The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862 E-Book

William Allan

• Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 966

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Beschreibung

The Pergamum Collection publishes books history has long forgotten. We transcribe books by hand that are now hard to find and out of print.

Das E-Book The Army of Northern Virginia in 1862 wird angeboten von Charles River Editors und wurde mit folgenden Begriffen kategorisiert:
civil war; robert e lee; mcclellan; pope; seven days battles; fredericksburg

Leseprobe

AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

THE concluding chapter of this book was the author’s last work on earth, and it cheered his dying hours to know that his task was accomplished. There remained, however, much to be done, to prepare the manuscript for publication, and I wish to record, within these covers, my gratitude to Colonel Allan’s friend and successor, Mr. Duncan C. Lyle, of McDonogh, Maryland, without whose generous and painstaking help it could hardly have been done; and to Mr. John C. Ropes, of Boston, who, amid the pressing activities of a busy life, gave such kind and valuable assistance.

ELIZABETH P. ALLAN.

INTRODUCTION.

IT is a matter for sincere congratulation that this contribution to the history of our Civil War is to become the property of the American public. Colonel Allan was a man of rare gifts, and his abilities as a military critic were of a high order. His opportunities of observing the events of which he treats were also exceptionally good. He was from the beginning of the war almost constantly at the headquarters of Lieutenant-General Jackson; and in January, 1863, he received the commission of Chief of Ordnance of the Second Corps of the Army of Northern Virginia, which that distinguished officer commanded. He participated in the brilliant achievements in the Shenandoah Valley in the spring of 1862; he took part in the engagements which initiated the successful movement against McClellan’s communications in the early summer of that year; he shared in the daring and skillful operations which Jackson conducted against General Pope in the month of August; he witnessed the capture of Harper’s Ferry; he was in the thick of the fight on the bloody day of Antietam; he was present at the successful maintenance of the lines of Fredericksburg. It would not be possible to imagine a position in the Confederate army which would have given to an officer a more varied experience, or have familiarized him with more important and decisive actions. And all these opportunities for acquaintance with the great operations of war were improved to the full, for Colonel Allan was possessed of a remarkably sound judgment on military matters, a cool and clear head, and a tenacious memory. When we add to these gifts that of a singularly strong love of truth, it is plain that we have attributed to him the principal qualities that go to make a sound and impartial historian. That we have not exaggerated Colonel Allan’s qualifications as a writer on the civil war is sufficiently evident from the favor with which his two previous works — that on the campaign of Chancellorsville,¹ and that on Stonewall Jackson’s campaign in the Shenandoah Valley² — were received by the public, — North as well as South.

Colonel Allan, as is well known, undertook to write the entire history of the Army of Northern Virginia, but, unfortunately, he did not live to carry his narrative beyond the close of the year 1862. It is this portion of his projected work which is now placed before us. It bears on its face the marks of the great labor and conscientious research which the author lavished upon it. The period treated is one of the most interesting in the whole war, — so far as the operations in the east are concerned. The year 1862 has begun. The North,

¹ The Battle-Fields of Virginia: Chancellorsville: Embracing the Operations of the Army of Northern Virginia from the First Battle of Fredericksburg to the Death of Lieutenant-General Jackson. By Jed. Hotchkiss, late Captain and Topographical Engineer, Second Corps, A. N. V., and William Allan, late Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief of Ordnance, Second Corps, A. N, V. Illustrated by five maps and a full length portrait of Lieutenant-General T. J. Jackson. New York: D. Van Nostrand, 192 Broadway. London: Trübner & Co. 1867.

² History of the Campaign of General T. J. (Stonewall) Jackson in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, from November 4, 1861, to June 17, 1862. by William Allan, formerly Lieutenant-Colonel and Chief Ordnance Officer, Second Corps, A. N. V. With full maps of the region and of the battlefields, by Jed. Hotchkiss, formerly Captain and Topographical Engineer, Second Corps, A. N. V. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co. 1880.

amazed and aroused by the defeat of Bull Run, has exerted its strength in earnest. Powerful armies, well equipped and commanded, are placed at the disposal of the National government. Adequate arrangements are made to transport these forces by water to the immediate neighborhood of the Confederate capital. Nothing is wanting in the way of preparation, — the Northern army is fully supplied with everything that can be required in the field. On the other side but little has been done to meet the impending blow. The Confederate forces in Virginia, greatly inferior in numbers and equipment, are utterly unable to cope with their adversaries, if the latter use their superiority with the skill and determination that may reasonably be expected.

But the Confederate authorities and people were at last awakened to the sense of their unprotected situation; the formidable forces which the Federals had collected were frittered away by misdirection and inefficiency; and the year 1862 closed not only without disaster to the Confederate cause in the East, but with a victory, — that of Fredericksburg, — which raised the confidence of the South to the highest pitch, and filled the Northern people with discouragement and mortification. To relate this story, doing justice to both parties, is the task attempted by Colonel Allan in the volume now before us. It will not be expected that all his statements will be accepted by the Northern public; allowance must always be made, even when considering the views of the most judicial minds, for the bias which inevitably results from adopting heartily and earnestly one side in a great conflict of opinion and of arms. But the Northern reader will find in the pages before us an impartial spirit, and a love of the exact truth, characterizing the entire performance of the work. To the military reader especially, these chapters will be of value. Colonel Allan, it is true, was not a graduate of West Point, but he had confessedly a great natural aptitude for military operations; and he was placed for four years in the best of schools, — that of the actual practice of war, performed under the eye and direction of able, educated, and accomplished officers. The observations with which the author sums up his views of the various campaigns described in this volume possess great weight, and deserve the most careful consideration.

Colonel Allan had many friends and admirers in the North. For some years before his death he had been an active member of the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts. He had made several visits to Boston for the purpose, among other things, of reading papers before the society. Three of these essays were on the battles — or, rather, I should say, on the campaigns and battles — of Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg, and Gettysburg; and they were among the most valuable papers that the society has received. Probably the volume before us contains the substance of the first two papers, but it is likely that they will all appear at some future time among the publications of the society. In these essays, as also in a lecture which he delivered in Boston in 1886 before the Lowell Institute, at the request of the Military Historical Society, his fairness, as well as his ability, was universally recognized and commended.

