With Lee in Virginia: A Story of the American Civil War

by G. A. Henty

  CHAPTER VIII.

  McCLELLAN'S ADVANCE.

  It was not until three weeks after the fight between the ironclads thatthe great army under General McClellan arrived off Fortress Monroe, thegreater portion of the troops coming down the Potomac in steamtransports. Vast quantities of stores had been accumulated in and aroundthe fortress. Guns of a size never before used in war were lying on thewharfs in readiness to be placed in batteries, while Hampton Roads werecrowded with transports and store vessels watched over by the _Monitor_and the other warships. McClellan's army was a large one, but not sostrong a force as he had intended to have taken with him, and as soon ashe arrived at Fortress Monroe he learned that he would not be able toexpect much assistance from the fleet. The _Merrimac_ completely closedthe James River; and were the more powerful vessels of the fleet to moveup York River, she would be able to sally out and destroy the rest ofthe fleet and the transports.

  As it was most important to clear the peninsula between the two riversbefore Magruder should receive strong re-enforcements, a portion of thetroops were at once landed, and on the 4th of April 56,000 men and onehundred guns disembarked and started on their march against Yorktown. Assoon as the news of the arrival of the Northern army at Fortress Monroereached Richmond fresh steps were taken for the defense of the city.Magruder soon found that it would be impossible with the force at hiscommand to hold the line he had proposed, and a large body of negroesand troops were set to work to throw up defenses between Yorktown and apoint on the Warwick River thirteen and a half miles away.

  A portion of this line was covered by the Warwick Creek which he dammedup to make it unfordable, and erected batteries to guard the dams.Across the intervening ground a weak earthwork with trenches wasconstructed, there being no time to raise stronger works; but Magruderrelied chiefly upon the swampy and difficult nature of the country, andthe concealment afforded by the forest, which rendered it difficult forthe enemy to discover the weakness of the defenders.

  He posted 6000 men at Yorktown and Gloucester Point, and the remaining5000 troops under his command were scattered along the line of works tothe Warwick River. He knew that if McClellan pushed forward with all hisforce he must be successful; but he knew also that, if the enemy couldbe held in check for a few days, assistance would reach him from GeneralJohnston's army.

  Fortunately for the Confederates the weather, which had been fine andclear during the previous week, changed on the very day that McClellanstarted. The rain came down in torrents, and the roads became almostimpassable. The columns struggled on along the deep and muddy tracks allday, and bivouacked for the night in the forests. The next morning theyresumed their march, and on reaching the first line of intrenchmentsformed by the Confederates found them deserted, and it was not untilthey approached the Warwick Creek that they encountered seriousopposition. Had they pushed forward at once they would haveunquestionably captured Richmond. But McClellan's fault wasover-caution, and he believed himself opposed by a very much largerforce than that under the command of Magruder; consequently, instead ofmaking an attack at once, he began regular siege operations against theworks on Warwick Creek and those at Yorktown.

  The delay saved Richmond. Every day re-enforcements arrived, and by thetime that McClellan's army, over 100,000 strong, had erected theirbatteries and got their heavy guns into position, Magruder had beenre-enforced by some 10,000 men under General Johnston, who now assumedthe command, while other divisions were hurrying up from Northern andWestern Virginia. Upon the very night before the batteries were ready toopen, the Confederates evacuated their positions and fell back, carryingwith them all their guns and stores to the Chickahominy River, which ranalmost across the peninsula at a distance of six miles only fromRichmond.

  The Confederates crossed and broke down the bridges, and prepared tomake another stand. The disappointment of the Federals was great. Afterten days of incessant labor and hardship they had only gained possessionof the village of Yorktown, and a tract of low, swampy country. Thedivisions in front pressed forward rapidly after the Confederates; butthese had managed their plan so well that all were safely across thestream before they were overtaken.

  The dismay in Richmond had for a few days been great. Many people leftthe town for the interior, taking their valuables with them, and all wasprepared for the removal of the State papers and documents. But as theFederals went on with their fortifications, and the re-enforcementsbegan to arrive, confidence was restored, and all went on as before.

