Chapter XII: Conclusion: OF THE CAMPAIGN IN PENNSYLVANIA.--After these battles, (6)

THE SITUATION.--In March, General Grant was made Lieutenant-General in command of all the forces of the United States. Heretofore the different armies had acted independently. They were now to move in concert, and thus prevent the Confederate forces from aiding each other. The strength of the South lay in the armies of Lee in Virginia, and Jos. E. Johnston in Georgia. Grant was to attack the former, Sherman the latter, and both were to keep at work, regardless of season or weather. While the army of the Potomac was crossing the Rapidan (May 4), Grant, seated on a log by the road-side, penciled a telegram to Sherman to start.

THE WAR IN TENNESSEE AND GEORGIA.

ADVANCE UPON ATLANTA.--Sherman, with one hundred thousand men, now moved upon Johnston, who, with nearly fifty thousand, was stationed at Dalton, Ga. (map opp. p. 222). The Confederate commander, foreseeing this advance, had selected a series of almost impregnable positions, one behind the other, all the way to Atlanta. For one hundred miles there was continued skirmishing among mountains and woods, which presented every opportunity for such a warfare. Both armies were led by profound strategists. Sherman would drive Johnston into a stronghold, and then with consummate skill outflank him, when Johnston with equal skill would retreat to a new post and prepare to meet his opponent again.

[Footnote: When either party stopped for a day or two, it fortified its front with an abattis of felled trees and a ditch with a head-log placed on the embankment The head-log was a tree twelve or fifteen inches in diameter resting on small cross-sticks, thus leaving a space of four or five inches between the log and the dirt, through which the guns could be pointed.]

At _Dalton, Resaca, Dallas,_ and _Lost_ and _Kenesaw Mountains_ bloody battles were fought. Finally, Johnston retired to the intrenchments of Atlanta (July 10).

CAPTURE OF ALANTA.--Davis, dissatisfied with this Fabian policy, now put Hood in command. He attacked the Union army three times with tremendous energy, but was repulsed with great slaughter. Sherman, thereupon re-enacting his favorite flank movement, filled his wagons with fifteen-days rations, dexterously shifted his whole army on Hood's line of supplies, and thus compelled the evacuation of the city.

[Footnote: During this campaign, Sherman's supplies were brought up by a single line of railroad from Nashville, a distance of three hundred miles, and exposed throughout to the attacks of the enemy. Yet so carefully was it garrisoned and so rapidly were bridges built and breaks repaired, that the damages were often mended before the news of the accident had reached camp. Sherman said that the whistle of the locomotive was quite frequently heard on the camp-ground before the echoes of the skirmish-fire had died away.]

_The Effect_.--This campaign during four months of fighting and marching, day and night, in its ten pitched battles and scores of lesser engagements, cost the Union army thirty thousand men, and the Confederate, thirty-five thousand. Georgia was the workshop, storehouse, granary and arsenal of the Confederacy. At Atlanta, Rome, and the neighboring towns were manufactories, foundries, and mills, where clothing, wagons, harnesses, powder, balls, and cannon were furnished to all its armies. The South was henceforth cut off from these supplies.

HOOD'S INVASION OF TENNESSEE.--Sherman now longed to sweep through the Atlantic States. But this was impossible as long as Hood, with an army of forty thousand, was in front, while the cavalry under Forrest was raiding along his railroad communications toward Chattanooga and Nashville. With unconcealed joy, therefore, Sherman learned that Hood was to invade Tennessee.

[Footnote: Hood's expectation was that Sherman would follow him into Tennessee, and thus Georgia be saved from invasion. Sherman had no such idea. "If Hood will go there," said he, "I will give him rations to go with." Now was presented the singular spectacle of these two armies, which had been so lately engaged in deadly combat, marching from each other as fast as they could go.]

Relieved of this anxiety, he at once prepared his army for its celebrated "March to the Sea."

_Battle of Nashville_ (December 15, 16)--Hood crossed the Tennessee, and after severe fighting, driving Schofield's army before him, shut up General Thomas within the fortifications at Nashville. For two weeks little was done.

[Footnote: Great disappointment was felt at the North over the retreat to Nashville, and still more at Thomas's delay in that city. Grant ordered him to move, and had actually started to take charge of his troops in person, when he learned of the splendid victory his slow but sure general had achieved.]

When Thomas was fully ready, he suddenly sallied out on Hood, and in a terrible two-days battle drove the Confederate forces out of their intrenchments into headlong flight. The Union cavalry thundered upon their heels with remorseless energy. The infantry followed closely behind. The entire Confederate army, except the rear-guard, which fought bravely to the last, was dissolved into a rabble of demoralized fugitives, who at last escaped across the Tennessee.

_The Effect_.--For the first time in the war an army was destroyed. The object which Sherman hoped to obtain when he moved on Atlanta was accomplished by Thomas, three hundred miles away. Sherman could now go where he pleased with little danger of meeting a foe. The war at the West, so far as any great movements were concerned, was finished.

SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA.--Breaking loose from his communications with Nashville, and burning the city of Atlanta, Sherman started (Nov. 16), with sixty thousand men, for the Atlantic coast (map opp. p. 222). The army moved in four columns, with a cloud of cavalry under Kilpatrick, and skirmishers in front to disguise its route, stormed Fort McAlister, and captured Savannah.

[Footnote: The ubiquity of the cavalry movements of the war is remarkable. In February preceding, Kilpatrick, who now opened up the way for Sherman's march through Georgia, made a dash with the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac to rescue the Union prisoners at Richmond. He got within the defences of the city, but not fully appreciating his success, withdrew, while Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, who headed a cooperating force, through the ignorance or treachery of his guide, lost his route, was surrounded by the enemy, and fell in an attempt to cut his way out. Great damage was done to railroads and canals near Richmond. These various raids had little effect, however, upon the issue of the contest, though they served to provoke the bitter enmity of both sides.]

[Footnote: A feint which Sherman made toward Augusta led to a concentration at that city of all the cavalry and militia called out to dispute his progress. The real direction of his march was not discovered until he had entered the peninsula between the Savannah and Ogeechee rivers.]

