A School History of the United States

by John Bach McMaster

CHAPTER XXVII

WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861-1865

%419. South Carolina secedes%.—The only state where in 1860 presidential electors were chosen by the legislature was South Carolina. When the legislature met for this purpose, November 6, 1860, the governor asked it not to adjourn, but to remain in session till the result of the election was known. If Lincoln is elected, said he, the "secession of South Carolina from the Union" will be necessary. Lincoln was elected, and on December 20, 1860, a convention of delegates, called by the legislature to consider the question of secession, formally declared that South Carolina was no longer one of the United States.[1]

[Footnote 1: "We the people of the state of South Carolina, in convention assembled, do declare and ordain … that the union now subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of the United States of America, is hereby dissolved.">[

%420. The "Confederate States of America."%—The meaning of this act of secession was that South Carolina now claimed to be a "sovereign, free, and independent" nation. But she was not the only state to take this step. By February 1, 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas had also left the Union. Three days later, February 4, 1861, delegates from six of these seven states met at Montgomery, Ala., formed a constitution, established a provisional government, which they called the "Confederate States of America," and elected Jefferson Davis and Alexander H. Stephens provisional President and Vice President.

Toward preventing or stopping this, Buchanan did nothing. No state, he said, had a right to secede. But a state having seceded, he had no power to make her come back, because he could not make war on a state; that is, he could not preserve the Union. On one matter, however, he was forced to act. When South Carolina seceded, the three forts in Charleston harbor—Castle Pinckney, Fort Sumter, and Fort Moultrie—were in charge of a major of artillery named Robert Anderson. He had under him some eighty officers and men, and knowing that he could not hold all three forts, and fearing that the South would seize Fort Sumter, he dismantled Fort Moultrie, spiked the cannon, cut down the flagstaff, and removed to Fort Sumter, on the evening of December 26, 1860.

[Illustration: CHARLESTON HARBOR]

This act was heartily approved by the people of the North and by Congress, and Buchanan with great reluctance yielded to their demand, and sent the Star of the West, with food and men, to relieve Anderson. But as the vessel, with our flag at its fore, was steaming up the channel toward Charleston harbor, the Southern batteries fired upon her, and she went back to New York. Anderson was thus left to his fate, and as Buchanan's term was nearly out, both sides waited to see what Lincoln would do.

%421. Why did the States secede?%—Why did the Southern slave states secede? To be fair to them we must seek the answer in the speeches of their leaders. "Your votes," said Jefferson Davis, "refuse to recognize our domestic institutions [slavery], which preexisted the formation of the Union, our property [slaves], which was guaranteed by the Constitution. You refuse us that equality without which we should be degraded if we remained in the Union. You elect a candidate upon the basis of sectional hostility; one who in his speeches, now thrown broadcast over the country, made a distinct declaration of war upon our institutions."

"There is," said Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, "no other remedy for the existing state of things except immediate secession."

"Our position," said the Mississippi secession convention, "is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery. A blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union."

Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy, asserted that the Personal Liberty laws of some of the free states "constitute the only cause, in my opinion, which can justify secession."

The South seceded, then, according to its own statements, because the people believed that the election of Lincoln meant the abolition of slavery.

%422. Compromise attempted%.—The Republican party in 1861 had no intention of abolishing slavery. Its purpose was to stop the spread of slavery into the territories, to stop the admission of more slave states, but not to abolish slavery in states where it already existed. A strong wish therefore existed in the North to compromise the sectional differences. Many plans for a compromise were offered, but only one, that of Crittenden, of Kentucky, need be mentioned. He proposed that the Constitution should be so amended as to provide

1. That all territory of the United States north of 36° 30' should be free, and all south of it slave soil.

2. That slaves should be protected as property by all the departments of the territorial government.

3. That states should be admitted with or without slavery as their constitutions provided, whether the states were north or south of 36° 30'.

4. That Congress should have no power to shut slavery out of the territories.

5. That the United States should pay owners for rescued fugitive slaves.

As these propositions recognized the right of property in slaves, that is, put the black man on a level with horses and cattle, the Republicans rejected them, and the attempt to compromise ended in failure.

%423. A Proposed Thirteenth Amendment%.—One act of great significance was done. A proposition to add a thirteenth amendment to the Constitution was submitted to the states. It read,

"No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any state with the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to labor or service by the laws of said states."

Even Lincoln approved of this, and two states, Maryland and Ohio, accepted it. But the issue was at hand. It was too late to compromise.

