A World on Fire_ Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War - Amanda Foreman [216]
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It was not only the sick who suffered deprivations. Theft and bureaucratic incompetence were so widespread throughout the army that the soldiers were often short of basic supplies such as fuel, blankets, and fresh food. Lorenzo D. Sargent, the new colonel of Charles Francis Adams, Jr.’s regiment, the 1st Massachusetts Cavalry, exemplified one of the criticisms made by British military observers of the Northern system of command: he fraternized with the lower ranks as a way of showing solidarity with the men, but failed to concern himself with their physical or moral welfare. “He considers himself a tactician and yet he could not drill a corporal’s guard without making ludicrous blunders,” Charles Francis Jr. wrote to his family. “His mistakes on the drill ground, his theories of war and his absurdities in camp are … the laughing stock of the regiment.… He has already cost us the best officers in our regiment, and we all fear that he will ultimately ruin it.”8
Charles Francis Jr.’s frustration with the lack of accountability in the army was a common complaint among the soldiers; recruits were deserting in Virginia at the rate of a hundred a day. There were frequent fights and disturbances in the camps. Percy Wyndham’s cavalry brigade was in a state of uproar after he gave the colonel of one of his regiments a ferocious beating and threatening to shoot him if he continued to disobey orders. The officers in the brigade retaliated by petitioning the War Department for the right to wear sidearms in his presence. Disgusted with his men and with the failure of leadership from above, Sir Percy resigned his command on January 18, 1863.9 But General Heintzelman considered his skills and experience too precious to lose. “Colonel Wyndham is such an excellent Cavalry officer when under the orders of a suitable commander and has behaved so gallantly on frequent occasions,” he wrote, “that I would most reluctantly see his resignation accepted. His service with the main army in the front would I am satisfied be eminently valuable.”10 The army accepted his suggestion of returning Wyndham to the 1st New Jersey Cavalry, where he was still liked and admired.
General Burnside knew that his generals were conspiring against him and he had to act swiftly before his army disintegrated. To save his command and the army’s morale, he decided to challenge the Confederates again, but from a different vantage point several miles north of Fredericksburg. George Herbert predicted disaster. Yet the weather seemed to favor the general, remaining cold and dry while the troops packed their belongings and tore down the camps. In the predawn hours of January 20, the men stood in smart rows with three days’ rations in their packs, ready to march across the Rappahannock. However, by midafternoon they felt the first spots of rain on their heads; by late evening they were struggling against a steady downpour. “In two hours the roads were impassable,” wrote Herbert.11
George Herbert watched as mules sank up to their necks in mud. Every few yards, the New York Zouaves had to dig themselves out and then attempt to free the artillery, which was mired in three or more feet of icy sludge. Ebenezer Wells of the 79th Highlanders watched helplessly as a loaded wagon slid off a cliff, pulling six horses to their death. “We let it go for it was bitter cold,” he recalled. The men concentrated on survival: “I was nearly frozen to death, if I had have given way to sleep which seemed to almost overpower me I never should have