[Footnote: The first news received at the North from Sherman was brought by three scouts, who left the Union army just as it was closing in on Savannah. They hid in the rice swamps by day and paddled down the river by night. Creeping past Fort McAlister undiscovered, they were picked up by the Federal gunboats.]

[Footnote: Sherman sent the news of its capture with twenty-five thousand bales of cotton and one hundred and fifty cannon, to President Lincoln, as a Christmas present to the nation.]

_The Effect_ of this march can hardly be over-estimated. A fertile region, sixty miles wide and three hundred long, was desolated; three hundred miles of railroad were destroyed; the eastern portion of the already-sundered Confederacy was cut in twain; immense supplies of provisions were captured, and the hardships of war brought home to those who had hitherto been exempt from its actual contact.

THE WAR IN VIRGINIA.

BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS (May 5, 6).--After crossing the Rapidan, the Union army plunged into the Wilderness. While the columns were toiling along the narrow roads, they were suddenly attacked by the Confederate army.

[Footnote: This was near the old battle-ground of Chancellorsville, and just a year and two days after that fierce fight.]

The dense forest forbade all strategy. There was none of the pomp or glory of war, only its horrible butchery. The ranks simply dashed into the woods. Soon came the patter of shots, the heavy rattle of musketry, and then there streamed back the wreck of the battle--bleeding, mangled forms, borne on stretchers. In those gloomy shades, dense with smoke, this strangest of battles, which no eye could follow, marked only by the shouts and volleys, now advancing, now receding, as either side gained or lost, surged to and fro. The third day, both armies, worn out by this desperate struggle, remained in their intrenchments. Neither side had been conquered. Grant had lost twenty thousand men, and Lee ten thousand. It was generally supposed that the Federals would retire back of the Rapidan. Grant thought differently. He quietly gathered up his army and pushed it by the Confederate right flank toward Spottsylvania Court House.

BATTLE OF SPOTTSYLVANIA (May 8-12).--Lee detected the movement, and hurried a division to head off the Union advance. When Grant reached the spot, he found the Confederate army planted right across the road, barring his progress. Five days of continuous manoeuvring and fighting, having given little advantage, Grant concluded to try the favorite movement of the year, and turn Lee's right flank again.

[Footnote: During this time the sharpshooters on both sides, hidden in the trees, were busy picking off officers. On the 9th, General Sedgwick was superintending the placing of a battery in the front. Seeing a man dodging a ball, he rebuked him, saying, "Pooh! they can't hit an elephant at this distance." At that moment he was himself struck, and fell dead.]

[Footnote: On the morning of the 12th, Hancock's corps, hidden by a dense fog, charged upon the Confederate line, broke the abattis, surrounded a division, and took three thousand prisoners, including two generals. So complete was the surprise, that the officers were captured at breakfast. Lee, however, rallied, and the fighting was so fierce to regain this lost position, that "a tree eighteen inches in diameter was cut in two by the bullets which struck it. Ten thousand men fell on each side. Men in hundreds, killed and wounded together, were piled in hideous heaps, some bodies, which had lain for hours under the concentric fire of the battle, being perforated with wounds. The writhing of the wounded beneath the dead moved these masses at times; while often a lifted arm or a quivering limb told of an agony not quenched by the Lethe of death around."]

[Footnote: It was during this terrible battle that Grant sent his famous despatch, "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer."]

BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR (June 3).--Lee, however, moving on the inner and shorter line, reached the _North Anna_ first. Here some severe fighting occurred, when, Grant moving to flank again, Lee slipped into the intrenchments of Cold Harbor. At daybreak a general assault was made. "Twenty minutes after the first shot was fired, ten thousand Union men were stretched writhing on the sod or still and calm in death, while the enemy's loss was little over one thousand." The army, weary of this useless slaughter, refused to continue the attack.

[Footnote: Grant had arranged, in the general plan of the campaign, for three co-operative movements to attract the attention and divide the strength of the Confederate army before Richmond: 1. General Sigel, with ten thousand men, was to advance up the Shenandoah Valley and threaten the railroad communication with Richmond. He was, however, totally routed at _New Market_ (May 15). General Hunter, who superseded him, defeated the Confederates at _Piedmont_ (June 5), but pushing on to Lynchburg with about twenty thousand men, he found it too strong, and prudently retired into West Virginia. 2. On the night that the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan, General Butler, with thirty thousand men, ascended the James River, under the protection of gunboats, and landed at Bermuda Hundred. After some trifling successes, he was surprised in a dense fog by Beauregard, and driven back into his defences with considerable loss. Beauregard then threw intrenchments across the narrow strip which connects Bermuda Hundred with the main land, and, as Grant tersely said, "hermetically sealed up" the Union force from any further advance. 3. General Sheridan, while the army was at Spottsylvania, passed in the rear of the Confederate position, destroyed miles of railroad, recaptured four hundred prisoners _en route_, and defeated a cavalry force with the loss of their leader, General J. E. B. Stuart, the best cavalry officer in the South.]

ATTACK ON PETERSBURG.--Grant now rapidly pushed his army over the James, and fell upon Petersburg; but here again Lee was ahead, and the works could not be forced. Grant was therefore compelled to throw up intrenchments and sit down in front of the Confederate lines. The campaign now resolved itself into a siege of Richmond, with Petersburg as its advanced post.

_The Effect_.--The campaign had cost the Union army at least seventy thousand men, and the Confederates about forty thousand.

[Footnote: The above statement of losses is founded upon the generally-accepted authorities; but Grant has lately asserted that his total loss was only about 39,000, while Southern writers place Lee's at 18,000.]

The weakened capabilities of the South were now fairly pitted against the almost exhaustless resources of the North. Grant's plan was to keep constantly hammering Lee's army, conscious that it was the last hope of the Confederacy. The idea of thus annihilating an army was terrible, yet it seemed the only way of closing the awful struggle.

