THE FIGHTING NEAR SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE. 309 were several times seen planted on each side of the breast works, simultaneously, and within a few feet of each other. Lee's assaults were repulsed with dreadful carnage on both sides, and yet he persisted, notwithstand ing rain fell heavily all the afternoon. It was midnight before he ceased to fight, when he sullenly withdrew with his terribly-shattered and worn columns, after a combat of twenty hours, leaving Hancock in possession of the works he had captured in the morning, and twenty guns. So ended the BATTLE OF SPOTTSYLVANIA COURT-HOUSE, one of the bloodiest of the war. It had been fought chiefly by infantry, and at short range, although artillery was freely used. Probably there never was a battle in which so many bullets flew in a given space of time and distance. When the writer visited the scene of • June 7, 1866. strife, two years afterward, full one-half of the trees of the wood, at a point where the fiercest struggle ensued, within the salient of the Confederate works, were dead, and nearly all the others were scarred from the effect of musket-balls. At the War Department, in the National Capital, may now be seen a portion of the trunk of a large oak-tree, which was cut in two by bullets alone. Its appearance is given in the annexed engraving.' b 1868. On the morning of the 13th," the Confederates were behind an inner and shorter line of intrench May, 1864. BULLET-SEVERED OAK. ments, immediately in front of Hancock. Their position seemed as invulnerable as ever, yet they had lost much ground since the struggle began. Notwithstanding the Army of the Potomac had lost nearly thirty thousand men in the space of eight days,' the commander saw much encouragement in the situation, and on that morning 1 This oak stood inside of the Confederate intrenchments, near Spottsylvania Court-House. It was presented to the Secretary of War by the gallant General N. A. Miles, who commanded a brigade of Barlow's division of the Second Corps, in the battle on the 12th of May. This section of the tree is five feet six inches in height, and twenty-one inches in diameter at the place where it was cut in two. The official report of the National losses, since the passage of the Rapid Anna to the close of the battle on the 12th of May, was as follows: Killed, 269 officers and 3,019 enlisted men; wounded, 1,017 officers and 18,261 men; missing, 177 officers and 6,667 men, mostly made prisoners, making a total of 29,410 men. 310 EFFECTS OF THE BATTLES IN VIRGINIA. he addressed a stirring congratulatory epistle to his troops, in which he recapitulated their achievements since the campaign began, during "eight days and nights almost without intermission, in rain and sunshine," against a foe "in positions naturally strong, and rendered doubly so by intrenchments." He told them that the work was not yet over, but that every thing was encouraging. "We shall soon receive re-enforcements," he said, "which the foe cannot expect. Let us determine to continue vigorously the work so well begun, and, under God's blessing, in a short time, the object of our labors will be accomplished." a In the mean time the whole country was deeply stirred by the events of the campaign thus far, as reported by the electric and electrifying tongue of the telegraph. Upon Grant and Lee the thoughts of the whole nation were directed. From the office of Edwin M. Stanton, the successful rival in fame of L. M. N. Carnot, as a War Minister, went out bulletins, day after day, which produced the most intense anxiety and cheering hope; May, 1864. and on the 9th," when the Army of the Potomac had passed The Wilderness, and confronted its foe near Spottsylvania Court-House, the President issued an address "To the friends of Union and Liberty," telling them that enough was then known of the operations of the army to claim a feeling of special gratitude to God;" and he recommended "that all patriots, at their homes, in their places of public worship, and wherever they may be, unite in common thanksgiving and prayer to Almighty God." At the National Capital the excitement on that day was intense, and the loyal people went by thousands in a procession, with music and banners, to the White House, to congratulate the President. Then came Grant's dispatch,' declaring that he proposed to fight it out on that line if it took all summer, to which were added Meade's congratulatory address on the 13th, and cheering dispatches from Grant and Mr. Dana, the Assistant Secretary of War, sent on the same morning.' May 11. From the 13th to the 18th of May, the two armies confronted each other with sleepless vigilance, engaged in maneuvers and counter-maneuvers, and watching for the appearance of some weak point in the position or disposition of each other that might warrant an