CAVALRY RAIDS. Panola. At daylight, on the 30th, General Washburn was at Preston, sixteen miles from Grenada. From this vicinity he sent parties who destroyed several bridges, and the telegraph wires on the Mississippi and Tennessee, and the Mississippi and Central railroad. The latter service was performed by Major Birge, who, with one hundred men of the 9th Illinois cavalry, armed with carbines, crowbars and axes, crossed the country, through the woods and canebrakes. The enemy in their retreat before Grant, being now at Grenada and its approaches, and aroused by General Washburn's proceedings, the latter avoided them by retiring a short distance, to Mitchell's Cross-roads, where he received a reinforcement from General Hovey, of about 1,200 infantry, with four field pieces. With these, a few days after, he came up with a body of Texan cavalry at Oakland, after the first encounter, in which a gun was taken by the enemy, driving them through the town, wounding many severely, and capturing a number of prisoners, horses and arms, and 5,000 rounds of minié ball cartridges. Here General Washburn received a dispatch from General Hovey recalling him to Helena, whither he returned, having in six days marched two hundred miles in a hostile country, surrounded by the enemy in force.* Another cavalry scout, not inferior in spirit to that of General Washburn, was made in the middle of December, by Colonel T. L. Dickey, at the order of General Grant, on the Mobile and Ohio railroad. His instructions were "to strike the line as far south as practicable, and destroy it as much as possible." Accordingly, while another party was sent to engage the attention of the enemy on the Mississippi Central, Colonel Dickey, on the 14th, with a picked body of Illinois cavalry, took the road for Okolona, and succeeded in destroying * General Washburn to Captain Phillips, A. A. G. December 4, 1862. 633 the bridges between Saltillo and that place. The expedition, which subsisted on the country, on its return to the camp of General Grant, at Oxford, reported having "marched about two hundred miles, worked two days at the railroad, captured about one hundred and fifty prisoners, destroyed thirty-four miles of important railroad, and a large amount of public stores of the enemy, and returned, passing round an enemy of nine to our one, without having a man killed, wounded, or captured. In this way confidence was gained by the Union forces, and a practical knowledge of the interior of Mississippi, important for future operations. 11 The effect of the movements of Grant and his supporters from the Mississippi, had been the withdrawal of the Confederates to Grenada, and even beyond. The pursuit was not continued, Grant finding "the roads too impassable to get up supplies for a longer continuance of it." His long line of communication through Western Tennessee to Columbus, in fact offered a means of annoyance to the enemy, which he was not long in availing himself of. Towards the end of December, simultaneous attacks were made upon various points at Holly Springs, Davis' Mills, in the vicinity of Jackson, Tennessee, at Humboldt, and Trenton. At the last place, and at Holly Springs, a number of prisoners were. taken and paroled, and a large quantity of stores destroyed. The attack upon Holly Springs, on the 20th of December, was led by the Confederate General Van Dorn himself, and certainly afforded a very complete illustration of a rebel raid. The enemy in force entered the town at daybreak, and readily overcame the scattered guards and pickets, when Colonel Murphy, who was in command, unprepared for conflict, surrendered the place, not, however, without resistance being made by the Illinois cavalry, a portion of whom cut their way through diarrhea, to start with him on the road." the numbers of the foe, and escaped the And it was not till they had fallen in the parole which awaited the infantry. The street, that the continued remonstrances work of pillage and destruction was of the surgeons were listened to.* While promptly commenced and systematically the fearful conflagration was going on, carried out. The railway depots and the northern cotton buyers, of whom property, a foundry, the arsenal, full of there were a number in the place, were military stores, a vast quantity of cotton, assembled and compelled to pay over the property of government and private the ample funds with which they were owners, and the armory hospital, "in provided. The southern ladies, however, violation of an express promise, and of by their kindness in taking charge of a all rules of civilized warfare," were at portion of this property, saved consideronce consigned to the flames. An at-able sums from the grasp of the insatiate tempt was even made to destroy the Van Dorn. The surrender at Holly general hospital, located in the main Springs was severely censured by Gensquare, and which at the time contained eral Grant, who had warned Colonel over