INDICATIONS OF POPULAR FEELING AT THE BEGINNING OF 1864--APATHY AND
DESPONDENCY OF THE NORTH--IMPROVED FEELING IN THE CONFEDERACY--THE
PROBLEM OF ENDURANCE--PREPARATIONS OF THE CONFEDERATE GOVERNMENT--
MILITARY SUCCESS THE GREAT DESIDERATUM--A SERIES OF SUCCESSES--
FINNEGAN'S VICTORY IN FLORIDA--SHERMAN'S EXPEDITION--FORREST'S
VICTORY--THE RAID OF DAHLGREN--TAYLOR DEFEATS BANKS--FORREST'S
TENNESSEE CAMPAIGN--HOKE'S VICTORY--THE VALUE OF THESE MINOR
VICTORIES--CONCENTRATION FOR THE GREAT STRUGGLES IN VIRGINIA AND
GEORGIA--FEDERAL PREPARATIONS--GENERAL GRANT--HIS THEORY OF WAR--HIS
PLANS--THE FEDERAL FORCES IN VIRGINIA--SHERMAN--FEEBLE RESOURCES OF
THE CONFEDERACY--THE "ON TO RICHMOND" AND "ON TO ATLANTA"--GENERAL
GRANT BAFFLED--HE NARROWLY ESCAPES RUIN--HIS OVERLAND MOVEMENT A TOTAL
FAILURE--SHERIDAN THREATENS RICHMOND--DEATH OF STUART--BUTLER'S
ADVANCE UPON RICHMOND--THE CITY IN GREAT PERIL--BEAUREGARD'S PLAN OF
OPERATIONS--VIEWS OF MR. DAVIS--DEFEAT OF BUTLER, AND HIS CONFINEMENT
IN A "CUL DE SAC"--FAILURE OF GRANT'S COMBINATIONS--CONSTANTLY BAFFLED
BY LEE--TERRIBLE LOSSES OF THE FEDERAL ARMY--GRANT CROSSES THE
JAMES--HIS FAILURES REPEATED--HIS NEW COMBINATIONS--EARLY'S OPERATIONS
IN THE VALLEY AND ACROSS THE POTOMAC--THE FEDERAL COMBINATIONS AGAIN
BROKEN DOWN--FAVORABLE SITUATION IN VIRGINIA--THE MISSION OF MESSRS.
CLAY, THOMPSON, AND HOLCOMBE--CORRESPONDENCE WITH MR. LINCOLN--THE
ARROGANT AND MOCKING REPLY OF THE FEDERAL PRESIDENT.
Despite the solid advantages obtained by the North in the campaign just
ended, the close of the winter developed the existence of great
apprehension at Washington, and a correspondingly improved feeling in the
South. It was indeed remarkable that the conviction entertained by both
sides, that the struggle was now about to assume its latest and decisive
phase, should have evoked such different manifestations of feeling at
Washington and Richmond.
At the North was seen a singular apathy, which temporarily checked
overwrought displays of popular exultation, and a mutual distrust of the
Government and the public, not at all encouraging of success in designs
demanding zealous coöperation. The thoughtful observer of Northern
sentiment readily detected the presence of depression and suspicion--a
general apprehension that the restoration of the Union was an enterprise
developing new and unseen obstacles at each step, and a confusion of views
as to the management of the war. But, in the violent exhibitions of party
spirit, the North realized its chief cause of alarm. The peace party
increased in numbers and influence with the prolongation of the war, and
the preservation of power by the Government party was clearly dependent
upon such military results, as should foreshadow the speedy "collapse of
the rebellion." In short, the North saw that the culmination of the
momentous struggle was to be reached, while it was in the throes of an
embittered Presidential contest.
There was another explanation of the altered feeling in the two sections
developed during the winter. Throughout the war, the Northern mind was
singularly accessible to the influence of sensation and "clap-trap;" hence
were always to be expected periodical galvanic excitements, followed by
revulsion of feeling. The conservative instincts of the South sought
repose rather than excitement; and the crippled condition of the enemy,
after his achievements of the summer and fall, gave the South a sufficient
respite for the recovery of much of its lost confidence. Nor was the
transition of the Southern mind, within a few weeks, from depression to
something like hopeful anticipation, based upon a mere presentiment of
prosperous fortune. The lessons of the war, not less than the teachings of
previous history, encouraged reanimation. It was contended that the
conquest of a territory so extensive, and the subjection of a people
numerically as strong and as courageous as those of the South, was
physically impossible. It was urged that the Federal successes of the
preceding summer had only placed the enemy upon the threshold of his
enterprise, and that, in surmounting the resolute resistance which had
almost defeated his earliest movements, he had vainly wasted the spirit
and the strength which were now needed for his further progress.
From such a condition of feeling, the logical conclusion was that the war
had now become a question of endurance, and that the Confederacy must now
depend upon its capacity to resist until the North should abandon the war
in sheer disgust. The Richmond journals pithily stated the problem as one
of "Southern fortitude and endurance against Yankee perseverance."
