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Cul. XXVI.]

THE UNITED STATES NAVY.

277

Europe, and render any reconstruction were stated the grounds and mode of inflicting punishment on our officers and troops who might in any wise be concerned in "overthrowing the institu tion of African slavery, and bringing on a servile war" in the rebel states. Fur ther action was taken in regard to the conscription law; a resolution was adopted, declaring that the navigation of the Mississippi River was free to all who lived on its banks or tributaries; a tax bill was passed, which levied a tax of eight per cent. on the value of salt, liquors, tobacco, cotton, wool, flour, sugar, etc., and a very heavy tax on farmers, and all kinds of trades and occupations. In addition, an impressment bill was passed, which, with other actions of the rebel congress, showed that the boastful "Confederacy" was not in that flourishing and pros perous condition which Jeff. Davis had represented in his message.

or restitution of the Union "for ever impossible." Davis concluded his long message with urging attention to financial necessities, with congratulations on the benefits arising out of "the harmony, energy, and unity of the states," and with boastful statements of what the confederacy had done in supplying its wants of every kind. "The injuries resulting from the interruption of foreign commerce have received compensation by the developments of our internal resources. Cannon crown our fortresses that were cast from the proceeds of mines opened and furnaces built during the war. Our mountain caves yield much of the nitre for the manufacture of powder, and promise increase of product. From our own foundries and laboratories, from our own armories and work-shops we derive, in a great measure, the warlike material, the ordnance and ordnance stores which are The condition and strength of the expended so profusely in the numerous United States navy, at the opening of and desperate engagements that rapidly the year, was substantially as follows: succeed each other. Cotton and wool--there were, as reported by the secrelen fabrics, shoes and harness, wagons tary of the navy, 427 vessels, carrying and gun-carriages, are produced in 3,268 guns-an increase during the daily increasing quantities by the fac-year of 123 vessels, carrying 711 guns. tories springing into existence. Our fields, no longer whitened by cotton that cannot be exported, are devoted to the production of cereals and the growth of stock formerly purchased with the proceeds of cotton."

The rebel congress discussed various measures of a retaliatory character, which were urged as necessary in consequence of Mr. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. A number of stringent resolutions were adopted, in which

Of these, 104, with 1,415 guns, were sailing vessels, and 323, with 1,853 guns, were steam vessels. In the latte. were included fifty-four iron-clad ves sels of various constructions, of which twenty-eight were on the seaboard and twenty-six in the Western waters.

In regard to naval operations at the beginning of 1863, we may briefly note here the capture of the Harriet Lane and the fate of the steamer Hatteras. Galveston, in Texas, had been held by

Commander Renshaw, since October, to be an English war steamer, but 1862, by a small naval and military speedily avowed herself to be the Alaforce at his command, consisting of the bama, and poured a broadside into Harriet Lane and four other steamers, the Hatteras. The latter took fire, and and less than 300, rank and file, occu- was compelled to surrender. Within a pying a wharf in the town. few minutes after the officers and crew were taken off, the Hatteras and all she contained went down into the deep.

The rebels, under Magruder, fixed upon January 1st, 1863, for an attack, both by land and water, upon our forces. The attack was begun very early in the morning, the rebels bringing artillery to bear upon the troops on shore, and also making a violent onset upon the Harriet Lane by two heavy steamers. After a severe contest, the Harriet Lane was obliged to succumb to the enemy, about seven A.M. The rebels tried to induce the other steamers to surrender, promising, in that case, to allow the crews one in which to leave the harbor. Renshaw refused, and ordering Lieut. Law to get the vessels out of port as soon as possible, prepared to blow up his vessel, the Westfield, which was aground. The explosion was premature, and not only Renshaw but several other officers and fifteen of the crew perished. Lieut. Law made his escape in the Owasco, and gave up the blockade for want of force to maintain it.

This disaster, at Galveston, was followed soon after by the loss of the United States steamer Hatteras in an encounter off the harbor with Semmes's rebel privateer, the Alabama. On the afternoon of the 11th of January, Lieut. Blake, in command of the Hatteras, was ordered to chase a strange sail to the south-eastward. This he did, and just after dark came up with her. At first, she pretended

1863.

