commanded. Pickett's division, numbering 5400, stood in front of Cemetery Ridge, a mile away, with orders to penetrate the opposing line, supported by 10,000 men from Hill's corps. Stuart's cavalry was made ready to follow and cut up the federals when they should be pressed back. Longstreet was Pickett's superior. He said that no 15,000 men could take the position, but his orders were explicit, and he directed the advance. The charging column started as steadily as on parade. For a quarter of a mile it was protected by a little swale; but as it reached the crest the union guns reopened with deadly effect. At 600 yards came canister, making great gaps in the advancing column, which did not waver. At closer range the guns were silent, and thick ranks of infantry, hitherto lying down behind the batteries, rose, advanced before the guns, and poured a withering fire into the fast diminishing column. But its approach was not halted until it struck the union infantry, carried them back beyond their own guns, where a new line met and checked it. For a brief space, some said twenty minutes, but no man could count the minutes in such a time, it held its advance; but Hancock, still fighting though severely wounded, threw out regiments to take it in flank, and the assailants were either shot, captured, or driven back across the deadly plain by which they approached. Hancock said: "I have never seen a more formidable attack." Lee's army was badly shattered, and he prepared to receive the countercharge he thought would surely come. But Meade's plans were defensive, and the confederates were allowed to remain undisturbed in their lines. All night and all the next day they remained in camp, and on July 5 they withdrew to the south, Meade making no serious effort to strike them ere they crossed the Potomac on July 13. The losses in the three days' fight, killed, wounded, and captured, were 23,003 federals and 20,451 confederates. Lee The battle of Gettysburg was a very hazardous undertaking from Lee's standpoint. With an army of 70,000 he invaded enemy's terri Lee's Generalship. tory and fought an aggressive engagement against an intrenched and well-placed army of 93,500. His attack could only be justified on the ground that his opponents were much worse fighters than his own men. Ordinarily he was cautious, but he had beaten his opponents so often that he had come to underestimate them. Pope's, Burnside's, and Hooker's campaigns failed because of bad generalship, not because of an incapable soldiery. Lee assumed in his invasion that the leadership of Hooker would continue. In Meade a better type of commander opposed him, and at a time when the confederate general undertook a more serious task than ever before. Meade was not a brilliant general, but he showed no serious faults at Gettysburg, and he had in his great battle the confidence of his army, officers and privates, as well as the entire support of the war department, advantages not enjoyed by either Pope, Burnside, or Hooker. GRANT FIGHTING AND FLANKING FROM THE WILDERNESS TO PETERSBURG Grant's 563 After Gettysburg, the two armies remained inactive in Virginia. There was some maneuvering by which Lee managed to keep Meade in northern Virginia, but neither general risked a battle during the autumn. It was in this autumn that Bragg Prepwas being forced out of Chattanooga by Rosecrans and arations. Grant, an operation which demanded the best efforts of each government. In March, 1864, Grant, as we have seen (page 535), was made lieutenant general and took command of all the union armies. Meade was left in actual command of his army, but Grant joined it and directed its movements. During the winter it lay north of the Rapidan on the railroad that an through Manassas, Lee's army just south of the same river. Grant had 122,000 men well drilled and amply equipped; his adversary had about half as many, and they lacked many of the necessities of war. The May 3, Grant moved forward by his left, crossing the Rapidan into the dense thicket known as the Wilderness. Lee was very vigilant, and May 5 confronted the federals in this tangle of undergrowth, whose roads he knew well. Grant's plan was to Wilderness, go ahead by sheer hard fighting, and he threw his men on May 5 and 6. Lee's lines without hesitation. In such a place his superiority in artillery was of little use, and the two days' fighting was a severe contest of infantry against infantry (May 5 and 6). The result was a check for each army; for, the battle ended, each force stood in its tracks. Grant had thought Lee would fall back. Disappointed in this, he determined to flank still further to the enemy's right, and May 8 reached Spottsylvania Court House, twelve miles to the southeast. His movement was observed by Lee, whom he found