  The great Federal army was so scattered through the forests, and thediscipline of some of the divisions was so lax, that it was some daysbefore McClellan had them ranged in order on the Chickahominy. Anotherweek elapsed before he was in a position to undertake fresh operations;but General Johnston had now four divisions on the spot, and he was tooenterprising a general to await the attack. Consequently he crossed theChickahominy, fell upon one of the Federal divisions and almostdestroyed it, and drove back the whole of their left wing. The nextmorning the battle was renewed, and lasted for five hours.

  It was fortunate indeed for the Confederates that the right wing of theNorthern army did not, while the action was going on, cross the riverand march straight upon Richmond; but communication was difficult fromone part of the army to another, owing to the thick forests and theswampy state of the ground, and being without orders they remainedinactive all day. The loss on their side had been 7000 men, while theConfederates had lost 4500; and General Johnston being seriouslywounded, the chief command was given to General Lee, by far the ablestsoldier the war produced. Satisfied with the success they had gained,the Confederates fell back across the river again.

  On the 4th of June, General Stuart--for he had now beenpromoted--started with 1200 cavalry and two guns and in forty-eighthours made one of the most adventurous reconnoissances ever undertaken.First the force rode out to Hanover Courthouse, where they encounteredand defeated, first, a small body of cavalry, and afterward a wholeregiment. Then, after destroying the stores there, they rode round tothe Pamunky, burned two vessels and a large quantity of stores, captureda train of forty wagons, and burned a railway bridge.

  Then they passed right round the Federal rear, crossed the river, andre-entered the city with 165 prisoners and 200 horses, having effectedthe destruction of vast quantities of stores, besides breaking up therailways and burning bridges.

  Toward the end of June McClellan learned that Stonewall Jackson, havingstruck heavy blows at the two greatly superior armies which wereoperating against him in the valley of the Shenandoah, had succeeded inevading them, and was marching toward Richmond.

  He had just completed several bridges across the river, and was about tomove forward to fight a great battle when the news reached him.Believing that he should be opposed by an army of 200,000 men, although,in fact, the Confederate army, after Jackson and all the availablere-enforcements came up, was still somewhat inferior in strength to hisown, he determined to abandon for the present the attempt upon Richmond,and to fall back upon the James River.

  Here his ships had already landed stores for his supply, for the riverwas now open as far as the Confederate defenses at Fort Darling.Norfolk Navy Yard had been captured by the 10,000 men who formed thegarrison of Fortress Monroe. No resistance had been offered, as all theConfederate troops had been concentrated for the defense of Richmond.When Norfolk was captured the _Merrimac_ steamed out to make her way outof the river; but the water was low, and the pilot declared that shecould not be taken up. Consequently she was set on fire and burned tothe water's edge, and thus the main obstacle to the advance of theFederal fleet was removed.

  They had advanced as far as Fort Darling, and the ironclad gunboats hadengaged the batteries there. Their shot, however, did little damage tothe defenders upon the lofty bluffs, while the shot from the batteriesso injured the gunboats that the attempt to force the passage wasabandoned. While falling back to a place called Harrison's Landing onthe James River, the Federals were attacked by the Confederates,
butafter desperate fighting on both sides, lasting for five days, theysucceeded in drawing off from the Chickahominy with a loss of fiftyguns, thousands of small-arms, and the loss of the greater part of theirstores.

  All idea of a further advance against Richmond was for the presentabandoned. President Lincoln had always been opposed to the plan, and aconsiderable portion of the army was moved round to join the force underGeneral Pope, which was now to march upon Richmond from the north.

  From the commencement of the Federal advance to the time when, beatenand dispirited, they regained the James River, Vincent Wingfield hadseen little of his family. The Federal lines had at one time been withina mile of the Orangery. The slaves had some days before been all sentinto the interior, and Mrs. Wingfield and her daughters had moved intoRichmond, where they joined in the work, to which the whole of theladies of the town and neighborhood devoted themselves, of attending tothe wounded, of whom, while the fighting was going on, long trainsarrived every day at the city.

