The Victim: A Romance of the Real Jefferson Davis

by Thomas Dixon

  CHAPTER XXIX

  THE PANIC IN RICHMOND

  Richmond now entered the shadows of her darkest hour. Three armies werethreatening from the west commanded by Fremont, Milroy, and Banks, whoseforces were ordered to unite. McDowell with forty thousand men lay atFredericksburg and threatened a junction with McClellan, who was movingup the Peninsula with an effective army of 105,000.

  Joseph E. Johnston had under his command more than fifty thousand withwhich to oppose McClellan's advance. It was the opinion of Davis and Leethat the stand for battle should be made on the narrow neck of thePeninsula which lent itself naturally to defense.

  To retreat toward Richmond would not only prove discouraging to thearmy, and precipitate a panic in the city, it meant the abandonment ofNorfolk, the loss of the navy yard, the destruction of the famousiron-clad, and the opening of the James River to the gunboats of theenemy to Drury's Bluff within twelve miles of the Confederate Capital.

  In this crisis Johnston gave confirmation to the worst fears of thePresident. He displayed the constitutional timidity and hesitation tofight which marked every step of his military career to its tragic end.

  With the greatest army under his command which the Confederacy had everbrought together--with Longstreet, McGruder and G. W. Smith as hislieutenants, he was preparing to retreat without a battle.

  The President called in council of war General Lee, Randolph, theSecretary of War, and General Johnston. Johnston asked that Longstreetand Smith be invited. The President consented.

  After full consultation, Davis decided, with Lee's approval to hold thePeninsula, save the navy yard and keep command of the James. AndJohnston received orders accordingly.

  With characteristic stubbornness the Field Commander persisted in hisdetermination to retreat without a battle.

  With aching heart Davis sent him a telegram.

  "Richmond, Va., May 1st, 1861.

  "General Joseph E. Johnston,

  "Yorktown, Va.

  "Accepting your conclusion that you must soon retire, arrangements are commenced for the abandonment of the navy yard and removal of public property from Norfolk and the Peninsula.

  "Your announcement to-day that you would withdraw to-morrow night, takes us by surprise and must involve enormous losses, including unfinished gunboats. Will the safety of your army allow more time?

  "Jefferson Davis."

  Johnston had retreated from his base at Manassas with absurd haste,burning enormous stores and supplies of which the Confederacy was indesperate need. The losses now occasioned by his hasty withdrawal fromYorktown were even more serious.

  The destruction of the iron-clad which had smashed the Federal fleet inHampton Roads sent a shiver of horror throughout the South.

  * * * * *

  The fiery trial through which Davis was passing brought out the finesttraits of his strong character.

  He had received ample warning that one of the first places marked fordestruction by the Federal fleet passing up the Mississippi River washis home "Briarfield." He refused to send troops to defend it. His housewas sacked, his valuable library destroyed, the place swept bare of hisfine blooded stock and the negroes deported by force.

  To his wife he wrote:

  "You will see the notice of the destruction of our home. If our cause succeeds we shall not mourn our personal deprivation; if it should not, why--'the deluge.' I hope I shall be able to provide for the comfort of the old negroes."

  Uncle Bob and Aunt Rhinah had been roughly handled by Butler's men. Theforagers utterly refused to believe them when they told of theirmaster's kindness in giving them piles of blankets. They were roughlyinformed that they had stolen them from the house and their treasureswere confiscated amid the lamentations of the aged couple. The twoprecious rocking chairs were left them but of blankets and linens theywere stripped bare.

  * * * * *

  With Johnston's army in retreat toward Richmond, his rear guard of buttwelve thousand men under General McGruder had demonstrated the wisdomof Davis' position that the Peninsula could be successfully defended.McGruder's little army held McClellan at bay for nearly thirty days. Hewas dislodged from his position with terrible slaughter of the Unionforces. McClellan's army lost two thousand two hundred and seventy-fivemen in this encounter, McGruder less than a thousand. Had Johnstonconcentrated his fifty thousand men on this line McClellan would neverhave taken it, and the only iron-clad the South possessed might havebeen saved.

  The daring Commander of the _Merrimac_, while McClellan was encampedbefore Yorktown, had appeared in Hampton Roads and challenged the wholeFederal fleet again to fight. The _Monitor_ had taken refuge under theguns of Fortress Monroe and refused to come out. The ugly duckling ofthe Confederacy, in plain view of the whole Federal fleet and witnessedby French and English vessels, captured three schooners and carried theminto port as prizes of war.

