Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

It will be observed that this modification merely requires the General commanding in the Department of the West "to conform with, and not to transcend, the provisions" of the Confiscation Act in regard to the slaves of Rebels; in other words, it merely required obedience to the law. At the present time, in view of what the President has since done, as Commander-inchief of the Army, as well as of his sentiments on Slavery clearly set forth, previously, on all proper occasions, no word is. needed to prevent misapprehension as to this Executive order.

By a timely movement, anticipating the contemplated advance of Gen. Polk from Hickman and Columbus, Gen. Grant, of Fremont's command, on the 6th of September, occupied Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee river-a position virtually flanking that of the Rebel forces on the Mississippi, in Kentucky. Com. A. H. Foote had been ordered, a few days previously, (August 26,) to the command of the naval forces on the Western waters. Price and Jackson were actively engaged in endeavoring to raise a formidable army, and to overrun the State. Their attack on our forces at Lexington had terminated in the surrender of Col. Mulligan and the men under him at that place, on the 12th of September. Fremont at length prepared to take the field in person against the insurgents, in Southwestern Missouri. He collected all the troops which he regarded as properly available for the purpose, and, leaving Jefferson City for Sedalia, on the 8th of October seemed to be energetically commencing a campaign which many thought to have been quite too long deferred. Price's force gradually fell back once more before the National columns, and were finally reported to be preparing to give battle near Springfield. Here Fremont, who was apparently on the point of engaging the enemy, was overtaken by the order relieving him from his command. He was temporarily succeeded by Gen. Hunter, who soon handed over the command to Gen. Halleck.

Gen. Fremont had been created a Major General by the voluntary action of President Lincoln, from a conviction of the fitness of such appointment. When assigned to the command of the Army of the West he was received in that quarter with

general enthusiasm, despite the seeming tardiness with which he entered on his work. Of the charges made against him, and of the grounds which seemed to make a change in the command advisable, it is enough to say here that they did not so far influence the mind of Mr. Lincoln against Gen. Fremont, as to prevent his subsequently assigning him a high military The President's action was then, and still may be, to some extent, misconstrued; but no candid person, with the facts before him, will question that honorable and patriotic motives led to an order which was, on mere personal considerations, reluctantly given.

trust.

Under Gen. Hunter, our forces retreated without a battle, and the Rebel hordes again advanced over the already devastated country beyond and around Springfield. It was at the latter place, which had been speedily reoccupied by Price, that, on the 25th of October, Fremont's body guard, of three hundred mounted men, under Maj. Zagonyi, charged upon and routed two thousand Rebels, drawn up in line of battle, dispersed them pell-mell, and retired without serious loss-a deed of heroic daring unsurpassed in any war.

In West Virginia, after the departure of McClellan, our army found its labors by no means so completely terminated as that officer had supposed at the date of his glowing dispatch, announcing the victory at Rich Mountain. On the contrary, serious work was still to be done, and there were active enemies to meet, not only under such Brigadiers as Floyd and Wise, but also under Gen. Robert E. Lee. The well-planned schemes of all these Rebel leaders for subjugating the loyal people of that section were foiled by Gen. Rosecrans, but not without his utmost vigilance, and only after labors, hardships and battles, which were by no means unimportant in comparison with those of the earlier summer. On the 10th of September, Floyd was beaten in the battle of Carnifex Ferry, while Lee's attempt to lead a force through Greenbriar County to coöperate in crushing the Ohio forces, which had advanced up the Kanawha and the Gauley, ended at Big Sewell Mountain, in utter failure. It was only on the sudden and final retreat of Floyd, from Gauley Bridge, eluding the grasp of Gen. Benham, to the disappoint

ment of Rosecrans, that, on the 20th of November, West Virginia was substantially freed from armed Rebels, and the campaign in that quarter ended.

