The news of the fight between the sheriff's posse and the band at
Lynch's Creek was telegraphed to the Richmond papers by their local
agent upon the day after it occurred. The report said that Captain
Wingfield, a young officer who had frequently distinguished himself, had
followed the traces of a gang, one of whom was a notorious criminal who
had evaded the pursuit of the law and escaped from that section fifteen
years ago, and had, under an assumed name, been acting as overseer at
Mrs. Wingfield's estate of the Orangery. These men had carried off a
negress belonging to Mrs. Wingfield, and had taken her down South.
Captain Wingfield, having obtained the assistance of the sheriff with a
posse of determined men, rode to the place which served as headquarters
for the gang. Upon being summoned to surrender the men opened a fire
upon the sheriff and his posse. A sharp fight ensued, in which the
sheriff was killed and one of his men wounded; while the four members of
the gang were either killed or taken prisoners. It was reported that a
person occupying a position as a planter in the neighborhood of Richmond
is connected with this gang.
The reporter had obtained his news from Vincent, who had purposely
refrained from mentioning the names of those who had fallen. He had
already had a conversation with the wounded prisoner. The latter had
declared that he had simply acted in the affair as he had been paid to
do by the man he knew in Richmond as Pearson, who told him that he
wanted him to aid in carrying off a slave woman, who was really his
property, but had been fraudulently taken from him. He had heard him say
that there was another interested in the affair, who had his own reasons
for getting the woman out of the way, and had paid handsomely for the
job. Who that other was Pearson had never mentioned.
Vincent saw that he had no absolute evidence against Jackson, and
therefore purposely suppressed the fact that Pearson was among the
killed in hopes that the paragraph would so alarm Jackson that he would
at once decamp. His anticipations were entirely justified; for upon the
day of his return to Richmond he saw a notice in the paper that the
Cedars, with its field hands, houses, and all belonging to it, was for
sale. He proceeded at once to the estate agent, and learned from him
that Jackson had come in two days before and had informed him that
sudden and important business had called him away, and that he was
starting at once for New York, where his presence was urgently required,
and that he should attempt to get through the lines immediately. He had
asked him what he thought the property and slaves would fetch. Being
acquainted with the estate, he had given him a rough estimate, and had,
upon Jackson's giving him full power to sell, advanced him two-thirds of
the sum. Jackson had apparently started at once; indeed, he had told him
that he should take the next train as far North as he could get.
Vincent received the news with great satisfaction. He had little doubt
that Jackson had really made down to the South, and that he would try to
cross the lines there, his statement that he intended to go direct North
being merely intended to throw his pursuers off his track should a
warrant be issued against him. However, it mattered little which way
Jackson had gone, so that he had left the State.
There was little chance of his ever returning; for even when he learned
that his confederate in the business had been killed in the fight, he
could not be certain that the prisoner who had been taken was not aware
of the share he had in the business.
A fortnight later Vincent went down into Georgia and brought back Lucy
Kingston for a visit to his mother. She had already received a letter
from her father in reply to one she had written after reaching her
aunt's protection, saying how delighted he was to hear that she had
crossed the lines, for that he had suffered the greatest anxiety
concerning her, and had continually reproached himself for not sending
her away sooner. He said that he was much pleased with her engagement to
Captain Wingfield, whom he did not know personally, but of whom he heard
the most favorable reports from various Virginian gentlemen to whom he
had spoken since the receipt of her letter.
Lucy remained at Richmond until the beginning of March, when Vincent
took her home to Georgia again, and a week after his return rejoined the
army on the Rappahannock. Every effort had been made by the Confederate
authorities to raise the army of General Lee to a point that would
enable him to cope with the tremendous force the enemy were collecting
for the ensuing campaign. The drain of men was now telling terribly, and
Lee had at the utmost 40,000 to oppose the 160,000 collected under
General Hooker.
The first fight of the campaign had already taken place when Vincent
rejoined the army. A body of 3,000 Federal cavalry had crossed the river
on the 17th of March at Kelley's Ford, but had been met by General Fitz
Lee with about 800 cavalry, and after a long and stubborn conflict had
been driven back with heavy loss across the river. It was not until the
middle of April that the enemy began to move in earnest. Every ford was
watched by Stuart's cavalry, and the frequent attempts made by the
Federal horse to push across to obtain information were always defeated.
