Chapter VII: Longstreet’s Honeymoon (1)

After reaching home from Mexico, Longstreet soon regained his
strength. He then wrote to Colonel John Garland, of Virginia, his
old brigade commander, asking for his youngest daughter. Colonel
Garland promptly replied, “Yes, with all my heart.”

With several wounded comrades Longstreet was assigned quarters with the Escandons, a kind-hearted, refined Mexican family. They could not conceal their deep chagrin at the defeat of their army, and were doubtless mortified by the enforced presence of the wounded Americans. Nevertheless they insisted that those officers confined to their beds should be supplied from their own table. Delicacies without stint were sent. The days of confinement were greatly brightened by their delicate attentions. On the 1st of December the accomplished surgeons, Satterlee and DeLeon, thought that Longstreet was strong enough to travel, and announced that he was to be ordered out of the country on sick-leave.

With others he left Mexico on December 9. A few days later he sailed from Vera Cruz with a large number of sick and wounded, among whom was Brigadier-General Pierce, who was very popular in the army. After reaching home Longstreet soon regained his strength. He then wrote to Colonel John Garland, of Virginia, his late brigade commander, asking for his youngest daughter. Colonel Garland promptly replied, “Yes, with all my heart.” He had won fame in Mexico and returned home on leave a month before Longstreet was well enough to travel, and was then with his family. The young lady and her soldier sweetheart already had a pretty good understanding on the subject, and her answer was equally flattering. On the 8th of March, 1848, the marriage occurred at Lynchburg. After a brief honeymoon orders were received from the War Department detailing Longstreet for recruiting service, with station at Poughkeepsie, New York. Before autumn of that year nearly all the troops in Mexico were withdrawn, and the Eighth, Longstreet’s old regiment, was ordered to Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, where he had been stationed before the war, then a brevet second lieutenant in the Fourth.

After fifty years General Longstreet found that many of the physical details of the battle terrain in the valley of Mexico differed quite materially from the memory conveyed by his younger eyes in the heat of action. There was no real change in fixed landmarks, but the depressions were not so deep, nor the impregnable hills the Americans attacked so high, as they appeared when the Mexicans were defending them with sword, musket, and cannon. In instants of supreme danger it is very difficult for the soldier or subordinate officer to see things exactly as they are on a battle-field. His eye and mind are inevitably and anxiously concentrated on the enemy or the battery that is dealing death and destruction round about.

GREAT BATTLES BEFORE AND AFTER GETTYSBURG[G]

THE FIRST MANASSAS

The armies that prepared for the first grand conflict of the Civil War were commanded by West Point graduates, both of the Class of 1838,--Beauregard and McDowell. The latter had been assigned to the command of the Federal forces at Washington, south of the Potomac, in the latter part of May, 1861. The former had assumed command of the Confederates at Manassas Junction about the 1st of June. To him, Brigadier-General Longstreet reported for duty.

McDowell marched on the afternoon of the 16th of July at the head of an army of five divisions of infantry, supplemented by nine batteries of the regular service, one of volunteers, besides two guns operating separately, and seven companies of regular cavalry. In his infantry columns were eight companies of regulars and a battalion of marines,--an aggregate of thirty-five thousand men.

Beauregard stood behind Bull Run with seven brigades, including Holmes, who joined on the 19th, twenty-nine guns, and fourteen hundred cavalry,--an aggregate of twenty-one thousand nine hundred men, all volunteers. To this should be added, for the battle of the 21st, reinforcements aggregating eight thousand five hundred men, under General Johnston, making the sum of the aggregate thirty thousand four hundred men.

The line behind Bull Run was the best between Washington and the Rapidan for strategy, tactics, and army supplies.

General Longstreet always believed that by vigorous and concentrated work the Confederates, after the battle of the first Manassas, might have followed McDowell’s fleeing columns into Washington, and held the capital. But this is not a part of my story.

On the eve of the battle the Confederates had occasional glimpses behind the lines about Washington, through parties who managed to evade the eyes of guards and sentinels, which told of McDowell’s work since May, and heard on the 10th of July that he was ready to march. Most of the Confederates knew him and of his attainments, as well as those of Beauregard, to the credit of the latter, and on that point they were satisfied. But the backing of an organized government, and an army led by the foremost American war-chief,--that consummate strategist, tactician, and organizer, General Scott,--together with the splendid equipment of the field batteries and the presence of the force of regulars of infantry, gave serious apprehension.

A gentleman who was a boy in Washington during the Civil War, said not long ago, in speaking of the first Manassas, that he would never forget the impression made upon his youthful mind by McDowell’s army in moving towards Manassas Junction. Their arms glistened in the sunshine; the new uniforms added to the splendid bearing of the ranks; the horses were garlanded with flowers; the silken folds of regimental flags, lifted caressingly by the breezes of mid-summer, made an ocean of color above the noble columns. It was an inspiring sight; every flag in the capital was a beckoning call to arms in the nation’s defence. McDowell’s army seemed setting out for some festal occasion, and gayly moved to the sound of music and song. But oh, what a different sight after Manassas, when his weary and routed columns straggled back to Washington, before the victorious Confederates. Their gala day had been of short duration.

On the 16th of July the Confederates learned that the advance of McDowell’s army was under definite orders for next day. Longstreet’s brigade was at once ordered into position at Blackburn’s Ford, and all others were ordered on the alert.

