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General James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, Chapter25: invasion of Pennsylvania. (search)
through the Valley, General Ewell took 4000 prisoners and small-arms, 25 cannon, 11 standards, 250 wagons, 400 horses, and large quantities of subsistence and quartermaster's stores, with a loss of 269 of all arms. He crossed the Potomac on the 15th, occupying Hagerstown and Sharpsburg, on the Maryland side, and sent the cavalry brigade, under Jenkins, north towards Chambersburg. By the plan of march from the Valley of Virginia the leading corps (Second) was to divide and cross the Potomac River at Williamsport and Shepherdstown, the column through Williamsport to march through Hagerstown and Chambersburg towards Harrisburg, collecting produce and supplies for the army, Imboden's cavalry on its left flank. The eastern column was to march through Sharpsburg, Emmitsburg, and Gettysburg towards the bridge over the Susquehanna River at Wrightsville, Jenkins's cavalry brigade working with the two columns. The Third Corps, passing behind the Blue Ridge, was to cross at Shepherdstown
General James Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox, Chapter28: Gettysburg-Third day. (search)
ith General Lee, W. H. Taylor, page 103. I thought that it would not do; that the point had been fully tested the day before, by more men, when all were fresh; that the enemy was there looking for us, as we heard him during the night putting up his defences; that the divisions of McLaws and Hood were holding a mile along the right of my line against twenty thousand men, who would follow their withdrawal, strike the flank of the assaulting column, crush it, and get on our rear towards the Potomac River; that thirty thousand men was the minimum of force necessary for the work; that even such force would need close co-operation on other parts of the line; that the column as he proposed to organize it would have only about thirteen thousand men (the divisions having lost a third of their numbers the day before); that the column would have to march a mile under concentrating battery fire, and a thousand yards under long-range musketry; that the conditions were different from those in the d
John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History, Chapter 17. (search)
avis to Richmond, Virginia, toward the end of June, as the capital of the now eleven Confederate States, Washington necessarily became the center of Union attack, and Richmond the center of Confederate defense. From the day when McDowell began his march to Bull Run, to that when Lee evacuated Richmond in his final hopeless flight, the route between these two opposing capitals remained the principal and dominating line of military operations, and the region between Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac River on the east, and the chain of the Alleghanies on the west, the primary field of strategy. According to geographical features, the second great field of strategy lay between the Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi River, and the third between the Mississippi River, the Rocky Mountains, and the Rio Grande. Except in Western Virginia, the attitude of neutrality assumed by Kentucky for a considerable time delayed the definition of the military frontier and the beginning of active h
John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History, Chapter 21. (search)
dditional war orders of his own, written without consultation. President's General War Order No. 2 directed that the Army of the Potomac should be immediately organized into four army corps, to be respectively commanded by McDowell, Sumner, Heintzelman, and Keyes, and a fifth under Banks. It is noteworthy that the first three of these had always earnestly advocated the Manassas movement. President's General War Order No. 3 directed, in substance: First. An immediate effort to capture the Potomac batteries. Second. That until that was accomplished not more than two army corps should be started on the Chesapeake campaign toward Richmond. Third. That any Chesapeake movement should begin in ten days; and-Fourth. That no such movement should be ordered without leaving Washington entirely secure. Even while the President was completing the drafting and copying of these important orders, events were transpiring which once more put a new face upon the proposed campaign against Richm
John G. Nicolay, A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln, condensed from Nicolay and Hayes' Abraham Lincoln: A History, Chapter 22. (search)
not engaged at all and the remainder went into action piecemeal and successively, under such orders that coperative movement and mutual support were practically impossible. Substantially, it was a drawn battle, with appalling slaughter on both sides. Even after such a loss of opportunity, there still remained a precious balance of advantage in McClellan's hands. Because of its smaller total numbers, the Confederate army was disproportionately weakened by the losses in battle. The Potomac River was almost immediately behind it, and had McClellan renewed his attack on the morning of the eighteenth, as several of his best officers advised, a decisive victory was yet within his grasp. But with his usual hesitation, notwithstanding the arrival of two divisions of reinforcements, he waited all day to make up his mind. He indeed gave orders to renew, the attack at daylight on the nineteenth, but before that time the enemy had retreated across the Potomac, and McClellan telegraphed,
