[Illustration: Sculpture of a boat carrying several classical figures.]
Drawn by Will H. Low.
The World's Fair at Chicago.
Central Portion of MacMonnies Fountain--Effect of Electric Light.
HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES
FROM THE EARLIEST DISCOVERY OF AMERICA TO THE PRESENT TIME
BY
E. BENJAMIN ANDREWS
CHANCELLOR OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
FORMERLY PRESIDENT OF BROWN UNIVERSITY
With 650 Illustrations and Maps
VOLUME IV.
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1912
COPYRIGHT, 1894 AND 1903, BY
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
[Illustration: Scribner's logo.]
CONTENTS
PERIOD IV
CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
(Continued)
1860--1868
CHAPTER V. THE STRUGGLE FOR THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
Three Great Lines of Campaign.—Confederate Posts in Kentucky.—Surrender
of Fort Henry.—Siege of Fort Donelson.—Capture.—Kentucky Cleared of
Armed Confederates.—Pope Captures Island No. 10.—Gunboat Fight.—Memphis
Ours.—Battle of Pittsburg—Landing.—Defeat and Victory.—Farragut and
Butler to New Orleans.—Battle.—Victory.—The Crescent City Won.—On to
Vicksburg.—Iuka.—Corinth.—Grant's Masterly Strategy.—Sherman's
Movements.—McClernand's.—Gunboats pass Vicksburg.—Capture of Jackson,
Miss.—Battle of Champion's Hill.—Siege of Vicksburg.—Famine within.—The
Surrender.
CHAPTER VI. THE WAR IN THE CENTRE
Bragg Invades Kentucky.—Buell Saves Louisville.—Battle of
Perryville.—Of Stone River.—Losses.—Chickamauga.—Thomas the "Rock of
Chickamauga."—Grant to the Front.—Bragg's Movements.—Chattanooga.—The
"Battle above the Clouds."—Capture of Missionary Ridge.—Bragg's Army
Broken Up.—Grant Lieutenant-General.—Plan of Campaign for
1864-65.—Sherman's Army.—Skirmishes.—Kenesaw Mountain.—Johnston at
Bay.—Hood in Command.—Assumes the Offensive.—Sherman in
Atlanta.—Losses.—Hood to Alabama and Tennessee.—The March to the
Sea.—Living on the Country.—Sherman at Savannah.—Hardee Evacuates.—A
Christmas Gift.—The Blow to the Confederacy.—Thomas Crushes
Hood.—Sherman Marches North.—Charleston Falls.—Columbia.—Johnston
Routed at Bentonville.—Sherman Master of the Carolinas.—Johnston
Surrenders.
CHAPTER VII. THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS OF 1862--63
McClellan to Fortress Monroe.—Yorktown.—Williamsburg.—Fair Oaks.—Lee in
Command.—McDowell Retained at Fredericksburg.—Lee Assumes the
Offensive.—Gaines's Mill.—The Seven Days' Retreat.—Malvern Hill.—Union
Army at Harrison's Landing.—Discouragement.—McClellan Leaves the
Peninsula.—Pope's Advance on Richmond.—Retreat.—Jackson in his
Rear.—Second Battle of Bull Run.—Pope Defeated.—Chantilly.—McClellan
again Commander.—Lee in Maryland.—South Mountain.—Antietam.—Lee
Escapes.—McClellan Removed and Burnside in Command.—Fredericksburg.—The
Battle.—Hooker General-in-Chief.—Chancellorsville.—Flank Movement by
Jackson.—Battle of May 3d.—Lee in Pennsylvania.—Convergence to
Gettysburg.—First Day's Battle.—Second Day.—Third.—Pickett's
Charge.—Failure.—Lee Escapes.—Significance of this Battle.
CHAPTER VIII. COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY
Grant Comes East.—Battle of the
Wilderness.—Flanking.—Spottsylvania.—The "Bloody Angle."—Butler
"Bottled Up" at Bermuda.—Grant at the North Anna.—At Cold
Harbor.—Change of Base to the James.—Siege of Petersburg.—The
Mine.—Washington in Peril.—Operations in Shenandoah Valley.—"Sheridan's
Ride."—Further Work at Petersburg.—Distress at the South.—Lee's
Problem.—Battle at Five Forks.—Blue-coats in Petersburg.—Davis and his
Government Leave Richmond.—Union Army Enters.—Grant Pursues Lee.—The
Surrender.—Assassination of President Lincoln.—Johnston Grounds
Arms.—Capture of Jefferson Davis.
CHAPTER IX. THE WAR ON THE SEA
Classification of Naval Deeds.—Our Navy when the War
Began.—Enlargement.—Blockading.—Difficulty and Success.—Alternate
Tediousness and Excitement.—Blockade-running Tactics.—Expeditions to
Aid the Blockade.—To Port Royal.—To Roanoke Island.—Confederate
Navy.—The Merrimac.—Sinks the Cumberland, Burns the Congress.—Monitor
and Merrimac.—An Era in Naval Architecture and Warfare.—Operations
before Charleston.—The Atlanta.—The Albemarle.—Blown Up by
Cushing.—Farragut in Mobile Harbor.—Fort Fisher Taken.—Southern
Cruisers upon the High Seas.—Destructive.—The Sumter.—The Alabama.—Her
Career.—Fights the Kearsarge.—Sinks.
CHAPTER X. FOREIGN RELATIONS. FINANCE. EMANCIPATION.
Views of the War Abroad.—England's Hostility.—Causes.—The Trent
Affair.—Seward's Reasoning.—Great Britain's Breach of Neutrality.—Louis
Napoleon's Hypocrisy.—Invasion of Mexico.—Maximilian.—War
Expenditure.—How Met.—Duties.—Internal Revenue.—Loans.—Bonds.—Treasury
Notes.—Treasurer's Report, July 1, 1865.—Errors of War
Financiering.—Confederate Finances.—High Prices at South.—Problem of
the Slave in Union Lines.—"Contraband of War."—Rendition by United
States Officers.—Arguments for Emancipation.—Congressional
Legislation.—Abolition in District of Columbia.—Negro
Soldiers.—Preliminary Proclamation.—Final Effects.—Mr. Lincoln's
Difficulties.—Republican
Opposition.—Abolitionist.—Democratic.—Copperhead.—Yet he is Re-elected.
CHAPTER XI. RECONSTRUCTION
Delicacy of the Task.—Reasons.—The Main Constitutional
Question.—Different Views.—The Other Questions.—Answer.—Periods of
Reconstruction.—During War.—President Lincoln.—Johnson.—His
Policy.—Carried Out.—Congress Rips up his Work.—Why.—South's Attitude
just after War.—Toward Negroes.—XIVth Amendment.—Rejected by Southern
States.—Iron Law of 1867.—Carried through.—Antagonism between President
Johnson and Congress.—Attempt to Impeach Johnson.—Fails.
PERIOD V
THE CEMENTED UNION
1868-1888
CHAPTER I. POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE LAST TWO DECADES
Grant's First Election.—His Work During Reconstruction.—Its
Difficulty.—Bayonet Rule in the South.—The Force Act.—Danger to State
Independence.—"Liberal Republican" Movement.—The Greeley Campaign,
1872.—Grant again Elected.—Fresh Turmoil at the South.—Culminates in
Louisiana.—Blood Shed.—The Kellogg Government Sustained in that
State.—A Solid South.—The Election of 1876.—In Doubt.—The Returns.—The
Electoral Commission of 1877.—Hayes Seated.—The Electoral Count Act,
1886.—Hayes's Administration.—End of the Bayonet Regime.—Garfield's
Nomination.—And Election.—And Assassination.—The Guiteau Trial.—Civil
Service Reform.—Under Grant.—Under Hayes.—Need of it.—Credit Mobilier
Scandal.—The Pendleton Act Passed.—Its Nature and Operation.—Recovery
of Power by the Democracy.—Election of Cleveland.—The Civil
Service.—Presidential Succession Act of 1886.—Its Necessity.—And
Provisions.
CHAPTER II. THE TREATY OF WASHINGTON.
A Shining Instance of Peaceful International Methods.—Earlier
Negotiations.—"ALABAMA CLAIMS" Insisted on.—A Joint Commission.—Its
Personnel.—A Treaty Drafted and Ratified.—Its Provisions.—Northwest
Boundary Question.—Minor Claims.—The Alabama Claims.—Geneva
Tribunal.—Personnel.—No Pay for Indirect Losses.—Importance of the
Case.—The Three Rules of the Washington Treaty.—Position of Great
Britain Relative to These.—Their Meaning.—An Advance in International
Law.—The Other Cruisers.—The Award.—Charles Francis Adams.—The Money
Paid.—Its History.
CHAPTER III. THE FISHERIES DISPUTE.
Fishery Clause of the Treaty of 1783.—Value of the Rights it
Conveyed.—Effect of War of 1812.—Convention of 1818.—Its Fateful
Provisions.—Troubles in Consequence.—The Reciprocity of 1854.—Repeal in
1865.—New Troubles.—Reciprocity by Treaty of Washington, from
1871.—Repealed in 1885.—Why—Friction in 1886.—Strict Enforcement by
Canada of Convention of 1818.—Severities.—Their Animus.—Pleas of the
United States Government.—Threat of Retaliation.—Commission to Draft
New Treaty.—Indecisive Result.—Northwestern Fisheries Question Settled.
CHAPTER IV. THE SOUTH.
The Results of Congressional Reconstruction.—Restoration of White
Rule.—Ku-Klux-Klan.—Improvement.—Loyalty at the
South.—Prosperity.—Cotton.—Manufacturing.—Iron.— Marble.—Southern
Cities.—Country Parts.—State of Florida.
CHAPTER V. THE WEST.
New States and Territories.—Alaska.—Its Resources.—Both Sides of the
Rockies Filling Up.—Pacific Railways.—Colorado.—California.—Great
American Desert.—Tabular View of the West's Growth.—Western
Cities.—Minnesota.—St. Paul, Minneapolis, Duluth.—Duluth and
Chicago.—Statistics of Immigration.
CHAPTER VI. THE EXPOSITION OF 1876.
Origin of the Plan.—Organization.—Financial Basis.—Conclusion to Make
it a World Affair.—To be at Philadelphia.—Building.—Opening
Exercises.—The Main Building.—Arrangement and Contents.—The American
Exhibit.—Machinery Hall.—The Corliss Engine.—Agricultural
Hall.—Memorial Hall.—The Art Exhibit.—Horticultural Hall.—Minor
Arrangements and Structures.—The Fourth of July Celebration.—Original
Copy of the Declaration of Independence Read.—Interest in the
Philadelphia Exposition.
CHAPTER VII. ECONOMIC POLITICS
Reduction of National Debt.—Refunding.—Surplus.—Tariff.—Its History
since the War.—Policy of the Political Parties.—Tariffs of 1890 and
1894.—Trusts.—The Dollar of the Fathers.—Resumption of Specie
Payments.—The Promissory Greenback.—Fiat Greenback Theory.—And
Party.—Great Strike of 1877.—Labor Movement and Labor
Question.—Corporations.—Their Evil
Influence.—Counter-organizations.—Growth of our Urban Population.
CHAPTER VIII. THE MARCH OF INDUSTRY.
Progress in Cotton Manufacturing.—In Woollen, Iron, and Other.—In
Travel.—New Submarine Cables.—First Pacific
Railway.—Others.—Consolidation of Railways.—Electric Lighting.—Brooklyn
Bridge.—Elevated Railways and New Modes of Surface
Traction.—Telephone.—Black Friday.—Chicago Fire.—Boston Fire.—Hard
Times of 1873.—Material Betterment for Last Two Decades.
CHAPTER IX. END OF THE PERIOD.
Contrast of New Things with Old.—Postal Arrangements.—Art.—Extension of
Suffrage.—Woman's Rights.—Higher Education for Women.—Socialism and
State Socialism.—Widened Scope of Governmental Action.—Restriction of
Immigration.—Catholics.—Their Attitude to Public Schools.—Peril to
Family.—Mormonism.—Divorce.—Danger from a Secular Spirit.—New Sense of
Nationality.—Benign Results.—Greely Expedition to Polar Regions.—Lesson
of our National Success to Other Nations.—Our Nation's Duty in World
Affairs.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE WORLD'S FAIR AT CHICAGO. CENTRAL PORTION OF MACMONNIES
FOUNTAIN--EFFECT OF ELECTRIC LIGHT.
GENERAL JOHN POPE.
GENERAL WILLIAM T. SHERMAN.
THE BATTLE OF THE RAMS AT MEMPHIS, JUNE 6, 1862.
FARRAGUT IN THE MAIN-RIGGING. (From the original by William Page).
GENERAL HENRY W. HALLECK.
GENERAL WILLIAM S. ROSECRANS.
GENERAL GEORGE H. THOMAS.
GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER.
THE BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. (The "Battle above the Clouds ").
GENERAL JAMES B. McPHERSON.
GENERAL DAVID D. PORTER.
GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE.
GENERAL NATHANIEL P. BANKS.
GENERAL J. E. B. STUART'S RAID UPON POPE'S HEADQUARTERS.
AUGUST 22, 1862, WHEN POPE'S DESPATCH-BOOK FELL INTO THE HANDS OF THE
CONFEDERATES.
GENERAL THOMAS J. ("STONEWALL") JACKSON.
GENERAL EDWIN V. SUMNER.
GENERAL WINFIELD S. HANCOCK.
GENERAL AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE.
THE STONE WALL AT FREDERICKSBURG.
GENERAL OLIVER O. HOWARD.
GENERAL JOHN SEDGWICK.
GENERAL JAMES LONGSTREET.
GENERAL GEORGE G. MEADE.
DEATH OF GENERAL SEDGWICK AT SPOTTSYLVANIA, MAY 9, 1864.
GENERAL DAVID HUNTER.
GENERAL LEE SIGNING THE TERMS OF SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX COURT-HOUSE.
GIDEON WELLES.
THE SINKING OF THE FRIGATE CUMBERLAND BY THE MERRIMAC IN HAMPTON ROADS,
MARCH 8, 1862.
JOHN ERICSSON.
SECTIONAL VIEW OF MONITOR THROUGH TURRET AND PILOT-HOUSE.
THE ORIGINAL MONITOR.
THE SINKING OF THE ALABAMA.
THE LANDING OF THE ALLIED TROOPS AT VERA CRUZ.
MAXIMILIAN WATCHING THE DEPARTURE OF THE LAST FRENCH TROOPS FROM THE
CITY OF MEXICO.
SALMON PORTLAND CHASE, SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY DURING THE CIVIL WAR.
FACSIMILE OF A PORTION OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S DRAFT OF THE PRELIMINARY
PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION, SEPTEMBER, 1862. (From the original in the
Library of the State of New York, Albany).
EDWIN M. STANTON.
ULYSSES S. GRANT.
SAMUEL J. TILDEN. (After a pastel by Sarony in the house at Gramercy Park).
JAMES A. GARFIELD.
JAMES G. BLAINE.
PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND.
A FACSIMILE PUT IN EVIDENCE BEFORE THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE.
THE MOUTH OF THE MIAMI RIVER, FLORIDA.
THE SITE OF CHICAGO.
AN OHIO RIVER FLAT-BOAT.
AN IRRIGATED ORANGE GROVE AT RIVERSIDE, CALIFORNIA.
THE IRRIGATING RESERVOIR AT WALNUT GROVE, ARIZONA, SHOWING THE
ARTIFICIAL LAKE PARTLY FILLED.
AT THE CENTENNIAL EXPOSITION, PHILADELPHIA, 1876.
THE AMERICAN LINE STEAMSHIP ST. LOUIS, LAUNCHED FROM THE CRAMPS DOCKS,
NOVEMBER 12, 1894. (554 feet long, 11,000 tons, and 20,000 horse-power).
CORNELIUS VANDERBILT.
THE BIG LOOP ON THE GEORGETOWN BRANCH OF THE UNION PACIFIC, COLORADO.
CHARLES F. BRUSH.
MOSES G. FARMER.
THOMAS A. EDISON.
THE HOOSAC TUNNEL LIT BY GLOW LAMPS, AFTER THE PLAN OF THE MARR
CONSTRUCTION COMPANY.
EDISON'S PLATINUM LAMP ON CARBON SUPPORT, 1879.
EDISON'S PAPER CARBON LAMP.
EDISON'S FIRST INCANDESCENT PLATINUM LAMP.
THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE, LOOKING UP THE EAST RIVER.
THE MANHATTAN ELEVATED RAILWAY, NEW YORK.
UNDER SIDE OF A MODERN SWITCHBOARD, SHOWING 2,000 TELEGRAPH WIRES.
PROFESSOR BELL SENDING THE FIRST MESSAGE, BY LONG-DISTANCE TELEPHONE,
FROM NEW YORK TO CHICAGO.
THE NEW YORK GOLD ROOM ON "BLACK FRIDAY," SEPTEMBER 24,1869.
A SCENE DURING THE CHICAGO FIRE.
CATCHING THE MAIL POUCH FROM THE CRANE.
IGLOOS, OR ESQUIMAU HUTS.
A. W. GREELY.
LIST OF MAPS
THE CONFEDERATE LINE FROM COLUMBUS TO BOWLING GREEN.
FORT HENRY.
FORT DONELSON.
NEW MADRID AND ISLAND NUMBER TEN.
MEMPHIS TO IUKA, 1862.
OPERATIONS IN LOUISIANA. FEBRUARY TO JULY, 1863.
ATLANTA TO SAVANNAH.
THE BATTLE-FIELD OF NASHVILLE.
MAP OF NORTH CAROLINA.
JACKSON'S ATTACK ON HOWARD, MAY 1, 1863.
DIAGRAM OF THE ATTACK ON SICKLES AND SYKES.
THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
GENERAL EARLY'S MARYLAND CAMPAIGN.
GRANT'S PURSUIT OF LEE, APRIL, 1865.
MAP OF HAMPTON ROADS.
PERIOD IV.
CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION
(Continued)
1860-1868
CHAPTER V.
THE STRUGGLE FOR THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY
The North conducted the war upon three great lines of campaign: 1. The
Western campaigns, to clear the Mississippi River and thus divide the
Confederacy. 2. The campaigns in the centre, to reach the sea at Mobile,
Savannah, or Charleston, cutting the Confederacy a second time. 3. The
Eastern campaigns, to take Richmond, and capture or destroy the main
Confederate army, ending the Confederacy. This chapter deals with the
Western campaigns alone.
