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A.D. 1864.]

THE FIGHTING ROUND PETERSBURG.

repulsed with terrible slaughter. Twenty minutes after the first shot was fired, ten thousand men were stretched on the sod, dead, dying, or disabled; while the loss on the side of the Confederates did not exceed a thousand men. When, some hours later, General Meade ordered the assault to be renewed, the soldiers simply and unanimously refused to obey. The total loss to the Federals in this battle of Cold Harbour (June 3) exceeded 13,000

men.

But Grant's nerves were as firmly steeled as those of Count Bismarck; and the sole alteration which this day of slaughter induced in his plans was the transference of his line of attack from the north to the south of the James river. Running down from Richmond in a general south-easterly direction, the James is joined at City Point by the river Appomattox, flowing from the south-west, on whose banks, about twenty miles due south of Richmond, stands the town of Petersburg. This is an important railway centre, to which all the railways communicating with Richmond from the south converge, except one. Its capture, therefore, by cutting off the capital from its main sources of supply, would render the continued occupation of Richmond by a large Confederate army a work of difficulty. The army was safely conveyed over the James river in the first week of June, and with as little delay as possible Grant hurled strong columns of assault against the defences of Petersburg. Some success was obtained at one or two points, and the attack was renewed from day to day for several days (June 10-20), but eventually the assailants were beaten back, with the loss of 10,000 men. The Federal army then entrenched itself in front of Petersburg, and Grant opened communication on his right with General Butler, who had gradually advanced up the James river as far as a point on the left bank known as Deep Bottom, only ten miles from Richmond, where he constructed a bridge, so as to ensure an easy and rapid communication between the extreme right and left of the Federal line. Desperate fighting, attended by heavy loss to the Federals, especially in prisoners, continued through the best part of June, Grant's object being now to seize and destroy the lines of railroad connecting Petersburg with the interior. There was a lull in July; but, on the 30th of that month, a mine having been sprung with terrible effect beneath an advanced redoubt forming part of the Confederate lines at Petersburg, which blew the garrison of 300 men into the air, and opened a yawning breach in the defences, storming columns were ordered to the assault. But the arrangements were planned with little skill and executed without ardour; and the Confederates, recovering from their first consternation, repelled the attacking force with heavy loss. In August, Grant made decided progress, though effecting it at an enormous cost, inasmuch as the Weldon railroad, running due south from Petersburg, was seized and firmly held by Warren and Hancock. In the last week of October, there was more fighting on Hatcher's Run, to the south-west of Petersburg, but with no particular result. The Virginia campaign for the year was now at an end. Grant had neither defeated Lee, nor penetrated to Richmond, nor even taken Petersburg.

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The losses during the campaign, in his and Butler's army together, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, reached, according to Federal accounts, the amazing total of 100,000 men; while the Confederate losses amounted to little more than half that number. But for the overwhelming numerical superiority on the part of the North, and the stubborn resolution of the Government, such a result of the campaign would have been equivalent to hopeless and admitted defeat. As it was, a loss which nearly equalled the entire strength of the army with which General Grant began the campaign had no effect in lessening the pressure upon the Confederates, for the numbers of the Federals "had been nearly or quite kept up by reinforcements from various quarters." Thus the severe losses sustained by the Confederates, though falling far short of those they had inflicted, yet, since they could not be made good, left them relatively weaker than when the campaign began. It is easy to conceive the feeling of despair which must have gradually infused itself into the breasts of the Southerners, both officers and men, at seeing the futility of all their victories and all their sacrifices, when measured against a political zeal-which some might call patriotism, others fanaticism-that counted human lives as nothing compared with the attainment of its object.

In Western Virginia, the course of events at first went favourably for the Confederates, but ended with a crushing disaster. Breckinridge defeated Sigel in the Shenandoah valley in May, giving place afterwards to Early, whose army was raised to a strength of 20,000 men. Defeating the Federal generals who opposed him, Early crossed into Maryland and threatened Washington, sending a force under General M'Causland to Chambersburg, in Pennsylvania. The panic in the frontier states was for a short time greater than at any period since the commencement of the war. But troops were soon collected in sufficient numbers to secure Washington, and Early having advanced within seven miles of the city (July 11), and exchanged fire with some of the outer forts, thought it prudent to make a speedy retreat. M'Causland imposed a heavy war contribution on the town of Chambersburg, under penalty of conflagration, and when the money was not produced, set fire to the place; about two-thirds of the town were destroyed. Sheridan was now appointed by Grant to the chief command in the valley, with an army of 30,000 men. able General defeated Early at Opequan Creek, near Winchester (September 19); and when, in the following month, the Confederates had surprised and routed General Crook, one of Sheridan's subordinates, at Cedar Creek (October 19), Sheridan, who was then on his way to Washington, turned back in time, restored the battle, and by masterly generalship transformed defeat into a decided victory. Previously to this, Sheridan, acting upon an order addressed to his predecessor in command by General Grant, had commenced a systematic devastation of this fertile region. Since the ravaging of the Palatinate, by

Greeley, "American Conflict," vol. ii. p. 589.

