Harrisburg. Again, however, all the Federal forces of the East combined under General Meade, and Lee was defeated at Gettysburg, on July 3, 1863. The situation thus favored defense, and for four years neither side was able to gain decisive advantage. In 1864 General Grant, who was now called from the Grant and Lee. West to take supreme command, adopted the policy of attrition, based on the fact that the North could lose more men than the South, and that fighting, therefore, even if not decisive, was of advantage to the North. With greatly superior forces he fought Lee through the "Wilderness" between the Rapidan and North Anna rivers, then down to the James, and crossing that river, besieged Petersburg, which commanded the railway connection between Richmond and Wilmington, the chief port for blockade runners. In the meantime Sheridan defeated Early at Cedar Creek, October 19, 1864, and devastated the Shenandoah valley which had for so long served the Confederates both as a granary and as a door for their invasions of the North. With this outlet closed to military operations, the northern forces united. By hard fighting and by using his superior forces to extend his lines beyond those of Lee, Grant forced the evacuation of Petersburg and Richmond on April 3, 1865. Sheridan, with the left or southern wing of Grant's army, by rapid marching cut Lee off from the South, securing the Danville railroad on April 5. On April 8 he passed Lee's army and established himself on the Lynchburg railroad just west of Appomattox Court House, where Lee lay. On April 9 Lee surrendered and the war in the East came to an end. In the West, the northern objective was the southern The war in transportation system, and the strategic features were the the West. rivers, railroads, and mountains. The first important movement was an expedition by a combined river fleet and army under the command of General Grant up the Cumberland and Tennessee rivers. This resulted in the capture of Corinth. Vicksburg. Forts Henry and Donelson in February, 1862. The expedition pushed on, capturing Nashville on the Cumberland and reaching northern Alabama by way of the Tennessee. The real objective was the little village of Corinth in northern Mississippi, which was one of the most important railroad junctions in the South, lying at the meeting point of roads to Memphis, Vicksburg, Mobile, and Chattanooga. Corinth was situated about twenty miles from the Tennessee River, and the Union army under Grant disembarked at Pittsburg Landing and encamped between the landing and Shiloh Church. Here it was attacked by a Confederate army led by Generals Albert Sidney Johnston and Beauregard in April, 1862. It maintained its position, however, and after a slow advance under Halleck captured Corinth on May 30. This capture cut the shortest route from Richmond to Vicksburg. It meant that the Union armies had penetrated almost two hundred miles into hostile territory, and for a time it seemed that the movement had been premature. The Confederates assumed the initiative all along the line during the summer of 1862. Forces under Bragg and Kirby Smith, debouching from the mountain valleys of eastern Tennessee, the one by way of Chattanooga and the other by Cumberland Gap, invaded Tennessee and Kentucky and threatened Louisville and Cincinnati. Another Confederate army threatened to retake Corinth, and all these movements were in progress while Lee was making his invasion of Maryland. The fortunes of the Confederacy were at high tide. In the early autumn, however, all these movements were checked; Lee at Antietam, September 17, Price and Van Dorn at Corinth, October 4, and Bragg at Perryville, October 8. The Union captures were thus made secure. In the meantime a movement had been going on to open up the Mississippi for the double purpose of cutting the Confederacy in two and of restoring to the northwestern states the freedom of its navigation. Joint naval and military operations had by the summer of 1862 reduced the Confederate positions on the lower Mississippi as far north as Port Hudson; on the upper river as far south as Vicksburg. The capture of this latter fortress was one of the most difficult achievements of the war. It was accomplished by Grant on July 4, 1863, the day after Lee was defeated at Gettysburg. Port Hudson fell on the ninth, and the Confederacy was split into two unequal parts. The next important position was Chattanooga, which commanded the valley of eastern Tennessee and the shortest railway route between Richmond and Atlanta. It was captured on September 9, 1863, after a skillful campaign conducted by General Rosecrans, who had won appreciation by his defense of Corinth the previous year. The capture of this key of the southwest was so serious a blow