In the meantime, the enforced quiet of the enemy was diligently improved
by the Government. Probably at no period of the war did the Confederate
administration exhibit more energy and skill in the employment of its
limited resources, than in its preparations for the campaign of 1864. The
vigorous measures of the President were, in the main, seconded by
Congress, though this session was not wanting in those displays of
demagogism which, throughout the war, diminished the influence and
efficiency of that body. In the sequel, the expedients adopted did not
realize the large results anticipated. The financial legislation of
Congress did not improve the value of the currency, nor did the various
expedients resorted to for strengthening the army obtain the desired
numbers. It was calculated that the Confederate armies would aggregate, by
the opening of spring, something like four hundred thousand men, of which
the repeal of the substitute law alone was expected to furnish seventy
thousand. The real strength of all the Confederate armies, however, did
not exceed two hundred thousand men when the campaign was entered upon.
The execution of the conscription law was a subject of sore perplexity to
the administration, and, though President Davis made strenuous exertions
to remedy the difficulty, the system continued defective until the end.
The army was, nevertheless, strengthened both in numbers and material,
while its spirit, as shown in the alacrity and unanimity of reënlistment,
was never surpassed. Military success was now the end to which the
Government devoted its whole energies, as the real and only solution of
its difficulties. In time of war military success is the sole nepenthe for
national afflictions. Without victories the Confederacy would seek in vain
a restoration of its finances through the expedients of legislation.
Equally necessary were victories for relief of the difficulty as to food.
Should the spring campaign be successful, the Confederacy would recover
the country upon which it had been mainly dependent for supplies, and such
additional territory as was required to put at rest the alarming
difficulty of scarcity.
The expectation of the South was much encouraged by a series of successes
upon minor theatres of the war, during the suspension of operations by the
main armies. A signal victory was won late in February, by General
Finnegan, at Ocean Pond, Florida, the important event of which was the
decisive failure of a Federal design to possess that State.
The most serious demonstration by the enemy, during the winter months, was
the expedition of Sherman across the State of Mississippi. This movement,
undertaken with all the vigor and daring of that commander, was designed
to capture Mobile and to secure the Federal occupation of nearly the whole
of Alabama and Mississippi. It was the second experiment, undertaken by
Federal commanders, during the war, of leaving a regular base of
operations, and seeking the conquest of a large section of territory, by
penetrating boldly into the interior. The first similar attempt was made
by Grant, from Memphis into the interior of Mississippi. It is notable
that both these expeditions were marked by shameful failure. They signally
illustrated the military principle of the impossibility of successful
penetration of hostile territory, even when held by a greatly inferior
force, and, moreover, clearly indicate the fate that would inevitably have
overtaken Sherman, in his "march to the sea," had there been an opposing
army to meet him. When Van Dorn captured Grant's supplies at Holly
Springs, in the autumn of 1862, the Federal commander had no alternative
but to make a rapid retreat to his base. A similar experience awaited
Sherman, who, leaving Vicksburg with thirty thousand men, marched without
opposition through Mississippi--General Polk, with his corps of ten
thousand men, falling back before him. Coöperating with Sherman was a
large cavalry force, which, leaving North Mississippi, was to unite with
him at Meridian, and upon this junction of forces depended the success of
the entire expedition. But General Forrest, a remarkably skillful and
energetic cavalry leader, attacked the Federal column, utterly routing and
dispersing it, though not having more than one-third the force of the
enemy. This necessitated the retreat of Sherman, with many circumstances
indicating demoralization among his troops. His expedition terminated with
no results sufficient to give it more dignity, than properly belonged to
at least a dozen other plundering and incendiary enterprises, undertaken
by Federal officers who are comparatively without reputation. The exploits
of Sherman in Mississippi gave him a "bad eminence," which he afterwards
well sustained by the burning of Rome and Atlanta, the sack of Columbia,
and his career of pillage and incendiarism in the Carolinas.
A notable event of the winter was the raid of Dahlgren, an expedition
marked by every dastardly and atrocious feature imaginable. When this
expedition of "picked" Federal cavalry had been put to ignominious flight
by the departmental clerks at Richmond, its retreat was harassed by local
and temporary organizations of farmers, school-boys, and furloughed men
from Lee's army. Not until its leader was killed, however, was revealed
the fiendish errand which he had undertaken. Upon his person was found
ample documentary evidence of the objects of the expedition, viz.: _to
burn and sack the city of Richmond, and to assassinate President Davis and
his cabinet_.[72] Yet this man, killed in honorable combat, after his
cut-throat mission had failed, was apotheosized by the North as a "hero,"
who had been "assassinated" while on an errand of patriotism and
philanthropy. The shocking details of this diabolical scheme,
substantiated by every necessary proof of authenticity, were published in
the Richmond journals, and instead of provoking the condemnation of the
hypocritical "humanity" of the North, with characteristic effrontery were
ridiculed as "rebel forgeries."
The Trans-Mississippi region was, in the early spring, the scene of
brilliant and important Confederate successes. About the middle of March,
the famous "Red River Expedition" of General Banks, contemplating the
complete subjugation of Louisiana, and the occupation of Western Texas,
was undertaken. The result was, perhaps, the most ignominious failure of
the war. Defeated by General Taylor, in a decisive engagement at
Mansfield, General Banks, with great difficulty, effected his retreat down
Red River, and abandoned the enterprise, which he had undertaken with such
extravagant anticipations of fame and wealth.
