Opposed to Sherman was the second ablest general of the Confederacy, Joseph E. Johnston.1 The Plan of Cam paign. The plan adopted by Grant was one of continuous forward movement of both the great armies of the Union, Meade and Sherman to start simultaneously, and each to keep his opponent so occupied that Lee and Johnston could not help each other. For the Army of the Potomac the overland route to Richmond was chosen. The crossing of the Rapidan River began on May 4, and on that day General Grant, seated on a roadside log, wrote his famous telegraph message to General Sherman, tell ing him to begin his march. From that day both armies continued incessantly at work until the end of the war. was made lieutenant-general, and in 1869 general of the armies of the United States. He retired in 1883, and died in 1891. 1 1 Joseph Eggleston Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807. He entered West Point Academy, graduated in 1829, and served as lieutenant Grant had an army of one hundred and twenty thousand men, nearly double that of Lee, but this great disparity in numbers was in a measure equalized by the fact that Lee fought in defence, Grant in attack. The Union troops had a constant succession of intrenchments to assault. A Series of Battles.-The first conflict took place in the densely wooded country known as the Wilderness, in which the battle of Chancellorsville had been fought. Here the two great armies struggled for two days in the forest, with terrible slaughter, but victory for neither side. Then Grant made a flank movement, and marched to Spottsylvania Court-House. Here he found Lee intrenched to meet him. Eleven days more (May 8-18) of manoeuvring and fighting succeeded; then Grant, unable to take Lee's works, flanked his army again. The armies next met on the North Anna River, where some more severe fighting took place. Then, by another flanking march, Grant moved south to Cold Harbor, on the Chickahominy River, and in the vicinity of Richmond. But Lee, having the shorter route, had once more outmarched his opponent, and his men lay behind strong earthworks. Here they were fiercely assailed on the morning of June 3, but so great was their advantage of position that the assault was a virtual slaughter. The Federal troops fell in thousands, while the Confederate loss was small. Petersburg Besieged.-At the end of this frightful and fruitless day's work Grant again withdrew. He now led in the Seminole War. In the Mexican War, as lieutenant-colonel, he displayed much courage, and was twice severely wounded. Remaining in the army till 1861, he entered the Confederate service as major-general, and was made lieutenant-general after the battle of Fair Oaks. In the West he made active but unsuccessful efforts to save Vicksburg. After the war he lived in Savannah, where he died in 1891. his army across the James River, and attempted to take Petersburg, a railroad centre south of Richmond. But Lee again, having still the shorter line, reached the ground first, and threw up works that could not be taken without great loss. Grant thereupon built intrenchments also,' and began a siege of the Confederate works, which were extended until they stretched from Petersburg to Richmond. Losses of the Armies.-In this month of incessant marching and fighting the losses had been terrible, that of the Union armies, from their policy of attack, being much the greater. The true numbers are unknown. Some statements put Grant's loss at forty thousand, Lee's at thirty thousand; others make the Union loss much greater, the Confederate loss considerably less. Comparatively, Lee's loss was the greater, for he could less afford the slaughter of his veteran troops. Early's Raid.-Meanwhile, Generals Sigel and Hunter had been repulsed in the Shenandoah Valley, and that avenue of approach to the north again lay open. Having checked Grant's advance, Lee took quick advantage of this opportunity, hoping as before to draw off his foes by threatening Washington. General Early was sent to the valley with twenty thousand men. Marching swiftly northward, he crossed the Potomac into Maryland, met and defeated General Lew Wallace at the Monocacy River, and on July 11 appeared before Fort Stevens, one of the defences of Washington. Had he continued to advance the city might have been taken. But he gave his men a day's rest, and by the end of that time the forts were strongly garrisoned and Early was compelled to retreat. But on his retreat he sent a party of cavalry to Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, who demanded a ransom of five hun dred thousand dollars. Not obtaining it, they set fire to and burned a large part of the town. Sheridan's Ride.-Grant now sent General Sheridan,' the ablest cavalry officer in his army, to confront Early, drive him if possible from the valley, and destroy or carry off all its forage, produce, and stock, so that it could not support an army again. Sheridan proved himself an abler general PHILIP SHERIDAN. than Early. He defeated him at Winchester and Fisher's Hill, and in a week reduced his army by one-half. On October 19, Early surprised the Union army at Cedar Creek, and drove it in confusion from the field. Sheridan was at Winchester, twenty miles away. Hearing the sound of cannon, he mounted his horse and rode at full speed for the front. Meeting fugitives on the road, he hailed them with the cheering cry, "Turn, boys, turn; we're going back." Reaching the army, he re-formed it, attacked the Confederates, who were plundering the camp, and defeated them with great slaughter. In a month's campaign Sheridan had lost seventeen thou 1 Philip Henry Sheridan was born in Ohio in 1831. He graduated from West Point in 1853, and served in the West till the outbreak of the war. In 1862 he served in Mississippi, and was made major-general for his bravery at Murfreesboro'. He commanded the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac in 1864-65. He was made lieutenant-general, succeeding Sherman, in 1869, and was given the rank of general, before held only by Grant and Sherman, on his death-bed in 1888. 2 Sheridan destroyed over two thousand barns filled with hay and wheat and over seventy mills filled with wheat and flour. He drove off over four thousand head of cattle and killed and issued to the troops three thousand sheep. War is brutal at its best, and this was an example of its necessary brutality. sand men. But Early's army was practically destroyed. Washington was safe during the remainder of the war. The Shenandoah Valley could not again feed an invading army. The Siege of Petersburg.-The siege of the works at Petersburg continued incessantly till the spring of 1865. Only two events in this siege need special mention. A mine was dug under a strong Confederate fort in front of Petersburg, and exploded on the morning of July 30. The fort and its garrison were hurled into the air. The charge through the breach, however, was badly managed, a halt being made in the crater caused by the explosion, so that the Confederates had time to rally in defence. A torrent of shot and shell was poured upon the confused mass of men, killing them in multitudes. Such as could escaped, but not less than four thousand men were lost in this illconducted enterprise. The second event was the capture of the Weldon Railroad, one of Lee's means of communication with the South. He made desperate efforts to recover it, but in vain, and Grant's lines were extended to this important point. Sherman's Advance. While Grant was thus keeping Lee fully occupied in the North, Sherman was keeping Johnston, who had succeeded Bragg after the defeat of the latter at Chattanooga, as actively engaged in the South. With an army of one hundred thousand men he advanced upon Johnston, who, with about fifty thousand, was encamped at Dalton, Georgia. The route to Atlanta, Sherman's goal, was defended by strong intrenchments at various points. These Sherman attacked WILLIAM T. SHERMAN. |