CHAPTER II.

THE ARMIES IN MOTION

ROUT OF GENERAL MILROY AT WINCHESTER.

EFORE proceeding to detail the movements of the two great contending armies, it will be well to inform the reader where they were encamped at the time the movement northward began. The Army of Northern Virginia was in camp on the south bank of the Rappahannock River, about the city of Fredericksburg, and the Army of the Potomac was posted on the north bank of the same river, among the Stafford hills, and opposite to that city. Its various corps and divisions were placed in the following order: The First Corps, under General Reynolds, was encamped in the vicinity of White Oak Church; the Second (Couch's, afterward Hancock's,) near Falmouth; the Third (Birney's, afterward Sickles',) at Boscobel, near Falmouth; the Fifth (Meade's, afterward Sykes',) in the vicinity of Banks', United States, and adjacent fords on the Rappahannock; the Sixth (Sedgwick's) near White Oak Church, with the Second Division (Howe's) thrown forward to Franklin's Crossing, a little below Fredericksburg, near the mouth of Deep Run; the Eleventh (Howard's) near Brooke's Station, on the Aquia Creek Railroad; and the Twelfth (Slocum's) near Stafford Court House and Aquia Landing. The Cavalry Corps, under General Pleasanton, had two divisions in the vicinity

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of Warrenton Junction, and one division in the neighborhood of Brooke's Station. Such was the disposition of General Hooker's army on June 5th, and such, with a few unimportant changes in some divisions and brigades, it remained up to June 11th, when the movement northward began.*

During the latter part of May General Hooker learned from sources which he deemed reliable that an invasion of the North was under contemplation. Indeed such was the confidence of the Confederate leaders in the success of the movement that they did not try to conceal their purpose. For days, and even weeks, before it began. some of the leading papers in the South discussed the question of an invasion, the comparative advantages of the different routes by which their army might reach its destination, and the great and glorious results they expected to secure. At length the evidences of the intention of the enemy became so convincing to the Federal commander that, on May 28th, he wrote to the President that an invasion was inevitable, and measures to meet it were proposed. Finally on the 2nd of June the withdrawal of the Confederates from their lines about Fredericksburg, and their concentration about Culpeper Court House, upon General Hooker's right, was begun. On that day Ewell's corps,

For the information relating to the encampments of the various corps of the Federal army prior to the movement northward, as also the daily movements and places of encampment of the same up to the time of the great collision at Gettysburg and afterward until they re-crossed the Potomac ir. pursuit of the discomfited and retreating foe, I am indebted to a pamphle kindly furnished me from the Adjutant-General's office, War Department, Washington, D. C., entitled "Itinerary of the Army of the Potomac, in the Gettysburg Campaign, June and July, 1863, compiled under the jurisdiction of Brigadier-General Richard C. Drum, Adjutant-General, U. S. Army, by Joseph W. Kirkley, of the Adjutant-General's office."

preceded by the cavalry, left its encampment and moved to the place stated. On the following day, June 3d, Longstreet's corps, accompanied by General Lee, followed, while Hill was left to observe the movements of General Hooker. By the 8th of June the whole of the Confederate army, with the exception of the last named corps, was concentrated about Culpeper Court House. The departure of these troops was soon detected by the Union commander, who promptly directed General Sedgwick to cross the river by his bridges three miles below Fredericksburg, and ascertain by a reconnoissance if the main body of the enemy had not gone. On the 5th of June Howe's division of the Sixth Corps was sent across the river, and the divisions of Wright and Newton-the First and Third-were moved from their encampment at White Oak Church and placed upon the north bank ready to support him. Upon the appearance of Howe upon the south bank of the river, Hill's corps left their intrenchments to meet him. On the 7th, Wright's division relieved Howe, who returned to the north bank. Some desultory skirmishing took place between these troops and Hill's men, but Sedgwick reported, as his opinion, that the greater part of the Confederate force still held their old position. General Hooker, not satisfied with this statement, determined to ascertain the enemy's whereabouts more fully, and on June 7th ordered General Pleasanton to cross the river with all his available cavalry and make a reconnoissance toward Culpeper for the purpose of ascertaining whether the Confederates were concentrating there. In obedience to this order the cavalry corps consisting of the First Division under General Buford, the Second under General Duffie, the Third

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under General D. McM. Gregg, and the Regular Reserve Brigade, supported by detachments of infantry under Generals Adelbert Ames and Daniel A. Russell, moved to Kelly's and Beverly fords, preparatory to crossing the Rappahannock on the following day.

On the same day that the Federal cavalry were preparing for the reconnoisance south of the Rappahannock,— Monday, June 8th,-General Lee reviewed his cavalry, preparatory to their expected departure the next day upon a raid northward for the purpose of interposing between Hooker and Washington, and destroying the railroad to Alexandria, thereby delaying the Federal army in its movements for the relief of the Capital, while Lee himself was to move by rapid marches along the eastern base of the Blue Ridge, cross the Potomac in the neighborhood of Poolsville and the Monocacy, and come down upon it from the north. These purposes were ascertained from papers captured from General Stuart's head-quarters the next day. After the review of the Confederate cavalry by Lee, the four batteries of Jones' cavalry brigade moved down toward the river near Beverly Ford to cover the proposed crossing. The remainder of Stuart's command was not posted within easy supporting distance of these batteries. So unsuspicious were the Confederates of the Federal approach that they did not seem to use the usual precautions against a surprise, for a thin line of pickets only lay between these batteries and the river. During that night Pleasanton's cavalry, backed by the two brigades of infantry, stole down to the fords and lay there during the night without fires, ready at the first appearance of day to cross. Buford's cavalry and Ames' brigade

of infantry lay near Beverly Ford, and Duffie's and Gregg's, supported by Russel's infantry, lay opposite Kelly's Ford. In the early morning of Tuesday, June 9th, under cover of a heavy fog, which completely shrouded his movements, Pleasanton crossed at the two fords: named. These fords are about eight miles apart, and Brandy Station, which is about three miles from the river and nearly in the apex of the triangle, and a good position from which to operate on Culpeper in case it became necessary to move in that direction, was chosen as the point of concentration of the two forces. To the surprise of the Federal commander he encountered no Confederate pickets on the north bank of the river, and after crossing unobserved the enemy were met, and were taken completely by surprise. Soon the conflict became general and desperate, and the Confederates were driven back. General Stuart's headquarters were not more than a quarter of a mile from the ford, and were soon captured with a copy of Lee's orders, and other important papers, which revealed the Confederate plans. After the battle had raged for several hours, during which the advantages were clearly on the side of the Federals, Confederate infantry began to arrive by hurried trains from Culpeper, when General Pleasanton, having fully accomplished all he was expected to, and not deeming it proper to

*

*The foregoing is General Pleasanton's account of the capture of General Stuart's headquarters, and is found in Annals of the War, page 449. Major H. B. McClellan, of the Confederate service, says on page 396 of the same book: "No serious loss occurred save that Major Beckham's desk, in which he had placed the orders to march received by him the previous night, was jostled out of the wagon in its hasty retreat, and fell into the enemy's hands, thus revealing authoritatively part of the information which he had come to obtain."