[Illustration: Yours truly Charles Carleton Coffin (signature)]
FOLLOWING THE FLAG
FROM AUGUST 1861 TO NOVEMBER 1862
WITH THE
ARMY OF THE POTOMAC
BY
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN
AUTHOR OF "MY DAYS AND NIGHTS ON THE BATTLEFIELD," "BOYS OF '76,"
"BOYS OF '61," "WINNING HIS WAY," ETC.
NEW YORK
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS
CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN SERIES
UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
By CHARLES CARLETON COFFIN
Following the Flag.
Four Years of Fighting.
My Days and Nights on the Battlefield.
Winning His Way.
_Price, postpaid, 50c. each, or any three books for $1.25_
HURST & COMPANY
PUBLISHERS, NEW YORK
PREFACE.
It will be many years before a complete history of the operations of
the armies of the Union can be written; but that is not a sufficient
reason why historical pictures may not now be painted from such
materials as have come to hand. This volume, therefore, is a sketch
of the operations of the Army of the Potomac from August, 1861, to
November, 1862, while commanded by General McClellan. To avoid detail,
the organization of the army is given in an Appendix. It has not been
possible, in a book of this size, to give the movements of regiments;
but the narrative has been limited to the operations of brigades and
divisions. It will be comparatively easy, however, for the reader
to ascertain the general position of any regiment in the different
battles, by consulting the Appendix in connection with the narrative.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER PAGE
Introductory 9
I. Organization of the Army of the Potomac 11
II. Ball's Bluff 22
III. Battle of Dranesville, and the Winter of
1862 38
IV. Siege of Yorktown 49
V. Battle of Williamsburg 65
VI. On the Chickahominy 82
Affair at Hanover Court-House 84
VII. Fair Oaks 88
VIII. Seven Days of Fighting 108
Battle of Mechanicsville 111
Battle of Gaines's Mills 115
Movement to James River 121
Battle of Savage Station 123
Battle of Glendale 125
Battle of Malvern 131
IX. Affairs in front of Washington 138
Battle of Cedar Mountain 140
X. Battle of Groveton 147
The Retreat to Washington 157
XI. Invasion of Maryland 158
Barbara Frietchie 160
Battle of South Mountain 165
Surrender of Harper's Ferry 171
XII. Battle of Antietam 175
Hooker's Attack 187
Sumner's Attack 194
The Attack upon the Center 206
Richardson's Attack 212
General Franklin's Arrival 216
Burnside's Attack 221
XIII. After the Battle 238
XIV. The March from Harper's Ferry to
Warrenton 250
Removal of General McClellan 269
APPENDIX.
The Organization of the Army of the Potomac,
April, 1862 278
LIST OF DIAGRAMS.
PAGE
Ball's Bluff 29
Battle of Dranesville 41
Battle of Williamsburg 69
Battle of Fair Oaks 91
Battle of Mechanicsville 112
Battle of Gaines's Mills 116
Battle of Glendale 128
Battle of Malvern 134
Battle of Groveton 149
Battle-Field of Antietam 180
Sedgwick's Attack 198
French's and Richardson's Attack 208
Burnside's Second Attack 232
INTRODUCTORY.
For more than three years I have followed the flag of our country
in the East and in the West and in the South,--on the ocean, on the
land, and on the great rivers. A year ago I gave in a volume entitled
"My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field" a description of the Battle
of Bull Run, and other battles in Kentucky, Tennessee, and on the
Mississippi.
It has been my privilege to witness nearly all the great battles fought
by the Army of the Potomac,--Antietam, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg,
at the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, the North Anna, Coal Harbor and at
Petersburg. Letters have been received from those who are strangers to
me as well as from friends, expressing a desire that I should give a
connected account, not only of the operations of that army, from its
organization, but of other armies; also of the glorious achievements of
the navy in this great struggle of our country for national existence.
The present volume, therefore, will be the second of the contemplated
series.
During the late campaign in Virginia, many facts and incidents were
obtained which give an insight into the operations of the armies of the
South, not before known. Time will undoubtedly reveal other important
facts, which will be made use of in the future. It will be my endeavor
to sift from the immense amount of material already accumulated a
concise and trustworthy account, that we may know how our patriot
brothers have fought to save the country and to secure to all who may
live after them the blessings of a free government.
FOLLOWING THE FLAG.
CHAPTER I.
ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.
