ON THE POTOMAC.
Grant had meant to send the troops to join the Army of the James
under Butler at Bermuda Hundred, but already the dust of Early's
columns was in sight from the hills behind Washington, and the
capital, though fully fortified, being practically without defenders,
until the Sixth Corps should come to the rescue, in the stress of
the moment the detachments of the Nineteenth Corps were hurried up
the Potomac as fast as the transports entered the roads. It was
noon on the 11th when Davis landed the fourteen companies from the
_Crescent_ at the wharves of Washington, where he found orders to
occupy and hold Fort Saratoga.(1)
At the hour when Davis was disembarking at the southern end of
Sixth Street wharf, Early's headquarters were at Silver Spring,
barely five miles away to the northward, and his skirmishers were
drawing within range of the guns of Fort Stevens. Behind the
defences of Washington there were but twenty thousand soldiers of
all arms. Of these less than half formed the garrison of the works,
and even of this fraction nearly all were raw, undisciplined,
uninstructed, and lacking the simplest knowledge of the ground they
were to defend. But five days before this, Grant had taken Ricketts
from the lines of the Sixth Corps before Petersburg, and sent him
by water to Baltimore, whence his superb veterans were carried by
rail to the Monocacy just in time to enable Wallace, with a chance
medley of garrison and emergency men, to face Early on the 9th,
and compel him to lose a day in crossing. Then, at last, made
quite certain of Early's true position and plans, Grant hurried
the rest of the Sixth Corps to the relief of Washington, and thus
the steamboat bearing the advance of Wright's men touched the wharf
about two hours after the _Crescent_ had made fast. The guns of
Fort Stevens were already heard shelling the approaches, and thither
Wright was at once directed, but in the great heat and dust Early
had pressed on so fast that his men arrived before the works parched
with thirst and panting with exhaustion. Moreover, evening came
before the rear of his column had closed up on the front, and during
these critical hours Wright's strong divisions of the veterans of
the Army of the Potomac lined the works and stood stiffly across
the path, while in supporting distance to the eastward was the
little handful from the Gulf. Early, who had seen something of
this and imagined more, waited, and so his opportunity, great or
little, went. On the afternoon of the next day, the 12th of July,
Early still not attacking, Wright sent out a brigade and roughly
pushed back the Confederate advance. Then Early, realizing that
he had not an hour to lose in extricating his command from its
false position, fell back at night on Rockville.
On the 13th of July the _Clinton_ arrived at Washington with the
29th Maine and part of the 13th Maine, the _St. Mary_ with the 8th
Vermont, the _Corinthian_ with the remaining six companies of the
114th New York, the _Mississippi_ with the 90th and 116th New York
and the 30th Massachusetts, the _Creole_ with the 47th Pennsylvania.
As the detachments landed they were hurried, in most instances by
long and needless circuits to Tennallytown, where they found
themselves at night without supplies or wagons, without orders,
and without much organization.
Now that the enemy had gone and there were enough troops in
Washington, the capital was once more a wild confusion of commands
and commanders, such as seems to have prevailed at every important
crisis during the war. Out of this Grant brought order by assigning
Wright to conduct the pursuit of Early. When, therefore, on the
morning of the 13th, Wright found Early gone from his front, he
marched after him with the Sixth Corps, and ordered the detachment
of the Nineteenth Corps to follow. Grant wished Wright to push on
to Edwards Ferry to cut off Early's retreat across the Potomac.
At nightfall Wright was at Offutt's Cross-Roads, with Russell and
Getty of the Sixth corps, the handful of the Nineteenth Corps, and
the cavalry.
About 3,600 men of Emory's division had landed at Washington during
the 12th and 13th of July, increasing the effective force of the
Nineteenth Corps to about 4,200, most of whom spent the night in
following the windings of the road that marks the long outline of
the northern fortifications. On the morning of the 14th, the
roll-call accounted for 192 officers and 2,987 men of the corps,
representing ten regiments, in the bivouacs that lay loosely
scattered about Tennallytown. On the 14th these detachments marched
ten miles and encamped beyond Offutt's Cross-Roads, where they were
joined by Battery L of the 1st Ohio, temporarily lent to the division
from the artillery reserve of the defences of Washington. Emory
himself arrived during the day and assumed command of the division,
and Dwight, relieved from duty as Banks's chief of staff, came in
the evening to rejoin the 1st brigade. Gilmore, who found himself
in Washington without assignment, had been given command of the
Nineteenth Corps, but happening to sprain his foot badly he was
obliged to go off duty after having held the assignment nominally
for less than a day. Thereupon Emory once more took command of
the corps, and the First division fell to Dwight.
