-horses, and the shuffling sound of feet, on both sides of the
command--the column moving in rear of Stuart being distant but two or
three hundred yards.
This romantic incident was destined to terminate fortunately for
Stuart, who, having dispatched scouts to steal through the Federal
column, and announce his situation to General Lee, prepared to seize
upon the first opportunity to release his command from its imminent
peril. The opportunity came at dawn. The Federal rear, under General
Caldwell, had bivouacked near, and had just kindled fires to cook
their breakfast, when, from the valley beneath the hill on which
the troops had halted, Stuart opened suddenly upon them with his
Horse-Artillery, and, as he says in his report, knocked over
coffee-pots and other utensils at the moment when the men least
expected it. He then advanced his sharp-shooters and directed a rapid
fire upon the disordered troops; and, under cover of this fire,
wheeled to the left and emerged safely toward Warrenton. The army
greeted him with cheers, and he was himself in the highest spirits.
He had certainly good reason for this joy, for he had just grazed
destruction.
As Stuart's artillery opened, the sound was taken up toward Warrenton,
where Ewell, in obedience to Lee's orders, had attacked the Federal
column. Nothing resulted, however, from this assault: General Meade
had concentrated his army, and was hastening toward Manassas. All now
depended again upon the celerity of Lee's movements in pursuit. He had
lost many hours at Warrenton, where "another halt was made," he says,
"to supply the troops with provisions." Thus, on the morning of the
14th he was as far from intercepting General Meade as before; and all
now depended upon the movements of Hill, who, while Ewell moved toward
Greenwich, had been sent by way of New Baltimore to come in on the
Federal line of retreat at Bristoe Station, near Manassas. In spite,
however, of his excellent soldiership and habitual promptness, Hill
did not arrive in time. He made the détour prescribed by Lee, passed
New Baltimore, and hastened on toward Bristoe, where, on approaching
that point, he found only the rear-guard of the Federal army--the
whole force, with this exception, having crossed Broad Run, and
hastened on toward Manassas. Hill's arrival had thus been tardy: it
would have been fortunate for him if he had not arrived at all. Seeing
the Federal column under General Warren hastening along the railroad
to pass Broad Run, he ordered a prompt attack, and Cooke's brigade led
the charge. The result was unfortunate for the Confederates. General
Warren, seeing his peril, had promptly disposed his line behind the
railroad embankment at the spot, where, protected by this impromptu
breastwork, the men rested their guns upon the iron rails and poured a
destructive fire upon the Southerners rushing down the open slope in
front. By this fire General Cooke was severely wounded and fell, and
his brigade lost a considerable part of its numbers. Before a new
attack could be made, General Warren hastily withdrew, carrying
off with him in triumph a number of prisoners, and five pieces of
artillery, captured on the banks of the run. Before his retreat could
be again interrupted, he was safe on the opposite side of the stream,
and lost no time in hurrying forward to join the main body, which was
retreating on Centreville.
General Meade had thus completely foiled his adversary. Lee had set
out with the intention of bringing the Federal commander to battle;
had not succeeded in doing so, owing to the rapidity of his retreat;
had come up only with his rear-guard, under circumstances which seemed
to seal the fate of that detached force, and the small rear-guard had
repulsed him completely, capturing prisoners and artillery from him,
and retiring in triumph. Such had been the issue of the campaign; all
the success had been on the side of General Meade. He is said to have
declared that "it was like pulling out his eye-teeth not to have had a
fight;" but something resembling _bona-fide_ fighting had occurred on
the banks of Broad Run, and the victory was clearly on the side of the
Federal troops.
To turn to General Lee, it would be an interesting question to discuss
whether he really desired to _intercept_ General Meade, if there
were any data upon which to base a decision. The writer hazards the
observation that it seems doubtful whether this was Lee's intention.
He had a high opinion of General Meade, and is said to have declared
of that commander, that he "gave him" (Lee) "as much trouble as any of
them." Lee was thus opposed to a soldier whose ability he respected,
and it appears doubtful whether he desired to move so rapidly as to
expose his own communications to interruption by his adversary. This
view seems to derive support from the apparently unnecessary delays
at Culpepper Court-House and Warrenton. There was certainly no good
reason why, under ordinary circumstances, an army so accustomed to
rapid marches as the Army of Northern Virginia should not have been
able to reach Warrenton from the neighborhood of Culpepper Court-House
in less than _four days._ "We were _compelled_ to halt," Lee writes
of the delay at Culpepper; but of that at Warrenton he simply says,
"Another halt was made." Whether these views have, or have not
foundation, the reader must judge. We shall aim, in a few pages, to
conclude our account of this interesting campaign.
