A Short History of the United States by Edward Channing

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[Sidenote: Port Hudson surrendered.]

[Sidenote: Opening of the Mississippi.]

415. Opening of the Mississippi.--Port Hudson, between Vicksburg
and New Orleans, was now the only important Confederate position on the
Mississippi. On July 8 it surrendered. A few days later the freight
steamer _Imperial_ from St. Louis reached New Orleans. The Mississippi
at last "flowed unvexed to the sea." The Confederacy was cut in twain.

[Sidenote: Chancellorsville, May, 1863. _Hero Tales_, 213-223.]

[Sidenote: Lee invades Pennsylvania.]

[Sidenote: Meade in command.]

416. Lee's Second Invasion, 1863.--"Fighting Joe Hooker" was now in
command of the Army of the Potomac. Outwitting Lee, he gained the rear
of the Confederate lines on Marye's Heights, But Lee fiercely attacked
him at Chancellorsville and drove him back across the Rappahannock. Then
Lee again crossed the Potomac and invaded the North. This time he
penetrated to the heart of Pennsylvania. Hooker moved on parallel lines,
always keeping between Lee and the city of Washington. At length, in the
midst of the campaign, Hooker asked to be relieved, and George G. Meade
became the fifth and last chief of the Army of the Potomac.

[Illustration: BATTLEFIELD OF GETTYSBURG, LOOKING SOUTH FROM ROUND TOP.]

[Sidenote: Lee retires.]

[Sidenote: Gettysburg, July 1-3, 1863.]

417. Gettysburg, July 1, 1863.--Meade now moved the Union army
toward Lee's line of communication with Virginia. Lee at once drew
back. Both armies moved toward Gettysburg, where the roads leading
southward came together. In this way the two armies came into contact on
July i, 1863. The Southerners were in stronger force at the moment and
drove the Union soldiers back through the town to the high land called
Cemetery Ridge. This was a remarkably strong position, with Culp's Hill
at one end of the line and the Round Tops at the other end. Meade
determined to fight the battle at that spot and hurried up all
his forces.

[Illustration: MAP: Battle of Gettysburg.]

[Sidenote: The second day.]

418. Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.--At first matters seemed to go badly
with the Union army. Its left flank extended forward from Little Round
Top into the fields at the foot of the ridge. The Confederates drove
back this part of the Union line. But they could not seize Little Round
Top. On this day also the Confederates gained a foothold on Culp's Hill.

[Sidenote: The third day. _Source-Book_, 323-327.]

[Sidenote: Pickett's charge. _Hero Tales_, 227-236.]

[Sidenote: It fails.]

[Sidenote: Lee retreats, July 4, 1863.]

419. Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.--Early on this morning the Union
soldiers drove the Confederates away from Culp's Hill and held the whole
ridge. Now again, as at Malvern Hill (p. 321), Lee had fought the Army
of the Potomac to a standstill. But he would not admit failure. Led by
Pickett of Virginia, thirteen thousand men charged across the valley
between the two armies directly at the Union center. Some of them even
penetrated the Union lines. But there the line stopped. Slowly it began
to waver. Then back the Confederates went--all who escaped. The battle
of Gettysburg was won. Lee faced the Army of the Potomac for another day
and then retreated. In this tremendous conflict the Confederates lost
twenty-two thousand five hundred men killed and wounded and five
thousand taken prisoners by the Northerners--a total loss of
twenty-eight thousand out of eighty thousand in the battle. The Union
army numbered ninety-three thousand men and lost twenty-three thousand,
killed and wounded. Vicksburg and Gettysburg cost the South sixty-five
thousand fighting men--a loss that could not be made good. We must now
turn to eastern Tennessee.

[Sidenote: Rosecrans and Bragg, 1863.]

[Sidenote: Chickamauga, September, 1863.]

[Sidenote: Thomas and Sheridan.]

[Sidenote: Grant in command in the West.]

