Raid on Chambersburg
Raid on Chambersburg | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of American Civil War | |||||||
The rebels under Stuart leaving Chambersburg, by John R. Chapin | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
United States (Union) | CSA (Confederacy) | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
George B. McClellan Alfred Pleasonton |
J.E.B. Stuart | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
2,000+ | 1,800 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
280 captured and paroled |
"a few" wounded 2 missing |
The Raid on Chambersburg, often identified as J.E.B. Stuart's Chambersburg Raid, was a
After McClellan failed to pursue the Confederate
Stuart achieved his objectives of securing fresh horses, mules, arms and supplies; capturing about 30 civilian officials to exchange for captured Confederates; destroying important railroad equipment, buildings and track in the vicinity of Chambersburg; capturing and paroling about 280 convalescing Union soldiers; gathering information; and avoiding a significant battle through evasion of pursuing Union cavalry. His men did fail to destroy the important railroad bridge over Conococheague Creek near Chambersburg which they were told, falsely, was made of iron. The raid contributed to President Abraham Lincoln's decision to replace McClellan as commander of the Army of the Potomac less than a month later.[1]
Background
On August 28–30, 1862, the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia commanded by General Robert E. Lee defeated Union Major General
Lee saw the Union Army defeat at Second Bull Run and its withdrawal from Chantilly into Washington as an opportunity to secure supplies and recruits in Maryland and possibly in Pennsylvania and to secure a victory that might bring foreign government recognition of the Confederacy.[7] Meanwhile, after the Union Army's defeat and withdrawal to Washington, President Abraham Lincoln put Major General George B. McClellan back in charge of the entire Union Army in the Washington, D.C. area by adding Pope's men to his command of the Army of the Potomac.[8] Although Lincoln was disgusted by McClellan's delays and constant calls for more men and arms earlier in the year, he recognized the need for McClellan's organizational talents to restore morale and order to the Union forces.[8][9][note 2][10]
By September 3, McClellan already was aware that Lee would invade Maryland across the upper Potomac River and began to shift troops into Maryland.[11] Otherwise, he acted without haste or energy.[12] He was hesitant not just because that was his usual tendency but in part because he believed that Lee had about three times the number of men that he had actually brought into Maryland.[12]
On September 13, a Union soldier, Corporal Barton W. Mitchell, found a copy of Lee's Special Order 191 which gave the disposition and objectives of his army's detachments and their instructions for joining back together.[13][14] With this information, although he waited from late morning until late night to act, McClellan moved the Union Army toward Lee's location.[15] This led to the Battle of South Mountain on September 14.[16] A Frederick, Maryland citizen, who was at McClellan's camp, although he was a Southern sympathizer, saw McClellan's reaction on that morning and warned Lee of the Union's intelligence coup.[17] Lee saw the danger from McClellan's acquisition of this information and from the Union troop movements in his direction.[17] He sent instructions for the detachments he had sent on various missions to rejoin the main body of his troops at Sharpsburg, Maryland as soon as possible.[17][18] On September 16, the opposing armies were taking up positions near Antietam Creek just outside Sharpsburg.[19][20] On September 17, the Union and Confederate forces fought the Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest single day of battle in the Civil War.[20] Although his force was badly depleted and outnumbered after the heavy fighting, Lee kept his army at the field during the next day, but moved across the Potomac to Virginia that night.[21][22] At Antietam, the Union Army recovered from the defeat at Second Manassas and put an abrupt end to Lee's Maryland Campaign.[23] Nonetheless, McClellan lost the opportunity to destroy the Confederate army and allowed Lee to escape, reorganize and make up his losses.[23][24]
