Chapter IV: Front Matter (4)

“There, for half an hour, they held the ridge, unyielding in purpose, exhaustless in courage. There were gaps in the line, but it nowhere bent. Their General was severely wounded, early in the fight, but they fought on. Their supports did not come—they determined to win without them. They began to go down the hill and into the corn; they did not stop to think that their ammunition was nearly gone; they were there to win that field, and they won it. The rebel line for the second time fled through the corn and into the woods. I cannot tell how few of Hartsuff’s brigade were left when the work was done; but it was done. There was no more gallant, determined, heroic fighting, in all this desperate day. General Hartsuff is very severely wounded, but I do not believe he counts his success too dearly purchased.

“The crisis of the fight at this point had arrived. Rickett’s division, vainly endeavoring to advance and exhausted by the effort, had fallen back. Part of Mansfield’s corps was ordered to their relief, but Mansfield’s troops came back again, and their General was mortally wounded. The left nevertheless was too extended to be turned, and too strong to be broken. Rickett sent word he could not advance, but could hold his ground. Doubleday had kept his guns at work on the right, and had finally silenced a rebel battery that for half an hour had poured in a galling enfilading fire along Hooker’s central line. There were woods in front of Doubleday’s hill which the rebels held, but so long as those guns pointed toward them they did not care to attack.

“With his left, then, able to take care of itself, with his right impregnable, with two brigades of Mansfield still fresh and coming rapidly up, and with his centre a second time victorious, General Hooker determined to advance. Orders were sent to Crawford and Gordon—the two Mansfield brigades—to move forward at once, the batteries in the centre were ordered to advance, the whole line was called on, and the General himself went forward.

“To the right of the corn-field and beyond it was a point of woods. Once carried and firmly held, it was the key of the position. Hooker determined to take it. He rode out in front of his furthest troops on a hill, to examine the ground for a battery. At the top he dismounted and went forward on foot, completed his reconnoissance, returned, and remounted. The musketry fire from the point of woods was all the while extremely hot. As he put his foot in the stirrup a fresh volley of rifle bullets came whizzing by. The tall, soldierly figure of the General, the white horse which he rode, the elevated place where he was, all made him a dangerously conspicuous mark. So he had been all day, riding often without a staff-officer or an orderly near him—all sent off on urgent duty—visible everywhere on the field. The rebel bullets had followed him all day, but they had not hit him, and he would not regard them.

“Remounting on this hill, he had not ridden five steps when he was struck in the foot by a ball. Three men were shot down at the same moment by his side. The air was alive with bullets. He kept on his horse a few minutes, though the wound was severe and excessively painful, and would not dismount till he had given his last order to advance. He was himself in the very front. Swaying unsteadily on his horse, he turned in his seat to look about him. “There is a regiment to the right. Order it forward! Crawford and Gordon are coming up. Tell them to carry those woods and hold them—and it is our fight!”

“It was found that the bullet had passed completely through his foot.”

General Hooker being disabled, General Meade was placed in command of Hooker’s Corps. Gordon and Crawford were sent to the woods, where they fought slowly against a rebel force far outnumbering their own; General Sedgwick’s division was rapidly moving to the aid of Crawford and Gordon, who required the coming assistance, for rebel reinforcements were constantly arriving. Observing that the struggle for the works was about to recommence, General Sumner sent the divisions of French and Richardson to the left of Crawford. General Sedgwick, with the eye of practiced generalship, quickly saw, as he moved his troops in column through the rear of the woods, that, with so broad a space as was between him and the nearest division, he stood in danger of being outflanked, if the rebel line were completed. Under a dreadful fire he was obliged to order the Thirty-fourth New York to move by the left flank, and the consequence was that the regiment broke. The enemy, not slow to perceive his advantage, came round on the weak point, and obliged Crawford to give way on the right. The routed troops poured through the ranks of Sedgwick’s advance brigade, causing great confusion, and forcing it back on the second and third lines; still the enemy’s fire grew hotter, while they steadily advanced upon the disordered Union forces. General Sedgwick, wounded in the shoulder, the leg, and the wrist, still bravely kept his seat, nor thought of leaving the field while any chance remained of saving it. But the position could not be held; and General Sumner, having in vain attempted to stop the confusion and disorder, himself withdrew the division to the rear, abandoning the field to the enemy.

While the conflict to the right was hotly raging, General French was pushing the rebels severely on the left. This division crossed Antietam creek, in three columns, and marched a mile, to the ford. Then, facing to the left, it moved direct upon the enemy. The division was assailed by a brisk artillery fire, but it steadily advanced, driving back the rebel skirmishers, to a group of houses on a piece of land called Roulette’s farm, where the Federals encountered the rebel infantry in large force, but soon drove them from their position. The brigade of General Kimball was next pushed forward, by General French, in obedience to orders received from his corps commander. This brigade drove the enemy before it, to the crest of the hill; but the rebels were there encountered in much stronger force, protected in a natural rifle-pit formed by a sunken road running in a northwesterly direction. Beyond this, in a corn-field, there was yet another body of rebels; and, as the Union line came forward, a severe fire was poured upon them from the corn-field and from the rifle-pit. When the Federals reached the crest of the hill, volleys of musketry burst from both lines, and the fight raged hotly, and with dreadful carnage. An effort of the enemy to turn the left of the line was met and signally repulsed by the Seventh Virginia, and One Hundred and Thirty-second Pennsylvania Volunteers: on being foiled in this effort, the rebels assaulted the Union front, but were again driven back with severe loss, the Unionists capturing three hundred men and several stands of colors. Another attack was made on the right of French’s division, but was met by the Fourteenth Indiana and Eighth Ohio Volunteers, and by a storm of canister from Captain Tompkins’ battery, First Rhode Island Artillery. The enemy now gave up all attempts to regain this ground; and the division, which had been under very hot fire for more than four hours, and had expended nearly all its ammunition, took position below the crest of the heights which they had so nobly won. During this time, Richardson’s division had been engaged on the left. General Richardson was badly wounded in the shoulder. General Meagher’s brigade fought so as to increase its well deserved reputation for courage, and strewed the ground with the foe, till its ammunition gave out, and its brave leader was disabled by a wound, and by having his horse shot under him. The Irish brigade was then ordered to give place to that of General Caldwell; and the second line was formed by General Brooks’ brigade.

