Chancellorsville and Gettysburg Campaigns of the Civil War - VI

CHAPTER VIII.

It only remains to give a brief statement of the operations of Stoneman's cavalry. These were of no avail as regard the battle of Chancellorsville, for our army was defeated and in full retreat before Lee's main line of communication with Richmond was struck, and then all the damage was repaired in three or four days. There seems to have been a lack of information as to where to strike; for the principal depot of the rebel army was at Guiney's station on the Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad. The supplies there were but slightly guarded, and could easily have been captured. Had this been done, Lee would have been seriously embarrassed, notwithstanding his victory, and forced to fall back to obtain subsistence.

CHAPTER VIII.

Each army now felt the need of rest and recuperation, and no military movements of importance took place for several weeks. Soon after the battle of Chancellorsville, Longstreet's two divisions, which had been operating in front of Suffolk, rejoined Lee at Fredericksburg. That portion of Stoneman's cavalry which had taken refuge at Gloucester Point also succeeded, by great boldness and skilful manoeuvring on the part of Colonel Kilpatrick, in outwitting the enemy and getting to Urbanna, after crossing Dragon River, rebuilding a bridge there, and repulsing the rebel forces who tried to prevent them from reaching the Rappahannock. The command, when it arrived at Urbanna, passed over on the ferry-boat, under cover of a gunboat sent there for that purpose, and rejoined the Army of the Potomac at Falmouth, on the 3d of June, bringing in about 200 prisoners, 40 wagons, and 1,000 contrabands, as slaves were usually styled at that time.

CHAPTER IX.

The close of the battle of Chancellorsville found the Union army still strong in numbers, defeated, but not disheartened, and ready, as soon as reinforcements and supplies arrived, and a brief period of rest and recuperation ensued, to take the field again. To resist the effects of this defeat and recruit our armies required, however, great determination and serious effort on the part of the Administration; for a large and powerful party still clogged and impeded its efforts, and were allowed full liberty to chill the patriotism of the masses, and oppose, with tongue and pen and every species of indirection, all efficient action which looked to national defence. This opposition was so strong and active that the President almost preferred the risk of losing another battle to the commotion which would be excited by attempts to enforce the draft; for hitherto we had relied entirely on voluntary enlistments to increase our strength in the field. Men are chilled by disaster and do not readily enlist after a defeat; yet the terms of service of thirty thousand of the two years' and nine months' men were expiring, and something had to be done. Our army, however, at the end of May was still formidable in numbers, and too strongly posted to be effectually assailed; especially as it had full and free communication with Washington and the North, and could be assisted in case of need by the loyal militia of the free States.

CHAPTER IX.

These reasons would have been quite sufficient of themselves to induce Lee to make the movement, but he himself gives an additional one. He hoped by this advance to draw Hooker out, where he could strike him a decisive blow, and thus ensure the permanent triumph of the Confederacy. He was weary of all this marching, campaigning, and bloodshed, and was strongly desirous of settling the whole matter at once. Having been reinforced after the battle of Chancellorsville by Longstreet's two divisions and a large body of conscripts, he determined to advance. On May 31st, his force, according to rebel statements, amounted to 88,754, of which 68,352 were ready for duty. Recruits, too, were constantly coming in from the draft, which was rigidly enforced in the Southern States.

In writing ths narrative, which relates to the decisive campaign which freed the Northern States from invasion, it may not be out of place to state what facilities I have had for observation in the fulfilment of so important a task. I can only say that I was, to a considerable extent, an actor in the scenes I describe, and knew the principal leaders on both sides, in consequence of my association with them at West Point, and, subsequently, in the regular army. Indeed, several of them, including Stonewall Jackson and A. P. Hill, were, prior to the war, officers in the regiment to which I belonged. As commander of the Defences of Washington in the spring of 1862, I was, owing to the nature of my duties, brought into intimate relations with the statesmen who controlled the Government at the time, and became well acquainted with President Lincoln. I was present, too, after the Battle of Gettysburg, at a very interesting Cabinet Council, in which the pursuit of Lee was fully discussed; so that, in one way and another, I have had better opportunities to judge of men and measures than usually fall to the lot of others who have written on the same subject.

CHAPTER IV.

GETTYSBURG CHAPTER I. THE INVASION OF THE NORTH CHAPTER II. HOOKER'S PLANS--LONGSTREET OCCUPIES THE GAPS IN THE BLUE RIDGE-- ALARM IN RICHMOND--HOOKER SUPERSEDED BY MEADE CHAPTER III. STUART'S RAID--THE ENEMY IN FRONT OF HARRISBURG--MEADE'S PLAN CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG, WEDNESDAY, JULY 1, 1863 CHAPTER V. BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG--THE SECOND DAY CHAPTER VI. THE BATTLE OF THE THIRD DAY--JOHNSON'S DIVISION DRIVEN OUT CHAPTER VII. GENERAL RETREAT OF THE ENEMY--CRITICISMS OF DISTINGUISHED CONFEDERATE OFFICERS APPENDIX A APPENDIX B INDEX

CHAPTER VII.

FIELD OF OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA OPERATIONS ON THE FIRST OF MAY, 1863 JACKSON'S ATTACK ON HOWARD, MAY 1 BATTLE OF THE THIRD OF MAY SEDGWICK'S POSITION FROM THE POTOMAC TO HARRISBURG DIAGRAMS OF POSITIONS IN THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG: I. II. III. IV. GETTYSBURG: FINAL ATTACK OF THE FIRST DAY AND BATTLE OF THE SECOND DAY DIAGRAM OF THE ATTACK ON SICKLES AND SYKES

CHAPTER VII.

In the history of lost empires we almost invariably find that the cause of their final overthrow on the battle-field may be traced to the violation of one military principle, which is that _the attempt to overpower a central force of converging columns, is almost always fatal to the assailants_, for a force in the centre, by the virtue of its position, has nearly double the strength of one on the circumference. Yet his is the first mistake made by every tyro in generalship. A strong blow can be given by a sledgehammer, but if we divide it into twenty small hammers, the blows will necessarily be scattering and uncertain. Let us suppose an army holds the junction of six roads. It seems theoretically possible that different detachments encircling it, by all attacking at the same time, must confuse and overpower it; but in practice the idea is rarely realized, for no two routes are precisely alike, the columns never move simultaneously, and therefore never arrive at the same time. Some of this is due to the character of the commanders. One man is full of dash, and goes forward at once; another is timid, or at least over-cautious, and advances slowly; a third stops to recall some outlying detachments, or to make elaborate preparations. The result is, the outer army has lost its strength and is always beaten in detail. One portion is sure to be defeated before the others arrive. We shall have occasion to refer to this principle again in reference to the battle of Gettysburg. The history of our own war shows that an attack against the front and rear of a force is not necessarily fatal. Baird's division at Chickamauga defended itself successfully against an assault of this kind, and Hancock faced his division both ways at Chancellorsville and repelled every attempt to force his position. But Hooker thought otherwise. He felt certain that if Sedgwick assailed Lee in rear, while he advanced in front, the Confederate army was doomed. When the time came, however, to carry out this programme, if we may use a homely simile borrowed from General De Peyster, Hooker did not hold up his end of the log, and the whole weight fell upon Sedgwick.