Summary: PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U. S. GRANTVOLUME II.CONTENTS.CHAPTER XL. FIRST MEETING WITH SECRETARY STANTON—G best magnetic construction sets for 12 year olds under 25 dollars

PERSONAL MEMOIRS OF U. S. GRANT

VOLUME II.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XL. FIRST MEETING WITH SECRETARY STANTON—GENERAL ROSECRANS—COMMANDING MILITARY DIVISION OF MISSISSIPPI—ANDREW JOHNSON'S ADDRESS—ARRIVAL AT CHATTANOOGA.

CHAPTER XLI. ASSUMING THE COMMAND AT CHATTANOOGA—OPENING A LINE OFSUPPLIES—BATTLE OF WAUHATCHIE—ON THE PICKET LINE.

CHAPTER XLII. CONDITION OF THE ARMY—REBUILDING THE RAILROAD—GENERALBURNSIDE'S SITUATION—ORDERS FOR BATTLE—PLANS FOR THE ATTACK—HOOKER'SPOSITION—SHERMAN'S MOVEMENTS.

CHAPTER XLIII. PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE—THOMAS CARRIES THE FIRST LINE OFTHE ENEMY—SHERMAN CARRIES MISSIONARY RIDGE—BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN—GENERAL HOOKER'S FIGHT.

CHAPTER XLIV. BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA—A GALLANT CHARGE—COMPLETE ROUT OFTHE ENEMY—PURSUIT OF THE CONFEDERATES—GENERAL BRAGG—REMARKS ONCHATTANOOGA.

CHAPTER XLV. THE RELIEF OF KNOXVILLE—HEADQUARTERS MOVED TO NASHVILLE—VISITING KNOXVILLE—CIPHER DISPATCHES—WITHHOLDING ORDERS.

CHAPTER XLVI. OPERATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI—LONGSTREET IN EAST TENNESSEE—COMMISSIONED LIEUTENANT-GENERAL—COMMANDING THE ARMIES OF THE UNITEDSTATES—FIRST INTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

CHAPTER XLVII. THE MILITARY SITUATION—PLANS FOR THE CAMPAIGN—SHERIDANASSIGNED TO COMMAND OF THE CAVALRY—FLANK MOVEMENTS—FORREST AT FORTPILLOW—GENERAL BANKS'S EXPEDITION—COLONEL MOSBY—AN INCIDENT OF THEWILDERNESS CAMPAIGN.

CHAPTER XLVIII. COMMENCEMENT OF THE GRAND CAMPAIGN—GENERAL BUTLER'SPOSITION—SHERIDAN'S FIRST RAID.

CHAPTER XLIX. SHERMAN S CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA—SIEGE OF ATLANTA—DEATH OFGENERAL MCPHERSON—ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE ANDERSONVILLE—CAPTURE OF ATLANTA.

CHAPTER L. GRAND MOVEMENT OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC—CROSSING THERAPIDAN—ENTERING THE WILDERNESS—BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.

CHAPTER LI. AFTER THE BATTLE—TELEGRAPH AND SIGNAL SERVICE—MOVEMENT BYTHE LEFT FLANK.

CHAPTER LII. BATTLE OF SPOTTSYLVANIA—HANCOCK'S POSITION—ASSAULT OFWARREN'S AND WRIGHT'S CORPS—UPTON PROMOTED ON THE FIELD—GOOD NEWS FROMBUTLER AND SHERIDAN.

CHAPTER LIII. HANCOCK'S ASSAULT—LOSSES OF THE CONFEDERATES—PROMOTIONSRECOMMENDED—DISCOMFITURE OF THE ENEMY—EWELL'S ATTACK—REDUCING THEARTILLERY.

CHAPTER LIV. MOVEMENT BY THE LEFT FLANK—BATTLE OF NORTH ANNA—ANINCIDENT OF THE MARCH—MOVING ON RICHMOND—SOUTH OF THE PAMUNKEY—POSITION OF THE NATIONAL ARMY.

CHAPTER LV. ADVANCE ON COLD HARBOR—AN ANECDOTE OF THE WAR—BATTLE OFCOLD HARBOR—CORRESPONDENCE WITH LEE RETROSPECTIVE.

CHAPTER LVI. LEFT FLANK MOVEMENT ACROSS THE CHICKAHOMINY AND JAMES—GENERAL LEE—VISIT TO BUTLER—THE MOVEMENT ON PETERSBURG—THE INVESTMENT OF PETERSBURG.

CHAPTER LVII. RAID ON THE VIRGINIA CENTRAL RAILROAD—RAID ON THE WELDONRAILROAD—EARLY'S MOVEMENT UPON WASHINGTON—MINING THE WORKS BEFOREPETERSBURG—EXPLOSION OF THE MINE BEFORE PETERSBURG—CAMPAIGN IN THESHENANDOAH VALLEY—CAPTURE OF THE WELDON RAILROAD.

CHAPTER LVIII. SHERIDAN'S ADVANCE—VISIT TO SHERIDAN—SHERIDAN'S VICTORYIN THE SHENANDOAH—SHERIDAN'S RIDE TO WINCHESTER—CLOSE OF THE CAMPAIGNFOR THE WINTER.

CHAPTER LIX. THE CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA—SHERMAN'S MARCH TO THE SEA—WARANECDOTES—THE MARCH ON SAVANNAH—INVESTMENT OF SAVANNAH—CAPTURE OFSAVANNAH.

CHAPTER LX. THE BATTLE OF FRANKLIN—THE BATTLE OF NASHVILLE

CHAPTER LXI. EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT FISHER—ATTACK ON THE FORT—FAILUREOF THE EXPEDITION—SECOND EXPEDITION AGAINST THE FORT—CAPTURE OF FORTFISHER.

CHAPTER LXII. SHERMAN'S MARCH NORTH—SHERIDAN ORDERED TO LYNCHBURG—CANBY ORDERED TO MOVE AGAINST MOBILE—MOVEMENTS OF SCHOFIELD AND THOMAS—CAPTURE OF COLUMBIA,best magnetic construction sets for 12 year olds under 25 dollars SOUTH CAROLINA—SHERMAN IN THE CAROLINAS.

CHAPTER LXIII. ARRIVAL OF THE PEACE COMMISSIONERS—LINCOLN AND THE PEACECOMMISSIONERS—AN ANECDOTE OF LINCOLN—THE WINTER BEFORE PETERSBURG—SHERIDAN DESTROYS THE RAILROAD—GORDON CARRIES THE PICKET LINE—PARKERECAPTURES THE LINE—THE BATTLE OF WHITE OAK ROAD.

CHAPTER LXIV. INTERVIEW WITH SHERIDAN—GRAND MOVEMENT OF THE ARMY OF THEPOTOMAC—SHERIDAN'S ADVANCE ON FIVE FORKS—BATTLE OF FIVE FORKS—PARKEAND WRIGHT STORM THE ENEMY'S LINE—BATTLES BEFORE PETERSBURG.

CHAPTER LXV. THE CAPTURE OF PETERSBURG—MEETING PRESIDENT LINCOLN INPETERSBURG—THE CAPTURE OF RICHMOND—PURSUING THE ENEMY—VISIT TOSHERIDAN AND MEADE.

CHAPTER LXVI. BATTLE OF SAILOR'S CREEK—ENGAGEMENT AT FARMVILLE—CORRESPONDENCE WITH GENERAL LEE—SHERIDAN INTERCEPTS THE ENEMY.

CHAPTER LXVII. NEGOTIATIONS AT APPOMATTOX—INTERVIEW WITH LEE ATMCLEAN'S HOUSE—THE TERMS OF SURRENDER—LEE'S SURRENDER—INTERVIEW WITHLEE AFTER THE SURRENDER.

CHAPTER LXVIII. MORALE OF THE TWO ARMIES—RELATIVE CONDITIONS OF THENORTH AND SOUTH—PRESIDENT LINCOLN VISITS RICHMOND—ARRIVAL ATWASHINGTON—PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S ASSASSINATION—PRESIDENT JOHNSON'SPOLICY.

CHAPTER LXIX. SHERMAN AND JOHNSTON—JOHNSTON'S SURRENDER TO SHERMAN—CAPTURE OF MOBILE—WILSON'S EXPEDITION—CAPTURE OF JEFFERSON DAVIS—GENERAL THOMAS'S QUALITIES—ESTIMATE OF GENERAL CANBY.

CHAPTER LXX. THE END OF THE WAR—THE MARCH TO WASHINGTON—ONE OFLINCOLN'S ANECDOTES—GRAND REVIEW AT WASHINGTON—CHARACTERISTICS OFLINCOLN AND STANTON—ESTIMATE OF THE DIFFERENT CORPS COMMANDERS.

CONCLUSION

APPENDIX

CHAPTER XL.

FIRST MEETING WITH SECRETARY STANTON—GENERAL ROSECRANS—COMMANDINGMILITARY DIVISION OF MISSISSIPPI—ANDREW JOHNSON'S ADDRESS—ARRIVAL ATCHATTANOOGA.

The reply (to my telegram of October 16, 1863, from Cairo, announcing myarrival at that point) came on the morning of the 17th, directing me toproceed immediately to the Galt House, Louisville, where I would meet anofficer of the War Department with my instructions. I left Cairo withinan hour or two after the receipt of this dispatch, going by rail viaIndianapolis. Just as the train I was on was starting out of the depotat Indianapolis a messenger came running up to stop it, saying theSecretary of War was coming into the station and wanted to see me.

I had never met Mr. Stanton up to that time, though we had held frequentconversations over the wires the year before, when I was in Tennessee.Occasionally at night he would order the wires between the WarDepartment and my headquarters to be connected, and we would hold aconversation for an hour or two. On this occasion the Secretary wasaccompanied by Governor Brough of Ohio, whom I had never met, though heand my father had been old acquaintances. Mr. Stanton dismissed thespecial train that had brought him to Indianapolis, and accompanied meto Louisville.

Up to this time no hint had been given me of what was wanted after Ileft Vicksburg, except the suggestion in one of Halleck's dispatchesthat I had better go to Nashville and superintend the operation oftroops sent to relieve Rosecrans. Soon after we started the Secretaryhanded me two orders, saying that I might take my choice of them. Thetwo were identical in all but one particular. Both created the"Military Division of Mississippi," (giving me the command) composed ofthe Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the Tennessee, and allthe territory from the Alleghanies to the Mississippi River north ofBanks's command in the south-west. One order left the departmentcommanders as they were, while the other relieved Rosecrans and assignedThomas to his place. I accepted the latter. We reached Louisvilleafter night and, if I remember rightly, in a cold, drizzling rain. TheSecretary of War told me afterwards that he caught a cold on thatoccasion from which he never expected to recover. He never did.

A day was spent in Louisville, the Secretary giving me the military newsat the capital and talking about the disappointment at the results ofsome of the campaigns. By the evening of the day after our arrival allmatters of discussion seemed exhausted, and I left the hotel to spendthe evening away, both Mrs. Grant (who was with me) and myself havingrelatives living in Louisville. In the course of the evening Mr.Stanton received a dispatch from Mr. C. A. Dana, then in Chattanooga,informing him that unless prevented Rosecrans would retreat, andadvising peremptory orders against his doing so.

As stated before, after the fall of Vicksburg I urged strongly upon thegovernment the propriety of a movement against Mobile. GeneralRosecrans had been at Murfreesboro', Tennessee, with a large andwell-equipped army from early in the year 1863, with Bragg confrontinghim with a force quite equal to his own at first, considering it was onthe defensive. But after the investment of Vicksburg Bragg's army waslargely depleted to strengthen Johnston, in Mississippi, who was beingreinforced to raise the siege. I frequently wrote General Hallecksuggesting that Rosecrans should move against Bragg. By so doing hewould either detain the latter's troops where they were or layChattanooga open to capture. General Halleck strongly approved thesuggestion, and finally wrote me that he had repeatedly orderedRosecrans to advance, but that the latter had constantly failed tocomply with the order, and at last, after having held a council of war,had replied in effect that it was a military maxim "not to fight twodecisive battles at the same time." If true, the maxim was notapplicable in this case. It would be bad to be defeated in two decisivebattles fought the same day, but it would not be bad to win them. I,however, was fighting no battle, and the siege of Vicksburg had drawnfrom Rosecrans' front so many of the enemy that his chances of victorywere much greater than they would be if he waited until the siege wasover, when these troops could be returned. Rosecrans was ordered tomove against the army that was detaching troops to raise the siege.Finally he did move, on the 24th of June, but ten days afterwardsVicksburg surrendered, and the troops sent from Bragg were free toreturn.

It was at this time that I recommended to the general-in-chief themovement against Mobile. I knew the peril the Army of the Cumberlandwas in, being depleted continually, not only by ordinary casualties, butalso by having to detach troops to hold its constantly extending lineover which to draw supplies, while the enemy in front was as constantlybeing strengthened. Mobile was important to the enemy, and in theabsence of a threatening force was guarded by little else thanartillery. If threatened by land and from the water at the same timethe prize would fall easily, or troops would have to be sent to itsdefence. Those troops would necessarily come from Bragg. My judgmentwas overruled, and the troops under my command were dissipated overother parts of the country where it was thought they could render themost service.

Soon it was discovered in Washington that Rosecrans was in trouble andrequired assistance. The emergency was now too immediate to allow us togive this assistance by making an attack in rear of Bragg upon Mobile.It was therefore necessary to reinforce directly, and troops were sentfrom every available point.

Rosecrans had very skilfully manoeuvred Bragg south of the TennesseeRiver, and through and beyond Chattanooga. If he had stopped andintrenched, and made himself strong there, all would have been right andthe mistake of not moving earlier partially compensated. But he pushedon, with his forces very much scattered, until Bragg's troops fromMississippi began to join him. Then Bragg took the initiative.Rosecrans had to fall back in turn, and was able to get his armytogether at Chickamauga, some miles south-east of Chattanooga, beforethe main battle was brought on. The battle was fought on the 19th and20th of September, and Rosecrans was badly defeated, with a heavy lossin artillery and some sixteen thousand men killed, wounded and captured.The corps under Major-General George H. Thomas stood its ground, whileRosecrans, with Crittenden and McCook, returned to Chattanooga. Thomasreturned also, but later, and with his troops in good order. Braggfollowed and took possession of Missionary Ridge, overlookingChattanooga. He also occupied Lookout Mountain, west of the town, whichRosecrans had abandoned, and with it his control of the river and theriver road as far back as Bridgeport. The National troops were nowstrongly intrenched in Chattanooga Valley, with the Tennessee Riverbehind them and the enemy occupying commanding heights to the east andwest, with a strong line across the valley from mountain to mountain,and with Chattanooga Creek, for a large part of the way, in front oftheir line.

On the 29th Halleck telegraphed me the above results, and directed allthe forces that could be spared from my department to be sent toRosecrans. Long before this dispatch was received Sherman was on hisway, and McPherson was moving east with most of the garrison ofVicksburg.

A retreat at that time would have been a terrible disaster. It wouldnot only have been the loss of a most important strategic position tous, but it would have been attended with the loss of all the artillerystill left with the Army of the Cumberland and the annihilation of thatarmy itself, either by capture or demoralization.

All supplies for Rosecrans had to be brought from Nashville. Therailroad between this base and the army was in possession of thegovernment up to Bridgeport, the point at which the road crosses to thesouth side of the Tennessee River; but Bragg, holding Lookout andRaccoon mountains west of Chattanooga, commanded the railroad, the riverand the shortest and best wagon-roads, both south and north of theTennessee, between Chattanooga and Bridgeport. The distance betweenthese two places is but twenty-six miles by rail, but owing to theposition of Bragg, all supplies for Rosecrans had to be hauled by acircuitous route north of the river and over a mountainous country,increasing the distance to over sixty miles.

This country afforded but little food for his animals, nearly tenthousand of which had already starved, and not enough were left to drawa single piece of artillery or even the ambulances to convey the sick.The men had been on half rations of hard bread for a considerable time,with but few other supplies except beef driven from Nashville across thecountry. The region along the road became so exhausted of food for thecattle that by the time they reached Chattanooga they were much in thecondition of the few animals left alive there—"on the lift." Indeed,the beef was so poor that the soldiers were in the habit of saying, witha faint facetiousness, that they were living on "half rations of hardbread and BEEF DRIED ON THE HOOF."

Nothing could be transported but food, and the troops were withoutsufficient shoes or other clothing suitable for the advancing season.What they had was well worn. The fuel within the Federal lines wasexhausted, even to the stumps of trees. There were no teams to draw itfrom the opposite bank, where it was abundant. The only way ofsupplying fuel, for some time before my arrival, had been to cut treeson the north bank of the river at a considerable distance up the stream,form rafts of it and float it down with the current, effecting a landingon the south side within our lines by the use of paddles or poles. Itwould then be carried on the shoulders of the men to their camps.

If a retreat had occurred at this time it is not probable that any ofthe army would have reached the railroad as an organized body, iffollowed by the enemy.

On the receipt of Mr. Dana's dispatch Mr. Stanton sent for me. Findingthat I was out he became nervous and excited, inquiring of every personhe met, including guests of the house, whether they knew where I was,and bidding them find me and send me to him at once. About eleveno'clock I returned to the hotel, and on my way, when near the house,every person met was a messenger from the Secretary, apparentlypartaking of his impatience to see me. I hastened to the room of theSecretary and found him pacing the floor rapidly in his dressing-gown.Saying that the retreat must be prevented, he showed me the dispatch. Iimmediately wrote an order assuming command of the Military Division ofthe Mississippi, and telegraphed it to General Rosecrans. I thentelegraphed to him the order from Washington assigning Thomas to thecommand of the Army of the Cumberland; and to Thomas that he must holdChattanooga at all hazards, informing him at the same time that I wouldbe at the front as soon as possible. A prompt reply was received fromThomas, saying, "We will hold the town till we starve." I appreciatedthe force of this dispatch later when I witnessed the condition ofaffairs which prompted it. It looked, indeed, as if but two courseswere open: one to starve, the other to surrender or be captured.

On the morning of the 20th of October I started, with my staff, andproceeded as far as Nashville. At that time it was not prudent totravel beyond that point by night, so I remained in Nashville until thenext morning. Here I met for the first time Andrew Johnson, MilitaryGovernor of Tennessee. He delivered a speech of welcome. His composureshowed that it was by no means his maiden effort. It was long, and Iwas in torture while he was delivering it, fearing something would beexpected from me in response. I was relieved, however, the peopleassembled having apparently heard enough. At all events they commenceda general hand-shaking, which, although trying where there is so much ofit, was a great relief to me in this emergency.

From Nashville I telegraphed to Burnside, who was then at Knoxville,that important points in his department ought to be fortified, so thatthey could be held with the least number of men; to Admiral Porter atCairo, that Sherman's advance had passed Eastport, Mississippi, thatrations were probably on their way from St. Louis by boat for supplyinghis army, and requesting him to send a gunboat to convoy them; and toThomas, suggesting that large parties should be put at work on thewagon-road then in use back to Bridgeport.

On the morning of the 21st we took the train for the front, reachingStevenson Alabama, after dark. Rosecrans was there on his way north.He came into my car and we held a brief interview, in which he describedvery clearly the situation at Chattanooga, and made some excellentsuggestions as to what should be done. My only wonder was that he hadnot carried them out. We then proceeded to Bridgeport, where we stoppedfor the night. From here we took horses and made our way by Jasper andover Waldron's Ridge to Chattanooga. There had been much rain, and theroads were almost impassable from mud, knee-deep in places, and fromwash-outs on the mountain sides. I had been on crutches since the timeof my fall in New Orleans, and had to be carried over places where itwas not safe to cross on horseback. The roads were strewn with thedebris of broken wagons and the carcasses of thousands of starved mulesand horses. At Jasper, some ten or twelve miles from Bridgeport, therewas a halt. General O. O. Howard had his headquarters there. From thispoint I telegraphed Burnside to make every effort to secure five hundredrounds of ammunition for his artillery and small-arms. We stopped forthe night at a little hamlet some ten or twelve miles farther on. Thenext day we reached Chattanooga a little before dark. I went directlyto General Thomas's headquarters, and remaining there a few days, untilI could establish my own.

During the evening most of the general officers called in to pay theirrespects and to talk about the condition of affairs. They pointed outon the map the line, marked with a red or blue pencil, which Rosecranshad contemplated falling back upon. If any of them had approved themove they did not say so to me. I found General W. F. Smith occupyingthe position of chief engineer of the Army of the Cumberland. I hadknown Smith as a cadet at West Point, but had no recollection of havingmet him after my graduation, in 1843, up to this time. He explained thesituation of the two armies and the topography of the country so plainlythat I could see it without an inspection. I found that he hadestablished a saw-mill on the banks of the river, by utilizing an oldengine found in the neighborhood; and, by rafting logs from the northside of the river above, had got out the lumber and completed pontoonsand roadway plank for a second bridge, one flying bridge being therealready. He was also rapidly getting out the materials and constructingthe boats for a third bridge. In addition to this he had far under waya steamer for plying between Chattanooga and Bridgeport whenever wemight get possession of the river. This boat consisted of a scow, madeof the plank sawed out at the mill, housed in, and a stern wheelattached which was propelled by a second engine taken from some shop orfactory.

I telegraphed to Washington this night, notifying General Halleck of myarrival, and asking to have General Sherman assigned to the command ofthe Army of the Tennessee, headquarters in the field. The request wasat once complied with.

CHAPTER XLI.

ASSUMING THE COMMAND AT CHATTANOOGA—OPENING A LINE OF SUPPLIES—BATTLEOF WAUHATCHIE—ON THE PICKET LINE.

The next day, the 24th, I started out to make a personal inspection,taking Thomas and Smith with me, besides most of the members of mypersonal staff. We crossed to the north side of the river, and, movingto the north of detached spurs of hills, reached the Tennessee atBrown's Ferry, some three miles below Lookout Mountain, unobserved bythe enemy. Here we left our horses back from the river and approachedthe water on foot. There was a picket station of the enemy on theopposite side, of about twenty men, in full view, and we were withineasy range. They did not fire upon us nor seem to be disturbed by ourpresence. They must have seen that we were all commissioned officers.But, I suppose, they looked upon the garrison of Chattanooga asprisoners of war, feeding or starving themselves, and thought it wouldbe inhuman to kill any of them except in self-defence.

That night I issued orders for opening the route to Bridgeport—acracker line, as the soldiers appropriately termed it. They had been solong on short rations that my first thought was the establishment of aline over which food might reach them.

Chattanooga is on the south bank of the Tennessee, where that river runsnearly due west. It is at the northern end of a valley five or sixmiles in width, through which Chattanooga Creek runs. To the east ofthe valley is Missionary Ridge, rising from five to eight hundred feetabove the creek and terminating somewhat abruptly a half mile or morebefore reaching the Tennessee. On the west of the valley is LookoutMountain, twenty-two hundred feet above-tide water. Just below the townthe Tennessee makes a turn to the south and runs to the base of LookoutMountain, leaving no level ground between the mountain and river. TheMemphis and Charleston Railroad passes this point, where the mountainstands nearly perpendicular. East of Missionary Ridge flows the SouthChickamauga River; west of Lookout Mountain is Lookout Creek; and westof that, Raccoon Mountains. Lookout Mountain, at its northern end,rises almost perpendicularly for some distance, then breaks off in agentle slope of cultivated fields to near the summit, where it ends in apalisade thirty or more feet in height. On the gently sloping ground,between the upper and lower palisades, there is a single farmhouse,which is reached by a wagon-road from the valley east.

The intrenched line of the enemy commenced on the north end ofMissionary Ridge and extended along the crest for some distance south,thence across Chattanooga valley to Lookout Mountain. Lookout Mountainwas also fortified and held by the enemy, who also kept troops inLookout valley west, and on Raccoon Mountain, with pickets extendingdown the river so as to command the road on the north bank and render ituseless to us. In addition to this there was an intrenched line inChattanooga valley extending from the river east of the town to LookoutMountain, to make the investment complete. Besides the fortificationson Mission Ridge, there was a line at the base of the hill, withoccasional spurs of rifle-pits half-way up the front. The enemy'spickets extended out into the valley towards the town, so far that thepickets of the two armies could converse. At one point they wereseparated only by the narrow creek which gives its name to the valleyand town, and from which both sides drew water. The Union lines wereshorter than those of the enemy.

Thus the enemy, with a vastly superior force, was strongly fortified tothe east, south, and west, and commanded the river below. Practically,the Army of the Cumberland was besieged. The enemy had stopped with hiscavalry north of the river the passing of a train loaded with ammunitionand medical supplies. The Union army was short of both, not havingammunition enough for a day's fighting.

General Halleck had, long before my coming into this new field, orderedparts of the 11th and 12th corps, commanded respectively by GeneralsHoward and Slocum, Hooker in command of the whole, from the Army of thePotomac to reinforce Rosecrans. It would have been folly to send themto Chattanooga to help eat up the few rations left there. They wereconsequently left on the railroad, where supplies could be brought tothem. Before my arrival, Thomas ordered their concentration atBridgeport.

General W. F. Smith had been so instrumental in preparing for the movewhich I was now about to make, and so clear in his judgment about themanner of making it, that I deemed it but just to him that he shouldhave command of the troops detailed to execute the design, although hewas then acting as a staff officer and was not in command of troops.

On the 24th of October, after my return to Chattanooga, the followingdetails were made: General Hooker, who was now at Bridgeport, wasordered to cross to the south side of the Tennessee and march up byWhitesides and Wauhatchie to Brown's Ferry. General Palmer, with adivision of the 14th corps, Army of the Cumberland, was ordered to movedown the river on the north side, by a back road, until oppositeWhitesides, then cross and hold the road in Hooker's rear after he hadpassed. Four thousand men were at the same time detailed to act underGeneral Smith directly from Chattanooga. Eighteen hundred of them, underGeneral Hazen, were to take sixty pontoon boats, and under cover ofnight float by the pickets of the enemy at the north base of Lookout,down to Brown's Ferry, then land on the south side and capture or driveaway the pickets at that point. Smith was to march with the remainderof the detail, also under cover of night, by the north bank of the riverto Brown's Ferry, taking with him all the material for laying the bridgeas soon as the crossing was secured.

On the 26th, Hooker crossed the river at Bridgeport and commenced hiseastward march. At three o'clock on the morning of the 27th, Hazenmoved into the stream with his sixty pontoons and eighteen hundred braveand well-equipped men. Smith started enough in advance to be near theriver when Hazen should arrive. There are a number of detached spurs ofhills north of the river at Chattanooga, back of which is a good roadparallel to the stream, sheltered from the view from the top of Lookout.It was over this road Smith marched. At five o'clock Hazen landed atBrown's Ferry, surprised the picket guard, and captured most of it. Byseven o'clock the whole of Smith's force was ferried over and inpossession of a height commanding the ferry. This was speedilyfortified, while a detail was laying the pontoon bridge. By ten o'clockthe bridge was laid, and our extreme right, now in Lookout valley, wasfortified and connected with the rest of the army. The two bridges overthe Tennessee River—a flying one at Chattanooga and the new one atBrown's Ferry—with the road north of the river, covered from both thefire and the view of the enemy, made the connection complete. Hookerfound but slight obstacles in his way, and on the afternoon of the 28themerged into Lookout valley at Wauhatchie. Howard marched on to Brown'sFerry, while Geary, who commanded a division in the 12th corps, stoppedthree miles south. The pickets of the enemy on the river below were nowcut off, and soon came in and surrendered.

The river was now opened to us from Lookout valley to Bridgeport.Between Brown's Ferry and Kelly's Ferry the Tennessee runs through anarrow gorge in the mountains, which contracts the stream so much as toincrease the current beyond the capacity of an ordinary steamer to stemit. To get up these rapids, steamers must be cordelled; that is, pulledup by ropes from the shore. But there is no difficulty in navigatingthe stream from Bridgeport to Kelly's Ferry. The latter point is onlyeight miles from Chattanooga and connected with it by a good wagon-road,which runs through a low pass in the Raccoon Mountains on the south sideof the river to Brown's Ferry, thence on the north side to the riveropposite Chattanooga. There were several steamers at Bridgeport, andabundance of forage, clothing and provisions.

On the way to Chattanooga I had telegraphed back to Nashville for a goodsupply of vegetables and small rations, which the troops had been solong deprived of. Hooker had brought with him from the east a fullsupply of land transportation. His animals had not been subjected tohard work on bad roads without forage, but were in good condition. Infive days from my arrival in Chattanooga the way was open to Bridgeportand, with the aid of steamers and Hooker's teams, in a week the troopswere receiving full rations. It is hard for any one not an eye-witnessto realize the relief this brought. The men were soon reclothed andalso well fed, an abundance of ammunition was brought up, and acheerfulness prevailed not before enjoyed in many weeks. Neitherofficers nor men looked upon themselves any longer as doomed. The weakand languid appearance of the troops, so visible before, disappeared atonce. I do not know what the effect was on the other side, but assumeit must have been correspondingly depressing. Mr. Davis had visitedBragg but a short time before, and must have perceived our condition tobe about as Bragg described it in his subsequent report. "Thesedispositions," he said, "faithfully sustained, insured the enemy'sspeedy evacuation of Chattanooga for want of food and forage. Possessedof the shortest route to his depot, and the one by which reinforcementsmust reach him, we held him at our mercy, and his destruction was only aquestion of time." But the dispositions were not "faithfullysustained," and I doubt not but thousands of men engaged in trying to"sustain" them now rejoice that they were not. There was no time duringthe rebellion when I did not think, and often say, that the South wasmore to be benefited by its defeat than the North. The latter had thepeople, the institutions, and the territory to make a great andprosperous nation. The former was burdened with an institutionabhorrent to all civilized people not brought up under it, and one whichdegraded labor, kept it in ignorance, and enervated the governing class.With the outside world at war with this institution, they could not haveextended their territory. The labor of the country was not skilled, norallowed to become so. The whites could not toil without becomingdegraded, and those who did were denominated "poor white trash." Thesystem of labor would have soon exhausted the soil and left the peoplepoor. The non-slaveholders would have left the country, and the smallslaveholder must have sold out to his more fortunate neighbor. Soon theslaves would have outnumbered the masters, and, not being in sympathywith them, would have risen in their might and exterminated them. Thewar was expensive to the South as well as to the North, both in bloodand treasure, but it was worth all it cost.

