CHAPTER LXXIX. GENERAL MCCLELLAN'S ADVANCE INTO VIRGINIA-REMOVAL FROM HIS COMMAND, NOVEMBER 7, 1862. troops about the capital, leaving only a garrison, promising, "if I am reinforced, as I ask, and am allowed to take my own course, I will hold myself responsible for the safety of Washington." To ascertain the condition of the army and make himself acquainted with the scene of the recent military operations, President Lincoln, on the 1st of October, THE defeat of the enemy at the battle of Antietam, though not a decisive victory in arresting the war, was a significant indication of the future fortunes of the struggle, and might well be received at the North with heartfelt congratulations, succeeding, as it did, to a series of disasters suffered by the Army of the Potomac. Much disappointment, however, was expressed at the successful re-visited the camps in the vicinity of Hartreat across the Potomac of the baffled host, which, inferior in numbers and equipment and with the discouragement of their heavy losses, speedily-as the reconnoissances sent over the river learnt to their cost-took up a position in Virginia, from which General McClellan thought it inexpedient for the time to make any attempt to dislodge them. The battle of Antietam was fought on the 17th of September. Ten days after, when the losses of the day had been ascertained and an estimate formed of the strength of the army, General McClellan pronounced it the best policy to retain his forces on the north bank of the river, render Harper's Ferry secure and watch the movements of the enemy until the rise of the Potomac should render a new invasion of Maryland impracticable; when, as it appeared advantageous, he might move on Winchester, or "devote a reasonable time to the organization of the army and instruction of the new troops preparatory to an advance on whatever line may be determined. In any event, I regard it as absolutely necessary to send new regiments at once to the old corps for purposes of instruction, and that the old regiments be filled at once." At the same time he called upon General Halleck for the per's Ferry, reviewed the troops, whose condition he found to be, upon the whole, satisfactory, and was everywhere in Maryland, on his route, received with enthusiasm. On his return to Washington, General Halleck, on the 6th of October, sent an explicit order to General McClellan: The President directs that you cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy or drive him South. Your army must move now while the roads are good." The President, it was added, advised the passage of the river below Harper's Ferry, by which an interior line might be gained, Washington protected, and large reinforcements added to the army. In reply, the next day, General McClellan stated his preference of and determination to advance upon the line of the Shenandoah for immediate operations against the enemy near Winchester. It offered greater facilities, he thought, for supplying the army, and to abandon it would be to leave Maryland uncovered for another invasion. General Halleck, at the same time, in a letter to General McClellan, replied to the latter's suggestions, that the army must move, with its crippled regiments, without waiting for the new men from the draft. "The country,' "The country," he wrote, "is becoming very impatient at the want ANOTHER CAVALRY RAID. 657 of activity in your army, and we must branch of the Coneocheague. The expepush it on. I am satisfied that the ene-dition was also specially authorized to my are falling back towards Richmond. We must follow them and seek to punish them. There is a decided want of legs in our troops. They have too much immobility, and we must try to remedy the defect." The same day General McClellan issued a proclamation to the army, calling attention to the recent Emancipation Proclamation by the President, of the 22d of September, which, with the proceedings relating to it, the reader will find in a subsequent chapter. "A proclamation," said he, "of such grave moment to the nation, officially communicated to the army, affords to the General commanding an opportunity of defining specifically to the officers and soldiers under his command the relation borne by all persons in the military service of the United States towards the civil authorities of the government. The Constitution confides to the civil authorities, legislative, judicial and executive, the power and duty of making, expounding and executing the federal laws. Armed forces are raised and supported simply to sustain the civil authorities, and are to be held in strict subordination thereto in all respects. This fundamental rule of our political system is essential to the security of our republican institutions, and should be thoroughly understood and observed by every soldier." supply itself with horses and "other necessary articles on the list of legal captures." All citizens met with on the way, who were likely to give information to the Union army, were to be arrested, and citizens of Pennsylvania, holding state or government offices, were to be brought off as hostages, or "the means of exchanges for our own citizens that have been carried off by the enemy." The region about Cumberland was to be watched for a safe return, unless the