sixth corps. They hesitated; and Crawford's division of Pennsylvania reserves moved down upon them with such fury, that they fell back, and adjourned the conflict till another night should pass. These heroic Confederates slept on their arms in the wheat-field.

At six o'clock, P.M., Ewell formed Jackson's veterans in two columns, one attacking Cemetery Hill; the other, Culp's Hill. So many of our forces had been removed from Culp's Hill, that Ewell's troops easily entered our works, and remained for the night. Early's brigades swept away such portions of the ill-fated eleventh corps as remained, and gained a foothold on Cemetery Hill within our works; but the brave resistance of our artillerists, and the rapid and powerful advance by Carroll's brigade of the second, hurled them back, and the battle of the 2d of July was closed.

On the 3d of July, Lee made his last terrible assault upon the Union forces on the heights of Gettysburg. He determined upon a grand cannonade and charge by Longstreet's corps, and expected great assistance from Ewell against our right, who retained and re-enforced his important position on Culp's Hill; but, before daylight, Gen. Meade hurled the twelfth corps upon Ewell's advance, and by successive struggles, lasting till near noon, drove his men from the invaluable position they had left on the afternoon of the 2d to aid their struggling brethren in arms.

At one o'clock, P.M., a hundred and fifty-five rebel cannon opened their terrific fire upon our ranks of embattled freemen; and for three dreadful hours this frightful cannonade continued. Eighty Union guns replied from Cemetery Ridge and Cemetery Hill, producing, in grandeur of display, "the greatest artillery combat that ever occurred on this continent." But prudent energy and military science had protected our men, so that the casualties from the rebel guns were comparatively few.

At three o'clock, P.M., Pickett's assaulting columns, numbering, with their supports, about eighteen thousand superb

veterans, moved slowly and steadily out from the front of Seminary Ridge. Our wise artillery commander had economized ammunition and strength; and, at precisely the right moment, he poured into them a fire so destructive, that perfect order seemed a physical impossibility. Pickett's left supporting division, under Heath, staggered, and fell back: his right supporting column, writhing in death-agonies, fell in the rear. On, on, came the calm, dreadful columns, closing up their ranks, as heavy missiles from Union cannon ploughed through them.

Our infantry reserved their fire until these heroic men had reached almost to Hancock's front. Suddenly a storm. of bullets from Stanard's brigade fell upon their right; then a withering fire from the divisions of Gibbon and Hays, with canister from Woodruff's battery. At this point, the Confederates responded; but they were swept down in numbers so appalling, that they broke and fled; and fifteen hundred men, with their colors, rushed for safety to the ranks of our grim warriors, and surrendered.

The right of the attacking column was assailed with so deadly a fire from Hall's and Harrow's brigades and the brave Green-mountain regiments, that they fell into the centre. Still Pickett sternly held his assaulting column to its dreadful task, and hurled his men against the brigade of Gen. Webb, which, for the moment, seemed to give way; and daring rebels leaped our breastworks, and terrible handto-hand death-struggles ensued. Col. Devereux, of the Nineteenth Massachusetts, begged permission of Gen. Hancock to lead his men into the very centre of this destructive conflict; and it was granted. Col. Mallon's Forty-second New-York was ordered up with him, and Harrow's brigade followed. Our colors waved in the breach; the rebels fell in heaps of dead and wounded; the survivors broke and fled in dismay, or surrendered to our brave men; and the victory

was ours.

The glorious 4th witnessed the retreat of Lee's shattered

columns from the field of Gettysburg, and the surrender of Vicksburg to Grant. A day of loftier triumph had never shone upon the Great Republic.

SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

This fine portion of Virginia was destined to be the scene of almost innumerable conflicts. Here the renowned Stonewall Jackson met Shields, and recoiled from his terrible blows; then, moving swiftly to meet Frémont, fell suddenly upon Kenerly, and crushed him; drove Banks from Strasburg, and delivered battle at Winchester; failed to destroy seven thousand men, or even capture their principal trains, with twenty thousand victorious veterans; compelled the President to call off M'Dowell's troops from re-enforcing M'Clellan on the Peninsula; fought and retreated by turns; eluded his gathering pursuers by the celerity of his movements; and, when he was expected to dash into Washington, suddenly fell upon our forces in death-struggles on the Chickahominy.

