possible to the accomplishment of his part of this gigantic campaign. General Joseph E. Johnston was in command of the southern army in Georgia. On the 5th of May, the same day that Grant moved to begin his part of the campaign, Sherman started south with his force of 100,000 men, to attack Johnston, who was fortified at Dalton, in northern

Georgia.

Now began a series of brilliant engagements, in which Sherman by his favorite flank movement caused Johnston to fall back from one position to another, until, by the latter part of July, the confederates had been driven within the intrenehments at Atlanta. At Dalton, Resaca, Altoona, Dallas, Kenesaw Lost mountains, and many other places, the union forces had been successful, but they had met with

and

stubborn resistance, and now at Atlanta a siege was to be kept up for more than a month. Tired of Johnston's policy of retreating, Jefferson Davis removed him from command, and put General John B. Hood in charge of the confederate forces at that point.

556. Sherman Enters Atlanta-September 2.-This change in command in the confederate army meant a change of policy. General Hood soon made a furious charge (July 20) upon the union army, but after an hour's engagement was

severely repulsed, and forced to fall back within his lines. Two days later, he attacked a second time, but was again driven back into the city, after suffering the loss of about 10,000 of his men. Sherman now prepared to cut off Hood's communications, by marching around Atlanta, capturing its railroads on the east and south, and then taking the city from the rear. But, on September 2, Hood evacuated the city and fled, and the federal army at once took possession. 557. Hood Turns Northward Battle of NashvilleDecember 15 and 16.-On evacuating Atlanta, Hood first marched to the southwest, then boldly turned northward, threatening Sherman's line of communication. After destroying about twenty miles of the Chattanooga and Atlanta railroad, -the only route over which supplies could reach Sherman,-Hood passed into northern Alabama, with the evident intention of invading Tennessee and thus drawing Sherman after him. Sherman at once dispatched General Thomas to Nashville with a large body of troops to intercept Hood. Thomas started none too soon, for about the middle

Nashville

• Franklin

TENNESSEE

Columbia

Tenness

ALABAMA

GEORGIA
Atlanta

Atlanta to Nashville.

of November Hood crossed the Tennessee River and eagerly began his northward march. At Columbia, a skirmish took place between Hood's army and a detachment of Thomas's force. On the last day of November, a desperate and sanguinary battle ensued at Franklin, where Hood's army was badly shattered. Urged on as if by some relentless fate, Hood reached Nashville and formed his line of battle in front of the intrenchments of the ever cautious but invincible Thomas. As time went by and Thomas did not attack Hood, the whole country became alarmed. But Thomas had the courage to wait until he felt prepared to attack; and the result of the battle fought on December 15 and 16 was

his justification for his delay. When Thomas burst upon Hood's soldiers, they fled in utter rout, leaving on the field their dead and wounded, their artillery and their arms. So complete was the destruction of Hood's army that never again was it successfully reorganized.

558. From Atlanta to the Sea-November 15 to December 22.-When Hood turned northward, Sherman planned to march forth into the very heart of the confederacy, live upon the country, reach and take some seacoast city, then turn northward and join Grant in the vicinity of Richmond. After resting his troops, Sherman was ready to advance. He destroyed the railroad connecting Atlanta with Chattanooga, applied the torch to all public buildings in Atlanta, cut the telegraph wires, and with his magnificent army of 60,000 as well trained and as intelligent men "as ever trod the earth," swung off (November 15) on his famous march from Atlanta to the sea. The army marched in four parallel columns, but a few miles apart, advancing about fifteen miles a day. Each brigade detailed a certairnumber of men to gather supplies of forage and provisions. Starting off on foot in the morning these foragers would return in the evening mounted on ponies or mules, or driving a family carriage loaded outside and in, with everything the country afforded. Railroads were torn up, and the rails heated and twisted; bridges were burned; and the fertile country for thirty miles on either side of the line of march was laid waste. Georgia's soldiers were in the north, so this army met with little resistance. When next the north heard from Sherman, he was in front of Savannah. Savannah was evacuated and Sherman entered on December 22. The confederacy had again been cut in twain. Georgia, with her arsenals, and factories, had been the workshop of the south. Sherman had followed the confederates to their "inmost recesses, and had shown to the world how feeble was their power, how rapidly their doom was approaching.

WITH FARRAGUT AT MOBILE BAY

559. Farragut Enters Mobile Bay-August 5.-Mobile was the stronghold of the confederacy on the gulf. Two strong forts on low-lying sandpoints guarded the entrance to the bay, thirty miles below the city. Within the harbor lay a confederate fleet, and among its vessels the monster ironclad ram, Tennessee. Farragut, the hero of New Orleans, determined to force an entrance to this bay. About six o'clock on the morning of August 5, he advanced to the attack. Soon one of his leading vessels was sunk by the explosion of a torpedo, but Farragut, lashed to the rigging of his flagship Hartford, boldly took the lead and passed through the torpedo line followed by his fleet. The forts were soon safely passed. In the engagement with the confederate fleet, two of their vessels were captured, and the powerful ironclad Tennessee was so badly disabled that, after an engagement of an hour and a quarter, she ran up the white flag. A few days after, the forts at the entrance to the harbor surrendered, but the city itself remained in the possession of the confederates until the following year.

THE ALABAMA

560. England and the Confederate Cruisers.-During the war the English authorities connived at the building of confederate cruisers in English dockyards. Notwithstanding the protest of the American government, these privateers were permitted to leave English ports to prey upon the commerce of the United States. There were six or eight of these cruisers, which constantly harrassed American commerce. The Shenandoah is said to have destroyed or captured more than $6,000,000 worth of American property on the high seas. It was the custom of these cruisers to avoid encounter with American men-of-war, but to assail, wherever and whenever they could, American merchantmen. Millions of dollars worth of property was thus taken or destroyed by these English built cruisers, and American

commerce practically driven from the seas. The attitude of the English authorities in thus extending sympathy and aid to the southern rebellion created a hostile feeling in the United States against England.

561. The Kearsarge and the Alabama.-The most famous of all these cruisers was the Alabama, under Captain Raphael Semmes, who before the rebellion was an officer in the United States navy. Semmes was the most daring of all the confederate sea-rovers. He at first commanded the Sumter, and later became commander of the Alabama. When that cruiser was building at Liverpool, Charles Francis Adams, minister to England, had protested against its leaving British waters, but in spite of this protest, the Alabama was permitted to slip away to the Azore Islands, where Semmes and a confederate crew were in waiting to receive her. She destroyed American commerce right and left, taking millions of dollars worth of American prizes. On the 19th of June, 1864, the Alabama was encountered by the United States steamer Kearsarge, under command of Captain John A. Winslow, off the coast of Cherbourg, France. After an hour's engagement the Alabama was so disabled that she ran up the white flag and soon afterward sank.

IN THE EAST

FROM THE RAPIDAN TO THE JAMES

that army of

He then sent

562. Grant's Plan.-Grant was now in command of all the union forces under arms on the continent. He took up his headquarters with the army of the Potomac, and a little after midnight of the 4th of May, 1864, set 120,000 men in motion across the Rapidan. a telegram to Sherman to start from Chattanooga, and carry out his part of the plan agreed upon at the Cincinnati conference and another telegram to Butler at Fortress Monroe to move up the James River to City Point below Richmond, and hold that as a base of supplies in anticipation of Grant's reaching the James with the army of the Potomac.