DIVISION XI. CHAPTER I. HOOKER'S CAMPAIGN WITH THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. Hooker in Command. AFTER his ill-success, Burnside's immediate relief from command was regarded as inevitable. Who would be his successor? General Sumner -old in the service, wise in council, ever equal to any responsibility which he had assumed was believed to be the most available man for the trying position, particularly as his appointment must tend to harmonise the disordered elements still threatening to paralyse the energies of the Potomac Army. But, no immediate change followed; and soon it became known that Burnside was laboring for the suspension of a number of his subordinates-making their removal an indispensable condition to his retention of the chief command. His "Order No. 8"-dated Jan. 23d, 1863, and referred to by the General in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, (page 385, vol. III.) was submitted to the Washington authorities as his ultimatum. It was not received favorably, and the publication of Hooker's "General Order No. 1," announced the Administration's decision. This document read: } HEADQUARTERS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, Į By direction of the President of the United States, the undersigned assumes command of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker's General Order No. 1. In the record of your achieve. ments there is much to be proud of, and with the blessing of God we will contribute something to the renown of our arms and the success of our cause. To secure these ends your commander will require the cheerful and zealous co-operation of every officer and soldier in this army. In equipment, intelligence and valor the enemy is our inferior. Let us never hesitate to give him battle wherever we can find him. The undersigned only gives expression to the feelings of this army when he conveys to our late commander, Major-General Burnside, the most cordial good wishes for his future. JOSEPH HOOKER, Major-General, Commanding Army of the Potomac. Considering that Burnside's "Order No. 8," had especially charged Hooker with conduct unbecoming an officer,* this appointment must have been construed as a direct expression of the President's want of confidence in, or respect for, Burnside, had not his assign The terms used are said to have been: "General Joseph E. Hooker, Major-General of Volunteers and Brigadier-General of the United States Army, having been guilty of unjust and unnecessary criticisms of the actions of his superior officers and of the authorities, and having, by the general tone of his conversation, endeavored to create distrust in the minds of officers who have associated with him, and having, by omissions and otherwise, made re He enters upon the discharge of the duties imports and statements which were calculated to cre posed by this trust with a just appreciation of their responsibility. Since the formation of this army he has been identified with its history. He has shared with you its glories and its reverses, with no other desire than that these relations might remain unchanged until its destiny should be accomplished. ate incorrect impressions, and for habitually speaking in disparaging terms of other officers, is hereby dismissed the service of the United States, as a man unfit to hold an important commission during a crisis like the present, when so much patience, charity, confidence, consideration and patriotism are due from every soldier in the field." Hooker in Command. necessary to restore even the outward semblance of respect to superior.ty among officers, and to quiet dissensions prevailing in the ranks, since, in an army composed chiefly of citizens of the Republic, the humblest soldier exercised the right of discussing and criticising the conduct of affairs. To reinspire all with confidence was the President's most anxious desire. Hooker's Reforms. ment to an important | removal of General McClellan and the court command in the west soon martial and sentence of Gen. Fitz John Porfollowed. Hooker's promotion was, inter." These changes were, in most instances, fact, another experiment toward finding the proper man for the great trust; and in making that selection, Mr. Lincoln undoubtedly had in view the necessity for hard, persistent, bloody strokes upon the enemy's bold front to annihilate Lec's army by absolute sacrifice of legions of men. With a rebellious host thundering at the very gates of the capital, whose battle-cry, after Burnside's repulse, was "On to the North!" all ideas of a strategical campaign and approach to Richmond gave way to the call for the contact of steel to steel. Hence the choice of a commander possessed of Hooker's qualities, indicated by his army soubriquet, of "Fighting Joe." Brave to an unlimited degree, ardent in temperament, impetuous in the fight, admired by his subordinates and worshipped by his