At eight o’clock A.M. on the 18th McDowell’s army concentrated about Centerville, his immediate objective being Manassas Junction. His orders to General Tyler, commanding the advance division, were to look well to the roads on the direct route to Manassas Junction and _via_ the Stone Bridge, to impress an advance upon the former, but to have care not to bring on a general engagement.

Under the instructions, as General Tyler construed them, he followed the Confederates to the heights of Centerville, overlooking the valley of Bull Run, with a squadron of cavalry and two companies of infantry. From the heights to the Run, a mile away, the field was open, and partially disclosed the Confederate position on his right. On the left the view was limited by a sparse growth of spreading pines.

The enemy was far beyond the range of Confederate guns, his position commanding as well as his metal, so Longstreet ordered the guns withdrawn to a place of safety, till a fair opportunity was offered them. The guns were limbered and off before a shot reached them. Artillery practice of thirty minutes was followed by an advance of infantry. The march was quite up to the bluff overlooking the ford, when both sides opened fire.

The first pouring-down volleys were most startling to the new troops. Part of Longstreet’s line broke and started at a run. To stop the alarm he rode with sabre in hand for the leading files, determined to give them all that was in the sword and his horse’s heels, or stop the break. They seemed to see as much danger in their rear as in front, and soon turned and marched back to their places, to the evident surprise of the enemy. Heavy firing was renewed in ten or fifteen minutes, when the Federals retired. After about twenty minutes a second advance was made to the top of the bluff, when another rousing fusilade followed, and continued about as long as the first, with like result. Longstreet reinforced the front line with part of his reserve, and, thinking to follow up his next success, called for one of the regiments of the reserve brigade.

The combat lasted about an hour, when the Federals withdrew to their ground about Centerville, to the delight of the Confederates, who felt themselves christened veterans; their artillery being particularly proud of the combat against the famed batteries of the United States regulars.

General McDowell’s order for the battle on the 21st of July was issued on the afternoon of the 20th.

Beauregard’s order for battle, approved by General Johnston, was issued at five A.M. on the 21st.

The orders for marching were only preliminary, coupled with the condition that the troops were to be held ready to move, but to wait for special order for action. The brigade at Blackburn’s Ford had been reinforced by the Fifth North Carolina and Twenty-fourth Virginia Regiments, under Lieutenant Jones and Colonel Kemper. Longstreet crossed the Run under the five o’clock order, adjusted the regiments to position for favorable action, and gave instructions for their movements on the opening of the battle.

This first clash of arms tested the fighting qualities of the Confederates; but the soil was Virginia, and for them it was to be death or victory.

The close of the battle of the 21st found the Federals beaten and fleeing towards the shelter of their capital. They had fought stubbornly. McDowell made a gallant effort to recover his lost power, riding with his troops and urging them to brave effort. Although his renewed efforts were heroic, his men seemed to have given confidence over to despair when fight was abandoned and flight ensued. Over the contested field of the first battle of the war, Longstreet had borne the victorious banners of the South.

WILLIAMSBURG

“General Longstreet’s clear head and brave heart left no apology
for interference at Williamsburg.”--JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.

This battle was fairly fought and dearly won by the Confederacy, May 5, 1862. General Joseph E. Johnston was chief in command and General Longstreet had the active direction of the battle.

In his official report upon the battle, General Johnston said,--

“The action gradually increased in magnitude until about three
o’clock, when General Longstreet, commanding the rear, requested
that a part of Major-General Hill’s troops might be sent to his
aid. Upon this I rode upon the field, but found myself compelled
to be a spectator, for General Longstreet’s clear head and brave
heart left no apology for interference.”

The battle was fought by Sickles’s Federal Third Corps, that heroically contested every inch of the ground.

It was at the close of the battle that General Hancock distinguished himself by holding his position in and about the forts with five regiments and two batteries against the assault of the Fifth North Carolina and Twenty-fourth Virginia Regiments, and it was on this field that he won the title of “The Superb,” given to him by McClellan in his report.

The object of the battle on the part of the Confederates was to gain time to haul their trains to places of safety. The effect besides was to call two of the Federal divisions from their flanking move to support the battle, thereby greatly crippling their expedition.

General McClellan was at Yorktown during most of the day to see several of the divisions of his army aboard the transports for his proposed flanking and rear move up York River. Upon receiving advice that the Williamsburg engagement was serious and unsatisfactory, he hastened to the battle with the divisions of Sedgwick and Richardson, which he had expected to send up the river.

There were about nine thousand Confederates and twelve thousand Union troops engaged. The Confederate casualties were 1565; the Federal casualties, 2288. Johnston had anticipated McClellan’s move up the York River, and considered it very important to cripple or break it up. Therein he used the divisions of Longstreet, Magruder, D. R. Jones, McLaws, G. W. Smith, and D. H. Hill.

There was a tremendous downpour of rain the night before the battle, flooding thoroughfares, by-ways, woodlands, and fields so that many of the Confederate trains were unable next day to move out of the bogs that were developed during the night.

General Hooker’s division of the Third Corps, on the Federal side, came to the open on the Hampton road, and engaged by regiments,--the First Massachusetts on the left, the Second New Hampshire on the right. After the advance of his infantry in the slashes, General Hooker, with the Eleventh Massachusetts and Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, cleared the way for communication with the troops on the Yorktown road and ordered Webber’s six-gun battery into action. As it burst from the woods through which it had come, the Confederate infantry and every gun in reach opened upon it a fire so destructive that it was unmanned before it came into practice. New Federal troops immediately came to the rescue, and the guns reopened fire. Osborn’s and Bramhall’s batteries joined in, and the two poured an unceasing fire into the Confederate troops about the fort and redoubts. The Fifth New Jersey Regiment was added to the battery guard, and the Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth were deployed on the left in the woodland. The brigades of R. H. Anderson, Wilcox, Pryor, A. P. Hill, and Pickett were taking care of the Confederate side.

