CHAPTER IV. THE ROUT OF THE ELEVENTH CORPS.
Notwithstanding Hooker's order of 9.30 A.M. calling Howard's attention to the weakness of his right flank, and the probability that Jackson was marching to attack it, no precautions were taken against the impending danger. The simple establishing of a front of two regiments toward the west when half his command would hardly have been sufficient, unless protected by works of some kind, was perfectly idle as a barrier against the torrent about to overwhelm the Eleventh Corps. So far as I can ascertain, only two companies were thrown out on picket, and they were unsupported by grand guards, so that they did not detain the enemy a moment, and the rebels and our pickets all came in together. Great stress has been laid upon the fact that Howard did have a reserve force—Barlow's brigade of 2,500 men—facing west, which Hooker withdrew to reinforce Sickles; but is not shown that Howard made any remonstrance or attached any great importance to its removal. Even if it had remained, as there were not strong intrenchments in front of it, it is not probable that it would have been able to resist Jackson's entire corps for any length of time. There was no reason other than Howard's utter want of appreciation of the gravity of the situation to prevent him from forming a strong line of defence to protect his right flank. If made with felled timber in front and redoubts on the flanks, Jackson could not have overleaped it, or even attacked it without heavy loss. If he stopped to do so, Sickles' corps and Williams' division of the Twelfth Corps, with the reserve forces under Berry and French, would soon have confronted him. If he had attempted to keep on farther down to attack the United States Ford, he would have met the First Corps there, and would have permanently severed all connection between himself and Lee, besides endangering his line of retreat. The apathy and indifference Howard manifested in relation to Jackson's approach can only be explained in the supposition that he really believed that Jackson had fled to Gordonsville, and that the demonstrations on his front and right proceeded merely from Stuart's cavalry; and yet why any one should suppose that Lee would part with half his army, and send it away to Gordonsville where there was no enemy and nothing to be done, is more than I can imagine. Jackson was celebrated for making these turning movements; besides, it was easy, by questioning prisoners, to verify the fact that he had no surplus trains with him. Nothing, in short, but ammunition wagons, and ambulances for the wounded; a sure indication that his movement meant fight and not retreat.
From 10 A.M., when Hooker's order was received, to 6 P.M., when the assault came, there was ample time for Howard to form an impregnable line. His division commanders did not share his indifference. General Schurz pointed out to him that his flank was in the air, but he seemed perfectly satisfied with his line as it was, and not at all desirous of changing it in any particular. Schurz, of his own volition, without the knowledge of his chief, posted three regiments in close column of division, and formed them in the same direction as the two regiments and two guns which were expected to keep Jackson back, but the shock, when it came, was so sudden that these columns did not have time to deploy. Devens, having two reserve regiments, also faced them that way, of his own accord, behind the other two, but having no encouragement to form line in that direction it is probable both generals hesitated to do so.
Jackson, having debouched from the country road into the plank road, was separated from Lee by nearly six miles of pathless forest. He kept on until he reached the turnpike, and then halted his command in order that he might reconnoitre and form line of battle. He went up on a high hill and personally examined the position of the Eleventh Corps. Finding that it was still open to attack, and that no preparations had been made to receive him, he formed Rodes' and Colston's divisions two hundred yards apart, perpendicular to the plank road, with the road in the centre, and with Hill's division both on the plank road and turnpike as a support to the other two. Fitz Lee's brigade of cavalry was left on the plank road to menace Howard from that direction.
