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A Pawn an the Chess Game of Battle .

 

 

The two groups of Bucktails would fight another battle before they would be reunited. However, just as the soldiers steaming up Chesapeake Bay now realized what war could really be, so did the little Bucktail Battalion. Marching down the Valley to Luray, up over the Blue Ridge, and then on to Manassas, the men began to feel that if they lived they were going to be in the Army for a long time. Gone was the easy, .dashing war of their preconception. Gone was the con­fidence of last summer and the hope of the spring just past that the war would soon be over. Everything seemed to be bogged down on all fronts-East and West.

Since they had gotten into the war in earnest, the Buck­tails had not seen much easy duty. For the battalion, how­ever, through some quirk of fate, such was to come their way for a few weeks. They were assigned to guard duty at Mc­Dowell's headquarters. On August 9 when the Battle of Cedar Mountain took place the four Bucktail companies were safe far in the  rear. While thus so easily engaged they would have been happy to know that General Bayard missed them and wanted them back with him. On the 19th Lieutenant Colonel Kane, limping from his wound, was exchanged

and returned to his battalion. He found his fighting Wild­cats, now 191 strong, standing guard over the headquarters of the Third Corps of Pope's new Army of Virginia.[1]

 

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With Kane back in command, even as a headquarters ward, the battalion would find some fighting to do. Stone­wall Jackson was getting ready to make one of his famous marches in the nature of an end run around the Union Army.  In connection with this and probably to confuse the northern forces, Jeb Stuart, with about fifteen hundred cavalry , was to move up the Warrenton road from Waterloo and burn the O. & A. Railroad bridge over Cedar Creek near Catlett's Station. Stuart set out on his excursion August 22.  It so happened that the wagons of Pope's staff train, as well as those of McDowell, were parked at Catlett's.

Cavalier Stuart, still burning from embarrassment over the loss of his plumed hat at the hands of Yankee troopers, on his way to the Federal rear ran across a friendly Negro. This Negro gave him some highly desirable information. It was the location of Pope's parked staff train with all of the gen­eral's papers and baggage. Here was a chance for Stuart not

only to burn a bridge, but to avenge the loss of his plume. The  night was pitch black with rain coming down in torrents. Bolts of lightning occasionally illumined the Virginia landscape. Everything was snug an cozy at the Union camp. Officers  were taking a little liquid fortification against the rigors of the elements before supper.

The Southern troopers had the Federal pickets captured .and were upon the camp before any Union soldier knew what was up. Kane was able to collect a few of his men and make for the bridge over Cedar Creek, which he realized had to be a primary objective of the raid. He found the bridge unguarded and the Rebels already there. The deluge made it impossible for Stuart's men to burn the  sturdy bridge, and after taking a few strokes at it with axes they gave up the idea. Kane had his men behind some trees, and, as the Southern cavalrymen jogged back from the bridge the

 

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Bucktails poured a terrific fire into them from the darkness. The Confederates' mounts stampeded carrying their riders away and leaving the little group of First Rifles alone in the stormy night. When the Bucktails got back to the camp they found wagons burning and things in a general turmoil. Apparently, the raid was about finished, for as Kane led his little band into the melee the Rebels rode off. Either that, or the gray troopers thought there were many more Kane rifle­men than there actually were charging into them from the dark, rainy night. Stuart had avenged the loss of his famous plume. He had some of Pope's papers, three hundred prison­ers, and the general's best dress uniform coat.

It was a very chagrined Thomas L. Kane who sat down the next day to compose his report. From his report one might think that upon him and his little handful of men alone rested the entire responsibility for guarding the camp, the trains, and the bridge. Such was not the case. Certainly there were others others as much remiss as the Bucktail officer. Kane made no attempt to sidestep responsibility. It hurt him to have to report his casualties (five wounded, one mortally), but the necessity of reporting that he could not find a one of his picket guard really touched him to the quick. Kane was not a man who ordinarily evoked sympathy. For one day at least after the raid on Catlett's Station it was different.[2]

The stormy night of Stuart's raid on Catlett's found Mc­Neil's six companies of First Rifles not many miles away­ between Falmouth and Warrenton. They had debarked from their slow steamboat on August 20 at Aquia Landing on the Potomac. From there they went to Falmouth by rail. This trip there would be no time to build an evergreen camp as they had done in that hopeful springtime just a few months before. There was just time at Falmouth for the new commander of the Pennsylvania Reserves to formally as-

 

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sume his post. Old General McCall had been released by the Confederates, but he was too tired and worn out to assume command of his division. Frayser's Farm had not only been the most bitter battle for George A. McCall; it was also his last. Back from a Confederate prison had also come General John F Reynolds, and to this fine Pennsylvania officer Mc­Call's Division was given. Meade became the new com­mander of the First Brigade which included McNeil's Buck­tails Temporarily the division was assigned to McDowell's Corps of Pope's Army of Virginia.

