Read Online Rebels at the Gate: Lee and McClellan on the Front Line of a Nation Divided by W Hunter Lesser - Free Book Online
Authors: W Hunter Lesser
Ads: Link
restore damaged bridges and prevent further destruction of the railroad. He was to await reinforcements if substantial resistance was met. McClellan cautioned him to “run no unnecessary risk, for it is absolutely necessary that we should not meet even with a partial check at the onset.” The Sixteenth Ohio Infantry, Colonel James Irvine commanding at Bellaire, Ohio, crossed the river as Kelley's support.
In concert with Kelley's advance from Wheeling, Colonel James Steedman's Fourteenth Ohio Infantry crossed the Ohio River at Parkersburg and boarded the Northwestern Virginia Railroad, bound east for Grafton. The Eighteenth Ohio Infantry and two guns of the First Ohio Light Artillery followed. 139
To clarify the purpose of his invasion, General McClellan crafted an address to the troops. From the dining-room table of his Cincinnati home, with ladies chatting in the background, McClellan assumed the bombastic style of Napoleon: 140
Soldiers!—You are ordered to cross the frontier and enter upon the soil of Virginia. Your mission is to restore peace and confidence, to protect the majesty of the law, and to rescue our brethren from the grasp of armed traitors. You are to act in concert with Virginia troops and to support their advance. I place under the safeguard of your honor, the persons and property of the Virginians…. If you are called upon to overcome armed opposition, I know that your courage is equal to the task;—but remember that your only foes are the armed traitors…. When, under your protection, the loyal men of Western Virginia have been enabled to organize and arm, they can protect themselves, and you can then return to your homes with the proud satisfaction of having saved a gallant people from destruction. 141
He also issued a proclamation to the people of Western Virginia:
Virginians!—The General Government has long enough endured the machinations of a few factious rebels in your midst. Armed traitors have in vain endeavored to deter you from expressing your loyalty at the polls…they now seek to inaugurate a rein of terror, and thus force you to yield to their schemes, and submit to the yoke of the traitorous conspiracy, dignified by the name of the Southern Confederacy. They are destroying the property of citizens of your State and ruining your magnificent railways…. The General Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have made for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the Ohio River. They come as your friends and brothers,—as enemies only to the armed rebels who are preying upon you…. Now, that we are in your midst, I call upon you to fly to arms and support the general government. Sever the connection that binds you to traitors; proclaim to the world that the faith and loyalty as long boasted by the Old Dominion, are still preserved in Western Virginia, and that you remain true to the stars and stripes. 142
In his proclamation, McClellan assured slaveholders that any insurrection by their slaves would be crushed “with an iron hand.” By those words, he publicly committed a Union army to protect slavery. No comment was forthcoming from Lincoln or his administration. 143
The departure of Colonel Kelley's First (U.S.) Virginia Infantry in the early morning hours of May 27 brought out hundreds of Wheeling residents. The soldiers wore blue jeans and work clothes—Kelley's coat may have been the only piece of military garb in the regiment. In lieu of cartridge boxes, ammunition was stuffed into pockets. When the colonel ordered an inspection of arms, he was dismayed to learn that many had loaded their pieces backwards—placing the ball in the muzzle and ramming it down with the powder charge on top! The charges were carefully withdrawn, and the men instructed in the proper way to load and fire. 144
Kelley commandeered the railroad telegraph office to preserve secrecy, but crowds of waving Virginians along the tracks proved there was little
In concert with Kelley's advance from Wheeling, Colonel James Steedman's Fourteenth Ohio Infantry crossed the Ohio River at Parkersburg and boarded the Northwestern Virginia Railroad, bound east for Grafton. The Eighteenth Ohio Infantry and two guns of the First Ohio Light Artillery followed. 139
To clarify the purpose of his invasion, General McClellan crafted an address to the troops. From the dining-room table of his Cincinnati home, with ladies chatting in the background, McClellan assumed the bombastic style of Napoleon: 140
Soldiers!—You are ordered to cross the frontier and enter upon the soil of Virginia. Your mission is to restore peace and confidence, to protect the majesty of the law, and to rescue our brethren from the grasp of armed traitors. You are to act in concert with Virginia troops and to support their advance. I place under the safeguard of your honor, the persons and property of the Virginians…. If you are called upon to overcome armed opposition, I know that your courage is equal to the task;—but remember that your only foes are the armed traitors…. When, under your protection, the loyal men of Western Virginia have been enabled to organize and arm, they can protect themselves, and you can then return to your homes with the proud satisfaction of having saved a gallant people from destruction. 141
He also issued a proclamation to the people of Western Virginia:
Virginians!—The General Government has long enough endured the machinations of a few factious rebels in your midst. Armed traitors have in vain endeavored to deter you from expressing your loyalty at the polls…they now seek to inaugurate a rein of terror, and thus force you to yield to their schemes, and submit to the yoke of the traitorous conspiracy, dignified by the name of the Southern Confederacy. They are destroying the property of citizens of your State and ruining your magnificent railways…. The General Government cannot close its ears to the demand you have made for assistance. I have ordered troops to cross the Ohio River. They come as your friends and brothers,—as enemies only to the armed rebels who are preying upon you…. Now, that we are in your midst, I call upon you to fly to arms and support the general government. Sever the connection that binds you to traitors; proclaim to the world that the faith and loyalty as long boasted by the Old Dominion, are still preserved in Western Virginia, and that you remain true to the stars and stripes. 142
In his proclamation, McClellan assured slaveholders that any insurrection by their slaves would be crushed “with an iron hand.” By those words, he publicly committed a Union army to protect slavery. No comment was forthcoming from Lincoln or his administration. 143
The departure of Colonel Kelley's First (U.S.) Virginia Infantry in the early morning hours of May 27 brought out hundreds of Wheeling residents. The soldiers wore blue jeans and work clothes—Kelley's coat may have been the only piece of military garb in the regiment. In lieu of cartridge boxes, ammunition was stuffed into pockets. When the colonel ordered an inspection of arms, he was dismayed to learn that many had loaded their pieces backwards—placing the ball in the muzzle and ramming it down with the powder charge on top! The charges were carefully withdrawn, and the men instructed in the proper way to load and fire. 144
Kelley commandeered the railroad telegraph office to preserve secrecy, but crowds of waving Virginians along the tracks proved there was little
Similar Books
