WAR FOR THE UNION, 1861-1865
%419. South Carolina secedes%.--The only state where in 1860
presidential electors were chosen by the legislature was South Carolina.
When the legislature met for this purpose, November 6, 1860, the
governor asked it not to adjourn, but to remain in session till the
result of the election was known. If Lincoln is elected, said he, the
"secession of South Carolina from the Union" will be necessary. Lincoln
was elected, and on December 20, 1860, a convention of delegates, called
by the legislature to consider the question of secession, formally
declared that South Carolina was no longer one of the United States.[1]
[Footnote 1: "We the people of the state of South Carolina, in
convention assembled, do declare and ordain ... that the union now
subsisting between South Carolina and other states, under the name of
the United States of America, is hereby dissolved."]
%420. The "Confederate States of America."%--The meaning of this act
of secession was that South Carolina now claimed to be a "sovereign,
free, and independent" nation. But she was not the only state to take
this step. By February 1, 1861, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, and Texas had also left the Union. Three days later, February
4, 1861, delegates from six of these seven states met at Montgomery,
Ala., formed a constitution, established a provisional government, which
they called the "Confederate States of America," and elected Jefferson
Davis and Alexander H. Stephens provisional President and Vice
President.
Toward preventing or stopping this, Buchanan did nothing. No state, he
said, had a right to secede. But a state having seceded, he had no power
to make her come back, because he could not make war on a state; that
is, he could not preserve the Union. On one matter, however, he was
forced to act. When South Carolina seceded, the three forts in
Charleston harbor--Castle Pinckney, Fort Sumter, and Fort Moultrie--were
in charge of a major of artillery named Robert Anderson. He had under
him some eighty officers and men, and knowing that he could not hold all
three forts, and fearing that the South would seize Fort Sumter, he
dismantled Fort Moultrie, spiked the cannon, cut down the flagstaff, and
removed to Fort Sumter, on the evening of December 26, 1860.
[Illustration: CHARLESTON HARBOR]
This act was heartily approved by the people of the North and by
Congress, and Buchanan with great reluctance yielded to their demand,
and sent the _Star of the West,_ with food and men, to relieve Anderson.
But as the vessel, with our flag at its fore, was steaming up the
channel toward Charleston harbor, the Southern batteries fired upon her,
and she went back to New York. Anderson was thus left to his fate, and
as Buchanan's term was nearly out, both sides waited to see what
Lincoln would do.
%421. Why did the States secede?%--Why did the Southern slave states
secede? To be fair to them we must seek the answer in the speeches of
their leaders. "Your votes," said Jefferson Davis, "refuse to recognize
our domestic institutions [slavery], which preexisted the formation of
the Union, our property [slaves], which was guaranteed by the
Constitution. You refuse us that equality without which we should be
degraded if we remained in the Union. You elect a candidate upon the
basis of sectional hostility; one who in his speeches, now thrown
broadcast over the country, made a distinct declaration of war upon our
institutions."
"There is," said Howell Cobb, of Georgia, Secretary of the Treasury of
the United States, "no other remedy for the existing state of things
except immediate secession."
"Our position," said the Mississippi secession convention, "is
thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery. A blow at slavery
is a blow at commerce and civilization. There was no choice left us but
submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union."
Alexander H. Stephens, the Vice President of the Confederacy, asserted
that the Personal Liberty laws of some of the free states "constitute
the only cause, in my opinion, which can justify secession."
The South seceded, then, according to its own statements, because the
people believed that the election of Lincoln meant the abolition
of slavery.
%422. Compromise attempted%.--The Republican party in 1861 had no
intention of abolishing slavery. Its purpose was to stop the spread of
slavery into the territories, to stop the admission of more slave
states, but not to abolish slavery in states where it already existed. A
strong wish therefore existed in the North to compromise the sectional
differences. Many plans for a compromise were offered, but only one,
that of Crittenden, of Kentucky, need be mentioned. He proposed that the
Constitution should be so amended as to provide
1. That all territory of the United States north of 36° 30' should be
free, and all south of it slave soil.
2. That slaves should be protected as property by all the departments of
the territorial government.
3. That states should be admitted with or without slavery as their
constitutions provided, whether the states were north or south of
36° 30'.
4. That Congress should have no power to shut slavery out of the
territories.
5. That the United States should pay owners for rescued fugitive slaves.
As these propositions recognized the right of property in slaves, that
is, put the black man on a level with horses and cattle, the Republicans
rejected them, and the attempt to compromise ended in failure.
%423. A Proposed Thirteenth Amendment%.--One act of great
significance was done. A proposition to add a thirteenth amendment to
the Constitution was submitted to the states. It read,
"No amendment shall be made to the Constitution which will authorize or
give to Congress the power to abolish or interfere within any state with
the domestic institutions thereof, including that of persons held to
labor or service by the laws of said states."
Even Lincoln approved of this, and two states, Maryland and Ohio,
accepted it. But the issue was at hand. It was too late to compromise.
%424. Abraham Lincoln, Sixteenth President%.--Lincoln and Hamlin were
inaugurated on March 4, 1861, and in his speech from the Capitol steps
Lincoln was very careful to state just what he wanted to do.
1. "I have no purpose," said he, "directly or indirectly, to interfere
with the institution of slavery in the states where it exists."
2. "I consider the Union is unbroken, and to the extent of my ability I
shall take care ... that the laws of the Union be faithfully executed in
all the states."