attack. During these movements several sharp skirmishes occurred, and a vast amount of fatiguing labor was endured by the troops. Finally, Grant was satisfied that it would be almost impossible for him to carry Lee's position, so he prepared to turn it, and thereby bring him out of his intrenchments. This was resolved upon after an abortive attempt to carry a portion of the Confederate works, early on the morning of the 18th, by the divisions of Gibbon and Barlow, supported by the division of Birney, and another of foot artillerists, under General R. O. Tyler, which had just come down from the defenses of Washington. The movement was arrested at the abatis in front of the works by a heavy fire, which repulsed the assailants, and at ten o'clock Meade withdrew the assaulting force. с May. May 19. On the following day preparations were made for the turning movement. Knowing or suspecting it, Lee made dispositions for 1 General Meade's address to his soldiers, May 13, 1864. 2 Grant spoke of the success of Hancock and the capture of prisoners, and said: "The enemy are obstinate, and seem to have found the last ditch.' We have lost no organization, not even a company, while we have destroyed and captured one division (Johnson's), one brigade (Dobbs's), and one regiment entire, of the enemy." GRANT'S FLANKING MOVEMENT RESUMED. 311 foiling it. He took the aggressive, by sending nearly the whole of Ewell's corps to strike Meade's weakened right, held by Tyler's artillerists, who lay across the road from Spottsylvania Court-House to Fredericksburg, which was the main line of communication with the base of the army supplies, at the latter place. Ewell swept across the Ny, seized that important road, and attempted to capture a wagon-train upon it, when he was stoutly resisted by Tyler and his artillerists. These had never been under fire before, but they fought with the coolness and steadiness of the veterans of the Second and Fifth Corps, who came to their assistance, but not until after Ewell had been repulsed. They did not fight with the caution of the veterans, and lost heavily. They and their gallant leader have the honor of repulsing Ewell; and they share with others in the credit of scattering the foe in the woods up the Valley of the Ny, and capturing several hundred of them. " May 20, 21, 1864. By this attack Grant's flanking movement was disturbed and temporarily checked, but it was resumed on the following night,a after he had buried his dead and sent his wounded to Fredericksburg. His fearful losses up to the 13th had been greatly increased,' yet with full hope and an inflexible will he kept his face toward Richmond. When the army abandoned its base north of the Rapid Anna, it established another at Fredericksburg (from which was a route for supplies from Washington by a short railway, and by steamboat from Belle Plain and Acquia Creek), to which point the sick and wounded were sent. There they were met and ministered to by the angelic company sent by the loyal people with the comforts and consolations of the Sanitary and Christian commissions. As the army moved on toward Richmond, new bases were opened, first at Port Royal, and then at White House, under the direction of that most efficient Chief Quartermaster, General Rufus Ingalls. The writer visited the region where the battles of Chancellorsville, The Wilderness, and of Spottsylvania Court-House, were fought, early in June, 1866, with his traveling companions (Messrs. Dreer and Greble), accompanied by quite a cavalcade of young army officers, some of them in charge of the military post at Fredericksburg, and others connected with a burial party, then in the vicinity, busied in gathering up the remains of the patriot soldiers for interment in the National Cemetery there. We had just come up from the battle-fields around Richmond, and had visited places of interest around Fredericksburg, mentioned in chapter XVIII., volume II.; and at the morning twilight of the 7th of June, we left the latter city for the neighboring fields of strife. We went out on the plank road, by way of Salem Church, to Chancellorsville, and so on to The Wilderness, visiting in that gloomy region the place where Wadsworth fell; the spot where Hancock and his companions struggled with Hill, and Warren and others fought with Ewell. Everywhere we saw mementoes of the terrible strife. The roads were yet strewn with pieces of clothing, shoes, hats, and military accouterments; the trees were scarred and broken; lines of earth-works ran like serpents in many directions, half concealed by the rank undergrowth, made ranker in places by the 1 The official returns show that from the 12th until the 21st of May, when the Army of the Potomac moved from Spottsylvania Court-House, its losses were 10,381, making an aggregate of loss, since it crossed the Rapid Anna, of 39,791. The Confederate losses were never reported, but careful estimates make them over 30,000. 