Part 15 (2/2)
This was indeed an integral and important, though strictly subordinate, part of the comprehensive plan adopted by the lieutenant-general for the spring campaign. Besides distracting the attention of the Confederates, and either drawing off a large part of their forces from Sherman's front or else causing them to give up Mobile without a struggle, the control of the Alabama River would give Sherman a secure base of supplies and a safe line of retreat in any contingency, while the occupation of a line from Atlanta to Mobile would, as Grant remarked, ”once more split the Confederacy in twain.”
But while in Louisiana the troops stood still, awaiting the full completion of Canby's exhaustive preparations, elsewhere events were marching with great rapidity. On the 3d of June Grant's campaign from the Rappahannock to the James came to an end in the b.l.o.o.d.y repulse of Cold Harbor, with the loss of 12,737 officers and men. On the 14th he crossed the James and sat down before Petersburg. In the six weeks that had pa.s.sed since the Army of the Potomac made its way into the Wilderness, Grant had lost from the ranks of the two armies of the Potomac and the James nearly as many men as Lee had in the Army of Northern Virginia.(3)
While he was himself directing the movement of Meade and Butler against Richmond and Petersburg, Grant ordered Hunter, who commanded in the Shenandoah Valley, to march by Charlottesville on Lynchburg, and sent Sheridan, with the cavalry on a great raid to Charlottesville to meet Hunter; but Lee sent Early to intercept the movement, and Early, moving with the speed and promptness to which Jackson's old corps was well used, got to Lynchburg in time to head Hunter off. Then Hunter, rightly deeming his position precarious, instead of retreating down the valley, made his escape across the mountains into West Virginia. This left the gates of the great valley thoroughfare wide open for Early, who, instantly marching north, once more invaded Maryland, harried Pennsylvania, and menaced Was.h.i.+ngton.
It was at this crisis, when nothing was being accomplished in Louisiana and everything was happening in Virginia, that Grant ordered Canby to put off his designs on Mobile and to send the Nineteenth Corps with all speed to Hampton Roads.(4) Canby understood this to mean the First and Second divisions, and placed Emory in command of this detachment. On the 30th of June the two divisions began moving down the river to Algiers, and on the 3d of July the advance steamed out of the river into the Gulf of Mexico with sealed orders. When the steamer Crescent, which led the way, carrying the 153d New York and four companies of the 114th, had dropped her pilot outside of the pa.s.ses, Davis broke the seal and for the first time learned his destination. Within a few days the remainder of the First division followed, without Roberts, Emory accompanied by the headquarters of the expedition going on the Mississippi on the 5th of July, with the 30th Ma.s.sachusetts, the 90th New York, and the 116th New York, but transferring himself at the Southwest Pa.s.s to the Creole, in his impatience at finding the Mississippi aground and his anxiety to come up with the advance of his troops. The Crescent was the first to arrive before Fortress Monroe. The last regiment of the Third brigade sailed on the 11th. Grover's division began its embarkation about the 10th and finished about the 20th.
In this movement some of the best regiments of the corps were left behind, as well as all the cavalry and the whole of the magnificent park of field artillery. Among the troops thus cut off were the 110th New York, the 161st New York, the 7th Vermont, the 6th Michigan, the 4th Wisconsin, the 1st Indiana Heavy Artillery, the 1st Louisiana, and the 2d Louisiana Mounted Infantry. Reynolds with the corps headquarters and the new Third division remained in Louisiana. Since this came from the old Thirteenth Corps, was afterward incorporated in the new Thirteenth Corps, formed for the siege of Mobile, never saw service in the Nineteenth Corps and nominally belonged to it but a few days, and since the detachment now sent north was presently const.i.tuted the Nineteenth Corps, the t.i.tle of the corps will hereafter be used in this narrative when speaking of the services of the First and Second divisions.
On the 14th of June Major William H. Sentell, of the 160th New York, was detailed by Emory as acting a.s.sistant inspector-general of the corps, and Captain Henry C. Inwood, of the 165th New York,(5) as provost marshal.
To regret leaving the lowlands of Louisiana at the sickly season, the poisonous swamps, the filthy water, the overpowering heat, and the intolerable mosquitoes, was impossible; yet there can have been no man in all that host that did not feel, as the light, cool breezes of the Gulf fanned his brow, a swelling of the heart and a tightness of the throat at the thought of all that he had seen and suffered, and the remembrance of the many thousands of his less fortunate comrades who had succ.u.mbed to the dangers and trials on which he himself was now turning his back for the last time.
(1) Begun about June 16th. The final orders are dated June 27th.
(2) By orders from Was.h.i.+ngton, issued at Canby's request, June 11th.