  Vincent himself had taken no active part in the fighting. Magruder'sdivision had not been engaged in the first attack upon McClellan'sforce; and although it had taken a share in the subsequent severefighting, Vincent had been occupied in carrying messages from thegeneral to the leaders of the other divisions, and had only once ortwice come under the storm of fire to which the Confederates wereexposed as they plunged through the morasses to attack the enemy. Assoon as it was certain that the attack was finally abandoned, and thatMcClellan's troops were being withdrawn to strengthen Pope's army,Vincent resigned his appointment as aid-de-camp, and was appointed tothe 7th Virginia Cavalry, stationed at Orange, where it was facing theFederal cavalry. Major Ashley had fallen while protecting the passage ofJackson's division, when hard pressed by one of the Federal armies inWest Virginia.

  No action in the war had been more brilliant than the manner in whichStonewall Jackson had baffled the two armies--each greatly superior inforce to his own--that had been specially appointed to destroy him ifpossible, or at any rate to prevent his withdrawing from the ShenandoahValley and marching to aid in the defense of the Confederate capital.His troops had marched almost day and night, without food, and dependingentirely upon such supplies as they could obtain from the scatteredfarmhouses they passed.

  Although Richmond was for the present safe, the prospect of theConfederates was by no means bright. New Orleans had been captured; theblockade of the other ports was now so strict that it was difficult inthe extreme for a vessel to make her way in or out; and the Northernershad placed flotillas of gunboats on the rivers, and by the aid of thesewere gradually making their way into the heart of several of the States.

  "Are you thinking of going out to the Orangery again soon, mother?"Vincent asked on the evening before setting out on the march north.

  "I think not, Vincent. There is so much to do in the hospitals herethat I cannot leave. I should be ashamed to be living in luxury at theOrangery with the girls while other women are giving up their whole timenursing the wounded. Besides, although I do not anticipate that afterthe way they have been hurled back the Northerners will try again forsome time, now they are in possession of Harrison's Landing they can atany moment advance. Besides, it is not pleasant being obliged to turnout of one's house and leave everything to their mercy. I wroteyesterday to Pearson to bring the slaves back at once and take up thework, and I shall go over occasionally to see that everything is inorder; but at any rate for a time we will stop here."

  "I think that is best, mother. Certainly I should feel more comfortableknowing that you are all at Richmond than alone out there."

  "We should be no worse off than thousands of ladies all over the State,Vincent. There are whole districts where every white capable of using agun has gone to the war, leaving nothing but women and slaves behind,and we have not heard of a single case in which there has been trouble."

  "Certainly there is no chance of trouble with your slaves, mother; butin some of the other plantations it may not be so. At any rate the quietconduct of the slaves everywhere is the very best answer that could begiven to the accusations that have been made as to their crueltreatment. At present the whole of the property of the slave-ownersthroughout the Southern States is at their mercy, and they might burn,kill, and destroy; and yet in no single instance have they risen againstwhat are called their oppressors, even when the Federals have been closeat hand.

  "Please keep your eye on Dinah, mother. I distrust that fellow Jacksonso thoroughly that I believe him capable of having her carried off andsmuggled away somewhere down south, and sold there if he saw a chance. Iwish, instead of sending her to the Orangery, you would keep her as oneof your servants here."

  "I will if you wish it, Vincent; but I cannot believe for a moment thatJackson or anyone else would venture to meddle with any of my slaves."

  "Perhaps not, mother; but it is best to be on the safe side. Anyhow, Ishall be glad to know that she is with you. Young Jackson will be away,for I know he is in one of Stuart's troops of horse, though I have neverhappened to run against him since the war began."

  The firing had hardly ceased before Harrison's Landing, when GeneralJackson, with a force of about 15,000 men, composed of his own division,now commanded by General Winder, General Ewell's division, and a portionof that of General Hill, started for the Rapidan to check General Pope,who, plundering and wasting the country as he advanced, was marchingsouth, his object being to reach Gordonsville, where he would cut theline of railway connecting Richmond with West Virginia. Vincent was gladthat the regiment to which he had been appointed would be underJackson's command, and that he would be campaigning again with his olddivision, which consisted largely of Virginian troops and contained somany of his old friends.

  With Jackson, too, he was certain to be engaged in stirring service, forthat general ever kept his troops upon the march; striking blows whereleast expected, and traversing such an extent of country by rapidmarches that he and his division seemed to the enemy to almostubiquitous.

