Volunteers.

It was during the night march from Malvern Hill that General Smith encountered General Fitz-John Porter, his class-mate whom he always regarded as a first-class soldier, and with whom upon this occasion he had a conversation, the facts of which go far to justify this high estimate. Noting that Porter seemed greatly depressed he asked what was the matter. In reply, Porter told him that as soon as he had become certain the evening before that the enemy had been broken and beaten back from his reckless attack on the Union lines at Malvern Hill, and had withdrawn in disorder from the field, he had gone to McClellan on board the boat which he had occupied with his headquarters, and had begged him with all the arguments he could bring to bear, and all the force he could command, to assume the offensive at dawn. He said he had spent half the night in advocacy of this policy, expressing the confident belief that if adopted it would result, not only in the destruction of Lee's army, but in the capture of Richmond. He had no doubt that our own army, encouraged by the sanguinary repulse it had finally inflicted upon the enemy, would respond to every demand which could be made upon it, and would thus turn a series of indecisive combats, which the country would surely regard as defeats, into a magnificent victory. Smith's testimony shows this splendid conception to have been no afterthought with Porter, as it was with many who subsequently came to understand the facts of the case, but coming as it did hot from a desperate battle field, must be regarded as the inspiration of true military genius, while the fact that McClellan rejected it must always be considered as the best possible evidence of his unreadiness to meet great emergencies. Smith does not say specifically that he approved it, but the context of his narrative leaves but little doubt that he thought favorably of it and would have given it hearty support.

In the withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula, and its transfer to Washington, as ordered by Halleck and the Secretary of War, Smith and his division necessarily played a subordinate part. With the rest of the army they formed a tardy junction with Pope in front of Washington, and did their share towards making the capital safe and unassailable, but they were not again engaged till they met the enemy in the bloody and successful action at Crampton's Gap, in the South Mountain. The division also took part three days later in the battle of Antietam, but notwithstanding McClellan's claim that the battle was a "master piece of art," neither Smith's troops, nor the corps to which they belonged, were seriously engaged. This was not the fault of either Franklin or Smith, both of whom were greatly displeased with the disjointed and irresolute manner in which the Union forces were handled and the battle was fought. The most that can be said is that both General Smith and his division did all that was asked of them, not only in the battle of Antietam, but in following Lee's army back to Virginia. These operations are now justly regarded as reflecting but little credit on the generalship by which the national army was controlled during that period of its history. While they ended McClellan's military career, they afforded but little chance for any of his subordinates to gain distinction, and those who escaped responsibility for supporting his policy of delay had good reasons to regard themselves as fortunate.

The withdrawal of McClellan and the accession of the weak and vacillating Burnside to command was followed by a re-arrangement of the Army of the Potomac into three grand divisions, and a re-assignment of leading generals. Franklin was placed in command of the Third Grand Division, consisting of the First Corps under General Reynolds, and the Sixth Corps under General Smith. In the abortive Fredericksburg campaign which followed, these corps had the extreme left of the Union line, but it should have been evident from the start that with the opposing armies separated by a broad river occupying a deep valley, from three-quarters of a mile to a mile and a half between the opposite crests, the movement which was to bring on the battle must necessarily be fought under extraordinary disadvantages to the attacking army. In the mind of those who were to carry out the details of the movements, success must have seemed hopeless from the first. Burnside was from the beginning of the campaign overcome by the weight of his responsibilities, and between tears at one time and lack of sleep at another, his fatuous mind failed to evolve for itself, or to accept from others a definite and comprehensive plan of operations. He seemed at successive times to have had hopes of surprising Lee, of breaking his center and overwhelming his left, of seizing two important points in his main line of defence and completely turning his left, but withal it is certain that he gave to none of these operations sufficient attention to justify the slightest hope that it could be successfully carried into effect.

On the other hand, Lee was on the alert with his army of 78,000 men, well and compactly posted in a commanding and almost impregnable position along the wooded heights which overlooked Fredericksburg and the valley of the Rappahannock from the south. Burnside had 113,000 men of all arms, well supplied and thoroughly organized, commanded by the ablest generals in the service. His preponderance of force was therefore close to fifty per cent., but unfortunately that was not enough to outweigh the natural and artificial obstacles, the heights, stone walls, entrenchments, open fields and river to be overcome by the advancing army. The task was a hopeless one from the start, and to make matters worse, Burnside, who at best had but a vague and uncertain comprehension of the work before him, seems to have lost what little head he was endowed with before his operations were fully under way.

The result was unfortunate in the extreme. Two Grand Divisions succeeded in crossing the river without material opposition, but at once found themselves confronted by difficulties and forces they could not overcome. Franklin, in compliance with his instructions, took two days to get into position, but when his two corps had reached the place assigned them on the old Richmond Road, with the aid of Smith and Reynolds, he looked over the ground and made up his mind that the only chance of victory was offered by an assault upon the enemy's right center, with the full force of his two corps, amounting to 40,000 men. Burnside, at his invitation, came to that part of the field, and after listening to the views of the three generals, either of whom was vastly his superior as a soldier, approved the plan and promised to give a written order for its execution. Franklin waited all night for the order, telegraphed twice, and finally sent a staff officer for it, but it never came. Indeed it was never issued but a different order directing him to seize the heights at Hamilton's House, nearly three miles from his right division, and to keep the whole of his command in readiness to move at once, was sent instead. Sumner received an order equally inane, in reference to Marye's Heights. The resulting operations which should have been carefully co-ordinated and vigorously supported, were weak and indecisive. As the day wore away Lee took advantage of the delays and the opportunities which they offered him, and assumed the offensive. There was much severe but desultory and disconnected fighting. The Union generals with their officers and men did their best, but Burnside was on the opposite side of the river and could neither give intelligent orders nor act promptly upon the suggestions which were sent to him from the field. There was no chance for maneuvering. It was from the first head-on, face-to-face fighting with no hope of victory for the assailants. The Union losses were over 12,500 men killed, wounded and missing, of which 4,962 belonged to Franklin's Grand Division, while