that he was aroused by the tramp of Federal cavalry close on him, and had just time to throw him-
self, hatless, on his unbridled horse, leap the fence and fly. He left his hat, coat, and gloves, which
his adversaries carried off in triumph ; but at Catlett's soon after retorted by capturing General
Pope's coat and hat, which was a fair offset.

" The gay, humorous, and high spirits of the man, did not wholly desert him even on the most
serioas occasions. Xotliing was more common than to hear him humming a somj during an engage-



518 THE LOST CAUSE.



BATTLES OF SPOTTSTLVAJSTLA C0UKT-H0U8E.

As Lee's advance — consisting of Longstreet's corps under Anderson-
reached Spottsylvania Court-house, on the 9th May, the men had been

ment, and I was reading the other day somewhere a soldier's description of a fight in Culpepper, ana
what an electric effect was produced upon the infantry by the appearance of Stuart riding in front
of them, singing gaily and cheering them on. At Chancellorsville, when Jackson fell, he was called
to command the corps, and led the assault in person on the next morning. An eye witness says
that he could not get rid of the idea that Henry of Navarre had come back, except that Stuart's
' plume ' was black ! Everywhere, like Navarre, he was in front, and the men ' followed the
feather.' At the risk, however, of spoiling this romantic picture, and passing from the subUme to
what some persons may call the ridiculous, an additional fact may be stated, namely : That Gen.
Stuart, attacking with Jackson's veteran corps, and carrying line after line of works, moved at the
head of his men,. singing ' Old Joe Hooker, will you come out of the wilderness.'

" There was nothing notable in Stuart's habits except his abstinence from all stimulants, coffee
excepted. At his broad, paper-covered desk, in the long winter evenings, he busied himself not
with ' official ' work only. A favourite amusement with him was the composition of parodies in
verse, some of them exceedingly good. He was not a great reader. He was fonder of society, of tell-
ing stories, jesting, and whiling away time with his staff. No boy could be merrier than Stuart, at
such moments, and he dearly loved a practical joke.

" No analysis of military movements or discussion of military endowments is here intended ;
but it is almost impossible to separate Stuart, the man, from Stuart, the soldier. He was ready for
a ' fight or a froUc,' and gifted by nature with an enormous animal physique, which enabled him to
defy fatigue, whether produced by marching night and day, or dancing until dawn. Ambitious,
fond of glory, and sensitive to blame or praise, he was yet endowed with a bold and independent
spirit which enabled him to defy all enemies. He was warm-hearted, and never did man love friends
more dearly. Stuart always seemed to be a perfect embodiment of the traits generally attributed
to the English cavaliers. There was in him a rollicking love of frolic, a gallantry towards ladies, a
fondness for bright colors, brilliant spectacles, and gay adventure, which made him resemble strongly
the class of men who followed the fortunes of Charles the I., and at Naseby died rather than retreat
or surrender. Stuart's nerve was of stern stuff, and under all that laughter there was a soul that no
peril could touch. That bright blue eye looked into the very face of death without a quiver of the
Ud, and dared the worst. A man more absolutely indifferent to danger, I believe, never lived ; and,
like some chevalier of olden days, he rode to battle with his lady's glove upon his helm, humming
a song, and determined to conquer or fall."

The following account of Gen. Stuart's last moments was published in the Richmond news-
papers :

" About noon. President Davis visited his bedside and spent some time with the dying chief.
In reply to the question put by the President, ' General, how do you feel ? ' he replied, ' Easy, but
willing to die, if God and my country think I have fulfilled my destiny, and done my duty.'

" During the day, occasional delirium attacked him, and, in his moments of mental wandering,
his faculties were busy with the past. His campaigns on the Peninsula, his raid into Pennsylvania,
his doings on the Eapidan, and his several engagements, were subjects that quickly chased them-
selves through his brain. Fresh orders were given as if still on the battlefield and injunctions to
his couriers to ' make haste.' Then he would wander to his wife and children, one of whom, his
oldest boy, had died a year previous, while fighting on the Eappahannock, and in relation to whom
Ke had said, when receiving a telegram that the boy was dying, ' I must leave my child in the hands
of God ; my country needs me here ; I cannot come.' Then his mind would again carry him on to
the battlefield ; and so it continued throughout the day. Occasionally his intellect was clear, and he



J



BATTLES OF SPOTTSTLVANIA COUET-HOUSE. 519

marching rapidly, and for two miles had double-quicked it, and conse-
quently were much jaded. But they were ready for work, tired as they
were. Kershaw's division led the corps, and was the first to reach the
ground. Two brigades were sent against a cavalry force of the enemy
holding the Court-house, and two others were placed behind a thin rail
fence and some frail obstructions which had been thrown across the road



was then calm and resigned, though at times suffering the most acute agony. He would even, with
his own hand, apply the ice that was intended to relieve the pain of his wound.