The enemy was surprised by the movements which secured to us a line ofsupplies. He appreciated its importance, and hastened to try to recoverthe line from us. His strength on Lookout Mountain was not equal toHooker's command in the valley below. From Missionary Ridge he had tomarch twice the distance we had from Chattanooga, in order to reachLookout Valley; but on the night of the 28th and 29th an attack was madeon Geary at Wauhatchie by Longstreet's corps. When the battlecommenced, Hooker ordered Howard up from Brown's Ferry. He had threemiles to march to reach Geary. On his way he was fired upon by rebeltroops from a foot-hill to the left of the road and from which the roadwas commanded. Howard turned to the left, charged up the hill andcaptured it before the enemy had time to intrench, taking manyprisoners. Leaving sufficient men to hold this height, he pushed on toreinforce Geary. Before he got up, Geary had been engaged for aboutthree hours against a vastly superior force. The night was so dark thatthe men could not distinguish one from another except by the light ofthe flashes of their muskets. In the darkness and uproar Hooker'steamsters became frightened and deserted their teams. The mules alsobecame frightened, and breaking loose from their fastenings stampededdirectly towards the enemy. The latter, no doubt, took this for acharge, and stampeded in turn. By four o'clock in the morning thebattle had entirely ceased, and our "cracker line" was never afterwarddisturbed.

In securing possession of Lookout Valley, Smith lost one man killed andfour or five wounded. The enemy lost most of his pickets at the ferry,captured. In the night engagement of the 28th-9th Hooker lost 416killed and wounded. I never knew the loss of the enemy, but our troopsburied over one hundred and fifty of his dead and captured more than ahundred.

After we had secured the opening of a line over which to bring oursupplies to the army, I made a personal inspection to see the situationof the pickets of the two armies. As I have stated, Chattanooga Creekcomes down the centre of the valley to within a mile or such a matter ofthe town of Chattanooga, then bears off westerly, then north-westerly,and enters the Tennessee River at the foot of Lookout Mountain. Thiscreek, from its mouth up to where it bears off west, lay between the twolines of pickets, and the guards of both armies drew their water fromthe same stream. As I would be under short-range fire and in an opencountry, I took nobody with me, except, I believe, a bugler, who stayedsome distance to the rear. I rode from our right around to our left.When I came to the camp of the picket guard of our side, I heard thecall, "Turn out the guard for the commanding general." I replied,"Never mind the guard," and they were dismissed and went back to theirtents. Just back of these, and about equally distant from the creek,were the guards of the Confederate pickets. The sentinel on their postcalled out in like manner, "Turn out the guard for the commandinggeneral," and, I believe, added, "General Grant." Their line in amoment front-faced to the north, facing me, and gave a salute, which Ireturned.

The most friendly relations seemed to exist between the pickets of thetwo armies. At one place there was a tree which had fallen across thestream, and which was used by the soldiers of both armies in drawingwater for their camps. General Longstreet's corps was stationed thereat the time, and wore blue of a little different shade from our uniform.Seeing a soldier in blue on this log, I rode up to him, commencedconversing with him, and asked whose corps he belonged to. He was verypolite, and, touching his hat to me, said he belonged to GeneralLongstreet's corps. I asked him a few questions—but not with a view ofgaining any particular information—all of which he answered, and I rodeoff.

CHAPTER XLII.

CONDITION OF THE ARMY—REBUILDING THE RAILROAD—GENERAL BURNSIDE'SSITUATION—ORDERS FOR BATTLE—PLANS FOR THE ATTACK—HOOKER'S POSITION—SHERMAN'S MOVEMENTS.

Having got the Army of the Cumberland in a comfortable position, I nowbegan to look after the remainder of my new command. Burnside was inabout as desperate a condition as the Army of the Cumberland had been,only he was not yet besieged. He was a hundred miles from the nearestpossible base, Big South Fork of the Cumberland River, and much fartherfrom any railroad we had possession of. The roads back were overmountains, and all supplies along the line had long since beenexhausted. His animals, too, had been starved, and their carcasseslined the road from Cumberland Gap, and far back towards Lexington, Ky.East Tennessee still furnished supplies of beef, bread and forage, butit did not supply ammunition, clothing, medical supplies, or smallrations, such as coffee, sugar, salt and rice.

Sherman had started from Memphis for Corinth on the 11th of October.His instructions required him to repair the road in his rear in order tobring up supplies. The distance was about three hundred and thirtymiles through a hostile country. His entire command could not havemaintained the road if it had been completed. The bridges had all beendestroyed by the enemy, and much other damage done. A hostile communitylived along the road; guerilla bands infested the country, and more orless of the cavalry of the enemy was still in the West. Often Sherman'swork was destroyed as soon as completed, and he only a short distanceaway.

The Memphis and Charleston Railroad strikes the Tennessee River atEastport, Mississippi. Knowing the difficulty Sherman would have tosupply himself from Memphis, I had previously ordered supplies sent fromSt. Louis on small steamers, to be convoyed by the navy, to meet him atEastport. These he got. I now ordered him to discontinue his work ofrepairing roads and to move on with his whole force to Stevenson,Alabama, without delay. This order was borne to Sherman by a messenger,who paddled down the Tennessee in a canoe and floated over MuscleShoals; it was delivered at Iuka on the 27th. In this Sherman wasnotified that the rebels were moving a force towards Cleveland, EastTennessee, and might be going to Nashville, in which event his troopswere in the best position to beat them there. Sherman, with hischaracteristic promptness, abandoned the work he was engaged upon andpushed on at once. On the 1st of November he crossed the Tennessee atEastport, and that day was in Florence, Alabama, with the head ofcolumn, while his troops were still crossing at Eastport, with Blairbringing up the rear.

Sherman's force made an additional army, with cavalry, artillery, andtrains, all to be supplied by the single track road from Nashville. Allindications pointed also to the probable necessity of supplyingBurnside's command in East Tennessee, twenty-five thousand more, by thesame route. A single track could not do this. I gave, therefore, anorder to Sherman to halt General G. M. Dodge's command, of about eightthousand men, at Athens, and subsequently directed the latter to arrangehis troops along the railroad from Decatur north towards Nashville, andto rebuild that road. The road from Nashville to Decatur passes over abroken country, cut up with innumerable streams, many of them ofconsiderable width, and with valleys far below the road-bed. All thebridges over these had been destroyed, and the rails taken up andtwisted by the enemy. All the cars and locomotives not carried off hadbeen destroyed as effectually as they knew how to destroy them. Allbridges and culverts had been destroyed between Nashville and Decatur,and thence to Stevenson, where the Memphis and Charleston and theNashville and Chattanooga roads unite. The rebuilding of this roadwould give us two roads as far as Stevenson over which to supply thearmy. From Bridgeport, a short distance farther east, the riversupplements the road.

General Dodge, besides being a most capable soldier, was an experiencedrailroad builder. He had no tools to work with except those of thepioneers—axes, picks, and spades. With these he was able to intrenchhis men and protect them against surprises by small parties of theenemy. As he had no base of supplies until the road could be completedback to Nashville, the first matter to consider after protecting his menwas the getting in of food and forage from the surrounding country. Hehad his men and teams bring in all the grain they could find, or allthey needed, and all the cattle for beef, and such other food as couldbe found. Millers were detailed from the ranks to run the mills alongthe line of the army. When these were not near enough to the troops forprotection they were taken down and moved up to the line of the road.Blacksmith shops, with all the iron and steel found in them, were movedup in like manner. Blacksmiths were detailed and set to work making thetools necessary in railroad and bridge building. Axemen were put towork getting out timber for bridges and cutting fuel for locomotiveswhen the road should be completed. Car-builders were set to workrepairing the locomotives and cars. Thus every branch of railroadbuilding, making tools to work with, and supplying the workmen withfood, was all going on at once, and without the aid of a mechanic orlaborer except what the command itself furnished. But rails and carsthe men could not make without material, and there was not enoughrolling stock to keep the road we already had worked to its fullcapacity. There were no rails except those in use. To supply thesedeficiencies I ordered eight of the ten engines General McPherson had atVicksburg to be sent to Nashville, and all the cars he had except ten.I also ordered the troops in West Tennessee to points on the river andon the Memphis and Charleston road, and ordered the cars, locomotivesand rails from all the railroads except the Memphis and Charleston toNashville. The military manager of railroads also was directed tofurnish more rolling stock and, as far as he could, bridge material.General Dodge had the work assigned him finished within forty days afterreceiving his orders. The number of bridges to rebuild was one hundredand eighty-two, many of them over deep and wide chasms; the length ofroad repaired was one hundred and two miles.

The enemy's troops, which it was thought were either moving againstBurnside or were going to Nashville, went no farther than Cleveland.Their presence there, however, alarmed the authorities at Washington,and, on account of our helpless condition at Chattanooga, caused me muchuneasiness. Dispatches were constantly coming, urging me to dosomething for Burnside's relief; calling attention to the importance ofholding East Tennessee; saying the President was much concerned for theprotection of the loyal people in that section, etc. We had not atChattanooga animals to pull a single piece of artillery, much less asupply train. Reinforcements could not help Burnside, because he hadneither supplies nor ammunition sufficient for them; hardly, indeed,bread and meat for the men he had. There was no relief possible for himexcept by expelling the enemy from Missionary Ridge and aboutChattanooga.

On the 4th of November Longstreet left our front with about fifteenthousand troops, besides Wheeler's cavalry, five thousand more, to goagainst Burnside. The situation seemed desperate, and was moreaggravating because nothing could be done until Sherman should get up.The authorities at Washington were now more than ever anxious for thesafety of Burnside's army, and plied me with dispatches faster thanever, urging that something should be done for his relief. On the 7th,before Longstreet could possibly have reached Knoxville, I orderedThomas peremptorily to attack the enemy's right, so as to force thereturn of the troops that had gone up the valley. I directed him totake mules, officers' horses, or animals wherever he could get them tomove the necessary artillery. But he persisted in the declaration thathe could not move a single piece of artillery, and could not see how hecould possibly comply with the order. Nothing was left to be done butto answer Washington dispatches as best I could; urge Sherman forward,although he was making every effort to get forward, and encourageBurnside to hold on, assuring him that in a short time he should berelieved. All of Burnside's dispatches showed the greatest confidencein his ability to hold his position as long as his ammunition held out.He even suggested the propriety of abandoning the territory he heldsouth and west of Knoxville, so as to draw the enemy farther from hisbase and make it more difficult for him to get back to Chattanooga whenthe battle should begin. Longstreet had a railroad as far as Loudon;but from there to Knoxville he had to rely on wagon trains. Burnside'ssuggestion, therefore, was a good one, and it was adopted. On the 14thI telegraphed him:

"Sherman's advance has reached Bridgeport. His whole force will beready to move from there by Tuesday at farthest. If you can holdLongstreet in check until he gets up, or by skirmishing and falling backcan avoid serious loss to yourself and gain time, I will be able toforce the enemy back from here and place a force between Longstreet andBragg that must inevitably make the former take to the mountain-passesby every available road, to get to his supplies. Sherman would havebeen here before this but for high water in Elk River driving him somethirty miles up that river to cross."

And again later in the day, indicating my plans for his relief, asfollows:

"Your dispatch and Dana's just received. Being there, you can tellbetter how to resist Longstreet's attack than I can direct. With yourshowing you had better give up Kingston at the last moment and save themost productive part of your possessions. Every arrangement is now madeto throw Sherman's force across the river, just at and below the mouthof Chickamauga Creek, as soon as it arrives. Thomas will attack on hisleft at the same time, and together it is expected to carry MissionaryRidge, and from there push a force on to the railroad between Clevelandand Dalton. Hooker will at the same time attack, and, if he can, carryLookout Mountain. The enemy now seems to be looking for an attack onhis left flank. This favors us. To further confirm this, Sherman'sadvance division will march direct from Whiteside to Trenton. Theremainder of his force will pass over a new road just made fromWhiteside to Kelly's Ferry, thus being concealed from the enemy, andleave him to suppose the whole force is going up Lookout Valley.Sherman's advance has only just reached Bridgeport. The rear will onlyreach there on the 16th. This will bring it to the 19th as the earliestday for making the combined movement as desired. Inform me if you thinkyou can sustain yourself until this time. I can hardly conceive of theenemy breaking through at Kingston and pushing for Kentucky. If theyshould, however, a new problem would be left for solution. Thomas hasordered a division of cavalry to the vicinity of Sparta. I willascertain if they have started, and inform you. It will be entirely outof the question to send you ten thousand men, not because they cannot bespared, but how would they be fed after they got even one day east fromhere?"

Longstreet, for some reason or other, stopped at Loudon until the 13th.That being the terminus of his railroad communications, it is probablehe was directed to remain there awaiting orders. He was in a positionthreatening Knoxville, and at the same time where he could be broughtback speedily to Chattanooga. The day after Longstreet left Loudon,Sherman reached Bridgeport in person and proceeded on to see me thatevening, the 14th, and reached Chattanooga the next day.

My orders for battle were all prepared in advance of Sherman's arrival(*15), except the dates, which could not be fixed while troops to beengaged were so far away. The possession of Lookout Mountain was of nospecial advantage to us now. Hooker was instructed to send Howard'scorps to the north side of the Tennessee, thence up behind the hills onthe north side, and to go into camp opposite Chattanooga; with theremainder of the command, Hooker was, at a time to be afterwardsappointed, to ascend the western slope between the upper and lowerpalisades, and so get into Chattanooga valley.

The plan of battle was for Sherman to attack the enemy's right flank,form a line across it, extend our left over South Chickamauga River soas to threaten or hold the railroad in Bragg's rear, and thus force himeither to weaken his lines elsewhere or lose his connection with hisbase at Chickamauga Station. Hooker was to perform like service on ourright. His problem was to get from Lookout Valley to Chattanooga Valleyin the most expeditious way possible; cross the latter valley rapidly toRossville, south of Bragg's line on Missionary Ridge, form line thereacross the ridge facing north, with his right flank extended toChickamauga Valley east of the ridge, thus threatening the enemy's rearon that flank and compelling him to reinforce this also. Thomas, withthe Army of the Cumberland, occupied the centre, and was to assaultwhile the enemy was engaged with most of his forces on his two flanks.

To carry out this plan, Sherman was to cross the Tennessee at Brown'sFerry and move east of Chattanooga to a point opposite the north end ofMission Ridge, and to place his command back of the foot-hills out ofsight of the enemy on the ridge. There are two streams calledChickamauga emptying into the Tennessee River east of Chattanooga—NorthChickamauga, taking its rise in Tennessee, flowing south, and emptyinginto the river some seven or eight miles east; while the SouthChickamauga, which takes its rise in Georgia, flows northward, andempties into the Tennessee some three or four miles above the town.There were now one hundred and sixteen pontoons in the North ChickamaugaRiver, their presence there being unknown to the enemy.

At night a division was to be marched up to that point, and at twoo'clock in the morning moved down with the current, thirty men in eachboat. A few were to land east of the mouth of the South Chickamauga,capture the pickets there, and then lay a bridge connecting the twobanks of the river. The rest were to land on the south side of theTennessee, where Missionary Ridge would strike it if prolonged, and asufficient number of men to man the boats were to push to the north sideto ferry over the main body of Sherman's command while those left on thesouth side intrenched themselves. Thomas was to move out from his linesfacing the ridge, leaving enough of Palmer's corps to guard against anattack down the valley. Lookout Valley being of no present value to us,and being untenable by the enemy if we should secure Missionary Ridge,Hooker's orders were changed. His revised orders brought him toChattanooga by the established route north of the Tennessee. He wasthen to move out to the right to Rossville.

Hooker's position in Lookout Valley was absolutely essential to us solong as Chattanooga was besieged. It was the key to our line forsupplying the army. But it was not essential after the enemy wasdispersed from our front, or even after the battle for this purpose wasbegun. Hooker's orders, therefore, were designed to get his force pastLookout Mountain and Chattanooga Valley, and up to Missionary Ridge. Bycrossing the north face of Lookout the troops would come intoChattanooga Valley in rear of the line held by the enemy across thevalley, and would necessarily force its evacuation. Orders wereaccordingly given to march by this route. But days before the battlebegan the advantages as well as the disadvantages of this plan of actionwere all considered. The passage over the mountain was a difficult oneto make in the face of an enemy. It might consume so much time as tolose us the use of the troops engaged in it at other points where theywere more wanted. After reaching Chattanooga Valley, the creek of thesame name, quite a formidable stream to get an army over, had to becrossed. I was perfectly willing that the enemy should keep LookoutMountain until we got through with the troops on Missionary Ridge. Bymarching Hooker to the north side of the river, thence up the stream,and recrossing at the town, he could be got in position at any namedtime; when in this new position, he would have Chattanooga Creek behindhim, and the attack on Missionary Ridge would unquestionably cause theevacuation by the enemy of his line across the valley and on LookoutMountain. Hooker's order was changed accordingly. As explainedelsewhere, the original order had to be reverted to, because of a floodin the river rendering the bridge at Brown's Ferry unsafe for thepassage of troops at the exact juncture when it was wanted to bring allthe troops together against Missionary Ridge.

The next day after Sherman's arrival I took him, with Generals Thomasand Smith and other officers, to the north side of the river, and showedthem the ground over which Sherman had to march, and pointed outgenerally what he was expected to do. I, as well as the authorities inWashington, was still in a great state of anxiety for Burnside's safety.Burnside himself, I believe, was the only one who did not share in thisanxiety. Nothing could be done for him, however, until Sherman's troopswere up. As soon, therefore, as the inspection was over, Shermanstarted for Bridgeport to hasten matters, rowing a boat himself, Ibelieve, from Kelly's Ferry. Sherman had left Bridgeport the nightof the 14th, reached Chattanooga the evening of the 15th, made theabove-described inspection on the morning of the 16th, and started backthe same evening to hurry up his command, fully appreciating theimportance of time.

His march was conducted with as much expedition as the roads and seasonwould admit of. By the 20th he was himself at Brown's Ferry with thehead of column, but many of his troops were far behind, and one division(Ewing's) was at Trenton, sent that way to create the impression thatLookout was to be taken from the south. Sherman received his orders atthe ferry, and was asked if he could not be ready for the assault thefollowing morning. News had been received that the battle had beencommenced at Knoxville. Burnside had been cut off from telegraphiccommunications. The President, the Secretary of War, and GeneralHalleck, were in an agony of suspense. My suspense was also great, butmore endurable, because I was where I could soon do something to relievethe situation. It was impossible to get Sherman's troops up for thenext day. I then asked him if they could not be got up to make theassault on the morning of the 22d, and ordered Thomas to move on thatdate. But the elements were against us. It rained all the 20th and21st. The river rose so rapidly that it was difficult to keep thepontoons in place.

General Orlando B. Willcox, a division commander under Burnside, was atthis time occupying a position farther up the valley than Knoxville—about Maynardville—and was still in telegraphic communication with theNorth. A dispatch was received from him saying that he was threatenedfrom the east. The following was sent in reply:

"If you can communicate with General Burnside, say to him that ourattack on Bragg will commence in the morning. If successful, such amove will be made as I think will relieve East Tennessee, if he can holdout. Longstreet passing through our lines to Kentucky need not causealarm. He would find the country so bare that he would lose histransportation and artillery before reaching Kentucky, and would meetsuch a force before he got through, that he could not return."

Meantime, Sherman continued his crossing without intermission as fast ashis troops could be got up. The crossing had to be effected in fullview of the enemy on the top of Lookout Mountain. Once over, however,the troops soon disappeared behind the detached hill on the north side,and would not come to view again, either to watchmen on Lookout Mountainor Missionary Ridge, until they emerged between the hills to strike thebank of the river. But when Sherman's advance reached a point oppositethe town of Chattanooga, Howard, who, it will be remembered, had beenconcealed behind the hills on the north side, took up his line of marchto join the troops on the south side. His crossing was in full viewboth from Missionary Ridge and the top of Lookout, and the enemy ofcourse supposed these troops to be Sherman's. This enabled Sherman toget to his assigned position without discovery.

CHAPTER XLIII.

PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE—THOMAS CARRIES THE FIRST LINE OF THE ENEMY—SHERMAN CARRIES MISSIONARY RIDGE—BATTLE OF LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN—GENERAL HOOKER'S FIGHT.

On the 20th, when so much was occurring to discourage—rains falling soheavily as to delay the passage of troops over the river at Brown'sFerry and threatening the entire breaking of the bridge; news coming ofa battle raging at Knoxville; of Willcox being threatened by a forcefrom the east—a letter was received from Bragg which contained thesewords: "As there may still be some non-combatants in Chattanooga, Ideem it proper to notify you that prudence would dictate their earlywithdrawal." Of course, I understood that this was a device intended todeceive; but I did not know what the intended deception was. On the22d, however, a deserter came in who informed me that Bragg was leavingour front, and on that day Buckner's division was sent to reinforceLongstreet at Knoxville, and another division started to follow but wasrecalled. The object of Bragg's letter, no doubt, was in some way todetain me until Knoxville could be captured, and his troops there bereturned to Chattanooga.

During the night of the 21st the rest of the pontoon boats, completed,one hundred and sixteen in all, were carried up to and placed in NorthChickamauga. The material for the roadway over these was deposited outof view of the enemy within a few hundred yards of the bank of theTennessee, where the north end of the bridge was to rest.

Hearing nothing from Burnside, and hearing much of the distress in
Washington on his account, I could no longer defer operations for his
relief. I determined, therefore, to do on the 23d, with the Army of the
Cumberland, what had been intended to be done on the 24th.

The position occupied by the Army of the Cumberland had been made verystrong for defence during the months it had been besieged. The line wasabout a mile from the town, and extended from Citico Creek, a smallstream running near the base of Missionary Ridge and emptying into theTennessee about two miles below the mouth of the South Chickamauga, onthe left, to Chattanooga Creek on the right. All commanding points onthe line were well fortified and well equipped with artillery. Theimportant elevations within the line had all been carefully fortifiedand supplied with a proper armament. Among the elevations so fortifiedwas one to the east of the town, named Fort Wood. It owed itsimportance chiefly to the fact that it lay between the town andMissionary Ridge, where most of the strength of the enemy was. FortWood had in it twenty-two pieces of artillery, most of which would reachthe nearer points of the enemy's line. On the morning of the 23dThomas, according to instructions, moved Granger's corps of twodivisions, Sheridan and T. J. Wood commanding, to the foot of Fort Wood,and formed them into line as if going on parade, Sheridan on the right,Wood to the left, extending to or near Citico Creek. Palmer, commandingthe 14th corps, held that part of our line facing south and southwest.He supported Sheridan with one division (Baird's), while his otherdivision under Johnson remained in the trenches, under arms, ready to bemoved to any point. Howard's corps was moved in rear of the centre. Thepicket lines were within a few hundred yards of each other. At twoo'clock in the afternoon all were ready to advance. By this time theclouds had lifted so that the enemy could see from his elevated positionall that was going on. The signal for advance was given by a booming ofcannon from Fort Wood and other points on the line. The rebel picketswere soon driven back upon the main guards, which occupied minor anddetached heights between the main ridge and our lines. These too werecarried before halting, and before the enemy had time to reinforce theiradvance guards. But it was not without loss on both sides. Thismovement secured to us a line fully a mile in advance of the one weoccupied in the morning, and the one which the enemy had occupied up tothis time. The fortifications were rapidly turned to face the otherway. During the following night they were made strong. We lost in thispreliminary action about eleven hundred killed and wounded, while theenemy probably lost quite as heavily, including the prisoners that werecaptured. With the exception of the firing of artillery, kept up fromMissionary Ridge and Fort Wood until night closed in, this ended thefighting for the first day.

The advantage was greatly on our side now, and if I could only have beenassured that Burnside could hold out ten days longer I should haverested more easily. But we were doing the best we could for him and thecause.

By the night of the 23d Sherman's command was in a position to move,though one division (Osterhaus's) had not yet crossed the river atBrown's Ferry. The continuous rise in the Tennessee had rendered itimpossible to keep the bridge at that point in condition for troops tocross; but I was determined to move that night even without thisdivision. Orders were sent to Osterhaus accordingly to report toHooker, if he could not cross by eight o'clock on the morning of the24th. Because of the break in the bridge, Hooker's orders were againchanged, but this time only back to those first given to him.

General W. F. Smith had been assigned to duty as Chief Engineer of theMilitary Division. To him were given the general direction of movingtroops by the boats from North Chickamauga, laying the bridge after theyreached their position, and generally all the duties pertaining to hisoffice of chief engineer. During the night General Morgan L. Smith'sdivision was marched to the point where the pontoons were, and thebrigade of Giles A. Smith was selected for the delicate duty of manningthe boats and surprising the enemy's pickets on the south bank of theriver. During this night also General J. M. Brannan, chief ofartillery, moved forty pieces of artillery, belonging to the Army of theCumberland, and placed them on the north side of the river so as tocommand the ground opposite, to aid in protecting the approach to thepoint where the south end of the bridge was to rest. He had to useSherman's artillery horses for this purpose, Thomas having none.

At two o'clock in the morning, November 24th, Giles A. Smith pushed outfrom the North Chickamauga with his one hundred and sixteen boats, eachloaded with thirty brave and well-armed men. The boats with theirprecious freight dropped down quietly with the current to avoidattracting the attention of any one who could convey information to theenemy, until arriving near the mouth of South Chickamauga. Here a fewboats were landed, the troops debarked, and a rush was made upon thepicket guard known to be at that point. The guard were surprised, andtwenty of their number captured. The remainder of the troops effected alanding at the point where the bridge was to start, with equally goodresults. The work of ferrying over Sherman's command from the northside of the Tennessee was at once commenced, using the pontoons for thepurpose. A steamer was also brought up from the town to assist. Therest of M. L. Smith's division came first, then the division of John E.Smith. The troops as they landed were put to work intrenching theirposition. By daylight the two entire divisions were over, and wellcovered by the works they had built.

The work of laying the bridge, on which to cross the artillery andcavalry, was now begun. The ferrying over the infantry was continuedwith the steamer and the pontoons, taking the pontoons, however, as fastas they were wanted to put in their place in the bridge. By a littlepast noon the bridge was completed, as well as one over the SouthChickamauga connecting the troops left on that side with their comradesbelow, and all the infantry and artillery were on the south bank of theTennessee.

Sherman at once formed his troops for assault on Missionary Ridge. Byone o'clock he started with M. L. Smith on his left, keeping nearly thecourse of Chickamauga River; J. E. Smith next to the right and a littleto the rear; and Ewing still farther to the right and also a little tothe rear of J. E. Smith's command, in column, ready to deploy to theright if an enemy should come from that direction. A good skirmish linepreceded each of these columns. Soon the foot of the hill was reached;the skirmishers pushed directly up, followed closely by their supports.By half-past three Sherman was in possession of the height withouthaving sustained much loss. A brigade from each division was nowbrought up, and artillery was dragged to the top of the hill by hand.The enemy did not seem to be aware of this movement until the top of thehill was gained. There had been a drizzling rain during the day, andthe clouds were so low that Lookout Mountain and the top of MissionaryRidge were obscured from the view of persons in the valley. But now theenemy opened fire upon their assailants, and made several attempts withtheir skirmishers to drive them away, but without avail. Later in theday a more determined attack was made, but this, too, failed, andSherman was left to fortify what he had gained.

Sherman's cavalry took up its line of march soon after the bridge wascompleted, and by half-past three the whole of it was over both bridgesand on its way to strike the enemy's communications at ChickamaugaStation. All of Sherman's command was now south of the Tennessee.During the afternoon General Giles A. Smith was severely wounded andcarried from the field.

Thomas having done on the 23d what was expected of him on the 24th,there was nothing for him to do this day except to strengthen hisposition. Howard, however, effected a crossing of Citico Creek and ajunction with Sherman, and was directed to report to him. With two orthree regiments of his command he moved in the morning along the banksof the Tennessee, and reached the point where the bridge was being laid.He went out on the bridge as far as it was completed from the south end,and saw Sherman superintending the work from the north side and movinghimself south as fast as an additional boat was put in and the roadwayput upon it. Howard reported to his new chief across the chasm betweenthem, which was now narrow and in a few minutes closed.

While these operations were going on to the east of Chattanooga, Hookerwas engaged on the west. He had three divisions: Osterhaus's, of the15th corps, Army of the Tennessee; Geary's, 12th corps, Army of thePotomac; and Cruft's, 14th corps, Army of the Cumberland. Geary was onthe right at Wauhatchie, Cruft at the centre, and Osterhaus near Brown'sFerry. These troops were all west of Lookout Creek. The enemy had theeast bank of the creek strongly picketed and intrenched, and threebrigades of troops in the rear to reinforce them if attacked. Thesebrigades occupied the summit of the mountain. General Carter L.Stevenson was in command of the whole. Why any troops, except artillerywith a small infantry guard, were kept on the mountain-top, I do notsee. A hundred men could have held the summit—which is a palisade formore than thirty feet down—against the assault of any number of menfrom the position Hooker occupied.

The side of Lookout Mountain confronting Hooker's command was rugged,heavily timbered, and full of chasms, making it difficult to advancewith troops, even in the absence of an opposing force. Farther up, theground becomes more even and level, and was in cultivation. On the eastside the slope is much more gradual, and a good wagon road, zigzaggingup it, connects the town of Chattanooga with the summit.