Moving by the river road, Wright, with Getty's division, was at
Poolesville on the night of the 14th, with the last of the Nineteenth
Corps eleven miles in the rear. But Early had already made good
his escape, having crossed the Potomac that morning at White's
Ford, with all his trains and captures intact, while Wright was
still south of Seneca Creek.
The next day Emory closed up on Getty at Poolesville, and Halleck
began sending the rest of the Sixth Corps there to join Wright.
In the Union army the impression now prevailed that Early, having
accomplished the main object of his diversion, would, as usual,
hasten to rejoin Lee at Richmond. Wright, therefore, got ready to
go back to Washington, but Early was in fact at Leesburg, and word
came that Hunter, whose forces were beginning to arrive at Harper's
Ferry, after their long and wide excursion over the Alleghanies
and through West Virginia, had sent Sullivan's division across the
Potomac at Berlin to Hillsborough, where it threatened Early's
flank and rear while exposing its own. Therefore Wright felt
obliged to cross to the support of Hunter, and on the morning of
the 16th of July the Sixth Corps, followed by Emory's detachment
of the Nineteenth, waded the Potomac at White's Ford and encamped
at Clark's Gap, three miles beyond Leesburg. But Early, by turns
bold and wary, slipped away between Wright and Hunter, marched
through Snicker's Gap, and put the Shenandoah between him and his
enemies. Caution had been enjoined on the pursuit, and the 17th
was spend in closing up and reconnoitring. On the 18th the combined
forces of Wright and Hunter marched through Snicker's Gap, and in
the afternoon Crook, who, having brought up his own division, found
himself in command of Hunter's troops, sent Thoburn across the
Shenandoah below Snicker's Ferry to seize and hold the ferry for
the passage of the army; but when Thoburn had gained the north bank
Early fell upon him with three divisions and drove him back across
the river with heavy loss. Instead of risking anything more in
the attempt to force the crossing in the face of Early's whole
force in position, Wright was mediating a turning movement by way
of Keyes's Gap, but Duffié, after riding hard through Ashby's Gap
and crossing the Shenandoah at Berry's Ferry, likewise came to
grief on the north bank, and so the day of the 19th of July was
lost.
Meanwhile Hunter, having seen nearly all the rest of his army arrive
at Harper's Ferry, sent a brigade and a half under Hayes to march
straight up the Shenandoah to Snicker's Ferry, while Averell with
a mixed force of cavalry and infantry was sweeping down from
Martinsburg on Winchester. Thus menaced in front, flank, and rear,
Early, on the night of the 19th of July, retreated on Strasburg.
The next morning Wright crossed the Shenandoah, meaning to move
toward Winchester, but when he learned where Early had gone he
recrossed the river in the evening, marched by night to Leesburg,
and encamped on Goose Creek, presently crossing to the south bank.
On the morning of the 22d Wright marched on Washington, the Sixth
Corps leading, followed by the Nineteenth. On the afternoon of
the 23d Emory crossed the chain bridge and went into bivouac on
the high ground overlooking the Potomac near Battery Vermont. So
ended the "Snicker's Gap war."
During this expedition Kenly's brigade of the Eighth Corps served
with the Nineteenth.
As soon as Early's withdrawal from Maryland had quieted all
apprehensions for the safety of Washington, the orders that had
met the advance of the Nineteenth Corps at Hampton Roads were
recalled, and, reverting to his original intention, Grant sent the
detachments of the corps as they arrived up the James River to
Bermuda Hundred to join the right wing of his armies under Butler.
Indeed, at the moment of its arrival at Poolesville, the First
division had been ordered to take the same destination, but this
the movements of the contending armies prevented. The first of
the troops to land at Bermuda Hundred was the 15th Maine on the
17th of July. It was at once sent to the right of the lines before
Petersburg, and within the next ten days there were assembled there
parts of four brigades--McMillan's and Currie's of the First
division, and Birge's and Molineux's of Grover's. Part of Currie's
brigade was engaged, under Hancock, in the affair at Deep Bottom
on the north bank of the James on the 25th of July, losing eighteen
killed and wounded and twenty-four prisoners. The work and duty
in the trenches and on the skirmishing line were hard and constant,
reminding the men of their days and nights before Port Hudson, but
this was not to last long, and the loss was light.(2)
On the 20th of July at Carter's Farm, three miles north of Winchester,
Averell, who was following Early, met and routed Ramseur, who had
been sent back to check the pursuit. Early continued his retreat
to Strasburg on the 22d, but when the next day he learned that
Wright was gone, he turned back to punish the weak force under
Hunter, and on the 24th overwhelmed Crook at Kernstown. Crook
retreated through Martinsburg into Maryland, and marching by
Williamsport and Boonsborough, took post at Sharpsburg, while
Averell stayed at Hagerstown to watch the upper fords of the
Potomac.
