CHAPTER XXIII.

REVIEW OF THE CAMPAIGN OF THE SECOND BULL RUN.

GENERAL POPE'S ORDERS AND DISPOSITION OF TROOPS.

Had General Pope been left to himself, it is probable that he would have conducted his army back to Bull Run or to the defenses where the concentration could have been effected in safety; but on the 21st, General Halleck telegraphed that in fully forty-eight hours he could be made strong enough, adding "Don't yield an inch if you can help it."a

This order General Pope carried out to the letter. On the 23d, he intended to cross the Rappahannock and give battle, but was prevented by a rise of the river. The same day, Heintzelman's corps from the Army of the Potomac, without its artillery, arrived by rail at Warrenton Junction, having, by a change of orders, been disembarked at Alexandria, instead of Aquia Creek. On the 25th, General Pope became fully aware of a turning movement by his right. On the 26th, in the evening, Stonewall Jackson, with about 30,000 men, seized his communications at Kettle Run, 6 miles east of Warrenton Junction.

For more than sixteen years, the mass of our loyal people of the country have been convinced that the second battle of Bull Run was lost on the 29th of August, and that the loss was due to the disobedience of orders, insubordination, and treachery of some of the high officers of the Army of the Potomac. This conviction was naturally produced by the official dispatches and subsequent report of the cominander of the Army of Virginia.

In settling so important a question, the only safe data are despatches and official reports. From these it appears that up to the night of August 27, the dispositions of the commander of the Army of Virginia were all that could have been expected from a skillful commander. General Halleck had asked him to hold the Rappahannock till the 23d; he held it till the 26th. His army at the time consisted as follows: Banks's corps

Sigel's corps

McDowell's corps (including Reynold's division of the Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac)

5,000

9,000

15,500

7,000

18,000

4,000

58,500

The cavalry was so completely broken down that there were not more than 500 fit for effective service. Although short of this class of

a Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, pt. 2, p. 125, Supplement.

troops, called the eyes of an army, General Pope had exact information of the movements and strength of the enemy. He knew, on the evening of the 27th, that Jackson, with Ewell's, Taliaferro's and A. P. Hill's infantry divisions, supported by cavalry and artillery, the whole from 25,000 to 30,000 strong, had left the main body of Lee's army and gotten completely in his rear. He saw also, with satisfaction, that his own movements betokened an easy victory over his adversary.

The evening of the 27th, McDowell and Sigel, 24,500 strong, were at Gainesville, on the Warrenton and Centreville pike, the only route. by which Jackson could escape through Thoroughfare Gap. Reno's command and Kearney's division, with a total of about 11,000, were at Greenwich. Hooker's division of Heintzelman's corps, moving along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad toward Manassas, on the afternoon of the 27th, had already had a fight with Ewell's divisions at Bristoe Station. Porter, with 9,000 men, was between Warrenton Junction and Bristoe. Banks, with 5,000 men, brought up the rear, guarding the material and trains.

Although the two armies had not been wholly united, the commander of the Army of Virginia saw himself at the head of 60,000 men, while the enemy had but 30,000. Another move, and his triumph would be complete. Confident of success, he sent the following order to General Porter at 6.30 p. m. from Bristoe Station:

The Major-General Commanding directs that you start at 1 o'clock to-night, and come forward with your whole corps, or such part of it as is with you, so as to be here by daylight to-morrow morning. Hooker has had a very severe action with the enemy, with a loss of about 300 killed and wounded. The enemy has been driven back, but is retiring along the railroad. We must drive him from Manassas and clear the country between that place and Gainesville, where McDowell is It is necessary on all accounts that you should be here by daylight. @

* *

*

To General Kearny he sent orders from Bristoe at 9.30 p. m.:

At the very earliest blush of dawn push forward with your command with all speed to this place. You can not be more than 3 or 4 miles distant. Jackson, A. P. Hill, and Ewell are in front of us. Hooker has had a severe fight with them to-day. McDowell marches upon Manassas Junction from Gainesville to-morrow at daybreak. Reno upon the same place at the same hour. I want you here at day dawn, if possible, and we shall bag the whole crowd. Be prompt and expeditious, and never mind wagon trains or roads till this affair is over.

