Slavery and Four Years of War Part 52

( 8) _Ibid_., Part I., p. 189 (Meade's Report).

( 9) _Ibid_., Part II., p. 331.

(10) _War Records_, vol. x.x.xvi., Part II., pp. 729, 742, 745, 748.

(11) _Twelve Sermons_, p. 302.

(12) _Mana.s.sas to Appomattox_, p. 564.

(13) _Memoirs of Lee_, A. L. Long, p. 330.

(14) _War Records_, vol. x.x.xvi., Part I., pp. 193, 776-792.

(15) _War Records_, vol. x.x.xvi., Part I., p. 749.

(16) _Ibid_., pp. 188-195 (Meade's Report).

(17) _War Records_, vol. x.x.xvi., Part I., p. 627.

(18) _Ibid_., pp. 734, 740.

(19) _War Records_, vol. x.x.xvi., Part I., p. 734-5 (Keifer's Report).

(20) Vol. ii., p. 276.

(21) _War Records_, vol. x.x.xvi., Part I., p. 188 (119-198).

(22) It is interesting to note that the ratio of killed to wounded, shown by this table is almost exactly 1 to 5, that is 16.6 per cent. of the whole number were killed; that of the killed, 1 out of every 14.6 was an officer; of the wounded, 1 out of 20 was an officer; of the whole number killed and wounded, 1 officer was killed out of every 88, 1 officer was wounded out of every 24.3, and 1 enlisted man was killed out of every 6.5, and one officer was killed or wounded out of every 19.

(23) _War Records_, vol. x.x.xvi., Part I., pp. 188, 196.

CHAPTER VII Campaign South of James River and Petersburg--Hunter's Raid--Battle of Monocacy--Early's Advance on Was.h.i.+ngton (1864)--Sheridan's Movements in Shenandoah Valley, and Other Events

In pursuance of the general plan, as we have seen, General B. F.

Butler had organized at Fortress Monroe the Army of the James, composed of the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, commanded, respectively, by Generals Quincy A. Gilmore and W. F. Smith. It moved by transports up the James River on May 4, 1864, and effected a landing without serious resistance at Bermuda Hundred the night of the 5th. At the same time General Kautz, with 3000 cavalry, made a raid from Suffolk and destroyed a portion of the Petersburg and Weldon Railroad. These movements caused a hasty concentration against Butler of all the available troops from the Carolinas. Beauregard was put in command of them. There was some indecisive fighting between parts of Butler's army at Stony Creek, Jarratt's Station, and White Bridge, and there were somewhat general engagements at Port Walthall Junction, Chester Station, Swift Creek, Proctor's Creek, and Drewry's Bluff, and some minor affairs along the James.

Kautz, making a second successful raid, cut the Richmond and Danville Railroad at Caulfield, destroying bridges, tracks, and depots.

The result of all was to leave Butler's command strongly intrenched at Bermuda Hundred, but unable to advance and seriously threaten Richmond.

The term "Bottled up," an expression used to describe Butler's position, was derived from a dispatch of Grant to the War Department in which he referred to Butler's situation between the James and the Appomattox with the enemy intrenched across his front, as being "like a bottle."( 1)

Grant ordered Smith's corps to reinforce the Army of the Potomac.

Butler attacked Petersburg on the 9th of June, chiefly with Gilmore's corps, but, for want of co-operation by the several attacking bodies, the place was not taken. General Butler attributed the defeat to Gilmore's failure to obey orders and act with energy.( 2)

After Smith's withdrawal, Butler did little more than hold his position. The Army of the Potomac crossed to the south of the James on June 14th. An attack was made by Meade on Petersburg on the 16th, princ.i.p.ally with troops under Hanc.o.c.k and Burnside, by which a part only of the enemy's works with one battery and some prisoners were taken. Fighting continued on the 17th, and a general a.s.sault was ordered at daylight on the 18th, but on advancing it was found that the enemy had retired to an inner and stronger line.