men, the President put aside the warnings of Sumner's friends against Hooker's rashness, and want of comprehensive executive ability -overbore Halleck's fears and wishes-and instated the late subordinate in a position of rare responsibility. Changes in Commands. Considerable change in commands followed, as a consequence. Jan. 28th, Said Swinton:* "With the appointment of General Hooker to the chief command, and under his influence, the tone of the army underwent a change that would appear astonishing, had not its elastic vitality been so often proved. Hooker's measures of reform were judicious: he cut away the root of many evils; stopped desertion and its causes; did away with the nuisance of the Grand Division' organization; infused vitality through the staff and administrative service; gave distinctive badges to the different corps; instituted a system of furloughs; consolidated the cav alry under able leaders, and soon enabled it not only to stand upon an equality with, but to assert its superiority over the Virginia horsemen of Stuart." Results which certain the Secretary of War promulgated Generally reflected credit upon the officer, and which Order No. 20, viz.: demonstrated the existence of great evils in 1-The President of the United States has di- the former army system. The corps organi rected: First-That Major-General A. E. Burnside, at his own request, be relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac. The Army Corps. zation was made by Gene- 1. The division of the army into "grand diviSecond That Major-General E. V. Sumner, at hissions," impeding rather than facilitating the disown request, be relieved from duty in the Army of the Potomac. Third -- That Major-General W. B. Franklin, be relieved from duty in the Army of the Potomac. Fourth-That Major-General J. Hooker be assign ed to the command of the Army of the Potomac. The officers relieved as above will report in person to the Adjutant General of the army. It was further announced from Washington: "A list of more than eighty army officers has been prepared, who are to be summarily dismissed the service for violating the army regulations by the use of improper language in reference to their superiors and Commander-in-Chief, in connection with the patch of its current business, and the character of commanded as follows: First Corps-Major-General John F. Reynolds. Fifth Corps--Major-General George G. Meade. "Army of the Potomac," page 257. CAVALRY FIGHT Twelfth Corps-Major-General H. W. Slocum. II. Hereafter the corps will be considered as a unit for the organization of the artillery; and no transfers of batteries will be made from one corps or division to others, except for purposes of equal ization, and then only under the authority of the chief of artillery. III. The cavalry of the army will be consolidated into one corps, under the command of BrigadierGeneral Stoneman, who will make the neccessary assignments for detached duty. Hooker's and Lee's Comparative Force. AT KELLEY'S FORD Cavalry Fight at 19 foraging and conscripting in Fauquier and Culpepper counties, Stoneman was ordered to put Averill's command over the river at Kelly's Ford for a reconnoissance, at the same time being prepared to pass over in full force, if a prospect offered of battle with any considerable body of the enemy's cavalry. Averill, with the First and Fifth regulars, under Captain Reno; Thirty-fourth and Sixteenth Pennsylvania, Colonel McIntosh; First Rhode Island, Fourth New York and Sixth Ohio, Colonel Duffie; and Sixth New York battery, Major Robertson, left camp on Monday morning, April 13th, proceeding to the vicinity of Kelley's Ford, twenty-five miles above Falmouth. Early on the morning of Friday, the 17th, under severe fire, the force crossed the swollen river, driving the covering guard, the Second Virginia cavalry, dismounted, from its temporary field cover. Passing the artillery and ammunition safely over, the march inland was taken up. Fitzhugh Lee's brigade, composed of the First, Second, Third, Fourth and Fifth Virginia cavalry, with two pieces of artillery, was soon encountered, when a sharp conflict ensued, in which regiments met in the charge and counter-charge-the enemy being gradually driven forward toward the south and east. The combat, at times, was fierce. The well-trained squadrons of Virginians had, at length, to meet riders as brave and dashing as themselves; and though they fought with spirit, the Confederates were cleverly whipped. Averill, late in the afternoon, retraced The swollen condition of the streams pre-his steps to the ford, and recrossed without cluded crossing at the fords of any consider- hindrance. able body save by pontoons, to lay which was infeasible until the time for a second trial for the possession of the heights had Time was required for these changes, and the winter being at hand the army was impassive in its quarters along the Rappahannock. Great vigilance was exercised over the enemy, whose lines lay within easy telescopic view. Lee, after the repulse of Burnside, dispatched Longstreet, with his two entire divisions, to the south, with the design of watching and checking Federal operations on the lower James. Movements in that direction seemed to indicate a second side approach to the Confederate capital. This detail reduced the force on Hooker's front nearly one-fourth, giving to the National army great numerical superiority.