On the 27th of April General Hooker's preparations were complete. His
plan of action was that 20,000 men should cross the river near the old
battlefield of Fredericksburg, and thus lead the Confederates to believe
that this was the point of attack. The main body were, however, to cross
at Kelley's Ford, many miles higher up the river, and to march down
toward Fredericksburg. The other force was then to recross, march up the
river, cross at Kelley's Ford, and follow and join the main army. At the
same time the Federal cavalry, which was very numerous and
well-organized, was, under General Stoneman, to strike down through the
country toward Richmond, and thus cut the Confederate communication with
their capital, and so prevent Longstreet's division, which was lying
near Richmond, from rejoining Lee.
The passage of the river was effected at the two fords without
resistance on the 29th of April, and upon the same day the cavalry
column marched south. General Lee directed a portion of his cavalry
under General Fitz Lee to harass and delay this column as much as
possible. Although he had with him but a few hundred men, he succeeded
in doing good service in cutting off detached bodies of the enemy,
capturing many officers and men, and so demoralizing the invaders that,
after pushing on as far as the James River, Stoneman had to retreat in
great haste across the Rapidan River.
Hooker having crossed the river, marched on to Chancellorsville, where
he set to to entrench himself, having sent word to General Sedgwick, who
commanded the force that had crossed near Fredericksburg, to recross,
push round, and join as soon as possible. Chancellorsville was a large
brick mansion standing in the midst of fields surrounded by extensive
forests. The country was known as the Wilderness. Within a range of many
miles there were only a few scattered houses, and dense thickets and
pine-woods covered the whole country. Two narrow roads passed through
the woods, crossing each other at Chancellorsville; two other roads led
to the fords known as Ely's Ford and the United States Ford. As soon as
he reached Chancellorsville Hooker set his troops to work cutting down
trees and throwing up earthworks for infantry and redoubts for
artillery, erecting a double line of defenses. On these he mounted
upward of a hundred pieces of artillery, commanding the narrow roads by
which an enemy must approach, for the thickets were in many places so
dense as to render it impossible for troops to force their way through
them.
When Sedgwick crossed the river, Lee drew up his army to oppose him; but
finding that no more troops crossed, and that Sedgwick did not advance,
he soon came to the conclusion that this was not the point at which the
enemy intended to attack, and in twenty-four hours one of Stuart's
horsemen brought the news that Hooker had crossed the Rappahannock at
Kelley's Ford and the Rapidan at Ely's Ford. Lee at once left one
division to face General Sedgwick, and ordered the three others to join
General Anderson, who with 8,000 men had fallen back before Hooker's
advance, and taken his post at Tabernacle Church, about halfway between
Fredericksburg and Tabernacle. Lee himself rode forward at once and
joined Anderson.
Jackson led the force from Fredericksburg, and pressed the enemy back
toward Chancellorsville until he approached the tremendous lines of
fortifications, and then fell back to communicate with Lee. That night a
council of war was held, and it was agreed that an attack upon the front
of the enemy's position was absolutely impossible. Hooker himself was so
positive that his position was impregnable that he issued a general
order of congratulation to his troops, saying that "the enemy must now
ingloriously fly or give us battle on our own ground, where certain
destruction awaits him."
Jackson then suggested that he should work right round the Wilderness in
front of the enemy's position, march down until well on its flank, and
attack it there, where they would be unprepared for an assault. The
movement was one of extraordinary peril. Lee would be left with but one
division in face of an immensely superior force; Jackson would have to
perform an arduous march exposed to an attack by the whole force of the
enemy; and both might be destroyed separately without being able to
render the slightest assistance to each other. At daybreak on the 2d of
May Jackson mustered his troops for the advance. He had in the course of
the night caught a severe cold. In the hasty march he had left his
blankets behind him. One of his staff threw a heavy cape over him as he
lay on the wet ground. During the night Jackson woke, and thinking that
the young officer might himself be suffering from the want of his cape,
rose quietly, spread the cape over him, and lay down without it. The
consequence was a severe cold, which terminated in an attack of
pneumonia that, occurring at a time when he was enfeebled by his wounds,
resulted in his death. If he had not thrown that cape over the officer
it is probable that he would have survived his wounds.
