132 THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

McClellan had organized every necessary department thoroughly, and had endeavored to place at the head of each the best men in the service.' These had been active co-workers with him, and their several departments were in the best possible condition for effective service. The main body of the army was now judiciously posted, for offense or defense, in the immediate vicinity of Washington City, with detachments on the left bank of the Potomac as far up as Williamsport, above Harper's Ferry, and as far down as Liverpool Point, in Maryland, nearly opposite Acquia Creek.'

a Oct. 15, 1861.

At the close of September a grand review had been held, when seventy

1 The Engineers, as we have observed, were placed in charge of Major J. G. Barnard, and the Artillery under the chief command of Major William F. Barry. The Topographical Engineers were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John N. Macomb, and a Signal Corps, formed by Major Albert J. Myer, the inventor of a most efficient system of signalling, was placed in charge of that officer. This system was first practically tested during the organization of the Army of the Potomac, and, as we shall observe hereafter, it performed the most essential and important service on land and water, in reconnoitering and in directing the fire of artillery, where objects, such as hills or woods on land, or bluffs or wooded points on the shores of rivers, intervened between the belligerents. The value of that service during the war cannot be estimated. A full explanation of its operations, with illustrations, may be found in another part of this work.

The Telegraphic operations of the army were intrusted to Major Thomas J. Eckert. In this connection, T. S. C. Lowe, a distinguished aeronaut, was employed, and for some time balloons were used with great efficiency in reconnoitering, but later in the progress of the war they fell into disuse. Mr. Lowe made experiments with his balloon in connection with the telegraph so early as June, 1861, and by perfect success demonstrated the feasibility of the joint use of the balloon and telegraph in reconnoitering. At the height of full five hundred feet above Arlington Heights, Mr. Lowe telegraphed to the President, at Washington, as follows:

"SIR:-From this point of observation we command an extent of country nearly fifty miles in diameter. I have pleasure in sending you this first telegram ever dispatched from an aerial station, and acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the service of the country.

"I am your Excellency's humble servant,

"T. S. C. Lowe." War-balloons were first regularly used by Louis Napoleon in the Italian War, in 1859. Their success there commended their introduction into the National army, and the attention of the military authorities was early called to the subject. On receiving the above dispatch, Mr. Lincoln invited Mr. Lowe to the Executive mansion. He introduced him to General Scott, and he was soon afterward employed as an aeronaut in the military service. When in use, the balloon is kept under control by strong cords in the hands of men on the ground, who, when the reconnoissance is ended, draw it down to the place of depar

ture.

The Medical Department of the army was placed in charge of Surgeons Charles S. Tripler and Jonathan Letterman, who in turn performed the duties of Medical Director. The Quartermaster's Department was intrusted to Major S. Van Vliet. The Subsistence Department was placed in charge of Captain H. F. Clarke; and to the control of the Ordnance Department was assigned Captain C. P. Kingsbury. Colonel Andrew Porter was made Provost-Marshal General of the Army of the Potomac; and Colonel Thomas G. Garrett, of the General's staff, was made Judge Advocate.See General McClellan's Report on the Organization of the Army of the Potomac, and its Campaigns in Virginia and Maryland.

WAR BALLOON.

2 The different divisions were posted as follows: "Hooker at Budd's Ferry, Lower Potomac; Heintzelman at Fort Lyon and vicinity; Franklin near the Theological Seminary; Blenker near Hunter's Chapel; McDowell at Upton's Hill and Arlington; F. J. Porter at Hall's and Miner's Hills; Smith at Mackall's Hill; McCall at Langley; Buell at Tenallytown, Meridian Hill, Emory's Chapel, &c., on the left bank of the river; Casey at Washington; Stoneman's cavalry at Washington; Hunt's artillery at Washington; Banks at Darnestown, with detachments at Point of Rocks, Sandy Hook, Williamsport, &c.; Stone at Poolesville; and Dix at Baltimore, with detachments on the Eastern shore."

DANGERS POINTED OUT.

a Oct. 1861.

133

thousand men of all arms were assembled and maneuvered. It was the largest military force ever gathered on the American Continent, and gave the loyal people assurance of the safety of the Republic. And to these troops, regiment after regiment, at the rate of two thousand men each day, and battery after battery, was continually added from the teeming population and immense resources of the Free-labor States. A little later, there was another imposing review. It was of artillery and cavalry alone; when six thousand horsemen, and one hundred and twelve heavy guns, appeared before President Lincoln, the Secretary of State, Prince de Joinville, and other distinguished men. Their evolutions were conducted over an area of about two hundred acres: the cavalry under the direction of General Palmer, and the artillery under the command of General Barry. The whole review was conducted by General Stoneman.