IV.
THE FIGHT AT BUCKLAND.
Lee rode forward to the field upon which General Hill had sustained
his bloody repulse, and Hill--depressed and mortified at the
mishap--endeavored to explain the _contretemps_ and vindicate himself
from censure. Lee is said to have listened in silence, as they rode
among the dead bodies, and to have at length replied, gravely and
sadly: "Well, well, general, bury these poor men, and let us say no
more about it."
He had issued orders that the troops should cease the pursuit, and
riding on the next morning, with General Stuart, to the summit of a
hill overlooking Broad Run, dismounted, and held a brief conversation
with the commander of his cavalry, looking intently, as he spoke, in
the direction of Manassas. His demeanor was that of a person who is
far from pleased with the course of events, and the word _glum_ best
describes his expression. The safe retreat of General Meade, with the
heavy blow struck by him in retiring, was indeed enough to account for
this ill-humor. The campaign was altogether a failure, since General
Meade's position at Centreville was unassailable; and, if he were only
driven therefrom, he had but to retire to the defences at Washington.
Lee accordingly gave Stuart directions to follow up the enemy in the
direction of Centreville, and, ordering the Orange and Alexandria
Railroad to be torn up back to the Rappahannock, put his infantry in
motion, and marched back toward Culpepper.
We shall now briefly follow the movements of the cavalry. Stuart
advanced to Manassas, following up the Federal rear, and hastening
their retreat across Bull Run beyond. He then left Fitz Lee's division
near Manassas in the Federal front, and moving, with Hampton's
division, to the left toward Groveton, passed the Little Catharpin,
proceeded thence through the beautiful autumn forest toward Frying
Pan, and there found and attacked, with his command dismounted and
acting as sharp-shooters, the Second Corps of the Federal army. This
sudden appearance of Southern troops on the flank of Centreville, is
said to have caused great excitement there, as it was not known that
the force was not General Lee's army. The fact was soon apparent,
however, that it was merely a cavalry attack. The Federal infantry
advanced, whereupon Stuart retired; and the adventurous Southern
horsemen moved back in the direction of Warrenton.
They were not to rejoin Lee's army, however, before a final conflict
with the Federal cavalry; and the circumstances of this conflict
were as dramatic and picturesque as the _ruse de guerre_ of Young in
Culpepper, and the midnight adventure of Stuart near Auburn. The bold
assault on the Second Corps seemed to have excited the ire of the
Federal commander, and he promptly sent forward a considerable body
of his cavalry, under General Kilpatrick, to pursue Stuart, and if
possible come up with and defeat him.
Stuart was near the village of Buckland, on the road to Warrenton,
when intelligence of the approach of the Federal cavalry reached him.
The movement which followed was suggested by General Fitz Lee. He
proposed that Stuart should retire toward Warrenton with Hampton's
division, while he, with his own division, remained on the enemy's
left flank. Then, at a given signal, Stuart was to face about; he,
General Fitz Lee, would attack them in flank; when their rout would
probably ensue. This plan was carried out to the letter. General
Kilpatrick, who seems to have been confident of his ability to drive
Stuart before him, pressed forward on the Warrenton road, closely
following up his adversary, when the sudden boom of artillery from
General Fitz Lee gave the signal. Stuart wheeled at the signal, and
made a headlong charge upon his pursuers. Fitz Lee came in at the same
moment and attacked them in flank; and the result was that General
Kilpatrick's entire command was routed, and retreated in confusion,
Stuart pursuing, as he wrote, "from within three miles of Warrenton to
Buckland, the horses at full speed the whole distance." So terminated
an incident afterward known among the troopers of Stuart by the jocose
title of "The Buckland Races," and the Southern cavalry retired
without further molestation behind the Rappahannock.
The coöperation of General Imboden in the campaign should not be
passed over. That officer, whose special duty had been to guard the
gaps in the Blue Ridge, advanced from Berryville to Charlestown,
attacked the Federal garrison at the latter place, drove them in
disorder toward Harper's Ferry, and carried back with him four or five
hundred prisoners. The enemy followed him closely, and he was forced
to fight them off at every step. He succeeded, however, in returning
in safety, having performed more than the duty expected of him.
Lee was now behind the Rappahannock, and it remained to be seen what
course General Meade would pursue--whether he would remain near
Centreville, or strive to regain his lost ground.