%424. Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President%.—Lincoln and Hamlin were inaugurated on March 4, 1861, and in his speech from the Capitol steps Lincoln was very careful to state just what he wanted to do.

1. "I have no purpose," said he, "directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists."

2. "I consider the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I shall take care … that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in all the states."

3. "In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence; and there shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority."

4. "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess the property and places belonging to the government and to collect the duties and imposts."

[Illustration: Fort Sumter]

%425. Civil War begins.%—One of the places Lincoln thus pledged himself to "hold" was Fort Sumter, to which he decided to send men and supplies. As soon as notice of this intention was sent to Governor Pickens of South Carolina, the Confederate commander at Charleston, General Beauregard (bo-ruh-gar'), demanded the surrender of the fort. Major Anderson stoutly refused to comply with the demand, and at dawn on the morning of April 12, 1861, the Confederates fired the first gun at Sumter. During the next thirty-four hours, nineteen batteries poured shot and shell into the fort, which steadily returned the fire. Then both food and powder were nearly exhausted, and part of the fort being on fire, Anderson surrendered; and on Sunday, April 14, 1861, he marched out, taking with him the tattered flag under which he made so gallant a fight.[1] The fleet sent to his aid arrived in time to see the battle, but did not give him any help. After the surrender, one of the ships carried Anderson and the garrison to New York.[2]

[Footnote 1: "Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until the quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and its door closed from the effect of heat, four barrels and three cartridges of powder being available, and no provisions remaining but pork, I accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard . . . and marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with colors flying and drums beating . . . and saluting my flag with fifty guns."—Major Anderson to the Secretary of War.]

[Footnote 2: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. I., pp. 60-73.]

%426. The Life of the Republic at Stake%.—Thus was begun the greatest war in modern history. It was no vulgar struggle for territory, or for maritime or military supremacy. The life of the Union was at stake. The questions to be decided were: Shall there be one or two republics on the soil of the United States? Shall the great principle of all democratic-republican government, the principle that the will of the majority shall rule, be maintained or abandoned? Shall state sovereignty be recognized? Shall states be suffered to leave the Union at will, or shall the United States continue to exist as "an indestructible Union of indestructible States"? As Mr. Lincoln said, "Both parties deprecated war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive; and the other would accept war rather than let it perish."

%427. The South better prepared%.—For the struggle which was to decide these questions neither side was ready, but the South was better prepared than the North. The South was united as one man. The North was divided and full of Southern sympathizers. She knew not whom to trust. Officers of the army, officers of the navy, were resigning every day. The great departments of government at Washington contained many men who furnished information to Southern officials. Seventeen steam war vessels (two thirds of all that were not laid up or unfit for service) were in foreign parts. Large quantities of military supplies had been stored in Southern forts. All the great powers of Europe save Russia were hostile to our republic, and would gladly have seen it rent in twain. The South, again, had the advantage in that she was to act on the defensive.

[Illustration: The United States July 1861 Showing the greatest extension of the Southern Confederacy]

%428. Results of firing on the Flag.%—Not a man was killed on either side during the bombardment of Sumter. Yet the battle was a famous one, and led to greater consequences:

1. Lincoln at once called for 75,000 militia to serve for three months.

2. Four "border states," as they were called, thus forced to choose their side, seceded. They were Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee.

3. The Congress of the United States was called to meet at Washington, July 4, 1861.

4. After Virginia seceded, the capital of the Confederacy, at the invitation of the Virginia secession convention, was moved from Montgomery to Richmond, and the Confederate Congress adjourned to meet there July 20, 1861.

%429. West Virginia.%—The act of secession by Virginia was promptly repudiated by the people of the counties west of the mountains, who refused to secede, and voted to form a new state under the name of Kanawha. They adopted a constitution and were finally admitted in 1863 as the state of West Virginia[1].

[Footnote 1: A state made out of part of another state cannot be admitted into the Union without the consent of that state first obtained. But as Congress and the people of West Virginia considered that Virginia consisted of that part of the Old Dominion which remained loyal to the Union, the people practically asked their own consent.]

%430. The Call to Arms.%—Lincoln held that no state could ever leave the Union, and that therefore no state had left the Union. Those which had passed ordinances of secession were to his mind states whose machinery of government had been seized on by persons in insurrection against the government of the United States. When, therefore, he made his call for 75,000 militia to defend the Union, he apportioned the number among all the states, slave and free, north and south, east and west, according to their population. Those forming the Confederacy paid no attention to the call. The governors of the border slave states (Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri) returned evasive or insulting answers.