The ground over which Generals Richardson’s and French’s divisions were fighting was very irregular, intersected by numerous ravines, hills covered with growing corn, inclosed by stone walls, behind which the enemy could advance unobserved upon any exposed point of our lines, Taking advantage of this, the enemy attempted to gain the right of Richardson’s position in a corn-field near Roulette’s house, where the division had become separated from that of General French’s. A change of front by the Fifty-second New York and Second Delaware volunteers, of Colonel Brooks’s brigade, under Colonel Frank, and the attack made by the Fifty-third Pennsylvania volunteers, sent further to the right by Colonel Brooks to close this gap in the line, and the movement of the One Hundred and Thirty-second Pennsylvania and Seventh Virginia volunteers of General French’s division before referred to, drove the enemy from the corn-field and restored the line.

The brigade of General Caldwell, with determined gallantry, pushed the enemy back opposite the left and centre of this division, but sheltered in the sunken road, they still held our forces on the right of Caldwell in check. Colonel Barlow, commanding the Sixty-first and Sixty-fourth New York regiments of Caldwell’s brigade, seeing a favorable opportunity, advanced the regiments on the left, taking the line in the sunken road in flank, and compelled them to surrender, capturing over three hundred prisoners and three stands of colors.

The whole of the brigade, with the Fifty-seventh and Sixty-sixth New York regiments of Colonel Brooks’s brigade, who had moved these regiments into the first line, now advanced with gallantry, driving the enemy before them in confusion into the corn-field beyond the sunken road. The left of the division was now well advanced, when the enemy, concealed by an intervening ridge, endeavored to turn its left and rear.

Colonel Cross, Fifth New Hampshire, by a change of front to the left and rear, brought his regiment facing the advancing line. Here a spirited contest arose to gain a commanding height, the two opposing forces moving parallel to each other, giving and receiving fire. The Fifth gaining the advantage, faced to the right and delivered its volley. The enemy staggered, but rallied and advanced desperately at a charge. Being reinforced by the Eighty-first Pennsylvania, these regiments met the advance by a counter charge. The enemy fled, leaving many killed, wounded, and prisoners, and the colors of the Fourth North Carolina, in the victors’ hands.

Another column of the enemy, advancing under shelter of a stone wall and corn-field, pressed down on the right of the division; but Colonel Barlow again advanced the Sixty-first and Sixty-fourth New York against these troops, and with the attack of Kimball’s brigade on the right, drove them from this position.

On the left of this part of the line, the Union troops having driven back a determined attack of the enemy, the rebels made a rush upon the front, but were fiercely repulsed by two regiments under Colonel Barlow, who followed them through the corn-field and into the orchard beyond. A building called Riper’s house was a strong point here; and Colonel Barlow’s advance gave the Union men possession of it, and they at once occupied it. A section of Robertson’s horse battery now arrived, and in good time, for Richardson’s division up to that juncture had been without artillery; and subsequently Captain Graham, First Artillery, commanding a battery of brass guns, arrived, and taking a position on the crest of the hill, soon silenced the enemy’s guns in the orchard. Heavy firing began immediately; and while directing the firing of Captain Graham’s battery, the gallant Richardson was mortally wounded. The place of General Richardson was supplied by General Hancock. Colonel Bunke, of the Sixty-third New York, commanding General Meagher’s brigade, was ordered to the centre.

The battle raged with uninterrupted fury; and on right and left, rebels and Unionists strewed the ground with gory corpses. The groans and cries of the wounded and dying filling up every interval of the battle’s roar. Dark and darker grew the aspect of affairs. The different battle-fields were shut out from each other’s view, but all were visible from a centre hill, from which General McClellan, during the whole day, with his field-glass held to his eyes, watched eagerly and anxiously the fighting of the several brave corps under his command.

The afternoon was waning; and things looked very black for the Army of the Union. At three o’clock General McClellan issued an order to General Burnside to push forward his troops with all possible vigor, and carry the enemy’s position on the heights. General Burnside replied that he would advance up the hill as far as he could, before being stopped by a battery, placed directly in his path. Upon hearing this, General McClellan ordered Burnside to flank the battery, storm it, and carry the heights.

