Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1867-02-12
| Gen Earlz,s Account Of his March on Washington

the following account OF his demonstration on
Washington:
''The rapid marching which had broken down
q numter Of the men who were barcfooted or
weakened ty previous exposure, AMI had been
left in the Valley and directed to be collected at
Winchester, and the losses in killed and wound.
ed at Harper's Ferry, Maryland Heights, ard
Monocacy, had reduced my infantry to about
eight thousand maskets. Of those remaining,
a very large number were greatly exhausted by
the last two days matching, some having fallen
by sunstroke, and | was satisfied, When We ar
rived in front of the fortifcations, that notmore
than one third of my force could have been car
ried into action 1 had about forty pieces OF
field artillery, of which the largest were twelve
pounder Napo!eons, besides few pieces OF
horse artillery with the cavalry. McCausland
reported the works on the Georgetown pike too
strongly manned for him 10 assault. We could
not move to the right or the lett without It's
being dcovered from signal stations on the top
of the Soldiers Home" which overlooked
the country, and the enemy would have beea
enabled to move in his works to meet US.
Under the circumstances, to have rushed my
men blindly against the Notifications, without
understanding the state OF things, would nave
been worse than folly. five had any friends
in Washington none OF them came out TO give
us information, and this satisfied me that the
place was not undeicnded. | knew that troops
had arrived from Grants army, Tor prisoners
had been captured from RlckettS DIVISION OF
the Sixth corps at NlonCcacy. From 0harpS.
burg | had sent message to Mostly gy one Of
his men, requesting him to eros The Potomac
below Harper's Ferry, cut the railroad and
telegraph, and cndeuv0r TO find out the cOndi-
ton OF things in Washington; but be had not
crossed the river, and | had received no lntor-
nation from him \ Northern paper which
was obtained gave the conformation that Hunter,
after moving up the Ohio river in steamboats,,
was passing over the Baltimore and Ohio rail
road, and knew that he would be ut Harper S
Ferry as so n as lmboden had done very little
damage to the road west Of Martlnsburg.
After dark on the 18th | held consultation
with Minor Generals Breckenridge, Rodes,
Gordon and Ramscur, in which | stated to
them the danger Of remaining where We We're,
and the necessity Of doing something lmme-
dialely, as the probability was that the passes
of tic South Mountain and the lords OF the
Upper Potomac would soon be closed against
Us. After inIcrchanging views with them,
being very reluctant to abandon the project OF
captming Washington, | determined to make
an assault On the enemy's works at daylight
next morning, unless some information should
be received before that tine showing It's Imprac-
ticabi!itv and so informed those officers. Dur
ing the night d dispatch Was rtccl'cd from
General Bradley Johnson from near Baltimore,
informing me that he had received Information,
from n reliable source, that two corps had ar
rived from General Grants army, and that hi>
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 Sec | rode to the front and
found the parapets lined with troops. | 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 authorities terrible fright.
Grant, in his report, says III regard TO the
condition of things when | moved towards
Washington: The garrisons Of Baltimore and
Washington were atihis time made up heavy
| artillery regiments, hundred days men, and
detachmcnts from the invalid corps And,
| in regard TO the force Of Wallace At Mrn1cacy,
he says: His force was not sufficient to insure
success, but he fought the enemy nevertheless,
and although it resulted in defeat to our arms,
yet it detained the enemy aud thereby served
to enable Gen. Wright TO reach Washington
with TWO divisions Of the Sixth CORPS, AID the
advance Of the Nineteenth corps, before him. y
Stanton says in his report "HeIe lat Wash
ington) they (we) were met by troops from the
Army Of the Potomac, cOnSlStlDg OF the Sixth
corps, under General Wright; a part Of the
Eighth corps, under General Gilmore, and a
rart OF the Nncccnh corps, Just arrived from
New Orleans, under General Emory"
Taking Grants statement of the trc@l5 which
had arrived from his army as the most reliable.
they were sufficient to hold the works against
my troops, at least uutil others could arrive
But, in addition to those which had already
arrived, there were the detachments from the
invalid corps, called, | believe the ~ eteran
Reserves" (ot which, [ was informed, there
were about five thousand the heavy artillery
regiments, the hundrcd-days men, and, L sup
pose the part Of the Eighth corps mentioned
by Stanton. To all these may be added the
local troops, or militia, and the Government en-
ployces Some Of the Northern papers stated
that between Saturday and Monday | could
have entered the city; but Saturday | WAS
fighting at Monocacy, 'hirtyhve miles from
Washington, fierce which could not leave in
my rear and after disposDg Of that force, and
moving as rapidly as it was possible for me to
move, [ did not arrive in front of the fortified
tons until afternoon on Monday, and then my
troops were exhausted, and it required time
to bring them up into line. [ had then made a
march, over the circuitous route by Charlottcs-
vile, 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 Wallace's forces, is,
for its length and rapidity, believe without a
parallel in this or any other modern war-the
unopposed marauding excursion OF the free
booter Sherman through Georgia not excepted.
My small force had been thrown up the very
walls of the Federal Capital, north of river
which could not he fordcd at any poirt within
forty miles, aud with heavy force and the
South Mountain in my rear, the passes through
which mountain could be held by d small num-
Der Of troops
y Glance at the map when it is recollected
that the Potomac is a wide river. and navigabIe
to Washington for the largest vessels, will cause
the Intelligent reader TO wonder not why failed
to take Washington, but why [ had the audaci-
ty to approach it as [ did, with the small force