The battle of Bull Run, or of Manassas, as the Rebels call it, which
was fought on the 21st of July, 1861, was the first great battle of the
war. It was disastrous to the Union army. But the people of the North
were not disheartened by it. Their pride was mortified, for they had
confidently expected a victory, and had not taken into consideration
the possibility of a defeat. The victory was all but won, as has been
narrated in "My Days and Nights on the Battle-Field," when the arrival
of a brigade of Rebels and the great mistake of Captain Barry, who
supposed them to be Union troops, turned the scale, and the battle was
lost to the Union army.
But the people of the North, who loved the Union, could not think of
giving up the contest,--of having the country divided, and the old flag
trailed in the dust. They felt that it would be impossible to live
peaceably side by side with those who declared themselves superior to
the laboring men of the Free States, and were their rightful masters.
They were not willing to acknowledge that the slaveholders were their
masters. They felt that there could not be friendship and amity
between themselves and a nation which had declared that slavery was
its cornerstone. Besides all this, the slaveholders wanted Maryland,
Kentucky, and Missouri in the Southern Confederacy, while the majority
of the people of those States wanted to stay in the Union. The Rebels
professed that they were willing that each State should choose for
itself, but they were insincere and treacherous in their professions.
Kentucky would not join the Confederacy; therefore they invaded the
State to compel the people to forsake the old flag.
A gentleman from Ohio accompanied a Southern lady to Columbus, on the
Mississippi, to see her safely among her friends. General Polk was
commander of the Rebel forces at that place, and they talked about the
war.
"I wish it might be settled," said the General.
"How will you settle?"
"O, all we ask is to have all that belongs to us, and to be let alone."
"What belongs to you?"
"All that has always been acknowledged as ours."
"Do you want Missouri?"
"Yes, that is ours."
"Do you want Kentucky?"
"Yes, certainly. The Ohio River has always been considered as the
boundary line."
"But Kentucky don't want you."
"We must have her."
"You want all of Virginia?"
"Of course."
"You want Maryland?"
"Most certainly."
"What will you do with Washington?"
"We don't want it. Remove it if you want to; but Maryland is ours."[1]
[Footnote 1: Ohio State Journal.]
Such was the conversation; and this feeling, that they must have
all the Slave States to form a great slaveholding confederacy, was
universal in the South.
Besides this, they held the people in the Free States in contempt. Even
the children of the South were so influenced by the system of slavery
that they thought themselves superior to the people of the Free States
who worked for a living.
I heard a girl, who was not more than ten years old, say that the
Northern people were all "old scrubs"! Not to be a scrub was to own
slaves,--to work them hard and pay them nothing,--to sell them, to
raise children for the market,--to separate mothers from their babes,
wives from their husbands,--to live solely for their own interests,
happiness, and pleasure, without regard to the natural rights of
others. This little girl, although her mother kept a boarding-house,
felt that she was too good to play with Northern children, or if she
noticed them at all, it was as a superior.
Feeling themselves the superiors of the Northern people, having been
victorious at Manassas, the people of the South became enthusiastic for
continuing the war. Thousands of volunteers joined the Rebels already
in arms. Before the summer of 1861 had passed, General Johnston had a
large army in front of Washington, which was called the Army of the
Potomac.
At the same time thousands rushed to arms in the North. They saw
clearly that there was but one course to pursue,--to fight it out,
defeat the Rebels, vindicate their honor, and save the country.
The Union army which gathered at Washington was also styled the Army
of the Potomac. Many of the soldiers who fought at Manassas were three
months' men. As their terms of service expired their places were filled
by men who enlisted for three years, if not sooner discharged.
General George B. McClellan, who with General Rosecrans had been
successfully conducting the war in Western Virginia, was called to
Washington to organize an army which, it was hoped, would defeat the
Rebels, and move on to Richmond.
The people wanted a leader. General Scott, who had fought at Niagara
and Lundy's Lane, who had captured the city of Mexico, was too old and
infirm to take the field. General McDowell, although his plan of attack
at Bull Run was approved, had failed of victory. General McClellan had
been successful in the skirmishes at Philippi and at Rich Mountain.
He was known to be a good engineer. He had been a visitor to Russia
during the Crimean war, and had written a book upon that war, which was
published by Congress. He was a native of Pennsylvania and a resident
of Ohio when the war broke out. The governors of both of those States
sent him a commission as a brigadier-general, because he had had
military experience in Mexico, and because he was known as a military
man, and because they were in great need of experienced men to command
the troops. Having all these things in his favor, he was called to
Washington and made commander of the Army of the Potomac on the 27th of
July.