five hundred sick. The report of Murphy of the approach of the enemy, the United States Medical Director, Sur- and who at the very time had sent reingeon Wirtz, narrates the fearful suffering forcements on their way to his aid. Colto which the inmates were exposed. onel Jacob Fry, commanding at Trenton, Barrels of powder and boxes of shells gallantly, though unavailingly, opposed and cartridges were piled up and set fire the attack on Trenton, which was led by to in front of the building. Before the the rebel General Forrest. sick could be removed the walls and windows were riddled with flying balls and shell, and an explosion took place wounding twenty men, and setting fire to a number of buildings on the square. To add to the horrors of this pandemonium, a rebel cavalry officer forced a hundred and fifty sick soldiers from their beds to rise, and fall in line, and notwithstanding the expostulations of the medical officer, "actually made the poor fellows, suffering from typhoid fever, pneumonia and The effect of these attacks was to confine General Grant to the borders of Tennessee. The public, ignorant of the difficulties in his way, had looked for the immediate reduction of Vicksburg; but that was an undertaking destined to tax the resources of the Union armies in more than one future campaign. * H. R. Wirtz, Surgeon, U. S. A., Medical Director, 13th Army Corps, to Lieutenant-Colonel Rawlings, A. A. G. Holly Springs. December 30, 1862. CHAPTER LXXVIII. GENERAL MCCLELLAN'S CAMPAIGN-BATTLES OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN AND ANTIETAM IN MARYLAND-SEPTEMBER, 1862. WHEN General Pope at the end of a campaign of unintermitted toil, marked by the persistent and courageous efforts of his overmatched forces, withdrew his wasted army within the defences of Washington he found there General McClellan in authority; that officer after a brief interval of inaction since his arrival from the James River while his troops were reinforcing the army of Pope, having, on the 2d of September, been ordered by General Halleck to the com REBEL ADVANCE IN MARYLAND. mand of the fortifications of Washington and of all the troops for the defence of the capital. The return of Pope's forces virtually brought the entire army of the Potomac again under his authority, and when, as was immediately the case, it became necessary once more to take the field -General Pope having been relieved and appointed to a new sphere of duty-the command of the army for active operations was virtually assigned by the President to General McClellan, whose experience and popularity with the army were looked to to repair its shattered fortunes. On the 4th he issued the first of a new series of general orders, announcing his command and requiring corps commanders to place their troops in condition for immediate service. Rumors meanwhile began to be current that the Confederate General Lee was about to carry out a long-threatened plan of invasion of the North. It was observed that his lines were extended into the Shenandoah Valley and towards the Potomac, it was thought quite probable, with the intention of crossing the river into Maryland. The public was not kept long in suspense. At noon of the 5th of September a body of rebel cavalry from Leesburg attempted to pass the river at Edwards Ferry, but were repulsed by the Union forces at that place. The attempt, however, was renewed in the vicinity with success the following night, and the next day Poolesville and Darnstown were visited by a party of cavalry. At the same time the river, now fordable, was crossed in force by the enemy above and below Point of Rocks. This advance of the army of Lee under General Hill marched immediately upon Frederick, the capital of the state, and occupied the city on the 6th. Their appearance was a signal to withdraw above and below the trains and rolling stock of the Baltimore and Ohio Rail road, whose track they had crossed. A Provost Marshal, Bradley T. Johnson, a seceding Marylander who had entered 635 the Confederate, army was appointed to keep order at Frederick, and as a policy of conciliation was evidently intended, the presence of the rebel troops was made as endurable as was consistent with an enforced supply of their necessities, to the inhabitants. Foraging parties were sent out for live-stock and provisions, and the most liberal purchases were made of drugs, shoes, clothing, and other articles from the shopkeepers of the town. An occasional "greenback" was rumored to have been exhibited, but the tradesmen were for the most part paid in Coffederate currency, which they received with a blank incredulous aspect. Sound Unionists ironically congratulated "copperhead" storekeepers on the excellent business they were doing. Beyond this compulsory traffic there appears to have been little violation of the ordinary privileges of the inhabitants. They had indeed to endure the sight of the rebel flag which was substituted for the stars