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Chapter 12: autumn of 1862.
The sudden appearance of the Confederate army in
Maryland, after the second great victory at
Manassas, startled and perplexed the
Federal authorities.
The unfortunate
General Pope was at once displaced from the chief command as unequal to the emergency, and
General McClellan again took the direction of military affairs.
General Lee moved rapidly into Federicktown, from which place, on the 8th of September, he issued an address to the people of
Maryland.
From this point a portion of the
Southern army was moved seemingly in the direction of
Pennsylvania, but really for important operations ill
Virginia.
After sending a portion of his force to hold the
Maryland Heights, opposite
Harper's Ferry,
General Jackson was directed by
General Lee to recross the
Potomac at
Williamsport, capture
Martinsburg, and, by a rapid movement, completely surround
Harper's Ferry.
Jackson marched with his wonted celerity;
Martinsburg fell with its garrison and stores, and the investment of the
Ferry was effected on the 13th of September.
No sooner did
McClellan hear of the movements of
Jackson than he resolved to make a powerful effort to defeat his plans.
Leaving
Washington with 80,000 men, on Sunday, near
Boonsboro, he threw his whole force against the corps of
Gen. D. H. Hill, which was the rear guard of our army and had been placed at this point by
Gen. Lee to impede the reinforcing column.
The battle was obstinate and bloody, but
General Hill nobly stood his ground, reinforced in the afternoon by
Longstreet's corps, and the object of the
Federals, the relief of
Harper's
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Ferry, was defeated.
While the battle was raging, the place was surrendered by
General Miles, with his entire force of 11,000 men, the same number of small arms, 73 pieces of cannon, 200 wagons, with a vast amount of stores and camp equipage.
General Jackson announced this event in his laconic style: “Yesterday God crowned our arms with another brilliant success in the surrender of
Harper's Ferry.”
The Federals having gained Crampton's Gap in the rear of
Gen. McLaws, who held the
Maryland Heights,
Gen. Lee retired to
Sharpsburg, where he could readily unite his whole army.
On Monday our army took position in front of
Sharpsburg, and
Jackson, leaving
Harper's Ferry, rejoined his chief in time to participate in the impending battle.
The fight opened on Tuesday afternoon about six o'clock, and was kept up until nine at night, when it subsided into skirmishes along the lines.
It was reopened by
Jackson on Wednesday, and soon became general.
Both armies fought desperately throughout the whole day. At night the
Confederates held nearly the entire field, and the
Federals retired to their former position.
The next morning our men stood ready to recommence the work of death, but no assault was made by the
Northern army.
Each army, it seems, expected the other to attack.
Late in the evening of the 18th,
Gen. Lee issued the order for the return of his army to
Virginia.
The able correspondent of the Savannah
Republican, who was on the spot, gives the following account of this masterly movement:
Whether Gen. Lee took this step from a military necessity, or for some strategic purpose, or because he had accomplished the object of his movement into Maryland--the capture of Harper's Ferry — I am unable to say. The order was issued late last evening, and by the time it was quite dark the wagons, artillery, and troops began to move.
All the wounded that were in a condition
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to be moved had been taken across the river.
Those whose wounds were very severe or mortal, unfortunately, had to be left behind, and fell into the hand of the enemy.
Some of the wounded had never been removed from the field, having fallen on a part of the ground still held by the enemy.
Many of the dead were buried yesterday, and some were transferred to this bank of the river.
It was not quite three miles to the Potomac, and our wagon trains extended from Sharpshurg over to the Virginia side.
There were only two roads by which we could proceed, one of which was taken by the troops and the other by the artillery and wagons.
Our lines came up within a short distance of the enemy's, yet so silently and adroitly was the movement conducted that McClellan was not aware of it until next morning.
It had rained in the afternoon, and the roads were muddy below, while the heavens were covered with a light fog above, both of which facilitated the enterprise.
We had crossed into Maryland by the bright and early morning sun; we returned in silence and at the dead hour of night.
The columns wound their way over the hills and along the valleys like some huge, indistinct monster.
Whatever was the motive to the movement, it must be regarded as one of the most successful and extraordinary exploits in the history of any country, and stamps the man that ordered and executed it as one of the greatest military leaders in our time and generation.
With the exception of the wounded and a few wagons that got turned over in the darkness, not a man or wagon nor a single piece of artillery was lost.
The crossing was accomplished by half-past 6 this morning, and soon thereafter the enemy's artillery opened a harmless fire from the opposite heights.
The bird had flown, however, and his rage was impotent.
The Federals themselves confessed to the admirable generalship displayed by the great Confederate leader.
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The correspondent of the New York
Tribune, in referring to it, said:
The whole of the rebel army has got entirely off across the river by this morning with everything-guns, ammunition, provisions-everything, as far as I have seen, worth taking.