At daybreak the column commenced its march. It had to traverse a narrow
and unfrequented road through dense thickets, occasionally crossing
ground in sight of the enemy, and at the end to attack a tremendous
position held by immensely superior forces. Stuart with his cavalry
moved on the flank of the column whenever the ground was open, so as to
conceal the march of the infantry from the enemy. As the rear of the
column passed a spot called the Furnace, the enemy suddenly advanced and
cut off the 23d Georgia, who were in the rear of the column, and
captured the whole regiment with the exception of a score of men. At
this point the road turned almost directly away from Chancellorsville,
and the enemy believed that the column was in full retreat, and had not
the least idea of its real object.
So hour after hour the troops pressed on until they reached the turnpike
road passing east and west through Chancellorsville, which now lay
exactly between them and the point that they had left in the morning.
Jackson's design was to advance upon this line of road, to extend his
troops to the left and then to swing round, cut the enemy's retreat to
the fords, and capture them all. Hooker had already been joined by two
of Sedgwick's army corps, and had now six army corps at
Chancellorsville, while Jackson's force consisted of 22,000 men. Lee
remained with 13,000 at Tabernacle. The latter general had not been
attacked, but had continued to make demonstrations against the Federal
left, occupying their attention and preventing them from discovering how
large a portion of his force had left him.
It was at five o'clock in the evening that Jackson's troops, having
gained their position, advanced to the attack. In front of them lay
Howard's division of the Federals, intrenched in strong earthworks
covered by felled trees; but the enemy were altogether unsuspicious of
danger, and it was not until with tumultuous cheers the Confederates
dashed through the trees and attacked the entrenchment that they had any
suspicion of their presence. They ran to their arms, but it was too
late. The Confederates rushed through the obstacles, climbed the
earthworks, and carried those in front of them, capturing 700 prisoners
and five guns. The rest of the Federal troops here, throwing away
muskets and guns, fled in wild confusion. Steadily the Confederates
pressed on, driving the enemy before them, and capturing position after
position, until the whole right wing of the Federal army was routed and
disorganized. For three hours the Confederates continued their march
without a check; but owing to the denseness of the wood, and the
necessity of keeping the troops in line, the advance was slow, and night
fell before the movement could be completed. One more hour of daylight
and the whole Federal army would have been cut off and captured, but by
eight o'clock the darkness in the forest was so complete that all
movement had to be stopped.
Half an hour later one of the saddest incidents of the war took place.
General Jackson with a few of his staff went forward to reconnoiter. As
he returned toward his lines, his troops in the dark mistook them for a
reconnoitering party of the enemy and fired, killing or wounding the
whole of them, General Jackson receiving three balls. The enemy, who
were but a hundred yards distant, at once opened a tremendous fire with
grape toward the spot, and it was some time before Jackson could be
carried off the field. The news that their beloved general was wounded
was for some time kept from the troops; but a whisper gradually spread,
and the grief of his soldiers was unbounded, for rather would they have
suffered a disastrous defeat than that Stonewall Jackson should have
fallen.
General Stuart assumed the command, General Hill, who was second in
command, having, with many other officers, been wounded by the
tremendous storm of grape and canister that the Federals poured through
the wood when they anticipated an attack. At daybreak the troops again
moved forward in three lines, Stuart placing his thirty guns on a slight
ridge, where they could sweep the lines of the Federal defenses. Three
times the position was won and lost; but the Confederates fought with
such fury and resolution, shouting each time they charged the Federal
ranks "Remember Jackson," that the enemy gradually gave way, and by ten
o'clock Chancellorsville itself was taken, the Federals being driven
back into the forest between the houses and the river.
Lee had early in the morning begun to advance from his side to the
attack, but just as he was moving forward the news came that Sedgwick
had recrossed at Fredericksburg, captured a portion of the Confederate
force there, and was advancing to join Hooker. He at once sent two of
his three little divisions to join the Confederates who were opposing
Sedgwick's advance, while with the three or four thousand men remaining
to him, he all day made feigned attacks upon the enemy's position,
occupying their attention there, and preventing them from sending
reinforcements to the troops engaged with Stuart. At night he himself
hurried away, took the command of the troops opposed to Sedgwick,
attacked him vigorously at daybreak, and drove him with heavy loss back
across the river. The next day he marched back with his force to join in
the final attack upon the Federals; but when the troops of Stuart and
Lee moved forward they encountered no opposition. Hooker had begun to
carry his troops across the river on the night he was hurled back out of
Chancellorsville, and the rest of his troops had crossed on the two
following nights.
General Hooker issued a pompous order to his troop after getting across
the river, to the effect that the movement had met with the complete
success he had anticipated from it; but the truth soon leaked out.