Just at the close of the session of Congress (p. 263) Senator Harlan of Iowa introduced a resolution, in which he spoke of our countrymen being "encouraged in the day of trouble by the assurances of God's Word to seek Him for succor, according to His appointed way, through JESUS CHRIST;" and in which also the president was requested to appoint a day of national prayer and abasement before the Most High. Mr. Lincoln very willingly took action upon this resolution, and on the 30th of March, issued a proclamation, in which, among other suitable things, he said :-"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace, and mul tiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserv ing grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us,

CH. XXVI.]

HOOKER AND ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

279

The

then, to humble ourselves, to confess were introduced by Hooker into the our national sins, and to pray for clem- army. The system of Grand Divisions eucy and forgiveness." Thursday, April was done away with, and the army 30th, was appointed as a day of nation al humiliation, fasting and prayer, and the people gave due heed to the president's earnest recommendation.

was divided into seven corps.
first corps was commanded by Rey-
nolds; the second by Couch; the third
by Sickles; the fifth by Meade; the
sixth by Sedgwick; the eleventh by
Howard; and the twelfth by Slocum.
The cavalry was consolidated into a

1863.

mand of Stoneman.* Other
judicious reforms were also
carried into effect. Desertion and its
causes were stopped; distinctive badges
were given to the different corps;
system of furloughs was instituted;
and as Hooker, despite his extra self-
sufficiency, was highly popular with
the troops, and an able administrative
officer, important results were confident-
ly looked for under his guidance.

The narrative of the proceedings of the Army of the Potomac was suspended at the point where Gen. Burnside, after his ill-success at Fredericksburg single corps, and was placed under comand his misfortunes subsequently, had been succeeded by Gen. Hooker (p. 244), as the next man on whom the govern ment thought it best to rely for carry. ing on operations successfully in Virginia. We resume the narrative at this point, and propose to give an account of what was done by "Fighting Joe Hooker," as he was commonly called in the army. On taking command, he issued an address to the army, January 26th, 1863, in which he said, speaking of himself:-"The undersigned enters upon the discharge of the duties imposed by this trust with a just appreciation of their responsibility. Since the formation of the army, he has been identified with its history. He has shared with you its glories and reverses, with no other desire than that these relations might remain unchanged until its destiny should be accomplished. Let us never hesitate to give the enemy battle wherever we can find him. The undersigned only gives expression to the feelings of this army when he conveys to our late commander, MajorGeneral Burnside, the most cordial good wishes for his future.

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"JOSEPH HOOKER." Various measures of improvement

During the wet season, i. e., the first three months of Hooker's command, he wisely abstained from undertaking any grand military movement; but spent the time in filling up the ranks by the return of absentees, and in thoroughly disciplining the army, so that, at the close of the month of April, the Army of the Potomac was in a state of admirable preparation for active operations against the rebels. It numbered, ac

* By the changes above noted both Franklin and

Sumner were relieved of their commands in the Army

of the Potomac. The latter was soon after assigned to

the command of the Department of Missouri; but while preparing to enter upon duty, he was suddenly

taken ill at his son-in-law's house, in Syracuse, New

York. After only a few days' illness, he died on the

21st of March, 1863, having just completed his sixtyseventh year. Gen. Sumner was universally lamented by the army and the country as one of the bravest of

soldiers and best of men.

cording to Swinton's calculations, 125,000 men (infantry and artillery), with a body of 12,000 well-equipped cavalry, and a powerful artillery force of about 400 guns.

burg, intending by this wide detour to cross the Rappahannock and the Rapidan, and pass round Lee's flank to Chancellorsville. Marching on Monday, this force reached the neighbor hood of Kelly's Ford on Tuesday, April 28th, and during the night and next morning, crossed at Kelly's Ford, on

Celerity of

The rebel general was strongly entrenched on the heights south of the Rappahannock, from Skenker's Creek to U. S. Ford, a distance of about pontoon bridges. Early on Wednesday twenty-five miles, and had his troops so arranged that he could readily concentrate them on any given point. In this position Lee had only two main lines of retreat, one towards Richmond by railroad, and the other towards Gordonsville. It was a matter of importance, therefore, for Hooker to make a movement of such a kind as to compel Lee to come out of his fortifications and fight, or to fall back on Richmond. To assist in this movement, Stoneman, with a large cavalry force, was to hasten forward, some time in advance of the army movement, and cut the railroad communications of the enemy at important points in their roads. As a direct at tack on Fredericksburg was every way inexpedient, especially after former experiences, Hooker adopted a bold plan of operation against Lee's left, and on Monday morning, April 27th, began the carrying of it out.