It is, therefore, not without reason that we welcome this book. Written as it is by an officer whose opportunities of observation were so extensive, whose capacity for military criticism has been so long attested and admired, and whose impartiality has received such abundant recognition, we cannot doubt that this narrative of the operations in Virginia during the year 1862 will be cordially received as an important and permanent addition to the best histories of the Civil War.

JOHN C. ROPES.

THE ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA.

CHAPTER I.THE SITUATION IN VIRGINIA IN 1861.

THE operations of the Federal and Confederate armies in Virginia in 1862 were the most considerable and important that had up to that time been witnessed in America. The year was filled with active movements, and crowded with notable events.

The desultory operations of the summer and fall of 1861 had been but preliminary to the great contest of the succeeding year. They had accomplished little except in Virginia. In Missouri the successes of Price had been neutralized by the strong force which the Federal administration threw into the State; in Kentucky nothing of importance had been done; but in Virginia the great victory of the Confederates at Manassas, July 21, 1861, had paralyzed the Union forces there for the remainder of the year, and given the Richmond government an opportunity to consolidate its strength and organize its resources. Without this respite it is difficult to see how the South could have maintained itself through another year.

The hostile sections had a common border of one thousand miles, stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the western limit of Missouri; and all along this line preparations were making for war. This border is separated into three natural divisions: 1. That extending from the Atlantic to the Alleghanies. 2. That from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi. 3. That west of the latter river. In each of these divisions vast invading armies were gathering on the part of the North, and flotillas of gunboats were building on the great rivers to cooperate. The main energies of the Union government were absorbed in these preparations along the border for a simultaneous advance in overwhelming force upon Confederate territory; but at the same time measures to enforce the blockade of Southern ports were actively pushed, and formidable expeditions against points on the Southern coast were prepared. The most important of these were: that against the coast of North Carolina; that against the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia; and that against New Orleans.

Our concern, however, is with the chief scene of military operations, which was in Virginia, on the eastern division of the border. Here, about the capitals of the two contending sections, situated but little more than one hundred miles apart, was the heart and center of the struggle. Here the greatest efforts of the two belligerents were put forth. Here the largest and best equipped armies were set in the field. To this point were the ablest leaders drawn. Here, as chief prizes, were Richmond and Washington, the possession of either of which by the hostile party, it was believed, would give a decisive advantage in the contest.

For many months the Federal and Confederate armies in Virginia had been preparing for a life and death struggle. The complete rout of the Federal army at Manassas July 21, 1861, had caused the government at Washington to put forth its best efforts to create and equip a force that should be able to crush all opposition. General McClellan, whose successful campaign against the Confederates in West Virginia, as well as his previous standing, had made him, for the time, the most prominent of the Federal officers, was called to Washington and put in command. Men and supplies were gathered without stint. McClellan devoted all his talents and energies to the conversion of his mob of raw recruits into a great army, thoroughly organized, drilled, and equipped. Cautious, even to an extreme, he steadily refused to risk any important operations until this work should be accomplished. Six months of arduous labor placed him at the head of a finely supplied and disciplined army of about 200,000 men present for duty.¹

Nor were the Confederates less busy during the long- period of comparative quiet that followed the first battle of Manassas. With them, too, a mass of untrained volunteers had to be turned into steady and disciplined soldiers, a work of greater difficulty was to equip and supply the army thus formed. The Confederates had not merely to obtain supplies of all kinds, but to create the establishments needed to manufacture them; they had to organize not merely an army, but a government. An immense territory, exposed both on the land and on the water side, had to be defended at many points. The subdivision of men and means thus necessitated rendered the Confederates everywhere too weak to assume the aggressive. General J. E. Johnston at the close of the year 1861 had but 57,337 men with which to oppose McClellan.² This able officer, during the fall and winter, maintained so bold an attitude with his inferior force as to prevent McClellan from advancing. The firmness with which Johnston held on to the blockade of the lower Potomac by means of shore batteries, the formidable front he showed at Centreville, and the interruption of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, kept up in the breasts of the Federal administration the feeling of being on the defensive long after the necessity for such a state of things had ceased.

¹ McClellan’s force present for duty March 1 was by his official return 193,142. (McClellan’s report.) In the spring of 1862, according to General Webb, he had 158,000 for field operations, besides some 55,000 in detachments, guarding Washington, Manassas, Warrenton, the Shenandoah Valley, and the line of the Potomac. See Webb’s Peninsula Campaign, p. 8.

² Johnston’s Narrative, p. 84. Johnston’s force present for duty at the end of February was 47,306. (Webb, p. 26.)

CHAPTER II.MCCLELLAN'S PLANS FOR 1862.

WITH the new year the plans and preparations for the campaign of 1862 were urged forward with increased activity. The Federal government soon became impatient for the forward movement of its vast armaments. Public opinion in the North demanded a prompt use of the great accumulations of men and material that had been made for the purpose of “crushing the rebellion.”¹ The Federal commander-in-chief began to be criticized as too slow and cautious. This officer, charged with the direction of military operations over a vast field, found it impossible to move his armies as fast as the populace required. Preparations were hastened in the West more rapidly than in the East, and in January the expeditions were set forward which in the succeeding month at Forts Henry and Donelson wrested the control of the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers from the Confederates, and thus brought about the loss of Kentucky and a large part of Tennessee, with the fall of Columbus, Nashville, and Island No. 10.

Meantime the Army of the Potomac, commanded by General McClellan in person, lay along the Potomac in front of Washington, hindered from a forward movement by the weather, the roads, and by McClellan’s unwillingness to adopt that line of advance, and prevented from selecting a new scene of operations by the hesitancy with which President

¹ President Lincoln, on January 27, issued the following order: “That the twenty-second day of February, 1862, be the day for a general movement of the land and naval forces of the United States against the insurgent forces. That especially the army at and about Fortress Monroe, the army of the Potomac, the army of Western Virginia, the army near Munfordsville, Kentucky, the army and flotilla at Cairo, and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico be ready to move on that day.” . . .

