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diff --git a/2649-8.txt b/2649-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..3a29fcc --- /dev/null +++ b/2649-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9739 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Captains of the Civil War, by William Wood + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Captains of the Civil War + A Chronicle of the Blue and the Gray, Volume 31, The + Chronicles Of America Series + +Author: William Wood + +Editor: Allen Johnson + +Release Date: November 30, 2006 [EBook #2649] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAINS OF THE CIVIL WAR *** + + + + +Produced by Alev Akman, Diane Beane, James J. Kelly Library +of St. Gregory's University and Robert J. Hall + + + + + +THIS BOOK WAS DONATED TO PROJECT GUTENBERG BY THE JAMES J. KELLY +LIBRARY OF ST. GREGORY'S UNIVERSITY; THANKS TO ALEV AKMAN. + +Scanned by Dianne Bean. + +------------------------------------------------------------------------ + +ABRAHAM LINCOLN EDITION + +VOLUME 31 +THE CHRONICLES OF AMERICA SERIES + +ALLEN JOHNSON +EDITOR + +GERHARD R. LOMER +CHARLES W. JEFFERYS +ASSISTANT EDITORS + + +[Illustration: _GENERAL U. S. GRANT_ +Photograph by Brady. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington.] + + + + +CAPTAINS OF THE CIVIL WAR + +A CHRONICLE OF THE BLUE AND THE GRAY + +BY WILLIAM WOOD + + +NEW HAVEN: YALE UNIVERSITY PRESS +TORONTO: GLASGOW, BROOK & CO. +LONDON: HUMPHREY MILFORD +OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS +1921 + + +TO MY AMERICAN FRIENDS OF THE BOONE AND CROCKETT CLUB + + + + +PREFACE + +Sixty years ago today the guns that thundered round Fort Sumter began +the third and greatest modern civil war fought by English-speaking +people. This war was quite as full of politics as were the other +two--the War of the American Revolution and that of Puritan and +Cavalier. But, though the present Chronicle never ignores the vital +correlations between statesmen and commanders, it is a book of +warriors, through and through. + +I gratefully acknowledge the indispensable assistance of Colonel +G. J. Fiebeger, a West Point expert, and of Dr. Allen Johnson, +chief editor of the series and Professor of American History at +Yale. + +WILLIAM WOOD, + +Late Colonel commanding 8th Royal Rifles, and Officer-in-charge, +Canadian Special Mission Overseas. + +QUEBEC, + April 18, 1921. + + + + +CONTENTS + +I. THE CLASH: 1861 + +II. THE COMBATANTS + +III. THE NAVAL WAR: 1862 + +IV. THE RIVER WAR: 1861 + +V. LINCOLN: WAR STATESMAN + +VI. LEE AND JACKSON: 1862-3 + +VII. GRANT WINS THE RIVER WAR: 1863 + +VIII. GETTYSBURG: 1863 + +IX. FARRAGUT AND THE NAVY: 1863-4 + +X. GRANT ATTACKS THE FRONT: 1864 + +XI. SHERMAN DESTROYS THE BASE: 1864 + +XII. THE END: 1865 + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +INDEX + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +GENERAL U. S. GRANT + +Photograph by Brady. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington. + +GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE + +Photograph. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington + +GENERAL T. J. (STONEWALL) JACKSON + +Photograph. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington. + +NORTH AND SOUTH IN 1861 + +Map by W. L. G. Joerg, American Geographical Society. + +ADMIRAL D. G. FARRAGUT + +Photograph by Brady. + +CIVIL WAR: CAMPAIGNS OF 1862 + +Map by W. L. G. Joerg, American Geographical Society. + +CIVIL WAR: VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS, 1862 + +Map by W. L. G. Joerg, American Geographical Society. + +CIVIL WAR: CAMPAIGNS OF 1863 + +Map by W. L. G. Joerg, American Geographical Society. + +GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN + +Photograph by Brady. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington. + +CIVIL WAR: CAMPAIGNS OF 1864 + +Map by W. L. G. Joerg, American Geographical Society. + + + + +CAPTAINS OF THE CIVIL WAR + +CHAPTER I + +THE CLASH: 1861 + +States which claimed a sovereign right to secede from the Union +naturally claimed the corresponding right to resume possession of +all the land they had ceded to that Union's Government for the use +of its naval and military posts. So South Carolina, after leading +the way to secession on December 20, 1860, at once began to work +for the retrocession of the forts defending her famous cotton port +of Charleston. These defenses, being of vital consequence to both +sides, were soon to attract the strained attention of the whole +country. + +There were three minor forts: Castle Pinckney, dozing away, in +charge of a solitary sergeant, on an island less than a mile from +the city; Fort Moultrie, feebly garrisoned and completely at the +mercy of attackers on its landward side; and Fort Johnson over on +James Island. Lastly, there was the world-renowned Fort Sumter, +which then stood, unfinished and ungarrisoned, on a little islet +beside the main ship channel, at the entrance to the harbor, and +facing Fort Moultrie just a mile away. The proper war garrison of +all the forts should have been over a thousand men. The actual +garrison--including officers, band, and the Castle Pinckney +sergeant--was less than a hundred. It was, however, loyal to the +Union; and its commandant, Major Robert Anderson, though born in +the slave-owning State of Kentucky, was determined to fight. + +The situation, here as elsewhere, was complicated by Floyd, President +Buchanan's Secretary of War, soon to be forced out of office on a +charge of misapplying public funds. Floyd, as an ardent Southerner, +was using the last lax days of the Buchanan Government to get the +army posts ready for capitulation whenever secession should have +become an accomplished fact. He urged on construction, repairs, and +armament at Charleston, while refusing to strengthen the garrison, +in order, as he said, not to provoke Carolina. Moreover, in November +he had replaced old Colonel Gardner, a Northern veteran of "1812," by +Anderson the Southerner, in whom he hoped to find a good capitulator. +But this time Floyd was wrong. + +The day after Christmas Anderson's little garrison at Fort Moultrie +slipped over to Fort Sumter under cover of the dark, quietly removed +Floyd's workmen, who were mostly Baltimore Secessionists, and began +to prepare for defense. Next morning Charleston was furious and +began to prepare for attack. The South Carolina authorities at +once took formal possession of Pinckney and Moultrie; and three +days later seized the United States Arsenal in Charleston itself. +Ten days later again, on January 9, 1861, the _Star of the West_, +a merchant vessel coming in with reinforcements and supplies for +Anderson, was fired on and forced to turn back. Anderson, who had +expected a man-of-war, would not fire in her defense, partly because +he still hoped there might yet be peace. + +While Charleston stood at gaze and Anderson at bay the ferment of +secession was working fast in Florida, where another tiny garrison +was all the Union had to hold its own. This garrison, under two +loyal young lieutenants, Slemmer and Gilman, occupied Barrancas +Barracks in Pensacola Bay. Late at night on the eighth of January +(the day before the _Star of the West_ was fired on at Charleston) +some twenty Secessionists came to seize the old Spanish Fort San +Carlos, where, up to that time, the powder had been kept. This +fort, though lying close beside the barracks, had always been +unoccupied; so the Secessionists looked forward to an easy capture. +But, to their dismay, an unexpected guard challenged them, and, +not getting the proper password in reply, dispersed them with the +first shots of the Civil War. + +Commodore Armstrong sat idle at the Pensacola Navy Yard, distracted +between the Union and secession. On the ninth Slemmer received +orders from Winfield Scott, General-in-Chief at Washington, to +use all means in defense of Union property. Next morning Slemmer +and his fifty faithful men were landed on Santa Rosa Island, just +one mile across the bay, where the dilapidated old Fort Pickens +stood forlorn. Two days later the Commodore surrendered the Navy +Yard, the Stars and Stripes were lowered, and everything ashore fell +into the enemy's hands. There was no flagstaff at Fort Pickens; but +the Union colors were at once hung out over the northwest bastion, +in full view of the shore, while the _Supply_ and _Wyandotte_, +the only naval vessels in the bay, and both commanded by loyal +men, mastheaded extra colors and stood clear. Five days afterwards +they had to sail for New York; and Slemmer, whose total garrison +had been raised to eighty by the addition of thirty sailors, was +left to hold Fort Pickens if he could. + +He had already been summoned to surrender by Colonel Chase and +Captain Farrand, who had left the United States Army and Navy for +the service of the South. Chase, like many another Southern officer, +was stirred to his inmost depths by his own change of allegiance. +"I have come," he said, "to ask of you young officers, officers of +the same army in which I have spent the best and happiest years +of my life, the surrender of this fort; and fearing that I might +not be able to say it as I ought, and also to have it in proper +form, I have put it in writing and will read it." He then began +to read. But his eyes filled with tears, and, stamping his foot, +he said: "I can't read it. Here, Farrand, you read it." Farrand, +however, pleading that his eyes were weak, handed the paper to the +younger Union officer, saying, "Here, Gilman, you have good eyes, +please read it." Slemmer refused to surrender and held out till +reinforced in April, by which time the war had begun in earnest. +Fort Pickens was never taken. On the contrary, it supported the +bombardment of the Confederate 'longshore positions the next New +Year (1862) and witnessed the burning and evacuation of Pensacola +the following ninth of May. + +While Charleston and Pensacola were fanning the flames of secession +the wildfire was running round the Gulf, catching well throughout +Louisiana, where the Governor ordered the state militia to seize +every place belonging to the Union, and striking inland till it +reached the farthest army posts in Texas. In all Louisiana the +Union Government had only forty men. These occupied the Arsenal at +Baton Rouge under Major Haskins. Haskins was loyal. But when five +hundred state militiamen surrounded him, and his old brother-officer, +the future Confederate General Bragg, persuaded him that the Union +was really at an end, to all intents and purposes, and when he +found no orders, no support, and not even any guidance from the +Government at Washington, he surrendered with the honors of war +and left by boat for St. Louis in Missouri. + +There was then in Louisiana another Union officer; but made of +sterner stuff. This was Colonel W. T. Sherman, Superintendent of +the State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy at Alexandria, +up the Red River. He was much respected by all the state authorities, +and was carefully watching over the two young sons of another future +Confederate leader, General Beauregard. William Tecumseh Sherman +had retired from the Army without seeing any war service, unlike +Haskins, who was a one-armed veteran of the Mexican campaign. But +Sherman was determined to stand by the Union, come what might. +Yet he was equally determined to wind up the affairs of the State +Academy so as to hand them over in perfect order. A few days after +the seizure of the Arsenal, and before the formal secession of +the State, he wrote to the Governor: + +"Sir: As I occupy a _quasi_-military position under the laws of +the State, I deem it proper to acquaint you that I accepted such +position when Louisiana was a State of the Union, and when the motto +of this seminary was inserted in marble over the main door: "By +the liberality of the General Government of the United States. The +Union--_esto perpetua_." Recent events foreshadow a great change, and +it becomes all men to choose.... I beg you to take immediate steps +to relieve me as superintendent, the moment the State determines to +secede, for on no earthly account will I do any act or think any +thought hostile to, or in defiance of, the old Government of the +United States." + +Then, to the lasting credit of all concerned, the future political +enemies parted as the best of personal friends. Sherman left everything +in perfect order, accounted for every cent of the funds, and received +the heartiest thanks and best wishes of all the governing officials, +who embodied the following sentence in their final resolution of +April 1, 1861: "They cannot fail to appreciate the manliness of +character which has always marked the actions of Colonel Sherman." +Long before this Louisiana had seceded, and Sherman had gone north +to Lancaster, Ohio, where he arrived about the time of Lincoln's +inauguration. + +Meanwhile, on the eighteenth of February, the greatest of all surrenders +had taken place in Texas, where nineteen army posts were handed +over to the State by General Twiggs. San Antonio was swarming with +Secessionist rangers. Unionist companies were marching up and down. +The Federal garrison was leaving the town on parole, with the band +playing Union airs and Union colors flying. The whole place was +at sixes and sevens, and anything might have happened. + +In the midst of this confusion the colonel commanding the Second +Regiment of United States Cavalry arrived from Fort Mason. He was +on his way to Washington, where Winfield Scott, the veteran +General-in-Chief, was anxiously waiting to see him; for this colonel +was no ordinary man. He had been Scott's Chief of Staff in Mexico, +where he had twice won promotion for service in the field. He had +been a model Superintendent at West Point and an exceedingly good +officer of engineers before he left them, on promotion, for the +cavalry. Very tall and handsome, magnificently fit in body and in +mind, genial but of commanding presence, this flower of Southern +chivalry was not only every inch a soldier but a leader born and +bred. Though still unknown to public fame he was the one man to +whom the most insightful leaders of both sides turned, and rightly +turned; for this was Robert Lee, Lee of Virginia, soon to become +one of the very few really great commanders of the world. + +As Lee came up to the hotel at San Antonio he was warmly greeted +by Mrs. Darrow, the anxious wife of the confidential clerk to Major +Vinton, the staunch Union officer in charge of the pay and quartermaster +services. "Who are those men?" he asked, pointing to the rangers, +who wore red flannel shoulder straps. "They are McCulloch's," she +answered; "General Twiggs surrendered everything to the State this +morning." Years after, when she and her husband and Vinton had +suffered for one side and Lee had suffered for the other, she wrote +her recollection of that memorable day in these few, telling words: +"I shall never forget his look of astonishment, as, with his lips +trembling and his eyes full of tears, he exclaimed, 'Has it come +so soon as this?' In a short time I saw him crossing the plaza on +his way to headquarters and noticed particularly that he was in +citizen's dress. He returned at night and shut himself into his +room, which was over mine; and I heard his footsteps through the +night, and sometimes the murmur of his voice, as if he was praying. +He remained at the hotel a week and in conversations declared that +the position he held was a neutral one." + +Three other Union witnesses show how Lee agonized over the fateful +decision he was being forced to make. Captain R. M. Potter says: +"I have seldom seen a more distressed man. He said, 'When I get +to Virginia I think the world will have one soldier less. I shall +resign and go to planting corn.'" Colonel Albert G. Brackett says: +"Lee was filled with sorrow at the condition of affairs, and, in a +letter to me, deploring the war in which we were about to engage, +made use of these words: 'I fear the liberties of our country will +be buried in the tomb of a great nation.'" Colonel Charles Anderson, +quoting Lee's final words in Texas, carries us to the point of parting: +"I still think my loyalty to Virginia ought to take precedence +over that which is due to the Federal Government; and I shall so +report myself in Washington. If Virginia stands by the old Union, +so will I. But if she secedes (though I do not believe in secession +as a constitutional right, nor that there is sufficient cause for +revolution) then I will still follow my native State with my sword, +and, if need be, with my life. I know you think and feel very +differently. But I can't help it. These are my principles; and I +must follow them." + +Lee reached Washington on the first of March. Lincoln, delivering +his Inaugural on the fourth, brought the country one step nearer +war by showing the neutrals how impossible it was to reconcile +his principles as President of the whole United States with those +of Jefferson Davis as President of the seceding parts. "The power +confided to me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property +and places belonging to the government." Three days later the +provisional Confederate Congress at Montgomery in Alabama passed +an Army Act authorizing the enlistment of one hundred thousand +men for one year's service. Nine days later again, having adopted +a Constitution in the meantime, this Congress passed a Navy Act, +authorizing the purchase or construction of ten little gunboats. + +In April the main storm center went whirling back to Charleston, +where Sherman's old friend Beauregard commanded the forces that +encircled Sumter. Sumter, still unfinished, had been designed for +a garrison of six hundred and fifty combatant men. It now contained +exactly sixty-five. It was to have been provisioned for six months. +The actual supplies could not be made to last beyond two weeks. +Both sides knew that Anderson's gallant little garrison must be +starved out by the fifteenth. But the excited Carolinians would +not wait, because they feared that the arrival of reinforcements +might balk them of their easy prey. On the eleventh Beauregard, +acting under orders from the Confederate Government, sent in a +summons to surrender. Anderson refused. At a quarter to one the +next morning the summons was repeated, as pilots had meanwhile +reported a Federal vessel approaching the harbor. Anderson again +refused and again admitted that he would be starved out on the +fifteenth. Thereupon Beauregard's aides declared immediate surrender +the only possible alternative to a bombardment and signed a note +at 3:20 A.M. giving Anderson formal warning that fire would be +opened in an hour. + +Fort Sumter stood about half a mile inside the harbor mouth, fully +exposed to the converging fire of four relatively powerful batteries, +three about a mile away, the fourth nearly twice as far. At the northern +side of the harbor mouth stood Fort Moultrie; at the southern stood +the batteries on Cummings Point; and almost due west of Sumter stood +Fort Johnson. Near Moultrie was a four-gun floating battery with an +iron shield. A mile northwest of Moultrie, farther up the harbor, +stood the Mount Pleasant battery, nearly two miles off from Sumter. +At half-past four, in the first faint light of a gray morning, +a sudden spurt of flame shot out from Fort Johnson, the dull roar +of a mortar floated through the misty air, and the big shell--the +first shot of the real war--soared up at a steep angle, its course +distinctly marked by its burning fuse, and then plunged down on +Sumter. It was a capital shot, right on the center of the target, +and was followed by an admirable burst. Then all the converging +batteries opened full; while the whole population of perfervid +Charleston rushed out of doors to throng their beautiful East Battery, +a flagstone marine parade three miles in from Sumter, of which and +of the attacking batteries it had a perfect view. + +But Sumter remained as silent as the grave. Anderson decided not to +return the fire till it was broad daylight. In the meantime all ranks +went to breakfast, which consisted entirely of water and salt pork. +Then the gun crews went to action stations and fired back steadily +with solid shot. The ironclad battery was an exasperating target; +for the shot bounced off it like dried peas. Moultrie seemed more +vulnerable. But appearances were deceptive; for it was thoroughly +quilted with bales of cotton, which the solid shot simply rammed +into an impenetrable mass. Wishing to save his men, in which he was +quite successful, Anderson had forbidden the use of the shell-guns, +which were mounted on the upper works and therefore more exposed. +Shell fire would have burst the bales and set the cotton flaming. +This was so evident that Sergeant Carmody, unable to stand such +futile practice any longer, quietly stole up to the loaded guns +and fired them in succession. The aim lacked final correction; +and the result was small, except that Moultrie, thinking itself +in danger, concentrated all its efforts on silencing these guns. +The silencing seemed most effective; for Carmody could not reload +alone, and so his first shots were his last. + +At nightfall Sumter ceased fire while the Confederates kept on +slowly till daylight. Next morning the officers' quarters were set +on fire by red-hot shot. Immediately the Confederates redoubled +their efforts. Inside Sumter the fire was creeping towards the +magazine, the door of which was shut only just in time. Then the +flagstaff was shot down. Anderson ran his colors up again, but the +situation was rapidly becoming impossible. Most of the worn-out men +were fighting the flames while a few were firing at long intervals to +show they would not yet give in. This excited the generous admiration +of the enemy, who cheered the gallantry of Sumter while sneering +at the caution of the Union fleet outside. The fact was, however, +that this so-called fleet was a mere assemblage of vessels quite +unable to fight the Charleston batteries and without the slightest +chance of saving Sumter. + +Having done his best for the honor of the flag, though not a man +was killed within the walls, Anderson surrendered in the afternoon. +Charleston went wild with joy; but applauded the generosity of +Beauregard's chivalrous terms. Next day, Sunday the fourteenth, +Anderson's little garrison saluted the Stars and Stripes with fifty +guns, and then, with colors flying, marched down on board a transport +to the strains of _Yankee Doodle_. + +Strange to say, after being four years in Confederate hands, Sumter +was recaptured by the Union forces on the anniversary of its surrender. +It was often bombarded, though never taken, in the meantime. + +The fall of Sumter not only fired all Union loyalty but made +Confederates eager for the fray. The very next day Lincoln called +for 75,000 three-month volunteers. Two days later Confederate letters +of marque were issued to any privateers that would prey on Union +shipping. Two days later again Lincoln declared a blockade of every +port from South Carolina round to Texas. Eight days afterwards he +extended it to North Carolina and Virginia. + +[Illustration: _GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE_ +Photograph. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington.] + +But in the meantime Lincoln had been himself marooned in Washington. +On the nineteenth of April, the day he declared his first blockade, +the Sixth Massachusetts were attacked by a mob in Baltimore, through +which the direct rails ran from North to South. Baltimore was full +of secession, and the bloodshed roused its fury. Maryland was a +border slave State out of which the District of Columbia was carved. +Virginia had just seceded. So when the would-be Confederates of +Maryland, led by the Mayor of Baltimore, began tearing up rails, +burning bridges, and cutting the wires, the Union Government found +itself enisled in a hostile sea. Its own forces abandoned the Arsenal +at Harper's Ferry and the Navy Yard at Norfolk. The work of demolition +at Harper's Ferry had to be bungled off in haste, owing to shortness +of time and lack of means. The demolition of Norfolk was better +done, and the ships were sunk at anchor. But many valuable stores +fell into enemy hands at both these Virginian outposts of the Federal +forces. Through six long days of dire suspense not a ship, not a +train, came into Washington. At last, on the twenty-fifth, the +Seventh New York got through, having come south by boat with the +Eighth Massachusetts, landed at Annapolis, and commandeered a train +to run over relaid rails. With them came the news that all the +loyal North was up, that the Seventh had marched through miles of +cheering patriots in New York, and that these two fine regiments +were only the vanguard of a host. + +But just a week before Lincoln experienced this inexpressible relief +he lost, and his enemy won, a single officer, who, according to +Winfield Scott, was alone worth more than fifty thousand veteran +men. On the seventeenth of April Virginia voted for secession. +On the eighteenth Lee had a long confidential interview with his +old chief, Winfield Scott. On the twentieth he resigned, writing +privately to Scott at the same time: "My resignation would have been +presented at once but for the struggle it has cost me to separate +myself from a service to which I have devoted the best years of my +life. During the whole of that time I have experienced nothing but +kindness from my superiors and a most cordial friendship from my +comrades. I shall carry to the grave the most grateful recollections +of your kind consideration, and your name and fame shall always be +dear to me. Save in the defense of my native State I never desire +again to draw my sword." + +The three great motives which finally determined his momentous +course of action were: first, his aversion from taking any part +in coercing the home folks of Virginia; secondly, his belief in +State rights, tempered though it was by admiration for the Union; +and thirdly, his clear perception that war was now inevitable, and +that defeat for the South would inevitably mean a violent change +of all the ways of Southern life, above all, a change imposed by +force from outside, instead of the gradual change he wished to +see effected from within. He was opposed to slavery; and both his +own and his wife's slaves had long been free. Like his famous +lieutenant, Stonewall Jackson, he was particularly kind to the +blacks; none of whom ever wanted to leave, once they had been domiciled +at Arlington, the estate that came to him through his wife, Mary +Custis, great-granddaughter of Martha Washington. But, like Lincoln +before the war, he wished emancipation to come from the slave States +themselves, as in time it must have come, with due regard for +compensation. + +On the twenty-third of this eventful April Lee was given the chief +command of all Virginia's forces. Three days later "Joe" Johnston +took command of the Virginians at Richmond. One day later again +"Stonewall" Jackson took command at Harper's Ferry. Johnston played +a great and noble part throughout the war; and we shall meet him +again and again, down to the very end. But Jackson claims our first +attention here. + +Like all the great leaders on both sides Jackson had been an officer +of regulars. He was, however, in many ways unlike the army type. +He disliked society amusements, was awkward, shy, reserved, and +apparently recluse. Moderately tall, with large hands and feet, +stiff in his movements, ungainly in the saddle, he was a mere nobody +in public estimation when the war broke out. A few brother-officers +had seen his consummate skill and bravery as a subaltern in Mexico; +and still fewer close acquaintances had seen his sterling qualities +at Lexington, where, for ten years, he had been a professor at +the Virginia Military Institute. But these few were the only ones +who were not surprised when this recluse of peace suddenly became +a very thunderbolt of war--Puritan in soul, Cavalier in daring: +a Cromwell come to life again. + +Harper's Ferry was a strategic point in northern Virginia. It was +the gate to the Shenandoah Valley as well as the point where the +Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crossed the Potomac some sixty miles +northwest of Washington. Harper's Ferry was known by name to North +and South through John Brown's raid two years before. It was now +coveted by Virginia for its Arsenal as well as for its command of +road, rail, and water routes. The plan to raid it was arranged at +Richmond on the sixteenth of April. But when the raiders reached +it on the eighteenth they found it abandoned and its Arsenal in +flames. The machine shops, however, were saved, as well as the +metal parts of twenty thousand stand of arms. Then the Virginia +militiamen and volunteers streamed in, to the number of over four +thousand. They were a mere conglomeration of semi-independent units, +mostly composed of raw recruits under officers who themselves knew +next to nothing. As usual with such fledgling troops there was no +end to the fuss and feathers among the members of the busybody +staffs, who were numerous enough to manage an army but clumsy enough +to spoil a platoon. It was said, and not without good reason, that +there was as much gold lace at Harper's Ferry, when the sun was +shining, as at a grand review in Paris. + +Into this gaudy assemblage rode Thomas Jonathan Jackson, mounted +on Little Sorrel, a horse as unpretentious as himself, and dressed +in his faded old blue professor's uniform without one gleam of +gold. He had only two staff officers, both dressed as plainly as +himself. He was not a major-general, nor even a brigadier; just a +colonel. He held no trumpeting reviews. He made no flowery speeches. +He didn't even swear. The armed mob at Harper's Ferry felt that +they would lose caste on Sunday afternoons under a commandant like +this. Their feelings were still more outraged when they heard that +every officer above the rank of captain was to lose his higher +rank, and that all new reappointments were to be made on military +merit and direct from Richmond. Companies accustomed to elect their +officers according to the whim of the moment eagerly joined the +higher officers in passing adverse resolutions. But authorities who +were unanimous for Lee were not to be shaken by such absurdities +in face of a serious war. And when the froth had been blown off +the top, and the dregs drained out of the bottom, the solid mass +between, who really were sound patriots, settled down to work. + +There was seven hours' drill every day except Sunday; no light task +for a mere armed mob groping its ignorant way, however zealously, +towards the organized efficiency of a real army. The companies had +to be formed into workable battalions, the battalions into brigades. +There was a deplorable lack of cavalry, artillery, engineers, +commissariat, transport, medical services, and, above all, staff. +Armament was bad; other munitions were worse. There would have been +no chance whatever of holding Harper's Ferry unless the Northern +conglomeration had been even less like a fighting army than the +Southern was. + +Harper's Ferry was not only important in itself but still more +important for what it covered: the wonderfully fruitful Shenandoah +Valley, running southwest a hundred and forty miles to the neighborhood +of Lexington, with an average width of only twenty-four. Bounded +on the west by the Alleghanies and on the east by the long Blue +Ridge this valley was a regular covered way by which the Northern +invaders might approach, cut Virginia in two (for West Virginia +was then a part of the State) and, after devastating the valley +itself (thus destroying half the food-base of Virginia) attack +eastern Virginia through whichever gaps might serve the purpose +best. More than this, the only direct line from Richmond to the +Mississippi ran just below the southwest end of the valley, while +a network of roads radiated from Winchester near the northeast +end, thirty miles southwest of Harper's Ferry. + +Throughout the month of May Jackson went on working his men into +shape and watching the enemy, three thousand strong, at Chambersburg, +forty-five miles north of Harper's Ferry, and twelve thousand strong +farther north still. One day he made a magnificent capture of rolling +stock on the twenty-seven miles of double track that centered in +Harper's Ferry. This greatly hampered the accumulation of coal at +Washington besides helping the railroads of the South. Destroying +the line was out of the question, because it ran through West Virginia +and Maryland, both of which he hoped to see on the Confederate +side. He was himself a West Virginian, born at Clarksburg; and it +grieved him greatly when West Virginia stood by the Union. + +Apart from this he did nothing spectacular. The rest was all just +sheer hard work. He kept his own counsel so carefully that no one +knew anything about what he would do if the enemy advanced. Even +the officers of outposts were forbidden to notice or mention his +arrival or departure on his constant tours of inspection, lest a +longer look than usual at any point might let an awkward inference +be drawn. He was the sternest of disciplinarians when the good of +the service required it. But no one knew better that the finest +discipline springs from self-sacrifice willingly made for a worthy +cause; and no one was readier to help all ranks along toward real +efficiency in the kindest possible way when he saw they were doing +their best. + +At the end of May Johnston took over the command of the increasing +force at Harper's Ferry, while Jackson was given the First Shenandoah +Brigade, a unit soon, like himself, to be raised by service into +fame. + + +On the first and third of May Virginia issued calls for more men; +and on the third Lincoln, who quite understood the signs of the +times, called for men whose term of service would be three years +and not three months. + +Just a week later Missouri was saved for the Union by the daring +skill of two determined leaders, Francis P. Blair, a Member of +Congress who became a good major-general, and Captain Nathaniel Lyon, +an excellent soldier, who commanded the little garrison of regulars +at St. Louis. When Lincoln called upon Governor Claiborne Jackson +to supply Missouri's quota of three-month volunteers the Governor +denounced the proposed coercion as "illegal, unconstitutional, +revolutionary, inhuman, and diabolical"; and thereafter did his +best to make Missouri join the South. But Blair and Lyon were too +quick for him. Blair organized the Home Guards, whom Lyon armed +from the arsenal. Lyon then sent all the surplus arms and stores +across the river into Illinois, while he occupied the most commanding +position near the arsenal with his own troops, thus forestalling +the Confederates, under Brigadier-General D. M. Frost, who was now +forced to establish Camp Jackson in a far less favorable place. So +vigorously had Blair and Lyon worked that they had armed thousands +while Frost had only armed hundreds. But when Frost received siege +guns and mortars from farther south Lyon felt the time had come +for action. + +Lyon was a born leader, though Grant and Sherman (then in St. Louis +as junior ex-officers, quite unknown to fame) were almost the only +men, apart from Blair, to see any signs of preëminence in this +fiery little redheaded, weather-beaten captain, who kept dashing +about the arsenal, with his pockets full of papers, making sure +of every detail connected with the handful of regulars and the +thousands of Home Guards. + +On the ninth of May Lyon borrowed an old dress from Blair's +mother-in-law, completing the disguise with a thickly veiled sunbonnet, +and drove through Camp Jackson. That night he and Blair attended +a council of war, at which, overcoming all opposition, answering +all objections, and making all arrangements, they laid their plans +for the morrow. When Lyon's seven thousand surrounded Frost's seven +hundred the Confederates surrendered at discretion and were marched +as prisoners through St. Louis. There were many Southern sympathizers +among the crowds in the streets; one of them fired a pistol; and +the Home Guards fired back, killing several women and children +by mistake. This unfortunate incident hardened many neutrals and +even Unionists against the Union forces; so much so that Sterling +Price, a Unionist and former governor, became a Confederate general, +whose field for recruiting round Jefferson City on the Missouri +promised a good crop of enemies to the Union cause. + +Lyon and Blair wished to march against Price immediately and smash +every hostile force while still in the act of forming. But General +Harney, who commanded the Department of the West, returned to St. +Louis the day after the shooting and made peace instead of war with +Price. By the end of the month, however, Lincoln removed Harney and +promoted Lyon in his place; whereupon Price and Governor Jackson at +once prepared to fight. Then sundry neutrals, of the gabbling kind +who think talk enough will settle anything, induced the implacables +to meet in St. Louis. The conference was ended by Lyon's declaration +that he would see every Missourian under the sod before he would +take any orders from the State about any Federal matter, however +small. "This," he said in conclusion, "means war." And it did. + +Again a single week sufficed for the striking of the blow. The +conference was held on the eleventh of June. On the fourteenth +Lyon reached Jefferson City only to find that the Governor had +decamped for Boonville, still higher up the Missouri. Here, on +the seventeenth, Lyon attacked him with greatly superior numbers +and skill, defeated him utterly, and sent him flying south with +only a few hundred followers left. Boonville was, in itself, a +very small affair indeed. But it had immense results. Lyon had +seized the best strategic point of rail and river junction on the +Mississippi by holding St. Louis. He had also secured supremacy +in arms, munitions, and morale. By turning the Governor out of +Jefferson City, the State capital, he had deprived the Confederates +of the prestige and convenience of an acknowledged headquarters. +Now, by defeating him at Boonville and driving his forces south in +headlong flight he had practically made the whole Missouri River a +Federal line of communication as well as a barrier between would-be +Confederates to the north and south of it. More than this, the +possession of Boonville struck a fatal blow at Confederate recruiting +and organization throughout the whole of that strategic area; for +Boonville was the center to which pro-Southern Missourians were +flocking. The tide of battle was to go against the Federals at +Wilson's Creek in the southwest of the State, and even at Lexington +on the Missouri, as we shall presently see; but this was only the +breaking of the last Confederate waves. As a State, Missouri was +lost to the South already. + +In Kentucky, the next border State, opinions were likewise divided; +and Kentuckians fought each other with help from both sides. Anderson, +of Fort Sumter fame, was appointed to the Kentucky command in May. +But here the crisis did not occur for months, while a border campaign +was already being fought in West Virginia. + +West Virginia, which became a separate State during the war, was +strongly Federal, like eastern Tennessee. These Federal parts of +two Confederate States formed a wedge dangerous to the whole South, +especially to Virginia and the Carolinas. Each side therefore tried +to control this area itself. The Federals, under McClellan, of +whom we shall soon hear more, had two lines of invasion into West +Virginia, both based on the Ohio. The northern converged by rail, +from Wheeling and Parkersburg, on Grafton, the only junction in +West Virginia. The southern ran up the Great Kanawha, with good +navigation to Charleston and water enough for small craft on to +Gauley Bridge, which was the strategic point. + +In May the Confederates cut the line near Grafton. As this broke +direct communication between the West and Washington, McClellan +sent forces from which two flying columns, three thousand strong, +converged on Philippi, fifteen miles south of Grafton, and surprised +a thousand Confederates. These thereupon retired, with little loss, +to Beverly, thirty miles farther south still. Here there was a +combat at Rich Mountain on the eleventh of July. The Confederates +again retreated, losing General Garnett in a skirmish the following +day. This ended McClellan's own campaign in West Virginia. + +But the Kanawha campaign, which lasted till November, had only +just begun, with Rosecrans as successor to McClellan (who had been +recalled to Washington for very high command) and with General +Jacob D. Cox leading the force against Gauley. The Confederates +did all they could to keep their precarious foothold. They sent +political chiefs, like Henry A. Wise, ex-Governor of Virginia, +and John B. Floyd, the late Federal Secretary of War, both of whom +were now Confederate brigadiers. They even sent Lee himself in +general commend. But, confronted by superior forces in a difficult +and thoroughly hostile country, they at last retired east of the +Alleghanies, which thenceforth became the frontier of two warring +States. + +The campaign in West Virginia was a foregone conclusion. It was not +marked by any real battles; and there was no scope for exceptional +skill of the higher kind on either side. But it made McClellan's +bubble reputation. + +McClellan was an ex-captain of United States Engineers who had +done very well at West Point, had distinguished himself in Mexico, +had represented the American army with the Allies in the Crimea, +had written a good official report on his observations there, had +become manager of a big railroad after leaving the service, and had +so impressed people with his ability and modesty on the outbreak +of war that his appointment to the chief command in West Virginia +was hailed with the utmost satisfaction. Then came the two affairs +at Philippi and Rich Mountain, the first of which was planned and +carried out by other men, while the second was, if anything, spoiled +by himself; for here, as afterwards on a vastly greater scene of +action, he failed to strike home at the critical moment. + +Yet though he failed in arms he won by proclamations; so much so, +in fact, that _Words not Deeds_ might well have been his motto. He +began with a bombastic address to the inhabitants and ended with +another to his troops, whom he congratulated on having "annihilated +two armies, commanded by educated and experienced soldiers, intrenched +in mountain fastnesses fortified at their leisure." + +It disastrously happened that the Union public were hungering for +heroes at this particular time and that Union journalists were itching +to write one up to the top of their bent. So all McClellan's tinsel +was counted out for gold before an avaricious mob of undiscriminating +readers; and when, at the height of the publicity campaign, the +Government wanted to retrieve Bull Run they turned to the "Man +of Destiny" who had been given the noisiest advertisement as the +"Young Napoleon of the West." McClellan had many good qualities +for organization, and even some for strategy. An excited press and +public, however, would not acclaim him for what he was but for +what he most decidedly was not. + + +Meanwhile, before McClellan went to Washington and Lee to West +Virginia, the main Union army had been disastrously defeated by +the main Confederate army at Bull Run, on that vital ground which +lay between the rival capitals. + +In April Lincoln had called for three-month volunteers. In May the +term of service for new enlistments was three years. In June the +military chiefs at Washington were vainly doing all that military +men could do to make something like the beginnings of an army out of +the conglomerating mass. Winfield Scott, the veteran General-in-Chief, +rightly revered by the whole service as a most experienced, farsighted, +and practical man, was ably assisted by W. T. Sherman and Irvin +McDowell. But civilian interference ruined all. Even Lincoln had +not yet learned the quintessential difference between that civil +control by which the fighting services are so rightly made the +real servants of the whole people and that civilian interference +which is very much the same as if a landlubber owning a ship should +grab the wheel repeatedly in the middle of a storm. Simon Cameron, +then Secretary of War, was good enough as a party politician, but +all thumbs when fumbling with the armies in the field. The other +members of the Cabinet had war nostrums of their own; and every +politician with a pull did what he could to use it. Behind all these +surged a clamorous press and an excited people, both patriotic +and well meaning; but both wholly ignorant of war, and therefore +generating a public opinion that forced the not unwilling Government +to order an armed mob "on to Richmond" before it had the slightest +chance of learning how to be an army. + +The Congress that met on the Fourth of July voted five hundred +thousand men and two hundred and fifty million dollars. This showed +that the greatness of the war was beginning to be seen. But the +men, the money, and the Glorious Fourth were so blurred together +in the public mind that the distinction between a vote in Congress +and its effect upon some future battlefield was never realized. +The result was a new access of zeal for driving McDowell "on to +Richmond." Making the best of a bad business, Scott had already +begun his preparations for the premature advance. + +By the end of May Confederate pickets had been in sight of Washington, +while McDowell, crossing the Potomac, was faced by his friend of +old West Point and Mexican days, General Beauregard, fresh from the +capture of Fort Sumter. By the beginning of July General Patterson, +a veteran of "1812" and Mexico, was in command up the Potomac near +Harper's Ferry. He was opposed by "Joe" Johnston, who had taken +over that Confederate command from "Stonewall" Jackson. Down the +Potomac and Chesapeake Bay there was nothing to oppose the Union +navy. General Benjamin Butler, threatening Richmond in flank, along +the lower Chesapeake, was watched by the Confederates Huger and +Magruder. Meanwhile, as we have seen already, the West Virginian +campaign was in full swing, with superior Federal forces under +McClellan. + +Thus the general situation in July was that the whole of northeastern +Virginia was faced by a semicircle of superior forces which began +at the Kanawha River, ran northeast to Grafton, then northeast +to Cumberland, then along the Potomac to Chesapeake Bay and on +to Fortress Monroe. From the Kanawha to Grafton there were only +roads. From Grafton to Cumberland there was rail as well. From +Cumberland to Washington there were road, rail, river, and canal. +From Washington to Fortress Monroe there was water fit for any +fleet. The Union armies along this semicircle were not only twice +as numerous as the Confederates facing them but they were backed +by a sea-power, both naval and mercantile, which the Confederates +could not begin to challenge, much less overcome. Lee was the military +adviser to the Confederate Government at Richmond as Scott then +was to the Union Government at Washington. + +Such was the central scene of action, where the first great battle +of the war was fought. The Union forces were based on the Potomac +from Washington to Harper's Ferry. The Confederates faced them +from Bull Run to Winchester, which points were nearly sixty miles +apart by road and rail. The Union forces were fifty thousand strong, +the Confederate thirty-three thousand. The Union problem was how to +keep "Joe" Johnston in the Winchester position by threatening or +actually making an invasion of the Shenandoah Valley with Patterson's +superior force, while McDowell's superior force attacked or turned +Beauregard's position at Bull Run. The Confederate problem was how to +give Patterson the slip and reach Bull Run in time to meet McDowell +with an equal force. The Confederates had the advantage of interior +lines both here and in the semicircle as a whole, though the Union +forces enjoyed in general much better means of transportation. The +Confederates enjoyed better control from government headquarters, +where the Cabinet mostly had the sense to trust in Lee. Scott, on +the other hand, was tied down by orders to defend Washington by +purely defensive means as well as by the "on to Richmond" march. +Patterson was therefore obliged to watch the Federal back door +at Harper's Ferry as well as the Confederate side doors up the +Shenandoah: an impossible task, on exterior lines, with the kind +of force he had. The civilian chiefs at Washington did not see +that the best of all defense was to destroy the enemy's means of +destroying _them_, and that his greatest force of fighting _men_, +not any particular _place_, should always be their main objective. + +On the fourteenth of June Johnston had destroyed everything useful +to the enemy at Harper's Ferry and retired to Winchester. On the +twentieth Jackson's brigade marched on Martinsburg to destroy the +workshops of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway and to support the +three hundred troopers under J. E. B. Stuart, who was so soon to +be the greatest of cavalry commanders on the Confederate side. +Unknown at twenty-nine, killed at thirty-one, "Jeb" Stuart was a +Virginian ex-officer of United States Dragoons, trained in frontier +fighting, and the perfect type of what a cavalry commander should +be: tall, handsome, splendidly supple and strong, hawk-eyed and +lion-hearted, quick, bold, determined, and inspiring, yet always +full of knowledge and precaution too; indefatigable at all times, +and so persistent in carrying out a plan that the enemy could no +more shake him off than they could escape their shadows. + +On the second of July the first brush took place at Falling Waters, +five miles south of the Potomac, where Jackson came into touch +with Patterson's advanced guard. As Jackson withdrew his handful +of Virginian infantry the Federal cavalry came clattering down +the turnpike and were met by a single shot from a Confederate gun +that smashed the head of their column and sent the others flying. +Meanwhile Stuart, who had been reconnoitering, came upon a company +of Federal infantry resting in a field. Galloping among them suddenly +he shouted, "Throw down your arms or you are all dead men!" Whereupon +they all threw down their arms; and his troopers led them off. +Patterson, badly served by his very raw staff, reported Jackson's +little vanguard as being precisely ten times stronger than it was. +He pushed out cautiously to right and left; and when he tried to +engage again he found that Jackson had withdrawn. Falling Waters was +microscopically small as a fight. But it served to raise Confederate +morale and depress the Federals correspondingly. + +Patterson occupied Martinsburg, while Johnston, drawn up in line +of battle, awaited his further advance four days before retiring. +Then, with his fourteen thousand, Patterson advanced again, stood +irresolute under distracting orders from the Government in Washington, +and finally went to Charlestown on the seventeenth of July--almost +back to Harper's Ferry. Johnston, with his eleven thousand, now +stood fast at Winchester, fifteen miles southwest, while Stuart, +like a living screen, moved to and fro between them. + +Meanwhile McDowell's thirty-six thousand had marched past the President +with bands playing and colors flying amid a scene of great enthusiasm. +The press campaign was at its height; so was the speechifying; +and ninety-nine people out of every hundred thought Beauregard's +twenty-two thousand at Bull Run would be defeated in a way that +would be sure to make the South give in. McDowell had between two +and three thousand regulars: viz., seven troops of cavalry, nine +batteries of artillery, eight companies of infantry, and a little +battalion of marines. Then there was the immense paper army voted +on the Glorious Fourth. And here, for the general public to admire, +was a collection of armed and uniformed men that members of Congress +and writers in the press united in calling one of the best armies +the world had ever seen. Moreover, the publicity campaign was kept +up unflaggingly till the very clash of arms began. Reporters marched +along and sent off reams of copy. Congressmen, and even ladies, +graced the occasion in every way they could. "The various regiments +were brilliantly uniformed according to the ćsthetic taste of peace," +wrote General Fry, then an officer on McDowell's staff, and "during +the nineteenth and twentieth the bivouacs at Centreville, almost +within cannon range of the enemy, were thronged with visitors, +official and unofficial, who came in carriages from Washington, +were under no military restraint, and passed to and fro among the +troops as they pleased, giving the scene the appearance of a monster +military picnic." + +Had McDowell been able to attack on either of these two days he +must have won. But previous Governments had never given the army +the means of making proper surveys; so here, within a day's march +of the Federal capital, the maps were worthless for military use. +Information had to be gleaned by reconnaissance; and reconnaissance +takes time, especially without trustworthy guides, sufficient cavalry, +and a proper staff. Moreover, the army was all parts and no whole, +through no fault of McDowell's or of his military chiefs. The +three-month volunteers, whose term of service was nearly over, +had not learned their drill as individuals before being herded +into companies, battalions, and brigades, of course becoming more +and more inefficient as the units grew more and more complex. Of +the still more essential discipline they naturally knew still less. +There was no lack of courage; for these were the same breed of +men as those with whom Washington had won immortal fame, the same +as those with whom both Grant and Lee were yet to win it. But, +as Napoleon used to say, mere men are not the same as soldiers. +Nor are armed mobs the same as armies. + +The short march to the front was both confused and demoralizing. +No American officer had ever had the chance even of seeing, much +less handling, thirty-six thousand men under arms. This force was +followed by an immense and unwieldy train of supplies, manned by +wholly undisciplined civilian drivers; while other, and quite +superfluous, civilians clogged every movement and made confusion +worse confounded. "The march," says Sherman, who commanded a brigade, +"demonstrated little save the general laxity of discipline; for, +with all my personal efforts, I could not prevent the men from +straggling for water, blackberries, or anything on the way they +fancied." In the whole of the first long summer's day, the sixteenth +of July, the army only marched six miles; and it took the better +part of the seventeenth to herd its stragglers back again. "I wished +them," says McDowell, "to go to Centreville the second day [only +another six miles out] but the men were foot-weary, not so much +by the distance marched as by the time they had been on foot." +That observant private, Warren Lee Goss, has told us how hard it +is to soldier suddenly. "My canteen banged against my bayonet; both +tin cup and bayonet badly interfered with the butt of my musket, +while my cartridge-box and haversack were constantly flopping up +and down--the whole jangling like loose harness and chains on a +runaway horse." The weather was hot. The roads were dusty. And +many a man threw away parts of his kit for which he suffered later +on. There was food in superabundance. But, with that unwieldy and +grossly undisciplined supply-and-transport service, the men and +their food never came together at the proper time. + +Early on the eighteenth McDowell, whose own work was excellent +all through, pushed forward a brigade against Blackburn's Ford, +toward the Confederate right, in order to distract attention from +the real objective, which was to be the turning of the left. The +Confederate outposts fell back beyond the ford. The Federal brigade +followed on; when suddenly sharp volleys took it in front and flank. +The opposing brigade, under Longstreet (of whom we shall often +hear again), had lain concealed and sprung its trap quite neatly. +Most of the Federals behaved extremely well under these untoward +circumstances. But one whole battery and another whole battalion, +whose term of service expired that afternoon, were officially reported +as having "moved to the rear to the sound of the enemy's cannon." +Thereafter, as military units, they simply ceased to exist. + +At one o'clock in the morning of this same day Johnston received +a telegram at Winchester, from Richmond, warning him that McDowell +was advancing on Bull Run, with the evident intention of seizing +Manassas Junction, which would cut the Confederate rail communication +with the Shenandoah Valley and so prevent all chance of immediate +concentration at Bull Run. Johnston saw that the hour had come. +It could not have come before, as Lee and the rest had foreseen; +because an earlier concentration at Bull Run would have drawn the +two superior Federal forces together on the selfsame spot. There +was still some risk about giving Patterson the slip. True, his +three-month special-constable array was semi-mutinous already; and +its term of service had only a few more days to run. True, also, +that the men had cause for grievance. They were all without pay, +and some of them were reported as being still "without pants." But, +despite such drawbacks, a resolute attack by Patterson's fourteen +thousand could have at least held fast Johnston's eleven thousand, +who were mostly little better off in military ways. Patterson, +however, suffered from distracting orders, and that was his undoing. +Johnston, admirably screened by Stuart, drew quietly away, leaving +his sick at Winchester and raising the spirits of his whole command +by telling them that Beauregard was in danger and that they were +to "make a forced march to save the country." + +Straining every nerve they stepped out gallantly and covered mile +after mile till they reached the Shenandoah, forded it, and crossed +the Blue Ridge at Ashby's Gap. But lack of training and march discipline +told increasingly against them. "The discouragement of that day's +march," said Johnston, "is indescribable. Frequent and unreasonable +delays caused so slow a rate of marching as to make me despair of +joining General Beauregard in time to aid him." Even the First +Brigade, with all the advantages of leading the march and of having +learnt the rudiments of drill and discipline, was exhausted by a +day's work that it could have romped through later on. Jackson +himself stood guard alone till dawn while all his soldiers slept. + +As Jackson's men marched down to take the train at Piedmont, Stuart +gayly trotted past, having left Patterson still in ignorance that +Johnston's force had gone. By four in the afternoon of the nineteenth +Jackson was detraining at Manassas. But, as we shall presently +see, it was nearly two whole days before the last of Johnston's +brigades arrived, just in time for the crisis of the battle. When +Johnston had joined Beauregard their united effective total was +thirty thousand men. There had been a wastage of three thousand. +McDowell also had no more than thirty thousand effectives present +on the twenty-first; for he left one division at Centreville and +lost the rest by straggling and by the way in which the battery +and battalion already mentioned had "claimed their discharge" at +Blackburn's Ford. Throughout the nineteenth and twentieth, while, +sorely against his will, the Federals were having their "monster +military picnic" at Centreville, he was reconnoitering his constantly +increasing enemy under the greatest difficulties, with his ill-trained +staff, bad maps, and lack of proper guides. + +Lee had chosen six miles of Bull Run as a good defensive position. +But Beauregard intended to attack, hoping to profit by the Federal +disjointedness. Consequently none of the eight fords were strongly +defended except at Union Mills on the extreme right and the Stone +Bridge on the extreme left, where the turnpike from Centreville +to Warrenton crossed the Run. Bull Run itself was a considerable +obstacle, having fairly high banks and running along the Confederate +front like the ditch of a fortress. Three miles in rear stood Manassas +Junction on a moderate plateau intersected by several creeks. The +most important of these creeks, Young's Branch, joined Bull Run on +the extreme left, near the Stone Bridge and Warrenton turnpike, +after flowing through the little valley between the Henry Hill +and Matthews Hill. Three miles in front, across Bull Run, stood +Centreville, the Federal camp and field base during the battle. + +Sunday, July 21, 1861, was a beautiful midsummer day. Both armies +were stirring soon after dawn. But a miscarriage of orders delayed +the Confederate offensive so much that the initiative of attack passed +to the Federals, who advanced against the Stone Bridge shortly after +six. This attack, however, though made by a whole division against a +single small brigade, was immediately recognized as a mere feint +when, two hours later, Evans, commanding the Confederate brigade, +saw dense clouds of dust rising above the woods on his left front, +where the road crossed Sudley Springs, nearly two miles beyond his +own left. Perceiving that this new development must be a regular +attempt to turn the whole Confederate left by crossing Bull Run, he +sent back word to Beauregard, posted some men to hold the Stone +Bridge, and marched the rest to crown the Matthews Hill, facing +Sudley Springs a mile away. Meanwhile four of "Joe" Johnston's five +Shenandoah brigades--Bee's, Bartow's, Bonham's, and Jackson's--had +been coming over from the right reserve to strengthen Evans at the +Bridge. As the great Federal turning movement developed against the +Confederate left these brigades followed Evans and were themselves +followed by other troops, till the real battle raged not along Bull +Run but across the Matthews Hill and Henry Hill. + +Forming the new front at right angles to the old, so as to attack +and defend the Confederate left on the Matthews and Henry Hills, +caused much confusion on both sides; but more on the Federal, as +the Confederates knew the ground better. By eleven Bee had reached +Evans and sent word back to hurry Bartow on. But the Federals, +having double numbers and a great preponderance in guns, soon drove +the Confederates off the Matthews Hill. As the Confederates recrossed +Young's Branch and climbed the Henry Hill the regular artillery of +the Federals limbered up smartly, galloped across the Matthews +Hill, and from its nearer slope plied the retreating Confederates +on the opposite slope with admirably served shell. Under this fire +the raw Confederates ran in confusion, while their uncovered guns +galloped back to find a new position. + +[Illustration: _GENERAL T. J. (STONEWALL) JACKSON_ +Photograph. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington.] + +"Curse them for deserting the guns," snapped Imboden, whose battery +came face to face with Jackson's brigade. "I'll support you," said +Jackson, "unlimber right here." At the same time, half-past eleven, +Bee galloped up on his foaming charger, saying, "General, they're +beating us back." "Then, Sir," said Jackson, "we'll give them the +bayonet"; and his lips shut tight as a vice. + +Bee then went back behind the Henry Hill, where his broken brigade +was trying to rally, and, pointing toward the crest with his sword, +shouted in a voice of thunder: "Rally behind the Virginians! Look! +There's Jackson standing like a stone wall!" From that one cry +of battle Stonewall Jackson got his name. + +While the rest of the Shenandoahs were rallying, in rear of Jackson, +Beauregard and Johnston came up, followed by two batteries. Miles +behind them, all the men that could be spared from the fords were +coming too. But the Federals on the Matthews Hill were still in +more than double numbers; and they enjoyed the priceless advantage +of having some regulars among them. If the Federal division at the +Stone Bridge had only pushed home its attack at this favorable +moment the Confederates must have been defeated. But the division +again fumbled about to little purpose; and for the second time +McDowell's admirable plan was spoilt. + +It was now past noon on that sweltering midsummer day; and there +was a welcome lull for the rallying Confederates while the Federals +were coming down the Matthews Hill, struggling across the swamps +and thickets of Young's Branch, and climbing the Henry Hill. Within +another hour the opposing forces were at close grips again, and +the Federals, flushed with success and steadied by the regulars, +seemed certain to succeed. + +Imboden has vividly described his meeting Jackson at this time. +"The fight was just then hot enough to make him feel well. His +eyes fairly blazed. He had a way of throwing up his left hand with +the open palm towards the person he was addressing; and, as he told +me to go, he made this gesture. The air was full of flying missiles, +and as he spoke he jerked down his hand, and I saw that blood was +streaming from it. I exclaimed, 'General, you are wounded.' 