The Army of Virginia, under Pope, is now to bear the brunt of Lee's
assault, while the Army of the Potomac is dismembered and sent back
whence it came, to add in driblets to Pope's effective.--_Colonel
Theodore A. Dodge, U. S. A., in "A Bird's-Eye View of the Civil War."_
General George B. McClellan, with all his popularity at the beginning, had
failed in his Peninsula campaign to fulfil the expectations of the great
impatient public of the North. At the same time, while the Army of the
Potomac had as yet won no great victories, the men of the West could
triumphantly exhibit the trophies won at Donelson, at Pea Ridge, at
Shiloh, and at Island No. 10. The North thereupon came to believe that the
Western leaders were more able than those of the East. This belief was
shared by the President and his Secretary of War and it led to the
determination to call on the West for help.
The first to be called was General John Pope, who had won national fame by
capturing New Madrid and Island No. 10 on the Mississippi River. In answer
to a telegram from Secretary Stanton, Pope came to Washington in June,
1862. The secretary disclosed the plans on which he and President Lincoln
had agreed, that a new army, to be known as the Army of Virginia, was to
be created out of three corps, then under the respective commands of
Generals McDowell, N. P. Banks, and John C. Fremont. These corps had been
held from the Peninsula campaign for the purpose of protecting Washington.
Pope demurred and begged to be sent back to the West, on the ground that
each of the three corps commanders was his senior in rank and that his
being placed at their head would doubtless create a feeling against him.
But his protests were of no avail and he assumed command of the Army of
Virginia on the 26th of June. McDowell and Banks made no protest; but
Fremont refused to serve under one whom he considered his junior, and
resigned his position. His corps was assigned to General Franz Sigel.
The new commander, General Pope, on the 14th of July, issued an address to
his army that was hardly in keeping with his modesty in desiring at first
to decline the honor that was offered him. "I have come to you from the
West," he proclaimed, "where we have always seen the backs of our
enemies--from an army whose business it has been to seek the adversary and
to beat him when found.... Meantime I desire you to dismiss from your
minds certain phrases which I am sorry to find much in vogue among you. I
hear constantly of ... lines of retreat and bases of supplies. Let us
discard such ideas.... Let us look before us and not behind."
The immediate object of General Pope was to make the capital secure, to
make advances toward Richmond, and, if possible, to draw a portion of
Lee's army away from McClellan. His first objective was Gordonsville. From
this town, not far from the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, there was a
railroad connecting it with Richmond--a convenient means of furnishing men
and supplies to the Confederate army. Pope decided to occupy the town and
destroy the railroad. To this end he ordered Banks to Culpeper and thence
to send all his cavalry to Gordonsville, capture the town and tear up ten
or fifteen miles of the railroad in the direction of Richmond. But, as if
a prelude to the series of defeats which General Pope was to suffer in the
next six weeks, he failed in this initial movement. The sagacious Lee had
divined his intention and had sent General "Stonewall" Jackson with his
and General Ewell's divisions on July 13th, to occupy Gordonsville. Ewell
arrived in advance of Jackson and held the town for the Confederates.
In the campaign we are describing Jackson was the most active and
conspicuous figure on the Confederate side. He rested at Gordonsville for
two weeks, recuperating his health and that of the army, which had been
much impaired in the malarial district of the Peninsula. The fresh
mountain air blowing down from the Blue Ridge soon brought back their
wonted vigor. On July 27th A. P. Hill was ordered to join him, and the
Confederate leader now had about twenty-five thousand men.
The movement on Gordonsville was exactly in accordance with Jackson's own
ideas which he had urged upon Lee. Although believing McClellan to be in
an impregnable position on the Peninsula, it was not less evident to him
that the Union general would be unable to move further until his army had
been reorganized and reënforced. This was the moment, he argued, to strike
in another direction and carry the conflict into the Federal territory. An
army of at least sixty thousand should march into Maryland and appear
before the National Capital. President Davis could not be won over to the
plan while McClellan was still in a position to be reënforced by sea, but
Lee, seeing that McClellan remained inactive, had determined, by sending
Jackson westward, to repeat the successful tactics of the previous spring
in the Shenandoah valley. Such a move might result in the recall of
McClellan.
And so it happened. No sooner had Halleck assumed command of all the
Northern armies than the matter of McClellan's withdrawal was agitated and
on August 3d the head of the Army of the Potomac, to his bitter
disappointment, was ordered to join Pope on the Rappahannock. Halleck was
much concerned as to how Lee would act during the Federal evacuation of
the Peninsula, uncertain whether the Confederates would attempt to crush
Pope before McClellan could reënforce him, or whether McClellan would be
attacked as soon as he was out of his strong entrenchments at Harrison's
Landing.
