ordered to pause. But they could not, would not, hear: on they rushed, till they reached the summit, and hurled their astonished foes over the precipitous eastern declivities of the mountain. The battle was above the clouds. It was soon dark, and the carnage ceased. Geary was here re-enenforced by Carlisle from the fourteenth corps; and the enemy fled, leaving twenty thousand rations to our men.

By daylight, eight thousand of Sherman's men were over the river. Others crossed rapidly; and he fought his way up, and carried the north end of Mission Ridge. Thomas pushed forward Howard's corps till it united with Sherman. Hooker's brave men gallantly charged the enemy, and took Mission Ridge, capturing large numbers of pris

oners.

Sherman attacked at daylight on the 25th. A fierce and bloody conflict raged till three, P.M. Message after message came to Grant that we were beaten; but he calmly waited for Hooker's advance. Judging that the crisis had come, he rode bravely along the ranks, saying, in his strong, brief way, "Men, get ready: I want you!" Cheers answered the call of their beloved commander-in-chief. Thomas now received orders; and Baird, Ward, and Sheridan's divisions rushed forward, driving the rebels from their rifle-pits. On they pressed, in the face of grape and canister from more than thirty pieces of artillery. The ridge was gained; and our brave men had achieved a victory that opened the door to Georgia. Sherman and Hooker pursued the flying forces, while Thomas promptly organized the expedition for the relief of Burnside and our noble patriots of East Tennessee. Before our men had time to rest, they were dashing on towards Knoxville under the tireless Sherman; and making the last eighty-four miles, over dreadful roads, in three days, they soon convinced Longstreet that he must raise the siege. Our brave, hard-fighting, suffering men at Knoxville hailed their deliverers with transports of joy.

THE BLOODY MARCH TO RICHMOND.

Experience had taught the government that concentration was indispensable to success. The clear mind of Mr. Lincoln saw this; and, waiting patiently until he was sure the people saw it, he brought forward the measure, and Congress adopted it, creating the office of Lieutenant-General and on the second day of March, 1864, upon his nomination, Ulysses S. Grant was confirmed Lieutenant-General by the Senate, and, under the President, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the United States. In notifying Gen. Grant of his appointment, Mr. Lincoln said, "As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you." Gen. Grant, in his reply, said, "I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me; and I know, that, if they are properly met, it will be due to those armies" [the "noble armies" mentioned above], "and, above all, to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." Never did two men rise more grandly up to the highest responsibilities: God was, to their great minds, the sovereign and the trust of the nation.

Gen. Grant announced that his headquarters would be in the field, and, for the present, with the Army of the Potomac, now raised to more than a hundred thousand troops. They were re-organized in three corps, the second commanded by Hancock, the fifth by Warren, and the sixth by Sedgwick; the whole under the general orders of MajorGen. Meade. The ninth corps, under Burnside, was subsequently added.

A grand campaign now received form in the quiet, colossal mind of the Lieutenant-General, commanding, in effect, a million of men. It comprised two great features. The Army of the Potomac, moving towards Richmond, would seek the rebel army of Northern Virginia, their main force under Gen. R. E. Lee; and Gen. W. T. Sherman, commanding the departments of Ohio, Cumberland, Tennessee, and

Arkansas, would move eastward from Chattanooga, and seek the other great army of the Rebellion under Gen. J. E. Johnston. The two forces were to be sustained by auxiliary commands, all concentrating at Richmond. We were amazed at the greatness of the conception, pleased by its simplicity, and rendered hopeful by its unity of design. Now, for the first time, the military power and grandeur of the United States would appear.