The opening of 1862 found the Confederates in possession of a strong
line across the southern portion of Western Kentucky, stretching from
Bowling Green, near the centre of the State, to Columbus on the
Mississippi. The two gates of this line were Forts Henry and Donelson,
on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, respectively, just over the
Tennessee border. If these forts could be taken the Confederates must
give up Kentucky.
[Illustration: Map of western Kentucky.]
The Confederate Line from Columbus to Bowling Green.
[Illustration: Map.]
Fort Henry.
On February 6th, after a two hours' bombardment, Fort Henry surrendered
to General Grant, who had come up the river from Cairo with 17,000
troops, and with seven gunboats commanded by Commodore Foote. Most of
the garrison, about 3,000, had been sent off before the fleet opened
fire, General Tilghman foreseeing that he could not hold the fort. The
land forces arrived too late to cut off their retreat, and they escaped
safely to Fort Donelson, some dozen miles to the east.
Grant marched at once to invest Donelson, and sat down before it on the
12th with 15,000 men. The stronghold stood upon a bluff 100 feet high.
On the east it was protected by the Cumberland River; on the north and
south by two flooded creeks. Along a crest back of the fort a mile or
two ran a semicircular line of rifle-pits, with abatis in front. Nine
batteries were posted at various points along the line. Donelson was
garrisoned by 20,000 men under Generals Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner, who
quietly looked on while Grant's smaller army hemmed them in. On the 14th
the gunboats opened fire upon the water batteries between fort and
river. Commodore Foote steamed up boldly within 400 yards and pounded
the opposing works with his heavy guns. He did little damage, however,
while the Confederate fire proved very effective against him. His
flag-ship, the Hartford, was struck fifty-nine times. A shot crashed
into the pilothouse, destroying the wheel and wounding Foote himself.
The boat became unmanageable and drifted down-stream. A shot cut the
tiller-ropes of the Louisville. The other boats were also considerably
damaged, and after an action of an hour and a half, the entire fleet
withdrew.
[Illustration: Map.]
Fort Donelson.
But Grant's army had been re-enforced to 27,000. Three divisions, under
Smith, Wallace, and McClernand, stretched in a semicircle about Donelson
from north to south. On the night of the 14th the Confederate generals
held a consultation, and decided to try cutting their way out. Most of
the troops were withdrawn from the rifle-pits during the night, and
massed on the Union right. The weather had suddenly turned frosty, and
the Union men, without tents or camp-fires, many even without blankets,
shivered all night in the intense cold. Before dawn the attacking column
from inside, 10,000 strong, rushed through the woods and fell upon
McClernand's division, which formed the Union right. For hours the woods
rang with musketry and the southern yell. Slowly the Confederates drove
the Unionists before them and gained the road running south to
Charlotte, opening to themselves the way of escape.
This, however, they had not yet utilized, when, about one o'clock,
General Grant, who had been aboard the fleet consulting with Commodore
Foote, came upon the field. Learning that the foe had begun to fight
with full haversacks, he instantly divined that they were trying to make
their escape, and inferred that their forces had been mostly withdrawn
from opposite the Union left to make this attack against the right.
General Smith was therefore instantly ordered to fall upon the
Confederate right. As Grant had surmised, the intrenchments there were
easily carried. Meanwhile the demoralized soldiers of the Union right
and centre rallied, and drove the Confederates back to their
intrenchments. At daybreak Buckner sent to Grant for terms of
capitulation. "No terms except unconditional and immediate surrender can
be accepted: I propose to move immediately upon your works," was the
answer. The resolute words rang through the North, carrying big hope in
their remotest echo. Donelson surrendered. Floyd and Pillow had sneaked
away during the night, the former monopolizing the few boats to
transport his own brigade. Fifteen thousand troops remained and were
taken prisoners.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General John Pope.
The capture of Henry and Donelson necessitated the evacuation of Bowling
Green and Columbus. Kentucky was now clear of Confederates, and the
Mississippi open down to Island Number Ten. This island lay in a bend of
the river at the extreme northwestern corner of Tennessee. The great
stream here runs northwest for a dozen miles, then sharply turns to the
south again. New Madrid stands at this northern bend. It was protected
by Confederate fortifications and gunboats. Early in March, General
Halleck, now at the head of the Western Department, sent General Pope
against New Madrid with 20,000 men. The enemy fled to Island Number Ten,
leaving thirty-three guns, besides ammunition and many tents.
Island Number Ten was strongly fortified. Commodore Foote came down the
river with seventeen gunboats, and on March 16th began a bombardment
which was kept up for three weeks with little effect; but early in April
Pope got upon the Tennessee shore, in the undefended rear of the island,
and by intercepting its communication to the south, forced it to
surrender, April 8th. Seven thousand prisoners, one hundred heavy siege
guns, several thousand small arms, besides large stores of ammunition
and supplies, were thus secured, without the loss of a single Union
soldier. This exploit brought to Pope great fame.
Pope now descended the river to Fort Pillow, 100 miles below, which he
prepared to take. He was just then transferred by Halleck to another
field, and the reduction of Pillow left to the gunboats. Pillow was
abandoned June 4th. The Union flotilla, increased by four rams, now ran
down the river to Memphis, where, on June 6th, in the presence of
thousands of spectators upon the bluffs, it fought a battle with a
southern fleet. Seven of the Confederate boats were destroyed, and the
next day Memphis surrendered.
After the fall of Donelson the Confederates began concentrating their
forces at Corinth, in the northeast corner of Mississippi. Meanwhile the
Army of the Tennessee, under orders from Halleck, had moved up the
Tennessee River, and encamped, some 40,000 strong, at Pittsburg Landing
on the Tennessee River, 25 miles north of Corinth. Here Grant, who had
been temporarily removed, took command again on March 17th. Buell, with
40,000 men, was on the march thither from Central Tennessee. The
Confederate generals at Corinth, Albert Sidney Johnston and Beauregard,
wisely determined to strike Grant before Buell arrived. There ensued the
greatest battle which had up to that time shaken the solid ground of
this continent.
[footnote: Indifferently called the battle of Shiloh or the battle of
Pittsburg Landing.]
[Illustration: Map.]
New Madrid and Island Number Ten.
About six o'clock on the morning of April 6th the Confederates burst
through the thick woods upon the Union pickets and drove them in. It was
at least partially a surprise. Grant in person was nine miles down the
river. The Union officers hastily got their men into line, as the
attacking columns came sweeping in after the pickets. Three of the five
Union divisions were raw recruits, many of whom fled at the first fire.
Some colonels led their entire regiments off the field. Later in the day
Grant saw 4,000 or 5,000 of these runaways cowering under the shelter of
the bluffs.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General William T. Sherman.
But the bulk of the army made a stubborn resistance. General W. T.
Sherman, then comparatively unknown, inspired his division of raw troops
with his own intelligent courage. Their gallant and protracted fight
around the Shiloh log church made them the heroes of the day. But the
Confederates' onset was impetuous. Step by step they forced their
opponents back through the heavy woods, and by noon stood in possession
of the Union camps; Grant's army, badly shattered, being cooped up in a
narrow space along the edge of the river.
The tide now turned. About two o'clock, General Johnston was killed, and
the Confederate advance flagged. Between the two armies lay a deep
ravine. Grant planted some fifty guns upon the edge, and two of the
gunboats took positions where they could rake the ravine. By these
dispositions Beauregard's advance was stayed. Night fell, and
hostilities ceased.
Fortunately, 22,000 of Buell's men arrived during the night, and next
morning Grant ordered an advance. Beauregard made as desperate a
resistance as he could, seeing that his heavy losses the day before had
left him but 30,000 troops fit for duty. Buell's men showed the effects
of long training under that matchless disciplinarian, and fought
splendidly. The enemy were steadily pushed back, until more than all the
ground lost on the preceding day had been triumphantly regained, and the
battle of Pittsburg Landing, from being for the Union side a defeat
accomplished and a surrender threatened, was turned into a bright and
inspiring victory. Beauregard ordered a retreat, and, not being pursued,
regained his old position at Corinth. He had lost about 10,000 men. Our
loss was 12,000, including four regiments taken prisoners. The battle
was a severe check to both sides.
[Illustration: Several ships, one in the foreground listing; smoke
covers the sky.]
A.R. Ward H.R. Hall, JR.
The Battle of the Rams at Memphis, June 6, 1862.
On February 2d the largest fleet that had ever sailed under the American
flag left Fortress Monroe for the mouth of the Mississippi, commanded by
Commodore Farragut. It consisted of 16 gunboats, 21 mortar-schooners,
six sloops of war, and five other vessels. Fifteen thousand land troops,
under General Butler, soon followed. Thirty miles below New Orleans
Forts Jackson and St. Philip, mounting 100 guns, frowned at each other
across the Mississippi. Farragut's fleet sailed up the river and the
mortar-schooners were moored to the banks within range of the forts.
Boughs were tied to the top-masts so that the enemy could not
distinguish them from the trees along the shore. April 18th the mortars
began shelling the forts. An incessant fire was kept up night and day,
for six days, till nearly 6,000 shells had been thrown.
[Illustration: Map.]
Memphis to Iuka. 1862.
As the forts sustained little damage, Farragut decided to run the
batteries. A gunboat stole up by night and cut the boom of hulks chained
together, which crossed the river just below the forts. Some of the
boats were rubbed over with mud to make them invisible, and chain cables
hung over the sides to protect the engines. About half past two in the
night of April 23d the fleet moved up the river through the gap in the
boom. The enemy, on the alert, launched fire-rafts and lit bonfires to
lift the cover of night. Old Jackson and St. Philip poured a hot fire
into the fleet as vessel after vessel slowly steamed past, answering
with its most spiteful broadsides.
But the Union craft had more than the forts against them. Once past the
boom they were in the midst of a hostile fleet of fifteen vessels,
including a dangerous ironclad ram. A fierce water-fight followed. The
Union Varuna was sunk; the flag-ship Hartford set on fire by one of the
fire-rafts. The flames, however, were soon put out. Other vessels were
disabled. But every one of the Confederate ships was captured or
destroyed, and Jackson and St. Philip had to surrender. Farragut then
sailed up the river and took possession of New Orleans without
resistance. Butler at once occupied the city with his troops, and the
Stars and Stripes again waved over the Crescent City. Since that
eventful day New Orleans has never been in disunionist hands.
After the battle of Pittsburg Landing, Halleck himself came down from
St. Louis, and took the reins. Grant was nominally in command under him,
but had next to nothing to do. Re-enforced by 25,000 men under Pope,
Halleck slowly advanced toward Corinth, entering the place May 30th,
Beauregard having evacuated it May 29th. A few Quaker guns--logs mounted
on wagon-wheels--were the only trophies. Halleck now had 110,000
effectives, Beauregard less than 60,000. Halleck lay inactive at Corinth
for six weeks, when he was summoned to Washington as General-in-Chief.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Farragut in the Main-Rigging.
From the original by William Page.
Grant once more took command of the forces about Corinth, which
re-enforcements to Eastern Tennessee soon reduced to 42,000. With these
he was expected to guard 200 miles of railroad, from Memphis to Decatur
in Northern Alabama. The Confederates under Van Dorn and Price attempted
to regain Corinth, but in the battles of Iuka, September 19th, and
Corinth, October 3d and 4th, were repulsed with heavy losses. Grant then
took the offensive. Vicksburg, about half-way from north to south on
Mississippi's western boundary, was the only stronghold left to the
Confederates on the great river. Its capture would ideally complete the
western campaign. Grant's plan was for Sherman to descend the river from
Memphis, while he himself simultaneously attacked Vicksburg by land.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Henry W. Halleck.
So long as the stout-hearted general continued his march south all his
supplies had to be brought over the Mississippi Central Railroad from
Holly Springs, near the Tennessee border. A troop of 3,500 Confederate
cavalry, making a long detour around his army, swooped down upon Holly
Springs, December 20th, captured the garrison of 1,300 men, and
destroyed all the stores, valued at $2,000,000. For two weeks the Union
army had to live from the enemy's country, and then after all to fall
back to Holly Springs. Meanwhile Sherman, ignorant of his superior's ill
fortune, descended the Mississippi, and with a force of 30,000 made
during the last days of the year an unsuccessful attack upon Vicksburg.
Very early in January, 1863, McClernand arrived near Vicksburg with
re-enforcements. The last of the month, Grant, who had given up the land
expedition, took command in person. Sherman's repulse had shown that
Vicksburg could not be taken from the water side. A position must be
gained in the rear. This seemed, and indeed proved, an almost impossible
task. The Mississippi was unusually high, and the surrounding country a
vast network of bayous and swamps. The winter passed away in fruitless
labors to make some sort of a water passage to the rear of Vicksburg,
either above, via the Yazoo, or around through Louisiana to some point
below the city, whence the army could cross again to the Vicksburg side
of the Mississippi and strike Pemberton's stronghold from the southeast.
In most of these attempts Grant himself had little faith, but the army
was better at work than idle. At last he resolved, without attempting a
regular canal, partly by land but utilizing bayous and creeks as he
could, to swing his army across west of the river to New Carthage, south
of Vicksburg, run the Vicksburg batteries with the fleet, and, uniting
his land and water forces in the capture of Grand Gulf, to gain the rear
of Vicksburg by way of the Big Black River. It was a bold plan, but it
succeeded.
In April, by building corduroy roads through miles of swamp and bridging
numberless bayous, the general succeeded in reaching New Carthage, some
twenty miles south of Vicksburg, with a good part of his land forces. On
the night of April 16th, the gunboats and provision transports ran the
gauntlet of Vicksburg's guns with little damage. The last of the month a
landing was effected just below Grand Gulf, on the east bank, fifteen or
twenty miles still farther south of Vicksburg. The enemy made some
resistance, but were driven back.
Grant's position was now full of peril. He was in the heart of the
enemy's country. Pemberton was occupying Jackson and Vicksburg with
50,000 men. General Joseph E. Johnston was hurrying to his aid with
re-enforcements. Grant's forces available for an advance about equalled
Pemberton's. A bold policy was the only safe one. Taking five days'
rations, he cut loose from his base at Grand Gulf and marched north to
attack Pemberton before Johnston could join him. Jackson, forty-four
miles to the east of Vicksburg, was easily captured, May 14th. Grant had
thus thrust himself in between Johnston and Pemberton. Turning to the
left he smote Pemberton a heavy blow at Champion's Hill on the 16th, and
drove him into Vicksburg. Johnston fell back baffled. In eighteen days
Grant had marched 200 miles, defeated the enemy in four engagements,
inflicting a loss of 8,000 and taking 88 guns, and shut up a large army
in Vicksburg--all this upon five days' rations. It is a brilliant
record, equalled, if at all, only by some of Napoleon's campaigns.
[Illustration: Map.]
Operations in Louisiana. February to July, 1863.
The bold commander now transferred his base of supplies to the Yazoo
River, which runs into the Mississippi a few miles above Vicksburg.
After an unsuccessful assault upon the city's strong intrenchments, he
sat down to a deliberate siege. Twelve miles of trenches were
constructed. Eighty-nine batteries, with more than 200 guns, day after
day rained shot and shell against the Vicksburg fortifications. The
lines of investment crept nearer and nearer the fated city. The pickets
chaffed with each other, and exchanged tobacco and newspapers. June
25th, a mine was exploded under one of the Vicksburg parapets, but it
made no effectual breach. A second explosion, July 1st, was equally
unavailing. Johnston kept menacing the rear, but feared to attack, as
Grant had been re-enforced to 60,000.
Famine began to threaten the city, Porter's fleet blockading the water
front. Flour sold for $1,000 a barrel in Confederate money. Mule flesh
became the chief meat. Rats were hung up for sale in the market. The
inhabitants sought protection from the shells in cellars and caves.
Cave-digging became a regular business. The Vicksburg daily news sheet
was now printed on wall paper. July 3d. white flags appeared upon the
city's works. An armistice followed, and the next day Pemberton
surrendered. The prisoners, some 30,000 in number, were mostly released
on parole. With the fall of Vicksburg the western campaigns virtually
closed. The capture of Port Hudson, below, was assured from that moment,
and followed on July 8th. The "Father of Waters" once more rolled
"unvexed to the sea," and the Confederacy was cut in twain.
CHAPTER VI.
THE WAR IN THE CENTRE
We have seen that the fall of Donelson had driven the Confederates out
of Kentucky. In the following September, 1862, Bragg invaded the State
from Tennessee with 40,000 men. Buell hurried north from Nashville, and
after an exciting race headed him off from Louisville. Bragg slowly fell
back, first east, then south. Kentucky was rich in food and clothing,
and his army plundered freely, coming out, it was boasted, with a
wagon-train forty miles long. At Perryville Bragg turned upon Buell
fiercely. An indecisive battle was fought, October 8, 1862, which gave
the richly loaded wagon-train time to escape into Tennessee, whither
Bragg followed.
The Christmas holidays of 1862 found the Confederate host at
Murfreesboro, Tenn., thirty miles southeast of Nashville, where the
Union army lay. Rosecrans, who had succeeded Buell, moved suddenly to
the banks of Stone River, within four miles of the gay town, and
prepared to attack. Bragg, like Wellington from Brussels on the morning
of Waterloo, hurried forth to meet him. At dawn, December 31st, the
gray-colored columns emerged from the fog that overhung the river, and
spiritedly beat up the Union right. Two divisions were swept back.
Sheridan's men, inspired by their dashing leader, held their ground for
awhile, but fell rearward at last, and, forming a new line, stood at bay
with fixed bayonets. Rosecrans recalled the troops who had crossed the
river to make a similar attack upon the Confederate right, and massed
all his forces at the point of assault. Six times the southrons charged,
six times they were tumbled back by the Union batteries double-shotted
with canister. Night fell on a drawn battle.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General William S. Rosecrans.
The next day, January 1, 1863, was peaceful save for cavalry
skirmishing. January 2nd the awful combat was renewed. Rosecrans having
planted artillery upon commanding ground, Bragg must either carry this
or fall back. He attempted the first alternative, and was repulsed with
terrible slaughter, losing 1,000 men in forty minutes. He escaped south
under cover of a storm. In proportion to the numbers engaged, the battle
of Stone River was one of the bloodiest in the war. About 45,000 fought
on each side. The Union loss was 12,000, the Confederate nearly 15,000.
