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338

SEIZURE OF THE WELDON RAILWAY.

And now, after a loss of nearly ten thousand men, further attempts to take the Confederate lines by storm were abandoned for awhile. It was evident to the Lieutenant-General that the bulk of Lee's army was behind them, and he prepared for a regular siege of them. He at once began intrenching, and to extend his left in the direction of the Petersburg and Weldon railway, which he desired to seize, and thus envelop Petersburg

* June 21, 1864.

with his army. The corps of Hancock1 and Wright were moved stealthily to the left, for the purpose of turning the Confederate right; but when the former, moving in the advance, reached the Jerusalem plank road, between the Norfolk and Weldon railways, it was met by a Confederate force, and pushed back to a position where it connected with the Fifth Corps. On the following morning both

June 22.

corps (Second and Sixth) advanced together; and were maneuvering to turn the works, when a division of the command of A. P. Hill, who had been keenly watching the movements of the Nationals, suddenly projected itself between Wright and Birney's commands, and in rapid succession struck the flanks of the divisions of Barlow, Mott, and Gibbon, rolling them up and driving them back with heavy loss. Wright's corps was considerably shocked by a blow, at the same time, by another of Hill's divisions. Both corps soon recovered and re-formed, and a fierce attack on the brigade of the ever-gallant General Miles, of the Second, was repulsed. Meade came up at about that time, and just at sunset he ordered both corps to advance and retake what they had lost. Hill, unsupported, suddenly withdrew, carrying with him twenty-five hundred prisoners. Nearly all the lost ground was recovered.

On the following morning the Second and Sixth Corps again advanced, and reached the Weldon road without much opposition; but three regiments in the van had scarcely begun the destruction of the track, when they were suddenly attacked by a part of Hill's corps, and were driven back upon the main line with the loss of many of their number made prisoners. The Weldon road had now been reached; but the result of the movements thus far was little more than an extension of the Union line to the left, at a cost of about four thousand men, chiefly made captives.

Meanwhile, a cavalry expedition, eight thousand strong, under Generals Kautz and Wilson, had been sent out to operate upon the railways leading southward from Petersburg. The latter was in chief command. They destroyed the railway buildings at Reams's Station, ten miles south of Petersburg, and the track for a long distance, and then pushed on to the Southside railway at Ford's Station, fifteen miles from Petersburg, and destroyed it to Nottaway Station, over a space of twenty-two miles. There they fought and defeated a brigade of Virginia and North Carolina car alry, under Fitzhugh Lee. Kautz then pushed on to Burke's Station, at the junction of the Southside and Danville railways, tore up both roads, and, pushing southward along the latter, was joined by Wilson at Me

herrin Station. The united forces then destroyed the road to June 24. the Staunton River, when the rapid gathering of the armed and mounted men in that region caused them to turn back. They were com

1 Hancock was now disabled by the breaking out afresh of his wound received at Gettysburg, and General Birney was in temporary command of the Second Corps.

CONDITION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

339

to fight their way to Reams's Station, on the Weldon road, which xpected to find in the possession of the Nationals. On the contrary, valry of Hampton, and infantry under Mahone and Finnegan were in great strength. In attempting to force their lines, Wilson and were defeated with heavy loss, and with difficulty they made their ack to the army before Petersburg, with the men and horses of their y shattered columns nearly exhausted.1 No other raid in the rear of onfederates was undertaken for several months after the return of this It was too dangerous and expensive a service, under the circumstances, made profitable.

d now, after a sanguinary struggle for two months, both armies were 3 to have a little repose, and there was a lull in the active operations campaign, excepting what pertained to intrenching. The Union thus investing Petersburg, at which point Richmond, twenty miles t, was best defended, had lost, within eight or nine weeks, nearly sevhousand men. Re-enforcements had kept up its numbers, but not the

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y of its materials. Many veterans remained; but a vast portion of the was composed, if not of entirely raw troops, of those who had been disciplined, and in a great degree lacked the buoyant spirit of the early

the fight at Reams's Station, they lost their guns, a small train, and many men and horses. The Cons claimed to have captured 1,000 effective men, besides the wounded, 18 guns, and 80 wagons. Wilson ed his entire loss during the raid at between 750 and 1,000 men. Grant said, in his report, that the done to the enemy "more than compensated for the losses we sustained." The raiders destroyed about iles of railway, with mills, factories, and blacksmith shops. At Reams's Station, about 1,000 negroes, them mounted on horses "borrowed for the occasion," and following the Union cavalry, were captured Confederates. Many of these, Wilson reported, were slaughtered without mercy, and the remainder manded to slavery.

his shows the appearance of the pontoon bridge at Deep Bottom, with Butler's little dispatch-steamer, Found, lying just above it.