The advance was made most gallantly, the enemy utterly routed, and the heights carried triumphantly. Night was now approaching, and the enemy was receiving strong reinforcements from Harper’s Ferry. General Burnside’s troops were attacked on the left flank, and obliged to retire to a lower line of hills, near the bridge and the question as to whether the well-won position on the heights could be maintained, became a problem of vital importance. Burnside’s brigades were in close columns, and would not give way before a bayonet charge; and the enemy hesitated to dash in on the dense masses of Union soldiers. Then suddenly the rebel left gave way, scattering over the field, but the rest stood firm, and poured forth a heavy fire upon the Federals. More infantry came up, and General Burnside found himself outnumbered, outflanked, and compelled to yield up the position he fought so bravely to win. He no longer attacked; but, with unfaltering firmness, defended himself, and sent to General McClellan for help.

McClellan already knew of the sore strait to which Burnside was reduced, for his glass had not been turned away from the hard-pressed left of the field; but to send assistance was out of his power. In the valley, Porter’s fifteen thousand troops were impatient to join the fight; but when the two Generals, McClellan and Porter, looked into each other’s faces, each read in the other’s eyes, “They are the only reserves of the army—they cannot be spared.” As an answer to General Burnside’s desire for reinforcements, the Commander-in-Chief was obliged to reply:

“Tell General Burnside this is the battle of the war. He must hold his ground till dark at any cost. I will send him Miller’s battery. I can do nothing more. I have no infantry.” Then as the messenger was riding away he called him back. “Tell him if he _cannot_ hold his ground, then the bridge, to the last man!—always the bridge! If the bridge is lost, all is lost.”

Till Burnside’s message reached McClellan, no one anticipated that the battle could be concluded on that day; and few expected how near was the peril of total defeat. But suddenly and unexpectedly, the rebels halted, instead of pushing forward, and following up the advantage gained in recapturing the hill. As the twilight deepened into darkness, the fierce, wrathful cannonading ceased, and the long, desperately-contested battle of Antietam was over. For fourteen hours nearly two hundred thousand men, and five hundred pieces of artillery had been engaged in this memorable battle. The Army of the Potomac, notwithstanding the moral depression consequent upon its late severe reverses, had achieved a great victory over an army elated by recent successes; and, on the night of September 17th, the soldiers of the Union slept in peace and triumph on a field won by dauntless bravery, and covered with the dead and wounded, friends and foes, patriots and rebels.

On both sides the casualties among officers in the battle of Antietam was unusually numerous. Among the rebel killed were Brigadier-Generals Starke and Branche, and among their wounded were Major-General Anderson, Brigadier-Generals Anderson, Lawton, Wright, Ripley, Amistead and Ransome.

The Union army was called upon to mourn the loss, among many other valuable officers, of Brigadier-General Isaac P. Rodman, of Rhode Island. He had left the quiet pursuits of business, and volunteered in defence of the Government. He entered the service in one of the regiments of his native State as Captain, and was quickly promoted to a Colonelcy, and led his regiment in General Burnside’s North Carolina expedition. He was made a Brigadier for services at Roanoke and Newbern, and was mortally wounded while acting as division commander at Antietam. The loss of the Federal army in this terrible battle bears ample testimony to its courage and endurance. From the official records the total loss in killed was two thousand and ten; missing, one thousand and forty-three; total, twelve thousand and sixty-nine. The combined loss at South Mountain, Antietam and Harper’s Ferry, was twenty-six thousand three hundred and ninety-four.

The report of General McClellan estimates the rebel loss in Maryland at thirty thousand men.

General Burnside, whose corps was stationed on the left of the Federal lines, testified before the investigating committee of Congress, that at half-past eight o’clock in the evening of the 17th, he went over to McClellan’s headquarters, and urged the renewal of the attack, saying that with five thousand fresh troops to place beside his own, he was willing to commence the attack in the morning. As his corps had maintained the most critical position during the battle, and had defended the salient points with remarkable bravery and endurance, while suffering heavy loss, it may not be amiss to record his testimony in this place.

General Franklin, whose corps occupied a position on the right of the Federal lines, also gave testimony before the Commission in the following terms:

“When General McClellan visited the right in the afternoon, I showed him a position on the right of this wood, which I have already mentioned, in which was the Dunker church, which I thought commanded the wood; and that if it could be taken, we could drive the enemy from the wood, by merely holding this point. I advised that we should make the attack on that place the next morning from General Sumner’s position. I thought there was no doubt about our being able to carry it. We had plenty of artillery bearing upon it. We drove the enemy from there that afternoon, and I had no doubt we could take the place the next morning, and I thought that would uncover the whole left of the enemy.”

No advance was made by the Federal forces on the 18th, which passed away without any engagement. General McClellan was waiting for reinforcements under Generals Couch and Humphreys, then on their way, and in the mean time, had ordered an attack on the 19th. A reconnoissance of the Federal cavalry advanced to the Maryland shore of the Potomac on the evening of the 19th, where they skirmished with the rear guard of the rebels, and captured six guns. General Lee had safely withdrawn his army to the Virginia shore, and was slowly conducting his retreat to the banks of the Rappahannock.

Though the battle of Antietam can hardly be classed as a decisive victory on the part of the Federal forces, in a strictly military point of view, it was conclusive in its results; and General Lee retreated into Virginia with a full conviction of his inability to cope successfully on that ground with the army opposed to him, and thoroughly dispossessed of the confident expectation he had entertained, that the inhabitants would flock by thousands to his standard, when his forces should appear in their midst. Restricted as he had ever been in his commissariat, he had discovered that no dependence could be placed on obtaining supplies in a hostile territory, surrounded by a numerous and vigilant foe, whose well-disciplined and eager cavalry would surely cut off any supplies from the Shenandoah Valley, long before they reached the banks of the Potomac. With a loss of thirty thousand men, in killed, wounded and prisoners, he was compelled therefore to retrace his steps, which he was allowed to do, deliberately and securely.

