February 2013: A Month of Acquisitions

Last month I made a few welcome additions to my ever-growing collection of antique books and newspapers related to the Civil War.  I am always on the lookout for intriguing acquisitions at a reasonable price, and February was a month of particularly notable discoveries.  I tend to gravitate towards publications with a Northern Virginia or Washington connection, although I am always open to purchasing books or papers on other interesting topics.

The on-line auction site eBay is an excellent starting point for finding original Civil War-era newspapers.  A few weeks ago I bid on, and won, a May 25, 1861 edition of Harper's Weekly.  This issue focuses heavily on the early days of the war in Washington.  In fact, I illustrated a two-part series on Union volunteers arriving in the nation's capital with prints from this edition of Harper's Weekly.  (See here and here.)   The front page features a dramatic engraving of the 11th New York Fire Zouaves fighting to extinguish flames that threatened to engulf the famed Willard's Hotel.  (The complete story can be found here.)  A few other prints depict the quartering of Federal troops in the U.S. Capitol and at the Treasury Department.  I also was drawn to a full-page illustration of the 79th New York on parade by Winslow Homer.  This regiment, which fought at Bull Run, was later commanded by Isaac Stevens and played at key role at Lewinsville, a local engagement near and dear to my heart.

Front cover of the May 25, 1861 issue of Harper's Weekly, showing "Willard's Hotel, Washington, Saved by the New York Fire Zouaves."  The paper noted that the soldiers "worked like heroes, performing wonderful feats of agility and bravery."  Their leader, Col. Elmer Ellsworth, was shot dead in Alexandria, Virginia by a secessionist the day before this issue appeared.

"The Seventy-Ninth Regiment (Highlanders) New York State Militia," Harper's Weekly, May 25, 1861.  The parade depicted here likely took place in New York City prior to the regiment's departure for Washington.

"Galleries Under the Senate Chamber, Converted into Granaries," Harper's Weekly, May 25, 1861.  

One evening last month I also spent some time browsing AbeBooks and ended up purchasing an 1881 first edition of John C. Ropes' The Army Under Pope for less than twenty dollars.  This slim book was part of a multi-volume series, Campaigns of the Civil War, published by Charles Scribner's Sons.  My copy, including a fold-out map, is in very good condition, with the exception of some minor shelf and edge wear.  Ropes, a lawyer and historian, founded the Military Historical Society of Massachusetts.  Incidentally, he was also a co-founder of the Boston law firm Ropes & Gray.  Ropes dedicated the book to his youngest brother Henry, a lieutenant in the 20th Massachusetts who fell at Gettysburg.

The Army Under Pope, which appeared less than 20 years after Second Manassas, offers a critical examination of John Pope's performance as commander of the short-lived Army of Virginia.  Ropes made use of official battle reports that were appearing in print for the first time.  The author defends Gen. Fitz John Porter, who was court-martialed and dismissed from the Union Army for his alleged failures at Second Bull Run.  In other passages that I've read, Ropes tackles the popular argument that Gen. George B. McClellan intentionally contributed to Pope's defeat. 

Of course, I don't purchase all of my books on-line.  One day in February I was browsing the shelves at my favorite bookstore, The Old Book Co. of McLean, when the owner alerted me to an 1860 first edition of Ezra B. Chase's Teachings of Patriots and Statesmen; or, the "Founders of the Republic" on Slavery.  I took one look and knew that I couldn't let this one get away.

The front cover of Teachings of Patriots and Statesmen, first edition, J.W. Bradley (publishers), Philadelphia, 1860.  I was particularly drawn to the gilt-embossed American eagle design.

At the outset, Chase informed readers that the was taking a non-controversial approach:

In compiling the following pages, I have not been influenced by partisan purposes; neither have I compiled them for the notoriety of having my name appended to a book. The country is sufficiently flooded already with partisan literature—books written for political advantage, or pecuniary gain, or both. To such authorship I do not aspire. If I have cherished an ambition in reference to this work, it has been an ambition to place before the people information upon the subject that is now agitating the country, upon which they can rely,—the views and opinions of those distinguished patriots and statesmen who formed the government, and whose intentions and principles should be heeded and carried out, if we would preserve it from disruption and decay. 

The book contains the text of various speeches and writings related to slavery, from the time of the Articles of Confederation through the 1860 election.  Chase covers such controversial issues as the Compromise of 1850, the Kansas-Nebraska Act, and the Dred Scott decision.  He also quotes liberally from the Founding Fathers, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison.  Chase's book is a piece of history from a time when the nation was on the brink of war over slavery.  The copy at the Old Book Co. was in good condition, and the price was right, so I walked out the owner of this unique work.

I have no idea how many copies of Teachings of Patriots and Statesmen sold in 1860.  Presumably interest in such publications ran high as sectional tensions over slavery mounted.  Chase, a Democratic lawyer and former Speaker of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, became embroiled in controversy during the Civil War.  After losing an 1861 election for district attorney by a narrow margin attributable to the absentee soldiers' vote, Chase challenged the Pennsylvania law allowing for military voting before the state supreme court and won.  (See here.)  Chase was also arrested in 1862 for encouraging men to abstain from enlisting in the Union Army.  (See here.) 

All told, February was a better than expected month for acquisitions.  The discoveries that I made remind me why I enjoy the hobby of collecting antique books and newspapers.  Owning a tangible, written connection to the Civil War era brings the past alive on the paper before me in a way that a modern publication cannot do.  My only hope now is that I find a way to get more space, but I don't think a new home library is yet on the horizon!

The Chain Bridge Defenses During the Maryland Campaign, Part I: Sigel and Company on the Move

This summer's Sesquicentennial calendar is crowded with observances of several key events.  We've just finished Second Manassas and are now headed into the Maryland Campaign and Antietam.  During such times, I start to think about my own little corner of Northern Virginia. What was happening here as the armies left behind the wreckage at Manassas and marched through Maryland on the way to a bloody encounter outside Sharpsburg?   Although far less dramatic than other events unfolding in September 1862, the ground around present-day McLean and North Arlington witnessed a build-up of Gen. Franz Sigel's army corps.  These men played a key role in manning the defenses of Washington while Gen. George B. McClellan hunted down Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia in the Old Line State.

Born in Germany in 1824, Sigel rose to become a military leader in the Revolution of 1848.  He emigrated to the United States in the early 1850s and eventually settled in St. Louis.   When war broke out, Sigel helped to recruit German-Americans to the Union cause.  He first served out West at Wilson's Creek and Pea Ridge.  Sigel, favored by the Lincoln Administration for his ties to the German-American community, was appointed a major general of volunteers and sent East, where he was named commander of the First Corps of Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia in June 1862.  Sigel seemed a fitting choice to lead the new corps, whose ranks were filled with many German immigrants.   Sigel's men fought hard at Second Manassas (August 28-30, 1862) and helped to stem James Longstreet's massive counter-attack on the Union left. 