Later in the day unsuccessful a.s.saults were made on this new line by portions of the Second, Fifth, and Ninth Corps. It was then ascertained that Lee's main army had reached Petersburg, and further efforts to take it by a.s.sault were abandoned.( 3) There was much fighting, extending through June, by detachments of infantry, for possession of roads, all of which, however, was indecisive. Wilson and Kautz's cavalry divisions, on the 22d, in a raid took Reams Station and destroyed some miles of the Weldon Railroad, and the next day, after defeating W. H. F. Lee's cavalry near Nottoway Station, reached Burkeville junction and destroyed the depot and about twenty miles of railroad track. The succeeding day they destroyed the railroad from Meherim Station to Roanoke Bridge, a distance of twenty-five miles, but on returning they encountered at Reams Station, on the 28th, the enemy's cavalry and a strong force of infantry, and were defeated, with the loss of trains and artillery. The Sixth Corps was sent to their relief, but arrived at the Station after the affair was over and the enemy had withdrawn.( 4)

I shall not undertake to give the important movements and operations ( 5) of the troops under Grant in front of Petersburg and Richmond, during the remainder fo the summer and the fall of 1864, as the troops in which I was immediately interested were, early in July, transferred to Maryland and Was.h.i.+ngton. A summary of the occurrences in the Shenandoah Valley and West Virginia is, however, necessary to enable the reader the better to understand important events soon to be narrated.

General Franz Sigel, in command of the Department of West Virginia, moved up the Valley, and was defeated at New Market on the 15th of May. He retired to the north bank of Cedar Creek. His loss was about 1000 killed, wounded, and captured, and seven pieces of artillery. General George Crook, proceeding _via_ Fayetteville, Raleigh, and Princeton, fought the battle of Cloyd's Mountain on the 9th of May and gained a brilliant victory. He did much damage to the enemy, and returned to Meadow Bluff, on the Kanawha. General David Hunter relieved Sigel in command of the department on the 21st, and joined the troops at Cedar Creek in the Valley, on the 26th. Sigel was a.s.signed to command a Reserve Division along the line of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.

Hunter and Crook, from their respective positions, moved towards Staunton on the 30th. Hunter met the enemy under General W. E.

Jones at Piedmont, on June 5th, and after a severe engagement defeated him, killing Jones and capturing about 1500 prisoners.

Hunter reached Staunton on the 6th, and was joined by Crook on the 8th. They here destroyed railroads, Confederate supplies, mills, and factories, and, together, advanced towards Lexington on the 10th. They were now opposed by McCausland, whose command was chiefly cavalry. Lexington was taken on the 11th, after some fighting, and with it large quant.i.ties of military supplies. A portion of the James River Ca.n.a.l and a number of extensive iron- works were destroyed. Hunter burned the Virginia Military Inst.i.tute and all buildings connected therewith on the 12th. He also burned the residence of ex-Governor John Letcher. Doubts have been entertained as to whether the burning of the Inst.i.tute or Letcher's home could be justified under the rules of modern warfare. The Inst.i.tute, however, was a preparatory school for Confederate officers, and its Princ.i.p.al, Colonel Smith, with 250 cadets, united with McCausland's troops in the defence of Lexington. Letcher had issued a violent and inflammatory proclamation inciting the population to rise and wage a guerilla warfare on the Union troops.( 6)

Hunter proceeded _via_ Buchanan and by the Peaks of Otter road across the Blue Ridge, and arrived at Liberty, twenty-four miles from Lynchburg, on the 15th. Here he heard rumors through Confederate channels of disasters to Grant and Sherman's armies, and of Sheridan's fighting at Trevilian Station. Hunter was also told Breckinridge was in Lynchburg with all the rebel forces in West Virginia, and that Ewell's corps, 20,000 strong, was arriving to reinforce him.

Notwithstanding these reports, Hunter commenced an advance on the 16th on Lynchburg. His several columns met stubborn resistance on this and the succeeding day, but at night, after a spirited affair at Diamond Hill, he encamped his forces near the town. It became known to Hunter on the 18th that Lieutenant-General Jubal A. Early, with Ewell's corps from Lee's army, was at Lynchburg. Early and Breckinridge's combined commands far outnumbered Hunter's forces.

The situation was critical for Hunter. He maintained a bold front, however, until nightfall, and then withdrew _via_ Liberty and Buford's Gap to New Castle and Sweet Springs. General Wm. A.

Averell with the cavalry covered the rear. The enemy pursued rather tardily to Salem, where Early concentrated his army. Hunter chose, in his retreat, the Lewisburg route to Charleston on the Kanawha, rather than retire down the Shenandoah Valley or by Warm Springs and the South Branch of the Potomac. The latter route would have had the advantage of bringing him out at c.u.mberland or New Creek on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, much nearer to his proper base at Martinsburg or Harper's Ferry. His retreat, on the line chosen, left the Valley, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and Baltimore and Was.h.i.+ngton practically without defence. Hunter arrived at Charleston on the 30th, having marched through White Sulphur Springs, Lewisburg, and Meadow Bluff. From near Liberty, on the 16th, he sent his supply train of 200 wagons, 141 prisoners, and his sick and wounded in charge of Captain T. K. McCann, A.Q.M. of Volunteers, with orders to reach the Kanawha at Charleston. The train was guarded by parts of the 152d and 161st Ohio Volunteers--one hundred day men, commanded by Colonel David Putnam of the former regiment.