3. "In doing this there need be no bloodshed or violence; and there
shall be none, unless it be forced upon the national authority."
4. "The power confided in me will be used to hold, occupy, and possess
the property and places belonging to the government and to collect the
duties and imposts."
[Illustration: Fort Sumter]
%425. Civil War begins.%--One of the places Lincoln thus pledged
himself to "hold" was Fort Sumter, to which he decided to send men and
supplies. As soon as notice of this intention was sent to Governor
Pickens of South Carolina, the Confederate commander at Charleston,
General Beauregard (bo-ruh-gar'), demanded the surrender of the fort.
Major Anderson stoutly refused to comply with the demand, and at dawn on
the morning of April 12, 1861, the Confederates fired the first gun at
Sumter. During the next thirty-four hours, nineteen batteries poured
shot and shell into the fort, which steadily returned the fire. Then
both food and powder were nearly exhausted, and part of the fort being
on fire, Anderson surrendered; and on Sunday, April 14, 1861, he marched
out, taking with him the tattered flag under which he made so gallant a
fight.[1] The fleet sent to his aid arrived in time to see the battle,
but did not give him any help. After the surrender, one of the ships
carried Anderson and the garrison to New York.[2]
[Footnote 1: "Having defended Fort Sumter for thirty-four hours, until
the quarters were entirely burned, the main gates destroyed by fire, the
gorge walls seriously injured, the magazine surrounded by flames, and
its door closed from the effect of heat, four barrels and three
cartridges of powder being available, and no provisions remaining but
pork, I accepted terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard . . .
and marched out of the fort on Sunday afternoon, the 14th instant, with
colors flying and drums beating . . . and saluting my flag with fifty
guns."--_Major Anderson to the Secretary of War._]
[Footnote 2: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,_ Vol. I., pp.
60-73.]
%426. The Life of the Republic at Stake%.--Thus was begun the
greatest war in modern history. It was no vulgar struggle for territory,
or for maritime or military supremacy. The life of the Union was at
stake. The questions to be decided were: Shall there be one or two
republics on the soil of the United States? Shall the great principle of
all democratic-republican government, the principle that the will of the
majority shall rule, be maintained or abandoned? Shall state sovereignty
be recognized? Shall states be suffered to leave the Union at will, or
shall the United States continue to exist as "an indestructible Union of
indestructible States"? As Mr. Lincoln said, "Both parties deprecated
war; but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive;
and the other would accept war rather than let it perish."
%427. The South better prepared%.--For the struggle which was to
decide these questions neither side was ready, but the South was better
prepared than the North. The South was united as one man. The North was
divided and full of Southern sympathizers. She knew not whom to trust.
Officers of the army, officers of the navy, were resigning every day.
The great departments of government at Washington contained many men who
furnished information to Southern officials. Seventeen steam war vessels
(two thirds of all that were not laid up or unfit for service) were in
foreign parts. Large quantities of military supplies had been stored in
Southern forts. All the great powers of Europe save Russia were hostile
to our republic, and would gladly have seen it rent in twain. The South,
again, had the advantage in that she was to act on the defensive.
[Illustration: The United States July 1861 Showing the greatest
extension of the Southern Confederacy]
%428. Results of firing on the Flag.%--Not a man was killed on either
side during the bombardment of Sumter. Yet the battle was a famous one,
and led to greater consequences:
1. Lincoln at once called for 75,000 militia to serve for three months.
2. Four "border states," as they were called, thus forced to choose
their side, seceded. They were Arkansas, North Carolina, Virginia, and
Tennessee.
3. The Congress of the United States was called to meet at Washington,
July 4, 1861.
4. After Virginia seceded, the capital of the Confederacy, at the
invitation of the Virginia secession convention, was moved from
Montgomery to Richmond, and the Confederate Congress adjourned to meet
there July 20, 1861.
%429. West Virginia.%--The act of secession by Virginia was promptly
repudiated by the people of the counties west of the mountains, who
refused to secede, and voted to form a new state under the name of
Kanawha. They adopted a constitution and were finally admitted in 1863
as the state of West Virginia[1].
[Footnote 1: A state made out of part of another state cannot be
admitted into the Union without the consent of that state first
obtained. But as Congress and the people of West Virginia considered
that Virginia consisted of that part of the Old Dominion which remained
loyal to the Union, the people practically asked their own consent.]
%430. The Call to Arms.%--Lincoln held that no state could ever leave
the Union, and that therefore no state had left the Union. Those which
had passed ordinances of secession were to his mind states whose
machinery of government had been seized on by persons in insurrection
against the government of the United States. When, therefore, he made
his call for 75,000 militia to defend the Union, he apportioned the
number among all the states, slave and free, north and south, east and
west, according to their population. Those forming the Confederacy paid
no attention to the call. The governors of the border slave states
(Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, Missouri) returned
evasive or insulting answers.
But the people of the loyal states responded instantly, and tens of
thousands of troops were soon on their way to Washington. To get there
was a hard matter. Baltimore lay on the most direct railroad route
between the Eastern and Middle States and Washington. But Baltimore was
full of disloyal men, who tore up the railroads, burned bridges, cut the
telegraph wires, and as the Massachusetts 6th regiment was passing
through the city from one railroad station to another, attacked it,
killing some and wounding others of its soldiers. This forced the troops
from the other states to go by various routes to Annapolis and then to
Washington, so that it was late in April before enough arrived to insure
the safety of the city.
