THE CIVIL WAR.

СНАРТER I.

OPERATIONS IN VIRGINIA.-BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE.-SIEGE OF SUFFOLK.

HILE a portion of the National troops were achieving important victories on the banks of the Lower Mississippi,' those composing the Army of the Potomac were winning an equally July, 1868.

important victory," not far

a

from the banks of the Susquehannah. We left that army in charge of General Joseph Hooker, after sad disasters at Fredericksburg, encamped near the Rappahannock, let us now observe its movements from that time until its triumphs in the conflict at Gettysburg, between the Susquehannah and the Potomac rivers.

During three months after General Hooker took com

mand of the army, no active operations were undertaken by either party in the strife, excepting in some cavalry movements, which were few and comparatively feeble. This inaction was caused partly by the wretched condition of the Virginia roads, and partly because of the exhaustion of both armies after a most fatiguing and wasting campaign. The Army of the Potomac, lying at Falmouth, nearly opposite Fredericksburg, when Hooker took the command, was weak and demoralized. Despondency, arising from discouragement on account of recent disasters, and withering homesickness, almost universally prevailed, and desertions averaged two hundred a day. The relatives and friends of the soldiers, at home, were equally despondent, and these, anxious for the return of their loved ones, filled the express trains with packages

1 See the closing chapter of volume II.

VOL. III.-2

Page 497, volume II.

18

INFLUENCES OF THE PEACE FACTION.

containing citizens' clothing, in which the latter might escape from the service. Great numbers fled in these disguises.

At the time we are considering (close of January, 1863), Hooker found the number of absentees to be two thousand nine hundred and twenty-two commissioned officers, and eighty-one thousand nine hundred and sixty-four

non-commissioned officers and privates. These were scattered all over the country, and were every where met and influenced by the politicians opposed to the war. These politicians, and especially the faction known as the Peace Party, taking advantage of the public disappointment caused by the ill-success of the armies under McClellan and Buell in the summer and early autumn of 1862, had charged all failures to suppress the rebellion to the inefficiency of the Government, whose hands they had continually striven to weaken. They had succeeded in spreading general alarm and distrust among the people; and, during the despondency that prevailed after the failure of the campaign of the Army of the Potomac, ending in inaction after the Battle of Antietam,' and of the Army of the Ohio in Kentucky, when Bragg and his forces were allowed to escape to a stronghold near Nashville, elections were held in ten Free-labor States, and, in the absence of the votes of the soldiers (two-thirds of whom were friends of the administration), resulted in favor of the Opposition. In these ten States Mr. Lincoln's majority in 1860 was 208,066. In 1862, the Opposition not only overcame this, but secured a majority of 35,781.

The expectation of conscription to carry on the contest, increased taxation, high prices of fabrics and food, and a depreciated currency were made powerful instruments in turning the public mind to thoughts of peace by means of compromise; especially when, after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, the Peace Faction, assuming to speak for the entire Opposition, declared, with seeming plausibility, that "the war for the preservation

1 This is from a photograph by Gardner, taken from the Stafford side of the Rappahannock, and showing the ruins of the railway bridge, near the spot where the troops crossed on the pontoon bridges, in December, 1861. See page 489, volume II.

Testimony of General Hooker before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, April 11, 1865. The total of absentees doubtless included all the desertions since the organization of the Army of the Potomac, and the sick and wounded in the hospitals. It is estimated that 50,000 men, on the rolls of the army at the time we are considering, were absent.

See chapter XVIII, volume II.

See page 511, volume II.

REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY.

19.

of the Union had been perverted to a war for the negro." The political battle-cry of the Opposition, before the elections, was, "A more vigorous prosecution of the war!" Now the Peace Faction that gave complexion to the general policy of that Opposition, discouraged further attempts to save the Republic. In this they seem to have been encouraged by army officers, a large proportion of whom, in the Army of the Potomac, and especially of those of high rank, were, it is said, hostile to the policy of the Government in the conduct of the war.' The Emancipation Proclamation had quickly developed, in full vigor, the pro-slavery element among these officers, many of whom openly declared that they never would have engaged in the war had they anticipated this action of the Government. While the army was now at rest, the influence of these military leaders was powerful in and out of camp, and, acting with the general despondency in the public feeling, had an ill effect, for a little while, upon the army.