The latter of the two possibilities seemed the more probable, and Pope was
therefore ordered to push his whole army toward Gordonsville, in the hope
that Lee, compelled to strengthen Jackson, would be too weak to fall upon
the retiring Army of the Potomac.
The Union army now occupied the great triangle formed roughly by the
Rappahannock and the Rapidan rivers and the range of the Blue Ridge
Mountains, with Culpeper Court House as the rallying point. Pope soon
found that the capturing of New Madrid and Island No. 10 was easy in
comparison with measuring swords with the Confederate generals in the
East.
On August 6th Pope began his general advance upon Gordonsville. Banks
already had a brigade at Culpeper Court House, and this was nearest to
Jackson. The small settlement was the meeting place of four roads by means
of which Pope's army of forty-seven thousand men would be united. Jackson,
informed of the advance, immediately set his three divisions in motion for
Culpeper, hoping to crush Banks, hold the town, and prevent the uniting of
the Army of Virginia. His progress was slow. The remainder of Banks's
corps reached Culpeper on the 8th. On the morning of the 9th Jackson
finally got his troops over the Rapidan and the Robertson rivers. Two
miles beyond the latter stream there rose from the plain the slope of
Slaughter Mountain, whose ominous name is more often changed into Cedar.
This "mountain" is an isolated foothill of the Blue Ridge, some twenty
miles from the parent range, and a little north of the Rapidan. From its
summit could be seen vast stretches of quiet farmlands which had borne
their annual harvests since the days of the Cavaliers. Its gentle slopes
were covered with forests, which merged at length into waving grain fields
and pasture lands, dotted here and there with rural homes. It was here on
the slope of Cedar Mountain that one of the most severe little battles of
the war took place.
On the banks of Cedar Run, seven miles south of Culpeper and but one or
two north of the mountain, Banks's cavalry were waiting to oppose
Jackson's advance. Learning of this the latter halted and waited for an
attack. He placed Ewell's batteries on the slope about two hundred feet
above the valley and sent General Winder to take a strong position on the
left. So admirably was Jackson's army stationed that it would have
required a much larger force, approaching it from the plains, to dislodge
it. And yet, General Banks made an attempt with an army scarcely one-third
as large as that of Jackson.
General Pope had made glowing promises of certain success and he well knew
that the whole North was eagerly watching and waiting for him to fulfil
them. He must strike somewhere and do it soon--and here was his chance at
Cedar Mountain. He sent Banks with nearly eight thousand men against this
brilliant Southern commander with an army three times as large, holding a
strong position on a mountain side.
Banks with his infantry left Culpeper Court House on the morning of August
9th and reached the Confederate stronghold in the afternoon. He approached
the mountain through open fields in full range of the Confederate cannon,
which presently opened with the roar of thunder. All heedless of danger
the brave men ran up the slope as if to take the foe by storm, when
suddenly they met a brigade of Ewell's division face to face and a brief,
deadly encounter took place. In a few minutes the Confederate right flank
began to waver and would no doubt have been routed but for the timely aid
of another brigade and still another that rushed down the hill and opened
fire on the Federal lines which extended along the eastern bank of Cedar
Run.
Meanwhile the Union batteries had been wheeled into position and their
deep roar answered that of the foe on the hill. For two or three hours the
battle continued with the utmost fury. The ground was strewn with dead and
dying and human blood was poured out like water. But the odds were too
great and at length, as the shades of evening were settling over the gory
field, Banks began to withdraw the remnant of his troops. But he left two
thousand of his brave lads--one fourth of his whole army--dead or dying
along the hillside, while the Confederate losses were in excess of
thirteen hundred.
The dead and wounded of both armies lay mingled in masses over the whole
battle-field. While the fighting continued, neither side could send aid or
relief to the maimed soldiers, who suffered terribly from thirst and lack
of attention as the sultry day gave place to a close, oppressive night.
General Pope had remained at Culpeper, but, hearing the continuous
cannonading and knowing that a sharp engagement was going on, hastened to
the battle-field in the afternoon with a fresh body of troops under
General Ricketts, arriving just before dark. He instantly ordered Banks to
withdraw his right wing so as to make room for Ricketts; but the
Confederates, victorious as they had been, refused to continue the contest
against the reënforcements and withdrew to the woods up the mountain side.
Heavy shelling was kept up by the hard-worked artillerymen of both armies
until nearly midnight, while the Federal troops rested on their arms in
line of battle. For two days the armies faced each other across the
valley. Then both quietly withdrew. Pope's first battle as leader of an
Eastern army had resulted in neither victory nor defeat.
[Illustration: A BREATHING SPELL