General Longstreet, hearing the swelling noise of battle, rode to the front and ordered Colston’s brigade and the batteries of Deering and Stribling to follow, as well as Stuart’s horse artillery under Pelham.

It soon became evident that the fight was for the day. D. H. Hill was asked to return with the balance of his division. Hooker was bracing the fight on his left. He directed Emory to reconnoitre on his extreme left. Grover was called to reinforce the fighting in the edge of the woods. Several New York regiments came into the action, but the Confederates nevertheless continued to gain ground until they got short of ammunition. While holding their line, some of the regiments retired a little to fill their cartridge-boxes from those of the fallen enemy and their fallen comrades. This move was misconstrued into an order to withdraw, and the Confederate line fell back, but the mistake was soon discovered and the lost ground regained. The Eleventh Massachusetts, Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania, and Second New Hampshire came into the action. On the Confederate side, Colston’s brigade, the Florida regiment, and the Mississippi battalion came to the rescue, and General Anderson, who was in immediate charge, grouped his forces, made a concentrated move upon the Federal batteries, cleared them of the gunners, and captured four of Webber’s guns and forty horses. General Stuart rode up about this time, decided that the Federals were in retreat, and insisted upon a charge and pursuit. He was, however, convinced that Federal reinforcements were coming up and that the break was only of their front line. About three o’clock Kearny’s division came to the Federal aid.

Before the reinforcements arrived for Hooker’s relief, Anderson had established his advanced line of skirmishers so as to cover with their fire Webber’s guns that were abandoned. The Federal reinforcing column drove back his advance lines; then he reinforced and recovered his ground. Then he met General Peck, the leader of the last reinforcing brigade, who put in his last regiment, the Ninety-eighth Pennsylvania; but the night was approaching, both armies were exhausted, and little further aggressive work was done.

FRAYSER’S FARM

Stonewall Jackson was in the Shenandoah Valley and the rest of the Confederate troops were east and north of Richmond. In front General McClellan’s army was encamped, a hundred thousand strong, about the Chickahominy River preparing for a regular siege of the Confederate capital. His army was unassailable from the front, and he had a small force at Mechanicsville and a much larger force farther back at Beaver Dam Creek.

A Confederate conference was called. Longstreet suggested that Jackson be called down from the Valley to the rear of the Federal right, in order to turn the position behind Beaver Dam, and that the rest of the Confederate forces who were to engage in the attack cross the Chickahominy and get ready for action. General Lee then sent General J. E. B. Stuart on his famous ride around McClellan. He made a favorable report of the situation. Upon further conference, the 26th was selected as the day for moving upon the Federal position at Beaver Dam. There was some spirited fighting between the two armies, but the advance of Jackson, which had been some time delayed, made the Federals abandon their position at Beaver Dam. They were closely followed, and were again encountered at Gaines Mill, where battle followed.

Longstreet came up with reserve forces, and was preparing to support Hill, when he was ordered by General Lee to make a demonstration against the Federal left. He threw in three brigades, and for a time the battle raged with great fierceness. General Jackson could not reach the point of attack, and General Lee ordered Longstreet to throw in all the force he could. The position in front of him was very strong. An open field led to a difficult ravine beyond Powhite Creek. From there the ground made a steep ascent, and was covered with trees, slashed timber, and hastily made rifle-trenches. General Whiting came up with two brigades of Jackson’s men. Longstreet’s column of attack then was the brigades of R. H. Anderson and Pickett and the divisions of Law, Hood, and Whiting. They attacked and defeated the Federals on their left and captured many thousand stands of arms, fifty-two pieces of artillery, a large quantity of supplies, and many prisoners, among them General Reynolds, who afterwards fell at Gettysburg.

On the 29th General Lee ascertained that McClellan was marching towards the James, and decided to intercept his forces in the neighborhood of Charles City Cross-Roads. Longstreet was to march to a point below Frayser’s Farm with General A. P. Hill. Holmes was to take up position below on the New Market road; Jackson was to pursue the Federal rear; Huger to attend to the Federal right flank. Thus the Federal rear was to be enveloped and a part of McClellan’s army destroyed. Longstreet found himself in due time in front of General McCall with a division of ten thousand Federals near Frayser’s Farm. Finally artillery firing was heard, which was taken for the expected signal for the beginning of battle, and Longstreet’s batteries replied as the signal that he was ready. While the order was going around to the batteries, President Davis and General Lee, with their staff and followers, were with Longstreet in a little open field near the firing lines, but not in sight of the Federals.

The Federal batteries opened up spitefully. They did not know of the distinguished Confederates near by, yet a battery had by chance their exact range and distance, and poured a terrific fire in their midst. The second or third shell killed two or three horses and wounded several men. The little party speedily retired to safer quarters. Longstreet sent Colonel Micah Jenkins to silence the Federal battery with his long-range rifles. He charged the battery, and that brought on a general fight between Longstreet’s division and the troops in front. The Federal lines were broken and a number of batteries taken. At points during the day McCall several times regained his lost position. He was finally pushed back. At length McCall’s division was driven off and fresh troops came to the Federal relief. Ten thousand men of A. P. Hill’s division, held in reserve, were now brought into action.

