THE CIVIL WAR, 1863-1865
THE GETTYSBURG CAMPAIGN, 1863.--After the defeat at Fredericksburg,
Burnside was removed, and General Hooker put in command of the Army of the
Potomac. "Fighting Joe," as Hooker was called, led his army of 130,000 men
against Lee and Jackson, and after a stubborn fight at Chancellorsville
(May 1-4, 1863) was beaten and fell back. [1] In June Lee once more took
the offensive, rushed down the Shenandoah valley to the Potomac River,
crossed Maryland, and entered Pennsylvania with the Army of the Potomac in
hot pursuit. On reaching Maryland General Hooker was removed and General
Meade put in command.
[Illustration: WAR IN THE EAST, 1863-65.]
On the hills at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the two armies met, and there
(July 1-3) Lee attacked Meade. The struggle was desperate. About one
fourth of the men engaged were killed or wounded. But the splendid valor
of the Union army prevailed, and Lee was beaten and forced to return to
Virginia, where he remained unmolested till the spring of 1864. [2] The
battle of Gettysburg ended Lee's plan for carrying the war into the North,
and from the losses on that field his army never fully recovered. [3]
[Illustration: BATTLE OF GETTYSBURG. Contemporary drawing.]
[Illustration: THE VICKSBURG CAMPAIGN.]
[Illustration: GRANT'S HEADQUARTERS NEAR VICKSBURG. From a recent
photograph.]
VICKSBURG, 1863.--In January, 1863, the Confederates held the Mississippi
River only from Vicksburg to Port Hudson. The capture of these two towns
would complete the opening of the river. Grant, therefore, determined to
capture Vicksburg. The town stands on the top of a bluff which rises
straight and steep from the river, and had been so strongly fortified on
the land side that to take it seemed impossible. Grant, having failed in a
direct advance through Mississippi, cut a canal across a bend in the
river, on the west bank, hoping to divert the waters and get a passage by
the town. This, too, failed; and he then decided to cross below Vicksburg
and attack by land. To aid him, Admiral Porter ran his gunboats past the
town on a night in April and carried the army across the river. Landing on
the east bank, Grant won a victory at Port Gibson, and hearing that J. E.
Johnston was coming to help Pemberton, pushed in between them, beat
Johnston, and turning against Pemberton drove him into Vicksburg. After a
siege of seven weeks, in which Vicksburg suffered severely from
bombardment and famine, Pemberton surrendered the town and army July 4,
1863.
In less than a week (July 9) Port Hudson surrendered, the Mississippi was
opened from source to mouth, and the Confederacy was cut in two.
[Illustration: WAR IN THE WEST, 1863-65, AND ON THE COAST.]
CHICKAMAUGA, 1863.--While Grant was besieging Vicksburg, Rosecrans forced
a Confederate army under Bragg to quit its position south of Murfreesboro,
and then to leave Chattanooga and retire into northern Georgia. There
Bragg was reënforced, and he then attacked Rosecrans in the Chickamauga
valley (September 19 and 20, 1863), where was fought one of the most
desperate battles of the war. The Union right wing was driven from the
field, but the left wing under General Thomas held the enemy in check and
saved the army from rout. By his firmness Thomas won the name of "the Rock
of Chickamauga."
CHATTANOOGA.--Rosecrans now went back to Chattanooga. Bragg followed, and,
taking position on the hills and mountains which surround the town on the
east and south, shut in the Union army and besieged it. Hooker was sent
from Virginia with more troops, Sherman [4] brought an army from
Vicksburg, Rosecrans was replaced by Thomas, and Grant was put in command
of all. Then matters changed. The troops under Thomas (November 23) seized
some low hills at the foot of Missionary Ridge, east of Chattanooga.
Hooker (November 24) carried the Confederate works on Lookout Mountain,
southwest of the town, in a fight often called "the Battle above the
Clouds." Sherman (November 24 and 25) attacked the northern end of
Missionary Ridge. Thomas (November 25) thereupon carried the heights of
Missionary Ridge, and drove off the enemy. Bragg retreated to Dalton in
northwestern Georgia, where the command of his army was given to General
J. E. Johnston.
[Illustration: WILLIAM T. SHERMAN.]
