Hearts Touched by Fire

by Harold Holzer

  THE BATTLE OF GROVETON, AUGUST 29TH, AS SEEN FROM CENTREVILLE. FROM A SKETCH MADE AT THE TIME.

  General Jackson in his report, dated April 27th, 1863, says:

  “My troops on this day were distributed along and in the vicinity of the cut of an unfinished railroad (intended as a part of the track to connect the Manassas road directly with Alexandria), stretching from the Warrenton turnpike in the direction of Sudley’s Mill. It was mainly along the excavation of this unfinished road that my line of battle was formed on the 29th: Jackson’s division, under Brigadier-General Starke, on the right; Ewell’s division, under Brigadier-General Lawton, in the center; and Hill’s division on the left. In the morning, about 10 o’clock, the Federal artillery opened with spirit and animation upon our right, which was soon replied to by the batteries of Poague, Carpenter, Dement, Brockenbrough, and Latimer, under Major [L. M.] Shumaker. This lasted for some time, when the enemy moved around more to our left, to another point of attack. His next effort was directed against our left. This was vigorously repulsed by the batteries of Braxton, Crenshaw, and Pegram. About 2 o’clock P.M. the Federal infantry, in large force, advanced to the attack of our left, occupied by the division of General Hill. It pressed forward in defiance of our fatal and destructive fire with great determination, a portion of it crossing a deep cut in the railroad track, and penetrating in heavy force an interval of nearly 175 yards, which separated the right of Gregg’s from the left of Thomas’s brigade. For a short time Gregg’s brigade, on the extreme left, was isolated from the main body of the command. But the 14th South Carolina regiment, then in reserve, with the 49th Georgia, left of Colonel Thomas, attacked the exultant enemy with vigor and drove them back across the railroad track with great slaughter.”

  General Longstreet says in his report, dated October 10th, 1862:

  “Early on the 29th [August] the columns [that had passed Thoroughfare and Hopewell Gaps] were united, and the advance to join General Jackson was resumed. The noise of battle was heard before we reached Gainesville. The march was quickened to the extent of our capacity. The excitement of battle seemed to give new life and strength to our jaded men, and the head of my column soon reached a position in rear of the enemy’s left flank, and within easy cannon-shot.

  THE HALT ON THE LINE OF BATTLE. FROM A WAR-TIME SKETCH.

  “On approaching the field some of Brigadier-General Hood’s batteries were ordered into position, and his division was deployed on the right and left of the turnpike, at right angles with it, and supported by Brigadier-General Evans’s brigade. Before these batteries could open, the enemy discovered our movements and withdrew his left. Another battery (Captain Stribling’s) was placed upon a commanding position to my right, which played upon the rear of the enemy’s left and drove him entirely from that part of the field. He changed his front rapidly, so as to meet the advance of Hood and Evans.

  “Three brigades, under General Wilcox, were thrown forward to the support of the left; and three others, under General Kemper, to the support of the right of these commands. General D. R. Jones’s division was placed upon the Manassas Gap railroad to the right, and en échelon with regard to the last three brigades. Colonel Walton placed his batteries in a commanding position between my line and that of General Jackson, and engaged the enemy for several hours in a severe and successful artillery duel. At a late hour in the day Major-General Stuart reported the approach of the enemy in heavy columns against my extreme right. I withdrew General Wilcox, with his three brigades, from the left, and placed his command in position to support Jones in case of an attack against my right. After some few shots the enemy withdrew his forces, moving them around toward his front, and about 4 o’clock in the afternoon began to press forward against General Jackson’s position. Wilcox’s brigades were moved back to their former position, and Hood’s two brigades, supported by Evans, were quickly pressed forward to the attack. At the same time Wilcox’s three brigades made a like advance, as also Hunton’s brigade, of Kemper’s command.

  “These movements were executed with commendable zeal and ability. Hood, supported by Evans, made a gallant attack, driving the enemy back till 9 o’clock at night. One piece of artillery, several regimental standards, and a number of prisoners were taken. The enemy’s entire force was found to be massed directly in my front, and in so strong a position that it was not deemed advisable to move on against his immediate front; so the troops were quietly withdrawn at 1 o’clock the following morning. The wheels of the captured piece were cut down, and it was left on the ground. The enemy seized that opportunity to claim a victory, and the Federal commander was so imprudent as to dispatch his Government, by telegraph, tidings to that effect. After withdrawing from the attack, my troops were placed in the line first occupied, and in the original order.”