In the month of April, Forrest executed a brilliant campaign among the
Federal garrisons in Tennessee, capturing several thousand prisoners and
adding large numbers of recruits to his forces. With a force mainly
organized within three months, this dashing officer penetrated the
interior of Tennessee, which the enemy had already declared "conquered,"
capturing garrisons and stores, and concluded his campaign by penetrating
to the Mississippi River, and successfully storming Fort Pillow.[73] The
most encouraging event of the spring was the capture of Plymouth, North
Carolina, by General Hoke. This enterprise, executed with great gallantry
and skill, had the tangible reward of a large number of prisoners, many
cannon, and an important position with reference to the question of
supplies.[74]
The aggregate of these Confederate successes was not inconsiderable.
Expectation was strengthened by them at the South, and proportionately
disappointed at the North. It was chiefly in their influence upon public
feeling that these minor victories were valuable, as they in no way
affected the main current of the war, and were speedily overlooked at the
first sound of the mighty shock of arms along the Rapidan and in Northern
Georgia. Indeed, the actors in these preliminary events were, in most
instances, themselves shifted to these two main theatres, upon which the
concentrated power of each contestant was preparing its most desperate
exertions. Troops on both sides were recalled from South Carolina, and
even Florida, to participate in the great wrestle for the Confederate
capital, and the impending struggle in Georgia absorbed nearly all the
forces hitherto operating west of the Alleghanies and east of the
Mississippi.
However discouraged may have been the public mind of the North at the
beginning of the year, the preparations of the Federal Government, for the
spring campaign, indicated no abatement of energy or determination. Well
aware of the diminished resources of the South, and of the political
necessities which imperatively demanded speedy and decisive successes, the
Federal administration prepared a more vigorous use of its great means
than had yet been attempted. The draft was energetically enforced, and
volunteering was stimulated by high bounties. At no period of the war were
the Federal armies so numerous, so well equipped and provided with every
means that tends to make war successful. Their _morale_ was better than at
the outset of any previous campaign. The Federal armies were now inured to
war, composed mainly of seasoned veterans, and commanded by officers whose
capacity had been amply tested in battle.
The agents selected by the Federal Government, to carry out its designs,
were men whose previous career justified their selection. The sagacity of
the North had, at length, realized the one essential object, to the
accomplishment of which all its efforts must contribute. This object was
the destruction of Lee's army. Virginia was justly declared the "backbone"
of Confederate power; Lee's army was the pedestal of the edifice. It was
in the clearer appreciation of this object, and in the determination to
subordinate every concern of the war to its accomplishment, that Northern
sentiment made a step forward, that was, of itself, no insignificant
auxiliary to ultimate success. The blows which Sherman prepared to deliver
upon the distant fields of Georgia, were aimed at Lee's army, not less
than were those of Grant. While the latter "hammered away continuously" in
Virginia, to pulverize, as it were, the column from which so many Federal
endeavors had been forced to recoil, Sherman was expected to pierce the
very centre of the Confederacy, and seize or destroy every remaining
source of sustenance.
The presence in Virginia of the General commanding all the Federal forces,
was sufficiently indicative of his recognition of the supreme object of
the campaign. The successful career of this officer was the recommendation
which secured for him the high position of Commander-in-Chief of the
armies of the Union. He was the most fortunate officer produced by the
war--fortunate not less in having won nearly every victory which could
promote the successful conclusion of the war, but fortunate in having won
victories where defeat was the result to be logically expected.
It is not at all necessary to weigh, in detail, the merits of General
Grant as a soldier. With the overwhelming argument of _results_ in his
favor, there would be little encouragement, even if there could be strict
justice, in denying superior ability to Grant. His campaigns have
contributed nothing to military science, in its correct sense, and the
military student will find in his operations few incidents that illustrate
the art or economy of war. In discarding the formulas of the schools, and
condemning the theories upon which the best of his predecessors had
conducted the war, Grant, by no means, proved that he was not a good
soldier. But his independence in this respect did not establish his claim
to genius, since his contempt for military rules and theories was not
followed by the display of any original features of true generalship. His
name was coupled with a great disaster at Shiloh, where he was rescued
from absolute destruction by the energy of Buell, and the delay of his
adversary. At Donelson, at Vicksburg, and at Missionary Ridge, he had
succeeded by mere weight of numbers; and, indeed, in no instance had he
exhibited any other quality of worth, than boldness and perseverance. But
his success was a sufficient recommendation to the material mind of the
North, which did not once pause to consider how far Grant's victories were
due to his military merit.
But whatever the defects of Grant in the higher qualities of generalship,
he was preëminently the man for the present emergency. If the Federal
Government saw the necessity of vigorous warfare, looking to speedy and
final results, General Grant knew how to conduct the campaign upon that
idea, provided the Government would give him unlimited means, and the
Northern people would consent to the unstinted sacrifice. Grant knew no
other than an aggressive system of warfare, and contemplated no other
method of destroying the Confederacy, than by the momentum of superior
weight--by heavy, simultaneous and continuous blows. The plans of Grant
were remarkable for their simplicity, and contemplated merely the
employment of the maximum of force against the two main armies of the
Confederacy, keeping the entire force of the South in constant and
unrelieved strain. By "continuous hammering" he thus hoped eventually to
destroy or exhaust it.
