Franklin County: "Maneuvering for the Battle," by A. K. McClure, 1905
Summary: This chapter offers a favorable description of Hooker's efforts to frustrate Lee's invasion of the North and an account of the Confederate occupation of Chambersburg in June 1863. The descriptions of the occupation hiasize the Confederate army's discipline and respect for private property.
Hooker's Suggestions Rejected by Lincoln-Hooker's Strategy Defeated Lee's Movement to Cross the Potomac near Washington-Meade Suddenly Called to Command-Large Emergency Force Called to the Field-Severe Discipline of Lee's Army-Jenkins' Raid into Chambersburg-Ewell's Requisition for Supplies Including Sauerkraut in Midsummer-Lee's Headquarters at Shetter's Grove.
AFTER the defeat of Hooker at Chancellorsville the opposing armies fell back to their former positions, and remained there until the Gettysburg movement began. On the 2d of June Lee's army was encamped on the south bank of the Rappahannock, near the city of Fredericksburg, and Hooker's army was on the north bank of the same river among the Stafford Hills and nearly opposite that city. Hooker's army consisted of eight corps, commanded by Reynolds, Hancock, Sickles, Meade, Sedgwick, Howard and Slocum, with Pleasanton's cavalry corps, and Lee's army consisted of four corps, commanded by Longstreet, Ewell, and A. P. Hill, with Stuart commanding the cavalry. There has been much dispute as to the strength of the two armies which met at Gettysburg, but after a careful investigation of all the varied statements on the subject, I think it safe to assume that Lee's army numbered 80,000, and that Meade's army, as stated by himself in his testimony before a committee of Congress on the conduct of the war, numbered 95,000. His precise language was that his "army numbered a little under 100,000, probably 95,000." They were nearly or quite equal in artillery and cavalry, and Lee's army, flushed with repeated victories, was entirely confident that it could defeat the Army of the Potomac on any field where they might meet.
Hooker was reinforcing and reorganizing his army. It had become greatly demoralized by Burnside's failures, and the open quarrels forced upon him by his subordinate commanders. Hooker had reorganized the commissary and quartermaster departments, getting ample supplies, and the steady stream of reinforcements that came more than filled the places of many thousands whose term of service expired. Although he had suffered a disastrous defeat at Chancellorsville, the army had confidence in him, as he was known to be one of the best fighters among its officers. The crippled condition in which his army was left after the defeat at Chancellorsville, and by the expiration of the term of service of a large number of his troops, required that he should have time to get his army restored alike in numbers and efficiency. Lee was also largely reinforcing his army, and when he started in his campaign of invasion he commanded the largest Confederate army that ever appeared on a battlefield.
For several weeks the two opposing armies remained inactive on the opposite sides of the Rappahannock, near Fredericksburg. Lee knew that it would be some time before Hooker could take the field in an aggressive movement against him, and he had ample time to perfect his plans and complete his preparations for the Gettysburg campaign that had come to be recognized as an inexorable necessity, regardless of the fact that it had to be planned and executed in opposition to the accepted military laws which usually govern armies in the field.
The Confederacy could not survive without the recognition of foreign governments, and it was finally accepted by the Southern leaders, and doubtless in accordance with the most reliable advices from their friends in England and France, that the transfer of the war to Northern soil, the defeat of the Union army and the capture of Baltimore and Washington would at once command the recognition of the Confederacy and end the war.