At Greenbrier River, on the 22d, the train was attacked by the Thurmond brothers, and forced to return to White Sulphur Springs.

From thence it proceeded through Hillsborough to Beverly, where it arrived on the 27th.( 7) Hunter's raid, so brilliantly begun, thus unfortunately ended.

Early reached Lynchburg on the 17th of June and a.s.sumed command of all the forces there, including those under Breckinridge. Early pursued Hunter to the mountains, and then, on the 23d, marched rapidly through Staunton and down the Shenandoah Valley, with the purpose of invading Maryland, in pursuance of instructions given him by Lee before being detached from the latter's main army.( 8)

Sigel was now holding Maryland Heights. Early, therefore, on the 8th of July crossed the Potomac higher up the river, and reached Frederick City, Maryland, the morning of the 9th.( 9)

Hunter's command was obliged to descend the Kanawha by boats, then ascend the Ohio to Parkersburg, and from there move by rail to c.u.mberland and points on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Hunter did not leave Charleston until July 3d, nor Parkersburg until the 8th, and did not reach c.u.mberland with any part of his army until the 9th. He was then too remote to be available in an effort to resist Early's invasion.(10)

Early's movements in the Valley caused loud calls for troops, and Grant ordered Ricketts' division (Sixth Corps) to Maryland. The division left its camp in front of the Williams house on the 6th of July, and the same day embarked at City Point for Baltimore.

It disembarked at Locust Point, near Baltimore, on the morning of the 8th, and took cars for Monocacy Junction, where, on the same day, parts of two brigades of the division joined General Lew Wallace, then in command of the department.

Prior to Ricketts' arrival Wallace had only been able to gather together, under General E. B. Tyler, two regiments of the Potomac Home Brigade, the 11th Maryland Infantry, two Ohio one hundred day regiments (144th and 149th), the 8th Illinois Cavalry, and a detachment of the 159th Ohio (one hundred day regiment), serving as mounted infantry, all new or inexperienced troops.(11) He had only one battery of artillery. Sigel, still at Maryland Heights, was therefore unavailable as against Early. Only the First Brigade, numbering 1750 men, under Colonel Truax, and a part of the Second Brigade (138th Pennsylvania, 9th New York Heavy Artillery, 110th and 126th Ohio), 1600 strong, Colonel McClennan commanding, of Ricketts' veteran troops reached the battle-field. Tyler went into position on the right, covering the stone bridge, and Ricketts on the left. The position chosen by Wallace was good, strategically, and also strong to resist a front attack by a superior force. It was behind the Monocacy River, covering the railroad bridge and the public highway and another bridge, and also had for lines of retreat the turnpikes to Baltimore and Was.h.i.+ngton. If the position were held, communication could be kept up with these cities, also with Sigel at the Heights. It was Early's purpose to destroy Wallace or brush him aside and move on Was.h.i.+ngton. Early moved from Frederick at 8 A.M., the 9th of July, and after demonstrating on Wallace's front, marched Gordon's troops around by a ford to fall on Ricketts' left. The latter changed front to the left to meet Gordon. The battle opened in earnest at 10.30 A.M. The enemy's superiority in artillery gave him a great advantage, and most of the day Ricketts' troops held their position under an enfilading fire from Early's batteries. The enemy's front was so great that Ricketts, to meet it, had to put his entire command into one line. Gordon's first and second lines were beaten back, and his third and fourth lines were, later, brought into action on the Union left. Early put in his reserves there, and still Ricketts'

troops were unbroken and undismayed. It was, however, evident the unequal contest must result in defeat, hence Wallace ordered a retreat on the Baltimore pike. Ricketts did not commence to retire until 4 P.M., and then in good order. Tyler's troops fought well, and held the stone bridge until Ricketts had pa.s.sed off the field.

Early was so seriously hurt that he did not or could not make a vigorous or immediate pursuit. Save some detachments of cavalry, he halted his army at the stone bridge. The Union loss was 10 officers and 113 men killed and 36 officers and 567 men wounded, total, 726, besides captured or missing.(12) Colonel Wm. H. Seward (9th N. Y. H. A.) was slightly wounded and had an ankle broken by the fall of his horse on its being shot.