General Grant was again fortunate in having the unlimited confidence of
his Government, which placed at his disposal a million of soldiers, and
was prepared to accede to his every demand. To the most trusted of his
lieutenants--Sherman--Grant intrusted the conduct of operations against
the centre of the Confederacy, reserving for himself the control of the
campaign against Richmond, and Lee's army. His plan of operation was to
_destroy_, not to _defeat_, an army which he knew could not be conquered,
so long as its vitality remained. The military talent of the North had
been already exhausted against Lee, and its largest army too often baffled
by the Army of Northern Virginia, to admit the hope of defeating it in
battle. To _outgeneral_ Lee, Grant well knew required a greater master of
the art of war than himself. To _conquer_ the Army of Northern Virginia,
he, not less than his army, knew to be impossible. His calculation was to
wear it out by the "attrition" of successive and remorseless blows. This
theory was based upon the plain calculation that the North could furnish a
greater mass of humanity for the shambles, (as was afterward calculated it
could spare a greater mass for the prisons,) than the South, and that thus
when the latter should be exhausted, the former would still have left
abundant material for an army. Such was Grant's theory of the war.
Whatever may be thought of it as a military conception, the theory was one
that must succeed in the end, provided the perseverance of the North
should hold out.
General Grant determined upon a direct advance with the Army of the
Potomac against Richmond, by the overland route from the Rapidan. The
frame-work of his plan, however, embraced coöperating movements in other
quarters, which should, at the same time, occupy every man that might be
available for the reënforcement of Lee. Grant was embarrassed by no lack
of the men who were needed to make each one of these movements formidable.
The most important of these was that designed to occupy the southern
communications of Richmond, thus at once making the Confederate capital
untenable, and cutting off the retreat of Lee. This operation was
intrusted to General Butler, who, with thirty thousand men, was to ascend
James River, establish himself in a fortified position near City Point,
and invest Richmond on its south side. The other auxiliary movements were
designed against the westward communications of Richmond, and were to be
undertaken by Generals Sigel and Crook--the former, with seven thousand
men, moving up the Shenandoah Valley, and the latter, with ten thousand,
moving against the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The force immediately
under General Grant was one hundred and forty thousand men of all arms.
Thus the grand aggregate of the Federal armies now threatening Richmond
reached the neighborhood of one hundred and ninety thousand men. In
addition to these was a force at Washington, equal in strength to the
whole of Lee's army.
The Federal Government was hardly less lavish in the distribution of its
enormous resources to Sherman than to Grant. Sherman had proven himself an
officer of much enterprise. Intellectually he was the superior of Grant,
but not less than other Federal commanders he relied upon superior numbers
to overcome the skill and valor of the Confederate armies. Physical
momentum was needed to overwhelm Johnston, and was amply supplied. Sherman
demanded one hundred thousand men to capture Atlanta, and, by the
consolidation of the various armies which had hitherto operated
independently in the West, his force attained within a few hundreds of
that number.
In painful contrast with this enormous outlay of forces, were the feeble
means of the Confederacy. When the season favorable for military
operations opened, General Lee confronted Grant upon the Rapidan, and
General Johnston faced Sherman near Dalton, in Northern Georgia. Neither
of these armies reached fifty thousand men. The undaunted aspect and mien
of firm resistance, with which both awaited the perilous onset of the
enemy, were, however, assuring of the steady determination which still
defended the Confederacy. Critical as was the emergency, the Government
and the country yet believed the strength of these two armies equal to the
great test of endurance, at least beyond the perils of the present
campaign. _To hold its own_ was the primary hope of the Confederacy. If
autumn could be reached without decisive victories by the North, and the
great Federal sacrifices of spring and summer should then have proven in
vain, there was ample ground for hope of those dissensions among the
enemy, which, throughout the struggle, constituted so large a share of
Confederate expectation.
On the 3d of May, 1864, General Grant initiated the campaign in Virginia,
by crossing the Rapidan with his advanced forces; on the 5th, the
correspondent movement of Sherman, a thousand miles away, was begun. By
the morning of the 5th, one hundred thousand Federal soldiers were across
the Rapidan, and on the same day, the first round of the great wrestle
occurred. Entertaining no doubt of his capacity to destroy Lee, Grant
imagined that his adversary would seek to escape. Having, in advance,
proclaimed his contempt for "maneuvres," he was solicitous only for an
opportunity to strike the Confederate army before it should elude his
grasp. But Hooker had made the same calculation a year before, and was
disappointed, and a like disappointment was now in store for Grant.