All things being ready, on the night of the 3d and 4th of May, Gen. Grant's army moved. He crossed the Rapidan in the face of his antagonist commanding eighty thousand veterans, and fought the terrible battle of the Wilderness; where, during three dreadful days, on both sides, probably, thirty thousand men fell in the struggles of death. He penned the famous despatch, "I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," and followed Lee rapidly to Spottsylvania Court-house. Here another terrific battle was fought, in which some twenty thousand of our brave men fell, killed or wounded. Grant, believing that he had inflicted upon the enemy all the injury practicable at that place, and having stormed one set of breastworks and been arrested before another, proceeded quietly to flank his antagonist. He made a desperate effort to reach the North Anna first, and throw his army between Lee and Richmond; but the rebels had the interior line and the best roads. When, therefore, Grant reached this point, he found them directly in his track, protected by formidable works provided for just this contingency. Warren and Hancock bravely forced the passage of the river, but to find Lee strongly intrenched in a position which could only be taken at an enormous expense of life. Gen. Grant, therefore, ordered his men to recross the river; and the next Gen. Lee knew of him, he was on the direct way to Richmond. Soon, confronted by Lee in a position not to render an engagement desirable, Grant made another flank movement, with the view of crossing the Chickahominy; and accepted

battle at Cold Harbor. Here, on a portion of the old battleground of M'Clellan and Lee, a most destructive engagement occurred. Near ten thousand of our brave men fell in less than half an hour. In killed, wounded, and missing, we sacrificed thirteen thousand one hundred and fifty-three men; and the battle was not decisive. Grant performed another perilous flank movement; crossed the Chickahominy, despite the resistance of his foes; dashed across to the James; and was soon heard thundering from the south of Richmond.

Butler had been firmly intrenched at Bermuda Hundred, and had made various movements for the destruction of railroads, taking Petersburg, &c. He met with some successes, but failed to produce that powerful diversion in favor of Grant which was to form an important part of the campaign.

Sheridan had been almost ubiquitous, -now hanging like a storm-cloud around the flanks of the enemy, now cutting his communications and destroying his supplies, and now fighting desperate battles with rebel cavalry, displaying everywhere those dashing qualities, directed by the clearest judgment, which have placed him by the side of the best cavalry and corps commanders known in history.

We had fought our way to the end of that line; we had placed hors de combat some forty thousand of the enemy: but, alas! this had cost us, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, nearly one hundred thousand men. We had adopted the only alternative, pursuing and fighting our foes when we could find them, and, by bold and skilful tactics, avoiding a conflict when necessary. We had diminished the force threatening Washington from sixty thousand to twenty thousand men. We had impaired the strength of the enemy, rendering it impossible for him to regain it; and developed the enormous resources of the nation, filling up our wasting ranks with unfailing recruits. We had made our bloody march to Richmond.

THE TRIUMPHAL MARCH FROM ATLANTA TO THE SEA.

Gen. Sherman had fought his way to Atlanta, and, by a series of brilliant engagements, had seized this southern stronghold of the Confederacy. Well might the rebel authorities ask, "What will he attempt next?" They were, doubtless, men of great sagacity; but it may be presumed, that, in all their theories, they did not include the slightest conception of what was about to occur.

It was a natural suggestion to the minds of the Southern people, and taken up by the brave and chivalrous Hood, that Sherman was now so far from his base of supplies, that his communications could be easily cut, and his whole army destroyed. With this idea, Hood was soon in his rear, breaking up railroads, and preparing obstructions to the Union retreat. Sherman pursued him as if his very life depended upon it, until he drove him so far as to develop another part of the grand campaign, under command of the indomitable Thomas, with headquarters at Nashville; and the next Gen. Hood knew of him, he had burned the rebel works at Atlanta and much of the city, simply putting it out of the power of the enemy to use them, and was on his way towards the Atlantic Ocean. Men North and South looked on with amazement. Our splendid army, severed from its base of supplies, was marching madly into the very heart of the enemy's country. What would the Confederates do? The chivalrous South proudly answered, "Rise in mass, and destroy them."

Gen. Hood could not hope to overtake Sherman. He, however, moved on to his destruction in the very engagements intended for him by Gen. Grant, under the cool, strong generalship of Thomas.

The rising which was to destroy Sherman did not occur. The skirmishes on his way could hardly be termed battles. He swept through a rich country, over a breadth of thirty miles, his army faring sumptuously, dashing away all opposing forces, and destroying railroads and the supplies of war.