lorsville, as their common centre. Hence the Confederate commanders concluded that should our army cross at these fords it would be concentrated at this one point, and that almost of necessity. They accordingly surveyed with the greatest care all these grounds, calculated the probable location of the parts of our army, their facilities for offensive and defensive operations, and their exposures to successful assaults. It became manifest to those commanders that on the arrival of our army at Chancellorsville the main and almost exclusive attention of our commander and his associates would be fixed in the direction of Fredericksburg, the only point from which the remotest danger would be anticipated; that, as a consequence, our rear would be very likely to be left, for the first day or two at least, carelessly guarded; and that if our forces, our right wing especially, could be effectively assaulted in the front and rear at the same time, the most fatal results to the Union army would most probably arise. It became obvious that on the old road running westward, and south of Chancellorsville, from the point to which General Lee's first advance from Fredericksburg would be made, a contemplated flank movement could not be effected, that road lying too near our army. If, on the other hand, a new road should be prepared, a road circling round from the point referred to, to the west of the position where our army would be located, this great flank movement might be made, and our army might be kept in perfect ignorance of what was being done until the crushing avalanch should descend upon us. It was in view of such a contingency that this road was fully prepared long before our army crossed the Rappahannock. It was on this road that Jackson moved his columns, keeping, at the same time, small bodies moving on the old road referred to, and this as means, which proved effective, of diverting the attention of our Generals from his main movement. When these small forces were assaulted and driven off, and Birney's division was formed in hollow squares across this old road, all suspicion of any peril to our rear was wholly allayed. This was as General Jackson anticipated. Here we have the only apology or excuse for General Howard for the unguarded state in which all his outposts ee found when

Jackson's assault was made. The above facts render fully evident the great wisdom and foresight of the Confederate commanders, on the one hand, and as fully explain the secrets of Jackson's success in the movement under consideration, on the other.

Here we have fully evinced the fundamental error of our commanders in their attempted movements in single lines upon Richmond, in the directions taken by Generals Burnside, Hooker, and Grant. At every defensible point on the roads where their advances must have been made, they were certain to be confronted by the whole Confederate army located behind the most formidable fortifications, prepared long beforehand for such contingencies. When General Grant, for example, arrived at Spotsylvania, he found General Lee there with his army distributed behind impregnable earthworks prepared long before, and sodded for future preservation. So it was, as we shall see hereafter, at every point at which General Grant met General Lee, in the march of the former from Culpepper to Petersburg. Our commander literally led forth his great army as "sheep for the slaughter," to be "killed all the day long," and that for no available purpose. Had General Burnside, with an unavoidable sacrifice of much of his army, succeeded in driving the Confederates from Fredericksburg, he would, immediately after, have encountered General Lee at Spotsylvania, behind fortifications just as formidable as those which had been previously carried, and so on at every defensible point on our advance to Richmond; the certain result being, that before its arrival at the city named it would have melted away and become powerless for effective service, just as that of General Grant did in its wild and stupid and desperate march above referred to. The excuse for General Hooker is that by moving his army as he did to Chancellorsville he necessitated General Lee to fight a decisive battle in the open country, a battle in which a defeat of the Confederates would have insured their capture, or rendered them powerless for future resistance. We should also bear in mind that Richmond was always approachable from other directions, where no such obstacles existed.

CHAPTER XX.

GENERAL LEE A SECOND TIME ON FREE SOIL.

GETTYSBURG.

IMMEDIATELY after the triumph of the Confederates at Chancellorsville, General Lee determined on a second invasion of Pennsylvania and Maryland. The immediate

considerations which determined him to adopt this bold measure were the mustering out of about 20,000 of our forces under General Hooker, in consequence of the expiration of their term of service, on the one hand, and the addition to his own army of about 25,000 men, in consequence of the return of General Longstreet's corps, on the other. The main consideration was the assurance which the Confederate authorities had unquestionably received, that should they advance into Pennsylvania and gain a signal victory over the Union army there, there would be an immediate uprising of the Copperhead element of the Northern States, the element so bitterly opposed to the war itself, and to the emancipation measures of the Government. To these considerations General Lee refers in his report, in which he gives his reasons for the measure under consideration. Having given the military considerations, he adds: "In addition to these results, it was hoped that other valuable results might be attained by military success." Having perfected all preparations, the Confederate commander, June 3rd, put his army in motion; A. P. Hill, with his corps, being left behind, with instructions to make all possible demonstrations to mask the great movement which was being made with all possible expedition on and up the south side of the Rappahannock. Our commander, however, was soon made