All doubt was soon terminated by the approach of the Federal army,
which, marching from Centreville on October 19th, and repairing the
railroad as it advanced, reached the Rappahannock on the 7th of
November. Lee's army at this time was in camp toward Culpepper
Court-House, with advanced forces in front of Kelly's Ford and the
railroad bridge. General Meade acted with vigor. On his arrival he
promptly sent a force across at Kelly's Ford; the Southern troops
occupying the rifle-pits there were driven off, with the loss of many
prisoners; and an attack near the railroad bridge had still more
unfortunate results for General Lee. A portion of Early's division had
been posted in the abandoned Federal works, on the north bank at this
point, and these were now attacked, and, after a fierce resistance,
completely routed. Nearly the whole command was captured--the remnant
barely escaping--and, the way having thus been cleared, General Meade
threw his army across into Culpepper.
General Lee retired before him with a heavy heart and a deep
melancholy, which, in spite of his great control over himself, was
visible in his countenance. The infantry-fighting of the campaign had
begun, and ended in disaster for him. In the thirty days he had lost
at least two thousand men, and was back again in his old camps, having
achieved absolutely nothing.
V.
THE ADVANCE TO MINE RUN.
November of the bloody year 1863 had come; and it seemed not
unreasonable to anticipate that a twelvemonth, marked by such
incessant fighting at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Salem
Church, Winchester, Gettysburg, Front Royal, Bristoe, and along the
Rappahannock, would now terminate in peace, permitting the
combatants on both sides, worn out by their arduous work, to go into
winter-quarters, and recuperate their energies for the operations of
the ensuing spring.
But General Meade had otherwise determined. He had resolved to try
a last advance, in spite of the inclement weather; and Lee's
anticipations of a season of rest and refreshment for his troops,
undisturbed by hostile demonstrations on the part of the enemy, were
destined speedily to be disappointed. The Southern army had gone
regularly into winter-quarters, south of the Rapidan, and the men were
felicitating themselves upon the prospect of an uninterrupted season
of leisure and enjoyment in their rude cabins, built in sheltered
nooks, or under their breadths of canvas raised upon logs, and fitted
with rough but comfortable chimneys, built of notched pine-saplings,
when suddenly intelligence was brought by scouts that the Federal army
was in motion. The fact reversed all their hopes of rest, and song,
and laughter, by the good log-fires. The musket was taken from its
place on the rude walls, the cartridge-box assumed, and the army was
once more ready for battle--as gay, hopeful, and resolved, as in the
first days of spring.
General Meade had, indeed, resolved that the year should not end
without another blow at his adversary, and the brief campaign, known
as the "Advance to Mine Run," followed. It was the least favorable
of all seasons for active operations; but the Federal commander is
vindicated from the charge of bad soldiership by two circumstances
which very properly had great weight with him. The first was, the
extreme impatience of the Northern authorities and people at the small
results of the bloody fighting of the year. Gettysburg had seemed
to them a complete defeat of Lee, since he had retreated thereafter
without loss of time to Virginia; and yet three months afterward the
defeated commander had advanced upon and forced back his victorious
adversary. That such should be the result of the year's campaigning
seemed absurd to the North. A clamorous appeal was made to the
authorities to order another advance; and this general sentiment is
said to have been shared by General Meade, who had declared himself
bitterly disappointed at missing a battle with Lee in October. A
stronger argument in favor of active operations lay in the situation,
at the moment, of the Southern army. Lee, anticipating no further
fighting during the remainder of the year, opposed the enemy on the
Rapidan with only one of his two corps--that of Ewell; while the
other--that of Hill--was thrown back, in detached divisions, at
various points on the Orange and the Virginia Central Railroads, for
the purpose of subsistence during the winter. This fact, becoming
known to General Meade, dictated, it is said, his plan of operations.
An advance seemed to promise, from the position of the Southern
forces, a decisive success. Ewell's right extended no farther than
Morton's Ford, on the Rapidan, and thus the various fords down to
Chancellorsville were open. If General Meade could cross suddenly, and
by a rapid march interpose between Ewell and the scattered divisions
of Hill far in rear, it appeared not unreasonable to conclude that
Lee's army would be completely disrupted, and that the two corps, one
after another, might be crushed by the Federal army.
This plan, which is given on the authority of Northern writers,
exhibited good soldiership, and, if Lee were to be caught unawares,
promised to succeed. Without further comment we shall now proceed to
the narrative of this brief movement, which, indecisive as it was in
its results, was not uninteresting, and may prove as attractive to the
military student as other operations more imposing and accompanied by
bloodier fighting.
