The national Republican., 1867-02-14
A Chapter OF Southern War His
tory-Early'sA Account ofhis March
ON Washington.

Year Of the War" the following account OF
his famous demonstration on the capital:
"The rapid marching, which had broken
down number OF the men who were bare
footed or weakened by previous exposure,
and had been left in the Valley and directed
to be collected at Winchester, and the lossIs
in killed and wounded at Harper's Ferry,
Maryland Heights and Monocacy, had re.
duced my infantry TO about eight thousand
muskets OF those remaining, very large
number were greatly exhausted by the last
two days marching, some having fallen by
sunstroke, and Was satisfied, when we ar
rived in front Of the Notifications, that not
more than otie-thitd Of my force could have
been carried into actioh. ! had about forty
pieces Of field artillery, of which the largest
were twelve-pounder Napoleons, besides
few pieces Of horse artillery with the cavalry.
McCausland reported the works on the
GEORGETOWN pike too strongly manned for
him to assault. We could not move TO the
right or the left without its being discovered
from q signal station on the top Of the Sol
diers' Home which overlooked the country,
and the enemy would have been enabled 10
move in his works to meet u.s.
Under the circumstances, TO have rushed
my men blindly against the fortifcations,
without understanding the nature Of things,
would have been worse than folly. IL we
had any friends in Washington, none Of them
came out 20 give US information, and this
satisfied me that the place was not unde-
Tended / knew that troops had arrived from
Grants army, for prisoners had been cap
tured from Ricketts, division Of the Sixth
corps at Monocacy. From Sharpsburg had
sent message to Mosby, by one OF his men,
requesting him to cross the Potomac below
Harper's Ferry, cut the railroad and tele-
graph and endeavor to find out the condition
Of things in Washington; but he had not
crossed the river, and had received no in
formation from him. A Northern paper
which was obtained gave the information that
Hunter, after moving up the Ohio river in
steamboats,, was passing over the Baltimore
and Ohio railroad and knew that he would
be at Harper's Ferry soon, aud Imboden had
done very little damage to the road west Of
Martinsburg.
After dark on the llth held consulta-
ton with Major Gems. Breckinridge, Rodes
Gordon and Ramseur, in which stated TO
them the danger Of remaining where we were
and the necessity of doing something imme-
diately as the probability was that the passes
Of the South Mountain and the fords Of the
Upper Potomac would soon be closed against
u.s. After interchanging views with them
being very reluctant to abandon the capture
of Washington, determined to make an as
sault on the enemy's works at daylight next
morning, unless some information should be
received before that time showing It's imprac
ticability, and so informed those officers
During the night a dispatch was received
from Gen. Bradley johnson, from near Bal
timore, informing me that he had received
information, from reliable source, that two
corps had arrived 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 j had, therefore, reluctantly to
give up all hopes Of capturing Washington
after had arrived in sight Of the dome Of
the Capitol, and given the Federal authori-
ties a terrible fright.
"Grant, in his report, says in regard to the
condition Of things when / moved toward
Washington: The garrisons Of Baltimore
and Washington were at this time made up
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 suf-
ficient to ensure success, but he fought the
enemy nevertheless, and although it resulted
in defeat to our arms, yet ii detained the
enemy and thereby served to enable Gen.
Wright to reach Washington with two divi.
sions Of the Sixth corps, and the advance of
the Nineteenth corps before him. Stanton
says in his report: Here lat Washington
they (we) were met by troops from the army
of the Potomac consisting Of the Sixth corps,
under Gen. Wright; part Of the Eighth
corps, under Gen. Gilmore, and part of the
Nineteenth corps, just arrived from New Or
leans, under Gen. Emory
Taking Grants statement Of the troops
which had arrived from his army as the most
reliable, they were sufficient to hold the
works against my troops, at least till others
could arrive. But in addition to those which
had already arrived, there were the detach-
ments from the Invalid Corps, called, be-
lieve, the Veteran Reserves, (of which was
informed there were about FIVE thousand,)
the heavy artillery regiments, the hundred
days men, and, l suppose, the part Of the
Eighth corps mentioned by Stanton. To all
these may be added the local troops or mi
litia, and the Government employees Some
of the Northern papers stated that between
Saturday and Monday could have entered
the city; but Saturday was fighting at Mo-
nocacy, thirty.fve miles from Washington, a
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 Notifications
until afternoon on Monday, and then my
troops were exhausted, and It required time
to bring them up into line. had then made
march, over the circuitous route by Char
lottesvlle, Lynchburg, and Salem, down the
valley, and through the passes of the South
Mountain, which, notwithstanding the delays
in dealing with Hunters, Sigel's, and Wal
lace's forces, is, for its length and rapidity, l
believe, without q parallel in this or any
other modern war-the unopposed maraud-
ing excursion of the freebooter Sherman
through Georgia not excepted. My small
force had been thrown up to the very walls
of the Federal capital, north of river which
could not be forded at any point within forty
miles, and with a heavy force and 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 wide river, and
navigable to Washington for the largest ves-
sells, will cause the intelligent reader to won
der not why failed to take Washington. but
Why had the audacity to approach it as |
did, with the small force under my com