Summary:
Maj. Gen. Irvin McDowell commanded the Third Corps of the Army of Virginia which
includes the 107th Pa. McDowell describes an engagement that resulted in a Union
retreat.
Maj. Gen. JOHN POPE, Commander of the late Army of Virginia.
November 6, 1862
... The cannonading of the 8th had been resumed on the 9th, and was kept up more or less throughout the day. The reports from the front sent in to me and from Gen. Banks to your headquarters (were by your direction I had been throughout the day) were to the effect that the enemy did not yet seem to be in great force, showing his cavalry somewhat ostentatiously, and using his artillery only; and these reports continued to be of this character throughout the day, and gave the assurance the enemy would not be able to bring up his main force till our army should have been sufficiently concentrated and got in good condition for battle.
Gen. Sigel's corps having arrived at Culpeper after a forced march, much of it during the night previous, and being reported without provisions and not in a condition to immediately follow Gen. Banks, by your order I directed subsistence to be given Gen. Sigel's men from my supply train, and instantly took Rickett's division, accompanied by you, to the front, to join Gen. Banks, without waiting to follow Gen. Sigel, as had been before ordered.
When the order was given me to take Rickett's division to the front it was not known Gen. Banks had attacked the enemy, or that he purposed doing so, or that the enemy was in sufficient force to attack him; but the cannonading having become more continuous, I was sent forward as a precautionary measure, and to allow Gen. Sigel's men some rest. When between 2 and 3 miles from Cedar Mountain we began to meet the evidences of the battle which Gen. Banks had fought at its base--stragglers, singly and in groups, and soon companies, battalions, and batteries moving to the rear. Gen. Banks had left the position where he had drawn up his troops and moved them forward to attack the enemy, not believing him to be in any great force, and found him stronger than he had supposed, outnumbering greatly his own corps, and had been driven back after a gallant, severe, and bloody contest.
It was now dark, and under the assurance of Gen. Banks that the remainder of his corps were in the front of a narrow strip of woods which extended across the road; that a brigade was still on a hill to the right of this wood, and that his brigade and the right of his line, which was said to be intact, would be drawn toward and strengthen the center, which had suffered most, I was ordered to place Rickett's division to the right and front. This was done by posting Tower's brigade with two batteries (Lapin's and Thompson's) on the knoll to the right of the wood, Caroll's brigade connecting the left of Tower's line with the woods; Hartsuff's and Duryea's brigades in second line, with Hall's and Thompson's batteries in reserve. But while making these dispositions and moving forward in column to do so, the enemy following up the retreat of Gen. Banks, established a battery beyond the woods before mentioned and opened on the head of my column, and soon after coming through the woods with infantry, cavalry, and artillery, established another battery on the knoll where you had just before made your headquarters after your conference with Gen. Banks and others. This battery fired on the second line of Rickett's division, and until the battalion in mass were placed under the shelter of the rolling ground took effect on Hartsuff's brigade. Quickly the batteries in reserve, under the direction of that most valuable officer Maj. Tillson, chief of artillery, Hall's First Maine, and Thompson's Second Maryland, opened on the enemy. It was dark, and only by the flash of the enemy's piece could they see where to direct their aim, but soon, by a rapid and well-directed fire they silenced the enemy's batteries and forced them to withdraw, leaving some of their officers and most of their horses dead on the ground. The fire of the enemy's infantry from the woods was mostly at Corroll's brigade, which suffered from it before his men could be got into position in the front line.
The hot reception given the enemy by Ricketts' division caused the enemy to fall back during the night to their former position on and near Cedar Run Mountain, some 3 miles. Finding Rickett's division too far to the front and right, it was drawn over during the night by your direction to the right of the position you had directed Gen. Sigel to occupy.
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, your most obedient servant,
IRVIN McDOWELL,
Maj. Gen., Commanding Third Corps, Army of
Virginia.
Bibliographic Information : Letter Reproduced from The War of The Rebellion: Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies, Series I. Vol. 12. Part II, Reports. Serial No. 16, Page 327, Broadfoot Publishing Company, , .