  General A. P. Hill says in his report, dated February 25th, 1863:

  “Friday morning, in accordance with orders from General Jackson, I occupied the line of the unfinished railroad, my extreme left resting near Sudley Ford, my right near the point where the road strikes the open field, Gregg, Field, and Thomas in the front line; Gregg on the left and Field on the right; with Branch, Pender, and Archer as supports.…

  “The evident intention of the enemy this day was to turn our left and overwhelm Jackson’s corps before Longstreet came up, and to accomplish this the most persistent and furious onsets were made, by column after column of infantry, accompanied by numerous batteries of artillery. Soon my reserves were all in, and up to 6 o’clock my division, assisted by the Louisiana brigade of General Hays, commanded by Colonel Forno, with a heroic courage and obstinacy almost beyond parallel, had met and repulsed six distinct and separate assaults, a portion of the time the majority of the men being without a cartridge.…

  “The enemy prepared for a last and determined attempt. Their serried masses, overwhelming superiority of numbers, and bold bearing made the chances of victory to tremble in the balance; my own division exhausted by seven hours’ unremitted fighting, hardly one round per man remaining, and weakened in all things save its unconquerable spirit. Casting about for help, fortunately it was here reported to me that the brigades of Generals Lawton and Early were near by, and, sending to them, they promptly moved to my front at the most opportune moment, and this last charge met the same disastrous fate that had befallen those preceding. Having received an order from General Jackson to endeavor to avoid a general engagement, my commanders of brigades contented themselves with repulsing the enemy and following them up but a few hundred yards.”

  COLLECTING THE WOUNDED.

  In his “Recollections of a Private” [see “The Century” magazine for January, 1886] Warren Lee Goss says: “At the end of the first day’s battle, August 29th, so soon as the fighting ceased, many sought without orders to rescue comrades lying wounded between the opposing lines. There seemed to be an understanding between the men of both armies that such parties were not to be disturbed in their mission of mercy. After the failure of the attempt of Grover and Kearny to carry the railroad embankment, the Confederates followed their troops back and formed a line in the edge of the woods. When the fire had died away along the darkling woods, little groups of men from the Union lines went stealthily about, bringing in the wounded from the exposed positions. Blankets attached to poles or muskets often served as stretchers to bear the wounded to the ambulances and surgeons. There was a great lack here of organized effort to care for our wounded. Vehicles of various kinds were pressed into service. The removal went on during the entire night, and tired soldiers were roused from their slumbers by the plaintive cries of comrades passing in the comfortless vehicles. In one instance a Confederate and a Union soldier were found cheering each other on the field. They were put into the same Virginia farm-cart and sent to the rear, talking and groaning in fraternal sympathy.”

  General J.E.B. Stuart says in his report, dated February 28th, 1863:

  “I met with the head of General Longstreet’s column between Ha
y Market and Gainesville, and there communicated to the commanding general General Jackson’s position and the enemy’s. I then passed the cavalry through the column so as to place it on Longstreet’s right flank, and advanced directly toward Manassas, while the column kept directly down the pike to join General Jackson’s right. I selected a fine position for a battery on the right, and one having been sent to me, I fired a few shots at the enemy’s supposed position, which induced him to shift his position. General Robertson, who, with his command, was sent to reconnoiter farther down the road toward Manassas, reported the enemy in his front. Upon repairing to that front, I found that Rosser’s regiment was engaged with the enemy to the left of the road, and Robertson’s vedettes had found the enemy approaching from the direction of Bristoe Station toward Sudley. The prolongation of his line of march would have passed through my position, which was a very fine one for artillery as well as observation, and struck Longstreet in flank. I waited his approach long enough to ascertain that there was at least an army corps, at the same time keeping detachments of cavalry dragging brush down the road from the direction of Gainesville, so as to deceive the enemy,—a ruse which Porter’s report shows was successful,—and notified the commanding general, then opposite me on the turnpike, that Longstreet’s flank and rear were seriously threatened, and of the importance to us of the ridge I then held. Immediately upon the receipt of that intelligence, Jenkins’s, Kemper’s, and D. R. Jones’s brigades, and several pieces of artillery were ordered to me by General Longstreet, and, being placed in position fronting Bristoe, awaited the enemy’s advance. After exchanging a few shots with riflepieces this corps withdrew toward Manassas, leaving artillery and supports to hold the position until night. Brigadier-General Fitz Lee returned to the vicinity of Sudley, after a very successful expedition, of which his official report has not been received, and was instructed to coöperate with Jackson’s left. Late in the afternoon the artillery on this commanding ridge was, to an important degree, auxiliary to the attack upon the enemy, and Jenkins’s brigade repulsed the enemy in handsome style at one volley, as they advanced across a corn-field. Thus the day ended, our lines having considerably advanced.”

