HARPER'S WEEKLY.
[JULY 25, 1863.
478
THE TAKING OF VICKSBURG.
WE publish on page 465 a new portrait of Major-General Grant, the hero of Vicksburg. Most of the portraits in existence represent him as he was at the commencement of the war, with a flowing beard. He has since trimmed this hirsute appendage, and now looks as he is shown in our picture. For a life of the General we refer to page 365, No. 336, of Harper's Weekly. He has just been appointed by the President Major-General in the regular army.
On page 468 we reproduce a sketch by our special artist, Mr. Theodore R. Davis, showing the rebel works at Vicksburg from our extreme right, with the Mississippi above and below Vicksburg.
Mr. Davis writes:
THE VIEW FROM THE RIFLE-PITS AT THE EXTREME RIGHT.
"HEAD-QUARTERS OF MAJOR-GENERAL McPHERSON,
June 22, 1863.
"The scene at this point embraces so much that the public is familiar with, that has been mapped, sketched, and written of, that the present sketch must be of interest to many. It shows the very commanding position passed so often by our fleets, the lower batteries that sunk the boat of the gallant Bache—the Cincinnati—Young's Point, etc. Below is Warrenton, and faint in the distance the canal. Even the 'Bohemians' have an interest in the sketch, for is not the work upon which the rebel flag waves the very battery that disturbed their quietude the last summer, and more lately sank the little tug which sent upon an involuntary journey through 'Dixie' Colburn, Brown, and Richardson? The soldiers in the trench give a view of trench life: while some smoke, read, or chat, gun in hand, others are on the qui vive for a good chance, which means, in soldier parlance, an opportunity to end the chapters of some rebel's book of life."
On page 469 we give a view of Vicksburg as it was before the war; and three pictures from sketches by Mr. Davis, showing the operation of mining a hostile work. Mr. Davis thus describes them:
MINING THE REBEL WORK FORT HILL.
"HEAD-QUARTERS OF MAJOR-GENERAL MCPHERSON,
June 26, 1863.
"At this moment we have effected a lodgment in the work known as Fort Hill. This has been done by blowing up a portion of the work, when it was speedily converted into a bastion work for two guns.
"I have sketched the effect of a hand grenade in the trench, showing, at the same time, the entrance of the gallery leading to the mines.
"I have also sketched the miners busily at work far under the rebel wall. The different mines (four in number) were exploded at the same moment. The dust and smoke had not cleared away when a portion of General Logan's division dashed into the saps and trenches, from which they had been withdrawn prior to the explosion. From the advance trench they swarmed into the cavity made by the blast. Here were soon busily engaged the engineer corps, under Chief Engineer Captain Hickenlooper, who, with magnificent coolness, held his post under a severe fire. The lodgment was soon complete, and the position ours."
By way of completing the history, we append the following particulars of the surrender. A dispatch dated Head-quarters General Grant, near Vicksburg, July 3, 8 P.M., said:
At eight this morning flags of truce appeared before A. J. Smith's front, when Major-General Bowen and Colonel Montgomery were led blindfolded into our lines. They bore a communication from General Pemberton of the following purport:
"Although I feel confident of my ability to resist your arms indefinitely, in order to stop the further effusion of blood, I propose that you appoint three Commissioners, to meet three whom I shall select, to arrange such terms as may best accomplish the result."
Grant soon replied substantially in these words:
"The appointment of Commissioners is unnecessary. While I should be glad to stop any unnecessary effusion of blood, the only terms which I can entertain are those of unconditional surrender. At the same time, myself, and men, and officers of this army, are ready to testify to the distinguished gallantry with which the defense of Vicksburg has been conducted."
At eleven o'clock the messengers returned. This afternoon General Grant met General Pemberton between the lines, and after an hour's consultation settled the surrender. General Pemberton urged that the soldiers might be paroled here and furnished rations to carry them to their lines; in view of the bravery they have displayed, and the advantages of the plan, General Grant consented.
The correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial gives the following account of the interview between Generals Grant and Pemberton:
General Pemberton then solicited a personal interview, which was granted by Grant at 3 P.M. The latter, with his staff, appeared on the hills where our advance works were. Here the party halted, until General Pemberton appeared, accompanied by General Bowen and Colonel Montgomery. On the crest of the opposite hills were rifle-pits and forts, crowded with men. In the space in a grove of fruit trees of figs and peaches met the contending heroes. Thousands of soldiers looked upon this strange scene. Two
men who had been lieutenants in the same regiment in Mexico now met as foes, with all the world looking upon them. The one his country's glory, the other his country's shame.
When they had approached within a few feet there was a halt and silence.
Colonel Montgomery spoke—"General Grant, General Pemberton." They shook hands politely. It was evident Pemberton was mortified. He said: "I was at Monterey and Buena Vista. We had terms and conditions there."
General Grant then took him aside. They sat down on the grass and talked more than an hour. Grant smoked all the time. Pemberton played with the grass and pulled leaves. Grant finally agreed to parole them, allowing the officers each his horse.
It was a polite thing. The dread of going North, and the fear of harsh treatment, had deterred them from capitulating sooner. He proved his magnanimity, and saved thousands upon thousands of dollars in the way of transportation and rations. They feared the Fourth of July. Our men would call out at night that the Fourth would finish them, and it was so arranged. By this we have saved thousands of lives. Both armies are gratified with the result. Our men treat them with kindness, giving them coffee, which some of them have not tasted for a year.
A correspondent of the Missouri Democrat says:
At ten o'clock A.M. of the 4th, General Steele's division marched into and garrisoned the city. The bands played the national airs of the contending forces. The scene was witnessed by thousands of Federal and rebel soldiers, who for the first time in weeks showed themselves with impunity above the rifle-pits; and during all these weeks they had been within five yards of each other.
General Grant came slowly to the place of rendezvous, smoking a cigar, and apparently the only unexcited person in the vast assemblage.
The Herald correspondent telegraphs by way of Cairo:
General McPherson received the formal surrender. The terms allow the officers and men to be paroled here, the former to retain their side-arms and horses and personal property. They will be escorted beyond our lines and furnished with three days provisions from our stores.
General Logan's division marched into the city at eleven o'clock, and at noon Lieutenant-Colonel Strong hoisted the Stars and Stripes over the Court-house.
Colonel Wilson is Provost-Marshal of the city, and General Logan is commander of the post.
We have taken over 27,000 prisoners, besides about 4000 non-combatants, 102 field-pieces, thirty siege-guns, 50,000 stand of arms, ammunition, locomotives, cars, a few stores, and fifty-seven stand of colors.
Among the prisoners are Lieutenant-General Pemberton, Major-Generals S. Stevenson, Smith, Forney, and Bowen; fourteen Brigadier-Generals and about one hundred and thirty Colonels.
There are 5600 men in the hospital, half of whom are wounded. Only one hundred and fifty of the garrison are reported fit for duty. The stock of provisions was almost exhausted, and for days numbers had been eating mule-flesh. Of ammunition for heavy guns they had a fair supply, but for field-guns and musketry they were short. Eight caps to a man were allowed. They had an excess of sugar, molasses, and rice, and these were all the supplies they had, except a little unground corn.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Day 7 The Turning Point
JULY 25, 1863.
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
ON pages 472 and 473 we publish two fine illustrations of the BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG from drawings by our special artist, Mr. A. R. Waud. The best description of the battle which we have seen is the following from the Philadelphia Age, and we do not think our readers will be sorry to have it in full, long as it is:
On Wednesday morning, July 1, General Reynolds, with twenty-five thousand men, the advance of the Federal Army, approached Gettysburg from the southeast and began the great battle. The field upon which it was fought was a peculiar one. The South Mountain, a long ridge several miles west of Gettysburg, is the great landmark, and the most prominent spot near the town is the hill upon which stood the unfortunate but famous cemetery. Gettysburg is situated in a valley. Two ridges, a mile apart, parallel to each other, are on each side of the valley. It and the ridges are all curves, the concavity being toward the east. It was upon these ridges that the battle was fought, the combatants advancing and retreating through the town, and across the valley above and below it. There is but one stream of water on the field—a narrow, swampy one, a mile south of Gettysburg, which runs zigzag down the valley toward the Monocacy. The lines of battle formed by the two armies were upon these ridges, and resembled two horseshoes, one inside of the other.
