five hundred men were placed under the command of Brigadier-General Adelbert Ames, to carry by storm a fort pronounced impregnable by the ablest engineers. It was not until the afternoon of Sunday, the 15th, that all things were ready. The fire of the navy had been much more effective than on the first expedition, having disabled fifteen of the seventeen guns on the north face of the fort. Large gaps had also been torn through the palisading in the front of the fort.

The division of General Ames comprised three brigades. The first, under General Curtis, held the advance. Then came the second brigade, under General Pennypacker. A little in the rear was the third brigade, under Colonel Bell. General Ames and his staff stood near General Terry, awaiting his orders. When all things were ready, General Terry signalled to Admiral Porter so to direct his fire as not to injure our troops. Turning to General Ames, he said, "You may now order General Curtis to move forward with his brigade."

"When shall I order up my second and third lines?" said General Ames. "You will use your own judgment," was the reply. It is one of the first requisites of a military commander that he should possess almost an intuitive knowledge of men. General Terry well knew to what kind of a man he had intrusted this enterprise of honor and of danger. General Ames was henceforth, during the terrific struggle, the commander-in-chief of his little band. He not only issued the general orders, but directed in detail all the movements of the three brigades; sharing all the exposures of the battle, and inspiring his men with his own self-possession and fearlessness.

The first brigade dashed forward with a run, and reaching the parapet near the western extremity of the north face, gained a foothold within the enclosed space of the fort, by entering through the gaps in the palisades. Immediately General Ames pushed forward the second brigade to the support of the first; then Bell's Brigade gallantly dashed forward to share in the glory and the perils of the strife.

We had thus gained a foothold. How long we could maintain it was doubtful. The capture of the first traverse was by no means the most difficult part of the work to be done. The issue of the terrible struggle now entered upon devolved upon the ability and heroism of General Ames. Fortunately for the nation, the right man was in the right place. The troops had marched over the open ground with gallantry which elicited the admiration of every beholder. They were now not only to maintain the position they had gained, but to advance, in the face of a determined foe, to the complete possession of the fort. Each traverse was virtually an independent fort thirty feet high, enclosing within its impenetrable walls a room entered by a passage so narrow that two men could easily defend it against a large force.

The rebels could sweep the whole interior of the fort by a galling fire of both artillery and musketry. Fort Buchanan, from the southwest, also opened fire upon our men. Notwithstanding all these difficulties, General Ames gallantly led his men forward, fighting with bravery which could not be surpassed, till he had captured nine traverses. It was nearly dark. His

troops were exhausted. General Terry sent him reënforcements, consisting of Abbott's Brigade and a regiment of colored troops. General Terry soon followed them, with his staff. The whole force was again pressed forward.

The conflict within the fort was terrible, as the troops advanced, taking traverse after traverse. The first flag planted upon the fort, it is said, was that of the One Hundred and Nineteenth New York Volunteers, under Colonel Daggett. The deadly nature of the struggle is evidenced by the large proportion of the officers slain. General Curtis, after overcoming the most desperate resistance of the foe, was badly wounded.

It was not until ten o'clock at night that the fort was entirely in our hands. The moon shone brightly, and with night-glasses the star-spangled banner could be seen floating from the battered ramparts. But when General Terry flashed out his announcement to the admiral that the fort was ours, the whole sky seemed at once to blaze with a meteoric shower of signal and rejoicing rockets from the fleet. When the rebel flag went down, and the Stars and Stripes rose proudly over the conquered redoubts, "We stopped fire," says Admiral Porter in his report, "and gave them three of the heartiest cheers I ever heard. It was the most terrific struggle I ever saw. The troops have covered themselves with glory; and General Terry is my beau ideal of a general.”

The scene in and around the fort, as our troops had leisure to view it after the capture, was impressive and appalling. The shells had battered down the masonry, ploughed up the ground into pits and mounds, dismounted the guns, and had torn and shattered bomb-proofs, parapets, and traverses. This ruin of massive works of earth, and brick and stone, together with the mutilated bodies of the wounded and the dead strewn around, testified to the almost inconceivably destructive power of the engines of war, which modern ingenuity has framed.

Thus was Fort Fisher redeemed, on the 15th of March, 1865. The harbor of Wilmington was thus forever closed against every blockaderunner. There also fell into our hands seventy-two guns, some of large calibre, and one Armstrong gun. Admiral Porter, in his official report, says: "We have found in each fort an Armstrong gun, with a broad arrow on it, and the name of Sir William Armstrong in full on the trunnions. As the British Government claims the exclusive right to use these guns, it would be interesting to know how they came into forts held by the rebels."

Four hundred of the rebel garrison were killed or wounded. Eighteen hundred were taken captive. On our side not a ship or transport was lost, and the fleet experienced but little injury. Our loss, however, in officers and men, was large. Nine hundred of the army fell, and two hundred from the fleet. Two of the fifteen-inch guns on the monitors burst, killing and wounding several men. On Monday morning a terrible disaster occurred, from the accidental explosion of the magazine of Fort Fisher. The explosion was so terrific that three hundred of the brigade left in garrison were killed or wounded.

Fort Fisher was, in reality, a cluster of forts. The central works consisted of an enclosed fort or bastion, with high parapets or curtains run

ance.

ning out from the angles. These curtains were at intervals crossed by high traverses, between which heavy guns were mounted. There were fifteen of them on the north face of the fort. When the patriots took one, the rebels retreated behind the next, and there renewed their resistThese traverses were all to be taken before our troops could reach the inner bastion, which was enclosed on all sides. About a mile from Fort Fisher there was another strong rectangular earthwork, mounted with heavy guns, called Fort Buchanan, which was an efficient ally. There were several water-batteries, and a very formidable redoubt called the Mound Battery. These all composed the defences at the mouth of Cape Fear River, and are to be included when we speak of the capture of Fort Fisher. These outworks speedily yielded to our summons, after the fall of the main fortress.