General Sedgwick's force had lost 6,000 men, Hooker's own command fully
20,000 more; but splendid as the success was, it was dearly purchased by
the Confederates at the price of the life of Stonewall Jackson. His arm
was amputated the day after the battle; he lived for a week, and died
not so much from the effect of his wounds as from the pneumonia, the
result of his exposure to the heavy dew on the night preceding his march
through the Wilderness.
During the two days' fighting Vincent Wingfield had discharged his
duties upon General Stuart's staff. On the first day the work had been
slight, for General Stuart, with the cannon, remained in the rear, while
Jackson's infantry attacked and carried the Federal retrenchments. Upon
the second day, however, when Stuart assumed the command, Vincent's
duties had been onerous and dangerous in the extreme. He was constantly
carrying orders from one part of the field to the other, amid such a
shower of shot and shell that it seemed marvelous that any one could
exist within it. To his great grief Wildfire was killed under him, but
he himself escaped without a scratch. When he came afterward to try to
describe the battle to those at home he could give no account of it.
"To me," he said, "it was simply a chaos of noise and confusion. Of what
was going on I knew nothing. The din was appalling. The roar of the
shells, the hum of grape and canister, the whistle of bullets, the
shouts of the men, formed a mighty roar that seemed to render thinking
impossible. Showers of leaves fell incessantly, great boughs of trees
were shorn away, and trees themselves sometimes came crashing down as a
trunk was struck full by a shell. The undergrowth had caught fire, and
the thick smoke, mingled with that of the battle, rendered it difficult
to see or to breathe. I had but one thought, that of making my way
through the trees, of finding the corps to which I was sent, of
delivering my message, and finding the general again. No, I don't think
I had much thought of danger, the whole thing was somehow so tremendous
that one had no thought whatever for one's self. It was a sort of
terrible dream, in which one was possessed of the single idea to get to
a certain place. It was not till at last we swept across the open ground
down to the house, that I seemed to take any distinct notice of what was
going on around me. Then, for the first time, the exulting shouts of the
men, and the long lines advancing at the double, woke me up to the fact
that we had gained one of the most wonderful victories in history, and
had driven an army of four or five times our own strength from a
position that they believed they had made impregnable."
The defeat of Hooker for a time put a stop to any further advance
against Richmond from the North. The Federal troops, whose term of
service was up, returned home, and it was months before all the efforts
of the authorities of Washington could place the army in a condition to
make a renewed advance. But the Confederates had also suffered heavily.
A third of the force with which Jackson had attacked had fallen, and
their loss could not be replaced, as the Confederates were forced to
send every one they could raise to the assistance of the armies in the
West, where Generals Banks and Grant were carrying on operations with
great success against them. The important town of Vicksburg, which
commanded the navigation of the Mississippi, was besieged, and after a
resistance lasting for some months, surrendered, with its garrison of
25,000 men, on the 3d of July, and the Federal gunboats were thus able
to penetrate by the Mississippi and its confluents into the heart of the
Confederacy.
Shortly after the battle of Chancellorsville, Vincent was appointed to
the command of a squadron of cavalry that was detached from Stuart's
force and sent down to Richmond to guard the capital from any raids by
bodies of Federal cavalry. It had been two or three times menaced by
flying bodies of horsemen, and during the cavalry advance before the
battle of Chancellorsville small parties had penetrated to within three
miles of the city, cutting all the telegraph wires, pulling up rails,
and causing the greatest terror. Vincent was not sorry for the change.
It took him away from the great theater of the war, but after
Chancellorsville he felt no eager desire to take part in future battles.
His duties would keep him near his home, and would give ample scope for
the display of watchfulness, dash, and energy. Consequently he took no
part in the campaign that commenced in the first week in June.
Tired of standing always on the defensive, the Confederate authorities
determined to carry out the stop that had been so warmly advocated by
Jackson earlier in the war, and which might at that time have brought it
to a successful termination. They decided to carry the war into the
enemy's country. By the most strenuous efforts Lee's army was raised to
75,000 men, divided into three great army corps, commanded by
Longstreet, Ewell, and Hill. Striking first into Western Virginia, they
drove the Federals from Winchester, and chased them from the State with
the loss of nearly 4,000 prisoners and 30 guns. Then they entered
Maryland and Pennsylvania, and concentrating at Gettysburg they met the
Northern army under Meade, who had succeeded Hooker. Although great
numbers of the Confederates had seen their homes wasted and their
property wantonly destroyed, they preserved the most perfect order in
their march through the North, and the Federals themselves testify to
the admirable behavior of the troops, and to the manner in which they
abstained from plundering or inflicting annoyance upon the inhabitants.
