Class £"^-6^ Book. $7^t. Gopyiight}^^_ COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. THE CIVIL WAR CENTURY READINGS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY A series, made up from the best on this subject in The Century and St. Nicholas, for students of the upper grammar grades and the first year high school. Profusely illustrated. EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS THE COLONISTS AND THE REVOLUTION A NEW NATION THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT THE CIVIL WAR THE PROGRESS OF A UNITED PEOPLE 12mo. About 225 pages each. $.50 net. THE CENTURY CO. ^/^^^ '\jC€r'^*^ From an ambrotype taken for Marcus L. Ward (afterward Governor of New Jersey) in Springfield, III., May 20, j86o, two days after Mr. Lincoln's first nomination. CENTURY READINGS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY THE CIVIL WAR EDITED BY CHARLES L. BARSTOW NEW YORK THE CENTURY CO. 1912 Copyright, 191 2, by The Century Co. Published May, igi2 '^ .^" C:CIA31(>032 <> CONTENTS Washington on the Eve of the War page Charles P. Stone 3 The First Step in th£ War . . Stephen D. Lee 19 Going to the Front .... Warren L. Goss 28 War Preparations in the North Jacob D. Cox 36 The First Battle of Bull Run G. T. Beauregard 47 The Capture of Fort Donelson Lew Wallace 60 The Battle of Shiloh . . . Ulysses S. Grant 75 The First Fight of Iron-Clads John T. Wood 84 The Opening of the Lower Mississippi , David D. Porter 98 The Peninsular Campaign . . George B. McClellan . . .113 Stonewall Jackson in the Shenandoah John D. Imboden 120 The Seven Days' Fighting . . Fits John Porter 130 Passages from Lincoln 142 Richmond Scenes in '62 . . . Constance C. Harrison . . .150 The Alabama and the Kearsarge 161 CusHiNG AND THE Ram Albemarle Tlicodove Roosevelt .... 173 Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg General Adam Badeau . . . 180 Strategy of the Last Year . . William T. Sherman . . .185 The Surrender Horace Porter 196 The Fourteenth of April . . Helen Nicolay 210 Vll THE CIVIL WAR BATTLE-HYMN OF THE REPUBLIC Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord : He is trampling out the vintage vi'here the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword : His truth is marching on. I have seen Him in the watch-fires of a hundred circling camps ; They have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps ; I can read his righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps. His day is marching on. I have read a fiery gospel, writ in burnished rows of steel : " As ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal ; Let the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel, Since God is marching on." He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat ; He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment-seat: Oh! be swift, my soul, to answer Him! be jubilant, my feet! Our God is marching on. In the beauty of the lilies Christ was born across the sea. With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me: As He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free, While God is marching on. Julia Ward Howe. THE CIVIL WAR WASHINGTON ON THE EVE OF THE WAR By Charles P. Stone, Brigadier-General, U. S. V. All who knew Washington in the days of December, i860, know what thoughts reigned in the minds of thinking men. Whatever their daily occupations, they went about them with their thoughts always bent on the possible disasters of the near future. The country was in a curious and alarming condition : South Carolina had already passed an ordinance of secession, and other States were preparing to follow her lead. The only regular troops near the capi- tal of the country were 300 or 400 marines at the marine barracks, and 3 officers and 53 men of ordnance at the Washington arsenal. What force would the Government have at its disposal in the Federal District for the simple maintenance of order in case of need ? Evidently but a handful ; and as to call- ing thither promptly any regular troops, that was out of the question, since they had already all been distributed by the Southern sympathizers to the distant frontiers of the Indian 3 The Civil War Uniform of the Poto- country, — • Texas, Utah, New Mexico, Oregon, and Wash- ington Territory. Months would have been necessary to concentrate at Washington, in that season, a force of three thousand regular troops. Even had President Buchanan been desirous of bringing troops to the capital, the feverish con- dition of the public mind would, as the execu- tive believed, have been badly affected by any movement of the kind, and the approaching crisis might have been precipitated. I saw at once that the only force which could be read- ily made of service was a volunteer force raised from among the well-disposed men of mac Light the District, and that this must be organized, " ^" ^^' if at all, under the old law of 1799. By consultation with gentlemen well acquainted with the va- rious classes of Washington society, I endeavored to learn what proportion of the able-bodied population could be counted on to sustain the Government should it need support from the armed and or- ganized citizens. On the 31st of December, i860, Lieutenant- General Scott, general-in-chief of the army who had his headquarters in New York), was in Washington. The President, at last thoroughly alarmed at the results of continued concessions to secession, had summoned him for consultation. On the evening of that day I went to pay my respects to my old com- mander, and