* At no time, during the months of February, March and April, 1863, did Lee hold more than sixty thousand men along the Rappahannock, He relied greatly upon his strength of position. To guard well the fords, from below Fredericksburg, up to the junction of the Rapidan with the Rappahannock--a distance of twenty-five miles—was his chief care. Nature seemed to have created his position for defense. This spirited affair put the National cavalry in good humor, proving, apparently, that, man for man, the Northern riders were the equals of those justly renowned as horsemen. The Virginians claimed a victory, as a Richmond paper declared, " because we succeeded entirely in frustrating the evident design of our enemy, which was to make a long cavalry raid, à la Stuart, penetrate perhaps as far as Gordonsville and destroy the bridges and the railway between that place and Culpepper." Operating with his cavalry, Hooker sought to establish the practicability of his conceived plan for striking Lee. To assail Fredericksburg and The March Over the Giving to each man of the flanking column-composed of the 5th, 11th and 12th corps-sixty pounds of baggage and rations, the march for Kelly's Ford, twentyseven miles away, was commenced on the morning of Monday, April 27th-General Slocum in superior command. The river being left so far to the south as to avoid the enemy's observation, the movement was undetected. The ford was reached on the afternoon of the 28th, the 11th Corps on the advance. Bushbeck's brigade was the first to cross. That night and the succeeding morning the passage was made in safety upon a pontoon bridge, laid with but slight opposition from the rebel guard. On the morn the Confederate front was | &c., thus the more effectually to cripple Lee's to repeat Burnside's expe- retreat. This programme, conceived with a riment. If such an assault sagacious mastery of the situation, received was attempted as Napoleon directed upon the assent of his Generals and its execution Bautzen, perfectly regardless of human was at once ordered. life, it must end in victory from mere superiority of the assailant's numbers, led, as they would be, by brave and skilful officers. Burnside projected the battle of Fredericksburg precisely as Bautzen was fought, save that Franklin, thundering on the enemy's right, was not a Ney; he did not, like the marshal, roll the right back upon the centre, and thus secure the key of the position in the rear, though such was the duty detailed to the division commander. Nor was Burnside, over the stream, directing the attack upon the heights, an equal of Napoleon in nerve and reckless disregard of his losses. Had he been like Napoleon; had Sumner been like Soult, with Hooker for the Oudinot of the scene, the world must have witnessed Bautzen repeated, with astonishing likeness evening of the 29th the march upon Chancellor's in its details. All of which Hooker doubtless knew; yet, he was neither reckless enough to repeat the act, nor wanting in resource to accomplish the end desired with less bloody hands than characterised every one of Napoleon's great victories. Hooker's Plan. was ordered, by two columns. To effect the passage of the Rapidan with celerity, the right column-11th and 12th Corps-crossed at Germania Ford, and the left column-5th | Corps-at Ely's Ford. The water at both crossings was found to be four feet in depth. No delay being permissible, the men were marched through the cold, rapid current. Adopting the novel plan of "stripping by division," the ranks entered the stream denuded of their clothing, which, with their rations and amunition, was borne aloft on their muskets. It was a singular and hilarious scene. As each division emerged upon the banks from the water, the order "don clothing!" passed along the ranks, and with great. expedition the men were disposed upon the roads toward Chancellor's, none the worse for their bath. All night long (29th-30th) the fording progressed, huge bon-fires along the banks affording the necessary light. The morning found all safely over. Only six men and one team were lost in this memorable passage. His only feasible course was to turn the rebel position, right or left. Repeated reconnoisances, and the information of faithful spies, convinced him that Lee's left was the true point of approach. How to move his vast army, artillery, pontoons, trains and stores up the river to