which was to have had important results, terminated in a return to camp, with the loss on both sides of the James of about three thousand men. The main attack was Hancock's, and in case of success the Fifth and Ninth were to join him in a general advance of the whole line. It appeared that the enemy were accurately informed of the whole enterprise, and no surprise was effected.

Skirmishing and small encounters were frequent after this along the lines. On the night of the 30th, the Sixty-ninth and Hundred-andfourth New York were picketed before Fort Davis, being mostly raw troops. The enemy, in some force, passed into the rear, and the word having been given to the Federal troops to "fall in," as if they were to be relieved, the entire line was captured. Enterprises of this nature interfered with attacks of greater or lesser magnitude-continued up to the first week in November, at which time Sherman started on his grand march. On the night of November 5th, a rebel brigade which occupied a portion of the enemy's line on the plankroad, and running northeasterly therefrom, secretly advanced, and threw itself upon the picket line of McAllister s brigade, Mott's Division, Second Corps, which held our intrenchments opposite the same point. The plan was so well devised and vigorously executed as to secure our entire intrenched picket line for half a mile, with the capture of thirty prisoners. The enemy immediately began to reverse our works, and to intrench himself with tools brought for that purpose. At the same time, the Holcomb Legion of Wallace's Brigade carried our picket line opposite the Crater, as the ruins of the fort exploded by the mine are called. The men soon rallied in force and recaptured the line of works. Early in December, most of Sheridan's force from the valley joined the Army of the Potomac-the six corps arriving between the 2d and 5th of December. Early's troops also joined Lee in great numbers, and affairs in the valley were once more quiet, Sheridan remaining at Winchester. The negro troops were now consolidated in one corps, the Twenty-fifth, under the command of General Weitzel, and sent north of the James.

The year 1864 had now reached its close, and, after a series of brilliant campaigns, the prospect for the future was full of hope, notwithstanding a temporary lull in military operations. The only active. movement then in progress was Sherman's campaign, on the results of which the success of the other operations seemed to depend. In the course of the year, the Army of the Potomac had, under Grant, fought its way to the banks of the James, where it held the main rebel army as if in a vice. The Union troops had, under Sheridan, driven_the enemy far up the Shenandoah, and Hood had been forced out of Tennessee by Thomas with the miserable wreck of an army. The enemy had abandoned Missouri and most of Arkansas, and only held good his grasp upon Western Louisiana and Texas. We had also captured the defences of Mobile Bay. The enemy confronted us in force chiefly in Virginia, and the only problem yet remaining to be solved was how long he would be able to maintain the defence. This was decided by the march of Sherman through Georgia to Savannah, which demonstrated that the people were unable or unwilling to resist, and that the

rebel government had exhausted its powers. There was no force to oppose the free movement of Sherman on the rear of Lee, and the Army of the Potomac, which had done most of the fighting, and to the pub lic eye achieved the least success, continued to occupy Lee, thus giving to others the opportunity to win the laurels of the year.

Meantime, the President made a new call for three hundred thonsand men. The whole number of troops hitherto called for, whether for temporary purposes merely, or for the war, amounted in round numbers to two millions and a half; though how large a number of these rendered actual service it is not now and may never be possible to determine. It is very certain, however, that the men called for were all needed, and had they been obtained to as great an extent as the above figures would seem to indicate, there can be little doubt that the rebellion would have terminated much sooner than it actually did. The casualties of war, diseases inherent to a military life, and the necessity of garrisoning almost countless outposts and forts, as well as of guarding long lines of communications, drew largely upon each ste cessive levy, so that the large armies, intended for active operations in the field, were barely kept up to their necessary strength, and often tell below it. The following is the President's call of December, 1864: —

"WASHINGTON, December 20.

