City Point, just after its capture by Butler. From June, 1864, until
April, 1865, City Point, at the juncture of the Appomattox and the James,
was a point of entry and departure for more vessels than any city of the
South including even New Orleans in times of peace. Here landed supplies
that kept an army numbering, with fighting force and supernumeraries,
nearly one hundred and twenty thousand well-supplied, well-fed,
well-contented, and well-munitioned men in the field. This was the
marvelous base--safe from attack, secure from molestation. It was meals
and money that won at Petersburg, the bravery of full stomachs and
warm-clothed bodies against the desperation of starved and shivering
outnumbered men. A glance at this picture tells the story. There is no
need of rehearsing charges, countercharges, mines, and counter-mines. Here
lies the reason--Petersburg had to fall. As we look back with a
retrospective eye on this scene of plenty and abundance, well may the
American heart be proud that only a few miles away were men of their own
blood enduring the hardships that the defenders of Petersburg suffered in
the last campaign of starvation against numbers and plenty.
[Illustration: THE FORCES AT LAST JOIN HANDS