Lincoln yielded assent to the commander’s plan of campaign. The objective point of the Federal campaign in the East was the capture of Richmond, the capital of the Confederacy and seat of the most important arsenal and manufactories for the supply of the Southern armies. General McClellan deemed an advance directly against the army in front of him unadvisable, because it would yield his opponent all the advantages of defensive positions of his own selection, and would draw the Federal army into the interior of Virginia, away from its base and the reach of water transportation, and render it dependent upon a single line of railroad for supplies. This was the longest, and McClellan thought it the most difficult, way of attacking Richmond. He proposed, instead, a transfer of the Army of the Potomac to the waters of the lower Chesapeake, and an advance thence against the Confederate capital. By means of the rivers of that region, all of which could be controlled by the Federal navy, he could place his army within a few miles of Richmond, and establish a base of supplies near at hand and on deep water. The plan he first suggested was to move his army to Urbana on the Rappahannock, and to advance thence by way of West Point to Richmond. In this way he would turn the Confederate position at Manassas completely, and by rapid movements might place his army between the Confederates and their capital. The unexpected withdrawal of Johnston from Manassas to the line of the Rappahannock checkmated this plan and finally caused its abandonment. McClellan’s second plan was to transfer his army to Fortress Monroe, and march thence up the Peninsula, between the York and the James, while the Federal gunboats controlled the rivers and protected his flanks. The Federal Cabinet hesitated for a time to approve these plans. To them they seemed to uncover Washington. The vivid impression made upon the minds of President Lincoln and his advisers by the first battle of Manassas had not been effaced, and they were unwilling to place the great Federal army where it would not be directly in the path of a Confederate force advancing from the interior of Virginia. They yielded, at last, to McClellan’s urgent representations, but in doing so required as conditions: 1. That Washington should be garrisoned and covered by sufficient forces to make it perfectly secure; 2. That the lower Potomac should be freed from Confederate batteries; and 3. That the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad should be reopened and protected.¹ McClellan undertook to comply with these conditions, and prepared to transfer his army to the lower Chesapeake.

Meantime General Johnston was preparing to retire behind the Rappahannock as soon as the Federal army gave signs of a forward movement. His bold front, with less than 50,000 men, had given him control of Northern Virginia for supplies; had kept the Federal army, three times as numerous, on the defensive ; and had so imposed upon McClellan, that the latter estimated the Confederate numbers at over 100,000 men in his front, at a time when they were really about 40,000. It was necessary that the Confederates should be ready to meet McClellan, whether he advanced from Washington towards Gordonsville, or by way of Fredericksburg, or by the lower Chesapeake. Johnston expected him to move by the Fredericksburg route.² Behind the Rappahannock the Confederates would be in position for any contingency. At the first signs of activity, therefore, among the Federal troops on his right. General Johnston began to retreat, and by the 11th of March had reached his new line. This retreat caused McClellan to give up his design of landing at Urbana. The Confederates in their new position were too near at hand to permit the Federal army to establish itself without opposition on the lower Rappahannock, and the passing of Johnston’s flank by a rapid move from Urbana on Richmond was no longer practicable. Hence McClellan turned to his alternative line of operations by way of the Peninsula between the York and James rivers.

¹ See McClellan’s report, War Records, Ser. I. vol. v. p. 50.

² See Johnston’s Narrative, pp. 101, 102.

CHAPTER III.SIEGE OF YORKTOWN.

AFTER the retreat of the Confederates, McClellan’s plans were pushed with more vigor, and by the end of March the mass of the Federal troops had been transferred to Fortress Monroe. As the Federal plans were gradually revealed to the Confederates, dispositions were made to meet them. General Johnston retired first behind the Rapidan, and when, early in April, there was no longer room to doubt the destination of the Federal forces, the mass of his army was ordered to the Peninsula, where General Magruder with 11,000 men¹ was meanwhile delaying, with admirable energy and skill, the advance of McClellan.

Magruder, finding that his most advanced line, extending across the Peninsula from the mouth of the Warwick by Young’s Mill to Harwood’s Mill and Ship Point, required more force than he had at command, had selected, as a second position, a line extending from Yorktown by way of the Warwick River to Minor’s farm and thence to Mulberry Island Point. He garrisoned Gloucester Point on the north bank of the York, and thus disputed the passage of that river at its narrowest part. Magruder thus describes his position: ² “Warwick River rises very near York River and about one and a half miles to the right of Yorktown. Yorktown and redoubts Nos. 4 and 5, united by long curtains and flanked by rifle-pits, form the left of the line, until at the commencement of the military road it reaches Warwick River, here a sluggish and boggy stream, twenty or thirty yards wide, and running through a dense wood fringed by swamps. Along this river

¹ War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 405.

² lb. p. 406.

are five dams — one at Wynne’s Mill, one at Lee’s Mill, and three constructed by myself. The effect of these dams is to back up the water along the course of the river, so that for nearly three fourths of its distance its passage is impracticable for either artillery or infantry. Each of these dams is protected by artillery and extensive earthworks for infantry.” He says: “Keeping only small bodies of troops at Harwood’s and Young’s Mills and at Ship Point, I distributed my remaining forces along the Warwick line, embracing a front, from Yorktown to Minor’s farm, of twelve miles, and from the latter place to Mulberry Island Point of one and a half miles. I was compelled to place at Gloucester Point, Yorktown, and Mulberry Island fixed garrisons amounting to 6000 men, my whole force being 11,000, so that it will be seen that the balance of the line, embracing a length of thirteen miles, was defended by about 5000 men.”¹

With such thoroughness and skill did Magruder avail himself of the means placed by nature and art within his reach, that he completely checked the advance of the Federal army. General McClellan, preceded by a large part of his army, reached Fortress Monroe April 2, and on the 3d ordered such of his troops as were ready to move toward Yorktown next day. He states that the force thus set forward was “in all about 58,000 men, and 100 guns beside the division artillery.” ³ The Federal army moved forward in two columns, the right one, under Heintzelman, to Harwood’s Mill, the left under Keyes to Young’s Mill, which positions were occupied without serious opposition. On the 5th of May Keyes was ordered forward by way of Warwick Court House to the Halfway House between Williamsburg and Yorktown,³ while Heintzelman was to move directly on the latter place, Keyes advanced but a short distance from Warwick Court House, when he found himself in front of the

¹ War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. Part i. p. 405.

