struck with her prow and caused to sink immediately. The Southfield was at the time lashed to the Miami, and the guns of both vessels having been employed the previous evening in firing on the enemy on shore, were loaded with shell. At the first discharge, directed by Lieu led about fifty yards from the line of march and deliberately murdered in view of all those assembled. He fell, instantly killed by three musket balls, even while asking that his life might be spared, as he had fought them manfully and was deserving of a better fate. The motive for the murder of Major Brad-tenant Commander Flusser himself, he ford seems to have been the simple fact that, although a native of the South, he remained loyal to his Government.”* was instantly killed by a fragment of shell which rebounded, piercing his chest and skull. He was a gallant officer of the Navy, and his death was much la boats were now compelled to retire, and as they were relied upon as the main defence of the town in case of a serious attack, General Wessells was forced on Wednesday, after a further obstinate defence, to surrender with the garrison at Plymouth. The Union loss in killed and wounded was stated at about 150; that of the enemy was doubtless much larger. On receipt of this intelligence at Newbern, the headquarters of the Department, Major General J. G. Peck, issued the following general order, announcing the event to the Army: "With feelings of the deepest sorrow, the Commanding General announces the fall of Plymouth, N. C., and the capture of its gallant commander, On Sunday, April 17, an attack was commenced by the confederate Brig-mented. The Miami and remaining gunadier-General R. F. Hoke, with a force estimated at 10,000 and a heavy artillery train, upon the Union post at Plymouth, N. C., commanded by General Wessells, with about 2,000 effective men. The town, situated on the south bank of the Roanoke, near its entrance into Albemarle Sound, was protected by Forts Gray, Wessells, and Williams and other minor works on the river, and by a squadron of gunboats of inferior construction, but sufficient for the ordinary defence of the region. They were five in number, Lieutenant Commander Flusser, a gallant and much esteemed officer of the Navy in the Miami, being the senior in command. On this occasion, however, they were met by a more powerful antagonist in a ram Brigadier-General H. W. Wessells, and (the Albemarle), which was brought down the river by the rebels. The first attack made by the enemy upon Fort Gray, about a mile up the river, was gallantly resisted, and in several assaults upon the other forts on Monday they were repulsed with slaughter, the Union gunboats assisting in the work. One of the latter, the Bombshell, was disabled and sunk by the enemy's battery. Early in the morning of Tuesday, before daylight, the rebel ram, a powerful iron-clad vessel, armed with two heavy guns, came down the river, passing Fort Gray and making for the gunboat Southfield formerly a Staten Island ferry-boat in the bay of New York, which she * Report to both Houses of Congress, May 5th, 1864. his command. This result, however, did not obtain until after the most gallant and determined resistance had been made. Five times the enemy stormed the lines of the General, and as many times were they repulsed with great slaughter, and but for the powerful assistance of the rebel iron-clad ram and the floating sharpshooter battery, the "Cotton Plant," Plymouth would still have been in our hands. For their noble defence the gallant General Wessells and his brave band have and deserve the warmest thanks of the whole country, while all will sympathize with them in their misfortune. To the officers and men of the Navy the Commanding General tenders his thanks for their hearty LIEUTENANT-GENERAL GRANT. 331 co-operation with the army, and the shell was retaken and a gallant effort bravery, determination, and courage made to run down the Albemarle by that marked their part of the unequal Lieutenant-Commander Francis Roe, of contest. With sorrow he records the the Sassacus. The formidable ram fairly death of the noble sailor and gallant staggered in the encounter when an acpatriot, Lieutenant Commander C. W. tion ensued between the two vessels susFlusser, U. S. Navy, who in the heat of tained by the Sassacus with great galbattle fell dead on the deck of his ship, lantry. Though the boiler of the latter with the lanyard of his gun in his hand. was pierced by a 100-pound Parrott shot The Commanding General believes that from her adversary, and the vessel was these misfortunes will tend not to dis- filled with steam, her guns were so well courage but to nerve the Army of North directed at close quarters, within a few Carolina to equal deeds of bravery and feet, as to enter the port-holes of the gallantry hereafter.' Albemarle, and compel her to retire disabled to Plymouth. The Union loss in this affair was eight killed, twenty-six wounded, and several badly scalded by steam. Newbern was thus relieved from The loss of Plymouth was followed by the evacuation of the town of Washington, on the Pamlico River, when the garrison was taken to reinforce Newbern, the defences of which were a threatened naval attack. For their strengthened by General Palmer, who gallantry in this engagement, the officers succeeded to General Peck in command of the Sassacus, including James M. of the Department. On the 5th of May Hobbey, the engineer, whose presence the rebel ram Albemarle, in company of mind was eminently displayed in the with the Cotton Plant and her capture, action, received various degrees of prothe Bombshell, was met in Albemarle motion.