To break up the Baltimore and Ohio railway and to ravage the borders
of Pennsylvania were favorite ideas with Early. He now entered
with zest on the unopposed gratification of both desires, and while
he himself bestrode the railway at Martinsburg with his army engaged
in its destruction, he sent McCausland with his own brigade of
cavalry and Bradley Johnson's on the famous marauding expedition
that culminated in the wanton burning of Chambersburg in default
of an impossible ransom, and at last resulted in the flight of
McCausland's whole force, with Averell at his heels, and its ultimate
destruction or dispersion by Averell, after a long chase, at
Moorefield far up the south branch of the Potomac.
When on the 23d of July he saw Wright back at Washington and Early
at Strasburg in retreat, as was imagined, up the valley, Grant
partly changed his mind about recalling the troops he had spared
for the defence of Washington, and determining to content himself
with Wright's corps, directed Emory to stay where he was. Emory
now had 253 officers and 5,320 men for duty.
As one turn of the wheel had given the Nineteenth Corps to Butler,
restoring to his command some of the regiments that had gone with
him to the capture of New Orleans, so the next turn was to bring
the corps under Augur, who since leaving Louisiana had been in
command of the department of Washington. So at least run the orders
of the 23d of July, yet hardly had Emory reported his division to
Augur, when the whole arrangement was suddenly broken up, and the
army that had just marched back to Washington with Wright was once
more hurried off to meet what was supposed to be a fresh invasion
by Early. In fact Early was quietly reposing at Bunker Hill, where
he easily commanded the approaches and debouches of the Shenandoah
valley, the fords of the Potomac, from Harper's Ferry to Williamsport,
and the whole line of the railway across the great bend of the
Potomac.
By this time Grant had found out that it often took twenty-four
hours to communicate with Washington by telegraph, and that it was
consequently impossible to control from the James the movements of
his forces on the upper Potomac. On his suggesting this, the
government confided to Halleck the direction of Wright's operations
against Early. The Sixth Corps marched from Tennallytown on the
morning of the 26th of July, and immediately afterwards the Nineteenth
Corps broke up its camp near the chain bridge and followed the
Sixth. The line of march followed the road to Rockville, where
Wright divided the column, sending a detachment to the left by way
of Poolesville, while the main body pursued the direct road towards
Frederick. Emory encamped that night on the Frederick road, four
miles north of Rockville, after a march of nineteen miles. The
next day, the 27th of July, Emory, leading the column, marched at
three in the morning, moved fifteen miles, and encamped beyond
Hyattstown. On the 28th Emory took the road at five, marched to
Monocacy Junction, where the Sixth Corps crossed the Monocacy, then
filed to the right, and crossed at the upper ford, and passing
through Frederick went into bivouac four miles beyond. The distance
made was thirteen miles. On the 29th, an intensely hot day, Emory
marched at eight, following the Sixth Corps, crossed the Potomac
at Harper's Ferry, marched nineteen miles, and went into bivouac
at Halltown. Here Wright was joined by Crook, who came from
Sharpsburg by way of Shepherdstown.
It was on the 30th of July that McCausland burned Chambersburg.
In the confusion caused by his rapid movements, Halleck imagined
that Early's whole force was in Pennsylvania. Therefore he ordered
Wright back into Maryland, first to Frederick and them to Emmettsburg,
to hold the passes of the South Mountain against the supposed
invader. About noon Wright faced about, taking Crook with him,
and recrossed the Potomac. Toward evening Crook and Wright covered
the passes, while Emory crossed the Catoctin and at one in the
morning of the 31st halted near Jefferson after a hard day's march
of thirteen miles, during which the men and animals of all the
corps suffered terribly from the heat and dust, added to the
accumulated fatigue they had already undergone from a succession
of long days and short nights. Reveille was sounded at five o'clock,
and at six the march was resumed. Emory passed through Frederick,
moved about two miles on the Emmettsburg road and went into bivouac,
having made thirteen miles during the day. The army was now
concentrated at Frederick, holding the line of the Monocacy and
observing the passes of the South Mountain. Fortunately for the
men and horses, Halleck now learned from Couch, who commanded in
Pennsylvania, with rather less than a handful of troops, the exact
dimensions of McCausland's raid. Accordingly Wright's troops were
allowed to rest where they were.
Grant ordered up a division of cavalry from the Army of the Potomac,
and on the 4th of August set out in person for Frederick, avoiding
Washington, to see for himself just what the situation was, and to
make better arrangements for the future. On the 5th of August he
joined Hunter on the Monocacy, and at once ordered him to take
Wright, Emory, and Crook across the Potomac, to find the enemy,
and to attack him.
