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EF"See Card and Catalogue. * * HISTORY Of THE GREAT REBELLION, FROM ITS COMMENCEMENT TO ITS CLOSE, GIVING AN ACCOUNT OF ITS ORIGIN, THE SECESSION OF THE SOUTHERN STATES, ^ AND THE FORMATION OF THE fc CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT, THE CONCENTRATION OF THE MILITARY AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES OF THH FEDEBAL THE DEVELOPMENT OF ITS VAST POWER, THE RAISING, ORGANIZING, AND EQUIPPING 07 THE CONTENDING ARMIES AND NAVIES ; LUCID, VIVID AND ACCURATE DESCRIPTIONS OF BATTLES AND BOMBARDMENTS, SIEGES AND SURRENDER OF FORTS, CAPTURED BATTERIES, ETC., ETC. ; THE IMMENSE FINANCIAL RESOURCES AND COM- PREHENSIVE MEASURES OF THE GOVERNMENT, THE ENTHUSIASM AND PATRIOTIC CONTRIBUTION'S OF THE PEOPLE, TOGETHER WITH SKETCHES OF THE LIVES OF ALL THE EMINENT STATESMEN AND MILITARY AND NAVAL COMMANDERS. From. Official Scmroes. BY THOMAS P. KETTELL, LATE EDITOR or " HUNT'S MERCHANTS' MAGAZINE," EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR OF Tint " CKHTUY," "ARMY AND NATS CHBONICLE," THB "BANKERS' CIRCULAR," NEW YORK CORRESPONDENT or A WASIILNGTON JOURNAL, &o., &o. EMBELLISHED WITH OVER 125 ENGRAVINGS, INCLUDING 90 PORTRAITS OF PROMINENT STATESMEN, MILITARY AND NAVAL OFFICERS, AND 20 FULL-PAGE BATTLE AND OTHER SCENES, ON STEEL, ILLUSTRATING THE VARIED AND EXCITINO SCENES OF THE WAR, WITH NUMEROUS MAPS, GIVING THE LOCATION OF ALL IMPORTANT MILITARY POINTS. THREE VOLS. VOL. III. FURNISHED TO SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. NEW YORK: 1ST. C. MILLER, 3 PARK ROW, PUBLISHER OF SUBSCRIPTION BOOKS. H. H. BANCROFT & CO., SAN FRANCISCO, CAL. 1866. Entered according to Act of Congiess, in tne year 1865, BY L. STEBBINS, 01 me Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Diatnc*. of Massachusetts. l CONTENTS SEN CHAPTER XLIII. PAGE 815 TO 822. Lee's Retreat from Gettysburg. Peace Mission. Conscription. Meade Re-enforced. Draft. Riots. Lee Crosses the Rapidan. His Advance and Subsequent Retreat. CHAPTER XLIV. PAGE 823 TO 827. Meade's Advance across the Rapidan. Recrosses. Winter-Quarters. Draft for Three Hundred Thousand Men. Reconnoissance. Kilpatrick's Raid upon Richmond. Death of Dahlgren. CHAPTER XLY. PAGE 828 TO 837. Creation of the Office of Lieutenant-General General Grant Appointed. Army Reorganization. Draft for Two Hundred Thousand Men. General Grant assumes Command in Chief. Powers of the Lieutenant- General. Country between "Washington and Richmond. Rule of Ad- vance. Rebel Position. CHAPTER XLTI. PAGE 838 TO 858. The Army in Tennessee. Results at Murfreesboro'. Operations in Tennes- see. Minor Expeditions. Advance of Rosecrans. Retreat of Bragg. Burnside's Campaign in East Tennessee. Occupation of Knoxville. Evacuation of Chattanooga. Concentration of the Enemy. Battle of Chickamauga. The Two Generals. Results of the Battle. CHAPTER XLVII. PAGE 859 TO 868. Inaction of Bragg. His Position. His Indecision. Rosecrans Recruit- ing. Storms. Hooker Arrives. Grant Ordered up. He Supersedes Rosecrans. Thomas in Command of Department. Position of the Ar- my. Movement to open River. Defeat of the Enemy. Sherman'3 March. Combat. Change of Route. Burnside's Position. Longstreet Detached from Bragg. Siege of Knoxville. Burnside Hard Pressed. Bragg Weakened. Grant Attacks. The Movement Successful. Sher- man Relieves Burnside. Retreat of Longstreet. IV CONTENTS. CHAPTER XLVIII. PAGB 869 TO 879. Operations against Charleston. Arrival of Monitors. Montauk. Attack by the Enemy. Iron-clad Attack on Sumter. Capture of the At- lanta. General GillmofB in Command. Assault on Fort "Wagner. Bom- bardment of Fort Sumter. Siege and Reduction of Fort Wagner. Occu- pation of Morris Island. CHAPTER XLIX. PAGE 880 TO 890. Advance on Richmond. Crossing of the Rapidan. Routes of Corps. The Enemy attempts a Flanking Movement. Meade's Attack. Repulse of Griffin. Hancock Arrives. Concentration of the Army. Burnside ordered Forward. New Dispositions. Advance of Hancock on the 6th. Arrival of Longstreet. Fall of Wadsworth. Longstreet Wounded. Attack on the Union Right. Results of the Two Days' Fighting. CHAPTER L. PAGE 891 TO 902. Movement upon Spottsylvania. The Enemy on the Alert. Attack of May 10th. Death of Sedgwick. Position of the Troops. Grant " to Fight it out on that Line." Assault by the Second Corps on May 12th. Large Captures of Prisoners and Guns. Results of the Struggle. Sheridan's Cavalry Raid. Death of General Stuart. Battle at Meadow Bridge. Sheridan at the James River. CHAPTER LI. PAGE 903 TO 911. Retrograde Movement of the Enemy. Bad Condition of the Roads. Union Movement to the Left. Relative Position of Armies. Re-enforce- ments. Irruption on the Rear Repulsed. Grant Crossing the North Anna. Impregnable Position of the Enemy. North Anna Recrossed, and Movement to the Left continued. CHAPTER LII. PAGB 912 TO 917. Original Plan of Campaign. Butler's Expedition up the James. Movement on Petersburg. Fort Darling. Repulse of the Union Forces. Attack by Beauregard. Beauregard Re-enforces Lee. Smith sent to support Grant. CHAPTER LIII. PAGE 918 TO 926. Position of Grant's Army. Warren's Advance. Further Development of the Union Left Wing. Severe Battles around Cold Harbor. New Flank Movement determined upon. Crossing of the James and Junction with Butler. Results of that Campaign. CONTENTS. V CHAPTER LIT. PAGE 92? TO 930. Advance on Petersburg. Position of the City. Assault and Capture of Earthworks and Guns. Assault of Saturday, June 18th. Repulse. Aspect of the Campaign. CHAPTER LY. PAGE 931 TO 941. Relative Strength of Armies. Grant moves against the Railroad Connections of Richmond Combat of June 21st. Repulsed the 23d. Sheridan's Ex- pedition. Movement of Wilson and Kautz on the Danville Road. Five Hundred Thousand Men called out. Explosion of the Mine in Front of Petersburg. Failure of the Assault. CHAPTER LVI. PAGE 942 TO 948. Sigel's Movement in the Valley. Hunter Supersedes Sigel, and Defeats the Rebels near Staunton. Occupation of Lexington. Lynchburg. Early sent to the Valley. Retreat of Hunter through "Western Virginia. Advance of Early down the Valley and Invasion of Maryland. Defeat of Wallace. Washington Threatened. Arrival of Sixth Corps and Re- treat of Early. Various Encounters in the Valley. Hunter Superseded by Sheridan. CHAPTER LVII. PAGE 949 TO 959. Dutch Gap Canal. Movement North of the James. Expedition of the Fifth Corps to the Weldon Road. Attack by Hill. Severe Fighting near Reams's Station. Losses. Repulse of the Enemy. Subsequent Repulse of Hancock. Renewal of the Movement North of the James and Capture of Fort Harrison. Further Operations on the Weldon Rail- road. CHAPTER LVIII. PAGE 960 TO 968. Operations in Tennessee. Sherman's Raid through Mississippi. Failure of Smith's Co-operative Movement. Invasion of Western Tennessee and Kentucky by Forrest. Massacre at Fort Pillow. CHAPTER LIX. PAGE 969 TO 985. Co-operative Movement on Atlanta. Size and Organization of the Union and Rebel Armies. Commencement of the Campaign by Sherman. Evacuation of Dalton by Johnston. Battle of Resaca and Retreat of tlie Rebels. Operations at Dallas and Kenesaw. Rebels Flanked and driven across the Chattahoochie. VI CONTENTS. CHAPTER LX PAGE 986 TO 996. The New Position of the Enemy. Johnston again Turned and Pushed Back upon Atlanta. Rousseau's Raid. Hood Succeeds Johnston. In- vestment of Atlanta. Battles of July 20th and 22d. Death of McPher- Bon. Cavalry Raids of Stoneman and McCook. Defeat and Capture of Stoneman. Battle of July 28th. Prolongation of the Union Right Wing. Changes of Commanders in Sherman's Army. CHAPTER LXI. PA " Thursday, March 24, 1864. J " GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 10. " The following order has been received from the "War Department: " 'WAR DEPARTMENT, ADJUTANT-GENERAL'S OFFICE, ) " ' WASHINGTON, March 23, 1864. f " ' GENERAL ORDERS, NO. 415. "'First. By direction of the President of the United States, the number of army corps composing the Army of the Potomac will be reduced to three, viz. : the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps. The troops of the other two corps, viz., the First and Third Corps, will be temporarily reorganized and distributed among the Second, Fifth, and' Sixth, by the commanding general, who will determine what existing organizations will retain their corps badges and other distinctive marks. The staff officers of the two corps, which are temporarily broken up, will be assigned to vacancies in the other corps, so far as such vacancies may exist. Those for whom there are no vacancies will cease to be considered as officers of the general staff of army corps. " ' Second. Major-General G. W. Warren is assigned by the President to the command of the Fifth Corps. 830 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. " ' Third. The following general officers are detached from the Army of the Potomac, and will report for orders to the adjutant of the army, viz.: Major-General George Sykes, U. S. Vols., Major-General "W. II. French, U. S. Vols., Major-General John Newton, U. S. Vols., Brigadier-General J. R. Kenly, U. S. Vols., Brigadier-General F. Spinola, U. S. Vols., Brigadier- General Solomon Meredith, TJ. S. Vols. " ' By order of the Secretary of War. " ' E. D. TOWNSEXD, A. A. G: " Fourth. The following arrangements are made to carry out the provi- sions of the foregoing order : The Second, Fifth, and Sixth Army Corps will be consolidated into two divisions. The first and second divisions of the Third Corps are transferred to the Second Corps, preserving their badges and distinctive marks. The third division of the Third Corps is transferred permanently to the Sixth Corps. The three divisions now forming the First Corps are transferred to the Fifth Corps, preserving their badges and distinctive marks, and on joining the Fifth Corps, they will be consolidated into two divisions. The commander of the division transferred to the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps will at once report to the com- manders of those corps for instructions. Brigadier-General J. B. Carr will report to Major-General Hancock, commanding the Second Corps, and Briga- dier-General H. Prince to Major-General Sedgwick, commanding the Sixth Corps. The chief of artillery will assign eight batteries each to the Second, Fifth, and Sixth Corps, these batteries to be taken from those now with the corps, and with the First and Third Corps. The batteries with the several corps in excess of the above allowance will join the artillery reserve. The consolidation of divisions called for in this order will be made by the corps commanders concerned, who are authorized to rearrange the brigades of their respective commands in such manner as they may think best for the service. The reassignment of officers of the staff departments, consequent upon the reorganization of the army, will be made upon the nominations of the chiefs of staff departments at these head-quarters. Special instructions will be given hereafter with respect to staff officers of the two corps temporarily broken up. " Fifth. The major-general commanding avails himself of the occasion to say, that in view of the reduced strength of nearly ah" the regiments serving in this army, the temporary reduction of the army corps to three is a measure imperatively demanded by the best interests of the service, and that the rea- sons for attaching the First and Third Corps, for the time being, to other corps, were in no respect founded upon any supposed inferiority of those corps, to the other corps of this army. All the corps have equally proved their valor on many fields, and all have equal claims to the confidence of the Govern- ment and of the country. The First and Third Corps will retain their badges and distinctive marks, and the major-general commanding indulges the hope that the ranks of the army will be filled at an early day, so that those corps can again be reorganized. "By command of Major-General Meade. (Signed) " S. WILLIAMS, A. A. G." The following is a summary of the reorganization of the corps : FIFTH ABMT CORPS, i Major-General Warren, Commanding. The consolidation of divisions and arrangement of brigades is made as HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 831 follows : The Commanding officer of the First Division of the old Fifth Corps is ordered to consolidate the three brigades into two brigades, to be designated as the First and Second Brigades, First Division, Fifth Army Corps. The old Second Division, Fifth Corps, has been consolidated into one brigade, to be designated as the Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Corps, commanded by Brigadier-General R. B. Ayres. The old Third Division, Fifth Corps, will remain as the new Third Division, Fifth Army Corps. The Second Brigade of the Third Division, First Army Corps, has been transferred to the Second Division, First Army Corps, and this divi- sion will hereafter be designated as the Second Division, Fifth Army Corps. The First Brigade of the Third Division, First Army Corps, has been trans- ferred to the First Division, First Army Corps, and this division will here- after be designated as the Fourth Division, Fifth Army Corps. The desig- nating flags of the old Third Brigade, First Division, Fifth Army Corps ; of the old Second Division, Fifth Army Corps; of the old Second Brigade, Second Division, Fifth Army Corps ; and of Third Division, First Army Corps, are ordered to be turned in to the corps quartermaster. The following is the assignment of general officers to commands in the consolidated corps : 1. Brigadier-General J. S. "Wadsworth, commanding Fourth Division. 2. Brigadier-General S. "W. Crawford, commanding Third Division. 3. Brigadier-General J. C. Robinson, commanding Second Division. 4. Brigadier-General Charles Griffin, commanding First Division. 6. Brigadier-General R. B. Ayres, commanding Third Brigade, First Division. 6. Brigadier-General L. Cutter, commanding First Brigade, Fourth Divi- sion. 7. Brigadier-General Henry Baxter, commanding Second Brigade, Second Division. 8. Brigadier-General J. J. Bartlett, commanding Second Brigade, First Division. 9. Brigadier-General James Barnes, commanding First Brigade, First Division. 10. Brigadier-General J. 0. Rice, commanding Second Brigade, Fourth Division. The following is a portion of the corps staff: Lieutenant-Colonel H. C. Bankhead, Inspector-General. Lieutenant-Colonel F. A. Locke, Assistant Adjutant-General. Captain D. L. Smith, Acting Chief Commissary of Subsistence. * Captain W. T. Gentry, Commissary of Musters. The other officers of the staff have not yet been assigned. SECOND CORPS. Major-General Hancock, Commanding. The original regiments of the Second Corps have been consolidated into two divisions, with a new assignment of division and brigade commanders. The division formerly known as the First Division of the Third Corps, commanded by Major-General Birney, has been designated as the Third Division of the Second Corps. The division formerly known as the Second Division of the Third Corps, to which Brigadier-General Carr has been assigned as commander, will hereafter be known as the Fourth Division of the Second Corps. Each of these divisions has been reduced to two brigades. The organization of the staff of the Second Corps has not yet been completed. 832 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. The following is the arrangement of divisions and assignment of com- manders ; FIRST DIVISION. Brigadier-General T. C. Barlow. First Brigade Colonel N. A. Niles, Sixty-first New York. Second Brigade Colonel T. A. Smythe, First Delaware Volunteers. Third Brigade Colonel P. Frank, Fifty-second New York. Fourth Brigade Colonel J. R. Brooke, Fifty-fifth Pennsylvania. SECOND DIVISION. Brigadier-General John Gibbon. First Brigade Brigadier-General A. S. "Webb. Second Brigade Brigadier-General J. P. Owens. Third Brigade Colonel S. S. Carroll, Eighth Ohio. THIRD DIVISION: Major-General D. B. Birney. First Brigade Brigadier-General J. H. Ward. Second Brigade Brigadier-General A. Haye. TOURTH DIVISION. Brigadier-General J. B. Carr. First Brigade Brigadier-General G. Mott. Second Brigade Colonel W. R. Brewster, Seventy-third New York. Chief of Artillery Colonel Tibball. SIXTH CORPS. General Sedgwick, Commanding. The old Third Division, Sixth Corps, is broken up, one brigade (Shaler's) going to the First Division ; the Second (Wheaton's and Eustis's) going to the Second Division. The Third Division, Third Corps, is transferred to the Sixth Corps, and General Prince is assigned to the command of it. The three brigades of this division are consolidated into two, under Gen- eral Russell and General Morris. FIRST DIVISION. Brigadier-General H. G. Wright. First Brigade Brigadier-General A. T. A. Torbert. Second Brigade Colonel E. Upton, One Hundred and Twenty-first New York. Third Brigade Colonel H. Burnham, Fifth Maine Volunteers. Fourth Brigade Brigadier-General A. Shaler. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 833 SECOND DIVISION. ^ Brigadier-General G-. W. Getty. First Brigade Brigadier-General F. Wheaton. Second Brigade Colonel L. A. Grant, " Fremont " Brigade. Third Brigade Brigadier-General T. H. NeilL Fourth Brigade Brigadier-General A. L. Eustis. THIRD DIVISION. Brigadier-General H. Prince. First Brigade Brigadier-General "W. H. Morris. Second Brigade Brigadier-General D. A. Kussell. Colonel C. H. Tompkins, First Ehode Island Artillery, commanding Ar- tillery. Each of the generals detached took leave of his troops in a general order.. Major-General P. H. Sheridan was summoned from the West to take command of the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. Lieutenant-General Grant arrived in Washington on Tuesday, April 8, accompanied by General Rawlings and Colonel Comstock. On the afternoon of "Wednesday, the 9th, the President formally presented to him at the Cabinet Chamber, in the presence of the entire Cabinet, his commission as lieutenant-general, and thus addressed him: "GENERAL GRANT : The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission constituting you Lieuten- ant-General in the Army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add, that with what I here speak for the nation goes my own hearty per- sonal concurrence." To which General Grant replied as follows : " MR. PRESIDENT: I accept the commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all to the favor of that Providence which leada both nations and men." General Grant was then introduced to the Cabinet, and some time was Spent in conversation. 51 834: HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. The new general lost little time in commencing his new duties. He issued an order directing all civilians, sutlers, and their employes, to proceed to the rear with all their property, and stopped all furloughs. He person- ally inspected the several Eastern departments, visiting Fortress Monroe, Annapolis, an/1 other points, during the month of April. The weather during the month was adverse to army movements, as incessant rains sufficed to make the roads impassable. The enemy on his side had recruited with great vigor, and was indefatigable in the construction of earthworks. In illustration of the ample powers conferred upon General Grant, and of the policy pursued towards him by the President ) he was instructor of artil- lery and cavalry at West Point, and he subsequently saw much active ser- vice in the West. In May, 1861, he was appointed colonel of the Fifth Cavalry, and in August a brigadier-general of volunteers. He defeated Zollicoffer at the battle of Mill Spring, or Somerset, January 19th,. 1862; was appointed major-general of volunteers in the succeeding April, and during the summer commanded a wing of the Army of the Tennessee. He- commanded the centre of the Army of the Cumberland at the battle of Stone Eiver, participated in the advance upon and occupation of Chatta- nooga, and at the battle of Chickamauga saved the Union army from de- struction. In October, he was appointed to the Department of the Cum- berland, and assumed command of the army at Chattanooga, and he had an important share in the victory of November 25th at that place- He- participated in Sherman's campaign, ending in the capture of Atlanta, in September, 1864, and was then ordere position twenty- four hours. Tuesday, the 24th, was passed in getting the array into position on the south of the North Anna. Port Royal, on the Rappahannock, became the new base of supplies, and head-quarters were at Jericho Mills. On Wednesday noon, the 25th, the line rested as follows, from right to left : "Wright's Sixth Corps, War- ren's Fifth, Burnside's Ninth, Hancock's Second. Wright's Corps was held rather in the rear, covering Jericho Ford. Hancock's extreme left touched on the railroad, and was but very little advanced from the river. Between our right and left the enemy was found in strong force opposite our centre, with his left a little thrown back. Our own line extended about four miles. The reconnoissances of the day showed that the enemy's line lay northwest of Sexton's Junction, in the general form of a V. The apex, or his centre, stretched towards the North Anna, his right wing resting on the formidable marsh known as Bull Swamp, through which the creek of that name empties into the North Anna, and extend- ing across the Fredericksburg Railroad, protecting it and covering the junction. His left wing ran along Little River, crossing the Virginia Central, and protecting it also at Sexton's Junction. The salient, an obtuse angle, was pushed out towards Ox Ford, confronting Burnside. Hancock's Corps lay pretty nearly parallel with the enemy's right. This position, naturally strong, appeared to be fortified with extensive and elaborate intrenchments, to which the enemy was busily adding others. The whole position looked formidable, and the enemy did not yield to the slight pressure of our reconnoissance. On Thursday head-quarters were at Quarles's Ford. Reconnoissances again went on, but showed nothing new. The strength of the rebel army, with the morass on the right and the river on the left, with its centre danger- ously inserted between the two fords, and threatening to penetrate our own centre, was again obvious. In case 910 HISTORY OP THE GEEAT REBELLION. of a battle, the rapidity with which troops could be thrown back and forth from flank to flank, as occasion required, was no less obvious. The position was skilfully chosen, and, it would seem, threatened our security, as well as provided for its own. A glance at the position sufficed to show that it was almost impregnable, and once more the movement to the left commenced. To make this movement, it was neces- sary to recross the North Anna, which was swelling from the recent rain's, and no time was to be lost. With a vigilant enemy on his rear, the task was not easy. To cover the movement, a demonstration was made during Thursday, the 26th, on the enemy's works, and the cavalry set to burning the track of the Virginia Central Hail road. Under cover of this attack, on Thursday evening, the Sixth Corps quietly and swiftly withdrew to the north branch of the river, followed by the other corps in quick succession, and moved out easterly for the Pamunkey. Hancock protected the rear, and, mean- while, a strong skirmish line was left in front, to engage the enemy's attention and disarm suspicion. At 9 o'clock on Friday morning, Torbert's First and Gregg's Second Division of Sheridan's Cavalry took possession of Hanover Ferry and Hanovertown, finding there only a rebel vedette. General Torbert captured seventy-five cavalry, including six officers. The First Division of the Sixth Corps arrived at 10 A. M., and the rest of the column closely followed. On the morning of the 27th, while our army moved down the north side of the Pa- munkey, Breckinridge's Division was sent to move down on the south side of the stream, to Hanover Court-House, to act as a corps of observation ; and a brigade of cavalry was sent still farther on, on the Piping Tree road. Hanovertown is on the Pamunkey, fifteen miles north- east of Richmond, nine miles in air line from Hanover Court-House, and sixteen from White House, on the same river. But the exceedingly tortuous nature of the river makes the two latter distances very much greater by river and somewhat greater by road. It was at once evident that the familiar spot known as the White House was henceforth to be our base of supplies. Thirteen miles east of White House is West Point, where the Mattapony and Pamunkey form, by their confluence, HISTORY OP THE GEEAT KEBELLION. 911 the York River. The distance by the winding stream is much greater. A railroad connects the two points. In the afternoon of Friday, General Meade's head-quar- ters were at Mongohick Church, situated at the cross-roads on Mehixen Creek, in King William County, ten miles north of Hanovertown. On Saturday morning, the 28th, our troops had obtained complete possession of Hanover- town and the neighboring region, having inarched proba- bly twenty-five miles, in the heat and dust, since Thursday night. On Sunday, the 29th, the whole army was suc- cessfully across the Pamunkey, and fronted southwest, about three miles from the river. The corps moved cau- tiously forward, and an attack from Lee was expected. None such was made, however, and the only firing came from reconnoitring parties far in the front. Reconnois- sances were made from each corps, followed up by a grad- ual advance. It appeared that the enemy was in force half a dozen miles distant from our lines, across Tolopa- tomoy Creek, with his extreme right holding Shady Grove and Mechanicsville, his right centre in front of Atler's Station on the Virginia Central, and his left still persist- ently covering Hanover Court-House. Trains now began to run to and from White House, and dispositions were made for battle. 912 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. CHAPTER LII. Original Plan of Campaign. Butler's Expedition up the James. Movement on Petersburg. Fort Darling. Repulse of the Union Forces. Attack by Beauregard. Beauregard Re-enforces Lee. Smith sent to support Grant. THE campaign of General Grant upon his appointment as Lieutenant-General to the chief command of all the ar- mies of the United States, comprised a simultaneous move- ment by the army under Sherman in Tennessee, by that under Sigel in the Valley of the Shenandoah, and another under Butler, which was to land at City Point on the James River, and destroy the Petersburg Railroad con- nection with Richmond, thus preventing Beauregard, who commanded on the south side of the James, from going to re-enforce Lee. This expedition, consisting of the Eigh : teenth Corps, Major-General "W. F. Smith, known asBal- dy Smith, and the Tenth Corps, Major-General Gillmore, was embarked on transports at Yorktown and Gloucester Point. Demonstrations of an advance up York River were made to deceive the enemy, and then the whole pro- ceeded up the James. This movement, made on the same day as that on which Meade's army crossed the Rapidan, took the enemy somewhat by surprise. There was no at- tempt at City Point or elsewhere to dispute the landing, which was described in the official telegram as follows : " OFF CITY POINT, VA., May 5. "Lieutenant-General GRANT, Commanding Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C. : " "We have seized Wilson's "Wharf Landing. A brigade of Wild's colored troops are tbere. At Fort Powhattan Landing two regiments of the same brigade have landed. At City Point, Hinks's Division, with the remaining troops and battery, have landed. The remainder of both the Eighteenth and Tenth Army Corps are being landed at Bermuda Hundred, above the Appomattox. " No opposition experienced thus far. The movement was apparently a complete surprise. Both army corps left Yorktown during last night. The monitors are all over the bar at Harrison's Landing and above City Point. The operations of the fleet have been conducted to-day with energy and HISTOKY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION. 913 success. Generals Smith and Gillmore are pushing the landing of the men. General Graham, with the army gunboats, led the advance during the night, capturing the signal-station of the rebels. " Colonel "West, with eighteen hundred cavalry, made several demonstra- tions from "Williamsburg yesterday morning. General Kautz left Suffolk this morning with his cavalry, for the service indicated during the confer- ence with the Lieutenant-General. " The New York flag-of-truce boat was found lying at the wharf, with four hundred prisoners, whom she had not time to deliver. She went up yesterday morning. " We are landing troops during the night a hazardous service in the face of the enemy. BENJ. F. BUTLER, Major- General Commanding. "A. F. PUFFER, Captain 0nd A. D. C." General Kautz, with three thousand cavalry from Suf- folk, on the same day with the movement up the James Riv- er, had forced the Blackwater, and burnt the railroad bridge at Stony Creek, below Petersburg, but not in time to pre- vent the troops under Hill reaching Petersburg in time to contest the progress of our troops. He also made a dash at Petersburg, but was compelled to retire with loss. On Monday, the 9th, our troops advanced in force against the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, with the purpose of more effectually disabling this main line of supply for General Lee. Gillmore on the right and Smith on the left, feeling their way cautiously through the thick woods, they advanced in momentary expectation of a fight ; but contrary to expectation, their march was unopposed, and, after doing some damage, the troops occupied the north bank of Swift Creek, three miles above Petersburg. While in front of Yicksburg, in conversation with a number of officers, General Grant, without expecting to be ever called to the place, gave his views of the proper plan to capture Richmond. He said that, in his view, two armies should move against the rebel capital one by way of the Rapidan, and the other by way of Petersburg. Either of these columns should be strong enough to fight Lee out of his intrenchments a circumstance which would compel Lee to keep his army together, as a division, with the James River between the sections, must prove fatal. The army on the south was to cut off communications, and threaten the destruction of the rebel capital from the south, and be able to take it, if Lee did not fall back ; if he did fall back, the army from the north could press him, and besiege him in the capital, and by means of gunboats a perfect connection across James River could be kept up. 56 914 HISTOET OF THE GKEAT EEBELLION. The moment the army on the south side occupied Man- chester, Richmond would become untenable ; and under any circumstances, with all communications cut, the city could not stand a long siege; and though a portion of the rebel army might escape, it could only do so in a demor- alized condition. Such being the views of Grant, it is ev- ident what part General Butler was intended to play in the campaign. On Friday, May 13th, a cavalry expedition under Kautz went out for the purpose of destroying the railroad com- munications between Richmond and Danville. In sup- port of this movement Gillmore advanced with his corps, on the left, up the railroad towards Chester and Rich- mond, while Smith, with the Eighteenth Corps, moved on the right, up the Richmond and Petersburg turnpike along the James River. Ames's Third Division of the Tenth Corps remained to watch Petersburg. Smith ad- vanced, skirmishing with the enemy, until he reached Proctor's Run, three miles from Fort Darling, and Gill- more, on the left, reached the Halfway House, when the troops rested for the night. In the morning the enemy were discovered behind a line of earthworks, stretching from the James to a quarter of a mile beyond the railroad, and constituting the outer defences of Fort Darling. Brisk skirmishing at once commenced. The Third New Hamp- shire, the One Hundredth New York, and Twenty-fourth Massachusetts were sent to turn the enemy's right flank, while our left, under Gillmore, was ordered to swing round upon the centre and right. The attack of the flanking party was successful, and the enemy withdrew to a strong- er line, three-quarters of a mile beyond. More or less skirmishing was kept up until the 16th, when the enemy, under Beauregard, attacked vigorously. Our line was formed with Smith's Corps on the right, and Gill m ore's on the left. Early Monday morning, the 16th, concealed by a very dense fog, the enemy, under General Ransom, massed his troops against our right wing, which at that time was particularly vulnerable. He burst upon Hick- man's Brigade, of Weitzel's Division, Smith's Corps, and, in the blinding fog and darkness, a terrific conflict ensued. Borne down at last by numbers, the gallant brigade fell to the rear, with loss of some artillery, four stands of col- ors, and about three hundred prisoners. Here Colonel HISTORY OP THE GKEAT REBELLION. 915 Drake's Brigade, Weitzel's Division, consisting of the Eighth Maine and One Hundred and Twelfth New York, came to the rescue, and by hard fighting for a time stav- ed the tide of the enemy. Farther to the left, Wistar's and Burnham's Brigades of Weitzel's Division were also set upon with fury. On our left there was a simultaneous attack, Hawley's and Barton's Brigades of Terry's Divi- sion, Tenth Corps, were roughly handled, and the line forced back. Gillmore covered the retreat. A movement of the enemy to cut off the retreat was repulsed by Ames. The two corps then fell back to their intrenchments, the enemy holding the turnpike. Our total loss was nearly four thousand men, a great proportion of them being cap- tured on the right, from Heckman's Brigade, consisting of the Ninth New Jersey, and the Twenty-third, Twenty- fifth, and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts. Ashby's and Belger's batteries lost ten guns. A large number of officers, including General Heckman, were also captured by the enemy, who admitted a loss of fifteen hundred. The cavalry under General Kautz returned at sundown on Tuesday. The object had been to tap the Richmond and Danville Railroad, and the attempt had more or less annoyed the enemy. Thus the prime object of the expedition of General But- ler seems to have failed, although he had succeeded in getting a foothold on the south side of the James. If, after his first landing at the mouth of the Appomattox River, he had shown more vigor, it is difficult to see how Petersburg, distant some ten miles from the James River, could have been saved. As it was, time was given to Beauregard to gather up a force from Charleston and Wilmington, and he had little difficulty in subsequently inflicting a defeat on Butler's forces. Butler was also blamed for not intrenching when he carried the first line of the enemy's works. The movement would then per- haps have proved a success. The forces remained inactive until the 19th, when Beau- regard moved in front of the Union lines, and about mid- night attacked Terry's and Ames's Divisions of the Tenth Corps. "With some intermissions the attack was kept up until nine o'clock of Friday, the 20th. A more vigorous assault was then made. In front of General Ames's line 916 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. was a series of rifle-pits, between which and our intrench- ments intervened a field devastated by fire, around which the woods formed an irregular semicircle. The enemy came down upon these rifle-pits in force, capturing them after a desperate fight. In an attempt to retake the rifle- pits, the Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania and Thirteenth Il- linois Regiments were ordered to move through the woods to co-operate with a movement made by another portion of Gillmore's forces. Misunderstanding the order, the troops were moved by the flank along the skirt of the woods. Marching steadily along, they came unexpected- ly upon a battery, which opened a murderous cross-fire, literally mowing them down. It appeared to the looker- on as though the entire force melted away before this ter- rific rain of grape and -canister. The loss is estimated at three hundred. The other movement was successful, and the enemy were driven from their position. The rebel General Walker was dangerously wounded and captured. Butler then ordered the navy gunboats in the Appomat- tox to shell the woods in front of the left and towards the centre. Butler was now in a measure shut up in his lines, and Beauregard was enabled to send a portion of his force to the support of Lee. His total force was composed of twelve brigades: Clingman's, Greysie's, and Ransom's Brigades of North Carolina troops ; Hun ton's, Burton's, Terry's, Corse's, and Wise's Virginia Brigades ; Hagood's and Walker's South Carolina Brigades, and Bushrod E. Johnson's Brigade altogether about thirty thousand men. On Tuesday, the 24th, some of the enemy's cavalry, under Fitzhugh Lee, attacked the fort at Wilson's Wharf, on the north bank of the James, garrisoned by colored troops, but retired with the loss of twenty-six killed and many wounded. On the 26th, General Martindale made a similar attack upon the enemy's lines at Bakehouse Creek, and retired with the loss of thirty men. It was now that Grant, moving by his left, was ap- proaching White House, his new base of supplies, and re- quired re-enforcements over and above what had been sent from the North. General Smith with the Eighteenth Corps was therefore detached on the 29th, for the White House via Fortress Monroe. From the moment of the HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 917 departure of the Eighteenth Corps, Butler was penned up between a watchful enemy and the river, secured, how- ever, from disaster by the gunboats. The movement of Smith's Corps was promptly known to the enemy, who also detached a force to Lee, which reached him before Smith joined Meade. Butler remained within his lines, against which the enemy made occasional demonstrations, without important results on either side. 918 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. CHAPTER LIII. Position of Grant's Army. Warren's Advance. Further Development of the Union Left "Wing. Severe Battles around Cold Harbor. New Flank Movement determined upon. Crossing of the James and Junction with Butler. Results of that Campaign. THE morning of Monday, May 30th, found Grant's line of battle disposed as follows : Wright's Corps on the ex- treme right, extending in the direction of Hanover Court- House ; Hancock's on the right centre, on the Shady Grove road ; Warren's on the left centre, on the Mechan- icsville road ; Burnside's on the left, and a little in rear, and so disposed as to threaten Richmond. Our right and rear were covered by Wilson's Third Cavalry Division, which had previously been ordered to destroy the rail- road bridges over the Little River and South Anna, and and to break up the roads leading thence toHawe's Shop. Gregg's and Torbert's Divisions were dispatched out on our left flank. The Old Church Tavern cross-roads were held by Torbert's Division, with a picket force of two squadrons along the road leading from Cold Harbor to Old Church Tavern. About noon Torbert's pickets were driven in by an apparent attempt to get in our rear. A brisk skirmish was followed by the retreat of the enemy along the Cold Harbor road. Towards five o'clock, Warren began to move slowly towards Mechanicsville. Crawford's Divi- sion, which was in advance, towards Shady Grove, and a little detached, was suddenly assailed by Rhodes's Divi- sion of Early's Corps, with great vigor. The flank of Warren's Corps being thus endangered, General Meade ordered an attack all along the line, in order to relieve him. Hancock was the only one who received the order in time to attack before dark, and he immediately dashed upon the enemy's skirmish line, captured their rifle-pits, and held them all night. The engagement was rapid and brilliant, and the losses not large. Warren held his HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 919 ground, about seven miles distant from Richmond, and near Mechanicsville. The enemy at once moved down troops to prevent any further dangerous concentration on his right. At midnight, an attack was made upon Han- cock, inflicting more or less loss, but without material success. On Tuesday, the 31j5t, a general advance of our lines began, attended by considerable firing, the enemy being little inclined to be pushed farther back from his position. The army now occupied nearly the same ground that it had two years before, when McClellan was before Richmond. Warren, now in command of the Fifth Corps, was upon the same spot where then he had commanded a brigade of Porter's Corps. The Union army was now re-enforced by the Eighteenth Corps of Smith, while the enemy was joined by Breckinridge and Beauregard. The line of the enemy was disposed so as to cover the Chickahominy, which is the outer line of defence for Richmond, with its right, and the Virginia Central Railroad with its left. Most of the ground be- tween the Chickahominy and the Pamunkey is favorable for manoeuvring, being open and dry. South of the for- mer river are those well-known swamps which were trav- ersed by McClellan. Parallel with the river runs a road from Winston's Bridge, on the north, to Bottom Bridge, on the south, on which are Shady Grove and Mechanics- ville ; and parallel with this road, and north of it, is an- other, which runs through Walnut Grove, Cold Harbor, and Gaines's Mill. Lee's line held this road from Atlee's Station, on the Fredericksburg Railroad, to Gaines's Mill. His cavalry reached Hanover on his left, and Bottom Bridge on the south. This line was not straight, but at the northern part faced east, and at its southern position northeast, and was disposed as follows, left to right : A. P. Hill, Anderson, Ewell. The Federal line, conse- quently, faced westerly and southwesterly, and on Tues- day, May 31st, was disposed as follows, from right to left : Wright, Hancock, Bnrnside, Warren. Grant intended on Tuesday to resume his customary movement of massing upon his left. Torbert's Division of cavalry was, therefore, sent to Cold Harbor. This led to some skirmishing, which notified the enemy of what was intended. Meanwhile, Lee, suspecting Grant would at- tempt to repeat what was known among the Confederates 920 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. as his " crab movement," began to manoeuvre for posi- tion. Kershaw's and Hoke's Divisions of Anderson's Corps (the latter temporarily attached to the corps) were sent to the right, to the old battle-fields of Gaines's Mill and Cold Harbor, with orders to occupy the eminences in that quarter. A sharp fight ensued, which resulted in Torbert's holding his ground. During the night, the Sixth Corps marched across from the right to Cold Harbor, where it was to be joined by the Eighteenth Corps, which had been detached from Butler, and landed at the White House. The latter corps, after losing its way, arrived on the ground at three o'clock in the afternoon of June 1st, having marched twenty-five miles, and took position, on the right of the Sixth, in four lines, the Sixth being in one. The two corps then stood as follows, from right to left : Martindale's, Brooke's, and Devens's Divisions, comprising the Eighteenth Corps, and Ricketts's, Russell's, and Neill's, of the Sixth. In front was a ploughed field, and beyond a strip of pine forest, where the enemy were intrenched. Onr artillery opened on the left, and almost immediately the line moved briskly forward. The two centre divisions^Devens's and Rick- etts's, with a cheer, charged across the ploughed field at a run, receiving a biting fire from artillery and musketry ; and so vigorous was the onset, that they carried the ene- my's first line, with six hundred prisoners. The line thus brilliantly carried, as well as a lodgment secured farther to the right, it was soon found were enfiladed by the enemy's fire. A portion of the Eighteenth Corps made a vigorous effort to silence the fire, and with some success. The position gained was, 'however, commanded by a redoubt in the enemy's second line, and it was relinquished. Dur- ing the night, the enemy made the most persistent efforts to recover their lost line, but without success. The Fed- eral loss was over two thousand ; that of the enemy con- siderably less, as he was covered by his works. The result of the day's fighting was the retention of Cold Harbor by the Umo,n forces. The Union line was now eight miles long, extending from Bethesda Church to Cold Harbor, and, by reason of the march of Wright and the accession of Smith, was formed as follows, trom right to left : Hancock, Burnside, Warren, Smith, Wright. Cold Harbor, the left ex- HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 921 tremity, was merely an old house, the tavern at the junc- tion of roads leading to the White House on the east, Dispatch Station and Bottom Bridge on the south, Rich- mond via Gaines's Mill on the west, and Hanovertown and Newcastle on the north. The possession of the road thence to White House was indispensable to Grant. Bethesda Church, the right of the line, was also an old structure, on the road from Hanovertown to Shady Grove, not far from the latter. On the right, in the afternoon of the 1st, there was a forward movement of Gibbon and Potter, with a view to cover an intended withdrawal of the Second Corps from right to left, to follow the footsteps of the Sixth, already gone to extend our flank in that direction. The result was a rally of the rebels in force, and a determined attack, towards evening, on our whole line, as soon as the two divisions had fallen back. Grant now determined to make the attempt to push Lee across the Chickahominy, and secure a place to ford the stream, and it was with* this object that the Union left had been prolonged by shifting the Second Corps to that quarter of the held. The new disposition was com- pleted by noon of Thursday, the 2d ; but, owing to a heavy rain-storm, the attack was postponed until the following morning. Heavy skirmishing continued dur- ing the 2d, without material advantage to either side. Lee, suspecting this movement, had posted his troops to meet the anticipated attack. His right was held by Breckinridge's and Mahone's Divisions of Hill's Corps ; his centre by Kershaw's, Field's, and Hoke's Divisions of Anderson's Corps ; and his left by Swell's Corps, all of which were protected by strong intrenchments. The rain having ceased, at four o'clock on the morning of Friday, June 3d, the assault was made. Our line was well massed and compact, moving as follows, from right to left: Burnside, Warren, Smith, Wright, Hancock, reaching from Tolopatomoy Creek to and across the road from Cold Harbor to the Chickahominy. The ground was varied, along the line, with woodlands, swamps, and open, our left being on a position a little elevated, and the rebel line lying in a strip of woods and covering the series of roads parallel to the river, of which particular description has before been given. Promptly at the hour 922 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. appointed, the skirmishers advanced, and very quickly the whole line was wrapped in the fire and smoke of ter- rific battle. Although the stmggle lasted five hours, the first ten minutes decided its fate. In that first rush of advance, ten minutes of time carried our whole front close up against a line of works, which we were unable to break through, or, breaking through, were unable to hold. In Hancock's Corps, Gibbon had the right, with Bar- low on the left, Birney being in reserve. The two divi- sions of Gibbon and Barlow dashed gallantly forward, across woodlands and underbrush, and, again emerging into an open space swept by shot and shell, passed straight up the acclivity on which the enemy had concentrated their men and artillery, as being the stronghold of their line. The impetuosity of the charge, not checked even by the terrible slaughter, carried the men over the breast- works of a salient on Breckinridge's left, where they captured three guns. But, General Finnegan, re-enfor- cing the enemy at this moment, drove Hancock's troops out, recaptured the guns, and took some prisoners from Owen's Brigade, Gibbon's Division. Not until the splendid attack of Hancock's Corps had been made was he aware of the supreme importance of this position thus carried and lost, which had been the key-point of the battle of Gaines's Mills, two years before. This position is a bald hill, named Watts's Hill, dominating the whole battle-ground, and covering the angle of the Dispatch road. Along this ridge the enemy's works formed a salient, and in front of it was a sunken road. Of this road Hancock got possession, and the brigades of Miles and Brooks actually struck and carried the works directly on the salient. Had the Union troops held this point, they would have had a position whence the entire of the enemy's line might have been enfiladed. The Sixth and Eighteenth Corps at the same time emulated the deter- mined courage of the Second, but with no better results. Charging through the underbrush and across the open, they were received by the murderous enfilading fire with which all our most advanced brigades found their daring repaid. The assault of the Sixth Corps was made with the utmost vigor, and succeeded in carrying the first line of rebel rifle-pits along its entire front, and got up HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 923 within two hundred and fifty yards of the main works. Smith's Corps, connecting on the right with the Sixth, had advanced in conjunction with it; but the left division, that of Martindale, who led the attack in heavy, deep columns, got disarranged, and was repulsed. Smith made three different attacks to relieve Martindale, but his last supports did not get up in time to allow him to hold on. The effect of this repulse on the left of Smith had a disastrous effect on the position of Wright. It uncovered the right flank of the Sixth and exposed Kicketts's Division, which was stoutly holding the advanced position, to a savage fire on the prolonga- tion of its line. For a long time, these latter hung obstinately to their conquests, which, at length, were wrung from them, and they were forced back with great loss, but here, as on*the left, our men held and intrenched a position considerably in advance of the starting point, close up to the enemy's work. The Fifth and Ninth Corps on the extreme right pushed out their skirmish lines and kept up a cannonade. The weight of the battle was, however, driven against the position of Anderson and Breckinridge's left. In many respects the battle was a repetition of that of the 12th of May at Spottsylvania Court-House. While he kept up a threatening attitude along the whole line, Grant massed a very heavy force and hurled it again and again with tremendous violence against a single point. Seven times the persistent valor of the Sixth Corps carried the men with indomitable force against the right centre of the enemy, and seven times the strength of the rebel position defied the efforts of the assaulting columns. Nevertheless, our whole line was advanced close to the enemy within fifty yards for a great portion of it and, on the extreme loft, one brigade was reported to be but fifteen yards from the enemy. Both armies kept close to their breastworks, the exposure of a figure above the intrenchments, at that narrow distance, being fatal. Under such circumstances, when the FederaKtroops ad- vanced, the concealed Confederate marksmen cut them down in wide swathes stretching far across the field. At Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor the Confederates were more completely behind breastworks than at any previous battle of the war. Hence their small compara- 924: HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. tive loss. The battle raged with great violence until half-past ten o'clock A. M. just five hours. Among the Confederate killed in this battle were Brigadier-General Doles, of Georgia; Colonel L. M. Keitt, of South Carolina, formerly a member of the United States House of Representatives, and Colonel Edwin Willis, of Georgia, a late graduate of West Point. The Union loss in these terrible assaults was estimated at about seven thousand. The enemy reported theirs at one thousand. Saturday, the 4th, was spent by the Union troops in intrenching. In exposed positions, this work could only be carried on at night, the enemy's sharpshooters being very busy, and pursuing men and officers with fatal dexterity of fire. Our own marksmen retorted wherever practicable, and desultory skirmishing resounded along the line all through the day. To appreciate the situation of the parties, it must be remembered that the hostile lines were separated, for. long extents, only by distances varying from fifty to one hundred and fifty yards. The position of the corps remained substantially as on Fri- day. During the night of the 5th, Grant retired his right wing about two miles, placing it behind a swamp which protected its front and flank. On the same even- ing he sent a communication to General Lee, proposing that, when the armies were not actually engaged, either party might, upon notification to the other, succor its wounded and bury its dead. Lee replied that he pre- ferred that the party desiring to remove its wounded and inter its dead snould do so through a flag of truce. The care of the wounded and dead was accordingly effected by this means. The battle of Friday was one of the most terrible of the war up to that time. The movements of the preced- ing days had drawn our lines close in front of the Chicka- hominy, and reduced the military problem to the forcing of the passage of that river a problem which, if solved in our favor would decide whether Richmond could be carried by a coup de main, if a decisive victory should attend our arms, or whether operations would settle down to a siege in form. The great struggle did not result in a success. Probably no action so important in its character was ever crowded into so brief a space of time ten ter- HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 925 rible minutes in the early dawn developed on the part of the enemy such strength both of position and force, as to carry conviction that any victory that could be here achieved would be purchased at too great a cost. All that matchless valor directed by consummate" skill could do, was done, but it was in vain. The results of the attack on Cold Harbor made it evi- dent that the rebel position could not be carried by a direct attack in front, and a repetition of the flank move- ment to the left was determined upon ; but as it was necessary to rest the men and to prepare a new base, Grant remained ten days without any further attempt to advance. The time was spent, however, in busy prepara- tion to march for the James and then cross to join But- ler. The enemy was, meanwhile, constantly on the alert, and made repeated attacks on either wing, while he kept pace with the gradual extension of Grant's line, always ap- pearing in force as the Union left crept out towards the east. On Friday, the 10th, the railroad which had just been laid down between the army and White House was taken up, and the rails put on board barges. On Saturday, the enemy roughly handled Mclntosh's Cavalry on our right flank, while the main cavalry force made demonstrations on the route between Eichmond and Washington. On the night of Sunday, June 12th, the army was at length put in motion for the James River, intending to cross the Chickahominy by three bridges, which occur in the fol- lowing order: Bottom Bridge, Long Bridge, six miles farther east, and Jones's Bridge, twelve miles from Bot- tom Bridge. The enemy held the river as far as Bottom Bridge, where he was intrenched. Wright and Burnside, on breaking camp, marched for Jones's Bridge, crossed the river and moved rapidly for Charles City Court- House, nine miles from the bridge and within one of the James. At the same time, Hancock and Warren crossed at Long Bridge and marched for Wilcox's Wharf, on the James, twelve miles due south, and a little west of Charles City. Smith's Corps returned via White House, in transports, to Fortress Monroe and Bermuda Hundred, where Butler was intrenched with the Tenth Corps. General Butler had carefully prepared pontoons for the crossing. At three o'clock on Sunday afternoon, Meade's head-quarters were moved from Cold Harbor 926 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. south of Summit Station, near Long Bridge, and at six the next morning, head-quarters were in the saddle on the march. The whole movement was conducted with great suc- cess. The men moved cautiously from their intrench- ments, which, for miles, as we have already said, lay under the enemy's guns. And only a few shells thrown at the rear, as it moved off, betokened that the enemy had taken the alarm. All night and all day Monday, the troops moved forward, with hardly more skirmishing or impediment than that of their first march from Culpepper to Chaneellorsville. On Monday evening, the advance had reached Wilcox's Landing, where also head-quarters were. Before noon of Tuesday, our forces were all up, having made their movement in perfect security, and the only lighting being a little cavalry skirmishing at its close. On Tuesday, the 14th, the crossing was com-, menced, our army was transferred to the south side of the James, and the change in position fully consum- mated. The little opposition made to the movement by Lee was ascribed to the want of stout artillery horses necessary for field service. Of the whole movement, a dispatch from head-quarters to the "War Department says : " Our forces drew out from within fifty yards of the enemy's intrenchments at Cold Harbor, made a flank movement of about fifty-five miles' march, crossing the Chickahominy and James Elvers, the latter two thousand feet wide and eighty-four feet deep at the point of cross- ing, and surprised the enemy's rear at Petersburg." Grant was now exactly on the opposite side of Rich- mond from that at which he began his campaign. The Federal gunboats and transports planted Butler at Ber- muda Hundred, at the very outset of the campaign, with the express purpose of effecting a diversion on the south of Richmond, while Grant made the main attack from the north. It is obvious, therefore, that while the army maintained the character it had already acquired for in- domitable perseverance, Grant only resorted to this manoauvre because his original plan had not fulfilled expectations. He began from this moment, to all intents and purposes, a fresh campaign. Few generals and few troops would have persisted in this dogged and deter- mined struggle. HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 927 CHAPTEE LIV. Advance on Petersburg. Position of the City. Assault and Capture of Earthworks and Guns. Assault of Saturday, June 18th. Repulse. Aspect of the Campaign. ON the morning of "Wednesday, June 15th, the Eighteenth Corps, which arrived at Bermuda Hundred on the evening of the 14th, from Fortress Monroe, started for Petersburg. A pontoon bridge had been throw across the Appomattox, at Point of Rocks, over which Kautz's Cavalry crossed, followed by Brooks's and Martindale's Infantry Divisions. The skirmishers of the enemy were encountered on the City Point road, along which the advance was made. At Harrison's Creek, the enemy held a line of rifle-trenches with two field-pieces, from which the head of the column suffered a good deal. Brooks's Division coming up, however, they hastily retired behind a temporary line of earthworks, about two miles from Petersburg, leaving their guns in the hands of the Union troops. In front of this new line, the latter were now drawn up in line of battle, Martindale holding the right, Brooks the centre, and Hinks the left. Towards sunset, the line charged with great determination and vigor, in the face of a hot artillery fire, carrying the earthworks with sixteen guns and three hundred prisoners. The Federal loss was about five hundred. After the bat- tle, the Second Corps arrived, too late, however, to ren- der the success decisive, and by the next morning the Ninth Corps was on the ground. Meantime, Kautz had moved to the left and attacked the enemy's works on the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, but, finding them too strong, he retired after a smart skirmish. The Federal attack upon Petersburg had been sustained by the local forces, the main rebel army having not yet arrived. On Thursday morning, the 16th, General Butler conceived the idea of advancing in his front, to intercept the move- 928 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. ment of Lee towards Petersburg. He accordingly sent out a portion of the Tenth Corps, which, after destroying a portion of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, was compelled, by the approach of overwhelming forces, to retire within the lines. The city of Petersburg lies chiefly on the southerly bank of the Appomattox, which thence runs nearly northeast to the James. It was defended by several lines of earthworks, consisting not only of square redoubts, but also of well-established rifle-trenches. It was the outer line of these that had been carried on the 15th, and was now held by Biruey's Corps. The abandonment of the north side of the James by Grant had not been fully credited by the enemy, who left a force under A. P. Hill to guard against any sudden movement in that direction. Now, however, Beanregard's men again filled up so rapidly the trenches in front that it was necessary to hurry up Burnside to hold the ground won. That corps at length coming up, after a forced march from Charles City Court-House, a line of battle was immediately form- ed, Smith on the right, Hancock in the centre, Burn- side on the left. The ground in front was rather open, though rugged, with here and there fields of grain. At six A. M. on the 16th, the attack was made. Barlow's Division and Griffin's Brigade of Potter's Division made a handsome charge under destructive artillery fire, and succeeded in gaining a foothold in the rifle-pits outside of the stronger works. Here our troops were annoyed by the enemy's fire, and Barlow, in connection with Burn- side, determined to try an assault on the main works. But meanwhile the enemy opened so severely on Burn- side as to show there was no hope of surprise. The enemy also cut off the skirmish line in Barlow's front, amounting to three hundred men, with their officers. After a three hours' fight, therefore, the assault was suspended till morning. The right had not taken an important part in the contest, and had lost but a few men. Birney's loss was about five hundred, and Potter's, in his gallant charge, not less. The entire loss was probably from fifteen hundred to two thousand. The enemy's loss was probably much less, from their advantage of posi- tion. On Friday the attack was renewed, and some rifle- HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 929 pits were carried by Burnside's Corps. About nine o'clock on Friday night, the enemy showed himself in force upon Birney's front, but did not advance. A little later, he made a desperate and successful effort to retake from Burnside the works captured during the day. He moved in two columns, one in front, the other in flank. A very sharp fight followed. The enemy succeeded in leaping the works under cover of the darkness, and drove our men out. In the early part of the attack, about two hundred of the enemy were captured by us, and in yielding up the works, a like loss was suffered by us. The enemy's batteries- covered the attack by vigorous shelling. Early in the morning of this same day, part of Pickett's and Field's Division of the enemy attacked our lines near the James. Foster's Division of Brooks's Tenth Corps (from which General Gill more had been re- lieved) held a line extending across from near Ware Bot- tom Church towards the Appomattox. The enemy were posted near Hewlett's House, in his front. Our line was pushed back a little. It was now determined to make a new and more vigor- ous assault on Saturday morning, the 18th, and the line was formed as follows, from right to left: Martindale's and Hinks's Divisions of the Eighteenth Corps, "Wright's Sixth, Hancock's Second (under Birney), Burnside's Ninth, "Warren's Fifth. At four o'clock A. M. the assault was to be made. But upon sending out skirmishers, the enemy was found to have abandoned the works in our immediate front for an inner series of defences. New combinations were necessary, therefore, for the day. These were com- pleted, and by noon a general advance of the three left corps was ordered. In the Second Corps, Gibbon pushed up an assaulting column of three brigades, the first and second of his own (Second) division, and the Second Brigade of Mott's Division. The remainder of the corps threw out double lines of skirmishers to divert the ene- my's attention. Gibbon's men moved promptly up to the works to be assaulted, which were situated near the Freder- icksburg and City Point Kailroad. As they came out from their cover, they were met by a murderous fire which enfiladed their left. They struggled desperately through it, but their ranks were swept by incessant volleys 57 930 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. from which even their veteran soldiers recoiled. The breastworks were approached, but not reached, and our men retired, leaving their dead and wounded on the field. In the afternoon a second storming party was organized, to commence the attack from General Mott's position. The assaulting column was formed of Mott's Division, with detachments from the other two divisions. A little before five o'clock p. M., Mott moved out his force in two columns, and in gallant style the two leading brigades burst upon the enemy. They were received with a with- ering fire from concentrated batteries and musketry, and, in spite of the most desperate bravery, were forced back, with terrible loss. The charge was worthy of the prover- bial gallantry of the corps, but it failed of success, as the previous charge had also failed. The movements on the left by the Ninth and Fifth Corps were equally energetic and equally unsuccessful. The operations of the day, on the whole, did not repay the very serious loss sustained. The lines remained comparatively quiet during the three following days. The first effect of the transfer of the whole Federal ar- my to the south bank of the James was, of course, the withdrawal of the Confederate force which had confined Butler to his intrenchments. It became necessary for Grant to capture Petersburg, and he immediately made the attack, while the enemy were yet unprepared. The at- tack, as we have seen, failed. The enemy, having recov- ered from immediate apprehension for Petersburg, turned his attention in other directions. He intrenched largely on the west side of the Appomattox, as Grant did on the east side of it. Having again driven Butler inside his lines, he reoccupied his works there, put the railroad into repair, and, from their lines as a base, began to make demon- strations in front, and to raid towards the James. On the night of Sunday, the 19th, he destroyed the wharves at ilcox and Westover Landings. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. ' 931 CHAPTEE LV. Kelative Strength of Armies. Grant moves against the Railroad Connections of Richmond Combat of June 21st. Repulsed the 23d. Sheridan's Ex- pedition. Movement of Wilson and Kautz on the Danville Road. Five Hundred Thousand Men called out. Explosion of the Mine in Front of Petersburg. Failure of the Assault. THE consolidation of Butler's army with that of the Potomac had not added much to the relative strength of Grant. A similar junction of Beauregard with Lee had been effected, and the works behind which the enemy was intrenched were strong enough to enable him to hold them with inferior numbers, and, as will presently appear, to detach a force up the valley. On Tuesday, the 21st, Grant commenced operations designed to sever the South- ern railroad connections with Petersburg. The road running to ISTorfolk was in his possession, and it was pro- posed to occupy and destroy that leading to Weldon. For this purpose, the Second Corps, on Monday night, moved to the left, and on Tuesday marched rapidly forward in a southerly direction, followed by Griffin's Division of the Fifth Corps, with the Sixth Corps in support. At the Jerusalem plankroad the enemy were encountered in force, and a counter-attack sustained. The troops then fell back into position for the night, during which the Sixth Corps came up, and formed on the left of the Second, di- rectly on the left of the Jerusalem plankroad. The attack was to have been made at daybreak on "Wednesday, the 22d, but each corps waited for the other until each got or- ders to advance at once, independently of the other, each being cautioned to protect his flank in case connection was not made by the other. No sooner had Barlow struck into the thick woods than he began to open a gap between his left and the right of the Sixth Corps, and accordingly disposed flanking regi- ments so as to protect himself at the break. Mott, mean- while, had moved directly to the position indicated for 932 msTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Mm, having without difficulty secured it, and had begun to intrench. Gibbon was already in position. Barlow, having moved forward sufficiently, was about to intrench also, when he was suddenly startled by firing on his flank, quickly spreading towards his rear. The enemy, Hill's Corps, advancing to check our movement on the railroad, was swiftly approaching in several solid columns, which followed hard on a dense crowd of skirmishers. At this time, the Sixth Corps was far distant on the left and rear, and a gap occurred in our advancing line, like that be- tween the Fifth and Second Corps in the "Wilderness. With more success in the present case than before, the en- emy took advantage of the error. One entire division, with Mahone's Brigade in advance, came driving through the interval. Barlow's skirmishers were of course quickly overcome, and, with a quick appreciation of his advan- tage, and an impetuous rush, sweeping all before it, the enemy's column glanced diagonally between the two corps, struck Barlow's Bank with great force, and almost instan- taneously rolled it up, capturing several hundred prisoners. The sudden recoil of Barlow's Division under this most dangerous of all attacks, a movement on the flank and rear, quickly uncovered the left flank of Mott, and ex- posed him to the same disadvantage. In his turn, Mott fell back also, with the loss of several hundred prisoners, and thus exposed the left of Gibbon. Meanwhile the other troops from Hill's Corps had joined the assault, and, having captured Mott's entire line of intrenchments, now pressed not only in front, but in the rear. His right brigade was able to repel the comparatively trifling as- sault. But his left brigades were almost encircled by fire. McKnight's four-gun battery of the Twelfth New York Artillery opened, and was briskly and handsomely fought. But the troops in support were driven back, and the enemy had already carried Gibbon's intrenchments. In a word, in the sudden shock and confusion, several whole regi- ments were swept off and captured, without the chance of any thing like stout resistance. McKnight's Battery was then surrounded and captured entire, though most of the horses and caissons, and some of the men, succeeded in escaping to the rear. At length, Miles's reserve division, with a New York battery came up, enabling Gibbon's Division to rally on HISTORY OP THE GKEAT REBELLION. 933 them, and form a new line. The enemy was now to some extent exhausted by his own exertions, but he repulsed an attempt of Birney to recapture the battery. The newly formed line of the Sixth and Second Corps again advanced, pushing the enemy before it ; and, having proceeded a short distance, halted, and passed the night in strengthen- ing its position. The enemy did the same on the east side of the Weldon road. The Federal loss in the attack was large, and included a number of prisoners. During the day, the cavalry of Wilson and Kautz had proceeded to the left, and cut the railroad about ten miles from Peters- burg. On Thursday, the 22d, Wright, finding the enemy weak on the extreme left, sent the Third, Fourth,, and Eleventh Vermont regiments to occupy the railroad. They had not reached it, however, before they were enveloped by An- derson's Division, and severely handled. They lost some prisoners, besides a number killed and wounded. The enemy, flushed with success, pressed our men back to the main body, and then attacked right and left. Our line was withdrawn, towards evening to the cover of breast- works, and operations ceased. Skirmishing continued to the close of June without any important operations. Simultaneously with the transference of his own army from the northern bank of the Chickahominy to the south- ern bank of the James, Grant sent forth Sheridan, with a considerable cavalry force, to traverse the country between the Rappahannock and Richmond, and pass near Char- lottesville, in the direction of Lynchburg, with a view of penetrating the. valley, in order to give the hand to Gen- eral Hunter, who was advancing on that point to close up upon Richmond. Sheridan set out on the 9th of June, and on the 1 1th reached Trevillian's Station, on the Vir- ginia Central Railroad, where he inflicted a severe defeat upon a large cavalry force in his front. On the succeed- ing day he thoroughly destroyed the railroad between Trevillian's and Louisa Court-House ; and early on the 13th, the rebels under Wade Hampton and Fitzhugh Lee having in the mean time gathered in his front in great numbers, and his ammunition getting low, he moved off towards White House, followed at a respectful distance by Wade Hampton, who did not venture a serious attack until Sheridan had crossed the Pamunkey. Hampton 934 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. then made a detour and attacked the trains that Sheridan had left at the White House. General Abercrombie, with three thousand men, maintained his ground until Sheridan came up, when the enemy was driven off with loss. As soon as Sheridan had obtained a little rest, he resumed his march to the James with all his trains and guns. He was again assailed by Hampton, near Jones's Bridge, on the Chickahominy, on the 23d, without much result. As he approached Charles City Court-House, the enemy appeared again on his front, and on Friday, the 24th, attacked with vigor the trains protected by Gregg's Division, who succeeded in keeping them at bay. The affair was sharp, and Sheridan's rear-guard was badly handled. A brigade of infantry was sent to his relief. He succeeded in beating the enemy off at length, after the loss of four or five hundred men, saving all his train ; and, on Saturday, the 25th, his whole force crossed the James safely, four or five miles above Fort Powhattan, under cover of the gunboats. On the morning of June 22d the combined cavalry force of Wilson and Kautz set out on a raid against the W eldon and Danville Railroads. At Reams's Station, on the Wei- don road, considerable damage was done to the track and buildings ; and at Sutherland^ and Ford's Stations, on the Petersburg and Lynchburg road, which the column next reached, a number of locomotives and cars and about twenty miles of track were destroyed. A part of the column now pushed on to Burkesville, the junction of the Lynchburg and Danville roads, where a similar destruc- tion of property took place, and on the 24th the command bivouacked for the night at Keysville, on the Danville road. On the next day the railroad bridge over the Staun- ton River was reached, but was found to be too well defended by the enemy to attack. The order to return was now given, and so closely was the column harassed and pressed on the route, that it broke up into several bodies, which arrived in camp at various times between July 1st and 3d, exhausted and in wretched plight. The losses in men, guns, and trains combined to render the ex- pedition a costly failure, notwithstanding the damage it inflicted on the enemy. Ther"e were no important operations undertaken for some time by the army before Petersburg. The state of HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 935 affairs in the Valley of the Shenandoah, to which allusion will shortly be made, compelled the movement of troops to protect Washington, and the Sixth Corps was sent thither in the first week of July, a result very different from the anticipated accession of aid from Hunter as the consequence of the hoped-for capture of Lynchburg. The attention of the public was directed to the progress of Sherman in Georgia, from whose campaign against At- lanta most important results were expected. Continual skirmishing was kept up in front of Peters- burg, with alternate success, but no great operations were undertaken. The army had need ot rest and recruiting. Nearly three months had elapsed since it crossed the Rapi- dan ; and having fought its way to the northern bank of the James, it was suffering from intense drought and heat, in the presence of an enemy who seemed determined to give it no rest, and disorganization and lassitude inevitably resulted from such continued effort. A contemporary writer thus alluded to the condition of the army in July : " The men, missing the familiar forms and voices that had led them to the charge, would complain that they had not their old officers to follow. On the other hand, more than one leader of a storming party was forced to say, as he came back from an unsuccessful attempt against the out- works of Petersburg, ' My men do not charge as they did thirty days ago.' A few commanders, too, showed the fatiguing effects of the campaign by a lack of health, by a lack of unity and harmony, or of alertness and skill. The attacks on Petersburg of the 22d and 23d of June showed how fatigue was telling on men and officers. On the for- mer occasion, the Second Corps, whose reputation was unexcelled, fell back, division after division, from the enemy's onset, and one of the very finest brigades in the whole army was captured with hardly a shot fired. But when, in addition to this, the Vermont Brigade of the Sixth Corps was badly cut up on the following day, it became clear that the rapidity of the fighting must be checked a while. There was need of rest, recruitment, and some reorganization. It may be added, that the influx of raw troops and of Augur's troops from Washington, with new officers, had temporarily changed the character of brigades, of divisions, and almost of corps." The loss of men in the Valley and in Georgia with 936 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. Sherman was also very great ; and in view of the neces- sity of filling up the thinned ranks of the army, the President issued the following call for volunteers : [Official] "BY THE PRESIDENT OP THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. "A PROCLAMATION. " "Whereas, by the act approved July 4th, 1864, entitled 'An Act further to regulate and provide for the enrolling and calling out of the national forces and for other purposes,' it is provided that the President of the United States may, ' at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men, as volunteers, for the respective term of one, two, and three years, for military service,' and ' that in case the quota, or any part thereof, of any town, township, or ward of a city, precinct, or election dis- trict, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after such call, then the President shall instantly order a draft for one year to fill such quota, or any part thereof, which may be unfilled ;' "And whereas, the new enrolment heretofore ordered is so far com- pleted as that the aforementioned act of Congress may now be put in opera- tion, for recruiting and keeping up the strength of the armies in the field, for garrisons, aud such military operations as may be required for the pur- pose of suppressing the rebellion and restoring the authority of the United States Government in the insurgent States : " Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do issue this my call for five hundred thousand volunteers for the military ser- vice ; provided, nevertheless, that this call shall be reduced by all credits which may be established under section eight of the aforesaid act, on ac- count of persons who have entered the naval service during the present rebellion, and by credits for men furnished to the military service in excess of calls heretofore made. " Volunteers will be accepted under this call for one, two, or three years, as they may elect, and will be entitled to the bounty provided by the law for the period of service for which they enlist. " And I hereby proclaim, order, and direct that immediately after the fifth day of September, 1864, being fifty days from the date of this call, a draft for troops to serve for one year shall be had in every town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or county not so subdivided, to fill the quota which shall be assigned to it under this call, or any part thereof which may be unfilled by volunteers on the said fifth day of September, 1864. "In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand, and caused the seal of the United States to be aflfixed. "Done at the City of "Washington, this eighteenth day of July, in the r -1 year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of L '-I the independence of the United States the eighty-ninth. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " By the President : "WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State." Meantime, there was in progress a new attempt to carry the Petersburg defences by means of a mine, while a feint on the northern bank of the James should draw off' the defenders of Petersburg. The line of Grant's army was HISTORY OF THE GBEAT .REBELLION. 