At Gettysburg there was three days' fighting. In the first a portion
only of the forces were engaged, the Federals being defeated and 5,000
of their men taken prisoners. Upon the second the Confederates attacked
the Northerners, who were posted in an extremely strong position, but
were repulsed with heavy loss. The following day they renewed the
attack, but after tremendous fighting again failed to carry the height.
Both parties were utterly exhausted. Lee drew up his troops the next
day, and invited an attack from the Federals; but contented with the
success they had gained they maintained their position, and the
Confederates then fell back, Stuart's cavalry protecting the immense
trains of wagons loaded with the stores and ammunition captured in
Pennsylvania.
But little attempt was made by the Northerners to interfere with their
retreat. On reaching the Potomac they found that a sudden rise had
rendered the fords impassable. Intrenchments and batteries were thrown
up, and for a week the Confederate army held the lines, expecting an
attack from the enemy, who had approached within two miles; but the
Federal generals were too well satisfied with having gained a success
when acting on the defensive in a strong position to risk a defeat in
attacking the position of the Confederates, and their forces remained
impassive until pontoon bridges were thrown across the river, and the
Confederate army, with their vast baggage train, had again crossed into
Virginia. The campaign had cost the Northern army 23,000 men in killed,
wounded, and prisoners, besides a considerable number of guns. The
Confederates lost only two guns, left behind in the mud, and 1,500
prisoners, but their loss in killed and wounded at Gettysburg exceeded
10,000 men. Even the most sanguine among the ranks of the Confederacy
were now conscious that the position was a desperate one. The Federal
armies seemed to spring from the ground. Strict discipline had taken the
place of the disorder and insubordination that had first prevailed in
their ranks. The armies were splendidly equipped. They were able to
obtain any amount of the finest guns, rifles, and ammunition of war from
the workshops of Europe; while the Confederates, cut off from the world,
had to rely solely upon the makeshift factories they had set up, and
upon the guns and stores they captured from the enemy.
The Northerners had now, as a blow to the power of the South, abolished
slavery, and were raising regiments of negroes from among the free
blacks of the North, and from the slaves they took from their owners
wherever their armies penetrated the Southern States. Most of the
Confederate ports had been either captured or were so strictly blockaded
that it was next to impossible for the blockade-runner to get in or out,
while the capture of the forts on the Mississippi enabled them to use
the Federal flotillas of gunboats to the greatest advantage, and to
carry their armies into the center of the Confederacy.
Still, there was no talk whatever of surrender on the part of the South,
and, indeed, the decree abolishing slavery, and still more the action of
the North in raising black regiments, excited the bitterest feeling of
animosity and hatred. The determination to fight to the last, whatever
came of it, animated every white man in the Southern States, and,
although deeply disappointed with the failure of Lee's invasion of the
North, the only result was to incite them to greater exertions and
sacrifices. In the North an act authorizing conscription was passed in
1863, but the attempt to carry it into force caused a serious riot in
New York, which was only suppressed after many lives had been lost and
the city placed under martial law.
While the guns of Gettysburg were still thundering, a Federal army of
18,000 men under General Gillmore, assisted by the fleet, had laid siege
to Charleston. It was obstinately attacked and defended. The siege
continued until the 5th of September, when Fort Wagner was captured; but
all attempts to take Fort Sumter and the town of Charleston itself
failed, although the city suffered greatly from the bombardment. In
Tennessee there was severe fighting in the autumn, and two desperate
battles were fought at Chickamauga on the 19th and 20th of September,
General Bragg, who commanded the Confederate army there, being
reinforced by Longstreet's veterans from the army of Virginia. After
desperate fighting the Federals were defeated, and thirty-six guns and
vast quantities of arms captured by the Confederates. The fruits of the
victory, however, were very slight, as General Bragg refused to allow
Longstreet to pursue, and so to convert the Federal retreat into a rout,
and the consequence was that this victory was more than balanced by a
heavy defeat inflicted upon them in November at Chattanooga by Sherman
and Grant. At this battle General Longstreet's division was not present.