John G. Nicolay, The Outbreak of Rebellion, Index. (search)
Index. A. Abercrombie, Colonel, 166 Alabama, attitude of with regard to secession, 2, 8; secession of, 14 Alexandria, Va., 102; fortified, 167 Alleghany Mountains, 126; 137 Anderson, Major, Robert, 22; transfers his forces to Fort Summer, 28 et seq.; his letter to Governor Pickens, 35; his reply to President Lincoln's letter, 58; his reply to Confederate authorities, 61, 131, 135 Annapolis, 100, 102 et seq.; route by, to the capital, 106 et seq. Arkansas, 80, 121 Arlington Heights, Va., occupied by Union forces, 110; fortified, 169 Ashby's Gap, 168 B. Baker, Edward D., 76 Ball's Bluff, engagement at, 210 Baltimore, 83; attack on the Massachusetts soldiers in, 85 et seq., 98; authorities burn R. R. bridges, 89 Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, 141 Bates, Attorney-General, 122 Banks, General N. P., 208 Barrancas, Fort, 88 Beauregard, General G. T., 56; directs operations against Fort Sumter, 57, 59; placed in command at Manassas, 1
General Horace Porter, Campaigning with Grant, Chapter 25 (search)
ep the Confederate troops there from being sent East to operate against Sherman. Sherman was to march to Columbia, South Carolina, thence to Fayetteville, North Carolina, and afterward in the direction of Goldsborough. Schofield was to be transferred from Tennessee to Annapolis, Maryland, and thence by steamer to the Cape Fear River, for the purpose of moving inland from there and joining Sherman in North Carolina. Schofield's orders were afterward changed, and he rendezvoused at Alexandria, Virginia, instead of Annapolis. The Army of the Potomac and the Army of the James were to watch Lee, and at the proper time strike his army a crushing blow, or, if he should suddenly retreat, to pursue him and inflict upon him all damage possible, and to endeavor to head off and prevent any portion of his army from reaching North Carolina as an organized force capable of forming a junction with Johnston and opposing Sherman. Some of these operations were delayed longer than was expected, and
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 11: conferences after the battle of Manassas. (search)
ications and garrisons described did actually exist, of which there seemed then to be no doubt. If the reports which have since reached us be true, that there was at that time neither fortifications nor troops stationed on the south bank of the Potomac; that all the enemy's forces fled to the north side of the river, and even beyond; that the panic of the routed army infected the whole population of Washington City; and that no preparation was made, or even contemplated, for the destruction ofss the Potomac-then it may have been, as many have asserted, that our army, following close upon the flying enemy, could have entered and taken possession of the United States capital. These reports, however, present a condition of affairs altogether at variance with the information on which we had to act. Thus it was, and, so far as I knew, for the reasons above stated, that an advance to the south bank of the Potomac was not contemplated as the immediate sequence of the victory at Manassas.
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 19: effort to effect exchange of prisoners-evacuation of Manassas-visit to Fredericksburg. (search)
. Yours truly, J. T. Doswell. Fredericksburg, August 17, 1885. In March, 1862, President Davis and General J. E. Johnston visited Fredericksburg, and were guests of my friend and connection, Mr. J. T. Doswell. The morning after their arrival, they crossed to the north side of the Rappahannock River, and were absent some hours examining the country. On their return to Mr. Doswell's house, many citizens called to pay their respects to the President. The result of their examination of the locality was understood here to be unfavorable to the defence of the town itself against an attack from the opposite bank of the river. I am unable to give the exact date of that visit. But some matters, personal to myself and distinctly remembered, enable me to state positively that it was before the arrival here of any of General Johnston's troops on their movement toward Yorktown, and before any of General McClellan's transports had passed down the Potomac River. W. S. Barton.
Varina Davis, Jefferson Davis: Ex-President of the Confederate States of America, A Memoir by his Wife, Volume 2, Chapter 21: Emancipation proclamation. (search)
for them, and into these the abandoned flock in droves. Others live in tents, and others in the open commons of the town. There is already great mortality among them, and an Alexandria physician told me that the small-pox had already broken out, and would undoubtedly make great ravages in their midst as soon as the cold weather sets in. There is little or no occupation for these contrabands. They are, in nine cases out of ten, lazy, good-for-nothing vagabonds, who seem impressed with the idea that it is the duty of the Government to provide for them. It is certain that Cuffee finds small favor in the eyes of the troops who are now there, particularly since the issue of the emancipation decree. Every day negroes are unmercifully beaten by white soldiers, and consider themselves lucky to get off with whole bones. Well-dressed darkies are the special aversion of the volunteers, and woe be unto them if they show themselves in fine feathers on King Street. （Alexandria, Va.
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