The August days were seeing a race to Pope. Major Gen­eral Henry W. Halleck, recently appointed general-in-chief of the Union armies, was trying to reinforce Pope with units from the Army of the Potomac. Lee for a very obvious rea­son was endeavoring to reach the Army of Virginia before McClellan's divisions arrived. By the time the Reserves had their new commander, Pope had his army withdrawn north of the Rappahannock between Kelly's Ford and Sulphur Springs. Reynolds lost no time in pushing his division on. On the night of August 21, the day he assumed command, he started the Reserves up the Rappahannock. Through a rainy night they marched with only a few hours rest and into a hot, sultry day. It was particularly tough on those recently re­turned from prisons and hospitals. Only a considerate, tact­ful explanation of the great necessity to keep moving made by General Meade to his men prevented the First Brigade from staging a mass sit-down, to get out of the blazing Vir­ginia sun. Consideration and tact in dealing with his men was not a Meade strong point. If the Bucktail regimental historians recorded it accurately, Meade could employ these qualities when the occasion demanded. On the 25th the di­vision caught up with McDowell's Corps near Sulphur Springs.[3]

 

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During the time Reynolds was engaged in reaching Mc­Dowell, Stonewall Jackson had completed a wide maneuver around Pope's right and was between Gainesville and Bris­toe in the rear of the Union Army. The Army of Virginia was between the Rappahannock and the Warrenton-War­renton junction area. Additional reinforcements from the Army of the Potomac were on the way. Two divisions of Heintzelman's Corps were close to Warrenton Junction and two divisions of Porter's were coming up the Rappahannock. August 27 saw Pope beginning to concentrate his somewhat scattered forces generally toward Manassas. Reynolds' Di­vision with McDowell's Corps moved along the main turn­pike for Gainesville which was nearly reached by nightfall. That evening as the Bucktails boiled their coffee and smoked their pipes they could see a red sky to the southeast. Stone­wall Jackson's hungry soldiers had been having a feast at Manassas, and had set fire to huge Union stores there. John Pope had decided that on the morrow Old Jack would attack his most vulnerable spot, the right o£ his line. He accordingly issued orders directing various units to Manassas early the next day. Included in those orders was McDowell, which in­cluded Reynolds, which included McNeil and his Bucktails.

So at dawn of a hot August 28 the Bucktails headed for Manassas. Stonewall Jackson had no intention of becoming  separated from the rest of the Southern Army, now near Thoroughfare Gap on the way to join him. By the time any of Pope's forces would get very near Manassas, Jackson would have his men in a secure position west of the Warrenton-Centreville Turnpike at a little place called Groveton. Groveton was on Reynolds' route to Manassas.[4]

Reynolds' Division all morning long moved slowly along the turnpike, held back by the many troops ahead. If the top brass was not certain where Jackson was, surely the men in

 

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the ranks did not know. One Bucktail wrote, "About noon on the 28th, when we were within a few miles of Bull Run battlefield, the enemy surprised us a little by throwing some of his `rotten balls' in."[5] The soldier was reporting the prel­ude to Second Bull Run. The place was Groveton.. A Con­federate battery could now be seen in the distance across an  open field to the left of the road. There were woods to the right of the turnpike. As Reynolds prepared to return the artillery fire, the six companies of First Rifles were ad­vanced as skirmishers, three on each side of the road. The Rebel battery was soon silenced and withdrawn. When Mc­Neil with the three companies on the left reached the ridge where the battery had been he could see gray infantry and cavalry far ahead. A few Confederate skirmishers had been easily driven back by the Bucktails on each side of the turn­pike.

Reynolds ordered Captain E. A. Irvin to take the three companies on the left farther in that direction along a road leading to Sudley Springs. About two miles from the pike Irvin spotted Southern cavalry. At the same time he ran across a contraband who reported a large force of Rebels just ahead. Irvin was about to make sure that the Negro was telling the truth when he received orders to turn back..  Reynolds was turning his column off the pike to the right. The march to Manassas, as previously ordered, was being re­sumed. The Bucktails would not have a chance to fight Stonewall Jackson that day. By sunset other Federal forces would, however. While nobody seemed to know that those soldiers in gray which McNeil and Irvin had seen were a part of Jackson's concentrating army, the Bucktails had found out one thing to their satisfaction. Sharps rifles were just the thing for skirmishing.[6]

Captain Irvin remembered that it was about 3 P.m. when

 

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his hot, tired skirmishers got back to the division to resume the march to Manassas. Then after two hours of marching in the heat of the August afternoon, Irvin and all Reynolds' Division were abruptly turned around near Bethlehem Church and marched slightly northwest along the Sudley Springs Road. This time Irvin and his men were south of the Warrenton-Centreville Pike. A few hours before he had been north of the pike in the same area to which this road led. The division was headed back toward Groveton where the Buckttails had so recently skirmished; Right now there was the noise of battle coming from that direction The Rebels, who had fallen back so readily when the Reserves had passed , had decided it was time to fight. The Reserves bivouacked along the Sudley Springs Road as the sounds of the fighting died down in the distance. The reason for the counter-march was that Pope had decided that Jackson was at Centreville. The fighting in the direction of Groveton, which the Reserves had heard, was between the brigade of John Gibbon, also bound for Centreville, and some of Jackson's soldiers. Gibbon's men were greatlv outnumbered and suffered severely. They fought well enough there and later to earn the title of Iron Brigrade. The hungry Buck­tails now on very short rations, had marched since dawn in various directions. The three companies which Irvin had taken toward Sudley Springs had made almost a complete circle. The top command did not know the location of the enemy, and Jackson had been willing to bide his time for a battle. Hence the Bucktails had escaped a real fight. To­morrow would be different.[7]