The army of Virginia had a long rest after their return from Gettysburg,
and it was not until November that the campaign was renewed. Meade
advanced, a few minor skirmishes took place, and then, when he reached
the Wilderness, the scene of Hooker's defeat, where Lee was prepared to
give battle, he fell back again across the Rappahannock.
The year had been an unfortunate one for the Confederates. They had lost
Vicksburg, and the defeat at Chattanooga had led to the whole State of
Tennessee falling into the hands of the Federals, while against these
losses there was no counterbalancing success to be reckoned.
In the spring of 1864 both parties prepared to the utmost for the
struggle. General Grant, an officer who had shown in the campaign in the
West that he possessed considerable military ability, united with
immense firmness and determination of purpose, was chosen as the new
commander-in-chief of the whole military force of the North. It was a
mighty army, vast in numbers, lavishly provided with all materials of
war. The official documents show that on the 1st of May the total
military forces of the North amounted to 662,000 men. Of these the force
available for the advance against Richmond numbered 284,630 men. This
included the army of the Potomac, that of the James River, and the army
in the Shenandoah Valley--the whole of whom were in readiness to move
forward against Richmond at the orders of Grant.
To oppose these General Lee had less than 53,000 men, including the
garrison of Richmond and the troops in North Carolina. Those stationed
in the seaport towns numbered in all another 20,000, so that if every
available soldier had been brought up Lee could have opposed a total of
but 83,000 men against the 284,000 invaders.
In the West the numbers were more equally balanced. General Sherman, who
commanded the army of invasion there, had under his orders 230,000 men,
but as more than half this force was required to protect the long lines
of communication and to keep down the conquered States, he was able to
bring into the field for offensive operations 99,000 men, who were faced
by the Confederate army under Johnston of 58,000 men. Grant's scheme
was, that while the armies of the North were, under his own command, to
march against Richmond, the army of the West was to invade Georgia and
march upon Atlanta.
His plan of action was simple, and was afterward stated by himself to be
as follows: "I determined first to use the greatest number of troops
practicable against the main force of the enemy, preventing him from
using the same force at different seasons against first one and then
another of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting and
producing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, to
hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his
resources until, by mere attrition if in no other way, there should be
nothing left to him but submission."
This was a terrible programme, and involved an expenditure of life far
beyond anything that had taken place. Grant's plan, in fact, was to
fight and to keep on fighting, regardless of his own losses, until at
last the Confederate army, whose losses could not be replaced, melted
away. It was a strategy that few generals have dared to practice, fewer
still to acknowledge.
On the 4th of May the great army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan and
advanced toward Chancellorsville. Lee moved two divisions of his army to
oppose them. Next morning the battle began at daybreak on the old ground
where Lee had defeated Hooker the year before. All day long the division
of Ewell supported the attack of the army corps of Sedgwick and Hancock.
Along a front of six miles, in the midst of the thick forest, the battle
raged the whole of the day. The Confederates, in spite of the utmost
efforts of the Northerners, although reinforced in the afternoon by the
army corps of General Burnside, held their position, and when night put
an end to the conflict the invaders had not gained a foot of ground.
As soon as the first gleam of light appeared in the morning the battle
recommenced. The Federal generals, Sedgwick, Warren, and Hancock, with
Burnside in reserve, fell upon Hill and Ewell. Both sides had thrown up
earthworks and felled trees as a protection during the night. At first
the Confederates gained the advantage; but a portion of Burnside's corps
was brought up and restored the battle, while on the left flank of the
Federals Hancock had attacked with such vigor that the Confederates
opposed to him were driven back.
At the crisis of the battle, Longstreet, who had marched all night,
appeared upon the ground, drove back Hancock's men, and was on the point
of aiding the Confederates in a decisive attack upon the enemy, when,
riding rapidly forward into the wood to reconnoiter, he was, like
Jackson, struck down by the fire of his own men. He was carried to the
rear desperately, and it was feared for a time mortally wounded, and his
loss paralyzed the movement which he had prepared. Nevertheless during
the whole day the fight went on with varying success, sometimes one side
obtaining a slight advantage, the other then regaining the ground they
had lost.
Just as evening was closing in a Georgia brigade, with two other
regiments, made a detour, and fell furiously upon two brigades of the
enemy, and drove them back in headlong rout for a mile and a half,
capturing their two generals and many prisoners. The artillery, as on
the previous day, had been little used on either side, the work being
done at short range with the rifle, the loss being much heavier among
the thick masses of the Northerners than in the thinner lines of the
Confederates. Grant had failed in his efforts to turn Lee's right and to
accomplish his direct advance; he therefore changed his base and moved
his army round toward Spotsylvania.