The best view of the field is had from the top of the Cemetery Hill. It is a short distance south of the town. In front there is a rather steep declivity to the valley, then a gentle ascent covered with low, scrubby timber and pieces of rock, to the Seminary Hill, a mile distant. Here was the Confederate line. As the gazer stood amidst the broken tombstones he could see the entire field. The valley, the debatable ground, stretched around from right to left, almost a semicircle. He could look over the tree-tops and little patches of wood, and passing his eye up the hill on the other side, could see the seminary toward the northwest. Further to the right is the Gettysburg College, also on the Seminary Hill.
Beginning at the left hand, the Confederate line rested on the little stream, then ascended the hill and ran along at stone fence, which had been made into a rifle-pit. As it approached Gettysburg it curved around, crossing the Chambersburg and Emmettsburg road and the road to Carlisle, and passed the seminary and college, between which it crossed a serpentine railway leading to the town, called the "Tape-worm." The ridge continued the entire length, its front, except in a few cleared spots, being covered with timber. The line must have extended at least eight miles.
The ridge occupied by the Federal troops was half inclosed by the other. It was an inner circle, and was made up of much higher and bolder hills than the outer one. The Federal left rested also on the little stream, and ran along a rocky ravine, then ascended the Cemetery hill, and so on in a semicircle over one round-topped wooded hill after another until it was lost on the right in the mazes of a thick forest. Meade's line was about five miles in length, and in the battle, besides the higher ground, he had all the advantages of interior lines, and also was in it friendly country. His head-quarters were on a wooded knoll a mile east of the cemetery.
Away off behind the Confederate line, and curving around in a larger circle still, was the South Mountain.
In all the contests, excepting the opening one, the enemy attacked. On Wednesday morning General Reynolds, with the Federal advance, approached the town from the southeast, the enemy evacuating it on his arrival. He passed through and out on the west side toward Chambersburg. He marched several miles, was met by the enemy in stronger force, and after a slight contest was compelled to retire. The enemy pushed him very hard, and he came into the town on a run, his troops going along every available road, and rushing out on the east side, closely followed by the enemy. One of his brigades came along the "Tape-worm" with a Confederate brigade on each side of it. All three were abreast, running as hard as they could—the two outside ones pouring a heavy fire into the centre, out of which men dropped, killed or wounded, at almost every footstep. This Federal brigade, in running that terrible gauntlet, lost half of its men. General Reynolds was killed, and Gettysburg was lost; but the Federal troops succeeded in mounting the Cemetery Hill, and the enemy ceased pursuing. At night the enemy encamped in the town, and the Federal troops on the hill.
During Wednesday night and Thursday morning the two armies were concentrating on the two ridges, which were to be the next day's line of battle, and by noon on
Thursday each general had a force of 80,000 men at his disposal. Then began the great artillery contest, the infantry on both sides crouching behind fences and trees and in rifle-pits. The Federal soldiers in the cemetery laid many of the tombstones on the ground to prevent injury, so that many escaped. There was but little infantry fighting on Thursday, and neither party made much impression upon the other. The Confederates in the other town erected barricades, and had their sharp-shooters posted in every available spot, picking off Federal soldiers on the hills to the north of the cemetery. The cannonade was fierce and incessant, and shells from both sides flew over and into the devoted town. Beyond killing and wounding, breaking trees and shattering houses, and making an awful noise, however, this cannonade had but little effect on the result of the battle. Both sides fought with great ferocity, and neither could drive the other out of position.
On Thursday night, fearing that the enemy had flank parties which might turn his rear, General Meade had serious intentions of retreating, and he called a council of war. The advice of some of his generals, however, and the capture of the courier with dispatches from Richmond, from which it was learned that the enemy could receive no reinforcements, made him decide to remain.
On Friday morning General Lee did not desire to make the attack. He saw the superiority of the Federal position, and wished to entice them out of it, and down into the valley. With this design he withdrew all of his sharpshooters and infantry from Gettysburg. The deserted town lay there a very tempting bait, but General Meade's men hid quietly behind the fences and trees, and banks upon the hills. They could look down into the streets and see every thing which was in progress. They saw the enemy march out and retire to the seminary, but made no advance, and the Confederates gained nothing by the movement. A parting salute of musketry, however, from a knoll north of the cemetery, accelerated the Confederate retreat. For some time the town had scarcely a soldier in it. Scores of dead and wounded men and horses, with broken wagons, bricks, stones, timber, torn clothing, and abandoned accoutrements, lay there. The frightened inhabitants peered out of their windows to see what the armies were doing to cause such a lull, and, almost afraid of their own shadows, they hastened away and crouched in corners and cellars at the sound of every shot or shell.
General Lee's evacuation had no effect. Meade was neither to be enticed into the town nor into the valley. Enough dead bodies lay in the fields and streets to give him warning of what happened to poor Reynolds two days before, and he wisely determined to stay where he was and let events shape themselves. The enemy soon became impatient. They could wait no longer; and after much solicitation from his subordinates, General Lee permitted General Longstreet to send his grand division on a charge upon the cemetery. The Federal soldiers were on the alert. They were hid behind their embankments, some kneeling, and some flat on the ground. The Confederate artillery opened. It was as fierce a cannonade as the one the day before, but instead of being spread all over the line, every shell was thrown at the cemetery. Experienced soldiers soon divined what was coming, and in every portion of the Federal line the cannon were directed toward the valley in front of the cemetery. All were ready. Amidst the furious fire from the Confederate cannon scarcely a Federal shot was heard. The artillerists, implements in hand, crouched in the little ditches dug behind their cannon. With arms loaded, the infantry awaited the charge.
It soon came. From the woods of short, scrubby timber and the rocks near the seminary there rose a yell. It was a long, loud, unremitting, hideous screech from thousands of voices. At the yell the Federal cannon opened. Soon the enemy's columns emerged from the woods. They came on a rush down the hill, waving their arms and still screeching. They climbed the fences and rushed along, each one bent upon getting first into the cemetery. The cannon roared, and grape and canister and spherical case fell thick among them. Still they rushed onward, hundreds falling out of the line. They came within musket-shot of the Federal troops. Then the small-arms began to rattle. The Confederates approached the outer line of works. They were laboring up the hill. As they mounted the low bank in front of the rifle-pits, the Federal soldiers retreated out of the ditch behind, turning and firing as they went along. It was a hand-to-hand conflict. Every man fought by himself and for himself. Myriads of the enemy pushed forward down the hill, across into the works, and up to the cemetery. All were shouting, and screaming, and swearing, clashing their arms and firing their pieces. The enemy's shells flew over the field upon the Federal artillerists on the hills above. These, almost disregarding the storm which raged around them, directed all their fire upon the surging columns of the enemy's charge. Every available cannon on the Cemetery Hill, and to the right and left, threw its shells and shot in the valley. The fight was terrible; but despite every effort the enemy pushed up the hill and across the second line of works. The fire became hotter. The fight swayed back and forth. One moment the enemy would be at the railings of the cemetery; then a rush from the Federal side would drive them down into the valley. Then, with one of their horrid screeches, they would fiercely run up the hill again into the cemetery, and have a tierce battle among the tombstones. It was the hardest fight of the day, and hundreds were slain there. Reckless daring, however, will not always succeed. Several attempts were made to take the place, but they were not successful; and late in the afternoon, leaving dead and wounded behind them, the enemy's forces slowly retreated upon their own hill and into their woods again.