Though none of the border and seceded states sent troops, the response
of the loyal states to Lincoln's call was so hearty that more than
75,000 men were furnished. The President decided to turn this outburst
of patriotism to good purpose, and May 3, 1861, asked for 42,034
volunteers for three years unless sooner discharged, and ordered 18,000
seamen to be enlisted, and 22,714 men added to the regular army.
Baltimore was now occupied by Union troops, and communication with
Washington through that city was restored and protected.
On July 1, 1861, there were 183,588 "boys in blue" under arms and
present for duty. These were distributed at various places north of the
line, 2000 miles long, which divided the North and South. This line
began near Fort Monroe, in Virginia, ran up Chesapeake Bay and the
Potomac to the mountains, then across Western Virginia and through
Kentucky, Missouri, and Indian Territory to New Mexico.
This line was naturally divided into three parts:
1. That in Virginia and along the Potomac.
2. That occupied by Kentucky, a state which had declared itself neutral.
3. That west of the Mississippi.
%431. The Battle of "Bull Run" or Manassas%.--General Winfield Scott
was in command of the Union army. Under him, in command of the troops
about Washington, was General Irwin McDowell. Further to the west, near
Harpers Ferry, was a Union force under General Patterson. In western
Virginia, with an army raised largely in Ohio, was General George B.
McClellan. In Missouri was General Lyon, aided by all the Union people
in the state, who were engaged in a desperate struggle to keep her in
the Union.
In northern Virginia and opposed to the Union forces under General
McDowell, was a Confederate army under General Beauregard, and these
troops the people of the North demanded should be attacked. "The
Confederate Congress must not meet at Richmond!" "On to Richmond! On to
Richmond!" became the cries of the hour. General McDowell, with 30,000
men, was therefore ordered to attack Beauregard. McDowell found him near
Manassas, some thirty miles southwest of Washington, and there, on the
field of "Bull Run," on Sunday, July 21, 1861, was fought a famous
battle which ended with the defeat and flight of the Union army[1].
[Footnote 1: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War_, Vol. I., pp.
229-239.]
General George B. McClellan, who had defeated the Confederate forces in
western Virginia in several battles, was now placed in command of the
troops near Washington, and spent the rest of 1861 and part of 1862 in
drilling and organizing his army. Bull Run had taught the people two
things: 1. That the war was not to end in three months; 2. That an army
without discipline is not much better than a mob.
%432. Fort Donelson and Fort Henry%.--While McClellan was drilling
his men along the Potomac, the Union forces drove back the Confederates
in the West. The Confederate line at first extended as shown by the
heavy line on the map on p. 390. In order to break it, General Buell
sent a small force under General Thomas, in January, 1862, to drive back
the Confederates near Mill Springs. Next, in February, General Halleck
authorized General U. S. Grant and Flag Officer Foote to make a joint
expedition against Fort Henry on the Tennessee. But Foote arrived first
and captured the fort, whereupon Grant marched to Fort Donelson on the
Cumberland, eleven miles away, and after three days of sharp fighting
was asked by General Buckner what terms he would offer. Grant
promptly answered,
[Illustration: Handwritten note of Grant]
No terms excepting unconditional and
immediate surrender can be accepted.
I propose to receive immediately upon
your word.
I am Sir: very respectfully
your ** **
U. S. Grant
Brig. Gen.
Buckner at once surrendered (February 16, 1862), and Grant won the first
great Union victory of the war.[1]
[Footnote 1: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,_ Vol. I., pp.
398-429; Grant's _Memoirs_, Vol. I., pp. 285-315.]
%433. The Battle of Shiloh, or Pittsburg Landing.%--After the fall of
Fort Donelson, the Confederates, abandoning Columbus and Nashville,
hurried south toward Corinth in Mississippi, whither Halleck's army
followed in three parts. One under General S. E. Curtis moved to
southwestern Missouri, and beat the Confederates at Pea Ridge, Ark.
(March 6-8). The second, under General John Pope, coöperated with Flag
Officer Foote, from the west bank of the Mississippi, in the capture of
Island No. 10 (April 7). Pope then joined Halleck in the movement
against Corinth, while the fleet went on down the river, attacked Fort
Pillow three times, captured it (June 4), and two days later
took Memphis.
Meanwhile the third part of Halleck's army, under Grant, following the
Confederates, had reached Pittsburg Landing, where (April 6) he was
suddenly attacked by General A. S. Johnston and driven back. But General
Buell coming up with fresh troops, the battle was resumed the next day
(April 7), when Grant regained his lost ground, and the Confederates
fell back to Corinth.[1]
[Footnote 1: _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War,_ Vol., pp. 465-486.]
[Illustration: Driving back the Confederate line in the West]
At this point General Henry Halleck arrived and took command, and at the
end of May occupied Corinth. Memphis then fell, and the Mississippi
River was opened as far south as Vicksburg. After the capture of
Memphis, Halleck went to Washington to take command of the armies of the
United States.
%434. Bragg's Raid into Kentucky.%--The Confederate line which in
January, 1862, had passed across Kentucky had thus by June been driven
southward to Chattanooga, Iuka, and Holly Springs. The Union line ran
from near Chattanooga to Corinth and Memphis. Against this the
Confederates now moved, with the hope of breaking through and driving it
back. Gathering his forces at Chattanooga, General Bragg rushed across
Tennessee and Kentucky toward Louisville. But General Buell, perceiving
his purpose, outmarched him, reached the Ohio, and forced Bragg to fall
back. At Perryville (October 8, 1862), Bragg turned furiously on Buell
and was beaten.