While Hooker could make no movement against Lee in Fredericksburg, he kept very close watch upon Lee's movements, and as early as the 28th of May he was fully convinced that Lee had decided upon the invasion of Maryland or Pennsylvania, and so wrote the President. His information given to the President was fully vindicated, as on the 2d of June Lee's army commenced its movement by Ewell's corps advancing to Culpeper Court House. This was followed by Longstreet's corps and General Lee himself on the 3d, and by the 8th of June all of Lee's army, excepting Hill's corps, that remained at Fredericksburg to watch Hooker, was concentrated at Culpeper Court House. Hooker was very anxious to attack Lee's rear at Fredericksburg, and suggested it to the President, who promptly disapproved of the plan as he would have to attack the enemy in entrenchments, and, to use Lincoln's own language, "so man for man worse you at that point, while his main force would in some way be getting an advantage of you northward." Hooker's next suggestion takes high rank in heroic purpose, as he urged the President to permit him to let Lee move northward while he would make a forced march upon Richmond, to which Lincoln replied: "I think Lee's army and not Richmond is your sure objective point." At that time Lee's army was stretched out with its rear between Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, and the head of it at Martinsburg, and Lincoln made this quaint but incisive suggestion to Hooker: "If the head of Lee's army is at Martinsburg and the rear of it on the plank road between Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, the animal must be very slim somewhere; could you not break him?"
On the 5th of June Hooker began a movement to keep in touch with Lee and gradually advanced his different corps to hold the interior line between Lee and the Capital, and also between Lee and the Potomac. He had a very efficient cavalry force, and kept it constantly employed in reconnoissance to ascertain the movements of the enemy. On the 8th of June Hooker had his cavalry corps making a reconnoissance in force south of the Rappahannock. Pleasanton's cavalry crossed the river at night and, protected by a heavy fog, struck the main force of Stuart's cavalry corps, compelled it to retreat, and came into possession of Stuart's headquarters, in which Stuart's important papers were captured, including Lee's orders outlining his movement into Maryland and Pennsylvania. A heavy infantry force came to the support of the Confederate cavalry, and the purpose of the reconnoissance being fully accomplished, Pleasanton retired, but that cavalry conflict, and the information derived from General Stuart's orders received from Lee, defeated one of the most important features of Lee's plan.
Lee's purpose was to move along the east base of the Blue Ridge, cross the Potomac near Washington, where he could operate on an interior line. Hooker's army was promptly hastened forward and Lee was compelled to make his invasion by first entering the Shenandoah Valley, thus greatly lengthening his line, and making Baltimore and Washington, his objective points, twice or thrice the distance from him after he crossed the Potomac that they would have been if Hooker had not discovered his plans and compelled him to change them. If he had crossed the Potomac in the neighborhood of Poolsville and the Monocacy as was indi-cated in his instructions to Stuart, he would have been saved long marching to the upper Potomac and back again to Gettysburg, and could have delivered his decisive battle certainly ten days sooner with less depletion of his army because of a shorter line from its base.
On the 21st of June Hooker had his army so placed that every approach to Washington south of the Potomac was completely guarded, and Lee was in the Shenandoah Valley and unable to obtain information of Hooker's movements. Hooker's strategy in meeting Lee's movements was masterly, and when he found that Lee was certain to cross the Potomac he was moving with his army in Maryland extended on a long line north and south to enable him to concentrate speedily against Lee whether he moved by the Susquehanna or the Potomac line toward Washington. He urged that Milroy, who had some 8,000 men at Winchester, should evacuate that place, retire from the valley and join his command. General Schenck, with headquarters in Baltimore, in whose department Milroy was operating, ordered Milroy to retire from the valley, but Milroy was a soldier with more courage than discretion, and begged to be permitted to remain, declaring that he would defeat any force of the enemy that could be brought against him. Schenck, unfortunately, left the question to the discretion of Milroy, and the result was that Milroy's 8,000 men were defeated, routed, several thousand of them captured, along with vast stores of guns and supplies, and that entire force was lost to the Army of the Potomac.
