by G. A. Henty
CHAPTER XVII.
CHANCELLORSVILLE.
The news of the fight between the sheriff's posse and the band atLynch's Creek was telegraphed to the Richmond papers by their localagent upon the day after it occurred. The report said that CaptainWingfield, a young officer who had frequently distinguished himself, hadfollowed the traces of a gang one of whom was a notorious criminal whohad evaded the pursuit of the law and escaped from that section fifteenyears ago, and had, under an assumed name, been acting as overseer atMrs. Wingfield's estate of the Orangery. These men had carried off anegress belonging to Mrs. Wingfield, and had taken her South. CaptainWingfield, having obtained the assistance of the sheriff with a posse ofdetermined men, rode to the place which served as headquarters of thegang. Upon being summoned to surrender, the men opened fire upon thesheriff and his posse. A sharp fight ensued, in which the sheriff waskilled and one of his men wounded; while the four members of the gangwere either killed or taken prisoners. It was reported that a personoccupying a position as a planter in the neighborhood of Richmond isconnected with this gang.
The reporter had obtained his news from Vincent, who had purposelyrefrained from mentioning the names of those who had fallen. He hadalready had a conversation with the wounded prisoner. The latter haddeclared that he had simply acted in the affair as he had been paid todo by the man he knew in Richmond as Pearson, who told him that hewanted him to aid in carrying off a slave woman, who was really hisproperty, but had been fraudulently taken from him. He had heard him saythat there was another interested in the affair, who had his own reasonsfor getting the woman out of the way, and had paid handsomely for thejob. Who that other was Pearson had never mentioned.
Vincent saw that he had no absolute evidence against Jackson, andtherefore purposely suppressed the fact that Pearson was among thekilled in hopes that the paragraph would so alarm Jackson that he wouldat once decamp. His anticipations were entirely justified; for upon theday of his return to Richmond he saw a notice in the paper that theCedars, with its field hands, houses, and all belonging to it, was forsale. He proceeded at once to the estate agent, and learned from himthat Jackson had come in two days before and had informed him thatsudden and important business had called him away, and that he wasstarting at once for New York, where his presence was urgently required,and that he should attempt to get through the lines immediately. He hadasked him what he thought the property and slaves would fetch. Beingacquainted with the estate, he had given him a rough estimate, and had,upon Jackson's giving him full powers to sell, advanced him two-thirdsof the sum. Jackson had apparently started at once; indeed, he had toldhim that he should take the next train as far North as he could get.
Vincent received the news with great satisfaction. He had little doubtthat Jackson had really made down to the South, and that he would try tocross the lines there, his statement that he intended to go direct Northbeing merely intended to throw his pursuers off his track should awarrant be issued against him. However, it mattered little which wayJackson had gone, so that he had left the State. There was little chanceof his ever returning; for even when he learned that his confederate inthe business had been killed in the fight, he could not be certain thatthe prisoner who had been taken was not aware of the share he had in thebusiness.
A fortnight later Vincent went down into Georgia and brought back LucyKingston for a visit to his mother. She had already received a letterfrom her father in reply to one she had written after reaching heraunts' protection, saying how delighted he was to hear that she hadcrossed the lines, for that he had suffered the greatest anxietyconcerning her and had continually reproached himself for not sendingher away sooner. He said he was much pleased with her engagement toCaptain Wingfield, whom he did not know personally, but of whom he heardthe most favorable reports from various Virginia gentlemen to whom hehad spoken since the receipt of her letter.
Lucy remained at Richmond until the beginning of March, when Vincenttook her home to Georgia again, and a week after his return rejoined thearmy on the Rappahannock. Every effort had been made by the Confederateauthorities to raise the army of General Lee to a point that wouldenable him to cope with the tremendous force the enemy were collectingfor the ensuing campaign. The drain of men was now telling terribly, andLee had at the utmost 40,000 to oppose the 160,000 collected underGeneral Hooker.
The first fight of the campaign had already taken place when Vincentrejoined the army. A body of 3000 Federal cavalry had crossed the riveron the 17th of March, at Kelly's Ford, but had been met by General FitzLee with about 800 cavalry, and after a long and stubborn conflict hadbeen driven back with heavy loss across the river. It was not until themiddle of April that the enemy began to move in earnest. Every ford waswatched by Stuart's cavalry, and the frequent attempts made by theFederal horse to push across to obtain information were always defeated.