My fears are thus realized-the enemy has taken the advantage of yesterday's repose and last night's darkness, and has quietly passed over the river and effected a successful retreat.
The retreat, so far as the marching part of the army was concerned, was a splendid success.
But two disabled guns, one ambulance, five barrels of flour, and two barrels of salt, were all the property they left in our possession.
A cleaner, neater retreat, considering all the circumstances, was never made.
‘It is,’ said a gentleman to me, ‘ Corinth repeated, only much more neatly.’
The enemy outwit us under our very noses.
The
battle of Sharpsburg was fought under almost every disadvantage on the part of the
Confederates.
The men had been marching or fighting nearly every day from the time they left
Richmond; the transportation was deficient, food was scarce, thousands were sick, and thousands were straggling along the entire line of march from
Richmond to
Maryland.
The writer just quoted thus speaks of the men who, from early dawn to dewy eve, hurled back the columns of
McClellan's immense army on the memorable field of
Sharpsburg:
I can recall no parallel instance in history, except Napoleon's disastrous retreat from Moscow, where an army has ever done more marching and fighting, under such great disadvantages, than General Lee's has done since it left the banks of James river.
It proceeded directly to the line of the Rappahannock, and moving out from that river, it fought its way to the Potomac, crossed that stream and moved on to Fredericktown and Hagerstown.
had a heavy engagement at Boonsboro Gap, and another at Crampton Gap below, fought the greatest
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pitched battle of the war at Sharpsburg, and then recrossed the Potomac back into Virginia.
During all this time, covering the full space of a month, the troops rested but four days! And let it always be remembered to their honor, that of the men who performed this wonderful feat one-fifth of them were barefooted, one-half of them in rags, and the whole of them half-famished.
The country from the Rappahannock to the Potomac had been visited by the enemy with fire and sword, and our transportation was insufficient to keep the army supplied from so distant a base as Gordonsville; and when the provision trains would overtake the army, so pressing were the exigencies of their position the men seldom had time to cook.
Their difficulties were increased by the fact that their cooking utensils, in many cases, had been left behind, as well as everything else that would impede their movements.
It was not unusual to see a company of starving men have a barrel of flour distributed to them, which it was utterly impossible for them to convert into bread with the means and the time allowed to them.
They could not procure even a piece of plank, or a corn or flour sack, upon which to work up their dough.
No army on this continent has ever accomplished as much, or suffered as much, as the army of Northern Virginia within the last three months. At no period during the first Revolutionary war — not even at Valley Forge-did our forefathers in arms encounter greater hardships, or endure them more uncomplainingly.
If the Army of Virginia could march through the South just as it is-ragged and almost barefooted and hatless-many of the men limping along and not quite well of their wounds or sickness, yet cheerful and not willing to abandon their places in the ranks-their clothes riddled with balls, and their banners covered with the smoke and dust of battle, and shot into tatters, many of them inscribed “Williamsburg,” “Seven Pines,” “Gaines'
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Mill,” Garnett's Farm, “ ” Front Royal, “ ” McDowell, “ Cedar Run,” and other victorious fields — if this army of veterans, thus clad and shod, with tattered uniforms and banners, could march from Richmond to the Mississippi, it would produce a sensation that has no parallel in history since Peter the Hermit led his swelling hosts across Europe to the rescue of the Holy Sepulchre.
But the highest eulogy on this army came from him who had led it to victory, and under whose eye its heroic deeds were performed.
After their return to
Virginia,
General Lee spoke to his half-famished, half-naked, but invincible legions in this noble strain:
In reviewing the achievements of the army during the present campaign, the Commanding General cannot withhold the expression of his admiration of the indomitable courage it has displayed in battle, and its cheerful endurance of privation and hardships on the march.
Since your great victories around Richmond, you have defeated the enemy at Cedar Mountain, expelled him from the Rappahannock, and, after a conflict of three days, utterly repulsed him on the plains of Manassas and forced him to take shelter within the fortifications around his capital.
Without halting for repose you crossed the Potomac, stormed the heights of Harper's Ferry, made prisoners of more than eleven thousand men, and captured upwards of seventy pieces of artillery, all their small arms, and other munitions of war.
While one corps of the army was thus engaged, the other insured its success by arresting at Boonsboro the combined armies of the enemy, advancing under their favorite General to the relief of their beleaguered comrades.
On the field of Sharpsburg, with less than one-third his numbers, you resisted, from daylight until dark, the whole army of the enemy, and repulsed every attack along his entire front of more than four miles in extent.
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The whole of the following day you stood prepared to resume the conflict on the same ground, and retired next morning, without molestation, across the Potomac.
Two attempts, subsequently made by the enemy, to follow you across the river have resulted in his complete discomfiture and being driven back with loss.
Achievements such as these demanded much valor and patriotism.