But the people of the loyal states responded instantly, and tens of thousands of troops were soon on their way to Washington. To get there was a hard matter. Baltimore lay on the most direct railroad route between the Eastern and Middle States and Washington. But Baltimore was full of disloyal men, who tore up the railroads, burned bridges, cut the telegraph wires, and as the Massachusetts 6th regiment was passing through the city from one railroad station to another, attacked it, killing some and wounding others of its soldiers. This forced the troops from the other states to go by various routes to Annapolis and then to Washington, so that it was late in April before enough arrived to insure the safety of the city.

Though none of the border and seceded states sent troops, the response of the loyal states to Lincoln's call was so hearty that more than 75,000 men were furnished. The President decided to turn this outburst of patriotism to good purpose, and May 3, 1861, asked for 42,034 volunteers for three years unless sooner discharged, and ordered 18,000 seamen to be enlisted, and 22,714 men added to the regular army. Baltimore was now occupied by Union troops, and communication with Washington through that city was restored and protected.

On July 1, 1861, there were 183,588 "boys in blue" under arms and present for duty. These were distributed at various places north of the line, 2000 miles long, which divided the North and South. This line began near Fort Monroe, in Virginia, ran up Chesapeake Bay and the Potomac to the mountains, then across Western Virginia and through Kentucky, Missouri, and Indian Territory to New Mexico.

This line was naturally divided into three parts:

1. That in Virginia and along the Potomac.

2. That occupied by Kentucky, a state which had declared itself neutral.

3. That west of the Mississippi.

%431. The Battle of "Bull Run" or Manassas%.—General Winfield Scott was in command of the Union army. Under him, in command of the troops about Washington, was General Irwin McDowell. Further to the west, near Harpers Ferry, was a Union force under General Patterson. In western Virginia, with an army raised largely in Ohio, was General George B. McClellan. In Missouri was General Lyon, aided by all the Union people in the state, who were engaged in a desperate struggle to keep her in the Union.

In northern Virginia and opposed to the Union forces under General McDowell, was a Confederate army under General Beauregard, and these troops the people of the North demanded should be attacked. "The Confederate Congress must not meet at Richmond!" "On to Richmond! On to Richmond!" became the cries of the hour. General McDowell, with 30,000 men, was therefore ordered to attack Beauregard. McDowell found him near Manassas, some thirty miles southwest of Washington, and there, on the field of "Bull Run," on Sunday, July 21, 1861, was fought a famous battle which ended with the defeat and flight of the Union army[1].

[Footnote 1: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. I., pp. 229-239.]

General George B. McClellan, who had defeated the Confederate forces in western Virginia in several battles, was now placed in command of the troops near Washington, and spent the rest of 1861 and part of 1862 in drilling and organizing his army. Bull Run had taught the people two things: 1. That the war was not to end in three months; 2. That an army without discipline is not much better than a mob.

%432. Fort Donelson and Fort Henry%.—While McClellan was drilling his men along the Potomac, the Union forces drove back the Confederates in the West. The Confederate line at first extended as shown by the heavy line on the map on p. 390. In order to break it, General Buell sent a small force under General Thomas, in January, 1862, to drive back the Confederates near Mill Springs. Next, in February, General Halleck authorized General U. S. Grant and Flag Officer Foote to make a joint expedition against Fort Henry on the Tennessee. But Foote arrived first and captured the fort, whereupon Grant marched to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, eleven miles away, and after three days of sharp fighting was asked by General Buckner what terms he would offer. Grant promptly answered,

[Illustration: Handwritten note of Grant]

No terms excepting unconditional and
immediate surrender can be accepted.
I propose to receive immediately upon
your word.
I am Sir: very respectfully
your ** **
U. S. Grant
Brig. Gen.

Buckner at once surrendered (February 16, 1862), and Grant won the first great Union victory of the war.[1]

[Footnote 1: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol. I., pp. 398-429; Grant's Memoirs, Vol. I., pp. 285-315.]

%433. The Battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing.%—After the fall of Fort Donelson, the Confederates, abandoning Columbus and Nashville, hurried south toward Corinth in Mississippi, whither Halleck's army followed in three parts. One under General S. E. Curtis moved to southwestern Missouri, and beat the Confederates at Pea Ridge, Ark. (March 6-8). The second, under General John Pope, coöperated with Flag Officer Foote, from the west bank of the Mississippi, in the capture of Island No. 10 (April 7). Pope then joined Halleck in the movement against Corinth, while the fleet went on down the river, attacked Fort Pillow three times, captured it (June 4), and two days later took Memphis.

