sister, and his aged grandmother, who is now trying to write. In the morning he took his leave at six o'clock, little dreaming he should fall by 8 ball from the enemy. His funeral services were attended in his mother's orchard, where his youthful feet had often pressed the soil to gather the falling fruit; and his remains are resting in the silent grave scarce half a mile from the place of his birth. His grave is on an eminence but a few rods from where the funeral services were attended, and near the grave of his father. The grave, no doubt, will be marked, so that passers by will often stop and drop a tear over the dear departed. And now, dear friend, a few lines from you would be gratefully received by the afflicted friends. I pray that the God of battles may be with you, and go forth with your arms till rebellion shall cease, the Union be restored, and the old flag wave over our entire land. With much respect, I remain your friend, LYDIA SLOCUM, GENERAL GRANT'S REPLY. HEAD-QUARTERS ARMIES OF THE U. S., } MRS. LYDIA SLOCUM : MY DEAR MADAM:-Your very welcome letter of the 3d instant has reached me. I am glad to know that the relatives of the lamented MajorGeneral McPherson are aware of the more than friendship existing between him and myself. A nation grieves at the loss of one so dear to our nation's cause. It is a selfish grief, because the nation had more to expect from him than from almost any one living. I join in this selfish grief, and add the grief of personal love for the departed. He formed, for some time, one of my military family. I knew him well; to know him was to love. It may be some consolation to you, his aged grandmother, to know that every officer and every soldier who served under your grandson felt the highest reverence for his patriotism, his zeal, his great, almost unequaled ability, his amiability, and all the manly virtues that can adorn a commandYour bereavement is great, but cannot exceed mine. 'er. Yours truly, U. S. GRANT. The exact posture of affairs then was clearly expressed in the subjoined letter to the Hon. Mr. Washburne, of Illinois : DEAR SIR:-I state to all citizens who visit me, that all we want now to insure an early restoration of the Union is a determined unity of sentiment North. The rebels have now in their ranks their last man. The little boys and old men are guarding prisoners, guarding railroad bridges, and forming a good part of their garrisons or intrenched positions. A man lost by them GENERAL GRANT AT GETTYSBURG. 519 cannot be replaced. They have robbed the cradle and the grave equally to get their present force. Besides what they, lose in frequent skirmishes and battles, they are now losing from desertions and other causes at least one regiment per day. With this drain upon them, the end is not far distant, if we will only be true to ourselves. Their only hope now is in a divided North. This might give them re-enforcements from Tennessee, Kentucky, Maryland, and Missouri, while it would weaken us. With the draft quietly enforced, the enemy would become despondent, and would make but little resistance. I have no doubt but the enemy are exceedingly anxious to hold out until after the Presidential election. They have many hopes from its effects. They hope a counter-revolution. They hope the election of the peace candidate. In fact, like Micawber, they hope for something to "turn up." Our peace friends, if they expect peace from separation, are much mistaken. It would be but the beginning of war, with thousands of Northern men joining the South because of our disgrace in allowing separation. To have "peace on any terms," the South would demand the restoration of their slaves already freed; they would demand indemnity for losses sustained, and they would demand a treaty which would make the North slave hunters for the South; they would demand pay for, or the restoration of, every slave escaped to the North. At the dedication of the National Cemetery, July 4th, 1863, General Grant was among the mourners before the terraces of graves, which reminded none more impressively than himself of the sacrifice which had been made for the life of the nation; for he had seen the battle-fields strewn with dead heroes, and knew not when his own body would be added to the silent host of freedom's slain warriors. During this month of July, closing in the Potomac Army with the affair of the Petersburg mine, General Sherman had been "marching along" in grand style. At the end of June, he had driven Johnston from Allatoona Pass, Pine, Kenesaw, and Lost Mountains, compelling, after a fierce and fruitless battle, by the skillful maneuver of a movement of General McPherson's whole corps toward the Chattahoochie, the evacuation of Marietta on the 2d of July. The enemy was strongly intrenched on the west bank of the river. Another of Sherman's flanking victories forced him across the Chattahoochie to the east side, where, on the 7th, General Schofield found him, and, by the surprise of the rebel commander, captured a gun, and bridged the stream. Johnston had to leave General Sherman in possession of the river, and fall back upon Atlanta. General Sherman now sent a cavalry force to cut Johnston's railroad communication with Southern Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi; and then commenced the forward march of the army. General Hood succeeded Johnston on the 