Owing to the hard-fought battles around Richmond, Cedar Run and Mana.s.sas (which followed each other in rapid succession), and the long, weary marches through the hot July days, often far into the night, many of Lee"s soldiers, who were foot-sore and broken down, straggled from the ranks, being unable to keep up with the stronger men. So great was the number that it was said that half his army were straggling along the roads and through the fields, subsisting as they could on fruits and berries, and whatever food they could get from farmhouses.
As the army crossed the Potomac (four miles east of Leesburg) Gen. Lee had to make some provision for the stragglers. It would not do to let them follow the army into the enemy"s country, because they would all be captured. He concluded to abandon his bodyguard and leave it at the river, with instructions to turn the stragglers and tell them to move toward Winchester, beyond the Shenandoah. This was the point, no doubt, that Gen. Lee had fixed as the place to which he would bring his army when his Maryland campaign was over.
It was with much regret that we had to give up our post of honor as guard to the head of the army to take charge of sore-footed stragglers.
But a soldier"s duty is to obey orders.
The army crossed the river into Maryland, and we were kept busy for a week sending the stragglers toward Winchester.
Some bore wounds received in the battles mentioned, and their bandages in many cases still showed the dried blood as evidence that they had not always been stragglers. Some were sick, and some too lame to walk, and it became necessary for us to go out among the farmers and procure wagons to haul the disabled. In doing so, it was my duty to call on an old Quaker family by the name of Janney, near Goose Creek meeting-house, Loudoun county, and get his four-horse wagon and order it to Leesburg.
This I did in good soldier style, not appreciating the old adage that "Chickens come home to roost."
After seeing the wagon on the road, accompanied by friend Janney, who rode on horseback (the wagon being driven by his hired man), I went to other farms, doing the same thing. And thus the lame, sick and sore-footed and the rag-and-tag were pushed on, shoved on and hauled on toward Winchester.
Some years after this I had occasion to visit the same spot, in company with a young lady.
It was the Friends" quarterly meeting time at Goose Creek. We attended the services, and, of course, were invited out to dinner. It fell to our lot to dine at the home of friend Janney, from whom I had taken the wagon. I did not recognize the house or the family until I was painfully reminded of it in the following manner:
We were seated at a long table in the dining-room (I think there were at least twenty at the table), and several young ladies were acting as waitresses. I was quite bashful in those days, but was getting along very nicely, until one of the young waitresses, perhaps with no intention of embarra.s.sing me, focusing her mild blue eyes upon mine, said, "I think I recognize thee as one of the soldiers who took our wagon and team for the use of Lee"s army, en route for Maryland." I did not look up, but felt that twice twenty eyes were centered on me. I cannot recall what I said, but I am sure I pleaded guilty; besides, I felt that all the blood in my body had gone to my face, and that every drop was crying out, "Yes, he"s the very fellow." It spoiled my dinner, but they all seemed to think it was a good joke on me.
Quakers, it must be remembered, were not as a rule in sympathy with the secession movement, which greatly intensified the discomfort of my position. My young friend, however, although a member of that society, never deserted me, and sometime afterward became more to me than a friend; she has been faithful ever since, and is now sitting by me as I write these lines.
Now I must go back to war scenes.
I cannot remember, of course, just the day, but while we were busy gathering up these stragglers we could distinctly hear the booming of the guns that told us the two armies had met and that there was heavy fighting on Maryland soil.
The first sounds came from toward Harper"s Ferry, and we soon afterward learned the result.
Jackson had been detached from the main army, had surrounded and captured Harper"s Ferry, taking 13,000 prisoners and many army supplies.
Among the prisoners was A.W. Green of New York, who afterward became pastor of my church, St. John"s, corner Madison avenue and Laurens street, Baltimore, Md.
Mr. Green says that when the prisoners were all lined up, Jackson rode along their front and tried to comfort them as best he could. He said, "Men, this is the fate of war; it is you today, it may be us tomorrow."
After paroling his prisoners, Jackson hurried to rejoin Lee, who was being hotly pressed by McClellan at Antietam. Lee"s united forces at this time could not have numbered over 40,000 men, while McClellan, who was still in command of the Union army, had a force of over 100,000.
McClellan made the attack, was repulsed with terrible loss, but the North claimed the victory, because Lee retired during the second night after the battle and re-crossed the Potomac, falling back to Winchester, where he was reinforced by the stragglers who had been gathering there for two weeks or more.
This series of battles, beginning with Richmond in the spring and ending at Antietam in the early fall, had so exhausted the armies that both sides were glad to take a rest. They had been marching and fighting from early spring all through the summer, and were thoroughly exhausted.
LEE"S ARMY IN A TRAP.
We have all heard of the famous lost dispatch that was picked up in the streets of Frederick, Md., after the place had been evacuated by the Confederates. It was called "Special Order No. 191." A copy of this order was sent by Gen. Lee to each of his generals. The one intended for Gen. A.P. Hill never reached him. It was dropped by a courier and fell into the hands of Gen. McClellan. This telltale slip of paper that might have ended the war was found wrapped around two cigars. It read as follows:
"Headquarters Army of Northern Virginia, near Frederick, Md.