Maj. Gen. Franz Sigel (courtesy of Library of Congress).  German-Americans were recruited to the Union cause with the slogan, "I goes to fight mit Sigel."  The general had a less than stellar record on the battlefield and was later trounced at the Battle of New Market in 1864.

By September 2, Pope's defeated army had concentrated at Fairfax Court House.  The Union commander worried that his men were not up to the task of fighting Lee anytime soon and strongly suggested to general-in-chief Henry W. Halleck that his army return to the safety of Washington's defenses.  On mid-morning September 2, Halleck finally ordered Pope to "bring your forces as best you can within or near the line of fortification."  (OR, 1:12:3, 796-97.) 

The anxious and demoralized Pope wasted no time in carrying out Halleck's instructions.  He soon put his troops on the move towards the outskirts of Washington. Sigel's First Corps, along with Edwin V. Sumner's Second Corps, Army of the Potomac, and Fitz John Porter's Fifth Corps, Army of the Potomac, were told to march "via Vienna toward the Chain Bridge."  (OR, 1:12:2, 86.)*  The Chain Bridge, located above Georgetown, was one of three pivotal crossing points into the nation's capital from Virginia.  Pope cautioned the three corps to "keep well closed up and within easy supporting distance of each other."  (OR, 1:12:2, 86.) 

The men started out towards Chain Bridge with Porter in the lead.  Sigel followed, and Sumner brought up the rear.  (Armstrong 57; Powell 256; McClellan, Own Story, 537-38.)   J.E.B. Stuart, however, was not about to let the Federal troops have an easy time of it.   The Confederate general sent cavalry under Gen. Wade Hampton, along with Capt. John Pelham's flying artillery, to harass the Union column as the men snaked their way along the road towards Vienna and Langley.

McClellan, who was just recently restored to overall command, rode out in the afternoon towards Upton's Hill, where he greeted Irvin McDowell's corps arriving from Fairfax.  Pope and McDowell soon appeared.  While speaking with the two generals, McClellan noticed "rather heavy artillery-firing . . . in the distance."  (McClellan, Own Story, 537.)  Pope speculated that Confederates were likely shelling Sumner's rear guard and "intimated that Sumner was probably in a dilemma."  (McClellan, Own Story, 537.)  McClellan could not help but get in a dig at Pope in his post-war account:

[Pope] could give me no information, of any importance in relation to the whereabouts of the different corps, except in a most indefinite way; had evidently not troubled his head in the slightest about the movements of his army in retreat, and had coolly preceded the troops, leaving them to get out of the scrape as best they could.  He and McDowell both asked my permission to go on to Washington, to which I assented, remarking at the same time that I was going to that artillery-firing. They then took leave and started for Washington.  (McClellan, Own Story, 537.)

McClellan dashed off with an aide and three orderlies to investigate what was happening along the road to Langley.  He first encountered Porter's men after dark.  The soldiers let out a rousing cheer upon recognizing Little Mac and crowded around their beloved commander.  By this time, "the firing had ceased, with the exception of perhaps a dropping shot occasionally."  (McClellan, Own Story, 537.)  McClellan nevertheless continued onward in the moonlight, until he came to Sigel's corps.  As McClellan described the remainder of his excursion:

I . . . soon satisfied myself that Sumner was pursuing his march unmolested, so I sent on to inform him that I was in command, and gave him instructions as to his march. I then returned by the Chain bridge road, having first given Sigel his orders; and at a little house beyond Langley I found Porter, with whom I spent some time, and at length reached Washington at an early hour in the morning.  (McClellan, Own Story, 538.)

Pope, meanwhile, seemed less than troubled by the Confederate action against the retreating Federal column.  He told Halleck:

The whole army is retiring in good order, without confusion or the slightest loss of property. . .  Three army corps pursue the route via Vienna to Chain Bridge, covered by all the effective cavalry.  (OR, 1:12:2, 87.)

 At 7:10 p.m., upon arriving near Washington, Pope sent an update to Halleck:

Command coming in on the road without much molestation. Some artillery firing on the road through Vienna to Chain Bridge, but nothing of a serious character, so far as I can learn.  (OR, 1:12:2, 87.)

Pope was not far off the mark in his assessment.  The 71st Pennsylvania under Col. Isaac Wistar, along with the 1st Minnesota, was protecting Sumner's rear.  Wistar's overall view was that the enemy's shells did "little damage" that night, although stragglers greatly complicated matters for the retreating army corps. (Wistar 48.)  As it was, the narrow road was already crowded with "thousands of disorganized troops and fragments of commands; disorderly wagon trains; guns without officers; caissons without guns."  (Wistar 46.)  However unfairly, Wistar singled out stragglers from Sigel's command for getting in the way of his regiment's rear guard duty:

Many hundred perhaps thousands of Germans from the routed Division of Siegel [sic], had abandoned their colors, thrown away their arms, and deliberately gone to sleep around fires kindled in the woods, a spectacle most exasperating to our men, since these stragglers could have no other design than to be taken prisoners after the passage of the rearguard. The soldiers in ranks begged to be let loose on these 'coffee-boilers,' promising there should be none left for the enemy; but the integrity of the rearguard was of too much importance to permit risking it, even for that just vengeance. Nevertheless, such stragglers did not all go unwhipt of  justice. Unfortunately, the Adjutant's horse being killed and no Major present, the only mounted regimental officers were Lieut.-Col. [William] Jones and myself, who, when otherwise unoccupied, busied ourselves with charging into these sleeping squads of loafers, to the intense delight of the gallant fellows of the hard-worked rearguard.  (Wistar 48-49.)

During the night of September 2 and early morning hours of September 3, Federal soldiers streamed through Lewinsville and entered Langley, only a handful of miles from the Chain Bridge over the Potomac.  (OR, 1:12:2, 87; Wistar 50.)**  Sumner's men took some time to recover from their march, but later on September 3, the Second Corps crossed the Potomac at Chain Bridge and headed to Tennallytown, northwest of Washington City.  They were joined by soldiers from the Second Corps, Army of Virginia (soon to be re-designated as the Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac).  Porter's men soon took up a position around Hall's Hill (near current-day US-29 and N. Glebe Rd. in Arlington).  Sigel's corps encamped closest to Chain Bridge, including the area around Ft. Ethan Allen.***  Sigel also kept pickets at Langley. 

As the Union Army sat within Washington's defenses, Lee prepared to invade Maryland.  Before long, the Army of Northern Virginia was fording the Potomac upriver from Washington.  The bulk of McClellan's force would soon be on the move, but not everyone would join in the chase.  After all, someone had to ensure that the nation's capital remained safe while the main body of the army was away. 

