39002021930913 YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC SKETCH THE PHANTOM COLUMN POEH BY HORATIO C. KING M.ajor-Gener.al Georce B. McClkll.an-, U. S. A. THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. By Gen. Horatio C. King, LL.D. (Extract of Letter from Mra. McClellan on readrng the fiMovo'mg article.) Jefpbrson, " The Jeffersoa," August 31, 1897. Bbab General Kino : I must send you a line to thank you for the beautiful article you have written on my husband. It is one of the most satisfactory that has been written, and I cannot tell you how touched I am that you have written it. So many cruel things have been written about him that I appreciate this more than I can tell you, aa what you have said, you hive said so well. * « » * Again thanking you for what you have done, I am, dear General King, Yours very sincerely, ELLEN M. MCCLELLAN. The ignorant and idiotic cry from the rear of " On to Richmond !" had precipitated an engagement at Bull Run between raAv and undisciplined recruits. Both sides were defeated, but the Union forces realized it first and with drew to Washington to commence the real study of war. And the first requisite was a competent instructor. Western Virginia had been attracting considerable atten tion, for there McClellan and Rosecrans had been carrying on some warfare in a practical way as laid down by the rules of Avar. McDowell having voluntarily relinquished the command Avithout dishonor, the young engineer frora Ohio was called to Washington the day after the battle of Bull Run. The North, awakened to the fact that war is not a picnic, responded promptly and lavishly to the call for men and munitions, and McClellan began at once the difficult task of organizing the mass of raw civilians into a magnificent and cohesive army. Educated to the profession of war, he exhibited at once his marvelous ability for organization and discipline, and the hetero geneous mass which gave to Washington the appearance of being in the hands of a uniformed mob, soon felt the force of his genius. With rare skill he fashioned that grand machine which was not changed in any raaterial detail until, flushed with victory, it saw the beaten and almost starved veterans of that seemingly invincible Army of Northern Virginia lay doAvn their arms at Appomattox and melt aAvay like snow under the influence of an April sun. A third of a century has passed aAvay, and with it, happily, the passions Avhich aniraated the critics of the first commander, vvho lived long enough to witness a great change in public sentiment, and to have his patriot ism and ability almost universally acknoAvledged. The silly aspersions upon his loyalty are confined noAV mainly to the generation of ill-read youths who Avere in their swaddling clothes vvhen he was standing as a wall against the vast hosts which flaunted the "stars and bars" almost in sight of the Capital, which he saved by his hard-won victory at Antietam. One fact is universally conceded, namely : that no commander of prominence ever had more completely the devoted affection of his army. It was the magnetic influence which Napoleon exercised, and which gave to McClellan the loving sobriquet with which he was always mentioned, "Little Mac." It accom panied him through all the vicissitudes of his active com raand ; it followed him into retirement and throughout his life ; and when the sudden summons came, taps were sounded and the lights were out, no raan of that great array who served under him but dropped a tear for " Little Mac," the brave commander, the thoughtful friend and the Christian gentleman.* * A notable exhibition of this affection came under my personal observation. The Society ofthe Army ofthe Potomac was organ ized in New York City in 1869. McClellan, Burnside, Hooker, Meade, Sheridan and many other distinguished of&cers were present. It was naturally expected and an effort was made to have the first four presidents the four commanders of that army in the order of their service. Unfortunately, party feeling, so soon after the war, still ran high and it made itself conspicuous when the nominations for president were made. McClellan seemed to be the natural selection, and as his name was most frequently mentioned, he, with characteristic modesty, called General Burnside to the chair. McClellan, Meade, Sheridan, Hancock, Pleasonton, Slocum, Humphreys and Burnside were all placed in nomination. Sheridan asked to be excused as he had nominated Meade, but his name was not withdrawn. On The first call for seventy-five thousand troops seemed preposterously large, and untried officers found them selves confronted with a difficult problem. Those were fortunate who Avere not called