Early on the morning of the 24th Hooker moved Geary's division,supported by a brigade of Cruft's, up Lookout Creek, to effect acrossing. The remainder of Cruft's division was to seize the bridgeover the creek, near the crossing of the railroad. Osterhaus was to moveup to the bridge and cross it. The bridge was seized by Gross's brigadeafter a slight skirmish with the pickets guarding it. This attractedthe enemy so that Geary's movement farther up was not observed. A heavymist obscured him from the view of the troops on the top of themountain. He crossed the creek almost unobserved, and captured thepicket of over forty men on guard near by. He then commenced ascendingthe mountain directly in his front. By this time the enemy was seencoming down from their camps on the mountain slope, and filing intotheir rifle-pits to contest the crossing of the bridge. By eleveno'clock the bridge was complete. Osterhaus was up, and after some sharpskirmishing the enemy was driven away with considerable loss in killedand captured.

While the operations at the bridge were progressing, Geary was pushingup the hill over great obstacles, resisted by the enemy directly in hisfront, and in face of the guns on top of the mountain. The enemy,seeing their left flank and rear menaced, gave way, and were followed byCruft and Osterhaus. Soon these were up abreast of Geary, and the wholecommand pushed up the hill, driving the enemy in advance. By noon Gearyhad gained the open ground on the north slope of the mountain, with hisright close up to the base of the upper palisade, but there were strongfortifications in his front. The rest of the command coming up, a linewas formed from the base of the upper palisade to the mouth ofChattanooga Creek.

Thomas and I were on the top of Orchard Knob. Hooker's advance now madeour line a continuous one. It was in full view, extending from theTennessee River, where Sherman had crossed, up Chickamauga River to thebase of Mission Ridge, over the top of the north end of the ridge toChattanooga Valley, then along parallel to the ridge a mile or more,across the valley to the mouth of Chattanooga Creek, thence up the slopeof Lookout Mountain to the foot of the upper palisade. The day washazy, so that Hooker's operations were not visible to us except atmoments when the clouds would rise. But the sound of his artillery andmusketry was heard incessantly. The enemy on his front was partiallyfortified, but was soon driven out of his works. During the afternoonthe clouds, which had so obscured the top of Lookout all day as to hidewhatever was going on from the view of those below, settled down andmade it so dark where Hooker was as to stop operations for the time. Atfour o'clock Hooker reported his position as impregnable. By a littleafter five direct communication was established, and a brigade of troopswas sent from Chattanooga to reinforce him. These troops had to crossChattanooga Creek and met with some opposition, but soon overcame it,and by night the commander, General Carlin, reported to Hooker and wasassigned to his left. I now telegraphed to Washington: "The fightto-day progressed favorably. Sherman carried the end of MissionaryRidge, and his right is now at the tunnel, and his left at ChickamaugaCreek. Troops from Lookout Valley carried the point of the mountain, andnow hold the eastern slope and a point high up. Hooker reports twothousand prisoners taken, besides which a small number have fallen intoour hands from Missionary Ridge." The next day the President replied:"Your dispatches as to fighting on Monday and Tuesday are here. Welldone. Many thanks to all. Remember Burnside." And Halleck alsotelegraphed: "I congratulate you on the success thus far of your plans.I fear that Burnside is hard pushed, and that any further delay mayprove fatal. I know you will do all in your power to relieve him."

The division of Jefferson C. Davis, Army of the Cumberland, had beensent to the North Chickamauga to guard the pontoons as they weredeposited in the river, and to prevent all ingress or egress ofcitizens. On the night of the 24th his division, having crossed withSherman, occupied our extreme left from the upper bridge over the plainto the north base of Missionary Ridge. Firing continued to a late hourin the night, but it was not connected with an assault at any point.

CHAPTER XLIV.

BATTLE OF CHATTANOOGA—A GALLANT CHARGE—COMPLETE ROUT OF THE ENEMY—PURSUIT OF THE CONFEDERATES—GENERAL BRAGG—REMARKS ON CHATTANOOGA.

At twelve o'clock at night, when all was quiet, I began to give ordersfor the next day, and sent a dispatch to Willcox to encourage Burnside.Sherman was directed to attack at daylight. Hooker was ordered to moveat the same hour, and endeavor to intercept the enemy's retreat if hestill remained; if he had gone, then to move directly to Rossville andoperate against the left and rear of the force on Missionary Ridge.Thomas was not to move until Hooker had reached Missionary Ridge. As Iwas with him on Orchard Knob, he would not move without further ordersfrom me.

The morning of the 25th opened clear and bright, and the whole field wasin full view from the top of Orchard Knob. It remained so all day.Bragg's headquarters were in full view, and officers—presumably staffofficers—could be seen coming and going constantly.

The point of ground which Sherman had carried on the 24th was almostdisconnected from the main ridge occupied by the enemy. A low pass, overwhich there is a wagon road crossing the hill, and near which there is arailroad tunnel, intervenes between the two hills. The problem now wasto get to the main ridge. The enemy was fortified on the point; and backfarther, where the ground was still higher, was a second fortificationcommanding the first. Sherman was out as soon as it was light enough tosee, and by sunrise his command was in motion. Three brigades held thehill already gained. Morgan L. Smith moved along the east base ofMissionary Ridge; Loomis along the west base, supported by two brigadesof John E. Smith's division; and Corse with his brigade was between thetwo, moving directly towards the hill to be captured. The ridge issteep and heavily wooded on the east side, where M. L. Smith's troopswere advancing, but cleared and with a more gentle slope on the westside. The troops advanced rapidly and carried the extreme end of therebel works. Morgan L. Smith advanced to a point which cut the enemyoff from the railroad bridge and the means of bringing up supplies byrail from Chickamauga Station, where the main depot was located. Theenemy made brave and strenuous efforts to drive our troops from theposition we had gained, but without success. The contest lasted for twohours. Corse, a brave and efficient commander, was badly wounded inthis assault. Sherman now threatened both Bragg's flank and his stores,and made it necessary for him to weaken other points of his line tostrengthen his right. From the position I occupied I could see columnafter column of Bragg's forces moving against Sherman. EveryConfederate gun that could be brought to bear upon the Union forces wasconcentrated upon him. J. E. Smith, with two brigades, charged up thewest side of the ridge to the support of Corse's command, over openground and in the face of a heavy fire of both artillery and musketry,and reached the very parapet of the enemy. He lay here for a time, butthe enemy coming with a heavy force upon his right flank, he wascompelled to fall back, followed by the foe. A few hundred yardsbrought Smith's troops into a wood, where they were speedily reformed,when they charged and drove the attacking party back to hisintrenchments.

Seeing the advance, repulse, and second advance of J. E. Smith from theposition I occupied, I directed Thomas to send a division to reinforcehim. Baird's division was accordingly sent from the right of OrchardKnob. It had to march a considerable distance directly under the eye ofthe enemy to reach its position. Bragg at once commenced massing in thesame direction. This was what I wanted. But it had now got to be latein the afternoon, and I had expected before this to see Hooker crossingthe ridge in the neighborhood of Rossville and compelling Bragg to massin that direction also.

The enemy had evacuated Lookout Mountain during the night, as I expectedhe would. In crossing the valley he burned the bridge over ChattanoogaCreek, and did all he could to obstruct the roads behind him. Hookerwas off bright and early, with no obstructions in his front but distanceand the destruction above named. He was detained four hours crossingChattanooga Creek, and thus was lost the immediate advantage I expectedfrom his forces. His reaching Bragg's flank and extending across it wasto be the signal for Thomas's assault of the ridge. But Sherman'scondition was getting so critical that the assault for his relief couldnot be delayed any longer.

Sheridan's and Wood's divisions had been lying under arms from earlymorning, ready to move the instant the signal was given. I now directedThomas to order the charge at once (*16). I watched eagerly to see theeffect, and became impatient at last that there was no indication of anycharge being made. The centre of the line which was to make the chargewas near where Thomas and I stood, but concealed from view by anintervening forest. Turning to Thomas to inquire what caused the delay,I was surprised to see Thomas J. Wood, one of the division commanderswho was to make the charge, standing talking to him. I spoke to GeneralWood, asking him why he did not charge as ordered an hour before. Hereplied very promptly that this was the first he had heard of it, butthat he had been ready all day to move at a moment's notice. I told himto make the charge at once. He was off in a moment, and in anincredibly short time loud cheering was heard, and he and Sheridan weredriving the enemy's advance before them towards Missionary Ridge. TheConfederates were strongly intrenched on the crest of the ridge in frontof us, and had a second line half-way down and another at the base. Ourmen drove the troops in front of the lower line of rifle-pits sorapidly, and followed them so closely, that rebel and Union troops wentover the first line of works almost at the same time. Many rebels werecaptured and sent to the rear under the fire of their own friends higherup the hill. Those that were not captured retreated, and were pursued.The retreating hordes being between friends and pursuers caused theenemy to fire high to avoid killing their own men. In fact, on thatoccasion the Union soldier nearest the enemy was in the safest position.Without awaiting further orders or stopping to reform, on our troopswent to the second line of works; over that and on for the crest—thuseffectually carrying out my orders of the 18th for the battle and of the24th (*17) for this charge.

I watched their progress with intense interest. The fire along therebel line was terrific. Cannon and musket balls filled the air: butthe damage done was in small proportion to the ammunition expended. Thepursuit continued until the crest was reached, and soon our men wereseen climbing over the Confederate barriers at different points in frontof both Sheridan's and Wood's divisions. The retreat of the enemy alongmost of his line was precipitate and the panic so great that Bragg andhis officers lost all control over their men. Many were captured, andthousands threw away their arms in their flight.

Sheridan pushed forward until he reached the Chickamauga River at apoint above where the enemy crossed. He met some resistance from troopsoccupying a second hill in rear of Missionary Ridge, probably to coverthe retreat of the main body and of the artillery and trains. It wasnow getting dark, but Sheridan, without halting on that account pushedhis men forward up this second hill slowly and without attracting theattention of the men placed to defend it, while he detached to the rightand left to surround the position. The enemy discovered the movementbefore these dispositions were complete, and beat a hasty retreat,leaving artillery, wagon trains, and many prisoners in our hands. ToSheridan's prompt movement the Army of the Cumberland, and the nation,are indebted for the bulk of the capture of prisoners, artillery, andsmall-arms that day. Except for his prompt pursuit, so much in this waywould not have been accomplished.

While the advance up Mission Ridge was going forward, General Thomaswith staff, General Gordon Granger, commander of the corps making theassault, and myself and staff occupied Orchard Knob, from which theentire field could be observed. The moment the troops were seen goingover the last line of rebel defences, I ordered Granger to join hiscommand, and mounting my horse I rode to the front. General Thomas leftabout the same time. Sheridan on the extreme right was already inpursuit of the enemy east of the ridge. Wood, who commanded thedivision to the left of Sheridan, accompanied his men on horseback inthe charge, but did not join Sheridan in the pursuit. To the left, inBaird's front where Bragg's troops had massed against Sherman, theresistance was more stubborn and the contest lasted longer. I orderedGranger to follow the enemy with Wood's division, but he was so muchexcited, and kept up such a roar of musketry in the direction the enemyhad taken, that by the time I could stop the firing the enemy had gotwell out of the way. The enemy confronting Sherman, now seeingeverything to their left giving way, fled also. Sherman, however, wasnot aware of the extent of our success until after nightfall, when hereceived orders to pursue at daylight in the morning.

As soon as Sherman discovered that the enemy had left his front hedirected his reserves, Davis's division of the Army of the Cumberland,to push over the pontoon-bridge at the mouth of the Chickamauga, and tomove forward to Chickamauga Station. He ordered Howard to move up thestream some two miles to where there was an old bridge, repair it duringthe night, and follow Davis at four o'clock in the morning. Morgan L.Smith was ordered to reconnoitre the tunnel to see if that was stillheld. Nothing was found there but dead bodies of men of both armies.The rest of Sherman's command was directed to follow Howard at daylightin the morning to get on to the railroad towards Graysville.

Hooker, as stated, was detained at Chattanooga Creek by the destructionof the bridge at that point. He got his troops over, with the exceptionof the artillery, by fording the stream at a little after three o'clock.Leaving his artillery to follow when the bridge should be reconstructed,he pushed on with the remainder of his command. At Rossville he cameupon the flank of a division of the enemy, which soon commenced aretreat along the ridge. This threw them on Palmer. They could makebut little resistance in the position they were caught in, and as manyof them as could do so escaped. Many, however, were captured. Hooker'sposition during the night of the 25th was near Rossville, extending eastof the ridge. Palmer was on his left, on the road to Graysville.

During the night I telegraphed to Willcox that Bragg had been defeated,and that immediate relief would be sent to Burnside if he could holdout; to Halleck I sent an announcement of our victory, and informed himthat forces would be sent up the valley to relieve Burnside.

Before the battle of Chattanooga opened I had taken measures for therelief of Burnside the moment the way should be clear. Thomas wasdirected to have the little steamer that had been built at Chattanoogaloaded to its capacity with rations and ammunition. Granger's corps wasto move by the south bank of the Tennessee River to the mouth of theHolston, and up that to Knoxville accompanied by the boat. In additionto the supplies transported by boat, the men were to carry forty roundsof ammunition in their cartridge-boxes, and four days' rations inhaversacks.

In the battle of Chattanooga, troops from the Army of the Potomac, fromthe Army of the Tennessee, and from the Army of the Cumberlandparticipated. In fact, the accidents growing out of the heavy rains andthe sudden rise in the Tennessee River so mingled the troops that theorganizations were not kept together, under their respective commanders,during the battle. Hooker, on the right, had Geary's division of the12th corps, Army of the Potomac; Osterhaus's division of the 15th corps,Army of the Tennessee; and Cruft's division of the Army of theCumberland. Sherman had three divisions of his own army, Howard's corpsfrom the Army of the Potomac, and Jefferson C. Davis's division of theArmy of the Cumberland. There was no jealousy—hardly rivalry. Indeed,I doubt whether officers or men took any note at the time of the fact ofthis intermingling of commands. All saw a defiant foe surrounding them,and took it for granted that every move was intended to dislodge him,and it made no difference where the troops came from so that the end wasaccomplished.

The victory at Chattanooga was won against great odds, considering theadvantage the enemy had of position, and was accomplished more easilythan was expected by reason of Bragg's making several grave mistakes:first, in sending away his ablest corps commander with over twentythousand troops; second, in sending away a division of troops on the eveof battle; third, in placing so much of a force on the plain in front ofhis impregnable position.

It was known that Mr. Jefferson Davis had visited Bragg on MissionaryRidge a short time before my reaching Chattanooga. It was reported andbelieved that he had come out to reconcile a serious difference betweenBragg and Longstreet, and finding this difficult to do, planned thecampaign against Knoxville, to be conducted by the latter general. Ihad known both Bragg and Longstreet before the war, the latter verywell. We had been three years at West Point together, and, after mygraduation, for a time in the same regiment. Then we served together inthe Mexican War. I had known Bragg in Mexico, and met him occasionallysubsequently. I could well understand how there might be anirreconcilable difference between them.

Bragg was a remarkably intelligent and well-informed man, professionallyand otherwise. He was also thoroughly upright. But he was possessed ofan irascible temper, and was naturally disputatious. A man of thehighest moral character and the most correct habits, yet in the old armyhe was in frequent trouble. As a subordinate he was always on thelookout to catch his commanding officer infringing his prerogatives; asa post commander he was equally vigilant to detect the slightestneglect, even of the most trivial order.

I have heard in the old army an anecdote very characteristic of Bragg.On one occasion, when stationed at a post of several companies commandedby a field officer, he was himself commanding one of the companies andat the same time acting as post quartermaster and commissary. He wasfirst lieutenant at the time, but his captain was detached on otherduty. As commander of the company he made a requisition upon thequartermaster—himself—for something he wanted. As quartermaster hedeclined to fill the requisition, and endorsed on the back of it hisreasons for so doing. As company commander he responded to this, urgingthat his requisition called for nothing but what he was entitled to, andthat it was the duty of the quartermaster to fill it. As quartermasterhe still persisted that he was right. In this condition of affairsBragg referred the whole matter to the commanding officer of the post.The latter, when he saw the nature of the matter referred, exclaimed:"My God, Mr. Bragg, you have quarrelled with every officer in the army,and now you are quarrelling with yourself!"

Longstreet was an entirely different man. He was brave, honest,intelligent, a very capable soldier, subordinate to his superiors, justand kind to his subordinates, but jealous of his own rights, which hehad the courage to maintain. He was never on the lookout to detect aslight, but saw one as soon as anybody when intentionally given.

It may be that Longstreet was not sent to Knoxville for the reasonstated, but because Mr. Davis had an exalted opinion of his own militarygenius, and thought he saw a chance of "killing two birds with onestone." On several occasions during the war he came to the relief ofthe Union army by means of his SUPERIOR MILITARY GENIUS.

I speak advisedly when I saw Mr. Davis prided himself on his militarycapacity. He says so himself, virtually, in his answer to the notice ofhis nomination to the Confederate presidency. Some of his generals havesaid so in their writings since the downfall of the Confederacy.

My recollection is that my first orders for the battle of Chattanoogawere as fought. Sherman was to get on Missionary Ridge, as he did;Hooker to cross the north end of Lookout Mountain, as he did, sweepacross Chattanooga Valley and get across the south end of the ridge nearRossville. When Hooker had secured that position the Army of theCumberland was to assault in the centre. Before Sherman arrived,however, the order was so changed as that Hooker was directed to come toChattanooga by the north bank of the Tennessee River. The waters in theriver, owing to heavy rains, rose so fast that the bridge at Brown'sFerry could not be maintained in a condition to be used in crossingtroops upon it. For this reason Hooker's orders were changed bytelegraph back to what they were originally.———

NOTE.—From this point on this volume was written (with the exception ofthe campaign in the Wilderness, which had been previously written) byGeneral Grant, after his great illness in April, and the presentarrangement of the subject-matter was made by him between the 10th and18th of July, 1885.

CHAPTER XLV.

THE RELIEF OF KNOXVILLE—HEADQUARTERS MOVED TO NASHVILLE—VISITINGKNOXVILLE-CIPHER CIPHER DISPATCHES—WITHHOLDING ORDERS.

Chattanooga now being secure to the National troops beyond any doubt, Iimmediately turned my attention to relieving Knoxville, about thesituation of which the President, in particular, was very anxious.Prior to the battles, I had made preparations for sending troops to therelief of Burnside at the very earliest moment after securingChattanooga. We had there two little steamers which had been built andfitted up from the remains of old boats and put in condition to run.General Thomas was directed to have one of these boats loaded withrations and ammunition and move up the Tennessee River to the mouth ofthe Holston, keeping the boat all the time abreast of the troops.General Granger, with the 4th corps reinforced to make twenty thousandmen, was to start the moment Missionary Ridge was carried, and under nocircumstances were the troops to return to their old camps. With theprovisions carried, and the little that could be got in the country, itwas supposed he could hold out until Longstreet was driven away, afterwhich event East Tennessee would furnish abundance of food forBurnside's army and his own also.

While following the enemy on the 26th, and again on the morning of the27th, part of the time by the road to Ringgold, I directed Thomas,verbally, not to start Granger until he received further orders from me;advising him that I was going to the front to more fully see thesituation. I was not right sure but that Bragg's troops might be overtheir stampede by the time they reached Dalton. In that case Braggmight think it well to take the road back to Cleveland, move thencetowards Knoxville, and, uniting with Longstreet, make a sudden dash uponBurnside.

When I arrived at Ringgold, however, on the 27th, I saw that the retreatwas most earnest. The enemy had been throwing away guns, caissons andsmall-arms, abandoning provisions, and, altogether, seemed to be movinglike a disorganized mob, with the exception of Cleburne's division,which was acting as rear-guard to cover the retreat.

When Hooker moved from Rossville toward Ringgold Palmer's division tookthe road to Graysville, and Sherman moved by the way of ChickamaugaStation toward the same point. As soon as I saw the situation atRinggold I sent a staff officer back to Chattanooga to advise Thomas ofthe condition of affairs, and direct him by my orders to start Grangerat once. Feeling now that the troops were already on the march for therelief of Burnside I was in no hurry to get back, but stayed at Ringgoldthrough the day to prepare for the return of our troops.

Ringgold is in a valley in the mountains, situated between EastChickamauga Creek and Taylor's Ridge, and about twenty miles south-eastfrom Chattanooga. I arrived just as the artillery that Hooker had leftbehind at Chattanooga Creek got up. His men were attacking Cleburne'sdivision, which had taken a strong position in the adjacent hills so asto cover the retreat of the Confederate army through a narrow gorgewhich presents itself at that point. Just beyond the gorge the valleyis narrow, and the creek so tortuous that it has to be crossed a greatmany times in the course of the first mile. This attack wasunfortunate, and cost us some men unnecessarily. Hooker captured,however, 3 pieces of artillery and 230 prisoners, and 130 rebel deadwere left upon the field.

I directed General Hooker to collect the flour and wheat in theneighboring mills for the use of the troops, and then to destroy themills and all other property that could be of use to the enemy, but notto make any wanton destruction.

At this point Sherman came up, having reached Graysville with histroops, where he found Palmer had preceded him. Palmer had picked upmany prisoners and much abandoned property on the route. I went back inthe evening to Graysville with Sherman, remained there over night anddid not return to Chattanooga until the following night, the 29th. Ithen found that Thomas had not yet started Granger, thus having lost afull day which I deemed of so much importance in determining the fate ofKnoxville. Thomas and Granger were aware that on the 23d of the monthBurnside had telegraphed that his supplies would last for ten or twelvedays and during that time he could hold out against Longstreet, but ifnot relieved within the time indicated he would be obliged to surrenderor attempt to retreat. To effect a retreat would have been animpossibility. He was already very low in ammunition, and with an armypursuing he would not have been able to gather supplies.

Finding that Granger had not only not started but was very reluctant togo, he having decided for himself that it was a very bad move to make, Isent word to General Sherman of the situation and directed him to marchto the relief of Knoxville. I also gave him the problem that we had tosolve—that Burnside had now but four to six days supplies left, andthat he must be relieved within that time.

Sherman, fortunately, had not started on his return from Graysville,having sent out detachments on the railroad which runs from Dalton toCleveland and Knoxville to thoroughly destroy that road, and thesetroops had not yet returned to camp. I was very loath to send Sherman,because his men needed rest after their long march from Memphis and hardfighting at Chattanooga. But I had become satisfied that Burnside wouldnot be rescued if his relief depended upon General Granger's movements.

Sherman had left his camp on the north side of the Tennessee River, nearChattanooga, on the night of the 23d, the men having two days' cookedrations in their haversacks. Expecting to be back in their tents bythat time and to be engaged in battle while out, they took with themneither overcoats nor blankets. The weather was already cold, and atnight they must have suffered more or less. The two days' rations hadalready lasted them five days; and they were now to go through a countrywhich had been run over so much by Confederate troops that there was butlittle probability of finding much food. They did, however, succeed incapturing some flour. They also found a good deal of bran in some ofthe mills, which the men made up into bread; and in this and other waysthey eked out an existence until they could reach Knoxville.

I was so very anxious that Burnside should get news of the steps beingtaken for his relief, and thus induce him to hold out a little longer ifit became necessary, that I determined to send a message to him. Itherefore sent a member of my staff, Colonel J. H. Wilson, to get intoKnoxville if he could report to Burnside the situation fully, and givehim all the encouragement possible. Mr. Charles A. Dana was atChattanooga during the battle, and had been there even before I assumedcommand. Mr. Dana volunteered to accompany Colonel Wilson, and didaccompany him. I put the information of what was being done for therelief of Knoxville into writing, and directed that in some way or otherit must be secretly managed so as to have a copy of this fall into thehands of General Longstreet. They made the trip safely; GeneralLongstreet did learn of Sherman's coming in advance of his reachingthere, and Burnside was prepared to hold out even for a longer time ifit had been necessary.

Burnside had stretched a boom across the Holston River to catch scowsand flats as they floated down. On these, by previous arrangements withthe loyal people of East Tennessee, were placed flour and corn, withforage and provisions generally, and were thus secured for the use ofthe Union troops. They also drove cattle into Knoxville by the eastside, which was not covered by the enemy; so that when relief arrivedBurnside had more provisions on hand than when he had last reported.

Our total loss (not including Burnside's) in all these engagementsamounted to 757 killed, 4,529 wounded and 330 missing. We captured6,142 prisoners—about 50 per cent. more than the enemy reported fortheir total loss—40 pieces of artillery, 69 artillery carriages andcaissons and over 7,000 stands of small-arms. The enemy's loss in armswas probably much greater than here reported, because we picked up agreat many that were found abandoned.

I had at Chattanooga, in round numbers, about 60,000 men. Bragg hadabout half this number, but his position was supposed to be impregnable.It was his own fault that he did not have more men present. He had sentLongstreet away with his corps swelled by reinforcements up to overtwenty thousand men, thus reducing his own force more than one-third anddepriving himself of the presence of the ablest general of his command.He did this, too, after our troops had opened a line of communication byway of Brown's and Kelly's ferries with Bridgeport, thus securing fullrations and supplies of every kind; and also when he knew reinforcementswere coming to me. Knoxville was of no earthly use to him whileChattanooga was in our hands. If he should capture Chattanooga,Knoxville with its garrison would have fallen into his hands without astruggle. I have never been able to see the wisdom of this move.

Then, too, after Sherman had arrived, and when Bragg knew that he was onthe north side of the Tennessee River, he sent Buckner's division toreinforce Longstreet. He also started another division a day later, butour attack having commenced before it reached Knoxville Bragg ordered itback. It had got so far, however, that it could not return toChattanooga in time to be of service there. It is possible this latterblunder may have been made by Bragg having become confused as to whatwas going on on our side. Sherman had, as already stated, crossed tothe north side of the Tennessee River at Brown's Ferry, in full view ofBragg's troops from Lookout Mountain, a few days before the attack.They then disappeared behind foot hills, and did not come to the view ofthe troops on Missionary Ridge until they met their assault. Bragg knewit was Sherman's troops that had crossed, and, they being so long out ofview, may have supposed that they had gone up the north bank of theTennessee River to the relief of Knoxville and that Longstreet wastherefore in danger. But the first great blunder, detaching Longstreet,cannot be accounted for in any way I know of. If he had capturedChattanooga, East Tennessee would have fallen without a struggle. Itwould have been a victory for us to have got our army away fromChattanooga safely. It was a manifold greater victory to drive away thebesieging army; a still greater one to defeat that army in his chosenground and nearly annihilate it.

The probabilities are that our loss in killed was the heavier, as wewere the attacking party. The enemy reported his loss in killed at 361:but as he reported his missing at 4,146, while we held over 6,000 ofthem as prisoners, and there must have been hundreds if not thousandswho deserted, but little reliance can be placed on this report. Therewas certainly great dissatisfaction with Bragg on the part of thesoldiers for his harsh treatment of them, and a disposition to get awayif they could. Then, too, Chattanooga, following in the same half yearwith Gettysburg in the East and Vicksburg in the West, there was muchthe same feeling in the South at this time that there had been in theNorth the fall and winter before. If the same license had been allowedthe people and press in the South that was allowed in the North,Chattanooga would probably have been the last battle fought for thepreservation of the Union.

General William F. Smith's services in these battles had been such thatI thought him eminently entitled to promotion. I was aware that he hadpreviously been named by the President for promotion to the grade ofmajor-general, but that the Senate had rejected the nomination. I wasnot aware of the reasons for this course, and therefore stronglyrecommended him for a major-generalcy. My recommendation was heeded andthe appointment made.

Upon the raising of the siege of Knoxville I, of course, informed theauthorities at Washington—the President and Secretary of War—of thefact, which caused great rejoicing there. The President especially wasrejoiced that Knoxville had been relieved (*18) without furtherbloodshed. The safety of Burnside's army and the loyal people of EastTennessee had been the subject of much anxiety to the President forseveral months, during which time he was doing all he could to relievethe situation; sending a new commander (*19) with a few thousand troopsby the way of Cumberland Gap, and telegraphing me daily, almost hourly,to "remember Burnside," "do something for Burnside," and other appealsof like tenor. He saw no escape for East Tennessee until after ourvictory at Chattanooga. Even then he was afraid that Burnside might beout of ammunition, in a starving condition, or overpowered: and hisanxiety was still intense until he heard that Longstreet had been drivenfrom the field.

Burnside followed Longstreet only to Strawberry Plains, some twentymiles or more east, and then stopped, believing that Longstreet wouldleave the State. The latter did not do so, however, but stopped only ashort distance farther on and subsisted his army for the entire winteroff East Tennessee. Foster now relieved Burnside. Sherman madedisposition of his troops along the Tennessee River in accordance withinstructions. I left Thomas in command at Chattanooga, and, about the20th of December, moved my headquarters to Nashville, Tennessee.

Nashville was the most central point from which to communicate with myentire military division, and also with the authorities at Washington.While remaining at Chattanooga I was liable to have my telegraphiccommunications cut so as to throw me out of communication with both mycommand and Washington.

Nothing occurred at Nashville worthy of mention during the winter, (*20)so I set myself to the task of having troops in positions from whichthey could move to advantage, and in collecting all necessary suppliesso as to be ready to claim a due share of the enemy's attention upon theappearance of the first good weather in the spring. I expected toretain the command I then had, and prepared myself for the campaignagainst Atlanta. I also had great hopes of having a campaign madeagainst Mobile from the Gulf. I expected after Atlanta fell to occupythat place permanently, and to cut off Lee's army from the West by wayof the road running through Augusta to Atlanta and thence south-west. Iwas preparing to hold Atlanta with a small garrison, and it was myexpectation to push through to Mobile if that city was in ourpossession: if not, to Savannah; and in this manner to get possessionof the only east and west railroad that would then be left to the enemy.But the spring campaign against Mobile was not made.

