BRIGADIER-GENERAL TURNER ASHBY, C.S.A. FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.
This plan of battle was carried out to the letter. I took position in a ravine about two hundred yards in rear of Poague’s battery in the center of the line. General Tyler, who had two brigades of Shields’s division, made a very stubborn fight, and by 9 o’clock matters began to look very serious for us. Dick Taylor had not yet come down out of the woods on Tyler’s left flank.
Meanwhile I was having a remarkable time with our mules in the ravine. Some of the shot aimed at Poague came bounding over our heads, and occasionally a shell would burst there. The mules became frantic. They kicked, plunged, and squealed. It was impossible to quiet them, and it took three or four men to hold one mule from breaking away. Each mule had about three hundred pounds weight on him, so securely fastened that the load could not be dislodged by any of his capers. Several of them lay down and tried to wallow their loads off. The men held these down, and that suggested the idea of throwing them all on the ground and holding them there. The ravine sheltered us so that we were in no danger from the shot or shell which passed over us.
Just about the time our mule “circus” was at its height, news came up the line from the left that Winder’s brigade near the river was giving way. Jackson rode down in that direction to see what it meant. As he passed on the brink of our ravine, his eye caught the scene, and, reining up a moment, he accosted me with, “Colonel, you seem to have trouble down there.” I made some reply which drew forth a hearty laugh, and he said, “Get your mules to the mountain as soon as you can, and be ready to move.”
Then he dashed on. He found his old brigade had yielded slightly to overwhelming pressure.9 Galloping up, he was received with a cheer; and, calling out at the top of his voice, “The ‘Stonewall’ brigade never retreats; follow me!” led them back to their original line. Taylor soon made his appearance, and the flank attack settled the work of the day. A wild retreat began. The pursuit was vigorous. No stand was made in the defile. We pursued them eight miles. I rode back with Jackson, and at sunset we were on the battle-field at the Lewis mansion.
Jackson accosted a medical officer, and said, “Have you brought off all the wounded?” “Yes, all of ours, but not all of the enemy’s.” “Why not?” “Because we were shelled from across the river.” “Had you your hospital flag on the field?” “Yes.” “And they shelled that?” “Yes.” “Well, take your men to their quarters; I would rather let them all die than have one of my men shot intentionally under the yellow flag when trying to save their wounded.”10
Frémont, hearing the noise of the battle, had hurried out from near Harrisonburg to help Tyler; but Jackson had burnt the bridge at Port Republic, after Ewell had held Frémont in check some time on the west side of the river and escaped, so that when Frémont came in sight of Tyler’s battle-field, the latter’s troops had been routed and the river could not be crossed.
The next day I returned to Staunton, and found General W.H.C. Whiting, my old commander after the fall of General Bee at Bull Run, arriving with a division of troops to reënforce Jackson. Taking him and his staff to my house as guests, General Whiting left soon after breakfast with a guide to call on Jackson at Swift Run Gap, near Port Republic, where he was resting his troops. The distance from Staunton was about twenty miles, but Whiting returned after midnight. He was in a towering passion, and declared that Jackson had treated him outrageously. I asked, “How is that possible, General, for he is very polite to every one?”
“Oh! hang him, he was polite enough. But he didn’t say one word about his plans. I finally asked him for orders, telling him what troops I had. He simply told me to go back to Staunton, and he would send me orders to-morrow. I haven’t the slightest idea what they will be. I believe he hasn’t any more sense than my horse.”
Seeing his frame of mind, and he being a guest in my house, I said little. Just after breakfast, next morning, a courier arrived with a terse order to embark his troops on the railroad trains and move to Gordonsville at once, where he would receive further orders. This brought on a new explosion of wrath. “Didn’t I tell you he was a fool, and doesn’t this prove it? Why, I just came through Gordonsville day before yesterday.”
However, he obeyed the order; and when he reached Gordonsville he found Jackson there, and his little Valley army coming after him; a few days later McClellan was astounded to learn that Jackson was on his right flank on the Chickahominy. Shortly after the seven days’ battle around Richmond, I met Whiting again, and he then said: “I didn’t know Jackson when I was at your house. I have found out now what his plans were, and they were worthy of a Napoleon. But I still think he ought to have told me his plans; for if he had died McClellan would have captured Richmond. I wouldn’t have known what he was driving at, and might have made a mess of it. But I take back all I said about his being a fool.”
From the date of Jackson’s arrival at Staunton till the battle of Port Republic was thirty-five days. He marched from Staunton to McDowell, 40 miles, from McDowell to Front Royal, about 110, from Front Royal to Winchester, 20 miles, Winchester to Port Republic, 75 miles, a total of 245 miles, fighting in the meantime 4 desperate battles, and winning them all.
