AKMY OPERATIONS. 



77 



Potomac, or any portion of the same ; and if so, whether 

 any subordinate generals of said army have written to 

 or visited Washington to oppose or interfere with the 

 execution of such movements, and whether such pro- 

 posed movements have been arrested or interfered 

 with, and, if so, by what authority. 



The report of the committee, "which was 

 published in April, 1863, thus states the pro- 

 ceedings under the resolution : 



Under that resolution, your committee proceeded to 

 take the testimony of Maj.-Gens. A. E. Burnside and 

 John G. Parke, and Brig.-Gens. John Newton, John 

 Cochrane, and Wm. W. Averill. That testimony brings 

 to light the following facts : 



Shortly after the battle of Fredericksburg, Gen. 

 Burnside devised a plan for attacking the enemy in his 

 front. The main army was to cross at a place some 

 six or seven miles below Fredericksburg. The posi- 

 tions for the artillery to protect the crossings were all 

 selected ; the roads were all surveyed, and the corduroy 

 was'cut for preparing the roads. At the same time a 

 feint of crossing was to bo made some distance above 

 Falmouth, which feint could be turned into a positive 

 attack should the enemy discover the movement be- 

 low ; otherwise the main attack was to be made below. 



In connection with this movement of the main army, 

 a cavalry expedition was organized, consisting of 

 twenty-five hundred of the best cavalry in the Army of 

 the Potomac, one thousand of whom were picked men. 

 The plan of that expedition was as follows : Accom- 

 panied by a brigade of infantry detailed to protect the 

 crossing of the Rappahannock, it was to proceed to Kel- 

 ly's Ford ; there the thousand picked men were to cross, 

 and to proceed to the Rapidan, and cross that river at 

 Racoon Ford ; then to go onward and cross the Vir- 

 ginia Central railroad at Louisa Court House; the 

 James river at Goochland or Carter's, blowing up the 

 locks of the James River canal at the place of crossing ; 

 cross the Richmond and Lynchburg railroad at a point 

 south of there, blowing up the iron bridge at the place 

 of crossing ; cross the Richmond, Petersburg, and 

 Weldon railroad where it crosses the Nottoway river, 

 destroying the railroad bridge there ; and then proceed 

 on by Gen. Pryor's command, and effect a junction 

 with Gen. Peck at Suffolk, where steamers were to be 

 in waiting to take them to Aquia creek. To distract 

 the attention of the enemy, and to deceive them in re*- 

 gard to which body of cavalry was the attacking col- 

 umn, at the time the thousand picked men crossed the 

 Rappahannock a portion of the remaining fifteen hun- 

 dred was to proceed toward Warrenton ; another por- 

 tion toward Culpepper Court House ; and the remainder 

 were to accompany the thousand picked men as far as 

 Racoon Ford, and then return. While this cavalry 

 expedition was in progress, the general movement was 

 to oe made across the river. 



On the 26th of December an order was issued for 

 the entire command to prepare three days' cooked 

 rations ; to have their wagons filled with ten days' 

 small rations, if possible ; to have from ten to twelve 

 days' supply of beef cattle with them; to take for- 

 age for their teams and their artillery and cavalry 

 horses, and the requisite amount of ammunition in 

 fact, to be in a condition to move at twelve hours' 

 notice. 



Shortly after that order was issued, Gen. John New- 

 ton and Gen. John Cochrane the one commanding a 

 division and the other a brigade in the left grand di- 

 vision, under Gen. William B. Franklin cam* up to 

 Washington on leave of absence. Previous to obtain- 

 ing leave of absence from Gen. Franklin, they informed 

 him and Gen. William F. Smith that when they came 

 to Washington they should take the opportunity to 

 represent to some one in authority here the dispirited 

 condition of the army, and the danger there was of at- 

 tempting any movement against the enemy at that 

 time. 



When they reached Washington, Gen. Cochrane, as 

 he states, endeavored to find certain members of Con- 



gress, to whom to make the desired communication. 

 Failing to find them, he determined to seek an inter- 

 view with the President for the purpose of making the 

 communication directly to him. On proceeding to the 

 President's House, he there met Secretary Seward, to 

 whom he explained the object of his being there, and 

 the general purport of his proposed communication to 

 the President, and requested him to procure an inter- 

 view for them, which Mr. Seward promised to do, and 

 which he did do. 



That day the interview took place, and Gen. Newton 

 opened the subject to the President. At first the 

 President, as Gen. Newton expresses it, " very natu- 

 rally conceived that they had come there for the pur- 

 pose of injuring Gen. Burnside, and suggesting some 

 other person to fill his place." Gon. Newton states 

 that, while he firmly believed that the principal cause 

 of the dispirited condition of the army was the want 

 of confidence in the military capacity of Gen. Burn- 

 side, he deemed it improper to say so to the President 

 " right square put," and therefore endeavored to con- 

 vey the same idea indirectly. When asked if he con- 

 sidered it any less improper to do such a thing indi- 

 rectly than it was to do it directly, he qualified his 

 previous assertion by saying that his object was to in- 

 form the President of what he considered to be the 

 condition of the army, in the hope that the President 

 would make inquiry and learn the true reason for him- 

 self. Upon perceiving this impression upon the mind 

 of the President, Gens. Newton and Cochrane state 

 that they hastened to assure the President that he was 

 entirely mistaken, and so far succeeded that at the 

 close of the interview the President said to them he 

 was glad they had called upon him, and that he hoped 

 that good would result from the interview. 



To return to General Burnside. The cavalry expe- 

 dition had started ; the brigade of infantry detailed to 

 accompany it had Vrossed the Rappahannock at 

 Richard's Ford, and returned by way of Ellis's Ford, 

 leaving the way clear for the cavalry to cross at Kel- 

 ly's Ford. The day they had arranged to make the 

 crossing, General Burnside received from the President 

 the following telegram : " I have good reason for say- 

 ing that you must not make a general movement with- 

 out letting me know of it." 



Gen. Burnside states that he could not imagine, at 

 the time, what reason the President could have for 

 sending him such a telegram. None of the officers of 

 his command, except one or two of his staff, who had 

 remained in camp, had been told anything of his plan 

 beyond the simple fact that a movement was to be 

 made. He could only suppose that the despatch re- 

 lated in some way to important military movements 

 in other parts of the country, in which it was neces- 

 sary to have cooperation. 



Upon the receipt of that telegram steps were imme- 

 diately taken to halt the cavalry expedition where it 

 then was (at Kelly's Ford) until further orders. A 



ortion of it was shortly afterward sent off to intercept 

 tuart, who had just made a raid to Dumfries and the 

 neighborhood of Fairfax Court House, which it failed 

 to do. 



Gen. Burnside came to Washington to ascertain 

 from the President the true state of the case. He was 

 informed by the President that some general officers 

 from the Army of the Potomac, whose names he de- 

 clined to give, had called upon him and represented 

 that Gen. Burnside contemplated soon making a move- 

 ment, and that the army was so dispirited and demor- 

 alized that any attempt to make a movement at that 

 time must result in disaster ; that no prominent offi- 

 cers in the Army of the Potomac were in favor of any 

 movement at that time. 



Gen. Burnside informed the President that none of 

 his officers had been informed what his plan was, and 

 then proceeded to explain it in detail to the President. 

 He urged upon the President to grant him permission 

 to carry it out, but the President declined to do so at 

 that time. Gen. Halleck and Secretary Stanton were 

 sent for, and then learned, for the first time, of the 

 President's action in stopping the movement, although 