was received by him at Worm- ley's Hotel. He chatted pleasantly with me for a few min- utes, recalling past service in the Mexican War, etc. ; and Uniform of the National Rifles. Washington on the Eve of War 5 when the occasion presented itself, I remarked that I was glad to see him in good spirits, for that proved to me that he took a more cheerful view of the state of public affairs than he had on his arrival — more cheerful than we of Washington had dared to take during the past few days. " Yes, my young friend," said the general, " I feel more cheerful about the affairs of the country than I did this morning; for I believe that a safer policy than has hith- erto been followed will now be adopted. The policy of entire conciliation, which has so far been pursued, would soon have led to ruin. We are now in such a state that a policy of pure force would precipitate a crisis for which we are not prepared. A mixed policy of force and concilia- tion is now necessary, and I believe it will be adopted and carried out." He then looked at his watch, rose, and said : " I must be with the President in a quarter of an hour," and ordered his carriage. He walked up and down the dining-room, but suddenly stopped and faced me, say- ing: "How is the feeling in the District of Columbia? What proportion of the population would sustain the Gov- ernment by force, if necessary? " " It is my belief, General," I replied, " that two-thirds of the fighting stock of this population would sustain the Government in defending itself, if called upon. But they are uncertain as to what can be done or what the Govern- ment desires to have done, and they have no rallying- point." The general walked the room again in silence. The car- riage came to the door, and I accompanied him toward it. As he was leaving, he turned suddenly, looked me in the face, placed his hand on my shoulder, and said : The Civil War " These people have no rallying-point. Make yourself that rallying-point ! " The next day I was commissioned by the President colo- nel in the staff and Inspector-General of the District of Columbia. I was mustered into the service of the United States from the 2d day of January, 1861, on the special requisition of the general-in-chief, and thus was the first Headquarters of General Winfield Scott, Washington. of two and a half millions called into the military service of the Government to defend it against secession. I immediately entered upon my duties, commencing by inspections in detail of the existing organizations of volun- teers. The Potomac Light Infantry company, of George- town, I found fairly drilled, well armed, and, from care- ful information, it seemed to me certain that the majority of its members could be depended upon in case of need, but not all of them. Washington on the Eve of War 7 On the 2d of January, I met, at the entrance of the Met- ropoHtan Hotel, Captain Schaeffer, of the " National Rifles " of Washington, and I spoke to him about his com- pany, which was remarkable for drill. Schaeffer had been a lieutenant in the Third United States Artillery, and was an excellent drillmaster. He had evidently not yet heard of my appointment as Inspector-General, and he replied to my complimentary re- marks on his company: " Yes, it is a good company, and I suppose I shall soon have to lead it to the banks of the Susquehanna! " "Why so?" I asked. "Why! To guard the frontier of Maryland and help to keep the Yankees from coming down to coerce the South ! " I said to him quietly that I thought it very imprudent in him, an employee of the Department of the Interior and captain of a company of District of Columbia volunteers, to use such expressions. He replied that most of his men were Marylanders, and would have to defend Maryland. I told him that he would soon learn that he had been im- prudent, and advised him to think more seriously of his position, but did not inform him of my appointment, which he would be certain to learn the following morning from the newspapers. It must be admitted that this was not a very cheerful be- ginning. On inspecting the " National Rifles," I found that Schaeffer had more than 100 men on his rolls, and was almost daily adding to the number, and that he had a full supply of rifles with 200 rounds of ball cartridges, two mountain howitzers with harness and carriages, a supply 8 The Civil War of sabers and of revolvers and ammunition, all drawn from the United States arsenal. I went to the chief of ordnance, to learn how it was that this company of riflemen happened to be so unusually armed; and I found at the ordnance office that an order had been given by the late Secretary of War (John B, Floyd) directing the chief of ordnance to cause to be issued to Captain Schaeffer " all the ordnance and ordnance stores that he might require for his com- pany ! " I ascertained also that Floyd had nominated Captain Schaeffer to the President for the commission of major in the District of Columbia militia, and that the commission had already been sent to the President for his signature. I immediately presented the matter to the new Secretary of War (Joseph Holt), and procured from him two or- ders, — one, an order to the chief of ordnance to issue no arms to any militia or volunteers in the District of Colum- bia unless the requisition should be countersigned by the Inspector-General; the other, an order that all commissions issued to officers of the District of Columbia should be sent to the Inspector-General for delivery. An office was assigned