The President had long been dissatisfied with the policy pursued by McClellan, who apparently was a victim to over-cautiousness. General Burnside was therefore put in his place, as Commander of the Army of the Potomac. He proved as rash as McClellan had been cautious, and the results of his rashness were disastrous. On December 13th he fought at Fredericksburg a bloody but fruitless battle; and soon thereafter he was superseded in command by General Joseph Hooker. That commander was also incautious, and was commonly known as “Fighting Joe” Hooker, from his supposed brilliancy and courage in battle. He led the army against the Confederates at Chancellors ville, May 1st and 3d, 1863, and was terribly beaten. It was one of the worst defeats sustained by the Union arms in the whole war.
Now the Southern armies, flushed with victory, took the aggressive and invaded the North. They swept across Maryland and entered Pennsylvania, no effective opposition being offered. Hooker and his army started after them, but in the last week of June Hooker was removed from command, and General George Gordon Meade was put in his place. That wise and capable leader hurried the Union army northward, and on July 1st confronted Lee at Gettysburg. There, on July 1st, 2d, and 3d, was fought the greatest battle of the war, and one of the most important in human history. It cannot be described in detail here, but it resulted in the complete discomfiture of the Confederates, who retreated with all possible haste back to Virginia, and never sought to invade the North again. General Meade followed them, but was unable to overtake and capture them. During the remainder of that year Meade made two attempts upon Richmond, but without important results. Thus matters stood in Virginia at the beginning of 1864, when a new factor appeared upon the scene, before dwelling upon which some events elsewhere must be recounted.
Attacks had been made, up to this time, upon the Confederates along the coast by several expeditions. General T. W. Sherman and Commodore Du Pont had occupied Beaufort in November, 1861. Early in 1862 General Burnside had taken Roanoke Island and Newberne. In the West, beyond the Mississippi, there had been much fighting, especially in Arkansas, and the National arms had been generally successful. On the water, also, the National fleets were supreme. At no time had the Confederates a fleet able to hold its own at sea. They had a number of fast cruisers, fitted out in England, which roamed the ocean as freebooters, preying upon American commerce. The most notable of these was the “Alabama,” which was finally destroyed off Cherbourg, France, by the “Kearsarge,” in June, 1864. They had also a number of powerful rams and ironclad gunboats, for coast and harbor defense. Most famous of these was the “Merrimack,” which, in Hampton Roads, destroyed the great frigates “Congress” and “Cumberland,” and bade fair to deal likewise with the whole Union fleet. Opportunely, the little ironclad “Monitor,” just built by John Ericsson, appeared upon the scene, gave battle, and vanquished the monster “Merrimack.” This was one of the epoch-making naval battles of the world. It not only saved the whole Union fleet, and perhaps many Northern seaport cities from destruction. At a single stroke it revolutionized naval architecture and naval warfare. The great wooden frigates were instantly made things of the past; thenceforth the typical war-ship was a heavily armored iron and steel machine, carrying only a few guns in revolving turrets, or in heavy iron casemates.
But the greatest of the operations leading down to 1864 were in the West Central States. At the beginning of 1862 the National commanders set out to regain possession of the Mississippi River. In January General Thomas defeated the Confederates at Mill Spring. In February Commodore Foote reduced Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River. A few days later General U. S. Grant, after most severe fighting, captured Fort Donelson and its garrison of 15,000 Confederate troops. This was the first really great Union victory, and Grant at once became a dominant figure in the drama of civil war. Other operations followed, by which the Confederates were driven out of Kentucky, and largely out of Tennessee. In April General Pope and Commodore Foote captured Island No. 10, with 7,000 Confederates, thus clearing the Mississippi down to Memphis. Early in April a great two days’ battle was fought at Pittsburg Landing, on the Tennessee River, Generals Grant and W. T. Sherman commanding the National army, and A. S. Johnston and G. P. T. Beauregard the Confederates. On the first day the Confederates were successful, but on the second the National army rallied, regained its ground, and drove the foe before it in one of the bloodiest conflicts of the war. General A. S. Johnston was killed—an irreparable loss to the Southern cause.
The Union armies now moved southward into Alabama and Mississippi. Early in 1863 they gathered about Vicksburg, the “Gibraltar of the South,” the only important obstacle to the reopening of the Mississippi. Admiral Porter co-operated with his fleet. A long siege, marked by many desperate engagements, followed, ending with the surrender of Vicksburg, with 27,000 men to General Grant. This occurred on July 3d, at the very time when Meade was putting Lee to rout at Gettysburg. A few days later Port Hudson surrendered to General Banks; Admiral Farragut, in a naval conflict of surpassing splendor, had already captured New Orleans; and thus the entire Mississippi was regained by the National authorities. Later, a great reverse was suffered. General Rosecrans was terribly beaten by the Confederates at Chickamauga, and driven into Chattanooga, where he was besieged. This was on September 19th and 20th. But Grant was now free to turn his attention thither, and he quickly drove the Confederates away from Chattanooga southward into Georgia.