They were not routed. They can scarcely be said to have been driven. They have made an attack and been repulsed, and after renewed attempts, feeling that it was useless to try any more, they retreated. It was now General Meade's turn to make an attack. Though they had lost heavily, his soldiers felt elated. They saw hopes of a victory, and were ready to to almost any thing to secure it. Although there had been a battle in the valley below Gettysburg, yet the town was as quiet and as much deserted as ever. Shells flew over it, and now and then one of its houses would have a wall cracked or a roof broken, but neither force possessed it. General Meade turned his attention there.
The day was waning and the battle had lulled, and he determined, if possible, to drive the enmity out of the seminary. His troops were placed in order, and charged down the hill and into the town. They ran along every street, chasing a few of the enemy, still hid there, before them. They came out upon the west side, along the "Tape-worm," and the Emmettsburg and Chambersburg roads, and ascended the enemy's hills amidst a storm of grape and shell. At the seminary the Confederates were not very strong. They had weakened that portion of the line to make their attack further to the south upon the cemetery. They had but few cannon; and though they resisted some time, they finally retreated from the edge of the hill and abandoned the seminary.
The Federal troops did not chase them. The land back of the seminary was rather flat and cut up into grain fields, with here and there a patch of woods. The rifle-pits on t he brow of the hill proved an effectual aid to the Federal soldiers in maintaining their ground; and as they lay behind the bank, with the ditch in front, they could pick off the stragglers from the retreating enemy. There was but little serious fighting after that, and night put an end to Friday's struggle, the Confederates having retired about a mile on the north, near the seminary, and half a mile on the south, at a little stream.
During the night the dead in the streets of Gettysburg were buried, and the wounded on all parts of the field were collected and carried to the rear. On the next morning General Meade expected another attack; but, instead of making it, the enemy retreated further, abandoning their entire line of battle, and the pickets reported that they were intrenching at the foot of South Mountain. The Federal army was terribly crippled and sadly in want of rest, and no advance was made, although pickets were thrown out across the enemy's old line of battle, and toward the place where they were building intrenchments. All the day was spent in feeding and resting the men. Gettysburg was turned into a vast hospital, and impromptu ones were made at a dozen places on the field. The rain came, too, and with it cool air and refreshment both from wind and rain. No one could tell what the enemy were doing; every picket reported that they were intrenching, and the night of the 4th of July closed upon the field with it in the Federal possession.
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
THE BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG.
ON pages 472 and 473 we publish two fine illustrations of the BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG from drawings by our special artist, Mr. A. R. Waud. The best description of the battle which we have seen is the following from the Philadelphia Age, and we do not think our readers will be sorry to have it in full, long as it is:
On Wednesday morning, July 1, General Reynolds, with twenty-five thousand men, the advance of the Federal Army, approached Gettysburg from the southeast and began the great battle. The field upon which it was fought was a peculiar one. The South Mountain, a long ridge several miles west of Gettysburg, is the great landmark, and the most prominent spot near the town is the hill upon which stood the unfortunate but famous cemetery. Gettysburg is situated in a valley. Two ridges, a mile apart, parallel to each other, are on each side of the valley. It and the ridges are all curves, the concavity being toward the east. It was upon these ridges that the battle was fought, the combatants advancing and retreating through the town, and across the valley above and below it. There is but one stream of water on the field—a narrow, swampy one, a mile south of Gettysburg, which runs zigzag down the valley toward the Monocacy. The lines of battle formed by the two armies were upon these ridges, and resembled two horseshoes, one inside of the other.
The best view of the field is had from the top of the Cemetery Hill. It is a short distance south of the town. In front there is a rather steep declivity to the valley, then a gentle ascent covered with low, scrubby timber and pieces of rock, to the Seminary Hill, a mile distant. Here was the Confederate line. As the gazer stood amidst the broken tombstones he could see the entire field. The valley, the debatable ground, stretched around from right to left, almost a semicircle. He could look over the tree-tops and little patches of wood, and passing his eye up the hill on the other side, could see the seminary toward the northwest. Further to the right is the Gettysburg College, also on the Seminary Hill.
Beginning at the left hand, the Confederate line rested on the little stream, then ascended the hill and ran along at stone fence, which had been made into a rifle-pit. As it approached Gettysburg it curved around, crossing the Chambersburg and Emmettsburg road and the road to Carlisle, and passed the seminary and college, between which it crossed a serpentine railway leading to the town, called the "Tape-worm." The ridge continued the entire length, its front, except in a few cleared spots, being covered with timber. The line must have extended at least eight miles.
The ridge occupied by the Federal troops was half inclosed by the other. It was an inner circle, and was made up of much higher and bolder hills than the outer one. The Federal left rested also on the little stream, and ran along a rocky ravine, then ascended the Cemetery hill, and so on in a semicircle over one round-topped wooded hill after another until it was lost on the right in the mazes of a thick forest. Meade's line was about five miles in length, and in the battle, besides the higher ground, he had all the advantages of interior lines, and also was in it friendly country. His head-quarters were on a wooded knoll a mile east of the cemetery.
Away off behind the Confederate line, and curving around in a larger circle still, was the South Mountain.
In all the contests, excepting the opening one, the enemy attacked. On Wednesday morning General Reynolds, with the Federal advance, approached the town from the southeast, the enemy evacuating it on his arrival. He passed through and out on the west side toward Chambersburg. He marched several miles, was met by the enemy in stronger force, and after a slight contest was compelled to retire. The enemy pushed him very hard, and he came into the town on a run, his troops going along every available road, and rushing out on the east side, closely followed by the enemy. One of his brigades came along the "Tape-worm" with a Confederate brigade on each side of it. All three were abreast, running as hard as they could—the two outside ones pouring a heavy fire into the centre, out of which men dropped, killed or wounded, at almost every footstep. This Federal brigade, in running that terrible gauntlet, lost half of its men. General Reynolds was killed, and Gettysburg was lost; but the Federal troops succeeded in mounting the Cemetery Hill, and the enemy ceased pursuing. At night the enemy encamped in the town, and the Federal troops on the hill.
During Wednesday night and Thursday morning the two armies were concentrating on the two ridges, which were to be the next day's line of battle, and by noon on
Thursday each general had a force of 80,000 men at his disposal. Then began the great artillery contest, the infantry on both sides crouching behind fences and trees and in rifle-pits. The Federal soldiers in the cemetery laid many of the tombstones on the ground to prevent injury, so that many escaped. There was but little infantry fighting on Thursday, and neither party made much impression upon the other. The Confederates in the other town erected barricades, and had their sharp-shooters posted in every available spot, picking off Federal soldiers on the hills to the north of the cemetery. The cannonade was fierce and incessant, and shells from both sides flew over and into the devoted town. Beyond killing and wounding, breaking trees and shattering houses, and making an awful noise, however, this cannonade had but little effect on the result of the battle. Both sides fought with great ferocity, and neither could drive the other out of position.
On Thursday night, fearing that the enemy had flank parties which might turn his rear, General Meade had serious intentions of retreating, and he called a council of war. The advice of some of his generals, however, and the capture of the courier with dispatches from Richmond, from which it was learned that the enemy could receive no reinforcements, made him decide to remain.
On Friday morning General Lee did not desire to make the attack. He saw the superiority of the Federal position, and wished to entice them out of it, and down into the valley. With this design he withdrew all of his sharpshooters and infantry from Gettysburg. The deserted town lay there a very tempting bait, but General Meade's men hid quietly behind the fences and trees, and banks upon the hills. They could look down into the streets and see every thing which was in progress. They saw the enemy march out and retire to the seminary, but made no advance, and the Confederates gained nothing by the movement. A parting salute of musketry, however, from a knoll north of the cemetery, accelerated the Confederate retreat. For some time the town had scarcely a soldier in it. Scores of dead and wounded men and horses, with broken wagons, bricks, stones, timber, torn clothing, and abandoned accoutrements, lay there. The frightened inhabitants peered out of their windows to see what the armies were doing to cause such a lull, and, almost afraid of their own shadows, they hastened away and crouched in corners and cellars at the sound of every shot or shell.