About dark General McCall, while looking up a fragment of his division, ran into Longstreet’s arms and was taken prisoner. General Lee was there at the time. Longstreet had served with McCall in the old Fourth Infantry, and offered his hand as McCall dismounted. The Federal general did not regard this as an occasion for renewing old friendships, and he was promptly offered an escort of Longstreet’s staff to take him to Richmond.

MARCH AGAINST POPE AND THE SECOND MANASSAS

Even as early as 1862 the Union army had been using balloons to examine the position of the Confederates, and even that early, the scanty resources of the Confederates made the use of balloons a luxury that could not be afforded. While gazing enviously upon the handsome balloons of the Federals floating serenely at a distance that their guns could not reach, a Confederate genius suggested that all the silk dresses in the Confederacy be got together and made into balloons. This was done, and soon a great patch-work ship of many and varied hues was ready for use. There was no gas except in Richmond, and so the silk-dress balloon had to be inflated there, tied to an engine, and carried to where it was to be sent up. One day it was on a steamer down the James River, when the tide went out and left the vessel and balloon on a sand-bar. The Federals gathered it in, and with it the last silk dress in the Confederacy. General Longstreet used to say, laughingly, that this was the meanest trick of the war.

When General Pope came down into Virginia as Federal commander-in-chief, with the double purpose of drawing McClellan away from Westover and checking the advance of the new enemy approaching from Washington, General Lee sent Stonewall Jackson to Gordonsville and ordered General Longstreet to remain near Richmond to engage McClellan if he should attempt an advance on that city. On the 9th of August, 1862, Jackson encountered the Federals near Cedar Mountain and repulsed them at what is known as the battle of Cedar Run. About five o’clock in the afternoon of this fight the Federals, by a well-executed move, were pressing the Confederates back, when the opportune approach of two brigades converted seeming defeat into victory. The Federals were more numerous than the Confederates, and Jackson deemed it unwise to follow in pursuit, so the Confederates retired behind the Rapidan to await the arrival of General Lee with other forces.

General Lee then began preparations for a vigorous campaign against General Pope. On the 13th of August Longstreet’s corps was ordered to Gordonsville, and General Lee accompanied it there. General Jackson’s troops were near by. The Rapidan River was to the north. Farther on at Culpeper Court-House was the army of Pope, and the Rappahannock River was beyond them. Clark’s Mountain, rising several hundred feet above the surrounding hills, was a little in advance of Longstreet’s position. The Federal situation was observed from the summit of this mountain.

The flags of Pope’s army were in full view above the tops of the trees around Culpeper Court-House. General Lee was very anxious to give battle as soon as possible, but operations were in some way delayed until General Pope captured a despatch from Lee to Stewart containing information of the contemplated advance. Pope then withdrew to a stronger position behind the Rappahannock River. Longstreet approached the Rappahannock at Kelly’s Ford, and Jackson approached higher up at Beverly Ford, near the Orange and Alexandria bridge. They found Pope in an almost unassailable position, with heavy reinforcements summoned to his aid.

The Confederate idea was to force a passage and make the attack before reinforcements could reach Pope. Some sharp marching to this end was done by Longstreet and Jackson. On the 23d Longstreet had a spirited artillery combat at Beverly Ford with a Federal force. The Federals had the superior position, the better guns; the Confederates had more guns, and fought with accustomed persistence. Before night the Federals withdrew. Incidentally, they set fire to a number of farm-houses in the locality. Henry W. Grady, afterwards a distinguished Georgian, who was a small boy during the war, frequently said that one of the worst things about the Union forces was the carelessness with which they handled fire.

Pope was meanwhile on the alert, and Lee found it impracticable to attack him in his stronghold behind the Rappahannock. Lee then decided to change his plan of operations by sending Jackson off on a long march to the rear of the Federal army while keeping Longstreet with thirty thousand men in front to receive any attack that might be made. Jackson crossed the Rappahannock at Hinson’s Hill, four miles above Waterloo Bridge, and that night encamped at Salem. The next day he passed through Thoroughfare Gap, moved on by Gainesville, and when the sun next set he was in the rear of Pope’s army and between it and Washington. The sudden appearance of his army gave much terror to the Federals in the vicinity; when he arrived at Bristoe Station just before night the Federal guard at that point sought safer quarters, and two trains of cars coming from towards Warrenton were captured. Jackson sent a force forward seven miles and captured Manassas Junction. He left a force at Bristoe Station and proceeded himself to the Junction. During the afternoon the Federals attacked the Confederates at Bristoe Station in such force as to make it appear that Pope had discovered the situation and was moving upon Jackson with his entire army. The Confederates then hastened away from Bristoe Station and the Federals halted there. Jackson’s forces then moved over to a position north of the turnpike leading from Warrenton to Alexandria, and there awaited results.

On the evening of the 28th King’s division attacked Jackson, but was repulsed. That same evening Longstreet arrived at Thoroughfare Gap. During the time of Jackson’s march he had been engaging Pope’s army at different points along the Rappahannock, to impress them with the idea that he was attempting to force a passage in front and with the hope of preventing his discovery of Jackson’s movement. Pope was not deceived, however, but turned his army to meet Jackson’s daring and unexpected move. Longstreet decided to follow at once. To force a passage of the river, much swollen by recent rains, seemed impossible, and so he took the route by which Jackson had gone. Finding that Thoroughfare Gap was unoccupied, he went into bivouac on the west side of the mountain and sent a brigade under Anderson to occupy the pass.