* Sound by a squadron of Union gunboats, including the Miami, when the Bomb- Army and Navy Journal, May 28th, 1864. * See an account of "The Fight with the Albemarle," CHAPTER XCVIII. GENERAL GRANT'S CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA. FROM THE RAPIDAN TO JAMES RIVER, MAY AND JUNE, 1864. On the 12th of March, 1864, an important order was issued from the War Department, reorganizing the chief military commands for the ensuing campaign. Major-General Halleck was, at his own request, relieved from duty as General-in-Chief of the Army, and General U. S. Grant, who a short time previously had been nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate to the high rank of Lieutenant-General, was assigned "to the command of the armies of the United States. The head quarters of the Army (it was added) will be at Washington, and also with Lieutenant-General Grant in the field." Major-General Halleck was assigned to duty in Washington, as Chief of Staff of the Army, under the direction of the Secretary of War and the Lieutenant-General Commanding. A few days previous to the issuing of this order, on the 9th, General Grant, on his arrival at Washington, was formally presented by President Lincoln with his commission as Lieutenant-Gen eral. The ceremony took place in the Cabinet chamber, in the presence of the entire Cabinet, General Halleck, Representative Lovejoy, General Rawlings, and Colonel Comstock of General Grant's staff, the son of General Grant, and Mr. Nicolay, the Private Secretary of the President. General Grant having entered the room, the President arose and addressed him thus: "General GrantThe nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, is now presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant-General in the Army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. I scarcely need to add, that with what I here speak for the nation goes my own hearty personal concurrence. To which General Grant replied as follows: "Mr. President-I accept the commission with gratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies that have fought on so many fields for our common country, it will be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the full weight of the responsibilities now devolving upon me, and I know that if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men." In Generals W. H. French and John Newton, were distributed among the other corps. Major-General Pleasonton, so honorably distinguished at the head of the Cavalry Corps, was relieved, and Major-General Philip Henry Sheridan assigned to his command. The latter, in the prime of manhood, in his thirtythird year, was, as we have seen, among the foremost for valor and success in the campaigns in Kentucky and Tennessee from Perryville, through the battles of Murfreesboro', Chattanooga, Chickamauga to Missionary Ridge. selecting him for his new command-of the highest importance and responsibility-General Grant recognized his well-tried ability in the field. The Lieutenant-General immediately on receiving his appointment visited the headquarters of the army at Culpepper, and extended his tour of inspection to the command of General Butler at Fortress Monroe. He was accompanied to the latter place by General W. F. Smith, destined in his command of the Eighteenth Corps, to bear an important part in the ensuing operations on the James River, whither also General Gillmore, with his Tenth Army Corps, was ordered from the scene of his recent operations at Charleston. Every thing on both sides portended an immediate and fiercely contested resumption of the war in Virginia. The rebel conscription had reinforced Lee's veteran army in its long established and The re-organization of the Army of the well-defended lines formidably enPotomac under General Meade followed trenched in his most advantageous poimmediately upon the call of General sition south of the Rapidan, with his Grant to the chief command. In view headquarters at Orange Court House, of the reduced strength of nearly all the his left guarded by the southwest Mounregiments serving in the army, the num- tains of the Blue Ridge, his right exber of corps was reduced from five to tending to the Rappahannock. To the three, leaving the Second, Fifth and Sixth north of the Rapidan, with its line of respectively commanded by Majors- communication by the Orange and AlexGeneral Hancock, G. W. Warren (suc- andria Railroad, lay the Union army, ceeding Major-General George Sykes) threatening its adversary and guarding and Sedgwick. The First and Third the approaches to Washington. GenCorps, lately commanded by Major-eral Grant's headquarters was estab PRÉPARATIONS FOR AN ADVANCE. که 333 lished at Culpepper. On the 8th of himself worthy of the favor he seeks. April, he issued an order sounding the With clear consciences and strong arms, note of preparation for the impending actuated by a high sense of duty, fightconflict. Public and private property, ing to preserve the Government and for which transportation was not pro- the institutions handed down to us by vided, was ordered to the rear, sutlers our forefathers, if true to ourselves, vicand civilians, other than Government tory, under God's blessing, must and employees, members of the Sanitary will attend our efforts." and Christian Commissions, and registered newspaper correspondents, were required to leave within a week, and the granting of furloughs was vigorously interdicted. The actual movement began on Tuesday, the 3d, when the army broke camp