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But on the south, Butler had as yet failed in his part. In the Valley, Sigel had been beaten by Breckinridge at Newmarket on the 15th of May, and was relieved from his command. His successor, Hunter, defeated the enemy at Piedmont on the 5th of June, and pushed forward toward Lynchburg. Crook, commanding in West Virginia, had orders to strike the Virginia and Tennessee Railway farther west, and sent a detachment of cavalry under Averill, who reached Wytheville on the 10th of May; effected a temporary break of communication; and made good his retreat through rugged and obscure mountain ways, rejoining Crook at Union on the 15th. All were united with Hunter's command at Staunton on the 8th of June, and something effective in that quarter was still hoped.

Sherman's forces comprised the Army of the Tennessee, now under Major-General James B. McPherson, the Army of the Cumberland, Major-General George H. Thomas, and the Army of the Ohio, Major-General John M. Schofield. The Twentieth Army Corps, (the Eleventh and Twelfth consolidated, sent from the East the previous autumn,) under Major-General Joseph Hooker, was attached to the Army of the Cumberland. Among the commanders of the large and well-provided cavalry force were Generals Stoneman, Rousseau, Garrard, and Kilpatrick. The entire army numbered nearly one hundred thousand. Sherman, who began his service in this war at Manassas in 1861, had borne a conspicuous part in most of Grant's Western campaigns, and succeeded him in command of the Army of the Tennessee. His present command had hardly been sur

passed - in numbers, condition, and zeal combined by any army as yet brought into the field. His campaign. began on the 6th of May.

The opposing Confederate forces, under General Joseph E. Johnston, successor of Bragg, were posted at and near Dalton. McPherson was sent to turn his flank by way of Snake Gap, while Thomas and Schofield threatened in front. Johnston retired to an intrenched position at Resaca, where he was attacked on the 15th, and after a hard battle he retreated during the night. His rear guard was encountered near Adairville on the evening of the 17th. Next morning he was again out of sight, and, though vigorously pursued, was only come up with on the 19th at Cassville, and next morning had fallen back across the Etowah River. Meantime, one of Thomas's divisions had been dispatched to Rome, where there were extensive manufacturing works. The place was taken, with a large quantity of artillery and other property, and the manufactories were destroyed.

Having rested a few days at Cassville, Sherman set his army in motion toward Dallas (on the 23d), in order to turn Allatoona Pass; and on the 25th Hooker, who led the advance, had a sharp encounter with the enemy, driving him back to New Hope Church, near Dallas. There was much fighting in this vicinity during the next three or four days, including a severe engagement on the 28th, in which the enemy vigorously attacked McPherson, and was repulsed with heavy losses.

On the 4th of June, Johnston retreated to positions of great strength on Kenesaw, Pine, and Lost Mountains, manifesting a determination at last to make a

stand. Sherman was detained in this vicinity during the remainder of June.

To the work of the navy in maintaining the blockade and in aiding army operations on coasts and rivers was added that of dealing with the enemy's privateering cruisers on the high seas. The first of these vessels was the Sumter, Raphael Semmes, which ran out of the Mississippi River (July 1st, 1861), and after capturing in the Caribbean Sea a dozen or more merchant ships, entered the British port of Nassau, New Providence, where she was cordially welcomed and allowed to purchase supplies. After further privateering exploits, the Sumter entered the harbor of Gibraltar. Despairing of escape from the Tuscarora and the Kearsarge, which soon after came up and waited outside, Semmes sold his vessel, and prepared, with his crew, to take charge of another built for like service at Liverpool the Alabama.

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The Nashville, R. P. Pogram, escaped from Charleston harbor in the summer of 1861, crossed the Atlantic, destroying two merchantmen on the way, and ran into the port of Southampton. Having re-supplied there, she succeeded, thanks to the law which gave her twentyfour hours' start, in escaping the waiting Tuscarora, and re-crossed the Atlantic, but her cruising soon ended.

The Florida, built in Liverpool, was one of the most destructive of the Confederate cruisers. Captain Maffit took her out from that port in March, 1862, and in the following August she was chased into Nassau, where, on representations of Minister Adams, she was brought before the Admiralty Court, but judicially discharged.

Leaving Havana in September, after a hospitable reception there, the Florida evaded the Gulf blockading squadron, and entered Mobile harbor, where she was repaired. Running safely out again, she continued her work in the Gulf and elsewhere; recrossed the ocean; was allowed to repair at the Brest navy-yard, and (Maffit being there succeeded by Captain Morris) continued to make havoc among American private vessels during the summer of 1864. At length the Florida entered the Brazilian port of Bahia, where she was captured in November. Though this violence to international law was complained of by the Emperor, it led to no serious trouble with the liberal-minded Dom Pedro, and it ended the career of the Florida.

The Georgia, built at Glasgow, cruised under command of W. L. Maury in the North and South Atlantic with moderate success, and went as far as the Cape of Good Hope. Her service came to an end in the summer of 1864, after returning to American waters.

The Shenandoah, also British-built, was second only to the Alabama in her devastations. Her career belongs largely to a later period, not closing even with the disbandment of the Confederate armies, being then in remote Northern seas frequented by whalers, and much belated in getting news from home.

The Alabama, built by the Lairds, started from the port of Liverpool, in spite of the remonstrances of Minister Adams, late in August, 1862, and proceeded to a Portuguese harbor of one of the Azores Islands, where Semmes and crew awaited her coming. During the next two years this formidable cruiser captured sixtythree vessels, nine of which were released on ransom vol. ii.-17

bonds and the remainder burned at sea. The crews of these captures were in the strictest sense non-combatants, of course, yet they were paroled as prisoners of war, and included in the exchange accounts kept at Richmond.*

Commodore Winslow, of the Kearsarge, in quest of the Alabama, was not far away when she entered the harbor of Cherbourg, on the 11th of June (1864). No submarine cable brought news from Europe in those days, and it was nearly two weeks before the American public was aware of a situation which at once roused lively interest in England.

One of the most anxious months of the war was this present June. Grant was pausing at Cold Harbor after a destructive and profitless battle-Lee tenaciously holding the line of the Chickahominy between the Union army and Richmond; Hunter moving in the Shenandoah Valley with designs on Lynchburg and the Tennessee Railway; Butler at City Point, with orders calling for effective blows at Richmond and its communications on that side; Banks and Porter recovering themselves as they could after their baffled Red River undertaking; and Sherman halting before Kenesaw Mountain, which was strongly held by Johnston. Government legal-tender notes reached a lower point of depression than ever before. The declension of this

*The aggregate damages claimed of Great Britain before the Arbitration Commission at Geneva exceeded $26,000,000-chiefly committed by the cruisers named in the text. The amount awarded and paid was $15,500,000. An incalculable loss was the practical ruin of our merchant marine.

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