THE SIEGE OF RICHMOND continued until the spring campaign of 1865. It was marked by two important events:

1. _Mine Explosion_ (July 30).--From a hidden ravine in front of Petersburg, a mine had been dug underneath a strong Confederate fort. Just at dawn, the blast of eight thousand pounds of powder was fired. Several cannon, the garrison of three hundred men, and huge masses of earth, were thrown high in air. The Federal guns opened fire at once along the entire line. An assaulting column rushed forward, but stopped in the crater produced by the explosion. The Confederates, rallying from their confusion, concentrated from every side and poured shot and shell upon the struggling mass of men huddled within the demolished fort. To retreat was only less dangerous than to stay, yet many of the soldiers jumped out of this slaughter-pen and ran headlong back to the Union lines. The Federals lost about four thousand men in this ill-starred affair.

2. _Attack upon the Weldon Railroad_ (August 18).--By threatening Richmond upon the north, Grant induced Lee to move troops to that city from Petersburg. The opportunity was at once seized, and the Weldon Railroad captured. Lee, aware of the great importance of that means of communication with the South, for several days made most desperate attempts for its recovery. They were, however, unsuccessful, and the Union lines were permanently advanced to this point.

[Footnote: An attempt was made by Grant to take this road when he first swung south of Richmond, but he was repulsed with a loss of nearly four thousand men. That this event was not mentioned in the military report, and has not received a specific name, shows the enormous proportions the war had assumed, and how changed it was from the time when Big Bethel and Ball's Bluff were esteemed important battles.]

EARLY'S RAID.--Hunter's retreat (p. 262) having laid open the Shenandoah Valley, Lee took advantage of it to threaten Washington, hoping thus to draw off Grant from the siege of Richmond. General Early, with twenty thousand men, accordingly hurried along this oft-traveled route. Defeating General Wallace at _Monocacy River_, he appeared before _Fort Stevens_, one of the defences of Washington (July 10). Had he rushed by forced marches, he might have captured the city; but he stopped a day. Reinforcements having now arrived, he was compelled to retreat, and, laden with booty, he rapidly recrossed the Potomac. Not being pursued, he returned, and sent a party of cavalry into Pennsylvania. They entered Chambersburg, and, on failing to obtain a ransom of $500,000, set fire to the village, and escaped safely back into the Shenandoah.

SHERIDAN'S CAMPAIGN--Sheridan was now put in command of all the troops in this region. He defeated Early at _Winchester_ and _Fisher's Hill_, and in a week destroyed half his army, and sent the rest "whirling up the valley of the Shenandoah."

[Footnote: In order to prevent any further raids upon Washington from this direction, Sheridan devastated the valley so thoroughly that it was said that "if a crow wants to fly down the Shenandoah, he must carry his provisions with him."]

Early was quickly reinforced, and returning during Sheridan's absence, surprised his army at _Cedar Creek_ (October 19), and drove it in confusion. Sheridan arrived at this critical moment, ordered an immediate advance, and attacking the Confederates, now busy plundering the captured camp, routed them with great slaughter.

[Footnote: Early's attack was made under cover of a dense fog and the darkness of the early morning. The Union troops were driven four miles. General Wright, their commander, though wounded, still remained on the field, and managed to get his troops into a new position in the rear. Sheridan heard the cannonading thirteen miles away, at Winchester. Knowing the importance of his presence, he put spurs to his coal-black steed, and never drew rein until, his horse covered with foam, he dashed upon the battle-field. Riding down the lines, he shouted, "Turn, boys, turn; we're going back." Under the magnetism of his presence, the fugitives followed him back to the fight and victory.]

_The Effect_.--This campaign of only a month was one of the most brilliant of the war. Sheridan lost seventeen thousand men, but he virtually destroyed Early's army. This was the last attempt to threaten Washington.

RED RIVER EXPEDITION.

[Footnote: Troops having been sent from Vicksburg to join the Red River expedition, West Tennessee and Kentucky were left exposed to attack from the Confederates. Forrest, with five thousand men, captured Union City, Tenn., with its garrison of about five hundred troops, occupied Hickman, and advanced rapidly upon Paducah, Ky. This, protected by the gunboats, maintained so stout a defence, that Forrest retired. Moving south, he next fell upon _Fort Pillow_ (April 12). His men crept along under shelter of a ravine until very near, and then charged upon the intrenchments. Rushing into the fort, they raised the cry "No quarter!" "The Confederate officers," says Pollard, "lost control of their men, who were maddened by the sight of negro troops opposing them," and an indiscriminate slaughter followed.]

A joint naval and land expedition, under the command of General Banks, was sent up the Red River in the hope of destroying the Confederate authority in that region and in Texas (map opp. p. 222). Fort de Russy was taken (March 14), whence Banks moved on toward Shreveport. The line of march became extended a distance of nearly thirty miles along a single road. At _Sabine Cross Roads_ (April 8) the Confederate forces, under General Dick Taylor, attacked the advance, and a miniature Bull Run retreat ensued. The Union troops, however, rallied at _Pleasant Hill_, and the next day, reinforcements coming up from the rear, they were able to repulse the Confederates. The army thereupon returned to New Orleans, and Banks was relieved of the command.

[Footnote: Porter, who commanded the gunboats in the Red River, hearing of Banks's retreat, attempted to return with his fleet, but the river fell so rapidly that this became impossible. It was feared that it would be necessary to blow up the vessels to prevent their falling into the enemy's hands, when, by the happy suggestion of Colonel Bailey, formerly a Wisconsin lumberman, they were saved. He constructed a series of wing-dams below the rapids, and when the water rose, the boats were safely floated over. This skilful expedient was almost the only relieving feature of the campaign, which was believed by some to have been undertaken simply as a gigantic cotton speculation in behalf of certain parties, who seemed to be more intent on gathering that staple than on conserving the interests of the Union cause. The failure was, therefore, at the North a source of great mortification and reproach.]

_The Effect_.--This campaign was a great Confederate triumph. Banks lost five thousand men, eighteen guns, and large supplies.