As the Confederates approached from one side, Ricketts’s division of Federals approached from the other and took possession of the east side. Thoroughfare Gap is a rough pass in the Bull Run Mountains, in some places not more than a hundred yards wide. A swift stream rushes through it, and the mountains rise on both sides several hundred feet above. On the north the face of the Gap is almost perpendicular; the south face is less precipitous, but is covered with tangled mountain ivy and projecting boulders; the position, occupied by a small force, was unassailable. The interposition of Ricketts’s division at this mountain pass showed a disposition to hold Longstreet back while overwhelming Jackson. This necessitated prompt and vigorous measures by Longstreet. Three miles north was Hopewell Gap, and it was necessary to get possession of this in advance of the Federals to provide for a flank movement while forcing the way by foot-paths over the mountain heights of Thoroughfare Gap. During the night Longstreet sent Wilcox with three brigades to Hopewell Gap, while he sent Hood and his forces by a trail over the mountain at Thoroughfare.

To the great delight of the Confederates, in the morning it was discovered that Ricketts had given up the east side of the Gap and was going towards Manassas Junction. Longstreet’s corps then went along unimpeded. Hearing the artillery combat around Gainesville, they quickened their steps. As the fire became more spirited their movements became more rapid. Passing through Gainesville, they filed to the left down the turnpike, and soon came in sight of the Federal troops held at bay by Jackson. They were on the left and rear of the Federals; the artillery was ordered up for action, but the advance was discovered, and the Federals withdrew from attack and retired behind Groveton on defensive ground. The battalion of Washington Artillery was thrown forward to a favorable position on Jackson’s right, and Longstreet’s general line was deployed so as to extend it to the right some distance beyond the Manassas Gap Railroad.

The two great armies were now face to face, both in good positions, each anxious to find a point for an entering wedge into the stronghold of the adversary. What troubled the Confederates was the unknown number of Federals at Manassas Junction. Each side watched the movements of the other until the day was far spent. Orders were given for a Confederate advance under the cover of night until the main position of the enemy could be more carefully examined by the earliest light of the next day. It so happened that a similar order was issued at the same time by the Federals, and the result was a spirited engagement, which was a surprise to both sides. Longstreet’s corps was, however, successful, so far, at least, as to capture a piece of artillery and make reconnoissance before midnight. The next day Longstreet did not deem an attack wise, and the Confederate forces were ordered back to their original positions. Then each side was apprehensive that the other was going to get away.

Pope telegraphed to Washington that Longstreet was in full retreat and he was preparing to follow; while Longstreet, thinking Pope was trying to escape, was arranging to move to the left across Bull Run, so as to get over on the Little River pike and between Pope and Washington. Just before nine o’clock that day (the 30th) Pope’s artillery began to play a little, and some of his infantry was seen in motion. Longstreet construed this as a display to cover his movements to the rear. Later a large division of Pope’s army began an attack on the left along the whole of Jackson’s line. Pope evidently supposed that Longstreet was gone, and intended to crush Jackson with a terrific onslaught. Longstreet was meanwhile looking for a place to get in. Riding along the front of his line, he could plainly see the Federals as they rushed in heavy masses against Jackson’s obstinate ranks. It was a splendidly organized attack.

Longstreet received a request from Jackson for reinforcements, and about the same time an order from General Lee to the same effect. Longstreet quickly ordered out three batteries. Lieutenant Chapman’s Dixie Battery of four guns was the first to report, and was placed in position to rake the Federal ranks. In a moment a heavy fire of shot and shell was poured into the thick columns of the Federals, and in ten minutes their stubborn masses began to waver. For a moment there was chaos; then there was order, and they reformed to renew the attack. Meanwhile, Longstreet’s other eight pieces had begun deadly work. The Federal ranks broke again and again, only to be reformed with dogged determination.

A third time the Longstreet batteries tore the Federals to pieces, and as they fell back under this terrible fire Longstreet’s troops leaped forward with the famous rebel yell. They pressed onward until, at ten o’clock at night, they had the field. Pope was across Bull Run and the victorious Confederates lay down to sleep on the battle-ground, while around them thousands of friend and foe slept the last sleep together.

The next morning the Federals were in a strong position at Centerville. Longstreet sent a brigade across Bull Run under General Pryor to occupy a point near Centerville. General Lee ordered Jackson to cross Bull Run near Sudley’s and turn the position of the Federals occupying Centerville. On the next day (September 1) Longstreet followed, but the Federals discovered the move, abandoned Centerville, and started towards Washington. On that evening a part of the Federal force at Ox Hill encountered Jackson and gave him a sharp fight. Longstreet went to Jackson’s rescue.

With the coming darkness it was difficult to distinguish between the scattered ranks of the opposing armies. General Philip Kearny, a magnificent Federal officer, rode hastily up looking for the broken lines of his command. At first he did not know that he was in the Confederate line, and the Confederates did not notice that he was a Federal. He began quietly to inquire about some command, and was soon recognized. He was called upon to surrender, but instead of doing so he wheeled his horse, pressed spurs to his sides, lay flat on the animal’s neck, and dashed away like the wind. A dozen shots rang out, and in less time than it takes to tell the story the heroic Kearny fell dead. He had been in the army all his life; the Confederate generals who had formerly been in the Union army knew him; Longstreet loved him well; General A. P. Hill, who was standing by, said, sorrowfully, “Poor Kearny! he deserved a better death than this.” The next day his body was sent over the lines with a flag of truce and a note from General Lee referring tenderly to the manner in which he had met his death. The Federal forces which had been fighting the Ox Hill battle proved to be the rear guard covering the retreat of the Federals into Washington.

