Part 50 (2/2)
[Sidenote: Battle of the Wilderness, May, 1864.]
428. The Wilderness, May, 1864.--On May 4 and 5 the Union army crossed the Rapidan and marched southward through the Wilderness. It soon found itself very near the scene of the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville (p. 335). The woods were thick and full of underbrush.
Clearings were few, and the roads were fewer still. On ground like this Lee attacked the Union army. Everything was in favor of the attacker, for it was impossible to foresee his blows, or to get men quickly to any threatened spot. Nevertheless Grant fought four days. Then he skillfully removed the army and marched by his left to Spotsylvania Court House.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL GRANT. From a photograph taken in the field, March, 1865. ”Strong, simple, silent, ... such was he Who helped us in our need.”--LOWELL.]
[Sidenote: Spotsylvania, May, 1864.]
429. Spotsylvania, May, 1864.--Lee reached Spotsylvania first and fortified his position. For days fearful combats went on. One point in the Confederate line, called the Salient, was taken and retaken over and over again. The loss of life was awful, and Grant could not push Lee back. So on May 20 he again set out on his march by the left and directed his army to the North Anna. But Lee was again before him and held such a strong position that it was useless to attack him.
[Sidenote: Cold Harbor.]
[Sidenote: Blockade of Petersburg.]
430. To the James, June, 1864.--Grant again withdrew his army and resumed his southward march. But when he reached Cold Harbor, Lee was again strongly fortified. Both armies were now on the ground of the Peninsular Campaign. For two weeks Grant attacked again and again. Then on June 11 he took up his march for the last time. On June 15 the Union soldiers reached the banks of the James River below the junction of the Appomattox. But, owing to some misunderstanding, Petersburg had not been seized. So Lee established himself there, and the campaign took on the form of a siege. In these campaigns from the Rapidan to the James, Grant lost in killed, wounded, and missing sixty thousand men. Lee's loss was much less--how much less is not known.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A BOMB PROOF AT PETERSBURG AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY WITH THE TREES GROWING ON THE BREASTWORKS.]
[Sidenote: Importance of Petersburg.]
431. Petersburg, June-December, 1864.--Petersburg guarded the roads leading from Richmond to the South. It was in reality a part of the defenses of Richmond. For if these roads pa.s.sed out of Confederate control, the Confederate capital would have to be abandoned. It was necessary for Lee to keep Petersburg. Grant, on the other hand, wished to gain the roads south of Petersburg. He lengthened his line; but each extension was met by a similar extension of the Confederate line. This process could not go on forever. The Confederacy was getting worn out.
No more men could be sent to Lee. Sooner or later his line would become so weak that Grant could break through. Then Petersburg and Richmond must be abandoned. Two years before, when Richmond was threatened by McClellan, Lee had secured the removal of the Army of the Potomac by a sudden movement toward Was.h.i.+ngton (p. 321). He now detached Jubal Early with a formidable force and sent him through the Shenandoah Valley to Was.h.i.+ngton.
[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL SHERIDAN.]
[Sidenote: Confederate attack on Was.h.i.+ngton, 1864.]
[Sidenote: Sheridan in the Valley. _Hero Tales_, 263-290.]
[Sidenote: Confederate disaster, October, 1864.]
[Sidenote: Lincoln reelected, November, 1864. _McMaster_, 425-426.]
432. Sheridan's Valley Campaigns, 1864.--The conditions now were very unlike the conditions of 1862. Now, Grant was in command instead of McClellan or Pope. He controlled the movements of all the armies without interference from Was.h.i.+ngton, and he had many more men than Lee.
Without letting go his hold on Petersburg, Grant sent two army corps by water to Was.h.i.+ngton. Early was an able and active soldier, but he delayed his attack on Was.h.i.+ngton until soldiers came from the James. He then withdrew to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant now gave Sheridan forty thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry, and sent him to the Valley with orders to drive Early out and to destroy all supplies in the Valley which could be used by another Southern army. Splendidly Sheridan did his work. At one time, when he was away, the Confederates surprised the Union army. But, hearing the roar of the battle, Sheridan rode rapidly to the front. As he rode along, the fugitives turned back.
The Confederates, surprised in their turn, were swept from the field and sent whirling up the Valley in wild confusion (October 19, 1864). Then Sheridan destroyed everything that could be of service to another invading army and rejoined Grant at Petersburg. In the November following this great feat of arms, Lincoln was reelected President.
[Sidenote: Mobile Bay, 1864. _Hero Tales_, 303-322.]
[Sidenote: _Kearsarge_ and _Alabama_.]
433. The Blockade and the Cruisers, 1863-64.--The blockade had now become stricter than ever. For by August, 1864, Farragut had carried his fleet into Mobile Bay and had closed it to commerce. Sherman had taken Savannah. Early in 1865 Charleston was abandoned, for Sherman had it at his mercy, and Terry captured Wilmington. The South was now absolutely dependent on its own resources, and the end could not be far off. On the open sea, with England's aid a few vessels flew the Confederate flag.
The best known of these vessels was the _Alabama._ She was built in England, armed with English guns, and largely manned by Englishmen. On June 19, 1864, the United States s.h.i.+p _Kearsarge_ sank her off Cherbourg, France. Englishmen were also building two ironclad battles.h.i.+ps for the Confederates. But the American minister at London, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, said that if they were allowed to sail, it would be ”war.” The English government thereupon bought the vessels.
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