M’CLELLAN’S ARMY ON THE POTOMAC.
OCTOBER 1–26, 1862.

At this juncture in military affairs, the cautious policy of General McClellan once more came into conflict with that of the United States Government, at Washington. It was McClellan’s desire to reorganize the army, which had suffered much under the command of General Pope, and which had just passed through two severe battles. Maryland Heights and Harper’s Ferry had been occupied and fortified, and, as the Potomac was low, and easily fordable by rebel raiders, McClellan designed to stretch his forces along that river, from near Washington, to Cumberland, a distance of about one hundred and fifty miles, to prevent further incursions, and to make occasional sallies for reconnaissance or offensive operations, while the work of reorganization should be in progress. General Halleck, on the other hand, representing the President and the War Department, denied the necessity for any delay and urged an immediate onset.

No onward movement was made until the 26th of October. In the meanwhile, President Lincoln, visiting the Army of McClellan on the first of the month, had discussed the whole campaign with that officer, and had personally inspected the battle-field of Antietam; then, returning to Washington, he had, through General Halleck, issued an order to General McClellan, directing him to cross the Potomac and attack General Lee. It was in pursuance of this order that the advance was commenced on the 26th—the intermediate days having been spent in the work of reorganization. But this work had not been accomplished without difficulty. On the 10th of October, the rebel General Stuart crossed the Potomac, at McCoy’s Ferry, leading a force of two thousand cavalry and a battery of horse artillery, and made a raid into Maryland and Pennsylvania. Means were immediately taken to cut off and capture those forces. All the fords of the river were ordered to be guarded, and Generals Pleasanton and Stoneman started in pursuit. General Stuart, by his raid of the 13th of June, into the rear of the Union armies between the Pamunkey and the Chickahominy, had acquired great credit for boldness and celerity of movement. Hence the desire to capture him was all the more eager, on the part of the National troops. But the failure of a subordinate officer of General Stoneman’s to seasonably occupy White’s Ford, a point about three miles below the mouth of the Monocacy, unfortunately left open a chance of retreat, through which, on the 12th of October Stuart succeeded in making his escape, after a conflict with the Union forces, which lasted upwards of four hours. The fight took place near the mouth of the river Monocacy, and, on the Union side, was conducted by General Pleasanton. The losses were slight, upon both sides.

The plan of General McClellan’s new campaign, commencing on the 26th of October, may best be stated in his own language:

“The plan of campaign I adopted during this advantage was to move the army, well in hand, parallel to the Blue Ridge, taking Warrenton as the point of direction for the main army; seizing each pass on the Blue Ridge by detachments, as we approached it, and guarding them after we had passed as long as they would enable the enemy to trouble our communications with the Potomac. It was expected that we would unite with the Eleventh corps and Sickles’s division near Thoroughfare Gap. We depended upon Harper’s Ferry and Berlin for supplies until the Manassas Gap Railway was reached; when that occurred, the passes in the rear were to be abandoned, and the army massed ready for action or movement in any direction.

“It was my intention if upon reaching Ashby’s or any other pass, I found that the enemy were in force between it and the Potomac in the valley of the Shenandoah, to move into the valley and endeavor to gain their rear.

“I hardly hoped to accomplish this, but did expect that by striking in between Culpeper Court-House and Little Washington I could either separate their army and beat them in detail, or else force them to concentrate as far back as Gordonsville, and thus place the army of the Potomac in position either to adopt the Fredericksburgh line of advance upon Richmond, or to be removed to the Peninsula, if, as I apprehended, it were found impossible to supply it by the Orange and Alexandria Railroad beyond Culpeper.”

On the night of November 7th, General McClellan received an order from Washington, relieving him from the command of the Army of the Potomac, and appointing General Burnside to be his successor. This change was immediately consummated. The army, at this time, was in fine condition and spirits, and was strongly posted near Warrenton, its right wing being across the Rappahannock, and its left resting on Manassas Junction, the front extending along the line of the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. The rebels, under Longstreet, were massed near Culpeper, and it was apparent that a great battle could not long be deferred. Such was the posture of affairs, when General Burnside assumed command of the Army of the Potomac.

The impressive and affecting words of General McClellan, in reference to this passage in our national history, ought here to find a place. They render a merited tribute to the noble army of patriots, which he had led through so many perils.

“I am devoutly grateful to God that my last campaign with this brave army was crowned with a victory which saved the nation from the greatest peril it had then undergone. I have not accomplished my purpose if, by this report, the army of the Potomac is not placed high on the roll of the historic armies of the world. Its deeds ennoble the nation to which it belongs. Always ready for battle, always firm, steadfast and trustworthy, I never called on it in vain; nor will the nation ever have cause to attribute its want of success, under myself, or under other commanders, to any failure of patriotism or bravery in that noble body of American soldiers.

“No man can justly charge upon any portion of that army, from the Commanding General to the private, any lack of devotion to the service of the United States’ Government, and to the cause of the Constitution and the Union. They have proved their fealty in much sorrow, suffering, danger, and through the very shadow of death. Their comrades dead on all the fields where we fought, have scarcely more claim to the honor of a nation’s reverence than their survivors to the justice of a nation’s gratitude.”

