STONEWALL JACKSON’S RAID: RETREAT OF GEN. BANKS.
While the Army of the Potomac was thus occupied in bridging the Chickahominy, and while General McClellan and the President were in correspondence, the rebels did not remain idle. On the 23rd of May commenced the well-remembered raid, up the valley of the Shenandoah, which was the occasion of a serious panic at Washington, and even further north than New York; which prevented the junction of McDowell’s and McClellan’s forces; and which involved the splendid retreat of General Banks from Strasburgh to Winchester, and thence to Williamsport on the Potomac river. The distance is fifty-three miles, and the retreat was accomplished in forty-eight hours. The Army of the Shenandoah, commanded by General Banks, consisted of about six thousand men, while the forces of the rebel raiders numbered upwards of twenty thousand, and were led by the brilliant and dashing Stonewall Jackson. The advance of the rebels was made up the valley, to the westward of the Blue Ridge, and the first point attacked was Front Royal. Here the enemy encountered the First Maryland Regiment, Col. Kenly, which was attacked with great fury, and driven back towards Strasburgh. Col. Kenly fought with wonderful valor, and was heartily sustained by his men. The fighting, indeed, was of almost unexampled severity, but the regiment was soon overpowered by numbers. Colonel Kenly, when asked to surrender, shot the rebel who thus summoned him to yield: and finally, when overpowered, broke his sword in halves, to avoid surrendering it. He was shot, but only wounded, and was placed in an ambulance. In that ambulance he was subjected to much suffering, for want of surgical aid.
As soon as General Banks received news of this disaster at Front Royal, and knew that General Jackson was advancing in force, he perceived his danger and ordered a retreat. And now commenced a race between the two armies, for the town of Winchester. Had Jackson reached that point first, he would have intercepted the little band of Union soldiers, cut off their supplies, and forced their surrender. But the celerity and courage of General Banks’s forces proved their salvation. They retired, indeed, in the face of superior numbers; but they retired fighting. At Newtown, at Kernstown, and at Winchester they were closely pushed by the pursuing foe; but, at every point of attack, the enemy was checked and held at bay. The severest encounter took place at Winchester. General Gordon’s brigade was here engaged, and gained great honor by its gallantry and coolness. The regiments constituting it were the Second Massachusetts, Lieut-Col. Andrews; the Third Wisconsin, Col. Ruger; the Twenty-seventh Indiana, Col. Colgrove; and the Twenty-ninth Pennsylvania, Col. Murphy. The stability with which this brigade opposed itself to overwhelming numbers undoubtedly saved General Banks’ Army. General Gordon thus describes its final retreat:
“I fell back slowly, but generally in good order. The Second Massachusetts in column of companies moving by flank, the Third Wisconsin in line of battle moving to the rear. On every side above the surrounding crest surged the rebel forces. A sharp and withering fire of musketry was opened by the enemy from the crest upon our centre, left and right. The yells of a victorious and merciless foe were heard above the din of battle, but my command was not dismayed. The Second Massachusetts halted in a street of the town to reform its line, then pushed on with the column, which, with its long train of baggage-wagons, division, brigade, and regimental, was making its way in good order towards Martinsburgh.
“My retreating column suffered serious loss in the streets of Winchester: males and females vied with each other in increasing the number of their victims by firing from the houses, throwing hand-grenades, hot water, and missiles of every description. The hellish spirit of murder was carried on by the enemy’s cavalry, who followed to butcher, and who struck down with sabre and pistol the helpless soldier sinking from fatigue, unheeding his cries for mercy, indifferent to his claims as a prisoner of war.
“This record of infamy is preserved for the females of Winchester. But this is not all: our wounded in hospital, necessarily left to the mercies of our enemies, I am credibly informed were bayoneted by the rebel infantry. In the same town, in the same apartments, where we, when victors on the field of Winchester, so tenderly nursed the rebel wounded, we were even so more than barbarously rewarded.”
THE INVESTMENT AND OCCUPATION OF CORINTH.
May 12–30, 1862.