aware that General Lee was moving in force to the west, and around our right. General Pleasanton, now in command of our cavalry, was sent with his cavalry and an infantry force to Catlett's Station, on the Alexandria railroad, to ascertain what was going on in that quarter. Passing his force over the Rappahannock, and moving in the direction of Culpepper Court House, he soon found himself confronted with the main army of General Lee. In a very severe engagement with General J. E. B. Stuart, in command of the Confederate cavalry, aided by a large force of infantry, a conflict occurred in which we lost about 500, and the Confederates, as they officially acknowledged, lost upwards of 600 men. Having fully accomplished the object of his bold and hazardous reconnoisance, General Pleasanton recrossed the Rappahannock, and reported the facts to General Hooker. Still our commander, yet in doubt about the real intent of his antagonist, remained stationary, leaving General Pleasanton to watch the foe, determine his movements, and hold terrible fights with his cavalry. On June 14th and 15th, however, events occurred which revealed the purpose of the enemy and the peril of the Union cause to the eyes, not only of our commander and the Government, but of the whole nation. At this time our army, 10,000 strong, under General Milroy, at Winchester, was suddenly assaulted by the Confederate army and driven headlong, with the loss of quite half its number, across the Potomac. Immediately after this, the Confederate army, from 70,000 to 90,000 strong, passed over from the sacred soil of Virginia on to the free soil of Pennsylvania. At this time, our Government taking the alarm, the President issued a call to the States of Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Ohio, for 120,000 militia to drive back, or to aid in driving back, the invaders; about 50,000 in all responding in time to have been effectively employed in the campaign. On June 18th General Hooker began to move his army northward, keeping between the enemy and Washington, which the former showed some disposition to attack. On the 26th he crossed the Potomac near Edward's Ferry, and moved to Frederick.

As soon as the fact of this invasion became known, I wrote a communication to Secretary, the late Chief Justice,

Chase, a communication containing the following statements: "Now is the golden opportunity for this nation. Not a debris of the invading army ought to be permitted to recross the Potomac. If our military authorities do not know what to do to insure that result, I will myself, if requested to do it, present a plan which will, with perfect certainty, secure this end, and thus, at one blow, close up this war. I will now, however, frankly tell you what will be done under the ruling of the military authorities at Washington. The thought of capturing General Lee's army will not be entertained at all. Nor will there be any concentration of the national forces; not even a man will be brought up from the vicinity of Fortress Monroe, or from any other point, for this or for any other purpose. On the other hand, General Hooker's army, just as it is, and be the same more or less,' will be sent round to head that of General Lee, and drive it back again over the Potomac, at the points where it crossed. General Lee will thus escape with all his plunder. In other words, our military authorities will do with the invading army what our farmers do when herds of unruly cattle break into their fields of grain, namely, head the intruders and drive them out at the places where they entered, and then send them forth to repeat the mischief as opportunities may present. This is just what and all that will be done in the presence of this golden opportunity." Such is the statement which we made in that communication. We shall see how the prediction contained therein was afterwards verified.

Every reflecting mind must perceive that as soon as General Lee's army crossed the Potomac, the heart and soul and all the vitality of the Confederacy lay, under the eye of the nation, in the State of Pennsylvania. Had this one army been annihilated or captured, the Confederacy must of necessity have collapsed in less than three months, as it did immediately after the surrender of Generals Lee and Johnston, two years subsequent to this. All the Confederate forces in the Carolinas and Virginia, a few excepted to do garrison duty, were with General Lee, on free soil; only a single brigade under General Wise having been lett in Richmond for the protection of the capital of the Confederacy.