Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-03-10

Mcclellan withdrew his forces to West
over landing, on the James river, where
intrenchments and gunboats made him
secure from attack. As his new position,
thus guarded and protected by the navy,
was not assailable, Gen. Lee, resuming
the defensive at Richmond. resolved te
strike out by his left in the direction
of Washington. with the idea that the
Army of the Potomac might be forced
to abandon the James river in defense
of its own capital, threa tened by this
move.
Cotemporaneously with our operations
on the Chickahominy the Washington
authorities had been organizing the Army
of Virginia. of three efficient corps
d'armee. and. continuing the search for a
young Napoleon, had assigned Maj Gen.
John Pope, fresh from the west, with his
new 1aUrels to command this select or
ganiZation. This army, under it's daShing
leader. was at the same time moving to-
ward Richmond by the Orange and Alex
andr!a railway. SO that our move by the
left had also in view the ARMY of Nir-
.inia as the first obstacle in the way of
relief to Richmond-an obstacle to be re-
moved. If possible. before it could be
greatly reinforced from other commands.
The assignment Of Gen. Pope to COM
mand was announced in Richmond three
days after the orders were issued in
Washington. and the flourish of trum-
pets over the manner in which the cam
paign was TO be conducted soon follow
ed. He was reported to have adopted a
fayorite expression of Gen. Worth's,
Headquarters in the saddle, sir and to
be riding with as much confidence as
that old chieftain when searching the
Everglades of Florida for the Seminole
Indians. Lee had not known Pope init
mately, but accepted the popular opinion
of MIN as a boastful man. quite ambitious
to accomplish great results, but unwill-
ing to study closely and properly the
means necessary to crafty his desires in
that direction. Pope was credited with
other expressions. such as that he cared
not for his rear: that he hoped in VIZ
ginia TO see the faces of. the rebels as
in the west he had been able to see only
their backs. When Gen. Lee heard of
these strange utterances, his estimate of
Pope was considerably lessened.
With the double purpose of drawing
Mcclellan away from Westover and of
checking the advance of the new enemy
then approa ching from Washington by
the Orange and Alexandria railroad Gen.
Lee sent Stonewall Jackson to Gordons-
Vile about fifty-five miles to the north
west, at the junction of the ORANGE and
y.
while i remained near Richmond to en-
gage Mcclellan in case he should attempt
advance upon the Confederate CAPT
tai. Jackson had his own division and
that of Gen. X. s. Ewell, and later a.
+. Hill was sent to reinforce him. Nc
Dowell was already in cooperation with
Pope part of his command, however, be-
ing still at Fredericksburg, on the Rap
pahannock.
On the 9th of August Jackson encOun-
tered the enemy near Slaughter or Cedar
mountain. about twenty miles north of
Gordonsvile. There the battle of Cedar
Run was fought and the Federals were
repulsed. In this fight, about ) o'clock i'm
the afternoon the Federals by well
executed move. We're pressing the Con-
proach of two brigades changed the scene
and counter-attack from our side drove
them back in disorder and left us masters
Of the field. We followed them some dis
lance. but Jackson thought them toe
strongly reinforced for us To continue the
pursuit and risk severe battle in dis
jointed way. so. after caring for our
wounded and dead, we retired to a posi-
ton behind the Rapidan to await the ar
rival Of Gen. Lee with other forces.
Thus on his first meeting with the Con-
federates In Virginia the new Federal
commander went to the rear--a direction
he was wholly unused 70. At that time
Gen. Lee was feeling very certain that
Richmond was in no immediate danger