The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government Volume II Part 13

General Lee was not a man of hesitation, and they have mistaken his character who suppose caution was his vice. He was p.r.o.ne to attack, and not slow to press an advantage when he gained it. Longstreet and Jackson were ordered to advance, but a violent storm which prevailed throughout the day greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded their progress. The enemy, hara.s.sed and closely followed by the cavalry, succeeded in gaining Westover, on the James River, and the protection of his gunboats. His position was one of great natural and artificial strength, after the heights were occupied and intrenched. It was flanked on each side by a creek, and the approach in front was commanded by the heavy guns of his s.h.i.+pping, as well as by those mounted in his intrenchments. Under these circ.u.mstances it was deemed inexpedient to attack him; and, in view of the condition of our troops, who had been marching and fighting almost incessantly for seven days, under the most trying circ.u.mstances, it was determined to withdraw, in order to afford to them the repose of which they stood so much in need.

Several days were spent in collecting arms and other property abandoned by the enemy, and, in the mean time, some artillery and cavalry were sent below Westover to annoy his transports. On July 8th our army returned to the vicinity of Richmond.

Under ordinary circ.u.mstances the army of the enemy should have been destroyed. Its escape was due to the causes already stated. Prominent among these was the want of correct and timely information. This fact, together with the character of the country, enabled General McClellan skillfully to conceal his retreat, and to add much to the obstructions with which nature had beset the way of our pursuing columns. We had, however, effected our main purpose. The siege of Richmond was raised, and the object of a campaign which had been prosecuted after months of preparation, at an enormous expenditure of men and money, was completely frustrated.[42]

More than ten thousand prisoners, including officers of rank, fifty-two pieces of artillery, and upward of thirty-five thousand stand of small-arms were captured. The stores and supplies of every description which fell into our hands were great in amount and value, but small in comparison with those destroyed by the enemy. His losses in battle exceeded our own, as attested by the thousands of dead and wounded left on every field, while his subsequent inaction shows in what condition the survivors reached the protection of the gunboats.

In the archive office of the War Department in Was.h.i.+ngton there are on file some of the field and monthly returns of the strength of the Army of Northern Virginia. These are the original papers which were taken from Richmond. They furnish an accurate statement of the number of men in that army at the periods named. They were not made public at the time, as I did not think it to be judicious to inform the enemy of the numerical weakness of our forces. The following statements have been taken from those papers by Major Walter H.

Taylor, of the staff of General Lee, who supervised for several years the preparation of the original returns.

A statement of the strength of the troops under General Johnston shows that on May 21, 1862, he had present for duty as follows:

Smith's division, consisting of the brigades of Whiting, Hood, Hampton, Hatton, and Pettigrew ... ... ... ... 10,592

Longstreet's division, consisting of the brigades of A. P.

Hill, Pickett, R. H. Anderson, Wilson, Colston, and Pryor . . 13,816

Magruder's division, consisting of the brigades of McLaws, Kershaw, Griffith, Cobb, Toombs, and D. R. Jones ... ... 15,680

D. H. Hill's division, consisting of the brigades of Early, Rodes, Raines, Featherston, and the commands of Colonels Ward and Crump ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . . 11,151

Cavalry brigade ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . . 1,289

Reserve artillery ... ... ... ... ... ... ... . 1,160 ------ Total effective men ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 53,688

Statement of the Strength of the Army Commanded by General R. E. Lee on July 20, 1862.

Department of Northern Virginia ... ... . . Present for Duty and North Carolina Officers Enlisted men Department of North Carolina ... ... . . 722 ... . 11,509 Longstreet's division ... ... ... ... 557 ... . 7,929 D. H. Hill's division ... ... ... ... 550 ... . 8,998 McLaws's division ... ... ... ... . . 514 ... . 7,188 A. P. Hill's division ... ... ... ... 519 ... . 10,104 Anderson's division ... ... ... ... . 357 ... . 5,760 D. R. Jones's division ... ... ... . . 213 ... . 3,500 Whiting's division ... ... ... ... . 252 ... . 3,600 Stuart's cavalry ... ... ... ... . . 295 ... . 3,740 Pendleton's artillery ... ... ... ... 103 ... . 1,716 Rhett's artillery ... ... ... ... . . 78 ... . 1,355 ----- ------ Total, including Department of North Carolina 4,160 ... 65,399

Army of Northern Virginia, September 22, 1862.

Present for Duty Officers Enlisted men Longstreet's command ... ... ... ... 1,410 ... 19,001 Jackson's command: D. H. Hill's division ... ... ... . . 310 ... . 4,739 A. P. Hill's division ... ... ... . . 318 ... . 4,435 Ewell's division ... ... ... ... . 280 ... . 3,144 Jackson's division ... ... ... ... 183 ... . 2,367 ----- ----- Total ... ... ... ... ... ... . . 2,501 ... 33,686

Army of Northern Virginia, September 30, 1862.