It will be seen by a glance at the map that his lines overlapped that of the Eleventh Corps for a long distance, both in front and rear. The first notice our troops had of his approach did not come from our pickets—for their retreat and his advance were almost simultaneous—but from the deer, rabbits, and other wild animals of the forest, driven from their coverts by his advance. It is always convenient to have a scape-goat in case of disaster, and the German element in the Eleventh Corps have been fiercely censured and their name became a byword for giving way on this occasion. It is full time justice should be done by calling attention to the position of that corps. I assert that when a force is not deployed, but is struck suddenly and violently on its flank, resistance in impracticable. Not Napoleon's Old Guard, not the best and bravest troops that ever existed, could hold together in such a case, for the first men assailed are—to use a homely but expressive word— driven into a huddle; and a huddle cannot fight, for it has no front and no organization. Under such circumstances, the men have but a choice of two evils, either to stay where they are and be slaughtered, without the power of defending themselves, or to run; and the only sensible thing for them to do is to run and rally on some other organization. The attempt to change front and meet this attack on such short notice would have been hopeless enough, drawn up as Howard's men were, even if they had been all in line with arms in their hands; but it is a beautiful commentary on the vigilance displayed, that in many cases the muskets were stacked, and the men lounging about some playing cards, others cooking their supper, intermingled with the pack-mules and beef cattle they were unloading. It will be remembered that in the order previously quoted, Howard was directed "to advance his pickets for the purpose of observation," in order that he might have ample time for preparation. The object of this injunction is plain enough. It was to make sufficient resistance to Jackson's advance to delay it, and not only give time for the Eleventh Corps to form, but enable Hooker to send his reserves to that part of the line. The pickets, therefore, should have been far out and strongly backed with a large force which would take advantage of every accident of ground to delay the rebel column as long as possible. Howard seemed to have no curiosity himself, as he sent out no parties; but Sickles and Pleasonton had their spies and detachments on the watch, and these came in constantly with the information, which was duly transmitted to Howard, that Jackson was actually coming. Schurz also became uneasy and sent out parties to reconnoitre. General Noble, at that time Colonel of the Seventeenth Connecticut Infantry, two companies of whose regiment were on the picket line there, writes as follows: "The disaster resulted from Howard's and Devens' utter disregard and inattention under warnings that came in from the front and flank all through the day. Horseman after horseman rode into my post and was sent to headquarters with the information that the enemy were heavily marching along our front and proceeding to our right; and last of all an officer reported the rebels massing for attack. Howard scouted the report and insulted the informants, charging them with telling a story that was the offspring of their imaginations or their fears."
If this be true, there has been but one similar case in our annals, and that was the massacre of the garrison of Fort Sims, by the savages, in 1813, near Mobile, Alabama; soon after a negro had been severely flogged by the commanding officer for reporting that he had seen Indians lurking around the post.
Adjutant Wilkenson, of the same regiment, confirms General Noble's statement and says, "Why a stronger force was not sent out as skirmishers and the left of our line changed to front the foe is more than I am able to understand."
General Schimmelpfennig, commanding a brigade of Schurz's division, says he sent out a reconnoissance and reported the hostile movements fully two hours before the enemy charged.
The Germans were bitterly denounced for this catastrophe, I think very unjustly, for in the first place less than one-half the Eleventh Corps were Germans, and in the second place the troops that did form line and temporarily stop Jackson's advance were Germans; principally Colonel Adolph Buschbeck's brigade of Steinwehr's division, aided by a few regiments of Schurz's division, who gave a volley or two. Buschbeck held a weak intrenched line perpendicular to the plank road for three-quarters of an hor, with artillery on the right, losing one-third of his force. His enemy then folded around his flanks and took him in reverse, when further resistance became hopeless and his men retreated in good order to the rear of Sickles' line at Hazel Grove where they supported the artillery and offered to lead a bayonet charge, if the official reports are to be believed. Warren says he took charge of some batteries of the Eleventh Corps and formed them in line across the Plank Road without any infantry support whatever.
In reference to this surprise, Couch remarks that no troops could have stood under such circumstances, and I fully agree with him.
An officer of the Eleventh Corps who was present informed General Wainwright, formerly Colonel of the 76th New York, that he was playing cards in the ditch, and the first notice he had of the enemy was seeing them looking down upon him from the parapet above.
As for Devens, who was nearest the enemy, it is quite probable that any attempt by him to change front to the west previous to the attack would have been looked upon by Howard as a reflection upon his own generalship and would have been met with disfavor, if not with a positive reprimand. The only semblance of precaution taken, therefore, was the throwing out two regiments to face Jackson's advance. Devens could not disgarnish his main line without Howard's permission, and it is not fair, therefore, to hold him responsible for the disaster. As it was, he was severely wounded in attempting to rally his men. The only pickets thrown out appear to have been two companies of the 17th Connecticut Infantry.
Just as Jackson was about to attack, a furious assault was made at the other end of the line, where Meade was posted. This was repulsed but it served to distract Hooker's attention from the real point of danger on the right.
It would seem from all accounts that nothing could vanquish Howard's incredulity. He appeared to take so little interest in Jackson's approach that when Captain George E. Farmer, one of Pleasonton's staff, reported to him that he had found a rebel battery posted directly on the flank of the Eleventh Corps, he was, to use his own language, "courteously received, but Howard did not seem to believe there was any force of the enemy in his immediate front." Sickles and Pleasonton were doing all they could to ascertain Jackson's position, for at this time a small detachment of the Third Corps were making a reconnoissance on the Orange Court House Plank Road, and Rodes states that our cavalry was met there and skirmished with Stuart's advance. Farmer said he saw no Union pickets, but noticed on his return that Howard's men were away from their arms, which were stacked, and that they were playing cards, etc., utterly unsuspicious of danger and unprepared for a contest. Notwithstanding the reports of Jackson's movement from spies and scouts, Howard ordered no change in his lines.
