Headquarters Army Of Potomac
October 11, '63
As all is packed, I take to pencil correspondence. Uncle Lee
has concluded that we have stared long enough at each other, and so is
performing some fancy antics, though whether he means to fight, or retreat
after a feint, or merely take a walk, I know not. He is now paddling along, in
the general direction of Warrenton, between us and the Blue Ridge; and so has
entirely left his station on the other bank of the river. . . . Last night I, being of a foxy
disposition, turned in at an early hour, so that I was fresh and fine at four
this morning, when we were routed out, and assisted to coffee and bread and
cold ham. It was a Murillo-esque (!) sight to behold the officers, in big coats
and bigger sabres, standing with the bright light of the camp-fire on their
faces. The cavalry cloaks, slouched hats, and great boots, though, as Col says,
“drunk”-looking, are much more suited to a painter than the trig uniforms of
the Europeans. So here we are, with horses saddled, waiting to see what is
what. You understand that Mr. Reb is not very near us, in fact further off than
before, but he is moving, and so we, too, are “en garde.” Our army, I say with
emphasis, ought to be able to whip the gentlemen.
Down comes General Meade; I clap the pencil in my pocket,
and in two minutes we are off, escort, orderlies, Staff and all, winding our
way midst miles of baggage and ammunition waggons and slow columns of moving
infantry. Ha, ha, ha! They don't look much like the “Cadets,” these old sojers
on the march. There is their well-stuffed knapsack, surmounted by a rolled gray
blanket, the worse for wear; from their belt is slung a big cartridge-box, with
forty rounds, and at their side hangs a haversack (satchel you would call it)
quite bursting with three days' rations. Hullo! what has that man, dangling at
the end of his musket? A coffee-pot! an immense tin coffee-pot! and there is
another with a small frying-pan — more precious to them than gold. And there
goes a squad of cavalry, the riders almost obscured by the bags of oats and the
blankets and coats piled on pommel and crupper; their carbine hangs on one side
and their sabre clatters from the other. And then behold a train of artillery
(the best-looking arm of the service), each gun drawn by six or eight horses,
and the caissons covered with bags of forage. And so the face of the country is
covered, when an army is on the march, the waggons keeping the road, the
infantry winding through the open land. It is singular, in regard to the
latter, that, however dirty or slovenly the men may be, their muskets always
shine like silver; they know it is an important member. Well, you perceive I
have leisure to get a pen-full of ink, to continue the letter, begun this
morning. In fact we have done our day's march and our movable houses are all up
at a new “Headquarters.” We hear nothing much of the Insurgés, but are all ready
to pitch into them if we find them in a soft spot. . . .
[At this time Meade's
main line was from Rapidan Station, where the railroad from Alexandria to
Charlottesville crosses the river, to Raccoon Ford, some seven miles down the
Rapidan. During the following days there was a series of minor engagements, Lee
endeavoring to turn Meade's right flank, and get between him and Washington.
But Meade, out marching Lee, kept between him and Washington, finally bringing
the Headquarters to Centreville about twenty-four miles west of Alexandria.
Meanwhile, it appears to have been extremely difficult to
locate the enemy. “It is quite extraordinary,” writes Lyman, “what little
information is to be had. The idea of the enemy, 50,000 or 60,000 strong,
marching about, and we not knowing whether they are going one way or another, seems
incredible; but then it is to be observed that, 1st, the woods and hills
greatly conceal distant moves; and, 2d, by an outlying cavalry, a move may be
either covered or simulated.]
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 29-31
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