² McClellan’s report, Ib. p. 7.

³ McClellan seems to have been ignorant of the Confederate position across the Peninsula, and to have expected serious resistance only at the Yorktown end of Magruder’s line.

Warwick River and Magruder’s works at Lee’s Mill. He attempted to make an attack, but was easily checked, finding the position “unapproachable by reason of the Warwick River and incapable of being carried by assault.”¹ Heintzelman was also brought to a halt by the works at the Yorktown end of the line.² Thus, on April 6, the Federal army of over 80,000 men at hand or hastening to join it³ was brought to a complete standstill by Magruder with his 11,000 men behind the Warwick. McClellan says: “I made on the 6th and 7th close personal reconnoissances of the right and left of the enemy’s positions, which with information acquired already convinced me that it was best to prepare for an assault by the preliminary employment of heavy guns and some siege operations. Instant assault would have been simple folly.”4

Time was all important to the Confederates for the transfer of Johnston’s army from the Rapidan and Rappahannock to the Peninsula: Magruder had gained it. The Confederates could not leave their position on the upper rivers until sure that no attack was to be made upon them there, and this gave the Federals the opportunity to concentrate on the Peninsula and advance against Magruder before he could be reinforced. Had McClellan’s penetration and determination been equal to his adversary’s boldness and skill, the Confederate position at Yorktown must have been quietly turned or carried, and the Federal army would have reached the Chickahominy without serious opposition. But for ten days McClellan remained in

¹ McClellan’s report, War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 10.

² Magruder says: “He attacked us with a furious cannonading and musketry, which was responded to with effect by our batteries and troops of the line. His skirmishers were also well thrown forward on this and the succeeding day and energetically felt our whole line, but were everywhere repulsed by the steadiness of our troops. . . . Every preparation was made in anticipation of another attack by the enemy; the men slept in the trenches under arms, but to my utter surprise he permitted day after day to elapse without an assault.” (Magruder’s report, Ib. p. 406.)

³ McClellan says on April 7 that his entire force for duty was 85,000, of which 53,000 had joined him. See his telegram of that date to President Lincoln in McClellan’s report, Ib. p. 11.

4 McClellan’s report, Ib. p. 11. McClellan has been severely criticized for his course on this occasion, and certainly with reason.

front of Magruder, without making any serious demonstration, engaged in bringing up troops and guns and in preparing his siege works. The Federal commander’s hesitation was increased by the fact that McDowell’s corps had been detached from his army, April 4, and kept in front of Washington.¹

The naval force, too, intended to cooperate with him, was so fully occupied in blockading the mouth of the James River against the formidable Confederate ironclad, the Virginia (or Merrimac),² as not to be able to undertake the reduction of

¹ McDowell’s corps consisted of 33,648 men (McClellan’s return April 1), and at the last moment it was detained in front of Washington because of the apprehension of the Federal administration that the capital was not sufficiently defended by the troops left by McClellan. See reply of General Hitchcock to President Lincoln’s inquiry as to whether the forces left to guard Washington were sufficient. (Report on Conduct of War, vol. i. pp. 16, 17.) Franklin’s division of McDowell’s corps was subsequently (April 22) sent to McClellan.

2 The story of the Virginia, if brief, is brilliant. When the Federal authorities evacuated Norfolk in 1861, they burned and sank the U. S. frigate Merrimac. It was proposed to the Confederate Navy Department by Lieutenant J. M. Brooke that this ship be raised and converted into an ironclad. In the absence of facilities for building and equipping suitable ironclads, this suggestion was adopted. The sunken vessel was raised, cut down, covered with four inches of iron plates, and renamed the Virginia. Even the old engines had to be used, though wretchedly inefficient. After much effort this makeshift was gotten ready, and on March 8 steamed out of Norfolk under Admiral Buchanan to attack the Federal fleet lying in Hampton Roads. The Virginia ran into and sank the Cumberland, and captured and destroyed with hot shot the Congress after a gallant fight. The falling tide and approaching night now took the unwieldy ironclad (which drew twenty-two feet of water) back to Norfolk. In this afternoon, however, she had revolutionized naval warfare, and closed the era of wooden battle-ships. Next day came the renowned fight between the Virginia and the Monitor. This last was the first of the ironclads of the Federal navy built by Captain John Ericsson. She was much smaller and more active than the Virginia, drew but twelve feet of water, and was armed with more powerful though fewer guns. She had arrived at Fortress Monroe just in time to meet the Virginia, when the latter steamed out into the Roads on March 9 to complete the destruction of the Federal wooden fleet. The second day’s conflict was between these two ironclads, which fought each other for hours, but with no decisive results. The Monitor was able to protect her wooden consorts, but could do little damage to the Virginia, while the latter was in turn unable to penetrate the armor of her rival. The ease of motion and lighter draught of the smaller ship enabled her to circulate about her cumbersome adversary, and to keep out of the way when the Virginia tried to run her down or to get near enough to board. Finally the Monitor drew off into shallower water, and the Virginia, unable to follow, returned to Norfolk.

The action of this day showed plainly the superiority of the Monitor in design and construction. No subsequent engagement took place between these ships. The Virginia was too clumsy and unseaworthy to venture away from a deep channel and calm water; and the Monitor was properly regarded as the only available defense of the great fleet of transports in York River belonging to McClellan’s army. Hence, when the Virginia came out and offered battle, the Monitor kept to shallow water and declined. When the Confederates evacuated Norfolk in consequence of their retreat from Yorktown, it was decided to take the Virginia up the James River, and she was lightened for this purpose. But at the last moment the pilots declared she could not be gotten over the bars, and she was then abandoned and burnt at Craney Island, May 11. Her crew was sent to Drewry’s Bluff on James River, a few miles below Richmond, where five days later they gave an admirable account of themselves when the Federal fleet attacked that point.

the Confederate batteries which closed the York at Gloucester Point and Yorktown.¹ Still, McClellan had reached Yorktown with an army eight or ten times as numerous as Magruder’s forces, and his superiority in material was not less great. However admirable, therefore, the latter’s defensive arrangements and the bold front with which he imposed upon his adversary, it is impossible to defend McClellan from the charge of excessive caution.² The result of Magruder’s efforts was

¹ The chief naval officers deny that McClellan had any right to expect this service of them. See testimony of Assistant Secretary Fox and of Admiral Goldsborough before Committee on Conduct of War, vol. i. pp. 630, 632. See, also, letter from Colonel J. G. Barnard to General McClellan, March 20, 1862, in McClellan’s Own Story, pp. 246, 247.