President Lincoln was disturbed that McClellan did not follow up on his gains of the previous day or immediately pursue Lee's army.[21] On October 6, Halleck, on behalf of the President, ordered McClellan to pursue Lee, but McClellan continued to delay.[25]
Plan
On October 6, the same day Halleck ordered McClellan to move, Lee asked Major General J.E.B. Stuart, to make a raid toward Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.[26] Lee wanted Stuart to destroy the important railroad bridge over the Conococheague Creek, bring back horses and capture government officials who might be exchanged for captured Confederate leaders or sympathizers.[26][27][note 3] The railroad bridge was an important link in the movement of supplies to the Union Army at Hagerstown, Maryland.[30] Lee also wanted "all information of the position, force and probable intention of the enemy."[31]
Stuart picked 1,800 men, divided into three groups led by
Raid
October 10, 1862
A small detachment of the
Stuart ordered his men to take any horses they could carry off but not to pillage personal property or to take plunder for private use.[31][32][33] Pennsylvanians, Hugh and Alexander Logan, guided the Confederate force after they crossed into Pennsylvania.[38] The Confederates seized shoes and clothing at Mercersburg, Pennsylvania and paid for it with Confederate scrip.[32] A Mercersburg doctor said that the Confederates "behaved very decently. They were gentlemen's robbers."[39]
By dark, at around 7:00 p.m., in a steady rain, the Confederates reached Chambersburg with the many horses and much fresh food and supplies that they had picked up already.
Stuart tried to take the money from the town's bank but a banker had removed the funds before Stuart's arrival.
After he heard of Stuart's movement, Major General Halleck ordered Major General McClellan to close all roads back to Virginia and to be sure none of the Confederates could return.[44][45] McClellan sent out his cavalry and sent infantry to guard the river crossings, assuring Halleck that Stuart would not escape.[43][44] However, McClellan had sent much of his cavalry to western Maryland because of pleas from local commanders for help against Confederate raiders and a diversionary movement toward Cumberland, Maryland by a Confederate detachment from Lee's army.[43] Also, McClellan's response was both slow and erratic, leaving little time or opportunity for his men to catch up with Stuart.[46][note 9] Ultimately Stuart evaded or outran all of the forces McClellan sent after him or to guard the river crossings.[43][44]
October 11, 1862
On the morning of October 11, Stuart's men began their return movement along a different route to the east by way of Cashtown, Pennsylvania and into Maryland through Emmitsburg, Maryland on their way back to Virginia.[1][44] The rain from the previous day left the ground wet and the 5-mile (8-kilometer) long column raised no dust from which they might be detected.[47] They rode within 8 miles (13 km) of the small town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on their way.[45] At Emmitsburg, Maryland, a pro-Confederate crowd welcomed the raiders, who did not linger but quickly moved on toward Frederick, Maryland.[48] They captured a Union courier about 6 miles (9.7 km) south of Emmitsburg with information which disclosed some of the Union cavalry movements, allowing Stuart to change his route again to avoid Union troops at Frederick, but also assuring him that his location was not definitely known.[44][47][49] Confederate troopers who had lived in the vicinity guided Stuart on back roads to avoid being observed by Union scouts.[1] Stuart's longer return route to the east and south allowed him to avoid any troops that might be waiting for his return along his original, more hilly, route, and enabled him to again completely circle McClellan's army.[1][50]
Near dark, at
During the night, as his men continued to ride, Stuart, with about 12 men, visited a young woman at Urbana, Maryland whose family sympathized with the Confederates and whom he had met during the Antietam campaign.[1][48] He stayed about half an hour and returned to the column at about 7:00 a.m.[1][52] The troopers rode all night, cutting telegraph wires and obstructing the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as they went, and some were literally falling asleep in the saddle as they pressed on.[48][53]
October 12, 1862