An attempt has been made to hold Colonel Farmer responsible for this surprise, on the ground that he should have charged the battery and brought in some prisoners, who would give full information; but there had been warnings enough, and prisoners enough, and as Colonel Farmer had but forty men, he would have had to dismount half of them to make the assault, and with part of his force holding the horses, he could only have used about twenty men in the attack, which is rather too few to capture guns supported by an army. Besides, Farmer was sent out by General Pleasonton with specific instructions, and was not obliged to recognize the authority of other officers who desired him to make a Don Quixote of himself to no purpose.
If the two wings of the rebel army had been kept apart, the small force left under Lee could easily have been crushed, or driven off toward Richmond. The commander of the Eleventh Corps, however, far from making any new works, did not man those he had, but left his own lines and went with Barlow's brigade to see what Sickles was doing.
The subsequent investigation of this sad business by the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War was very much of a farce, and necessarily unreliable; for so long as both Hooker and Howard were left in high command, it was absurd to suppose their subordinates would testify against them. Any officer that did so would have soon found his military career brought to a close.
Howard was in one or two instances mildly censured for not keeping a better lookout, but as a general thing the whole blame was thrown on the Germans. Hooker himself attributed the trouble to the fact that Howard did not follow up Jackson's movements, and allowed his men to stray from their arms.
A great French military writer has said, "It is permissible for an officer to be defeated; but never to be surprised."
It is, of course, only fair to hear what Howard himself has to say in relation to this matter.
He writes in his official report of the battle as follows:
"Now as to the cause of the disaster to my corps.
"First.—Though constantly threatened, and apprised of the moving of the enemy, yet the woods were so dense that he was able to move a large force, whose exact whereabouts neither patrols, reconnoissances, nor scouts ascertained.
"He succeeded in forming a column opposite to and outflanking my right.
"Second.—By the panic produced by the enemy's reverse fire, regiments and artillery were thrown suddenly upon those in position.
"Third.—The absence of General Barlow's brigade, which I had previously located in reserve, and in echelon with Colonel Von Gilsa's, so as to cover his right flank."
The first proposition implies that Howard did not know Jackson intended to attack his right, and therefore did not prepare for him in that direction, but as his front was well fortified, and his flank unprotected, it was plainly his duty to strengthen the weak part of his line. To suppose that Jackson would run a great risk, and spend an entire day in making this long circuit for the purpose of assailing his enemy in front, is hardly reasonable; for he could have swung his line around against it at once, had he desired to do so.
The fierce rush of the rebels, who came in almost simultaneously with the pickets, first struck General Von Gilsa's two small regiments and the two guns in the road, the only force that actually fronted them in line.
Von Gilsa galloped at once to Howard's Headquarters at Dowdall's Tavern to ask for immediate reinforcements. He was told, "he must hold his post with the men he had, and trust to God;" information which was received by the irate German with objurgations that were not at all of an orthodox character.
Devens' division, thus taken in flank, was driven back upon Schurz's division, and the being unable to form, was heaped up after some resistance on Steinwehr's division, in the uttermost confusion and disorder. Steinwehr had only Buschbeck's brigade with him; the other—that of Barlow—having been sent out to reinforce Sickles; but he formed line promptly, behind a weak intrenchment, which had been thrown across the road, and with the aid of his artillery kept Jackson at bay for three-quarters of an hour. Howard exerted himself bravely then, and did all he could to rally the fugitives; but Rodes' division, which attacked him, was soon reinforced by that of Colston, and the two together folded around his flanks, took his line in reverse, and finally carried the position with a rush; and then Buschbeck's brigade retired in good order through the flying crowd, who were streaming in wild disorder to the rear past Hooker's headquarters.
And now, with the right of our line all gone, with a yawning gap where Sickles' corps and Williams' division had previously been posted, with Lee thundering against the centre and left, and Jackson taking all our defences in reverse, his first line being close on Chancellorsville itself, it seemed as if the total rout of the army was inevitable.
Just before this attack, Hooker had decided to interpose more force between the wings of the rebel army, in order to permanently dissever Jackson from the main body. If Sickles had been allowed to attack the left flank of the enemy opposite the Furnace, as he requested permission to do earlier in the afternoon, this co-operative movement could hardly have failed to produce great results; afterward it was too late to attempt it. As already stated, Williams' division struck Anderson in front on Birney's left, and Geary attacked McLaws across the Plank Road to the right of Hancock. Geary found the enemy strongly posted, and as he made no progress, returned to his works. When the rout of the Eleventh Corps took place, Williams also hastened back, but was fired upon by Jackson's troops, who now occupied the intrenchments he had left. Sickles thinks if this had not occurred several regiments of the enemy would have been cut off from the main body.