[Footnote: General Steele, who commanded in Arkansas, had moved from Little Rock to cooperate in this advance, but on nearing Shreveport, learned of Banks's retreat. He immediately turned around, and with great difficulty and severe fighting, managed to escape back to Little Rock. This disaster enabled ihe Confederates to recover half of the State.]

THE WAR ON THE SEA AND ON THE COAST.

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST MOBILE (August 5) was under the command of Admiral Farragut. That he might oversee the battle more distinctly, he took his position in the maintop of his flag-ship--the Hartford. The vessels, lashed together in pairs for mutual assistance, in an hour fought their way past the Confederate forts, and engaged the iron-clad fleet beyond (map, p. 280). After a desperate resistance, the great iron ram Tennessee was taken, and the other vessels were captured or put to flight. The forts were soon after reduced, and the harbor was closed to blockade runners.

[Footnote: The city of Mobile was not captured until the next year, when Generals Granger's, Steele's, and A. J. Smith's commands, making a force of about forty-five thousand men, were collected for this purpose by Gen. Canby. The forts were gallantly defended by General Maury, but were taken within less than two weeks. The city itself was evacuated April 11. The Union troops entered the next day, ignorant that Lee had surrendered three days before, and that the Confederacy was dead.]

THE EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT FISHER, which defended the harbor of Wilmington, N. C., was commanded by Commodore Porter. It consisted of seventy vessels and a land force under General Butler. After a fierce bombardment (December 24, 25) Butler decided that the fort could not be taken by assault, and the army returned to Fortress Monroe. Commodore Porter, dissatisfied with the result, lay off the place, and asked for a second trial. The same troops, with fifteen hundred additional men, were sent back under General Terry. Protected by a terrible fire from the fleet, a column of sailors and one of soldiers worked their way, by a series of trenches, within two hundred yards of the fort. At the word, the former leaped forward on one side and the latter on another. The sailors were repulsed, but the soldiers burst into the fort. The hand-to-hand fight within lasted for hours. Late at night the garrison, hemmed in on all sides, surrendered (January 15, 1865). One knows not which to admire the more, the gallantry of the attack or the heroism of the defence. In such a victory is glory, and in such a defeat, no disgrace.

THE BLOCKADE was now so effectual that the prices of all imported goods in the Confederate States were fabulous.

[Footnote: Flour brought, in Confederate currency, $40 per barrel; calico, $30 per yard; coffee, $50 per pound; French gloves, $150 per pair; and black pepper, $300 per pound. Dried sage, raspberry, and other leaves were substituted for the costly tea. Woolen clothing was scarce and the army depended largely on captures of the ample Federal stores. "Pins were so rare that they were picked up with avidity in the streets." Paper was so expensive that matches could no longer be put in boxes. Sugar, butter, and white bread became luxuries even for the wealthy. Salt being a necessity, was economized to the last degree, old pork and fish barrels being soaked and the water evaporated so that not a grain of salt might be wasted. Women appeared in garments that were made of cloth carded, woven, spun, and dyed by their own hands. Large thorns were fitted with wax heads and made to serve as hair-pins. Shoes were manufactured with wooden soles to which the uppers were attached by means of small tacks. As a substitute for the expensive gas, the "Confederate candle" was used. This consisted of a long wick coated with wax and resin, and wound on a little wooden frame, at the top of which was nailed a bit of tin. The end of the wick being passed through a hole in the tin, was lighted and uncoiled as needed.]

Led by the enormous profits of a successful voyage, foreign merchants were constantly seeking to run the gauntlet. Their swift steamers, making no smoke, long, narrow, low, and of a mud color, occasionally escaped the vigilance of the Federal squadron. During the war, it is said, over fifteen hundred blockade runners were taken or destroyed. With the capture of Fort Fisher, the last Confederate port of entry was sealed.

CONFEDERATE CRUISERS had now practically driven the American commerce from the ocean. They were not privateers, like those named on p. 222, for they were built in England and manned by British sailors, and were only officered and commissioned by the Confederate government. They sailed to and fro upon the track of American ships, plundering and burning, or else bonding them for heavy sums. The _Alabama_ was the most noted of these British steamers. Against the urgent remonstrances of the United States Minister at the Court of England, she was allowed to sail although her mission was well known. An English captain took her to the Azores, where other English vessels brought her arms, ammunition, and the Confederate Captain Semmes with additional men. Putting out to sea, he read his commission and announced his purpose. After capturing over sixty vessels, he sailed to Cherbourg, France. While there, he sent out a challenge to the national ship-of-war _Kearsarge_ (keer'-sarj). This was accepted, and a battle took place off that harbor. Captain Winslow, of the Kearsarge, so manoeuvred that the Alabama was compelled to move round in a circular track, while he trained his guns upon her with fearful effect. On the seventh rotation, the Confederate vessel ran up the white flag and soon after sank. Captain Winslow rescued a part of the sinking crew, and others were picked up, at his request, by the Deerhound, an English yacht; but this vessel steamed off to the British coast with those she had saved, among whom was Captain Semmes.

THE SANITARY AND CHRISTIAN COMMISSIONS were "splendid examples of organized mercy," furnished by the people of the North. They devised and provided every possible comfort for the sick and wounded, besides distributing religious reading to every soldier in the field. Ambulances, stretchers, hot coffee, postage-stamps, paper and envelopes, prayer-meetings, medicines, Christian burial--no want of body or soul was overlooked. "Homes" and "Lodges " for men on sick leave; for those not yet under or just out of the care of the government, or who had been left by their regiments, were instituted. "Feeding Stations" for the tired and hungry were established, and even "Homes for the Wives, Mothers, and Children of Soldiers" who had come to visit their sick or wounded. On every flag-of-truce boat were placed clothing, medicines, and cordials for the prisoners who had been exchanged. With boundless mercy, they cared for all while living, and gave Christian burial and marked graves to the dead. Over seventeen millions of dollars in money and supplies were expended by these two Commissions.