He immediately submitted a plan of operations to the President for
suppressing the rebellion. He thought that if Kentucky remained loyal,
twenty thousand men moving down the Mississippi would be sufficient
to quell the rebellion in the West. Western Virginia could be held
by five or ten thousand more. He would have ten thousand protect the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and the Potomac River, five thousand
at Baltimore, twenty thousand at Washington, and three thousand at
Fortress Monroe. One grand army for active operations was needed, to
consist of two hundred and twenty-five thousand infantry, six hundred
pieces of field artillery, twenty-five thousand cavalry, and seven
thousand five hundred engineers, making a total of two hundred and
seventy-three thousand men. In his letter to the President, General
McClellan says: "I propose, with the force which I have requested, not
only to drive the enemy out of Virginia, and occupy Richmond, but to
occupy Charleston, Savannah, Montgomery, Pensacola, Mobile, and New
Orleans; in other words, to move into the heart of the enemy's country,
and crush the rebellion in its very heart."[2]
[Footnote 2: General McClellan's Report, p. 4.]
It was found a very difficult matter to obtain arms for the soldiers;
for President Buchanan's Secretary of War, Floyd, had sent most of the
arms in Northern arsenals to the South before the war commenced. But,
notwithstanding this, so earnest were the people, and so energetic the
government, that on the 1st of October, two months from the time that
General McClellan took command, there were one hundred and sixty-eight
thousand men in the Army of the Potomac, with two hundred and twenty
pieces of artillery; besides this, the government had a large army
in Kentucky, and another in Missouri. The Rebels had large armies in
those States, and were making great efforts to secure them to the
Confederacy. It was not possible to send all the troops to Washington,
as General McClellan desired.
The Rebel army was commanded by General Joseph E. Johnston. He had
about seventy thousand men, with his headquarters at Manassas. Some
of the spies which were sent out by General McClellan reported a much
larger force under Johnston, and General McClellan believed that he
had one hundred and fifty thousand men. Strong fortifications were
erected to defend Washington; General Johnston wished very much to
take the city, and the people of the South expected that he would gain
possession of it and drive out the hated Yankees. He pushed his troops
almost up to General McClellan's lines, taking possession of Munson's
Hill, which is only five miles from the Long Bridge at Washington.
The Rebels erected breastworks upon the hill, and threw shot and shells
almost to Arlington House. From the hill they could see the spires of
the city of Washington, the white dome of the capitol, and its marble
pillars. No doubt they longed to have it in their possession; but there
were thousands of men in arms and hundreds of cannon and a wide river
between them and the city.
One bright October morning I rode to Bailey's Cross-roads, which is
about a mile from Munson's Hill. Looking across a cornfield, I could
see the Rebels behind their breastworks. Their battle-flags were waving
gayly. Their bayonets gleamed in the sunshine. A group of officers had
gathered on the summit of the hill. With my field-glass, I could see
what they were doing. They examined maps, looked towards Washington,
and pointed out the position of the Union fortifications. There were
ladies present, who looked earnestly towards the city, and chatted
merrily with the officers. A few days after, I saw in a Richmond paper
that the officers were Generals Lee, Beauregard, and Johnston, and that
one of the ladies was Mrs. Lee.
General Lee was within sight of his old home; but he had become a
traitor to his country, and it was to be his no more. Never again would
he sit in the spacious parlors, or walk the verdant lawn, or look upon
the beautiful panorama of city and country, forest and field, hill and
valley, land and water,--upon the ripened wheat on the hillside or the
waving corn in the meadows,--upon the broad Potomac, gleaming in the
sunshine, or upon the white-winged ships sailing upon its bosom,--upon
the city, with its magnificent buildings, upon the marble shaft rising
to the memory of Washington, or upon the outline of the hills of
Bladensburg, faint and dim in the distance.
He joined the rebellion because he believed that a state was more than
the nation, that Virginia was greater than the Union, that she had a
right to leave it, and was justified in seceding from it. He belonged
to an old family, which, when Virginia was a colony of Great Britain,
had influence and power. He owned many slaves. He believed that the
institution of slavery was right. He left the Union to serve Virginia,
resigned his command as colonel of cavalry, which he held under the
United States. He accepted a commission from Jefferson Davis, forswore
his allegiance to his country, turned his back upon the old flag,
proved recreant in the hour of trial, and became an enemy to the nation
which had trusted and honored him.
The summer passed away and the golden months of autumn came round. The
troops were organized into brigades and divisions. They were drilled
daily. In the morning at six o'clock the drummers beat the reveille.