17th, and assaulted suddenly and desperately the Union lines, but after a bloody struggle had to leave the field for his intrenchments. Then came the repeated blows of Hood's columns upon those of Sherman, until his men lay by thousands beneath the smoke of battle. General Stoneman's failure in his cavalry raid toward Lovejoy's Station and Andersonville, and McCook's gallant escape from capture with Stoneman, brought the record of General Sherman's columns to July 28th. General Hood threw himself upon General Logan's corps, again determined to break the threatening circle of Union troops narrowing about him. This was followed by the masterly movement of General Sherman upon West Point Railroad, and thence to the Macon Road, deceiving his antagonist, who supposed the siege of Atlanta was raised, and General Sherman trying to save his own communications between Allatoona and Chattanooga, and resulting in the abandonment of Atlanta, to save the rebel chief's own lines of connection with supplies. GENERAL SHERIDAN'S VICTORIES. 521 CHAPTER XXV. THE CLOSING SCENES OF THE WAR. The vast Combinations of the Lieutenant-General unfolding.-The Hollowness of the Confederacy.-General Sheridan's Successes.-General Thomas.-General Sherman's startling Campaign.-The Beginning of the New Year.-General Lee.-Fort Steadman.-The closing Battles and Scenes of the Rebellion.General Lee's Flight.-The Pursuit.-The Surrender.-Sherman and Johnston. -Johnston surrenders.-The remaining Rebel Forces follow. THE great net-work of armies General Grant was gathering around his foe, and which would soon be felt wherever he turned for escape, began to appear. The magnificent Thomas was waiting his hour to strike in Tennessee; General Sherman fixing his stern vision on the sea beyond Georgia; General Sheridan taking care of Early; and the Commander-in-Chief confronting confidently and calmly the rebel leader. The great work in the extensive field during September and October was done in the Valley of the Shenandoah. The 19th of each of those months is among the forevermemorable days of the war. The first, because General Sheridan won fairly a splendid victory over the boastful Early at Opequan Creek, followed by another not less brilliant at Fisher's Hill; the latter on account of the solitary glory of conquest snatched from defeat by the power of the chieftain's single re-enforcement-the inspiration of his return to the scene of disaster. The deeds of "Cavalry Sheridan" thrilled the popular heart afresh, and placed the victor's name next to that of the Lieutenant-General in the great arena of strife directly under his control. The President sent his letter of congratulation to General Sheridan; and, November 14th, upon General McClellan's resignation of his command, the hero of the Shenandoah Valley succeeded him to the major-generalship in the Regular army, the appointment dating from the 8th of the same month. This was a high and substantial compliment to heroism and ability, whose last and unrivaled work was the triumph with a routed army on the 18th of October. General Early's chagrin over his defeat was betrayed in an order to his troops, in which he bitterly reproaches them for their "misconduct." In view of all these tokens of divine favor upon our arms, our Christian President issued the following call, and the first since the war opened, to national praise for Jehovah's blessing upon the national cause : It has pleased Almighty God to prolong our national life another year, defending us with His guardian care against unfriendly designs from abroad, and vouchsafing to us in His mercy many and signal victories over the enemy, who is of our own household. It has also pleased our Heavenly Father to favor as well our citizens in their homes as our soldiers in their camps, and our sailors on the rivers and seas, with unusual health. He has largely augmented our free population by emancipation and by immigra tion, while He has opened to us new sources of wealth, and has crowned the labor of our workingmen in every department of industry with abundant rewards. Moreover He has been pleased to animate and inspire our minds and hearts with fortitude, courage, and resolution sufficient for the great trial of civil war into which we have been brought by our adherence as a nation to the cause of freedom and humanity, and to afford to us reasonable hopes of an ultimate and happy deliverance from all our dangers and afflictions. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, do hereby appoint and set apart the last Thursday of November next as a day which I desire to be observed by all my fellow-citizens, wherever they may be, as a day of thanksgiving and praise to Almighty God, the beneficent Creator and Ruler of the universe. And I do further recommend to my fellow-citizens aforesaid, that on that occasion they do reverently humble themselves in the dust, and from thence offer up penitent and fervent prayers and supplications to the Great Disposer of events for a return of the inestimable blessings of peace, union, and harmony, throughout the land which it has pleased Him to assign as a dwelling-place for ourselves and for our posterity throughout all generations. ABRAHAM LINCOLN. The remaining weeks of the year 1864 were spent by the armies in the Shenandoah Valley in watching each other and skirmishing. Torbert's Cavalry had encounters |