upon to solve it until later the first ballot the vote stood: McClellan, 164; Sheridan, 142; Meade, 111; and Humphreys and Burnside, each i . No candidate having received a majority, a second ballot was taken, with this result : Sheridan, 204 ; McClellan, 152 ; and Meade, 34. Sheridan was then conducted to the chair amid general acclamations, while McClellan and many of his adherents quietly left the hall. Sheridan, though very popular, had not commanded the Army of the Potomac, and McClellan no doubt felt the slight very deeply. But he made no exhibition save a continuous absence from the reunions until the meeting in Washington, D. C, in 1883. On this occasion he attended the banquet and responded to the toast of ' ' The Army of the Potomac. ' ' When he arose to speak and his presence was then first made known, his old comrades, of whom about four hundred were present, arose en masse, and for at least five minutes an enthusiasm which beggars description en sued. At length, quiet being restored, he proceeded to make the first public reply to his critics and detractors. He reviewed his connection with that army from the time he took command in Washington until his retirement. He spoke of them as " more to me than mere comrades, more than brothers in arms, you were as my very children. " The address, which occupies less than three pages of the printed report, was calm, dispassionate, but full of pointed and patriotic allusions. He was frequently interrupted by cheers and wild applause, and no one present had any doubt after that of the place he held in the hearts of the men who followed him in the great struggle. In closing he said : ' ' That army which it was my fortune to organize and create, which, under my command, became an army of veterans, which under me first received its baptism in that sea of fire and blood through which for four long years it plunged with uplifted banners, and bearing on its bayonets the life of the nation until it emerged at Appomattox — the Grand Army ofthe Potomac — I, as its earliest and only living commander, am proud to believe stands the equal of any of the historic armies ofthe world, in efficiency, in valor and achievement. I was right when in the beginning of our campaign I said to you that that man 's measure of honor and glory would be filled to overflowing who could say that he belonged to the Army of the Potomac. ' ' I be lieve this was his first and last appearance, for a few years after he ioined the ranks of the living on the ' ' other side of the water. ' ' in the war, when they had learned by experience how to raanage and raaneuver large bodies of men. Some bril liant soldiers failed in their first efforts, who, had they been summoned later to command, would have won un fading laurels. It is not necessary to name thera. They are known to all who are farailiar with the history of the war. McClellan is numbered as one of these. There never was a nation before which contained so many theoretical Avarriors, who, with pens dipped in gory ink, fought grand battles in the retireraent of their dingy sancturas, or told how unsuccessful engagements might have been grand victories had General This and That only done thus and so ; and the merchant at his desk, the lawyer in the forura, the preacher in his study, and the schoolboy in his pinafore pointed out the mistakes of the generals, and showed how easily they might have pierced the center or doubled up the flanks, and bagged the entire Confederate army on each and every occasion, when the soldiers who were on the ground were unable to accora plish that very desirable result. The great trouble was that these suggestions were in the nature of a post mortem, which, while it may benefit science, is of sraall importance to the corpse. His first efforts were directed toward weeding out in efficient officers, and several hundred were sent to their homes. Regiments were formed into brigades and brig ades into divisions. As few officers at that time were competent to command a greater force than a division, the organization of corps Avas deferred until later. In fact, he directed every detail necessary to perfect the complex machine Avhich Avas to remain practically intact until the close of the war. Nor did he overlook the importance of fortifications and intrenchments. It has been charged that McClellan depended too much upon the pick and the spade, but the country reaped the benefit of his foresight and skill as an engineer and digger when Early's entrance into Wash ington was barred only by the magnificent line of fortifi cations which were built by McClellan's orders and under his supervision. Later, our troops profited in every engagement by iraprovised