² McClellan was a fine organizer, but he was strangely unfortunate in the organization of what he calls his “Secret Service Force.” He seems never to have obtained from them information as to the strength of his enemies which was other than worthless, and in many cases the estimates thus gotten were such absurd exaggerations that it is marvelous how an officer so able and well informed could have been imposed upon by them. In the present case, for instance, McClellan telegraphs President Lincoln, April 7, that “all the prisoners state that General J. E. Johnston arrived at Yorktown yesterday with strong reinforcements. It seems clear that I shall have the whole force of the enemy on my hands, probably not less than 100,000 men, and probably more.” At this time Magruder had 11,000 effectives, and about this time Wilcox’s brigade and some troops from south of James River joined him, adding 5000 to his numbers. The advance section of D. H. Hill’s division joined him on the 9th and two other divisions by the middle of the month, raising his force to 35,000. Towards the end of the month, by the arrival of Smith’s and Longstreet’s divisions, the Confederate army on the Peninsula was swelled to about 53,000, including 3000 sick. (Johnston’s Narrative, pp. Ill, 112, 117.) General Johnston assumed command of all the forces opposing McClellan on April 17.

most important. General J. E. Johnston says: “This resolute and judicious course on the part of General Magruder was of incalculable value. It saved Richmond and gave the Confederate government time to swell that officer’s handful to an army.” ¹

On the 16th of April, McClellan made an attempt on what he conceived to be the weakest part of Magruder’s lines at Dam No. 1, between Lee’s and Wynne’s Mills. General W. F. Smith, with the 2d division of the 4th corps, was directed to make a reconnaissance in force at this point, to be converted into a formidable attack if found advisable. This part of the Confederate line was held by Cobb’s brigade,² which occupied rifle pits along the west side of the Warwick. There were also three pieces of artillery in position, but only one of them so placed as to be really available in the fight.³ Magruder had constructed a dam at this point to increase the obstruction offered by the stream, but below this dam the Warwick was found to be fordable. On the morning of the 16th, Smith’s division was moved towards this point, with Brooks’s brigade

¹ Johnston’s Narrative, p. 111.

² Cobb’s brigade consisted of the 2d Louisiana, 15th North Carolina, 16th and 11th Georgia, and Cobb’s Legion. These were thrown into line in the order named, the 2d Louisiana being on the left and Cobb’s Legion on the right. (Cobb’s report. War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 416, et seq.)

³ The guns in position at Dam No. 1 were “one twelve-pounder howitzer. Captain Jordan’s battery, at the work near the dam, and one twelve pounder howitzer and one six-pounder of the Troup Artillery (Captain Stanley) of Cobb’s Legion.” (Cobb’s report, Ib. p. 417.) One of the guns was placed low and commanded only the dam, and another was so badly placed as to be useless, or nearly so.

and Mott’s six-gun battery in front. After severe cannonading from Mott, who was reinforced after midday by other batteries until twenty guns were at work, Brooks sent forward a part of the 3d Vermont regiment to cross below the dam, and made ready to support it, if a lodgment could be effected. The Vermonters waded the stream, which was waist deep, and made so sudden an attack that in a few moments they occupied the rifle-pits of the 15th North Carolina, before this regiment, which was engaged in digging another line of entrenchments a short distance in the rear, could be recalled to the assistance of their skirmishers, who alone were at hand to resist the Federals. The 15th North Carolina, supported by the other regiments of Cobb’s brigade, and subsequently by a part of G. T. Anderson’s brigade,¹ was promptly moved forward, and though the fall of its commander. Colonel McKinney, caused some slight confusion, the Vermonters were soon driven back across the stream with the loss of largely over one third of their number.²

Later in the afternoon another effort was made. After a severe shelling by the Federal batteries, to which only one of Captain Stanley’s guns could reply, part of the 4th Vermont was ordered to cross on the breast of the dam, and part of the 6th Vermont was sent to the point at which the former crossing had been made. But so severe was the Confederate musketry fire that these parties were driven back before they reached the western side of the stream, and further efforts were abandoned. The Federal loss in this affair was 173, the Confederate 75.³ General McClellan, by this failure, was confirmed in his conviction of the inexpediency of a direct assault upon Magruder’s lines, and thenceforward devoted all his efforts to his regular siege operations before Yorktown.

General J. E. Johnston assumed command on the Penin-

¹ The 7th and 8th Georgia were the two regiments of Anderson’s brigade employed.

² Captain Harrington, commanding the four companies which crossed, says his force numbered 192 and his loss amounted to 82. See his official report, War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 376.

³ The Federal losses are taken from the Medical and Surgical History of the War, the Confederate from General Magruder’s official report.

sula on April 17. He found McClellan pushing his siege operations and making preparations to open on the Confederates with heavy batteries.¹ The Confederate commander, when all his available force was collected, could muster but little over 50,000 men, with which to oppose the double numbers² in his front, and his armament was entirely inadequate to cope with the heavy siege train of his adversary, A more serious weakness was that the Confederate control of York River depended upon the detached works at Gloucester Point held by a small body of troops. These works once in Federal possession, the river would have been open to McClellan, and the Confederate position turned. General Johnston therefore favored a retreat towards Richmond, with the design of concentrating the Confederate strength and giving battle to the Federal army when it should have been drawn some distance from its depots.³ But the Confederate administration desired to keep McClellan back as long as possible, to gain time for preparation, and General Johnston was instructed accordingly. He therefore determined to hold his position until McClellan was ready to attack, but then to fall back without waiting to have his works demolished or his troops driven from them by the Federal batteries. By the 1st of May the Federal works approached completion. General Johnston learned on April 27 that the opposing batteries would be ready in five or six days, 4 and he therefore made his dispositions for retreat. On the night of May 3, leaving his heavy guns be-

1 General Barry (War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 339) says the Federal siege train consisted of 101 pieces, as follows, viz.: “Two 200-pounder Parrott rifled guns, eleven 100-pounder Parrott rifled guns, thirteen 30-pounder Parrott rifled guns, twenty-two 20-pounder Parrott rifled guns, ten 41-inch rifled siege guns, ten 13-inch sea-coast mortars, ten 10-inch sea-coast mortars, fifteen 10-inch siege mortars, five 8-inch siege mortars, and three 8-inch siege howitzers. Three field batteries of 12-pounders were likewise made use of as guns of position.”