In this valley, the chivalrous Sheridan struck, with stunning blows, the reckless Early, fighting him desperately and beating him at Opequan, then, two days later, at Fisher's

Hill.

Sheridan, having chased his antagonist out of the valley, dashed through its principal towns as far as Staunton, and destroyed railroads, forage, and every thing else that could sustain a rebel army, made a flying visit to Washington. Early, informed of this, resolved to make a desperate effort during his absence to retrieve his fortunes. He made a hasty night-march, and, just at break of day, fell upon our unsuspecting troops at Cedar Creek; killing, scattering, and taking them prisoners, almost without resistance. All efforts to rally our flying men were useless: every brigade rushing up to stay the tide was overwhelmed. The rebels seized our camp and provisions, taking twenty-four guns and twelve hundred prisoners.

Sheridan, on his return from Washington, had slept at Winchester. Rumors threw him early into the saddle. Riding rapidly south, he learned the news of his disaster, and then met the fugitives of his beaten army. Addressing words of encouragement to them in the most pleasant and assured manner, and deliberately re-forming his lines, he ordered an attack, which, after a dreadful struggle, overwhelmed the rebels, restored our guns and many of our prisoners, and virtually destroyed Gen. Early's army.

LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN.

Gen. Rosecrans, with his brave Western men, had defeated Price at Iuka, Van Dorn at Corinth, and Bragg (after four days' hard fighting) at Stone River. He fought his way to Chattanooga, the key to a campaign against the rebels of Georgia. After a desperate and disastrous engagement at Chickamauga, he was superseded, and resigned his immediate command into the hands of Gen. George H. Thomas, whose almost incredible skill and energy saved our army from destruction on that field of slaughter.

Gen. Burnside now appeared in East Tennessee, where the old flag was hailed with tears and shouts of joy by multitudes, who, in the midst of unparalleled suffering, had preserved their patriotism unimpaired since the beginning of the war.

Gen. Grant was now appointed to the command of our forces in the West. Our army was in distress at Chattanooga, with scanty subsistence, and their long communications in the greatest peril. The eleventh and twelfth corps, under Hooker, were ordered to re-enforce Grant; and twenty thousand men were moved from the Rapidan to the Tennessee in eight days. It was a special Providence. Our communications had been cut, and millions in supplies destroyed, for which our brave men were nearly starving. Bragg felt certain of completing the victory of Chickamauga.

At this critical moment, Grant arrived. He made his dispositions promptly to open up a shorter line of supplies, and connect Chattanooga with Hooker's command at Wauhatchie. Hazen, with eighteen hundred men of Brig.-Gen. Smith's division, dropped quietly down the river on pontoonboats, passing the rebel pickets, and constructing a bridge. for the passage of our army; Smith moved down with the balance of his four thousand men; and Bragg awoke on the morning of the 28th to find the heights rising up from Lookout Valley in our possession. We were, moreover, safe from famine, as our supplies now reached us by eight miles of wagon-road, instead of twenty-eight over a frightful mountain-road as before. Soon the astonished rebels saw the head of Hooker's columns winding through the mountain gorges. These effective forces, so far as they knew, were far below Washington on the Rapidan; but now they formed in battle-array right before their eyes.

On the night of Oct. 29, Geary was furiously attacked; but he was on his guard, and his assailants were repulsed with dreadful slaughter. Sherman was rapidly coming up with his army from the Big Black by the way of Memphis; and Grant, with some anxiety, waited his arrival. Longstreet was beleaguering Burnside at Knoxville; and Grant wished to fight this battle promptly, and re-enforce Burnside. Sherman soon reported in person; and, Nov. 23, Grant's movements commenced. Sheridan's and Wood's divisions of Granger's corps seized Orchard Ridge, and held it. Geary, on the 24th, capturing pickets at the bridge, extended his force to the base of the mountain. At eleven, A.M., our guns opened a terrific fire. Hooker's men were ordered to charge up the mountain at the very muzzles of the enemy's guns; and they moved promptly. Up those heroes toiled, over rocks, through ravines, and around precipitous cliffs, until about twelve, when Geary's men rounded the peak, and they were

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