The Army of the Ohio had been getting supplies over Cumberland Gap untiltheir animals had nearly all starved. I now determined to go myself tosee if there was any possible chance of using that route in the spring,and if not to abandon it. Accordingly I left Nashville in the latterpart of December by rail for Chattanooga. From Chattanooga I took one ofthe little steamers previously spoken of as having been built there,and, putting my horses aboard, went up to the junction of the Clinchwith the Tennessee. From that point the railroad had been repaired upto Knoxville and out east to Strawberry Plains. I went by railtherefore to Knoxville, where I remained for several days. General JohnG. Foster was then commanding the Department of the Ohio. It was anintensely cold winter, the thermometer being down as low as zero everymorning for more than a week while I was at Knoxville and on my way fromthere on horseback to Lexington, Kentucky, the first point where I couldreach rail to carry me back to my headquarters at Nashville.

The road over Cumberland Gap, and back of it, was strewn with debris ofbroken wagons and dead animals, much as I had found it on my first tripto Chattanooga over Waldron's Ridge. The road had been cut up to asgreat a depth as clay could be by mules and wagons, and in thatcondition frozen; so that the ride of six days from Strawberry Plains toLexington over these holes and knobs in the road was a very cheerlessone, and very disagreeable.

I found a great many people at home along that route, both in Tennesseeand Kentucky, and, almost universally, intensely loyal. They wouldcollect in little places where we would stop of evenings, to see me,generally hearing of my approach before we arrived. The peoplenaturally expected to see the commanding general the oldest person inthe party. I was then forty-one years of age, while my medical directorwas gray-haired and probably twelve or more years my senior. The crowdswould generally swarm around him, and thus give me an opportunity ofquietly dismounting and getting into the house. It also gave me anopportunity of hearing passing remarks from one spectator to anotherabout their general. Those remarks were apt to be more complimentary tothe cause than to the appearance of the supposed general, owing to hisbeing muffled up, and also owing to the travel-worn condition we wereall in after a hard day's ride. I was back in Nashville by the 13th ofJanuary, 1864.

When I started on this trip it was necessary for me to have some personalong who could turn dispatches into cipher, and who could also read thecipher dispatches which I was liable to receive daily and almost hourly.Under the rules of the War Department at that time, Mr. Stanton hadtaken entire control of the matter of regulating the telegraph anddetermining how it should be used, and of saying who, and who alone,should have the ciphers. The operators possessed of the ciphers, aswell as the ciphers used, were practically independent of the commanderswhom they were serving immediately under, and had to report to the WarDepartment through General Stager all the dispatches which they receivedor forwarded.

I was obliged to leave the telegraphic operator back at Nashville,because that was the point at which all dispatches to me would come, tobe forwarded from there. As I have said, it was necessary for me alsoto have an operator during this inspection who had possession of thiscipher to enable me to telegraph to my division and to the WarDepartment without my dispatches being read by all the operators alongthe line of wires over which they were transmitted. Accordingly Iordered the cipher operator to turn over the key to Captain Cyrus B.Comstock, of the Corps of Engineers, whom I had selected as a wise anddiscreet man who certainly could be trusted with the cipher if theoperator at my headquarters could.

The operator refused point blank to turn over the key to CaptainComstock as directed by me, stating that his orders from the WarDepartment were not to give it to anybody—the commanding general or anyone else. I told him I would see whether he would or not. He said thatif he did he would be punished. I told him if he did not he mostcertainly would be punished. Finally, seeing that punishment was certainif he refused longer to obey my order, and being somewhat remote (evenif he was not protected altogether from the consequences of hisdisobedience to his orders) from the War Department, he yielded. When Ireturned from Knoxville I found quite a commotion. The operator hadbeen reprimanded very severely and ordered to be relieved. I informedthe Secretary of War, or his assistant secretary in charge of thetelegraph, Stager, that the man could not be relieved, for he had onlyobeyed my orders. It was absolutely necessary for me to have thecipher, and the man would most certainly have been punished if he hadnot delivered it; that they would have to punish me if they punishedanybody, or words to that effect.

This was about the only thing approaching a disagreeable differencebetween the Secretary of War and myself that occurred until the war wasover, when we had another little spat. Owing to his natural dispositionto assume all power and control in all matters that he had anythingwhatever to do with, he boldly took command of the armies, and, whileissuing no orders on the subject, prohibited any order from me going outof the adjutant-general's office until he had approved it. This wasdone by directing the adjutant-general to hold any orders that came fromme to be issued from the adjutant-general's office until he had examinedthem and given his approval. He never disturbed himself, either, inexamining my orders until it was entirely convenient for him; so thatorders which I had prepared would often lie there three or four daysbefore he would sanction them. I remonstrated against this in writing,and the Secretary apologetically restored me to my rightful position ofGeneral-in-Chief of the Army. But he soon lapsed again and took controlmuch as before.

After the relief of Knoxville Sherman had proposed to Burnside that heshould go with him to drive Longstreet out of Tennessee; but Burnsideassured him that with the troops which had been brought by Granger, andwhich were to be left, he would be amply prepared to dispose ofLongstreet without availing himself of this offer. As before statedSherman's command had left their camps north of the Tennessee, nearChattanooga, with two days' rations in their haversacks, without coatsor blankets, and without many wagons, expecting to return to their campsby the end of that time. The weather was now cold and they weresuffering, but still they were ready to make the further sacrifice, hadit been required, for the good of the cause which had brought them intoservice. Sherman, having accomplished the object for which he was sent,marched back leisurely to his old camp on the Tennessee River.

CHAPTER XLVI.

OPERATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI—LONGSTREET IN EAST TENNESSEE—COMMISSIONEDLIEUTENANT-GENERAL—COMMANDING THE ARMIES OF THE UNITED STATES—FIRSTINTERVIEW WITH PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

Soon after his return from Knoxville I ordered Sherman to distribute hisforces from Stevenson to Decatur and thence north to Nashville; Shermansuggested that he be permitted to go back to Mississippi, to the limitsof his own department and where most of his army still remained, for thepurpose of clearing out what Confederates might still be left on theeast bank of the Mississippi River to impede its navigation by ourboats. He expected also to have the co-operation of Banks to do thesame thing on the west shore. Of course I approved heartily.

About the 10th of January Sherman was back in Memphis, where Hurlbutcommanded, and got together his Memphis men, or ordered them collectedand sent to Vicksburg. He then went to Vicksburg and out to whereMcPherson was in command, and had him organize his surplus troops so asto give him about 20,000 men in all.

Sherman knew that General (Bishop) Polk was occupying Meridian with hisheadquarters, and had two divisions of infantry with a considerableforce of cavalry scattered west of him. He determined, therefore, tomove directly upon Meridian.

I had sent some 2,500 cavalry under General Sooy Smith to Sherman'sdepartment, and they had mostly arrived before Sherman got to Memphis.Hurlbut had 7,000 cavalry, and Sherman ordered him to reinforce Smith soas to give the latter a force of about 7,000 with which to go againstForrest, who was then known to be south-east from Memphis. Smith wasordered to move about the 1st of February.

While Sherman was waiting at Vicksburg for the arrival of Hurlbut withhis surplus men, he sent out scouts to ascertain the position andstrength of the enemy and to bring back all the information they couldgather. When these scouts returned it was through them that he got theinformation of General Polk's being at Meridian, and of the strength anddisposition of his command.

Forrest had about 4,000 cavalry with him, composed of thoroughlywell-disciplined men, who under so able a leader were very effective.Smith's command was nearly double that of Forrest, but not equal, man toman, for the lack of a successful experience such as Forrest's men hadhad. The fact is, troops who have fought a few battles and won, andfollowed up their victories, improve upon what they were before to anextent that can hardly be counted by percentage. The difference inresult is often decisive victory instead of inglorious defeat. Thissame difference, too, is often due to the way troops are officered, andfor the particular kind of warfare which Forrest had carried on neitherarmy could present a more effective officer than he was.

Sherman got off on the 3d of February and moved out on his expedition,meeting with no opposition whatever until he crossed the Big Black, andwith no great deal of opposition after that until he reached Jackson,Mississippi. This latter place he reached on the 6th or 7th, Brandon onthe 8th, and Morton on the 9th. Up to this time he moved in two columnsto enable him to get a good supply of forage, etc., and expedite themarch. Here, however, there were indications of the concentration ofConfederate infantry, and he was obliged to keep his army closetogether. He had no serious engagement; but he met some of the enemywho destroyed a few of his wagons about Decatur, Mississippi, where, bythe way, Sherman himself came near being picked up.

He entered Meridian on the 14th of the month, the enemy having retreatedtoward Demopolis, Alabama. He spent several days in Meridian inthoroughly destroying the railroad to the north and south, and also forthe purpose of hearing from Sooy Smith, who he supposed had met Forrestbefore this time and he hoped had gained a decisive victory because of asuperiority of numbers. Hearing nothing of him, however, he started onhis return trip to Vicksburg. There he learned that Smith, whilewaiting for a few of his men who had been ice-bound in the Ohio River,instead of getting off on the 1st as expected, had not left until the11th. Smith did meet Forrest, but the result was decidedly in Forrest'sfavor.

Sherman had written a letter to Banks, proposing a co-operative movementwith him against Shreveport, subject to my approval. I disapproved ofSherman's going himself, because I had other important work for him todo, but consented that he might send a few troops to the aid of Banks,though their time to remain absent must be limited. We must have themfor the spring campaign. The trans-Mississippi movement provedabortive.

My eldest son, who had accompanied me on the Vicksburg campaign andsiege, had while there contracted disease, which grew worse, until hehad grown so dangerously ill that on the 24th of January I obtainedpermission to go to St. Louis, where he was staying at the time, to seehim, hardly expecting to find him alive on my arrival. While I waspermitted to go, I was not permitted to turn over my command to any oneelse, but was directed to keep the headquarters with me and tocommunicate regularly with all parts of my division and with Washington,just as though I had remained at Nashville.

When I obtained this leave I was at Chattanooga, having gone there againto make preparations to have the troops of Thomas in the southern partof Tennessee co-operate with Sherman's movement in Mississippi. Idirected Thomas, and Logan who was at Scottsboro, Alabama, to keep up athreatening movement to the south against J. E. Johnston, who had againrelieved Bragg, for the purpose of making him keep as many troops aspossible there.

I learned through Confederate sources that Johnston had already sent twodivisions in the direction of Mobile, presumably to operate againstSherman, and two more divisions to Longstreet in East Tennessee. Seeingthat Johnston had depleted in this way, I directed Thomas to send atleast ten thousand men, besides Stanley's division which was already tothe east, into East Tennessee, and notified Schofield, who was now incommand in East Tennessee, of this movement of troops into hisdepartment and also of the reinforcements Longstreet had received. Myobject was to drive Longstreet out of East Tennessee as a part of thepreparations for my spring campaign.

About this time General Foster, who had been in command of theDepartment of the Ohio after Burnside until Schofield relieved him(*21), advised me that he thought it would be a good thing to keepLongstreet just where he was; that he was perfectly quiet in EastTennessee, and if he was forced to leave there, his whole well-equippedarmy would be free to go to any place where it could effect the most fortheir cause. I thought the advice was good, and, adopting that view,countermanded the orders for pursuit of Longstreet.

On the 12th of February I ordered Thomas to take Dalton and hold it, ifpossible; and I directed him to move without delay. Finding that he hadnot moved, on the 17th I urged him again to start, telling him howimportant it was, that the object of the movement was to co-operate withSherman, who was moving eastward and might be in danger. Then again onthe 21st, he not yet having started, I asked him if he could not startthe next day. He finally got off on the 22d or 23d. The enemy fellback from his front without a battle, but took a new position quite asstrong and farther to the rear. Thomas reported that he could not goany farther, because it was impossible with his poor teams, nearlystarved, to keep up supplies until the railroads were repaired. He soonfell back.

Schofield also had to return for the same reason. He could not carrysupplies with him, and Longstreet was between him and the supplies stillleft in the country. Longstreet, in his retreat, would be movingtowards his supplies, while our forces, following, would be recedingfrom theirs. On the 2d of March, however, I learned of Sherman'ssuccess, which eased my mind very much. The next day, the 3d, I wasordered to Washington.

The bill restoring the grade of lieutenant-general of the army hadpassed through Congress and became a law on the 26th of February. Mynomination had been sent to the Senate on the 1st of March and confirmedthe next day (the 2d). I was ordered to Washington on the 3d to receivemy commission, and started the day following that. The commission washanded to me on the 9th. It was delivered to me at the ExecutiveMansion by President Lincoln in the presence of his Cabinet, my eldestson, those of my staff who were with me and and a few other visitors.

The President in presenting my commission read from a paper—stating,however, as a preliminary, and prior to the delivery of it, that he haddrawn that up on paper, knowing my disinclination to speak in public,and handed me a copy in advance so that I might prepare a few lines ofreply. The President said:

"General Grant, the nation's appreciation of what you have done, and itsreliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing greatstruggle, are now presented, with this commission constituting youlieutenant-general in the Army of the United States. With this highhonor, devolves upon you, also, a corresponding responsibility. As thecountry herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. Iscarcely need to add, that, with what I here speak for the nation, goesmy own hearty personal concurrence."

To this I replied: "Mr. President, I accept the commission, withgratitude for the high honor conferred. With the aid of the noblearmies that have fought in so many fields for our common country, itwill be my earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feelthe full weight of the responsibilities now devolving on me; and I knowthat if they are met, it will be due to those armies, and above all, tothe favor of that Providence which leads both nations and men."

On the 10th I visited the headquarters of the Army of the Potomac atBrandy Station; then returned to Washington, and pushed west at once tomake my arrangements for turning over the commands there and givinggeneral directions for the preparations to be made for the springcampaign.

It had been my intention before this to remain in the West, even if Iwas made lieutenant-general; but when I got to Washington and saw thesituation it was plain that here was the point for the commandinggeneral to be. No one else could, probably, resist the pressure thatwould be brought to bear upon him to desist from his own plans andpursue others. I determined, therefore, before I started back to haveSherman advanced to my late position, McPherson to Sherman's in commandof the department, and Logan to the command of McPherson's corps. Thesechanges were all made on my recommendation and without hesitation. Mycommission as lieutenant-general was given to me on the 9th of March,1864. On the following day, as already stated, I visited General Meade,commanding the Army of the Potomac, at his headquarters at BrandyStation, north of the Rapidan. I had known General Meade slightly inthe Mexican war, but had not met him since until this visit. I was astranger to most of the Army of the Potomac, I might say to all exceptthe officers of the regular army who had served in the Mexican war.There had been some changes ordered in the organization of that armybefore my promotion. One was the consolidation of five corps intothree, thus throwing some officers of rank out of important commands.Meade evidently thought that I might want to make still one more changenot yet ordered. He said to me that I might want an officer who hadserved with me in the West, mentioning Sherman specially, to take hisplace. If so, he begged me not to hesitate about making the change. Heurged that the work before us was of such vast importance to the wholenation that the feeling or wishes of no one person should stand in theway of selecting the right men for all positions. For himself, he wouldserve to the best of his ability wherever placed. I assured him that Ihad no thought of substituting any one for him. As to Sherman, he couldnot be spared from the West.

This incident gave me even a more favorable opinion of Meade than didhis great victory at Gettysburg the July before. It is men who wait tobe selected, and not those who seek, from whom we may always expect themost efficient service.

Meade's position afterwards proved embarrassing to me if not to him. Hewas commanding an army and, for nearly a year previous to my takingcommand of all the armies, was in supreme command of the Army of thePotomac—except from the authorities at Washington. All other generalofficers occupying similar positions were independent in their commandsso far as any one present with them was concerned. I tried to makeGeneral Meade's position as nearly as possible what it would have beenif I had been in Washington or any other place away from his command. Itherefore gave all orders for the movements of the Army of the Potomacto Meade to have them executed. To avoid the necessity of having togive orders direct, I established my headquarters near his, unless therewere reasons for locating them elsewhere. This sometimes happened, andI had on occasions to give orders direct to the troops affected. On the11th I returned to Washington and, on the day after, orders werepublished by the War Department placing me in command of all the armies.I had left Washington the night before to return to my old command inthe West and to meet Sherman whom I had telegraphed to join me inNashville.

Sherman assumed command of the military division of the Mississippi onthe 18th of March, and we left Nashville together for Cincinnati. I hadSherman accompany me that far on my way back to Washington so that wecould talk over the matters about which I wanted to see him, withoutlosing any more time from my new command than was necessary. The firstpoint which I wished to discuss was particularly about the co-operationof his command with mine when the spring campaign should commence. Therewere also other and minor points, minor as compared with the greatimportance of the question to be decided by sanguinary war—therestoration to duty of officers who had been relieved from importantcommands, namely McClellan, Burnside and Fremont in the East, and Buell,McCook, Negley and Crittenden in the West.

Some time in the winter of 1863-64 I had been invited by thegeneral-in-chief to give my views of the campaign I thought advisablefor the command under me—now Sherman's. General J. E. Johnston wasdefending Atlanta and the interior of Georgia with an army, the largestpart of which was stationed at Dalton, about 38 miles south ofChattanooga. Dalton is at the junction of the railroad from Clevelandwith the one from Chattanooga to Atlanta.

There could have been no difference of opinion as to the first duty ofthe armies of the military division of the Mississippi. Johnston's armywas the first objective, and that important railroad centre, Atlanta,the second. At the time I wrote General Halleck giving my views of theapproaching campaign, and at the time I met General Sherman, it wasexpected that General Banks would be through with the campaign which hehad been ordered upon before my appointment to the command of all thearmies, and would be ready to co-operate with the armies east of theMississippi, his part in the programme being to move upon Mobile by landwhile the navy would close the harbor and assist to the best of itsability. (*22) The plan therefore was for Sherman to attack Johnston anddestroy his army if possible, to capture Atlanta and hold it, and withhis troops and those of Banks to hold a line through to Mobile, or atleast to hold Atlanta and command the railroad running east and west,and the troops from one or other of the armies to hold important pointson the southern road, the only east and west road that would be left inthe possession of the enemy. This would cut the Confederacy in twoagain, as our gaining possession of the Mississippi River had donebefore. Banks was not ready in time for the part assigned to him, andcircumstances that could not be foreseen determined the campaign whichwas afterwards made, the success and grandeur of which has resoundedthroughout all lands.

In regard to restoring officers who had been relieved from importantcommands to duty again, I left Sherman to look after those who had beenremoved in the West while I looked out for the rest. I directed,however, that he should make no assignment until I could speak to theSecretary of War about the matter. I shortly after recommended to theSecretary the assignment of General Buell to duty. I received theassurance that duty would be offered to him; and afterwards theSecretary told me that he had offered Buell an assignment and that thelatter had declined it, saying that it would be degradation to acceptthe assignment offered. I understood afterwards that he refused toserve under either Sherman or Canby because he had ranked them both.Both graduated before him and ranked him in the old army. Shermanranked him as a brigadier-general. All of them ranked me in the oldarmy, and Sherman and Buell did as brigadiers. The worst excuse asoldier can make for declining service is that he once ranked thecommander he is ordered to report to.

On the 23d of March I was back in Washington, and on the 26th took up myheadquarters at Culpeper Court-House, a few miles south of theheadquarters of the Army of the Potomac.

Although hailing from Illinois myself, the State of the President, Inever met Mr. Lincoln until called to the capital to receive mycommission as lieutenant-general. I knew him, however, very well andfavorably from the accounts given by officers under me at the West whohad known him all their lives. I had also read the remarkable series ofdebates between Lincoln and Douglas a few years before, when they wererival candidates for the United States Senate. I was then a resident ofMissouri, and by no means a "Lincoln man" in that contest; but Irecognized then his great ability.

In my first interview with Mr. Lincoln alone he stated to me that he hadnever professed to be a military man or to know how campaigns should beconducted, and never wanted to interfere in them: but thatprocrastination on the part of commanders, and the pressure from thepeople at the North and Congress, WHICH WAS ALWAYS WITH HIM, forced himinto issuing his series of "Military Orders"—one, two, three, etc. Hedid not know but they were all wrong, and did know that some of themwere. All he wanted or had ever wanted was some one who would take theresponsibility and act, and call on him for all the assistance needed,pledging himself to use all the power of the government in renderingsuch assistance. Assuring him that I would do the best I could with themeans at hand, and avoid as far as possible annoying him or the WarDepartment, our first interview ended.

The Secretary of War I had met once before only, but felt that I knewhim better.

While commanding in West Tennessee we had occasionally heldconversations over the wires, at night, when they were not beingotherwise used. He and General Halleck both cautioned me against givingthe President my plans of campaign, saying that he was so kind-hearted,so averse to refusing anything asked of him, that some friend would besure to get from him all he knew. I should have said that in ourinterview the President told me he did not want to know what I proposedto do. But he submitted a plan of campaign of his own which he wantedme to hear and then do as I pleased about. He brought out a map ofVirginia on which he had evidently marked every position occupied by theFederal and Confederate armies up to that time. He pointed out on themap two streams which empty into the Potomac, and suggested that thearmy might be moved on boats and landed between the mouths of thesestreams. We would then have the Potomac to bring our supplies, and thetributaries would protect our flanks while we moved out. I listenedrespectfully, but did not suggest that the same streams would protectLee's flanks while he was shutting us up.

I did not communicate my plans to the President, nor did I to the
Secretary of War or to General Halleck.

March the 26th my headquarters were, as stated, at Culpeper, and thework of preparing for an early campaign commenced.

CHAPTER XLVII.

THE MILITARY SITUATION—PLANS FOR THE CAMPAIGN—SHERIDAN ASSIGNED TOCOMMAND OF THE CAVALRY—FLANK MOVEMENTS—FORREST AT FORT PILLOW—GENERALBANKS'S EXPEDITION—COLONEL MOSBY—AN INCIDENT OF THE WILDERNESSCAMPAIGN.

When I assumed command of all the armies the situation was about this:the Mississippi River was guarded from St. Louis to its mouth; the lineof the Arkansas was held, thus giving us all the North-west north ofthat river. A few points in Louisiana not remote from the river wereheld by the Federal troops, as was also the mouth of the Rio Grande.East of the Mississippi we held substantially all north of the Memphisand Charleston Railroad as far east as Chattanooga, thence along theline of the Tennessee and Holston rivers, taking in nearly all of theState of Tennessee. West Virginia was in our hands; and that part ofold Virginia north of the Rapidan and east of the Blue Ridge we alsoheld. On the sea-coast we had Fortress Monroe and Norfolk in Virginia;Plymouth, Washington and New Berne in North Carolina; Beaufort, Follyand Morris islands, Hilton Head, Port Royal and Fort Pulaski in SouthCarolina and Georgia; Fernandina, St. Augustine, Key West and Pensacolain Florida. The balance of the Southern territory, an empire in extent,was still in the hands of the enemy.

Sherman, who had succeeded me in the command of the military division ofthe Mississippi, commanded all the troops in the territory west of theAlleghanies and north of Natchez, with a large movable force aboutChattanooga. His command was subdivided into four departments, but thecommanders all reported to Sherman and were subject to his orders. Thisarrangement, however, insured the better protection of all lines ofcommunication through the acquired territory, for the reason that thesedifferent department commanders could act promptly in case of a suddenor unexpected raid within their respective jurisdictions withoutawaiting the orders of the division commander.

In the East the opposing forces stood in substantially the samerelations towards each other as three years before, or when the warbegan; they were both between the Federal and Confederate capitals. Itis true, footholds had been secured by us on the sea-coast, in Virginiaand North Carolina, but, beyond that, no substantial advantage had beengained by either side. Battles had been fought of as great severity ashad ever been known in war, over ground from the James River andChickahominy, near Richmond, to Gettysburg and Chambersburg, inPennsylvania, with indecisive results, sometimes favorable to theNational army, sometimes to the Confederate army; but in every instance,I believe, claimed as victories for the South by the Southern press ifnot by the Southern generals. The Northern press, as a whole, did notdiscourage these claims; a portion of it always magnified rebel successand belittled ours, while another portion, most sincerely earnest intheir desire for the preservation of the Union and the overwhelmingsuccess of the Federal armies, would nevertheless generally expressdissatisfaction with whatever victories were gained because they werenot more complete.

That portion of the Army of the Potomac not engaged in guarding lines ofcommunication was on the northern bank of the Rapidan. The Army ofNorthern Virginia confronting it on the opposite bank of the same river,was strongly intrenched and commanded by the acknowledged ablest generalin the Confederate army. The country back to the James River is cut upwith many streams, generally narrow, deep, and difficult to cross exceptwhere bridged. The region is heavily timbered, and the roads narrow,and very bad after the least rain. Such an enemy was not, of course,unprepared with adequate fortifications at convenient intervals all theway back to Richmond, so that when driven from one fortified positionthey would always have another farther to the rear to fall back into.

To provision an army, campaigning against so formidable a foe throughsuch a country, from wagons alone seemed almost impossible. System anddiscipline were both essential to its accomplishment.

The Union armies were now divided into nineteen departments, though fourof them in the West had been concentrated into a single militarydivision. The Army of the Potomac was a separate command and had noterritorial limits. There were thus seventeen distinct commanders.Before this time these various armies had acted separately andindependently of each other, giving the enemy an opportunity often ofdepleting one command, not pressed, to reinforce another more activelyengaged. I determined to stop this. To this end I regarded the Army ofthe Potomac as the centre, and all west to Memphis along the linedescribed as our position at the time, and north of it, the right wing;the Army of the James, under General Butler, as the left wing, and allthe troops south, as a force in rear of the enemy. Some of these latterwere occupying positions from which they could not render serviceproportionate to their numerical strength. All such were depleted tothe minimum necessary to hold their positions as a guard againstblockade runners; where they could not do this their positions wereabandoned altogether. In this way ten thousand men were added to theArmy of the James from South Carolina alone, with General Gillmore incommand. It was not contemplated that General Gillmore should leave hisdepartment; but as most of his troops were taken, presumably for activeservice, he asked to accompany them and was permitted to do so.Officers and soldiers on furlough, of whom there were many thousands,were ordered to their proper commands; concentration was the order ofthe day, and to have it accomplished in time to advance at the earliestmoment the roads would permit was the problem.

As a reinforcement to the Army of the Potomac, or to act in support ofit, the 9th army corps, over twenty thousand strong, under GeneralBurnside, had been rendezvoused at Annapolis, Maryland. This was anadmirable position for such a reinforcement. The corps could be broughtat the last moment as a reinforcement to the Army of the Potomac, or itcould be thrown on the sea-coast, south of Norfolk, in Virginia or NorthCarolina, to operate against Richmond from that direction. In factBurnside and the War Department both thought the 9th corps was intendedfor such an expedition up to the last moment.

My general plan now was to concentrate all the force possible againstthe Confederate armies in the field. There were but two such, as wehave seen, east of the Mississippi River and facing north. The Army ofNorthern Virginia, General Robert E. Lee commanding, was on the southbank of the Rapidan, confronting the Army of the Potomac; the second,under General Joseph E. Johnston, was at Dalton, Georgia, opposed toSherman who was still at Chattanooga. Beside these main armies theConfederates had to guard the Shenandoah Valley, a great storehouse tofeed their armies from, and their line of communications from Richmondto Tennessee. Forrest, a brave and intrepid cavalry general, was in theWest with a large force; making a larger command necessary to hold whatwe had gained in Middle and West Tennessee. We could not abandon anyterritory north of the line held by the enemy because it would lay theNorthern States open to invasion. But as the Army of the Potomac wasthe principal garrison for the protection of Washington even while itwas moving on Lee, so all the forces to the west, and the Army of theJames, guarded their special trusts when advancing from them as well aswhen remaining at them. Better indeed, for they forced the enemy toguard his own lines and resources at a greater distance from ours, andwith a greater force. Little expeditions could not so well be sent outto destroy a bridge or tear up a few miles of railroad track, burn astorehouse, or inflict other little annoyances. Accordingly I arrangedfor a simultaneous movement all along the line. Sherman was to movefrom Chattanooga, Johnston's army and Atlanta being his objectivepoints. (*23) Crook, commanding in West Virginia, was to move from themouth of the Gauley River with a cavalry force and some artillery, theVirginia and Tennessee Railroad to be his objective. Either the enemywould have to keep a large force to protect their communications, or seethem destroyed and a large amount of forage and provision, which they somuch needed, fall into our hands. Sigel was in command in the Valley ofVirginia. He was to advance up the valley, covering the North from aninvasion through that channel as well while advancing as by remainingnear Harper's Ferry. Every mile he advanced also gave us possession ofstores on which Lee relied. Butler was to advance by the James River,having Richmond and Petersburg as his objective.

Before the advance commenced I visited Butler at Fort Monroe. This wasthe first time I had ever met him. Before giving him any order as tothe part he was to play in the approaching campaign I invited his views.They were very much such as I intended to direct, and as I did direct(*24), in writing, before leaving.

General W. F. Smith, who had been promoted to the rank of major-generalshortly after the battle of Chattanooga on my recommendation, had notyet been confirmed. I found a decided prejudice against hisconfirmation by a majority of the Senate, but I insisted that hisservices had been such that he should be rewarded. My wishes were nowreluctantly complied with, and I assigned him to the command of one ofthe corps under General Butler. I was not long in finding out that theobjections to Smith's promotion were well founded.

In one of my early interviews with the President I expressed mydissatisfaction with the little that had been accomplished by thecavalry so far in the war, and the belief that it was capable ofaccomplishing much more than it had done if under a thorough leader. Isaid I wanted the very best man in the army for that command. Halleckwas present and spoke up, saying: "How would Sheridan do?" I replied:"The very man I want." The President said I could have anybody I wanted.Sheridan was telegraphed for that day, and on his arrival was assignedto the command of the cavalry corps with the Army of the Potomac. Thisrelieved General Alfred Pleasonton. It was not a reflection on thatofficer, however, for I did not know but that he had been as efficientas any other cavalry commander.

