On

Potomac, capturing Frederick,* September 6. the fifteenth, Stonewall Jackson captured Harper's Ferry, with nearly twelve thousand men; but the Confederates had been defeated the previous day at South Mountain, and Lee took up his position near Sharpesburgh, in the Antietam Valley, where he was opposed by a large Federal army, and a battle ensued September 17, resulting in losses of some twenty-five thousand men, with advantage to neither side, though Lee was obliged to retreat into Virginia. General McClellan was relieved of command, November 10, and General Burnside † took his place. The new commander did not try to follow the plans of the old. Advancing upon Fredericksburgh, he assaulted it, but was repulsed with great loss. He was superseded by General Hooker, January 26, 1863.

After the battle of Antietam, President Lincoln made up his mind that the necessities of war demanded a blow at the labor system of the South, and he issued a proclamation, declaring that after the first day of January, 1863, all persons held in servitude in States, or parts of States, which should then be in

*Upon an incident related of this capture, which has since been proved apochryphal, Mr. Whittier, the Quaker poet, based his verses entitled "Barbara Frietchie."

† Ambrose Everett Burnside, born in Indiana, in 1824, graduated at West Point, in 1847, but resigned from the army in 1853. In 1861 he commanded a brigade at Bull Run, and was appointed BrigadierGeneral in August. In 1862 he directed the expedition that captured Roanoake Island, and after taking Newbern, in March, was made Major-General. In July he removed his army to the James to reënforce McClellan. He distinguished himself at Antietam. He subsequently operated in the West, and fought under Grant during the battles in the wilderness. Before his death he was chosen Governor of Rhode Island, in which State he was much respected.

rebellion, should be free. When the appointed time arrived, he issued another proclamation defining the territory in which the slaves were to be freed, which included all of the slave States. Within a year more than fifty thousand negroes had enlisted in the armies of the Union. The Confederates had already accepted their services in their armies.

General Hooker found that his first duty was to establish the discipline of the army, which had become greatly demoralized. He then advanced, and was met at Chancellorsville, by the Confederates, and through the impetuous bravery of General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, known as "Stonewall Jackson," defeated May 3, after a battle lasting two days, with a loss of seventeen thousand men. Jackson was mortally wounded. Hooker was superseded by General George G. Meade.

Early in 1863, Congress passed a Conscription Bill, under which men were drafted to be sent to the army. The rich were able to purchase substitutes, and the poorer classes were much dissatisfied. There were other causes which led to restlessness in the North, and the Emancipation Proclamation had strengthened the South in its adherence to the war. General Lee took this opportunity to invade the North, and his act united all who had there opposed the vigorous prosecution of the war. He crossed the Potomac with his entire army, the first week in June, and entered Chambersburg on the twenty-second. On the first of July he met the Federal advance at Gettysburg, where there ensued a desperate battle

* The man who fights for the country is entitled to vote. — Thomas Jefferson.

GETTYSBURG AND VICKSBURG.

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lasting three days, and resulting in the defeat of the Confederates, who were forced to retreat with a loss of thirty-six thousand men. The Union army lost twenty-three thousand. This was the decisive battle of the war, and one of the most brilliant; but the fact was not immediately appreciated. The popular dissatisfaction did not grow less, and ten days later the "draft riots" broke out in New York, which were only quelled by General Wool, with the aid of some of the veterans from Gettysburg, and the Metropolitan police.*

In the West, General Grant was making himself felt at Vicksburg. He had cut off the communications of the city and tried to take it by storm, but without success. He then laid siege to it, and though it held out manfully, it was obliged to surrender on the fourth of July, 1863, with more than thirty-one thousand men and one hundred and seventy-two cannon. No surrender of equal magnitude had ever been made in the history of war, though it has been surpassed in Europe since. In this remarkable campaign General Grant showed the promptness, pertinacity and accurate judgment which have made his name famous. On the eleventh of May, General Halleck had telegraphed to Grant orders to join Banks below Vicksburg, but happily, communication was cut off, and the despatch did not reach its destination. Had it been received the campaign would have resulted in disaster. Pemberton was under orders both from General Johnston and

* West Virginia, consisting of the loyal portion of the Old Dominion, which had formed a provisional government in 1861, was admitted to the Union June 20, 1863.

President Davis, and the fact gave uncertainty to his movements, while Grant, depending upon his own judgment, made clear plans, and carried them out. His master strategy was shown in his attack of the strong place from the rear. The beseiged army was reduced to the most frightful extremities. The soldiers complained that their rations were cut down to "one biscuit and a small bit of bacon a day," and they called upon General Pemberton (June 28) to surrender, “horrible as the idea is,” threatening to desert or mutiny if he should not.* Four days later, Port Hudson surrendered to General Banks, after a siege of long continuance. In July, General John H. Morgan, with four thousand cavalry, made a raid into Indiana, and after passing from Sparta, Tenn., through Kentucky, sacking Columbia, and destroying as he went, he entered Indiana, at Brandenburg, and turned towards Cincinnati, tearing up railways, burning bridges and mills, and seizing much property. His army grew smaller and smaller, and he was forced to fly for safety, but was followed and captured at New Lisbon, and confined in the penitentiary at Columbus, whence he made his escape in November. Towards the end of June, General Rosecrans began the campaign of Eastern Tennessee, which was finally closed by General Grant. He drove the Confederates from Middle Tennessee, and over the Cumberland Mountains, under Bragg. They fell back to Chattanooga, and when Rosecrans' army was divided, attacked him at Chickamauga, on the nineteenth of September. The battle lasted all day, with no advantage to either

*See "The Mississippi," in the "Campaigns of the Civil War" series, by Francis Vinton Greene. New York, 1883.