But drills, parades, and reviews were not the only exhibitions of war near the Potomac during these earlier days of autumn. There was some

real though not heavy fighting between the opposing forces there. The auda

city of the Confederates was amazing. Soon after the Battle of Bull's Run, General Johnston had advanced his outposts from Centreville and Fairfax Court House to Munson's Hill, only six miles in an air-line from Washington City, where the Confederate flag was flaunted for weeks, in full view of the National Capitol. At other points above the city, his scouts pressed up almost to the Potomac, and he was at the same time taking measures for erecting batteries at points below the Occoquan Creek, for the purpose of obstructing the passage of supplies up that river, for the National army around Washington. The probability of such a movement had been perceived at an early day by vigilant and expert men.

FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE.1

So early as June, the Navy Department had called the attention of the Secretary of War (Mr. Cameron) to the importance, in view of the possible danger, of seizing and holding Matthias Point, in order to secure the navigation of the river. At different times afterward,' the attention of the President, General Scott, and General McClellan was called to the matter by the same Department, but nothing was done until toward the close of September, when Confederate batteries were actually planted there.3 Then it was proposed to send a land force down the Maryland side of the river, and crossing in boats, covered by the Potomac flotilla, take possession. of the shore just above Matthias Point. The Secretary of the Navy, having

1 This is a view of one of the most frequently mentioned buildings in the records of the Civil War. It is from a sketch made by the author in 1866. It gives the name to the village around it, which is the shiretown of the county. The village was much injured during the war.

July 1st, August 20th, and August 31st.

It appears by an autograph letter before me, written by Colonel Wade Hampton, at Freestone Point, between Occoquan and Dumfries, and dated September 24th, 1861, that a battery was completed at that place, and

134

THE POTOMAC RIVER BLOCKADED.

use for the Potomac flotilla elsewhere, was anxious that the movement should take place at once.' Preparations were accordingly made to send four thousand of Hooker's division for the purpose. The Navy Department furnished transportation, and Captain Craven, the commander of the flotilla, gathered his vessels in the vicinity of Matthias Point, to co-operate in an attack on the batteries there. In the mean time the chief engineer (Major Barnard) reported adversely, and the project was abandoned.

On the assurance of sufficient aid from the Navy Department, it was agreed that a land force should march down the right bank of the Potomac, capture all batteries found there, and take permanent possession of that region. This project was also abandoned, because McClellan believed that the movement might bring on a general engagement, for which he did not feel prepared. No attempt was afterward made to interfere with the Confederates in their mischievous work, and early in October Captain Craven officially announced that the navigation of the Potomac was closed, and the National capital blockaded in that important direction. Craven was so mortified because of the anticipated reproach of the public for the supposed inefficiency of his command, that he made a request to be assigned to duty elsewhere. The President, who had warmly seconded the Navy Department in urging McClellan to take measures for keeping the navigation of the river open, was exceedingly annoyed; whilst the nation at large, unable to understand the cause of this new disaster, and feeling deeply mortified and humiliated, severely censured the Government. That blockade, so disgraceful to the Government, was continued until the Confederates voluntarily evacuated their position in front of Washington, in March following.

was ready for action at that date. His letter was addressed to Colonel Thomas Jordan, Beauregard's Assistant Adjutant-General. He says the works were constructed under Captain Lee, whose battery and a long 32-pounder rifled gun were there. The latter had been sent there by General Trimble, a Maryland traitor, then in the Confederate army. He reported that he had every thing in readiness to open fire the previous evening. A fringe of trees had been left standing on the point, to conceal the troops while erecting the works. These were cut down on the night of the 23d.

1 At that time (late in September) there were in the Potomac the Pawnee, Pocahontas, and Seminole, three heavily armed vessels, and the R. B. Forbes, with two very formidable guns on board. These vessels had been detailed to go with Dupont's expedition to Port Royal, and it was urged by the Navy Department that they should first be employed in destroying the Confederate batteries on the river, and assisting the Army of the Potomac in taking possession of their positions.