  What would have been the effect of the application on the enemy’s right at, or any time after, 4 o’clock that afternoon of ten or twelve thousand effective men who had not been in battle at all, I do not myself consider doubtful.

  In this battle the Fifth Corps, under General F. J. Porter, took no part whatever, but remained all day in column, without even deploying into line of battle or making any effort in force to find out what was in their front. That General Porter knew of the progress of the battle on his right, and that he believed the Union army was being defeated, is shown by his own dispatches to McDowell, several times repeated during the day. That subjoined will be sufficient:

  “Generals McDowell and King:

  “I found it impossible to communicate by crossing the woods to Groveton. The enemy are in great force on this road, and as they appear to have driven our forces back, the fire of the enemy having advanced and ours retired, I have determined to withdraw to Manassas. I have attempted to communicate with McDowell and Sigel, but my messengers have run into the enemy. They have gathered artillery and cavalry and infantry, and the advancing masses of dust show the enemy coming in force. I am now going to the head of the column to see what is passing and how affairs are going, and I will communicate with you. Had you not better send your train back?

  “F. J. PORTER, Major-General.”

  Not the artillery only, but the volleys of musketry in this battle were also plainly heard on their right and front by the advance of Porter’s troops much of the day. In consequence of his belief that the army on his right was being defeated, as stated in more than one of these dispatches, he informed General McDowell that he intended to retire to Manassas, and advised McDowell to send back his trains in the same direction.

  For this action, or non-action, he has been on the one hand likened to Benedict Arnold, and on the other favorably compared with George Washington. I presume he would not accept the first position, and probably would hardly lay claim to the second. Certainly I have not the inclination, even had I the power, to assign him to either or to any position between the two; and if he were alone concerned in the question, I should make no comment at all on the subject at this day. Many others than himself and the result of a battle, however, are involved in it, and they do not permit silence when the second battle of Bull Run is discussed. Without going into the merits of the case, which has been obscured and confused by so many and such varied controversies, I shall confine myself to a bare statement of the facts as they are known to me personally, or communicated officially by officers of rank and standing, and by the official reports of both armies engaged in the battle. General Porter was tried by court-martial a few months after the battle and was cashiered. The reasons given by him at the time for his failure to go into action, or take any part in the battle, were: first, that he considered himself under General McDowell’s orders, who told him that they were too far to the front for a battle; and, second, that the enemy was in such heavy force in his front that he would have been defeated had he attacked. General McDowell stated before the court-martial that, so far from saying that they were too far to the front for battle, he directed General Porter before leaving him to put his corps into the action where he was, and that he (McDowell) would move farther to the right and go into the battle there. Upon Porter remarking that he could not go in there without getting into a fight, McDowell replied, “I thought that was what we came here for.”

  FIRST AND LAST POSITIONS IN THE FIGHTING OF AUGUST 30TH.

  During the assault by Porter’s corps and King’s division, Jackson’s forces were behind the unfinished railway. When that assault failed, the Unionists north of the turnpike were attacked by the brigades of Featherston and Pryor (of Wilcox), which were acting with some of Jackson’s troops and with one brigade of Hood. Wilcox, with his own proper brigade, passed far to the right and fought his way to an advanced position, after Evans and D. R. Jones had compelled Sigel and McDowell to loosen their hold on and west of Bald Hill. [NOTE—Tower, Milroy, and McLean, on the map, should be placed more to the east on and near Bald Hill.] At dark the Confederates were somewhat in advance of the positions indicated on the map.—EDITORS.