420. Chickamauga, September, 1863.--For six months after
Murfreesboro' (p. 326) Rosecrans and Bragg remained in their camps. In
the summer of 1863 Rosecrans, by a series of skillful marchings, forced
Bragg to abandon Chattanooga. But Bragg was now greatly strengthened by
soldiers from the Mississippi and by Longstreet's division from Lee's
army in Virginia. He turned on Rosecrans, and attacked him at
Chickamauga Creek. The right wing of the Union army was driven from the
field. But Thomas, "the Rock of Chickamauga," with his men stood fast.
Bragg attacked him again and again, and failed every time, although he
had double Thomas's numbers. Rosecrans, believing the battle to be
lost, had ridden off to Chattanooga, but Sheridan aided Thomas as well
as he could. The third day Thomas and Bragg kept their positions, and
then the Union soldiers retired unpursued to Chattanooga. The command of
the whole army at Chattanooga was now given to Thomas, and Grant was
placed in control of all the Western armies.

[Illustration: GENERAL THOMAS.]

[Sidenote: Sherman's attack.]

[Sidenote: Hooker's attack.]

[Sidenote: Thomas's attack.]

[Sidenote: Rout of the Confederates, November, 1863.]

421. Chattanooga, November, 1863.--The Union soldiers at
Chattanooga were in great danger. For the Confederates were all about
them and they could get no food. But help was at hand. Hooker, with
fifteen thousand men from the Army of the Potomac, arrived and opened a
road by which food could reach Chattanooga. Then Grant came with
Sherman's corps from Vicksburg. He at once sent Sherman to assail
Bragg's right flank and ordered Hooker to attack his left flank. Sherman
and his men advanced until he was stopped by a deep ravine. At the
other end of the line Hooker fought right up the side of Lookout
Mountain, until the battle raged above the clouds. In the center were
Thomas's men. Eager to avenge the slaughter of Chickamauga, they carried
the first Confederate line of defenses. Then, without orders, they
rushed up the hillside over the inner lines. They drove the Southerners
from their guns and seized their works. Bragg retreated as well as he
could. Longstreet was besieging Knoxville. He escaped through the
mountains to Lee's army in Virginia.

CHAPTER 41

THE END OF THE WAR, 1864-1865

[Sidenote: Grant in chief command.]

[Sidenote: Sherman commands in the West.]

422. Grant in Command of all the Armies.--The Vicksburg and
Chattanooga campaigns marked out Grant for the chief command. Hitherto
the Union forces had acted on no well-thought-out plan. Now Grant was
appointed Lieutenant General and placed in command of all the armies of
the United States (March, 1864). He decided to carry on the war in
Virginia in person. Western operations he intrusted to Sherman, with
Thomas in command of the Army of the Cumberland. Sheridan came with
Grant to Virginia and led the cavalry of the Army of the Potomac. We
will first follow Sherman and Thomas and the Western armies.

[Illustration: GENERAL SHERMAN.]

[Sidenote: Sherman's army.]

[Sidenote: The march to Atlanta.]

[Sidenote: Hood attacks Sherman.]

423. The Atlanta Campaign, 1864.--Sherman had one hundred thousand
veterans, led by Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield. Joseph E. Johnston,
who succeeded Bragg, had fewer men, but he occupied strongly fortified
positions. Yet week by week Sherman forced him back till, after two
months of steady fighting, Johnston found himself in the vicinity of
Atlanta. This was the most important manufacturing center in the South.
The Confederates must keep Atlanta if they possibly could. Johnston
plainly could not stop Sherman. So Hood was appointed in his place, in
the expectation that he would fight. Hood fought his best. Again and
again he attacked Sherman only to be beaten off with heavy loss. He then
abandoned Atlanta to save his army. From May to September Sherman lost
twenty-two thousand men, but the Confederates lost thirty-five thousand
men and Atlanta too.

[Sidenote: Problems of war.]

[Sidenote: Plan of the March to the Sea.]

