facile princeps of quartermasters, remained at the head of that great department of administrative service so long under his charge.

This much for the Army of the Potomac. It should be added, that about the time it began active operations, it was re-enforced by the Ninth Corps under General Burnside, who, however, commanded it independently of General Meade. This corps had lately returned from its campaign in East Tennessee, and rendezvoused at Annapolis, where it had recruited its ranks and received the addition of a division of colored troops. All doubt as to its destination was dispelled at the end of April, when it was called to Washington, and thence marched to the Rapidan to make a junction with the Army of the Potomac. The united strength of the four corps gave Grant a movable column of about one hundred and forty thousand men of all arms. The rolls of Lee's army showed a force, present for duty, of fifty-two thousand six hundred and twenty-six men-foot, horse, and artillery.

The 3d of May the order went forth that the army should that night launch forth on its great adventure. The campaign thus initiated-a campaign unsurpassed by any on record, in the elements that make war grand, terrible, and bloody—will form the subject-matter of the succeeding chapters.

II.

THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.

The defensive line for many months occupied by the Confederates along the bluffs that skirt the south bank of the Rapidan was so strong by nature and art that a direct attack was out of the question. Lee as little feared as Grant designed such an attack, and both the defensive preparations of the former, and the offensive preparations of the latter, contemplated a turning movement upon the right or the left

flank of the Confederate line. It only remained to choose the direction to be given the advance-whether by the right or the left.

The views of General Grant strongly favored an operation against Lee's left, crossing the Rapidan above that flank. This plan was recommended by the consideration that an advance by this line would cover the communications with Washington against any contingency of a counter-move northward by Lee, and force him directly back towards Richmond. It was, however, attended with the serious difficulty that the duration of the campaign would be limited by the amount of rations that could be carried with the army, since it would be impracticable to keep up a line of supplies in an advance by that route. This objection was of sufficient weight to determine the adoption of the other alternative, which was to cross the Rapidan by the lower fords and turn Lee's right.

Quitting the camps in which it had lain during the winter, the army moved at midnight of the 3d of May. The advance to the Rapidan was made in two columns: the right column, made up of the corps of Warren and Sedgwick, to cross at Germanna Ford; the left column, consisting of Hancock's corps, at Ely's Ford, six miles below.

Warren's corps, forming the advance of the right column, marched from the vicinity of Culpepper, and, preceded by Wilson's cavalry division, reached Germanna Ford at six o'clock of the morning of Thursday, the 4th; and as soon as the bridge was laid, began the passage, which was completed by one o'clock. During the afternoon, Sedgwick's corps followed across, and encamped for the night near the river. Warren, advancing some miles southward from the Rapidan, bivouacked at Old Wilderness Tavern at the point of intersection of the plankroad from the Germanna Ford with the turnpike from Orange Courthouse to Fredericksburg. On the latter road, Wilson's division of cavalry was, in the afternoon, thrown out towards Robertson's Tavern to watch the directions whence any hostile menace might be expected. The left column, consisting of Hancock's corps, moved from its

encampment near Stevensburg, and advanced to Ely's Ford,* preceded by Gregg's division of cavalry. When the corps reached the Rapidan the cavalry was well across, and had the canvas ponton-bridge nearly laid. This work being soon completed, the infantry made the passage and pushed forward to Chancellorsville, which place it reached at nine in the morning of the 4th, the cavalry being thrown out towards Fredericksburg and Todd's Tavern. At Chancellorsville, Hancock's troops rested for the remainder of the day, awaiting the passage of the heavier column on the right. The troops bivouacked for the night on Hooker's old battleground.

Thus the morning of Thursday, the 5th of May, found a hundred thousand men across the Rapidan. The barrier that had so long divided the opposing armies was passed, and with the mingled emotions which grand and novel enterprises stir in men's breasts, the troops looked out, hopefully, yet conscious that a terrible struggle was before them, into a region yet untrodden by the hostile armies, but soon to become historic by a fierce grapple of armed hosts and bloody battles in many tangled woods.

Lee had offered no opposition to the passage of the Rapidan. His right was turned. Was this to be considered a great success? The answer will depend on the line of action marked out for himself by General Lee.

In the defence of rivers, military art presents several distinct lines of conduct. 1. The general on the defensive may permit the crossing of a part of the assailing force, and then, by destroying the means of passage, seek to overwhelm the isolated fraction.t 2. He may oppose directly the passage of the hostile army, or, by occupying advantageous positions,

* General Grant, in his official report (p. 6), inadvertently states that the Second Corps crossed at United States Ford; but Ely's Ford was the point o passage.

The conduct of the Archduke Charles at Essling, is a good example of this. See Vial: Cours d'Art et d'Histoire Militaires, vol. ii., p. 92.