Grover's division and the parts of Emory's that had been at Bermuda
Hundred embarked on the James on the 31st of July, and passed up
the Potomac to Washington, but too late to join Emory on the
Monocacy. Thus, before beginning the new movement, Emory had of
his own division 4,600 effective and eight regiments of Grover's,
numbering 2,750. These, being part of four brigades, were temporarily
organized into two, and as Grover himself had not yet joined, their
command was given to Molineux.
About this time, Battery L, 1st Ohio, was relieved from duty with
the Nineteenth Corps, and four other batteries joined it from the
reserve park at Washington. Of these Taft's 5th New York was
assigned to the First division, Bradbury's 1st Maine, an old friend,
to the Second division, Lieutenant Chase's D, 1st Rhode Island and
Miner's 17th Indiana to the Artillery Reserve, commanded at first
by Captain Taft, afterward by Major Bradbury.
Crook led the way across the Potomac at Harper's Ferry on the
evening of the 5th of August, Emory followed the next morning, and
Ricketts with the Sixth Corps brought up the rear. Averell with
the cavalry, as will be remembered, was still far away, engaged in
the long chase after McCausland. Hunter took up his position
covering Halltown and proceeded to strengthen it by entrenchments.
Crook's left rested on the Shenandoah, Emory extended the line to
the turnpike road, and Wright carried it to the Potomac.
On the very day Grant left City Point, Early marched north from
Bunker Hill, meaning to cover McCausland's retreat and to destroy
Hunter, and so, curiously enough, it happened that Early's whole
army actually crossed the Potomac into Maryland at Martinsburg and
Shepherdstown a few hours before Crook passed over the ford at
Harper's Ferry into Virginia; and, still more curiously, while,
ten days before, the groundless apprehension of another invasion
by Early had thrown the North into a fever and the government into
a fright, here was Early actually in Maryland on the battle-field
of Antietam without producing so much as a sensation. As soon as
Early got the first inkling of what was going on behind him, he
tripped briskly back to Martinsburg, and finding Hunter at Halltown
resumed his old position at Bunker Hill.
Grant had already proposed to unite in a single command the four
distinct departments covering the theatre of war on the Shenandoah
and on the upper Potomac; as the commander he had first suggested
Franklin and afterward Meade. Now, since no action had followed
either suggestion, he sent up Sheridan, meaning to place him in
command of all the active forces of these four departments, for
the purpose of overthrowing Early or expelling him from the
Shenandoah. Upon learning this, Hunter, to remove the difficulty,
asked to be relieved; and thus, on the 7th of August, Grant gained
his wish, and an order was issued by the War Department, creating
the Middle Military Division, to include Washington, Virginia, West
Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and part of Ohio, and Sheridan
was assigned to the command.
Amusing though it may have been to Early and his followers to note
the panic and confusion into which McCausland's predatory riders
once more threw the capital and the border States, this absurd
freak produced far-reaching consequences that were not in the
thoughts of any one on either side. Its first effect was to stop
the withdrawal of the Sixth Corps, and to put Wright and Emory once
more in march toward the Shenandoah. It determined Lee to keep
Early in the valley, where his presence seemed so effective; and
this shortly led to the concentration there, under a single commander,
and that commander Sheridan, of the largest and best appointed
Union army that had ever occupied that theatre of war, and thus at
last in one short campaign worked the destruction of Early's army
and the elimination of the valley as a feature in the war.
Upon the officers and men of the Nineteenth Corps the change from
the enervating climate of Louisiana to the bracing air, the crystal
waters, the rolling wheatfields, and the beautiful blue mountains
of the Shenandoah acted like a tonic. Daily their spirits rose
and their numbers for duty increased. The excellence of the roads
and the openness of the country on either side enabled them to
achieve long marches with ease and comfort. Nor were they slow in
remarking that they had never had a commissary and quartermaster
so good as Sheridan.
(1) About three miles N.-N.-E. from the Capitol, overlooking the
Baltimore road and railway.
(2) In Major William F. Tiemann's truly admirable "History of the
159th New York," he says: "July 26th we were camped near Major-General
Birney's headquarters, not far from Hatcher's house between batteries
'five' and 'six,' one of which enjoyed the euphonious title of
'Fort Slaughter.' . . . The works were built more strongly
and with more art than at Port Hudson, but were not nearly as strong
in reality, as Port Hudson was fortified naturally and the obstructions
were much harder to overcome." (P. 87.) I think this book a model
of everything that a regimental history ought to be; above all,
for the rare gifts of modesty and accuracy.