On the morning of October 12, scouts reported to Stuart that Union Brigadier General George Stoneman was guarding the Potomac River fords near Poolesville, Maryland with several thousand men.[1][48][54] On the 11 miles (18 km) of the Potomac River from the mouth of the Monocacy River to Edwards Ferry, which is near Poolesville, at least four crossings were available.[55] Stuart followed the recommendation of Captain White, who was from the local area, to avoid Stoneman's likely position by using White's Ford, which was 3 miles (4.8 km) below the mouth of the Monocacy River near present-day White's Ferry and little used as it was a rough crossing, to cross the Potomac to Loudoun County, Virginia.[1][56]
Stuart did not come into contact with Stoneman, whose men, other than a small guard unit, arrived at White's Ford too late to confront the Confederates.[44][48] His force did meet Union cavalry commanded by Brigadier General Alfred Pleasonton at the mouth of the Monocacy River near Barnesville, Maryland.[44][48] Pleasonton initially was deceived by the blue uniforms the Confederates were wearing after having acquired them during the raid.[44][57] Pleasonton ordered his men to fire when the Confederates charged from a short distance away.[44] Then he withdrew his men to engage in a long range rifle fire exchange with Stuart's sharpshooters and cannon.[57] Pleasonton was not at full strength, since he had sent many of his men toward a ford near the mouth of the Monocacy River in a mistaken guess about where Stuart was headed.[58] Here the Union cavalry encountered Union infantry and both paused in order to insure that the other party was not a Confederate force in Union uniforms.[58]
Meanwhile, Confederate Brigadier General W.H.F. Lee demanded the surrender of about 200 Union infantry blocking the way to the ford because, as he wrote to them, the Confederates were present in overwhelming force.[1] This and some cannon and rifle fire bluffed and forced the Union soldiers to abandon their strong position.[1] The Union troops did not flee completely but lingered in the vicinity awaiting possible reinforcements, who as it turned out were busy identifying each other.[58][59] The ford now was open for the Confederates to cross.[60][61]
Pelham's artillery came up and kept the Union forces, including Pleasonton's men, back while Stuart's men crossed the Potomac with their 1,200 captured horses, supplies and 30 civilian hostages.[44] It was a close call for Stuart's rear section which had been deployed to protect the column and needed to be urged to withdraw quickly in order not to be caught by Union reinforcements.[62]
The small Union force detailed to White's Ford, where Lee had crossed into Maryland in September, proved to be a weak link in McClellan's dispositions.[45] Although Union reinforcements arrived just after the last of Stuart's men crossed the Potomac, Pleasonton did not believe it would be useful to pursue the Confederates across the river.[44][63] The Confederates soon rode safely into Leesburg, Virginia with their captured horses, supplies and hostages and without having lost a man to death or a serious injury.[64][65]
Aftermath
Stuart had managed a "second ride around McClellan," as he had done during the
Stuart had secured the parole of 280 soldiers, captured about 1,200 horses, 30 public officials, a variety of arms and ammunition, intelligence about the Union Army and turned aside Pleasonton's force while embarrassing McClellan.[1][45][68][69] His men had destroyed the railroad depot, shops, warehouses and several miles of railroad line, although they failed to destroy the Conococheague Creek railroad bridge.[41][68] Stuart's force also captured at least 8 local free blacks and took them back into the South to be enslaved.[70][note 11] The value of the destroyed property was estimated at about quarter of a million dollars at the time.[67]
Stuart's Chambersburg raid provided a boost to Confederate morale and corresponding depression of Union morale, especially among the cavalry, and embarrassment to McClellan and Lincoln administration so soon after the Battle of Antietam.[64][69][72] Sergeant Major Elisha Hunt Rhodes wrote in his diary: "We are very much ashamed that the Rebels were allowed to make their late raid into Pennsylvania...."[73] Union Brigadier General Marsena R. Patrick said the affair was "a burning disgrace."[57]