Meanwhile the third part of Halleck's army, under Grant, following the Confederates, had reached Pittsburg Landing, where (April 6) he was suddenly attacked by General A. S. Johnston and driven back. But General Buell coming up with fresh troops, the battle was resumed the next day (April 7), when Grant regained his lost ground, and the Confederates fell back to Corinth.[1]

[Footnote 1: Battles and Leaders of the Civil War, Vol., pp. 465-486.]

[Illustration: Driving back the Confederate line in the West]

At this point General Henry Halleck arrived and took command, and at the
end of May occupied Corinth. Memphis then fell, and the Mississippi
River was opened as far south as Vicksburg. After the capture of
Memphis, Halleck went to Washington to take command of the armies of the
United States.

%434. Bragg's Raid into Kentucky.%—The Confederate line which in January, 1862, had passed across Kentucky had thus by June been driven southward to Chattanooga, Iuka, and Holly Springs. The Union line ran from near Chattanooga to Corinth and Memphis. Against this the Confederates now moved, with the hope of breaking through and driving it back. Gathering his forces at Chattanooga, General Bragg rushed across Tennessee and Kentucky toward Louisville. But General Buell, perceiving his purpose, outmarched him, reached the Ohio, and forced Bragg to fall back. At Perryville (October 8, 1862), Bragg turned furiously on Buell and was beaten.

%435. Iuka and Corinth.%—While Bragg was raiding Kentucky, Generals Price at Iuka and Van Dorn at Holly Springs, knowing that Grant's army had been greatly weakened by sending troops to Buell, prepared to attack Corinth. But Grant, thinking he could fight them separately, sent Rosecrans to Iuka (September 19). Price was not captured, but retreated to Van Dorn, and the two then fell upon Rosecrans at Corinth (October 4), only to be beaten and chased forty miles.

%436. Murfreesboro.%—For these successes Rosecrans (October 30) was given command of Buell's army, then centering at Nashville. Bragg went into winter quarters at Murfreesboro, and thither Rosecrans advanced to attack him. The contest at Murfreesboro (December 31, 1862, and January 2, 1863) was one of the most bloody battles of the whole war. Bragg was again defeated, and retreated to a position farther south.

%437. Arkansas%.—In January, 1862, the Confederate line west of the Mississippi extended from Belmont across southern Missouri to the Indian Territory. Against the west end of this line General Curtis moved in February, 1862, and after driving the Confederates under Van Dorn and Price out of Missouri, beat them in the desperate battle at Pea Ridge, Arkansas (March 6-8, 1862), and moved to the interior of the state. Price and Van Dorn went east into Mississippi (see § 435), and when the year closed the Union forces were in control north of the Arkansas River, and along the west bank of the Mississippi. On the east bank the only fortified positions in Confederate hands were Vicksburg, Grand Gulf, and Port Hudson.

%438. Farragut captures New Orleans.%—While Foote was opening the upper part of the Mississippi, a naval expedition under Farragut, supported by an army under Butler, had cleared the lower part of the river. These forces had been sent by sea to capture New Orleans. The defenses of the city consisted of two strong forts almost directly opposite each other on the banks of the river, about seventy-five miles south of the city; of two great chain cables stretched across the river below the forts to prevent ships coming up; and of fifteen armed vessels above the forts. New Orleans was thought to be safe. But Farragut was not dismayed. Sailing up the river till he came to the chains, he bombarded the forts for six days and nights, while the forts did their best to destroy him. Then, finding he could do nothing in this way, he cut the chains, ran his ships past the forts in spite of a dreadful fire (April 24, 1862), destroyed the Confederate fleet (April 25), and took the city. General Butler, who had been waiting at Ship Island with 15,000 men, then entered and held New Orleans.[1]

[Footnote 1: Farragut, after taking New Orleans, went up the river and captured Baton Rouge and Natchez.]

%439. The Peninsular Campaign against Richmond.%—The signal success of Grant and Farragut in the West was more than offset by the signal failure of McClellan in the East. The wish of the administration, and indeed of the whole North, was that Richmond should be captured. Against it, therefore, the Army of the Potomac was to move. But by what route? The government wanted McClellan to march south across Virginia, so that his army should always be between the Confederate forces and Washington. McClellan insisted on moving west from Chesapeake Bay. The result was a compromise:

1. Forces under Frémont and Banks were to operate in the Shenandoah valley and prevent a Confederate force attacking Washington from the west.

2. An army under McDowell was to march from Fredericksburg to Richmond.

3. McClellan was to take the main army from Washington by water to Fort Monroe, and then march up the peninsula to Richmond, where McDowell was to join him.