Banks in the Department of the Gulf was ordered to assemble all thetroops he had at New Orleans in time to join in the general move, Mobileto be his objective.

At this time I was not entirely decided as to whether I should move theArmy of the Potomac by the right flank of the enemy, or by his left.Each plan presented advantages. (*25) If by his right—my left—thePotomac, Chesapeake Bay and tributaries would furnish us an easy haulingdistance of every position the army could occupy from the Rapidan to theJames River. But Lee could, if he chose, detach or move his whole armynorth on a line rather interior to the one I would have to take infollowing. A movement by his left—our right—would obviate this; butall that was done would have to be done with the supplies and ammunitionwe started with. All idea of adopting this latter plan was abandonedwhen the limited quantity of supplies possible to take with us wasconsidered. The country over which we would have to pass was soexhausted of all food or forage that we would be obliged to carryeverything with us.

While these preparations were going on the enemy was not entirely idle.In the West Forrest made a raid in West Tennessee up to the northernborder, capturing the garrison of four or five hundred men at UnionCity, and followed it up by an attack on Paducah, Kentucky, on the banksof the Ohio. While he was able to enter the city he failed to capturethe forts or any part of the garrison. On the first intelligence ofForrest's raid I telegraphed Sherman to send all his cavalry againsthim, and not to let him get out of the trap he had put himself into.Sherman had anticipated me by sending troops against him before he gotmy order.

Forrest, however, fell back rapidly, and attacked the troops at FortPillow, a station for the protection of the navigation of theMississippi River. The garrison consisted of a regiment of coloredtroops, infantry, and a detachment of Tennessee cavalry. These troopsfought bravely, but were overpowered. I will leave Forrest in hisdispatches to tell what he did with them.

"The river was dyed," he says, "with the blood of the slaughtered fortwo hundred yards. The approximate loss was upward of five hundredkilled, but few of the officers escaping. My loss was about twentykilled. It is hoped that these facts will demonstrate to the Northernpeople that negro soldiers cannot cope with Southerners." SubsequentlyForrest made a report in which he left out the part which shockshumanity to read.

At the East, also, the rebels were busy. I had said to Halleck thatPlymouth and Washington, North Carolina, were unnecessary to hold. Itwould be better to have the garrisons engaged there added to Butler'scommand. If success attended our arms both places, and others too,would fall into our hands naturally. These places had been occupied byFederal troops before I took command of the armies, and I knew that theExecutive would be reluctant to abandon them, and therefore explained myviews; but before my views were carried out the rebels captured thegarrison at Plymouth. I then ordered the abandonment of Washington, butdirected the holding of New Berne at all hazards. This was essentialbecause New Berne was a port into which blockade runners could enter.

General Banks had gone on an expedition up the Red River long before mypromotion to general command. I had opposed the movement strenuously,but acquiesced because it was the order of my superior at the time. Bydirection of Halleck I had reinforced Banks with a corps of about tenthousand men from Sherman's command. This reinforcement was wanted backbadly before the forward movement commenced. But Banks had got so farthat it seemed best that he should take Shreveport on the Red River, andturn over the line of that river to Steele, who commanded in Arkansas,to hold instead of the line of the Arkansas. Orders were givenaccordingly, and with the expectation that the campaign would be endedin time for Banks to return A. J. Smith's command to where it belongedand get back to New Orleans himself in time to execute his part in thegeneral plan. But the expedition was a failure. Banks did not get backin time to take part in the programme as laid down. Nor was Smithreturned until long after the movements of May, 1864, had been begun.The services of forty thousand veteran troops, over and above the numberrequired to hold all that was necessary in the Department of the Gulf,were thus paralyzed. It is but just to Banks, however, to say that hisexpedition was ordered from Washington and he was in no way responsibleexcept for the conduct of it. I make no criticism on this point. Heopposed the expedition.

By the 27th of April spring had so far advanced as to justify me infixing a day for the great move. On that day Burnside left Annapolis tooccupy Meade's position between Bull Run and the Rappahannock. Meadewas notified and directed to bring his troops forward to his advance.On the following day Butler was notified of my intended advance on the4th of May, and he was directed to move the night of the same day andget as far up the James River as possible by daylight, and push on fromthere to accomplish the task given him. He was also notified thatreinforcements were being collected in Washington City, which would beforwarded to him should the enemy fall back into the trenches atRichmond. The same day Sherman was directed to get his forces up readyto advance on the 5th. Sigel was in Winchester and was notified to movein conjunction with the others.

The criticism has been made by writers on the campaign from the Rapidanto the James River that all the loss of life could have been obviated bymoving the army there on transports. Richmond was fortified andintrenched so perfectly that one man inside to defend was more thanequal to five outside besieging or assaulting. To get possession ofLee's army was the first great object. With the capture of his armyRichmond would necessarily follow. It was better to fight him outsideof his stronghold than in it. If the Army of the Potomac had been movedbodily to the James River by water Lee could have moved a part of hisforces back to Richmond, called Beauregard from the south to reinforceit, and with the balance moved on to Washington. Then, too, I ordered amove, simultaneous with that of the Army of the Potomac, up the JamesRiver by a formidable army already collected at the mouth of the river.

While my headquarters were at Culpeper, from the 26th of March to the4th of May, I generally visited Washington once a week to confer withthe Secretary of War and President. On the last occasion, a few daysbefore moving, a circumstance occurred which came near postponing mypart in the campaign altogether. Colonel John S. Mosby had for a longtime been commanding a partisan corps, or regiment, which operated inthe rear of the Army of the Potomac. On my return to the field on thisoccasion, as the train approached Warrenton Junction, a heavy cloud ofdust was seen to the east of the road as if made by a body of cavalry ona charge. Arriving at the junction the train was stopped and inquiriesmade as to the cause of the dust. There was but one man at the station,and he informed us that Mosby had crossed a few minutes before at fullspeed in pursuit of Federal cavalry. Had he seen our train coming, nodoubt he would have let his prisoners escape to capture the train. Iwas on a special train, if I remember correctly, without any guard.

Since the close of the war I have come to know Colonel Mosby personally,and somewhat intimately. He is a different man entirely from what I hadsupposed. He is slender, not tall, wiry, and looks as if he couldendure any amount of physical exercise. He is able, and thoroughlyhonest and truthful. There were probably but few men in the South whocould have commanded successfully a separate detachment in the rear ofan opposing army, and so near the border of hostilities, as long as hedid without losing his entire command.

On this same visit to Washington I had my last interview with thePresident before reaching the James River. He had of course becomeacquainted with the fact that a general movement had been ordered allalong the line, and seemed to think it a new feature in war. Iexplained to him that it was necessary to have a great number of troopsto guard and hold the territory we had captured, and to preventincursions into the Northern States. These troops could perform thisservice just as well by advancing as by remaining still; and byadvancing they would compel the enemy to keep detachments to hold themback, or else lay his own territory open to invasion. His answer was:"Oh, yes! I see that. As we say out West, if a man can't skin he musthold a leg while somebody else does."

There was a certain incident connected with the Wilderness campaign ofwhich it may not be out of place to speak; and to avoid a digressionfurther on I will mention it here.

A few days before my departure from Culpeper the Honorable E. B.Washburne visited me there, and remained with my headquarters for somedistance south, through the battle in the Wilderness and, I think, toSpottsylvania. He was accompanied by a Mr. Swinton, whom he presented asa literary gentleman who wished to accompany the army with a view ofwriting a history of the war when it was over. He assured me—and Ihave no doubt Swinton gave him the assurance—that he was not present asa correspondent of the press. I expressed an entire willingness to havehim (Swinton) accompany the army, and would have allowed him to do so asa correspondent, restricted, however, in the character of theinformation he could give. We received Richmond papers with about asmuch regularity as if there had been no war, and knew that our paperswere received with equal regularity by the Confederates. It wasdesirable, therefore, that correspondents should not be privileged spiesof the enemy within our lines.

Probably Mr. Swinton expected to be an invited guest at my headquarters,and was disappointed that he was not asked to become so. At all eventshe was not invited, and soon I found that he was corresponding with somepaper (I have now forgotten which one), thus violating his word eitherexpressed or implied. He knew of the assurance Washburne had given asto the character of his mission. I never saw the man from the day ofour introduction to the present that I recollect. He accompanied us,however, for a time at least.

The second night after crossing the Rapidan (the night of the 5th ofMay) Colonel W. R. Rowley, of my staff, was acting as night officer atmy headquarters. A short time before midnight I gave him verbalinstructions for the night. Three days later I read in a Richmond papera verbatim report of these instructions.

A few nights still later (after the first, and possibly after thesecond, day's fighting in the Wilderness) General Meade came to my tentfor consultation, bringing with him some of his staff officers. Bothhis staff and mine retired to the camp-fire some yards in front of thetent, thinking our conversation should be private. There was a stump alittle to one side, and between the front of the tent and camp-fire.One of my staff, Colonel T. S. Bowers, saw what he took to be a manseated on the ground and leaning against the stump, listening to theconversation between Meade and myself. He called the attention ofColonel Rowley to it. The latter immediately took the man by theshoulder and asked him, in language more forcible than polite, what hewas doing there. The man proved to be Swinton, the "historian," and hisreplies to the question were evasive and unsatisfactory, and he waswarned against further eaves-dropping.

The next I heard of Mr. Swinton was at Cold Harbor. General Meade cameto my headquarters saying that General Burnside had arrested Swinton,who at some previous time had given great offence, and had ordered himto be shot that afternoon. I promptly ordered the prisoner to bereleased, but that he must be expelled from the lines of the army not toreturn again on pain of punishment.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

COMMENCEMENT OF THE GRAND CAMPAIGN—GENERAL BUTLER'S POSITION—SHERIDAN'S FIRST RAID.

The armies were now all ready to move for the accomplishment of a singleobject. They were acting as a unit so far as such a thing was possibleover such a vast field. Lee, with the capital of the Confederacy, wasthe main end to which all were working. Johnston, with Atlanta, was animportant obstacle in the way of our accomplishing the result aimed at,and was therefore almost an independent objective. It was of lessimportance only because the capture of Johnston and his army would notproduce so immediate and decisive a result in closing the rebellion aswould the possession of Richmond, Lee and his army. All other troopswere employed exclusively in support of these two movements. This wasthe plan; and I will now endeavor to give, as concisely as I can, themethod of its execution, outlining first the operations of minordetached but co-operative columns.

As stated before, Banks failed to accomplish what he had been sent to doon the Red River, and eliminated the use of forty thousand veteranswhose cooperation in the grand campaign had been expected—ten thousandwith Sherman and thirty thousand against Mobile.

Sigel's record is almost equally brief. He moved out, it is true,according to programme; but just when I was hoping to hear of good workbeing done in the valley I received instead the following announcementfrom Halleck: "Sigel is in full retreat on Strasburg. He will donothing but run; never did anything else." The enemy had interceptedhim about New Market and handled him roughly, leaving him short sixguns, and some nine hundred men out of his six thousand.

The plan had been for an advance of Sigel's forces in two columns.Though the one under his immediate command failed ingloriously the otherproved more fortunate. Under Crook and Averell his western columnadvanced from the Gauley in West Virginia at the appointed time, andwith more happy results. They reached the Virginia and TennesseeRailroad at Dublin and destroyed a depot of supplies, besides tearing upseveral miles of road and burning the bridge over New River. Havingaccomplished this they recrossed the Alleghanies to Meadow Bluffs andthere awaited further orders.

Butler embarked at Fort Monroe with all his command, except the cavalryand some artillery which moved up the south bank of the James River.His steamers moved first up Chesapeake Bay and York River as ifthreatening the rear of Lee's army. At midnight they turned back, andButler by daylight was far up the James River. He seized City Point andBermuda Hundred early in the day, without loss and, no doubt, very muchto the surprise of the enemy.

This was the accomplishment of the first step contemplated in myinstructions to Butler. He was to act from here, looking to Richmond ashis objective point. I had given him to understand that I should aim tofight Lee between the Rapidan and Richmond if he would stand; but shouldLee fall back into Richmond I would follow up and make a junction of thearmies of the Potomac and the James on the James River. He was directedto secure a footing as far up the south side of the river as he could atas early a date as possible.

Butler was in position by the 6th of May and had begun intrenching, andon the 7th he sent out his cavalry from Suffolk to cut the WeldonRailroad. He also sent out detachments to destroy the railroad betweenPetersburg and Richmond, but no great success attended these latterefforts. He made no great effort to establish himself on that road andneglected to attack Petersburg, which was almost defenceless. About the11th he advanced slowly until he reached the works at Drury's Bluff,about half way between Bermuda Hundred and Richmond. In the mean timeBeauregard had been gathering reinforcements. On the 16th he attackedButler with great vigor, and with such success as to limit verymaterially the further usefulness of the Army of the James as a distinctfactor in the campaign. I afterward ordered a portion of it to join theArmy of the Potomac, leaving a sufficient force with Butler to man hisworks, hold securely the footing he had already gained and maintain athreatening front toward the rear of the Confederate capital.

The position which General Butler had chosen between the two rivers, theJames and Appomattox, was one of great natural strength, one where alarge area of ground might be thoroughly inclosed by means of a singleintrenched line, and that a very short one in comparison with the extentof territory which it thoroughly protected. His right was protected bythe James River, his left by the Appomattox, and his rear by theirjunction—the two streams uniting near by. The bends of the two streamsshortened the line that had been chosen for intrenchments, while itincreased the area which the line inclosed.

Previous to ordering any troops from Butler I sent my chief engineer,General Barnard, from the Army of the Potomac to that of the James toinspect Butler's position and ascertain whether I could again safelymake an order for General Butler's movement in co-operation with mine,now that I was getting so near Richmond; or, if I could not, whether hisposition was strong enough to justify me in withdrawing some of histroops and having them brought round by water to White House to join meand reinforce the Army of the Potomac. General Barnard reported theposition very strong for defensive purposes, and that I could do thelatter with great security; but that General Butler could not move fromwhere he was, in co-operation, to produce any effect. He said that thegeneral occupied a place between the James and Appomattox rivers whichwas of great strength, and where with an inferior force he could hold itfor an indefinite length of time against a superior; but that he coulddo nothing offensively. I then asked him why Butler could not move outfrom his lines and push across the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad tothe rear and on the south side of Richmond. He replied that it wasimpracticable, because the enemy had substantially the same line acrossthe neck of land that General Butler had. He then took out his penciland drew a sketch of the locality, remarking that the position was likea bottle and that Butler's line of intrenchments across the neckrepresented the cork; that the enemy had built an equally strong lineimmediately in front of him across the neck; and it was therefore as ifButler was in a bottle. He was perfectly safe against an attack; but,as Barnard expressed it, the enemy had corked the bottle and with asmall force could hold the cork in its place. This struck me as beingvery expressive of his position, particularly when I saw the hastysketch which General Barnard had drawn; and in making my subsequentreport I used that expression without adding quotation marks, neverthinking that anything had been said that would attract attention—asthis did, very much to the annoyance, no doubt, of General Butler and, Iknow, very much to my own. I found afterwards that this was mentionedin the notes of General Badeau's book, which, when they were shown tome, I asked to have stricken out; yet it was retained there, thoughagainst my wishes.

I make this statement here because, although I have often made itbefore, it has never been in my power until now to place it where itwill correct history; and I desire to rectify all injustice that I mayhave done to individuals, particularly to officers who were gallantlyserving their country during the trying period of the war for thepreservation of the Union. General Butler certainly gave his veryearnest support to the war; and he gave his own best efforts personallyto the suppression of the rebellion.

The further operations of the Army of the James can best be treated ofin connection with those of the Army of the Potomac, the two being sointimately associated and connected as to be substantially one body inwhich the individuality of the supporting wing is merged.

Before giving the reader a summary of Sherman's great Atlanta campaign,which must conclude my description of the various co-operative movementspreparatory to proceeding with that of the operations of the centre, Iwill briefly mention Sheridan's first raid upon Lee's communicationswhich, though an incident of the operations on the main line and notspecifically marked out in the original plan, attained in its brilliantexecution and results all the proportions of an independent campaign.By thus anticipating, in point of time, I will be able to more perfectlyobserve the continuity of events occurring in my immediate front when Ishall have undertaken to describe our advance from the Rapidan.

On the 8th of May, just after the battle of the Wilderness and when wewere moving on Spottsylvania I directed Sheridan verbally to cut loosefrom the Army of the Potomac, pass around the left of Lee's army andattack his cavalry: to cut the two roads—one running west throughGordonsville, Charlottesville and Lynchburg, the other to Richmond, and,when compelled to do so for want of forage and rations, to move on tothe James River and draw these from Butler's supplies. This move tookhim past the entire rear of Lee's army. These orders were also given inwriting through Meade.

The object of this move was three-fold. First, if successfullyexecuted, and it was, he would annoy the enemy by cutting his line ofsupplies and telegraphic communications, and destroy or get for his ownuse supplies in store in the rear and coming up. Second, he would drawthe enemy's cavalry after him, and thus better protect our flanks, rearand trains than by remaining with the army. Third, his absence wouldsave the trains drawing his forage and other supplies fromFredericksburg, which had now become our base. He started at daylightthe next morning, and accomplished more than was expected. It wassixteen days before he got back to the Army of the Potomac.

The course Sheridan took was directly to Richmond. Before night Stuart,commanding the Confederate cavalry, came on to the rear of his command.But the advance kept on, crossed the North Anna, and at Beaver Dam, astation on the Virginia Central Railroad, recaptured four hundred Unionprisoners on their way to Richmond, destroyed the road and used anddestroyed a large amount of subsistence and medical stores.

Stuart, seeing that our cavalry was pushing towards Richmond, abandonedthe pursuit on the morning of the 10th and, by a detour and anexhausting march, interposed between Sheridan and Richmond at YellowTavern, only about six miles north of the city. Sheridan destroyed therailroad and more supplies at Ashland, and on the 11th arrived inStuart's front. A severe engagement ensued in which the losses wereheavy on both sides, but the rebels were beaten, their leader mortallywounded, and some guns and many prisoners were captured.

Sheridan passed through the outer defences of Richmond, and could, nodoubt, have passed through the inner ones. But having no supports nearhe could not have remained. After caring for his wounded he struck forthe James River below the city, to communicate with Butler and to resthis men and horses as well as to get food and forage for them.

He moved first between the Chickahominy and the James, but in themorning (the 12th) he was stopped by batteries at Mechanicsville. Hethen turned to cross to the north side of the Chickahominy by MeadowBridge. He found this barred, and the defeated Confederate cavalry,reorganized, occupying the opposite side. The panic created by hisfirst entrance within the outer works of Richmond having subsided troopswere sent out to attack his rear.

He was now in a perilous position, one from which but few generals couldhave extricated themselves. The defences of Richmond, manned, were tothe right, the Chickahominy was to the left with no bridge remaining andthe opposite bank guarded, to the rear was a force from Richmond. Thisforce was attacked and beaten by Wilson's and Gregg's divisions, whileSheridan turned to the left with the remaining division and hastilybuilt a bridge over the Chickahominy under the fire of the enemy, forceda crossing and soon dispersed the Confederates he found there. The enemywas held back from the stream by the fire of the troops not engaged inbridge building.

On the 13th Sheridan was at Bottom's Bridge, over the Chickahominy. Onthe 14th he crossed this stream and on that day went into camp on theJames River at Haxall's Landing. He at once put himself intocommunication with General Butler, who directed all the supplies hewanted to be furnished.

Sheridan had left the Army of the Potomac at Spottsylvania, but did notknow where either this or Lee's army was now. Great caution thereforehad to be exercised in getting back. On the 17th, after resting hiscommand for three days, he started on his return. He moved by the wayof White House. The bridge over the Pamunkey had been burned by theenemy, but a new one was speedily improvised and the cavalry crossedover it. On the 22d he was at Aylett's on the Matapony, where helearned the position of the two armies. On the 24th he joined us on themarch from North Anna to Cold Harbor, in the vicinity of Chesterfield.

Sheridan in this memorable raid passed entirely around Lee's army:encountered his cavalry in four engagements, and defeated them in all;recaptured four hundred Union prisoners and killed and captured many ofthe enemy; destroyed and used many supplies and munitions of war;destroyed miles of railroad and telegraph, and freed us from annoyanceby the cavalry of the enemy for more than two weeks.

CHAPTER XLIX.

SHERMAN'S CAMPAIGN IN GEORGIA—SIEGE OF ATLANTA—DEATH OF GENERALMCPHERSON—ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE ANDERSONVILLE—CAPTURE OF ATLANTA.

After separating from Sherman in Cincinnati I went on to Washington, asalready stated, while he returned to Nashville to assume the duties ofhis new command. His military division was now composed of fourdepartments and embraced all the territory west of the AlleghanyMountains and east of the Mississippi River, together with the State ofArkansas in the trans-Mississippi. The most easterly of these was theDepartment of the Ohio, General Schofield commanding; the next was theDepartment of the Cumberland, General Thomas commanding; the third theDepartment of the Tennessee, General McPherson commanding; and GeneralSteele still commanded the trans-Mississippi, or Department of Arkansas.The last-named department was so far away that Sherman could notcommunicate with it very readily after starting on his spring campaign,and it was therefore soon transferred from his military division to thatof the Gulf, where General Canby, who had relieved General Banks, was incommand.

The movements of the armies, as I have stated in a former chapter, wereto be simultaneous, I fixing the day to start when the season should befar enough advanced, it was hoped, for the roads to be in a conditionfor the troops to march.

General Sherman at once set himself to work preparing for the task whichwas assigned him to accomplish in the spring campaign. McPherson lay atHuntsville with about twenty-four thousand men, guarding those points ofTennessee which were regarded as most worth holding; Thomas, with oversixty thousand men of the Army of the Cumberland, was at Chattanooga;and Schofield, with about fourteen thousand men, was at Knoxville. Withthese three armies, numbering about one hundred thousand men in all,Sherman was to move on the day fixed for the general advance, with aview of destroying Johnston's army and capturing Atlanta. He visitedeach of these commands to inform himself as to their condition, and itwas found to be, speaking generally, good.

One of the first matters to turn his attention to was that of getting,before the time arrived for starting, an accumulation of suppliesforward to Chattanooga, sufficiently large to warrant a movement. Hefound, when he got to that place, that the trains over the single-trackrailroad, which was frequently interrupted for a day or two at a time,were only sufficient to meet the daily wants of the troops withoutbringing forward any surplus of any kind. He found, however, thattrains were being used to transport all the beef cattle, horses for thecavalry, and even teams that were being brought to the front. He atonce changed all this, and required beef cattle, teams, cavalry horses,and everything that could travel, even the troops, to be marched, andused the road exclusively for transporting supplies. In this way he wasable to accumulate an abundance before the time finally fixed upon forthe move, the 4th of May.

As I have said already, Johnston was at Dalton, which was nearlyone-fourth of the way between Chattanooga and Atlanta. The country ismountainous all the way to Atlanta, abounding in mountain streams, someof them of considerable volume. Dalton is on ground where water drainstowards Atlanta and into one of the main streams rising north-east fromthere and flowing south-west—this being the general direction which allthe main streams of that section take, with smaller tributaries enteringinto them. Johnston had been preparing himself for this campaign duringthe entire winter. The best positions for defence had been selected allthe way from Dalton back to Atlanta, and very strongly intrenched; sothat, as he might be forced to fall back from one position, he wouldhave another to fall into in his rear. His position at Dalton was sovery strongly intrenched that no doubt he expected, or at least hoped,to hold Sherman there and prevent him from getting any further. With aless skilful general, and one disposed to take no risks, I have no doubtthat he would have succeeded.

Sherman's plan was to start Schofield, who was farthest back, a few daysin advance from Knoxville, having him move on the direct road to Dalton.Thomas was to move out to Ringgold. It had been Sherman's intention tocross McPherson over the Tennessee River at Huntsville or Decatur, andmove him south from there so as to have him come into the road runningfrom Chattanooga to Atlanta a good distance to the rear of the pointJohnston was occupying; but when that was contemplated it was hoped thatMcPherson alone would have troops enough to cope with Johnston, if thelatter should move against him while unsupported by the balance of thearmy. In this he was disappointed. Two of McPherson's veterandivisions had re-enlisted on the express provision that they were tohave a furlough. This furlough had not yet expired, and they were notback.

Then, again, Sherman had lent Banks two divisions under A. J. Smith, thewinter before, to co-operate with the trans-Mississippi forces, and thiswith the express pledge that they should be back by a time specified, soas to be prepared for this very campaign. It is hardly necessary to saythey were not returned. That department continued to absorb troops tono purpose to the end of the war. This left McPherson so weak that thepart of the plan above indicated had to be changed. He was thereforebrought up to Chattanooga and moved from there on a road to the right ofThomas—the two coming together about Dalton. The three armies wereabreast, all ready to start promptly on time.

Sherman soon found that Dalton was so strongly fortified that it wasuseless to make any attempt to carry it by assault; and even to carry itby regular approaches was impracticable. There was a narrowing up inthe mountain, between the National and Confederate armies, through whicha stream, a wagon road and a railroad ran. Besides, the stream had beendammed so that the valley was a lake. Through this gorge the troopswould have to pass. McPherson was therefore sent around by the right,to come out by the way of Snake Creek Gap into the rear of the enemy.This was a surprise to Johnston, and about the 13th he decided toabandon his position at Dalton.

On the 15th there was very hard fighting about Resaca; but our cavalryhaving been sent around to the right got near the road in the enemy'srear. Again Johnston fell back, our army pursuing. The pursuit wascontinued to Kingston, which was reached on the 19th with very littlefighting, except that Newton's division overtook the rear of Johnston'sarmy and engaged it. Sherman was now obliged to halt for the purpose ofbringing up his railroad trains. He was depending upon the railroad forall of his supplies, and as of course the railroad was wholly destroyedas Johnston fell back, it had to be rebuilt. This work was pushedforward night and day, and caused much less delay than most personswould naturally expect in a mountainous country where there were so manybridges to be rebuilt.

The campaign to Atlanta was managed with the most consummate skill, theenemy being flanked out of one position after another all the way there.It is true this was not accomplished without a good deal of fighting—some of it very hard fighting, rising to the dignity of very importantbattles—neither were single positions gained in a day. On thecontrary, weeks were spent at some; and about Atlanta more than a monthwas consumed.

It was the 23d of May before the road was finished up to the rear ofSherman's army and the pursuit renewed. This pursuit brought him up tothe vicinity of Allatoona. This place was very strongly intrenched, andnaturally a very defensible position. An assault upon it was not thoughtof, but preparations were made to flank the enemy out of it. This wasdone by sending a large force around our right, by the way of Dallas, toreach the rear of the enemy. Before reaching there, however, they foundthe enemy fortified in their way, and there resulted hard fighting forabout a week at a place called New Hope Church. On the left our troopsalso were fortified, and as close up to the enemy as they could get.They kept working still farther around to the left toward the railroad.This was the case more particularly with the cavalry. By the 4th ofJune Johnston found that he was being hemmed in so rapidly that he drewoff and Allatoona was left in our possession.

Allatoona, being an important place, was strongly intrenched foroccupation by our troops before advancing farther, and made a secondarybase of supplies. The railroad was finished up to that point, theintrenchments completed, storehouses provided for food, and the army gotin readiness for a further advance. The rains, however, were falling insuch torrents that it was impossible to move the army by the side roadswhich they would have to move upon in order to turn Johnston out of hisnew position.

While Sherman's army lay here, General F. P. Blair returned to it,bringing with him the two divisions of veterans who had been onfurlough.

Johnston had fallen back to Marietta and Kenesaw Mountain, where strongintrenchments awaited him. At this latter place our troops made anassault upon the enemy's lines after having got their own lines up closeto him, and failed, sustaining considerable loss. But during theprogress of the battle Schofield was gaining ground to the left; and thecavalry on his left were gaining still more toward the enemy's rear.These operations were completed by the 3d of July, when it was foundthat Johnston had evacuated the place. He was pursued at once. Shermanhad made every preparation to abandon the railroad, leaving a strongguard in his intrenchments. He had intended, moving out with twentydays' rations and plenty of ammunition, to come in on the railroad againat the Chattahoochee River. Johnston frustrated this plan by himselfstarting back as above stated. This time he fell back to theChattahoochee.

About the 5th of July he was besieged again, Sherman getting easypossession of the Chattahoochee River both above and below him. Theenemy was again flanked out of his position, or so frightened byflanking movements that on the night of the 9th he fell back across theriver.

Here Johnston made a stand until the 17th, when Sherman's old tacticsprevailed again and the final movement toward Atlanta began. Johnstonwas now relieved of the command, and Hood superseded him.

Johnston's tactics in this campaign do not seem to have met with muchfavor, either in the eyes of the administration at Richmond, or of thepeople of that section of the South in which he was commanding. Thevery fact of a change of commanders being ordered under suchcircumstances was an indication of a change of policy, and that now theywould become the aggressors—the very thing our troops wanted.

For my own part, I think that Johnston's tactics were right. Anythingthat could have prolonged the war a year beyond the time that it didfinally close, would probably have exhausted the North to such an extentthat they might then have abandoned the contest and agreed to aseparation.

Atlanta was very strongly intrenched all the way around in a circleabout a mile and a half outside of the city. In addition to this, therewere advanced intrenchments which had to be taken before a close siegecould be commenced.

Sure enough, as indicated by the change of commanders, the enemy wasabout to assume the offensive. On the 20th he came out and attacked theArmy of the Cumberland most furiously. Hooker's corps, and Newton's andJohnson's divisions were the principal ones engaged in this contest,which lasted more than an hour; but the Confederates were then forced tofall back inside their main lines. The losses were quite heavy on bothsides. On this day General Gresham, since our Postmaster-General, wasvery badly wounded. During the night Hood abandoned his outer lines,and our troops were advanced. The investment had not been relinquishedfor a moment during the day.