General Lee's evacuation had no effect. Meade was neither to be enticed into the town nor into the valley. Enough dead bodies lay in the fields and streets to give him warning of what happened to poor Reynolds two days before, and he wisely determined to stay where he was and let events shape themselves. The enemy soon became impatient. They could wait no longer; and after much solicitation from his subordinates, General Lee permitted General Longstreet to send his grand division on a charge upon the cemetery. The Federal soldiers were on the alert. They were hid behind their embankments, some kneeling, and some flat on the ground. The Confederate artillery opened. It was as fierce a cannonade as the one the day before, but instead of being spread all over the line, every shell was thrown at the cemetery. Experienced soldiers soon divined what was coming, and in every portion of the Federal line the cannon were directed toward the valley in front of the cemetery. All were ready. Amidst the furious fire from the Confederate cannon scarcely a Federal shot was heard. The artillerists, implements in hand, crouched in the little ditches dug behind their cannon. With arms loaded, the infantry awaited the charge.
It soon came. From the woods of short, scrubby timber and the rocks near the seminary there rose a yell. It was a long, loud, unremitting, hideous screech from thousands of voices. At the yell the Federal cannon opened. Soon the enemy's columns emerged from the woods. They came on a rush down the hill, waving their arms and still screeching. They climbed the fences and rushed along, each one bent upon getting first into the cemetery. The cannon roared, and grape and canister and spherical case fell thick among them. Still they rushed onward, hundreds falling out of the line. They came within musket-shot of the Federal troops. Then the small-arms began to rattle. The Confederates approached the outer line of works. They were laboring up the hill. As they mounted the low bank in front of the rifle-pits, the Federal soldiers retreated out of the ditch behind, turning and firing as they went along. It was a hand-to-hand conflict. Every man fought by himself and for himself. Myriads of the enemy pushed forward down the hill, across into the works, and up to the cemetery. All were shouting, and screaming, and swearing, clashing their arms and firing their pieces. The enemy's shells flew over the field upon the Federal artillerists on the hills above. These, almost disregarding the storm which raged around them, directed all their fire upon the surging columns of the enemy's charge. Every available cannon on the Cemetery Hill, and to the right and left, threw its shells and shot in the valley. The fight was terrible; but despite every effort the enemy pushed up the hill and across the second line of works. The fire became hotter. The fight swayed back and forth. One moment the enemy would be at the railings of the cemetery; then a rush from the Federal side would drive them down into the valley. Then, with one of their horrid screeches, they would fiercely run up the hill again into the cemetery, and have a tierce battle among the tombstones. It was the hardest fight of the day, and hundreds were slain there. Reckless daring, however, will not always succeed. Several attempts were made to take the place, but they were not successful; and late in the afternoon, leaving dead and wounded behind them, the enemy's forces slowly retreated upon their own hill and into their woods again.
They were not routed. They can scarcely be said to have been driven. They have made an attack and been repulsed, and after renewed attempts, feeling that it was useless to try any more, they retreated. It was now General Meade's turn to make an attack. Though they had lost heavily, his soldiers felt elated. They saw hopes of a victory, and were ready to to almost any thing to secure it. Although there had been a battle in the valley below Gettysburg, yet the town was as quiet and as much deserted as ever. Shells flew over it, and now and then one of its houses would have a wall cracked or a roof broken, but neither force possessed it. General Meade turned his attention there.
The day was waning and the battle had lulled, and he determined, if possible, to drive the enmity out of the seminary. His troops were placed in order, and charged down the hill and into the town. They ran along every street, chasing a few of the enemy, still hid there, before them. They came out upon the west side, along the "Tape-worm," and the Emmettsburg and Chambersburg roads, and ascended the enemy's hills amidst a storm of grape and shell. At the seminary the Confederates were not very strong. They had weakened that portion of the line to make their attack further to the south upon the cemetery. They had but few cannon; and though they resisted some time, they finally retreated from the edge of the hill and abandoned the seminary.
The Federal troops did not chase them. The land back of the seminary was rather flat and cut up into grain fields, with here and there a patch of woods. The rifle-pits on t he brow of the hill proved an effectual aid to the Federal soldiers in maintaining their ground; and as they lay behind the bank, with the ditch in front, they could pick off the stragglers from the retreating enemy. There was but little serious fighting after that, and night put an end to Friday's struggle, the Confederates having retired about a mile on the north, near the seminary, and half a mile on the south, at a little stream.
During the night the dead in the streets of Gettysburg were buried, and the wounded on all parts of the field were collected and carried to the rear. On the next morning General Meade expected another attack; but, instead of making it, the enemy retreated further, abandoning their entire line of battle, and the pickets reported that they were intrenching at the foot of South Mountain. The Federal army was terribly crippled and sadly in want of rest, and no advance was made, although pickets were thrown out across the enemy's old line of battle, and toward the place where they were building intrenchments. All the day was spent in feeding and resting the men. Gettysburg was turned into a vast hospital, and impromptu ones were made at a dozen places on the field. The rain came, too, and with it cool air and refreshment both from wind and rain. No one could tell what the enemy were doing; every picket reported that they were intrenching, and the night of the 4th of July closed upon the field with it in the Federal possession.
Monday, January 26, 2009
Day 6
MAY 23, 1863.]
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
FIGHT AT CHANCELLORSVILLE,
About two o'clock on Friday afternoon the enemy were discovered advancing in force down both the old turnpike and the plank road, thus approaching our position nearly from the east. Although these two roads enter Chancellorsville at right angles—one from the east direct, and the other from the south—they join and make a single road near Tabernacle Church. When the discovery was made of the approach of the enemy, General Hooker immediately returned to his head-quarters at Chancellorsville and made his dispositions to meet them. It was yet uncertain whether the attack would come from the east or south, and it was therefore necessary to be in readiness at both points. With this purpose the Fifth Corps, Major-General Meade, was formed on the front facing the east, Sykes's division of regulars occupying a line north of the old turnpike road, and the other two divisions taking the line of the Banks Ford road, on the left of Sykes. The Second Corps, Major-General Couch, was held in reserve to support the right wing of this line, and the Second Division, Major-General Berry, of the Third Corps, Major-General Sickles, to support the left.
On our south front two corps—the Eleventh, Major-General Howard, and the Twelfth, Major-General Slocum —were deployed, the latter in double line of battle, with its left resting on the plank road, and the former on the right of the Twelfth. The two remaining divisions of Sickles's corps—the First, Brigadier-General Birney, and the Third, Brigadier-General Whipple—were ordered up as supports for this line.
