CHAPTER XXII.

THE CORPS D'ARMEE OF GENERAL BANKS-IMPRUDENT REDUCTION OF ITS NUMBERS—THE REBELS UNDER JACKSON ATTACK THE ADVANCE AT FRONT ROYAL-DESIGN OF THE REBELS TO OVERPOWER BANKS'S DIVISION-THE LATTER orders a GENERAL RETREAT TOWARD WINCHESTER-VARIOUS ENGAGEMENTS ON THE ROUTE-BATTLE OF MIDDLETOWN-ACTION ON THE MARCH TO WINCHESTER-BATTLE AT NEWTOWN-THE BATTLE OF WINCHESTERITS RESULTS-CONTINUANCE OF THE RETREAT TO WILLIAMSPORT-ADVENTURES OF THE ZOUAVES D'AFRIQUE-FEDERAL LOSSES DURING THE RETREAT-SKETCH OF GENERAL BANKS-ATTITUDE OF THE FEDERAL AND REBEL ARMIES AT CORINTH-A GREAT BATTLE ANTICIPATED COMMENCEMENT OF THE ATTACK BY GENERAL HALLECK-ITS RESULTSEVACUATION OF CORINTH BY THE REBELS-CAUSES OF THIS EVENT-AN EXTRAORDINARY SPECTACLE-PURSUIT OF THE RETREATING FOE-A RECONNOISSANCE ON THE CHICKAHOMINY-SKIRMISH AT THE PINES-THE BATTLE OF HANOVER COURT HOUSE-DESTRUCTION OF THE RICHMOND AND FREDERICKSBURG RAILROAD-GALLANT EXPLOIT OF LIEUTENANT DAVIS.

THAT portion of the Federal forces which had been placed under the command of General Banks, had pursued the Rebels under General Jackson through the valley of the Shenandoah with steady and unvarying success as far as Strasburg, when, on the 23d of May, 1862, a sudden reverse overtook the victors. The division of General Banks was originally an efficient body of troops, comprising three large brigades, These had been reduced from time to time to less than half of their first proportions, through the occult influence of various causes, by sending large detachments to other commanders in the field. The result of this policy was, that General Banks was eventually placed in a critical position, in the heart of a hostile country, and liable to be attacked at any moment by an enraged enemy with an overwhelming preponderance of numbers. The commander of the Rebels in that region was too shrewd and vigilant an officer not to discover the immense advantages which were thus unfortunately placed within his reach; and he soon gave the friends of the Union ample cause to regret the energy and skill with which he improved the opportunity of revenge and conquest which this indiscretion tendered him.

On the 23d of May, the advance guard of General Banks, which was stationed under Colonel Kenley at Front Royal, consisting of the first Maryland regiment, was suddenly attacked by the Rebels with great fury and with an immense superiority of numbers. As soon as information of this event reached the headquarters at Strasburg, General Banks or dered a detachment of cavalry and a portion of his artillery forward to the support of Colonel Kenley; but when it was ascertained, soon afterward, that the troops of that officer had been wholly scattered by the

REBEL DESIGN TO OVERPOWER BANKS' DIVISION.

245

avalanche which had descended upon them, and that the enemy, twentyfive thousand strong, were rushing on like a deluge for the purpose of surrounding and crushing the comparatively weak force of General Banks, the reinforcements thus ordered forward were recalled. That commander quickly discerned the full extent of his danger, and the novel and perilous crisis summoned all his rare powers of discrimination into immediate action. He perceived that, under the circumstances, only one of three lines of conduct was possible for him: He might advance with his whole force from Strasburg toward Front Royal, and attack the enemy on the flank; he might retire across Little North Mountain, and thus reach the Potomac on the west; he might retreat to Winchester, there preserve his communications with his original base of operations, wait for reinforcements, engage the advancing enemy if necessary, or retreat to Williamsport, as the event might demand. The objection to the first plan was fatal: his troops were too few to attack the augmented and greatly superior force which the Rebels had suddenly brought together at Front Royal. The argument against the second plan was equally potent: by it General Banks would have been compelled to abandon his whole train, consisting of five hundred wagons of ammunition and stores. The third expedient alone was prudent and feasible; for by a skillful retreat toward Winchester, and thence to the Potomac, the army might be saved from capture, his stores from total loss, and the cause of the Union from a greater disaster than any which had occurred since the commencement of the war.