The situation of the respective forces was then as follows: The Federal army, reinforced by the divisions of Generals Sigel and Sickles, who had advanced from Washington, occupied all the region east of the Blue Ridge, with the right resting on Harper’s Ferry, and the left extending nearly to Paris, on the road from Aldie to Winchester. The centre was at Snickersville; with Snicker’s Gap in its possession. The Confederate line was on the south side of the Blue Ridge, with the Shenandoah river immediately in its front, extending from Front Royal down to Charlestown, with the great body of their troops massed between Berryville and Winchester. On November 4th Ashby’s Gap was occupied without opposition by the Federal troops. The cavalry corps, under Colonel Pleasanton, pushed on from Piedmont, and occupied Marguette, holding the approaches to Manassas and Chester Gap, on the left side of the Blue Ridge. The condition and spirit of the army at this time were unequalled by that of any force before organized. On the 6th General McClellan’s headquarters were at Rectortown near Front Royal. The army was steadily advancing and the Confederate force falling back, with some skirmishing. Warrenton was occupied by the Federal troops on the same day. On the 7th a severe snow storm commenced, and continued throughout the day. On the 8th the bridge at Rappahannock Station was taken and held by General Bayard.

The next day was devoted by General McClellan to the transfer of his command to General Burnside. The most cordial feelings existed between the two officers, the latter of whom accepted a promotion which he had before twice declined, only upon the peremptory order of the War Department. On Sunday evening his officers assembled at his tent, for a final parting of commander and officers. It was such a scene of deep feeling as could occur only where officers reposed the highest confidence in their commander, who had led them successfully through some of the most fearful battles of modern wars. Monday was occupied in passing among the various camps, reviewing the troops, and taking a final leave of both officers and men. A spectator of these scenes has summed them up in these words:

“As General McClellan, mounted upon a fine horse, attended by a retinue of fine-looking military men, riding rapidly through the ranks, gracefully recognized and bid a farewell to the army, the cries and demonstrations of the men were beyond bounds—wild, impassioned, and unrestrained. Disregarding all military forms they rushed from their ranks and thronged around him with the bitterest complaints against those who had removed from command their beloved leader.”

On the next day, the 10th, he withdrew, taking the railroad cars at Warrenton. On reaching Warrenton Junction a salute was fired. The troops, which had been drawn up in line, afterward broke ranks, when the soldiers crowded around him and many eagerly called for a few parting words. He said in response, while on the platform of the railroad depot, “I wish you to stand by General Burnside as you have stood by me, and all will be well. Good-bye.” To this there was a spontaneous and enthusiastic response.

The troops were also drawn up in line at Bristow’s Station and Manassas Junction, where salutes were fired and he was complimented with enthusiastic cheers. On reaching Washington he proceeded immediately to the depot, and passed on to Philadelphia and Trenton, where he arrived early on the 12th.

What was now the military aspect? The movement of General McClellan’s army, after crossing the Potomac, was towards Gordonsville. This made a movement on the part of the Confederate general Lee necessary in order to prevent the Federal army from getting between him and Richmond. For this purpose he attempted to move from Winchester through the gaps of the Blue Ridge to Culpeper. The larger part of his force had passed through, when the gaps were taken and held by General McClellan. At the same time General Sigel had advanced from Washington, and lay near the Blue Ridge, covering at once Washington, observing the gaps to the Rappahannock, and protecting the railroad communication to that river. The bridge at Rappahannock Station had already been seized by the cavalry, under General Bayard. The available force of General McClellan was about one hundred and twenty thousand men; that of General Lee consisted of about sixty thousand able men at Culpepper and Gordonsville, and thirty thousand in the Shenandoah Valley, near Strasburg. The distance from Warrenton to Gordonsville is about fifty miles, and from Warrenton to the Rapidan, thirty-five miles; from Strasburg to Gordonsville, by Staunton and Charlottesville, one hundred and thirty-five miles; and by the only other practicable route, one northwest of Gordonsville, and perpendicular to General McClellan’s line of advance, about one hundred miles. In his position it was necessary for General Lee to defend the line of the Rapidan, or endeavor to effect a junction with the force in the Shenandoah Valley, under General Jackson, or fall back upon Richmond, in a country without a line of defence, with General McClellan close upon him, leaving General Jackson to shift for himself. The defence of the Rapidan was impracticable from the course of the river from the Alexandria railroad to the Blue Ridge. The efforts to join General Jackson would have uncovered Richmond, and the attempt to fall back on Richmond would have at least hazarded the demoralization of his army, and enabled General McClellan to turn the defensible parts of the Rappahannock, and the line of the North Anna. The appointment of General Burnside was followed by the organization of a portion of the army into divisions, and a movement to concentrate it at Fredericksburg.

OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY.
JUNE TO SEPTEMBER, 1862.