Lee had no power either to prevent the Federal crossing of the Rapidan,
nor to prevent the turning of his right. Instead of retreating, he
immediately assumed the aggressive, and dealt the assailant one of the
most effective blows ever aimed by that powerful arm. Three days sufficed
to reveal to the Federal commander his miscalculations of his adversary's
designs, and, baffled in all his operations, he already indicated distrust
of his system of warfare, and was compelled to attempt by "maneuvre," what
he had failed to effect by brute force. The events of the 5th and 6th of
May clearly demonstrated that strategy could not yet be dispensed with in
warfare. Indeed, nothing but Lee's extreme weakness and the untoward
wounding of Longstreet, in just such a crisis, and in exactly the same
manner as marked the fall of Jackson, prevented the defeat of the Federal
campaign in its incipiency. But for these circumstances the Federal
Agamemnon would have been completely unhorsed on the 6th of May, and would
have added another name to the list of decapitated commanders whom Lee had
successively brought to grief. But the luck of Grant did not forsake him,
and he still had numbers sufficient to attempt the "hammering" process
again. Grant's first attempt at "maneuvre" was a movement upon
Spottsylvania Court-house, a point south-east of the late battle-fields,
by which he sought to throw his army between Lee and Richmond. Again he
was to be disappointed, and again did the Confederate commander prove
himself the master of his antagonist, in every thing that constitutes
generalship. The Confederate forces were already at Spottsylvania, when
the Federal column reached the neighborhood, and Lee, so cautious in his
words, announced to his Government that the enemy had been "repulsed with
heavy slaughter."
But Lee had done far more than foil Grant. He had secured an impregnable
position upon the Spottsylvania heights, against which Grant
remorselessly, but vainly, dashed his huge columns for twelve days. At the
end of that period Lee's lines were still intact, his mien of resistance
still preserved, and the "hammering" generalship of Grant had cost the
North nearly fifty thousand veteran soldiers. Men already began to ask the
question, to which history will find a ready answer: "_What would be the
result if the resources of the two commanders were reversed?_" Not even
the North could fail to see how entirely barren of advantage was all this
horrible slaughter. The "shambles of the Wilderness" became the popular
phrase descriptive of Grant's operations, and the Northern public was
rapidly reaching the conclusion that the "hammer would itself break on the
anvil."
While the dead-lock at Spottsylvania continued, and Lee held Grant at bay,
Richmond was seriously threatened by coöperating movements of the enemy.
General Grant had organized a powerful cavalry force under Sheridan, for
operations against the Confederate communications. Sheridan struck out
boldly in the direction of Richmond, followed closely by the Confederate
cavalry. For several days he hovered in the neighborhood of the city,
unable to penetrate the line of fortifications, and eventually retired in
the direction of James River.
A melancholy incident of this raid of Sheridan was the death, in an
engagement near Richmond, of General J. E. B. Stuart, the renowned cavalry
leader of the Army of Northern Virginia. This was a severe bereavement to
the South, and a serious loss to the army. Stuart's exploits fill a
brilliant chapter of the war in Virginia, and he was probably the ablest
cavalry chieftain in the Confederate army. President Davis, who was
constantly on the field during the presence of Sheridan near Richmond,
deeply deplored the loss of Stuart. The President, not less than General
Lee, reposed great confidence in Stuart's capacity for cavalry command,
and the noble character and gallant bearing of Stuart enlisted the warm
personal regard of Mr. Davis--a feeling which was heartily reciprocated.
Upon the day of his death, Mr. Davis visited the bedside of the dying
chief, and remained with him some time. In reply to the question of Mr.
Davis, "General, how do you feel?" Stuart replied: "Easy, but willing to
die, if God and my country think I have fulfilled my destiny and done my
duty."
The important correspondent movement of Butler upon the south side of
James River, began early in May. Ascending the river with numerous
transports, Butler landed at Bermuda Hundreds, and advanced against the
southern communications of Richmond. The force near the city was
altogether inadequate to check the army of Butler, and almost without
opposition he laid hold of the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad, and
advanced within a few miles of Drewry's Bluff, the fortifications of which
commanded the passage of the river to the Confederate capital. Troops were
rapidly thrown forward from the South, and by the 14th May, General
Beauregard had reached the neighborhood of Richmond, from Charleston.
Probably at no previous moment of the war was Richmond so seriously
threatened, as pending the arrival of Beauregard's forces. Mr. Davis was,
however, resolved to hold the city to the last extremity. Though much
indisposed at the time, he was every morning to be seen, accompanied by
his staff, riding in the direction of the military lines. Superintending,
to a large extent, the disposition of the small force defending the city,
he was fully aware of the extreme peril of the situation, but nevertheless
determined to share the dangers of the hour. When Beauregard reached the
scene the crisis had by no means passed. Unless Butler should be
dislodged, not only was Richmond untenable, but it was impossible to
maintain Lee's army north of James River. Yet the force available seemed
very inadequate to any thing like a decisive defeat of the enemy. The
aggregate of commands from the Carolinas, added to the force previously at
Richmond, did not exceed fifteen thousand men, while Butler, with thirty
thousand, held a strongly intrenched position.
