On the night of March 8, dapper John S. Mosby and his Confederate
partisan rangers attacked Fairfax Court House, Va., only a few miles
from Washington. The most important item bagged at Fairfax by the
Confederates was the garrison commander, Gen. Edwin Stoughton, who was
captured while asleep in bed.
[Illustration: John S. Mosby (the hatless figure fourth from left),
pictured with some of his partisan rangers. The "Gray Ghost" weighed
only 125 pounds.]
From April 29 until May 8, Federal cavalry under Gen. George Stoneman
cut a swath of destruction through Virginia almost to Richmond itself.
Yet Stoneman's absence from the Army of the Potomac helped Lee win
perhaps his greatest victory. Late in April, Gen. Joseph Hooker started
southward toward Richmond with an army of 133,000 soldiers. His line of
march was through a mass of thick woods and dense undergrowth known as
the Wilderness. There "Stonewall" Jackson delivered a surprise flank
attack at a road junction called Chancellorsville.
Intense fighting lasted three days and extended from Chancellorsville
ten miles eastward to Fredericksburg. Hooker suffered 17,000 losses.
Soon the defeated Federal army was limping up familiar roads toward
Washington.
Over 12,800 Confederate soldiers were killed or wounded at
Chancellorsville. Yet the hardest blow of all was the death of Jackson.
Accidentally shot by his own men, Jackson died of complications on May
10.
Lee's army soon started on a second invasion of the North. Four reasons
prompted this thrust: (1) Southern hopes that Lee might capture an
important city such as Harrisburg, Baltimore or Washington, relieve the
pressure on Vicksburg in the West, and possibly effect a victorious
peace; (2) the hope too that a great victory on Northern soil might
cause England to offer mediation in the war; (3) the desire to transfer
the war from ravaged Virginia; and (4) the need to acquire supplies for
Confederate soldiers.
With his army at a peak strength of 75,000 men, Lee crossed the Potomac
in mid-June. Lincoln soon replaced Hooker with a Pennsylvanian, Gen.
George G. Meade. By the end of June the 90,000-man Federal army was
moving northward from Maryland into Pennsylvania in search of the
Confederates, who had turned southward in search of supplies. Advancing
from opposite directions, these two mighty forces collided at
Gettysburg, Pa.
For three days (July 1-3) Lee delivered one attack after another. The
climax of the battle came on the afternoon of July 3. Gen. George
Pickett's 15,000 men charged across an open field against the center of
the Federal line. Pickett's assault failed, with 50% casualties, and the
battle ended with this attack. Over 43,000 men were killed, wounded, or
listed as missing at Gettysburg. The Army of the Potomac had won its
first clear-cut victory. Coupled with the fall of Vicksburg on July 4,
this defeat brought Southern morale to a new low.
Lee retreated to Virginia. Both armies took strong positions on opposite
banks of the Rapidan River and awaited possible movements by one
another. Cavalry engagements and infantry skirmishes occupied most of
the remainder of that year.
[Illustration: George G. Meade (4th from right) and some of his
officers at their winter headquarters in Virginia. Note the barrel
used as a chimney for one of the winter huts.]
1864
In 1864 the Federal war machine moved into high gear. The two men most
responsible were Abraham Lincoln, who on March 9 named U. S. Grant as
supreme army commander, and Grant himself, who made immediate
preparations to strangle the Confederacy.
Grant's master plan was simple: Attack. Federal forces would attack
simultaneously at all points and apply constant pressure on the
ever-weakening Southern states. The Confederacy, Grant reasoned, could
not withstand such a continual onslaught.
Grant went east to campaign with the Army of the Potomac. Gen. Sherman
took over command of the western forces. Federal drives in both East and
West would henceforth proceed from one consistent strategy. While these
two generals mapped out details for their joint offensive, a third
Federal force met defeat in one of the fiascos of the war. On March 14
Gen. Nathaniel Banks, 40,000 troops, and 50 ships started up the Red
River. Their objectives were to gain control of Louisiana and East
Texas, to counteract threats from the Emperor Maximilian in Mexico, and
to seize large stores of cotton. The expedition was a failure in every
respect.