Never in the history of the world has there been a war of such magnitude as that waged by the loyal Unionists against the Southern insurgents in the American Republic, and never have the divisions of military forces stretched over so wide a field of operations. While the Army of the Potomac was fighting in Virginia, the struggle of loyalty and treason was going on in Kentucky. The masses of the people there were in favor of the Union; but their feeling was so cold, and had been operated on so strongly by Secession-sympathizing slaveholders, that as a body, they desired to remain simply neutral. The Governor of Kentucky, Beriah Magoffin, adopted a position of strict neutrality, and in accordance with this unpatriotic spirit, the slaveholding Senate of the State passed a decree that the State “will not sever her relations with the National Government, nor take up arms for either belligerent party.” At the same time, while refusing to lend the National cause any assistance, the slaveholding aristocracy of Kentucky entreated the people of the loyal North to yield to the rebels and win them back by amending the Constitution, in such a way as to make it a bulwark of negro slavery. But all this manœuvering was finally terminated, and the men of Kentucky were driven either to the protection of the national flag, or to the camps of the rebels. The battles before Richmond, Virginia, having paved the way for a general rebel advance, the enemy resolved on an effort to transfer the field of battle to northern soil; and it was in pursuance of this plan that General Lee had invaded Pennsylvania; but having been signally repulsed, he had, as we have seen, been obliged to abandon the attempt.

Early in June guerrilla operations became troublesome in some of the lower counties of Kentucky. At Madisonville, in Hopkins county, a descent was made by a small body of them at night. The county clerk’s office was broken open and the records of the court carried off or destroyed. In other places horses and other property were taken. Their own friends, equally with Union citizens, were robbed. In Jessamine, Mercer, Boyle, and Garrard counties bridges over the streams were burned. On the 5th of July Lebanon was taken. It is at the termination of the Lebanon branch of the Louisville and Nashville road. About the same time Murfreesboro’, in Tennessee, was captured by a strong guerrilla force under Colonel Forrest. Vigorous opposition was, however, made by the small body of Federal troops stationed there. The Ninth Michigan regiment, however, was captured entirely by surprise, with Brigadier-Generals Duffield and Crittenden, of Indiana.

At about this time the rebel Generals Bragg, Smith, Kirby and Van Dorn, had combined to invade Kentucky, their object being to capture Louisville, and then push forward and take possession of Cincinnati. It was the prosecution of this movement that led to the battles of Richmond, Tazewell, Mumfordsville, Perryville, Iuka, and Corinth. In name, as we have seen, the State of Kentucky was still attached to the Union. She had contributed her full quota to the national army, and her whole territory was unoccupied by Confederate forces; but the State was full of guerrilla bands, which, under cover of serving the rebels, plundered in all directions, on their own account. The chief of these guerrilla marauders, John Morgan, with his gang, took possession of the town of Lebanon, on the 12th of July, 1862. His troops continually increased till at last with a large force he advanced upon Cynthiana, which he attacked on the 18th. There a home guard of three hundred and forty men, entirely undisciplined, made a desperate resistance, and were not overpowered till they had slaughtered many of the rebel invaders. This little band of patriots was commanded by Colonel J. J. Landrum, whose coolness and bravery deserves every commendation.

A series of guerrilla attacks now succeeded each other, giving indications of hostile movements of a more serious character.

About the middle of August, it was reported that Frankfort, the State capital, was in danger from the approach of Morgan, and that the rebel General E. Kirby Smith was advancing with a well organized force, into Kentucky, from Knoxville, Tennessee.

Morgan’s force was subsequently overtaken near Paris, by General Green C. Smith, and defeated. About the same time Henderson was occupied by citizens from Kentucky and other States, acting the part of guerrillas, and the hospital and other stores carried off. Farther to the north, Newburg, in Indiana, on the Ohio river, was occupied by a band from Kentucky. They soon, however, left. The activity of the bands under Colonel Morgan produced a great excitement in the interior of the State. Many towns were visited and much plunder obtained. It had been his conviction that large numbers of the citizens would flock to his standard. In this he was greatly mistaken, and the indifference and hostility of the people, together with the preparations to resist him, checked his movements. Active operations continued in Tennessee, whither Colonel Morgan retired. Clarksville was captured with large military stores, and about the 22nd of August a considerable body of Confederate cavalry attacked the Federal force at Gallatin, and after a severe contest repulsed the latter.

At the same time, Governor James F. Robinson, who had succeeded Magoffin, appealed to the people in a stirring proclamation, dated August 31st, to rally in defence of the State, against the rebel invaders. His language is that of a whole-souled patriot.

“I appeal to you as Kentuckians, as worthy sons of those who rescued the dark and bloody ground from savage barbarity, by the memories of the past of your history, and by the future of your fame, if you are but true to yourselves, to rise in the majesty of your strength and drive the insolent invaders of your soil from your midst. Now is the time for Kentuckians to defend themselves. Each man must constitute himself a soldier, arm himself as best he can, and meet the foe at every step of his advance. The day and the hour, the safety of your homes and firesides, patriotism and duty, alike demand that you rush to the rescue. I call upon the people, then, to rise up as one man, and strike a blow for the defence of their native land, their property, and their homes. Rally to the standard, wherever it may be nearest, place yourselves under the commanders, obey orders, trust to your own right arm and the God of battle, and the foe will be driven back, discomfited and annihilated. To arms! to arms!! and never lay them down till the stars and stripes float in triumph throughout Kentucky. I but perform my duty in thus summoning you to the defence of your State, and I am assured that it will be promptly responded to. I promise that I will share with you the glory of the triumph which surely awaits you.”