" As evening wore on, mortification set in rapidly. In answer to his inquiry, he was told that
death was fast approaching. He then said, ' I am resigned, if it be God's will, but I would hke to
see my wife. But, God's will be done.' Several times he roused up, and asked if she had come.
Unfortunately, she was in the country at the time, and did not arrive until too late.

" As the last moments approached, the dying man, with a mind perfectly clear and possessed,
then made a disposition of his effects. To Mrs. Gen. E. E. Lee, he directed that the golden spurs
bl given as a dying memento of his love and esteem for her husband. To bis staff officers he gave
his horses ; and other mementoes he disposed of in a similar manner. To his young son he left his
Bword. He then turned to the Rev. Dr. Peterkin, of the Episcopal Church, of which he was a strict
member, and asked him to sing the hymn commencing :

• Roci of ages cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee.'

" In this he joined with all the strength of voice liis failing powers permitted. He then prayed
with the minister and friends around him ; and, with the words, ' I am going fast now. I am re-
signed ; God's will be done,' yielded his fleeting spirit to Him who gave it.

" The funeral of this much lamented and brave general took place on the 13th, at five o'clock,
from St. James's Church, corner of Marshall and Fifth streets.

" At the appointed hour the cortege appeared in front of the church, and the metallic coffin, con-
taining the remains of the noble soldier, whose now silent voice had so often startled the enemy with
his stirring battle-cry, was carried down the centre-aisle, and placed before the altar. Wreaths and
a cross of evergreens, interwoven with delicate lilies of the valley, laurel, and other flowers of purest
white, decked the coffin.

" The pall-bearers were Gen. Bragg, Maj.-Gen. McCown, Gen. Chilton, Brig. -Gen. Lawton, Com-
modore Forrest, Capt. Lee, of the navy, and Gen. George W. Randolph, formerly Secretary of War.

" The scene was sad and impressive. President Davis sat near the front, with a look of grief
upon his careworn face ; his cabinet officers were gathered around, while on either side were the
Senators and Representatives of the Confederate Congress. Scattered through the church were a
number of generals and other officers of less rank, among the former Gen. Ransom, commanding
the Department of Richmond. Hundreds of sad faces witnessed the scene ; but the brave Fitz Hugh
Lee and other war-wearied and war-worn men, whom the dead Stuart had so often led where the red
battle was fiercest, and who would have given their lives for his, were away in the fight, doubtless
striking with a double courage as they thought of their fallen general.

" The short service was read by Rev. Dr. Peterkin, a funeral anthem sung, and the remains were
carried out and placed in the hearse, which proceeded to Hollywood Cemetery, followed by a long
train of carriages.

" No military escort accompanied the procession, but the hero was laid in his last resting-place
on the hillside, while the earth trembled with the roar of artillery and the noise of the deadly strife
of armies — the one bent upon desecrating and devastating his native land, and the other, proudly
and defiantly standing in the path and invoking the blessing of Heaven upon their cause, to fight in
better cheer for the memory of such as Stonewall Jackson and J. E. B. Stuart."



520 THE LOST CAUSE.

by wliicli a force of Federal infantry was advancing. The latter fell into
the en'our of supposing that the force behind the fence was dismounted
cavalry, and rushed forward with the utmost confidence. The Confed-
erates reserved their fire until their foes got within a few j^aces, and then,
taking deliberate aim, gave them a volley which covered tlie ground with
their slain. The combat was short and shai-p ; some of the Federals got
to the fence, and actually used the bayonet ; but in less than half an hour
they were driven rapidly back, leaving fi.ve hundi'ed dead and mortally
wounded, and two hundred prisoners in the hands of the victorious Con-
federates.

On the lOtli May, the struggle was renewed at an early hour, TVarren's
corps being the one most hotly engaged against the Confederates, though
all were fighting heavily. About half-past 5 p. m. two divisions of Han-
cock's Second corps crossed the Po River, and advanced against Lee's left,
making a strong show of giving battle there. Lee, su^jposing the enemy
was massing forces at that point, moved his troops during the night and
next day to that quarter, but, in the morning of the 12th, it was found
that Hancock was again in the centre, and vigorously assaulting Johnson's
division.

This division held a salient of the Confederate line ; and as the enemy,
taking the forces within in flank, rushed over the angle, they were quickly
in possession of the work, capturing most of Johnson's men along with
their commander, and taking twenty pieces of artillery. Charge after
charge was made by the Confederates to regain what ground they had lost.
It was a conflict of sublime fury and terrible carnage. Tlie dead and
wounded lay piled over each other, " the latter often underneath the
former." What remained of Ewell's corps held the enemy in check with
a courage that nothing could subdue. Gen. Hill moved down from the
right, joined Ewell, and threw his divisions into the struggle ; Longstreet
came on from the extreme left of the Confederate line ; it was a dead-lock
of slaughter, in which neither side gained ground, and the intervening
spaces were piled with the slain. At the close of the day the enemy held
about three hundred yards of the Confederate works ; he had taken twenty-
five pieces of artillery and about two thousand men in Johnson's division ;
he had inflicted a loss of about six or seven thousand ; but his own loss
was stated at eighteen thousand men, and at this cost he had purchased
what the Northern newspapers called a " brilliant victory," but of which
Gen. Grant had been candid enough to state : " The advantage gained did
not prove decisive."

Thus, without decisive results — certainly without any appreciable ad-
vantage on the ^Northern side — ^liad been fought a series of battles such as
liad never been compressed into so many days in the history of man, and
such as had never before been exhibited by a single army, contending



GEN. BDTLEe's movement AGAINST EICHMOND. 521

against an adversary more than tliree times its numbers. In those days
Lee's army made its surpassing record of heroism. Grant was not shamed.
The Moloch of the North had not yet been sated. The great military
genius that was to resolve generalship) into the fierce and brutal consump-
tion of human life, who had taken the field with triple Lee's numbers,
'found it necessary, after the first series of conflicts to call for reinforce-
ments, and that before his adversary had received one additional musket
for his own thinned ranks. From the 13th to the 18th May, Grant con-
sumed the time in manoeuvi-ing and awaiting the arrival of reinforcements
from Washington. He attempted to compose the anxiety of the authori-
ties there by a display of resolution. He telegraphed to President Lin-
coln : " I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."



OPERATIONS ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF EICHMOND.

While Grant was engaged on the Eapidan, there were other move-
mens in progress which were parts of his combination, and which belong
to the great military drama in Virginia.

The column of Butler — what was known as the Army of the James —
was the most important correspondent of his movement, intended to oper-
ate against Richmond on the south side. In advance of the movements on
the Rapidan, the following letter of instructions was addressed to Gen.
Butler, explaining the part of the campaign against Richmond as-
signed to him :

" Fort Monroe, Va., Jpi-il 2, 1864.

" General : In the spring cami)aign, which it is desirable shall commence at as early
a day as practicable, it is proposed to have co-operative action of all the armies in the
field, as far as this object can be accomplished.

" It will not be possible to unite our armies into two or three large ones to act as so
many units, owing to the absolute necessity of holding on to the territory already taken
from the enemy. But, generally speaking, concentration can be practically effected by
armies moving to the interiour of the enemy's country from the territory they have to
guard. By such movements they interpose themselves between the enemy and the coun-
try to be guarded, thereby reducing the number necessary to guard important points, or
at least occupy the attention of a part of the enemy's force, if no greater object is gained.
Lee's army and Eichmond being the greater objects towards which our attention must
be directed in the next campaign, it is desirable to unite all the force we can against
them. The necessity of covering Washington with the Army of the Potomac and of
covering your Department witli your army makes it impossible to unite these forces at the
beginning of any move. I propose, therefore, what comes nearest this of anything that
seems practicable. The Army of the Potomac will act from its present base, Leo's army
being the objective point. You will collect all the forces from your command that can be
spared from garrison duty, I should say not less than twenty thousand effective men — to
operate on the south side of James Ptiver, Richmond being your objective pomt. To the



522 THE LOST CAUSE.

force you already have will be added about ten thousand men from South Carolina, un«
der Maj.-Gen. Gillmore, who will command them in person. Maj.-Gen. W. F. Smith ia
ordered to report to you, to command the troops sent into the field from your own De-
partment.