Rosecrans did not advance again till June, although Bragg lay quite
near. The latter fell back as the Unionists approached, first into
Chattanooga and then over the Georgia line. Rosecrans followed. Bragg
was now re-enforced, and determined to retake Chattanooga, which lay on
the Tennessee River and was an important strategical point. The two
armies met on Chickamauga Creek, twelve miles south of Chattanooga. All
through the first day's battle, September 19th, there was hot
fighting--charges and countercharges--but no decisive advantage fell to
either side. During the night Bragg was reenforced by Longstreet's corps
from Virginia, and he opened the next day's fight with an assault upon
the Union left. Brigades were moved from the centre to support the left.
Through the gap thus made Longstreet poured his men in heavy columns,
cutting the Union army in two. Its right wing became demoralized, and
fled toward Chattanooga in wild confusion, Rosecrans after it at a
gallop, believing that all was lost.
But all was not lost. General Thomas commanded the Union left. Like a
flinty rock he stood while Polk's and Longstreet's troops surged in
heavy masses against his front and flank. About three o'clock heavy
columns were seen pouring through a gorge almost in Thomas's rear. They
were Longstreet's men. It was a critical moment Granger's reserves came
rushing upon the field. Raw recruits though they were, they dashed
against Longstreet like veterans. In twenty minutes, at cost of
frightful slaughter, the gorge and ridge were theirs. Longstreet made
another assault, but was again repulsed. At nightfall Thomas fell back
to Chattanooga, henceforth named, and justly, the "Rock of Chickamauga."
For six hours he had held his own with 25,000 braves against twice that
number. Out of 70,000 troops Bragg lost probably 20,000. Rosecrans's
force was about 55,000, his loss 16,000.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General George H. Thomas.
Bragg proceeded to shut up the Union army in Chattanooga. Grant, now
commanding the Department of the Mississippi, was ordered to recover
Chattanooga, and his deeds along this front, though less often
mentioned, will glitter upon the page of history with little if any less
lustre than those about Vicksburg. Upon his arrival, late in October, he
found the city practically in a state of siege. Its railroad
communication with Nashville was cut off, and supplies had to be hauled
in wagons sixty miles over a rough mountain road. The men had been for
some time on half rations. Thousands of horses and mules had starved,
and the artillery could not be moved for lack of teams. There was not
ammunition enough for one day's fighting. In five days Grant wrested the
railroad from Bragg's men and bridged the Tennessee, so that an abundant
supply of food and ammunition came pouring in.
Elated at his Chickamauga triumph, and unaware that he now had a greater
than Rosecrans in his front, Bragg deemed it a safe and promising
stratagem to despatch Longstreet's corps to Knoxville to capture
Burnside. It was a fatal step, and Grant was not slow to take advantage
of it. He telegraphed Sherman to put his entire force instantly en route
from Vicksburg to Chattanooga.
Chattanooga lies on the south side of the Tennessee River, at the
northern end of a valley running north and south. Along the eastern edge
of the valley rises Missionary Ridge. On the western side and farther
south, stands Lookout Mountain. After passing Chattanooga, the river
turns and runs south till it laves the base of Lookout Mountain. The
Confederate fortifications, twelve miles in length, ran along Missionary
Ridge, across the southern end of the valley, and up over Lookout
Mountain.
On November 23d, Thomas, who had succeeded Rosecrans, stormed the
breastworks half a mile from the base of Missionary Ridge. The next day
Grant sent "Fighting Joe Hooker" to sweep Bragg's detachment from
Lookout Mountain. Mist lay along the lofty slopes as the gallant Hooker
and his men moved up them, soon veiling the entire column from sight;
and it was only by the rattle of the musketry that Grant knew how the
fight progressed. This was the famous "Battle Above the Clouds." Hooker
pounded the enemy so lustily that they were glad to evacuate the
mountain in the night, and the next morning the Stars and Stripes
saluted the breezes of its topmost peak.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Joseph Hooker.
While Hooker had been thus engaged, and for some days before, Sherman
had been at a movement that was even more momentous. He had slyly thrust
his army up the Tennessee River above the city, placing it between the
river and Missionary Ridge, and had worked its flank to the left as far
as the mouth of Chickamauga Creek. He had thus gotten possession of the
entire northeastern spur of that ridge with hardly the loss of a
corporal's guard.
The morrow after this was accomplished, November 25, 1863, was a day of
blood. Bragg's forces were now massed on Missionary Ridge, mainly in
front of Thomas and Sherman. Hooker had come down into the valley and
was to turn the enemy's left. If Bragg massed troops on either of the
two wings, Thomas's braves were to be let slip against the weakened
centre. Sherman got into action early in the morning, and fought his
painfully difficult way slowly up the rugged acclivities in his front.
Hooker had to bridge Chattanooga Creek, and did not attack till
afternoon. By three o'clock Sherman was so hard pressed that Grant found
it necessary to relieve him by sending Thomas forward at the centre.
[Illustration: Several hundred soldiers in battle.]
The Battle of Lookout Mountain. (The "Battle Above the Clouds.")
The signal guns boom--one, two, three, four, five, six. Up spring
Thomas's heroes from their breastworks, and rush like a whirlwind for
the first line of Confederate rifle-pits. Bragg sees the advance and
hurries help to oppose. His batteries open with shot and shell, then
with canister. The infantry rake Thomas with a withering fire. Yet on,
double quick, dash the lines of blue over the open plain, over rocks,
stumps, and breastworks, bayonetting back or capturing their
antagonists, till the first line of rifle-pits is theirs.
The orders had been to halt at this point and re-form. But here, with
Bragg's artillery raining a veritable hell-fire upon them--here is no
place of resting, and as the men's blood is up, they sweep forward
unbidden, with a cheer. It is five hundred yards to the top--a steep
ascent, covered with bowlders and fallen timber. Over the rocks, under
and through the timber, each one scrambles on as he can. Half-way up is
a line of small works. It is carried with a rush, and on the men go,
right up to the crest of the ridge. Now they confront the heaviest
breastworks. The air is thick with whizzing musket-balls, and fifty
cannon belch flame and death. But nothing can stop that furious charge.
Sheridan's men reach the top first, the rest of the line close behind.
The "Johnnies" are routed after a short fight, and the guns turned
against them as they fly. By night Bragg's army is in full retreat,
Chattanooga is safe and free, Grant's lines of communication are
assured, and the keys of the State of Georgia in his hands.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General James B. McPherson.
The Union forces in this battle numbered about 60,000, the Confederate
half as many; but the latter fought with all the advantage which the
mountain and breastworks could give them. They lost nearly 10,000
including 6,500 prisoners. The Union loss was between 5,000 and
6,000--2,200 in the one hour's charge against the centre.
There was no halting, no resting. Scarcely had the sounds of yesterday's
cannonade died away, when Sherman's already jaded forces were put in
motion to the north, to make sure that Burnside was set free at
Knoxville; but Longstreet had already raised the siege and started east.
By December 6th, Bragg's redoubtable army, which, so recently as
September, swore to reconquer Tennessee and to invade Kentucky, was rent
in twain, one part of it fleeing to Virginia, the other to the heart of
Georgia.
No important military movement occurred in the Centre during this winter
of 1863-64. In March Grant was made Lieutenant-General, with command of
all the Union armies, Sherman succeeding to the headship of the
Mississippi Department. The latter accompanied his superior toward
Washington as far as Cincinnati, and there, in a parlor of the Burnet
House, the two victorious generals, bending over their maps together,
planned in outline that gigantic campaign of 1864-65, which was to end
the war; then, grasping one another warmly by the hand, they parted, one
starting east, the other south, each to strike at the appointed time his
half of the ponderous death-blow.
Sherman pushed out from Chattanooga May 6, 1864, with 100,000 men and
254 cannon. His force comprised the Army of the Cumberland, 60,000,
under Thomas; the Army of the Tennessee, 25,000, under Schofield; and
the Army of the Ohio, 15,000, under McPherson. Johnston, who had
superseded Bragg, lay behind strong works at Dalton, a few miles
southeast, with 64,000 men, his base being Atlanta, 80 miles away.
Sherman's supplies all came over a single line of railroad from
Nashville, nearly 150 miles from Chattanooga as the road ran. Every
advantage but numbers was on Johnston's side.
Sherman calculated that the Army of the Cumberland could hold his
opponent at bay, while the two smaller armies crept around his flanks.
This plan was adhered to throughout, and with wonderful success. All
through May and the first of June a series of skilful flanking movements
compelled Johnston to fall back from one position to another, each
commander, like a tried boxer, constantly on the watch to catch his
opponent off guard. Heavy skirmishing day after day made the march
practically one long battle.
June 10th Johnston planted his army upon three elevations--Kenesaw,
Pine, and Lost Mountains--and stubbornly stood at bay. A pouring rain,
which turned the whole country into a quagmire and the streams into
formidable rivers, made the usual flank manoeuvre impracticable. Sherman
resolved to assault in front. June 27th a determined onset was made
along the whole line for two hours but failed, though the troops gained
positions close to the hostile works and intrenched. They lost 2,500;
the Confederates not more than a third of this number. The roads having
now improved, Sherman resorted to his old tactics, the Confederates
having to fall back across the Chattahoochee, and come to bay under the
very guns of Atlanta.
Just at the critical moment, when Sherman's army was slowly closing in
around Atlanta, General Johnston, so wary and cool, was superseded by
the young and fiery Hood, pledged to assume the offensive. On the 20th
Hood made a furious attack on Hooker's front, but was repulsed with
heavy losses. On the 22d he struck again, and harder. By a night march,
Hardee's corps at dawn fell upon the Union left flank and rear like a
thunderbolt out of a clear sky, rolling up the Army of the Tennessee in
great confusion. The brave and talented McPherson was killed early in
the action, Logan succeeding. "McPherson and revenge," he cried, as upon
his coal-black steed he careered from post to post of danger, inspiring
his men and restoring order. The veterans soon recovered from their
surprise. The Union lines were completely re-established, and by night
Hood's army was driven back into the city, having sacrificed probably
10,000 much-needed men, 2,500 of them killed.
[Illustration: Map.]
Atlanta to Savannah.
Sherman now began to swing round to the south and southeast of Atlanta,
till at last he cut its communications with the Confederacy. Hood
evacuated the city and his opponent entered it, September 5th. The
northern troops, after their four months' incessant marching and
fighting, now got a little well-earned rest. Their total losses from
Chattanooga were 32,000. The Confederates had sacrificed about
35,000--the larger part under Hood.
The last of September Hood struck out boldly for Tennessee, menacing,
and, in fact, temporarily rupturing Sherman's long supply-line from
Nashville. Leaving one corps to hold Atlanta, Sherman raced back for 100
miles in pursuit. The railroad being well guarded, Hood could do no
serious damage, and finally turned west into Alabama. Sherman now
resolved on a march to the sea. Thomas, with three corps, was sent to
Tennessee to look out for Hood. The 62,000 troops remaining at Atlanta
were put into light marching trim, and the wagons filled with 20 days'
rations and 200 rounds of ammunition per man. All storehouses and other
property useful to the enemy were then destroyed, communications with
the North cut, and November 15th a splendid army of hardy veterans swung
off for the Atlantic or the Gulf, over 200 miles away. Their orders were
to live on the country, the rations being kept for emergencies; but no
dwellings were to be entered, and no houses or mills destroyed if the
army was unmolested. The dwelling-house prescription was, alas, too
often broken over. There was little resistance, Georgia having been
drained of its able-bodied whites. Negroes flocked, singly and by
families, to join "Massa Linkum's boys." The railroads were destroyed,
and the Carolinas thus cut off from the Gulf States.
Each regiment detailed a certain number of foragers. These, starting off
in the morning empty-handed and on foot, would return at night riding or
driving beasts laden with spoils. "Here would be a silver-mounted family
carriage drawn by a jackass and a cow, loaded inside and out with
everything the country produced, vegetable and animal, dead and alive.
There would be an ox-cart, similarly loaded, and drawn by a nondescript
tandem team equally incongruous. Perched upon the top would be a ragged
forager, rigged out in a fur hat of a fashion worn by dandies of a
century ago, or a dress-coat which had done service at stylish balls of
a former generation. The jibes and jeers, the fun and the practical
jokes, ran down the whole line as the cortege came in, and no masquerade
in carnival could compare with it for original humor and rollicking
enjoyment. ... The camps in the open pine-woods, the bonfires along the
railways, the occasional sham battles at night with blazing pine-knots
for weapons whirling in the darkness, all combined to leave upon the
minds of officers and men the impression of a vast holiday frolic."
[footnote: The March to the Sea, by Major-General J. D. Cox. Campaigns
of the Civil War. Scribners.]
At the start Sherman was uncertain just where he should strike the
coast. The blockade vessels were asked to be on the lookout for him from
Mobile to Charleston. By the middle of December the army lay before
Savannah. Hardee held the city with 16,000 men, but evacuated it
December 20, 1864, Sherman entering next day. He wrote to Lincoln, "I
beg to present you as a Christmas gift the city of Savannah." The
capture of Fort McAllister a week before had opened the Ogeechee River,
and Sherman now established a new base of supplies on the sea-coast.
The North rang with praises of the Great March, which had pierced like a
knife the vitals of the Confederacy. Georgia, with her arsenals and
factories, had been the Confederacy's workshop. Twenty thousand bales of
cotton had been burned upon the march, besides a great amount of
military stores. The 320 miles of railroad destroyed had practically
isolated Virginia from the South and the West. And all this had been
done with the loss of less than 1,000 men.
Meanwhile Thomas had dealt the Confederacy another staggering blow. The
adventurous Hood had advanced with his army of 44,000 to the very gates
of Nashville. The deliberate Thomas, spite of prickings from Grant,
waited till he felt prepared. Then he struck with a Titan's hand. The
first day's fight, December 15th, drove the Confederate line back two
miles. Hood formed again on hills running east and west, and hastily
fortified. All next day the battle raged. Late in the afternoon the
works on the Confederate left were carried by a gallant charge. Total
rout of Hood's brave army followed. It fled south, demoralized and
scattered, never to appear again as an organized force. In the two days'
battle, 4,500 prisoners and 53 guns were taken.
[Illustration: Map.]
The Battle-Field of Nashville.
February 1, 1865, his troops all rested and equipped afresh, Sherman set
his face to the north. The days of frolic were over. Continuous rains
had made the Carolinas almost impassable. The march now begun was an
incessant struggle with mud, swamps, and swollen rivers. A pontoon and
trestle bridge three miles long was thrown across the Savannah, and
miles of corduroy road were built through continuous swamps. Charleston,
incessantly besieged since the war opened, where the United States had
wasted more powder and iron than at all other points together, fell
without a blow. Columbia was reached the middle of the month. It caught
fire--just how has never been settled--and the greater part of the city
was destroyed. Sherman's men helped to put out the flames, and left
behind provisions and a herd of five hundred cattle for the suffering
inhabitants.
[Illustration: Map.]
Map of North Carolina.
The army pushed on toward North Carolina, destroying railroads as it
went. Johnston was athwart their path with 30,000 men. March 16th he
struck Sherman's army at Averysboro’, N. C., and three days later at
Bentonville. In the latter battle he was completely routed, and re
treated during the night. Sherman swept on to Goldsboro’, where
re-enforcements from the coast, under Schofield, increased his army to
90,000. He was undisputed master of the Carolinas. By this time the
Confederacy was hastening to its fall. April 11th the news of Lee's
surrender was hailed in Sherman's army with shouts of joy. A few days
later Johnston surrendered to the hero of Atlanta and of the March to
the Sea.
CHAPTER VII.
THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS OF 1862-63
The Army of the Potomac lay inactive all through the winter of 1861-62.
The country cried "Forward," but it was March before McClellan was ready
to stir. Then he sailed down Chesapeake Bay to attack Richmond from the
south, with Fortress Monroe as base. The splendidly disciplined and
equipped army, 120,000 strong, began embarking March 17th.
Fortress Monroe lies at the apex of a wedge-shaped peninsula formed by
the York and James Rivers, which converge as they flow toward the coast.
April 4th, McClellan started on his march up this peninsula. A line of
Confederate fortifications, twelve miles long, stretched across it, from
Yorktown to the James, defended by 10,000 men. Yorktown must be taken to
turn this line. A month was wasted in laborious siege preparations, for
early in May, just before an overwhelming cannonade was to begin, the
southern army evacuated the place and retreated toward Richmond.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General David D. Porter.
McClellan hurried after it. A desultory battle was fought all day on the
5th, near Williamsburg, the enemy withdrawing at night. McClellan now
moved slowly up the peninsula, the last of May finding his army within
ten miles of Richmond, encamped on both sides of the Chickahominy. By
this time nearly 70,000 troops had gathered for the defence of the
Confederate capital.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Robert E. Lee.
May 31st, the Confederate General Joseph E. Johnston fell upon the part
of McClellan's army south of the river, at Fair Oaks, and in a bloody
battle drove it back a mile. McClellan sent re-enforcements across the
river, and the retreat was stayed. The lost ground was regained next
day, and the enemy driven into Richmond. Johnston having been wounded,
General Robert E. Lee was now placed in command of the Army of Virginia,
destined to lay it down only at the collapse of the Confederate
government.
McClellan waited three weeks for better weather. He also expected
McDowell's corps of 45,000, which had been kept near Fredericksburg to
defend Washington, but was under orders at the proper time to cooperate
with McClellan by moving against Richmond from the north. But Stonewall
Jackson came raiding down the Shenandoah Valley, hustling General Banks
before him. Washington was alarmed, and McDowell had to be retained.
Lee boldly took the offensive, and the "Seven Days' Fight" began. June
26th he attacked McClellan's extreme right under Porter, on the north
side of the Chickahominy. He was repulsed, but Porter fell back farther
down the river to Gaines's Mill, there fought all the next day against
great odds, and was saved from total rout toward night only by the
arrival of re-enforcements.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Nathaniel P. Banks.
Jackson's army from the north had joined Lee's left, and McClellan's
communication with York River was in danger. He decided to change his
base to the James, where he would have placed it at first but for his
expectation of McDowell and his desire to connect with him. Everything
not transportable, including millions of rations and hundreds of tons of
ammunition, had to be destroyed. Five thousand loaded wagons, 2,500 head
of cattle, and the reserve artillery were then set in motion toward the
James, protected by the army in flank and rear.
On discovering this movement Lee hastened to strike. A force was sent to
assail the retreating column in the rear; but the bridgeless
Chickahominy, guarded by artillery, held the pursuers at bay. Lee threw
other portions of his army against McClellan's right, at Savage's
Station on the 29th, at Frazier's Farm on the day following; but the
Union troops each time stood their ground till ready and then continued
their march.
