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ures and expression called forth my earnest sympathy, not so much for him as for those who in his Southern home shall see him no more forever. No one among the burying-party knew his name, and before night he was laid in a trench with the rest-no head-stone to mark his resting-place-one of the three thousand rebel dead who fill nameless graves upon this battle-field. So ends the brief madness which sent him hither to fight against a government he knew only by its blessings-against his Northern brothers who never desired to encroach single right or institution of his, who were willing that he should hug to his breast forever the Nessus shirt of slavery, asking only that he should not insist upon forcing its poison folds over their shoulders also. So disappears the beloved of some sad hearts-another victim of that implacable Nemesis, who thus avenges upon the white man the wrongs of the black, and smiles with horrid satisfaction as this fearful game of war goes on.

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Very slowly, as men move through the burial-places of the dead, we rode through the woods at the back of the church, and reached the rocky citadel behind which crouched the enemy to receive our charging battalions, sweeping their ranks with destruction and compelling their retreat. I was astonished to see how cunningly Nature had laid up this long series of rocky ledges breast high for the protection of the rebel lines. In front of this breastwork we found a majority of the the rock ledges. dead dressed in blue. At this point also commenced a long barricade of fence-rails, piled closely to protect the rebel lines, and stretching off toward the north. Here is one more evidence of the use to which the rebel generals put every spare moment of time, and of their admirable choice of position.

The dead in front of

"One more scene in this battle-picture must be seen, and with a visit to it our ride may end. It is a narrow

CHAP. LVIII.] EXPECTED RENEWAL OF THE ATTACK.

The lane of death.

465

country lane, hollowed out somewhat between the fields, partially shaded, and now literally crowded with rebel corpses. Here they stood in line of battle, and here, in the length of five hundred feet, I counted more than two hundred of their dead. In every attitude conceivable-some piled in groups of four or six; some grasping their muskets as if in the act of discharging them; some, evidently officers, killed while encouraging their men; some lying in the position of calm repose, all black, and swollen, and ghastly with wounds. This battalion of the dead filled the lane with horror. As we rode beside it-we could not ride in it-I saw the field all about me black with corpses, and they told me that the corn-field beyond was equally crowded. It was a place to see once, to glance at, and then to ride hurriedly, away, for, strong-hearted as was then my mood, I had gazed upon as much horror as I was able to bear."

Personal visit.

I have quoted in detail Captain Noyes's description of the battle-field of Antietam, partly because of its intrinsic merit, and partly because of the special interest it presents to me. It was within the shell-torn walls of the Dunker Church that those general intentions to which I have alluded in my Preface took the form of a final resolve to write this book. I leaned, in the melancholy and rainy morning, against the rocky ledges once the breastworks of Confederate soldiers, and walked through the lane of death, in every panel of the fences of which there was then a grave.

Long before the next day broke, the national troops, rising from their rest on the bare ground, "made ready their coffee, and, eating their simple breakfast, prepared The army expects to for a renewal of the battle." They believed that Lee had no escape. The river was at his back. A re-enforcement of 14,000 men had joined II.-G G

renew the attack.

them. Their strength was far greater than his. The end of the war was at hand. But the sun rose, the morning passed, the sun declined, and evening came-still there was no order for attack. Some, who had been in the Peninsula, related to their comrades the dilatory movements of those times; some recalled that it had taken in this campaign seven days to march a distance of forty miles; some wondered at the generalship which had been sending driblets of troops successively toward the Dunker Church, not to carry the position, for they were too Soldiers' criticisms weak for that, but to a certain massacre. of the battle. There were veterans sunning themselves on the ground, who were telling that, if they had been consulted, they should have thrown the right wing of the army in one irresistible mass on the enemy, and, by working the left wing, would have given Lee other occupation than to concentrate his whole strength at the Dunker Church. It is the privilege of veterans to criticise their generals sometimes they do it very sagaciously-and to demonstrate to their raw comrades how battles that have been lost might easily have been won.

A second wearisome night ushered in another morning, and then there was news. Lee had given McClellan the Passage of the Po- slip. He had actually crossed the Potomac tomac by Lee. unmolested, and escaped into Virginia. The

soldiers' hearts sank within them. Was this all that had come from the horrible carnage of that day? What if Lee had abandoned 3000 dead, and 2000 too severely wounded to be removed, he had compensated for the loss of a victory by executing a brilliant retreat from the battle-field under the very eye of his antagonist, and had converted the Potomac, from an apparently insuperable obstacle, into a line of defense.

In his report, General McClellan states the considerations which led him to determine on inactivity. They

CHAP. LVIII.]

pursue him.

the army.

STUART'S PENNSYLVANIAN RAID.

467*

McClellan fails to were the fatigue and exhaustion of his troops; the absence of the supply trains; the losses of the army, and demoralization of some of the corps; the want of ammunition. President Lincoln, thankful for the expulsion of Lee, but dissatisfied that he Lincoln visits the was not pursued, visited the army on the 1st of October, and remained with it several days. Porter made a reconnoissance in force beyond the Potomac on the 20th, but was driven back. Lee deliberately retired toward Winchester. A portion of his cav alry, under Stuart, however, recrossed the river on the 10th of October, at once insulting the national army, and making good the boast of the Confederates by a raid into Stuart's raid into Pennsylvania. He captured Chambersburg in that state, and there destroyed a large quantity of supplies. He burned machine shops, trains of cars, and other property. He made a complete circuit round McClellan's army, and returned into Virginia by crossing the Potomac below him. The Confederates might truly boast that they had at length carried the war into the Free States.

Pennsylvania.

Failure of Lee's

So ended Lee's sortie. It had cost him nearly 30,000 men, and, notwithstanding the capture of expedition. Harper's Ferry, had been a signal failure. Day after day passed on. The Confederates were be ing re-enforced and reorganized. The government was incessantly urging McClellan to advance. He, on his part, was standing still, and importunately demanding reenforcements, clothing, shoes, horses. His army became at length 150,000 strong. On October 6th Halleck tel egraphed to him: "The President directs. ernment for McClel- that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him South. Your army must move now, while the roads are good." Another fortnight elapsed (October 21), and still there was

Urgency of the gov

lan's advance.

His repeated procrastinations.

no forward movement. Halleck telegraphed again: "The President does not expect impossibilities, but he is very anxious that all this good weather should not be wasted in inactivity." McClellan now fixed upon November 1st as the earliest date at which he should be ready, and about that time crossed the Potomac, moving leisurely down the east side of the Blue Ridge, Lee moving parallel to him in the valley on the other side. McClellan's direction was toward Gordonsville. Lee, therefore, to prevent the Confederate communications being severed, marched directly and rapidly to that place. It became evident that McClellan's rela tions with the government were operating very disad vantageously. On the 7th of November a heavy snowstorm set in; the approach of winter.was betokened. He is removed from Lincoln's forbearance at last gave way. At midnight of that day orders arrived from Washington directing McClellan to turn over the command of the army to General Burnside. McClellan at this time had reached Rector

command.

Burnside succeeds

him.

town.

burg.

the

A portion of the Army of the Potomac was now reorganized in grand divisions. Burnside, believing that the true line of operations against Richmond was the direct Burnside resolves to one, resolved on moving the army to Frednock at Fredericks- ericksburg, masking his intention by a pretended advance on Gordonsville. Lee, however, discovered what the real movement was to be, and while Burnside marched along the north bank of the Rappahannock to Falmouth, he marched along the south bank to Fredericksburg. The two armies thus stood confronting each other on the opposite sides of the river.

Burnside had hoped to cross the Rappahannock before Lee could resist him successfully. On reaching Falmouth

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