me in the War Department, con- venient to the army-registers and near the Secretary of War, who kindly gave orders that I should at all times be admitted to his cabinet without waiting, and room was made for me in the office of Major-General Weightman, the senior major-general of the District, where each day I passed several hours in order to confer with him, and to be able promptly to obtain his authority for any necessary order. Captain Schaeffer entered my office one. day with the air of an injured man, holding in his hand a requisition for Washington on the Eve of War 9 arms and ammunition, and saying, that, on presenting it at the ordnance office, he had been informed that no arms could be issued to him without my approval. I informed him that that was certainly correct, and that the order of the Secretary of War was general. I told him that he had already in his possession more rifles than were required for a company, and that he could have no more. He then said, sulkily, that with his company he could easily take the arms he wanted. I asked him, " Where ? " and he re- plied : " You have only four soldiers guarding the Columbian armory, where there are plenty of arms, and those four men could not prevent my taking them." " Ah ! " I replied, " in what part of the armory are those arms kept ? " He said they were on the upper floor, which was true. " Well," said I, " you seem to be well informed. H you think it best, just try taking the arms by force. I assure you that if you do you shall be fired on by one hundred and fifty soldiers as you come out of the armory." The fact was, that only two enlisted men of ordnance were on duty at the Columbian armory, so feeble was the military force at the time. But Barry's battery had just arrived at the Washington arsenal, and on my application General Scott had ordered the company of sappers and miners at West Point to come to Washington to guard the armory ; but they had not yet arrived. The precautions taken in ordering them were thus clearly proved advis- able. The time had evidently come to disarm Captain Schaef- fer; and when he reached his office after leaving mine, he found there an order directing him to deposit in the Colum- 10 The Civil War bian amiory, before sunset on that day, the two howitzers with their carriages which he had in his possession, as well as the sabers and revolvers, as these weapons formed no part of the proper armament of a company of riflemen. He was taken by surprise, and had not time to call to- gether men enough to resist; so that nothing was left to him but to comply with the order. He obeyed it, well knowing that if he did not I was prepared to take the guns from his armory by means of other troops. Having obeyed, he presented himself again in my office, and before he had time to speak I informed him that I had a commission of major for his name. He was much pleased, and said : *' Yes, I heard that I had been ap- pointed." I then handed him a slip of paper on which I had written out the form of oath which the old law re- quired to be taken by officers, that law never having been repealed, and said to him : " Here is the form of oath you are to take. You will find a justice of the peace on the next floor. Please qual- ify, sign the form in duplicate, and bring both to me. One will be filed with your letter of acceptance, the other will be filed in the clerk's office of the Circuit Court of the Dis- trict." He took the paper with a sober look, and stood near my table several minutes looking at the form of oath and turn- ing to paper over, while I, apparently very busy with my papers, was observing him closely. I then said : " Ah, Schaeffer, have you already taken the oath ? " " No," said he. " Well, please be quick about it, as I have no time to spare." He hesitated, and said slowly : Washington on the Eve of War 1 1 " In ordinary times I would not mind taking it, but in these times — " " Ah ! " said I, " you decHne to accept your commission of major. Very weh ! " and I returned his commission to the drawer and locked it in. " Oh, no," said Schaeffer, " I want the commission." *' But, sir, you cannot have it. Do you suppose that, in these times, which are not, as you say, ' ordinary times,' I would think of delivering a commission of field-officer to a man who hesitates about taking the oath of office? Do you think that the Government of the United States is stupid enough to allow a man to march armed men about the Federal District under its authority, when that man hesitates to take the simple oath of office? No, sir, you cannot have this commission ; and more than that, I now inform you that you hold no office in the District of Co- lumbia volunteers." " Yes, I do ; I am captain, and have my commission as such, signed by the President and delivered to me by the major-general." " I am aware that such a paper was delivered to you, but you failed legally to accept it." " I wrote a letter of acceptance to the adjutant-general, and forwarded it through the major-general." " Yes, I am aware that you did ; but I know also that you failed to inclose in that letter, according to law, the form of oath required to accompany all letters of accept- ance; and on the register of the War Department, while the issuance of your commission is recorded, the acceptance is not recorded. You have never legally accepted your commission, and it is now too late. The oath of a man who hesitates to take it will not now be accepted." 