General Meade began to move toward the Rapidan on November 26th,
and every exertion was made by him to advance with such secrecy and
rapidity as to give him the advantage of a surprise. In this, however,
he was disappointed. No sooner had his orders been issued, and the
correspondent movements begun, than the accomplished scouts of Stuart
hurried across the Rapidan with the intelligence. Stuart, whose
headquarters were in a hollow of the hills near Orange, and not
far from General Lee's, promptly communicated in person to the
commander-in-chief this important information, and Lee dispatched
immediately an order to General A.P. Hill, in rear, to march at once
and form a junction with Ewell in the vicinity of Verdierville. The
latter officer was directed to retire from his advanced position upon
the Rapidan, which exposed him to an attack on his right flank and
rear, and to fall back and take post behind the small stream called
Mine Run.
In following with a critical eye the operations of General Lee, the
military student must be struck particularly by one circumstance, that
in all his movements he seemed to proceed less according to the nice
technicalities of the art of war, than in accordance with the dictates
of a broad and comprehensive good sense. It may be said that, in
choosing position, he always chose the right and never the wrong one;
and the choice of Mine Run now as a defensive line was a proof of
this. The run is a small water-course which, rising south of the great
highway between Orange and Chancellorsville, flows due northward amid
woods and between hills to the Rapidan, into which it empties itself a
few miles above Germanna, General Meade's main place of crossing. This
stream is the natural defence of the right flank of an army posted
between Orange and the Rapidan. It is also the natural and obvious
line upon which to receive the attack of a force marching from below
toward Gordonsville. Behind Mine Run, therefore, just east of the
little village of Verdierville, General Lee directed his two corps to
concentrate; and at the word, the men, lounging but now carelessly in
winter-quarters, sprung to arms, "fell in," and with burnished muskets
took up the line of march.
We have spoken of the promptness with which the movement was made, and
it may almost be said that General Meade had scarcely broken up his
camps north of the Rapidan, when Lee was in motion to go and meet him.
On the night of the 26th, Stuart, whose cavalry was posted opposite
the lower fords, pushed forward in person, and bivouacked under some
pines just below Verdierville; and before daylight General Lee was
also in the saddle, and at sunrise had reached the same point. The
night had been severely cold, for winter had set in in earnest; but
General Lee, always robust and careless of weather, walked down,
without wrapping, and wearing only his plain gray uniform, to Stuart's
_impromptu_ headquarters under the pines, where, beside a great fire,
and without other covering than his army-blanket, the commander of the
cavalry had slept since midnight.
As Lee approached, Stuart came forward, and Lee said, admiringly,
"What a hardy soldier!"
They consulted, Stuart walking back with General Lee, and receiving
his orders. He then promptly mounted, and hastened to the front,
where, taking command of his cavalry, he formed it in front of the
advancing enemy, and with artillery and dismounted sharp-shooters,
offered every possible impediment to their advance.
General Meade made the passage of the Rapidan without difficulty; and,
as his expedition was unencumbered with wagons, advanced rapidly. The
only serious obstruction to his march was made by Johnson's division
of Ewell's corps, which had been thrown out beyond the run, toward the
river. Upon this force the Federal Third Corps, under General French,
suddenly blundered, by taking the wrong road, it is said, and
an active engagement followed, which resulted in favor of the
Southerners. The verdict of Lee's troops afterward was, that the enemy
fought badly; but General French probably desired nothing better than
to shake off this hornets'-nest into which he had stumbled, and to
reach, in the time prescribed by General Meade, the point of Federal
concentration near Robertson's Tavern.
Toward that point the Northern forces now converged from the various
crossings of the river; and Stuart continued to reconnoitre and feel
them along the entire front, fighting obstinately, and falling back
only when compelled to do so. Every step was thus contested with
sharp-shooters and the Horse-Artillery, from far below to above
New-Hope Church. The Federal infantry, however, continued steadily to
press forward, forcing back the cavalry, and on the 27th General Meade
was in face of Mine Run.
Lee was ready. Hill had promptly marched, and his corps was coming
into position on the right of Ewell. Receiving intelligence of the
enemy's movement only upon the preceding day, Lee had seemed to move
the divisions of Hill, far back toward Charlottesville, as by the wave
of his hand. The army was concentrated; the line of defence occupied;
and General Meade's attempt to surprise his adversary, by interposing
between his widely-separated wings, had resulted in decisive failure.
If he fought now, the battle must be one of army against army; and,
what was worst of all, it was Lee who held all the advantages of
position.
