In the July (1864) number of this magazine there is an article entitled
"The May Campaign in Virginia," which gives an outline of the operations
of the Army of the Potomac in its march from its encampment on the
Rapidan, through the tangled thickets of the Wilderness, to the bloody
fields of Spottsylvania, across the North Anna, to the old battle-ground
of Cold Harbor. The closing paragraph of that article is an appropriate
introduction to the present. It is as follows:--
"The line of advance taken by General Grant turned the Rebels from
Washington. The country over which the two armies marched is a
desolation. There is no subsistence remaining. The railroads are
destroyed. Lee has no longer the power to invade the North. On the other
hand, General Grant can swing upon the James, and isolate the Rebel army
from direct communication with the South. That accomplished, and, sooner
or later, with Hunter in the Shenandoah, with Union cavalry sweeping
down to Wilmington, Weldon, and Danville, and up to the Blue Ridge,
cutting railroads, burning bridges, destroying supplies of ammunition
and provisions, the question with Lee must be, not one of earthworks and
cannon and powder and ball, but of subsistence. Plainly, the day is
approaching when the Army of the Potomac, unfortunate at times in the
past, derided, ridiculed, but now triumphant through unparalleled
hardship, endurance, courage, persistency, will plant its banners on the
defences of Richmond, crumble the Rebel army beyond the possibility of
future cohesion, and, in conjunction with the forces in other
departments, crush out the last vestige of the Rebellion."
So it has proved. The railroads are destroyed, the bridges burned, the
supplies of ammunition and provision exhausted; the flag of the Union
floats over the city which the Rebels have called their capital; the
troops of the Union patrol the streets of Richmond, and occupy all the
principal towns of Virginia; Lee's army has melted away, and the power
of the Rebellion is broken.
Before entering upon a narration of the campaign of a week which gave us
Richmond and the Rebel army at the same time, it will widen our scope of
vision to inquire