CHAPTER XIII.

FROM GETTYSBURG TO THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

A

JULY 4 TO OCTOBER 30.

FTER the grapple of the giants, the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Northern Virginia, at Gettysburg, on the 1st, 2d, and 3d days of July, 1863, which ended with the repulse of Pickett's magnificent charge on the Union center on Cemetery Ridge and the foiling of Stuart's splendid cavalry dash on the right flank, General Lee, disappointed in the confident hope and anticipation of crushing the Union army, was obliged to solve the problem of successfully withdrawing his shattered army from its position in front of Meade's victorious legions. For this purpose the weather was most propitious. The heavy cannonading of the previous three days brought on violent thunder storms. During the night of the 3d the rain fell in torrents, and a darkness like that of Egypt settled down upon the field of battle, concealing from view all movement of troops, while volleys of reverberating thunder drowned the rumbling of trains and artillery. During the 4th the rain continued without cessation. Nevertheless, reconnoissances, made in all directions, disclosed the fact that General Lee had withdrawn his left and taken up a new position parallel with the Blue Ridge, covering the roads over that range, on which his immense trains, artillery and wounded, were moving on the night of the 3d and all day of the 4th.

During the night of the 4th the Confederate army withdrew, and on the morning of the 5th were discovered to be

in full retreat on the Fairfield and Cashtown roads. The Sixth Corps being the strongest, was at once pushed forward in pursuit on the Fairfield road, and Col. Irvin Gregg's brigade of Gregg's cavalry division on the Cashtown road. General Sedgwick, commanding the Sixth Corps, found the retreating army strongly posted in the Fairfield Pass, and after closely reconnoitering the position deemed it too strong to be successfully attacked. Leaving Neil's brigade of infantry and McIntosh's cavalry brigade to harass and annoy the. enemy, the army was put in motion for Middletown, Maryland, and every effort was put forth to head off the retreating army, whose line of march must necessarily lead, via Hagerstown, to Williamsport on the Potomac. Buford's division marched from Westminster on the 4th, via Frederick, Maryland, across the Catoctin and South Mountain Passes, en route for Williamsport, on the Potomac, and at five o'clock p.m. on the 6th came up with the enemy's pickets near St. James' College, between Boonsboro and the Antietam.

Kilpatrick, marching on the 4th, reached Emmittsburg at three o'clock p.m., where he found Huey's (Second) brigade of Gregg's cavalry division: Pushing forward at once on the Monterey pike, he encountered some of Stuart's cavalry, which he brushed aside, and, moving on to Monterey, struck, captured, and destroyed Ewell's trains, taking a number of prisoners. He then moved by Smithsburg to Boonsboro, foiling Stuart's attempt to cut him off.

The infantry corps moved promptly on all roads leading from Gettysburg through the mountain passes, and were concentrated in the vicinity of Boonsboro, west of the Blue Ridge, on the evening of the 9th. On the 10th Meade's headquarters moved from Turner's Gap to Beaver Creek, a tributary of the Antietam, between Boonsboro and Williamsport. The Second, Third, Fifth, and Twelfth Corps were across the Antietam in front of the enemy's right, and the First, Sixth, and Eleventh Corps in position in front of Hagerstown and Funkstown. On the 9th and 10th the

cavalry of the two armies (which covered Lee's retiring infantry columns and preceded the advance of Meade's corps) had numerous and spirited engagements.

General Lee, moving steadily in retreat through Hagerstown (the head of his columns arrived at Williamsport on the evening of the 6th and the rear on the morning of the 7th), found the river, swollen by the recent rains, impassable, and his pontoons, which had been left there to facilitate his crossing, destroyed. Being thus brought to a halt, he took up a strong position between the fords at Williamsport and Falling Waters, his right resting on the Potomac and his left on the Conococheague, near Hagerstown, Maryland. This line ran along a range of heights west of Marsh Creek, and was strongly intrenched, while the fording places on the river were put in condition to cover the crossing of his army.