On the 27th of April General Hooker's preparations were complete. Hisplan of action was that 20,000 men should cross the river near the oldbattlefield of Fredericksburg, and thus lead the Confederates to believethat this was the point of attack. The main body were, however, to crossat Kelly's Ford, many miles higher up the river, and to march downtoward Fredericksburg. The other force was then to recross, march up theriver, cross at Kelly's Ford, and follow and join the main army. At thesame time the Federal cavalry, which was very numerous andwell-organized, was, under General Stoneman, to strike down through thecountry toward Richmond, and thus cut the Confederate communication withtheir capital, and so prevent Longstreet's division, which was lyingnear Richmond, from rejoining Lee.
The passage of the river was effected at the two fords withoutresistance on the 29th of April, and upon the same day the cavalrycolumn marched South. General Lee directed a portion of his cavalryunder General Fitz Lee to harass and delay this column as much aspossible. Although he had with him but a few hundred men he succeeded indoing good service in cutting off detached bodies of the enemy,capturing many officers and men, and so demoralizing the invaders that,after pushing on as far as the James River, Stoneman had to retreat ingreat haste across the Rapidan River.
Hooker, having crossed the river, marched on to Chancellorsville, wherehe set to to intrench himself, having sent word to General Sedgwick, whocommanded the force that had crossed near Fredericksburg, to recross,push round, and join him as soon as possible. Chancellorsville was alarge brick mansion standing in the midst of fields surrounded byextensive forests. The country was known as the Wilderness. Within arange of many miles there were only a few scattered houses, and densethickets and pine-woods covered the whole country. Two narrow roadspassed through the woods, crossing each other at Chancellorsville; twoother roads led to the fords known as Ely's Ford and the United StatesFord. As soon as he reached Chancellorsville Hooker set his troops towork cutting down trees and throwing up earthworks for infantry andredoubts for artillery, erecting a double line of defenses. On these hemounted upward of a hundred pieces of artillery, commanding the narrowroads by which an enemy must approach, for the thickets were in manyplaces so dense as to render it impossible for troops to force their waythrough them.
When Sedgwick crossed the river, Lee drew up his army to oppose him; butfinding that no more troops crossed, and that Sedgwick did not advance,he soon came to the conclusion this was not the point at which the enemyintended to attack, and in twenty-four hours one of Stuart's horsemenbrought the news that Hooker had crossed the Rappahannock at Kelly'sFord and the Rapidan at Ely's Ford. Lee at once left one division toface General Sedgwick, and ordered the three others to join GeneralAnderson, who with 8000 men had fallen back before Hooker's advance, andtaken his post at Tabernacle Church, about halfway betweenFredericksburg and Tabernacle. Lee himself rode forward at once andjoined Anderson.
Jackson led the force from Fredericksburg, and pressed the enemy backtoward Chancellorsville until he approached the tremendous lines offortifications, and then fell back to communicate with Lee. That night acouncil of war was held, and it was agree
d that an attack upon the frontof the enemy's position was absolutely impossible. Hooker himself was sopositive that his position was impregnable that he issued a generalorder of congratulation to his troops, saying that "the enemy must nowingloriously fly or give us battle on our own ground, where certaindestruction awaits him."
Jackson then suggested that he should work right round the Wilderness infront of the enemy's position, march down until well on its flank, andattack it there, where they would be unprepared for an assault. Themovement was one of extraordinary peril. Lee would be left with but onedivision in face of an immensely superior force; Jackson would have toperform an arduous march, exposed to an attack by the whole force of theenemy; and both might be destroyed separately without being able torender the slightest assistance to each other. At daybreak on the 2d ofMay Jackson mustered his troops for the advance. He had in the course ofthe night caught a severe cold. In the hasty march he had left hisblankets behind him. One of his staff threw a heavy cape over him as helay on the wet ground. During the night Jackson woke, and thinking thatthe young officer might himself be suffering from the want of his cape,rose quietly, spread the cape over him, and lay down without it. Theconsequence was a severe cold, which terminated in an attack ofpneumonia that, occurring at a time when he was enfeebled by his wounds,resulted in his death. If he had not thrown that cape over the officerit is probable that he would have survived his wounds.