2 He referred to the fact that High Point, Freestone Point, and Cock-pit Point, and thence down to Chapawausic Creek, opposite Hooker's quarters at Budd's Ferry, were eligible places for batteries, and considered it unwise to attempt the capture of any already completed, unless a campaign was about to be opened in that direction. He concluded that the best way to prevent the erection of batteries, and to keep open navigation, was to have a sufficient naval force patrolling the Potomac. See McClellan's Report, page 50. In a review of the Peninsula Campaign, Major (then General) Barnard, alluding to this project, says (page 16), if it had been attempted "a Ball's Bluff affair, ten times intensified, would have been the certain result."

* General McClellan, in his report to the Secretary of War of the operations of the Army of the Potomac while under his command, made in August, 1863 (nearly two years after the events here recorded), attributed the failure to keep the navigation of the Potomac open, at this time, to the remissness of the Navy Department in not furnishing a sufficient number of armed vessels for the purpose. G. V. Fox, the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War (i. page 239), attributes that failure partly to the remissness of the War Department, under the management of Cameron, but chiefly to the failure of General McClellan to furnish a force from his immense army in time to have taken and held possession of the Virginia shore of the river. The Committee on the Conduct of the War, in their summary of the testimony of both Mr. Fox and General McClellan, says: "After repeated efforts, General McClellan promised that 4,000 men should be ready, at a time named, to proceed down the river. The Navy Department provided the necessary transports for the troops, and Captain Craven, commanding the Potomac flotilla, upon being notified to that effect, collected at Matthias Point all the boats of his flotilla at the time named. The troops did not arrive, and the Navy Department was informed of the fact by Captain Craven. Assistant Secretary Fox, upon inquiring of General McClellan why the troops had not been sent, according to agreement, was informed by him that his engineers were of the opinion that so large a body of troops could not be landed, and therefore he had concluded not to send them. Captain Fox replied that the landing of the troops was a matter of which the Navy Depart

HOSTILE MOVEMENTS ON THE POTOMAC.

135

As the Army of the Potomac rapidly increased in numbers and equipment in Virginia in front of Washington, it required more space than the narrow strip between the river and the advance posts of the Confederates, and early in September it was determined to acquire that space by pushing back the intruders. Already there had been several little skirmishes between the pickets and the outposts of the confronting contestants. On the 5th of August, a detachment of the Twenty-eighth New York, under Captain Brush, mostly firemen, attacked a squad of Confederate cavalry in Virginia, opposite the Point of Rocks, killing and wounding eight men, and capturing nine prisoners and twenty horses; and on the 12th a detachment of the Tenth New York, under Captain Kennedy, crossed the Potomac from Sandy Hook, and attacked and routed some Virginia cavalry at Lovettsville. On the 12th of September, a reconnoissance was made toward Lewinsville, four or five miles from Camp Advance, at the Chain Bridge, by about two thousand men, under the command of General William F. Smith,' in charge of a brigade at that post. They had accomplished a topographical survey, for which purpose they were chiefly sent, and were returning, when they were attacked by a body of Virginians,* under the command of Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, afterward the famous general leader of cavalry in the Confederate army. Stuart opened heavily with his cannon, which at first disconcerted the National troops. The latter were kept steady until Griffin's Battery was placed in position, when its guns soon silenced those of the Virginians, and scattered their cavalry. Then the National troops, having accomplished their object, returned to their post near the Chain Bridge "in perfect order and excellent spirits," with a loss of two killed and ten wounded."

a 1861.

ment had charge; that they had provided the necessary means to accomplish the landing successfully; that no inquiry had been made of them in regard to that matter, and no notification that the troops were not to be sent. It was then agreed that the troops should be sent the next night. Captain Craven was again notified, and again had his flotilla in readiness for the arrival of the troops; but no troops were sent down at that time, nor were any ever sent down for that purpose. Captain Fox, in answer to the inquiry of the Committee, as to what reason was assigned for not sending the troops according to the second agreement, replied that the only reason, so far as he could ascertain, was that General McClellan feared that it might bring on a general engagement. The President, who had united with the Navy Department in urging its proposition, first upon General Scott and then upon General McClellan, manifested great disappointment when he learned that the plan had failed in consequence of the troops not being sent. And Captain Craven threw up his command on the Potomac, and applied to be sent to sea, saying that, by remaining here and doing nothing, he was but losing his own reputation, as the blame for permitting the Potomac to be blockaded would be imputed to him and the flotilla under his command.” As the reports of the Committee may be frequently referred to in this work, it is proper to say that it was a joint committee of both Houses of Congress, appointed in December, 1861, consisting of three members of the Senate and four members of the House of Representatives, with instructions to inquire into the conduct of the war. The Committee consisted of B. F. Wade, Z. Chandler, and Andrew Johnson, of the Senate, and D. W. Gooch, John Covode, G. W. Julian, and M. F. Odell, of the House of Representatives. They constituted a permanent court of inquiry, with power to send for persons and papers. When Senator Johnson was appointed Military Governor of Tennessee, his place on the Committee was supplied by Joseph A. Wright, of Indiana.