  It was but a few hours after he received his appointment that Vincenttook train from Richmond to Gordonsville, Dan being in the horse-boxwith Wildfire in the rear of the train. His regiment was encamped a mileor two away, and he at once rode on and reported himself to ColonelJones, who commanded it.

  "I am glad to have you with me, sir," the colonel said. "I had thepleasure of knowing your father, and am an old friend of your mother'sfamily. As you were in Ashley's horse and have been serving onMagruder's staff, you are well up in your duties; and it is a comfortto me that the vacancy has been filled up by one who knows his workinstead of a raw hand. We have had a brush or two already with theenemy; but at present we are watching each other, waiting on both sidestill the generals have got their infantry to the front in readiness foran advance. Jackson is waiting for Hill's division to come up, and Ibelieve Pope is expecting great re-enforcements from McClellan."

  A few days later Colonel Jones was ordered to take charge of the picketsposted on the Rapidan, but before reaching Orange a gentleman rode up atfull speed and informed them that the enemy were in possession of thattown. Colonel Jones divided his regiment into two parts, and with onecharged the Federal cavalry in the main street of Orange, while theother portion of the regiment, under Major Marshall, attacked them onthe flank. After a sharp fight the enemy were driven from the place; butthey brought up large re-enforcements, and pouring in a heavy fire,attacked the town on both sides, and the Confederates had to fall back.But they made another stand a little way out of the town, and drove backthe Federal cavalry who were pressing them.

  Although the fight had been but a short one, the losses in the cavalryranks had been serious. Colonel Jones, while charging at the head of hismen, had received a saber-wound, and Major Marshall was taken prisoner.

  Five days later, on the 7th of August, Jackson received intelligencethat General Burnside, with a considerable portion of McClellan's force,had embarked, and was on the way to join Pope. He determined to strike ablow
at once, and marched with his entire force from Gordonsville forBarnett Ford on the Rapidan.

  At daybreak next morning the cavalry crossed the river and attacked androuted a body of Federal cavalry on the road to Culpeper Courthouse. Onthe following day Jackson came up with his infantry to a point abouteight miles from Culpeper, where Pope's army, 32,000 strong, werestationed upon the crest of a hill. General Ewell's division, which wasthe only one then up, at once advanced, and after a severe artilleryfight, gained a point on a hill where his guns could command the enemy'sposition.

  Jackson's division now came up, and as it was moving into positionGeneral Winder was killed by a shell. For some hours Jackson did notattempt to advance, as Hill's division had not come up. Encouraged bythis delay, the enemy at five o'clock in the afternoon took theoffensive and advanced through some cornfields lying between the twoarmies and attacked Ewell's division on the Confederate right; whileshortly afterward they fell with overwhelming strength on Jackson'sleft, and, attacking it in front, flank, and rear, drove it back, andpressed upon it with such force that the day appeared lost.

  At this moment Jackson himself rode down among the confused and waveringtroops, and by his voice and example rallied them. At the same momentthe old Stonewall Brigade came up at a run and poured their fire intothe advancing enemy. Jackson led the troops he had rallied forward. TheStonewall Brigade fell upon the enemy's flank and drove them back withterrible slaughter. Other brigades came up, and there was a generalcharge along the whole Confederate line, and the Federals were drivenback a mile beyond the position they had occupied at the commencement ofthe fight to the shelter of some thick woods; 400 prisoners were takenand over 5000 small-arms.

  The battle was known as Cedar Run, and it completely checked Pope'sadvance upon Richmond. The troops were too much exhausted to follow uptheir victory, but Jackson urged them to press forward. They moved amile and a half in advance, and then found themselves so stronglyopposed that Jackson, believing that the enemy must have receivedre-enforcements, halted his men. Colonel Jones was sent forward toreconnoiter, and discovered that a large force had joined the enemy.

  For two days Jackson remained on the field he had won; his troops hadbeen busy in burying the dead, in collecting the wounded and sendingthem to the rear, and in gathering the arms thrown away by the enemy intheir flight. Being assured that the enemy were now too strong to beattacked by the force under his command, Jackson fell back to OrangeCourthouse. There was now a few days' delay, while masses of troops wereon both sides moving toward the new field of action. McClellan marchedhis troops across the James Peninsula from Harrison's Landing toYorktown, and there the greater portion were embarked in transports andtaken up the Rappahannock to Aquia Creek, landed there, and marched toFredericksburg.