July 1st found the retreating host concentrated on Malvern Hill, a
plateau a mile and a half long and half as broad, with ravines toward
the advancing enemy. Here McClellan planted seventy cannon, rising tier
upon tier up the slope, seven heavy siege guns crowning the crest. The
position was impregnable, but Lee determined to attack. Shortly before
sunset his men advanced boldly to the charge, but were mowed down by the
terrible concentrated fire of the batteries. The hill swarmed with
infantry as well, sheltered by fences and ravines, while shells from the
gunboats in James River could reach every part of the Confederate line.
Yet not till nine in the evening did Lee let the useless carnage cease.
Badly demoralized as the opposing army was, McClellan at midnight
withdrew to Harrison's Landing, farther down the James.
[Illustration: Battle.]
General J. E. B. Stuart's Raid upon Pope's Headquarters, August 22, 1862,
when Pope's despatch book fell into the hands of the Confederates.
During the Seven Days' Retreat he had lost 15,000 men; the Confederates
somewhat more. Military authorities unite in pronouncing McClellan's
change of base "brilliantly executed;" but the campaign as a whole was a
failure, discouraging the country as much as Bull Run had done.
McClellan prepared and fully expected to move on Richmond again from
this new base, but early in August received orders to withdraw from the
Peninsula. By the middle of the month the dejected Army of the Potomac
was on its way north.
The last of June the Union forces in West Virginia, the Shenandoah
Valley, and in front of Washington were consolidated into one army, and
the same General Pope who had recently won laurels by the conquest of
Island Number Ten, put in command. His headquarters, he announced, were
to be in the saddle, and those who had criticised McClellan gave out
that the Union army's days of retreating were past. McClellan was called
from the Peninsula to strengthen this new movement.
Lee started north to crush Pope before McClellan should reach him. Pope
had but 50,000 men against Lee's 80,000, and fell back across the
Rappahannock. Lee sent Jackson on a far detour, via Thoroughfare Gap, to
get into his rear and cut his communications. Jackson moved rapidly
around to Manassas--one of the most brilliant exploits in all the
war--and destroyed Pope's immense supply depot there. On August 29th he
was attacked by Pope near the old battlefield of Bull Run. The first
day's fight was indecisive, but Confederate re-enforcements under
Longstreet arrived in time to join in the battle of the next. McClellan
was in no hurry to re-enforce his rival, but proposed "to leave Pope to
get out of his scrape as he might." Toward sunset in the battle of the
30th, Longstreet's column, doubling way around Jackson's right and
Pope's left, made a grand charge, taking Pope straight in the flank.
Porter's corps--the Fifth--part of McClellan's army, stood in the
"bloody angle" of cross-fire. His loss was dreadful--2,000 out of 9,000.
Pope was compelled to retire to Centreville. An engagement at Chantilly,
September 1st, forced a further retreat to Washington. Pope resigned,
and his army was merged in the Army of the Potomac, McClellan commanding
all.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Thomas J. ("Stonewall") Jackson.
Lee now invaded Maryland with 60,000 men. Already the alarmed North
heard him knocking at its gates. Hastily re-organizing the army,
McClellan gave chase. Leaving a force to hold Turner's Gap in South
Mountain, Lee pushed on toward Pennsylvania. By the battle of South
Mountain, September 14th, Hooker got possession of the gap, and the
Union army poured through. Seeing that he must fight, Lee took up a
position on Antietam Creek, a few miles north of Harper's Ferry. Jackson
had just received the surrender of the latter place, with 11,000
prisoners, and now hurried to join Lee.
By the night of September 16th, the two armies were in battle array on
either side of the creek. To the rear of the Confederate left lay a
cultivated area encircled by woods, a cornfield in its centre. At dawn
on the 17th, Hooker opened the battle by a furious charge against the
Confederate left, and tumbled the enemy out of the woods, across the
cornfield, and into the thickets beyond, where he was fronted by
Confederate reserves. The carnage was terrific. Re-enforcements under
Mansfield were sent to Hooker, but driven back across the cornfield.
Mansfield was killed and Hooker borne from the field wounded, Sumner
coming up barely in time to prevent a rout. Once more the Confederates
were pushed through the cornfield into the woods. Here, crouching behind
natural breastworks--limestone ridges waist-high--the southern ranks
delivered so hot a fire as to repulse Sumner's men. Thus, all the
morning and into the afternoon the tide of battle surged back and forth
through the bloody cornfield, strewn with wounded and dead.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Edwin V. Sumner.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Winfield S. Hancock.
On the Confederate right no action took place till late in the day.
Burnside then attacked and gained some slight advantage. But
re-enforcements from Harper's Ferry came up and were put in against him,
forcing him back to the creek. During the next day McClellan feared to
risk a battle. Being re-enforced, he intended to attack on the following
morning; but Lee, who should have been crushed, having but 40,000 men to
McClellan's 87,000, slipped away in the night and got safely across the
Potomac. The Union loss was 12,400; that of the Confederates probably
about the same.
The general dissatisfaction with McClellan's slowness caused his removal
early in November, Burnside succeeding him. The new commander, who, as
the head of the army, was an amiable failure, proposed to move directly
against Richmond, but Lee flung himself in his path at Fredericksburg.
Fredericksburg lies on the south bank of the Rappahannock. Behind the
city is a gradually ascending plain, bounded by heights which bend
toward the river. Lee's army, 80,000 strong, lay in a semicircle along
these heights, its wings touching the river above and below the town.
Two rows of batteries, planted on the heights, swept the plain in front
and flank. A sunken road, sheltered by a stone wall, ran along the base
of the declivity. Burnside's army of 125,000 men occupied a range of
hills on the north side of the river.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Ambrose E. Burnside.
Lee's position was very strong; but the country was impatient for
action, and Burnside too readily and without any definite plan gave the
order to attack. December 11th and 12th were spent in crossing the river
on pontoon bridges. The ominous 13th came. The first charge was made by
5,000 of Franklin's men against the Confederate right. The attacking
column broke through the lines and reached the heights; but it was not
supported, and Confederate reserves drove it back.
About noon an attack was made by Hancock's and French's corps against
the Confederate left. They advanced over the plain in two lines, one
behind the other. Suddenly the batteries in front, to left, to right,
poured upon them a murderous fire. Great gaps were mowed in their ranks.
Union batteries, replying from across the river, added horror to the
din, but helped little. Still the lines swept on. They grew thinner and
thinner, halted, broke, and fled.
Again they advanced, this time almost up to the stone wall. Behind it,
hidden from sight, lay gray ranks four deep. Suddenly that silent wall
burst into flame, and the advancing lines crumbled away more rapidly
than before. Three times more the gallant fellows came on, bayonets
fixed, to useless slaughter. That deadly wall could not be passed.
[Illustration: Ditch full of dead soldiers, behind a four foot stone
wall.]
The Stone Wall at Fredericksburg.
The two wings having failed, the Union centre, under Fighting Joe
Hooker, was ordered to try. He kept his batteries playing till sunset,
hoping to make a breach. Four thousand men were then ordered into the
jaws of death. Stripping off knapsacks and overcoats, and relying on the
bayonet alone, they charged on the double-quick and with a cheer. They
got within twenty yards of the stone wall. Again that sheet of flame! In
fifteen minutes it was all over, and they returned as rapidly as they
advanced, leaving nearly half their number dead and dying behind. During
the day Burnside had had 113,000 men either across the river or ready to
cross. Lee's force was 78,000.
Night put an end to the luckless carnage. Burnside's generals dissuaded
him from renewing the attack next day, and the army re-crossed the
river. They had lost 12,300 men; the Confederates 5,000. A writer to the
London Times from Lee's headquarters called this December 13th a day
"memorable to the historian of the Decline and Fall of the American
Republic."
Burnside resigned in January, and Hooker took the command, but he did
not assume the offensive till the last of April. Then, leaving three
corps under Sedgwick to deceive Lee by a demonstration in front, he
marched up-stream with the other four of his corps, crossed the
Rappahannock and the Rapidan, partially turned Lee's left, and took up a
position near Chancellorsville. It was a perfect plan, and thus far
triumphantly executed. But here Hooker waited, and the pause was fatal.
On the night of April 30th Lee perceived that Sedgwick's movement was
only a feint, and gathered all his forces, 62,000 strong, to fight at
Chancellorsville. He fortified himself so firmly that Hooker with
64,000, or, including Sedgwick's two corps and the cavalry, 113,000,
made not a single step of further advance.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General Oliver O. Howard.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General John Sedgwick.
[Illustration: Map.]
R.D. Servoss, N.Y.
Jackson's Attack on Howard, May 1st, 1863.
Nor was this the worst. Hooker's right wing, under Howard, was weakly
posted. On the 2d of May Stonewall Jackson, who cherished the theory
that one man in an enemy's rear is worth ten in his front, making a
detour of fifteen miles, got upon Howard's right unobserved, and rolled
it up. The surprise was as complete as it was inexcusable. Arms were
stacked and the men getting supper. Suddenly some startled deer came
bounding into camp, gray-coats swarming from the woods hard behind.
Almost at the first charge the whole corps broke and flee! But the
victory cost the Confederates dear; Jackson was fatally wounded,
probably by his own men.
All the next day the Union army fought on the defensive. Hooker was
stunned in the course of it by a cannon-ball stroke upon the
house-pillar against which he was leaning, and the army was left without
a commanding mind. Sedgwick, who was to come up from below
Fredericksburg and take Lee in the rear, found it impossible to do this
in time, having to fight his way forward with great loss. When he drew
near, Lee was enough at leisure to attend to him. Forty thousand troops,
aching for the fray, were left idle while Lee was hammering away against
the portion of the Union line commanded by Sickles. Ammunition gave out,
and charge after charge had to be repulsed with the bayonet.
Sickles's brave men at last yielded. The Confederate attack of May 4th
was nearly all directed against Sedgwick, whose noble corps narrowly
escaped capture. That night the whole army fell back to nearly its old
position north of the Rappahannock. Except that at Fredericksburg it was
the most disgraceful fiasco on either side during the war. It cost
17,000 men, and accomplished less than nothing. The South was elated. It
proposed again to invade the North and this time dictate terms of peace.
Early in June Lee's jubilant army, strengthened to 100,000, with 15,000
cavalry and 280 guns, started on its second grand Northern Campaign. It
marched down the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Potomac on the 25th, and
headed for Chambersburg, Penn. The Army of the Potomac marched parallel
with it, on the east side of the Blue Ridge, and crossed the Potomac a
day later. Hooker suddenly resigned, and Meade was put in command.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General James Longstreet.
Lee reached Chambersburg; his advance even pushed well on toward
Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. At Chambersburg he waited
eagerly for those riots in northern cities by which the "copperheads"
had expected to aid his march. In vain. Meade was drawing near. "Pressed
by the finger of destiny, the Confederate army went down to Gettysburg,"
and here the advance of both hosts met on July 1st. After some sharp
fighting the Union van was driven back in confusion through Gettysburg,
with a loss of 10,000 men, half of them prisoners. The brave General
Reynolds, commanding the First Corps, lost his life in this action. The
residue fell back to Cemetery Hill, south of the town. Meade, fifteen
miles to the south, sent Hancock on to take command of the field, and
see what it was best to do. This able and trusty officer hurried to the
scene of action in an ambulance, studying maps as he went. He saw at a
glance the strength of Cemetery Ridge and resolved to retreat no
farther. The remaining corps were ordered up, and by noon of July 2d had
mostly taken their positions.
The Union army lay along an elevation some three miles in length,
resembling a fish-hook in shape. At the extreme southern end forming
the head of the shank rose "Round Top," four hundred feet in height.
Farther north was "Little Round Top," about three-fourths as high.
Cemetery Ridge formed the rest of the shank. The hook curved to the
east, with Culp's Hill for the barb. The Confederate army occupied
Seminary Ridge a mile to the west, its left wing, however, bending
around to the east through Gettysburg, the line being nearly parallel
with Meade's, but much longer. Each army numbered not far from 80,000.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General George G. Meade.
The battle of the second day began about three in the afternoon. Meade
had neglected to occupy Little Round Top, which was the key to the Union
line. Longstreet's men began climbing its rugged sides. Fortunately the
movement was seen in time, and Union troops, after a most desperate
conflict, seized and held the crest of the hill.
Along the Union left centre General Sickles's corps had taken a position
in advance of the rest of the line, upon a ridge branching off from
Cemetery Ridge at an acute angle. Here he was fiercely attacked and most
of his force finally driven back into the line of Cemetery Ridge. The
Union right had been greatly weakened to strengthen the centre. The
Confederates charged here also, and carried the outer intrenchments at
Culp's Hill. The Union losses during the afternoon were
10,000--three-fifths in Sickles's corps, which lost half its numbers.
The next morning was spent by Lee in preparing for a grand charge upon
the Union centre, that of yesterday upon the left having failed, and the
Confederates having this morning been driven from the ground gained the
night before on the right at Culp's Hill. The storm burst about one
o'clock. For two hours 120 guns on Seminary Ridge kept up a furious
cannonade, to which Meade replied with 80. About three the Union cannon
ceased firing. Lee mistakenly thought them silenced, and gave the word
to charge.
An attacking column 18,000 strong, made up of fresh troops, the flower
of Lee's men, and commanded by the impetuous Pickett, the Ney of the
southern army, emerges from the woods on Seminary Ridge, and, drawn up
in three lines, one behind the other, with a front of more than a mile,
moves silently down the slope and across the valley toward the selected
spot. Suddenly the Union batteries again open along the whole line.
Great furrows are ploughed in the advancing ranks. They press steadily
on, and climb the slope toward Meade's lines. Two regiments behind rude
intrenchments slightly in advance pour in such a murderous fire that the
column swerves a little toward its left, exposing its flank. General
Stannard and his lusty Vermonters make an irresistible charge upon this.
Windrows of Pickett's poor fellows are mowed down by the combined
artillery and musketry fire. A part of the column breaks and flees. A
part rushes on with desperate valor and reaches the low stone wall which
serves for a Union breastwork. A venomous hand-to-hand fight ensues.
Union re-enforcements swarm to the endangered point. The three
Confederate brigade commanders are all killed or fatally wounded, whole
regiments of their followers surrounded and taken prisoners. The rest
are tumbled back, and the broken remnants of that noble column flee in
wild confusion across the valley.
[Illustration: Map.]
Note: From A to K is just one mile.
R.D. Servos N.Y.
Diagram of the Attack on Sickles and Sykes.
The Confederate loss on this eventful day was 16,000, the Union loss not
one-fifth as great. General Hancock, whose command bore the brunt of the
charge, was severely wounded. Meade should have pressed his advantage,
but did not, and next day Lee retreated under cover of a storm and
escaped across the Potomac. His losses during the three days had been
frightful, amounting to 23,000. In one brigade, numbering 2,800 on July
1st, only 835 answered roll-call three days later. Meade's total losses
were also 23,000. Meade had had on the field in all 83,000 men and 300
guns, Lee 69,000 and 250 guns.
Gettysburg marks the turning of the tide. The South's dream of getting a
foothold in the North was forever past. She was soon to hear a gallant
Northerner's voice demanding the surrender of Richmond.
CHAPTER VIII.
COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY
Gettysburg was the last general engagement in the East during 1863. The
next spring, as we have noticed, Grant was appointed
Lieutenant-General, with command of all the northern armies, now
numbering over 600,000 effectives. This vast body of men he proposed to
use against the fast-weakening Confederacy in concerted movements.
Sherman's part in the great plan has already been traced. The hardest
task, that of facing Lee, the hero of Vicksburg and Chattanooga
reserved for himself. Greek thus met Greek, and the death-grapple
began.
May 4th the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan and entered the
Wilderness, Meade in immediate command, with 120,000 men present for
duty. Lee, heading an army of 62,000 veterans, engaged his new
antagonist without delay. For two days the battle raged in the gloomy
woods. There was no opportunity for brilliant manoeuvres. The men of the
two armies lay doggedly behind the trees, each blazing away through the
underbrush at an unseen foe, often but a few yards off, while a stream
of mangled forms borne on stretchers came steadily pouring to the rear.
The tide of battle surged this way and that, with no decisive advantage
for either side.
But Grant, as Lee said of him, "was not a retreating man." If he had not
beaten, neither had he been beaten. Advance was the word. On the night
of the 7th he began that series of "movements by the left flank" which
was to force Lee forever from the Rappahannock front. The army stretched
nearly north and south, facing west. Warren's corps, at the extreme
right, quietly withdrew from the enemy's front, and marching south took
a position beyond Hancock's, hitherto the left. Sedgwick's corps
followed. By this sidling movement the army worked its way south, all
the while presenting an unbroken front to the enemy. Yet, on reaching
Spottsylvania, Grant found Lee's army there before him. Sharp fighting
began again on the 9th and continued three days, but was indecisive,
mainly from the wild nature of the country, heavily timbered, with only
occasional clearings.
[Illustration: Officer with arms outstretched, after being shot.]
Death of General Sedgwick at Spottsylvania. May 9, 1864.
An early morning attack on the 12th carried a salient angle in the
centre of the Confederate line, securing 4,000 prisoners and twenty
guns. All that day and far into the night Lee desperately strove to
dislodge the assailants from this "bloody angle." Five furious charges
were stubbornly repulsed, the belligerents between these grimly facing
each other from lines of rifle-pits often but a few feet apart. Bullets
flew thick as hail, a tree eighteen inches through being cut clean off
by them. Great heaps of dead and wounded lay between the lines, and "at
times a lifted arm or a quivering limb told of an agony not quenched by
the Lethe of death around." Lee did not give up this death-grapple till
three o'clock in the morning, when he fell back to a new position. His
losses here in killed and wounded were about 5,000; Grant's about 6,000.
Rains now compelled both armies to remain quiet for several days.
Meantime news reached Grant that Butler, who was to have moved up the
James with his army of 20,000 and co-operate with the main army against
Richmond, had suffered himself to be "bottled up" at Bermuda Hundred, a
narrow spit of land between the James and Appomattox Rivers, the
Confederates having "driven in the cork." Re-enforcements reached Grant,
however, which made good all his losses.
On the 19th, after an unsuccessful assault the day before, he resumed
the flanking movement, and reached and passed the North Anna. But Lee
pushed in like a wedge between the two parts of the Union army,
separated by crossing the river at different points, and after some
fighting, Grant re-crossed and resumed his march to the south. Lee,
again moving on shorter lines, reached Cold Harbor before Grant.