Thus we come to the opening of 1864. General Grant’s brilliant successes in the West led the President to call him to the East, when he was made commander of all the National armies. Sherman was left in the West to command there, under Grant’s direction. These two illustrious commanders matured their plans together, and simultaneously, early in May, moved forward on the greatest campaign of the war. Sherman marched from Chattanooga southward, against the able Confederate General J. E. Johnston. Desperate battles were fought at Kenesaw Mountain and elsewhere, but Sherman was irresistible. In August the war raged about Atlanta, and at the beginning of September that most important city fell into Sherman’s hands. The Confederate President, who hated Johnston, had foolishly removed him from command and put Hood in his place. The latter was a brave and gallant soldier, but was not—as he himself well knew—the equal of Johnston as a commander, and this change did the Confederates much harm. Despairing of checking Sherman, Hood sought to make a diversion by marching northward into Tennessee. He fought the battle of Franklin, where there was some of the most dreadful carnage of the war, and besieged Nashville. Sherman sent General Thomas thither, and he gave Hood battle. The slaughter was terrific, and at the day’s end Hood’s army was all but annihilated. This was on December 15th. Sherman, meantime, cutting loose from his base of supplies, and severing all communications with the North, had set out with 60,000 troops for his famous “March to the Sea.” He made his way almost unopposed across Georgia, from Atlanta to Savannah, capturing the latter city, with vast stores, on December 21st. Thence he made his way northward through the Carolinas to co-operate with Grant in Virginia.
In the meantime Grant had begun his campaign with the awful battles in the Wilderness, May 5th and 6th; at Spottsylvania, May 8th-18th; at North Anna, and at Cold Harbor. The losses on both sides in these engagements were terrific. But the National army was readily reinforced by recruits, while the Confederates had no more supplies to draw upon. Grant therefore determined to press the fighting, and simply exhaust the enemy. A long struggle followed at Petersburg, south of Richmond. Finding himself steadily losing, Lee sought in his desperation to make a favorable diversion by sending his Lieutenant Early northward, up the Shenandoah Valley, into Maryland, and against Washington itself. At first Early was successful, and almost captured Washington. Then Grant sent General Philip H. Sheridan against him, and in two or three battles Early was utterly routed, the final engagement being the famous battle of Cedar Creek, on October 19th.
The year 1865 opened with the National arms everywhere victorious. The war was now concentrated in Southern Virginia. The Confederates abandoned Richmond, and Lee strove to make his way southward, to join J. E. Johnston in North Carolina. Grant and Sheridan headed him off, however, and he was compelled to surrender at Appomattox Court House, on April 9th. The surrender of Johnston to Sherman followed on April 26th. General Grant treated his prisoners with the most marked generosity, bidding them keep their horses, which, he said, they would need for the spring work on their farms. And thus the Titanic conflict was practically ended. The other engagements that should be mentioned were the great battle in Mobile Bay in August, 1864, when Admiral Farragut destroyed the Confederate forts and fleet, and the capture of Fort Fisher by General Terry in January, 1865. Jefferson Davis was captured and held as a prisoner for some time, but was finally released and permitted to enjoy a life of liberty and prosperity in the country he had striven to disrupt. On April 14th, 1865, President Lincoln was murdered by a member of a desperate band of Confederate conspirators, and the nation was plunged into mourning.
Constitutional amendments, forever prohibiting slavery, and extending citizenship to the negroes, were adopted, the States lately in rebellion were “reconstructed,” and the restored and reunited nation resumed the career of prosperity that had been so rudely interrupted.
The events since the close of the war must be only briefly alluded to. Within the space of twenty-seven years many important occurrences have been recorded. The effect of the great struggle was on the whole good. The two great disturbing questions which from the signing of the Constitution until 1861 divided the country, were now settled forever. Slavery was abolished; the most bitter source of sectional dispute. The doctrine of State rights was also laid at rest. Another benefit of the conflict was the national banking system. The finances of the country were placed on a more secure basis than ever before. The period of reconstruction was a painful one, of course, but in the end both sections of the United States found themselves stronger and better than ever before. Andrew Johnson, on becoming President, after the murder of Lincoln, took measures of which Congress disapproved, and a bitter strife began which lasted all during the administration. The President declared at the outset that as a State could not secede, none of the Southern States had been out of the Union at all. This doctrine was ignored by Congress, which held that the seceding States were still out of the Union and could only be re-admitted on such terms as Congress should prescribe. The Civil Rights Bill, which made the negroes citizens of the United States, was passed in 1866, and shortly afterward the fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was adopted. The breach between the President and Congress grew wider; bill after bill was passed over his veto, and in 1868 the House passed a resolution to impeach the President for “high crimes and misdemeanors” in the conduct of his office. The immediate provocation was the removal of Secretary Stanton, which proceeding was in contravention of the Tenure of Office Act, which provided that no removal from office should be made without consent of the Senate. The impeachment trial continued until May, when the final vote was taken, and it lacked the necessary two-thirds majority to impeach.