At daybreak the column commenced its march. It had to traverse a narrowand unfrequented road through dense thickets, occasionally crossingground in sight of the enemy, and at the end to attack a tremendousposition held by immensely superior forces. Stuart with his cavalrymoved on the flank of the column whenever the ground was open, so as toconceal the march of the infantry from the enemy. As the rear of thecolumn passed a spot called the Furnace, the enemy suddenly advanced andcut off the 23d Georgia, who were in the rear of the column, andcaptured the whole regiment with the exception of a score of men. Atthis point the road turned almost directly away from Chancellorsville,and the enemy believed that the column was in full retreat, and had notthe least idea of its real object.
So hour after hour the troops pressed on until they reached the turnpikeroad passing east and went through Chancellorsville, which now layexactly between them and the point that they had left in the morning.Jackson's design was to advance upon this line of road, to extend histroops to the left and then to swing round, cut the enemy's retreat tothe fords, and capture them all. Hooker had already been joined by twoof Sedgwick's army corps, and had now six army corps atChancellorsville, while Jackson's force consisted of 22,000 men. Leeremained with 13,000 at Tabernacle. The latter general had not beenattacked, but had continued to make demonstrations against the Federalleft, occupying their attention and preventing them from discovering howlarge a portion of his force had left him.
It was at five o'clock in the evening that Jackson's troops, havinggained their position, advanced to the attack. In front of them layHoward's division of the Federals, intrenched in strong earthworkscovered by felled trees; but the enemy were altogether unsuspicious ofdanger, and it was not until with tumultuous cheers the Confederatesdashed through the trees and attacked the intrenchment that they had anysuspicion of their presence. They ran to their arms, but it was toolate. The Confederates rushed through the obstacles, climbed theearthworks, and carried those in front of them, capturing 700 prisonersand five guns. The rest of the Federal troops here, throwing awaymuskets and guns, fled in wild confusion. Steadily the Confederatespressed on, driving the enemy before them, and capturing position afterposition, until the whole right wing of the Federal army was routed anddisorganized. For three hours the Confederates continued their marchwithout a check; but owing to the denseness of the wood, and thenecessity of keeping the troops in line, the advance was slow, and nightfell before the movement could be completed. One more hour of daylightand the whole Federal army would have been cut off and captured, but byeight o'clock the darkness in the forest was so complete that allmovement had to be stopped.
Half an hour later one of the saddest incidents of the war took place.General Jackson with a few of his staff went forward to reconnoiter. Ashe returned toward his lines, his troops in the dark mistook them for areconnoitering party of the enemy and fired, killing or wounding thewhole of them, General Jackson receiving three balls. The enemy, whowere but a hundred yards distant, at once opened a tremendous fire withgrape toward the spot, and it was some time before Jackson could becarried off the field. The news that their beloved general was woundedwas for some time kept from the troops; but a whisper gradually spread,and the grief of his soldiers was unbounded, for rather would they havesuffered a disastrous defeat than that Stonewall Jackson should havefallen.
General Stuart assumed the command; General Hill, who was second incommand, having, with many other officers, been wounded by thetremendous storm of grape and canister that the Federals poured throughthe wood when they anticipated an attack. At daybreak the troops againmoved forward in three lines, Stuart placing his thirty guns on a slightridge, where they could sweep the lines of the Federal defenses. Threetimes the position was won and lost; but the Confederates fought withsuch fury and resolution, shouting each time they charged the Federalranks, "Remember Jackson," that the enemy gradually gave way, and by teno'clock Chancellorsville itself was taken, the Federals being drivenback into the forest between the house and the river.
Map--THE BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE May 2nd. & 3rd. 1863.]
Lee had early in the morning begun to advance from his side to theattack, but just as he was moving forward the news came that Sedgwickhad recrossed at Fredericksburg, captured a portion of the Confederateforce there, and was advancing to join Hooker. Lee at once sent two ofhis three little divisions to join the Confederates who were opposingSedgwick's advance, while, with the three or four thousand men remainingto him, he all day made feigned attacks upon the enemy's position,occupying their attention there, and preventing them from sendingre-enforcements to the troops engaged with Stuart. At night he himselfhurried away, took the command of the troops opposed to Sedgwick,attacked him vigorously at daybreak, and drove him with heavy loss backacross the river. The next day he marched back with his force to join inthe final attack upon the Federals; but when the troops of Stuart andLee moved forward they encountered no opposition. Hooker had begun tocarry his troops across the river on the night he was hurled back out ofChancellorsville, and the rest of his troops had crossed on the twofollowing nights.