The raid also provided Lee with information about McClellan's dispositions and intentions.[68] Stuart received near universal acclaim in the South, including Robert E. Lee's conclusion that the raid was "eminently successful" and his praise for Stuart's "boldness, judgment and prowess."[65] Brigadier General Jubal Early did not entirely agree, calling the raid "the greatest horse stealing expedition" that only "annoyed" the enemy.[74] Many of the horses were draft animals, fit for hauling artillery but not of much use for cavalry.[74]
McClellan responded to his failure to keep his assurance to Halleck that he would capture or destroy Stuart's force with a variety of excuses, including the poor condition of his cavalry's horses, and by having his cavalry undertake a reconnaissance towards Charlestown, (West) Virginia and Martinsburg, (West) Virginia.[2][63] The destruction of supplies at Chambersburg and the failure of the Union quartermasters to get supplies to Harpers Ferry, (West) Virginia and Hagerstown, Maryland, when McClellan expected them on October 10, gave McClellan further reasons to postpone the movement of his army.[69] In view of his conclusion about the fatigue of his horses from heavy patrolling and the chase of Stuart's force, on October 21, McClellan, who still was encamped in Maryland, sent Halleck a message asking for more horses.[75][69] President Lincoln responded to McClellan in a telegram asking: "Will you pardon me for asking what the horses of your army have done since the Battle of Antietam that fatigue anything?"[76] McClellan did not send his army toward Warrenton, Virginia until October 25.[75] It took nine days to get the men and equipment entirely across the river.[75][77][note 12] Stuart's cavalry fought a series of inconclusive cavalry skirmishes with various Union Army units in Loudoun County, Virginia, between October 31 – November 2, in what is now known as The Battle of Unison or Battle of Union.[78]
McClellan's failure to deal effectively with the Chambersburg raid contributed to his imminent loss of his command.[1][72] As McClellan allowed Lee's army to get between his army and Richmond, Virginia, President Lincoln reached the end of his patience with McClellan and replaced him as commander of the Army of the Potomac with Major General Ambrose Burnside on November 7.[23][69]
Footnotes
- ISBN 0-393-04758-X. p. 100.
- ^ President Lincoln officially relieved Pope of command on September 5, 1862. Hansen, 1961, p. 225.
By September 12, 1862, the Army of Virginia had been totally merged into McClellan's Army of the Potomac. - ^ Lee had instructed Stuart,
"To keep your movement secret, it will be necessary for you to arrest >11 citizens that may give information to the enemy, and should you meet with citizens of Pennsylvania holding State or Government offices, ! it will be desirable, if convenient, to bring them with you, that they may ! be used as hostages, or the means of exchanges, for our own citizens I that have been carried off by the enemy."[28]
Stuart went even further,}
"As a measure of justice to our many good citizens who, without crime, have been taken from their homes and kept by the enemy in prison, all public functionaries, such as magistrates, postmasters, sheriffs, &c., will be seized as prisoners."[29] - ^ Lee had instructed Stuart to take 1,200 to 1,500 men on the raid but Stuart increased that number to 1,800. Freeman, 1943, p. 286.
- ^ McCoy's Ford was about 5 miles (8.0 km) north of Hedgesville and 10 miles (16 km) up the Potomac River from Williamsport. Freeman, 1943, p. 286.
- ^ The Illinois cavalry patrol correctly reported Stuart's direction toward Mercersburg, Pennsylvania although they overestimated his men to be about 2,500 in number and that he had 8 cannons with him rather than the 4 cannons he actually had. Longacre, 2002, pp. 143–145.
- ^ Wert's first name is correctly spelled Jeffry.
- ^ Some sources do not mention the condition of the Union soldiers but it is clear they put up no resistance because of the lack of reported casualties by either side.
- ^ Pleasonton at least made a good effort to catch Stuart. Brigadier General William W. Averell delayed for eight hours and then headed due north, leaving him many miles from Chambersburg and Stuart's force and giving Averell no chance of catching Stuart. Longacre, 2000, p. 109. However, Pleasonton wore out his men and horses in fruitless chasing of Stuart. When his advance units encountered part of Stuart's force during the night of October 11, he pulled them back and had his men ride parallel to Stuart's line of march. Longacre, 2000, p. 110. His actions on October 12 are stated in the text above.