to the Confederacy that Lee sent Longstreet with one of the three corps of the Army of Northern Virginia to assist Bragg in its recovery. Bragg attacked Rosecrans, defeated him at ChattaChickamauga, and blockaded the northern forces in Chat- nooga. tanooga, where they remained for a time almost in a state of siege. Grant was now sent to take command at Chattanooga and by the end of November had defeated the Confederates in the battles of Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, and secured the hold on Chattanooga. Up to this time, Tennessee had been brought under Atlanta. the control of the national government and the western transportation system of the Confederacy had been crippled; but the cotton belt, the most populous and the richest region of the South, protected from attack from the coast by the pine barriers, and on the interior by the mountains and waste stretches of northern Alabama, had felt the war only indirectly. Alexander Stephens could say on March 10, 1864, "The heart of our country has never been reached by them; they have as yet been able to break only the Close of the war. outer shell of the Confederacy." The next military task of the North was to penetrate the mountains and capture Atlanta, the most important railroad center left to the Confederates and the most important manufacturing city of the South. This task fell to General Sherman, as Grant was called to be commander in chief of the Union forces, with personal command against Lee. After a long, hard campaign between Sherman and General Joseph E. Johnston, Atlanta fell, September 3, 1864. This indeed broke the shell of the Confederacy, the rich central plain was open to invasion, and the nature of the country favored the largest battalions. General Hood, in command of the Confederate forces, now abandoned defense and boldly and desperately invaded Tennessee. At Nashville, on December 16, 1864, he was overwhelmed by General Thomas, known as the "Rock of Chickamauga," in the only battle of the Civil War where a large army was effectually destroyed. Sherman meantime marched boldly from Atlanta to the coast, his army spreading a path of destruction sixty miles wide through the very heart and center of the Confederacy. On December 20 he reached the coast at Savannah, capturing that city and sending notice of it to Lincoln as a "Christmas gift." Turning northward, he swept through the Carolinas, leaving a broad belt of devastation behind him. On April 26, 1865, he received the surrender of Joseph E. Johnston, who included in the terms of the capitulation all the Confederate forces still in arms. There was some fighting in May, but Johnston's surrender practically marked the end of the war. The South had contested every step and did not yield until the great army of the West had swung round to within thirty miles of the southern boundary of Virginia and ninety miles of the place of Lee's surrender. Lincoln's annual messages furnish very satisfactory accounts Sources. of activity from year to year. The Diary of Gideon Welles gives an intimate account of cabinet problems. The Diary and Correspondence of Salmon P. Chase (American Hist. Assoc., Report, 1902, vol. II) is also of especial value. Recollections and reminiscences are innumerable, but for the most part are valuable only when used most carefully and in combination. The annual reports of the secretaries of war and of the navy are usable. accounts. war. Adams, C. F., C. F. Adams, chs. XI, XII, XIV-XVII. Historical Bullock, J. D, Secret Service of the Confederate States in Europe. The South Currey, J. S. M., Civil Government of the Confederate States. Davis, during the J., Confederate Government. Henderson, G. T. R., Stonewall Jackson and the American Civil War. Long, A. L., Lee. Paxson, F. L., The Civil War. Pollard, E. A., Lost Cause. Rhodes, United States, V, ch. XXVIII. Schwab, J. C., The Confederate States of America. war. Fite, E. D., Social and Industrial Conditions in the North The North during the Civil War. Hart, Chase, chs. VIII, IX, X, XI. Nic- during the olay and Hay, Lincoln, vol. VI, chs. V-VIII, XVIII, XIX; vol. X, ch. IV. Rhodes, United States, vol. III, chs. XV, XVI; vol. IV; vol. V, chs. XXIV-XXVII. Weeden, W. B., War Government, Federal and State. Alexander, E. P., Military Memoirs. Dodge, T. A., Bird's-eye Military View of our Civil War. Formby, J., American Civil War. Grant, operations. U. S., Personal Memoirs. Ropes, J. C., Story of the Civil War. War of the Rebellion, Official Records, Atlas. Adams, C. F., C. F. Adams, 144-357, and Studies Military Diplomacy. and Diplomatic, Nos. 9 and 10. Callahan, J. M., Diplomatic His tory of the Southern Confederacy. Moore, J. B., Arbitrations, I, ch. XIV, and Digest of International Law, VII, 383-390, 698-744. |