During the night of the 21st Hood moved out again, passing by our leftflank, which was then in motion to get a position farther in rear ofhim, and a desperate battle ensued, which lasted most of the day of the22d. At first the battle went very much in favor of the Confederates,our troops being somewhat surprised. While our troops were advancingthey were struck in flank, and their flank was enveloped. But they hadbecome too thorough veterans to be thrown into irreparable confusion byan unexpected attack when off their guard, and soon they were in orderand engaging the enemy, with the advantage now of knowing where theirantagonist was. The field of battle continued to expand until itembraced about seven miles of ground. Finally, however, and beforenight, the enemy was driven back into the city (*26).

It was during this battle that McPherson, while passing from one columnto another, was instantly killed. In his death the army lost one of itsablest, purest and best generals.

Garrard had been sent out with his cavalry to get upon the railroad eastof Atlanta and to cut it in the direction of Augusta. He was successfulin this, and returned about the time of the battle. Rousseau had alsocome up from Tennessee with a small division of cavalry, having crossedthe Tennessee River about Decatur and made a raid into Alabama. Finally,when hard pressed, he had come in, striking the railroad in rear ofSherman, and reported to him about this time.

The battle of the 22d is usually known as the Battle of Atlanta,although the city did not fall into our hands until the 2d of September.Preparations went on, as before, to flank the enemy out of his position.The work was tedious, and the lines that had to be maintained were verylong. Our troops were gradually worked around to the east until theystruck the road between Decatur and Atlanta. These lines were stronglyfortified, as were those to the north and west of the city—all as closeup to the enemy's lines as practicable—in order to hold them with thesmallest possible number of men, the design being to detach an army tomove by our right and try to get upon the railroad down south ofAtlanta.

On the 27th the movement by the right flank commenced. On the 28th theenemy struck our right flank, General Logan commanding, with greatvigor. Logan intrenched himself hastily, and by that means was enabledto resist all assaults and inflict a great deal of damage upon theenemy. These assaults were continued to the middle of the afternoon,and resumed once or twice still later in the day. The enemy's losses inthese unsuccessful assaults were fearful.

During that evening the enemy in Logan's front withdrew into the town.This now left Sherman's army close up to the Confederate lines,extending from a point directly east of the city around by the north andwest of it for a distance of fully ten miles; the whole of this linebeing intrenched, and made stronger every day they remained there.

In the latter part of July Sherman sent Stoneman to destroy therailroads to the south, about Macon. He was then to go east and, ifpossible, release our prisoners about Andersonville. There were painfulstories current at the time about the great hardships these prisonershad to endure in the way of general bad treatment, in the way in whichthey were housed, and in the way in which they were fed. Great sympathywas felt for them; and it was thought that even if they could be turnedloose upon the country it would be a great relief to them. But theattempt proved a failure. McCook, who commanded a small brigade, wasfirst reported to have been captured; but he got back, having inflicteda good deal of damage upon the enemy. He had also taken some prisoners;but encountering afterwards a largely superior force of the enemy he wasobliged to drop his prisoners and get back as best he could with whatmen he had left. He had lost several hundred men out of his smallcommand. On the 4th of August Colonel Adams, commanding a littlebrigade of about a thousand men, returned reporting Stoneman and all buthimself as lost. I myself had heard around Richmond of the capture ofStoneman, and had sent Sherman word, which he received. The rumor wasconfirmed there, also, from other sources. A few days after ColonelAdams's return Colonel Capron also got in with a small detachment andconfirmed the report of the capture of Stoneman with something less thana thousand men.

It seems that Stoneman, finding the escape of all his force wasimpossible, had made arrangements for the escape of two divisions. Hecovered the movement of these divisions to the rear with a force ofabout seven hundred men, and at length surrendered himself and thisdetachment to the commanding Confederate. In this raid, however, muchdamage was inflicted upon the enemy by the destruction of cars,locomotives, army wagons, manufactories of military supplies, etc.

On the 4th and 5th Sherman endeavored to get upon the railroad to ourright, where Schofield was in command, but these attempts failedutterly. General Palmer was charged with being the cause of thisfailure, to a great extent, by both General Sherman and GeneralSchofield; but I am not prepared to say this, although a question seemsto have arisen with Palmer as to whether Schofield had any right tocommand him. If he did raise this question while an action was goingon, that act alone was exceedingly reprehensible.

About the same time Wheeler got upon our railroad north of Resaca anddestroyed it nearly up to Dalton. This cut Sherman off fromcommunication with the North for several days. Sherman responded tothis attack on his lines of communication by directing one upon theirs.

Kilpatrick started on the night of the 18th of August to reach the Maconroad about Jonesboro. He succeeded in doing so, passed entirely aroundthe Confederate lines of Atlanta, and was back again in his formerposition on our left by the 22d. These little affairs, however,contributed but very little to the grand result. They annoyed, it istrue, but any damage thus done to a railroad by any cavalry expeditionis soon repaired.

Sherman made preparations for a repetition of his tactics; that is, fora flank movement with as large a force as could be got together to somepoint in the enemy's rear. Sherman commenced this last movement on the25th of August, and on the 1st of September was well up towards therailroad twenty miles south of Atlanta. Here he found Hardeeintrenched, ready to meet him. A battle ensued, but he was unable todrive Hardee away before night set in. Under cover of the night,however, Hardee left of his own accord. That night Hood blew up hismilitary works, such as he thought would be valuable in our hands, anddecamped.

The next morning at daylight General H. W. Slocum, who was commandingnorth of the city, moved in and took possession of Atlanta, and notifiedSherman. Sherman then moved deliberately back, taking three days toreach the city, and occupied a line extending from Decatur on the leftto Atlanta in the centre, with his troops extending out of the city forsome distance to the right.

The campaign had lasted about four months, and was one of the mostmemorable in history. There was but little if anything in the wholecampaign, now that it is over, to criticise at all, and nothing tocriticise severely. It was creditable alike to the general whocommanded and the army which had executed it. Sherman had on thiscampaign some bright, wide-awake division and brigade commanders whosealertness added a host to the efficiency of his command.

The troops now went to work to make themselves comfortable, and to enjoya little rest after their arduous campaign. The city of Atlanta wasturned into a military base. The citizens were all compelled to leave.Sherman also very wisely prohibited the assembling of the army ofsutlers and traders who always follow in the wake of an army in thefield, if permitted to do so, from trading with the citizens and gettingthe money of the soldiers for articles of but little use to them, andfor which they are made to pay most exorbitant prices. He limited thenumber of these traders to one for each of his three armies.

The news of Sherman's success reached the North instantaneously, and setthe country all aglow. This was the first great political campaign forthe Republicans in their canvass of 1864. It was followed later bySheridan's campaign in the Shenandoah Valley; and these two campaignsprobably had more effect in settling the election of the followingNovember than all the speeches, all the bonfires, and all the paradingwith banners and bands of music in the North.

CHAPTER L.

GRAND MOVEMENT OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC—CROSSING THE RAPIDAN—ENTERING THE WILDERNESS—BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS.

Soon after midnight, May 3d-4th, the Army of the Potomac moved out fromits position north Rapidan, to start upon that memorable campaign,destined to result in the capture of the Confederate capital and thearmy defending it. This was not to be accomplished, however, without asdesperate fighting as the world has ever witnessed; not to beconsummated in a day, a week, a month, single season. The lossesinflicted, and endured, were destined to be severe; but the armies nowconfronting each other had already been in deadly conflict for a periodof three years, with immense losses in killed, by death from sickness,captured and wounded; and neither had made any real progressaccomplishing the final end. It is true the Confederates had, so far,held their capital, and they claimed this to be their sole object. Butpreviously they had boldly proclaimed their intention to capturePhiladelphia, New York, and the National Capital, and had made severalattempts to do so, and once or twice had come fearfully near makingtheir boast good—too near for complacent contemplation by the loyalNorth. They had also come near losing their own capital on at least oneoccasion. So here was a stand-off. The campaign now begun was destinedto result in heavier losses, to both armies, in a given time, than anypreviously suffered; but the carnage was to be limited to a single year,and to accomplish all that had been anticipated or desired at thebeginning in that time. We had to have hard fighting to achieve this.The two armies had been confronting each other so long, without anydecisive result, that they hardly knew which could whip.

Ten days' rations, with a supply of forage and ammunition were taken inwagons. Beef cattle were driven with the trains, and butchered aswanted. Three days rations in addition, in haversacks, and fifty roundsof cartridges, were carried on the person of each soldier.

The country over which the army had to operate, from the Rapidan to thecrossing of the James River, is rather flat, and is cut by numerousstreams which make their way to the Chesapeake Bay. The crossings ofthese streams by the army were generally made not far above tide-water,and where they formed a considerable obstacle to the rapid advance oftroops even when the enemy did not appear in opposition. The countryroads were narrow and poor. Most of the country is covered with a denseforest, in places, like the Wilderness and along the Chickahominy,almost impenetrable even for infantry except along the roads. Allbridges were naturally destroyed before the National troops came tothem.

The Army of the Potomac was composed of three infantry and one cavalrycorps, commanded respectively by Generals W. S. Hancock, G. K. Warren,(*27) John Sedgwick and P. H. Sheridan. The artillery was commanded byGeneral Henry J. Hunt. This arm was in such abundance that the fourthof it could not be used to advantage in such a country as we weredestined to pass through. The surplus was much in the way, taking up asit did so much of the narrow and bad roads, and consuming so much of theforage and other stores brought up by the trains.

The 5th corps, General Warren commanding, was in advance on the right,and marched directly for Germania Ford, preceded by one division ofcavalry, under General J. H. Wilson. General Sedgwick followed Warrenwith the 6th corps. Germania Ford was nine or ten miles below the rightof Lee's line. Hancock, with the 2d corps, moved by another road,farther east, directly upon Ely's Ford, six miles below Germania,preceded by Gregg's division of cavalry, and followed by the artillery.Torbert's division of cavalry was left north of the Rapidan, for thetime, to picket the river and prevent the enemy from crossing andgetting into our rear. The cavalry seized the two crossings beforedaylight, drove the enemy's pickets guarding them away, and by sixo'clock A.M. had the pontoons laid ready for the crossing of theinfantry and artillery. This was undoubtedly a surprise to Lee. Thefact that the movement was unopposed proves this.

Burnside, with the 9th corps, was left back at Warrenton, guarding therailroad from Bull Run forward to preserve control of it in case ourcrossing the Rapidan should be long delayed. He was instructed, however,to advance at once on receiving notice that the army had crossed; and adispatch was sent to him a little after one P.M. giving the informationthat our crossing had been successful.

The country was heavily wooded at all the points of crossing,particularly on the south side of the river. The battle-field from thecrossing of the Rapidan until the final movement from the Wildernesstoward Spottsylvania was of the same character. There were someclearings and small farms within what might be termed the battle-field;but generally the country was covered with a dense forest. The roadswere narrow and bad. All the conditions were favorable for defensiveoperations.

There are two roads, good for that part of Virginia, running from OrangeCourt House to the battle-field. The most southerly of these roads isknown as the Orange Court House Plank Road, the northern one as theOrange Turnpike. There are also roads from east of the battle-fieldrunning to Spottsylvania Court House, one from Chancellorsville,branching at Aldrich's; the western branch going by Piney Branch Church,Alsop's, thence by the Brock Road to Spottsylvania; the east branch goesby Gates's, thence to Spottsylvania. The Brock Road runs from GermaniaFord through the battle-field and on to the Court House. AsSpottsylvania is approached the country is cut up with numerous roads,some going to the town direct, and others crossing so as to connect thefarms with roads going there.

Lee's headquarters were at Orange Court House. From there toFredericksburg he had the use of the two roads above described runningnearly parallel to the Wilderness. This gave him unusual facilities,for that country, for concentrating his forces to his right. Theseroads strike the road from Germania Ford in the Wilderness.

As soon as the crossing of the infantry was assured, the cavalry pushedforward, Wilson's division by Wilderness Tavern to Parker's store, onthe Orange Plank Road; Gregg to the left towards Chancellorsville.Warren followed Wilson and reached the Wilderness Tavern by noon, tookposition there and intrenched. Sedgwick followed Warren. He was acrossthe river and in camp on the south bank, on the right of Warren, bysundown. Hancock, with the 2d corps, moved parallel with Warren andcamped about six miles east of him. Before night all the troops, and bythe evening of the 5th the trains of more than four thousand wagons,were safely on the south side of the river.

There never was a corps better organized than was the quartermaster'scorps with the Army of the Potomac in 1864. With a wagon-train thatwould have extended from the Rapidan to Richmond, stretched along insingle file and separated as the teams necessarily would be when moving,we could still carry only three days' forage and about ten to twelvedays' rations, besides a supply of ammunition. To overcome alldifficulties, the chief quartermaster, General Rufus Ingalls, had markedon each wagon the corps badge with the division color and the number ofthe brigade. At a glance, the particular brigade to which any wagonbelonged could be told. The wagons were also marked to note thecontents: if ammunition, whether for artillery or infantry; if forage,whether grain or hay; if rations, whether, bread, pork, beans, rice,sugar, coffee or whatever it might be. Empty wagons were never allowedto follow the army or stay in camp. As soon as a wagon was empty itwould return to the base of supply for a load of precisely the samearticle that had been taken from it. Empty trains were obliged to leavethe road free for loaded ones. Arriving near the army they would beparked in fields nearest to the brigades they belonged to. Issues,except of ammunition, were made at night in all cases. By this systemthe hauling of forage for the supply train was almost wholly dispensedwith. They consumed theirs at the depots.

I left Culpeper Court House after all the troops had been put in motion,and passing rapidly to the front, crossed the Rapidan in advance ofSedgwick's corps; and established headquarters for the afternoon andnight in a deserted house near the river.

Orders had been given, long before this movement began, to cut down thebaggage of officers and men to the lowest point possible.Notwithstanding this I saw scattered along the road from Culpeper toGermania Ford wagon-loads of new blankets and overcoats, thrown away bythe troops to lighten their knapsacks; an improvidence I had neverwitnessed before.

Lee, while his pickets and signal corps must have discovered at a veryearly hour on the morning of the 4th of May, that the Army of thePotomac was moving, evidently did not learn until about one o'clock inthe afternoon by what route we would confront his army. This I judgefrom the fact that at 1.15 P.M., an hour and a quarter after Warren hadreached Old Wilderness Tavern, our officers took off rebel signalswhich, when translated, were seen to be an order to his troops to occupytheir intrenchments at Mine Run.

Here at night dispatches were received announcing that Sherman, Butlerand Crook had moved according to programme.

On discovering the advance of the Army of the Potomac, Lee ordered Hill,Ewell and Longstreet, each commanding corps, to move to the right toattack us, Hill on the Orange Plank Road, Longstreet to follow on thesame road. Longstreet was at this time—middle of the afternoon—atGordonsville, twenty or more miles away. Ewell was ordered by theOrange Pike. He was near by and arrived some four miles east of MineRun before bivouacking for the night.

My orders were given through General Meade for an early advance on themorning of the 5th. Warren was to move to Parker's store, and Wilson'scavalry—then at Parker's store—to move on to Craig's meeting-house.Sedgwick followed Warren, closing in on his right. The Army of thePotomac was facing to the west, though our advance was made to thesouth, except when facing the enemy. Hancock was to move south-westwardto join on the left of Warren, his left to reach to Shady Grove Church.

At six o'clock, before reaching Parker's store, Warren discovered theenemy. He sent word back to this effect, and was ordered to halt andprepare to meet and attack him. Wright, with his division of Sedgwick'scorps, was ordered, by any road he could find, to join on to Warren'sright, and Getty with his division, also of Sedgwick's corps, wasordered to move rapidly by Warren's rear and get on his left. This wasthe speediest way to reinforce Warren who was confronting the enemy onboth the Orange plank and turnpike roads.

Burnside had moved promptly on the 4th, on receiving word that the Armyof the Potomac had safely crossed the Rapidan. By making a night march,although some of his troops had to march forty miles to reach the river,he was crossing with the head of his column early on the morning of the5th. Meade moved his headquarters on to Old Wilderness Tavern, fourmiles south of the river, as soon as it was light enough to see theroad. I remained to hasten Burnside's crossing and to put him inposition. Burnside at this time was not under Meade's command, and washis senior in rank. Getting information of the proximity of the enemy,I informed Meade, and without waiting to see Burnside, at once movedforward my headquarters to where Meade was.

It was my plan then, as it was on all other occasions, to take theinitiative whenever the enemy could be drawn from his intrenchments ifwe were not intrenched ourselves. Warren had not yet reached the pointwhere he was to halt, when he discovered the enemy near by. Neitherparty had any advantage of position. Warren was, therefore, ordered toattack as soon as he could prepare for it. At nine o'clock Hancock wasordered to come up to the support of Getty. He himself arrived atGetty's front about noon, but his troops were yet far in the rear.Getty was directed to hold his position at all hazards until relieved.About this hour Warren was ready, and attacked with favorable though notdecisive results. Getty was somewhat isolated from Warren and was in aprecarious condition for a time. Wilson, with his division of cavalry,was farther south, and was cut off from the rest of the army. At twoo'clock Hancock's troops began to arrive, and immediately he was orderedto join Getty and attack the enemy. But the heavy timber and narrowroads prevented him from getting into position for attack as promptly ashe generally did when receiving such orders. At four o'clock he againreceived his orders to attack, and General Getty received orders fromMeade a few minutes later to attack whether Hancock was ready or not.He met the enemy under Heth within a few hundred yards.

Hancock immediately sent two divisions, commanded by Birney and Mott,and later two brigades, Carroll's and Owen's, to the support of Getty.This was timely and saved Getty. During the battle Getty and Carrollwere wounded, but remained on the field. One of Birney's most gallantbrigade commanders—Alexander Hays—was killed.

I had been at West Point with Hays for three years, and had served withhim through the Mexican war, a portion of the time in the same regiment.He was a most gallant officer, ready to lead his command whereverordered. With him it was "Come, boys," not "Go."

Wadsworth's division and Baxter's brigade of the 2d division were sentto reinforce Hancock and Getty; but the density of the interveningforest was such that, there being no road to march upon, they did notget up with the head of column until night, and bivouacked where theywere without getting into position.

During the afternoon Sheridan sent Gregg's division of cavalry to Todd'sTavern in search of Wilson. This was fortunate. He found Wilsonengaged with a superior force under General Rosser, supported byinfantry, and falling back before it. Together they were strong enoughto turn the tables upon the enemy and themselves become aggressive.They soon drove the rebel cavalry back beyond Corbin's Bridge.

Fighting between Hancock and Hill continued until night put a close toit. Neither side made any special progress.

After the close of the battle of the 5th of May my orders were given forthe following morning. We knew Longstreet with 12,000 men was on hisway to join Hill's right, near the Brock Road, and might arrive duringthe night. I was anxious that the rebels should not take the initiativein the morning, and therefore ordered Hancock to make an assault at 4.30o'clock. Meade asked to have the hour changed to six. Deferring to hiswishes as far as I was willing, the order was modified and five wasfixed as the hour to move.

Hancock had now fully one-half of the Army of the Potomac. Wadsworthwith his division, which had arrived the night before, lay in a lineperpendicular to that held by Hill, and to the right of Hancock. He wasdirected to move at the same time, and to attack Hill's left.

Burnside, who was coming up with two divisions, was directed to get inbetween Warren and Wadsworth, and attack as soon as he could get inposition to do so. Sedgwick and Warren were to make attacks in theirfront, to detain as many of the enemy as they could and to takeadvantage of any attempt to reinforce Hill from that quarter. Burnsidewas ordered if he should succeed in breaking the enemy's centre, toswing around to the left and envelop the right of Lee's army. Hancockwas informed of all the movements ordered.

Burnside had three divisions, but one of them—a colored division—wassent to guard the wagon train, and he did not see it again until July.

Lee was evidently very anxious that there should be no battle on hisright until Longstreet got up. This is evident from the fact thatnotwithstanding the early hour at which I had ordered the assault, bothfor the purpose of being the attacking party and to strike beforeLongstreet got up, Lee was ahead in his assault on our right. Hispurpose was evident, but he failed.

Hancock was ready to advance by the hour named, but learning in timethat Longstreet was moving a part of his corps by the Catharpin Road,thus threatening his left flank, sent a division of infantry, commandedby General Barlow, with all his artillery, to cover the approaches bywhich Longstreet was expected. This disposition was made in time toattack as ordered. Hancock moved by the left of the Orange Plank Road,and Wadsworth by the right of it. The fighting was desperate for aboutan hour, when the enemy began to break up in great confusion.

I believed then, and see no reason to change that opinion now, that ifthe country had been such that Hancock and his command could have seenthe confusion and panic in the lines of the enemy, it would have beentaken advantage of so effectually that Lee would not have made anotherstand outside of his Richmond defences.

Gibbon commanded Hancock's left, and was ordered to attack, but was notable to accomplish much.

On the morning of the 6th Sheridan was sent to connect with Hancock'sleft and attack the enemy's cavalry who were trying to get on our leftand rear. He met them at the intersection of the Furnace and Brockroads and at Todd's Tavern, and defeated them at both places. Later hewas attacked, and again the enemy was repulsed.

Hancock heard the firing between Sheridan and Stuart, and thinking theenemy coming by that road, still further reinforced his positionguarding the entrance to the Brock Road. Another incident happenedduring the day to further induce Hancock to weaken his attacking column.Word reached him that troops were seen moving towards him from thedirection of Todd's Tavern, and Brooke's brigade was detached to meetthis new enemy; but the troops approaching proved to be several hundredconvalescents coming from Chancellorsville, by the road Hancock hadadvanced upon, to join their respective commands. At 6.50 o'clock A.M.,Burnside, who had passed Wilderness Tavern at six o'clock, was orderedto send a division to the support of Hancock, but to continue with theremainder of his command in the execution of his previous order. Thedifficulty of making a way through the dense forests prevented Burnsidefrom getting up in time to be of any service on the forenoon of thesixth.

Hancock followed Hill's retreating forces, in the morning, a mile ormore. He maintained this position until, along in the afternoon,Longstreet came upon him. The retreating column of Hill meetingreinforcements that had not yet been engaged, became encouraged andreturned with them. They were enabled, from the density of the forest,to approach within a few hundred yards of our advance before beingdiscovered. Falling upon a brigade of Hancock's corps thrown to theadvance, they swept it away almost instantly. The enemy followed up hisadvantage and soon came upon Mott's division, which fell back in greatconfusion. Hancock made dispositions to hold his advanced position, butafter holding it for a time, fell back into the position that he hadheld in the morning, which was strongly intrenched. In this engagementthe intrepid Wadsworth while trying to rally his men was mortallywounded and fell into the hands of the enemy. The enemy followed up,but made no immediate attack.

The Confederate General Jenkins was killed and Longstreet seriouslywounded in this engagement. Longstreet had to leave the field, not toresume command for many weeks. His loss was a severe one to Lee, andcompensated in a great measure for the mishap, or misapprehensions,which had fallen to our lot during the day.

After Longstreet's removal from the field Lee took command of his rightin person. He was not able, however, to rally his men to attackHancock's position, and withdrew from our front for the purpose ofreforming. Hancock sent a brigade to clear his front of all remnantsthat might be left of Longstreet's or Hill's commands. This brigadehaving been formed at right angles to the intrenchments held byHancock's command, swept down the whole length of them from left toright. A brigade of the enemy was encountered in this move; but itbroke and disappeared without a contest.

Firing was continued after this, but with less fury. Burnside had notyet been able to get up to render any assistance. But it was now onlyabout nine in the morning, and he was getting into position on Hancock'sright.

At 4.15 in the afternoon Lee attacked our left. His line moved up towithin a hundred yards of ours and opened a heavy fire. This status wasmaintained for about half an hour. Then a part of Mott's division andWard's brigade of Birney's division gave way and retired in disorder.The enemy under R. H. Anderson took advantage of this and pushed throughour line, planting their flags on a part of the intrenchments not onfire. But owing to the efforts of Hancock, their success was buttemporary. Carroll, of Gibbon's division, moved at a double quick withhis brigade and drove back the enemy, inflicting great loss. Fightinghad continued from five in the morning sometimes along the whole line,at other times only in places. The ground fought over had varied inwidth, but averaged three-quarters of a mile. The killed, and many ofthe severely wounded, of both armies, lay within this belt where it wasimpossible to reach them. The woods were set on fire by the burstingshells, and the conflagration raged. The wounded who had not strengthto move themselves were either suffocated or burned to death. Finallythe fire communicated with our breastworks, in places. Beingconstructed of wood, they burned with great fury. But the battle stillraged, our men firing through the flames until it became too hot toremain longer.

Lee was now in distress. His men were in confusion, and his personalefforts failed to restore order. These facts, however, were learnedsubsequently, or we would have taken advantage of his condition and nodoubt gained a decisive success. His troops were withdrawn now, but Irevoked the order, which I had given previously to this assault, forHancock to attack, because his troops had exhausted their ammunition anddid not have time to replenish from the train, which was at somedistance.

Burnside, Sedgwick, and Warren had all kept up an assault during allthis time; but their efforts had no other effect than to prevent theenemy from reinforcing his right from the troops in their front.

I had, on the 5th, ordered all the bridges over the Rapidan to be takenup except one at Germania Ford.

The troops on Sedgwick's right had been sent to enforce our left. Thisleft our right in danger of being turned, and us of being cut off fromall present base of supplies. Sedgwick had refused his right andintrenched it for protection against attack. But late in the afternoonof the 6th Early came out from his lines in considerable force and gotin upon Sedgwick's right, notwithstanding the precautions taken, andcreated considerable confusion. Early captured several hundredprisoners, among them two general officers. The defence, however, wasvigorous; and night coming on, the enemy was thrown into as muchconfusion as our troops, engaged, were. Early says in his Memoirs thatif we had discovered the confusion in his lines we might have broughtfresh troops to his great discomfort. Many officers, who had not beenattacked by Early, continued coming to my headquarters even afterSedgwick had rectified his lines a little farther to the rear, with newsof the disaster, fully impressed with the idea that the enemy waspushing on and would soon be upon me.

During the night all of Lee's army withdrew within their intrenchments.On the morning of the 7th General Custer drove the enemy's cavalry fromCatharpin Furnace to Todd's Tavern. Pickets and skirmishers were sentalong our entire front to find the position of the enemy. Some went asfar as a mile and a half before finding him. But Lee showed nodisposition to come out of his Works. There was no battle during theday, and but little firing except in Warren's front; he being directedabout noon to make a reconnoissance in force. This drew some sharpfiring, but there was no attempt on the part of Lee to drive him back.This ended the Battle of the Wilderness.

CHAPTER LI.

AFTER THE BATTLE—TELEGRAPH AND SIGNAL SERVICE—MOVEMENT BY THE LEFTFLANK.

More desperate fighting has not been witnessed on this continent thanthat of the 5th and 6th of May. Our victory consisted in havingsuccessfully crossed a formidable stream, almost in the face of anenemy, and in getting the army together as a unit. We gained anadvantage on the morning of the 6th, which, if it had been followed up,must have proven very decisive. In the evening the enemy gained anadvantage; but was speedily repulsed. As we stood at the close, the twoarmies were relatively in about the same condition to meet each other aswhen the river divided them. But the fact of having safely crossed wasa victory.

Our losses in the Wilderness were very severe. Those of theConfederates must have been even more so; but I have no means ofspeaking with accuracy upon this point. The Germania Ford bridge wastransferred to Ely's Ford to facilitate the transportation of thewounded to Washington.

It may be as well here as elsewhere to state two things connected withall movements of the Army of the Potomac: first, in every change ofposition or halt for the night, whether confronting the enemy or not,the moment arms were stacked the men intrenched themselves. For thispurpose they would build up piles of logs or rails if they could befound in their front, and dig a ditch, throwing the dirt forward on thetimber. Thus the digging they did counted in making a depression tostand in, and increased the elevation in front of them. It waswonderful how quickly they could in this way construct defences ofconsiderable strength. When a halt was made with the view of assaultingthe enemy, or in his presence, these would be strengthened or theirpositions changed under the direction of engineer officers. The secondwas, the use made of the telegraph and signal corps. Nothing could bemore complete than the organization and discipline of this body of braveand intelligent men. Insulated wires—insulated so that they wouldtransmit messages in a storm, on the ground or under water—were woundupon reels, making about two hundred pounds weight of wire to each reel.Two men and one mule were detailed to each reel. The pack-saddle onwhich this was carried was provided with a rack like a sawbuck placedcrosswise of the saddle, and raised above it so that the reel, with itswire, would revolve freely. There was a wagon, supplied with atelegraph operator, battery and telegraph instruments for each division,each corps, each army, and one for my headquarters. There were wagonsalso loaded with light poles, about the size and length of a wall tentpole, supplied with an iron spike in one end, used to hold the wires upwhen laid, so that wagons and artillery would not run over them. Themules thus loaded were assigned to brigades, and always kept with thecommand they were assigned to. The operators were also assigned toparticular headquarters, and never changed except by special orders.

The moment the troops were put in position to go into camp all the menconnected with this branch of service would proceed to put up theirwires. A mule loaded with a coil of wire would be led to the rear ofthe nearest flank of the brigade he belonged to, and would be led in aline parallel thereto, while one man would hold an end of the wire anduncoil it as the mule was led off. When he had walked the length of thewire the whole of it would be on the ground. This would be done in rearof every brigade at the same time. The ends of all the wires would thenbe joined, making a continuous wire in the rear of the whole army. Themen, attached to brigades or divisions, would all commence at onceraising the wires with their telegraph poles. This was done by making aloop in the wire and putting it over the spike and raising the pole to aperpendicular position. At intervals the wire would be attached totrees, or some other permanent object, so that one pole was sufficientat a place. In the absence of such a support two poles would have to beused, at intervals, placed at an angle so as to hold the wire firm inits place. While this was being done the telegraph wagons would taketheir positions near where the headquarters they belonged to were to beestablished, and would connect with the wire. Thus, in a few minuteslonger time than it took a mule to walk the length of its coil,telegraphic communication would be effected between all the headquartersof the army. No orders ever had to be given to establish the telegraph.