To General McDowell (commanding left wing, consisting of his own. and Sigel's corps) he sent orders:

At daylight to-morrow morning march rapidly on Manassas Junction with your whole force, resting your right on the Manassas Gap Railroad, throwing your left well to the east. Jackson, Ewell, and A. P. Hill are between Gainesville and Manassas Junction. We had a severe fight with them to-day, driving them back several miles along the railroad. If you will march promptly and rapidly at the earliest dawn of day upon Manassas Junction, we shail bag the whole crowd. I have directed Reno

to march from Greenwich at the same hour upon Manassas Junction, and Kearny, who is in his rear, to march on Bristo at daybreak. Be expeditious and the day is our own.

The order to General McDowell implied that he should march in parallel columns, or en échelon of columns, with sufficient distance between them to form line at any moment, his right resting on the Manassas Gap Railroad, his left well to the east.

a Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 2, p. 144. Report of the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, vol. 2, p. 145, Supplement.

General McDowell's order shows that he comprehended the views. of the army commander. It read:

I. Major-General Sigel will immediately march with his whole corps on Manassas Junction, his right resting on the Manassas Railroad.

II. Brigadier-General Reynolds will march on the turnpike, immediately in the rear of General Sigel, and form his division on the left of General Sigel, and march upon Manassas Junction.

III. Brigadier-General King will follow immediately after General Reynolds and form his division on General Reynolds's left and direct his march on Manassas Junction.

IV. Brigadier-General Ricketts will follow Brigadier-General King and march to Gainesville, and if on arriving there no indication shall appear of the approach of the enemy from Thoroughfare Gap, he will continue his march along the turnpike, form on the left of General King, and march on Manassas Junction. He will be constantly on the lookout for an attack from the direction of Thoroughfare Gap, and in case one is threatened, he will form his division to the left and march to resist it. The headquarters of the corps will be at King's division. «

General Pope believed the enemy to be between Gainesville and Manassas, and this conclusion was warranted by such information as he had received.

The enemy in the meantime had made new dispositions. Talliaferro's division, late on the night of the 27th, or early in the morning of the 28th, moved from Manassas by the Sudley Church road and took position on the Warrenton pike near Groveton, three miles and a half east of Gainesville. Ewell's division, crossing Bull Run on the morning of the 28th, moved up the north bank, and then joined Talliaferro, via the Warrenton pike. A. P. Hill at the same time moved to Centreville, turned to the left, and via the Warrenton pike hastened to join the other two divisions west of Bull Run. Jackson's cavalry pressed on to Fairfax Court-House. Whether the enemy had remained at Manassas on the morning of the 28th, or was executing the movements just explained, it admits of no doubt that had General Pope's order been executed (by McDowell's command), Jackson must have been totally defeated, if not captured.

On a front of two lines, omitting Ricketts's division, which was wisely ordered to Thoroughfare Gap, General McDowell's two corps would have extended almost two miles. To execute the movement directed in General McDowell's order, King's division, which was to form the left, must have marched by the Warrenton pike as far east as Groveton before turning off for Manassas. This will appear the more certain, when it is stated that had line been formed with the right resting on the Manassas Gap Railroad, three miles east of Gainesville, the left would have reached to Groveton. To cover properly the advance of McDowell's left, his cavalry should have been sent at least two miles east of Groveton, which would have enabled it to overlook Bull Run and thus discover any movement of the enemy on the Warrenton pike west of Stone Bridge. Had this precaution been observed, or even had the left column advanced without cavalry as far east as Groveton, the enemy's position would have been discovered and a battle would have been inevitable. But to prevent such a result a series of contretemps now occurred, for which General Pope was in no wise responsible.

On the evening of the 27th, one division of Sigel's corps was at Gainesville, the other a mile or two in its rear. McDowell's corps

« Report of Military Operations during the Rebellion, vol. 6, p.

222.

was at Buckland Mills, three miles west of Gainesville. General Pope's order prescribed that the troops should move at earliest dawn, but at 7.30 a. m. General McDowell was notified by General Reynolds, commanding the leading division of his own corps, that Sigel's corps was halting at the junction of the pike and the Manassas Gap Railroad, and that it was making no preparations to advance, the men at the time being engaged in cooking their breakfasts." Although an adjutant-general was sent to correct the neglect, it was not till late in the forenoon that the head of the corps began the march for Manassas. Meanwhile Reynolds's division, crossing the railroad and advancing toward Groveton, had a brush with the enemy, whose sudden disappearance led to the belief that it was merely a rear guard or a detachment of cavalry with artillery, sent out to reconnoiter.

