1864.]

SHERIDAN IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. 451

discuss the question of the tribute, but no one came; all had resolved to pay no money. The Confederates, enraged, set fire to the houses, and in a short time the greater part of the town was in flames. As Averill was not far off, they retreated toward the Potomac after this barbarous act, and though they were closely pursued and suffered some loss, most of them got safe into Virginia.

Grant then saw that it was necessary to leave some troops in the Valley to prevent raids upon Washington and into the loyal States, so he ordered the Sixth and Nineteenth Corps to remain, and sent General Philip H. Sheridan to take the chief command (August 7). Sheridan made his headquarters at Harper's Ferry and spent several weeks in getting his troops ready to attack Early in the Valley. The Valley of the Shenandoah was then rich in grain, fruit, cattle, sheep, and hogs; indeed, it was so full of food that the Confederate army could march up and down it, living on the inhabitants, without the trouble of carrying a long wagon-train of supplies. Grant, feeling that the raids up the Valley, threatening Washington and Maryland and Pennsylvania, would continue as long as the Confederates could live on the country, ordered Sheridan to drive the enemy up the Valley and destroy everything that could not be consumed by his troops.

Early was then with about twelve thousand men on the west bank of Opequan Creek, not far from Winchester. Sheridan, who had three times as many men, ten thousand of whom were cavalry, attacked him there in the morning of September 19, and badly defeated him. Early, leaving in the victor's hands two thousand five hundred prisoners and five pieces of artillery, retreated to Fisher's Hill, a strong position south of Winchester. On the 22d of September, Sheridan again fell upon him and routed him, taking sixteen more cannons and several hundred prisoners. Early retreated down the Valley, and Sheridan, after following as far as Staunton, returned and took a position on Cedar Creek near Strasburg. As he fell back from Staunton he laid waste the Valley, destroying more than two thousand barns filled with wheat and hay and farming tools, and more than seventy mills filled with flour and wheat; he also killed and fed to the troops three thousand sheep, and drove off before the army more than four thousand cattle and

many horses. This act is justified by some writers; but it is also sharply criticised by others, who think that the advantage gained was not equal to the suffering inflicted on the people of the Valley.

Early was soon reinforced from Lee's army, and again marched down the Valley and took his old position at Fisher's Hill. At dawn of the morning of October 19 he surprised the Union army on Cedar Creek, during General Sheridan's absence in Washington. The first line was routed at once, and soon the whole Union left and centre was falling back toward Winchester in a confused mass. Only the Sixth Corps stood firm, and this was used by General Wright to cover the retreat. Wright fell back beyond Middletown, where he formed in line of battle in a strong position and was ready to renew the fight when Sheridan reached the field. He had heard the noise of the conflict at Winchester, and had ridden post-haste to the front. His coming gave the Union men new spirit and energy. Hundreds of stragglers turned and followed him back to the field, and at three o'clock in the afternoon the enemy were charged so bravely that a bad disaster was soon changed into a brilliant victory. The Confederates, elated by their success in the morning, had broken their ranks and scattered in search of plunder among the Union camps. Taken by surprise in their turn, they fell back before the charge of Sheridan's men. In a few minutes their retreat became a rout. They fled through Middletown, across Cedar Creek, and on beyond Strasburg, not halting until night put an end to the pursuit at Fisher's Hill. The Confederates had taken in the morning eighteen pieces of artillery from the Union troops, but in their flight in the afternoon they were obliged to abandon these and twenty-three more pieces. During his campaign in the Valley against Early, Sheridan had lost about seventeen thousand men, and Early nearly twenty-three thousand, of whom thirteen thousand were prisoners. This ended all important operations in the Shenandoah Valley. Early retreated southward the next day, and what was left of his infantry soon after joined Lee at Petersburg. The Sixth Corps rejoined Grant, and some of Sheridan's cavalry were taken from him and sent to serve elsewhere.

Let us now return to Petersburg and see what took place

1864.]

THE PETERSBURG MINE.

453

there during Early's raids. For about a month the soldiers of Burnside's Corps had been busy digging a mine under one of the forts in front of the city, with the intention of blowing it up. The men began to dig in a hollow out of sight of the Confederates, and made a gallery, four and a half feet high and about five hundred feet long, the top and sides being lined with timber and planks to keep them from caving. The earth was carried out in barrows made of cracker boxes and hidden under brushwood, so that the enemy might not find out what was going on. At the extreme end, under the fort, side galleries were cut, extending about thirty-five feet each way, as shown in the picture. In these were constructed magazines, in which were placed eight thousand pounds of gunpowder, the different parts being connected by tubes half-filled with gunpowder, and

MAGAZINES

THE PETERSBURG MINE, SHOWING THE GALLERIES AND THE OUTLINE OF THE CRATER.

with three fuses, or slow-matches, which extended through the main gallery.

The plan was to explode the mine on the 30th of June at half-past three o'clock in the morning, and then to let one of Burnside's divisions rush through the breach thus made and storm a height called Cemetery Hill in the rear of the fort, which commanded the city. The fuses were lighted at the appointed time and everybody watched anxiously for the explosion, but in vain. After the lapse of an hour it became evident that something was wrong, and two brave men volunteered to go into the gallery to see what the trouble was. They found that the fuses had gone out at the places where they were spliced, only about fifty feet from the powder. They relighted them and ran from the gallery, just in time to escape the explo

sion. There was a rumble underground like the shaking of an earthquake, and with a dull roar a large mass of earth rose into the air two hundred feet and then fell amid a cloud of black. smoke. In that brief moment the whole fort and its garrison of three hundred men had been blown to atoms, and in the place where it had stood was left a crater of loose earth two hundred feet long and nearly a fourth as wide and deep. As soon as the mine had exploded, the heavy artillery opened on the enemy's works all along the line. The Confederate batteries were soon silenced, and the men selected for the assault moved toward the breach. But there was much delay in removing abatis and wires that had been stretched by the Confederates along the front of the fort to trip up assaulting parties, and when the men got into the crater they halted, though there was nothing to prevent them going forward. For more than two hours the troops huddled under the bank or behind the breast works, and finally became mixed up and disordered.

For a half-hour after the explosion the Confederates seemed paralyzed by the shock, and it is believed that Petersburg would have fallen if the Union troops had made a quick attack. But they soon recovered themselves and brought up infantry and artillery to defend the breach. General Burnside, seeing that the troops in the crater were not advancing, ordered a division of colored soldiers to try an assault. The colored troops passed through the crater and charged up the slope beyond, but they were met by a heavy artillery and musketry fire, and driven back. They rallied and advanced again, but were again repulsed, and fled in confusion through the white troops in the crater. The Confederates fired shot and shell into the disordered mass. The Union men struggled to escape, every man for himself seeking safety in flight. More than four thousand were killed or taken prisoners, while the Confederate loss was less than a thousand, including those blown up in the fort. Thus ended in disaster what promised, said General Grant, to be the most successful assault of the campaign. Shortly afterward General Burnside was relieved, at his own request, and the command of his corps (the Ninth) was given to General John G. Parke.

It being settled that Petersburg could not be taken by a