12 The Civil War So Captain Schaeffer left the " National Rifles," and with him left the secession members of the company. I induced quite a number of true men to join its ranks; a new election was ordered, and a strong, loyal man (Lieu- tenant Smead of the 2d Artillery) was elected its captain. Smead was then on duty in the office of the Coast Survey, and I easily procured from the War Department permis- sion for him to accept the position. If my information was correct, the plan had been formed for seizing the public departments at the proper moment and obtaining possession of the seals of the Government. Schaeffer's part, with the battalion he was to form, was to take possession of the Treasury Department for the ben- efit of the new Provisional Government. Whatever may have been the project, it was effectually foiled. I think that the country has never properly appreciated the services of the District of Columbia volunteers. It certainly has not appreciated the difficulties surmounted in their organization. Those volunteers were citizens of the Federal District, and therefore had not at that time, nor have they ever had since, the powerful stimulant of State feeling, nor the powerful support of a State government, a State's pride, a State press to set forth and make much of their services. They did their duty quietly, and they did it well and faithfully. Although not mustered into the service and placed on pay until after the fatal day when the flag was fired upon at Sumter, yet they rendered great service before that time in giving confidence to the Union men, to members of the national legislature, and also to the President in the knowledge that there was at least a small force at its disposition ready to respond at any mo- ment to his call. It should also be remembered of them, Washington on the Eve of War 13 that the first troops mustered into the service were sixteen companies of these volunteers; and that, during the dark days when Washington was cut off from communication with the North, when railway bridges were burned and tracks torn up, when the Potomac was blockaded, these troops were the only reliance of the Government for guard- ing the public departments, for preserving order and for holding the bridges and other outposts ; that these were the troops which recovered possession of the railway from Washington to Annapolis Junction and made practicable the reopening of communications. They also formed the advance guard of the force which first crossed the Potomac into Virginia and captured the city of Alexandria. Moreover, these were the troops which insured .the reg- ular inauguration on the steps of the capitol of the consti- tutionally elected President. I firmly believe that without them Mr. Lincoln would never have been inaugurated. I believe that tumults would have been created, during which he would have been killed, and that we should have found ourselves engaged in a struggle, without preparation, and without a recognized head at the capital. In this I may be mistaken, of course, as any other man may be mistaken; but it was then my opinion, when I had many sources of information at my command, and it remains my opinion now, when, after the lapse of many years and a somewhat large experience, I look back in cool blood upon those days of political madness. One day, after the official declaration of the election of Mr. Lincoln, my duties called me to the House of Repre- sentatives; and while standing in the lobby waiting for the member with whom I had business, I conversed with a distinguished officer from New York. We were lean- 14 The Civil War ing against the sill of a window which overlooked the steps of the capitol, where the President-elect usually stands to take the oath of office. The gentleman grew excited as we discussed the election of Mr. Lincoln, and pointing to the portico he exclaimed : " He will never be inaugurated on those steps ! " " Mr. Lincoln," I replied, " has been constitutionally- elected President of the United States. You may be sure that, if he lives until the fourth day of March, he will be inaugurated on those steps." As I spoke, I noticed for the first time how perfectly the wings of the capitol flanked the steps in question; and on the morning of the 4th of March I saw to it that each window of the two wings was occupied by two riflemen. I received daily numerous communications from various parts of the country, informing me of plots to prevent the arrival of the President-elect at the capital. These warn- ings came from St. Louis, from Chicago, from Cincinnati, from Pittsburgh, from New York, from Philadelphia, and especially from Baltimore. Every morning I reported to General Scott on the occurrences of the night and the in- formation received by the morning's mail ; and every even- ing I rendered an account of the day's work and received instructions for the night. General Scott also received numerous warnings of danger to the President-elect, which he would give to me to study and compare. Many of the communications were anonymous and vague. But on the other hand, many were from calm and wise men, one of whom became, shortly afterward, a cabinet minister; one was a railway president, another a distinguished ex-gover- nor of a State, etc. Li every case where the indications Washington on the Eve of War 15 were distinct, they were followed up to learn if real danger existed. So many clear indications pointed to Baltimore, that three good detectives of the New York police force were constantly employed there. These men reported frequently to me, and their