expedition was led to the East, when it was expected to cross the Potomac in the vicinity of Leesburg. Armed with these instructions, General Stuart left the main camp of the enemy, at Winchester, on the 9th, and making his way, by Darksville and Hedgesville, with a cavalry force of eighteen hundred men and four pieces of horse artillery, under command of Brigadier-General Hampton and Colonels W. H. F. Lee and Jones, at daylight the next day, with slight opposition, crossed the Potomac at McCoy's Ford, between Williamsport and Hancock. He then learnt that the division of General Cox, after its service with Pope and McClellan, had just passed westward, on its return to the Kanawha. "Striking directly across the national road," continues General Stuart in his report, "I proceeded in the direction of Mercersburg, Pennsylvania, which point The Army of the Potomac was now was reached about twelve м. M. I was exaroused by another adventurous raid of tremely anxious to reach Hagerstown, the rebel cavalry General Stuart, simi- where large supplies were stored; but lar to his exploit on the Peninsula. On was satisfied from reliable information the 8th of October, the Confederate that the notice the enemy had of my apGeneral Lee ordered an expedition into proach and the proximity of his forces, Maryland, directing Stuart, with a de- would enable him to prevent my capturtachment of from twelve to fifteen hun-ing it. I therefore turned towards Chamdred well-mounted men, to cross the bersburg. I did not reach this point Potomac above Williamsport, and leaving Hagerstown and Greencastle on the right, to proceed to the rear of Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania, and endeavor to destroy the railroad bridge over the till after dark, in a rain. I did not deem it safe to defer the attack till morning, nor was it proper to attack a place full of women and children without summoning it first to surrender. I accordingly sent in a flag of truce, and found no military or civil authority in the place; but some prominent citizens who met the officer were notified that the place would be occupied, and if any resistance were made the place would be shelled in three minutes. Brigadier-General Wade Hampton's command, being in advance, took possession of the place, and I appointed him Military Governor of the city. No incidents occurred during the night, during which it rained continuously. The officials all fled the town on our approach, and no one could be found who would admit that he held office in the place. About two hundred and seventy-five sick and wounded in hospital were paroled. During the day a large number of horses of citizens were seized and brought along. The wires were cut, and railroads were obstructed. Next morning it was ascertained that a large number of small arms and munitions of war were stored about the railroad buildings, all of which that could not be easily brought away were destroyed-consisting of about five thousand new muskets, pistols, sabres, ammunition; also a large assortment of army clothing. The extensive machine-shops and depot buildings of the railroad and several trains of loaded cars were entirely destroyed." From Chambersburg General Stuart took the road eastwardly towards Gettysburg, turning into Maryland by Emmetsburg, and thence by way of Frederick, crossing the Baltimore and Ohio railroad to the vicinity of Poolesville. Here he met the advance of General Pleasanton's cavalry, which had started from the camp at Sharpsburg in pursuit of the invaders. There was some skirmishing, with little injury to either side, Stuart succeeding in crossing the river before reinforcements could come up to assist the small force of Pleasanton, who had conducted the march with extraordinary vigor, accomplishing ninety miles in twenty-four hours. Besides the damage they inflicted on railway and gov ernment property, Stuart's party made prize, at Chambersburg, of a moderate quantity of shoes and clothing, and the more valuable spoil of some eight hundred horses from gentlemen's and farmers' stables. Colonel A. K. McClure, of the town, who escaped capture, but not spoliation, has given a good-humored account of his enforced hospitalities to a portion of the raiders, at the close of which he pleasantly pays a passing compliment to his guests. "Our people," says he, "generally feel that, bad as they are, they are not so bad as they might be. I presume that the cavalry we had with us are the flower of the rebel army. They are made up mainly of young men in Virginia, who owned fine horses and have had considerable culture. I should not like to risk a similar experiment with their infantry."