Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1870-05-20

( .SAAOA4tCAs VI y 1C : Stellls tAAuS SuNCAitNli1
reviews the circumstances and results ot
/ Fitz John Porter's behavior
aOn the morning of Friday, the 18th, Lee
with the main budy Of the Southern army
+ was separated from Jackson by full daA :
march, while the National troops ali lay
within two or three hours, at most, of the
decisive field, with direct and open ruadS T.
move upfan. and IL must be cOnreded that
I In the contest Of man0euyres the Union
/ commander had fairly out-geDeraled his
adversary. Without hesitation or delay all
I the troops under General POpe's eye were
I thrown upon the enemy. All day long the
ruar of muskefry and cannon, Hke the
sounding OF mighty gong, invited the alb
sent to share in the f-ast Of death and glory;
all day long the white battIe-eloud, visible
from hill and plain for twenty miles around
beckOned to laggard and skufker, to the eX-
hausted soldier who had dropped behind
his regiment, to the starred cbieftain who
stood ms Ofuers5 all day long the anxious
commander counted the min utes, and urged
hi faithful leg1Ons to a succession of bril-
liant out eEnauSJlng attacks, Va1nly listen
ing for the burst upon the enemy's right
and rear, which was to give US victory.
Thus passed the Gay, and the hour, and
the dec ssiVts opDortnnity Sunset ON the
18th stiu found n with the light columns OF
Sigel. Heintzelman and Reno dashing
AGAINST the strong and stubbOrnly defended
position of the enemy " {" Porter with
his splendid corps had never appeared on
the field at all. Thus it was that the hopes
of victory. and the prestige OF successful
generalship passed from the Union COM
mander TO his adversaries.
To com piete the views of this days oper-
ations make nute of the enemy's move
meuts, obtained from the most authentic
sources. MY principal informant, the chief
ing of the 18th General Lee took break fast
at house west of ThOroughfare Gap,
Riding forward rapidly he passed Long
street moving through the Gap, the head OF
the column some short distance on the east
ern side. They marched left in front,
HOud's division leading. This division
reached the field ami formed on JdekS0Il's
right after sunset on the 29th, and Immediate
ly became engaged with portion of Nc
DoWell's command, as before stated. Other
portions Oh Longstreet's command arrived
and took pOsftI,an N during the night. On the
morning Of the 30th (Sat urdty), LOugstfeet' Is
command was all up except AndersOn's s d.
vision, tCich had not get reached the Jietd. The
absence of thIs division and a feeling of un-
certainty as to POFter's forces and inten-
tfUns, induced General Lee to remain on
the defensive during the afternoon of Sat
urday. About one o'clork m. Anderson
arrived, and the Confederate commander
immediately commenced his preparat, ons
for an aggT essIve movement"
So it appears from the statement OF
one of General Lees own staff officers
that no part of Longstreets corps, ex-
cepting Hoods division, arrived until
sundown of the 2oth, and that the rebel
chieftain did not feel prepared TO take
the offensive until next day in the after
noon. This shows still more forcibly
how much was lost by Porter's failure to
attack at the time ordered. Ii IS now
proper that we should add General
Pope's own testimony, from his official
report:
81 do not hesitate to say that, if he had
discharged his duty as came a soldier un-
der the circumstances, and had made Wig
OrouS attack on the enemy, as he was. ex-
pected and directed TO do, at any time up t''
o'clock that night we should have u terly
crushed or captured the larger part OF Jack
sons force before he could have been by
.il IPe5 We rssisfance ; belleX.
in tact, I am posftfVe-that at 3 O'Clock on
the afternoon of the 9th. Gen. Porter had
in his front no consI IderabIe part of the en-
erny. / believed then as / very sure
now that it was easily practicable for him
to have turn ed the right flank of jackson,
and to have fallen upon his rear; that II he
had done so, we should have gained q de-
I eisive victory over the army under Jack-
son before he could have been joined by
anv of the forces under LongStreet; and
that the army of General Lee Wouiq nave
been so crippled and checked by the de-
struction OF this large force as to have been
no longer in condition to prosecute further
operations of an aggressive character.
Mortified and disappointed beyond ex-
preston by Porter's behavior and its un-
| happy. consequences, General Pope seni
| him a peremptory order, after the day
fighting was over, to report to him fol
! orders, in person, at daybreak the fol
/ lowing morning.
I Our troops were now IN a state OF ex-
/ treme exhaustion. necessarily moving
and fighting for ten consecutive days
/ they. had necessarily been separated
! from the supply trains and had subsisteo
I largely on green corn, and even tha
4 they had scarcely time to prepare in theil
rapid movements. For two days the ar
tiliery and cavalry horses had been with
/ out food, and since the withdrawal from
3. the Rapidan had been almost constantly
in harness. In this emergency Genera
Pope had, on the 18th, appealed to the
General-in-Chieft to send forward ration!
and forage from Alexandra, and haC
represented the necessity of fresh horse!
in order that our cavalry should be o
any possible service. To this appea
came the following answer written b,
direction of General Mcclellan:
August %, 1928 p. m.
To Commanding Officer at CeatreUtLEe:
| have been instructed by General Mcclellan
to inform you Inat ne w1 h9Te an 1aade 5
with rations for your tIopps, and all tn
cars, also, as soon as you 0ttt SeTlC IN q cdCot4
w. B. FRANKLIN,
Major General Commanding Sixth Corps.
That is, with Alexandria swarmin
with troops, Mcclellan made the sendin
of provisions to our exhausted soldier
at the front conditional upon their send
ing back forces to guard them An
that, too, when he must have known W
had no forces to spare, that our necess
ties were immediate and that cavalr
could be of no service in guarding raj
road trains. 1t was not, says Genera
Pope, until l received this letter that
begun to feel discouraged and nearl
hopeless of any successful issue to th
, operations with which | was charged.
To what seemed a studied determine
ton not to re-enforce his command no
seemed to be added that of starving it il
to a retreat before the enemy. At AleI
andria were Franklin's, Summers an
Sturgis' corps, not less than thirty thou
!, and strong, and yet our exhausted arm
was denied supplies unless it should sen
back an escort to guard them An
this, too, at the very time when McCle
Ian was being urged to press forwal
=, Franklin and Sumner to the relief of Oh
. army in the very direction its supple
were to be forwarded!
The morning of the goth dawned cor
'' paratively quiet, and the forenoon wo
n away disturbed only by an occasion
exchange of shots between the batterle
: Lees troops were constantly arrivin
= but to us there came no reinforcement
Largely reduced by casualties and stra
Cling our army now numbered altoget
er but 4o, 600 effectives. To retreat w
difficult; to stand still an acknowledg
ment of weakness. Therefore, abo
Le two o clock General Pope ordered Port
y to advance his corps down the Ware
ton turnpike and attack, supported
Kings division; while Heintzelman al
Reno, supported by Ricketts, divisio
should assail and turn the enemy's lie
Soon after this attack began it becar
s, apparent that the enemy's forces we
Of being massed on his right with intent
US turn our left. Ricketts, division W
therefore Withdrawn from the right a
in sent to re-enforce the threatened flank
o1r The attack of Porter was made vii
" out vigor or persistency and his fore
,,ee soon retired in some confusion. 1t W
a now about four o'clock and the Conf,
n crates having gathered all their streng
a. as soon as Porter's withdrawal co