To the commander of the Union forces this position appeared too formidable for successful attack without a full examination; and with this view General Meade determined to make a reconnoissance in force, supported by the entire army, early on the morning of the 13th; but his corps commanders were so decidedly averse to an advance that he postponed it until the following day. During the night the enemy withdrew from this position and crossed the Potomac.

An examination of the position occupied by the Confederates showed it to be very strong, quite as much so as Marye's Heights at Fredericksburg. To have blindly hurled his masses upon this position in the hope that some weak point would be found might have been splendid blundering, but certainly could not be characterized as judicious and scientific warfare. From all the facts known at the time, and from subsequent light thrown upon the subject by the publication of Confederate records, the calm view of all military men capable of forming a correct estimate of military operations must be that General Meade was governed by sound military principles in refraining from an immediate and direct attack.

acros the Potomac by way of Shepherdstown and Harper's Ferry with two corps of infantry and two divisions of cavalry, commenced from Boonsboro on the morning of the 11th, it is, perhaps, now useless to speculate upon. However that may be, one cannot help thinking that great results must have followed.

General Meade, backed by the strong positions afforded by the passes through and over the Blue Ridge, with reënforcements (French had already joined with 6,500 fresh troops) constantly coming up from his base, and the accumulating bodies of Northern militia under Couch gathering on his right flank, would certainly have been as secure against any forward movement, had the enemy been in condition to make it, as General Lee was behind the Antietam. This formidable flanking force, marching from Boonsboro on the 11th, would have been across General Lee's line of. retreat, between Williamsport and Martinsburg, some time during the night of the 12th or morning of the 13th; and as General Lee's crossing did not commence until the night of that day, he would have been in the position of General Mack at Ulm, or the Roman Consuls in the Candine Forks. W But as no movement of this kind seems to have been contemplated by anyone having the authority to make or propose it, no good purpose can be subserved by discussing it further.

The movement of Gregg's cavalry division across the Potomac at Harper's Ferry on the 14th accomplished othing, although a severe engagement took place between Col. Irvin Gregg's (Third) brigade and the bulk of Stuart's cavalry near Shepherdstown, which lasted from one o'clock until nine p.m. on the 16th, and in which a large number of people on both sides were killed and wounded.

On the morning of the 14th, General Meade was apprised that the enemy had slipped away during the night, and his army was put in motion with all practicable dispatch, directed upon Williamsport, but was unable to overtake him.

Buford and Kilpatrick, however, overtook the rear guard at Falling Waters, attacked and captured two cannon, three flags and many prisoners. On the 15th, headquarters of the army were moved to Berlin, and the columns were all put in motion by various roads for that place and Harper's Ferry. On the 16th and 17th the army crossed the Potomac, and moved along the eastern side of the Blue Ridge, keeping pace with the Confederate army in its retreat up the valley of Virginia, and preventing it from debouching through the various passes of that mountain barrier into the rich valleys of Loudoun and Fauquier Counties, which General Lee designed to occupy, and threatened his communications with Richmond.

Longstreet and Hill, moving rapidly on the 20th and 22d, passed safely through Chester Gap; but Ewell essaying to pass through on the 23d, met the heads of the Third, Fifth and Second Corps advancing through the gap, and a spirited contest ensued, which resulted in forcing him back and compelling him to continue his march up the valley as far as Luray, and to cross over by way of Thornton's Gap. General Lee, having safely passed the Blue Ridge, massed his army around Culpeper Court House.

General Meade, under instructions from Washington, took up a strong and threatening position behind the Rappahannock, with Gregg's cavalry division thrown forward to Amissville, but being directed not to advance against Lee's position at Culpeper, all active operations between the two armies ceased.

On the 1st of August, Buford's cavalry division crossed the river on a reconnoissance; and at or near Brandy Station encountered Hampton's and Jones' brigades, commanded by Stuart in person, which they drove back to within a mile and a half of Culpeper, and found that place occupied by A. P. Hill's corps. They then fell back and recrossed the river at Rappahannock Station. After this the two armies remained quietly watching each other. During the month of August the Army of the Potomac