* The greatest sufferer, in fact, by this expedition, appears to have been General McClellan, the raid affording a new argument to the War Department for his immediate advance upon the enemy-a proceeding which would seem to have been opposed to his better judgment. He called upon the government for horses to remount his dismounted cavalry soldiers, that he might oppose these rebel raids; a request which brought from the President a suggestion, "that if the enemy had more occupation south of the river, his cavalry would not be so likely to make raids north of it." A few days after, the President wrote at length to General McClellan, reviewing the advantages and disadvantages of the onward movement, which he had advised below the Shenandoah and Blue Ridge. With regard to transportation, which had been stated as defective, it was urged that the Union army was certainly better off in that respect than the enemy, who managed very formidable movements, and that to supply it fully, would "ignore the question of time, which cannot and *Letter of Colonel A. H. McClure, Chambersburg, Pa., October, 1862. Rebellion Record, vol. 6, p. 1. ADVANCE OF THE ARMY. must not be ignored." Again," con- *Letter of President Lincoln to General McClellan, Washington, October 13, 1862. 659 followed by the corps of General Burnside. General Sedgwick and General Hancock in the lower part of the Shenandoah valley, about Charlestown, pressed the enemy, who now began their retreat towards Richmond, leaving a sufficient garrison at Harper's Ferry. The Union forces occupied the passes of the Blue Ridge. Snicker's Gap was taken possession of by General Hancock, on the 2d of November, while General Pleasanton, with his cavalry, was driving the enemy beyond. Upperville and Piedmont were occupied on the 4th, by the Union cavalry, cutting off the approaches from Ashby's and Manassas Gap. The last corps of the army was over the Potomac on the 5th, and on the 6th the advance was at Warrenton, General McClellan holding his headquarters at Rectortown, on the Manassas Gap Railway. The movement thus far, spite of the inclemency of the weather, a severe winter storm having set in, was attended with success, and hopes were entertained by the public of a decisive engagement, when it was unexpectedly announced that General McClellan had been superseded in command of the Army of the Potomac by General Burnside. The order to this effect, of the Secretary of War, dated Washington, November 5th, was accompanied by the following from General Halleck: "On receipt of the order of the President, sent herewith, you will immediately turn over your command to Major-General Burnside and repair to Trenton, New Jersey, reporting, on your arrival at that place, by telegraph, for further orders." Apparently, in justification of this removal, a correspondence was published between Secretary Stanton and General Halleck, dated the 27th and 28th of October, in which the demands of General McClellan upon the War Department for supplies were discussed, and it was made to appear that various important requisitions made by him for horses and clothing had been filled, thus throwing the burden upon him of a reluctant or in- of Saturday, November 7th; on the 11th efficient discharge of duty in delaying to he left Warrenton for the North, having set his army in motion after positive or- taken leave of the army in a personal ders had been given him to that effect. farewell, and in the following address to Whatever the real merits of the case may the officers and soldiers: "An order of have been, the explanation given by the the President devolves upon Major-Genfriends of the Administration for the eral Burnside the command of this army. withdrawal of General McClellan was, In parting from you I cannot express the that the times demanded an officer of love and gratitude I bear to you. As an greater activity. In the words of a Re- army, you have grown up under my care. publican journal of the day :-"The sole In you I have never found doubt or defeat of General McClellan has been coldness. The battles you have fought that he lacked motive power. He has an under my command will proudly live in excessive caution which cramps all of his our nation's history. The glory you have better energies, and practically disables achieved, our mutual perils and fatigues, him for aggressive warfare; the very first the graves of our comrades fallen in requisite is boldness. That over-cautious battle and by disease, the broken forms disposition was noticed long ago, but of those whom wounds and sickness have there was a fond hope that experience disabled-the strongest associations which would cure it. Experience, and that can exist among men-unite us still by too of the hardest sort, has not cured it. an indissoluble tie. We shall ever be It has been demonstrated to be an insep-comrades in supporting the constitution arable part of General McClellan's na- of our country, and the nationality of its ture. It is the presence of this fatal people." A few days after, on the 12th, quality alone the parent of indeci- Major-General Fitz John Porter, in a sion, procrastination and inaction-that reconciles us, and will reconcile the country, to the displacement of a commander otherwise so competent.' The orders of removal was brought to General McClellan by a special messenger from Washington, General Buckingham, and reached him in his camp at Rectortown at eleven o'clock on the night *New York Daily Times, Nov. 11, 1862. general order, took leave of the army corps which he had led, being summoned to Washington to meet the charges preferred against him by General Pope, and was succeeded in his command by MajorGeneral Joseph Hooker, who, though not yet quite recovered from his wound received at Antietam, and unable to ride on horseback, brought to the field his accustomed energy of character. سیه END OF VOL. II. |