Hooker's first care was to prevent desertions, secure the return of absentees, and to weed out the army of noxious materials. The express trains were examined by the provost-marshals, and all citizens' clothing was burned. Disloyal officers were dismissed so soon as they were discovered, and the evils of idleness were prevented by keeping the soldiers employed. Vigilance was everywhere wide awake, especially

among the outlying pickets, whose rude huts of sticks, brush, and earth, at times white with snow, dotted the landscape- for miles around the camp. Important changes were made in the organization of the army, and in the various staff departments; and the cavalry, hitherto scattered among the Grand Divisions, and without organization as a corps, were consolidated, and soon placed in a state of greater efficiency than had ever before been known in the service. To improve them, they were sent out upon raids within the Confederate lines whenever the state of the roads would permit, and for several weeks the region between Bull's Run and the Rapid Anna was the theater of many daring exploits by the cavalry of both

1 Hooker's testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.

3 See page 485, volume II.

PICKET HUT.

armies. Finally, at the middle of April, Hooker's ranks were well filled by the return of absentees, and at the close of that month, when he felt prepared for a campaign, his army was in fine spirits, thoroughly disciplined, and numbered one hundred and ten thousand infantry and artillery,

2 The same.

This is a view of the Lacy House, opposite Fredericksburg, from which Sumner observed the opera

20

CONDITION OF THE CONFEDERATE ARMY.

with four hundred guns, and a well-equipped cavalry force thirteen thousand strong. The leader of this fine army, like his immediate predecessor, was a zealous patriot and active soldier, and gave the tone of his own emotions to those of his troops.' "All were actuated by feelings of confidence and devotion to the cause," he said, "and I felt that it was a living army, and one well worthy of the Republic."?

Lee, meanwhile, had been assiduous in preparing his army for the spring campaign. He first turned his attention to supplies and equipment. His appeals to the people for the former were liberally answered. The arsenals at Richmond were kept busy in the re-equipment of his troops and the arming of new recruits. Much of his field artillery, which was inferior to that of Hooker, was replaced by new and improved guns. Careful attention was bestowed upon discipline. Prompt measures were taken to prevent

tions of his division on the 13th of December, 1862. See page 492, volume II. Here for awhile, after he took command, Hooker had his head-quarters. It was the property of Major J. Horace Lacey, who had been a major in the Confederate service. His mansion is one of the finest of the older houses in that region, and was built by William Fitzhugh, the father-in-law of the late Geo. W. P. Custis, the proprietor of Arlington House. Sea page 421, volume I. Major Lacey owned the land on which the Battle of the Wilderness was fought by Grant and Lee, in 1864.

1 At this time General Hooker introduced the badge designation into his army with excellent effect. The idea originated with General Kearney at the battle of Fair Oaks. See page 411, vol. II. The occasion was as follows: It was impossible, at that time, for the common soldiers to renew their clothing, except by drawing

from the quartermasters the same as that used by enlisted men.

Officers and men were thus dressed alike. To distinguish them apart, Kearney issued an order that the field and staff officers of his division should wear

a red patch on the top of their caps, and the line officers the same in front When General Birney succeeded the slain Kearney in command, he ordered that the wearing of these patches should be continued in memory of their gal lant old commander, and that, for the same purpose, the rank and file should wear a red patch on the side of their caps; but none were entitled to wear the badge but those who had been in action with the division. General Hooker ordered each of the seven corps of the Army of the Potomac to be distinguished by a badge, as follows: The 1st, by a disk; the 2d, by a trefoil; the Sd, by a lozenge; the 5th, by a Maltese cross; the 6th, by a plain cross; the 11th, by a crescent; and the 12th, by a star.

Each corps had three divisions, and the badges, whose forms determined the corps, also designated the divisions, by colors. The badge of the first division of each corps was made of scarlet cloth; of the second, of achite; and the third, of blue. These were all placed on the top of the cap. Those who wore hats placed the badge on the left side. The flags of each division head-quarters were designated as follows: 1st division, a white flag with a scarlet disk; 2d division, a blue flag with a white disk; and 3d division, a white flag with a blue disk. These flags were square. The brigade flags, bearing the different colored disks, were triangular in shape.

Additional honors were paid to General Kearney. It was agreed that all commissioned officers who had been in action under him should wear a "Kearney Decoration," which should consist of a golden Maltese cross, suspended by a red silk ribbon on the left breast of the dress coat. After the battle of Chancellorsville, General Birney caused several hundred bronze medals, patterned somewhat after this decoration, to be struck, to be awarded, as a sort of legion of honor, to such non-commissioned officers and privates of his division as especially distinguished themselves in that engagement. 2 Testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War.