Page images
PDF
EPUB

THE BATTLE FIELD.

435

Spurring on in search of hero dismounted, and sitHanding his horse to his him, and questioned him Other Generals soon joined there on the edge of battle.

rolled like thunder over the field. Heintzelman, he found the tired ting on the ground under a tree. orderly, he seated himself beside rapidly of the state of things. them, forming a brilliant group The reports were all alike, the enemy were falling back in every part of the field.

All our lost ground was at length won, and it was determined not to advance farther, as only a portion of the army was over the river, or could be got over till the flood subsided. Had McClellan been able to move the whole army, he would have followed the enemy to the streets of Richmond, and then and there settled the fate of the rebel Capital.

After the battle was over, McClellan rode with his body guard through the victorious ranks. The shouts that greeted him, told how deeply he had fixed himself in the affections of the army. Even the wounded raised their heads, and added their feeble cheers to the thundering hurrahs that rolled over the plain.

It was a great victory, though won at a fearful cost. Mangled heaps of friends and focs spotted the fields and woods in every direction, and lay in long and mournful lines along the roads. Men of the same faith and blood, members of the same church, who should have been worshiping in God's blessed temple on this Sabbath day, lay side by side, their spirits having passed together to that land where no confusion of right and wrong makes enemies of those who should be friends. It was a sight over which angels might weep. More than ten thousand had fallen there amid the springing grass and grain, and under the shadow of the green woods. The ghastly bayonet wounds on every side, were a new spectacle to American soldiers. Four separate

436

RESULT OF THE BATTLE.

charges had been made during the day, and each time with complete success.

Our total loss in killed, wounded, and missing, was five thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine. The enemy took, beside many prisoners, nineteen cannon from Casey's division, which they hurried off on Saturday night to Richmond, as trophies, and a large quantity of stores of all kinds. Their loss was variously estimated at from ten to twelve thousand; but their own reports afterward made it only a few hundred

more than ours.

Several distinguished officers fell into our hands, among whom was General Pettigrew. But the heaviest loss of the enemy was that of the Commander-in-Chief, Johnston, whose wound removed him from active service. Twenty thousand men could have been better spared than he.

For days after the battle, the field covered with the wrecks of the fight, presented a frightful spectacle. Between three and four hundred horses lay strewed along where the battle had raged fiercest. These were collected in huge pyramids and burned.

As in the battle of Pittsburg Landing, both sides claimed the victory, and as in that, the first day the enemy was victorious. His tactics were the same in both; his object being to drive a part of the army into a river, before the other part could come up, and he nearly succeeded in both. But in each case he failed to carry out his plan, and was driven from the field, leaving his dead behind him.

So far as immediate results were concerned, it was a barren victory to both sides, for it left the two armies in precisely the same relative position that they were in before. The battle, however, did not in any way interrupt the plans of McClellan, but a disaster to our armies in the Shenandoah valley, that occurred about this time, did most seriously interfere with those of the government, and thus eventually overwhelmed him with disaster.

CASEY'S DIVISION.

437

McClellan's dispatch to the government, announcing the victory, awarded unbounded praise to his troops with the exception of Casey's division, of which he spoke in severe terms. More accurate information obtained afterwards, caused him to modify his charges against it somewhat; still he evidently felt that its behavior was disgraceful and well nigh caused his ruin. The gallant conduct of some of the regiments and portions of regiments, by which the enemy was held in check for a long time, could not shield the division from condemnation. The efforts afterwards made to defend its conduct were only partially successful. Even Casey's and Naglee's dispatches saved the reputation only of individual regiments.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

MAY, 1862.

MC DOWELL ABOUT TO JOIN MC CLELLAN-SHIELDS' DIVISION DETACHED FROM BANKS JACKSON RESOLVES TO ATTACK THE LATTER-GALLANT DEFENSE OF KENLY AT FRONT ROYAL-BANKS RESOLVES TO FALL BACK TO THE POTOMAC-THE REAR GUARD CUT OFF-BATTLE AT WINCHESTER-THE ARMY REACHES THE POTOMAC IN SAFETY AND CROSSES INTO MARYLAND—BANKS AS A GENERAL-FRIGHT OF THE SECRETARY OF WAR-THE MILITIA CALLED OUT-SUCCESS OF JACKSON'S PLAN-MC DOWELL AND FREMONT ORDERED TO INTERCEPT JACKSON'S RETREAT.

EFORE the battle of Fair Oaks occurred, McDowell, at

BE

Fredericksburg, was preparing at last to move down to the assistance of McClellan. The news that his army had crossed the Rappahannock, and turned its face towards Richmond, was received with intense satisfaction, and the bitter complaints and angry discussions gave way to general congratulations that the government had finally moved in the right direction; for it was confidently believed, that the junction of his troops with those of McClellan, would be the signal of an immediate advance on the rebel Capital. To give him greater strength, Shields, with fifteen thousand men, had been detached from Banks' division to join him.

After the victory at Winchester, over Stonewall Jackson, as he was called, Banks had for a while steadily pursued him without being able to bring on a battle. At length there seemed to be a suspension of his movements, and like McDowell he was thought to be awaiting the progress of affairs at Yorktown. The surrender of that place, however, and the movement of the army on to Richmond caused no change of attitude in either of these Generals.

ATTACK ON COLONEL KENLY.

439

Banks, at this time, was at Strasburg, with the remnant of the army left to him, numbering about five thousand men, with fifteen hundred cavalry. Of course he was not expected to hold his position with that force, against Jackson, should he advance upon him. In that event, retreat would be inevitable; but why he did not fall back simultaneously with the departure of Shields, or at least so dispose his trains as to be unincumbered by them, if called upon to retreat hastily, was a little surprising. At all events, he remained quietly at Strasburg with his little army, having taken the precaution to station a Maryland regiment, under Colonel Kenly, at Front Royal, twelve miles in advance. Jackson, through his spies, had been informed of the departure of Shields, and of the weakness of Banks, and resolved to make a sudden dash on the latter and capture his entire force, threaten the Potomac, and thus alarm the government at Washington, and make it withhold the troops from McClellan.

On the twenty-third, Jackson, in pursuance of his plan, suddenly appeared on the banks of the Shenandoah, in front of Kenly's regiment. The long roll at once sounded, and Colonel Kenly drew up his regiment so as to command the approach, and awaited the attack. In a short time the enemy appeared in overwhelming numbers, and opened with artillery and musketry, on the Marylanders. They returned the fire with such precision and coolness, that the advancing columns were checked, though not driven back. A desperate fight followed, in which this single regiment, contending against five times its number, won for itself a reputation equal to that of the old Maryland Continentals of Revolutionary fame.

In the mean time, swift riders had started for Strasburg, for help. Banks received the report of the large body of troops opposed to Kenly with incredulity; still he sent off a regiment of infantry, and a body of cavalry to his assistance.

« PreviousContinue »