A strong, well-appointed column, consisting of the 5th, 11th, and 12th corps, set out for Kelly's Ford, some twenty-seven miles above Fredericks

*Lee's army, according to the same authority, was greatly inferior to that of his opponent; for, relying on the strength of the line of the Rappahannock, he had, in February, detached two divisions under Longstreet, to operate south of the James River, and the remainder did not exceed an effective force of 55,000 men; al

though the rolls of Lee's army showed, March 31st, a force of 60,298.-"Army of the Potomac," p. 269.

morning, an advance was made to Ger-
mania Ford, on the Rapidan-twelve
miles distant-by the 11th and 12th
corps, and to Ely's Ford, on the same
stream, by the 5th corps. At Germania
Ford a force of about 150 rebel pioneers
was discovered rebuilding the bridge.
Most of these, by a well-executed ma-
noeuvre, were captured.
movement being the chief desideratum.
it was resolved immediately to put the
troops over the Rapidan. Ac 1963.
cordingly, the men plunged in,
many of them stripping and carrying
their clothes and cartridge-boxes on
their bayonets, and waded over, up to
their armpits. During the night huge
bonfires were kindled, and the remain-
der of the troops were passed over by
the next morning. While this was
going on at Germania Ford, Meade's
troops were crossing at Ely's Ford.
Both columns now moved, as ordered,
for Chancellorsville, at the junction of
the Gordonsville turnpike with the Cul-
pepper and Orange Court House plank
road, Pleasanton's cavalry keeping up
the communication and protecting the
right flank from the rebel cavalry at
tacks. This manoeuvre having uncov
ered United States Ford, Couch's corps,
which had, for three days, being lying
at that point, was passed over the Rap

CH. XXVI]

HOOKER'S ADVANCE TO CHANCELLORSVILLE.

pahannock by a pontoon bridge, on Thursday, without any opposition. This force also converged toward Chancellorsville, and on Thursday night four army corps, namely, Howard's, Stevens', Meade's and Couch's, were massed at this point. That same night Hooker reached Chancellorsville, and established his headquarters at a large brick house, formerly an inn, which, in fact, constituted the entire place. The position thus secured was important, as taking in reverse Lee's entire fortified line, and by its being in direct communication with Fredericksburg by a plank road, and with Orange Court House and Gordonsville by a road through the Wilderness-a desolate region of tangled woods—in its vicinity. The ability displayed in this movement by Hooker has been highly praised by military critics.

Meanwhile, the remaining three corps had rendered essential aid in masking the flank march just noted. The 1st, 3d and 6th corps were ordered, after the flanking column was well under way, to cross the river near Fredericks burg, for the purpose of making a direct demonstration, and giving the rebels reason to suppose that the attack was about to be made again at this point. This was done on the 29th of April, and excited the attention of the rebels. The feint having answered its purpose, the 3d corps, under Sickles, was ordered to cross at United States Ford, and join Hooker at Chancellorsville, while the 3d and 6th corps, under Sedgwick, were directed to remain below, and await developments on the right.

VOL IV.-36.

281

The complete success of Hooker's strategy, thus far, seems to have roused both him and the army to the highest. point of expectation. On the 30th of April, Hooker issued an order, announc ing "to the army that the operations. of the last three days have determined that our enemy must ingloriously fly or come out from behind his defences, and give us battle on our own ground, where certain destruction awaits him. The operations of the 5th, 11th, and 12th corps have been a succession of splendid achievements." Hooker also

according to Swinton, who heard him-talked in a magniloquent manner, e. g., "the rebel army is now the legitimate property of the Army of the Potomac. They may as well pack up their haversacks and make for Rich mond, and I shall be after them,” etc.

Immediately on Lee's becoming ac quainted with the true state of affairs, instead of running away, as Hooker thought he must and would do, he made his preparations to advance and give battle.* Leaving a small force to hold the heights of Fredericksburg, at midnight of Thursday, the 30th of April, he put his troops in motion towards Chancellorsville, and, in some unexplained way, was allowed by Hooker to advance so far without opposition, as to prevent our seizing the direct communications with Richmond. Hooker, it seems, did not originally intend to remain in the tangled thicket of the Wilderness, an exceedingly bad

* According to the statements of southern writers,

like Esten Cooke, Pollard, and others, Lee was aware of Hooker's movements and plans much earlier than

we have said in our narrative. It may be so, although we prefer to adhere to the view given in the text

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