the greater part of their wounded fell into the hands of the Federals.

On the night of the 4th Lee withdrew, and although French had destroyed the greater part of his pontoon train, Meade made a weak pursuit, and finally allowed Lee to escape across the Potomac. On the 18th of July the Union army again entered Virginia, passing over oft-trodden grounds to the historic Rappahannock.

Although in the next four or five months several severe fights occurred in this region, and the cavalry was quite active, if not always successful or wisely handled, yet with the battle of Gettysburg the Army of the Potomac ended its decisive work for the year 1863. A part of it was sent to the West, as was also a part of Lee's rebels, and for a time the attention of the country was turned to the stirring events in that direction. A new era in the history of the Army of the Potomac was about to begin. Up to this time it had merely held its own against the Army of Northern Virginia, as the rebel army was called. There had been no brilliant generalship displayed on either side, no successful strategy to touch the eulogist's pen. In vain may the candid reader and student hope to find the elements of pride and admiration in the history of the war in Virginia up to this period. The general picture only startles regret and sorrow.

CHAPTER XVIII.

1863-WAR OF THE REBELLION-THE WEST-VICKSBURG— PORT HUDSON-THE MISSISSIPPI OPENED-CHICKAMAUGA-CHATTANOOGA-LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN-BATTLE ABOVE THE CLOUDS-BURNSIDE AT KNOXVILLEMINOR EVENTS-NEGRO SOLDIERS-FORT PILLOWGILLMORE AT FORT SUMTER-MISSOURI - THE INDIANS THE NAVY-ENGLAND HUMILIATED-PROUD MISTRESS OF THE SEA?

AT

T the beginning of this year Rosecrans, with the Army of the Cumberland, was at Murfreesboro, facing towards Chattanooga; and the Army of the Tennessee, as Grant's command was at this time called, was on the Mississippi, with Vicksburg as its objective point. Although diverted from his original plan for the capture of Vicksburg and the complete overthrow of the rebel power on the Mississippi, as shown in a former chapter, Grant now set to work to accomplish his purpose by way of the great river itself, without any definite plan. Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that all his early plans failed, and dropping one he fell upon another, until he did, at last, gain his purpose in a system of daring and vigorous operations, which met the enthusiastic applause of his countrymen. The position of Vicksburg was naturally strong, and the rebels had exhausted their efforts to make it another of

their Gibraltars of the West. Besides its occupying one of the boldest and most elevated sites on the Lower Mississippi, it was surrounded by a network of marshes, impassable bayous, and swampy and impenetrable forests. The fortifications extended several miles along the Mississippi, quite effectively blockading it, and were held by about twenty-five thousand troops, under John C. Pemberton, a vain soldier, but by no means able to cope with his daring foe, a man who recognized no creed but success. Pemberton was under the command of General Joseph E. Johnston, who was watching Rosecrans from Chattanooga and Tullahoma, but unfortunately for his cause, he paid little regard, especially when hard pressed, to the superior wisdom of Johnston.

Early abandoning the idea of operating against Vicksburg by the river, or on the north, Grant began to devise means of getting his army to the south of it. Farragut had twice run the gauntlet of the batteries, but it did not, unfortunately, occur to Grant, until he had had some dear experience, that this could be done again. After spending several months in an attempt to change the channel of the Mississippi, thus neutralizing Vicksburg by rendering it an inland town, and in otherwise trying to open a water communication to the South on the west side, as well as in trying to reach the rebel position by opening a way to the head-waters of the Yazoo, he tried the experiment of running the batteries with his gunboats and transports, and succeeded so well

as to determine at once to transfer his whole army, then about thirty thousand strong, to the south of Vicksburg.

Toward the last of March, 1863, his troops began to move from Milliken's Bend on a circuitous and difficult route through Arkansas, first designing to strike the river and cross it at New Carthage. But by reason of the broken levee and flooded condition of the country, the march was continued down to Hard Times, opposite Grand Gulf, and the crossing was finally effected without opposition at Bruinsburg, a little farther below, on the last day of April. Sherman had been left above to make a diversion with his whole corps on the Yazoo in favor of this daring movement, and having accomplished his object, and completely bewildering Pemberton as to the real designs of his determined foes, he hastened with all possible speed through Arkansas to overtake Grant.

On the 17th of April, General B. H. Grierson, with a thousand cavalrymen, set out to ride six hundred miles from La Grange, Tennessee, on the Mississippi, to Baton Rouge, going to the east of all of Pemberton's forces, and destroying his communications, telegraph lines, mills, magazines, manufactories, and so forth. This task Grierson performed to the consternation and amazement of the country, and the satisfaction of his chief. Having gained his hold on the east side of the river, on the 1st of May, Grant set out to execute the remainder of his now definite, daring, and brilliant plan. Eight miles out, near Port Gibson, the rebels were met under General J. S.

Bowen, and defeated with considerable loss. That night they withdrew from Grand Gulf, and at that point Grant at once fixed his temporary base of supplies on the river. He was now forced to await until the 8th before Sherman could overtake him. He now struck for the railroad in the rear of Vicksburg, captured Jackson, the State Capital, turned upon Pemberton, and after severe engagements at Champion's Hill, Big Black River, and other points, by the 19th had driven Pemberton into his fortifications at Vicksburg and pretty thoroughly sealed him up. He had long ago cut loose from Grand Gulf, with a view of opening communications with his depots of supplies above Vicksburg after its capture or investment This feat he now readily performed. However distasteful such a course was to Grant, he now saw that he must settle down to a regular siege. He called in all the spare forces from his own department, and the authorities at Washington gave every aid possible, so that his total strength reached seventy thousand men, and was great enough to resist any force Johnston might bring upon his rear. At the outset he had made two or three unsuccessful attempts to carry the place by storm, and by the first of July he was ready to try the experiment again. Johnston was then approaching from Canton after weeks of delay, and although Grant had Sherman, with an equal force, watching the rebel movements, he became more and more anxious to finish the work before him. In his own army there had not been perfect harmony. To correct this difficulty