We have spoken of Mine Run: it is a strong defensive position, on its
right bank and on its left. Flowing generally between hills, and with
densely-wooded banks, it is difficult to cross from either side in
face of an opposing force; and it was Lee's good fortune to occupy the
attitude of the party to be assailed. He seemed to feel that he had
nothing to fear, and was in excellent spirits, as were the men; an
eye-witness describes them as "gay, lively, laughing, magnificent." In
front of his left wing he had already erected works; his centre and
right were as yet undefended, but the task of strengthening the line
at these points was rapidly prosecuted. Lee superintended in person
the establishment of his order of battle, and it was plain to those
who saw him thus engaged that the department of military engineering
was a favorite one with him. Riding along the western bank of the
water-course, a large part of which was densely clothed in oak,
chestnut, and hickory, he selected, with the quick eye of the trained
engineer, the best position for his line--promptly moved it when it
had been established on bad ground--pointed out the positions for
artillery; and, as he thus rode slowly along, the works which he had
directed seemed to spring up behind him as though by magic. As the
troops of Hill came up and halted in the wood, the men seized axes,
attacked the large trees, which soon fell in every direction, and the
heavy logs were dragged without loss of time to the prescribed line,
where they were piled upon each other in double walls, which were
filled in rapidly with earth; and thus, in an inconceivably short
space of time the men had defences breast-high which would turn a
cannon-shot. In front, for some distance, too, the timber had been
felled and an _abatis_ thus formed. A few hours after the arrival of
the troops on the line marked out by Lee, they were rooted behind
excellent breastworks, with forest, stream, and _abatis_ in front, to
delay the assailing force under the fire of small-arms and cannon.
This account of the movements of the army, and the preparations made
to receive General Meade's attack, may appear of undue length and
minuteness of detail, in view of the fact that no battle ensued. But
the volume before the reader is not so much a history of the battles
of Virginia, which have often been described, as an attempt to
delineate the military and personal character of General Lee, which
displayed itself often more strikingly in indecisive events than in
those whose results attract the attention of the world. It was the
vigorous brain, indeed, of the great soldier, that made events
indecisive--warding off, by military acumen and ability, the disaster
with which he was threatened. At Mine Run, Lee's quick eye for
position, and masterly handling of his forces, completely checkmated
an adversary who had advanced to deliver decisive battle. With felled
trees, breastworks, and a crawling stream, Lee reversed all the
calculations of the commander of the Federal army.
From the 27th of November to the night of the 1st of December, General
Meade moved to and fro in front of the formidable works of his
adversary, feeling them with skirmishers and artillery, and essaying
vainly to find some joint in the armor through which to pierce. There
was none. Lee had inaugurated that great system of breastworks which
afterward did him such good service in his long campaign with General
Grant. A feature of the military art unknown to Jomini had thus its
birth in the woods of America; and this fact, if there were naught
else of interest in the campaign, would communicate to the Mine-Run
affair the utmost interest.
General Meade, it seems, was bitterly opposed to foregoing an attack.
In spite of the powerful position of his adversary, he ordered an
assault, it is said; but this did not take place, in consequence,
it would appear, of the reluctance of General Warren to charge the
Confederate right. This seemed so strong that the men considered it
hopeless. When the order was communicated to them, each one wrote his
name on a scrap of paper and pinned it to his breast, that his corpse
might be recognized, and, if possible, conveyed to his friends. This
was ominous of failure: General Warren suspended the attack; and
General Meade, it is said, acquiesced in his decision. He declared, it
is related, that he could carry the position _with a loss of thirty
thousand men_; but, as that idea was frightful, there seemed nothing
to do but retreat.
Lee seemed to realize the embarrassment of his adversary, and was in
excellent heart throughout the whole affair. Riding to and fro along
his line among his "merry men"--and they had never appeared in finer
spirits, or with greater confidence in their commander--he addressed
encouraging words to them, exposed himself with entire indifference to
the shelling, and seemed perfectly confident of the result. It was on
this occasion that, finding a party of his ragged soldiers devoutly
kneeling in one of the little glades behind the breastworks, and
holding a praying-meeting in the midst of bursting shells, he
dismounted, took off his hat, and remained silently and devoutly
listening until the earnest prayer was concluded. A great revival was
then going on in the army, and thousands were becoming professors of
religion. The fact may seem strange to those who have regarded Lee
as only a West-Pointer and soldier, looking, like all soldiers, to
military success; but the religious enthusiasm of his men in this
autumn of 1863 probably gave him greater joy than any successes
achieved over his Federal adversary. Those who saw him on the lines at
Mine Run will remember the composed satisfaction of his countenance.
An eye-witness recalls his mild face, as he rode along, accompanied
by "Hill, in his drooping hat, simple and cordial; Early, laughing;
Ewell, pale and haggard, but with a smile _de bon coeur_" [Footnote:
Journal of a staff-officer.] He was thus attended, sitting his horse
upon a hill near the left of his line, when a staff officer rode up
and informed him that the enemy were making a heavy demonstration
against his extreme right.