Immediately upon his arrival, General Beauregard suggested a plan of
operations, by which he hoped to destroy Butler, and, without pausing, to
inflict a decisive defeat upon Grant. The plan he proposed was that Lee
should fall back to the defensive lines of the Chickahominy, even to the
intermediate lines of Richmond, temporarily sending fifteen thousand men
to the south side of the James, and with this accession of force he
proposed to take the offensive against Butler. Pointing out the isolated
situation of Butler, he urged the opportunity for his destruction by the
concentration of a superior force. Under the circumstances General
Beauregard thought the capture of Butler's force inevitable, and the
occupation of his depot of supplies at Bermuda Hundreds a necessary
consequence. When these results should be accomplished, he proposed, at a
concerted moment, to throw his whole force upon Grant's flank, while Lee
attacked in front. General Beauregard was confident of his ability to make
the attack upon Butler, in two days after receiving the desired
reënforcements, and was equally confident of the result both against
Butler and Grant. His proposition concluded with the declaration that
Grant's fate could not be doubtful if the proposed concentration should be
made, and indicated the following gratifying results: "The destruction of
Grant's forces would open the way for the recovery of most of our lost
territory."
Whatever his views as to its feasibility, the President could not refuse a
careful consideration of a plan, whose author, in advance, claimed such
momentous results. Upon reflection President Davis declined the plan as
involving too great a risk, not only of the safety of Richmond, but of the
very existence of Lee's army. The proposition of Beauregard was submitted
on the 14th May. At that time the grapple between Grant and Lee was still
unrelaxed. Twelve days of battle had cost Lee fifteen thousand men.
Meanwhile he had not received _a single additional musket_, while Grant
had nearly supplied his losses by reënforcements from Washington. Thus,
while Lee's force did not reach forty thousand, Grant's still approximated
one hundred and thirty thousand. The President also knew that Grant was at
that moment closely pressing Lee, moving toward his left, and seeking
either to overlap or break in upon the right flank of Lee.
The proposed detachment of fifteen thousand men from Lee, leaving him not
more than twenty-five thousand, in such a crisis, would have been simply
madness. Butler, it is possible, might have been destroyed, but the end of
the Confederacy would have been hastened twelve months. It is questionable
whether, at any moment after Grant crossed the Rapidan, the overmatched
army of Lee could have been diminished without fatal disaster. The timely
arrival of Longstreet had prevented a serious reverse on the 6th May. Is
it reasonable to suppose that Lee could have detached one-third of his
army, without Grant's knowledge, or that the energy of the Federal
commander would have permitted an hour's respite to his sorely-pressed
adversary after the discovery? The case would have been altogether
different, had Lee been already safe within his works at Richmond. Under
the circumstances proposed, he had before him a perilous retrograde,
followed by a force four times his own strength, and commanded by the most
unrelenting and persistent of officers.
But there was another view of the proposition not to be overlooked by the
President in his perilous responsibility. It is true Beauregard promised
grand results--nothing less than the total destruction of nearly all the
Federal forces in Virginia. In brief, his plan proposed to destroy two
hundred thousand men with less than sixty thousand. Again it was true the
enemy was to be destroyed in detail--Butler first, and Grant afterwards.
There were precedents in history for such achievements. But it should be
remembered that _if_ Butler should be immediately destroyed, and _if_ Lee
should be guaranteed a safe retrograde, Beauregard would still be able to
aid Lee to the extent of but little more than twenty thousand men. This
would give Lee less than fifty thousand with which to take the offensive
against more than twice that number. Against just such odds Lee had
already tried the offensive, and failed because of his weakness. He had
assailed Grant under the most favorable circumstances, effecting a
complete surprise when the Federal commander believed him already
retreating, but was unable to follow up his advantage. Was there reason to
believe that any better result would follow from a repetition of the
offensive?
Believing himself not justified in hazarding the safety of the
Confederacy upon such a train of doubtful conditions, and agreeing with
General Beauregard, that Butler could be dislodged from his advanced
positions, so menacing to Richmond, Mr. Davis rejected a plan which, under
different circumstances, he would have heartily and confidently adopted.
With remarkable promptitude, Beauregard conceived a brilliant plan of
battle, and within twenty-four hours had already put it in virtual
execution. With fifteen thousand men, he drove Butler from all his
advanced works, and confined him securely in the _cul de sac_ of Bermuda
Hundreds, where, in a few months, ended the inglorious military career of
a man who, in every possible manner, dishonored the sword which he wore,
and disgraced the Government which he served. The brilliant conception of
Beauregard merited even better results, which were prevented not less by
untoward circumstances than by the weakness of his command.
While Beauregard thus effectually neutralized Butler, Grant's
combinations, elsewhere, were brought to signal discomfiture. The
expedition from the Kanawha Valley had been, in a measure, successful in
its designs against the communications of South-western Virginia, but did
not obtain the coöperation designed, by the column moving up the
Shenandoah Valley. Sigel, in his advance up the Valley, was encountered at
Newmarket by General Breckinridge, who signally defeated him, capturing
artillery and stores, and inflicting a heavy loss upon the enemy. Sigel
retreated hastily down the Valley.
General Grant, on the 11th of May, proclaimed to his Government his
purpose "to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer," yet, within
a week afterwards, he was already meditating another plan of operations.