The outer line of Confederate intrenchments at Cold Harbor was carried
on June 1st, and at early dawn on the 3d a charge made along the whole
front. Under cover of a heavy artillery fire the men advanced to the
enemy's rifle-pits and carried them. They then swept on toward the main
line. The ground was open, and the advancing columns were exposed to a
terrible storm of iron and lead. Artillery cross-fire swept through
their ranks from right to left. The troops pressed close up to the
works, but could not carry them. They intrenched, however, and held the
position gained, at some points within thirty yards of the hostile
ramparts. The Union loss was very heavy, not less than 6,000; the
Confederates, fighting under shelter, lost comparatively few.
During the next ten days the men lay quietly in their trenches. Both
forces had now moved so far south that Grant's hope of getting between
Lee's army and Richmond had to be abandoned. He therefore decided to
cross the James and take a position south of Richmond, whence he could
threaten its lines of communication, while that river would furnish him
a secure base of supplies.
The two hosts now began a race for Petersburg, an important railway
centre, twenty-two miles south of Richmond. Grant's advance reached the
town first, but delayed earnest attack, and on the morning of the 15th
Lee's veterans, after an all-night's march, flung themselves into the
intrenchments. Grant spent the next four days in vain efforts to
dislodge them. On the 19th he gave up this method of assault, and began
a regular siege. His losses in killed and wounded hereabouts had been
almost 9,000.
Things now remained comparatively quiet till late in July. Both sides
were busy strengthening their intrenchments. Lee held both Richmond and
Petersburg in force, besides a continuous line between the two. Attempts
to break this line and to cut the railroads around Petersburg led to
several engagements which would have been considered great battles
earlier in the war.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
General David Hunter.
Grant's total losses from the crossing of the Rapidan to the end of June
were 61,000, but re-enforcements promptly filled his ranks. The
Confederate loss cannot be accurately determined, but was probably about
two-thirds as great.
Through July one of Burnside's regiments, composed of Pennsylvanians
used to such business, had been working at a mine under one of the main
redoubts in front of Petersburg. A shaft 500 feet long was dug, with a
cross gallery 80 feet in length at the end square under the redoubt.
This chamber was charged with 8,000 pounds of powder, which was fired
July 30th. The battery and brigade immediately overhead were blown into
the air, and the Confederate soldiers far to left and right stunned and
stupefied with terror. For half an hour the way in to Petersburg was
open. Why did none enter? The answer is sad.
Grant had splendidly fulfilled his part by a feint to Deep Bottom across
the James, which had drawn thither all but about one division of Lee's
Petersburg force. But Meade, at a late hour on the 29th, changed the
entire plan of assault, which Burnside had carefully arranged, and to
lead which a fresh division had been specially drilled. Then there was
lamentable inefficiency or cowardice on the part of several subordinate
officers. The troops charged into the great, cellar-like crater,
twenty-five feet deep, where, for lack of orders, they remained huddled
together instead of pushing on. The Confederates rallied, and after
shelling the crater till more of its occupants were dead than alive,
charged and either routed the living or took them prisoners.
[Illustration: Map.]
The Shenandoah Valley.
During the summer and fall of 1864 the scene of active operations was
shifted to the Shenandoah Valley. The latter part of June Lee sent
Early, 20,000 strong, to make a demonstration against Washington, hoping
to scare Grant away from Petersburg. Early moved rapidly down the
valley, hustling Hunter before him, who escaped only by making a detour
to the west, thus leaving Washington open. Thither Early pushed with all
speed.
General Lew Wallace hastily gathered up the few troops at his disposal
and hurried out from Baltimore to meet him. Wallace was defeated at the
Monocacy River July 9th, but precious time was gained for the
strengthening of Washington. When Early arrived before the city on the
11th, Grant's re-enforcements had not yet come, and the fate of the
capital trembled in the balance. Early happily delayed his attack till
the morrow, and that night two of Grant's veteran corps landed in
Washington, President Lincoln, in his anxiety, being on the wharf to
meet them. Once more Washington was safe, and Early fell back, pressed
by the newcomers.
[Illustration: Map.]
General Early's Maryland Campaign.
The pursuit was feeble, however, and the last of July Early swooped down
the valley again. A detachment pushed into Pennsylvania and burned
Chambersburg. All through the war the Confederate operations in the
Shenandoah Valley had been an annoyance and a menace. Grant now
determined to put a definite stop to this, and sent the dashing General
Sheridan for the work with 30,000 troops, including 8,000 cavalry.
Sheridan pushed Early up the Shenandoah, defeating him at Opequon Creek,
September 19th, and at Fisher's Hill two days later.
One-half of Early's army had been destroyed or captured, and the rest
driven southward. Sheridan then, in accordance with Grant's orders, that
the enemy might no longer make it a base of operations against the
capital, laid waste the valley so thoroughly that, as the saying went,
not a crow could fly up or down it without carrying rations. Spite of
this, Early, having been re-enforced, entered the valley once more. The
Union army lay at Cedar Creek. Sheridan had gone to Washington on
business, leaving General Wright in command. On the night of October
18th, the wily Confederate crept around to the rear of the Union left,
and attacked at daybreak. Wright was completely surprised, and his left
wing fled precipitately, losing 1,000 prisoners and 18 guns. He ordered
a retreat to Winchester. The right fell slowly back in good order,
interposing a steady front between Early and the demoralized left.
Meanwhile Sheridan, who had reached Winchester on his return, snuffed
battle, and hurried to the scene. Now came "Sheridan's Ride." Astride
the coal-black charger immortalized by Buchanan Read's verse, he shot
ahead and dashed upon the battle-field shortly before noon, his horse
dripping with foam. His presence restored confidence, and the army
steadily awaited the expected assault. It came, was repulsed, was
reciprocated. Early was halted, then pushed, then totally routed, and
his army nearly destroyed. It was one of the most signal and telling
victories of the war. In a month's campaign Sheridan had killed and
wounded 10,000 of the enemy and taken 13,000 prisoners.
All this time the siege of Petersburg was sturdily pressed. In August,
Grant got possession of the Weldon Railroad, an important line running
south from Petersburg. During the next month fortifications on the
Richmond side of the James were carried and held. Through the winter
Grant contented himself with gradually extending his lines around
Petersburg, trying to cut Lee's communications, and preventing his
sending troops against Sherman. He had a death-grip upon the
Confederacy's throat, and waited with confidence for the contortions
which should announce its death.
The spring of 1865 found the South reduced to the last extremity. The
blockade had shut out imports, and it is doubtful if ever before so
large and populous a region was so far from being self-sustaining. Even
of food-products, save corn and bacon, the dearth became desperate.
Wheat bread and salt were luxuries almost from the first. Home-made
shoes, with wooden soles and uppers cut from buggy tops or old
pocketbooks, became the fashion. Pins were eagerly picked up in the
streets. Thorns, with wax heads, served as hairpins. Scraps of old metal
became precious as gold.
The plight of the army was equally distressing. Drastic drafting had
long since taken into the army all the able-bodied men between the ages
of eighteen and forty-five. Boys from fourteen to eighteen, and old men
from forty-five to sixty, were also pressed into service as junior and
senior reserves, the Confederacy thus, as General Butler wittily said,
"robbing both the cradle and the grave." Lee's army had been crumbling
away beneath the terrible blows dealt it by Grant. He received some
re-enforcements during 1864, but in no wise enough to make good his
losses. When he took the field in the spring of 1865, his total
effective force was 57,000. Grant's army, including Butler's and
Sheridan's troops, numbered 125,000.
Lee now perceived that his only hope lay in escaping from the clutches
of Grant and making a junction with Johnston's army in North Carolina.
Grant was on the watch for precisely this. On March 29th Sheridan
worked around into the rear of the Confederate right. Lee descried the
movement, and extended his lines that way to obviate it. A force was
sent, which drove Sheridan back in some confusion. Re-enforced, he
again advanced and beat the forces opposed to him rearward to Five
Forks. Here, April 1st, he made a successful charge, before which the
foe broke and ran, leaving 4,500 prisoners.
Fearing an attack on Sheridan in force which might let Lee out, Grant
sent re-enforcements, at the same time keeping up a roaring cannonade
along the whole line all night. At five on the morning of the 2d, a
grand assault was made against the Confederate left, which had been
weakened to extend the right. The outer, intrenchments, with two forts
farther in, were taken. Lee at once telegraphed to President Davis that
Petersburg and Richmond must be immediately abandoned.
[Illustration: Map.]
Grant's Pursuit of Lee; April, 1865.
It was Sunday, and the message reached Mr. Davis in church. He hastened
out with pallid lips and unsteady tread. A panic-stricken throng was
soon streaming from the doomed city. Vehicles let for one hundred
dollars an hour in gold. The state-prison guards fled and the criminals
escaped. A drunken mob surged through the streets, smashing windows and
plundering shops. General Ewell blew up the iron-clads in the river and
burned bridges and storehouses. The fire spread till one-third of
Richmond was in flames. The air was filled with a "hideous mingling of
the discordant sounds of human voices--the crying of children, the
lamentations of women, the yells of drunken men--with the roar of the
tempest of flame, the explosion of magazines, the bursting of shells."
Early on the morning of the 3d was heard the cry, "The Yankees are
coming!" Soon a column of blue-coated troops poured into the city,
headed by a regiment of colored cavalry, and the Stars and Stripes
presently floated over the Confederate capital.
The Confederacy was tottering to its fall. Lee had begun his retreat on
the night of the 2d, and was straining every nerve to reach a point on
the railroad fifty miles to the west, whence he could move south and
join Johnston. Grant was too quick for him. Sending Sheridan in advance
to head him off, he himself hurried after with the main army. Gray and
blue kept up the race for several days, moving on nearly parallel lines.
Sheridan struck the Confederate column at Sailor's Creek on the 6th, and
a heavy engagement ensued, in which the southern army lost many wagons
and several thousand prisoners.
Lee's band was in a pitiable plight. Its supplies had been cut off, and
many of the soldiers had nothing to eat except the young shoots of
trees. They fell out of the ranks by hundreds, and deserted to their
homes near by. With all hope of escape cut off, and his army dropping to
pieces around him, Lee was at last forced to surrender. To this end he
met Grant, on April 9th, at a residence near Appomattox Court House.
The personal appearance of the two generals at this interview presented
a striking, not to say ludicrous, contrast. Lee, who was a tall,
handsome man, was attired in a new uniform, showing all the insignia of
his rank, with a splendid dress-sword at his side. Grant, wholly
unprepared for the interview, wore a private's uniform, covered with mud
and dust from hard riding that day. His shoulder-straps were the only
mark of his high rank, and he had no sword. Having served together in
the Mexican War, they spent some time in a friendly conversation about
those old scenes. Grant then wrote out the terms of surrender, which Lee
accepted. The troops were to give their paroles not to take up arms
again until properly exchanged, and officers might retain their
side-arms, private horses, and baggage. Anxious to heal the wounds of
the South, Grant, with rare thoughtfulness, allowed privates also to
take home their own horses. "They will need them for the spring
ploughing," he said. The 19,000 prisoners captured during the last ten
days, together with deserters, left, in Lee's once magnificent army, but
28,356 soldiers to be paroled. The surrendering general was compelled to
ask 25,000 rations for these famished troops, a request which was
cheerfully granted.
[Illustration: Grant and eleven other officers watching Lee sign.]
General Lee Signing the Terms of Surrender at Appomattox Court-House.
While all loyal hearts were rejoicing over the news of Lee's surrender,
recognized as virtually ending the war, a pall suddenly fell upon the
land. On the evening of April 14th, while President Lincoln was sitting
in a box at Ford's Theatre in Washington, an actor, John Wilkes Booth,
crept up behind him, placed a pistol to his head, and fired. Brandishing
his weapon, and crying, "Sic semper tyrannis," the assassin leaped to
the stage, sustaining a severe injury. Regaining his feet, he shouted,
"The South is avenged!" and made his escape.
The bullet had pierced the President's brain and rendered him
insensible. He was removed to a house near by, where he died next
morning. His body was taken to Springfield, Ill., for burial, and a
nation mourned above his grave, as no American since Washington had ever
been mourned for before. The South repudiated and deplored the foul
deed. Well it might, for, had Lincoln lived, much of its sorrow during
the next years would have been avoided.
Booth was only one of a band of conspirators who had intended also to
take off General Grant and the whole Cabinet. By a strange good fortune
Secretary Seward, sick in bed, was the only victim besides the
President. He was stabbed three times with a bowie-knife, but not
fatally. After a cunning flight and brave defence Booth was captured
near Port Royal, and killed. Of the other conspirators some were hanged,
some imprisoned.
The Confederacy collapsed. Johnston's army surrendered to Sherman on
April 26th. President Davis fled south. On May 10th he was captured in
Georgia, muffled in a lady's cloak and shawl, and became a prisoner at
Fortress Monroe. The war had called into military (land) service in the
two armies together hardly fewer than 4,000,000 men; 2,750,000, in round
numbers, on the Union side, and 1,250,000 on the other. The largest
number of northern soldiers in actual service at anyone time was
1,000,516, on May 1, 1865, 650,000 of them being able for duty. The
largest number of Confederate land forces in service at any time was
690,000, on January 1, 1863. The Union armies lost by death
304,369--44,238 of these being killed in battle, 49,205 dying of wounds.
Over 26,000 are known to have died in Confederate prisons.
CHAPTER IX.
THE WAR ON THE SEA
Naval operations during the war fall into three great classes: Those
upon inland waters, the Mississippi especially; those along the coast;
and those upon the high seas. The first class has already been touched
upon in connection with the Mississippi campaigns. The naval work along
the coast and upon the high seas is the subject of the present chapter.
Only the more important features can be sketched. At the outbreak of the
Rebellion our navy was totally unprepared for war. Forty-two vessels
were in commission, but most of them were in distant seas or in southern
ports. The service was weak with secession sentiment. Between March and
July, 1861, 259 naval officers resigned or were dismissed.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Gideon Welles.
Secretary Welles went energetically to work. Vessels in foreign waters
were called home, the keels of new craft laid in northern dockyards, and
stout merchant ships bought and fitted up for the rough usage of war. By
the end of 1861 the navy numbered 264 vessels. At the close of the war
it had 671 ships, carrying 4,610 guns and 50,000 sailors.
The first work--a gigantic one--was to blockade the southern ports. This
involved the constant patrolling of more than 3,000 miles of dangerous
coast, indented with innumerable inlets, sounds, and bays. But within a
year a fairly effective blockade was in force from Virginia to Texas,
drawn tighter and tighter as the navy increased in size. The
effectiveness of the blockade is sufficiently proved by the dearth at
the South. The South had cotton enough to sell--$300,000,000 worth in
gold at the end of the war--and Europe was greedy to buy; but she could
not get her wares to market. Fifteen hundred prizes, worth $30,000,000,
were taken during the war.
The details of the blockade must be left to the reader's imagination.
Important as the work was, it was comparatively monotonous and
dull--ceaseless watching day and night in all weather, week after week
and month after month. Now and then the routine would be broken by the
excitement of a chase. A suspicious-looking sail would be spied in the
offing and pursued, perhaps, far out to sea. Again, the low hull of a
blockade-runner would be seen creeping around a point and heading for
the open sea. Or on a still night the throb of engines and the splash of
paddle-wheels would give warning that some guilty vessel was trying to
steal into port under cover of darkness. Then came the flare of rockets
to notify the rest of the blockading fleet, the hot pursuit with boilers
crowded to bursting, the boom of the big guns fired at random in the
dark, and the exultation of a capture or the disappointment of failure.
Blockade-running became a regular business, enormously profitable.
Moonless and cloudy nights were of course the most favorable times for
eluding the blockade; but the swift steamers, sitting low in the water
and painted a light neutral tint, could not easily be detected by day at
a little distance, especially as they burned smokeless coal. The bolder
skippers would take all chances. Under cover of a fog they would steal
into or out of harbor at risk of going aground, or set sail boldly on a
bright moonlight night, when the blockaders would naturally relax their
vigilance a little. Occasionally some dare-devil would crowd on all
steam and dash openly through the sentinel fleet, trusting to speed to
escape being hit or captured. When hard pressed, the blockade-runner
would beach his craft, set it afire, and take to the woods. At the close
of the war thirty wrecks of blockade-runners were rotting on the sands
near Charleston Harbor.
In connection with the blockade a number of naval expeditions were sent
against various points along the coast. In October, 1861, a fleet under
Flag-Officer Dupont, consisting of a steam frigate, a dozen or more
gunboats, with numerous transports and coaling-schooners, and carrying
12,000 troops under General T. W. Sherman, set sail from Hampton Roads
for Port Royal, S. C. After a stormy passage the fleet anchored off the
harbor on November 4th. On opposite sides of the entrance, two and a
half miles apart, stood Forts Walker and Beauregard--strong earthworks,
mounting one 23 the other 20 guns, and garrisoned by 1,700 men. The 7th
dawned bright and clear, the sea smooth as glass. About nine o'clock the
bombardment began. The fleet steamed slowly round and round in an
ellipse between the forts, each vessel as it came within range pouring
in its fire, then passing on and waiting its turn to fire again. The
cannonade was concentrated upon Fort Walker. The moving ships offered a
poor mark to the fort, while the aim of the fleet was very accurate,
covering the gunners with sand and dismounting the guns. After four
hours' action Fort Walker was evacuated, and soon Fort Beauregard also
in consequence.
[Illustration: Map.]
Map of Hampton Roads.
Port Royal was the finest harbor on the coast, and was of great value to
the navy all through the war as a repair and supply station. Dupont sent
out expeditions, and by the end of the year had possession of a large
part of the coast of South Carolina and Georgia. In the following spring
expeditions from Port Royal regained Fernandina and St. Augustine on the
Florida coast. In April Fort Pulaski, a strong brick work at the mouth
of the Savannah River, was reduced by eleven batteries planted on a
neighboring island, its surrender completing the blockade of Savannah.
Albemarle and Pamlico Sounds, on the coast of North Carolina, swarmed
with blockade-runners. Rivers, canals, and railroads formed a network of
communications with the interior, and vessels were constantly slipping
to sea with cargoes of cotton, to return with munitions of war. Hatteras
Inlet, seized in August, 1861, was not a sufficient basis for the
blockade. In February, 1862, a fleet bearing 11,500 soldiers, under
General Burnside, arrived at Roanoke Island, which lies between the two
great sounds. The troops were landed, and on the 8th, charging over
marshy ground, sometimes waist-deep in water, carried the batteries and
gained possession of the island. Newbern, one of the most important
ports of North Carolina, was captured a month later, and Fort Macon,
commanding the entrance to Beaufort Harbor, surrendered in April.