Notes

*For a Union Army map of Northeastern Virginia in 1862, click here.  The general route taken by the three army corps from Fairfax Court House through Vienna to Lewinsville, Langley, and Chain Bridge can be traced on this map in detail.  I unfortunately could not post the desired portion of the map at a level of magnification that was satisfactory enough for viewing.

**Precise arrival times are difficult to ascertain. Some elements reached the area around Chain Bridge on the evening of September 2, while the rear guard arrived in Langley "about daylight" on September 3.  (OR, 1:12:2, 466; McClellan, Own Story, 537-38; Wistar 50.)

***The exact placement of Sigel's corps on September 3-4 is unclear.  Sigel received dispatches on September 4 at Ft. Ethan Allen, so presumably most of his men were encamped in that general vicinity.  (OR, 1:51:1, 785).  A history of the 27th Pennsylvania, a regiment in Sigel's corps, indicates that around the same time the unit "was for several days engaged in picket duty" at Langley. (Bates 388.)

Sources

Aside from the citations to the Official Records above, the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

Marion V. Armstrong Jr., Unfurl Those Colors: McClellan, Sumner, & the Second Army Corps in the Antietam Campaign (2008); Samuel P. Bates, History of Pennsylvania Volunteers, 1861-1865, Vol. I (1869); Stephen D. Engle, Yankee Dutchman: The Life of Franz Sigel (1993); George H. Gordon, History of the Campaign of the Army of Virginia Under John Pope (1880); Bradley Gottfried, The Maps of Antietam (2012); Joseph L. Harsh, Taken at the Flood: Robert E. Lee & Confederate Strategy in the Maryland Campaign of 1862 (1999); John J. Hennessy, Return to Bull Run: The Campaign and Battle of Second Manassas (1993); George B. McClellan, McClellan's Own Story (1887); George B. McClellan, Report on the Organization and Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac (1864); William H. Powell, The Fifth Army Corps (Army of the Potomac) (1896); "Franz Sigel (1824-1902)," Encyclopedia Virginia; Isaac Jones Wistar, Autobiography of Isaac Jones Wistar, 1827-1905, in Two Volumes, Vol. II (1914).

After Second Manassas: A Tour of Ox Hill and Other Sites

This past weekend I set out to explore some of the nearby sites in Fairfax County related to the tense days following Second Manassas.  I had long wanted to make this excursion, and the fast-approaching 150th anniversary of the battle provided the perfect opportunity.  The sites, which sit relatively close to one another, are easy to visit within a few hours and were a perfect compliment to my tour of the Second Manassas battlefield earlier this year.   

Ox Hill/Chantilly

I first stopped at Ox Hill Battlefield Park, which is located just off I-66 in the heavily developed Fair Lakes area of Fairfax.  The Battle of Ox Hill (or Chantilly in the North) was fought amidst a violent thunderstorm on September 1, 1862.  The engagement arose when Robert E. Lee attempted to cut off John Pope's line of retreat following the Union defeat at Second Manassas.  As Stonewall Jackson moved down Little River Turnpike (present-day US-50), however, Pope struck first.  Union divisions under Isaac Stevens and Philip Kearny attacked Jackson's much larger force at Ox Hill on the afternoon of September 1.  The short fight, which ended in a stalemate, cost both armies about 1,500 killed and wounded.  Stevens and Kearny were counted among the dead.  That night Union troops marched towards the safety of Washington's defenses.  Lee, meanwhile, had other ideas in mind, and within days his men were fording the Potomac into Maryland.

Little remains of the actual battlefield.  Residential and commercial development has tragically swallowed most of the landscape where the armies met.  Fortunately for us and future generations, men like Ed Wenzel fought hard to save a critical part of the battlefield from destruction.  The Fairfax County Park Authority now runs the 4.8-acre battlefield site.  As serendipity would have it, this same land happens to mark the spot where Stevens likely fell during the engagement.

The sign at the entrance to the battlefield along West Ox Road.  Note the commercial development and traffic congestion just outside the park boundary.

I was extremely impressed with Ox Hill.  The Park Authority has installed a series of interpretive markers along a stone loop trail.  The historical signage does a truly remarkable job of explaining and illustrating what happened there.  I found the maps on the markers particularly useful for understanding unit positions in relation to where I was standing.  I supplemented the markers with an excellent 25-minute audio tour that I downloaded to my iPod from the Park Authority website.  The recording features insightful commentary from Wenzel and other historians. 

A view across the field of the Union advance to the spot where Stevens was shot dead leading the 79th New York ("Highlanders") against the Confederate line at the edge of the woods.  After Stevens was killed, the Union soldiers pushed ahead and drove back Harry Hays' Louisiana Brigade.  A marker explains the attack and Stevens' death.

The Fairfax County Park Authority has recreated a cornfield and split rail fence that were located on the land at the time of the battle.  Kearny was killed when he accidentally rode into Confederate lines that stood in a part of the cornfield just outside the current park boundaries.

A white quartz stone and boulders marking the location of Stevens' death on the Ox Hill battlefield.  John Ballard, a Confederate veteran who owned the land after the Civil War, placed the markers here.  This photograph is taken from the area of the Confederate lines behind the split rail fence. 

Monuments to Stevens (l) and Kearny (r).  The plaque on the Kearny stone erroneously indicates that the general was killed on this spot, when in fact he fell 100 yards to the west (right of the photograph), outside the current park boundary. Two sons of the slain generals, Hazard Stevens and John Watts Kearny, attended the dedication ceremony in October 1915.  The monuments are probably the best known feature of the Ox Hill battlefield.  The white quartz stone and boulders are visible to the right, just beyond the monuments and the marker.

I felt moved to stand on the very ground where Stevens lost his life.  Readers may remember that I have written extensively about the Battle of Lewinsville.  On September 11, 1861, then-Colonel Stevens led the 79th New York and other Federal units on a reconnaissance of the neighborhood around Lewinsville, Virginia (present-day McLean).  A smaller Confederate force under J.E.B. Stuart attacked the Union troops as they prepared for the return to camp.  Stevens successfully withdrew his men under the cover of artillery fire.  I couldn't help but think that a little short of a year later and less than twenty miles from Lewinsville, Stevens would lose his life while bravely rallying the Highlanders in an attack on the Confederate lines at Ox Hill.   

St. Mary of Sorrows/Fairfax Station

The second part of my tour focused on Union efforts to treat and evacuate the wounded in the wake of Second Manassas and Ox Hill.  The Union Army sent thousands of wounded soldiers to Fairfax Station on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.  The men were laid on the ground around St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church and on the hillside near the railroad tracks.  Here the injured soldiers awaited transportation from Fairfax Station to the hospitals in Washington and Alexandria. 