This

order of Louis XIV., history can point to nothing more ruthless than the devastation of Western Virginia, and afterwards of South Carolina, by the agents of a Republic which started on its career with an ostentatious declaration of its respect for human rights. Sheridan writes to Grant on the 7th October:-"The whole country from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountain has been made untenable for a rebel army. I have destroyed over two thousand barns filled with wheat and hay and farming implements, over seventy mills filled with flour and wheat; have driven in front of the army over four thousand head of stock, and have killed and issued to the troops not less than three thousand sheep. This destruction embraces the Luray valley and Little Fort valley as well as the main valley. A large number of horses have been obtained, a proper estimate of which I can not now make."

We have now to speak of Sherman's advance into Georgia, and of the great march by which that General cut his way through the heart of the Confederate dominion, dividing its eastern from its western half by a broad belt of plundered and wasted territory. Appointed in March to the chief command of the military division of the Mississippi, he mustered his forces from their winter encampments round Chattanooga, and at the head of an army but little short of 100,000 men of all arms, commenced his forward march on the 6th May. The Confederate General Johnston, posted at Dalton, had barely 50,000 men to oppose to this formidable force. The movements, feints, surprises, combats, which followed possess little interest except from the purely military point of view; suffice it to say that Johnston, though resolutely defending every available position, was pushed back, by weight of numbers and skilful strategy, to the lines which covered Atlanta, an important city in the north of Georgia, where the Confederate Government had established extensive workshops and manufactories. In the battle of Kenesaw mountain (June 14) the Southern service lost a valuable officer in Lieutenant-General Polk, formerly the Protestant Episcopal Bishop of Louisiana, who was instantaneously struck dead by a cannon-shot. President Davis considered-erroneously, it would seem —that Johnston had given ground too easily, and sent Hood to Atlanta to supersede him. The change was unfortunate. Hood, a rash, eager, impatient man, vainly flung his troops against Sherman's disciplined and wellhandled masses; he was beaten in almost every encounter, and compelled, Sherman having seized the railway in his rear, to evacuate Atlanta (September 5), after destroying engines, stores, and war material to the utmost of his power. But instead of interposing his army between Sherman and the coast, and trusting to being reinforced so as to hold his ground, Hood resolved to transfer his army to a different field of operations, foolishly imagining that the invasion of Tennessee by a beaten army would draw Sherman out of Georgia. The Federal commander followed him for a few days, as he was rapidly marching out of Georgia into Northern Alabama; but since Hood declined battle, Sherman gave up the pursuit, and after taking care that General Thomas (who had been left in

command at Nashville, the capital of Tennessee) should have an ample force left at his disposal wherewith to defend that state, returned to Atlanta. The end of Hood's ill-judged enterprise may be told in a few words. Entering Tennessee from Alabama, he first met with serious resistance at Franklin, a few miles south of Nashville, where General Schofield defended himself vigorously in an entrenched position (November 30), but being outnumbered, fell back on Nashville. In this action the brave Irishman, Pat. Cleburne, sometimes called the "Stonewall Jackson" of the West, fell mortally wounded. Thomas had collected at Nashville a force fully equal to that under Hood, and better fed and equipped; and when the latter appeared before the city, the Federal General at once attacked, defeated his adversary in several engagements, and finally drove him out of Tennessee.