The signal service was used on the march. The men composing this corpswere assigned to specified commands. When movements were made, theywould go in advance, or on the flanks, and seize upon high points ofground giving a commanding view of the country, if cleared, or wouldclimb tall trees on the highest points if not cleared, and would denote,by signals, the positions of different parts of our own army, and oftenthe movements of the enemy. They would also take off the signals of theenemy and transmit them. It would sometimes take too long a time tomake translations of intercepted dispatches for us to receive anybenefit from them. But sometimes they gave useful information.

On the afternoon of the 7th I received news from Washington announcingthat Sherman had probably attacked Johnston that day, and that Butlerhad reached City Point safely and taken it by surprise on the 5th. Ihad given orders for a movement by the left flank, fearing that Leemight move rapidly to Richmond to crush Butler before I could get there.

My order for this movement was as follows:

HEADQUARTERS ARMIES OF THE U. S., May 7, 1864, 6.30 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Commanding A. P.

Make all preparations during the day for a night march to take positionat Spottsylvania C. H. with one army corps, at Todd's Tavern with one,and another near the intersection of the Piney Branch and Spottsylvaniaroad with the road from Alsop's to Old Court House. If this move ismade the trains should be thrown forward early in the morning to the NyRiver.

I think it would be advisable in making the change to leave Hancockwhere he is until Warren passes him. He could then follow and becomethe right of the new line. Burnside will move to Piney Branch Church.Sedgwick can move along the pike to Chancellorsville and on to hisdestination. Burnside will move on the plank road to the intersectionof it with the Orange and Fredericksburg plank road, then followSedgwick to his place of destination.

All vehicles should be got out of hearing of the enemy before the troopsmove, and then move off quietly.

It is more than probable that the enemy concentrate for a heavy attackon Hancock this afternoon. In case they do we must be prepared toresist them, and follow up any success we may gain, with our wholeforce. Such a result would necessarily modify these instructions.

All the hospitals should be moved to-day to Chancellorsville.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

During the 7th Sheridan had a fight with the rebel cavalry at Todd'sTavern, but routed them, thus opening the way for the troops that wereto go by that route at night. Soon after dark Warren withdrew from thefront of the enemy, and was soon followed by Sedgwick. Warren's marchcarried him immediately behind the works where Hancock's command lay onthe Brock Road. With my staff and a small escort of cavalry I precededthe troops. Meade with his staff accompanied me. The greatestenthusiasm was manifested by Hancock's men as we passed by. No doubt itwas inspired by the fact that the movement was south. It indicated tothem that they had passed through the "beginning of the end" in thebattle just fought. The cheering was so lusty that the enemy must havetaken it for a night attack. At all events it drew from him a furiousfusillade of artillery and musketry, plainly heard but not felt by us.

Meade and I rode in advance. We had passed but a little way beyond ourleft when the road forked. We looked to see, if we could, which roadSheridan had taken with his cavalry during the day. It seemed to be theright-hand one, and accordingly we took it. We had not gone far,however, when Colonel C. B. Comstock, of my staff, with the instinct ofthe engineer, suspecting that we were on a road that would lead us intothe lines of the enemy, if he, too, should be moving, dashed by at arapid gallop and all alone. In a few minutes he returned and reportedthat Lee was moving, and that the road we were on would bring us intohis lines in a short distance. We returned to the forks of the road,left a man to indicate the right road to the head of Warren's columnwhen it should come up, and continued our journey to Todd's Tavern,where we arrived after midnight.

My object in moving to Spottsylvania was two-fold: first, I did notwant Lee to get back to Richmond in time to attempt to crush Butlerbefore I could get there; second, I wanted to get between his army andRichmond if possible; and, if not, to draw him into the open field. ButLee, by accident, beat us to Spottsylvania. Our wagon trains had beenordered easterly of the roads the troops were to march upon before themovement commenced. Lee interpreted this as a semi-retreat of the Armyof the Potomac to Fredericksburg, and so informed his government.Accordingly he ordered Longstreet's corps—now commanded by Anderson—tomove in the morning (the 8th) to Spottsylvania. But the woods beingstill on fire, Anderson could not go into bivouac, and marched directlyon to his destination that night. By this accident Lee got possessionof Spottsylvania. It is impossible to say now what would have been theresult if Lee's orders had been obeyed as given; but it is certain thatwe would have been in Spottsylvania, and between him and his capital.My belief is that there would have been a race between the two armies tosee which could reach Richmond first, and the Army of the Potomac wouldhave had the shorter line. Thus, twice since crossing the Rapidan wecame near closing the campaign, so far as battles were concerned, fromthe Rapidan to the James River or Richmond. The first failure wascaused by our not following up the success gained over Hill's corps onthe morning of the 6th, as before described: the second, when firescaused by that battle drove Anderson to make a march during the night ofthe 7th-8th which he was ordered to commence on the morning of the 8th.But accident often decides the fate of battle.

Sheridan's cavalry had had considerable fighting during the afternoon ofthe 7th, lasting at Todd's Tavern until after night, with the field hisat the close. He issued the necessary orders for seizing Spottsylvaniaand holding the bridge over the Po River, which Lee's troops would haveto cross to get to Spottsylvania. But Meade changed Sheridan's ordersto Merritt—who was holding the bridge—on his arrival at Todd's Tavern,and thereby left the road free for Anderson when he came up. Wilson,who was ordered to seize the town, did so, with his division of cavalry;but he could not hold it against the Confederate corps which had notbeen detained at the crossing of the Po, as it would have been but forthe unfortunate change in Merritt's orders. Had he been permitted toexecute the orders Sheridan gave him, he would have been guarding withtwo brigades of cavalry the bridge over the Po River which Anderson hadto cross, and must have detained him long enough to enable Warren toreinforce Wilson and hold the town.

Anderson soon intrenched himself—if indeed the intrenchments were notalready made—immediately across Warren's front. Warren was not aware ofhis presence, but probably supposed it was the cavalry which Merritt hadengaged earlier in the day. He assaulted at once, but was repulsed. Hesoon organized his men, as they were not pursued by the enemy, and madea second attack, this time with his whole corps. This time he succeededin gaining a position immediately in the enemy's front, where heintrenched. His right and left divisions—the former Crawford's, thelatter Wadsworth's, now commanded by Cutler—drove the enemy back somedistance.

At this time my headquarters had been advanced to Piney Branch Church.I was anxious to crush Anderson before Lee could get a force to hissupport. To this end Sedgwick who was at Piney Branch Church, wasordered to Warren's support. Hancock, who was at Todd's Tavern, wasnotified of Warren's engagement, and was directed to be in readiness tocome up. Burnside, who was with the wagon trains at Aldrich's on ourextreme left, received the same instructions. Sedgwick was slow ingetting up for some reason—probably unavoidable, because he was neverat fault when serious work was to be done—so that it was near nightbefore the combined forces were ready to attack. Even then all ofSedgwick's command did not get into the engagement. Warren led the lastassault, one division at a time, and of course it failed.

Warren's difficulty was twofold: when he received an order to doanything, it would at once occur to his mind how all the balance of thearmy should be engaged so as properly to co-operate with him. His ideaswere generally good, but he would forget that the person giving himorders had thought of others at the time he had of him. In like manner,when he did get ready to execute an order, after giving most intelligentinstructions to division commanders, he would go in with one division,holding the others in reserve until he could superintend their movementsin person also, forgetting that division commanders could execute anorder without his presence. His difficulty was constitutional andbeyond his control. He was an officer of superior ability, quickperceptions, and personal courage to accomplish anything that could bedone with a small command.

Lee had ordered Hill's corps—now commanded by Early—to move by thevery road we had marched upon. This shows that even early in themorning of the 8th Lee had not yet become acquainted with my move, butstill thought that the Army of the Potomac had gone to Fredericksburg.Indeed, he informed the authorities at Richmond he had possession ofSpottsylvania and was on my flank. Anderson was in possession ofSpottsylvania, through no foresight of Lee, however. Early only foundthat he had been following us when he ran against Hancock at Todd'sTavern. His coming detained Hancock from the battle-field ofSpottsylvania for that day; but he, in like manner, kept Early back andforced him to move by another route.

Had I ordered the movement for the night of the 7th by my left flank, itwould have put Hancock in the lead. It would also have given us an houror earlier start. It took all that time for Warren to get the head ofhis column to the left of Hancock after he had got his troops out oftheir line confronting the enemy. This hour, and Hancock's capacity touse his whole force when necessary, would, no doubt, have enabled him tocrush Anderson before he could be reinforced. But the movement made wastactical. It kept the troops in mass against a possible assault by theenemy. Our left occupied its intrenchments while the two corps to theright passed. If an attack had been made by the enemy he would havefound the 2d corps in position, fortified, and, practically, the 5th and6th corps in position as reserves, until his entire front was passed.By a left flank movement the army would have been scattered while stillpassing the front of the enemy, and before the extreme right had got byit would have been very much exposed. Then, too, I had not yet learnedthe special qualifications of the different corps commanders. At thattime my judgment was that Warren was the man I would suggest to succeedMeade should anything happen to that gallant soldier to take him fromthe field. As I have before said, Warren was a gallant soldier, an ableman; and he was beside thoroughly imbued with the solemnity andimportance of the duty he had to perform.

CHAPTER LII.

BATTLE OF SPOTTSYLVANIA—HANCOCK'S POSITION—ASSAULT OF WARREN'S ANDWRIGHT'S CORPS—UPTON PROMOTED ON THE FIELD—GOOD NEWS FROM BUTLER ANDSHERIDAN.

The Mattapony River is formed by the junction of the Mat, the Ta, the Poand the Ny rivers, the last being the northernmost of the four. Ittakes its rise about a mile south and a little east of the WildernessTavern. The Po rises south-west of the place, but farther away.Spottsylvania is on the ridge dividing these two streams, and where theyare but a few miles apart. The Brock Road reaches Spottsylvania withoutcrossing either of these streams. Lee's army coming up by the CatharpinRoad, had to cross the Po at Wooden Bridge. Warren and Hancock came bythe Brock Road. Sedgwick crossed the Ny at Catharpin Furnace. Burnsidecoming by Aldrich's to Gates's house, had to cross the Ny near theenemy. He found pickets at the bridge, but they were soon driven off bya brigade of Willcox's division, and the stream was crossed. Thisbrigade was furiously attacked; but the remainder of the division comingup, they were enabled to hold their position, and soon fortified it.

About the time I received the news of this attack, word came fromHancock that Early had left his front. He had been forced over to theCatharpin Road, crossing the Po at Corbin's and again at Wooden Bridge.These are the bridges Sheridan had given orders to his cavalry to occupyon the 8th, while one division should occupy Spottsylvania. Thesemovements of the enemy gave me the idea that Lee was about to make theattempt to get to, or towards, Fredericksburg to cut off my supplies. Imade arrangements to attack his right and get between him and Richmondif he should try to execute this design. If he had any such intentionit was abandoned as soon as Burnside was established south of the Ny.

The Po and the Ny are narrow little streams, but deep, with abruptbanks, and bordered by heavily wooded and marshy bottoms—at the time wewere there—and difficult to cross except where bridged. The countryabout was generally heavily timbered, but with occasional clearings. Itwas a much better country to conduct a defensive campaign in than anoffensive one.

By noon of the 9th the position of the two armies was as follows: Leeoccupied a semicircle facing north, north-west and north-east, inclosingthe town. Anderson was on his left extending to the Po, Ewell camenext, then Early. Warren occupied our right, covering the Brock andother roads converging at Spottsylvania; Sedgwick was to his left andBurnside on our extreme left. Hancock was yet back at Todd's Tavern,but as soon as it was known that Early had left Hancock's front thelatter was ordered up to Warren's right. He formed a line with threedivisions on the hill overlooking the Po early in the afternoon, and wasordered to cross the Po and get on the enemy's flank. The fourthdivision of Hancock's corps, Mott commanding, was left at Todd's whenthe corps first came up; but in the afternoon it was brought up andplaced to the left of Sedgwick's—now Wright's—6th corps. In themorning General Sedgwick had been killed near the right of hisintrenchments by rebel sharpshooters. His loss was a severe one to theArmy of the Potomac and to the Nation. General H. G. Wright succeededhim in the command of his corps.

Hancock was now, nine P.M. of the 9th of May, across the left flank ofLee's army, but separated from it, and also from the remainder ofMeade's army, by the Po River. But for the lateness of the hour and thedarkness of the night he would have attempted to cross the river againat Wooden Bridge, thus bringing himself on the same side with bothfriend and foe.

The Po at the points where Hancock's corps crossed runs nearly due east.Just below his lower crossing—the troops crossed at three points—itturns due south, and after passing under Wooden Bridge soon resumes amore easterly direction. During the night this corps built threebridges over the Po; but these were in rear.

The position assumed by Hancock's corps forced Lee to reinforce his leftduring the night. Accordingly on the morning of the 10th, when Hancockrenewed his effort to get over the Po to his front, he found himselfconfronted by some of Early's command, which had been brought from theextreme right of the enemy during the night. He succeeded in effectinga crossing with one brigade, however, but finding the enemy intrenchedin his front, no more were crossed.

Hancock reconnoitred his front on the morning of the 10th, with the viewof forcing a crossing, if it was found that an advantage could begained. The enemy was found strongly intrenched on the high groundoverlooking the river, and commanding the Wooden Bridge with artillery.Anderson's left rested on the Po, where it turns south; therefore, forHancock to cross over—although it would bring him to the same side ofthe stream with the rest of the army—would still farther isolate himfrom it. The stream would have to be crossed twice in the face of theenemy to unite with the main body. The idea of crossing was thereforeabandoned.

Lee had weakened the other parts of his line to meet this movement ofHancock's, and I determined to take advantage of it. Accordingly in themorning, orders were issued for an attack in the afternoon on the centreby Warren's and Wright's corps, Hancock to command all the attackingforce. Two of his divisions were brought to the north side of the Po.Gibbon was placed to the right of Warren, and Birney in his rear as areserve. Barlow's division was left south of the stream, and Mott ofthe same corps was still to the left of Wright's corps. Burnside wasordered to reconnoitre his front in force, and, if an opportunitypresented, to attack with vigor. The enemy seeing Barlow's divisionisolated from the rest of the army, came out and attacked with fury.Barlow repulsed the assault with great slaughter, and with considerableloss to himself. But the enemy reorganized and renewed the assault.Birney was now moved to the high ground overlooking the river crossingsbuilt by our troops, and covered the crossings. The second assault wasrepulsed, again with severe loss to the enemy, and Barlow was withdrawnwithout further molestation. General T. G. Stevenson was killed in thismove.

Between the lines, where Warren's assault was to take place, there was aravine grown up with large trees and underbrush, making it almostimpenetrable by man. The slopes on both sides were also covered with aheavy growth of timber. Warren, before noon, reconnoitred his fronttwice, the first time with one and the second with two divisions. Hewas repulsed on both occasions, but gained such information of theground as to induce him to report recommending the assault.

Wright also reconnoitred his front and gained a considerably advancedposition from the one he started from. He then organized a stormingparty, consisting of twelve regiments, and assigned Colonel Emory Upton,of the 121st New York Volunteers, to the command of it. About fouro'clock in the afternoon the assault was ordered, Warren's and Wright'scorps, with Mott's division of Hancock's corps, to move simultaneously.The movement was prompt, and in a few minutes the fiercest of strugglesbegan. The battle-field was so densely covered with forest that butlittle could be seen, by any one person, as to the progress made. Meadeand I occupied the best position we could get, in rear of Warren.

Warren was repulsed with heavy loss, General J. C. Rice being among thekilled. He was not followed, however, by the enemy, and was therebyenabled to reorganize his command as soon as covered from the guns ofthe enemy. To the left our success was decided, but the advantage waslost by the feeble action of Mott. Upton with his assaulting partypushed forward and crossed the enemy's intrenchments. Turning to theright and left he captured several guns and some hundreds of prisoners.Mott was ordered to his assistance but failed utterly. So much time waslost in trying to get up the troops which were in the right position toreinforce, that I ordered Upton to withdraw; but the officers and men ofhis command were so averse to giving up the advantage they had gainedthat I withdrew the order. To relieve them, I ordered a renewal of theassault. By this time Hancock, who had gone with Birney's division torelieve Barlow, had returned, bringing the division with him. His corpswas now joined with Warren's and Wright's in this last assault. It wasgallantly made, many men getting up to, and over, the works of theenemy; but they were not able to hold them. At night they werewithdrawn. Upton brought his prisoners with him, but the guns he hadcaptured he was obliged to abandon. Upton had gained an importantadvantage, but a lack in others of the spirit and dash possessed by himlost it to us. Before leaving Washington I had been authorized topromote officers on the field for special acts of gallantry. By thisauthority I conferred the rank of brigadier-general upon Upton on thespot, and this act was confirmed by the President. Upton had been badlywounded in this fight.

Burnside on the left had got up to within a few hundred yards ofSpottsylvania Court House, completely turning Lee's right. He was notaware of the importance of the advantage he had gained, and I, beingwith the troops where the heavy fighting was, did not know of it at thetime. He had gained his position with but little fighting, and almostwithout loss. Burnside's position now separated him widely fromWright's corps, the corps nearest to him. At night he was ordered tojoin on to this. This brought him back about a mile, and lost to us animportant advantage. I attach no blame to Burnside for this, but I doto myself for not having had a staff officer with him to report to mehis position.

The enemy had not dared to come out of his line at any point to followup his advantage, except in the single instance of his attack on Barlow.Then he was twice repulsed with heavy loss, though he had an entirecorps against two brigades. Barlow took up his bridges in the presenceof this force.

On the 11th there was no battle and but little firing; none except byMott who made a reconnoissance to ascertain if there was a weak point inthe enemy's line.

I wrote the following letter to General Halleck:

NEAR SPOTTSYLVANIA C. H., May 11, 1864—8.30 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK, Chief of Staff of the Army, Washington, D. C.

We have now ended the 6th day of very hard fighting. The result up tothis time is much in our favor. But our losses have been heavy as wellas those of the enemy. We have lost to this time eleven generalofficers killed, wounded and missing, and probably twenty thousand men.I think the loss of the enemy must be greater—we having taken over fourthousand prisoners in battle, whilst he has taken from us but few excepta few stragglers. I am now sending back to Belle Plain all my wagonsfor a fresh supply of provisions and ammunition, and purpose to fight itout on this line if it takes all summer.

The arrival of reinforcements here will be very encouraging to the men,and I hope they will be sent as fast as possible, and in as greatnumbers. My object in having them sent to Belle Plain was to use themas an escort to our supply trains. If it is more convenient to sendthem out by train to march from the railroad to Belle Plain orFredericksburg, send them so.

I am satisfied the enemy are very shaky, and are only kept up to themark by the greatest exertions on the part of their officers, and bykeeping them intrenched in every position they take.

Up to this time there is no indication of any portion of Lee's armybeing detached for the defence of Richmond.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

And also, I received information, through the War Department, fromGeneral Butler that his cavalry under Kautz had cut the railroad southof Petersburg, separating Beauregard from Richmond, and had whippedHill, killing, wounding and capturing many. Also that he wasintrenched, and could maintain himself. On this same day came news fromSheridan to the effect that he had destroyed ten miles of the railroadand telegraph between Lee and Richmond, one and a half million rations,and most of the medical stores for his army.

On the 8th I had directed Sheridan verbally to cut loose from the Armyof the Potomac and pass around the left of Lee's army and attack hiscavalry and communications, which was successfully executed in themanner I have already described.

CHAPTER LIII.

HANCOCK'S ASSAULT-LOSSES OF THE CONFEDERATES—PROMOTIONS RECOMMENDED—DISCOMFITURE OF THE ENEMY—EWELL'S ATTACK-REDUCING THE ARTILLERY.

In the reconnoissance made by Mott on the 11th, a salient was discoveredat the right centre. I determined that an assault should be made at thatpoint. (*28) Accordingly in the afternoon Hancock was ordered to movehis command by the rear of Warren and Wright, under cover of night, toWright's left, and there form it for an assault at four o'clock the nextmorning. The night was dark, it rained heavily, and the road wasdifficult, so that it was midnight when he reached the point where hewas to halt. It took most of the night to get the men in position fortheir advance in the morning. The men got but little rest. Burnsidewas ordered to attack (*29) on the left of the salient at the same hour.I sent two of my staff officers to impress upon him the importance ofpushing forward vigorously. Hancock was notified of this. Warren andWright were ordered to hold themselves in readiness to join in theassault if circumstances made it advisable. I occupied a centralposition most convenient for receiving information from all points.Hancock put Barlow on his left, in double column, and Birney to hisright. Mott followed Birney, and Gibbon was held in reserve.

The morning of the 12th opened foggy, delaying the start more than halfan hour.

The ground over which Hancock had to pass to reach the enemy, wasascending and heavily wooded to within two or three hundred yards of theenemy's intrenchments. In front of Birney there was also a marsh tocross. But, notwithstanding all these difficulties, the troops pushedon in quick time without firing a gun, and when within four or fivehundred yards of the enemy's line broke out in loud cheers, and with arush went up to and over the breastworks. Barlow and Birney enteredalmost simultaneously. Here a desperate hand-to-hand conflict tookplace. The men of the two sides were too close together to fire, butused their guns as clubs. The hand conflict was soon over. Hancock'scorps captured some four thousand prisoners among them a division and abrigade commander twenty or more guns with their horses, caissons, andammunition, several thousand stand of arms, and many colors. Hancock,as soon as the hand-to-hand conflict was over, turned the guns of theenemy against him and advanced inside the rebel lines. About sixo'clock I ordered Warren's corps to the support of Hancock's. Burnside,on the left, had advanced up east of the salient to the very parapet ofthe enemy. Potter, commanding one of his divisions, got over but wasnot able to remain there. However, he inflicted a heavy loss upon theenemy; but not without loss in return.

This victory was important, and one that Lee could not afford to leaveus in full possession of. He made the most strenuous efforts to regainthe position he had lost. Troops were brought up from his left andattacked Hancock furiously. Hancock was forced to fall back: but hedid so slowly, with his face to the enemy, inflicting on him heavy loss,until behind the breastworks he had captured. These he turned, facingthem the other way, and continued to hold. Wright was ordered up toreinforce Hancock, and arrived by six o'clock. He was wounded soonafter coming up but did not relinquish the command of his corps,although the fighting lasted until one o'clock the next morning. Ateight o'clock Warren was ordered up again, but was so slow in making hisdispositions that his orders were frequently repeated, and withemphasis. At eleven o'clock I gave Meade written orders to relieveWarren from his command if he failed to move promptly. Hancock placedbatteries on high ground in his rear, which he used against the enemy,firing over the heads of his own troops.

Burnside accomplished but little on our left of a positive nature, butnegatively a great deal. He kept Lee from reinforcing his centre fromthat quarter. If the 5th corps, or rather if Warren, had been as promptas Wright was with the 6th corps, better results might have beenobtained.

Lee massed heavily from his left flank on the broken point of his line.Five times during the day he assaulted furiously, but without dislodgingour troops from their new position. His losses must have been fearful.Sometimes the belligerents would be separated by but a few feet. In oneplace a tree, eighteen inches in diameter, was cut entirely down bymusket balls. All the trees between the lines were very much cut topieces by artillery and musketry. It was three o'clock next morningbefore the fighting ceased. Some of our troops had then been twentyhours under fire. In this engagement we did not lose a singleorganization, not even a company. The enemy lost one division with itscommander, one brigade and one regiment, with heavy losseselsewhere.(*30) Our losses were heavy, but, as stated, no whole companywas captured. At night Lee took a position in rear of his former one,and by the following morning he was strongly intrenched in it.

Warren's corps was now temporarily broken up, Cutler's division sent to
Wright, and Griffin's to Hancock. Meade ordered his chief of staff,
General Humphreys, to remain with Warren and the remaining division, and
authorized him to give it orders in his name.

During the day I was passing along the line from wing to wingcontinuously. About the centre stood a house which proved to beoccupied by an old lady and her daughter. She showed such unmistakablesigns of being strongly Union that I stopped. She said she had not seena Union flag for so long a time that it did her heart good to look uponit again. She said her husband and son, being, Union men, had had toleave early in the war, and were now somewhere in the Union army, ifalive. She was without food or nearly so, so I ordered rations issuedto her, and promised to find out if I could where the husband and sonwere.

There was no fighting on the 13th, further than a little skirmishingbetween Mott's division and the enemy. I was afraid that Lee might bemoving out, and I did not want him to go without my knowing it. Theindications were that he was moving, but it was found that he was onlytaking his new position back from the salient that had been captured.Our dead were buried this day. Mott's division was reduced to abrigade, and assigned to Birney's division.

During this day I wrote to Washington recommending Sherman and Meade(*31) for promotion to the grade of Major-General in the regular army;Hancock for Brigadier-General; Wright, Gibbon and Humphreys to beMajor-Generals of Volunteers; and Upton and Carroll to be Brigadiers.Upton had already been named as such, but the appointment had to beconfirmed by the Senate on the nomination of the President.

The night of the 13th Warren and Wright were moved by the rear to theleft of Burnside. The night was very dark and it rained heavily, theroads were so bad that the troops had to cut trees and corduroy the roada part of the way, to get through. It was midnight before they got tothe point where they were to halt, and daylight before the troops couldbe organized to advance to their position in line. They gained theirposition in line, however, without any fighting, except a little inWright's front. Here Upton had to contend for an elevation which wewanted and which the enemy was not disposed to yield. Upton first drovethe enemy, and was then repulsed in turn. Ayres coming to his supportwith his brigade (of Griffin's division, Warren's corps), the positionwas secured and fortified. There was no more battle during the 14th.This brought our line east of the Court House and running north andsouth and facing west.

During the night of the 14th-15th Lee moved to cover this new front.This left Hancock without an enemy confronting him. He was brought tothe rear of our new centre, ready to be moved in any direction he mightbe wanted.

On the 15th news came from Butler and Averill. The former reported thecapture of the outer works at Drury's Bluff, on the James River, andthat his cavalry had cut the railroad and telegraph south of Richmond onthe Danville road: and the latter, the destruction of a depot ofsupplies at Dublin, West Virginia, and the breaking of New River Bridgeon the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad. The next day news came fromSherman and Sheridan. Sherman had forced Johnston out of Dalton,Georgia, and was following him south. The report from Sheridan embracedhis operations up to his passing the outer defences of Richmond. Theprospect must now have been dismal in Richmond. The road and telegraphwere cut between the capital and Lee. The roads and wires were cut inevery direction from the rebel capital. Temporarily that city was cutoff from all communication with the outside except by courier. Thiscondition of affairs, however, was of but short duration.

I wrote Halleck:

NEAR SPOTTSYLVANIA C. H., May 16, 1864, 8 A.M.

MAJOR-GENERAL HALLECK, Washington, D. C.:

We have had five days almost constant rain without any prospect yet ofit clearing up. The roads have now become so impassable that ambulanceswith wounded men can no longer run between here and Fredericksburg. Alloffensive operations necessarily cease until we can have twenty-fourhours of dry weather. The army is in the best of spirits, and feel thegreatest confidence of ultimate success. * * * ** * You can assure the President and Secretary of War that theelements alone have suspended hostilities, and that it is in no mannerdue to weakness or exhaustion on our part.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

The condition of the roads was such that nothing was done on the 17th.But that night Hancock and Wright were to make a night march back totheir old positions, and to make an assault at four o'clock in themorning. Lee got troops back in time to protect his old line, so theassault was unsuccessful. On this day (18th) the news was almost asdiscouraging to us as it had been two days before in the rebel capital.As stated above, Hancock's and Wright's corps had made an unsuccessfulassault. News came that Sigel had been defeated at New Market, badly,and was retreating down the valley. Not two hours before, I had sentthe inquiry to Halleck whether Sigel could not get to Staunton to stopsupplies coming from there to Lee. I asked at once that Sigel might berelieved, and some one else put in his place. Hunter's name wassuggested, and I heartily approved. Further news from Butler reportedhim driven from Drury's Bluff, but still in possession of the Petersburgroad. Banks had been defeated in Louisiana, relieved, and Canby put inhis place. This change of commander was not on my suggestion. All thisnews was very discouraging. All of it must have been known by the enemybefore it was by me. In fact, the good news (for the enemy) must havebeen known to him at the moment I thought he was in despair, and hisanguish had been already relieved when we were enjoying his supposeddiscomfiture, But this was no time for repining. I immediately gaveorders for a movement by the left flank, on towards Richmond, tocommence on the night of the 19th. I also asked Halleck to secure thecooperation of the navy in changing our base of supplies fromFredericksburg to Port Royal, on the Rappahannock.

Up to this time I had received no reinforcements, except six thousandraw troops under Brigadier General Robert O. Tyler, just arrived. Theyhad not yet joined their command, Hancock's corps, but were on ourright. This corps had been brought to the rear of the centre, ready tomove in any direction. Lee, probably suspecting some move on my part,and seeing our right entirely abandoned, moved Ewell's corps about fiveo'clock in the afternoon, with Early's as a reserve, to attack us inthat quarter. Tyler had come up from Fredericksburg, and had beenhalted on the road to the right of our line, near Kitching's brigade ofWarren's corps. Tyler received the attack with his raw troops, and theymaintained their position, until reinforced, in a manner worthy ofveterans.