To make matters worse for the North, Nathan Bedford Forrest and his
Confederate horsemen stormed Fort Pillow, Tenn., on April 12 and killed
most of the Negro troops garrisoned there. Sherman dispatched all
available cavalry to rid the West once and for all of the elusive
Forrest. The result was the June 10 battle of Brice's Cross Roads,
Miss., in which Forrest won his greatest victory.
In spite of the activities of such Confederate horsemen as Forrest,
Morgan, Mosby, and Stuart, Grant and Sherman went ahead with their grand
offensives. The main Confederate defenses extended from northwestern
Georgia along the eastern edge of the mountains to Winchester, Va.,
thence southeastward across Virginia through Fredericksburg and
Richmond. Early in May both Grant and Sherman struck southward. Sherman,
leading over 100,000 veterans, marched toward the key city of Atlanta.
Grant, with an Army of the Potomac that numbered 118,000 men, retraced
Hooker's steps through the Wilderness in a new "On to Richmond" drive.
The going proved rough and costly for both generals. Opposing Sherman
were Gen. Joseph Johnston and a reorganized Army of Tennessee. Johnston
realized that his 53,000 ill-equipped soldiers were no match for a
stand-up fight with Sherman's massed divisions. The Confederate
commander therefore resorted to delaying actions and defensive battles
while Sherman tried flanking movements and sharp probes in an effort to
trap Johnston.
[Illustration: In the Federal siege lines around Atlanta, "Cump"
Sherman (legs crossed, leaning against a Parrott gun) and his aides
posed for this photograph.]
By mid-July Sherman had forced Johnston into the trenches of Atlanta. On
July 18 President Davis replaced Johnston with Gen. John B. Hood, who,
although minus a leg and the use of an arm, had a reputation as a hard
fighter. Hood quickly lived up to that reputation. On July 20, two days
after assuming command, Hood attacked Sherman along Peachtree Creek. The
Southerners were repulsed. Two days later Hood attacked again in East
Atlanta. Again the Confederates were hurled back with heavy losses. Hood
then strengthened his defenses around Atlanta, and Sherman tightened his
siege.
Meanwhile, Grant in Virginia had met with a similar stalemate--and at a
more terrible cost. Grant encountered no opposition as he started
through the Wilderness toward Lee and Richmond. But as the Federal army
crept through the tangled undergrowth, Lee's 60,000 Confederates struck
suddenly and viciously. Two days (May 5-6) of savage fighting occurred
in which Grant met a bloody checkmate.
Yet Grant did not retreat as other generals before him had done. Instead
he unfolded his new and radical policy of hammering at Lee while edging
closer to Richmond. Grant knew that Lee could not replace his losses,
for Southern manpower was all but exhausted. On the other hand, Grant
could draw on the vast manpower of the north. With Grant the Civil War
was to be a fight to the finish.
[Illustration: Bitter fighting in the "Bloody Angle" at Spotsylvania
was typical of the action in the six-week Wilderness Campaign of
1864.]
The Army of the Potomac pushed stubbornly toward Richmond. Lee tried
desperately to block it, winning victories at Spotsylvania (May 12),
North Anna (May 23), and Cold Harbor (June 3). In the last-named
engagement, over 7,200 Federals fell in less than twenty minutes of
fighting. While Lee contested Grant's moves, another and makeshift
Confederate force under Gen. Beauregard repelled a Federal stab (May
15-19) at Richmond and Petersburg by Gen. Benjamin Butler.