statements were constantly compared with the information received from independent sources. As President Lincoln approached the capital, it became certain that desperate attempts would be made to prevent his arriving there. To be thoroughly informed as to what might be expected in Baltimore, I directed a detective to be constantly near the chief of police and to keep up rela- tions with him; while two others were instructed to watch, without the knowledge and independent of the chief of police. The officer who was near the chief of police re- ported regularly, until near the last, that there was no dan- ger in Baltimore; but the others discovered a band of des- perate men plotting for the destruction of Mr. Lincoln during his passage through the city, and by affiliating with them, these detectives obtained the details of the plot. Mr. Lincoln passed through Baltimore in advance of the time announced for the journey (in accordance with advice given by me to Mr. Seward and carried by Mr. Frederick W. Seward to Mr. Lincoln), and arrived safe at Wash- ington on the morning of the day he was to have passed through Baltimore. But the plotting to prevent his inau- guration continued; and there was only too good rea- son to fear that an attempt would be made against his life during the passage of the inaugural procession from Wil- lard's hotel, where Mr. Lincoln lodged, to the capitol. On the afternoon of the 3d of March, General Scott held a conference at his headquarters, there being present his i6 The Civil War staff, General Sumner, and myself, and then was arranged the program of the procession. President Buchanan was to drive to Willard's hotel, and call upon the President- elect. The two were to ride in the same carriage, between double files of a squadron of the District of Columbia cav- alry. The company of sappers and miners were to march in front of the presidential carriage, and the infantry and riflemen of the District of Columbia were to follow it. Ri- fle-men in squads were to be placed on the roofs of certain commanding houses which I had selected, along Pennsyl- vania Avenue, with orders to watch the windows on the opposite side and to fire upon them in case any attempt should be made to fire from those windows on the presi- dential carriage. The small force of regular cavalry which had arrived was to guard the side-street crossings of Pennsylvania Avenue, and to move from one to another during the passage of the procession. A battalion of Dis- trict of Columbia troops were to be placed near the steps of the capitol, and riflemen in the windows of the wings of the capitol. On the arrival of the presidential party at the capitol, the troops were to be stationed so as to return in the same order after the ceremony. To illustrate the state of uncertainty in which we were at that time concerning men, I may here state that the lieutenant-colonel, military secretary of the general-in- chief, who that afternoon recorded the conclusions of the general in conference, and who afterwards wrote out for me the instructions regarding the disposition of troops, resigned his commission that very night, and departed for the South, where he joined the Confederate army. During the night of the 3d of March, notice was brought me that an attempt would be made to blow up the platform Washington on the Eve of War 17 on which the President would stand to take the oath of office. I immediately placed men under the steps, and at daybreak a trusted battalion of District troops (if I remem- ber rightly, it was the National Guard, under Colonel Tait) formed in a semicircle at the foot of the great stair- way, and prevented all entrance from without. When the crowd began to assemble in front of the portico, a large The inauguration of Lincoln. number of policemen in plain clothes were scattered through the mass to observe closely, to place themselves near any person who might act suspiciously, and to strike down any hand which might raise a weapon. At the appointed hour, Mr. Buchanan, was escorted to Willard's hotel, which he entered. There I found a num- l8. The Civil War ber of mounted " marshals of the day," and posted them around the carriage, within the cavalry guard. The two Presidents were saluted by the troops as they came out of the hotel and took their places in the carriage. The pro- cession started. During the march to the capitol I rode near the carriage, and by an apparently clumsy use of my spurs managed to keep the horses of the cavalry in an un- easy state, so that it would have been difficult for even a good marksman to get an aim at one of the inmates of the carriage between the prancing horses. After the inaugural ceremony, the President and the ex- President were escorted in the same order to the White House. Arrived there, Mr. Buchanan walked to the door with Mr. Lincoln, and there bade him welcome to the House and good-morning. The infantry escort formed in line from the gate of the White House to the house of Mr. Ould, whither Mr. Buchanan drove, and the cavalry es- corted his carriage. The infantry line presented arms to the ex-President as he passed, and the cavalry escort sa- luted as he left the carriage and entered the house. Mr. Buchanan turned on the steps, and gracefully acknowledged the salute. The District of Columbia volunteers had given to President Lincoln his first military salute and to Mr. Buchanan his last. Confederate battle-flag. THE FIRST STEP IN THE WAR By Stephen D. Lee, Lieutenant-General, C. S. A. In the month of