- ^ Wert, 2005, p. 174 says that the four companies of Pennsylvania cavalry rode through Emmitsburg an hour before the Confederates arrived there.
- ^ As many as thirty civilians were brought back and interened as hostages in Libby Prison, in addition to the black men seized in Chambersburg, it appears that "several colored men were taken captive and carried to Richmond." Due to bands of contrabands congregated around Union camps, Rebel attempts to re-enslave (or enslave inre free black residents) them were not uncommon during incursions into Union held territory. The prior month when Jackson captured Harpers Ferry, he paroled its white garrison, but prevented the large black refugee population from crossing the Potomac to freedom and sending perhaps as many as one thousand blacks were taken south into bondage.[71]
- ^ Longacre, 2002, p. 152 states the crossing took place from October 25, 1862 through October 30, 1862.
Citations
- ^ ISBN 0-393-04758-X. Retrieved October 11, 2012. p. 391.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-8032-1515-3. p. 277.
- ^ OCLC 500488542. p. 224.
- ^ ISBN 0-684-84944-5. p. 331.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 333.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 334.
- ^ Hansen, 1961, p. 231.
- ^ a b Hansen, 1961, pp. 228–229.
- ISBN 0-19-503863-0. p. 533.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 335.
- ^ Hansen, 1961, p. 230.
- ^ a b Eicher, 2001, pp. 339–340.
- ^ Hansen, 1961, p. 236.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 340.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, pp. 340–341.
- ^ Hansen, 1961, p. 239.
- ^ a b c Eicher, 2001, p. 341.
- ^ Hansen, 1961, pp. 240, 245–246.
- ^ Hansen, 1961, p. 251.
- ^ a b Eicher, 2001, p. 347.
- ^ a b Hansen, 1961, p. 260.
- ISBN 0-87833-191-3. p. 137.
- ^ a b c Hansen, 1961, p. 262.
- ^ Eicher, 2001, p. 363.
- ^ Hansen, 1961, pp. 260–261.
- ^ a b Hansen, 1961, p. 263.
- ^ ISBN 0-394-49517-9.
- ^ U.S. War Dept., Official Records, Vol. 19/2, pp. 55 - Orders from Lee to Stuart, October 8, 1862, p. 55
- ^ U.S. War Dept., Official Records, Vol. 19/2, pp. 56 - Orders, No. 13, Headquarters Cavalry Division, October 9, 1862, p. 56
- OCLC 732818400. p. 284.
- ^ ISBN 0-8061-3193-4. p. 173.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hansen, 1961, p. 264.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-7432-7819-5. p. 168.
- ISBN 0-253-34532-4. p. 349.
- ISBN 0-8117-0898-5. p. 143.
- ^ Thomas, 1986, p. 174.
- ^ Freeman. 1943, p. 287.
- ^ Wert, 2005, p. 170.
- ^ Wert, 2005, p. 171.
- ^ a b Thomas, 1986, p. 175.
- ^ a b c d e f Wert, 2005, p. 172.
- ^ a b Longacre, 2002, p. 147.
- ^ a b c d Wert, 2005, p. 173.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Hansen, 1961, p. 265.
- ^ a b c d e f g Foote, 1958, p. 750.
- ISBN 0-8117-1049-1. p. 109.
- ^ a b Freeman, 1943, p. 290.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Thomas, 1986, p. 177.
- ^ a b Wert, 2005, p. 174.
- ^ Thomas, 1986, p. 176.
- ^ Wert, 2008, p. 167.
- ^ Freeman, 1943, p. 293.
- ^ Rafuse, 2005, p. 350.
- ^ Freeman, 1943, p. 292.
- ^ Freeman, 1943, p. 294.
- ^ Freeman, 1943, pp. 295, 298.
- ^ a b c Longacre, 2000, p. 111.
- ^ a b c Longacre, 2002, p. 149.
- ^ Thomas, 1986, p. 178.