Present for Duty Officers Enlisted men

Longstreet's command ... ... ... ... 1,927 ... 26,489 Jackson's command ... ... ... ... . . 1,629 ... 21,728 Reserve artillery ... ... ... ... . . 50 ... 716 ----- ------ Total[43] ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,606 ... 48,933

Major Taylor, in his work,[44] states:

"In addition to the troops above enumerated as the strength of General Johnston on May 21, 1862, there were two brigades subject to his orders then stationed in the vicinity of Hanover Junction, one under the command of General Branch; they were subsequently incorporated into the division of General A. P. Hill, and partic.i.p.ated in the battles around Richmond."

He has no official data by which to determine their numbers, but, from careful estimates and conference with General Anderson, he estimates the strength of the two at 4,000 effective.

Subsequent to the date of the return of the army around Richmond, heretofore given, but previous to the battle of Seven Pines, General Johnston was reenforced by General Huger's division of three brigades. The total strength of these three brigades, according to the "Reports of the Operations of the Army of Northern Virginia," was 5,008 effectives. Taylor says:

"If the strength of these five be added to the return of May 21st, we shall have sixty-two thousand six hundred and ninety-six (62,696) as the effective strength of the army under General Johnston on May 31, 1862.

"Deduct the losses sustained in the battle of Seven Pines as shown by the official reports of casualties, say 6,084, and we have 56,612 as the effective strength of the army when General Lee a.s.sumed command."

There have been various attempts made to point out the advantage which might have been obtained if General Lee, in succeeding to the command, had renewed on the 1st of June the unfinished battle of the 31st of May; and the representation that he commenced his campaign, known as the "Seven Days' Battles," only after he had collected a great army, instead of moving with a force not greatly superior to that which his predecessor had, has led to the full exposition of all the facts bearing upon the case. In the "Southern Historical Society Papers," June, 1876, is published an extract from an address of Colonel Charles Marshall, secretary and aide-de-camp to General R. E.

Lee, before the Virginia Division of the Army of Northern Virginia.

In it Colonel Marshall quotes General J. E. Johnston as saying:

"General Lee did not attack the enemy until the 26th of June, because he was employed from the 1st until then in forming a great army by bringing to that which I had commanded 15,000 men from North Carolina under Major-General Holmes, 22,000 men from South Carolina and Georgia, and above 16,000 men from the 'Valley,' in the divisions of Jackson and Ewell," etc.

These numbers added together make 53,000. Colonel Marshall then proceeds, from official reports, to show that all these numbers were exaggerated, and that one brigade, spoken of as seven thousand strong--that of General Drayton--was not known to be in the Army of Virginia until after the "seven days," and that another brigade, of which General Johnston admitted he did not know the strength, Colonel Marshall thought it safer to refer to as the "unknown brigade,"

which, he suggests, may have been "a small command under General Evans, of South Carolina, who did not join the army until after it moved from Richmond."

General Holmes's report, made July 15, 1862, states that on the 29th of June he brought his command to the north side of the James River, and was joined by General Wise's brigade. With this addition, his force amounted to 6,000 infantry and six batteries of artillery.

General Ransom's brigade had been transferred from the division of General Holmes to that of General Huger a short time before General Holmes was ordered to join General Lee. The brigade of General Branch had been detached at an earlier period; it was on duty near to Hanover Junction, and under the command of General J. E. Johnston before the battle of Seven Pines. These facts are mentioned to account for the small size of General Holmes's division, which had been reduced to two brigades. Ripley's brigade on the 26th of June was reported to have an aggregate force of 2,366, including pioneers and the ambulance corps. General Lawton's brigade, when moving up from Georgia to Richmond, was ordered to change direction, and join General Jackson in the Valley. He subsequently came down with General Jackson, and reports the force which he led into the battle of Cold Harbor, on the 27th of June, 1862, as 3,500 men.

General Lee, after the battle of Seven Pines, had sent two large brigades under General Whiting to cooperate with General Jackson in the Valley, and to return with him, according to instructions furnished. These brigades were in the battle of Seven Pines, and were counted in the force of the army when General Lee took command of it.

Lawton's Georgia brigade, as has been stated, was diverted from its destination for a like temporary service, and is accounted for as reenforcements brought from the south. These three brigades, though coming with Jackson and Ewell, were not a part of their divisions, and, if their numbers are made to swell the force which Jackson brought, they should be elsewhere subtracted.

General J. A. Early, in the same number of the "Historical Society Papers," in a letter addressed to General J. E. Johnston, February 4, 1875, makes an exhaustive examination from official reports, and applies various methods of computation to the question at issue.