  When Norfolk was abandoned, the iron-clad drew so much water she couldonly ascend the James by lightening her until her wooden sides showedabove the water line. She was therefore set on fire and blown up onJohnston's retreat uncovering the banks of the James to the artillery ofMcClellan.

  The Federal fleet could now dash up the James.

  They did this immediately on the news of the destruction of theConfederate iron-clad.

  On May fifteenth, the _Galena_, the _Aroostook_, the _Monitor_, the_Port Royal_, and the _Stevens_ steamed up the river without oppositionto Drury's Bluff within twelve miles of the Capital of the South. Ahalf-finished fort mounting four guns guarded this point. The river wasalso obstructed by a double row of piles and sunken vessels.

  If the eleven-inch guns of the _Monitor_ could be brought to bear onthis fort, it was a problem how long the batteries could be held inaction.

  The wildest alarm swept Richmond. The railroads were jammed with franticpeople trying to get out. The depots were piled with mountains ofbaggage it was impossible to move. A mass meeting was held on the nightthe fleet ascended the river which was addressed by Governor Letcher andMayor Mayo.

  The Governor ended his speech with a sentence that set the crowd wildwith enthusiasm.

  "Sooner than see our beloved city conquered to-day by our enemies wewill lay it in ashes with our own hands!"

  The Legislature of Virginia showed its grit by passing a resolutionpractically inviting the President of the Confederacy to lay the city inruins if he deemed wise:

  "_Resolved_, That the General Assembly hereby expresses its desire that the Capital of the State be _defended to the last extremity_, if such defense is in accordance with the views of the President of the Confederate States, and that the President be assured that whatever destruction and loss of property of the State or of individuals shall thereby result, will be cheerfully submitted to."

  When the Committee handed this document to Jefferson Davis, he facedthem with a look of resolution:

  "Richmond will not be abandoned, gentlemen, until McClellan marches overthe dead bodies of our army. Not for one moment have I considered theidea of surrendering the Capital--"

  "Good!"

  "Thank God!"

  "Hurrah for the President!"

  The Committee grasped his hand, convinced that no base surrender oftheir Capital would be tolerated by their leader.

  "Rest assured, gentlemen," he continued earnestly, "if blood must beshed, it shall be here. No soil of the Confederacy could drink it moreacceptably and none hold it more gratefully. We shall stake all on thisone glorious hour for our Republic. Life, death, and wounds are nothingif we shall be saved from the fate of a captured Capital and ahumiliated Confederacy--"

  The Government and the city had need of grim resolution. The Federalfleet moved up into range and opened fire on the batteries at Drury'sBluff. The little Confederate gunboat _Patrick Henry_ which had won famein the first engagement of the _Merrimac_ steamed down into line andjoined her fire with th
e fort.

  General Lee had planted light batteries on the banks of the river tosweep the decks of the fleet with grape and cannister.

  The little _Monitor_, the _Galena_, and the _Stevens_ steamed straightup to within six hundred yards of the battery of the fort and openedwith their eleven-inch guns. The _Galena_ and the _Stevens_ wereiron-clad steamers with thin armor.

  For four hours the guns thundered. The batteries poured a hail of shoton the _Monitor_. They bounded off her round-tower and her water-washeddecks like pebbles. The rifled gun on the _Stevens_ burst and disabledher. The _Galena_ was pierced by heavy shot and severely crippled,losing thirty-seven of her men. As the _Monitor_ was built, it wasimpossible to make effective her guns at close range against the highbluff on which the Confederate battery was placed.

  At eleven o'clock the crippled fleet slowly moved down the river andRichmond was saved.

  * * * * *

  When Johnston in his retreat up the Peninsula reached the high groundnear the Chickahominy river, he threw out his lines and prepared to giveMcClellan battle. He dispatched a messenger to the President at Richmondinforming him of this fact. The Cabinet was in session. A spiriteddiscussion ensued. The Secretary of War and the whole council werealarmed at the prospect of battle on such an ill chosen position. Hisrear would rest on an enormous swamp through which the treacherous riverflowed. There were no roads or bridges of sufficient capacity to takehis army rapidly if he should be compelled to retreat.

  "I suggest, Mr. President," said the Secretary of War, "that you callGeneral Johnston's attention to this fact."

  Davis shook his head emphatically.

  "No, gentlemen. We have entrusted the command to General Johnston. It ishis business with all the facts before him to know what is best. Itwould be utterly unfair and very dangerous to attempt to control hisoperations by advice from the Capital."

  Davis was too great a general and too generous and just to deny Johnstonhis opportunity for supreme service to his country. It was the fixedpolicy of the President to select the best man for the position to whichhe assigned him and leave the responsibility of action on the field tohis judgment.