The War Department asked for volunteer nurses to help with the large number of causalities at Second Manassas.  The roads and rails to the front were soon clogged with citizens responding to their country's call.  Unfortunately, many of the would-be Good Samaritans were more interested in drinking the supplies of medicinal alcohol than in helping the wounded.  Clara Barton, however, was anything but a pretender.  After procuring a load of supplies from the Sanitary Commission, the Patent Office clerk and future founder of the American Red Cross boarded a train on August 31, 1862 and headed to Fairfax Station.  Over the next few days, she and her fellow volunteers tirelessly cared for the wounded soldiers.  On September 2, 1862 Barton climbed aboard the last train of wounded to leave Fairfax Station.  As Barton described her narrow escape:

The conductor stood with a torch which he applied to a pile of combustible material beside the track. And we rounded the curve which took us from view as we saw the station ablaze, and a troop of [Confederate] cavalry dashing down the hill. (in Epler 46.)

The picturesque St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church was my first stop after leaving Ox Hill.  During the late 1850s, Irish Catholic immigrants came to this part of Fairfax to work on the Orange & Alexandria Railroad.   Priests traveled all the way from St. Mary's in Alexandria and said Mass for local Catholics in boxcars.  The need for a permanent church building soon became apparent, and in 1858, the Bishop of Richmond laid the cornerstone for St. Mary's.  Railroad workers helped to build the church, which was dedicated in September 1860.  As I strolled through the now peaceful churchyard, I imagined Barton and her band of volunteers moving about and comforting the wounded soldiers.

St. Mary of Sorrows Catholic Church.  The original church, a one-room, clapboard building, was enlarged in the late 19th century.  After Second Manassas, Union surgeons operated on the wounded inside St. Mary's.  Soldiers who died from their injuries while in the Fairfax Station area were buried in the churchyard, but later moved to Arlington National Cemetery.

Historical marker at the entrance to St. Mary's commemorating Clara Barton's service there after Second Manassas and Chantilly.

I next drove a short distance to the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum, which is housed in the former railroad station.  Erected in 1903, the building sits across the street from its original location next to the railroad tracks. The first station, built in 1852, fell victim to the Second Manassas Campaign.   The Union Army rebuilt the depot after Antietam.  Other stations followed in 1873, 1891, and 1903.  The railroad closed the station permanently in 1973.  Unfortunately the museum is only open on Sundays so I could not check out the history displays and model trains.  I took the time to read a Civil War Trails marker in front of the station and talked with a history intern from George Mason who was preparing for an upcoming Sesquicentennial event at the museum.  A return trip, however, is in order.

The Fairfax Station Railroad Museum, located in the 1903 train station.  A Civil War Trails marker in front of the station describes Barton's feelings on arriving at Fairfax Station in August 1862: "We were a little band of almost empty-handed workers, literally by ourselves, in the wild woods of Virginia, with 3000 suffering dying men crowded upon a few acres within our reach."  The station at the time of the Civil War was a two-story building.  Union soldiers wrote about surgeons performing amputations on the station's first floor.

After touring Fairfax Station, I grabbed lunch in the City of Fairfax and then visited a few sites associated with other periods during the Civil War.  (More to come in future posts!)  Overall, I would recommend that visitors add Ox Hill, St. Mary's, and Fairfax Station to any itinerary involving Second Manassas.  The tour gave me a real feel for the days following the battle.  Ox Hill alone tells the powerful story of an engagement that resulted in the deaths of two rising stars in the Union Army.  The park also teaches an important lesson about battlefield preservation.  St. Mary's and the land around Fairfax Station speak to the hardships endured by ordinary Union soldiers, as well as the sacrifices of Barton and other courageous volunteers.  Although more obscure compared to places like Manassas National Battlefield, these sites certainly merit a detour in their own right.

Sources

Aside from the websites referenced in the main text, the following sources were useful in compiling this post:

David H. Burton, Clara Barton: In the Service of Humanity (1995); Percy H. Epler, The Life of Clara Barton (1915); Elizabeth Brown Pryor, Clara Barton: Professional Angel (1987); Stephen W. Sears, Landscape Turned Red: The Battle of Antietam (1983).

The books on Clara Barton provide incredibly moving descriptions of the conditions of the wounded at Fairfax Station and explain Barton's role in greater detail. I'd recommend reading these accounts before touring St. Mary's and the Fairfax Station area.

Additional Tourist Information & Sesquicentennial Events

Hyperlinks to the websites for Ox Hill Battlefield Park, St. Mary's Church, and the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum can be found in the main text above.

There are several upcoming Sesquicentennial activities related to Ox Hill and the aftermath of Second Manassas:

Ox Hill Battlefield Park will be holding an all-day commemorative event on Saturday, September 1, the 150th anniversary of the engagement.  More information can be found here.

This upcoming weekend, the Fairfax Station Railroad Museum will be hosting an event to commemorate the medical treatment and evacuation of the wounded after Second Manassas.  The focus on Civil War medicine and Clara Barton should make this an interesting event.  See here for more details.

St. Mary of Sorrows is holding a candlelight memorial service in memory of those soldiers killed and wounded at Second Manassas and Ox Hill.  Information on this unique event can be found on the church's homepage.

A Visit to the Battlefield of Second Manassas

As we approach the 150th anniversary of Second Manassas, I wanted to share a few impressions of a trip that I took a few months ago.  Each year of the Sesquicentennial, I have a goal of visiting a few sites associated with the events that took place in the corresponding year during the Civil War.  This past April I decided to tour the battlefield of Second Manassas, a short 30 minute drive from home.  I picked up my friend, Rufino, at a nearby Metro station and headed out I-66 to Manassas National Battlefield Park.  A little music from the 2nd S.C. String Band set the mood as we drove west.

Based on some initial research I had done on visiting the battlefield, I decided to take the audio driving tour.  I've gravitated towards this method of touring ever since a childhood trip to Gettysburg.  My Dad was a big fan, and I suppose his fondness rubbed off on me.  I purchased the audio tour and guidebook at the Henry Hill Visitor Center.  The package is produced by a private company known as "Travel Brains," but don't let the name fool you.  Overall, the tour was worthwhile and provided detailed information to supplement the National Park Service (NPS) brochure and the markers on the battlefield.  Those Civil War enthusiasts with extensive knowledge of the battle may find the tour a tad too basic.  I haven't read much on Second Manassas, so I appreciated the refresher.  The CD also gave useful, on-the-scene interpretations of what I was seeing on the battlefield.