POLITICAL AFFAIRS.--At the North, there was much dissatisfaction with the conduct of the war. The debt had become about $2,000,000, 000. In July of this year, paper money reached its greatest depreciation, and it required two dollars and ninety cents in greenbacks to buy one dollar in gold. It was at the time of Grant's repulse from Cold Harbor and of Early's raid. Yet, in the midst of these discouragements, Abraham Lincoln was renominated by the republican party. George B. McClellan was the democratic candidate; he stood firmly for the prosecution of the war, and the maintenance of the Union, but was not in full sympathy with the policy of the administration. He carried only three States. Lincoln had a popular majority of over four hundred thousand.

GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR.--

The Confederates had gained the battles of Olustee,

[Footnote: This battle ended an expedition fitted out by General Gilmore, at Hilton Head, S. C, to recover Florida. After some success his troops, under General Seymour, advanced to _Olustee_, where (February 20) they met a disastrous defeat and were forced to relinquish much they had gained. The men were afterwards taken to Virginia to engage in more important work.]

Sabine Cross Roads, the Wilderness, Bermuda Hundred, Spottsylvania, New Market, Cold Harbor, and Monocacy; had defeated the expeditions into Florida and the Red River country, the two attacks upon Petersburg, and one against Fort Fisher, and yet held Grant at bay before Richmond. They had, however, lost ground on every side. Of the States east of the Mississippi, only North and South Carolina were fully retained. Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Florida were overrun by the Union armies. The Federals had gained the battles of Pleasant Hill, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw, Atlanta, Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and Nashville. They had captured Fort de Russy, the forts in Mobile harbor, and Fort McAlister, and had taken Atlanta and Savannah. Sherman had swept across Georgia; Sheridan had devastated the Shenandoah, driving its defenders before him; Thomas had annihilated Hood's army; Grant held Lee firmly grasped at Richmond, and the navy swept the entire coast.

1865.

THE SITUATION.--The plan of the campaign was very simple. The end of the war was clearly at hand. Sherman was to move north from Savannah against Johnston, and then join Grant in the final attack upon Lee. Sheridan, with ten thousand troopers, had swept down from the Shenandoah, cut the railroads north of Richmond, and taken his place in the Union lines before Petersburg. Wilson, with thirteen thousand horsemen, rode at large through Alabama and Georgia, and at Macon held a line of retreat from Virginia westward. Stoneman, with five thousand cavalry from Tennessee, poured through the passes of the Alleghanies and waited in North Carolina for the issue in Virginia.

SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS.--In the meantime Sherman had given his troops only a month's rest in Savannah. Early in February, they were put in motion northward. There was no waiting for roads to dry nor for bridges to be built, but the troops swept on like a tornado. Rivers were waded, and one battle was fought while the water was up to the shoulders of the men. The army, sixty thousand strong, moved in four columns, with a front of more than fifty miles. Cavalry and foragers swarmed on the flanks. Before them was terror; behind them were ashes.

COLUMBIA was captured (February 17), and Charleston, thus threatened in the rear, was evacuated the next day.

[Footnote: The cotton stored in the city was scattered through the streets and destroyed by fire. The flames quickly spread to the houses adjoining. All efforts to subdue the conflagration were unsuccessful, and a large portion of the city was destroyed.]

[Footnote: General Hardee, on leaving, inflicted a terrible injury. He set fire to every shed and warehouse in which cotton was stored. The flames spread to a quantity of powder in the depot, which exploded with fearful destruction. Two hundred lives were lost. In spite of the efforts of the Union troops, a vast amount of private property was involved in the general devastation. The ravages which the war had made were well illustrated by the appearance of this city after its evacuation. An eye-witness says: "No pen, no pencil, no tongue can do justice to the scene; no imagination can conceive the utter wreck, the universal ruin, the stupendous desolation. Ruin, ruin, ruin, above and below, on the right hand and on the left-ruin, ruin, ruin, everywhere and always, staring at us from every paneless window, looking out at us from every shell-torn wall, glaring at us from every battered door, pillar, and veranda, crouching beneath our feet on every sidewalk. Not Pompeii, nor Herculaneum, nor Tadmor, nor the Nile, has ruins so saddening, so plaintively eloquent."]

In this emergency, Johnston was again called to the command of the Confederate forces. He gathered their scattered armies and vigorously opposed Sherman's advance. After fierce engagements at _Averysboro_ and _Bentonville_ (March 15, 18), he was driven back, and Raleigh was captured (April 13).

SIEGE OF RICHMOND.--Lee's position was fast becoming desperate. His only hope lay in getting out of Richmond and joining with Johnston. Their united armies might prolong the struggle. Grant was determined to prevent this, and compel Lee to surrender, as he had forced Pemberton to do.

ATTACK ON FORT STEADMAN (March 25).--Lee determined to attack Grant's right, in order to hide his plan of retreat, and especially in the hope that Grant would send troops from the left to succor the threatened point. In that case, he would slip out, with the main body of his army, by the nearest road southward, which ran close by the Union left. The assault was made on Fort Steadman, but it was a signal failure. Three thousand out of five thousand engaged in the attempt were lost. To make matters worse, a Union assault followed directly afterward, and a portion of the Confederate outer defences was captured. Thus Grant's grip was only tightened. He had made no change in the position of his troops, and this sortie neither hastened nor delayed the grand, final attack.

BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS (April l).--This movement began Wednesday morning, March 29. Sheridan with his cavalry--nine thousand sabres--and heavy columns of infantry, pushed out from Grant's left wing to get around in Lee's rear. Cloaking his plan by a thick screen of cavalry, to conceal the movements of his infantry, he threw a heavy force behind the Confederate position at _Five Forks_. Assailed in front and rear, the garrison was overwhelmed, and five thousand men were taken prisoners.

[Footnote: Five Forks is situated twelve miles southwest from Petersburg. (See map opposite p. 223, and of VIth Epoch.)]

_The Effect_ of this brilliant affair was at once to render Lee's position untenable. His right was turned, and his rear threatened.