[Illustration: CHARGING UP MISSIONARY RIDGE.]
THE PLAN OF CAMPAIGN, 1864.--The Confederates had now but two great armies
left. One under Lee was lying quietly behind the Rappahannock and Rapidan
rivers, protecting Richmond; the other under J. E. Johnston [5] was at
Dalton, Georgia. The two generals chosen to lead the Union armies against
these forces were Grant and Sherman. Grant (now lieutenant general arid in
command of all the armies) with the Army of the Potomac was to drive Lee
back and take Richmond. Sherman with the forces under Thomas, McPherson,
and Schofield was to attack Johnston and enter Georgia. The Union soldiers
outnumbered the Confederates.
[Illustration: JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.]
MARCHING THROUGH GEORGIA.--On May 4, 1864, accordingly, Sherman moved
forward against Johnston, flanked him out of Dalton, and drove him, step
by step, through the mountains to Atlanta. Johnston's retreat forced
Sherman to weaken his army by leaving guards in the rear to protect the
railroads on which he depended for supplies; Johnston intended to attack
when he could fight on equal terms. But his retreat displeased Davis, and
at Atlanta he was replaced by General Hood, who was expected to fight at
once.
In July Hood made three furious attacks, was repulsed, and in September
left Atlanta and started northward. His purpose was to draw Sherman out of
Georgia, but Sherman sent Thomas with part of the army into Tennessee, and
after following Hood for a while, [6] turned back to Atlanta.
After partly burning the town, Sherman started for the seacoast in
November, tearing up the railroads, burning bridges, and living on the
country as he went. [7] In December Fort McAllister was taken and Savannah
occupied.
[Illustration: RAIL TWISTED AROUND POLE BY SHERMAN'S MEN. In the
possession of the Long Island Historical Society.]
GRANT AND LEE IN VIRGINIA, 1864.--On the same day in May, 1864, on which
Sherman set out to attack Johnston in Georgia, the Army of the Potomac
began the campaign in Virginia. General Meade was in command; but Grant,
as commander in chief of all the Union armies, directed the campaign in
person. Crossing the Rapidan, the army entered the Wilderness, a stretch
of country covered with dense woods of oak and pine and thick undergrowth.
Lee attacked, and for several days the fighting was almost incessant. But
Grant pushed on to Spottsylvania Court House and to Cold Harbor, where
bloody battles were fought; and then went south of Richmond and besieged
Petersburg. [8]
EARLY'S RAID, 1864.--Lee now sought to divert Grant by an attack on
Washington, and sent General Early down the Shenandoah valley. Early
crossed the Potomac, entered Maryland, won a battle at the Monocacy River,
and actually threatened the defenses of Washington, but was forced to
retreat. [9]
[Illustration: PHILLIP H. SHERIDAN.]
To stop these attacks Grant sent Sheridan [10] into the valley, where he
defeated Early at Winchester and at Fishers Hill and again at Cedar Creek.
It was during this last battle that Sheridan made his famous ride from
Winchester. [11]
THE SITUATION EARLY IN 1865.--By 1865, Union fleets and armies had seized
many Confederate strongholds on the coast. In the West, Thomas had
destroyed Hood's army in the great battle of Nashville (December, 1864).
In the East, Grant was steadily pressing the siege of Petersburg and
Richmond, and Sherman was making ready to advance northward from Savannah.
The cause of the Confederacy was so desperate that in February, 1865,
Alexander H. Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States, was sent
to meet Lincoln and Secretary Seward and discuss terms of peace. Lincoln
demanded three things: the disbanding of the Confederate armies, the
submission of the seceded states to the rule of Congress, and the
abolition of slavery. The terms were not accepted, and the war went on.
SHERMAN MARCHES NORTHWARD, 1865.--After resting for a month at Savannah,
Sherman started northward through South Carolina, (February 17) entered
Columbia, the capital of the state, and forced the Confederates to
evacuate Charleston. To oppose him, a new army was organized and put under
the command of Johnston. But Sherman pressed on, entered North Carolina,
and reached Goldsboro in safety.