937 twenty miles long, and by ostentatiously threatening the enemy from our right, it was supposed he would weaken his own right at the point where the true assault, after the explosion of the mine, was to take place. The idea of the mine was due to Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants, of the Forty-eighth Pennsylvania, a regiment recruited mostly among the miners of that State. The point selected was the side of a ravine, surmounted by an earthwork, in front of Burnside's (Ninth) Corps, and the mine was pushed towards a formidable fort of the enemy, situated about two thousand yards from Petersburg. The distance to be mined was about five hundred feet, and the work was difficult. The mine was constructed in the usual method. The surface was carefully measured by triangulation, and the gallery was made in the usual shape, four and a half feet high, and about four feet wide at the bottom, sloping up to the top. A ventilating shaft was sunk near the entrance. The chamber of the mine was about twenty feet below the fort, and wings extended from it right and left, extending under the fort. In these were placed eight tons of powder, connected by a fuse which -led out of the gallery. It required thirty days to complete this work. During its progress the Ninth Corps kept up an incessant skirmishing, for the purpose of concealing the movement. The plan of assault was to explode the mine, and immediately to open a terrific cannonading frm every gun on the line. This concen- trated fire would naturally unnerve the enemy somewhat, and, under its cover, a strong storming party would rush through the gap made by the explosion, and endeavor to carry the enemy's position beyond. In the rear of his first line, a hundred and fifty yards distant, was a very strong crest, which quite commanded the city of Peters- burg. To gain this would gain the battle. But the in- tervening space was difficult and arduous, entanglements and abatis being planted near the fort, and the whole grounds being swept by the enemy's artillery. Our own heavy guns had been brought up after much hard and dangerous labor through six weeks, and with much loss of valuable life among officers and men. They now numbered nearly one hundred pieces, some of which were eight-inch and some even heavier mortars. The assault was fixed for the 30th of July, and prepa- 938 HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOtf. rations for it began by a feint on the right. Across the James at Deep Bottom, Foster's Division of the Tenth Corps was intrenched, with a pontoon bridge in his rear, and protected by gunboats. On the 21st a second bridge had been thrown over at Strawberry Plains, and a bri- gade of the Nineteenth Corps crossed to hold it. These, with other demonstrations, induced the enemy to add Kershaw's Division to the other troops in front of Foster. On the 27th, the Second Corps left the extreme left of the army, and, followed by Sheridan and Kautz, crossed the James ; and on the following day a line of battle was formed as follows, from right to left : Sheridan, Hancock, Foster. Foster demonstrated throughout the day, inflict- ing severe loss on the enemy. On Friday, the 29th, the feint was continued, and long trains of empty wagons were sent north of the river for display. These move- ments had the effect of causing Lee to send fifteen thou- sand more men to his left. On Friday evening, however, the Second Corps returned quietly to Petersburg amid an incessant and vindictive fire. Soon after midnight of the 29th, the troops were in position. The Ninth Corps had been carefully arranged fronting the mine, to head the assault. The Eighteenth Corps was drawn off from the right of the Ninth, and massed in its rear. Mott's Division of the Second Corps was moved into the vacancy left by the Eighteenth, and the other divisions occupied adjoining positions, after arriving. The Tenth and the fraction of the Nineteenth Corps remained on the James and near Bermuda Hundred. The assaulting column, then, was the Ninth Corps, supported by the Eighteenth, with the Second in reserve on its right and the Fifth on the left. The whole force was closely massed, only the necessary garrisons lining the more distant intrenchments. The Ninth Corps was disposed with Ledlie's (First) Division in advance ; Wilcox's (Second) and Porter's (Third) next k support, and Ferrero's (Fourth), the colored division, in the rear. The time for lighting the fuse was halt-past three o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 30th. At that hour the troops were all prepared, and alive with excite- ment. An hour passed, and there was no explosion. The fuse had gone out in the damp gallery. Again it waa lighted by some bold soldier. The sun had already risen, HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 939 when, forty minutes past four, a heaving and trembling of the earth was followed by a terrific explosion, and huge clods of earth, with all the contents of the doom- ed fort, guns, caissons, and limbers, and the regiment who manned them, were flung into the air. To the myriad of astonished spectators it resembled a great fountain. Poised for a moment, the mighty column then descended with a resounding thud, and the swaying, quaking, and trembling of the adjacent earth were over. A yawning crater, one hundred feet and more in length, with half as great width, and a depth of twenty feet, with heaps of ruins, was left where once stood a six- gun fort and its camp equipage, and two hundred men. Instantly upon the explosion, a gun broke out from our line, then another, and soon a hundred cannon, from, every eminence along the line, joined in a fire which exceeded in intensity even that of Malvern Hill and Gettysburg. The enemy responded with prompt energy, and their entire line added its thunder of artillery and musketry to our own. The alacrity with which the enemy rallied to his task from the sudden shock, and the steadiness with which he turned his fire to the storming party, in spite of the tremendous shelling with which the LTnion batteries endeavored to disconcert him and dis- tract his attention, showed that he was in a measure prepared for what had happened. Meantime, Ledlie's Division was already in front of its intrenchments, with Marshall's (Second) Brigade in ad- vance, and Bartlett's (First) Brigade in the rear. On the left of Ledlie was/ Hartranft's Brigade of Wilcox's Divi- sion, and, on his right, Griffin's Brigade of Potter's Division. The Second Brigade was delayed by some mistake, but soon, with a wild, enthusiastic cheer, leaped to their work, and, rushing across the deadly plain, under hot fire, stumbled down into the horrible breach which the mine had made. The supporting brigades spread out and enveloped the flanking rifle-pits, captured two hundred prisoners, and sent them to the rear. The Fourteenth New York Heavy Artillery were first to enter the gap,_ amid the wreck of the fort and the upturned earth, with the mangled bodies and dissevered limbs of its occupants protruding here and there from the dis- ordered, fallen debris. The dense cloud of dust still 940 HI8TOKY OF THE GBEAT BEBELLION. rolled over the place, thickened by the heavy smoke of ,,battle, which had now shrouded the whole field from view. Here an unfortunate delay took place. Instead of pressing right on for the object beyond, some of the men were set at digging out two of the six cannon of the fort ; others threw up hasty breastworks against the tempest of shot and shell which already swept the place from the enemy's second line, and began reversing the slope of the intrenchments and extending them. Others exhumed the struggling garrison, such as were living, and carried back the prisoners to our lines, where now ammunition carts and ambulances were hurrying to and fro. The time spent in trying to intrench to protect a storm- ing column, enabled the enemy to get the range with fearful precision from the commanding works, and a most terrific fire was poured in upon men digging among the ruins of the fort. At length, after an anxious and fatal delay, the Ninth Corps was re-formed, and, with Ledlie in the centre, Potter on the right, and Wilcox on the left, under cover of the fire of the two guns, began the charge. On they went with a will, struggling over obstacles, Marshall's Brigade again leading, and Bartlett's pressing on their heels. At every step the fire of the enemy from front and either flank concentrated with greater fury on them, and, from the thickly-studded defences of Cemetery Hill, from redoubt and redan, salient and curtain, ploughed up their ranks with bloody slaughter. The charge was checked on the side of the crest, there was a halt, and finally, the whole line, wavering under terrible odds, recoiled to the fort. The colored division of Ferrero, left as a forlorn hope, was then sent forward, but, after a gallant charge, re- coiled, as the others had done, and plunged headlong into the nearest fort for shelter behind the debris. Upon this latter point was now concentrated a very feu tfenfer, disorganizing the shattered remains of the first three divisions of the Ninth, many of whose most gallant officers and men were already stretched on the plain. The influx of the Fourth Division,, driven back in great rout, redoubled the confusion, and to all minds it was evident that the day was lost. It was now only the question hoW best to save the HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 94:1 troops. This matter they were left to decide for them- selves. The Fifth and the Eighteenth Corps were under brisk fire, and had suffered considerable loss. A division of the Eighteenth, with Turner's Division of the Tenth, had demonstrated on the right (the latter even gaining the crater, and the slope beyond), in useless attempts to distract the attention of the enemy. He directed his fire straight upon the dismantled fort, now a mere slaughter- pen, in which huddled the fragmentary brigades of the Ninth Corps, hoping for relief from their comrades, who lay two hundred yards diftant in their intrenchments. Now squads of men began the work of retreating. But this was a perilous undertaking. The enemv kept a deadly cross-fire on every rod of the space which inter- vened between the fort and our lines. In spite of this, the disorderly movement was kept up. About noon, a general retreat was ordered. A considerable part of the survivors of the assault had crossed towards the rear. And now the men in the fort, who had preferred the chances of honorable death in repelling the enemy to those of the perilous retreat, had discharged nearly all their ammunition. Left unsupported by the rest of the army, a final charge of the enemy, about two o'clock, captured them. Among the captured were General Bart- lett and most of his staff. By the middle of the afternoon the bloody day was done. C)ur loss was, in round num- bers, about four thousand men, of whom the majority were wounded. The loss of the enemy was about one thousand two hundred men, of whom a fifth were prison- ers. It is conjectured that nearly two hundred men were destroyed by the mine. On Sunday, the 31st, a flag of truce was sent for per- mission to bury the dead. This, on account of an in- formality, was not granted until Monday, thirty-six hours after the close of the fight. Immediately on the expira- tion of the time granted, the enemy again opened fiercely with his guns. 942 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. CHAPTEK LVI. Sigel's Movement in the Valley. Hunter Supersedes Sigel, and Defeats the Rebels near Staunton. Occupation of Lexington. Lynchburg. Early sent to the Valley. Retreat of Hunter through "Western Virginia. Advance of Early down the ValleJOand Invasion of Maryland. Defeat of "Wallace. Washington Threatened. Arrival of Sixth Corps and Re- treat of Early. Various Encounters in the Valley. Hunter Superseded by_Sheridan. THAT portion of the grand combined attack on Rich- mond, which consisted of a movement up the Yalley of the Shenandoah upon Lynchburg, was confided to General Sigel. This movement, in connection with that of Grant 1 in front, and that of Butler on the south, was designed to close the door of retreat upon Lee, and shut him up in Richmond, with his communications severed. The enemy's force in the valley was composed of the com- mands of Echols, Imboden, and Breckinridge, Imboden having the advance. In the early part of May the latter general was driven up the valley by Sigel, towards New- market, where a concentration of the rebel troops took place. On May 15th, Sigel encountered their combined forces at Reed's Hill, near Mount Jackson, and suffered a severe repulse, losing a number of guns and prisoners. He retreated upon Strasburg, and soon after was relieved by General Hunter. Travelling without pause from "Washington to Cedar Creek, General Hunter assumed command of the beaten army, which he found demoralized to a degree that could scarcely be exceeded. Nearly two thousand of its in- fantry were without shoes. About one thousand had thrown away their arms in their flight, and had to be re- armed. He received re-enforcements, and advanced upon Staunton, the enemy falling back before him, and on June 6th inflicted a severe defeat upon the rebel General Jones, near Staunton, capturing fifteen hundred prisoners and three guns. On the 8th of June, when Grant was about crossing the James, Hunter occupied Staunton, where he HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 94:3 was joined by Averill, who had been operating in South- western Virginia, on the line of the Lynchburg and East Tennessee Railroad, and by General Crook, who had also been raiding upon the railroads. A demonstration was made towards "VVaynesboro by a cavalry force, which was repulsed by Imboden. At Staunton several millions' worth of public property was destroyed, and on the 10th the whole force, about sixteen thousand strong, advanced by two roads, forming a junction several miles northeast of Lexington, and forty miles from Lynchburg. Lexing- ton was held by McCausland, with special orders to make the defence good until re-enforcements arrived from Rich- mond. He made the stand accordingly ; but, finding the town directly under the guns of Hunter's infantry ad- vance, and that he was being flanked bv Averill's Cavalry, who had forded the river higher up, IVIcCausland finally fell back. Hunter advanced very slowly, throwing cavalry out to the right and left, in demonstrations against the railroad connections of the enemy. Upon reaching Lexington he awaited -the expected co-operation of Sheridan in the direction of Gordonsville, which, as has been previously stated, came to naught. Not hearing from Sheridan, he then pressed on to Lynchburg, destroying railroads and bridges by the way ; but upon arriving before the city, he found it too strongly fortified to be assaulted with any prospect of success. An attempt on the 18th satisfied him of the impossibility of capturing the place with his limited force. Lee now prepared to avail himself of his interior lines to throw an overpowering force into the valley, crush Hunter, and then demonstrate towards Maryland and Washington. His position at Petersburg and Richmond was so well secured that he could easily spare a whole corps for this object, and still from behind his powerful earthworks confront the Army of the Poto- mac. Swell's Corps was selected, and with Breckinridge's command and two brigades from Hill's Corps, the whole commanded by Early, proceeded about the middle of June towards the valley. The enemy had signal officers upon every hill around, and knew all Hunter's move- ments, so that Swell's Corps was not dispatched from Richmond until its presence at Lynchburg was needed.- 944 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT BEBELLION. The Union troops at this time were fifteen days' march, from regular bases of supplies, and were\ subsisting upon the enemy's country, while the enemy, by means of- the railroad from Lynchburg to Richmond, had at any time the power of concentrating against Hunter just as many troops as General Lee could spare from the Army of Northern Virginia. Hunter was not slow to perceive how critical was his position, and on the 19th commenced his march down the valley. But scarcely had he started when he found the enemy pressing him so hard that he was compelled to leave the valley, abandon part of his trains and guns, and strike across the mountains to the Kanawha, hoping to reach Long's Creek, whence by steamboat down the Kanawha and up the Ohio to Par- kersburg, and thence by railroad, he could regain Martins- burg. This eccentric retreat of Hunter was forced upon him by lack of all supplies, and by the fact that the enemy had a railroad east of the Blue Ridge, from Lynch- burg to Roekfish Gap or Waynesboro, only twelve miles from Staunton, by means of which the whole of Swell's Corps, and as many other troops as Lee might think necessary, could easily have been thrown from sixty to eighty miles in Hunter's rear, while Breckinridge, with the valley troops, held him in front. And as he had but little ammunition, and was utterly out of supplies, while there would be no chance to collect in presence of a superior force of the enemy, it appeared reduced to a mathematical certainty that an attempt to return down the Shenandoah would be equivalent to the annihilation or surrender of our force. Retiring by the Kanawha Valley, he confidently expected abundant supplies of commissary and quartermaster stores at Meadow's Bluff, about five or six days' march from Lynchburg. More than a million rations, about five or six days previous, had been left there by Generals Crook and Averill, under charge of two regiments of Ohio militia. These stores the enemy had destroyed. The enemy, in all about twenty-five thousand men, after driving Hunter over the mountains, lost no time in advancing down the valley, and on Saturday, July 2, sud- denly made his appearance at North Mountain, eight miles north of Martinsburg, thus flanking Sigel, who held command there. On the following morning Sigel was HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 94:5 compelled to fall back upon Harper's Ferry, where he united with General Stahl. The small Union force then evacuated the town, and held Maryland Heights. It now became manifest that another invasion of Pennsylvania was at hand. The enemy's main line of advance was by way of Martinsburg and North Mountain, across the Potomac to Hagerstown. Refugees, farmers, and citizens soon passed east toward Baltimore, and the roads were filled with pedestrians, with droves of cattle, and with wagons of all species of construction, carrying such goods and valuables as the frightened owners had dared to stay to pick up. The terror of the fugitives was extreme, and their stories of what they had seen and heard extravagant. The panic was wide-spread and universal, and the region for miles became depopulated. The enemy advanced steadily, and bythe 4th of July the country between Winchester and Williamsport was occupied by him. On that day a part of Mosby's Cavalry crossed at Point of Rocks, while the enemy occupied Har- per's Ferry and the south bank of the Potomac, Sigel holding Maryland Heights. On the 6th, the enemy's cavalry, under McCausland, occupied Hagerstown. In view of the gravity of the situation, requisitions for troops were made upon the States of New York, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts, and the Sixth Corps was ordered to embark for Washington, which had been nearly stripped of its garrison to re-enforce Grant, and against which the enemy was evidently moving, hoping possibly to capture it by a coup de main. One of the objects of Lee in plan- ning this invasion was to induce Grant to retire from be- fore Richmond, and cover the Federal capital ; and the fact that the latter general thought it necessary to detach no more than a single corps for that purpose, snowed that he took the proper view of the invasion, and was not to be enticed by his wily adversary from relaxing the iron grip which he had fastened upon the approaches to the rebel capital. Meanwhile, General Lewis Wallace, commanding the Middle Department, had gathered together such troops as were available (Hunter not havin'g yet returned from Western Virginia), and essayed to retard the progress of the enemy. On Saturday, July 9th, having by this time been joined by Ricketts's Division of the Sixth Corps, he 58 946 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. encountered the enemy in superior force on the Monocacy, near Frederick, and, after a severe fight, was pushed back with loss on the road to Baltimore. The enemy immedi- ately sent a column of troops down the "Washington and Frederick turnpike. It entered Rockville on Sunday morning, and then moved on towards Washington. Five miles from Georgetown, and two miles beyond the fortifi- cations, it drove in the Federal pickets one mile on Sun- day night. At daybreak on Monday mornirg, skirmish- ing commenced within rifle-shot of Fort Pennsylvania, three miles from Georgetown. Simultaneously with the appearance of this force, an- other division of troops appeared on the Seventh street road, four miles from the city, directly north, and imme- diately in front of Forts Stevens and De Ruesey. Here they seemed in larger force. By Monday noon the en- emy had a strong skirmish line, and some sixty were killed and wounded ; but fortunately, by this time the remainder of the Sixth Corps, and a portion of the Nine- teenth from New Orleans, began to arrive in the Poto- mac, and at dusk the veteran troops advanced to the front, where the fighting became severe. The enemy be- gan to use artillery, and Forts Slocum and De Russey opened in reply with their heavy guns. Immense efforts were made to strengthen the Federal lines, and a procla- mation required every able-bodied man to turn out as militia, and be mustered into service for sixty days. Citizens were seen on every hand with guns on their shoulders, while employes of departments and Govern- ment workshops, who had been previously organized and drilled, turned out several thousand strong. Three thou- sand convalescent soldiers were also obtained from the hospitals, in addition to the veteran forces, increasing hourly by fresh arrivals. The telegraph lines and rait roads having been cut, Washington was, for the time being, isolated, and provisions began to rise in price. On Wednesday morning, however, the enemy had disap- peared. Cavalry followed in pursuit, and found him retreating towards Frederick. A small battery had re- mained near Bladensburg, firing at the railroad train, long after the main line had retreated. In the mean tune, on the 10th, the enemy's cavalry approached within sixteen miles of Baltimore, and raiding HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 94:7 parties made their appearance in various directions. One burned the dwelling of Governor Bradford ; another cap- tured a train in which was Major-General Franklin, who managed to make his escape. Other forces busied them- selves in collecting large stores of forage, grain, and army supplies of all sorts, and making forced contributions in money. The affair at Monocacy was the only consistent effort to oppose the raid. That ended in a defeat, and thenceforth the enemy for several days had it all his own way, and was enabled, after his demonstration upon Wash- ington and Baltimore, to retire across the Potomac with large spoils. The pursuit was commenced, July 13th, by General "Wright, with the Sixth Corps and one division of Em- ory's Nineteenth Corps. He crossed the Potomac at Edwards's Ferry and moved towards Leesburg, where Bicketts overtook and joined him. The cavalry under Duffle, of Crook's command, captured some of the rebel trains near Snicker's Gap, on the 17th. The remainder of Crook's force then came up, but the enemy commanded the stream they had crossed with two guns, and checked the pursuit. On the succeeding day, Duffle was repulsed by Breckinridge, at Island Ford on the Shenandoah, with 1 the loss of three hundred men. The enemy proceeded towards Winchester and Strasburg, followed closely by Averill, who, on the 20th, had a combat near Winchester with Ramseur's Division, which he defeated with the loss of four hundred men and four guns. Crook then joined Averill. On the 23d the enemy advanced in force and drove in the Union cavalry, and on the 24th precipitated himself with so much force upon Crook as to push him back, with considerable loss, upon Martinsburg, whence, on Tuesday, the 26th, he recrossed the Potomac. Early now again held the right bank of the Potomac from Williamsport to Shepardstown. The enemy manoeuvred on the Potomac, effectively concealing their numbers and intentions, until the 30th, when McCausland, with a cavalry force, advanced* upon Chambersburg, and de- manded a ransom of five hundred thousand dollars, which not being paid, he fired the town, inflicting a loss esti- mated at one million, dollars. In the mean time, Averill, who had retreated from Hagerstown towards Carlisle, turned upon McCausland, and on Sunday, August 9th, 948 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. our cavalry again occupied Hagerstown. The same day, Averill overtook the enemy at Moorfield and routed him, capturing all his artillery, consisting of four pieces, and many of his wagons and small-arms, and five hundred prisoners. Our loss was less than fifty men. The pur- suit was kept up for many miles. For this exploit Averill was promoted to the rank of major-general. On the 7th of August, Hunter was superseded by Sher- idan, who was assigned to the command of the forces in the Middle Military Division, consisting of the Depart- ment of Washington, the Middle Department, and the Departments of the Susquehanna and Southwest Virginia, which it was now determined to unite under one com- mander. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 949 CHAPTER LYII. Dutch Gap Canal. Movement North of the James. Expedition of the Fifth Corps to the Weldon Road. Attack by Hill. Severe Fighting near Reams's Station. Losses. Repulse of the Enemy. Subsequent Repulse of Hancock. Renewal of the Movement North of the James and Capture of Fort Harrison. Further Operations on the Weldon Rail- road. SHERIDAN having, in the beginning of August, been detached from the Army of the Potomac and sent to supersede Hunter, Gregg assumed command of the cav- alry. The monotony which had crept upon the opera- tions of either army was varied on the 5th of August by the springing of a mine by the enemy in front of the Eighteenth Corps. This was intended to countermine what was supposed to be a new work by the Federal troops. No charge followed, however. On the 9th an ordinance boat at City Point accidentally exploded, in- volving great destruction of life and property. There were seventy killed and one hundred and thirty wounded. The James River, a short distance below Fort Darling, makes a great bend, forming a peninsula called Farrar s Island, the neck of which is only half a mile across, while the river winds six miles around the bend. This part of the stream was filled with torpedoes and swept by batte- ries. General Butler proposed to cut a canal across this neck, and thus cause the enemy to prolong his works, while it would bring the Federal troops in close proxim- ity to Fort Darling. From the very outset, the work upon the canal was obstructed by the fire of the enemy from Hewlett House Battery, and, to relieve the working parties, it was determined to create a diversion. Ac- cordingly, a fleet of transports was collected at City Point, and on August 12th the Second Corps was embarked upon them, apparently to go down the river. The Tenth Corps at the same time crossed the river on pontoons and joined Foster's Division on the right. On Saturday night, August 13th, the Second Corps landed from the 950 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. transports near Deep Bottom, and moved into position along the Newmarket road on the east side of Four Mile Creek, while the Tenth Corps was on the west side of that stream. The gunboats at the same time engaged the enemy's works. Early on Sunday, the 14th, Foster moved out upon Strawberry Plains, and encountered the enemy's skirmishers, who fell back beyond his rifle-pits. The enemy had, however, re-enforced from his right, and the Federal troops had before them D. H. Hill and Long- street's Corps. The cavalry of Gregg covered the right flank, where was the Second Corps, with its left on Four Mile Creek, while the Tenth Corps, resting with its right on the other bank of the creek, had its left on the in- trenched bluff at Deep Bottom. These dispositions con- sumed most of the day, Generals Grant, Butler, Hancock, and Birney being present, and it was not until towards evening that the whole line advanced. The Tenth Corps drove in the picket line of the enemy and captured four guns and a number of prisoners ; but the Second Corps, encountering a very severe artillery fire, gained compar- atively little ground. On Monday, August 15th, amidst severe skirmishing, the line was extended to the right, and Malvern Hul threatened. As the right was extended, the enemy made corresponding movements, and the day was spent in manrauvring. On the 16th, the cavalry of Gregg moved on the Charles City road, where, being joined by Miles's Division of the Second Corps, it encountered the enemy under Chambliss, who, after a sharp fight, were routed, with the loss of their leader. The column then pushed on to White's Tavern, in the immediate vicinity of Richmond, but, finding the enemy in strong force, withdrew. Mean- while, in the centre, the Tenth Corps carried a Jine of works and captured two hundred prisoners, but, every- where encountering strongly-manned works, it also with- drew, and the reconnoissance ended. The attack was not intended to be serious at this point, and it remained to be seen what effect it would have on operations on the left. At four o'clock on the morning of Thursday, the 18th, the Fifth Corps started from its camp, with four days' rations, for the Weldon Railroad. The column marched towards Reams's Station, driving in easily the enemy's skirmishers, of whom a part were captured. The first HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION". 951 division, Griffin's, reached the railroad, and began to de- stroy it five or six miles from Petersburg ; while the second, Ayres's, the third, Crawford's, and the fourth, Cutler's Marylanders, proceeded along the road towards Petersburg. At Yellow Tavern they encountered the enemy's cavalry under Bearing, who fell back to Davis Farm, two and a half miles from Petersburg. Here Gen- eral A. P. Hill was encountered, with the divisions of Mahone and Heth, Mahone, with his own brigades and those of Clingman and Colquitt, beingeast of the railroad, and Hill, with the brigades of Davis, Walker, and Archer, west of it. The Federal line was halted in an open field. Crawford's Division, comprising the brigades of Lyle, Wheeler, and Hartshorn, were east of the railroad, con- fronting Mahone, and Ayres on the west of the road, oppo- site Heth, who came forward with great vehemence, driv- ing back Ayres about one mile upon his intrenchments, the first'line of which was lost, the enemy pouring in pell- mell with the retreating troops. These, supported by Cutler's Division, gained the main, line, that had been greatly strengthened over night, and against which the advancing tide of rebels beat m vain. The Union troops, on Friday, August 19th, occupied an intrenched line, the left being on the Boydtown plankroad, while across the railroad the right held the Jerusalem road, which it was necessary to connect with the main line at Petersburg. The line was formed as follows, from right to left: "Wilcox's Division of the Ninth Corps,, Crawford's, Ayres's, and Griffin's Divisions of the Fifth' Corps. Between Ayres and Crawford ran the railroad,, and between the right of the Fifth Corps and the Jerusa- lem road was a dangerous gap. At four o'clock in the afternoon, in the midst of a heavy rain-storm, Hill burst upon our lines with both divisions. Mahone attacked Bragg's Brigade of Crawford's Division, on our right, with great fury, overwhelming the Nineteenth Indiana, and pressing through the gap like a torrent, thus separating W ilcox and Crawford. The latter was strongly intrenched in a thick wood opposite Davis Farm. Mahone, there- fore, while fiercely engaging him in front with his own troops and the brigade of Clingman, sent Colquitt's Georgians upon his flank, which was so effectually turned that nearly a thousand of Crawford's Division were made 952 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. prisoners. Meanwhile, on the left, the impetuous advance of Heth had carried the intrenchments erected since the morning, besides driving back the line, and enveloping the regular brigade of Hayes. But the First and Second Divisions of the Ninth Corps now arrived to re-enforce the Federals, after an exhausting forced march. They formed quickly, and charged, capturing several hundred prisoners. This charge enabled the hard-pressed troops of the Fifth Corps to rally ; and the rebels, being in turn overlapped, were driven back with loss, and the disaster of the earlier part of the day retrieved. The approach of night stopped the conflict. The Federal loss was one thousand five hundred killed and wounded, and about two thousand prisoners. The loss of the enemy was probably equally severe in killed and wounded. The result of this fight was to give the enemy possession of the Weldon road as far as Yellow Tavern, while our forces still held the posi- tion first taken by Warren. On Sunday, the 21st, the Federal line held nearly the same position', and at nine o'clock the enemy again attacked with his usual impetuosity, and, after a conflict of two hours, was repulsed with the loss of over two thousand men, including Generals Saunders and Lamar killed, and Barton, Finnegan, and Andrews wounded. During the night of Sunday the cannonade was heavy in front of the Fifth Corps, But on Monday it was discov- ered that the enemy had retired, and intrenched himself three miles from Petersburg. While these events took place, one division of the Second Corps had been withdrawn from Deep Bottom and hurried across to Petersburg in season to take possession of the intrenchments vacated by the Fifth Corps in their mareh to the Weldon Railroad. The other two divisions, Gregg's Cavalry and the Tenth Corps, commenced a simi- lar movement on Saturday night, and soon Foster re- mained, as before, in sole possession of Deep Bottom. In a single night, by a forced march, in which the infantry outmarched the cavalry, the Second Corps crossed the two rivers, and reached the lines of the Ninth Corps on Sun- day morning. On Monday, Barlow's Division (tempo- rarily under Miles) was occupied in tearing up the railroad track from the line of the Fifth Corps down towards Reams's Station. On Monday night, Gibbon's Division HISTOKT OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 953 marched towards Reams's, and on Tuesday continued the destruction of the track in the region of that station. The weather continued wet, and the roads very bad. On Tuesday, Warren again pushed his line towards Petersburg, and busily intrenched, skirmishing going on between the pickets as on Monday. The Second Corps was equally busy in tearing up the track in his rear. On Tuesday night and Wednesday night the heavy cannon- ading was repeated by the enemy, the greater part being directed against the Eighteenth Corps. On Wednesday the destruction of the railroad was continued, so that by night it was comylete from a point four miles from Petersburg down to two miles below Reams's, towards Weldon. Our line of battle in the Fifth Corps, meanwhile, extended clear across the Weldon road, and our skir- mishers lay near the Yaughan road, three and a half miles from Petersburg. On Thursday morning, the 25th, Gibbon's Division of the Second Corps moved down the railroad from Reams's Station, to prosecute the destruction of the road. When about a mile below the station, the cavalry advance, which had been skirmishing all the morning, was sudden- ly checked and driven back by the enemy's picket line. The old intrenchments erected by the Sixth Corps still surrounded the station in semicircular form, covering the railroad both above and below it. Miles (now in com- mand of Barlow's Division) had posted his men as follows : Colonel Lynch's (First) Brigade on the right ; next, the Second and Third Brigades, under Major Byron ; next, the Fourth Brigade, under Lieutenant-Colonel Brodie ; finally, on the left, Alcock's Fourth New York heavy artillery regiment. The enemy appeared, soon after noon, in front of Miles, and Hancock at once ordered Gibbon to fall back and form junction with Miles's left, to cover and protect that flank. The cavalry followed, and covered the left flank and rear. Gibbon disposed his troops so as to face down the railroad in a southerly and southeasterly direction, his right joining Miles's left at the railroad, and Miles facing west. Thus the line was somewhat in the form of a horse-shoe. In Gibbon's line, the Third Brig- ade was on the left, the First in the centre, and the Second on the right, joining Miles. About two o'clock the ene- 954: HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. my's demonstrations culminated in a grand advance of his skirmish line. The rebel column of attack, under General A. P. Hill, was composed of three brigades, commanded by Ileth and Connor, with Pegram's Artillery. At half-past three o'clock this column emerged from the woods with fixed bayonets, and advanced at a rapid pace with loud cheers. The column was smitten with a concentrated fire from four batteries and musketry, but penetrated to within twenty paces of the line, when it recoiled. The Federals had suffered severely from a musketry fire from the ene- my's right to cover this charge. The charge was repeated an hour later, with similar results. The enemy then brought up his batteries, which soon opened a very severe concentric fire upon the circular position of the federals. The shot that passed the troops of Miles did considerable execution upon those of Gibbon. This was sustained for twenty minutes, when the fire suddenly ceased, and with loud yells the enemy sprang forward to a fourth assault, charging furiously with fixed bayonets, and without firing a shot. The distance he had to pass over from the woods to the line was not great, and the efficiency of our fire being destroyed by the previous cannonade, he gained the breastworks, and in a hand-to-hand fight broke the line, forcing Miles back, and capturing several guns. To stop this irruption a portion of Gibbon's men were hurried to support Miles across a distance of half a mile, exposed to heavy fire. This had the effect of checking the enemy for a short space, but the dismounted rebel cavalry, under Wade Hampton, seized the moment to charge the defeated line of Gibbon, and carried the works, and once more Gibbon was hurried back to restore the fight in that direc- tion ; but this time in vain. The enemy crowded forward on all sides, inflicting severe losses on the overpowered Unionists. Some regiments were reduced to mere skele- tons ; of the Massachusetts Twentieth, one of the best in the .army, very few remained. As the night approached, Hancock withdrew his troops, leaving Keams's Station in possession of the enemy. The Federal loss was very heavy, including two thousand five hundred prisoners, one thousand killed and wounded, seven colors, and nine guns. That the enemy did not accomplish this feat without HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 955 receiving severe punishment, is apparent from the follow- ing dispatches from General Meade : "SECOND CORPS 12.30 p. M. August 26, 1864. " A safeguard that was left on the battle-field remained there after day- light this morning. " At that time the enemy had all disappeared, leaving their dead on the field unburied. This shows how severely they were punished, and, doubt- less hearing of the arrival of re-enforcements, they feared the results to-day if they remained. (Signed) "G. G. MEADE, Major- General' 1 " SECOND ARMY CORPS, August 26, 1864 1 p. M. " To Lieutenant-General GRANT : " Since sending my last dispatch, I have conversed with the safeguard referred to. He did not leave the field until after sunrise. At that time nearly all the enemy had left, moving towards Petersburg. He says they abandoned not only their dead, but their wounded also. He conversed with an officer, who said their losses were greater than ever before during the war. " The safeguard says he was over the field, and it was covered with the enemy's dead and wounded. He has seen a great many battle-fields, but never such a sight. Nearly all the enemy's and all our wounded were brought off, but our dead were unburied. I have instructed General Gregg to make an effort to send a party to the field and bury our dead. " G. G. MEADE. Major- General." The results of this battle put the enemy in possession of the Weldon Railroad as far as Yellow Tavern. Reams's is ten miles from Petersburg. The Federal troops still held three or four miles^of railroad. On the same day, Butler's picket lines were driven in, with some loss, but were soon restored. The Army of the Potomac now maintained its position for several weeks without attempting any important enter- prise, although each day was marked by some of those events which are unavoidable where two armies are in such close proximity to each other. A persistent shelling was kept up by General Grant. The operations in the valley continued to attract attention, but the movements of Sherman in Georgia were watched with the utmost anxiety. He had operated against Johnston and Hood with more or less success, until, on the 4th of September, the capture of Atlanta was announced to the Army of the Potomac, and a salute of one hundred shotted guns was ordered, to which the enemy briskly responded. On the 14th of September a remarkable raid was successfully performed by the enemy. A herd of two thousand five hundred head of cattle, destined for the consumption of 956 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. the Army of the Potomac, was grazing near Coggin's Point, on the James River, guarded by two regiments of Kautz's Cavalry. Wade Hampton, with W. F. H. Lee's Cavalry Division and Rosser's and Dearing's Brigades, moved from Ream's Station entirely around our extreme left, broke Kautz's picket line, overpowered the Union Cavalry, and captured and carried off a number of prison- ers and the whole of the cattle. Gregg's and Kautz's Cavalry Divisions pursued, but without effect. In the last week of September preparations were made by General Grant to renew the attack upon Richmond, and he seems to have drawn inspiration from the success of Sherman, in obtaining possession of Atlanta by strat- egy, where force was unavailing. To this end, a simul- taneous attack at both extremities of the line was organ- ized. That on the right, by the Eighteenth and Tenth Corps, with the cavalry of Kautz, was undertaken in the hope of compelling the enemy to send his troops from the defence of Petersburg to his left. The idea of compel- ling the enemy to weaken one point for the defence of another, seems, however, not to have been fruitful of success. The celerity with which troops appeared at the assailed points, indicated great facilities for their trans- portation and rare energy in their movements. On the night of Wednesday, September 28th, the two corps of Butler passed the James on muffled pontoons, the Tenth to Deep Bottom, four miles from Dutch Gap, and the Eighteenth to Aiken's Landing, which is half- way between Dutch Gap and Deep Bottom. The Eigh- teenth Corps, General Ord, at aaylight of the 29th, proceeded by the Yarina road towards its junction with the Newmarket road, driving in the enemy's skirmishers, as it advanced toward Chapin's Farm, where a long line of intrenchments runs in a westerly direction to the river, terminating in a strong work known as Battery Harrison. These works did not form part of the de- fences proper of Richmond, but were covered by the fire from works on the other side of the river, and by that of the enemy's gunboats. The line of advance was formed left to right of the brigades of Stannard, Burnham, Rob- erts, and Heckman. The line advanced under a terrible fire of artillery, and the enemy precipitately fled to other works in the rear. The result was the capture of sixteen HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 957 funs and one hundred and fifty prisoners ; but the re from the enemy's guns was so intense that it was found impossible to hold the works; and General Weitzel abandoned them, concentrating his troops on the left. Meanwhile the Tenth Corps, now commanded by Bir- ney, proceeded from Deep Bottom towards .Newmarket, encountering the skirmishers of the enemy, but no serious opposition until it reached the point where the Kingsland road crosses the Newmarket road. Here a small force held Newmarket Heights, which were readily carried, though with some loss. The enemy, with the loss of some five hundred, then retired upon Laurel Hill, six miles from Richmond, at the junction of the Varina and Newmarket roads, where was a line of strong earthworks, with a wide and deep ditch in front. The place was at once assaulted, but proved too powerful to be carried with the limited force at Birney's disposal, and at night he withdrew his troops to the intrenchments in his rear, where he remained until two o'clock on the 30th. The Union line was now formed of the Eighteenth and Tenth Corps, and the enemy, having been re-enforced from Richmond under Hoke, fell with great fury on the divi- sion of Stannard. Deploying in three strong lines at the edge of the wood, he charged with great promptitude, under cover of a hot shelling from his iron-clads in the river, and an annoying enfilading fire from the batteries on the bank. A well-directed, rolling musketry fire sent the rebels reeling back to the wood, before they could reach the intrenchments. Again and still a third time they rallied, were re-formed, and made the charge. But, though they got near the works, it was only to be re- pulsed with great slaughter. Our men had been in- structed to lower their pieces, and the musketry fire was at once incessant and murderous. On the breaking of the enemy, General "Weitzel succeeded in cutting off over two hundred prisoners, including twenty officers. The enemy's total loss was probably a thousand men, and ours probably less than five hundred. Among the wounded officers was General Stannard, who lost an a,rm. After this movement, little of importance took place until Friday, October 7th. The Federal line was formed of the Eighteenth Corps, on the left, the Tenth on the 958 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. centre and right, and the cavalry on the extreme right, on the Darbytown road. The left was intrenched at Battery Harrison, about ten miles from Richmond, and the right about five miles from Richmond, in an air line on the Charles City road. At early dawn on the 7th, Anderson, with Hoke's and Field's Divisions, advanced down the Darbytown and Charles City roads, and attacked Kautz's Division with such suddenness and fury, that the whole broke and fled. This disaster gave the enemy possession? of the Darbytown road, and pressing on in pursuit, they soon encountered our right centre, the right of the Tenth Corps. Meanwhile, the cavalry had gained in their flight Signal Hill and Newmarket Heights. Birney held a strongly intrenched line, with the right flank refused. On the right was Terry's First Division, lying along the refused flank, and covering the Newmarket road. His troops were in rifle-pits, in heavy woods. The ground on the left of the line was open, and here the artillery was posted four six-gun batteries which swept not only its own front, but shelled the ground by which the right could be reached. Proper and skilful dispositions were briskly made on the stampede of the cavalry, and, before the enemy was on him, Terry was ready. As the enemy approached, he was greeted with a heavy cross-fire of artillery from our left, in answer to which he got two batteries into position. These, however, were soon overmatched. Meanwhile, Field's Division moved up in excellent order to the assault, dashing over the open at double-quick, and succeeded in gaining the woods on our right. Not only, however, was the open made dangerous by artillery, but the partially felled woods were difficult of penetration. Our infantry remained quiet until the enemy was very close, when all four brigades, rising from their half ambush, poured into him a sudden and destructive fire. After a protracted engagement, the enemy, finding his efforts vain, withdrew in great confusion along the cen- tral road, followed closely by Terry. He finally retired upon the Charles City road, thus leaving the central road again in our possession. The troops enjoyed an interval of repose until the 13th, when General Terry, temporarily in command of the Tenth Corps, moved out before dawn upon the Darbytown road to the scene of Kautz's defeat HISTORY OF THE GEE AT KEBELLION. 959 on the 7th. The enemy had, in the interval, constructed many new works, one of which was ineffectually assaulted by Pond's Brigade. The enemy in turn made a charge upon our lines. This was succeeded by the return of the Federal troops to their intrenchments. 960 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. CHAPTER LVIII. Operations in Tennessee. Sherman'a Raid through Mississippi. Failure of Smith's Co-operative Movement. Invasion of Western Tennessee and Kentucky by Forrest. Massacre at Fort Pillow. LONGSTKEET, after his retreat upon Rogers ville, con- tinued to remain some time in Eastern Tennessee, appar- ently threatening Kuoxville. His communications with Lee, temporarily interrupted by Averill, in a daring raid into Southwestern Virginia, were soon restored, and Lee had abundant opportunity, during tjie inactivity of the Army of the Potomac in the winter of 1863-4, to re-en- force him, of which, however, he did not take advantage. Longstreet accordingly contented himself with merely threatening Knoxville, while Johnston, who had succeeded Bragg, occupied Dalton, thirty-eight miles south of Chat- tanooga. Longstreet ultimately returned to the rebel army in Virginia, and upon his departure the Ninth Corps was sent to re-enforce the Army of the Potomac. During January, 1864, the enemy sent several expedi- tions into Tennessee. Johnston's Brigade, of Rhoddy's command, crossed the Tennessee River at Bainbridge, three miles below Florence, and at Newport Ferry, six miles from the same point, intending to make a junction with a brigade of infantry which was expected to cross the river at Lamb's and Brown's Ferry, and thence pro- ceed to Alton's, to capture the Union force there. They were engaged, fifteen of them killed, and quite a number wounded and taken prisoners. Our loss was ten wound- ed. The operations of the rebel General Forrest were in no degree more successful. At the close of January, General Rosecrans was assigned to the Department of Missouri, and General Schofield resumed command of the Twenty-third Corps, constituting the Army of the Ohio, and, with it, of the Department of Ohio. A combined movement was now formed against the HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 961 enemy in the Southwest. General Sherman was to march east from Yicksburg on the 3d of February into the interior of the Gulf States, and, in co-operation with him, Generals Smith and Grierson, at the head of a cavalry force, were to move south from Memphis. In aid of these operations, Schofield was directed to threaten Longstreet in the neighborhood of Knoxville, and Thomas to press Johnston, while the navy attacked Mobile, and General Banks was to operate against Shreveport, and Kilpatrick conduct a raid on Richmond. In accordance with this plan, on February 3d, a strong column, com- posed of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, under command of Sherman, took up an easterly line of march from Yicksburg, following the line of the South- ern Mississippi Railroad. By following the prolongation of this line, the column would strike Meridian (one hundred and forty miles), Selma (two hundred and fifty miles), Montgomery (three hundred miles), and double railroad and double river communications would be opened up with the Gulf. The Pearl, the Tombigbee, and the Alabama rivers leading into the heart of Mis- sissippi and Alabama would thus be thrown open to our gunboats. Jn a word, the great centre of productive force would be seized. At the same time that Sherman's force was pursuing the line indicated, another very powerful cavalry column, twelve thousand strong, under Generals Smith and Grierson, was to set out from Corinth and Holly Springs, to follow the Mobile and Ohio Rail- road southward. On February 5th, the two corps, under Generals McPherson and Hurlbut, were across the Big Black River, and advanced, driving the rebel Greneral Polk before them, and inflicting immense damage upon the enemy. At Meridian, the great rail way centre of the Southwest, which Sherman reached about the middle of the month, he destroyed the arsenal filled with valua- ble stores and machinery, burned a large number of Government warehouses filled with military stores and ammunition, and rendered useless a number of mills. At Meridian he also made, in his own words, " the most complete destruction of railroads ever beheld." Sixty miles of track, besides depots, bridges, and rolling stock, were thoroughly destroyed, and several towns burned or desolated. Having waited at Meridian a week without 59 962 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. news of Smith, he retraced his steps to the Mississippi, carrying with him over eight thousand liberated slaves, and an immense amount of spoils. The resistance offered by the enemy was so trifling that the total Union loss was less than two hundred. Meantime weeks had been spent in gathering together and properly organizing all the available cavalry in "Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. To supply troops for these movements, Corinth, and the line of the Memphis and Charleston road as far east as General Logan's outposts, had been abandoned, the fortifications blown up, and the public property removed. Common report put the aggregate finally collected at ten thousand horsemen. The number was so large that General Smith felt warranted in writing as follows, to a friend in Buffalo, under date of Colliersville, February 9th : " I expect to start to-morrow or next day with* thousand cavalry, for the bowels of Dixie. The rebels have about thousand in Mississippi, which they can, if they like, concentrate to oppose me. The force, it is safe to say, was larger and better equipped than any before collected during this war to execute a similar mis- sion. As it was essential to the complete achievement of General Sherman's plan of campaign that this cavalry column should move forward promptly, every precaution was taken to make it irresistible ; and to render assurance doubly sure, General Smith, General Grant's chief of cavalry, was detailed to supervise operations. All these precautions, however, failed to accomplish the desired end. The column, which was to have left Colliersville February 3d the same day that Sherman got away from Vicksburg was detained until February llth, in order to enable General Waring to bring up his brigade. This delay seems to have been suificient to enable Forrest, Rhoddy, and Chambers to concentrate their forces against him ; it gave General Sherman a whole week the start, and made a junction proportionately more difficult. After the expedition had finally started, various circum- stances conspired to delay and oppose its progress. It was only after the force had been in the saddle seven days that it reached Okalona, one hundred and thirty miles southeast of Memphis, an average of but little more than fifteen miles per day from Colliersville, the HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. 963 point of departure. On the 19th it marched to Egypt, a station about seven miles south of Okalona. Here they destroyed a large quantity of rebel stores The expedi- tion was then divided, one column, under Grierson, going through Aberdeen on the east side of the railroad, the other on the west side, the two concentrating at Prairie Station, about seventeen miles south of Okalona, where large quantities of rebel stores were destroyed. Grierson met with considerable opposition near Aberdeen. On the 20th, Forrest was reported in force at "West Point, and on the 21st our forces encountered him at that place. Smith found Forrest, Lee, Bhoddy, and Chambers combined against him, and after a heavy fight he was compelled to fall back, leaving three field-pieces, four-pounder steel guns, on the field. They were spiked. All the ammu- nition was saved. In his retreat Smith burnt every trestle on the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, and destroyed miles of the track and large quantities of corn. There was heavy fighting in the rear throughout the 22d. The rebels moved on each flank with the evident design of reaching the Tallahatchie in advance of our force, and forming a junction to prevent our crossing, and capture the whole command; but by forced marching Smith passed both flanking columns, and, marching all night, crossed safely at New Albany. Skirmishing was kept up all through the 23d and the 24th. On the 25th the expedition arrived at Colliersville, about twenty-five miles east of Memphis, where the greater portion of the men remained. The enemy were now becoming more active. Forrest, having succeeded in defeating the expedition of Grierson and Smith, recruited his forces in Mississippi, and ap- peared suddenly, on March 22d, at Bolivar, Tennessee, with a force between six and seven thousand strong. He advanced rapidly against Union City, which was gar- risoned by about four hundred men, under command of Colonel Harkins. The enemy made several ineffectual charges against the slight earthworks which surrounded the town ; but, finding it impossible to carry them by assault, Forrest commanded the surrender of the garrison, threatening to bombard the town unless the command was complied with. Harkius, it is said, against the wishes of the garrison, surrendered on the 24th, just in 964: HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION time to anticipate the arrival of a large Union force from Cairo, under command of General Mason Brayrnan, who was marching to his relief. From Union City, Forrest marched northward across Kentucky, and on the afternoon of March 25th made an attack on Paducah, having first sent to demand the sur- render of the fort. This was refused by Colonel Hicks, who was in command, and the attack was immediately commenced. It lasted during the whole afternoon, the enemy making four assaults, in each of which they were repulsed with considerable loss. After the first assault had been foiled, Forrest again demanded the surrender of the fort, troops, and public stores, promising that if the demand were complied with, the troops should be treated as prisoners of war, but if he were compelled to storm the fort they might expect no quarters. Hicks declined, and the battle continued. Early in the evening the rebels retired from the town, but reappeared the next morning, when Forrest sent in a request for an exchange of prisoners. This Hicks declined, and the rebels, without making any further demonstrations, retired in the direc- tion of Columbus. Their loss was three hundred killed and one thousand wounded. The latter were taken to Mayfield by rail, and the former were left unburied around the fort. The rebel Brigadier-General A. P. Thompson was among the slain. The rebel General Buford appeared before Columbus early in April, and demanded the surrender of the place, but, upon receiving a peremptory refusal, moved off without attempting an attack. At this time occurred an event, unparalleled in the previous or subsequent history of the war, and which caused an almost unanimous outbreak of horror and in- dignation throughout the loyal States. Threats of rais- ing the " black flag," of carrying on a war of extermina- tion, of giving no quarter in case of refusal to surrender, had frequently been made by rebel commanders, but it was reserved for Forrest, a man of unquestioned bravery and skill, but of relentless cruelty, to show that such threats had a deeper significance than the angry, thought- less words of heated and exasperated combatants. Bad as the rebel cause had before seemed to loyal men, it grew immeasurably worse from the crime now associated HISTORY OP THE GKEAT KEBELLION. 965 with it, and which, like the rebellion itself, had its origin in the demoralizing influences flowing from the institution of slavery. On the 12th of April, Forrest appeared before Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi River, a work of moderate size, mounting six guns, and garrisoned by about five hundred and nfty men, of whom two hundred and sixty were colored troops, the whole being commanded by Major Bradford, of the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry. The fort was situated on a high bluff which descended precipitately to the river's edge, the ridge of the bluff on the river side being covered with trees, bushes, and fall- ing timber. Extending back from the river on either side of the fort was a ravine or hollow, the one below the fort containing several private stores and dwellings, and some Government buildings, containing commissary stores. The ravine above the fort forward was known as Cold Bank Ravine, the ridge being covered with trees and bushes. To the right or below and a little to the front of the fort was a level piece of ground, not quite so elevated as the fort itself, on which had been erected some log huts or shanties, which were occupied by the white troops, and also used for hospital and other pur- poses. Within the fort tents had been erected with board floors for the use of the colored troops. At sun- rise the Union pickets were driven in, and from that time until two or three o'clock in the afternoon the rebels vainly endeavored to dislodge the garrison, who made a gallant defence, in which they were aided by the gun- boat New Era, which, from her position in the river, shelled the enemy vigorously. The rebels, having thus far failed in their attack, now resorted to their customary flags of truce. The first flag of truce conveyed a demand from Forrest for the uncon- ditional surrender of the fort. To this Major Bradford replied, asking to be allowed one hour with his officers and the officers of the gunboat. In a short time the second flag of truce appeared, with a communication from Forrest that he would allow Major Bradford twenty minutes in which to move his troops out of the fort, and if it was not done in that time an assault would be or- dered. To this Major Bradford replied that he would not surrender. During the time occupied by the com- 966 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. munication between the fort and the attacking party, and while the flag of truce was flying, the rebels, with a bad faith characteristic of their conduct on several pre- vious occasions during the same campaign, gradually crept up to a position from which they could overwhelm the garrison by a sudden assault. Captain Marshall, of the gunboat, saw them advancing into the ravine above the fort, and could easily have checked their progress, but refrained from firing, from a desire not to afford an excuse for subsequent atrocities, should the fort be cap- tured by the enemy. What followed is best told in the report of the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War, two of the members of which visited Fort Pillow and took testimony regarding the circumstances of its capture. Their account is as follows : " Immediately after the second flag of truce retired, the rebels made a rush from the positions they had so treacherously gained, and obtained possession of the fort, raising the cry of 'No quarter.' But little oppor- tunity was allowed for resistance. Our troops, black and white, threw down their arms, and sought to escape by running down the steep bluff near the fort, and secreting themselves behind trees and logs in the bushes and under the brush ; some even jumping into the river, leaving only their heads above the water as they crouched down under the bank. Then fol- lowed a scene of cruelty and murder without parallel in civilized warfare, which needed but the tomahawk and scalping-knife to exceed the worst atrocities ever committed by savages. The rebels commenced an indis- criminate slaughter, sparing neither age nor sex, white nor black, soldier nor civilian. The officers and men seemed to vie with each other in the devilish work. Men, women, and their children, wherever found, were deliberately shot down, beaten, and hacked with sabres. Some of the children, not more than ten years old, were forced to stand up and face their murderers while being shot. The sick and wounded were butchered without mercy, the rebels even entering the hospital buildings and dragging them out to be shot, or killing them as they lay there unable to offer the least resistance. All over the hillside the work of murder was going on. Numbers of our men were collected together in lines or groups and deliberately shot. Some were shot while in the river, while others on the bank were shot and their bodies kicked into the water ; many of them still living, but unable to make exertions to save themselves from drowning. Some of the rebels stood upon the top of the hill or a short distance from its side and called out to our soldiers to come up to them, and, as they approached, shot them down in cold blood, and if their guns or pistols missed fire, forcing them to stand there until they were again prepared to fire. " Ah 1 around were heard theories of 'No quarter!' 'No quarter!' 'Kill the damned niggers!" 'Shoot them downl' All who asked for mercy were answered by the most cruel taunts and sneers. Some were spared for a time, only to be murdered under circumstances of greater cruelty. No cruelty which the most fiendish malignity could devise was omitted by these murderers. One white soldier, who was wounded in the leg so as to be unable to walk, was made to stand up while his tormentors shot him. HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 967 Others, who were wounded and unable to stand up, were held up and again shot. One negro, who had been ordered by a rebel officer to hold his horse, was killed by him when he remonstrated. Another, a mere child, whom an officer had taken up behind him on his horse, was seen by Chalmers, who at once ordered him to put him down and shoot him, which was done. The huts and tents in which many of the wounded had sought shelter were set on fire, both that night and the next morning, while the wounded were still in them, those only escaping who were able to get themselves out, or who could prevail on others less injured to help them out, and even some of these thus seeking to escape the flames were met by these ruffians and beastly shot down, or had their brains beaten out. One man was deliber- ately fastened down to the floor of a tent, face upward, by means of nails driven through his clothing and into the boards under him, so that he could not possibly escape, and then the tent was set on fire. Another was nailed to the side of a building outside of the fort, and then the building was set on fire and burned. The charred remains of five or six bodies were after- wards found, all but one so much disfigured and consumed by the flames that they could not be identified, and the identification of that one is not absolutely certain, although there can hardly be a doubt it was the body of Lieutenant Albertson, quartermaster of the Thirteenth Tennessee Cavalry, and a native of Tennessee. Several witnesses who saw the remains, and who were personally acquainted with him while living here, testified that it is their firm belief that it was his body that was thus treated. " These deeds of murder and cruelty closed when night came on, only to be renewed the next morning, when the demons carefully sought among the dead lying about in all directions for any other wounded yet alive, and those they found were deliberately shot. Scores of the dead and wounded were found there the day of the massacre by the men from some of our gunboats, who were permitted to go on shore and collect the wounded and bury the dead. The rebels themselves had made a pretence of burying a great number of their victims, but they had merely thrown them, without the least regard to care or decency, into the trenches and ditches about the fort, or the little hollows and ravines on the hillside, covering them but par- tially with earth. Portions of heads and faces, hands and feet were found protruding through the earth in every direction, and even when your com- mittee visited the spot, two weeks afterwards, although parties of men had been sent on there from time to tune to bury the bodies unburied and re- bury the others, and were even then engaged in the same work, we found the evidences of this murder and cruelty still most painfully apparent. " "We saw bodies still unburied at some distance from the fort, of some sick men who had been met fleeing from the hospital, and beaten down and brutally murdered, and their bodies left where they had fallen. We could see the faces and hands and feet of men, white and black, protruding out of the ground, whose graves had not been reached by those engaged in reinter- ring the victims of the massacre, and although a great deal of rain had fallen within the preceding two weeks, the ground, more especially on the side and at the foot of the bluff, where the most of the murders had been committed, was still discolored by the blood of our brave but unfortunate men ; and the logs and trees showed but too plainly the evidences of the atrocities perpetrated there. ' Many other instances of equally atrocious cruelty might be enumerated. But your committee feel compelled to refrain from giving here more of the heart-sickening details, and refer to the statements contained in the volumi- nous testimony herewith submitted. Those statements were obtained by them from eye-witnesses and sufferers. Many of them, as they were examined by your committee, were lying upon beds of pain and suffering, 968 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. some so feeble that their lips could with difficulty frame the words by which they endeavored to convey some idea of the cruelties which had been in- flicted on them and which they had seen inflicted on others. " In reference to the fate of Major Bradford, who was in command of the fort when it was captured, and who had up to that time received no injury, there seems to be no doubt. The general understanding everywhere seemed to be that he had been brutally murdered the day after he was taken prisoner. " How many of our troops thus fell victims to the malignity and barbarity of Forrest and his followers cannot be definitely ascertained. Two officers belonging to the garrison were absent at the time of the capture and mas- sacre of the remaining officers ; but two are known to be living, and they are wounded and now in the hospital at Mound City. One of them, Captain Porter, may even now be dead, as the surgeons, when your committee were there, expressed no hope of his recovery. Of the men, from three hundred to four hundred are known to have been killed at Fort Pillow, of whom at least three hundred were murdered in cold blood after the fort was in pos- session of the rebels and our men had thrown down their arms and ceased to offer resistance. Of the surviving, except the wounded in the hospital at Mound City, and the few who succeeded in making their escape unhurt, nothing definite is known, and it is to be feared that many have been mur- dered after being taken away from the fort "When your committee arrived at Memphis, Tennessee, they found and examined a man, Mr. McLagan, who had been conscripted by some of Forrest's forces, but who, with other con- scripts, had succeeded in making his escape. He testifies that while two companies of rebel troops, with Major Bradford and many other prisoners, were on their march from Brownsville to Jackson, Tennessee, Major Brad- ford was taken by five rebels, one an officer, led about fifty yards from the line of march, and deliberately murdered in view of all those assembled. He fell instantly killed by threo musket-balls, even while asking that his life might bo spared, as he had fought them manfully and was deserving of a better fate. The motive for the murder of Major Bradford seems to have been the simple fact that, although a native of the South, ho remained loyal to his Government." The rebels admitted the wholesale slaughter at Fort Pillow, and, if ashamed to justify it, at least excuse the occurrence by quoting historical instances where garrisons have been put to the sword ; forgetting that such mas- sacres have been committed, among civilized nations at least, only where the besiegers have suffered heavy losses during a long and trying investment, and are in conse- quence incited to an extraordinary degree of exasperation against the garrison. ISTo such circumstances attended the present case. Fortunately for the reputation of the country and of American civilization, no similar massacre is to be recorded in the subsequent history of the war. HISTORY OF TIIE GKEAT REBELLION. 969 CHAPTEE LIX. Co-operative Movement on Atlanta. Size and Organization of the Union and Rebel Armies. Commencement of the Campaign by Sherman. Evacuation of Dalton by Johnston. Battle of Resaca and Retreat of the Rebels. Operations at Dallas and Kenesaw. Rebels Planked and driven across the Chattahoochie. IN the middle of March, 1864, Grant, then recently appointed lieutenant-general and commander-in-chiei, turned over to Sherman the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, comprising the Departments of the Cumberland, the Tennessee, and the Ohio. The latter general was succeeded by General McPherson in the command of the Department of the Tennessee. The grand concerted plan of the spring campaign was then matured, the part assigned to. Sherman being to push the enemy steadily back upon Atlanta, and if possible sever his communications between the Atlantic and Gulf States, while all the available strength in the East was to be brought to bear against the main rebel army in Virginia, under Lee. All other movements of the Union forces were to be held subsidiary to these. Sherman at once bent every energy to the perfecting and enlargement of the communications between Nashville and Chattanooga, his primary and secondary bases, and to the accumulation in the latter place of such an amount of subsistence and military stores as would render him independent of Nash- ville, should the railroad connections between the two points be temporarily severed by rebel raiding forces. By the end of April this work was successfully accom- plished, and the great Army of the West was prepared to move from Chattanooga at the precise hour, if necessary, that the Army of the Potomac should cross the Eapidan on its march towards Eichmond. On April 27th, Grant notified Sherman to be ready to move about May 5th. The total force under General Sherman's command, for offensive purposes, was as follows : 970 HISTOBY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. AKMT OP THE CUMBERLAND, MAJOR-GENERAL THOMAS COMMANDING. Infantry 54,568 Artillery 2,377 Cavalry 3,828 Total 60, 7 73 Guns 130 ARMT OP THE TENNESSEE, MAJOR-GENERAL M'PHERSON COMMANDING. Infantry 22,437 Artillery : 1,404 Cavalry 624 Total. 24,465 Guns 96 ARMY OP THE OHIO, MAJOR-GENERAL SCHOFIELD COMMANDING. Infantry 11,183 Artillery 679 Cavalry 1,679 Total 13,541 Guns 28 Making a grand aggregate of eighty-eight thousand one hundred and eighty-eight infantry, four thousand four hundred and sixty artillery, and six thousand one hundred and forty-nine cavalry, or ninety-eight thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven men, and two hundred and fifty-four guns. The Army of the Cumberland comprised the Fourth Corps, General Howard, the Fourteenth Corps, General rainier, and the Twentieth Corps, Gen- eral Hooker ; the Army of the Tennessee, the Fifteenth Corps, General Logan, the Sixteenth Corps, General Dodge, and, later in the campaign, the Seventeenth Corps, General Blair ; and the Army of the Ohio, the Twenty-third Corps, General Schofield. These several armies in the beginning of May lay a few miles south of Chattanooga, in supporting distance of each other. The rebel army, comprising the corps of Hardee, Polk, and Hood, and the cavalry division of Wheeler, was imder the command of Lieutenant-General J. E. John- ston, whose reputation as a commander in the Confed- eracy was second only to that of Lee. It numbered about fifty thousand infantry and artillery, and ten HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 971 thousand cavalry, of whom much the greater part were veteran troops, and lay in and about Dalton, on the rail- road connecting Chattanooga with Atlanta, the advance being at Tunnel Hill, a station thirty miles south of Chattanooga. Directly south of Tunnel Hill is a level valley, three . miles in length and about three-quarters of a mile wide, bounded at its southern extremity by a rugged mountain range, known as Rocky Faced Kidge, which dominates the valley, and is succeeded by a narrow defile called Buzzard's Roost, still farther to the south, through which passes the railroad. Immediately south of Buzzard's Roost is Dalton. This defile had been rendered nearly impregnable to an army advancing directly upon Dalton from the north, and the mountains so enveloped the latter place that to attack an enemy posted there in any other direction than from the front, a wide detour was necessary. A brief reconnoissance satisfied Sherman that Johnston could only be dislodged by a flanking movement to the right. Thomas was therefore directed to amuse the enemy in front of Buzzard's Roost, while McPherson, with the Army of the Tennessee, moved rapidly south through Snake Creek Gap and seized Resaca, a station on the railroad eighteen miles below Dalton. Should this manoauvre be successfully executed, the rebel army would be attacked in flank and rear, and its retreat upon its base, Atlanta, eifectually cut oif. The superior strength of Sherman gave him opportunities for movements of this nature, of which we shall see that he frequently availed himself. On the 7th of May, Thomas occupied Tunnel Hill with little resistance, pushing the enemy's cavalry well into the defile below, and on the succeeding day demonstrated with great activity against Johnston's position, while McPherson, on the 8th, surprised the enemy at Snake Creek Gap. On the 9th, Thomas renewed his demonstra- tion on Buzzard's Roost, and a portion of the Fourth Corps, Howard's, carried Rocky Faced Ridge. These movements, though unavailable to force the strong posi- tion of the enemy, occupied him in front and enabled McPherson to march within a mile of Resaca, which he found too strong to be carried by assault. Accordingly he fell back upon Snake Creek Gap to await the arrival of the main army. On the 10th, Thomas was ordered to Lkr 972 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELJJON. send Hooker's Corps to Snake Creek Gap in support of McPherson, and to follow with another corps, the Four- teenth, Palmer's, leaving Howard with the Fourth Corps to continue to threaten Dalton in front, while the rest of the army moved rapidly through Snake Creek Gap. On the same day, Schofield was ordered to follow by the same route, and on the llth the whole army, excepting Howard's Corps, and. some cavalry left to watch Dalton, was in motion on the west side of Rocky Faced Ridge for Snake Creek Gap and Resaca. The next day the army moved against Resaca, McPherson on the direct road, preceded by Kilpatrick's Cavalry ; Thomas to come up on his left, and Schofield on his. Kilpatrick, while mov- ing in the advance, was disabled by a wound received in a cavalry skirmish. McPherson drove in the enemy's pickets near Resaca on the 13th, and occupied a range of hills in front of the town, with his right on the Oosta- naula River. Thomas on his left faced Camp Creek, a small affluent of the Oostanaula, and Schofield took a position on Thomas's left. The enemy, under Johnston, meantime fell back from Dalton, Howard pressing his rear, to a strong position behind Camp Creek, and, on May 14th, occupied the defensive works at Resaca, with his right on some high chestnut hills to the north of the town. The enemy lay here behind a line of rifle-pits and earthworks, which they had thrown across the peninsula formed by the Coosawattie and Conasauga Rivers, which unite near Resaca to form the Oostanaula. Hardee held their right, Polk the left, and Hood the centre. On the 14th of May, Sherman vainly operated to turn the flank of the enemy in order to prevent their retreat. A vigorous attempt by Palmer on the left centre to carry the position in his front resulted in a repulse, with the loss of seven hundred and fifty-five men. A similar attack on the left by a column composed of Judah's Division of Schofield's Corps and Newton's Division of Howard's Corps, assisted finally by Cox's Division of Schofield's Corps, resulted in driving the enemy from an outer line of rifle-pits. The fire was kept up until the close of day, when the enemy, having massed a strong column, fell suddenly upon Stanley's Division of the Fourth Corps, driving it in confusion from the hill where an o B i JOE 974: HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. it had been posted. The division was saved from rout by the arrival of Hooker's Corps, which had been ordered round from the right centre to support the left wing. Meanwhile, McPherson on the right, taking advantage of the enemy's occupation with this movement, sent Logan's Corps across Camp Creek, where it carried a line of rifle-pits in a position which afforded an enfilading fire upon the rebel works. The approaching night put a stop to active operations, and both parties proceeded to strengthen their positions. On the morning of May 15th, heavy skirmishing began on our centre and left centre, under cover of which our troops were formed on the left for an attack upon the ex- treme right of the enemy's line, where an attempt was to be made to secure possession of two fortified hills which commanded each other, compelling a simultaneous attack on both. Hooker directed Butterfield's Division to assault, supported by the divisions of Geary and Wil- liams. Forming under cover of a ravine in the forest, our troops advanced, covered by heavy skirmishing along the whole line of the army, and a heavy artillery fire, taking the enemy at first by surprise, and carrying every thing before them, until, with the help of their supports, they secured a lodgment in front of one of the enemy's strongest positions. Here they found shelter from fire, while the right and left flanks of the work were raked by our fire and their guns silenced. At about four p. M. an assault was made on our new position by Hood's Corps, which was repulsed with heavy slaughter, and night closed with Hooker still in possession of the heights he had carried. On the night of the 15th, the enemy quietly abandoned his works and retreated towards Cal- houn, destroying the bridge across the Oostanaula. Our total loss in this series ot engagements was about eight hundred killed, and something over four thousand wound- ed, of whom some two thousand were so slightly injured that they were fit for duty in two or three weeks. Our captures amounted to one thousand. Besides these, eight guns were captured, four of them fine twelve-pounders. The rebel loss was about two thousand five hundred. The army followed in pursuit, on the morning of the 16th, Thomas by the direct road, McPherson by Lay's Ferry, and Schofield to the left. The cavalry, under HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 975 McCook and Stoneman, started in advance of fantry. Hooker crossed the river on pontoons near Resaca, and Schofield in the same way near Pelton, farther to the left. The remainder of our army was afterwards thrown across, and on Wednesday, the 18th, Sherman reached Kingston, twenty-five miles by rail beyond Resaca. Meanwhile, Rome was occupied by Davis's Division of the Fourteenth Corps. A large amount of provisions and seven fine iron-works and machine-shops were secured at Rome, where every thing appears to have been left undisturbed by the rebels. On Monday evening, the 16th, there was some slight skir- mishing with the rebel rear-guard. On Tuesday, the 17th, our centre reached and passed Calhoun the capital of Gordon County, eighty miles northwest of Atlanta, and sixty miles beyond Chattanooga. Three miles beyond here, a brisk little fight occurred, the rebels having occupied with their sharpshooters an octagon cement building, called the " Graves House." After a fight of two hours, the skirmishers of Newton's Division ot Howard's Corps (Fourth), aided by artillery, succeeded in dislodging the enemy. Early W ednesday morning (18th), the army was again upon the march, the Fourth Corps leading the way, and before night our troops occu- pied Kingston. The Twentieth and Twenty-third Army Corps advanced on the left by way of Crossville, skirmish- ing heavily by the way. The army here had a few days' rest, while supplies were accumulating for a new forward movement. The enemy, meanwhile, on the 19th, crossed the Etowah, burning the road and railroad bridges near Cartersville, and fell back upon Allatoona Pass, in the Etowali Mountains, a position of vast natural strength, and almost impregnable against a direct advance on Atlanta by railroad. Sherman, who had previously ordered away the news- paper reporters, now issued the following circular, which explains its own object, and also the evil which the pre- vious order had been intended to remedy : " HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ? "KINGSTON, GA., May 20, 1864. J " Inasmuch as an impression ia afloat that the Commanding General has prohibited the mails to and from the army, he takes this method of assuring all officers and men that, on the contrary, he encourages them, by all his 976 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. influence and authority, to keep up the most unreserved correspondence with their families and friends. Wherever they may be, army corps, and division commanders should perfect the arrangements to receive and trans- mit mails ; and all chaplains, staff-officers, and captains of companies should assist the soldiers in communicating with their families. " What the Commanding General does discourage, is the existence of that class of men who will not take a musket and fight, but who follow an army to pick up news for sale, speculating on a species of information which is dangerous to the army and to our cause, and who are more used to bolster up idle and worthless officers than to notice the hard-working and meritori- ous, whose modesty is generally equal to their courage, and who scorn to seek the flattery of the press. "W. T. SHERMA*, Major- General." Anticipating that the enemy would make a stand at Allatoona Pass with every chance of success, Sherman resolved to turn it, and for that purpose made full prepa- rations for a flank movement to the right. Accordingly, on May 23d, the army was put in motion in a direction almost due south, Allatoona being more to the east. McPherson crossed the Etowah at the mouth of Conasene Creek, near Kingston, and moved for his position to the south of Dallas via Yan Wert. Davis's Division moved directly from Eome for Dallas by Yan Wert. Thomas took the road via Euharlee and Burnt Hickory, while Schofield moved by other roads more to the east, aiming to come up on General Thomas's left. Thomas's head of column skirmished with the enemy's cavalry about Burnt Hickory, and captured a Courier with a letter written by Johnston, showing he had detected the move and was pre- paring to meet Sherman about Dallas. On the 25th May, Thomas was moving from Burnt Hickory for Dallas, his troops on three roads, Hooker having the advance. When he approached the Pumpkin Yine Creek, on the main Dallas road, he encountered the enemy's cavalry at a bridge to his left. He rapidly pushed them across the creek, saving the bridge, and followed out eastward about two miles, where he encountered the enemy's line of battle, and his leading division, Geary's, had a severe combat. It was near 4 o'clock p. M. before Hooker got his whole corps well in hand, when he made a bold push to secure possession of a point known as the "New Hope" Church, where three roads meet from Ac- . worth, Marietta, and Dallas. Here he suffered a repulse, with a total loss of six hundred. On the 26th, the enemy was discovered well intrenched in front of the road lead- HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 977 ing from Dallas to Marietta. Accordingly, McPherson was moved up to Dallas, Thomas was deployed against New Hope Church, and Schofield was directed towards our left, so as to strike and turn the enemy's right. Garrard's Cavalry operated with McPherson, and Stone- man with Schoiield. McCook looked to our rear. In consequence of the difficult nature of the ground, these movements required several days. On the 28th, the enemy, taking advantage of McPherson's closing on Thomas to his left, assaulted him with great vigor, but the Federal troops, being behind breastworks, repulsed him with ease, and with comparatively little loss. That of the rebels exceeded two thousand. Johnston had selected a position of great natural strength near his base of supplies with a rail and three excellent wagon-roads for his lines of supply had re- cruited his army by all the available troops in his depart- ment, and was evidently anxious that Sherman would risk a general engagement, and in his present position he would have received battle if it had been offered. A battle would have involved the whole of both armies. It might have been successful on our part ; but the cost of life and limb would have been immense. Sherman might have achieved a victory ; but he must in all probability have come out of the conflict with a shattered, crippled, weak- ened army. He might be unable for weeks to resume offensive operations. Then, again, the defensive line ex- tending from Dallas northeast to Lost Mountain was not only the best, but almost the only military position of any great natural strength north of the Chattahoochee River. If dislodged from that, Johnston would be compelled to fall back of that river, or fight upon more equal ground. Such being the situation, General Sherman determined not to attack Johnston in his imtrenchments, and to force him to abandon them. It being determined to change position so - as to force Johnston into the field, after a few days' delay Sherman renewed orders to McPherson to move to his left about five miles and occupy Thomas's position in front of JSTew Hope Church, and Thomas and Schofield were ordered to move a corresponding distance to their left. This move was effected with ease and safety on the 1st of June, and by pushing the left well around, Sherman occupied all 60 978 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLIOJT. the roads leading back to Allatoona and Acworth, after which he pushed Stoneman's Cavalry rapidly into Alla- toona, at the east end of the Pass, and Garrard's Cavalry around by the rear to the west end of the Pass. Both of these commands reached the points designated without trouble, and we thereby accomplished the real purpose of turning the Allatoona Pass. Our line was about seven miles in length. The extreme right, held by the army of the Tennessee, was the longest relatively, and the weakest. Contemporaneous with the withdrawal of the right wing, or immediately after its discovery, the rebels changed the position of their left, Hardee's Corps being moved to the centre. About midnight of June 4th, General Logan received information that the enemy in his front were evacuating their works and moving in some direction. The night was rainy and very dark. Logan gave orders to advance his skirmishers so soon as it should be light enough to move. The line moved about four, and found the works in the front of his corps entirely abandoned and his whole force withdrawn, save a few pickets, who were captured. Johnston was too shrewd to be cut off from his base, and on the 4th, discovering the Union troops moving round his right flank, he abandoned his position, and moved eastward to the railroad, to cover Marietta. On the 6th the Army of the Tennessee marched at day- light to -Acworth, on the railroad, some fifteen or sixteen miles northwest of Marietta by rail, and two-thirds that dis- tance on a straight line. Thus Johnston was again obliged by General Sherman's strategy to abandon a strong posi- tion, and move out of his carefully and thoroughly pre- pared fortifications. Sherman, having examined Allatoona Pass, resolved to make it a secondary base. Here, on the 7th, was Sherman, in sight of the enemy's signal stations at Lost Mountain on the direct road from Dallas to Marietta, seven miles from the latter place and Kenesaw Mountain, ten miles from Lost Mountain, a little east of north from it, on the railroad. These two points were the right and left of the enemy's position, their army stretching along the hills between tne two. They are detached peaks, overlooking the plain beyond, and con- nected by a ridge, or series of low hills. Kenesaw Mountain, the larger of the two, rises to an elevation of HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 979 one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight feet above the sea-level, extending some nine hundred yards on its summit from northeast to southwest. It is situated two and a half miles northwest of Marietta, and directly upon the line of the railroad, which here makes a bend to the east, to escape the mountain. Lost Mountain, whose isolated situation explains its name, lies some miles west of southwest of Marietta, directly north of the railroad running from that place to Dallas. Between Kenesaw and Lost Mountain, and half a mile to the north, is Pine Mountain, a lesser elevation, constituting the apex of a triangle, of which the other two may be said to form the base. The three hills and their connecting ridges were fortified, and afforded an admirable defensive position against an attacking army. On the 9th of June the army was once more put in motion for Atlanta. By means of the railroad, which was kept in good running order from Chattanooga to the front, supplies of all kinds had come forward in abundance, and on the 8th the Seventeenth Army Corps, General Blair, reached Acworth, and was incorporated with the Army of the Tennessee. It compensated for Union losses in battle and for garrisons left at Home, Kingston, and elsewhere, and Sherman was enabled to renew the attack upon his wary adversary with as strong a force as at the commence- ment of the campaign. The order of advance was now somewhat different from that previously observed during the campaign, McPherson being shifted to the left wing and Schofield to the right, .while Thomas still held the centre. McPherson was ordered to move towards Mariet- ta, his right on the railroad, Thomas on Kenesaw and Pine Mountains, and Schofield off towards Lost Mountain ; Garrard's Cavalry being on the left, Stoneman's on the right, while McCook looked to our rear and communica- tions. Our depot was at Big Shanty. By the llth of June our lines were close up, and dispo- sitions were made to break the line between Kenesaw and Pine Mountains. Hooker was on its right and front, Howard on its left and front, and Palmer between it and the railroad. During a sharp cannonading from Howard's right or Hooker's left, the rebel General Polk * was killed * Leonidas Polk was born in Raleigh, North Carolina, in 1806, and grad- 980 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. on the 14th, and on the morning of the 15th Pine Moun- tain was found abandoned by the enemy. Thomas and Schofield advanced, and found him again strongly in- trenched along the line of rugged hills connecting Kene- saw and Lost Mountain. At the same time Mcrherson advanced his line, gaining substantial advantages on the left. Pushing our operations on the centre as vigorously as the nature of the ground would permit, an assault was ordered on the centre. On the 17th, the enemy aban- doned Lost Mountain and the long line of admirable breast- works connecting it with Kenesaw, to prevent being flanked by Schofield, who had wheeled around Pine Knob, and was pressing along the Dallas and Marietta road. An additional motive lor this movement was found in the fact that while our forces had been so successfully at work upon their centre and left, McPherson on our left had put them in a dangerous position on their right, press- ing it on that flank beyond Big Shanty and Brush Moun- tain. Sherman continued to press at all points, skirmishing in dense forests of timber and across most difficult ravines, until the enemy was found again strongly posted and in- trenched, with Kenesaw as iris salient, his right wing thrown back to cover Marietta, and his left behind Nose's Creek, covering his railroad back to the Chattahoochee. This enabled him to contract his lines and strengthen them accordingly. Our right, meanwhile, forced its way across and two uated at West Point in 1827, but resigned his commission in the army in the same year, in order to study for the ministry. In 1830 he was ordained a deacon of the Protestant Episcopal Church ; in 1838 he was consecrated Missionary Bishop of Arkansas and the Indian Territory south of 36 30', and in 1841 he became Bishop of Louisiana. He embraced with ardor the doctrines of secession, was commissioned a major-general in the rebel army, and until the spring of 1862 held command in Tennessee and Kentucky. He commanded a division at Shiloh, and, during the siege of Corinth, par- ticipated in Bragg's invasion of Kentucky hi the autumn of 1862, and dis- tinguished himself at the hard-fought field of Murfreesboro. For alleged disobedience of orders at the battle of Chickamauga, whereby, according to General Bragg, the Union army was alone saved from annihilation, he was placed under temporary arrest. In the early part of 1 864 he regained his prestige by skilful dispositions to prevent the junction of Sherman and Smith in Mississippi, and in consequence was appointed to command a corps in Johnston's army. He was killed by a cannon-shot while reconnoitring on Pine Mountain. At the time of his death he held the rank of lieutenant- general hi the rebel service. He never resigned his diocese, and intended, at the close of the war, to resume his episcopal functions. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 981 miles beyond Nose's Creek, on the Dalton and Marietta road. This creek it had been found impossible to cross before, because of the swollen condition of the stream. The stream was to be crossed by a bridge, close beyond which the rebels had a heavy line of skirmishers to repel any attempt to cross. In the face of a raking fire of mus- ketry, four regiments charged over the bridge at a double- quick, driving the enemy before them, and making way for our advance forces. No serious opposition appears, however, to have been made to this advance, the rebel left being already refused. Their position in front of our right to the northeast remained at this time unchanged, their troops resting there behind strong works. Our cen- tre had worked up the base of Kenesaw Mountain, and had carried some knobs west of the mountain, thus secur- ing a position for an annoying enfilading fire upon the mountain. These points, which had been lost by the enemy through negligence, were held by our troops so firmly that all efforts to dislodge them were in vain. Kenesaw Mountain is made up of two elevations, joined almost at their summits, one being about eight hundred feet high and the other about one hundred feet higher. Looking at them from the north side, thev have the ap- pearance of two immense mounds, surrounded at the base by gentle irregularities of surface adapted to every depart- ment of agricultural labor. The outline of the mountain rises on the east side rather gradually, describing almost a half-circle, thence falling upon the west, about two hun- dred feet. The other portion joins the first and rises to a still greater height, and being a trifle more irregular. On the west side it then loses itself somewhat abruptlv in a small valley beyond, by which the country is deprived of a mountainous character. The base of the Kenesaw is about four miles from east to west, drawing a straight line, and in breadth is about one mile. Its sides are covered with thick forests, brush, and rock and bowlders of various dimensions. It would be impossible to take it in front. The defences of the mountain consisted of a line of works on the summit, upon which were erected several batteries. Upon the sides, single guns were located at commanding points. The flanks of the mountain were held by heavy bodies of infantry and artillery, and its rear was protected in a similar manner. 982 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. It was no longer possible for our wings to make a fur- ther advance without cutting themselves loose from the centre, whose further progress was stayed by the formida- ble defences of Kenesaw Mountain, the enemy on which was watched by McPherson, working his left forward, while Thomas was swinging as it were on a grand left wheel, his left on Kenesaw, connecting with General McPherson, and General Schofield was ail the time work- ing to the south and east along the old Sandtown road. On the 22d, as Hooker had advanced his line, with Schofield on his right, the enemy, Hood's Corps, with detachments from the others, suddenly sallied and at- tacked. The blow fell mostly on Williams's Division of Hooker's Corps, and a brigade of Hascall's Division of Schofield's army. The enemy was badly repulsed. This was the affair of " Kulp's house." It was now that Sherman, smarting under the imputation that he would not attack fortified lines, but depended upon overwhelm- ing numbers to outflank, determined to risk an attack. Accordingly, on June 24th, he issued orders for an attack to take place June 27th. The general point selected was the left centre ; because, if a strong column could be pushed through at that point boldly and rapidly two and one-half miles, it would reach the railroad below Marietta, cut off the enemy's right and centre from its line of re- treat, and then either part could be overwhelmed and destroyed. Accordingly at the appointed time the Seventeenth Corps (Blair's) circled the eastern point of the mountain and threatened the enemy's right. The Sixteenth Corps (Dodge's), next on the right, assaulted the heights on the northern slope of the mountain ; the Fifteenth (Logan's) the western slope of the mountain. On the centre, Davis's Division of the Fourteenth Corps and Newton's of the Fourth constituted the assaulting column, supported on the right by Geary and Butterfield of Hooker's Corps. On the extreme right of our line was stationed Schofield, who moved forward his whole force, driving the enemy from a line of light works. The position to be attempted offered but a desperate chance of success. On the summit of the rugged mountain peak, covered with a dense growth of underbrush, the enemy had stationed a battery of twelve guns, from which they maintained a HISTOKY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 983 withering cross-fire on our troops engaged in forcing a passage up the steep sides of the mountain, and over the abatis and rifle-pits behind which the enemy lay sheltered. The utmost efforts of the men could not avoid a repulse. The Union loss, as reported by Logan, was three thousand five hundred and twenty-one. Generals Harker and McCook were among the slain. General Sherman did not rest long under this failure, and Schofield was ordered to press strongly on the left, while, on July 1st, McPherson, being relieved by Gar- rard's Cavalry in front of Kenesaw, moved with his whole army by the right, threatening ITickajack Creek and Turner's Ferry on the Chattahoochee. Stoneman was sent to the river below Turner's. The result was the retreat of the enemy on the night of July 2d. At half- past eight A. M., July 3d, Sherman entered Marietta. Logan's Corps of General McPherson's army, which had not moved far, was ordered back into Marietta by the main road, and McPherson and Schofield were instructed to cross JSFickajack and attack the enemy in flank and rear, and, if possible, to catch him in the confusion of crossing the Chattahoochee ; but Johnston had foreseen and provided against all this, and had covered his move- ment well. He had intrenched a strong tete de pont at the Chattahoochee, .with an advanced intrenched line across the road at Smyrna camp-meeting ground, five miles from Marietta. Here Thomas found him, his front covered by a good parapet, and his flank behind the Nickajack and Rotten- wood Creeks. Ordering a garrison for Marietta, and Logan to join his own army near the mouth of Nickajack, Sherman overtook Thomas at Smyrna. On the 4th of July he pushed a strong skirmish line down the main road, capturing the entire line of the enemy's pits, and made strong demonstrations along Nickajack Creek and about Turner's Ferry. This had the desired effect, and the next morning the enemy was gone, and the army moved to the Chattahoochee, Thomas's left flank resting on it near Paice's Ferry, McPherson' s right at the moutn of Nickajack, and Schofield- in reserve. The enemy lay behind a line of unusual strength, covering the railroad and pontoon bridges, and beyond the Chattahoochee. The operations of General Sherman had been greatly 984 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. harassed by the movements of guerrillas, and on his ar- rival in the neighborhood of Marietta he issued the fol- lowing letter to the people of Tennessee and Georgia, living within the limits of the Department of the Cum- berland, for their information, as expressing the senti- ments of the department commander : " HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OP THE " MISSISSIPPI, IN THE FIELD, BIG SHANTY, " GEORGIA, June 21, 1864. " General BURBRIDGE, Commanding Division of Kentucky: " GENERAL : The recent raid of Morgan, and the concurrent acts of men styling themselves Confederate partisans or guerrillas, calls for determined action on our part. " Even on the Southern ' State Rights ' theory, Kentucky has not se- ceded. Her people, by their vote and their actions, have adhered to their allegiance to the National Government, and the South would now coerce her out of the Union and into theirs by the very dogma of ' coercion ' upon which so much stress was laid at the outset of the war, and which carried into rebellion the people of the Middle or Border Slave States. " But, politics aside, these acts of the so-called partisans or guerrillas are nothing but simple murder, horse-stealing, arson, and other well-defined crimes, which do not sound as well under their true names as more agreeable ones of warlike meaning. " Now, before starting on this campaign, I foresaw, and you remember it, that this very case would arise, and I asked Governor Bramlette to at once organize in each county a small, trustworthy band, under the sheriff, and at one dash arrest every man in the community who was dangerous to it ; and also every fellow hanging about the towns, villages, and cross-roads who had no honest calling, the material out of which guerrillas are made up ; but this sweeping exhibition of power doubtless seemed to the Governor rather arbitrary. " The fact is, in our country personal liberty has been so well secured that public safety is lost sight of in our laws and institutions, and the fact is, we are thrown back one hundred years in civilization, law, and every thing else, and will go right straight to anarchy and the devil, if somebody don't arrest our downward progress. " "We, the military, must do it, and we have right and law on our side. All governments and communities have a right to guard against real and even supposed danger. The whole people of Kentucky must not be kept in a state of suspense and real danger, lest a few innocent men should be wrongfully accused. " 1. You may order all your post and district commanders that guer- rillas are not soldiers, but wild beasts, unknown to the usages of war. To be recognized as soldiers, they must be enlisted, enrolled, officered, uniformed, armed, and equipped, by recognized belligerent power, and must, if detailed from a main army, be of sufficient strength, with written orders from some army commander to do some mDitary thing. Of course we have recognized the Confederate Government as a belligerent power, but deny their right to our lands, territories, rivers, coasts, and nationality admitting the right to rebel and move to some other country, where laws and customs are more in accordance with their own ideas and prejudices. " 2. The civil power being insufficient to protect life and property, ex necessitate rei, to prevent anarchy, 'which nature abhors,' the military HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 985 steps in, and is rightful, constitutional, and lawful. Under this law every- body can be made to ' stay at home and mind his and her own business, 1 and, if they won't do that, can be sent away, where they can't keep their honest neighbors in fear of danger, robbery, and insult. " Your military commanders, provost-marshals, and -other agents may arrest all males and females who have encouraged or harbored guerrillas and robbers, and you may cause them to be collected in Louisville, and when you have enough say three or four hundred I will cause them to bo sent down the Mississippi through their guerrilla gauntlet, and by a sailing- ship send them to a land where they may take their negroes and make a colony, with laws and a future of their own. If they won't live in peace in such a garden as Kentucky, why, we will send them to another if not a better land, and surely this would be a kindness to them, and a God's blessing to Kentucky. " I wish you to be careful that no personalities are mixed up in this, nor does a full and generous 'love of country,' ' of the South,' of their State or country, form a cause of banishment, but that devilish spirit which will not be satisfied, and that makes war the pretext of murder, arson, theft in all its grades, perjury, and all the crimes of human nature. " My own preference was, and is, that the civil authorities in Kentucky would and could do this in that State ; but, if they will not, or cannot, then we must, for it must be done. There must be an 'end to strife,' and the honest, industrious people of Kentucky, and the whole world, will be benefited and rejoiced at the conclusion, however arrived at. "I use no concealment in saying that I do not object to men or women having what they call ' Southern feeling,' if confined to love of country, and of peace, honor, and security, and even a little family pride, but these become ' crimes ' when enlarged to mean love of murder, of war, desola- tion, famine, and all the horrid attendants of anarchy. "I am, with respect, your friend, "W. T. SHERMAN, Major- General." 986 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. CHAPTER LX. The New Position of the Enemy. Johnston again Turned and Pushed Back upon Atlanta. Rousseau's Raid. Hood Succeeds Johnston. In- vestment of Atlanta. Battles of July 20th and 22d. Death of McPher- son. Cavalry Raids of Stoneman and McCook. Defeat and Capture of Stoneman. Battle of July 28th. Prolongation of the Union Right "Wing. Changes, of Commanders in Sherman's Army. THE oft-recurring difficulty again presented itself to General Sherman of the enemy holding a position too strong to be carried by assault, even with the superior force that the Union general maintained in spite of the continued waste by battle and disease. The position could only be turned by crossing the rapid and deep Chattahoochee on bridges. It was necessary to move promptly, and Schofield was ordered to cross at Soap Creek, eight miles above the railroad bridge. This movement was completed July 7th, and a gun and some prisoners were captured. At the same time Garrard moved with his cavalry upon Roswell, still farther up the river, destroying some cloth factories that displayed the French flag. He was ordered to hold the ford at Ros- well, but was soon relieved in that duty by a division of Thomas, until McPherson's Corps was transferred from the extreme right to the extreme left. By the 9th three good points of passage had been secured over the Chat- tahoochee, above the railroad bridge. Johnston there- upon abandoned his tete de pont on the night of the 9th, leaving Sherman master of the country north and west of Atlanta, and eight miles distant from that place. The Federal army^iad now been advanced from the line of the Tennessee to the line of the Chattahoochee, and in view of the long marching and hard fighting to which they had been subjected, the troops were permitted to enjoy a few days' repose. Meantime a cavalry force under Rousseau had been sent to cut the railroad at Opelika, Alabama, leading from Georgia to Alabama and Mississippi. He started on the 10th of July from HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 987 Decatur, Alabama, and reached Marietta on the 23d, having accomplished his mission with considerable suc- cess and trifling loss. Meantime, the long retreat of Johnston having brought him to the south side of the Chattahoochee, and within eight miles of Atlanta, vehement demands were made at the South that he should be relieved of his command. Accordingly, on July 17th, he was succeeded by General Hood.* The impatience of the Southern people de- manded more vigorous operations than those which had been conducted by Johnston, who, with a force consider- ably less than that of Sherman, had opposed him step by step, as he advanced from Tunnel Hill to the Chattahoo- chee, inflicting much loss, without himself sustaining any serious disaster. The arduous task imposed upon him was overlooked, and the fact only was noticed that Sher- man had been enabled to press steadily on, until Atlanta, under the flanking process, was in danger. A new offensive policy was to be adopted under General Hood, who, however, was provided with no additional means to carry it out. The fact that Johnston's army, after sixty days' retreat, was still considered available for the duty to be imposed upon it, is a sufficient proof of the ability of that commander. * John B. Hood was born in Bath County, Kentucky, in 1831, and graduated at West Point in 1853. After Seeing considerable service in the West, he resigned his commission, in April, 1861, and joined the rebel army. He was appointed colonel of a Texas regiment, in September, and in the succeeding spring a brigadier-general, and for gallantry at the battle of Gaines's Mill was promoted to be a major-general. He commanded a division of Longstreet's Corps in the Second Bull Run campaign and in the succeeding battles of Antietam and Fredericksburg, and at the battle of Gettysburg was severely wounded in the arm. He accompanied Long- street to the West, in the autumn of 1863, and lost a leg at the battle of Chickamauga. He was now commissioned a lieutenant-general, and ap- pointed to command one of the three corps of Johnston's army in Georgia. In July, 1864, he superseded that general, and on the 20th, 22d, and 28th of the month had severe encounters with Sherman in front of Atlanta, in which he suffered prodigious losses. On September 1st, being flanked by Sherman, he evacuated Atlanta and retired upon McDonough. In October he moved against Sherman's communications, and, passing through North- ern Alabama, invaded Tennessee in the latter part of November. After the hard-fought battle of Franklin, he moved upon Nashville, in front of which place he was disastrously defeated, on December 15th and 16th, by Thomas, in a series of battles, which broke the rebel strength in the South- west. He retreated into Mississippi with the remnant of his army, and in January, 1865, was relieved of his command. 988 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. On the 17th of July, Sherman, having rested and re cruited his army, resumed his forward movement. Thomas was ordered to cross at Powers's and Paice's Ferry bridges, and to march by Buckhead. Schofield, already across at the mouth of Soap Creek, was ordered to march by Cross Keys, and McPherson was to direct his course from Roswell straight against the Augusta road at some point east of Decatur, near Stone Mountain. Garrard's Cavalry acted with McPherson, and Stoneman and McCook watched the river and roads below the rail- road. On the 17th, the whole army advanced from their camps, and formed a general line along the Old Peach- tree road. McPherson reached the Augusta Railroad on the 18th. On Tuesday, July 19th, a reconnoissance was pushed forward as far as Peach-tree' Creek, an insignif- icant stream rising five or six miles northwest of Atlanta, and flowing southwesterly to the Chattahoochee, near the railroad bridge northwest of Atlanta. Behind this stream the rebels lay sheltered and awaiting our ap- proach. They sought by stratagem to take General Sherman at disadvantage. But a show of opposition was made to the passage of Peach-tree Creek, and our whole army were soon across and in line of battle, the Fourteenth Corps, Palmer's, and the Twentieth, Hooker's, on the right ; Newton's Division of the Fourth Corps, Howard's, on the right centre ; the Twenty-third, Scho- field's, on the centre ; t*he Sixteenth, Dodge's, on the left centre ; and in reserve, the Fifteenth, Logan's, and the Seventeenth, Blair's, on the right. Our right was covered by Garrard's Cavalry Division. On the 20th, all the armies had closed -in, converging towards Atlanta; but as a gap existed between Schoneld and Thomas, two divisions of Howard's Corps of Thomas's Army were moved to the left to connect with Schofield, leaving Newton's Division of the same corps on the Buck- head road. Meantime, the main body of the enemy lay concealed in the woods in front, prepared to assail our columns while changing position and unprepared. Thev hoped by massing against our weakened centre to break through there, dividing our army in twain, and leaving both wings open to attack. It was a well-laid scheme, and one that seems to have failed as much from fortuitous circumstances as from preparation on our part. At four HISTORY OP THE GEEAT KEBELLION. 989 o'clock, their columns emerged from tlie concealment of the woods, advancing without skirmishers against our lines. The attack took Newton by surprise, but, being behind a line of hastily-erected rail-piles, his men were almost instantly rallied, and held the enemy in check, with the assistance of twelve guns which they were fortunately able to get into position on the left, where the rebels were pressing to cut oif their retreat. Four guns were also now in position on Newton's right, where they rendered important service. Almost at the instant of the attack on Newton, the advance division of Hooker, under Geary, was struck by the advancing columns of the enemy and hurled back in confusion. But they, too, ultimately rallied and recovered their former position, closing up the gap through which the enemy had entered. On Newton's right, Ward was advancing with his division, when the enemy were discovered charging upon him. With promptitude the order was given to meet the charge with counter-charge, the two columns mingling in battle, and the enemy being finally driven back. Farther to the right, next to Geary, Williams's Division was engaged, and suffered more or less. By nine o'clock in the even- ing, the enemy, thoroughly repulsed in every attack, had fallen back to his intrenchments, leaving many of his dead and wounded and a thousand prisoners in our hands. His total loss was estimated by Sherman at five thousand. Our loss is summed up officially as follows : Williams's Division, six hundred and twenty-seven; Geary's Divi- sion, four hundred and fifty-one ; Ward's Division, five hundred and twenty-seven total, one thousand six hun- dred and five. Newton's Division (official), one hundred and two ; Fourteenth Corps, two hundred total loss, one thousand nine hundred and seven. On the night of the 21st, the day succeeding the assault, the enemy's line on Peach-tree Creek was drawn in and shortened, their forces being massed for a second assault, this time on our left wing, our right having defied their stubborn attempt to turn it. Though the noise of their movement was heard in our lines, its full meaning was not discovered, the withdrawal of the enemy from their main line of fortifications, one and a half miles nearer Atlanta, seeming to follow legitimately from the repulse 990 HISTOKY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. they had received on our right. But it was soon evident that Hood, determined on another assault, had sought, by retiring, to drag us oa farther, that he might again attack our lines before they had opportunity to re-form in their new position nearer Atlanta. The first impression of General Sherman, when the lines of the enemy were found to be abandoned, on the morning of the 22d, was that it was no longer the inten- tion of Hood to defend Atlanta. Accordingly, our ad- vancing ranks swept across the strong and well-finished parapet of the enemy, aud closed in upon Atlanta, until they occupied a line in the form of a circle of about two miles radius, where the enemy was again found, occupying in -force a line of finished redoubts, which had been pre- pared for more than a year, covering all the roads leading into Atlanta, and busy in connecting these redoubts with curtains strengthened by rifle-trenches, abatis, andchevaux- de-frise. Mcr*herson, who had advanced from Decatur, continued to follow substantially the railroad, with the Fifteenth Corps, Logan, the Seventeenth, Blair, on its left, and the Sixteenth, Dodge, on its right ; but as the general advance of all the armies contracted the circle, the Sixteenth Corps was thrown out of line by the Fif- teenth connecting on the right with Schofield, who held the centre. Meantime, McPherson, on the night of the 21st, had gained a high hill to the south and east of the railroad, whence the Seventeenth Corps had, after a severe fight, driven the enemy, which gave him a commanding position within easy view of the very heart of the city. He had thrown out working parties to it, and was making preparations to occupy it in strength with batteries. The Sixteenth Corps, on the morning of the 22d, was ordered from right to left to occupy this position and make it a strong general left flank, and Dodge moved his men by a diagonal path or wagon-track leading from the Decatur road in the direction of Blair's left flank. "While this movement of Dodge was going on, the enemy, under Hardee, had issued out of Atlanta, and, making a wide circuit to the east, enveloped Blair's left flank, and struck Dodge's column in motion. Blair's line was substantially along the old line of rebel trench, but it was fashioned to fight outward. A space of wooded ground of near half a mile intervened between the head HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. 991 of Dodge's column and Blair's line, through which the enemy had poured, and to fill which Wangelin's Brigade of the Fifteenth Corps was by General McPnerson ordered across from the railroad. It came across on the double- quick and checked the enemy, though not in time to prevent the capture of Murray's Battery of regular artillery, which was moving past, unsuspicious of danger. While Hardee attacked in flank, Stewart's Corps was to attack in front, directly out of the main works, but for- tunately these two attacks were not simultaneous. The enemy swept across the hill which our men were then fortifying, and captured the pioneer company, its tools, and almost the entire working party, and bore down on our left until he encountered Giles A. Smith's Division of the Seventeenth Corps, who was somewhat " in air," and forced to fight first from one side of the old rifle parapet, and then from the other, gradually withdrawing, regiment by regiment, so as to form a flank to General Leggett's Division, which held the apex of the hill, which was the only part that was deemed essential to hold. The line, thus formed by the connection of Smith by his right with Leggett, was enabled for four hours to meet and repulse all the enemy's attacks, which were numerous and persistent. The obstinacy with which the ground was held discouraged the enemy, and at four o'clock he gave up the attempt. In the mean time, Wheeler's Cavalry fell upon General Sprague at Decatur, where the trains of the Army of the Tennessee were parked. Sprague succeeded in bringing them off, however, w T ith the excep- tion of three wagons. Meantime, McPherson,* who at ten o'clock in the morn- * James B. McPherson was born in Sandusky County, Ohio, in Novem- ber, 1828, and graduated at West Point in 1853, joining the Engineer Corps as brevet second lieutenant. Until September, 1854, he was assistant in- Btructor of practical engineering at the Military Academy. From that time till August, 1861, he was engaged, first on the defences of New York Har- bor, next in facilitating the navigation of the Hudson, next in constructing Fort Delaware, and finally in fortifying Alcatraz Island, in San Francisco Bay. He became full second lieutenant in December, 1854, and first lieu- tenant in December, 1858. In August, 1861, he was ordered from Califor- nia to attend to the defences of Boston Harbor. Soon after, he got his cap- taincy, dating from August, 1861. In November, 1861, he became aide-de- camp to General Halleck, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was chief engineer of the Army of the Tennessee, under Grant, in the reduction of Forts Henry and Donelson, receiving for his service a nomination as brevet 992 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. ing was in consultation with General Sherman at head- quarters, rode to the front on hearing the firing, and hav- ing sent off his staff with various orders, the last of which was that to Wangelin, to fill the gap between Dodge and Blair's line, turned into a narrow cross-road leading to the rear of Smith's Division. He had not gone far when a volley from the enemy, whose skirmish line had crept up to this road, struck him from his horse. He was shot through the lungs, and fell dead. General John A. Lo- gan, commanding the Fifteenth Corps, then temporarily assumed command of the Army of the Tennessee. At four P. M. a pause occurred in the battle, occasioned by Hood's massing troops for an assault on the Fifteenth Corps, which held the right of the Army of the Tennessee behind substantial breastworks. At four p. M., while a feigned attack was maintained against the Union left, a heavy force suddenly appeared in front of the left of the Fifteenth Corps, driving before it a couple of regiments of skirmishers, and capturing two guns. Pushing rapidly on, it forced Lightburn, who held this part of the line, back in disorder, taking from him a twenty-pounder Par- major of engineers, to date February 16th, 1862. He was at Shiloh, and for services there rendered was nominated for a brevet colonelcy of engi- neers, to date April 7th, 1862. He had, as colonel on Halleck's staff, the chief engineering charge of the approaches to Corinth, which ended in its evacuation. On the 15th of May, 1862, he became brigadier-general of vol- unteers, and, the next month, superintended with great skill all the military railroads in General Grant's department. He was at luka, and again at Corinth in October, 1862, acting with so much gallantry as to be promoted to a major-generalcy, to date from October 3d. From that time till the close of the siege of Vicksburg, when his engineering powers came into full play, his career was a course of triumph. At the recommendation of General Grant, he was made a brigadier-general of the regular army, with rank dating from August 1st, 1862. Two months later he conducted a column into Mississippi, and repulsed the enemy at Canton. In February, 1864, he was second in command to Sherman, in the latter's famous movable column, which marched from Vicksburg to Meridian. Finally, in the first Atlanta campaign, his command was the Department of the Tennessee, including the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Corps, constituting the flanking force which, moving rapidly on one or the other wing, was employed to force the enemy back to Atlanta. In some respects, the burden of the cam- paign, next under Sherman, fell on him. He fought at Resaca, and the battle near Dallas was wholly his. At Allatoona and Gulp Farm he was again distinguished, was actively though not hotly engaged at Kenesaw, and on the 17th he cut the line between Lee and Johnston by occupying Decatur, on the Augusta Railroad. Three days later he fought a severe battle, from which he came out only to fall, shot through the lungs, early in the day of Friday, July 22d, at the early *ge of thirty-six years. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 993 rott and four guns, and separated Wood's and Harrow's Divisions of the Fifteenth Corps. Sherman, being pres- ent, ordered some batteries of Schofield to a position that commanded a flank fire upon the enemy. The Fifteenth Corps was then ordered to regain the lost ground at any cost. This, after a desperate struggle, was successful, and the enemy retired with heavy loss, carrying off only the two guns originally captured. The battle terminated with a Federal loss of three thousand seven hundred and twen- ty-two, killed, wounded, and prisoners, and ten guns. The enemy's loss equalled, if it did not exceed, twelve thousand, including over three thousand killed and three thousand prisoners. They also lost eighteen stands of colors and five thousand stands of arms. On the 23d, Garrard, who had been dispatched to Cov- ington, on the Augusta road, forty-two miles east of At- lanta, returned, having succeeded in destroying the bridges at Uleofauhatchee and Yellow Rivers, besides burning a train of cars, a large quantity of cotton (two thousand bales), and the depots of stores at Covington and Conyer's Station. Sherman now addressed himself to the task of reaching the Macon road, over which of necessity came the stores and ammunition that alone maintained the Confederate army in Atlanta. For this purpose a new movement by the Army of the Tennessee was ordered. It was to pro- ceed by the right towards East Point, a station on the At- lanta and Macon Railroad, southwest of Atlanta, while- simultaneously the whole of the cavalry was to strike a blow at the Macon road. The leaders of this raid were Stoneman and McCook, of whom the former had a force of five thousand men, comprising his own division and that of Garrard, and the latter a force of four thousand^ comprising his own troopers and the cavalry of Rousseau, just returned from Opelika. Stoneman was to move by the left around Atlanta to McDonough, and McCook by the right on Fayetteville, and both were to meet on the night of July 28th, on the Macon road, near Lovejoy's. It was supposed that this joint force would be equal to any thing that Wheeler could bring against it. Previous to starting, Stoneman asked permission to ex- tend his raid to Macon and Andersonville, with a view of releasing the Union prisoners confined there. After 61 994 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. some hesitation, Sherman consented, on the condition that Wheeler's Cavalry should first be put hors de combat, and the railroad effectually destroyed. On the 27th the two expeditions started forth, but Stoneman almost imme- diately pushed for the neighborhood of Macon, ninety miles distant, where he arrived on the 30th ; Garrard re- maining at Flat Rock to cover the movement. The ene- my appear, however, to have been fully apprised of his design, and had sent all the prisoners from Macon to Charleston. Meanwhile, the rebel General Iverson, who had been on Stoneman's track since the 27th, overtook him on the 28th, at the junction of South and Yellow "Rivers, some sixty miles northwest of Macon. A spirited fight ensued. Kelley's and Hume's rebel cavalry fought the command that Stoneman detached for the purpose of delaying pursuit. Iverson suspected the manoauvre, and left !Kelley and Hume to finish the fight, while he passed around the party and continued the pursuit. Stoueman, when he neared Macon, detached a party to operate on Milledgeville and Eatonton. The country around was very unfavorable for cavalry operations, and it was soon discovered that a brigade of rebel infantry had wheeled from our flank and had taken up position along the main route, thus heading off Stoneman. The rebel Armstrong's Brigade of cavalry, comprising the First and Second Kentucky, had come down on Stoneman's left flank at the same time, thus, with the troops in his rear, com- pletely surrounding him. Here it happened, by a strange coincidence, that the First and Second Kentucky of Ad- ams's Brigade were pitted against their rebel namesakes. Stoneman now discovered Iverson's command above Clinton, disputing his return. He quickly decided that he could not escape on either flank, and determined to fight through the centre. His command numbered nearly twenty-five hundred men, a portion of whom were dis- mounted, and sent forward as skirmishers. The enemy continued to press him more closely, and, after various fruitless attempts to make head against them, orders were given to the commanders of regiments to break through the opposing lines and escape in the readiest manner pos- sible. Stoneman himself, with several hundred men and a section of artillery, remained to occupy the attention of the enemy, but was finally overpowered and obliged to HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 995 surrender. Of bis three brigades, one returned uninjured, one was somewhat scattered, but eventually found its way back to the Union lines, and the third was captured with him. Garrard's Division proceeded no farther than Cov- ington on the Augusta Railroad. Stoneman's total loss probably exceeded a thousand men, with three guns. Meantime, McCook with his force reached the rendez- vous at the appointed time, after having burned five hun- dred wagons and gathered up several hundred prisoners. The enemy collecting around him, however, he moved to Newman upon the Atlanta and West Point road. Here he was hemmed in, and was obliged to drop his captures and cut his way out, with the loss of five hundred men. The whole expedition must be considered a costly failure, as the enemy's communications were only temporarily interrupted. On the 26th of July, General Howard * assumed com- mand of the Army of the Tennessee by order of the Pres- ident, while General Logan returned to his own corps, the Fifteenth. About the same time Hooker and Palmer were relieved, at their own request, of their commands, and were succeeded, the former by General Slocuin and the latter by General Jefferson C. Davis. As Slocum was then in Yicksburg, his place was temporarily filled by General H. S. Williams. General D. S. Stanley also succeeded Howard in command of the Fourth Corps. * Oliver Otis Howard was born in Leeds, Maine, in 1830, and graduated at Bowdoin College in 1850, and at West Point in 1854. He was appoint- ed instructor of mathematics at the Military Academy in 1857, but resigned his commission in 1861 to take command of a regiment of Maine volunteers. He commanded a brigade at Bull Run, and for gallant conduct in that bat- tle was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers. He fought at "Williamsburg, lost an arm at Fair Oaks, and after the battle of Antietam took Sedgwick's Division in Sumner's Corps. Early in 1863 he was as- signed to the command of the Eleventh Corps. He was present at Chan- cellorsville and Gettysburg, and in the autumn accompanied his corps to Chattanooga, participating in the victory of November 25th in front of that place. Soon afterwards he received command of the Fourth Corps, and made the campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta. He Succeeded McPher- son as commander of the Army of the Tennessee, and in the expedition from Atlanta to Savannah he commanded the right wing of Sherman's army He also commanded a wing in the march northward from Savannah which terminated in the surrender of General Joseph E. Johnston and all the rebel forces under his command. Since the conclusion of the war he has held the office of Commissioner of Freedmen. He is a man of deep religious principles, and has been called the "Havelock of America." 996 HISTOEY OF THE GKEAT KEBELLION. Meanwhile the army had been making a movement en echelon from left to right, by which the line was prolong-^ ed due south, facing east. The right was now held by the Army of the Tennessee, Thomas being in the centre and Schofield on the left. To protect the Army of the Ten- nessee from any sudden attack in flank while this move- ment was in progress, Da vis's Division of the Fourteenth Corps was posted so as to be within easy supporting dis- tance of Howard. The enemy, observing the movement, and perceiving that it was Sherman's intent to swing; around so as to hold the Macon Railroad, massed his troops on the 28th in the same direction. About noon Stewart's Corps attacked Logan, who had just got into position on the right, his corps having been the first de- tached from its former position on the left. At first the enemy was successful in his onset, his cavalry turning our flank and inflicting considerable loss. But, by the mid- dle of the afternoon, the fortune of battle had changed, and our men, aided by hastily-built intrenchmenta, re- pulsed every charge of the enemy. An advance was then ordered, and the enemy was forced back to his own works, leaving the field in our possession. The fighting was very severe till nightfall, although there was little artillery firing. Our loss was about six hundred, and the enemy's nearly five thousand. Had Davis's Division come up on the Bell's Ferry road, as had been looked for, at any time before four o'clock, \vhat was simply a complete repulse would have been a disastrous rout to the enemy. Meanwhile there was a general advance along the line, but our forces were driven back, the enemy being strongly posted. The Fourth and Fourteenth Corps were hotly engaged, and there was heavy artillery firing in their front all day and night, and on the day succeeding. But night fell upon a divided field. Our right was at one time in danger, but was handsomely rescued. HISTOET OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. 99Y CIIAPTEK LXI. Siege of Atlanta. Position of the City. Topography. The Enemy's Strength. Sherman moves to the Right. Wheeler's Raid. Kil- patrick's Raid. Grand Flank Movement of the Army on the Macon Railroad. Defeat of the Enemy at Jonesboro.. Evacuation of Atlanta^ Congratulatory Order of General Sherman. Truce. De- population^of Atlanta. Correspondence between Sherman and Hood. Results of the Campaign. WITH the affair which was described at the close of our last chapter, the enemy ceased his efforts to prevent the extension of Sherman's right flank ; but every forward step of the latter was resisted with great force and skill. Sherman was now settled down to the siege of Atlanta, with little hope, however, of either taking it by assault or reducing it while its communications were intact. A description of the locality may not be here misplaced : As seen from Stone Mountain, a vast elevation of granite sixteen miles northeast, Atlanta appears situated upon a large plain, but as the observer descends from this giddy height and travels in the direction of either point of the compass, his progress is obstructed by sharp " pitches " and narrow " ravines," through many of which flow small rivulets. To such an extent is this the character of the surface, that scarcely an acre of level ground can be found in the limits of the city. The soil, where there is any, is light and sandy, with a substratum of red clay. Other portions are gravelly and sterile. The most of the country is still covered with a heavy growth of timber. This description holds good until within a few miles north of Marietta, twenty-one miles north of Atlanta, including Dallas, lying a little northwest of Marietta. The city is laid out in a Circle, two miles in diameter, in the centre of which was the passenger depot, since destroyed by fire, from which radiate railroads to every quarter of the South. On the north side of the depot is a park. Opposite the three vacant sides were situated the three principal hotels, and in the business portion of the 998 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. city were many fine blocks of buildings. Before the war these were mostly filled with consignments of goods from the large cities of the North and Northwest for the sup- ply of the cotton regions. But the city had become one vast Government storehouse, containing the machine- shops of the principal railroads, the most extensive rolling mill in the South, founderies, pistol and tent factories, were driven inside their main line of works. Carlin's Division formed the left of the Fourteenth Corps, sup- ported by the Third Division, Baird's, while tha Second Division, J. D. Morgan, also advanced across a small creek, a branch of Flint River. While this movement was in progress, the enemy evidently divined our inten- tions, and opened some twenty guns on Morgan's lines, scattering shells among his men at a terrible rate. Mor- gan now ordered up the Fifth Wisconsin Battery, and very soon quito an artillery duel was in progress, which lasted nearly half an hour ; the firing being greatly aug- mented in its destructiveness by the guns of an Illinois battery, which enfiladed almost the entire length of the rebel works. So hot was the fire from these two batteries that in less than thirty minutes the rebel artillerists, with their infantry support, were driven from their guns in haste, but not until a number of the officers were either wounded or killed. In the mean time the whole of the Fourteenth Corps was posted in strong positions,.with the Second Division op the right, First Division on the left, with the left resting on the Macon Railroad, and the Third Division in reserve. At half-past three o'clock p. M., Carlin attacked the enemy's works, situated on a rising knoll in the edge of a piece of dense woods, but was repulsed. Major Edith, commanding a brigade of regulars, was next ordered to attack, supported by Carlin's Division. This brigade moved up to the rebel works in gallant style, eliciting commendation from all; but the enemy suddenly hurled a superior force of fresh troops upon them, and they were obliged to retire or be cap- tured. At four o'clock the entire Fourteenth Corps attacked with great impetuosity the rebel works in two lines. One brigade of the Third Division went into the fight, while the balance of the division supported the movement. Carlin, with the First Division and the Third Brigade of the Second Division, struck the enemy's works first, followed by Morgan's troops, and with such im- petuosity was the attack delivered that a portion of the line was carried, and two batteries one Loomis's cele- brated battery, taken from us at Chickamanga, of five guns, and another of four guns fell into our hands. Among . the prisoners captured was Brigadier-General HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1003 Govan of Cleburne's Division, with eight hundred and eighty commissioned and non-commissioned officers and privates. Upon the approach of night, Hardes gathered up the shattered remnants of his own and Lee's Corps, and fell back seven miles to Lovejoy's, where he in- trenched and awaited the arrival of Hood, who, after the success of Sherman's movement was ascertained, could no longer hope to hold Atlanta. At the break ot day, on September 2d, Sherman find- ing the enemy had retreated, put his whole army in mo- tion and followed in pursuit, his object being to get between Hood and Hardee, and thus cut off either party. Thomas followed to the left of the railroad, Howard on its right, and Schofield kept off about two miles to the east. The enemy was overtaken again near Lovejoy's Station, in a strong intrenched position, with his flanks well protected behind a branch of Walnut Creek to the right, and a confluent to the Flint River to his left. The position appeared to Sherman too strong to carry without immense loss, and as the news now reached him that Hood had evacuated Atlanta on the 1st, he desisted from further attack, and, on the 4th, moved the army by easy marches back to the neighborhood of its former camping grounds. The grand objective point of the campaign having been secured, he determined to give the troops a few weeks of rest. Hood, at Atlanta, became aware of the result of the battle at Jonesboro' early on the morn- ing of the 1st instant, and at once gave the order for evacuating the city, as his only remaining line of railroad communication was severed, and he was in a precarious condition. Meantime, Slocum, with the Twentieth Corps, which had remained to guard the bridge over the Chatta- hoochee, seven miles distant, heard the explosion of ammu- nition in Atlanta, and rightly conceived the cause. He gave orders for reconnoissances on the morning of the 2d, and at five o'clock the advance was made by detachments from "Ward's, Geary's, and William's Divisions. They advanced to the city, which they found evacuated, and entered about eleven o'clock on the morning of the 2d of September. They were at once met by a deputation, comprising the mayor, high sheriff, and citizens, who made a formal surrender of the town to General Ward, as follows : 1004: HISTORY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION. " CAPITULATION OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 2, 1864. "Brigadier-General WARD, Third Division, Twentieth Army Corps: " SIR: The fortune of war has placed the city of Atlanta in your hands. As Mayor of this city, I ask protection for non-combatants and private property. "JAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor of Atlanta." The required protection was freely granted. At the same time a detachment from Wilder's Division, the Eleventh Pennsylvania and Sixtieth New York, of Gen- eral Geary's Division, which had entered theiown simul- taneously with "Ward's, hoisted the stars and stripes upon the court-house. General Slocuin arrived soon after, and took formal possession of the town. Much rebel govern- ment property, including four engines, and fourteen pieces of artillery, chiefly sixty-four pounders, which the enemy abandoned, was secured. The news of the capture of Atlanta caused universal rejoicing, and elicited from the President a special con- gratulatory order, and a recommendation that the llth of September should be observed as a day of solemn thanksgiving for this signal success. The following is General Sherman's address to his troops on the termina- tion of their arduous and brilliant campaign : " HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OP MISSISSIPPI, ) " IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GA., September 8, 1864. ) " SPECIAL FIELD ORDERS, NO. 68. " The officers and soldiers of the Armies of the Cumberland, Ohio, and Tennessee have already received the thanks of the nation, through its President and Commander-in-Chief, and it now remains only for him who has been with you from the beginning, and who intends to stay all the time, to thank the officers and men for their intelligence, fidelity, and cour- age displayed in the campaign of Atlanta. " On the first of May, our armies were lying in garrison, seemingly quiet, from Knoxville to Huntsville, and our enemy lay behind his rocky-faced barrier at Dalton, proud, defiant, and exulting. He had had time since Christmas to recover from his discomfiture on the Mission Ridge, with his ranks filled, and a new commander-in-chief, second to none in the Confed- eracy in reputation for skill, sagacity, and extreme popularity. All at once our armies assumed life and action, and appeared before Dalton ; threaten- ing Rocky Face, we threw ourselves upon Resaca, and the rebel army only escaped by the rapidity of its retreat, aided by the numerous roads with which he was familiar, and which were strange to us. Again he took po- sition in Allatoona, but we gave him no rest, and by a circuit towards Dal- las, and subsequent movement to Acworth. we gamed the Allatoona Pass. Then followed the eventful battles about Kenesaw, and the escape of the enemy across Chattahoochee River. " The crossing of the Chattahoochee and breaking of the Augusta road was most handsomely executed by us, and will be studied as an example in HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1005 the art of war. At this stage of the game our enemies became dissatisfied with their old and skilful commander, and selected one more bold and rash. New tactics were adopted. Hood first boldly and rapidly, on the 20th of July, fell on onr right, at Peach-tree Creek, and lost. Again, on the 22d, he struck our extreme left, and was severely punished; and finally, again on the 28tb, ho repeated the attempt on our right, and that time must have been satisfied; for since that date he has remained on the 'de- fensive. We slowly and gradually drew our lines about Atlanta, feeling for the railroads which supplied the rebel army and made Atlanta a place of importance. We must concede to our enemy that he met these efforts patiently and skilfully, but at last he made the mistake we had waited for so long, and sent his cavalry to our rear, far beyond the reach of recall. Instantly our cavalry was on his only remaining road, and we followed quickly with our principal army, and Atlanta fell into our possession as the fruit of well-concerted measures, backed by a brave and confident army. This completed the grand task which had been assigned us by our Govern- ment, and your general again repeats his personal and official thanks to all the officers and men composing this army, for the indomitable courage and perseverance which alone could give success. " We have beaten our enemy on every ground he has chosen, and have wrested from him his own Gate City, where were located his founderies, arsenals, and workshops, deemed secure on account of their distance from our base, and the seemingly impregnable obstacles intervening. Nothing is impossible to an army like this, determined to vindicate a Government which has rights wherever our flag has once floated, and is resolved to maintain them at any and all costs. " In our campaign many, yea, very many of our noble and gallant com- rades have preceded us to our common destination, the grave ; but they have left the memory of deeds on which a nation can build a proud history. McPherson, Harker, McCook, and others dear to us all, are now the bind- ing links in our minds that should attach more closely together the living, who have to complete the task which still lays before us in the dim future. I ask all to continue, as they have so well begun, the cultivation of the soldierly virtues that have ennobled our own and other countries. Courage, patience, obedience to the laws and constituted authorities of our Govern- ment ; fidelity to our trusts, and good feeling among each other, each try- ing to excel the other in the practice of those high qualities, and it will then require no prophet to foretell that our country will in time emerge from this war, purified by the fires of war, and worthy its great founder Wash- ington. "W. T. SHERMAN, Major- General Commanding.'" Upon establishing himself in Atlanta, Sherman decided that the exigencies of the service would require the place to be held for the present exclusively as a military post, and orders were at once issued for the departure of all civilians except those in the employment of the Govern- ment. For the purpose of expediting the depopulation of the city, without needless inconvenience or suffering to the inhabitants, the number of whom had greatly di- minished during the progress of the siege, he proposed to Hood a truce of ten days. The reply of Hood was as follows : 1006 HISTOBY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. " HEAD-QUAETERS ARMY OF THE TENNESSEE, ) "OFFICE CHIEF OF STAFF. Si-pt. 9, 1864. J " Major-General SHEBMAN, Commanding United States Forces in Georgia : " GENERAL : Your letter of yesterday's date, borne by James W. Ball and James R. Crew, citizens of Atlanta, is received. You say therein, '1 deem it to be to the interest of the United States that the citizens now residing in Atlanta should remove,' &c. I do not consider that I have any alternative in the matter. I therefore accept your proposition to declare a truce of ten days, or such time as may be necessary to accomplish the pur- pose mentioned, and shall render all the assistance in my power to expedite the transportation of citizens in this direction. I suggest that a staff officer be appointed by you to superintend the removal from the city to Rough and Ready, while I appoint a like officer to control their removal farther south : that a guard of one hundred men be sent by either party, as you propose, to maintain order at that place, and that the removal begin on Monday next. " And now, sir, permit mo to say, that the unprecedented measure you propose, transcends, in studied and ingenious cruelty, all acts ever before brought to my attention in the dark history of war. " In the name of God and humanity I protest, believing that you will find that you are expelling from their homes and firesides the wives and chil- dren of a brave people. "I am, General, very respectfully, your obedient servant, " J. B. HOOD, General." Accompanying this letter was the following to James M. Calhoun, mayor of Atlanta : " HEAD-QUAETEES AEMTOF THE TENNESSEE, September 9, 1864. " Hon. JAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor : "SiR: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter touching the removal of the citizens of Atlanta, as ordered by General Sherman. Please find enclosed my reply to General Sherman's letter. I shall do all in my power to mitigate the terrible hardship and misery that must be brought upon your people by this extraordinary order of the Federal commander. Transportation will be sent to Rough and Ready to carry the people and their effects farther south. . " You have my deepest sympathy in tliis unlooked-for and unprecedented afBiction. " I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, "J. B. HOOD, General." The following is the characteristic reply of General Sherman : " HEAD-QUAETEES MILITAEY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, ) "AND IN THE FIELD, ATLANTA, GA., September 10, 18G4. ) " General J. B. HOOD, commanding Army of the Tennessee, Confederate Army: " GENERAL: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of this date, at the hands of Messrs. Ball and Crew, consenting to the ar- rangements I had proposed, to facilitate the removal south,of the people of Atlanta, who prefer to go in that direction. I enclose you a copy of my orders, which will, I am satisfied, accomplish my purpose perfectly. You style the measure proposed ' unprecedented.' and appeal to the dark history HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1007 of war for a parallel as an act of ' studied and ingenious cruelty.' It is not unprecedented, for General Johnston himself very wisely and properly re- moved the families all the way from Dalton down, and I see no reason why Atlanta should be excepted. Nor Is it necessary to appeal to the dark his- tory of war, when recent and modern examples are so handy. You your- self burned dwelling-houses along your parapet, and I have seen to-day fifty houses that you have rendered uninhabitable because they stood in the way of your forts and men. You defended Atlanta on a line so close to the town that every cannon-shot and many musket-shots from our line of investments that overshot their mark, went into the habitations of women and children. General Hardee did the same at Jonesboro', and General Johnston did the same last summer at Jackson, Miss. I have not accused you of heartless cruelty, but merely instance these cases of very recent occurrence, and could go on and enumerate hundreds of others, and chal- lenge any fair man to judge which of us has the heart of pity for the fami- lies of ' a brave people.' I say it is a kindness to these families of Atlanta to remove them now at once from scenes that women and children should not be exposed to ; and the brave people should scorn to commit their wives and children to the rude barbarians who thus, as you say, violate the laws of war, as illustrated in the pages of its dark history. In the name of common sense, I ask you not to appeal to a just God in such a sacrile- gious manner you, who, in the midst of peace and prosperity, have plunged a nation into civil war, 'dark and cruel war;' who dared and badgered us to battle, insulted our flag, seized our arsenals and forts that were left in the honorable custody of a peaceful ordnance sergeant ; seized and made prisoners of war the very garrisons sent to protect your people against negroes and Indians, long before any overt act was committed by the (to you) hateful Lincoln Government ; tried to force Kentucky and Missouri into the rebellion in spite of themselves; falsified the vote of Louisiana, turned loose your privateers to plunder unarmed ships, expelled Union families by the thousand, burned their houses, and declared by act of your Congress the confiscation of all debts due Northern men for goods had and received. Talk thus to the marines, but not to me, who have seen these things, and who will this day make as much sacrifice for the peace and honor of the South as the best-born Southerner among you. If we must be enemies, let us be men, and fight it out, as we propose to-day, and not deal in such hypocritical appeals to God and humanity. God will judge us in due time, and He will pronounce whether it be more humane to fight with a town full of women and the families of a ' brave people ' at our back, or to remove them in time to places of safety among their own friends and people. " I am, very respectfully, your obedient servant, (Signed) "W. T. SHERMAN, Major- General Commanding. " Official copy: Signed, L. M. DAYTON, A. D. C." The campaign of Sherman against Atlanta had a re- sult different from that of Rosecrans against Chattanooga. But the relative conditions of the two armies were also entirely different. Bragg had been promptly re-enforced, and when Rosecrans threatened to flank his position at Chattanooga, he retired with his whole army concen- trated. Subsequently, when joined by Longstreet, he was much stronger than Rosecrans, who had not been 1008 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. supplied with either men or material in proportion to his wants. He was therefore exposed to the blows of a superior enemy, and his defeat was only rendered nuga- tory through the inaction of Bragg. Sherman had the benefit of the recent conscription, made with much vigor by the Government, and under the orders of the Lieuten- ant-General, of whose combination his movement was a part. Johnston's army fell back before the weight of numbers, until Hood, succeeding to the command, wasted his men in fruitless attacks, and then, from his weakened force, detached Wheeler to the North, where he was of no use whatever. Sherman was thus enabled to leave the Twentieth Corps before Atlanta, and move the re- mainder of his army, still superior to that of Hood, round to Jonesboro. Here he did not meet, as did Rosecrans at Chickamauga, the entire force of a superior army, but a portion of a divided inferior army, to which he deliver- ed the final blow. The campaign of Sherman commenced in the first week of' May, simultaneously with that of Grant. His force was, as we have seen, in round numbers, one hundred thousand men and two hundred and fifty-four guns. The system of Johnston was the same as that of Lee ; with an inferior force he resisted the advance of his enemy at every point. Sherman reached the Chattahoochee on the 28th July. The country through which he marched was much more open than the scene of war in Virginia. Of this, and his great superiority in infantry and artillery, Sher- man most skilfully availed himself. He did not make a flank march of his whole force, nor extend one end of his line round Johnston's wing, as ordinary precedent would have bade ; but, holding his enemy in check with a part of his army, detached one or two of his corps by a dis- tant line to seize and intrench themselves on some point which should threaten the Confederate communications. Not all Johnston's energy nor the exertions of Wheeler (whose cavalry outnumbered that of the invaders) could prevent this manoeuvre being repeated again and again. The Federal generals carried out faithfully their com- mander's orders to keep to the use of field-works and guns wherever practicable; and Johnston continually found himself with separate armies established in front and flank, and was thus forced to a new retreat. As Sherman HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1009 advanced the railroad was completely repaired, and its use for the future systematically secured. Intrencliments were thrown up at every station or bridge, and a small garrison left with provisions, ammunition, and the means of repairing any sudden damage to the adjacent parts of the line, while .almost equal care was used to cover the trains which supplied the flanks. Such an elaborate sys- tem involved much delay; and Johnston was enabled to detain the Federals seventy days on heir approach to Atlanta. The advance was none the less unbroken ; and when Sherman was preparing elaborately for his passage of the Chattahoochee, he was relieved of great part of his diffi- culties by the removal of the formidable opponent whose personal ability he fully appreciated. Jefferson Davis, who had since the days of Vicksburg been on but indif- ferent terms with Johnston, had yielded to the clamor raised against the latter for so repeatedly giving ground, and now superseded him in favor of Hood, known hither- to as a gallant soldier and bold general of division, but in no way marked for the higher qualities of command. This step, so fatal to the Confederate interests in that quarter, was the more inexcusable, in that Johnston's policy of retreating when liable to be thoroughly outflanked was just what Lee had used in Virginia, without a word of blame from any quarter. 62 1010 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. CHAPTER LXII. *K The Gulf Department. Sabine Pass Expedition. McPherson moves from Vicksburg. Expedition to the Rio Grande, and Occupation of Browns- ville. Banks' a Red River Expedition. Capture of Fort De Russey. Occupation of Alexandria. Battle of Mansfield. Retreat of the Army. Repulse of the Enemy at Pleasant Hill. Operations of the Fleet. The Dam at Alexandria. Arrival of the Army and Fleet in the Mississippi. Co-operative Movement of Steele in Arkansas. Causes of its Failure. THE Department of the Gulf remained for some time quiet after the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, in the summer of 1863, which events left the Mississippi River nominally in the hands of the Federal troops. General Banks returned to New Orleans, and the large army with which General Grant operated in the rear of Vicksburg was dispersed to various points. The Thirteenth and Eighteenth Corps, under Generals Herron and Ord, went to New Orleans; Ransom's command occupied Natchez; the force which Burnside sent out to aid Grant mainly returned to him, and other smaller bodies were located at various points engaged in keeping down guerrillas. The Mississippi being now in possession of the Union forces, it was divided into districts, each under command of a divi- sion officer, with orders to prevent the passage of the enemy's troops across the river. Early in September, 1863, the troops that had concen- trated at New Orleans were formed into an expedition of four thousand men, under Major-General Franklin, to ef- fect a landing at Sabine Pass for military occupation, with the co-operation of the navy. Commodore Bell assigned the command of the naval force to Lieutenant Crocker, commanding the steamer Clifton, accompanied by the steamers Sachem, Arizona, and Granite City. The de- fences at the Pass, it was estimated, consisted of two thirty-two-pounders en barbette, and a battery of field- pieces, and two bay boats converted into rams. It was concerted with General Franklin that the squadron of four gunboats should make the attack alone, assisted by HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1011 about one hundred and eighty sharpshooters from the army, divided among his vessels ; and after driving the enemy from his defences and destroying or driving off the rams, the transports were to advance and land their troops. The attack was made on the 8th of September, at six A. M., when the Clifton stood in the bay and opened fire on the fort, to which no reply was made. At nine A. M., the Sachem, Arizona, and Granite City, followed by the transports, stood over the bar, and with much dif- ficulty (owing to the shallowness of the water) reached anchorage two miles from the fort at eleven A. M., the gun- boats covering the transports. At three-thirty P. M., the Sachem, followed by the Ari- zona, advanced up the eastern channel to draw the fire of the forts, while the Clifton advanced up the western channel ; the Granite City to cover the landing of a divi- sion of troops under General Weitzel ; no reply to the fire of the gunboats being made until they were abreast of the forts, when they opened with eight guns, three of which were rifled. Almost at the same moment the Clifton and Sachem were struck in their boilers, enveloping the ves- sels in steam. There not being room to pass the Sachem, the Arizona was backed down the channel. Soon after, the latter grounded by the stern ; the ebb tide caught her bows and swung her across the channel ; she was, with much difficulty, extricated from this position owing to the engine becoming heated by the collection of mud in the boilers. The flags of the Clifton and Sachem were now run down, and white flags were flying at the fore. As all the transports were now moving out of the bay, the Arizona remained covering their movements, until she f rounded and remained until midnight, when she was edged off, as no assistance could be had from any of the tugs of the expedition. The expedition therefore returned to Brashear City. General Franklin held his head-quar- ters at New Iberia, which was made the base of opera- tions, being at the head of navigation for ordinary steam- ers and fifty -two miles from Brashear City. The Nine- teenth Army Corps, under the immediate command of Gen- eral "Weitzel, had crossed and camped at Bewick. The Thirteenth Army Corps followed, leaving sufficient force to hold the base at Brashear. General McPherson, with the Seventeenth Corps, re- 1012 HIBTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. mained at Vicksburg, and nothing of general interest oc- curred until early in October, when a rebel force, consist- ing of about two thousand five hundred mounted men, appeared on the east side of the Black River, at times ap- proaching quite near the Federal lines, and keeping up a continued series of feints and demonstrations along our front. McPherson came to the conclusion that they had been thrown forward as a curtain to hide movements and operations going on farther back in the country. He therefore organized a force composed of Logan's and Tut- tle's Divisions, with other detached portions of the Seven- teenth Corps, which, leaving Vicksburg early on the morn- ing of the 14th October, marched sixteen miles and ren- dezvoused at Big Black River, where it encamped for the night. By daylight on the 15th the cavalry advance crossed the river at Messenger's Ferry, closely followed by Logan, with Tuttle bringing up the rear, the crossing being effected on a double truss bridge built by Sherman during his Jackson campaign. At three P. M. they reach- ed Brownsville, the place having been occupied by our advance cavalry at noon, and on the following day the ad- vance of Logan's Division met a portion of Wirt Adams's rebel cavalry, supported by a battery of artillery, well posted in a piece of timber to the right of the road. McPherson immediately sent forward a portion of Logan's Division, consisting of Maltby's Brigade and two pieces of artillery, to dislodge them, our cavalry having dis- mounted and advanced through the woods, deployed as skirmishers. No sooner did our battery open than they were replied to by the rebel artillery with excellent ellect. While this was going on the remainder of Logan's Di- vision advanced by the Canton road, where they met an- other portion of the enemy, consisting of Whitfield's Bri- gade of cavalry and artillery, composed principally of Texans, occupying a strong position on the crest of a hill completely commanding the road. The artillery was sent forward, and amused them until Ford's Brigade came up, and formed in line of battle on either side of the road, with two regiments in advance deployed as skirmishers ; darkness coming on, the men rested in their positions. Shortly after daylight the enemy again opened on us with artillery, having been re-enforced during the night. The HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1013 force then returned to Vicksburg, where they arrived on the 20th. There was little activity at New Orleans after the fail- ure of the Sabine Pass expedition. The expiration of the term of the nine-months men produced some changes, and until new troops arrived but little was done. There was, however, an immense contraband trade between the South- ern States and Mexico. The sealing up of Charleston and the stricter watch at Wilmington before the two chief inlets of trade caused Matamoras to become the great entrepot of contraband commerce. Not less than twenty- five or thirty blockade-runners were sometimes there at one time. General Banks devised an expedition to break up this trade. The enemy had then only a few troops under Magruder scattered between Galveston and Sabine Pass. The expedition was fitted out at New Orleans, un- der the command of Major-General Dana, General Banks and staff accompanying it. After a stormy passage, the troops were on the 4th of November safely transferred from the transports, and landed on the Texan shore of the Bio Grande. Upon seeing our troops landing, the enemy destroyed the Government works at Fort Brown, and the town of Brownsville was set on fire by their cavalry. The Union men in the town resisted them, and a bloody street fight ensued between the two factions, while the houses were burning around them. The Fifteenth. Maine regi- ment was ordered up to Brownsville to support the Union- ists, and the rebels were routed. The place was then occupied by the Federal troops. Subsequently Corpus Christi and the coast of Texas to within one hundred miles of Galveston were occupied. But little else was done in this department until the commencement of 1864, when a new expedition was or- ganized by General Banks, having for its object the pos- session of Western Louisiana and the capture of cotton. The enemy at this time had various forces in the field. General Dick Taylor commanded in Louisiana, with about twenty thousand men; Magruder in Texas; and Price resumed the command in Arkansas. It was proposed by Banks to ascend the Ked River to Shreveport, aided by the fleet of Admiral Porter, while a force under General Steele should descend from Little Rock, Arkansas, to form a junction with the troops on the Red River. At the 1014 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. same time a demonstration was to be made by the Fed- eral force from Brownsville, on the Rio Grande. The expedition embarked at Vicksburg on the 10th of March, and proceeded down the Mississippi to the mouth of the Red River, which it ascended as far as the Old River, at which point it turned into the Atchafalaya, which flows southward into Lake Chetimaches. On the 13th a landing was effected at Simmsport, whence our forces marched to Bayou Glace, where a rebel force, es- timated at about two thousand, had been encamped in a strongly fortified position. On reaching this point it was found deserted by the enemy, who had set fire to the bridge leading across the river at that point. The earth- works, still incomplete, were laid out on an extensive plan, and indicated an intention on the part of the rebels to use the Atchafalaya as their principal line of defence, depending on the shallowness of the river during most of the year to protect them against the attack of our gun- boats. The unexpected appearance of our formidable fleet, consisting of three monitors, seven iron-clads, three rams, and four lighter gunboats, caused them to abandon the strong but unfinished works, and to hasten to the de- fence of Fort De Russey. Fort De Russey was a formidable quadrangular work, with bastions and bomb-proofs, covered with railroad /iron. Connected with the fort was a strong water-bat- tery, the casemates of which appeared to be capable of resisting the heaviest shot and shell. The guns were admirably placed to command the river for a considerable distance up and down. General Dick Taylor occupied it with a large force. General Franklin* landed from * William Buell Franklin was born in York, Penn., in 1823, and gradu- ated at West Point in 1843, first in his 'class. He was appointed to the Topographical Engineers, served in the Mexican war as aide to General Taylor, was assistant professor of natural and experimental philosophy at "West Point, 1848-52, and until the outbreak of the rebellion was actively employed by the Government in military engineering, the coast survey, the inspection of light-houses, the construction of public buildings, aud similar duties. In May, 1861, he was commissioned colonel of the Twelfth Eegiment of regular infantry, and soon after brigadier-general of volun- teers. He commanded a brigade at Bull Eun, was subsequently appointed to a division of the Army of the Potomac, and in the Peninsular campaign commanded the Sixth Provisional Army Corps, with the rank of major- general. He participated with credit in the seven days' fighting before Richmond, defeated the enemy at Crampton's Gap, in South Mountain, and HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1015 transports early in March, a few miles below this fort, to co-operate with the gunboats in an attack upon it. Tay- lor determined to attack him before the rest of the Union force should come up, and marched out of his works for that purpose. But he committed the fatal mistake of attacking his foe in the rear. Franklin, quick to avail himself of his enemy's blunder, abandoned his communi- cations, refused battle, and marched straight for the now vacant fort. Taylor saw his error too late to retrieve it, and hastened after his antagonist in vain. The Union army entered the fort, three hours in advance of the rebels, unopposed, capturing, without a battle, three hun- dred and twenty-five prisoners, ten guns, a lot of small- arms, and large stores of ammunition. Thus, by a mili- tary blunder, the rebels lost the entire advantage of their year's engineering labor. The fleet passed up the river without opposition, and occupied Alexandria on the 15th of March, the army entering it the day following. The rebel army fell back farther up the river, and was soon increased by timely re-enforcements. Magruder joined it with two thousand five hundred Texans, and Price with seven thousand infantry from Missouri and Arkan- sas. The entire force was commanded by General Kirby Smith. ' ; 7 Alexandria, which is about one hundred and fifty miles above Fort De Russey, having surrendered, the army was pushed forward, overland, against Shreveport, where the rebels, under command of General Taylor, were concen- trating. Several rebel gunboats, which had been sta- tioned at Alexandria, had steamed up the river to assist in the defence of the former place. Shreveport is near the southwest boundary of Louisiana, and as the enemy inferred that it was the objective of Banks's campaign, strong fortifications had been erected, formidable obstruc- s^stained the advance of the Onion right wing at the succeeding battle of Antietam. In November, 1862, he was placed in command of the left grand division of the Army of the Potomac, and in the succeeding January was relieved from duty. In the summer of 1863 he assumed command of the Nineteenth Corps, and subsequently took part in the Sabine Pass expedition, and in the Red River expedition of 1864. After the termina- tion of the latter he was relieved of his command, and returned to the- North. On July llth, while travelling in a railroad train between Phila- delphia and Baltimore, he was captured by a rebel cavalry force, but a day or two afterwards effected his escape. He subsequently officiated as. President of the Military Retiring Board. 1016 niSTOEY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. tions placed in the river, and provision sufficient for a six months' siege accumulated. After a delay of ten days at Alexandria, in order to concentrate his forces and organize further movements, Banks resumed his march. About thirty miles above Alexandria the Federal advance met the rebels strongly posted at Cane River. Their force was considerable, and their position advantageous ; but after a short engagement with artillery and skir- mishers, a general charge was ordered, and the rebels beat a hasty retreat, with the loss of two hundred and fifty killed and wounded, and five hundred to six hundred prisoners. This was on the 28th of March. The Union army pressed rapidly forward. The rebels as rapidly re- treated. Grand Ecore was passed. Natchitoches, capi- tal of the parish of that name, was occupied without opposition ; and on the 6th of April the army continued its advance towards Shreveport. At Grand Ecore the road leaves the river-bank, and, passing through Nat- chitoches, four miles from Grand Ecore, enters heavy pine woods. A single road conducts through this un- cleared forest, aifording excellent opportunities for am- buscade. The Union army no longer enjoyed the formidable protection of the gunboats. The cavalry, five thousand strong, constituted the advance, commanded by General Lee. They were followed by their wagon train. Several miles in the rear was the nearest infantry force. This was the Thirteenth Ajmy Corps. The Nineteenth was still farther in the rear. On the 7th the cavalry found its progress somewhat resisted by the increased strength of the enemy's skirmishers in front. The enemy had skilfully drawn on General Banks, who, with false confi- dence, advanced with cavalry and artillery, without ade- quate infantry support, some eight miles. On the 8th of April he sent word to hurry forward the infantry, and General Ransom, with two divisions, was directed to go his assistance. Nothing like a general engagement was expected or prepared for. Ransom, indeed, urged await- ing the arrival of the rest of the army, but he was over- ruled. An order to charge upon the enemy was given, and the issue proved the greatness of the mistake. The enemy, under cover of the trees, had formed an ambuscade in HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. 1017 the shape of an enormous Y. The devoted soldiers, entering the open wedge at its base, charged upon the apex. The wings then closed upon them. They were mowed down by a terrific fire botli from front and either flank. The cavalry was thrown into disorder, and began to retreat down the road filled with infantry. The wounded and dying were trodden under the horses' feet. The infantry, surprised by the murderous fire from a concealed foe, were thrown into confusion by the retreat- ing cavalry, who cantered in disorder through their lines. An attempt was made to withdraw and meet re-enforce- ments from the Nineteenth Corps, farther back ; but the single narrow road was effectually blockaded by the cavalry wagon-train. An orderly retreat was impossible. Soon all was in the utmost confusion. " Let every man take care of himself!" became the universal cry. Ran- som made the most heroic efforts to rally his men, but in vain. The wagon train was abandoned to the enemy, and twenty guns fell into the rebels' hands. Among these captures was the Chicago Mercantile Battery. The army was saved from demolition by the timely arrival of re- enforcements from the Nineteenth Corps and the dark- ness of approaching night. This engagement is known by the name of the Battle of Mansfield. Banks's loss was estimated at two thousand out of eight thousand men on the field. He was largely outnumbered by the enemy. The army retreated during the night, and at dawn of the 9th succeeded in gaining Pleasant Hill, where it was concentrated. General A. J. Smith, with the Sixteenth Army Corps, held the right ; Franklin, with the Nineteenth Corps, held the left. The Thirteenth Corps, exhausted and almost destroyed by the previous day's fighting, was unable to participate in the antici- pated battle. At four P. M. in the afternoon of the 9th, the enemy arriveM in pursuit, and immediately advanced in over- whelming numbers against the division of General Emory of the Nineteenth Corps, which, after an obstinate resistance, retreated slowly up a hill, on the slopes of which it had been formed. Behind the crest of this hill the Sixteenth Corps lay in reserve, and as the rebels rushed on with every expectation of an easy victory, 1018 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. they were met by a withering fire of artillery and mus- ketry, from which they recoiled in confusion. At this moment the Sixteenth Corps charged with fixed bayonets, driving the enemy in utter rout into the neighboring woods, and recapturing eight of the guns lost on the pre- vious day, besides five hundred prisoners. Early on the 10th, Banks, leaving his dead unburied, continued his retreat to Grand Ecore. By this timely victory the enemy suffered severely, and were compelled to abate somewhat the ardor of their pursuit. Meantime the fleet under Porter,* comprising the Cricket, Eastport, Mound City, Chillicothe, Carondelet, Pittsburg, Ozark, Neosho, Osage, Lexington, Fort Hind- man, and Louisville, and a fleet of thirty transports, ascended the river to Grand Ecore. On the 7th of April, the river rising very slowly, the admiral sent up the Cricket, Fort Hindman, Lexington, Osage, Neosho, and Chillicothe, with the hope of getting the" rest of the vessels along when the usual rise came. Twenty trans- ports were sent along filled with army stores, and with a portion of General A. J. Smith's Division on board. It was intended* that the fleet should reach Springfield Landing on the third day, and then communicate with the army, a portion of which expected to be at Spring- field at that time. At Springfield, serious obstacles were encountered in the river ; but before they could be removed, news came to Porter that Banks was defeated, and the army falling back to Pleasant Hill, sixty miles in the rear of the fleet. The prompt return of the fleet was imperative, as the * David D. Porter was born in Philadelphia about 1815. He is the youngest son of Commodore David Porter, distinguished as a naval officer in the last war with England, and was appointed a midshipman in 1829. In 1861 he was promoted to be a commander, and put in command of the steam sloop Powhattan, one of the Gulf Blockading Squadron. In the spring of 1862 he received qommand of the mortar flotilla^ which po-oper- ated in the reduction of the forts on the Lower Mississippi and the capture of Xew Orleans. He subsequently repaired with his fleet to the James River, and in October, 1862, was placed in command of the Mississippi gunboat flotilla, which he retained for two years, participating in the most important operation occurring during that interval on the Western waters. In October, 1864, having been previously promoted to be a full rear-admiral, he was appointed to command the North Atlantic Squadron, in which capacity he conducted the two memorable bombardments of Fort Fisher, N. C., in December, 1864, and January, 1865. HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. 