'Only +a scratch--a mere scratch,' he replied; and, binding it hastily +with a handkerchief, he galloped away along his line." + +Five hundred yards apart the opposing cannon thundered, while the +musketry of the long lines of infantry swelled the deafening roar. +Suddenly two Federal batteries of regulars dashed forward to even +shorter range, covered by two battalions on their flank. But the +gaudy Zouaves of the outer battalion lost formation in their advance; +whereupon "Jeb" Stuart, with only a hundred and fifty horsemen, +swooped down and smashed them to pieces by a daring charge. Then, +just as the scattered white turbans went wildly bobbing about, +into the midst of the inner battalion, out rushed the Thirty-third +Virginians, straight at the guns. The battery officers held their +fire, uncertain in the smoke whether the newcomers were friend or +foe, till a deadly volley struck home at less than eighty yards. +Down went the gunners to a man; down went the teams to a horse; +and off ran the Zouaves and the other supporting battalion, +helter-skelter for the rear. + +But other Federals were still full of fight and in superior numbers. +They came on with great gallantry, considering they were raw troops +who were now without the comfort of the guns. Once more a Federal +victory seemed secure; and if the infantry had only pressed on +(not piecemeal, by disjoined battalions, but by brigades) without +letting the Confederates recover from one blow before another struck +them, the day would have certainly been theirs. Moreover, they +would have inflicted not simply a defeat but a severe disaster +on their enemy, who would have been caught in flank by the troops +at the Stone Bridge; for these troops, however dilatory, must have +known what to do with a broken and flying Confederate flank right +under their very eyes. Premonitory symptoms of such a flight were +not wanting. Confederate wounded, stragglers, and skulkers were +making for the rear; and the rallied brigades were again in disorder, +with Bee and Bartow, two first-rate brigadiers, just killed, and +other seniors wounded. Another ominous sign was the limbering up +of Confederate guns to cover the expected retreat from the Henry +Hill. + +But on its reverse slope lay Jackson's Shenandoahs, three thousand +strong, and by far the best drilled and disciplined brigade that +either side had yet produced--apart, of course, from regulars. +Jackson had ridden up and down before them, calm as they had ever +seen him on parade, quietly saying, "Steady, men, steady! All's +well." In this way he had held them straining at the leash for +hours. Now, at last, their time had come. Riding out to the center +of his line he gave his final orders: "Reserve your fire till they +come within fifty yards. Then fire and give them the bayonet; and yell +like furies when you charge!" Five minutes later, as the triumphant +Federals topped the crest, the long gray line rose up, stood fast, +fired one crashing point-blank volley, and immediately charged home +with the first of those wild, high rebel yells that rang throughout +the war. The stricken and astounded Federal front caved in, turned +round, and fled. At the same instant the last of the Shenandoahs--Kirby +Smith's brigade, detrained just in the nick of time--charged the +wavering flank. Then, like the first quiver of an avalanche, a +tremor shook the whole massed Federals one moment on that fatal +hill: the next, like a loosened cliff, they began the landslide +down. + +There, in the valley, along Young's Branch, McDowell established +his last line of battle, based on the firm rock of the regulars. +But by this time the Confederates had brought up troops from the +whole length of their line; the balance of numbers was at last in +their favor; and nothing could stay the Federal recoil. Lack of +drill and discipline soon changed this recoil into a disorderly +retreat. There was no panic; but most of the military units dissolved +into a mere mob whose heart was set on getting back to Washington in +any way left open. The regulars and a few formed bodies in reserve +did their best to stem the stream. But all in vain. + +One mile short of Centreville there was a sudden upset and consequent +block on the bridge across Cub Run. Then the stream of men retreating, +mixed with clogging masses of panic-struck civilians, became a +torrent. + + +Bull Run was only a special-constable affair on a gigantic scale. +The losses were comparatively small--3553 killed and wounded on both +sides put together: not ten per cent of the less than forty thousand +who actually fought. Moreover, the side that won the battle lost +the war. And yet Bull Run had many points of very great importance. +In spite of all shortcomings it showed the good quality of the +troops engaged: if not as soldiers, at all events as men. It proved +that the war, unlike the battle, would not be fought by special +constables, some of whom first fired their rifles when their target +was firing back at them. It brought one great leader--Stonewall +Jackson--into fame. Above all, it profoundly affected the popular +points of view, both North and South. In the South there was undue +elation, followed by the absurd belief that one Southerner could +beat two Northerners any day and that the North would now back +down _en masse_, as its army had from the Henry Hill. A dangerous +slackening of military preparation was the unavoidable result. +In the North, on the other hand, a good many people began to see +the difference between armed mobs and armies; and the thorough +Unionists, led by the wise and steadfast Lincoln, braced themselves +for real war. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE COMBATANTS + +No map can show the exact dividing line between the actual combatants +of North and South. Eleven States seceded: Virginia, the Carolinas, +Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Louisiana, Texas, +and Arkansas. But the mountain folk of western Virginia and eastern +Tennessee were strong Unionists; and West Virginia became a State +while the war was being fought. On the other hand, the four border +States, though officially Federal under stress of circumstances, +were divided against themselves. In Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, +and Kansas, many citizens took the Southern side. Maryland would +have gone with the South if it had not been for the presence of +overwhelming Northern sea-power and the absence of any good land +frontier of her own. Kentucky remained neutral for several months. +Missouri was saved for the Union by those two resourceful and determined +men, Lyon and Blair. Kansas, though preponderantly Unionist, had +many Confederates along its southern boundary. On the whole the +Union gained greatly throughout the borderlands as the war went on; +and the remaining Confederate hold on the border people was more +than counterbalanced by the Federal hold on those in the western +parts of old Virginia and the eastern parts of Tennessee. Among +the small seafaring population along the Southern coast there were +also some strongly Union men. + +Counting out Northern Confederates and Southern Federals as canceling +each other, so far as effective fighting was concerned a comparison +made between the North and South along the line of actual secession +reveals the one real advantage the South enjoyed all through--an +overwhelming party in favor of the war. When once the die was cast +there was certainly not a tenth of the Southern whites who did not +belong to the war party; and the peace party always had to hold +its tongue. The Southerners formed simpler and far more homogeneous +communities of the old long-settled stock, and were more inclined +to act together when once their feelings were profoundly stirred. + +The Northern communities, on the other hand, being far more complex +and far less homogeneous, were plagued with peace parties that +grew like human weeds, clogging the springs of action everywhere. +There were immigrants new to the country and therefore not inclined +to take risks for a cause they had not learned to make their own. +There were also naturalized, and even American-born, aliens, aliens +in speech, race, thought, and every way of life. Then there were the +oppositionists of different kinds, who would not support any war +government, however like a perfect coalition it might be. Among these +were some Northerners who did business with the South, especially +the men who financed the cotton and tobacco crops. Others, again, +were those loose-tongued folk who think any vexed question can be +settled by unlimited talk. Next came those "defeatist" cranks who +always think their own side must be wrong, and who are of no more +practical use than the out-and-out "pacifists" who think everybody +wrong except themselves. Finally, there were those slippery folk who +try to evade all public duty, especially when it smacks of danger. +These skulkers flourish best in large and complex populations, +where they may even masquerade as patriots of the kind so well +described by Lincoln when he said how often he had noticed that +the men who were loudest in proclaiming their readiness to shed +their last drop of blood were generally the most careful not to +shed the first. + +Many of these fustian heroes formed the mushroom secret societies +that played their vile extravaganza right under the shadow of the +real tragedy of war. Worse still, not content with the abracadabra +of their silly oaths, the busybody members made all the mischief +they could during Lincoln's last election. Worst of all, they not +only tried their hands at political assassination in the North but +they lured many a gallant Confederate to his death by promising to +rise in their might for a "Free Northwest" the moment the Southern +troopers should appear. Needless to say, not a single one of the whole +bombastic band of cowards stirred a finger to help the Confederate +troopers who rode to their doom on Morgan's Raid through Indiana and +Ohio. The peace party wore a copper as a badge, and so came to be known +as "Copperheads," much to the disgust of its more inflated members, +who called themselves the Sons of Liberty. The war party, with a +better appreciation of how names and things should be connected, +used their own descriptive "Copperhead" in its appropriate meaning +of a poisonous snake in the grass behind. + +The Indians would have preferred neutrality between the two kinds +of inevitably dispossessing whites. But neutrality was impossible +in what was then the Far West. Not ten thousand Indians fought +for both sides put together. On the whole they fought well as +skirmishers, though they rarely withstood shell fire, even when +their cover was good and their casualties small. + +The ten times more numerous negroes were naturally a much more +serious factor. The North encouraged the employment of colored labor +corps and even colored soldiers, especially after Emancipation. +But the vast majority of negroes, whether slave or free, either +preferred or put up with their Southern masters, whom they generally +served faithfully enough either in military labor corps or on the +old plantations. As the colored population of the South was three +and a half millions this general fidelity was of great importance +to the forces in the field. + +The total population of the United States in 1861 was about thirty-one +and a half millions. Of this total twenty-two and a half belonged to +the North and nine to the South. The grand total odds were therefore +five against two. The odds against the South rise to four against +one if the blacks are left out. There were twenty-two million whites +in the North against five and a half in the South. But to reach +the real fighting odds of three to one we must also eliminate the +peace parties, large in the North, small in the South. If we take +a tenth off the Southern whites and a third off the Northern grand +total we shall get the approximate war-party odds of three to one; +for these subtractions leave fifteen millions in the North against +only five in the South. + +This gives the statistical key to the startling contrasts which +were so often noted by foreign correspondents at the time, and +which are still so puzzling in the absence of the key. The whole +normal life of the South was visibly changed by the war. But in +the North the inquiring foreigner could find, on one hand, the +most steadfast loyalty and heroic sacrifice, both in the Northern +armies and among their folks at home, while on the other he could +find a wholly different kind of life flaunting its most shameless +features in his face. The theaters were crowded. Profiteers abounded, +taking their pleasures with ravenous greed; for the best of their +blood-money would end with the war. Everywhere there was the same +fundamental difference between the patriots who carried on the war +and the parasites who hindered them. Of course the two-thirds who +made up the war party were not all saints or even perfect patriots. +Nor was the other third composed exclusively of wanton sinners. There +were, for instance, the genuine settlers whom the Union Government +encouraged to occupy the West, beyond the actual reach of war. But +the distinction still remains. + +Though sorely hampered, the Union Government did, on the whole, +succeed in turning the vast and varied resources of the North against +the much smaller and less varied resources of the South. The North +held the machinery of national government, though with the loss of +a good quarter of the engineers. In agriculture of, all kinds both +North and South were very strong for purposes of peace. Each had +food in superabundance. But the trading strength of the South lay +in cotton and tobacco, neither of which could be turned into money +without going north or to sea. In finance the North was overwhelmingly +strong by comparison, more especially because Northern sea-power +shut off the South from all its foreign markets. In manufactures +the South could not compare at all. Northern factories alone could +not supply the armies. But finance and factories together could. +The Southern soldier looked to the battlefield and the raiding +of a base for supplying many of his most pressing needs in arms, +equipment, clothing, and even food--for Southern transport suffered +from many disabilities. Fierce wolfish cries would mingle with +the rebel yell in battle when the two sides closed. "You've got +to leave your rations!"--"Come out of them clothes!"--"Take off +them boots, Yank!"--"Come on, blue bellies, we want them blankets!" + +It was the same in almost every kind of goods. The South made next +to none for herself and had to import from the North or overseas. +The North could buy silk for balloons. The South could not. The +Southern women gave in their whole supply of silk for the big balloon +that was lost during the Seven Days' Battle in the second year of +the war. The Southern soldiers never forgave what they considered +the ungallant trick of the Northerners who took this many-hued +balloon from a steamer stranded on a bar at low tide down near +the mouth of the James. Thus fell the last silk dress, a queer +tribute to Northern sea-power! Northern sea-power also cut off +nearly everything the sick and wounded needed; which raised the +death rate of the Southern forces far beyond the corresponding death +rate in the North. Again, preserved rations were almost unknown in +the South. But they were plentiful throughout the Northern armies: +far too plentiful, indeed, for the taste of the men, who got "fed +up" on the dessicated vegetables and concentrated milk which they +rechristened "desecrated vegetables" and "consecrated milk." + +There is the same tale to tell about transport and munitions. Outside +the Tredegar Iron Works at Richmond the only places where Southern +cannon could be made were Charlotte in North Carolina, Atlanta and +Macon in Georgia, and Selma in Alabama. The North had many places, +each with superior plant, besides which the oversea munition world +was far more at the service of the open-ported North than of the +close-blockaded South. What sea-power meant in this respect may be +estimated from the fact that out of the more than three-quarters of +a million rifles bought by the North in the first fourteen months +of the war all but a beggarly thirty thousand came from overseas. + +[Illustration: North and South in 1861.] + +Transport was done by road, rail, sea, and inland waters. Other +things being equal, a hundred tons could be moved by water as easily +as ten by rail or one by road. Now, the North not only enjoyed +enormous advantages in sea-power, both mercantile and naval, but +in road, rail, canal, and river transport too. The road transport +that affected both sides most was chiefly in the South, because most +maneuvering took place there. "Have you been through Virginia?--Yes, +in several places" is a witticism that might be applied to many +another State where muddy sloughs abounded. In horses, mules, and +vehicles the richer North wore out the poorer and blockaded South. +Both sides sent troops, munitions, and supplies by rail whenever +they could; and here, as a glance at the map will show, the North +greatly surpassed the South in mileage, strategic disposition, +and every other way. + +The South had only one through line from the Atlantic to the +Mississippi; and this ran across that Northern salient which threatened +the South from the southwestern Alleghanies. The other rails all had +the strategic defect of not being convenient for rapid concentration +by land; for most of the Southern rails were laid with a view to +getting surplus cotton and tobacco overseas. The strategic gap +at Petersburg was due to a very different cause; for there, in +order to keep its local transfers, the town refused to let the most +important Virginian lines connect. + +Taking sea-power in its fullest sense, to include all naval and +mercantile parts on both salt and fresh water, we can quite understand +how it helped the nautical North to get the strangle-hold on the +landsman's South. The great bulk of the whole external trade of +the South was done by shipping. But, though the South was strong in +exportable goods, it was very weak in ships. It owned comparatively +few of the vessels that carried its rice, cotton, and tobacco crops +to market and brought back made goods in return. Yankees, Britishers, +and Bluenoses (as Nova Scotian craft were called) did most of the +oversea transportation. + +Moreover, the North was vastly stronger than the South on all the +inland waters that were not "Secesh" from end to end. The map shows +how Northern sea-power could not only divide the South in two but +almost enisle the eastern part as well. Holding the Mississippi +would effect the division, while holding the Ohio would make the +eastern part a peninsula, with the upper end of the isthmus safe in +Northern hands between Pittsburgh, the great coal and iron inland +port, and Philadelphia, the great seaport, less than three hundred +miles away. The same isthmus narrows to less than two hundred miles +between Pittsburgh and Harrisburg (on the Susquehanna River); and +its whole line is almost equally safe in Northern hands. A little +farther south, along the disputed borderlands, it narrows to less +than one hundred miles, from Pittsburgh to Cumberland (on the Potomac +canal). Even this is not the narrowest part of the isthmus, which +is less than seventy miles across from Cumberland to Brownsville +(on the Monongahela) and less than fifty from Cumberland to the +Ohiopyle Falls (on the Youghiogheny). These last distances are +measured between places that are only fit for minor navigation. +But even small craft had an enormous advantage over road and rail +together when bulky stores were moved. So Northern sea-power could +make its controlling influence felt in one continuous line all +round the eastern South, except for fifty miles where small craft +were concerned and for two hundred miles in the case of larger +vessels. These two hundred miles of land were those between the +Ohio River port of Wheeling and the Navy Yard at Washington. + +Nor was this virtual enislement the only advantage to be won. For +while the strong right arm of Union sea-power, facing northward +from the Gulf, could hold the coast, and its sinewy left could +hold the Mississippi, the supple left fingers could feel their +way along the tributary streams until the clutching hand had got +its grip on the whole of the Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, Missouri, +Arkansas, and Red rivers. This meant that the North would not only +enjoy the vast advantages of transport by water over transport +by land but that it would cause the best lines of invasion to be +opened up as well. + +Of course the South had some sea-power of her own. Nine-tenths of +the United States Navy stood by the Union. But, with the remaining +tenth and some foreign help, the South managed to contrive the +makeshift parts of what might have become a navy if the North had +only let it grow. The North, however, did not let it grow. + +The regular navy of the United States, though very small to start +with, was always strong enough to keep the command of the sea and +to prevent the makeshift Southern parts of a navy from ever becoming +a whole. Privateers took out letters of marque to prey on Northern +shipping. But privateering soon withered off, because prizes could +not be run through the blockade in sufficient numbers to make it +pay; and no prize would be recognized except in a Southern port. +Raiders did better and for a much longer time. The _Shenandoah_ +was burning Northern whalers in Bering Sea at the end of the war. +The _Sumter_ and the _Florida_ cut a wide swath under instructions +which "left much to discretion and more to the torch." The famous +_Alabama_ only succumbed to the U.S.S. _Kearsarge_ after sinking +the _Hatteras_ man-of-war and raiding seventy other vessels. Yet +still the South, in spite of her ironclads, raiders, and rams, in +spite of her river craft, of the home ships or foreigners that +ran the blockade, and of all her other efforts, was a landsman's +country that could make no real headway against the native sea-power +of the North. + +Perhaps the worst of all the disabilities under which the abortive +Southern navy suffered was lubberly administration and gross civilian +interference. The Administration actually refused to buy the beginnings +of a ready-made sea-going fleet when it had the offer of ten British +East Indiamen specially built for rapid conversion into men-of-war. +Forty thousand bales of cotton would have bought the lot. The +Mississippi record was even worse. Five conflicting authorities +divided the undefined and overlapping responsibilities between +them: the Confederate Government, the State governments, the army, +the navy, and the Mississippi skippers. A typical result may be seen +in the fate of the fourteen "rams" which were absurdly mishandled by +fourteen independent civilian skippers with two civilian commodores. +This "River Defense Fleet" was "backed by the whole Missouri delegation" +at Richmond, and blessed by the Confederate Secretary of War, Judah +P. Benjamin, that very clever lawyer-politician and ever-smiling +Jew. Six of the fourteen "rams" were lost, with sheer futility, +at New Orleans in April, '62; the rest at Memphis the following +June. + +As a matter of fact the Confederate navy never had but one real +man-of-war, the famous _Merrimac_; and she was a mere razee, cut +down for a special purpose, and too feebly engined to keep the +sea. Even the equally famous _Alabama_ was only a raider, never +meant for action with a fleet. Over three hundred officers left +the United States Navy for the South; but, as in the case of the +Army, they were followed by very few men. The total personnel of the +regular Confederate navy never exceeded four thousand at any one time. +The irregular forces afloat often did gallant, and sometimes even +skillful, service in little isolated ways. But when massed together +they were always at sixes and sevens; and they could never do more +than make the best of a very bad business indeed. The Secretary of +the Confederate navy, Stephen R. Mallory, was not to blame. He was +one of the very few civilians who understood and tried to follow +any naval principles at all. He had done good work as chairman of +the Naval Committee in the Senate before the war, and had learnt +a good deal more than his Northern rival, Gideon Welles. He often +saw what should have been done. But men and means were lacking. + +Men and means were also lacking in the naval North at the time +the war began. But the small regular navy was invincible against +next to none; and it enjoyed many means of expansion denied to +the South. + +On the outbreak of hostilities the United States Navy had ninety +ships and about nine thousand men--all ranks and ratings (with +marines) included. The age of steam had come. But fifty vessels +had no steam at all. Of the rest one was on the Lakes, five were +quite unserviceable, and thirty-four were scattered about the world +without the slightest thought of how to mobilize a fleet at home. +The age of ironclads had begun already overseas. But in his report +to Congress on July 4, 1861, Gideon Welles, Secretary of the Navy, +only made some wholly non-committal observations in ponderous +"officialese." In August he appointed a committee which began its +report in September with the sage remark that "Opinions differ +amongst naval and scientific men as to the policy of adopting the +iron armament for ships-of-war." In December Welles transmitted this +report to Congress with the still sager remark that "The subject +of iron armature for ships is one of great general interest, not +only to the navy and country, but is engaging the attention of the +civilized world." Such was the higher administrative preparation +for the ironclad battle of the following year. + +It was the same in everything. The people had taken no interest in +the navy and Congress had faithfully represented them by denying +the service all chance of preparing for war till after war had +broken out. Then there was the usual hurry and horrible waste. +Fortunately for all concerned, Gideon Welles, after vainly groping +about the administrative maze for the first five months, called +Gustavus V. Fox to his assistance. Fox had been a naval officer of +exceptional promise, who had left the service to go into business, +who had a natural turn for administration, and who now made an +almost ideal Assistant Secretary of the Navy. He was, indeed, far +more than this; for, in most essentials, he acted throughout the +war as a regular Chief of Staff. + +One of the greatest troubles was the glut of senior officers who +were too old and the alarming dearth of juniors fit for immediate +work afloat. It was only after the disaster at Bull Run that Congress +authorized the formation of a Promotion Board to see what could be +done to clear the active list and make it really a list of officers +fit for active service. Up to this time there had been no system +of retiring men for inefficiency or age. An officer who did not +retire of his own accord simply went on rising automatically till +he died. The president of this board had himself turned sixty. +But he was the thoroughly efficient David Glasgow Farragut, a man +who was to do greater things afloat than even Fox could do ashore. +How badly active officers were wanted may be inferred from the +fact that before the appointment of Farragut's promotion board +the total number of regular officers remaining in the navy was +only 1457. Intensive training was tried at the Naval Academy. Yet +7500 volunteer officers had to be used before the war was over. +These came mostly from the merchant service and were generally +brave, capable, first-rate men. But a nautical is not the same as +a naval training; and the dearth of good professional naval officers +was felt to the end. The number of enlisted seamen authorized by +Congress rose from 7600 to 51,500. But the very greatest difficulty +was found in "keeping up to strength," even with the most lavish +use of bounties. + +The number of vessels in the navy kept on growing all through. +Of course not nearly all of them were regular men-of-war or even +fighting craft "fit to go foreign." At the end of the first year +there were 264 in commission; at the end of the second, 427; at +the end of the third, 588; and at the end of the fourth, 671. + +Bearing this in mind, and remembering the many other Northern odds, +one might easily imagine that the Southern armies fought only with +the courage of despair. Yet such was not the case. This was no +ordinary war, to be ended by a treaty in which compromise would +play its part. There could be only two alternatives: either the +South would win her independence or the North would have to beat +her into complete submission. Under the circumstances the united +South would win whenever the divided North thought that complete +subjugation would cost more than it was worth. The great aim of +the South was, therefore, not to conquer the North but simply to +sicken the North of trying to conquer her. "Let us alone and we'll +let you alone" was her insinuating argument; and this, as she knew +very well, was echoed by many people in the North. Thus, as regards +her own objective, she began with hopes that the Northern peace +party never quite let die. + +Then, so far as her patriotic feelings were concerned, the South +was not fighting for any one point at issue--not even for slavery, +because only a small minority held slaves--but for her whole way +of life, which, rightly or wrongly, she wanted to live in her own +Southern way; and she passionately resented the invasion of her +soil. This gave her army a very high morale, which, in its turn, +inclined her soldiers the better to appreciate their real or imagined +advantages over the Northern hosts. First, they and their enemies +both knew that they enjoyed the three real advantages of fighting +at home under magnificent leaders and with interior lines. Robert +Lee and Stonewall Jackson stood head and shoulders above any Northern +leaders till Grant and Sherman rose to greatness during the latter +half of the war. Lee himself was never surpassed; and he, like +Jackson and several more, made the best use of home surroundings +and of interior lines. Anybody can appreciate the prime advantage of +interior lines by imagining two armies of equal strength operating +against each other under perfectly equal conditions except that one +has to move round the circumference of a circle while the other +moves to meet it along the shorter lines inside. The army moving +round the circumference is said to be operating on exterior lines, +while the army moving from point to point of the circumference +by the straighter, and therefore shorter, lines inside is said +to be operating on interior lines. In more homely language the +straight road beats the crooked one. In plain slang, it's best to +have the inside track. + +Of course there is a reverse to all this. If the roads, rails, +and waterways are better around the circle than inside it, then +the odds may be turned the other way; and this happens most often +when the forces on the exterior lines are the better provided with +sea-power. Again, if the exterior forces are so much stronger than +the interior forces that these latter dare not leave any strategic +point open in case the enemy breaks through, then it is evident +that the interior forces will suffer all the disadvantages of being +surrounded, divided, worn out, and defeated. + +This happened at last to the South, and was one of the four advantages +she lost. Another was the hope of foreign intervention, which died +hard in Southern hearts, but which was already moribund halfway +through the war. A third was the hope of dissension in the North, +a hope which often ran high till Lincoln's reëlection in November, +'64, and one which only died out completely with the surrender of +Lee. The fourth was the unfounded belief that Southerners were +the better fighting men. They certainly had an advantage at first +in having a larger proportion of men accustomed to horses and arms +and inured to life in the open. But, other things being equal, there +was nothing to choose between the two sides, so far as natural +fighting values were concerned. + +Practically all the Southern "military males" passed into the ranks; +and a military male eventually meant any one who could march to +the front or do non-combatant service with an army, from boys in +their teens to men in their sixties. Conscription came after one +year; and with very few exemptions, such as the clergy, Quakers, +many doctors, newspaper editors, and "indispensable" civil servants. +Lee used to express his regret that all the greatest strategists +were tied to their editorial chairs. But sterner feelings were +aroused against that recalcitrant State Governor, Joseph Brown +of Georgia, who declared eight thousand of his civil servants to +be totally exempt. From first to last, conscripts and volunteers, +nearly a million men were enrolled: equaling one-fifth of the entire +war-party white population of the seceding States. + +All branches of the service suffered from a constant lack of arms +and munitions. As with the ships for the navy so with munitions +for the army, the South did not exploit the European markets while +her ports were still half open and her credit good, Jefferson Davis +was spotlessly honest, an able bureaucrat, and full of undying zeal. +But, though an old West Pointer, he was neither a foresightful +organizer nor fit to exercise any of the executive power which he +held as the constitutional commander-in-chief by land and sea. He +ordered rifles by the thousand instead of by the hundred thousand; +and he actually told his Cabinet that if he could only take one +wing while Lee took the other they would surely beat the North. +Worse still, he and his politicians kept the commissariat under +civilian orders and full of civilian interference, even at the +front, which, in this respect, was always a house divided against +itself. + + +The little regular army of '61, only sixteen thousand strong, stood +by the Union almost to a man; though a quarter of the officers +went over to the South. Yet the enlisted man was despised even +by the common loafers who would not fight if they could help it. +"Why don't you come in?" asked a zealous lady at a distribution +of patriotic gifts, "aren't you one of our heroes?" "No, ma'am," +answered the soldier, "I'm only a regular." + +The question of command was often a very vexed one; and many mistakes +were made before the final answers came. The most significant of +all emergent facts was this: that though the officers who had been +regulars before the war did not form a hundredth part of all who +held commissions during it, yet these old regulars alone supplied +every successful high commander, Federal and Confederate alike, +both afloat and ashore. + +The North had four times as many whites as the South; it used more +blacks as soldiers; and the complete grand total of all the men +who joined its forces during the war reached two millions and +three-quarters. But this gives a quite misleading idea of the real +odds in favor of the North, especially the odds available in battle. +A third of the Northern people belonged to the peace party and +furnished no recruits at all till after conscription came in. The +late introduction of conscription, the abominable substitution +clause, and the prevalence of bounty-jumping combined to reduce +both the quantity and quality of the recruits obtained by money or +compulsion. The Northerners that did fight were generally fighting +in the South, among a very hostile population, which, while it made +the Southern lines of communication perfectly safe, threatened +those of the North at every point and thus obliged the Northern +armies to leave more and more men behind to guard the communications +that each advance made longer still. Finally, the South generally +published the numbers of only its actual combatants, while the +Northern returns always included every man drawing pay, whether +a combatant or not. On the whole, the North had more than double +numbers, even if compared with a Southern total that includes +noncombatants. But it should be remembered that a Northern army +fighting in the heart of the South, and therefore having to guard +every mile of the way back home, could not meet a Southern one +with equal strength in battle unless it had left the North with +fully twice as many. + +Conscription came a year later (1863) in the North than in the +South and was vitiated by a substitution clause. The fact that a +man could buy himself out of danger made some patriots call it "a +rich man's war and a poor man's fight." And the further fact that +substitutes generally became regular bounty-jumpers, who joined +and deserted at will, over and over again, went far to increase the +disgust of those who really served. Frank Wilkeson's _Recollections +of a Private Soldier in the Army of the Potomac_ is a true voice from +the ranks when he explains "how the resort to volunteering, the +unprincipled dodge of cowardly politicians, ground up the choicest +seed-corn of the nation; how it consumed the young, the patriotic, +the intelligent, the generous, and the brave; and how it wasted +the best moral, social, and political elements of the Republic, +leaving the cowards, shirkers, egotists, and moneymakers to stay +at home and procreate their kind." + +That is to say, it was so arranged that the foxy-witted lived, while +the lion-hearted died. + +The organization of the vast numbers enrolled was excellent whenever +experts were given a free hand. But this free hand was rare. One +vital point only needs special notice here: the wastefulness of +raising new regiments when the old ones were withering away for +want of reinforcements. A new local regiment made a better "story" +in the press; and new and superfluous regiments meant new and +superfluous colonels, mostly of the speechifying kind. So it often +happened that the State authorities felt obliged to humor zealots +set on raising those brand-new regiments which doubled their own +difficulties by having to learn their lesson alone, halved the +efficiency of the old regiments they should have reinforced, and +harassed the commanders and staff by increasing the number of units +that were of different and ever-changing efficiency and strength. +It was a system of making and breaking all through. + + +The end came when Northern sea-power had strangled the Southern +resources and the unified Northern armies had worn out the fighting +force. Of the single million soldiers raised by the South only two +hundred thousand remained in arms, half starved, half clad, with the +scantiest of munitions, and without reserves of any kind. Meanwhile +the Northern hosts had risen to a million in the field, well fed, +well clothed, well armed, abundantly provided with munitions, and +at last well disciplined under the unified command of that great +leader, Grant. Moreover, behind this million stood another million +fit to bear arms and obtainable at will from the two millions of +enrolled reserves. + +The cost of the war was stupendous. But the losses of war are not +to be measured in money. The real loss was the loss of a million +men, on both sides put together, for these men who died were of +the nation's best. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +THE NAVAL WAR: 1862 + +Bull Run had riveted attention on the land between the opposing +capitals and on the armies fighting there. Very few people were +thinking of the navies and the sea. And yet it was at sea, and not +on land, that the Union had a force against which the Confederates +could never prevail, a force which gradually cut them off from +the whole world's base of war supplies, a force which enabled the +Union armies to get and keep the strangle-hold which did the South +to death. + +The blockade declared in April was no empty threat. The sails of +Federal frigates, still more the sinister black hulls of the new +steam men-of-war, meant that the South was fast becoming a land +besieged, with every outwork accessible by water exposed to sudden +attack and almost certain capture by any good amphibious force +of soldiers and sailors combined. + +Sea-power kept the North in affluence while it starved the South. +Sea-power held Maryland in its relentless grip and did more than +land-power to keep her in the Union. Sea-power was the chief factor +in saving Washington. Seapower enabled the North to hold such points +of vantage as Fortress Monroe right on the flank of the South. +And sea-power likewise enabled the North to take or retake other +points of similar importance: for instance, Hatteras Island. + +In a couple of days at the end of August, 1861, the Confederate +forts at Hatteras Inlet, North Carolina, were compelled to surrender +to a joint naval and military expedition under Flag-Officer Stringham +and Major-General B. F. Butler. The immediate result, besides the +capture of seven hundred men, was the control of the best entrance +to North Carolina waters, which entailed the stoppage of many oversea +supplies for the Confederate army. The ulterior result was the +securing of a base from which a further invasion could be made with +great advantage. + + +The naval campaign of the following year was truly epoch-making; +for the duel between the _Monitor_ and _Merrimac_ in Hampton Roads +on March 9, 1862, was the first action ever fought between ironclad +steam men-of-war. + +Eleven months earlier the Federal Government had suddenly abandoned +the Norfolk Navy Yard; though their strongest garrison was at Fortress +Monroe, only twelve miles north along a waterway which was under +the absolute control of their navy, and though the Confederates' +had nothing but an inadequate little untrained force on the spot. +Among the spoils of war falling into Confederate hands were twelve +hundred guns and the _Merrimac_, a forty-gun steam frigate. The +_Merrimac_, though fired and scuttled by the Federals, was hove +up, cut down, plated over, and renamed the _Virginia_. (History, +however, knows her only as the _Merrimac_.) John L. Porter, Naval +Constructor to the Confederate States, had made a model of an ironclad +at Pittsburgh fifteen years before; and he now applied this model +to the rebuilding of the _Merrimac_. He first cut down everything +above the water line, except the gun deck, which he converted into a +regular citadel with flat top, sides sloping at thirty-five degrees, +and ends stopping short of the ship's own ends by seventy feet fore +and aft. The effect, therefore, was that of an ironclad citadel +built on the midships of a submerged frigate's hull. The four-inch +iron plating of the citadel knuckled over the wooden sides two +feet under water. The engines, which the South had no means of +replacing, were the old ones which had been condemned before being +sunk. A four-foot castiron ram was clamped on to the bow. Ten guns +were mounted: six nine-inch smooth-bores, with two six-inch and +two seven-inch rifles. Commodore Franklin Buchanan took command +and had magnificent professional officers under him. But the crew, +three hundred strong, were mostly landsmen; for, as in the case +of the Army, the men of the Navy nearly all took sides with the +North, and the South had very few seamen of any other kind. + +To oppose the _Merrimac_ the dilatory North contracted with John +Ericsson the Swede, who had to build the _Monitor_ much smaller +than the Merrimac owing to pressure of time. He enjoyed, however, +enormous advantages in every other respect, owing to the vastly +superior resources of the North in marine engineering, armor-plating, +and all other points of naval construction. The _Monitor_ was launched +at New York on January 30, 1862, the hundredth day after the laying +of her keel-plate. Her length over all was 172 feet, her beam was +41, and her draught only 10--less than half the draught of the +_Merrimac_. Her whole crew numbered only 58; but every single one +was a trained professional naval seaman who had volunteered for +dangerous service under Captain John L. Worden. She was not a good +sea boat; and she nearly foundered on her way down from New York to +Fortress Monroe. Her underwater hull was shipshape enough; but her +superstructure--a round iron tower resting on a very low deck--was +not. Contemptuous eyewitnesses described her very well as looking +like a tin can on a shingle or a cheesebox on a raft. She carried +only two guns, eleven-inchers, both mounted inside her turret, +which revolved by machinery; but their 180-pound shot were far +more powerful than any aboard the _Merrimac_. In maneuvering the +_Monitor_ enjoyed an immense advantage, with her light draft, strong +engines, and well-protected screws and rudder. + +On the eighth of March, a lovely spring day, the _Merrimac_ made +her trial trip by going into action with her wheezy old engines, +lubberly crew, and the guns she had never yet fired. She shoveled +along at only five knots; but the Confederate garrisons cheered +her to the echo. Seven miles north she came upon the astonished +fifty-gun _Congress_ and thirty-gun _Cumberland_ swinging drowsily +at anchor off Newport News, with their boats alongside and the +men's wash drying in the rigging. Yet the surprised frigates opened +fire at twelve hundred yards and were joined by the shore batteries, +all converging on the _Merrimac_, from whose iron sides the shot +glanced up without doing more than hammer her hard and start a few +rivets. Closing in at top speed--barely six knots--the _Merrimac_ +gave the _Congress_ a broadside before ramming the _Cumberland_ +and opening a hole "wide enough to drive in a horse and cart." +Backing clear and turning the after-pivot gun, the _Merrimac_ then +got in three raking shells against the _Congress_, which grounded +when trying to escape. Meanwhile the _Cumberland_ was listing over +and rapidly filling, though she kept up the fight to the very last +gasp. When she sank with a roar her topmasts still showed above +water and her colors waved defiance. An hour later the terribly +mauled _Congress_ surrendered; whereupon her crew was rescued and +she was set on fire. By this time various smaller craft on both +sides had joined the fray. But the big _Minnesota_ still remained, +though aground and apparently at the mercy of the _Merrimac_. The +great draught of the _Merrimac_ and the setting in of the ebb tide, +however, made the Confederates draw off for the night. + +Next morning they saw the "tin can on the shingle" between them and +their prey. The _Monitor_ and _Merrimac_ then began their epoch-making +fight. The patchwork engines of the deep-draught _Merrimac_ made her +as unhandy as if she had been water-logged, while the light-draught +_Monitor_ could not only play round her when close-to but maneuver +all over the surrounding shallows as well. The _Merrimac_ put her +last ounce of steam into an attempt to ram her agile opponent. +But a touch of the _Monitor's_ helm swung her round just in time +to make the blow perfectly harmless. The _Merrimac_ simply barged +into her, grated harshly against her iron side, and sheered off +beaten. The firing was furious and mostly at pointblank range. +Once the _Monitor_ fired while the sides were actually touching. +The concussion was so tremendous that all the _Merrimac's_ gun-crews +aft were struck down flat, with bleeding ears and noses. But in +spite of this her boarders were called away; whereupon every man +who could handle cutlass and revolver made ready and stood by. The +_Monitor_, however, dropped astern too quickly; and the wallowing +_Merrimac_ had no chance of catching her. The fight had lasted all +through that calm spring morning when the _Monitor_ steamed off, +across the shallows, still keeping carefully between the _Merrimac_ +and _Minnesota_. It was a drawn battle. But the effect was that +of a Northern victory; for the _Merrimac_ was balked of her easy +prey, and the North gained time to outbuild the South completely. + +Outbuilding the South of course meant tightening the "anaconda" +system of blockade, in the entangling coils of which the South +was caught already. Three thousand miles of Southern coastline +was, however, more than the North could blockade or even watch to +its own satisfaction all at once. Fogs, storms, and clever ruses +played their part on behalf of those who ran the blockade, especially +during the first two years; and it was almost more than human nature +could stand to keep forever on the extreme alert, day after dreary +day, through the deadly boredom of a long blockade. Like caged +eagles the crews passed many a weary week of dull monotony without +the chance of swooping on a chase. "Smoke ho!" would be called +from the main-topgallant cross-tree. "Where away?" would be called +back from the deck. "Up the river, Sir!"--and there it would stay, +the very mark of hope deferred. Occasionally a cotton ship would +make a dash, with lights out on a dark night, or through a dense +fog, when her smoke might sometimes be conned from the tops. +Occasionally, too, a foreigner would try to run in, and not seldom +succeed, because only the fastest vessels tried to run the blockade +after the first few months. But the general experience was one of +utter boredom rarely relieved by a stroke of good luck. + +The South could not break the blockade. But the North could tighten +it, and did so repeatedly, not only at sea but by establishing +strong strategic centers of its own along the Southern coast. We +have seen already how Hatteras Island was taken in '61, five weeks +after Bull Run. Within another three weeks Ship Island was also taken, +to the great disadvantage of the Gulf ports and the corresponding +advantage of the Federal fleet blockading them; for Ship Island +commanded the coastwise channels between Mobile and New Orleans, +the two great scenes of Farragut's success. Then, on the seventh +of November, the day that Grant began his triumphant career by +dealing the Confederates a shrewd strategic blow at Belmont in +Missouri, South Carolina suffered a worse defeat at Port Royal +(where she lost Forts Beauregard and Walker) than North Carolina +had suffered at Hatteras Island. Admiral S. F. Du Pont managed +the naval part of the Port Royal expedition with consummate skill, +especially the fine fleet action off Hilton Head against the Southern +ships and forts. He was ably seconded by General Thomas West Sherman, +commanding the troops. + +North Carolina's turn soon came again, when she lost Roanoke Island +(and with it the command of Albemarle Sound) on February 8, 1862; +and when she also had Pamlico Sound shut against her by a joint +expedition that struck down her defenses as far inland as Newbern +on the fourteenth of March. Then came the turn of Georgia, where +Fort Pulaski, the outpost of Savannah, fell to the Federals on +the eleventh of April. Within another month Florida was even more +hardly hit when the pressure of the Union fleet and army on Virginia +compelled the South to use as reinforcements the garrison that +had held Pensacola since the beginning of the war. + +These were all severe blows to the Southern cause. But they were +nothing to the one which immediately followed. + +The idea of an attack on New Orleans had been conceived in June, +'61, by Commander (afterwards Admiral) D. D. Porter, of the U.S.S. +_Powhatan_, when he was helping to blockade the Mississippi. The +Navy Department had begun thinking over the same idea in September +and had worked out a definite scheme. New Orleans was of immense +strategic importance, as being the link between the sea and river +systems of the war. The mass of people and their politicians, on +both sides, absurdly thought of New Orleans as the objective of a +land invasion from the north. Happily for the Union cause, Gustavus +Fox, Assistant Secretary of the Navy, knew better and persuaded +his civilian chief, Gideon Welles, that this was work for a joint +expedition, with the navy first, the army second. The navy could +take New Orleans. The army would have to hold it. + +The squadron destined for this enterprise was commanded by David +Glasgow Farragut, who arrived at Ship Island on February 20, 1862, +in the _Hartford_, the famous man-of-war that carried his flag in +triumph to the end. Unlike Lee and Jackson, Grant and Sherman, +the other four great leaders in the Civil War, Farragut was not an +American whose ancestors on both sides had come from the British +Isles. Like Lee, however, he was of very ancient lineage, one of +his ancestors, Don Pedro Farragut, having held a high command under +the King of Aragon in the Moorish wars of the thirteenth century. +Farragut's father was a pure-blooded Spaniard, born under the British +flag in Minorca in 1755. Half Spanish, half Southern by descent, +Farragut was wholly Southern by family environment. His mother, +Elizabeth Shine, was a native of North Carolina. He spent his early +boyhood in New Orleans. Both his first and second wives came from +Virginia; and he made his home at Norfolk. On the outbreak of the +war, however, he immediately went North and applied for employment +with the Union fleet. + +Farragut was the oldest of the five great leaders, being now sixty +years of age, while Lee was fifty-five, Sherman forty-two, Grant +forty, and Jackson thirty-eight. He was, however, fit as an athlete +in training, able to turn a handspring on his birthday and to hold +his own in swordsmanship against any of his officers. Of middle +height, strong build, and rather plain features, he did not attract +attention in a crowd. But his alert and upright carriage, keenly +interested look, and genial smile impressed all who ever knew him +with a sense of native kindliness and power. Though far too great +a master of the art of war to interfere with his subordinates he +always took care to understand their duties from their own points +of view so that he could control every part of the complex naval +instruments of war--human and material alike--with a sure and inspiring +touch. His one weakness as a leader was his generous inclination +to give subordinates the chance of distinguishing themselves when +they could have done more useful service in a less conspicuous +position. + +[Illustration: _ADMIRAL D. G. FARRAGUT_ +Photograph by Brady.] + +Farragut's base at Ship Island was about a hundred miles east from +the Confederate Forts Jackson and St. Philip. These forts guarded +the entrance to the Mississippi. Ninety miles above them stood +New Orleans, to which they gave protection and from which they +drew all their supplies. The result of a conference at Washington +was an order from Welles to "reduce the defenses which guard the +approaches to New Orleans." But Farragut's own infinitely better +plan was to run past the forts and take New Orleans first. By doing +this he would save the extra loss required for reducing the forts +and would take the weak defenses of New Orleans entirely by surprise. +Then, when New Orleans fell, the forts, cut off from all supplies, +would have to surrender without the firing of another shot. Everything +depended on whether Farragut could run past without too much loss. +Profoundly versed in all the factors of the problem, he foresaw +that his solution would prove right, while Washington's would as +certainly be wrong. So, taking the utmost advantage of all the +freedom that his general instructions allowed, he followed a course +in which anything short of complete success would mean the ruin +of his whole career. + +The forts were strong, had ninety guns that would bear on the fleet, +and were well placed, one on each side of the river. But they suffered +from all the disadvantages of fixed defenses opposed by a mobile +enemy, and their own mobile auxiliaries were far from being +satisfactory. The best of the "River Defense Fleet," including +several rams, had been ordered up to Memphis, so sure was the +Confederate Government that the attack would come from the north. +Two home-made ironclads were failures. The _Louisiana's_ engines +were not ready in time; and her captain refused to be towed into the +position near the boom where he could do the enemy most harm. The +_Mississippi_, a mere floating house, built by ordinary carpenters, +never reached the forts at all and was burnt by her own men at New +Orleans. + +Farragut felt sure of his fleet. He had four splendid new men-of-war +that formed a homogeneous squadron, four other sizable warships, and +nine new gunboats. All spars and rigging that could be dispensed +with were taken down; all hulls camouflaged with Mississippi mud; and +all decks whitened for handiness at night. A weak point, however, +was the presence of mortar-boats that would have been better out +of the way altogether. These boats had been sent to bombard the +forts, which, according to the plan preferred by the Government, +were to be taken before New Orleans was attacked. In other words, +the Government wished to cut off the branches first; while Farragut +wished to cut down the tree itself, knowing the branches must fall +with the trunk. + +On the eighteenth of April the mortar-boats began heaving shells +at the forts. But, after six days of bombardment, the forts were +nowhere near the point of surrendering, and the supply of shells +had begun to run low. + +Meanwhile the squadron had been busy preparing for the great ordeal. +The first task was to break the boom across the river. This boom +was placed so as to hold the ships under the fire of the forts; +and the four-knot spring current was so strong that the eight-knot +ships could not make way enough against it to cut clear through +with certainty. Moreover, the middle of the boom was filled in by +eight big schooners, chained together, with their masts and rigging +dragging astern so as to form a most awkward entanglement. Farragut's +fleet captain, Henry H. Bell, taking two gunboats, _Itasca_ and +_Pinola_, under Lieutenants Caldwell and Crosby, slipped the chains +of one schooner; whereupon this schooner and the _Itasca_ swung +back and grounded under fire of the forts. The _Pinola_ gallantly +stood by, helping _Itasca_ clear. Then Caldwell, with splendid +audacity and skill, steamed up through the narrow gap, turned round, +put on the _Itasca's_ utmost speed, and, with the current in his +favor, charged full tilt against the chains that still held fast. +For one breathless moment the little _Itasca_ seemed lost. Her +bows rose clear out, as, quivering from stem to stern, she was +suddenly brought up short from top speed to nothing. But, in another +fateful minute, with a rending crash, the two nearest schooners +gave way and swept back like a gate, while the _Itasca_ herself +shot clear and came down in triumph to the fleet. + +The passage was made on the twenty-fourth, in line-ahead (that +is, one after another) because Farragut found the opening narrower +than he thought it should be for two columns abreast, at night, under +fire, and against the spring current. Owing to the configuration of +the channel the starboard column had to weigh first, which gave +the lead to the 500-ton gunboat _Cayuga_. This was the one weak +point, because the leading vessel, drawing most fire, should have +been the strongest. The fault was Farragut's; for his heart got +the better of his head when it came to placing Captain Theodorus +Bailey, his dauntless second-in-command, on board a vessel fit +to lead the starboard column. He could not bear to obscure any +captain's chances of distinction by putting another captain over +him. So Bailey was sent to the best vessel commanded by a lieutenant. + +The _Cayuga's_ navigating officer, finding that the guns of the +forts were all trained on midstream, edged in towards Fort St. +Philip. His masts were shot to pieces, but his hull drew clear +without great damage. "Then," he says, "I looked back for some +of our vessels; and my heart jumped up into my mouth when I found +I could not see a single one. I thought they must all have been +sunk by the forts." But not a ship had gone down. The three big +ones of the starboard column--_Pensacola, Mississippi_, and +_Oneida_--closed with the fort (so that the gunners on both sides +exchanged jeers of defiance) and kept up a furious fire till the +lighter craft astern slipped past safely and joined the _Cayuga_ +above. + +Meanwhile the _Cayuga_ had been attacked by a mob of Mississippi +steamers, six of which belonged to the original fourteen blessed +with their precious independence by Secretary Benjamin, "backed +by the whole Missouri Delegation." So when the rest of the Federal +light craft came up, "all sorts of things happened" in a general +free fight. There was no lack of Confederate courage; but an utter +absence of concerted action and of the simplest kind of naval skill, +except on the part of the two vessels commanded by ex-officers +of the United States Navy. The Federal light craft cut their way +through their unorganized opponents as easily as a battalion of +regulars could cut through a mob throwing stones. But the only +two Confederate naval officers got clear of the scrimmage and did +all that skill could do with their makeshift little craft against +the Federal fleet. Kennon singled out the _Varuna_ (the only one of +Farragut's vessels that was not a real man-of-war), raked her stern +with the two guns of his own much inferior vessel, the _Governor +Moore_, and rammed her into a sinking condition. Warley flew at +bigger game with his little ram, the _Manassas_, trying three of +the large men-of-war, one after another, as they came upstream. The +_Pensacola_ eluded him by a knowing turn of her helm that roused +his warmest admiration. The _Mississippi_ caught the blow glancingly +on her quarter and got off with little damage. The _Brooklyn_ was +taken fair and square amidships; but, though her planking was crushed +in, she sprang no serious leak and went on with the fight. The +wretched little Confederate engines had not been able to drive the +ram home. + +The _Brooklyn_ was the flagship _Hartford's_ next-astern and the +_Richmond's_ next-ahead, these three forming the main body of Farragut's +own port column, which followed hard on the heels of the starboard +one, so hard, indeed, that there were only twenty minutes between +the first shot fired by the forts at the _Cayuga_ and the first +shot fired by the _Hartford_ at the forts. Besides the forts there +was the _Louisiana_ floating battery that helped to swell the storm +of shot and shell; and down the river came a fire-raft gallantly +towed by a tug. The _Hartford_ sheered off, over towards Fort St. +Philip, under whose guns she took ground by the head while the +raft closed in and set her ablaze. Instantly the hands on fire +duty sprang to their work. But the flames rushed in through the +ports; and the men were forced a step back. Farragut at once called +out: "Don't flinch from the fire, boys. There's a hotter fire than +that for those who don't do their duty!" Whereupon they plied their +hoses to such good effect that the fire was soon got under control. +Farragut calmly resumed his walk up and down the poop, while the +gunners blew the gallant little tug to bits and smashed the raft +in pieces. Then he stood keenly watching the _Hartford_ back clear, +gather way, and take the lead upstream again. Every now and then +he looked at the pocket compass that hung from his watch chain; +though, for the most part, he tried to scan a scene of action lit +only by the flashes of the guns. The air was dense and very still; +so the smoke of guns and funnels hung like a pall over both the +combatants while the desperate fight went on. + +At last the fleet fought through and reached the clearer atmosphere +above the forts; all but the last three gunboats, which were driven +back by the fire. Then Farragut immediately sent word to General +Benjamin F. Butler that the troops could be brought up by the bayous +that ran parallel to the river out of range of the forts. But the +General, having taken in the situation at a glance from a transport +just below the scene of action, had begun to collect his men at +Sable Island, twelve miles behind Fort St. Philip, long before +Farragut's messenger could reach him by way of the Quarantine Bayou. +From Sable Island the troops were taken by the transports to a +point on the Mississippi five miles above Fort St. Philip. + +After a well-earned rest the whole fleet moved up to New Orleans +on the twenty-fifth, turning the city's lines five miles downstream +without the loss of a man, for the simple reason that these had +been built only to resist an army, and so lay with flanks entirely +open to a fleet. General Lovell (the able commander who had so +often warned the Confederate Government of the danger from the sea) +at once evacuated the defenseless city. The best of the younger men +were away with the armies. The best of the older men were too few for +the storm. And so pandemonium broke loose. Burning boats, blazing +cotton, and a howling mob greeted Farragut's arrival. But after the +forts (now completely cut off from their base) had surrendered +on the twenty-eighth a landing party from the fleet soon brought +the mob to its senses by planting howitzers in the streets and +lowering the Confederate colors over the city hall. On the first +of May a garrison of Federal troops took charge of New Orleans +and kept it till the war was over. + + +New Orleans was a most pregnant Federal victory; for it established a +Union base at the great strategic point where sea-power and land-power +could meet most effectively in Mississippi waters. + +But it was followed by a perfect anti-climax; for the Federal +Government, having planned a naval concentration at Vicksburg, +determined to put the plan in operation; though all the naval and +military means concerned made such a plan impossible of execution in +1862. Amphibious forces--fleets and armies combined--were essential. +There was no use in parading up and down the river, however +triumphantly, so long as the force employed could only hold the part +of the channel within actual range of its guns. The Confederates +could be driven off the Mississippi at any given point. But there +was nothing to prevent them from coming back again when once the +ships had passed. An army to seize and hold strategic points ashore +was absolutely indispensable. Then, and only then, Farragut's long +line of communication with his base at New Orleans would be safe, +and the land in which the Mississippi was the principal highway +could itself be conquered. + +"If the Mississippi expedition from Cairo shall not have descended +the river, you will take advantage of the panic to push a strong +force up the river to take all their defenses in rear." These were +the orders Farragut had to obey if he succeeded in taking New Orleans. +They were soon reinforced by this reminder: "The only anxiety we feel +is to know if you have followed up your instructions and pushed a +strong force up the river to meet the Western flotilla." Farragut +therefore felt bound to obey and do all that could be done to carry +on a quite impossible campaign. So, with a useless landing party +of only fifteen hundred troops, he pushed up to Vicksburg, four +hundred miles above New Orleans. The nearest Federal army had been +halted by the Confederate defenses above Memphis, another four +hundred higher still. + +There were several reasons why Farragut should not have gone up. +His big ships would certainly be stranded if he went up and waited +for the army to come down; moreover, when stranded, these ships +would be captured while waiting, because both banks were swarming +with vastly outnumbering Confederate troops. Then, such a disaster +would more than offset the triumph of New Orleans by still further +depressing Federal morale at a time when the Federal arms were +doing none too well near Washington. Finally, all the force that +was being worse than wasted up the Mississippi might have been +turned against Mobile, which, at that time, was much weaker than +the defenses Farragut had already overcome. But the people of the +North were clamorous for more victories along the line to which +the press had drawn their gaze. So the Government ordered the fleet +to carry on this impossible campaign. + +Farragut did his best. Within a month of passing the forts he had +not only captured New Orleans and repaired the many serious damages +suffered by his fleet but had captured Baton Rouge, and taken even +his biggest ships to Vicksburg, five hundred miles from the Gulf, +against a continuous current, and right through the heart of a +hostile land. Finding that there were thirty thousand Confederates +in, near, or within a day of Vicksburg he and General Thomas Williams +agreed that nothing could be done with the fifteen hundred troops +which formed the only landing party. Sickness and casualties had +reduced the ships' companies; so there were not even a few seamen +to spare as reinforcements for these fifteen hundred soldiers, whom +Butler had sent, under Williams, with the fleet. Then Farragut +turned back, his stores running dangerously short owing to the +enormous difficulties of keeping open his long, precarious line of +communications. "I arrived in New Orleans with five or six days' +provisions and one anchor, and am now trying to procure others.... +Fighting is nothing to the evils of the river--getting on shore, +running foul of one another, losing anchors, etc." In a confidential +letter home he is still more outspoken. "They will keep us in this +river till the vessels break down and all the little reputation +we have made has evaporated. The Government appears to think that +we can do anything. They expect me to navigate the Mississippi +nine hundred miles in the face of batteries, ironclad rams, etc.; +and yet with all the ironclad vessels they have North they could +not get to Norfolk or Richmond." + +Back from Washington came still more urgent orders to join the +Mississippi flotilla which was coming down to Vicksburg from the +north under Flag Officer Charles H. Davis. So once more the fleet +worked its laboriously wasteful way up to Vicksburg, where it passed +the forts with the help of Porter's flotilla of mortar-boats on +the twenty-eighth of June and joined Davis on the first of July. +There, in useless danger, the joint forces lay till the fifteenth, +the day on which Grant's own "most anxious period of the war" began +on the Memphis-Corinth line, four hundred miles above. + +Farragut, getting very anxious about the shoaling of the water, +was then preparing to run down when he heard firing in the Yazoo, +a tributary that joined the Mississippi four miles higher up. This +came from a fight between one of his reconnoitering gunboats, the +_Carondelet_, and the _Arkansas_, an ironclad Confederate ram that +would have been very dangerous indeed if her miserable engines had +been able to give her any speed. She was beating the _Carondelet_, +but getting her smoke-stack so badly holed that her speed dropped +down to one knot, which scarcely gave her steerage way and made +her unable to ram. Firing hard she ran the gauntlet of both fleets +and took refuge under the Vicksburg bluffs, whence she might run +out and ram the Union vessels below. Farragut therefore ran down +himself, hoping to smash her by successive broadsides in passing. +But the difficulties of the passage wasted the daylight, so that +he had to run by at night. She therefore survived his attack, and +went downstream to join the Confederates against Baton Rouge. But +her engines gave way before she got there; and she had to be blown +up. + +Farragut was back at New Orleans before the end of July. On the +fifth of August the Confederates made their attack on Baton Rouge; +but were beaten back by the Union garrison aided by three of Farragut's +gunboats and two larger vessels from Davis's command. The losses +were not very severe on either side; but the Union lost a leader +of really magnificent promise in its commanding general, Thomas +Williams, a great-hearted, cool-headed man and most accomplished +officer. The garrison of Baton Rouge, being too small and sickly +and exposed, was withdrawn to New Orleans a few days later. + +Then Farragut at last returned to the Gulf blockade. Davis went back +up the river, where he was succeeded by D. D. Porter in October. +And the Confederates, warned of what was coming, made Port Hudson +and Vicksburg as strong as they could. Vicksburg was now the only +point they held on the Mississippi where there were rails on both +sides; and the Red River, flowing in from the West between Vicksburg +and Port Hudson, was the only good line of communication connecting +them with Texas, whence so much of their meat was obtained. + +For three months Farragut directed the Gulf blockade from Pensacola, +where, on the day of his arrival, the twentieth of August, he was the +first American to hoist an admiral's flag. The rank of rear-admiral +in the United States Navy had been created on the previous sixteenth +of July; and Farragut was the senior of the first three officers +upon whom it was conferred. + +Farragut became the ranking admiral just when the United States +Navy was having its hardest struggle to do its fivefold duty well. +There was commerce protection on the high seas, blockade along the +coast, coöperation with the army on salt water and on fresh, and +of course the destruction of the nascent Confederate forces afloat. +But perhaps a knottier problem than any part of its combatant duty +was how to manage, in the very midst of war, that rapid expansion +of its own strength for which no government had let it prepare in +time of peace. During this year the number of vessels in commission +grew from 264 to 427. Yet such a form of expansion was much simpler +than that of the enlisted men; and the expansion of even the most +highly trained enlisted personnel was very much simpler than the +corresponding expansion of the officers. Happily for the United +States Navy it started with a long lead over its enemy. More happily +still it could expand with the help of greatly superior resources. +Most happily of all, the sevenfold expansion that was effected +before the war was over could be made under leaders like Farragut: +leaders, that is, who, though in mere numbers they were no more, in +proportion to their whole service, than the flag as mere material +is to a man-of-war, were yet, as is the flag, the living symbol +of a people's soul. + +Commerce protection on the high seas was an exceedingly harassing +affair. A few swift raiders, having the initiative, enjoyed great +advantages over a far larger number of defending vessels. Every +daring raid was trumpeted round the world, bringing down unmeasured, +and often unmerited, blame on the defense. The most successful +vigilance would, on the other hand, pass by unheeded. The Union +navy lacked the means of patrolling the sea lanes of commerce over +millions and millions of desolate square miles. Consequently the +war-risk insurance rose to a prohibitive height on vessels flying +the Stars and Stripes; and, as a further result, enormous transfers +were made to other flags. The incessant calls for recruits, afloat +and ashore, and to some extent the lure of the western lands, also +robbed the merchant service of its men. Thus, one way and another, +the glory of the old merchant marine departed with the Civil War. + +Blockade was more to the point than any attempt to patrol the sea +lanes. Yet it was even more harassing; for it involved three distinct +though closely correlated kinds of operation: not only the seizure, +in conjunction with the army, of enemy ports, and the patrolling of +an enemy coastline three thousand miles long, but also the patrolling +of those oversea ports from which most contraband came. This oversea +patrol was the most effective, because it went straight to the +source of trouble. But it required extraordinary vigilance, because +it had to be conducted from beyond the three-mile limit, and with +the greatest care for all the rights of neutrals. + +By mid-November Farragut was back at New Orleans. A month later +General Banks arrived with reinforcements. He superseded General +Butler and was under orders to coöperate with McClernand, Grant's +second-in-command, who was to come down the Mississippi from Cairo. +But the proposed meeting of the two armies never took place. Banks +remained south of Port Hudson, McClernand far north of Vicksburg; +for, as we shall see in the next chapter, Sherman's attempt to take +Vicksburg from the North failed on the twenty-ninth of December. + +The naval and river campaigns of '62 thus ended in disappointment +for the Union. And, on New Year's Day, Galveston, which Farragut had +occupied in October without a fight and which was lightly garrisoned +by three hundred soldiers, fell into Confederate hands under most +exasperating circumstances. After the captain and first lieutenant +of the U.S.S. _Harriet Lane_ had been shot by the riflemen aboard two +cotton-clad steamers the next officer tamely surrendered. Commander +Renshaw, who was in charge of the blockade, amply redeemed the honor +of the Navy by refusing to surrender the _Westfield_, in spite +of the odds against him, and by blowing her up instead. But when +he died at the post of duty the remaining Union vessels escaped; +and the blockade was raised for a week. + +After that Commodore H. H. Bell, one of Farragut's best men, closed +in with a grip which never let go. Yet even Bell suffered a reverse +when he sent the U.S.S. _Hatteras_ to overhaul a strange vessel that +lured her off some fifteen miles and sank her in a thirteen-minute +fight. This stranger was the _Alabama_, then just beginning her famous +or notorious career. Nor were these the only Union troubles in the +Gulf during the first three weeks of the new year. Commander J. +N. Matt ran the _Florida_ out of Mobile, right through the squadron +that had been specially strengthened to deal with her; and the +shore defenses of the Sabine Pass, like those of Galveston, fell +into Confederate hands again, to remain there till the war was +over. + +In spite of all failures, however, Farragut still had the upper +hand along the Gulf, and up the Mississippi as far as New Orleans, +without which admirable base the River War of '62 could never +have prepared the way for Grant's magnificent victory in the River +War of '63. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE RIVER WAR: 1862 + +The military front stretched east and west across the border States +from the Mississippi Valley to the sea. This immense and fluctuating +front, under its various and often changed commanders, was never a +well coördinated whole. The Alleghany Mountains divided the eastern +or Virginian wing from the western or "River" wing. Yet there was +always more or less connection between these two main parts, and +the fortunes of one naturally affected those of the other. Most +eyes, both at home and abroad, were fixed on the Virginian wing, +where the Confederate capital stood little more than a hundred +miles from Washington, where the greatest rival armies fought, +and where decisive victory was bound to have the most momentous +consequences. But the River wing was hardly less important; for +there the Union Government actually hoped to reach these three +supreme objectives in this one campaign: the absolute possession of +the border States, the undisputed right of way along the Mississippi +from Cairo to the Gulf, and the triumphant invasion of the lower +South in conjunction with the final conquest of Virginia. + +We have seen already how the Union navy, aided by the army, won +its way up the Mississippi from the Gulf to Baton Rouge, but failed +to secure a single point beyond. We shall now see how the Union +army, aided by the navy, won its way down the Mississippi from +Cairo to Memphis, and fairly attained the first objective--the +possession of the border States; but how it also failed from the +north, as the others had failed from the south, to gain a footing +on the crucial stretch between Vicksburg and Port Hudson. One more +year was required to win the Mississippi; two more to invade the +lower South; three to conquer Virginia. + + +Just after the fall of Fort Sumter the Union Government had the +foresight to warn James B. Eads, the well-known builder of Mississippi +jetties, that they would probably draw upon his "thorough knowledge +of our Western rivers and the use of steam on them." But it was +not till August that they gave him the contract for the regular +gunboat flotilla; and it was not till the following year that his +vessels began their work. In the meantime the armies were asking for +all sorts of transport and protective craft. So the first flotilla on +Mississippi waters started under the War (not the Navy) Department, +though manned under the executive orders of Commander John Rodgers, +U. S. N., who bought three river steamers at Cincinnati, lowered +their engines, strengthened their frames, protected their decks, +and changed them into gunboats. + +The first phase of the clash in this land of navigable rivers had +ended, as we have seen already, with the taking of Boonville on +the Missouri by that staunch and daring Union regular, General +Nathaniel Lyon, on June 17, 1861. Boonville was a stunning blow +to secession in those parts. Confederate hopes, however, again +rose high when the news of Bull Run came through. At this time +General John C. Frémont was taking command of all the Union forces +in the "Western Department," which included Illinois and everything +between the Mississippi and the Rockies. Frémont's command, however, +was short and full of trouble. Round his headquarters at St. Louis +the Confederate colors were flaunted in his face. His requisitions +for arms and money were not met at Washington. Union regiments +marched in without proper equipment and with next to no supplies. +There were boards of inquiry on his contracts. There were endless +cross-purposes between him and Washington. And early in November he +was transferred to West Virginia just as he was about to attack with +what seemed to him every prospect of success. He had not succeeded. +But he had done good work in fortifying St. Louis; in ordering +gunboats, tugs, and mortar-boats; in producing some kind of system +out of utter confusion; in trusting good men like Lyon; and in +sending the then unknown Ulysses Grant to take command at Cairo, +the excellent strategic base where the Ohio joins the Mississippi. + +The most determined fighting that took place during Frémont's command +was brought on by Lyon, who attacked Ben McCulloch at Wilson's Creek, +in southwest Missouri, on the tenth of August. Though McCulloch had +ten thousand, against not much over five, Lyon was so set on driving +the Confederates away from such an important lead-bearing region +that he risked an attack, hoping by surprise, skillful maneuvers, +and the help of his regulars to shake the enemy's hold, even if +he could not thoroughly defeat him. Disheartened by his repeated +failure to get reinforcements, and very anxious about the fate +of his flanking column under Sigel, whose attack from the rear +was defeated, he expressed his forebodings to his staff. But the +light of battle shone bright as ever in his eyes; he was killed +leading a magnificent charge; and when, after his death, his little +army drew off in good order, the Confederates, by their own account, +"were glad to see him go." + +On the twentieth of September the Confederates under Sterling Price +won a barren victory by taking Lexington, Missouri, where Colonel +James Mulligan made a gallant defense. That was the last Confederate +foothold on the Missouri; and it could not be maintained. + +In October, Anderson, who had never recovered from the strain of +defending Fort Sumter, turned over to Sherman the very troublesome +Kentucky command. Sherman pointed out to the visiting Secretary of +War, Simon Cameron, that while McClellan had a hundred thousand +men for a front of a hundred miles in Virginia, and Frémont had +sixty thousand for about the same distance, he (Sherman) had been +given only eighteen thousand to guard the link between them, although +this link stretched out three hundred miles. Sherman then asked for +sixty thousand men at once; and said two hundred thousand would +be needed later on. "Good God!" said Cameron, "where are they to +come from?" Come they had to, as Sherman foresaw. Cameron made +trouble at Washington by calling Sherman's words "insane"; and +Sherman's "insanity" became a stumbling-block that took a long time +to remove. + +Grant, in command at Cairo, began his career as a general by cleverly +forestalling the enemy at Paducah, where the Tennessee flows into the +Ohio. Then, on the seventh of November, he closed the first confused +campaign on the Mississippi by attacking Belmont, Missouri, twenty +miles downstream from Cairo, in order to prevent the Confederates at +Columbus, Kentucky, right opposite, from sending reinforcements to +Sterling Price in Arkansas. There was a stiff fight, in which the +Union gunboats did good work. Grant handled his soldiers equally +well; and the Union objective was fully attained. + + +Halleck, the Federal Commander-in-Chief for the river campaign +of '62, fixed his headquarters at St. Louis. From this main base +his right wing had rails as far as Rolla, whence the mail road +went on southwest, straight across Missouri. At Lebanon, near the +middle of the State, General Samuel R. Curtis was concentrating, +before advancing still farther southwest against the Confederates +whom he eventually fought at Pea Ridge. From St. Louis there was +good river, rail, and road connection south to Halleck's center in +the neighborhood of Cairo, where General Ulysses S. Grant had his +chief field base, at the junction of the Mississippi and Ohio. A +little farther east Grant had another excellent position at Paducah, +beside the junction of the Ohio and the Tennessee. Naval forces +were of course indispensable for this amphibious campaign; and in +Flag-Officer Andrew Hull Foote the Western Flotilla had a commander +able to coöperate with the best of his military colleagues. Halleck's +left--a semi-independent command--was based on the Ohio, stretched +clear across Kentucky, and was commanded by a good organizer and +disciplinarian, General Don Carlos Buell, whose own position at +Munfordville was not only near the middle of the State but about +midway between the important railway junctions of Louisville and +Nashville. + +Henry W. Halleck was a middle-aged, commonplace, and very cautious +general, who faithfully plodded through the war without defeat or +victory. He looked so long before he leaped that he never leaped at +all--not even on retreating enemies. Good for the regular office-work +routine, he was like a hen with ducklings for this river war, in +which Curtis, Grant, Buell, and his naval colleague Foote, were +all his betters on the fighting line. + +His opponent, Albert Sidney Johnston, was also middle-aged, being +fifty-nine; but quite fit for active service. Johnston had had +a picturesque career, both in and out of the army; and many on +both sides thought him likely to prove the greatest leader of the +war. He was, however, a less formidable opponent than Northerners +were apt to think. He was not a consummate genius like Lee. He had +inferior numbers and resources; and the Confederate Government +interfered with him. Yet they did have the good sense to put both +sides of the Mississippi under his unified command, including not +only Kentucky and Tennessee, Missouri and Arkansas, but the whole +of the crucial stretch from Vicksburg to Port Hudson. In this they +were wiser than the Federal Government with Halleck's command, +which was neither so extensive nor so completely unified. + +Johnston took post in his own front line at Bowling Green, Kentucky, +not far south of Buell's position at Munfordville. He was very +anxious to keep a hold on Kentucky and Missouri, along the southern +frontiers of which his forces were arrayed. His extreme right was +thrown northward under General Marshall to Prestonburg, near the +border of West Virginia, in the dangerous neighborhood of many +Union mountain folk. His southern outpost on the right was also +in the same kind of danger at Cumberland Gap, a strategic pass +into the Alleghanies at a point where Kentucky, Tennessee, and +Virginia meet. Halfway west from there, to Bowling Green the +Confederates hoped to hold the Cumberland near Logan's Cross Roads +and Mill Springs. Westwards from Bowling Green Johnston's line held +positions at Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, Fort Henry on the +Tennessee, and Columbus on the Mississippi. All his Trans-Mississippi +troops were under the command of the enthusiastic Earl Van Dorn, +who hoped to end his spring campaign in triumph at St. Louis. + + +The fighting began in January at the northeastern end of the line, +where the Union Government, chiefly for political reasons, was +particularly anxious to strengthen the Unionists that lived all +down the western Alleghanies and so were a thorn in the side of +the solid South beyond. On the tenth Colonel James A. Garfield, a +future President, attacked and defeated Marshall near Prestonburg +and occupied the line of Middle Creek. The Confederates, half starved, +half clad, ill armed, slightly outnumbered, and with no advantage +except their position, fought well, but unavailingly. Only some +three thousand men were engaged on both sides put together. Yet +the result was important because it meant that the Confederates +had lost their hold on the eastern end of Kentucky, which was now +in unrestricted touch with West Virginia. + +Within eight days a greater Union commander, General G. H. Thomas, +emerged as the victor of a much bigger battle at Mill Springs and +Logan's Cross Roads on the upper Cumberland, ninety miles due east +of Bowling Green. The victory was complete, and Thomas's name was +made. Thomas, indeed, was known already as a man whose stentorian +orders had to be obeyed; and a clever young Confederate prisoner +used this reputation as his excuse for getting beaten: "We were doing +pretty good fighting till old man Thomas rose up in his stirrups, +and we heard him holler out: 'Attention, Creation! By kingdoms, +right wheel!' Then we knew you had us." + +There were only about four thousand men a side. But in itself, and +in conjunction with Garfield's little victory at Prestonburg, the +battle of Logan's Cross Roads was important as raising the Federal +morale, as breaking through Johnston's right, and as opening the road +into eastern Tennessee. Short supplies and almost impassable roads, +however, prevented a further advance. One brigade was therefore +detached against Cumberland Gap, while the rest joined Buell's +command, which was engaged in organizing, drilling hard, and keeping +an eye on Johnston. + +In February the scene of action changed to Johnston's left center, +where Forts Donelson and Henry were blocking the Federal advance +up the Cumberland and the Tennessee. + +On the fourth, Flag-Officer Foote, with seven gunboats, of which +four were ironclads, led the way up the Tennessee, against Fort +Henry. That day the furious current was dashing driftwood in whirling +masses against the flotilla, which had all it could do to keep +station, even with double anchors down and full steam up. Next +morning a new danger appeared in the shape of what looked like a +school of dead porpoises. These were Confederate torpedoes, washed +from their moorings. As it was now broad daylight they were all +successfully avoided; and the crews felt as if they had won the +first round. + +The sixth of February dawned clear, with just sufficient breeze to +blow the smoke away. The flotilla steamed up the swollen Tennessee +between the silent, densely wooded banks. Not a sound was heard +ashore until, just after noon, Fort Henry came into view and answered +the flagship's signal shot with a crashing discharge of all its +big guns. Then the fire waxed hot and heavy on both sides, the +gunboats knocking geyser-spouts of earth about the fort, and the +fort knocking gigantic splinters out of the gunboats. The _Essex_ +ironclad was doing very well when a big shot crashed into her middle +boiler, which immediately burst like a shell, scalding the nearest +men to death, burning others, and sending the rest flying overboard +or aft. With both pilots dead and Commander W. D. Porter badly +scalded, the _Essex_ was drifting out of action when the word went +round that Fort Henry had surrendered: and there, sure enough, +were the Confederate colors coming down. Instantly Porter rallied +for the moment, called for three cheers, and fell back exhausted +at the third. + +The Confederate General Tilghman surrendered to Foote with less +than a hundred men, all the rest, over twenty-five hundred, having +started towards Fort Donelson before the flag came down. The Western +Flotilla had won the day alone. But it was the fear of Grant's +approaching army that hurried the escaping garrison. An hour after +the surrender Grant rode in and took command. That night victors +and vanquished were dining together when a fussy staff officer came +in to tell Grant that he could not find the Confederate reports. +On this Captain Jesse Taylor, the chief Confederate staff officer, +replied that he had destroyed them. The angry Federal then turned +on him with the question, "Don't you know you've laid yourself +open to punishment?" and was storming along, when Grant quietly +broke in: "I should be very much surprised and mortified if one +of my subordinate officers should allow information which he could +destroy to fall into the hands of the enemy." + +The surrender of Fort Henry, coming so soon after Prestonburg and +Logan's Cross Roads, caused great rejoicing in the loyal North. The +victory, effective in itself, was completed by sending the ironclad +_Carondelet_ several miles upstream to destroy the Memphis-Ohio +railway bridge, thus cutting the shortest line from Bowling Green to +the Mississippi. But the action, in which the army took no part, +was only a preliminary skirmish compared with the joint attack of +the fleet and army on Fort Donelson. Fort Donelson was of great +strategic importance. If it held fast, and the Federals were defeated, +then Johnston's line would probably hold from Bowling Green to +Columbus, and the rails, roads, and rivers would remain Confederate +in western Tennessee. If, on the other hand, Fort Donelson fell, +and more especially if its garrison surrendered, then Johnston's +line would have to be withdrawn at once, lest the same fate should +overtake the outflanked remains of it. Both sides understood this +perfectly well; and all concerned looked anxiously to see how the +new Federal commander, General Grant, would face the crisis. + + +Ulysses Simpson Grant came of sturdy New England stock, being eighth +in descent from Matthew Grant, who landed in 1630 and was Surveyor +of Connecticut for over forty years. Grant's mother was one of +the Simpsons who had been Pennsylvanians for several generations. +His family was therefore as racy of the North as Lee's was of the +South. His great-grandfather and great-granduncle, Noah and Solomon +Grant, held British commissions during the final French-and-Indian +or Seven Years' War (1756-63) when both were killed in the same +campaign. His grandfather Noah served all through the Revolutionary +War. Financial reverses and the death of his grandmother broke up +the family; and his father, Jesse Grant, was given the kindest +of homes by Judge Tod of Ohio. Jesse, being as independent as he +was grateful, turned his energies into the first business at hand, +which happened to be a tannery at Deerfield owned by the father of +that wild enthusiast John Brown. A great reader, an able contributor +to the Western press, and a most public-spirited citizen, Jesse +Grant was a good father to his famous son, who was born on April +27, 1822, at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio. Young Grant +hated the tannery, but delighted in everything connected with horses; +so he looked after the teams. One day, after swapping horses many +miles from home, he found himself driving a terrified bolter that +he only just managed to stop on the edge of a big embankment. His +grown-up companion, who had no stomach for any more, then changed +into a safe freight wagon. But Ulysses, tying his bandanna over +the runaway's eyes, stuck to the post of danger. + +After passing through West Point without any special distinction, +except that he came out first in horsemanship, Grant was disappointed +at not receiving the cavalry commission which he would have greatly +preferred to the infantry one he was given instead. Years later, +when already a rising general, he vainly yearned for a cavalry +brigade. Otherwise he had curiously little taste for military life; +though at West Point he thought the two finest men in the world +were Captain C. F. Smith, the splendidly smart Commandant, and, +even more, that magnificently handsome giant, Winfield Scott, who +came down to inspect the cadets. Some years after having served +with credit all through the Mexican War (when, like Lee, he learnt +so much about so many future friends and foes) he left the army, +not to return till he and Sherman had seen Blair and Lyon take +Camp Jackson. After wisely declining to reënter the service under +the patronage of General John Pope, who was full of self-importance +about his acquaintance with the Union leaders of Illinois, Grant +wrote to the Adjutant-General at Washington offering to command +a regiment. Like Sherman, he felt much more diffident about the +rise from ex-captain of regulars to colonel commanding a battalion +than some mere civilians felt about commanding brigades or directing +the strategy of armies. He has himself recorded his horror of sole +responsibility as he approached what might have been a little +battlefield on which his own battalion would have been pitted against +a Southern one commanded by a Colonel Harris. "My heart kept getting +higher and higher until it felt as though it was in my throat. I +would have given anything then to have been back in Illinois; but +I had not the moral courage to halt and consider what to do. When +we reached a point from which the valley below was in full view +... the troops were gone. My heart resumed its place. It occurred +to me at once that Harris had been as much afraid of me as I had +been of him. This was a view of the question I never forgot." + +Grant's latent powers developed rapidly. Starting with a good stock +of military knowledge he soon added to it in every way he could. He +had the insight of genius. Above all, he had an indomitable will +both in carrying out practicable plans in spite of every obstacle +and in ruthlessly dismissing every one who failed. Not tall, not +handsome, in no way striking at first sight, he looked the leader +born only by reason of his square jaw, keen eye, and determined +expression. Lincoln's conclusive answer to a deputation asking +for Grant's removal simply was, "he fights." And, when mounted on +his splendid charger Cincinnati, Grant even looked what he was--"a +first-class fighting man." + + +Grant marched straight across the narrow neck of land between the +forts, which were only twelve miles apart. Foote of course had +to go round by the Ohio--fifteen times as far. His vanguard, the +dauntless _Carondelet_, now commanded by Henry Walke, arrived on +the twelfth and fired the first shots at the fort, which stood on +a bluff more than a hundred feet high and mounted fifteen heavy +guns in three tiers of fire. Grant's infantry was already in position +round the Confederate entrenchments; and when his soldiers heard +the naval guns they first gave three rousing cheers and then began +firing hard, lest the sailors should get ahead of them again. Birge's +sharpshooters, the snipers of those days, were particularly keen. +They never drilled as a battalion, but simply assembled in bunches +for orders, when Birge would ask: "Canteens full? Biscuits for +all day?" After which he would sing out: "All right, boys, hunt +your holes"; and off they would go to stalk the enemy with their +long-range rifles. + +Early next morning Grant sent word to Walke that he was establishing +the rest of his batteries and that he was ready to take advantage +of any diversion which the _Carondelet_ could make in his favor. +Walke then fired hard for two hours under cover of a wooded point. +The fort fired back equally hard; but with little effect except +for one big solid shot which stove in a casemate, knocked down a +dozen men, burst the steam heater, and bounded about the engine +room "like a wild beast pursuing its prey." Forty minutes later +the _Carondelet_ was again in action, firing hard till dark. Late +that night Foote arrived with the rest of the flotilla. + +The fourteenth was another naval day. Foote's flotilla advanced +gallantly, the four ironclads leading in line abreast, the two +wooden gunboats half a mile astern. The ironclads closed in to less +than a quarter-mile and hung on like bulldogs till the Confederates +in the lowest battery were driven from their guns. But the plunging +fire from the big guns on the bluff crashed down with ever increasing +effect. Davits were smashed like matches, boats knocked into kindling +wood, armor dented, started, ripped, stripped, and sent splashing +overboard as if by strokes of lightning. Before the decks could +be re-sanded there was so much blood on them that the gun crews +could hardly work for slipping. Presently the _Pittsburgh_ swung +round, ran foul of the _Carondelet_, and dropped downstream. The +pilot of the _St. Louis_ was killed, and Foote, who stood beside +him, wounded. The wheel-ropes of the _St. Louis_, like those of +the _Louisville_, were shot away. The whole flotilla then retired, +still firing hard; and the Confederates wired a victory to Richmond. + +Both sides now redoubled their efforts; for Donelson was a great +prize and the forces engaged were second only to those at Bull Run. +Afloat and ashore, all ranks and ratings on both sides together, +there were fifty thousand men present at the investment from first +to last. The Confederates began with about twenty thousand, Grant +with fifteen thousand. But Grant had twenty-seven thousand fit for +duty at the end, in spite of all his losses. He was fortunate in +his chief staff officer, the devoted and capable John A. Rawlins, +afterwards a general and Secretary of War. Two of his divisional +commanders, Lew Wallace and, still more, C. F. Smith, the old Commandant +of Cadets, were also first-rate. But the third, McClernand, here +began to follow those distorting ideas which led to his dismissal +later on. The three chief Confederates ranked in reverse order +of efficiency: Floyd first and worst, cantankerous Pillow next, +and Buckner best though last. + +The Federal prospect was anything but bright on the evening of +the fourteenth. Foote had just been repulsed; while McClernand had +fought a silly little battle on his own account the day before, +to the delight of the Confederates and the grievous annoyance of +Grant. The fifteenth dawned on a scene of midwinter discomfort +in the Federal lines, where most of the rawest men had neither +great-coats nor blankets, having thrown them away during the short +march from Fort Henry, regardless of the fact that they would have +to bivouac at Donelson. Thus it was in no happy frame of mind that +Grant slithered across the frozen mud to see what Foote proposed; +and, when Foote explained that the gunboats would take ten days for +indispensable repairs, Grant resigned himself to the very unwelcome +idea of going through the long-drawn horrors of a regular winter +siege. + +But, to his intense surprise, the enemy saved him the trouble. At +first, when they had a slight preponderance of numbers, they stood +fast and let Grant invest them. Now that he had the preponderance +they tried to cut their way out by the southern road, upstream, where +McClernand's division stood guard. As Grant came ashore from his +interview with Foote an aide met him with the news that McClernand +had been badly beaten and that the enemy was breaking out. Grant +set spurs to his horse and galloped the four muddy miles to his +left, where that admirable soldier, C. F. Smith, was as cool and +wary as ever, harassing the enemy's new rear by threatening an +assault, but keeping his division safe for whatever future use +Grant wanted. Wallace had also done the right thing, pressing the +enemy on his own front and sending a brigade to relieve the pressure +on McClernand. These two generals were in conversation during a lull +in the battle when Grant rode up, calmly returned their salutes, +attentively listened to their reports, and then, instead of trying +the Halleckian expedient of digging in farther back before the enemy +could make a second rush, quietly said: "Gentlemen, the position +on the right must be retaken." + +Grant knew that Floyd was no soldier and that Pillow was a +stumbling-block. He read the enemy's mind like an open book and +made up his own at once by the flash of intuition which told him +that their men were mostly as much demoralized by finding their +first attempt at escape more than half a failure as even McClernand's +were by being driven back. He decided to use Smith's fresh division +for an assault in rear, while McClernand's, stiffened by Wallace's, +should re-form and hold fast. Before leaving the excited officers and +men, who were talking in groups without thinking of their exhausted +ammunition, he called out cheerily "Fill your cartridge boxes quick, +and get into line. The enemy is trying to escape and he must not +be permitted to do so." McClernand's division, excellent men, but +not yet disciplined soldiers, responded at once to the touch of a +master hand; and as Grant rode off to Smith's he had the satisfaction +of seeing the defenseless groups melt, change, and harden into +well-armed lines. + +Smith, ready at all points, had only to slip his own division from +the leash. Buckner, who was to have covered the Confederate escape, +was also ready with the guns of Fort Donelson and the rifles of +defenses that "looked too thick for a rabbit to get through." Smith, +knowing his unseasoned men would need the example of a commander +they could actually see, rode out in front of his center as if +at a formal review. "I was nearly scared to death," said one of +his followers, "but I saw the old man's white moustache over his +shoulder, and so I went on." As the line neared the Confederate +abatis a sudden gust of fire seemed to strike it numb. In an instant +Smith had his cap on the point of his sword. Then, rising in his +stirrups to his full gigantic height, he shouted in stentorian +tones: "No flinching now, my lads! Here--this way in! Come on!" +In, through, and out the other side they went, Smith riding ahead, +holding his sword and cap aloft, and seeming to bear a charmed life +amid that hail of bullets. Up the slope he rode, the Confederates +retiring before him, till, unscathed, he reached the deadly crest, +where the Union colors waved defiance and the Union troops stood +fast. + +Floyd, being under special indictment at Washington for misconduct +as Secretary of War, was so anxious to escape that he turned over +the command to Pillow, who declined it in favor of Buckner. That +night Floyd and Pillow made off with all the river steamers; Forrest's +cavalry floundered past McClernand's exposed flank, which rested on +a shallow backwater; and Buckner was left with over twelve thousand +men to make what terms he could. Next morning, the sixteenth, he wrote +to Grant proposing the appointment of commissioners to agree upon +terms of surrender. But Grant had made up his mind that compromise +was out of place in civil war and that absolute defeat or victory +were the only alternatives. So he instantly wrote back the famous +letter which quickly earned him the appropriate nickname--suggested +by his own initials--of Unconditional Surrender Grant. + + + Hd Qrs., Army in the Field + Camp near Donelson Feb'y 16th 1882 + +Gen. S. B. Buckner, + Confed. Army. + +Sir: Yours of this date proposing armistice, and appointment of +Commissioners to settle terms of capitulation is just received. +No terms except an unconditional and immediate surrender can be +accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works + + I am, Sir, very respectfully, + Your obt. sert., + U. S. GRANT + Brig. Gen. + + +Grant and Buckner were old army friends; so their personal talk +was very pleasant at the little tavern where Buckner and his staff +had just breakfasted off corn bread and coffee, which was all the +Confederate stores afforded. + +Donelson at once became, like Grant, a name to conjure with. The +fact that the Union had at last won a fight in which the numbers +neared, and the losses much exceeded, those at Bull Run itself, the +further fact that this victory made a fatal breach in the defiant +Southern line beyond the Alleghanies, and the delight of discovering +another, and this time a genuine, hero in "Unconditional Surrender +Grant," all combined to set the loyal North aflame with satisfaction, +pride, and joyful expectation. Great things were expected in Virginia, +where the invasion had not yet begun. Great things were expected +in the Gulf, where Farragut had not yet tried the Mississippi. +And great things were expected to result from Donelson itself, +whence the Union forces were to press on south till they met other +Union forces pressing north. The river campaign was then to end +in a blaze of glory. + +Donelson did have important results. Johnston, who had already +abandoned Bowling Green for Nashville, had now to abandon Nashville, +with most of its great and very sorely needed stores, as well as +the rest of Tennessee, and take up a new position along the rails +that ran from Memphis to Chattanooga, whence they forked northeast +to Richmond and Washington and southeast to Charleston and Savannah. +Columbus was also abandoned, and the only points left to the +Confederates anywhere near the old line were Island Number Ten in +the Mississippi and the Boston Mountains in Arkansas. + +But the triumphant Union advance from the north did not take place +in '62. Grant was for pushing south as fast as possible to attack the +Confederates before they had time to defend their great railway junction +at Corinth. But Halleck was too cautious; and misunderstandings, +coupled with division of command, did the rest. Halleck was the +senior general in the West. But the three, and afterwards four, +departments into which the West was divided were never properly +brought under a single command. Then telegrams went wrong at the +wire-end advancing southwardly from Cairo, the end Grant had to +use. A wire from McClellan on the sixteenth of February was not +delivered till the third of March. Next day Grant was thunderstruck +at receiving this from Halleck: "Place C. F. Smith in command of +expedition and remain yourself at Fort Henry. Why do you not obey +my orders to report strength and positions of your command?" And +so it went on till McClellan authorized Halleck to place Grant +under arrest for insubordination. Then the operator at the wire-end +suddenly deserted, taking a sheaf of dispatches with him. He was +a clever Confederate. + +Explanations followed; and on the seventeenth of March Grant rejoined +his army, which was assembling round Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee, +near the future battlefield of Shiloh, and some twenty miles northeast +of Corinth. + +Meanwhile Van Dorn and Sterling Price, thinking it was now or never +for Missouri, decided to attack Curtis. They had fifteen against +ten thousand men, and hoped to crush Curtis utterly by catching +him between two fires. But on the seventh of March the Federal left +beat off the flanking attack of McCulloch and McIntosh, both of +whom were killed. The right, furiously assailed by the Confederate +Missourians under Van Dorn and Price, fared badly and was pressed +back. Yet on the eighth Curtis emerged victorious on the hard-fought +field that bears the double name of Elkhorn Tavern and Pea Ridge. +This battle in the northwest corner of Arkansas settled the fate +of Missouri. + +A month later the final attack was made on Island Number Ten. Foote's +flotilla had been at work there as early as the middle of March, +when the strong Confederate batteries on the island and east shore +bluffs were bombarded by ironclads and mortarboats. Then the Union +General John Pope took post at New Madrid, eight miles below the +island, on the west shore, which the Confederates had to evacuate +when he cut their line of communications farther south. They now +held only the island and the east shore opposite, with no line +of retreat except the Mississippi, because the land line on the +east shore was blocked by swamps and flanked by the Union armies +in western Tennessee. + +On the night of the fourth of April the _Carondelet_ started to +cut this last line south. She was swathed in hawsers and chain +cables. Her decks were packed tight with every sort of gear that +would break the force of plunging shot; and a big barge, laden +with coal and rammed hay, was lashed to her port side to protect +her magazine. Twenty-three picked Illinoisian sharpshooters went +aboard; while pistols, muskets, cutlasses, boarding-pikes, and hand +grenades were placed ready for instant use. The escape-pipe was +led aft into the wheel-house, so as to deaden the noise; and hose +was attached to the boilers ready to scald any Confederates that +tried to board. Then, through the heart of a terrific thunderstorm, +and amid a furious cannonade, the _Carondelet_ ran the desperate +gauntlet at full speed and arrived at New Madrid by midnight. + +The Confederates were now cut off both above and below; for the +position of Island Number Ten was at the lower point of a V-shaped +bend in the Mississippi, with Federal forces at the two upper points. +But the Federal troops could not close on the Confederates without +crossing over to the east bank; and their transports could not run +the gauntlet like the ironclads. So the Engineer Regiment of the West +cut out a water road connecting the two upper points of the V. This +admirable feat of emergency field engineering was effected by sawing +through three miles of heavy timber to the nearest bayou, whence a +channel was cleared down to New Madrid. Then the transports went +through in perfect safety and took Pope's advanced guard aboard. The +ironclad _Pittsburg_ had come down, through another thunderstorm, +this same morning of the seventh; and when the island garrison +saw their position completely cut off they surrendered to Foote. +Next day Pope's men cut off the greater part of the Confederates +on the mainland. Thus fell the last point near Johnston's original +line along the southern borders of Missouri and Kentucky. + +Just before it fell Johnston made a desperate counterattack from +his new line at Corinth, in northwest Mississippi, against Grant's +encroaching force at Shiloh, fifteen miles northeast, on the Tennessee +River. + +Writing "A. S. Johnston, 3d April, 62, _en avant_" on his pocket +map of Tennessee, the Confederate leader, anguished by the bitter +criticism with which his unavoidable retreat had been assailed, cast +the die for an immediate attack on Grant before slow Halleck reinforced +or ready Buell joined him. Johnston's lieutenants, Beauregard and +Bragg, had obtained ten days for reorganization; and their commands +were as ready as raw forces could be made in an extreme emergency. +They hoped to be joined by Van Dorn, whose beaten army was working +east from Pea Ridge. But on the second they heard that Buell was +approaching Grant from Nashville; and on the third Johnston's advanced +guard began to move off. Van Dorn arrived too late. + +The march, which it was hoped to complete on the fourth, was not +completed till the fifth. The roads were ankle-deep in clinging +mud, the country densely wooded and full of bogs and marshes. The +forty thousand men were not yet seasoned; and, though full of +enthusiasm, they neither knew nor had time to learn march discipline. +Moreover, Johnston allowed his own proper plan of attacking in +columns of corps to be changed by Beauregard into a three-line +attack, each line being formed by one complete corps. This meant +certain and perhaps disastrous confusion. For in an attack by columns +of corps the firing line would always be reinforced by successive +lines of the same corps; while attacking by lines of corps meant +that the leading corps would first be mixed up with the second, +and then both with the third. + +In the meantime Grant was busier with his own pressing problems +of organization for an advance than with any idea of resisting +attack. He lacked the prevision of Winfield Scott and Lee, both of +whom expected from the first that the war would last for years. His +own expectation up to this had been that the South would collapse +after the first smashing blow, and that its western armies were +now about to be dealt such a blow. He was not unmindful of all +precautions; for he knew the Confederates were stirring on his +front. Yet he went downstream to Savannah without making sure that +his army was really safe at Shiloh. + +Pittsburg Landing was at the base of the Shiloh position. But the +point at which, by the original orders, Buell was to join was Savannah, +nine miles north along the Tennessee. So Grant had to keep in touch +with both. He had not ignored the advantage of entrenching. But +the best line for entrenching was too far from good water; and +he thought he chose the lesser of two evils when he devoted the +time that might have been used for digging to drilling instead. His +army was raw as an army; many of the men were still rawer recruits; +and, as usual, the recruiting authorities had sent him several +brand-new battalions, which knew nothing at all, instead of sending +the same men as reinforcements to older battalions that could "learn +'em how." Grant's total effectives at first were only thirty-three +thousand. This made the odds five to four in favor of Johnston's +attack. But the rejoining of Lew Wallace's division, the great +reinforcement by Buell's troops, and the two ironclad gunboats +on the river, raised Grant's final effective grand total to sixty +thousand. The combined grand totals therefore reached a hundred +thousand--double the totals at Donelson and far exceeding those +at Bull Run. + +After a horrible week of cold and wet the sun set clear and calm +on Saturday, the eve of battle. The woods were alive with forty +thousand Confederates all ready for their supreme attack on the +thirty-three thousand Federals on their immediate four-mile front. +Grant's front ran, facing south, between Owl and Lick Creeks, two +tributaries that joined the Tennessee on either side of Pittsburg +Landing. Buell's advance division, under Nelson, was just across the +Tennessee. But Grant was in no hurry to get it over. His reassuring +wire that night to Halleck said: "The main force of the enemy is at +Corinth. I have scarcely the faintest idea of an attack (general +one) being made upon us." But the skirmishing farther south on Friday +had warned Grant, as well as Sherman and the vigilant Prentiss, +that Johnston might be trying a reconnaissance in force--the very +thing that Beauregard wished the Confederates to do. + +Long before the beautiful dawn of Sunday, the fateful sixth of +April, Prentiss had thrown out from the center a battalion which +presently met and drove in the vanguard of the first Confederate +line of assault. The Confederate center soon came up, overwhelmed +this advanced battalion, and burst like a storm on the whole of +Prentiss's division. Then, above the swelling roar of multitudinous +musketry, rose the thunder of the first big guns. "Note the hour, +please, gentlemen," said Johnston; and a member of his staff wrote +down: "5:14 A.M." + +Johnston's admirable plan was, first, to drive Grant's left clear +of Lick Creek, then drive it clear of Pittsburg Landing, where the +two Federal ironclads were guarding the ferry. This, combined with +a determined general assault on the rest of Grant's line, would huddle +the retreating Federals into the cramped angle between Owl Creek and +the Tennessee and force them to surrender. But there were three +great obstacles to this: Sherman on the right, the "Hornet's Nest" +in the center, and the gunboats at the Landing. Worse still for the +Confederates, Buell was now too close at hand. Three days earlier +Johnston had wired from Corinth to the Government at Richmond: +"Hope engagement before Buell can form junction." But the troubles +of the march had lost him one whole priceless day. + +The Confederate attack was splendidly gallant and at first pushed +home regardless of loss. The ground was confusing to both sides: +a bewilderment of ups and downs, of underbrush, woods, fields, +and clumps of trees, criss-cross paths, small creeks, ravines, +and swamps, without a single commanding height or any outstanding +features except the two big creeks, the river, and the Pittsburg +Landing. + +At the first signs of a big battle Grant hurried to the field, +first sending a note to Buell, whom he was to have met at Savannah, +then touching at Crump's Landing on the way, to see Lew Wallace +and make sure whether this, and not the Pittsburg Landing, was the +point of attack. Arrived on the field of Shiloh, calm and determined +as ever, he was reassured by finding how well Sherman was holding +his raw troops in hand at the extremely important point of Shiloh +itself, next to Owl Creek. + +But elsewhere the prospect was not encouraging, though the men +got under arms very fast and most of them fought very well. The +eager gray lines kept pressing on like the rising tide of an angry +sea, dashing in fury against all obstructing fronts and swirling +round the disconnecting flanks. The blue lines, for the most part, +resisted till the swift gray tide threatened to cut them off. Half +of Prentiss's remaining men were in fact cut off that afternoon and +forced to surrender with their chief, whose conduct, like their +own, was worthy of all praise. Back and still back the blue lines +went before the encroaching gray, each losing heavily by sheer hard +fighting at the front and streams of stragglers running towards +the rear. + +Sherman, like others, gave ground, but still held his men together, +except for the stragglers he could not control. In the center C. +F. Smith's division, with Hurlbut's in support, and all that was +left of Prentiss's, defended themselves so desperately that their +enemies called their position the Hornet's Nest. Here the fight +swayed back and forth for hours, with ghastly losses on both sides. +C. F. Smith himself was on his deathbed at Savannah. But he heard +the roar of battle. His excellent successor, W. H. L. Wallace, +was killed; and battalions, brigades, and even divisions, soon +became inextricably mixed together. There was now the same confusion +on the Confederate side, where Johnston was wounded by a bullet +from the Hornet's Nest. It was not in itself a mortal wound. But, +knowing how vital this point was, he went on encouraging his men +till, falling from the saddle, he was carried back to die. + +Grant still felt confident; though he had seen the worst in the rear +as well as the best at the front. Two of his brand-new battalions, +the very men who afterwards fought like heroes, when they had learned +the soldier's work, now ran like hares. "During the day," says Grant, +"I rode back as far as the river and met General Buell, who had +just arrived. There probably were as many as four or five thousand +stragglers lying under cover of the river bluff, panic-stricken. As +we left the boat Buell's attention was attracted by these men. I +saw him berating them and trying to shame them into joining their +regiments. He even threatened them with shells from the gunboats +nearby. But all to no effect. Most of these men afterward proved +themselves as gallant as any of those who saved the battle from +which they had deserted." + +By half-past five, after twelve hours' fighting, Grant at last +succeeded in forming a new and shorter line, a mile behind that +morning's front, but without any dangerous gaps. There were three +reorganized divisions--Sherman's, McClernand's, and Hurlbut's, one +fresh division under Nelson, and a strong land battery of over +twenty field guns helping the two ironclad gunboats in the defense +of Pittsburg Landing. The Confederate effectives, reduced by heavy +losses and by as many stragglers as the Federals, were now faced +by five thousand fresh men on guard at the Landing. Beauregard, +who had succeeded Johnston, then stopped the battle for the day, +with the idea of retiring next morning to Corinth. But, before +his orders reached it, his battle-worn right made a desperate, +fruitless, and costly attack on the immensely strengthened Landing. + +That night the rain came down in torrents; and the Confederates +sought shelter in the tents the Federals had abandoned. They found +little rest there, being harassed all through the bleak dark by +the big shells that the gunboats threw among them. + +At dawn Grant, now reinforced by twenty-five thousand fresh men under +Buell and Lew Wallace, took the offensive. Beauregard, hopelessly +outnumbered and without a single fresh man, retired on Corinth, +magnificently covered by Bragg's rearguard, which held the Federals +back for hours near the crucial point of Shiloh Church. + +Shiloh was the fiercest battle ever fought in the River War. The +losses were over ten thousand a side in killed and wounded; while a +thousand Confederates and three thousand Federals were captured. It +was a Confederate failure; but hardly the kind of victory the Federals +needed just then, before the consummate triumph of Farragut at New +Orleans. It brought together Federal forces that the Confederates +could not possibly withstand, even on their new line east from Memphis. +But it did not raise the Federal, or depress the Confederate, morale. + + +Four days after the battle Halleck arrived at Pittsburg Landing +and took command of the combined armies. He was soon reinforced +by Pope; whereupon he divided the whole into right and left wings, +center, and reserve, each under its own commander. Grant was made +second in command of the whole. But, as Halleck dealt directly +with his other immediate subordinates, Grant simply became the +fifth wheel of the Halleckian slow-coach, which, after twenty days +of preparation, began, with most elaborate precautions, its crawl +toward Corinth. + +Grant's position became so nearly unbearable that he applied more +than once for transfer to some other place. But this was refused. +So he strove to do his impossible duty till the middle of July, +when his punishment for Shiloh was completed by his promotion to +command a depleted remnant of Halleck's Grand Army. It is not by +any means the least of Grant's claims to real greatness that, as +a leader, he was able to survive his most searching trials: the +surprise at Shiloh, the misunderstandings and arrest that followed +Shiloh, the slur of being made a fifth-wheel second-in-command, +the demoralizing strain of that "most anxious period of the war" +when his depleted forces were thrown back on the defensive, and +the eight discouraging months of Sisyphean offensive which preceded +his triumph at Vicksburg. No one who has not been in the heart of +things with fighting fleets or armies can realize what it means +to all ranks when there is, or even is supposed to be, "something +wrong" with the living pivot on which the whole force turns. And +only those who have been behind the scenes of war's all-testing +drama can understand what it means for even an imagined "failure" +to "come back." + +Corinth was of immense importance to both sides, as it commanded +the rails not only east and west, from the Tennessee to Memphis, +but north and south, from the Ohio to New Orleans and Mobile. Though +New Orleans was taken by Farragut on the twenty-fifth of April, the +rails between Vicksburg and Port Hudson remained in Confederate +hands till next year; while Mobile remained so till the year after +that. + +Beauregard collected all the troops he could at Corinth. Yet, even +with Van Dorn's and other reinforcements, he had only sixty thousand +effectives against Halleck's double numbers. Moreover, the loss of +three States and many battles had so shaken the Confederate forces +that they stood no chance whatever against Halleck's double numbers +in the open. All the same, Halleck burrowed slowly forward like a +mole, entrenching every night as if the respective strengths and +victories had been reversed. + +After advancing nearly a mile a day Halleck closed in on Corinth. +He was so deeply entrenched that no one could tell from appearances +which side was besieging the other. Towards the end of May many +Federal railwaymen reported that empty trains could be heard running +into Corinth and full trains running out. But, as the Confederates +greeted each arriving "empty" with tremendous cheers, Halleck felt +sure that Beauregard was being greatly reinforced. The Confederate +bluff worked to admiration. On the twenty-sixth Beauregard issued +orders for complete evacuation on the twenty-ninth. On the thirtieth +Halleck drew up his whole grand army ready for a desperate defense +against an enemy that had already gone a full day's march away. + +In the meantime the Federal flotilla had been fighting its way +down the Mississippi, under (the invalided) Foote's very capable +successor, Flag-Officer Charles Henry Davis. The Confederates had +very few naval men on the river, but many of their Mississippi +skippers were game to the death. They rammed Federal vessels on +the tenth of May at Fort Pillow, eighty miles above Memphis. Eight +of their fighting craft were strongly built and heavily armored, +though very deficient in speed. The Federal flotilla was very well +manned by first-class naval ratings, and was reinforced early in +June by seven fast new rams, commanded by their designer, Colonel +Charles Ellet, a famous civil engineer. + +At sunrise on the lovely sixth of June the Federal flotilla, having +overcome the Confederate posts farther north and being joined by +Ellet's rams, lay near Memphis. The Confederates came upstream to +the attack, expecting to ram the gunboats in the stern as they +had at Fort Pillow. But Ellet suddenly darted down on the eight +Confederate ironclads, caught one of them on the broadside, sank +her, and disabled two others. The action then became general. The +overmatched Confederates kept up a losing battle for more than an +hour, in full view of many thousands of ardent Southerners ashore. +The scene, at its height, was appalling. The smoke, belching black +from the funnels and white from the guns, made a suffocating pall +overhead; while the dark, squat, hideous ironclad hulls seemed to +have risen from a submarine inferno to stab each other with livid +tongues of flame--so deadly close the two flotillas fought. When +the awful hour was over the Confederates were not only defeated but +destroyed; and a wail went up from the thousands of their anguished +friends, as if the very shores were mourning. + + +For the next month Grant held the command at Memphis. Then, on +the eleventh of July, Halleck was recalled to Washington as +General-in-Chief of the whole army; while Pope was transferred to +Virginia. The Federal invasion of Virginia under that "Young Napoleon," +McClellan, had not been a success against Lee and Stonewall Jackson. +Nor did it improve with Pope at the front and Halleck in the rear, +as we shall presently see; though Halleck had declared that Pope's +operations at Island Number Ten were destined to immortal fame, and +Pope himself admitted his own greatness in sundry proclamations +to the world. + +The campaign now entered its second phase. The Virginian wing (of +the whole front reaching from the Mississippi to the sea) was checked +this summer; and was to remain more or less checked for many a long +day. The river wing, under the general direction of Halleck, had +also reached its limit for '62 about the same time, after having +conquered Kentucky and western Tennessee as well as the Mississippi +down to Memphis. + +This river wing was now depleted of some excellent troops and again +divided into quite separate commands. Buell commanded the Army +of the Ohio. Grant commanded his own Army of the Tennessee and +Rosecrans's Army of the Mississippi. Buell's scene of action lay +between the tributary streams--Ohio, Cumberland, and Tennessee--with +Chattanooga as his ultimate objective. Grant's scene of action +lay along the southward rails and Mississippi, with Vicksburg as +his ultimate objective. + +[Illustration: Civil War Campaigns of 1862] + +The Confederates were of course set on recovering complete control +of the line of Southern rails that made direct connections between +the Mississippi Valley and the sea: crossing the western tributaries +of the St. Francis and White Rivers; then running east from Memphis, +through Grand Junction, Corinth, and Iuka, to Chattanooga; thence +forking off northeast, through Knoxville, to Washington, Richmond, +and Norfolk; and southeast to Charleston and Savannah. Confederate +attention had originally been fixed on Corinth and Chattanooga. +But General O. M. Mitchel's abortive raid, just after Shiloh, had +also drawn it to the part between. The Federals therefore found +their enemy alert at every point. + +Braxton Bragg, Beauregard's successor and Buell's opponent, basing +himself on Chattanooga, tried to drive his line of Confederate +reconquest through the heart of Tennessee and thence through +mid-Kentucky, with the Ohio as his ultimate objective. His colleagues +near the Mississippi, Van Dorn and Sterling Price, meanwhile tried +to effect the reconquest of the Memphis-Corinth rails that Grant +and Rosecrans were holding. + +All main offensives, on both sides, ultimately failed in this latter +half of the river campaign of '62. So nothing but the bare fact +that they were attempted needs any notice here. + +In August, about the time that Lee and Jackson were maneuvering +in Virginia to bring on the Second Bull Run, Price and Bragg began +their respective advances against Grant and Buell. Buell was at +Murfreesboro, defending Nashville. Bragg, screened by the hills of +eastern Tennessee, made for the Ohio at Louisville and Cincinnati. +Pivoting on his left he wheeled his whole army round and raced for +Louisville. Buell enjoyed the advantage of rails over roads and +of interior lines as well. But Bragg had stolen several marches +on him at the start and he only won by a head. + +The Union Government, now thoroughly alarmed, sent Thomas to supersede +Buell. But Thomas declined to take over the command, and on the +eighth of October Buell fought Bragg at Perryville. There was no +tactical defeat or victory; but Bragg retired on Chattanooga. The +Government now urged Buell to enter east Tennessee. He protested +that lack of transport and supplies made such a move impossible. +William S. Rosecrans then replaced him. Buell was never employed +again. He certainly failed fully to appreciate the legitimate bearing +of statesmanship on strategy; but, for all that, he was an excellent +organizer and a good commander. + +In the meantime Grant had been experiencing his "most anxious period +of the war." During this anxious period, which lasted from July to +October, Rosecrans defeated Price at Iuka. This happened on the +nineteenth of September. Van Dorn then joined Price and returned +to the attack but was defeated by Rosecrans at Corinth on the fourth +of October. The Confederates, who had come near victory on the +third, retired in safety, because Grant still lacked the means of +resuming the offensive. + +As soon as he had the means Grant marched his army south for Vicksburg. +There were three converging forces: Grant's from Grand Junction, +Sherman's from Memphis, and a smaller one from Helena in Arkansas. +But the Confederate General, J. C. Pemberton, who had replaced Van +Dorn, escaped the trap they tried to set for him. He was strongly +entrenched on the south side of the Tallahatchie, north of Oxford, +on the Mississippi Central rails. While Grant and Sherman converged +on his front, the force from Helena rounded his rear and cut the +rails. But the damage was quickly repaired; and Pemberton retired +south toward Vicksburg before Grant and Sherman could close and +make him fight. + +Then Grant tried again. This time Sherman advanced on board of +Mississippi steamers, with the idea of meeting the Union expedition +coming up from New Orleans. But Van Dorn cut Grant's long line +of land communications at Holly Springs, forcing Grant back for +supplies and leaving Sherman, who had made his way up the Yazoo, +completely isolated. Grant fared well enough, so far as food was +concerned; for he found such abundant supplies that he at once +perceived the possibility of living on the country without troubling +about a northern base. He spent Christmas and New Year at Holly +Springs, and then moved back to Memphis. + +In the meantime Sherman's separated force had come to grief. On the +twenty-ninth of December its attempt to carry the Chickasaw Bluffs, +just north of Vicksburg, was completely frustrated by Pemberton; for +Sherman could not deploy into line on the few causeways that stood +above the flooded ground. + +On the eleventh of January this first campaign along the Mississippi +was ended by the capture of Arkansas Post. McClernand was the senior +there. But Sherman did the work ashore as D. D. Porter did afloat. + +Meanwhile Bragg had brought the campaign to a close among the eastern +tributaries by a daring, though abortive, march on Nashville. Rosecrans, +now commanding the army of the Cumberland, stopped and defeated him +at Stone's River on New Year's Eve. + + +The "War in the West," that is, in those parts of the Southwest +which lay beyond the navigable tributaries of the Mississippi system, +was even more futile at the time and absolutely null in the end. +Its scene of action, which practically consisted of inland Texas, +New Mexico, and Arizona, was not in itself important enough to be +a great determining factor in the actual clash of arms. But Texas +supplied many good men to the Southern ranks; and the Southern +commissariat missed the Texan cattle after the fall of Vicksburg +in '63. New Mexico might also have been a good deal more important +than it actually was if it could have been made the base of a real, +instead of an abortive, invasion of California, the El Dorado of +Confederate finance. + +We have already seen what happened on February 15, 1861, when General +Twiggs handed over to the State authorities all the army posts in +Texas. On the first of the following August Captain John R. Baylor, +who had been forming a little Confederate army under pretext of a +big buffalo hunt, proclaimed himself Governor of New Mexico (south +of 34°) and established his capital at Mesilla. In the meantime the +Confederate Government itself had appointed General H. H. Sibley +to the command of a brigade for the conquest of all New Mexico. +Not ten thousand men were engaged in this campaign, Federals and +Confederates, whites and Indians, all together; but a decisive +Confederate success might have been pregnant of future victories +farther west. Some Indians fought on one side, some on the other; +and some of the wilder tribes, delighted to see the encroaching +whites at loggerheads, gave trouble to both. + +On February 21, 1862, Sibley defeated Colonel E. R. S. Canby at +Valverde near Fort Craig. But his further advance was hindered +by the barrenness of the country, by the complete destruction of +all Union stores likely to fall into his hands, and by the fact +that he was between two Federal forts when the battle ended. On +the twenty-eighth of March there was a desperate fight in Apache +Cańon. Both sides claimed the victory. But the Confederates lost +more men as well as the whole of their supply and ammunition train. +After this Sibley began a retreat which ended in May at San Antonio. +His route was marked by bleaching skeletons for many a long day; and +from this time forward the conquest of California became nothing +but a dream. + + +The "War in the West" was a mere twig on the Trans-Mississippi +branch; and when the fall of Vicksburg severed the branch from the +tree the twig simply withered away. + + +The sword that ultimately severed branch and twig was firmly held +by Union hands before the year was out; and this notwithstanding +all the Union failures in the last six months. Grant and Porter +from above, Banks and Farragut from below, had already massed forces +strong enough to make the Mississippi a Union river from source to +sea, in spite of all Confederates from Vicksburg to Port Hudson. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +LINCOLN: WAR STATESMAN + +Lincoln was one of those men who require some mighty crisis to call +their genius forth. Though more successful than Grant in ordinary +life, he was never regarded as a national figure in law or politics +till he had passed his fiftieth year. He had no advantages of birth; +though he came of a sturdy old English stock that emigrated from +Norfolk to Massachusetts in the seventeenth century, and though +his mother seems to have been, both intellectually and otherwise, +above the general run of the Kentuckians among whom he was born +in 1809. His educational advantages were still less. Yet he soon +found his true affinities in books, as afterwards in life, not +among the clever, smart, or sentimental, but among the simple and +the great. He read and reread Shakespeare and the Bible, not because +they were the merely proper things to read but because his spirit +was akin to theirs. This meant that he never was a bookworm. Words +were things of life to him; and, for that reason, his own words +live. + +He had no artificial graces to soften the uncouth appearance of his +huge, gaunt six-foot-four of powerful bone and muscle. But he had +the native dignity of straightforward manhood; and, though a champion +competitor in feats of strength, his opinion was always sought as +that of an impartial umpire, even in cases affecting himself. He +"played the game" in his frontier home as he afterwards played +the greater game of life-or-death at Washington. His rough-hewn, +strong-featured face, shaped by his kindly humor to the finer ends +of power, was lit by a steady gaze that saw yet looked beyond, +till the immediate parts of the subject appeared in due relation +to the whole. Like many another man who sees farther and feels more +deeply than the rest, and who has the saving grace of humor, he knew +what yearning melancholy was; yet kept the springs of action tense +and strong. Firm as a rock on essentials he was extremely tolerant +about all minor differences. His policy was to live and let live +whenever that was possible. The preservation of the Union was his +master-passion, and he was ready for any honorable compromise that +left the Union safe. Himself a teetotaller, he silenced a temperance +delegation whose members were accusing Grant of drunkenness by +saying he should like to send some of his other generals a keg of +the same whisky if it would only make them fight. + +When he took arms against the sea of troubles that awaited him at +Washington he had dire need of all his calm tolerance and strength. +To add to his burdens, he was beset by far more than the usual +horde of office-seekers. These men were doubly ravenous because +their party was so new to power. They were peculiarly hard to place +with due regard for all the elements within the coalition. And each +appointment needed most discriminating care, lest a traitor to +the Union might creep in. While the guns were thundering against +Fort Sumter, and afterwards, when the Union Government was marooned +in Washington itself, the vestibules, stairways, ante-rooms, and +offices were clogged with eager applicants for every kind of civil +service job. And then, when this vast human flood subsided, the +"interviewing" stream began to flow and went on swelling to the +bitter end. These war-time interviewers claimed most of Lincoln's +personal attention just when he had the least to spare. But he would +deny no one the chance of receiving presidential aid or comfort and +he gladly suffered many fools for the chance of relieving the sad +or serious others. Add to all this the ceaseless work of helping to +form public opinion, of counteracting enemy propaganda, of shaping +Union policy under ever-changing circumstances, of carrying it +out by coalition means, and of exercising civil control over such +vast armed forces as no American had hitherto imagined: add these +extra burdens, and we can begin to realize what Lincoln had to +do as the chief war statesman of the North. + +A sound public opinion is the best embattlement of any home front. +So Lincoln set out to help in forming it. War on a national scale +was something entirely new to both sides, and especially unwelcome +to many people in the North, though the really loyal North was +up at Lincoln's call. Then came Bull Run; and Lincoln's renewed +determination, so well expressed in Whitman's words: "The President, +recovering himself, begins that very night--sternly, rapidly sets +about the task of reorganizing his forces, and placing himself in +positions for future and surer work. If there was nothing else +of Abraham Lincoln for history to stamp him with, it is enough to +send him with his wreath to the memory of all future time, that he +endured that hour, that day, bitterer than gall--indeed a crucifixion +day--that it did not conquer him that he unflinchingly stemmed it, +and resolved to lift himself and the Union out of it." + +Bull Run was only the beginning of troubles. There were many more +rocks ahead in the stormy sea of public opinion. The peace party +was always ready to lure the ship of state out of its true course +by using false lights, even when certain to bring about a universal +wreck in which the "pacifists" would suffer with the rest. But +dissensions within the war party were worse, especially when caused +by action in the field. Frémont's dismissal in November, '61, caused +great dissatisfaction among three kinds of people: those who thought +him a great general because he knew how to pose as one and really +had some streaks of great ability, those who were fattening on +the army contracts he let out with such a lavish hand, and those +who hailed him as the liberator of the slaves because he went +unwarrantably far beyond what was then politically wise or even +possible. He was the first Unionist commander to enter the Northern +Cave of Adullam, already infested with Copperhead snakes. + +There he was joined by McClellan exactly a year later; and there +the peace-at-current-prices party continued to nurse and cry their +grievances till the war was over. McClellan's dismissal was a matter +of dire necessity because victory was impossible under his command. +But he was a dangerous reinforcement to the Adullamites; for many +of the loyal public had been fooled by his proclamations, the press +had written him up to the skies as the Young Napoleon, and the +great mass of the rank and file still believed in him. He took +the kindly interest in camp comforts that goes to the soldier's +heart; and he really did know how to organize. Add his power of +passing off tinsel promises for golden deeds, and it can be well +understood how great was the danger of dismissing him before his +defects had become so apparent to the mass of people as to have +turned opinion decisively against him. We shall presently meet +him in his relation to Lincoln during the Virginian campaign, and +later on in his relation to Lee. Here we may leave him with the +reminder that he was the Democratic candidate for President in +'64, that he was still a mortal danger to the Union, even though +he had rejected the actual wording of his party's peace plank. + +The turn of the tide at the fighting front came in '63; but not +at the home front, where public opinion of the most vocal kind +was stirred to its dregs by the enforcement of the draft. The dime +song books of the Copperhead parts of New York expressed in rude +rhymes very much the same sort of apprehension that was voiced +by the official opposition in the Presidential campaign of '64. + + Abram Lincoln, what yer 'bout? + Stop this war, for it's played out. + +Another rhyme, called "The Beauties of Conscription," was a more +decorous expression of such public opinion. + + And this, the "People's Sovereignty," + Before a despot humbled! + . . . . + Well have they cashed old Lincoln's drafts, + Hurrah for the Conscription! + . . . . + Is not this war--this MURDER--for + The negro, _nolens volens?_ + +So, carrying out their ideas to the same sort of logical conclusion, +the New York mob of '63 not only burnt every recruiting office they +found undefended but burnt the negro orphan asylum and killed all +the negroes they could lay their hands on. + +Public opinion did veer round a little with the rising tide of +victory in the winter of '63 and '64. But, incredible as it may +seem to those who think the home front must always reflect the +fighting front, the nadir of public opinion in the North was reached +in the summer of '64, when every expert knew that the resources of +the South were nearing exhaustion and that the forces of the North +could certainly wear out Lee's dwindling army even if they could +not beat it. The trumpet gave no uncertain sound from Lincoln's +lips. "In this purpose to save the country and its liberties no +class of people seem so nearly unanimous as the soldiers in the +field and the sailors afloat. Do they not have the hardest of it? +Who should quail while they do not?" But the mere excellence of a +vast fighting front means a certain loss of the nobler qualities in +the home front, from which so many of the staunchest are withdrawn. +And then war-weariness breeds doubts, doubts breed fears, and fears +breed the spirit of surrender. + +There seemed to be more Copperheads in the conglomerate opposition +than Unionists ready to withstand them. The sinister figure of +Vallandigham loomed large in Ohio, where he openly denounced the +war in such disloyal terms that the military authorities arrested +him. An opposition committee, backed by the snakes in the grass of +the secret societies, at once wrote to Lincoln demanding release. +Lincoln thereupon offered release if the committee would sign a +declaration that, since rebellion existed, and since the armed forces +of the United States were the constitutional means of suppressing +rebellion, each member of the committee would support the war till +rebellion was put down. The committee refused to sign. More people +then began to see the self-contradictions of the opposition, and +most of those "plain people" to whom Lincoln consciously appealed +were touched to the heart by his pathetic question: "Must I shoot +the simple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not touch +a hair of the wily agitator who induces him to desert?" + +But there was still defection on the Union side, and among many +"plain people" too; for Horace Greeley, the best-known Union editor, +lost his nerve and ran away. And Greeley was not the only Union +journalist who helped, sometimes unwittingly, to pervert public +opinion. The "writing up" of McClellan for what he was not, though +rather hysterical, was at least well meant. But the reporters who +"wrote down" General Cox, because he would not make them members +of his staff in West Virginia, disgraced their profession. The +lies about Sherman's "insanity" and Grant's "intoxication" were +shamelessly excused on the plea that they made "good stories." +Sherman's insanity, as we have seen already, existed only in the +disordered imagination of blabbing old Simon Cameron. Grant, at +the time these stories were published, was strictly temperate. + +Amid all the hindrances--and encouragements, for the Union press +generally did noble service in the Union cause--of an uncensored +press, and all the complexities of public opinion, Lincoln kept +his head and heart set firmly on the one supreme objective of the +Union. He foresaw from the first that if all the States came through +the war United, then all the reforms for which the war was fought +would follow; but that if any particular reform was itself made +the supreme objective, then it, and with it all the other reforms, +would fail, because only part of the Union strength would be involved, +whereas the whole was needed. Moreover, he clearly foresaw the +absolute nature of a great civil war. Foreign wars may well, and +often do, end in some sort of compromise, especially when the home +life of the opponents can go on as before. But a great civil war +cannot end in compromise because it radically changes the home +life of one side or the other. Davis stood for "Independence or +extermination"; Lincoln simply for the Union, which, in his clear +prevision, meant all that the body politic could need for a new and +better life. He accepted the word "enemy" as descriptive of a passing +phase. He would not accept such phraseology as Meade's, "driving the +invader from our soil." "Will our generals," he complained, "never +get that idea out of their heads? The whole country is our soil." + +He was a life-long advocate of Emancipation, first, with compensation, +now as part of the price to be paid for rebellion. Emancipation, +however, depended on the Union, not the Union on it. His Proclamation +was ready in the summer of '62. But to publish it in the midst of +defeat would make it look like an act of despair. In September, +when the Confederates had to recross the Potomac after Antietam, the +Proclamation was given to the world. Its first effect was greater +abroad than at home; for now no foreign government could say, and +rightly say, that the war, not being fought on account of slavery, +might leave that issue still unsettled. This was a most important +point in Lincoln's foreign policy, a policy which had been haunted +by the fear of recognition for the South or the possibility of +war with either the French or British, or even both together. + +Lincoln's Cabinet was composed of two factions, one headed by Seward, +the Secretary of State, the other by Chase, the Secretary of the +Treasury. Both the fighting services were under War Democrats: +the Army under Stanton, the Navy under Welles. All these ministers +began by thinking that Lincoln had the least ability among them. +Seward and Welles presently learnt better. Stanton's exclamation +at Lincoln's death speaks for itself "Now he belongs to the ages!" +But Chase never believed that Lincoln could even be his equal. +Chase and the Treasury were a thorn in the side of the Government; +Chase because it was his nature, the Treasury because its notes fell +to thirty-nine cents in the dollar during the summer of '64. Welles, +hard-working and upright, was guided by an expert assistant. Stanton, +equally upright and equally hardworking, made many mistakes. And +yet, when all is said and done, Stanton was a really able patriot +who worked his hardest for what seemed to him the best. + +Such were the four chief men in that Cabinet with which Lincoln +carried out his Union policy and over which he towered in what +became transcendent statesmanship--the head, the heart, the genius +of the war. He never, for one moment, changed his course, but kept +it fixed upon the Union, no matter what the winds and tides, the +currents and cross-currents were. Thus, while so many lesser minds +were busy with flotsam and jetsam of the controversial storm, his +own serener soul was already beyond the far horizon, voyaging toward +the one sure haven for the Ship of State. + + +But Lincoln was more than the principal civilian war statesman: he +was the constitutional Commander-in-Chief of all the Union forces, +afloat and ashore. He was responsible not only for raising, supplying, +and controlling them, but for their actual command by men who, in +the eyes of the law, were simply his own lieutenants. The problem +of exercising civil control without practicing civilian interference, +always and everywhere hard, and especially hard in a civil war, +was particularly hard in his case, in view of public opinion, the +press, his own war policy, and the composition of his Cabinet. +His solution was by no means perfect; but the wonder is that he +reached it so well in spite of such perverting factors. He began +with the mere armed mob that fought the First Bull Run beset with +interference. He ended with Farragut, Grant, and Sherman, combined +in one great scheme of strategy that included Mobile, Virginia, +and the lower South, and that, while under full civil control, +was mostly free from interference with its naval and military +work--except at the fussy hands of Stanton. + +The fundamental difference between civil control, which is the +very breath of freedom, and civilian interference, which means +the death of all efficiency, can be quite simply illustrated by +supposing the proverbial Ship of State to be a fighting man-of-war. +The People are the owners, with all an owner's rights; while their +chosen Government is their agent, with all an agent's delegated +power. The fighting Services, as the word itself so properly implies, +are simply the People's servants, though they take their orders +from the Government. So far, so good, within the limits of civil +control, under which, and which alone, any national resources--in +men, money, or material--can lawfully be turned to warlike ends. +But when the ship is fitting out, still more when she is out at sea, +and most of all when she is fighting, then she should be handled only +by her expert captain with his expert crew. Civilian interference +begins the moment any inexpert outsider takes the captain's place; +and this interference is no less disastrous when the outsider remains +at home than when he is on the actual spot. + +Lincoln and Stanton were out of their element in the strategic +fight with Lee and Stonewall Jackson, as the next chapter abundantly +proves. But they will bear, and more than bear, comparison with +Davis and Benjamin, their own special "opposite numbers." Benjamin, +when Confederate Secretary of War in '62, nearly drove Jackson +out of the service by ordering him to follow the advice of some +disgruntled subordinates who objected to being moved about for +strategic reasons which they could not understand. To make matters +worse, Benjamin sent this precious order direct to Jackson without +even informing his immediate superior, "Joe" Johnston, or even Lee +himself. Thus discipline, the very soul of armies, was attacked +from above and beneath by the man who should have been its chief +upholder. Luckily for the South things were smoothed over, and +Benjamin learnt something he should have known at first. + +Davis had none of Lincoln's diffidence about his own capacity for +directing the strategy of armies. He had passed through West Point +and commanded a battalion in Mexico without finding out that his +fitness stopped there. He interfered with Lee and Jackson, sometimes +to almost a disabling extent. He forced his enmity on "Joe" Johnston +and superseded him at the very worst time in the final campaign. He +interfered more than ever just when Lee most required a free hand. +And when he did make Lee a real Commander-in-Chief the Southern +cause had been lost already. Lincoln's war statesmanship grew with +the war. Davis remained as he was. + +Lincoln had to meet the difficulties that always occur when +professionals and amateurs are serving together. How much Lincoln, +Stanton, professionals, and amateurs had to do with the system that +was evolved under great stress is far too complex for discussion +here. Suffice it to say this: Lincoln's clear insight and openness +of mind enabled him to see the universal truth, that, other things +being equal, the trained and expert professional must excel the +untrained and inexpert amateur. But other things are never precisely +equal; and a war in which the whole mass-manhood is concerned brings +in a host of amateurs. Lincoln was as devoid of prejudice against +the regular officers as he was against any other class of men; and +he was ready to try and try again to find a satisfactory commander +among them, in spite of many failures. The plan of campaign proposed +by General Winfield Scott (and ultimately carried out in a modified +form) was dubbed by wiseacre public men the "Anaconda policy"; witlings +derided it, and the people were too impatient for anything except "On +to Richmond!" Scott, unable to take the field at seventy-five, had +no second-in-command. Halleck was a very poor substitute later on. +In the meantime McDowell was chosen and generously helped by Lincoln +and Stanton. But after Bull Run the very people whose impatience +made victory impossible howled him down. + +Then the choice fell on McClellan, whose notorious campaign fills +much of our next chapter. There we shall see how refractory +circumstances, Stanton's waywardness among them, forced Lincoln +to go beyond the limits of civil control. Here we need only note +McClellan's personal relations with the President. Instead of summoning +him to the White House Lincoln often called at McClellan's for +discussion. McClellan presently began to treat Lincoln's questions +as intrusions, and one day sent down word that he was too tired to +see the President. Lincoln had told a friend that he would hold +McClellan's stirrups for the sake of victory. But he could not +abdicate in favor of McClellan or any one else. + +It was none of Lincoln's business to be an actual Commander-in-Chief. +Yet night after weary night he sat up studying the science and art +of war, groping his untutored way toward those general principles +and essential human facts which his native genius enabled him to +reach, but never quite understanding--how could he?--their practical +application to the field of strategy. His supremely good common +sense saved him from going beyond his depth whenever he could help +it. His Military Orders were forced upon him by the extreme pressure +of impatient public opinion. He told Grant "he did not know but +they were all wrong, and he did know that some of them were." + +McClellan was not the only failure in Virginia. Burnside and Hooker +also failed against Lee and Jackson. All three suffered from civilian +interference as well as from their own defects. At last, in the +third year of the war, a victor appeared in Meade, a good, but +by no means great, commander. In the fourth year Lincoln gave the +chief command to Grant, whom he had carefully watched and wisely +supported through all the ups and downs of the river campaigns. + +Grant's account of his first conference alone with Lincoln is eloquent +of Lincoln's wise war statesmanship: + + +He stated that he had never professed to be a military man or +to know how campaigns should be conducted, and never wanted to +interfere in them.... All he wanted was some one who would take +the responsibility and act, and call on him for all the assistance +needed, pledging himself to use all the power of the government +in rendering such assistance.... He pointed out on the map two +streams which empty into the Potomac, and suggested that the army +might be moved on boats and landed between the mouths of these +streams. We would then have the Potomac to bring our supplies and +the tributaries would protect our flanks while we moved out. I +listened respectfully, but did not suggest that the same streams +would protect Lee's flanks while he was shutting us up. I did not +communicate my plans to the President; nor did I to the Secretary +of War or to General Halleck. + + +Trust begot trust; and some months later Grant showed war statesmanship +of the same magnificent kind. McClellan had become the Democratic +candidate for President, to the well-founded alarm of all who put +the Union first. In June, when Grant and Lee were at grips round +Richmond, Lincoln was invited to a public meeting got up in honor +of Grant with only a flimsy disguise of the ominous fact that Grant, +and not Lincoln, might be the Union choice. Lincoln sagaciously wrote +back: "It is impossible for me to attend. I approve nevertheless +of whatever may tend to strengthen and sustain General Grant and +the noble armies now under his command. He and his brave soldiers +are now in the midst of their great trial, and I trust that at +your meeting you will so shape your good words that they may turn +to men and guns, moving to his and their support." The danger to +the Union of taking Grant away from the front moved Lincoln deeply +all through that anxious summer of '64, though he never thought +Grant would leave the front with his work half done. In August an +officious editor told Lincoln that he ought to take a good long +rest. Lincoln, however, was determined to stand by his own post of +duty and find out from Grant, through their common friend, John +Eaton, what Grant's own views of such ideas were. This is Eaton's +account of how Grant took it: + + +We had been talking very quietly. But Grant's reply came in an +instant and with a violence for which I was not prepared. He brought +his clenched fists down hard on the strap arms of his camp chair. +"They can't do it. They can't compel me to do it." Emphatic gesture +was not a strong point with Grant. "Have you said this to the +President?" "No," said Grant, "I have not thought it worth while +to assure the President of my opinion. I consider it as important +for the cause that he should be elected as that the army should +be successful in the field." + + +When Eaton brought back his report Lincoln simply said, "I told you +they could not get him to run till he had closed out the rebellion." + +On the twenty-third of this same gloomy August, lightened only +by the taking of Mobile, Lincoln asked his Cabinet if they would +endorse a memorandum without reading it. They all immediately signed. +After his reëlection in November he read it out: "This morning, +as for some days past, it seems exceedingly probable that this +Administration will not be reëlected. Then it will be my duty to +so coöperate with the President-elect as to save the Union between +the election and the inauguration, as he will have secured his +election on such ground that he cannot possibly save it afterwards." +He added that he would have asked McClellan to throw his whole +influence into getting enough recruits to finish the war before +the fourth of March. "And McClellan," was Seward's comment, "would +have said 'Yes, yes,' and then done nothing." + +Lincoln's reëlection was helped by Farragut's victory in August, +Sherman's in September, and Sheridan's raid through the Shenandoah +Valley in October. But it was also helped by that strange, vivifying +touch which passes, no one knows how, from the man who best embodies +a supremely patriotic cause to the masses of his fellow patriots, +and then, at some great crisis, when they scale heights which he +has long since trod, comes back in flood and carries him to power. + +Lincoln stories were abroad; the true were eclipsing the false; and +all the true ones gained him increasing credit. Naval reformers, +and many others too, enjoyed the homely wit with which he closed +the first conference about such a startlingly novel craft as the +plans for the _Monitor_ promised: "Well, Gentlemen, all I have to +say is what the girl said when she put her foot into the stocking: +'It strikes me there's something in it.'" The army enjoyed the joke +against the three-month captain whom Sherman threatened to shoot +if he went home without leave. The same day Lincoln, visiting the +camp, was harangued by this prospective deserter in presence of many +another man disheartened by Bull Run. "Mr. President: this morning +I spoke to Colonel Sherman and he threatened to shoot me, Sir!" +Lincoln looked the two men over, and then, in a stage whisper every +listener could hear, said: "Well, if I were you, and he threatened +to shoot me, I wouldn't trust him; for I'm sure he'd do it." Both +Services were not only pleased with the "rise" Lincoln took out +of a too inquisitive politician but were much reassured by its +model discretion. This importunate politician so badgered Lincoln +about the real destination of McClellan's transports that Lincoln +at last promised to tell everything he could if the politician +would promise not to repeat it. Then, after swearing the utmost +secrecy, the politician got the news: "They are going to sea." + +The whole home front as well as the Services were touched to the +heart by tales of Lincoln's kindness in his many interviews with +the war-bereaved; and letters like these spoke for themselves to +every patriot in the land: + + Executive Mansion, November 21, 1864. + +Mrs. Bixby, Boston, Massachusetts. + +Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department +a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are +the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of +battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine +which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so +overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation +that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. +I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your +bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved +and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid +so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. + + Yours very sincerely and respectfully, + Abraham Lincoln. + + +Nor did the Lincoln touch stop there. It even began to make its +quietly persuasive way among the finer spirits of the South from +the very day on which the Second Inaugural closed with words which +were the noblest consummation of the prophecy made in the First. +This was the prophecy: "The mystic chords of memory, stretching +from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and +hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus +of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the +better angels of our nature." And this the consummation: "With +malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the +right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish +the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him +who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan--to +do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among +ourselves and with all nations." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +LEE AND JACKSON: 1862-3 + +Most Southerners remained spellbound by the glamour of Bull Run +till the hard, sharp truths of '62 began to rouse them from their +flattering dream. They fondly hoped, and even half believed, that +if another Northern army dared to invade Virginia it would certainly +fail against their entrenchments at Bull Run. If, so ran the argument, +the North failed in the open field it must fail still worse against +a fortified position. + +The Southern generals vainly urged their Government to put forth +its utmost strength at once, before the more complex and less united +North had time to recover and begin anew. They asked for sixty +thousand men at Bull Run, to be used for a vigorous counterstroke +at Washington. They pointed out the absurdity of misusing the Bull +Run (or Manassas) position as a mere shield, fixed to one spot, +instead of making it the hilt of a sword thrust straight at the heart +of the North. Robert E. Lee, now a full general in the Confederate +Army and adviser to the President, grasped the whole situation +from the first and urged the right solution in the official way. +Stonewall Jackson, still a junior general, was in full accord with +Lee, as we know from the confidential interview (at the end of +October, '61) between him and his divisional commander, General G. +W. Smith, who made it public many years later. The gist of Jackson's +argument was this: "McClellan won't come out this year with his +army of recruits. We ought to invade now, not wait to be invaded +later on. If Davis would concentrate every man who can be spared +from all other points and let us invade before winter sets in, +then McClellan's recruits couldn't stand against us in the field. +Let us cross the upper Potomac, occupy Baltimore, and, holding +Maryland, cut the communications of Washington, force the Federal +Government out of it, beat McClellan if he attacks, destroy industrial +plants liable to be turned to warlike ends, cut the big commercial +lines of communication, close the coal mines, seize the neck of +land between Pittsburg and Lake Erie, live on the country by +requisition, and show the North what it would cost to conquer the +South." On asking Smith if he agreed, Smith answered: "I will tell +you a secret; for I am sure it won't be divulged. These views were +rejected by the Government during the conference at Fairfax Court +House at the beginning of the month." Jackson thereupon shook Smith's +hand, saying, "I am sorry, very sorry," and, mounting Little Sorrel +without another word, rode sadly away. + +Jefferson Davis probably, and some of his Cabinet possibly, understood +what Lee, "Joe" Johnston, Beauregard, Smith, and Jackson so strongly +urged. But they feared the outcry that would assuredly be raised by +people in districts denuded of troops for the grand concentration +elsewhere. So they remained passive when they should have been active, +and, trying to strengthen each separate part, fatally weakened the +whole. + +Meanwhile the North was collecting the different elements of warlike +force and changing its Secretary of War. Cameron was superseded +by Stanton on the fifteenth of January. Twelve days later Lincoln +issued the first of those military orders which, as we have just +seen, he afterwards told Grant that the impatience of the loyal +North compelled him to issue, though he knew some were certainly, and +all were possibly, wrong. This first order was one of the certainly +wrong. McClellan's unready masses were to begin an unlimited mud +march through the early spring roads of Virginia on the twenty-second +of February, in honor of Washington's birthday. A reconnoitering +staff officer reported the roads as being in their proper places; +but he guessed the bottom had fallen out. So McClellan was granted +some delay. + +His grand total was now over two hundred thousand men. The Confederate +grand total was estimated at a hundred and fifteen thousand by the +civilian detectives whom the Federal Government employed to serve +in place of an expert intelligence staff. The detective estimate +was sixty-five thousand men out. The real Confederate strength +at this time was only fifty thousand. There was little chance of +getting true estimates in any other way, as the Federal Government +had no adequate cavalry. Most of the few cavalry McClellan commanded +were as yet a mere collection of men and horses, quite unfit for +reconnoitering and testing an enemy's force. + +McClellan's own plan, formed on the supposition that the Confederates +held the Bull Run position with at least a hundred thousand men, +involved the transfer of a hundred and fifty thousand Federals by +sea from Washington to Fortress Monroe, on the historic peninsula +between the York and James rivers. Then, using these rivers as +lines of communication, his army would take Richmond in flank. +Lincoln's objection to this plan was based on the very significant +argument that while the Federal army was being transported piecemeal +to Fortress Monroe the Confederates might take Washington by a +sudden dash from their base at Centreville, only thirty miles off. +This was a valid objection; for Washington was not only the Federal +Headquarters but the very emblem of the Union cause--a sort of living +Stars and Stripes--and Washington lost might well be understood to +mean almost the same as if the Ship of State had struck her colors. + +On the ninth of March the immediate anxiety about Washington was +relieved. That day came news that the _Monitor_ had checkmated the +_Merrimac_ in Hampton Roads and that "Joe" Johnston had withdrawn +his forces from the Bull Run position and had retired behind the +Rappahannock to Culpeper. On the tenth McClellan began a reconnoitering +pursuit of Johnston from Washington. Having found burnt bridges and +other signs of decisive retirement, he at last persuaded the reluctant +Lincoln to sanction the Peninsula Campaign. On the seventeenth his +army began embarking for Fortress Monroe, ten thousand men at a +time, that being all the transports could carry. For a week the +movement of troops went on successfully; while the Confederates +could not make out what was happening along the coast. Everything +also seemed quite safe, from the Federal point of view, in the +Shenandoah Valley, where General Banks commanded. And both there +and along the Potomac the Federals were in apparently overwhelming +strength; even though the detectives doing duty as staff officers +still kept on doubling the numbers of all the Confederates under +arms. + +Suddenly, on the twenty-third, a fight at Kernstown in the Shenandoah +Valley gave a serious shock to the victorious Federals, not only +there but all over the semicircle of invasion, from West Virginia +round by the Potomac and down to Fortress Monroe. The fighting on +both sides was magnificent. Yet Kernstown itself was a very small +affair. Little more than ten thousand men had been in action: seven +thousand Federals under Shields against half as many Confederates +under Stonewall Jackson. The point is that Jackson's attack, though +unsuccessful, was very disconcerting elsewhere. From Kernstown the +area of disturbance spread like wildfire till the tactical victory +of seven thousand Federals had spoilt the strategy of thirty times +as many. Shields reported: "I set to work during the night to bring +together all the troops within my reach. I sent an express after +Williams's division, requesting the rear brigade, about twenty miles +distant, to march all night and join me in the morning. I swept the +posts in rear of almost all their guards, hurrying them forward +by forced marches, to be with me at daylight." Banks, now on his +way to Washington, halted in alarm at Harper's Ferry. McClellan, +perceiving that Jackson's little force was more than a mere corps of +observation, approved Banks and added: "As soon as you are strong +enough push Jackson hard and drive him well beyond Strasburg," +that is, west of the Massanuttons, where Frémont could close in +and finish him. Lincoln had already been thinking of transferring +nine thousand men from McClellan to Frémont. Kernstown decided +it; so off they went to West Virginia. Still fearing an attack +on Washington, Lincoln halted McDowell's army corps, thirty-seven +thousand strong, on the march overland to join McClellan on the +Peninsula, and kept them stuck fast round Centreville, near Bull +Run. And so McClellan's Peninsular force was suddenly reduced by +forty-six thousand men. + +April was a month of maneuvers and suspense. By the end of it McClellan, +based on Fortress Monroe, had accumulated a hundred and ten thousand +men. The Confederates on the Peninsula, holding Yorktown, numbered +fifty thousand. McClellan sadly missed McDowell, whose corps was to +have taken the fort at Gloucester Point that prevented the Federal +gunboats from turning the enemy's lines at Yorktown. McDowell moved +south to Fredericksburg, leaving a small force near Manassas Junction +to connect him with the garrison of Washington. The Confederates +could spare only twelve thousand men to watch him. Meanwhile Banks +occupied the Shenandoah Valley, having twenty thousand men at +Harrisonburg and smaller forces at several points all round, from +southwest to northeast, each designed to form part of the net that +was soon to catch Jackson. Beyond Banks stood Frémont's force in +West Virginia, also ready to close in. Jackson's complete grand +total was less than that of Banks's own main body. Yet, with one +eye on Richmond, he lay in wait at Swift Run Gap, crouching for a +tiger-spring at Banks. Virginia was semicircled by superior forces. +But everywhere inside the semicircle the Confederate parts all +formed one strategic whole; while the Federal parts outside did not. +Moreover, the South had already decided to call up every available +man; thus forestalling the North by more than ten months on the +vital issue of conscription. + +In May the preliminary clash of arms began on the Peninsula. The +Confederates evacuated the Yorktown lines on the third. On the +fifth McClellan's advanced guard fought its way past Williamsburg. +On the seventh he began changing his base from Fortress Monroe to +White House on the Pamunkey. Here on the sixteenth he was within +twenty miles of Richmond, while all the seaways behind him were safe +in Union hands. The fate not only of Richmond but of the whole South +seemed trembling in the scales. The Northern armies had cleared +the Mississippi down to Memphis. The Northern navy had taken New +Orleans, the greatest Southern port. And now the Northern hosts +were striking at the Southern capital. McClellan with double numbers +from the east, McDowell with treble numbers from the north, and the +Union navy, with more than fourfold strength on all the navigable +waters, were closing in. The Confederate Government had even decided +to take the extreme step of evacuating Richmond, hoping to prolong +the struggle elsewhere. The official records had been packed. Davis +had made all arrangements for the flight of his family. And from +Drewry's Bluff, eight miles south of Richmond, the masts of the +foremost Federal vessels could be seen coming up the James, where, +on the eleventh, the _Merrimac_, having grounded, had been destroyed +by her own commander. + +But the General Assembly of Virginia, passionately seconded by +the City Council, petitioned the Government to stand its ground +"till not a stone was left upon another." Every man in Richmond who +could do a hand's turn and who was not already in arms marched out +to complete the defenses of the James at Drewry's Bluff. Senators, +bankers, bondmen and free, merchants, laborers, and ministers of +all religions, dug earthworks, hauled cannon, piled ammunition, +or worked, wet to the waist, at the big boom that was to stop the +ships and hold them under fire. The Government had changed its mind. +Richmond was to be held to the last extremity. And the Southern +women were as willing as the men. + +In the midst of all this turmoil Lee calmly reviewed the situation. +He saw that the Federal gunboats coming up the James were acting +alone, as the disconnected vanguard of what should have been a +joint advance, and that no army was yet moving to support them. +He knew McClellan and Banks and read them like a book. He also +knew Jackson, and decided to use him again in the Shenandoah Valley +as a menace to Washington. Writing to him on the sixteenth of May, +the very day McClellan reached White House, only twenty miles from +Richmond, he said: "Whatever movement you make against Banks, do it +speedily, and, if successful, drive him back towards the Potomac, +and create the impression, as far as possible, that you design +threatening that line." Moreover, out of his own scanty forces, he +sent Jackson two excellent brigades. Thus, while the great Federal +civilians who knew nothing practical of war were all agog about +Richmond, a single point at one end of the semicircle, the great +Confederate strategist was forging a thunderbolt to relieve the +pressure on it by striking the Federal center so as to threaten +Washington. The fundamental idea was a Fabian defensive at Richmond, +a vigorous offensive in the Valley, to produce Federal dispersion +between these points and Washington; then rapid concentration against +McClellan on the Chickahominy. + +The unsupported Federal gunboats were stopped and turned back at +the boom near Drewry's Bluff. McClellan, bent on besieging Richmond +in due form, crawled cautiously about the intervening swamps of the +oozy Chickahominy. McDowell, who could not advance alone, remained +at Fredericksburg. Shields stood behind him, near Catlett's Station, +to keep another eye on nervous Washington. + + +In the meantime Stonewall Jackson, still in the Shenandoah, had +fought no battles since his tactical defeat at Kernstown on the +twenty-third of March had proved such a pregnant strategic victory +elsewhere. But late in April he had a letter from Lee, telling of +the general situation and suggesting an attack on Banks. Banks, +however, still had twenty thousand men at Harrisonburg, with twenty-five +thousand more in or within call of the Valley. Jackson's complete +grand total was less than eighteen thousand. The odds against him +therefore exceeded five against two; and direct attack was out of +the question. But he now began his maneuvers anew and on a bolder +scale than ever. He had upset the Federal strategy at Kernstown, +when there were less than eight thousand Confederates in the Valley. +What might he not do with ten thousand more? His wonderful Valley +Campaign, famous forever in the history of war, gives us the answer. + +He had five advantages over Banks. First, his own expert knowledge +and genius for war, backed by a dauntless character. Banks was a +very able man who had worked his way up from factory hand to Speaker +of the House of Representatives and Governor of Massachusetts. But +he had neither the knowledge, genius, nor character required for +high command; and he owed his present position more to his ardor +as a politician than to his ability as a general. Jackson's second +advantage was his own and his army's knowledge of the country for +which they naturally fought with a loving zeal which no invaders could +equal. The third advantage was in having Turner Ashby's cavalry. +These were horsemen born and bred, who could make their way across +country as easily as the "footy" Federals could along the road. +In answer to a peremptory order a Federal cavalry commander could +only explain: "I can't catch them. They leap fences and walls like +deer. Neither our men nor our horses are so trained." The fourth +advantage was in discipline. Jackson habitually spared his men more +than his officers, and his officers more than himself, whenever +indulgence was possible. But when discipline had to be sternly +maintained he maintained it sternly, throughout all ranks, knowing +that the flower of discipline is self-sacrifice, from the senior +general down, and that the root is due subordination, from the +junior private up. After the Conscription Act had come into force +a few companies, who were time-expired as volunteers, threw down +their arms and told their colonel they wouldn't serve another day. +On hearing this officially Jackson asked: "Why does Colonel Grigsby +refer to me to learn how to deal with mutineers? He should shoot +them where they stand." The rest of the regiment was then paraded +with loaded arms, facing the mutineers, who were given the choice +of complete submission or instant death. They chose submission. That +was the last mutiny under Stonewall Jackson. Both sides suffered from +straggling, the Confederates as much as the Federals. But Confederate +stragglers rejoined the better of the two; and in downright desertion +the Federals were the worse, simply because their own peace party +was by far the stronger. The final advantage brings us back to +strategy, on which the whole campaign was turning. Lee and Jackson +worked the Confederates together. Lincoln and Stanton worked the +Federals apart. + +On the last of April Jackson slipped away from Swift Run Gap while +Ewell quietly took his place and Ashby blinded Banks by driving the +Federal cavalry back on Harrisonburg. Jackson's men were thoroughly +puzzled and disheartened when they had to leave the Valley in full +possession of the enemy while they ploughed through seas of mud +towards Richmond. What was the matter? Were they off to Richmond? +No; for they presently wheeled round. "Old Jack's crazy, sure, +this time." Even one of his staff officers thought so himself, and +put it on paper, to his own confusion afterwards. The rain came +down in driving sheets. The roads became mere drains for the oozing +woods. Wheels stuck fast; and Jackson was seen heaving his hardest +with an exhausted gun team. But still the march went on--slosh, +slosh, squelch; they slogged it through. _Close up, men!--close up +in rear!--close up, there, close up!_ + +On the fourth of May Jackson got word from Edward Johnson, commanding +his detached brigade near Staunton, that Milroy, commanding Frémont's +advanced guard, was coming on from West Virginia. Jackson at once +seized the chance of smashing Milroy by railing in to Staunton before +Banks or Frémont could interfere. This would have been suicidal +against a great commander with a well-trained force. But Banks, +grossly exaggerating Jackson's numbers, was already marching north +to the railhead at New Market, where he would be nearer his friends +if Jackson swooped down. Detraining at Staunton the Confederates +picketed the whole neighborhood to stop news getting out before +they made their dash against Milroy. On the seventh they moved +off. The cadets of the Virginia Military Institute, where Jackson +had been a professor for so many years, had just joined to gain +some experience of the real thing, and as they stepped out in their +smart uniforms, with all the exactness of parade-ground drill, +they formed a marked contrast to the gaunt soldiers of the Valley, +half fed, half clad, but wholly eager for the fray. + +[Illustration: CIVIL WAR: VIRGINA CAMPAIGNS, 1862] + +That night Milroy got together all the men he could collect at +McDowell, a little village just beyond the Valley and on the road to +Gauley Bridge in West Virginia. He sent posthaste for reinforcements. +But Frémont's men were divided too far west, fearing nothing from +the Valley, while Banks's were thinking of a concentration too +far north. + +In the afternoon of the eighth, Milroy attacked Jackson with great +determination and much skill. But after a stern encounter, in which +the outnumbered Federals fought very well indeed, the Confederates +won a decisive victory. The numbers actually engaged--twenty-five +hundred Federals against four thousand Confederates--were even +smaller than at Kernstown. But this time the Confederates won the +tactical victory on the spot as well as the strategic victory all +over the Valley; and the news cheered Richmond at what, as we have +seen already, was its very darkest hour. The night of the battle +Jackson sent out strong working parties to destroy all bridges and +culverts and to block all roads by which Frémont could reach the +Valley. In some places bowlders were rolled down from the hills. +In one the trees were felled athwart the path for a mile. A week +later Jackson was back in the Valley at Lebanon Springs, while +Frémont was blocked off from Banks, who was now distractedly groping +for safety and news. + +The following day, the famous sixteenth, we regain touch with Lee, +who, as mentioned already, then wrote to Jackson about attacking +Banks in order to threaten Washington. This dire day at Richmond, +the day McClellan reached White House, was also the one appointed by +the Southern Government as a day of intercession for God's blessing +on the Southern arms. None kept it more fervently, even in beleaguered +Richmond, than pious Jackson in the Valley. Then, like a giant +refreshed, he rose for swift and silent marches and also sudden +hammer-strokes at Banks. + +Confident that all would now go well, Washington thought nothing +of the little skirmish at McDowell, because it apparently disturbed +nothing beyond the Shenandoah Valley. The news from everywhere +else was good; and Federals were jubilant. So were the civilian +strategists, particularly Stanton, who, though tied to his desk +as Secretary of War, was busy wire-pulling Banks's men about the +Valley. Stanton ordered Banks to take post at Strasburg and to +hold the bridges at Front Royal with two detached battalions. This +masterpiece of bungling put the Federals at Front Royal in the air, +endangered their communications north to Winchester, and therefore +menaced the Valley line toward Washington. But Banks said nothing; +and Stanton would have snubbed him if he had. + +On the twenty-third of May a thousand Federals under Colonel Kenly +were sweltering in the first hot weather of the year at Stanton's +indefensible position of Front Royal when suddenly a long gray line +of skirmishers emerged from the woods, the Confederate bugles rang +out, and Jackson's battle line appeared. Then came a crashing volley, +which drove in the Federal pickets for their lives. Colonel Kenly +did his best. But he was outflanked and forced back in confusion. A +squadron of New York cavalry came to the rescue; but were themselves +outflanked and helpless on the road against the Virginian horsemen, +who could ride across country. Kenly had just made a second stand, +when down came the Virginians, led by Colonel Flournoy at racing +speed over fence and ditch, scattering the Federal cavalry like +chaff before the wind and smashing into the Federal infantry. Two +hundred and fifty really efficient cavalry took two guns (complete +with limbers, men, and horses), killed and wounded a hundred and +fifty-four of their opponents, and captured six hundred prisoners +as well--and all with a loss to themselves of only eleven killed +and fifteen wounded. + +Ashby's cavalry, several hundreds strong, pushed on and out to the +flanks, cutting the wires, destroying bridges, and blocking the +roads against reinforcements from beyond the Valley. Three hours +after the attack a dispatch-rider dashed up to Banks's headquarters +at Strasburg. But Banks refused to move, saying, when pressed by +his staff to make a strategic retreat on Winchester, "By God, sir, +I will not retreat! We have more to fear from the opinions of our +friends than from the bayonets of our enemies!" The Cabinet backed +him up next day by actually proposing to reinforce him at Strasburg +with troops from Washington and Baltimore. Nevertheless he was +forced to fly for his life to Winchester. His stores at Strasburg +had to be abandoned. His long train of wagons was checked on the +way, with considerable loss. And some of his cavalry, caught on +the road by horsemen who could ride across country, were smashed +to pieces. + +Jackson pressed on relentlessly to Winchester with every one who +could march like "foot cavalry," as his Valley men came to be called. +On the twenty-fifth, the third day of unremitting action, he carried +the Winchester heights and drove Banks through the town. Only the +Second Massachusetts, which had already distinguished itself during +the retreat, preserved its formation. Ten thousand Confederate +bayonets glittered in the morning sun. The long gray lines swept +forward. The piercing rebel yell rose high. And the people, wild +with joy, rushed out of doors to urge the victors on. + +By the twenty-sixth, the first day on which Stanton's reinforcements +from Baltimore and Washington could possibly have fought at Strasburg, +the Confederates had reached Martinsburg, fifty miles beyond it. +Banks had already crossed the Potomac, farther on still. The newsboys +of the North were crying, _Defeat of General Banks! Washington in +danger!