THE SURRENDER OF LEE, 1865.--Early in April, Lee found himself unable to
hold Richmond and Petersburg any longer. He retreated westward. Grant
followed, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House,
seventy-five miles west of Richmond. [12]
FALL OF THE CONFEDERACY.--The Confederacy then went rapidly to pieces.
Johnston surrendered to Sherman near Raleigh on April 26; Jefferson Davis
was captured at Irwinville, Georgia, on May 10, and the war on land was
over. [13]
REFLECTION OF LINCOLN.--While the war was raging, the time again came to
elect a President and Vice President. The Republicans nominated Lincoln
and Andrew Johnson. The Democrats selected General McClellan and George H.
Pendleton. Lincoln and Johnson were elected and on March 4, 1865, were
inaugurated.
DEATH OF LINCOLN.--On the night of April 14, the fourth anniversary of the
day on which Anderson marched out of Fort Sumter, while Lincoln was seated
with his wife and some friends in a box at Ford's Theater in Washington,
he was shot by an actor who had stolen up behind him. [14] The next
morning he died, and Andrew Johnson became President.
SUMMARY
1. In 1863, Lee repulsed an advance by Hooker's army, and invaded
Pennsylvania, but was defeated by Meade at Gettysburg.
2. In the West, Grant took Vicksburg, and the Mississippi was opened to
the sea. The Confederates defeated Rosecrans at Chickamauga, but were
defeated by Grant and other generals at Chattanooga.
3. In 1864, Grant moved across Virginia, after much hard fighting, and
besieged Petersburg and Richmond, and Sherman marched across Georgia to
Savannah.
4. In 1865, Sherman marched northward into North Carolina, and Grant
forced Lee to leave Richmond and surrender.
5. In 1864, Lincoln was reëlected.
6. In April, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated and Johnson became President.
[Illustration: SHARPSHOOTER'S RIFLE USED IN THE CIVIL WAR. With telescope
sight. Weight, 32 lb.]
FOOTNOTES
[1] Jackson was mortally wounded by a volley from his own men, who mistook
him and his escort for Union cavalry, in the dusk of evening of the second
day at Chancellorsville. His last words were: "Let us cross over the river
and rest under the shade of the trees."
[2] Read "The Third Day at Gettysburg" in Battles and Leaders of the Civil
War, Vol. III, pp. 369-385. The field of Gettysburg is now a national park
dotted with monuments erected in memory of the dead, and marking the
positions of the regiments and spots where desperate fighting occurred.
Near by is a national cemetery in which are interred several thousand
Union soldiers. Read President Lincoln's beautiful Gettysburg Address.
[3] With the exception of a small body of regulars, the Union armies were
composed of volunteers. When it became apparent that the war would not end
in a few months, Congress passed a Draft Act: whenever a congressional
district failed to furnish the required number of volunteers, the names of
able-bodied men not already in the army were to be put into a box, and
enough names to complete the number were to be drawn out by a blindfolded
man. In July, 1863, when this was done in New York city, a riot broke out
and for several days the city was mob-ruled. Negroes were killed, property
was destroyed, and the rioters were not put down till troops were sent by
the government.
[4] William Tecumseh Sherman was born in Ohio in 1820, graduated from West
Point, and served in the Seminole and Mexican wars. He became a banker in
San Francisco, then a lawyer in Kansas, in 1860 superintendent of a
military school in Louisiana, and then president of a street car company
in St. Louis. In 1861 he was appointed colonel in the regular army. He
fought at Bull Run, was made brigadier general of volunteers, and was
transferred to the West, where he rose rapidly. After the war, Grant was
made general of the army, and Sherman lieutenant general; and when Grant
became President, Sherman was promoted to the rank of general. He was
retired in 1884 and died in 1891 at New York.