General Hooker issued a pompous order to his troops, after gettingacross the river, to the effect that the movement had met with thecomplete success he had anticipated from it; but the truth soon leakedout. General Sedgwick's force had lost 6000 men, Hooker's own commandfully 20,000 more; but splendid as the success was, it was dearlypurchased by the Confederates at the price of the life of StonewallJackson. His arm was amputated the day after the battle; he lived for aweek, and died not so much from the effect of his wound as from thepneumonia, the result of his exposure to the heavy dew on the nightpreceding his march through the Wilderness.
During the two days' fighting Vincent Wingfield had discharged hisduties upon General Stuart's staff. On the first day the work had beenslight, for General Stuart, with the cannon, remained in the rear, whileJackson's infantry attacked and carried the Federal intrenchments. Uponthe second day, however, when Stuart assumed the command, Vincent'sduties had been onerous and dangerous in the extreme. He was constantlycarrying orders from one part of the field to the other, amid such ashower of shot and shell that it seemed marvelous that anyone couldexist within it. To his great grief Wildfire was killed under him, buthe himself escaped without a scratch. When he came afterward to try todescribe the battle to those at home, he could give no account of it.
"To me," he said, "it was simply a chaos of noise and confusion. Of whatwas going on I knew nothing. The din was appalling. The roar of theshells, the hum of grape and canister, the whistle of bullets,
theshouts of men, formed a mighty roar that seemed to render thinkingimpossible. Showers of leaves fell incessantly, great boughs of treeswere shorn away, and trees themselves sometimes came crashing down as atrunk was struck full by a shell. The undergrowth had caught fire, andthe thick smoke, mingled with that of the battle, rendered it difficultto see or to breathe. I had but one thought, that of making my waythrough the trees, of finding the corps to which I was sent, ofdelivering my message, and finding the general again. No, I don't thinkI had much thought of danger, the whole thing was somehow so tremendousthat one had no thought whatever for one's self. It was a sort ofterrible dream, in which one was possessed of the single idea to get toa certain place. It was not till at last we swept across the open grounddown to the house, that I seemed to take any distinct notice of what wasgoing on around me. Then, for the first time, the exulting shouts of themen, and the long lines advancing at the double, woke me up to the factthat we had gained one of the most wonderful victories in history, andhad driven an army of four or five times our own strength from aposition that they believed they had made impregnable."
The defeat of Hooker for a time put a stop to any further advanceagainst Richmond from the North. The Federal troops whose term ofservice was up returned home, and it was months before all the effortsof the authorities of Washington could place the army in a condition tomake a renewed advance. But the Confederates had also suffered heavily.A third of the force with which Jackson had attacked had fallen, andtheir loss could not be replaced, as the Confederates were forced tosend everyone they could raise to the assistance of the armies in theWest, where Generals Banks and Grant were carrying on operations withgreat success against them. The important town of Vicksburg, whichcommanded the navigation of the Mississippi, was besieged, and after aresistance lasting for some months, surrendered, with its garrison of25,000 men, on the 3d of July, and the Federal gunboats were thus ableto penetrate the Mississippi and its confluents into the heart of theConfederacy.
Shortly after the battle of Chancellorsville Vincent was appointed tothe command of a squadron of cavalry that was detached from Stuart'sforce and sent down to Richmond to guard the capital from any raids bybodies of Federal cavalry. It had been two or three times menaced byflying bodies of horsemen, and during the cavalry advance before thebattle of Chancellorsville small parties had penetrated to within threemiles of the city, cutting all the telegraph wires, pulling up therails, and causing the greatest terror. Vincent was not sorry for thechange. It took him away from the great theater of the war, but afterChancellorsville he felt no eager desire to take part in future battles.His duties would keep him near his home, and would give ample scope forthe display of watchfulness, dash, and energy. Consequently he took nopart in the campaign that commenced in the first week in June.
Tired of standing always on the defensive, the Confederate authoritiesdetermined to carry out the step that had been so warmly advocated byJackson earlier in the war, and which might at that time have brought itto a successful termination. They decided to carry the war into theenemy's country. By the most strenuous efforts Lee's army was raised to75,000 men, divided into three great army corps, commanded byLongstreet, Ewell, and Hill. Striking first into Virginia, they drovethe Federals from Winchester, and chased them from the State with theloss of nearly 4000 prisoners and thirty guns. Then they enteredMaryland and Pennsylvania, and concentrating at Gettysburg they met theNorthern army under Meade, who had succeeded Hooker. Although greatnumbers of the Confederates had seen their homes wasted and theirproperty wantonly destroyed, they preserved the most perfect order intheir march through the North, and the Federals themselves testify tothe admirable behavior of the troops, and to the manner in which theyabstained from plundering or inflicting annoyance upon the inhabitants.