%435. Iuka and Corinth.%--While Bragg was raiding Kentucky, Generals
Price at Iuka and Van Dorn at Holly Springs, knowing that Grant's army
had been greatly weakened by sending troops to Buell, prepared to attack
Corinth. But Grant, thinking he could fight them separately, sent
Rosecrans to Iuka (September 19). Price was not captured, but retreated
to Van Dorn, and the two then fell upon Rosecrans at Corinth (October
4), only to be beaten and chased forty miles.
%436. Murfreesboro.%--For these successes Rosecrans (October 30) was
given command of Buell's army, then centering at Nashville. Bragg went
into winter quarters at Murfreesboro, and thither Rosecrans advanced to
attack him. The contest at Murfreesboro (December 31, 1862, and January
2, 1863) was one of the most bloody battles of the whole war. Bragg was
again defeated, and retreated to a position farther south.
%437. Arkansas%.--In January, 1862, the Confederate line west of the
Mississippi extended from Belmont across southern Missouri to the Indian
Territory. Against the west end of this line General Curtis moved in
February, 1862, and after driving the Confederates under Van Dorn and
Price out of Missouri, beat them in the desperate battle at Pea Ridge,
Arkansas (March 6-8, 1862), and moved to the interior of the state.
Price and Van Dorn went east into Mississippi (see § 435), and when the
year closed the Union forces were in control north of the Arkansas
River, and along the west bank of the Mississippi. On the east bank the
only fortified positions in Confederate hands were Vicksburg, Grand
Gulf, and Port Hudson.
%438. Farragut captures New Orleans.%--While Foote was opening the
upper part of the Mississippi, a naval expedition under Farragut,
supported by an army under Butler, had cleared the lower part of the
river. These forces had been sent by sea to capture New Orleans. The
defenses of the city consisted of two strong forts almost directly
opposite each other on the banks of the river, about seventy-five miles
south of the city; of two great chain cables stretched across the river
below the forts to prevent ships coming up; and of fifteen armed vessels
above the forts. New Orleans was thought to be safe. But Farragut was
not dismayed. Sailing up the river till he came to the chains, he
bombarded the forts for six days and nights, while the forts did their
best to destroy him. Then, finding he could do nothing in this way, he
cut the chains, ran his ships past the forts in spite of a dreadful fire
(April 24, 1862), destroyed the Confederate fleet (April 25), and took
the city. General Butler, who had been waiting at Ship Island with
15,000 men, then entered and held New Orleans.[1]
[Footnote 1: Farragut, after taking New Orleans, went up the river and
captured Baton Rouge and Natchez.]
%439. The Peninsular Campaign against Richmond.%--The signal success
of Grant and Farragut in the West was more than offset by the signal
failure of McClellan in the East. The wish of the administration, and
indeed of the whole North, was that Richmond should be captured. Against
it, therefore, the Army of the Potomac was to move. But by what route?
The government wanted McClellan to march south across Virginia, so that
his army should always be between the Confederate forces and Washington.
McClellan insisted on moving west from Chesapeake Bay. The result was a
compromise:
1. Forces under Frémont and Banks were to operate in the Shenandoah
valley and prevent a Confederate force attacking Washington from
the west.
2. An army under McDowell was to march from Fredericksburg to Richmond.
3. McClellan was to take the main army from Washington by water to Fort
Monroe, and then march up the peninsula to Richmond, where McDowell was
to join him.
[Illustration: The Peninsula Campaign]
This peninsula, from which the campaign gets its name, lies between the
York and James rivers. Landing at the lower end of it, McClellan was met
by General Joseph E. Johnston, who caused a long delay by forcing him to
besiege Yorktown. McClellan then advanced up the peninsula, fighting the
battle of Williamsburg on the way. At White House Landing he turned
toward Richmond, extending his right flank to Hanover Courthouse, where
McDowell was expected to join him. But this was not to be, for General
T. J. Jackson ("Stonewall" Jackson) rushed down the Shenandoah valley,
driving Banks over the Potomac into Maryland, and retreated south before
Frémont or McDowell could cut him off; during this campaign he won four
desperate battles in thirty-five days. Jackson's success alarmed
Washington, and McDowell was held in northern Virginia. McClellan's
army, meanwhile, advanced on both sides of the Chickahominy River to
within eight miles of Richmond. At Fair Oaks and Seven Pines (May 31)
his left flank was almost overwhelmed by Johnston; but the latter was
wounded and his troops defeated. Johnston was then succeeded by R. E.
Lee, who, joined by Jackson, attacked McClellan at Mechanicsville and
Games Mill, and forced him to fall back, fighting for six days (June 26
to July 1, 1862)[1] as he retreated to Harrisons Landing, on the James
River. There the army remained till August, when it was recalled to
the Potomac.
[Footnote 1: The "Seven Days' Battles" are these and one fought June
25.]
%440. Lee's Raid into Maryland; Battle of Antietam, or
Sharpsburg.%--While the Army of the Potomac was at Harrisons Landing,
a new force called the Army of Virginia was organized, and General John
Pope placed in command. At the same time General Halleck was recalled
from the West and made general in chief of the Union armies. Pope
intended to move straight against Richmond. But when McClellan in
obedience to orders left Harrisons Landing and took his army by water to
the Potomac, near Washington, the Confederate army was left free to act
as it pleased. Seeing his opportunity, Lee moved at once against Pope's
army, whose line stretched along the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers to
the Shenandoah valley in western Virginia. Near the Rapidan at Cedar
Mountain was General Banks. He was first attacked and beaten; after
which Lee fell upon Pope on the old field of Bull Run, and put the army
to flight. Pope fell back to Washington, where his forces were united
with those of McClellan. Pushing northward, Lee next crossed the Potomac
and entered Maryland. But he was overtaken by McClellan at Antietam
Creek, near Sharpsburg, where, September 17, 1862, a great battle was
fought, after which Lee went back to Virginia.