[Illustration: The Peninsula Campaign]

This peninsula, from which the campaign gets its name, lies between the York and James rivers. Landing at the lower end of it, McClellan was met by General Joseph E. Johnston, who caused a long delay by forcing him to besiege Yorktown. McClellan then advanced up the peninsula, fighting the battle of Williamsburg on the way. At White House Landing he turned toward Richmond, extending his right flank to Hanover Courthouse, where McDowell was expected to join him. But this was not to be, for General T. J. Jackson ("Stonewall" Jackson) rushed down the Shenandoah valley, driving Banks over the Potomac into Maryland, and retreated south before Frémont or McDowell could cut him off; during this campaign he won four desperate battles in thirty-five days. Jackson's success alarmed Washington, and McDowell was held in northern Virginia. McClellan's army, meanwhile, advanced on both sides of the Chickahominy River to within eight miles of Richmond. At Fair Oaks and Seven Pines (May 31) his left flank was almost overwhelmed by Johnston; but the latter was wounded and his troops defeated. Johnston was then succeeded by R. E. Lee, who, joined by Jackson, attacked McClellan at Mechanicsville and Games Mill, and forced him to fall back, fighting for six days (June 26 to July 1, 1862)[1] as he retreated to Harrisons Landing, on the James River. There the army remained till August, when it was recalled to the Potomac.

[Footnote 1: The "Seven Days' Battles" are these and one fought June 25.]

%440. Lee's Raid into Maryland; Battle of Antietam, or Sharpsburg.%—While the Army of the Potomac was at Harrisons Landing, a new force called the Army of Virginia was organized, and General John Pope placed in command. At the same time General Halleck was recalled from the West and made general in chief of the Union armies. Pope intended to move straight against Richmond. But when McClellan in obedience to orders left Harrisons Landing and took his army by water to the Potomac, near Washington, the Confederate army was left free to act as it pleased. Seeing his opportunity, Lee moved at once against Pope's army, whose line stretched along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers to the Shenandoah valley in western Virginia. Near the Rapidan at Cedar Mountain was General Banks. He was first attacked and beaten; after which Lee fell upon Pope on the old field of Bull Run, and put the army to flight. Pope fell back to Washington, where his forces were united with those of McClellan. Pushing northward, Lee next crossed the Potomac and entered Maryland. But he was overtaken by McClellan at Antietam Creek, near Sharpsburg, where, September 17, 1862, a great battle was fought, after which Lee went back to Virginia.

McClellan was now removed and the command of the army given to General Burnside. He was as reckless as McClellan was cautious, and on December 13 threw his army against the Confederates posted at Fredericksburg Heights and was beaten with dreadful slaughter. Thus at the end of 1862 Richmond was not captured, and the two armies went into winter quarters with the Rappahannock River between them.

%441. Emancipation of the Slaves%.—More than two years had now passed since South Carolina had seceded, and during this time a great change had taken place in the feeling of the North towards slavery. When Lincoln was inaugurated, very few people wanted the slaves emancipated. But two years of bloody fighting had convinced the North that the Union could not exist part slave, part free. As Lincoln said in his speech at Springfield in 1858, "It must be all one thing, or all the other." Seeing that the people now felt as he did, Lincoln, in 1862 (March 6), asked Congress to agree to buy the slaves of the loyal slave states, and urged the members of Congress from those states to advise their constituents to set free their slaves and receive $300 apiece for them. This they would not do; whereupon he decided to act upon his own authority, and declared all slaves within the lines of the Confederacy to be freemen.

For this he had two good reasons: 1. So far the war had been one for the preservation of the Union. By making it a war for union and freedom the North would become more earnest than ever. 2. The rulers of England, who wanted Southern cotton, were only waiting for a pretext to acknowledge the independence of the South. If, however, the North engaged in a war for the abolition of slavery, the people of England would not allow the independence of the Confederacy to be acknowledged by their rulers.

The time to make such a declaration was after some victory gained by the Union army. When McClellan and Lee stood face to face at Antietam, Lincoln therefore "vowed to God" that if Lee were defeated he would issue the proclamation. Lee was defeated, and, on September 22, 1862, the proclamation came forth declaring that if the Confederate States did not return to their allegiance before January 1, 1863, "all persons held as slaves" within the Confederate lines "shall be then, thenceforth, and forever free." The states of course did not return to their allegiance, and on January 1, 1863, a second proclamation was issued setting the slaves free.[1]

[Footnote 1: Nicolay and Hay's _Life of Lincoln, _Vol. VI., Chaps. 6, 8.]

