ANTIETAM, VICKSBURG, GETTYSBURG.
It is true that while good strokes were made in the West, the East did
not do her part to put down the foe as soon as she might have done,
and this was laid to lead-ers, for the troops were brave and read-y to
fight when they had a chance.
What was called “The Pen-in-su-lar Cam-paign” made a start ’twixt the
York Riv-er and the James Riv-er, on land which forms a pen-in-su-la.
Here through the spring and sum-mer of 1862, Mc-Clel-lan held large
for-ces. There was much fight-ing, and at one time the Un-ion for-ces
were with-in eight miles of Rich-mond, but in the end they had to fall
back and with-draw from the Pen-in-su-la.
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln at length felt that Mc-Clel-lan was no match for
the Con-fed-er-ate Gen-er-als, Lee and “Stone-wall” Jack-son. So he had
to put a new man at the head of the ar-my in the East. This man was
Gen. Pope who had done well in the West.
Then came the sec-ond Bull Run fight, Au-gust 29 and 30, 1862. The foe
won. Lin-coln found Pope “not up to the mark,” as a lead-er, and so put
Mc-Clel-lan back once more.
It was on the 16th and 17th of Sept. 1862, that Mc-Clel-lan and Lee
fought at An-tie-tam Creek, near Sharps-burg, in Ma-ry-land. This was
one of the most se-vere bat-tles of the war. On Sept. 18, Lee with-drew
a-cross the Po-to-mac, and Mc-Clel-lan slow-ly went af-ter him.
The Pres-i-dent had wait-ed in hopes that a “vic-to-ry” would come to
the ar-my of the East, ere he made known his plan of free-ing slaves in
some of the states. His own words are, “I had made a sol-emn vow to God
that if Lee were driv-en back from Ma-ry-land I would crown the re-sult
by a dec-la-ra-tion of free-dom to the slaves.”
So when the An-tie-tam fight came, and Lee and troops were driv-en back
from Ma-ry-land, it gave so much hope to the Un-ion cause that Lin-coln
felt it was the time to send forth the “draft” he made two months
be-fore. This pa-per said that on the first day of Jan-u-a-ry, 1863,
all slaves in those states which had left the Un-ion should be free.
The slaves in those states which had _not_ gone off, such as Mis-sou-ri
and Ken-tuc-ky, were not _then_ to be free.
It had been thought by some that harm would come from this pa-per, but
it did not. It was a wise move, and a bold one, and brought much good.
Great joy was felt at the North, and fresh hope came with the thought
that the war might soon be at an end. But there were two more years of
sad, sad work, loss, and death on both sides.
The Pres-i-dent had found that it would be best for Mc-Clel-lan to give
up his post “for good.” Burn-side took his place, but it was soon seen
that he was too rash.
His plan was to cross the Rap-pa-han-nock at Fred-er-icks-burg and
strike at the foe on the heights back of the town on Dec. 13, 1862.
There was great loss of life and no gain. The foe won.
Gen. Hoo-ker was the next man to take charge of the ar-my in the East,
but no moves were made till May, ’63.
In the mean time a great deal was done in the West. Grant once more
made a move a-gainst Vicks-burg, one of the two strong points on the
Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er still held by the foe. The North had, at times,
thought Grant “slow” but Lin-coln had great trust in him, and said,
“Wait. Give him a chance.”
Vicks-burg is on the east bank of the riv-er. Grant’s aim was to get to
his troops and gun-boats be-low the town, and the plan he took was to
march his men down the west bank, and let the gun-boats run past the
eight miles of bat-ter-ies.
[Illustration: GUNBOATS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.]
It was a-bout the mid-dle of A-pril, 1863, when the gun-boats passed
the bat-ter-ies. The troops marched down the west bank of the riv-er,
and then crossed in boats to the east side, at a point where they could
reach the foe. On the first of May there was a fight near Port Gib-son
with the fore-guard of Gen. Pem-ber-ton’s ar-my. Here the foe soon had
more of the South-ern troops come to help him, led by Gen. John-ston.
Grant saw a chance to get be-tween these two sets of troops, and on May
14, 1863, he put down John-ston. Then he beat Pem-ber-ton in two more
fights at Cham-pi-on Hills and at Black Riv-er. So the foe had to flee,
for safe-ty, to Vicks-burg, where Grant had made up his mind to take
him, af-ter a while, with all the rest of the foe he could find in that
cit-y.
Then came the Siege of Vicks-burg which went on for near-ly sev-en
weeks. The foe held out as long as there was a crust of bread left.
Grant said he should stay there till he took the town.
[Illustration: FIRST CHARGE AT VICKSBURG.]
These were his words;
“I can-not tell just when I shall take the town, but I mean to stay
till I do, if it takes me thir-ty years.”
