The Connecticut war record, 1863-1865, Part 2

Author: Morris, John M., ed
Publication date: 1863
Publisher: New Haven : Peck, White & Peck
Number of Pages: 886

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Show us a sablier who, with amputated sons. Their language was, " Forward!" Our Government has not been unmind- timb, bleeding wound. shattered consti- and forward went the phalanx, until the ful of its duties to our brave sons-du- tution and cercles pain opens not his Major, to save his men from sure destrue- ties dictated by humanity and gratitude. mouth to complain, att through long, tion, snatched the colors and bore them Enormous sums have been applied for days and longer nights of suffering, re- ito the rear.

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For the Connecticut War Record. by the slower process of siege ; his troops The Promise of the month of June. full of confidence in their leader and in No month, since the war began, has themselves, and reinforcements ponring been fuller of promise than the month of in every day.

June. Our attention, fixed at the begin- ning of it, npon the army before Vicks- burg, was soon called to Port Hudson, and then, suddenly, to the army of the Potomac, and the bold, though desperate invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania. And thus far, on every side, the courage and discipline of our soldiers, the skill and judgment of om Generals, and the public spirit of our citizens, have fully justified the confidence in the strength of our Government and the devotion of om people to the Union, with which we enter- ed upon this fearful contest.

In the West, the most important inci- dent is the siege of Vieksburg, the great began by a general assault, successful on stronghold of the enemy, and which has so long served them the double purpose of impeding the navigation of the Mis- sissippi and keeping up a dangerons com- munication with Texas. Month after month of fruitless exertion had shown that it was impossible to reach it from the water, and in May, General Grant, changing his whole plan of operations, advanced against it from the interior. of Mexico.

In a rapid march of a hundred and sixty miles he repeatedly met the enemy and vanquished them in every encounter, bringing his troops finshed with victory and hope to the foot of the hills on which his adversary, with time, labor and sei- enee at command, had constructed works which would onee have been deemed im- pregnable. Every slope was swept by direet and enfilading fires, every approach was guarded by rifle pits; every battery mounted with the heaviest and most de- struetive eannon, manned by artillerists well trained, and men accustomed from childhood to the use of musket and rifle. One terrible assault was given : Steele on the right, MePherson in the centre, Mle- Clerman on the left, and from the river, Porter with his mortar boats. It was ens Buckner in Knoxville ; and on the coast of Georgia a snecession of small the 25th of May, and between morning and evening, a thousand of our brave men fell on the slopes and in the ditches. Since then the lines have been constantly drawing closer and closer around the loomed city, and canon and mortar carrying by night and by day death and ‹lestruetion into her streets. Cheering tilings of our progress come with every telegram. Grant, sure of snecess and of' Vicksburg and Port Hudson, was to unwilling to hazard the lives of his men in a second assault, for a purpose which

North was divided against herself, would even have suggested. As the rmnors thickened and began to gain consistency, Hooker suddenly threw across the Poto- mac a strong body of cavalry, supported

On the inside Pemberton is doing everything that skill and desperation ean by infantry, which, coming upon the do to protract the struggle and give the enemy's cavalry in the midst of their preparations for advance, dealt them a stunning blow and returned in trinmph to the north bank of the river. for suecor to come up. On the outside Jolinson is doing his utmost to collect an army large enough to break through our lines and open for himself a passage to the beleaguered garrison. Grant is pre- pared for both of them. Meanwhile, a second expedition up the Yazoo has de- stroyed nine confederate steamers and maimed another limb of the defense.

While Grant is following up his sne- cess before Vicksburg, Banks has invest- ed Port Hudson. Here, too, the siege the right and center, partially successful on the left; and on the 14th another assault, though not accomplishing all that had been hoped, brought our lines still closer to the enemy's works, and gave us a surer starting point for the next attempt. These two places once in our hands the Mississippi will be open from the head of navigation to the Gulf and railroad do better work.

But Hooker, too, was on the march. Never before had onr army broken up from a long encampment without some

Meanwhile, Rosecrans had been eare- fully preparing himself to open a new campaign with the army of the Cumber- loss of stores; now there was none. land; an army thoroughly trained and organized under his own eye, and at whose head he had already won one of the most brilliant and decisive victories of the war. On the 24th his movement began-a concentric advance upon the enemy's lines by converging columns.

Never before had the army of the Poto- mae marehed more than twelve miles on an average through snecessive days. Now, in spite of heat and dust, they marched from twenty to twenty-five, and one day Humphrey carried his division twenty-nine. Straggling, too, MeCook on the right, Thomas in the een-'that demoralizer of armies, was prevent- ter, Crittenden on the left. On the 25th, ed by a strong body in the rear. Never in spite of constant rains and bad roads, before had our cavalry come strongly in Reynolds took possession of Manchester ; and at the latest advices the enemy, driven from all their positions, were in full retreat to the Tullahoma.

the contest. Now pushed on under Pleasanton, they fight two battles with Stuart, the prided boast of the rebel army, in two successive days, and win

Burnside, too, is in motion and threat- them both.

And now, as the month eloses, we find both armies on the mouth of the Poto- expeditions has done the enemy great |mae-the enemy widely scattered through damage at a small cost to ourselves. " Accumulate small snecesses," says Fred- erie the Great, "and their sum will be; a great success." Pennsylvania, and apparently upon the point of attacking Harrisburgh in order to open for himself a road to Philadel- phia; our own army, now under Meade, who has been suddenly substituted for

with menaces of a great movement, Ilooker, oeenpying a strong position, well which, making up for the anticipated loss concentrated, and prepared for immedi- ate action.

bring the war to our own doors; a bokl and brilliant, but desperate measure, the point of moving upon Richmond. Further south, Dix is apparently upon he can accomplish with equal certainty ! which nothing but the belief that the! July has partly redeemed the promise

Meanwhile, the rebel papers were filled!

Then came the tidings that the rebel army was in motion; that strong col- uns were pushing up the valley of the Shenandoah; that large bodies of horse and foot had already crossed the Poto- mac, and were marching rapidly upon the capitol of Pennsylvania. Governor Curtin calls for militia and volunteers; calls npon the sister states for aid. The President issues a general call for militia. Fast as the wires could earry the tale, men rose as they had risen two years be- fore at the news of our first disaster. Regiments from New York, regiments from New Jersey, volunteers who bad never seen service before, and veterans just released from service by the expira- tion of their terms. Never did telegraph

THE CONNECTICUT WAR RECORD.

[Arcusr,

of June. Ilooker's rapid march and the the Mississippi, and with it a fair pros- of General Meade at a moment when the quick gathering of volunteers to the de- peet for an early reconquest of Texas and destruction or surrender of the rebel fense of Pennsylvania, showed Lee that suppression of the rebellion in the terri- forces would have been the inevitable result of a battle. We sketch briefly the course of each of these campaigns, going back into June to follow the move- ment of Lee from its beginning. to carry out his invasion he must first fight ; tories west of the great river. Johnson, and crush the army of the Potomae. on whom full reliance had been placed for Calling in his detachments he concentra- raising the siege of Vicksburg, has also ted his forees at Gettysburgh, and for been defeated by Sherman, and his army three successive days, Wednesday, Thurs- almost dispersed.

day and Friday, Ist, 2d and 3d of July, . the days on which eighty-seven years

Equally successful was the advance of Rosecrans, driving Bragg from his strong

ago the Declaration of Independence was , position at Chatanooga, with a loss of discussed for the last time, threw them ; five thousand prisoners, and freeing Ten- with fearful energy upon the Union nessee from the last ve-tiges of the rebel army-first upon one wing-then npon army. Successful, too, thus far has been another -- massed in compaet bodies and the attack upon Charleston, under Dahl- supported by almost a hundred cannons. |green and Gilmore, the successors of But skillfully as he handled his men and Dupont and Hunter ; giving us posses- desperately as they fought, every attack , sion of the greater part of Morris Island, was met with equal skill and resolution : with a favorable position for bombarding Meade, though new in his command, de- Fort Sumter. And thus with July well teeting every movement of his practiced advanced, we look forward with confi- adversary and regulating his own with dence to events which shall put its last celerity and decision. On the evening of days and the beginning of Angust upon the third day the enemy retreated, foiled a level with its own glorions opening. at every point, and leaving us in uwlis- Between killed, wounded and missing, puted possession of the bloody field. the enemy have lost eighty-five thousand

Everything now seemed to promise a'men in the course of the last three weeks, complete breaking up of the rebel army. to scarce twenty thousand of ours ; and The Potomae was swoolen by heavy while the resources of their population, rains ; the bridges of every kind were long since overstrained, must necessarily broken down ; the fords seemedimpassa- fail in an attempt to refill their ranks, ble. Lee retreated, maneuvering skillful- the draft will soon swell ours even be- ly all the way ; Meade advanced, and for yond their original proportions; enabling several days the two armies stood ahnost us, if we net firmly and wisely, to secure face to face. Why, with every advantage , peace upon the only terms that can make of numbers and moral strength in our fa- it la-ting-full and unconditional submis- vor, did we not push forward and crush ' sion. them ? Why, instead of consulting his division officers and taking a vote, did ! not Meade act up to the responsabilities! of a General in chief, and secure the fruits of his victory ?

What is called the invasion of Penn- sylvania, but which may more accurately be regarded as a general offensive cam- paign by the rebel army of Northern Virginia, dates back to about the 10th of June, near which time General Lee put his columns in motion from Fredericks- burg. Ilis objects were, first, to seize the Shenandoah Valley, of which the northern outlet was guarded by the na- tional forces under General Milroy at Winchester; sceondly, from that base to extend his advance through the Cum- berland Valley into Pennsylvania, and through the passes of the Blue Ridge which forms the eastern barrier of the valley, to debauch his columns en route for Baltimore or Washington, or even to eross, as at one moment he did actually threaten to eross, the Susquehannah, and march npon Philadelphia.

The first step in this campaign was a flank movement, gigantic in extent, and of the utmost peril if it had been at- tempted against a skillful or even an enter- prising commander. But General Hook- er showed hinself at that moment neith- er. Excepting by a single Cavalry dash beyond the Rappahannock he made no effort either to penetrate the plans of his wily antagonist, or to arrest their exceu- For the Connectient War Record. The Fruition of July. tion, and General Lee succeeded in se- cretly transferring nearly the whole of his Since the beginning of the war no army from the line of the Rappahannock These are questions which we cannot month has witnessed so many military yet answer. But, meanwhile, Lee, events of the first importance as the though defeated, with only three-fifths 'month of July. The victories at Gettys- left of the men with whom he crossed burg and Helena, the surrender of Vicks- the Potomac, is once more in Virginia, bary and Port Halson, the retreat of hastening back as fast as his men can 'Bragg's army before the advancing and move, to the defense of Richmondl. The victorious forces of General Rosecrans in victory that might have proved a Water. Tennessee, the occupation of Morris loo, has almost shrunk to the proportion., I-land, threatening the immediate re- of an Antietam. to the line of the Shenandoah Valley, and then in seizing successively npon the passes in the Blue Ridge, protecting his march and sweeping down upon Win- chester, before Hooker awoke from his lethargy. Nay, even the advance of the rebel army was npon Pennsylvania soil, while the main body of the army of the Potomac still slumbered on the Rappa- Fuetion of Fort Sumter, to be followed hannock. Ewell, who led the first col- On Friday, the 3d of July, while the by the fall of Charleston,-all these may- last battle of Gettysburg was still nificent successes within this short period trembling in the balance. the forty seven have so seriously impaired the organized days of hard work and hard fighting be- military strength of the South, that the fore Vicksburg came to a close. and on Rebellion, plainly to all eyes, totters to the morning of the 4th Grant and his its fall. On the other hand, and as unu of Lee's forces, attacked Winches- ter on the 13th of June, compelled Milroy to evacuate on the 14th, with the loss of all his stores and cannon, and on the 15th sent his Cavalry across the upper Poto- Williamsport, over Maryland, victorious troops took possession of their almost it - 's refuge from quick annihi-fand into Pennsylvania, reaching Cham- well won prize. The surrender of Port station, we Have to record the escape of hersburg the same night, and spreading Hudson to General Banks followed on the remnant of the's army into Virginia, the alarm of invasion throughout the the 9th, thus opening the navigation of an escape permitted by the fatal indecision ! North. The President on the same day