a feasible crossing, without fully developing his plans to the Confederate, was the problem to solve. Acting with profound secrecy, admitting only the corps commanders to his confidence, the General developed his proposed operations: an attack in two corps force upon Lee's right, as if to fight Franklin's battle over again, while, with four corps, by detour, so as to avoid the enemy's observation, to reach the upper fords of the river, there to cross, and positioned on the enemy's left and rear, to command his avenues of Once over, the route to Chancellor's house escape and thus compel a battle on ground was pursued, at quick march step. Stuart's of the Federal commander's choosing the cavalry dogged the skirmishers and advance, cavalry, meanwhile, to be dispatched on a but the Sixth New York cavalry (12th Corps mission of destruct on of railways, trains, | being on the lead) gave their horses the rein SOUTHERN VERSION OF THE BATTLE. 21 and soon drove the rebel pickets and scouts | Federal commander ued his advantage of back upon the brigade then posted above numbers and position with prompt precision. Chancellor's. To secure the open position He had dared a movement of great hazard; between the scrub oak forests of the "Wil- it had been a success without a single qualiderness" and Fredericksburg, was the first fication; it only remained to fight successrequisite of success. The afternoon of Thurs- fully the battle challenged to save the reday, April 30th, witnessed the arrival at public and dash the whole Confederate strucChancellor's, but slight opposition being ture to the earth in one grand ruin. It was made by the surprised enemy. Stuart's a sublime crisis in the fortunes of the war, cavalry, with two guns, sallied out from the but one which, if it fully impressed the conWilderness, and kept the skirmishers and fident Federal leader, did not apparently fill flanking parties busy. The brigades of him with the awe and solemnity inseperable Mahone and Posey, of Anderson's division, from every truly great soul in great emerwere met near the point aimed at (Chancel-gencies. lor's) by the 5th Corps advance. The Eigh h Pennsylvania cavalry made a dash at their works, when, finding their position critical, Anderson's brigade was slowly withdrawn toward Lee's main body, stubbornly fighting the regulars of Sykes' division, whose zeal in pressing the pursuit had to be checked by a countermand, which ordered back the whole division from its much advanced position. That countermand, it is assumed by certain critics, was a radical error, costing Hooker his hold upon Chancellor's. Notice of this successful passage of the Rapidan having been signalled to Couch, with the 2d Corps, then await ng orders n the north bank of the Rappahannock, opposite United States Ford, he at once put down his pontoons and joined the advance columns at Chancellor's during the evening of the 30th. This successful movement might well fill the breasts of all, from General commanding down, with enthusiasm. Hooker, constitutionally averse to apprehensions of disaster, gave expression to his confidence in terms which, when afterwards repeated, excited smiles at the General's expense. "The rebel army," he said, "is now the legitimate property of the Army of the Potomac. They may as well pack up their haversacks and make for Richmond, and I shall be after them."* The victory, indeed, was, then, more than half won, and only the most desperate sacrifice of life could save the capture of the rebel army entire, providing the even Sedgwick's Feint. Sedgwick having been deputed, with three corps, the 1st, 3d and 6th, to demonstrate against Lee's lines by an assumed attack on the Confederate right, placed his pontoons, early on the morning of the 29th, three miles below the town, and near the place at which Franklin had crossed, in his attempt to carry the two heights on the east, while Burnside made the attack direct. Two bridges were laid with but little obstruction-an advance guard having crossed in boats and captured the small rebel force on duty at that point. Two divisions then passed over, while the remaining divisions, by brigades, were so ostentatiously displayed and manœuvered as to indicate a crossing and attack in force. This so deccived Lee that his attention was, for the moment, centered upon his right rather than upon the Federal main column's proceedings. These feints continued until the night of the 30th when, the flanking section having won its position, Sickles' Corps (2d) and the divisions of Reynolds' Corps (1st) were ordered to j in the main movement, leaving Sedgwick with his own Corps and one division of Couch's command, with which to strike for Lee's rear at the proper moment. Pollard's account of the * Swinton's statement. Verified by other authori- well as the one higher up the river under Hooker, ties. until he had penetrated the enemy's design, and |