guns had been sent to the rear by the roads leading to the fords, and these roads were so encumbered with every description of waggon, that to bring them again to the front would have been almost impossible. But the preparations for retreat had been carefully concealed; and on the night of the 1st and morning of the 2nd December, the Army of the Potomac retired across the Rapidan to its former lines.

A storm of indignation awaited the Federal general. The victories in the West and the advantages gained on the Rappahannock had excited hopes which ardent imaginations had exalted into assurances of complete success, and a failure such as had resulted from the onward movement of the Army of the Potomac was, at a time of so great triumph, especially hard to bear. The loss in the campaign had not been inconsiderable, numbering, according to Northern accounts, between 1,000 and 1,500, whilst in the total absence of results, although not in the terrible defeat, the second advance into the Wilderness under Meade offered a parallel to the first under Hooker.

Of course various reasons were alleged for the failure and consequent retreat. By the newspapers and those ignorant of the difficult country in which he was called on to operate, General Meade was blamed for his slowness and for the delay in attacking his opponent before he could concentrate his army and collect reinforcements; whilst others hinted at incompetence on the part of the generals commanding corps, and at the jealousy said to exist against Warren, to whom, in preference to those senior in rank, opportunity for distinction had been given, and to whose corps additions had been made to the prejudice of other officers; advantages which had not been justified by the event. As,

however, the campaign came to be more calmly considered, and probably when the voice of the army had made itself heard, the prudence and self-sacrifice of General Meade in directing a timely withdrawal from a dangerous position was appreciated, and it was felt that if he did not possess the brilliant qualities long looked for among the Federal generals, he was yet an able officer, and one to whose discretion the conduct of the Army of the Potomac might well be entrusted.

With Mine Run terminated for the year 1863 the campaigns of the Army of the Potomac. In Western Virginia, in the space intervening between the Confederate armies of the East and of the West (between Lee and Longstreet), an expedition under General Averill, signalised the close of the year, and offered a parallel to many of the bold raids of the Confederate cavalry. In November, Averill, in command of a mixed force of infantry and cavalry, had penetrated to the mountains which, traversing Western Virginia, connect with the Great Cumberland Range, and, having defeated General Echolls on Droop Mountain, twenty-eight miles from Lewisburgh, had driven him across the Greenbrier River. Contented with this success, and with the injury inflicted on the enemy by the burning of his winter quarters and destruction of stores, and having obtained a local knowledge of the mountainous country which had not felt the presence of an enemy since the earlier campaigns of the Kanawha Valley, Averill retraced his steps to his quarters at New Creek, near Cumberland, on the Baltimore and Ohio rail.*

This raid was only a prelude to an expedition of greater importance. The value to the Confederates of

* Vide Map II., commencement of vol.

The

the occupation of the mountains and passes of Western Virginia lay in the cover they afforded to one of the main arteries of communication between the East and the West. On the eastern side of the chain of mountains ran the rail from Richmond to Lynchburg, and from thence to Knoxville and Chattanooga. Chattanooga end of this great line of communication had, as has been already shown, fallen into the possession of the Federals; but the remainder still served to supply Longstreet, who, with much difficulty, was maintaining his position, after his retreat from Knoxville, in the mountainous country on the frontiers of Tennessee and Western Virginia. To destroy and render valueless this important railway, was the object which Averill desired to accomplish, and with this intent he marched up the valley of the south branch of the Potomac; and having eluded several detachments of Confederate troops, crossed with some difficulty, and much suffering from cold, the high ridge of mountains, and descended unexpectedly by the Craig Creek Valley on Salem. There he burnt the stores, tore up the rail, cut the telegraph wire, and destroyed such of the rolling stock as fell into his hands; and, having collected as much plunder as he could convey away, commenced his march homewards. The cold had increased, storms raged among the mountains, the rivers were swollen,*

* The following extract from General Averill's report, with another from a Confederate narrative, published in the Richmond Examiner, will give some notion of the difficulties of campaigning during winter among the mountains of Western Virginia. General Averill writes:-'My march was retarded occasionally by the tempest in the mountain, and the icy roads. I was obliged to swim my command, and drag my artillery with ropes across Craig's Creek seven times in twenty-four hours.'

The other account speaks of the sufferings of the Confederates

and he heard that the Confederate forces were concentrating to bar his progress. Happily for him he captured a courier bearing despatches, and thus, having learnt the exact position of the enemy, took measures to defeat his plans. Before they could be burnt, he seized the bridges over the Jackson River, and, with but comparatively slight loss, effected its passage, climbed the mountains by a path hitherto considered impracticable, and regained his quarters in a friendly country. The injury done to the rail at Salem was repaired, but the Confederates could ill spare the stores which had been burnt, and which Longstreet's men greatly needed; nor did a parallel raid, executed with equal courage and enterprise by Fitz Lee, compensate for the damage inflicted by Averill. The North, rich in resources, could afford the wear and tear of horseflesh consequent on these raids, but the South, where every man and horse were of the utmost value, was obliged to put restraint on her officers, lest, when the time arrived for decisive action, her cavalry, worn out by frequent expeditions, should be inefficient and useless.

concentrating in Averill's rear :— -'No language can tell the sufferings of our men. They were in the saddle day and night, save a few hours between midnight and day. They were beat up by their swords-the only means of arousing them-numb and sleepy. Some froze to death; others were taken from their horses senseless. They forded swollen streams, and their clothes, frozen stiff, rattled as they rode. It rained in torrents, and froze as it fell. In the mountain paths the ice was cut from the roads before they ventured to ride over.'

CHAPTER VIII.

CLOSE OF THE YEAR 1863.

IT WOULD almost seem that the arbitrary limit given to certain periods of time had effected the several military operations spread over the various States and climates of the Southern Confederacy. As the year approached its termination, the campaigns appear to culminate towards certain points, from whence, soon after the commencement of the new year, they branch out again in diverging directions and with different designs.

The great attack on the defences of Charleston had virtually terminated with the capture of Fort Wagner, and the fruitless attempt on Fort Sumter. The retreat from Mine Run across the Rapidan had closed for the year 1863 the operations of the Army of the Potomac and of Virginia. The relief of Knoxville, and subsequent withdrawal of Longstreet to the confines of Western Virginia, had secured to the Federals the possession of Eastern Tennessee; whilst the defeat of the Confederates at Chicamauga, followed by the pursuit to Tunnel Hill, had changed the aspect of affairs in Georgia, and promised to be the forerunner of even more remarkable events. Of the trans-Mississippi department little notice has been taken for a considerable time. Cut off from all except secret communication with the remainder of the Confederacy, and yet