CH. XXII. Lincoln to May 26, 1862. Part I.,

Frémont,

W. R. Vol. XII.,

p. 647.

unsatisfactory reply, alleging the necessity of his choice of route, and his assumed discretion as to his orders. Dropping this matter, the President began again urging him forward to Strasburg. There was still time to repair the original error. Jackson was on the Potomac, much farther from the rendezvous than Frémont. But the latter could not be made to see the vital necessity of immediate action his men were weary, his supplies were deficient, the roads were bad; Blenker's corps was straggling badly. Finally, on the 29th of May, his medical director told him his army needed a whole pp. 12, 13. day's rest.

He promptly accepted this suggestion, and wasted twenty-four hours in this manner, while Jackson was rushing his ragged troops, who had known no rest for a month, up the narrow valley that formed his only outlet from destruction or captivity. In one day, says Dabney, the Stonewall Brigade marched from Halltown to the neighborhood of Newton, a distance of thirty-five miles; and the Second Virginia accomplished a march of more than forty miles without rations, over muddy roads and amidst continual showers. The race was to the swift. As Frémont's advance entered Strasburg on the 1st of June the rear-guard of Jackson's force was still in sight, leaving the place. The plan of the President, well combined and reasonable as it was, had failed though no fault of his, and Jackson had escaped.

It is the contention of General McClellan and his partisans that the plan could not possibly have succeeded. One critic disposes of the matter by a sneer at the thought of trapping "the wily fox, who was master of every gap and gorge in the Valley."

Ibid.,

Dabney, p. 388.

Swinton, "Army

of the Potomac," p. 126.

CH. XXIL But an army of sixteen thousand men of all arms is

1862.

not a fox; it must have roads to cross mountains, and bridges to pass over rivers. If Frémont had obeyed orders and had been where he should have been on the 30th of May, and if Banks and Saxton had kept a closer watch at Harper's Ferry and followed more immediately upon Jackson's rear, Jackson would have been surrounded at Strasburg by three times his own force, and would have been captured or his army dispersed and destroyed. This would have been richly worth all its cost, and the most captious or malevolent critic would have had nothing to say against the President who ordered it.

There was little prospect of defeating Jackson after he had slipped through the gap between Frémont and McDowell at Strasburg; but nevertheless an energetic pursuit was begun by Frémont up the Shenandoah and by part of Shields's division up the Luray Valley on the east, the former harassing Jackson's rear with almost daily skirmishes, and the latter running a race with him on a parallel line. There was hardly a possibility now of regaining the lost opportunity. No matter how severely pressed, it was almost surely in Jackson's power to escape across Brown's Gap to Albemarle County, where he would for a time be safe from pursuit; and this course, says Dabney, was in his mind as a final resort. But he was not even driven to this. There was one last chance of inflicting great damage upon him. One of Shields's brigades arrived at the bridge at Port Republic before him, and should either have taken and held or destroyed Part III, it. The officer in command did neither, and the bridge immediately after fell into Jackson's hands,

Dabney, p. 404.

W. R. Vol. XII., Part I., pp. 22, 24.

p. 375.

giving him command of both sides of the river. CH. XXII. The Confederate general and his adjutant and biographer ascribed the capture of this important position to supernatural means.

As soon as Jackson uttered his command [to seize the bridge] he drew up his horse, and, dropping the reins upon his neck, raised both his hands towards the heavens, while the fire of battle in his face changed into a look of reverential awe. Even while he prayed, the God of battles heard; or ever he had withdrawn his uplifted hands, the bridge was gained.

Dabney,

p. 413.

W. R.

Part III., p. 354.

Part I.,

It would perhaps be irreverent to add that the bridge was not defended. On the same day, June 8, he fought a sharp but indecisive battle with Frémont at Cross Keys, and retiring in the night, he attacked and defeated Shields's small detachment at Port Republic. The mismanagement of the Union generals had opposed to him on both days forces greatly inferior to his own. Before these battles were fought the President, seeing that further pursuit was useless, had ordered Shields back vol. XII., to McDowell, Frémont to halt at Harrisonburg for orders, and Banks to guard the posts of Front Royal pp. 655, 541. and Luray. The orders came too late to prevent two unfortunate engagements, but they showed that the civilian at Washington was wiser than the two generals at the front. They both passed thereafter into the ranks of the malcontents- the men with grievances. Shields went back to Washington, where he was received with open arms by the habitual critics of the President. Among them were those of his own household; for we read in Mr. Chase's diary that Shields told him, when he was ordered back, that "Jackson's capture was

Warden, "Life of S. P. Chase,"

p. 444.

CH. XXII. certain," and the general and the Secretary held harmonious council together over the "terrible mistakes" of the President. This was the last important service of Frémont. He remained in charge of his department a few weeks longer, until he was placed, with others of similar rank, under the general command of Pope. He refused to serve under his junior, and was relieved, not appearing again in any conspicuous position, except for a moment in the summer of 1864, as a candidate for the Presidency in opposition to Mr. Lincoln.

AFTE

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SEVEN DAYS' BATTLES

1862.

FTER the battle of Fair Oaks, as well as before CH. XXIII. it, General McClellan kept up his continual cry for reënforcements. The hallucination that the enemy's force was double his own had become fixed upon him, and all his plans and combinations were poisoned by this fatal error. The President did everything in his power to satisfy the general's unreasonable demands. He resolved to give him absolute control of all the troops on the Peninsula ; and knowing that General Wool would never consent to being placed under McClellan's orders,— that veteran having expressed himself with characteristic severity in regard to his junior's insatiable demand for troops,- the President thought best to remove General Wool to Baltimore, transferring General Dix to Fort Monroe and placing him under the direct command of McClellan- a proceeding which greatly displeased General Dix, but to which he yielded under protest. His displeasure did not interfere with his convictions of duty. Immediately on arriving at Fort Monroe he sent to General McClellan a reënforcement of ten of the best regiments there. No efforts were spared to help and to encourage McClellan; both the President

W. R. Vol. XI., Part III.,

p. 207.

Ibid.,

p. 221.