It became known throughout Pennsylvania early in June that Lee's movement was reasonably certain to lead to the invasion of the North, and the government at Washington created two new military departments in Pennsylvania-that of the Monongahela, with head-quarters at Pittsburg, assigned to Major General W. T. H. Brooks, and the Department of the Susquehanna, with headquarters at Harrisburg, assigned to Major General D. N. Couch. On the 12th of June Governor Curtin issued a proclamation to the people of the State warning them of the danger of invasion and calling for volunteers to meet the emergency, but as the peril was to the National cause quite as much as to Pennsylvania, President Lincoln on the 15th called upon the States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Ohio and West Virginia to funish 120,000 of their militia for temporary service. The Governors of the States seconded the call of the President; but there was then hardly any organized militia remaining in the States, and the response was 25,000 from Pennsylvania, 15,000 from New York, 5,000 from Maryland, 3,000 from New Jersey, 2,000 from West Virginia, making a total of 50,000. Most of them reported at Harrisburg, and General William F. Smith, better known as "Baldy" Smith, and General Dana were each given a division under General Couch. This emergency militia gave no aid to the Army of the Potomac in the battle of Gettysburg, but it is probable that the presence of General Smith's division at Harrisburg prevented General Rhodes, who occupied Carlisle and whose pickets were at one time within a few miles of Harrisburg, from capturing the State Capital. Beyond that the militia rendered no service whatever.
It was not the fault of the emergency troops, as they did all that was in their power. They were hastily thrown together, without discipline, quartermaster or commissary organizations, and when marching through the Cumberland Valley lived upon the country and were vastly more destructive foragers than were the Confederates. Lee's army was under strict discipline and also under severe orders against the need-less destruction of private property. Ewell's corps occupied the 200-acre field on my farm, at the edge of Chambersburg. The middle fences had all been destroyed by military visitors, and more or less of his corps remained there for a week. His 22,000 men did less injury to private property in a week's occupation than did one regiment of New York militia in a single day when it made its camp in the same field.
General Jenkins, with a large cavalry force, led the advance of Lee's invasion, and he crossed the Potomac at Williamsport on the evening of June 14. The people in the Cumberland Valley had notice of the approach of the enemy by the scattered fragments of the Milroy forces which covered all the highways reaching north in squads of ten, twenty or more, thoroughly demoralized, and well calculated to terrorize the community. On the 15th of June the people of the border commenced a general exodus northward with their live stock, and the wildest excitement prevailed. Merchants hurried their goods away to points in the East, banks shipped all their money and families sent their valuables, while all the roads were crowded with fleeing, terrorized people, driving their stock away from the enemy. There was no military force whatever to impede the advance of Jenkins, and early in the evening of the 15th it was known in Chambersburg that his force was rapidly advancing upon the town. He reached Chambersburg about eleven o'clock at night, took possession of the town without a conflict, passed through the main street leaving a strong guard in the town, and made his camp on my farm, as did all the armies of both sides in their valley campaigns during the war. He made his headquarters in my comfortable farmhouse, and used the large barn as a hospital, where Mrs. McClure provided the sick soldiers with all the necessaries, including medicines. I was impressively reminded of this fact thirty years after the war, when, on a visit to Montgomery, Ala., while a guest of the hospitable Governor of the State. Notice was brought to the Governor that a man at the door specially desired to see me. The Governor did not recognize the name, but invited him to join us. When he came into the room he apologized in his awkward way for his intrusion, and said that having heard that I was visiting the city he had walked a number of miles that morning to meet me, and thank me personally for the kindness he received from my family when, as one of Jenkins' privates, he was on the sick list and was cared for in my barn. It seems like the irony of fate that this same command, under the lead of McCausland, who became its commander after Jenkins fell, burnt the town of Chambersburg only one year later, including the barn where its sick had been ministered to, and the house where Jenkins received generous hospitality while he made it his headquarters.
Jenkins' command did not destroy much property. There was little left in the country that was useful to the army, as stores were empty of goods, banks without money, and farmers generally without horses or cattle. His first order required all persons in the town possessing arms, whether guns or pistols, to bring them to the front of the court house within two hours, and the penalty for disobedience was that all who refused would expose their houses to search, and make them lawful objects of plunder. A number of guns and pistols were brought and delivered to him, but few of them were considered of sufficient value to be retained by the soldiers.