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

A PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, by the act approved July 4th, 1864, entitled 'An act further to relia and provide for the enrolling and calling out the national forces, and for other pa poses,' it is provided that the President of the United States may, at his discretion, at any time hereafter, call for any number of men as volunteers for the respective tes of one, two, or three years for military service, and that in case the quota, or any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election district, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled within the space of fifty days after sch call, then the President shall immediately order a draft for one year to fill such quita or any part thereof, which may be unfilled; and whereas, by the credits allowed in a cordance with the act of Congress on the call for five hundred thousand men, made July 18th, 1864, the number of men to be obtained under that call was reduced to two hundred and eighty thousand; and whereas, the operations of the enemy in certain States have rendered it impracticable to procure from them their full quotas of troups under the said calls; and whereas, from the foregoing causes two hundred and far thousand men have been put into the army, navy, and marine corps, under the said cal of July 18th, 1864, leaving a deficiency on that call of two hundred and sixty thom sand. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States of America in order to supply the aforesaid deficiency, and to provide for casualties in the nitary and naval service of the United States, do issue this my call for three hundred tho sand volunteers, to serve for one, two, or three years. The quotas of the States, detricts, and sub-districts under this call, will be assigned by the War Department, through the Bureau of the Provost-Marshal-General of the United States, and in case the quita or any part thereof, of any town, township, ward of a city, precinct, or election discie, or of a county not so subdivided, shall not be filled before the 15th day of February, 1865, then a draft shall be made to fill such quota, or any part thereof, under the cal which may be unfilled on said 15th day of February, 1865.

'In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington this 19th day of December, in the year of our [L. S.] Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, and of the independence the United States of America the eighty-ninth.

"By the President :

"WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State."

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

The armies in the field, in the spring of 1864, numbered nearly six hundred thousand men ; * and so great were the losses during the year, that at its close, notwithstanding nine hundred thousand men had been called for, the numbers remained about the same. The military supplies produced during the year included one thousand seven hundred and fifty pieces of ordnance, two thousand three hundred and sixty-one artillery carriages and caissons, eight hundred and two thousand five hundred and twenty-five small-arms, seven hundred and ninety-four thousand and fifty-five sets of accoutrements and harness, one million six hundred and seventy-four thousand two hundred and forty-four projectiles for cannon, twelve million seven hundred and forty thousand one hundred and forty-six pounds of bullets and lead, eight million four hundred and nine thousand four hundred pounds of gunpowder, one hundred and sixty-nine millions four hundred and ninety thousand and twenty-nine cartridges for small-arms. These were complete articles, in addition to large quantities of the same kind of supplies partially made up at the arsenals. The ordnance supplies furnished to the military service during the year included one thousand one hundred and forty-one pieces of ordnance, one thousand eight hundred and ninetysix artillery carriages and caissons, four hundred and fifty-five thousand nine hundred and ten small arms, five hundred and two thousand and forty-four sets of accoutrements and harness, one million nine hundred and thirteen thousand seven hundred and fifty-three projectiles for cannon, seven million six hundred and twenty-four thousand six hundred and eighty-five pounds of bullets and lead, four hundred and sixty-four thousand five hundred and forty-nine pounds of artillery ammunition, one hundred and twenty-five thousand and sixty-seven sets of horse equipments, one hundred and twelve million eighty-seven thousand five hundred and fifty-three cartridges for small-arms, seven million five hundred and forty-four thousand and forty-four pounds of gunpowder. These supplies were in addition to large quantities of parts provided for repairs in the field.

The forces of the rebels at the commencement of 1864 did not much exceed three hundred and fifty thousand men, of whom they lost during the year probably two hundred thousand. In the same period they were enabled, by strenuous exertions, to recruit one hundred thousand men. Of these probably one hundred thousand were with Lee at Richmond, and the others detached under Hood, Beauregard, and other generals. Under these circumstances, the necessity of arming

the negroes or employing them as soldiers was apparent, and the head of the rebel government recommended that course with the advice of General Lee, but the measure was not promptly acted upon, and never had any practical result. The year 1864, therefore, for the rebels, ap‐ proached its close without any apparent means of raising more men to offset the new levies called for by President Lincoln to invigorate the movements of Thomas, Sherman, and Grant.