THE INVASION OF MARYLAND AND THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM

General Longstreet always thought that the division of the Confederate army after they moved into Maryland proved their downfall. This, however, is not a part of my story.

At this time General Pope had been relieved and General McClellan restored to the command of the Union army. With ninety thousand troops, he marched towards Antietam to avenge the second Manassas.

General D. H. Hill was at South Mountain with five thousand men; Longstreet’s First Corps was at Hagerstown, thirteen miles farther on; General Lee was with him, and on the night of the 13th of September, 1862, information was received that McClellan was at the foot of South Mountain with his great army. It was decided to withdraw the forces of Longstreet and Hill from their respective positions and unite at Sharpsburg, which afforded a strong defensive position. On the afternoon of the 15th of September the commands of Longstreet and Hill crossed the Antietam Creek and took position in front of Sharpsburg, Longstreet on the right and Hill on the left. They soon found their weak point was on the left at the famous Dunkard Church. Hood, with two brigades, was put to guard that point. That night, after the fall of Harper’s Ferry, General Lee ordered Stonewall Jackson to come to Sharpsburg as quickly as possible.

On the forenoon of the 15th the blue uniforms of the Federals appeared among the trees that crowned the heights on the eastern bank of the Antietam. Their numbers increased in proportions distressing to their opponents, who were shattered by repeated battles, tired by long marches, and fed most meagrely. On the 16th Jackson arrived and took position on Longstreet’s left. Before night the Federals attacked, but were driven back. Hood was ordered to replenish his ammunition during the night and resume his position on Longstreet’s right in the morning. General Jackson’s forces were extended to the left, and reached well back towards the Potomac, where most of the Confederate cavalry was. General Robert Toombs was placed as guard on the bridge at Longstreet’s right.

On the Federal side General Hooker, who had been driven back in the afternoon, was reinforced by the corps of Sumner and Mansfield; Sykes’s division was also drawn into position for battle; Burnside was over against Longstreet’s right threatening the passage of the Antietam. On the morning of the 17th the Federals were in good position and in good condition. Back of McClellan’s line was a high ridge, upon which he had a signal-station overlooking every point of the field. D. R. Jones’s brigades of Longstreet’s command deployed on the right of the Sharpsburg pike, while Hood’s brigades awaited orders; D. H. Hill was on the left towards the Hagerstown-Sharpsburg pike; Jackson extended out from Hill’s left towards the Potomac.

The battle opened heavily with attacks by Hooker, Mansfield, and Sumner against Longstreet’s left centre, which consisted of Jackson’s right and D. H. Hill’s left. So persistent were the attacks that Longstreet sent Hood to support the Confederate centre. The Confederates were forced back somewhat; McClellan’s forces continued the attacks; the line swayed forward and back like a rope exposed to rushing currents; a weak point would be driven back and then the Confederate fragments would be collected and the lost ground recovered; the battle ebbed and flowed with fearful slaughter on both sides. The Federals came forward with wonderful courage, and the Confederates heroically held their ground, while they were mown down like grass.

How Lee’s ragged army withstood McClellan’s troops no one will ever be able to tell. Hood’s ammunition gave out; he retired for a fresh supply; the Federals continued to come up in great masses. At one point, under the crest of a hill occupying a position that from four to six brigades should have held, there were only the stranded troops of Cooke’s regiment of North Carolina Infantry, who were without a cartridge. As Longstreet rode along the line of his staff, he saw two pieces of Washington Artillery (Miller’s battery), but there were not enough men to handle them. The gunners had all been killed or wounded--and this was the Confederate centre. Longstreet held the horses of his staff-officers, put them to man the guns, and calmly surveyed the situation. He saw that if the Federals broke through the line at that point the Confederate army would be cut in two and probably destroyed. Cooke sent him word that his ammunition was entirely out. Longstreet replied that he must hold his position as long as he had a man left. Cooke responded that he would show his colors as long as there was left a man alive to hold them up. The two guns were rapidly loaded with canister by the staff-officers, and they rattled leaden hail into the Federals as they came up over the crest of the hill. That little battery, with superhuman energy, had to hold thousands of Federals at bay, or the whole battle would be lost.

The Confederates sought to make the Federals believe that many batteries were before them. As they came up, they would see the colors of Cooke’s North Carolina regiment waving as placidly as if the whole of Lee’s army were back of them, while a shower of canister came from the two lonely guns. General Chilton, General Lee’s chief of staff, made his way to Longstreet and asked, “Where are the troops you are holding your line with?” Longstreet pointed to his two pieces and to Cooke’s regiment, and replied, “There they are; but that regiment hasn’t a cartridge.” Chilton, dumb with astonishment, rode back to tell the story to General Lee. Then an enfilade fire from General D. H. Hill’s line ploughed the ground across the Federal front and kept them back; meanwhile, R. H. Anderson and General Hood came to the support of this fearfully pushed Confederate centre. In a little while another Federal assault was made against D. H. Hill and extending far to the Confederate left, where McLaws and Walker were supporting Jackson. In this fearful combat the lines swung back and forth, the Federals attacking with invincible motion and the Confederates holding their positions with irresistible force.