History records few examples of greater fortitude and endurance than this army has exhibited; and I am commissioned by the President to thank you, in the name of the Confederate States, for the undying fame you have won for their arms.
The valor and endurance of the
Southern troops in this campaign are attested by their faithful ministers who labored day and night for their spiritual good.
Rev. J. W. Mills, chaplain of a Florida regiment, gives a graphic picture of the havoc of war:
Many of our regiment fell in the terrible battle of Sharpsburg.
We occupied the centre, where the enemy made his fiercest attack, hoping to break our lines in that vital part of the field, and so win the day. The enemy were formed in a semicircle on the side of a hill.
Our brave men marched up to the attack until they could see the heads and shoulders of their adversaries over the summit of the hill, when firing commenced.
From the two wings and the centre of this semicircle they poured upon us a murderous fire for about one hour.
Five times our colors fell, but as often our men rushed to the spot and raised them to the breeze.
Finally, a retreat was ordered-at that moment the colors fell and were left.
The enemy had suffered too much, notwithstanding his advantages, to pursue, and our gallant Lieutenant-Colonel, already wounded in the arm, went back and brought them away under a shower of bullets.
In the midst of this carnage many a heart turned to
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the God of battles for refuge and comfort.
Mr. Mills again writes:
A young man said to me after the battle: ‘When I was going into the battle, I put my trust in God, and he has brought me through untouched, and I am grateful to him.’
And the tears stood in his eyes as he spoke.
He was an unconverted man when he went into the fight.
Last night at preaching, while referring to the incidents of the battle and how God had preserved them, many tears fell, and many countenances spoke louder than words undying gratitude to the God of all grace.
The instances of calm Christian courage exhibited on the field of
Sharpsburg have never been surpassed.
Here, with thousands of other heroes,
Captain James G. Rogers, of
Macon, Ga., offered his life on the altar of his country.
He was a worthy citizen and a most useful
Christian.
As a minister and Sabbath School Superintendent, he exerted a happy influence wherever he labored to do good.
He entered the service a captain of the
Central City Blues, of the renowned 12th Georgia, and endured cheerfully all the hardships of the soldier's life.
He passed unharmed through seventeen desperate battles, and fell gloriously on this bloody field.
Wearied and almost worn out by the investment of
Harper's Ferry and the march to the battle-field, his men lay on their arms awaiting the attack which was to be made at dawn of day. The assault was terrible, and for an hour
Captain Rogers, in command of the regiment, passed up and down the line encouraging his men. While thus exposed, all the fingers of his left hand were shot off, and he was severely wounded in the thigh, but he remained with his men until forced to leave by sheer exhaustion.
As he was moving off, supported by some of his men, a bullet struck him in the back of the head, killing him instantly.
“Thus fell,” says the friend from whom we take this account, “one of the purest, bravest men of our immortalized Confederate army.”
When he bade
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adieu to his family, he said: “If we meet no more on earth, let us meet in heaven.”
In his letters home he often said: “I never go into battle without feelings prepared to meet my God.”
On the morning of his last battle he arranged for the disposal of his effects as if he fully expected to fall.
“Blessed are the dead who die in the
Lord.”
On the same field fell
Major James Harvey Dingle, of
South Carolina.
He was a true Christian soldier.
His
Colonel said of him: “He was one of the bravest men I ever saw. He did not know what fear was. He was killed near me, and I took the flag from his hand as he was dying; he died without a groan, and looked as if he was sleeping.
He was blessed by the men and officers, and was a kind, courteous, efficient, and accomplished officer; his loss to the Legion (
Hampton) is great.
His name will be cherished by the sons of
Carolina so long as the good, patriotic, and brave are appreciated.”
Such cases were not isolated ones in the
Southern armies; there were hundreds, yea, thousands, of such earnest, faithful, godly men, who endured hardships, poured out their blood, and died in peace amid the rage and carnage of the battle.
The dying words of our Christian soldiers, their messages of love, whispered amid the roar of cannon and the rattle of musketry, in the ear of some comrade who bent over them and gave a cooling draught from his canteen, would fill volumes if they could be collected.
It is only by fragments, however, that we can gather up their precious sentences that sparkle with a heavenly light in the midst of the gloomy horrors of war. Many of the best and purest were left scattered over the wide, blood-soaked fields, and languished and died from home and friends in hospitals and prisons; and not until the coming of their comrades who survived and returned home did their friends and families receive the sweet messages of love that were laid like healing balm on their bleeding hearts.
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Never were stronger proofs given of the sustaining and comforting power of religion than during this terrible war, which stripped our homes of loved ones, our land of plenty, our hearts of joy, and left us nothing to fall back upon in our sufferings and humiliation but the promises of God, who poured out his Spirit so richly upon our soldiers in all the hardships of the march and in all the unutterable anguish that followed our great battles.