and stripes on their public buildings; but beyond a house or two occupied as headquarters, private residences were not disturbed by the soldiers who were encamped outside the town. Citizens were permitted to pass freely in and out of the place. This forbearance was shown to "my Maryland" as by right, in the opinion of the invaders, an integral portion of the Confederacy. His forces having now entered in numbers and gained a foothold in the state, General Lee, on the 8th September, from the headquarters of his Army of Northern Virginia, near Frederickton, issued his proclamation to the people of Maryland. "It is right," said he, "that you should know the purpose that has brought the army under my command within the limits of your state, so far as that purpose concerns yourselves. The people of the Confederate States have long watchel with the deepest sympathy the wrongs and outrages that have been inflicted upon the citizens of a commonwealth allied to the states of the South by the strongest social, political, and commercial ties, and reduced to the con- Provost Marshal Johnson also issued a his late fellow-citizens to join the Con- Remem SOUTHERN ANTICIPATIONS. 637 aggressive policy. "It is the desire of the people," said he, "that the war should be carried into the enemy's country. Mirabeau, the French philosopher, said that the only way to conduct a successful revolution was to dare, to dare again, and still to dare,' and I wish this army, this people of ours, the Executive, "to dare, to dare again, and still to dare," and dare at once. We have tried the opposite policy long; and it has been partially successful. But now is the time to make the enemy suffer, to make them bleed, and feel the iron heel of war. I believe we can do it, at least I am willing to make the experiment. We have battled long on our territory, and now is the time to cease; and I speak the sentiment of at least my own constituents when I say, go into the enemy's country. 'Go with banner, brand and bow, Fort Warren; the insults to your wives and daughters; the arrests, the midnight searches of your houses. Remember these your wrongs, and rise at once in arms, and strike for Liberty and Right!" A debate in the Confederate Congress at Richmond, on the 12th, in the first flush of Lee's invasion of Maryland, exhibited the expectations formed at the South from this event. Not only were thanks tendered to General Lee and the officers and men under his command, "for their brilliant victory, culminating in the signal defeat of the combined forces of the enemy in the two great battles of Manassas ;" but it was resolved, "That Congress has heard with profound satisfaction of the triumphant crossing of the Potomac by our victorious army, and, assured of the wisdom of that masterly movement, could repose with entire confidence on the distinguished skill of the commanding-general and the valor of his troops, under favor of the Great A more moderate view was taken by Ruler of nations, to achieve new tri- Mr. Smith of Alabama. "Our troops, umphs, to relieve oppressed Maryland, said he, "have already achieved great and advance our standard into the terri- victories, and the great success of our tory of the enemy." In the debate on arms has been marked by triumphs unthese resolutions, Mr. Lyons of Virginia paralleled in the history of nations. But it demurred to committing the House to is a question yet as to whether we shall any movement of the army beyond be able to hold Maryland. We have Maryland, in which he was stoutly op- never been invited to enter Maryland, posed by Mr. Miles of South Carolina, and we do not know how we shall be who hailed the invasion as the fulfillment received. When our armies entered of the long-cherished and openly-expressed wishes of the South. "Do you believe that we could safely go into the heart of the North," asked Lyons. "I say promptly, yes!" responded Miles. "I was told by a general, for whose opinion I know the gentleman from Virginia has a high regard, that give Jackson one half of our present army, and although there were 600,000 men in the field he would drive them all before him. I believe now is the time to strike the blow. The regular armies of McClellan and Pope are unable to meet one-fifth of the number they ought to be." Mr. Ayer of South Carolina seconded the Kentucky, where we had been invited to go, we had to meet the Kentuckians steel to steel and knee to knee, and we were driven out by Kentuckians. This illfated move lost us Nashville, and led to a series of other disasters, until the great valley of the Missisippi was lost. It was an old saying, that' whom the gods would destroy, they first made mad.' The people go mad twice a year, when they have anything to go mad about. No war of invasion had ever been successful except it was for the purpose of colonizing the country which they invaded. If the policy was continued we might look for the second day which tried men's souls." |