The National tribune., 1909-01-07


1 2ya
and Robertson's Tavern. Gen. sykes
was to lead the left column with the
Fifth COINS. essssing the Rapidan al
Culpeper Ford. and upon reacning tne
Plank Ro1q go into position AT Parke.
Store. Grekg's Cavalry was to guard the
left. crossifg Ely,s Ford, and follow the
Brock road to Cnrbin's Bridge, across
the River Pc near Todd's Tavern. VI
the other two divisions OF the cavai,y z
Clusters was to watch the foras OF tne
Rapidan Sn the right, while Merrlt,
! vile.
AS Meaae expected to strike his
heaviest blow with the right column
4 and did not propose to repeat ms mis-
take when he crossed the Rappahan'
mock of nbt pushing his enemy. ne or
dered the Sixth Corps to follow close
behind the Third, thus making tna'
column 10000 strong. On the LETT
! Sykess column was strengthened Dy
two divisions of the First Corps, giving
him a weight of $4,000. men. The
Second Corps was, the weakest of tht
columns, since 1t had but 10000 IN
| fantry. besides the reserve artillery
and the criticism that the weakes,
body was given the shortest ano
straightest road, while the heavier col
l uHitiS ildQ u I0IfOW .tHC HhASS Va .o"n
| and winding trails, was Justifed
Meade ordered the movement to beg1r
Nov. "a, but as the fine Autumn wealth
er was now giving away to winter
| ruggedness. and heavy rain set In
on the 2Sd. the march was postponed
| until the 26th. with orders to be across
| the Rapidan by sunset and occupy the
positions assigned by noon OF Nov. 27
Eight days rations were to be taken
/ in the haversacks and trains, so as to
give the army one full week for manu-
yer and battle. A bridge train was to
| follow closely behind. each Of the three
| columns. ready for immediate use. As
! the distance which the troops would
/ have to march would be in every in
stance not 20 miles, Gen. Meade cal
culated that this could be made easily
in the "a hours which he assigned tc
| the movement.
| Mishaps Begin.
| Then came the same melancholy
story of mishaps and mfsadventure'
| from which no army Is entirely free
| but which seemed to operate with
| greater fatality on the gallant, long
suffering Army of the Potomac thar
| any other. Most. of the blame fol
| these was put on Gen. French. War
rem led off promptly, with the Second
Corps in the center, and Sykes. with
the Fifth Corps, on the left, and they
| were on the banks of the Rapidan be-
| fore 10 o'clock. The Sixth Corps start.
ed with equal promptness, but on ar.
| irving at Brandy Station found the
| Third Corps still in camp and only
beginning to move This did not reach
Jacobs's Ford until noon, and theI
1 found all manner of difficulties in get
| ting across which Gen. French ha6
not foreseen, and. Of course, for which
/ In hn6 1.ov. N,
| the river were very steep, and it wa:
| found that it would require day!
work to cut them away for the passage
| of wagons. French sent his artiller.
| and wagons to Germanna Ford, which
| of course. impeded the crossing of tht
! other troops there, and there was alst
| trouble in getting the bridge thrown
| across. Meade waited till fully 1:3t
for French to get across, SO as to carr,
out his plan ins its entirety. and thel
ordered Warren and Sykes to star
| their men, across. In the meantim,
the Rapidan had risen most unexpect
edly. The advance Of both corps rushed
into the water. made a gallant struggle t.
get across. and succeeded with the great
est difficult, but clearly demonstrate,
that 1t would be impossible to NOV
the army in that manner. The pom
toon bridge was, brought up. but it wa
found that the river had become 81
wide that the bridge was too short
and that It had to be pieced out witt
trestles made of trees cut down from
the woods. Everybody worked witt
feverish energy and accomplished won
ders In the way OF bridge building, bu
1t was nightfall before any considerable
portion of the troops Were across an,
they bivouacked a short distance from
| the river instead of in the positions
miles to the front, which they had ex
| IN hAfo
in. The Second Corps reached Fla
Run. four miles from Germanna Ford
but French lost his way. and finall,
| came back to the rivers bank with hi
men. and at midnight yielded tn
bridge for Sedgwick to cross with tn
Sixth Corps and try for better luck.
Gen. French's Explanation.
| Gen. Meade blamed Gen. French TO
deranging his whole campaign, and Ger
French. in turn, threw the weight O
the blame upon Gen. Prince, command
ing the leading division. and whom h
had instructed to reconnoiter the for
and make all preparations for cross
ing. He says that he sent Prince hi
orders at O'Clock in the morning, bu
Prince replied that he did not knoy
the road. and asked for a guie. Ger
q Frnch says:
by this it will be seen (by the re
| Poi 70 VI my ana tIef
Prince) that altho he received the pre-
paratory order in due time, he lost a
hour from the time he received h
hour from the time he received tn
has assigned no reason That, in con
! !. nection with his habitua1 slowness O
movement. as exhibited in his prepare
; tion for crossing the ford, and the wan
of a guide after crossing the ford t
conduct the column upon the rout
which was subsequently followed (bu
which was not designated on the ma
furnished for my guidance. the roa
marked down there being entireI
wrong and calculated to mislead), tn
) imperfect reconnaissance which cause
Jacobs's Ford to be selected as a plac
!, of crossing, and the subsequent un
, avoidable contact with the enemy, re
sulting in serious engagement, ar
the causes to which are attributabl
the inability of the Third Corps to ar
! rive at Robertsons Tavern sooner thai
1t did"
> As Mt Manassas Gap.
: 1t would seem from French's own re
port that he repeated the bIunder h
made at Manassas Gap by being fright
, ened at the appearance of a small foro
Of the enemy into a state of extrem
caution. He wasted hours of inestimabI
, value in trifiing with some insignifican
t reconnoissances sent out by the enemy
He says:
"At 7:45 a. m. received a report tina
the rear of the Second Division was
mile beyond its camp. Having nov
. seen the Thffd Division put in motion.
, moved forward nv hea6rr, rtar, opor