across the road well intrenched. Should it be an attack or a flanking movement? Grant chose the former. Time Spottsylafter time he assaulted or skirmished, thinking to break the lines by sheer weight of superior numbers. At every May 8-21. point he was repulsed. May 12, the fighting and losses. were heaviest; for on this day the union loss was 8500. At last the commander gave up his attempt to break through, and flanked again by the left. From May 5 to 21, his total loss was 34,000. It was at Spottsylvania that he wrote the dispatch in which he said: "I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer." vania Court House, May 23, Grant reached the North Anna, only to find Lee on its south bank so well fortified that even Grant did not assail. The result was another flank march to the east, Lee always anticipating the maneuver. By this means the two armies reached by May 28 the ground McClellan occupied 1864. in May, 1862. June 2, after heavy skirmishing, they faced one another at Cold Harbor, six miles from the fortifications of Cold Harbor, Richmond. Grant wished to crush the confederate army before it entered these defenses, and gave orders for an attack all along the line. It was delivered at dawn, June 3, in a grand assault by 80,000 men. Officers and privates were confident it would fail, but they did not flinch. No troops could withstand the heavy fire they encountered, and in twenty-two minutes the assault failed with a loss of 7000. Hancock's corps alone lost 3000. The space between the lines was covered with the dead and wounded, but Grant would not ask for a truce to remove them, and for four days they were neglected. The confederate loss was about 600. For his indifference to human life at Cold Harbor, Grant was severely criticized. He himself later declared the assault an error. The result convinced him that Lee was not to be crushed in battle, and he moved for the James river in order to lay siege to Richmond. From the Rapidan to the James his total loss was 54,929. Lee lost about 19,000. First Attempts against THE END OF THE WAR June 14, Grant crossed the James at City Point. At Bermuda Hundred, five miles to the west, Butler with a strong force lay inactive. Two months earlier he had moved up the James, with 30,000 men, to take Petersburg, commanding Richmond from the south. But so soon as he left his base at City Petersburg. Point, Beauregard, commanding the confederates, had threatened his communications, beaten off his assault on the Richmond defenses at Drury's Bluff, and "bottled him up." To him came Grant on June 14 with orders to attack Petersburg at once. Butler did not move promptly, and next day Smith, leading Grant's advance corps, was ordered to take the city, then very weakly defended. He advanced, took the outworks, but halted. Had he gone forward that night, he might have succeeded. But next day troops were sent to oppose him, and all hope of surprising Petersburg was lost. June 18, Lee, at last convinced. that his enemy was south of the river, moved his army to Petersburg. Grant wasted 10,000 lives in trying to carry The Siege. it by assault, and then settled down to siege operations. July 30 a great mine was sprung under the confederate works, and for a moment an open road existed into the rear of their position; but here also was mismanagement. The troops which ought to have poured through hesitated - probably through fault of their division commander, and the confederates, rallying, were able to drive back with great slaughter the assaulting column. This bloody affair of "the Crater" cost Grant 4000 lives without any compensating advantage. "The Crater." These misfortunes created great distress throughout the North. Grant, it was whispered, was drinking again, and all his costly sacri THE BITTER LESSONS OF WAR and Hope 565 fice of men, at this time 75,000 since he crossed the Rapidan, had not given him the confederate capital. But his work was not lost. Lee had been greatly weakened, and his exhausted government was not able to send him reënforcements. Through- Depression out the autumn and winter the union army worked stead- in the ily with pick and spade, and every week it became more North. and more evident that ultimate success was certain. July 1, while the siege progressed, Lee sent Early with 17,000 men to drive the federal forces from the Shenandoah valley and to threaten Washington. The confederates moved rapidly, driving Sigel's weak opposition before them. They crossed the Potomac and turned eastward. At the Monocacy Lew Wallace delayed them a day with a weak force, but they put him to flight, and July 11, in the afternoon, were at the doors of the national capital. Had Early continued his advance the place might have been taken, but he delayed until morning and was