The decisive battle of Pittsburgh, on Monday, April 7th, terminated in the retreat of the vast army of rebels, which fell back to Corinth. During the latter part of the same week, Gen. Halleck arrived on the field to assume the chief command of the Federal Army. The success of Gen. Pope’s division at New Madrid, and at Island No. 10, placed his superb army of about twenty thousand strong, at Halleck’s disposal; and they were now ordered to join the grand army under the commander-in-chief. They were assigned position at Hamburgh, four miles above Pittsburgh Landing, fronting on the extreme left of the Federal lines. Several changes were now made in the organization of the Federal army. The divisions of Sherman and Crittenden were added to Grant’s corps d’armée. This gave Grant eight divisions. The reserve of Grant’s forces were composed of the divisions of Gen. Lew. Wallace, Crittenden, and McClernand; the former command of the latter being conferred upon Brig.-Gen. John A. Logan. While McClernand was placed in command of this reserve, Gen. Thomas was placed in chief command of the remaining divisions of Grant’s forces.
In the field position, Grant’s forces constituted the right, Buell’s the centre, and Pope’s the left.
The first advance was ordered on April 29, the entire army moving toward the common centre, Corinth. Wallace held the extreme right. McClernand moved along the lower Corinth road, to a point one and a half miles west of Monterey. Sherman moved directly for a hill commanding Monterey, and occupied it on the morning of the 30th of April.
Every thing on the route indicated the haste with which the enemy had retreated, after his defeat. Gun carriages, caissons, wheels, tents, and all the apparatus of war, broken or burned, strewed the whole line of march.
On the same day Gen. Wallace dispatched a force to cut the Ohio and Mobile railroad at Bethel, south of Purdy, in order to sever the rebel communication to the northward. Three battalions of cavalry, and one of infantry, under command of Col. Morgan L. Smith, executed this commission. They found the rebels in position near Purdy, in a piece of woods. While the infantry and a detachment of cavalry engaged the enemy, Colonel Dickey, with two battalions of cavalry moved to the railroad. They destroyed a bridge a hundred and twenty feet in length, and the conductor, engineer, and four others were taken prisoners.
Buell struck direct from Pittsburgh Landing toward Corinth, while Pope’s division pushed forward from Hamburgh towards the lower point.
On the 3d of May, a reconnoissance in force toward Farmington was ordered. The country is uneven and difficult to penetrate, and both time and caution were necessary. Generals Paine and Palmer of Pope’s command, were detailed for this important duty. The regiments selected were the Tenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-seventh, Forty-second and Fifty-first Illinois Volunteers, Tenth and Sixteenth Michigan Volunteers, Yates’ Illinois Sharpshooters, Houghtaling’s and Hercock’s batteries, and the Second Michigan cavalry. The column proceeded about five miles on the Farmington road, where they encountered the enemy’s cavalry pickets. A skirmish ensued, in which the rebels lost eight killed, and the same number of their wounded, were made prisoners. The enemy was compelled to fall back, after a second skirmish, and at 3 o’clock, p. m., the vanguard came up from a swamp they had crossed, and the fight commenced in earnest. The enemy was strongly posted on an elevated piece of ground which was flanked by a part of the force, and the rebels were obliged to fall back half a mile, yielding their former position to the Federals, who pressed them closely. The two regiments of infantry having secured a position commanding the left flank of the rebels, poured upon them such a destructive fire, that their infantry abandoned their artillerists. The latter, finding themselves forsaken, hastily withdrew their guns to a new position, from which they were soon dislodged, and fled with all speed to Corinth. General Pope’s advance was thus put in possession of Farmington.
This successful movement of General Pope’s advance was a cause of great annoyance to the rebels, and on the 9th of May they came out in overwhelming force to drive him back. The enemy numbered about thirty-five thousand, under command of Bragg, Price, Van Dorn, and Ruggles. General Pope had been specially directed not to engage the enemy in force. Under these circumstances he was obliged to encounter the shock of this large body, with only a single brigade, which, however, was advantageously posted. The enemy threw forward five or six regiments, with artillery, to engage this brigade, holding their immense reserve in readiness to attack the Federal reinforcements, which they supposed would be brought on the field. After five hours of desperate resistance, General Pope withdrew his advance, with a loss of forty killed, and about one hundred and twenty wounded. The rebels, surprised by the obstinate resistance of this small force, and their sudden retreat, made no pursuit, but fell back to their own intrenchments, after having suffered a much greater loss.
Three different “parallels” were constructed along the Federal lines, from the time of the first investment to the occupation of Corinth. The construction of these works compelled the rebels to fall back further upon their centre, until the last was completed.
