CHAPTER XVI.

CAMPAIGN OF GETTYSBURG.

AGAIN, on the third succeeding summer, does the interest of the great struggle centre in Virginia; the names of villages, streams, and hills already familiar as the scenes of battles, of lesser engagements and frequent skirmishes, are again to become signalised, as the wave of war returns over the country, still suffering from its previous inundations.

Taking up the narrative of events from the time of the retreat of Hooker across the Rappahannock, we find that during the remainder of May the two armies had watched each other from either side of the river. Apparently all was quiet; and if, as May drew to a close, vague reports were in circulation of an important movement on the part of Lee, which the month of June was to develop, they were treated in the North as mere rumours to which little importance should be attached. Nevertheless, preparations for a great campaign were diligently made in the Confederate camp. Longstreet, with two veteran divisions, was recalled from North Carolina; the cavalry was concentrated and reviewed by General Lee in person, in the vicinity of Culpepper Court-house; and the army, reorganised and divided into three equal and distinct corps, awaited the orders for a march, of which perhaps no one ex

cepting the President and the Commander-in-Chief knew the ultimate object.

To General Longstreet was the command of the first corps assigned, consisting of the divisions of M'Laws, Hood and Pickett; to General Ewell, who, according to General Jackson's wish, had succeeded to the command of his old corps, were the divisions of Early, Rodes, and Johnson allotted; and to General A. P. Hill was the third corps given, consisting of the divisions of Anderson, Pender and Heth.* Each of these three corps numbered about 25,000 men, making the total strength of the army 75,000, irrespective of Stuart's cavalry.

To supply so large a force, and at the same time not to neglect the armies of the West, taxed to their utmost extent the resources of the Confederate authorities. The daily rations of the men were sufficiently difficult to collect and to forward to their proper localities, but the large quantities of forage necessary for the horses, and the relays of horses required to sustain the wear and tear of war, were almost beyond their capabilities. For these reasons, a change in the scene of operations was rendered advisable. But irrespective of the actual necessities of the army, other causes tended to influence the President and General Lee in advocating an alteration in the strategy of the summer campaign. The continual defensive attitude maintained during the autumn, winter, and spring by the Army of Virginia, was not only trying to the resources of the country, but was also galling to the spirit of the people and the soldiery, flushed with the victories of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. They could perceive no termination to a struggle in

See Pollard's Third Year of the War, and Captain Chesney's Campaigns in Virginia.

which the aggressors, continually recruited from a numerous population and from European immigrants, and ignorant of the horrors and sufferings of war, pushed forward army after army in order to weary out, if they could not conquer, the only force which stood between them and Richmond. But it was contended, should war visit the Northern territory, and should the farmers of Pennsylvania learn by practical experience the sufferings endured by those of Virginia, they would sooner listen to the arguments urged in favour of peace, and would bring their influence to strengthen that large party in the North which was unfavourable to the continuance of the struggle.

That an irruption into the Northern States might relieve the pressure on the Confederate armies of the West, may also have been an additional argument in favour of an offensive campaign, and possibly the desire of counterbalancing the continual retreat of the armies of Tennessee and Mississippi by an advance into Northern territory, and of offering a counterpoise to Grant's brilliant movements against Vicksburg, may have exerted its influence in determining the President to listen to the reasonings of those who advocated bolder measures than he in general approved of.

The design of the campaign having received the sanction of the head of the Government, it remained for General Lee to put it into execution. He could not attack the army entrenched in his front with any hope of success, strong as it was in numbers and supported by a powerful artillery; and to turn its flank, and to threaten its communications without exposing his own, was a task which required all the talents of a consummate general. Strict secresy as to the intended movement must be maintained, and to secure such secresy,

few, if any, excepting the President, could be entrusted with the plan of operations. The march of a large army and the transportation of its supplies were to be conducted in presence of a superior force, provided with a numerous if not very efficient cavalry; and a semblance of strength was to be preserved, in order to deceive the Federal general at Falmouth, and to conceal the departure of the main body of the army from his front.

The reoccupation of the Shenandoah Valley, the invasion of Pennsylvania, and the change in the theatre of the war from Virginia to the enemy's country, were the immediate objects of Lee's intended movements. Whatever might result from these operations could not be foreseen, and the ultimate, and perhaps as yet scarcely defined, designs of the campaign could only develop themselves as success, or the reverse, should influence the conduct of the war.

To gain the Shenandoah Valley, and to relieve the town of Winchester, which since the campaign of Antietam had suffered under the tyranny of General Milroy, was the first aim of the intended movement; but how to transfer the army from its present position on the heights above Fredericksburg to the Shenandoah Valley, without the intelligence of the movement reaching the enemy, was a difficulty which can scarcely be over-estimated. General Hooker, by means of the rail to Aquia Creek and the transports on the Potomac, could move his supplies with greater facility than could his opponents by the circuitous rail to Gordonsville, and so by roads into the valley, whilst the distance that the army would have to march from Falmouth, by either Warrenton or Manasses, was considerably shorter than the route which the Confederates would be forced

to take by Gordonsville and Culpepper. It depended therefore on secresy and rapidity, whether Lee would be able to gain a march on Hooker, and so outmanœuvre him, at the same time that he guarded against the danger of exposing his rear or right flank to the attack of the whole Federal army, when the leading columns should have advanced beyond supporting distance. Such were General Lee's difficulties. On the other hand, he had the advantage of prestige, both as regarded his own capabilities and the qualities of his troops, and he was operating against a general who possessed neither the confidence of his men, nor the education or talent necessary for the command of a large army. Lee knew also that he could act on the fears of President Lincoln and his Government for the safety of Washington, and possibly induce them to interfere with the conduct of the campaign, in order to provide for the greater security of the capital.

During the first week in June the movement commenced. Longstreet's and Ewell's corps were directed to march on Culpepper, their right flank guarded by detachments of Stuart's cavalry which watched the fords of the Rappahannock, whilst A. P. Hill's corps remained at and near Fredericksburg, to deceive the Federal general by an appearance of strength. But the movements of a large army cannot be kept completely secret, and reports of a reduction in the numbers of the enemy occupying the heights in his front reached General Hooker, and induced him to push forward a strong reconnaissance across the Rappahannock below the town of Fredericksburg. A division of the sixth corps was

This remark is not intended to reflect on General Hooker's capabilities for an inferior command, but only for that of a large army.