previous next
[45]

Chapter 2: Lee's invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania.

  • The opposing armies compared
    • -- hopes of the Confederates, 45. -- British interference desired by the Confederates -- movements in England in their favor, 46. -- Lord Lyons and the Peace Faction in New York -- the Confederacy recognized by the Pope, 47. -- Napoleon, Mexico, and the Confederates, 48. -- revolution in the North expected -- Confederate States' seal, 49. -- events on the Rappahannock -- conflicts near Beverly and Kelly's fords, 50. -- Ewell in the Shenandoah Valley -- Milroy driven from Winchester -- a great disaster, 51. -- Lee marching rapidly northward -- alarm -- a race for the Potomac, by Hooker and Lee, 52. -- the armies flanking the Blue Ridge -- a raid into Pennsylvania, 53. -- alarm in Pennsylvania -- Lee's errand and orders, 54. -- preparations for opposing Lee -- alarm in Philadelphia, 55. -- Lee's Army across the Potomac -- Hooker superseded by Meade, 56. -- Meade invested with discretionary powers -- Lee's March of invasion checked, 57. -- preparations for battle -- cavalry battle at Hanover, 58. -- the hostile armies concentrating at Gettysburg -- opening of the contest at Gettysburg, 59. -- death of General Reynolds, 60. -- battle of Seminary Ridge, 61. -- defeat of the Nationals, 62. -- preparations for renewing the struggle, 63. -- position of the opposing armies at Gettysburg, 64. -- perilous situation of the National left, 65. -- a struggle for little Round Top, 66. -- death of Generals Vincent and Weed, 67. -- battle of Gettysburg, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, and 73. -- flight of the Confederates, 74. -- they escape into Virginia, 75. -- the author's visit to the battle-field at Gettysburg, 76, 77, 78, 79. -- soldier's Cemetery at Gettysburg -- Mr. Lincoln's dedicatory address, 80.

Although the Rappahannock was again flowing full and turbulent between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia, and Hooker was in full communication with ample supplies, his forces were in a perilous situation. The enlistments of his nine months and two years men, to the number of almost thirty thousand, were expiring; and at the close of May,
1863.
his effective army did not exceed eighty-eight thousand men. His cavalry had been reduced by one-third since March, and in every way his army was sadly weakened. Lee, meanwhile, had been. re-enforced by the remainder of Longstreet's troops, which had been brought up from before the fortifications at Suffolk,1 and the chief had reorganized his army into three corps, commanded respectively by Longstreet, A. P. Hill, and Ewell,2 all able leaders, and each bearing the commission of Lieutenant-General.

Recent events had greatly inspirited the Confederates, and given a buoyant tone to the feelings of the army. Richmond seemed secure from harm for at least a year to come. Its prisons (especially the Libby, which became both famous and infamous during the war) were crowded with captives.

1 See page 42.

2 Probably at no time during the war was the Confederate army more complete in numbers, equipment, and materials, than at the middle of June, 1863, when, according to the most careful estimates made from the Confederate official returns, there were at least 500,000 men on the rolls, and more than 300,000 “present, and fit for duty.” Full one-half of the white men of the Confederacy, eligible to military duty, were then enrolled for active service, while a large proportion of the other half were in the civil and military service in other capacities. Doubtless at least seven-tenths of the white adults were then in public service, while a large number of slaves were employed in various labors, such as working on fortifications, as teamsters, et cetera, for the cause of the conspirators. The following is the form of the voucher held by the “Government” as the employer of slaves. for such purposes:--

We, the subscribers, acknowledge to have received of John B. Stannard, First Corps of Engineers, the sums set opposite our names, respectively, being in full for the services of our slaves at Drewry's Bluff, during the months of March and April, 1863, having signed duplicate receipts.

from whom hired.name and occupation.time Bmployed.rate of Wages.amount for each Slave.amount received.signatures.
J. G. Woodfire.William, laborer.22 days.$16 a month. $13 33Joseph G. Woodfire.
William E. Martin.Richard, laborer.37 days.$16 a month.$19 75  
William E. Martin.Henry, laborer.37 days.$16 a month.19 7589 46W. E. Martin.

I certify the above pay-roll is correct and just,


The above was copied from one of several in possession of the writer, taken from hundreds found in Richmond after the evacuation, and showing that thousands of slaves were employed on the fortifications in different. parts of the Confederacy.

Scanned printed text.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide People (automatically extracted)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
June, 1863 AD (1)
April, 1863 AD (1)
March, 1863 AD (1)
1863 AD (1)
May (1)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: