CHAPTER LX. EVACUATION OF MANASSAS-BATTLE OF WINCHESTER, MARCH 23, 1862. THE evacuation of Manassas, the report of which cheered the army of General Burnside in its advance upon Newbern, as recorded in the last chapter, was at length a reality. The enemy, well advised of the progress of military preparations on the Potomac, and prudently estimating the prospects of the Spring campaign-a Union army before them, another fast gathering from Harper's Ferry on their flank, and the probability of a movement by the Chesapeake in their rear-resolved to avoid that decisive battle before Washington, which had been for many anxious months eagerly looked for and demanded by the people of the North. It would appear, moreover, that they were early advised of the plan of General McClellan, to transport his forces by the Chesapeake and make the real attack upon Richmond by the Peninsula. When that officer was asked by a committee of Congress, many months after, what caused the enemy to evacuate Manassas when they did, he replied, that "his impression had always been that they got wind of our intended movement to the lower Chesapeake, and that that was the main cause of their leaving." On whichever supposition, whether of an attack in front or rear, retreat was the policy of the enemy. In the explanation of the movement given at the time in the Richmond Examiner, it was a change from offensive to defensive operations. "The Potomac was the proper base for offensive operations against Maryland and Washington city; but as a line of defence for Richmond, or for general resistance, it is the most dangerous that could be held. The line upon which the army under General Joseph Johnston is now falling back is in the nature of the arc of a circle, of which Richmond is the centre."* In General McClellan had under his command a vast and thoroughly well equipped army, commanded by able and experienced officers, and animated by an earnest desire to obliterate by a brilliant victory the ill-omened memories of Bull Run. The army was particularly well supplied with cannon. the official report of General W. F. Barry, chief of artillery, we have the details of the great and rapid growth of this department of the military service. When General McClellan was called to the command of the Army of the Potomac after the battle of Bull Run, the whole field artillery was comprised in nine imperfectly equipped batteries of 30 guns, 650 men and 400 horses. Seven months afterward, in March, when the whole army took the field, it counted 92 batteries of 520 guns, 12,500 men, and 11,000 horses, fully equipped and in readiness for active service. Of the whole force, 30 batteries were regulars and 62 batteries volunteers.† In the criticisms which the situation of the Army of the Potomac could not fail to provoke, much was said in censure of General McClellan for not having moved upon the enemy at Manassas the previous November. The weather and roads, it was alleged, were then suitable for an advance, and the relative condition of the armies was as favorable for action as later. General McClellan, however, thought otherwise. His own prepara Richmond Examiner, March 11, 1862. Washington, September 1, 1862. + General Barry's Report to A. A. G. General Williams ter, Franklin, W. F. Smith, McCall, Blenker, Andrew Porter, Barnard, and Naglee. They decided, by a vote of eight to four, in favor of a proposed plan of movement of General McClellan by the Chesapeake and Rappahannock, ascending to Urbanna and thence crossing to Richmond. McDowell, Sumner, Heintzelman and Barnard opposed the movement. It was while preparations were being secretly made for carrying this resolution into effect that the evacuation of Manassas took place. By a general war order of President Lincoln, dated the 8th of March,-No. 2 of the famous war orders directly issued by him at this time in his capacity of tions were not then complete, and the parative value of success, supposing majority of his general officers did not success attainable either way, and the think the army prepared for offensive opportunities for retreat in case of disasoperations. He then estimated the num-ter. A council of war was held on the bers of the enemy in Eastern Virginia, subject in February. It was composed exclusive of the force at Norfolk, of twelve Generals:-McDowell, Sumat 150,000, most of them at Manas- ner, Heintzelman, Keyes, Fitz-John Porsas. They had, he afterwards said, a greater effective force than he could bring against them. The numbers of the Army of the Potomac, in December, 1861, exclusive of the command of General Dix at Baltimore, appears from official returns at about 185,000 men.* Towards the end of December the roads became unfavorable, General McClellan was taken ill, and active military operations on the Potomac were deferred to the return of spring. In the middle of January came President Lincoln's orders appointing the 22d day of February as a day when it was expected that the various Union armies would be fairly in the field-an injunction anticipated at Mill Spring, Forts Henry, Donelson, and Commander-in-Chief-it was "Ordered, Roanoke Island. On the 31st of January the President also, by a special war order, directed that all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, after providing safely for the defence of Washington, be formed into an expedition to occupy a point on the railway southwest of Manassas Junction, thus crossing the Occoquan and getting in the rear of the enemy's position. Washington's Birthday was again named for this movement. General McClellan objected to the President's plan. It would divide the army, he said, by a difficult river and by a distance too great for either portion, if attacked in force, to be supported by the other. He himself, he added, preferred the movement against Richmond should be undertaken by water, by the Rappahannock or Fortress Monroe. The President, in reply, according to his habit, proposed various queries, as to the relative cost of the movements, the com Report of the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War 1. That the Major-General commanding the Army of the Potomac proceed forthwith to organize that part of said army destined to enter upon active operations, including the reserve, but excluding the troops to be left in the fortifications about Washington, into four army corps, to be commanded according to seniority of rank, as follows:-First corps to consist of four divisions, and to be commanded by Major-General I. McDowell. Second corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by Brigadier-General E. V. Sumner. Third corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by Brigadier-General S. P. Heintzelman. Fourth corps to consist of three divisions, and to be commanded by Brigadier-General E. D. Keyes. 2. That the divisions now commanded by officers above assigned to the command of corps shall be embraced in and form part of their respective corps. 