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Accordingly, at three o'clock on the morning of the 24th of May, the hurried dispositions for the retreat were made. Colonel Donnelly's brig ade was ordered forward in the advance with the wagon trains. Colonel Gordon was placed in command of the bulk of the infantry in the centre. General Hatch, with nearly the whole of the cavalry, and six pieces of artillery, was charged with the protection of the rear. By nine o'clock all the arrangements were completed; every man was at his post; General Banks was ubiquitous over the whole line; the last orders to march were given; and then began one of the most masterly retreats which can be found recorded on the checkered pages of history. Soon the Rebel forces came rushing on in full pursuit. The long line of troops and wagons was winding its tedious way, like an immense anaconda, stretching between Strasburg and Middletown, when the enemy, passing the Federal troops by a circuitous route, reached the front of the column and made an attack upon the heavy trains and the troops which guarded them. The enemy had obtained possession of the road at Middletown, for the purpose of intercepting the retreat; and now the fugitives from the front came running toward the rear in wild confusion, bringing the first tidings of the assault. The position and immediate purpose of the Rebels being thus ascertained, Colonel Donnelly was instantly ordered forward with a body of troops to support the advance. He encountered the enemy in

full force at Middletown, thirteen miles from Winchester. Colonel Knipe was directed, with the forty-sixth Pennsylvania, to attack the enemy. posted in the woods on the right. He was supported by a portion of Cochran's New York battery and the twenty-eighth New York regiment. After a short, though spirited contest, the Rebels broke and fled. They were then pursued for more than two miles from the scene of action; but as there seemed to be no visible end to the chase, the victors returned to the main column. As it was the purpose of General Banks to effect his return to Winchester, and not to win battles, except in so far as it was. necessary to accomplish that result, he refused to waste valuable time in useless conquests. Thus Middletown was passed, and the heroic march was continued toward Winchester.

It was now ascertained that the Rebels had taken another position, for the purpose of intercepting the Federal forces before they reached that city. General Hatch, who still commanded the rear, was then ordered to advance with the greater part of his troops, leaving Colonel De Forrest to protect the rear. Hatch in vain attempted to join the Federal troops in front, being intercepted by the greater masses of the enemy; he then moved to the left, and advanced by a parallel road toward Winchester. He found Colonel Gorden at Newtown, where he effected a junction with the main column. But six companies of the New York fifth under Colonel De Forrest, in the rear, were cut off by the enemy from the rest of the troops, and compelled to retreat to Strasburg. At Newtown a spirited contest took place between a large body of the Rebels and a portion of the Federal troops commanded by Colonel Gordon, consisting of the second Massachusetts, the twenty-seventh Indiana, and the twenty-eighth New York. These troops attacked the Rebels with fury, drove them from the town, and the guns of the enemy were silenced by the Federal battery; but they found it impossible to effect a junction with the cavalry under General Hatch, or to recover the rear of the train which had been cut off. It was here that, as the Federal column continued their line of march, they were surrounded by numerous masses of the Rebel hordes, who repeatedly charged on them with cavalry, but were as often repulsed in solid squares, with all the gallantry and firmness of veterans. During these operations, the wagons which became disabled were burned from time to time, to prevent their contents from falling into the hands of the enemy; while after each assault and each repulse, the line of march was quietly resumed. Many were wounded and slain on both sides; and thus by slow stages the Federal forces approached, and finally reached Winchester. It was at this place that the most tragical scenes connected with this memorable and masterly retreat were destined to occur. The Rebels having concentrated twenty-five thousand men around the Federal forces as they lay in the vicinity of Winchester, commenced the attack at break of day on the 25th of May. The latter reposed upon

THE BATTLE OF WINCHESTER.

