LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

GENERAL MAP OF THE SEAT OF WAR

At the beginning of the Vol. JACKSON'S CAMPAIGN OF THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. to face page

SKETCH OF M'CLELLAN'S OPERATIONS BEFORE RICHMOND

6

20

HISTORY

OF

THE AMERICAN WAR.

THE SECOND YEAR.

CHAPTER I.

CAMPAIGN IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

It was in gloom and sorrow that the usually pleasant springtime opened on the Southern States in the year 1862. Far different were their prospects from those which apparently awaited them in the corresponding season of the preceding year. Then expectation and hope, the excitement of novelty, the anticipation of freedom from a union they detested, and the first bursts of military enthusiasm had roused the people of the South, and concealed from the eyes of the majority the trials, the sufferings, and the desolation which a war such as they were about to engage in would bring upon themselves and upon their country. This enthusiasm and these hopes had been increased by the events of the first campaign.

From various circumstances, more especially from the more warlike character of the nation, the results of the earlier battles had been in favour of the South, and had tended to rouse her people to unbounded confidence, and to an overweening assurance of their own superiority over the soldiers of

the North. This feeling had been carried to so high a pitch, that, instead of acting as an element of strength, it had tended to weaken her power, by leading her to disregard, or rather to undervalue, her preparations for defence. Consequently, the North, roused and piqued to increased exertions, rather than disheartened by first failures, put forth her strength, and gradually, but with sure steps, carried the war far from the frontiers, even into the heart of the Confederacy. Scarcely a State but what was called on to feel on her own soil the horrors of war. The Border States at first bore the brunt of the battle; gradually Kentucky, Missouri, and Western Virginia were occupied by the troops of the North; whilst the coast of the Confederacy, assailed by the fleets of the seaboard States, yielded a footing to their armies. New Orleans at length fell, the greatest blow that had been dealt against the Southern cause; great not only from the effect it exercised on the morale of the belligerents, but also from the important influence it had on the policy of Europe, either as regarded recognition or intervention. From that time the South awoke more clearly to the perception that on herself, and on herself alone, would the task of gaining her independence and position among the nations fall; if her first enthusiasm was damped, a deeper and more lasting feeling of determination was aroused, which was destined ere long to clear away, if it did not at once break, the clouds which had gathered round her prospects.

New Orleans had indeed fallen, but Richmond still remained; and it was felt that in front of that city must the battle be fought. Yet her position was one of great danger. Within a few miles of the capital was encamped the largest and best-equipped army of the

North; within less than an hour's steam of her quays were anchored the ironclad gunboats of the Federal navy, whilst converging on her from the west and north marched the three distinct armies of Fremont, Banks, and M'Dowell. Weak were her preparations for defence. The unfinished fort at Drury's Bluff had indeed repulsed the first efforts of the ironclads, and the hastily-constructed earthworks joined to the swamps of the Chicahominy had hitherto hindered the advance of the army of M'Clellan; but her situation was so critical and her danger so imminent, that many even of those who were most confident of final success showed symptoms of alarm for her security. Numbers left the city; preparations were made for the removal of the archives of the Confederacy; and a feeling of intense anxiety pervaded her population.

It was at this most momentous crisis, when few could restrain a feeling of doubt and perplexity, that a success, which seemed to turn the tide of victory, crowned the arms of the Southern troops in the Shenandoah Valley. The causes which led to this event must be looked for in the conduct of the Federal Government. From various motives, principally political, such as the necessity of giving commands to generals who represented or could exercise influence over the great political parties, a system of detached operations had been sanctioned by the President and his advisers. Thus in Virginia alone, irrespective of the great army of the Potomac, three several generals exercised independent commands. To General Fremont had been allotted the mountain department of Western Virginia; to General Banks, the Shenandoah Valley; and to General M'Dowell, the department of the Rappahannock. The forces of the two last mentioned generals occupying

positions principally with reference to the defence of the national capital. Each general was at the head of a force sufficient to encourage him to attempt offensive movements, but was without power to carry them through with success.

In order to comprehend the campaign of the Shenandoah Valley, it is necessary to follow closely the movements of these several armies. Towards the middle of April, the three generals occupied respectively the following positions :-General Fremont was at Franklin, a small town in the mountains of Western Virginia near the source of the south branch of the Potomac, with a force of at least three divisions, including that of General Blenker, which had been withdrawn from the army of the Potomac, and had since acquired an unenviable notoriety for plundering.* General Banks having advanced along the north fork of the Shenandoah River, had placed his head-quarters at Newmarket, beyond the terminus of the rail which intersects the Shenandoah Valley, whilst General M'Dowell, with the first corps d'armée of about 30,000 men, occupied Fredericksburg on the Rappahannockthe town having been evacuated by the Confederate troops on the 17th, and having surrendered to General Auger on the 19th, under the expectation of an attack by a combined naval and military force.

Such was the position of the Federals. On the other hand, the Confederate troops detached to hold in check Generals Fremont and Banks were under General Jackson, who commanded his own division and that of General Ewell, together with the cavalry force of Colonel Ashby. Possessing true military genius, combined with

The term Blenkering became common in America to express rioting and plundering.