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issued his call for a hundred thousand maud, withdrew the two corps in good General Meade would have attacked the militia. order, and posted them upon the Ceme-

enemy before he could escape beyond the General Hooker, having omitted to fall tery Hill, which became the key of the Potomac. Undoubtedly he would have position held by General Meade during done it if his army had been reinforced. the two days' battles that succeeded. His troops were greatly exhausted by The result of this first day's fight was a the long forced marches by which they decided repulse to the National forecs engaged.

upon Lee in flank, as he ensily might through either of the lower passes of the Blue Ridge, with the certainty of di- viding and destroying in detail the rebel forces, could now in a measure have re- paired his error by marching rapidly The next day, Thursday, the enemy attacked about four in the afternoon with North and attacking, while Lee's army was still scattered upon different lines ; great fury, massing their forces against but this opportunity also was suffered to pass and the rebel commander pursued his audacious plans with little or no in-

the left. When darkness put an end to the confliet, the issue was far from being decisive. The rebel attack had been re- terruption. One column under General pulsed, but only repulsed, and upon the Ewell advanced northward, passing through Chambersburg on the 24th and occupying Carlisle on the 27th. Anoth- er, a division only, under General Early, turning eastwardly from Chambersburg, marched through Gettysburg on the 26th, and on the 28th was at York, immi- neutly threatening to eross the Susque- hannah. The main body of the army, meanwhile, comprising the corp of Long- street and A. P. Hill, came slowly up the Cumberland Valley and moved in the direction of Gettysburg.

At this moment General Hooker was relieved, and General Meade appointed to the command of the Army of the Potomac. General Lee had based his campaign upon his estimate of General Ilooker's abilities, and the appointment of General Meade found him with an army so widely seattered that if the National forces had been but one day's march nearer to Gettysburg, they would have reached it when only two-thirds of Lee's army had been concentrated. As it was. General Meade moved so prompt- ly that Lee found the utmost diffienlty in reuniting his columns. Early was forced to escape from York by way of Carlisle, and Ewell, whose Cavalry had been pushed forward within fonr miles of Har- risburg, after being joined by Early, re- treated at once down the Valley, and came late into the battle at Gettysburg.

General Mende's army, nudler General Reynolds, came upon the rebel forces a little beyond the town of Gettysburg. General Reynold's corps, the first, sus- tained for a while, unaided, a conflict with a largely superior foree, General Reynolds himself being killed carly in the action. The loss of that able and brave officer was one of the heaviest that the Nation has had to deplore. General Howard with the Eleventh Corps arrived

had reached Gettysburg, and greatly shattered by the tremendous battles they had fought. Reinforcements ought to have been at hand. General Dix, with thirty-five thousand troops, had been promenading to no purpose on the Pevin- sula, while these decisive conflicts on Pennsylvania soil were approaching and proceeding, and was only brought up to Washington at a moment too late to be

right, an unexpected dash had placed a portion of Ewell's forces in possession of of service. If he had been at Frederick, an important position, previously held by General Slocum. There was nothing like a victory on either side, but the ad- vantage lay with us.

General Meade would not have hesitated one moment to attack the exhausted remnant, of Lee's army, and would be- yond question have annihilated it. For Friday dawned amid volleys of mus- ketry all along the lines. The morning saw much skirmishing and occasional bhinder could have been committed by contests in different parts of the lines be- tween detached forces. At one, the rebels opened simultaneously with nearly two hundred cannon, concentrating their keeping Dix on the Peninsula, General Halleck is responsible; so gigantic a no one else, and to him therefore we owe it that one other chance of crushing the rebellion was lost, and that the end of the war is still postponed. Nevertheless, fire upon selected points, and continuing : General Meade was able to have deliver- it with unremitting fiereeness until nearly ed his assault with what forces he had. four. Then, upon the lines which for Seriously as his army was shattered, that three hours had endured this iron hail, [of General Lee's was more so, and the they launched their colminns in a final, latter was, moreover, compelled to exe- general, desperate assault. It failed, aniente a retreat from in front of a vieto- this time failed so signally, and with such rious foe which, if only suffered to at- tremendous losses to the rebels, that tack him, -for it was eager to fight,- would have taken him at a moment when

there was no longer any question on which side was the victory. The three ; his artillery was withdrawn, and might days' conflicts which make the name of have caught him with his forces divided. Gettysburg memorable forever, were General Meade admits his fatal mistake, crowned by a triumph for the National and is doing his best to repair it by an arms. The strength and hope of the active campaign on the other side of the rebel army were wasted, and they fled river. But since Lee escaped, which was hurriedly from Northern soil, beginning on the night of the 13th, the campaign their retreat that night. Their losses, in ; has taken no shape which can be intelli- the three days' battles, were not less than jgibly described in detail. General Lee thirty thousand men. is in the Shenandoah Valley, slowly re-