Now, there are three things in connection with the Emancipation
Proclamation which must be understood and remembered:

1. Lincoln did not abolish slavery anywhere. He emancipated or set free the slaves of certain persons engaged in waging war against the United States government.

2. The Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to any of the loyal slave states,[1] nor to such territory as the Union army had reconquered.[2] In none of these places did it free slaves.

[Footnote 1: Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri.]

[Footnote 2: Tennessee, thirteen parishes in Louisiana, and seven counties in Virginia.]

3. Lincoln freed the slaves by virtue of his power as commander in chief of the army of the United States, "and as a fit and necessary war measure."

%442. The Battle of Gettysburg.%—After Burnside was defeated at Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, he was removed, and General Hooker put in command of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker—"Fighting Joe," as he was called—led it against Lee, and (May 1-4, 1863) was beaten at Chancellorsville and fell back. In June Lee again took the offensive, rushed down the Shenandoah valley to the Potomac, crossed Maryland, and entered Pennsylvania, with the Army of the Potomac in pursuit. On reaching Maryland, Hooker was removed and General Meade put in command. The opposing forces met on the hills at Gettysburg, Penn., and there, July 1-3, Lee attacked Meade. The contest was a dreadful one; no field was ever more stubbornly fought over. About one fourth of the men engaged were killed or wounded. But the splendid courage of the Union army prevailed: Lee was beaten and retired to Virginia, where he remained unmolested till the spring of 1864. Gettysburg is regarded as the greatest battle of the war, and the Union regiments engaged have taken a just pride in marking the positions they held during the three awful days of slaughter, till the field is dotted all over with beautiful monuments. On the hill back of the village is a great national cemetery, at the dedication of which Lincoln delivered his famous Gettysburg address.

[Illustration: Part of the battlefield of Gettysburg]

%443. Vicksburg%.—The day after the victory at Gettysburg, the joy of the North was yet more increased by the news that Vicksburg had surrendered (July 4) to Grant. After the defeat, of the Confederate forces at Iuka and Corinth in 1862, the Confederate line passed across northern Mississippi, touched the river from Vicksburg to Port Hudson, and then swept off to the Gulf. As the capture of these river towns would complete the opening of the Mississippi, Grant set out to take Vicksburg. Failing in a direct advance through Mississippi, Grant sent a strong force down the river from Memphis, and later took command in person. Vicksburg stands on the top of a bluff which rises steep and straight 200 feet above the river, and had been so fortified that to capture it seemed impossible. But Grant was determined to open the river. On the west bank, he cut a canal through a bend, hoping to divert the river and get water passage by the town. This failed, and he decided to cross below the town and attack from the land. To aid him in this attempt, Porter ran his gunboats past the town one night in April and carried the army over the river. Landing on the east bank, Grant won a victory at Port Gibson, and occupied Grand Gulf. Hearing that Johnston was coming to help Pemberton, Grant pushed in between them, beat Johnston at Jackson, and turning westward, drove Pemberton into Vicksburg, and began a regular siege. For seven weeks he poured in shot and shell day and night. To live in houses became impossible, and the women and children took refuge in caves. Food gave out, and after every kind of misery had been endured till it could be borne no longer, Vicksburg was surrendered on July 4.

[Illustration: The Vicksburg Campaign]

Five days later (July 9, 1863), Port Hudson surrendered, and the Mississippi, as Lincoln said, "flowed unvexed to the sea." It was open from its source to its mouth, and the Confederacy was cut in two.

%444. Driving the Confederates eastward; Chickamauga and Chattanooga%.—While Grant was besieging Vicksburg, Rosecrans by skillful work forced Bragg to retreat from his position south of Murfreesboro; then in a second campaign he forced Bragg to leave Chattanooga and retire into northwestern Georgia. Bragg here received more troops, and attacked Rosecrans in the Chickamauga valley (September 19 and 20, 1863), where was fought one of the most desperate battles of the war. So fierce was the onset of the Confederates that the Union right wing was driven from the field. But the left wing, under General George H. Thomas, a grand character and a splendid officer, by some of the best fighting ever seen held the enemy in check and saved the army from rout. By his firmness Thomas won the name of "the Rock of Chickamauga."