defenses of earth, stone, rails and trees, and never lost an opportunity to work like beavers and dig like raoles when in the presence of a wily, skillful, brave and powerful foe. A great marshal of France once said that " Whoever has committed no faults has never made war," and it is not claimed by any one that McClellan Avas infallible ; but subsequent history proved that his plans, in their general characteristics, were the best, and especially the plan which made the James River the base for the approach to and final cap ture of Richmond. It is true that the second great com mander chose the land route, but his faraous and persistent march by the left flank finally brought him to the Jaraes with the loss of a greater number than General McClellan had under his command at any time on the Peninsula. Grant had the men, and the hammering process was con sidered sufficiently disastrous to the Confederate army to justify our sacrifice ; for it was said that at that time the South had already robbed the cradle and the grave to fill its depleted ranks. About one point there has never been any dispute. When McClellan left Alexandria for the Peninsula, the army of McDowell, near Fred ericksburg, some forty thousand men, was under his command and was expected to co-operate with him. But his force was scarcely landed at Yorktown before the authorities at the Capital withdrew that force from McClellan's control, lest by uncovering Washington the Confederates might raake a dash and capture it. It was not until Grant took suprerae comraand, with the positive assurance frora President Lincoln that he would not be interfered with by the civil authorities, that they learned the truth of McClellan's statement that the place to pro tect and defend Washington was in front of Richmond. His original plan, known as the Anaconda plan, was the plan adopted by his imraortal successor as general-in- chief, and indeed the only rational plan by which to con quer over so vast a territory. It was undoubtedly McClellan's purpose to attack the Array of Northern Virginia at Manassas, and to atterapt the capture of Richmond by the land route. The long delay in front of Manassas aroused much dissatisfaction, but the impracticability of following an enemy through one hundred miles in his own territory, and keeping up coramunication with a base of supplies, asserted itself. McClellan thereupon surprised the country by quietly transferring his entire array to a new base on the Jaraes River, thus compelling the Confederates to return to the protection of their menaced Capital. The withdrawal of McDowell's force frora active co-operation was a serious blow. But the advance up the Peninsula was made. Yorktown was evacuated, Williamsburg was won, and soon the Union forces were encamped in sight of the spires of Richmond. There is not space here to give the movements and engagements in detail. The unchecked advance, the subsequent reverses, the skillful retreats, with the magnificent battle of Fair Oaks, and the terrific repulse of the enemy at Malvern Hill, which are araong the raost noted engagements of the war, can receive but passing mention here. At Fair Oaks the enemy lost their leader — Johnston — and seven thousand men, while our loss was but five thousand, and it was learned subse quently that the people of Richmond moraentarily awaited the tramp of our forces in the streets of their Capital ; and had our own army, after its terrible struggle of seven days' continuous fighting, been reinforced and thus en abled to assume the offensive, it could even then have marched into that stronghold. In the carapaign, our loss was a little over fifteen thousand, while the Confederate loss was over nineteen thousand. Victory was on the side of the Confederates, for the siege of Richmond was raised, but the ¦morale of our army was not destroyed, or its confidence in its leader shaken. Had the array been then reinforced, even if placed under another leader, it is asserted by soldiers of acknowledged Avisdora and experi ence, that ultiraate success would have been reached within a year — sorae say six months. Says Swinton, in summing up the results of the campaign : '' For the cora- mander to have extricated his army from a difficult situ ation, in which circurastances quite as much as his own fault had placed it, and in presence of a powerful, skillful and determined adversary, to have transferred it to a position whence it could act Avith effect, was of itself a notable achievement. For the army to have fought through such a campaign was creditable, and its close found inexperienced troops transformed into veteran soldiers ; and, if alone from the appeal which great suffer ing and great