1019 high banks of the river swarmed with enemies, who. could not be reached by the guns of the fleet. On the 12th, a portion of the enemy who had defeated Banks opened fire from the right bank on the Osage, Lieutenant- Commander F. O. Selfridge (iron-clad), she being hard aground at the time, with a transport (the Black Hawk) alongside of her, towing her off. The rebels opened with two thousand muskets, and soon drove every one out of the Black Hawk to the safe casemates of the monitor. Lieutenant Bache had just come from 'his vessel (the Lexington) and fortunately was enabled to pull up to her again, keeping close under the bank, while the Osage opened a destructive fire on the enemy, whose efforts were vain against an iron vessel. Meantime, some troops were sent up from Grand Ecore to clear the river from guerrillas. The river now began to fall rapidly, and above the bar at Alexandria the fleet was caught by the low water, and for a time considerably imperilled. It was rescued from this position by a series of dams across the rocks at the falls, w T hich raised the water high enough to let the vessels pass over. These were designed and superintended by Lieutenant-Colonel Bailey, acting en- gineer of the Nineteenth Army Corps. The work was commenced on May 1st by running out from the left bank of the river a tree dam, made of the bodies of very large trees, brush, brick, and stone, cross- tied with other heavy timber, and strengthened in every way which ingenuity could devise. This was run out about three hundred feet into the river*; four large coal- barges were then filled with brick and sunk at the end of it. From the right bank of the river cribs filled with stone were built out to meet the barges. All of which was successfully accomplished, notwithstanding there was a current running of nine miles an hour, which threatened to sweep every thing before it. The dam had nearly reached completion in eight days' working time, and the water had risen sufficiently on the upper falls to allow the Fort Hindman, Osage, and Nedsho to get down and be ready to pass the dam. Unfortunately, on the morning of the 9th, the pressure of water became so great that it swept away two of the stone barges, which swung in below the dam on one side. The Lexington, however, succeeded in getting over the 1020 HISTORY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION. upper falls just in time the water rapidly falling as she was passing over. She then steered directly for the open- ing in the dam, through which the water was rushing so furiously that it seemed as if nothing but destruction awaited her. Thousands of beating hearts looked on anxious for the result. The silence was so great as the Lexington approached the dam that a pin might almost be heard to fall. She entered the gap with a full head of steam on, pitched down the roaring torrent, made two or three spasmodic rolls, hung for a moment on the rocks below, was then swept into deep water by the current, and rounded to safely into the bank. Thirty thousand voices rose in one deafening cheer, and universal joy seemed to pervade the face of every man present. The Neoshb followed next, all her hatches battened down, and every precaution taken against accident. She did not fare so well as the Lexington, her -pilot having become fright- ened as he approached the abyss, and stopped her engine ; the result was that for a moment her hull disappeared from sight under the water. Every one thought she was lost. She rose, however, swept along over the rocks with the current, and fortunately escaped with only one hole in her bottom, which was stopped in the course of an hour. The Hindman and Osage both came through beautifully, without touching a thing. The damage done the dam was repaired, aud the whole fleet brought off. On the 14th of May, the army re- treated from Alexandria under protection of the gun- boats, and the city was consumed by fire. On the 16th, the enemy, who escorted the army a long way, and har- assed its rear, attacked in force at Avovelles Prairie, but, after a severe fight, were driven off. On the 18th, under Polignac, they attacked again at Yellow Bayou, but were repulsed with a loss of three hundred prisoners, besides as many killed and wounded. This final check was admin- istered by General Mower, under the command of Gen- eral A. J. Smith. Yellow Bayou unites with the Bayou de la Glaise, and empties into the Atchafalaya a short distance above Semmesport. On the 19th, the army reached and pontooned the Atchafalaya. On the 20th, it crossed at Semmesport, and moved towards the Missis- sippi. The next evening it reached Morganzia. " "le these operations were going on upon the Red HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1021 River, a strong auxiliary expedition, under General Steele, had set out from Little Rock, Arkansas, with the design of uniting with Banks's column at Shreveport. On ap- proaching Camden, the enemy were encountered behind a series of breastworks to dispute the passage of Tate's Ferry. General Steele, however, moved his column for- ward, as if designing to strike directly for Washington, and leave Camden on his left. Arriving within ten miles of the Ferry, still keeping the military road, he continued a small body of troops on that road, while a detachment of cavalry was hastened forward to seize and secure Elkin's Ferry, and headed the main column to the southward, breaking off almost at right angles with the former course. This detachment encountered Marmaduke and Shelby in force, and the latter attacked the rear of the army, under Brigadier-General Rice, who repulsed him. On the 3d of April both banks of the Little Missouri were in our possession, and the army crossed at Elkin's Ferry, McLean's Brigade in advance. On the 4th, Marmaduke and Cabell, with between four and five thousand men, made an attack upon our column, but were repulsed after some further skirmishes. Steele's army entered Camden on the 15th of April. The enemy, largely re-enforced by Kirby Smith,* now began to swarm upon Steele, and on the 18th a Union forage train was captured. On the 20th a supply train arrived from Pine Bluff, and on the 22d the empty train was sent back, escorted by a brigade * Edmund Kirby Smith was born in Florida, of Connecticut parentage, about 1824, and graduated at "West Point in 1845. He was brevetted first lieutenant and captain for gallantry in the Mexican war, was subsequently assistant professor of mathematics at West Point, and saw active service in the Indian Wars in the West. He resigned his commission at the com- mencement of the rebellion, and was commissioned a colonel in the rebel army. He was wounded at Bull Run, where his timely arrival turned the scale against the national troops, and soon afterwards was appointed a brigadier-general. In February, 1862, he was promoted to be a major- general, and sent to take command in East Tennessee. He participated in Bragg's invasion of Kentucky in the same year, fought at Murfreesboro, and early in 1863 was appointed to command the Department west of the Mississippi, which he retained until the close of the war. He conducted the military operations in Louisiana in the campaigns of 1863 and 1864, and had the credit of defeating Banks's costly and nufortunate Red River Expedition. He was the last of the rebel generals holding important com- mands to surrender to the United States authorities. At that time he held the rank of lieutenant-general 1022 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. of infantry, four pieces of artillery, and a proper propor- tion of cavalry. On the 25th news was received that the train had been captured, and Lieutenant-Colonel Drake, of the Thirty-sixth Iowa, who was in command, mortally wounded. The loss was nearly two thousand prisoners, four guns, and two hundred and forty wagons. The defeat of Banks enabled the enemy to strongly re- enforce Kirby Smith. Information reached Steele that Kir- by Smith in person, with eight thousand re-enforcements, had made a junction with Price, and that the combined armies were advancing to attack him. Hence, retreat was imperative. He, therefore, moved for Little Rock, his retreat being greatly harassed by the enemy, and his main column compelled to destroy trains and bridges. On the 30th of April, while crossing the Saline River, he was attacked by a body of the enemy under General Fagan ; but the assault was repulsed. A portion of the enemy's cavalry, however, crossed the river above, and hurried on towards Little Rock, hoping to take it by surprise while the Union forces were at a distance ; the movement was, however, unsuccessful. HISTOET OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1023 CHAPTER LXIII. "War in Missouri. Execution of Guerrillas. Marmaduke's Movements. Helena. Successful Campaign of General Steele in Arkansas. Capture of Little Rock. General Gautt. Sacking of Lawrence by Quantrell. Price's Last Invasion of Missouri. His Disastrous Defeat and Retreat into Arkansas. AFTER the withdrawal of General Halleck from com- mand in Missouri in 1862, many operations of minor character took place, and the State was greatly disturbed by guerrillas under Quantrell, Poindexter, Porter, Cobb, and other partisan leaders, aided by more regular organ- izations. In September, 1862, the States of Missouri, Kansas, and Arkansas were erected into a military dis- trict, under the command of General Curtis, and General Schofield* assumed the command of the "Army of the Frontier " in Southern Missouri. In September a party of guerrillas under Colonel Porter made a raid upon Pal- myra, and captured among other persons an old and re- spected citizen named Andrew Allsman, who had been of * John McADister Schofield was born in Chatauqua County, New York, in 1831, and graduated at West Point in 1853. He served for five years as instructor in natural philosophy at West Point, and at the outbreak of the rebellion was filling the chair of moral philosophy at Washington Uni- versity, St. Louis. He was employed in organizing troops in the West in the early part of 1861, was subsequently General Lyon's chief of staff, and in November, 1861, was commissioned a brigadier-general of volunteers. In June, 1862, he was appointed to the military district of Missouri, and a few months later received command of the Army of the Frontier, with which he drove the rebel invading force under Hindman into Arkansas. He retained this command until the early part of 1864, when he was sent to East Tennessee to relieve General Foster. As commander of the Twenty- third Corps, constituting the Army of the Ohio, he participated in Sher- man's campaign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, after which he was dis- patched to Tennessee, under the orders of Thomas, to oppose the invasion of Hood. He checked the advance of the latter at the hard-fought battle of Franklin, November 30th, 1864, and in the succeeding month partici- pated in the series of brilliant victories in front of Nashville. Early in 1865 he accompanied his corps to North Carolina, and co-operated with Sherman in the final overthrow of Johnston. At the close of the war he received command of the Department of North Carolina. 1021 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. great service to scouting parties sent out to arrest disloyal persons. As lie was not again heard of, the belief gained ground that he had been murdered, particularly as the iraerrillas had been recently guilty of several similar acts. Accordingly, General McNeil gave public notice that,' unless Allsman should be surrendered within a given time, ten rebel prisoners should be shot. The ten days having elapsed without tidings of Allsman, ten pris- oners were shot, in literal conformity with McNeil's notice. Early in 1863, the rebel General Marmaduke, with a force of six thousand men, proceeded down the Arkansas River to Spadry's Bluff, near Clarkesville, Arkansas, and thence marched rapidly *iorth towards Springfield, Mis- souri, with the intention of seizing the large amount of Federal commissary stores accumulated there. The design of Marmaduke in proceeding so far eastward be- fore making a movement northward into Missouri was to avoid all chance of collision or interference with his plans by Generals Blunt and Herron. He hoped to reach Springfield and accomplish his purpose before they could obtain intelligence of his approach, and this once accom- plished, these generals and their army, deprived of all supplies, would, almost of necessity, be compelled either to surrender to General Hindman or fly from Northwestern Arkansas. As Marmaduke approached Springfield, Generals Brown and Holland, who were in command there, collected a force of about twelve hundred men, sent the stores north towards Bolivar, and succeeded in repulsing the enemy, who retreated with the loss of forty-one killed and one hundred and sixty wounded. Meantime, General Porter, who had been detached by Marmaduke with three thou- sand men to capture Hartsville, reached that point on the 9th of January, 1863, and moved towards Marshfield. General Fitz-Henry Warren, in command of that Federal military district, sent from Houston, on the 9th of Janu- ary, Colonel Merrill, with eight hundred and fifty men, to Springfield, to re-enforce the Federal garrison there. They reached Hartsville on Saturday, the 10th, and learned that Porter had been there the day previous. Leaving Hartsville at 3 p. M., they marched to Wood's Forks, on the road towards Springfield, by nightfall, and HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1025 encamped in line of battle. The next morning, (January llth), at daybreak, they encountered Marmaduke's forces marching from Springfield, and inflicted a defeat upon him. Marmaduke, however, formed a junction with Porter, and marched for Hartsville. Colonel Merrill reached the place in time to put himself in defence. The Confederate attack was repulsed, and the rebels fell back upon Houston, and thence to Little Rock, where Marma- duke remained some two months. On the 17th of April, the Confederate General Cabell left Ozark, Arkansas, with a force of two thousand men, to attack Fayetteville, Arkansas, then garrisoned by two regiments of Federal troops (the First Arkansas Infantry and the First Arkan- sas Cavalry), under the command of Colonel M. La Rue Harrison. The attack was made on the 18th about sun- rise, and resulted in the retreat of the enemy upon Ozark. In April, General Price, in connection with Marma- duke, collected a force, mostly Texans, with the view of capturing. General Grant's depot of stores at Cape Girar- deau, on the Mississippi. This force, numbering ten thousand men, under Marmaduke, left Little Rock about the middle of April, and on the 20th had crossed the State line, and, following the course of the St. Francis River, reached Fredericktown, Missouri, about the 22d. From this point they marched upon Cape Girardeau, and came before the town on the 25th. The garrison there was under the command of General John McNeil, and con- sisted of one thousand seven hundred men, mostly militia. McNeil had reached Cape Girardeau on the night of the 23d, and had taken immediate measures for the removal of the Government stores into Illinois, and had sent to St. Louis for re-enforcements. The attack was made April 26th and was repulsed, the enemy retreating into Arkansas on May 2d. Many minor engagements took place. In July, General Blunt crossed the Arkansas River, near Henry Springs, in that Territory, and after, on the 16th, defeating a force of Confederates under General Cooper, descended the Arkansas River, and on the 1st of Septem- ber occupied Fort Smith, Arkansas. The Army of the Frontier having been greatly depleted to furnish re- enforcements to Grant, while he was engaged in the siege of Yicksburg, Price and Marmaduke made an attempt on 63 1026 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. Helena, Arkansas, held by General Prentiss with four thousand troops. The rebels were disastrously defeated, with the loss of eleven hundred prisoners and many killed and wounded. After the fall of Yicksburg, the preparations for which had drawn troops out of Arkansas, General Steele was sent, in August, to join General Davidson, who was moving south from Missouri, at Helena, with orders to drive the enemy south of Arkansas River* Having effected this junction and established his depot and hospi- tals at Duvall's Bluff, on the White River, Steele, on the 1st of August, advanced against the Confederate army, which fell back towards Little Rock. After several suc- cessful skirmishes, he reached the Arkansas River, and threw part of his force on the south side, to threaten the Confederate communications with Arkadelphia, their depot of supplies, and flank their position at Little Rock. Marmaduke was sent out with a cavalry force to beat the Federals back, but was completely routed. Seeing what must be the inevitable result of this movement of Steele, the Confederate General Holmes destroyed what property he could, and, after a slight resistance, retreated with his army in great disorder, pursued by the Federal cavalry ; and on the 10th of September, Steele entered the capital of Arkansas. His entire loss in killed, wounded, and missing, in this whole movement, did not exceed one hundred. He captured one thousand prisoners, and such public property as the Confederates had not time to destroy. The Federal cavalry continued to press the re- treating Confederates southward ; but a small force, which had eluded pursuit, and moved eastward, attacked the Federal garrison at Pine Bluff, on the Arkansas, south of Little Rock, hoping to recapture it, and thus cripple the Federals, by breaking their communications. The attempt, which was made on the 28th of October, was repulsed with decided loss on the part of the Confed- erates. The same day the Federal cavalry occupied Ark- adelphia, the Confederates retreating towards the Red River. This operation completely restored Arkansas to the Federal authority, except a small district in the ex- treme southwest, and the region of Northwest Arkansas, over which the guerrilla and other irregular troops of the Confederates continued to roam. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1027 At this time the rebel cause experienced the first defec- tion of a prominent man, in the person of the Hon. E. W. Gantt, a well-known citizen of Arkansas, who had held positions of influence in the Confederacy, having served with their armies in the field as a general, and been twice taken prisoner by our forces. He issued an address to the people of his State, in which he presented with great force the reasons for his abandonment of his comrades. The chief of these was the thorough convic- tion, to which he had been brought by the stern logic of events, that the rebels were fairly beaten, and might as well end the contest at once. " Our armies," he said, " are melting, and ruin approaches us. The last man is in the field, half our territory overrun, our cities gone to wreck peopled alone by the aged, the lame and halt, and women and children ; while deserted towns, and smoking ruins, and plantations abandoned and laid waste, meet us on all sides, and anarchy and ruin, disappoint- ment and discontent lower over all the land." He accord- ingly advised submission, on the ground that the sooner the South laid down their arms and quitted the strug- gle, the sooner would the days of prosperity return. The most atrocious outrage of the war up to this time was the attack of the guerrilla chief Quantrell upon the town of Lawrence, Kansas, on August 21st. The citi- zens, taken wholly by surprise, were shot down in the streets in cold blood, and even women were fired at. Two hundred and five persons were killed and many wounded. Numerous houses and churches were burned, and property valued at two million dollars was destroyed. A hastily organized force followed in pursuit of the guerrillas, and succeeded in killing about forty of them, but the greater part of the band escaped with their booty. Late in September, the Confederate General Cabell collected a force of some eight thousand men, crossed the Arkansas River east of Fort Smith, and on the 1st of October, a detachment of his troops, under General Shelby, joined Coffey at Crooked Prairie, Missouri, in- tending to make a raid into Southwestern Missouri. This combined force, numbering two thousand or two thousand five hundred men, penetrated as far as the Missouri River, at Booneville, where the Missouri State Militia and the 1028 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Enrolled Missouri Militia met him, October 12th, under the command of General Brown. Shelby was here routed, his artillery taken from him, his forces scattered. After Brown gave up the chase, it was taken up by Gen- eral Ewing, the commanding general of the Missouri border, who followed him to the battle-field of Pea Ridge, where he abandoned the chase, and General John McNeil, commanding the District of Southwest Missouri, took it up and ran him across the Boston Mountain in Arkansas. General Blunt, commanding the District of the Frontier, having been relieved by General McNeil, he at once started to assume the command of Blunt's army. With these last convulsive throes, the active existence of the Confederate authority in Arkansas died out. On the 12th of November, a meeting was held at .Little Rock, to consult on measures for the restoration of the State to the Union, and was succeeded by others in different parts of the State. General Rosecrans succeeded General Schofield in the command in Missouri. Early in 1864, he found it pru- dent to concentrate his forces in the vicinity of St. Louis, and the country south of the Maramec River was a prey to anarchy. The towns in that vicinity had suffered great injury, and some of them been burnt, the crops destroyed, and the inhabitants conscripted or driven from their homes. Small guerrilla forces, under Shelby and others, committed great depredations. In May, 1864, a company of Missouri cavalry, escorting a train, were de- feated, and the tram burned near Rolla. Yague rumors and threats -of a new invasion of Missouri by Price began now to spread with growing strength, and about the 21st of September information was received at head-quarters that Price, crossing the Arkansas with two divisions of cavalry and three batteries of artillery, had joined Shelby near Batesville, sixty miles south of the State line, to invade Missouri witn about fourteen thousand veteran mounted men. The Federal force there consisted of six thousand five hundred mounted men for field duty in the department, scattered over a country four hundred miles long and three hundred broad, which, with the partially organized new infantry regiments and dismounted men, constituted the entire force to cover our great depots at St. Louis, HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 1029 Jefferson City, St. Joseph, Macon, Springfield, Holla, and Pilot Knob, guard railroad bridges against invasion, and protect, as far as possible, the lives and property of citi- t zens from the guerrillas who swarmed over the whole country bordering on the Missouri River. After the defeat of Banks's expedition, General A. J. Smith, with the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, returned to Yicksburg, where they were destined to rejoin the Army of the Cumberland under Sherman, of which force they really constituted a part. Meantime, however, Marmaduke, with a force of about six thousand infantry and cavalry and three batteries, occupied Lake Village, whence he interrupted the traffic of the Missouri River. General Smith therefore proceeded in quest of Marma- duke. On the 5th of June, Smith's force, comprising General Mower's Division of the Sixteenth Corps and one brigade of the Seventeenth Corps, disembarked at Sunny Side. After a march of thirty miles they encoun- tered Marmaduke, and defeated him. On the 7th, Smith's forces re-embarked for Memphis. No sooner had Price commenced his march than Steele followed, re-enforced by Mower's Infantry and "Winslow's Cavalry, sent from Memphis ; and A. J. Smith's troops, passing Cairo towards ^Nashville, at the earnest solicita- tions of the general commanding were ordered to halt and return to oppose Price, who was aiming for Jefferson City, the State capital. Crossing the "Wmte River at Salina, Arkansas, on the 14th of September, with a force estimated at eight or ten thousand, and several pieces of artillery, Price entered Missouri from the southeast. On the 23d, his advance, under Shelby, occupied Bloomfield, Stoddard County, which place was evacuated by our forces on the night of the 21st. On Monday, the 26th of September, Price advanced against Pilot Knob, St. Francois County, which had fortunately been occupied on Sunday by Ewing, with a brigade of the Sixteenth Army Corps, General A. J. Smith. With this force, strengthened bv the garrisons of Pilot Knob and outly- ing posts, Ewmg was able to repulse the rebels, who, without delay, undertook to carry the place by assault. Our forces occupied a fort in the neighborhood of Iron- ton, which was commanded, however, by adjacent hills. Confident of their ability to capture the place by a direct 1030 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. assault, the enemy advanced against it, but were driven back with severe loss by a well-directed fire of artillery and musketry at easy range. The fort was a strong one, mounting four twenty-four pounders, four thirty-twos, and four six-pound Parrotts, besides two six-pound Par-- rotts mounted outside ; but the occupation by the enemy of Shepherd Mountain, a hill commanding the place, compelled Ewing to evacuate. After blowing up his magazine, he fell back to Harrison Station on the South- west Branch Railroad, where he made a stand, behind breastworks left by a party of militia who had previously occupied the town. The enemy followed him sharply, and cut the railroad on both sides of him, severing com- munication both with St. Louis and Rolla. Ewing reached Holla with the main body of his troops. Meantime, Springfield having been placed in a state of defence, General Sanborn moved with all his available cavalry to re-enforce General McNeil at Rolla ; while the infantry of Smith, aided by the militia and citizens, put St. Louis in a state of defence, where General Pleasonton had relieved General Frank Blair. The militia were placed by Kosecrans under the direction of Senator B. Gratz Brown. Brown concentrated at Jefferson City the troops of the Central District, and, re-enforced by General Fisk with all available troops north of the Missouri, prepared for the defence of the capital of the State, the citizens of which vied with the military in their enthusiastic exertions to repel the invasion. The enemy, after awaiting at Rich wood's for a day or two, and threatening St. Louis, started for the State capital. McNeil and Sanborn, mov- ing with all their available cavalry, by forced marches reached the point of danger a few miles in advance of him, and, uniting with Fisk and Brown, saved Jefferson City. Price then retreated upon Booneville, and Pleas- onton, having assumed command at Jefferson City, sent a mounted force, under Sanborn, in pursuit. This force, on the 19th of October, united with the brigade of Wins- low, which had been dispatched by General Mower to follow the enemy from Arkansas. The united force, now six thousand five hundred strong, under Pleasonton, pursued the enemy to Independence, where the rebel rear-guard was overtaken and routed. Curtis, who held HISTOBY OF THE GKEAT KEBELLION. 1031 "Westport, was driven out by Shelby, who in his turn was defeated by Pleasonton. The retreat and pursuit were kept up with vigor, and, Curtis having united with Pleas- onton, the enemy were overtaken at Little Osage Crossing, where two advanced brigades, under Benteen and Phillips, charged two rebel divisions, routed them, captured eight pieces of artillery, and near one thousand prisoners, in- cluding Grenerals Marmaduke and Cabell. Sanborn's Brigade again led in pursuit, overtook the rebels, and made two more brilliant charges, driving every thing before them across the Marmiton, whence the enemy fled, under cover of night, towards the Arkansas. After thus marching two hundred and four miles in six days, and beating the 1 enemy, his flying columns were pursued towards the Arkansas by the Kansas troops and Benteen's Brigade, while Sanborn, following, marched one hundred and four miles in thirty-six hours, and on the 28th reached Newtonia, where the enemy made his last stand, in time to turn the tide of battle, which was going against Gen- eral Blunt, again routing the enemy. The gains claimed by Price in this invasion were far more than neutralized by his losses. These amounted to ten pieces of artillery, a large number of small-arms, nearly all his trains and plunder, and, besides his killed, wounded, and deserters, upwards of two thousand prisoners. The total Union loss was less than a thousand. "With this abortive attempt to rival the early successes of the rebellion in this quarter, ended the rebel attempts to conquer Missouri. Price retired with a depleted and demoralized army into South- ern Arkansas, and thenceforth Missouri enjoyed a greater degree of tranquillity than she had known since the out- break of the war. 1032 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. CHAPTEE LXIV. Mobile. Its Defences. Concentration of Troops. Combined Operations. Landing on Dauphine Island. Order of Battle. Tecumseh blown up. Tennessee Attacks. Desperate Battle. Mode of Attack. Fort Powell blown up. Fort Gaines Surrenders. Siege of Fort Morgan. Surrender. Minor Expeditions. As a part of the concerted plan of campaign, an attack upon Mobile was projected by Grant, with the object of weakening Johnston in Georgia, by inducing him to send troops for the defence of that city. After the return of Banks's army from the Red River, and the appointment of General Canby to the command of the West Mississippi Military Division, an expedition against Mobile began to be organized. The land defences of Mobile consisted of three lines of strong earthworks, extending five or six miles to the rear of the city. Along the east coast of Mobile Bay were Pintow's Battery, Batteries Choctaw, Cedar Plain, Grand Spell, and Light-House Battery, each of which consisted of thirty-two-pound rifle cannon mounted in earthworks. The land is, however, level and low, and presents no natural advantages for a defence. Forts Morgan and Gaines, commanding the entrance to Mobile Bay, are the first obstacles that a fleet encounters in attempting to enter from the Gulf. The former is situated on the southwestern extremity of a long spur of land, that separates Bon Socour Bay from the Mexican Gulf, and commanded the two easterly channels of entrance, while the western one, and Grant's Pass, are immediately under the guns of Fort Gaines, a casern ated fortification. Between the forts and the city, the channels were ob- structed by lines of stout piles driven in the mud, and a eloop loaded with stone was stationed immediately in the centre of the channel that runs through Dog River Bar, ready to be sunk on the passage of the forts. In the Mobile River, considerably above the city, an iron-clad ram, the Tennessee, and four wooden gunboats, were HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1033 afloat. The harbor of Mobile is generally shallow, and it was customary for heavy shipping to anchor just inside of Dauphine's Island, near the entrance to the bay, and some twenty-eight miles from the city. Steamers, how- ever, being more easily managed, were admitted under the guidance of skilful pilots, and even sailing vessels of six or seven hundred tons could approach the city. Preparatory to an expedition for the capture of Mobile, the Federal troops in Louisiana were concentrated in New Orleans. In July, the fleet of Admiral Farragut, accompanied by a land force under Generals Canby and Granger, arrived off Mobile Bay. A consultation was held between Gen- 1034: HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBEIXION. erals Granger and Canby with the admiral, on July 8th, when it was determined that Fort Gaines should be first invested. The fleet was to cover the landing of a force on Dauphine's Island for that purpose, and the 4th of August was, after some unavoidable delays, fixed upon as the time for landing. Meanwhile, the enemy, under General Page, were busy throwing troops and supplies into Fort Gaines, which was commanded by Colonel An- derson, of the Twenty-first Alabama. Early on the 4th 01 August, the Federal fleet, twenty- six sail, including two double and one single turreted monitor and an iron-clad double-ender, commenced closing in their line southeast of Fort Morgan, as with a view to concentrate their efforts on Fort Gaines, having during the preceding nights landed a force of from three to five thousand men, under General Granger, on Dauphine Island. During the early part of the day they kept up an irregular and desultory fire on the fort, as if designing to make against that point a combined attack by land and sea. The real intention of the admiral, however, was to effect the passage of the forts with his fleet, and the ves- sels outside the bar which were designed to participate in the engagement were all under way by forty minutes past five in the morning of August 5th, in the following order, two abreast and lashed. together: Brooklyn, Captain James Alden, with the Octorara, Lieutenant-Commander C. H. Green, on the port side ; Hartford, Captain Percival Drayton, with the Metacomet,' Lieutenant-Commander J. E. Jouett ; Richmond, Captain T. A. Jenkins, with the Port Royal, Lieutenant-Comman- der B. Gherardi ; Lackawanna, Captain J. B. Marchand, with the Seminole, Commander E. Donaldson ; Monon- Eahela, Commander J. H. Strong, with the Kennebec, ieutenant-Commander "W. P. McCann ; Ossipee, Com- mander W. E. Le Roy, with the Itasca, Lieutenant-Com- mander George Brown ; Oneida, Commander J. R. M. Mullany, with the Galena, Lieutenant-Commander C. H. Wells. The iron-clads Tecumseh, Commander T. A. M. Craven, the Manhattan, Commander J. W. A. Nicholson, the "Winnebago, Commander T. H. Stevens, and the Chicka- saw, Lieutenant-Commander T. H. Perkins, were already HISTORY OP THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 1035 ahead inside the bar, and had been ordered to take up their positions on the starboard side of the wooden ships, or between them and Fort Morgan, for the double pur- pose of keeping down the fire from the water-battery and the parapet guns of the fort, as well as to attack the ram Tennessee as soon as the fort was passed. The attacking fleet steamed steadily up the main ship- channel, the Tecumseh firing the first shot at forty-seven minutes past six. At six minutes past seven the fort opened upon the fleet, and was replied to by a gun from the Brooklyn, and, immediately after, the action became general. The guns of the fort played with effect upon the Brooklyn and Hartford, and soon after the firing be- came hot. The Tecumseh careened suddenly, and sank, destroyed by a torpedo, nearly all hands being lost. The Hartford, flag-ship, then took the lead, and the fleet, pushing steadily forward, and maintaining a constant fire, passed the fort shortly before eight o'clock. As the Hartford passed up she was attacked by the Tennessee, but without effect. The rebel gunboats Morgan, Gaines, and Selma, which had kept up an annoying fire, were then attacked. The Selma was captured by the Metacomet, while the Morgan and Gaines drew off under the guns of Fort Morgan. The former escaped to Mobile, and the latter was run ashore and destroyed. The Tennessee then stood down for the flag-ship. The monitors were imme- diately ordered to attack her. The Monongahela, Com- mander Strong, was the first vessel that struck her, and in doing so carried away his own iron prow, together with the cut-water, without apparently doing his adversary much injury. The Lackawanna, Uaptain Marchand, was the next vessel to strike her, which she did at full speed ; but though her stern was cut and crushed to the plank ends for the distance of three feet above the water's edge to five feet below, the only perceptible effect on the ram was to give her a heavy lift. The Hartford was the third vessel which struck her, but as the Tennessee quickly shifted her helm, the blow was a glancing one, and as she rasped along the side of the Hartford, that vessel poured her whole port broadside of nine-inch solid shot within ten feet of her casemate. The monitors worked slowly, but delivered their fife as opportunity offered. The Chickasaw succeeded in getting under her stern, and a 1036 HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. fifteen-inch shot from the Manhattan broke through her iron plating and heavy wooden backing, though the mis- sile itself did not enter the vessel. The Hartford again bore down upon the ram at full speed, when, unfortunately, the Lackawanna ran into the Hartford just forward of trie mizzenmast, cutting her down to within two feet of the water's edge. They soon got clear again, however, and again bore down for the enemy. The Tennessee was now in a desperate strait. The Chicka- saw was pounding away at her stern, the Osipee was approaching her at full speed, and the Monongahela, Lackawanna, and Hartford were bearing down upon her, determined upon her destruction. Her smoke-stack had been shot away, her steering chains were gone, compelling a resort to her relieving tackles, and several of the port- shutters were jammed. Indeed, from the time the Hart- ford struck her until her surrender, she never fired a gun. As the Osipee, Commander Leroy, was about to strike ner, she hoisted the white flag, and that vessel immediately stopped her engine, though not in time to avoid a glan- cing blow. During the contest with the rebel gunboats and the ram Tennessee, and which terminated by her sur- render at ten o'clock, the fleet lost many more men than from the fire of the batteries of Fort Morgan. Admiral Buchanan, commanding the Tennessee, was wounded in the leg, two or three of his men were killed, and five or six wounded. Commander Johnston, formerly of the United States Navy, came on board the flag-ship to sur- render his sword and that of Admiral Buchanan. Thus ended one of the fiercest naval combats on record, in which the defence made by the Tennessee illustrated the power of that class of vessels. After all the terrible attacks to which she was exposed, her hull was but little injured. Her commander was in charge of the Merrimac during her famous attack upon the Federal fleet in Hamp- ton Roads. It had been imagined that as the ship channel led so very close to the powerful Fort Morgan, no ships would dare attempt the passage ; or, if the attempt were made, none would succeed. But in Farragut's hands this peculiarity of the channel became an advantage to the at- tacking, and a weakness to the defending side. The novel and ingenious expedient of lashing his vessels toge- ther, two and two, showed how thoroughly the rear-adini- HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1037 ral had considered the dangers in his way, and how suc- cessfully he met them. 1st. If the exposed half of his fleet had been disabled, the other half would still have gone in, with but little injury. 2d. His battle line was not liable to disorganization, by any vessel dropping out, and per- haps fouling another ; the Oneida was disabled, but her consort pulled her through, and the Oneida's men did not even leave their guns. 3d. If any vessel had been sunk, her consort would have surely and quickly saved the crew. 4th. His battle-line was shortened by half, and the passage of course robbed of half its risks to the fleet. These were the chief points gained by Farragut's admirable and novel disposition of his force. On the night of the 7th of August, Fort Powell having surrendered, the commander of Fort Gaines, Colonel An- derson, intimated a desire to surrender ; and for that purpose went on board the fleet and made terms. General Page, having some intimation of what was going on, tele- f'aphed repeatedly to Anderson to hold on to his post, he fort, however, was surrendered, and by this means the western channel was now under the control of the Federal fleet. The -surrender of Fort Morgan could not after this be long delayed. Accordingly, after some days spent in preparations, on August 21st, General Granger notified Admiral Farragut that he would be ready to open the siege next morning at daylight. That night the ad- miral with his fleet took position in line of battle, and Monday morning, the 22d, at five o'clock, opened upon Morgan with thirty guns of various caliber, and sixteen eight and ten inch mortars. In a short time three moni- tors and several wooden vessels opened, the former with eleven and fifteen inch shells, and the latter with rifled thirty-two pounders. The firing continued with great vigor and extraordinary accuracy until dark, when the fleet withdrew, and the firing was continued only at inter- vals by the shore batteries. During the shelling the citadel of the fort took fire, and the enemy, after vain efforts to extinguish the flames, flooded the magazine and threw a large quantity of powder into the wells. ISTo sooner was this light discovered, than General Bailey or- dered all our batteries to commence firing, in order to prevent the extinguishment of the flames. At twenty minutes to seven o'clock on Tuesday morn- 1038 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. ing, the 23d, Captain Taylor, bearing a white flag, and accompanied by about forty men, carrying a small sail- boat, marched out at the main sallyport, facing Fort Gaines, with the intention of pushing off to the flag-ship, three or four miles distant, with a note from General Page, proposing to surrender the fort, and asking what terms would be granted. General Granger now arrived at the wharf, in front of Fort Morgan, and the note of General Page was handed to him. Granger replied that he would communicate the contents of the note to the admiral, and when his answer was received the terms of surrender would be dictated. In a short time thereafter Granger sent General Arnold, chief of artillery, Captain Drayton, of the Hartford, and another officer, with a demand for the immediate and unconditional surrender of Fort Mor- gan, with its garrison and all public property, to the army and navy of the United States. With these terms Page was fain to comply, though he disgraced himself by de- stroying and injuring theproperty surrendered after he had accepted the terms. With Forts Morgan and Gaines eighty-six guns and fifteen hundred men fell into the pos- session of the Union troops, and Mobile was permanently sealed against blockade runners. On the return of the troops to New Orleans, after leaving sufficient garrisons in the Mobile forts, a num- ber of expeditions were undertaken by General Canby's troops, of which the most important was one into West Florida, under command of General Asboth, which reached Marianna on the afternoon of the 27th of Sep- tember, capturing that place after a stubborn resistance of several hours. The result was the capture of eighty- one prisoners of war (among them a brigadier-general and a colonel), ninety-five stand of arms, and large quan- tities of quartermaster's and commissary stores. Our loss in killed and wounded amounted to thirty-two, in- cluding General Asboth himself, who had his left cheek- bone broken and his left arm fractured in two places. An expedition, sent by General Dana from Rodney, Mississippi, reached Fayette on the 2d of October, en- countering no enemy. They captured some cattle, horses, mules, and several prisoners. Another expedition sent by General Dana attacked the enemy at Woodville at seven o'clock on October 7th, capturing three guns, one HISTOKT OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. 1039 captain, one lieutenant, fifty-four enlisted men, and killing forty of the enemy. A cavalry expedition, under General A. L. Lee, reached Clinton October 7th, at seven o'clock, capturing forty- seven prisoners, the mails, telegraph office, &c., and a considerable quantity of stores and ammunition. Among the prisoners captured was Lieutenant-Colonel Pinckney, provost-marshal-general of the district (installed in his office a few hours before the arrival of our troops), one captain, and two lieutenants. From there the expedition moved to Greensburg, and, finding no enemy, destroyed a tannery and some stores, and returned with a number of blacks. 1040 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. CHAPTER LXY. Expedition to Florida. Occupation of Jacksonville. Advance of General Seymour. Battle of Olustee, and Retreat of the Union Army. Demon- stration against Newbern. -Capture of Plymouth. The Albemarle. Her fight with Union Gunboats. Her Destruction. Rebel Privateers. Combat between the Kearsarge and Alabama. Capture of the Florida and Georgia. THE early part of 1864 witnessed a series of disasters to the Union arras along the Atlantic coast, which, though involving the loss of no essential points, and having no direct influence upon the issue of the war, were yet, in the aggregate, so considerable as to cause a wide-spread uneasiness. The great aggressive campaigns of Grant and Sherman had not then commenced, and these temporary successes of the rebels, taken in connection with the practical failure of the joint expedition into Southern Mississippi, with the Fort Pillow massacre and the un- fortunate termination of the Red River expedition, per- plexed and irritated the public mind, while they infused no little heart into the rebel cause. In December, 1863, in accordance with his request, authority was given to General Gillmore, commanding the Department of the South, to undertake such opera- tions, within his department, as he might deem best, on consultation with Admiral Dahlgren, then in command of the South Atlantic blockading squadron. He accord- ingly intimated to the War Department that in February, 1864, he proposed to occupy the west bank of the St. John's River, and establish small depots there, preparatory to an advance at an early day. Under date of June 13th, 1864, the President wrote to Gillmore that, understanding that certain persons were endeavoring to construct a legal government in Florida, which formed part of the Depart- ment of the South, and that Gillmore might possibly be there in person, he had dispatched Mr. Hay, one of his private secretaries, to aid in the proposed construction. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 104:1 " It is desirable," he said, " for all to co-operate ; but if irreconcilable differences of opinion shall arise, you are master. 1 wish the thing done in the most speedy way possible, so that when done it be within the range of the late proclamation on the subject. The detail labor will of course have to be done by others, but I shall be greatly obliged if you will give it such general supervision as you can find consistent with your more strictly military duties." By the close of January, Gillmore's plans seem to have been perfected, and in a letter to General Halleck, the general-in-chief, he stated that the objects to be at tained by his proposed operations were : 1. To procure an outlet for cotton, lumber, timber, &c. 2. To cut off one of the enemy's sources of commis- sary supplies, &c. 3. To obtain recruits for any colored regiment. 4. To inaugurate measures for the speedy restoration of Florida to her allegiance, in accordance with instruc- tions received from the President by the hands of Major John II. Hay, assistant adjutant-general. Orders were issued by Gillmore to General Truman Seymour, on February 5th, to proceed with a force of six thousand men t'o Jacksonville, and, after effecting a land- ing, to push on to Baldwin, twenty miles farther, with his mounted troops. The command of Seymour, con- voyed by the gunboat Norwich, Captain Merriam, ascended the St. John's River on the Tth, and landed at Jacksonville on the afternoon of the same day. The ad- vance, under Colonel Guy Y. Henry, pushed forward into the interior on the night of the 8th, passed by the enemy, drawn up in line of battle at Camp Vinegar, seven miles from Jacksonville, surprised and captured a battery three miles in the rear of the camp about mid- night, and reached Baldwin about sunrise. At the ap- proach of the Union troops, the enemy fled, sunk the steamer St. Mary's, and burned two hundred and seventy bales of cotton, a few miles above Jacksonville. Our forces captured, without the loss of a man, about one hundred prisoners, eight pieces of artillery in serviceable condition, and a large amount of other valuable property. On the 9th, Gillmore reached Baldwin. At that time the enemy had no force in East Florida, except the scat- tered fragments of General Finnegan's command : we 64 1042 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. had taken all his artillery. On the 10th, a portion of our force was sent towards Sanderson, and Gillmore returned to Jacksonville. Telegraphic communication was estab- lished between Baldwin and Jacksonville on the llth, and Seymour was directed by Gillmore not to risk a re- pulse by advancing on Lake City, but to hold Sanderson, unless there were reasons for falling back ; and also, in case his advance met with any serious opposition, to con- centrate at Sanderson and the south fork of the St. Mary's, and, if necessary, to bring back Colonel Henry to the latter place. Having subsequently directed Sey- mour to make no further advance, without instructions, but to put Jacksonville in a complete state of defence, Gillmore returned on the 16th to Hilton Head. . On Thursday, February 18th, Seymour left his camp at Jacksonville, with ten days' rations, for the purpose of destroying the railroad near the Suwannee River, one hundred miles distant from Jacksonville. He had re- ceived no directions from Gillmore to undertake this movement, and the latter immediately sent positive orders to him to remain where he was ; but these, unfor- tunately, arrived too late to avert the disaster which sub- sequently occurred. On the 19th, the column, numbering about five thousand men, reached Barber's Station, on the Florida Central Railroad, about thirty miles from Jacksonville. Here it was the intention of Seymour to remain several days ; but during the night of the 19th, he received information of the enemy's whereabouts and plans, which led him to believe that by pushing rapidly forward his column, he would be able to defeat the enemy's designs, and secure important military advan- tages. At seven A. M. on the 20th, the march was re- sumed along the line of the railroad, in the direction of Lake City, and at noon the troops passed through Sander- son. At this place they did not halt, but pushed forward towards Olustee, nine miles distant, the point at which Seymour believed he should meet the enemy. But instead of coming in contact with the enemy at Olustee, the meeting took place three miles east of that place, and six miles west of Sanderson, so that the troops were not BO well prepared for battle as they would have been if Olustee had been the battle-field. The column moved forward in regular order, the cavalry in the advance, and OP THE GREAT REBELLION. 1043 the artillery distributed along the line of infantry ; but, with singular negligence, considering the march was through an enemy's country, no flanking parties had been thrown out. At two P> M., as the head of the column reached a point where a country road crosses the railroad, the enemy's skirmishers were encountered. After some brisk firing, the rebels fell back on a second line $ skirmish- ers, and ultimately upon their main forces, which were strongly posted between swamps, about six miles beyond Sanderson. The rebel position was admirably chosen. On the right their line rested upon a low and rather slight earthwork, protected by rifle-pits, their centre was defended by an impassable swamp, while on the left their cavalry was drawn up on a small elevation behind the shelter of a grove of pines. Their camp was intersected by the railroad, on which was placed a battery capable of operating against our left or our centre, while a rifled gun, mounted on a truck, commanded the road. In order to attack this strong position, our troops were com- pelled to take a stand between two swamps, one in the front, the other in the rear. The artillery was posted within one hundred yards of the enemy's line of battle, a position in which they were exposed to the deadly fire of the rebel sharpshooters. The Seventh New Hampshire Regiment, in connection with the Seventh Connecticut, was sent forward to the right, to break through the enemy's line. This move- ment brought on hot firing, and it was evident that an engagement was near at hand. At this time, the Union force on the field consisted of the Seventh 'New Hamp- shire, the Seventh Connecticut, the Independent Batta- lion of Massachusetts Cavalry, the Fortieth Massachu- setts Mounted Infantry, the Eighth United States Colored, Elder's Battery of four, and Hamilton's of six pieces. The remainder of the column was.halted on the road. While the movement on the right was in progress, Colonel Henry, in person, went over to the left to reconnoitre, and discovered that the enemy's right lapped on our left. This was reported to General Seymour, who immediately gave orders for the advance troops and batteries to come into position. The fact that the enemy had a force far superior in point of numbers to our own was now beyond 1044: HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. all dispute ; but to retreat at that time was impossible, as the road was filled with troops coming, up, and the woods on either side would not admit of passage on the flank. Soon Langdon, on the extreme left, and Hamilton on the right, succeeded in getting their batteries at work, but the guns being within one hundred yards of the enemy's front, the loss of life among the artillerists was too great to enable them to maintain an efficient fire. In twenty minutes' time, Hamilton lost forty-four men and forty horses. The Eighth Colored Regiment, which formed his support, also suffered considerably, and, after the death of the commander, Colonel Fribley, retired in disorder. Nevertheless, Hamilton kept his pieces at work until it was evident it would be sure loss to fire 1 another round, and then gave orders to withdraw them. Horses were attached to only four pieces the horses to the other two had been shot ; consequently two guns fell into possession of the enemy. On the right of Hamilton, the Seventh Connecticut and the Seventh New Hamp- shire were doing fearful execution. The Seventh Con- necticut especially were standing their ground with marked valor, and every volley from their guns told on the rebel line. But the rebels outnumbered them five to one, and, after losing one-fourth of their number, the two regiments were compelled to retire to the rear. At the same moment, Colonel Barton's Brigade, the Forty- seventh, Forty-eighth, and One Hundred and Fifteenth New York regiments, took the field, coming up in line en echelon. They fought with great resolution, but, like the other troops, could not make head against the over- whelming force opposed to them. The unequal contest was sustained until it became evi- dent that the numerical superiority of the enemy was too great to be successfully opposed. Our line was gradually drawn back, leaving the dead and many of the seriously wounded in the hands of the enemy. This movement was covered by Colonel Montgomery's Brigade, the Fifty-fourth Massachusetts and the First North Carolina. When Barton's Brigade began to waver, in consequence of their ammunition running low, the First North Carolina was sent into line in front, and succeeded in holding the enemy in check. As our troops retired, the rebels attempted to flank us on both sides, a movement HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1045 which was checked by the judicious dispositions of Colo- nel Henry. The centre held its ground under a heavy fire from front and flank, until the formation of a new position, about a hundred yards to the rear. Soon af- ter the changes of line, the enemy made a desperate charge on the centre, but were driven back by Elder's Battery. At sunset the firing slackened on both sides, and the Union troops, though exhausted by a fatiguing march and three hours' severe fighting, retired without confusion from the field. Seymour was by this time satisfied that the odds against him were too great to risk a repetition of the day's fighting. He was moreover out of ammuni- tion, and was fifty niiles distant from his base. Every consideration prompted him to march his shattered force back to Jacksonville before the enemy should encompass it. The order to retreat was given, and, with hardly a pause, the troops commenced to retrace their weary route to Barber's. The retreat was conducted with perfect order, Colonel Henry, with his cavalry, bringing up the rear. At three o'clock, Sunday morning, the troops were at Barber's. The enemy followed closely, but did not press. A few of their cavalry only kept well up to the rear of Henry's column. At Barber's the column rested until nine A. M., and then took up the line of retreat, reaching Baldwin at about three P. M. They halted here a short time, and then went on towards Jacksonville, arriv- ing at the camping-ground, six miles out, Monday after- noon, the 22d. The Union loss in this battle was not far from twelve hundred, or about a fourth part of the force engaged. Five guns were also abandoned upon the field, two of Hamil- ton's and three of Langdon's Battery, from want of horses to drag them away. The enemy's loss must have been quite as severe, as he was inferior in artillery, and the Union batteries were for the most part fired at very short range. That he was considerably crippled was evident from the fact that he made no effort at vigorous pursuit. When finally he approached the neighborhood of Jackson, he found the Union army protected by strong works, with gunboats to support it in case of need. No further attempt was made to penetrate into Florida, and no movement was initiated for reorganizing the State. 1046 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. The troops on both sides were a few months later called away for more important work in Virginia. For two years subsequent to the landing of Burnside on the North Carolina coast, the Union troops had re- tained uninterrupted possession of those places on the inland waters which were then occupied and fortified, and of which the most important were Plymouth, on the south bank of the Roanoke River, near its entrance into Albemarle Sound ; "Washington, on the Famlico River, and Newbern, on the Neuse. Rebel demonstrations against these towns in the spring of 1863 had proved abortive, and public interest was soon absorbed by the great campaigns in Virginia and the Valley of the Mis- sissippi. JBut previous to the renewal of active opera- tions between the main contending armies, the rebel authorities determined, in the etfrly part of 1864, to make another attempt to expel the Union troops from North Carolina. To harass the Federal Government, and to divert its attention from more important objects, was un- doubtedly one of their motives. Another was to give greater security to the lines of railroad traversing North Carolina, which might become of vital importance to the Confederacy in the event of the success of Sherman's campaign against Atlanta, and which were always more or less endangered by the proximity of Union garrisons on the coast. In aid of the projected movement, a large and powerful armored ram, called the Albemarle, which had been a long time building up the Roanoke River, was rapidly pushed to completion. The first demonstration was against Newbern, and was evidently intended as a feint. On February 1st, the rebel General Picket, with the brigades of Hoke, Corse, and Clingman, carried by assault a small Union outpost within eight miles of the town, capturing two guns and a few prisoners ; but satisfied, apparently, by a nearer re- connoissdnce, that the defences of Newbern were too strong to be attacked with any prospect of success, he withdrew his troops to Kinston on the succeeding day. The next movement was of a more serious character, and was directed against Plymouth, which had been strongly fortified, and commanded the entrance to the Roanoke River. The main defences comprised a breast- work with strong forts at different points along the line. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1047 A mile farther up the river was another strong work, called Fort Gray, opposite to which a triple row of piles had been driven, with torpedoes attached, to serve as a protection to the Union war vessels anchored in front of the town. Still farther up was another row of piles with torpedoes, near which a picket boat was stationed to give warning of the approach of the Albeinarle. In the middle of April the garrison consisted of about two thousand five hundred men, under command of General Wessells, and the gunboats Southfield, Miami, Bomb- shell, Whitehead, and Ceres were at anchor in the river. On Sunday, April 17th, Iloke, with a force estimated at from ten to fifteen thousand men, and a heavy artillery train, appeared before the town, and, late in the after- noon, Fort Gray was attacked from a battery of six pieces planted on a sand-bank on Pope's Island, a thousand yards up the river. Two desperate charges were made on the fort at early dawn of Monday, and both gallantly repulsed with severe slaughter to the enemy. The Bomb- shell, a small gunboat, steaming up to the aid of the fort, was sunk by. the battery. At sunset the enemy desper- ately assaulted Forts Williams and Wessells, forming part of the main line of defences, and were repulsed three times, the gunboats aiding the forts by hurling shell among the rebel columns. At three A. M. of Tuesday, the 19th, the much-dreaded Albemarle, passing through the obstructions unharmed, silently ran down the river, eluding our battery, and, obliquely crossing, struck her prow into the starboard bow of the Southfield, which sank in ten minutes. The South- field was formerly a ferry-boat plying between New York and Staten Island, side-wheel, eleven hundred and sixty- five tons and seven guns. Some of her officers and crew were picked up by the Miami, some captured, and a few lost. Both the Southfield and Miami had been lashed together to oppose a joint resistance to the ram, but the shock of the collision separated them. The Miami, and the Southfield as long as she could keep above water, main- tained a brisk fire upon the Albemarle, which proved utterly ineffective. In firing on the ram, Lieutenant- Commander Flusser, commanding the Miami, a gallant and skilful sailor, was instantly Killed by the rebound of a shell from the impenetrable side of the enemy. His 1048 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. death was especially disastrous at that time, when, most of all, his skill and courage were needed. The ram, hav- ing driven off the gunboats, began to shell the town and forts, briskly aided by the rebel batteries. The attack was violently conducted on Tuesday, the rebel lines drawing nearer, and our force evacuating Fort Wessells, after a brave defence. At nine A. M., on Wednesday, Fort "Williams was assaulted and the enemy handsomely repulsed in several distinct charges, with great slaughter. At half-past ten A. M., General Wessells capitulated, and pulled the flag down from Forts Williams and Comfort. The garrison at Fort Gray persisted in holding out some- what longer, but finally surrendered. The enemy took about two thousand five hundred prisoners, thirty pieces of artillery, several hundred horses, a large amount of provisions and stores, and the garrison outfit. The non- combatants of the town and some negroes had been pru- dently removed, before the main attack, to Roanoke Island. Our loss in killed and wounded was about one hundred andxfifty the enemy's probably upward of a thousand. The enemy seemed satisfied with this success, and made no further attempt upon Newbern or Washington. Warned, however, of the danger of leaving isolated gar- risons to be overpowered after the fashion of Plymouth, Government ordered the evacuation of Washington in the latter part of April, so that by the 1st of May the only place on the mainland near the North Carolina sounds occupied by the Union forces was Newbern, which from its great strength might well defy attack. Operations by land forces ended, however, with the capture of Ply- mouth, and the troops on both sides were soon after, for the most part, sent North, to participate in the campaign against Richmond. As the presence of the Albemarle in the North Caro- lina waters threatened to destroy the uninterrupted su- premacy which the Federal fleets had maintained there, the squadron was increased, and Captain Melancthon Smith, an experienced officer, placed in command. On May 5th, the Union fleet being collected near the mouth of the Roanoke River, the Albemarle sallied forth, accompanied by the Bombshell as a tender, and at half- past four r. M. proceeded to attack the gunboats. The latter were mostly small craft, built expressly to navigate HISTORY OF THE OKEAT REBELLION. 1049 the shallow waters of the sounds and the rivers flowing into them, but manfully accepted the unequal battle. Soon after five o'clock the Sassacus, a " double-ender " (that is, a vessel capable of sailing equally well in either direction), watching her opportunity, struck the ram fairly abaft her starboard beam, causing her to careen until the water washed over her deck and casemates. In this position the two vessels remained for about ten min- utes, the crew of the Sassacus vainly endeavoring to throw hand-grenades down the hatch of the Albemarle, and to get powder into her smoke-stack. At length they separated, and at the moment of parting the ram sent a hundred-pound shot clean through the starboard boiler of her antagonist, filling her with steam and causing her to retire for a while from the fight. No further casualty oc- curred to the Union fleet, and about half-past seven the ram retired up the Roanoke River. Her tender, the Bombshell, was captured early in the action. From re- ports of refugees, it appeared that the Albemarle had suffered considerably in the encounter. None of the gunboats were much injured except the Sassacus, and the battle, considering the relative strength of the contending parties, was justly claimed to have been creditable to the courage and skill of American seamen. The Albemarle did not venture outside of the river again, but, under the apprehension that she might at any time make her appearance, various plans were devised for her destruction. Of these, the only successful one was that suggested and undertaken by Lieutenant W. B. Gushing, a young officer who had gained an enviable reputation for coolness and intrepidity in hazardous en- terprises. On the night of October 27th he started up the Roanoke in a steam-launch equipped as a torpedo- boat, having on board a crew of thirteen officers and men. The distance from the mouth of the river to where the ram lay was about eight miles, and the banks, which are about two hundred yards apart, were lined with rebel pickets. About a mile below the town was the wreck of the Southfield, surrounded by some river craft. The result of the attempt is thus related by Lieutenant Gushing : " Our boat succeeded in passing the picket, and even the Southfield 1050 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. within twenty yards, without discovery, and we were not hailed until by the lookouts on the ram. The cutter was then cast off and ordered below, while we made for our enemy under a full head of steam. The rebels sprang their rattles, rang the bell, and commenced firing, at the same time repeating their hail, and seeming much confused. The light of a fire ashore showed mo the iron-clad, made fast to the wharf, with a pen of logs around her about thirty feet from her side. Passing her closely, we made a complete circle, so as to strike her fairly, and went into her bows on. By this time the enemy's fire was very severe, but a dose of canister, at short range, served to moderate their zeal and disturb their aim. Pay- master Swan, of the Otsego, was wounded near me, but how many more I know not. Three bullets struck my clothing, and the air seemed full of them. In a moment we had struck the logs, just abreast of the quarter- port, breasting them in some feet, and our bows resting on them. The torpedo-boom was then lowered, and, by a vigorous pull, I succeeded in driving the torpedo under the overhang, and exploded it at the same time that the Albemarle's gun was fired. .A shot seemed to go crashing through my boat, and a dense mass of water rushed in from the torpedo, filling the launch and completely disabling her. The enemy then con- tinued his fire at fifteen feet range, and demanded our surrender, which I twice refused, ordering the men to save themselves, and removing my own coat and shoes. Springing into the river, I swam, with others, into the middle of the stream, the rebels failing to hit us. The most of our party were captured, some drowned, and only one escaped besides myself, and he in a different direction. Acting Master's Mate Woodman, of the Com- modore Hull, I met in the water half a mile below the town, and assisted him as best I could, but failed to get him ashore. Completely exhausted, I managed to reach the shore, but was too weak to crawl out of the water untiljust at daylight, when I managed to creep into the swamp, close to the fort. "While hiding a few foet from the path, two of the Albemarle's officers passed, and I judged from their conversation that the ship was des- troyed. Some hours' travelling in the swamp served to bring me out well below the town, when I sent a negro in to gain information, and found that the ram was truly sunk. Proceeding through another swamp, I came to a creek and captured a skiff belonging to a picket of the enemy, and with this, by eleven o'clock the next night, had made my way out to the Valley City." Only one other of the party succeeded in escaping, the rest being either killed, captured, or drowned. A detach- ment of naval vessels occupied Plymouth a few days later, and found the Albemarle lying near her wharf, completely submerged. In the succeeding year, however, she was raised and converted into a useful war-vessel. With this event military operations were practically ended in tjie inland waters of North Carolina. During the year 1864, the three English-built, equip- ped, and manned cruisers, the Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, whose depredations upon unarmed merchantmen had almost paralyzed the American carrying trade, ter- minated their piratical career. Early in June, the Ala- bama, Captain Raphael Semmes, after an unusually pros- HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1051 perous career in the Southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, arrived in the harbor of Cherbourg. At that time the United States corvette Kearsarge, Captain John A. "Wins- low, was lying at Flushing, and her commander, upon hearing of the return of the Alabama to Northern waters, at once repaired to Cherbourg to watch her movements. Semines, ashamed possibly of his inglorious career against defenceless vessels, and desirous td show that he was not afraid to meet an antagonist of equal strength with his own ship, immediately sent word to Captain Winslow that he was desirous of meeting him in combat outside the harbor of Cherbourg, and would feel obliged if the Union commander would wait until the Alabama was put in fighting trim. This proposition was willingly accepted by Captain Winslow, and the Kearsarge was held in readi- ness for the expected fight. The two vessels thus about to measure their strength were as nearly equally matched as any ocean combatants could be, their relative propor- tions being as follows: Alabama. Kearsarge. Length over all 220 feet 214J- feet. Length on water-line 210 " 198 " Beam 32 " '33 " Depth 17 " 16 " Horse-power, two engines of 300 each. 400 h. p. Tonnage 1,150 1,031 The Alabama was a bark-rigged screw propeller, and the heaviness of her rig, and, above all, the greater size and height of her masts, gave her the appearance of a much larger vessel than her antagonist. The masts of the latter were disproportionately low and small ; she never carried more than topsail yards, and depended for her speed upon her machinery alone. Ships of war, however, whatever may be their tonnage, are nothing more than platforms for carrying artillery. The only mode by which to judge of the strength of two vessels is in comparing their armaments ; and herein we find the equality of the antagonists as fully exemplified as in the respective pro- portions of their hulls and steam power. The armaments of the Alabama and Kearsarge were as follows : Armament of the Alabama. One 7-inch Blakely rifle; one 8-inch smooth-bore 68-pounder; six 32-pounders. 1052 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Armament of the Kearsarge. Two 11-inch smooth- bore guns ; one 30-pounder rifle ; four 32-pounders. It will, therefore, be seen that the Alabama had the advantage of the Kearsarge at all events, in the number of her guns while the weight of the latter's broadside was only some twenty per cent, greater than her own. To protect the boilers of the Kearsarge, Captain Wins- low had adopted the simple expedient of hanging her spare anchor cable over tne midship section on either side. This had first been adopted by Farragut, in run- ning with his fleet past Forts Jackson and St. Philip, on the Mississippi. The operation took just three days, without other assistance than the crew could afford ; and in order to make the addition less unsightly, the chains were boxed over with inch deal boards, forming a case or box, which stood out at right angles with the vessel's sides. This was the whole foundation for the absurd sto- ries circulated by rebel sympathizers, and which Semmes himself gave publicity to, that the Kearsarge was a for- midable iron-clad, and consequently of vastly greater strength than her opponent. This method of employing the anchor cable was perfectly well known to the rebel commander. He, however, preferred to protect his own boilers by taking on board one hundred and fifty tons of coal, which, in addition to two hundred tons already in his bunkers, brought his vessel pretty low in the water, while the Kearsarge, on the contrary, was deficient in coal, having taken on board barely sufficient for her im- mediate wants. Five days sufficed to complete Semmes's preparations, and on Sunday morning, June 19th, the Alabama, in "prime condition," according to his own statement, sal- lied forth to meet the Union cruiser. So much publicity had been given to the announcement that the Uni<5n and rebel war steamers were about to contend in sight of the French coast, that the appointed day found the shores thronged with spectators, to whom a genuine sea-fight was a thing rather of the past than the present day. Fifty years had elapsed since the navies of England and France had contended in the same waters. Special excursion trains brought thousands of persons from Paris, and many had even come over from England. The efficiency of modern ordnance was now about to be tested by skilful HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1053 hands, and the gunners of the Alabama, who had mostly been trained on the British practice-ship Excellent, were expected to show the superiority of the Blakely guns over those carried by the Kearsarge. The latter depended principally upon her eleven -inch Dahlgrens, and her gun- ners, taken mostly from the merchantmen, were without other instruction than that acquired during the year or two they had been in the National service. Singularly enough, too, although the greater part of European ships of war were steam propelled, no single combat between vessels of this class, similar to those so often recorded in naval history, had ever taken place in European waters, and curiosity was greatly excited as to the probable result of such a contest. The day was clear and beautiful, just enough of a breeze prevailing to ruffle the surface of the water, and as the Alabama weighed and stood out of Cherbourg harbor on her mission of death and destruction, the church bells on either coast were summoning worship- pers to the house of God. Shortly after ten o'clock, the officers of the Kearsarge descried their antagonist coming out of the western en- trance of the harbor, accompanied by the French iron- clad frigate Couronne, which had been ordered to convoy her outside the limits of French waters. No sooner was the limit of jurisdiction reached than the Couronne put down her helm, and steamed back into port. Imme- diately preceding the Alabama was a three-masted steam yacht, the Deerhound, belonging to a Mr. Lancaster, an Englishman, who was on board with his family, ostensibly to witness the contest, but really, as it afterwards proved, to act the part of a tender to the rebel steamer. For the purpose of avoiding any infraction of French jurisdiction, and also of drawing the Alabama so far ofi' from shore that, if disabled, she could not return to port, Captain Winslow put out to sea, and at once cleared for action. Having reached a point seven miles from shore, he turn- ed the head of his ship short around, and steered for the Alabama, intending to run her down, or, if that were not practicable, to close in with her. The following is his graphic account of the action which followed : " Hardly had the Kearsarge come round before the Alabama sheered, presented her starboard battery, and slowed her engines. On approaching her at long range of about a mile, she opened her Ml broadside, the shot 1054 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. cutting some of our rigging, and going over and alongside of us. Imme- diately I ordered more speed ; but in two minutes the Alabama had loaded and again fired another broadside, and followed it with a third, without damaging us except in rigging. We had now arrived within about nina hundred yards of her, and I was apprehensive that another broadside nearly ralpng as it was would prove disastrous. Accordingly I ordered the Kearsarge sheered, and opened on the Alabama. The position of the vessels was now broadside and broadside ; but it was soon apparent that Captain Semmes did not seek close action. I became then fearful lest, after some fighting, that he would again make for the shore. To defeat this, I determined to keep full speed on, and with a port helm to run under the stern of the Alabama and rake her, if he did not prevent it by sheering and keeping his broadside to us. He adopted this mode as a preventive, and as a consequence the Alabama was forced, with a full head of steam, into a circular track during the engagement. The effect of this manoeuvre was such that, at the last of the action, when the Alabama would have made off, she was near five miles from the shore ; and, had the action continued from the first in parallel lines, with her head in shore, the line of jurisdic- tion would no doubt have been reached. The firing of the Alabama from the first was rapid and wild ; towards the close of the action her firing be- came better. Our men, who had been cautioned against rapid firing with- out direct aim, were much more deliberate ; and the instructions given to point the heavy guns below rather than above the waterline, and clear the deck with the lighter ones, was fully observed. "I had endeavored, with a port helm, to close in with the Alabama, but it was not until just before the close of the action that we were in position to use grape. This was avoided, however, by her surrender. The effect of the training of our men was evident; nearly every shot from our guns was telling fearfully on the Alabama, and on the seventh rotation on the circu- lar track she winded, setting foretrysail and two jibs, with head in shore. Her speed was now retarded, and by winding, her port broadside was pre- sented to us, with only two guns bearing, not having been able, as I learn- ed afterwards, to shift over but one. I saw now that she was at our mer- cy, and a few more guns, well directed, brought down her flag. I was un- able to ascertain whether it had been hauled down or shot away ; but a white flag having been displayed over the stern, our fire was reserved. Two minutes had not more than elapsed before she again opened on us with two guns on the port side. This drew our fire again, and the Kearsarge was immediately steamed ahead, and laid across her bows for raking. The white flag was still flying, and our fire was again reserved. Shortly after this her boats were seen to be lowering, and an officer in one of them came alongside, and informed us the ship had surrendered, and was fast sinking. In twenty minutes from this time the Alabama went down, her mainmast, which had been shot, breaking near the head as she sank, and her bow rising high out of the water as her stern rapidly settled." In allusion to what occurred after the surrender of the Alabama, Captain Winslow reports as follows : " It was seen shortly afterwards that the Alabama was lowering her boats, and an officer came alongside in one of them, to say that they had surrendered, and were fast sinking, and begging that boats would be dis- patched immediately for saving of life. The two boats not disabled were at once lowered, and, as it was apparent the Alabama was settling, this offi- cer was permitted to leave in his boat to afford assistance. An English HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1055 yacht, the Deerhound, had approached near the Kearsarge at this time, when I hailed and begged the commander to run down to the Alabama, as she was fast sinking, and we had but two boats, and assist in picking up the men. He answered affirmatively, and steamed towards the Alabama, but the latter sank almost immediately. The Deerhound, however, sent her boats, and was actively engaged, aided by several others, which had come from shore. These boats were busy in bringing the wounded and others to the Kearsarge, whom we were trying to make as comfortable as possible, when it was reported to me that the Deerhound was moving off. I could not believe that the commander of that vessel could be guilty of so dis- graceful an act as taking our prisoners off, and therefore took no means to prevent it, but continued to keep our boats at work rescuing the men in the water. I am sorry to say that I was mistaken; the D"eerhound made off with Captain Semrnes and others, and also the vory officer who had come on board to surrender. I learnt subsequently that .the Deerhound was a consort of the Alabama, and that she received on board all the valu- able personal effects of Captain Semmes the night before the engagement." The Alabama, which fought seven guns to the Kear- sarge's five, is reported to have discharged three hundred and seventy or more shot and shell in this engagement, but inflicted no serious damage on the Kearsarge. Thir- teen or fourteen took effect in and about the hull of the latter, and sixteen or seventeen about the masts and rig- ging. The Kearsarge fired one hundred and seventy-three projectiles, of which one alone killed and wounded eigh- teen of the crew of the Alabama, and disabled one of her guns. Three persons were wounded on the Kearsarge. The number of killed and wounded on the Alabama is unknown. Seventeen of the wounded, two of them in a dying condition, were brought on board the Kearsarge. One hundred and fifteen officers and men of the Alabama's crew reached the shores of England and France, of whom six officers and sixty-four men were taken on board the Kearsarge. The Deerhound carried off fifteen officers, including Semmes, who was sliglitly wounded, and twen- ty-seven men. The total ship's company of the Alabama, so far as can be ascertaine'd, amounted to about one hun- dred and fifty, the majority being British subjects, of whom probably more than thirty were killed or drowned. The officers and crew of the Kearsarge numbered one hundred and sixty-three. The conduct of Semmes in throwing overboard his sword after surrendering, and allowing him- self to be conveyed to England, was severely commented upon, and it was directed by the United States Govern- ment that he should be considered a prisoner of war until properly exchanged. 1056 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. The Florida originally sailed from England under the name of Oreto, and under that name she was, on reaching Nassau, brought before the court through the efforts of the American consul, who was satisfied that she was in the rebel interest and intended as a rebel cruiser. The neutral authorities decided in favor of the vessel, which was permitted to proceed. Leaving Nassau, she went to Green Cay, where she received on board the armament sent out for her from England, ran into Mobile, changed her name into Florida, and subsequently, fleeing from all naval vessels, carried on predatory war on American commerce, capturing and destroying unarmed merchant- men, without ever sending in a vessel for adjudication. In February, 1864, availing herself of a dark night, she escaped from Brest, eluding the Kearsarge, which was off that port. In June she visited the neutral port of St. George's, Bermuda, and remained there nine days, re- ceiving all the coal and supplies necessary for a long piratical cruise. Leaving St. George's on the 27th of that month, she remained outside, but in sight, for three or four days, boarding all vessels that approached the island. On the 10th of July she captured the Electric Spark, near our coast, while several vessels were cruising for lier f but she escaped, and was next heard from at Teneriffe, on the 4th of August. Subsequently, entering the bay of San Salvador, Brazil, she encountered the steamer "Wachusett, commanded by Commander Collins, who, taking advantage of the absence of Captain Morris and about half the crew of the Florida on shore, quietly raised anchor and drove his ship straight into the rebel, who at once surrendered. A hawser was then attached to the captured vessel, and the Wachusett steamed out of the harbor at full speed, having her prize in tow. The harbor fortifications opened upon her as she passed out, and she was followed by two Brazilian men-of-war, which, however, failed to overtake her. The Florida was finally brought in a leaky and dilapidated condition to Hamp- ton Roads. Here, while at anchor, and pending the settlement of the questions of international law which her capture in a neutral port involved, an army trans- port came in collision with the shattered vessel, which sank a few days after, near the wreck of the Cumberland. The Georgia, another English-built naval vessel which HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1057 cruised under the rebel flag, repaired to Cherbourg in February, 1864, and thence proceeded to the Mersey, where she changed owners. Her armament was removed from her, and she left Liverpool for Lisbon. On the 15th of August, Commodore T. T. Craven, of the Niagara, fel? in with her in latitude 39 16' north, longitude 9 39 west, sailing under the English flag. Commodore Craven took possession of the vessel as a lawful prize, and, putting a prize crew on board of her, he sent her to the United States. 