December, i860, the South itself had no more real- izing sense than the North of the magnitude of events about to be entered into so lightly. Even the Southern leaders did not realize that there could be any obstacle to " peaceable secession." Many at the North were willing to " let the wayward sisters depart in peace." Only a few on either side expected that blood would be shed. When, in the first Confederate Congress at Mont- gomery, one prudent debater exclaimed, " What if we really have a war?" the general response was, "There will be no war." " But," he persisted, " if there is a war, what are our resources? " and when one man in reply expressed his conviction that, if the worst came, the South could put fifty thousand men into the field, he was looked upon as an enthusiast. The expectation of ** peaceable secession " was the delusion that precipitated matters in the South ; and it was on this expectation, when the crisis came, that South Carolina seceded. Her first step was to organize troops and assert the sovereignty in which she believed, by the occupation of her territory. The feeling of the Confederate authorities was that a 19 20 The Civil War peaceful issue would finally be arrived at; but they had a fixed determination to use force, if necessary, to occupy Fort Sumter. They did not desire or intend to take the Fort Johnson. Fort Sumter. Iron-clad battery, Cumming's Point. Fort Moultrie. Bursting of the signal-shell from Fort Johnson over Fort Sumter. initiative, if it could be avoided. So soon, however, as it was clearly understood that the authorities at Washington had abandoned peaceful views and would assert the power of the United States to supply Fort Sumter, General Beau- regard, the commander of the Confederate forces at Charleston, in obedience to the command of his Govern- ment at Montgomery, proceeded to reduce the fort. His arrangements were about complete, and on April nth he demanded of Major Anderson the evacuation of Fort Sum- ter. He offered to transport Major Anderson and his command to any port in the United States ; and to allow him to move out of the fort with compariy arms and prop- erty, and all private property, and to salute his flag in lowering it. This demand was delivered to Major Ander- son at 3 :45 p. m., by two aides of General Beauregard, James Chestnut, Jr., and myself. At 4:30 p. m. he handed us his reply, refusing to accede to the demand ; but added, " Gentlemen, if you do not batter the fort to pieces about us, we shall be starved out in a few days." The First Step in the War 21 The reply of Major Anderson was put in General Beau- regard's hands at 5:15 p. m., and he was also told of this informal remark. Anderson's reply and remark were com- municated to the Confederate authorities at Montgomery. The Secretary of War, L. P. Walker, replied to Beauregard as follows : Do not desire needlessly to bombard Fort Sumter. If Major Anderson will state the time at which, as indicated by him, he will evacuate, and agree that in the meantime he will not use his guns against us, unless ours should be employed against Fort Sumter, you are authorized thus to avoid the effusion of blood. If this, or its equivalent, be refused, reduce the fort as your judg- ment decides to be most practicable. The same aides here a second communication to Major Anderson, based on the above instructions, which was Fort Sumter after the bombardment. placed in his hands at 12:45 a. m., April 12th. His reply indicated that he would evacuate the fort on the 15th, pro- vided he did not in the meantime receive contradictory in- 22 The Civil War striictions from his Government, or additional supplies, but he declined to agree not to open his guns upon the Con- federate troops, in the event of any hostile demonstration on their part against his flag. Major Anderson made every possible effort to retain the aides till daylight, making one excuse and then another for not replying. Finally, at 3:15 A.M., he delivered his reply. In accordance with their instructions, the aides read it and, finding it unsatis- factory, gave Major Anderson this notification: Fort Sumter, S. C, April 12, 1861, 3.20 a. m. Sir: By authority of Brigadier-General Beauregard, command- ing the Provisional Forces of the Confederate States, we have the honor to notify you that he will open the fire of his batteries on Fort Sumter in one hour from this time. We have the honor to be very respectfully. Your obedient servants, James Chestnut, Jr., Aidc-dc-Camp. Stephen D. Lee, Captain C. S. Army, Aidc-dc-Camp. The above note was written in one of the casemates of the fort, and in the presence of Major Anderson and sev- eral of his officers. On receiving it, he was much affected. He seemed to realize the full import of the consequences, and the great responsibility of his position. Escorting us to the boat at the wharf, he cordially pressed our hands in farewell, remarking, "If we never meet in this world again, God grant that we may meet in the next." The boat containing the two aides and also . Roger A. Pryor, of Virginia, and A. R. Chisolm, of South Carolina, who were also members of General Beauregard's staff, went immediately to Fort Johnson on James Island, and the The First Step in the War 23 order to fire the signal gun was given to Captain George S. James, commanding the battery at that point. It was then 4 A. M. Captain James at once aroused his command, and arranged to carry out the order. He was a great admirer of Roger A. Pryor, and said to him, " You are the only man