2 McClellan’s return for April 30 shows his “present for duty” (exclusive of those sick, on special duty, and in arrest) to have been 115,102. (Report on Conduct of War, part i. p. 337.)

³ See Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. ii. p. 2,03.

4 McClellan says they would have been ready by May 6 at latest. See his report, War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 18.

hind, be evacuated Yorktown, and fell back to Williamsburg on the way to Richmond. Thus ended the so-called siege of Yorktown and the first month of the Peninsula campaign. So far, the advantage was entirely with the Confederates. With a handful of men they had checked McClellan’s advance, and for thirty days thereafter had held him at bay while their forces were gathering to oppose him. Had McClellan, early in April, broken or turned them by throwing forward a force on the Gloucester side through Magruder’s lines, as he might have done, and made a prompt advance on Richmond, it is difficult to see how the fall of that city could have been prevented.

CHAPTER IV.WILLIAMSBURG AND ELTHAM'S LANDING.

FINDING his enemy gone on the morning of May 4, General McClellan threw forward a large force in pursuit. Stoneman, with his brigade of cavalry and four batteries of horse artillery, moved in advance on the direct road from Yorktown to Williamsburg, followed by Hooker’s and Kearny’s divisions of infantry, while Smith’s, Couch’s, and Casey’s divisions were ordered forward by the road from Lee’s Mill to Williamsburg. Stuart’s cavalry covered the Confederate rear, and skirmished with the Federal advance as it pressed on toward Williamsburg. A mile or so to the east of this place was a line of detached earthworks, extending from the waters of Queen’s Creek on the north to those of College Creek on the south, constructed some time before by General Magruder as a precautionary measure.¹ The largest of these works, called Fort Magruder, was at the centre of the line, and in front of it, at the distance of half a mile, the roads from Yorktown and Lee’s Mill came together. The Confederate army reached Williamsburg by midday, and General Johnston directed the head of his column to continue the retreat. Early in the afternoon, finding that his cavalry was being forced back on the Yorktown road, he ordered McLaws with two brigades to support it. The latter officer, placing his troops in some of the earthworks above mentioned, checked the advance of Stoneman, and soon after, sending forward two infantry regiments on the Yorktown road, he forced the Federal cavalry to retire, and

¹ This constituted the third line of works across the Peninsula constructed by Magruder. The first was the line extending from Ship Point to the mouth of the Warwick by way of Harwood’s and Young’s Mills, —which he never attempted to hold for want of sufficient force. The second was the line from Yorktown along the Warwick.

captured one gun which they had been unable to get off. General Sumner, whom, as his second in rank, McClellan had sent to command, arrived on the field not long after, and with Smith’s division of infantry attempted to renew the fight. But the hour was late, and he was prevented from effecting his design by the tangled forest and the rapid approach of night.

During the night McLaws followed Magruder’s division, which was already on the road to Barhamsville, and the defense of the rear was left to Longstreet, who placed the brigades of R. H. Anderson and Pryor with light pieces of artillery in the works that had been held by McLaws.¹

The next day, May 5, dawned in the midst of a heavy rain, which increased the already deep mud, and made the movements of troops and especially of artillery difficult. General Sumner, who had bivouacked with Smith’s division in the woods in front of Fort Magruder, deferred his attack in order to ration some of the men and to reconnoiter the left of the Confederate position. But meantime Hooker, who had passed to the left of Smith in the march of the day before and was advancing by the Lee’s Mill road, reached the vicinity of the Confederate right and without delay ordered an attack. Grover’s brigade was sent forward before eight o’clock A. m. against Fort Magruder and the Confederate line to the right of it, and eleven guns were boldly placed in battery at a distance of 700 or 800 yards. The Confederate skirmishers were twice driven in, and active firing was kept up while Patterson’s New Jersey brigade was taking position to the left of Grover, and Taylor’s brigade was being placed in support of the others. General Longstreet, who commanded the Confederates, seeing the increasing display of force in his front, ordered first Wilcox’s brigade and then A. P. Hill’s brigade to reinforce Anderson. Somewhat later (about ten A. M.) he sent forward Pickett’s brigade also. Wilcox and A. P. Hill took position on the right of Anderson’s brigade, and assuming the aggressive moved against the left flank of Hooker’s division, which they gradually pressed back.

¹ Longstreet says, “Macon’s battery under Lieutenant Clopton, two guns under Captain Garrett, and two under Captain McCarthy.” (War Records, Ser. I. vol. i. part i. p. 564.)

A stubborn conflict took place, mainly in the woods on the Federal left flank, in which the Confederates steadily gained ground. By eleven o’clock Hooker, hard pressed, was anxiously seeking reinforcements and looking for a diversion in his favor by the Federal troops on his right.¹ Sumner had ordered Kearny’s division to his assistance, but the latter was still floundering through the mud and rain some miles in the rear. Smith’s division was near at hand, and Hooker had already discovered that the way was clear from his position to that occupied by Smith. He therefore hoped for speedy relief. But General Sumner was intent upon another plan of operations, and seems not to have realized Hooker’s situation. Information had been brought to Sumner that the Confederate left flank was so placed as to invite attack. The two redoubts immediately to the north of Fort Magruder were occupied by the Confederates, but their line did not extend farther, and there were two important redoubts still further to their left, which were reported unoccupied,² the extreme one of which commanded the passage over Cub Creek at a milldam, one of the few avenues of approach to this part of the Confederate line. A reconnaissance confirmed this report, and between ten and eleven

¹ Hooker dispatched Heintzelman, his corps commander, whom he supposed to be at the time with Sumner, as follows at 11.20 A. M.: “I have had a hard contest all the morning, but do not despair of success. My men are hard at work, but a good deal exhausted. It is reported to me that my communication with you by the Yorktown road is clear of the enemy. Batteries, cavalry, and infantry can take post by the side of mine to whip the enemy."” (Hooker’s report. War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. Part i. p. 467.)