sacrifices ahvays make to a generous people, the story of that eventful march and arduous retreat, Avhen, weary and hungry and footsore, the army marched by night and fought by day through a whole week of toil and never gave up, but made a good fight and reached the goal, cannot fail to live in grateful reraerabrance." The authorities at Washington, deeraing further efforts on the Peninsula useless, withdrew the army, leaving McClellan practically without a command. A new com mander was called from the West to lead the discomfited but not dispirited forces. I was on duty in the defenses south of Washington Avhen General Pope fought and lost the second battle of Bull Run. Only those who were present can realize the consternation, amounting almost to panic, which existed in that city Avhen the stragglers from that army, hatless, shoeless and ragged, SAvarmed by thousands in the streets of the Capital. It Avas the darkest period in the history of the war. Deraoralization ran riot, and the authorities were wild with excitement and fear. All eyes were turned toward the little coraraander whose army had but recently been taken from him. Had he been less a man and a patriot, he would have rejected the offer to resume command of his army ; but he did not. His reassignment acted like magic. Immediately out of chaos came order; the nation once more breathed freely, and courage took the place of despair. Active traitors, cowards and mal contents who had been stirring up sedition and opposition in the rear, and who were more dangerous to the safety of the Union than the open and avowed enemies with arras in their hands, were again cowed and dared not carry on their scheraes for dissolution in the light of day. With scarce two weeks to equip and rehabilitate a dis pirited army, he met the exultant enemy at Antietam, and defeated and drove them across the Potomac. He has been censured for not following up this victory, and so was the gallant Meade because he did not capture or drive the enemy into the river after the grand repulse at Gettysburg. On both occasions the great and glorious Array of the Potomac had been sorely pressed by three days of raost terrible fighting, and the commanders, uninformed of the demoralization of their foes, were un willing to risk a pursuit which they feared might deprive them of the immeasurable benefit of their victories. But both had accomplished great results : they had driven back the invaders of the North and saved the nation. The enemy crossed the Potomac, and sought rest in the Shenandoah Valley. Of the seventy thousand men with which Lee entered Maryland, thirty thousand were killed, wounded or prisoners of war. The invasion had utterly failed of its purpose in rallying Marylanders to the Confederate standard, for the people were apathetic, and, instead of receiving a welcome as friends, they found themselves under the disadvantage, which confronted our troops almost always during the war, of campaigning in an enemy's country. After a month spent in replen ishing supplies and putting the army in condition for an advance, McClellan, by a skillfully concealed movement, reached Warrenton, corapletely severing the Confederate array, a part of which had been detached to Culpeper, while the rest reraained in the Shenandoah Valley. Here was McClellan's opportunity, and it was his purpose to fall upon each wing and beat it in detail, when the order came from Washington relieving hira frora the coramand of the army. The order was summary and brief : " By direction of the President of the United States, it is ordered that Major-General McClellan be relieved from the comraand of the Array of the Potoraac, and that Major- General Burnside take comraand of that army." No -M.ajor-Gkxer.al a. E, IUr.\side, U. S. A. reason was assigned, and the order fell like a thunderbolt upon the troops, who loved this commander as they never loved one before or after. The scene was raeraorable, and characteristic of the man. It is related that Burnside was in McClellan's tent when the order was received. McClellan opened the dispatch, and reading it, passed it quickly and Avithout any manifestation of emotion to Burnside, saying: "Well, Burnside, you are to command the army." Burnside, who felt his inability and shrank from the responsibility, was almost overcome with emo tion. But I have not space to prolong the intervicAv. McClellan withdrew in a few days, and his active career as a soldier was ended. Of this sudden and arbitrary removal Swinton, in his history of the Array of the Potoraac, says : " Having accoraplished his work of ex pelling Lee from Maryland, he entered, after a brief repose, on a new campaign of invasion, and it was in