Part 48 (1/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: ANTIETAM (A WAR-TIME SKETCH).]

[Sidenote: Battle of Fredericksburg, December, 1862.]

395. Fredericksburg, December, 1862.--Burnside found Lee strongly posted on Marye's Heights, which rise sharply behind the little town of Fredericksburg on the southern bank of the Rappahannock River. Burnside attacked in front. His soldiers had to cross the river and a.s.sault the hill in face of a murderous fire--and in vain. He lost thirteen thousand men to only four thousand of the Confederates. ”Fighting Joe” Hooker now succeeded Burnside as commander of the Army of the Potomac. We must now turn to the West, and see what had been doing there in 1861-62.

[Sidenote: General Grant.]

[Sidenote: He seizes Cairo.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Mill Springs, January, 1862.]

396. Grant and Thomas.--In Illinois there appeared a trained soldier of fierce energy and invincible will, Ulysses Simpson Grant. He had been educated at West Point and had served in the Mexican War. In September, 1861, he seized Cairo at the junction of the Ohio and the Mississippi. In January, 1862, General George H. Thomas defeated a Confederate force at Mill Springs, in the upper valley of the c.u.mberland River. In this way Grant and Thomas secured the line of the Ohio and eastern Kentucky for the Union.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BRIDGE AT ANTIETAM. Burnside's soldiers charged over the bridge from the middle foreground.]

[Sidenote: Capture of Fort Henry, February, 1862.]

[Sidenote: Fort Donelson.]

397. Forts Henry and Donelson, February, 1862.--In February, 1862, General Grant and Commodore Foote attacked two forts which the Confederates had built to keep the Federal gunboats from penetrating the western part of the Confederacy. Fort Henry yielded almost at once, but the Union forces besieged Fort Donelson for a longer time. Soon the Confederate defense became hopeless, and General Buckner asked for the terms of surrender. ”Unconditional surrender,” replied Grant, and Buckner surrendered. The lower Tennessee and the lower c.u.mberland were now open to the Union forces.

[Sidenote: The lower Mississippi.]

[Sidenote: Admiral Farragut.]

398. Importance of New Orleans.--New Orleans and the lower Mississippi were of great importance to both sides, for the possession of this region gave the Southerners access to Texas, and through Texas to Mexico. Union fleets were blockading every important Southern port.

But as long as commerce overland with Mexico could be maintained, the South could struggle on. The Mississippi, too, has so many mouths that it was difficult to keep vessels from running in and out. For these reasons the Federal government determined to seize New Orleans and the lower Mississippi. The command of the expedition was given to Farragut, who had pa.s.sed his boyhood in Louisiana. He was given as good a fleet as could be provided, and a force of soldiers was sent to help him.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A RIVER GUNBOAT.]

[Sidenote: Capture of New Orleans, April, 1862. _Higginson_, 303-304; _Source-Book_, 313-315.]

399. New Orleans captured, April, 1862.--Farragut carried his fleet into the Mississippi, but found his way upstream barred by two forts on the river's bank. A great chain stretched across the river below the forts, and a fleet of river gunboats with an ironclad or two was in waiting above the forts. Chain, forts, and gunboats all gave way before Farragut's forceful will. At night he pa.s.sed the forts amid a terrific cannonade. Once above them New Orleans was at his mercy. It surrendered, and with the forts was soon occupied by the Union army. The lower Mississippi was lost to the Confederacy.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A WAR-TIME ENVELOPE.]

[Sidenote: s.h.i.+loh, April, 1862.]

[Sidenote: Corinth, May, 1862.]

400. s.h.i.+loh and Corinth, April, May, 1862.--General Halleck now directed the operations of the Union armies in the West. He ordered Grant to take his men up the Tennessee to Pittsburg Landing and there await the arrival of Buell with a strong force overland from Nashville.

Grant encamped with his troops on the western bank of the Tennessee between s.h.i.+loh Church and Pittsburg Landing. Albert Sidney Johnston, the Confederate commander in the West, attacked him suddenly and with great fury. Soon the Union army was pushed back to the river. In his place many a leader would have withdrawn. But Grant, with amazing courage, held on. In the afternoon Buell's leading regiments reached the other side of the river. In the night they were ferried across, and Grant's outlying commands were brought to the front. The next morning Grant attacked in his turn and slowly but surely pushed the Confederates off the field. Halleck then united Grant's, Buell's, and Pope's armies and captured Corinth.

[Sidenote: General Bragg invades Kentucky.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Perryville, October, 1862.]

[Sidenote: Murfreesboro', December, 1862. _Eggleston_, 331.]

401. Bragg in Tennessee and Kentucky.--General Braxton Bragg now took a large part of the Confederate army, which had fought at s.h.i.+loh and Corinth, to Chattanooga. He then marched rapidly across Tennessee and Kentucky to the neighborhood of Louisville on the Ohio River. Buell was sent after him, and the two armies fought an indecisive battle at Perryville. Then Bragg retreated to Chattanooga. In a few months he was again on the march. Rosecrans had now succeeded Buell. He attacked Bragg at Murfreesboro'. For a long time the contest was equal. In the end, however, the Confederates were beaten and retired from the field.