CAPTURE OF PETERSBURG AND RICHMOND (April 2, 3).--The next morning, at four o'clock, the Union army advanced in an overwhelming assault along the whole front. By noon, the Confederate line of intrenchments before which the Army of the Potomac had lain so long, was broken, and thousands of prisoners were captured.

[Footnote: Generals Lee and A. P. Hill were at the former's headquarters, within the city, discussing the prospects of the day. Suddenly General Lee, listening, said to Hill: "General, your men are giving way." Instantly Hill was mounted and dashing down the road. As he was spurring his steed, he caught a glimpse of two or three blue coats with rifles leveled at him. "Throw down your arms!" he authoritatively cried. For an instant the men hesitated, but the next moment they fired, and General Hill fell dead.]

That night Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated. The next morning the Union troops took possession of the Confederate capital, the coveted goal of the Army of the Potomac for four long bloody years.

[Footnote: Sunday, the day before, the Confederate President, Davis, was at church, when a note was handed him by a messenger. It was from Leo, informing him that the Confederate army was about to leave Richmond. His pallid face and unsteady footsteps, as he passed out, betrayed the news. Pollard says: "Men, women, and children rushed from the churches, passing from lip to lip news of the impending fall of Richmond. . . . It was late in the afternoon when the signs of evacuation became apparent to the incredulous. Suddenly, as if by magic, the streets became filled with men, walking as though for a wager, and behind them excited negroes with trunks, bundles, and luggage of every description. All over the city, it was the same--wagons, trunks, bandboxes, and their owners, a mass of hurrying fugitives filling the streets. Night came, and with it confusion worse confounded. There was no sleep for human eyes in Richmond that night. About the hour of midnight, hundreds of barrels of liquor were rolled into the street, and the heads knocked in, by order of the City Council, to prevent a worse disorder. As the work progressed, some straggling soldiers managed to get hold of a quantity of the liquor. From that moment law and order ceased to exist." By order of General Ewell, the four principal tobacco warehouses, in different parts of the city, were fired, and soon the flames became unmanageable. "Morning broke upon a scene such as those who witnessed it can never forget. The roar of an immense conflagration sounded in their ears; tongues of flame leaped from street to street; and in this baleful glare were to be seen, as of demons, the figures of busy plunderers, moving, pushing, rioting through the black smoke, bearing away every conceivable sort of plunder."]

LEE'S SURRENDER.--Meanwhile, Lee, having only the wreck of that proud array with which he had dealt the Union army so many crushing blows, hurried west, seeking some avenue of escape. Grant urged the pursuit with untiring energy. Sheridan, "with a terrible daring which knew no pause, no rest," hung on his flanks. Food now failed the Confederates and they could get only the young shoots of trees to eat. If they sought a moment's repose, they were awakened by the clatter of pursuing cavalry. Lee, like a hunted fox, turned hither and thither; but at last Sheridan planted himself squarely across the front. Lee ordered a charge. His half-starved troops, with a rallying of their old courage, obeyed. But the cavalry moving aside, as a curtain is drawn, revealed dense bodies of infantry in battle line. The Civil War was about to end in one of its bloodiest tragedies, when the Confederate advance was stopped. General Grant had already sent in a note demanding the surrender of the army. Lee accepted the terms; and, April 9th, eight thousand men--the remains of the Army of Virginia--laid down their arms near Appomattox Court House, and then turned homeward, no longer Confederate soldiers, but American citizens.

[Footnote: The officers and men were allowed to go home on their paroles not to take up arms against the United States until exchanged, and the former to retain their private baggage and horses. After the surrender had been concluded, General Lee said that he had forgotten to mention that many of his soldiers rode their own horses. Grant at once replied that such should keep their horses to aid them in their future work at home--That the two armies so fiercely opposed for four years could have parted with no words but those of sympathy and respect was an assured presage of a day when all the wounds of the restored Union should be fully healed.]

_The Effect_.--This closed the war. The other Confederate armies--Johnston's, Dick Taylor's, and Kirby Smith's--promptly surrendered. Jefferson Davis fled southward, hoping to escape, but was overtaken near Irwinsville, Georgia (May 11), and sent a prisoner to Fortress Monroe.

[Footnote: The last fight of the war happened near Brazos Santiago, Texas, May 13. A small expedition sent out to surprise a Confederate camp was overtaken, on its return, by a larger force and defeated with a loss of eighty men.]

COST OF THE WAR.--In the Union armies probably three hundred thousand men were killed in battle or died of wounds or disease, while doubtless two hundred thousand more were crippled for life. If the Confederate armies suffered as heavily, the country thus lost one million able-bodied men. The Union debt, Jan. 1, 1866, was nearly $2,750,000,000. At one time, the daily expenses reached the sum of $3,500,000. During the last year of the war, the expenses were greater than the entire expenditures of the government from Washington to Buchanan. The Confederate war debts were never paid, as that government was overthrown.

ASSASSINATION OF LINCOLN.--In the midst of the universal rejoicings over the advent of peace, on the evening of April 14 the intelligence was flashed over the country that Lincoln had been assassinated. While seated with his wife and friends in his box at Ford's Theatre, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth who insanely imagined he was ridding his country of a tyrant.

[Footnote: Booth stealthily entered the box, fastened the door, that he might not be followed, shot the President, then--waving his pistol shouted "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (so be it always to tyrants), and leaped to the stage in front As he jumped, the American flag draped before the box--mute avenger of the nation's chief--caught his spur and, throwing him heavily, broke his leg The assassin, however escaped from the house in the confusion, mounted a horse which was waiting for him, and fled into Maryland He was at length overtaken in a barn, here he stood at bay The building was fired to drive him out, but, being determined to defend himself against arrest, he was shot by one of the soldiers The accomplices of Booth were arrested, tried and convicted. Herold, Payne, Atzerott and Mrs Surratt were hanged, Arnold, Mudd and McLaughlin imprisoned for life and Spangler was sentenced for six years]

[Footnote: A nearly fatal attempt was also made at the same time upon William H Seward, Secretary of State, who was lying sick in his bed at home]

About the unconscious body of the President gathered the most prominent men of the nation, who mourned and watched, waiting in vain for some sign of recognition until the next morning, when he died. The funeral was held on the 19th. It was a day of mourning throughout the land. In most of the cities and towns funeral orations were pronounced. The body was borne to Springfield over the same route along which Lincoln had come as President elect to Washington. The procession may be said to have extended the entire distance. The churches, principal buildings, and even the engines and cars were draped in black. Almost every citizen wore the badge of mourning.

