George H. Gordon...

Dedicated to the officers and enlisted men of the Second Massachusetts regiment of Infantry, in the War of the Rebellion, (1861-1865) this volume is affectionately and respectfully dedicated by the author....

This volume— the First of a series, of which the Army of Virginia and “A War Diary” form a continuous history in the War of the Rebellioncontains, in a revised and enlarged form, papers prepared for, and from time to time read to, the officers of the Second Massachusetts Infantry (under the titles of the “History of the Second Massachusetts Regiment of Infantry,” Parts I. and II., and the “Second Massachusetts Regiment and Stonewall Jackson,” Part III.), at their annual meetings on the anniversa

When, on the morning of the Fifteenth of April, 1861, Three days after the Rebel batteries had opened upon the Federal garrison in Fort Sumter, a telegram from Washington to Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, to send forward Fifteen hundred men, was followed later in the day by a formal requisition for Two full regiments of militia, there had been no thought or preparation for the service of other troops to sustain the General Government in the great Rebellion. Governor Andrew had taken steps to

After our defeat at Manassas came the creation of the Army of the Potomac. I shall touch briefly in this chapter upon the trials which resulted in the formation of that well-disciplined army, only hinting at the magnitude of the task to which General McClellan devoted himself with a soldier's experience and a magnetic power. While I occupied Harper's Ferry with the Second as a garrison, a daily paper received on the Twenty-fifth of July announced that the President of the United States had raise

It has been affirmed that the President's order for a movement of the Federal army against the enemy on Washington's birthday, although a seeming interference with the plans of McClellan, was due to the fact that that officer did not appreciate the value of time in its relation to national finances, and to a democratic form of Government; also that further delay involved national despondency, a tax levied upon the people for an immense debt which had borne no fruit in victories, distrust, a grea

At Edenburg the weather was sometimes like our own New England in June, when the air is warm and hazy, and the leaves rustle with a dreamy melody, and birds are exuberant with song. But hardly had we begun to feel in harmony with sunny days and blooming peach1-trees and warm showers, before a chill came over us, as bitter as the hatred of the women of Virginia; the ground covered with snow, the air thick with hail, and the distant mountains hidden in the chilling and frozen atmosphere. Our shive

Turning now to Jackson's operations in the valley during the few days that intervened before he again confronted us at Front Royal, Strasburg, and Winchester, we shall find that this indefatigable captain, while resting for a few days in Elk Run Valley at the foot of Swift Run Gap in the Blue Ridge Mountains, meditated an attack upon us at New Market or at Harrisonburg. See Jackson's letter to Lee, April 23, given in substance in “Campaign in the Valley of Virginia in 1861-1862.”By William Allan

The commanding ridge that has been described Ante, p. 219. as partially surrounding Winchester, and extending southwesterly, parallel to the pike road to Strasburg, is towards the south broken up into a succession of hills which extend to within One mile of Kernstown. As One stands on the ridge within about One Third of a mile from the town he will perceive to the south, on his left, the turnpike gradually surmounting a gentle ascent; in his front a valley, and beyond, perhaps Four hundred yards

Bearing peremptory orders to General Banks, I took the route by Harper's Ferry, delaying there for an hour to stray up to our old encampment on Maryland Heights. The camp-ground had been converted into a flourishing wheat-field, where the green bushes that once formed our shelter now lay in withered and unsightly heaps, testifying to the not too energetic efforts of the phlegmatic proprietor, the good old Dutchman Unseld, from whom I received a cheerful and hearty welcome. Without pausing to mor

While our troops were forming in the manner indicated in the last chapter, General Jackson was silently advancing. His leading division of Three brigades was commanded by General Ewell, our old antagonist at Winchester. General Early commanded the foremost brigade of this division, and was therefore the First of all the enemy's infantry to encounter our cavalry under Bayard. In the morning, at Eleven o'clock, the enemy's artillery opened on our cavalry, before Roberts had crossed Cedar Creek wit

From the most authentic sources Official Reports of the Battle of Cedar Mountain, by Lieutenant-General Jackson, Generals Hill, Archer, Pender, and others, in Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, series L Vol. XII. part III. Pp. 180 to 239. See also Dabney's Life of Jackson. we now know the movements of the enemy at the time I was ordered into action. In addition to the Reserve brigade of Winder's division, and Branch's brigade of A. P. Hill's Division, both of which had united with the

“General Banks was neither ordered nor expected to attack the enemy,” says General Pope. “I was both ordered and expected to attack the enemy,” replies General Banks. Let us briefly examine the testimony. What were General Pope's purposes and plans when he sent Banks's corps forward on the morning of the 9th? There can be no doubt that he neither authorized nor expected it to attack, single-handed, the Whole of Jackson's army. Says Pope in his official report of that action, “My Chief-of-staff,

Official copy. (Signed)...

Abbott, Captain, of the Second Mass. Regiment, 12. His First report to General Gordon from “Camp Andrew,” 14. Is in the fight in Banks's flight to Winchester, 219. In Battle of Cedar Mountain, 311, where he is killed. 332. Abercrombie, General, Federal brigade commander, 88, , 10, 109, 118. Allan, William, his “Jackson's Valley Campaign”— extracts from, 114, 127, 175, 177, 180-183, 187, 189, 235, 236, 251. Andrew, Governor, his early preparation for the Civil War, 1, 2. Cooperates with General G