  On the following morning instead of a report of battle the Presidentreceived a dispatch announcing that his General had decided to cross theChickahominy River and use its swamps and dangerous crossings as hisline of defense.

  The Cabinet expressed its sense of profound relief and Davis watched hiscommander with an increase of confidence in his judgment. If the narrowroads and weak bridges across the river were guarded, an army of halfhis size could hold McClellan for months. The nearest crossing wastwenty-five miles from Richmond.

  General Reagan of the Cabinet rode down that night to see Hood at thehead of his Texas brigade.

  At noon next day on returning to the city he saw the President comingout of his office.

  The long arm of the Chief was lifted and Reagan halted.

  "Wait a minute--"

  "At your service, Mr. President."

  "Get your dinner and ride down to the Chickahominy with me. I want tosee General Johnston."

  Reagan shouted an answer which the President failed to catch:

  "You won't have to go to the Chickahominy to see Johnston!"

  Joining Reagan after dinner the President rode rapidly through thesuburban district called "The Rockets," and had reached the high groundbeyond. A half mile away stretched a vast field of white tents.

  "Whose camp is that?" Davis asked in surprise.

  "Hood's brigade," Reagan replied.

  "Why Hood's on the Chickahominy twenty-odd miles from here--"

  "I camped here with them last night, sir--"

  "Impossible!"

  Reagan watched the thin face of the Confederate Chieftain grow deadlypale.

  "If you wish to see General Johnston, Mr. President, you'll find him inthat red brick house on the right--"

  Reagan pointed in the direction of the house.

  The President looked at his friend a moment, a quizzical expressionrelieving his anxiety.

  "Of course--it's a joke, Reagan."

  "It's true, sir!"

  Davis shook his head:

  "General Johnston is on the Chickahominy guarding the crossings. I sentmy aide with a dispatch to him last night."

  "He hadn't returned when you left the office--"

  "No--"

  "I thought not. There can be no mistake, sir. I saw General Johnston andhis staff enter that house and establish his headquarters there--"

  "Here in the suburbs of Richmond?"

  "Right here, sir--"

  Davis put spurs to his horse, and waved to his aide:

  "Colonel Ives--come!"

  Reagan turned and rode again into Hood's camp.

  The President rode straight to Johnston's headquarters. He sprang to theground with a quick decisive leap.

  The ceremony between the two men was scant. No words were wasted.

  "You have moved your army into the suburbs of Richmond, GeneralJohnston?"

  "I have--"

  "Why?"

  "I consider this better ground--"

  "You have left no rear guard to contest McClellan's crossing?"

  "No."

  "May I ask why you chose to give up the defenses of such a river withouta blow?"

  "My army was out of provisions--"

  "They could have been rushed to you--"

  "The ground near the Chickahominy is low and marshy. The water is bad--"

  "And you have come to the very gates of the city?"

  "Because the ground is dry, the water good, and we are near oursupplies--"

  The President's lips trembled with rage.

  "And McClellan can now plant his guns within six miles and his soldiershear our church bells on Sunday--"

  "Possibly--"

  The President's eye pierced his General.

  "Richmond is to be surrendered without a battle?"

  "That depends, sir, upon conditions--"

  The Confederate Chief suddenly threw his thin hands above his head andfaced his stubborn sulking Commander.

  "If you are not going to give battle, I'll appoint a man in your placewho will--"

  Before Johnston could reply the President turned on his heel, waved toColonel Ives, mounted his horse and dashed into the city.

  His Cabinet was called in hasty consultation with General Lee.

  Davis turned to his counselors.

  "Gentlemen, I have just held a most amazing conference with GeneralJohnston. You were afraid he would fight beyond the Chickahominy. He hascrossed the river, left its natural defenses unguarded, and has run allthe way to town without pause. I have told him to fight or get out ofthe saddle. In my judgment he intends to back straight through the cityand abandon it without a blow. We must face the situation."

  He turned to Lee. The question he was going to put to the man in whom hehad supreme confidence would test both his judgment and his character.On his answer would hang his career. If it should be what theConfederate Chief believed, Lee was the man of destiny and his hour hadstruck.

  "In case Johnston abandons Richmond," the President slowly began, "wherein your opinion, General Lee, is the next best line of defense?"

  Lee's fine mouth was set for a moment. He spoke at first withdeliberation.

  "As a military engineer, my answer is simple. The next best line ofdefense would be at Staten River--but--"

  He suddenly leaped to his feet, his eyes streaming with tears.

  "Richmond must not be given up--it shall not be given up!"

