1862. BURNSIDE ASSUMES COMMAND OF THE ARMY. 223 CHAPTER XII. NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER, 1862. "The Cabinet thought little Mac was too slow, GENERAL BURNSIDE ASSUMES COMMAND OF THE ARMY. ON TO RICHMOND, via FREDERICKSBurg. -IN CAMP OPPOSITE THE CITY. BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG. OUR loved and magnanimous General Burnside had not sought but had shunned the vast responsibility imposed upon him as commander of the Army of the Potomac. He had accepted the position only when ordered to do so, and because he felt that it would have been disloyal and unfriendly to the government to have refused to obey the order. The great body of the army, warmly and enthusiastically devoted to General McClellan, was disgusted and shocked at the injustice and absurdity of his removal at the time it was made, and many of the most prominent officers in it never could bring themselves to render hearty obedience to or cheerfully coöperate with his successor in command. After our short respite the army was to be torn and cursed again by internal feuds and jealousies, and by interference from Washington. General Burnside, with good reason, felt that he was placed in command to study out and follow the wishes and suggestions of the President in the selection of the route to Richmond.1 1 A long letter containing the President's suggestions of a campaign, which in substance was to be a race with Lee for Richmond, was placed in General Burnside's hands with the order assigning him to command. — ED. All the advantages of position gained by McClellan against our true objective point (Lee's army) were thrown away; and, after a week's delay near Warrenton, the fatal movement on Fredericksburg was commenced, in substantial accordance with a plan of campaign mapped out by the President and General Halleck, the commander in chief. General McClellan's farewell to the army was expressed in the following order: — HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. CAMP NEAR RECTORTOWN, VA., November 7, 1862. OFFICERS AND SOLDIERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC: An order of the President devolves upon Major-General Burnside the command of this army. In parting with you I cannot express the love and gratitude I bear to you. As an army, you have grown up under my care. In you I have never found doubt or coldness. The battles you have fought under my command will proudly live in our nation's history. The glory you have achieved—our mutual perils and fatigues the graves of our comrades, fallen in battle and by disease the broken forms of those whom wounds and sickness have disabled the strongest associations which can exist among menunite us still by an indissoluble tie. We shall ever be comrades in supporting the Constitution of our country and the nationality of its people. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Major-General U. S. Army. General Burnside, on his assumption of command, issued the following manly order: - GENERAL ORDER No. 1. HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. In accordance with General Order No. 182, issued by the President of the United States, I hereby assume command of the Army of the Potomac. Patriotism and the exercise of my every energy in the direction of this army, aided by the full and hearty coöperation of its officers and men, will, I hope, under the blessing of God, insure its success. Having been a sharer of the privations and a witness of the brav ery of the old Army of the Potomac in the Maryland campaign, and fully identified in their feelings of respect and esteem for General Mc Clellan, entertained through a long and most friendly association with him, I feel that it is not as a stranger that I assume this command. To the Ninth Corps, so long and intimately associated with me, I need say nothing; our histories are identical. With diffidence for myself, but with a proud confidence in the unswerving loyalty and determination of the gallant army now intrusted to my care, I accept its control with the steadfast assurance that the just cause must prevail. A. E. BURNSIDE, Major-General Commanding. To return to the 21st, whom we left with the brigade in the woods near Orleans. November 8th. We left our comfortable bivouac at half-past ten in the morning, crossed the north ford of the Rappahannock, and marched some six or eight miles to the town of Jefferson, where our brigade went into camp in the village, in company with a battery. November 9th. We remained in camp, doing nothing except to advance a strong line of pickets towards the south. November 10th. About the middle of the forenoon we received sudden orders to fall in, to the music of our artillery as it opened upon a reconnoitring party of the enemy's infantry which had come to within a mile of our front, and which promptly retired as we took position near the artillery. Some of our cavalry, who had been reconnoitring towards Culpeper (twelve miles away), soon came up with a few