McClellan was now removed and the command of the army given to General
Burnside. He was as reckless as McClellan was cautious, and on December
13 threw his army against the Confederates posted at Fredericksburg
Heights and was beaten with dreadful slaughter. Thus at the end of 1862
Richmond was not captured, and the two armies went into winter quarters
with the Rappahannock River between them.
%441. Emancipation of the Slaves%.--More than two years had now
passed since South Carolina had seceded, and during this time a great
change had taken place in the feeling of the North towards slavery. When
Lincoln was inaugurated, very few people wanted the slaves emancipated.
But two years of bloody fighting had convinced the North that the Union
could not exist part slave, part free. As Lincoln said in his speech at
Springfield in 1858, "It must be all one thing, or all the other."
Seeing that the people now felt as he did, Lincoln, in 1862 (March 6),
asked Congress to agree to buy the slaves of the loyal slave states, and
urged the members of Congress from those states to advise their
constituents to set free their slaves and receive $300 apiece for them.
This they would not do; whereupon he decided to act upon his own
authority, and declared all slaves within the lines of the Confederacy
to be freemen.
For this he had two good reasons: 1. So far the war had been one for the
preservation of the Union. By making it a war for union and freedom the
North would become more earnest than ever. 2. The rulers of England, who
wanted Southern cotton, were only waiting for a pretext to acknowledge
the independence of the South. If, however, the North engaged in a war
for the abolition of slavery, the people of England would not allow the
independence of the Confederacy to be acknowledged by their rulers.
The time to make such a declaration was after some victory gained by the
Union army. When McClellan and Lee stood face to face at Antietam,
Lincoln therefore "vowed to God" that if Lee were defeated he would
issue the proclamation. Lee was defeated, and, on September 22, 1862,
the proclamation came forth declaring that if the Confederate States did
not return to their allegiance before January 1, 1863, "all persons held
as slaves" within the Confederate lines "shall be then, thenceforth, and
forever free." The states of course did not return to their allegiance,
and on January 1, 1863, a second proclamation was issued setting the
slaves free.[1]
[Footnote 1: Nicolay and Hay's _Life of Lincoln, _Vol. VI., Chaps. 6,
8.]
Now, there are three things in connection with the Emancipation
Proclamation which must be understood and remembered:
1. Lincoln did not _abolish slavery_ anywhere. He _emancipated_ or _set
free the slaves_ of certain persons engaged in waging war against the
United States government.
2. The Emancipation Proclamation did not apply to any of the loyal slave
states,[1] nor to such territory as the Union army had reconquered.[2]
In none of these places did it free slaves.
[Footnote 1: Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri.]
[Footnote 2: Tennessee, thirteen parishes in Louisiana, and seven
counties in Virginia.]
3. Lincoln freed the slaves by virtue of his power as commander in chief
of the army of the United States, "and as a fit and necessary
war measure."
%442. The Battle of Gettysburg.%--After Burnside was defeated at
Fredericksburg, in December, 1862, he was removed, and General Hooker
put in command of the Army of the Potomac. Hooker--"Fighting Joe," as he
was called--led it against Lee, and (May 1-4, 1863) was beaten at
Chancellorsville and fell back. In June Lee again took the offensive,
rushed down the Shenandoah valley to the Potomac, crossed Maryland, and
entered Pennsylvania, with the Army of the Potomac in pursuit. On
reaching Maryland, Hooker was removed and General Meade put in command.
The opposing forces met on the hills at Gettysburg, Penn., and there,
July 1-3, Lee attacked Meade. The contest was a dreadful one; no field
was ever more stubbornly fought over. About one fourth of the men
engaged were killed or wounded. But the splendid courage of the Union
army prevailed: Lee was beaten and retired to Virginia, where he
remained unmolested till the spring of 1864. Gettysburg is regarded as
the greatest battle of the war, and the Union regiments engaged have
taken a just pride in marking the positions they held during the three
awful days of slaughter, till the field is dotted all over with
beautiful monuments. On the hill back of the village is a great
national cemetery, at the dedication of which Lincoln delivered his
famous Gettysburg address.
[Illustration: Part of the battlefield of Gettysburg]
%443. Vicksburg%.--The day after the victory at Gettysburg, the joy
of the North was yet more increased by the news that Vicksburg had
surrendered (July 4) to Grant. After the defeat, of the Confederate
forces at Iuka and Corinth in 1862, the Confederate line passed across
northern Mississippi, touched the river from Vicksburg to Port Hudson,
and then swept off to the Gulf. As the capture of these river towns
would complete the opening of the Mississippi, Grant set out to take
Vicksburg. Failing in a direct advance through Mississippi, Grant sent a
strong force down the river from Memphis, and later took command in
person. Vicksburg stands on the top of a bluff which rises steep and
straight 200 feet above the river, and had been so fortified that to
capture it seemed impossible. But Grant was determined to open the
river. On the west bank, he cut a canal through a bend, hoping to divert
the river and get water passage by the town. This failed, and he decided
to cross below the town and attack from the land. To aid him in this
attempt, Porter ran his gunboats past the town one night in April and
carried the army over the river. Landing on the east bank, Grant won a
victory at Port Gibson, and occupied Grand Gulf. Hearing that Johnston
was coming to help Pemberton, Grant pushed in between them, beat
Johnston at Jackson, and turning westward, drove Pemberton into
Vicksburg, and began a regular siege. For seven weeks he poured in shot
and shell day and night. To live in houses became impossible, and the
women and children took refuge in caves. Food gave out, and after every
kind of misery had been endured till it could be borne no longer,
Vicksburg was surrendered on July 4.