  Davis sprang to his side and clasped Lee's hand.

  "So say I, General!"

  From that moment the President and his chief military adviser lived onJohnston's battle line, Lee ready at a moment's notice to spring intothe saddle and hurl his men against McClellan the moment Johnston shouldfalter.

  The Commander was forced to a decision for battle. He could not allowhis arch enemy to remove
him without a fight.

  The retreat across the Chickahominy had given McClellan an enormousadvantage which his skillful eye saw at once. He threw two granddivisions of his army across the river and pushed his siege guns upwithin six miles of Richmond. His engineers immediately builtsubstantial bridges across the stream over which he could move in safetyhis heaviest guns in any emergency, either for reenforcements orretreat.

  He swung his right wing far to the north in a wide circling movementuntil he was in easy touch with McDowell's forty thousand men atFredericksburg.

  McClellan was within sight of the consummation of his hopes. When thiswide movement of his army had been successfully made without an armlifted to oppose, he climbed a tall tree within sight of Richmond fromwhich he could view the magnificent panorama.

  A solid wall of living blue with glittering bayonets and black-fangedbatteries of artillery, his army spread for ten miles. Beyond them hereand there only he saw patches of crouching gray in the underbrush orcrawling through the marshes.

  The Northern Commander came down from his perch and threw his armsaround his aide:

  "We've got them, boy!" he cried enthusiastically. "We've got them!"

  It was not to be wondered at that the boastful oratorical ConfederateCongress should have taken to their heels. They ran in such haste, thepeople of Richmond began to laugh and in their laughter took freshcourage.

  A paper printed in double leads on its first page a remarkable accountof the stampede:

  "For fear of accident on the railroad, the stampeded Congress left in a number of the strongest and swiftest of our new canal-boats. The boats were drawn by mules of established sweetness of temper. To protect our law-makers from snakes and bullfrogs that infest the line of the canal, General Winder detailed a regiment of ladies to march in advance of the mules, and clear the tow-path of these troublesome pirates. The ladies are ordered to accompany the Confederate Congress to a secluded cave in the mountains of Hepsidan, and leave them there in charge of the children of that vicinity until McClellan thinks proper to let them come forth. The ladies will at once return to the defense of their country."

  The President for a brief time was free of his critics.

  On May thirty-first, Johnston's army, under the direct eye of Davis andLee on the field, gave battle to McClellan's left wing--comprising thetwo grand divisions that had been pushed across the Chickahominy to theenvirons of Richmond.

  The opening attack was delayed by the failure of General Holmes tostrike McClellan's rear as planned. A terrific rain storm the nightbefore had flooded a stream and it was impossible for him to cross.

  Late in the afternoon Longstreet and Hill hurled their divisions throughthe thick woods and marshes on McClellan.

  Longstreet's men drove before them the clouds of blue skirmishers,plunged into the marshes with water two feet deep and dashed on thefortified lines of the enemy. The Southerners crept through the denseunderbrush to the very muzzles of the guns in the redoubts, charged,cleared them, grappling hand to hand with the desperate men who foughtlike demons.

  Line after line was thus carried until at nightfall McClellan's leftwing had been pushed back over two miles through swamp and waters redwith blood.

  The slaughter had been frightful in the few hours in which the battlehad raged. On the Confederate left where Johnston commanded in personthe Union army held its position until dark, unbroken.

  Johnston fell from his horse wounded and Davis on the field immediatelyappointed General Lee to command.

  The appointment of Lee to be Commander-in-Chief not only intensified thehatred of Johnston for the President, it made G. W. Smith, the man whowas Johnston's second, his implacable enemy for life. Technically G. W.Smith would have succeeded to the command of the army had not Davisexercised his power on the field of battle to appoint the man of hischoice.

  In no act of his long, eventful life did Davis evince such clearness ofvision and quick decision, under trying conditions. Lee had failed inWestern Virginia and McClellan had out-generaled him, the yellowjournals had declared. They called Lee "Old Spade." So intense was theopposition to Lee that Davis had sent him to erect the coast defenses ofSouth Carolina. The Governor of the State protested against theappointment of so incompetent a man to this important work. Davis sentthe Governor an emphatic message in reply:

  "If Robert E. Lee is not a general I have none to send you."

  Davis now called the man whom McClellan had defeated to the supremecommand against McClellan at the head of his grand army in sight of thehousetops of Richmond. Only a leader of the highest genius could havedared to make such a decision in such a crisis.

  Davis made it without a moment's hesitation and in that act ofindividual will gave to the world the greatest commander of the age.