_ Thirteen Governors were calling for special State militia, +for which a million men were volunteering, spare troops were hurrying +to Harper's Ferry, a reserve corps was being formed at Washington, +the Federal Government was assuming control of all the railroad +lines, and McClellan was being warned that he must either take +Richmond at once or come back to save the capital. Nor did the +strategic disturbance stop even there; for the Washington authorities +ordered McDowell's force at Fredericksburg to the Valley just as +it was coming into touch with McClellan. + +On the twenty-eighth Jackson might have taken Harper's Ferry. But +the storm was gathering round him. A great strategist directing +the Federal forces could have concentrated fifty thousand men, by +sunset on the first of June, against Jackson's Army of the Valley, +which could not possibly have mustered one-third of such a number. +McDowell arrived that night at Front Royal. He had vainly protested +against the false strategy imposed by the Government from Washington, +and he was not a free agent now. Yet, even so, his force was at +least a menace to Jackson, who had only two chances of getting +away to aid in the defeat of McClellan and the saving of Richmond. +One was to outmarch the converging Federals, gain interior lines +along the Valley, and defeat them there in detail. The other was to +march into friendly Maryland, trusting to her Southern sentiments +for help and reinforcements. He decided on the Valley route and +marched straight in between his enemies. + +His fortnight's work, from the nineteenth of May to the first of +June, inclusive, is worth summing up. In these fourteen days he +had marched 170 miles, routed 12,500 men, threatened an invasion +of the North, drawn McDowell off from Fredericksburg, taken or +destroyed all Federal stores at Front Royal, Winchester, and +Martinsburg, and brought off safely a convoy seven miles long. +Moreover, he had done all this with the loss of only six hundred, +though sixty thousand enemies lay on three sides of his own sixteen +thousand men. + +His remaining problem was harder still. It was how to mystify, +tire out, check short, and then immobilize the converging Federals +long enough to let him slip secretly away in time to help Johnston +and Lee against McClellan. Jackson, like his enemies, moved through +what has been well called the Fog of War--that inevitable uncertainty +through which all commanders must find their way. But none of his +enemies equaled him in knowledge, genius, or character for war. + +The first week in June saw desperate marches in the Valley, with +the outnumbering Federals hot-foot on the trail of Jackson, who +turned to bay one moment and at the next was off again. On the +sixth the Federals got home against his rear guard. It began to +waver, and Ashby ordered the infantry to charge. As he gave the +order his horse fell dead. In a flash he was up, waving his sword +and shouting: "Charge, for God's sake, charge!" The Confederate +line swept forward gallantly. But, just as it left the wood, Ashby +was shot through the heart. His men avenged him. Yet none could +fill his place as a born leader of irregular light horse. + +Next morning the hounds were hot upon the scent again: Shields +and Frémont converging on Jackson, whom they would run to earth +somewhere north of Staunton. But on the eighth and ninth Jackson +turned sharply and bit back, first at Frémont close to Cross Keys, +then at Shields near Port Republic. Each was caught alone, just +before their point of junction, and each was defeated in detail +as well. + +Fully to appreciate Jackson's strategy we must compare the strategical +and tactical numbers concerned throughout this short but momentous +Valley Campaign. The strategic numbers are those at the disposal +of the commander within the theater of operations. The tactical +numbers are those actually present on the field of battle, whether +engaged or not. At McDowell the Federals had 30,000 in strategic +strength against 17,000 Confederates; yet the Confederates got 6000 +on to the field of battle against no more than 2500. At Winchester +the Federal strategic strength was 60,000 against 16,000; yet the +Confederate tactical strength was every man of the 16,000 against +7500--only one-eighth of Banks's grand total. At Cross Keys the +strategic strengths were 23,000 Federals against 13,000 Confederates; +yet 12,750 Federals were beaten by 8000 Confederates. Finally, at +Port Republic, the Federals, with a strategic strength of 22,000 +against the Confederate 12,700, could only bring a tactical strength +of 4500 to bear on 6000 Confederates. The grand aggregate of these +four remarkable actions is well worth adding up. It comes to this +in strategic strength: 135,000 Federals against 58,700 Confederates. +Yet in tactical strength the odds are reversed; for they come to +this: 36,000 Confederates against only 27,250 Federals. Therefore +Stonewall Jackson, with strategic odds of nearly seven to three +against him, managed to fight with tactical odds of four to three +in his favor. + + +While Jackson was fighting in the Valley the Confederates at Richmond +were watching the nightly glow of Federal camp fires. McClellan +had 30,000 men north of the Chickahominy, waiting for McDowell to +come back from his enterprise against Jackson, and 75,000 south +of it. What could the 65,000 Confederates do, except hold fast to +their lines? TO RICHMOND 4-1/2 MILES: so read the sign-post at +the Mechanicsville bridge, and there stood the nearest Federal +picket. Johnston and Lee knew, however, that McClellan's alarmist +detectives swore to a Confederate army three times its actual strength +at this time; and there was reason to hope that the consequent +moral ascendancy would help the shock of an attack suddenly made +on one of McClellan's two wings while the flooded Chickahominy +flowed between them and its oozy swamps bewildered his staff. + +Hearing that McDowell need not be feared, Johnston attacked at +daylight on the thirty-first of May. The battle of Seven Pines +(known also as Fair Oaks) was not unlike Shiloh. The Federals were +taken by surprise on the first day and only succeeded in holding +their own by hard fighting and with a good deal of loss. A mistake +was made by the Confederate division told off for the attack on the +key to the Federal front (an attack which, if completely successful, +would have split the Federals in two) and the main bodies were +engaged before this fatal error could be rectified. So the surprised +Federals gradually recovered from the first shock and began to +feel and use their hitherto unrealized strength. On the second +day (the first of June) Johnston, who had been severely wounded, +was plainly defeated and compelled to fall back on Richmond again. + +On the morrow of this defeat Lee was appointed to "the immediate +command of the armies in eastern Virginia and North Carolina." +Davis was not war statesman enough to make him Commander-in-Chief +till '65--four years too late. Johnston did not reappear till he +tried to relieve Vicksburg from the determined attacks of Grant +in '63. + +The twelfth of June will be remembered forever in the annals of +cavalry for Stuart's first great ride round McClellan's host. With +twelve hundred troopers and two horse artillery guns he stole out +beyond the western flank of the Federals and reached Taylorsville that +evening, twenty-two miles north of Richmond. Next day he rode right in +among the Federal posts in rear, discovering that McClellan's right +stretched little north of the Chickahominy, that it was not fortified, +and that it did not rest on any strong natural feature, such as a +swampy stream. This was exactly the information Lee required. So +far, so good. The Federals met with up to this time had simply been +ridden down. But now the whole country was alarmed and McClellan +had forces out to cut Stuart off on his return, while General Cooke +(Stuart's father-in-law) began to pursue him from Hanover Court +House. + +Then Stuart took the boldest step of all, deciding to go clear round +the rest of the Federal army. At Tunstall's Station on the York +River Railroad he routed the guard, tore up the track, destroyed the +stores and wagons, cut the wires, burnt the bridge, and replenished +his supplies. Thence southeast, by the Williamsburg road, his column +marched under a full summer moon, the people running out of doors, +wild with joy at his daring. At sunrise he reached the Chickahominy, +only to find it flooded, full of timber, and spanned by nothing +better than a broken bridge. But, using the materials of a warehouse +to make a footway, the troopers crossed in single file, leading +their chargers, which swam. Waving his hand to the Federals, who had +just arrived too late, Stuart pushed on the remaining thirty-five +miles to Richmond, rounding the Federal flank within range of Federal +gunboats on the James. + +This magnificent raid not only procured in three days information +that McClellan's civilian detectives could not have procured in +three years but raised Confederate morale and depressed the Federals +correspondingly. Moreover, it drove the first nail into McClellan's +coffin. For in October, just after another Stuart raid, the following +curious incident occurred on board the _Martha Washington_ when +Lincoln was returning from an Alexandria review which had cheered +him up considerably, coming, as it did, after Lee had failed in +Maryland. By way of answering the very pertinent question--"Mr. +President, how about McClellan?"--Lincoln simply drew a ring on +the deck, quietly adding: "When I was a boy we used to play a game +called 'Three times round and out.' Stuart has been round McClellan +twice. The third time McClellan will be out." + +Stuart rode ahead of his troopers, straight to Lee, who immediately +wrote to Jackson suggesting that the Army of the Valley, while +keeping the Federals alarmed to the last about an attack on the +line of the Potomac, might secretly slip away and join a combined +attack on McClellan. Jackson, who had of course foreseen this, was +ready with every blind known to the art of war. Even his staff +and generals knew nothing of their destination. The first move was +so secret that the enemy never suspected anything till it was too +late, while friends thought there was to be another surprise in +the Valley. The second move led various people to suspect a march +on Washington--no bad news to leak out; and nothing but misleading +items did leak out. The Army of the Valley moved within a charmed +circle of cavalry which prevented any one from going forward, ahead +of the advance, and swept before it all stragglers through whom +the news might leak out by the rear. On the twenty-third of June, +only eight days after Stuart had reported his raid to Lee, Jackson +attended Lee's conference at the same place, Richmond. The Valley +Army was then on its thirty-mile march from Frederick's Hall to +Ashland, where it arrived on the twenty-fifth, fifteen miles north. + +McClellan had over a hundred thousand men. Lee had less than ninety +thousand, even after Jackson had joined him. To attack McClellan's +strongly fortified front, with its almost impregnable flanks, would +have been suicide. But McClellan's farther right, commanded by that +excellent officer, FitzJohn Porter, lay north of the Chickahominy, +with its own right open for junction with McDowell. So Lee, knowing +McClellan and the state of this Federal right, decided on the +twenty-fourth to attack Porter and threaten McClellan's communications +not only with McDowell to the north but with White House, the Federal +base twenty miles northeast. This was an exceedingly bold move, +first, because McClellan had plenty of men to take Richmond during +Lee's march north, secondly, because it meant the convergence of +separate forces on the field of battle (Jackson being at Ashland, +fifteen miles from Richmond) and, thirdly, because the Confederates +were inferior in armament and in supplies of all kinds as well +as in actual numbers. Magruder, who had held the Yorktown lines +so cleverly with such inferior forces, was to hold Richmond (on +both sides of the James) with thirty-five thousand men against +McClellan's seventy-five thousand, while Lee and Jackson converged +on Porter's twenty-five thousand with over fifty thousand. + +Then followed the famous Seven Days, beginning on the twenty-sixth +of June near the signpost at the Mechanicsville bridge--TO RICHMOND +4-1/2 MILES--and ending at Harrison's Landing on the second of July. +On the twenty-sixth the attack was made with consummate strategic +skill. But it was marred by bad staff work, by the great obstructions +in Jackson's path, and by A. P. Hill's premature attack with ten +thousand men against Porter's admirable front at Beaver Dam Creek. +Hill's men moved down their own side of the little valley in dense +masses till every gun and rifle on Porter's side was suddenly unmasked. +No scythe could have mowed the leading Confederates better. Two +thousand went down in the first few minutes, and the rest at once +retreated. + +Porter fell back on Gaines's Mill, where, after being reinforced, +he took up a strong position on the twenty-seventh. Again there +was failure in combining the attack. Jackson found obstructions +that even he could not overcome quickly enough. Hill attacked again +with the utmost gallantry, wave after wave of Confederates rushing +forward only to melt away before the concentrated fire of Porter's +reinforced command. + +But at last the Confederates--though checked and roughly +handled--converged under Lee's own eye; and an inferno of shot +and shell loosened and shook the steadfast Federal defense. Lee +and Jackson, though far apart, gave the word for the final charge +at almost the same moment. As Jackson's army suddenly burst into +view and swept forward to the assault the joyful news was shouted +down the ranks: "The Valley men are here!" Thereupon Lee's men took +up the double-quick with "Stonewall Jackson! Jackson! Jackson!" +as their battle cry. The Federals fought right valiantly till their +key-point suddenly gave way, smashed in by weight of numbers; for +Lee had brought into action half as many again as Porter had, even +with his reinforcements. On the gallantly defended hill the long +blue lines rocked, reeled, and broke to right and left all but +the steadfast regulars, whose infantry fell back in perfect order, +whose cavalry made a desperate though futile attempt to stay the +rout by charging one against twenty, and whose four magnificent +batteries, splendidly served to the very last round, retired unbroken +with the loss of only two guns. Then the Confederate colors waved +in triumph on the hard-won crest against the crimson of the setting +sun. + +The victorious Confederates spent the twenty-eighth and twenty-ninth +in finding the way to McClellan's new base. His absolute control +of all the waterways had enabled him to change his base from White +House on the Pamunkey to Harrison's Landing on the James. When the +Confederates discovered his line of retreat by the Quaker Road they +pressed in to cut it. On the thirtieth there was severe fighting +in White Oak Swamp and on Frayser's Farm. But the Federals passed +through, and made a fine stand on Malvern Hill next day. Finally, +when they turned at bay on the Evelington Heights, which covered +Harrison's Landing, they convinced their pursuers that it would +be fatal to attack again; for now Northern sea-power was visibly +present in flotillas of gunboats, which made the flanks as hopelessly +strong as the front. + +McClellan therefore remained safely behind his entrenchments, with +the navy in support. He had to his own credit the strategic success +of having foiled Lee by a clever change of base; and to the credit +of his army stood some first-rate fighting besides some tactical +success, especially at Malvern Hill. Nevertheless the second invasion +of Virginia was plainly a failure; though by no means a glaring +disaster, like the first invasion at Bull Run. + +McClellan, again reinforced, still professed his readiness to take +Richmond under conditions that suited himself. But the most promising +Northern force now seemed to be Pope's Army of Virginia, coming +down from the line of the Potomac, forty-seven thousand strong, +composed of excellent material, and heralded by proclamations which +even McClellan could never excel. John Pope, Halleck's hero of Island +Number Ten, came from the West to show the East how to fight. "I +presume that I have been called here to lead you against the enemy, +and that speedily. I hear constantly of taking strong positions +and holding them--of lines of retreat and bases of supplies. Let +us discard such ideas. Let us study the probable line of retreat +of our opponents, and leave our own to take care of themselves." +His Army of Virginia contained Frémont's (now Sigel's) corps, as +well as those of Banks and McDowell--all experts in the art of +"chasing Jackson." + +Jackson was soon ready to be chased again. The Confederate strength +had been reduced by the Seven Days and not made good by reinforcement; +so Lee could spare Jackson only twenty-four thousand men with whom +to meet the almost double numbers under Pope. But Jackson's men had +the better morale, not only on account of their previous service but +because of their rage to beat Pope, who, unlike other Northerners, +was enforcing the harshest rules of war. His lieutenant, General von +Steinwehr, went further, not only seizing prominent civilians as +hostages (to be shot whenever he chose to draw his own distinctions +between Confederate soldiers and guerillas) but giving his German +subordinates a liberty that some of them knew well how to turn +into license. This, of course, was most exceptional; for nearly +all Northerners made war like gentlemen. Unhappily, those who did +not were bad enough and numerous enough to infuriate the South. + +Halleck, who had now become chief military adviser to the Union +Government, was as cautious as McClellan and had so little discernment +that he thought Pope a better general than Grant. Lincoln, Stanton, +and Halleck put their heads together; and an order soon followed +which had the effect of relieving the pressure on Richmond and +giving the initiative to Lee. Halleck ordered McClellan to withdraw +from Harrison's Landing, take his Army of the Potomac round by sea +to Aquia Creek, and join Pope on the Rappahannock--an operation +requiring the whole month of August to complete. + +Lee lost no time. His first move was to get Pope's advanced troops +defeated by Jackson, who brought more than double numbers against +Banks at Cedar Run on the ninth of August. The Federals fought +magnificently, nine against twenty thousand men. After the battle +Jackson marched across the Rapidan, and Halleck wisely forbade +Pope from following him, even though the first of Burnside's men +(now the advanced guard of McClellan's army) had arrived at Aquia +and were marching overland to Pope. Then followed some anxious days +at Federal Headquarters. Jackson vanished; and Pope's cavalry, +numerous as it was, wore itself out trying to find the clue. McClellan +was still busy moving his men from Harrison's Landing to Fortress +Monroe, whence detachments kept sailing to Aquia. What would Lee +do now? + +On the thirteenth he began entraining Longstreet's troops for +Gordonsville. On the fifteenth he conferred with his generals. +And on the seventeenth, from the lookout on Clark's Mountain, he +saw Pope's unsuspecting army camped round Slaughter Mountain within +fifteen miles of the united Confederates. Halleck had just given +Pope the fatal order to "fight like the devil" till McClellan came +up. Pope was full of confidence. And there he lay, in a bad strategic +and worse tactical position, and with slightly inferior numbers, +just within reach of Jackson and Lee. Pope was, however, saved from +immediate disaster by an oversight on the part of Stuart. In ordering +Fitzhugh Lee's cavalry brigade to rendezvous at Verdierville that +night Stuart forgot to make the order urgent and the missing brigade +came in late. Stuart, anxious to see the enemy's position for himself, +rode out and was nearly taken prisoner. His dispatch-box fell into +Pope's hands, with a memorandum of Jackson's reinforcements. Jackson +was for attacking next day in any case and groaned aloud when Lee +decided not to, owing to the failure of cavalry combination in +front and the belated supplies in the rear. Pope retired safely on +the eighteenth, and on the nineteenth a thick haze hid his rear +from Lee's lookout. + +Lee was now in a very difficult position, apparently face to face +with what would soon be the joint forces of Pope, McClellan, and +probably another corps from Washington: the whole well fed, well +armed, and certainly more than twice as strong as the united +Confederates. But Jackson and Stuart multiplied their forces by +skillful maneuvers and mystifying raids, and presently Stuart had +his revenge for the affront he had suffered on the seventeenth. +On the tempestuous night of the twenty-second he captured Pope's +dispatches. On the twenty-fourth, at Jefferson, Lee and Jackson +discussed the situation with these dispatches before them. Dr. +Hunter McGuire, the Confederate staff-surgeon, noticed that Jackson +was unusually animated, drawing curves in the sand with the toe +of his boot while Lee nodded assent. Perhaps it was Jackson who +suggested the strategic idea of that wonderful last week in August. +However that may have been, Lee alone was responsible for its adoption +and superior direction. + +With a marvelous insight into the characters of his opponents, +a consummate knowledge of the science and art of war, and--quite +as important--an exact appreciation of the risks worth running, +Lee actually divided his 55,000 men in face of Pope's 80,000, of +20,000 more at Washington and Aquia, and of 50,000 available +reinforcements. Then, by the well-deserved results obtained, he +became one of the extremely few really great commanders of all +time. + +The "bookish theorick" who, with all the facts before him, revels +in the fond delights of retrospective prophecy, will never understand +how Lee succeeded in this enterprise, except by sheer good luck. +Only those who themselves have groped their perilous way through +the dense, distorting fog of war can understand the application +of that knowledge, genius, and character for war which so rarely +unite in one man. + +Lee sent Jackson north, to march at utmost speed under cover of +the Bull Run Mountains, to cross them at Thoroughfare Gap, and +to cut Pope's line at Manassas, where the enormous Federal field +base had been established. Unknown to Pope, Longstreet then slipped +into Jackson's place, so as to keep Pope in play till the raid on +Manassas and threat against Washington would draw him northeast, +away from McClellan at Aquia. The final move of this profound, +though very daring, plan was to take advantage of the Federal +distractions and consequent dispersions so as to effect a junction +on the field of battle against a conquerable force. + +Jackson moved off by the first gray streak of dawn on the twenty-fifth, +and that day made good the six-and-twenty miles to Salem Church. +Screened by Stuart's cavalry, and marching through a country of +devoted friends on such an errand as a commonplace general would +never suspect, Jackson stole this march on Pope in perfect safety. +The next day's march was far more dangerous. Roused while the stars +were shining the men moved off in even greater wonder as to their +destination. But when the first flush of dawn revealed the Bull +Run Mountains, with the well-known Thoroughfare Gap straight to +their front, they at once divined their part of Lee's stupendous +plan: a giant raid on Manassas, the Federal base of superabundant +supplies. The news ran down the miles of men, and with it the thrill +that presaged victory. Mile after mile was gained, almost in dead +silence, except for the clank of harness, the rumble of wheels, the +running beat of hoofs, and that long, low, ceaselessly rippling sound +of multitudinous men's feet. Hungry, ill-clad, and worn to their +last spare ounce, the gaunt gray ranks strained forward, slipped +from their leash at last and almost in sight of their prey. So far +they were undiscovered. But the Gap was only ten miles by airline +from Pope's extreme right, and the tell-tale cloud of dust, floating +down the mountain side above them, must soon be sighted, signaled, +noted, and attended to. Only speed, the speed of "foot-cavalry," +could now prevail, and not a man must be an inch behind. _Close +up, men, close up!--Close up there in rear!--Close up! Close up!_ + +By noon the head of the column had already crossed those same +communications which Pope had told his army to disregard in favor +of the much more interesting enemy line of retreat. Little did he +think that the man he had come to chase was about to burn the bridge +at Bristoe Station and thus cut the line between the Federal front +at Warrenton and the Federal base at Manassas. All went well with +Jackson, except that some news escaped to Washington and Warrenton +sooner than he expected. A Federal train dashed on to Washington +before the rails could be torn up. The next two trains were both +derailed and wrecked. But the fourth put all brakes down and speeded +back to Warrenton. Jackson quickly took up a very strong position +on the north side of Broad Run, behind the burnt railway bridge, +and sent Stuart's troopers with two battalions of "foot-cavalry" +to raid the base at Manassas, replenish the exhausted Confederate +supplies, and do the northward scouting. + +The situation of the rival armies on the night of the twenty-seventh +forms one of the curiosities of war. Jackson was concentrating +round Manassas Junction. Lee was following Jackson's line of march, +but was still beyond Thoroughfare Gap. Between them stood part of +Pope's army, the whole of which occupied an irregular quadrilateral +formed by lines joining the following points: Warrenton Junction, +Bristoe Station, Gainesville, and Thoroughfare Gap. Thirty miles +northeast were the twenty thousand Federals who joined Pope too +late. Thirty miles southeast the rear of McClellan's forces were +still massing at Aquia. In Pope's opinion Jackson was clearly trapped +and Lee cut off. + +But when Pope began to close his cumbrous net the following day +Jackson had disappeared again. Orders and counter-orders thereupon +succeeded each other in bewildering confusion. McClellan could +be left out: and a very good thing too, thought Pope, who wanted +the victory all to himself, and whose own army greatly outnumbered +Lee's and Jackson's put together. But Washington was nervous again; +it contained the reinforcements; and it had suddenly become +indispensable to Pope as an immediate base of supplies now that the +base at Manassas had been so completely destroyed. Pope's troops +therefore mostly drew east during the twenty-eighth, forming by +nightfall a long irregular line, facing west, with its right beyond +Centreville and its extreme left held by Banks's mauled divisions +south of Catlett's Station. Meanwhile Jackson had slipped into +place in the curve of Bull Run, facing southeast, with his left +near Stone Bridge, his back to Sudley Springs, and his right open +to junction with Lee, who was waiting for daylight to force the +Gap against the single division left there on guard. + +During the afternoon, while Jackson's tired men were lying sound +asleep in their ranks, Jackson himself was roused to see captured +orders which showed that some Federals were crossing his front. +Reading these orders to his divisional commanders he immediately +ordered one to attack and another to support. If the Federals concerned +were exposing an unguarded flank they should be attacked at a +disadvantage. If they were screening larger forces trying to join +the reinforcements from Washington or Aquia, then they should be +attacked so as to distract Pope's attention and draw him on before +the Federal union became complete, though not before Lee had reached +the new Bull Run position the following day. The attack was consequently +made from the woods around Groveton not too long before dark. It +resulted in a desperate frontal fight, neither side knowing what +the other had in its rear or on its flanks. Again the Federals +were outnumbered: twenty-eight against forty-five hundred men in +action. But again they fought with the utmost resolution and drew +off in good order. The strategic advantage, however, was wholly +Confederate; for Pope, who thought Jackson must now be falling +back to the Gap, at once began confusedly trying to concentrate +for pursuit on the twenty-ninth--the very thing that suited Lee +and Jackson best. + +Early that morning the two-days' Battle of Second Manassas (or +Second Bull Run) began with Pope's absurd attempt to pursue an +army drawn up in line of battle. Moreover, Jackson's position was +not only strong in itself but well adapted for giving attackers a +shattering surprise. The left rested on Bull Run at Sudley Ford. +The center occupied the edge of the flat-topped Stony Ridge. A +quarter-mile in front of it, and some way lower down, were the +embankments and cuttings of an unfinished railroad. On the right +was Stuart's Hill, where Lee was to join by sending Longstreet in. +The approaches in rear were hidden from the eyes of an enemy in +front. The cuttings and embankments made excellent field works for +the defense. And the forward edge of the Ridge was wooded enough +to let counter-attackers mass under cover and then run down to +surprise the attackers by manning the cuttings and embankments. + +Sigel's Germans, supported by the splendid Pennsylvanians under +Reynolds, advanced from the Henry Hill to hold Jackson till Pope +could come up and finish him. The numbers were about even, with slight +odds in favor of Jackson. But the shock was delivered piecemeal. +Each part was roughly handled and driven back in disorder. And +by the time Reynolds had come to the front Lee's advanced guard +was arriving. Then eighteen thousand Federals marched in from +Centreville under Reno, Kearny, and "fighting Joe Hooker," of whom +we shall hear again. Pope came up in person with the rest of his +available command, rode along his line, and explained the situation +as founded on his ignorance and colored by his fancy. At this very +moment Longstreet came up on Jackson's right. Reynolds went into +action against what he thought was Jackson's extended right but +what was really Longstreet's left. Meanwhile the Centreville troops +attacked near Bull Run. But that dashing commander, Philip Kearny, +was held up by Jackson's concentrated guns; so Hooker and Reno +advanced alone, straight for the railroad line. The Confederates +behind it poured in a tremendous hail of bullets, and the long +dry grass caught fire. But nothing stopped Hooker till bayonets +were crossed on the rails and the Confederate line was broken. Then +the Confederate reserves charged in and drove the Federals back. +No sooner was this seen than, with a burst of cheering, another +blue line surged forward. Again the Confederate front was broken, +but again their reserves drove back the Federals. And so the fight +went on, with stroke and counterstroke, till, at a quarter past +five, twelve hours after Pope's first men had started from the +Henry Hill, his thirty thousand attackers found themselves unable +to break through. + +Pope wished to make one more effort to round up Jackson's supposedly +open right. But Porter quite properly sent back word that it was +far too strong for his own ten thousand. In reply Pope angrily +ordered an immediate attack. But it was now too dark, and the battle +ended for the day. + +Strangely enough, Lee was also having trouble with his subordinate +on the same flank at the same time, but with this difference, that +Porter was right while Longstreet was wrong. Lee saw his chance of +rolling up Pope's left and ordered Longstreet to do it. But, after +reconnoitering the ground, Longstreet came back to say the chance +was "not inviting." Again Lee ordered an attack. But Longstreet +wasted time, looking for needlessly favorable ground till long after +dark. Meanwhile the Federals were also feeling their way forward +over the same ground to get into a good flanking position for next +day's battle. So the two sides met; and it was past midnight when +Longstreet settled down. Lee wanted a sword thrust. Longstreet gave +a pin prick. We shall meet Longstreet again, in the same character +of obstructive subordinate, at Gettysburg. But he was, for the +most part, a very good officer indeed; and the South, with its +scanty supply of trained leaders, could not afford to make changes +like the North. The fault, too, was partly Lee's; for his one weak +point with good but wayward subordinates was a tendency to let his +sensitive consideration for their feelings overcome his sterner +insight into their defects. + +At noon on the fatal thirtieth of August, Pope, self-deluded and +self-sufficient as before, dismayed his best officers by ordering +his sixty-five thousand men to be "immediately thrown forward in +pursuit of the enemy," whose own fifty thousand were now far readier +than on the previous day. + +Then the dense blue masses marched to their doom. Twenty thousand +bayonets shone together from Groveton to Bull Run. Forty thousand +more supported them on the slopes in rear, while every Federal +gun thundered forth protectingly from the heights behind. The +Confederate batteries were pointed out as the objective of attack. +Not one glint of steel appeared between these batteries and the +glittering Federal host. To the men in the ranks and to Pope himself +victory seemed assured. But no sooner had that brave array come +within rifle range of the deserted railroad line than, high and +clear, the Confederate bugles called along the hidden edges of +the flat-topped Ridge; when instantly the great gray host broke +cover, ran forward as one man, and held the whole embankment with +a line of fire and steel. + +A shock of sheer amazement ran through the Federal mass. Then, +knightly as any hero of romance, a mounted officer rode out alone, +in front of the center, and, with his sword held high, continued +leading the advance, which itself went on undaunted. The Confederate +flank batteries crossed their fire on this devoted center. Bayonets +flashed out of line in hundreds as their owners fell. Colors were +cut down, raised high, cut down again. But still that gallant horse +and man went on, unswerving and untouched. Even the sweeping volleys +spared them both, though now, as the Federals closed, these volleys +cut down more men than the cross-fire of the guns. At last the +unscathed hero waved his sword and rode straight up the deadly +embankment, followed by the charging line. "Don't kill him! Don't +kill him!" shouted the admiring Confederates as his splendid figure +stood, one glorious moment, on the top. The next, both horse and man +sank wounded, and were at once put under cover by their generous +foes. + +For thirty-five dire minutes the fight raged face to face. One +Federal color rose, fell, and rose again as fast as living hands +could take it from the dead. Over a hundred men lay round it when +the few survivors drew back to re-form. Pope fed his front line +with reserves, who advanced with the same undaunted gallantry, but +also with the same result. As if to make this same result more sure +he never tried to win by one combined assault, wave after crashing +wave, without allowing the defense to get its second wind; but let +each unit taste defeat before the next came on. Federal bravery +remained. But Federal morale was rapidly disintegrating under the +palpable errors of Pope. Misguided, misled, and mishandled, the +blue lines still fought on till four, by which time every corps, +division, and brigade had failed entirely. + +Then, at the perfect moment and in the perfect way, Lee's counterstroke +was made: the beaten Federals being assailed in flank as well as +front by every sword, gun, bayonet, and bullet that could possibly +be brought to bear. Only the batteries remained on the ridge, firing +furiously till the Federals were driven out of range. The infantry +and cavalry were sent in--wave after wave of them, without respite, +till the last had hurled destruction on the foe. + +As at the First Bull Run, so here, the regulars fell back in good +order, fighting to the very end. But the rest of Pope's Army of +Virginia was no longer an organized unit. Even strong reinforcements +could do nothing for it now. On the second of September, three days +after the battle, its arrival at Washington, heralded by thousands +of weary stragglers, threw the whole Union into gloom. + + +The first counter-invasion naturally followed. Southern hopes ran +high. Bragg's invasion of Kentucky seemed to be succeeding at this +time. The trans-Mississippi line still held at Vicksburg and Port +Hudson. Richmond had been saved. Washington was menaced. And most +people on both sides thought so much more of the land than of the +sea that the Federal victories along the coast and up the Mississippi +were half forgotten for the time being; and so was the strangling +blockade. Lee, of course, saw the situation as a whole; and, as a +whole, it was far from bright. But though the counter-invasion was +now a year too late it seemed worth making. Maryland was full of +Southern sympathizers; and campaigning there would give Virginia a +chance to recuperate, while also preventing the North from recovering +too quickly from its last reverse. Thus it was with great expectations +that the Confederates crossed the Potomac singing _Maryland, my +Maryland!_ + +But Maryland did not respond to this appeal. The women, it is true, +were mostly Southern to the core and ready to serve the Confederate +cause in every way they could. But the men, reflecting more, knew +they were in the grip of Northern sea-power. Nor could they fail +to notice the vast difference between the warlike resources of +the North and South. Northern armies had been marching through for +many months, well fed, well armed, and superabundantly supplied. +The Confederates, on the other hand, were fewer in numbers, half +starved, in ragged clothing, less well armed, and far less abundantly +supplied in every way. A Northerner who fell sick could generally +count on the best of medical care, not to mention a profusion of +medical comforts. But the blockade kept medicines and surgical +instruments out of the Southern ports; and the South could make +few of her own. So, to be very sick or badly wounded meant almost +a sentence of death in the South. Eighteen months of war had +disillusioned Maryland. The expected reinforcements never came. + +Lee had again divided his army in the hope of snatching victory by +means of better strategy. On the thirteenth of September Jackson +was bombarding the Federals at Harper's Ferry, Longstreet was at +Hagerstown, and Stuart was holding the gaps of South Mountain. + +The same day McClellan, whose whole army was at Frederick, received +a copy of Lee's orders. They had been wrapped round three cigars +and lost by a careless Confederate staff officer. Had McClellan +forced the gaps immediately, maneuvered with reasonable skill, and +struck home with every available man, he might have annihilated +Lee. But he let the thirteenth pass quietly; and when he did take the +passes on the fourteenth it cost him a good deal, as the Confederate +infantry had reinforced Stuart. On the fifteenth Jackson took Harper's +Ferry. On the sixteenth he joined Lee at Antietam. And on the +seventeenth, when the remaining availables had also joined Lee, +McClellan made up his mind to attack. "Ask me for anything but +time," said the real Napoleon. The "Young Napoleon" did not even +need the asking. + +Antietam (so called from the Antietam Creek) or Sharpsburg (so +called from the Confederate headquarters there) was one of the +biggest battles of the Civil War; and it might possibly have been +the most momentous. But, as things turned out, it was in itself an +indecisive action, spoilt for the Federals, first, by McClellan's +hesitating strategy, and then by his failure to press the attack home +at all costs, with every available man, in an unbroken succession +of assaults. He had over 80,000 men with 275 guns against barely +40,000 with 194 guns of inferior strength. But though the Federals +fought with magnificent devotion, and though the losses were very +serious on both sides, the tactical result was a mutual checkmate. +The strategic result, however, was a Confederate defeat; for, with +his few worn veterans, Lee had no chance whatever of keeping his +precarious hold on a neutral Maryland. + +October was a quiet month, each side reorganizing without much +interference from the other, except for Stuart's second raid round +the whole embattled army of McClellan. This time Stuart took nearly +two thousand men and four horse artillery guns. Crossing the Potomac +at McCoy's Ford on the tenth he reached Chambersburg that night, +destroyed the Federal stores, took all the prisoners he wanted, +cut the wires, obstructed the rails, and went on with hundreds +of Federal horses. Next day he circled the Federal rear toward +Gettysburg, turned south through Emmitsburg, and crossed McClellan's +line of communications with Washington at Hyattstown early on the +twelfth. By this time the Federal cavalry were riding themselves to +exhaustion in vain pursuit; while many other forces were trying to +close in and cut him off. But he reached the mouth of the Monocacy +and crossed White's Ford in safety, fighting off all interference. +The information he brought back was of priceless value. Lee now +learned that McClellan was not falling back on Washington but being +reinforced from there, and that consequently no new Peninsula Campaign +was to be feared at present. This alone was worth the effort, risk, +and negligible loss. Stuart had marched a hundred and twenty-six +miles on the Federal side of the Potomac--eighty of them without +a single halt; and he had been fifty-six hours inside the Federal +lines, mostly within four riding hours of McClellan's own headquarters. + +This second stinging raid roused the loyal North to fury; and by +November a new invasion of Virginia was in full swing on the old +ground, with McClellan at Warrenton, Lee at Culpeper, and Jackson +in the Valley. + +But McClellan's own last chance had gone. Late at night on the +seventh he was sitting alone in his tent, writing to his wife, when +Burnside asked if he could come in with General C. P. Buckingham, +the confidential staff officer to the War Department. After some +forced conversation Buckingham handed McClellan a paper ordering his +supersession by Burnside. McClellan simply said: "Well, Burnside, +I turn the command over to you." The eighth and ninth were spent in +handing over; and on the tenth McClellan made his official farewell. +Next day he was entraining at Warrenton Junction when the men, +among whom he was immensely popular, broke ranks and swarmed round +his car, cursing the Government and swearing they would follow +no one but their "Old Commander." McClellan, with all his faults +in the field, was a good organizer, an extremely able engineer, +a very brave soldier, a very sympathetic comrade in arms, and a +regular father to his men, whose personal interests were always his +first care. The moment was critical. McClellan, had he chosen, might +have imitated the Roman generals who led the revolts of Prćtorian +Guards. But he stepped out on the front platform of the car, held +up his hand, and, amid tense silence, asked the men to "stand by +General Burnside as you have stood by me." The car they had uncoupled +to prevent his departure was run up and coupled again; and then, +amid cheers of mournful farewell, they let him go. + +General Ambrose E. Burnside was expected to smash Lee, take Richmond, +and end the war at once. He was a good subordinate, but quite unfit +for supreme command, which he accepted only under protest. Moreover, +he was not supported as he should have been by the War Department, +nor even by the Headquarter Staff. While changing his position from +Warrenton to Fredericksburg he was hampered by avoidable delays. +So when he reached Falmouth he found Lee had forestalled him on +the opposing heights of Fredericksburg itself. + +The disastrous thirteenth of December was dull, calm, and misty. +But presently the sun shone down with unwonted warmth; the mists +rolled up like curtains; and there stood 200,000 men, arrayed in +order of battle: 80,000 Confederates awaiting the onslaught of +120,000 Federals. + +On came the solid masses of the Federals, eighty thousand strong, +with forty in support, amid the thunder of five hundred attacking +and defending guns. The sunlight played upon the rising tide of +Federal bayonets as on sea currents when they turn inshore. The +colors waved proudly as ever; and to the outward eye the attack +seemed almost strong enough to drive the stern and silent gray +Confederates clear off the crest. But the indispensable morale was +wanting. For this was the end of a long campaign, full of drawn +battles and terrible defeats. Burnside was an unpopular substitute +for McClellan; he was not in any way a great commander; and he was +acting under pressure against his own best judgment. His army knew +or felt all this; and he knew they knew or felt it. The Federals, +for all their glorious courage, felt, when the two fronts met at +Fredericksburg, that they were no more than sacrificial pawns in +the grim game of war. After much useless slaughter they reeled +back beaten. But they could and did retire in safety, skillfully +"staffed" by their leaders and close to their unconquerable sea. + +Lee could make no counterstroke. The Confederate Government had +not dared to let him occupy the far better position on the line +of the North Anna, from which a vigorous counterstroke might have +almost annihilated a beaten attacker, who would have been exposed +on both flanks, beyond the sure protection of the sea. Thus fear of +an outcry against "abandoning" the country between Fredericksburg +and the North Anna caused the Southern politicians to lose their +chance at home. But without a decisive victory they could not hope +for foreign intervention. So losing their chance at home made them +lose it abroad as well. + +Burnside was dazed by his defeat and the appalling loss of life +in vain. But after five weeks of most discouraging inaction he +tried to surprise Lee by crossing the Rappahannock several miles +higher up. On the twentieth and twenty-first of that miserable +January the Federal army ploughed its dreary way through sloughs +of gluey mud under torrents of chilling rain. Then, when the pace +had slackened to a funereal crawl, and the absurdly little chance of +surprising Lee had vanished altogether, this despairing "Mud March" +came to its wretched end. Four days later Burnside was superseded by +one of his own subordinates, General Joseph Hooker, known to all +ranks as "Fighting Joe Hooker." + + +Fredericksburg, the spell of relaxing winter quarters beside the +fatal Rappahannock, and then the fatal "Mud March," combined to +lower Federal morale. Yet the mass of the men, being composed of +fine human material, quickly recovered under "Fighting Joe Hooker," +who knew what discipline meant. Numbers and discipline tell. But +disciplined numbers were not the only or even the greatest menace +to the South. For here, as farther west, the Confederate Government +was beginning to be foolish just as the Federal Government showed +signs of growing wise. Lincoln and Stanton were giving Joe Hooker a +fairly free hand just when Davis and Seddon (his makeshift minister +of war) were using Confederate forces as puppets to be pulled about +by Cabinet strings from Richmond. Here again (as later on at +Chattanooga) Longstreet was sent away on a useless errand just +when he was needed most by Lee. Good soldier though he was in many +ways he was no such man as Stonewall Jackson; and, in this one +year, he failed his seniors thrice. + +It is true enough that the April situation of 1863 might well shake +governmental nerves; for Richmond was being menaced from three +points--north, southeast, and south: Fredericksburg due north, +Suffolk southeast, Newbern south. Newbern in North Carolina was +a long way off. But its possession by an active enemy threatened +the rail connection from Richmond south to Wilmington, Charleston, +and Savannah, the only three Atlantic ports through which the South +could get supplies from overseas. Suffolk was nearer. It covered +the landward side of Norfolk, which, with Fortress Monroe, might +become the base of a new Peninsula Campaign. But Fredericksburg +was nearest; nearest to Richmond, nearest to Washington, nearest +to the main Southern force; and not only nearest but strongest, in +every way strongest and most to be feared. "Fighting Joe Hooker" was +there, with a hundred and thirty thousand men, already stirring for +the spring campaign that was to wipe out memories of Fredericksburg, +make short work of Lee, and end the war at Richmond. + +Yet Longstreet cheerfully marched off, pleased with his new command, +to see what he could do to soothe the Government by winning laurels +for himself at Suffolk. On the seventeenth, just two weeks before +the supreme test came on Lee's weakened army at Chancellorsville, +Longstreet reported to Seddon that Suffolk would cost three thousand +men, if taken by assault, or three days' heavy firing if subdued by +bombardment. Shrinking from such expenditure of life or ammunition, +Davis, Seddon, and Longstreet fell back on a siege, which, preventing +all junction with Lee, might well have cost the ruin of their cause. + +Lee and Jackson then prepared to make the best of a bad business +along the Rappahannock, and to snatch victory once more, if possible, +from the very jaws of death. The prospect was grimmer than before. +Hooker was a better fighter than McClellan and wiser than Burnside +or Pope. Moreover, after two years of war, the Union Government +had at last found out that civilian detectives knew less about +armies than expert staff officers know, and that cavalry which +was something more than mere men on horses could collect a little +information too. Hooker knew Lee's strength as well as his own. +So he decided to hold Lee fast with one part of the big Federal +army, turn his flank with another, and cut his line of supply and +retreat with Stoneman's ten thousand sabers as well. The respective +grand totals were 130,000 Federals against 62,000 Confederates. + +So far, so good; so very good indeed that Hooker and his staff +were as nearly free from care on May Day as headquarter men can +ever be in the midst of vital operations. Hooker had just reason to +be proud of the Army of the Potomac and of his own work in reviving +it. He had, indeed, issued one bombastic order of the day in which +he called it "the finest on the planet." But even this might be +excused in view of the popular call for encouraging words. What +was more to the point was the reëstablishment of Federal morale, +which had been terribly shaken after the great Mud March. Hooker's +sworn evidence (as given in the official _Report of Committee on +the Conduct of the War_) speaks for itself: "The moment I was placed +in command I caused a return to be made of the absentees of the +army, and found the number to be 2922 commissioned officers and +81,964 non-commissioned officers and privates. They were scattered +all over the country, and the majority were absent from causes +unknown." + +On the twenty-eighth of April Stuart saw the redisciplined Federals +in motion far up the Rappahannock, while next day Jackson saw others +laying pontoons thirty miles lower down, just on the seaward side +of Fredericksburg. Lee took this news with genial calm, remarking +to the aide: "Well, I heard firing and was beginning to think it +was time some of your lazy young fellows were coming to tell me +what it was about. Tell your good general he knows what to do with +the enemy just as well as I do." On the thirtieth it became quite +clear that Hooker was bent on turning Lee's left and that he had +divided his army to do so. Jackson wished to attack Sedgwick's +35,000 Federals still on the plains of Fredericksburg. But Lee +convinced him that the better way would be to hold these men with +10,000 Confederates in the fortified position on the confronting +heights while the remaining 52,000 should try to catch Hooker himself +between the jaws of a trap in the forest round Chancellorsville, +where the Federal masses would be far more likely to get out of +hand. It was an extremely daring maneuver to be setting this trap +when Sedgwick had enough men to storm the heights of Fredericksburg, +when Stoneman was on the line of communication with the south, +and when Hooker himself, with superior numbers, was gaining Lee's +rear. But Lee had Jackson as his lieutenant, not Longstreet, as +he was to have at Gettysburg. + +Hooker's movements were rapid, well arranged, and admirably executed +up to the evening of the first of May, when, finding those of the +enemy very puzzling among the dense woods, he chose the worst of +three alternatives. The first and best, an immediate counter-attack, +would have kept up his army's morale and, if well executed, revealed +his own greater strength. The second, a continued advance till he +reached clearer ground, might have succeeded or not. The third +and worst was to stand on his defense, a plan which, however sound +in other places, was fatal here, because it not only depressed +the spirits of his army but gave two men of genius the initiative +against him in a country where they were at home and he was not. +The absence of ten thousand cavalry baffled his efforts to get +trustworthy information on the ground, while the dense woods baffled +his balloons from above. On the second of May he still thought +the initiative was his, that the Confederates were retreating, +and that his own jaws were closing on them instead of theirs on +him. + +Meanwhile, owing to miscalculations of the space that had to be +held in force, his right was not only thrown forward too far but +presented a flank in the air. This was the flank round which Stonewall +Jackson maneuvered with such consummate skill that it was taken on +three sides and rolled up in fatal confusion. Its commander, the +very capable General O. O. Howard, who perceived the mistake he +could not correct, tried hard to stay the rout. But, as his whole +reserve had been withdrawn by Hooker to join an attack elsewhere, +his lines simply melted away. + +The three days' battle that followed (ending on the fifth of May) +was bravely fought by the bewildered Federals. Yet all in vain. +Hooker was caught like a bull in a net; and the more he struggled +the worse it became. At 6 P.M. on the second the cunning trap was +sprung when a single Confederate bugle rang out. Instantly other +bugles repeated the call at regular intervals through miles of +forest. Then, high and clear on the silent air of that calm May +evening, the rebel yell rose like the baying of innumerable hounds, +hot on the scent of their quarry, with Jackson leading on. Nothing +could stop the eager gray lines, wave after wave of them pressing +through the woods; not even the gallant fifty guns that fought with +desperation in defense of Hazel Grove, where Hooker was rallying +his men. + +For two days more the tide of battle ebbed and flowed; but always +against the Federals in the end, till, broken, bewildered, and +disheartened, they retired as best they could. Lee was unable to +pursue. Longstreet's men were still missing; and so were many supplies +that should have been forwarded from Richmond. There the Government +clung to the fond belief that this mere victory had won the war, +and that pursuit was useless. Thus Lee's last chance of crushing +the invaders was taken from him by his friends. + +At the same time the Southern cause suffered another irreparable +loss; but in this case at the purely accidental hands of Southern +men. Jackson's staff, suddenly emerging from a thicket as the first +night closed in, was mistaken for Federal cavalry and shot down. +Jackson himself was badly wounded in three places and carried from +the field. He never heard the rebel yell again. Next Sunday, when the +staff-surgeon told him that he could not possibly live through the +night, he simply answered: "Very good, very good; it is all right." +Presently he asked Major Pendleton what chaplain was preaching at +headquarters. "Mr. Lacy, sir; and the whole army is praying for +you." "Thank God," said Jackson, "they are very kind to me." A +little later, rousing himself as if from sleep, he called out: +"Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action! Pass the infantry to the +front! Tell Major Hawks--" There his strength failed him. But after +a pause he said quietly, "Let us cross over the river and rest +under the shade of the trees." And with these words he died. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +GRANT WINS THE RIVER WAR: 1863 + +We have seen already how the River War of '62 ended in a double +failure of the Federal advance on Vicksburg: how Grant and Sherman, +aided by the flanking force from Helena in Arkansas, failed to +catch Pemberton along the Tallahatchie; and then how Sherman alone, +moving down the Mississippi, was defeated by Pemberton at Chickasaw +Bayou, just outside of Vicksburg. + +Leaving Memphis for good, Grant took command in the field again +on the thirtieth of January. His army was strung out along seventy +miles of the Mississippi just north of Vicksburg, so hard was it to +find enough firm ground. The first important move was made when, in +Grant's own words, "the entire Army of the Tennessee was transferred +to the neighborhood of Vicksburg and landed on the opposite or +western bank of the river at Milliken's Bend." + +Grant, everywhere in touch with Admiral D. D. Porter's fleet and +plentifully supplied with water transport of all kinds, thus commanded +the peninsula or tongue of low land round which the mighty river took +its course in the form of an elongated U right opposite Vicksburg. +His farthest north base was still at Cairo; and the whole line of +the Mississippi above him was effectively held by Union forces +afloat and ashore. Four hundred miles south lay Farragut and Banks, +preparing for an attack on Port Hudson and intent on making junction +with the Union forces above. + +Two bad generals stood very much in Grant's way, one on either +side of him in rank--McClernand, his own second-in-command, and +Banks, his only senior in the Mississippi area. McClernand presently +found rope enough to hang himself. Our old friend Banks, who had +not yet learnt the elements of war, though schooled by Stonewall +Jackson, never got beyond Port Hudson, and so could not spoil Grant's +command in addition to his own. Fortunately, besides Sherman and +other professional soldiers of quite exceptional ability, Grant had +three of the best generals who ever came from civil life: Logan, +Blair, and Crocker. Logan shed all the vices, while keeping all +the virtues, of the lawyer when he took up arms. Blair knew how +to be one man as an ambitious politician and another as a general +in the field. Crocker was in consumption, but determined to die in +his boots and do his military best for the Union service first. +The personnel of the army was mostly excellent all through. The +men were both hardy and handy as a rule, being to a large extent +farmers, teamsters, railroad and steamboat men, well fitted to meet +the emergencies of the severe and intricate Vicksburg campaign. + +Throughout this campaign the army and navy of the Union worked +together as a single amphibious force. Grant's own words are no +mere compliment, but the sober statement of a fact. "The navy, under +Porter, was all it could be during the entire campaign. Without +its assistance the campaign could not have been successfully made +with twice the number of men engaged. It could not have been made +at all, in the way it was, with any number of men, without such +assistance. The most perfect harmony reigned between the two arms +of the Service. There never was a request made, that I am aware +of, either of the Flag-Officer or any of his subordinates, that +was not promptly complied with." And what is true of Porter is at +least as true of Farragut, who was the greater man and the senior +of every one afloat. + +Grant could take Vicksburg only by reaching good ground, and the +only good ground was below and in rear of the fortress. There was no +foothold for his army on the east bank of the Mississippi anywhere +between Memphis and Vicksburg. This meant that he must either start +afresh from Memphis and try again to push overland by rail or cross +the swampy peninsula in front of him and circle round his enemy. A +retirement on Memphis, no matter how wise, would look like another +great Union defeat and consequently lower a public morale which, +depressed enough by Fredericksburg, was being kept down by the +constant naval reverses that opened '63. Circling the front was +therefore very much to be preferred from the political point of view. +On the other hand, it was beset by many alarming difficulties; for it +meant starting from the flooded Mississippi and working through the +waterlogged lowlands, across the peninsula, till a foothold could be +seized on the eastern bank below Vicksburg. Moreover, this circling +attack, though feasible, might depress the morale of the troops by +the way. Burnside's disastrous "Mud March" through the January +sloughs of Virginia, made in the vain hope of outflanking Lee, had +lowered the morale of the army almost as much as Fredericksburg +itself had lowered the morale of the people. + +Through the depth of winter the army toiled "in ineffectual efforts," +says Grant, "to reach high land above Vicksburg from which we could +operate against that stronghold, and in making artificial waterways +through which a fleet might pass, avoiding the batteries to the +south of the town, in case the other efforts should fail." A wetter +winter had never been known. The whole complicated network of bends +and bayous, of creeks, streams, runs, and tributary rivers, was +overflowing the few slimy trails through the spongy forest and +threatening the neglected levees which still held back the encroaching +waters. There was nothing to do, however, but to keep the men busy +and the enemy confused by trying first one line and then another +for two weary months. By April, writes Grant, "the waters of the +Mississippi having receded sufficiently to make it possible to +march an army across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, I determined +to adopt this course, and moved my advance to a point below the +town." + +Meanwhile, far below, Farragut and Banks were at work round Port +Hudson: Farragut to good effect; Banks as usual. On the fourteenth +of March Farragut started up the river with seven men-of-war and +wanted the troops to make a demonstration against Port Hudson from +the rear while the fleet worked its way past the front. But, just +as Farragut was weighing anchor, Banks, who had had ample time +for preparation, sent word to say he was still five miles from +Port Hudson. "He'd as well be at New Orleans," muttered Farragut, +"for all the good he's doing us." + +Six of the vessels were lashed together in pairs, the heavier ones +next the enemy, the lighter ones secured well aft so as to mask the +fewest guns. This arrangement also gave each pair the advantage +of having twin screws. Farragut's flagship, the _Hartford_, leading +the line-ahead, suffered least from the dense smoke on that damp, +calm, moonless night. But the others were soon groping blindly up +the tortuous channel. The _Hartford_ herself took the ground for +a critical moment. But, with her own screw going ahead and that +of the _Albatross_ going astern, she drew clear and won through. +Not so, however, the other five ships. Only the _Hartford_ and +_Albatross_ reached the Red River. Yet even this was of great +importance, as it completely cut off Port Hudson from all chance of +relief. Farragut went on up the Mississippi to see Grant, destroying +all riverside stores on the way. Grant was delighted, and, in the +absence of Porter, who was up the Yazoo, sent Farragut an Ellet +ram and some sorely needed coal. + +Grant's seventh (and first successful) effort to get a foothold (from +which to carry out one of the boldest and most brilliant operations +recorded in the history of war) began with a naval operation on the +sixteenth of April, when Porter ran past the Vicksburg batteries +by night. Though Porter had the four-knot current in his favor he +needed all his skill and moral courage to take a regular flotilla +round the elongated U made by the Mississippi at Vicksburg, with +such a bend as to keep vessels under more or less distant fire +for five miles, and under much closer fire for nearly nine. At +the bend the vessels could be caught end-on. For nearly five miles +after that they were subject to a plunging fire. Porter led the +way on board the flagship _Benton_. He had seven ironclads, of +which three were larger vessels and four were gunboats built by +Eads, a naval constructor with orignal ideas and great executive +ability. One ram and three transports followed. Coal barges were +lashed alongside or taken in tow. Some of these were lost and one +transport was sunk. But the rest got through, though not unscathed. +It seemed like a miracle to the tense spectators that any flotilla +should survive this dash down a river of death flowing through a +furnace. But the ironclads, magnificently handled, stood up to +their work unflinchingly, fired back with regulated vigor, and +took their terrific pounding without one vital wound. + +Porter presently relieved Farragut, who went back to New Orleans. +From this time, till after the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, +Porter commanded three flotillas, each with a base of its own: +first, a flotilla remaining north of Vicksburg for work on the +Yazoo; secondly, the main body between Vicksburg and Grand Gulf; +thirdly, the Red River flotilla. This combined naval force commanded +all lines of communication north, south, and west of Vicksburg, +thus enabling Grant to concentrate entirely against the eastern +side. + +On the thirtieth of April Grant landed with twenty thousand men at +Bruinsburg, on the east side of the Mississippi, about sixty miles +below Vicksburg. A week later Sherman reinforced him to thirty-three +thousand. Before the fall of Vicksburg his total strength reached +seventy-five thousand. The Confederate total also fluctuated; but +not so much. There were about sixty thousand Confederates in the +whole strategic area between Vicksburg and Jackson (fifty miles +east) when Grant made his first daring move, and about the same when +Vicksburg surrendered. The scene of action was almost triangular; +for it lay between the three lines joining Jackson, Haynes's Bluff, +Rodney, and Jackson again. The respective lengths of these straight +lines are forty, fifty, and seventy miles. But roundabout ways +by land and water multiplied these distances, and much fighting +and many obstacles vastly increased Grant's difficulties. + +An army, however, that had managed to reach Bruinsburg from the +north and west was assuredly fit for more hard work of any kind; +while a commander who had left a safe base above Vicksburg and +landed below, to live on (as well as in) an enemy country till +victory should give him a new land line to the north, must, in +view of the resultant triumph, be counted among the master-minds +of war. Grant's marvelous skill in massing, dividing, forwarding, +and concentrating his forces over a hundred miles of intricate +passages between Milliken's Bend and Bruinsburg was only excelled +by his consummate genius in carrying out this daring operation, +forcing his way through his enemies, into full possession of interior +lines, between their great garrison of Vicksburg and their field +army from Jackson. He had to create two fronts in spite of his +doubled enemy and live on that enemy's country without any land +base of his own. + +Grant knew the country was quite able to support his army if he +could only control enough of it. Bread, beef, and mutton would be +almost unobtainable. But chickens, turkeys, and ducks were abundant, +while hard-tack would do instead of bread. Bird-and-biscuit of course +became unpopular; and after weeks of it Grant was not surprised +to hear a soldier mutter "hard-tack" loudly enough for others to +take up the cry. By this time, however, he luckily knew that the +bread ration was about to be resumed; and when he told the men +they cheered as only men on service can--men to whom battles are +rare events but rations the very stuff of daily existence. Coffee, +bacon, beef, and mutton came next in popular favor when full rations +were renewed. So when the Northern land line was reopened towards +the end of the siege, and friends came into camp with presents +from home, they found, to their amazement, that even the tenderest +spring chicken was loathsome to their boys in blue. + +Grant set to work immediately on landing. His first objective was +Grand Gulf, which he wanted as a field base for further advance. +But in order to get it he had to drive away the enemy from Port +Gibson, which was by no means easy, even with superior numbers, +because the whole country thereabouts was so densely wooded and +so intricately watered that concerted movements could only be made +along the few and conspicuous roads. On the first of May, however, +the Confederates were driven off before their reinforcements could +arrive. McClernand bungled brigades and divisions out of mutual +support. But Grant personally put things right again. + +By the third of May the bridge burnt by the enemy had been repaired +and Grant's men were crossing to press them back on Vicksburg, so +as to clear Grand Gulf. Grant's supply train (raised by impressing +every horse, mule, ox, and wheeled thing in the neighborhood) looked +more like comic opera than war. Fine private carriages, piled high +with ammunition, and sometimes drawn by mules with straw collars +and rope lines, went side by side with the longest plantation wagons +drawn by many oxen, or with a two-wheeled cart drawn by a thoroughbred +horse. + +Before any more actions could be fought news came through that +the Federals in Virginia had been terribly beaten by Lee, who was +now expected to invade the North. The South was triumphant; so +much so, indeed, that its Government thought the war itself had +now been won. But Lincoln, Grant, and Lee knew better. + +Swiftly, silently, and