" Gen. GiUmore will be ordered to report to you at Fortress Mouroe, with all the
troops on transports, by the 18th instant, or as soon thereafter as practicable. Should
yo 1 not receive notice by that time to move, you will make such disposition of them and
your other forces as you may deem best calculated to deceive the enemy as to the real
move to be made.

" "When you are notified to move, take City Point with as much force as possible.
Fortify, or rather entrench, at once, and concentrate all your troops for the field there as
rapidly as you can. From City Point directions cannot be given at this time for your
further movements.

"The fact that has already been stated — that is, that Richmond is to be your objective
point, and that there is to be co-operation between your force and the Army of the Po-
tomac — must be your guide. This indicates the necessity of your holding close to the
south bank of the James River as you advance. Then, should the enemy be forced into
his entrenchments iu Richmond, the Array of the Potomac would follow, and by means
of transports tlie two armies would become a unit.

" All the minor details of your advance are left entirely to your direction. If, how-
ever, you think it practicable to use your cavalry south of you so as to cut the i-ailroad
about Hicks' Ford, about the time of the general advance, it would be of immense ad-
vantage.

" You will please forward for my information at the earliest practicable day, all or-
ders, details, and instructions you may give for the execution of this order.

" U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

''Maj.-Gen. B.F. Butler:'

From tliis exposition of Grant's designs upon the Confederate capital,
it appears that he calculated to fight Lee between Culj)epper and Rich-
mond, and failing to defeat him away from his base, to make a junction
with Butler's army on the James Kiver, with the prospect that the latter
would be able to invest Richmond on the south side, with its left resting
on the James above the city.

But there was yet another part of Grant's ambitious and sweeping plan
of operations in Virginia. He might take Richmond, without capturing
the Government machinery, and without overthrowing Lee's army. In
that view, further operations were necessary to isolate Richmond, and de-
stroy its raih'oad communications. Gen. Sigel was therefore directed to
organize all his available force into two expeditions, to move from Beverly
to Charleston, under command of Gens. Ord and Crook, against the East
Tennessee and Virginia Railroad. Subsequently, Gen. Ord, having been
relieved at his own request, Gen. Sigel was instructed at his own sugges-
tion, to give up the expedition by Beverly, and. to form two columns, one
under Gen. Crook, on the Kanawha, numbering about ten thousand men,
and one on the Shenandoah, numbering about seven thousand men ; tho
one on the Shenandoah to assemble between Cumberland and the ShenaU'



OPEKATIONS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. 523

doali; and the infantry and artillery moved to Cedar Creek with such
cavaliy as could be made available at the moment, to threaten the enemy
in the Shenandoah Yalley, and advance as far as possible ; while Gen.
Crook would take possession of Lewisburg with part of his force, and move
down the Tennessee Eailroad, doing as much damage as he could.

Gen. Butler moved his main force up the James River, in pursuance
of instructions, on the 4th May, Gillmore having joined him with the Tenth
Corps. On the 5th he occupied, without opposition, both City Point and
Bermuda Hundred. On the 6th he was in position with his main army,
and commenced entrenching. On the Yth he made a reconnoissance
against the Petersburg and Richmond Railroad, destroying a bridge seven
miles from the former place, from which he took the conceit that he had
now got well to the rear of the Confederate capital, and held " the key to
the back-door of Richmond." He telegraphed to Washington : " We have
landed here, entrenched ourselves, destroyed many miles of railroad, and
got a position which, with proper supplies, we can hold out against the
whole of Lee's army ! " This boast was to come to a singular conclusion.