The soldiers sprang to their feet at the sound, and formed in company
lines to answer the roll-call. Then they had breakfast of hard-tack
and coffee. After breakfast the guards were sent out. At eight o'clock
there were company drills in marching, in handling their muskets, in
charging bayonet, and resisting an imaginary onset from the enemy. At
twelve o'clock they had dinner,--more hard-tack, pork or beef, or rice
and molasses. In the afternoon there were regimental, brigade, and
sometimes division drills,--the men carrying their knapsacks, canteens,
haversacks, and blankets,--just as if they were on the march. At
sunset each regiment had a dress parade. Then each soldier was expected
to be in his best trim. In well-disciplined regiments, all wore white
gloves when they appeared on dress parade. It was a fine sight,--the
long line of men in blue, the ranks straight and even, each soldier
doing his best. Marching proudly to the music of the band, the light
of the setting sun falling aslant upon their bright bayonets, and the
flag they loved waving above them, thrilling them with remembrances of
the glorious deeds of their fathers, who bore it aloft at Saratoga,
Trenton, and Princeton, at Queenstown and New Orleans, at Buena Vista
and Chapultepec, who beneath its endearing folds laid the foundations
of the nation and secured the rights of civil and religious liberty.
Each soldier felt that he would be an unworthy son, if traitors and
rebels were permitted to overthrow a government which had cost so
much sacrifice and blood and treasure, and which was the hope of the
oppressed throughout all the world.
In the evening there were no military duties to be performed, and the
soldiers told stories around the camp-fires, or sang songs, or had a
dance; for in each company there was usually one who could play the
violin. Many merry times they had. Some sat in their tents and read the
newspapers or whatever they could find to interest them, with a bayonet
stuck in the ground for a candle-stick. There were some who, at home,
had attended the Sabbath school. Although in camp, they did not forget
what they had left behind. The Bible was precious to them. They read
its sacred pages and treasured its holy truths. Sometimes they had a
prayer-meeting, and asked God to bless them, the friends they had left
behind, and the country for which they were ready to die, if need be,
to save it from destruction.
But at the tap of the drum at nine o'clock the laughter, the songs,
the dances, the stories, the readings, and the prayer-meetings, all
were brought to a close, the lights were put out, and silence reigned
throughout the camp, broken only by the step of the watchful sentinel.
The soldiers soon grew weary of this monotony. They had been accustomed
to an active life. It was an army different from any ever before
organized. It was composed in a great degree of thinking men. Many of
them were leading citizens in the towns where they lived. They were
well educated and were refined in their manners. They knew there was to
be hard fighting and a desperate contest, that many never would return
to their homes, but would find their graves upon the field of battle;
yet they were ready to meet the enemy, and waited impatiently for
orders to march.
There were grand reviews of troops during the fall, by which the
officers and soldiers became somewhat accustomed to moving in large
bodies. All of the troops which could be spared from the fortifications
and advanced positions were brought together at Bailey's Cross-roads,
after the Rebels evacuated Munson's Hill, to be reviewed by the
President and General McClellan. There were seventy thousand men.
It was a grand sight. Each regiment tried to outdo all others in
its appearance and its marching. They moved by companies past the
President, bands playing national airs, the drums beating, and the
flags waving. There were several hundred pieces of artillery, and
several thousand cavalrymen. The ground shook beneath the steady
marching of the great mass of men, and the tread of thousands of hoofs.
It was the finest military display ever seen in America.
It was expected that the army would soon move upon the enemy. General
McClellan, in a letter to the President, advised that the advance
should not be postponed later than the 25th of November. The time
passed rapidly. The roads were smooth and hard. The days were golden
with sunshine, and the stars shone from a cloudless sky at night; but
there were no movements during the month, except reconnaissances by
brigades and divisions.
The Rebels erected batteries on the south side of the Potomac, below
the Occoquan, and blockaded it. They had destroyed the Baltimore and
Ohio Railroad and the Chesapeake Canal, so that the Union army and
the city of Washington were dependent on the one line of railroad to
Baltimore for all its supplies. It was very desirable that the Potomac
should be opened. General Hooker, who commanded a division at Budd's
Ferry, wished very much to attack the Rebels, with the aid of the navy,
and capture the batteries, but General McClellan did not wish one
division to move till the whole army was ready. December passed, and
the year completed its round. Cold nights and blustering days came,
and the army, numbering two hundred thousand men, went into winter
quarters.