Cumberland Gap, Tenn., was at this time in possession of the national troops, under command of General G. W. Morgan; and an attack of the rebels was made to drive General Morgan from his position; but, being fiercely repulsed by his advance at Tazewell, they turned toward the west, and proceeded over a difficult mountain road to a point known as Big Creek Gap. On the 9th of August, Governor Johnson, of Tennessee, received intelligence of this rebel invasion. Preparations were at once made, to withstand these combined armies. The United States government had no troops to spare for the defence of Kentucky, save undisciplined recruits, raised under the President’s call for three hundred thousand men, made on the first of July. Pope’s campaign was at this moment in progress. Altogether, the time was full of danger, and trouble, and doubt. Happily Governor Tod of Ohio, and Morton, of Indiana, were loyal and energetic men, and to their efforts at this juncture the State of Kentucky was mainly indebted for protection against her foes and the foes of the nation. Troops were immediately despatched into Kentucky from those States. General Boyle was in command at Louisville. General Wallace, volunteering to serve in the capacity of a Colonel, was put in command at Lexington, which point was directly fortified. J. J. Crittenden, Leslie Coombs, and Garrett Davis, assuming positions on General Wallace’s staff, rendered valuable aid, through their large popularity and influence, in bringing in recruits. General Wallace also organized a regiment of negroes, and employed them on the fortifications. All the while the rebels were steadily advancing. Before the armies met, however, General Wallace had been relieved of his command.

Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, and eastern Kentucky were organized into a military district, entitled the Department of the Ohio, General U. S. Wright being appointed to its chief command, and Major-General Nelson transferred to the command of the Army of Kentucky. The latter officer adopted tactics very different from those of his predecessor, and, as events presently demonstrated, far less prudent. Casting aside the spade, he at once advanced beyond his intrenchments, to meet the enemy and give him battle. The result was a defeat at the

BATTLE OF RICHMOND, KY.
AUGUST 30, 1862.

Richmond, Kentucky, is a small village south of the Kentucky river, southeast of Frankfort, and about twenty-five miles from Lexington. Richmond is the capital of Madison county, situated about fifty miles south-southeast of Frankfort, the capital of the State. The Federal force there consisted of one Ohio regiment, five Indiana regiments and part of a sixth, two Kentucky regiments, all raw troops, and a squadron of Kentucky cavalry, under the command of Brigadier-Generals Mahlon D. Manson and Crufts, with nine field-pieces, making in all six thousand five hundred men. The number of the enemy’s forces, known to be in front, could not be ascertained. Information was brought to General Manson, Friday, August 29th, that the enemy were approaching in large force. General Manson at once sent a dispatch to Colonel Munday, commanding a small detachment of cavalry in the neighborhood of Kingston, directing him to hold the enemy in check; and, if possible to ascertain his strength and position. The first brigade was then ordered to stand to arms, and hold themselves in readiness to act at a moment’s notice.

Four additional companies were sent forward, to strengthen the pickets at the fort of Big Hill, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Wolfe, of the Sixteenth Indiana.

At two o’clock, General Manson received intelligence that the infantry picket, the cavalry of Lieutenant-Colonel Munday, and a similar force under command of Colonel Metcalf, were retreating with all speed toward the camps, hard pressed by a rebel force numbering four or five thousand men. Without loss of time, General Manson ordered out the First brigade, consisting of the Fifteenth, Fifty-fifth, Sixty-ninth and Seventy-first Indiana regiments; and the artillery under command of Lieutenant Lamphere. After an advance of three-quarters of a mile, General Manson descried a heavy column of rebel cavalry, hardly a mile east of the road, and ordered a section of the artillery into position, to fire upon the enemy. The firing was commenced with such excellent effect, as to scatter the enemy in every direction. General Manson then continued his advance, bivouacking for the night at Rogersville.

On the morning of the 30th he met the enemy. By this movement he had placed a distance of four miles between himself and General Cruft’s brigade. The din of battle at once began, Kirby Smith attacking the National troops, with the whole rebel force. General Cruft, hearing the cannonading, moved to General Manson’s support, without waiting for orders; and found the battle already raging with fierceness and fury. The new troops were hastily formed in line, under heavy fire, and they fought bravely, against a foe of almost double their own numbers. But the slight confusion of forming them into line had already been taken advantage of by the enemy, who pressed forward in heavy force, and outflanked the Union troops, by gaining the cover of a large corn-field and the woods; and making a dash upon the left wing, it gave way, and fell back in the utmost confusion. General Manson had maintained his position for upward of three hours; and the artillery had kept up an almost unceasing fire. The Sixteenth, Fifty-fifth, Sixty-ninth, and Seventy-first Indiana regiments, under command of, respectively, Colonel Lucas, Colonel Mahan, Lieutenant-Colonel Korff, and Lieutenant-Colonel Topping, occupied prominent positions during the engagement, and were constantly exposed to the enemy’s fire. As the rout of the Union forces became general, three regiments of General Cruft’s brigade, with the Eighteenth Kentucky, Colonel Warner, in advance, came up, and made a determined and desperate effort to check the advancing enemy. For twenty minutes they contended manfully with an overpowering rebel force, but were at last obliged to fall back before overwhelming numbers. But the Union forces were not yet defeated; they retreated about three-quarters of a mile, and once more formed into line of battle. General Cruft’s brigade was ordered to the right, to take position on an elevated part of the ground; two regiments were placed on the extreme right, within cover of a piece of wood; and two behind a fence, fronting a field of corn. The First brigade was placed on the left of the road, and formed in line behind fences. The rebels, secure in numbers, and triumphant from recent victory, came dashing forward exultantly and with loud cheers, and threw themselves upon the left flank of General Manson’s little army. This movement occasioned an immediate change of front; in the attempt to effect it the Union troops were again thrown into confusion, and completely routed. General Manson and General Cruft rode forward, and made a last effort to rally the scattered remnants of their twice defeated troops; and General Nelson at this moment coming up, a third time the line was formed, under the combined efforts of these officers: but the day was against the Union soldiers. After a short, sharp contest, lasting but a few minutes, the patriot line was repulsed, defeated, and scattered in confusion. The archives of the State and about one million of treasure from the banks of Richmond, Lexington, and Frankfort were transferred during the night to Louisville.