The end came on Ju-ly 4, 1863. The foe sent up white flags on all their
lines and the men of the South filed out and stacked their arms in
front of the Un-ion for-ces.
Grant rode in-to Vicks-burg at head of Lo-gan’s corps. He was proud of
his troops and that the right had won. The news flew fast o’er the
land. Lin-coln sent strong words of thanks to Grant, gave him high
praise, and made him Ma-jor Gen-er-al.
At the same time that Grant was at work on the Vicks-burg Siege, Un-ion
troops, led by Gen. N. P. Banks, fought to get Port Hud-son which lay
at the south end of the reb-el part of the riv-er. At last it had to
yield, and on Ju-ly 9, 1863, it hauled down its flag of stars and
bars. Then the brave “boys in blue” marched in and flung out the
star-span-gled ban-ner to the breeze. From that time on the great
Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er was a safe road-way for all un-armed craft which
flew the stars and stripes.
In the East, in the Spring of ’63, Hoo-ker fought the “Chan-cel-lors-ville
Cam-paign” and lost. Then, on May 6th, he re-crossed the Rap-pa-han-nock.
Lee had tak-en his ar-my a-cross the Po-to-mac and was in
Penn-syl-va-ni-a.
Hoo-ker’s place was giv-en to Gen. George G. Meade. The Un-ion ar-my
and the foe met on the first day of Ju-ly, 1863. Friends of each side,
North and South, held their breath with fear.
Lee, who had been so strong in de-fence was now to prove, for the
last time, what he could do in at-tack. His plan to move in-to
Penn-syl-va-ni-a was a good one, but Jack-son, who had long been a
great help to him, was hurt and could not be there. Lee felt this loss.
June 3, 1863, Lee marched up the Val-ley of Shen-an-do-ah to-wards
Cham-bers-burg. The Un-ion ar-my too took the same course, but on the
oth-er, or eas-tern, side of the Blue Ridge. “Stu-art’s Cav-al-ry” held
the pass-es and this kept the Un-ion troops from know-ing what went on
on the west-ern side. Lee’s ar-my was the best of all the foe. Af-ter
cross-ing the Po-to-mac the two ar-mies looked for each oth-er. Lee,
fac-ing east, was com-ing from the west of the town of Get-tys-burg,
and Meade was tak-ing his post on Cem-e-ter-y Ridge, at the south. It
was not thought that a bat-tle, by all, would then be-gin, but “Meade’s
Cav-al-ry,” led by Bu-ford, came up-on Lee’s front guard on Ju-ly 1,
1863, and they fought. The Un-ion men were forced back and had loss-es.
Night then came on, and by that time both sides, each with a-bout
80,000 men, were in the moon-light up-on the ground. The troops were in
good trim and of high cour-age. On the next day the foe car-ried works
at both ends of the Un-ion line. The third day the Un-ion ar-my got
back the lost ground on its right. The foe then made a fierce charge
and broke through the cen-tre of the Un-ion ar-my, but were at last put
down and sent back. The end of the charge was the end of the bat-tle
and point-ed to the end of the war. In this fight Lee lost 36,000 men.
With those he lost the first time he made a thrust at the North, and
these, 90,000 of some of the best troops in the world laid down their
lives for the cause they held dear.
[Illustration: ARMY WAGON.]
Meade, at this time, lost 23,000 men. The Un-ion was saved. Meade let
Lee go slow-ly a-cross the Po-to-mac. One more move was made by Lee two
or three months lat-er in a quick dash o’er the Rap-i-dan, with the
thought that he might get a-round Meade’s right flank. But Meade was
too bright to be thus caught. Then he tried the same game on Lee but
with no gain, and so the “Cam-paign of 1863,” in the East, came to an
end.
The great news that the Un-ion troops had won at Get-tys-burg, and
that the Un-ion for-ces had al-so won in the West, and that the whole
Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er was in the hands of the boys in blue, flashed
o’er the wires with-in a few days of each oth-er.
Pres-i-dent Lin-coln’s heart was made glad. The sad look left his
face. When some one in a high post at Wash-ing-ton asked him if he had
not felt “great anx-i-e-ty” a-bout the fate of the Un-ion cause at
Get-tys-burg, he said he “Thought it would all come out right.” Then
came the ques-tion, “Why?” At first Lin-coln did not speak, then he
said:
“Be-fore the bat-tle I went a-lone to my room in the White House and
prayed to Al-migh-ty God to give us the vic-to-ry. I said to Him that
this was His war, and that if He would stand by the na-tion now, I
would stand by Him the rest of my life. He gave us the vic-to-ry, and
I pro-pose to keep my pledge. I rose from my knees with a feel-ing of
deep and se-rene con-fi-dence and had no doubt of the re-sult from that
hour.”
Get-tys-burg, Vicks-burg, and Port Hud-son made a turn-ing point in
his-to-ry.
[Illustration]