troops took possession of the Confederate capital,* the coveted goal of the Army of the Potomac for four long bloody years. Lee's Surrender.-Lee, with forty thousand men, the wreck of that proud array with which he had dealt the Union army so many crushing blows, hurried west, seeking some avenue of escape. Grant urged the pursuit with untiring energy. Sheridan, "with a terrible daring which knew no pause, no rest," hung on his flanks. The Confederates had only the young shoots of trees to eat. Men were deserting by hundreds. If they sought a moment's repose, they were awakened by the clatter of pursuing cavalry. Lee, like a hunted fox, turned hither and thither; but at last Sheridan planted himself squarely across the front. Lee ordered a charge. The half-starved troops, with a rallying of their old courage, obeyed. But the cavalry moving aside, as a curtain is drawn, revealed dense bodies of infantry in battle line. The Civil War was about to end in one of its bloodiest tragedies, when the Confederate advance was stopped. General Grant had already sent in a note demanding the surrender of the army. * Sunday, the day before, the Confederate President, Davis, was at church, when a note was handed him by a messenger. It was from Lee, informing him that the Confederate army was about to leave Richmond. His pallid face and unsteady footsteps, as he passed out, betrayed the news. Pollard says: "Men, women, and children rushed from the churches, passing from lip to lip news of the impending fall of Richmond. It was late in the afternoon when the signs of evacuation became apparent to the incredulous. Suddenly, as if by magic, the streets became filled with men, walking as though for a wager, and behind them excited negroes with trunks, bundles, and luggage of every description. All over the city, it was the samewagoLs, trunks, bandboxes, and their owners, a mass of hurrying fugitives filling the streets. Night came, and with it confusion worse confounded. There was no sleep for human eyes in Richmond that night. About the hour of midnight, hundreds of barrels of liquor were rolled into the street, and the heads knocked in, by order of the City Council, to prevent a worse disorder. As the work progressed, some straggling soldiers managed to get hold of a quantity of the liquor. From that moment law and order ceased to exist." By order of General Ewell, the four principal tobacco warehouses, in different parts of the city, were fired, and soon the flames became unmanageable. "Morning broke upon a scene such as those who witnessed it can never forget. The roar of an immense conflagration sounded in their ears; tongues of flame leaped from street to street; and in this baleful glare were to be seen, as of demons, the figures of busy plunderers, moving, pushing, rioting through the black smoke, bearing away every conceivable sort of plunder." Lee accepted the terms;* and, April 9th, 8,000 men-the remains of the Army of Virginia-laid down their arms near Appomattox Court House, and then turned homeward, no longer Confederate soldiers, but American citizens. The Effect. This closed the war. The other Confederate. armies Johnston's, Dick Taylor's, and Kirby Smith'spromptly surrendered. Jefferson Davis fled southward, hoping to escape, but was overtaken near Irwinsville, Georgia (May 11), and sent a prisoner to Fortress Monroe. Cost of the War.-In the Union armies probably three hundred thousand men were killed in battle or died of wounds or disease, while doubtless two hundred thousand more were crippled for life. If the Confederate armies suffered as heavily, the country thus lost one million ablebodied men. The Union debt, Jan. 1, 1866, was nearly $2,750,000,000. At one time, the daily expenses reached the sum of $3,500,000. During the last year of the war, the expenses were greater than the entire expenditures of the government from Washington to Buchanan. The Confederate war debts were never paid, as that government was overthrown. Assassination of Lincoln.-In the midst of the universal rejoicings over the advent of peace, on the evening of April 14 the intelligence was flashed over the country that *The officers and men were allowed to go home on their paroles not to take up arms against the United States until exchanged, and the former to retain their pri vate baggage and horses. After the surrender had been concluded, General Lee said that he had forgotten to mention that many of his soldiers rode their own horses. Grant at once replied that such should keep their horses to aid them in their future work at home.-That the two armies so fiercely opposed for four years could have parted with no words but those of sympathy and respect was an assured presage of a day when all the wounds of the restored Union should be fully healed. + The last fight of the war happened near Brazos Santiago, Texas, May 13. A small expedition sent out to surprise a Confederate camp was overtaken, on its return, by a larger force and defeated with a loss of eighty men. Lincoln had been assassinated. While seated with his wife and friends in his box at Ford's Theatre, he was shot by John Wilkes Booth who insanely imagined he was ridding his country of a tyrant. About the unconscious body of the President gathered the most prominent men of the nation, who mourned and watched, waiting in vain for A nearly fatal attempt was also made at the same time upon William H. Seward, Secretary of State, who was lying sick in his bed at home. + Booth stealthily entered the box, fastened the door, that he might not be followed, shot the President, then waving his pistol, shouted, "Sic Semper Tyrannis" (so be it to tyrants), and leaped to the stage in front. As he jumped, the American fag draped before the box-mute avenger of the nation's chief- caught his spur, and, throwing him heavily, broke his leg. The assassin, however, escaped from the house in the confusion, mounted a horse which was waiting for him, and fled into Maryland. He was at length overtaken in a barn, where he stood at bay. The building was fired to drive him out, but, still determined to defend himself against arrest, he was, at last, shot by one of the soldiers. The accomplices of Booth were arrested, tried and convicted. Harrold, Payne, Atzerott and Mrs. Surratt were hanged; Arnold, Mudd and McLaughlin imprisoned for life, and Spangler was sentenced for six years, some sign of consciousness until the next morning, when he died. The funeral was held on the 19th. It was a day of mourning throughout the land. In most of the cities and towns funeral orations were pronounced. The body was borne to Springfield over the same route along which he had come as President elect to Washington. The procession may be said to have extended the entire distance. The churches, principal buildings, and even the engines and cars were draped in black. Almost every citizen wore the badge of mourning. States Added during this Epoch.-West Virginia, the thirty-fifth State, was admitted to the Union June 20, 1863. During the Civil War, this portion of Virginia remaining loyal, it was incorporated as a separate State. Nevada, the thirty-sixth State, was admitted to the Union October 31, 1864. Its name was derived from the range of mountains on the east, the Sierra Nevada, a Spanish title, signifying "Snow-covered mountains." It was the third State carved out of the territory acquired by the Mexican war, Texas being the first, and California the second. Its first settlement was at Carson City. It is one of the richest mineral States in the Union. Summary of the History of the Fifth Epoch, arranged in Chronological Order. 1861. Abraham Lincoln inaugurated President of United States, March 4, . Fort Sumter fired upon, April 12, PAGE 215 216 Lincoln called for 75,000 volunteers, April 15, . 217 217 Massachusetts troops fired upon in Baltimore, April 19, 217 Confederates seized Norfolk Navy Yard. April 20, 20, Confederate Congress assembled at Richmond, Va., July Battle of Bull Run, Va., July 21, 217 219 66 Wilson's Creek, Mo., August 10, 221 66 66 Forts at Hatteras Inlet, N. C., captured, August 29, Fort Henry, Tenn., taken, February 6, 66 of the Monitor and the Merrimac, March 9, Battle of Shiloh (Pittsburg Landing), Tenn., April 6, 7, 222 Lee assumed command of Confederate armies, June 3, Battle of Fair Oaks or Seven Pines, Va., May 31, June 1, Memphis, Tenn., surrendered, June 6, Seven Days' battles, June 25-July 1, Chantilly, Va., September 1, South Mountain, Md., September 14, . Corinth, Miss., October 4, |