CHAPTER X. GENERAL POPE'S CAMPAIGN. (From June 22 to September 22, 1862.) GENERAL POPE'S PROCLAMATION.-GENERAL HALLECK "COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF.-DILATORINESS OF GENERAL MCCLELLAN.-GENERAL POPE TAKES THE FIELD.-BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN. -DEATH OF HENRY M. DUTTON. HEROISM OF BANKS'S CORPS.-LEE'S ARMY.-HEROIC STRUGGLES OF GENERAL POPE.-VICTORY OF THE REBELS.-RETREAT TO CENTREVILLE.— REBEL HISTORIANS. By an order of the President, dated June 22, 1862, just before General McClellan's army on the Chickahominy commenced its disastrous "change of base," the separate commands of Generals Fremont, Banks, and McDowell, and those in the fortifications around Washington, which forces had been reserved for the protection of the Capital, were consolidated into three corps d'armée, and called the Army of Virginia. According to military usage, General Fremont, as senior officer, was entitled to the command. But the three officers above mentioned were each left with their former commands, while Major-General Pope, who had won distinction in the West, was appointed General-in-Chief of these united armies. The late successes of General Fremont against Jackson, his undeniable qualifications as a prompt and efficient officer, and his priority of rank, were not sufficient to counterbalance those political considerations which, in the Cabinet, decreed this his virtual degradation. General Fremont at once requested to be relieved of this subordinate command. He was severely blamed for it by many, as being wanting in patriotism. But, had he not resigned, he would have been still more severely blamed as mean-spirited, and ready to brook indignity for the sake of office. General Pope, in assuming the command, issued a proclamation to his army, which reflected severely and justly upon the wonderfully mild and lenient manner in which some of his predecessors had conducted their campaigns. This caused great exasperation among many of the officers .who had adopted General McClellan's views respecting the best mode of prosecuting the war, and who were not prepared for those vigorous measures with which General Pope wished to crush, rather than caress the rebellion. The Army of Virginia was directed by General Pope henceforth to subsist on the enemy's country. Vouchers for supplies seized were to be given to those who could prove their loyalty. The inhabitants in the vicinity were to be held responsible for the destruction of railroad bridges and telegraph wires, and for the outrages of guerrillas. Those refusing the oath of allegiance were to be sent beyond the army lines, and treated as spies should they again return. These orders excited great indignation in rebeldom. They had been accustomed to treatment so gentle, that this mode of conducting the war, with the same ungloved hand with which they had been striking their hardest blows, seemed a great outrage. In response, they uttered the most terrible threats of retaliation. General Pope, his officers and soldiers, were declared to be outlaws, beyond the pale of the ordinary humanities of war. At this time, Major-General Halleck was summoned from the West to take the post, at Washington, of General-in-Chief of all the armies of the United States. He entered upon his duties July 23d, 1862, when the bleeding, exhausted Army of the Potomac was recovering at Harrison's Landing from its heroic exertions during the Seven Days' Battles. He carefully investigated the condition of the troops at the Landing, and held personal interviews with General McClellan. The defeated General, as we have stated, asked for a reënforcement of fifty thousand men, that he might make another attempt upon Richmond. It was impossible to furnish these troops without exposing Washington and the borders of Maryland and Pennsylvania to an invasion, for which the rebels had made great preparations. Under these circumstances, General Halleck deemed it necessary to withdraw McClellan's army from the Peninsula, and unite it with the Aarmy of Virginia. Against this measure General McClellan remonstrated vehemently. It however received the approval of the Administration, and of a bitterly disappointed nation. upon. Unfortunately, in this case, as in many others, there was a lamentable want of promptness in executing the movements which had been decided It was not until the 14th of August that the evacuation was commenced, eleven days after the order for the immediate removal of the army for Acquia Creek. The loss of these precious days cost thousands of lives and millions of treasure. We had the entire control of James River and Chesapeake Bay, and a vast fleet of gun-boats and transports were placed at the disposal of General McClellan, to expedite the withdrawal of the troops. General Pope left Washington on the 27th of July, to take the field. The task assigned to the Army of Virginia was important and hazardous. It was to cover Washington, guard the Shenandoah Valley, and, by bold operations on the northern approaches to Richmond, to draw away the rebel army from any further assaults upon McClellan. Thus these imperilled troops at Harrison's Landing could be removed unmolested, and, by junction with the Army of Virginia, could secure the Capital, and move by a new line upon Richmond. It was greatly to be feared that the rebels would throw their whole force upon Washington before General McClellan's army could effect a junction with the Army of Virginia. If this should be so, General Pope would be in the most imminent peril. The rebels could entirely outnumber him, and, apparently, Washington must fall. Hence it was a matter of momentous importance that General McClellan should remove his troops as speedily as possible. And hence it was that his extraordinary dilatoriness was deemed quite inexplicable. The true condition of the two armies and the peril of Washington were kept as far as possible from the public. But the better informed, all over the land, awaited events with hushed voice and in intense anxiety. The greater portion of General Pope's army was stationed at Culpepper and at Fredericksburg. His force extending along the Rapidan could muster in all but twenty-eight thousand men. On the 7th of August, General Pope learned that the rebels, in great force, were