"Our task is not yet accomplished, and the commanding general looks to the army for greater efforts to drive from our soil every vestige of the presence of the invader.

"It is right and proper that we should on suitable occasions return our grateful thanks to the Almighty Disposer of events, that in the goodness of his providence he has thought fit to give victory to the cause of the just. By command of

"(Signed)

"S. WILLIAMS, A. A. G.”

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE.

General Lee on reaching Williamsport also issued a general order to his army, of which the following is a copy:

'HEADQUARTERS ARMY OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA,

"July 11, 1363.

"GENERAL ORDERS, No. 16.-After the long and trying marchés, endured with the fortitude that has ever characterized the soldiers of the army of Northern Virginia, you have penetrated to the country of our enemies, and recalled to the defences of their own soil those who were engaged in the invasion of ours.

"You have fought a fierce and sanguinary battle, which, if not attended with the success that has hitherto crowned your efforts, was marked by the same heroic spirit that has commanded the respect of your enemies, the gratitude of your country, and the admiration of mankind.

"Once more you are called upon to meet the enemy from whom you have torn so many fields names that will never die. Once more the eyes of your countrymen are turned upon you, and again do wives and sisters, fathers and mothers, and helpless children, lean for defence on your strong arms and brave hearts. Let every soldier remember that on his courage and fidelity depends all that makes life worth having, the freedom of his country, the honor of his people, and the security of his home.

"Let each heart grow strong in the remembrance of our glorious past, and in the thought of the inestimable blessings for which we contend; and, invoking the assistance of that benign Power which has so signally blessed our former efforts, let us go forth in confidence to secure the peace and safety of our country. Soldiers, your old enemy is before you. Win from him honor worthy of your right cause, worthy of your comrades dead on so many illustrious fields.

“R. E. LEE, General Commanding.”

The invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania by the Rebel army, so far from accomplishing what the Rebels and their sympathizers at the North had hoped from it, was, notwithstanding its immense expenditure of loyal blood and treasure, of great service to the Union. It thwarted the schemes of the "Peace" party, and transformed many who had been ardent sympathizers with the Rebellion, into active advocates of the war.

RESULTS OF THE INVASION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

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It roused the dormant patriotism of the professed friends of the Union, and gave a new impulse to volunteering. The heavy loss sustained by the Rebels in the expedition, in men and munitions of war, convinced them that the party on whose sympathy they had relied to sustain them in their struggle, by rising against the United States Government, were utterly powerless to effect any thing in their favor, and this did more to dispirit and discourage them, and to injure their cause abroad, than any previous event. Coming, as it did, in connection with other and still more decisive victories for the Union arms, it encouraged the timid, established the wavering, infused fresh courage into the hearts of the friends of the Union at home and abroad, and turned the tide which had in other countries set so strongly and unjustly against the national cause, if not to favorable regard, at least to a far stricter impartiality than had previously been manifested.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

GENERAL GRANT TAKES COMMAND IN PERSON OF THE ARMY FOR THE REDUCTION OF VICKSBURG HIS CANAL PROJECTS-THE CANAL ACROSS THE PENINSULA-ROUTE BY ROUNDAWAY BAYOU LAKE PROVIDENCE CANAL-YAZOO PASS-STEELE'S BAYOU-SUCCESSIVE FAILURES -HE RESOLVES TO ATTACK FROM BELOW-THE RUNNING OF THE BATTERIES-EXCITEMENT AMONG THE SPECTATORS-MARCH OF THE ARMY TO HARD TIMES, LOUISIANA-ATTACK ON GRAND GULF-repulse OF THE GUNBOATS-THEY RUN PAST THE BATTERIES-LANDING AT BRUINSBURG-BATTLES OF SHAIFER'S PLANTATION AND PORT GIBSON-EVACUATION OF GRAND GULF-SKIRMISH AT FOURTEEN MILE CREEK-BATTLE AT RAYMOND-CAPTURE OF JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI, AND DESTRUCTION OF REBEL PROPERTY THERE-MARCH OF THE ARMY WESTWARD-BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILL-BATTLE OF BLACK RIVER BRIDGEVICKSBURG INVESTED-ASSAULTS OF THE NINETEENTH AND TWENTY-SECOND OF MAYSIEGE OF THE CITY-ITS CAPITULATION ON THE FOURTH OF JULY-TERMS OF THE SURRENDER-THE RESULTS OF THE CAMPAIGN-REBEL AND UNION LOSSES-SHERMAN'S PURSUIT OF JOHNSTON--CAPTURE OF JACKSON AND DEFEAT OF THE REBELS-GENERAL RANSOM'S EXPEDITION TO NATCHEZ-GENERAL HERRON'S CAPTURE OF YAZOO CITYOPERATIONS OF THE GUNBOATS ON THE TRIBUTARIES OF THE MISSISSIPPI-THE BATTLE OF MILLIKEN'S BEND-BRAVERY OF THE COLORED TROOPS-ATTACK ON LAKE PORVIDENCE.

THE efforts for the reduction of Vicksburg, the principal stronghold of the Rebellion at the West, had thus far proved abortive. Sherman's unsuc cessful assault on Chickasaw Bluffs, at the close of the year 1862, had only resulted in rendering its defences more formidable, and its garrison larger, while it rendered it certain that the north line of the Rebel works around that city could only be carried by a very heavy sacrifice of life, if at all.

General Grant had been engaged in operations having in view the command of the Mississippi Central, otherwise known as the New Orleans, Jackson and Great Northern Railroad, as far south as Jackson, and he had hoped to be able to move on Vicksburg in rear, by this route, making Memphis his base. That hope had been dispelled by the cutting off of his communications by the Rebel cavalry in December, 1862.

Early in January he took command of the army designed to reduce Vicksburg, in person, and made his headquarters at first at Milliken's Bend, twenty-five miles above Vicksburg, and subsequently at Young's Point, nearly opposite that city. General Thomas Williams, who had been in command at Baton Rouge, and was killed there on the 5th of August, 1862, had, in the early summer of that year, made a survey of the vicinage of the stronghold, and had projected a canal across the neck of land opposite Vicksburg, with a view of turning the channel of the Mississippi into the new route, and leaving Vicksburg an inland town, or at most, with a deep and sluggish bayou in front of it. To make it plain to our readers how this could be done, it may be necessary to state that the Mississippi, moving, as it does, in much of the lower part of its course,