"September 9, 1862. "Special Orders, No. 191.
"The army will resume its march tomorrow, taking the Hagerstown road.
General Jackson"s command will form the advance, and, after pa.s.sing Middletown, with such portion as he may select, take the route toward Sharpsburg, cross the Potomac at the most convenient point, and, by Friday night, take possession of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, capture such of the enemy as may be at Martinsburg, and intercept such as may attempt to escape from Harper"s Ferry.
"General Longstreet"s command will pursue the same road as far as Boonsborough, where it will halt with the reserve, supply and baggage trains of the army.
"General McLaws, with his own division and that of General R. H.
Anderson, will follow General Longstreet. On reaching Middletown he will take the route to Harper"s Ferry, and by Friday morning possess himself of the Maryland Heights and endeavor to capture the enemy at Harper"s Ferry and vicinity.
"General Walker, with his division, after accomplishing the object in which he is now engaged, will cross the Potomac at Cheek"s Ford, ascend its right bank to Lovettsville, take possession of Loudoun Heights, if practicable, by Friday morning. Key"s Ford on his left, and the road between the end of the mountain and the Potomac on his right. He will, as far as practicable, co-operate with General McLaws and General Jackson in intercepting the retreat of the enemy.
"General D.H. Hill"s division will form the rear guard of the army, pursuing the road taken by the main body. The reserve artillery, ordnance, supply-trains, etc., will precede General Hill.
"General Stuart will detach a squadron of cavalry to accompany the commands of Generals Longstreet, Jackson and McLaws, and with the main body of the cavalry will cover the route of the army and bring up all stragglers that may have been left behind.
"The commands of Generals Jackson, McLaws and Walker, after accomplishing the objects for which they have been detached, will join the main body of the army at Boonsborough or Hagerstown.
"Each regiment on the march will habitually carry its axes in the regimental ordnance wagons for use of the men at their encampments to procure wood, etc.
"By command of GENERAL R.E. LEE."
With this doc.u.ment in his hands and with Lee"s army divided as it was McClellan felt that his hour had come. He sent the following dispatch to President Lincoln:
* * * "I have all the plans of the rebels, and will catch them in their own trap. * * * General Lee"s order to his army accidentally came into my hands this evening, and discloses his plan of campaign."
The destruction of Lee"s army at this time would certainly have ended hostilities. Gen. Longstreet was opposed to the movement against Harper"s Ferry. He said it was fraught with too much danger. It was rendered much more so when McClellan came into possession of Lee"s plans. The exact number of prisoners captured at Harper"s Ferry and in its environments were 12,520, together with 73 cannon, 13,000 rifles, several hundred wagons and large quant.i.ties of provisions and other army stores.
CHAPTER V.
_From Antietam to Chancellorsville._
"Two armies covered hill and plain, Where Rappahannock"s waters Ran deeply crimsoned with the stain Of battle"s recent slaughters."
After resting a while at Winchester Lee"s army began its march leisurely back toward Richmond, and took up a position near Fredericksburg, a point about half way between Washington and Richmond.
McClellan was relieved of his command, and Gen. Burnside took his place and gathered a large army in front of Fredericksburg on the Rappahannock river.
About the middle of December Burnside crossed the river at Fredericksburg by means of pontoon bridges and attacked Lee and Jackson just outside of the town of Fredericksburg.
A severe battle was fought, and Burnside was defeated with terrible loss. He re-crossed the river and wept when he contemplated the awful slaughter that had been made in his army. This ended the campaign of 1862. It is said that more soldiers fell in this battle in four hours than were killed in the entire Boer War. The historian has placed Burnside"s losses at 12,311; Lee"s at 5409.
Both armies went into winter quarters, and there was no general battle until the next spring, but frequent skirmishes between bodies of cavalry on both sides as they marched to and fro protecting their respective encampments.
From Harper"s Ferry to Staunton, Va., stretches a part of the Blue Ridge mountains that played a conspicuous part in the war.
The mountain is impa.s.sable for armies except through the gaps that occur every twenty to thirty miles. These gaps were always closely guarded by the Confederates, and through them the armies frequently marched and counter-marched as occasion required.
If Jackson needed reinforcements in the valley, they were sent to him through one of these gaps; and on the other hand, if the armies defending Richmond needed reinforcements, it was Jackson"s custom to give the enemy a stinging blow and send him in full retreat down the valley toward Washington, then cross through one of these gaps with a portion of his army and reinforce the armies defending Richmond.
When the armies fell back from Winchester my company of cavalry was left to guard the Bluemount gap, then called Snickersville. A little later the gap was abandoned, and we were ordered to Ashby"s gap, farther up the valley, where we encamped near the little town of Paris, at the foot of the mountain, and put out our pickets on the east side of the mountain below Upperville on the pike that leads through Middleburg and on to Alexandria, Va., just under the shadow of the capital of the Northern nation, I will call it.