(3) From the 5th of May to the 15th of June Meade's losses were 51,908, and Butler's 9,234, together 61,142. The best estimates give 61,000 to 64,000 as Lee's strength at the Wilderness, or 78,400 from the Rappahannock to the James,-”Century War Book,” vol. iv., pp. 182-187.
(4) The first suggestion seems to have come from Butler to Stanton, May 29th, Weitzel concurring. Grant disapproved this in a telegram dated 3 P.M., June 3d: the second a.s.sault had been made that morning. The movement across the James for the surprise and seizure of Petersburg came to a stand-still on the 18th. On the 23d Grant made the request and the orders were issued the next day.
(5) In the official records wrongly printed as the 160th.
CHAPTER x.x.x. ON THE POTOMAC.
Grant had meant to send the troops to join the Army of the James under Butler at Bermuda Hundred, but already the dust of Early's columns was in sight from the hills behind Was.h.i.+ngton, and the capital, though fully fortified, being practically without defenders, until the Sixth Corps should come to the rescue, in the stress of the moment the detachments of the Nineteenth Corps were hurried up the Potomac as fast as the transports entered the roads. It was noon on the 11th when Davis landed the fourteen companies from the Crescent at the wharves of Was.h.i.+ngton, where he found orders to occupy and hold Fort Saratoga.(1)
At the hour when Davis was disembarking at the southern end of Sixth Street wharf, Early's headquarters were at Silver Spring, barely five miles away to the northward, and his skirmishers were drawing within range of the guns of Fort Stevens. Behind the defences of Was.h.i.+ngton there were but twenty thousand soldiers of all arms. Of these less than half formed the garrison of the works, and even of this fraction nearly all were raw, undisciplined, uninstructed, and lacking the simplest knowledge of the ground they were to defend. But five days before this, Grant had taken Ricketts from the lines of the Sixth Corps before Petersburg, and sent him by water to Baltimore, whence his superb veterans were carried by rail to the Monocacy just in time to enable Wallace, with a chance medley of garrison and emergency men, to face Early on the 9th, and compel him to lose a day in crossing. Then, at last, made quite certain of Early's true position and plans, Grant hurried the rest of the Sixth Corps to the relief of Was.h.i.+ngton, and thus the steamboat bearing the advance of Wright's men touched the wharf about two hours after the Crescent had made fast. The guns of Fort Stevens were already heard sh.e.l.ling the approaches, and thither Wright was at once directed, but in the great heat and dust Early had pressed on so fast that his men arrived before the works parched with thirst and panting with exhaustion. Moreover, evening came before the rear of his column had closed up on the front, and during these critical hours Wright's strong divisions of the veterans of the Army of the Potomac lined the works and stood stiffly across the path, while in supporting distance to the eastward was the little handful from the Gulf. Early, who had seen something of this and imagined more, waited, and so his opportunity, great or little, went. On the afternoon of the next day, the 12th of July, Early still not attacking, Wright sent out a brigade and roughly pushed back the Confederate advance. Then Early, realizing that he had not an hour to lose in extricating his command from its false position, fell back at night on Rockville.
On the 13th of July the Clinton arrived at Was.h.i.+ngton with the 29th Maine and part of the 13th Maine, the St. Mary with the 8th Vermont, the Corinthian with the remaining six companies of the 114th New York, the Mississippi with the 90th and 116th New York and the 30th Ma.s.sachusetts, the Creole with the 47th Pennsylvania. As the detachments landed they were hurried, in most instances by long and needless circuits to Tennallytown, where they found themselves at night without supplies or wagons, without orders, and without much organization.
Now that the enemy had gone and there were enough troops in Was.h.i.+ngton, the capital was once more a wild confusion of commands and commanders, such as seems to have prevailed at every important crisis during the war. Out of this Grant brought order by a.s.signing Wright to conduct the pursuit of Early. When, therefore, on the morning of the 13th, Wright found Early gone from his front, he marched after him with the Sixth Corps, and ordered the detachment of the Nineteenth Corps to follow. Grant wished Wright to push on to Edwards Ferry to cut off Early's retreat across the Potomac. At nightfall Wright was at Offutt's Cross-Roads, with Russell and Getty of the Sixth corps, the handful of the Nineteenth Corps, and the cavalry.
About 3,600 men of Emory's division had landed at Was.h.i.+ngton during the 12th and 13th of July, increasing the effective force of the Nineteenth Corps to about 4,200, most of whom spent the night in following the windings of the road that marks the long outline of the northern fortifications. On the morning of the 14th, the roll-call accounted for 192 officers and 2,987 men of the corps, representing ten regiments, in the bivouacs that lay loosely scattered about Tennallytown. On the 14th these detachments marched ten miles and encamped beyond Offutt's Cross-Roads, where they were joined by Battery L of the 1st Ohio, temporarily lent to the division from the artillery reserve of the defences of Was.h.i.+ngton. Emory himself arrived during the day and a.s.sumed command of the division, and Dwight, relieved from duty as Banks's chief of staff, came in the evening to rejoin the 1st brigade. Gilmore, who found himself in Was.h.i.+ngton without a.s.signment, had been given command of the Nineteenth Corps, but happening to sprain his foot badly he was obliged to go off duty after having held the a.s.signment nominally for less than a day. Thereupon Emory once more took command of the corps, and the First division fell to Dwight.
