James River, guarded by two regiments of Kautz's Cavalry. Wade Hampton, with W. F. H. Lee's Cavalry Division and Rosser's and Dearing's Brigades, moved from Reams's Station entirely around our extreme left, broke Kautz's picket line, overpowered the Union Cavalry, and captured and carried off a number of prisoners and the whole of the cattle. Gregg's and Kautz's Cavalry Divisions pursued, but without effect.

In the last week of September preparations were made by General Grant to renew the attack upon Richmond, and he seems to have drawn inspiration from the success of Sherman, in obtaining possession of Atlanta by strategy, where force was unavailing. To this end, a simultaneous attack at both extremities of the line was organized. That on the right, by the Eighteenth and Tenth Corps, with the cavalry of Kautz, was undertaken in the hope of compelling the enemy to send his troops from the defence of Petersburg to his left. The idea of compelling the enemy to weaken one point for the defence of another, seems, however, not to have been fruitful of success. The celerity with which troops appeared at the assailed points indicated great facilities for their transportation and rare energy in their movements.

On the night of Wednesday, September 28th, the two corps of Butler passed the James on muffled pontoons, the Tenth to Deep Bottom, four miles from Dutch Gap, and the Eighteenth to Aiken's Landing, which is half-way between Dutch Gap and Deep Bottom. The Eighteenth Corps, General Ord, at daylight of the 29th, proceeded by the Varina road towards its junction with the Newmarket road, driving in the enemy's skirmishers, as it advanced towards Chapin's Farm, where a long line of intrenchments runs in a westerly direction to the river, terminating in a strong work known as Battery Harrison. These works did not form part of the defences proper of Richmond, but were covered by the fire from works on the other side of the river, and by that of the enemy's gunboats. The line of advance was formed left to right of the brigades of Stannard, Burnham, Roberts, and Heckman. The line advanced under a terrible fire of artillery, and the enemy precipitately fled to other works in the rear. The result was the capture of sixteen guns and one hundred and fifty prisoners; but the fire from the enemy's guns was so intense that it was found impossible to hold the works; and General Weitzel abandoned them, concentrating his troops on the left.

Meanwhile the Tenth Corps, now commanded by Birney, proceeded from Deep Bottom towards Newmarket, encountering the skirmishers of the enemy, but no serious opposition until it reached the point where the Kingsland road crosses the Newmarket road. Here a small force held Newmarket Heights, which were readily carried, though with some loss. The enemy, with the loss of some five hundred, then retired upon Laurel Hill, six miles from Richmond, at the junction of the Varina and Newmarket roads, where was a line of strong earthworks, with a wide and deep ditch in front. The place was at once assaulted, but proved too powerful to be carried with the limited force at Birney's disposal, and at night he withdrew his troops to the intrenchments in his rear, where he remained until two o'clock on the

30th. The Union line was now formed of the Eighteenth and Tenth Corps, and the enemy, having been re-enforced from Richmond under Hoke, fell with great fury on the division of Stannard. Deploying in three strong lines at the edge of the wood, he charged with great promptitude, under cover of a hot shelling from his iron-clads in the river, and an annoying enfilading fire from the batteries on the bank. A well-directed, rolling musketry fire sent the rebels reeling back to the wood, before they could reach the intrenchments. Again and still a third time they rallied, were re-formed, and made the charge. But, though they got near the works, it was only to be repulsed with great slaughter. Our men had been instructed to lower their pieces, and the musketry fire was at once incessant and murderous. On the breaking of the enemy, General Weitzel succeeded in cutting off over two hundred prisoners, including twenty officers. The enemy's total loss was probably a thousand men, and ours probably less than five hundred Among the wounded officers was General Stannard, who lost an arm. After this movement, little of importance took place until Friday, October 7th. The Federal line was formed of the Eighteenth Corps, on the left, the Tenth on the centre and right, and the cavalry on the extreme right, on the Darbytown road. The left was intrenched at Battery Harrison, about ten miles from Richmond, and the right about five miles from Richmond, in an air line on the Charles Čity road. At early dawn on the 7th, Anderson, with Hoke's and Field's Divisions, advanced down the Darbytown and Charles City roads, and attacked Kautz's Division with such suddenness and fury, that the whole broke and fled. This disaster gave the enemy possession of the Darbytown road, and pressing on in pursuit, they soon encountered our right centre, the right of the Tenth Corps. Meanwhile, the cavalry had gained in their flight Signal Hill and Newmarket Heights. Bir ney held a strongly intrenched line, with the right flank refused. On the right was Terry's First Division, lying along the refused flank, and covering the Newmarket road. His troops were in rifle-pits, in heavy woods. The ground on the left of the line was open, and here the artillery was posted-four six-gun batteries-which swept not only its own front, but shelled the ground by which the right could be reached. Proper and skilful dispositions were briskly made on the stampede of the cavalry, and, before the enemy was on him, Terry was ready. As the enemy approached, he was greeted with a heavy cross-fire of artillery from our left, in answer to which he got two batteries into position. These, however, were soon overmatched. Meanwhile, Field's Division moved up in excellent order to the assault, dashing over the open at double-quick, and succeeded in gaining the woods on our right. Not only, however, was the open made dangerous by artil lery, but the partially felled woods were difficult of penetration. Our infantry remained quiet until the enemy was very close, when all four brigades, rising from their half-ambush, poured into him a sudden and destructive fire.