² These redoubts had no doubt been left unoccupied in the morning because Anderson’s and Pryor’s brigades, which then constituted the Confederate rear-guard, were not numerous enough to hold so long a line. When Longstreet sent forward his other brigades, they were of course sent to the point attacked, — the opposite flank to that on which these redoubts were, — and until D. H. Hill’s division reached the field there were really no troops available for occupying them. But it is difficult to say why nothing was then done, except that Hill, Longstreet, and Johnston all seem to have been ignorant of their existence. (Johnston’s Narrative, p. 124.) General Johnston’s explanation (Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. ii. p. 205) does not fully meet the case.

A. M. Hancock, with five regiments and a battery,¹ was ordered to make a detour, in order to assail the Confederate left and rear by way of these unoccupied redoubts. Meantime General Sumner kept the remainder of Smith’s division (two brigades) opposite the Confederate center, ready to assist Hancock or to resist an attack from Fort Magruder, but sent none of it, where it was most needed, to help Hooker. Couch and Casey had not yet reached the field.

So far Longstreet’s object had been simply defensive, to cover the retreat of the Confederate army. He says: “At twelve o’clock it became evident that the trains would not be out of my way before night, and that I could therefore make battle without delaying the movement of our army. Orders were therefore given to General Anderson to organize columns of attack upon the enemy’s position and batteries, using the brigades of Wilcox and A. P. Hill, and such of his forces as could be spared from the redoubts, the attack to be supported by Pickett’s brigade.”²

Anderson soon led forward his columns of attack, and a vigorous assault was made on the Union troops. It was met with determination, and a strenuous effort was made to hold the ground until reinforcements could arrive. Hooker ordered up the last of his reserves to support his wavering lines. But his efforts were in vain. His left flank (part of Patterson’s brigade) gave way, and Taylor was not able to stay the tide of defeat. The Confederates now assailed from the flank and front the artillery which had been so annoying to them all day. A brave effort was made to carry the position occupied by the Federal guns. It was successful. The Confederates, headed by the 9th Alabama and 19th Mississippi of Wilcox’s brigade, drove off the gunners and their supports, and captured nine of the pieces. Four of these were hauled off at once; the other five were so badly mired that it was found impossible to get them out of the mud.

¹ Hancock had with him the 5th Wisconsin, the 49th Pennsylvania, and the 6th Maine, of his own brigade, the 7th Maine and the 33d New York of Davidson’s brigade, and Cowan’s New York six-gun battery.

² Longstreet’s report, War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 564.

Meantime General Heintzelman, who had reached the field, was making energetic efforts to rally his broken troops, and the most urgent messages were sent to hasten Kearny forward. Another Federal battery (Smith’s) was brought up to a point a short distance in the rear to resist the further advance of the victorious troops. The Confederates pressed on in spite of the canister with which this battery received them, and the battery was saved and the Confederate progress was stayed at this critical moment by the arrival of Kearny’s division.

It was near three P. M. when Kearny arrived; his troops were promptly deployed and sent into the fight. Peck’s brigade of Couch’s division had also come up on the Yorktown road, and was at once placed on Hooker’s right. This timely aid restored the battle and saved Hooker from rout. Longstreet had already ordered up his last brigade (Colston’s) and one of General D. H. Hill’s, who, though on his march to Richmond, was still within easy reach. Colston’s brigade and two of D. H. Hill’s regiments under Colonel Ward of the 2d Florida were sent in on the Confederate right to strengthen A. P. Hill, and the remainder of D. H. Hill’s division was sent to protect the Confederate left from the Federal forces (Hancock’s) now threatening it.¹ Longstreet refrained from further aggressive movements in front and to the right of Fort Magruder, but continued to hold the positions he had gained until nightfall, repulsing several attempts to retake them.

Hancock had begun his movement about eleven a. m., and by midday his advance had crossed Cub Creek at the milldam and occupied the abandoned redoubt which commanded the crossing. He now sent back for reinforcements, and meantime cautiously advanced to a second empty redoubt. This brought him within reach of the Confederates who occupied the two redoubts between him and Fort Magruder.

¹ It was three o’clock, or after, when the mass of D. H. Hill’s division was ordered back to meet Hancock. See Longstreet’s report, War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 565, and General Johnston’s Narrative, pp. 120,

The 6th South Carolina regiment of R. H. Anderson’s brigade held the extreme Confederate left, and active skirmishing with heavy artillery firing took place ¹ while Hancock waited for the reinforcements he had again asked for, without which he did not deem it prudent to attempt a further advance.² Some artillery joined him, but the infantry reinforcements were not sent. The vigorous attack made by Longstreet at midday, which had resulted in the defeat of Hooker’s division, prevented it. Twice did Sumner order the remainder of Smith’s division to Hancock’s assistance, and twice was the order countermanded.³ Peck’s brigade, which had taken position as soon as it reached the field in front of Fort Magruder, was forced back by the Confederate onset. Sumner deemed it too hazardous to weaken his center, and instead of reinforcements sent Hancock repeated orders to return.

Meantime, on the Confederate side, D. H. Hill’s division had countermarched to the field, and, excepting the two regiments sent to assist Longstreet’s right, was placed on the left of the Confederate line. Early’s brigade constituted Hill’s front, his other brigades being near at hand.4 Though Hancock had ceased from aggressive movements, the fire of his artillery was annoying Anderson’s troops near and to the left of Fort Magruder, and about five p. m. General Early asked and obtained permission to attack the Federal battery. A dense wood intervened between Hill’s troops and the cleared space in which Hancock was, and concealed the latter, nor does any adequate reconnaissance appear to have been made by Hill or Early to discover Hancock’s position and the best approaches to it, Early’s brigade was formed with the 5th North Carolina regiment on the right, and the 23d North Carolina, 38th Virginia, and 24th Virginia in order towards the left. D. H. Hill took charge in person of the two regiments on the right,

¹ Colonel Jenkins says that Bearing’s and Stribling’s batteries and three pieces of the Donelsonville Artillery under Lieutenant Fortier were actively engaged. (War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. part i. p. 583.)