3. The force left for the defence of Washington will be placed in command of Brigadier-General James S. Wadsworth, who shall also be Military Governor of the District of Columbia. 4. That this order be executed with such promptness and dispatch as not to delay the commencement of the operations already directed to be undertaken by the army of the Potomac. 5. A fifth army corps, to be commanded by Major-General N. P. Banks, will be formed from his own and General Shields' (late General Lander's) division." ices by the appointment of Brigadier General in the regular army, vacated by the dismissal of General Twiggs. He was then appointed to the command of the Department of the Pacific, from which he was recalled to assume his present distinguished position in the army of the Potomac. General Erasmus Darwin Keyes, the commander of the fourth corps, was also a native of Massachusetts. A graduate of West Point of the class of 1832 with the appointment of 2d lieutenant in the 3d artillery, he had served as aid to General Scott, Instructor of Artillery and Cavalry at the military academy, and in command in the conflicts with the Indians in the northwest. At the beginning of the present war he held the rank of colonel of the 11th Infantry. His services in command of a Brigade at Bull Run will be remembered. Of the officers thus placed in command, McDowell, Heintzelman and Banks were already familiar names in the conduct of the war. Brigadier-General Edwin Vose Sumner, commander of the second corps, was one of the oldest officers of the United States army. Born in Boston in 1796, and educated in that city, he had, without entering the military academy at West Point, at the age of twenty-three, been appointed by General Brown, the commander-in-chief, 2d lieutenant in the 2d infantry. From that time he had been conspicuous in various scenes of military service, in the Black Hawk war, on the frontier, and in command of the school of cavalry practice at Carlisle, Penn. In the Mexican war, Major Sumner was in the column of General Scott, and in command of the mounted rifles led the cavalry charge at Cerro Gordo, where he was wounded. He was also in command at Contreras, Cherubusco, and Molino del Rey, and was rewarded for his gallantry with the rank of brevet colonel. Subsequently to the Mexican war few officers of the regular army were so actively occupied, in command of the department of New Mexico; visiting Europe on official business; in command of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, from which he In the general advance of the Army was removed by Jefferson Davis, then of the Potomac it was arranged that Secretary of War, for the part he took | General Banks should lead the way with in favor of the free soil party in the con- his corps in the occupation of the valley flicts of that Territory; as the leader of an of Virginia with a view of coöperating expedition against the Cheyenne Indians, with the central movement. Accordingand commander of the Department of ly, on the 26th of May he crossed with the West. In March, 1861, the loyal his command at Harper's Ferry, and took veteran was rewarded for his many serv-possession of the town, which presented General Wadsworth, who was left in command at Washington, was a wealthy land-owner of western New York, who, in a spirit of zealous patriotism, had offered his influence and service to the State. Having been a commissioner to the Peace Convention at Washington from New York, he had, at the very outset of the rebellion, rendered important aid to the beleaguered capital by carrying from New York, in a vessel which he had chartered and freighted at his own expense, a supply of provisions for the army cut off from land communication at Annapolis. As volunteer aid on General McDowell's staff, he was distinguished by his bravery in the battle of Bull Run, shortly after which he was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers. Wadsworth, who shall also be Military Governor of the District of Columbia. 4. That this order be executed with such promptness and dispatch as not to delay the commencement of the operations already directed to be undertaken by the army of the Potomac. 5. A fifth army corps, to be commanded by Major-General N. P. Banks, will be formed from his own and General Shields' (late General Lander's) division." ices by the appointment of Brigadier Gen- General Erasmus Darwin Keyes, the Of the officers thus placed in command, McDowell, Heintzelman and Banks were already familiar names in the conduct of the war. Brigadier-General Edwin Vose Sumner, commander of the second corps, was one of the oldest officers of the United States army. Born in Boston in 1796, and educated in that city, he had, without entering the military academy at West Point, at the age of twenty-three, been appointed by General Brown, the commander-in-chief, 2d lieutenant in the 2d infantry. From that time he had been conspicuous in various scenes of military service, in the Black Hawk war, on the frontier, and in command of the school of cavalry practice at Carlisle, Penn. In the Mexican war, Major Sumner was in the column of General Scott, and in command of the mounted rifles led the cavalry charge at Cerro Gordo, where he was wounded. He was also in command at Contreras, Cherubusco, and Molino del Rey, and was rewarded for his gallantry with the rank of brevet colonel. Subsequently to the Mexican war few officers of the regular army were so actively occupied,-in command of the department of New Mexico; visiting Europe on official business; in command of Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, from which he In the general advance of the Army was removed by Jefferson Davis, then of the Potomac it was arranged that Secretary of War, for the part he took | General Banks should lead the way with in favor of the free soil party in the con- his corps in the occupation of the valley flicts of that Territory; as the leader of an of Virginia with a view of coöperating expedition against the Cheyenne Indians, with the central movement. Accordingand commander of the Department of ly, on the 26th of May he crossed with the West. In March, 1861, the loyal his command at Harper's Ferry, and took veteran was rewarded for his many serv-possession of the town, which presented General Wadsworth, who was left in command at Washington, was a wealthy land-owner of western New York, who, in a spirit of zealous patriotism, had offered his influence and service to the State. Having been a commissioner to the Peace Convention at Washington from New York, he had, at the very outset of the rebellion, rendered important aid to the beleaguered capital by carrying from New York, in a vessel which he had chartered and freighted at his own expense, a supply of provisions for the army cut off from land communication at Annapolis. As volunteer aid on General McDowell's staff, he was distinguished by his bravery in the battle of Bull Run, shortly after which he was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers. 1 |