Early in the morning of the 17th of June Jenkins ordered the stores and shops to be opened for two hours to enable his men to purchase such goods as they desired, all of which were to be paid for, but, of course, in Confederate money. The order was obeyed to the extent of opening the stores and shops, but as most of them were nearly or entirely empty, there was little traffic. There were odds and ends of valueless stock not deemed of sufficient value to ship away, but the Confederate customers cleaned out the remnants and paid liberal prices in Confederate money that was printed by the army as it moved along. Jenkins then withdrew his force and fell back to Greencastle, and spent four days in that rich portion of Franklin County, gathering in all the property that could be made useful to the army. On the 22d Jenkins' raid ended, and on that day he rejoined the advance of Lee's infantry between Greencastle and Hagerstown, when the invasion of Lee's army in force began.
About ten o'clock on the morning of the 23d, Jenkins cavalry returned to Chambersburg as the advance of the infantry that was closely following him. Ewell's corps was in the advance, and made liberal requisitions upon Greencastle on the 23d, and on the 24th it entered the town of Chambersburg to the music of the "Bonnie Blue Flag."
Many requisitions were made by Ewell upon the citizens of Chambersburg, all of which were impossible of fulfilment, as all valuables that could be removed had been sent away. One of the most amusing features of his several requisitions was a demand for the immediate delivery of nine barrels of sauerkraut. He knew that sauerkraut was regarded as a very valuable antiscorbutic, and as some of his troop suffered from scurvy because of their unwholesome rations, he assumed that sauerkraut would be an invaluable remedy for those who were threatened with that malady. He was quite incredulous at first, when informed that sauerkraut was a commodity that could not be kept in midsummer, and that such a thing was unknown even in the German communities where sauerkraut was one of the great staples of the table. If there had been a barrel of sauerkraut in Chambersburg in midsummer he could have scented it any place within a square, and he finally abandoned that feature of the requisition when told that it was not an article that could be concealed in hot weather.
Ewell paid me the usual compliment of all commanders of both armies who visited Chambersburg, of taking possession of my large field for his camp and of a nearby Dunkard church for his headquarters, while subordinate officers occupied my house. During the week or ten days in which a portion or the whole of his command was there encamped, the most scrupulous care was taken to prevent the destruction of any private property whatever. Lee issued a general order forbidding that any private property should be taken by the army, excepting by an authorized officer, and loose foraging was not only forbidden, but severely punished. It is due to General Lee and his army to say that the order against the wanton destruction of property was generously obeyed by his infantry.
An interesting incident occurred that showed how Lee himself was inclined to temper the sorrows and sacrifices of war. Chambersburg depended wholly upon the surrounding country for its daily supplies of flour, vegetables and meats, and as all teams had been sent away and no supplies could be brought in, it required only a very few days to bring the people of the town to a state of starvation. The mills were all in the possession of the enemy and run to their utmost capacity to furnish supplies for the army, and Mrs. William McLellan, whose husband was one of the leading members of the bar and my law partner, decided to make a personal visit to General Lee, who had his headquarters in Shetter's woods, only several squares distant from Mrs. McLellan's residence. She was promptly admitted to his presence and appealed to him to permit supplies to be brought in to the people of the town without being seized by his army. Lee promptly arranged with her to have sufficient supplies of flour furnished to the people, and after his generous order she thanked him and asked him for his autograph, to which he replied: "Do you want the autograph of a rebel?" Mrs. McLellan said: "General Lee, I am a true Union woman and yet I ask for bread and for your autograph." His answer was: "It is to your interest to be for the Union and I hope you may be as firm in your purpose as I am in mine." He gave her the autograph and Mrs. McLellan brought bread to her starving neighbors, and among her most cherished relics during her life was her autograph of Robert E. Lee.
Bibliographic Information: Source copy consulted: Old Time Notes of Pennsylvania, Vol. II, Ch. LX, p. 85-95