At Gettysburg there was three days' fighting. In the first a portiononly of the forces were engaged, the Federals being defeated and 5000 oftheir men taken prisoners. Upon the second the Confederates attacked theNortherners, who were posted in an extremely strong position, but wererepulsed with heavy loss. The following day they renewed the attack, butafter tremendous fighting again failed to carry the height. Both partieswere utterly exhausted. Lee drew up his troops the next day, and invitedan attack from the Federals; but contented with the success they hadgained they maintained their position, and the Confederates then fellback, Stuart's cavalry protecting the immense trains of wagons loadedwith the stores and ammunition captured in Pennsylvania.
But little attempt was made by the Northerners to interfere with theirretreat. On reaching the Potomac, they found that a sudden rise hadrendered the fords impassable. Intrenchments and batteries were thrownup, and for a week the Confederate army held the lines, expecting anattack from the enemy, who had approached within two miles; but theFederal generals were too well satisfied with having gained a success,when acting on the defensive in a strong position, to risk a defeat inattacking the position of the Confederates, and their forces remainedimpassive until pontoon bridges were thrown across the river, and theConfederate army, with their vast baggage train, had again crossed intoVirginia. The campaign had cost the Northern army 23,000 men in killed,wounded, and prisoners, besides a considerable number of guns. TheConfederates lost only two guns, left behind in the mud, and 1500prisoners, but their loss in killed and wounded at Gettysburg exceeded10,000 men. Even the most sanguine among the ranks of the Confederacywere now conscious that the position was a desperate one. The Federalarmies seemed to spring from the ground. Strict discipline had takenthe place of the disorder and insubordination that had first prevailedin their ranks. The armies were splendidly equipped. They were able toobtain any amount of the finest guns, rifles, and ammunition of war fromthe workshops of Europe; while the Confederates, cut off from the world,had to rely solely upon the make-shift factories they had set up, andupon the guns and stores they captured from the enemy.
The Northerners had now, as a blow to the power of the South, abolishedslavery, and were raising regiments of negroes from among the freeblacks of the North, and from the slaves they took from their ownerswherever their armies penetrated the Southern States. Most of theConfederate ports had been either captured or were so strictly blockadedthat it was next to impossible for the blockade-runners to get in orout, while the capture of the forts on the Mississippi enabled them touse the Federal flotillas of gunboats to the greatest advantage, and tocarry their armies into the center of the Confederacy.
Still, there was no talk whatever of surrender on the part of the South,and, indeed, the decree abolishing slavery, and still more the action ofthe North in raising black regiments, excited the bitterest feeling ofanimosity and hatred. The determination to fight to the last, whatevercame of it, animated every white man in the Southern States, and,although deeply disappointed with the failure of Lee's invasion of theNorth, the only result was to incite them to greater exertions andsacrifices. In the North an act authorizing conscription was passed in1863, but the attempt to carry it into force caused a serious riot inNew York, which was only suppressed after many lives had been lost andthe city placed under martial law.
While the guns of Gettysburg were still thundering, a Federal army of18,000 men under General Gillmore, assisted by the fleet, had laid siegeto Charleston. It was obstinately attacked and defended. The siegecontinued until the 5th of September, when Fort Wagner was captured; butall attempts to take Fort Sumter and the town of Charleston itselffailed, although the city suffered greatly from the bombardment. InTennessee there was severe fighting in the autumn, and two desperatebattles were fought at Chickamauga on the 19th and 20th of September,General Bragg, who commanded the Confederate army there, beingreinforced by Longstreet's veterans from the army of Virginia. Afterdesperate fighting the Federals were defeated, and thirty-six guns andvast quantities of arms captured by the Confederates. The fruits of thevictory, however, were very slight, as General Bragg refused to allowLongstreet to pursue, and so to convert the Federal retreat into a rout,and the consequence
was that this victory was more than balanced by aheavy defeat inflicted upon them in November at Chattanooga by Shermanand Grant. At this battle General Longstreet's division was not present.