"Infantry or cavalry?" he asked, with great calmness.
"Infantry, I think, general, from the appearance of the guns. General
Wilcox thinks so, and has sent a regiment of sharp-shooters to meet
them."
"Who commands the regiment?" asked General Lee; and it was to
introduce this question that this trifle has been mentioned. Lee knew
his army man by man almost, and could judge of the probable result
of the movement here announced to him by the name of the officer in
command.
Finding that General Meade would not probably venture to assail him.
Lee determined, on the night of December 1st, to attack his adversary
on the next morning. His mildness on this night yielded to soldierly
ardor, and he exclaimed:
"They must be attacked! they must be attacked!"
His plan is said to have contemplated a movement of his right wing
against the Federal left flank, for which the ground afforded great
advantages. All was ready for such a movement, and the orders are
said to have been issued, when, as the dawn broke over the hills, the
Federal camps were seen to be deserted. General Meade had abandoned
his campaign, and was in full retreat toward the Rapidan.
The army immediately moved in pursuit, with Lee leading the column.
The disappearance of the enemy was an astounding event to them, and
they could scarcely realize it. An entertaining illustration of this
fact is found in the journal of a staff-officer, who was sent with an
order to General Hampton. "In looking for him," says the writer, "I
got far to our right, and in a hollow of the woods found a grand
guard of the Eleventh Cavalry, with pickets and videttes out, gravely
sitting their horses, and watching the wood-roads for the advance
of an enemy who was then retreating across Ely's Ford!" Stuart was
pressing their rear with his cavalry, while the infantry were steadily
advancing. But the pursuit was vain. General Meade had disappeared
like a phantom, and was beyond pursuit, to the extreme regret and
disappointment of General Lee, who halted his troops, in great
discouragement, at Parker's Store.
"Tell General Stuart," he said, with an air of deep melancholy, to an
officer whom he saw passing, "that I had received his dispatch when
he turned into the Brock Road, and have halted my infantry here, not
wishing to march them unnecessarily."
Even at that early hour all chance of effective pursuit was lost.
General Meade, without wagons, and not even with the weight of the
rations brought over, which the men had consumed, had moved with the
rapidity of cavalry, and was already crossing the river far below. He
was afterward asked by a gentleman of Culpepper whether in crossing
the Rapidan he designed a real advance.
"Certainly," he is reported by the gentleman in question to have
replied, "I meant to go to Richmond if I could, but Lee's position was
so strong that to storm it would have cost me thirty thousand men. I
could not remain without a battle--the weather was so cold that my
sentinels froze to death on post."
The pursuit was speedily abandoned by General Lee as entirely
impracticable, and the men were marched back between the burning
woods, set on fire by the Federal campfires. The spectacle was
imposing--the numerous fires, burning outerward in the carpet of
thick leaves, formed picturesque rings of flame resembling brilliant
necklaces; and, as the flames reached the tall trees, wrapped to
the summit in dry vines, these would blaze aloft like gigantic
torches--true "torches of war"--let fall by the Federal commander in
his hasty retrograde.
Twenty-four hours afterward the larger part of General Lee's army
were back in their winter-quarters. In less than a week the Mine-Run
campaign had begun and ended. The movement of General Meade might have
been compared to that of the King of France and his forty thousand
men in the song; but the campaign was not ill devised, was rather
the dictate of sound military judgment. All that defeated it was the
extreme promptness of Lee, the excellent choice of position, and
the beginning of that great system of impromptu breastworks which
afterward became so powerful an engine against General Grant.
VI.
LEE IN THE AUTUMN AND WINTER OF 1863.
General Lee's headquarters remained, throughout the autumn and winter
of 1863, in a wood on the southern slope of the spur called Clarke's
Mountain, a few miles east of Orange Court-House.
Here his tents had been pitched, in a cleared space amid pines and
cedars; and the ingenuity of the "couriers," as messengers and
orderlies were called in the Southern army, had fashioned alleys and
walks leading to the various tents, the tent of the commanding general
occupying the centre. Of the gentlemen of General Lee's staff we have
not considered it necessary to speak; but it may here be said that it
was composed of officers of great efficiency and of the most courteous
manners, from Colonel Taylor, the indefatigable adjutant-general, to
the youngest and least prominent member of the friendly group. Among
these able assistants of the commander-in-chief were Colonel Marshall,
of Maryland, a gentleman of distinguished intellect; Colonel Peyton,
who had entered the battle of Manassas as a private in the ranks, but,
on the evening of that day, for courage and efficiency, occupied the
place of a commissioned officer on Beauregard's staff; and others
whose names were comparatively unknown to the army, but whose part in
the conduct of affairs, under direction of Lee, was most important.