65 1058 HISTORY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION". CHAPTER LXVI. Depopulation of Atlanta. Correspondence between General Sherman and Mayor Calhoun. Flank Movement by Hood. Attack on AUatoona. Hood Severs Sherman's Communications. Marches into Alabama and Enters Tennessee. Sherman's New Plan of Campaign. Invasion of Tennessee. Battle of Franklin. Affair at Murfreesboro. Battles of December 15th and 16th before Nashville. Retreat of Hood into Alabama. Close of the Campaign. THE order for the depopulation of Atlanta which General Sherman, for military reasons, deemed it proper to issue and enforce, met with no little opposition from the small remnant of the inhabitants of that once nourish- ing place who had remained there during all the rigors of the siege. We have seen how Sherman replied to Hood's remonstrance. The following correspondence between him and the major of Atlanta conveys in as clear and forcible terms, perhaps, as were ever employed for the purpose, the harships which the people of the re- bellious States brought upon themselves in attempting to sever their relations with the Union, and plunge the country in the horrors of civil war : LETTER OF MAYOR CALHOUN. "ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 11, 1864. " Major-General "W. T. SHERMAN : " SIB : The undersigned, Mayor and two members of Council for the city of Atlanta, for the time being the only legal organ of the people of the said city to express their wants and wishes, ask leave most earnestly, but respectfully, to petition you to reconsider the order requiring them to leave Atlanta. At first view it struck us that the measure would involve extraordinary hardship and loss; but since we have seen the practical execution of it, so far as it has progressed, and the individual condition of many of the people, and heard the statements as to the inconveniencies, loss, and suffering attending it, we are satisfied that the amount of it will involve in the aggregate consequences appalling and heart-rending. " Many poor women are in the advanced state of pregnancy ; others hav- ing young children, whose husbands, for the greater part, are either in the army, prisoners, or dead. Some say : ' I have such a one sick at my house ; who will wait on them when I am gone ? ' Others say : ' What are we to do? we have no houses to go to, and no means to buy, build, or rent any ; no parents, relatives, or friends to go to.' Another says : ' I will HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1059 try and take this or that article of property ; but such and such things I must leave behind, though I need them much.' We reply to them : ' General Sherman will carry your property to Rough and Ready, and then General Hood will take it thence on." And they will reply to that : 'But I want to leave the railroad at such a place, and cannot get conveyance from thence on.' "We only refer to a few facts to illustrate in part how this measure will operate in practice. As you advanced, the people north of us fell back, and before your arrival here a large portion of the people here had retired south ; so that the country south of this is already crowded, and without sufficient houses to accommodate the people, and we are informed that many are now staying in churches and other outbuildings. This being so, how is it possible for the people still here (mostly women and children) to find shelter, and how can they live through the winter in the woods no shelter or subsistence in the midst of strangers, who know them not, and without the power to assist them much, if they were willing to do so ? l> This is but a feeble picture of the consequences of this measure. You know the woe, the horror, and the suffering cannot be described by words. Imagination can only conceive of it ; and we ask you to take these things into consideration. We know your mind and time are continually occupied with the duties of your command, which almost deters us from asking your attention to the matter ; but thought it might be that you had not considered the subject in all of its awful consequences, and that, on reflec- tion, you, we hope, would not make this people an exception to all man- kind ; for we know of no such instance ever having occurred surely not in the United States. And what has this helpless people done, that they should be driven from their homes, to wander as strangers, outcasts, and exiles, and to subsist on charity ? " We do not know as yet the number of people still here. Of those who aro here, a respectable number, if allowed to remain at home, could sub- sist for several months without assistance ; and a respectable number, for a much longer time, and who. might not need assistance at any tune. " In conclusion, we most earnestly and solemnly petition you to recon- sider this order, or modify it, and suffer this unfortunate people to remain at home and enjoy what little means they have. " Respectfully submitted. JAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor. GENERAL SHERMAN'S REPLY. "HEAD-QUARTERS MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI, } "!N THE FIELD, "ATLANTA, GEORGIA, September 12, 1864. ) " JAMES M. CALHOUN, Mayor ; E. E. RAWSON and S. C. WELLS, representing City Council of Atlanta : "GENTLEMEN: I have your letter of the llth, in the nature of a peti- tion to revoke my orders removing all the inhabitants from Atlanta. I have read it carefully, and give full credit to your statements of the dis- tress that will be occasioned by it, and yet shall not revoke my order, simply because my orders are not designed to meet the humanities of the case, but to prepare for the future struggles, in which millions, yea, hun- dreds of millions of good people outside of Atlanta, have a deep interest. We must have peace, not only at Atlanta, but in ah 1 America. To secure this, we must stop the war that now desolates our once happy and favored country. To stop war, we must defeat the rebel armies that are arrayed 1060 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. against the laws and Constitution, which all must respect and obey. To defeat these armies, we must prepare the way to reach them in their recesses, provided with the arms and instruments which enable us to ac- complish our purpose. " Now, I know the vindictive nature of our enemy, and that we may have many years of military operations from this quarter, and therefore deem it wise and prudent to prepare in tune. The use of Atlanta for war- like purposes is inconsistent with its character as a home for families. There will be no manufactures, commerce, or agriculture here for tlie maintenance of families, and sooner or later want will compel the inhabit- ants to go. Why not go now, when all the arrangements are completed for the transfer, instead of waiting till the plunging shot of contending armies will renew the scene of the past month ? Of course I do not ap- prehend any such thing at this moment ; but you do not suppose that this army will be here till the war is over? I cannot discuss this subject with you fairly, because I cannot impart to you what I propose to do ; but I as- sert that my military plans make it necessary for the inhabitants to go away, and I can only renew my offer of services to make their exodus in any direction as easy and comfortable as possible. You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot define it ; and those who brought war on our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to se- cure peace. But you cannot have peace and a division of our country. If the United States submits to a division now, it will not stop, but will go on till we reap the fate of Mexico, which is eternal war. The United States does and must assert its authority wherever it has power ; if it relaxes one bit to pressure, it is gone, and I know that such is not the national feeling. This feeling assumes various shapes, but always comes back to that of Union. Once admit the Union, once more acknowledge the authority of the National Government, and instead of devoting your houses and streets and roads to the dread uses of war, I and this army become at once your protectors and supporters, shielding-you from danger, let it come from what quarter it may. I know that a few individuals cannot resist a torrent of error and passion, such as has swept the South into rebellion ; but you can point out, so that we may know those who desire a Government, and those who insist upon war and its desolation. " You might as well appeal against the thunder-storm as against these terrible hardships of war. They are inevitable ; and the only way the peo- ple of Atlanta can hope once more to live in peace and quiet at home, is to stop this war which can alone be done by admitting that it began in error, and is perpetuated in pride. We don't want your negroes, or your horses, or your houses, or your land, or any thing you have ; but we do want and will have a just obedience to the laws of the United States. That we will have ; and if it involves the destruction of your improvements, we cannot help it. You have heretofore read public sentiment in your newspapers, that live by falsehood and excitement, and the quicker you seek for truth in other quarters, the better for you. " I repeat, then, that by the original compact of government, the United States had certain rights in Georgia, which have never been relinquished, and never will be ; that the South began war by seizing forts, arsenals, mints, custom-houses, &c., &c., long before Mr. Lincoln was installed, and before the South had one jot or tittle of provocation. I myself have seen in Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, and part of Mississippi, hundreds and thousands of women and children fleeing from your armies and despera- does, hungry and with bleeding feet. In Memphis, Vicksburg, and HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1061 Mississippi, we fed thousands upon thousands of the families of rebel sol- diers left on our hands, and whom we could not see starve. Now that war comes home to you, you feel very different ; you deprecate its horrors, but did not feel them when you sent car-loads of soldiers and ammunition, and moulded shell and shot, to carry war into Kentucky and Tennessee, and desolate the homes of hundreds and thousands of good people, who only ask to live in peace at their old homes, and under the Government of their inheritance. But these comparisons are idle. I want peace, and believe it only can be reached through Union and war, and I will ever conduct war purely with a view to perfect and early success. " But, my dear sirs, when that peace does come, you may call on me for any thing. Then I will share with you the last cracker, and watch with you to shield your homes and families against danger from every quarter. Now, you must go, and take with you the old and feeble ; feed and nurse them, and build for them in more quiet places proper habitations to shield them against the weather, until the mad passions of men cool down, and allow the Union and peace once more to settle on your old homes at Atlanta. "Tours, in haste, "W. T. SHERMAN, Major- General." From the date of the surrender of Atlanta, up to the 22d of September, an armistice remained in force between the forces under Sherman and the army of Hood. This period of time on the part of Sherman was occupied in recruiting, refitting, and reorganizing. The railroad was employed in transporting stores, and in bringing new men to fill up the wasted ranks of the army, the trains return- ing with soldiers, going home to enjoy for a brief season their well-earned furloughs. Bakeries were established in all the camps to furnish the men with fresh bread, and they were supplied as rapidly as possible with new cloth- ing and equipments. Meanwhile, the main body of Hood's army reposed near Jonesboro, twenty miles south of At- lanta, while his cavalry, under Forrest and other leaders, were raiding upon Sherman's communications in North- ern Alabama and Georgia and Southern Tennessee. To meet these movements, General Thomas was ordered to Nashville to direct operations in that section, a small force being sent at the same time by General Sherman to Chattanooga. On the 20th September the cavalry of Forrest crossed the Tennessee, and, having destroyed the railroad between Decatur and Athens, appeared before the latter place, which was garrisoned by a small body of colored troops under Colonel Campbell. These sur- rendered, together with portions of the Nineteenth Michigan and One Hundred and Second Ohio, which had come to the succor of the garrison. Forrest then moved upon Sulphur Branch Trestle, and, having captured the 1062 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. garrison, attacked, on the 27th, the garrison of Pulaski, where General Rousseau commanded. On the 29th he cut the'Nashville Eailroad near Tullahoma, but was soon driven off by Rousseau. At the same time General Steedman collected a force of five thousand men to keep open the rail communication with Chattanooga. On the 26th, Newton's Division of the Fourth Corps, Army of the Cumberland, and Morgan's of the Fifteenth, were ordered from Atlanta to Chattanooga to replace Steed- man. General Thomas, by order of Sherman, accom- panied this force to take charge of affairs in Tennessee, and reached Nashville October 3d. General Granger, commanding the Northern District of Alabama, was ordered to occupy Athens when Forrest's troops with- drew, and moved off with his command in two columns towards Columbia. Morgan's Division occupied Athens October 2d, and had orders to move upon Bainbridge with a view to intercept the enemy, while Rousseau, with four thousand cavalry, was to press his rear through Mount Pleasant. At the same time, as General Wash- burn, with four thousand five hundred men, was moving up the Tennessee in pursuit of Forrest, orders were sent to him to unite his cavalry with those of Rousseau at Clifton. The enemy, however, escaped across the Ten- nessee, and Morgan returned to Athens. Hood, meanwhile, had kept his forces in the neighbor- hood of Jonesboro, and was sufficiently occupied lor the time being in simply watching the movements of his ad- versary in Atlanta. To allow their principal Southern army to remain inactive was, however, no part of the programme of the rebel leaders, and in an intemperate and passionate speech delivered at Macon, on September , 23d, Jefferson Davis announced that Sherman should find Atlanta but another Moscow, and that his retreat to the North would prove even more disastrous and ignominious than that of Napoleon from his barren Russian conquests. These remarks foreshadowed a new military policy in the South, of which the principal feature was to be the com- mencement of an aggressive campaign upon Sherman's communications by the whole rebel army under Hood, very much after the fashion of Sherman's final and suc- cessful movement against Atlanta. In aid of this move- ment, Forrest, by far the ablest cavalry officer in the rebel HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1063 army, was already operating against the communications between Chattanooga and Nashvillfe, and it was supposed that if the railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta could be well broken up by Hood, Sherman, cut off from his primary and secondary bases, would be compelled to retreat into Tennessee. The plan had the merit of bold- ness, and, had it been intrusted to abler hands than those of Hood, or devised against a less skilful general than Sherman, might have proved successful. It will be seen that Sherman was in this emergency master of the situa- tion, and completely outwitted his brave, but rash and incapable, antagonist. By the 2d of October, Hood's army was across the Chattahoochee, and moving upon Dallas, whence it could threaten Chattanooga and the railroad, and, if hard push- ed, retreat into Southwestern Alabama. On the 4th, the rebels reached the railroad north of Marietta, and destroyed the track between Big Shanty and Acworth, and on the morning of the 5th a detachment of seven thousand men, under General French, approached the fort at Allatoona Pass, and demanded its surrender. By this time, Sherman's troops, with the exception of the Twentieth Corps, left to garrison Atlanta, were also across the Chattahoochee, and moving rapidly upon Hood. The latter, however, had the start by at least two days, and sought to avail himself of that advantage to overwhelm the small garrison at Al- latoona, the capture of which place would have given him immense stores and an almost impregnable position. Sherman was also aware of the importance of Allatoona, and with wise foresight had on the previous day thrown into the place a re-enforcement of nine hundred men un- der General Corse, drawn from the garrison of Rome. To French's demand for a surrender, " in order to save the unnecessary effusion of blood," Corse returned the curt .reply, " I shall not surrender, and you can commence the unnecessary effusion of blood whenever you please." The attack opened at eight A. M., and was maintained with great pertinacity until two P. M., when the enemy, wearied and completely baffled, retired, with a loss of over a thou- sand men. During the heat of the contest, Sherman arrived on the summit of Kenesaw Mountain and opened telegraphic communication with the garrison, djfec-ting them to hold out resolutely, as succor was fast approach- 1064: HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. ing. The fresh courage which this assurance gave to the beleaguered troops enabled them, doubtless, to maintain their heroic resistance. The rebels now inarched northward along the railroad. North of Resaca they recommenced to destroy the track, and continued the work as far as Tunnel Hill, a distance of twenty miles, capturing on the 14th the colored garri- son at Dalton. Sherman was a comparatively quiet but vigilant spectator of these operations, and, to those ignor- ant of his plans, seemed to have relaxed from the energy of movement which had previously characterized him. "When finally, on the 15tn, he marched from Resaca against Hood, compelling the latter to retire in a south- westerly direction towards Lafayette, his movements were unaccountably slow. The rebel army, without, apparent- ly, any unusual effort, escaped into Northern Alabama, whence on the 1st of November it inarched for Warren ton, on the Tennessee River, Sherman being then at Gayles- ville, Alabama, near the Georgia line. The object of Sherman's strategy was now apparent. Hood had been pushed far away from the Chattahoochee into Northern Alabama, and tempted into another invasion of Tennessee. His raid on the railroad between Chattanooga and Atlanta had been of so little detriment that by the 28th of October it was again in running order, and Sherman, having got rid of a troublesome enemy in his front, was now prepared to penetrate with a large force into the heart of Georgia, and march for the coast, with the almost positive certainty that no enemy of importance could oppose him. It was necessary, however, to provide first for the safety of Ten- nessee, thus threatened by a rebel army, and for that rea- son Thomas had been detached to Nashville. The Fourth Corps, Stanley, and the Twenty-third, Schofield, were sent to his support, giving him, with the troops already in Tennessee, and the command of A. J. Smith, then on the march thither from Missouri, an ample force to withstand Hood ; and he was directed to continue to entice Hood northward and fight him in the neighborhood of Nash- ville, if possible. But if the rebel general should take the alarm and follow Sherman, then Thomas was to follow Hood, who, placed between two large armies, would be in no enviable position. The new campaign projected by HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1065 Sherman will be hereafter related ; at present we have to do exclusively with events in Tennessee. Upon its arrival at the Tennessee, the array of Hood was re-enforced by twelve thousand mounted troops under Forrest, who, on his way thither from Corinth, had cap- . tured two Union transports and a-small gunboat at Johns- ville, an important depot of supplies. With needless precipitancy the garrison destroyed public property esti- mated to be worth several millions of dollars. Hood re- mained for some time on the south side of the river, send- ing over only Lee's Corps with some cavalry, and it was not until the 17th of November that he removed his re- maining troops across, timing his advance with that of Breckinridge, who was operating in Eastern Tennessee. On the 19th he commenced his march northward from Florence on parallel roads, and on the 23d a portion of his force took possession of Pulaski. Thomas and Schofield, who were directly in the way of Hood's march, covering the approaches to Nashville, retreated slowly in the direc- tion of .that place. The whole Union force was not yet concentrated, and Thomas wisely determined to fight the decisive battle of the campaign with all the troops hie department could furnish, and as near as possible to his base. On the 26th, the enemy occupied Columbia, Scho- field, who commanded the Union rear-guard, retiring across Duck River towards Franklin, twenty miles south of Nashville, where he arrived on the 30th. Here he formed his line of battle on the southern edge of the town, to await the coming of the enemy, and, in the meanwhile, hastened the crossing of the trains to the north side of the Harpeth River. The enemy meantime pressed closely upon Schofield's rear-guard. At noon of November 30th, the main body of our army, consisting of the Fourth and Twenty- third Corps, and the detachments which had been collected from various points, was concentrated at Franklin. At that hour several bodies of Forrest's Cavalry were discovered hovering on the flanks, and reconnoitoring the position which Schofield had taken close to the town. Between three and four p. M., Hood approached rapidly, and, form- ing his column with the quickness for which he was famous, hurled them at once against the centre of the line, which was held by portions of the two corps of Stanley and Schofield. The assaulting columns consisted of divi- 1066 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. sions belonging to the corps commanded by Generals Cheatharn and Stewart, and the impetuosity of the charge carried these troops over the breastworks and into the heart of Schofield's position. The first blow fell upon the centre of the line, breaking it and driving the defenders back in disorder. Through the gap thus made the Con- federates swarmed fiercely, and for upwards of an hour the fight raged with terrible fury. Hood's troops pressed vigorously against the lines of Generals "Wagner, Huyer, and Cox, and, driving the command of the former back from their breastworks, threw the other lines into wild, but, fortunately, temporary confusion. By the first charge the Confederates obtained possession of the first line of defences, and, shortly after four o'clock, they advanced against the second. By this time some of the reserves were brought to the front, which enabled Cox and Wagner to re-form their broken lines. As the Con- federates moved against the second line of breastworks, they were met and checked by the reserves and such of the other troops as had been rallied. Again they essayed to charge, but were again checked by Cox, Wagner, and Opdyke, the latter commanding a reserve brigade of Stan- ley's Corps. When order was fully restored at the second line and the troops rallied to the front, a charge was or- dered to expel the Confederates from the line which they had captured. In the mean tune, however, Hood made several successive attempts to follow up the advantage gained by the first assault, but without success. About five P. M. the greatest struggle took place. When Cox and Stanley attempted to drive back the enemy, they met the most stubborn resistance. The men on both sides were within arm's length of each other, fighting like de- mons with the bayonet and with clubbed muskets. At the same time batteries were pouring storms of shot and shell into the enemy's ranks, but this was almost unheeded. Finally, when it was too dark to continue the battle, and when Hood found that it was impossible to obtain all that he desired, he retired from the line captured at the open- ing of the action. The Federal loss was about fifteen hundred. The loss of the enemy amounted to six thousand two hundred and fifty, viz. : buried upon the field, one thousand seven hun- dred and fifty ; disabled and placed in hospital at Franklin, HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1067 three thousand eight hundred, and seven hundred prison- ers. Among their casualties were six general officers killed, six wounded, and one captured. This repulse of the enemy gave Schofield time to remove his troops and trains to Nashville, where on the same day arrived the advance of A. J. Smith's army from St. Louis by trans- ports, and also General Steedman, with a command num- bering five thousand men, composed of detachments be- longing to Sherman's column, left behind at Chattanooga, and also a brigade of colored troops. Hood followed closely upon the retiring troops of Scho- field, and by noon of the 1st of December the Union line of battle was formed on the heights immediately surround- ing Nashville, with A. J. Smith's command occupying the right, his right resting on the Cumberland River, be- low the city ; the Fourth Corps (Brigadier-General Wood temporarily in command) in the centre ; and General Schofield's troops (Twenty-third Army Corps) on the left, extendingto the Nolensville pike. The cavalry under General Wilson was directed to take post on the left of General Schofield, which would make secure the interval between his left and the river above the city. Steedman's troops took up a position about a mile in advance of the left centre of the main line, and on the left of the Nolens- ville pike. This position, being regarded as too much ex- posed, was changed on the 3d, when, the cavalry having been directed to take post^on the north side of the river at Edgefield, General Steeclman occupied the space on the left of the line vacated by its withdrawal: On the 4th the enemy established his line with his salient on the summit of Montgomery Hill, within six hundred yards of our centre, his main line occupying the high ground on the southeast side of Brown's Creek, and extending from the Nolensville pike his extreme right across the Franklin and Granny White's pikes in a westerly direction to the hills south and southwest of Eichland Creek, and down that creek to the Hillsboro pike, with cavalry extending from both his flanks to the river. Artillery was opened on him from several points on the line, without eliciting any response. Hood seemed to have learned nothing from his mistake at Atlanta, whence he sent Wheeler's Cavalry to operate upon Sherman's rear, at the very moment he most wanted 1068 HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. them to protect his own flanks, thus enabling Sherman to surprise his lines at Jonesboro. This same mistake he now repeated. At the moment Thomas was preparing to move against him, and was only waiting a remount of cavalry, Hood sent Forrest and Bates to support a column of Cleburne's old troops, in an attack upon Murfreesboro, held by Rousseau, who was prepared for them. The block-house, five miles north of Murfreesboro, was at- tacked by Bates's Division of Cheatham's Corps on the 4th, but held, out until three regiments of infantry, four companies of the Thirteenth Indiana Cavalry, and a sec- tion of artillery, under command of General Milroy, came up from Murfreesboro, attacked the enemy, and drove him off. During the 5th, 6th, and 7th, Bates's Division, re-enforced by a division from Lee's Corps, and twc thousand five hundred of Forrest's Cavalry, demonstrated heavily against Fortress Rosecrans, at Murfreesboro, gar- risoned by a considerable force, under command of Gen eral Rousseau. The enemy showing an unwillingness t( make a direct assault, Milroy, with seven regiments of infantry, was sent out on the 8th to engage him. He was found a short distance from the place on the Wilkersor pike, posted behind rail breastworks, was attacked anc routed, our troops capturing two hundred and seven pris oners and two guns, with a loss of thirty killed and om hundred and seventy-five wounded. On the same daj Buford's Cavalry entered the town of Murfreesboro, aftei having shelled it vigorously, but he was epeedily driver Dut by a regiment of infantry and a section of artillery. On retiring from before Murfreesboro the enemy's cavalry moved northward to Lebanon and along the bank of the Cumberland in that vicinity, threatening to cross to the north side of the river and interrupt our railroad communication with Louisville, at that time our only source of supplies, the enemy having blockaded the river below Nashville by batteries along the shore. The Navy Department was requested to patrol the Cumberland above and below Nashville with the gunboats then in the river, to prevent the enemy from crossing, which was cordially and effectually complied with by Lieutenant- Commander Le Roy Fitch, commanding Eleventh Divi- sion Mississippi squadron. At the same time General HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1069 "Wilson sent a cavalry force to Gallatin to guard the country in that vicinity. Meantime, Hood's main army occupied the position before Nashville, with little change up to the 15th, both armies having been ice-bound for the last week of that time. Thomas employed the interval in remounting his cavalry and accumulating transportation. Being pre- pared at length to move, he called a meeting of the corps commanders on the afternoon of December 14th, and, having discussed the plan of 'attack until it was thorough- ly understood, he issued the following special field order: " As soon as the state of the weather will admit of offensive operations the troops will move against the enemy's position in the following order : " Major-General A. J. Smith, commanding detachment of the Army of the Tennessee, after forming his troops on arid near the Harding pike, in front of his present position, will make a vigorous assault on the enemy'a left. " Major-General Wilson, commanding the cavalry corps, Military Divi- sion of Mississippi, with three divisions, will move on and support General Smith's right, assisting as far as possible in carrying the left of the enemy'! position, and be in readiness to throw his force upon the enemy the moment a favorable opportunity occurs. Major-General Wilson will also send one division on the Charlottee pike to clear that road of the enemy, and observe in the direction of Bell's Landing to protect our right rear until the enemy'i position is fairly turned, when it will rejoin the main force. " Brigadier-General T. J. Wood, commanding Fourth Army Corps, aftei leaving a strong skirmish line in his works from Lauren's Hill to his extreme right, will form the remainder of the Fourth Corps on the Hills- boro pike to support General Smith's left, and operate on the left and real of the enemy's advanced position on the Montgomery Hill. " Major-General Schofield, commanding Twenty-third Army Corps, will replace Brigadier-General Kimball's Division of the Fourtu Corps, with his troops, and occupy the trenches from Fort Negley to Lauren's Hill with s> strong skirmish* line. He will move with the remainder of his force ii front of the works and co-operate with General Wood, protecting the latter's left flank against an attack by the enemy. "Major-General Steedman, commanding District of the Etowah, wil occupy the interior line in rear of his present position, stretching from the Reservoir on the Cumberland River to Fort Negley. with a strong skirmish line, and mass the remainder of his force in its present position, to act ac- cording to the exigencies which may arise during these operations. " Brigadier-General Miller, with his troops forming the garrison of Nash- ville, will occupy the exterior line from the battery on hill 210 to the extreme right, including the enclosed work on the Hyde's Ferry road. " The quartermaster's troops, under command of Brigadier-General Donaldson, will, if necessary, be posted on the interior line from Fort Mor- ton to the battery on hill 210. " The troops occupying the interior line will be under the direction of Major-General Stecdrnan, who is charged with the immediate defence of Nashville during the operations around the city. " Should the weather permit, the troops will be formed to commence operations, at 6 A. M. on the 15th, or as soon thereafter as practicable." 1070 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. The enemy's line was formed with Cheatham on the left, Stewart in the centre, and S. D. Lee on the right. His most advanced position, from which he annoyed our lines, was a commanding eminence on the Granny White pike. On the crest of this stood the house of a Mrs. Mont- gomery. On the morning of the 15th December, the weather being favorable, the Union army was formed and ready at an early hour to carry out the plan of battle. The formation of the troops was partially con- cealed from the enemy by the broken nature of the ground, as also by a dense fog, which only lifted towards noon. The enemy, was apparently totally unaware of any intention on our part to attack his position, and more especially did lie seem not to expect any movement against his left flank. To diver this attention still fur- ther from our real intentions, Steedman had orders to demonstrate on the enemy's right". As soon as the enemy's attention was attracted in that direction, Smith and Wilson moved out on the Harding pike, and, wheel- ing to the left, advanced against his position across the Harding and Hillsboro pikes. Johnson's Division of Cavalry at the same time was sent eight miles below Nashville to attack a battery of the enemy at Bell's Landing. The remainder of Wilson's command, Hatch's Division leading, and Knipe in reserve, moving on the right of A. J. Smith's troops, first struck the enemy along Richmond Creek, near Harding's house, and drove him back rapidly, .capturing a number -of prisoners, wagons, &c., and, continuing to advance, while slightly swinging to the left, came upon a redoubt containing four guns, which was splendidly carried by assault at one p. M. by a portion of Hatch's Division, dismounted, and the captured guns turned upon the enemy. A second re- doubt, stronger than the first, was next assailed and carried by the same troops that captured the first posi- tion, taking four more guns and about three hundred prisoners. General Thomas, finding that Smith had not taken sufficient distance to the right, directed Schofield to move his command (the Twenty-third Corps) from the position in reserve to which it had been assigned over to the right of Smith, enabling the cavalry thereby to operate more freely in the enemy's rear. The Fourth Corps, Wood HISTORY OF THE GKEAT KEBELLION. 1071 commanding, formed on the left of Smith's command, and as soon as the latter had struck the enemy's flank, moved against Montgomery Hill, Hood's most advanced position, at 1 p. M. The attack was gallantly made, and, after a brief resistance, the rebels abandoned their works, leaving the crest of the hill in the hands of the Union troops. Connecting with Garrard's Division, which formed the left of Smith's troops, the Fourth Corps continued to ad- vance. The First and Second Brigades of Beatty's Di- vision occupied the left, formed in single line, while E.imball's and Elliot's Divisions were formed into column by brigade. The advance of this long line of battle was very fine. In their front lay a long slope of open coun- try bounded by belts of wood. An increasing slope ran to the woods now occupied by the rebels. Over this the line moved in one steady, imposing column. The crest of the hill in front partly sheltered it from the enemy's artillery. A dense volume of smoke rose from the valley, shrouding the hills and rebel lines in our front. The roar of the rebel artillery was becoming fainter, while the sound of our guns rang nearer and nearer. The Fourth Corps for a moment halted and lay down to enable Smith to connect, when suddenly the enemy could be seen breaking pell-mell from their works, while infantry, cavalry, and artillery were sweeping across the plain. A wild cheer rang from our lines, and the batteries re- doubled their iron storm. Soon a column was seen emerging from the woods on the rebel flanks, the stars and stripes floating proudly in their front. This was our right, which had swung around their flank. The air re- sounded with cheers as the Fourth Corps jumped to their feet and pressed forward after the flying enemy, until the shades of night put an end to the combat. At the close of the day the enemy had been driven out of his original line of works, and forced back to a new position along the base of Harpeth Hills, still holding his line of retreat to Franklin by the main pike through Brentwood and by the Granny "White pike. Our line at nightfall was readjusted, running parallel to and east of the Hillsboro pike Schofield's command on the right, Smith's in the centre, and Wood's on the left, with the cavalry on the right of Schofield ; Steedman holding the 1072 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. position he had gained early in the morning. The total result of the day's operations was the capture of sixteen pieces of artillery and twelve hundred prisoners, besides several hundred stands of small-arms, and u'uout forty wagons. The enemy had been forced back ; r nil point's with heavy loss, and our casualties were unusually light. The whole command bivouacked in line of b;.;tle during the night on the ground occupied at dark, while prepara- tions were made to renew the Battle at an early hour on the morrow. Between the Granny White and Franklin pikes is a kind of plateau, sloping towards the range of bluffs which seem to be bounded by Little Harper and Mill Creeks. Fine residences and well -cultivated plantations cover the landscape back to Nashville. Here the city M as shut out from view by the hills, crowned with forts and bat- teries, their sides dotted over with white tents, and the dark forms of citizens crowding to see the b;itlle, or at least hear its din. Behind these rose the houses and steeples of the city. The cupola of the capitol was crowded with anxious spectators. At six A. M., on the 16th, Wood's Corps pressed back the enemy's skirmishes across the Franklin pike to the eastward of it, and then, swinging slightly to the right, advanced due south from Nashville, driving the enemy before him until he came upon his new main line of works, constructed Muring the night, on what is called Overton's Hill, about five miles south of the city, and east of the Franklin pike. Steedman moved outjft-om Nashville by the Nolensville pike, and formed his com- mand on the left of Wood, effectually securing the latter's left flank, and made preparations to co-operate in the operations of the day. Smith's command moved on the right of the Fourth Corps (Wood's), and establishing con- nection with Wood's right, completed the new line of bat- tle. Schofield's troops remained in the position taken up by them at dark on the day previous, facing eastward and towards the enemy's left flank, the line of the corps run- ning perpendicular to Smith's troops. Wilson's Cavalry, whicn had rested for the night at the six-mile post on the Hillsboro pike, was dismounted and formed on the right of Schofield's command, and by noon of the IGth had succeeded in gaining the enemy's rear, and stretched HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1073 across the Granny "White pike, one of his two outlets to- wards Franklin. As soon as the above dispositions were completed, Thomas, having visited the different commands, gave di- rections that tke movement against the enemy's left flank should be continued. Our entire line approached to with- in six hundred yards of the enemy's at all points. His centre was weak as compared with either his right, at Overton's Hill, or his left, on the hills bordering the Granny White pike ; still there were hopes of gaining his rear and cutting oif his retreat from Franklin. In front of the rebel lines, commanding the Franklin pike, was a strong fort, occupying the crest of the hill, with strongly intrenched works all round, and slashed trees in front. This hill is the first important one of the Overton range the extreme western spur of the Cumber- land range of mountains and is about one mile in front of Thompson's house, where S. D. Lee had his head-quar- ters, and about five miles from Nashville. From this position the rebels not only checked the advance of Beatty's Division, but also commanded a salient fire on our advancing columns. About three P. M., Post's Brigade of "Wood's Corps, supported by Streight's Brigade of the same command, was ordered by General Wood to assault that position. This intention was communicated to Steedman, who or- dered the brigade of colored troops, commanded by Colonel Morgan, to co-operate in the movement. The ground on which the two assaulting columns formed be- ing open and exposed to the enemy^s view, he, readily per- ceiving our intention, drew re-enforcements from his left and centre to the threatened point. This movement of troops on the part of the enemy was communicated along the line from left to right. At this time a gentle rain was falling ; not a breeze was stirring, and the calm was ominous. As the troops began to move, our batteries opened. As they rose the slope the enemy received them with a tremendous fire of grape, canister, and musketry, our men moving steadily onward up the hill until near the crest, when the reserves of the enemy rose and poured into the assaulting column a most destructive fire. Unfortunately, at this moment the lines that were joined below lapped, and the negro troops became min- 66 1074: HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. gled with the left of Post's Brigade, creating disorder. The slaughter of our troops here was awful. Post, far ahead of the line, was waving his sword and calling his men to follow, when a discharge of grape and canister from the rebel battery mortally wounded Jjim. Our line was at this time within twenty steps of the works. The rebels rose from their works and poured in another ter- rific volley that seriously staggered the line, causing the men first to waver and then to fall back, leaving their dead and wounded black and white indiscriminately mingled lying amid the abatis. General Wood readily re-formed his command in the position it had previously occupied, preparatory to a renewal of the assault. Meanwhile, at four p. M., Schofield and Smith scaled the bald hill in their front, where were captured eight guns, and the enemy's line was broken. Schofield, who had kept Cox's Division of his corps up to this hour rather in reserve, now swung him rapidly around at a charge. Two batteries were encountered, but the enemy, finding his line broken to his right, only opened one to cover the retreat of the other. As though the obstacle were one of no consequence at all, Cox pushed vigorously forward, captured the battery playing on him, and fol- lowed rapidly in pursuit of the other, capturing it also, and with it several hundred prisoners. Simultaneous with the advance of Cox, Wilson's Cavalry dismounted and attacked the enemy, striking him in reverse, getting firm possession of the Granny White pike, and cutting off his retreat by that route. On the ridge he met witn very stubborn resistance, but drove the enemy at every point. East of the ridge the enemy fought with little energy, but allowed their left to be enveloped with com- parative ease. Wood's and Steedman's troops, hearing the shouts of victory coming from the right, now renewed the assault upon Overton Hill with great impetuosity, and in face of a terrible fire carried the position, capturing nine pieces of artillery and many prisoners. The enemy re- tired through the Brentwood Pass. The cavalry and a portion of the Fourth Corps overtook the rebel rear-guard posted across the road behind barricades near Chalmers. This was defeated, and the rebel General Rucker captured. The captures during the two days embraced four thou- HISTORY OF THE GREAT KEBELLION. 1075 sand four hundred and sixty-two prisoners, including two hundred and eighty ; seven officers, fifty-three pieces of artillery, and many small-arms, and the enemy also lost three thousand killed and wmmded. The total Union loss did not exceed three thousand. At daylight on the 17th, the Fourth Corps continued the pursuit towards Franklin by the direct route, while the cavalry moved on the Granny White pike and its in- tersection with the Franklin Dike, and took the lead. The enerny fell back to the Harpeth River. His rear- guard posted at Hollow Tree Gap, four miles north of Franklin, was defeated with the loss of four hundred and twenty prisoners. An attempt of the enemy to defend the crossing or the Harpeth River at Franklin was de- feated by Johnson's Division, which had been sent by Wilson on the Hillsboro pike direct to Harpeth River. Wilson now pressed the pursuit to Columbia, the enemy retiring before him slowly to a point five miles south of Franklin. There an attempt to make a stand was de- feated, and the retreat was continued. On the night of the 19th, the enemy crossed the Duck River and removed the bridge. The swollen stream caused a delay of a day. General Thomas in his report states : " The pontoon train coining up to Rutherford's Creek about noon of the 21st, a bridge was laid during the afternoon, and General Smith's troops were enabled to cross. The weather had changed from dismal rain to bitter cold, very materially retarding the work in laying the bridge, as the regiment of colored troops, to whom the duty was intrusted, seem- ed unmanned by the cold, and totally unequal to the oc- casion." Wilson's Cavalry and Wood's Infantry pressed the pursuit. Forrest's Cavalry, which Hood had so fool- ishly detached from his main army while he was besieg- ing Nashville, rejoined him at Columbia, and a slrong rear-guard was formed, which did good service in cover- ing the retreat. On the 24th, Wilson overtook the enemy at Buford's Station, inflicting some punishment ; and on the 25th the enemy evacuated Pulaski. At Lamb's Ferry he made a stand, and, as the pursuing force under Colonel Harrison came up, charged, drove him back, and captured a gun. The Fourth Corps was within six miles of Pulaski . December 26th, and reached Lexington on the 28th. The 1076 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. enemy being now across the Tennessee, General Thomas ceased the pursnit. On the 30th December, the end o'f the campaign was announced to the army, and the following disposition was made of the command: Smith's Corps to take post at Eastport, Mississippi ; "Wood's Corps to be concentrated at Huntsville and Athens, Alabama ; Schofield's Corps to proceed to Dalton, Georgia ; and Wilson's Cavalry, after sending one division to Eastport, Mississippi, to con- centrate the balance at or near Huntsville. On reaching the several positions assigned to them, the different com- mands were to go into winter-quarters and recuperate for the spring campaign. These dispositions not meeting the views of the general-in-chief, orders were issued on the 31st of December for Generals Schofield, Smith, and Wil- son to concentrate their commands at Eastport, Missis- sippi, and that of General Wood at Huntsville. Alabama preparatory to a renewal of the campaign against the enemy in Mississippi and Alabama. A number of mjnor operations by cavalry occurred in the pursuit of Hood's army. The results of the opera- tions under Thomas were : thirteen thousand one hun- dred and eighty-nine prisoners of war, including general officers and nearly one thousand other officers of all grades, and seventy-two pieces of serviceable artillery. During the same period over two thousand deserters from the enemy were received, and to whom the oath was ad- ministered. Our own losses did not exceed ten thousand in killed, wounded, and missing. Thus ended the career of Hood as an active com- mander in the field. Receiving from Johnston a compact and unbroken army, which had made a good fight against the superior forces of Sherman, he wasted its numbers in three foolhardy attempts to defeat his wary opponent in a pitched battle, and finally, in consequence of sending away his cavalry, the only arm in which he was superior to Sherman, he enabled the latter to completely flank him and drive him out of Atlanta. Dispatched by Davis on a hazardous attempt to drive Sherman out of Georgia and regain Tennessee, he permitted himself to be enticed by Thomas into the neighborhood of Nashville, when that general, abundantly re-enforced and supplied, sallied HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1077 forth at his leisure and dealt the rebel army such a blow as drove it, a beaten and demoralized mass of fugitives, into Northern Alabama, and rendered it powerless for further offensive purposes. 1078 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. CHAPTER LXYII. Sheridan in Command of the Middle Military Division. Manoeuvring in the Valley. Object of the Movements. Battles of Opequan Creek and Fisher's Hill. Rout and Retreat of the Rebels. Their new Position at Brown's Gap. Movements of Sheridan. ON August jTth, General Sheridan assumed command of the Middle' Military Division, comprising the Middle Department, and the Departments of Washington, the Susquehanna, and "West Virginia. On the same day he fixed his head-quarters at Harper's Ferry, and at once commenced to concentrate his troops along the Potomac in the vicinity of the Shenandoah. Valley. Sheridan's troops consisted now chiefly of the Sixth, Eighth, and Nine- teenth Corps of Infantry, and the infantry of the old Army of the Kanawha, under Crook. A part of the Nineteenth Corps, however, was still in Louisiana. His cavalry com- prised Torbert's First Division, of Potomac Cavalry, Averill's Division, Kelly's command, and Lowell's Brig- ade. Wilson's Second Cavalry Division arrived on the 13th from City Point. Against this strong and compact army, General Early was now able to muster about eighteen thousand men. His army consisted, first, of two infantry corps, under. Rhodes and Breekinridge. Rhodes had his own old division and Ramseur's, and various re- serves in the Valley, the whole estimated at about seven thousand men. Ramseur's Division comprised the brig- ades of Lillie (formerly of Pegram), Evans, and John-son. Breckinridge had the divisions of Wharton and Gordon, four thousand five hundred or five thousand strong, the former having two brigades, and the latter (like Rhodes's old division) consisting of four. Ransom's Cavalry con^ sisted of about five thousand five hundred troops, divided into four brigades, under Imboden, McCausland, Jackson, and Vaughan. The artillery, under Long, consisted of three battalions, and not far from fifty guns. The men were, to a considerable extent, employed threshing wheat in the Valley and sending it to Richmond. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1079 At sunrise on "Wednesday morning, the 10th of August, Sheridan began to move out his forces from Hall town, for the repossession of the Valley. The force reached Charlestown in two hours, where the Nineteenth Corps struck oft' to the left for Berry ville, preceded by the cavalry brigades of Ouster and Gibbs. Still farther to the left marched Crook's Infantry, with mounted men in advance. Finally, on the right, the Sixth Corps, pre- ceded by the brigades of Devin and Lowell, kept on the Winchester road a few miles, and then turned off towards Smithsfield, and towards the Nineteenth. The army ad- vanced, skirmishing occasionally with the enemy, who retired up the Valley, along the Strasburg road. At Front Royal a rebel force, consisting of Jones's Tennessee Brigade of. mounted infantry, with three field-pieces, held a strong position. This was assailed by Cesnola's Fourth New "i ork Cavalry, which was repulsed. The Fourth, Sixth, and Ninth New York and Seventeenth Pennsyl- vania then advanced, dismounted, supported 'by Pierce's Battery. The fight lasted from eleven till two, with no decisive result, though the enemy detained the pursuit some hours and inflicted loss on the Federal troops. The enemy then drew off in the direction of Newtown, where he made a further stand, covering the passage of his trains, and repulsing an attack by the Union cavalry. The advance now passed beyond Winchester and ~Md\l- wood, which were evacuated by the enemy, and camped, on the night of the llth, six miles to the southeast of the former place. Early, thinking it was the design of Sheridan to flank him, had begun his withdrawal from Winchester to Newtown on the 10th, and continued it un- til the llth. About ten o'clock of the latter day, Lowell's Cavalry charged through the town, but effected nothing, for the rear-guard had already moved out at the other end. The fighting of the day was entirely conducted by Early's rear-guard. On the 12th, the enemy having again fallen back, the column resumed the advance, and on the fol- lowing day reached Cedar Creek, three miles north of Strasburg. Here they remained during the 13th and 14th inactive. Sheridan's head-quarters were now at the spot that had been used for the same purpose successively by Fremont, Sigel, and Hunter. On the 15th the enemy 1080 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. withdrew his skirmishers from Strasburg, but held Fish- er's Hill beyond, which commanded the town. The enemy now suddenly resumed the offensive. Sheri- dan, in this advance to Strasburg, had passed on his lei't flank several gaps in the mountains, which had so often given passage to the enemy in previous campaigns. The most important of these are Snicker's Gap and Island Ford. None of these gaps were guarded. Mosby, with his light troops, was too vigilant to allow such an oppor- tunity to pass, and on the 13th he rode through Snicker's Gap and pounced upon the supply train at Berryville. The train was guarded by Kenly's Brigade of one- hundred-days men. At Mosby 's charge, a part of the guard were panic-stricken. A few brave men fought as long as possible, while the rest took to their heels. The teams were unhitched, the wagons fired, and all the property taken off to the Ferry. The chief loss was in the cavalry baggage. Mosby captured and destroyed seventy-five wagons, secured over two hundred prisoners, five or six hundred horses and mules, two hundred beef cattle, and some stores. His loss was two killed and three wounded. This disaster, greatly exaggerated by reports, caused the whole army to retrograde. On the same day the enemy captured a signal party, with their apparatus. On the night of Monday, the 15th, the Nineteenth Army Corps began to retreat on Winchester, followed by the Eighth Corps, while the Sixth brought up the rear. On the 16th, a force of the enemy, composed of Lomax and Wickham's Brigades, with a part of Kershaw's Division, which had come by rail from Malvern Hill after taking part in the actions there, proceeded down the Winchester and Front Royal pike to cross the Shenandoah and attack the Federal troops in flank. These encountered at Crook- ed Run the brigades of Caster and Devin, under General Merritt, and were repulsed. The retreat was prosecuted with vigor, and orders were given for the destruction of every thing that could afford sustenance to the enemy. That these were strictly executed may be seen from the .following extract from a Richmond paper : " The enemy, as they retired from Strasburg, literally destroyed every thing in the way of food for man or beast. With their immense cavalry, they extended their lines from Front Royal, in "Warren County, to the HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1081 North Mountains, west of Strafeburg, and burned every bushel of wheat, in stack, barn, or mill, in Frederick, "Warren, and Clark, as well as oats and hay ; they have really left absolutely nothing in these three counties. They drove before them every horse, cow, sheep, hog, calf, and living animal from the country." The enemy followed close on Sheridan's heels, and oc- cupied Winchester on the night of Wednesday, the 17th, capturing three hundred men of Penrose's infantry bri- gade, which had been left to cover the Union rear, and had been abandoned by its cavalry supports. During the retreat, Mosby's gang had followed the army, treacherously killing or capturing where the op- portunity oifered. In retaliation, General Ouster ordered the Fifth Michigan to destroy the houses of some of these half-guerrillas, half-farmers, who had committed gross outrages near Snicker's Gap. While thus engaged, the Union cavalrymen were attacked by a superior force of Mosby's men, and brutally murdered after surrendering. Many neighboring houses were destroyed in retaliation for this butchery. On the 21st, the army occupied a position about two miles out from Charlestown, near Summit Point, from the Smithfield to the Berryville pike, with the Sixth Corps on the right, the Eighth in the centre, and the Nineteenth on the left, the latter overlap- ping the Berryville pike. About eight o'clock, Early came up, on his road to Martinsburg, and, with a part of his columns, attacked our advanced cavalry skirmishers, on the right, and left, easily driving them in. His main body moved off across our right ; but with a small force he drove back Wilson's cavalry division from its position on Summit Point, with very great loss. He then attack- ed the Sixth Corps, and the combat lasted, without material advantage to either side, from ten A. M. until nightfall, when the corps fell back to Bolivar Heights. Sheridan then posted his army on the first of the ranges called Bolivar Heights, near Harper's Ferry, the right on the Potomac, and the left on the Shenandoah. Head- quarters were at Halltown. The cavalry was sent up to the neighborhood of Charlestown early on Monday, the 22d, and had sharp skirmishing with the enemy until nine A. M., and at intervals during the day. The cavalry of the enemy then scoured the country in all directions. Several reconnoissances took place on the 24th and 25th, 1082 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. in which the First and Third Divisions of Cavalry were badly handled. The two armies remained confronting each other for some days, at the end of which time Early again fell back up the Valley. This fact being ascertained, Sheridan issued orders on the -evening of the 27th for the army to move at daylight. About seven o'clock of the 28th, the entire force got into motion, moving out from behind their formidable breastworks in columns of brigades by the right flank, each corps preserving its relative position in the line of battle, and moving in the direction of Charlestown. The cavalry, which had proceeded in the direction of Shepherdstown, moved to the front and led the advance. By ten o'clock, the Nineteenth Corps reached Charlestown, and the army pushed on until they reached their old line of battle during the recent engage- ment a week before. The Sixth Corps, General "Wright, held the right, the Nineteenth Corps, General Emory, the centre, and General Crook's command the left. The army was then formed in line of battle, and awaited the result of the cavalry advance. At dusk, orders were issued for an advance at daylight on the 29th. On the following morning, the enemy were found near Smith- field, by General Merritt, who attacked the rebel cavalry vigorously, driving them through the town and beyond Opequan Creek, where he came in contact with infantry. Custer's Cavalry, with Ransom's Battery, were moved across the creek, for the purpose of making a reconnois- sance towards Bunker Hill. But after an encounter with the enemy's skirmish line, they retired across the stream, followed by infantry, who attempted to outflank them. Our cavalry accordingly fell back upon Smithfield, in season to escape the movement. Here they were met by Kicketts's Division of Infantry, before whose advance the enemy found it prudent rapidly to withdraw. Our loss in this affair was less than one hundred. The troops then fell back upon Charlestown, where ' they remained quiet for several days. On the morning of September 3d, the whole army was again put" in motion in a southerly direction, Crook's command occupying the left, the Nineteenth Corps the centre, and the Sixth the right. At noon, Crook reached the vicinity of Berryville, where, a few hours later, he HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1083 was fiercely attacked by a heavy rebel force approaching from the direction 01 Winchester, which lies directly west. The enemy were handsomely repulsed ; and during the succeeding night the whole army was engaged in throwing up substantial breastworks, as if for the purpose of making their position a permanent one. Thus affairs remained for nearly two weeks, Early being, according to reports, at Bunker Hill in force, and Sheridan showing no disposition to leave his intrenched lines near Berryville. The cavalry on both sides were active in reconnoissances. The campaign in the Shenandoah, since the appoint- ment of Sheridan to the command of the Middle Division, had hitherto been one of manosuvres rather than of de- cisive fighting, and the marchings and counter-marchings, advances and retreats of the Union general were to the public mind a source of no little perplexity. To compre- hend his motives, it must be remembered that the pos- session of Lynchburg was indispensable to Lee if he wished to remain in Richmond, and that the large force detached under Early, to drive away Hunter and demon- strate against "Washington, was still in the Yalley. Under . these circumstances, Grant placed Sheridan at the mouth of the Valley first, to detach a force from Lee ; second, to employ that force in the Valley, so that no portion of it might be sent to Hood at Atlanta ; third, to guard Washington and the border from the attacks of this force. For about five or six weeks, Sheridan's incessant moving backward and forward kept Early so busy that Hood could not get a man from- Lee, and was forced to suffer defeat at Jonesboro, and to evacuate Atlanta for lack of re-enforcements. . Meantime, Early and Sheridan were living off the Valley farms, and together destroying much food and forage precious to Lee, and all this time Early did no essential damage to Sheridan. With the fall of Atlanta, one of the prime motives for pursuing this Fabian policy was removed, and 1 to a general of so energetic and impetuous a temperament as Sheridan, the opportunity now afforded to fight a pitched battle with the enemy for the possession of the Valley was seized* with avidity. About the middle of 'September the lieutenant-general paid a hasty visit to the Upper Potomac, and, after learning from Sheridan that the enemy was still in force in the Valley, released him from 1084 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. the irksome task of manoeuvring, and bade him strike when he found the opportunity. Keconnoissanees under- taken on the 13th and 16th rendered it evident that the main body of the enemy had advanced to the vicinity of Bunker Hill and Stephenson's Depot, and General .Sheridan resolved to take advantage of this opportunity, and by a rapid movement fall on Early's rear from the direction of Berry ville towards Winchester. Accordingly, on Monday, the 19th, pursuant to orders, the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps were ordered to march at three o'clock, and the Army of Western Yirginia, under Crook, at five o'clock. The Sixth Corps was directed to move out on the Winchester and Berry ville pike, marching in parallel columns on each side of the road, with the artillery, ammunition, and supply trains on the road the Nine- teenth Corps to follow on the same road in similar order. Crook was ordered to move from his position in the vicinity of Summit Point across the country in a south- westerly direction, and form a junction at the crossing of the Opequan, on the Berryville and Winchester pike. The cavalry, under Torbert and Averill, were meanwhile to divert the enemy's attention by heavy demonstrations on his left. Shortly after daylight, Wilson's Division of cavalry crossed the Opequan, and skirmished with the enemy, who were discovered in force on the west bank of the Opequan. Early immediately recalled his forces from Bunker Hill, and when the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps advanced across the Opequan, they were met and repulsed by a fire from the enemy's guns. Being re- enforced by our batteries, they again advanced and retook the position. At three o'clock, Crook's First Division came into position on the right, the Second Division in the rear, supporting a division of the Nineteenth Corps. At about the 'same time, General Torbert arrived on the extreme right with Averill's and Merritt's Divisions of cavalry. With his forces thus consolidated, General Sheridan ordered an advance along the entire line. Our infantry were soon hotly engaged with the enemy, who stubbornly maintained their ground until our cavalry joined in the charge, when they gave way in utter con- fusion, never pausing in their flight until they reached Fisher's Hill, thirty miles south of Winchester, where they took refuge behind some previously erected earth- HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1085 works. The following is Sheridan's dispatch announcing his success: ""We fought Early from daylight till between six and seven p. M. We drove him from Opequan Creek through Winchester and beyond the town. We captured two thousand five hundred to three thousand prisoners, five pieces of artillery, nine battle-flags, and all the rebel wounded and dead. " Their wounded in Winchester amounted to some three thousand. We lost in killed General David Russell, commanding a division of the Sixth Army Corps, and wounded Generals Chapman. Mclntosh, and Upton. The rebels lost in killed the following general officers: "General Rhodes, General Wharton, General Gordon, and General Ramseur. " We have just sent them whirling through Winchester,, and we are after them to-morrow. This army behaved splendidly. I am sending forward all the medical supplies, subsistence stores, and ambulances." Sheridan lost no time in following the retreating rebels, and the 21st found his army confronting their new posi- tion. The enemy was posted with his right on the North Fork of the Shenandoah, and his left on the North Mountain. His line, running westerly, extended across the Strasburg Valley. There was considerable manoeu- vring for position till after midday. Crook's command was on our right, "Wright's Sixth Corps in the centre, and Emory's Nineteenth on the left. While . Emory demon- strated on the left, Bicketts's Division of the Sixth Corps advanced directly in front, and Averill drove in the enemy's skirmishers. Under cover of these demonstra- tions, Crook moved out to the extreme right, and, after an arduous march, swept about, and flanked the enemy's left. At four or five o'clock in the evening, a successful charge was made by Crook, who carried the enemy before him. At the same time, Wright attacked in the centre, Emory on the left, and Averill skirted atong the base of the South Mountain. With great rapidity, the Sixth Corps broke in the enemy's centre, separating his two wings, when he retreated towards Woodstock in great confusion. Artillery, horses, wagons, rifles, knapsacks, and - canteens were abandoned in the flight, and eleven hundred prisoners and sixteen pieces of artillery captured. In the battles of the 19th and 21st the rebels lost, in killed, wounded, prisoners, and missing, not less than ten thousand men. Sheridan continued the pursuit on the night after the 1086 ^BISTORT OF THE GREAT REBELLION. battle to "Woodstock, and there halted next morning, for rest and rations. Averill, pushing on in advance, drove the enemy on to Mount Jackson, twenty-five miles south of Strasburg, where he halted and made a stand, check- ing our advance with infantry and artillery. From Wood- stock, Sheridan moved rapidly up the Valley to Mount Jackson. About a mile from the town the "North Fork" of the Shenandoah crosses the pike. A good wooden bridge still spanned the stream. After some sharp skirmishing on our left, Devin's Cavalry drove the enemy before him, whereupon our batteries, posted near the bridge, opened on the opposite crest, over which the enemy finally retired. Skirmish lines were immediately moved across the stream, and, covering the fronts of their respective corps, pushed forward. In the advance, the Nineteenth Corps marched in column on the right of the pike, and the Sixth in like formation on the left, ready at any moment to form line. The batteries had the pike. The cavalry was thrown forward in advance of the in- fantry skirmish line. At every favorable position the enemy would halt and contest our advance ; but the bat- teries, being brought forward, would, after a few rounds, cause them to resume their march in retreat. No stop, was made at Newmarket, the scene of Sigel's fight and defeat in May. On Sunday, September 25th, Sheridan's head-quarters were in Harrisonburg, and on Monday morning, Torbert, with his troopers, pushed out to Staunton, twenty-five miles away. Meantime, Early retired upon Brown's Gap, in the Blue Ridge, eight miles southeast o Port Republic, twenty miles east of Staunton, and fifteen northeast of Waynesboro. Sheridan pursued to Port Republic, destroying seventy-five wagons and four cais- sons. From Harrisonburg, Torbert, with "Wilson's cav- alry division and one brigade of Merritt's, marched to Staunton, which he entered at eight A. M. of Monday, the 26th, and there destroyed a large quantity of the enemy's property of various kinds. Thence he marched south- easterly to Waynesboro, threw the iron bridge over the South River at that point into the river, and destroyed the bridge over Christiana Creek, and the railroad from Staunton to Waynesboro. At Waynesboro other gov- ernment property was destroyed. But finding the tun- HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1087 nel defended by troops, Torbert retired to Harrisonburg by way of Staunton. On the 27th, offensive demonstrations were resumed. But before they were fairly opened, the enemy suddenly burst upon Powell's flank with great force, and was with difficulty repulsed. The effect of this engagement was to cause our cavalry to fall back from J*ort Republic to Cross Keys. Brown's Gap remained in the enemy's pos- session. The position of Early at Brown's Gap was a very strong one. It had the advantage of covering Gordons- ville and Charlottesville, and of threatening Sheridan's flank and rear should he attempt to move from Lynch- burg. It possessed also unusual facilities for defence.. North of it are Swift Run and Semon's Gaps ; outh of it, Rockfish Gap and Jaman's Gaps. All of these are so near together that Early easily held them under his control, posting his main force at Brown's Gap, and throw- ing his flanks out as far as Rockn'sh Gap and Swift Run Gap. These are the gateways to Gordonsville and Char- lottesville from Staunton and Harrisonburg. He held them firmly, and was disposed not to surrender them without a decisive battle. One or two assaults had resulted in such stout resistance from Early 's troops that it was very evi- dent that the enemy had recovered his equilibrium, and was disposed to contest every rod of the way. It was also discovered that Early was too strongly posted in the Gap to be assaulted. Two courses, therefore, remained for Sheridan : either to prosecute his advance towards Lynchburg, or to retire down the Yalley. To reach Lynchburg had been a prime object with Sigel and Hun- ter, as it was now with Sheridan. But to move, with Early upon his flank and rear, would have been hazard- ous in the extreme. There remained, then, nothing but to fall back. Mosby also was on Sheridan's flank, and the army supplies on the way up the Yalley were in danger, as before, when Mosby captured the train. On the 6th October, Sheridan retreated to Woodstock, whence he sent the following dispatch : "WOODSTOCK, VIRGINIA, October 1, 1864 9 P. M. " Lieutenant-G-eneral U. S. GRANT : "I have the honor to report my command at this point to-night. I com- menced moving back from Port Republic, Mount Crawford, Bridgewater, 1088 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. and Harrisonburg yesterday morning. The grain and forage in advance of these points had previously been destroyed. In moving back to this point the whole country from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountain has been made entirely untenable for a rebel army. I have destroyed over two thousand barns filled with wheat and hay and farming implements, over seventy mills filled with flour and wheat ; have driven in front of the army over four thousand head of stock, and have killed and issued to the troops not less than three thousand sheep. This destruction embraces the Luray Valley and Little Fort^ Valley, as well as the main Valley. A large num- ber of horses have been obtained, a proper estimate of which I cannot now make. Lieutenant John R. Meigs, my engineer officer, was murdered be- yond Harrisonburg near Dayton. For this atrocious act all the houses within an area of five miles were burned. Since I came into the Valley from Harper's Ferry, every train, every small party, and every straggler has been bushwhacked by the people, many of whom have protection passes from commanders who have been hitherto in that Valley. The people here are getting sick of the war. Heretofore they have had no reason to complain, because they have been living in great abundance. I have not been followed by the enemy to this point, with the exception of a small fofte of the rebel cavalry that showed themselves some distance behind my rear-guard to-day. A party of one hundred of the Eighth Ohio Cavalry, which I had stationed at the bridge over the North Shenandoah, near Mount Jackson, was attacked by McNeil with seventeen men, while they were asleep, and the whole party dispersed or captured. I think they will all turn up. I learn that fifty-six of them had reached Win- chester. McNeil was mortally wounded, and fell into our hands. This was fortunate, as he was the most daring and dangerous of all the bush- whackers in this section of the country. (Signed) "P. H. SHERIDAN, Major- General." During his pursuit of Early, and on his retreat down the Valley, Sheridan effected an immense destruction of public property, and, in accordance with orders from Government, destroyed all the grain, hay, and forage to be found, except what was necessary for his own army. The Valley had been the great storehouse and granary of the rebel armies in Virginia, and in order to cripple Lee it was deemed indispensable to carry out this harsh but necessary policy. It had also harbored perhaps the worst class of guerrillas to be found in the country men who were farmers by day and robbers by night ; who, under the guise of loyalty, entrapped and murdered unsuspect- ing Union soldiers, and had from the outset of the war been systematic and successful spies over the Union armies. To strike terror into this class of men and those who sympathized with or harbored them, and put a stop to their excesses, was the prime object of the Government, and a wholesale system of devastation was inaugurated by Sheridan, which, while it sometimes struck friend as well as foe, undoubtedly had on the whole a beneficial HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1089 influence in restraining the operations of the guerrillas and bushwackers, and driving them to parts of the country where it would be less dangerous for the inhabit- ants to harbor them. This duty was efficiently performed by Torbert's Cavalry. On the 8th of October the rebel General Eosser, while harassing Sheridan's rear, was suddenly encountered by the Union cavalry and soundly beaten, losing three hundred prisoners, eleven pieces of artillery, and a number of caissons and wagons. He was then pursued a distance of twenty-six miles. 67 J 1090 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. CHAPTER LXYIII. Position of Armies. Early .Advances. Battle of Cedar Creek. Opportune Arrival of Sheridau. Disastrous Defeat of the Enemy. Sheridan's Troops leave for the Potomac Devastation. EARLY promptly renewed his advance movement on the retirement of Sheridan to Cedar Creek. The losses in- flicted upon him were soon made up by re-enforcements, and a few days of repose in the fastnesses of Brown's Gap enabled him to recuperate his forces, and to take the field with twenty-eight thousand men, comprising the five divisions of infantry under Ramseur, Gordon, Pegram, Wharton, and Kershaw. While Early was advancing, the* Federal commander had quietly occupied the north bank of Cedar Creek. The Army of Western Yirginia, General Crook, held the left, its right resting on the pike ; the Nineteenth Corps, General Emory the centre, its left resting on the pike ; and the Sixth Corps, General Wright, the right, connecting with the Nineteenth Corps. The First and Second Cavalry Divisions were on the ex- treme right, Custer being in advance in front of the Sixth Corps, Merritt in rear of Custer, his left flank just over- lapping the right of the Sixth Corps. Thus the Sixth Corps was rendered partially a reserve. The line was formed from right to left across the entire Valley, thus : Custer, Merritt, Wright, Emory, Crook, Powell. The cavalry of the latter picketed the whole North Fork to Front Royal. Crook and Emory had artillery in posi- tion to command the rising ground on the opposite bank of Cedar Creek. Just in the rear of Crook, on the left, what was called the Provisional Division, under Colonel Kitchin, was encamped. Sheridan's head-quarters were fixed at a stone house about half a mile in rear of the centre. Sheridan himself had been absent on a journey to Washington .since Sunday, October 16th. On Tues- day night he slept at Winchester on his return. Wright, therefore, commanded the army on the morning of the HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1091 19th, Bicketts being in command of the Sixth Corps. Against this strong position, which was considered by the Union generals almost impregnable, Early, with a boldness commendable in one who had recently suffered two severe defeats, determined to make a night attack, and, if possible, retrieve his reputation and drive Sheridan from the Valley. He was prompted to undertake the movement from a belief that the Sixth Corps had been withdrawn, and from a report that Sheridan was absent from the army. How nearly he succeeded, and how op- portunely he was frustrated, are among the most remark- able facts of the war. Just before daybreak on the morning of 19th, Early began his movement to surprise the Union army. An impenetrable fog enveloped the whole region, favoring his designs. The three divisions with which he began his assault were massed at Fisher's Hill, and the troops were disencumbered of every accoutrement except their arms and ammunition. They were not even permitted to carry their canteens, lest their clanking should advise Sheridan of their approach. Just as the first gleam of day began to mingle with the dim moonlight, the sharp rattle of musketry on the extreme right gave notice of what was an unimportant and feint attack. As this attack began, the sentinels of the enemy along the whole line fired signal muskets from right to left. Immediately afterwards the three divisions, under Pegram, Ramseur, and Gordon, advanced in solid columns down the turn- pike from Strasburg, without skirmishers, and assaulted Crook's position in front and flank. The surprise was complete, and the rebels, advancing by column of regiments, and firing rapid and terrific volleys of mus- ketry, swept over the works almost without opposition. Crook's whole line gradually giving way, of seven guns in the breastworks, six were captured, but one being saved. The enemy pressed on with fierce shouts, keeping up a deadly fire of musketry, which prevented Crook's men from rallying in the thick fog which bewildered both men and officers. The smoke, the fog, the wild shouts, and the deadly fire from an unseen foe, who poured into the encampments, capturing camp equipage and barely aroused soldiers, were powerful agents in promoting con- fusion. General Crook and his division commanders did 1092 HISTORY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION. their best, under the circumstances, to meet the shock, and constantly opposed a half-organized front against the enemy. The latter, pushing up beyond and around our left, entered the encampments of the provisional division under Colonel Kitchin, routing it also, and driving those and Crook's troops on towards the pike. Meanwhile Kershaw's Division, which had left Ear- ly's position in a southeasterly direction, and had turned north and crossed the North Fork before dawn of Wednes- day, was now closing on the intrenchments of the Eighth Corps, capturing prisoners in large numbers and seizing the batteries. The left division of Crook's Corps and Kitchin's Division were now thoroughly broken up. At the same time Early, with his remaining division, had moved on up the pike towards our centre, bringing artil- lery, and opening with it on the lines of the Nineteenth Corps. Their opening fire was vigorous, and was follow- ed up by an advance of their infantry across the creek, joining in the assault made by their comrades on the left, and directing itself against the lines of the Nineteenth Corps. Emory's left flank was wholly exposed by the retreat of Crook, and the attack upon it was, therefore, overwhelming. Colonel McAuley, commanding the Third Brigade of Grover's Division on the left, was ordered to swing out of his position in front and meet the flank fire of the rebels. He did so, making a gallant but ineffectual opposition; and he had scarcely left the breast- works to perform the movement, when trie enemy swept up into them against the unavailing fire of Grover's Division, forcing the whole division back, with the loss of eleven guns captured and left upon the field. It was now daylight, and the enemy, having rolled up the left of the line and captured eighteen guns, which were turned on our retreating columns, was now driving in the centre. Nearly all of his force was over the creek, and his flanking column, leaving the pursuit of the Eighth Corps, was closing in on Emory^s left, who, being flanked in his turn, gave way to the rear. The Sixth Corps, which was in line on the. right of the Nineteenth Corps (the cavalry being in front of its right), partially in re- serve, was ordered to change front, swing round what had been its left before being the pivot meet the ad- vance of the enemy in the centre, and check it. Another HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1093 order was sent to the cavalry on the extreme right, under Torbert, to move rapidly across in rear, from right to left, and check the advance of the enemy in the direc- tion of the pike toward Middletown. The Sixth Corps, moving by the left flank, came up a. short distance in rear of what had been General Sheridan's head-quarters, opened the right of its line to permit the stragglers from the left of the Nineteenth Corps to pass through, and then, in conjunction with the remainder of the Nineteenth Corps, which finally rallied and formed on its right, re- pulsed a tremendous charge of the enemy and held them at bay. This served to cover the general retreat which was ' ordered. The enemy were steadily gaining ground on the pike towards Middletown. Great efforts were made to get away the trains of the two left corps, and most of those of the Nineteenth were saved. Most of the ambu- lance train of the Eighth Corps was captured during the first hour of the engagement. In the retreat, and in the effort to cover our trains, our troops suffered severely from the fire of the enemy, who pursued closely and with great vigor. The Sixth Corps was steadily covering the retreat, however, and, by resisting the enemy's advance, gave opportunity to re-form the Eighth and Nineteenth Corps, with the Nineteenth on the right, the Sixth in the centre, and the Eighth on the left. During the retreat, General Bicketts, commanding the Sixth Corps, was severely wounded in the breast. The enemy now in- creased both his artillery and musketry fire to its utmost capacity, till the roar and carnage became terrific. He still pressed our left flank, as if determined to drive us away from the turnpike, that he mjght seize our trains and insert himself between us and Winchester. His pro- jects were aided somewhat by the necessity forced upon us to spend much time in manoeuvring to re-form the line, while he employed himself only in advancing and pour- ing in his destructive fire. As he pressed our left so much more hotly than the right, the cavalry divisions of Merritt and Custer were sent across thither from the right, and now a severe contest took place near Middle- town, in the thickly wooded and rough country in which our left had found itself. It was now about nine o'clock, and our troops, having 1094 HISTORY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION. got into line of battle again, were for the first time making desperate efforts to check the enemy. The Eighth Corps, on the left, and the Sixth, in the centre, were receiving the brunt of the fierce onset. Merritt and Ouster had also taken part in the thick of the battle. Both sides were using artillery as well as musketry, but the enemy brought to bear the greater weight of metal, having re-enforced their own batteries with our captured pieces. As the enemy's troops closed in on our own, it was clear that the momentum he had acquired was swinging him again past our flank. The flanking column of the enemy pressed severely upon Thorburn's Division and other parts of Crook's Corps, and once more forced it back. The Sixth Corps held its ground well, but the whole line was giving way, and the enemy gained Mid- dletown. He continued to press us back towards Ste- phensburg or Newtown, which lies next below Middle- town, on the turnpike, and about five miles distant there- from. His artillery was served with great accuracy from the heights north of Middletown, which we had just vacated. Our principal aim henceforth was to success- fully cover our trains and to draw away the army with as little loss as possible to Newtown, when another stand might be made. Where all this time was Sheridan ? He had arrived, as has been mentioned, at Winchester, twenty miles from his camp, on the night of the 18th, intending to proceed to Cedar Creek on the next morning. Unsus- picious of danger ahead, he started at about eight A. M. on the 19th, with his escort, at a leisurely pace. JBut soon the distant thunder of artillery in the direction of Mid- dletown caused him to quicken his pace. Thinking that Early had possibly ventured to attack the position at Cedar Creek, he was desirous of witnessing the punish- ment which the rebel general, by all the chances of war, should receive for his temerity. Gradually the sound of the artillery swelled into a continuous roar, and seemed to roll towards him, until the conviction became too strong for doubt that a heavy battle was raging in the front, and that the defeated party were being rapidly pushed northward. He put spurs to his horse and rode at full speed towards the firing, fearing, yet unwilling to believe, that any disaster could have overtaken the army which HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1095 he had twice led to signal victory. But soon the first troup of fugitives and camp-followers streaming north- ward told him that his army was beaten and in full re- treat. Galloping along far ahead of his escort, he dashed up to the front soon after ten o'clock, his charger reeking with foam, and by his voice and presence infused con- fidence and new courage into the disheartened troops. Even wounded men by the roadside greeted him with cheers. At once he directed every effort to stopping the retreat and re-forming the men. This was favored by a pause in the pursuit on the part of the enemy, which enabled the army to fall back out of range. The provost-marshals of the several corps succeeded in form- ing a line of guards in the rear, which was gradually effective in preventing desertion. In a short time the stragglers were partially organized and moving towards the front. The Army of Western Virginia, which had been so completely broken up and scattered in the morn- ing, was thus re-formed in a measure and put in position. Sheridan ordered all retreat to be stopped at once, and at one P. M. had got his army established in line of battle, as follows : the Sixth Corps in the centre, Nineteenth Corps on the right, Crook's command on the left, Custer's cavalry division on the extreme right, and Merritt's cav- alry division on the extreme left. The enemy meantime had moved up his guns in range of the new position, and having again got his troops in hand, once more came on to the charge, but was severely repulsed by the Nineteenth Corps. General Bidwell was killed and Grover wounded during this attack. It now became evident that Early had relinquished offensive movements for the day. Tne enemy began throwing up breastworks. Their wagons and ambulances were brought across Cedar Run, and every thing indicated their inten- tion to retain the position during the night. Having now become somewhat prepared to take the offensive, Sher- idan at three p. M. ordered an attack with a view of re- gaining the position at Cedar Creek. The Sixth Corps was drawn up in the centre, along the pike, with Getty's- Second Division in advance, and the other divisions sup- porting. Between three and Tour o'clock Getty dashed forward on the charge, and the remainder of the line fol- lowed. A tremendous fire of artillery and musketry 1096 HISTOKY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. greeted our troops as they burst out of the woods. For a time it seemed impossible to withstand it. Our lines once fell back, broken, but were again re-formed, and while such of our own batteries as remained answered the enemy with vigor and effect, the troops again pressed on. Despite determined and bloody resistance, they carried the town, and drove the discomfited enemy through it. This was the crisis of the day, and from that moment victory was ours. On through Middletown, and beyond, the enemy hurried, and the army of the Shenandoah pur- sued. Caster and Merritt, charging in on right and left, doubled up the flanks of the foe, taking prisoners, slash- ing, killing, driving as they went. The march of the in- fantry, though more slow, was more effective. The retreat of the enemy was continued back to Fisher's Hill. At Cedar Creek he attempted to hold us in check, and planted his batteries on the opposite banks, to hold the bridge and fords. But our forces pressed on, carried the fords and bridge, and drove him from the creek through Strasburg to Fisher's Hill. A part of our in- fantry reached Strasburg, but the main army bivouacked in the old camp along Cedar Creek. The cavalry dashed through Strasburg to Fisher's Hill, and there the victori- ous march terminated. The enemy subsequently retired upon Newmarket, abandoning almost every thing in their flight. The total losses, exclusive of recaptures, were as follows : Early's loss in killed, wounded, and prisoners was stated by the enemy to be less than twelve hundred, but was in reality far greater. He lost in prisoners alone over sixteen hundred men. He also lost twenty-three cannon, besides all those captured by him in the morning, and a few caissons. The other losses, wagons, &c., ex- clusive of recaptures, were small. A part of the medical stores of each side was captured by the other. Our losses were about six thousand five hundred men, including over fifteen hundred prisoners. The official statement of losses in the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps made them about five thousand five hundred in all. The official es- timates of those in the Eighth Corps put them at about eight hundred and fifty. Among the rebel dead was General Ramseur. Early, having retired upon Newmarket and intrenched there, began to recuperate with that energy for which he niSTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1097 was conspicuous. His cavalry began at once to scour the Luray Valley, under Lomax, whence Sheridan's Cavalry failed to draw him. By the 20th of October he again showed signs of an advance, by throwing forward a strong cavalry force, while Breckinridge, having relieved Echols in Southwestern Virginia, was reorganizing a force there with a view to support Early. Sheridan was also drill- ing, clothing, and organizing his men, while Mosby and Imboden's troopers were so busy on his flanks that it re- quired a strong force along the lines to protect the com- munications. . In the first week of November the enemy's demonstra- tions were more marked, and his cavalry under Rosser threatened Sheridan's communications north of Winches- ter. On the morning of the 7th, Sheridan broke up his camp and fell back to Newtown, four and one-half miles distant on the turnpike, and about nine miles south of Winchester. The Nineteenth Corps was on the right of the pike in advance, the Sixth on the left, and the wagon trains between them on the road. The artillery followed, and the Eighth Corps brought up the rear. The cavalry covered the flanks and rear. The retrograde movement continued next day along the pike from Newtown to Kearnstown, four miles south of Winchester. On the after- noon of Friday, the llth, Lomax's Cavalry, who had been following us, pressed severely against the cavalry divisions of Custer and Merritt, in reconnoitring, and drove them in. Our army was then in line at Kearnstown. After a sharp skirmish the enemy was forced to retire. Next morning, the 12th, Lomax again attacked our cavalry, driving in our pickets. On reaching our main force, he was repulsed after a protracted engagement. Powell's Division then pursued him to Front Royal, and captured two guns and one hundred and fifty men. The fighting was spirited, and our losses were considerable. Early subsequently advanced his army and again occupied Fisher's Hill with about fifteen thousand men. On the 21st of November he occupied Mount Jackson and Newmarket with his in- fantry, with his cavalry thrown forward from his right. In the first week in December the Sixth Corps left the Valley to re-enforce Grant, as did also a considerable por- tion of Sheridan's infantry. In the same way Lee was 1098 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLION. re-enforced by Kershaw and other troops from Early, leav- ing but a few thousand men at Newmarket. Both armies thenceforth remained quiet for some months. During the first week in December, Merritt's (First) Cavalry Division crossed the Blue Ridge, and made a grand raid through the upper parts of Loudon and Fau- quier Counties, which were the chief haunts of Mosby and his men. Every thing was laid waste barns, houses, farms, and mills ; many cattle were captured, and others slaughtered and burned. Unfortunately, not a few Union citizens suffered the loss of every thing in the general destruction. The raid was in accordance with the policj 7 initiated by Grant and Sheridan, and its results, officially reported, are as follows : PROPERTY CAPTURED. First Second Reserve Brigade. Brigade. Brigade. Horses 147 235 86 Mules 4 4 .... Cattle 2,563 2,483 474 Sheep 3,607 2,130 100 Swine 1,033 110 PROPERTY DESTROYED. Barns 474 464 230 Mills 19 22 8 Factories 2 .... Distilleries.... 