prisoners from Longstreet's command. November 11th. Just before noon the rebels appeared in apparent force in the same place in our front as yesterday : this time they brought a battery with them. Our brigade of "five regiments made a fine show as it took position in echelon ; and after the interchange of a few harmless shots by the batteries, the main force of the rebels withdrew from sight, but posted a strong line of pickets in our immediate front. Our brigade was now regarded by our commander as in a very perilous position, being separated by some four miles from the rest of our army, which was now behind the Rappahannock, and it was evident that we had attracted Longstreet's atten tion. It was reported, I don't know with what truth, that in the change of commanders and hurried movements of troops, the position of our brigade had not been thought of, and that the artillery firing on two successive days was all that called attention to our isolated position. It is certain that a staffofficer from general headquarters came out to us in the afternoon of the 11th, and said that he had come out to see who was firing, and that until our guns were heard nobody had remembered that any of our troops were at Jefferson. We were passing rather a nervous night, when at midnight we received the welcome order to put our baggage on the wagons and prepare to move in perfect silence; our pickets were cautiously drawn in, and at half-past three in the morning we moved away; and, fording the Rappahannock near the Warrenton Sulphur Springs at daylight on the 12th, went into camp within a few rods of the place of our bivouac on the night of August 24th during Pope's retreat. We passed the rest of the day lolling about, and somewhat saddened and dispirited by the noticeable sullen and discontented feeling of the army around us over McClellan's removal. November 13th. Early in the afternoon the rebels drove in our advance pickets across the river on the Jefferson road, bagging two mounted officers of the 35th Massachusetts, who happened to be taking dinner in a house near the picket line: a battery on the hill near us threw a few shells at them, and the rebels retired, carrying their prisoners with them. November 14th. We remained quietly in camp, with nothing of interest transpiring. November 15th. About eight o'clock A. M. we moved down the river. Although the enemy's pickets were in plain sight across the river, the division was moved very carelessly, leaving the wagon train behind near the ford. The rebel cavalry made a dash for the train, but were unable to cross the ford under the fire of two companies of Rhode Island troops who had just come in from picket duty. The enemy then opened a rapid fire of artillery upon the wagons, and created quite a panic among the mules and wagoners. Some of our artillery was sent back, and the 21st with some other troops were double-quicked to the scene of action. A lively artillery duel occurred between the rebel guns and ours, lasting about half an hour, the infantry remaining in a sheltered position near our artillery and escaping without loss. As soon as the wagons were out of danger we resumed our march, and after making some ten or twelve miles went into bivouac early in the afternoon. The following letter, which tells its own story, was sent to Mrs. Reno, widow of our beloved general, accompanying a superb sword which had been ordered several months before by the regiment as a present from them to him: HEADQUARTERS 21ST MASSACHUSETTS VOLUNTEERS. MRS. MARY C. RENO. Dear Madam: On last May Day the officers of the 21st Massachusetts Volunteers assembled in my headquarters in Camp Andrew, near Newbern, N. C., to deliberate upon the most suitable manner of manifesting their affection and esteem for General J. L. Reno. The intimate connection which had existed between him and the 21st since New Year's had just been dissolved by his well-deserved promotion to the command of a division. He had been our first brigadier, and we an honored portion of his first brigade. Guided by his intelligence and inspired by his courage and energy, we had fought and won at Roanoke Island, Newbern, and Camden. We had known no defeat. At his command we had boldly penetrated almost impassable swamps in search of the enemy, had undergone incredible fatigue and privation, and charged successfully upon fortifications bristling with bayonets and cannon. We had also seen him expose himself cheerfully to danger and hardship. We had experienced his paternal care in the enjoyment of every possible comfort in seasons of repose, and we had felt his tender and sympathizing love as he walked among the sick and wounded in the hospitals, gladdening every heart with his smiling face, and his few well-chosen words, and especially as with tearful eyes he conversed with us of our brave comrades who had fallen in battle. It was unanimously resolved to raise the sum of five hundred dollars for the purchase of a sword, to be the testimonial of our feelings |