Meanwhile what had the Confederates been doing in naval matters? When
the Norfolk navy-yard was abandoned in April, 1861, the fine old frigate
Merrimac was scuttled. She was raised by the Davis Government and
converted into an ironclad ram--a novelty in those days. The hull was
cut down to the water's edge, and a stout roof, 170 feet long, with
sloping sides and a flat top, built amidships and plated with four
inches of iron. This roof was pierced for ten guns--four rifles and six
nine-inch smooth-bores.
On March 8, 1862, the Union fleet, consisting of the Cumberland,
Congress, Minnesota, and some smaller craft, rode lazily at anchor in
Hampton Roads. About noon a curious looking structure was seen coming
down Elizabeth River. It was the Merrimac. She steered straight for the
Cumberland. The latter poured in a broadside from her heavy ten-inch
guns, but the balls glanced off the ram's sloping iron sides like peas.
The Merrimac's iron beak crashed into the Cumberland's side, making a
great hole. In a few minutes the old warsloop, working her guns to the
water's edge, went down in fifty-four feet of water, 120 sick and
wounded sinking with her.
[Illustration: Sea battle a close quarters.]
The Sinking of the Frigate Cumberland by the Merrimac in Hampton Roads,
March 8, 1862.
The Congress had meanwhile been run aground. The Merrimac fired hot
shot, setting her afire. Nearly half the crew being killed or wounded,
she surrendered, her magazine exploding and blowing her up at midnight.
The Minnesota, hastening up with two other vessels from Fortress Monroe
to aid her sisters, had run aground. Being of heavy draught, the
Merrimac could not get near enough to do her much damage, and at
nightfall steamed back to her landing. As the telegraph that night
flashed over the land the news of the Merrimac's victory, dismay filled
the North, exultation the South. What was to stay the career of the
invulnerable monster? Could it not destroy the whole United States navy
of wooden ships?
Next morning the Merrimac reappeared to complete her work of
destruction. As she drew near the stranded Minnesota, a strange little
craft moved out from the side of the big frigate and headed straight for
the iron-clad. It was Ericsson's Monitor, which had arrived from New
York at midnight. The Confederate characterization of it as a "cheese-box
on a raft" is still the best description of its appearance. Its
lower hull, 122 feet long and 34 wide, was protected by a raft-like
overhanging upper hull, 172 feet long and 41 wide. Midway upon her low
deck, which rose only a foot above the water, stood a revolving turret
21 feet in diameter and nine in height. It was made of iron eight inches
thick, and bore two eleven-inch guns throwing each a 180-pound ball.
Near the bow rose the pilot-house, made of iron logs nine inches by
twelve in thickness. The side armor of the hull was five inches thick,
and the deck was covered with heavy iron plates.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
John Ericsson.
[Illustration: Cross section of monitor.]
Sectional View of Monitor through Turret and Pilot House.
For three hours the iron-clads fought. The Merrimac's shot glanced
harmlessly off the round turret, while her attempts to run the Monitor
down failed. Meanwhile the big guns in the Monitor's turret, firing
every seven minutes, were pounding the ram's sides with terrible blows.
The Merrimac's armor was at points crushed in several inches, but
nowhere pierced, About noon the fight stopped, as if by mutual consent.
It was a drawn battle, but the career of the Merrimac had ended. Upon
McClellan's advance, in May, she was blown up. The Monitor received no
serious injury in this action, but the next December she foundered in a
storm off Cape Hatteras.
The invention of the Monitor revolutionized naval warfare, and set
European nations to building the ponderous iron-clad navies of the
present day. The United States Government soon contracted for twenty
single-turret monitors, and four double-turreted ones with fifteen-inch
guns.
The Confederates now went to building iron-clads on the model of the
Merrimac. On the morning of January 31, 1863, the iron-clads Palmetto
State and Chicora steamed out of Charleston Harbor, in a dense fog, and
attacked the blockading fleet of wooden vessels. After ramming one ship
and sending a shot through the boiler of another, they put back to port.
In April, Admiral Dupont tried to seize Charleston Harbor with his fleet
of seven monitors and two iron-clads. In a two hours' action the
monitors were seriously injured by the heavy guns of the forts, and the
fleet withdrew. In August, land batteries reduced Fort Sumter almost to
ruins, and in the following month Fort Wagner was abandoned. June 17th,
the iron-clad Atlanta, armed with a torpedo at the end of a spar, ran
down from Savannah to engage with two monitors guarding the mouth of the
river. She got aground, rendering the torpedo useless. The fifteen-inch
guns of the monitors pierced her armor, and in a few minutes she
surrendered.
The Albemarle proved a more dangerous foe. The last of April, 1864, it
descended Roanoke River, smashed the gunboats at the mouth, and
compelled the surrender of the forts and the town of Plymouth. A few
days later it attacked a fleet of gunboats below the mouth of the river.
After a severe tussle, inflicting and receiving considerable damage, it
steamed back to Plymouth. Here it lay at the wharf till October, when it
was sunk by Lieutenant Cushing, already famous for daring exploits under
the very noses of the enemy. On the night of October 27th, young Cushing
approached the ironclad in a steam launch with a torpedo at the end of a
spar projecting from the bow. Jumping his boat over the log boom
surrounding the ram, in the thick of musketry fire from deck and shore,
Cushing calmly worked the strings by which the intricate torpedo was
fired. It exploded under the vessel's overhang, and she soon sunk. At
the moment of the explosion a cannonball crashed through the launch.
Cushing plunged into the river and swam to shore through a shower of
bullets. After crawling through the swamps next day, be found a skiff
and paddled off to the fleet. Of the launch's crew of fourteen, only one
other escaped.
[Illustration: Outside view.]
The Original Monitor.
The stronghold of the Confederacy on the Gulf was Mobile. Two strong
forts, mounting twenty-seven and forty-seven guns, guarded the channel
below the city, which was further defended by spiles and torpedoes. In
the harbor, August 5, 1864, lay the iron-clad ram, Tennessee, and three
gunboats, commanded by Admiral Buchanan, formerly captain of the
Merrimac. Farragut determined to force a passage. Before six o'clock in
the morning his fleet of four monitors and fourteen wooden ships, the
latter lashed together two and two, got under way, Farragut taking his
station in the main rigging of the Hartford. The action opened about
seven. One of the monitors struck a torpedo and sunk. The Brooklyn,
which was leading, turned back to go around what seemed to be a nest of
torpedoes. The whole line was in danger of being huddled together under
the fire of the forts. Farragut boldly took the lead, and the fleet
followed. The torpedo cases could be heard rapping against the ships'
bottoms, but none exploded.
The forts being safely passed, the Confederate gunboats advanced to the
attack. One of these was captured, the other two escaped. The powerful
iron-clad Tennessee now moved down upon the Union fleet. It was 209 feet
long, with armor from five to six inches thick. Farragut ordered his
wooden vessels to run her down. Three succeeded in ramming her squarely.
She reeled under the tremendous blows, and her gunners could not keep
their feet. A monitor sent a fifteen-inch ball through her stern. Her
smoke-stack and steering-chains were shot away, and several port
shutters jammed. About ten A.M., after an action of an hour and a
quarter, the ram hoisted the white flag. The forts surrendered in a few
days.
January 15, 1865, Fort Fisher, a strong work near Wilmington, N. C,
mounting seventy-five guns, was captured by a joint land and naval
expedition under General Terry and Admiral Porter. This was the last
great engagement along the coast.
The story of the war upon the high seas is quickly told. Swift and
powerful cruisers were built in English ship-yards, with the connivance
of the British Government, whence they sailed to prey upon our commerce.
The Florida, Georgia, Shenandoah, Chameleon, and Tallahassee, were some
of the most famous in the list of Confederate cruisers. During 1861,
fifty-eight prizes were taken by them. American merchant vessels were
driven from the sea. The Shenandoah alone destroyed over $6,000,000
worth in vessels and cargoes.
The two most celebrated of these sea-rovers were the Sumter and the
Alabama, both commanded by Captain Semmes, formerly of the United States
Navy. The Sumter was a screw steamer of 600 tons, a good sailer and
sea-boat. She was bought by the Confederate Government and armed with a
few heavy guns. On June 30, 1861, she ran the blockade at Charleston,
and began scouring the seas. All through the fall she prowled about the
Atlantic, taking seventeen prizes, most of which were burned. Many
United States cruisers were sent after her, but she eluded or escaped
them all. Early in 1862 the Sumter entered the port of Gibraltar. Here
she was blockaded by two Union gunboats, and Semmes finally sold her to
take command of the Alabama.
The Alabama was built expressly for the Confederacy at Laird's
ship-yard, Liverpool, and although her character was perfectly well
known, the British Government permitted her to go to sea. She was taken
to one of the Azores Islands, where she received her armament and her
captain. The officers were Confederates, the crew British. She began her
destructive career in August, 1862. By the last of October she had taken
twenty-seven prizes. In January she sunk the gunboat Hatteras, one of
the blockading fleet off Galveston, Tex. After cruising in all seas, the
Alabama, in 1864, returned to the European coast, having captured
sixty-five vessels and destroyed property worth between $6,000,000 and
$7,000,000.
On June 11th, Semmes put into the harbor of Cherbourg, on the coast of
France. Captain Winslow, commanding the United States steamer Kearsarge,
cruising in the neighborhood, heard of the famous rover's arrival, and
took his station outside the harbor. About ten o'clock on the morning of
June 19, 1864, the Alabama was seen coming out of port, attended by a
French man-of-war and an English steam yacht. Captain Winslow
immediately cleared the decks for action. It was a clear, bright day,
with a smooth sea. The fight took place about seven miles from shore.
The two ships were pretty equally matched, each being of about 1,000
tons burden. The Kearsarge had the heavier smooth-bore guns, but the
Alabama carried a 100-pound Blakely rifle. The Kearsarge was protected
amidships by chain cables.
The Alabama opened the engagement. The Kearsarge replied with a cool and
accurate fire. The action soon grew spirited. Solid shot ricochetted
over the smooth water. Shells crashed against the sides or exploded on
deck. The two ships sailed round and round a common centre, keeping
about half a mile apart. In less than an hour the Alabama was terribly
shattered and began to sink. She tried to escape, but water put out her
engine fires. Semmes hoisted the white flag. In a few minutes the
Alabama went down, her bow rising high in the air. Boats from the
Kearsarge rescued some of the crew. The English yacht picked up others,
Semmes among them, thus running off with Winslow's prisoners. The
Kearsarge had received little damage.
[Illustration]
The Sinking of the Alabama.
The sinking of the Alabama ended the career of the Confederate cruisers.
American commerce had been nearly driven from the ocean, and, moreover,
the days of peace on land and sea alike were near at hand.
CHAPTER X.
FOREIGN RELATIONS--FINANCES--EMANCIPATION
A civil war of vast proportions in the world's greatest republic
naturally aroused deep interest among the monarchies of Europe. Russia
evinced warm friendliness to the United States. The rest of the world,
save England and France, showed us no ill-will.
England, with unfriendly haste, admitted the belligerent rights of the
Confederacy before Mr. Adams, our minister, could reach the British
court. The North was surprised and shocked that liberty-loving,
conservative England should so far side with "rebellious slave-holders."
It would seem that, besides sympathy with the aristocratic structure of
southern society, national envy helped to put England into this false
position. Commercial interests had greater weight. Four millions of
people in England depended upon cotton manufactures for support.
Three-fourths of the cotton they had used came from our southern ports,
which the blockade closed. Moreover, the Confederacy declared for free
trade, while the North adopted a high war tariff which drove many
English goods out of American markets. The London Times complained that
nearly $4,000,000 worth of English cutlery alone had been made worthless
by our tariff.
An incident early in the war heightened the ill-will between the two
countries. On a dark night in October, 1861, Messrs. Mason and Slidell,
Confederate commissioners to England and France, ran the blockade at
Charleston, and soon after took passage at Havana on the English mail
steamer Trent. November 8th, 250 miles out from Havana, the United
States sloop of war San Jacinto, Captain Wilkes, compelled the Trent, by
a shot across her bows, to heave to, and took off the commissioners.
All England was hot with resentment. Troops were shipped to Canada, and
other war preparations begun. A special messenger was hurried to
Washington, demanding an apology and the release of the prisoners.
Wilkes's action, though without authority in international law, was
warmly approved by the people. The House of Representatives tendered him
a vote of thanks. But the Government disavowed the seizure and gave up
the commissioners. Mr. Seward, Secretary of State, in a dignified reply
to England, insisted that the seizure was fully justified by England's
own practice of searching neutral vessels on the high seas; but that, as
the United States had always condemned this practice, the prisoners
would be released, especially as Captain Wilkes should have brought the
Trent before a prize court instead of deciding the validity of the prize
himself. The action of the Government, though unpopular at the time, was
undoubtedly as prudent as it was just. We could not afford to provoke
war with England.
[Illustration: Rowboats filled with soldier approaching city docks.]
The Landing of the Allied Troops at Vera Cruz.
Our real grievance against Great Britain was that the Queen's
proclamation of neutrality was not obeyed. Confederate cruisers were
built in English yards, whence they publicly and boastfully sailed to
prey upon our then vast merchant marine. Crews as well as ships were
English. The British ministry were perfectly aware of their destination,
but used all manner of artifices to avoid interfering.
Our most vicious enemy abroad was Napoleon III., so profuse yet so
hypocritical in his professions of good-will. He, too, hastened to
accord belligerent rights to the Confederacy. Had England not been too
wary to join him, the two nations would certainly have recognized the
South's independence. Napoleon was on the point of doing this alone.
Seven war-vessels were, with his sanction, built for the Confederates at
Bordeaux and Nantes, though he was too wily to allow them to sail when
he became aware that their destination was fully known to our minister.
Far-reaching political schemes were at the bottom of Napoleon's wish for
a dismembered Union. He was plotting to restore European influence in
America by setting up an empire on the ruins of the Mexican republic,
and he knew that the United States would never allow this while her
power was unbroken. In the latter part of 1861 a French army invaded
Mexico. The feeble government was overthrown after a year or two of
fighting. In 1863 an empire was established, and Napoleon offered the
throne to the Austrian archduke Maximilian. Meanwhile, the protests of
the United States were disregarded. But when our hands were freed by the
collapse of the Confederacy, Napoleon changed his tone. The French
troops were withdrawn early in 1867, and Maximilian was left to his
fate. The unhappy prince, betrayed by his own general, fell into the
hands of the old Mexican Government, now in the ascendant, and was tried
by court-martial and shot. It should be remembered, however, that
France's unfriendly attitude all through the Rebellion was maintained by
her unscrupulous emperor and did not reflect the wish of the French
people.
The expenses of the war were colossal. From beginning to close they
averaged $2,000,000 a day, sometimes running up to $3,500,000. The
expenditure for the fiscal year ending July 1, 1865, was nearly
$2,000,000,000. Of this the War Department required, in round numbers,
$1,000, 000,000; the navy department, $123,000,000. These figures reveal
the vast scale upon which the war was waged by land and sea. The
national debt rose with frightful rapidity. It was $64,000,000 in 1860,
$1,100,000,000 in 1863, $2,800,000,000 (the highest point reached) in
1865. State and local war debts would swell the amount to more than
$4,000,000,000.
The position of Secretary of the Treasury during the war was anything
but a bed of roses. The ordinary national income was hardly a drop in
the bucket compared with the enormous and constantly increasing
expenses. The total receipts for the year ending July 1, 1860, were only
$81,000,000. How should the vast sums needed to carry on the war be
raised? Resort was had to two sources of revenue--taxation and loans.
A considerable revenue was already derived from customs imposed upon
imported goods. In 1861, and again in 1863, tariffs were raised
enormously, professedly to increase the revenue. These high rates in a
measure defeated their own purpose, altogether stopping the importation
of not a few articles.
The war compelled the Government to resort to internal taxation--always
unpopular and now unknown in the United States for nearly half a
century. Taxes were laid upon almost everything--upon trades, incomes,
legacies, manufactures. The words of Sydney Smith will apply to our
internal taxes during the war:
"Taxes on the ermine which decorates the judge, and the rope which hangs
the criminal; on the poor man's salt and the rich man's spice; on the
brass nails of the coffin and the ribands of the bride." The tax on many
finished products ranged from eight to fifteen per cent.; on some it
rose to twenty per cent.
[Illustration: Two men looking out a window.]
Maximilian Watching the Departure of the
Last French Troops from the City of Mexico.
But these taxes, severe as they were, could furnish only a small part of
the necessary income. The Government must borrow. In the first year of
the war the banks loaned the United States $150,000,000 at 7.3 per cent.
interest. Many other loans were secured as the war went on--one for
$500,000,000, another for $900,000,000. As security the Government
issued bonds, bearing various rates of interest and payable after a
certain number of years. Treasury notes were also issued and made legal
tender for all debts public and private. As the Government paid its own
debts with them, they were in the nature of a forced loan. Of those
which bore no interest (commonly known as greenbacks) $433,000,000 were
issued from first to last. Also, when property was seized for the use of
the army, the owners were given certificates of indebtedness which
entitled the holders to payment at the United States Treasury.
The proportion of revenue derived from each of the above sources is
illustrated by the report of the treasurer of the United States for the
year ending July 1, 1865. Customs yielded $85,000,000, internal revenue
$209,000,000, loans $1,470,000,000.
Finance legislation during the war was more patriotic than wise, due
partly to necessary haste, largely to ignorance. The internal taxes bore
very unequally upon different classes. The tariff was ill-adjusted to
the internal taxes, letting in at low rates some classes of goods whose
home production was heavily taxed, thus discriminating in favor of the
foreigner. Millions of debt and half the other economic evil of the war
might have been saved by doing more to keep the paper dollar on a par
with gold. Thus the banks should not have been compelled to pay in gold
the loan of 1861. It forced them to suspend specie payment altogether,
December 31st of that year--those of New York City first, followed by
others everywhere, and by the United States itself. Gold had been at a
nominal premium all through 1861, but the first recorded sale at an
advance was on January 13, 1862. It would have been better, also, to
resort earlier to heavy loans, even at high rates, instead of flooding
the country with greenbacks. The national banks, which were created on
purpose to help the sale of government bonds, should have been forced to
purchase new bonds instead of supplying themselves with bonds already
issued, their purchase of which did the Government no good whatever.
Neglect in these regards caused the paper dollar to fall in value. In
July, 1864, it was worth only thirty-five cents in gold.