Forty thousand of the bravest soldiers of the Federal army had been vainly
sacrificed, and yet the Confederate line remained intact upon the
impregnable hills of Spottsylvania. A week was consumed in fruitless
search for a weak point in the breastplate of Lee. Grant was again driven
to "maneuvre." Foiled again and again by the great exemplar of strategy,
with whom he contended, Grant at no point turned his face towards Richmond
without finding Lee across his path. Moving constantly to the left, the 3d
of June--exactly one month from the crossing of the Rapidan--found Grant
near the Chickahominy, and Lee still facing him. The fortune of war again
brought the belligerents upon the old battle-ground of the Peninsula. Just
before Lee reached the defenses of Richmond, for the first time during the
campaign, he received reënforcements.[75] Grant also was strengthened,
drawing sixteen thousand men from Butler at Bermuda Hundreds.
On the 3d of June occurred the second battle of Cold Harbor. It was the
last experiment of the strictly "hammering" system, unaided by the
resources of strategy. It cost Grant thirteen thousand men, and Lee a few
hundred. Such was a fitting _finale_ of a campaign avowedly undertaken
upon the brutal principle of the mere consumption of life, and in contempt
of every sound military precept. Cold Harbor terminated the overland
movement of Grant, and he speedily abandoned the line upon which he had
proposed "to fight all summer." Not that he willingly abandoned his
"hammering" principle after this additional sacrifice of lives, for he
would still have dashed his army against the impregnable wall in his
front, but his men recoiled, in the consciousness of an impotent endeavor.
They had done all that troops could accomplish, and shrank from that which
their own experience told them was _impossible_. And there should be no
wonder that the Federal army was reluctant to be vainly led to slaughter
again. For forty days its proven mettle had been subjected to a cruel
test, such as even Napoleon, reckless of his men's lives as he was, had
never imposed upon an army. It is safe to say that no troops but Americans
could have been held so long to such an enterprise as that attempted by
Grant in May, 1864, and none but Americans could have withstood such
desperate assaults as were sustained by Lee's army.
In one month, from the Rapidan to the Chickahominy, more than sixty
thousand of the flower of the Federal army had been put _hors du combat_,
and many of the best of its officers, men identified with its whole
history, were lost forever. In one month Lee had inflicted a loss greater
than the whole of the force which he commanded during the last year of the
war! Yet this was the "generalship" of Grant, for which a meeting of
twenty-five thousand men in New York returned the "thanks of the nation."
The world was invited, by the sensational press of the North, to admire
the "strategy" which had carried the Federal army from the Rapidan to the
James, a position which it might have reached by transports without the
loss of a man.
For a brief season, hope, positive and well-defined, dawned upon the
South. Thus far the problem of _endurance_ was in favor of the
Confederacy. Grant's stupendous combinations against Richmond had broken
down. The spirit of the North seemed to be yielding, and again the Federal
Government encountered the danger of a collapse of the war.
The battle of Cold Harbor convinced General Grant of the futility of
operations against Richmond from the north side of James River. He
therefore determined to transfer his army to the south side of the river,
and seek to possess himself of the communications southward, and to employ
coöperative forces to destroy or occupy the communications of Richmond
with Lynchburg and the Shenandoah Valley. This involved new combinations,
and Grant still had abundant means to execute them. If successful, this
plan would completely isolate Richmond, leaving no avenue of supplies
except by the James River Canal, which also would be easily accessible.
Lee could not prevent the transfer of Grant's army to the south side.
Petersburg and Richmond were both to be defended, and his strength was too
limited to be divided. Grant made a vigorous dash against Petersburg. He
had anticipated an easy capture of that city by a _coup de main_, but in
this he was disappointed. Petersburg was found to be well fortified, and
the desperate assaults made by the Federal advanced forces were repulsed.
In a few days Lee's army again confronted Grant, and Richmond and
Petersburg were safe.
Thus the system of rushing men upon fortifications failed on the south
side not less signally than in the overland campaign. The Federal
commander had no alternative but a formal siege of Petersburg. Driven by
circumstances beyond his control, General Grant thus assumed a position
which, in the end, proved fatal to the Confederacy, and the results of
which have exalted him, in the view of millions, to rank among the
illustrious generals of history. The south side of James River was always
the real key to the possession of Richmond. Sooner or later the
Confederate capital must fall, if assailed from that direction with
pertinacity, and with such ample means as were given to Grant.
The new Federal combination was in process of execution by the middle of
June. After the defeat of Sigel, a large force was organized in the lower
valley, and intrusted to the direction of General Hunter, an officer
distinguished by fanatical zeal against the section of which he was a
native, and by the peculiar cruelty of a renegade. Breckinridge had been
withdrawn from the Valley, to Lee's lines, immediately after his defeat of
Sigel, and Hunter without difficulty overwhelmed the small force left
under General Jones. Forming a junction with Crook and Averill from
North-western Virginia, at Staunton, Hunter advanced upon Lynchburg,
meanwhile destroying public and private property indiscriminately, and
practicing a system of incendiarism and petty oppression against which
even Federal officers protested.
It was necessary to detach a portion of the army from the lines of
Richmond to check the demonstration of Hunter. Accordingly, General Early,
who had acquired great reputation in the battles upon the Rapidan, was
sent with eight thousand men to the Valley. Uniting his forces to those
already on the ground, General Early made a vigorous pursuit of Hunter,
whose flight was as dastardly as his conduct had been despicable.