424. Plans of Campaign.--Hood now led his army northward to
Tennessee. But Sherman, instead of following him, sent only Thomas and
Schofield. Sherman knew that the Confederacy was a mere shell. Its heart
had been destroyed. What would be the result of a grand march through
Georgia to the seacoast, and then northward through the Carolinas to
Virginia? Would not this unopposed march show the people of the North,
of the South, and of Europe that further resistance was useless? Sherman
thought that it would, and that once in Virginia he could help Grant
crush Lee. Grant agreed with Sherman and told him to carry out his
plans. But first we must see what happened to Thomas and Hood.

[Sidenote: Hood in Tennessee.]

[Sidenote: Battle of Franklin, November, 1864.]

[Sidenote: Thomas destroys Hood's army, December, 1864.]

425. Thomas and Hood, 1864.--Never dreaming that Sherman was not in
pursuit, Hood marched rapidly northward until he had crossed the
Tennessee. He then spent three weeks in resting his tired soldiers and
in gathering supplies. This delay gave Thomas time to draw in recruits.
At last Hood attacked Schofield at Franklin on November 30, 1864.
Schofield retreated to Nashville, where Thomas was with the bulk of his
army, and Hood followed. Thomas took all the time he needed to complete
his preparations. Grant felt anxious at his delay and ordered him to
fight. But Thomas would not fight until he was ready. At length, on
December 15, he struck the blow, and in two days of fighting destroyed
Hood's whole army. This was the last great battle in the West.

[Sidenote: The March to the Sea, 1864.]

[Sidenote: Fall of Savannah, December, 1864.]

426. Marching through Georgia.--Destroying the mills and factories
of Atlanta, Sherman set out for the seashore. He had sixty thousand men
with him. They were all veterans and marched along as if on a holiday
excursion. Spreading out over a line of sixty miles, they gathered
everything eatable within reach. Every now and then they would stop and
destroy a railroad. This they did by taking up the rails, heating them
in the middle on fires of burning sleepers, and then twisting them
around the nearest trees. In this way they cut a gap sixty miles long in
the railroad communication between the half-starved army of northern
Virginia and the storehouses of southern Georgia. On December 10, 1864,
Sherman reached the sea. Ten days later he captured Savannah and
presented it to the nation as a Christmas gift. Sherman and Thomas
between them had struck a fearful blow at the Confederacy. How had it
fared with Grant?

[Sidenote: Grant's plan of campaign, 1864.]

[Sidenote: Objections to it.]

427. Grant in Virginia, 1864.--Grant had with him in Virginia the
Army of the Potomac under Meade, the Ninth Corps under Burnside, and a
great cavalry force under Sheridan. In addition General Butler was on
the James River with some thirty thousand men. Lee had under his orders
about one-half as many soldiers as had Grant. In every other respect the
advantage was on his side. Grant's plan of campaign was to move by his
left from the Rappahannock southeastwardly. He expected to push Lee
southward and hoped to destroy his army. Butler, on his part, was to
move up the James. By this plan Grant could always be near navigable
water and could in this way easily supply his army with food and
military stores. The great objection to this scheme of invasion was that
it gave Lee shorter lines of march to all important points. This fact
and their superior knowledge of the country gave the Confederates an
advantage which largely made up for their lack in numbers.

[Sidenote: Battle of the Wilderness, May, 1864.]

428. The Wilderness, May, 1864.--On May 4 and 5 the Union army
crossed the Rapidan and marched southward through the Wilderness. It
soon found itself very near the scene of the disastrous battle of
Chancellorsville (p. 335). The woods were thick and full of underbrush.
Clearings were few, and the roads were fewer still. On ground like this
Lee attacked the Union army. Everything was in favor of the attacker,
for it was impossible to foresee his blows, or to get men quickly to any
threatened spot. Nevertheless Grant fought four days. Then he skillfully
removed the army and marched by his left to Spotsylvania Court House.

[Illustration: GENERAL GRANT. From a photograph taken in the field,
March, 1865. "Strong, simple, silent, ... such was he Who helped us in
our need."--LOWELL.]