Among other facts, he states:

"Drayton's brigade did not come to Virginia until after the battles around Richmond. It was composed of the Fifteenth South Carolina and the Fiftieth and Fifty-first Georgia Regiments and Third South Carolina Battalion. A part, if not all, of it was engaged in the fight at Secessionville, South Carolina, on the 16th of June, 1862.

Its first engagement in Virginia was on the Rappahannock, 25th of August, 1862. After Sharpsburg, it was so small that it was distributed among some other brigades in Longstreet's corps."

After minute inquiry, General Early concludes that "the whole command that came from the Valley, including the artillery, the regiment of cavalry, and the Maryland regiment and a battery, then known as 'The Maryland Line,' could not have exceeded 8,000 men." In this, General Early does not include either Lawton's brigade or the two brigades with Whiting, and reaches the conclusion that "the whole force received by General Lee was about 23,000--about 30,000 less than your estimate."

Taking the number given by General Early as the entire reenforcement received by General Lee after the battle of Seven Pines and before the commencement of the seven days' battles--which those who know his extreme accuracy and minuteness of inquiry will be quite ready to do--and deducting from the 23,000 the casualties in the battle of Seven Pines (6,084), we have 16,916; if to this be added whatever number of absentees may have joined the army in antic.i.p.ation of active operations, a number which I have no means of ascertaining, the result will be the whole increment to the army with which General Lee took the offensive against McClellan.

It appears from the official returns of the Army of the Potomac that on June 20th General McClellan had present for duty 115,102 men. It is stated that McClellan reached the James River with "between 85,000 and 90,000 men," and that his loss in the seven days' battles was 15,249; this would make the army 105,000 strong at the commencement of the battles.[45] Probably General Dix's corps of 9,277 men, stationed at Fortress Monroe, is not included in this last statement.

[Footnote 42: Reports of Generals Robert E. Lee, Pendleton, A. P. Hill, Huger, Alexander, and Major W. H. Taylor, in his "Four Years with Lee,"

have been drawn upon for the foregoing.]

[Footnote 43: No report of cavalry]

[Footnote 44: "Four Years with General Lee."]

[Footnote 45: Swinton's "History of the Army of the Potomac."]

CHAPTER XXV.

Forced Emanc.i.p.ation.--Purposes of the United States Government at the Commencement of 1862.--Subjugation or Extermination.--The Willing Aid of United States Congress.--Attempt to legislate the Subversion of our Social Inst.i.tutions.--Could adopt any Measure Self-Defense would justify.--Slavery the Cause of all Troubles, therefore must be removed.--Statements of President Lincoln's Inaugural.--Declaration of Sumner.--Abolition Legislation.--The Power based on Necessity.--Its Formula.--The System of Legislation devised.--Confiscation.--How permitted by the Law of Nations.-- Views of Wheaton; of J. Q. Adams; of Secretary Marcy; of Chief-Justice Marshall.--Nature of Confiscation and Proceedings.-- Compared with the Acts of the United States Congress.--Provisions of the Acts.--Five Thousand Millions of Property involved.--Another Feature of the Act.--Confiscates Property within Reach.--Procedure against Persons.--Held us as Enemies and Traitors.--Attacked us with the Instruments of War and Penalties of Munic.i.p.al Law.-- Emanc.i.p.ation to be secured.--Remarks of President Lincoln on signing the Bill.--Remarks of Mr. Adams compared.--Another Alarming Usurpation of Congress.--Argument for it.--No Limit to the War-Power of Congress; how maintained.--The Act to emanc.i.p.ate Slaves in the District of Columbia.--Compensation promised.--Remarks of President Lincoln.--The Right of Property violated.--Words of the Const.i.tution.--The Act to prohibit Slavery in the Territories.-The Act making an Additional Article of War.--All Officers forbidden to return Fugitives.--Words of the Const.i.tution.--The Powers of the Const.i.tution unchanged in Peace or War.--The Discharge of Fugitives commanded in the Confiscation Act.--Words of the Const.i.tution.

At the commencement of the year 1862 it was the purpose of the United States Government to a.s.sail us in every manner and at every point and with every engine of destruction which could be devised. The usual methods of civilized warfare consist in the destruction of an enemy's military power and the capture of his capital. These, however, formed only a small portion of the purposes of our enemy. If peace with fraternity and equality in the Union, under the Const.i.tution as interpreted by its framers, had been his aim, this was attainable without war; but, seeking supremacy at the cost of a revolution in the entire political structure, involving a subversion of the Const.i.tution, the subjection of the States, the submission of the people, and the establishment of a union under the sword, his efforts were all directed to subjugation or extermination. Thus, while the Executive was preparing immense armies, iron-clad fleets, and huge instruments of war, with which to invade our territory and destroy our citizens, the willing aid of an impatient, enraged Congress was invoked to usurp new powers, to legislate the subversion of our social inst.i.tutions, and to give the form of legality to the plunder of a frenzied soldiery.