On the 17th of June, leaving only his cavalry, under Brigadier-General B. H. Robertson, and Chew’s battery, and the little force I was enlisting in the valley (which was now no longer threatened by the enemy), Jackson moved all his troops south-east, and on the 25th arrived at Ashland, seventeen miles from Richmond. This withdrawal from the valley was so skillfully managed that his absence from the scene of his late triumphs was unsuspected at Washington. On the contrary, something like a panic prevailed there, and the Government was afraid to permit McDowell to unite his forces with McClellan’s lest it should uncover and expose the capital to Jackson’s supposed movement on it.
Jackson’s military operations were always unexpected and mysterious. In my personal intercourse with him in the early part of the war, before he had become famous, he often said there were two things never to be lost sight of by a military commander: “Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be destroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible manœuvring you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it invincible.”
His celerity of movement was a simple matter. He never broke down his men by too-long-continued marching. He rested the whole column very often, but only for a few minutes at a time. I remember that he liked to see the men lie down flat on the ground to rest, and would say, “A man rests all over when he lies down.”
* * *
1 When Jackson took command in the Valley in November, 1861, the Union forces held Romney and occupied the north side of the Potomac in strong force. The Confederates had only a weak body of militia at Jackson’s disposal, until reënforcements came from the east. After receiving the four brigades of R. B. Garnett, Wm. B. Taliaferro, William Gilham, and S. R. Anderson, Jackson moved against the Union communications along the Potomac, aiming to destroy the Chesapeake and Ohio canal. Under cover of demonstrations made against various places along the Potomac east of the objective point, a Confederate force was concentrated near Dam No. 5, December 17th, and after four days’ labor a breach was made in the dam. On the 1st of January another force moved from Winchester, northward, the two columns uniting, and on the 4th instant the town of Bath was occupied, after being abandoned by a body of Union troops composed of cavalry, infantry, and artillery. Jackson followed the retreating Union troops to the river and promptly bombarded Hancock, Md., without, however, securing a surrender, and on the 7th he withdrew from the Potomac region toward Romney. On his
approach the Union troops at that post evacuated without a struggle, yielding the town on January 10th. The Confederates now went into winter quarters along the south branch of the Potomac, at Romney and vicinity.—EDITORS.
2 General Jackson’s first announcement of the battle to General Johnston, dated March 24th, contained the following:
“As the enemy had been sending off troops from the district, and from what I could learn were still doing so, and knowing your great desire to prevent it, and having a prospect of success, I engaged him yesterday about 3 P.M., near Winchester, and fought until dusk, but his forces were so superior to mine that he repulsed me with the loss of valuable officers and men killed and wounded; but from the obstinacy with which our troops fought and from their advantageous position I am of the opinion that his loss was greater than mine in troops, but I lost one piece of artillery and three caissons.”
—EDITORS.
3 This seems to us an overestimate of the Union forces actually in the Valley during the operations of May and June. April 30th, Banks had 9178 “present for duty”; May 31st, Frémont had 14,672 (Cox and Kelley not in the Valley); McDowell’s force that reached the Valley (including Shields’s division, which on May 31st numbered 10,203), aggregated about 21,000. Total, 44,840. Saxton had about 7000 at Harper’s Ferry, which were not engaged.—EDITORS.
4 We estimate that there were not above 80,000 Union troops in the three departments that could have been moved toward Richmond.—EDITORS.
5 Banks’s total force now numbered 9178 present for duty as against 16,000 to 17,000 of Jackson. —EDITORS.
6 Colonel Kenly, in his report, says that he was attacked about 2 P.M., and that he maintained his position in front of his camp until nearly 5 o’clock, when he found that he was flanked. Retiring, he made a stand at the river in his rear, and again at the cross-road leading to Middletown. At the last point his men were run down by overwhelming numbers and captured in detachments.—EDITORS.
7 Banks reports on April 30th, as present for duty, 9178; and on June 16th, 7113,—being a reduction of 2065. Jackson reports the capture in all of 3050 of Banks’s men.—EDITORS.
8 General Ewell, the Confederate commander on the field, in his report says of the Union advance:
“The general features of the ground were a valley and a rivulet in my front, woods on both flanks, and a field of some hundreds of acres where the road crossed the center of my line, my side of the valley being more defined and commanding the other.… About 10 o’clock the enemy fell along my front with skirmishers, and shortly after posted his artillery, chiefly opposite mine. He advanced under cover on General Trimble, with a force, according to his own statement, of two brigades, which were repulsed with such signal loss that they did not make another determined effort. General Trimble had been reënforced by the 13th and 25th Virginia Regiments, Colonel J. A. Walker and Lieutenant-Colonel P. B. Duffy, of General Elzey’s brigade. These regiments assisted in the repulse of the enemy. General Trimble in turn advanced and drove the enemy more than a mile, and remained on his flank ready to make the final attack.… The enemy’s attack was decided by 4 P.M., it being principally directed against General Trimble, and, though from their own statement they outnumbered us on that flank two to one, it had signally failed. General Trimble’s … brigade captured one of their colors.”