On the 17th of May a brilliant engagement took place, under the command of General W. T. Sherman which resulted in the capture of a position known as Russell’s house, the place being owned and occupied by a gentleman of that name. The possession of this ground being important to the Federal advance, General Sherman directed General Hurlbut to take two regiments and a battery of artillery up the road to Russell’s house. General Denver with an equal force, composed of the Seventieth and Seventy-second Ohio, and Barrett’s battery, took a different road, so as to arrive on the enemy’s left, while his front was engaged. General Morgan L. Smith, with his brigade, and Bouton’s battery, were directed to follow the main road, and drive back a brigade of the enemy that held the position at Russell’s. General Smith conducted his advance in a very handsome manner, the chief work as well as the loss falling upon his two leading regiments, the Eighth Missouri and the Fifty-fifth Illinois. The firing was very brisk, but the enemy’s pickets were driven steadily back till they reached their main position at Russell’s, where they made an obstinate resistance. At first the Union artillery worked to a disadvantage, owing to the nature of the ground, but then finally succeeded in gaining an elevation whence they shelled the house, when the enemy immediately retired in confusion, leaving the field in possession of the victors. The Federal loss was ten killed, and thirty-one wounded. The enemy left twelve dead on the ground.
Preparations were constantly progressing for the final assault, which was appointed for the 28th of May. Occasional skirmishes took place in which the rebels always lost ground, as the great body of the Federal forces slowly but surely closed around them. On the morning of the 28th, General Pope sent Colonel Elliott to cut the line of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. This was accomplished with great skill. On the same day the whole army slowly advanced to the point of attack. On the left, the division under General Pope approached so near the rebel lines as to discover that the retreat of the enemy had begun.
It was nine o’clock on the morning of Wednesday the 28th, before Pope opened on the left and began the reconnoissance, which soon became general, as was evinced by rapid firing in McKeon’s division, and further to the right in Sherman’s. The right and center had encountered no enemy until they had reached the swamp and pushed through it toward the creek. Pope, on the contrary, met a determined resistance, and at night his line was but little further advanced than the third parallel of the center and right. Operating in an open space of some miles in extent he had not been able to advance his lines with the rapidity of Buell and Thomas. But the engagement began when the right and center reached the swamp, and while yet the left was striving to obtain the same position. There was no distinguishing anything. Along the whole line where the fight was raging, sharp reports, shouts, commands, and cheers, were heard, but nothing could be seen, save occasionally the white smoke rising from the leveled weapons which had just been discharged. The ambulances were slowly filled. The wounded soldiers were brought from the swamps, and the surgeons gathered around them. Cries of pain, curses, and groans, mingling with the wilder shouts of the excited combatants, who were hidden by the woods, arose distinctly. This style of skirmishing was kept up during the whole day. The combatants on the right and center maintained their original position, and Thomas and Buell bivouacked where they had fought—in the damp, miry swamps. The night was spent in preparations for an advance in the morning.
The resistance of the rebels to Pope’s advance was more stubborn, and the conflict during the day was more determined, more exciting, and resulted in greater loss than in both the other corps. He was opposed both by infantry and artillery. The crossing at the creek was defended by a battery of rifled guns, which Pope had found exceedingly effective, and he was content, when night came, to rest in the plain, and make his preparations for reducing the battery at early dawn. The troops of the three divisions bivouacked on the field, where they had stood mostly inactive the whole day, Hamilton’s left resting on the Farmington road.
The position obtained at Russell’s House on the 17th, had been strongly intrenched as a base for the operations of W. T. Sherman’s division on the 28th. On that day he was ordered to advance and secure a log-house standing on a ridge, giving a near and commanding position. The place was then held by the enemy—supposed to be in strong force.
The house was a double log-building standing on a high ridge on the southern end of the large field to which the Union pickets had advanced. The enemy had taken out the chinks and removed the roof, making it an excellent block house, from which he could annoy the Union pickets, in security. The large field was perfectly overlooked by this house, and by the ridge along its southern line of fence, which was covered by a dense grove of heavy oaks and underbrush. The main Corinth road runs along the eastern fence, while the field itself, three hundred yards wide, by five hundred long, extended far to the right into the low land of Phillip’s creek, densely wooded and impassable to troops or artillery. On the eastern side of the field, the woods were more open. The enemy could be seen at all times, in and about the house and the ridge beyond, but the Federal pickets could not appear on that side of the field without attracting a shot.
