LONGSTREET TO REINFORCE BRAGG
The movement to reinforce Bragg--Good work of the
Quartermaster-General--General A. R. Lawton, of Georgia--The journey
through the States--Ovations to the troops.
The important movement now impending was the subject of deep and secret
discussion by the President, Generals Lee and Longstreet, and General
Lawton, Quartermaster-General, whose part in it would be of the first
consideration. Its gravity can scarcely be overstated.
Rosecrans, commanding the Federal forces in Tennessee and Georgia,
had suffered himself to be in position inviting attack by a competent
force. It was believed that Bragg, his opponent, if reinforced, could
strike a swift, crushing blow, relieve the wide region in which he
was operating from the presence of the enemy, and enable masterly
reinforcements to return rapidly to Virginia without endangering
the safety of the Confederate capital or that of Lee's army, thus
temporarily weakened.
Indeed it was the military calculation that so large a detachment
from the Southern army would be instantly followed by a still greater
withdrawal of troops from Lee's front, and that too by the outer line
of the segment, while our own contingent was hurrying by the short,
straight cord of the circle.
This expectation proved correct. Meade was silent and inactive, and
our own army was stiffening in material and numbers. Meade was
apparently without a plan. His predecessors had suffered so cruelly at
Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville that his well-known prudence and
lack of initiative might be trusted to keep him quiet during our great
strategic coup. The movement was, therefore, determined on, and in the
first half of September the details were settled. Longstreet was to
take on the expedition his two splendid divisions, McLaws and Hood, the
latter by this time quite cured of his wound, and Alexander's battalion
of artillery--six batteries. Supply trains were to be furnished at
destination.
The movement was to be wholly by train, and to any one familiar with
the railroad service at the South in the last part of 1863 little need
be said of the difficulties facing the Quartermaster-General.
He was to pick up their camps near Gordonsville and the Rapidan, nine
strong brigades of infantry and six batteries of artillery, and land
them without serious accident and no delay with their ambulances and
light vehicles near Chattanooga or Lookout Mountain. This feat was
accomplished without stint of honor or praise, be it said, to the
Quartermaster-General's department. Never before were so many troops
moved over such worn-out railways, none first-class from the beginning.
Never before were such crazy cars--passenger, baggage, mail, coal, box,
platform, all and every sort wabbling on the jumping strap-iron--used
for hauling good soldiers. But we got there nevertheless. The trains
started day after day from Virginia and worked through North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Georgia by different routes, all converging at a
point not far east of Chattanooga--Catoosa Station, I think, was the
name.
The Quartermaster-General, Brig.-Gen. A. R. Lawton, was my
fellow-townsman. He had graduated from West Point in the class of '39
and entered the artillery. Soon resigning, he took up the study and
practise of law, married, and resided in Savannah, where he achieved
success. An admirable, well-rounded character, with many friends,
Lawton was a leading man in municipal and State affairs for years.
When the clash came in 1861 there was no doubt as to where he would
stand. It was for his State, and he was immediately commissioned a
brigadier-general, stationed on the coast assembling and organizing
troops.
Called by General Lee to Virginia in 1862, he took a brigade of nearly
6,000 strong to Jackson in the Valley operations, and served with
distinction in the Chickahominy battles, the campaign against Pope, and
at Sharpsburg.
At the latter he was severely wounded and retired from field
service. He was, however, not long left in quiet ease. Lawton's
abilities suggested him for administrative work, and he was made
Quartermaster-General. It was by him and his department that our
reinforcements were moved to the help of Bragg and the victory of
Chickamauga--an admirable piece of railroad military transportation
under adverse conditions. General Lawton was Minister to Austria during
Cleveland's Administration.
The journey through the States from Virginia was a continuous ovation
to the troops. They were fed at every stopping place and must have
hated the sight of food. Kisses and tokens of love and admiration for
these war-worn heroes were ungrudgingly passed around, and as the two
divisions were from States all south of Virginia, it was good for the
men to show up in this fashion even for a few minutes with their home
people.
Many of the companies were carried through their own towns and villages
and surrounded by the eager faces of kinsfolk and neighbors. But there
were no desertions or stops. The brave fellows pressed stoutly on with
comrades to meet the foe.
The first arrivals plunged into the battle of September 19th, and on
the 20th, when the final stroke was delivered, five of our brigades
were up and hotly engaged in that bloody, all-day battle. The glory
and renown of the Army of Northern Virginia were fully upheld by
Longstreet's men. Some general outlines of the day's events will be
attempted in the next chapter, to be filled out at close, as hitherto
tried, with brief reflections and observations on the occurrences of
the great struggle and the days before and after it.