A tour of the Second Manassas battlefield requires driving on some busy area roads.  As we headed down U.S.-29 (Lee Highway), I noticed tailgaters pressuring me to move faster.  Such behavior made my visit a little less pleasurable and prevented a more careful study of the surrounding terrain.  Pulling in and out of some tour stops also proved a bit dicey.  Needless to say, I am glad to hear that a by-pass of the battlefield is in the works.

The audio tour for some odd reason does not include the Brawner Farm, Tour Stop 1 on the NPS brochure.  Whatever you do, however, don't miss going to the Brawner Farm.  The NPS opened the site in 2007 after restoring the post-Civil War farmhouse and installing an Interpretive Center on Second Manassas.  Despite the old-school technology, the electric map in the farmhouse offers an excellent overview of troop positions over the course of the three-day engagement.  A variety of exhibits place the battle in a larger context and cover such topics as the court-martial of Gen. Fitz John Porter, a scapegoat of the Union defeat at Second Manassas.

The restored farmhouse at the Brawner Farm site.  The present structure was built after the Civil War and was enlarged in 1905.  John Brawner and his family moved to this site in 1857.  He leased the property and worked as a tenant farmer.  The original house was damaged during Second Manassas, and the Brawners moved away not long after the battle.

The Brawner Farm, of course, was the scene of Stonewall Jackson's attack on Union soldiers from John Pope's Army of Virginia on the evening of August 28, 1862.  Jackson intended to draw Pope into battle and prevent him from concentrating with the remainder of the Federal Army.  The fight is perhaps best known as the site of an encounter between two of the Civil War's most famous units--the Iron Brigade and the Stonewall Brigade.  Rufino and I took the Ranger-guided tour of the battle at Brawner Farm.  The Ranger re-traced the Union and Confederate lines and really helped us to visualize the brutal, close-range fighting that took place there.

View from the position of the Stonewall Brigade towards the area of the Union lines occupied by the Iron Brigade.

The Stone House (Tour Stop 3), at the junction of Sudley-Manassas Road (today's VA-234) and the Warrenton Turnpike (present-day U.S.-29).  The home is one of two pre-Civil War buildings that is still standing on the grounds of the national park.  During Second Manassas, the Stone House served a field hospital for the wounded.  Pope's retreating Federal troops passed by the house on the way back to the defenses of Washington.

The Unfinished Railroad (Tour Stop 6) made a lasting and haunting impression.  On August 29, 1862, elements of Pope's army launched a series of attacks against Jackson's men, who were positioned along the grade of an unfinished railroad.  Today, the tranquility of the quiet, wooded setting stands in sharp contrast to the savage killing that happened at the same spot 150 years ago.  Although a breeze gently blew through the trees, the air seemed strangely leaden.  I am not an overly supernatural person, but I somehow felt surrounded by the very spirits of those who had fought and died there.

Looking down the unfinished railroad cut.  Confederate defenders from Jame Archer's Brigade, A.P. Hill's Division, occupied the ground to the left.  Federal soldiers from Col. Daniel Leasure's Brigade of Isaac Stevens' Division of the Ninth Corps, Army of the Potomac attacked across the cut.  The bodies of Union dead and wounded covered the slope of the embankment.  A one-mile loop trail allows visitors to explore this truly hallowed ground. 

A few other stops on the battlefield also deserve top billing.  The Deep Cut (Tour Stop 7) witnessed a massive Federal assault on Jackson's right flank by Porter's Fifth Corps and part of Gen. Irvin McDowell's Third Corps on the afternoon of August 30, 1862.  At one point, Jackson's men, running low on ammunition, threw rocks at their attackers.  It is well worth the time to hike up the slope where the Union force advanced to the Confederate lines along the unfinished railroad bed.  The sweeping view from the top conveys a feeling for the vastness of the Union attack.  Chinn Ridge (Tour Stop 10) was the site of a Federal fight to delay Gen. James Longstreet's counter-attack on the afternoon of August 30.  Nearly 30,000 Confederates had surged forward and overwhelmed the Union left flank.  A desperate stand by Union troops on Chinn Ridge helped to prevent complete annihilation of Pope's army.  The placement of markers and artillery do a commendable job of interpreting the fighting that occurred there.

Looking up the slope towards the site of the Confederate line at the Deep Cut.  Porter's men advanced across this ground on August 30.  The Groveton Monument, erected by Union veterans after the war, is visible at the top of the hill to the center-right.

The unfinished railroad bed at the Deep Cut.  Confederates from William E. Starke's Division repulsed the Federal attack from this position.  I can't help but wonder whether some of the rocks were intentionally placed there to evoke images of the famous "stone fight."

Marker on Chinn Ridge indicating the position of the 73rd Ohio Infantry of Col. Nathaniel McLean's Brigade, First Division, First Corps, Army of Virginia, which fought to stem the tide of Longstreet's advancing Confederates on August 30.

Vantage point of a gunner with the 5th Maine Battery on Chinn Ridge.  Longstreet's men advanced across the field in front of the 12-pounder Napoleon.  The fighting here bought Pope additional time to mount a defense at Henry Hill.

As Rufino and I left the battlefield, I pondered why Second Manassas lives in the shadows of the much smaller battle that occurred there in July 1861.  The Park Ranger at Brawner Farm told me that around one in three tourists go to the Henry Hill Visitor Center, compared to just one in ten who stop by the Interpretive Center for Second Manassas.  The 1861 engagement looms large as the first major land battle of the war.  The exalted Stonewall Jackson won his nom de guerre there.  And we've all heard about the death of poor widow Henry or the congressmen and civilians who rode out to watch the battle.  The country, so the story goes, lost its innocence on the fields of Manassas and braced for a long, violent war.  This is the stuff of myth and legend. 

Second Manassas, although a significant victory for Robert E. Lee, is sandwiched in between Lee's emergence at the Seven Days Battles and Antietam, the bloodiest single day in U.S. history.  The long-dominant Lost Cause school of interpretation had little use for Longstreet and his spectacular counter-attack, and the Northern victors of the war viewed Union commanders like Pope, McDowell, and Franz Sigel as less than heroic or else entirely forgettable.  Is it any wonder that the battle failed to inspire the popular imagination in the same way as First Bull Run?  Second Manassas, however, deserves more from us.  After all, the battle, which resulted in yet another crushing Union defeat, showcased the formidable fighting prowess of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and opened the way for the Confederate invasion of Maryland.  I hope that the 150th anniversary will focus more attention on this critical and fascinating battle.  And those looking for a perfect way to commemorate Second Manassas this year should consider heading to the battlefield and walking the very ground where the armies clashed.

For more information:

The National Park Service website for Manassas National Battlefield Park contains a wealth of information on visiting the battlefield of Second Manassas.

For more details on Second Manassas, check out the Civil War Trust's page on the battle.

