PREPARING FOR GETTYSBURG
Preparations for summer campaign--Army reorganized--Three Army
Corps--A. P. Hill made lieutenant-general, commanding Third
Corps--Lieutenant-General Ewell commanding Second Corps--Stuart's
cavalry reviewed--Its fine condition--Longstreet and his scout
Harrison--Lee's intricate operations--Stuart's cavalry movements--He
crosses below--The loss to Lee--The march through Maryland and
Pennsylvania--No depredations--Halt at Chambersburg--Scout Harrison
reports Meade in command, superseding Hooker--Ewell ordered to
leave--March resumed, A. P. Hill leading, gaining decided success.
General Lee began now to prepare for his summer campaign. It was
secretly settled that it should be an invasion of Pennsylvania.
There were many things that assisted in arriving at this decision in
the conferences with the president and chiefs of the Government at
Richmond. Virginia had been fiercely fought over, and ravaged by the
tramp of hostile armies. Now, it looked as if the enemy should feel
something of such sacrifices. If we could live on the supplies we hoped
to find north of the Potomac, the already serious question of food and
forage for our men and animals would lighten up temporarily, at least;
and finally, the men of arms were eager for the movement and most
enthusiastic at the start.
First of all, Lee had to reorganize his army. Jackson's death made
this necessary; besides, the two corps had grown, individually, rather
large for effective handling. He created a third corps and placed A.
P. Hill in command of it, perhaps the best arrangement possible at
the time. One division was taken from Longstreet--Anderson's; one from
Jackson--Heth's, and the third, under Pender, was made up of unassigned
commands, of which there were quite a number between Richmond and the
General's camps.
The second (Ewell's) was of Early's, Rodes's, and E. Johnson's
divisions.
The first (Longstreet's) was of Hood's, McLaws's and Pickett's
divisions.
Suitable artillery details were made to meet these changes, which went
in effect smoothly and effectively.
On the cavalry, special care was bestowed. It had been heavily
strengthened and much improved by selections of men and horses. For
some time, during inaction, they had been getting good forage and
pasturage. Now, when the time was near for the use of this formidable
arm under Stuart, its able and famous leader, it was ready for the
Commander-in-Chief.
What irony of fate that the great approaching campaign should be fought
and lost without that bold leader and his riders being at Lee's touch,
when indeed he wanted them, bitterly missing having Stuart and his
great body of unsurpassed horse near by him.
The activity of preparation went through all
departments--Quartermaster's, Subsistence, Ordnance, and Medical.
It could be guessed that the military operations would be of great
severity and exaction and it behooved all officers of supply to be
ready; to fail would be fatal.
The cavalry were assembled under Stuart in Northern Virginia, on lands
growing richer and richer in grass with the advancing weeks. It was
a magnificent day, befitting the superb body of cavalry that, under
Stuart, marched rapidly in review before the Commander-in-Chief. A
sight it was not soon to be forgotten. The utmost order prevailed.
There could be no doubt that the cavalry was as ready for the work
before us as was our matchless infantry.
Longstreet sent for his favorite scout, Harrison. His instructions
were to proceed into the enemy's lines, where he was to stay until the
last part of June. Then he was to report to General Longstreet, it was
hoped, with the amplest and most accurate information. "Where shall
I find you, General, to make this report?" asked Harrison. "With the
army," was Longstreet's grim answer; "I shall be sure to be with it."
He was very far from giving even to his trusted scout information as
to his movements. But Harrison knew all the same; he knew pretty much
everything that was going on.
The operation now performed by General Lee was intricate, of much
delicacy and hazard. It was to move from his position in front of
Hooker without exposing any part of his forces, or Richmond, to be
attacked in detail, and this important part of the grand maneuver was
left to Longstreet and his corps, with the cavalry in communication.
The corps of Ewell (formerly Jackson's) and A. P. Hill were sent ahead
by easy marches, keeping a certain distant touch with Longstreet. The
mountain gaps were filled with Stuart's cavalry and the enemy held in
close observation. All went well. Hooker made no attempt to follow. Lee
moved toward Washington leisurely, as if to meet him there later.
