Part 29 (1/2)

In July a Confederate army of about thirty thousand threatened Was.h.i.+ngton. A battle was fought at Mana.s.sas, only thirty miles southwest of the city. At first the Union forces had the advantage and seemed victorious; but just then heavy reinforcements of fresh troops came to help the Confederates, drove back the weary forces, and the day ended in Union disaster.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAP OF SEAT OF WAR IN VIRGINIA.]

This battle of Mana.s.sas, or Bull Run, was a severe and unexpected defeat. It showed the scope of the tremendous conflict yet to come.

There was not much more heavy fighting during the remainder of that year; both sides were busily making enormous preparations for the future struggle.

=309. The Desperate Struggles of 1862.=--In the early part of the next year (1862) each side had ready in the field about half a million of men. In the East, General McClellan, with a large army, set out in April from Was.h.i.+ngton for Richmond. He advanced within seven miles of that city, where was fought the battle of Fair Oaks. Neither side was victorious. The desperate seven days' battles soon followed, with result still indecisive. This, the so-called Peninsular Campaign, failed of its purpose.

In September the Confederate General Lee marched north and, invading Maryland, fought the b.l.o.o.d.y battle of Antietam. He was slightly worsted, and forced to retire into Virginia.

In the West, General Grant, the coming man, with the help of Commodore Foote's fleet of gunboats, captured in February Forts Henry and Donelson with ten thousand prisoners. Soon followed the desperate battle of s.h.i.+loh, in which Grant, reinforced by General Buell, repulsed the Confederates.

In April a great navy and army sailed up the Mississippi River, bombarded the forts below New Orleans, then pa.s.sed up and captured the city. This was an important Union triumph.

The year had been one of many hard-fought battles, only a few of which we are able to mention. The general result was in the East lamentable failure, but in the West brilliant success, of the Union armies.

At the close of 1862, after a year and a half of fighting, the war had already lasted longer than either side expected when it began. At first both had hoped that after a few months the trouble would be settled by some kind of agreement or compromise. Each side was surprised at the vast number of soldiers, the immense military equipment, and the determined spirit shown by the other.

=310. The Emanc.i.p.ation of the Slaves.=--As the war went on, it was plain that the tens of thousands of slaves, although they did not actually fight in the Southern armies, were helping the South just as much as if they carried muskets. They built forts, toiled in gun shops and powder mills, and raised crops at home. This, of course, released thousands of whites from home duties and swelled the ranks of the Confederate army.

It was a terrible and costly war. The final result even seemed doubtful.

To save the Union the South must be crippled at every possible point. To set the slaves free was to weaken the South. Mr. Lincoln held that a sound principle of military law gave him the authority to abolish slavery. He proposed to do it primarily as an act of military necessity by virtue of his office as Commander-in-Chief of the army, just as when a general in active warfare destroys buildings or burns bridges to aid his army operations.

It was sound common sense, as well as a profound military policy, to seize the most favorable opportunity to strike at the real cause of the trouble. Public opinion was rapidly shaping itself to this end. Lincoln was one of the most clear-sighted and sagacious of men. He patiently abided his time for so momentous a step.

=311. The Proclamation of Emanc.i.p.ation.=--Finally, acting on his own judgment and that of his trusted advisers, Lincoln issued in September, 1862, his warning proclamation to the effect that if the Confederate States did not cease hostilities before the first of the next January, all slaves within the Confederate lines should be thenceforth and forever free.

The negroes very soon heard this wonderful news and many thousands of them eagerly awaited the coming of the day when ”Ma.s.sa Link.u.m would set 'em free.” They looked upon the good President as the savior of their race.

On that famous morning, January 1, 1863, the prophecy was fulfilled.

That New Year's Day will be forever memorable as the date of the great Emanc.i.p.ation Proclamation, an act by which four millions of slaves were brought from the night of bondage to the sunlight of freedom.

This was the monumental event of the war, perhaps the wisest thing President Lincoln ever did or ever could do. In after years it will perhaps be regarded as the greatest event of the century. Few men in all history have had an opportunity of doing a deed of so vast and far-reaching importance.

Emanc.i.p.ation was quickly followed by the enlistment of negroes, or ”freedmen” as they were now called, as soldiers in the armies of the Union. During the year 1863 more than fifty thousand of them, and before the end of the war nearly two hundred thousand, had enlisted under the banner of freedom. They were good soldiers, and on many a battlefield they fought with an unflinching courage.

CHAPTER XXIV.

MORE ABOUT THE WAR FOR THE UNION.

=312. Union Defeat at Chancellorsville.=--Now let us return to our narrative of a few of the prominent military operations of the war. In May, 1863, the army of the Potomac, under General Hooker, moved southward from Was.h.i.+ngton. At Chancellorsville it was met by a Confederate force under Generals Lee and Jackson. The battle lasted two days, and was disastrous to the Union arms; in fact, the worst defeat of the war. It marked the zenith of Confederate success. In this battle ”Stonewall” Jackson, so called from his splendid firmness, one of the ablest of the Southern generals, was mortally wounded.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ”STONEWALL” JACKSON.]

=313. The Mighty Struggle at Gettysburg.=--General Lee, proud of this success, now resolved to lead his army into the North. Sweeping past Was.h.i.+ngton and across Maryland, he pushed up into Pennsylvania, the whole country around being terrified at his approach, especially Baltimore and Philadelphia, both of which cities were threatened. Lee had now eighty thousand soldiers, the finest army the South ever possessed. The army of the Potomac, under the command of General Meade, whom Grant called the right man in the right place, followed closely.

The two defiant armies met at Gettysburg, where occurred the most momentous battle ever fought on this continent. It lasted three days, July 1-3, 1863. The first day's fighting ended in favor of the Confederates. On the second day their desperate efforts to drive the Union forces from their positions were repelled, but with an enormous loss on each side.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL MEADE.]