. Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac; . time named; for,not knowing what he should encounter on the other side,General Meade was unwilling to allow the other corps tooross until the Third was up. A second obstacle was theresult of an unpardonable blunder on the j)art of the engi-neers in imderestimating the width of the Eapidan, so thatthe ponton-bridges it was designed to throw across thatstream were too short, and trestle-work and temporary meanshad to be provided to increase their length. In addition,another cause of delay resulted from the very precipitous A CAMPAIGN OF MANOEUVRES. 393 b
. Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac; . time named; for,not knowing what he should encounter on the other side,General Meade was unwilling to allow the other corps tooross until the Third was up. A second obstacle was theresult of an unpardonable blunder on the j)art of the engi-neers in imderestimating the width of the Eapidan, so thatthe ponton-bridges it was designed to throw across thatstream were too short, and trestle-work and temporary meanshad to be provided to increase their length. In addition,another cause of delay resulted from the very precipitous A CAMPAIGN OF MANOEUVRES. 393 banks of the Rapidan, which rendered the passage of the ar-tillery and ti-ains tedious and difficult The effect of theseseveral cucumstances was that the armj, instead of makingthe passage of the river early in the day, was not acrossuntil the following morning. Twenty-four hours had passed,and only half the distance was made. Early on the morning of the 27th, the corps were again inmotion, and, under imperative orders from General Meade,. SKETCH OF M»IE EUN. they pushed forward with greater rapidity. The Second Corps,under General Warren, reached its designated point at Eohert-sons Tavern, about one oclock, and meeting a force of theenemy, immediately began to develop its strength and positionby a brisk skirmish fire. It will be remembered that, accord-ing to the plan, this corps was here to have been joined by theThkd Corps, and it was not allowed to make a serious attack 394 CAMPAIGNS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. until General Frencli should arrive. But that officer hadfallen into a series of luckless mishaps, by which it happenedthat soon after crossing the Rai:)idan at Jacobs Mill, he tookthe wrong road to reach Robertsons Tavern, falling upon aroute too much to the right, which brought it against John-sons division of Ewells corps. With this force it had a briskbrush, and by the time it could extricate itself, get on theright road, and open communications with Robertsons T
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