crossing the Rapidan at several points. He ordered his troops, who had been dispersed for the sake of observation, immediately to rally at Culpepper. During the forenoon of Friday, the 8th, Crawford's brigade of Banks's corps was dispatched towards Cedar or Slaughter Mountain, to retard the movements of the enemy. Early on Saturday morning, General Banks, who had the previous evening promptly arrived from Hazel River, was sent forward, with his whole corps of about seven thousand men, to join General Crawford. In the vicinity of Culpepper Court-House, north of the Rapidan, and a little on the west of the Alexandria and Orange Railroad, there is a very considerable eminence, called Cedar Mountain. As this heavy swell of land stood upon the plantation of the Rev. D. F. Slaughter, it was sometimes called Slaughter Mountain. On Thursday morning, the 7th of August, the rebels in great force, under General "Stonewall" Jackson, crossed the Rapidan, and, advancing upon Culpepper, stationed themselves, on Saturday, strongly upon Cedar Mountain. General Banks was immediately sent forward from the direction of Culpepper to retard, and, if possible, to arrest, the further advances of the foe. At the same time, General Sigel, by forced marches, was hastening to the support of General Banks. The rebels were strongly intrenched, and concealed in the heavy woods which covered the sides of the hill. About five o'clock in the afternoon, they cautiously, but in great force, emerged from the forest and advanced upon General Banks, assailing him with a terrific fire of artillery and infantry. General Crawford's brigade of General Banks's command, consisting of the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania, Tenth Maine, Twenty-eighth New York, and Fifth Connecticut, was conspicuous in this heroic and sanguinary fight. This brigade was drawn up in line in the edge of the woods, facing the south. There was a spacious wheat-field before them, about eighty rods across, from north to south. The wheat had just been harvested, and the shocks of grain were still standing dispersed throughout the field. The ground sloped gently towards the south to a marshy run or ravine, beyond which Cedar Mountain rose abruptly, covered with a dense forest, within which the rebels had found their lair. At The rebels opened their fire from heavy batteries on Cedar Mountain, in positions considerably above those occupied by the National troops. first it was a battle with artillery alone, the two forces being about a mile from each other. Rapidly the rebels multiplied their batteries, concentrating upon the National troops a fire of terrible severity. The annoyance was so great that it became essential, by a desperate bayonet charge, to endeavor to silence some of these guns. It was about six o'clock when the order was given to charge. The troops sprang forward at the double-quick. They had not, however, pro ceeded far, on the full run over the open field, when the rebels opened upon them a crushing fire from their batteries. The patriots, in their exposed position, presented a target which scarcely any shot could fail to hit. A storm of grape and canister fell upon them, and still they pressed on. A wake of the dead and of the wounded was left in the path they traversed. With loud cheers they rushed into the woods, where the batteries were belching forth their incessant volleys, when there sprang from the underbrush such an overwhelming force of the rebels, pouring in upon the patriots a point-blank fire of musketry, that retreat became inevitable. In the midst of this scene of awful carnage, many noble patriots fell. Among them was Lieutenant Henry M. Dutton, son of Governor Dutton, of Connecticut. This young man, in early life, had become a disciple of the Saviour. Graduating at Yale College, and having successfully prosecuted the study of the law in the Yale Law School, he entered upon the practice of his profession in the beautiful town of Litchfield, in his native State. There was here open before him a career of honor, of competence, and of happy domestic life. But this infamous rebellion raised its banner, menacing our National existence. The soul of young Dutton was fired. With all the enthusiasm of his nature, he engaged in the service of his country, first in raising volunteers, and then going forward himself into the field of battle. In the battle of Winchester, and during all General Banks's heroic retreat down the Valley of the Shenandoah, he rendered himself conspicuous for his sagacity and his bravery. Here, at Cedar Mountain, cheering on his men, he himself among the foremost in the impetuous charge, a bullet pierced his body and he fell dead. Such are the sacrifices which this demon of rebellion has laid in hecatombs upon her altar. History has presented to my view few scenes more sad, than the vision of the venerable father of this young man, a few days after the battle, wandering over this field in the unavailing endeavor to find the remains of this his beloved and only son. In this persistent conflict, which night alone terminated, the National troops under General Banks were, according to General Pope's official report, but seven thousand in number. The rebels, according to the Richmond Examiner, were fifteen thousand. Both parties claimed the victory. Neither were entitled to it. Still, the National troops might well feel exultant, that they had held twice their own number at bay, and had effectually arrested the onward march of the rebels. Both parties reposed on their arms in line of battle during the night, while cannon-shot and shells were interchanged until midnight. Two or three hundred in this cannonade were lost on each side. It was a mild, beautiful, brilliant autumnal night. The landscape, in its panorama of meadow, mountain, and forest, presented a scene of rare loveliness, illumined by the rays of the full moon. And there, in the narrow space of two hundred yards, were hundreds of the dying, groaning in agony. No help could reach them. Reënforcements had arrived to strengthen the thin and decimated lines of the National troops. About twelve o'clock at night, Generals Pope, Banks, and Sigel were in conference on a hill which they had selected for their night bivouac, and which commanded a view of the field of battle. Sud |