141 Tons of Hay 17,620 10,000 Bushels of Wheat 26,500 25,000 Bushels of Corn 5,400 57,500 Bushels of Oats 2,000 Haystacks 990 131 TV'heatstacks 57 Tanneries 1 .... Stacks of Grain 104 .... Estimated value of property destroyed and captured the First Bi igade, Colonel Stagg Second Brigade, General Devin Eeserve Brigade Total. 388 8 5,520 5,837 1,141 1,168 49 2 6 27,620 51,500 62,900 2,000 .1,121 57 1 104 .$857,716 .1,239,520 . 411,520 Total $2,508,756 Perhaps the statement of a rebel commissioner of the revenue in Shenandoah County, made about the same time, will give a clearer idea of Sheridan's previous cavalry operations in that county alone. He says : "I will now try and give you some idea of the damage done in part of HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1099 this county by the Yankees, in the way of burning of barns, mills, &c. I have been over nearly the whole of my district, comprising all the upper end of the county, from Narrow Passage Creek to Rockingham County line, and I find there have been burned by Sheridan's army two hundred and fifteen barns, eighteen dwellings, eleven grist mills, nine water saw- mills, two steam sawmills, one furnace two forges, one fulling mill, one carding machine, besides a number of smaller buildings, such as stables, &c. The quantity of grain destroyed is immense. I cannot give you any idea of the amount of grain, hay, fodder, &c.. destroyed, but the quantity is very large." 1100 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. CHAPTEE LXIX. Political Parties. Elections of 1862. Organization and Strength of the Peace Party. Banishment of Vallancligham. Ohio Election. Political Reaction in Favor of the Administration. Thirty-eighth Congress. President's Plan of Reconstruction. Amendment to the Constitution. - Presidential Canvass of 1864. Conventions at Baltimore and Chicago. Nomination of Lincoln and McClellan. Result of the Election. Peace Negotiations. Colonel Jaques. The Niagara Falls Correspondence. THE failure of the Peninsular campaign of 1862, fol- lowed by the defeat of Pope in the second Bull Hun campaign, the invasion of Maryland by Lee, and the in- decisive battle of Antietam, together with the aggressive strength exhibited by the rebels in the West by the inva- sion of Kentucky under Bragg, all conspired to bring the Administration into temporary disfavor; and in the fall elections of 1862, several of the States, including New York, which had given large majorities for Lincoln two years previous, were carried by the opposition. The gains of Congressmen made by the latter in these elec- tions threatened to neutralize, and perhaps considerably overcome, the Administration majority in Congress. In- capacity, wastefulness, corruption, and imbecility were freely charged upon the President and his constitutional advisers ; but the most serious objection urged against the Administration was its alleged unconstitutional me- thod of conducting the war. Confiscation, arbitrary arrests, conscription, the emancipation of slaves belonging to rebels, and similar forcible measures initiated by Gov- ernment, for which it was insisted there was no warrant afforded in the Constitution, were alike condemned by the opposition, who contended that the war could be car- ried to a successful completion without resort to so radical a policy, and that in point of fact it had better be termi- nated at once than conducted unconstitutionally. The political contest of 1862 may, therefore, be considered to nave shown in some degree a public dissatisfaction with the course of the Administration during the year, though it can- HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1101 not be doubted also that military reverses had much to do in causing that dissatisfaction. With those who claimed to be superior to such accidental influences as success or de- feat, the emancipation proclamation of September was a sufficient reason for trying to overthrow the Administra- tion in Congress, and at the close of the year it looked as if their efforts might be rewarded with success. It is worthy of note, however, that in those States in which the soldiers were allowed to vote, the Republican suprem- acy was easily maintained. This was notably the *case in Iowa, where the soldiers' vote enabled the Republicans to return their full delegation to Congress. The year 1863 opened with no favorable prospects for the National cause, and the repulses before Fredericks- burg and Charleston, and the defeat at Chancellorsville, followed by the second invasion of Maryland, seemed to presage further losses for the Administration. The op- position had meanwhile been busy in other ways. Un- deterred by the assertions of Government that its action in arresting suspected persons, at a time when the country swarmed with spies and secret traitors, was utterly dis- interested, and by its efforts to release all prisoners against whom no evidence of treasonable intent could be brought ; regardless also of the act of Congress sanctioning the action of the President in suspending the writ of habeas corpus, and clothing him with full authority to check and punish all attempts to defeat the efforts of the Government in the prosecution of the war, the leaders of the opposition busied themselves with promoting public dissatisfaction and demanding that the war should be brought to a close. While many were sincere in believing that the evils which sprang from a vigorous prosecution of the war were worse than secession itself, it cannot be doubted that many- were also influenced by a factious, partisan spirit, which prompted them to rejoice in the humiliation of their country, provided the overthrow of their political oppo- nents could be thereby secured. The latter branch of the opposition formed the nucleus around which rallied a party whose watchword was " Peace on any Terms," and whose numbers were swelled by the whole disloyal element in the North, and by various secret organizations formed to promote the independence of the " Southern Confederacy," of which the K. G. C.'s, or " Knights of 1102 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. the Golden Circle," were the most conspicuous. One of the most active advocates of peace with the rebel Confed- eracy was Clement L. Vallandigham, a Democratic mem- ber of Congress from Ohio, who, after the adjournment of the Thirty-seventh Congress, made public speeches in his congressional district, denouncing and counselling resistance to the draft, which was about to be enforced. He charged the Government at Washington with aiming, under the pretext of restoring the Union, to crush out liberty and establish a despotism, and with deliberately rejecting propositions by which the Southern States could have been brought back to the Union. He also de- nounced Order No, 38, issued by General Burnside, then commanding the Department of the Ohio, forbidding certain disloyal practices, and announced his intention to disobey it, at the same time calling upon the people who heard him to resist and defeat its execution, lor this conduct he was tried before a court-martial, in May, 1863, and sentenced to beplaced in close confinement within some fortress of the United States. The President modi- fied this sentence by directing that, instead of being im- prisoned, Vallandigham should be sent within the rebel lines, and should not return to the United States until after the termination of the war. This sentence was at once carried into execution. Vallandigham, after passing some time in Richmond, escaped in a blockade-runner to British America, where he remained some tune, finding abundant sympathy from the rebel refugees in Canada. His trial and banishment caused no little excitement throughout the country, and by his party he was regarded as a martyr. Meetings were held to protest against the action of the Govern- ment, and the Democratic State Convention of Ohio finally capped the climax by nominating him as its can- didate for Governor in the ensuing State election. The Republican, or Union party, as it was now called, nomi- nated for the same office John Brough, a former Demo- crat, but a man pledged in the most emphatic manner to support the Government in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. Thus the issue was joined between the oppo- nents of the Administration and those who, believing that its measures were proper and effective, lent it their hearty support, and, in consequence, the Ohio election was HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1103 watched with absorbing interest by the whole country. By a special law of the State its citizens, absent in the military service of the. country, were permitted to vote for State officers, and the soldiers' vote, it was claimed, would be cast almost unanimously for Brough. Meanwhile, with the commencement of July occurred another turn in the tide of the war. The battle of Gettysburg and the ignominious ending of Lee's inva- sion of the North, and the capture of Yicksburg and Port Hudson, followed by the opening of the Mississippi to commerce, restored the prestige of the Union arms, and the prospect of subduing the Confederacy seemed more hopeful than ever before. With this happy change in military prospects, the friends of the Administration, and all those persons in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war, shook off their despondency, and began to gather energy for the political contest of the year. The riotous proceedings in New York, Boston, and elsewhere, against the enforcement of the draft, by repealing the existence of a powerful secession element at work to op- pose the Government, strengthened the Administration party, and the fall elections of 1863 witnessed a complete reversal of the popular verdict declared a year previous. Yallandigham was defeated in Ohio by the unprecedented majority of one hundred thousand in favor of Brough, the soldiers' vote being almost unanimous for the latter, and the great States of New York and Pennsylvania elected the Union candidates for office by large majorities. Such was the reaction in favor of the Administration that it secured enough of the remaining members of Congress to be elected to give it- a majority of about twenty in the next House of Representatives. The result of the can- vass was that every State, except New Jersey, voted to sustain the Administration. The ground taken by its friends was that held by the President from the beginning that the rebellion must be suppressed, and the Union preserved at whatever cost that this could only be done by force, and that it was both the right and the duty of the Government to use all the means at its command, which were commonly exercised in time of war, to accom- plish this object. The result was, therefore, justly claimed as a decided verdict in favor of the Administration, and thenceforth the determination of the vast majority of the 1104: HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. people to prosecute the 'war to a successful completion remained unshaken, in spite of reverses which caused temporary depression, of conscriptions which drew fear- fully upon the able-bodied industrial population of the country, and of taxation which surpassed the wildest pre- dictions made by alarmists at the commencement of the struggle. The Thirty-eighth Congress convened at Washington, December, 1863, and was organized by the election of Schuyler Colfax, a Republican member from Indiana, as Speaker of the House of Representatives. In his annual message, President Lincoln proposed a plan of reconstruc- tion for the revolted States, which is fully set forth in the following proclamation : PROCLAMATION. " Wiereas, In and by the Constitution of the United States, it is provided that the President shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for of- fences against the United States, except in cases of impeachment and whereas, a rebellion now exists, whereby the loyal State Governments of several States have for a long time been subverted, and many persons have committed and arc now guilty of treason against the United States ; and " Whereas, With reference to said rebellion and treason, laws have been enacted by Congress, declaring forfeitures and confiscation of property and liberation of slaves, all upon terms and conditions therein stated, and also declaring that the President was thereby authorized at any time thereafter, by proclamation, to extend to persons who may have participated in the ex- isting rebellion in any State or part thereof, pardon and amnesty, with such exceptions and at such times and on such conditions as he may deem expe- dient for the public welfare ; and " Whereas, The Congressional declaration for limited and conditional par- don accords with the well-established judicial exposition of the pardoning power; and " Whereas, With reference to the said rebellion, the President of the United States has issued several proclamations with provisions in regard to the liberation of slaves ; and " Whereas, It is now desired by some persons heretofore engaged in said rebellion to resume their allegiance to the United States, and to reinaugu- rate loyal State Governments within and for their respective States: there- fore, "I, ABRAHAM LINCOLN, President of the United States, do proclaim, de- clare, and make known to all persons who have directly or by implication participated in the existing rebellion, except as hereinafter excepted, that a full pardon is hereby granted to them and each of them, with restoration of all rights of property, except as to slaves, and in property cases where rights of third parties shall have intervened, and upon condition that every such person shall take and subscribe an oath and thenceforward keep and main- tain said oath inviolate, an oath which shall be registered for permanent preservation, and shall be of the tenor and effect following, to wit : ^ f do solemnly swear, in presence of Almighty God, that HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION". 1105 / Twill henceforth faithfully support, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States, and the Union of the States thereunder; and that in like manner I will abide by and faithfully support all acts of Congress passed during the existing rebellion with reference to slaves, so long and so far as not repealed, modified, or held void by Congress or by decision of the Su- preme Court ; and that I will in like manner abide by and faithfully support all proclamations of the President made during the existing rebellion having reference to slaves, so long and so far as not modified or declared void by decision of the Supreme Court. So help me God.' " The persons excepted from the benefits of the foregoing provisions are : all who are, or shall have been civil or diplomatic officers or agents of the so-called Confederate Government ; all who have left judicial stations under the United State* to aid the rebellion ; all who are, or shall have been mili- tary or naval officers of said so-called Confederate Government, above the rank of colonel in the army, or of lieutenant in the navy ; all who left seats in the United States Congress to aid the rebellion ; all who resigned com- missions in the army or navy of the United States, and afterwards aided the rebellion ; and all who have engaged in any way in treating colored persons, or white persons in charge of such, otherwise than lawfully as prisoners of war, and which persons may have been found in the United States service as soldiers, seamen, or any other capacity ; and I do further proclaim, declare, and make known that, whenever, in any of the States of Arkansas, T^as, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, SoU^^Carolina, and North Carolina, a number of persons not less than one-tenth in number of the votes cast in such States at the Presiden- tial election of the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty, each having taken the oath aforesaid, and not having since violated it, and being a qualified voter by the election law of the State existing immediately before the so-called act of secession, and excluding all others, shall re- establish a State Government which shall be republican, and in nowise contravening said oath, such shall be recognized as the true government of the State, and the State shall receive thereunder the benefits of the constitutional provision which declares that " ' The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a re- publican form of government, and shall protect each of them against inva- sion, and on application of the Legislature, or the Executive, when tha Legislature cannot be convened, against domestic violence.' "And I do further proclaim and make known that any provision which may be adopted by such State Government in relation to the freed people- of such State, which shall recognize and declare their permanent freedom, provide for their education, and which may yet be consistent, as a tempo- rary arrangement, with their present condition as a laboring, landless, and homeless class, will not be objected to by the National Executive. " And it is suggested as not improper that, in constructing a loyal State Government in any State, the name of the State, the boundary, the subdi- visions, the Constitution, and the general code of laws, as before the rebel- lion, be maintained, subject only to the modifications made necessary by the conditions herein before stated, and such others, if any, not contravening said conditions, and which may be deemed expedient by those framing the new State Government. To avoid misunderstanding, it may be proper to say that tliis proclamation, so far as it relates to State Governments, has no reference to States wherein loyal State Governments have all the while been maintained; and for the same reason it may be proper to further say, that whether members sent to Congress from any State, shall be admitted^ to seats, constitutionally rests exclusively with the respective Houses, and. not to any extent with the Executive. And still further; that this procla- 68 1106 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. mation is intended to present the people of the States wherein the national authority has been suspended, and loyal State Governments have been sub- verted, a mode in and by which the national authority and loyal State Gov- ernments may be re-established within said States, or in any of them. And, while the mode presented is the best the Executive can suggest with his- present impressions, it must not be understood that no other possible mode would be acceptable. " Given under my hand at the City of "Washington, the eighth day of December, A. D. one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the independence of the United States of America the eighty -eighth. " By the President : ABRAHAM LINCOLN. " WM. H. SEWAED, Secretary of State." In two States only, Louisiana and Arkansas, was the experiment of reconstruction on the basis here proposed tested, and in neither of them can it be said to have had entire success. The project proved distasteful to radical members of the Administration party, and circumstances prevented its being applied in more instances than those cited. Just before the adjournment of Congress in July, a bill was passed to " guarantee to certain Sfctfes whose governments have been usurped or overthrow^ a repub- lican form of government." This bill provided for the :8|ppointment of a provisional governor in each State, and, :as soon as military resistance had ceased and the people .returned to obedience, an enrolment to be made of all white male citizens, designating those who take and those \tfho refuse the oath of allegiance. If those who take the oath ;are a majority, the governor shall invite the people to eleet a convention to re-establish their State Govern- mentim conformity with the Constitution of the United ; States. The bill provided the mode of electing and as- sembling such conventions, and enacted the following restrictions upon their action : " That the convention : shall declare, on behalf of the people of the State,, their ; submission to the Constitution and laws of the United :States v and shall adopt the following provisions, hereby ^prescribed by the United States in the execution of the .constitutional -duty to guarantee a republican form of -government to every State, and incorporate them in the .constitution of the State, that is to say : First No per- ,son who has : held or exercised any office, civil or military, ^except offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel, State or Confederate, under the usurping power, shall vote for or be a member of the leg- islature, or governor. Second Involuntary servitude is HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1107 forever prohibited, and the freedom of all persons is guar- anteed in said State. Third No debt, State or Confed- erate, created by or under the sanction of the usurping power, shall Be recognized or paid by the State." Con- stitutions made or amended by these conventions were to be submitted to the people, " and if a majority of the votes cast shall be for the constitution and form of government, he shall certify the same, with a copy thereof, to the President of the United States, who, after obtaining the assent of Congress, shall, by proclamation, recognize the government so established, and none other, as the consti- tutional government of the State, and from the date of such recognition, and not before, Senators and Repre- sentatives, and electors for President and Vice-President, may be elected in such State, according to the laws of the State and the United States." In case the conven- tions refused to establish governments in accordance with this act, the governors were to dissolve them and order new elections. It was also enacted that until the United States shall have recognized a republican form of State Government, the provisional governor in each of said States shall see that this act, and the laws of the United States, and the laws of the State in force when the State Government was overthrown by the rebellion, are faith- fully executed within the State; but no law or usage whereby any person was heretofore held in involuntary servitude shall be recognized or enforced by any court or officer in such State, and the laws for the trial and pun- ishment of white persons shall extend to all persons, and jurors shall have the qualifications of voters under this law for delegates to the convention. That until the recogni- tion of a State Government the provisional government shall cause to be assessed, levied, and collected, for the year 1864, and every year thereafter, the taxes provided by the laws of such State, to be levied during the fiscal year preceding the overthrow of the -State Government. That all persons held to involuntary servitude or labor in the States aforesaid are hereby emancipated and discharged therefrom, and they and their posterity shall be forever free. And if any such persons or their posterity shall be restrained of liberty, under pretence of any claim to such service or labor, the courts of the United States shall, on habeas corpus, discharge them. That if any person de- 1108 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. clared free by this act, or any law of the United States, or any proclamation by the President, be restrained of liber- ty, with intent to be held in or reduced to involuntary servitude or labor, the person convicted before a court of competent jurisdiction of such act shall be punished by fine of not less than fifteen hundred dollars, and be im- prisoned not less than five nor more than twenty years. That every person who shall hereafter hold or exercise any office, civil or military, except offices merely ministerial, and military offices below the grade of colonel, in the rebel service, State or Confederate, is hereby declared not to be a citizen of the United States. This act the President did not sign, but gave it publi- cation by a proclamation, in which he said : " That while I am (as I was in December last, when by proclamation I propounded a plan for restoration) unprepared, by a formal approval of this bill, to be inflexibly committed to any single plan of restoration ; and, while I am also un- prepared to declare that the free State constitutions and governments already adopted and installed in Arkansas and Louisiana shall be set aside and held for naught, thereby repelling and discouraging the loyal citizens who have set up the same as to further effort, or to declare a constitutional competency in Congress to abolish slavery in States, but am at the same time sincerely hoping and expecting that a constitutional amendment, abolishing slavery throughout the nation, may be adopted, neverthe- less I am fully satisfied with the system for restoration contained in the bill as one very proper plan for the loyal people of any State choosing to adopt it, and that I am and at all times shall be, prepared to give the Executive aid and assistance to any such people, so soon as the military resistance to the United States shall have been suppressed in^any such State, and the people thereof shall have suf- ficiently returned to their obedience to the Constitution and laws of the United States, in which cases military governors will be appointed, with, directions to proceed according to the bill. The enrolment and conscription bill was amended by this Congress in several particulars, and that clause in the, original bill which permitted drafted persons to be ex- empted from service by the payment o'f three hundred dollars into the national treasury was repealed. JSTegro HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1109 soldiers, of whom one hundred thousand were enlisted in 1864, were placed on an equal footing with white soldiers in respect to pay and other matters, and a Bureau of Freedmen's Affairs was established, which should deter- mine all questions relating to persons of African descent, and make regulations for their employment and proper treatment on abandoned plantations. Finally, to silence the cavillings of those persons who denounced the Presi- dent's emancipation proclamation as unconstitutional, a resolution was adopted to submit to the action of the seve- ral States an amendment to the Constitution of the United States, prohibiting the existence of slavery within the States and Territories of the Union forever. This met with much opposition from members of the border Slave States, who declared it was a palpable violation of State rights for the people thus to interfere with any thing which State laws declare to be property. But the objec- tion was met by Senator Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland, who argued that when the Constitution was originally framed this prohibition might have been embodied in it, and that it was competent for the States to do now what- ever they might have done then. To secure an amend- ment to the Constitution, it is necessary, after it has been adopted by a two-thirds vote in both houses of Congress, that it should be ratified by the legislatures of two-thirds of the States ; and the question was seriously agitated whether two-thirds of the loyal States would not be suf- ficient in the present instance. In order, however, to be within the strict letter of the law, it was determined to follow the constitutional provision literally. The amend- ment has since been ratified by the requisite number of States ; and, proclamation to that effect having been duly made by the Secretary of State, it is therefore now a part of the Constitution. The spring of 1864, which witnessed the commence- ment and progress of the momentous campaigns of Grant and Sherman, was destined also to witness a political struggle of more than usual acerbity. The peace party had now become fully organized, and, despite its over- whelming defeat in the previous autumn, hoped through the apparent failure of the military plans of the year, and the undoubted and wide-spread desire for peace, to insure the election of their candidate for the Presidency. It was 1110 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOX. deemed peculiarly unfortunate that the country should be involved at such a crisis in the excitement and confusion ordinarily attending a Presidential election, and the opin- ion prevailed among a large portion of the people, that the canvass, which had usually commenced after the nom- ination of candidates in May or June, should be post- poned until the autumn. Strong efforts were made to have the Republican nominating convention adjourned to September or October ; but popular impatience could not endure so long a delay, and on June 7th the Convention met at Baltimore. On the first ballot Abraham Lincoln was unanimously renominated for President, amid unmis- takable demonstrations of enthusiasm, and subsequently Andrew Johnson, of Tennesse, formerly a United States Senator from that State, and since 1862 its military gov- ernor, was nominated for Vice-President. The following is the platform adopted by the convention : " Resolved, That it is the highest duty of every American citizen to maintain against all their enemies the integrity of the Union, and the paramount authority of the Constitution and laws of the United States, and that, laying aside all differences aad political opinions, we pledge our- selves as Union men, animated by a common sentiment, and aiming at a common object, to do every thing in our power to aid the Government in quelling by force of arms the rebellion now raging against its authority, and in bringing to the punishment due to their crimes the rebels and traitors arrayed against it. (Prolonged applause.) " Resolved, That we approve the determination of the Government of the United States not to compromise with rebels, or to offer any terms of peace except such as may be based upon an " unconditional surrender " of their hostility and a return to their just allegiance to the Constitution and laws of the United States ; and that we call upon the Government to maintain this position, and to prosecute the war with the utmost possible vigor to the complete suppression of the rebellion, in full reliance upon the self-sacrifices, the patriotism, the heroic valor, and the undying devotion of the American people to their country and its free institutions. (Ap- plause.) "Resolved, That as Slavery was the cause, and now constitutes the strength, of this rebellion, and as it must be always and everywhere hostile to the principles 'of republican government, justice and the national safety demand its utter and complete extirpation! from the soil of the republic (applause) ; and that we uphold and maintain the acts and proclamations by which the Government, in its own defence, has aimed a death-blow at this gigantic evil. We are in favor, furthermore, of such an amendment to the Constitution, to be made by the people in conformity with its provis- ions, as shall terminate and forever prohibit the existence of Slavery within the limits or the jurisdiction of the United States. (Applause.) " Resolved, That the thanks of the American people are due to the soldiers and sailors of the army and the navy (applause), who have perilled their lives in defence of their country, and in vindication of the honor of the flag ; that the nation owes to them some permanent recognition of their HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1111 patriotism and their valor, and ample and permanent provision for those of their survivors who have received disabling and honorable wounds in the service of the country ; and that the memories of those who have fallen in its defence shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance. (Loud applause.) " Resolved, That we approve and applaud the practical wisdom, the unselfish patriotism, and unswerving fidelity to the Constitution and the principles of American liberty, with which Abraham Lincoln has discharged, under circumstances of unparalleled difficulty, the great duties and respon- sibilities of the Presidential office ; that we approve and indorse, as de- manded by the emergency and essential to the preservation of the nation, and as within the Constitution, the measures and acts which he has adopted to defend the nation against its open and secret foes ; thai we approve especially the proclamation of emancipation and the employment as Union soldiers of men heretofore held in slavery (applause) ; and that we have full confidence in his determination to carry these and all other constitu- tional measures essential to the salvation of the country into full and complete effect. " Resolved, That we deem it essential to the general welfare that harmony should prevail in the national councils, and we regard as worthy of public confidence and official trust those only who cordially indorse the principles proclaimed in these resolutions, and which should characterize the adminis- tration of the Government. (Applause.) " Resolved, That the Government owes to all men employed in its armies, without regard to distinction of color, the full protection of the laws of war (applause), and that any violations of these laws, or of the usages of civilized nations in the time of war, by the rebels, now in arms, should be made the subject of full and prompt redress. (Prolonged applause.) " Resolved, That the foreign immigration which in the past has added so much to the wealth and development of resources and increase of power to this nation the asylum of the oppressed of all nations should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy. " Resolved, That we are in favor of the speedy construction of the rail- road to the Pacific. " Resolved, That the national faith pledged for the redemption of the public debt must be kept inviolate, and that for this purpose we recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures, and a vigorous and just system of taxation ; that it is the duty of every loyal State to sustain the credit and promote the use of the national currency. (Applause.) " Resolred, That we approve the position taken by the Government, that the people of the United States can never regard with indifference the attempt of any European Power to overthrow by force, or to supplant by fraud, the institutions of any republican government on the Western Con- tinent (prolonged applause) ; and that they will view with extreme jealousy, as menacing to the peace and independence of this our country, the efforts of any such Power to obtain new footholds for monarchical govern- ments, sustained by a foreign military force in near proximity to the United States. (Long-continued applause.)" The nominations were generally received with satisfac- tion by the Republican party, though a radical section of it had expressed a preference for Secretary Chase as a candidate for the Presidency. The name of Mr. Johnson, who was of Southern birth, but had been from the com- 1112 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. menceuient of the war thoroughly identified with the Union cause, was considered to give great strength to the ticket. The opposition, with a view of adding to the strength of their party, postponed their convention to the 29th of August. In the interval between the meeting of the Re- publican Convention and that date, many events, they supposed, might occur to increase the public craving for peace and compromise, and to bring into discredit the acts and policy of the Administration. The move was a sagacious one, for up to the 29th of August the progress of the National arms had not been in accordance with public expectation, considering the enormous scale on which preparations were made, and many of that numer- ous class who invariably side with the successful party were beginning to grow lukewarm or to waver in their support of Mr. Lincoln. So powerful, in such a crisis as the country was then passing through, is the influence of military success to sustain a party, be its cause ever so just a one, that if a long train of reverses had followed the commencement of the autumn, it is not improbable that the contest between the Republican and opposition candidates for the Presidency might have been close and exciting. But September brought the fall of Atlanta and the victories of Sheridan in the Valley, and it was seen that Grant, while apparently making slight progress, was in reality holding Lee by an iron grip within his intrench- ments at Petersburg, and preventing him from sending a single man to re-enforce the rebel armies in the West. As this conviction dawned upon the public mind, confi- dence was restored, the faint-hearted plucked up courage, and the crisis was past. This change of opinion, how- ever, could not be foreseen by the leaders of the opposi- tion, and therefore their postponement of their convention was on the whole a clever stroke of policy, the failure of which was through no fault of its advisers. For months before the meeting of the convention, which took place in Chicago, but one prominent name was in the mouths of Democratic politicians in connection with the Presidency, and that was- General McClellan's. We have stated how he was taken up by these men in the first flush of his military reputation, and how the political ideas which he then imbibed, by arraying him in HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1113 opposition to the Administration, and prompting him to go beyond the line of his proper duty, impaired his use- fulness as a soldier. Since his removal from the command of the Army of the Potomac, in November, 1862, he had relinquished no one of those political views, and his long retirement from active duty was regarded by his friends as a species of martyrdom, prompted by the fears and hatred of the Government. The popularity which he had once possessed, both in and out of the army, it was be- lieved, had experienced no diminution. A man of un- doubted ability, of many accomplishments, having- the appearance and address of a polished gentleman, and of unblemished private character, he formed in some re- spects a marked contrast to the Republican candidate, and was decided to combine in himself more elements of success than any other man in the ranks of the opposition. Under these circumstances his nomination was a foregone conclusion, and was secured on the first ballot, the only competitor against him having any show of strength be- ing Governor Seymour, of New York. This result was, nevertheless, unpalatable to that wing of the Democratic party of which men like Vallandigham were the expo- nents, because McClellan was professedly in favor of pros- ecuting the war against the rebellion ; and for the purpose of securing their support, George II. Pendleton, a member of the Thirty-seventh Congress, from Ohio, and one of their ablest men, was nominated for the Vice-Presidency. The ticket thus comprised a candidate for President in favor of war, and a candidate for Yice-President pledged in the strongest terms to oppose it. The year 1864 was marked by two indirect attempts to commence negotiations for peace, which resulted in noth- ing. In the middle of July, Colonel James F. Jaques, of the Seventy-third Illinois Volunteers, accompanied by Mr. Edward Kirke, was permitted to enter the rebel lines in front of Petersburg, and proceed to Richmond, where he obtained an interview with Jefferson Davis. Though clothed with no authority to speak for either President Lincoln or the Government, and much less to act for them, he was nevertheless received with cordiality by Davis, to whom he explained the basis on which, in all probability, the United States Government would consent to treat for peace. Davis having intimated very de- HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. cidedly that no peace could be contemplated by him or his Government, without the recognition of the inde- pendence of the " Southern Confederacy " by the United States, Colonel Jaques and his companion took their departure, no wiser than when they reached Richmond. The next attempt at peace negotiations was conducted through more practised hands, but resulted none the more favorably for the peace party. Early in July, Mr. Horace Greeley, editor of the New York Tribune, re- ceived from "W. Cornell Jewett, a political adventurer of some notoriety, information that certain prominent rebel refugees in Canada were desirous of holding an interview with him at Niagara Falls. The following letter from Mr. Greeley to the President in reference to this matter formed the prelude to the attempted negotiations : "NEW YORK, July 7, 1864. " MY DEAR SIR : I venture to enclose you a letter and telegraphic dis- patch that I received yesterday from our irrepressible friend, Colorado Jewett, at Niagara Falls. I think they deserve attention. Of course I do not indorse Jewett'a positive averment that his friends at the Falls havo 'full powers ' from J. D., though I do not doubt that ho thinks they have. I let that statement stand as simply evidencing the anxiety of the Confeder- ates everywhere for peace. So much is beyond doubt. " And therefore I venture to remind you that our bleeding, bankrupt, almost dying country also longs for peace shudders at the prospect of fresh conscriptions, of further wholesale devastations, and of new rivers of human blood; and a wide-spread conviction that the Government and its prominent supporters are not anxious for peace and do not improve proffered opportunities to achieve it, is doing great harm now, and is morally certain, unless removed, to do far greater in the approaching elections. " It is not enough that we anxiously desire a true and lasting peace. We ought to demonstrate and establish the truth beyond cavil. The fact that A. H. Stephens was not permitted a year ago to visit and confer with the authorities at Washington has done harm, which the tone of the late National Convention at Baltimore is not calculated to counteract. ' " I entreat you, in your own time and manner, to submit overtures for pacification to the Southern insurgents, which the impartial must pro- nounce frank and generous. "If only with a view to the momentous election soon to occur in North Carolina, and of the draft to be enforced in the Free States, this should be done at onpe. I would give the safe-conduct required by the rebel en- voys at Niagara, upon their parole to avoid observation, and to refrain from all communication with their sympathizers in the loyal States ; but you may see reasons for declining it. But whether through them or other- wise, do not, I entreat you, fail to make the Southern people comprehend that you and all of us are anxious for peace, and prepared to grant liberal terms. I venture to suggest the following "PLAN OP ADJUSTMENT. " 1. The Union is restored, and declared perpetual. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1115 " 2. Slavery is utterly and forever abolished throughout the same. " 3. A complete amnesty for all political offences, with a restoration of all the inhabitants pf each State to all the privileges of citizens of the United States. "4. The Union to pay four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000), in five per cent. United States stock, to the late Slave States, loyal and seces- sion alike, to be apportioned pro rata, according to their slave population respectively, by the census of 1860, in compensation for the losses of their loyal citizens by the abolition of slavery. Each State to be entitled to its quota upon the ratification by its legislature of this adjustment. The bonds to be at the absolute disposal of the legislature aforesaid. "5. The said Slave States to be entitled henceforth to representation in the House on the basis of their total, instead of their Federal population, the whole now being free. "6. A national convention, to be assembled as soon as may be, to ratify this adjustment, and make such changes in the Constitution as maybe deemed advisable. " Mr. President, I fear you do not realize how intently the people desire any peace consistent with the national integrity and honor, and how joy- ously they would hail its achievement, and bless its authors. With United States stock worth about forty cents in gold per dollar, and drafting about to commence on the third million of Union soldiers, can this be wondered at ? " I do not say that a just peace is now attainable, though I believe it to be so. But I do say that a frank offer by you to the insurgents of terms which the impartial say ought to be accepted, will, at the worst, prove an immense and sorely needed advantage to the National cause. It may save us from a Northern insurrection. "Yours truly, HORACE GREELEY. " Hon. A. LINCOLN, President, Washington, D. C. "P. S. Even though it should be deemed unadvisable to make an offer of terms to the rebels, I insist that in any possible case it is desirable that any offer they may be disposed to make should be received, and either accepted or rejected. I beg you to invite those now at Niagara to ex- hibit their credentials and submit their ultimatum. "H. G." A few days later, Mr. Greeley was informed by George N. Sanders, a noted rebel agent in Canada, that Clement C. Clay, of Alabama, Professor J. P. Holcombe, of Virginia, and himself, were willing to go at once to Washington, provided they could be assured of their per- sonal safety. To this Mr. Greeley replied as follows : ' "NIAGARA PALLS, N. Y., July 17, 1864. "GENTLEMEN: I am informed that you are duly accredited from Eich- mond as the bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace, that you desire to visit Washington in the fulfilment of your mission, and that you further desire that Mr. George N. Slanders shall accompany you. If my information be thus far substantially correct, I am authorized by the President of the United States to tender you his safe-conduct on 1116 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. the journey proposed, and to accompany you at the earliest time that will be agreeable to you. "I have the honor to be, gentlemen, yours, HORACE GEEELET. " To Messrs. CLEMENT C. CLAY, JACOB THOMPSON, JAMES P. HOLCOMBE, Clifton House, C. W." Clay and Holcombe replied on the succeeding day that the safe-conduct of the JPresident had been tendered to them under some misapprehensions of facts, since they had not been accredited to him from Richmond as the bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace. "We are, however," they added, " in the confi- dential employment of our Government, and are entirely familiar with its wishes and opinions on that subject ; and we feel authorized to declare that if the circumstances disclosed in this correspondence were communicated to Richmond, we would be at once invested with the authority to which your letter refers ; or other gentlemen, clothed with full powers, would be immediately sent to Washing- ton, with a view of hastening a consummation so much to be desired, and terminating at the earliest possible moment the calamities of the war. Under these circumstances, Mr. Greeley telegraphed to Washington for furtherin- structions, and received on the same day the following memorandum : " EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, July 18, 1864. To whom it may concern : " Any proposition which embraces the restoration of peace, the integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery, and which comes by and with an authority that can control the armies now at war against the United States, will be received and considered by the Executive Govern- ment of the United States, and will be met by liberal terms, on substantial and collateral points, and the bearer or bearers thereof shall have safe- conduct both ways. (Signed) "ABRAHAM LINCOLN." This, in view of the temper and pretensions of the South, was practically a bar to further proceedings, and was so considered by the rebel agents. In their final reply to Mr. Greeley, after quoting the President's memo- randum, they proceed as follows : " The application to which we refer was elicited by your letter of the 17th instant, in which you inform MA?. Jacob Thompson and ourselves that you were authorized by tho President of the United States to tender us his safe-conduct on the hypothesis that we were ' duly accredited from Rich- mond as bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace,' and desired a visit to Washington in the fulfilment of this mission. This IIISTOKY OF THE GKEAT .REBELLION. 1117 assertion, to which we then gave, and still do, entire credence, was accepted by us as the evidence of an unexpected but most gratifying change in' the policy of the President, a change which we felt authorized to hope might terminate in the conclusion of a peace mutually just, honorable, and advan- tageous to the North and to the South, exacting no condition but that we should be 'duly accredited from Richmond as bearers of propositions looking to the establishment of peace.' Thus proffering a basis for con- ference as comprehensive as we could desire, it seemed to us that the President opened a door which had previously been closed against the Confederate States for a full interchange of sentiments, free discussion of conflicting opinions, and untrammelled effort to remove all causes of contro- versy by liberal negotiations. We, indeed, could not claim the benefit of a safe-conduct which had been extended to us in a character we had no right to assume, and had never affected to possess; but the uniform declarations of our Executive and Congress, and their thrice-repeated, and as often repulsed, attempts to open negotiations, furnish a sufficient pledge to assure us that this conciliatory manifestation on the part of the President of the United States would be met by them in a temper of equal magnanimity. We had, therefore, no hesitation in declaring that if this correspondence was communicated to the President of the Confederate States, he would promptly embrace the opportunity presented for seeking a peaceful solution of this unhappy strife. We feel confident that you must share our pro- found regret that the spirit which dictated the first step towards peace had not continued to animate the counsels of your President. Had the repre- sentatives of the two Governments met to consider this question, the most momentous ever submitted to human statesmanship, in a temper of be- coming moderation and equity, followed as their deliberations would have been by the prayers and benedictions of every patriot and Christian on the habitable globe, who is there so bold as to pronounce that the frightful waste of individual happiness and public prosperity which is daily sadden- ing the universal heart, might not have been terminated ; or if the desola- tion and carnage of war must still be endured through weary years of blood and suffering, that there might not at least have been infused into its conduct something more of the spirit which softens and partially redeems its brutalities ? Instead of the safe-conduct which we solicited, and which your first letter gave us every reason to suppose would be extended for the purpose of initiating a negotiation in which neither Gov- ernment would compromise its rights or its dignity, a document has been presented which provokes as much indignation as surprise. It bears no feature of resemblance to that which was originally offered, and is unlike any paper which ever before emanated from the constitutional Executive of a free people. Addressed ' to whom it may concern,' it precludes negotia- tion, %nd prescribes in advance the terms and conditions of peace. It returns to the original policy of ' No bargaining, no negotiations, no truces with rebels except to bury their dead, until every man shall have laid down his arms, submitted to the Government, and sued for mercy.' What may be the explanation of this sudden and entire change in the views of the President, of this rude withdrawal of a courteous overture for negotiation at the moment it was likely to be accepted, of this emphatic recall of words of peace just uttered, and fresh blasts of war to the bitter end, we leave for the speculation of those who have the means or inclination to penetrate the mysteries- of his Cabinet, or fathom the caprice of his imperial will. It is enough for us to say that we have no use whatever for the paper which has been placed in our hands. We could not transmit it to the President of the Confederate States without offering him an indignity, dishonoring ourselves, and incurring the well-merited scorn of our countrymen. 1118 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. " While an ardent desire for peace pervades the people of the Confed- erate States, we rejoice to believe that there are few, if any, among them, who would purchase it at the expense of liberty, honor, and self-respect. If it can be secured only by their submission to terms of conquest, tho generation is yet unborn which wil! witness its restitution. If there be any military autocrat in the North who is entitled to profler the conditions of this manifesto, there is none in the South authorized to entertain them. Those who control our armies are the servants of the people, not their masters : and they have no more inclination than they have fight to sub- vert the social institutions of the sovereign States, to overthrow their estab- lished Constitutions, and to barter away their priceless heritage of self- ' government. This correspondence will not, however, we trust, prove wholly barren of good results. "If there is any citizen of the Confederate States who has clung to a hope that peace was possible with this Administration of the Federal Government, it will strip from his eyes the last film of such a delusion. Or, if there be any whose hearts have grown faint under the suffering and agony of this bloody struggle, it will inspire them with fresh energy to endure and brave whatever may yet be requisite to preserve to themselves and their children all that gives dignity and value to life, or hope and con- solation to death. And if there be any patriots or Christians in your land, who shrink appalled from the illimitable vista of private misery and pub- lic calamity which stretches before them, we pray that in their bosoms a resolution may be quickened to recall the abused authority and vindicate the outraged civilization of their country. For the solicitude you have manifested to inaugurate a movement which contemplates results the most noble and humane, we return our sincere thanks, and are, most respectfully and truly, your obedient servants, "C. C. CLAY, JR. "JAMES P. HOLCOMBE." CHAPTER LXX. Finances of 1863. Revenue. Sales of Bonds. Effect of Paper Money. Policy of Mr. Chase. Gold Law, and its Effects. Finances of 1864. Sales of Bonds in Europe. National Banks. THE financial resources of the Government were deyel- oped with the most extraordinary power and effect as the war proceeded. The immense pressure of continual paper issues upon the markets, in discharge of the vast claims upon Government, could have no other effect than a continual depreciation of the value of that paper. In a previous chapter the finances of the Government were brought down to the close of the fiscal year 1863, at which time the debt had accumulated to $1,098,793,181. The receipts of the fiscal year, ending June 30, 1863, HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1119 comprised $69,059,642 from customs, and $42,340,124 from taxes, making together $111,399,766 from revenue. There was borrowed in that year $776,682,361, making together $8^8,082,128, to meet an expenditure of $895,- 796,630. The fiscal year 1864 opened with $411,190,065 legal-tender money outstanding, and gold at a premium of 150. The internal revenue and customs taxes were so modified as, it was hoped, to increase the revenue of the year at least fifty per cent. The depreciation of paper had, however, greatly increased the expenses of the Gov- ernment, by enhancing the cost of most articles of which the Government was the purchaser, and making it requi- site to increase the pay of the troops, as well as to swell the sum of the bounties offered. It was very clear that, no matter how near to the estimates the receipts from taxes might come, the increased expense caused by the depreciation of paper would' more than absorb the sum of the taxes, and that the dependence of the Government must be upon borrowing. In pursuing this course, the Government varied the form of the bonds offered in the market. Up to the close of May, 1863, the gold bonds of the Government had not met with much sale, because of their high price as compared with the value of other comrnodites upon the market. The property of the peo- ple had been locked up in goods and merchandise that were not readily salable when the war broke out. It was not until the issue of Government paper, in exchange for commodities at very high prices, had transmuted goods into Government paper, that the people had money or paper to invest in the bonds of the Government. In the spring of 1863 very active sales of goods had taken place for paper, which had depreciated to forty-two cents per dollar. High prices had been obtained in this paper for merchandise, and when gold began to decline in May, the desire to convert the paper money into the gold bonds enabled the Government to negotiate a considerable amount of the 5-20 bonds. In the first quarter of the fiscal year, 1864, $109,631,250 of those bonds were sold. In addition, $15,000,000 more legal-tender notes were issued. The sales of the 5-20 bonds continued up to the middle of January, 1864, the rate of gold remaining at about 152. The Secretary of the Treasury was then induced to stop the sale of the gold bonds, and to issue 1120 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. a new form of legal-tender notes, bearing interest, to the extent of $150,000,000. The effect of this was to send the price of gold up a little, and this tendency was enhanced by the attempts of Congress to check the rise, by interfering with the freedom of individual action. The issues of legal tender then became necessary, because the sales of the Government bonds were less free. Meantime the customs revenues were very large, ex- ceeding the estimates to a considerable extent. The law guaranteeing that the public interest should be paid in gold, had required that the customs receipts should be applied, first, to the payment of interest on the public debt, and secondly, to the purchase annually of one per cent, of the entire public debt, as a sinking fund. In March, 1864, gold was at a premium of 160, and a bill was brought into Congress to allow the Secretary to sell in the open market the gold not required for the interest. This was refused ; nevertheless, the Secretary caused to be issued the following notice : " UNITED STATES TREASURY, NEW YORK, March 23, 18G4. " By direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, notice is hereby given that until further orders I will issue to importers, for payment of duties on goods imported by them, certificates of deposit of gold coin, to the credit of the collector of any port, as desired in exchange for notes, at a quarter of one per centum below the current market value of gold. " These certificates are not assignable, but will bo receivable by the col- lector from the party to whom they are issued. "J. J. Cisco, " Assistant Treasurer of the United States. "No. United States Treasury, New York, ,1864. "I certify that has this day deposited to the credit of the Collector of the Port of New York $ in gold coin. This cer- tificate is receivable only for duties on imports from the party to whom it is issued, and upon his indorsement. "$ . , Assistant Treasurer" The gold certificates thus sold were used for the pay- ment of customs, in the view of checking the demand for gold. A considerable quantity of gold was also sent to Lon- don, and exchange drawn against it was sold for paper in the same manner. Congress now passed a resolution increasing the duty on imported goods fifty per cent, for sixty days, to take effect on April 29th. The effect of this was to cause very large entries of goods for duties in April, and consequently to draw gold into the Treasury, HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1121 and a further rise in gold resulted. Congress now took measures to stop dealing in gold, by passing a law which forbade sales of exchange for specie at more than ten days' time, at any place except the individual office of the banker, and in point of fact greatly embarrassed the business operations of bankers, since they could not tell in how far they might be exposed, not simply to the danger of infringing on the law, but to the complaints of inform- ers, called into being by the enactment, which bestowed upon them half the fine. The law also, by limiting the time within which a contract for exchange might run, cut off a large amount of ordinary shipping business done in New York for Western account, and which, in the usual course of business, required at least fifteen days to perfect arrangements between Chicago and New York. These difficulties, of course, caused a rise in both ex- change and gold. The latter rose to 285 and 290 on July 1st. The bill had, as we have stated, caused a dead-lock in the foreign exchange business, on account of the provi- sions above referred to. It is well known that a very large proportion of the ordinary business payments of the people of this country, and of every civilized commercial community, are, in modern times, settled by certified checks, and similar financial expedients. To forbid the use of these certified checks, in any important department of legitimate business, would be attended with the most disastrous results, both to the enterprise of private indi- viduals and to the credit of the public Treasury. An important revolution had been effected in the bank- ing system of the country by the introduction of Mr. Chase's National Banking scheme, which authorized the establishment of three hundred million dollars of bank capital, to issue three hundred million dollars of bank notes not convertible into specie, but redeemable in legal- tender notes; the bank notes to be a legal tender for all Government dues except customs, and secured upon United States bonds. The advantages held out by thia law were not at first appreciated, but in 1864, National banks began to be rapidly organized, and by the close of the first Administration of Mr. Lincoln the whole amount of capital authorized was nearly engaged, and one hun- dred and eleven million dollars of the notes issued. A 69 1122 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. law taxing State-bank notes ten per cent, was intended to induce State banks to convert themselves into National banks, and thus simplify and consolidate the whole bank- ing system of the country. The tendency has accordingly been in that direction. Mr. Chase was succeeded by Mr. William Pitt Fessen- den, Senator from Maine, and chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The Government paper was worth thirty-five cents per dollar, and the revenues were not large from taxes ; but the revised law coining then into operation promised to increase the amount. There was also a five per cent, extra income tax levied in October on the incomes of 1863. The customs had begun to de- cline, but the low price of the Federal six per cent, bonds, selling then in London at thirty-five cents per dollar, and therefore giving seventeen per cent, interest on the investment, was beginning to attract the attention of capitalists in Europe, and sales became large, thereby checking the drain for gold in the payment of goods im- ported. By the laws in force on the day Mr. Fessenden as- sumed office, he had authority to borrow on the credit of the United States the amounts following, to wit : First. Under the act of March 3d, 1863, so much of $75,000,000 advertised previously to June 30th, 1864, as had not been awarded to bidders, $32,459,700. Second. Under the act of March 3d, 1864, so much as had not been subscribed for and paid into the treasury, viz.: $127,603,520. Third. Under the act of June 30th, 1864, $400,- 000,000. Fourth. Amount of Treasury notes issued under former acts which had been redeemed and cancelled, and which the Secretary was authorized to replace by notes issued under the act of June 30th, 1864, $62,191,400. Total available resources under laws authorizing loans, $622,284,625. To this may be added the actual balance in the treasury, July 1st, 1864, $18,842,588 71. Total, $641,127,213 71. Thus provfded with funds, he did not attempt any change from the course pursued by Mr. Chase. The policy of the department was, as far as practicable, HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1123 to avoid the issues of legal tender by substituting for them bonds. The sales of the latter abroad facilitated this movement. Mr. Fesseriden retained power to the close of March, 1805, in which term the debt had increased from $1,733,810,119 to $2,423,437,001, or 689,626,882, be- ing at the rate of $2,500,000 per day. Of this increase, $74,000,000 was legal tender, $260,000,000 gold bonds, $64,000,000 arrears to creditors, and the remainder paper interest bonds. CHAPTER LXXI. Sherman Prepares to Cross Georgia. Composition of Army. Combat at Griswoldville. Appeal to the People of Georgia. Milledgeville Reached. Army at Louisville. Combat with Wheeler. March to Savannah. Communicates with the Fleet. Fort McAllister. Evacuation of Sa- vannah. Sherman's Dispatch. "Wilmington Expedition. Fort Fisher. Powder Ship. Bombardment. Failure. Return to Hampton Roads. Co-operation from Plymouth. WHEN Sherman paused in his pursuit of Hood, he re- mained several days at Gaylesville, in Northern Alabama, and then, with the Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Corps, the Fourth and Twenty-third having been sent to Tennessee, returned to Atlanta, to commence preparations for a march through Georgia to the sea-coast. Hood had made the mistake of going north into Tennes- see, without any very definite object, and there was no force south of Atlanta to present any opposition to the proposed march of Sherman. Beauregard was indeed at Corinth, but with little prospect of being able to make head against the well-appointed army under the control of the Union leader. The, army with which Sherman left Atlanta was composed of four corps of infantry, one di- vision of cavalry, four brigades of artillery, and two horse- batteries. The infantry consisted of the Fourteenth Corps, General Jeff. C. Davis; the Fifteenth, General Osterhaus (Logan being absent) ; the Seventeenth, Gen- eral Blair ; and the Twentieth, General Slocum. The cavalry was commanded by Kilpatrick. Finally, there was a full brigade of artillery for each corps, and one 1124: HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. battery of horse artillery for the cavalry, numbering in all about sixty-five thousand men. The two divisions of the Sixteenth Corps were divided between the Fifteenth and Seventeenth. The corps were quite full, many had new regiments added, and the men, under the recent calls for troops, had come in to restore the old regiments to their maximum. The artillery arm was organized into an independent brigade for each corps, commanded by a field officer, with his own adjutant-general, quartermas- ter-general, quartermaster, commissary, ordnance officer, &c. Sherman, in his special field order No. 120, an- nounced the division of his forces, for the purpose of military operations, into two wings : " The right wing, Major-General O. O. Howard commanding, the Fifteenth, and Seventeenth Corps; the left wing, Major-General H. W. Slocum commanding, the Fourteenth and Twen- tieth Corps." Each wing had- its due proportion of in- fantry, cavalry, and artillery. The men on commencing the march had in haversacks two days' rations salt meat, two days' hard bread, ten days' coflee and salt, and five days' sugar. Each infantry soldier carried sixty rounds of ammunition on his person. Thus prepared, between the 12th and 15th of Novem- ber, the troops began to concentrate around Atlanta. From Rome and Kingston southward the railroad was thoroughly broken up, and no property or buildings that could aid the enemy were spared. A general conflagra- tion in Atlanta consumed over two million dollars of property, and the defensive works were levelled to the ground. On November 16th the great march commenced, and the army, thus cut loose from its base, moved in four columns on two general lines. The right wing, under Howard, marched through East Point, and, driving be- fore it the enemy's mounted troops under Iverson, arrived at Jonesboro on the 16th. Leaving Jonesboro, it moved west, through McDonough and Jackson, to Monticello and Hillsboro, after crossing the Ocmulgee River, at Planter's Factory, on the 19th ult. On the 21st and 22d, the column struck the Georgia Central, east of Macon and between Gordon and Griswoldville, and immediately began to destroy the track. On the 20th, a body of Kilpatrick's Cavalry made a demonstration in the neighborhood of Macon, to deceive HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1125 the enemy, and on the 23d Walcott's Brigade, on the ex- treme right of the column, had a sharp encounter at Gris- woldville with a body of Georgia troops, under General Phillips, whom they defeated with the loss of a thousand or upwards. On the 23d the column reached the Oconee River, having destroyed the railroad to thatpoint. The opposite bank was protected by Generals Wheeler and Wayne with a cavalry force, and Howard's Cavalry made several ineffectual attempts to cross. But by a march down the river, our forces flanked the enemy, crossed, and dispersed all opposition. On Friday, the 25th, a part of our cavalry entered Sandersville, a town twenty-two miles east of Milledgeville and of the Oconee, and five miles north of the Central Railroad. This flanking move forced the abandonment of the Oconee River, and com- pelled Wayne to retire to Davisboro'. Meanwhile, Slocum's column, passing along the Augusta Railroad, and destroying it as far as Madison, moved thence in a southerly direction upon Milledgeville, the capital of the State, which place it reached on the 2"lst and 22d. The Georgia Legislature and Governor Brown decamped at its approach in unseemly haste. On the 26th, Slocum was at Sandersville, east of the Oconee, and on the 27th and 28th both wings of the expeditionary army were temporarily encamped between Sandersville and Irwin's Cross Roads, in the neighborhood of the Georgia Central Railroad. Four large rivers lay origin- ally in the line of Sherman's march, all tending south- easterly the Ocmulgee, Oconee, Ogeechee, and Savan- nah. The former is the most westerly, and unites lower down with the Oconee, to form the Altamaha. Macon is on the Ocmulgee, Milledgeville on the Oconee, Millen on the Ogeechee, and Augusta on the Savannah. There were also many less considerable streams to cross, and much marshy country, especially between the Ogeechee and the Savannah. The Oconee had been passed by the right wing below the Oconee Bridge, and by the left at Milledgeville. The Ogeechee was passed by our troops at Fen s Bridge in the march from Sandersville, and the next main stopping-place was Louisville, fifteen miles from Fen's Bridge, in the centre of Jefferson County, which was reached by the Fourteenth Corps on the 29th. Thence the cavalry pushed out northeasterly in force to 1126 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Waynesboro', a station on the Augusta and Savannah road, thirty-two miles south of Augusta. The main army remained around Louisville to Decem- ber 1st. The time was employed in foraging and captur- ing mules and horses, and thoroughly breaking up the railroad. On the 2d the Seventeenth Corps reached Millen, eighty miles from Savannah and fifty-three from Augusta. The route from Millen to Savannah was well defended by natural obstacles on both flanks. On the night of Saturday, the 3d, a combat occurred, near Waynesboro, between the cavalry of Kilpatrick and "Wheeler, the latter being the attacking party, and being decidedly repulsed. The next morning, Sunday, our cavalry and a portion of the Fourteenth Corps attacked Wheeler in his breastworks, and drove him out of his works, capturing them, and forcing him to retreat. From Millen the army pursued the direct route to Savannah, the Fifteenth Corps keeping on the west side of the Ogeechee, and the others on the east side. The march was almost entirely unobstructed, and on the llth, Captain Duncan, dispatched by Sherman, after a hazard- ous passage down the Ogeechee, entered Ossabaw Sound, and reached the flag-ship of Admiral Dahlgren, thus opening up communication between Sherman's army and the fleet before Savannah. When, on the 10th, Sherman reached Bloomingdale, fifteen miles north of Savannah, his line stretched across the peninsula formed by the Ogeechee and Savannah Rivers. The next day, the left, under Slocum, moved down to where the Charleston Rail- road crosses the Savannah River, ten miles from the city, and then pressed forward five miles nearer Savannah. The right, under Howard, meanwhile also marched to- wards the city, and passed to the west of it, skirting Rockingham, a station on the Savannah, Albany, and Gulf Railroad, on the 12th. The same evening the army had reached the neighborhood of Fort 'McAllister, and made a careful reconnoissance of it, before nightfall. This is a very strong earthwork on the Ogeechee River, about six miles from Ossabaw Sound. It completely protected the rear of Savannah from the attack of our funboats on the Ogeechee. Two severe engagements etween the fort and our monitor fleet, one on the 27th of January, 1863, the other on the 3d of March, 1863, HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1127 had left it uninjured and defiant. It mounted about ten heavy guns, but had only about two hundred and fifty men in garrison. As the possession of this work was essential in order to open communication with the fleet, Sherman ordered Hazen's Division of the Fifteenth Corps to carry it by assault. At half-past four o'clock on the afternoon of the 13th, the division went forward to the attack. The abatis and ditch were passed under a heavy fire from the fort, the parapets, ten feet high, scaled by our troops, and the fort carried by a regular assault. At five o'clock it was ours. "We gained the strong fort, its garrison of over two hundred men, and its stores of ordnance and subsistence, with all its guns. On the fall of Fort McAllister, Sherman turned his at- tention to the reduction of Savannah, which was held by General Hardee. The north, west, and south sides were invested, but on the east side of the city the enemy had command of the river, which was so obstructed with piles and sunken vessels that the fleet could not reach within supporting distance. The forts, Jackson, Lee, and Bar- tow, also swept the east side, which was the more unap- proachable by reason of a wide stretch of swamps and ricer- fields, which, being flooded, doubly increased the diffi- culties of approach. On the 16th, General Sherman sent a formal demand for the surrender of the city, to which Hardee replied that, as his communications were yet open, and as he was fully supplied with subsistence stores, he was able to withstand a long siege, and was deter- mined to hold the city to the last. Sherman proceeded vigorously with the siege. By the 19th, his base at Kingsbridge, twenty-eight miles from Ossabaw Sound, on the right, was well established, and supplies came up freely from the fleet over a substantial corduroy road, built rapidly through the almost impass- able swamp which intervened. Heavy siege-guns were thus transported and fixed on the lines, and the whole city was soon in great danger. The line was said to be, by practicable roads, thirty miles long. Slocum's column held the left, as always, on the Savannah, and Howard the right, on the Ogeechee. The Twentieth Corps was on the extreme left, with the Fourteenth on its right. The Fifteenth Corps was on the extreme right, with the 1128 HI8TOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Seventeentli on its left. Between the Seventeenth and Fourteenth was a wide gap of swamps, and flooded rice- fields extended along a portion of our front. In the Savan- nah River the upper part of Hutchinson's Island had in- stantly been seized by Slocum on our reaching the city. But a canal divided its upper from its lower half, and the latter the enemy held. Below the island was the Union Causeway, running towards Charleston. The heavy guns taken from Fort McAllister were now in position, and our lines were closing in on the left. On the afternoon of the 20th, the enemy's iron-clads moved up the river and opened a furious fire on our left, sup- ported by many of his batteries. Under cover of their fire, continued all night, Hardee crossed his troops by steamboats, smaller boats, and rafts to Union Causeway. The Kavy Yard had been previously partially burned, and such stores as he could not take with him destroyed. The two formidable rams, Georgia and Savannah, were blown up at night. Early next morning, the 21st, Sher- man entered the city, and received its surrender from the mayor. It was uninjured, the cannon never having been opened upon it. More than a thousand prisoners were taken from the enemy, many having been left on the lines till too late. The captures included one hundred and fifty guns, thirteen locomotives in good order, one hundred and ninety cars, a large supply of ammunition and materials of war, three steamers, and thirty-three thousand bales of cotton safely stored in warehouses. All these valuable fruits of an al- most bloodless victory had been, like Atlanta, "fairly won." On the 21st, General Foster, commanding the Department of the South, opened communications with the city with his steamers, taking np what torpedoes could be seen, and passing safely over others. Arrangements were also made to clear the channel of all obstructions. On the 22d, General Sherman sent the following dispatch to Washington : "SAVANNAH, GEORGIA, December 22. " To His Excellency President LINCOLN : " I beg to present you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with one hundred and fifty heavy guns, and plenty of ammunition, and also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton. (Signed) "W. T. SHERMAN, Major- General" HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1129 With the capture of Savannah ended the great march of Sherman to the sea, just five weeks from the day he had left Atlanta. Within that time the army had traversed a tract of country three hundred miles in length, and had destroyed over two hundred miles of railway, breaking up the track in such a way that immediate repair was out of the question. The Confederacy was practically cut in twain, and, with a victorious and admirably organized army prepared soon to move northward, while Grant's f'eat Army of the Potomac still held Lee at bay before etersburg, it was no difficult matter to foresee the speedy collapse of the rebellion. Hood's army had been rendered useless for offensive purposes, and at the commencement of 1865 the only efficient forces of the Confederacy, com- prising the army of Lee and various scattered bodies of troops in the Carolinas and Southern Virginia, lay between Grant and Sherman. The march of the latter to the coast revealed the utterly exhausted condition of the South. Not only was the body of organized troops opposed to him utterly insignificant in point of numbers, but the in- habitants exhibited a remarkable degree of apathy and in difference. Their early enthusiasm for the rebel cause had by this time departed, and their sole desire seemed to be for peace and submission. Immense destruction of public property and cotton marked the track of the expe- ditionary army, and the troops fared sumptuously on the products of a well-stocked country. In spite of the orders of Sherman, there were many instances of the plunder of private property, the hiding-places of which were revealed to the soldiers by the negroes, many thousands of whom joined the army on its march. While these events were happening in Georgia, an at- tempt was made on Wilmington, N". C., which had been the great centre of blockade-running during the year, and which, from the enormous difficulties attending the en- forcement of the blockade in its vicinity, seemed to bid defiance to any effort to abridge the immunity which it enjoyed. The extent of the trade carried on there, in spite of the blockade of the coast, may be estimated by the fact that the amount of ships and cargoes sent in by English capitalists, from January, 1863, to December, 1864, nearly two years, was sixty-six millions of dollars. A joint na- val and military expedition, having for its object the clos- 1130 H1STOBY OF THE GEE AT REBELLION. ing of this port by capturing its outer defences, was or- ganized early in August, under Admiral Porter; but ow- ing to the difficulty of obtaining a co-operating land force, the squadron remained in Hampton Roads until Decem- ber 12th, when, in connection with a force of six thousand five hundred men under General Butler, it sailed for its destination. The transports and war vessels numbered seventy-five in all. The latter, which included the New Ironsides and five monitors, were arranged in five divi- sions, as follows : First Division 16 ships. 164 guns. Second " 14 Third " 11 Fourth " 16 Iron-clad 6 Flag-ships 2 Tugs for general service . . 