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CH. XXII. to relieve Banks, and capture or destroy Jackson's and Ewell's forces. Mr. Lincoln continued:

You are instructed, laying aside for the present the movement on Richmond, to put 20,000 men in motion at once for the Shenandoah, moving on the line or in advance of the line of the Manassas Gap Railroad. Your object will be to capture the forces of Jackson and Ewell, either in coöperation with General Frémont or, in case want of supplies or of transportation interferes with his movements, it is believed that the force with which you move will be sufficient to accomplish this object alone. The information thus far received here makes it probable that if the enemy operate actively against General Banks you Vol. XII., will not be able to count upon much assistance from him, but may even have to release him.

W. R.

Part III., p. 219.

It is remarkable that the President saw the situaMay 25, 1862. tion with such accuracy the day before Banks's defeat at Winchester.

W. R. Vol. XII., Part III., p. 220.

Ibid.

Ibid.

This order McDowell, though he called it "a crushing blow," obeyed at once, directing Shields to take up his march to Catlett's, a station on the Orange and Alexandria road, about half way between Fredericksburg and Front Royal, and reporting that he had done so. The President sent him an acknowledgment of his alacrity, at the same time expressing his regret at the change of his orders, and adding, "Everything now depends upon the celerity and vigor of your movements." This encouraged the general to make an earnest though respectful protest, which he sent the same night to the President, setting forth his belief that coöperation between himself and Frémont was not to be counted upon; that it would take him a week or ten days to get to the Valley; that by that time the enemy would have retired. We shall see later

W. R.

Part III.,

p. 221.

that these forebodings, at least, were not realized. CH. XXII. At the same time he telegraphed to Wadsworth, May 24, 1862. in command at Washington, his deep disgust; he did not think the rebel force in the mountains Vol. XII., amounted to five thousand men. But with all this grumbling his deeds were better than his words; he pushed Shields forward with the greatest celerity. Shields, who was burning to go to Richmond, marched obediently, but in very bad humor. The dispatches of this officer read like a burlesque of those of his superior. He is loud in contempt of both armies in the Shenandoah. He thought when the movement first began that there was nothing in it; that the enemy would never come north; that if they did, they would be hemmed in and destroyed. As late as the 10th of May he was sure "they were not there to fight." As he went forward to Front Royal his boasting spirit asserted itself more and Part III., "I want no assistance," he said. He promised to give Jackson "a bloody reception," to "drive the enemy from the Shenandoah,” and wanted to know if there was anything else he could do for the President-the task in question being apparently unworthy of his powers.

more.

But neither the chagrin of McDowell nor the gasconading of Shields prevented them from striving with all their might to do the work assigned them. The President kept McDowell constantly informed of the condition of affairs, detailing the progress of Jackson northward, and urging the value and importance of the service expected of the Union troops. McDowell showed himself, as he always was, worthy of the confidence reposed in him. In spite of all obstacles-accidents by rail,

1862.

W. R. Vol. XII.,

p. 160.

May 26 and 27. 1862. W. R.

Vol. XII., PP. 249, 256,

Part III.,

257.

1862.

CH. XXII. bad roads, and rough weather- he got Shields's advance into Front Royal on the 30th of May; that is, in little more than half the time he thought he should require for the purpose. The same day the President sent him a dispatch from Frémont saying that he would be at Strasburg, or where the enemy was, at 4 P. M., May 31; and another from Saxton at Harper's Ferry, indicating that the enemy was still there. The President added, with justifiable exultation, "It seems the game is before you."

W. R.

Vol. XII.,

Part III.,

pp. 291, 292.

Ibid., Part I., p. 643.

Ibid.

It remains to be seen how General Frémont executed his share of the task. On the 24th the President gave him an urgent order to move at once, by way of Harrisonburg, to the relief of Banks. He promptly replied that he would "move as ordered"; but made the unfortunate error of choosing an entirely different route from the one assigned him. Thinking the road to Harrisonburg Ibid., p. 11. was more or less obstructed, and off his line of supplies, he moved northward by way of Petersburg and Moorefield, in the great valley lying west of the Shenandoah Mountains, and did not even inform the President of this discretionary modification of his orders, so that, on the 27th, when they were anxiously expecting at Washington to hear from him at Harrisonburg, they were astounded at receiving tidings from him at Moorefield, two good Ibid., p. 644. days' march from the line of Jackson's retreat, and separated by two counties and the Shenandoah range from the place where he was desired and expected to be. In response to the President's peremptory question why he was at Moorefield when he was ordered to Harrisonburg, he made an

CH. XXII. Lincoln to May 26, 1862. Part L

Frémont,

W. R. Vol. XII.,

p. 647.

unsatisfactory reply, alleging the necessity of his choice of route, and his assumed discretion as to his orders. Dropping this matter, the President began again urging him forward to Strasburg. There was still time to repair the original error. Jackson was on the Potomac, much farther from the rendezvous than Frémont. But the latter could not be made to see the vital necessity of immediate action his men were weary, his supplies were deficient, the roads were bad; Blenker's corps was straggling badly. Finally, on the 29th of May, his medical director told him his army needed a whole pp. 12, 13. day's rest.

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He promptly accepted this suggestion, and wasted twenty-four hours in this manner, while Jackson was rushing his ragged troops, who had known no rest for a month, up the narrow valley that formed his only outlet from destruction or captivity. In one day, says Dabney, the Stonewall Brigade marched from Halltown to the neighborhood of Newton, a distance of thirty-five miles; and the Second Virginia accomplished a march of more than forty miles without rations, over muddy roads and amidst continual showers. The race was to the swift. As Frémont's advance entered Strasburg on the 1st of June the rear-guard of Jackson's force was still in sight, leaving the place. The plan of the President, well combined and reasonable as it was, had failed though no fault of his, and Jackson had escaped.

It is the contention of General McClellan and his partisans that the plan could not possibly have succeeded. One critic disposes of the matter by a sneer at the thought of trapping "the wily fox, who was master of every gap and gorge in the Valley."

Ibid.,

Dabney, p. 388.

Swinton, "Army of the Potomac," p. 126.

CH. XXII. But an army of sixteen thousand men of all arms is

1862.

not a fox; it must have roads to cross mountains, and bridges to pass over rivers. If Frémont had obeyed orders and had been where he should have been on the 30th of May, and if Banks and Saxton had kept a closer watch at Harper's Ferry and followed more immediately upon Jackson's rear, Jackson would have been surrounded at Strasburg by three times his own force, and would have been captured or his army dispersed and destroyed. This would have been richly worth all its cost, and the most captious or malevolent critic would have had nothing to say against the President who ordered it.

There was little prospect of defeating Jackson after he had slipped through the gap between Frémont and McDowell at Strasburg; but nevertheless an energetic pursuit was begun by Frémont up the Shenandoah and by part of Shields's division up the Luray Valley on the east, the former harassing Jackson's rear with almost daily skirmishes, and the latter running a race with him on a parallel line. There was hardly a possibility now of regaining the lost opportunity. No matter how severely pressed, it was almost surely in Jackson's power to escape across Brown's Gap to Albemarle County, where he would for a time be safe from pursuit; and this course, says Dabney, was in his mind as a final resort. But he was not even driven to this. There was one last chance of inflicting great damage upon him. One of Shields's brigades arrived at the bridge at Port Republic before him, and should either have taken and held or destroyed Part III., it. The officer in command did neither, and the bridge immediately after fell into Jackson's hands,

Dabney, p. 404.

W. R. Vol. XII., Part I.,

pp. 22, 24.

p. 375.

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