Grant recognized that he could not take Richmond by direct approach. He
shifted his army around the city and moved on Petersburg, a rail
junction and important link in the Confederate chain of defenses. Lee at
first was unaware of Grant's plans to attack Petersburg. But Beauregard
successfully beat back the initial Federal thrusts, thus forcing Grant
to begin what became a nine-month siege of Petersburg. Many probes were
made of Lee's defenses. The most spectacular of these occurred on July
30 and is known as the Battle of the Crater.
Coal miners in the 48th Pennsylvania Infantry dug a long tunnel under
the Confederate earthworks. Their plan was to explode 8,000 pounds of
black powder, blast a mighty gap in the Confederate defenses, and then
to use the resulting confusion for a large-scale Federal attack.
The explosion and confusion came off as planned. But the Federal assault
failed. Grant resumed his tight siege. In the fighting from the
Wilderness to Petersburg, the Federal army had suffered 60,000
casualties--more men than were in Lee's whole army. Yet Grant knew, as
did many Confederates, that Lee was now pinned down. The well-equipped
and well-fed Federal army could afford to wait.
[Illustration: The July 30, 1864, mine explosion, as seen from the
Federal lines. Newspaper correspondent Alfred A. Waud made this
sketch.]
Other related actions took place in Virginia. On May 11, Gen. Philip
Sheridan's cavalry clashed with "Jeb" Stuart's horsemen a few miles
north of Richmond at Yellow Tavern. Sheridan's men were driven back. Yet
this battle cost the Confederacy the colorful Stuart, mortally wounded
while leading his troops.
On May 15 the Confederates scored another victory in the Shenandoah
Valley. Gen. Franz Siegel and 8,000 Federal horsemen advanced up the
Valley as far as New Market. There they encountered a hastily assembled
Confederate force less than half the size of Siegel's division. The
highlight of the battle was the successful charge of 225 youthful cadets
from the Virginia Military Institute. Siegel's force suffered an
embarrassing defeat and fled down the Valley.
Both Lee and Grant recognized the importance of control of the Valley.
Yet neither could afford to dislodge his army from Petersburg. Grant
therefore organized a separate force under Gen. David Hunter with orders
to move into the Valley and "to eat up Virginia clear and clean as far
as [you] can go, so that crows flying over it for the balance of this
season will have to carry their provender with them."
To oppose Hunter, Lee rushed westward a small Confederate army under
Gen. Jubal Early. Hunter burned and looted his way as far as Lynchburg
before Early sent them scurrying over the mountains. Early then decided
to make an invasion of his own. Sweeping down the Valley, he crossed the
Potomac and moved to the outskirts of Washington. Yet "Jubal's Raid"
(July 4-20) failed when Early decided not to attack the Northern
capital.
Grant resolved that no such threat to Washington would again occur. He
dispatched a large Federal army under Sheridan into the Valley. Early,
woefully outnumbered, nevertheless put up stiff resistance. Only after
victories at Winchester (September 19), Fisher's Hill (September 22),
and Cedar Creek (October 19) could Sheridan declare the Valley once and
for all cleared of Confederate forces.
In Georgia at this time, Sherman was also meeting with success. Federal
victories at Ezra Church (July 28) and Jonesboro (August 31-September 1)
compelled Hood to evacuate Atlanta. Sherman occupied the city on
September 2. The fall of Atlanta was a valuable assist to Lincoln in his
reelection to the presidency that autumn.
[Illustration: The railroad yards and ruins of Atlanta, photographed
shortly after the fall of the city.]
Sherman felt strongly that the war had to be carried to the Southern
people themselves before the Confederacy would collapse. He therefore
laid plans to slash through the very heart of the South. The campaign
that followed is known as the "March to the Sea."
Sherman first sent part of his army under Gen. Thomas back to Tennessee
to watch Hood, whose Confederates had moved northward in an effort to
force Sherman from Georgia. With Thomas blocking Hood, Sherman on
November 16 left Atlanta in flames and started toward the Georgia coast
with 68,000 veteran fighters. Sherman met little opposition during his
advance, and on December 22 he telegraphed Lincoln: "I beg to present
you, as a Christmas gift, the city of Savannah, with 150 heavy guns and
plenty of ammunition, and also about 25,000 bales of cotton."