General J. W. Denver, with his brigade and the Morton battery of four guns, was ordered to march from the Union lines at eight A. M., keeping well under cover as he approached the field; General Morgan L. Smith’s brigade, with Barrett’s and Waterhouse’s batteries, was ordered by Sherman to move along the main road, keeping his force well masked in the woods to the left; Brigadier-General Veatch’s brigade moved from General Hurlbut’s lines through the woods on the left of and connecting with General Morgan L. Smith’s, and General John A. Logan’s brigade moved down to Bowie Hill Cut of the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, and thence forward and to the left, connecting with General Denver’s brigade on the extreme right.
Two twenty-pound rifled guns of Silfversparre’s battery, under the immediate supervision of Major Taylor, chief of artillery, were moved silently through the forest to a point behind a hill, from the top of which could be seen the house and ground to be contested. The guns were unlimbered, loaded with shell and moved by hand to the crest. The house was soon demolished by Major Taylor’s battery, when the troops dashed forward in splendid style, crossed the field, drove the enemy from the ridge and field beyond, into another dense and seemingly impenetrable forest. When the enemy reached the ridge, he opened with a two-gun battery on the right, and another from the front and left, killing three of General Veatch’s men. The Union artillery soon silenced his, and by ten A. M. the Federals were masters of the position. Generals Grant and Thomas were present during the affair and witnessed the movement, which was admirably executed both by the officers and men.
The enemy, evidently annoyed at this unexpected repulse, sallied out in some force to regain the lost position, but they were repulsed after a brisk fire of musketry and artillery. The new position won was near Corinth, and the work of intrenching went on during the night of the 28th. On the morning of the 29th, a line of defences was constructed, which gave the Federals a powerful foothold within thirteen hundred yards of the enemy’s main works.
The whole division of Sherman lay in a slightly curved line, facing south; his right resting on the Mobile and Ohio Railroad, near a deep cut known as Bowie Hill Cut, and his left resting on the main Corinth road, at the crest of the ridge, there connecting with General Hurlbut, who, in turn, on his left, connected with General Davies, and so on down the whole line to its extremity. So near was the enemy, that the sound of his drums and sometimes of voices in command could be heard, while the rumble of the railroad cars, coming and going to and from Corinth was easily distinguished. For some days and nights, cars had been arriving and departing frequently. On the night of the 29th, they had been more active than usual, and Sherman’s suspicions were aroused. Before daybreak on the 30th, he instructed the brigade commanders and the field officer of the day, to feel forward as far as possible, but all reported the enemy’s pickets still in force in the dense woods to his front. About six A. M., a curious explosion, sounding like a volley of large siege pieces, followed by others singly, and in twos and threes, arrested attention. Soon after a dense smoke arose from the direction of Corinth. Sherman immediately put in motion two regiments of each brigade by different roads, and soon after followed with the whole division, infantry, artillery and cavalry. To his surprise, the enemy’s chief redoubt was found within thirteen hundred yards of the inner line of intrenchments, but completely masked by the dense forest and undergrowth. Instead of a continuous line of intrenchments encircling Corinth, his defenses consisted of separate redoubts, connected in part by a parapet and ditch, and in part by shallow rifle-pits; the trees being felled to afford a good field of fire to and beyond the main road.
General Morgan L. Smith’s brigade moved rapidly down the main road, entering the first redoubt of the enemy at seven A. M., May 30th. It was completely evacuated, and he pushed on into Corinth and beyond, to College Hill, there awaiting Thomas’ orders and arrival. General Denver entered the enemy’s lines at the same time, seven A. M., at a point midway between the wagon and railroads, and proceeded on to Corinth, about three miles from his camp; and Colonel McDowell kept further to the right, near the Mobile and Ohio Railroad. By eight A. M., all Sherman’s division was at and beyond Corinth.
On the whole ridge extending from Sherman’s into Corinth, and to the right and left could be seen the abandoned camps of the enemy; flour and provisions were scattered about, everything indicating a speedy and confused retreat. In the town itself, many houses were still burning, and the ruins of warehouses and buildings containing commissary and other stores were yet smouldering; but there still remained piles of cannon balls, shells and shot, sugar, molasses, beans, rice, and other property, which the enemy had failed to carry off or destroy.
The enemy had for some days been removing their sick, and their valuable stores, and had sent away on railroad cars a part of their effective force on the night of the 28th. But, of course, even the vast amount of their rolling stock could not carry away an army of a hundred thousand men.
The rebels were, therefore, compelled to evacuate the place, and began the march by ten o’clock on the night of the 29th—the columns filling the roads leading south and west all night; the rear-guard firing the train which led to the explosion and conflagration, that gave the first intimation that Corinth was evacuated.