[Sidenote: Spotsylvania, May, 1864.]

429. Spotsylvania, May, 1864.--Lee reached Spotsylvania first and
fortified his position. For days fearful combats went on. One point in
the Confederate line, called the Salient, was taken and retaken over and
over again. The loss of life was awful, and Grant could not push Lee
back. So on May 20 he again set out on his march by the left and
directed his army to the North Anna. But Lee was again before him and
held such a strong position that it was useless to attack him.

[Sidenote: Cold Harbor.]

[Sidenote: Blockade of Petersburg.]

430. To the James, June, 1864.--Grant again withdrew his army and
resumed his southward march. But when he reached Cold Harbor, Lee was
again strongly fortified. Both armies were now on the ground of the
Peninsular Campaign. For two weeks Grant attacked again and again. Then
on June 11 he took up his march for the last time. On June 15 the Union
soldiers reached the banks of the James River below the junction of the
Appomattox. But, owing to some misunderstanding, Petersburg had not been
seized. So Lee established himself there, and the campaign took on the
form of a siege. In these campaigns from the Rapidan to the James, Grant
lost in killed, wounded, and missing sixty thousand men. Lee's loss was
much less--how much less is not known.

[Illustration: A BOMB PROOF AT PETERSBURG AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY WITH THE
TREES GROWING ON THE BREASTWORKS.]

[Sidenote: Importance of Petersburg.]

431. Petersburg, June-December, 1864.--Petersburg guarded the roads
leading from Richmond to the South. It was in reality a part of the
defenses of Richmond. For if these roads passed out of Confederate
control, the Confederate capital would have to be abandoned. It was
necessary for Lee to keep Petersburg. Grant, on the other hand, wished
to gain the roads south of Petersburg. He lengthened his line; but each
extension was met by a similar extension of the Confederate line. This
process could not go on forever. The Confederacy was getting worn out.
No more men could be sent to Lee. Sooner or later his line would become
so weak that Grant could break through. Then Petersburg and Richmond
must be abandoned. Two years before, when Richmond was threatened by
McClellan, Lee had secured the removal of the Army of the Potomac by a
sudden movement toward Washington (p. 321). He now detached Jubal Early
with a formidable force and sent him through the Shenandoah Valley to
Washington.

[Illustration: GENERAL SHERIDAN.]

[Sidenote: Confederate attack on Washington, 1864.]

[Sidenote: Sheridan in the Valley. _Hero Tales_, 263-290.]

[Sidenote: Confederate disaster, October, 1864.]

[Sidenote: Lincoln reelected, November, 1864. _McMaster_, 425-426.]

432. Sheridan's Valley Campaigns, 1864.--The conditions now were
very unlike the conditions of 1862. Now, Grant was in command instead of
McClellan or Pope. He controlled the movements of all the armies without
interference from Washington, and he had many more men than Lee.
Without letting go his hold on Petersburg, Grant sent two army corps by
water to Washington. Early was an able and active soldier, but he
delayed his attack on Washington until soldiers came from the James. He
then withdrew to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant now gave Sheridan forty
thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry, and sent him to the
Valley with orders to drive Early out and to destroy all supplies in
the Valley which could be used by another Southern army. Splendidly
Sheridan did his work. At one time, when he was away, the Confederates
surprised the Union army. But, hearing the roar of the battle, Sheridan
rode rapidly to the front. As he rode along, the fugitives turned back.
The Confederates, surprised in their turn, were swept from the field and
sent whirling up the Valley in wild confusion (October 19, 1864). Then
Sheridan destroyed everything that could be of service to another
invading army and rejoined Grant at Petersburg. In the November
following this great feat of arms, Lincoln was reelected President.

[Sidenote: Mobile Bay, 1864. _Hero Tales_, 303-322.]

[Sidenote: _Kearsarge_ and _Alabama_.]

