Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1904-04-20
! The Armies of
): Meade an0 Lee
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copyright, 1903. by G. L. kilmer.l

v
copyright, 1903. by G. L. Kilmer.l
w WHEN the year 1868 drew to its
close the Army of the Poto-
mae and the Army of North
ern Virginia still confronted
each other on the Rappahannock line
not far from their camping grounds Of
the year before In 1868 the little river
Rapidan was the barrier between the
men in blue and the men in gray; in
December, 1862. the barrier had been
the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg.
Under Meade the. northern soldiers
gazed eagerly if indeed obviously to-
Richmond on the James: under Lee
the southerners stood sullenly at bay.
After what was called the Mine run
fiasco. which eliminated the first week
in December in the retirement of
Meade's troops to winter quarters
along the Rappahannock and Eapidan.
all idea Of a decisive battle to close
the year was abandoned alike by chief
tain and private soldier. Battles are
felt in the air like the weather in the
bones Of sensitive people. Had either
Meade or Lee been. minded for finish
fight the waters OF Mine run would
have turned to blood Nov. 80 or Dec
l, the first named day by Meade's
initiative and the second by Lees
When Lee saw that Meade had diyid-
ed his army on the 3Oth for the pur-
pose Of combined direct and flank
attack, yet was too cautious to risk
battle against the breastworks which
had grown up across his pathway in
a night. he debated for the moment
falling upon the Federal tlanking COL
umn with jacksonville swoop and
getting his revenge for defeat ut Get
tysburg. But the time had come for
Lee to play waiting game and cling
to the defensive
Both of the antagonists in the
mighty struggle over Richmond had
learned something from the expert
ences at Fredericksburg. Lee defend
ed the crossing Of the Rappahannock at
that point in December, 1862. with lit
tie effort, and the Army of the po-
tomac under Burnside failed. with
frightful loss, to make the passage
and seize the road to Richmond. But
later that same army under Hooker
crossed the Rappahannock above Fred
ericksburg and turned the flank of the
formidable heights which had checked
Burnside. Having learned the way
4
vantages Of that route, the Federals
would never again be so blind as to
run against the stone wall Of Marye's
heights. Lee therefore took the les
son given by Hooker's successful STRAIT
egg. abandoned the upper Rappahan-
mock without a struggle to the Fed
erals and planted his lines on the Rap
idan to block the road to Richmond.
The south bank Of the Rapidan was
an ideal resting camp for the defend
ers of Richmond as the game stood at
the close of 1868. The region had es-
capped the rpvages of war. good roads
connected it with Richmond. southern
and southwestern Virginia and the
Shenandoah valley, that granary of
the Confederacy, not yet wholly de-
spoiled. With his hooks planted there,
Lee was hard to get at and dislodge
as was shown by the Mine run fiasco.
From there he could strike out to the
north again should he see his opportu-
nifty and, best of all for the part he
was playing, launch his whole COM
mand forth in day and block the
roads from the Rappahannock to Rich
mond.
Lees soldiers were sadly in need of
the resting spell they were to have on
the Rapidan for the months that lay
ahead Of them. Over year had pass
ed since they were welcomed to the
shores OF maryland, My Maryland"
with the greeting from the lips of an
enthusiastic gray haired dame. God
bless your dirty. ragged. hungry soulsv'
The twelve months thereafter. com.
prfsing Antietam. Charlottesville and
Gettysburg. had not improved things,
and they were dirty. ragged and hun
CRY still. The Virginians were fur
Laughed to their homes to recuperate,
thus relieving the commisSary of SO
many hungry mouths and leaving more
for the far down southerners. The
Confederate cavalrymen owned their
own mounts, and the Virginia troop
ers took their steeds home to fatten up
for the spring rides. In this way men
could do picket and outpost duty
against the Federals and still be en-.
joying the comforts of home Thus
the "eyes Of Lee" Stuart's Virginia
| squadrons, were never shut to the do.
ings Of the enemy.
Having the tragic end of the conflict
to bear and playing. as they we'll knew
in 1863, a losing game. it might be sup.
posed that the men in gray were q
gloomy lot, but such was far from the
truth. They could laugh over a menu
Of corncob meal and molasses. for to.
bacco that eternal and inexhaustible
solace Of the camp idler. grew on every
bush, as it were, in the sacred soil OF
old Virginia. And the leaf was Legal
| tender across the lines. A regular con
| traband traffic was kept up with the
| Yankee outposts. and tons of northern
| hard bread. coffee and sugar passed by
the underground system to the huts
Of the tattered butternut battalions or
the southern bank Of the Rapidan.
| There was one thing Lee could moi
do in the off hours between the cam
paigns Of 1868 and 1864 which his enc
my did Zealously. That was recruit
the depleted ranks. Already conscrip
ton in the south had robbed the cradle
and the grave. But in the northern