Meantime, Sherman, having thoroughly destroyed the railways in his rear, and collected thirty days' supplies for his men, set out from Atlanta (November 11) at the head of a seasoned and efficient army of 65,000 men, The withdrawal of Hood's army had left the way almost open before him, the natural obstacles of bad roads, forests, marshes, and rivers being the chief impediments in his path. The army was divided into two divisions or wings, one under Howard, the other under Slocum; and a skilful use of cavalry on each wing to cover and conceal the march of the main body left the feeble Confederate force remaining in his front in continual uncertainty as to his objective point. At one time they thought he was aiming at Macon; at another time Augusta, a large town on the South Carolina border, appeared to be menaced; and they broke up and moved about their forces accordingly. Milledgeville, the political capital of the state, fell into Sherman's hands on the 23rd November. Pushing steadily forward at the rate of about fifteen miles a day, and subsisting on the resources of the country, his troops arrived in front of Fort M'Alister (December 13), the chief defence of Savannah on the west. The fort, defended by a weak garrison of two hundred men, was easily stormed, and Savannah was immediately invested, communications being now opened between Sherman's army and the Federal blockading fleet in the river. On the night of December 20, Hardee with 15,000 men evacuated the place, and effected a safe retreat into South Carolina. Savannah, one of the most important towns in the Confederacy, with 25,000 bales of cotton in its warehouses and 154 guns mounted on its ramparts, became the prize of the conqueror. Here he remained over a month, resting his troops, and making preparations for the continuation of his march into South Carolina. His losses on the long march from Atlanta to Savannah did not amount to 600 men.

The naval transactions of the year comprise the termination of the destructive career of the Alabama, and the capture of the Mobile forts. Up to the beginning of 1864, one hundred and ninety-three merchant ships, valued with their cargoes at more than thirteen millions of dollars, had been captured by Confederate cruisers; and of these, all but seventeen were burnt after capture.

A.D. 1864.]

THE ATTACK UPON MOBILE.

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brave resistance, was overpowered. The Tennessee and Selma were captured, while the remaining vessels either ran on shore or escaped up the bay to Mobile. All the three forts were reduced within a few days with the help of General Granger, and the entrances to Mobile bay were thus effectually closed against the friends or customers of the Confederacy.

This was unavoidable, because the Confederate ports were closed by the blockade, and England had, by express proclamation, at the commencement of the strife, prohibited captors from bringing prizes into any British or colonial port. Of these captures, a large share had fallen to the Alabama and her active captain, Raphael Semmes. Being in Cherbourg harbour in June this year, and learning that the Kearsarge, a Federal gun-boat, was off the port, The Florida, which escaped out of Liverpool, at an Captain Semmes sent a challenge to her commander, early period of the war, under the name of the Oreto, had Captain Winslow, which was, of course, accepted. The like the Alabama, made havoc of Federal commerce for two ships were pretty equally matched, the Alabama a considerable time. In the October of this year, she carrying eight guns, the Kearsarge seven, but the heavy was lying in the harbour of Bahia, whither she had gone 11-inch guns of the latter gave her the advantage. for repairs, when the U.S. frigate Wachusetts, Captain The Alabama sailed out of Cherbourg on the morning of Collins, suddenly attacked her, at a time when her captain the 19th June, attended by the English yacht the Deer- and half her crew were on shore, compelled her to surhound, owned and sailed by Mr. Lancaster. The render, and towed her out of the bay. The Brazilian Kearsarge was waiting about seven miles from shore. Government loudly protested against this flagrant breach The fight began, the ships moving round each other in of international law, and Mr. Seward promptly disavowed circles, and lasted for about an hour, when the Alabama, the act, and informed the Brazilian chargé d'affaires having been hulled several times by the heavy 11-inch that the captain of the Wachusetts would be suspended, shot of her antagonist, was observed to be in a sinking and the consul at Bahia, who had urged the captain to condition. When she was nearly filled with water, the act complained of, dismissed. As to the Florida, Semmes hauled down his flag and the boats of the Kear- she could not be restored, having sunk at her anchors in sarge, assisted by those of the Deerhound, took off him Hampton Roads, "owing to a leak which could not be and his crew. In twenty minutes after she struck her seasonably stopped;" the fact being that a war transport, colours, the Alabama went down stern foremost. Her by a convenient accident, had run her down. practice had been far inferior to that of the Kearsarge, which only had three men wounded, one of them mortally; while of the crew of the Alabama, nine were killed and twenty-one wounded. Captain Semmes was landed from the Deerhound at Cowes, and afterwards claimed as a prisoner of war by the American minister; but the claim was disallowed.