433. The Blockade and the Cruisers, 1863-64.--The blockade had now
become stricter than ever. For by August, 1864, Farragut had carried his
fleet into Mobile Bay and had closed it to commerce. Sherman had taken
Savannah. Early in 1865 Charleston was abandoned, for Sherman had it at
his mercy, and Terry captured Wilmington. The South was now absolutely
dependent on its own resources, and the end could not be far off. On the
open sea, with England's aid a few vessels flew the Confederate flag.
The best known of these vessels was the _Alabama._ She was built in
England, armed with English guns, and largely manned by Englishmen. On
June 19, 1864, the United States ship _Kearsarge_ sank her off
Cherbourg, France. Englishmen were also building two ironclad
battleships for the Confederates. But the American minister at London,
Mr. Charles Francis Adams, said that if they were allowed to sail, it
would be "war." The English government thereupon bought the vessels.

[Illustration: ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.]

[Sidenote: Sherman's northern march, 1865.]

434. Sherman's March through the Carolinas, 1865.--Early in 1865
Sherman set out on the worst part of his great march. He now directed
his steps northward from Savannah toward Virginia. The Confederates
prepared to meet him. But Sherman set out before they expected him, and
thus gained a clear path for the first part of his journey. Joseph E.
Johnston now took command of the forces opposed to Sherman and did
everything he could to stop him. At one moment it seemed as if he might
succeed. He almost crushed the forward end of Sherman's army before the
rest of the soldiers could be brought to its rescue. But Sherman's
veterans were too old soldiers to be easily defeated. They first beat
back the enemy in front, and when another force appeared in the rear
they jumped to the other side of their field breastworks and defeated
that force also. Night then put an end to the combat, and by morning the
Union force was too strong to be attacked. Pressing on, Sherman reached
Goldsboro' in North Carolina. There he was joined by Terry from
Wilmington and by Schofield from Tennessee. Sherman now was strong
enough to beat any Confederate army. He moved to Raleigh and completely
cut Lee's communications with South Carolina and Georgia, April, 1865.

[Sidenote: Condition of Lee's army.]

[Sidenote: _Higginson_, 317.]

[Sidenote: Surrender of the Southern armies, April 1865. _Source-book_,
329-333].

435. Appomattox, April, 1865.--The end of the Confederacy was now
plainly in sight. Lee's men were starving. They were constantly
deserting either to go to the aid of their perishing families or to
obtain food from the Union army. As soon as the roads were fit for
marching, Grant set his one hundred and twenty thousand men once more in
motion. His object was to gain the rear of Lee's army and to force him
to abandon Petersburg. A last despairing attack on the Union center only
increased Grant's vigor. On April 1 Sheridan with his cavalry and an
infantry corps seized Five Forks in the rear of Petersburg and could not
be driven away. Petersburg and Richmond were abandoned. Lee tried to
escape to the mountains. But now the Union soldiers marched faster than
the starving Southerners. Sheridan, outstripping them, placed his men
across their path at Appomattox Court House. There was nothing left save
surrender. The soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, now only
thirty-seven thousand strong, laid down their arms, April 9, 1865. Soon
Johnston surrendered, and the remaining small isolated bands of
Confederates were run down and captured.

[Sidenote: Murder of Lincoln, April 14, 1865. _Higginson_, 322-323;
_Source-book_, 333-335.]

436. Lincoln murdered, April 14, 1865.--The national armies were
victorious. President Lincoln, never grander or wiser than in the moment
of victory, alone stood between the Southern people and the Northern
extremists clamoring for vengeance. On the night of April 14 he was
murdered by a sympathizer with slavery and secession. No one old enough
to remember the morning of April 15, 1865, will ever forget the horror
aroused in the North by this unholy murder. In the beginning Lincoln
had been a party leader. In the end the simple grandeur of his nature
had won for him a place in the hearts of the American people that no
other man has ever gained. He was indeed the greatest because the most
typical of Americans. Vice-President Andrew Johnson, a war Democrat from
Tennessee, became President. The vanquished secessionists were soon to
taste the bitter dregs of the cup of defeat.