During the progress of these events, of the autumn of 1861, two expeditions were in preparation, one under the command of Gen. Butler, and the other under Gen. Burnside. These expeditions, undertaken against the persistent opposition of McClellan, were regarded with interest and hope by the people, who were becoming wearied with the long inaction of the Army of the Potomac, in the presence of an enemy notoriously much inferior in numbers. The fine condition of the roads and the pleasant weather seemed to invite the long-delayed and long-expected advance, which the public had again and again been led to believe, by intimations from headquarters, was about to be commenced. One, at least, of the expeditions. named, was for a time believed to be intended to aid McClellan's promised movement, by ascending the Rappahannock or otherwise. Without the slightest detriment, twenty thousand men might have been spared for such a purpose from the already too cumbersome army near Washington. Yet so little did this suit the policy of the commanding General, in whom there was still confidence, that the forces for Butler and Burnside were raised elsewhere, and they were so delayed, in consequence, as in part to thwart their original purpose, and to impair their effectiveness. That under Gen. Butler, acting jointly with a naval force under Com. Stringham, took possession of the Hatteras forts on the 29th of August. The Rebel commandant, Barron, formerly of the United States Navy, after enduring a severe cannonade from the fleet, surrendered the position, with the officers and soldiers under him. This intelligence was received by the country with lively satisfaction, at a time when some reassuring success was specially needed.

In the month of August the Rebels had occupied Munson's Hill, in full view of the capital, and six or seven miles distant in a right line. The force thus advanced was not formidable, and the character of the works thrown up there, as discovered on the voluntary withdrawal of the occupants, clearly showed that their purpose was not serious. They held this position

until the 28th of September, on which day a foraging party went out eight miles on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad, without encountering any enemy, or finding any definite trace of his previous presence in that direction. The prompt occupation of Munson's Hill, after its evacuation, by a force which McClellan, with his staff, had accompanied in person, electrified the people with the hope of some decisive action, on the part of the new commander. He shortly returned to Washington, however, and nearly another month passed before there were again visible symptoms of vitality-beyond that of military reviews and rhetorical army orders, or occasional reconnoissances, magnified by admiring correspondents-in the Army of the Potomac.

The movement of Oct. 21st, resulting in the well-known affair at Ball's Bluff, was scarcely less disastrous in its effects than the failure at Bull Run on the 21st of July. Coming after such complete and thorough preparation; following such manifold and inexcusable delays; and transpiring as the first of the weighty manifestations of McClellan's generalship, the consequence could only be mortification to the Administration, and discouragement, mingled with indignation, to the country at large. In this ill-starred fight fell Col. E. D. Baker, of Mexican War fame, the eloquent Senator from Oregon. The loss on our side was officially stated as 150 killed or drowned, 250 wounded, and 500 prisoners. The whole force engaged was given as 2,100. The rebel Gen. Evans, commanding on the other side, states his own loss in killed and wounded as 153. He estimates the Union loss at 1,300 killed, wounded and drowned, and asserts that 710 prisoners were captured, making a total of over 2,000, nearly equal to the whole number actively engaged. This exaggerated claim was not needed. to show the destructive character of the engagement. In his general order on this occasion, dated Oct. 25, McClellan gave this version of the disaster:

The gallantry and discipline there displayed deserved a more fortunate result; but situated as these troops were cut off alike from retreat and reënforcements, and attacked by an overwhelming force-five thousand against one thousand seven

hundred-it was not possible that the issue could have been successful.

The fact that Gen. McCall's division was almost simultaneously withdrawn by Gen. McClellan from a position effectually within supporting distance on the Virginia side of the river, instead of being advanced to coöperate in the movement on Leesburg, has not been satisfactorily explained. It is fair to presume, however, that there was no more culpable motive for this than a desire for the presence of McCall's troops at a grand review which was progressing near Lewinsville, while Col. Baker and his men were pushed forward into the jaws of destruction.

With the light thrown on this affair by subsequent investigations, it may well be doubted whether the President should not have viewed this result, after three months of wearisome and unaccountable inaction, as sufficient cause for withdrawing all further confidence from the commanding General. For the time, however, it was made to appear that the blame should rest elsewhere, and Gen. C. P. Stone, the subordinate in the field, became the scapegoat for his superior.

Despite the popular impatience, and all the circumstances favoring prompt action, nothing more was attempted by the commander of the Army of the Potomac-scarcely so much as a picket skirmish disturbed the general stagnation during those calm, dry days-for the next two months.

To Gen. Scott's generous appreciation, perhaps, more than to any other circumstance, was due the confidence extended by President Lincoln, at the outset, to Gen. McClellan, unknown as he was to almost every one else at Washington. His affiliations had formerly been with another class of public men, the principal of whom were now actively engaged in rebellion. With Jefferson Davis in particular, he seems to have been a youthful favorite, as his selection for a place on the Crimean Commission attests. Gen. Scott had formed a favorable opinion of the young Lieutenant in Mexico, and had very essentially aided in securing him credit with the present Administration. Of his subsequent deportment toward Gen. Scott,

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »