The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1867-02-27
AChapter ofSouthern War History.
EARLY's ACCOUNT OF HIS MARCH ON WASH.
INGToN.

EARLY's ACCOUNT OF HIS MARCH ON WASH
INGToN.
The rapid marching which had broker
down number OF the men who were bare
footed or weakened by previous exposure
and had been left in the Valley and diree
ted to be collected at Winchester, and th
losses in the killed and wounded at Hal
per.s Ferry, Maryland Heights, and Monoca
ey had reduced my infantry to about eigh
thousand muskets, Of those remaining,
very large number We're greatly exhauste,
By the last two days marching, some hav
ing fallen bys sun stroke, and was satisfied
when we arrived in front Of the fortified
tons, that not more than one third of IN,
force could have been carried into action.
had about forty pieces of field artillery
Of which the largest were twelve-poundel
NapOeons, besides few pieces of hors,
artillery with the cavalry. McCauslant
reported the works on the Georgetown pix,
too strongly manned for him TO assault
We could not move to the right or left with
out it's being discovered froftl q sigma
station on the top of the Soldiers HON,
which overlooked the country, and TIL,
enemy would have been enabled to NOV,
bis works to meet US.
Under the circumstances, to have rushet
my men bllndly against tho Notifications
without understanding the state of things
would have been worse than folly. If w,
had any friends in Washington, none O
them came out to give us information, ani
this satisfied me that the place was moi
nndefended. / knew the troops had ar
rived from Grants army, for prisoners hat
been captured from Ricketts, division O.
the Sixth corps at Monocacy.
From Sharpsburg / had sent message
to Mosby, by one of his men, requesting hin
to cross the Potomac below Harper's Ferry
cut the railroad and telegraph, and en-
deavor to find ont the condition of things
in Washington but he had not crossed the
river, and had received no information
from him. A Northern paper which was
received gave thcinformation that Hunter
after moving up the Ohio river in steam.
boats, was passing over the Baltimore and
Ohio railroad, and knew that he would
he at Harper's Ferry soon, as Imboden had
done very little damage to the road west OF
Martinsburg. T. 1851
After dark on the 18th held a consulta-
ton with Major Generals Breckenridge.
Rhodes, Gordon and Ramseur, in which /
stated to them the danger of remaining
where we were, and the necessity of doing
something Immediately, as the probability
was that the passes of the South Mountain
and the fords of the Upper Potomac would
soOn be closed aDainat no far NJ
After interehanging views with them,
being very reluctant to abandon the pro-
ject ofcapturing Washington, determined
to make an assault on the enemy's works
at daylight next morning, unless some in
formation should be received before that
time showing its impracticability, and so
informed those officers. During the night
dispatch was received from Gen. Bradley
Johnson, from near Baltimore, informing
me that he had received information, from
reliable source, that two corps had ar
rived from Gen. Grants army, and that his
whole army was probably in motion. This
caused me to delay the attack until could
examine the works again, and, as soon as it
was light enough to see. rode to the front
and found the parapets lined with troops.
] had, therefore, reluctantly to- give up all
hopes of capturing Washington after I had
arrived in sight of the dome of the capitol,
and given the federal authorities terrible
fright.
Grant in luis report says in regard to the
conditions of things when moved toward
Washington: "The garrisons of Baltimore
and Washington were at this time made
mp of heavy artillery regiments, hundred
days men, and detachments from the
Invalid Corps" And, in regard to the
force of Wallace at Monocacy, he says: His
force was not sufficient to ensure success,
mt he, fought the enemy nevertheless, and
although 1t resulted in defeat to our arms
yet it detained the enemy and thereby
served to enable General Wright to reach
Washington with two divisions of the
Sixth Corps, and the. advance of the Nine
teenth Corps before him." Stanton says in
his report Here Cat Washington they
{we) were met by troops from the Army of
the Potomac, consisting of the Sixth Corps,
under General Wright; part ofthe Eighth
Corps, under General Gilmore and part
of the Nineteenth Corps, Just arrived from
New Orleans, under General Emory"
Taking Grants statement of the troops
which had arrived from his army as the
most reliable, they wero sufficient to hold
the works against my troops, at least until
others could arrive. But in addition to
those which had already arrived, there
were the detachments from the invalid
corps, called.-I believe, the veteran re-
serves" of which, l was informed, there
were about 5000, tho heavy artillery regi-
ments, the hundred day men, and, / sup
pose the part of the eighth corps mention
ed By Stanton. To all these may be added
the local troops, or militia, and the gov
eminent employees. Some of the Northern
papers stated that between Saturday and
Monday could have entered tho city; but
Saturday was fighting at Monocacy,
thirty FIVE miles from Washington, q force
which / could not leave in my rear, and
after disposing of that force and moving as
rapidly as it was possible for ME to move,
] did not arrive in front of the fortifca-
tioDs until afternoon on Monday, and then
my troops were exhausted, aud it required
time to bring them up into line.
| had then made q march, over the cir
cuitous route by Charlottesville, Lynch
burg and Salem, down the valley, and
through che passes Of the South Mountain,
which, Notwithstanding the delays in
dealing with Hunters, Sigels and Wal
lace's forces, is, for its length and rapidity,
| believe, without parallel in This or any
other modern Wharf.-The unopposed maraud-
ing excursion of the freebooter Sherman
through Georgia not excepted My small |
force had been thrown up to tho very
walls of the federal capital, north of riv-
er which could not be forded at any point
within forty miles. and with heavy force
and the South Mountain IN my rear, the
passes through which Mountain could be
held by small number of troops.
A glance at the map, when it is recol-
lected that the Potomac is q wide river,
and navigable to Washington for the lar
gest vessel, will cause the intelligent read
er to wonder not why failed to take
Washington, but why had the audaeity
to approach it as did, with the small
force under my command. 1t was spp-l
posed by some who were not informed of
The facts, that I delayed in the lower val
ley longer than was necessary but, al eX-
of the following narrative will
show that not one moment was spent in1
ldleness, but that every one was employed
in making some arrangement, or removing
some difficulty in my way, which it was
necessary to make or remove, so as to ena-
bile ME to advance with 81 DroSpect Of |