The National tribune., 1907-08-22

FOurth corps, formed the left column,
and Gen. Heintzelman, with the Third
Corps and Sedgwick's Division of the
Second Corps. the right column The
first of the obstacles which was to con-
front the advance was here encoun-
tered. The Spring had been very wet.
and the roads in that low-iying region
were quagmireS. more difficult even than
the rougher highways of the high lands.
The march was slow and tedious. not
only from the impediments of nature.
but from the lack of experience of the
troops in manuverins. The enemy Of
fered no opposition until the right col
umn came up within view of the works
around the historical little village of
Yorktown, and the left found the enemy
strongly fortified at Lees Mills. The
dashing Prince John 3. Magruder, of
the Old Army. who had been in COM
mand at Yorktown since the beginning
of the war. had taken sufficient steps
for the erection of a strong line of de-
fenses across the Peninsula. 1t was not
known to any of our engineers, not
shown by any maps then In use. that
the Warwick River. running into the
James, headed near Yorktown and con-
Meeting with Wormiey's Creek, running
into the York, made an admirable line
of Defense which required but little
engineering to render highly formid-
able. When McClellan's troops began to
drive before or capture the enemy on
the Peninsula, open the James River,
and push on to Richmond before he
should be materially reinforced from
such portions of his territory" Just
what he expected commander of Jo-
seph E. JohnSton'S astuteness to be do
ing with his army while he, Mcclellan,
was slowly sailing down the Potomac, is
impossible to understand. AS Johnston
had the inside line. and could reach any
point much sooner than Mcclellan
could go around the outside of the cir
Gle, it was to be expected that he would
interpOse himself between Mcclellan
and Richmond.
Mngruder Stands Pat.
Altho Magruder saw McClelIan's host
moving up the Peninsula directly upon
him, he looked upon 1t with a firm
countenance, and showed no signs of
budging. Probably his main reason for
this was to hold back the Army of the
Potomac and save Norfolk as long as
possible. The Confederates had much
work to do there yet. and many valua-
BILE stores to carry away. Around York
town itself Magruder had reconstructed
the old embankments thrown up by the
British in 1871, and beyond these had
erected two quite strong forts united by
long curtains. In the sWampS at the
head of the Warwick River. known as
Beaver Dam Creek. there were two mill
dams, and Magruder added three more
to make the stream as difficult for in
fantry and artillery as possible. One OF
the original dams was at Wynne's Mill,
three miles from Yorktown, and the
other at Lees Mill, two and half miles
below, where the main road to Rich
mond crosses the stream. These points
became of great interest, since Magru-
der covered the dams with earthworils,
mounting artillery. On the opposite
side of the York River from Yorktown
the still smaller village of Gloucester
was also defended by strong works
against the passage of United States yes
sells. All these fortifications were un-
known to Mcclellan, and possibly were
a painful surprise to him, for he con-
tinually refers to his lack of informa-
ton as to the Peninsula being an ele-
ment of delay and confusion. "Our
maps" he said, prove entirely made
quate, and do us more harm than good.
Tor we were constantly misled by them"
He testified before the Committee on
the Conduct of the War that while he
expected Yorktown to De protected by
earthworks he was not prepared for she
line of the Warwick being SO strongly
held. He did not know the nature and
extent of the position along the War
wick River when he left Fortress Mon
roe, which does not speak at all well
for the commander and staff at Fortress
Monroe. They had little else TO do than
acquaint themselves with the position of
the enemy, but they did not seem to
have made the least exertion to do even
this.
ITO ha continued