[Illustration: Kentucky-born John B. Hood first gained fame as
commander of a Texas infantry brigade. He was an excellent division
or corps commander, but unsuited for the leadership of an army.]
Meanwhile, Hood's strategy in Tennessee backfired tragically. At
Franklin, Tenn., on November 30, Hood hurled his army against a part of
Thomas's force under Gen. John M. Schofield. Hood's assaults cost 6,000
Confederates, including 5 generals and 53 regimental colonels. Two weeks
later, Thomas's troops all but destroyed Hood's army when the
Confederates made repeated assaults at Nashville.
Sherman's strategy had cut the Confederacy in two. Although Grant was
then no closer to Richmond than McClellan had been two years earlier,
all that remained of the Confederacy were Virginia, the Carolinas, and
isolated areas of the Trans-Mississippi.
[Illustration: Fort Darling, a Confederate defense overlooking the
James River at Drewry's Bluff. In the left foreground can be seen
one of the bombproof shelters used by defenders.]
1865
After a month's rest at Savannah, Sherman on February 1 started
northward to strike through the Carolinas and join Grant in Virginia for
the final blow against Lee. Sherman's major opposition was the remnant
of the Army of Tennessee, which had been placed again under the command
of Gen. Joseph Johnston.
Johnston could offer but feeble resistance to Sherman. Federal troops
occupied Charleston and were in Columbia when the latter was gutted by
fire. On March 10 Sherman's forces seized Fayetteville in central North
Carolina, brushed back part of Johnston's army six days later at
Averysboro, and successfully withstood a Confederate attack at
Bentonville (March 19-21).
Meanwhile, Grant had been mustering his forces for a grand drive against
Lee's weak defenses. Throughout the long siege of Petersburg Grant had
slowly extended his lines farther to the south and west. Lee had no
choice but to stretch his own meager defenses accordingly. Soon the
Southern defenses were dangerously overextended.
This was the situation which Grant had sought. On April 1 he attacked
Lee at Five Forks, sixteen miles southwest of Petersburg. The
Confederate line bent and then broke. That night the Army of Northern
Virginia abandoned the Richmond-Petersburg trenches and slowly moved
westward in retreat. At the same time President Davis transferred the
Confederate capital to Danville near the North Carolina border, Lee's
major hope was to rendezvous at Danville with Johnston's army, then
falling back in the face of Sherman's advance. Together, Lee speculated,
he and Johnston might be able to defeat first Sherman and then Grant.
[Illustration: This April, 1865, photograph shows the gutted
business district of Richmond. The prominent building in the center
was the Confederate capitol.]
The dream quickly faded. As Lee's army plodded westward, Grant's
divisions snipped at its heels at Amelia Court House (April 4-5),
Sailor's Creek (April 6), High Bridge (April 7), and Farmville (April
7). On April 8, near Appomattox Court House, Lee found the way blocked
by massed infantry and cavalry under Sheridan. The Confederates were
surrounded. On Palm Sunday, April 9, Lee surrendered to Grant. Three
days later, 28,000 Confederates in the Army of Northern Virginia stacked
their muskets before silent lines of Federal soldiers.
Lee's surrender left Johnston with no place to go. On April 26, near
Durham, N. C., the Army of Tennessee laid down its arms before Sherman's
forces. With the surrender of isolated forces in the Trans-Mississippi
West on May 4, 11, and 26, the most costly war in American history came
to an end.
[Illustration: The imposing farmhouse of Wilmer McLean was the site
of Lee's surrender to Grant.]
[Illustration: In contrast, Johnston surrendered to Sherman in the
small frame cottage of James Bennett.]
[Illustration: THE CIVIL WAR
1861-1865
Compiled and drawn by Caroline Gray Holcomb SEPT. 1963]