the raidst of this and on the eve of a decisive blow that he Avas suddenly removed. The moraent chosen was an in opportune and ungracious one, for never had McClellan acted with such vigor and rapidity, never had he shown so much confidence in himself or the army in hira. And it is a notable fact that not only was the whole body ot the array, rank and file as well as officers, enthusiastic in their affection for his person, but that the very general appointed as his successor was the strongest opponent ot his reraoval." •gGeneral Burnside reluctantly assumed comniand, and after reraaining ten days at Warrenton formed the six corps of the Army into three grand divisions of two corps each, placing the right, the center and the left grand divi sions under Generals Sumner, Hooker and Franklin respectively. In spite of the opposition of the authorities at Washington, General Burnside changed the line of maneuver and on Noveraber 15, 1862, moved toward Fredericksburg. On the 17 the advance reached Fal mouth, and the army in a iew days took up a position on the north side of the Rappahannock. On the i ith and 1 2th of December the troops crossed over, and on the 1 3th coramenced the disastrous battle of Fredericksburg. The Confederates were fully prepared, the character of the ground being most favorable to the defense. The action of that day was sufficiently convincing to the prin cipal corps and division comraanders of the necessity of recrossing the river, but Burnside determined to renew the conflict on the following day. Preparations were accordingly made, but, yielding to the entreaties of Suraner, Burnside desisted. The troops reraained in position on the 14th and 15th, and on the night of the ISth, in a violent storm, they retreated to their camps on the north side of the Rappahannock, corapletely outwit ting Lee, who still awaited a renewal of the onslaught. The Array of the Potoraac lost twelve thousand, three hundred, in killed, wounded and missing, and the Array of Northern Virginia five thousand, three hundred and nine. This battle has been fitly described as the " most bloody and the most useless of the war." On the 19th of January, 1863, Burnside essayed another crossing above Fredericksburg, but a heavy rain came on, and the celebrated abortive " mud march " was aban doned. No other movement of iraportance was or could be made under Burnside, in whose ability to command so large a force the army had lost confidence. Both Generals Franklin and Smith wrote the President advising against the advance to Richmond by that route and recoraraend ing a return to the Peninsula. President Lincoln, while refusing to accept this suggestion, relieved the situation by retiring Burnside and placing General Joseph Hooker in coramand. It is notable that Burnside never lost the respect and affection of the army, and his subsequent career served to endear him still more closely to his troops and to the country. Hooker had gained a great reputation as a corps com mander, and much was hoped for. The array at this tirae numbered about 120,000 artillery and infantry, 12,000 cavalry and 400 guns. It comprised seven corps — the First (General Reynolds), Second (General Couch), Third (General Sickles), Fifth (General Meade), Sixth (General 13 Sedgwick), Eleventh (General Howard), and Twelfth (General Slocura). The reorganization left out several most valuable officers whose loss was greatly felt and de plored. Hooker awaited the return of good roads and better fighting conditions, and on the 27th of April the moveraent began Avhich culminated in the bloody and disastrous defeat at Chancellorsville. Concerning this, I shall not enter into particulars, but will commend the in quirer to the published account of Colonel A. C. Haralin, who has made an exhaustive examination and study of this field and conflict. His Avork will serve, to sorae ex tent, at least, to set at rest many disputes, and in the minds ot some, at least, to place the blame for the failure of this brilliantly planned but badly executed battle where it properly belongs. The death of Stonewall Jackson was an irreparable loss to the Confederate army, and from this tirae on the cause of the South began to wane. The array, not knowing why it was beaten, was again on the north side of the Rappahannock, strong in its abil ity to overcome the rebellion, but distrustful of its leader. Flushed with victory, Lee took up the offensive and de termined to carry the war again across the border. Hooker had no alternative but to follow him on interior lines and endeavor to head him off. There Avere spirited cavalry engagements at Beverly's Ford, Brandy Station and Aldie, in which the cavalry showed their mettle