Headquarters Army Of Potomac
March 1, 1864
. . . For some days General Humphreys has been a mass of
mystery, with his mouth pursed up, and doing much writing by himself, all to
the great amusement of the bystanders, who had heard, even in Washington, that
some expedition or raid was on the tapis, and even pointed out various details
thereof. However, their ideas, after all, were vague; but they should not have
known anything. Que voulez-vous? A secret expedition with us is got up
like a picnic, with everybody blabbing and yelping. One is driven to think that
not even the prospect of immediate execution will stop Americans from streaming
on in their loose, talking, devil-may-care ways. Kilpatrick is sent for by the
President; oh, ah! everybody knows it at once: he is a cavalry officer; it must
be a raid. All Willard's chatters of it. Everybody devotes his entire energies
to pumping the President and Kill-cavalry! Some confidential friend finds out a
part, tells another confidential friend, swearing him to secrecy, etc., etc. So
there was Eleusinian Humphreys writing mysteriously, and speaking to nobody,
while the whole camp was sending expeditions to the four corners of the
compass! On Saturday, at early morn, Uncle John Sedgwick suddenly picked up his
little traps and marched with his Corps through Culpeper and out towards
Madison Court House, away on our right flank. The next, the quiet Sabbath, was
broken by the whole of Birney's division, of the 3d Corps, marching also
through Culpeper, with the bands playing and much parade. We could only phancy
the feeling of J. Reb contemplating this threatening of his left flank from his
signal station on Clark's Mountain. Then the flaxen Custer, at the head of
cavalry, passed through, and wended his way in the same direction. All this,
you see, was on our right. That night Kilpatrick, at the head of a large body
of cavalry, crossed at Ely's Ford, on our extreme left, and drew a
straight bead on Richmond! At two o’clock that night he was at Spotsylvania C.
H., and this is our last news of him. He sent back word that he would attack
Richmond at seven this morning. The idea is to liberate the prisoners, catch
all the rebel M. C.'s that are lying round loose, and make tracks to our
nearest lines. I conceive the chances are pretty hazardous, although the plan
was matured with much detail and the start was all that could be asked. . . .
SOURCE: George R. Agassiz, Editor, Meade’s
Headquarters, 1863-1865: Letters of Colonel Theodore Lyman from the Wilderness
to Appomattox, p. 76-8
No comments:
Post a Comment