340

A LODGMENT AT DEEP BOттом.

Army of the Potomac, when led by McClellan and Hooker. It was now in front of a formidable line of redans, redoubts, and infantry parapets, with the outer defenses of abatis, stakes, and chevaux-de-frise, constructed by skillfullydirected labor. This line was nearly forty miles in length, extending from the left bank of the Appomattox, around the western side of Petersburg, and so on to and across the James, to the northeastern side of Richmond. To menace that line, and to keep the defenders within it, required an equally extended and strong line, and this was speedily provided. Re-enforcements swelled the weakened ranks of the Nationals, and strong works were cast up along the front of the whole Confederate line, from the Weldon road to the region of the Chickahominy.

On the night of the 20th of June, Butler, by one of his prompt movements, had thrown the brigade of General Foster across the James River at Deep Bottom, where he formed an intrenched camp; and this post, within ten miles of Richmond, was immediately connected with the army at Bermuda Hundred by a pontoon bridge, represented in the engraving on the preceding page. There Smith's (Eighteenth) corps was transferred to Bermuda Hundred, and thenceforth served with the Army of the James a greater part of the time during the siege. The lodgment of Foster, and the laying of the pontoon bridge at Deep Bottom, provided a way for Grant to move heavy masses quickly to the north side of the James, if desired. This advantage was perceived by Lee, who met it by laying a similar bridge across the river at Drewry's Bluff, by which he could make countervailing movements. By the close of July, a greater portion of that wonderful network of fortifications in front of Petersburg, which commanded the admiration of visitors, was nearly completed, and the Lieutenant-General was in a position to choose his method of warfare, whether by a direct assault, the slower process of a regular siege, or by heavy operations on the flanks of the Confederates.

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INVASION OF MARYLAND.

341

CHAPTER XIII.

[ON OF MARYLAND AND PENNSYLVANIA-OPERATIONS BEFORE PETERSBURG AND IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

T has been observed that the authorities at Washington feared a visit from Lee's troops when the Army of the Potomac should be placed on the south side of the James River.1 At about the time we are considering the midsummer of 1864– these fears were realized. Finding the pressure of his antagonist very severe, and the dangers to his army at and around

Richmond hourly increasing, Lee sought to avert impending hity by diverting so much of the Union army to some distant point, practically relieve Petersburg and Richmond of siege. That conlated point of diversion was the National Capital, the most feasible to which, by Confederate troops, seemed to be by the Shenandoah Valad across the Potomac into Maryland, taking it in reverse. Lee eagerly hed an opportunity for the movement. It was offered when Hunter from before Lynchburg into Western Virginia, with an exhausted and en army, and left the Shenandoah Valley, and its door opening into -land at Harper's Ferry, guarded only by a moderate force under Genegel, posted at Martinsburg.

eneral Early, in command of troops in the upper part of the Valley, directed by Lee to gather to his own all the troops in that region, and e rapidly to and across the Potomac into Maryland, with the threefold et, it appears, of drawing National troops from before Petersburg, prog supplies, and attempting the capture of Washington City. Early ly obeyed. With from 15,000 to 20,000 troops of all arms, he swept lly down the Valley toward Williamsport. Sigel, too weak sist the avalanche, fled into Maryland, with a heavy loss of -s, and General Weber, in command at Harper's Ferry, re

4

* July 3,

1864.

to Maryland Heights. Grant, meanwhile, had directed Hunter, who then on the Kanawha, to hasten to Harper's Ferry with all possible atch; but insuperable obstacles kept him back until it was too late to f essential service, and Early found no troops at hand to oppose his sion, except a few in the Middle Department, commanded by General is Wallace, whose head-quarters were at Baltimore.