and developed Lee's intentions. The Confederate force pushed along into Maryland and Pennsylvania, its ad vance raiders levying contributions on York, and threat ening the capital of the Keystone State. Hooker finding hiraself embarrassed by the refusal of General Halleck to coraply Avith his request for more troops and the evacua tion of Harper's Ferry, asked to be relieved on the 27th of June, and on the following morning General Meade was placed in command. He at once commenced to con centrate the army to meet Lee, and the various move raents finally brought the two great forces face to face at Gettysburg. Here the war reached high-water mark. After three days of desperate fighting, a new emphasis 14 was given to the nation's birthday, for the 4th of July found the beaten Confederates in full retreat, no more to return to Northern soil, except as peaceful citizens of a redeeraed and reunited nation. Gettysburg was the Confederate Waterloo. With the coincident fall of Vicksburg and the cutting of the Con- federac}- in twain, all hope of success through foreign recognition or other means Avas dashed. Lee retired to the Shenandoah Valley, followed by Meade, and after various diversions attended with uniraportant results, the victorious Army of the Potomac drove the enemy across the Rapidan and took up a position at and near Culpeper Court House, on the north side of the river. The Elev enth and Twelfth Corps were detached and sent to Ten nessee. Various strategic movements were undertaken by Lee, but no general engagement was brought on, though the affair at Bristol would have been so considered earlier in the war. There was a handsome brush also at Rappahannock Station, where the Confederates lost 1,500 prisoners, four guns and eight standards, and an unsuc cessful attack at Mine Run. The army then went into winter quarters at Culpeper, the cavalry keeping off ennui by two raids, in one of which (a reckless attempt to enter Richmond and release Union prisoners) the brave Colonel Dahlgren lost his life. On the 2d of March General Grant was confirraed as lieutenant-general and on the loth he was assigned to the command of all the armies of the United States. He at once went to General Meade's headquarters, and after due consideration concluded to remain in the field with the Army of the Potomac. It then comprised three corps, the First under General Hancock, the Fifth under Gen eral Warren and the Sixth under General Sedgwick, to which was added the Ninth Corps under General Burn side, but recently returned from East Tennessee. General Sheridan was transferred from the West to command the cavalry, General H. J. Hunt was chief of artillery. Major J. C. Duane chief engineer, and General Rufus Ingalls chief quartermaster. The division commanders were: IS of the Second Corps, Barlow, Gibbon, Birney and Mott ; of the Fifth Corps, Griffin, Robinson, Cravvford and Wadsworth ; of the Sixth Corps, Wright, Getty and Rieketts ; of the Ninth Corps, Stevenson, Potter, Willcox and Ferrero ; of the cavalry, Torbert, Gregg and Wilson. The comraand numbered about 140,000 available men. On the 3d of May the most bloody of all the carapaigns of the war was inaugurated. The movement by the left flank is immortalized in song and story, and the epigram matic sentence of Grant, " We will fight it out on this line if it takes all suramer," takes position alongside of the sententious " Veni! Vidi J Vici!" of Ceesar. The battle of the Wilderness, May 5 to 7, was a drawn battle. Our loss Avas 15,000 and that of the Confederates about 8,000. His greatly superior force, however, enabled Grant to push on. At Spottsylvania there was another terrific en gagement, regarded by careful historians as the fiercest and most sanguinary of the whole war. The breastworks on both sides Avere frequently lost and retaken. After twenty hours of fighting, Lee withdrew and reformed his lines. Our loss was about 8,000, and that of the Confed erates, who carae out from behind their entrenchments, was probably equally as great. Here the noble Sedgwick fell. Efforts, however, to dislodge the enemy, after ten days' maneuvering, proving fruitless. Grant again took up the line of march. Forty thousand men had fallen, and the outlook was not encouraging. Sheridan with the cavalry had gone on a raid, and succeeded in defeating the Confederate cavalry at YelloAv Tavern, killing General J. E. B. Stuart, the ablest cavalry leader in the Southern armies. Co-operative raoveraents were also going on in the Shenandoah Valley and at Bermuda Hundred, but all eyes Avere turned upon the Army of the Potomac. Grant crossed the North Anna, but finding that route impracti cable, recrossed and passed on across