² Hancock’s report, Ib. p. 537.

³ Sumner’s report, Ib. p. 452.

4 Hill’s division contained the brigades of Early, Rains, Featherstone, and Rodes, besides the two regiments under Colonel Ward.

while Early led those on the left. It was just at this time that Hancock, seeing indications of attack, and under reiterated orders to retreat, had determined to withdraw his troops and batteries from their most advanced positions to the crest of the hill on which was the first redoubt he had taken overlooking the milldam. Early’s brigade was formed on a line oblique to Hancock’s front, the left regiment, 24th Virginia, being nearest the Federal position and consequently with flank exposed as it came under fire. The brigade became more or less separated in passing through the dense woods, and when it emerged therefrom under fire the efforts to change front and attack in concert failed. The 24th Virginia charged directly upon the Federals, forcing them back to the redoubt on the top of the hill, while the 5th North Carolina, under Colonel McRae, gallantly moved up to their assistance on the right. Early fell, desperately wounded, at the head of the 24th Virginia, but these two regiments continued to advance until within thirty yards of the redoubt. The Federal regiments had been steadily forced back. The guns had been hurriedly withdrawn to the crest, and Hancock, finding it impossible promptly to get them into position there, had ordered them still further to the rear, while he relied on his infantry, now massed, to check the progress of the Confederates. Had the other two regiments of Early’s brigade at this moment seconded the 24th Virginia and the 5th North Carolina, the crest might have been carried, but they were far behind, as was the 6th South Carolina, which had started forward from the nearest redoubt in Confederate hands to assist in the attack. The woods and the Federal fire had disordered them, and General Hill found it impossible to get them forward in time to be of service. A momentary halt of the advance regiments gave Hancock time to gather his force and hurl it with fearful effect on his opponents. Two withering volleys at close quarters staggered the Confederates, already tired with their long advance through rain and mud, and a prompt charge forced them broken and with heavy loss from the open field. General D. H. Hill says that Early’s brigade, after this repulse, was not in condition to renew the attack, and that the hour was too late for him to bring forward the other troops for this purpose. Hancock was too weak to follow up his advantage, and so was content with repulsing the assault and holding his position. Late in the afternoon McClellan (who had reached the field) ordered troops to Hancock’s assistance, but the battle was over before they reached him.

The inclement day was fast giving place to a cold, rainy night, and the chilled and weary soldiers on both sides were glad to cease from the bloody strife. Longstreet reports the Confederate losses, including those of D. H. Hill’s division, as 1560.¹ The number of Confederates engaged was probably about 12,000.² McClellan reports the Federal loss at 2283.³ The Federal troops engaged probably numbered 15,000 4 or more.

The advantageous results of the battle of Williamsburg, partial and in some respects indecisive as it was, lay with the Confederates. While it was in progress, G. W. Smith’s and Magruder’s divisions, followed by the trains of the army, had continued their retreat without molestation.5 General John-

¹ Longstreet’s report (War Records, Ser. I. vol. xi. Part i. p. 568) is:

Officers.

Non-Com. Officers and Privates.

Total.

Killed

24

264

288

Wounded

75

900

975

Missing

3

294

297

___

____

____

102

1458

1560

² General Johnston says there were 9000 of Longstreet’s division engaged. (Johnston’s Narrative, p. 123.) The six regiments of D. H. Hill (four with Early and two with Ward) probably added 3000 more.

³ The Federal reports show, killed 468, wounded 1442, missing 373, total 2283. (Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. ii. P. 200.)

4 The Federal troops engaged were Hooker’s division, Peck’s brigade of Couch’s division, five regiments of Kearny’s division (two of Birney’s brigade and three of Berry’s), and six regiments of Smith’s division (four of Hancock’s brigade and two of Davidson’s). See Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, vol. ii. P. 206, note.

5 On the night of the 5th, G. W. Smith camped at Barhamsville, eighteen miles from Williamsburg, and Magruder at the bridge over Diascund Creek. (Johnston’s Narrative, p. 125.)

ston had fought to secure a safe retreat, and this object was completely attained. The fact that the Federal force thrown against him on the 5th was evidently but a small part of their army convinced Johnston that McClellan was moving up the York River to strike his line of retreat, and therefore Longstreet and D. H. Hill were ordered on the morning of the 6th to follow the other divisions. D. H. Hill brought up the rear. No attempt was made at pursuit, except that a small cavalry force followed the retreating army a few miles, picking up stragglers. Longstreet and Hill halted for the night at the Burnt Ordinary, twelve miles from Williamsburg, and the next morning (7th) the Confederate army was concentrated near Barhamsville. The check of the Federals had been so severe that they were in no haste to renew the pursuit,¹ and when they did so some days later it was with a circumspection approaching feebleness.

But McClellan’s operations, as Johnston had suspected, were not confined to following in the wake of the retiring army. As soon as the Confederates had evacuated Yorktown and thus left the York River open above that point, the Federal commander ordered Franklin’s division² by water to the head of the river, with instructions to disembark on the right bank of the Pamunkey opposite West Point. Porter’s, Sedgwick’s, and Richardson’s divisions were sent by transports to the same point. McClellan hoped thus to throw a large force on the flank and rear of the retreating army, as it slowly made its way through the miry roads toward New Kent Court House. Franklin reached Eltham’s Landing at three p. m. on the 6th of May, and before daylight next morning had completed his disembarkation. The place selected was a good one for

¹ Heintzelman, at 9.30 p. M. on the 5th, dispatched: “We have been hard pressed by the enemy all day, and nothing but the opportune arrival of General Kearny’s division saved us from the loss of some of our artillery, and defeat.” (War Records