[Illustration: MAYOR'S OFFICE, APRIL 15th, 1865, Death notice of
Abraham Lincoln]

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

[Use maps constantly while studying this period. The maps provided in
Dodge's _Bird's-Eye View _are admirably adapted to this purpose.]

CHAPTER 37

Sec. 380.--_a_. What did Lincoln say about the Union? What did he say about
slavery? What oath did Lincoln take?

_b_. Was his inaugural conciliatory to the South?

Sec.Sec. 381, 382.--_a_. What was the result of Buchanan's attempt to send
supplies to Fort Sumter?

_b_. Why did Lincoln inform the governor of South Carolina of his
determination to succor Fort Sumter?

_c_. What was the effect on Northern opinion of the attack on Fort
Sumter?

_d_. Could the Southerners have done otherwise than fire on the flag?

Sec.Sec. 383-385.--_a_. Why were the Virginians so divided? What resulted from
this division?

_b_. What were the "border states"? Could these states have been
neutral?

_c_. Describe the especial importance of Maryland.

_d_. What oath had the officers of the United States army and navy
taken? Did Lee and other officers who resigned necessarily believe in
the right of secession? Give your reasons.

CHAPTER 38

Sec.Sec. 386, 387.--_a_. State the advantages of the Southerners from the
geographical point of view.

_b_. Explain how rivers were lines of defense.

_c_. Describe carefully the plan of the Bull Run campaign.

_d_. Why was the Shenandoah Valley so important?

Sec.Sec. 388-390.--_a_. Why was McClellan placed in command of the Army of the
Potomac?

_b_. Of what advantage to the South were the negroes?

_c_. Describe the plan of the Peninsular Campaign. What was the great
objection to it?

Sec. 391.--_a_. Describe the _Merrimac_, the _Monitor_. Compare them with
the _Congress_.

_b_. What effect did the _Monitor-Merrimac_ fight have on McClellan's
campaign?

Sec.Sec. 392, 393.--_a_ Describe the Peninsular Campaign. Why were not more
soldiers sent to McClellan?

_b_. What is meant by the phrase "change of base"?

_c_. How did Lee secure the removal of McClellan's army from the James?

Sec.Sec. 394, 395.--_a_ Why did Lee invade Maryland? _b_. Describe the battle
of Antietam, of Fredericksburg. What was the result of each of
these battles?

Sec.Sec. 396, 397.--_a_. Give an account of the early life and training of
Grant and of Thomas.

_b_. Why were the seizures of Cairo and Paducah and the battle of Mill
Springs important?

_c_. What is meant by the phrase "unconditional surrender"?

Sec.Sec. 398, 399.--_a_. Explain carefully the importance to the South of New
Orleans and the lower Mississippi.

_b_. Give an account of Farragut's early life. How did it fit him for
this work?

_c_. Describe the operations against New Orleans.

Sec. 400.--_a_. Explain carefully the plan of the campaign to Corinth Why
was Corinth important?

_b_. What quality in Grant was conspicuous at Shiloh?

Sec. 401.--_a_. What was Bragg's object in invading Kentucky? How far did
he succeed? Why was Chattanooga important?

CHAPTER 39

Sec.Sec. 402, 403.--_a_. What is a blockade? What was the effect of the
blockade on the South?

_b_. Had sea power been in Southern hands, could the Union have been
saved?

_c_. Why was Charleston so difficult to capture? (Compare with the
Revolutionary War.)

Sec.Sec. 405, 406.--_a_. What help did the Southerners hope to obtain from
Great Britain and France? Why? How were their hopes disappointed?

_b_. What do you think of the action of the English mill operatives?

_c_. Describe the Trent Affair. What do you think of Lincoln's action?
Did the British government act wisely?

Sec.Sec. 406, 407.--_a_. What had the Republican party declared about slavery
in the states? What had Lincoln said in his inaugural?

_b_. How had the war altered Lincoln's power as President?

_c_. Why was it necessary for Lincoln to follow Northern sentiment?

_d_. What is contraband of war? How were the slaves contraband?

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