An unpleasant incident occurred in the autumn, which, but for the firm and moderate attitude of Mr. Lincoln, might easily have involved us in a serious difficulty with the United States. A considerable number of Confederate refugees had gradually gathered in Canada, men rendered desperate by the wreck of their property and the misfortunes of their country. Some twenty-five of these men, in the month of October, crossed the border into the state of Vermont, and entering the little town of St. Albans in the dead of night, attacked and plundered the bank, shooting dead several of the townspeople who endeavoured to arrest their proceedings, and escaping back into Canada. They were soon arrested by the Canadian authorities, and the money was recovered. The case being an important one, it was removed from the jurisdiction of the magistrates of St. John's, the place where the raiders were arrested, to that of the Supreme Court at Montreal, and a writ of habeas corpus was refused. The American consul, Mr. Edmonds, was instructed to demand their extradition, but this was refused on legal grounds, and an investigation was instituted into the affair under the Ashburton Treaty. A number of witnesses were examined, and much time consumed; but in the end Judge Coursol decided that his court had no jurisdiction in the case, and ordered the release of the raiders from custody. The Canadian Government wisely resolved that so flagrant a miscarriage of justice should not be permitted; in fact, their law advisers gave it as their opinion that the Judge's decision was bad in law; and accordingly warrants were issued for the re

By the summer of 1864, nearly all the ports of the Southern States were effectually sealed against blockaderunners, except Mobile and Wilmington. It was now resolved to attack the first of these. Mobile, the principal sea-port of the state of Alabama, a flourishing and populous city before the war began, stands at the head of the bay of the same name, some thirty miles from the open sea. There is a double entrance into the bay, Dauphine island separating the two inlets; and the approaches were guarded by three large forts-Fort Powell, Fort Gaines, and Fort Morgan. Inside the bay was a Confederate squadron, comprising the formidable ironclad Tennessee, under the command of Admiral Buchanan. Notwithstanding these obstacles, Admiral Farragut, having a fleet of four iron-clads and fourteen wooden shipsof-war (including the stout old Hartford, in which he had run the gauntlet of the forts below New Orleans) at his disposal, and aided by a land force under General Granger, resolved to attempt to fight his way between the heads. On the morning of the 5th August, the fleet steered for the eastern entrance. The leading ship, the iron-clad Tecumseh, struck upon a torpedo, which blew a large hole in her bottom, causing her to go down imme-apprehension of the criminals. Already, as a precautiondiately with the greater part of her crew. But the other ships held on their way undaunted, and, passing between Forts Morgan and Gaines with little loss, encountered, inside the bay, the Confederate squadron, which, after a

ary measure, the colonial Government had appointed special stipendiary magistrates to prevent breaches of international law along the frontier. But the news of the Judge's decision, releasing the raiders, had reached New

York before the subsequent conduct of the Canadian Government was announced, and it aroused, not unnaturally, great excitement and indignation. Major-General Dix, who commanded in the state of New York, went so far as to issue an order in which he said :

"All military commanders on the frontiers are instructed in case further acts of depredation and murder are attempted, whether by marauders or persons acting under commissions from the rebel authorities at Richmond, to shoot down the perpetrators if possible while in the commission of their crimes; or if it be necessary, with a view to their capture, to cross the boundary between the United

Canada were not deemed to be internationally unjust or unfriendly towards the United States; but that, on the contrary, there was every reason to expect that, with the approval of the home Government, they would take the necessary measures to prevent new excursions across the border. These anticipations were fully justified by the subsequent conduct of the Canadian Government. A strong force of militia was stationed at various points along the frontier, several of the raiders were arrested under the warrant for their re-apprehension, the Court at Montreal reversed its former decision and declared that it had jurisdiction, those captured were tried anew, and

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States and Canada, the said commanders are hereby directed to pursue them wherever they may take refuge, and, if captured, they are under no circumstances to be surrendered, but are to be sent to these head-quarters for trial and punishment by martial law."

This order, which the Major-General must have penned while under the influence of excited feeling, was cancelled by President Lincoln. But the President, with the approval of the Senate, gave notice to the British Government that after the expiration of six months, the period stipulated under existing arrangements, the United States would hold themselves at liberty, in view of the insecurity of life and property on the Canadian border, to increase if necessary their naval armament on the Lakes. But in his message to the new Congress (December 6, 1864), Mr. Lincoln expressly stated that the colonial authorities of

at least one of them was adjudged on the evidence to be guilty of robbery, and ordered to be given up to the United States.

A constitutional amendment had been passed by the Senate, on the 8th April, 1864, abolishing and for ever prohibiting slavery throughout the United States, but it had been thrown out by the House of Representatives. The Congress, which met in December, 1864, took up the question again; the amendment was passed by both Houses in January, 1865, and having been afterwards ratified by more than two-thirds of the States, became part of the Federal Constitution.

The usual political agitation in connection with the election of a new President began in the autumn of this year. Mr. Lincoln offered himself for re-election; the Chicago Corvention, representing the Democratic party,

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