STATES ADDED DURING THIS EPOCH.--_West Virginia_, the thirty-fifth State, was admitted to the Union June 20, 1863. During the Civil War, this portion of Virginia remaining loyal, it was incorporated as a separate State.

_Nevada_, the thirty-sixth State, was admitted to the Union October 31, 1864. Its name was derived from the range of mountains on the west, the Sierra Nevada, a Spanish title, signifying "Snow-covered mountains." It was the third State carved out of the territory acquired by the Mexican war, Texas being the first, and California the second. Its first settlement was at Carson City. It is one of the richest mineral States in the Union.

Summary of the History of the Fifth Epoch, arranged in Chronological Order.

1861. Abraham Lincoln inaugurated President of United States,
March 4,
Fort Sumter fired upon, April 12,
Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers, April 15,
Confederates seized Harper's Ferry, April 18,
Massachusetts troops fired upon in Baltimore, April 19,
Confederates seized Norfolk Navy Yard, April 20,
Battle of Philippi, Va., June 3,
" Big Bethel, Va., June 10,
" Booneville, Mo., June 17,
" Carthage, Mo., July 5,
1861. Battle of Rich Mountain, Va., July 11,
" Carrick's Ford, Va., July 14,
Confederate Congress assembled at Richmond, Va., July 20,
Battle of Bull Run, Va., July 21,
" Wilson's Creek, Mo., August 10,
Forts at Hatteras Inlet, N. C., captured, August 29,
Battle of Carnifex Ferry, Va., September 10,
" Lexington, Mo., September 20,
" Ball's Bluff, Va., October 21,
Port Royal, S. C., taken, November 7,
Battle of Belmont, Mo, November 7,
Seizure of Mason and Slidell, November 8,
Skirmish of Dranesville, Va., December 20,
1862. Battle of Mill Spring, Ky., January 19,
Fort Henry, Tenn., taken, February 6,
Roanoke Island, N. C., taken, February 8,
Fort Donelson, Tenn., taken, February 16,
Battle of Pea Ridge, Ark., March 7,8,
" of the Monitor and the Merrimac, March 9,
Newberne, N. C., taken, March 14,
Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tenn., April 6,7,
Island No. 10 captured, April 7,
Fort Pulaski, Ga., captured, April 11,
New Orleans captured, April 25,
Beaufort, S. C, captured, April 25,
Yorktown, Va., taken, May 4,
Battle of Williamsburg, Va., May 5,
Norfolk, Va., surrendered, May 10,
Corinth, Miss., taken, May 30,
Battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines, Va., May 31, June 1,
Lee assumed command of the Confederate armies, June 3,
Memphis, Tenn., surrendered, June 6,
Seven-Days battles, June 25-July 1,
Battle of Cedar Mountain, Va., August 9,
Second Battle of Bull Run, Va., August 29,
Battle of Richmond, Ky., August 30,
" Chantilly, Va., September 1,
" South Mountain, Md., September 14,
Harper's Ferry surrendered, September 15,
Battle of Antietam, Md., September 17,
" Iuka, Miss., September 19,
" Corinth, Miss., October 4,
" Perryville, Ky., October 8,
1862. Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., December 13,
First attack on Vicksburg, Miss., December 29,
Battle of Murfreesboro, Tenn., December 31 and January
2, 1863,
1863. Emancipation Proclamation, January 1,
Arkansas Post taken, January 11,
Fort Sumter, S. C., bombarded by fleet, April 7,
Grant's campaign before Vicksburg, May 1-17,
Battle of Chancellorsville, Va., May 2, 3,
West Virginia admitted to the Union, June 20,
Battle of Gettysburg, Penn., July 1-3,
Vicksburg, Miss., surrendered, July 4,
Port Hudson surrendered, July 8,
Draft Riot in New York City, July 13-16,
Fort Wagner, S. C., taken, September 7,
Battle of Chickamauga, Ga., September 19, 20,
" Chattanooga, Tenn., November 24, 25,
Siege of Knoxville, Tenn., raised, December 4,
1864. Battle of Olustee, Fla, February 20,
Grant made Lieutenant-General, March 3,
Fort de Russy captured, March 14,
Fort Pillow, Tenn., captured, April 12,
Butler landed at Bermuda Hundred, May 5,
Battle of Wilderness, Va., May 5, 6,
" Spottsylvania, Va., May 8-12,
" Resaca, Ga., May 14, 15,
" New Market, Va., May 15,
" Dallas, May 25-28,
" Cold Harbor, Va., June 3,
" Lost Mountain, Ga., June 15-17,
Battle between the Kearsarge and the Alabama, June 19,
Battle of Kenesaw Mt., Ga., June 27,
" Monocacy, Md., July 9,
Battles before Atlanta, Ga., July 20, 22, 28,
Chambersburg, Pa., burned, July 30,
Mine explosion, Petersburg, Va., July 30,
Farragut entered Mobile Bay, Ala., August 5,
Weldon Railroad seized, August 18,
Atlanta, Ga., taken, September 2,
Battle of Winchester, Va., September 19,
" Fisher's Hill, Va., September 22,
" Cedar Creek, Va., October 19,
Nevada admitted to the Union, October 31,
Fort McAlister, Ga, taken, December 13,
1864. Battle of Nashville, Tenn., December 15, 16,
1865. Fort Fisher, N. C., taken, January 15,
Columbia, S. C., taken, February 17,
Charleston, S. C., taken, February 18,
Battles of Averysboro and Bentonsville, N. C., Mar 15, 18,
Attack on Fort Steadman, Va., March 25,
Battle of Five Forks, Va., April 1,
Petersburg and Richmond taken, April 2, 3,
Lee's army surrendered, April 9,
President Lincoln assassinated, April 14,
Johnston's army surrendered, April 26,
Jefferson Davis captured May 11,

* * * * *

REFERENCES FOR READING.

