FITZ JOHN PORTER 125 enemy destroyed an immense amount of property at Manassas-cars and supplies. I expect the next thing will be a raid on our rear by Longstreet, who was cut off. Still again, on the 28th: 'I hope for the best. My lucky star is always up about my birthday, the 31st, and I hope Mac's is up also. You will hear of us soon by way of Alexandria.' On the first day of the battle, instead of coming up and taking part in it as ordered, he sent this dispatch: 'Heintzelman and Reno are at Centreville, where they marched yesterday. Pope went to Centreville with the last two as a bodyguard, at the time not knowing where the enemy was, and when Sigel was fighting within eight miles of him and in sight. Comment is unnecessary. I hope Mac's at work and we will soon get ordered out of this.' Necessarily, Porter had to admit that he had repeatedly failed to obey Pope's orders, and had thus kept his corps out of the battle when its help was sorely needed, and when it might have brought victory to the Union army. But Porter sought to justify his disobedience by pleading the darkness of the night, the want of knowledge of the road, the lateness of the hour when the order for an attack was received, etc., etc. But these dispatches showed with certainty that he was at that time entertaining a want of respect, approaching contempt, for the military ability of his commanding general, a disgust for his association with this new army, and was looking to McClellan as his guide and whose good opinion he was seeking to gain by bad conduct toward Pope. Thus he gave the real cue to the cause of his persistent and continued disobedience. The expression of the expectation, if not the hope, that all would soon arrive at Alexandria involved also a wish for the discomfiture of the very army of which he formed a part, and in which he held a rank second only to that of its commanding officer. Porter had been betrayed by his friendship for McClellan into a course of conduct towards Pope that could not be justified. It doubtless gave him cause for regret the balance of his life. But while we agree with the conclusion of the court-martial, at the same time, in view of Porter's faithful service in the Peninsula and some during the coming Antietam campaign-for he was not tried till after that closed-we must also agree that, if twenty years after the war closed Congress could find a way to restore him to his rank and place him on the retired list, no objection need be made. He had already suffered much, and a time had come when the rest of his punishment could be remitted with impunity. But, when tried, his escape would have been unfortunate. Want of discipline then prevailed to such an extent in the Eastern armies that a return to it had to commence somewhere. And it very properly commenced with Porter. CHAPTER XLI Lee invades Maryland-The Advance-Barbara Freitchie-Jackson takes Harper's Ferry-Battle of South Mountain-Antietam-Lee retires to Virginia. WHEN the Union troops retired to the protection of the fortifications about Washington, McClellan expected Lee would attack him there. But Lee was too clear-headed to throw his troops upon defences that he knew were impregnable. He had driven the armies of McClellan and Pope back to the point from which they set out, had thwarted the object of their campaigns, and had interrupted operations in Western Virginia and on the coast of North Carolina by compelling the withdrawal of the Union forces from those regions. This was achievement enough. Instead now of attacking McClellan in his stronghold, Lee chose to march on northward. Upon the arrival of his army at Leesburg he received information that the Union troops stationed at Winchester had retired to Harper's Ferry and Martinsburg. The whole of north-eastern Virginia was thus freed from the presence of Federal soldiers. The war was transferred from the interior to the frontier of the Confederacy. And Lee saw the supplies of rich and productive districts farther north made accessible to his army. To prolong this state of affairs, every way desirable for him, and continue it until the season of the year for active operations would close, he felt it was best to transfer the war into Maryland. So he wrote the authorities at Richmond, and procured their consent to cross the Potomac. His army was not equipped for invasion. It lacked the material of war. The troops were poorly supplied with clothing, and thousands of them were without shoes. But he believed the army was strong enough to justify the attempt, and that this would detain McClellan in his present locality till winter. It would free Richmond from danger till the next summer. Lee also believed that the condition of Maryland was such that the presence of his army there would require the Washington Government to keep its forces at hand to provide against a Confederate uprising, and that, in case he was compelled to fight, his military success would aid such an uprising. Influenced by these considerations, Lee put his army in motion. And between September 4 and 7 it crossed the Potomac at the fords near Leesburg. D. H. Hill's division, which had marched all the way from Richmond and joined Lee at Chantilly, was given the advance. The route lay east of the mountains. It was so chosen that, by threatening Washington and Baltimore, Lee might compel McClellan to withdraw from the south bank of the Potomac, where LEE INVADES MARYLAND 127 his presence endangered the Confederate communication as well as the safety of those who were removing the wounded and the captured property from the late battlefields. Having drawn McClellan north of the Potomac, Lee purposed to cross South Mountain and establish his communication with Richmond through the Shenandoah Valley, and then, by threatening Pennsylvania, draw McClellan still farther away from his base and compass his defeat. He hoped his advance to Frederick would lead to the evacuation of Martinsburg and Harper's Ferry, and thus open his communication through the Valley. But Colonel Dixon S. Miles, who was in command of the Union troops, had been ordered to hold on and confine his defence, in case he was attacked by superior forces, to a position on Maryland Heights, which overlooked and controlled the town of Harper's Ferry. To understand fully the situation, it may be explained that Harper's Ferry lies at the northern extremity of the Valley and where the Shenandoah River empties into the Potomac. While the village nestling among the mountains is old and mean, its surroundings are of surpassing beauty. Behind it, to the west, is the steep ascent of Bolivar Heights, then, as now, occupied by the buildings of a small college. In front, rising to the height of more than a thousand feet, are the forest-clad peaks of the Blue Ridge Mountains, here known as Loudoun Heights. To the north lay Maryland Heights. From a bench on that side a battery, with a plunging fire, could riddle the town and itself be too