7 Tender to flag-ship 1 152 119 165 30 9 14 2 73 655 Commodore Porter's flag-ship was the Malvern, five guns. On the 15th of December, the fleet arrived off "Wil- mington and prepared for its work, but it was several days before wind and weather would allow the vessels to get into position, or the troops to be landed. Finally, at noon of Saturday, the 24th, the fleet got into position and opened a furious fire until night on Fort Fisher, the strong earthworks on the north side of New Inlet, twenty miles below Wilmington, firing an average of thirty shots per minute. Previous to making the attack, a torpedo vessel on a large scale, with an amount of powder on board supposed to be sufficient to explode the powder-magazines of the fort, was prepared with great care, and placed under the command of Commander A. C. Rhind, who had asso- ciated with him on this perilous service Lieutenant S. W. Preston, Second Assistant Engineer A. T. E. Mullan, of the United States steamer Agawam, and Acting Master's Mate Paul Boyden, and seven men. This vessel, the Louisiana, disguised as a blockade-runner, was towed in on the 23d until within two hundred yards from the beach, and about four hundred from Fort Fisher. Com- mander Rhind anchored her securely there, and coolly HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1131 went to work to make all his arrangements to blow her up. This he was enabled to do, owing to a blockade- runner going in right ahead of him, the forts making the blockade-runner signals, which they also did to the Louis- iana. The gallant party, on leaving the vessel, set her on fire under the cabin. Then, taking to their boats, they made their escape off to the Wilderness, which put off shore with good speed, to avoid the explosion. At forty- five minutes past one on the morning of the 24th the ex- plosion took place, but the shock was nothing like so severe as was expected. It shook the vessel some, and broke one or two glasses, but nothing more. At daylight on the 24th, the fleet got under way, and stood in, in line of battle. At half-past eleven A. M., the signal was made to engage the forts, the Ironsides lead- ing, and the Monadnock, Canonicus, and Mahopac fol- lowing. The other divisions of the fleet followed, opening fire as they got into position, and the whole throwing a shower of missiles upon the fort, which drove the defend- ers to their casemates. It was not until the 25th that the transports, which had been obliged, on account of a storm, to put into Beaufort, arrived, and it was then arranged that the troops should land under cover of a fresh attack by seventeen gunboats. While the attack was going on, about three thousand men landed five miles east of the fleet. A reconnoissance was then made by General Weitzel, second in command under Butler, who reported the place so strong that, under the circumstances, it would be " butchery to order an assault." As this opinion co- incided with that already formed by General Butler, orders were given to re-embark the troops, and the trans- ports thereupon returned to Hampton Roads. While the expedition was operating against Wilming- ton, General Palmer made a co-operative move from Plymouth, North Carolina. He sent, on the 9th, an ex- pedition, under command of Colonel Frankle, which pro- ceeded to Gardner's Bridge, beyond Jamestown, on the Roanoke River. The Ninth New Jersey charged the bridge in column of platoons, and soon swept a\vay the small force which held it. At Spring Green Church, the Ninth New Jersey and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts again fell upon the enemy, inflicting considerable loss, 1132 HISTORY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION. and capturing five officers and thirty men. On the 19th, our forces proceeded to Rainbow Bluff on the Roanoke, and found the enemy in force. Unfortunately, the gun- boats, which were to have co-operated, could not do so on account of the torpedoes in the river. Colonel Fraukle's expedition, therefore, returned to Plymouth. CHAPTER LXXII. Affairs at Petersburg. Renewed Attempt to Flank the Rebel Right. Battle at Hatcher's Run. Fighting on the North Side of the James. Review of the Year. Importance of Sherman's Operations. Calls for Troops. Relative Strength of Armies. Second Attack on Fort Fisher. Capture of Fort and Garrison. THE Army of the Potomac, under General Grant, re- mained before Petersburg, occasionally operating in the front, while Sherman was pursuing his way across Georgia, and Sheridan was penetrating up the Shenandoah Valley. It was very evident that Lee was determined not to leave Richmond, and also that he could not be driven out of it by a direct attack on his front. The lieutenant-general was therefore compelled to wait until the operations of Sheridan and Sherman should bring those generals within striking distance of Lee's rear, and thus compel the evacuation of Richmond. As it was certain that Lee would not commit the mistake of Hood at Atlanta, but would follow the system of defence by which Johnston had so long delayed the advance of Sherman, it remained for Grant to hold his enemy within his fortifications, and to make occasional attempts to penetrate the extended line of works which Lee opposed to him, in the hope of being able sooner or later to reach the available point. Accordingly, soon after the victory of Cedar Creek by Sheridan, and when Sherman was following Hood into Northern Alabama, Grant determined on a renewal of the grand movement by his left. Several days were consumed in preparation, and, with profound secrecy, all the sick, baggage, and encumbrances, commissary stores, &c., were sent to City Point under protection of the gunboats. Three days' rations and forage were issued to the cavalry, and four days' rations to the infantry. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1133 The long line of intrenchments was divested of men, ex- cept a sufficient rear- guard. The troops north, of the James were to make an attack, while those south of the river were to form a combined movement upon Hatcher's Run. In accordance with this design, the Tenth and Eighteenth Corps, on Thursday, the 27th of October, began operations on the right. The Tenth Corps early occupied the ground between the Dar- by town and Charles City roads, the First Division, under Ames (late Terry), holding the right, the Second, Porter (late Turner), the centre, and the Third, Hawley (late Birney), the left. The centre having been pushed on to Darbytown, four and a half miles from Richmond, a sharp encounter with the enemy's skirmishers soon took place, the latter falling back upon a line of intrenchments, from which a galling fire caused the Union troops to recoil with severe loss. Towards evening the attack was renewed, with the same results. Meanwhile the Eighteenth Corps, General Weitzel commanding, took up a position on the Darbytown road, in the rear of the Tenth Corps, and then continued its route northerly to the Williamsburg road, in the neighborhood of the old Seven Pines or Fair Oaks battle-ground. At four o'clock Weitzel was across the "Williamsburg road, which the enemy's works commanded. Still's Pennsylvania Battery moved up the road and en- gaged the enemy's batteries, while a brigade of Marston's Division, on the right of the road, and one of Heckman's, on the left, advanced, supported by the remainder of the divisions. The enemy made but feeble resistance until the troops reached the focus of his fire, when a terrible discharge decimated them and broke the organization. To retire was as fatal as to advance, and the enemy com- pleted the disaster by sallying out and capturing portions of the two advanced brigades, and driving back Still's bat- tery. Dusk approaching, the remainder of the troops drew back out of range. Holman's colored division mean- while had gallantly carried a two- gun redoubt, but the approach of night compelled him to abandon it. The whole force then returned to camp under orders from Gen- eral Grant. The Federal loss was from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred men, and that of the enemy, according to his own account, about two hundred men. Thus ended the feint on the right. 1134 HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. The attack on the left was undertaken by the Second Corps, aided by Gregg's Cavalry, which was to march round the enemy's right flank, turn it, and seize his line of defences on Hatcher's Run, at the same moment that the Fifth and Ninth Corps by direct approach should at- tack these works in front. Accordingly, the Second Corps, on Wednesday evening, the 26th, marched across to the Church road, and at three and a half o'clock Thursday morning reached the Vaughan road, along which they pro- ceeded, reaching Hatcher's Run at half-past seven A. M. The crossing was disputed by a small body of men, who were soon dispersed. The corps then proceeded on the west side of the run to the Boydton plankroad, which they reached at a quarter past eleven A. M. Here Gregg's Cavalry connected on the left, about the same time that Generals Grant and Meade arrived on the ground. Egan's Division was deployed on the right of the Boydton plank- road, facing up towards the bridge over Hatcher's Run, and Mott's was deployed on the left of the road. De Trobriand's Brigade connected with Gregg, who held the extreme left. One brigade was left to take care of the enemy in our rear. In Egan's advance was Rugg's Bri- gade, and hi sskirmishers, at the command, rushed forward to Hatcher's Run, seized the bridge, and crossed the creek. The next movement was to carry the enemy's works beyond Hatcher's Run. Egan's Division was accordingly disposed with Rugg's Brigade on the left, Price in the centre, and Smyth on the right, Beck's Battery co-opera- ting as before. McAllister's Brigade of Mott's Division was in support of Egan. The Fifth Corps was now heard firing rapidly on the right, and it was expected that they would sweep about and effect a junction with the Second. But, owing to the exceedingly perplexing character of the country, and the uncertainty as to the roads, they were unable to do so. Of course, the enemy was prompt to seize this advantage ; and about four o'clock, while we were preparing to advance, Mahone's Division, of Hill's Corps, broke in on the right flank of Hancock, and instantly swept oif Metcalfs section of Beck's Battery, which was there posted. Continuing his attack, he got across the Boydton road and bore down upon Egan's Division. With commendable energy and promptitude, Egan changed front with his own brigades and McAllister's, and, HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1135 with the aid of* the three batteries, Beck's and Roder's Fifth and Fourth regular, and Sleeper's Tenth Massachu- setts (under Granger), succeeded in repulsing the enemy, after a hard and prolonged fight. In the fury of his first onset against Smyth's Brigade, it was driven back, several hundred prisoners captured, and our line so disordered as to allow the enemy to get upon the plankroad. A part of these prisoners were recaptured by being conducted by mistake into the Fifth Corps' lines. Hancock's prompt dispositions, and the firmness of Egan's troops, soon ar- rested the disaster likely to follow. In his turn falling upon the enemy's flank, Egan drove him back, Smyth's and McAllister's Brigades behaving handsomely, while Mott promptly co-operated with De Trobriand's Brigade. *The enemy abandoned Metcalf s guns and began to re- treat. But he left three flags and five or six hundred prisoners those who had come over on the plankroad in our possession. The Federal loss in this affair was nine hundred killed and wounded and four hundred prisoners. This repulse placed the column in a precarious position, as the ammuni- tion and rations were growing scarce, notwithstanding that sufficient for four days had been served out. The rain fell in torrents, and the troops retraced their weary steps to camp, leaving some of the wounded on the field. Meantime the Fifth and Ninth Corps left camp at day- light on the 27th, and during the forenoon got into posi- tion with the Ninth on the right, and the Fifth on the left, confronting the enemy's works at Hatcher's Run. Here they made demonstrations and skirmished sharply during the day, returning to camp at night. The losses of the two corps were about four hundred. Thus the whole movement, which was to have had important results, terminated in a return to camp, with a loss on both sides of the James of about three thousand men. The main attack was Hancock's, and in case of success the Fifth and Ninth were to join him in a general advance of the whole line. It appeared that the enemy were accurately in- formed of the whole enterprise, and no surprise was ef- fected. Skirmishing and small encounters were frequent after after this along the lines. On the night of the 30th, the Sixty-ninth and Hundred-and-fourth New York were 1136 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. picketed before Fort Daqis, being mostly raw troops. The enemy, in some force, passed into the rear, and the word having been given to the Federal troops to " fall in," as if they were to be relieved, the entire line was captured. Enterprises of this nature, interspersed with attacks of greater or lesser magnitude continued up to the Jirst week in November, at which time Sherman started on his grand march. On the night of November 5th, a rebel brigade which occupied a portion of the ene- my's line on the plankroad, and running northeasterly therefrom, secretly advanced, and threw itself upon the picket line of McAllister's Brigade, Mott's Division, Second Corps, which held our . intrenchments opposite the same point. The plan was so well devised and vigorously executed as to secure our entire intrenched picket line for half a mile, with the capture of thirty prisoners. The enemy immediately began to reverse our works, and to intrench himself with tools brought for that purpose. At the same time, the Holcomb Legion of Wallace's Brigade carried our picket line opposite the Crater, as the ruins of the fort exploded by the mine are called. The men soon rallied in force and recaptured the line of works. Early in December, most of Sheridan's force from the Yalley joined the Army of the Potomac the six corps arriving between the 2d and 5th of December. Early 's troops also joined Lee in great numbers, and affairs in the Yalley were once more quiet, Sheridan remaining at Win- chester. The negro troops were now consolidated in one corps, the Twenty-fifth, under the command of General Weitzel, and sent north of the James. The year 1864 had now reached its close, and, after a series of brilliant campaigns, the prospect for the future was full of hope, notwithstanding a temporary lull in military operations. The only active movement then in progress was Sherman's campaign, on the results of which the success of the other operations seemed to depend. In the course of the year, the Army of the Potomac had, under Grant, fought its way to the banks of the James, where it held the main rebel army as if in a vice. The Union troops had, under Sheridan, driven the enemy far up the Shenandoah, and Hood had been forced out of Tennessee by Thomas with the miserable wreck of an army. The enemy had abandoned Missouri and most of HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1137 Arkansas, and only held good his grasp upon Western Louisiana and Texas. We iiad also captured the defences of Mobile Bay. The enemy confronted us in force chiefly in Virginia, and the only problem yet remaining to be solved was how long he would be able to maintain the defence. This was decided by the march of Sherman through Georgia to Savannah, which demonstrated that the people were \inable or unwilling to resist, and that the rebel government had exhausted its powers. There was no force to appose the free movement of Sherman on the rear of Lee, and the Army of the Potomac, which had done most of the fighting, and to the public eye achieved the least success, continued to occupy Lee, thus giving to others the opportunity to win the laurels of the year. Meantime, the President made a new call for three hundred thousand men. The whole number of troops hitherto called for, whether for temporary purposes merely, or for the war, amounted in round numbers to two mil- lions and a half ; though how large a number of these rendered actual service it is not now and may never be possible to determine. It is very certain, however, that the men called for were all needed, and had they been obtained to as a great an extent as the above figures would seem to indicate, there can be little doubt that the rebel- lion would have terminated much sooner than it actually did. The casualties of war, diseases inherent to a military life, and the necessity of garrisoning almost countless out- posts and forts, as well as of guarding long lines of com- munications, drew largely upon each successive levy, so. that the large armies, intended for active operations in the- field, were barely kept up to their necessary strength, and often fell below it. The 'armies in the field, in the spring of 1864, numbered' nearly six hundred thousand men ; and so great were the losses during the year, that at its close, notwithstanding nine hundred thousand men had been called for, the numbers remained about the same. The military supplies, produced during the year included one thousand seven hundred and fifty pieces of ordnance, two thousand three- hundred and sixty-one artillery carriages and caissons, eight hundred and two thousand five hundred and twenty- five small-arms, seven hundred and ninety-four thousand and fifty-five sets of accoutrements and harness,, one mil- 70 1138 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. t > lion six hundred and seventy-four thousand two hundred and forty-four projectiles for cannon, twelve million seven hundred and forty thousand one hundred and forty-six pounds of bullets and lead, eight million four hundred and nine thousand four hundred pounds of gunpowder, one hundred and sixty-nine millions four hundred and ninety thousand and twenty-nine cartridges for small- arms. These were complete articles, in addition to large quantities of the same kinds of supplies partially made up at the arsenals. The ordnance supplies furnished to the military service during the year included one thousand one hundred and forty-one pieces of ordnance, one thou- sand eight hundred and ninety-six artillery carriages and caissons, four hundred and fifty-five thousand nine hun- dred and ten small-arms, five hundred and two thousand and forty-four sets of accoutrements and harness, one mil- lion nine hundred and thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-three projectiles for cannon, seven million six hundred and twenty-four thousand six hundred and eighty-five pounds of bullets and lead, four hundred and sixty-four thousand five hundred and forty-nine pounds of artillery ammunition, one hundred and twenty-five thou- sand and sixty-seven sets of horse equipments, one hun- dred and twelve million eighty-seven thousand five hun- dred and fifty-three cartridges for small-arms, seven million five hundred and forty-four thousand and forty- four pounds of gunpowder. These supplies were in addi- tion to large quantities of parts provided for repairs in the field. The forces of the rebels at the commencement of 1864 did not much exceed three hundred and fifty thousand men, of whom they lost during the year probably two hundred thousand. In the same period they were enabled, by strenuous exertions, to recruit one hundred thousand men. Of these probably one hundred thousand were with Lee at Eichmond, and the others detached undei Hood, Beauregard, and other generals. Under these circumstances, the necessity of arming the negroes or em- ploying them as soldiers was apparent, and the head of the rebel government recommended that course with the advice of General Lee, but the measure was not promptly acted upon, and never had any practical result. The year 1864, therefore, for the rebels, approached its close with- HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1139 out any apparent means of raising more men to offset the new levies called for by President Lincoln to invigorate the movements of Thomas, Sherman, and Grant. The troops that had returned from the Fort Fisher expe- dition were re-enforced at Fortress Monroe, and, as the Government was by no means satisfied with the first attempt, almost immediately prepared for a renewal of the movement. General Butler was, early in January, relieved from the command of the Army of the James, and General Terry succeeded to the command of the expedi- tionary force, numbering somewhat over eight thousand men, and comprising Ames's Second Division of the Twenty-fourth Corps, and Hawley's Second Brigade (now under Abbott) of Terry's First Division, and Paine's Di- vision of the Twenty-fifth (colored) Corps, with Myrick's and Lee's Batteries. These went on board transports, and, on the night of the 6th and the morning of the 6th of January, left Fortress Monroe to co-operate with Ad- miral Porter's fleet, then off Beaufort. After some de- tentions, occasioned by the weather, the fleet, on the 13th, moved upon Fort Fisner in five divisions. Admiral Porter opened the bombardment by sending the iron-clad column, with the New Ironsides at its head, directly upon Fort Fisher. At half-past seven A. M. the forts opened on them as they approached, but they quietly took up their old positions within one thousand yards of Fort Fisher, and began to fire about half-past eight. The landing of the troops commenced at nine o'clock, from all the transports, some of the men eagerly jumping into the water, waist deep. In about an hour, enough troops were landed to push out a skirmish line, and all the force designed for the attack was ashore before three P. M., when they took possession of Half Moon Battery. Before four, the troops started down the beach towards Fort Fisher, with skirmishers out. At dusk, they had paused, out of range of Fort Fisher. Under cover of the darkness, however, they moved on again, and at ten p. M. their camp-fires showed the long bivouac line across the sand-spit, about two miles from the fort. Their right flank seemed to be well covered by a sort of lagoon, running between it and the woods beyond. The enemy's two gunboats, the Tallahassee and the Chicka- mauga, shelled our lines from Cape Fear River. During 1140 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. the eight-hours' action, the iron-clads showered shells upon the devoted fort at the rate of four per minute. The whole number of shells thrown by iron-clads and wooden vessels was computed at four per second. During the night, the enemy was re-enforced and the place strengthened. The 14th was occupied by the Union troops in building breastworks between the Cape Fear Biver and the sea, and the 15th was fixed for the assault. As a force of the enemy, about five thousand * strong, under Hoke, was threatening to relieve the place from Wilmington, Abbott's Brigade was placed in the intrenchments facing that direction. Ames's Division was drawn up to assault the west end of the fort, the most difficult and arduous point. A column of fourteen HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1141 hundred sailors and marines, under Captain Breese, was detailed from the fleet to assault the sea front, which had been so terribly demolished by the bombardment that it was thought a lodgment might more easily be effected there. At daybreak, the iron vessels, the Brooklyn, and the eleven-inch gunboats commenced a terrible fire, under cover of which, Ames moved his men up to within one hundred and fifty yards of the fort. At ten, all the rest of the fleet joined in the tremendous cannonade, which was kept up, almost without intercession, until three P. M., when the ships changed their fire from the path of the assaulting columns to other works. At half-past three p. M. the signal for the assault was made. The gallant column from the fleet dashed at the sea front with des- perate energy, and gained the parapet. But after a short conflict and heavy loss it was checked and driven back in disorder. When re-formed, it was sent to the defensive or Wilmington line, to take the place of Ab- bott's Brigade, which had joined Ames. The attack on the sea front, though a failure, diverted a part of the enemy's attention, and made the attack of the main storming column by so much the easier. Promptly at the word of command, our gallant column of between three thousand and four thousand men, prin- cipally of the old Tenth Corps, rushed upon the works. The enemy's force in the fort was over two thousand two hundred strong. Colonel Curtis led the attack, and, after a splendid assault, effected a lodgment on the west end of the land front. Pennypacker instantly followed with his brigade, and then Bell with his. Every one of these leaders fell wounded, the former severely, the second dangerously, and Bell mortally. At five o'clock, after the most desperate fighting, foot by foot, and with the severest loss, we got possession of about half the land front. Then Abbott came up from the defensive line, the marines taking his place. Once more the attack went on. At ten o'clock, after six and a half hours of splen- did fighting, the last trenches were cleared of the enemy, and Fort Fisher was ours. General Whitney and Colonel Lamb, the commanders of the fort, with their officers and men over eighteen hundred in all surrendered unconditionally about twelve at night. All the works south of Fort Fisher fell also 1142 HISTORY OF THE QKEAT REBELLION. into our hands. The enemy's loss was, first, Fort Fisher and all its chain of outworks, with all their contents seventy-two guns, Borne of large calibre and rifled, and one Armstrong gun and the camp and garrison equipage and stores, including sixteen days' rations ; second, the loss of Cape Fear River and its facilities for running the blockade ; third, a garrison of two thousand two hundred men, of whom four hundred were killed and wounded, *and eighteen hundred captured. General Whitney and Colonel Lamb were wounded. On our side, not a ship nor a transport was lost, and but little damage was done to the fleet. Our loss in officers and men was very large something over one thousand in all, of w T hich about nine hundred fell upon the army, and two hundred on the fleet. Among these were Colonels Bell and Moore, and Lieutenant-Colonel Lyman, killed, and Colonels Cur- tis, Pennypacker, and Lieutenant-Colonel Coaii, badly wounded. In the fleet, Lieutenants Preston and Porter were killed, and Lieutenants Lamson, Bache, and others wounded. By some mismanagement the magazine blew up, killing about three hundred of the garrison. CHAPTEE LXXIII. Capture of Remaining Defences on Cape Fear River. Schofield Ordered from Tennessee. Fort Anderson Taken. Occupation of Wilmington. Movement on Kinston. Goldsboro. Gillmore before Charleston. Evacuation of the City by Hardee. Flag Restored to Fort Sumter. Sheridan in the Valley. His Raid. Great Destruction of Rebel Prop- erty. Joins Meade. THE holding of the forts on the Cape Fear River was regarded by General Lee as of vital consequence to his position at Richmond ; nevertheless, on the fall of Fort Fisher it became apparent that the other places could not be defended. On the 16th of January, the enemy blew up Forts Caswell and Campbell, and abandoned them and the works on Smith's Island, also those at Smithville and Reeves's Point, which were occupied by the navy. The whole number of guns captured exceeded one hun- dred and fifty. A large number of small-arms also fell into our hands, besides quantities of ordnance and com- missary stores. HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1143 On the 18th, General Paine reconnoitred in force towards Wilmington, and found the enemy about two miles distant. After a slight skirmish he fell back to his intrenchmeuts. On the 19th, one of our dispatch boats was severely handled by the guns of Fort St. Philip, on the south bank of the river, and forced to return. The same day, General Paine made another reconnoissance, found the enemy as before, two miles distant, had another severe skirmish, and retired. The forts which fell into the hands of the navy, up to January 21st, and subsequently to the fall of Fisher, were officially reported as follows : lieeves's Point Two ten-inch guns. Above Smithville Two ten-inch guns. Srnithville Four ten-inch guns. Fort Caswell Ten ten-inch guns, two nine-inch, one Armstrong, and four thirty-twos (rifled), two thirty-twos (smooth), three eight-inch, one Parrott (twenty-pounder), three rifled field-pieces, three guns (bored) twenty-nine guns. Forts Campbell and Shaw Six ten-inch, six thirty- twos (smooth), one thirty-two (rifled), one eight-inch, six field-pieces, two mortars twenty-two guns. Smith's Island Three ten-inch, six thirty-twos (smooth), two thirty-twos (rifled), four field-pieces, two mortars seventeen guns. Keported at the other end of Smith's Island, six guns. Total captured, eighty-three guns. Wilmington, to which the enemy had gradually fallen back, as the force accumulated in their front,- was de- fended by General Bragg. While these events were occurring, General Schofield, who, with the twenty-third Army Corps, was on his way to Eastport, Mississippi, received orders to proceed with his troops to North Carolina. At that time the De- partment of North Carolina was created, and Scho- field assigned to its command, with orders to occupy Goldsboro and open up communication with the coast, and unite with Sherman. In pursuance of this plan, he landed at the mouth of Cape Fear River, February 9th, with the Third Division, Cox, near Fort Fisher. At that time, General Terry, with eight thousand men, held a line across the peninsula formed by the ocean and the 1144 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Cape Fear River, occupying Smithville and Fort Cas- well, with his flanks covered by the fleet, under Admiral Porter. The enemy occupied Fort Anderson, on the west bank of the river, with a collateral line running to a large swamp about three-fourths of a mile distant, and a line opposite Fort Anderson, running across the peninsula from Cape Fear River to Masonboro Sound. His posi- tion was impregnable against direct attack, and could be turned only by crossing Masonboro Sound above his left, or passing around the swamp which covered his right. On the llth of February, Schofield pushed forward Terry's line, supported by Cox's Division, drove in the enemy's pickets, and intrenched in a new position, close enough to the enemy's line to compel him to hold the lat- ter in force. The weather presented many obstacles to a combined movement with boats on the enemy's left. Hence Gen- eral Schofield directed his attention to the enemy's right, where he would not have to contend with the difficul- ties of both land and sea. Cox's and Ames's Divisions were crossed over to Smithville, where they were joined by Moore's Brigade of Couch's Division, which had just debarked, and advanced along the main Wilmington road until they encountered the enemy's position at Fort Anderson and adjacent works. Here two brigades were intrenched to occupy the enemy, while Cox, with his other two brigades and Ames's Division, started around the swamp, covering the enemv's right, to strike the Wil- mington road in rear of Fort Anderson. The distance to be travelled was about fifteen miles. The enemy, warned by his cavalry of Cox's movement, hastily abandoned his works on both sides of the river, during the night of Feb- ruary 19th, and fell back behind Town Creek on the west, and to a corresponding position, covered by swamps, on the east. Possession was thus gained of the main defences of Cape Fear River and of Wilmington, with ten pieces of heavy ordnance and a large amount of ammunition. Our loss was but trifling. On the following day, Cox pursued the enemy to Town Creek, behind which he was found intrenched, having destroyed the only bridge. Terry also encountered the enemy in superior force in his new position, and, in con- sequence, Ames's Division was brought over to the east HI8TOET OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1145 bank during the night of the 19th. On the 20th, Cox crossed Town Creek below the enemy's position, and, reaching the enemy's flank and rear, attacked and routed him, capturing two pieces of artillery and three hundred and seventy-live prisoners. The next morning he pushed on towards Wilmington without opposition. Terry was unable to make any further advance, but occupied the attention of all of Hoke's force, so that he could not send any to replace that which Cox had destroyed. On the 21st, Cox secured a portion of the enemy's pontoon bridge across Brunswick River, which he had attempted to destroy, put a portion of his troops on to Eagle Island, and threatened to cross the Cape Fear above Wil- mington. The enemy at once set fire to his steamers, cotton, and military and naval stores, and abandoned the town. Our troops entered without opposition early in the morning of February 22d, and Terry pursued the enemy across Northeast River. Our total loss in the operations from February llth to the capture of Wil- mington was about two hundred officers and men killed and wounded. That of the enemy was not less than one thousand killed, wounded, and prisoners ; fifty-one pieces of heavy ordnance, fifteen light pieces, and a large amount of ammunition fell into our hands. Meantime a force of five thousand troops had been ordered forward from Newbern, under General Palmer, to occupy Kinston, with the view of moving thence upon Goldsboro and tapping the main railway line between Richmond and Savannah. As soon as Wilmington was secured, Schofield sent Ruger's Division, Twenty-third Army Corps, which was then arriving at Cape Fear Inlet, by sea to Morehead City, to re-enforce the column moving from Newbern. On the 25th, finding that Palmer had not moved, as was expected, he sent Cox to take command at Newbern and push forward at once. The divisions of Couch and Cox were also sent thither, but, owing to great difficulty of transportation, it was March 6th before the movement upon Kinston was commenced. On that day, Couch marched from Newbern with the Second and Third Divisions of the Twenty-third Corps, and on the 8th, General Cox advanced to Wise's Forks, where he was joined by Schofield in person. The force in front of the Union troops, consisting of Hoke's Division and a small 1146 HISTOET OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. body of reserves, had fallen back behind Southwest Creek, and General Cox had sent two regiments, under Colonel TJpham, Fifteenth Connecticut Infantry, to secure the crossing of the creek on the Dover road. The enemy, having been re-enforced by a portion of the old Army of Tennessee, recrossed the creek some distance above the Dover road, came down in rear of Colonel Upham's posi- tion, and surprised and captured nearly his entire com- mand, about seven hundred men. The enemy then ad- vanced and endeavored to penetrate between Carter's and Palmer's Divisions, occupying the Dover road and the railroad respectively, but was checked by Ruger's Divi- sion, which was just arriving upon the field. On the 9th the enemy pressed our lines strongly, and felt for its flanks. Heavy skirmishing was kept up dur- ing the day, but no assault was made. On the 10th, the enemy, having been largely re-enforced, and, doubtless, learning of the approach of Couch's column, made a heavy attack upon Cox's left and centre, but was decisively re- pulsed, and with heavy loss. Both attacks were met mainly by Ruger's Division, a portion of that division having been rapidly transferred from the centre to the left, to meet the attack there, and then returned to the centre in time to repel the attack on that portion of the line. The enemy retreated, leaving his killed and wound- ed, and, during the night, fell back across the Neuse, and burned the bridge. Our loss in this engagement was about three hundred killed and wounded ; that of the enemy probably about fifteen hundred in killed, wounded, and missing. Couch effected his junction with Cox on the following day. Having no pontoon train, Schofield could not cross the !N"euse until the 14th, when the enemy, having abandoned Kinston, moved rapidly towards Smithfield to join the force under Johnston, which was concentrating to oppose the advance of Sherman from Fayetteville. Immediately upon the occupation of Kinston, Schofield put a large force of troops to work upon the railroad, in aid of the Construction Corps under Colonel Wright, rebuilt the wagon bridge over the Neuse, and brought forward sup- plies preparatory to a further advance. He moved from Kinston on the morning of the 20th, and entered Golds- boro', with but slight opposition, on the evening of the HISTORY OF THE GREAT KEBELLION. 114:7 21st. The portion of the command which had remained at Wilmington, under Terry, moved from that point March 15th, reached Faison's Depot on the 20th, and, in compliance with Sherman's orders, moved from that point to Cox's Bridge, and secured a crossing of the Neuse on the 22d. On the 8th of February, General Gillmore succeeded to the command of the Department of the South, with head- quarters at Hilton Head. The city of Charleston was then held by General Hardee with a force of twelve thou- sand to fifteen thousand men, comprising the regular gar- rison and the troops which had retreated from Savannah. The city had withstood during nearly three years all attempts to reduce it. This, on account of its enormously strong natural position, had been comparatively easy. But now it became exposed to a series of operations of an entirely different nature from those which had formerly been undertaken against it. Sherman, from Savannah, w T as penetrating into North Carolina, and was, on Febru- ary llth, at Branchville, on the South Carolina Eailroad, thus cutting Charleston off from communication with the interior. The defences of Cape Fear River below Fort Anderson had fallen into the hands of the Federals, and although General Bragg professed himself able to hold Wilmington, grave doubts of his ability to do so were en- tertained, and with the fall of Wilmington, communica- tion with the North would be threatened. Under these circumstances, General Gillmore was no sooner in com- mand than he landed a considerable force upon James Island, and after some sharp fighting established himself within two miles of the city. With Savannah and its communications in the hands of the Union troops, with Sherman and his large force holding the North Carolina Railroad at Branchville, with Wilmington virtually in the hands of Schofield, and Gillmore established within two miles of the city on James Island, it became very evident that Hardee had no alternative but to leave. If he could carry off his garrison it would be, under the cir- cumstances, as much as he could hope for. This he suc- ceeded in doing. The evacuation commenced on the 16th, and by the next night the last of the troops had left. About midnight the enemy fired the upper part of the city, burning up the railroad buildings and several thou- 1148 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. sand bales of cotton. The buildings contained, besides the cotton, a large quantity of rice and two hundred kegs of powder. About half-past three o'clock the powder blew up, with a terrific explosion, killing or mutilating about one hundred of the poor people who were getting the rice. At daylight, the rebel rams in the harbor, near the city, were blown up. On the morning of the 18th, the mayor of the city sent a note to General Gillmore stating that the Confederate military authorities had departed, and at nine A. M. the city of Charleston, with Fort Sumter, Fort Moultrie, Castle Pinckney, and all its defensive works, and all its contents, were surrendered to us. Nearly all the rebel troops had gone, and only a few men remained. Our forces were promptly moved up to the city, and, amid deafening cheers, the national flag once more streamed from the parapet of Fort Sumter. In the fort were nine guns four columbiads and five howitzers. The cruel firing of the city by the en- emy, and the explosion of its magazines, spread devastation far and wide. Our troops were at once set to work to quell the flames, but probably two-thirds of the place were de- stroyed. The lower part of the city within reach of our guns was in eifect a ruin, and was almost uninhabited. Com- paratively few persons dared to remain there. Some of the houses were knocked down. Bricks and timbers were lying everywhere, and the streets in particular were strewn with the fragments, in many places entirely obstructing travel. Shells were lying among the ruins. T^he appearance of the city, the lower part uninhabited and the upper part in flames, is described as dreary and desolate in the extreme. Among our captures were over two hundred pieces of good artillery and a supply of fine ammunition. The enemy burned his cotton warehouses, arsenals, quartermaster stores, railroad bridges, two iron-clads, and some vessels in the ship-yards. Some of the enemy's troops remained to plunder, and succeeded in their object. Several hundred deserters were concealed in the houses in Charleston, and when our troops entered they surrendered. The main army moved on northward, in numbers conjectured to be about fourteen thousand strong. There remained in the city only about ten thousand persons of the poorer classes, who had had no means of making their escape, and who were now suffering from want of food. HISTORY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. 1149 The surrender of Charleston took place on the fourth an- niversary of the inauguration of Jefferson Davis as presi- dent of the " Southern Confederacy." The actual siege of the city was commenced July 10th, 1863, when Gillmore landed on Morris Island, and had thus lasted five hundred and eighty-five days. The city had actually been under fire five hundred and forty-two days. As the surrender of Sumter had produced an impression on the public mind too deep to be readily forgotten, the President, with a view of commemorating its restoration to the national authority, directed Major-Gen eral Robert Anderson to raise the stars and stripes on the battlements of Fort Sumter on the 13th of April, 1865, the anniversary of the day he consented to evacuate it, after a protracted and gallant resistance, when his ammunition and provi- sions were exhausted. The next seaport destined to fall was Mobile, which was, early in March, occupied by the Confederate General Dick Taylor, with Maury commanding the defences of the city, and F. H. Gardner in the field. His forces numbered about fifteen thousand men. The defences of Mobile were strong. Beauregard and Taylor had been at work upon them for months, employing thousands of negroes in in- trenching. The garrison, however, was inadequate to man the elaborate works intended to protect the place. Xot only had the operations of Lee and Johnston heavily drained the old army of Hood, but a cavalry demonstra- tion of Wilson through Alabama and Mississippi, then in progress, distracted the attention of the force which re- mained. Few but raw Alabama troops were around Mo- bile. Among the harbor defences was Spanish Fort, an irregular bastioned work, with fortifications five miles in length, commencing at D'Olive's Creek and running to Minetta Bay. It was built by De Soto in 1540. The guns were in embrasures. The main defence of Mobile was at this point. From the land side, on the right of Spanish Fort, were two bastions, encircled with rifle pits, chevaux- de-frise, trenches, and torpedoes. The fortifications on the extreme right were covered by the works on the left of Blakeley. Pinto Island, to the right, covers Spanish Kiver, and commands Christian Pass. Mobile Bay, be- yond Blakeley River, was filled with torpedoes. A large number of torpedoes were also buried in the earth in front 1150 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. of Spanish Fort, near the rebel rifle-pits. Forts linger, Bradley, Tracy, Battery Gladden, Spanish River Battery, Blakeley, and other rebel strongholds, were in front and to the left.' Preparations for attack had been in progress some time. Granger's Thirteenth Corps had long been concentrated on Mobile Point. A. J. Smith's Sixteenth Corps was sent by transport from New Orleans to Dauphin Island, oppo- site Mobile Point, the greater part arriving at Fort Gaines on the 12th of March. All the cavalry were under Grier- son, and recently largely re-enforced from the Army of the Cumberland had left for Mobile Point, crossing Pont- chartrain. General Steele's negro division was near Pen- sacola. On the 18th of March, Moore's First Brigade of Carr's THird Division of the Sixteenth Corps, about two thousand strong, left Dauphin Island to effect a landing on Cedar Point, above Fort Powell, and to clear the way for the rest of the corps. On the day previous, Bertram's Brigade of the Second Division of the Thirteenth Corps, which had been transported across from Dauphin Island to Mobile Point, the mainland, forthat purpose, advanced on Mobile along that side of the bay. In order to make the movement of all three columns simultaneous, on the 18th, General Steele's column started from Pensacola and Bar- rancas, on a march to Blakeley Landing, at which point they were to unite with Granger's column starting from Fort Morgan, and marching up the east side of the bay. Granger's whole corps followed the advance brigade, marcliing by land along the shore of Bon Secour JBay, which forms the southeastern corner of Mobile Bay. The rendezvous for the army was on Fish River, at Donnelly's (or Danby's) Mills, situated about six or eight miles up the river, twenty or more from Fort Gaines, and thirty from Mobile. The next day Smith's Corps moved on transports to the same point, Me Arthur's First Division in advance, Garrard's Second following, and Carr's Third in the rear. On the 20th the corps began to arrive at the appointed place, and were all disembarked by night of the 21st. On the 22d and 23d, Granger's Corps got in. The roads were wretched, and the troops often forced to great labor in extricating the artillery and trains from the mire. Bertram's advance easily drove away the enemy's cavalry vedettes. HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1151 On the 25th, the advance through the pine forests was commenced, from Fish River towards Blakeley, McArthur's Division skirmishing, and Colonel Marshall, commanding its Third Brigade, being amongst the wounded. On the 26th, the forces advanced from Fish River, the Sixteenth Corps moving on the right, towards Blakeley, and the Thir- teenth on the left, towards Spanish Fort, which commands Minetta Bay. The Thirteenth drove the enemy's cavalry back to the fort. The Sixteenth compelled the force in its front, also, to fall back, until Sibley's Mills was reached. On the 27th, the enemy in front of Spanish Fort attempt- ed to surprise the pickets of the Thirteenth Corps. After a few moments, brisk firingthe rebels were repulsed. We lost four men wounded. Both corps now marched into position, to invest Spanish Fort, the enemy falling back to Blakeley. The Sixteenth formed the right, and the Thir- teenth the left, the divisions being posted in the line as follows, from right to left : Carr, McArthur, Yeach, Ben- ton, Bertram's Brigade. Garrard was in the rear, guard- ing the trains. The artillery was brought to within five hundred yards of the fort, and opened a heavy fire. About eleven o'clock the fleet got under way, and proceeded up the bay as far as Newport and Howard's Landings, below Spanish Fort, on the same, i. e., the easterly shore of the bay. The Metacomet, Stockdale, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, Albatross, Winnebago, and Genesee opened fire at a quar- ter to one P. M., doing considerable damage. They ceased firing at twenty minutes past five p. M., and returned to Great Point Clear to anchor for the night. It was necessary that the fleet should attack Spanish Fort on the water side, while the army invested it on the land side. On the 28th the Milwaukee exploded a torpe- do, and instantly filled and sank. Only one man was injured, however, and as the water was but eleven feet deep, the crew were all saved. Next day, the 29th, the Chickasaw, Kickapoo, Winnebago, and the Octorara, be- ing in line, the Osage, which was a short distance astern, struck a torpedo on the starboard bow, and instantly sank. Six men were killed or mortally wounded, and four others wounded. The rest of the officers and crew were saved unhurt. Bombardment and skirmishes continued, with more or less loss, until April 3d, when the place, by the arrival of 1152 HISTOKY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. Steele's force, which was to have joined Granger on the 22d, was finally invested. Just before midnight of the 8th, the final preparations were completed, Within half a mile of the fort over thirty heavy Parrott guns and mor- tars had been mounted, and three light batteries were thrown forward several hundred yards nearer. The en- tire artillery, siege-guns and field-pieces, then opened a terrific fire on the fort, which was completely hemmed in by our lines, while the gunboats, which had done the same office by water, cutting off communication with Mobile, added their contribution to the general roar and flame. Simultaneously, the skirmishers crept forward from trench to trench and ridge to ridge, until they had soon got with- in a hundred yards of the fort, and prevented, by the accuracy of their fire, the rebel artillerists from managing the unsheltered guns. The enemy responded briskly and heavily at first to our bombardment ; but, as the battle went on, he was gradually driven from his guns by the hot fire, and replied more and more feebly, until at midnight, lie was silenced. An hour afterwards the enemy surren- dered, our troops pressing upon his intrenchments, and entering them about two ex clock on the morning of the 9th. The capture of Mobile was now assured. The enemy commenced evacuating it on the 10th, and continued to do so on the llth, at which time the work was complete. At half-past ten o'clock on the 12th, our troops planted their colors on batteries Porter and Mclntosh, and, four hours later, in -Mobile, the second seaport of the Confederacy. General Granger's forces occupied the city. The tugboat Allena was blown up by torpedoes on the same day. The total loss of our fleet was said to have been two iron-clads, two tin-clads, and one transport, all, or nearly all, blown up by torpedoes. The loss of men in the fleet was less than fifty. That of the army about two thousand five hundred. While these events were culminating at the South, Sheridan was once more in motion at the North. That general, who had retained his headquarters at Winchester with a moderate force, was contemplating a renewed movement up the Valley. The concentration of the ene- my's troops around Lee had left but a small rebel force in the Valley. Accordingly, towards the close of February, preparations were made for an extensive cavalry raid, and General Hancock was installed in command of the Middle HISTORY OF THE GKEAT KEBELLION. 1153 Military Division, as General Thomas had been in Ten- nessee, on the departure of Sherman. The enemy, under Rosser, were scattered at various places in the Valley, viz., Waynesboro', Woodstock, Edenburg, and Staunton ; the main body was at the latter-named place, Neal's and Wood- son's guerrillas in Hardy County, Gilmor's Battalion in Pendleton County, Imboden's command in Bath and ad- jacent counties. At eight A. M., on February 27th, the troops began their march from Winchester, reaching Woodstock, thirty-three miles distant, by dark. The enemy were not encountered in any force until the command reached Lacy's Springs, March 1st, where about four hundred men, under Rosser, made some show of resistance, but soon retired. The same day the bridge over Middle River was secured, Ros- ser's men falling back before the Union advance to Waynes- boro', where Early had concentrated his men, about one thousand four hundred in number, to give battle. A portion of his command had fallen back the day before from Fishersville, to strengthen the post there. The posi- tion was on commanding ground a ridge of hills skirting the front of the town and was protected by breastworks made of earth and rails. The advance of Sheridan's force arrived in front of the position at noon on the 2d of March, and, after a brief reconnoissance by General Custer, an attack w r as ordered, and the place carried by a flank movement, which in- duced the enemy to give way. The greater part of the force were captured, including Generals Long and Lilly. Sheridan's force pushed on, and reached Charlottesville on March 4th ; thence on the 6th it again moved in two- columns, one of which, under General Devin,, took the direct southern route to Scottsville, destroying all mills, merchandise, and property on the line of inarch along th& Rivanna River to Columbia. The other column proceeded down the railroad to Lynchburg, destroying it for the distance of forty miles to Amherst. From Scottsville, Devin's Division pro- ceeded westward along the James to Dugaldsville, twenty miles from Lynchburg. On the 10th of March, Sheridan was at Columbia, and, not being able to cross the Jamea on account of high water, he moved, with a view of ulti- mately joining the army before Petersburg, in anortherlj 71 1154 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. direction from Columbia to the Central Railroad, striking it at the same time at several different points between Louisa Court-House and Beaver Dam Station. A portion of two days was consumed in the thorough destruction of the Central road between Saxton's Junction and Gordonsville. The next move was to points on the Fredericksburg road, below the junction. General Devin marched his column to the bridges on both roads across the South Anna, one of which was defended by a detach- ment of infantry, posted behind earthworks, with three pieces of artillery. The Fifth Cavalry, under Devin and Cook, charged the position, supported by the Second Massachusetts, capturing a number of prisoners, and the three guns. The only man killed on our side was a scout, and there were only three wounded. Custer, at the same time, moved towards Ashland Station. By this time it was known in Richmond that the northern defences of that city were threatened. Long- street, with the whole of Pickett's Division and some other troops, moved up to within five miles of Ashland. On the following morning, when a detachment of the Fifteenth New York entered Ashland as an advance- guard, the advance of Longstreet's column was encoun- tered, and drove them back. Subsequent!}', Sheridan moved eastward, crossing the Fredericksburg Railroad at Chesterfield Station, and on the 19th his entire command arrived at the "White House, whence it crossed the James, and joined Meade on the 25th. Sheridan's operations resulted in the destruction of the James River Canal, which was the main dependence for the support of Rich- mond, and also of all railroads and other means of com- munication with the Southwest. Thus gradually was the metaphor, so often employed in the early history of the war, and so greatly ridiculed, of the Union armies press- ing around the rebel capital, as the anaconda tightens its folds about the body of its victim, beginning to have force .and significance. HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1155 CHAPTER LXXIY. General Sherman at Savannah. The Advance Northward. Pocotaligo. iSalkehatchie. Movement on Columbia. Conflagration in Columbia, and its Origin. Beauregard at Charlotte. Lee placed in Chief Command of the Rebel Armies. Johnston Reinstated. Fayetteville. Rebel Strength. Averysboro.' Bentonville. Goldsboro.' Junction of Three Union Armies. Objective of the Campaign Gained. AT Savannah, General Sherman had not merely to recuperate his forces and prepare a new base for further operations into the interior, preparatory to a concentration upon Richmond, but he was also compelled to provide for the local government, and to arrange the means of feed- ing the people. Having employed several weeks in refitting his army at Savannah, Sherman was, by the 15th of January, 1865, ready to resume operations. On that day Fort Fisher was captured and the road to Wilmington opened. The Twenty -third Corps, Schoh'eld, was also on its way from* Tennessee to co-operate with Generals Terry and Palmer in North Carolina, and prepare the way for Sherman's coming, and to enable Sherman to move in full strength. Grant had sent Grover's Division of the Nineteenth Corps to garrison Savannah. As Sherman proposed to march directly upon Goldsboro, Colonel Wright was sent to New b era to be ready by the middle of March to open the railroad to the former place. On the 18th January the command of Savannah was transferred to Foster, with instructions to co-operate on the coast, in conjunction with the fleet, with the interior movement. On January 15th, Howard, commanding Sherman's right wing, composed of the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps, and other troops, numbering forty-five thousand in all, had effected a lodgment on the Charleston Railroad, near Pocotaligo, with the view of demonstrating against Charleston, and opening communications with fiilton Head. The left wing, under Slocum, was ordered to rendezvous at Robertsville and Coosawattie, South Caro- lina, but was prevented for weeks by the flooded state of the adjoining country from moving. Finally, on the 29th January, finding that the roads were so far improved as to admit of the movement of the left wing, Sherman 1156 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. ordered the Seventeenth Corps to River's Bridge, on the Salkehatchie, and the Fifteenth Corps to Beaufort's Bridge. On the 2d February the two corps reached their destinations. Here General Sherman admonished Slocum, still struggling with the floods of the Savannah River, to hurry his crossing at Sister's Ferry and overtake the right wing on the South Carolina Railroad at or near Midway. The enemy held the line of the Salkehatchie in force, with artillery, at River's and Beaufort's Bridges. The Seventeenth Corps was ordered to carry the former, which was promptly done by Mower's and Smith's Divi- sions on the 3d February. The weather was bitter cold, and Generals Mower and Smith led their divisions in per- son, on foot, waded the swamp, made a lodgment below the bridge, and turned on the brigade which guarded it, driving it in confusion and disorder towards Branchville. Our casualties were one officer and seventeen men killed, and seven men wounded, who were sent to Pocotaligo. The line of the Salkehatchie being thus broken, the enemy retreated at once behind the Edisto, at Branch- ville, and the whole army was pushed rapidly to the South Carolina Railroad at Midway, Hamburg (or Lowry's Station), and Graham's Station. The Seven- teenth Corps, by threatening Branchville, forced the enemy to burn the railroad bridge, and Walker's bridge below, across the Edisto. General Kilpatrick had, meanwhile, come up with his cavalry, and proceeded to threaten Augusta, skirmishing sharply with Wheeler's Cavalry. General Slocum reach- ed Blackville on the 10th. I'he rebels at this time oc- cupied Augusta, Aiken, Branchville, and Charleston. When, therefore, the army on the llth was on the rail- road from Midway to Johnson's Station, the enemy's forces were divided, and he could no longer hold Charles- ton. The Seventeenth Corps now pusned for Orange- burg, while the Fifteenth Corps, in support, proceeded to Poplar Springs. The left wing had orders to move to the Edgefield road, and there await the result of the movement upon Orangeburg. That point was occupied, with little opposition, at four o'clock on the 12th. Branch- ville, the point of junction of the South Carolina and Co- lumbia Railroad, being turned, like Charleston, it fell of itself, and Sherman marched direct upon Columbia, HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1157 which was held by Beauregard. The Seventeenth Corps moved by the State road, and the Fifteenth Corps by a road which united with the State road at Zeigler's. The enemy were encountered at Little Congaree Bridge on the loth, but retired after a brief encounter, burning the bridge behind them, so that the column was delayed, and did not reach the Congaree Bridge, in front of Columbia, until early on the 16th, too late to save the fine structure which there spans the river. Howard was accordingly directed to cross the Saluda, which joins the Congaree at Columbia, three miles above, so as to approach Columbia from the north, while Slocum was ordered to march direct upon Winnsboro, twenty-five miles north of Co- lumbia. On the 17th, while Howard was preparing to cross, the mayor of Columbia came out and made a formal surrender of the city. In anticipation of the occupation of the city, orders had been given to Howard to destroy absolutely all arsenals and public property not needed for the use of the army, as well as all railroads, depots, and machinery useful in war to the enemy, but to spare all dwellings and harm- less property, whether of a public or private character. General Wade Hampton, who commanded the rebel rear- guard, had, in anticipation of the capture of the place, ordered all the cotton to be moved into the streets and fired. A violent gale was blowing as the advance of the Union army entered Columbia, and, before a single building had been fired by Sherman's order, the smould- ering fires, set by Hampton's order, and which soldiers and citizens had labored hard to extinguish, were re- kindled by the wind, and communicated to the buildings around. A whole division of troops was called out to stay the progress of the conflagration, but the flames had now become unmanageable, and until four A. M. of the lth, they pursued their devouring course, laying a large portion of the city in ashes. It was not until the wind began to subside that the fire could be controlled. Sher- man, with many of his generals, was up all night labor- ing to save houses and protect families thus suddenly deprived of shelter and home. " I disclaim," he said in his official report, " on the part of my army, any agency in the fire, but, on the contrary, claim that we saved what of Columbia remains uuconsumed. And without 1158 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. hesitation I charge "Wade Hampton with having burned his own city of Columbia, not with malicious intent, or as the manifestation of a silly 'Roman stoicism,' but from folly and want of sense in tilling it with lint, cotton, and tinder. Our officers and men on duty worked well to extinguish the flames ; but others not on duty, includ- ing the officers who had long been imprisoned there, rescued by us, may have assisted in spreading the tire after it had once begun, and may have indulged in un- concealed joy to see the ruin of the capital of South Carolina." This may be taken as a final and complete refutation of the many mendacious reports, originating chiefly in the South, that the city of Columbia was wantonly fired by Sherman's troops. General Slocum reached Winnsboro on the 21st, de- stroyed the railroad, and reached Rocky Mount on the 23d, on which day he was joined by the Twentieth Corps. Kilpatrick followed and demonstrated on Char- lotte, to which point Beauregard had retreated from Columbia, and where he was expecting to be joined by Cheatham's Corps of Hood's old army. The rains con- tinued very heavy until the 26th, when the Twentieth Corps was at Catawba waiting for the Fourteenth Corps to cross the Catawba. In the mean time the right wing had destroyed the railroad to Winnsboro, and thence moved upon Cheraw, whence a force was sent to burn the bridge over the Wateree, at Camden, and another to Florence, with a view of breaking up the railroad between that place and Charleston. The latter was beaten back by the enemy's horse. On the 3d of March the Sev- teenth Corps entered Cheraw, the enemy retreating across the Pedee. While these events were occurring, the proceedings of the rebel Congress had begun to give signs of the speedy dissolution of the "Confederacy." The want of men was urgent, and the question of arming slaves was warmly discussed. Much dissatisfaction with the Govern- ment and the leading generals had sprung up, and the finances were in a deplorable condition. Continued disaster had at last brought the Executive into a degree of despair from which nothing seemed likely to rescue it. In accordance with a resolution of the rebel Congress, and as a last means of making head against the rapidly HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1159 advancing armies of the Union, Jefferson Davis had ap- pointed General Lee to the chief command of the entire military force. Lee's order announcing that he assumed this post is dated February 9th. General Joseph E. Johnston, between whom and Jefferson Davis a deep animosity had long existed, had been virtually retired from the army after the fall of Atlanta. Public opinion so strongly demanded his restoration that Davis was forced to yield, and he was reinstated, and placed in im- mediate command of the forces opposed to Sherman, in the place of Beauregard,who wrote to the rebel President that the general sentiment of the public, and particularly that of the Army of the Tennessee, was so urgent for Johnston's restoration to command that he was induced to join his wish to theirs; but he did not wish to be re- moved from his present field of operations, but preferred to serve under his old comrade. Johnston's order assum- ing the command of the " Army of the Tennessee, and all the troops in the Departments of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida," is dated at Charlotte, North Carolina, February 25th, when it was too late for him, or perhaps any general living, with the means then at his disposal, to oppose the progress of Sherman. The movement of Sherman was continued without delay upon Fayetteville, North Carolina, on the Cape Fear River, which point was reached March llth by the Fourteenth and Seventeenth Corps, after skirmishing with Wade Hampton's Cavalry, that covered the rear of Hardee's retreating army, which had crossed Cape Fear River, burning the bridge. During the march from the Pedee, Kilpatrick had kept his cavalry well on the left and exposed flank. During the night of the 9th of March, his three brigades were divided to picket the roads. Hampton, detecting this, dashed in at daylight, and gained possession of the camp of Colonel Spencer's Brigade, and the house in which Kilpatrick and Spencer had their quarters. The surprise was complete, but Kil- patrick quickly succeeded in rallying his men, on foot, in a swamp near by, and, by a prompt attack, well followed up, regained his artillery, horses, camp, and every thing save some prisoners whom the enemy carried off, leaving their dead on the ground. Several days were spent in Fayetteville destroying property. The army tug 1160 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Davidson here came up the river from Wilmington, and carried back dispatches from Sherman to Terry and Schofield. The gunboat yEolus also arrived at Fayette- ville. At this time Johnston, the old antagonist of Sherman, had begun to get his forces well in hand, and to concen- trate them at Kaleigh, on Sherman's flank. Beauregard, falling back from Columbia, had been re-enforced by Cheatham's Corps from the West, and the garrison of Augusta, and ample time had been given to ; move these troops to Raleigh. Hardee had also succeeded in getting across Cape Fear River, and could therefore complete the junction with the other rebel troops in North Carolina. The whole, under the command of the skilful and ex- perienced Johnston, made up an army superior to Sher- man's in cavalry, and formidable enough in artillery and infantry to justify him in extreme caution in making the last step necessary to complete the march he had under- taken. He could no longer move at will with an over- whelming force, regardless of the enemy. . Kilpatrick was ordered to move up the plankroad to and beyond Averysboro', to be followed by four divisions of the left wing. In like manner, Howard was ordered to hold four divisions ready to go to the aid of the left wing if attacked while in motion. The columns moved out from Cape Fear River on Wednesday, the 15th of March. Slocum, preceded by^ Kilpatrick's Cavalry, moved to Kyle's Landing, Kilpatrick skirmishing heavily with the enemy's rear-guard about three miles beyond, near Taylor's Hole Creek. At Kilpatrick's request, Slocurn sent forward a brigade of infantry to hold a line of barricades. Next morning the column advanced in the same order, and developed the enemy, with artil- lery, infantry, and cavalry, in an intrenched position, in front of the point where the road branches off towards Groldsboro', through Bentonville. Hardee, with twelve thousand men, in retreating from Fayetteville, halted in the narrow swampy neck between Cape Fear and South Rivers, in hopes, by checking Sher- man, to save time for the concentration of Johnston's armies at some point to his rear, namely, Raleigh, Smith- field, or Goldsboro'. It was necessary to dislodge him, that we might have the use of the Goldsboro' road. Slocuia HISTOKY OP THE GREAT REBELLION. 1161 was therefore ordered to press and carry the position, only difficult by reason of the nature of the ground, which was so soft that horses would sink everywhere, and even men could hardly make their way over the common pine barren. The Twentieth Corps, Williams, had the lead, and "Ward's Division the advance. This was deployed, and the skirmish line developed the position of a brigade of Charleston heavy artillery, armed as infantry (Khett's), posted across the road behind a light parapet, with a battery of guns enfilading the approach across a cleared field. Williams sent a brigade (Case's) by a circuit to his left, that turned this line, and by a quick charge broke the brigade, which rapidly retreated back to a second line, better built and more strongly held. A battery of artil- lery (Winnigers), well posted, under the immediate direc- tion of Major Reynolds, Chief of Artillery of the Twen- tieth Corps, did good execution on the retreating brigade, and, on advancing Ward's Division over this ground, Williams captured three guns and two hundred and seventeen prisoners. As Ward's Division advanced, he developed a second and stronger line, when Jackson's Division was deployed forward on the right of Ward, and the two divisions of Jeff. C. Davis's (Fourteenth) Corps on the left, well towards the Cape Fear. At the same time, Kilpatrick, who was acting in concert with Wil- liams, was ordered to draw back his cavalry and mass it on the extreme right, and, in concert with Jackson's right, to feel forward for the Goldsboro' road. He got a brigade on the road, but it was attacked by McLaws's rebel division furiously, and was driven back to the flank of the infantry. The whole line advanced late in the afternoon, drove the enemy well within his intrenched line, and pressed him so hard that he retreated during the night to Smithfield. Slocum reported his aggregate loss in this affair, known as that of Averysboro', at twelve officers and sixty-five men killed, and four hundred and seventy-seven wounded. Leaving Ward's Division to keep up a show of pursuit, Slocum's column was turned to the right, built a bridge across the swollen South Eiver, and took the Goldsboro' road. In the mean time, Howard's column was moving to- wards Goldsboro', via Bentonville, and on the night of 1162 HISTOKT OF THE GREAT the 18th was at Lee's Store, ten miles south of Slocum, who was on the road, five miles from Bentonville, and twenty-seven miles from Goldsboro', at a point crossed by the road from Clinton to Smithfield. General Sherman, anticipating no further opposition from the enemy, directed Howard to move his right wing; by the new Goldsboro' road, which goes by way of Falling Creek Church. General Slocum's head of column had advanced from its camp of March 18th, and first encountered Dib- brell's Cavalry, but soon found his progress impeded by infantry and artillery. Johnston had moved by night from Smithfield, with great rapidity, and without un- necessary wheels, intending to overwhelm the left flank before it could be relieved by its co-operating columns. The enemy attacked the head of the Union column, gaining a temporary advantage, and took three guns and caissons of Carlin's Division, driving the two leading brigades back on the main body. Slocum promptly de- ployed the two divisions of the Fourteenth Corps, and rapidly brought up on their left the two divisions of the Twentieth Corps. These he arranged on the defensive, and hastily prepared a line of barricades. Kilpatrick also came up at the sound of artillery, .and massed on the left. In this position the left wing received six distinct assaults by the combined forces of Hoke, Hardee, and Cheatham, under the immediate command of General Johnston him- self, without giving an inch of ground, and doing good execution on the enemy's ranks, especially with artillery, the enemy having little or none. General Sherman, immediately on receipt of a dispatch from Slocum, sent him orders to call up the two divisions guarding his wagon trains, and Hazen's Division of the Fifteenth Corps, still back near Lee's Store, to fight defensively until he could draw up Blair's Corps, then near Mount Olive Station, and with the three remaining divisions of the Fifteenth Corps come upon Johnston's left rear from the direction of Cox's Bridge. At the same time he received couriers from both Schofield and Terry. The former reported himself in possession of Kinston, de- layed somewhat by want of provisions, but able to march so as to make Goldsboro' on the 21st, and Terry was at or near Faison's Depot. Orders were at once dispatched to Schofield to push for Goldsboro,' and to make dispositions HISTORY OF THE GREAT KEBELLIOtf. 1163 to cross Little Kiver, in the direction of Smithfield, as far as Millard ; to Terry to move to Cox's Bridge, lay a pon- toon bridge, and establish a crossing ; and to Blair to make a night-march to Falling Creek Church ; and at daylight, the right wing, Howard, less the necessary wagon guards, was put in rapid motion on Bentonville. At daybreak on the morning of the 20th, Hazen's Division of the Fifteenth Corps, Geary's of the Twentieth Corps, and Baird's of the Fourteenth Corps, reported on the field, having marched all night, from the new Golds- boro' road, where the trains were moving. Howard, with Logan's and Blair's Corps, came up on the right, by way of Cox's Bridge, and on moving forward the Fifteenth Corps, General Logan, found that the enemy had thrown back his left flank, and had constructed a line of parapet connecting with that towards Slocum, in the form of a bastion, its salient on the main Goldsboro' road, interpos- ing between Slocum on the west and Howard on the east, while the flanks rested on Mill Creek, covering the road back to Smithfield. Howard was instructed to proceed with due caution until he had made strong connection on his left with Slocum. This he soon accomplished, and, by four p. M. of the 20th, a complete and strong line of battle confronted the enemy in his intrenched position. Sherman ordered all empty wagons to be sent at once to Kinston for supplies, and all other impediments to be grouped near the ^N"euse, south of Goldsboro', holding the army in close contact with the enemy, ready to fight him if he ventured outside his parapets and swampy obstructions. Thus matters stood about Bentonville on the 21st of March. On the same day, General Schofield entered Goldsboro' with little or no opposition, and Terry had got possession of the Neuse River at Cox's Bridge, ten miles above, with a pontoon bridge laid and a brigade across, so that the three armies were in actual connection, and the great object of the campaign was accomplished. On the 21st, a steady rain prevailed, during which Mower's Division of the Seventeenth Corps, on the extreme right, had worked well to the right around the enemy's flank, and had nearly reached the bridge across Mill Creek, the only line of retreat open to the enemy. Of course, there was extreme danger that the enemy 1164: HI8TOEY OF THE-GEEAT EEBELLION. would turn on him all his reserves, and, it might be, let go his parapets to overwhelm Mower. Accordingly. Sherman ordered at once a general attack hy the skirmish line from left to right. Quite a noisy battle ensued, during which Mower was enabled to regain his connection with his own corps, by moving to his left rear. That night the enemy retreated on Smithfield. The losses of the left wing about Bentonville were nine officers and one hundred and forty-five men killed, fifty- one officers and eight hundred and sixteen men wounded, and three officers and two hundred and twenty-three men missing, taken prisoners by the enemy ; total, one thou- sand two hundred and forty-seven. Slocum buried on the field one hundred and sixty-seven rebel dead, and took three hundred and thirty-eight prisoners! General Howard reported the losses of the right wing at two officers and thirty-five men killed, twelve officers and two hundred and eighty-nine men wounded, and one officer and sixty men missing ; total, three hundred and ninety-nine. He also buried one hundred dead of the enemy, and took one thousand two hundred and eighty- seven prisoners. The cavalry of Kilpatrick was held in reserve, and lost but few, if any. Our aggregate loss at Bentonville was one thousand six hundred and forty-six. Thus the 21st of March found Sherman in virtual pos- session of Goldsboro', the real objective of the campaign, together with its two railroads to Wilmington and Beau- fort, which large working parties were then putting in complete repair. In spite of a desperate enemy in his front, and of roads rendered nearly impassable by an almost unprecedentedly wet season, the army had, with inconsiderable loss, moved, in two months' time, through the heart of the Confederacy, thoroughly destroying the railroads between Goldsboro' and Savannah, and were now prepared to enjoy, in the camps assigned to them around Goldsboro', a period of much-needed rest, and an opportunity to replenish their wornout clothing and equipments. HISTORY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLION. 1165 CHAPTEE LXXY. Grant's Preparations for a Final Movement. Eebel Attack on Fort Stead- man. Disastrous Repulse. Object of Lee. Movement on the Left Commenced. Affair of Quaker Road. Heavy Fighting on Boydton Road. Decisive Battle of Five Forks. Rebel Left turned. Assault on Petersburg. Evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond. Pursuit of Lee. His Surrender to Grant. End of Campaign. As March approached its close, preparations began to be made by Grant, for that grand movement on the enemy's right, his chief vulnerable point, which was to give us possession of Petersburg and Richmond, capture or destroy the army of Lee, and end the war by a single blow. The sorely tried Army of the Potomac, so often defeated and disappointed, but never dishonored, was about at last to reap the fruit of all its exertions, and to redeem the promise of its early prime. Anticipating that the decisive moment was at hand, and dreading the battle which Grant with superior forces was about to offer him, Lee had already commenced preparations to evacuate Petersburg and Richmond, and move south- ward to effect a junction with Johnston. To cover this movement he organized a night attack upon the Union lines in front of Petersburg a desperate expedient, cer- tainly, considering their strength, but the only one which under the circumstances was practicable. Grant had anticipated the evacuation, and had taken means to prevent the escape of the rebel army. Meanwhile the busy note of preparation was heard along the Union lines, and frequent reviews of corps and sub-divisions, which were witnessed by President Lincoln and a distin- guished party of visitors, gave the camps a festive appearance. At daylight on the 25th of March, Gordon's rebel Corps, consisting of three divisions, was massed for a charge against our lines, in front of Fort Steadman, a square fort, covering about an acre of ground, and car- rying nine guns, and supported by mortar batteries, on the right and left. It was the second regular fort in our line running from the river, the first being Fort McGil- vrey. Just beyond Fort Steadman, and about three- eighths of a mile distant, was Fort Haskell ; and between 116(K HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. the two were mortar batteries 11 and 12. Simultaneously with this disposition of Gordon's Corps, the rest of Lee's army was arranged to co-operate in an attack farther down towards our left. Our lines at this time extended over the enormous distance of thirty miles, from right to left. The extreme right was terminated by Fort Harri- son, north of the James, on Chapin's Farm, and by the outposts of Kautz's Cavalry. Thence it crossed the James, and, passing in front of Bermuda Hundred, crossed the Appomattox, and so extended around Petersburg as far southwest as the hither bank of Hatcher's Run, on which the left rested. The Army of the Potomac occupied the whole of the ground south of the Appomattox, and that of the James, under Ord, the remainder of the lines. Besides covering his retreat by a sudden and strong attack, Lee had an additional object to gain, which was to break through our lines at Hare's Hill, on which Fort Steadman was situated, by a bold dash, to turn the guns he should capture upon us, to wheel his troops to the right and march down the line, taking Forts Haskell, Morton, Meikle, and the rest in reverse, stripping oft' the guns and garrisons from the forts and batteries, and threatening the whole line. While one column should accomplish this work, another in its rear, crossing through the gap, would get upon our military railroad and destroy it, and perhaps march to City Point and burn our depots and supplies at that point. The seizure of our base would have effectu- ally cut off the army of Ord from the army of Meade ; and, in short, if successful, the move might have entirely broken up the famous campaign against Richmond, and have thrown a new aspect over the war. At daybreak, Gordon's troops rushed to the attack. The space between the opposing lines was but one hun- dred and fifty yards wide, and once having cleared his own abatis, he charged across the interval and up the acclivity to Fort Steadman, worked his way through our abatis, and carried the fort almost instantly. Our line here was guarded by McLaughlin's Brigade of Willcox's (First) Division of the Ninth Corps. In the fort were the Fourteenth New York heavy artillery, and so skilfully and boldly was this assault executed, that the garrison, numbering about five hundred men, was captured with scarcely a show of resistance. The enemy at once turned HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1167 the captured guns against the rest of the line, and speedi- ly occupied mortar batteries 9, 10, and 11, adjoining Fort Steadman. His onward rush, however, was now checked by Fort Ilaskell, and the rest of Willcox's Division having been rallied, a stubborn resistance began to be offered to him. At this juncture Hartranft's Third Division of the Ninth Corps came up to the support of Willcox, and our batteries from all quarters were massed upon Fort Stead- man. A tremendous cannonade burst from our artillery, to which the enemy replied briskly from the guns he had captured. Under the terrific fire, Hartranft's Division pressed up towards the captured fort to retake it. The enemy at first resisted obstinately, and checked Hartranft's Progress, inflicting on the latter a loss of nearly two hun- red men killed and wounded. But soon the concentra- ted fire of our artillery, and the determined advance of Hartranft on all sides, were too much for him. He fell back into the fort, and then beyond the fort, down the hill, leaving all the guns he had captured, and endeavored to regain his own lines. But our own guns opened upon him with such severity as to prevent a large part of the retreating force from escaping from the fort, and seven- teen hundred and fifty-eight prisoners fell into our hands. The enemy's total loss at this point could not have been less than two thousand five hundred. Our own loss was a little over nine hundred. The enemy did not fight with his accustomed fierceness. Many of the rebel soldiers were only too glad to be captured, and many, breaking through all rules of discipline, began to plunder the offi- cers' quarters in the captured fort, thus preventing such a following up of their first success as was essential to a final victory. By ten A. M. the fighting in front of Fort Steadman was over, but the Second and Sixth Corps were now under arms, in anticipation of an attack upon our left; and with a view of reaping some advantages from the enemy's signal repulse by Hartranft, they were at eleven o'clock pushed out against the rebel intrenched picket lines, which extended some distance beyond their main line of works. The movement was entirely successful, and although the enemy made desperate efforts in the afternoon to drive our troops from the captured intrench- ments, night closed upon our lines still advanced. 