Meanwhile, General Lee was over towards the right, where Burnside was making the attack. General Toombs, assigned as guard at that point, had only four hundred weary and footsore soldiers to meet the Federal Ninth Corps, which pressed the brave little band slowly back. The delay that Toombs caused, however, saved that part of the battle, for at the last moment A. P. Hill came in to reinforce him and D. H. Hill discovered a place for a battery and lost no time in opening it. Thus the Confederates drove the Federals back, and when night settled down the army of Lee was still in possession of the field. But it was a victory that was not a victory, for thousands of Confederates were dead on the field and gallant commands had been torn into fragments. Nearly one-fourth of the troops who went into the battle were killed or wounded. This day has been well called the bloodiest day of the Civil War.

General Longstreet was fond of telling how during the battle he and General Lee were riding along his line and D. H. Hill’s when they started up a hill to make a reconnoissance. Lee and Longstreet dismounted, but Hill remained on his horse. General Longstreet said to Hill, “If you insist on riding up there and drawing the fire, give us time to get out of the line of the fire when they open up anew.” While they were all standing there viewing with their glasses the Federal movements, Longstreet noticed a puff of white smoke from a Federal cannon. He called to Hill, “That shot is for you.” The gunner was a mile away, but the cannon-shot took off the front legs of Hill’s horse. The horse’s head was so low and his croup so high that Hill was in a very ludicrous position. With one foot in the stirrup he made several efforts to get the other leg over the croup, but failed. Lee and Longstreet yelled at him to dismount from the other end of the horse, and so he got down. He had a third horse shot under him before the close of the battle. General Longstreet said that that shot at Hill was the second best shot he ever saw. The best was at Yorktown, where a Federal officer came out in front of the Confederate line, sat down to a little platting table, and began to make a map. A Confederate officer carefully sighted a cannon, touched it off, and dropped a shell into the lap of the man at the little table a mile or more away.

After the battle closed, parties from both sides, by mutual consent, went in search of fallen comrades.

After riding along the lines, giving instructions for the night and morning, General Longstreet rode for general head-quarters to make report, but was delayed somewhat, finding wounded men hidden away under stone walls and in fence-corners, not yet looked after, and afterwards in assisting a family whose home had been fired by a shell, so that all the other officers had arrived, made their reports, and were lounging about on the sod when General Longstreet rode up. General Lee walked up as he dismounted, threw his hands upon his shoulders, and hailed him with, “Here is my old war-horse at last!”

FREDERICKSBURG

When General Lee learned that General McClellan had been succeeded by General Burnside, he expressed regret at having to part with McClellan, because, he said, “We always understood each other so well. I fear they may continue to make these changes till they find some one whom I don’t understand.”

The Federal army was encamped around Warrenton, Virginia, and was divided into three grand divisions, under Generals Sumner, Hooker, and Franklin. Lee’s army was on the opposite side of the Rappahannock River, divided into two corps, the First commanded by General Longstreet and the Second by General Thomas J. (Stonewall) Jackson. At that time the Confederate army extended from Culpeper Court-House, where the First Corps was stationed, across the Blue Ridge, down the Valley of Virginia, to Winchester, where Jackson was encamped with the Second Corps. Information was received about the 19th of November that Sumner with his grand division of more than thirty thousand men was moving towards Fredericksburg. Two of General Longstreet’s divisions were ordered down to meet him. After a forced march they arrived on the hills around Fredericksburg about three o’clock on the afternoon of the 21st (November, 1862). Sumner had already arrived, and was encamped on Stafford Heights overlooking the town from the Federal side.

About the 26th it became evident that Fredericksburg would be the scene of a battle, and Longstreet advised the people who were still in town to leave. A previous threat from the Federal forces that they might have to shell the town had already forced many to leave. Distressed women, little children, aged and helpless men, many of them destitute and with nowhere to go, trudged away as best they could. Soon the remainder of Longstreet’s corps came up from Culpeper Court-House, and it was then known that all the Army of the Potomac was in motion for the prospective scene of battle, when Jackson was drawn down from the Blue Ridge. In a short time the Army of Northern Virginia was face to face with the Army of the Potomac. On the Confederate side nearest the Rappahannock was Taylor’s Hill, and South of it Marye’s Hill; next, Telegraph Hill, the highest Confederate elevation, afterwards known as Lee’s Hill, because General Lee was there during the battle. Longstreet’s head-quarters in the field were there. Next was a declination through which Deep Run Creek passed on to the Rappahannock, and next was Hamilton’s Crossing, upon which Stonewall Jackson massed thirty thousand men. Upon these hills the Confederates prepared to receive Burnside whenever he might choose to cross the Rappahannock.

The Federals occupied the noted Stafford Heights beyond the river, and here they carefully matured their plans of advance and attack. General Hunt, chief of artillery, skilfully posted one hundred and forty-seven guns to cover the bottoms upon which the infantry was to form for the attack, and at the same time play upon the Confederate batteries. Franklin and Hooker had joined Sumner, and the Federal army were one hundred and sixteen thousand strong. The Federals had been seen along the banks of the river investigating the best places to cross. President Lincoln had been down with General Halleck, who had suggested that a crossing be made at Hoop-Pole Ferry, about twenty-eight or thirty miles below Fredericksburg. The Confederates discovered this movement, and it was then abandoned. There were sixty-five thousand Confederates well located upon the various hills on the other side of the river. Anderson, McLaws, Ransom, Hood, A. P. and D. H. Hill, Longstreet, Stonewall Jackson, and the great Robert E. Lee himself were all there.

