1862. On our way here, a batch of forty-five recruits met us, and a fine set of boys they were. They struck us just as the hard times were beginning, and at a time when the selfish propensities of some of the boys had been excited into activity, as negotiations were immediately begun for the exchange of old wornout dippers, for the bright new ones just brought out from Boston. Upon the untruthful representation that the old dippers were captured or found on the battlefield, the new recruits showed great eagerness to possess them. The exchange was completed so quickly that warning came too late to be of service to some of the recruits. The transaction was so emphatically condemned by the regiment that most of the dippers were returned. Tuesday, "All-Fools' day" was sunny and warm. Recruits were assigned to various companies, choice being allowed those who had friends with whom they wished to serve. We spent the day, while waiting for the supply train. to bring us shoes and rations, in looking over the earthworks thrown up by the enemy, and examining the ruined shops, houses, etc. Marched fourteen miles by the Orange & Alexandria Wednesday, Railroad track to Warrenton Junction. The highway April 2. was terribly muddy, and the distance by it twice as long. As the company wagons failed to reach us, we turned in supperless. In theory, marching on a railroad is much more fatiguing than on the highway. It didn't seem to be so in this case, as the men arrived in excellent order and condition. Bivouacked in the woods. From the manner in which the rails were torn up and twisted, it was evident our progress was to be delayed as much as possible. The shapes into which they were turned gave rise to the name "Jeff. Davis' cravats." Thursday, No breakfast. Surely this must be "Fast day." "Where, oh, where are the teams?” vain for "That all-softening, overpowering knell, We listened in In the afternoon the teams arrived, bringing tents and food, and all were happy. 48 1862. Friday, April 4. Put the camp in order, that is, as good order as could be got out of a swamp-hole. We wondered who selected Fresh meat was issued. After we this spot for a camp. had removed every particle of meat from the bones, General Blenker's corps, who were in camp near us, took the leavings, such as bones, entrails, etc., and had a regular Thanksgiving dinner on what our luxurious natures discarded as useless. In the afternoon the Ninth New York band entertained us with music, and not to be We enjoyed outdone in courtesy, we sent our band to their camp. their music and likewise the courtesy which prompted it. Sutler arrived. The following order was received: Saturday, WASHINGTON, D.C., April 4, 1862. MAJ.-GEN. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Fort Munroe: Two new departments have this day been created, one called the Department of the Shenandoah, under the command of Major-General Banks, comprising that portion of Virginia and Maryland lying between the Mountain Department and the Blue Ridge; the other to be called the Department of the Rappahannock, under the command of Major-General McDowell, comprising that portion of Virginia east of the Blue Ridge and west of the Potomac and Fredericksburg and Richmond Railroad, including the District of Columbia and the country between the Potomac and Patuxent. (Signed) L. THOMAS, Adjutant-General. It will be seen by this that we were now a part of the Department of the Rappahannock. Sunday, Company D, with one company from each regiment in the brigade and a section of artillery, went out on a reconnoissance to the Rappahannock River, and a rough time they had of it in the rain, hail, and snow, one or the other of which prevailed all the time, while the mud was indescribable. They left camp at 11 P.M. Services by the chaplain, Inspection. How we loved this duty! who preached to us about following the flag, it being an allegorical piece of word-painting, inspired by a few words he overheard a man in the New York Ninth say on the way up Snicker's Mountain, as that regiment was ordered to "fall in." 1862. The following communication was this day sent to General McClellan by Mr. Stanton, Secretary of War: Your instructions to McDowell did not appear to contemplate the removal of his force until some time this week. The enemy were reported to be still in force at Gordonsville and Fredericksburg, and threatening Winchester and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. The force under Banks and Wadsworth was deemed by experienced military men inadequate to protect Winchester and the railroad, and was much less than had been fixed by your corps commanders as necessary to secure Washington. It was thought best, therefore, to detach either McDowell or Sumner, and as part of Sumner's corps was already with you, it was concluded to retain McDowell. This order was commented on by General McClellan in a private letter, as follows: NEAR YORKTOWN, April 6, 1862. While listening this P.M. to the sound of the guns, I received an order detaching McDowell's corps from my command. It is the most infamous thing that history has recorded. I have made such representations as will probably induce a revocation of the order, or at least save Franklin to me. It is interesting to know that he succeeded in saving Franklin's corps. At the time when this was written one might excuse such a statement in a man whose anger had run away with his judgment, but after the lapse of twenty years to repeat it, as he has done in “His Own Story," seems incredible. "The most infamous thing recorded in history!" To a man of McClellan's conceit it may be natural that he