with a fire which caused a fearful loss in the Union ranks. The battle was soon decided; the Confederate works were found too strong to carry, and the Union men were repulsed at every point with great slaughter. Grant's loss was more than thirteen thousand, while that of the Confederates, who fought behind their earthworks, was scarcely as many hundred. Later in the day an order was given for another assault, but the men, appalled at the fate of their comrades, whose bodies strewed the field before them, refused to move.

Grant then began to throw up earthworks and to dig trenches to lay siege to Lee's position; and for more than a week the two armies lay opposite each other, the trenches being so near together that many men were picked off by riflemen.

But the intrenching finally ceased, and Grant made up his mind to take his army to the south side of the James River. It will be remembered that he had announced his intention at the opening of the campaign to fight it out on that line if it took all summer. By this he meant the overland route, or a line by which he could advance toward Richmond, driving Lee before him, and always keeping his army between Lee and Washington. He had fought it out on that line but little more than a month, yet such had been the skill of the Confederate commander that his antagonist was now forced to adopt an entirely different line of operations. It must be confessed that the outlook at this time was unfavorable for the success of the

Union arms. Grant had not thus far equalled the expectations of the government or of the people. In those terrible thirty

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days he had lost sixty thousand men, or as many as the whole of Lee's army, while the loss of the latter had not been more than one third as many. Lee's army still remained to defend Richmond, while the Union army, after all this immense labor and loss, had only reached a position which might have been easily won without loss if the army had been sent by water from Washington as McClellan's army had been in 1862. We have not yet been given the whole history of those trying times, but when the records are published people may be surprised to know how near the President and his advisers were to despair. In judging General Grant, however, we must always bear in mind that his object was the destruction of Lee's army and not alone the capture of Richmond.

On the 12th of June the army was ready to move again. Warren crossed the Chickahominy and made believe march toward Richmond, when Lee, thinking it to be a real movement, withdrew into the defences of the city. The army then marched for the James River, where part was ferried over and part crossed on a pontoon bridge wide enough for twelve men to march abreast. General Smith, who meanwhile had been sent back by water to Butler at Bermuda Hundred, was ordered to take Petersburg, if possible. This city, a place of eighteen thousand inhabitants, lies twenty-two miles south of Richmond, on the Appomattox River, which flows into the James below Richmond (see map, page 455). It is the meeting place of several railroads and other roads, and it was at the time one of the most important places in the line of defence around Richmond. Smith attacked Petersburg (June 14) and succeeded in taking part of the defences, capturing some guns and prisoners. He ceased his operations at nightfall, and Lee strongly reinforced the garrison. The rest of the Army of the Potomac came up, and though every effort was made to take the place, the assault ended in failure. Grant lost in four days nearly ten thousand men, and he was then forced to lay siege to Petersburg, which held out against him for ten long months.

When General Hunter left the Shenandoah Valley and retreated into West Virginia, he left the road to Washington open once more to the Confederates. Lee, seeing the opportunity, sent General Early with about twelve thousand men to threaten Washington, in hope that it would force Grant to give

up the siege of Petersburg. Early marched rapidly down the Shenandoah Valley, and driving Sigel before him crossed the Potomac into Maryland and reached Frederick (July 7), from which place he could move either against Baltimore or WashingAs soon as Grant heard of this, he sent the Sixth Corps by water to Washington, and the Nineteenth Corps, which had just arrived from New Orleans, after the failure of the Red River expedition, was ordered to follow it. General Lewis Wallace, then in command in Baltimore, advanced with what troops he could raise to the Monocacy River, where the railroads from Frederick and from Harper's Ferry crossed on an iron bridge. It was, too, the meeting-place of the turnpikes from Washington and Baltimore to Frederick. Wallace's men were mostly homeguards and "hundred days' men"-that is, men who had enlisted to serve for a hundred days-but hearing that the Sixth Corps was on its way to Washington, he determined to fight Early, in hope of detaining him until the veteran troops should arrive. No one then knew anything about the number or the destination of the Confederate force, but it was believed to be large enough to capture either Washington or Baltimore. The authorities at the Capital were excited with fear, and the wildest rumors were set afloat and believed by everybody.

