MOVEMENTS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.

367

she did not again invite her little antagonist to combat,' and it was believed that the free navigation of the James River by the National gun-boats would speedily follow. Impressed with this idea, and influenced by the masterly movement of Johnston from Manassas, General McClellan somewhat changed his plan for moving on Richmond. He called a Council of War at Fairfax Court House, by which it was decided to go down the Chesapeake and debark the army at Fortress Monroe, instead of Urbana or Mob-Jack Bay, and from that point, as a base of supplies, press toward the Confederate capital. This plan was approved by the President, on the condition that a sufficient force should be left for the perfect security of Washington City, and to hold Manassas Junction."

a March 13.

Preparations for the new movement were immediately commenced. It was important for the security of Washington, to hold the Confederates in check in Western Virginia and in the Shenandoah Valley. Movements to this end had been made very soon after the close of the campaign in Western Virginia, recorded in Chapter IV. Early in January, the gallant and accomplished General Lander, who was suffering from a wound received in a skirmish at Edwards's Ferry, a few days after the battle of Ball's Bluff, in October, took command of a force to protect the Baltimore and Ohio Railway. He had a wily and energetic. opponent in "Stonewall Jackson," who was endeavoring to gain what Floyd, and Wise, and Lee had lost, and to hold possession of the Shenandoah Valley. Lander, with a force of about four thousand men, made a series of rapid movements against him. With only four hundred horsemen, he dashed upon him in the night at Blooming Gap, in the

Feb. 14.

middle of February, cap

tured seventeen of his commissioned

FREDERICK W. LANDER.

officers and nearly sixty of his rank and file, and compelled him to retire. Lander also occupied Romney, but fell back on the approach of Jackson's superior force, when the latter took post at Winchester.

Lander's career as an independent commander was short. His wound became painful from constant exertions, and this, with anxiety and exposure, brought on disease which assumed the form of a fatal congestion of the brain.

1 The huge prow of the Merrimack was twisted by her collision with her foe; her flag-staff and anchor were shot away; her pipes for smoke and steam were riddled; and her commander (Buchanan) and seven of her crew were killed and wounded. Another Confederate gun-boat lost six men. The entire loss of the Nationals, during the two days of conflict, was not much short of 400 men, besides the fine frigates Congress and Cumberland, the tug Dragon, and damage inflicted on the Minnesota, and the property in the two vessels first named.

2 General McClellan issued a stirring address to his soldiers, in the form of a General Order, in which he said: "For a long time I have kept you inactive, but not without a purpose. You were to be disciplined and Instructed. The formidable artillery you now have had to be created. Other armies were to move and accomplish certain results. I have held you back that you might give the death-blow to the rebellion that has distracted our once happy country. The period of inaction has passed: I will bring you now face to face with the rebels, and only pray that God may defend the right."

368

OPPOSING FORCES IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

He died on the 2d of March, when his country lost one of its ablest defenders. For his brief but valuable services in Western Virginia, the Secretary of War had publicly thanked him." General Shields, Feb. 17, another brave soldier, who had done good service in Mexico, was appointed Lander's successor in command of the troops

1862.

NATHANIEL P. BANKS.

of the latter. In the mean time General Banks, commanding the Fifth Corps, had sent a force under Colonel Geary to reoccupy Harper's Ferry,' as the first step toward seizing and holding the Shenandoah Valley. He took command there in person late in February, and with his forces occupied the heights near the ferry; also Charleston and Leesburg, and other important points on each side of the Blue Ridge. Jackson, who had occupied places directly in front of Banks, was pushed back to Winchester, where he was posted with his division of nearly eight thousand men, when, early in March, Johnston evacuated Manassas. That evacuation was followed by the retirement of Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley, on the approach of Union troops under Generals Hamilton and Williams." He retreated to Mount Jackson, about forty miles above Winchester, where he was in direct communication with a force at Luray and another at Washington, on the eastern side of the mountain, not far from Thompson's Gap. Shields pursued Jackson to his halting-place, creating the greatest consternation among the inhabitants. The secessionists fled southward, while their few slaves, suddenly relieved from bondage to their fugitive masters, took their departure, by every possible mode of conveyance, toward the National lines. Shields found his antagonist too strong to warrant an attack, and he fell back to Winchester, for the twofold purpose of safety and drawing Jackson from his supports. He was closely pursued by Jackson's cavalry, under Turner Ashby, one of the most dashing of the Confederate cavalry officers in that region.