Moving by the river road, Wright, with Getty's division, was at Poolesville on the night of the 14th, with the last of the Nineteenth Corps eleven miles in the rear. But Early had already made good his escape, having crossed the Potomac that morning at White's Ford, with all his trains and captures intact, while Wright was still south of Seneca Creek.
The next day Emory closed up on Getty at Poolesville, and Halleck began sending the rest of the Sixth Corps there to join Wright.
In the Union army the impression now prevailed that Early, having accomplished the main object of his diversion, would, as usual, hasten to rejoin Lee at Richmond. Wright, therefore, got ready to go back to Was.h.i.+ngton, but Early was in fact at Leesburg, and word came that Hunter, whose forces were beginning to arrive at Harper's Ferry, after their long and wide excursion over the Alleghanies and through West Virginia, had sent Sullivan's division across the Potomac at Berlin to Hillsborough, where it threatened Early's flank and rear while exposing its own. Therefore Wright felt obliged to cross to the support of Hunter, and on the morning of the 16th of July the Sixth Corps, followed by Emory's detachment of the Nineteenth, waded the Potomac at White's Ford and encamped at Clark's Gap, three miles beyond Leesburg. But Early, by turns bold and wary, slipped away between Wright and Hunter, marched through Snicker's Gap, and put the Shenandoah between him and his enemies. Caution had been enjoined on the pursuit, and the 17th was spend in closing up and reconnoitring. On the 18th the combined forces of Wright and Hunter marched through Snicker's Gap, and in the afternoon Crook, who, having brought up his own division, found himself in command of Hunter's troops, sent Thoburn across the Shenandoah below Snicker's Ferry to seize and hold the ferry for the pa.s.sage of the army; but when Thoburn had gained the north bank Early fell upon him with three divisions and drove him back across the river with heavy loss. Instead of risking anything more in the attempt to force the crossing in the face of Early's whole force in position, Wright was mediating a turning movement by way of Keyes's Gap, but Duffie, after riding hard through Ashby's Gap and crossing the Shenandoah at Berry's Ferry, likewise came to grief on the north bank, and so the day of the 19th of July was lost.
Meanwhile Hunter, having seen nearly all the rest of his army arrive at Harper's Ferry, sent a brigade and a half under Hayes to march straight up the Shenandoah to Snicker's Ferry, while Averell with a mixed force of cavalry and infantry was sweeping down from Martinsburg on Winchester. Thus menaced in front, flank, and rear, Early, on the night of the 19th of July, retreated on Strasburg.
The next morning Wright crossed the Shenandoah, meaning to move toward Winchester, but when he learned where Early had gone he recrossed the river in the evening, marched by night to Leesburg, and encamped on Goose Creek, presently crossing to the south bank. On the morning of the 22d Wright marched on Was.h.i.+ngton, the Sixth Corps leading, followed by the Nineteenth. On the afternoon of the 23d Emory crossed the chain bridge and went into bivouac on the high ground overlooking the Potomac near Battery Vermont. So ended the ”Snicker's Gap war.”
During this expedition Kenly's brigade of the Eighth Corps served with the Nineteenth.
As soon as Early's withdrawal from Maryland had quieted all apprehensions for the safety of Was.h.i.+ngton, the orders that had met the advance of the Nineteenth Corps at Hampton Roads were recalled, and, reverting to his original intention, Grant sent the detachments of the corps as they arrived up the James River to Bermuda Hundred to join the right wing of his armies under Butler. Indeed, at the moment of its arrival at Poolesville, the First division had been ordered to take the same destination, but this the movements of the contending armies prevented. The first of the troops to land at Bermuda Hundred was the 15th Maine on the 17th of July. It was at once sent to the right of the lines before Petersburg, and within the next ten days there were a.s.sembled there parts of four brigades-McMillan's and Currie's of the First division, and Birge's and Molineux's of Grover's. Part of Currie's brigade was engaged, under Hanc.o.c.k, in the affair at Deep Bottom on the north bank of the James on the 25th of July, losing eighteen killed and wounded and twenty-four prisoners. The work and duty in the trenches and on the skirmis.h.i.+ng line were hard and constant, reminding the men of their days and nights before Port Hudson, but this was not to last long, and the loss was light.(2)
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