to whom I would give up the honor of firing the first gun of the war " ; and he offered to allow him to fire it. Pryor, on receiving the offer, was very much agitated. With a husky voice he said, " I could not fire the first gun of the war." His manner was almost similar to that of Major Anderson as we left him a few moments before on the wharf of Fort Sumter. Captain James would allow no one else but him- self to fire the gun. The boat with the aides of General Beauregard left Fort Johnson before arrangements were complete for the firing of the gun, and laid on its oars, about one-third the distance between the fort and Sumter, there to witness the firing of " the first gun of the war " between the States. It was fired from a ten-inch mortar at 4:30 a. m., April 12th, 1861. Captain James was a skilful officer, and the firing of the shell was a success. It burst immediately over the fort, ap- parently about one hundred feet above. The firing of the mortar woke the echoes from every nook and corner of the harbor, and in this the dead hour of night, before dawn, that shot was a sound of alarm that brought every soldier in the harbor to his feet, and every man, woman and child in the city of Charleston from their beds. A thrill went through the whole city. It was felt that the Rubicon was passed. No one thought of going home; unused as their ears were to the appalling sounds, or the vivid flashes from the bat- teries, they stood for hours fascinated with horror. After the second shell the different batteries opened their fire on 24 The Civil War Fort Sumter, and by 4 :45 a. m. the firing was general and regular. It was a hazy, foggy morning. About daylight, the boat with the aides reached Charleston, and they re- ported to General Beauregard. Fort Sumter did not respond with her guns till 7 :30 a. m. The firing from this fort, during the entire bombardment, The Seventh Regiment leaving New York for the iiduu was slow and deliberate, and marked with little accuracy. The firing continued without intermission during the 12th, and more slowly during the night of the 12th and 13th. No material change was noticed till 8 a. m. on the 13th, when the barracks in Fort Sumter were set on fire by hot shot from the guns of Fort Moultrie. As soon as this was dis- covered, the Confederate batteries redoubled their efforts, to prevent the fire being extinguished. Fort Sumter fired The First Step in the War 25 at little longer intervals, to enable the garrison to jfight the flames. This brave action, under such a trying ordeal, aroused great sympathy and admiration on the part of the Confederates for Major Anderson and his gallant garrison; this feeling was shown by cheers whenever a gun was fired from Sumter. It was shown also by loud reflections on the " men-of-war " outside the harbor. About 12:30 the flag-staff of Fort Sumter was shot down, but it was soon replaced. As soon as General Beau- regard heard that the flag was no longer flying, he sent three of his aides, William Porcher Miles, Roger A. Pryor, and myself, to offer, and also to see if Major Anderson would receive or needed, assistance, in subduing the flames inside the fort. Before we reached it, we saw the United States flag again floating over it, and began to return to the city. Before going far, however, we saw the Stars and Stripes replaced by a white flag. We turned about at once and rowed rapidly to the fort. We were directed, from an embrasure, not to go to the wharf, as it was mined, and the fire was near it. We were assisted through an embrasure and conducted to Major Anderson. Our mission being made known to him, he replied, " Present my compliments to General Beauregard, and say to him I thank him for his kindness, but need no assistance." He further remarked that he hoped the worst was over, that the fire had settled over the magazine, and, as it had not exploded, he thought the real danger was about over. Continuing, he said, " Gen- tlemen, do I understand you come direct from General Beauregard ? " The reply was in the affirmative. He then said, " Why ! Colonel Wigfall has just been here as an aide too, and by authority of General Beauregard, and proposed the same terms of evacuation offered on the nth 26 The Civil War instant." We informed the major that we were not au- thorized to offer terms ; that we w^ere direct from General Beauregard, and that Colonel Wigfall, although an aide- de-camp to the general, had been detached, and had not seen the general for several days. Major Anderson at once stated, " There is a misunderstanding on my part, and I will at once run up my flag and open fire again." After consultation, we requested him not to do so, until the matter was explained to General Beauregard, and requested Ma- jor Anderson to reduce to writing his understanding with Colonel Wigfall, which he did. However, be- fore we left the fort, a boat arrived from Charleston, bearing Major D. R. Jones, assistant adjutant-general on General Beauregard's staff, who offered substantially the same terms to Major Anderson as those offered on the nth, and also by Colonel Wigfall, which were now accepted. Thus fell Fort Sumter, April 13th, 1861. At this time fire was still raging in the barracks, and settling steadily over the magazine. All egress was cut off except through the lower embrasures. Many shells from the Confederate batteries, which had fallen in the fort and had not exploded, as well as the hand-grenades used for defense, were ex- ploding as they were reached by the fire. The wind was