  Lee, instead of attacking McClellan on his march across the peninsula,determined to take his army north at once to join Jackson and attackPope before he was joined by McClellan's army. But Pope, althoughalready largely re-enforced, retired hastily and took up a new positionso strongly fortified that he could not be attacked. General Stuart hadcome up with Lee, and was in command of all the cavalry.

  "We shall see some work now," was the remark round the fires of the 7thVirginia Cavalry. Hitherto, although they had been several times engagedwith the Federals, they had been forced to remain for the most partinactive owing to the vast superiority in force of the enemy's cavalry;but now that Stuart had come up they felt certain that, whatever thedisparity of numbers, there would soon be some dashing work to be done.

  Except when upon actual duty the strict lines of military disciplinewere much relaxed among the cavalry, the troopers being almost all thesons of farmers and planters and of equal social rank with theirofficers, many of whom were their personal friends or relatives. Severalof Vincent's schoolfellows were in the ranks, two or three of them werefellow-officers, and these often gathered together round a camp fire andchatted over old schooldays and mutual friends.

  Many of these had already fallen, for the Virginia regiments ofStonewall Jackson's brigade had been terribly thinned; but the loss ofso many friends and the knowledge that their own turn might come nextdid not suffice to lessen the high spirits of these brave young men. Thehard work, the rough life, the exposure and hardship, had braced andinvigorated them all, and they were attaining a far more vigorousmanhood than they would ever have possessed had they grown up in thesomewhat sluggish and enervating life led by young planters.

  Many of these young men had, until the campaign began, never done halfan hour's hard work in their lives. They had been waited upon by slaves,and their only exercise had been riding. For months now they had almostlived in the saddle, had slept in the open air, and had thoughtthemselves lucky if they could obtain a sufficient meal of the roughestfood to satisfy their hunger once a day. In this respect, however, thecavalry were better off than their comrades of the infantry, forscouting as they did in small parties over a wide extent of country,they were sure of a meal and a hearty welcome whenever they could sparetime to stop for half an hour at the house of a farmer.

  "It's a glorious life, Wingfield! When we chatted over the future atschool we never dreamed of such a life as this, though some of us didtalk of entering the army; but even then an occasional skirmish withIndians was the limit of our ideas."

  "Yes, it is a glorious life!" Vincent agreed. "I cannot imagine anythingmore exciting. Of course, there is the risk of being shot, but somehowone never seems to think of that. There is always something to do and tothink about; from the time one starts on a scout at daybreak to thatwhen one lies down at night one's senses are on the stretch. Besides weare fighting in defense of our country and not merely as a profession,though I don't suppose, after all, that makes much difference when oneis once in for it. As far as I have read, all soldiers enjoycampaigning, and it does not seem to make any difference to them who arethe foe or what they are fighting about. But I should like to feel alittle more sure that we shall win in the long run."

  There was a chorus of indignant protests against there being anypossible doubts as to the issue.

  "Why, we have thrashed them every time we have met them, Wingfield."

  "That is all very well," Vincent said. "Here in Virginia we have heldour own, and more than held it. We have beat back Scott and McClellan,and now we have thrashed Pope; and Stonewall Jackson has won a dozenbattles in West Virginia. But you must remember that in other parts theyare gradually closing in; all the ports not already taken are closelyblockaded. They are pushing all along the lines of the great rivers; andworst of all, they can fill up their vacancies with hired emigrants, andas fast as one army disappears another takes its place. I believe weshall beat them again and again, and shall prove, as we have provedbefore, that one Southerner fighting for home and liberty is more than amatch for two hired soldiers, even with a good large sprinkling ofYankees among them. But in the long run I am not sure that we shall win,for they can go on putting big armies into the field, while some day wemust get used up.

  "Of course it is possible that we may some day capture Washington, andthat the North may get weary of the tremendous drain of money and mencaused by their attempt to conquer us. I hope it may be so, for I shouldlike to think that we should win in the long run. I never feel any doubtabout our winning a battle when we begin. My only fear is that we mayget used up before the North are tired of it."