The army of Virginia had a long rest after their return from Gettysburg,and it was not until November that the campaign was renewed. Meadeadvanced, a few minor skirmishes took place, and then, when he reachedthe Wilderness, the scene of Hooker's defeat, where Lee was prepared togive battle, he fell back again across the Rappahannock.
The year had been an unfortunate one for the Confederates. They had lostVicksburg, and the defeat at Chattanooga had led to the whole State ofTennessee falling into the hands of the Federals, while against theselosses there was no counterbalancing success to be reckoned.
In the spring of 1864 both parties prepared to the utmost for thestruggle. General Grant, an officer who had shown in the campaign in theWest that he possessed considerable military ability, united withimmense firmness and determination of purpose, was chosen as the newcommander-in-chief of the whole military force of the North. It was amighty army, vast in numbers, lavishly provided with all materials ofwar. The official documents show that on the 1st of May the totalmilitary forces of the North amounted to 662,000 men. Of these the forceavailable for the advance against Richmond numbered 284,630 men. Thisincluded the Army of the Potomac, that of the James River, and the armyin the Shenandoah Valley--the whole of whom were in readiness to moveforward against Richmond at the orders of Grant.
To oppose these General Lee had less than 53,000 men, including thegarrison of Richmond and the troops in North Carolina. Those stationedin the seaport towns numbered in all another 20,000; so that, if everyavailable soldier had been brought up, Lee could have opposed a total ofbut 83,000 men against the 284,000 invaders.
In the West the numbers were more equally balanced. General Sherman, whocommanded the army of invasion there, had under his orders 230,000 men,but as more than half this force was required to protect the long linesof communication and to keep down the conquered States, he was able tobring into the field for offensive operations 99,000 men, who were facedby the Confederate army under Johnston of 58,000 men. Grant's scheme wasthat, while the armies of the North were, under his own command, tomarch against Richmond, the Army of the West was to invade Georgia andmarch upon Atlanta.
His plan of action was simple, and was afterward stated by himself to beas follows: "I determined first to use the greatest number of troopspracticable against the main force of the enemy, preventing him fromusing the same force at different seasons against first one and thenanother of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting andproducing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, tohammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and hisresources, until, by mere attrition if in no other way, there should benothing left to him but submission."
This was a terrible programme, and involved an expenditure of life farbeyond anything that had taken place. Grant's plan, in fact, was tofight and to keep on fighting, regardless of his own losses, until atlast the Confederate army, whose losses could not be replaced, meltedaway. It was a strategy that few generals have dared to practice, fewerstill to acknowledge.
On the 4th of May the great Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan andadvanced toward Chancellorsville. Lee moved two divisions of his army tooppose them. Next morning the battle began at daybreak on the old groundwhere Lee had defeated Hooker the year before. All day long the divisionof Ewell supported the attack of the army corps of Sedgwick and Hancock.Along a front of six miles, in the midst of the thick forest, the battleraged the whole of the day. The Confederates, in spite of the utmostefforts of the Northerners, although re-enforced in the afternoon by thearmy corps of General Burnside, held their position, and when night putan end to the conflict the invaders had not gained a foot of ground.
As soon as the first gleam of light appeared in the morning the battlerecommenced. The Federal generals, Sedgwick, Warren, and Hancock, withBurnside in reserve, fell upon Hill and Ewell. Both sides had thrown upearthworks and felled trees as a protection during the night. At firstthe Confederates gained the advantage; but a portion of Burnside's corpswas brought up and restored the battle, while on the left flank of theFederals Hancock had attacked with such vigor that the Confederatesopposed to him were driven back.
At the crisis of the battle Longstreet, who had marched all night,appeared upon the ground, drove back Hancock's men, and was on the pointof aiding the Confederates in a decisive attack upon the enemy, when,riding rapidly forward into the wood to reconnoiter, he was, likeJackson, struck down by the fire of his own men. He was carried to therear desperately, and it was feared for a time mortally, wounded; andhis loss paralyzed the movement which he had prepared. Nevertheless,during the whole day the fight went on with varying success; sometimesone side obtaining a slight advantage, the other then regaining theground they had lost.
Map--THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS May 5th. to 9th. 1864.]
Just as evening was closing in a Georgia brigade, with two otherregiments, made a detour, and fell furiously upon two brigades of theenemy, and drove them back in headlong rout for a mile and a half,capturing their two generals and many prisoners. The artillery, as onthe previous day, had been little used on either side, the work beingdone at short range with the rifle, the loss being much heavier amongthe thick masses of the Northerners than in the thinner lines of theConfederates. Grant had failed in his efforts to turn Lee's right and toaccomplish his direct advance; he therefore changed his base and movedhis army round toward Spottsylvania.