- ^ Freeman, 1943, p. 300.
- ^ Longacre, 2002, p. 150.
- ^ Freeman, 1943, p. 301.
- ^ a b c d Thomas, 1986, p. 179.
- ^ a b Wert, 2005, p. 175.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-4165-9334-8. p. 157.
- ^ Norris, 'Chambersburg Raid (9–12 October 1862)', 2001, p. 391.
- ^ a b Freeman, 1943, p. 302.
- ^ ISBN 0-02-864920-6. Macmillan Compendium. Sections from the four-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. pp. 201–202.
- ^ a b c d e Rafuse, 2005, p. 351.
- ^ Soodalter, Rob (June 26, 2013). "The Invasions of Pennsylvania". The New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2020.
- ^ Alexander (2001), p. 84.
- ^ a b Thomas, 1986, p. 180.
- ^ Cooling, 2011, p. 276.
- ^ a b Wert, 2005, p. 176.
- ^ a b c Hansen, 1961, p. 261.
- ^ Longacre, 2000, p. 112.
- ^ Foote, 1958, pp. 752–753.
- ^ Description of the Battle of Unison from the Unison Preservation Society Retrieved December 3, 2013.
References
- Alexander, Ted. Southern Revenge!: Civil War History of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (White Mane Publishing Company, 1989).
- Coddington, Edwin B. "Prelude to Gettysburg: The Confederates Plunder Pennsylvania." Pennsylvania History 30.2 (1963): 123–157. online
- Cooling, Benjamin Franklin. Counter-thrust: From the Peninsula to the Antietam. Lincoln & London: University of Nebraska Press, 2007. ISBN 978-0-8032-1515-3.
- ISBN 0-684-84944-5.
- ISBN 0-394-49517-9.
- OCLC 732818400.
- Hansen, Harry. The Civil War: A History. New York: Bonanza Books, 1961. OCLC 500488542.
- Jones, Ph.D., Wilmer L. Behind Enemy Lines: Civil War Spies, Raiders and Guerrillas. Dallas: Taylor Publishing Co., 2001. ISBN 0-87833-191-3.
- Longacre, Edward G. Lee's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of Northern Virginia. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002. ISBN 0-8117-0898-5.
- Longacre, Edward G. Lincoln's Cavalrymen: A History of the Mounted Forces of the Army of the Potomac. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2000. ISBN 0-8117-1049-1.
- ISBN 0-19-503863-0.
- Norris, David A. 'Chambersburg Raid (9–12 October 1862)' in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. p. 391.
- Rafuse, Ethan S. Army of the Potomac in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. p. 100.
- Rafuse, Ethan S. McClellan's War: The Failure of Moderation in the Struggle for the Union. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2005. ISBN 0-253-34532-4.
- Sauers, Richard A. Army of Virginia in Encyclopedia of the American Civil War: A Political, Social, and Military History, edited by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2000. ISBN 0-393-04758-X. pp. 106–107.
- Smith, Everard H. "Chambersburg: Anatomy of a Confederate Reprisal." American Historical Review 96#2 (1991): 432–455 in JSTOR on 1863
- Stiles, Kenneth L. Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, in Current, Richard N., ed., The Confederacy. New York: Simon and Schuster Macmillan, 1993. ISBN 0-02-864920-6. Macmillan Compendium. Sections from the four-volume Macmillan Encyclopedia of the Confederacy. pp. 201–202.
- ISBN 0-8061-3193-4.
- ISBN 978-0-7432-7819-5.
- ISBN 978-1-4165-9334-8.
- Description of the Battle of Unison from the Unison Preservation Society Retrieved December 3, 2013.
- .
- Alexander, Ted (September 2001). "A Regular Slave Hunt". OCLC 1155328875.
Further reading
- Culbertson, Charles. Hellbent: The Life of Confederate Cavalryman William Meade McMechen. Clarion Publishing, 2014. ISBN 978-0988714595.