Lee soon perceived his object, and succeeded in carrying his army to
Spotsylvania before the Federals reached it.
On the afternoon of Monday, the 9th, there was heavy fighting and on the
10th another pitched battle took place. This time the ground was more
open, and the artillery was employed with terrible effect on both sides.
It ended, however, as the previous battles had done, by the Confederates
holding their ground.
Upon the next day there was but little fighting. In the night the
Federals moved quietly through the wood, and at daybreak four divisions
fell upon Johnston's division of Ewell's corps, took them completely by
surprise, and captured the greater part of them.
But Lee's veterans soon recovered from their surprise and maintained
their position until noon. Then the whole Federal army advanced, and the
battle raged till nightfall terminated the struggle, leaving Lee in
possession of the whole line he had held, with the exception of the
ground lost in the morning.
For the next six days the armies faced each other, worn out by incessant
fighting, and prevented from moving by the heavy rain which fell
incessantly. They were now able to reckon up the losses. The Federals
found that they had lost, in killed, wounded, or missing, nearly 30,000
men; while Lee's army was diminished by about 12,000.
While these mighty battles had been raging the Federal cavalry under
Sheridan had advanced rapidly forward, and, after several skirmishes
with Stuart's cavalry, penetrated within the outer intrenchments round
Richmond. Here Stuart with two regiments of cavalry charged them and
drove them back, but the gallant Confederate officer received a wound
that before night proved fatal. His loss was a terrible blow to the
Confederacy, although his successor in the command of the cavalry,
General Wade Hampton, was also an officer of the highest merit.
In the meantime General Butler, who had at Fort Monroe under his command
two corps of infantry, 4,000 cavalry, and a fleet of gunboats and
transports, was threatening Richmond from the east. Shipping his men on
board the transports he steamed up the James River, under convoy of the
fleet, and landed on a neck of land known as Bermuda Hundred. To oppose
him all the troops from North Carolina had been brought up, the whole
force amounting to 19,000 men, under the command of General Beauregard.
Butler, after various futile movements, was driven back again to his
intrenched camp at Bermuda Hundred, where he was virtually besieged by
Beauregard with 10,000 men, the rest of that general's force being sent
up to reinforce Lee.
In western Virginia, Breckenridge, with 3,500 men, was called upon to
hold in check Sigel, with 15,000 men. Advancing to Staunton,
Breckenridge was joined by the pupils of the military college at
Lexington, 250 in number, lads of from 14 to 17 years of age. He came
upon Sigel on the line of march, and attacked him at once. The Federal
general placed a battery in a wood and opened fire with grape. The
commander of the Lexington boys ordered them to charge, and, gallantly
rushing in through the heavy fire, they charged in among the guns,
killed the artillerymen, drove back the infantry supports, and bayoneted
their colonel. The Federals now retired down the valley to Strasburg,
and Breckenridge was able to send a portion of his force to aid Lee in
his great struggle.
After his six days' pause in front of Lee's position at Spotsylvania,
Grant abandoned his plan of forcing his way through Lee's army to
Richmond, and endeavored to outflank it; but Lee again divined his
object, and moved round and still faced him. After various movements the
armies again stood face to face upon the old battle-grounds on the
Chickahominy. On the 3d of June the battle commenced at half-past four
in the morning. Hancock at first gained an advantage, but Hill's
division dashed down upon him and drove him back with great slaughter;
while no advantage was gained by them in other parts of the field. The
Federal loss on this day was 13,000, and the troops were so dispirited
that they refused to renew the battle in the afternoon.
Grant then determined to alter his plan altogether, and sending
imperative orders to Butler to obtain possession of Petersburg, embarked
Smith's corps in transports, and moved with the rest of his army to join
that general there. Smith's corps entered the James River, landed, and
marched against Petersburg. Beauregard had at Petersburg only two
infantry and two cavalry regiments under General Wise, while a single
brigade fronted Butler at Bermuda Hundred. With this handful of men he
was called upon to defend Petersburg and to keep Butler bottled up in
Bermuda Hundred until help could reach him from Lee. He telegraphed to
Richmond for all the assistance that could be sent to him, and was
reinforced by a brigade, which arrived just in time, for Smith had
already captured a portion of the intrenchments, but was now driven out.