should consider the events of history as insignificant in comparison with his personal annoyances. The effect of this order, so far as we were concerned, was important, inasmuch as it completely changed the current of our service. Monday, General Abercrombie made the following report of the reconnoissance in which Company D took part : A reconnoissance was made last night to the river where a picket guard and a few infantry were discovered, occupying what appears to be rifle-pits and two small redoubts of recent construction covering the fords. Some of the slaves who have come in say the rebels appear to be retiring. We wished as much might be said of the mud. 50 1862. Tuesday, We were obliged to resort to various devices to keep from lying in the water, as our camp was only suitable for amphibious animals. It was a great place for malarial diseases, and was known as "Camp Misery." News was received of the taking of "Island No. 1o," whereupon "the bands began to play." On this day General McClellan wrote as follows, according to "His Own Story": I have raised an awful row about McDowell's corps. The President very coolly telegraphed me yesterday that he thought I had better break the enemy's lines at was much tempted to reply that he had better come at once and do it once! himself. The weather had been so abominable that the wagons Wednesday, were delayed, and hence our rations were short. Snowed April 9. hard in the afternoon, in spite of the fact that we were in "Ole Virginny." The following is taken from a letter of the President to General McClellan, dated April 9, 1862: MY DEAR SIR: Your despatches, complaining that you are not properly sustained, while they do not offend me, do pain me very much. After you left, I ascertained that less than twenty thousand unorganized men, without a single field battery, were all you designed to be left for the defence of Washington and Manassas Junction; and part of this even was to go to General Hooker's old position. General Banks' corps, once designed for Manassas Junction, was diverted and tied up on the line of Winchester and Strasburg, and could not leave it without again exposing the upper Potomac and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad. This presented, or would present, when McDowell and Sumner should be gone, a great temptation to the enemy to turn back from the Rappahannock and sack Washington. My implicit order that Washington should, by the judgment of all the commanders of army corps, be left entirely secure, had been neglected. It was precisely this that drove me to detain McDowell. I do not forget that I was satisfied with your arrangement to leave Banks at Manassas Junction; but when that arrangement was broken up, and nothing was substituted for it, of course I was constrained to substitute something for myself. And allow me to ask, do you really think I should permit the line from Richmond via Manassas Junction, to this city, to be entirely open, except what resistance could be presented by less than twenty thousand unorganized troops? This is a question which the country will not allow me to evade. There is a curious mystery 1862. about the number of troops now with you. When I telegraphed you on the 6th, saying you had over a hundred thousand with you, I had just obtained from the Secretary of War a statement taken, as he said, from your own returns, making one hundred and eight thousand then with you and en route to you. You now say you will have but eighty-five thousand when all en route to you shall have reached you. How can the discrepancy of twentythree thousand be accounted for? As to General Wool's command, it is doing for you precisely what a like number of your own would have to do if that command was away. I suppose the whole force which has gone forward for you is with you by this time. And, if so, I think it is the precise time for you to strike a blow. By delay, the enemy will relatively gain upon you; that is, he will gain faster by fortifications and reënforcements than you can by reënforcements alone. And once more let me tell you, it is indispensable to you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to help this. You will do me the justice to remember I always insisted that going down the bay in search of a field, instead of fighting at or near Manassas Junction, was only shifting, and not surmounting a difficulty; that we would find the same enemy, and the same or equal intrenchments, at either place. The country will not fail to note is now noting that the present hesitation to move upon an intrenched enemy is but the story of Manassas repeated. I beg to assure you that I have never written to you or spoken to you in greater kindness of feeling than now, nor with a fuller purpose to sustain you, so far as, in my most anxious judgment, I consistently can. But you must act. Thursday, Mud knee-deep. Drinking-water, which was obtained by sinking a barrel in the ground, was very bad. This didn't seem so extraordinary to us inasmuch as it was never good. A mild and pleasant day. As the sun warmed the air, the camp looked like a Turkish bath. The name of the camp was changed to-day from "Misery" to "Starvation." A number of the boys left behind at Hagerstown, sick, returned to camp to-day. A nice place for a sick man. The following order was sent to General McDowell by the Secretary of War, dated April 11: Friday, SIR: For the present, and until further orders from this Department, you will consider the national capital as especially under your protection, and make no movement throwing your force out of position for the discharge of this primary duty. |
