Elated by the complete success of this attack, the Federals hastened to press the enemy southward into the Cheat River Valley. After this defeat at Philippi, the command of the rebel army was given to General Robert S. Garnett, a graduate of West Point, who had taken up arms for the Confederacy. All this country is mountainous; and the only means of getting from one town to another is by the turnpike, or public wagon-road. At Beverly, where General Garnett was trying to collect Porterfield's scattered troops, the road going north is divided into two branches, or forks, one crossing Rich Mountain, the other going through a pass of Laurel Hill. Here General Garnett intrenched himself; while Colonel Pegram, with a smaller force, guarded the pass at Rich Mountain. General McClellan's army was expected to approach from the direct mountain turnpike in either or both of these directions. In part, the Confederates were right in their conjecture; for General McClellan, with seven regiments, came from the north-west toward Rich Mountain, till he arrived within two miles of the enemy's camp. Sending out spies to discover Garnett's position, McClellan learned that an attack made from the front would result in defeat and great loss. So General Rosecrans volunteered to lead a detachment, or portion of the army, to the top of Rich Mountain. This he did successfully, leaving the main road, and climbing steadily up, for hours, through a thick wood, in the midst of a heavy, drenching rain. Suddenly he came face to face with the enemy. Colonel Pegram had not expected the attack from the rear, but he made a stubborn fight as long as there was a chance for him. In the mean time General McClellan was to attack in front at the same moment; but Rosecrans's messenger was captured, and so McClellan knew nothing of his success till long afterward. Colonel Pegram tried to get away, and join General Garnett at Laurel Hill; but he, hearing of the misfortune which had befallen the Confederates, had also retreated, closely followed by the Union army. So Colonel Pegram was caught. He surrendered to McClellan at Beverly, officers and men, nearly six hundred prisoners. Still the Unionists pursued, and still the Confederates fled, cutting down trees as they went. Seeing that the way toward the south was blocked for him, Garnett turned toward the north, hoping to get out of the trap from the other way. At Carrick's Ford, on the Cheat River, a battle was fought in earnest. The Confederates were defeated here also, and General Garnett was killed. His personal conduct had been gallant, but he had entirely failed to rally his panic-stricken men. Indeed, at the time of his death, he was quite alone. A boyish young aide who fell by his side was his only companion. The body of General Garnett was cared for by the Federals, and sent to his friends. General McClellan had been so skilful, or so lucky, or both, in this campaign, as a series of military operations is sometimes called, that he received, in consequence, the position of commander of the Army of the Potomac. General Rosecrans was placed in charge of affairs in General McClellan's place, where we will leave him for the present, while we gossip about his neighbors a little. In the train of misfortunes which followed the Union arms about this time, came the Vienna disaster. General Irwin McDowell, who was in command at Arlington Heights, received information of an attempt to burn the bridges of a railway not far from Alexandria. So he sent General Robert C. Schenck to look after things in that neighborhood. Accordingly, General Schenck embarked the First Ohio, under Colonel McCook, upon a train, and proceeded in the direction indicated. As they neared Vienna, a little town a few miles from Alexandria, the train was fired upon by a masked or concealed battery, and several were killed and wounded. As may be imagined, people were very indignant at this sort of Indian warfare. In order to systematize military affairs, the various loyal States were grouped together by threes or fours, each cluster being called a department. When the heads of these newlymade departments were chosen, none was more satisfactory to the general-in-chief than was General Robert Patterson, who was appointed to the Department of Pennsylvania, which was made up of the States of Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. General Patterson had seen service; and his fine record bore testimony that he was no "dastard in war," although he was no longer a young man, since his next birthday would make him seventy years old. As the rebels had strengthened Harper's Ferry, and increased the number of troops there to a very alarming degree, General Patterson's first intention seems to have been to give battle at once, and thus drive them out of their stronghold. But he dallied with excuses, and changed his plans so often, that the Confederates destroyed the railroad bridge and much of the Government property, and left Harper's Ferry, falling back towards the south as far as Winchester; when, lo, General Patterson followed General Joseph E. Johnston's example and retreated. So he continued to march and countermarch, giving no heed to frequent and urgent telegrams from General Scott, imploring him to do something. His operations remind one of the nursery. rhyme: "The King of France, with forty thousand men, marched up a hill, and then marched down again." |