The increase of guerrilla operations in Kentucky about the 1st of September, with the manifestations of the existence of a Confederate force, indicated some hostile movements. It was soon known that the Confederate General E. Kirby Smith was approaching from Knoxville in Tennessee. On the 22d of August he left Jacksborough with a train of one hundred and fifty wagons, and passed through Big Creek Gap. So difficult were some parts of the route in Tennessee that for two or three days the rear of the trains was only able to reach at night the point from which the advance started in the morning. Rations failed, and the men were obliged for several days to subsist on green corn. Hungry, thirsty, footsore, and choking with dust, his men marched steadily on to a land of plenty. The ordnance stores were brought safely through without the loss of a wagon.

There was now no obstacle in the way of the rebel advance. On the 2nd of September, General Kirby Smith led his victorious followers into Lexington, and on the 6th he took possession of Frankfort. His successes, of course, occasioned great consternation, but they did not paralyze the preparations of the Unionists, to resist his advance and drive him back. General Nelson had withdrawn to Louisville. General Wallace was once more called into active service and put in command at Cincinnati. Both these points were liable to attack, and both accordingly were as strongly fortified as time and circumstances would permit. The prompt and effective action of General Wallace, at this time, was mainly instrumental in stemming the tide of invasion. Troops flocked to his standard, from all directions. Confidence was restored. The rebels under Kirby Smith reconnoitred Cincinnati, but found it too strong for attack, and after a brief time, slowly and sullenly withdrew.

BRAGG’S INVASION—BATTLE OF MUNFORDSVILLE, KY.
SEPTEMBER 14–16, 1862.

The advance of the rebels under General Bragg, into the State of Kentucky, commenced shortly after that of Kirby Smith. General Bragg had been opposed by General Buell, in Tennessee. But, slipping away from the Union commander—never a very active officer—General Bragg had, on the 23rd of July, surprised and captured Murfreesboro, and had then passed around Nashville, and pushed on into Kentucky, intending to cooperate with Kirby Smith. How the latter fared we have seen. Our attention is now due the operations of the former. That he was immediately followed by General Buell, may be premised.

On the 13th of September the rebel advance reached Munfordsville, where it was met by Colonel J. T. Wilder. Again the Sabbath sun looked down on one of the fearful contests of this dreadful war; and it may here be mentioned, how frequent during the war for the Union, battles of great moment to the country were fought upon the Sabbath day. With the first light of Sunday morning, the advance of Bragg’s army, under General Chalmers, made a fierce attack on Munfordsville. The rebels had conceived an idea that the Federals had fled, and came rushing on to what they anticipated as certain victory, when the patriots, making no sign till the enemy was close upon them, opened a sudden and furious fire from their well-aimed guns. Utterly confounded, the rebels reeled back before the unlooked-for shower of death, and fled to the woods in great confusion. A similarly fierce attack had been made on the right, while the above was made on the left; and under the dreadful fire of the rebels, the Union flag was pierced with one hundred and forty bullets. The enemy was completely repulsed, and, at a little before ten, they ceased firing. No more fighting ensued during that day. In the mean time, a reinforcement of six companies had been sent to Colonel Wilder; and dispatches for more had been sent to Louisville and Bowling Green. But Louisville was in great trouble, and could spare no troops; and for reasons utterly inexplicable, General Buell did not send any assistance, though his entire army was stationed at Bowling Green. On Monday the battle was renewed fiercely, and kept up during the day. Evening came, and with it General Bragg and the bulk of his army.

On Wednesday morning, the place was surrendered by Colonel C. L. Dunham, who had arrived with his regiment, and then had command. The troops surrendered consisted of the Seventeenth, Sixtieth, Sixty-seventh, Sixty-eighth, Sixty-ninth Indiana, a company of Louisville cavalry, a part of the Fourth Ohio, and a section of the Thirteenth Indiana battery; amounting in all to about four thousand five hundred men, and ten guns. Both officers and men were at once paroled. General Bragg, unmolested by General Buell, continued his march northward, and before reaching Louisville, turned his troops toward the centre of Kentucky. General Buell marched straight to Louisville, where, having encamped, he left Bragg in the heart of the State, to despoil it, and pick up everything in the way of supplies that could in the future be of value to him.

BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE, KY.
OCTOBER 8, 1862.

After a long period of extraordinary inaction, and after General Bragg had commenced his retreat from Kentucky, General Buell suddenly roused to the necessity of doing something, and moved from Louisville. His army was divided into three corps: the first, under command of Major-General A. McDowell McCook; the second under Major-General Crittenden; the third under Major-General Gilbert. Major-General Thomas being second in command, moved with the second corps; and General Buell himself with the third.