The National Park Service is planning several days of Sesquicentennial-related activities from August 25-September 2, 2012.  More information can be found here. 

The City of Manassas and Historic Manassas, Inc. are also sponsoring 150th commemorative activities.  Check out the schedule here.

Manning the Defenses of Washington: The 3rd Battalion New York Artillery (Heavy)

Over the last two years, I've dedicated quite a few posts to life in the camps near Washington during the first winter of the Civil War.  My primary focus has been the soldiers living around present-day McLean, including the Pennsylvania Reserves and the Vermont Brigade.  As part of my Sesquicentennial timeline, I've even followed the men in "real" time as they combated disease, went on foraging expeditions, fought Confederates, and celebrated the holidays.  By the spring of 1862, however, most of the Union soldiers in and around Northern Virginia had left the region and moved to points farther south.

Now seems like the perfect time to shift attention to the Union soldiers who remained behind while the rest of the army was off fighting Joe Johnston on the Peninsula.  (Or waiting impatiently to do so at Fredericksburg.)  Following the Federal defeat at First Manassas, Gen. George McClellan undertook an ambitious plan to protect Washington from possible Confederate attack.   The army erected forts, batteries, and rifle trenches in a defensive ring around the city, and various regiments were assigned the unglamorous but important job of garrison duty.  I'd like to take a closer look at the men who defended Washington while the armies were battling and campaigning elsewhere.  And what better place to start than the two forts located in my neck of the woods?

Troops under Gen. William F. "Baldy" Smith crossed the Potomac and began construction on Forts Marcy and Ethan Allen in September 1861.  These two forts guarded the approaches to the Chain Bridge across the river above Georgetown.  I've written about Forts Marcy and Ethan Allen on more than a few occasions.  (See here and here.)  During this time 150 years ago, the 3rd Battalion New York Artillery (Heavy) had the responsibility of manning the two forts.

The 3rd Battalion was raised in New York City in the fall of 1861.  The men signed up for a three-year term of service.  Most of the recruits were either German immigrants, or descendants of German immigrants, and the 3rd Battalion quickly acquired the nickname of the "German Heavy Artillery."  The regiment was placed under the overall command of Lt. Col. Adam Senges, a 38 year-old immigrant from Baden who had participated in the German Revolution of 1848.  The artillerymen were soon en route to the nation's capital.  On November 28, 1861, the New York Times reported on the "Departure of Col. Senges' Company of Artillery":

Tuesday evening a company of artillery numbering ninety men, left this City, by the New-Jersey railroad for Washington. On their arrival there they are to report to the commanding officer of Gen. [Louis] BLENKER's Division, and will form a part of his command. Cannon, caissons, horses, &c., will be furnished them at the Capital.*

The 3rd Battalion was assigned to garrison duty at Forts Marcy and Ethan Allen, not far from the divisional camps of George McCall and "Baldy" Smith at Langley and Lewinsville.  The men passed a long, cold, and damp winter in Northern Virginia.  The days were mostly filled with drilling and other routine duties of army life. 

Lt. Col. Adam Senges (courtesy of OldPictures.com, from Library of Congress).** Senges served as the commander of the 3rd Battalion until May 1863.

During the summer of 1862, the 3rd Battalion sought to fill the ranks with new enlistments.  In an August 14, 1862 article entitled, "German Recruiting," the New York Times informed readers:

[The 3rd Battalion] is now stationed at Forts Ethan Allen and Marcy, in the vicinity of Washington.  It requires about 150 men to complete its maximum regimental strength, and is now receiving recruits at No. 15 Bowery. Capt. FRANZ MATTUSCHEK is the officer in charge.

The Times had no doubts that the 3rd Battalion would meet its goal:

Lieut.-Col. SENGES, the Commandant of the corps, is much esteemed by his men, and the inducements, to join his regiment are so great that the close of the present week will probably find it filled.

As the 3rd Battalion was busy recruiting in New York, Robert E. Lee's Confederates were moving towards Northern Virginia.  Gen. John G. Barnard, the newly-appointed commander of the fortifications around Washington, was worried.  Many experienced troops had already been transferred to Gen. John Pope's Army of Virginia at the front.  Upon taking command in August 1862, Barnard counted just 5,989 men in the fortifications, including 310 in the 3rd Battalion.  (Barnard 105.)  About 2,000 of the defenders were three-month recruits whose terms expired at the end of August, and an additional 2,000 were slated for the front.  (Barnard 105.)  Barnard began to reassign his men in an effort to strengthen various points in the capital's defenses.

On August 22, the 3rd Battalion was ordered to leave Forts Marcy and Ethan Allen.  Six days later, as Pope engaged Lee near Manassas, Barnard reported to Gen. McClellan:

The Third Battalion New York Artillery, about 300 strong, was distributed as follows: Fort Barnard, one company; Richardson, one platoon; Scott, one platoon; Blenker, one platoon; Ward, one company; Worth, one platoon; Ellsworth, one platoon.  (OR, 1:12:3, 711.)***

The next day, McClellan directed the 3rd Battalion to concentrate at Ft. Lyon to the west of Alexandria, with the exception of one platoon, which was retained at Ft. Ellsworth.  The immediate threat to Washington was averted when Lee's Confederates trounced Pope and headed to Maryland. 

The 3rd Battalion remained on duty at Ft. Lyon.  (OR, 1:12:3, 782, 803; 1:12:3, 1:25:2, 181.)  According to historians Benjamin Cooling and Walton Owen, during its time at Ft. Lyon, "[t]he battalion was known for its singing, lager beer, and numerous pet dogs."  (Cooling & Owen 69.)  One solider observed:

If you wish any dogs, there are plenty of them at Fort Lyon as the Dutchman have thee dogs to every man and peck of fleas in the bargain.  (in Cooling & Owen 69-70.)

On June 9, 1863, twenty-six men from the battalion were busy re-filling shells outside of Ft. Lyon's north powder magazine.  The men first had to remove powder that was caked on the inside of the shells due to moisture damage.  The lieutenant in charge grew frustrated with the ineffectiveness of the wooden spoons being used for the task and distributed priming wires to some of the men to dig out the powder.  A spark caused by a priming wire triggered a massive explosion of around 28,00 pounds of powder.  The powerful blast destroyed the north magazine and sent debris and bodies flying through the air.  As Gen. John Slough, military governor of Alexandria, reported to headquarters, "[e]verything in the vicinity is a wreck," although "[n]o serious damage was done . . . to the guns or guncarriages."  (OR, 1:27:2, 871.)  Incredibly, most of the men were huddled in the bombproof at the time of the explosion and escaped unharmed.  In all, twenty-one lost their lives, and ten were injured.  The "severely wounded" were transported to the hospital in Alexandria. (OR, 1:27:2, 871.)  The following day, President Abraham Lincoln, accompanied by Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, inspected the damage. 