The finances of the Confederacy went steadily from bad to worse. The
blockade cut off its revenue from import duties. Its poor credit forbade
large loans. The government had to rely mainly upon paper money. This
soon became almost worthless. In December, 1861, it took $120 in paper
money to buy $100 in gold; in 1863 it took $1,900; in 1864, $5,000.
Nearly $1,000,000,000 in paper money was issued in all. The Confederate
debt at the close of the war was $2,000,000,000. Under the combined
influence of depreciated currency and scarcity of goods, prices became
ludicrously high. As early as 1862 flour was $40 a barrel and salt $1 a
pound. Before the war was over, a pound of sugar brought $75, a spool of
thread $20. Toward the end of the war a Confederate soldier, just paid
off, went into a store to buy a pair of boots. The price was $200. He
handed the store-keeper a $500 bill. "I can't change this," "Oh, never
mind," replied the paper millionaire. "I never let a little matter like
$300 interfere with a trade." Of course when the Confederacy collapsed
all this paper money became absolutely worthless.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Salmon Portland Chase,
Secretary of the Treasury during the Civil War.
Mr. Lincoln and the Republican Party resorted to arms not intending the
slightest alteration in the constitutional status of slavery. But the
presence of Union armies on slave soil led to new and puzzling
questions. What should be done with slaves escaping to the Union lines?
Generals Buell and Hooker authorized slave-holders to search their camps
for runaway slaves. Halleck gave orders to drive them out of his lines.
Butler, alleging that since slaves helped "the rebels" by constructing
fortifications they were contraband of war, refused to return those
fleeing into his camp. Congress moved up to this position in August,
1861, declaring that slaves used for hostile purposes should be
confiscated. But when Fremont and Hunter issued orders freeing slaves in
their military districts, President Lincoln felt obliged to countermand
them, fearing the effect upon slave States that were still loyal.
As the war went on the conviction grew that peace would never be safe or
permanent if slavery remained, and that the suppression of the Rebellion
was postponed, jeopardized, and made costlier by every hour of slavery's
life. Slaves raised crops, did camp work, and built fortifications,
releasing so many more whites for service in hostile ranks, instead of
doing all this, and fighting, even, for the Union.
It is interesting to trace the growth of emancipation sentiment during
1862 as it is reflected in congressional legislation. In March army
officers were forbidden to return fugitive slaves. In April slavery was
abolished in the District of Columbia, with compensation to owners. At
the same time Congress adopted a pet scheme of Mr. Lincoln's, offering
compensation to any State that would free its slaves. None accepted.
There were about 3,000 slaves in the District. Upon the day of their
emancipation they assembled in churches and gave thanks to God. In June
slavery in the Territories--that bone of contention through so many
years--was forever prohibited. In July an act was passed freeing rebels'
slaves coming under the Government's protection, and authorizing the use
of negro soldiers.
Already President Lincoln was meditating universal emancipation.
September 22d the friends of liberty were made glad by a preliminary
proclamation, announcing the President's intention to free the slaves on
January 1, 1863, should rebellion then continue to exist. It is said
that Mr. Lincoln would have given this notice earlier but for the gloomy
state of military affairs. The day comes. The proclamation goes forth
that all persons held as slaves in the rebellious sections "are and
henceforth shall be free." The blot which had so long stained our
national banner was wiped away. The Constitution of course does not
expressly authorize such an act by the President, but Mr. Lincoln
defended it as a "necessary war measure," "warranted by the Constitution
upon military necessity."
This bold, epoch-making deed, the death-warrant of slavery here and
throughout the world, evoked serious hostility even at the North. The
elections in the fall of 1862 and the spring of 1863 showed serious
losses for the administration party. Emancipation, too, doubtless added
rancor and verve for a time to southern belligerency. But the fresh
union, spirit, and strength it soon brought to the northern cause were
tenfold compensation. Besides, it vastly exalted our struggle in the
moral estimate of Christendom, and lessened danger of foreign
intervention.
The War President trod at no time a path of flowers. Strong and general
as was Union sentiment at the North, extremely diverse feelings and
views prevailed touching the methods and spirit which should govern the
conduct of the war. Certain timid, discouraged, or disappointed
Republicans, seeing the appalling loss of blood and treasure as the war
went on, and the Confederacy's unexpected tenacity of life, demanded
peace on the easiest terms inclusive of intact Union. Secretaries Seward
and Chase were for a time in this temper. The doctrinaire abolitionists
bitterly assailed President and Congress for not making, from the
outset, the extirpation of slavery the main aim of hostilities. Even the
great emancipation pacified them but little.
The Democrats proper entered a far more sensible, in fact a not wholly
groundless, complaint exactly the contrary. They charged that the
Administration, in hopes to exhibit the Democracy as a peace party
(which from 1862 it more and more became), was making the overthrow of
slavery its main aim, waging war for the negro instead of for the Union.
They complained also that not only in anti-slavery measures but in other
things as well, notably in suspending habeas corpus, the Administration
was grievously infringing the Constitution.
Yet a fourth class, a democratic rump of southern sympathizers,
popularly called "copperheads," wishing peace at any price, did their
best to encourage the Rebellion. They denounced the war as cruel,
needless, and a failure. They opposed the draft for troops, and were
partly responsible for the draft riots in 1863. Many of them were in
league with southern leaders, and held membership in treasonable
associations. Some were privy to, if not participants in, devilish plots
to spread fire and pestilence in northern camps and cities. Partly
through influence of the more moderate, several efforts to negotiate
peace were made, fortunately every one in vain.
But despite the attacks of enemies and the importunities of weak or
short-sighted friends, President Lincoln steadily held on his course.
The masses of the people rallied to his support, and in the presidential
election of 1864 he was re-elected by an overwhelming majority,
receiving 212 electoral votes against 21 for General McClellan, the
democratic candidate.
CHAPTER XI.
RECONSTRUCTION
Though arms were grounded, there remained the new task, longer and more
perplexing, if not more difficult, than the first, of restoring the
South to its normal position in the Union. It was, from the nature of
the case, a delicate one. The proud and sensitive South smarted under
defeat and was not yet cured of the illusions which had led her to
secede. Salve and not salt needed to be rubbed in to her wounds. The
North stood ready to forgive the past, but insisted, in the name of its
desolate homes and slaughtered President, that the South must be
restored on such conditions that the past could never be repeated. The
difficulty was heightened by the lack of either constitutional provision
or historical precedent. Not strange, therefore, that the actors in this
new drama of reconstruction played their parts awkwardly and with many
mistakes.
[Illustration: Handwriting.]
Facsimile of a portion of President Lincoln's draft of the
Preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation, September. 1862
From the original in the Library of the State of New York, Albany.
A most interesting constitutional problem had to be faced at the outset:
What effect had secession had upon the States guilty of it; was it or
was it not an act of state suicide? This question was warmly debated in
Congress and out. Although ridiculed in some quarters as a mere
metaphysical quibble, it lay at the bottom of men's political thinking
on reconstruction, and their views of the proper answer to it powerfully
influenced their action.
All loyal Democrats and most Republicans answered it in the negative.
Secession, they said, being an invalid act, had no effect whatever; the
rebellious tracts were still States of the Union in spite of themselves.
But the two parties reasoned their way to this conclusion by different
roads. The Democrats deduced the view from the State's intrinsic
sovereignty, the Republicans from the national Constitution as ordaining
"an indestructible Union of indestructible States." This class of
thinkers, in whichever party they were found, naturally preferred the
term "restoration" to "reconstruction."
The theory of state suicide was held by many, but with a difference.
Sumner and a few others deemed that secession had destroyed statehood
alone; that over individuals the Constitution still extended its
authority and its protection, as in Territories. Thaddeus Stevens and
his followers viewed secession as having left the State not only defunct
but a washed slate governmentally, like soil won by conquest. Both these
parties conceived the work before Congress to be out-and-out
"reconstruction," involving the right to change old state lines and
institutions at will. Not even this position was more ultra than the
course which reconstruction actually took.
Closely related to this main problem were several other questions nearly
or quite as vexing. Were any conditions to be imposed upon the peoples
seeking re-admission to the Union as States? If so, what, aside from the
loyalty of voters and officeholders, were these conditions? Was the
President to initiate and oversee the process of redintegration,
prescribing the conditions of re-admission, and determining when they
were fulfilled, or was all this the business of Congress? And, lastly,
did the right thus to oversee and impose conditions depend upon a
certain war power of Congress or of President, or upon the clause of the
Constitution which guarantees to every State a republican form of
government? Nearly the same question as this, in another form, would be,
Was this right explicitly constitutional or only impliedly so?
The answer practically returned to these difficult inquiries was that
Congress, as a quasi war right, must exact of the States lately in
secession all the conditions necessary, in its view, to their permanent
loyalty and the peace of the Union.
The history of reconstruction divides into three periods: Reconstruction
during the war, President Johnson's work, and Congressional
reconstruction.
Restoration was the universal thought at first. Congressional
resolutions in 1861 declared that the war was not waged "for the purpose
of overthrowing or interfering with the rights or established
institutions" of the seceding States. Their action was looked upon as an
insurrection against the state government as well as against the United
States. Accordingly, when a handful of Virginia loyalists, in the summer
of 1861, formed a state government and elected national senators and
representatives, President and Congress recognized them as the true
State of Virginia.
Following out the same idea, President Lincoln proclaimed in 1863 that
as soon as one-tenth of the voters of any seceded State would swear to
abide by the Constitution and the emancipation laws they might form a
state government. In this way Louisiana, Arkansas, and Tennessee were
reconstructed during 1863 and 1865.
The hand of the assassin removed Lincoln from the scene of action at a
time when North and South alike stood most in need of his kind heart,
tact, and firmness. Andrew Johnson succeeded to a task for which he was
ill-fitted. Conceited, obstinate, and pugnacious, he began by alarming
the South with threats of wholesale punishment for the "crime of
treason," and ended by alienating his own party through his slack
methods of re-establishing the States. Johnson declared, and no doubt
honestly, that he was carrying out Lincoln's ideas. In May, 1865, he
offered amnesty to all but certain excepted classes, mainly civil and
military leaders, upon condition of an oath to support the Constitution,
including its Thirteenth Amendment, forbidding slavery. Though the
proclamation declaring this to be in force did not issue till December
18, 1865, it had been approved by Congress the preceding February.
President Johnson then proceeded to reorganize the state governments.
For each seceded State, except the four already reconstructed, he
appointed a provincial governor. The governor called a State convention.
Only whites who had taken the amnesty oath could elect delegates, or
themselves be elected, to this convention. At the instance of the
President the convention adopted a constitution or legislation which
forbade slavery, declared the ordinance of secession null and void, and
repudiated the Confederate debt. The convention then appointed times and
places for the election of a legislature and a permanent governor. In a
few months the governmental machinery had been set in motion in all the
late Confederate States, and in December senators and representatives
from all except Texas were knocking at the doors of Congress.
Thus far the President had had full sway. But upon the re-assembling of
Congress in December, it became apparent that he and his party were not
in harmony. Congress, still overwhelmingly republican, refused to admit
the southern delegates, and appointed a committee to investigate the
condition of affairs in the southern States. Its report was anything but
re-assuring, and Congress, mainly under the lead of Thaddeus Stevens,
boldly proceeded to rip up the entire presidential work.
Several considerations led Congress to this course. They denied the
President's right, on his own sole authority, to re-establish permanent
governments in the States in question. Furthermore, the new state
governments were declared unlawful because their constitutions had not
been submitted to the people for ratification. Congress also maintained
that only the law-making power could of right determine the conditions
of re-admission to the Union, and judge whether or not those conditions
had been fulfilled.
But the consideration which outweighed all others in favor of the
congressional procedure was the alarming temper and acts of the South
itself. The Carolinas and Georgia had simply repealed the ordinance of
secession instead of declaring it null and void. The reconstructed
legislatures pensioned Confederate soldiers and their families.
"Notorious and unpardoned rebels" were elected as state officers and to
Congress.
Worse than this, nearly all the southern States passed laws which went
far toward reducing the blacks again to slavery. In Virginia, if a negro
broke his labor-contract, the employer could pursue him and compel him
to work an extra month, with chain and ball if necessary. In Mississippi
negro children who were orphans, or whose parents did not support them,
were to be apprenticed till they became of age. Their masters could
inflict upon them "moderate corporal punishment," and re-capture such as
ran away. In South Carolina any negro engaging in business had to pay
one hundred dollars yearly as a license. Mechanics were fined ten
dollars each a year for prosecuting their trades. No negro could settle
in the State without giving bonds for his good behavior and support. In
Louisiana a farm laborer was required to make a year's contract; if he
failed to work out the time, he could be punished by forced labor upon
public works. Not all the new southern legislation was of this savage
character, and this itself must be viewed in the light of the fact that
the negroes, trained in irresponsibility, were inclined to idleness and
theft. But it was nevertheless unjust. In some sections only the
interposition of the military and of the Freedman's Bureau made life
tolerable to the blacks.
As an offset to the above dangerous acts and tendencies, Congress, in
the spring of 1866, passed the Fourteenth Amendment [footnote: Declared
in force July 28, 1868, having been ratified by three-fourths of the
States] and submitted it to the States for ratification. It was meant to
insure to negroes in every State all the rights of citizens and the
equal protection of the laws. If and so long as negroes were in any
State forbidden to vote, it reduced that State's representation in
Congress proportionally; it excluded from national and state offices
certain specified Confederate leaders; and it guarded the national debt,
repudiating all indebtedness on behalf of the Rebellion. Every secession
State but Tennessee rejected the amendment.
Congress replied by the "iron law" of March 2, 1867. "Secessia" was
divided into five districts and placed under military rule, there to
remain until certain conditions were fulfilled. These conditions were,
in brief, the calling of a state convention by the loyal citizens,
blacks included; the framing by the convention of a constitution
enfranchising negroes; the ratification of this constitution by the
people and its approval by Congress; the ratification of the Fourteenth
Amendment by the new legislature. Having conformed to these
prescriptions the State might be represented in Congress and consider
itself fully restored to the Union. A supplementary law of March 19th
hastened the process by giving the district commanders surveillance of
registration and the initiative in calling conventions.
By June, 1868, a sufficient number of the southern States had complied
with the conditions to make the Fourteenth Amendment law. Virginia,
Mississippi, and Texas held out till 1870, and hence were forced to
ratify the Fifteenth Amendment also. Not till January 30, 1871, were all
the States again represented in both Houses of Congress as in 1860.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Edwin M. Stanton.
All through the days of congressional reconstruction the antagonism
between President and Congress steadily increased. Every step in the
progress encountered the President's uttermost opposition and spite. He
vetoed all important reconstruction measures, which were promptly
carried over his veto. There was much violent language and bitter
feeling on both sides. The irritation finally culminated when the House
entered articles of impeachment against Johnson--the only case of the
kind in our history involving a President. The charges were tried before
the Senate in March, 1868, the Chief Justice presiding, and occupied
three weeks. William M. Evarts was Johnson's counsel, and a glittering
array of legal talent appeared on both sides. The main charge was that
the President had wilfully violated the Tenure of Office Act in removing
Secretary Stanton from the Cabinet after the Senate had once refused to
concur in his removal. The House was hasty in bringing the prosecution.
The President was acquitted by a vote of 19 against and 35 for
impeachment--one vote less than the two-thirds necessary to impeach. The
Johnson-Congressional conflict proved one of the most mortifying
episodes in our country's history.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Ulysses S. Grant.
PERIOD V.
THE CEMENTED UNION
1868-1888
CHAPTER I.
POLITICAL HISTORY OF THE LAST TWO DECADES
The presidential election of 1868 was decided at Appomattox. General
Grant was borne to the White House on a floodtide of popularity,
carrying twenty-six out of the thirty-four voting States. Schuyler
Colfax, of Indiana, became Vice-President. The Democrats had nominated
Horatio Seymour, of New York, and F. P. Blair, of Missouri.
Reconstruction was the great issue. The democratic platform demanded
universal amnesty and the immediate restoration of all the commonwealths
lately in secession, and insisted that the regulation of the franchise
should be left with States.
The management of the South was the most serious problem before the new
administration. The whites were striving by fair means and foul to get
political power back into their own hands. The reconstructed state
governments, dependent upon black majorities, were too weak for
successful resistance. The Ku-Klux and similar organizations were
practically a masked army. The President was appealed to for military
aid, and he responded. Small detachments of United States troops hurried
hither and thither. Wherever they appeared resistance ceased; but when
fresh outbreaks elsewhere called the soldiers away, the fight against
the hated state government was immediately renewed. The negroes soon
learned to stay at home on election day, and the whites, once in the
saddle, were too skilful riders to be thrown.
Congress, meanwhile, still strongly republican, was taking active
measures to protect the blacks. In 1870 it passed an act imposing fines
and damages for a conspiracy to deprive negroes of the suffrage. The
Force Act of 1871 was a much harsher measure. It empowered the President
to employ the army, navy, and militia to suppress combinations which
deprived the negro of the rights guaranteed him by the Fourteenth
Amendment. For such combinations to appear in arms was made rebellion
against the United States, and the President might suspend habeas corpus
in the rebellious district. By President Grant, in the fall of 1871,
this was actually done in parts of the Carolinas. State registrations
and elections were to be supervised by United States marshals, who could
command the help of the United States military or naval forces.
The Force Act outran popular feeling. It came dangerously near the
practical suspension of state government in the South, and many at the
North, including some Republicans, thought the latter result a greater
evil than even the temporary abeyance of negro suffrage. The "Liberal
Republicans" bolted. In 1872 they nominated Horace Greeley for the
Presidency, and adopted a platform declaring local self-government a
better safeguard for the rights of all citizens than centralized power.
The platform also protested against the supremacy of the military over
the civil power and the suspension of habeas corpus, and favored
universal amnesty to men at the South. Charles Sumner, Stanley Matthews,
Carl Schurz, David A. Wells, and many other prominent Republicans
engaged in the opposition.
Thinking their opportunity had come, the Democrats indorsed the
Liberals' platform and nominees. The Republicans re-nominated Grant by
acclamation, and joined with him on the ticket Henry Wilson, of
Massachusetts.
As the campaign went on, the Greeley movement developed remarkable
strength and remarkable weakness. Speaking for years through the New
York Tribune, Mr. Greeley had won, in a remarkable degree, the respect
and even the affection of the country. His offer to give bail for
Jefferson Davis in his imprisonment, and his stanch advocacy of mercy to
all who had engaged in secession, so soon as they had grounded arms,
made him hosts of friends even in the South, He took the stump himself,
making the tour of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Indiana, and crowds of
Republicans came to see and hear their former champion.