Stuart's part with his cavalry was now most important. It is contended
by some that Lee left it finally optional for him to decide upon his
movements. Whether to follow the army by crossing the river in the west
of the ridge or by one of the lower fords. In the latter event it was,
as it proved, to lose Lee and leave him without his strong arm in an
enemy's country. It has been attempted to show also that the order by
which Stuart moved came from Longstreet. But this must be dismissed;
positive information to the contrary being at hand. Surprising to say,
it now appears that Stuart left the army with his fine command and
started on his too fascinating raid, not only by his own preference,
but actually in violation of Lee's orders, which failed to reach him.
All doubt had passed from Lee's mind and he had ordered Stuart to keep
with him. The latter was raiding, and Lee's campaign was lost.
Major McClellan, Stuart's A. A. G. and chief of staff, in his history
of that cavalry (an excellent work) declares that in his opinion the
absence of Stuart was the cause of Lee's trouble; and for myself I have
never doubted it. It is not to be supposed that no cavalry whatever was
left with the army. Stuart's defenders have taken pains to point that
out. There was a squadron or two, here and there, a regiment at one
place, and a brigade under an efficient commander left in the rear. But
these separate little commands amounted to nothing. It was the great
body of that splendid horse under their leader Stuart that Lee wanted.
He was the eyes and ears and strong right arm of the commander, and
well may he have missed him. All through the marches he showed it.
Stuart was on a useless, showy parade almost under the guns of the
Washington forts, and his horse, laurel-wreathed, bore the gay rider
on amid songs and stories. He had some opposition, of course, and had a
share of fighting in Ashby's Gap and the plain on the east.
When he rejoined Lee it was with exhausted horses and half worn-out men
in the closing hours of Gettysburg.
Had he been with Lee where would our commander have made his battle?
Possibly, not on that unfavorable ground of Gettysburg. Lee with his
personally weak opponent, and Stuart by him, could almost have chosen
the spot where he would be sure to defeat the Union Army.
This, however, somewhat anticipates; going back we find our three corps
with their military pushed across the river with energy. The Second
(Ewell's), the Third (A. P. Hill's), and Longstreet last. All infantry
and artillery across, leaving only about a brigade of cavalry on the
south side. The enemy for some days had quite disappeared from our
observations. The march proceeded through Maryland and Pennsylvania
in good form, General Lee's orders against depredations being most
peremptory. At Chambersburg a halt was made over Sunday and our corps
had the place well guarded and protected from plunder by loose bodies
of men. Our chief commissary, Moses, made a forced requisition and got
some supplies and necessaries, not very much.
At night I was roused by a detail of the provost guard bringing up a
suspicious prisoner. I knew him instantly; it was Harrison, the scout,
filthy and ragged, showing some rough work and exposure. He had come
to "Report to the General, who was sure to be with the army," and
truly his report was long and valuable. I should here say that in
every respect it was afterwards fully confirmed by events and facts.
Harrison gave us the first complete account of the operations of the
enemy since Hooker left our front. He brought his report down to a
day or two, and described how they were even then marching in great
numbers in the direction of Gettysburg, with intention apparently of
concentrating there. He also informed us of the removal of Hooker and
the appointment of George Meade to command of the Army of the Potomac.
How many commanders had Lee made for that army! Harrison's report was
so exceedingly important that I took him at once with me, and woke
Longstreet. He was immediately on fire at such news and sent the scout
by a staff officer to General Lee's camp near by. The General heard
him with great composure and minuteness. It was on this, the report
of a single scout, in the absence of cavalry, that the army moved.
Important as was the change, the commanding General was not long in
deciding. He sent orders to bring Ewell immediately back from the North
about Harrisburg, and join his left. Then he started A. P. Hill off at
sunrise for Gettysburg, followed by Longstreet. The enemy was there,
and there our General would strike him.
The march was much impeded by too many troops and trains on one road
and Ewell's men breaking in on the route next day to get to their
position.
The army thus moved forward, and A. P. Hill leading, struck the enemy
near, and in, the town of Gettysburg sharply on the afternoon of July
1. We were following some little distance in the rear, and heard the
lively fire of cannon and rifles, and soon after got the news of Hill's
and Ewell's decided success in an important preliminary engagement.
Many prisoners and much material remained with the Confederates. This
stimulated every one forward, and Ewell taking position on our left,
we were all snugly in bivouac at a good hour, with Longstreet's two
divisions, McLaws and Hood, about four miles in rear, but ready for
movement next day. Pickett had been doing guard duty at Chambersburg
and was not yet up, but would be in the morning. The serious mishap of
the day was Ewell's failure to seize the heights on the left. General
Lee expected it of him, and we know of no impediment.