On May 22d Grant ordered a grand assault by his whole army. The troops, flushed with their victories of the last few days, were eager for the attack. It is said that his columns were made up with his taller soldiers in front and the second in stature in the next line, and so on down, so as to save exposure to the fire of the enemy.
At the appointed time the order was passed down the line to move forward, and the columns leaped from their hiding places and started on their disastrous march in the face of a murderous fire from the defenders of the city, only to be mowed down by the sweeping fire from the Confederate batteries. Others came, crawling over the bodies of their fallen comrades, but at every charge they were met by the missiles of death. Thus it continued hour after hour until the coming of darkness. The assault had failed and the Union forces retired within their entrenchments before the city. This is considered as one of the most brave and disastrous assaults of the war.
The army now settled down to the wearisome siege, and for six weeks they encircled the city with trenches, approaching nearer and nearer to the defending walls. One by one the defending batteries were silenced. On the afternoon of June 25th a redoubt of the Confederate works was blown up with a mine. When the same exploded the Federals began to dash into the opening, only to meet with a withering fire from an interior parapet which the Confederates had constructed in the anticipation of this event.
Grant was constantly receiving reënforcements, and before the end of the siege his army numbered 70,000.
Day and night the roar of artillery continued without ceasing. Shrieking shells from Porter's fleet rose in grand curves, either bursting in midair or on the streets of the city, spreading havoc in all directions.
The people of the city burrowed into the ground for safety, their walls of clay being shaken by the roaring battles that raged above the ground. The supply of food became scarcer day by day, and by the end of June the entire city was in a complete famine. They had been living for several days upon corn meal, beans and mule meat, and were now facing their last enemy, death by starvation.
At ten o'clock on the morning of July 3d the firing ceased and a strange quietness rested over all. Pemberton had opened negotiations with Grant for the capitulation of the city. It is strange to say that on this very day the final chapter at Gettysburg was being written.
On the following morning Pemberton marched his 30,000 men out of the city and surrendered them as prisoners of war. They were released on parole.
This was the largest army ever surrendered at one time.