The Warrenton-Centreville Turnpike ran somewhat northeast from southwest. Running slightly northwest from southeast the Sudley Springs Road crossed the pike east of Groveton. A little east of this crossing, south of the pike,

 

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was Henry House Hill, made famous by the battle the year before. Running at an angle from northeast to southwest on the northern side of the pike was an unfinished railroad cut. This cut crossed the pike and continued on to the southwest some distance west of Groveton. Jackson's forces were dug in  the cut over a front of about two miles. Needless to say, it was a strong position.[8]

On the morning of the 29th Stonewall Jackson was in place and all set. The Union command knew where he was at last. The closest Northern units were Franz Sigel's Corps and Reynolds' Division. Sigel with the division of Robert C. Schenck on his left started out early. Reynolds was on the left of Schenck. To the Bucktails as usual fell the duty of skir­

mishers. They had to thin out considerably as their orders called for them to cover the entire front of their division. About a half mile east of Groveton the First Brigade crossed the turnpike. Meade posted the Third Regiment along the road. On a ridge north of the pike Cooper's Battery was placed with the Fourth, Seventh, and Eighth Regiments in support. As the Bucktail skirmishers moved along they could tell by the noise from their right that Sigel was in contact with the enemy. Ahead of the First Rifles there appeared to be nothing, except increasing signs of yesterday's fight. At Groveton McNeil called in the long, thin line of skirmishers.

The six companies next moved down the battle-strewn road in the opposite direction from the previous day, when suddenly a Rebel battery opened on them from the right fol­lowed by infantry fire from the left Confederate sharp­shooters hidden in a house and an adjoining thicket on the south side of the road kept up a steady fire as the Bucktails took whatever cover they could find on both sides of the pike. Lying prone wherever they could find a tree, bush or fence the Bucktails soon forced the infantry back with the

 

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rapid, accurate fire of their new Sharps rifles. Captain Irvin led a part of Company K in a little bayonet charge against the Rebels, who were shooting from the house, clearing it with­out much trouble. They found that the house had been used as a field hospital by Gibbon's men the day before. With the Confederate infantry dispatched at least temporarily, the enemy artillery took over. Moving up to shorter range, the guns started to pour in a damaging fire. It would take more than a few companies of rifles to anchor this extreme left of the Union line against the amount of shell and grape that the Southern guns were now belching. Orders were received to fall back. Carrying their dead and wounded, McNeil led the men back to the rest of the brigade.

By the time the Bucktails rejoined the First Brigade, Reynolds had the other two brigades in support, and the battle continued. Pressed on his right, Sigel had a brigade of Schenck's, which was next to Reynolds, withdrawn to bolster Sigel's right. This gap in the Union line could not be filled and Jackson's men soon took advantage of it. Meade had to withdraw from the ridge back across the turnpike to a little elevation south of the road. The day wore on, and so did the fighting. To the Union right there had been some little suc­cess, but the pattern seemed to be the same along the entire Federal line. Nowhere did there seem to be any concerted effort.

Rather late in the afternoon Reynolds again was ordered to advance. This time the Second and Third Brigades were put in the lead with the First in support. The heavy fire of artillery and musketry on both front and left was too much. They were forced back to the starting position. Finally, Rufus King's Division was put in on a Renolds' right and the Bucktails with the rest of the First Brigade were called on to support King's attack. Considerable progress was made at

 

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first, but the pressure from the Confederate right was tremendous . As night fell the Union line badly punished had to withdraw before the steady stream of gray infantry pouring from the enemy right.[9]

As the battle-weary Bucktails hungrily munched some crackers (their only rations), and prepared to get a little rest, [10]they no doubt indulged in more soldierly grousing than usual. After such a day it would be expected that they would do no more nor less than that. Certainly they would not be in a meditative mood. Had they been, and had they had the requisite knowledge of recent events to go with such an inclination, one would expect that whatever disgust they

in fact felt with the high command would be increased a thousandfold. Lying on the plains of Manassas with a few hard crackers as their only food after hours of fighting with not even the beginning of a victory for all their work, no one could blame them if they asked a simple why. To the gnaw­ing hunger in their stomachs, the answer would be simple.

They would have only to remember the red glow in the sky in the direction of Manassas a few evenings before. To the wave after wave of Confederate gray from the left in the afternoon, the answer would also be simple. Longstreet had arrived and joined Jackson From there on the answers would become complicated. Why had there not been more concerted action by the Federal units? Why had their old corps commander, Fitz-John Porter, been so slow in getting

into position on the Union left? Longstreet had beaten him to the battlefield. Why had Pope failed to realize Longstreet was so close? Like all the other blue-clad outfits, little pawns in the chess game of battle, the Bucktails were too done in to even ask the questions.

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