184 The American Civil Warhad been named in colonial times for British
Queen Anne. Its rapid flow prompted settlers
to call the stream the 'Rapid Anne,'
subsequently shortened to Rapidan.)
Skirmishing through the fall of 1863 and the
following winter only threatened major
operations once, at the end of November. On
the 26th, Confederates who had been easing
into what they thought would be winter
quarters learned that Meade was moving in
strength toward crossings lower on the
Rapidan, not far west of the familiar ground
around Chancellorsville.
Elements of the contending armies
collided on 27 November at Payne's Farm
and a hot, confused fight blossomed. Much
of it raged in densely wooded country.
Captain John C. Johnson of the
50th Virginia, 'a large and stout man of
about fifty years of age,' who towered over
most of his men at 6'7" of height, decided
that his men 'were not doing as well as they
ought.' To shame them into maintaining a
steadier fire, Johnson stalked to the crest of
the position, lay down on the ground,
'broadside to the enemy,' and told his men
that 'if they were afraid ... they could use
him as a breastwork.' Undaunted and
pragmatic, several infantrymen did just that,
resting their rifles on Johnson and firing
'steadily from that position until the fight
was over.' Johnson survived the gesture, and
also a chest wound he suffered in 1864 and
two periods as a prisoner of war, to return
home in 1865.
Once both sides had tested their
opponents around Payne's Farm, the
engagement there became the nexus upon
which a long set of parallel lines spread
across the countryside just south of the
Rapidan. During the last three days of
November and the first day of December,
men in uniforms of both colors spent more
time digging than shooting. A weather front
brought in bitter cold and whistling wind on
the heels of a long downpour, making
everyone miserable at the same time that it
reduced the potential for major military
movements on the region's few and
poor roads.
Meade's lines ran north-south, facing west
toward Lee's position. Between the two ran
Mine Run, which gave its name to the
week-long action. Meade prepared a major
turning movement around the Confederate
right (southern) flank for the morning of
30 November, but when the time came he
recognized that his foe was ready to repulse
the attack from strong works. The
Pennsylvanian courageously cancelled the
attack and two days later recrossed the
Rapidan, having lost about 1,500 men south
of the river. Lee and most of his soldiers were
bitterly disappointed. 'We should never have
permitted those people to get away,'
Lee seethed.
Meade recognized that sending the vain
assault forward would have been popular
with President Lincoln and elsewhere in
Washington, but he wrote officially, 'I
cannot be a party to a wanton slaughter of
my troops for any mere personal end.' To his
wife, Meade admitted, 'I would rather be
ignominiously dismissed, and suffer
anything, than knowingly and wilfully have
thousands of brave men slaughtered for
nothing.' His estimate doubtless was correct:
had he thrown in attacks that cost 10,000 (or
even 15,000) more men, he surely would
have enjoyed, and retain to this day, a
glossier image. He might have retained
independent control of the Army of the
Potomac and emerged as the war's great hero
in the North.
As the armies filed away from the Mine
Run earthworks, they were ending a year of
campaigning that had taken them on broad
sweeps across Virginia, Maryland, and
Pennsylvania. Only twice during 1863,
however, had they fought full-scale, pitched
engagements. Chancellorsville was the
largest battle ever fought in Virginia, and
Gettysburg the costliest of the entire war; but
1863 had produced far less intense combat
than the armies had experienced in 1862.
The soldiers who settled into winter camps
in December 1863 faced, unawares, a new
year that would bring far more fighting than
the year just past, and under far different
circumstances.