the fort. The last Confederate port on the Gulf was thus closed.

After the fall of Atlanta, Hood began a series of attacks on Sherman's communications which drew the latter north in pursuit. Hood withdrew westward into Sherman's march to the northern Alabama. When Sherman became convinced that his adversary was not willing to risk

sea

a general engagement, he sent Thomas north to hold Tennessee, while he returned to Atlanta. In a speech at Macon

about this time Jefferson Davis compared Sherman's position to that of Napoleon in Russia, and predicted that when he began his retreat his army would be harassed and destroyed. But Sherman had no intention of retreating. On the contrary, he was planning a movement which took the Confederates completely by surprise, and which caused the authorities at Washington great anxiety. He proposed to cut loose from. his base, abandon his line of communications, and march through the fertile fields

of Georgia, the very heart of the Confederacy, to the sea. It was with great difficulty that he persuaded Lincoln and Grant to consent to his plan.

"I propose," Sherman wrote to Thomas, "to demonstrate the vulnerability of the South and make its inhabitants feel

Sherman's

that war and individual ruin are synonymous terms." About the middle of November he started from Atlanta on his march to Savannah with an army of 62,000 finely equipped soldiers. His last message to Grant ruthless policy was: “I will not attempt to send couriers back, but trust to the Richmond papers to keep you well advised." Meanwhile Hood had invaded Tennessee with the confident expectation that he would draw Sherman after him. The opposing armies were thus marching in opposite directions, and Sherman's march was unimpeded, Hardee's infantry and Wheeler's cavalry, the only Confederate forces encountered, not being strong enough to seriously harass him.

True to his intentions, Sherman systematically devastated the country through which he passed. Writing from Savannah he says: "We have consumed the corn and fodder in the region of country thirty miles on either side of a line from Atlanta to Savannah as also the sweet potatoes, cattle, hogs, sheep, and poultry, and have carried away more than 10,000 horses and mules as well as a countless number of their slaves. I estimate the damage done to the State of Georgia and its military resources at $100,000,000; at least $20,000,000 of which has inured to our advantage and the remainder is simple waste and destruction."

The presi

of 1864

Sherman's success had an important effect on the presidential campaign then in progress. At the outbreak of hostilities the great majority of Democrats at the North supported the administration, and dential many of the War Democrats, as they were called, campaign became merged in the Republican party. Those who opposed Lincoln's measures were denounced as "Southern Sympathizers," and the more extreme ones were dubbed "Copperheads." The suspension of the writ of habeas corpus and the large number of arbitrary arrests drove many sincere Union men into the opposition, and in the

elections of 1862 the Republicans met with many reverses, even losing the great State of New York.

As the time for holding the nominating conventions drew near there was considerable doubt as to whether Lincoln could be reëlected, and his friends and supporters decided to appeal to all Union men irrespective of party to support him. Lincoln made no effort to conceal his candidacy and happily summed up the situation by saying that it was dangerous "to swap horses while crossing a stream." In the call for a convention the term Republican was carefully avoided and the assembly which met in Baltimore on June 7 and nominated Lincoln for a second term was known officially as the National Union Convention. Having placed a Republican at the head of the ticket, the convention chose a Union Democrat, Andrew Johnson of Tennessee, as its candidate for vice-president. A week earlier a convention of radical Republicans in session at Cleveland, Ohio, had nominated John C. Frémont for the presidency. The Democrats met in convention in Chicago in August and nominated as their candidate General George B. McClel

McClellan

opposes Lincoln

lan on a platform which declared the war to have been "four years of failure" and urged the cessation of hostilities and a restoration of the Union through a convention of the States or other peaceable means. In accepting the nomination General McClellan denied that the war had been a failure and declared that there could be no peace until ". our present adversaries are ready for peace on the basis of the Union." The capture of Mobile by Farragut in August and of Atlanta in September by Sherman showed conclusively that the war had not been a failure and left no doubt as to the outcome of the presidential campaign. Frémont withdrew and Lincoln carried every state that participated in the election with the exception of Delaware, New Jersey, and Kentucky.

.

Last im

the West

When Hood entered Tennessee from northern Alabama, he was opposed by General Schofield, who had instructions from Thomas to hold the Confederates in check until the Federal army could be concentrated at portant Nashville. As Schofield was outnumbered, he operations in had to retire before Hood; who overtook him and forced a fight at Franklin on November 30. The Federal force held its position until after nightfall, when it withdrew across the river and united with Thomas at Nashville. The Confederates claimed the victory, but their losses were out of all proportion to those of the Federals.

Hood with 26,000 men now settled down before Nashville and intrenched himself and waited for Thomas to take the initiative. Although the latter had 48,000 men, he delayed making an attack until Grant grew very impatient and threatened to remove him. Finally, after completing all the preparations prompted by his cautious nature, he began the attack December 15, and on the following day completely shattered Hood's army. The Chattanooga-Atlanta campaign with its sequels, the march to the sea and Thomas's defeat of Hood, was the most decisive of the war. It cut the Confederacy in twain.

Carolinas

From Savannah Sherman set out February 1, 1865, and on the 17th his army entered Columbia, the capital of South Carolina. The greater part of this city was de- Sherman's stroyed by fire. On the 18th a detachment of march Sherman's army occupied Charleston, and on through the the 21st another detachment captured Wilmington, North Carolina. The feeling in the Northern army against South Carolina was especially bitter, and the course of the army through that State was marked by burning houses and the general destruction of property. Sherman's army reached Goldsboro, North Carolina, March 23, 1865. Meanwhile Joseph E. Johnston had been placed in command of the remnant of Hood's army, and with what other troops

he could collect he undertook to check Sherman's advance. Lee's army was the only other Confederate force of any size left in the field, and that was now making its last stand in Virginia.

Sherman's rapid advance through South Carolina and North Carolina, in February, 1865; had the effect of arousing Grant to action. Had Sherman continued his advance to Richmond he would have got all the credit for ending the war. Finally, on April 2, Petersburg fell, and Lee had to abandon Richmond, which the Federal troops entered on the 3d. Lee

The surrender of Lee at

Appomattox

VALENTINE'S RECUMBENT STATUE OVER THE TOMB OF LEE, in the chapel of Washington and Lee University at Lexington, Virginia.

had hoped to unite with Johnston's army in North Carolina, but the movement in this direction was checked by Sheridan's cavalry at Five Forks. On the 9th Lee and Grant held a conference at Appomattox and Lee surrendered all the forces under his command. Lee was never greater than in defeat. He might have withdrawn his army to the mountains of southwest Virginia, as many of the Southern leaders