opened with the combat of Mechanicsville on the 26th of June, and the battle of Gaines’ Mill on the 27th. Lee soon cut the communication with White House, but McClellan changed his base and retreated towards Harrison’s Landing on the James river. It was some time before Lee realized this. In the end the Federals were sharply pursued, but McClellan had gained a long start and, fighting victoriously almost every day, at length placed himself in a secure position on the James, which was now patrolled by the Federal warships (June 26–July 1). But the second advance on Richmond was clearly a strategical failure.
13. The Campaign of Perryville.—After the capture of Corinth Halleck had suspended the Federal advance all along the line in the west, and many changes took place about this time. Halleck went to Washington as general-in-chief, Pope was transferred to Virginia, Grant, with his own Army of the Tennessee and Rosecrans’s (lately Pope’s) Army of the Mississippi, was entrusted with operations on the latter river, while Buell’s Army of the Ohio was ordered to east Tennessee to relieve the inhabitants of that district, who, as Unionist sympathizers, were receiving harsh treatment from the Confederate and state authorities. Late in July Braxton Bragg, who had succeeded Beauregard in command of the Confederates, transferred his forces to the neighbourhood of Chattanooga. Tennessee was thenceforward to be the central theatre of war, and too late it was recognized that Mitchel should have been supported in the spring. The forces left south of Corinth were enough to occupy the attention of Grant and Rosecrans, and almost contemporaneously with Lee’s advance on Washington (see below), Price and Bragg took the offensive against Grant and Buell respectively. The latter early in August lay near Murfreesboro, covering Nashville, but the Confederate general did not intend to threaten that place. The valleys and ridges of eastern Tennessee screened him as he rapidly marched on Louisville and Cincinnati. The whole of the Southern army in the west swung round on its left wing as the pivot, and Buell only just reached Louisville before his opponent. The Washington authorities, thoroughly dissatisfied, ordered him to turn over the command to General Thomas, but the latter magnanimously declined the offer, and Buell on the 8th of October fought the sanguinary and indecisive battle of Perryville, in consequence of which Bragg retired to Chattanooga.
14. The Western Campaign.—The Union leader was now ordered once more to east Tennessee, but he protested that want of supplies made such a move impossible. Rosecrans, the victor of Corinth and Iuka (see below), was thereupon ordered to replace him. Buell’s failure to appreciate political considerations as a part of strategy justified his recall, but the value of his work, like that of McClellan, can hardly be measured by marches and victories. The disgraced general was not again employed, but the men of the Army of the Ohio retained throughout, as did those of the Army of the Potomac, the impress of their first general’s discipline and training. Sterling Price in the meanwhile had been ordered forward against Grant and Rosecrans, and Van Dorn promised his assistance. Before the latter could come up, however, Rosecrans defeated Price at Iuka (September 19). The Confederates, not dismayed thereby, effected their junction and moved on Corinth, which was defended by Rosecrans and 23,000 Federal troops. Grant’s other forces were split up into detachments, and when Van Dorn, boldly marching right round Rosecrans, descended upon Corinth from the north, Grant could hardly stir to help his subordinate. Rosecrans, however, won the battle of Corinth (October 3–4), though on the evening of the 3rd he had been in a perilous position. The Confederates fell back to the southward, escaping Grant once more, and thus ended the Confederate advance in the West.
15. Pope’s Campaign in Virginia.—The Army of Virginia under Pope was composed of the troops lately chasing Jackson in the Valley—Fremont’s (now Sigel’s), Banks’s and McDowell’s corps. Halleck (at the Washington headquarters) began by withdrawing McClellan from the James to assist Pope in central Virginia; Lee, thus released from any fear for the safety of Richmond, turned swiftly upon Pope. That officer desired to concentrate his command on Gordonsville, but Jackson was before him at that place, and he fell back on Culpeper. On the 9th of August Banks and Jackson joined battle once more at Cedar Mountain (or Cedar Run); the Federals, though greatly inferior in numbers, attacked with much vigour. Banks was eventually beaten, but he had come very near to success, and Jackson soon retired across the Rapidan, where (the Army of the Potomac having now begun to leave the James) Lee joined him (August 17) with the corps of Longstreet. Pope now fell back behind the Rappahannock without showing fight. Here Halleek’s orders bade him cover both Washington and Aquia Creek (whence the Army of the Potomac was to join him), orders almost impossible of execution, as any serious change of position necessarily uncovered one of these lines. The leading troops of the Army of the Potomac were now landed, and set out to join Pope’s army, which faced Longstreet and Jackson on the Rappahannock between Bealton and Waterloo. On the 24th of August Lee ordered Jackson to march round Pope’s right wing and descend on his rear through Thoroughfare Gap on Manassas and the old battle-ground of 1861. Pope was at this moment about to take the offensive, when a violent storm swelled the rivers and put an end to all movement. On the 26th of August the daring flank march of Jackson’s corps ended at Manassas Station (see Bull Run). Longstreet followed Jackson, and Lee’s army was reunited on the battlefield. By the 1st of September the campaign of “Second Manassas” was over. Pope’s army and such of the troops of the Army of the Potomac as had been involved in the catastrophe were driven, tired and disheartened, into the Washington lines. The Confederates were once more masters of eastern Virginia.
16. Antietam.—It was at this moment that Bragg was in the full tide of his temporary success in Tennessee and Kentucky, and, after his great victory of Second Bull Run, Lee naturally invaded Maryland, which, it was assumed, had not forgotten its Southern sympathies. But Lee received no real accession of strength, and when McClellan with all available forces moved out of Washington to encounter the Army of northern Virginia, the Confederates were still but a few marches from the point where they had crossed the Potomac. Lee had again divided his army. On the 13th of September Jackson was besieging 11,000 Federals in Harper’s Ferry, Longstreet was at Hagerstown, Stuart’s cavalry holding the passes of the South Mountain, while McClellan’s whole army lay at Frederick. Here extraordinary good fortune put into the enemy’s hands a copy of Lee’s orders, from which it was clear that the Confederates were dangerously dispersed. Had McClellan moved at once he could have seized the passes without difficulty, as he was aware that he had only cavalry to oppose him. But the 13th was spent in idleness, and stubborn infantry now held the passes. A serious and costly action had to be fought before the way was cleared (battle of South Mountain, September 14). On the following day Harper’s Ferry capitulated after a weak defence. Jackson thereupon swiftly rejoined Lee, leaving only a division to carry out the capitulation. On the 16th McClellan found Lee in position behind the Antietam Creek, and on the 17th was fought the sanguinary and obstinately contested battle of Antietam (q.v.) or Sharpsburg. At the price of enormous losses both sides escaped defeat in the field, but Lee’s offensive was at an end and he retired into Virginia. Thenceforward the Confederacy was purely on the defensive. Only twice more did the forces of the South strike out (Gettysburg, 1863; Nashville, 1864), and then the offensive was more of a counter-attack than an advance.
17. Vicksburg in 1862.—The Confederate failures of Corinth, Perryville and Antietam were followed by a general advance by the Federals. It is about this time that Vicksburg becomes a place of importance. Farragut from New Orleans, and the gunboat flotilla from the upper waters, had engaged the batteries in June and July, but had returned to their respective stations, while a Federal force under General Williams, which had appeared before the fortress, retired to Baton Rouge. Early in August, Van Dorn, now in command of the place, sent a force to attack Williams, and on the 5th a hard-fought action took place at Baton Rouge, in which Williams was killed but his troops held