and commenced its Southern march towards Richmond on the right of the enemy's position. Two cavalry At the beginning of May, on the divisions under Generals Gregg and 4th, the following address to the army Wilson were sent forward with pontoon was issued by General Meade: "Sol- trains in the afternoon, and about middiers-Again you are called upon to night had secured the means of crossing advance on the enemies of your coun- at Ely's and Germanna Fords on the try. The time and the occasion are Rapidan. The Second Army Corps, deemed opportune by your Command- under Hancock, was moved rapidly ing-General to address you a few forward by the former route, and the words of confidence and caution. You Fifth and Sixth, under Warren and have been recognized, strengthened and fully equipped in every respect. You form a part of the several armies of your country-the whole under the direction of an able and distinguished General, who enjoys the confidence of the Government, the people and the Army. Your movement being in cooperation with others, it is of the utmost importance that no effort should be left unspared to make it successful. Soldiers, the eyes of the whole country are looking with anxious hope to the blow you are about to strike in the most sacred cause that ever called men to arms. Remember your homes, your wives and children, and bear in mind that the sooner your enemies are overcome the sooner you will be returned to enjoy the benefits and blessings of peace. Bear with patience the hardships and sacrifices you will be called upon to endure. Have confidence in your officers and in each other. Keep your ranks on the march and on the battle-field, and let each man earnestly implore God's blessing, and endeavor by his thoughts and actions to render Sedgwick, took the latter. The enemy The and Hill's by the plank road, to attack his enemy on their advance. The arrival of these forces on Thursday brought on a general engagement. The line of General Grant was parallel with the Germanna road to the west, running generally north and south, Sedgwick holding the right, Warren the centre, and Hancock, who had been ordered round from Chancellorsville, the left. It was the object of Lee in advancing on the cross-roads to divide the army and cut off its communications with the river, with the hope, doubtless, in thus striking it on the march before its position was established, of dealing it an effectual blow. The plan was well conceived, but Grant, though he might have chosen another ground for the struggle, was ready for the emergency. He had determined to go forward at all hazards, and was not to be arrested by the prospect of hard fighting under disadvantageous circumstances in the Wilderness. There were two main actions during the day on the right and left of the Union lines, the enemy in both instances being vigorously assailed. In the words of General Lee's dispatch at evening from the field, "A strong attack was made upon Ewell, who repulsed it, capturing many prisoners and four pieces of artillery. The enemy subsequently concentrated upon General Hill, who, with his and Wilcox's divisions, successfully resisted the repeated and desperate assaults. A large force of cavalry and artillery on our right were driven back by Rossan's brigade. By the blessings of God we maintained position against every effort until night, when the combat closed. We have to mourn the loss of many brave officers and men. Gallant Brigadier-General J. M. Jones was killed, and General Stafford, I fear, mortally wounded, while leading his command with conspicuous valor. In these encounters, which, from the nature of the ground forbidding generally the use of artillery and cavalry, were mostly confined to infantry, boti sides suffered heavily, the fighting being of the most determined character. The losses were large in Warren's corps, which, from its position, bore the brunt of the engagements-Griffin's divisio¬ leading the attack, succeeded by Wadsworth's and Robinson's. In Hancock's corps the divisions of Birney, Barlow and Gibbon were successively engaged. Birney's division lost its second brigade commander, General Alexander Hays, a native of Pennsylvania. He was a graduate of West Point with Hancock and Pleasonton; had served with distinction in the Mexican War, then left the Army, and at the outbreak of the rebellion relinquished his occupation as an iron manufacturer in his native State to re-enter the service. He was with McClellan on the Peninsula, and had been wounded in command of his brigade at Chancellorsville. He had of late served with distinction in Warren's corps. The fighting of this first day was carried late into the evening, neither party gaining any material advantage. It was but the beginning of a contest to be resumed on the morrow. Burnside's division was brought over the river into the field during the day. A general attack at daylight was ordered by Grant, and at dawn both armies were resolutely engaged. Victory was eagerly sought by each, and had the ground been such as to admit of manoeuvering the large forces opposed to one another, a decisive action might have been fought. As it was, the battle extended along the whole line, a distance of seven miles from Sedgwick's right to Hancock's left. With varying success, a vigorous attempt of the enemy to flank on the right was defeated after a sharp contest. Hancock on the left, prompt in the assault at 5 o'clock in the morning, advanced his forces, increased by several divisions from the other corps, and drove the enemy for two miles till they were reinforced by Long |