THE SUMMER OF 1862
The summer of 1862 was one of the darkest periods of the war. Though
more than a year had elapsed since the beginning of hostilities, things
were apparently going from bad to worse. There was visible nowhere a
single ray of light to illumine the gloom that had settled down upon the
land. All the brilliant promise of McClellan's campaign had come to
naught, and the splendid army of Potomac veterans, after having come
within sight of the spires of Richmond, was in full retreat to the
James. The end seemed farther away than in the beginning. Grant's
successful campaign against Forts Henry and Donelson had been succeeded
by a condition of lethargy in all the Western armies. Notwithstanding
the successes at Pittsburg Landing and at Corinth, and the death of
Albert Sidney Johnston, who had been regarded as the ablest of all the
officers of the old army who had taken service with the confederates,
there had been a total absence of decisive results. McClellan had
disappointed the hopes of the people; Grant was accused of blundering
and of a fondness for drink; the great ability of Sherman was not fully
recognized; and the country did not yet suspect that in Sheridan it had
another Marlborough. Stonewall Jackson was in full tilt in Virginia, and
Robert E. Lee had given evidence that he could easily overmatch any
leader who might be pitted against him. With more of hope than of
confidence, the eyes of the Nation were turned towards Halleck, Buell,
and Pope.
It was a dismal outlook. Union commanders were clamoring for more men
and the Union cause was weak, because of the lack of confidence which
Union generals had in each other. The patriotism of the volunteers,
under these most trying and discouraging circumstances, was still the
only reliance. Big bounties had not been offered and the draft had not
yet been thought of, much less resorted to. War meetings were being held
all over the state, literally in every school house, and recruiting went
on vigorously. During the year 1862, Michigan equipped three regiments
of cavalry, four batteries, two companies of sharpshooters, and fifteen
regiments of infantry, which were mustered into the service of the
United States.
About the time that the college year closed, President Lincoln issued a
call for 300,000 more. This call was dated July 2, 1862, the last
previous one having been made on July 25, 1861--almost a year before.
Under this call, Congressman Francis W. Kellogg, of the then Fourth
congressional district of Michigan, came home from Washington with
authority to raise two more regiments of cavalry. This authority was
direct from Secretary Stanton, with whom, for some reason, Mr. Kellogg
had much influence, and from whom he received favors such as were
granted to but few. He looked like Mr. Stanton. Perhaps that fact may
have accounted, in part at least, for the strong bond of friendship
between him and the great War Secretary. Under similar authority he had
been instrumental, during the year 1861, in putting into the field the
Second and Third regiments of Michigan cavalry. They had made an
excellent record and that, likewise, may have counted to his credit with
the War Department. Be that as it may, Mr. Kellogg went at this work
with his accustomed vigor and, in a very short space of time, the Sixth
and Seventh regiments were ready for muster, though the latter did not
leave the state until January, 1863. The Fourth and Fifth regiments had
been recruited under a previous call.
To show how little things often change the course of men's lives, an
incident of personal experience is here related. The Fifth Michigan
cavalry was recruited under the title of "Copeland's Mounted Riflemen."
One of the most picturesque figures in America before the war was John
C. Fremont, known as "The Pathfinder," whose "Narrative," in the
fifties, was read by boys with the same avidity that they displayed in
the perusal of the "Arabian Nights." Fremont had a regiment of "Mounted
Riflemen" in the Mexican war, though it served in California, and the
youthful imagination of those days idealized it into a corps d'elite,
as it idealized the Mexican war veterans, Marion's men, or the Old
Guard of Napoleon Bonaparte. The name had a certain fascination which
entwined it around the memory, and when flaming posters appeared on the
walls, announcing that Captain Gardner, of the village of Muir, was
raising a company of "Mounted Riflemen" for Copeland's regiment, four
young men, myself being one of them, hired a livery team and drove to
that modest country four-corners to enlist. The "captain" handed us a
telegram from Detroit saying that the regiment was full and his company
could not be accepted. The boys drove back with heavy hearts at the lost
opportunity. That is how it happened that I was not a private in the
Fifth Michigan cavalry instead of a captain in the Sixth when I went
out, for, in a few days from that time, Mr. Kellogg authorized me to
raise a troop, a commission as captain being conditional on my being in
camp with a minimum number of men, within fifteen days from the date of
the appointment.
The conditions were complied with. Two of the other boys became captains
in the Sixth Michigan cavalry; the other went out as sergeant-major of
the Twenty-first Michigan infantry and arose in good time to be a
captain in his regiment.
The government, during the earlier period of the war, was slow to
recognize the importance of the cavalry arm of the service. It was
expensive to maintain, and the policy of General Scott and his
successors was to get along with as small a force of mounted men as
possible, and these to be used mostly for escort duty and for orderlies
around the various infantry headquarters. There was, consequently, in
the cavalry very little of what is known as "esprit de corps." In the
South, the opposite policy prevailed. At the First Bull Run, the very
name of the "Black Horse cavalry" struck terror into the hearts of the
Northern army, though it must be confessed that it was rather moral
influence than physical force that the somewhat mythical horsemen
exerted. Southern men were accustomed to the saddle, and were as a rule
better riders than their Northern brethren. They took naturally to the
mounted service, which was wisely fostered and encouraged by the
Southern leaders, and, under the bold generalship of such riders as
Ashby, Stuart, Hampton, Fitzhugh Lee, Rosser, Mosby, and others, the
cavalry of the army of Northern Virginia surpassed that of the army of
the Potomac both in numbers and in efficiency. McClellan says in his
book that he often thought he made a mistake in not putting "Phil"
Kearney in command of the cavalry. There is no doubt about it. Kearney
had just the right sort of dash. If he had been given a corps of horse,
with free rein, as Sheridan had it later on, "Phil" Kearney might have
anticipated by at least two years the brilliant achievements of "Cavalry
Phil" Sheridan. But the dashing one-armed hero was fated to be killed
prematurely, and it was not until 1863, that Pleasanton, Buford, Gregg,
Kilpatrick, and Custer began to make the Union troopers an important
factor in the war; and Sheridan did not take command of the cavalry
corps, to handle it as such, until the spring of 1864. Even then, as we
shall see later, he had to quarrel with the commander of the army in
order to compel recognition of its value as a tactical unit upon the
field of battle. It was to Hooker, and not to Meade, that credit was due
for bringing the cavalry into its proper relation to the work of the
Northern army.
Under the able leadership of such officers as those mentioned, the
Federal cavalry took a leading part in the Gettysburg campaign and those
which succeeded it, and was able to meet the flower of the South on
equal terms and on its own ground. There will be no more honorable page
in the history of our country than that on which will be written the
record of the cavalry of the armies of the Potomac and of the
Shenandoah.