Sykes's division was formed in the open field, directly on the slope southeast of and scarcely a quarter of a mile distant from General Hooker's head-quarters. Immediately behind them, on the extreme elevation of the plain, three batteries of field artillery were planted. General Sykes's skirmishers advanced down the field and into the woods, where they waited the approach of the enemy. Soon the brisk cracking of rifles and muskets announced the rebel proximity, and our skirmishers, in compliance with orders, gradually fell back upon the main line of battle. This manoeuvre drew the enemy outside of the woods, from which they emerged close after our retreating skirmishers, yelling and shouting like a tribe of wild Indians. The sight was both exciting and amusing at first, and all movement on our part was momentarily suspended, while our brave men gratified their curiosity in scrutinizing their gray-backed adversaries. But the charge of the rebels was not a trifling matter, and as column upon column of them, and line after line came dashing out of the woods, it seemed as though that one little division stationed there
to check them would be swallowed up. It was one of those skillful manoeuvres for which General Lee is particularly distinguished—the hurling of an immense body upon a small force of his antagonist. The rebel force, as it charged out of the woods, was certainly three times as large as that of General Sykes; yet the latter showed no disposition to quail; but, after giving a moment's glance to satisfy their curiosity, every soldier brought his musket to his shoulder, and five thousand bullets were sent into the rebel line. Such steadiness appalled them. They were unprepared for it. Their front rank quailed before it. The sudden thinning of their numbers amazed and frightened them. They discharged their pieces recklessly and broke in confusion. But there was no flight for them. The heavy bodies behind them, to whom the front rank had been a bulwark, protecting them from the murderous volley of the Union Regulars, were steady and determined. They absorbed the front rank in the second, and still moved forward —firm, unshaken, confident. Meantime our men had reloaded their pieces, and simultaneously a volley was fired from both sides, and then from the brow above our artillery opened with canister and grape, throwing over the heads of our own men and dealing destruction and confusion to the enemy. And as the loud cannon continued its work with fearful rapidity the order was given to our men to "fire at will"—an order that was copied by the enemy—and the continuous roar of musketry that followed almost deadened the reports of the artillery. It was the first fight of the great battle, and for nearly twenty minutes both parties stood firm, as though nothing should lead them to give the prestige of a first success to the other. But, although outnumbered, we had an advantage in the support of artillery, which, while our infantry held the rebels in check, made huge gaps in their ranks. Still they yelled and shouted defiance, and attempted charges and continued their firing, rank after rank of them being broken and thrown back in confusion, while their officers shouted, and ordered and stormed, and cursed, in the vain effort to rally them to a persistent, determined charge. They fought well. They fought as none but Americans dare fight. But with musketry alone they could not contend against both artillery and musketry. It was simply murder on the part of their officers to attempt to hold them to it, and their officers began to appreciate the fact when nearly half their column had been placed hors de combat; and then the order was given to retire.
And then came our turn to shout. The rebels were retreating. Our force was sadly thinned and broken; but there were enough left to send up a shout after the retreating rebels that made the woods ring with the echo. Even the wounded joined in the glad cheer, many of them staggering into an upright position and throwing up their hats in their excess of gladness at the victory. The charge had been right gallantly met, and the host of the enemy finely repulsed. It was the first achievement of the great struggle—an augury of success in the end. Our men had stood like veterans, and they had a right to cheer.
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE BATTLE ON SATURDAY, 2D, also from a sketch by Mr. Wand, is illustrated on the same pages. Of this we take the following description from the Times correspondence:
In the morning, as we stood on the balcony of Chancellor's house, the attention was aroused by a sharp rattle of musketry coming from a column of rebels coming up by the main Fredericksburg plank road, directly in front of us. Knapp's Battery, however, which was planted directly in front of the position, opened upon them, and after a few rounds caused them to retire.
Immediately afterward a battery opened from the height which I have mentioned as having been gained by Sykes yesterday, and then abandoned by us. The position was rather upward of a mile distant from the cleared space, and its object was to damage our ammunition train which was visible to the rebels from the tops of trees on the height. One of our batteries was, however, immediately opened in reply. The third shot blew up one of the caissons and a subsequent shot blew up another, and this settled their account.
Subsequently a reconnoissance was sent, on our part, consisting of the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers (Carr's brigade, Berry's division, Sickles's corps), on the same road by which the rebels had approached in the morning, for the purpose of feeling their strength. They went out on the plank road, deployed on both sides in the form of a letter V, chased the rebel skirmishers a couple of miles, till they came to a heavy double line of battle, with artillery in position, when they retired, bringing us that piece of intelligence.
Another reconnoissance was next sent out on our right, consisting of Berdan's sharp-shooters. They met the enemy's pickets, drove them handsomely, and at 4 o'clock returned with fifty prisoners of the Twenty-third Georgia.
At 4 the rebels are moving down in force on the plank road, where we had a little before made the reconnoissance. Geary's division of Slocum's corps is sent in on the double-quick into the woods—their bayonets flashing in the sunlight. A sharp contest ensues, and in a few minutes they come back in disorder. A portion of Kane's brigade, composed of raw troops, had broken and thrown the column into confusion.
An aid from Slocum comes to ask General Hooker if he can have reinforcements. "No! he must hold his own. Howard will, of course, support him from the right. Let Geary's division, however, be thrown to the right of the road, so that the artillery may be able to sweep the enemy on the left." This treatment presently repaired the damage, and checked the hope of the rebels being able to pierce our centre.
Finally, on page 325 we illustrate the terrible PANIC WHICH OVERTOOK THE ELEVENTH CORPS on the afternoon of the same day. This also is from a sketch by Mr. Waud. The following graphic account of the affair is from the Herald letter:
The Eleventh corps had been ordered to advance on the right of Birney, and moved forward to take the position assigned to them on Birney's flank. One brigade succeeded in getting up the hill, and reported, by its commander (whose name I have unfortunately lost), to Generals Sickles and Birney. The rest of the corps met the enemy in force when about two-thirds of the distance up. Here they had a short engagement, in which it does not appear that they had even as large a force to contend against as that which Williams, with his single division, had fought so bravely. Headed by their commander, the gallant Howard, the German corps charged boldly up to the rebel lines. Here they were met, as the rebels always meet their foe, with shouts of defiance and derision, a determined front, and a heavy fire of musketry. The German regiments returned the fire for a short time with spirit, manifesting a disposition to fight valiantly. But at the time when all encouragement to the men was needed that could be given, then some officer of the division (one, at least, as I am informed) fell back to the rear, leaving his men to fight alone. At the same time General Devens, commanding the First division, was unhorsed and badly wounded in his foot by a musket-ball. Thus losing at a ciritical moment the inspiriting influence of the immediate presence of their commanders, the men began to falter, then to fall back, and finally broke in a complete route. General Howard boldly threw himself into the breach and attempted to rally the shattered columns; but his efforts were perfectly futile. The men were panic-stricken, and no power on earth could rally them in the face of the enemy. Information of the catastrophe was promptly communicated to General Sickles, who thus had a moment given him to prepare for the shock he instantly apprehended his column would suffer. The high land of the little farm that formed the base of his operations was parked full of artillery and cavalry, nearly all the artillery of the Third corps, together with Pleasanton's cavalry, being crowded into that little fifty-acre inclosure. But Sickles was not to be thrown off his guard by a trifle, and any thing short of a complete defeat seemed to be considered by him in the light of a trifle. With the coolness and skillfulness of a veteran of a hundred campaigns he set to work making his dispositions. He had not a single regiment within his reach to support his artillery; Whipple was falling back, and must meet the approaching stampede with his own force in retreat; Birney was far out in the advance, in imminent danger of being completely surrounded and annihilated; the rebel forces were pressing
hard upon the flying Germans, who could only escape by rushing across his lines, with every prospect of communicating the panic to them. It was a critical moment indeed, and one that might well stagger even the bravest-hearted. But it did not stagger the citizen soldier. Calling to one after another of his staff, he sent them all off, one after the other, lest any should fail of getting through, to warn Birney of his danger, and order him to fall back. Then, turning to General Pleasanton, he directed him to take charge of the artillery, and train it all upon the woods encircling the field, and support it with his cavalry, to hold the rebels in check should they come on him, and himself dashed off to meet Whipple, then just emerging from the woods in the bottom land. He had scarcely turned his horse about when the flying Germans came dashing over the field in crowds, meeting the head of Whipple's column and stampeding through his lines, running as only men do run when convinced that sure destruction is awaiting them. At the same moment large masses of the rebel infantry came dashing through the woods on the north and west close up to the field, and opened a tremendous fire of musketry into the confused mass of men and animals. To add to the confusion and terror of the occasion night was rapidly approaching, and darkness was already beginning to obscure all things.