Hancock was in a position to reinforce speedily, and was the soldier to
do it without waiting to make dispositions. Birney was thrown to
Tyler's right and Crawford to his left, with Gibbon as a reserve; and
Ewell was whirled back speedily and with heavy loss.

Warren had been ordered to get on Ewell's flank and in his rear, to cuthim off from his intrenchments. But his efforts were so feeble thatunder the cover of night Ewell got back with only the loss of a fewhundred prisoners, besides his killed and wounded. The army beingengaged until after dark, I rescinded the order for the march by ourleft flank that night.

As soon as it was discovered that the enemy were coming out to attack, Inaturally supposed they would detach a force to destroy our trains. Thewithdrawal of Hancock from the right uncovered one road fromSpottsylvania to Fredericksburg over which trains drew our supplies.This was guarded by a division of colored troops, commanded by GeneralFerrero, belonging to Burnside's corps. Ferrero was therefore promptlynotified, and ordered to throw his cavalry pickets out to the south andbe prepared to meet the enemy if he should come; if he had to retreat todo so towards Fredericksburg. The enemy did detach as expected, andcaptured twenty-five or thirty wagons which, however, were soon retaken.

In consequence of the disasters that had befallen us in the past fewdays, Lee could be reinforced largely, and I had no doubt he would be.Beauregard had come up from the south with troops to guard theConfederate capital when it was in danger. Butler being driven back,most of the troops could be sent to Lee. Hoke was no longer needed inNorth Carolina; and Sigel's troops having gone back to Cedar Creek,whipped, many troops could be spared from the valley.

The Wilderness and Spottsylvania battles convinced me that we had moreartillery than could ever be brought into action at any one time. Itoccupied much of the road in marching, and taxed the trains in bringingup forage. Artillery is very useful when it can be brought into action,but it is a very burdensome luxury where it cannot be used. Beforeleaving Spottsylvania, therefore, I sent back to the defences ofWashington over one hundred pieces of artillery, with the horses andcaissons. This relieved the roads over which we were to march of morethan two hundred six-horse teams, and still left us more artillery thancould be advantageously used. In fact, before reaching the James RiverI again reduced the artillery with the army largely.

I believed that, if one corps of the army was exposed on the road toRichmond, and at a distance from the main army, Lee would endeavor toattack the exposed corps before reinforcements could come up; in whichcase the main army could follow Lee up and attack him before he had timeto intrench. So I issued the following orders:

NEAR SPOTTSYLVANIA C. H., VA., May 18, 1864.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Commanding Army of the Potomac.

Before daylight to-morrow morning I propose to draw Hancock and Burnsidefrom the position they now hold, and put Burnside to the left of Wright.Wright and Burnside should then force their way up as close to the enemyas they can get without a general engagement, or with a generalengagement if the enemy will come out of their works to fight, andintrench. Hancock should march and take up a position as if in supportof the two left corps. To-morrow night, at twelve or one o'clock, hewill be moved south-east with all his force and as much cavalry as canbe given to him, to get as far towards Richmond on the line of theFredericksburg Railroad as he can make, fighting the enemy in whateverforce he can find him. If the enemy make a general move to meet this,they will be followed by the other three corps of the army, andattacked, if possible, before time is given to intrench.

Suitable directions will at once be given for all trains and surplusartillery to conform to this movement.

U. S. GRANT.

On the 20th, Lee showing no signs of coming out of his lines, orderswere renewed for a left-flank movement, to commence after night.

CHAPTER LIV.

MOVEMENT BY THE LEFT FLANK—BATTLE OF NORTH ANNA—AN INCIDENT OF THEMARCH—MOVING ON RICHMOND—SOUTH OF THE PAMUNKEY—POSITION OF THENATIONAL ARMY.

We were now to operate in a different country from any we had beforeseen in Virginia. The roads were wide and good, and the country wellcultivated. No men were seen except those bearing arms, even the blackman having been sent away. The country, however, was new to us, and wehad neither guides nor maps to tell us where the roads were, or wherethey led to. Engineer and staff officers were put to the dangerous dutyof supplying the place of both maps and guides. By reconnoitring theywere enabled to locate the roads in the vicinity of each army corps.Our course was south, and we took all roads leading in that directionwhich would not separate the army too widely.

Hancock who had the lead had marched easterly to Guiney's Station, onthe Fredericksburg Railroad, thence southerly to Bowling Green andMilford. He was at Milford by the night of the 21st. Here he met adetachment of Pickett's division coming from Richmond to reinforce Lee.They were speedily driven away, and several hundred captured. Warrenfollowed on the morning of the 21st, and reached Guiney's Station thatnight without molestation. Burnside and Wright were retained atSpottsylvania to keep up the appearance of an intended assault, and tohold Lee, if possible, while Hancock and Warren should get start enoughto interpose between him and Richmond.

Lee had now a superb opportunity to take the initiative either byattacking Wright and Burnside alone, or by following by the TelegraphRoad and striking Hancock's and Warren's corps, or even Hancock's alone,before reinforcements could come up. But he did not avail himself ofeither opportunity. He seemed really to be misled as to my designs; butmoved by his interior line—the Telegraph Road—to make sure of keepingbetween his capital and the Army of the Potomac. He never again hadsuch an opportunity of dealing a heavy blow.

The evening of the 21st Burnside, 9th corps, moved out followed byWright, 6th corps. Burnside was to take the Telegraph Road; but findingStanard's Ford, over the Po, fortified and guarded, he turned east tothe road taken by Hancock and Warren without an attempt to dislodge theenemy. The night of the 21st I had my headquarters near the 6th corps,at Guiney's Station, and the enemy's cavalry was between us and Hancock.There was a slight attack on Burnside's and Wright's corps as they movedout of their lines; but it was easily repulsed. The object probably wasonly to make sure that we were not leaving a force to follow upon therear of the Confederates.

By the morning of the 22d Burnside and Wright were at Guiney's Station.Hancock's corps had now been marching and fighting continuously forseveral days, not having had rest even at night much of the time. Theywere, therefore, permitted to rest during the 22d. But Warren waspushed to Harris's Store, directly west of Milford, and connected withit by a good road, and Burnside was sent to New Bethel Church. Wright'scorps was still back at Guiney's Station.

I issued the following order for the movement of the troops the nextday:

NEW BETHEL, VA., May 22, 1864

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Commanding Army of the Potomac.

Direct corps commanders to hold their troops in readiness to march atfive A.M. to-morrow. At that hour each command will send out cavalryand infantry on all roads to their front leading south, and ascertain,if possible, where the enemy is. If beyond the South Anna, the 5th and6th corps will march to the forks of the road, where one branch leads toBeaver Dam Station, the other to Jericho Bridge, then south by roadsreaching the Anna, as near to and east of Hawkins Creek as they can befound.

The 2d corps will move to Chesterfield Ford. The 9th corps will bedirected to move at the same time to Jericho Bridge. The map only showstwo roads for the four corps to march upon, but, no doubt, by the use ofplantation roads, and pressing in guides, others can be found, to giveone for each corps.

The troops will follow their respective reconnoitring parties. Thetrains will be moved at the same time to Milford Station.

Headquarters will follow the 9th corps.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

Warren's corps was moved from Harris's Store to Jericho Ford, Wright'sfollowing. Warren arrived at the ford early in the afternoon, and byfive o'clock effected a crossing under the protection of sharpshooters.The men had to wade in water up to their waists. As soon as enoughtroops were over to guard the ford, pontoons were laid and the artilleryand the rest of the troops crossed. The line formed was almostperpendicular to the course of the river—Crawford on the left, next tothe river, Griffin in the centre, and Cutler on the right. Lee wasfound intrenched along the front of their line. The whole of Hill'scorps was sent against Warren's right before it had got in position. Abrigade of Cutler's division was driven back, the enemy following, butassistance coming up the enemy was in turn driven back into his trencheswith heavy loss in killed and wounded, with about five hundred prisonersleft in our hands. By night Wright's corps was up ready to reinforceWarren.

On the 23d Hancock's corps was moved to the wooden bridge which spansthe North Anna River just west of where the Fredericksburg Railroadcrosses. It was near night when the troops arrived. They found thebridge guarded, with troops intrenched, on the north side. Hancock senttwo brigades, Egan's and Pierce's, to the right and left, and whenproperly disposed they charged simultaneously. The bridge was carriedquickly, the enemy retreating over it so hastily that many were shovedinto the river, and some of them were drowned. Several hundredprisoners were captured. The hour was so late that Hancock did notcross until next morning.

Burnside's corps was moved by a middle road running between thosedescribed above, and which strikes the North Anna at Ox Ford, midwaybetween Telegraph Road and Jericho Ford. The hour of its arrival wastoo late to cross that night.

On the 24th Hancock's corps crossed to the south side of the riverwithout opposition, and formed line facing nearly west. The railroad inrear was taken possession of and destroyed as far as possible. Wright'scorps crossed at Jericho early the same day, and took position to theright of Warren's corps, extending south of the Virginia CentralRailroad. This road was torn up for a considerable distance to the rear(west), the ties burned, and the rails bent and twisted by heating themover the burning ties. It was found, however, that Burnside's corpscould not cross at Ox Ford. Lee had taken a position with his centre onthe river at this point, with the two wings thrown back, his line makingan acute angle where it overlooked the river.

Before the exact position of the whole of Lee's line was accuratelyknown, I directed Hancock and Warren each to send a brigade to Ox Fordby the south side of the river. They found the enemy too strong tojustify a serious attack. A third ford was found between Ox Ford andJericho. Burnside was directed to cross a division over this ford, andto send one division to Hancock. Crittenden was crossed by thisnewly-discovered ford, and formed up the river to connect withCrawford's left. Potter joined Hancock by way of the wooden bridge.Crittenden had a severe engagement with some of Hill's corps on hiscrossing the river, and lost heavily. When joined to Warren's corps hewas no further molested. Burnside still guarded Ox Ford from the northside.

Lee now had his entire army south of the North Anna. Our lines coveredhis front, with the six miles separating the two wings guarded by but asingle division. To get from one wing to the other the river would haveto be crossed twice. Lee could reinforce any part of his line from allpoints of it in a very short march; or could concentrate the whole of itwherever he might choose to assault. We were, for the time, practicallytwo armies besieging.

Lee had been reinforced, and was being reinforced, largely. About thistime the very troops whose coming I had predicted, had arrived or werecoming in. Pickett with a full division from Richmond was up; Hoke fromNorth Carolina had come with a brigade; and Breckinridge was there: inall probably not less than fifteen thousand men. But he did not attemptto drive us from the field.

On the 22d or 23d I received dispatches from Washington saying thatSherman had taken Kingston, crossed the Etowah River and was advancinginto Georgia.

I was seated at the time on the porch of a fine plantation house waitingfor Burnside's corps to pass. Meade and his staff, besides my ownstaff, were with me. The lady of the house, a Mrs. Tyler, and anelderly lady, were present. Burnside seeing us, came up on the porch,his big spurs and saber rattling as he walked. He touched his hatpolitely to the ladies, and remarked that he supposed they had neverseen so many "live Yankees" before in their lives. The elderly ladyspoke up promptly saying, "Oh yes, I have; many more." "Where?" saidBurnside. "In Richmond." Prisoners, of course, was understood.

I read my dispatch aloud, when it was received. This threw the youngerlady into tears. I found the information she had received (and I supposeit was the information generally in circulation through the South) wasthat Lee was driving us from the State in the most demoralized conditionand that in the South-west our troops were but little better thanprisoners of war. Seeing our troops moving south was ocular proof thata part of her information was incorrect, and she asked me if my newsfrom Sherman was true. I assured her that there was no doubt about it.I left a guard to protect the house from intrusion until the troopsshould have all passed, and assured her that if her husband was inhiding she could bring him in and he should be protected also. But Ipresume he was in the Confederate army.

On the 25th I gave orders, through Halleck, to Hunter, who had relievedSigel, to move up the Valley of Virginia, cross over the Blue Ridge toCharlottesville and go as far as Lynchburg if possible, living upon thecountry and cutting the railroads and canal as he went. After doingthis he could find his way back to his base, or join me.

On the same day news was received that Lee was falling back on Richmond.This proved not to be true. But we could do nothing where we wereunless Lee would assume the offensive. I determined, therefore, to drawout of our present position and make one more effort to get between himand Richmond. I had no expectation now, however, of succeeding in this;but I did expect to hold him far enough west to enable me to reach theJames River high up. Sheridan was now again with the Army of thePotomac.

On the 26th I informed the government at Washington of the position ofthe two armies; of the reinforcements the enemy had received; of themove I proposed to make (*32); and directed that our base of suppliesshould be shifted to White House, on the Pamunkey. The wagon train andguards moved directly from Port Royal to White House. Supplies movedaround by water, guarded by the navy. Orders had previously been sent,through Halleck, for Butler to send Smith's corps to White House. Thisorder was repeated on the 25th, with directions that they should belanded on the north side of the Pamunkey, and marched until they joinedthe Army of the Potomac.

It was a delicate move to get the right wing of the Army of the Potomacfrom its position south of the North Anna in the presence of the enemy.To accomplish it, I issued the following order:

QUARLES' MILLS, VA., May 25, 1864.

MAJOR GENERAL MEADE, Commanding A. P.

Direct Generals Warren and Wright to withdraw all their teams andartillery, not in position, to the north side of the river to-morrow.Send that belonging to General Wright's corps as far on the road toHanover Town as it can go, without attracting attention to the fact.Send with it Wright's best division or division under his ablestcommander. Have their places filled up in the line so if possible theenemy will not notice their withdrawal. Send the cavalry to-morrowafternoon, or as much of it as you may deem necessary, to watch andseize, if they can, Littlepage's Bridge and Taylor's Ford, and to remainon one or other side of the river at these points until the infantry andartillery all pass. As soon as it is dark to-morrow night start thedivision which you withdraw first from Wright's corps to make a forcedmarch to Hanover Town, taking with them no teams to impede their march.At the same time this division starts commence withdrawing all of the5th and 6th corps from the south side of the river, and march them forthe same place. The two divisions of the 9th corps not now withHancock, may be moved down the north bank of the river where they willbe handy to support Hancock if necessary, or will be that much on theirroad to follow the 5th and 6th corps. Hancock should hold his commandin readiness to follow as soon as the way is clear for him. To-morrow itwill leave nothing for him to do, but as soon as he can he should getall his teams and spare artillery on the road or roads which he willhave to take. As soon as the troops reach Hanover Town they should getpossession of all the crossings they can in that neighborhood. I thinkit would be well to make a heavy cavalry demonstration on the enemy'sleft, to-morrow afternoon, also.

U. S. GRANT, Lieut.-General.

Wilson's division of cavalry was brought up from the left and moved byour right south to Little River. Here he manoeuvred to give theimpression that we were going to attack the left flank of Lee's army.

Under cover of night our right wing was withdrawn to the north side ofthe river, Lee being completely deceived by Wilson's feint. On theafternoon of the 26th Sheridan moved, sending Gregg's and Torbert'scavalry to Taylor's and Littlepage's fords towards Hanover. As soon asit was dark both divisions moved quietly to Hanover Ferry, leaving smallguards behind to keep up the impression that crossings were to beattempted in the morning. Sheridan was followed by a division ofinfantry under General Russell. On the morning of the 27th the crossingwas effected with but little loss, the enemy losing thirty or forty,taken prisoners. Thus a position was secured south of the Pamunkey.

Russell stopped at the crossing while the cavalry pushed on to HanoverTown. Here Barringer's, formerly Gordon's, brigade of rebel cavalry wasencountered, but it was speedily driven away.

Warren's and Wright's corps were moved by the rear of Burnside's andHancock's corps. When out of the way these latter corps followed,leaving pickets confronting the enemy. Wilson's cavalry followed last,watching all the fords until everything had recrossed; then taking upthe pontoons and destroying other bridges, became the rear-guard.

Two roads were traversed by the troops in this move. The one nearest toand north of the North Anna and Pamunkey was taken by Wright, followedby Hancock. Warren, followed by Burnside, moved by a road farthernorth, and longer. The trains moved by a road still farther north, andhad to travel a still greater distance. All the troops that had crossedthe Pamunkey on the morning of the 27th remained quiet during the restof the day, while the troops north of that stream marched to reach thecrossing that had been secured for them.

Lee had evidently been deceived by our movement from North Anna; for onthe morning of the 27th he telegraphed to Richmond: "Enemy crossed tonorth side, and cavalry and infantry crossed at Hanover Town." Thetroops that had then crossed left his front the night of the 25th.

The country we were now in was a difficult one to move troops over. Thestreams were numerous, deep and sluggish, sometimes spreading out intoswamps grown up with impenetrable growths of trees and underbrush. Thebanks were generally low and marshy, making the streams difficult toapproach except where there were roads and bridges.

Hanover Town is about twenty miles from Richmond. There are two roadsleading there; the most direct and shortest one crossing theChickahominy at Meadow Bridge, near the Virginia Central Railroad, thesecond going by New and Old Cold Harbor. A few miles out from HanoverTown there is a third road by way of Mechanicsville to Richmond. NewCold Harbor was important to us because while there we both covered theroads back to White House (where our supplies came from), and the roadssouth-east over which we would have to pass to get to the James Riverbelow the Richmond defences.

On the morning of the 28th the army made an early start, and by noon allhad crossed except Burnside's corps. This was left on the north sidetemporarily to guard the large wagon train. A line was at once formedextending south from the river, Wright's corps on the right, Hancock'sin the centre, and Warren's on the left, ready to meet the enemy if heshould come.

At the same time Sheridan was directed to reconnoitre towardsMechanicsville to find Lee's position. At Hawes' Shop, just where themiddle road leaves the direct road to Richmond, he encountered theConfederate cavalry dismounted and partially intrenched. Gregg attackedwith his division, but was unable to move the enemy. In the eveningCuster came up with a brigade. The attack was now renewed, the cavalrydismounting and charging as infantry. This time the assault wassuccessful, both sides losing a considerable number of men. But ourtroops had to bury the dead, and found that more Confederate than Unionsoldiers had been killed. The position was easily held, because ourinfantry was near.

On the 29th a reconnoissance was made in force, to find the position ofLee. Wright's corps pushed to Hanover Court House. Hancock's corpspushed toward Totopotomoy Creek; Warren's corps to the left on the ShadyGrove Church Road, while Burnside was held in reserve. Our advance waspushed forward three miles on the left with but little fighting. Therewas now an appearance of a movement past our left flank, and Sheridanwas sent to meet it.

On the 30th Hancock moved to the Totopotomoy, where he found the enemystrongly fortified. Wright was moved to the right of Hancock's corps,and Burnside was brought forward and crossed, taking position to theleft of Hancock. Warren moved up near Huntley Corners on the ShadyGrove Church Road. There was some skirmishing along the centre, and inthe evening Early attacked Warren with some vigor, driving him back atfirst, and threatening to turn our left flank. As the best means ofreinforcing the left, Hancock was ordered to attack in his front. Hecarried and held the rifle-pits. While this was going on Warren got hismen up, repulsed Early, and drove him more than a mile.

On this day I wrote to Halleck ordering all the pontoons in Washingtonto be sent to City Point.

In the evening news was received of the arrival of Smith with his corpsat White House. I notified Meade, in writing, as follows:

NEAR HAWES' SHOP, VA., 6.40 P.M., May 30, 1864.

MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE, Commanding A. P.

General Smith will debark his force at the White House tonight and startup the south bank of the Pamunkey at an early hour, probably at 3 A.M.in the morning. It is not improbable that the enemy, being aware ofSmith's movement, will be feeling to get on our left flank for thepurpose of cutting him off, or by a dash to crush him and get backbefore we are aware of it. Sheridan ought to be notified to watch theenemy's movements well out towards Cold Harbor, and also on theMechanicsville road. Wright should be got well massed on Hancock'sright, so that, if it becomes necessary, he can take the place of thelatter readily whilst troops are being thrown east of the Totopotomoy ifnecessary.

I want Sheridan to send a cavalry force of at least half a brigade, ifnot a whole brigade, at 5 A.M. in the morning, to communicate with Smithand to return with him. I will send orders for Smith by the messengeryou send to Sheridan with his orders.

U. S. GRANT.

I also notified Smith of his danger, and the precautions that would betaken to protect him.

The night of the 30th Lee's position was substantially from Atlee'sStation on the Virginia Central Railroad south and east to the vicinityof Cold Harbor. Ours was: The left of Warren's corps was on the ShadyGrove Road, extending to the Mechanicsville Road and about three milessouth of the Totopotomoy. Burnside to his right, then Hancock, andWright on the extreme right, extending towards Hanover Court House, sixmiles south-east of it. Sheridan with two divisions of cavalry waswatching our left front towards Cold Harbor. Wilson with his divisionon our right was sent to get on the Virginia Central Railroad anddestroy it as far back as possible. He got possession of Hanover CourtHouse the next day after a skirmish with Young's cavalry brigade. Theenemy attacked Sheridan's pickets, but reinforcements were sent up andthe attack was speedily repulsed and the enemy followed some distancetowards Cold Harbor.

CHAPTER LV.

ADVANCE ON COLD HARBOR—AN ANECDOTE OF THE WAR—BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR—CORRESPONDENCE WITH LEE—RETROSPECTIVE.

On the 31st Sheridan advanced to near Old Cold Harbor. He found itintrenched and occupied by cavalry and infantry. A hard fight ensuedbut the place was carried. The enemy well knew the importance of ColdHarbor to us, and seemed determined that we should not hold it. Hereturned with such a large force that Sheridan was about withdrawingwithout making any effort to hold it against such odds; but about thetime he commenced the evacuation he received orders to hold the place atall hazards, until reinforcements could be sent to him. He speedilyturned the rebel works to face against them and placed his men inposition for defence. Night came on before the enemy was ready forassault.

Wright's corps was ordered early in the evening to march directly toCold Harbor passing by the rear of the army. It was expected to arriveby daylight or before; but the night was dark and the distance great, sothat it was nine o'clock the 1st of June before it reached itsdestination. Before the arrival of Wright the enemy had made twoassaults on Sheridan, both of which were repulsed with heavy loss to theenemy. Wright's corps coming up, there was no further assault on ColdHarbor.

Smith, who was coming up from White House, was also directed to marchdirectly to Cold Harbor, and was expected early on the morning of the1st of June; but by some blunder the order which reached Smith directedhim to Newcastle instead of Cold Harbor. Through this blunder Smith didnot reach his destination until three o'clock in the afternoon, and thenwith tired and worn-out men from their long and dusty march. He landedtwelve thousand five hundred men from Butler's command, but a divisionwas left at White House temporarily and many men had fallen out of ranksin their long march.

Before the removal of Wright's corps from our right, after dark on the31st, the two lines, Federal and Confederate, were so close together atthat point that either side could detect directly any movement made bythe other. Finding at daylight that Wright had left his front, Leeevidently divined that he had gone to our left. At all events, soonafter light on the 1st of June Anderson, who commanded the corps onLee's left, was seen moving along Warren's front. Warren was ordered toattack him vigorously in flank, while Wright was directed to move outand get on his front. Warren fired his artillery at the enemy; but lostso much time in making ready that the enemy got by, and at three o'clockhe reported the enemy was strongly intrenched in his front, and besideshis lines were so long that he had no mass of troops to move with. Heseemed to have forgotten that lines in rear of an army hold themselveswhile their defenders are fighting in their front. Wright reconnoitredsome distance to his front: but the enemy finding Old Cold Harboralready taken had halted and fortified some distance west.

By six o'clock in the afternoon Wright and Smith were ready to make anassault. In front of both the ground was clear for several hundredyards and then became wooded. Both charged across this open space andinto the wood, capturing and holding the first line of rifle-pits of theenemy, and also capturing seven or eight hundred prisoners.

While this was going on, the enemy charged Warren three separate timeswith vigor, but were repulsed each time with loss. There was no officermore capable, nor one more prompt in acting, than Warren when the enemyforced him to it. There was also an attack upon Hancock's andBurnside's corps at the same time; but it was feeble and probably onlyintended to relieve Anderson who was being pressed by Wright and Smith.

During the night the enemy made frequent attacks with the view ofdispossessing us of the important position we had gained, but withouteffecting their object.

Hancock was moved from his place in line during the night and ordered tothe left of Wright. I expected to take the offensive on the morning ofthe 2d, but the night was so dark, the heat and dust so excessive andthe roads so intricate and hard to keep, that the head of column onlyreached Old Cold Harbor at six o'clock, but was in position at 7.30 A.M.Preparations were made for an attack in the afternoon, but did not takeplace until the next morning. Warren's corps was moved to the left toconnect with Smith: Hancock's corps was got into position to the leftof Wright's, and Burnside was moved to Bethesda Church in reserve. WhileWarren and Burnside were making these changes the enemy came out severaltimes and attacked them, capturing several hundred prisoners. Theattacks were repulsed, but not followed up as they should have been. Iwas so annoyed at this that I directed Meade to instruct his corpscommanders that they should seize all such opportunities when theyoccurred, and not wait for orders, all of our manoeuvres being made forthe very purpose of getting the enemy out of his cover.

On this day Wilson returned from his raid upon the Virginia CentralRailroad, having damaged it considerably. But, like ourselves, therebels had become experts in repairing such damage. Sherman, in hismemoirs, relates an anecdote of his campaign to Atlanta that wellillustrates this point. The rebel cavalry lurking in his rear to burnbridges and obstruct his communications had become so disgusted athearing trains go whistling by within a few hours after a bridge hadbeen burned, that they proposed to try blowing up some of the tunnels.One of them said, "No use, boys, Old Sherman carries duplicate tunnelswith him, and will replace them as fast as you can blow them up; bettersave your powder."

Sheridan was engaged reconnoitring the banks of the Chickahominy, tofind crossings and the condition of the roads. He reported favorably.

During the night Lee moved his left up to make his line correspond toours. His lines extended now from the Totopotomoy to New Cold Harbor.Mine from Bethesda Church by Old Cold Harbor to the Chickahominy, with adivision of cavalry guarding our right. An assault was ordered for the3d, to be made mainly by the corps of Hancock, Wright and Smith; butWarren and Burnside were to support it by threatening Lee's left, and toattack with great earnestness if he should either reinforce morethreatened points by drawing from that quarter or if a favorableopportunity should present itself.

The corps commanders were to select the points in their respectivefronts where they would make their assaults. The move was to commenceat half-past four in the morning. Hancock sent Barlow and Gibbonforward at the appointed hour, with Birney as a reserve. Barlow pushedforward with great vigor, under a heavy fire of both artillery andmusketry, through thickets and swamps. Notwithstanding all theresistance of the enemy and the natural obstructions to overcome, hecarried a position occupied by the enemy outside their main line wherethe road makes a deep cut through a bank affording as good a shelter fortroops as if it had been made for that purpose. Three pieces ofartillery had been captured here, and several hundred prisoners. Theguns were immediately turned against the men who had just been usingthem. No (*33) assistance coming to him, he (Barlow) intrenched underfire and continued to hold his place. Gibbon was not so fortunate inhis front. He found the ground over which he had to pass cut up withdeep ravines, and a morass difficult to cross. But his men struggled onuntil some of them got up to the very parapet covering the enemy.Gibbon gained ground much nearer the enemy than that which he left, andhere he intrenched and held fast.

Wright's corps moving in two lines captured the outer rifle-pits intheir front, but accomplished nothing more. Smith's corps also gainedthe outer rifle-pits in its front. The ground over which this corps(18th) had to move was the most exposed of any over which charges weremade. An open plain intervened between the contending forces at thispoint, which was exposed both to a direct and a cross fire. Smith,however, finding a ravine running towards his front, sufficiently deepto protect men in it from cross fire, and somewhat from a direct fire,put Martindale's division in it, and with Brooks supporting him on theleft and Devens on the right succeeded in gaining the outer—probablypicket—rifle-pits. Warren and Burnside also advanced and gainedground—which brought the whole army on one line.

This assault cost us heavily and probably without benefit to compensate:but the enemy was not cheered by the occurrence sufficiently to inducehim to take the offensive. In fact, nowhere after the battle of theWilderness did Lee show any disposition to leave his defences far behindhim.

Fighting was substantially over by half-past seven in the morning. Ateleven o'clock I started to visit all the corps commanders to see formyself the different positions gained and to get their opinion of thepracticability of doing anything more in their respective fronts.

Hancock gave the opinion that in his front the enemy was too strong tomake any further assault promise success. Wright thought he could gainthe lines of the enemy, but it would require the cooperation ofHancock's and Smith's corps. Smith thought a lodgment possible, but wasnot sanguine: Burnside thought something could be done in his front,but Warren differed. I concluded, therefore to make no more assaults,and a little after twelve directed in the following letter that alloffensive action should cease.

COLD HARBOR, June 3, 1864.-12.30 P.M. MAJOR-GENERAL MEADE,

Commanding A. P.

The opinion of corps commanders not being sanguine of success in case anassault is ordered, you may direct a suspension of farther advance forthe present. Hold our most advanced positions and strengthen them.Whilst on the defensive our line may be contracted from the right ifpracticable.

Reconnoissances should be made in front of every corps and advances madeto advantageous positions by regular approaches. To aid the expeditionunder General Hunter it is necessary that we should detain all the armynow with Lee until the former gets well on his way to Lynchburg. To dothis effectually it will be better to keep the enemy out of theintrenchments of Richmond than to have them go back there.

Wright and Hancock should be ready to assault in case the enemy shouldbreak through General Smith's lines, and all should be ready to resistan assault.

U. S. GRANT, Lieutenant-General.

The remainder of the day was spent in strengthening the line we nowheld. By night we were as strong against Lee as he was against us.

During the night the enemy quitted our right front, abandoning some oftheir wounded, and without burying their dead. These we were able tocare for. But there were many dead and wounded men between the lines ofthe contending forces, which were now close together, who could not becared for without a cessation of hostilit