From Manassas to Appomattox by James Longstreet

Author:James Longstreet
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781620874707
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2013-07-19T16:00:00+00:00

“P. S.—I think your passage of the Potomac by our rear at the present moment will, in a measure, disclose our plans. You had better not leave us, therefore, unless you can take the route in rear of the enemy.”

This has been put in italics and published as evidence that the raid was made by my orders, as well as by General Lee’s. In the postscript three points are indicated:

First, the move along my rear to the crossing at Point of Rocks.

Second, my preferred march on my flank to the Shepherdstown crossing.

Third, the route indicated by General Lee.

All of which General Stuart understood as well as I. Especially did he know that my orders to him were that he should ride on the right of my column, as originally designed, to the Shepherdstown crossing. In the body of my note were orders that he should report to me of affairs along the cavalry line before leaving; that he should assign General Hampton to command of the cavalry to be left with us, with orders to report at my head-quarters. These orders, emanating properly from the commander of the rear column of the army, should not have been questioned, but they were treated with contumely. He assigned General Robertson to command the cavalry on the mountain, without orders to report at my head-quarters, left him there to guard the passes of the Blue Ridge, and rode with his other troopers. The raid and the absence of the cavalry at the critical moment were severely criticised throughout the army and the country. If General Stuart could have claimed the authority of my orders for his action, he would not have failed to do so in his official account. He offered no such excuse, but asserted that he had acted under the authority of his chief, claiming only, however, that General Lee had given consent to his proposition. So our plans, adopted after deep study, were suddenly given over to gratify the youthful cavalryman’s wish for a nomadic ride.

About this time a distinguished visitor joined us. An officer of the British service, Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur J. L. Fremantle, of the Coldstream Guards, brought letters from the Secretary of War to General Lee and myself. He was seeking opportunity to observe the campaign as a non-combatant; he travelled with us, divided his time between general head-quarters and head-quarters of the First Corps, cheerfully adapted his tastes to the rough ways of Confederate soldiers, and proved to be an interesting companion. To avoid the blockade he came to the Confederacy through Mexico. He gave a graphic account of his experience in Texas and travel after crossing the Rio Grande to the interior in a two-horse hack. The drivers of his conveyance were Mr. Sargeant and Judge Hyde, two characters whom I had met years before while in army service on the Texas frontier. They called their team Grant and Sherman, and enjoyed their glorious rides down the smooth slopes of the prairie roads, as they rattled their heels upon the box of the hack and plied their team, Grant and Sherman, with whips and oaths.

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