March 11.

• March 19.

EXODUS OF SLAVES.

To Banks had been assigned the duty of covering the line of the Potomac and Washington City, after the movement agreed upon in council at Fairfax Court House had been conditionally sanctioned by the President, and he was ordered to place the bulk of his force at Manassas Junction and

SKIRMISH NEAR WINCHESTER.

369

vicinity, and to repair the Manassas Gap Railway, so as to have a rapid and direct communication with the Shenandoah Valley. Accordingly, on the retirement of Jackson up the valley, he put the first division of his corps in motion for Centreville, under General Williams, leaving only the division of Shields and some Michigan cavalry in Winchester.

Spies informed Jackson of the weakening of Banks's army in the Valley, and he immediately moved down to attack him at Winchester. General Shields, who was in immediate command there, had a force of about six thousand infantry, seven hundred and fifty cavalry, and twenty-four guns, well posted on a ridge, so as to cover the roads entering Winchester from the south. This position was about half a mile north of the village of Kernstown, and two and a half south of Winchester.

Toward the evening of the 22d of March, Ashby's cavalry drove in Shields's pickets, when the latter moved a small force to oppose the assailants. While directing it in person, his arm was shattered above his elbow by the fragments of a shell, which also wounded his side. He was prostrated, but was able to make dispositions for a vigorous encounter with his foe the next day.' Under cover of the night he pushed forward the brigade of Colonel Kimball, of the Fourteenth Indiana, to Kernstown, supported by Daum's artillery, well posted. Colonel Sullivan's brigade was placed within supporting distance, as a reserve in Kimball's rear. In that order the troops reposed until morning, when a reconnoissance obtained no positive information of any Confederate force immediately in front, excepting Ashby's cavalry. General Banks believed General Jackson to be too weak or too prudent to attack Shields, and at ten o'clock that morning" he departed for Washington City by way of Harper's Ferry, in obedience to a summons from Head-quarters, leaving his staff-officers to start for Centreville in the afternoon. He was soon made to retrace his steps by the sounds of battle in his rear.

a March 22, 1862.

At the time when the National scouts saw nothing but Ashby's cavalry, Jackson's whole force was strongly posted in battle order, with artillery on each flank, in an eligible situation half a mile south of Kernstown, completely masked by woods, which were filled with his skirmishers; and within an hour after Banks left Winchester, Confederate cannon opened upon Kimball. Sullivan's brigade was immediately ordered forward to Kimball's support, and a severe action was commenced by artillery on both sides, but at too great distance to be very effective.

Jackson now took the initiative, and, with a considerable force of all arms, attempted to turn Kimball's left flank, when an active body of skirmishers, under Colonel Carroll, composed of his regiment (the Eighth Ohio) and three companies of the Sixty-seventh Ohio, were thrown forward on both sides of the Valley Turnpike, to oppose the movement. These were supported by four guns of Jenks's artillery. The Confederates were repulsed at all points, and Jackson abandoned his designs upon the National left, massed a heavy force on their right, and sent two additional batteries and his reserves to sup

1 Jackson had ten regiments of Virginia, infantry, with 27 cannon and 290 cavalry. His force was, according to Pollard, 6000 men, with Captain McLaughlin's battery of artillery, and Colonel Ashby's Cavalry."First Year of the War, 284.

VOL. II.-24

370

BATTLE OF KERNSTOWN.

port the movement. With this combined force he pressed forward to turn and crush his adversary's left. Daum's artillery could not check the move

ment, and imminent peril threatened the Union army. Informed of this, Shields, who from his bed was in a measure conducting the battle, ordered Colonel E. B. Tyler's brigade' to the support of Kimball, and directed the latter to employ all of his disposable infantry in an attempt to carry Jackson's batteries, and then to turn. his left flank and hurl it back on its center. The execution of this important and perilous order was intrusted to the gallant Tyler and his fine brigade. The Confederates were pressed back to a stone fence, which gave them shelter, where a desperate struggle ensued with Jackson's famous "Stonewall brigade." For a little while the result was doubtful, when the Fifth and Sixty-second Ohio and Thirteenth Indiana, of Sullivan's brigade, and the Fourteenth Indiana, Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania, and parts of the Eighth and Sixty-seventh Ohio, of Kimball's brigade, hastened to the support of Tyler. The combined forces dashed on the Confederates, forced them back through the woods, and sent them in full retreat up the Valley, with a heavy loss,' but in good order, for their discipline was perfect. So ended the BATTLE OF KERNSTOWN.