Retreating with great precipitation through the mountains of Western
Virginia, Hunter's force, for several weeks, bore no relation to
operations in Virginia. With the Shenandoah Valley thus denuded of
invaders, Early rapidly executed a movement of his forces down the Valley,
with a view to a demonstration beyond the Potomac frontier, which was
entirely uncovered by Hunter's retreat. The movement of Early into
Maryland caused, as was anticipated, a detachment from Grant's forces,
for the defense of the Federal capital. Advancing with extraordinary
vigor, General Early pursued the retreating enemy, defeating them in an
engagement near Frederick City, and arrived near Washington on the 10th of
July. Warned of the approach of heavy reënforcements from Grant, which
must arrive before the works could be carried, Early abandoned his design
of an attack upon Washington, and retired across the Potomac, with his
extensive and valuable captures.
Signal failure attended the cavalry expeditions sent by Grant against the
railroads. Sheridan, while moving northward against Gordonsville and
Charlottesville, from which points, after inflicting all possible damage
upon the railroads to Richmond, he was to join Hunter at Lynchburg, was
intercepted by Wade Hampton, the worthy successor of Stuart, and compelled
to abandon his part of the campaign. An extended raid, under Wilson and
Kautz, on the south side, also terminated in disaster. The expedition of
Burbridge against South-western Virginia was baffled by a counter-movement
of Morgan with his cavalry, into Kentucky, the Federal forces following
him into that State.
Thus again were all of General Grant's plans disappointed, and by
midsummer the situation in Virginia was altogether favorable to the
Confederacy. There was indeed good reason for the evident apprehension of
the North, that, after all, Grant's mighty campaign was a failure. His
mere proximity to the Confederate capital signified nothing. All his
attempts against both Petersburg and Richmond, whether by strategy or
_coups de main_, had ended in disaster; the Confederate lines were
pronounced impregnable by the ablest Federal engineers, and after the
ridiculous _fiasco_ of "Burnside's mine," the capture of Richmond seemed
as remote as ever. To increase public alarm at the North, was added the
activity of Lee, his evident confidence in his ability to hold his own,
with a diminished force, and even to threaten the enemy with invasion.
The Confederate Government, fully apprized of the momentous results, with
which the present year was pregnant, and of the increased peril which
assailed the Confederacy, in consequence of its diminished resources,
depended upon other influences, than an exhibition of military strength,
to promote its designs. The cause of the South could no longer be
submitted, unaided, to the arbitrament of battle. At other periods, while
freely avowing his desire for peace, and offering to the Federal
authorities, opportunity for negotiation, President Davis had relied
almost solely upon the sword, as the agency of Southern independence. The
opening of the spring campaign of 1864 was deemed a favorable conjuncture
for the employment of the resources of diplomacy. To approach the Federal
Government directly would be in vain. Repeated efforts had already
demonstrated its inflexible purpose not to negotiate with the Confederate
authorities. Political developments at the North, however, favored the
adoption of some action that might influence popular sentiment in the
hostile section. The aspect of the peace party was especially encouraging,
and it was evident that the real issue to be decided in the Presidential
election, was the continuance or cessation of the war.
A commission of three gentlemen, eminent in position and intelligence, was
accordingly appointed by Mr. Davis to visit Canada, with a view to
negotiation with such persons in the North, as might be relied upon, to
facilitate the attainment of peace. This commission was designed to
facilitate such preliminary conditions, as might lead to formal
negotiation between the two governments, and their intelligence was fully
relied upon to make judicious use of any political opportunities that
might be presented in the progress of military operations.
The Confederate commissioners, Messrs. Clay, of Alabama, Holcombe, of
Virginia, and Thompson, of Mississippi, sailed from Wilmington at the
incipiency of the campaign on the Rapidan. Within a few weeks thereafter
they were upon the Canada frontier, in the execution of their mission. A
correspondence with Horace Greeley commenced on the 12th of July. Through
Mr. Greeley the commissioners sought a safe conduct to the Federal
capital. For a few days Mr. Lincoln appeared to favor an interview with
the commissioners, but finally rejected their application, on the ground
that they were not authorized to treat for peace. In his final
communication, addressed "To whom it may concern," Mr. Lincoln offered
safe conduct to any person or persons having authority to control the
armies then at war with the United States, and authorized to treat upon
the following basis of negotiation: "the restoration of peace, the
_integrity of the whole Union, and the abandonment of slavery_."
Upon this basis, negotiation was, of course, precluded, and peace
impossible. Mr. Lincoln was perfectly aware that the commissioners had no
control of the Confederate armies, and that the Confederate Government
alone was empowered to negotiate. He therefore did not expect the
acceptance of his passport, and added to the mockery an arrogant
statement, in advance, of the conditions upon which he would consent to
treat. Even if the commissioners had been empowered to treat, Mr.
Lincoln's terms dictated the surrender of every thing for which the South
was fighting, and more than the North professed to demand at the outset.
Abolition was now added to the conditions of re-admission to the Union.
Mr. Lincoln's proposition was a cruel mockery, an unworthy insult to the
manhood of a people, whom his armies, at least, had learned to respect.