The troops that had returned from the Fort Fisher expedition were re-enforced at Fortress Monroe, and, as the Government was by no means satisfied with the first attempt, almost immediately prepared for a renewal of the movement. General Butler was, early in January, relieved from the command of the Army of the James, and General Terry succeeded to the command of the expeditionary force, numbering somewhat over eight thousand men, and comprising Ames's Second Division of the Twenty-fourth Corps, and Hawley's Second Brigade (now under Abbott) of Terry's First Division, and Paine's Division of the Twenty-fifth (colored) Corps, with Myrick's and Lee's Batteries. These went on board transports, and on the night of the 5th and the mon ing of the 6th of January, left Fortress Monroe to co-operate with Admiral Porter's fleet, then off Beaufort. After some detentions, oecasioned by the weather, the fleet, on the 13th, moved upon Fort Fisher in five divisions,

Admiral Porter opened the bombardment by sending the iron-clad column, with the New Ironsides at its head, directly upon Fort Fisher. At half-past seven A. M., the forts opened on them as they approached, but they quietly took up their old positions within one thousand yards of Fort Fisher, and began to fire about half-past eight. The landing of the troops commenced at nine o'clock, from all the transports, some of the men eagerly jumping into the water, waist deep. In about an hour, enough troops were landed to push out a skirmish line, and all the force designed for the attack was ashore before three P. M., when they took possession of Half Moon Battery.

Before four, the troops started down the beach towards Fort Fisher, with skirmishers out. At dusk, they had paused, out of range of Fort Fisher. Under cover of the darkness, however, they moved on again, and, at ten P. M., their camp-fires showed the long bivouac line across the sand-spit, about two miles from the fort. Their right flank seemed to be well covered by a sort of lagoon, running between it and the woods beyond. The enemy's two gunboats, the Tallahassee and the Chickamauga, shelled our lines from Cape Fear River. During the eight hours' action, the iron-clads showered shells upon the devoted fort at the rate of four per minute. The whole number of shells thrown by iron-clads and wooden vessels was computed at four per second.

During the night, the enemy was re-enforced and the place strengthened. The 14th was occupied by the Union troops in building breastworks between the Cape Fear River and the sea, and the 15th was fixed for the assault. As a force of the enemy, about five thousand strong, under Hoke, was threatening to relieve the place from Wilmington, Abbott's Brigade was placed in the intrenchments facing that direction. Ames's Division was drawn up to assault the west end of

the fort, the most difficult and arduous point. A column of fourteen hundred sailors and marines, under Captain Breese, was detailed from the fleet to assault the sea front, which had been so terribly demolished by the bombardment that it was thought a lodgment might more easily be effected there. At daybreak, the iron vessels, the Brooklyn, and the eleven-inch gunboats commenced a terrible fire, under cover of which, Ames moved his men up to within one hundred and fifty yards of the fort. At ten, all the rest of the fleet joined in the tremendous cannonade, which was kept up, almost without intermission, until three P. M., when the ships changed their fire from the path of the assaulting columns to other works. At half-past three P. M., the signal for the assault was made. The gallant column from the fleetdashed at the sea front with desperate energy, and gained the parapet. But after a short conflict and heavy loss it was checked and driven back in disorder. When re-formed, it was sent to the defensive or Wilmington line, to take the place of Abbott's Brigade, which had joined Ames. The attack on the sea front, though a failure, diverted a part of the enemy's attention, and made the attack of the main storming column by so much the easier.

Promptly at the word of command, our gallant column of between three thousand and four thousand men, principally of the old Tenth Corps, rushed upon the works. The enemy's force in the fort was over two thousand two hundred strong. Colonel Curtis led the attack,