I must frankly confess that I have no ability to do justice to the scene that followed. It was my lot to be in the centre of that field when the panic burst upon us. May I never be a witness to another such scene! On one hand was a solid column of infantry retreating at double-quick from the face of the enemy, who were already crowding their rear; on the other was a dense mass of beings who had lost their reasoning faculties, and were flying from a thousand fancied dangers as well as from the real danger that crowded so close upon them, aggravating the fearfulness of their situation by the very precipitancy with which they' were seeking to escape from it. On the hill were ten thousand of the enemy, pouring their murderous volleys in upon us, yelling and hooting, to increase the alarm and confusion; hundreds of cavalry horses, left riderless at the first discharge from the rebels, were dashing frantically about in all directions; a score of batteries of artillery were thrown into disorder, some properly manned, seeking to gain positions for effective duty, and others flying from the field; battery wagons, ambulances, horses, men, cannon, caissons, all jumbled and tumbled together in an apparently inextricable mass, and that murderous fire still pouring in upon them. To add to the terror of the occasion there was but one means of escape from the field, and that through a little narrow neck or ravine washed out by Scott's Creek. Toward this the confused mass plunged headlong. For a moment it seemed as if no power could avert the frightful calamity that threatened the entire army. That neck passed, and this panic-stricken, disordered body of men and animals permitted to pass down through the other corps of the army, our destruction was sure. But in the midst of that wildest alarm there was a cool head. That calamity was averted by the determined self-possession of Major-General Daniel E. Sickles.
Let me here finish with the Eleventh corps. They did not all fly across Sickles's line. They dispersed and ran in all directions, regardless of the order of their going. They all seemed possessed with an instinctive idea of the shortest and most direct line from the point whence they started to the United States ford, and the majority of them did not stop until they had reached the ford.
Other illustrations of the Army of the Potomac are given on pages 332 and 333. The descriptive matter referring to them will be found in the following brief description by the artist Mr. A. R. Waud:
SYKES'S ADVANCE ON OUR LEFT.
This sketch represents the brilliant advance of Sykes's division of Meade's corps. Watson's battery is partly seen hurling shells over the heads of our advancing lines at the rebel position on the top of the hill. In three lines, the gallant Second Brigade leading the attack, with that steadiness which the regiments of the regular army have always shown, they moved up the hill, the line of battle being formed across the road. The fire was to a great extent reserved till the crest of the hill was reached, and the enemy driven in confusion. In this affair the old Fifth Corps well maintained its old reputation; and after, when it was drawn back to take its place in the line of battle then forming, it repulsed with slaughter the attack which the enemy in their turn made upon them.
THE BATTLE IN FRONT OF CHANCELLOR'S HOUSE ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
After the attack upon Meade the enemy continued the battle by a vigorous effort to storm our position on the cross-roads at Chancellor's. This was a magnificent scene. The house occupies the right of the picture; about it the orderlies, servants, and pack-mules belonging to head-quarters were grouped—General Hooker and his staff, with Captain Starr's company of the Lancers, forming a brilliant party at the side of the house. Slocum's line of battle is seen formed in front, supporting the batteries in position about the burned chimney, which was surrounded by cherry-trees in blossom. In front are the lines of men moving up to take part in the struggle, which for a short time was very violently contested at this point.
HOWARD'S POSITION ON THE RIGHT.
Dowdall's tavern, head-quarters Eleventh Corps, is seen in the centre of this view. The rifle-pits across the field rendered this place impregnable in the hands of good soldiers. It was expected all day that the enemy would attack this wing in force, and there was plenty of time for preparation. The German troops, however, were not equal to the occasion. Some of them fought welt, but tho majority fled in panic without firing a shot, throwing into confusion those troops that were preparing to resist the enemy's advance. In the midst of the skedaddle a noble buck and two does left the woods and fled through the fugitives.
COUCH'S MEN FORMING ACROSS THE PLANK ROAD.
While Sickles was returning with his fine corps on the left, Couch's men on the double-quick took up position across the road to try and stem the course of the runaways and Jackson's rapid advance. The batteries, massed in front of this line, poured into the woods a savage fire over the soldiers in front, while a confused mass of pack trains, wagons, ambulances, guns, caissons, cattle, and broken troops, with all the crowd of army followers, rushed down the road in panic, the enemy pounding at their rear and capturing what they could. This part of the battle was truly terrible. The sun had set, and threatening clouds threatened rain, and some lightning added to the gloomy horror of the scene; but the Second and Third Corps stood nobly to their work, and the rebels were hurled back. They captured cattle and supplies, ammunition, etc., and spent the rest of the evening in plundering our wounded.
GENERAL COUCH'S HEAD-QUARTERS ON THE CENTRE.
On Sunday the rebels made the most determined efforts to capture this position, held by Sickles and Meade, but they had no Eleventh Corps to deal with. Savagely they were repulsed, and Jackson's celebrated column of 40,000 men was decimated and defeated.
SKETCH OF THE CENTRE.—ANOTHER VIEW.
In this picture the men of Humphrey's division are represented pouring a deadly fire upon the advancing hosts, whose intention was to capture the rifle-pits and batteries represented in the picture. About this time Humphrey made one of his celebrated charges upon the enemy, driving them with such loss that they never dared to attack in force again.
HOOKER'S HEAD-QUARTERS IN THE WOODS.
After the burning of the Chancellor house, and withdrawal of our line from that point, the General bivouacked in the woods near the front, so near that the rebel shells and even the fire of the sharp-shooters came into the camp. Captain Starr's horse was shot quite close to where the General was consulting with his officers.
OLD MILL.
This was a picturesque spot near the front, used as a hospital for Slocum's corps, and as a rendezvous of skedaddlers.
HARPER'S WEEKLY.
FIGHT AT CHANCELLORSVILLE,
About two o'clock on Friday afternoon the enemy were discovered advancing in force down both the old turnpike and the plank road, thus approaching our position nearly from the east. Although these two roads enter Chancellorsville at right angles—one from the east direct, and the other from the south—they join and make a single road near Tabernacle Church. When the discovery was made of the approach of the enemy, General Hooker immediately returned to his head-quarters at Chancellorsville and made his dispositions to meet them. It was yet uncertain whether the attack would come from the east or south, and it was therefore necessary to be in readiness at both points. With this purpose the Fifth Corps, Major-General Meade, was formed on the front facing the east, Sykes's division of regulars occupying a line north of the old turnpike road, and the other two divisions taking the line of the Banks Ford road, on the left of Sykes. The Second Corps, Major-General Couch, was held in reserve to support the right wing of this line, and the Second Division, Major-General Berry, of the Third Corps, Major-General Sickles, to support the left.
On our south front two corps—the Eleventh, Major-General Howard, and the Twelfth, Major-General Slocum —were deployed, the latter in double line of battle, with its left resting on the plank road, and the former on the right of the Twelfth. The two remaining divisions of Sickles's corps—the First, Brigadier-General Birney, and the Third, Brigadier-General Whipple—were ordered up as supports for this line.