The 3rd Battalion underwent organizational changes in September 1863, when the men were transferred to the newly-formed 15th New York Heavy Artillery.  The 3rd Battalion comprised Companies A through E of the regiment.  The 15th New York Heavy Artillery was initially based at Ft. Lyon, and other companies joined the old 3rd Battalion there. 

The 15th New York Heavy Artillery left the defenses of Washington and headed to the field in March 1864.  The regiment fought with the Fifth Corps of the Army of the Potomac throughout the Overland Campaign and before Petersburg.  After Appomattox, the men returned to the defenses of Washington and were mustered out of Federal service in August 1865. 

The 3rd Battalion never saw combat as a unit.  Its biggest enemies were disease and boredom.  The time spent in the defenses around Washington was generally considered "soft" duty by the hardened soldiers in the field.  However, without units like the 3rd Battalion, the forts were worthless as a deterrent.  And the terrible tragedy at Ft. Lyon in 1863 reminds us that garrison duty was not always a risk-free adventure.  The history of the 3rd Battalion also highlights the contributions that German immigrants made to the Union war effort.  Senges and others like him endured the hardships of army life and war for their adopted homeland.  Their story helps us to put a human face on the defenses of Washington.

Notes

*Some sources report that the 3rd Battalion left for Washington on December 19, 1861. It appears that a company under Senges left at the end of November 1861, and that the remainder of the 3rd Batallion may have joined them in Washington in December.

**Nearly all captions I have seen, including on the Library of Congress website, indicate that the officer pictured above is "Lt. Col. A. Senger" of the 15th New York Heavy Artillery (a later iteration of the 3rd Battalion). However, "Lt. Col. A. Senger" does not appear on the rolls of either the 3rd Battalion or the 15th New York Heavy Artillery. Moreover, a military service record for Senges on ancestry.com includes this photograph. I am convinced that this photograph has been misidentified in most captions, and that it actually shows Senges.

***All of these forts were located to the north and west of Alexandria, Virginia.  For a map of the defenses of Washington from the OR, see here.

Sources

John Gross Barnard, A Report on the Defenses of Washington to the Chief of Engineers, U.S. Army (1871); Benjamin Franklin Cooling III & Walton H. Owen II, Mr. Lincoln's Forts: A Guide to the Civil War Defenses of Washington (2010 ed.); Wolfgang Hochbruck, "Forty-Eighters" in the Union Armies: A Preliminary Checklist, on RootsWeb; George B. McClellan, Report of Major-General George B. McClellan Upon the Organization of the Army of the Potomac and Its Campaigns in Virginia and Maryland (1864); Military and Naturalization Records of Adam Senges, available on ancestry.com (subscription service); William J. Miller, The Men of Fort Ward: Defenders of Washington (1989); National Park Service, A Historic Resources Study: The Civil War Defenses of Washington, Parts I & II (2004); New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, 3d Battalion of Artillery (Heavy); New York State Military Museum and Veterans Research Center, 15th Artillery Regiment (Heavy); New York Times, Nov. 28, 1861; New York Times, Aug. 14, 1862; New York Times, June 10, 1863; Frederick Phisterer, New York in the War of the Rebellion, 1861 to 1865 (1890); Adolf Eduard Zucker, The Forty-Eighters: Political Refugees of the German Revolution of 1848 (1950).

Letter to the Editor: Article on McClellan and Second Manassas

The December issue of Civil War Times ran an article by Edward H. Bonekemper III entitled "General Disobedience: 'Little Mac' let John Pope twist in the wind." Bonekemper makes the compelling case that Major General George McClellan was less than cooperative in assisting Major General John Pope as the Army of Northern Virginia moved to pounce on Pope's Army of Virginia.  As much as I agree with many of Bonekemper's conclusions, I thought that the article was a bit imbalanced and wrote a letter to the editor of Civil War Times.  On Friday I received my February 2011 copy of the magazine and was pleased to see that Civil War Times had published my letter.  In case readers don't subscribe to the magazine, here is my letter as printed in the February issue:

I enjoyed Edward Bonekemper’s article “General Disobedience” in the December 2010 issue. Bonekemper presents convincing evidence that General George McClellan purposely disobeyed orders and undermined General John Pope.  The article downplays, however, another aspect of this unfortunate episode, namely, McClellan’s own exaggerated fears that the Confederates were possibly planning to attack the nation’s capital.

On August 28, 1862, McClellan informed General-in-Chief Henry Halleck that various sources were reporting "the enemy with 120,000 men intend advancing on the forts near Arlington and Chain Bridge, with a view of attacking Washington & Baltimore." As McClellan confirmed in a subsequent letter to his wife, "[a] rumor got out that Lee was advancing rapidly on the Chain Bridge with 150,000 men....I did not get 5 minutes consecutive sleep all night--so thick were the telegrams!"

Always cautious and inclined to imagine worst-case scenarios where he was outnumbered, McClellan seemed to believe that General Robert E. Lee might be trying to get his army between Pope and Washington. McClellan’s paranoia about Lee’s forces may at least in part explain why he held back the II and VI corps until the last possible minute. He was determined to keep the capital safe, even if in his twisted logic that involved leaving Pope to fend for himself.  I am far from a McClellan apologist, but Bonekemper’s article seems to overlook any plausible justification for McClellan’s decisions at the time.

Incidentally, I blogged about McClellan's handling of the II Corps around the time of Second Manassas several months ago.  (See here.) 

Courtesy of Civil War Times Facebook page

Ethan Rafuse over at Civil Warriors was asked to author a rebuttal to Bonekemper's article, which can be found here, on the Civil War Times website.  (A shorter version appears in the "Mail Call" Section of the February issue.)  McClellan clearly generates controversy and debate nearly 150 years later!

McLean's Own Confederate General

Last Saturday I decided to explore the old graveyard at the Lewinsville Presbyterian Church when I was out running errands.  I had read about a grave of particular interest on the Historical Marker Database -- the cemetery is the final resting place of Confederate Brigadier General William Whann Mackall.  In 2009, the Laura Ratcliffe Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy ("UDC") installed a commemorative marker in front of the grave.  General Mackall is buried next to his wife, Aminta, who was the sister of Confederate General Moxley Sorrell.  General Sorrell served as General James Longstreet's chief of staff during the war.



William W. Mackall's gravestone and marker.  The gravestone notes: "Brave. Gentle. Modest. Distinguished in the Florida and Mexican Wars and in the War Between the States."  The U.S. flag must in commemoration of Mackall's earlier Federal service!



UDC marker at the Mackall burial plot.  For text of marker and more information, see the Historical Marker Database entry.