repulsed by troops which had arrived during the night from Grant's army. Early then fell back, and by good management escaped his pursuers to Strasburg, Virginia. Four days later he again moved north, defeating a union force at Kernstown and sending a column into Pennsylvania, where Chambersburg was burned because it did not pay a contribution. This action was not justifiable. To drive Early from the Valley, Grant now sent Sheridan with 40,000 infantry and 15,000 cavalry. Lee also sent reënforcements before which Sheridan retired to the Potomac. But Lee Sheridan was in dire need at Petersburg, and withdrew the succor Devastates he had sent. Sheridan then assumed the offensive with the Valley. twice his opponents' strength. In two battles - Winchester, September 19, and Fisher's Hill, September 22- he drove his opponent far southward with severe loss on both sides. Then Sheridan, with Grant's permission, adopted a policy of devastation. Barns, mills, and even residences were burned, grain, cattle, horse, and agricultural implements were taken or destroyed, and the rich valley was left so denuded of supplies that, as Sheridan said, "a crow flying over the country would need to carry his rations." It was the very frenzy of war, and was defended on the ground that it made it impossible for a confederate army in the future to operate by this way against Washington. Cedar In the South a sharp cry for vengeance arose, and Lee again sent reënforcements to Early, who took the offensive. Following the federals, he came upon them at Cedar Creek, October 19, when their commander was absent. The attack at dawn on front Battle of and flank was a surprise, and seemed a complete success. Creek. Only the sixth corps stood firm, but it fell back four miles trying to rally the fugitives as it went. Had Early concentrated his force on this splendid body, he might have had complete success. Sheridan slept the preceding night at Winchester, twenty miles from his army. Riding leisurely southward in the morning he learned of the situation at front and rode rapidly to the scene. At noon he was at the head of the sixth corps, had rallied the fugitives, and was marching confidently against Early, who believed himself the victor. Though taken unawares, the confederates fought courageously, but were swept off the field by the superior numbers of the union forces. At nightfall they were in flight before Sheridan's cavalry, and they were never again a menace to Washington. Hampton The first weeks of 1865 saw the confederacy in imminent danger of collapse. Hood was crushed in Tennessee, Early was driven from the Valley, federal cavalry rode at will throughout all of Virginia north of the James, and Sherman marched without opposition through the Carolinas. Lee's army in Richmond, poorly fed and clothed, was no more than 50,000 men, and Johnston, who sought to check Sherman, had only 37,000. Southern defeat was so clearly inevitable that it was believed the confederate government must accept peace if it was offered. Under these conditions private individuals secured a meeting of commissioners on each side at Hampton Roads, February 3, 1865. Lincoln attended on the part of the North. He offered to end the war if the South would accept emancipation and submit to the authority of the union. He also promised to ask congress to pay the slaveholders for the slaves, but he frankly said he could not promise that congress would accept the suggestion. The negotiation failed because Jefferson Davis insisted that the independence of the South should be the basis of any agreement. Had he been less blindly persistent, an armistice might have been arranged, during which Lincoln could have brought congress to some form of compromise by which much of the turmoil of reconstruction days would have been avoided. As spring approached, Grant before Petersburg threw his left out to reach the Petersburg and Lynchburg railroad, one of the two lines by Richmond which supplies were carried into Richmond. To oppose him, Lee must extend his own line, which by reason of his inferior numbers became very thin. April 1, Sheridan was sent against the extreme confederate right at Five Forks and won a success. It was nine at night when Grant heard the result, and he immediately ordered an assault at dawn along his entire front. This also resulted favorably, the confederate works being penetrated at two points. April 3, he proposed to press his advantage and throw his left still farther around Petersburg. Threatened thus with a complete envelopment, Lee decided to evacuate Petersburg during the night and concentrate his troops, scattered around Richmond, on the southwest of the city, so as to escape along the line of railroad to Danville. To this end he gave Davis notice at 10.40 A.M., on the |