Sykes's division was formed in the open field, directly on the slope southeast of and scarcely a quarter of a mile distant from General Hooker's head-quarters. Immediately behind them, on the extreme elevation of the plain, three batteries of field artillery were planted. General Sykes's skirmishers advanced down the field and into the woods, where they waited the approach of the enemy. Soon the brisk cracking of rifles and muskets announced the rebel proximity, and our skirmishers, in compliance with orders, gradually fell back upon the main line of battle. This manoeuvre drew the enemy outside of the woods, from which they emerged close after our retreating skirmishers, yelling and shouting like a tribe of wild Indians. The sight was both exciting and amusing at first, and all movement on our part was momentarily suspended, while our brave men gratified their curiosity in scrutinizing their gray-backed adversaries. But the charge of the rebels was not a trifling matter, and as column upon column of them, and line after line came dashing out of the woods, it seemed as though that one little division stationed there
to check them would be swallowed up. It was one of those skillful manoeuvres for which General Lee is particularly distinguished—the hurling of an immense body upon a small force of his antagonist. The rebel force, as it charged out of the woods, was certainly three times as large as that of General Sykes; yet the latter showed no disposition to quail; but, after giving a moment's glance to satisfy their curiosity, every soldier brought his musket to his shoulder, and five thousand bullets were sent into the rebel line. Such steadiness appalled them. They were unprepared for it. Their front rank quailed before it. The sudden thinning of their numbers amazed and frightened them. They discharged their pieces recklessly and broke in confusion. But there was no flight for them. The heavy bodies behind them, to whom the front rank had been a bulwark, protecting them from the murderous volley of the Union Regulars, were steady and determined. They absorbed the front rank in the second, and still moved forward —firm, unshaken, confident. Meantime our men had reloaded their pieces, and simultaneously a volley was fired from both sides, and then from the brow above our artillery opened with canister and grape, throwing over the heads of our own men and dealing destruction and confusion to the enemy. And as the loud cannon continued its work with fearful rapidity the order was given to our men to "fire at will"—an order that was copied by the enemy—and the continuous roar of musketry that followed almost deadened the reports of the artillery. It was the first fight of the great battle, and for nearly twenty minutes both parties stood firm, as though nothing should lead them to give the prestige of a first success to the other. But, although outnumbered, we had an advantage in the support of artillery, which, while our infantry held the rebels in check, made huge gaps in their ranks. Still they yelled and shouted defiance, and attempted charges and continued their firing, rank after rank of them being broken and thrown back in confusion, while their officers shouted, and ordered and stormed, and cursed, in the vain effort to rally them to a persistent, determined charge. They fought well. They fought as none but Americans dare fight. But with musketry alone they could not contend against both artillery and musketry. It was simply murder on the part of their officers to attempt to hold them to it, and their officers began to appreciate the fact when nearly half their column had been placed hors de combat; and then the order was given to retire.
And then came our turn to shout. The rebels were retreating. Our force was sadly thinned and broken; but there were enough left to send up a shout after the retreating rebels that made the woods ring with the echo. Even the wounded joined in the glad cheer, many of them staggering into an upright position and throwing up their hats in their excess of gladness at the victory. The charge had been right gallantly met, and the host of the enemy finely repulsed. It was the first achievement of the great struggle—an augury of success in the end. Our men had stood like veterans, and they had a right to cheer.
THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE BATTLE ON SATURDAY, 2D, also from a sketch by Mr. Wand, is illustrated on the same pages. Of this we take the following description from the Times correspondence:
In the morning, as we stood on the balcony of Chancellor's house, the attention was aroused by a sharp rattle of musketry coming from a column of rebels coming up by the main Fredericksburg plank road, directly in front of us. Knapp's Battery, however, which was planted directly in front of the position, opened upon them, and after a few rounds caused them to retire.
Immediately afterward a battery opened from the height which I have mentioned as having been gained by Sykes yesterday, and then abandoned by us. The position was rather upward of a mile distant from the cleared space, and its object was to damage our ammunition train which was visible to the rebels from the tops of trees on the height. One of our batteries was, however, immediately opened in reply. The third shot blew up one of the caissons and a subsequent shot blew up another, and this settled their account.
Subsequently a reconnoissance was sent, on our part, consisting of the Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania Volunteers (Carr's brigade, Berry's division, Sickles's corps), on the same road by which the rebels had approached in the morning, for the purpose of feeling their strength. They went out on the plank road, deployed on both sides in the form of a letter V, chased the rebel skirmishers a couple of miles, till they came to a heavy double line of battle, with artillery in position, when they retired, bringing us that piece of intelligence.
Another reconnoissance was next sent out on our right, consisting of Berdan's sharp-shooters. They met the enemy's pickets, drove them handsomely, and at 4 o'clock returned with fifty prisoners of the Twenty-third Georgia.
At 4 the rebels are moving down in force on the plank road, where we had a little before made the reconnoissance. Geary's division of Slocum's corps is sent in on the double-quick into the woods—their bayonets flashing in the sunlight. A sharp contest ensues, and in a few minutes they come back in disorder. A portion of Kane's brigade, composed of raw troops, had broken and thrown the column into confusion.
An aid from Slocum comes to ask General Hooker if he can have reinforcements. "No! he must hold his own. Howard will, of course, support him from the right. Let Geary's division, however, be thrown to the right of the road, so that the artillery may be able to sweep the enemy on the left." This treatment presently repaired the damage, and checked the hope of the rebels being able to pierce our centre.
Finally, on page 325 we illustrate the terrible PANIC WHICH OVERTOOK THE ELEVENTH CORPS on the afternoon of the same day. This also is from a sketch by Mr. Waud. The following graphic account of the affair is from the Herald letter:
The Eleventh corps had been ordered to advance on the right of Birney, and moved forward to take the position assigned to them on Birney's flank. One brigade succeeded in getting up the hill, and reported, by its commander (whose name I have unfortunately lost), to Generals Sickles and Birney. The rest of the corps met the enemy in force when about two-thirds of the distance up. Here they had a short engagement, in which it does not appear that they had even as large a force to contend against as that which Williams, with his single division, had fought so bravely. Headed by their commander, the gallant Howard, the German corps charged boldly up to the rebel lines. Here they were met, as the rebels always meet their foe, with shouts of defiance and derision, a determined front, and a heavy fire of musketry. The German regiments returned the fire for a short time with spirit, manifesting a disposition to fight valiantly. But at the time when all encouragement to the men was needed that could be given, then some officer of the division (one, at least, as I am informed) fell back to the rear, leaving his men to fight alone. At the same time General Devens, commanding the First division, was unhorsed and badly wounded in his foot by a musket-ball. Thus losing at a ciritical moment the inspiriting influence of the immediate presence of their commanders, the men began to falter, then to fall back, and finally broke in a complete route. General Howard boldly threw himself into the breach and attempted to rally the shattered columns; but his efforts were perfectly futile. The men were panic-stricken, and no power on earth could rally them in the face of the enemy. Information of the catastrophe was promptly communicated to General Sickles, who thus had a moment given him to prepare for the shock he instantly apprehended his column would suffer. The high land of the little farm that formed the base of his operations was parked full of artillery and cavalry, nearly all the artillery of the Third corps, together with Pleasanton's cavalry, being crowded into that little fifty-acre inclosure. But Sickles was not to be thrown off his guard by a trifle, and any thing short of a complete defeat seemed to be considered by him in the light of a trifle. With the coolness and skillfulness of a veteran of a hundred campaigns he set to work making his dispositions. He had not a single regiment within his reach to support his artillery; Whipple was falling back, and must meet the approaching stampede with his own force in retreat; Birney was far out in the advance, in imminent danger of being completely surrounded and annihilated; the rebel forces were pressing
hard upon the flying Germans, who could only escape by rushing across his lines, with every prospect of communicating the panic to them. It was a critical moment indeed, and one that might well stagger even the bravest-hearted. But it did not stagger the citizen soldier. Calling to one after another of his staff, he sent them all off, one after the other, lest any should fail of getting through, to warn Birney of his danger, and order him to fall back. Then, turning to General Pleasanton, he directed him to take charge of the artillery, and train it all upon the woods encircling the field, and support it with his cavalry, to hold the rebels in check should they come on him, and himself dashed off to meet Whipple, then just emerging from the woods in the bottom land. He had scarcely turned his horse about when the flying Germans came dashing over the field in crowds, meeting the head of Whipple's column and stampeding through his lines, running as only men do run when convinced that sure destruction is awaiting them. At the same moment large masses of the rebel infantry came dashing through the woods on the north and west close up to the field, and opened a tremendous fire of musketry into the confused mass of men and animals. To add to the confusion and terror of the occasion night was rapidly approaching, and darkness was already beginning to obscure all things.