JUBAL EARLY.

Early reached Wallace's position on the Monocacy in the morning of July 9, and after a sharp fight, in which nearly two thousand Union men were lost, was victorious. Wallace retreated to Baltimore, followed by the Confederate cavalry, which tore up the railroad track and destroyed the great Baltimore and Ohio Railroad bridge. The Union people of Baltimore were greatly excited by the news of the defeat and the report that the Confederates were approaching, while the secessionists

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could scarcely hide their joy. Drums beat in the streets, and thousands of loyal men armed themselves and went to help defend the earthworks around the city, while women anxiously packed their valuables and made ready for flight. The Confederates, under General Bradley Johnson, of Maryland, reached the suburbs the next day, but found the works too strong to be taken by a dash, and contented themselves with destroying railroads and other property. Major Harry Gilmor, also a native of Maryland, was sent to cut the railways between Baltimore and Philadelphia. He stopped the train going northward, plundered the passengers and mails, and destroyed the cars. Among the passengers was Major-General Franklin, who had been prominent in McClellan's

army. He was in citizen's clothes and might have passed unnoticed if some secession women had not pointed him out to Colonel Gilmor. Gilmor took him prisoner and sent him off under guard. The men stopped in a wheat-field to rest and fell asleep. Franklin also pretended to go to sleep, and as soon as his captors were snoring he got up, walked leisurely down the road past the sleeping sentinels, and escaped into a wood, where he hid himself until night. The Confederates searched for him in vain, and the next morning he reached the house of some Union people, who sent word to Baltimore, and a squadron of cavalry went out and escorted him in safety to the city.

LEWIS WALLACE.

Meanwhile Early with the main body of his force had advanced toward Washington. Had he pressed on rapidly after the battle at Monocacy, he might have taken the Capital and done much damage, but he had been so roughly handled by Wallace that he had been obliged to wait until noon of the next day (July 10). In the morning of the 11th he reached the outer fortifications of Washington, but it was then too late; the Sixth Corps had arrived, and shortly afterward it was followed by the Nineteenth. During the next day there was some sharp fighting, with a loss of about three hundred on each side, and

that night Early retreated and recrossed the Potomac at Edwards Ferry, carrying with him much booty gathered in Maryland.

General Wright, commander of the Sixth Corps, who had been given charge of all the troops around Washington, pursued Early and had a smart skirmish with him at Snicker's Ferry on the Shenandoah River (July 18); and two days afterward Averill defeated part of the Confederate force at Winchester. Grant, supposing that Early was in full retreat down the Valley, ordered the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps back to Petersburg, and directed General Hunter, who had finally got his army out

PHILIP H. SHERIDAN.

of the mountains of West Virginia, to remain in the Shenandoah Valley. General Crook, who was in command at Harper's Ferry, marched up the Valley about the same time, but was met by the Confederates at Kernstown, defeated with a loss of twelve hundred men, and driven back to Martinsburg. Among the Union killed was General Mulligan, who

had so bravely defended Lexington (1861) against Price (page 114). Early followed and drove Crook across the Potomac. About three thousand Confederate cavalry crossed again into Maryland, and riding into Pennsylvania entered Chambersburg, a town of about five thousand inhabitants. The invaders demanded a ransom of five hundred thousand dollars in greenbacks for the town, threatening to burn it if the sum were not paid. While their officers were talking about the tribute the soldiers went through the houses, taking everything of value they could find. Watches, jewelry, silver-ware, hats, caps, boots, and clothing were carried off, and many people were robbed of watches and money in the streets at the point of the pistol. The court-house bell was rung to call the people together to