JAMES SHIELDS.

The National troops bivouacked on the battle-field the night after the victory, and at an early hour in the morning began a vigorous pursuit of the Confederates toward Strasburg. Meanwhile, Shields, who was satisfied that re-enforcements for Jackson could not be far off, had sent an express after Williams's division, then far on its way toward Centreville. Banks, who was informed by telegraph of the battle, had already ordered it back. He also hastened to Winchester, took command in person, and followed the retreating Confederates up the valley almost to Mount Jackson. This demonstration of Jackson's, and information that he might instantly call reenforcements to his aid, caused the retention of Banks's forces in the Shenandoah Valley, and the appointment of General James Wadsworth to the command of the troops left for the immediate defense of the National Capital. He was made military governor of the District of Columbia.

In the mean time General McClellan had been forwarding his forces to Fortress Monroe, preparatory to an advance on Richmond. He left Washington on the 1st of April, on which day he sent to the adjutant-general a

1 The Seventh and Twenty-ninth Ohio, Seventh Indiana, First Virginia, and One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania.

2 Jackson left behind 2 cannon, 4 caissons, many small arms, and about 800 prisoners. He reported his killed to be 80, and his wounded at 842. Shields reported 270 of the Confederate dead found on the battle-field after the conflict, and estimated Jackson's entire loss at nearly 1500. The National loss, according to his report, was nearly 600 men, of whom 108 were killed, and 441 were wounded. Among the slain was Colonel Murray. of the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania.

THE DEFENSE OF WASHINGTON SECURED.

371

statement of the number and intended disposition of the forces which he left behind: a part for the immediate defense of the Capital, and the remainder for other operations more remote, but whose chief business was to secure Washington City. The number left was a little more than seventy-three thousand.' A few days later, he had under his command, at Fortress Monroe, one hundred and twenty-one thousand men (exclusive of the forces of General Wool), which had been sent thither within a little more than thirty days, in transports furnished by the Assistant Secretary of War, John Tucker.2

The movements of "Stonewall" Jackson, General Ewell, and other active commanders in the Upper Valley of the Shenandoah and its vicinity, had made it important to strengthen Fremont in the Mountain Department, and for that purpose Blenker's division of ten thousand men was withdrawn from the Army of the Potomac before McClellan left Washington. A further reduction of the force under his-command was made at this time, in consequence of a report of General Wadsworth, that the troops left for the immediate defense of Washington were insufficient. This matter was referred to the Adjutant-General,

(L. Thomas), and General E. A. Hitchcock, and, on their decision that the force was inadequate, the army corps of General McDowell was detached from McClellan's immediate command, and ordered to report directly to the Secretary of War. It was not withdrawn from active co-operation with McClellan. On the contrary, it was in

a position, experts say, to perform the best service in such co-operation, while it would serve the other purpose of covering Washington, for it was to occupy a position to prevent Johnston turning back from the Rappahannock to sack the National Capital, and also to keep Confederate troops in that region and over the Blue Ridge from joining those at Richmond.

1 Of these 18,000 were to remain in garrison at and in front of Washington; 7,780 at Warrenton; 10.859 at Manassas; 35,467 in the Shenandoah Valley; and 1,350 on the Lower Potomac.-See McClellan's Report, page 66.

2 Report of Assistant Secretary of War Tucker, April 5, 1862. Besides the soldiers, these transports, consisting of 13 steamers, 188 schooners, and S8 barges. conveyed 44 batteries, 14,592 beasts, 1,150 wagons, 74 ambulances, several pontoon bridges, telegraph materials, and an immense amount of equipage. The only loss sustained in this work of transportation consisted of 8 mules and 9 barges, the cargoes of the latter being saved.

3 Wadsworth reported his force fit for duty at 19,022, nearly all of them new and imperfectly disciplined, and several of the regiments in a disorganized condition. At the same time he was under orders from McClellan to send three regiments to the Peninsula, one to Budd's Ferry, and 4000 men to Manassas and Warrenton. The absence of these would reduce the force in and around Washington to less than 15.000 men.

4 This was the appearance of the old Court-House (which was Magruder's head-quarters in Yorktown), with the ruins of buildings near it, in 1863. It stands a short distance from the famous mansion of the Nelson family, which was bombarded during the siege of Yorktown in 1781.