1 These troops consisted of the Seventy-ninth (Highlanders) New York Militia; battalions of Vermont and Indiana Volunteers, and of the First United States Chasseurs; a Cavalry company, and Griffin's West Point Battery.

2 These were the Thirteenth Virginia Volunteers, Rosser's Battery of the Washington Artillery, and a detachment of cavalry.

* Reports of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaler and Adjutant Ireland, and dispatch of General McClellan, all dated September 11th, 1861. General McClellan joined the column at the close of the affair. Colonel Stuart (Confederate) gave a glowing account of the confusion into which the Nationals were thrown by his first attack, and gave the affair the aspect of a great victory for himself. He reported fearful havoc in the ranks of the enemy." "Our loss," he said, "was not a scratch to man or horse."-Stuart's Report, Sept. 11, 1861.

Stuart appears to have been accused of rashness on this occasion, in exposing his cannon to the danger of capture. In an autograph letter before me, dated at Munson's Hill, September 14th, and addressed to General Longstreet, he repels the accusation, and declares that at no time was a piece of his cannon "in a position that it

136

•Sept. 15,

1861.

6 Oct. 9. Oct. 16.

d Oct. 17.

AN INGENIOUS DECEPTION.

Three days after the affair near Lewinsville, the pickets on the right of the command of Colonel John W. Geary, of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania, stationed three miles above Darnestown, in Maryland, were attacked by four hundred and fifty Virginians, who had boldly crossed the Potomac. A spirited skirmish for about two hours ensued, resulting in a loss to the assailants of eight or ten killed, and several wounded, and their utter repulse. Geary's loss was one killed; and his gain was great animation for the troops under his command, who were charged with holding the country opposite Harper's Ferry. A little later, National troops permanently occupied Lewinsville, Vienna, and Fairfax Court House, the Confederates falling back to Centreville without firing a shot. They had evacuated Munson's Hill on the 28th of September, when the position was formally taken possession of by the Nationals, who had been for some time looking upon it from Bailey's Crossroads with much respect, because of its apparently formidable works and heavy armament. These had been reconnoitered with great caution, and pronounced to be alarmingly strong, when the fort was really a slight earthwork, running irregularly around about four acres on the brow of the hill, without ditch or glacis, "in every respect a squirming piece of work," as an eye-witness wrote. Its armament consisted of one stove-pipe and two logs, the latter with a black disc painted on the middle of the sawed end of each, giving them the appearance, at a distance, of the muzzles of 100-pound Par

rott guns. These "Quaker Guns," like similar ones at Manassas a few months later, had, for six weeks, defied the Army of the Potomac. In a house near the fort (which was soon made into a strong regular work), Brigadier-General James Wadsworth, who was placed in command, there made his head-quarters; and on the roof he caused a signal-station to be erected, from which there was an interchange of intelligence with another station on the dome of the capitol at Washington. There the writer visited General Wadsworth, late in November, 1861, and found that ardent and devoted patriot, who had left all the ease and enjoyments which great wealth and a charming domestic circle bestow, and for the sake of his endangered country was enduring all the privations incident to an arduous camp life. His quarters were humble, and in no respect did his arrangements for comfort differ from those of his brother officers.

On the day of the grand review of the cavalry and artillery of the Army

could not have safely retreated from before an army of 10,000 advancing at the double-quick." Longstreet sent Stuart's letter to General Johnson, with an indorsement, testifying to the judicious disposition of the cannon in the engagement.

1 This is from a photograph by Gardner, of Washington City, and represents one of the logs in the form of a cannon, and painted black, that was found in an embrasure at Manassas, after the Confederates withdrew from that post, in the spring of 1862.