With the gentlemen of his staff General Lee lived on terms of the most
kindly regard. He was a strict disciplinarian, and abhorred the theory
that a commissioned officer, from considerations of rank, should hold
himself above the private soldiers; but there was certainly no fault
of this description to be found at army headquarters, and the general
and his staff worked together in harmonious coöperation. The respect
felt for him by gentlemen who saw him at all hours, and under none of
the guise of ceremony, was probably greater than that experienced
by the community who looked upon him from a distance. That distant
perspective, hiding little weaknesses, and revealing only the great
proportions of a human being, is said to be essential generally to the
heroic sublime. No man, it has been said, can be great to those always
near him; but in the case of General Lee this was far from being the
fact. He seemed greater and nobler, day by day, as he was better and
more intimately known; and upon this point we shall quote the words of
the brave John B. Gordon, one of his most trusted lieutenants:
"It has been my fortune in life," says General Gordon, "from
circumstances, to have come in contact with some whom the world
pronounced great--some of the earth's celebrated and distinguished;
but I declare it here to-day, that of any mortal man whom it has ever
been my privilege to approach, he was the greatest; and I assert here,
that, _grand as might be your conception of the man before, he arose
in incomparable majesty on more familiar acquaintance_. This can be
affirmed of few men who have ever lived or died, and of no other man
whom it has ever been my fortune to approach. Like Niagara, the more
you gazed, the more its grandeur grew upon you, the more its majesty
expanded and filled your spirit with a full satisfaction that left a
perfect delight without the slightest feeling of oppression. Grandly
majestic and dignified in all his deportment, he was genial as the
sunlight of this beautiful day; and not a ray of that cordial social
intercourse but brought warmth to the heart as it did light to the
understanding."
Upon this point, General Breckinridge, too, bears his testimony:
"During the last year of that unfortunate struggle," he says, "it was
my good fortune to spend a great deal of time with him. I was almost
constantly by his side, and it was during the two months immediately
preceding the fall of Richmond that I came to know and fully
understand the true nobility of his character. In all those long
vigils, he was considerate and kind, gentle, firm, and self-poised. I
can give no better idea of the impression it made upon me, than to
say it inspired me with an ardent love of the man and a profound
veneration of his character. It was so massive and noble, so grand in
its proportions, that all men must admire its heroism and gallantry,
yet so gentle and tender that a woman might adopt and claim it as her
own."
We beg the reader to observe that in these two tributes to the worth
of the great soldier, his distinguished associates dwell with peculiar
emphasis upon the charms of private intercourse with him, and bear
their testimony to the fact that to know him better was to love and
admire him more and more. The fact is easily explained. There was in
this human being's character naught that was insincere, assumed, or
pretentious. It was a great and massive soul--as gentle, too, and
tender, as a woman's or a child's--that lay beneath the reserved
exterior, and made the soldier more beloved as its qualities
were better known. Other men reveal their weaknesses on nearer
acquaintance--Lee only revealed his greatness; and he was more and
more loved and admired.
The justice of these comments will be recognized by all who had
personal intercourse with the illustrious soldier; and, in this autumn
and winter of 1863, his army, lying around him along the Rapidan,
began to form that more intimate acquaintance which uniformly resulted
in profound admiration for the man. In the great campaigns of the two
past years the gray soldier had shared their hardships, and never
relaxed his fatherly care for all their wants; he had led them in
battle, exposing his own person with entire indifference; had never
exposed _them_ when it was possible to avoid it; and on every occasion
had demanded, often with disagreeable persistence from the civil
authorities, that the wants of his veterans should be supplied if all
else was neglected. These facts were now known to the troops, and
made Lee immensely popular. From the highest officers to the humblest
private soldiers he was universally respected and beloved. The whole
army seemed to feel that, in the plainly-clad soldier, sleeping, like
themselves, under canvas, in the woods of Orange, they had a guiding
and protecting head, ever studious of their well-being, jealous of
their hard-earned fame, and ready, both as friend and commander, to
represent them and claim their due.