with a sure strategic touch, Grant marched +northeast on Jackson, to make his rear secure before he turned on +Vicksburg. On the twelfth he won at Raymond and on the fourteenth +at Jackson itself. Here he turned back west again. On the sixteenth +he won the stubborn fight of Champion's Hill, on the seventeenth +he won again at Big Black River, and on the eighteenth he appeared +before the lines of Vicksburg. With the prestige of five victories +in twenty days, and with the momentum acquired in the process, he +then tried to carry the lines by assault on the spot. But the attack +of the nineteenth failed, as did its renewal on the twenty-second. +Next day both sides settled down to a six weeks' siege. + +The failure of the two assaults was recognized by friend and foe +as being a mere check; and Grant's men all believed they had now +found the looked-for leader. So they had. Like Lee and Stonewall +Jackson in Virginia, Grant, with as yet inferior numbers (but with +the immense advantage of sea-power), had seized, held, and acted +on interior lines so ably that his forty-three thousand men had +out-maneuvered and out-fought the sixty thousand of the enemy, +beating them in detail on ground of their own besides inflicting a +threefold loss. Grant lost little over four thousand. The Confederates +lost nearly twelve thousand, half of whom were captured. + +The only real trouble, besides the failure to carry the lines by +assault, was with the two bad generals, McClernand and Banks. McClernand +had promulgated an order praising his own corps to the skies and +conveying the idea that he and it had won the battles. Moreover, +he hinted that he had succeeded in the assault while the others had +failed. This was especially offensive because Grant, at McClernand's +urgent request, had sent reinforcements from other corps to confirm a +success that he found nonexistent on the spot, except in McClernand's +own words. To crown this, McClernand had sent his official order, +with all its misleading statements, to be published in the Northern +press; and the whole army was now supplied with the papers containing +it. So gross a breach of discipline could not go unpunished; and +McClernand was sent back to Springfield in disgrace. + +Banks, unfortunately, was senior to Grant and of course independent +of Farragut; so he could safely vex them both--Grant, by spoiling +the plan of concerting the attacks on Port Hudson and Vicksburg in +May; Farragut, by continual failure in coöperation and by leaving +big guns exposed to capture on the west bank. But things turned out +well, after all. The guns were saved by the naval vessels that beat +off a Confederate attack on Donaldsonville; and Grant's army was saved +from coming under Banks's command by Banks's own egregious failure +in coöperation. This failure thus became a blessing in disguise: a +disguise too good for Halleck, whose reprimand from Washington +on the twenty-third of May shows what dangers lurked beneath the +might-have-been. "The Government is exceedingly disappointed that +you and General Grant are not acting in conjunction. It thought to +secure that object by authorizing you to assume the entire command +as soon as you and General Grant could unite." + +In the end the Confederates suffered much more than the Federals +from civilian interference; for the orders of their Government +came through in time to confuse a situation that was already bad +and growing worse. Between Porter afloat and Grant ashore Vicksburg +was doomed unless "Joe" Johnston came west with sufficient force +to relieve it in time. Johnston did come early enough, but not +in sufficient force; so the next best thing was to destroy all +stores, abandon Vicksburg, and save the garrison. The Government, +however, sent positive orders to hold Vicksburg to the very last +gasp. Johnston had meanwhile sent Pemberton (the Vicksburg commander) +orders to combine with him in free maneuvering for an attack in +the field. But Pemberton's own idea was to await Grant on the Big +Black River, where, with Johnston's help, he thought he could beat +him. Then followed hesitation, a futile attempt to harmonize the +three incompatible schemes; and presently the division of the +Confederates into separated armies, driven apart by Grant, whose +own army soon dug itself in between them and quickly grew stronger +than both. + +Grant's lines, facing both opponents, from Haynes's Bluff to Warrenton, +were fifteen miles long, which gave him one man per foot when his +full strength was reached Pemberton's were only seven; and his +position was strong, both towards the river, where the bluffs rose +two hundred feet, and on the landward side, where the slopes were +sharp and well fortified. Grant closed in, however, and pressed +the bombardment home. Except for six 32-pounders and a battery of +big naval guns he had nothing but field artillery. Yet the abundance +of ammunition, the closeness of the range, and the support of his +many excellent snipers, soon gave him the upper hand. Six hundred +yards was the farthest the lines were apart. In some places they +nearly touched. + +All ranks worked hard, especially at engineering, in which there +was such a dearth of officers that Grant ordered every West Pointer +to do his turn with the sappers and miners as well as his other +duty. This brought forth a respectful protest from the enormously +fat Chief Commissary, who said he could only be used as a sap-roller +(the big roller sappers shove protectingly before them when snipers +get their range). The real sap-rollers came to grief when an ingenious +Confederate stuffed port-fires with turpentined cotton and shot them +into rollers only a few yards off. But after this the Federals +kept their rollers wet; and sapped and burrowed till the big mine +was fully charged and safe from the Confederate countermine, which +had missed its mark. + +While trying to blow each other up the men on both sides exchanged +amenities and chaff like the best of friends. Each side sold its +papers to the other; and the wall-paper newsprint of Vicksburg +made a good war souvenir for both. There was a steady demand for +Federal bread and Confederate tobacco. When market time was over the +Confederates would heave down hand-grenades, which agile Federals, +good at baseball, would heave uphill again before they exploded. And +woe to the man whose head appeared out of hours; for snipers were +always on the watch, especially that prince of snipers, Lieutenant H. +C. Foster, renowned as "Coonskin" from the cap he wore. A wonderful +stalker and dead shot he was a terror to exposed Confederates at +all times; but more particularly towards the end, when (their front +artillery having been silenced by Grant's guns) Coonskin built a +log tower, armored with railway iron, from which he picked off +men who were safe from ordinary fire. + +On the twenty-first of June Pemberton planned an escape across the +Mississippi and built some rough boats. But Grant heard of this; +the flotilla grew more watchful still; and before any attempt at +escape could be made the great mine was fired on the twenty-fifth. +The whole top of the hill was blown off, and with it some men who +came down alive on the Federal side. Among these was an unwounded +but terrified colored man, who, on being asked how high he had +gone, said, "Dunno, Massa, but t'ink 'bout t'ree mile." An immense +crater was formed. But there was no practicable breach; so the +assault was deferred. A second mine was exploded on the first of +July. But again there was no assault; for Grant had decided to +wait till several huge mines could be exploded simultaneously. +In the meantime an intercepted dispatch warned him that Johnston +would try to help Pemberton to cut his way out. But by the time +the second mine was exploded Pemberton was sounding his generals +about the chances of getting their own thirty thousand to join +Johnston's thirty thousand against Grant's seventy-five thousand. +The generals said No. Negotiations then began. + +On the third of July Grant met Pemberton under the "Vicksburg Oak," +which, though quite a small tree, furnished souvenir-hunters with +many cords of sacred wood in after years. Grant very wisely allowed +surrender on parole, which somewhat depleted Confederate ranks in +the future by the number of men who, returning to their homes, +afterwards refused to come back when the exchange of prisoners +would have permitted them to do so. + +That was a great week of Federal victory--the week including the +third, fourth, and eighth of July. On the third Lee was defeated at +Gettysburg. On the now doubly "Glorious Fourth" Vicksburg surrendered +and the last Confederate attack was repulsed at Helena in Arkansas. On +the eighth Port Hudson surrendered. With this the whole Mississippi +fell into Federal hands for good. On the first of August Farragut +left New Orleans for New York in the battle-scarred _Hartford_ +after turning over the Mississippi command to Porter's separate +care. + + +Meanwhile the Confederates in Tennessee, weakened by reinforcing +Johnston against Grant, had been obliged to retire on Chattanooga. +To cover this retirement and make what diversion he could, Bragg sent +John H. Morgan with twenty-five hundred cavalry to raid Kentucky, +Indiana, and Ohio. Perplexing the outnumbering Federals by his +daring, "Our Jack Morgan" crossed the Ohio at Brandenburg, rode +northeast through Indiana, wheeled south at Hamilton, Ohio, rode +through the suburbs of Cincinnati, reached Buffington Island on the +border of West Virginia, and then, hotly pursued by ever-increasing +forces, made northeast toward Pennsylvania. On the twenty-sixth of +July he surrendered near New Lisbon with less than four hundred +men left. + +The Confederate main body passed the summer vainly trying to stem +the advance of the Army of the Cumberland, with which Rosecrans and +Thomas skillfully maneuvered Bragg farther and farther south till +they had forced him into and out of Chattanooga. In the meantime +Burnside's Army of the Ohio cleared eastern Tennessee and settled +down in Knoxville. + +But in the middle of September Longstreet came to Bragg's rescue; +and a desperate battle was fought at Chickamauga on the nineteenth +and twentieth. The Confederates had seventy thousand men against +fifty-six thousand Federals: odds of five to four. They were determined +to win at any price; and it cost them eighteen thousand men, killed, +wounded, and missing; which was two thousand more than the Federals +lost. But they felt it was now or never as they turned to bay with, +for once, superior numbers. As usual, too, they coveted Federal +supplies. "Come on, boys, and charge!" yelled an encouraging sergeant, +"they have cheese in their haversacks!" Yet the pride of the soldier +stood higher than hunger. General D. H. Hill stooped to cheer a +very badly wounded man. "What's your regiment?" asked Hill. "Fifth +Confederate, New Orleans, and a damned good regiment it is," came +the ready answer. + +Rosecrans, like many another man who succeeds halfway up, failed +at the top. He ordered an immediate general retreat which would +have changed the hard-won Confederate victory into a Federal rout. +But Thomas, with admirable judgment and iron nerve, stood fast +till he had shielded all the others clear. From this time on both +armies knew him as the "Rock of Chickamauga." + +The unexpected defeat of Chickamauga roused Washington to immediate, +and this time most sensible, action. Grant was given supreme command +over the whole strategic area. Thomas superseded Rosecrans. Sherman +came down with the Army of the Tennessee. And Hooker railed through +from Virginia with two good veteran corps. Meanwhile the Richmond +Government was more foolish than the Washington was wise; for it let +Davis mismanage the strategy without any reference to Lee. Bragg also +made a capital mistake by sending Longstreet off to Knoxville with +more than a third of his command just before Grant's final advance. +The result was that Bragg found himself with only thirty thousand men +at Chattanooga when Grant closed in with sixty thousand, and that +Longstreet was useless at Knoxville, which was entirely dependent +on Chattanooga. Whoever won decisively at Chattanooga could have +Knoxville too. Davis, as the highest authority, and Bragg, as the +most responsible subordinate, ensured their own defeat. + +Chattanooga was the key to the whole strategic area of the upper +Tennessee; for it was the best road, rail, and river junction between +the lower Mississippi and the Atlantic ports of the South. It had +been held for some time by a Federal garrison which had made it +fairly strong. But toward the end of October it was short of supplies; +and Hooker had to fight Longstreet at Wauhatchie in the Lookout +Valley before it could be revictualed. When Hooker, Thomas, and +Sherman were there together under Grant in November it was of course +perfectly safe; and the problem changed from defense to attack. The +question was how to drive Bragg from his commanding positions on +Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. The woods and hills offered +concealment to the attack in some places. But Lookout Mountain +was a splendid observation post, twenty-two hundred feet high and +crested with columns of rock. The Ridge was three miles east, the +Mountain three miles south, of Cameron Hill, which stood just west +of Chattanooga, commanding the bridge of boats that crossed the +Tennessee. + +The battle, fought with great determination on both sides, lasted +three days--the twenty-third, twenty-fourth, and twenty-fifth of +November. Sherman made the flank attack on Missionary Ridge from the +north and Thomas the frontal attack from the west. Hooker attacked +the western flank of Lookout Mountain. + +Thomas did the first day's fighting, which was all preliminary +work, by advancing a good mile, taking the Confederate lines on the +lower slopes of the Ridge, and changing their defensive features +to face the Ridge instead of Chattanooga. + +At two the next morning Giles Smith's brigade dropped down the +Tennessee in boats and surprised the extreme north pickets placed +by Bragg at the mouth of the South Chickamauga to cover the right +of the Ridge. By noon Sherman's men were over the Tennessee ready +to coöperate with Thomas. Sherman had hidden his camp among the +hills on the other side so well that his movements could not be +observed, even from the commanding height of Lookout Mountain. The +night surprise of Bragg's pickets and the drizzling rain of the +morning prevented the Confederates from hearing or seeing anything +of Sherman's attack in the early afternoon; so he found himself on +the northern flank of Missionary Ridge before Bragg's main body +knew what he was doing. When the Confederates did attack it was too +late; and the twenty-fourth ended with Sherman entrenched against +the flank on even higher ground than Thomas held against the center. +Sherman's cavalry had meanwhile moved round the flank, on the lower +level and much farther off, to cut Bragg's right rear connection +with Chickamauga Station, whence the rails ran east to Cleveland, +Knoxville, and Virginia. + +Hooker's work this second day was to feel the Confederate force +on Lookout Mountain while keeping the touch with Thomas, who kept +the touch with Sherman. Mists hid his earlier maneuvers. He closed +in successfully, handled his men to admiration, and gained more +ground than either he or Grant had expected. Having succeeded so +well he changed his demonstration into a regular attack, which +became known as the "Battle above the Clouds." Step by step he +fought his way up, over breastworks and rifle pits, felled trees +and bowlders, through ravines and gullies, till the vanguard reached +the giant palisades of rock which ramparted the top. The roar of +battle was most distinctly heard four miles away, on Orchard Knob, +where Grant and Thomas were anxiously waiting. But nothing could +be seen until a sudden breeze blew the clouds aside just as the +long blue lines charged home and the broken gray retreated. Then, +from thirty thousand watching Federals, went up a cheer that even +cannon could not silence. + +At midnight Grant sent a word of encouragement to Burnside at Knoxville. +He then wrote his orders for what he now hoped would be a completely +victorious attack. The twenty-fifth of November broke beautifully +clear, and the whole scene of action remained in full view all day +long. Fearful of being cut off from their main body on Missionary +Ridge the Confederates had left Lookout Mountain under cover of +the dark. But by destroying the bridges across the Chattanooga +River, which ran through the valley between the Mountain and the +Ridge, they delayed Hooker till late that afternoon, thus saving +their left from an even worse disaster than the one that overtook +their center and their right. + +Sherman had desperate work against their right, as Bragg massed +every available gun and man to meet him. This massing, however, +was just what Grant wanted; for he now expected Hooker to appear +on the other flank, which Bragg would either have to give up in +despair or strengthen at the expense of the center, which Thomas +was ready to charge. But with Hooker not appearing, and Sherman +barely holding his own, Grant slipped Thomas from the leash. The +two centers then met hand to hand. But there was no withstanding +the Federal charge. Back went the Confederates, turning to bay +at their second line of defense. Here again they were overborne +by well-led superior numbers and soon put to flight. Sheridan, +of whom we shall hear again in '64, took up the pursuit. Bragg +lost all control of his men. Stores, guns, and even rifles were +abandoned. Thousands of prisoners were taken; and most of the others +were scattered in flight. The battle, the whole campaign, and even +the war in the Tennessee sector, were won. + +Vicksburg meant that the trans-Mississippi South would thenceforth +wither like a severed branch. Chattanooga meant that the Union +forces had at last laid the age to the root of the tree. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +GETTYSBURG: 1863 + +On the fifth of May we left Lee victorious in Virginia; but with +his indispensable lieutenant, Stonewall Jackson, mortally wounded. + +Though thoroughly defeated at Chancellorsville, Hooker soon recovered +control of the Army of the Potomac and prepared to dispute Lee's +right of way. Lee faced a difficult, perhaps an insoluble, problem. +Longstreet urged him to relieve the local pressure on Vicksburg by +concentrating every available man in eastern Tennessee, not only +withdrawing Johnston's force from Grant's rear but also depleting +the Confederates in Virginia for the same purpose. Then, combining +these armies from east and west with the one already there under +Bragg, the united Confederates were to crush Rosecrans in their +immediate front and make Cincinnati their great objective. Lee, +however, dared not risk the loss of his Virginian bases in the +meantime; and so he decided on a vigorous counter-attack, right +into Pennsylvania, hoping that, if successful, this would produce +a greater effect than any corresponding victory could possibly +produce elsewhere. + +On the ninth of June a cavalry combat round Brandy Station, in +the heart of Virginia, made Hooker's staff feel certain that Lee +was again going up the Valley and on to Maryland. At one time, +for want of supplies, Lee had to spread out his front along a line +running eighty miles northwest from Fredericksburg to Strasburg. +Hooker, on the keen alert, implored the Government to let him attack +the three Confederate corps in detail. Success against one at least +was certain. Lincoln understood this perfectly. But the nerves of his +colleagues were again on edge; and no argument could persuade them +to adopt the best of all possible schemes of defense by destroying +the enemy's means of destroying them. They insisted on the usual +shield theory of passive defense, and ordered Hooker to keep between +Lee and Washington whatever might happen. This absurd maneuver was +of course attended with all the usual evil results at the time. +Equally of course, it afterwards drew down the wrath of the wiseacre +public on their own representatives. But wiseacre publics never stop +to think that many a government is forced to do foolish and even +suicidal things in war simply because it represents the ignorance +and folly, as well as the wisdom, of all who have the vote. + +Yet both the loyal public and its Government had some good reasons +to doubt Hooker's ability, even apart from his recent defeat; and +Lincoln, wisest of all--except in applying strategy to problems +he could not fully understand--felt almost certain that Hooker's +character contained at least the seeds of failure in supreme command. +"He talks to me like a father," said Hooker, on reading the letter +Lincoln wrote when appointing him Burnside's successor. This remarkable +letter, dated January 26, 1863, though printed many times, is worth +reading again: + + +I have placed you at the head of the Army of the Potomac. Of course +I have done this upon what appears to me to be sufficient reasons, +and yet I think it best for you to know that there are some things +in regard to which I am not quite satisfied with you. I believe +you to be a brave and skillful soldier, which, of course, I like. +I also believe you do not mix politics with your profession, in +which you are right. You have confidence in yourself, which is +a valuable, if not an indispensable, quality. You are ambitious, +which, within reasonable bounds, does good rather than harm; but +I think that during General Burnside's command of the army you +have taken counsel of your ambition, and thwarted him as much as +you could, in which you did a great wrong to the country and to a +most meritorious and honorable brother officer. I have heard, in +such way as to believe it, of your recently saying that both the +army and the Government needed a Dictator. Of course it was not +for this, but in spite of it, that I have given you the command. +Only those generals who gain successes can set up dictatorships. +What I now ask of you is military success, and I will risk the +dictatorship. The Government will support you to the utmost of +its ability, which is neither more nor less than it has done and +will do for all commanders. I much fear that the spirit which you +have aided to infuse into the army, of criticizing their commander +and withholding confidence from him, will now turn upon you. I +shall assist you as far as I can to put it down. Neither you nor +Napoleon, if he were alive again, could get any good out of an army +while such a spirit prevails in it. And now, beware of rashness, +but with energy and sleepless vigilance go forward, and give us +victories. + + +Then came Chancellorsville, doubts at Washington, interference by +Stanton, ill-judged orders from Halleck, and some not very judicious +rejoinders from Hooker himself, who became rather peevish, to Lincoln's +alarm. So when, on the twenty-seventh of June, Hooker tendered his +resignation, it was promptly accepted. With Lee in Pennsylvania +there was no time for discussion: only for finding some one to +trust. + +Lee, as usual, had divined the political forces working on the +Union armies from Washington and had maneuvered with a combination +of skill and daring that exactly met the situation. Throwing his +left forward (under Ewell) in the Shenandoah Valley he had driven +Milroy out of Winchester on the fourteenth of June and next day +secured a foothold across the Potomac. Then the rest of his army +followed. It was so much stretched out (to facilitate its food +supply) that Lincoln again wished to strike it at any vulnerable +spot. But the Cabinet in general (and Stanton in particular) were +still determined that the Union army should be their passive shield, +not their active sword. On the twenty-fourth Ewell was already +beginning to semicircle Gettysburg from the Cumberland Valley. On +the twenty-eighth, the day on which Meade succeeded Hooker in the +Federal command, the Confederate semicircle, now formed by Lee's +whole army, stretched from Chambersburg on the west, through Carlisle +on the north, to York on the east; while the massed Federals were +still in Maryland, near Middletown and Frederick, thirty miles +south of Gettysburg, and only forty miles northwest of nervous +Washington. + +Hooker's successor, George G. Meade, was the fifth defender of +Washington within the last ten months. Luckily for the Union, Meade +was a sound, though not a great, commander, and his hands were +fairly free. Luckily again, he was succeeded in command of the Fifth +Corps by George Sykes, the excellent leader of those magnificent +regulars who fought so well at Antietam and Second Manassas. The +change from interference to control was made only just in time +at Washington; for three days after Meade's free hand began to +feel its way along the threatened front the armies met upon the +unexpected battlefield of Gettysburg. + +Lee in Pennsylvania was in the midst of a very hostile population +and facing superior forces which he could only defeat in one of +two difficult ways: either by a sudden, bewildering, and unexpected +attack, like Jackson's and his own at Chancellorsville, or by an +impregnable defense on ground that also favored a victorious +counter-attack and the subsequent crushing pursuit. But there was +no Jackson now; and the nature of the country did not favor the +bewildering of Federals who were fighting at home under excellent +generals well served by a competent staff and well screened by cavalry. +So the "fog of war" was quite as dense round Lee's headquarters as +it was round Meade's on the first of July, when Lee found that his +chosen point of concentration near Gettysburg was already occupied +by Buford's cavalry, with infantry and some artillery in support. +The surprise--and no very great surprise--was mutual. The Federals +were found where they could stand on their defense in a very strong +position if the rest of their army could come up in time. And Lee's +only advantage was that, having already ordered concentration round +the same position, he had a few hours' start of Meade in getting +there. + +Each commander had intended to make the other one attack if possible; +and Meade of course knew that Lee, with inferior numbers and vastly +inferior supplies, could not afford to stay long among gathering +enemies in the hostile North without decisive action. The Confederates +must either fight or retreat without fighting, and make their choice +very soon. So, when the two armies met at Gettysburg, Lee was +practically forced to risk an immediate action or begin a retreat +that might have ruined Confederate morale. + +Gettysburg is one of those battles about which men will always +differ. The numbers present, the behavior of subordinates, the +tactics employed, were, and still are, subjects of dispute. Above +all, there is the vexed question of what Lee should or should not +have done. We have little space to spare for any such discussions. +We can only refer inquirers to the original evidence (some of which +is most conflicting) and give the gist of what seems to be indubitable +fact. The numbers were a good seventy thousand Confederates against +about eighty thousand Federals. But these are the approximate grand +totals; and it must be remembered that the Confederates, having +the start, were in superior numbers during the first two days. +On each side there was an aggrieved and aggrieving subordinate +general, Sickles on the Federal side, Longstreet on the other. +But Sickles was by far the less important of the two. In tactics +the Federals displayed great judgment, skill, and resolution. The +Northern people called Gettysburg a soldiers' battle; and so, in +many ways, it was; for there was heroic work among the rank and +file on both sides. But it most emphatically was not a soldiers' +battle in the sense of its having been won more by the rank and +file than by the generals in high command; for never did so many +Federal chiefs show to such great advantage. No less than five +commanded in succession between morning and midnight on the first +day, each meeting the crisis till the next senior came up. They +were Buford, Reynolds, Howard, Hancock, Meade. Hunt also excelled in +command of the artillery; and this in spite of much misorganization +of that arm at Washington. Warren was not only a good commander +of the engineers but a good all-round general, as he showed by +seizing, on his own initiative, the Little Round Top, without which +the left flank could never have been held. + +Finally, there is the great vexed question of what Lee should or +should not have done. First, it seems clear that (like Farragut and +unlike Grant and Jackson) he lacked the ruthless power of making +every subordinate bend or break in every time of crisis: otherwise +he would have bent or broken Longstreet. Next, it may have been +that he was not then at his best. Concludingly, it may be granted +to armchair (and even other) critics that if everything had been +something else the results might not have been the same. + + +Lee, having invaded the North by marching northeast under cover of +the mountains and wheeling southeast to concentrate at Gettysburg, +found Buford's cavalry suddenly resisting him, as they formed the +northwest outpost of Meade's army, which was itself concentrating +round Pipe Creek, near Taneytown in Maryland, fifteen miles southeast. +Gettysburg was a meeting place of many important roads. It stood at +the western end of a branch line connecting with all the eastern +rails. And it occupied a strong strategic point in the vitally +important triangle formed by Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Washington. +Thus, like a magnet, it drew the contending armies to what they +knew would prove a field decisive of the whole campaign. + +The Federal line, as finally held on the third of July, was nearly +five miles long. The front faced west and was nearly three miles +long. The flanks, thrown back at right angles, faced north and +south. Near the north end of the front stood Cemetery Hill, near +the south the Devil's Den, a maze of gigantic bowlders. Along the +front the ground was mostly ridged, and even the lower ground about +the center was a rise from which a gradual slope went down to the +valley that rose again to the opposite heights of Seminary Ridge, +where Lee had his headquarters only a mile away. The so-called +hills were no more than hillocks, the ridges were low, and most +slopes were those of a rolling country. But the general contour +of the ground, the swelling hillocks on the flanks (Culp's Hill +on the right, the Round Tops on the left) and the broad glacis up +which attackers must advance against the center, all combined to +make the position very strong indeed when held by even or superior +numbers. + +The first day's fight began when A. P. Hill's Confederates, with +Longstreet's following, closed in on Gettysburg from the west to +meet Ewell's, who were coming down from the north. Buford's Federal +cavalry resisted Hill's advanced brigades successfully till Reynolds +had brought the First Corps forward in support and ordered the +two other nearest corps to follow at the double quick. Reynolds +was killed early in the day; but not before his well trained eye +had taken in the situation at a glance and his sure judgment had +half committed both armies to that famous field. + +The full commitment came shortly after, when Meade sent Hancock +forward to command the three corps and Buford's cavalry in their +attempt to stem the Confederate advance. Howard was then the senior +general on the field, having taken over from Doubleday, who had +succeeded Reynolds. But he at once agreed that such a strong position +should be held and that Hancock should proceed to rectify the lines. +This was no easy task; for Ewell's Confederates had meanwhile come +down from the north and driven in the Federal flank on the already +hard-pressed front. The front thereupon gave way and fell back +in confusion. But Hancock's masterly work was quickly done and +the Federal line was reëstablished so well that the Confederates +paused in their attack and waited for the morrow. + +The Confederates had got as good as they gave, much to their disgust. +Archer, one of their best brigadiers, felt particularly sore when +most of his men were rounded up by Meredith's "Iron Brigade." When +Doubleday saw his old West Point friend a prisoner he shook hands +cordially, saying, "Well, Archer, I _am_ glad to see you!" But +Archer answered, "Well, I'm not so glad to see _you_--not by a +damned sight!" The fact was that the excellent Federal defense had +come as a very unpleasing surprise upon the rather too cocksure +Confederates. Buford's cavalry and Reynolds's infantry had staunchly +withstood superior numbers; while Lieutenant Bayard Wilkeson actually +held back a Confederate division for some time with the guns of +Battery G, Fourth U. S. Artillery. This heroic youth, only nineteen +years of age, kept his men in action, though they were suffering +terrible losses, till two converging batteries brought him down. + +He was well matched by a veteran of over seventy, John Burns, an +old soldier, whom the sound of battle drew from his little home like +the trumpet-call to arms. In his swallow-tailed, brass-buttoned, +old-fashioned coatee, Burns seemed a very comic sight to the nearest +boys in blue until they found he really meant to join them and +that he knew a thing or two of war. "Which way are the rebels?" +he asked, "and where are our troops? I know how to fight--I've +fit before." So he did; and he fought to good purpose till wounded +three times. + +Late in the evening Meade arrived and inspected the lines by moonlight. +Having ordered every remaining man to hasten forward he faced the +second day with well-founded anxiety lest Lee's full strength should +break through before his own last men were up. His right was not +safe against surprise by the Confederates who slept at the foot of +Culp's Hill, and his left was in imminent danger from Longstreet's +corps. But on the second day Longstreet marked his disagreement +with Lee's plans by delaying his attack till Warren, with admirable +judgment, had ordered the Round Tops to be seized at the double +quick and held to the last extremity. Then, after wasting enough +time for this to be done, Longstreet attacked and was repulsed; +though his men fought very well. Meanwhile Ewell, whose attack +against the right was to synchronize with Longstreet's against +the left, was delayed by Longstreet till the afternoon, when he +carried Culp's Hill. + +This was the only Confederate success; for Early failed to carry +Cemetery Hill, the adjoining high ground, which formed the right +center, and the rest of the Federal line remained intact; though +not without desperate struggles. + +The third was the decisive day; and on it Meade rose to the height +of his unappreciated skill. This was the first great battle in +which all the chief Federals worked so well together and the first +in which the commander-in-chief used reserves with such excellent +effect, throwing them in at exactly the right moment and at the +proper place. But these indispensable qualities were not of the +kind that the public wanted to acclaim, or, indeed, of the kind +that they could understand. + +Meade was determined to clear his flanks. So he began at dawn to +attack Ewell on Culp's Hill and kept on doggedly till, after four +hours of strenuous fighting, he had driven him off. By this time +Meade saw that Lee was not going to press home any serious attack +against the Round Tops and Devil's Den on the left. So the main +interest of the whole battle shifted to the center of the field, where +Lee was massing for a final charge. The idea had been to synchronize +three coöperating movements against Meade's whole position. His left +was to have been held by a demonstration in force by Longstreet +against the Devil's Den and Round Tops, while Ewell held Culp's +Hill, which seemed to be at his mercy, and which would flank any +Federal retreat. At the same time Meade's center was to have been +rushed by Pickett's fresh division supported by three attached +brigades. But though the central force was ready before nine o'clock +it never stepped off till three; so great was Longstreet's delay +in ordering Pickett's advance. Meanwhile the Federals had made +Culp's Hill quite safe against Ewell. So all depended now on the +one last desperate assault against the Federal center. + +This immortal assault is known as Pickett's Charge because it was +made by Pickett's division of Longstreet's corps supported by three +brigades from Hill's--Wilcox's, Perry's, and Pettigrew's. The whole +formed a mass of about ten thousand men. If they broke the Federal +line in two, then every supporting Confederate was to follow, while +the rest turned the flanks. If they failed, then the battle must +be lost. + +Hour after hour passed by. But it was not till well past one that +Longstreet opened fire with a hundred and forty guns. Hunt had +seventy-seven ready to reply. But after firing for half an hour +he ceased, wishing to reserve his ammunition for use against the +charging infantry. This encouraged the Confederate gunners, who +thought they had silenced him. They then continued for some time, +preparing the way for the charge, but firing too high and doing +little execution against the Federal infantry, who were lying down, +mostly under cover. Hunt's guns were more exposed and formed better +targets; so some of them suffered severely: none more than those of +Battery A, Fourth U.S. Artillery. This gallant battery had three +of its limbers blown up and replaced. Wheels were also smashed to +pieces and guns put out of action, till only a single gun, with +men enough to handle it, was left with only a single officer. This +heroic young lieutenant, Alonzo H. Cushing (brother to the naval +Cushing who destroyed the _Albemarle_), then ran his gun up to +the fence and fired his last round through it into Pickett's men +as he himself fell dead. + +Pickett advanced at three o'clock, to the breathless admiration +of both friend and foe. He had a mile of open ground to cover. But +his three lines marched forward as steadily and blithely as if the +occasion was a gala one and they were on parade. The Confederate +bombardment ceased. The Federal guns and rifles held their fire. Fate +hung in silence on those gallant lines of gray. Then the Federal +skirmishers down in the valley began fitfully firing; and the waiting +masses on the Federal slopes began to watch more intently still. +"Here they come! Here comes the infantry!" The blue ranks stirred +a little as the men felt their cartridge boxes and the sockets of +their bayonets. The calm warnings of the officers could be heard +all down the line of Gibbon's magnificent division, which stood +straight in Pickett's path. "Steady, men, steady! Don't fire yet!" + +For a very few, tense minutes Pickett's division disappeared in +an undulation of the ground. Then, at less than point-blank range, +it seemed to spring out of the very earth, no longer in three lines +but one solid mass of rushing gray, cresting, like a tidal wave, to +break in fury on the shore. Instantly, as if in answer to a single +word, Hunt's guns and Gibbon's rifles crashed out together, and +shot, shell, canister, and bullet cut gaping wounds deep into the +dense gray ranks. Still, the wave broke; and, from its storm-blown +top, one furious tongue surged over the breastwork and through +the hedge of bayonets. It came from Armistead's brigade of stark +Virginians. He led it on; and, with a few score men, reached the +highwater mark of that last spring tide. + +When he fell the tide of battle turned; turned everywhere upon +that stricken field; turned throughout the whole campaign; turned +even in the war itself. + +As Pickett's men fell back they were swept by scythe-like fire +from every gun and rifle that could mow them down. Not a single +mounted officer remained; and of all the brave array that Pickett +led three-fourths fell killed or wounded. The other fourth returned +undaunted still, but only as the wreckage of a storm. + +[Illustration: CIVIL WAR CAMPAIGNS OF 1863] + +Lee's loss exceeded forty per cent of his command. Meade's loss +fell short of thirty. But Meade was quite unable to pursue at once +when Lee retired on the evening of the fourth. The opposing cavalry, +under Pleasonton and Stuart respectively, had fought a flanking +battle of their own, but without decisive result. So Lee could +screen his retreat to the Potomac, where, however, his whole supply +train might have been cut off if its escort under the steadfast +Imboden had not been reinforced by every teamster who could pull +a trigger. + + +Gettysburg and Vicksburg, coming together, of course raised the +wildest expectations among the general public, expectations which +found an unworthy welcome at Government headquarters, where Halleck +wrote to Meade on the fourteenth: "The escape of Lee's army has +created great dissatisfaction in the mind of the President." Meade +at once replied: "The censure is, in my judgment, so undeserved +that I most respectfully ask to be immediately relieved from the +command of this army." Wiser counsels thereupon prevailed. + +Lee and Meade maneuvered over the old Virginian scenes of action, +each trying to outflank the other, and each being hampered by having +to send reinforcements to their friends in Tennessee, where, as +we have seen already, Bragg and Rosecrans were now maneuvering in +front of Chattanooga. In October (after the Confederate victory of +Chickamauga) Meade foiled Lee's attempt to bring on a Third Manassas. +The campaign closed at Mine Run, where Lee repulsed Meade's attempted +surprise in a three-day action, which began on the twenty-sixth +of November, the morrow of Grant's three days at Chattanooga. + + +From this time forward the South was like a beleaguered city, certain +to fall if not relieved, unless, indeed, the hearts of those who +swayed the Northern vote should fail them at the next election. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +FARRAGUT AND THE NAVY: 1863-4 + +The Navy's task in '63 was complicated by the many foreign vessels +that ran only between two neutral ports but broke bulk into +blockade-runners at their own port of destination. For instance, +a neutral vessel, with neutral crew and cargo, would leave a port +in Europe for a neutral port in America, say, Nassau in the Bahamas +or Matamoras on the Rio Grande. She could not be touched of course +at either port or anywhere inside the three-mile limit. But +international law accepted the doctrine of continuous voyage, by +which contraband could be taken anywhere on the high seas, provided, +of course, that the blockader could prove his case. If, for example, +there were ten times as many goods going into Matamoras as could +possibly be used through that port by Mexico, then the presumption +was that nine-tenths were contraband. Presumption becoming proof +by further evidence, the doctrine of continuous voyage could be +used in favor of the blockaders who stopped the contraband at sea +between the neutral ports. The blockade therefore required a double +line of operation: one, the old line along the Southern coast, +the other, the new line out at sea, and preferably just beyond +the three-mile limit outside the original port of departure, so +as to kill the evil at its source. Nassau and Matamoras gave the +coast blockade plenty of harassing work; Nassau because it was +"handy to" the Atlantic ports, Matamoras because it was at the +mouth of the Rio Grande, over the shoals of which the Union warships +could not go to prevent contraband crossing into Texas, thence up +to the Red River, down to the Mississippi (between the Confederate +strongholds of Vicksburg and Port Hudson) and on to any other part +of the South. But what may be called the high-seas blockade was no +less harassing, complicated as it was by the work of Confederate +raiders. + +The coast blockade of '63 was marked by two notable ship duels and +three fights round Charleston, then, as always, a great storm center +of the war. At the end of January two Confederate gunboats under +Commodore Ingraham attacked the blockading flotilla of Charleston, +forced the _Mercedita_ to surrender, badly mauled the _Keystone +State_, and damaged the _Quaker City_. But, though some foreign +consuls and all Charleston thought the blockade had been raised +for the time being, it was only bent, not broken. + +At the end of February the Union monitor _Montauk_ destroyed the +Confederate privateer _Nashville_ near Fort McAllister on the Ogeechee +River in Georgia. In April nine Union monitors steamed in to test the +strength of Charleston; but, as they got back more than they could +give, Admiral Du Pont wisely decided not to try the fight-to-a-finish +he had meant to make next morning. Wassaw Sound in Georgia was +the scene of a desperate duel on the seventeenth of June, when +the Union monitor _Weehawken_ captured the old blockade-runner +_Fingal_, which had been converted into the new Confederate ram +_Atlanta_. The third week in August witnessed another bombardment +of Charleston, this time on a larger scale, for a longer time, +and by military as well as naval means. But Charleston remained +defiant and unconquered both this year and the next. + +Confederate raiders were at work along the trade routes of the +world in '63, doing much harm by capture and destruction, and even +more by shaking the security of the American mercantile marine. +American crews were hard to get when so many hands were wanted +for other war work; and American vessels were increasingly apt to +seek the safety of a neutral flag. + +Slowly, and with much perverse interference to overcome in the +course of its harassing duties, the Union navy was getting the +strangle-hold that killed the sea-girt South. By '64 the North had +secured this strangle-hold; and nothing but foreign intervention +or the political death of the Northern War Party could possibly +shake it off. The South was feeling its practical enislement as +never before. The strong right arm of the Union navy held it fast +at every point but three--Wilmington, Charleston, and Mobile; and +round these three the stern blockaders grew stronger every day. +The Sabine Pass and Galveston also remained in Southern hands; +and the border town of Matamoras still imported contraband. But +these other three points were closely watched; and the greatly +lessened contraband that did get through them now only served the +western South, which had been completely severed from the eastern +South by the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson. The left arm of +the Union navy now held the whole line of the Mississippi, while +the gripping hand held all the tributary streams--Ohio, Cumberland, +and Tennessee--from which the Union armies were to invade, divide, +and devastate the eastern South this year. + + +Several Southern raiders were still at large in '64. But the most +famous or notorious three have each their own year of glory. The +_Florida_ belongs to '63, the _Shenandoah_ to '65. So the one great +raiding story we have now to tell is that of the _Alabama_, the +greatest of them all. + +The _Alabama_ was a beautiful thousand-ton wooden barkentine, built +by the Lairds at Birkenhead in '62, with standing rigging of wire, +a single screw driven by two horizontal three-hundred horse power +engines, coal room for three hundred and fifty tons, eight good +guns, the heaviest a hundred-pound rifle, and a maximum crew of +one hundred and forty-nine--all ranks and ratings--under Captain +Raphael Semmes, late U. S. N. Semmes was not only a very able officer +but an accomplished lawyer, well posted on belligerent and neutral +rights at sea. + +For nearly two years the _Alabama_ roved the oceans of the Old +World and the New, taking sixty-six Union vessels valued at seven +million dollars, spreading the terror of her name among all the +merchantmen that flew the Stars and Stripes, and infuriating the +Navy by the wonderful way in which she contrived to escape every +trap it set for her. She was designed for speed rather than for +fighting, and, with her great spread of canvas, could sometimes +work large areas under sail. But, even so, her runs, captures, +and escapes formed a series of adventures that no mere luck could +have possibly performed with a fluctuating foreign crew commanded +by ex-officers of the Navy. Her wanderings took her through nearly +a hundred degrees of latitude, from the coast of Scotland to St. +Paul Island, south of the Indian Ocean, also through more than +two hundred degrees of longitude, from the Gulf of Mexico to the +China Sea. She captured "Yankees" within one day's steaming of +the New York Navy Yard as well as in the Straits of Sunda. West +of the Azores and off the coast of Brazil her captures came so +thick and fast that they might have almost been a flock of sheep +run down there by a wolf. Finally, to fill the cup of wrath against +her, she had sunk a blockader off the coast of Texas, given the +slip to a Union man-of-war at the Cape of Good Hope, and kept the +Navy guessing her unanswered riddles for two whole years. + +Imagine, then, the keen elation with which all hands aboard the +U. S. S. _Kearsarge_ heard at their berth off Flushing that the +_Alabama_ was in port at Cherbourg on the Channel coast of France, +only one day's sail southwest! And there she was when the _Kearsarge_ +came to anchor; and every Northern eye was turned to see the ship +of which the world had heard so much. The Kearsarges hardly dared +to hope that there would be a fight; for they had the stronger +vessel, and now the faster one as well. The _Alabama_ had been +built for speed; but she had knocked about so much without a proper +overhaul that her copper sheathing was in rags, while she was more +or less strained in nearly every other part. The _Kearsarge_, on +the other hand, was in good order, with mantlets of chain cable +protecting her vitals, with one-third greater horse power, with +fourteen more men in her crew, and with two big pivot guns throwing +eleven inch shells with great force at short ranges. Moreover, +the _Kearsarge_, with her superior speed and stronger hull, could +choose the range and risk close quarters. The Alabamas were also +keen to estimate respective strengths. But the French authorities +naturally kept the two ships pretty far apart; so the Alabamas +never saw the chain mantlets which the Kearsarges had cleverly +hidden under a covering of wood that appeared to be flush with the +hull. + +The Kearsarges had a second and still more elating surprise when they +heard the _Alabama_ was coming out to fight. Semmes was apparently +anxious to show that his raider could be as gallant in fighting a +man-of-war as she was effective in sinking merchant vessels; so +he wrote his challenge to the Confederate Consul at Cherbourg, who +passed it on to the U. S. Consul, who handed it to Captain Winslow, +commanding the _Kearsarge_. Still, four days passed without the +_Alabama_; and the Kearsarges were giving up hope, when, suddenly, +on Sunday morning, the nineteenth of June, just as they had rigged +church and fallen in for prayers, out came the _Alabama_. The +_Kearsarge_ thereupon drew off, so that the _Alabama_ could not easily +escape to neutral waters if the duel went against her. Cherbourg, +of course, was all agog to see the fight; and many thousands of +people, some from as far as Paris, watched every move. An English +yacht, the _Deerhound_, kept an offing of about a mile, ready to +rescue survivors from a watery grave. Its owner, with his wife +and family, had intended to stay ashore and go to church. But, +when they heard the _Alabama_ was really going out, he put the +question to the vote around the breakfast-table, whereupon it was +carried unanimously that the _Deerhound_ should go too. + +When the deck-officer of the _Kearsarge_ sang out, "_Alabama!_" +Captain Winslow put down his prayer-book, seized his speaking-trumpet, +and turned to gain a proper offing, while the drum beat to general +quarters and the ship was cleared for action, with pivot-guns to +starboard. The weather was fine, with a slight haze, little sea, +and a light west breeze. Having drawn the _Alabama_ far enough to +sea, the _Kearsarge_ turned toward her again, showing the starboard +bow. When at a mile the _Alabama_ fired her hundred-pounder. For +nearly the whole hour this famous duel lasted the ships continued +fighting in the same way--starboard to starboard, round and round +a circle from half to a quarter mile across. Each captain stood +on the horse-block abreast the mizzen-mast to direct the fight. +Semmes presently called to his executive officer: "Mr. Kell, use +solid shot! Our shell strike the enemy's side and fall into the +water" (after bounding off the iron mantlets Winslow had so cleverly +concealed). The _Kearsarge's_ gunnery was magnificent, especially +from the after-pivot, which Quartermaster William Smith fired with +deadly aim, even when three of his gun's crew had been wounded by +a shell. These three, strange to say, were the only casualties +that occurred aboard the _Kearsarge_. But at sea the stronger side +usually suffers much less and the weaker much more than on land. +The _Alabama_ lost forty: killed, drowned, and wounded. + +The Kearsarges soon saw how the fight was going and began to cheer +each first-rate shot. "That's a good one! Now we have her! Give her +another like the last!" The big eleven-inchers got home repeatedly +as the range decreased; so much so that Semmes ordered Kell to keep +the _Alabama_ headed for the coast the next time the circling brought +her bow that way. This would bring her port side into action, which +was just what Semmes wanted now, because she had a dangerous list +to starboard, where the water was pouring through the shot-holes. +Kell changed her course with perfect skill, righting the helm, +hoisting the head-sails, hauling the fore-try-sail-sheet well aft, +and pivoting to port for a broadside delivered almost as quickly +as if there had not been a change at all. But at this moment the +engineer came up to say the water had put his fires out and that +the ship was sinking. At the same time a strange thing happened. +An early shot from the _Kearsarge_ had carried away the _Alabama's_ +colors; and now the _Alabama's_ own last broadside actually announced +her own defeat by "breaking out" the special Stars and Stripes +that Winslow had run up his mizzenmast on purpose to break out +in case of victory. A cannon ball had twitched the cord that held +the flag rolled up "in stops." + +Semmes sent his one remaining boat to announce his surrender; threw +his sword into the sea; and jumped in with the survivors. The +_Deerhound_, on authority from Winslow, had already closed in to +the rescue, followed by two French pilot boats and two from the +_Kearsarge_; when suddenly the _Alabama_, rearing like a stricken +horse, plunged to her doom. + + +Long before the _Alabama's_ end the Navy had been preparing for the +finishing blows against the Southern ports. Farragut had returned +to New Orleans in January, '64, hoping for immediate action. But +vexatious delays at Washington postponed his great attack till +August, when he crowned his whole career by his master-stroke against +Mobile. Grant was equally annoyed by this absurd delay, which was +caused by the eccentric, and therefore entirely wasteful, Red River +Expedition of '64, an expedition we shall ignore otherwise than +by pointing out, in this and the succeeding chapters, that it not +only postponed the overdue attack on Mobile but spoilt Sherman's +grand strategy as well as Farragut's and Grant's. Banks commanded +it. But by this time even he had learnt enough of war to know that +it was a totally false move. So he boldly protested against it. +But Halleck's orders, dictated by the Government, were positive. +So there was nothing for it but to suffer a well-deserved defeat +while trying to kill the dead and withering branches of Confederate +power beyond the Mississippi, in order to "show the flag in Texas" +and say "hands off!" to Mexico and France in the least effective +way of all. + +During this delay the Confederate ram _Albemarle_ came down the +Roanoke River, hoping to break through the local blockade in Albemarle +Sound and so give North Carolina an outlet to the sea. Two attempts +against Newbern, which closed the way out to Pamlico Sound, had +failed; but now (the fifth of May) great hopes were set upon the +_Albemarle_. At first she seemed impregnable; and the Federal shot +and shell glanced harmlessly off her iron sides. But presently +Commander Roe of the _Sassacus_ (a light-draft, pair-paddle, +double-ender gunboat) getting at right angles to her, ordered his +engineer to stuff the fires with oiled waste and keep the throttle +open. "All hands, lie down!" shouted Roe, as the throbbing engines +drove his vessel to the charge. Then came an earthquake shock: the +_Sassacus_ crashed her bronze beak into the _Albemarle's_ side. +Both vessels were disabled; a shell from the _Albemarle_ burst the +boilers of the _Sassacus_, scalding the engineers. But the rest +fought off the attempt made by the Albemarles to board. Presently +the furious opponents drifted apart; and the _Albemarle_, unable +to face her other enemies, took refuge upstream. There, on the +twenty-seventh of October, she was heroically attacked and sunk by +Lieutenant W. B. Cushing, U. S. N., with a spar torpedo projecting +from a little steam launch. Cushing himself swam off through a +hail of bullets, worked his way through the woods, seized a skiff +belonging to one of the enemy's outposts, and reached the flagship +half dead but wholly triumphant. + + +Between the _Albemarle's_ two fights Farragut took Mobile after +a magnificent action on the fifth of August. There were batteries +ashore, torpedoes across the channel, the _Tennessee_ ram and other +Confederate vessels waiting on the flank: three kinds of danger to +the Union fleet if one false movement had been made. But Farragut's +touch was sure. He sent his ironclads through next to the batteries, +which were only really dangerous on one side. This protected the +wooden ships against the batteries and the ironclads against the +torpedoes; for the Confederates had to leave part of the fairway +clear in order to use it themselves. Through this narrow channel +the four strongly armored monitors led the desperate way, a little +ahead and to starboard of the wooden vessels, which followed in +pairs, each pair lashed together, with the stronger on the starboard +side, next to Fort Morgan. + +The Confederates in Fort Morgan, and in the small and distant Fort +Powell on the other side, hardly reached a thousand men. Their force +afloat was also comparatively small: the ironclad ram _Tennessee_ +and three side-wheeler gunboats. But the great strength of their +position and the many dangers to a hostile fleet combined to make +Farragut's attack a very serious operation, even with his four +monitors, eight screw sloops, and four smaller vessels. The Union +army, which took no part in this great attack, was over five thousand +strong, and lost only seven men in the land bombardment later on. + +Farragut crossed the bar in the _Hartford_ at ten past six in the +morning with the young flood tide and a westerly breeze to blow +the smoke against Fort Morgan. All his ships ran up the Stars and +Stripes not only at the peak, as usual, but at each mast-head as +well. Farragut himself at first took post in the port main rigging. +But as the smoke of battle rose around him he climbed higher and +higher till he got close under the maintop, where a seaman, sent +up by Captain Drayton, lashed him on securely. + +All went well amid the furious cannonade till the monitor _Tecumseh_, +taking the wrong side of the channel buoy in her anxiety to ram +the _Tennessee_, ran over the torpedoes, was horribly holed by the +explosion, and plunged headforemost to the bottom, her screw madly +whirling in the air. Nor was this the worst; for the _Tecumseh's_ +mistake had thrown the other monitors out of their proper line-ahead, +athwart the wooden ships, which began to slow and swing about in +some confusion. The Confederates redoubled their fire. Ahead lay +the fatal torpedoes. For a moment Farragut could not decide whether +to risk an advance at all costs or to turn back beaten. He was +a very devout as well as a most determined man; and his simple +prayer, "O God, shall I go on?" seemed answered by the echo of +his soul, "Go on!" So on he went, not in unreflecting exaltation, +but in exaltation based on knowledge and on skill. Like Cromwell, +he might well have said, "Trust in the Lord and keep your powder +dry!" For he had done all that naval foresight could have done +to ensure success. And now, in one lightning flash of genius, he +reviewed the situation. He knew the torpedoes of his day were often +unreliable, that they exploded only on a special kind of shock, +that those which did explode could not be replaced in action, that +they were all fixed to their own spots, and that if one ship was +blown up her next-astern would get through safely. + +The _Brooklyn_, his next-ahead, was in his way. So he ordered the +flagship _Hartford_ and her lashed-together consort, the double-ender +_Metacomet_, to use, the one her screw, the other her paddles, in +opposite directions, till he had cleared the _Brooklyn's_ stern. +As he drew clear and headed for the danger-channel a shout went up +from the _Brooklyn's_ deck--"'ware torpedoes!" But Farragut, his +mind made up, instantly roared back--"Damn the torpedoes!" Then, +turning to the _Hartford's_ and _Metacomet's_ decks, he called +his orders down: "Four bells! Captain Drayton, go ahead! Captain +Jouett, full speed!" In answer to the order of "four bells" the +engines worked their very utmost and the two vessels dashed ahead. +Torpedoes knocked against the bottom and some of the primers actually +snapped. But nothing exploded; and Farragut won through. + +Inside the harbor the _Tennessee_ fought hard against the overwhelming +Union fleet. But her low-powered engines gave her no chance at +quick maneuvers. Three vessels rammed her in succession; and she +was forced to surrender. + +After this purely naval victory on the fifth of August, General +Granger's troops invested Fort Morgan, which, becoming the target +of an irresistible converging fire from both land and sea on the +twenty-second, surrendered on the twenty-third. + +The next objective of a joint expedition was Fort Fisher, which +stood at the end of a long, low tongue of land between the sea and +Cape Fear River. Fort Fisher guarded the entrance to Wilmington +in North Carolina, the port, above all others, from which the +Confederate armies drew their oversea supplies. Lee wrote to Colonel +Lamb, its commandant, saying that he could not subsist if it was +taken. Lamb had less than two thousand men in the fort; but there +were six thousand more forming an army of support outside. The +Confederates, however, had no naval force to speak of, while the +Union fleet, commanded by Admiral Porter, was the largest that +had ever yet assembled under the Stars and Stripes. There were +nearly sixty fighting vessels of all kinds, including five new +ironclads and the three finest new frigates. The guns that were +carried exceeded six hundred. + +There was also a mine ship, the old _Louisiana_, stuffed chock-a-block +with powder to blow in the side of the fort. The Washington wiseacres +set great store on this new mine of theirs. It was, of course, to +end the war. But naval and military experts on the spot were more +than doubtful. On the night of the twenty-third of December the +_Louisiana_ was safely worked in near the fort by brave Commander +Rhind, who fired the slow match and escaped unhurt with his devoted +crew of volunteers. A tremendous explosion followed. But, as there +was nothing to drive the force of it against the walls, it simply +resulted in an enormous flurry of water, mud, sand, earth, and +bits of flaming wreckage. + +Next morning the fleet bombarded with such success as to silence +many of the guns opposed to them. But on Christmas Day General +Weitzel reported that an assault would fail; whereupon General +Butler concurred and retreated, much to the rage of the fleet, which +thought quite otherwise. + +In a few days General Terry arrived with the same white troops +reinforced by two small colored brigades, making a total of eight +thousand men. To these Porter, strongly reinforced, added a naval +brigade, two thousand strong, that volunteered to storm the sea +face of Fort Fisher. These gallant men had only cutlasses and +pistols--except the four hundred marines, who carried bayonets and +rifles. They were a scratch lot, from the soldier's point of view, +never having been landed together as a single unit till called upon +to assault the most dangerous features of the fort. Yet, though +they were repulsed with considerable loss, they greatly helped +to win the day by obliging the defenders to divide their forces. +As Terry's army was, by itself, four or five times stronger than +Lamb's entire command the military stormers succeeded in fighting +their way through every line of defense and compelling a surrender. +They did exceedingly well. But their rear was safe, because Bragg +had withdrawn the supporting army for service elsewhere; while, +in their front, the enemy defenses had been almost torn out by +the roots in many places under the terrific converging fire of six +hundred naval guns for three successive days. + +When Fort Fisher surrendered on the fifteenth of January (1865) +the exhausted South had only one good port and one good raider +left: Charleston and the _Shenandoah_. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +GRANT ATTACKS THE FRONT: 1864 + +On March 9, 1864, at the Executive Mansion, and in the presence of all +the Cabinet Ministers, Lincoln handed Grant the Lieutenant-General's +commission which made him Commander-in-Chief of all the Union armies--a +commission such as no one else had held since Washington. On April +9, 1865, Grant received the surrender of Lee at Appomattox; and +the four years war was ended by a thirteen months campaign. + + +Victor of the River War in '63, Grant moved his headquarters from +Chattanooga to Nashville soon before Christmas. He then expected +not only to lead the river armies against Atlanta in '64 but, at +the same time, to send another army against Mobile, where it could +act in conjunction with the naval forces under Farragut's command. + +He consequently made a midwinter tour of inspection: southeast to +Chattanooga, northeast to Knoxville and Cumberland Gap, northwest to +Lexington and Louisville, thence south, straight back to Nashville. +This satisfied him that his main positions were properly taken and +held, and that a well-concerted drive would clear his own strategic +area of all but Forrest's elusive cavalry. + +It was the hardest winter known for many years. The sticky clay +roads round Cumberland Gap had been churned by wheels and pitted by +innumerable feet throughout the autumn rains. Now they were frozen +solid and horribly encumbered by débris mixed up with thousands +upon thousands of perished mules and horses. Grant regretted this +terrible wastage of animals as much in a personal as in a military +way; for, like nearly all great men, his sympathies were broad +enough to make him compassionate toward every kind of sentient +life. No Arab ever loved his horse better than Grant loved his +splendid charger Cincinnati, the worthy counterpart of Traveler, +Lee's magnificent gray. + +Summoned to Washington in March, Grant, after one scrutinizing +look at the political world, then and there made up his steadfast +mind that no commander-in-chief could ever carry out his own plans +from any distant point; for, even in his fourth year of the war, +civilian interference was still being practiced in defiance of naval +and military facts and needs, and of some very serious dangers. + +Lincoln stood wisely for civil control. But even he could not resist +the perverting pressure in favor of the disastrous Red River Expedition, +against which even Banks protested. Public and Government alike +desired to give the French fair warning that the establishment of +an Imperial Mexico, especially by means of foreign intervention, +was regarded as a semi-hostile act. There were two entirely different +ways in which this warning could be given: one completely effective +without being provocative, the other provocative without being in +the very least degree effective. The only effective way was to win +the war; and the best way to win the war was to strike straight at +the heart of the South with all the Union forces. The most ineffective +way was to withdraw Union forces from the heart of the war, send them +off at a wasteful tangent, misuse them in eccentric operations just +where they would give most offense to the French, and then expose +them to what, at best, could only be a detrimental victory, and to +what would much more likely be defeat, if not disaster. + +Yet, to Grant's and Farragut's and every other soldier's and sailor's +disgust, this worst way of all was chosen; and Banks's forty thousand +sorely needed veterans were sent to their double defeat at Sabine +Cross Roads and Pleasant Hill on the eighth and ninth of April, while +Porter's invaluable fleet and the no less indispensable transports +were nearly lost altogether owing to the long-foretold fall of +the dangerous Red River. The one success of this whole disastrous +affair was the admirable work of Colonel Joseph Bailey, who dammed +the water up just in time to let the rapidly stranding vessels +slide into safety through a very narrow sluice. + +Even the Red River lesson was thrown away on Stanton, whose interference +continued to the bitter end, except when checked by Lincoln or countered +by Grant and Sherman in the field. When Grant was starting on his +tour of inspection he found that Stanton had forbidden all War +Department operators to let commanding generals use the official +cipher except when in communication with himself. There were to +be no secrets at the front between the commanding generals, even +on matters of immediate life and death, unless they were first +approved by Stanton at his leisure. The fact that the enemy could +use unciphered messages was nothing in his autocratic eyes. Nor +did it prick his conscience to change the wording in ways that +bewildered his own side and served the enemy's turn. + +When Grant took the cipher Stanton ordered the operator to be dismissed. +Grant thereupon shouldered the responsibility, saying that Stanton +would have to punish him if any one was punished. Then Stanton gave +in. Grant saw through him clearly. "Mr. Stanton never questioned +his own authority to command, unless resisted. He felt no hesitation +in assuming the functions of the Executive or in acting without +advising with him.... He was very timid, and it was impossible +for him to avoid interfering with the armies covering the capital +when it was sought to defend it by an offensive movement against +the army defending the Confederate capital. The enemy would not +have been in danger if Mr. Stanton had been in the field." + +Stanton was unteachable. He never learnt where control ended and +disabling interference began. In the very critical month of August, +'64, he interfered with Hunter to such an extent that this patriotic +general had to tell Grant "he was so embarrassed with orders from +Washington that he had lost all trace of the enemy." Nor was that the +end of Stanton's interference with the operations in the Shenandoah +Valley. Lincoln's own cipher letter to Grant on the third of August +shows what both these great men had to suffer from the weak link +in the chain between them. + +I have seen your despatch in which you say, "I want Sheridan put +in command of all the troops in the field, with instructions to put +himself south of the enemy, and follow him to the death. Wherever +the enemy goes, let our troops go also." This, I think, is exactly +right, as to how our forces should move. But please look over the +despatches you may have received from here, even since you made +that order, and discover, if you can, that there is any idea in the +head of any one here of "putting our army _south_ of the enemy," +or of "following him to the _death_" in any direction. I repeat +to you it will neither be done or attempted unless you watch it +every day, and hour, and force it. + +The experts of the loyal North were partly comforted by knowing that +Davis and his ministers had interfered with Jackson, that during +the present campaign they made a crucial mistake about Johnston, +and that they failed to give Lee the supreme command until it was +too late. But no Southern Secretary went quite so far as Stanton, +who actually falsified Grant's order to Sheridan at the crisis +of the Valley campaign in October. Here are Grant's own words: +"This order had to go through Washington, where it was intercepted; +and when Sheridan received what purported to be a statement of +what I wanted him to do it was something entirely different." + +Nor was Stanton the only responsible civilian to interfere with Grant. +There was no government press censorship--perhaps, in this peculiar +war, there could not be one. So the only safety was unceasing care, +even in cases vouched for by civilians of high official standing. +When Grant was beginning the great campaign of '64 the Honorable +Elihu B. Washburne, afterwards United States Minister to France, +introduced one Swinton as the prospective historian of the war. On +this understanding Swinton accompanied the army. One night Grant +gave verbal orders to the staff officer on duty. Three days later +these orders appeared in a Richmond paper. Shortly afterwards, in +the midst of the Wilderness battle, Swinton was found eavesdropping +behind a stump during a midnight conference at headquarters. Sent +off with a serious warning, he next appeared, in another place, as +a prisoner condemned to death for spying. Grant, satisfied that +he was not bent on getting news for the enemy in particular, but +only for the press in general, released and expelled him with such +a warning this time that he never once came back. + + +The Union forces at the front were about twice the corresponding +forces of the South. Sherman, who commanded the river armies after +Grant's transfer to Virginia, says: "I always estimated my force at +about double, and could afford to lose two to one without disturbing +our relative proportion." In Virginia the Army of the Potomac under +Meade and the new Army of the James under Butler, both under Grant's +immediate command, totaled over a hundred and fifty thousand men +against the ninety thousand under Lee. These odds of five to three +remained the same when a hundred and ten thousand Federals went +into winter quarters against sixty-six thousand Confederates at +Petersburg. But, when the naval odds of more than ten to one in +favor of the North are added in, the general odds of two to one are +reached on this as well as other scenes of action. In reserves the +odds were very much greater; for while the South was getting down +to its last available man the North began the following year with +nearly one million in the forces and two millions on the registered +reserve. Thus, even supposing that half the reserves were unfit for +active service, the man-power odds against the South were these: +two to one in arms at the beginning of the great campaign, five to +one at the end of it, and ten to one if the fit reserves were all +included. The odds in transportation by land, and very much more +so by water, were even greater at corresponding times; while the +odds in all the other resources which could be turned to warlike +ends were greater still. + +The Southern situation, therefore, was not encouraging from the +naval and military point of view. The border States had long been +lost, then the trans-Mississippi; and now the whole river area was +held as a base by the North. Only five States remained effective: +Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia. These formed an +irregular oblong of about two hundred thousand square miles between +the Appalachians and the sea. There were a good eight hundred +Confederate miles from the Shenandoah Valley to Mobile. But the +three hundred miles across the oblong, even in its widest part, +were everywhere threatened and in some places held by the North. +The whole coast was more closely blockaded than ever; and only +three ports remained with their defenses still in Southern hands: +Wilmington, Charleston, and Mobile. Alabama was threatened by land and +sea from the lower Mississippi and the Gulf. Georgia was threatened +by Sherman's main body in southeastern Tennessee. The Carolinas +were in less immediate danger. But they were menaced both from the +mountains and the sea; and if the Union forces conquered Virginia and +Georgia, then the Carolinas were certain to be ground into subjugation +between Grant's victorious forces on the north and Sherman's on +the south. + +Grant fixed his own headquarters with the Army of the Potomac at +Culpeper Court House, north of the Rapidan. Lee's Army of Northern +Virginia was at Orange Court House, over twenty miles south. Grant, +taking his own headquarters as the center, regarded Butler's Army +of the James as the left wing, which could unite with the center +round Richmond and Petersburg. The long right wing ran through +the whole of West Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, clear away to +Memphis, with its own headquarters at Chattanooga. There Sherman +faced Johnston, who occupied a strong position at Dalton, over +thirty miles southeast. The great objectives were, of course, the +two main Southern armies under Lee and Johnston, with Richmond +and Atlanta as the chief positions to be gained. + +All other Union forces were regarded as attacking the South from +the rear. Wherever coast garrisons could help to tighten the blockade +or seriously distract Confederate attention they were left to do +so. Wherever they could not they were either depleted for the front +or sent there bodily. The principal Union field force attacking +from the rear was to have been formed by Banks's forty thousand +veterans in conjunction with Farragut's fleet against Mobile. But +the Red River Expedition spoilt that combination in the spring +and postponed it till August, when Farragut did nearly all the +fighting, and the coöperating army was far too late to produce the +distracting effect that Grant had originally planned. + +General Franz Sigel was sent to the upper Shenandoah Valley, both +to guard that approach on Washington and to destroy the resources on +which Lee's army so greatly relied. General George Crook was given +a mounted column to operate from southern West Virginia against +the line of rails running toward Tennessee through the lower end +of the Valley. + +The most notable new general was Philip H. Sheridan, whom Grant +selected for the cavalry command. Sheridan was thirty-three, two +years older than his Southern rival, Stuart, and, like him, a young +regular officer who rose to well-earned fame the moment his first +great chance occurred. + +Sherman we have met from the very beginning of the war and followed +throughout its course. He was continually rising to more and more +responsible command; but it was only now that he became the virtual +Commander-in-Chief of all the river armies and the chosen coöperator +with Grant on a universal scale. He was of the old original stock, +his first American ancestors having emigrated from England in 1634. +An old regular, with special knowledge of the South, and in the +fullness of his powers at the age of forty-four, he had developed +with the war till there was no position which he could not fill +to the best advantage of the service. + +Grant fixed the fourth of May for the combined advance of all the +converging forces of invasion. There were two weak points where +the Union armies failed: one in the farthest south, where, as we +have so often seen, Banks could not attack Mobile owing to his +absence at Red River; the other in the farthest north, where Sigel +was badly beaten and replaced by Hunter. Here, after much disabling +interference at the hands of Stanton, Hunter was succeeded by Sheridan, +whom Grant himself directed with consummate skill. There were also +two Confederate thorns in the Federal side: Forrest's cavalry in +Sherman's rear, Mosby's cavalry in Grant's. Forrest roved about the +river area, snapping up small garrisons, cutting communications, +and doing a good deal of damage right up to the Ohio. Mosby, with +a much smaller but equally efficient force, actually raided to and +fro in Grant's immediate rear; and on one occasion nearly captured +Grant himself just on the eve of the opening move. As Grant's unguarded +special train from Washington pulled up at Warrenton Junction, where +there was only one Union official, Mosby's men had just crossed +the track in pursuit of some Federal cavalry. + +But neither these two Confederate thorns in the side nor the more +serious Federal failures could stop the general advance. Nor yet +could Butler's lack of success on the James. Butler had seized +and fortified an exceedingly strong defensive position at Bermuda +Hundred on a peninsula, with navigable water on both flanks and in +rear, and a very narrow neck of land in front. The only trouble +was that it was as hard for him to surmount the Confederate front +across the same narrow neck as it was for the enemy to surmount +his own. He was, in fact, bottled up, with the cork in the enemy's +hands. He did send out cavalry from Suffolk to cut the rails south +of Petersburg. But no permanent damage was done there. Petersburg +itself, which at that time was almost defenseless, was not taken. And +in the middle of the month Beauregard attacked Butler so vigorously +as to make the Army of the James rather a passive than an active +force till it was presently, absorbed by Grant when he arrived +before Richmond in June. + +Grant felt perfect confidence only in four prime elements of victory: +first, in his ability to wear Lee down by sheer attrition if other +means failed; next, in his own magnificent army; then in Sherman's; +and lastly in Sheridan's cavalry. His supply and transport services +were nearly perfect, even in his own most critical eyes. "There +never was a corps better organized than was the quartermaster's +corps with the Army of the Potomac in 1864." His field engineering +and his signal service were also exceedingly good. At every halt +the army threw up earth and timber entrenchments with wonderful +rapidity and skill. At the same time the telegraph and signal corps +was busy laying insulated wires by means of reels on muleback. +Parallel lines would be led to the rear of each brigade till quite +clear, when their ends would be joined by a wire at right angles, +from which headquarters could communicate with every unit at the +front. Sherman's army was equally efficient, and Sheridan's cavalry +soon proved that sweeping raids could be carried out by one side +as well as by the other. + +Crossing the Rapidan at the Germanna Ford, Grant marched south +through the Wilderness on the fifth of May. The Wilderness was +densely wooded; the roads were few and bad; the clearings rare +and too small for large units. When Lee attacked from the west +and Grant turned to face him the fighting soon became desperate, +close, and somewhat confused. Neither side gained any substantial +advantage on the first day. Next morning Grant, preparing to attack +at five, was forestalled by Lee, who wished to keep him at arm's +length till Longstreet came up on the southern flank. Again the +opposing armies closed and fought with the greatest determination +for over an hour, when the Confederates fell back in some confusion. +Then Longstreet arrived and restored the battle till he was severely +wounded. After this Lee took command of his right, or southern, wing +and kept up the fight all day. Meanwhile Sheridan had countered +the Confederate cavalry under Stuart, which had been trying to +swing round the same southern flank. The main bodies of infantry +swayed back and forth till dark, with the woods and breastworks +on fire in several places, and many of the wounded smothering in +the smoke. + +On the seventh reassuring news came in from Sherman and Butler, +Sheridan drove off the Confederate cavalry at Todd's Tavern, and +the southward march continued. As Grant and Meade rode south that +evening, past Hancock's corps, and the men saw they were heading +straight for Richmond, there was such a burst of cheering that +the Confederates, thinking it meant a night attack, deluged the +intervening woods with a heavy barrage till they found out their +mistake. + +The race for Richmond continued on the eighth, each army trying to +get south of the other without exposing itself to a flank attack. +Grant had sent his wagon trains farther east, to move south on +parallel roads and keep those nearest Lee quite clear for fighting. +This movement at first led Lee to suspect a Federal retirement on +Fredericksburg, which caused him to send Longstreet's corps south +to Spotsylvania. The woods being on fire, and the men unable to +bivouac, the whole corps pushed on to Spotsylvania, thus forestalling +Grant, who had intended to get there first himself. + +This brought on another tremendous battle in the bush. Lee formed +a semicircle, facing north, round Spotsylvania, in a supreme effort +to stem, if not throw back, Grant's most determined advance. Grant, +on the other hand, indomitably pressed home wave after wave of attack +till the evening of the twelfth. The morning of that desperate day +was foggy; and the attack was delayed. The Federal objective was +a commanding salient, jutting out from the Confederate center, +and now weakened by the removal of guns overnight to follow the +apparent Federal move toward the south. The gray sentries, peering +through the dripping woods, suddenly found them astir. Then wave +after wave of densely massed blue dashed to the assault, swarming +up and over on both sides, regardless of losses, and fighting hand +to hand with a fury that earned this famous salient the name of +Bloody Angle. Back and still back went the outnumbered gray, many of +whom were surrounded by the swirling currents of inpouring blue. But +presently Lee himself came up, and would have led his reinforcements +to the charge if a pleading shout of "General Lee to the rear!" +had not induced him to desist. Every spare Confederate rushed to +the rescue. From right and left and rear the gray streams came, +impetuous and strong, united in one main current and dashed against +the blue. There, in the Bloody Angle, the battle raged with +ever-increasing fury until the rising tide of strife, bursting +its narrow bounds, carried the blue attackers back to where they +came from. But they were hardly clear of that appalling slope before +they reformed, presented an undaunted front once more, and then +drew off with stinging resistance to the very last. + +After five days of much rain and little fighting Grant made his +final effort on the eighteenth. This was meant to be a great surprise. +Two corps changed position under cover of the night and sprang +their trap at four in the morning. But Lee was again before them, +ready and resolute as ever. Thirty guns converged their withering +fire on the big blue masses and seemed to burn them off the field. +These masses never closed, as they had done six days before; and +when they fell back beaten the fortnight's battle in the Wilderness +was done. + +During it there had been two operations that gave Grant better +satisfaction: Sheridan's raid and Sherman's advance. As large bodies +of cavalry could not maneuver in the bush Grant had sent Sheridan +off on his Richmond Raid ten days before. Striking south near +Spotsylvania, Sheridan's ten thousand horsemen rounded Lee's right, +cut the rails on either side of Beaver Dam Station, destroyed this +important depot on the Virginia Central Railroad, and then made +straight for Richmond. Stuart followed hard, made an exhausting +sweep round Sheridan's flank, and faced him on the eleventh at +Yellow Tavern, six miles north of Richmond. Here the tired and +outnumbered Confederates made a desperate attempt to stem Sheridan's +advance. But Stuart, the hero of his own men, and the admiration +of his generous foes, was mortally wounded; and his thinner lines, +overlapped and outweighed, gave ground and drew off. Richmond had +no garrison to resist a determined attack. But Sheridan, knowing he +could not hold it and having better work to do, pushed on southeast +to Haxall's Landing, where he could draw much-needed supplies from +Butler, just across the James. With the enemy aggressive and alert +all round him, he built a bridge under fire across the Chickahominy, +struck north for the Army of the Potomac, and reported his return +to Grant at Chesterfield Station--halfway back to Spotsylvania--on +his seventeenth day out. + +In the course of this great raid Sheridan had drawn off the Confederate +cavalry; fought four successful actions; released hundreds of Union +prisoners and taken as many himself; cut rails and wires to such an +extent that Lee could only communicate with Richmond by messenger; +destroyed enormous quantities of the most vitally needed enemy +stores, especially food and medical supplies; and, by penetrating +the outer defenses of Richmond, raised Federal prestige to a higher +plane at a most important juncture. + +Meanwhile Sherman, whose own main body included a hundred thousand +men, had started from Chattanooga at the same time as Grant from +Culpeper Court House. In Grant's opinion "Johnston, with Atlanta, +was of less importance only because the capture of Johnston and +his army would not produce so immediate and decisive a result in +closing the rebellion as would the possession of Richmond, Lee, and +his army." Sherman's organization, supply and transport, engineers, +staff, and army generally were excellent. So skillful, indeed, +were his railway engineers that a disgusted Confederate raider +called out to a demolition party: "Better save your powder, boys. +What's the good of blowing up this one when Sherman brings duplicate +tunnels along?" + +Sherman had double Johnston's numbers in the field. But Johnston, +as a supremely skillful Fabian, was a most worthy opponent for this +campaign, when the Confederate object was to gain time and sicken +the North of the war by falling back from one strongly prepared +position to another, inflicting as much loss as possible on the +attackers, and forcing them to stretch their line of communication +to the breaking point among a hostile population. Two of Sherman's +best divisions were still floundering about with the rest of the +Red River Expedition. So he had to modify his original plan, which +would have taken him much sooner to Atlanta and given him the support +of a simultaneous attack on Mobile by a coöperating joint expedition. +But he was ready to the minute, all the same. + +Dalton, Johnston's first stronghold, was cleverly turned by McPherson's +right flank march; whereupon Johnston fell back on Resaca. Here, +on the upon the fifteenth of May, the armies fought hard for some +hours. But Sherman again outflanked the fortified enemy, who retired +to Kingston. Then, after Sherman had made a four days' halt to +accumulate supplies, the advance was resumed, against determined +opposition and with a good deal of hard fighting for a week in the +neighborhood of New Hope Church. The result of the usual outflanking +movements was that Johnston had to evacuate Allatoona on the fourth +of June. Sherman at once turned it into his advanced field base; +while Johnston fell back on another strong and well-prepared position +at Kenesaw Mountain. + +Grant, favored in a general way by Sherman and in a special way +by Sheridan, had meanwhile enjoyed a third advantage, this time +on his own immediate front, through the sickness of Lee, who could +not take personal command during the last ten days of May. On the +twenty-first half of Grant's army marched south while half stood +threatening Lee, in order to give their friends a start toward +Richmond. This move was so well staffed and screened that perhaps +Lee could not have seen his chance quite soon enough in any case. +But when he did learn what had happened even his calm self-control +gave way to the exceeding bitter cry: "We must strike them! We must +never let them pass us again!" On the thirtieth he was horrified +at getting from Beauregard (who was then between Richmond and +Petersburg) a telegram which showed that the Confederate Government +was busy with the circumlocution office in Richmond while the enemy +was thundering at the gate. "War Department must determine when +and what troops to order from here." Lee immediately answered: +"If you cannot determine what troops you can spare, the Department +cannot. The result of your delay will be disaster. Butler's troops +will be with Grant tomorrow." Lee also telegraphed direct to Davis +for immediate reinforcements, which arrived only just in time for +the terrific battle of Cold Harbor. + +With these three advantages, in addition to the other odds in his +favor, Grant seemed to have found the tide of fortune at the flood +in the latter part of May. But he had many troubles of his own. +No sooner had half his army been badly defeated on the eighteenth +than news came that Sigel was in full retreat instead of cutting +off supplies from Lee. Then came news of Butler's retreat from +Drewry's Bluff, close in to Richmond. Nor was this all; for it was +only now that definite news of the Red River Expedition arrived +to confirm Grant's worst suspicions and ruin his second plan of +helping Farragut to take Mobile. But, as was his wont, Grant at +once took steps to meet the crisis. He ordered Hunter to replace +Sigel and go south--straight into the heart of the Valley, asked the +navy to move his own base down the Rappahannock from Fredericksburg +to Port Royal, and then himself marched on toward Richmond, where +Lee was desperately trying to concentrate for battle. + +The two armies were now drawing all available force together round +the strategic center of Cold Harbor, only nine miles east of Richmond. +On the thirty-first Sheridan drove out the enemy detachments there, +and was himself about to retire before much superior reinforcements +when he got Grant's order to hold his ground at any cost. Nightfall +prevented a general assault till the next morning, when Sheridan +managed to stand fast till Wright's whole corps came up and the +enemy at once desisted. But elsewhere the Confederates did what +they could to stave the Federals off from advantageous ground on +that day and the next. The day after--the fateful third of June--the +two sides closed in death-grips at Cold Harbor. + +On this, the thirtieth day of Grant's campaign of stern attrition +and would-be-smashing hammer-strokes at Lee, these were his orders +for attack: "The moment it becomes certain that an assault cannot +succeed, suspend the offensive. But when one does succeed, push it +vigorously, and, if necessary, pile in troops at the successful +point from wherever they can be taken." The trouble was that Grant +was two days late in carrying on the battle so well begun by Sheridan, +that Warren's corps was two miles off and entirely disconnected, +and that the three remaining corps formed three parts and no whole +when the stress of action came. + +At dawn Meade's Army of the Potomac (less Warren's corps) began +to take post for the grand attack that some, more sanguine than +reflecting, hoped would win the war. When it was light the guns +burst out in furious defiance, each side's artillery trying to +beat the other's down before the crisis of the infantry assault. +There was no maneuvering. Each one of Meade's three corps--Hancock's, +Wright's, and Smith's (brought over from Butler's command)--marched +straight to its front. This led them apart, on diverging lines, and +so exposed their flanks as well as their fronts to enemy fire. But +though each corps thought its neighbor wrong to uncover its flanks, +and the true cause was not discovered till compass bearings were +afterwards compared, yet each went on undaunted, gaining momentum +with every step, and gathering itself together for the final charge. + +Then, surging like great storm-blown waves, the blue lines broke +against Lee's iron front. In every gallant case there was the same +wild cresting of the wave, the same terrific crash, the same adventurous +tongues of blue that darted up as far as they could go alive, the same +anguishing recession from the fatal mark, and the same agonizing +wreckage left behind. In Hancock's corps the crisis passed in just +eight minutes. But in those eight dire minutes eight colonels died +while leading their regiments on to a foredoomed defeat. One of +these eight, James P. McMahon of New York, alone among his dauntless +fellows, actually reached the Confederate lines, and, catching the +colors from their stricken bearer, waved them one moment above +the parapet before he fell. + +Flesh and blood could do no more. Under the withering fire and crossfire +of Lee's unshaken front the beaten corps went back, re-formed, and +waited. They had not long to wait; for Grant was set on swinging +his three hammers for three more blows at least. So again the three +assaults were separately made on the one impregnable front; and again +the waves receded, leaving a second mass of agonizing wreckage with +the first. Yet even this was not enough for Grant, who once more +renewed his orders. These orders quickly ran their usual course, +from the army to the different corps, from each corps to its own +divisions, and from divisions to brigades. But not a single unit +stirred. From the generals to the "thinking bayonets" every soldier +knew the limit had been reached. Officially the order was obeyed by +a front-line fire of musketry, as well as by the staunch artillery, +which again gave its infantry the comfort of the guns. But that +was all. + +Thus ended the battle of Cold Harbor, the last pitched battle on +Virginian soil. Grant reported it in three short sentences; and +afterwards referred to it in these other three. "I have always +regretted that the last assault [_i.e._, the whole battle of the +third of June] was ever made. No advantage whatever was gained +to compensate for the heavy loss. Indeed, the advantages, other +than those of relative losses, were on the Confederate side." Even +these, however, were also on the Confederate side, as Grant lost +nearly thirteen thousand, while Lee lost less than eighteen hundred. +Cold Harbor undoubtedly lowered Union morale, both at the front +and all through the loyal North. It encouraged the Peace Party, +revived Confederate hopes, and shook the army's faith in Grant's +commandership. Martin McMahon, a Union general, writing many years +after the event, of which he was a most competent witness, said: +"It was the dreary, dismal, bloody, ineffective close of the +lieutenant-general's first campaign with the Army of the Potomac." + + +Cold Harbor caused a change of plan. Reporting two days later Grant +said: "I now find, after thirty days of trial, the enemy deems it +of the first importance to run no risks with the armies they now +have. Without a greater sacrifice of human life than I am willing +to make all cannot be accomplished that I had designed outside of +the city [of Richmond]. I have therefore resolved upon the following +plan," which, in one word, involved a complete change from a series +of pitched battles to a long-drawn open siege. + +The battles lasted thirty days, the siege three hundred. Therefore, +from this time on for the next ten months, Lee had to keep his living +shield between Grant's main body and the last great stronghold +of the fighting South, while the rising tide of Northern force, +commanding all the sea and an ever-increasing portion of the land, +beat ceaselessly against his front and flanks, threw out destroying +arms against his ever-diminishing sources of supply, and wore the +starving shield itself down to the very bone. + +Grant's losses--forty thousand killed and wounded--were all made +good by immediate reinforcement; as was his other human wastage +from sickness, straggling, and desertion: made good, that is, in +the quantities required to wear out Lee, whose thinning ranks could +never be renewed; but not made good in quality; for many of the best +were dead. The wastage of material is hardly worth considering on +the Northern side; for it could always be made good, superabundantly +good. But the corresponding wastage on the Southern side was unrenewed +and unrenewable. Food, clothing, munitions, medical stores--it was +all the same for all the Southern armies: desperate expedients, +slow starvation, death. + +Consternation reigned at Richmond on the twelfth of June, the day +the fitful firing ceased around Cold Harbor. There was danger in +the Valley, where Hunter had won success at Staunton, and where +Crook's and Averell's Union troops were expected to arrive from West +Virginia. Sheridan, too, was off on a twenty-day raid. He cut the +Virginia Central rails at Trevilian, did much other damage between +Richmond and the Valley, and, toward the end of June, rejoined Grant, +who had reached the James nearly a fortnight before. Always trying +to overlap Lee's extending right, Grant closed in on Petersburg +with the Army of the Potomac while the Army of the James held fast +against Richmond. This part of the front then remained comparatively +quiet till the end of July. + +But the beleaguered Confederates made one last sortie out of the +Valley and straight against Washington. At the beginning of July +the Valley was uncovered owing to the roundabout flank march that +Hunter was forced to make back to his base for ammunition. The +enterprising Jubal Early took advantage of this with some veteran +troops and made straight for Washington. On the ninth Lew Wallace +succeeded in delaying him for one day at the Monocacy by an admirably +planned defense most gallantly carried out with greatly inferior +numbers and far less veteran men. This gave time for reinforcements +to pour into Washington; so that on the twelfth, Early, finding +the works alive with men, had to retreat even faster than he came. + +In the meantime Grant's extreme right wing was steadily pressing +the invasion of Georgia, where we left Sherman and Johnston face +to face at Kenesaw in June. Here again the beleaguered Confederates +had been making desperate raids or sorties, trying to cut Sherman +off from his base in Tennessee and keep back the Federal forces +in other parts of the river area. "Our Jack Morgan," whom we left +as a prisoner of war after his Ohio raid of '63, had escaped in +November, fought Crook and Averell for Saltville and Wytheville +in May, and then, leaving southwest Virginia, had raided Kentucky +and taken Lexington, but been defeated at Cynthiana and driven back +by overwhelming numbers till he again entered southwest Virginia +on the twentieth of June. Forrest raided northeastern Mississippi, +badly defeated Sturgis at Brice's Cross Roads in June, but was +himself defeated by A. J. Smith at Tupelo in July. + +Meanwhile Sherman had been tapping Johnston's fifty miles of +entrenchments for three weeks of rainy June weather, hoping to find +a suitable place into which he could drive a wedge of attack. On +the twenty-seventh he tried to carry the Kenesaw lines by assault, +but failed at every point, with a loss of twenty-five hundred--three +times what Johnston lost. + +By a well-combined series of maneuvers Sherman then forced Johnston +to fall back or be hopelessly outflanked. Johnston, with equal skill, +crossed the Chattahoochee under cover of the strongly fortified +bridgehead which he had built unknown to Sherman. But Sherman, with +his double numbers, could always hold Johnston with one-half in front +while turning his flank with the other. So even the Chattahoochee +was safely crossed on the seventeenth of July and the final move +against Atlanta was begun. That same night Johnston's magnificent +skill was thrown to the winds by Davis, who had ordered the bold +and skillful but far too headlong John B. Hood to take command +and "fight." + +Five days later Hood fought the battle of Atlanta. Just as Sherman +was closing in to entrench for a siege Hood attacked his extreme +left flank with the utmost resolution, driving it in and completely +enveloping it. But Sherman was not to be caught. Knowing that only +a part of Hood's army could be sent to this attack while the rest +held the lines of Atlanta, Sherman left McPherson's veteran Army +of the Tennessee to do the actual fighting, supported, of course, +by the movement of troops on their engaged right. McPherson was +killed. Logan ably replaced him and won a hard-fought day. Hood's +loss was well over eight thousand; Sherman's considerably less +than half. + +On the twenty-eighth Hood attacked the extreme right, now commanded +by General O. O. Howard in succession to McPherson, whose Army of +the Tennessee again did most distinguished service, especially +Logan's Fifteenth Corps near Ezra Church. The Confederates were +again defeated with the heavier loss. After this the siege continued +all through the month of August. + +While Hood was trying to keep Sherman off Atlanta Grant was trying +to make a breach at Petersburg. Grant gave Meade "minute orders +on the 24th [of July] how I wanted the assault conducted," and +Meade elaborated the actual plan with admirable skill except in one +particular--that of the generals concerned. Burnside was ordered +to use his corps for the assault, and he chose Ledlie's division to +lead. The mine was on an enormous scale, designed to hold eight tons +of powder, though it was only charged with four, and was approached +by a gallery five hundred feet long. On the twenty-ninth Grant +brought every available man into proper support of Burnside, whose +other three divisions were to form the immediate support of Ledlie's +grand forlorn hope. + +In the early morning of the thirtieth the mine blew up with an +earthquaking shock; the enemy round it ran helter-skelter to the +rear; a crater like that of a volcano was formed; and a hundred +and sixty pieces of artillery opened a furious fire on every square +inch near it. Ledlie's division rushed forward and occupied the +crater. But there the whole maneuver stopped short; for everything +hinged on Ledlie's movements; and Ledlie was hiding, well out of +danger, instead of "carrying on." After a pause Confederate +reinforcements came up and drove the leaderless division back. +"The effort," said Grant, "was a stupendous failure"; and it cost +him nearly four thousand men, mostly captured. + +August was a sad month for the loyal North. It was then, as we +have seen, that Lincoln had to warn Grant about the way in which +his orders were being falsified in Washington. It was then that +Sherman asked for reinforcements, so as to be up to strength before +and after the taking of Atlanta. And it was then that Halleck warned +Grant to be ready to send some of his best men north if there should +be serious resistance to the draft. Nor was this all. Thurlow Weed, +the great election agent, told Lincoln that the Government would +be defeated; which meant, of course, that the compromised and +compromising Peace Party would probably be at the helm in time +to wreck the Union. With so many of the best men dead or at the +front the whole tone of political society had been considerably +lowered--to the corresponding advantage of all those meaner elements +that fish in troubled waters when the dregs are well stirred up. +There were sinister signs in the big cities, in the press, and +in financial circles. The Union dollar once sank to thirty-nine +cents. To make matters worse, there was a good deal of well-founded +discontent among the self-sacrificing loyalists, both at the home +and fighting fronts, because the Government apparently allowed +disloyal and evasive citizens to live as parasites on the Union's +body politic. The blood tax and money tax alike fell far too heavily +on the patriots; while many a parasite grew rich in unshamed safety. + +Mobile was won in August. But the people's eyes were mostly fixed +upon the land. So a much greater effect was produced by Sherman's +laconic dispatch of the second of September announcing the fall of +Atlanta. The Confederates, despairing of holding it to any good +purpose, had blown up everything they could not move and then retreated. +This thrilling news heartened the whole loyal North, and, as Lincoln +at once sent word to Sherman, "entitled those who had participated +to the applause and thanks of the nation." Grant fired a salute +of shotted guns from every battery bearing on the enemy, who were +correspondingly depressed. For every one could now see that if +the Union put forth its full strength the shrunken forces of the +South could not prevent the Northern vice from crushing them to +death. + +September also saw the turning of the tide on the still more conspicuous +scene of action in Virginia. Grant had sent Sheridan to the Valley, +and had just completed a tour of personal inspection there, when +Sheridan, finding Early's Confederates divided, swooped down on +the exposed main body at Opequan Creek and won a brilliant victory +which raised the hopes of the loyal North a good deal higher still. + +Exactly a month later, on the nineteenth of October, Early made a +desperate attempt to turn the tables on the Federals in the Valley +by attacking them suddenly, on their exposed left flank, while +Sheridan was absent at Washington. (We must remember that Grant +had to concert action personally with his sub-commanders, as his +orders were so often "queered" when seen at Washington by autocratic +Stanton and bureaucratic Halleck.) The troops attacked broke up +and were driven in on their supports in wild confusion. Then the +supports gave way; and a Confederate victory seemed to be assured. + +But Sheridan was on his way. He had left the scene of his previous +victory at Opequan Creek, near Winchester, and was now riding to the +rescue of his army at Cedar Creek, twenty miles south. "Sheridan's +Ride," so widely known in song and story, was enough to shake the +nerves of any but a very fit commander. The flotsam and jetsam of +defeat swirled round him as he rode. Yet, with unerring eye, he +picked out the few that could influence the rest and set them at +work to rally, reform, and return. Inspired by his example many +a straggler who had run for miles presently "found himself" again +and got back in time to redeem his reputation. + +Arriving on the field Sheridan discovered those two splendid leaders, +Custer and Getty, holding off the victorious Confederates from what +otherwise seemed an easy prey. His presence encouraged the formed +defense, restored confidence among the rest near by, and stiffened +resistance so much that hasty entrenchments were successfully made +and still more successfully held. The first rush having been stopped, +Sheridan turned the lull that ensued into a triumphal progress by +riding bareheaded along his whole line, so that all his men might +feel themselves once more under his personal command. Cheer upon +cheer greeted him as his gallant charger carried him past; and +when the astonished enemy were themselves attacked they broke in +irretrievable defeat. + +This crowning victory of the long-drawn Valley campaigns, coming +with cumulative force after those of Mobile, Atlanta, and Opequan +Creek, did more to turn the critical election than all the speeches +in the North. The fittest at the home front judged by deeds, not +words, agreeing therein with Rutherford B. Hayes (a future President, +now one of Sheridan's generals) who said: "Any officer fit for +duty who at this crisis would abandon his post to electioneer for +a seat in Congress, ought to be scalped." + +The devastation of everything in the Valley that might be useful +to Lee's army completed the Union victory in arms; while Lincoln's +own triumph in November completed it in politics and raised his +party to the highest plane of statesmanship in war. + +From this time till the early spring the battle of the giants in +Virginia calmed down to the minor moves and clashes that mark a +period of winter quarters; while the scene of more stirring action +shifts once more to Georgia and Tennessee. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +SHERMAN DESTROYS THE BASE: 1864 + +Sherman made Atlanta his field headquarters for September and October, +changing it entirely from a Southern city to a Northern camp. The +whole population was removed, every one being given the choice of +going north or south. In his own words, Sherman "had seen Memphis, +Vicksburg, Natchez, and New Orleans, all captured from the enemy, +and each at once garrisoned by a full division, if not more; so +that success was actually crippling our armies in the field by +detachments to guard and protect the interests of a hostile population." +In reporting to Washington he said: "If the people raise a howl +against my barbarity and cruelty, I will answer that war is war, +and not popularity seeking. If they want peace, they and their +relatives must stop the war." He also excluded the swarms of +demoralizing camp-followers that had clogged him elsewhere. One +licensed sutler was allowed for each of his three armies, and no +more. Atlanta thus became a perfect Union stronghold fixed in the +flank of the South. + +The balance of losses in action, from May to September, was heavily +against the South: nearly nine to four. The actual numbers did +not greatly differ: thirty-two thousand Federals to thirty-five +thousand Confederates. (And in killed and wounded the Federals +lost many more than the Confederates. It was the thirteen thousand +captured Confederates that redressed the balance.) But, since Sherman +had twice as many in his total as the Confederates had in theirs, the +odds in relative loss were nine to four in his favor. The balance +of loss from disease was also heavily against the Confederates, +who as usual suffered from dearth of medical stores. The losses in +present and prospective food supplies were even more in Sherman's +favor; for his devastations had begun. Yet Jefferson Davis was +bound that Hood should "fight"; and Hood was nothing loth. + +Davis went about denouncing Johnston for his magnificent Fabian +defense; and added insult to injury by coupling the name of this +very able soldier and quite incorruptible man with that of Joseph +E. Brown, Governor of Georgia, who, though a violent Secessionist, +opposed all proper unification of effort, and exempted eight thousand +State employees from conscription as civilian "indispensables." +Then, when Sherman approached, Brown ran away with all the food +and furniture he could stuff into his own special train; though +he left behind him all arms, ammunition, and other warlike stores, +besides the confidential documents belonging to the State. + +Brown had also weakened Hood's army by withdrawing the State troops +to gather in the harvest and store it where Sherman afterwards used +what he wanted and destroyed the rest. Yet Hood kept operating +in Sherman's rear, admirably seconded by Forrest's and Wheeler's +raiding cavalry. Late in October Forrest performed the remarkable +feat of taking a flotilla with cavalry. He suddenly swooped down on +the Tennessee near Johnsonville and took the gunboat _Undine_ with +a couple of transports. Hood had meanwhile been busy on Sherman's +line of communications, hoping at least to immobilize him round +Atlanta, and at best to bring him back from Georgia for a Federal +defeat in Tennessee. + +[Illustration: _GENERAL W. T. SHERMAN_ +Photograph by Brady. In the collection of L. C. Handy, Washington] + +On the fifth of October the last action near Atlanta was fought thirty +miles northwest, when Hood made a desperate attempt on Allatoona with +a greatly superior force. Twelve miles off, on Kenesaw Mountain, +Sherman could see the smoke and hear the sounds of battle through the +clear, still, autumn air. But as his signalers could get no answer +from the fort he began to fear that Allatoona was already lost, when +the signal officer's quick eye caught the faintest flutter at one of +the fort windows. Presently the letters, C--R--S--E--H--E--R, were +made out; which meant that General John M. Corse, one of the best +volunteers produced by the war, was holding out. He had hurried +over from Rome, on a call from Allatoona, and was withstanding more +than four thousand men with less than two thousand. All morning long +the Confederates persisted in their attacks, while Sherman's relief +column was hurrying over from Kenesaw. Early in the afternoon the +fire slackened and ceased before this column arrived. But Sherman's +renewed fears were soon allayed. For Corse, after losing more than +a third of his men, had repulsed the enemy alone, inflicting on +them an even greater loss in proportion to their double strength. + +Corse was still full of fight, reporting back to Kenesaw that though +"short a cheek bone and an ear" he was "able to whip all hell yet." +Sherman thanked the brave defenders in his general orders of the +seventh for "the handsome defense made at Allatoona" and pointed +the moral that "garrisons must hold their posts to the last minute, +sure that the time gained is valuable and necessary to their comrades +at the front." + +The situation at the beginning of November was most peculiar. With +the whole Gulf coast blockaded and the three great ports in Union +hands, with the Mississippi a Union stream from source to sea, +and with Sherman firmly set in the northwest flank of Georgia, +Hood made the last grand sortie from the beleaguered South. It was +a desperate adventure to go north against the Federal troops in +Tennessee, with Kentucky and the line of the Ohio as his ultimate +objective, when Lincoln had been returned to power, when Grant +was surely wearing down Lee in Virginia, and when Sherman's +preponderance of force was not only assured in Georgia but in Tennessee +as well. Moreover, Thomas, the "Rock of Chickamauga," had been sent +back to counter Hood from Grant's and Sherman's old headquarters +at Nashville on the Cumberland. And Thomas was soon to have the +usual double numbers; for all the Western depots sent him their +trained recruits, till, by the end of November, his total was over +seventy thousand. Hood's forty thousand could not be increased or +even stopped from dwindling. Yet he pushed on, with the consent +of Beauregard, who now held the general command of all the troops +opposed to Sherman. + +The next moves were even more peculiar than the first. For while +Hood hoped to close the breach in Georgia by drawing Sherman back, +and Sherman expected that when he went on to widen the breach he +would draw Hood back, what really happened was that each advanced +on his own new line in opposite directions, Hood north through +Tennessee, Sherman southeast through Georgia. So firm was the grip +of the Union on all the navigable waters that Hood could only cross +the Tennessee somewhere along the shoals. He chose a place near +Florence, Alabama, got safely over and encamped. There, for the +moment, we shall leave him and follow Sherman to the sea. + + +The region of the Gulf and lower Mississippi being now under the +assured predominance of Union forces, Grant, with equal wisdom +and decision, entirely approved of Sherman's plan to cut loose +from his western base, make a devastating march through the heart +of fertile Georgia, and join the eastern forces of the North at +Savannah, where Fort Pulaski was in Union hands and the Union navy +was, as usual, overwhelmingly strong. + +Sherman's March to the Sea at once acquired a popular renown which +it has never lost. This, however, was chiefly because it happened +to catch the public eye while nothing else was on the stage. For +its many admirable features were those about which most people +know little and care less: well-combined grand strategy, perfection +in headquarter orders and the incidental staff work, excellent +march discipline, wonderful coördination between the different +arms of the Service and with all auxiliary branches--especially +the commissariat and transport, and, to clinch everything, a +thoroughness of execution which distinguished each unit concerned. +As a feat of arms this famous march is hardly worth mentioning. +There were no battles and no such masterly maneuvers as those of +the much harder march to Atlanta. Nor was the operational problem +to be mentioned in the same breath with that of the subsequent march +through the Carolinas. Sherman himself says: "Were I to express +my measure of the relative importance of the march to the sea, and +of that from Savannah northward, I would place the former at one, +and the latter at ten--or the maximum." + +The Government was very doubtful and counseled reconsideration. +But Grant and Sherman, knowing the factors so very much better, +were sure the problem could easily be solved. Sherman left Atlanta +on the fifteenth of November and laid siege to Savannah on the tenth +of December. He utterly destroyed the military value of Atlanta and +everything else on the way that could be used by the armies in the +field. Of course, to do this he had to reduce civilian supplies to +the point at which no surplus remained for transport to the front; +and civilians naturally suffered. But his object was to destroy the +Georgian base of supplies without inflicting more than incidental +hardship on civilians. And this object he attained. He cut a swath +of devastation sixty miles wide all the way to Savannah. Every +rail was rooted up, made red-hot, and twisted into scrap. Every +road and bridge was destroyed. Every kind of surplus supplies an +army could possibly need was burnt or consumed. Civilians were +left with enough to keep body and soul together, but nothing to +send away, even if the means of transportation had been left. + +Sherman's sixty thousand men were all as fit as his own tall sinewy +form, which was the very embodiment of expert energy. Every weakling +had been left behind. Consequently the whole veteran force simply +romped through this Georgian raid. The main body mostly followed the +rails, which gangs of soldiers would pile on bonfires of sleepers. +The mounted men swept up everything about the flanks. But nothing +escaped the "bummers," who foraged for their units every day, starting +out empty-handed on foot and returning heavily laden on horses or +mules or in some kind of vehicle. If Atlanta had been a volcano +in eruption, and the molten lava had flowed to Savannah in a stream +sixty miles wide and five times as long, the destruction could +hardly have been worse, except, of course, that civilians were +left enough to keep them alive, and that, with a few inevitable +exceptions, they were not ill treated. + +The fighting hardly disturbed the daily routine. Sherman was never +in danger; though wiseacre Washington, supposing that he ought to +be, used to pester Lincoln, who always replied: "Grant says the +men are safe with Sherman, and that if they can't get out where +they want to, they can crawl back by the hole they went in at." +This seemed to allay anxiety; though the truth was that Sherman's +real safety lay in going ahead to the Union sea, not in retracing +his steps over the devastated line of his advance. + +On approaching Savannah a mounted officer was blown up by a land +torpedo, his horse killed, and himself badly lacerated. Sherman +at once sent his prisoners ahead to dig up the other torpedoes +or get blown up by those they failed to find. No more explosions +took place. Savannah itself was strongly entrenched and further +defended by Fort McAllister. Against this fort Sherman detached +his own old Shiloh division of the Fifteenth Corps, now under the +very capable command of General William B. Hazen. As the day wore +on Sherman became very impatient, watching for Hazen's attack, when +a black object went gliding up the Ogeechee River toward the fort. +Presently a man-of-war appeared flying the Stars and Stripes and +signaling, _Who are you?_ On getting the answer, _General Sherman_, +she asked, _Is Fort McAllister taken?_ and immediately received the +cheering assurance, _No; but it will be in a minute._ Then, just +as the signal flags ceased waving, Hazen's straight blue lines +broke cover, advanced, charged through the hail of shot, shell, +and rifle bullets, rushed the defenses, and stood triumphant on +the top. + +Before midnight Sherman was writing his dispatches on board the +U.S.S. _Dandelion_ and examining those received from Grant. He +learned now, from Grant's of the third (ten days before), that +Thomas was facing Hood round Nashville and that the Government, +and even Grant, were getting very impatient with Thomas for not +striking hard and at once. A week later the Confederate general, +Hardee, managed to evacuate Savannah before his one remaining line +of retreat had been cut off. He was a thorough soldier. But men +and means and time were lacking; and the civil population hoped +to save all that was not considered warlike stores. Thus immense +supplies fell into Sherman's hands. Savannah was of course placed +under martial law. But as the wax was now nearing its inevitable +end, and the citizens were thoroughly "subjugated," those who wished +to remain were allowed to do so. Only two hundred left, going to +Charleston under a flag of truce. + +[Illustration: CIVIL WAR CAMPAIGNS OF 1864] + +The following official announcement reached Lincoln on Christmas +Eve. + + Savannah, Georgia, December 22, 1864. + +TO HIS EXCELLENCY PRESIDENT LINCOLN, + WASHINGTON, D. C. + +I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, +with one hundred and fifty heavy guns and +plenty of ammunition, +also about twenty-five thousand bales of cotton. + W. T. SHERMAN, Major-General. + + +In the meantime Hood's desperate sortie had struck north as far +as Franklin, Tennessee. Here, on the last of November, General +John Schofield, commanding the advanced part of Thomas's army, +gallantly withstood a furious attack. On this the closing day of +a lingering Indian summer the massed Confederates charged with +the piercing rebel yell, and charged again; re-formed under cover +of the dense pall of stationary smoke; and returned to the charge +again and again. Many a leader met his death right against the +very breastworks. Another would instantly spring forward, only +to fall in his turn. Thirteen times the gaunt gray lines rushed +madly through the battle smoke and lost their front ranks against +the withering fire before the autumn night closed in. Schofield then +fell back on Brentwood, halfway on the twenty miles to Nashville. +He had lost over two thousand men. But Hood had lost three times +as many; and Hood's were irreplaceable except by a very few local +recruits. + +Hood now concentrated every available man for his final attack on +Thomas, who had odds of twenty thousand in his favor. Hood marched +his thirty-five thousand up to Nashville, where he actually invested +the fifty-five thousand Federals. By this time even Grant was so +annoyed at what seemed to him unreasoning delay that he sent Logan +to take command at once and "fight." But on the fifteenth of December +Thomas came out of his works and fought Hood with determined skill +all day. Having gained a decisive advantage already he pressed it +home to the very utmost on the morrow, breaking through Hood's +shaken lines, enveloping whole units with converging fire, and +taking prisoners in mass. After a last wild effort Hood's beaten +army fled, having lost fifteen thousand men, five times as much +as Thomas. + +The battle of Nashville came nearer than any other to being a really +annihilating victory. Out of the forty thousand men Hood had at +first in Tennessee not half escaped; and of the remainder not nearly +half were ever seen in arms again. As an organized force his army +simply disappeared. The few thousands saved from the wreckage of +the storm found their painful way east to join all that was left +for the last stand against the overwhelming forces of the North. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +THE END: 1865 + +By '65 the Southern cause was lost. There was nothing to hope for +from abroad. Neither was there anything to hope for at home, now +that Lincoln and the Union Government had been returned to power. +From the very first the disparity of resources was so great that +the South had never had a chance alone except against a disunited +North. Now that the North could bring its full strength to bear +against the worn-out South the only question remaining to be settled +in the field was simply one of time. Yet Davis, with his indomitable +will, would never yield so long as any Confederates would remain +in arms. And men like Lee would never willingly give up the fight +so long as those they served required them. Therefore the war went +on until the Southern armies failed through sheer exhaustion. + +The North had nearly a million men by land and sea. The South had +perhaps two hundred thousand. The North could count on a million +recruits out of the whole reserve of twice as many. The South had no +reserves at all. The total odds were therefore five to one without +reserves and ten to one if these came in. + +The scene of action, for all decisive purposes, had shrunk again, +and now included nothing beyond Virginia and the Carolinas; and +even there the Union forces had impregnable bases of attack. When +Wilmington fell in January the only port still left in Southern +hands was Charleston; and that was close-blockaded. Fighting +Confederates still remained in the lower South. But victories like +Olustee, Florida, barren in '64, could not avail them now, even +if they had the troops to win them. The lower South was now as +much isolated as the trans-Mississippi. Between its blockaded and +garrisoned coast on one side and its sixty-mile swath of devastation +through the heart of Georgia on the other it might as well have +been a shipless island. The same was true of all Confederate places +beyond Virginia and the Carolinas. The last shots were fired in +Texas near the middle of May. But they were as futile against the +course of events as was the final act of war committed by the +Confederate raider _Shenandoah_ at the end of June, when she sank +the whaling fleet, far off in the lone Pacific. + +For the last two months of the four-years' war Davis made Lee +Commander-in-Chief. Lee at once restored Johnston to his rightful +place. These two great soldiers then did what could be done to +stave off Grant and Sherman. Lee's and Johnston's problem was of +course insoluble. For each was facing an army which was alone a +match for both. The only chance of prolonging anything more than a +mere guerilla war was to join forces in southwest Virginia, where +the only line of rails was safe from capture for the moment. But this +meant eluding Grant and Sherman; and these two leaders would never +let a plain chance slip. They took good care that all Confederate +forces outside the central scene of action were kept busy with +their own defense. They also closed in enough men from the west +to prevent Lee and Johnston escaping by the mountains. Then, with +the help of the navy, having cut off every means of escape--north, +south, east, and west--they themselves closed in for the death-grip. + +By the first of February Sherman was on his way north through the +Carolinas with sixty thousand picked men, drawing in reinforcements +as he advanced against Johnston's dwindling forty thousand, until +the thousands that faced each other at the end in April were ninety +and thirty respectively. On the ninth of February (the day Lee +became Commander-in-Chief) Sherman was crossing the rails between +Charleston and Augusta, of course destroying them. A week later he +was doing the same at Columbia in the middle of South Carolina. +By this time his old antagonist, Johnston, had assumed command; +so that he had to reckon with the chances of a battle, as on his +way against Atlanta, and not only with the troubles of devastating +an undefended base, as on his march to the sea. The difficulties of +hard marching through an enemy country full of natural and artificial +obstacles were also much greater here than in Georgia. How well these +difficulties could be surmounted by a veteran army may be realized +from a recorded instance which, though it occurred elsewhere, was +yet entirely typical. In forty days an infantry division of eight +thousand men repaired a hundred miles of rail and built a hundred +and eighty-two bridges. + +Sherman took a month to advance from Columbia in the middle of +South Carolina to Bentonville in the middle of North Carolina. +Here Johnston stood his ground; and a battle was fought from the +nineteenth to the twenty-first of March. Had Sherman known at the +time that his own numbers were, as he afterwards reported, "vastly +superior," he might have crushed Johnston then and there. But, +as it was, he ably supported the exposed flank that Johnston so +skillfully attacked, won the battle, inflicted losses a good deal +larger than his own, and gained his ulterior objective as well +as if there had not been a fight at all. This objective was the +concentration of his whole army round Goldsboro by the twenty-fifth. +At Goldsboro he held the strategic center of North Carolina, being +at the junction whence the rails ran east to Newbern (which had +long been in Union hands), west to meet the only rails by which +Lee's army might for a time escape, and north (a hundred and fifty +miles) to Grant's besieging host at Petersburg. Sherman's record is +one of which his men might well be proud. In fifty days from Savannah +he had made a winter march through four hundred and twenty-five +miles of mud, had captured three cities, destroyed four railways, +drained the Confederate resources, increased his own, and half +closed on Lee and Johnston the vice which he and Grant could soon +close altogether. + +Nevertheless Grant records that "one of the most anxious periods +was the last few weeks before Petersburg"; for he was haunted by +the fear that Lee's army, now nearing the last extremity of famine, +might risk all on railing off southwest to Danville, the one line +left. Lee, consummate now as when victorious before, masked his +movements wonderfully well till the early morning of the twenty-fifth +of March, when he suddenly made a furious attack where the lines +were very near together. For some hours he held a salient in the +Federal position. But he was presently driven back with loss; and +his intention to escape stood plainly revealed. + +The same day Sherman railed down to Newbern over the line repaired +by that indefatigable and most accomplished engineer, Colonel W. W. +Wright, took ship for City Point, Virginia, and met Lincoln, Grant, +and Admiral Porter there on the twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth. +Grant explained to Lincoln that Sheridan was crossing the James +just below them, to cut the rails running south from Petersburg +and then, by forced marches, to cut those running southwest from +Richmond, Lee's last possible line of escape. Grant added that +the final crisis was very near and that his only anxiety was lest +Lee might escape before Sheridan cut the Richmond line southwest to +Danville. Lincoln said he hoped the war would end at once and with +no more bloodshed. Grant and Sherman, however, could not guarantee +that Davis might not force Lee and Johnston to one last desperate +fight. Lincoln added that all he wanted after the surrender was +to get the Confederates back to their civil life and make them +good contented citizens. As for Davis: well, there once was a man +who, having taken the pledge, was asked if he wouldn't let his +host put just a drop of brandy in the lemonade. His answer was: +"See here, if you do it unbeknownst, I won't object." From the +way that Lincoln told this story Grant and Sherman both inferred +that he would be glad to see Davis disembarrass the reunited States +of his annoying presence. + +This twenty-eighth of March saw the last farewells between the +President and his naval and military lieutenants at the front. +Admiral Porter immediately wrote down a full account of the +conversations, from which, together with Grant's and Sherman's +strong corroboration, we know that Lincoln entirely approved of +the terms which Grant gave Lee, and that he would have approved +quite as heartily of those which Sherman gave to Johnston. + +Next morning the final race, pursuit, defeat, and victory began. +Grant marched all his spare, men west to cut Lee off completely. +He left enough to hold his lines at Petersburg, in case Lee should +remain; and he arranged with Sherman for a combined movement, to +begin on the tenth of April, in case Johnston and Lee should try +to join each other. But he felt fairly confident that he could +run Lee down while Sherman tackled Johnston. + +On the first of April Sheridan won a hard fight at Five Forks, +southwest of Petersburg. On Sunday (the second) Lee left Petersburg +for good, sending word to Richmond. That morning Davis rose from +his place in church and the clergyman quietly told the congregation +that there would be no evening service. On Monday morning Grant +rode into Petersburg, and saw the Confederate rearguard clubbed +together round the bridge. "I had not the heart," said Grant, "to +turn the artillery upon such a mass of defeated and fleeing men, +and I hoped to capture them soon." On Tuesday Grant closed his +orders to Sherman with the words, "Rebel armies are now the only +strategic points to strike at," and himself pressed on relentlessly. + +Late next afternoon a horseman in full Confederate uniform suddenly +broke cover from the enemy side of a dense wood and dashed straight +at the headquarter staff. The escort made as if to seize him. But +a staff officer called out, "How d'ye do, Campbell?" This famous +scout then took a wad of tobacco out of his mouth, a roll of tinfoil +out of the wad, and a piece of tissue paper out of the tinfoil. When +Grant read Sheridan's report ending "I wish you were here" (that +is, at Jetersville, halfway between Petersburg and Appomattox), +he immediately got off his black pony, mounted Cincinnati, and +rode the twenty miles at speed, to learn that Lee was heading due +west for Farmville, less than thirty miles from Appomattox. + +On Thursday the sixth, Lee, closely beset in flank and rear, lost +seven thousand men at Sailor's Creek, mostly as prisoners. The +heroes of this fight were six hundred Federals, who, having gone +to blow up High Bridge on the Appomattox, found their retreat cut +off by the whole Confederate advanced guard. Under Colonel Francis +Washburn, Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, and Colonel Theodore Read, +of General Ord's staff, this dauntless six hundred charged again +and again until, their leaders killed and most of the others dead +or wounded, the rest surrendered. They had gained their object +by holding up Lee's column long enough to let its wagon train be +raided. + +Grant, now feeling that his hold on Lee could not be shaken off, +wrote him a letter on Friday afternoon, saying: "The results of +the last week must convince you of the hopelessness of further +resistance." That night Lee replied asking what terms Grant proposed +to offer. Next morning Grant wrote again to propose a meeting, +and Lee answered to say he was willing to treat for peace. Grant +at once informed him that the only subject for discussion was the +surrender of the army. That evening Federal cavalry under General +George A. Custer raided Appomattox Station, five miles southwest of +the Court House, and held up four trains. A few hours later, early +on Sunday, the famous ninth of April, 1865, Lee's advanced guard was +astounded to find its way disputed so far west. It attacked with +desperation, hoping to break through what seemed to be a cavalry +screen before the infantry came up; but when Lee's main body joined +in, only to find a solid mass of Federal infantry straight across +its one way out, Lee at once sent forward a white flag. + +Grant, overwrought with anxiety, had been suffering from an excruciating +headache all night long. But the moment he opened Lee's note, offering +to discuss surrender, he felt as well as ever, and instantly wrote +back to say he was ready. Pushing rapidly on he met Lee at McLean's +private residence near Appomattox Court House. There was a remarkable +contrast between the appearance of the two commanders. Grant, only +forty-three, and without a tinge of gray in his brown hair, took +an inch or two off his medium height by stooping keenly forward, +and had nothing in his shabby private's uniform to show his rank +except the three-starred shoulder-straps. When the main business +was over, and he had time to notice details, he apologized to Lee, +explaining that the extreme rapidity of his movements had carried +him far ahead of his baggage. Lee's aide-de-camp, Colonel Charles +Marshall, afterwards explained that when the Confederates had been +obliged to reduce themselves simply to what they stood in, each +officer had naturally put on his best. Hence Lee's magnificent +appearance in a brand-new general's uniform with the jeweled sword +of honor that Virginia had given him. Well over six feet tall, +straight as an arrow in spite of his fifty-eight years and snow-white, +war-grown beard, still extremely handsome, and full of equal dignity +and charm, he looked, from head to foot, the perfect leader of +devoted men. + +Grant, holding out his hand in cordial greeting, began the conversation +by saying: "I met you once before, General Lee, while we were serving +in Mexico.... I have always remembered your appearance, and I think +I should have recognized you anywhere." After some other personal +talk Lee said: "I suppose, General Grant, that the object of our +present meeting is fully understood. I asked to see you in order +to ascertain on what terms you would receive the surrender of my +army." Grant answered that officers and men were to be paroled +and disqualified from serving again till properly exchanged, and +that all warlike and other stores were to be treated as captured. +Lee bowed assent, said that was what he had expected, and presently +suggested that Grant should commit the terms to writing on the +spot. When Grant got to the end of the terms already discussed +his eye fell on Lee's splendid sword of honor, and he immediately +added the sentence: "This will not embrace the side-arms of the +officers, nor their private horses or baggage." When Lee read over +the draft he flushed slightly on coming to this generous proviso +and gratefully said: "This will have a very happy effect upon my +army." Grant then asked him if he had any suggestions to make; +whereupon he said that the mounted Confederates, unlike the Federals, +owned their horses. Before he had time to ask a favor Grant said +that as these horses would be invaluable for men returning to civil +life they could all be taken home after full proof of ownership. +Lee again flushed and gratefully replied: "This will have the best +possible effect upon the men. It will be very gratifying and do +much toward conciliating our people." + +While the documents were being written out for signature Grant +introduced the generals and staff officers to Lee. Then Lee once +more led the conversation back to business by saying he wished +to return his prisoners to Grant at the earliest possible moment +because he had nothing more for them to eat. "I have, indeed, nothing +for my own men," he added. They had been living on the scantiest +supply of parched corn for several days; and this famine fare, +combined with their utter lack of all other supplies--especially +medicine and clothing--was wearing them away faster than any "war +of attrition" in the open field. After heartily agreeing that the +prisoners should immediately return Grant said: "I will take steps +at once to have your army supplied with rations. Suppose I send +over twenty-five thousand; do you think that will be a sufficient +supply?" "I think it will be ample," said Lee, who, after a pause, +added: "and it will be a great relief, I assure you." + +Then Lee rose, shook Grant warmly by the hand, bowed to the others, +and left the room. As he appeared on the porch all the Union officers +in the grounds rose respectfully and saluted him. While the Confederate +orderly was bridling the horses Lee stood alone, gazing in unutterable +grief across the valley to where the remnant of his army lay. Then, +as he mounted Traveler, every Union officer followed Grant's noble +example by standing bareheaded till horse and rider had disappeared +from view. + +Grant next sent off the news to Washington and, true to his sterling +worth, immediately stopped the salutes which some of his enthusiastic +soldiers were already beginning to fire. "The war is over," he +told his staff, "the rebels are our countrymen again, and the best +sign of rejoicing after the victory will be to abstain from all +demonstrations in the field." + +In the meantime Lee had returned to his own lines, along which he +now rode for the last time. The reserve with which he had steeled +his heart during the surrender gave way completely when he came +to bid his men farewell. After a few simple words, advising his +devoted veterans to become good citizens of their reunited country, +the tears could no longer be kept back. Then, as he rode slowly +on, from the remnant of one old regiment to another, the men broke +ranks, and, mostly silent with emotion, pressed round their loved +commander, to take his hand, to touch his sword, or fondly stroke +his splendid gray horse, Traveler, the same that had so often carried +him victorious through the hard-fought day. + + +North and South had scarcely grasped the full significance of Lee's +surrender, when, only five days later, Lincoln was assassinated. "It +would be impossible for me," said Grant, "to describe the feeling +that overcame me at the news. I knew his goodness of heart, and +above all his desire to see all the people of the United States +enter again upon the full privileges of citizenship with equality +among all. I felt that reconstruction had been set back, no telling +how far." "Of all the men I ever met," said Sherman, "he seemed to +possess more of the elements of greatness, combined with goodness, +than any other." + +On the very day of the assassination Sherman had written to Johnston +offering the same terms Grant had given Lee and Lincoln had most +heartily approved. Three days later, on the seventeenth, just as +Sherman was entering the train for his meeting with Johnston, the +operator handed him a telegram announcing the assassination. Enjoining +secrecy till he returned, Sherman took the telegram with him and +showed it to Johnston, whom he watched intently. "The perspiration +came out on his forehead," Sherman wrote, "and he did not attempt to +conceal his distress. He denounced the act as a disgrace to the age +and hoped I did not charge it to the Confederate Government. I told +him I could not believe that he or General Lee or the officers of the +Confederate army could possibly be privy to acts of assassination." +When Sherman got back to Raleigh he published the news in general +orders, and experienced the supreme satisfaction of finding that +not one man in all that mournful army had to be restrained from +a single act of revenge. + +After much misunderstanding with Washington now in lesser hands, +the surrender of Johnston's and the other Confederate armies was +effected. Each body of troops laid down its arms and quietly dispersed. +One day the bugles called, the camp fires burned, and comrades +were together in the ranks. The next, like morning mists, they +disappeared, thenceforth to be remembered and admired only as the +heroes of a hopeless cause. + + +It was a very different scene through which their rivals marched +into lasting fame with all the pride, pomp, and circumstance of war. +On the twenty-third and twenty-fourth of May, in perfect weather, +and in the stirring presence of a loyal, vast, enthusiastic throng, +the Union armies were reviewed in Washington. For over six full +hours each day the troops marched past--the very flower of those +who had come back victorious. The route was flagged from end to +end with Stars and Stripes, and banked with friends of each and +every regiment there. Between these banks, and to the sound of +thrilling martial music, the long blue column flowed--a living +stream of men whose bayonets made its surface flash like burnished +silver under the glorious sun. + + +Then, when the pageantry was finished, and the volunteers that formed +the vast bulk of those magnificent Federal armies had again become +American civilians in thought and word and deed, these steadfast +men, whose arms had saved the Union in the field, were first in +peace as they had been in war: first in the reconstruction of their +country's interrupted life, first in recognizing all that was best +in the splendid fighters with whom they had crossed swords, and +first--incomparably first--in keeping one and indivisible the reunited +home land of both North and South. + + + + +BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE + +Thousands of books have been written about the Civil War; and more +about the armies than about the navies and the civil interests +together. Yet, even about the armies, there are very few that give +a just idea of how every part of the war was correlated with every +other part and with the very complex whole; while fewer still give +any idea of how closely the navies were correlated with the armies +throughout the long amphibious campaigns. + +The only works mentioned here are either those containing the original +evidence or those written by experts directly from the original +evidence. And of course there are a good many works belonging to +both these classes for which no room can be found in a bibliography +so very brief as the present one must be. + +_The War of the Rebellion: a Compilation of the Official Records +of the Union and Confederate Armies_, 128 vols. (1880-1901), and +_Official Records of the Union and Confederate Navies in the War of +the Rebellion_, 26 vols. (1894-), form two magnificent collections +of original evidence published by the United States Government. +But they have some gaps which nothing else can fill. _Battles and +Leaders of the Civil War_ (1887-89), written by competent witnesses +on both sides, gives the gist of the story in four volumes (published +afterwards in eight). _The Rebellion Record_, 12 vols. (1862-68), +edited by Frank Moore, forms an interesting collection of non-official +documents. _The Story of the Civil War_, 4 vols. (1895-1913), begun by +J. C. Ropes, and continued by W. R. Livermore, is an historical work +of real value. Larned's _Literature of American History_ contains an +excellent bibliography; but it needs supplementing by bibliographies +of the present century. Inquiring readers should consult the +bibliographies in volumes 20 and 21 (by J. K. Hosmer) in the _American +Nation_ series. + +There are many works of a more special kind that deserve particular +attention. General E. P. Alexander's _Military Memoirs of a Confederate_ +(1907), the _Transactions of the Military Historical Society of +Massachusetts_, Major John Bigelow's _The Campaign of Chancellorsville_ +(1910), and J. D. Cox's _Military Reminiscences_, 2 vols. (1900), +are admirable specimens of this very extensive class. + +The two greatest generals on the Northern side have written their +own memoirs, and written them exceedingly well: _Personal Memoirs +of U. S. Grant_, 2 vols. (1885-86), and _Memoirs of General W. T. +Sherman_, 2 vols. (1886). But the two greatest on the Southern +side wrote nothing themselves; and no one else has written a really +great life of that very great commander, Robert Lee. Fitzhugh Lee's +enthusiastic sketch of his uncle, _General Lee_ (1894), is one of +the several second-rate books on the subject. Colonel G. F. R. +Henderson's _Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War_, 2 vols. +(1898), is, on the other hand, among the best of war biographies. +Henderson's strategical study of the Valley Campaign is a masterpiece. +Two good works of very different kinds are: _A History of the Civil +War in the United States_ (1905), by W. Birkbeck Wood and Major J. +E. Edmonds, and _A History of the United States from the Compromise +of 1850_, 8 vols. (1893-1919), by James Ford Rhodes. The first +is military, the second political. Mr. Rhodes has also written a +single volume _History of the Civil War_ (1917). _American Campaigns_ +by Major M. F. Steele, issued under the supervision of the War +Department (1909), deals chiefly with the military operations of +the Civil War. + +The naval side of this, as of all other wars, has been far too +much neglected. But that great historian of sea-power, Admiral +Mahan, has told the best of the story in his _Admiral Farragut_ +(1892). + +An interesting contemporary account of the war will be found in +the five volumes of Appleton's _American Annual Cyclopśdia_ for +the years from 1861 to 1865. B. J. Lossing's _Pictorial History of +the Civil War_, 3 vols. (1866-69), and Harper's _Pictorial History +of the Rebellion_, 2 vols. (1868), give graphic pictures of military +life as seen by contemporaries. Personal reminiscences of the war, +of varying merit, have multiplied rapidly in recent years. These +are appraised for the unwary reader in the bibliographies already +mentioned. Frank Wilkeson's _Recollections of a Private Soldier in +the Army of the Potomac_ (1887), George C. Eggleston's _A Rebel's +Recollections_ (1905), and Mrs. Mary B. Chestnut's _Diary from +Dixie_ (1905) are among the best of these personal recollections. + +The political and diplomatic history has been dealt with already +in the two preceding _Chronicles_. _Abraham Lincoln: a History_, +by John G. Nicolay and John Hay, in ten volumes (1890), and _The +Complete Works of Abraham Lincoln_, in twelve volumes (1905), form +the quarry from which all true accounts of his war statesmanship +must be built up. Lord Charnwood's _Abraham Lincoln_ (1917) is an +admirable summary. To these titles should be added Gideon Welles's +_Diary_, 3 vols. (1911), and, on the Confederate side, Jefferson +Davis's _The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government_, 2 vols. +(1881), and Alexander H. Stephens's _A Constitutional View of the +Late War Between the States_, 2 vols. (1870). The best life of +Jefferson Davis is that by William E. Dodd in the _American Crisis +Biographies_ (1907). W. H. Russell's _My Diary North and South_ +(1863) records the impressions of an intelligent foreign observer. + +The present _Chronicle_ is based entirely on the original evidence, +with the convenient use only of such works as have themselves been +written by qualified experts directly from the original evidence. + + + + +INDEX + +Alabama, secedes; in 1864; threatened +_Alabama_, Confederate raider; _Kearsarge_ and; and _Hatteras_ +_Albatross_, ship +_Albemarle_, Confederate ram, Cushing destroys +Albemarle Sound, command lost +Alexandria (Louisiana), State Seminary of Learning and Military Academy +Allatoona (Georgia), Johnston evacuates; Corse's defense of +"Anaconda policy" +Anderson, Colonel Charles, quotes Lee +Anderson, Major Robert, commands at Fort Moultrie; at Fort Sumter; + surrender; leaves Fort Sumter; appointed to Kentucky command; + superseded by Sherman +Annapolis, Union troops at +Antietam (Maryland), battle +Apache Cańon, fight in +Appomattox Court House (Virginia), Lee's surrender +Appomattox Station, Custer raids +Aquia, McClellan's troops at +Archer, J. T., Confederate brigadier +Arizona, "War in the West" +Arkansas secedes, +_Arkansas_, Confederate ram +Arkansas Post, capture of +Arlington, home of General Lee +Armstrong, Commodore, at Pensacola +Army, Confederate, Act providing for enlistment; at Harper's Ferry; + Jackson and; lack of equipment; advantages; conscription; munitions; + relations with Federals at Vicksburg; Army of Northern Virginia; + unrenewable wastage; number of troops (1865); Lee's farewell to +Army, Federal, enlistments; Congress votes troops and money; + McDowell's; regulars in; number of troops; conscription; organization; + Grant's (1862); Army of the Cumberland; Army of the Mississippi; Army + of the Ohio; well equipped; Army of the Potomac; Army of the Tennessee; + Army of Virginia; relations with Confederates at Vicksburg; Army of the + James; reviewed in Washington +Army Act, Provisional Confederate Congress passes +Ashby, Turner, Confederate cavalry leader; at Harrisonburg; Valley raid; + death +Ashby's Gap, Johnston crosses Blue Ridge at +Ashland (Virginia), Jackson at +Atlanta, Southern cannon made at; Northern objective; battle; Sherman + announces fall of; effect of victory; Sherman's headquarters; last + action near +_Atlanta_, Confederate ram captured by _Weehawken_ +Averell, W. D., cavalry leader + +Bailey, Colonel Joseph +Bailey, Captain Theodorus +Balloons +Baltimore, Secessionists at Fort Sumter; Massachusetts troops mobbed in; + Jackson's plan to occupy +Baltimore and Ohio Railway, Jackson destroys workshop +Banks, General N. P., supersedes General Butler; on the Mississippi + (1862); (1863); commands in Shenandoah Valley; in Shenandoah campaign; + incapacity; commands Red River Expedition +Barrancas Barracks +Bartow, General F. S., Bull Run; killed +Baton Rouge, Union Arsenal at; Farragut captures; Confederate attack; + Union Navy wins way to +"Battle above the Clouds," Lookout Mountain +Baylor, Captain J. R., proclaims himself Governor of New Mexico +Beauregard. General P. G. T., sons at Louisiana Military Academy; and + Fort Sumter; on the Potomac; at Bull Run; preparation for Shiloh; + battle of Shiloh; Corinth; and Confederate plans; attacks Butler; + telegram to Lee; command of troops opposed to Sherman +Beauregard, Fort +Beaver Dam Creek (Virginia), Porter's front at Mechanicsville +Bee, General B. E., Bull Run; killed +Bell, Commodore H. H. +Belmont (Missouri), Grant attacks +Benjamin, J. P., Confederate Secretary of War +_Benton_, flagship +Bentonville (North Carolina), battle +Bering Sea, _Shenandoah_ in +Bermuda Hundred (Virginia), Butler seizes +Beverly (West Virginia), Confederates retire to +Big Black River (Mississippi), Grant's victory at +Birge, H. W., and sharpshooters +Bixby, Mrs., letter to +Blackburn's Ford (Virginia), McDowell at +Blair, General F. P., fight for Missouri; as a general +Blockade, declared; effectiveness; blockade-runners; on Mississippi; + attempts to break; double line necessary +Bloody Angle, salient in Spotsylvania action +Bonham, General M. L., Bull Run +Boonville (Missouri), battle +Boston Mountains, Confederates hold +Bowling Green (Kentucky), Johnston at; Johnston abandons +Brackett, Colonel A. G., quoted +Bragg, General Braxton; at Baton Rouge; preparations for Shiloh; succeeds + Beauregard; invasion of Kentucky; march on Nashville; sends out Morgan; + Chickamauga; Chattanooga; Missionary Ridge +Brandy Station (Virginia), cavalry combat at +Brentwood (Tennessee), Schofield at +Brice's Cross Roads (Mississippi), Forrest defeats Sturgis at +Bristoe Station (Virginia), bridge burned +_Brooklyn_, fight with _Manassas_; against Fort Morgan +Brown, John +Brown, J. E., Governor of Georgia +Bruinsburg (Louisiana), Grant lands force at +Buchanan, Commodore Franklin +Buckingham, General C. P., and McClellan +Buckner, General S. B., as a general; Fort Donelson; surrender; and Grant +Buell, General D. C., commands in West; and Halleck; preparations + for Shiloh; battle of Shiloh; commands Army of the Ohio; end of service +Buford, John, cavalry leader at Gettysburg +Bull Run, First campaign; public clamor for action; disposition of forces; + Confederate problem; Falling Waters; Federal preparations; Blackburn's + Ford; McDowell advances; Confederate preparations and plans; Federal + advance; Confederate rout; Confederates rally; Stuart's charge; Federal + retreat; losses; importance; number of troops +Bull Run, Second campaign, maneuvering for; battle +Burns, John, at Gettysburg +Burnside, General A. E.; failure in Virginia; succeeds McClellan; as a + general; at Fredericksburg; "Mud March"; Knoxville; at Petersburg +Butler, General Benjamin, Bull Run; in North Carolina; Mississippi + campaign; Banks supersedes; against Fort Fisher; commands Army of the + James; at Bermuda Hundred; retreat from Drewry's Bluff + +Cairo (Illinois), Grant in command at +Caldwell, Lieutenant, of the _Itasca_ +California, invasion of +Cameron, Simon, Secretary of War; and Sherman; Stanton succeeds +Canby, Colonel E. R. S., at Valverde +Carolinas, danger from West Virginia; secede; effective for South (1864); + menace to; Sherman's march through; scene of action (1865); _see also_ + North Carolina, South Carolina +_Carondelet_, Federal gunboat +Castle Pinckney +Catlett's Station (Virginia) Shields at; Banks near +_Cayuga_, Federal gunboat +Cedar Creek (Virginia), Sheridan's ride to +Cedar Run (Virginia), battle +Cemetery Hill (Gettysburg), Early fails at +Centreville (Virginia), in Bull Run campaign; Confederate base; McDowell's + corps at +Chambersburg (Pennsylvania), Federals at; Stuart's raid +Champion's Hill (Mississippi), fight of +Chancellorsville (Virginia), battle of; plans; Federal defeat +Charleston (South Carolina), forts; beginning of hostilities; United States + Arsenal seized; surrender of Fort Sumter; menaced; naval combats around; + bombardment; defenses in Southern hands; Savannah citizens go to +Charlestown (West Virginia), Patterson advances to +Charlotte (North Carolina), Southern cannon made in +Chase, S. P., Secretary of Treasury +Chase, Colonel W. H.. demands surrender of Fort Pickens +Chattahoochee River, Johnston crosses +Chattanooga, Buell's objective; Bragg's base; Confederates retire on; Bragg + at (1863); key to strategic area; battles on Missionary Ridge and Lookout + Mountain; significance of victory; Grant moves headquarters from; Grant + inspects; Federal headquarters; Sherman starts from +Chestnut, James, Confederate officer at Fort Sumter +Chickamauga (Georgia), battle; result of Federal defeat +Chickasaw Bluffs (Mississippi), Sherman's assault +Cincinnati, Grant's charger +Cincinnati (Ohio), Confederate objective +City Point (Virginia), Union leaders meet at +Civil control _vs._ civil interference +Clarksburg (West Virginia), Jackson born at +Cold Harbor (Virginia), Battle of; result +Columbia (South Carolina), Sherman at +Columbus (Kentucky), Confederates at +Commerce, importance to South; protection of; Confederate raiders + interfere with +Congress, Confederate, passes Army and Navy Acts +Congress, United States, vote for army; Welles's report to; authorizes + Promotion Board +_Congress, Merrimac_ and +Conscription; Act +Contraband, importation into South +Cooke, General, pursues Stuart +Copperheads; _see also_ Pacifists +Corinth (Mississippi), Confederate railway junction at; Johnston's line at; + Beauregard retires after Pittsburg Landing; importance of position; + Beauregard at; Federal advance on; Confederate objective; Rosecrans + defeats Van Dorn at +Corse, General J. M., at Allatoona +Cox, General J. D., Kanawha campaign; newspaper lies about +Craig, Fort, Valverde near +Crocker, General M. M. +Crook, General George, cavalry commander +Cross Keys (Virginia), battle +Culpeper, Johnston retires to; Lee at; Grant's headquarters +Culp's Hill (Gettysburg), Confederate victory on +_Cumberland, Merrimac_ and +Cumberland Gap, Johnston threatened at; Federal brigade against; + winter (1864) +Cummings Point (South Carolina), batteries at +Curtis, General S. R., at Pea Ridge; compared with Halleck +Cushing, Lieutenant A. H., Pickett's Charge +Cushing, Lieutenant W. B., destroys _Albemarle_ +Custer, General G. A., at Cedar Creek; raids Appomattox Station +Custis, Mary, wife of Lee +Cynthiana (Kentucky), Morgan defeated at + +Dalton (Georgia), Johnston at +_Dandelion_, U. S. S., Sherman on +Darrow, Mrs., and Lee; quoted +Davis, Flag-Officer C. H., Mississippi flotilla under; succeeds Foote +Davis, Jefferson, President of Confederacy, 11; personal characteristics; + as executive; interference in military matters; stands for "Independence + or extermination"; military mistakes; plans flight from Richmond; and + Lee; and Johnston; Lincoln on; receives word of Southern defeat (April + 2, 1865) +_Deerhound_, English yacht; rescues crew of _Alabama_ +Donaldsonville (Louisiana), Confederate attack on +Donelson, Fort, Johnston holds; Confederates from Fort Henry start for; + importance; Grant before; Floyd and Pillow escape from; surrender; + results of surrender; number of troops +Doubleday, General Abner, succeeds Reynolds; at Gettysburg +Drayton, Captain, of the _Hartford_ +Drewry's Bluff (Virginia), Confederate defenses at; Federal gunboats + stopped at; Butler's retreat from +Du Pont, Admiral S. F., Port Royal expedition; at Charleston + +Eads, J. B., shipbuilder +Early, General Jubal, advance toward Washington; attack at Cedar Creek +Eaton, John, quoted +Elkhorn Tavern and Pea Ridge, battle of +Ellet, Colonel Charles, civil engineer +Emancipation, Lincoln and +Ericsson, John, shipbuilder +_Essex_, gunboat before Fort Henry +Ewell, General R. S., in Jackson's Valley campaign; in Shenandoah + Valley; Gettysburg +Ezra Church (Georgia), battle + +Fair Oaks (Virginia), battle +Fairfax Court House (Virginia), Confederate conference at +Falling Waters (West Virginia), battle in Bull Run campaign +Farragut, Admiral D. G.; efficiency; commands squadron at Ship Island; + ancestry; age; fleet; and his subordinates; New Orleans; at Fort St. + Philip; orders; on to Vicksburg; captures Baton Rouge; returns to New + Orleans; Gulf blockade; becomes ranking admiral; again at New Orleans; + occupies Galveston; success of 1862; Lincoln and; prepares to attack + Port Hudson; and Banks; goes up Mississippi; again to New Orleans; + leaves for New York; and the Navy (1863-64); and Mobile; takes Fort + Morgan; at Fort Fisher +Farrand, Captain, demands surrender of Fort Pickens +Ferragut, Don Pedro, ancestor of Farragut +_Fingal_, blockade-runner converted into ram +Fisher, Fort, bombardment; surrender +Five Forks (Virginia), battle +Florence (Alabama), Hood near +Florida, beginning of war in; secedes; Confederate troops withdrawn from +_Florida_, Confederate raider +Flournoy, Colonel T. S., leader of Virginians in Valley campaign +Floyd, J. B., Secretary of War; Kanawha campaign; Fort Donelson; escape +Foote, Flag-Officer A. H., ability; Fort Henry; Fort Donelson; wounded; + Island Number Ten; Davis succeeds +Forrest, General N. B., and Grant; cavalry raids +Foster, Lieutenant H. C. +Fox, G. V., Assistant Secretary of Navy +France, intervention in Mexico +Franklin (Tennessee), Hood reaches +Frayser's Farm, battle +Frederick (Maryland), McClellan's army at +Fredericksburg (Virginia), McDowell at; Burnside's headquarters; battle; + "Mud March"; result of battle; menace to Richmond from; Lee suspects + Federal retirement on +Frémont, General J. C., commands "Western Department"; in West Virginia; + and Jackson's Valley campaign; dismissal; replaced by Sigel +Front Royal (Virginia), Banks at; battle; McDowell arrives at; Jackson + destroys Federal stores at +Frost, Brigadier-General D. M., at Camp Jackson; surrenders + +Gaines's Mill, battle +Galveston (Texas), occupied by Farragut; again in Confederate hands, +Gardner, Colonel, Anderson replaces at Charleston +Garfield, Colonel J. A., at Prestonburg +Garnett, General R. S., killed +Georgia, secedes; beginning of war in; effective for South (1864); Sherman + threatens; scene of action; Sherman's March to the Sea +Getty, General G. W., at Cedar Creek +Gettysburg campaign; Lee's defeat; cavalry combat; government interference; + Meade succeeds Hooker; battle; Little Round Top; importance of location; + first day; second day; third day; Pickett's Charge; Lee's retreat +Gilman, Lieutenant, in Florida; at Fort Pickens +Gloucester Point (Virginia), Federals fail to take fort at +Goldsboro (North Carolina), Sherman at +_Governor Moore_, Confederate vessel +Grafton (West Virginia), Federal line at +Grand Gulf (Mississippi), Grant's objective +Granger, General Gordon, at Fort Morgan +Grant, Jesse, father of General Grant +Grant, Matthew, ancestor of General Grant +Grant, Noah, great-grand-father of General Grant +Grant, Solomon, great-granduncle of General Grant +Grant, General U. S.; and Lyon; at Belmont (Missouri); age; River war + of 1863; commands at Cairo; at Fort Henry; ancestors; early life; + appearance; Fort Donelson; as a soldier; "unconditional surrender"; + desire to push South; ordered arrested for insubordination; at + Pittsburg Landing; Shiloh; made second in command; relations with + Halleck; as a leader; commands Army of the Tennessee; Vicksburg as + objective; holds Memphis-Corinth rails; "most anxious period of the + war"; Holly Springs; returns to Memphis; on the Mississippi; and + Lincoln; lies about; given chief command; refuses Presidential + candidacy (1864); his generals; and Banks; on action of Navy in + Vicksburg campaign; quoted; naval operations help; lands army at + Bruinsburg; supplies for army; Port Gibson: at Grand Gulf; victories in + rear of Vicksburg; siege of Vicksburg; surrender of Vicksburg; given + supreme command; Chattanooga; and Red River Expedition; campaign (1864); + Lieutenant-General; midwinter tour; summoned to Washington; and Stanton; + and Swinton; force in Virginia; headquarters at Culpeper Court House; + plans advance; Confederate cavalry raids against; elements of victory; + Wilderness; Spotsylvania; Sheridan's raid; Sherman's advance; Cold + Harbor; losses; Petersburg; approves Sherman's plans; Nashville; closes + in on Lee; at meeting at City Point (Virginia); Lincoln approves terms + to Lee; quoted; letter to Lee; surrender of Lee; terms of Lee's + surrender; on assassination of Lincoln +Greeley, Horace, defection of +Grigsby, Colonel, Jackson and + +Hagerstown (Maryland), Longstreet at +Halleck, General H. W., Federal commander in West; as a general; Grant + and; after Shiloh; at Corinth; General-in-Chief; military adviser at + Washington; reprimands Banks; censures Meade; orders Red River + Expedition +Hampton Roads, _Monitor_ and _Merrimac_ in +Hancock, General W. S.; at Gettysburg; at Cold Harbor +Hanover Court House (Virginia), Cooke pursues Stuart from +Hardee, General W. J., evacuates Savannah +Harney, General W. S., commands Department of the West +Harper's Ferry, Federal forces abandon; Jackson at; strategic point; + Virginia militia at; Johnston takes command at; Union forces on Potomac + near; Johnston retires from; Banks at; troops gather at; Jackson and +_Harriet Lane_, U. S. S. +Harris, Colonel, Confederate leader +Harrisburg (Pennsylvania), Banks at +Harrison's Landing (Virginia), in Seven Days' battle; McClellan + moves from +_Hartford_, Federal man-of-war, at Ship Island; New Orleans forts; in + Vicksburg campaign; Mobile Bay +Haskins, Major, at Baton Rouge +_Hatteras_, Alabama sinks +Hatteras Island, taken +Haxall's Landing (Virginia), Sheridan at +Hayes, R. B., quoted +Hazen, General W. B., takes Fort McAllister +Helena (Arkansas), force joins Grant; Confederate attack repulsed +Henry, Fort, Johnston at; blocks Federal advance; attack on; surrender; + Federal march from; Grant ordered to remain at +Hill, General A. P., at Beaver Dam Creek; at Gaines's Mill; Gettysburg +Hill, General D. H. +Hilton Head (South Carolina), fleet action off +Holly Springs (Mississippi), Grant at +Hood, General J. B., battle of Atlanta; number of troops; Nashville; + attacks Schofield +Hooker, General Joseph, failure in Virginia; Second Bull Run; supersedes + Burnside; discipline; as a general; on deserters; joins Grant; at + Wauhatchie; Lookout Mountain; Chancellors ville; Washington interferes + with; Lincoln's letter to; resignation +"Hornets' Nest" +Howard, General O. O., Gettysburg campaign; at Chancellorsville; commands + Army of the Tennessee +Huger, General Benjamin, against Butler +Hunter, General David, and Washington interference; Sigel replaced by; + succeeded by Sheridan; success at Staunton; and Early +Hurlbut, General S. A., at Shiloh + +Imboden, General J. D., at Bull Run; describes Jackson; Gettysburg +Indiana, Morgan's Raid +Indians, part in Civil War +Ingraham, Commodore D. N., attacks blockade at Charleston +"Iron Brigade," Meredith's +Island Number Ten, Confederates hold; attack on; Pope's operations +_Itasca_, Federal gunboat +Iuka (Mississippi), battle + +Jackson, Governor Claiborne +Jackson, General T. J.; and negroes; personal characteristics; at Harper's + Ferry; as disciplinarian; Johnston takes command from; commands First + Shenandoah Brigade; at Martinsburg; at Falling Waters; guards while + soldiers sleep; at Bull Run; origin of nickname "Stonewall"; Imboden + describes; as a general; age; McClellan's failure against; maneuvering + in Virginia; as strategist; campaign (1862-63); Lee and; Kernstown; + Banks designs net for; forces; Valley campaign; McDowell; rout of Banks; + summary of fortnight's work; Port Republic; pursuit of; planned attack + on McClellan; attends Lee's conference; Seven Days; again pursued; + Cedar Run; plans against Pope; marches north; slips away; at Manassas + Junction; preparations for battle; Second Bull Run; in the Valley; + against Hooker; wounded; death; Grant marches on; government interference + with +Jackson (Mississippi), Grant wins at +Jackson, Camp (Missouri), Frost establishes; Lyon takes +Jackson, Fort, guards New Orleans +James Island, Fort Johnson on +Jefferson City (Missouri), Confederate recruiting at; Lyon at +Jetersville (Virginia), Grant goes to +Johnson, General Edward, commands near Staunton +Johnson, Fort, Charleston +Johnston, General A. S., commands in West; Logan's Cross Roads; Nashville; + Pope cuts line; plans attack on Grant; Shiloh; death +Johnston, General J. E., commands at Richmond; at Harper's Ferry; Federal + problem of attack; destroys stores at Harper's Ferry; eludes Patterson; + joins Beauregard; Bull Run; immediate superior of Jackson; Davis and; + retires to Culpeper; against McClellan; Seven Pines; wounded; Vicksburg; + government mistake concerning; Dalton; Sherman against; Resaca; New Hope + Church; evacuates Allatoona; at Kenesaw Mountain; Bentonville; terms of + surrender + +Kanawha campaign; _see also_ West Virginia +Kansas, Southern sympathy in +Kearny, General Philip, Second Bull Run +_Kearsarge_, U. S. S., and _Alabama_ +Kenesaw Mountain (Georgia), Johnston at; battle; Sherman watches Allatoona + engagement from +Kenly, Colonel, at Front Royal +Kennon, Confederate naval officer +Kentucky, opinions divided in; neutral; Southern sympathy in; Confederates + lose hold of eastern; Federals conquer; Bragg's invasion of; Morgan's + raid; Grant's army in; Hood's objective +Kernstown (Virginia), battle +_Keystone State_, Confederate gunboats attack +Kingston (Georgia), Johnston retires to +Knoxville (Tennessee), Burnside occupies; Longstreet sent against; + dependent upon Chattanooga; Bragg's connection cut; Grant's inspection of + +Lacy, chaplain at Jackson's headquarters +Lamb, Colonel commands Fort Fisher +Lancaster (Ohio), Sherman at +Lebanon (Missouri), General Curtis at +Lebanon Springs, Jackson at +Lee, Fitzhugh, Stuart and +Lee, General R. E.; at San Antonio; military career; decision for South; + resignation from U. S. Army; commands Virginia forces; Kanawha campaign; + military adviser at Richmond; prevision; as a leader; age; McClellan + against; maneuvering in Virginia; made Commander-in-Chief; in 1862-63; + and Jackson; plans Valley campaign; appointed to command in eastern + Virginia and North Carolina; plan against McClellan; Seven Days; + McClellan foils; sends Jackson against Pope; entrains Longstreet for + Gordonsville; as strategist; divides army; Second Bull Run; and + Longstreet; invasion of Maryland; again divides army; at Antietam; at + Culpeper; Fredericksburg; Burnside tries to surprise; Hooker against; + quoted; Chancellorsville; defeat at Gettysburg; no part in Chattanooga + strategy; plans counter-attack in Pennsylvania; Brandy Station; + position before Gettysburg; Gettysburg; retreat; attempt to bring on + Third Manassas; on importance of Wilmington; at Orange Court House; + Wilderness; Spotsylvania; illness; prepares for Cold Harbor; at Cold + Harbor; losses; siege; losses; Petersburg; insoluble problem; leaves + Petersburg; Sailor's Creek; asks terms of Grant; surrenders; terms of + surrender; farewell to army +Lexington (Kentucky) Grant inspects; Morgan's raid +Lexington (Missouri), Price takes +Lick Creek, Grant's forces at +Lincoln, Abraham, Inaugural; declares blockade; and Lee; calls for + Missouri's quota of volunteers; general call for volunteers; and civil + control; on evaders of service; reëlection; and Grant; as war statesman; + birth; education; appearance; personal characteristics; appointments; + quoted; and Vallandigham; Emancipation; foreign policy; Cabinet; as + Commander-in-Chief; and McClellan; stories; letter to a bereaved mother; + Second Inaugural quoted; military orders; halts McDowell; and Hooker; + and Stanton; cipher letter to Grant; and Sherman; meets Union leaders; + assassination; approves terms of surrender; bibliography +Little Sorrel, Jackson's horse +Logan, General J. A.; replaces McPherson at Atlanta; Ezra Church; Nashville +Logan's Cross Roads, Confederates at; Thomas's victory at +Longstreet, General James, entrains for Gordonsville; Jackson's march + against Pope; Second Bull Run; obstructs Lee's plans; at Hagerstown; + leaves Lee; reinforces Bragg; Wauhatchie; urges help for Vicksburg; + Gettysburg; Wilderness; wounded +Lookout Mountain, _see_ Chattanooga +Louisiana, Union forces in; Sherman in; secedes +_Louisiana_, Confederate ironclad; as mine ship +Louisville (Kentucky), Bragg at; Grant inspects +_Louisville_, at Fort Donelson +Lovell, General Mansfield, evacuates New Orleans +Lyon, General Nathaniel, commands at St. Louis; fight for Missouri; Frémont + and; Wilson's Creek; killed + +McAllister, Fort, naval conflict near; Hazen's attack +McClellan, General G. B., in West Virginia; recalled to Washington; bubble + reputation; former career; "Young Napoleon of the West"; newspaper + publicity; force in Virginia; telegram to Grant delayed; Federal invasion + of Virginia under; dismissal; Lincoln and; Democratic candidate for + President (1864); plan of campaign; Peninsula Campaign; at Fortress + Monroe; base at White House; in Chickahominy swamps; government + interference with; Jackson aids against; awaits McDowell; number of + troops; exaggerates number of enemy; Seven Pines; Stuart's ride around; + Lee and; changes base to Harrison's Landing; Malvern Hill; plans to + take Richmond; ordered to Aquia; Pope and; discovers Lee's plans; lets + opportunity slip; Antietam; superseded by Burnside; popularity +McClernand, General J. B., Grant's second-in-command; fails to meet Banks; + battle on own account; at Fort Donelson; Shiloh; Arkansas Post; as a + general; breach of discipline; dismissal +McCulloch, General Benjamin at Wilson's Creek; killed at Pea Ridge +McDowell, General Irvin, assists Scott; crosses Potomac; Bull Run; + President reviews army of; number of troops; difficulties encountered; + quoted; wastage in forces; people lose confidence in; kept from + reinforcing McClellan; strike at Richmond; ordered to Valley; Jackson + and; McClellan awaits +McDowell (Virginia), battle +McGuire, Dr. Hunter +McIntosh, General James, killed at Pea Ridge +McMahon, J. P., at Cold Harbor +McMahon, General Martin, quoted +McPherson, General J. B., killed at Atlanta +Macon (Georgia), Southern cannon made at +Maffitt, Commander J. N., commands _Florida_ +Magruder, General J. B., and Butler; Yorktown; holds Richmond +Mallory, S. R., Confederate Secretary of Navy +Malvern Hill (Virginia), battle +Manassas, Johnston at; Jackson at; location; Federal base; base destroyed; + Battle of Second; _see also_ Bull Run +_Manassas_, Federal ram +Marshall, Colonel Charles, Lee's aide-de-camp +Marshall, General H. M., with Johnston in Kentucky +_Martha Waskington_, story of Lincoln on board +Martinsburg (West Virginia), Jackson marches on; Patterson occupies; + Confederates reach; Jackson destroys Federal stores at +Maryland, border slave State; Confederate hope for; Southern sympathy in; + sea-power keeps for Union; Jackson's plan to enter; Confederate invasion; + Federals massed in +Mason, Fort, Lee from +Matamoras, contraband imported into +Matthews Hill, battle of Bull Run +Meade, General G. G., quoted; as a general; succeeds Hooker in command; + Gettysburg; Lincoln's dissatisfaction with; Army of Potomac under; headed + for Richmond; Cold Harbor; Petersburg +Mechanicsville (Virginia), battle +Memphis, Confederate rams lost at; Confederate fleet at; Grant in command + at; Sherman's army from; Grant returns to; Grant leaves; Grant considers + retirement on +_Mercedita_, Confederate gunboats attack +Meredith, Solomon, "Iron Brigade" at Gettysburg +_Merrimac_, only Confederate man-of-war; duel with _Monitor_; destroyed +Mesilla (New Mexico), Baylor establishes capital at +_Metacomet_ against Fort Morgan +Mexican War, Grant serves in +Mexico, France warned from intervention in +Middle Creek (Kentucky), Garfield occupies line of +Mill Springs (Kentucky), Confederates at; battle +Milroy, R. H., in Jackson's Valley campaign; driven from Winchester +Mine Run (Virginia), battle +_Minnesota, Merrimac_ attacks +Missionary Ridge, _see_ Chattanooga +Mississippi, secedes; conflicting authorities balk navy +_Mississippi_, Confederate ship; burnt at New Orleans +Mississippi River, Union power on; Federal problem; River War (1862); River + War (1863); Federals hold, +Missouri, saved for Union; Southern sympathy in; River campaign (1862); + Curtis in +Missouri River, made Federal line of communication; last Confederate + foothold on +Mitchel, General O. M., raid +Mobile, fleet drawn from; in Southern hands; Farragut against; Fort Morgan; + army sent against; Sherman desires attack on; Grant's plan to help + Farragut; taken +_Monitor_, duel with _Merrimac_; Lincoln on plans for +Monocacy River, Wallace delays Early at +Monroe, Fortress, Federal forces at; _Monitor_ at; McClellan's plan for + position at; McClellan at; McClellan leaves +_Montauk_, Union monitor +Montgomery (Alabama), provisional Confederate Congress +Morgan, J. H., Raid; surrender; Kentucky raid +Morgan, Fort Farragut against +Mosby, J. S., Confederate cavalry leader +Moultrie, Fort +Mount Pleasant battery +"Mud March," Burnside's; Mulligan, Colonel James, at Lexington (Missouri) +Murfreesboro (Tennessee), Buell at + +Nashville, Buell reinforces Grant from; Buell defends; Grant's + headquarters; Thomas sent from; Thomas faces Hood at; battle +_Nashville_, Confederate privateer +Navy, Confederate, sea-power of South; poor administration; _see also_ + Navy, United States +Navy, United States, stands by Union; keeps command of sea; size (1861); + Welles's report on; Fox as Assistant Secretary of Navy; Promotion Board; + training; growth; Naval War (1862); fivefold duty of; Farragut and; + blockade-runners complicate task of; part in River War (1862) +Navy Act +Negroes, fidelity to South; North uses as troops; New York draft riots; + _see also_ Emancipation, slavery +Nelson, William, at Shiloh +New Hope Church (Georgia), fighting near +New Madrid (Missouri), Pope at; _Carondelet_ arrives at +New Mexico, as base of California invasion; Baylor proclaims himself + Governor; Sibley in +New Orleans, Confederate rams lost at; attack conceived; strategic + importance; joint expedition necessary; Farragut commands enterprise; + Welles's orders; Farragut's plan; _Mississippi_ burned at; preparations; + passing of forts; taken; Farragut at; Baton Rouge garrison withdrawn to +New York, _Monitor_ launched; draft riot +Newbern (North Carolina), expedition against; Richmond menaced from; + attempt against; in Union hands; meeting of Union leaders at +Norfolk Navy Yard, Federal abandonment of +North, peace parties; _see also_ Pacifists; population (1861); resources; + transport facilities; sea-power; _see also_ Navy, United States; + commerce; total forces; conscription; conduct of soldiers; Lee's + invasion; conditions in 1864 +North Carolina, blockade; defeat at Hatteras Island; loses defenses; _see + also_ Carolinas + +Ohio, Morgan's Raid; Vallandigham case +Olustee (Fla.), victory of +_Oneida_, Confederate ship +Opequan Creek (Virginia), Sheridan's victory at +Orange Court House (Virginia), Lee at +Ord, General E. O. C., Read on staff of + +Pacifists, in North; Peace party encouraged by Cold Harbor +Paducah (Kentucky), Grant forestalls enemy at; Grant's position at +Pamlico Sound (North Carolina), joint expedition against +Patterson, General Robert, commands on Potomac; and plans for Bull Run; + Falling Waters; occupies Martinsburg; advance; and Johnston +Pea Ridge (Arkansas), battle +Pemberton, General J. C., escapes Federal trap; Chickasaw Bluffs; commander + at Vicksburg; plans escape; surrender +Pensacola (Florida), beginning of war; evacuation; South uses garrison to + reinforce Virginia; Farragut directs Gulf blockade from +_Pensacola_, Confederate ship +Peninsula Campaign, McClellan plans; campaign +Pendleton, Major A. S., member of Jackson's staff +Perryville (Kentucky), battle +Petersburg (Virginia), strategic rail gap at; winter quarters; Butler fails + to take; Grant at; Lee leaves +Philippi (West Virginia), battle +Pickens, Fort +Pickett, G. E., charge at Gettysburg +Pillow, General G. J., at Fort Donelson; escape +Pillow, Fort, Federal vessels rammed at +Pinckney, Castle, _see_ Castle Pinckney +_Pinola_, Federal gunboat +Pipe Creek, Meade's army at +Pittsburg Landing, _see_ Shiloh +_Pittsburgh_, Federal ironclad at Fort Donelson; at Island Number Ten +Pleasant Hill, battle +Pleasonton, General A., cavalry leader +Point Pleasant (Ohio), Grant born at +Pope, General John, Grant declines patronage of; Island Number Ten; + reinforces Halleck at Pittsburg Landing; transfer to Virginia; quoted; + within reach of Jackson and Lee; retires safely; Jackson captures + dispatches of; Lee divides army against; Jackson's plan against; Jackson + marches around; reinforcement; Jackson eludes; Second Bull Run +Port Gibson (Mississippi) +Port Hudson (Louisiana) +Port Republic (Virginia) +Port Royal (South Carolina), Confederate defeat; Grant moves base to +Porter, Admiral D. D., conceives idea of attack on New Orleans; on + Mississippi; succeeds Davis; capture of Arkansas Post; Vicksburg + campaign; Mississippi command; attacks Fort Fisher; on Red River; at + City Point conference, +Porter, FitzJohn, position; Beaver Dam Creek; Gaines's Mill; Second Bull + Run; Pope's order +Porter, J. L., Naval Constructor to Confederate States +Porter, Commander W. D., at Fort Henry +Potter, Captain R. M., on Lee's decision +Powell, Fort +_Powhatan_, U. S. S., Porter commands +Prentiss, General B. M., at Shiloh +Press, perverts public opinion; no government censorship +Prestonburg, Garfield defeats Marshall near +Price, Sterling, becomes Confederate general; takes Lexington (Missouri); + Grant prevents reinforcements for; attacks Curtis in Missouri; against + Grant; defeated at Iuka +Privateers +Profiteers +Pulaski, Fort + +_Quaker City_, Confederate gunboats attack + +Rations, before Vicksburg; Grant supplies Lee's army +Rawlins, J. A., Grant's chief staff officer +Raymond (Mississippi), battle +Read, Colonel Theodore, at Sailor's Creek +Red River Expedition (1864) +Reno, General L. J., Second Bull Run +Renshaw, Commander, in charge of blockade +Resaca (Georgia), battle +Reynolds, General J. F., Second Bull Run; Gettysburg; killed +Rhind, Commander, fires mine-ship _Louisiana_ +Rich Mountain (Virginia), battle +Richmond, plan to raid Harper's Ferry arranged at; Federal objective; + Tredegar Iron Works; Grant and Lee at grips around; McClellan threatens; + plan to evacuate; change of plan; Jackson starts for; Magruder to hold; + saved; Sheridan's raid; Grant marches toward; consternation after Cold + Harbor; Army of the James against +_Richmond_, Federal ship +"River Defense Fleet" +River War (1862); (1863) +Roanoke Island captured +"Rock of Chickamauga," nickname for General Thomas +Rodgers, Commander John, and first flotilla on Mississippi +Roe, Commander of the _Sassacus_ +Rosecrans, General W. S., succeeds McClellan; Army of Mississippi under; + holds Memphis-Corinth rails; replaces Buell; victory at Corinth; + commands Army of Cumberland; Stone's River; maneuvers Bragg south; + Thomas supersedes; Confederate plan to crush; Chattanooga + +Sabine Cross Roads (Louisiana), Banks's defeat at +Sabine Pass (Texas), in Confederate hands +Sable Island, Butler's troops at +Sailor's Creek (Virginia), Lee's defeat at +St. Louis, Haskins goes to; Lyon commands at; Lyon marches prisoners + through; Harney makes peace; conference; Frémont's headquarters; Frémont + fortifies; Halleck's headquarters +_St. Louis_, Federal gunboat +St. Philip, Fort +Salem Church (Virginia), Jackson reaches +San Antonio (Texas), surrender to State; Lee at; Sibley's retreat +San Carlos, Fort +Santa Rosa Island, Slemmer defends +_Sassacus_, fight with _Albemarle_ +Savannah (Georgia), South holds; Sherman plans march to; Sherman reaches; + Hardee evacuates +Savannah (Tennessee), in Shiloh campaign +Schofield, General John, Nashville campaign +Scott, General Winfield, General-in-Chief, orders to Slemmer; and Lee; + military adviser at Washington; civilian interference with; Grant's + admiration for; prevision; "Anaconda policy" +Seddon, J. A., Confederate Secretary of War +Sedgwick, General John, Virginia campaign +Selma (Alabama), Southern cannon made at +Seminary Ridge, Lee's headquarters +Semmes, Captain Raphael of _Alabama_ +Seven Days' Battle; balloon used in +Seven Pines (Virginia), battle +Seward, W. H., Secretary of State; on McClellan +Sharpsburg, _see_ Antietam +_Shenandoah_, Confederate raider +Shenandoah Brigade, First, Jackson in command of +Shenandoah Valley, Johnston in; Sheridan's raid; Kernstown; positions + (April, 1862); forces; Jackson's maneuvers; McDowell; Front Royal; + Winchester; pursuit of Banks; summary of Jackson's accomplishment in; + pursuit of Jackson; Cross Keys; Port Republic; Jackson's strategy; + Ewell in; Stanton's interference; Sigel in; Hunter's retreat; Early + in; Sheridan in; Opequan Creek; "Sheridan's Ride"; Cedar Creek; Federal + victory +Sheridan, General P. H., raid helps Lincoln's reëlection; Chattanooga; + Stanton falsifies Grant's order to; as a general; Grant and; Todd's + Tavern; Richmond raid; Cold Harbor; raid; Trevilian; Opequan Creek; + "Sheridan's Ride"; in Washington; later operations; Five Forks +Sherman, General W. T., colonel in Louisiana State Military Academy; leaves + Louisiana; and Lyon; assists Scott; account of McDowell's march; as a + leader; Port Royal expedition; age; attempt to take Vicksburg; Kentucky + command; reported insane; diffident about rise; Shiloh; joins Grant; + Chickasaw Bluffs; and Lincoln; Vicksburg campaign; commands Army of + Tennessee; Chattanooga; Red River Expedition spoils strategy of; and + Stanton; on relative forces in South; threatens Georgia; Dalton; fitness + for command; advance; Resaca; New Hope Church; at Allatoona; at Kenesaw; + maneuvers Johnston; battle of Atlanta; asks reinforcements; announces + fall of Atlanta; Lincoln's reply to; campaign (1864); quoted; at Atlanta; + Hood's attempt on Allatoona; preponderance of force; March to the Sea; + presents Savannah to Lincoln; march through Carolinas; conference at City + Point (Virginia); terms of surrender to Johnston; on Lincoln +Shields, General James, Kernstown; at Catlett's Station; Port Republic +Shiloh, Grant's army assembles near; Confederate preparations; Grant's + position and force; battle; losses; outcome; result +Shine, Elizabeth, mother of Farragut +Ship Island, taken; Farragut at +Sibley, General H. H., in New Mexico +Sickles, General D. E., at Gettysburg +Sigel, General Franz, Wilson's Creek; Second Bull Run; command in + Shenandoah Valley; Hunter replaces +Simpson, Grant's mother's name +Slavery, Lee and; _see also_ Emancipation, Negroes +Slemmer, Lieutenant, command at Pensacola; defends Fort Pickens +Smith, General A. J., at Tupelo +Smith, Captain C. F., Grant's admiration for; as a leader; Fort Donelson; + ordered by Halleck to command expedition; Shiloh +Smith, General G. W., and Jackson's plan +Smith, Giles, Chattanooga +Smith, General Kirby, Bull Run +Smith, William, quartermaster on _Kearsarge_ +Sons of Liberty +South, seceding States of; war party in; population (1861); resources; + transportation; sea-power; _see also_ Navy, Confederate; reason for + fighting; advantages; raiders; situation (1864); losses (1864); cause + lost; number of troops +South Carolina, secedes; defeat at Port Royal; _see also_ Carolinas, + Charleston +South Mountain, Stuart at +Spotsylvania (Virginia), battle +Stanton, E. M., Secretary of War; and Lincoln; military interference; and + Lee; Cameron succeeded by; Banks and; orders McClellan to Aquia; and + Hooker; forbids use of cipher; and Grant's orders +_Star of the West_, merchant vessel fired on at Charleston +Staunton (Virginia), Jackson at; Hunter's success at +Steinwehr, General Adolph, atrocities under +Stone's River (Tennessee), battle +Strasburg (Virginia), Banks's retreat from +Stringham, Flag-Officer, expedition against Hatteras forts +Stuart, J. E. B.; Confederate cavalry leader, Martinsburg; Bull Run; raid + around McClellan; against Pope; at South Mountain; second raid around + McClellan; and Lee's retreat; age; Sheridan encounters; Yellow Tavern; + killed +Sturgis, defeat at Brice's Cross Roads +Suffolk (Virginia), menace to Richmond from +Sumter, Fort, location; Anderson goes to; fall of +_Sumter_, Confederate raider +_Supply_, vessel at Fort Pickens +Swift Run Gap (Virginia), Jackson at +Swinton, William, war correspondent +Sykes, General George, succeeds Meade + +Taylor, Captain Jesse, destroys Confederate reports at Fort Henry +_Tecumseh_, sunk in Mobile Bay +Tennessee, mountain folk Unionist; secedes +_Tennessee_, Confederate ram +Terry, General A. H., at Fort Fisher +Texas, State militia seize army posts; General Twiggs surrenders posts; + secedes; contraband enters; Red River Expedition; last shots fired in +Thomas, General G. H., Mill Springs; "Rock of Chickamauga"; + Chattanooga; Nashville campaign +Thoroughfare Gap (Virginia), Jackson's expedition +Tilghman, General Lloyd, surrenders Fort Henry +Tod, Judge, Jesse Grant in home of +Todd's Tavern (Virginia), battle +Transportation; means of communication in Virginia campaign +Traveler, Lee's horse +Tredegar Iron Works +Trevilian (Virginia), Sheridan at +Tunstall's Station (Virginia), Stuart's raid +Tupelo (Mississippi), Forrest defeated at +Twiggs, General D. E., surrenders Texas garrisons + +_Undine_, gunboat taken with cavalry +Union Mills (Virginia), ford defended +United States, population (1861); _see also_ North, South + +Vallandigham case +Valley Campaign, Jackson's; _see_ Shenandoah Valley +Valverde (New Mexico), Canby's defeat at +Van Dorn, General Earl, Confederate commander of trans-Mississippi troops; + Pea Ridge; reinforces Beauregard; tries to reconquer Memphis-Corinth + rails; replaced by Pemberton; at Holly Springs +_Varuna, Governor Moore_, destroys +Vicksburg, Farragut's expedition; importance of position; Sherman's + attempt; _see also_ Chickasaw Bluffs; Grant's operations preceding; + Grant's objective; Holly Springs; Confederates hold; Grant's position; + generals at; Navy at; Grant's maneuvers; Federal force; Confederate + force; scene of action; army rations at; siege; surrender; significance + of victory; effect of victory +"Vicksburg Oak," Grant meets Pemberton under +Vinton. Major, Union officer at San Antonio +Virginia, Lee's loyalty to; blockade; secedes; Lee given chief command + in; West Virginia part of; issues call for volunteers; West Virginia + separates from; mountain folk Unionists; Federals hold western part + of; Farragut from; Pope transferred to; Burnside's invasion of; Grant + transferred to; campaign (1864); Wilderness; Todd's Tavern; + Spotsylvania; Sheridan's raid; Cold Harbor; losses; campaign (1865); + Petersburg; Five Forks; Sailor's Creek; Lee's surrender; _see also_ + Peninsula campaign +_Virginia, Merrimac_ renamed +Virginia Military Institute, Jackson at; cadets join Jackson + +Walke, Henry, commands _Carondelet_ +Walker, Fort +Wallace, General Lew, as a leader; at Fort Donelson; Shiloh; and Early +Wallace, General W. H. L., killed +Warley, A. F., commands Manassas +Warren, G. K., Gettysburg; defection at Cold Harbor +Washburn, Colonel Francis, at Sailor's Creek +Washburne, E. B., introduces Swinton +Washington, capture of rolling stock hampers; desire to defend; sea-power + saves; Southern plans against; reserve corps at; Pope's army retires to; + Early makes for; Union troops reviewed in +Wassaw Sound, duel between _Weehawken_ and _Atlanta_ in +Wauhatchie (Tennessee), battle +Weed, Thurlow, election agent +_Weehawken_, duel with _Atlanta_ +Weitzel, General Godfrey, at Fort Fisher +Welles, Gideon, Secretary of Navy; report to Congress; orders concerning + New Orleans +West, settlers beyond reach of war +West Virginia, part of Virginia; Jackson from; becomes separate State; + campaign in; Frémont in +_Westfield_, Renshaw refuses to surrender +Wheeler, General Joseph, Confederate cavalry leader +White House (Virginia), McClellan's base +White Oak Swamp (Virginia), battle +Whitman, Walt, on Lincoln +Wilcox, General C. M., Pickett's Charge +Wilderness, battle +Wilkeson, Lieutenant Bayard, Gettysburg +Wilkeson, Frank, _Recollections of a Private Soldier in the Army of the + Potomac_ +Williams, General Thomas, at Vicksburg with Farragut; killed +Wilmington (North Carolina), rail connections threatened; in Confederate + hands; Fort Fisher guards entrance to; captured +Wilson's Creek (Missouri), battle +Winchester (Virginia), Johnston retires to; Banks refuses to retreat to; + forces at; Ewell drives Milroy out of +Winslow, Captain, commands _Kearsarge_ +Wise, H. A., ex-Governor of Virginia +Worden, Captain J. L., commands _Monitor_ +Wright, Colonel W. W., engineer +_Wyandotte_, vessel at Pensacola + +Yazoo River, Porter on +Yellow Tavern, Stuart and Sheridan at +Yorktown, Confederates hold; evacuated + +Zouaves under Stuart + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Captains of the Civil War, by William Wood + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPTAINS OF THE CIVIL WAR *** + +***** This file should be named 2649-8.txt or 2649-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/6/4/2649/ + +Produced by Alev Akman, Diane Beane, James J. Kelly Library +of St. Gregory's University and Robert J. Hall + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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