Brigadier-General George Crook, commanding the Federal Army of West Virginia in the department of Major-General David Hunter, retreated after his defeat at Kernstown. His Federals withdrew to Martinsburg and Bunker Hill, north of Winchester in the Shenandoah Valley. Lieutenant-General Jubal Early’s Confederate Army of the Valley pursued in a heavy storm on July 25, skirmishing as the Federals tried to cross the Potomac River to safety.
Crook’s Federals managed to cross and regroup at Sharpsburg on the 26th, just as Early’s Confederates entered Martinsburg. Early learned that the Federals had burned the homes of several prominent Virginians while in the Valley, including those of Senator Andrew Hunter and Congressman Alexander Boteler. Early sought to retaliate by destroying the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad while sending a cavalry force to Chambersburg, a prosperous farming and industrial town in southern Pennsylvania.
Brigadier-Generals John McCausland and Bradley T. Johnson led 2,500 Confederate cavalry across the Potomac near Cave Spring, west of Williamsport, on the 29th. Residents of Chambersburg learned that the Confederates were targeting their town and began evacuating supplies, equipment, and other valuables. Meanwhile, a small Federal force delayed the Confederates with skirmishes at Hagerstown, Maryland, and Mercersburg, Pennsylvania.
McCausland’s troopers reached the outskirts of Chambersburg at 3 a.m. on the 30th. A designated Confederate entered the town and showed a leading citizen Early’s order:
“To General J. McCausland: You are hereby ordered to proceed with such forces as will be detailed, and as rapidly as possible, to the town of Chambersburg, Penna., and demand of the authorities the sum of $100,000 in gold, or in lieu thereof the sum of $500,000 in greenbacks, and in case this demand is not complied with, then in retaliation for the burning of seven properties of peaceful inhabitants of the Valley of Virginia, by order of the Federal Gen. (David) Hunter, you will proceed to burn the town of Chambersburg and rapidly return to this point.”
Three cannon shots signaled the Confederates to assemble in the town square at 6 a.m. A Confederate read Early’s order, and the town leaders were given six hours to comply. According to a citizen of Chambersburg:
“While these negotiations were going on, the rebels were breaking into stores and shops, plundering them of their contents. Hotels and restaurants were also visited, and liquor was drank and many became intoxicated. The robbery of the citizens along the street was commenced, and hats, caps, boots, watches, and everything of value which they could find were taken. Shortly after this conference with the citizens terminated, the work of burning was commenced…”
Another citizen recalled, “The roaring and crackling of the flames, the falling walls, the blinding smoke, the intense heat intensified by the scorching sun, all united to form a picture of the terrible which no pen can describe nor painter portray. It was such a sight as no one would desire to witness but once in a lifetime.”
Nearly two-thirds of the town was destroyed, including 400 buildings, of which 274 were private homes. The damage was estimated to be worth at least $1.5 million. This was the only northern town that Confederates burned in the war.
McCausland’s troopers left the smoldering ruins at 1 p.m. and camped for the night at McConnellsburg. The next day, the Confederates rode to Hancock, Maryland, where they skirmished briefly with Federal cavalry under Brigadier-General William W. Averell. The Confederates then continued west toward Cumberland before crossing the Potomac and leaving Maryland.
Meanwhile, Hunter, commanding from Harpers Ferry, scrambled to regroup the army under Crook and Averell. On the 31st, Chief of Staff Henry W. Halleck wrote General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant, the overall Federal commander, “It appears from General Averell’s reports that while General Hunter was collecting his forces at Harper’s Ferry to attack the enemy on the south side the rebel army crossed on the morning of the 29th near Williamsport, and moved, by Hagerstown, into Pennsylvania. Their cavalry captured and partly destroyed Chambersburg yesterday.”
Grant had been pondering how to stop Early’s army. He wrote President Abraham Lincoln proposing the consolidation of the four military departments around Washington (the Susquehanna, West Virginia, Washington, and the Middle Department) into a “Military Division,” much like Major-General William T. Sherman’s division of three armies in Georgia.
“I do not insist that the departments should be broken up,” Grant wrote while suggesting that the commander of this new division should be Major-General William B Franklin. “All I ask is that one general officer, in whom I and yourself have confidence, should command the whole. General Franklin was named because he was available and I know him to be capable and believe him to be trustworthy.”
As an alternative, Grant proposed giving the new command to Major-General George G. Meade, currently commanding the Army of the Potomac at Petersburg. Major-General Winfield Scott Hancock, commanding the Second Corps under Meade, could replace him. Grant wrote:
“With General Meade in command of such a division I would have every confidence that all the troops within the military division would be used to the very best advantage from a personal examination of the ground, and he would adopt means of getting the earliest information of any advance of the enemy and would prepare to meet it… Many reasons might be assigned for the changes here suggested, some of which I would not care to commit to paper, but would not hesitate to give verbally.”
A major reason for the change was because of the intense animosity many generals had against Meade. In the meantime, Grant urged Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton to put Halleck in charge of “all military measures necessary for defense against any attack of the enemy and for his capture and destruction.”
On the last day of July, Lincoln met with Grant at Fort Monroe on the tip of the Virginia Peninsula to discuss the gloomy situation in greater detail:
- Grant had just presided over one of the worst Federal military fiascos of the war at the Crater and seemed stalled in front of Petersburg.
- Sherman’s armies advanced to the outskirts of Atlanta but had not yet been able to get in.
- Hunter’s Federals had just been humiliated in the Shenandoah Valley, and Confederates continued raiding the North.
Lincoln thought about Grant’s suggestion to put Franklin in command of the four military departments around Washington, writing on the back of one of Grant’s messages, “Meade & Franklin/McClellan/Md&Penna.” This may have indicated an idea that Lincoln had of putting former General-in-Chief George B. McClellan in command of this new division to prevent him from accepting the Democratic nomination for president in the upcoming election. This idea never took root.
At the meeting, Lincoln told Grant that Franklin “would not give satisfaction” to the Republicans in Congress. Grant said he asked Meade if he would be willing to take command, and Meade simply replied that he was “ready to obey any order that might be given me.” Privately, Meade wrote his wife, “I would like this change very well,” even though he knew it would be difficult to deal with Halleck and Stanton again.
Lincoln explained that many in Washington were calling for Meade’s removal, and if he was transferred, it would look like Lincoln gave in to the critics. Grant finally proposed placing Major-General Philip Sheridan, commander of the Army of the Potomac’s Cavalry Corps, in charge. Grant said that Sheridan should unify the commands (while keeping Hunter in an administrative role as department commander) and destroy Early’s army in the Valley. Lincoln agreed.
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