high to be reached by the guns of the village. On one side of the town is the Shenandoah River, which can be seen any bright morning glistening in the sunshine up the Valley for many a mile. On the other side flows the Potomac, with its sleepy canal on the farther bank. The rivers, uniting in front of the town, pour their onrushing floods through a narrow gap in the mountains between the two Heights. There are tall, towering cliffs on either side. The mountains seem loath to admit the passage, for they give room only for the river. Beside it has been chiselled out of the cliff a bed for the canal. But the railroad from Wheeling, which here unites with another from Winchester, has been compelled to tunnel through the cliff to obtain a passage. The art of man never can destroy the attractions of the place. The towering heights covered with the foliage of virgin forests, and its narrow valleys filled with mountain torrents hurrying their floods on to the sea, will be a joy for ever. But Harper's Ferry never can be a spot fitted for military occupation. No one knew this better than Lee. He had long been familiar with the locality. And seeing that the outpost at Martinsburg had not been drawn in, and that preparations were made by Miles to hold the Ferry, he determined to capture both. This would clear his line to Richmond. And that must be done before he could safely cross his army over the mountains. To accomplish this, he ordered Stonewall Jackson to march from Frederick, Md., through Middletown and Boonsborough, and, recrossing the Potomac at Williamsport, to Martinsburg, drive the detachment from that place, and then move down the south side of the Potomac upon Harper's Ferry. While McLaws was sent to seize Maryland Heights and Walker to take possession of Loudoun Heights. The several commands were to support one another in their movements against the town. And Jackson, being the ranking officer, would be in command. The town taken, they were to join the main body at Boonsborough or Hagerstown. The march of these troops commenced on September 10. And at the same time Longstreet crossed South Mountain and moved towards Boonsborough. While Stuart, with the cavalry, remained east of the mountains to observe McClellan and obstruct his advance. As Jackson passed through Frederick an incident took place which Whittier has preserved in verse. Barbara Frietchie, an old woman, more than ninety years of age, but of enduring loyalty, lived in a small house on the bank of a brook passing through the outskirts of this quaint little city. The Union flags, that had thus far floated over the homes of their loyal owners, were suddenly hauled down. Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then, Bowed with her four score years and ten; She took up the flag the men hauled down ; In her attic window the staff she set To show that one heart was loyal yet. Under his slouched hat, left and right Shoot, if you must, this old grey head, The accuracy of some of the incidents has been questioned. But of Barbara Frietchie's loyalty there is no doubt. And as the poem itself has entered into the history of the war, it deserves a place here. The house where Barbara lived has since disappeared. But the spot is marked by a tablet, and the lot has been dedicated as a public park. Her grave, in the neighbouring cemetery, is marked by a handsome monument bearing a bronze bas-relief of her head and face. But the immortal verse of Whittier has given her a wider and more enduring fame than either monument or park. McClellan left Virginia in pursuit of Lee three days behind him. For the first week he moved cautiously, keeping Washington and JACKSON INVESTS HARPER'S FERRY 129 Baltimore covered, and at the same time holding his troops well in hand, so as to be able to concentrate, and follow rapidly, if Lee went toward Pennsylvania; or return to the defence of Washington if his advance should prove only a feint, with a small force, to draw the Union army off while the Confederate main body seized the first opportunity to attack the capital. As usual, McClellan was urging that all the troops which could be spared be sent to him. He never seemed to appreciate that Washington should be under a strong guard independent of his army. He saw only his own wants. On the 13th his right and centre passed through Frederick, from which Lee's army had marched on the two previous days. Here a Union soldier found in a room lately occupied by General D. H. Hill a copy of an order issued by General Lee and which fully disclosed his plans. Hill had received two copies: one from Lee and another from Jackson, who regarded him as subject to his command. Hill preserved one, but carelessly threw the other aside, where three days later it was found and brought to McClellan. It directed the movement of Jackson, McLaws and Walker against Harper's Ferry, as related. It ordered Longstreet to advance westward over the mountains to Boonsborough, General D. H. Hill's division forming his rear guard. And the commands of Jackson, McLaws and Walker, after capturing Harper's Ferry, were to join the main body without delay. This order came to McClellan's hand some time on the 13th, exactly at what hour is not known, but certainly before 6.20 P.M., for in a dispatch dated at that time, signed by McClellan and addressed to General Franklin, he recited its contents. So that McClellan then had, as he himself said, full information as to the movements and intentions of the enemy. The question is, what use did he make of this information? He then wrote: The firing shows that Miles still holds out.' So that he knew that Harper's Ferry was then beleaguered in pursuance of Lee's plan, and that it was resisting. He had been ordered to relieve it. He also knew that, unless relieved soon, judging from the overwhelming forces that Lee had sent, the garrison must soon surrender. It did hold out all that night and the day following, and for still another night. For it did not surrender till the morning of the 15th. McClellan was within twenty miles, and his troops were comparatively fresh. Jackson had marched rapidly, crossing the Potomac at Williamsport, and sending A. P. Hill against Martinsburg. On Hill's approach this Federal outpost retired to Harper's Ferry. Jackson followed. When he arrived Walker had already gained his position on Loudoun Heights. The next day McLaws drove away the outpost on Maryland Heights and took his position there. The investment of Harper's Ferry was then complete. Miles must either receive help from without or surrender. But McClellan, though he had timely notice of what was transpiring, deliberately allowed the night of the 13th to pass without an effort to relieve, though the pass of South Mountain was then feebly guarded. He did order Franklin to move the next morning by Burkittsville and take the mountain pass on the road to Rohrersville, and, passing down the west side, to cut off McLaws and relieve Miles. |