On the morning of the 11th of December, 1862, an hour or so before daybreak, the slumbering Confederates were awakened by a cannon thundering on the heights of Marye’s Hill. It was recognized as the signal of the Washington Artillery, and it told that the Federal troops were preparing to cross the Rappahannock and give battle. The Federals came down to the river and began to build their bridges, when Barksdale and his heroic Mississippians opened fire, which forced them to retire. The Federals then turned their whole artillery force on Fredericksburg, demolishing the houses with a cyclone of fire. The only offence of the little town was that it was situated where the battle raged. The little band of Mississippians kept up their work, and like so many angry hornets stung the whole Army of the Potomac into frenzy. Longstreet ordered Barksdale to withdraw, and the Federals then constructed their pontoons without molestation, and the next day Sumner’s grand division passed over into Fredericksburg; General Franklin’s grand division passed over on pontoon bridges lower down and massed on the level bottoms opposite Hamilton’s Crossing, in front of Stonewall Jackson’s corps. Opposite Fredericksburg the formation along the river bank was such that the Federals were concealed in their approaches, and they thereby succeeded in getting over and concealing the grand division of Sumner and a part of Hooker’s grand division in Fredericksburg, and so disposing of Franklin in the open plain below as to give out the impression that the great force was there to oppose Jackson.

Before daylight of the eventful 13th Longstreet rode to the right of his line, held by Hood’s division, which was in hearing of the Federals who were marching their troops to the attack on Jackson. Longstreet ordered Hood, in case Jackson’s line should be broken, to wheel around to his right and strike in on the attacking bodies, while he ordered Pickett with his division to join in the flank movement. He told them at the same time that he himself would be attacked near his left centre, that he would be personally at that point, and that his position was so well defended that he would not need their troops. He returned to Lee’s Hill soon after sunrise.

There was a thick fog that morning, and the preparations of the Federals were concealed thereby. The Confederates grimly awaited the onslaught. About ten o’clock the sun burst through the fog and revealed the mighty panorama in the valley below. Franklin’s forty thousand men, reinforced by two divisions of Hooker’s grand division, were in front of Jackson’s thirty thousand. The flags of the Federals fluttered gayly, their polished arms shone brightly, and the beautiful uniforms of the buoyant troops gave a holiday air to the scene. A splendid array it was. Awaiting their approach was Jackson’s ragged infantry, and beyond was Stuart’s battered cavalry. The majority of the Federal troops were in Fredericksburg almost in reach of the Confederate guns. There was some lively firing between a part of Franklin’s command and a part of Stuart’s Horse Artillery under Major John Pelham. Franklin advanced rapidly towards Jackson; silently Jackson awaited his approach until within good range, and then opened with a terrific fire, which threw the Federals into some confusion. The Federals again massed and advanced, and pressed through a gap in Jackson’s line. Then they came upon Gregg’s brigade, and a severe encounter ensued in which Gregg was mortally wounded. The concentration of the divisions of Taliaferro and Early against this attack drove the Federals back.

On the Confederate side near the town was a stone wall, shoulder high. Behind this stone wall Longstreet had placed General T. R. R. Cobb’s brigade and a portion of the brigade of General Kershaw,--about two thousand five hundred men in all. To reach Longstreet’s weakest point the Federals had to pass directly over this wall.

Just before noon Longstreet sent orders to all his batteries to open fire as a diversion in favor of Jackson. This fire began at once to develop work for Longstreet. The Federal troops swarmed out of Fredericksburg and came in double-quick towards Cobb’s wall. From the moment of their appearance fearful carnage began. The Confederate artillery from the front, right, and left tore through their ranks, but the Federals pressed forward with almost invincible determination. Thus they marched upon the stone fence behind which Cobb’s brigade was quietly waiting. When the Federals came within its reach they were swept from the field like chaff before the wind. A vast number went pell-mell into an old railroad cut to escape fire from the right and front. A battery on Lee’s Hill saw this, and turned its fire into the entire length of the cut, and wrought frightful destruction. Though thus repulsed and scattered in its first attempt to drive the Confederates from Marye’s Hill, the determined Federal army quickly formed again and filed out of Fredericksburg to another charge. Again they were forced to retire before the well-directed guns of Cobb’s brigade and the fire of the artillery on the heights.

Still again they formed and advanced, and again they were driven off. By this time they had difficulty in walking over the dead bodies of their comrades. So persistent were they in their continuing advances that General Lee, who at the time was with Longstreet on Lee’s Hill, became uneasy and said that he feared the Federals would break through his line. To this Longstreet replied, “General, if you put every man now on the other side of the Potomac on that field to approach me over the same line, and give me plenty of ammunition, I will kill them all before they reach my line. Look to your right; you are in some danger there, but not on my line.” As a precaution, General Kershaw was ordered with the remainder of his brigade down to the stone wall to carry ammunition to Cobb and to reinforce him if necessary. Kershaw arrived just in time to succeed Cobb, who was falling from a Federal bullet, to die in a few minutes from loss of blood. A fifth time the Federals formed, charged, and were repulsed, and likewise a sixth time, when they were again driven back, and night came to end the dreadful carnage. The Federals then withdrew, leaving the field literally piled up with the bodies of their dead. The Confederate musketry alone killed and wounded at least five thousand, while the artillery brought the number of those killed and wounded at the foot of Marye’s Hill to over seven thousand.