As soon as General Meade discovered tiring southward. General Meade moves that his enemy was retreating, he put his [ down a shorter line, if we look towards

On the Ist of July, the advance of Cavalry in motion upon their rear, and : Richmond as the point of approach, and with the main body of his army moved may yet intercept his enemy, and compel rapidly down to Fredericksburg, on a him to fight.

live nearly parallel with the roads follow- ed by the rebels. General Lee was in such a position with reference to the Vicksburg, began with his landing at General Grant's final campaign against Potomne, that he was able to reach Wil- Bowlinsburg on the 30th of April, and liamsport, his place of crossing, sooner the battle of Port Gibson on the day fol- than General Meade; but the river was lowing. Dating from that victory the swollen, the fords impassable, and the campaign was a series of brilliant ex- pontoon bridge at Falling Waters de- ploits, succeeding each other with uuex- stroyed. In this condition of affairs, ampled rapidity. The battle at Raymond ou the field, not long after, assumed com- there was every reason to expect that was fought May 12th, at Mississippi

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Springs on the 13th, followed by the of military strength may be left in the fore, is once more postponed, but it is occupation of Jackson on the 14th, at Southern states.

Baker's Creek on the 16th, at Big Black River on the 17th, and on the 18th Of the capture of Port Hudson, which was surrendered on the afternoon off July 8th, it is only necessary to say that tion of the Mississippi, and leaves Gen- eral Bank's at leisure to pursue his opera- tions against the remaining rebel force in the state of Louisiana. It is reported Vicksburg was invested, and Haine's Bluff captured. On the 19th the rebel ont works on the right were carried, and it removed the last barrier to the naviga- both wings of General Grant's army rested on the Mississippi river. These ; results were obtained by continuous! marehing, hard fighting, and, above all, by good generalship ; General Grant ; that a steamer reached New Orleans from having shown from the time he landed at St. Louis, on the 16th instant, the first which has traversed the Mississippi be-

Port Gibson some of the very highest qualities of a great commander. Not tween those points for more than two the least among his conceptions, was his ; years. bold abandonment of all communications, and all means of supply, and his uniting! to the success of his combinations to seeure his final access to the river. He divided the forces of his enemy by the! singleness of his movements, and threw himself between Vicksburg and the ap- proaching reinforcements under Joe Johnston before the latter could commu- nicate with Pemberton, the commander of the Vicksburg forces. From begin- ning to end, the rebels were outgeneraled, and only one ill-success ocenrred in the i eampaign, the failure of the assault on the 22d of May. Thereafter the siege was steadily pursued till the place sur- rendered, on the morning of the 4th of July, with thirty-one thousand prisoners. two hundred and twenty pieces of artil- lery, and seventy thousand stands of sinall arms, including nearly fifty thon -! sand Enfield rifles in the original English further attempt to hold the southwestern packages.

General Rosecrans' campaign is im- portant rather for what it makes possible than for what it has already accomplish- ed. llis movements are slow, in conse- quence of the length of the line of com- munications which he is obliged to cover as he advances. At present his head- quarters are at Tullahoma, the report of an advance upon Chattanooga proving in- correct. From the time of his move- ment from Murfreesboro, the rebel forces under General Bragg have retreated be- fore him, and are said to be so much de- moralized that their commander is un- willing to hazard a battle. If he means to fight at all, he must fight at. Chatta- hooga, for that point is of incalculable importance to the rebellion, being the centre of an immense railway system. Its surrender or abandonment, followed by that of Atlanta, would make any state in a rebel alliance, utterly impos-

none the less sure to fall, as will the re- bellion whereof it was the birth-place.

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The Connecticut war record, 1863-1865, Part 2

Author: Morris, John M., ed Publication date: 1863 Publisher: New Haven : Peck, White & Peck Number of Pages: 886

Author: Morris, John M., ed
Publication date: 1863
Publisher: New Haven : Peck, White & Peck
Number of Pages: 886