[Illustration: The Vicksburg Campaign]
Five days later (July 9, 1863), Port Hudson surrendered, and the
Mississippi, as Lincoln said, "flowed unvexed to the sea." It was open
from its source to its mouth, and the Confederacy was cut in two.
%444. Driving the Confederates eastward; Chickamauga and
Chattanooga%.--While Grant was besieging Vicksburg, Rosecrans by
skillful work forced Bragg to retreat from his position south of
Murfreesboro; then in a second campaign he forced Bragg to leave
Chattanooga and retire into northwestern Georgia. Bragg here received
more troops, and attacked Rosecrans in the Chickamauga valley (September
19 and 20, 1863), where was fought one of the most desperate battles of
the war. So fierce was the onset of the Confederates that the Union
right wing was driven from the field. But the left wing, under General
George H. Thomas, a grand character and a splendid officer, by some of
the best fighting ever seen held the enemy in check and saved the army
from rout. By his firmness Thomas won the name of "the Rock of
Chickamauga."
Rosecrans now went back to Chattanooga. Bragg followed, and taking
position on the hills and mountains which surround the town on the east
and south, shut in the Union army and besieged it. For a time it seemed
in danger of starvation. But Hooker was sent from Virginia with more
troops; the Army of the Tennessee under Sherman was summoned from
Vicksburg; Rosecrans was superseded by Thomas, and Grant was put in
command of all. Then matters changed. The forces under Thomas, moving
from their lines, seized some low hills at the foot of Missionary Ridge,
east of Chattanooga (November 23). On the 24th, Hooker carried the
Confederate works on Lookout Mountain, southwest of the city, in a
conflict often called the "Battle above the Clouds"; and Sherman was
sent against the northern end of Missionary Ridge, but succeeded only in
taking an outlying hill. On the 25th Sherman renewed his attack, but
failed to gain the main crest, whereupon Thomas attacked the Ridge in
front of Chattanooga, carried the heights, and drove off the enemy.
Bragg retreated to Dalton, in northwestern Georgia, where the command of
his army was given to Joseph E. Johnston.
%445. "Marching through Georgia"; "From Atlanta to the Sea."%--As the
Confederates had thus been driven from the Mississippi River, and forced
back to the mountains, they had but two centers of power left. The one
was the army under Lee, which, since the defeat at Gettysburg, had been
lying quietly behind the Rapidan and Rappahannock rivers, protecting
Richmond. The other was the army at Dalton, Ga., now under J.
E. Johnston.
[Illustration: WAR FOR THE UNION Breaking the Confederate Line]
Early in the spring of 1864 General U.S. Grant--"Unconditional Surrender
Grant," as the people called him--was made lieutenant general (a rank
never before given to any United States soldier except Washington and
Scott), and put in command of all the Federal armies. General Sherman
was left in command of the military division of the Mississippi.
Before beginning the campaign, Grant and Sherman agreed on a plan.
Grant, with the Army of the Potomac, was to drive back Lee and take
Richmond. Sherman, with the armies of Thomas, McPherson, and Schofield,
was to attack Johnston and push his way into Georgia. Each was to begin
his movement on the same day (May 4, 1864).
On that day, accordingly, Sherman with 98,000 men marched against
Johnston, flanked him out of Dalton, and step by step through the
mountains to Atlanta, fighting all the way. Johnston's retreat was
masterly. He intended to retreat until Sherman's army was so weakened by
leaving guards in the rear to protect the railroads, over which food and
supplies must come, that he could fight on equal terms. But Jefferson
Davis removed Johnston at Atlanta, and put J. B. Hood in command.
Hood, in July, made three furious attacks, was beaten each time;
abandoned Atlanta in September, and soon after started northwestward, in
hope of drawing Sherman out of Georgia. But Sherman sent Thomas and a
part of the army to Tennessee, and after following Hood for a time, he
returned to Atlanta, tearing up the railroads as he went. Then, having
partly burned the town, in November he started for the sea with 60,000
of his best veterans.
[Illustration: SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA]
The troops went in four columns, covering a belt of sixty miles wide,
burning bridges, tearing up railroads, living on the country as they
marched. Early in December the army drew near to Savannah; about the
middle of the month (December 13) Fort McAllister was taken; and a few
days later the city of Savannah was occupied. During all this long march
to the sea, nothing was known in the North as to where Sherman was or
what he was doing. Fancy the delight of Lincoln, then, when on the
Christmas eve of 1864, he received this telegram:
SAVANNAH, Georgia, December 22, 1864.
To His EXCELLENCY, PRESIDENT LINCOLN, WASHINGTON, D.C.
I beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah, with one
hundred and fifty heavy guns and plenty of ammunition; also about
twenty-five thousand bales of cotton.
W. T. SHERMAN, MAJOR GENERAL.
Sherman had sent the message by vessel to Fort Monroe, whence it was
telegraphed to Lincoln.