The veteran Third Division lost 656 of the killed and wounded, and the troops under Tyler 70. My former a.s.sistant adjutant-general, Captain Wm. A. Hathaway, was killed in this action. The total killed and wounded in the Second Brigade, from May 5th to July 9th, inclusive, was 2033,(13) more than half the number lost under Scott and Taylor in the Mexican War.

No report of the Confederate loss has been found, but from the strong Union position, the character of the Confederate attacks, and the number of wounded (400) left in hospital, it must have largely exceeded that of the loyal army. Early says in his report, written immediately after the battle, that his loss "was between 600 and 700."(14)

On the morning of the 10th, Early marched _via_ Rockville towards Was.h.i.+ngton, and arrived in front of the fortifications on the Seventh Street pike late the next day. He met no resistance on the way. Wallace, with Ricketts, had retired towards Baltimore.

Great consternation reigned at the Capital, and the volunteer militia of the District of Columbia were called out.

The defences were, however, feebly manned. The First and Second Divisions of the Sixth Corps embarked at City Point on the 10th, and a portion of the Second reached Fort Stevens on the 11th, about the time Early reached its front, and the First Division, with the remainder of the Second, arrived next morning. Some skirmis.h.i.+ng took place in front of the fort, witnessed by President Lincoln.

Many government employees and citizens were put in the trenches.

Early retreated across the Potomac to Leesburg, somewhat precipitately, commencing after nightfall on the 12th. He again reached the Valley on the 15th. The Sixth Corps under Wright pursued Early on the 13th, but did not come up with him. Ricketts' division rejoined its corps on the 17th. Portions of Hunter and Crook's commands also joined Wright, who moved _via_ Snicker's Gap into the Valley at Berryville. Wright alternately retired and advanced his army, crossing and recrossing the Potomac, until August 5th, when he was at Monocacy Junction, Maryland.

It should be stated in this connection that Early sent General Bradley Johnson with his brigade of cavalry to cut the Northern Central and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroads; he succeeded in doing this, and also in destroying some bridges and two pa.s.senger trains.

One bridge on the railroad between Was.h.i.+ngton and Baltimore was destroyed by Johnson while on his way to Point Lookout, Maryland, to release Confederate prisoners. One of the princ.i.p.al objects Lee had in ordering Early into Maryland was to release these prisoners.(15) When Early retired from Was.h.i.+ngton he recalled Johnson.

The most remarkable thing connected with the campaign just described was the utter dispersion of the thousands of troops in West Virginia and the Valley under Hunter, Sigel, Crook, Averell, and B. F. Kelley, so that none of them partic.i.p.ated in the battle of Monocacy or the defence of Was.h.i.+ngton.

Wright had been a.s.signed, July 13th,(16) to command all the troops engaged in the pursuit of Early, including a portion of the Nineteenth Corps under General W. H. Emory, just arriving by transport from the Army of the James. Hunter still remained in command of the Department of West Virginia. The recent failure of Hunter caused him to be distrusted for field work, and another commander was sought. General Sheridan was, by Grant, ordered from the Army of the Potomac, August 2d, to report to Halleck at Was.h.i.+ngton. In a dispatch to Halleck of August 1st, Grant said he wanted Sheridan put in command of all the troops in the field. On this being shown to President Lincoln (August 3d), he impatiently wired Grant:(17)

"I have seen your dispatch in which you say 'I want Sheridan put in command of all the troops in the field with instructions to put himself south of the enemy and follow him to the death. Wherever the enemy goes let our troops go also.' This, I think, is exactly right as to how our forces should move; but please look over the dispatches you may have received from here ever since you made that order, and discover, if you can, that there is any idea in the head of any one here of 'putting our army south of the enemy,' or of 'following him to the death' in any direction. I repeat to you it will neither be done nor attempted, unless you watch it every day and hour and force it."

Sheridan reached Harper's Ferry, August 7th, and a.s.sumed command of the newly const.i.tuted Middle Military Division, including the Middle Department, and the Departments of Was.h.i.+ngton, Susquehanna, and West Virginia.(18) The First Division of the cavalry, commanded by General Alfred T. A. Torbert, reached Sheridan from before Petersburg, August 9th. Sheridan moved on the 10th, and reached Cedar Creek twelve miles south of Winchester on the Strasburg pike on the 12th, encountering some opposition at Opequon Creek, Winchester, and Newtown. Early was reinforced by Kershaw's division of Longstreet's corps, and by other detachments from Lee's army.

The enemy manoeuvred on Sheridan's flanks, and by August 22d the Union Army had retired to Halltown and Harper's Ferry.

Thus far Lincoln's predictions were fulfilled. But great events were soon to follow.