After a protracted engagement, the enemy, finding his efforts vain, withdrew in great confusion along the central road, followed closely by Terry. He finally retired upon the Charles City road, thus leaving

the central road again in our possession. The troops enjoyed an interval of repose until the 13th, when General Terry, temporarily in command of the Tenth Corps, moved out before dawn upon the Darbytown road to the scene of Kautz's defeat on the 7th. The enemy had, in the interval, constructed many new works, one of which was ineffectually assaulted by Pond's Brigade. The enemy in turn made a charge upon our lines. This was succeeded by the return of the Federal troops to their intrenchments.

CHAPTER LVIII.

Operations in Tennessee.-Sherman's Raid through Mississippi.-Failure of Smith's Co-operative Movement.-Invasion of Western Tennessee and Kentucky by Forrest.-Massacre at Fort Pillow.

LONGSTREET, after his retreat upon Rogersville, continued to remain some time in Eastern Tennessee, apparently threatening Knoxville. His communications with Lee, temporarily interrupted by Averill, in a daring raid into Southwestern Virginia, were soon restored, and Lee had abundant opportunity, during the inactivity of the Army of the Potomac in the winter of 1863-4, to re-enforce him, of which, however, he did not take advantage. Longstreet accordingly contented himself with merely threatening Knoxville, while Johnston, who had succeeded Bragg, occupied Dalton, thirty-eight miles south of Chattanooga. Longstreet ultimately returned to the rebel army in Virginia, and upon his departure the Ninth Corps was sent to re-enforce the Army of the Potomac. During January, 1864, the enemy sent several expeditions into Tennessee. Johnson's Brigade, of Rhoddy's command, crossed the Tennessee River at Bainbridge, three miles below Florence, and at Newport Ferry, six miles from the same point, intending to make a junction with a brigade of infantry which was expected to cross the river at Lamb's and Brown's Ferry, and thence proceed to Alton's, to capture the Union force there. They were engaged, fifteen of them killed, and quite a number wounded and taken prisoners. Our loss was ten wounded. The operations of the rebel General Forrest were in no degree more successful. At the close of January, General Rosecrans was assigned to the Department of Missouri, and General Schofield resumed command of the Twenty-third Corps, constituting the Army of the Ohio, and, with it, of the Department of Ohio.

A combined movement was now formed against the enemy in the Southwest. General Sherman was to march east from Vicksburg on the 3d of February into the interior of the Gulf States, and, in co-operation with him, Generals Smith and Grierson, at the head of a cavalry force, were to move south from Memphis. In aid of these operations, Schofield was directed to threaten Longstreet in the neighborhood of Knoxville, and Thomas to press Johnston, while the navy attacked Mobile, and General Banks was to operate against Shreveport, and Kilpatrick conduct a raid on Richmond. In accordance with this plan,