%446. Sherman marches northward.%--At Savannah the army rested for a
month. Sherman tells us in his _Memoirs_ that the troops grew impatient
at this delay, and used to call out to him as he rode by: "Uncle Billy,
I guess Grant is waiting for us at Richmond." So he was; but he did not
wait very long, for on February 1, 1865, the march was resumed. The way
was across South Carolina to Columbia, and then into North Carolina,
with their old enemy, J. E. Johnston, in their front. Hood, in a rash
moment, had besieged Thomas at Nashville; but Thomas, coming out from
behind his intrenchments, utterly destroyed Hood's army. This forced
Davis to put Johnston in command of a new army made up of troops taken
from the seaport garrisons and remnants of Hood's army. In March,
Sherman reached Goldsboro in North Carolina.
%447. Grant in Virginia.%--Meantime Grant had set out from Culpeper
Courthouse on May 4, 1864, crossed the Rapidan, and entered the
"Wilderness," a name given to a tract of country covered with dense
woods of oak and pine and thick undergrowth. The fighting was almost
incessant. The loss of life was frightful; but he pushed on to
Spottsylvania Courthouse, and thence to Cold Harbor, part of the line of
fortifications before Richmond. He would, as he said, "fight it out on
this line if it takes all summer," and went south of Richmond and
besieged Petersburg.
%448. Early's Raid, 1864.%--Lee now sent Jubal Early with 20,000
soldiers to move down the Shenandoah valley, enter Maryland, and
threaten Washington. This he did, and after coming up to the
fortifications of the city, he retreated to Virginia. A little later,
Early sent his cavalry into Pennsylvania and burned Chambersburg.
Grant thought it was time to stop this, and sent Sheridan with an army
to drive Early out of the Shenandoah valley. "It is desirable," said
Grant, "that nothing should be left to invite the enemy to return."
Sheridan set out accordingly, and on September 19 he met Early in battle
at Winchester, and a few days later at Fishers Hill, beat him at both
places, and sent him whirling up the valley. Sheridan followed for a
time, and then brought his army back to Cedar Creek, after burning
barns, destroying crops, and devastating the entire upper valley.
%449. Sheridan's Ride.%--And now occurred a famous incident. About
the middle of October Sheridan went to Washington, and while on his way
back slept on the night of October 18 at Winchester. At 7 A.M. on the
19th he heard guns, but paid no attention to the sounds till 9 o'clock,
when, as he rode quietly out of Winchester, he met a mile from town
wagon trains and fugitives, and heard that Early had surprised his camp
at daylight. Dashing up the pike with an escort of twenty men, calling
to the fugitives as he passed them to turn and face the enemy, he met
the army drawn up in line eleven miles from Winchester. "Far away in the
rear," says an old soldier, "we heard cheer after cheer. Were
reinforcements coming? Yes, Phil Sheridan was coming, and he was a
host." Dashing down the line, Sheridan shouted, "What troops are these?"
"The Sixth Corps," came back the response from a hundred voices. "We are
all right," said Sheridan, as he swung his old hat and dashed along the
line to the right. "Never mind, boys, we'll whip them yet. We shall
sleep in our old quarters to-night." And they did.[1] Early
was defeated.
[Footnote:1] Read Sheridan's account in his _Personal Memoirs, _Vol.
II., pp. 66-92.
%450. Surrender of Lee.%--At the beginning of 1865 the situation of
Lee was desperate, and in February, Alexander H. Stephens, Vice
President of the Confederacy, met Lincoln and Secretary Seward on a war
vessel in Hampton Roads to discuss terms of peace. Lincoln demanded
three things: 1. That the Confederate armies be disbanded and the men
sent home. 2. That the Confederate States submit to the rule of
Congress. 3. That slavery be abolished. These terms were not accepted,
and the war went on. Sherman marched northward through the Carolinas and
was reënforced from the coast; every seaport in the Confederacy was soon
in Union hands; Sheridan finally dispersed Early's troops, and joined
Grant before Petersburg; and the lines of Grant's army were drawn closer
and closer around Petersburg and Richmond.
Plainly the end was near. On April 2 Lee announced to Davis that both
Petersburg and Richmond must be abandoned at once. The rams in the James
River were immediately blown up, and on the morning of April 3 General
Weitzel, hearing from a negro what was going on, entered Richmond and
found that Lee was in full retreat. Grant followed, and on April 9
forced Lee to surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, seventy-five miles
west of Richmond. Grant's treatment of Lee was most generous. He was not
required to give up his sword, nor his officers their side arms, nor his
men their horses, which they would need, Grant said, "to work their
little farms." Each officer was to give his parole not to take up arms
against the United States "until properly exchanged"; each regimental
commander was to do the same for his men; and, "this done, each officer
and man will be allowed to return to his home." Immediately after this
surrender 25,000 rations were issued to Lee's men.
[Illustration: The house in which Lee and Grant arranged the surrender]
%451. End of the Confederacy.%--What little was left of the
Confederacy now went rapidly to pieces. On April 26 Johnston surrendered
to Sherman near Raleigh, North Carolina. A few days later the victorious
army started for Richmond, and then went on over battle-scarred
Virginia to Washington. May 10, Jefferson Davis was captured. When Lee
fled from Richmond, Davis hurried to Charlotte, N.C., with his cabinet,
his clerks, and such gold and silver coin as was in the Confederate
Treasury. But the surrender of Johnston forced Davis to retreat still
farther south, till he reached Irwinsville, Ga., where the Union cavalry
overtook him.