1168 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. The total loss of the enemy in the several encounters of the 25th must have reached five thousand ; that of the Union army was officially stated at two thousand three hundred and ninety. The design of Lee to evacuate Petersburg and Rich- mond was now so apparent, that Sheridan was hurried forward to the left of our lines, where he arrived on the 26th. It was Grant's object to strike the enemy before he should succeed in getting away from his capital. On the morning of the 29th, the army was at last in motion, the movement which it was about to undertake being a simple repetition of what it had many times before fruit- lessly attempted, viz., to turn the enemy's right by over- lapping it, and to seize the Southside Railroad. The Second and Fifth Corps with the cavalry under Sheridan were selected for the flanking movement, the Sixth and Ninth Corps remaining in their works until the time should come for them to co-operate ; and in order to pre- serve the lines in front of Petersburg intact, the works evacuated by the Second and Fifth Corps were immedi- ately filled by detachments from the Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Corps, comprising the Army of the James, under General Ord, drawn from the extreme right of our lines. At six A. M. of the 29th, Sheridan, with his command divided into two wings, 'the right under Crook and the left under Merritt, proceeded by the Jerusalem plankroad to Reams's Station, on the Weldon road, and thence to Dinwiddie, which was reached on the same day. Mean- while, the advance by the Second and Fifth Corps was progressing favorably. The Sixth Corps had its left on Hatcher's Run. The Second Corps, extending down the run from the left of the Sixth, formed a line nearly at right angles with it to the crossing of the Yaughan road. The Fifth Corps was in reserve, extending in rear of the Sixth, at a right angle from the left of the Second. At three o'clock on the morning of the 29th, the Fifth and Second advanced towards Dinwiddie. The Fifth Corps crossed Hatcher's Run without opposition, and moved along the old stage-road towards Dinwiddie until the Quaker road was reached, when it turned to the right. At about nine o'clock, a connection was formed between the left of Hiles's Division of the Second Corps and the HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1169 right of the Fifth Corps, the line of the latter extending across the Quaker road and within two or three miles of Dinwiddie Court-House. At Gravelly Kun, the Fifth, Corps encountered opposition for the first time. Yery soon our troops were drawn up in position awaiting at- tack. The preparations were soon completed, and, at about half-past three o'clock in the afternoon, Bushrod Johnson's Division of Anderson's Corps came down and attacked our skirmishers, Sickles's Brigade of Griffin's Division. The Fifth Corps was now on the Quaker road. The enemy soon drove in our skirmishers and burst with great fury upon Griffin's Division, threatening to overwhelm it, but Crawford and Ayres coming into position, he with- drew, after a sharp skirmish, with a loss of about five hundred. That of the Fifth Corps was not less. On the morning of March 30th, the Fifth occupied a position near the junction of the Quaker and Boydton roads. The Second Corps, on the right of the Fifth, had rested its right on Hatcher's Run. A portion of the Twenty-fourth Corps was on its right, with the two divisions of the Twenty-fifth on the right of the latter. The Sixth and Ninth Corps were to the right of the Twenty-fifth. Early in the morning, Sheridan connected his right with War- ren's left, near the Boydton plankroad. The enemy was found to have a very strong line of intrenchments already erected to cover the position known as Five Forks. His right was commanded by Anderson, and Pickett's Division of Anderson's Corps held the extreme right. His intrench- ments completely covered the White Oak: road, which runs from the Boydton road to the Southside Railroad. From the White Oak road up towards Hatcher's Run the en- emy's troops were in strong force. He baffled all our at- tempts on Thursday, the 30th, to turn him by cavalry, as his works, manned by infantry, checked us at all points. During the day the Fifth Corps pushed on nearly due west about three-fourths of a mile, and lay fronting north- ward, with the pickets of Ayres's Division within five hundred yards of the White Oak road, at a point between two and three miles west of its intersection with the* Boydton road. On the rigjht of the Fifth Corps lay the' Second, which now had its right near Hatcher's Run,, while its left rested on the Boydton plankroad, near Burgess's Tavern, about one mile south of the bridge 72 1170 HISTORY OF THE GBEAT REBELLION. across Hatcher's Eun. Sheridan continued to cover our left flank, and remained at Dinwiddie. On Friday, the 31st, began a movement having for its object the possession of the strategic position known as Five Forks. The success of the movement would involve the turning of the enemy's flank. At this point five roads meet in the woods, and as three of them lead back to the Southside Railroad, the carrying of the junction would give us a choice of advance towards the railroad. The White Oak road at this point was thoroughly fortified with logs and earth, its approaches blocked by felled trees, and sharpshooters stationed to contest any advance. Early on Friday morning, the Fifth Corps began, by a left flank movement, to advance upon the "White Oak road, Ayres having the advance. The enemy fell back skirmishing, upon his main works, a mile and a half below White Oak road, whence he delivered a fire which compelled Ayres's Division to break and fall to the rear. The enemy imme- diately rallied from his works and charged Ayres's Division with all his old elan. Our troops resisted stubbornly, and suffered severe losses before they would yield. But no- thing could resist the impetuous onset of the enemy's columns, which, handled with great skill, swept the field. Crawford, next attacked, followed the fate of Ayres, and Griffin followed the fate of Crawford. The whole Fifth Corps was driven back to the Boydton road, and anxiety was at once thrown over the grand movement. Meanwhile, the enemy, having driven back our infantry advance so far, turned his forces towards the task of cutting off the cavalry. The failure of the Fifth Corps to advance greatly exposed the cavalry, and checked the intended movement on Five Forks. About noon the ene- my attacked the cavalry, and by five o'clock had driven them also back several miles to the Boydton road. But now he had encountered our entire force. Merritt's troops were re-formed, and Custer's Division, with Cape- hart on the left and Pennington on the right, held a firm position. The enemy, who had been re-enforced with a part of Pickett's and Johnson's Divisions the troops employed against the Fifth Corps came down with a furious charge, cheering and gallantly advancing. Yerv hard fighting took place here. But our artillery in posi- tion and our very large force of cavalry now rallied, and HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1171 eventually forced him to desist. A few desperate charges left our men immovable, and the enemy, well content with his day's work, drew oif to the woods. Our forces immediately intrenched. Meantime the Fifth Corps, having re-formed again, advanced as the enemy retired. Following up the advance, they carried an earthwork, and took position on the White Oak road, east of Five Forks. Simultaneous with this movement, the Second Corps swung forward in support, followed by the Twenty-fourth Corps, the troops making a general advance of about three-fourths of a mile. The results of the day were, upon the whole, a success to the enemy. He had driven us back from our advanced positions and had foiled our plans. Thanks, however, to our well-served batteries and preponderance in numbers, he had been checked in turn. The Federal losses were about three thousand. The enemy's loss was less severe, and included several hundred prisoners. The left flank of the Federal army was now at Dabney's, on the White Oak road, three-fourths of a mile from Five Forks, and held the road one mile eastward, from which point the line ran in an irregular semicircle to the Second Corps near Burgess's Farm. The troops were busy all night erecting works, and at four o'clock on the morning of Saturday, the 1st of April, three brigades of Hill's Corps charged the Twenty-fourth Corps, which, being taken by surprise, immediately broke to the rear, and the enemy planted his colors on the works. The men were, how- ever, soon rallied, and drove the enemy out. Heavy skir- mishing ensued for several hours. Our loss was small. Soon afterwards the grand movements of the day commenced. Upon hearing of the disaster of Friday, Grant had placed Sheridan in command of all the cavalry and also of the Fifth Corps, so that he now controlled upwards of thirty thousand men. This large force was superior to any thing the enemy could oppose to it at Five Forks from his long line, reaching from Petersburg to Dinwiddie. The plan of Sheridan was to penetrate the enemy's lines so as to envelop Five Forks and capture it. The cav- alry started for their appointed positions at daybreak of Saturday, Custer and Devin slowly driving the ene- my towards the left of their works on the White Oak road. These divisions now dismounted, and fought with 1172 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. carbines. The brigades of Gregg and Mackenzie were kept in the saddle, so as to move rapidly on the flank of the enemy. In this way Sheridan worked his men stead- ily up to the enemy's intrenchments on all sides. The enemy fell slowly back through the broken country to his main position, delivering a terrific fire upon our men, who. fell in great numbers. Still, however, Sheridan kept his men up to their work, and gradually got all his forces well into position, with a division or more upon the ene- my's flank and rear, and the rest of his troops pressing slowly and with much loss upon the front of the works. At three o'clock the Fifth Corps, which was on the road towards Ford's Station, was ordered to advance on the right and support the cavalry. The enemy fell back stubbornly for some distance, and then made a decisive stand. Strongly intrenched, and with a battery in posi- tion, they raked the advancing columns of Griffin, War- ren being superseded by order of Sheridan, leading the Fifth Corps on the right and the cavalry on the left. Several times the blinding sheets of fire which poured from the rebel works were too much for the men, and they staggered back appalled. Their high courage, how- ever, did not fail to tell in the long run. Encouraged by Sheridan, who was by turns in all parts of the field, cheering and exhorting, they rushed on again and again, until the enemy, surrounded and exhausted, could no longer drive back the assailants that swarmed over his works. He finally gave away, and Sheridan's forces rushed in. After another fierce struggle the position was ours, and Sheridan stood, at half-past one o clock, p. M., upon the blood-stained works, master of from four thou- sand to six thousand prisoners, eight guns, and several thousand muskets, having sustained a loss of about thirty- five hundred dead and wounded. Sheridan being thus in possession of the works on the enemy's right, at four o'clock on the morning of Sunday, April 2d, orders for the assault of Petersburg were issued. The troops had been held in readiness for the movement since Sheridan's first advance on the left. The loss of his position on the extreme right had forced upon the rebel general the necessity of abandoning Petersburg. It also enabled General Grant to shorten and greatly re-en- force his lines, so that the environment of Petersburg HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1173 upon the south side was perfect, and so strong as to repel any attempt of the enemy to break through. The exten- sion of the left across the Southside road sealed the fate of Petersburg, and rendered it valuable to the enemy only as an outpost to Richmond. Lee consequently pre- pared to withdraw his army from Petersburg. At four o'clock, however, on Sunday morning, the Second, Sixth, and Ninth Corps were formed for the attack-the Sixth being in front of Forts Welch and Fisher. "Hie Second Corps was in advance, with its three divisions arranged in numerical order from right to left. A portion of the Twenty-fourth Corps was brought up in support of the Sixth. While the formation was going on, a terrific can- nonade showered missiles upon the columns. It was early dawn when the troops pushed forward. Getty and Wheaton, of the Sixth Corps, after being once checked by the terrific fire of the enemy, rushed forward again, and carried the two forts in their front, while Seymour, after a sharp fight, broke through to the Southside Bail- road, and commenced tearing it up. Here he found the Twenty-fourth Corps, which, between the Sixth and Second, had been equally fortunate. The right division of the Second Corps and the two divisions of the Twenty-fourth had captured about one thousand prisoners and many guns, and carried the works up to the railroad. The whole line was now swung in towards Petersburg, the Twenty-fourth marching in to the support of the Sixth, and W heaton pressing over to the aid of the Ninth. The enemy, from a strong position in the rear of the cap- tured forts, opened a hot and destructive fire upon our men, but, after a hard struggle, succumbed, their leader, A. P. Hill, being killed, with many of his officers. By eleven o'clock the hardest fighting was done, and, with brief pause, our lines were once more gathered up, and the Twenty-fourth, Second, and Sixth Corps once more formed for a final attack on Petersburg. The battle raged through the'afternoon. At night, the Sixth Corps rested its lett close to the Appomattox, south of^the city. It had captured about two thousand prisoners, and about twenty guns. During the attack of the Sixth Corps, the Ninth, on the right, advanced against Fort Mahone, one of the strong- est positions on the enemy's lines, which had been weak- HISTORY OF THE QKEAT EEBELLION. ened, however, in order to resist the advance of Sheridan. After a desperate struggle, Fort Mahone and neighboring works, carrying fourteen guns, were taken. But the posi- tion was too important to be BO sacrificed. Commanding Fort Mahone was an interior work, from which the enemy opened a murderous fire on our troops. The latter ad- vanced to carry the new position, but were repeatedly driven back with great loss. Hill's troops then charged in turn to retake Fort Mahone, and, by the desperate valor of his few troops, nearly succeeded in doing so. But, fortunately, the Sixth Corps now coming up on the left, once more the enemy were driven back, and the Ninth Corps held the position. At the close of the fight, the enemy had lost, perhaps, not more than half as many as we in killed and wounded, as our troops had charged elaborate breastworks under a galling fire works so strong that, had not their garrisons been fatally weakened by the necessity of sending troops against Sheridan, they might never have been carried by storm. The results of the conflict had been anticipated by Lee, who on Sunday afternoon began transporting troops to Richmond, and thence beyond. On Monday morning both cities were found to be evacuated. General Weitzel, temporarily commanding the Army of the James, learned at three A. M. that Richmond was being evacuated, and at daylight moved forward, first taking care to give his men breakfast, in the expectation that they might have to fight. He met no opposition, and on entering the city was greeted with hearty welcome from the mass of the people. The mayor went out to meet him and to surren- der the city, but missed him on the road. General Weit- zel found much suffering and poverty aniong the popula- tion, who numbered only about twenty thousand, half of them of African descent. Previous to evacuating the city the enemy fired it. All the business part of Main street was destroyed, and also the bridges over the river. Weitzel took one thousand prisoners, besides the wounded, who numbered five thousand, in nine hospitals. He captured cannon to the number of at least five hun- dred pieces. Five thousand muskets were found in one lot, also thirty locomotives and three hundred cars. All the rebel vessels had been destroyed except an unfinished ram. The Tredegar works were unharmed, and the HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1175 machinery was taken under General Weitzel's orders. Libby Prison and Castle Thunder, which had escaped the fire, were immediately filled with rebel prisoners of war. Meantime, on the morning of the 3d, Sheridan pressed the pursuit. Lee, in retreating from Richmond, reached Amelia Court-House on the 4th, and on the 5th Sheridan was at Jettersville, whence he sent word to Grant that he could see no escape for Lee. The cavalry and the Fifth Corps lay across the railroad, and in the rear was the Sec- ond Corps, with the Sixth supporting. The two last were under General Meade. On the 4th, two divisions of the Ninth Corps marched from Petersburg to Ford's Station, on the Southside road, about twenty miles west of Petersburg. On the 5th it started again, and, still moving on the Cox road, towards Burkesville, along the railroad, camped at night at Wellesville, twenty-one miles distant from the latter point. The next day, the 6th, it pressed on along the same road, and encamped at night about ten miles from Burkesville, with one brigade of the Second Division thrown forward to the junction. Thus on the night of the 5th the army lay in line of battle, stretching across three or four miles of country, and facing substantially northward. Custer's Division of cavalry lay on the right flank, and McKenzie's on the left. The infantry line was formed with the Sixth Corps on the right, the Fifth in the centre, and the Second on the left. On the 6th began our final manoeuvres. The Sixth Corps was transferred from the right to the left, and the whole army had, before noon, marched about five miles in the direction of Amelia Court-House. Soon after moving, trustworthy intelligence was received that the enemy was moving towards Farmville. The direction of the Second and Fifth Corps was immediately changed from a northerly to a northwesterly direction, the directing corps, the Second, moving on Deatonville, while the Fifth, heretofore in the centre, moved on the right of the Second, and the Sixth, facing about and moving by the left flank, took position on the left of the Second. The cavalry were directed to operate on the extreme left.' The changes were promptly made, the Second Corps soon becoming engaged with the enemy near Deatonville, driving him across Sailor's Creek to the Appomattox. The Fifth Corps made a long march, but 1176 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. its position prevented its striking the enemy's column before it had passed. The Sixth Corps came up with the enemy about four P. M., and, in conjunction with the Second on its right, and cavalry on its left, attacked and routed the enemy, capturing many prisoners, among them Lieutenant-General Ewell and General Custis Lee. After this defeat, Lee retired upon Barnesville, sixteen miles west of Burkesville. Here he was sharply engaged, on the 7th, by the Second Corps, and, after inflicting some loss, again retired across the Appomattox at High Bridge, where he captured some troops stationed there to hold the bridge, which he destroyed, and retreated upon Lynchburg. The position of Lee was now hope- less. His army nad dwindled to a small force, and this was now almost surrounded by troops greatly superior in numbers and flushed with victory. Hancock's column had left Winchester on the 4th, for a inarch up the Shen- andoah -Valley, well equipped and in good spirits, and ready to seize Lynchburg ; but their services were not required. Stoneman's column had already reached Boone, North Carolina, and would have aided in the capture of Lee's army, were not Sherman's grand army already advancing in overwhelming numbers upon John- ston's army, and the hour of surrender had struck. On Sunday, the 9th of April, 1865 a date which will ever hereafter be memorable in American annals in a farm-house near Appomattox Court-House, the capitula- tion was signed, by which the remnant of the once famous army, so often led by Lee to victory or invasion, passed out of existence. In the ecclesiastical calendar for the year, this Sunday was known as Palm Sunday the day which commemorates the triumphal entry of Christ into Jerusalem. Hereafter it is destined to be a patriotic as well as a pious anniversary. The result was hailed with unbounded delight by the Union soldiers, and, for half an hour or more, the air resounded with their cheers, although many expressed their dissatisfaction, not only at the un- precedented liberality granted to the rebels, but at the. manner in which they were paroled and allowed to go their way, without our men being permitted to enjoy the results of their long struggle in the passage through the lines of Lee and his armv. But it was urged that this would have been humiliating to General Lee and his offi- HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1177 cers, and that it was not the wish or desire of the Govern- ment or the Union commanders to act towards them in any way that would tend to irritate their feelings, or make their position more intolerable than it actually was. During Sunday night and Monday, large numbers of the rebels, officers as well as privates, made their escape from the lines, and scattered through the woods, many of whom returned at once to their homes. Although Lee probably had upwards of fifty thousand men when our forward movement began, not above eighteen thousand, including teamsters, hospital men, and camp-followers of all descriptions, were surrendered by him. As only ten thousand muskets and about thirty pieces of artillery were surrendered, it is fair to presume that the available rebel force on April 9th did not exceed fourteen thousand men. Upwards of ten thousand had been killed and wounded in battle, and considerably over twenty thou- sand had been taken prisoners or had deserted. Our to- tal captures of artillery, during the battles and pursuit, and at the surrender, amounted to one hundred and sev- enty pieces. The surrender of Lee was followed by the voluntary surrender of most of the regular troops of the enemy in the Shenandoah. On the 15th, Lieutenant-Colonel Far- rel, of Mosby's command, came, under flag of truce, to our picket lines on the Kernstown road, and arranged with General Hancock to surrender the forces of Mosby on the terms accorded to General Lee, his troops being recognized as a part of the Army of Northern Virginia. On the 17th, at noon, Mosby surrendered his forces to General Chapman, at Berryville, receiving the terms granted to Lee. General Bosser was also permitted to have his command included in the cartel. The exact num- ber of men in Mosby's command did not vary much from seven hundred. With the announcement of the fall of Richmond and Petersburg, and the capitulation of Lee, the loyal popu- lation of the country surrendered itself to rejoicing, and it seemed as if one universal jubilee was being held. Those who had been from the outset in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war were not less thankful for the speedy approach of peace than those who had sincerely deprecated hostilities and advocated peace on principle. 1178 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION". Both, parties had gained their end, and botli, disregarding for the time the manner in which it had been gained, were brought into close sympathy. The war party, how- ever, by the very extravagance of its delight, showed how severe had been the effort to remain true to its often avowed purpose of conquering a peace. During the ad- vance movement of Grant, President Lincoln remained at the head-quarters of the latter before Petersburg, a deeply interested spectator of the closing act of the great drama, which had been protracted through four years of varying fortunes. A few miles only separated the two presidents. On Saturday, the 1st of April, was fought the decisive battle of Five Forks ; and on the succeeding morning, while Davis was attending service at the Mon- umental Church in Richmond, an orderly, splashed from head to foot with mire, entered the building, strode hastily up the aisle, and handed him a dispatch from Lee: It announced that all was over, and counselled the rebel chief to take his immediate departure from the city. A few hours later found Davis a fugitive on his way to Danville, leaving behind him the capital he had so fre- quently boasted his ability to hold against the utmost power of the Union, and two days afterwards, Mr. Lin- coln entered Richmond in triumph, amid the acclamations of thousands, and held a levee in the rebel presidential mansion. This incident formed a significant and fitting close to the great campaign against Richmond. CHAPTER LXXYI. Eaids in Kentucky and East Tennessee. Defeat and Death of Morgan. - Successes of Stoneman and Burhridge. Destruction of Works at Salt- ville. Stoneman's Last Raid. Capture of Salisbury. Negotiations between Sherman and Johnston. Agreement for Surrender by Johnston disavowed at Washington. Reasons Assigned. Final Surrender of Johnston. Wilson's great Raid in Alabama and Georgia. Capture of Selma, Montgomery, and Macon. Exchanges of Prisoners. Cruel Treat- ment by Rebels of Union Prisoners. Horrors of Andersonville. Rebel Plots in Canada. The St. Albans Raid. Execution of Beall and Ken- nedy. Attempts to Fire American Cities and Introduce Pestilence. IT is now necessary to go back a few months, and notice briefly several events which had an indirect, though not unimportant, bearing on the grand result related in the HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1179 previous chapter. It had long been a favorite theory with many experienced military men, that, in the event of disaster before Richmond, Lee would retire with his army into Southwestern Yirginia, and thence pass into East and Middle Tennessee, where the remaining forces of the Confederacy would be concentrated. He would then be in a position to threaten Chattanooga. Nashville, or Louisville, and it was predicted that the decisive bat- tle of the war would be fought somewhere in Tennessee. Accordingly, as long as the rebels kept any considerable force in East Tennessee, which forms the doorway to the Yalley of the Mississippi, a Union army of corresponding strength was retained there. Knoxville was rendered doubly strong, and outlying bodies of infantry and cavalry were pushed well up the railroad and the Ilolston River Valley, towards the Yirginia , line. But by May, 1864, both sides were so much occupied with the great Richmond and Atlanta campaigns, that affairs in East Tennessee lost nearly all their interest. Nevertheless, the presence of scattered bodies of irregular rebel cavalry in Southwestern Virginia proved a source of constant alarm to the comparatively unprotected inhabitants of Eastern Kentucky. Darting unexpectedly through the gaps of the Cumberland Mountains, these rough riders would occasionally fall upon some isolated post, capture its garrison, and, after killing, burning, and robbing through the adjoining country, would be back in their mountain fastnesses before pursuit could overtake them. Early in June, 1864, the noted guerrilla chief, John Mor- gan, entered Kentucky through Pound Gap, at the head of two thousand five hundred mounted men, and pushed directly towards Lexington, plundering and destroying on the way, and spreading consternation on every side. On the 8th, Paris was captured and plundered by a portion of his forces. The next day, however, General JBurbridge, who had been on Morgan's track from Virginia, came up with him near Mount Sterling, having marched ninety miles in twenty-four hours, and defeated him. By mount- ing his troopers on stolen horses, Morgan got rapidly away from Burbridge, and on the 10th entered Lexington, where he burned the railroad station, and plundered the stores and private dwellings. The Union garrison, how- ever, held the fort. Thence be proceeded to Cynthiana, 1180 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION". attacked and defeated two Ohio regiments under General Hobson, and captured the entire force, besides burning a considerable portion of the town. On the 12th, Bur- bridge, following hard on Morgan's traces, overtook him at Cynthiana, and attacked him at daylight. After an hour's hard fighting, the enemy were completely routed, losing three hundred killed, about as many wounded, nearly four hundred prisoners, and one thousand horses. Burbridge also recaptured one hundred of Hobson's men. The total Union loss did not exceed one hundred and fifty. A few days later, Hobson and his staff were re- captured. By this defeat, the enemy were so completely broken up and demoralized, that they were glad to make their escape, in small scattered parties, into Virginia. Morgan subsequently rallied the remnant of his force, but for some time no enterprise of consequence was un- dertaken by either side. The restless guerrilla could not, however, remain long unoccupied, and by the beginning of September his band was again in motion, with the view of striking at the town of Greenville, East Tennessee, on the line of railroad connecting Lynchburg with Knoxville. He occupied the place on September 3d, and on the same night was surprised and killed by a Union force, under General Gillem, which had made a forced march thither from Bull Gap, sixteen miles distant. The death of Morgan was followed by another compara- tive cessation of hostilities in East Tennessee, both sides merely watching each other. Public attention at that time was concentrated on the operations around Atlanta. About the 1st of October, however, an attempt was made by General Burbridge to capture Saltville, in Southwestern Virginia, and destroy the large salt-works there, which were of great importance to the rebels. He found himself confronted by a superior force under Breck- inridge, who had been placed in command of the rebel troops in that quarter, and, after pushing the enemy in- side of his defensive works, was compelled, through the failure of his ammunition, to retire, with the loss of three hundred and fifty men. On October 28th, Gillem suddenly attacked the rebel brigades of Vaughan and Palmer, at Morristown, near Bull Gap, defeating them with a loss of three or four hundred men, and four pieces of artillery. Soon after HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1181 this affair, Breckinridge, re-enforced by the return of ab- sentees and the arrival of new recruits, attacked Gillem on the night of the 13th, near Bull Gap, and defeated him. Our cavalry gave way in the greatest confusion, a large number throwing away their arms in their flight. Gillem lost all his artillery (one battery), and his trains and baggage. Owing to the darkness his casualties were small, two hundred and twenty being the total reported. Subsequently, Gillem retreated to Knoxville, where he arrived on the 20th. The repulse of Gillem excited some apprehension for the safety of Eastern Kentucky, and Burb ridge began to concentrate troops beyond Lexing- ton. Breckin ridge assumed the air of a conqueror in East Tennessee, issuing a proclamation granting protec- tion to all who might wish to lay down their arms and become peaceable and quiet citizens. His appointment to the command in this part of the country was identical, it will be remembered, with the invasion of Tennessee by Hood, and it was expected by the rebel authorities that the two generals would form a junction somewhere between Knoxville and Nashville. Had this been effected, serious consequences might have ensued, and the con- summation of the well-laid plans for the overthrow of the rebel power been delayed, or possibly prevented. "With a view of stopping the progress of Breckinridge, General Stoneman was early in December appointed to command in East Tennessee. On the 10th he left Knox- ville, with three cavalry brigades, under Burbridge and Gillem, and moved with great rapidity upon Bristol, one hundred and thirty miles from Knoxville, where he ar- rived on the 14th, having severed communication between the rebel brigades of Yaughan and Duke, and left the former far in the rear. At Bristol, three hundred prison- ers and several railroad trains laden with supplies were captured. Fifteen miles more brought the command to Abingdon, where many supplies and quartermaster and ordnance stores were destroyed. By very heavy forced marching, Yaughan had succeeded in getting on the pike to the left of Bristol. One of our columns had preceded him, and burned the depots at Marion and Thomas's Fur- nace, but had then turned off to the right. Yaughan, on reaching Marion, set his brigade at work intrenching; but in a few hours, Gillem, who had pursued in a hard 1182 HI8TOEY OF THE CHEAT REBELLION. march of twenty-nine miles, came upon him, attacked him instantly, and, after a very hot and hard fight, drove him back to Wytheville, thirty miles, killing twenty men, wounding a proportionate number, and capturing three hundred and nine prisoners, and eight pieces of artillery. This running, fight was conducted with the greatest vigor. Vaughan was attacked once more fifteen miles east of Wytheville at the great lead mines, the most important works of the kind in the Confederacy, where our forces destroyed all the buildings and machinery. Up to this time, Gillern had captured, besides what has been re- corded, several extra caissons, with large quantities of pack-saddles, ammunition, wagons, and other property, worth over a million of dollars. A large wagon-train was captured at Wytheville. Our forces remained in Wytheville but a few hours, and then retired towards Seven-Mile Ford, one hundred and sixty-seven miles from Knoxville. Gillem, however, pushed on to Max Meadows, destroying railroad bridges and tracks, and other species of public property to a large amount. Meanwhile, Burbridge's forces, retiring from Wythe- ville, were encountered near Marion and repulsed by Breckinridge, who had moved his troops out from Salt- ville for that purpose on hearing of our withdrawal from Wytheville. But, fortunately, Gillem came up with his brigade, on returning from Max Meadows, just as our troops were giving way, restored the fortunes of the day, captured eleven pieces of artillery, two hundred prisoners, one hundred and fifty negroes, and ninety-three wagons, and Breckinridge's own head-quarters, and drove that general back on Mount Airy. The whole action of the 18th at Marion, which was the principal battle of the campaign, lasted more than a day. Our loss was between fifty and one hundred, and that of the rebels quite as great, besides the prisoners we captured. On the morn- ing of the 19th, Breckinridge pushed over towards North Carolina. One detachment of our troops, meanwhile, had moved on Glade Springs, one hundred and fifty-eight miles from Knoxville, and Saltville, nine miles beyond. At three o'clock p. M. of the 20th, our troops entered Saltville with a mere show of resistance. Soon after, the public buildings and all the machinery and works were fired and totally destroyed. Great quantities of salt were HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1183 destroyed by trampling it in the mud. The immense works, which could turn out, it was said, over live thou- sand bushels a day, and are among the largest in the world, were very seriously injured. Nearly all the ket- tles were destroyed by punching out their heavy bottoms, and the vats, engines, and boilers demolished. With the defeat of Breckinridge ended his attempt to threaten East Tennessee. The disaster to Hood's army before Nashville destroyed the well-devised scheme of the rebels to create a diversion in that quarter, and thenceforth they had quite enough to do to act on the defensive in Virginia and the Carolinas. Matters remained quiet in East Tennessee for a number of weeks after the events just described, but when the march of Sherman northward gave the signal to the other Union generals to close in upon Lee, Stoneman was directed to equip a heavy cavalry column at Knoxville for a co-operative movement into Virginia and North Carolina. Starting on March 10th, he moved rapidly to Boone, North Carolina, and thence passing into the Yad- kin River valley, pushed northward for the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad, which he destroyed between Wythe- ville and Salem, Virginia. On April 6th he moved via Jacksonville and Danbury into North Carolina again, and on the 12th reached the vicinity of Salisbury, where about three thousand troops, under the command of Gen- eral Gardiner, and fourteen pieces of artillery, under command of Colonel (late Lieutenant-General) Member- ton, were drawn up to oppose him. The whole formed behind Grant's Creek, about two miles and a half from Salisbury. As soon as a proper disposition could be made, Stoneman ordered a general charge upon the entire line, and the result was the capture of the whole fourteen pieces of artillery, and one thousand three hundred and sixty-four prisoners, including fifty-five officers. The re- mainder of the force was chased through and several miles beyond the town, but scattered and escaped into the woods. Finally, on April 10th, Sherman started his road-worn veterans once more on the track of his old antagonist, Johnston. On that day, Kilpatrick moved his cavalry out on the road to Raleigh, and next day, the llth, the infantry started in light marching order. The march was, however, quite deliberate and easy, as the railroad, 1184: HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. broken up by the enemy between Raleigh and Goldsboro', was to be repaired. The troops were well supplied with provisions. On the 13th, Raleigh was reached and occu- pied, with only a slight skirmisn on the outskirts, John- ston falling back upon Hillsboro'. On the following day a conference with Sherman was asked for by Johnston, through a flag of truce, with a request for an armistice and a statement of the best terms on which Johnston would be permitted to surrender the army under his com- mand. General Sherman answered immediately that if the surrender of the rebel army was the object of such a truce as was requested, he would accede to it, but if any thing else was desired, he wished to know it, in order to decide whether or not it would be necessary to send for the Lieuten ant-General. He stated his readiness to meet Johnston at any time to confer on the subject of his wants. This offer was promptly accepted, and, through Wade Hampton, the point of meeting was agreed upon. At Mr. James Bennett's, a little hut on the left of the Chapel Hill road, five miles from Durham's Station, and thirty from Raleigh, the meeting took place. Sherman was accompanied by nis chief-engineer, Colonel O. M. Poe, and General Barry, with others of his staff, and met General Johnston, with Major Johnston and Captain Hampton, of his staff. Both generals were accompanied by their cavalry generals, Kilpatrick and Wade Hampton. At the first meeting between the generals no arrange- ment was perfected, but at a subsequent meeting on the 18th, at which Breckinridge, then holding the office of Secretary of War in the Confederacy, was present, an agreement for a suspension of hostilities, together with a memorandum for a basis of peace, was signed in the fol- lowing terms : "Memorandum or basis of agreement, made this 18th day of April, A. D. 1865, near Durham's Station, and in the State of North Carolina, by and between general Joseph E. Johnston, commanding the Confederate Army, ancTMajor-General William T. Sherman, commanding the Army of the United States in North Carolina, both present. " First. The contending armies now in the field to maintain their statu quo, until notice is given by the commanding general of either one to its opponent, and reasonable time say forty-eight hours allowed. "Second. The Confederate armies now in existence to be disbanded and conducted to their several State capitals, there to deposit their arms and public property in the State arsenals, and each officer and man to exe- BI8TOEY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1185 cute and file an agreement to cease from acts of war, and abide action of "both State and Federal authority. The number of arms and munitions of war to be reported to the Chief of Ordnance at "Washington City, subject to future action of the Congress of the United States ; in the mean time, to be used solely to maintain peace and order within the borders of the States respectively. " Third. The recognition by the Executive of the United States of the sev- eral State Governments, in their officers and legislatures, taking oath pre- scribed by the Constitution of the United States ; and where conflicting State Governments have resulted from the war, the legitimacy of all shall be submitted to the Supreme Court of the United States. " Fourth. The re-establishment of all Federal Courts in the several States, with powers as denned by the Constitution and laws of Congress. "Fifth. The people and inhabitants of 'all States to be guaranteed, so far' as the Executive can, their political rights and franchise, as well as their rights of person and property, as denned by the Constitution of the United States and of States respectively. " Sixth. The Executive authority of the Government of the United States not to disturb any of the people by reason of the late war, so long as they live in peace and quiet, and abstain from acts of armed hostility, and obey laws in existence at any place of their residence. " In general terms, war to cease ; a general amnesty, so far as the Exec- utive power of the United States can command, or on condition of disband- ment of the Confederate armies, and the distribution of arms and resump- tion of peaceful pursuits by officers and men as hitherto composing the said armies, not being fully empowered by our respective principals to ful- fil these terms, we individually and officially pledge ourselves to promptly obtain necessary authority, and to carry out the above programme. " W. T. SHERMAN, Major- General, l; Commanding the Army of the United States in North Carolina. " J. E. JOHNSTON, General, " Commanding Confederate States Army in North Carolina." Upon the reception of this memorandum in Washing- ton, on April 21st, a Cabinet meeting was held, at which the action of General Sherman was disapproved by the President, by the Secretary of War, by General Grant, and by every member of the Cabinet. General Sherman was ordered to resume hostilities immediately, and was- directed that the instructions given in the following tele- gram, which was penned by Mr. Lincoln himself, at the Capitol, on the night of the 3d of March, should govern his action: "WASHINGTON, March 3, 186512 p. M. " Lieutenant-General GRANT : " The President directs me to say to you that he wishes you to have no- conference with General Lee unless it be for the capitulation of General Lee's army, or on some minor and purely military matter. He instructs me to say that you are not to decide, discuss, or confer upon any political question. Such questions the President holds in his own hands, and will submit them to no military conferences or conventions. Meantime, you are to press to the utmost your military advantages. , " EDWIN M. STANTON, Secretary o 73 1186 HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLIOJT. The following are the reasons given by Secretary Stan- ton for disapproving the proceeding of Sherman : "First. It was an exercise of authority not vested in General Sherman, and on its face shows that both he and Johnston knew that he (General Sherman) had no authority to enter into any such arrangement. " Second. It was a practical acknowledgment of the rebel govern- ment. l - Third. It undertook to re-establish the rebel State Governments, that had been overthrown at the sacrifice of many thousand loyal lives, and an immense treasure, and placed arms and munitions of war in the hands of the rebels at their respective capitals, which might be used as soon as the armies of the United States were disbanded, and used to conquer and sub- due the loyal States. " Fourth. By the restoration of the rebel authority in their respective States, they would be enabled to re-establish slavery. "Fifth. It might furnish a ground of responsibility by the Federal Government to pay the rebel debt, and certainly subjects loyal citizens of the rebel States to the debt consummated by the rebels in the name of the State. "Sixth. It put in dispute the existence of loyal State Governments, and the new State of Western Virginia, which had been recognized by every department of the United States Government. " Seventh. It practically abolished the confiscation laws, and relieved rebels of every degree, who had slaughtered our people, from all pains and penalties for their crimes. "Eighth. It gave terms that had been deliberately, repeatedly, and solemnly rejected by President Lincoln, and better terms than the rebels had ever asked in their most prosperous condition. " Ninth. It formed /no basis of true and lasting peace, buf relieved rebels from the pressure of our victories, and left them in condition to renew their efforts to overthrow the United States Government, and subdue the loyal States, whenever their strength was recruited, and any opportu- nity should offer." General Grant immediately started for Raleigh, Sher- man's head-quarters, where he arrived on the 24th. From that point, he sent a dispatch dated at nine o'clock on the same night, stating that he had delivered to General Sherman the reply to his dispatch announcing his terms of negotiation with the rebel General Johnston, and that Johnston was immediately informed by Sherman that the truce was terminated, that civil matters could not be discussed in any convention between military command- ers, and that the terms accorded to General Lee were the only ones that would be entertained by the United States Government. On the 25th, Johnston replied, and, on the 26th, the surrender of the rebel army was made in an interview between Sherman and Johnston at Durham Station. It included every thing east of the Chatta- hoochee River not previously surrendered by Lee, Then, HISTOBY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1187 the articles being signed, the Lieutenant-General inter- vened to put his approval upon them. Over fifty miles of territory lay between the two main armies, the picket lines, however, closely approaching. Johnston's force was collected nearly as far back as Greensboro', and at this latter point, therefore, the paroling took place. The number of men surrendered and paroled was in the neighborhood of twenty-five thousand. One hundred and eight pieces of artillery were parked, with limbers, caissons, &c., complete ; little ammunition was captured. About fifteen thousand small-arms were given up. More than ten thousand men strayed off with their guns and horses, mules, or wagons. There was no discipline in the army at the end, and Johnston was said not to have been responsible for the marching away of his men with- out parole. The same thing happened, also, in the parol- ing of Lee's army. In the latter part of 1864, General James H. "Wilson, who had gained a reputation in the Army of the Potomac as an able cavalry officer, was dispatched to Nashville to reorganize that branch of the service in the West. Hav- ing accomplished this duty, he was directed to concen- trate a force at Waterloo and Gravelly Springs, on the Tennessee, in the northwestern corner of Alabama, with the view of undertaking in the spring an expedition through Alabama and Southern Georgia, a region never yet penetrated by Union troops, and which furnished large quantities of food and munitions to the rebel armies. This was intended as an auxiliary movement in support of the operations against Lee and Johnston in the East. On the 22d of March, Wilson broke up his camp, and, at the head of twelve thousand cavalry, accompanied by three horse-batteries and a pontoon train, took up his march for Elytown, in Central Alabama. The general command of the rebel troops in Alabama and Mississippi was then held by General Dick Taylor, who, however, being needed at Mobile, had left Forrest at Tupelo with a body of cavalry to guard against such raids as Wilson was about to undertake. Forrest finally assumed com- mand of all Northern and Middle Mississippi and Ala- bama, and set vigorously to work to reorganize the cav- alry in his department. But it was beyond the power of even so energetic a commander as he to infuse life into 1188 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. the torpid body of the rebellion ; and notwithstanding he issued orders declaring that illegal organizations of cav- alry must be placed regularly in the service or leave the country, the border swarmed with roving bands of desert- ers, stragglers, horse-thieves, and robbers, whose acts of lawlessness and crime put a stop to travel, and made life and property alike insecure. Wilson proceeded without interruption as far as Ely- town, whence he moved due south upon Selma, where he arrived on April 2d. Between Elytown and Selma there had been considerable skirmishing with Roddy's rebel cavalry, which fell back towards the latter place, where Taylor and Forrest had concentrated all their available troops behind substantial works. These consisted of a heavy line of earthworks, eight to twelve feet in height, and fifteen feet thick at base, with a ditch in front, partly filled with water, four feet in width and five feet deep, and in front of this a stockade, or pickets of heavy posts, planted firmly in the ground, five feet high, and sharp- ened at the top. Four heavy forts, with artillery in position, also covered the ground over which the men were to advance ; the ground was rough, and a deep ravine had to be passed before the works could be reached. After a brief reconnoissance, one division, under General Long, was directed to attack on the right of the Summer- ville road, while another, under General Upton, was to move to the Plantersville road, penetrate a swamp at a point regarded impassable by the enemy, and attack just after dark. But before Upton could get into position, the rebel General Chalmers having attacked Long's picket, posted on the creek to cover his rear, Long, with- out waiting for the signal designated, immediately began the attack with two dismounted regiments from each bri- gade, numbering in all but one thousand one hundred and sixty men ; Long himself, together with his brigade com- manders, gallantly leading the charge. Rushing over five hundred yards of open field, swept by musketry and ' artillery, the intrepid assailants, leaping and tearing up the stockade, pushed through the ditch, and over the parapet, in a sudden and irresistible tide. The foe, though outnumbering the assailants, everywhere suc- cumbed, or fled. Nothing seemed able to stand before an onset of such swift and determined vigor. On parts of HISTOEY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1189 the line, indeed, and for a moment, the enemy fought ^stubbornly, with clubbed guns, but in vain. Upton's Division, finding the works carried by Long's Division, immediately advanced from its position on the Planters- yille road, the skirmish line, driving the enemy and cap- turing five guns. Winslow's Brigade then charged into the city in various directions, capturing several pieces of artillery and several hundred prisoners. In vain did the enemy attempt to rally behind an inner line of works ; they were overpowered and captured by hundreds, and night alone enabled Forrest, with about half his force, to make a precipitate retreat. General Taylor had left at three P. M. by the railroad for Mobile. Two thousand seven hundred prisoners, including one hundred and fifty officers, twenty-six field-guns and one thirty-pound Par- rott in position, and about seventy heavy guns, besides large quantities of military stores in the arsenal and foundery, fell into Wilson's hands at Selma. Immedi- ately the work of destruction commenced, and in a brief time all the immense government works, arsenal, rolling- mills, founderies, factories, munitions of war, ordnance and subsistence stores, and other material, were in ruins. On the 10th, "Wilson resumed his march, and on the 14th occupied Montgomery without resistance. This, it will be remembered, was the capital of the now fast- crumbling " Confederacy," in the early days of the rebel- lion. On the 16th, West Point, on the Chattahoochee, was captured by Lagrange's Brigade, after a desperate resistance by the small rebel garrison, and on the same day the main body reached the important city of Colum- bus, Georgia, situated on the east bank of the Chatta- hoochee, and defended by two thousand seven hundred infantry, behind .strong earthworks. The onset of the Union troops was irresistible,' and by ten p. M. the city, with its vast munitions of war, one thousand five hun- dred prisoners, and twenty-four pieces of artillery, was in our possession. This victory was the closing conflict of the war, and was gained with a Union loss of not above thirty. Long's Division, under Colonel Minty, now took the advance, and moved towards Macon, within a short distance of which place he was met by a flag of truce, with a dispatch from General Howell Cobb, in command there, announcing an armistice between Sherman and 1190 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. Johnston. Suspecting, from the manner of the rebels, that this was only an expedient to gain time, Minty pushed rapidly forward, and reached Macon just in time to save the fine bridge across the Ocmulgee, which the rebels were about to fire. The city and defences were at once surrendered by Cobb. The captures comprised five general officers, viz., Major-Generals Cobb and Gustavus W. Smith, and Brigadier-Generals Mackall, Robertson, and Mercer, together with forty-five other officers, and one thousand eight hundred and forty-three enlisted men, and sixty pieces of artillery. Thus, in thirty days, Wilson's command had marched five hundred miles, part of the distance over an exceed- ingly difficult country, had captured two hundred and forty pieces of artillery, of all calibers, and six thousand three hundred prisoners, and destroyed cotton and public property to the value of hundreds of millions of dollars. It was undoubtedly the most brilliant and important raid of the war. In the foregoing pages we have related the history of the attempts which the rebels made, by force of arms, in the open field, to resist and overthrow the power of the General Government. It now becomes necessary to al- lude to other means employed by them to effect the same end, which were directly sanctioned by the rebel govern- ment, and over which humanity would wish to drop the veil of oblivion. But as an impartial narrator of events, the writer of these pages could no more avoid an allusion to this subject than he could omit any of the prominent occurrences of the war previously related. Without such allusion the History of the Great Rebellion would be in- complete. If acts like the destruction of unarmed mer- chantmen on the high seas, or the massacre of the garrison of Fort Pillow, may be excused as necessarily growing out of a state of warfare, it will scarcely be pretended that the deliberate destruction of prisoners by starvation, neglect, or ill treatment, the burning of peaceful cities far removed from the seat of war, by disguised emissaries, the introduction of pestilence, or the piratical seizure of vessels and the murder of their officers, are legitimate means of conducting war. They were, however, each and all resorted to by the rebel authorities, as we shall briefly narrate. HISTOKY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1191 For upwards of a year after the commencement of the war, there was no regular system in operation for the feneral exchange of the prisoners captured on either side, 'inally, in the summer of 1862, a cartel was signed for the equitable exchange of prisoners, man for man, and officer for officer, and for the paroling of prisoners within ten days after their capture. This remained in force until the succeeding summer, when difficulties occurred, in con- sequence of the loose manner in which the rebel authori- ties interpreted the cartel, which threatened its permanent interruption. By this time the colored regiments of the National Army had begun to participate in the war, and the officers and privates of these regiments captured by the enemy were, in accordance with a resolution of the rebel Congress, withheld from exchange, and reserved for special punishment. After much acrimonious corre- spondence, the rebel Commissioner of Exchanges, Mr. Ould, proposed in the latter part of October, that all officers and men, on both sides, should be released, in con- formity with the provisions of the cartel, the excess on the one side or the other to be on parole. This proposi- tion was rejected by General Meredith, the Union Com- missioner, for the reason, among others, that the officers and privates of the colored regiments, not being recog- nized by the rebels as prisoners of war, would not be delivered by them with the other prisoners. The rebels had also shown bad faith in declaring exchanged, before the right to do so in accordance with the terms of the cartel had accrued to them, most of the prisoners paroled by Grant and Banks at Vicksburg and Port Hudson. And as at the close of the year we had in our possession about forty thousand rebel prisoners against thirteen thousand of our men in rebel prisons, it was justly con- sidered hazardous to permit the rebels to have the control of so large an excess as twenty-seven thousand men. Thenceforth exchanges ceased, except in a few special instances, and prisoners began to accumulate in large numbers on either side. In the latter part of 1863 complaints began to be made of the treatment to which Union prisoners were subjected in rebel prisons. In those at Richmond, the mortality at certain periods reached fifty a day a rate which, in the opinion of exchanged Union surgeons, was altogether 1192 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. unprecedented, and arose from neglect, insufficient food and clothing, and similar causes. In reply the rebels alleged that Union prisoners were placed on an equality, in respect to rations and clothing, with their own men, and that they did not receive the comforts which might reasonably have been expected, simply because it was not in the power of the Confederate government to give them. But this excuse, urged strenuously by the rebels and their friends, and half accepted by every one disposed to be moderate and just, accounted for only a small part of the conduct of the rebels to their captives. The latter were crowded in city warehouses of far too limited dimensions to lodge them with any approximation to comfort, or compelled to endure the rigors of winter in open encamp- ments. They were almost invariably stripped of their private property, even to the clothing on their backs at the time of their capture, and the supplies of food and clothing, which, after much negotiation, they were per- mitted to receive from the North, were, in many in- stances, stolen or withheld. The rations issued to them were frequently of the moBt execrable description, and barely sufficient to sustain life. On the other hand, the rebels captured in war were, in nine cases out of ten, men in fine physical condition, well clad, and giving abundant evidence of having been well fed ; while the few Union prisoners from time to time exchanged, exhibited s,uch frightful evidences of suffering and privation, that photo- graphic representations of their appearance were taken, in order that the accounts of their condition might not Beem overdrawn. The allegation of the rebel govern- ment, that it was embarrassed for want of supplies, that its own soldiers were naked and hungry, and that even the prison-guards shared the privations of the prisoners, must therefore be dismissed as utterly unfounded. A few months later the rebels threw off even this tnin disguise, and in terms too plain to be mistaken announced by their acts their intention to systematically destroy their prisoners, for the purpose, apparently, of relieving themselves of the charge of such persons, and of thereby lessening the number of their enemies. As if the Libby Prison and Belle Isle at Richmond were not sufficient, refinements in cruelty were attempted, and at Charlotte and Salisbury in North Carolina, and Millen and Ander- HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1193 sonville in Georgia, prison-pens were erected, in which tens of thousands of Union prisoners were deliberately starved to death or destroyed by neglect and ill usage. The last-named place, in particular, has obtained a hide- ous reputation, and to the wretches who entered its pre- cincts must have occurred the idea contained in Dante's inscription over the gates of Hell, "Who enters here must leave all hope behind." It comprised an open space of about twenty-nve acres, and was surrounded by a high stockade, and by earthworks mounted with cannon. About one quarter of the enclosure was occupied by a swamp, through which crept a shallow muddy stream, or rather sewer, which had previously received the filth and refuse of a rebel camp beyond, and which formed the only supply of water to the prisoners. Here, in a country BO covered with woods as to be nearly a forest, were fre- quently crowded thirty thousand men, with not so much as a simple shed to protect them from the rain, or the heat, or the cold. The unfortunate prisoners found a partial shelter by burrowing in the earth like wild ani- mals, and upon the occupation of the place by the Union forces, the ground was discovered to be completely honey- combed by their digging. The details of the life which prisoners passed in this place would prove too sickening to our readers, and we willingly omit them. Probably more of the men admitted there died than left the prison, and of the latter class most will bear about them for life the marks of the privations which they there en- dured. In a memorial addressed to President Lincoln in August, 1864, by Union officers confined in Charleston, occurs the following passage with reference to the Ander- son ville prisoners : " They are fast losing hope and be- coming utterly reckless of life. Numbers, crazed by their sufferings, wander about in a state of idiocy. Others deliberately cross the ' Dead Line ' and are remorselessly shot down. As accounts of the atrocities practised upon Union prisoners at Andersonville were made public by those persons who were fortunate to escape from the prison alive, a feeling of horror pervaded the North, and in the opinion of many persons their statements were too dread- ful to believe. It was assumed that they must be greatly exaggerated, and that the rebel authorities were ignorant 1194 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT EEBELLION. of the atrocities alleged to be committed there. Fortu- nately we are enabled to verify by rebel evidence the condition of things at Andersonville and the infamous purpose of General J. H. Winder, the commanding officer in charge of the post. Some months after the termina- tion of the war, Captain Henry Wirz, a subordinate, having immediate command of the prison, was arraigned before a military court in*Washington for wanton and un- necessary cruelty to his prisoners. The facts we have stated above were corroborated by many Union soldiers, summoned as witnesses; but more valuable testimony, considering the source from which it emanated, was given by Colonel D. T. Chandler, formerly an inspector-general in the rebel service. The following is an extract from an official report from this officer, addressed to Colonel Chilton at Richmond, under date of August 5, 1864 : "My duty requires me respectfully to recommend a change in tlie officer in command of the post, Brigadier-General J. H. Winder, and the substitu- tion in his place of some one who unites both energy and good judgment with some feelings of humanity and consideration for the welfare and com- fort (so far as is consistent with their safe keeping) of the vast number of unfortunates placed under his control ; some one who, at least, does not ad- vocate deliberately and in cold blood the propriety of leaving them in their present condition until their number has been sufficiently reduced by death to make the present arrangements suffice for their accommodation ; who will not consider it a matter of self-laudation, boasting that he has never been inside the stockade a place the horrors of which it is difficult to de- scribe, and which is a disgrace to civilization the condition of which he might, by the exercise of a little energy and judgment, even w^th the limited means at his command, have considerably improved." Colonel Chandler, upon being called to the stand, veri- > fied the foregoing report, adding that he had % nothing to retract ; and stating that during his inspection he had a conversation with General Winder, who seemed very in- different to the welfare of the prisoners, and was indis- posed to do any thing. He remonstrated with General Winder as 'well as he could. He spoke to him "of the great mortality, and suggested that, as the sickly season was coming on, the swamp should be drained, better food famished, and other sanitary measures adopted. Winder replied to him that he thought it would be better to let one-half die, so they could take care of the remainder. His (Chandler's) assistant, Major Hall, had previously reported that Winder had made a similar expression to HISTOKY OF THE GEEAT KEBELLION. 1195 him ; and upon Chandler's remarking that he thought this incredible, Hall said Winder had repeated that expression to him several times. This certainly shows that the rebel government in Richmond was made officially cognizant of the barbarities committed at Andersonville ; and as the condition of the prisoners at Belle Isle had been so immediately under their eyes that ignorance could not possibly be pleaded, the conclusion seems inevitable that they deliberately approved of the measures adopted by the commanding officers at both places. Finally, in November, 1864, the general exchange, interrupted in the previous year, was resumed, and the survivors of the rebel prison-pens re- leased from their sufferings. In contrast with the treat- ment of Union prisoners was that accorded to captured rebels. They were comfortably housed and clad, drew abundant rations, and, when sick or wounded, received no less kind treatment than our own soldiers. To both Union men and rebels were also extended the beneficent offices of the Sanitary Commission and the Christian Commission, two noble private philanthropic associations, whose expenditures amounted to many millions, and whose agents were found in every camp and hospital, and on every battle-field of the war, supplying to the sick and wounded the numberless little delicacies and com- forts which the Government, amid the multiplicity of cares, could not well furnish, and affording by their acts a proof of the humanizing influences of free institutions. In contrast with this, the conduct of the rebels to their prisoners illustrates once more the barbarizing influences of slavery! Soon after the commencement of hostilities in 1861 the Canadian provinces began to be a resort for rebel refugees, who gradually accumulated in Quebec, Montreal, and other cities, in large numbers. Among these men were some of the most wily and determined enemies of the Union whom secession had begotten, and their presence so near our Northern frontier was felt to be full of danger, as it was known they were prepared for any desperate enterprise. Their leaders, George N. Sanders, Beverly Tucker, Jacob Thompson, and men of like proclivities, spared no efforts to organize plots against the United States, in defiance of the neutrality of the country in 1196 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. which they resided, and, strange to say, the local authori- ties seemed indifferent to these attempts to abuse the right of asylum. In the latter part of 1863 a plot was set on foot by Sanders and his associates, under instruc- tions from the government at Richmond, to release twenty-five hundred rebel officers imprisoned on John- son's Island, in Lake Erie, who, in conjunction with a body of rebels in Canada, were to attack and destroy Buf- falo and other lake cities. The American Consul-General at Montreal, having received timely notice of this plot, laid the details before the Governor-General of Canada, by whom they were communicated on November llth to the United States Government. The prompt measures taken by the latter td guard against the danger prevented th execution of the plot. The British Government, however, seems to have taken no measures to arrest and punish the participators in this transaction. Bat though baffled in this attempt, the secessionists in Canada relaxed in no degree their efforts to harass the border towns of the United States. On the afternoon of October 19, 1864, a body of forty well-armed men, headed by one Young, suddenly attacked the village of St. Albans, in Yermont, fifteen miles from the Canadian frontier, and, after robbing the banks of over two hundred thousand dollars, and firing upon the defenceless and thoroughly astounded inhabitants, one of whom was mortally wounded, rode off to Canada, where nearly the whole gang was subsequently arrested. They were brought before the Court of Quarter Sessions at Montreal, and discharged by Justice Coursol on the ground of a want of jurisdiction. Subsequently, on being tried before the Superior Court of Lower Canada, they were all dis- charged. The St. Albans banks recovered a portion of the money stolen from them, but the United States Government received no reparation for this incursion upon their territory from a friendly state. In September, 1864, John Y. Beall, an officer in the rebel army, organized in Canada a force for the purpose of a raid on the lakes, and succeeded in capturing and destroying two steamboats owned by citizens of the United States. In the succeeding December he was arrested near the suspension bridge over the Niagara River, in the State of New York, for attempting to tnrow a passenger train HISTOKY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1197 from Buffalo off the railroad track, which act he claimed to have perpetrated by virtue of his commission from the rebel government. He was tried and executed as a pirate, spy, and murderer, on Governor's Island, New York, on February 24th, 1865. As if the attempt to rob defenceless towns, and murder their inhabitants, or to throw railroad trains off the track, were not sufficiently infamous, the Canadian refugees now organized- a plot to fire the principal hotels of the city of New York. The attempt was made on the night of No- vember 25th, and, if successful, might have resulted in a frightful sacrifice of property and life ; but, fortunately, it was committed to timid and unskilful hands, and the fires kindled by them were soon extinguished. Captain Robert C. Kennedy, of the rebel service, was subsequently arrest- ed in Detroit for complicity in this plot, and was tried and executed at Fort Lafayette, in New York Harbor, on March 24th, 1865. Similar to the exploit of Beall on the lakes was that of a party of disguised rebels, who, embarking on the pas- senger steamer Chesapeake, at New York, on December 19th, 1863, murdered one of the officers, and carried the vessel into a Nova Scotian port. She was subsequently restored to her owners, but her piratical captors, like so many of their associates in British America, went un- whipped of justice. Finally, to cap the climax of horrors, we have to record the attempt, fortunately abortive, of a Dr. Blackburn, to introduce into the United States the yellow fever, by means of infected clothing brought from Bermuda. This, like the other acts just related, was done in the interest of the rebel Confederacy, by men claiming to act as Confederate soldiers, and indicated a lack of moral principle, which, for the sake of civilization, it is to be hoped was rare among the inhabitants of the seceded States, or their sympathizers. 1198 HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. CHAPTER LXXYII. Peace Negotiations at Foftress Monroe. Their Fruitless Issue. Second Inauguration of Lincoln. His Address. Rejoicings at the Prospect of Peace. Assassination of Lincoln. The Public Mourning. Funeral Pro- cession. Character of Lincoln. Booth, the Murderer, Pursued and Shot. Trial and Execution of his Accomplices. Inauguration of Andrew Johnson as President. Amnesty Proclamation. Plan for Reconstruction. Pursuit and Capture of Davis. Capitulation of Generals Taylor and Kirby Smith. Termination of the War and Disbanding of the Armies. The National Debt. Concluding Reflections. WITH the opening of 1865, the air was filled, as it had been often before, with rumors that the rebels were anxious to negotiate for peace, and in order that no opportunity might be lost to effect a consummation so devoutly wished for by all classes of the people, Mr. Lincoln authorized Secretary Seward to proceed to Fortress Monroe, and there confer with Alexander H. Stephens, of Georgia, the rebel Vice-President, R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, and J. A. Campbell, of Alabama, who had been designated by Jeffer- son Davis as commissioners to act in behalf of the Con- federacy. The Presi4ent's instructions were conveyed to Mr. Seward in the following terms : " EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, ) i January 31, 1865. J " Hon. WILLIAJIH. SEWARD, Secretary of State : " You will proce'ed to Fortress Monroe, Virginia, there to meet and infor- mally confer with Messrs. Stephens, Hunter, and Campbell, on the basis of my letter to F. P. Blair, Esq., of January 18, 1865, a copy of which you have. You will make known to them that three things are indispensable, to wit : First, the restoration of the national authority throughout all the States. Second, no receding by the Executive of the United States, on the slavery question, from the position assumed thereon in the late annual mes- sage to Congress, and in the preceding documents. Third, no cessation of hostilities short of an end of the war, and the disbanding of all the forces hos- tile to the Government. You will inform them that all propositions of theirs not inconsistent with the above, will be considered and passed upon in a spirit of sincere liberality. You will hear all they may choose to say, and report it to me. You will not assume to definitely consummate any thing. Yours, &c., "ABRAHAM LINCOLN." On February 2d, the President himself left for Fortress Monroe, and on the succeeding day had an interview of several hours' duration with the rebel commissioners on board of a steamer anchored in Hampton Roads. The HISTORY OF THE GKEAT REBELLION. 1199 conference was altogether informal, but enough was de- veloped to show that the rebels would enter into no nego- tiations for peace, without first obtaining a recognition of their independence. "What the insurgent party seemed chiefly to favor," said Mr. Seward in a dispatch to the American minister in London, " was a postpone- ment of the question of separation upon which the war is waged, and a mutual direction of the efforts of the Gov- ernment, as well as those of the insurgents, to some ex- trinsic policy or scheme for a season, during which pas- sions might be expected to subside, and the armies be re- duced, and trade and intercourse between the people of both sections be resumed." This was immediately reject- ed by the President, who further declared that " the com- plete restoration of the national authority everywhere, was an indispensable condition of any assent, on our part, to whatever form of peace might be proposed." The conference, accordingly, came to an end by mutual agree- ment, without accomplishing any thing. In February, 1865, the electoral vote for President was officially announced to be, for Lincoln, two hundred and twelve, for McClellan, twenty-one. Andrew Johnson was also announced to have received two hundred and twelve votes for Yice-President. On March 4th, Mr. Lincoln was, for the second time, inaugurated President, receiving the oath of office from Chief-Justice Chase, the late Secretary of the Treasury, who had been appointed to succeed Taney on the bench of the Supreme Court. The new cabinet was almost identical with the old, the only important change being the substitution of Hugh McCulloch as Secretary of the Treasury for Mr. Fessen- den, who resumed his place in the Senate. On the evening of April 14th (Good-Friday), Mr. Lin- coln, in compliance with the request of the proprietor, visited Ford's Theatre in "Washington. Preocupied as he was with public duties and questions of future policy, he felt little inclination to go; but as the announcement that he would be present had been made public, he deter- mined, rather then disappoint the audience, to conquer his reluctance and give an hour or two to relaxation. In the midst of the performance, while sitting in the Presi- dential box, which adjoins the stage, in company with his wife and two friends, he was attacked by an assassin, 1200 HISTORY OF THE GREAT EEBELLION. who, bursting suddenly upon him, shot him in the back of the head with a pistol, and then, leaping upon the stage and brandishing a dagge?, shouted, "Sic semper tyrannis the South is avenged," and disappeared into the street. There, mounting a fleet horse which was in readiness, he effected his escape almost before the astounded audience were aware of the tragedy that had happened. Between the deed of blood and the escape of the assassin there was not the lapse of a minute. Mr. Lincoln was conveyed in an unconscious state to a neigh- boring house, where he expired the next morning, April 15th, at twenty -two minutes past seven o'clock, surround- ed by his Cabinet and friends. The murderer was recog- nized, by several persons in the audience, to be John Wilkes Booth, a member of a distinguished family of actors, and himself an actor of some reputation. On the same night, Secretary Seward, who was then confined to his bed in a crippled condition, in consequence of hav- ing been thrown from his carriage a few days previous, was attacked by an assassin, who forced his way into the house, overcame the resistance of the attendants, and, after inflicting dangerous, though fortunately not mortal wounds with a knife on Mr. Seward and his son Fred- erick, effected his escape into the street. The horror and alarm with which these acts filled the community cannot be adequately described ; and, indeed, the impression caused by them is too recent to render de- scription necessary. The revulsion from unbounded de- light at the prospect of returning peace, to despair and distrust of what the future might bring forth, was sudden and terrible. Almost with one accord the people realized that they had lost a friend and a father, one who, through good report and through evil report, amidst cares and embarrassments such as have seldom rested upon any ruler, had borne himself with a meekness and patience, a dignity and rectitude, and had exhibited withal an ability which challenged the admiration of the world. Stricken down by an assassin's hand at the moment when his pa- tient forbearance and unswerving trust in the result of the war for the Union were about to meet their reward from a people whose confidence he had already largely re- ceived, he passed more deeply into the affections of his countrymen than ever before. At once the idea came HISTORY OF THE GREAT REBELLION. 1201 uppermost to every mind that the Southern rebels, in whose behalf Booth had professed to commit his mad act, had lost in Abraham Lincoln the man who, of all others, would have dealt most tenderly with them. His large and generous nature could harbor ill-will to no one not even to those political opponents who, throughout his Administration, had spared no efforts to denounce and misrepresent him, and who had even ridiculed his rugged features and ungainly form ; nor to the rebels, who had exhausted the vocabulary for coarse terms of abuse to ap- ply to him; and at the moment when the fatal bullet lodged in his brain, he stood before the world, to use his own noble words, "with malice towards none, with charity for all." A kindly, humble, simple-hearted, and upright man, without learning, with little training in statesmanship, and with no great intellectual endowments, he had succeeded in fulfilling a great public trust, partly by the exercise of a natural sagacity, but chiefly by his moral rectitude and abiding trust in the providence of God. As the recollection of all that he had done and suffered in behalf of that Union he had sworn to maintain and defend, of his endearing private traits, and even of that quaint humor which he assumed to drive away, for the moment, the harassing cares of state, rose in the pub- lic mind, the nation bowed itself and wept. Such a uni- versal mourning had not been known in the memory of living men : the land seemed clad in the habiliments of woe. At noon, on the 19th of April, his obsequies were cele- brated in the Executive Mansion at Washington, in the presence of the chief civil and military authorities of the nation ; and at the same hour throughout the country the tolling of church-bells and the booming of minute-guns announced that the people were participating in the solemn ceaemony. An imposing procession then escorted the body to the Capitol, where it lay in state until the 21st. It was then conducted in one long funeral proces- sion, occupying several weeks, through the chief cities of the Union, to its final resting-place in the cemetery at Springfield, Illinois. It may be added, that the un- timely end of Mr. Lincoln called forth in Europe express- ions of horror not less vehement than those uttered by his own countrymen ; and from all parts of the civilized 74 1202 HISTOEY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. world went up unfeigned tributes of respect for his virtues and ability. Meanwhile the Government was on the alert to ar- rest the assassin and his accomplices. Booth was finally tracked to a farm-house, near Port Royal, on the Rappa- hannock, where, refusing to be arrested, and fighting with the desperation of a wild beast brought to bay, he was mortally wounded on the 27th, dying a few hours after- wards. Harrold, an accomplice, was captured with him. A few days later a man named Payne was arrested and identified as the assassin who had attempted the life of Mr. Seward. Other arrests followed, and on May 10th, David E. Harrold, George A. Atzeroth, Lewjs Payne, Michael O'Laughlin, Edward Spangler, Samuel Arnold, Mary E. Surratt, and Samuel A. Mudd were arraigned before a military tribunal, presided over by General David Hunter, as principals or accessories to the murder. After a trial, lasting nearly two months, in the course of which the existence of a plot to murder not only Mr. Lincoln and Mr. Seward, but Yice-President Johnson, General Grant, and others, was made manifest, Harrold, Payne, Mrs. Surratt, and Atzeroth were found guilty of murder, and were hung in Washington on the 7th of July ; Mudd, Arnold, and O'Laughlin were sentenced to imprisonment for life, and Spangler to six years' imprisonment at hard labor. By the Constitution of the United States, the office of President, in the event of the death of the incumbent, ole- volves upon the person holding the office of Yice-Presi- dent. Accordingly, a few hours after Mr. Lincoln had breathed his last, the oath of office was administered by Chief-Justice Chase to Yice-President Andrew Johnson, in the presence of the Cabinet. Of the new chief magistrate, thus unexpectedly induct- ed into office, it scarcely falls within our province to speak. His Administration belongs rather to the new era now dawning upon the country than to that which witnessed the rise, the progress, and the overthrow of the Great Rebellion, and of which we have assumed to give the narrative. He was known to be a man of ability, energy, and integrity, who, from the commencement of the rebellion, had pronounced unmistakably for the Union. It was hoped and believed that he would pursue the course HISTORY OF THE GKEAT EEBELLION. 1203 already marked out by his predecessor, and although he was popularly supposed to have less of the mild clemency for which President Lincoln was noted, that circumstance rather accorded than otherwise with the prevailing temper of the people, whose hearts, for the time, were turned away from clemency, and who demanded that stern and exact justice should be meted out to the rebels. This sentiment gradually passed away, and the President and his Cabinet, the same whom Mr. Lincoln had selected, set themselves seriously to work to reconstruct loyal govern- ments in the States which had attempted to form a new confederacy. In a former chapter we have described how Davis, at the approach of danger, hurried southward, leaving to Lee and his remnant of an army the task of defending the State of Virginia. On the 3d of April he arrived in Danville, and assumed, with such of his cabinet and officials as he could gather around him, to establish the fiction of a gov- ernment. He also issued a proclamation, announcing his intention to hold on to Virginia. But the capitulation of Lee and the threatening aspect of Sherman and Stoneman counselled him to move farther southward, while escape was possible. With his fugitive government fast crum- bling to pieces around him, he still maintained an appear- ance of confidence and a degree of assurance which deceived no one ; and at Charlotte, North Carolina, where he re- mained several days, he made a public speech, promising soon to have a larger army than ever before in the field. About the 25th of April he left Charlotte, alarmed by the approach of Stoneman's Cavalry, who now became aware that the great head of the rebellion was in their neighbor- hood. Passing through Yorkville, South Carolina, with a train of several ambulances and a small mounted escort, he entered Georgia in the beginning of May, and on the 4th reached Washington, a small town northwest of Au- gusta. Thence he moved rapidly southward, hoping, possibly, to reach the Gulf and there find a vessel to con- vey him to Cuba. Meanwhile, rumors of the flight of Davis through Georgia reached General Wilson at Macon, who &nt out parties of cavalry to scour the neighboring country. At Irwinsville, about seventy miles south ot Macon, the Fourth Michigan Cavalry, Colonel Pritchard, came upon the traces of the rebel ex-president, and at day- 1204 HISTOKT OF THE GKEAT BEBELLION. break on the 9th of May his encampment, two miles outside of the town, was completely surprised and the whole party of fugitives captured, includingMrs. Davis and her sister, the rebel Postmaster-General Keagan, and others. Davis was conveyed to Macon, and thence to Fortress Monroe, where he arrived in the latter part of May, and where he has since been incarcerated, awaiting his trial for high treason. Stephens, the rebel vice-president, was captured about the same time, together with others, who had held high civil and military positions in the rebel gov- ernment. A few words will suffice to relate the formal closing of the rebellion. On May 4th the forces under General Tay- lor, comprising all those troops east of the Mississippi who had not yet succumbed, were surrendered to General Can- by on the same terms as those accepted by General Lee ; and a few weeks later the whole of Kirby Smith's trans- Mississippi command was surrendered on similar terms. On June 1st, 1865, there was not an organized body of men east of the Rio Grande who defied the authority of the National Government. Long before this final act was effected, measures had been taken to reduce and disperse the immense forces which had been converging upon Kich- mond. On May 23d and 24th the armies of Grant and Sherman were reviewed in Washington in the presence of President Johnson and a vast concourse of people, and soon these famous organizations remained such only in name. To all parts of the country poured a steady stream of disbanded regiments, and by the 1st of September half a million of men had been discharged from the National service, leaving less than two hundred thousand for duty in the recently revolted States. Over the whole country settled a profound peace. The South, from sheer exhaus- tion alone, was incapable of offering further resistance, and acquiesced in the, result of the great struggle. To such a pitch of misery had it been brought during four 'years of war that peace was welcome on any terms, and numbers of recent rebels, including some who had held high civil and military office, became applicants for pardon at the hands of the Executive. Although the emancipation of the slaves was generally accepted as a settled fact, preju- dice and habit could not at once succumb to the force of circumstances, and the reciprocal relations and duties HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. 1205 of those who had recently been masters and slaves were not immediately recognized. In order to protect the in- terests of the latter class, a Freedman's Bureau was organ- ized by the Government, of which General Howard was appointed superintendent, with agents distributed over every portion of the late insurgent States. The close of the war necessarily found the Government saddled with an enormous debt, but with its credit unimpaired at home or abroad. So popular, indeed, was the 7.30 loan among all classes of the community, that during the spring and summer of 1865 the subscriptions, principally in small sums, to the authorized issues, sometimes reached the enor- mous amount of twenty-five or thirty millions a day. On the 31st of May the Secretary of the Treasury published an official statement of the public debt, from which it ap- peared that the amount outstanding, bearing interest in coin, was $1,108,113,842 ; the interest being $64,480,489.- 50. The debt, bearing interest in lawful money, was $1,- 053,476,371 ; the interest being $60,158,384.52. The debt on which interest has ceased was $786,270. The debt bearing no interest was $472,829,270.57. The totaL in- debtedness was $2,635,205,753.50 ; the interest, both in gold and paper, being $124,638,874. The amount of le- gal-tender notes in circulation was $659,160,569. These included $432,687,966 of the new issue, and $160,143,620 of the compound-interest notes under the act of June 30, 1864. The uncalled-for pay requisitions were $40,000,000, and the amount in treasury notes over $25,000,000. The amount of fractional currency was $24,667,000. Here we may fitly close our History of the Great Rebel- lion. During four years of trial such as few people have lived through, of unequalled financial pressure, and of ceaseless warfare with a foe of our own blood and birth, the nation had struggled on to final victory. The aristo- cratic governments of the Old World, pleased at the idea of seeing the great republic of the "West dismembered and displaced from among the family of nations, stood appalled at the prodigious energy and vitality which she displayed in her hour of trial. At the call of the President armies had sprung up as if by a magician's wand, swarming in numbers that recalled the hordes which penetrated from the remote East into Europe ; arms in abundance were put into their hands, and great generals were found to lead 1206 HISTORY OF THE GEEAT REBELLION. them in the field. Within two years a petty navy, not freater than a third-rate European power would maintain, ad swollen to a size rivalling those of Great Britain or France ; and two years later it contained vessels which could bid defiance to any foreign ship afloat. These ar- mies had been raised and maintained, this navy built and manned, without so much as one dollar obtained by loans from Europe ; the men, the ships, and the money were fur- nished by our own people. Such a result was certainly astounding to those who could not appreciate the patriot- ism and the unconquerable will of a free people ; such a command of resources, even to those who thought they knew the capacity of the country, seemed inexplicable. They had looked for weakness, and they witnessed a strength which, if it aroused their apprehensions, increased also their respect. The war had developed the overgrown boy, despised for his awkwardness and unconscious of his powers, into a very giant. The United States at once, took its place among the great powers of the world, more than ever before the bulwark of freedom, the hope of strug- gling democracies in the Old World, and the exemplar of progress. That all this was accomplished without years of sorrow and misery such as, it is to be hoped, we may never endure again, it would be useless to deny ; but in the nobler manhood, the self-sacrificing spirit, and the pur,e patriotism which the struggle called forth, and, above all, perhaps, in the overthrow of the institution of slavery, the war furnished some compensating advantages. The chas- tening hand of God was heavy upon ns, as many a deso- lated hearth-stone will attest, but in His providence He permitted us also to 11 Grain in moral height, Nor lose the wrestling thews that throw the world." THE END. * t University of California SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024-1388 Return this material to the library from which it was borrowed. UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY I DO NOT REMOVE THIS BOOK CARDzl University Research Library E k68 K5lh 1862 v.3 u i n