247 their arms during their halt, and were ready at a moment's notice to receive the enemy. The right wing, commanded by Colonel Gordon, com prised the third brigade, and the men were protected to some extent from the fire of the foe by stone walls in the vicinity. Colonel Donnelly commanded the remainder of the infantry, which was posted on the left. General Hatch and the cavalry occupied the centre. The enemy commenced the engagement by an attack on the left of the Federal line. Here they suffered severely, and the advantage remained with the Federals. On the right the enemy were more numerously posted, and were more successful in their operations. They attempted to turn the flank of the Federal troops upon the Berryville road. A portion of the latter then retreated, the Rebels pursued, and a confused flight through Winchester took place. The right wing followed in better order, and covered the retreat through the town. On the opposite side of Winchester order was again restored, and the line of march resumed. This battle continued during five hours. In it about five thousand men, of all arms, had confronted and encountered with honor twenty-five thousand. The Rebels gained few laurels by the combat. The retreat was then continued toward Martinsburg, the Federal troops marching in three parallel columns. Each of these columns was protected by a rear guard, which repeatedly and defiantly skirmished with the Rebels. At Martinsburg the Federal troops halted two hours and a half, thus demonstrating that they were not making a panic-stricken or precipitate retreat. After that interval the march was resumed; and at six o'clock on the same day, they reached the banks of the Potomac at Williamsport. They had traveled fifty-three miles in forty-eight hours. A small number of the wearied troops crossed the river during the night; the remainder followed on the ensuing day.

The Federal loss in this retreat was, under the circumstances a very small one. It was thirty-eight killed, one hundred and fifty-five wounded, seven hundred missing. All the Federal guns, sixteen in number, were saved. Out of a train of nearly five hundred wagons, only fifty-five were lost. Most of these were burned upon the road, because they had become wrecked, and not because they were abandoned to the enemy. Among the officers who especially distinguished themselves on this occasion was General A. S. Williams, commanding the division; Colonels Donnelly and Gordon, commanding the two brigades; and General Hatch, the chief of cavalry. In the several engagements which took place during the retreat, not a few episodes occurred in which particular corps and single companies displayed the best and noblest qualities of the soldier. Our space forbids us to enumerate all of these. One of the most remarkable, which deserves special mention, was the escape of the Zouaves d'Afrique, who had been the body guard of the commander-in-chief. These men were selected to perform the dangerous duty of burning the bridges in the rear of the retreating column. They were commanded by Captain Collis.

When the overwhelming numbers of the enemy became evident, and it remained uncertain whether the Federal troops might not themselves need the bridges by which to return, they abandoned their task, pressed forward toward Winchester, and reached Middletown during the progress of the battle at that place. They there joined in the combat; but being only seventy in number, were overwhelmed by a vastly superior force, and compelled to retreat. They then pursued their march toward Winchester by a different route. In the vicinity of that town they again encountered the enemy, and were compelled to turn back. Unable to unite with the main column in consequence of this obstacle, they took an obscure path over the mountains, intending to cross the Potomac at Pan-Pan tunnel. At Bloomery Gap they learned that a numerous body of the enemy were posted ten miles in advance, directly on their route. They therefore turned to the right, and marched to Hancock, on the Potomac, a distance of thirty miles; escaping many perils, exhausted by excessive labors which would have overtasked the strongest frames, and yet safely bringing with them thirty-five wagons loaded with valuable stores, which had been abandoned by the army near Middletown.

As Xenophon, in a former and distant age, derived the chief glory of a life not otherwise undistinguished from the skill and valor with which he conducted the retreat of the Ten Thousand Greeks, after the death of the younger Cyrus at the battle of Cunaxa, through Asia Minor to the welcome shores of the Euxine Sea; so the greatest renown of General Banks will hereafter probably be derived from the ability with which he effected the escape of his division from the Rebel hordes at Strasburg, and led it in safety to Williamsport. This Federal hero was born in Massachusetts, in January, 1816. His early education was limited to the meagre routine of the common school; and his earliest industry was expended in the labors of a cotton factory at Waltham. He afterward aspired to the craft and mastered the mysteries of a machinist. While engaged in this pursuit, he gratified his desire for intellectual improvement, and occasionally delivered popular addresses before temperance meetings, literary lyceums, and political assemblies. He afterward assumed the editorship of a rural newspaper, and engaged zealously in the political contests of the day. In 1848 he was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives. In 1851 he was chosen the speaker of that body. In 1853 he was promoted to a seat in the Federal Congress. In 1855 he was re-elected to that position; and was chosen, after a spirited contest of nearly two months duration, to preside over the deliberations of the House. In 1857 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts; and he performed the duties of that important office with eminent ability and success. The high reputation which he had gained for capacity, energy and integrity, turned the special regard of the administration upon him when the Rebellion broke forth; and when a selection was to be made of some of the wisest and best men in