to retreat to Grand Junction, his men marching eighty miles and living on the country. Thence they took the road to Memphis, and went into camp near that city.

Sherman landed his force (December 26th and 27th) on the left bank of the Yazoo, twelve miles from its mouth, in the rear of Vicksburg. Since leaving Memphis he had heard nothing from Grant, whom he supposed to be already near at hand. General Pemberton had advanced from Vicksburg to Grenada to resist Grant, but was back in time to meet Sherman, and confronted him in a strong position between the Yazoo and the city. Unacquainted yet, as were all of his command, with the country immediately before him, Sherman (on the 28th) ordered an assault to be made on the enemy's line. The low, marshy grounds intervening, intersected with bayous,― Chickasaw Bayou being the chief, were overhung by abrupt bluffs, back of which were miles of broken table-land extending to Vicksburg. Commanders had great difficulty in bringing their men into position for any effective assault. The effort was resolutely made at four different points, by the divisions of Steele, A. J. Smith, G. W. Morgan, and M. L. Smith, each in its own quarter — each to be repulsed with considerable loss. Sherman's transports were loaded and ready to start for Milliken's Bend, when he was apprised that a superior officer had arrived, General John A. McClernand, to whom the command was turned over on the 4th of January.

McClernand, accompanied by gunboats, set forth at once to capture Arkansas Post, fifty miles up the Arkansas River, and landed his men near Fort Hindman on the 10th of January. The next day the enemy's works

were carried by heroic assault. With possession of the key of Arkansas navigation, McClernand reported the capture of five thousand prisoners, and large quantities of arms, munitions, and stores. Having dismantled Fort Hindman, he re-embarked his men, and at the mouth of White River met his superior, General Grant, who landed them (January 21st) at Young's Point, on the west bank of the Mississippi, a few miles above Vicksburg.

CHAPTER XIII.

1862-1863.

Fredericksburg, and After-A Quasi-Crisis - Emancipation Edict.

After retiring from the field of Antietam, the Confederate General gathered at his ease a rich harvest of supplies in the Shenandoah Valley. Circling around McClellan as he at last moved to Warrenton, Lee halted at Culpeper Courthouse, in front of his adversary. Burnside, on taking command, planned to move quickly down the left bank of the Rappahannock, to cross by pontoons from Falmouth to Fredericksburg before Lee could get there, and with this new base to advance on Richmond. On the 17th of November, Sumner, with the van of the army, reached Falmouth, but no pontoons were there, as they should and easily might have been. When they did arrive, several days later, Lee's army was already at and near Fredericksburg, and preparing with diligence to defend its naturally strong position. The Confederate left, under Longstreet, rested on the river at a bend a mile or more above the city, the line being extended by A. P. Hill from thence along the heights to Massaponax Creek, a distance of about five miles, connecting with Stonewall Jackson on the extreme right. It was not until the night of Decem

ber 10th that Burnside began laying his pontoons in front of Fredericksburg - completed the next morning. Another bridge was laid two miles below, in front of Hill's corps, where the heights recede much farther from the river. In this quarter was Franklin's command, on the Union left, consisting of Reynolds's corps (the divisions of Meade, Gibbon, and Birney) and the corps of W. F. Smith. In addition, Franklin had at his disposal the old divisions of Hooker and Kearney, swelling his available numbers to nearly fifty-five thousand. On the right, Hooker and Sumner (each now commanding a "grand division" of two corps) completed the line.

The morning of the 13th was foggy and chilly. Under Burnside's general order, Franklin was to move at an early hour, but he only received the order at 7 o'clock that morning; and the mists lifting but slowly, he did not get under way until 9. Meade's division, in the van, in crossing the valley came under a galling artillery fire, which he silenced after some delay. Birney and Gibbon were to support Meade, and Sickles (now commanding one of the divisions sent by Hooker) was in reserve. Meade advanced up the rising ground and into the woods, piercing the hostile line between the brigades of Archer and Lane, forcing them back and taking some prisoners. Meanwhile, heavy reinforcements, under Early and D. H. Hill, were hastened up by Jackson. Meade was driven back, not being closely supported by Gibbon on his right, while one of Birney's brigades was deploying on the left; but they so effectually charged the enemy as to check his advance. Meade retreated to the railway, when he was again

assailed and forced backward. Sickles joined in the conflict, but Smith's entire corps, twenty thousand strong, on the right of Reynolds (guarding the line of retreat towards Franklin's bridge), remained inactive. Properly supported at the right moment, with the means at hand, Meade's spirited attack might have led the way to victory. Whatever the reasons for so notable a shortcoming on the part of some of Burnside's subordinates, the concluding fact was a disastrous failure.

Nor was this the worst part of the battle. On his right, Burnside had ordered Sumner to assail the formidable works in his front, which was done almost simultaneously with the advance on the left. His men were repulsed with terrible slaughter dealt by batteries on the heights and by volleys that poured from the riflepits of Marye's Hill. Charge after charge only added fruitless sacrifices of blood. The first assailants were of the two corps of Hancock and French. The heaviest losses fell upon Meagher's Irish brigade, of which only two hundred and eighty out of the twelve hundred engaged appeared at roll-call the next morning. Howard's division supported the advance attacking party; and Hooker, after repeated and emphasized orders, against which his judgment protested, ordered Humphrey's division to continue the attack. The men fought bravely, against hopeless odds, but all ended in utter defeat. On the night of the 15th the army was withdrawn to the left bank of the river. Lee re-occupied the city of Fredericksburg. As officially reported, the Union losses (greatly superior to those on the Confederate side) were 1,152 killed in Sumner's com