Lee soon perceived his object, and succeeded in carrying his army toSpottsylvania before the Federals reached it.
On the afternoon of Monday the 9th, there was heavy fighting, and on the10th another pitched battle took place. This time the ground was moreopen, and the artillery was employed with terrible effect on both sides.It ended, however, as the previous battles had done, by the Confederatesholding their ground.
Upon the next day there was but little fighting. In the night theFederals moved quietly through the wood and at daybreak four divisionsfell upon Johnston's division of Ewell's corps, took them completely bysurprise, and captured the greater part of them.
But Lee's veterans soon recovered from their surprise and maintainedtheir position until noon. Then the whole Federal army advanced, and thebattle raged till nightfall terminated the struggle, leaving Lee inpossession of the whole line he had held, with the exception of theground lost in the morning.
For the next six days the armies faced each other, worn out by incessantfighting, and prevented from moving by the heavy rain which fellincessantly. They were now able to reckon up the losses. The Federalsfound that they had lost, in killed, wounded, or missing, nearly 30,000men; while Lee's army was diminished by about 12,000.
While these mighty battles had been raging the Federal cavalry underSheridan had advanced rapidly forward, and, after several skirmisheswith Stuart's cavalry, penetrated within the outer intrenchments roundRichmond. Here Stuart, with two regiments of cavalry, charged them anddrove them back, but the gallant Confederate officer received a woundthat before night proved fatal. His loss was a terrible blow to theConfederacy, although his successor in the command of the cavalry,General Wade Hampton, was also an officer of the highest merit.
In the meantime General Butler, who had at Fortress Monroe under hiscommand two corps of infantry, 4000 cavalry, and a fleet of gunboats andtransports, was threatening Richmond from the east. Shipping his men onboard the transports he steamed up the James River, under convoy of thefleet, and landed on a neck of land known as Bermuda Hundred. To opposehim all the troops from North Carolina had been brought up, the wholeforce amounting to 19,000 men, under the command of General Beauregard.Butler, after various futile movements, was driven back again to hisintrenched camp at Bermuda Hundred, where he was virtually besieged byBeauregard with 10,000 men, the rest of that general's force being sentup to re-enforce Lee.
&nb
sp; In West Virginia, Breckenridge, with 3500 men, was called upon to holdin check Sigel, with 15,000 men. Advancing to Staunton, Breckenridge wasjoined by the pupils of the military college at Lexington, 250 innumber, lads of from fourteen to seventeen years of age. He came uponSigel on the line of march and attacked him at once. The Federal generalplaced a battery in a wood and opened fire with grape. The commander ofthe Lexington boys ordered them to charge, and, gallantly rushing inthrough the heavy fire, they charged in among the guns, killed theartillerymen, drove back the infantry supports, and bayoneted theircolonel. The Federals now retired down the valley to Strasburg, andBreckenridge was able to send a portion of his force to aid Lee in hisgreat struggle.
After his six days' pause in front of Lee's position at Spottsylvania,Grant abandoned his plan of forcing his way through Lee's army toRichmond, and endeavored to outflank it; but Lee again divined hispurpose, and moved round and still faced him. After various movementsthe armies again stood face to face upon the old battle-grounds on theChickahominy. On the 3d of June the battle commenced at half-past fourin the morning. Hancock at first gained an advantage, but Hill'sdivision dashed down upon him and drove him back with great slaughter;while no advantage was gained by him in other parts of the field. TheFederal loss on this day was 13,000, and the troops were so dispiritedthat they refused to renew the battle in the afternoon.
Map--BATTLE of COLD HARBOR May 31st. to June 12th. 1864.]
Grant then determined to alter his plan altogether, and sendingimperative orders to Butler to obtain possession of Petersburg, embarkedSmith's corps in transports, and moved with the rest of his army to jointhat general there. Smith's corps entered the James River, landed, andmarched against Petersburg. Beauregard had at Petersburg only twoinfantry and two cavalry regiments under General Wise, while a singlebrigade fronted Butler at Bermuda Hundred. With this handful of men hewas called upon to defend Petersburg and to keep Butler bottled up inBermuda Hundred until help could reach him from Lee. He telegraphed toRichmond for all the assistance that could be sent to him, and wasre-enforced by a brigade, which arrived just in time, for Smith hadalready captured a portion of the intrenchments, but was now driven out.