[5] Joseph Eggleston Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807, graduated from
West Point, and served in the Black Hawk, Seminole, and Mexican wars. When
the Civil War opened, he joined the Confederacy, was made a major general,
and with Beauregard commanded at the first battle of Bull Run. Johnston
was next put in charge of the operations against McClellan (1862); but was
wounded at Fair Oaks and succeeded by Lee. In 1863 he was sent to relieve
Vicksburg, but failed. In 1864 he was put in command of Bragg's army after
its defeat, and so became opposed to Sherman.
[6] Early in October Hood had reached Dallas on his way to Tennessee. From
Dallas he sent a division to capture a garrison and depots at Allatoona,
commanded by General Corse. Sherman, who was following Hood, communicated
with Corse from the top of Kenesaw Mountain by signals; and Corse, though
greatly outnumbered, held the fort and drove off the enemy. On this
incident was founded the popular hymn _Hold the Fort, for I am Coming_.
[7] To destroy the railroads so they could not be quickly rebuilt, the
rails, heated red-hot in fires made of burning ties, were twisted around
trees or telegraph poles. Stations, machine shops, cotton bales, cotton
gins and presses were burned. Along the line of march, a strip of country
sixty miles wide was made desolate.
[8] While the siege of Petersburg was under way, a tunnel was dug and a
mine exploded under a Confederate work called Elliott's Salient (July 30,
1864). As soon as the mass of flying earth, men, guns, and carriages had
settled, a body of Union troops moved forward through the break thus made
in the enemy's line. But the assault was badly managed. The Confederates
rallied, and the Union forces were driven back into the crater made by the
explosion, where many were killed and 1400 captured.
[9] On October 19, 1864, St. Albans, a town in Vermont near the Canadian
border, was raided by Confederates from Canada. They seized all the horses
they could find, robbed the banks, and escaped. A little later the people
of Detroit were excited by a rumor that their city was to be raided on
October 30. Great preparations for defense were made; but no enemy came.
[10] Philip H. Sheridan was born at Albany, New York, in 1831, graduated
from West Point, and was in Missouri when the war opened. In 1862 he was
given a command in the cavalry, fought in the West, and before the year
closed was made a brigadier and then major general for gallantry in
action. At Chattanooga he led the charge up Missionary Ridge. After the
war he became lieutenant general and then general of the army, and died in
1888.
[11] Sheridan had spent the night at Winchester, and as he rode toward his
camp at Cedar Creek, he met such a crowd of wagons, fugitives, and wounded
men that he was forced to take to the fields. At Newtown, the streets were
so crowded he could not pass through them. Riding around the village, he
met Captain McKinley (afterward President), who, says Sheridan, "spread
the news of my return through the motley throng there." Between Newtown
and Middletown he met "the only troops in the presence of and resisting
the enemy.... Jumping my horse over the line of rails, I rode to the crest
of the elevation and ... the men rose up from behind their barricade with
cheers of recognition." When he rode to another part of the field, "a line
of regimental flags rose up out of the ground, as it seemed, to welcome
me." With these flags was Colonel Hayes (afterward President). Hurrying to
another place, he came upon some divisions marching to the front. When the
men "saw me, they began cheering and took up the double-quick to the
front." Crossing the pike, he rode, hat in hand, "along the entire line of
infantry," shouting, "We are all right.... Never mind, boys, we'll whip
them yet. We shall sleep in our quarters to-night." And they did. Read
_Sheridan's Ride_ by T. Buchanan Read.
[12] Read _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War_, Vol. IV, pp. 729-746.
[13] On the flight of Davis from Richmond, read _Battles and Leaders of
the Civil War_, Vol. IV, pp. 762-767; or the _Century Magazine_,
November, 1883.
[14] After firing the shot, the assassin waved his pistol and shouted
"_Sic semper tyrannis_"--"Thus be it ever to tyrants" (the motto of
the state of Virginia) and jumped from the box to the stage. But his spur
caught in an American flag which draped the box, and he fell and broke his
leg. Limping off the stage, he fled from the theater, mounted a horse in
waiting, and escaped to Virginia. There he was found hidden in a barn and
shot. The body of the Martyr President was borne from Washington to
Springfield, by the route he took when coming to his first inauguration in
1861. Read Walt Whitman's poem _My Captain_.