In the month of April, the services and command of Gen. Beauregard
had been called into requisition from Charleston to strengthen the defences
around Richmond. On the 21st April, he passed through Wilmington
with a large body of troops, and assumed command of the district on the
south and east of Richmond. On the 16th May he attacked Butler in his
advanced position in front of Drewry's Bluff. The action was sharp and
decisive. Butler was forced back into his entrenchments between the forks
of the James and Appomattox Rivers ; and Beauregard, entrenching
strongly in his front, covered the railroads, the city, and all that was val-
uable to him, Butler's army was thus effectually cut off from all further
operations against Richmond, as much so, wrote Gen. Grant, " as if his
anny had been in a bottle strongly corked."



OPERATIONS IN THE KANAWHA AND SHENANDOAH VALLEYS.

While Butler was thus neutralized, the movement in the Kanawha and
Shenandoah Yalleys, under Sigel, was to end in disaster. Gen. Crook,
who had the immediate command of the Kanawha expedition, divided his
forces into two columns, giving one, composed of cavalry, to Gen. Averill.
They crossed the mountains by separate routes. Averill struck the Ten-
nessee and Virginia Railroad, near Wytheville, on the 19th May, and,
proceeding to New River and Christiansburg, destroyed the road, several
important bridges and depots, including Kew River Bridge, forming a
junction with Crook at Union. Gen. Sigel moved up the Shenandoah
Valley, and on the 15th was encountered near Newmarket by Gen. Breck



524 ""ilF, LOST CAUSE.

inridge, who drove the enemy across the Shenandoah, captured six pieces
of artillery, and nearly one thousand stand of small arras, and inflicted
upon him a heavy loss ; Sigel ahandoning his hospitals and destroying the
larger portion of his train. This signal defeat of Sigel was the occasion
of his removal, and the appointment of Hunter to take command of the
forces with a larger design, reaching to Lynchburg and Charlottesville,
the operations of which, however, were reserved for another month.

The secondary parts of the operations of the month of May against
Richmond having thus failed, Gen. Grant, despite his expressed determi-
nation to fight all summer on the line he held at Spottsylvania, proposed
a movement to the l^orth Anna River, by which he hoped to flank the
little army of Lee, that he no longer could hope, even by the " hammer-
ing " process, to beat in the open field. Previous, however, to the com-
mencement of this movement, he made an assault, on the 19th May, on
Ewell's line, with the view of turning Lee's left ; but this failed, and the
Federals returned to their camps after a heavy loss. On the night of the
21st the movement to the North Anna was commenced. Gen. Lee was
thus necessarily obliged to evacuate his position on the Po, and, by an
admirable movement, took up a new position between the North and
South Anna Rivers before Grant's army had reached its new destination.

Foiled again, and finding his agile adversary again in his path. Grant
found it necessary, on the 24th May, to make another flank movement, by
recrossing the ISTorth Anna, and marching easterly towards the Pamunkey.
To cover his plans, an attack was made on Lee's left, while a portion of
Sheridan's cavalry tore up the Central Railroad. But the great Confed
erate was fully master of the situation, and could not be easily blinded.
He comprehended Grant's tactics ; he was as prompt in his movements ;
and he was far more skilful in his strategy than the Federal commander.
Accordingly, no sooner did Grant's army, on the 28th, arrive at Ilanover-
town, on the Pamunkey, fifteen miles northeast of Richmond, than it was
found the Confederates were in line of battle, from Atlee's Station, on the
railroad, ten or eleven miles north of Richmond to Shady Grove, eight or
nine miles north-northeast of the capital. The next day. Grant's forces
were across the Pamunkey, marching towards Richmond ; and reinforce-
ments from Butler's army, on the James River, were arriving at "White
House, which once formed the Federal base of supplies.

The singular fortune of war had again made the Peninsula a deadly
'>attle-ground. One month had hardly elapsed since the campaign had
begun ; and its record of carnage in this brief time was unsurpassed, while,
on the other hand, never, jn such a space, had such a sum of glory been
achieved as that which now illuminated the arms of Lee. When he stood
in array against Grant at the Rapidan, his force was not more than fifty
thousand men. It was this force which had compelled Grant, after the



SPLENDID GENEKALSniP OF LEE. 525

fighting at the Wilderness and aronnd Spottsylvania Court-house, to
wait six days for reinforcements from Washington before he could move,
and had baffled his favourite plan of reaching Richmond. Lee never re-
ceived a single item of reinforcement until the 23d of May. At Hanover
Junction, he was joined by Pickett's division of Longstreet's corps, one