The next day Beauregard was attacked both by Smith's and Hancock'scorps, which had now arrived. With 8000 men he kept at bay the assaultsof two whole army corps, having in the meantime sent orders to Gracie,the officer in command of the brigade before Butler, to leave a fewsentries there to deceive that general, and to march with the rest ofhis force to his aid. It arrived at a critical moment. Overwhelmed byvastly superior numbers, many of the Confederates had left their posts,and Breckenridge was in vain trying to rally them when Gracie's brigadecame up. The position was reoccupied and the battle continued.
At noon Burnside with his corps arrived and joined the assailants; whileButler, discovering at last that the troops in front of him werewithdrawn, moved out and barred the road against re-enforcements fromRichmond. Nevertheless, the Confederates held their ground all theafternoon and until eleven o'clock at night, when the assault ceased.
At midnight Beauregard withdrew his troops from the defenses that theywere too few to hold, and set them to work to throw up freshintrenchments on a shorter line behind. All night the men worked withtheir bayonets, canteens, and any tools that came to hand.
It was well for them that the enemy were so exhausted that it was noonbefore they were ready to advance again, for by this time help was athand. Anderson, who had succeeded to the command of Longstreet's corps,and was leading the van of Lee's army, forced his way through Butler'stroops and drove him back into Bermuda Hundred, and leaving one brigadeto watch him marched with another into Petersburg just as the attack wasrecommenced. Thus re-enforced, Beauregard successfully defeated all theassaults of the enemy until night fell. Another Federal army corps cameup before morning, and the assault was again renewed, but thedefenders, who had strengthened their defenses during the night, drovetheir assailants back with terrible loss. The whole of Lee's army nowarrived, and the rest of Grant's army also came up, and that generalfound that, after all his movements, his way to Richmond was barred asbefore. He was indeed in a far worse position than when he had crossedthe Rapidan, for the morale of his army was much injured by the repeatedrepulses and terrible losses it had sustained. The new recruits that hadbeen sent to fill up the gaps were far inferior troops to those withwhich he had commenced the campaign. To send forward such men againstthe fortifications of Petersburg, manned by Lee's veteran troops, was tocourt defeat, and he therefore began to throw up works for a regularsiege.
Fighting went on incessantly between the outposts, but only one greatattempt was made during the early months of the siege to capture theConfederate position. The miners drove a gallery under the works, andthen drove other galleries right and left under them. These were chargedwith eight thousand pounds of powder. When all was ready, masses oftroops were brought up to take advantage of the confusion which would becaused by the explosion, and a division of black troops were to lead theassault. At a quarter to five in the morning of the 30th of July thegreat mine was exploded, blowing two guns, a battery, and its defendersinto the air, and forming a huge pit two hundred feet long and sixtyfeet wide. Lee and Beauregard hurried to the scene, checked the panicthat prevailed, brought up troops, and before the great Federal columnsapproached the breech the Confederates were ready to receive them. Theassault was made with little vigor, the approaches to the breech wereobstructed by abattis, and instead of rushing forward in a solid massthey occupied the great pit, and contented themselves with firing overthe edge of the crater, where regiments and divisions were huddledtogether. But the Confederate batteries were now manned, and from theworks on either side of the breech, and from behind, they swept theapproaches, and threw shell among the crowded mass. The black divisionwas now brought up and entered the crater, but only added to theconfusion. There was no officer of sufficient authority among thecrowded mass there to assume the supreme command. No assistance could besent to them, for the arrival of fresh troops would but have added tothe confusion. All day the conflict went on, the Federals lining theedge of the crater, and exchanging a heavy musketry fire with theConfederate infantry, while the mass below suffered terribly from theartillery fire. When night closed, the survivors of the great columnthat had marched forward in the morning, confident that victory wasassured to them, and that the explosion would lay Petersburg open tocapture, made their retreat, the Confederates, however, taking aconsiderable number of prisoners. The Federal loss in killed, wounded,and captured was admitted by them to be 4000; the Confederate accountsput it down at 6000.
After this terrible repulse it was a long time before Grant againrenewed active operations, but during the months that ensued his troopssuffered very heavily from the effects of fever, heightened by thediscouragement they felt at their want of success, and at the tremendouslosses they had suffered since they entered Virginia on their forwardmarch to Richmond.