I must frankly confess that I have no ability to do justice to the scene that followed. It was my lot to be in the centre of that field when the panic burst upon us. May I never be a witness to another such scene! On one hand was a solid column of infantry retreating at double-quick from the face of the enemy, who were already crowding their rear; on the other was a dense mass of beings who had lost their reasoning faculties, and were flying from a thousand fancied dangers as well as from the real danger that crowded so close upon them, aggravating the fearfulness of their situation by the very precipitancy with which they' were seeking to escape from it. On the hill were ten thousand of the enemy, pouring their murderous volleys in upon us, yelling and hooting, to increase the alarm and confusion; hundreds of cavalry horses, left riderless at the first discharge from the rebels, were dashing frantically about in all directions; a score of batteries of artillery were thrown into disorder, some properly manned, seeking to gain positions for effective duty, and others flying from the field; battery wagons, ambulances, horses, men, cannon, caissons, all jumbled and tumbled together in an apparently inextricable mass, and that murderous fire still pouring in upon them. To add to the terror of the occasion there was but one means of escape from the field, and that through a little narrow neck or ravine washed out by Scott's Creek. Toward this the confused mass plunged headlong. For a moment it seemed as if no power could avert the frightful calamity that threatened the entire army. That neck passed, and this panic-stricken, disordered body of men and animals permitted to pass down through the other corps of the army, our destruction was sure. But in the midst of that wildest alarm there was a cool head. That calamity was averted by the determined self-possession of Major-General Daniel E. Sickles.
Let me here finish with the Eleventh corps. They did not all fly across Sickles's line. They dispersed and ran in all directions, regardless of the order of their going. They all seemed possessed with an instinctive idea of the shortest and most direct line from the point whence they started to the United States ford, and the majority of them did not stop until they had reached the ford.
Other illustrations of the Army of the Potomac are given on pages 332 and 333. The descriptive matter referring to them will be found in the following brief description by the artist Mr. A. R. Waud:
SYKES'S ADVANCE ON OUR LEFT.
This sketch represents the brilliant advance of Sykes's division of Meade's corps. Watson's battery is partly seen hurling shells over the heads of our advancing lines at the rebel position on the top of the hill. In three lines, the gallant Second Brigade leading the attack, with that steadiness which the regiments of the regular army have always shown, they moved up the hill, the line of battle being formed across the road. The fire was to a great extent reserved till the crest of the hill was reached, and the enemy driven in confusion. In this affair the old Fifth Corps well maintained its old reputation; and after, when it was drawn back to take its place in the line of battle then forming, it repulsed with slaughter the attack which the enemy in their turn made upon them.
THE BATTLE IN FRONT OF CHANCELLOR'S HOUSE ON FRIDAY AFTERNOON.
After the attack upon Meade the enemy continued the battle by a vigorous effort to storm our position on the cross-roads at Chancellor's. This was a magnificent scene. The house occupies the right of the picture; about it the orderlies, servants, and pack-mules belonging to head-quarters were grouped—General Hooker and his staff, with Captain Starr's company of the Lancers, forming a brilliant party at the side of the house. Slocum's line of battle is seen formed in front, supporting the batteries in position about the burned chimney, which was surrounded by cherry-trees in blossom. In front are the lines of men moving up to take part in the struggle, which for a short time was very violently contested at this point.
HOWARD'S POSITION ON THE RIGHT.
Dowdall's tavern, head-quarters Eleventh Corps, is seen in the centre of this view. The rifle-pits across the field rendered this place impregnable in the hands of good soldiers. It was expected all day that the enemy would attack this wing in force, and there was plenty of time for preparation. The German troops, however, were not equal to the occasion. Some of them fought welt, but tho majority fled in panic without firing a shot, throwing into confusion those troops that were preparing to resist the enemy's advance. In the midst of the skedaddle a noble buck and two does left the woods and fled through the fugitives.
COUCH'S MEN FORMING ACROSS THE PLANK ROAD.
While Sickles was returning with his fine corps on the left, Couch's men on the double-quick took up position across the road to try and stem the course of the runaways and Jackson's rapid advance. The batteries, massed in front of this line, poured into the woods a savage fire over the soldiers in front, while a confused mass of pack trains, wagons, ambulances, guns, caissons, cattle, and broken troops, with all the crowd of army followers, rushed down the road in panic, the enemy pounding at their rear and capturing what they could. This part of the battle was truly terrible. The sun had set, and threatening clouds threatened rain, and some lightning added to the gloomy horror of the scene; but the Second and Third Corps stood nobly to their work, and the rebels were hurled back. They captured cattle and supplies, ammunition, etc., and spent the rest of the evening in plundering our wounded.
GENERAL COUCH'S HEAD-QUARTERS ON THE CENTRE.
On Sunday the rebels made the most determined efforts to capture this position, held by Sickles and Meade, but they had no Eleventh Corps to deal with. Savagely they were repulsed, and Jackson's celebrated column of 40,000 men was decimated and defeated.
SKETCH OF THE CENTRE.—ANOTHER VIEW.
In this picture the men of Humphrey's division are represented pouring a deadly fire upon the advancing hosts, whose intention was to capture the rifle-pits and batteries represented in the picture. About this time Humphrey made one of his celebrated charges upon the enemy, driving them with such loss that they never dared to attack in force again.
HOOKER'S HEAD-QUARTERS IN THE WOODS.
After the burning of the Chancellor house, and withdrawal of our line from that point, the General bivouacked in the woods near the front, so near that the rebel shells and even the fire of the sharp-shooters came into the camp. Captain Starr's horse was shot quite close to where the General was consulting with his officers.
OLD MILL.
This was a picturesque spot near the front, used as a hospital for Slocum's corps, and as a rendezvous of skedaddlers.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Day 5
The Emancipation Proclamation January 1, 1863
A Transcription
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
A Transcription
By the President of the United States of America:
A Proclamation.
Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:
"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.
"That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be, in good faith, represented in the Congress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."
Now, therefore I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief, of the Army and Navy of the United States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do publicly proclaimed for the full period of one hundred days, from the day first above mentioned, order and designate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit:
Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, (except the Parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the City of New Orleans) Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia, (except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Ann, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth[)], and which excepted parts, are for the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.
And by virtue of the power, and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States, and parts of States, are, and henceforward shall be free; and that the Executive government of the United States, including the military and naval authorities thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of said persons.
And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all violence, unless in necessary self-defence; and I recommend to them that, in all cases when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.
And I further declare and make known, that such persons of suitable condition, will be received into the armed service of the United States to garrison forts, positions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.
And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind, and the gracious favor of Almighty God.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the eighty-seventh.
By the President: ABRAHAM LINCOLN WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Battle of Bull Run
Day 3 of project
The First Battle of Bull Run (Or First Manassas for you rebellious tpes.)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Proof and edit
First, good posts!! I am impressed with the quality of your effort to respond in character. Your first posts reflect, for the most part, good research and some impressive attempts to use the language and phrasing of the time. Keep it up!
I've also read some thoughtful comments; these, too, are impressive for the quality of research and thought they reflect.
Just one caveat: Be sure to proof and edit as you write; I've noticed several spelling errors as I've read your first posts. Also, remember to show us the reference for your post beneath your text.
I've also read some thoughtful comments; these, too, are impressive for the quality of research and thought they reflect.
Just one caveat: Be sure to proof and edit as you write; I've noticed several spelling errors as I've read your first posts. Also, remember to show us the reference for your post beneath your text.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Comment Moderation Instructions
We have been asked about comments. Please take these steps:
1. Click where necessary to start a new post.
2. Below the tabs at the top of the screen, click "Moderate Comments"
3. For any comment made to your blog which was made by another student in this class and which is appropriate, choose to allow the comment to be seen. For any inappropriate comments, email one of the teachers and we will look at it.
By moderating your comments, you allow those to be seen by the rest of the blog readers. Do not delete any comments posted to your blog. Only teachers may delete comments.
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Lincoln Elected
This is just a test for today. Write a blog entry in response and then comment on two other blogs.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Your home for this project
Check back here for more details on the APUSH blog project. Once you create your blogs, links to those blogs will be placed below.
Follow these directions carefully to create your own blogs once you select a character. If you have questions, please direct those to Mr. Moix.
Blogs To Read:
Here is a PDF version of the handout we gave you in class at the beginning of this project. This rubric will be used for scoring your posts and comments.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)