The demonstration, however, slight as it was, made both Reynolds and Sigel deploy--the former perpendicular, the latter parallel to the pike. This caused another delay, succeeded by a mistake which more than any other proved fatal to the campaign. In resuming the march. General Sigel misconstrued his orders and began a circular movement to place his right on the Orange and Alexandria Railroad. Reynolds and King followed in echelon, on the left. As a consequence, the whole force which was to have advanced on the north of the Manassas Gap Railroad, crossed to the south and proceeded in this false direction until the right arrived within 2 miles of Manassas. Here the cavalry reported that the place had been evacuated.

General Sigel states in his report that, before he faced his corps about and moved back to form line near Gainesville so as to assist General Reynolds, the cavalry sent out a mile and a half to the left of the road to Manassas was shelled by the enemy. This fact, in connection with General Reynolds's skirmish at Gainesville, denoted the presence of the enemy in the direction of Groveton. Later in the day, when the movement was again resumed, the two corps passing around the enemy's flank lost their contact, and hence when they arrived near Manassas had no information to communicate. General Pope was thus left to divine the enemy's movements from such information as he could gather at Manassas.

The orders that followed, with the serious consequences they entailed, will justify us in pausing for a few moments to call attention to the inadequate strength of the Adjutant-General's Department.

Of late no argument has been used more effectively to prevent military legislation, than the assertion that the principles of military organization abroad are designed to support monarchies, and that. if not dangerous, they are at least incompatible with free institutions. No delusion could be greater. The student of modern history cannot fail to discover that the principles of organization, like those of strategy, are of universal application, and that no nation has ever violated them, except at its peril.

Under the European system, by means of war academies and interchangeability between the line and the staff, every division commander in time of war is furnished with at least three, and every corps commander with at least six, and every army commander with from half a dozen to a dozen officers of the general staff, all of whom have made military history and the movements of armies a special study.

a McDowell's report, Report of Military Operations during the Rebellion, vol. 6, p. 207.

In the Franco-German War, the chief of staff of the Tenth Corps, on the morning of the battle of Gravelotte, detailed one of his subordinates to each division. These officers, accompanied by orderlies, and made acquainted with operations of the day, were instructed to report every important event that transpired. They were not spies on the division commander, but acting on the just theory that the latter would often be too much engaged to communicate intelligence of vital importance, they served as a double line of communication between the corps commander and the troops.

Our Army in 1861, was of course too small to furnish the same number of trained officers as is contemplated in foreign services, but with a little previous preparation, we might have furnished a competent chief of staff to each of the twenty-five corps commanders. Had such an adviser been by the side of General Sigel, to write his instructions for the movements of his divisions, it would scarcely have been possible for his gross misconstruction of orders to have escaped discovery and correction. There was, however, no such officer near him, and, as a consequence, when General McDowell was apprised of his mistake, it was probably too late to correct it.

The left wing having in this manner arrived near Manassas, with no exact knowledge of the enemy's whereabouts, let us see what benefit the country might possibly have derived from having a few competent staff officers at army headquarters. Map in hand, each eager to penetrate the enemy's designs and to suggest the means of circumventing him, they would have asked, on learning of his disappearance from Manassas, the following questions: Will he make a raid around the army with infantry? No; that would be folly. He has reason to believe that our main army is advancing along the railroad; that he might be headed off by troops moving from Fredericksburg, while the main army striking him in flank might cut him in two, if not force

him to surrender.

Is he going to move upon Washington? No; that would be equally absurd. He knows that between him and the capital he will encounter formidable entrenchments and that behind them there is still the Potomac. Moreover, through his spies, he ought now to know that the Army of the Potomac is disembarking at Alexandria. To deceive us, will he make a demonstration on Centreville, and then maneuver to the northwest to open communication with his main body? This course, and this one only, conforms to the principles of strategy and on this supposition we should act.

In the meantime the general, presumably better instructed than his staff, would probably have come to the same conclusion, but had he not, the moment they saw him in doubt or about to order a movement upon Centreville, any one of them by exclaiming, "To the Warrenton pike." might have settled the fate of the Confederacy."

It was now but 1 o'clock. Kearny, followed by Hooker and Reno, was at Manassas, less than 6 miles from the pike, which was Jackson's first line of retreat. Sigel, next on the left, was 4 miles, and Reynolds

a

It is related that on one occasion a soldier who was standing near Napoleon, observed a blunder committed by the enemy when he instantly exclaimed: "Send a squadron there and they are ours!"

Napoleon, who heard the remark, inquired for him after the battle, but he was not to be found. It is possible that from the knapsack of this nameless soldier death snatched the baton of a great marshal.

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