_Draper, Greeley, Stephens, Abbott, Pollard, Lossing and Headley on the Civil War--Nichol's Story of the Great March and The Sanctuary (a novel)--Swinton's Army of the Potomac and Twelve Decisive Battles--Dabney's Life of Stonewall Jackson--Badeau's Military History of General Grant--Headley's Farragut and Our Naval Commanders--Coffin's Days and Nights on the Battle Field--Boynton's American Navy--Still's History of the Sanitary Commission--Johnston's Narrative of Military Operations--Moore's Rebellion Record and Ballads and Grant White's Poetry of the Civil War--Harper's Pictorial History of the War--Duyckinck's History and Lives of Eminent Americans--Mrs Childs's Romance of the Republic--Esten Cook's Surrey of Eagle's Nest and Mohun (novels)--Harrington's Inside--Gilmore's Among the Guerrillas and Down in Tennessee--W. G. Simms's War Poetry of the South--Laura Redden's Idyls of Battle and Richardson's Field, Dungeon, and Escape--Hotchkiss & Allan's Battle Fields of Virginia--Early's Army of Northern Virginia--Whittier's In War Time (Poem)--Cooke's Life of General Robert E. Lee--Memoirs of Gen W. T. Sherman--Barnes's Popular Hist of United States _

EPOCH VI.

RECONSTRUCTION AND PASSING EVENTS.

From 1865--Close of the Civil War, To--The Present Date.

JOHNSON'S ADMINISTRATION.

[Footnote: Andrew Johnson was born in Raleigh, N. C., December 29, 1808. When only ten years of age, he was bound apprentice to a tailor of that city. Never having been at school a day in his life, he yet determined to secure an education. From a fellow-workman he learned the alphabet, and from a friend something of spelling. Thenceforth, after working ten to twelve hours per day at his trade, he spent two or three every night in study. In 1826, he went West to seek his fortune, with true filial affection carrying with him his mother, who was dependent on his labor for support. After his marriage at Greenville, Tenn., he continued his studies under the instruction of his wife, pursuing his trade as before by day. His political life commenced with his election as alderman. He was successively chosen mayor, member of legislature, Presidential elector, State senator, twice governor, and thrice U.S. senator.]

[Footnote: _Questions on the Geography of the Sixth Epoch. _-Locate Raleigh. Heart's Content, and St. John's, Newfoundland (see map, Epoch II). Alaska St. Albans, Vt. Buffalo, Mt. Pleasant, O, (map. Epoch V). West Point. Chicago. Boston. Duluth. Puget's Sound. San Francisco. Klamath Lava Beds, Oregon.]

(SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT: 1865-1869.)

THE death of Lincoln produced no disorder, and within three hours thereafter the Vice-President, Andrew Johnson, quietly assumed the duties of the Presidency.

DISBANDING OF THE ARMY.--At the close of the war the two armies numbered a million and a half of soldiers. Within six months they had nearly all returned home. Thus the mightiest hosts ever called to the field by a republic went back without disturbance to the tranquil pursuits of civil life. In a few months there was nothing to distinguish the soldier from the citizen, except the recollection of his bravery. Other nations prophesied that such a vast army could not be disbanded peaceably. The republic, by this final triumph of law and order, proved itself the most stable government in the world.

[Footnote: A grand review of the armies of Grant and Sherman, two hundred thousand strong, took place in the presence of the President and his Cabinet. For twelve hours this triumphal procession, thirty miles long, massed in solid column twenty men deep, rolled through the broad avenues of the Capital.]

DOMESTIC AFFAIRS.--_Reconstruction Policy of the President. _--Johnson recognized the State governments that had been formed in Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas, and Louisiana during the war, under the protection of the Union army. In the other States, he appointed provisional governors, and authorized the calling of conventions to form loyal governments. These conventions accordingly met, repealed the ordinances of secession, repudiated the Confederate war debt, and ratified the amendment which Congress had offered abolishing slavery. On these conditions, Johnson claimed that the States, having never been legally out of the Union, should be restored to all their rights in the Union. All restrictions on commerce with the South had been previously removed (April 29, 1865). A month later, Johnson issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon to all engaged in secession, except certain classes, on condition of taking the oath of allegiance to the United States. In 1868 (July 4) full pardon was granted to all not under indictment for treason, and afterward this was extended to all without exception.

[Footnote: Many of the persons thus excluded obtained pardons from the President by personal application. One complaint against him was the readiness with which he granted such pardons.]

_The Thirteenth Amendment_, abolishing slavery, having been ratified by the States, was declared (December 18, 1865) duly adopted as a part of the Constitution of the United States.

_Public Debt._--The annual interest on the war debt was now over one hundred and thirty millions of dollars. The revenue from duties on imported goods, taxes on manufactures, incomes, etc., and from the sale of revenue stamps, was over three hundred millions of dollars. This provided not only for the current expenses of the government and the payment of interest, but also for the gradual extinguishment of the debt. It is a striking evidence of the abundant resources of the country that, in 1866, "before all the extra troops called out by the war had been discharged, the debt had been diminished more than thirty-one millions of dollars."

_Reconstruction Policy of Congress._--On the assembling of Congress, decided grounds were taken against the policy of the President. It was claimed that Congress alone had power to prescribe the conditions for the re-admission of the seceded States. His proclamation and orders were treated as of no value. The Freedmen's Bureau, the Civil Rights, and the Tenure-of-Office bills were passed over the President's veto.

[Footnote: The first provided for the establishment of a department of the national government for the care and protection of the freedmen, _i. e._, the emancipated slaves, and also of the destitute whites at the South. The second bill guaranteed to the negroes the rights of citizenship. The third made the consent of the Senate necessary to the removal by the President of any person from a civil office.]