  "I did not expect to hear you talk so, Wingfield, for you always seem tobe in capital spirits."

  "I am in capital spirits," Vincent replied, "and ready to fight againand again, and always confident we shall lick the Yankees; the fact thatI have a doubt whether in the long run we shall outlast them does notinterfere in the slightest degree with my comfort at present. I am verysorry though that this fellow Pope is carrying on the war so brutally,instead of in the manner in which General McClellan and the othercommanders have waged it. His proclamation that the army must subsistupon the country it passes through gives a direct invitation to thesoldiers to
pillage, and his order that all farmers who refuse to takethe oath to the Union are to be driven from their homes and sent downSouth means ruin to all the peaceful inhabitants, for there is scarcelya man in this part of Virginia who is not heartily with us."

  "I hear," one of the other officers said, "that a prisoner who wascaptured this morning says that Pope already sees that he has made amistake, and that he yesterday issued a fresh order saying that theproclamation was not meant to authorize pillage. He finds that theinhabitants who before, whatever their private sentiments were,maintained a sort of neutrality, are now hostile, that they drive offtheir cattle into the woods, and even set fire to their stacks, toprevent anything from being carried off by the Yanks; and his troopsfind the roads broken up and bridges destroyed and all sorts ofdifficulties thrown in their way."

  "It does not always pay--even in war--to be brutal. I am glad to see hehas found out his mistake so soon," another officer said. "McClellanwaged war like a gentleman; and if blackguards are to be allowed tocarry fire and sword through the land they will soon find it is a gamethat two can play at, and matters will become horribly embittered."

  "We shall never do that," Vincent said. "Our generals are all gentlemen,and Lee and Jackson and many others are true Christians as well as truesoldiers, and I am sure they will never countenance that on our side,whatever the Northerners may do. We are ready to fight the hordes ofYankees and their hired soldiers as often as they advance against us,but I am sure that none of us would fire a homestead or ill-treatdefenseless men and women. It is a scandal that such brutalities arecommitted by the ruffians who call themselves Southerners. Theguerrillas in Missouri and Tennessee are equally bad, whether on ourside or the other, and if I were the President I would send down acouple of regiments, and hunt down the fellows who bring dishonor on ourcause. If the South cannot free herself without the aid of ruffians ofthis kind, she had better lay down her arms at once."

  "Bravo, Wingfield! Spoken like a knight of chivalry!" one of the otherslaughed. "But many of these bands have done good, nevertheless. Theyhave kept the enemy busy there, and occupied the attention of a verylarge force who might otherwise have been in the woods yonder with Pope.I agree with you, it would be better if the whole thing were fought outwith large armies, but there is a good deal to be said for these bandsyou are so severe upon. They are composed of men who have been madedesperate by seeing their farms harried and their buildings burned bythe enemy. They have been denounced as traitors by their neighbors onthe other side, and if they retaliate I don't know that they are to bealtogether blamed. I know that if my place at home were burned down, andmy people insulted and ill-treated, I should be inclined to set off toavenge it."

  "So would I," Vincent agreed, "but it should be upon those who did thewrong, not upon innocent people."

  "That is all very well, but if the other side destroy your people'sfarms, it is only by showing them that two can play at the game that youcan make them observe the laws of war. I grant it would be very muchbetter that no such thing should take place; but if the Northernersbegin this sort of work they may be sure that there will be retaliation.Anyhow, I am glad that I am an officer in the 7th Virginia and not aguerrilla leader in Missouri. Well, all this talking is dry work. Has noone got a full canteen?"

  "I have," Vincent said. "Dan managed to buy a gallon of rum at afarmhouse yesterday. I think the farmer was afraid that the enemy mightbe paying him a visit before many days, and thought it best to get ridof his spirits. Anyhow, Dan got the keg at ordinary city prices, as wellas that pair of fine turkeys he is just bringing along for our supper.So you had better each get your ration bread and fall to."

  There was a cheer as Dan placed the turkeys down in the center of thegroup, and soon the whole party, using their bread as plates, fell toupon them, and afterward joined in many a merry song, while Dan handedround the jar of spirits.