on February 3d, a strong column, composed of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Army Corps, under command of Sherman, took up an easterly line of march from Vicksburg, following the line of the Southern Mississippi Railroad. By following the prolongation of this line, the column would strike Meridian (one hundred and forty miles), Selma (two hundred and fifty miles), Montgomery (three hundred miles), and double railroad and double river communica tions would be opened up with the Gulf. The Pearl, the Tombigbee, and the Alabama-rivers leading into the heart of Mississippi and Alabama-would thus be thrown open to our gunboats. In a word, the great centre of productive forces would be seized. At the same time that Sherman's force was pursuing the line indicated, another very powerful cavalry column, twelve thousand strong, under Generals Smith and Grierson, was to set out from Corinth and Holly Springs, to follow the Mobile and Ohio Railroad southward. On February 5th, the two corps, under Generals McPherson and Hurlbut, were across the Big Black River, and advanced, driving the rebel General Polk before them, and inflicting immense damage upon the enemy. Meridian, the great railway centre of the Southwest, which Sherman reached about the middle of the month, he destroyed the arsenal filled with valuable stores and machinery, burned a large number of Government warehouses filled with military stores and ammunition, and rendered useless a number of mills. At Meridian he also made, in his own words, "the most complete destruction of railroads ever beheld.". Sixty miles of track, besides dépôts, bridges, and rolling stock, were thoroughly destroyed, and several towns burned or desolated. Hav ing waited at Meridian a week without news of Smith, he retraced his steps to the Mississippi, carrying with him over eight thousand liberated slaves, and an immense amount of spoils. The resistance offered by the enemy was so trifling that the total Union loss was less than two hundred.

Meantime weeks had been spent in gathering together and properly organizing all the available cavalry in Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi. To supply troops for these movements, Corinth, and the line of the Memphis and Charleston road as far east as General Logan's outposts, had been abandoned, the fortifications blown up, and the public property removed. Common report put the aggregate finally collected at ten thousand horsemen. The number was so large that General Smith felt warranted in writing as follows, to a friend in Buffalo, under date of Colliersville, February 9th: "I expect to start to-morrow or next day with thousand cavalry, for the bowels of Dixie. The rebels have about thousand in Mississippi, which they can, if they like, concentrate to oppose me." The force, it is safe to say, was larger and better equipped than any before collected during this war to execute a similar mission. As it was essential to the complete achievement of General Sherman's plan of campaign that this cavalry column should move forward promptly, every precaution was taken to make it irresistible; and to render assurance doubly sure, General Smith, General Grant's chief of cavalry, was detailed to supervise operations. All these precautions, however, failed to accomplish

the desired end. The column, which was to have left Colliersville February 3d--the same day that Sherman got away from Vicksburgwas detained until February 11th, in order to enable General Waring to bring up his brigade. This delay seems to have been sufficient to enable Forrest, Rhoddy, and Chambers to concentrate their forces against him; it gave General Sherman a whole week the start, and made a junction proportionately more difficult. After the expedition had finally started, various circumstances conspired to delay and oppose its progress. It was only after the force had been in the saddle seven days that it reached Okalona, one hundred and thirty miles southeast of Memphis, an average of but little more than fifteen miles per day from Colliersville, the point of departure. On the 19th it marched to Egypt, a station about seven miles south of Okalona.. Here they destroyed a large quantity of rebel stores. The expedition was then divided, one column, under Grierson, going through Aberdeen on the east side of the railroad, the other on the west side, the two concentrating at Prairie Station, about seventeen miles south of Okalona, where large quantities of rebel stores were destroyed. Grierson met with considerable opposition near Aberdeen. On the 20th, Forrest was reported in force at West Point, and on the 21st our forces encountered him at that place. Smith found Forrest, Lee, Rhoddy, and Chambers combined against him, and after a heavy fight he was compelled to fall back, leaving three field-pieces, four-pounder steel guns, on the field. They were spiked. All the ammunition was saved. In his retreat Smith burnt every trestle on the Memphis and Ohio Railroad, and destroyed miles of the track and large quantities of corn. There was heavy fighting in the rear throughout the 22d. The rebels moved on each flank with the evident design of reaching the Tallahatchie in advance of our force, and forming a junction to prevent our crossing, and capture the whole command; but by forced marching Smith passed both flanking columns, and, marching all night, crossed safely at New Albany. Skirmishing was kept up all through the 23d and the 24th. On the 25th the expedition arrived at Colliersville, about twenty-five miles east of Memphis, where the greater portion of the men remained.

The enemy were now becoming more active. Forrest, having succeeded in defeating the expedition of Grierson and Smith, recruited his forces in Mississippi, and appeared suddenly, on March 22d, at Bolivar, Tennessee, with a force between six and seven thousand strong. He advanced rapidly against Union City, which was garrisoned by about four hundred men, under command of Colonel Harkins. The enemy made several ineffectual charges against the slight earthworks which surrounded the town; but, finding it impossible to carry them by assault, Forrest demanded the surrender of the garrison, threatening to bombard the town unless the demand was complied with. Harkins, it is said, against the wishes of the garrison, surrendered on the 24th, just in time to anticipate the arrival of a large Union force from Cairo, under command of General Mason Brayman, who was marching to his relief.

From Union City, Forrest marched northward across Kentucky, and