The Unheeded Warning.
Here we see Catlett's Station, on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad, which
Stuart's cavalry seized in a night sortie on August 22, 1862.
The damage done was not severe.
Stuart was unable to burn the loaded wagon-trains surrounding the station and had to content himself with capturing horses, which he mounted with wounded Federal soldiers; he escaped at four the next morning, driven off by the approach of a superior force.
Pope, at the time, was in possession of the fords of the
Rappahannock, trying to check the
Confederate advance toward the
Shenandoah.
Stuart's raid, however, so alarmed
General Halleck that he immediately telegraphed
Pope from
Washington: “By no means expose your railroad communication with
Alexandria.
It is of the utmost importance in sending your supplies and reinforcements.”
Pope did not fall back upon his railroad communication, however, until after
Jackson had seized
Manassas Junction.
At
Manassas Junction, as it appeared in the upper picture on August 26, 1862, is one of the great neglected strategic points in the theater of the war. Twenty-five miles from
Alexandria and thirty miles in a direct line from
Washington, it was almost within long cannon-shot less battles of
Bull Run.
It was Valley and beyond the
Blue Ridge, through Manassas Gap.
The Confederates knew its value, and after the
first battle of Bull Run built the fortifications which we see in the upper picture, to the left beyond the supply-cars on the railroad.
Pope, after the
battle of Cedar Mountain, should have covered it, extending his lines so as to protect it from
Jackson's incursion through Thoroughfare Gap; instead he held the main force of his army opposing that of
Lee.
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The unheeded warning |
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