312 SHERIDAN'S RAID IN LEE'S REAR. horrid nourishment of blood; and near where Wadsworth was smitten was a little clearing, inclosed with palings, and used as "God's acre" for the bodies of the slain heroes of the war. Returning to Chancellorsville, we took the road for Spottsylvania CourtHouse, over which Warren and his troops passed and Hancock followed, lunching at Aldrich's,' passing the now famous old wooden building of Todd's Tavern,' then a school-house, early in the afternoon, and not long afterward emerging from The Wilderness at the point where Warren's troops did. As we rode over the high plain where Robinson fought, we began to see the scars of the Battle of Spottsylvania Court-House. After visiting and sketching the place where Sedgwick was killed, we rode over the ground where Hancock and the Confederates struggled so fearfully for the salient of the intrenchments, everywhere seeing the terrible effects of the battle. sunset we rode into the battered village of Spottsylvania Court-House, sketched the old building depicted on page 304, crossed the Ny at twilight, arrived at Fredericksburg at near midnight after a ride of nearly fifty miles, with a dozen sketches made during the day, and left the next morning for Washington City, by way of Acquia Creek and the Potomac River. "May, 1864. 3 At We have observed that when the Army of the Potomac emerged from The Wilderness, Sheridan was sent to cut Lee's communications. This was the first of the remarkable raids of that remarkable leader, in Virginia, and, though short, was a destructive one. He took with him a greater portion of the cavalry led by Merritt, Gregg, and Wilson, and cutting loose from the army, he swept over the Po and the Ta, crossed the North Anna on the 9th," and struck the Virginia Central railway at Beaver Dam Station, which he captured. He destroyed ten miles of the railway; also its rolling stock, with a million and a half of rations, and released four hundred Union prisoners on their way to Richmond from The Wilderness. There he was attacked in flank and rear by General J. E. B. Stuart and his cavalry, who had pursued him from the Rapid Anna, but was not much impeded thereby. He pushed on, crossed the South Anna at Ground-squirrel Bridge, and at daylight on the morning of the 11th, captured Ashland Station, on the Fredericksburg road, where he destroyed the railway property, a large quantity of stores, and the road itself for six miles. Being charged with the duty of not only destroying these roads, but of menacing Richmond and communicating with the Army of the James, under General Butler, Sheridan pressed on in the direction of the Confederate capital, when he was confronted by Stuart at Yellow Tavern, a few miles north of Richmond, where that able leader, having made a swift, circuitous march, had concentrated all of his available cavalry. Sheridan attacked him at once, and, after a sharp engagement, drove the Confederates toward Ashland, on the north fork of the Chickahominy, with a loss of their gallant leader, who, with General Gordon, was mortally wounded. Inspirited by this success, Sheridan pushed along the now open turnpike toward Richmond, and See page 27. 2 See page 24. 3 The dismounted men of the divisions of these leaders, and those whose horses were jaded, were left with the army to guard the trains. In this region there are four small streams, named respectively Mat, Ta, Po, and Ny. These, combined, form the volume and the name of a larger stream, one of the chief affluents of the York River, called the Matta-po-ny. EVENTS IN WEST VIRGINIA. made a spirited dash upon the outer works. at that point, and made one hundred prisoners. 313 Custer's brigade carried them. As in the case of Kilpatrick's. raid, so now, the second line of works were too strong to be carried by cavalry. The troops in and around the city May 14, 1864. procured supplies. Then, by way PHILIP HI. SHERIDAN. of White House and Hanover Court-House, he leisurely returned to the Army of the Potomac, which he rejoined on the 25th of May. Before proceeding to follow the Army of the Potomac further in its advance toward Richmond, let us see what had been doing for awhile on its right by forces which, as we have observed, had been arranged in Western Virginia for co-operating movements. For some time that region had been the theater of some stirring minor events of the war. Confederate cavalry, guerrilla bands, and resident "bushwhackers" had been active and mischievous; while Moseby, the marauding chief, was busy in the region east Feb. 2. supplies, twelve hundred cattle, and five hundred sheep, with two bundred and seventy men of the guard, who made only slight resistance. Four days later, he suddenly appeared at Patterson's Creek Sta |