Early crossed the river at Williamsport, accompanied by Bradley T. ason as commander of a brigade, and a notorious guerrilla leader named

4

1 See note 8, page 332.

2 See page 816.

Composed of two infantry corps, under Breckinridge and Rodes, a division of cavalry under Ransom, and
Datteries of artillery.
Sec page 416, volume I.

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Harry Gilmor,1 both bitter Maryland rebels, who now, as the chosen guides and assistants of the chief of the invaders, brought war with all its horrors to the doors of their neighbors and friends. Early pushed on July 6, to Hagerstown," where he 1864. levied a contribution on

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the inhabitants of $20,000, and then swept over the country toward the Pennsylvania line, plundering friend and foe alike of horses, cattle, provisions and money.

WEBER'S HEAD-QUARTERS, HARPER'S FERRY.

Vague rumors had reached General Wallace, at Baltimore, concerning the perils of Sigel. Then came positive information of the passage of the Potomac by the Confederates, and their raiding within the borders of General Couch's Department; and finally, on the 5th of July, he was informed that their movements indicated an intention to march upon Baltimore or Washington in heavy column. Finding his Department thus threatened, Wallace took measures for checking the invaders at the Monocacy River, with the few available troops under his - command. General E. B. Tyler, was then at the railway bridge over the Monocacy, with about one thousand men, and thither Wallace hastened, to ascertain, in person, the true state of affairs in that direction. Wild rumors were afloat, but no reliable information concerning the number or the whereabouts of the invaders could be obtained. He prepared for any emergency, and chose a commanding position on the east side of the Mo

5

1 This young man was a member of a respectable Maryland family. He entered the Confederate service as one of Turner Ashby's cavalry in the Shenandoah Valley, in the summer of 1861, and the field of his operations, as follower and leader, was chiefly in that and the mountain region around. After the war he, with an obtaseness of moral perceptions hardly to be conceived, published a confession of his crimes against his country, in a book with the title of Four Years in the Saddle. His excessive egotism is the most prominent feature of the book. and continually inspires the reader with just doubts concerning the truthfulness of his narratives of exploits of which he says he was the hero. In the raid into Maryland which we are now considering, this man was one of the chief instruments in distressing the inhabitants of his native State. He appears to have taken special delight, according to contemporary writers, in plundering and devastating expeditions; and, according to his own confession (see page 210), he was chosen by General M'Causland as the proper person for burning the city of Cham bersburg, in Pennsylvania. For a full account of the conduct of this man and his followers, at Chambersburg. see the narrative of the burning of that place, by the Reverend B. S. Schenck, D. D., who was an eye-witness.

This invasion produced great alarm, and caused the Government to issue an urgent call upon Pennsylvania. New York, and Massachusetts, for troops to meet it. The President called for 12,000 from Pennsylvania, and 5,000 each from New York and Massachusetts.

This spacious building, on the corner of Shenandoah and High Streets, in the village of Harper's Ferry, and belonging to the Government, was used as head-quarters by all of the commanding officers there, of both parties. during the war.

4 General Wallace assumed command of the Middle Department, consisting of Delaware and a portion of Maryland, on the 22d of March, 1864. That Department was then seemingly remote from danger, external and internal, and the entire number of available troops in it, and composed chiefly of Home Guards and One HEDdred days' men, did not much exceed 2,500. These were chiefly employed in garrisoning the forts and pris s in Maryland, and in co-operating with the troops in the Department of Washington, under General Aager. in guarding the fords of the Potomac as far up as Point of Rocks.

5 General Wallace left the direction of the affairs of the Department, at head-quarters, with Lieutenant-Coloni Samuel B. Lawrence, Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief-of-Staff. Fortunately, Wallace had assisted the Union League of Baltimore to organize for military service, and they reported promptly for duty. To General W. W Morris was assigned the command of the garrison of Baltimore, and General H. H. Lockwood, then in that city awaiting orders, was invited to take command of the civil forces. These two officers performed efficient service at that crisis,

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