We have spoken of the great revival of religion which at this time
took place in the army. The touching spectacle was presented of
bearded veterans, who had charged in a score of combats, kneeling
devoutly under the rustic roofs of evergreens, built for religious
gatherings, and praying to the God of battles who had so long
protected them. A commander-in-chief of the old European school might
have ridiculed these emotional assemblages, or, at best, passed them
without notice, as freaks in which he disdained to take part. Lee,
on the contrary, greeted the religious enthusiasm of his troops
with undisguised pleasure. He went among them, conversed with the
chaplains, assisted the good work by every means in his power; and
no ordained minister of the Gospel could have exhibited a simpler,
sincerer, or more heartfelt delight than himself at the general
extension of religious feeling throughout the army. We have related
how, in talking with army-chaplains, his cheeks flushed and his eyes
filled with tears at the good tidings. He begged them to pray for him
too, as no less needing their pious intercession; and in making the
request he was, as always, simple and sincere. Unaccustomed to exhibit
his feelings upon this, the profoundest and most sacred of subjects,
he was yet penetrated to his inmost soul by a sense of his own
weakness and dependence on divine support; and, indeed, it may be
questioned whether any other element of the great soldier's character
was so deep-seated and controlling as his spirit of love to God. It
took, in the eyes of the world, the form of a love of duty; but with
Lee the word duty was but another name for the will of the Almighty;
and to discover and perform this was, first and last, the sole aim of
his life.
We elaborate this point before passing to the last great campaign of
the war, since, to understand Lee in those last days, it is absolutely
necessary to keep in view this utter subjection of the man's heart to
the sense of an overruling Providence--that Providence which "shapes
our ends, rough-hew them how we will." We shall be called upon to
delineate the soldier meeting adverse circumstances and disaster at
every turn with an imperial calmness and a resolution that never
shook; and, up to a certain point, this noble composure may be
attributed to the stubborn courage of the man's nature. There came in
due time, however, a moment of trial when military courage simply
was of no avail--when that human being never lived, who, looking to
earthly support alone, would not have lost heart and given up the
contest. Lee did not, in this hour of conclusive trial, either lose
heart or give up the struggle; and the world, not understanding the
phenomenon, gazed at him with wonder. Few were aware of the true
explanation of his utter serenity when all things were crumbling
around him, and when he knew that they were crumbling. The stout heart
of the soldier who will not yield to fate was in his breast; but he
had a still stronger sentiment than manly courage to support him--the
consciousness that he was doing his duty, and that God watched over
him, and would make all things work together for good to those who
loved Him.
As yet that last great wrestle of the opposing armies lay in the
future. The veterans of the Army of Northern Virginia defended the
line of the Rapidan, and the gray commander-in-chief, in his tent
on Clarke's Mountain, serenely awaited the further movements of the
enemy. During the long months of winter he was busily engaged, as
usual, in official correspondence, in looking to the welfare of his
men, and in preparations for the coming campaign. He often rode among
the camps, and the familiar figure in the well-known hat, cape,
and gray uniform, mounted upon the powerful iron-gray--the famous
"Traveller," who survived to bear his master after the war--was
everywhere greeted by the ragged veterans with cheers and marks of the
highest respect and regard. At times his rides were extended to
the banks of the Rapidan, and, in passing, he would stop at the
headquarters of General Stuart, or other officers. On these occasions
he had always some good-humored speech for all, not overlooking the
youngest officer; but he shone in the most amiable light, perhaps, in
conversing with some old private soldier, gray-haired like himself.
At such moments the general's countenance was a pleasant spectacle. A
kindly smile lit up the clear eyes, and moved the lips half-concealed
by the grizzled mustache. The _bonhomie_ of this smile was
irresistible, and the aged private soldier, in his poor, tattered
fighting-jacket, was made to feel by it that his commander-in-chief
regarded him as a friend and comrade.
We dwell at too great length, perhaps, upon these slight personal
traits of the soldier, but all relating to such a human being is
interesting, and worthy of record. To the writer, indeed, this is the
most attractive phase of his subject. The analysis and description of
campaigns and battles is an unattractive task to him; but the personal
delineation of a good and great man, even in his lesser and more
familiar traits, is a pleasing relief--a portion of his subject upon
which he delights to linger. What the writer here tries to draw, he
looked upon with his own eyes, the figure of a great, calm soldier,
with kindly sweetness and dignity, but, above all, a charming
sincerity and simplicity in every movement, accent, and expression.
Entirely free from the trappings of high command, and with nothing to
distinguish him from any other soldier save the well-worn stars on the
collar of his uniform-coat, the commander-in-chief was recognizable at
the very first glance, and no less the simple and kindly gentleman.
His old soldiers remember him as he appeared on many battle-fields,
and will describe his martial seat in the saddle as he advanced with
the advancing lines. But they will speak of him with even greater
pleasure as he appeared in the winters of 1862 and 1863, on the
Rappahannock and the Rapidan--a gray and simple soldier, riding among
them and smiling kindly as his eyes fell upon their tattered uniforms
and familiar faces.