The next day Beauregard was attacked both by Smith's and Hancock's
corps, which had now arrived. With 8,000 men he kept at bay the assaults
of two whole army corps, having in the meantime sent orders to Gracie,
the officer in command of the brigade before Butler, to leave a few
sentries there to deceive that general, and to march with the rest of
his force to his aid. It arrived at a critical moment. Overwhelmed by
vastly superior numbers, many of the Confederates had left their posts,
and Breckenridge was in vain trying to rally them when Gracie's brigade
came up. The position was reoccupied and the battle continued.
At noon Burnside with his corps arrived and joined the assailants; while
Butler, discovering at last that the troops in front of him were
withdrawn, moved out and barred the road against reinforcements from
Richmond. Nevertheless the Confederates held their ground all the
afternoon and until eleven o'clock at night, when the assault ceased.
At midnight Beauregard withdrew his troops from the defenses that they
were too few to hold, and set them to work to throw up fresh
intrenchments on a shorter line behind. All night the men worked with
their bayonets, canteens, and any tools that came to hand.
It was well for them that the enemy were so exhausted that it was noon
before they were ready to advance again, for by this time help was at
hand. Anderson, who had succeeded to the command of Longstreet's corps,
and was leading the van of Lee's army, forced his way through Butler's
troops and drove him back into the Bermuda Hundred, and leaving one
brigade to watch him marched with another into Petersburg just as the
attack was recommenced. Thus reinforced Beauregard successfully defeated
all the assaults of the enemy until night fell. Another Federal army
corps came up before morning, and the assault was again renewed, but the
defenders, who had strengthened their defenses during the night, drove
their assailants back with terrible loss. The whole of Lee's army now
arrived, and the rest of Grant's army also came up, and that general
found that after all his movements his way to Richmond was barred as
before. He was indeed in a far worse position than when he had crossed
the Rapidan, for the morale of his army was much injured by the repeated
repulses and terrible losses it had sustained. The new recruits that had
been sent to fill up the gaps were far inferior troops to those with
which he had commenced the campaign. To send forward such men against
the fortifications of Petersburg manned by Lee's veteran troops was to
court defeat, and he therefore began to throw up works for a regular
siege.
Fighting went on incessantly between the outposts, but only one great
attempt was made during the early months of the siege to capture the
Confederate position. The miners drove a gallery under the works, and
then drove other galleries right and left under them. These were charged
with eight thousand pounds of powder. When all was ready, masses of
troops were brought up to take advantage of the confusion which would be
caused by the explosion, and a division of black troops were to lead the
assault. At a quarter to five in the morning of the 30th of July the
great mine was exploded, blowing two guns, a battery, and its defenders
into the air, and forming a huge pit two hundred feet long and sixty
feet wide. Lee and Beauregard hurried to the scene, checked the panic
that prevailed, brought up troops, and before the great Federal columns
approached the breach the Confederates were ready to receive them. The
assault was made with little vigor, the approaches to the breach were
obstructed by abattis, and instead of rushing forward in a solid mass
they occupied the great pit, and contented themselves with firing over
the edge of the crater, where regiments and divisions were huddled
together. But the Confederate batteries were now manned, and from the
works on either side of the breach, and from behind, they swept the
approaches, and threw shell among the crowded mass. The black division
was now brought up, and entered the crater, but only added to the
confusion. There was no officer of sufficient authority among the
crowded mass there to assume the supreme command. No assistance could be
sent to them, for the arrival of fresh troops would but have added to
the confusion. All day the conflict went on, the Federals lining the
edge of the crater, and exchanging a heavy musketry fire with the
Confederate infantry, while the mass below suffered terribly from the
artillery fire. When night closed the survivors of the great column that
had marched forward in the morning, confident that victory was assured
to them, and that the explosion would lay Petersburg open to capture,
made their retreat, the Confederates, however, taking a considerable
number of prisoners. The Federal loss in killed, wounded and captured
was admitted by them to be 4,000; the Confederate accounts put it down
at 6,000.
After this terrible repulse it was a long time before Grant again
renewed active operations, but during the months that ensued his troops
suffered very heavily from the effects of fever, heightened by the
discouragement they felt at their want of success, and at the tremendous
losses they had suffered since they entered Virginia on their forward
march to Richmond.