Rosecrans now went back to Chattanooga. Bragg followed, and taking position on the hills and mountains which surround the town on the east and south, shut in the Union army and besieged it. For a time it seemed in danger of starvation. But Hooker was sent from Virginia with more troops; the Army of the Tennessee under Sherman was summoned from Vicksburg; Rosecrans was superseded by Thomas, and Grant was put in command of all. Then matters changed. The forces under Thomas, moving from their lines, seized some low hills at the foot of Missionary Ridge, east of Chattanooga (November 23). On the 24th, Hooker carried the Confederate works on Lookout Mountain, southwest of the city, in a conflict often called the "Battle above the Clouds"; and Sherman was sent against the northern end of Missionary Ridge, but succeeded only in taking an outlying hill. On the 25th Sherman renewed his attack, but failed to gain the main crest, whereupon Thomas attacked the Ridge in front of Chattanooga, carried the heights, and drove off the enemy. Bragg retreated to Dalton, in northwestern Georgia, where the command of his army was given to Joseph E. Johnston.

%445. "Marching through Georgia"; "From Atlanta to the Sea."%—As the Confederates had thus been driven from the Mississippi River, and forced back to the mountains, they had but two centers of power left. The one was the army under Lee, which, since the defeat at Gettysburg, had been lying quietly behind the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers, protecting Richmond. The other was the army at Dalton, Ga., now under J. E. Johnston.

[Illustration: WAR FOR THE UNION Breaking the Confederate Line]

Early in the spring of 1864 General U.S. Grant—"Unconditional Surrender Grant," as the people called him—was made lieutenant general (a rank never before given to any United States soldier except Washington and Scott), and put in command of all the Federal armies. General Sherman was left in command of the military division of the Mississippi.

Before beginning the campaign, Grant and Sherman agreed on a plan. Grant, with the Army of the Potomac, was to drive back Lee and take Richmond. Sherman, with the armies of Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield, was to attack Johnston and push his way into Georgia. Each was to begin his movement on the same day (May 4, 1864).

On that day, accordingly, Sherman with 98,000 men marched against Johnston, flanked him out of Dalton, and step by step through the mountains to Atlanta, fighting all the way. Johnston's retreat was masterly. He intended to retreat until Sherman's army was so weakened by leaving guards in the rear to protect the railroads, over which food and supplies must come, that he could fight on equal terms. But Jefferson Davis removed Johnston at Atlanta, and put J. B. Hood in command.

Hood, in July, made three furious attacks, was beaten each time; abandoned Atlanta in September, and soon after started northwestward, in hope of drawing Sherman out of Georgia. But Sherman sent Thomas and a part of the army to Tennessee, and after following Hood for a time, he returned to Atlanta, tearing up the railroads as he went. Then, having partly burned the town, in November he started for the sea with 60,000 of his best veterans.

[Illustration: SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA]

The troops went in four columns, covering a belt of sixty miles wide, burning bridges, tearing up railroads, living on the country as they marched. Early in December the army drew near to Savannah; about the middle of the month (December 13) Fort McAllister was taken; and a few days later the city of Savannah was occupied. During all this long march to the sea, nothing was known in the North as to where Sherman was or what he was doing. Fancy the delight of Lincoln, then, when on the Christmas eve of 1864, he received this telegram:

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.

Sherman had sent the message by vessel to Fort Monroe, whence it was telegraphed to Lincoln.

%446. Sherman marches northward.%—At Savannah the army rested for a month. Sherman tells us in his Memoirs that the troops grew impatient at this delay, and used to call out to him as he rode by: "Uncle Billy, I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond." So he was; but he did not wait very long, for on February 1, 1865, the march was resumed. The way was across South Carolina to Columbia, and then into North Carolina, with their old enemy, J. E. Johnston, in their front. Hood, in a rash moment, had besieged Thomas at Nashville; but Thomas, coming out from behind his intrenchments, utterly destroyed Hood's army. This forced Davis to put Johnston in command of a new army made up of troops taken from the seaport garrisons and remnants of Hood's army. In March, Sherman reached Goldsboro in North Carolina.

%447. Grant in Virginia.%—Meantime Grant had set out from Culpeper Courthouse on May 4, 1864, crossed the Rapidan, and entered the "Wilderness," a name given to a tract of country covered with dense woods of oak and pine and thick undergrowth. The fighting was almost incessant. The loss of life was frightful; but he pushed on to Spottsylvania Courthouse, and thence to Cold Harbor, part of the line of fortifications before Richmond. He would, as he said, "fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," and went south of Richmond and besieged Petersburg.

%448. Early's Raid, 1864.%—Lee now sent Jubal Early with 20,000 soldiers to move down the Shenandoah valley, enter Maryland, and threaten Washington. This he did, and after coming up to the fortifications of the city, he retreated to Virginia. A little later, Early sent his cavalry into Pennsylvania and burned Chambersburg.