But the Democrats could not heartily unite in the support of such a
lifelong and bitter opponent of their party. Some supported a third
ticket, while many others did not vote at all. Mr. Greeley, too, an
ardent protectionist, was not popular with the influential free-trade
element among the Liberals themselves. The election resulted in a
sweeping victory for the republican ticket. The Democrats carried but
six States, and those were all in the South. Within a month after the
election, Mr. Greeley died, broken down by over-exertion, family
bereavement, and disappointed ambition.
Troubles in the South continued during Grant's second term. The turmoil
reached its height in Louisiana in 1874. Ever since 1872 the whites in
that State had been chafing under republican rule. The election of
Governor Kellogg was disputed, and he was accused of having plunged the
State into ruinous debt. In August, 1874, a disturbance occurred which
ended in the deliberate shooting of six republican officials. President
Grant prepared to send military aid to the Kellogg government. Thereupon
Penn, the defeated candidate for Lieutenant-governor in 1872, issued an
address to the people, claiming to be the lawful executive of Louisiana,
and calling upon the state militia to arm and drive "the usurpers from
power." Barricades were thrown up in the streets of New Orleans, and on
September 14th a severe fight took place between the insurgents and the
state forces, in which a dozen were killed on each side. On the next day
the state-house was surrendered to the militia, ten thousand of whom
had responded to Penn's call. Governor Kellogg took refuge in the
custom-house. Penn was formally inducted into office. United States
troops were hurried to the scene. Agreeably to their professions of
loyalty toward the Federal Government, the insurgents surrendered the
state property to the United States authorities without resistance, but
under protest. The Kellogg government was re-instated.
Troops at the polls secured quiet in the November elections. The
returning board decided that the Republicans had elected their governor
and fifty-four members of the legislature. Fifty-two members were
democratic, while the election of five members remained in doubt, and
was left to the decision of the legislature. The Democrats vehemently
protested against the decision of the returning board, claiming an
all-round victory. Fearing trouble at the assembling of the legislature
in January, 1875, President Grant placed General Sheridan in command at
New Orleans. The legislature met on January 4th. Our reports of what
followed are conflicting. The admitted facts are that the democratic
members, lawfully or unlawfully, placed a speaker in the chair. Some
disorder ensuing, United States soldiers were called in and, at the
request of the democratic speaker, restored quiet. The Republicans
meanwhile had left the house. The Democrats then elected members to fill
the five seats left vacant by the returning board. Later in the day,
United States troops, under orders from Governor Kellogg, to whom the
republican legislators had appealed, ejected the five new members. The
Republicans re-entered the house, and the Democrats thereupon withdrew.
Subsequently a congressional committee made unsuccessful attempts to
settle the dispute. The democratic members finally returned, and a
sullen acquiescence in the Kellogg government gradually prevailed.
By 1876 every southern State was solidly democratic except Louisiana,
South Carolina, and Florida, and in these republican governments were
upheld only by the bayonet.
The presidential election of 1876 was a contest of general tendencies
rather than of definite principles. The opposing parties were more
nearly matched than they had been since 1860. The Democrats nominated
Samuel J. Tilden, of New York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana.
Rutherford B. Hayes, of Ohio, and William A. Wheeler, of New York,
became the republican standard-bearers. The election passed off quietly,
troops being stationed at the polls in turbulent quarters. Mr. Tilden
carried New York, New Jersey, Indiana, and Connecticut. With a solid
South, he had won the day. But the returning boards of Louisiana,
Florida, and South Carolina, throwing out the votes of several
democratic districts on the ground of fraud or intimidation, decided
that those States had gone republican, giving Hayes a majority of one in
the electoral college. The Democrats raised the cry of fraud. Suppressed
excitement pervaded the country. Threats were even muttered that Hayes
would never be inaugurated. President Grant quietly strengthened the
military force in and about Washington. The country looked to Congress
for a peaceful solution of the problem, and not in vain.
The Constitution provides that "the President of the Senate shall, in
presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the
[electoral] certificates, and the votes shall then be counted." Certain
Republicans held that the power to count the votes lay with the
President of the Senate, the House and Senate being mere spectators. The
Democrats naturally objected to this construction, since Mr. Ferry, the
republican president of the Senate, could then count the votes of the
disputed States for Hayes.
The Democrats insisted that Congress should continue the practice
followed since 1865, which was that no vote objected to should be
counted except by the concurrence of both houses. The House was strongly
democratic; by throwing out the vote of one State it could elect Tilden.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Samuel J. Tilden.
After a pastel by Sarony in the house at Gramercy Park.
The deadlock could be broken only by a compromise. A joint committee
reported the famous Electoral Commission Bill, which passed House and
Senate by large majorities; 186 Democrats voting for the bill and 18
against it, while the republican vote stood 52 for and 75 against. The
bill created a commission of five senators, five representatives, and
five justices of the United States Supreme Court, the fifth justice
being chosen by the four appointed in the bill. Previous to this choice
the commission contained seven Democrats and seven Republicans. It was
expected that the fifth justice would be Hon. David Davis, of Illinois,
a neutral with democratic leanings; but his unexpected election as
democratic senator from his State caused Justice Bradley to be selected
to the post of decisive umpire. The votes of all disputed States were to
be submitted to the commission for decision.
It was drawing perilously near to inauguration day. The commission met
on the last day of January. The cases of Florida, Louisiana, Oregon, and
South Carolina were in succession submitted to it by Congress. Eminent
counsel appeared for each side. There were double sets of returns from
everyone of the States named. In the three southern States the governor
recognized by the United States had signed the republican certificates.
The democratic certificates from Florida were signed by the state
attorney-general and the new democratic governor; those from Louisiana
by the democratic gubernatorial candidate, who claimed to be the lawful
governor; those from South Carolina by no state official, the Tilden
electors simply claiming to have been chosen by the popular vote and
rejected by the returning board. In Oregon the democratic governor
declared one of the Hayes electors ineligible because an office-holder,
and gave a certificate to Cronin, the highest Tilden elector, instead.
The other two Hayes electors refused to recognize Cronin, and,
associating with them the rejected republican elector, presented a
certificate signed by the secretary of state. Cronin, appointing two new
electors to act with him, cast his vote for Tilden, his associates
voting for Hayes. This certificate was signed by the governor and
attested by the secretary of state.
After deciding not to go behind any returns which were prima facie
lawful, the commission, by a strict party vote of eight to seven, gave a
decision for the Hayes electors in every case. March 2d it adjourned,
and three days later Hayes was inaugurated without disturbance.
The whole country heaved a sigh of relief. All agreed that provision
must be made against such peril in the future; but it was not till late
in 1886 that Congress could agree upon the necessary measure. The
Electoral Count Bill was then passed, and signed by the President on
February 3, 1887. It aims to throw upon each State, so far as possible,
the responsibility of determining how its own presidential vote has been
cast. It provides that the President of the Senate shall open the
electoral certificates in the presence of both houses, and hand them to
the tellers, two from each house, who are to read them aloud and record
the votes.
If there has been no dispute as to the list of electors from a State,
such list, where certified in due form, is to be accepted as a matter of
course. In case of dispute, the procedure is as follows: If but one set
of returns appears and this is authenticated by a state electoral
tribunal constituted to settle the dispute, such returns shall be
conclusive. If there are two or more sets of returns, the set approved
by the state tribunal shall be accepted. If there are two rival
tribunals, the vote of the State shall be thrown out, unless both
houses, acting separately, agree upon the lawfulness of one tribunal or
the other. If there has been no decision by a tribunal, those votes
shall be counted which both houses, acting separately, decide to be
lawful. If the houses disagree, the votes certified to by the governor
shall be accepted.
President Hayes's first important action was the withdrawal of troops
from South Carolina and Louisiana, where the rival governments existed
side by side. The republican governments at once fell to the ground. As
the Democrats had already got control in Florida, the "solid South" was
now an accomplished fact. Financial questions were those which chiefly
occupied the public mind during Hayes's administration. They are
referred to in Chapter VII., below.
Returning from a remarkable tour around the world, General Grant became
in 1880 a candidate for a third-term nomination. The deadlock in the
republican convention between him and Mr. Blaine was broken by the
nomination of James A. Garfield, of Ohio. Chester A. Arthur, of New
York, was the vice-presidential candidate. The Democrats nominated the
hero of Gettysburg, the brave and renowned General W. S. Hancock, of
Pennsylvania, and William H. English, of Indiana. Garfield was elected,
receiving 214 electoral votes against 155 for Hancock. Hancock carried
every southern State; Garfield every northern State except New Jersey,
Nevada, and California.
President Garfield had hardly entered upon his high duties when he was
cut down by the hand of an assassin. On the morning of July 2, 1881, the
President entered the railway station at Washington, intending to take
an eastern trip. Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office-seeker, crept
up behind him and fired two bullets at him, one of which lodged in his
back. The President died on September 19th, after weeks of suffering.
Vice-President Arthur succeeded to the presidency, and had an uneventful
but respectable administration.
Guiteau's trial began in November and lasted more than two months. The
defence was insanity. The assassin maintained that he was inspired to
commit the deed, and that it was a political necessity. The "stalwart"
Republicans, headed by Senator Conkling, had quarrelled with the
President over certain appointments unacceptable to the New York
senator; Guiteau pretended to think the removal of Mr. Garfield
necessary to the unity of the party and the salvation of the country.
The prosecution showed that Guiteau had long been an unprincipled
adventurer, greedy for notoriety; that he first conceived of killing the
President after his hopes of office were finally destroyed; and that he
had planned the murder several weeks in advance. Guiteau was found
guilty, and executed at Washington on June 30, 1882. The autopsy showed
no disease of the brain.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
James A. Garfield.
From a photograph by C. M. Bell, Washington, D. C.
Although it had no logical connection with the "spoils" system, the
assassination of President Garfield called the attention of the whole
country to the crying need of reform in the civil service. Ever since
the days of President Jackson, in 1829, appointments to the minor
federal offices had been used for the payment of party debts and to keep
up partisan interest. This practice incurred the deep condemnation of
Webster, Clay, Calhoun, and others, but no practical steps toward reform
were taken till 1871. The abuses of the spoils system had then become so
flagrant that Congress created a civil service commission, which
instituted competitive examinations to test the merits of candidates for
office in the departments at Washington. President Grant reported that
the new methods "had given persons of superior capacity to the service'"
But Congress, always niggardly in its appropriations for the work of the
commission, after 1875 cut them off altogether, and the rules were
suspended.
Under President Hayes civil service reform made considerable progress in
an irregular way. Secretary Schurz enforced competitive examinations in
the Interior department. They were also applied by Mr. James to the New
York Post-office, and, as the result, one-third more work was done with
less cost. Similar good results followed the enforcement of the "merit
system" in the New York custom-house after 1879. President Hayes also
strongly condemned political assessments upon office-holders, but with
small practical effect.
The alarming increase of corruption in political circles generally,
after the war, helped to create popular sentiment for reform. Corrupt
"rings" sprang up in every city. The "whiskey ring," composed of
distillers and government employees, assumed national proportions in
1874, cheating the Government out of a large part of its revenue from
spirits. Liberal appropriations for building a navy were squandered.
During the campaign of 1872, the Democrats charged several prominent
Congressmen with having taken bribes, in 1867-68, to vote for
legislation desired by the Union Pacific Railroad. At the request of the
accused, an examination was had by a House committee. The committee's
report in 1873 recommended the expulsion of Representatives Oakes Ames
and James Brooks. Mr. Ames was accused of selling to Congressmen at
reduced rates, with intent to influence their votes, shares of stock in
the "Credit Mobilier," a corporation for the construction of the Union
Pacific Railroad. Mr. Brooks, who was a government director in the
railroad, was charged with receiving such shares. The House did not
expel the two members, but severely condemned them. Shadows of varying
density fell upon many prominent politicians and darkened their
subsequent careers.
The tragic fate of President Garfield, following these and other
revelations of political corruption, brought public sentiment on civil
service reform to a head. A bill prepared by the Civil Service Reform
League, and introduced by Senator Pendleton, of Ohio, passed Congress in
January, 1883, and on the 16th received the signature of the President.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
James G. Blaine.
It authorized the President, with the consent of the Senate, to appoint
three civil service commissioners, who were to institute competitive
examinations open to all persons desiring to enter the government
employ. It provided that the clerks in the departments at Washington,
and in every customs district or post-office where fifty or more were
employed, should be arranged in classes, and that in the future only
persons who had passed the examinations should be appointed to service
in these offices or promoted from a lower class to a higher, preference
being given according to rank in the examinations. Candidates were to
serve six months' probation at practical work before receiving a final
appointment. The bill struck a heavy blow at political assessments, by
declaring that no official should be removed for refusing to contribute
to political funds. Congressmen or government officials convicted of
soliciting or receiving political assessments from government employees
became liable to a five thousand dollar fine, or three years'
imprisonment, or both. Persons in the government service were forbidden
to use their official authority or influence to coerce the political
action of anyone, or to interfere with elections.
Dorman B. Eaton, Leroy B. Thoman, and John M. Gregory were appointed
commissioners by President Arthur. By the end of the year the new system
was fairly in operation. Besides the departments at Washington, it
applied to eleven customs districts and twenty-three post-offices where
fifty or more officials were employed. The law could be thoroughly
tested only when a new party came into power; that time was near at
hand.
The deepest and most significant political movement of the last twenty
years has been the gradual recovery of power by the Democracy. For some
years after the Rebellion, this party's war record was a millstone
around its neck. The financial distress in 1873 and the corruption
prevalent in political circles weakened the party in power, while the
Democracy, putting slavery and reconstruction behind its back, turned to
new issues, and raised the cry of "economy" and "reform."
The state elections of 1874 witnessed a "tidal wave" of democratic
victories. Out of 292 members of the House in 1875, 198 were democratic.
Two-thirds of the Senators were still republican. Even by republican
reckoning, the democratic presidential ticket in 1876 received a popular
majority of 157,000 and lacked but one electoral vote. In 1879 both
houses of Congress were democratic, by small majorities, for the first
time since 1856. The tide ebbed in 1880, the Democrats losing control of
the House, and suffering a decisive defeat in the presidential election;
but with 1884 the fortune of the Democracy reached high-water mark.
In this year James G. Blaine, of Maine, and John A. Logan, of Illinois,
received the republican nomination for President and Vice-President. A
number of Independent Republicans, including the most earnest advocates
of civil service reform, were strongly opposed to Mr. Blaine, alleging
him to be personally corrupt and the representative of corrupt political
methods. They met in conference, denounced the nominations, and later
indorsed the democratic nominees--Grover Cleveland, governor of New
York, and Thomas A. Hendricks, of Indiana. George W. Curtis, Carl
Schurz, and other prominent Republicans took part in the movement.
Several influential Independent Republican papers, including the New
York Times, Boston Herald, and Springfield Republican, joined the bolt.
The campaign was bitterly personal, attacks upon the characters of the
candidates taking the place of a discussion of principles. Mr. Cleveland
was elected, receiving 219 electoral votes against 182 for Mr. Blaine.
He carried every southern State, besides New York, Connecticut, Indiana,
Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey. The total popular vote was over
10,000,000--the largest ever cast. Cleveland had 4,911,000, a plurality
of 62,000 over Blaine. The Democrats regained control of the House in
1883, and held it by a considerable majority to the end of Mr.
Cleveland's first term. In the Senate, until the election of 1892, the
Republicans continued to have a small majority.
[Illustration: Portrait.]
Grover Cleveland.
From a photograph copyrighted by C. M. Bell, Washington, D. C.
Upon the accession of the new administration to power, the country
waited with deep interest to see its effect upon the civil service. Mr.
Cleveland had pledged himself to a rigid enforcement of the new law, and
encouraged all to believe that with him impartial civil service would
not be confined to the few offices thus protected. After the first few
months of Cleveland's administration, one fact was apparent: for the
first time since the days of Jackson a change of the party in power had
not been followed by a clean sweep among the holders of offices. But, as
the subsequent record painfully shows, office-holders' pressure proved
too strong for Mr. Cleveland's resolution.
There were then about 120,000 government employees. Of these, not far
from 14,000 were covered by the Pendleton law. All the other minor
places were held at the pleasure of superior officers. These latter
officers numbered about 58,000. In August, 1887, from 45,000 to 48,000
of them had been changed, implying change in the offices dependent upon
them. There were some 55,000 postmasters, 2,400 of whom were appointed
by the President for a term of four years, the rest by the
postmaster-general at pleasure. At the date named, from 37,000 to 47,000
changes had been made in this department. These changes, of course, were
not all removals, as many vacancies occur by expiration of terms, death
of incumbents, and other causes.
An important statute regarding the presidential succession, introduced
by Senator Hoar, passed Congress in January, 1886. By previous statutes,
in case of the removal, death, resignation, or disability of the
President and Vice-President, the presidency passed in order to the
temporary President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House. The
latter two might be of the opposite party from the President's, so that
by the succession of either the will of the people as expressed in the
presidential election would manifestly be defeated. Moreover, in case of
a President's death and the accession of the Vice-President, the latter,
too, might die, and thus both the presidency and the vice-presidency
become vacant in the interim between two Congresses, when there is
neither President of the Senate nor Speaker of the House. Thus President
Garfield died September 19, 1881, and the XLVlllth Congress did not
convene to choose a Speaker until the next December. The Senate had
adjourned without electing a presiding officer. Had President Arthur
died at any moment during the intervening period--and it is said that he
was for a time in imminent danger of death--the distracting contingency
just spoken of would have been upon the country.
According to the new law, in case of a vacancy in both presidency and
vice-presidency, the presidency devolves upon the members of the
cabinet in the historical order of the establishment of their
departments, beginning with the Secretary of State. Should he die, be
impeached, or disabled, the Secretary of the Treasury would become
President, to be followed in like crisis by the Secretary of War, he by
the Attorney-General, he by the Postmaster-General, he by the Secretary
of the Navy, he by the Secretary of the Interior, and he by the
Secretary of Agriculture. We have still no legal or official criterion
of a President's disability. We do not know whether, during Garfield's
illness, for instance--apparently a clear case of disability--it was
proper for his cabinet to perform his presidential duties, or whether
Arthur should not have assumed these. Barring this chance for conflict,
it is not easy to think of an emergency in which the chief magistracy
can now fall vacant, or the appropriate incumbent thereof be in doubt.