General Frémont in his report describes the desperate fighting as follows:
“Urging vigorously forward his brigade, General Stabel encountered in the first belt of woods a strong line of skirmishers, which with hard fighting was driven out of the timber and pushed by the 8th and 45th New York over the open ground beyond the edge of the woods, where these regiments suddenly came upon the right of the enemy’s main line.… Two of General Stabel’s best regiments, the 27th Pennsylvania and the 41st New York, had been diverted to the right in the timber, and the shock of the entire force here was sustained by the 8th and 45th New York; and principally by the 8th, which was attacked in front and flank by four regiments.… The enemy now brought up additional artillery into the open ground on my extreme left, and General Taylor’s reserve brigade [Confederate] entering the woods, the fighting continued with great severity continuously along the timber in front of our position. A Mississippi regiment, charging with yells upon Buell’s battery, was gallantly met with a bayonet charge by the 27th Pennsylvania, under cover of which the battery was withdrawn. A Louisiana regiment of Taylor’s brigade, undertaking a charge upon Dilger’s battery, was received with a fire of canister and grape, delivered with such precision and rapidity as nearly destroyed it. Every attempt of the enemy to emerge from the cover of the woods was repulsed by artillery and counter-attacks of infantry.”…
—EDITORS.
9 The first Confederate assault was made by Winder’s (Stonewall) brigade, and was repulsed by the troops of Carroll’s brigade. An incident of the counter-charge is thus described by Colonel Henry B. Kelly, C.S.A.:
“While victoriously driving back the line of the Confederate left, the advancing Federal infantry were themselves suddenly assailed in flank, on their left, by a charge of two regiments of Virginia infantry, the 44th and 58th, led by Colonel Scott.”
The attack on the other flank by troops brought up from Cross Keys, by General Ewell, determined the result. Colonel Kelly says:
“At the word of command, the line moved forward, soon coming into plain view of the batteries and of the infantry of the enemy beyond the ravine, which at once opened fire on the advancing brigade. With one volley in reply, and a Confederate yell heard far over the field, the Louisianians rushed down the rough declivity and across the ravine, and carried the batteries like a flash.… By the impetus of the charge over the rough ground all formation was lost, and officers and men were all thrown into one unorganized mass around the captured guns. While this exultant crowd were rejoicing and shouting over their victory, suddenly a scathing fire of canister was poured into them by a section of Clark’s battery which had been rapidly brought over from the Federal right to within two hundred yards of the position of the captured guns.…
“At the outset of the attempt of the Federals to retake their batteries, Lieutenant-Colonel Peck, of the 9th Louisiana, called out to the men about the captured guns to shoot the horses, which was done. When, therefore, the Federals retook and held for a time, as they did, the ground where the guns were, they were unable, when again driven off, to take more than one gun with them for want of battery horses.”—EDITORS.
10 The official references to this incident are comprised in the following.
General Jackson says in his report:
“While the forces of Shields were in full retreat, and our troops in pursuit, Frémont appeared on the opposite bank of the south fork of the Shenandoah with his army, and opened his artillery upon our ambulances and parties engaged in the humane labors of attending to our dead and wounded, and the dead and wounded of the enemy.”
Frémont says in his report of his action at Port Republic:
“Parties (Confederate) gathering the dead and wounded, together with a line of prisoners, awaiting the movements of the rebel force near by, was all, in respect to troops on either side, now to be seen. A parting salvo of carefully aimed rifle-guns, duly charged with shell, hastened the departure of the rebels with the unlucky though most gallant convoy, and the whole were speedily out of sight.”
It is hardly necessary to state that intentional shelling of an ambulance and relief parties is denied by Union officers.—EDITORS.
CHAPTER 12
THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN.
George B. McClellan, Major-General, U.S.A.
In the following pages I purpose to give a brief sketch of the Peninsular campaign of 1862. As it is impossible, within the limits available, to describe even the most important battles, I shall confine myself to strategical considerations. But even this requires a rapid review of the circumstances under which, from a small assemblage of unorganized citizens, utterly ignorant of war a
nd almost of the use of arms, was evolved that mighty Army of the Potomac, which, unshaken alike in victory and defeat, during a long series of arduous campaigns against an army most ably commanded and the equal in heroism of any that ever met the shock of battle, proved itself worthy to bear on its bayonets the honor and fate of the nation.
In July, 1861, after having secured solidly for the Union that part of western Virginia north of the Kanawha and west of the mountains, I was suddenly called to Washington on the day succeeding the first battle of Bull Run. Reaching the capital on the 26th, I found myself assigned to the command of that city and of the troops gathered around it.
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