Grant thought it was time to stop this, and sent Sheridan with an army to drive Early out of the Shenandoah valley. "It is desirable," said Grant, "that nothing should be left to invite the enemy to return."

Sheridan set out accordingly, and on September 19 he met Early in battle at Winchester, and a few days later at Fishers Hill, beat him at both places, and sent him whirling up the valley. Sheridan followed for a time, and then brought his army back to Cedar Creek, after burning barns, destroying crops, and devastating the entire upper valley.

%449. Sheridan's Ride.%—And now occurred a famous incident. About the middle of October Sheridan went to Washington, and while on his way back slept on the night of October 18 at Winchester. At 7 A.M. on the 19th he heard guns, but paid no attention to the sounds till 9 o'clock, when, as he rode quietly out of Winchester, he met a mile from town wagon trains and fugitives, and heard that Early had surprised his camp at daylight. Dashing up the pike with an escort of twenty men, calling to the fugitives as he passed them to turn and face the enemy, he met the army drawn up in line eleven miles from Winchester. "Far away in the rear," says an old soldier, "we heard cheer after cheer. Were reinforcements coming? Yes, Phil Sheridan was coming, and he was a host." Dashing down the line, Sheridan shouted, "What troops are these?" "The Sixth Corps," came back the response from a hundred voices. "We are all right," said Sheridan, as he swung his old hat and dashed along the line to the right. "Never mind, boys, we'll whip them yet. We shall sleep in our old quarters to-night." And they did.[1] Early was defeated.

[Footnote:1] Read Sheridan's account in his _Personal Memoirs, _Vol.
II., pp. 66-92.

%450. Surrender of Lee.%—At the beginning of 1865 the situation of Lee was desperate, and in February, Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederacy, met Lincoln and Secretary Seward on a war vessel in Hampton Roads to discuss terms of peace. Lincoln demanded three things: 1. That the Confederate armies be disbanded and the men sent home. 2. That the Confederate States submit to the rule of Congress. 3. That slavery be abolished. These terms were not accepted, and the war went on. Sherman marched northward through the Carolinas and was reënforced from the coast; every seaport in the Confederacy was soon in Union hands; Sheridan finally dispersed Early's troops, and joined Grant before Petersburg; and the lines of Grant's army were drawn closer and closer around Petersburg and Richmond.

Plainly the end was near. On April 2 Lee announced to Davis that both Petersburg and Richmond must be abandoned at once. The rams in the James River were immediately blown up, and on the morning of April 3 General Weitzel, hearing from a negro what was going on, entered Richmond and found that Lee was in full retreat. Grant followed, and on April 9 forced Lee to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, seventy-five miles west of Richmond. Grant's treatment of Lee was most generous. He was not required to give up his sword, nor his officers their side arms, nor his men their horses, which they would need, Grant said, "to work their little farms." Each officer was to give his parole not to take up arms against the United States "until properly exchanged"; each regimental commander was to do the same for his men; and, "this done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home." Immediately after this surrender 25,000 rations were issued to Lee's men.

[Illustration: The house in which Lee and Grant arranged the surrender]

%451. End of the Confederacy.%—What little was left of the Confederacy now went rapidly to pieces. On April 26 Johnston surrendered to Sherman near Raleigh, North Carolina. A few days later the victorious army started for Richmond, and then went on over battle-scarred Virginia to Washington. May 10, Jefferson Davis was captured. When Lee fled from Richmond, Davis hurried to Charlotte, N.C., with his cabinet, his clerks, and such gold and silver coin as was in the Confederate Treasury. But the surrender of Johnston forced Davis to retreat still farther south, till he reached Irwinsville, Ga., where the Union cavalry overtook him.

%452. The Grand Army disbands.%—As this was practically the end of the Confederacy, the great Union army of citizen soldiers, numbering more than 1,000,000 men, was called home from the field and disbanded. Before these veterans separated, never to meet again with arms in their hands, they were reviewed by the President, Congress, and an immense throng of people who came to Washington from every part of the loyal states to welcome them. During two days (May 23 and 24, 1865) the soldiers of Grant and Sherman, forming a column thirty miles long, marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, and then, with a rapidity and quietness that seems almost incredible, scattered and went back to their farms, to their shops, to the practice of their professions, and to the innumerable occupations of civil life.

Of the Confederates not one was molested, not a soldier was imprisoned, not a political leader suffered death. Davis was ordered to be imprisoned at Fort Monroe for two years, but he was soon released on bail, was never brought to trial, and died at New Orleans in 1889.