Mackall was born in Georgetown, D.C. on January 13, 1817 and grew up in Cecil County, Maryland.  His father eventually moved to Fairfax County in the 1840s and settled on an estate in Langley.  Mackall attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating eighth in his class in 1837.  Mackall's early duty included service in the war against the Seminole Indians in Florida.  During the Mexican War (1846-48), Mackall led a battery of horse artillery and earned brevet commissions as captain and major for his performance at Monterrey, Contreras, and Churubusco.  When the Civil War broke out, Mackall was serving as Assistant Adjutant General in the Department of the Pacific.  The War Department planned to make him lieutenant colonel, but Mackall, who was of Southern sympathies, resigned from the U.S. Army and headed to Richmond.

Brigadier General William W. Mackall (courtesy of findagrave.com)

General Joseph E. Johnston, one of the highest-ranking Confederate officers at the start of the war, was Mackall's long-time friend. Johnston exclaimed that he would give his right arm if the Confederate Army would send Mackall to him as major general. Instead, Mackall was commissioned a lieutenant colonel and assigned as chief of staff to General Albert Sydney Johnston in the Western Theater.  General P.G.T. Beauregard recommended that Mackall be promoted to major general, but the Confederate Government awarded him with a brigadier's commission and sent him to the staff of General Leonidas Polk.

"The Gun-Boat 'Carondelet' Running the Rebel Batteries at Island No. 10," Harper's Weekly, April 26, 1862 (courtesy of sonofthesouth.net)

In March 1862, Mackall replaced General John McCown as commander of the Confederate defenses at Island No. 10 on the Mississippi, which was the focus of an active Union military campaign.  At the start of April, Union ironclads overwhelmed the Confederate batteries, and the Federal Army under General John Pope was able to cut off the Confederate's escape route. On April 8, Mackall surrendered Island No. 10. He was sent to Fort Warren prison in Boston and was set free as part of a prisoner exchange in July 1862.  President Jefferson Davis never seems to have forgiven Mackall for the loss of Island No. 10, which was an obvious blow to the Confederacy early in the war.

Returning to service after his release, in December 1862 Mackall was made the temporary commander of the District of the Gulf until a replacement was found.  (The UDC marker makes much more of this service than appears merited.)  In April 1863, Mackall was sent back to the front to serve as chief of staff to stubborn and vindictive Braxton Bragg, commander of the Army of Tennessee.  (Interestingly enough, the UDC marker neglects to mention Bragg by name.)  Mackall helped to manage the infighting surrounding Bragg after the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, but even Mackall had seen enough. He tendered his resignation and soon took a brigade command under Joe Johnston in Enterprise, Mississippi.  This assignment gave the men plenty of time to complain about the object of their scorn, President Davis.

Johnston was made commander of the Army of Tennessee in late 1863 after the fall of Chattanooga.  Not surprisingly, he selected Mackall as his chief of staff.  The two served together throughout the Atlanta Campaign in 1864.  Davis replaced Johnston with General John B. Hood in July 1864.  Mackall would soon follow Johnston.  When Bragg was visiting Hood's headquarters, Mackall refused to shake his hand.  This prompted Hood to ask for Mackall's resignation.  Mackall willingly obliged and headed to Macon, Georgia, where he stayed at his brother-in-law's home.  Mackall sought new orders, but his requests went unheeded until he was placed in command of the Confederate post at Macon.  He and three other generals surrendered the city to Federals on April 20, 1865.

Following the Civil War, Mackall briefly lived in Baltimore, then spent the remainder of his days at the family estate in Langley, where he died on August 19, 1891.

Chain Bridge: The Rebels are Coming! The Rebels are Coming!

Chain Bridge seems to be the location that keeps on giving.  Who knew that a bridge could hold so many stories about the Civil War?  As mentioned in my first post on the subject, Chain Bridge saw no real action during the Civil War.  However, at various times throughout the conflict, concerns about a possible Confederate threat to the nation's capital loomed large, and the garrison at Chain Bridge got caught up in events.  One of the most notable episodes occurred in August 1862 during the Second Manassas Campaign.

After General McClellan's failed Peninsula Campaign in the spring and summer of 1862, the Army of the Potomac was ordered to move off the Virginia Peninsula and closer to Washington.  McClellan objected, but to no avail.  The Federal general certainly did not relish the prospect of helping the newly-formed Army of Virginia under Major General John Pope, a pompous general brought East from the Western theater.  By the time McClellan got his army moving towards Washington in mid-August,  General Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was moving to destroy the Army of Virginia before McClellan could provide reinforcements. When McClellan arrived in Alexandria on August 26, two of his army corps (the Third and Fifth) were on their way to Pope.  The Sixth Corps under Major General William B. Franklin had just arrived, and the Second Corps under Major General Edwin V. Sumner would disembark in Alexandria a couple of days later. McClellan, who stepped into an ill-defined command situation, began to bicker with General-in-Chief Henry W. Halleck over control of his two remaining corps.

Major General Edwin V. Sumner, head of the Second Corps, Army of the Potomac (Library of Congress)

Major General Henry W. Halleck, General-in-Chief of the Union Army (Library of Congress)

Chain Bridge soon became the focus of attention.  On August 28, McClellan informed Halleck that various sources reported that "the enemy with 120,000 men intend advancing on the forts near Arlington and Chain Bridge, with a view of attacking Washington & Baltimore."  As McClellan confirmed in a subsequent letter to his wife, "there was a terrible scare in Washington" that night when "[a] rumor got out that Lee was advancing rapidly on the Chain Bridge with 150,000 men....I did not get 5 minutes consecutive sleep all night--so thick were the telegrams!"  McClellan, always cautious and inclined to imagine worst case scenarios, believed that Lee might be trying to get his army between Pope and Washington.  He made the defense of the capital his top priority.  Pope would have to wait for the Second and Sixth Corps.

General McClellan and his wife, Mary Ellen (Library of Congress)

Early on the morning of August 29, McClellan reacted to the alleged Confederate advance.  He ordered two regiments and an artillery battery from the Second Corps to march to the vicinity of Chain Bridge on the Virginia side.  By the morning of August 30, three of Sumner's brigades were on both sides of Chain Bridge, and the rest of his corps was in Arlington, including the area around Fort Corcoran.  Lee and Pope, however, were engaged in a ferocious fight around the old battlefield of Bull Run.  Around 2 pm, Halleck ordered Sumner's entire corps, along with the Sixth Corps, to be "pushed forward with all possible dispatch" to the front.  The threat to Washington by way of Chain Bridge had just been as McClellan described it -- a mere "rumor."  Unfortunately for the Union Army, the remainder of McClellan's army was too late to make any difference.  Lee's army soundly defeated Pope's forces and would soon launch an invasion of Maryland.