About half-past twelve o'clock at night, General Terry, having received the capitulation of Fort Buchanan, returned to the bastion of Fisher, where General Ames, with his heroic men, were resting from the toils of the day.

About eleven o'clock on Monday, a heavy cloud of smoke, rising over Fort Smith on the south side of New Inlet, indicated that the rebels had fired their barracks and evacuated the fort. Slowly, resolutely, gaining a little day by day, the army marched up the peninsula, driving the rebels from one after another of their strongholds, while the fleet ascended the river cautiously, removing the torpedoes. Fort Anderson was the most important obstacle to be encountered. It covered nearly as much ground as Fort Fisher, and was of immense strength-its huge traverses rose thirty feet above the water of Cape Fear River, on which the fort fronted. But the works were gallantly carried by a combined attack of the fleet under Admiral Porter and divisions of General Terry's army led by Generals Ames and Cox. There were three thousand rebel troops in garrison. From the nature of the ground, which prevented the perfect investment of the fort, they succeeded in effecting their escape in the darkness of Saturday night, February 18th, taking with them most of their guns. Ten guns, with fifty prisoners, and a large amount of ordnance stores, fell into our hands.

Our lines were now vigorously pushed forward. The fleet was preceded by about thirty yawls, which carefully took up the torpedoes. General Terry marched up the peninsula. On the night of the 20th the rebels sent down against the fleet two hundred floating torpedoes. But our picket-boats sunk them with musketry. The rebels still fought desper ately behind every redoubt which they had reared. The Union troops were on both banks of the river. There was almost a continuous battle. The rebels were conscious that their hour of doom was surely approaching. On the night of the 21st they commenced destroying their material and stores in Wilmington, preparing to evacuate the city. The torch was applied to fifteen thousand barrels of resin and to one thousand bales of cotton. The flames also consumed an extensive range of cotton-sheds and presses, an unfinished iron-clad, three steam-mills, three large turpentine works with their adjacent wharves, and much other property.

VOL. II.-35

At daylight the next morning, General Terry entered the city. The poorer inhabitants of the place received the troops with great joy. The conquest of Wilmington was one of the most brilliant achievements of Cape Fear River, from Wilmington to the ocean, was more strongly fortified than any river had been before in the history of the world. Nineteen forts and batteries, of the heaviest character, constructed upon the most approved principles of engineering skill and thoroughly armed, lined its banks.

In addition to this, the rebels had three distinct lines of obstruction to prevent the passage of the fleet. These consisted of piles, rafts, chain cables, sunken ships, and torpedoes. The city stood upon a terrace some thirty feet above the river, and was protected by a series of lakes and swamps, extending across the peninsula from the river to the ocean. It was evident that the rebellion was in its dying struggle. The fall of Atlanta, Savannahı, Charleston, Columbia, and Wilmington rendered it certain that the rebels could not anywhere successfully resist, for a long time, the National arms.

CHAPTER XLIII.

THE VALLEY OF THE SHENANDOAH.

(From August, 1864, to March, 1565.)

GENERAL SHERIDAN TAKES COMMAND. HE ASSUMES THE OFFENSIVE. THE ADVANCE AND RETREAT STRATEGY.-THE BATTLE OF WINCHESTER-SUBLIME SPECTACLE.-RETREAT OF EARLY.-FISHER'S HILL-THE PATRIOTS SURPRISED. THE ROUT.-ARRIVAL OF GENERAL SHERIDAN-DEFEAT OF THE REBELS.-THE LULL-WINTER-QUARTERS.—SHERIDAN'S RAID.--REBEL DISASTER3,

In the early part of September, 1864, there was a strong rebel force in the Valley of the Shenandoahı, under General Early. General Sheridan was sent there to oppose him, and was at that time preparing to assume the offensive. On the 7th of August, General Sheridan had taken command of what was called the Middle Military Division, and had established his head-quarters at Harper's Ferry. The rebel force amounted to not more than twenty thousand men. General Sheridan could summon around his banners dispersed forces amounting to twice as many.

The

rise on the 10th of August, General Sheridan began to move for the repossession of the valley. It was one of the hottest days of the season. heat, dust, and drouth rendered the march exceedingly uncomfortable. The troops moved along nearly parallel roads in the direction of Charlestown and Winchester.

The next day, Thursday, as they were a few miles beyond Winchester, near Newtown, with the cavalry in advance, the enemy was encountered in some force. After a fight of two hours we were driven back, with a loss of thirty men. Some Union reënforcements came up, and the battle was renewed, raging quite severely from eleven until two o'clock, when the enemy was driven from his strong position, but not until he had inflicted heavy loss upon our troops. The next morning, Friday, the 12th, the column moved on, following the retreating enemy. The cavalry, in advance, was engaged with the rear-guard of the foe, in almost a constant skirmish, until they reached Cedar Creek, but a few miles from Strasburg. Here the enemy were again found in a strong position on a hill, from which they shelled our troops. In the night the rebels continued their retreat, and the Union troops entered Strasburg the next morning. Soon the enemy reappeared in such numbers that our advance drew back, surrendering to them Strasburg. The whole Union army was drawn back a little, posted along Cedar Creek, where it remained inactive Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, with occasional skirmishing. Mosby, the most redoubtable of rebel guerrillas, with his hardy band, made a plunge through Snicker's Gap, which we had left unguarded in our rear, and com