%452. The Grand Army disbands.%--As this was practically the end of
the Confederacy, the great Union army of citizen soldiers, numbering
more than 1,000,000 men, was called home from the field and disbanded.
Before these veterans separated, never to meet again with arms in their
hands, they were reviewed by the President, Congress, and an immense
throng of people who came to Washington from every part of the loyal
states to welcome them. During two days (May 23 and 24, 1865) the
soldiers of Grant and Sherman, forming a column thirty miles long,
marched down Pennsylvania Avenue, and then, with a rapidity and
quietness that seems almost incredible, scattered and went back to their
farms, to their shops, to the practice of their professions, and to the
innumerable occupations of civil life.
Of the Confederates not one was molested, not a soldier was imprisoned,
not a political leader suffered death. Davis was ordered to be
imprisoned at Fort Monroe for two years, but he was soon released on
bail, was never brought to trial, and died at New Orleans in 1889.
SUMMARY
1. After the election of Lincoln seven states seceded from the Union,
and formed the "Confederate States of America."
2. Four other states joined the Confederacy later.
3. The refusal of the United States to recognize the right to secede led
to the refusal to give up Federal forts in Charleston harbor. The
attempt to take Sumter by force led to the appeal to arms.
4. The line which separated the troops of the two governments ran from
Chesapeake Bay, across Virginia, and through Kentucky and Missouri, to
New Mexico.
5. While the Union troops held the Confederates in check on the eastern
end of the line, they broke through the line in the West, and, aided by
the Union fleet, opened the Mississippi River.
6. The Confederates were thus driven from the Mississippi and forced
back to the mountains of Georgia. Sherman was sent against them, and in
1864 marched eastward through the heart of the Confederacy to
the Atlantic.
7. Marching north from Savannah, across Georgia and South Carolina, to
Goldsboro in North Carolina, he was now in the rear of the Confederate
army in Virginia.
8. Grant, meantime, with the Army of the Potomac, had fought a series of
battles with Lee, and had besieged Richmond and Petersburg; and
Sheridan had cleared out the Shenandoah valley.
9. Lee was thus forced, early in 1865, to leave Richmond, and while
retreating westward he was forced to surrender.
SECESSION AND THE WAR FOR THE UNION
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_The South_ _The North_
The cotton states secede. Attempts to compromise.
The Confederacy formed. Buchanan's attitude.
A constitution adopted. The Crittenden Compromise.
Unites States property seized. A Thirteenth Amendment proposed.
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Buchanan attempts to provision Fort Sumter
_Star of the West_ fired on.
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Lincoln inaugurated.
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Lincoln attempts to provision Fort Sumter
The fort bombarded. The surrender.
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Arkansas, North Carolina, The call to arms.
Virginia, and Tennessee secede. The march to Washington
Richmond made the capital Fight in the streets of
of the Confederacy. Baltimore. ------------------------------------------------------------------
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_The war opens_
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_Fighting in the West._ _Fighting along the Potomac and in
Virginia_
_1861-1862._ Breaking the _1861._ The attempt to take Richmond.
Confederate line. Battle of Bull Run.
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1. Line broken at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson and driven out of
Kentucky and West Tennessee.
2. Driven out of Missouri and North Arkansas.
3. New Orleans taken.
4. Mississippi River nearly open.
_1863_. 1. Vicksburg and Port Hudson taken, and Mississippi River open
to the Gulf.
2. The Confederacy cut in two.
3. Arkansas and East Tennessee recovered.
_1864_. Driving the Confederate line eastward.
1. Sherman's march to Atlanta; to the sea.
2. The Confederacy again cut in two.
_1865_. Driving the Confederate line northward.
1. Sherman marches northward from Savannah to Goldsboro.
2. Surrender of Johnston to Sherman.
_1862_ The attempt on Richmond renewed.
------------------------ ------------------------ --------------------------
1. Frémont and Banks to 2. McDowell to move from 3. McClellan to move up
hold the Shenandoah Fredericksburg. Peninsula from Fort
valley. ------------+----------- Monroe.
------------+----------- | -------------+------------
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------------+----------- Jackson's success in the -------------+------------
Defeated by Jackson. Shenandoah valley leads McClellan, left without
------------------------ to recall of McDowell. support of McDowell,
-------------------------- is defeated, changes base
to James River, and in
August is recalled north.
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Removal of McClellan's army leaves Lee free to act.
He attacks Pope and defeats him on old field of Bull Run.
After defeat of Pope, he rushes into Maryland, where, at Antietam, he is
defeated, and goes back to Virginia.
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1. Union victory at Antietam leads Lincoln to issue the Preliminary
Emancipation Proclamation.
2. McClellan relieved of command and Burnside put in his place.
3. Burnside attacks Lee's army and is beaten at Fredericksburg.
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_1863_. 1. Burnside removed and _1864_. Grant in command.
Hooker in command. 1. The Wilderness and other battles.
2. Hooker defeated at Chancellorsville. 2. Early sent into the Shenandoah
3. Lee runs past and enters Pennsylvania. valley, where Sheridan defeats him.
4. Meade put in command. Battle of _1865_. Richmond taken.
Gettysburg. 1. Lee evacuates the city.
5. Lee beaten and goes back to Virginia. 2. Surrenders to Grant.
6. The turning-point of the war. ------------------+-----------------
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%END OF THE WAR.%