driving the heat and smoke down into the fort and into the casemates, almost causing suffocation. Major Ander- son, his officers, and men were blackened by smoke and cin- ders, and showed signs of fatigue and exhaustion, from the trying ordeal through which they had passed. It was soon discovered, by conversation, that it was a bloodless battle; not a man had been killed or seriously wounded on either side during the entire bombardment of nearly forty hours. Congratulations were exchanged on so The First Step in the War 27 happy a result. Major Anderson stated that he had in- structed his officers only to fire on the batteries and forts, and not to fire on private property. The terms of evacuation offered by General Beauregard were generous, and were appreciated by Major Anderson. The garrison was to embark on the 14th, after running up and saluting the United States flag, and to be carried to the United States fleet. A soldier killed during the salute was buried inside the fort, the new Confederate garrison uncov- ering during the impressive ceremonies. Major Anderson and his command left the harbor, bearing with them the respect and admiration of the Confederate soldiers. It was conceded that he had done his duty as a soldier holding a most delicate trust. This first bombardment of Sumter was but its " baptism of fire." During subsequent attacks by land and water, it was battered by the heaviest Union artillery. Its walls were completely crushed, but the tons of iron projectiles im- bedded in its ruins added strength to the inaccessible mass that surrounded it and made it impregnable. It was never taken, but the operations of General Sherman, after his march to the sea, compelled its evacuation, and the Stars and Stripes were again raised over it, April 14th, 1865. GOING TO THE FRONT. RECOLLECTIONS OF A PRIVATE By Warren Lee Goss Before I reached the point of eiiHsting, I had read and been " enthused " by General Dix's famous " shoot him on the spot " ^ dispatch ; I had attended flag-raisings, and had heard orators declaim of *' undying devotion to the Union." One speaker to whom I listened declared that " human life must be cheapened " ; but I never learned that he helped on the work experimentally. When men by the hundred walked soberly to the front and signed the enlistment pa- pers, he was not one of them. As I came out of the hall, with conflicting emotions, feeling as though I should have to go finally or forfeit my birthright as an American citi- zen, one of the orators who stood at the door, glowing with enthusiasm and patriotism, and shaking hands effusively with those who enlisted, said to me : 1 January i8th, 1861, three days after he had entered on his duties as Secretary of the Treasury to President Buchanan, General Dix sent W. Hemphill Jones, chief clerk of one of the treasury bureaus, to the South, for the purpose of saving the revenue-cutters at New Orleans, Mobile, and Galveston. January 29th, Mr. Jones telegraphed from New Orleans that the captain of the revenue-cutter McClelland refused to obey the Secretary's orders. It was seven in the evening when the dispatch was received. Immediately, Secretary Dix wrote the following reply: "Treasury Department, January 29, 1861. Tell Lieutenant Caldwell to arrest Captain Breshwood, assume command of the cutter, and obey the order I gave through you. If Captain Bresh- wood, after arrest, undertakes to interfere with the command of the cutter, tell Lieutenant Caldwell to consider him as a mutineer, and treat him accordingly. If any one attempts to haul down the American flag, shoot him on the spot. John A. Dix, Secretary of the Treasury." 28 Going to the Front 29 "Did you enlist?" "No," I said. "Did you?" " No ; they won't take me. I have got a lame leg and a widowed mother to take care of." I remember another enthusiast who was eager to enlist others. He declared that the family of no man who went to the front should suffer. After the war he was prom- inent among those who at town meeting voted to refund the money to such as had expended it to procure substitutes. He has, moreover, been fierce and uncompromising toward the ex-Confederates since the war. From the first I did not believe the trouble would blow over in " sixty days " ; nor did I consider eleven dollars a month, and the promised glory, large pay for the services of an able-bodied young man. It was the news that the 6th Massachusetts regiment had been mobbed by roughs on their passage through Baltimore which gave me the war fever. And yet when I read Gov- ernor John A. Andrew's instructions to have the hero mar- tyrs " preserved in ice and tenderly sent forward," some- how, though I felt the pathos of it, I could not reconcile myself to the ice. Ice in connection with patriotism did not give me agreeable impressions of war, and when I came to think of it, the stoning of the heroic " Sixth " did n't suit me ; it detracted from my desire to die a sol- dier's death, I lay awake all night thinking the matter over, with the " ice " and " brick-bats " before my mind. However, the fever culminated that night, and I resolved to enlist. " Cold chills " ran up and down my back as I got out of bed after the sleepless night, and shaved, preparatory to other desperate deeds of valor. I was twenty years of 30 The Civil War age, and when anything nniisiial was to be done, like fight- ing or courting, I shaved. With a nervous tremor convulsing my system, and my heart thumping like muffled drum-beats, I stood before the door of the recruiting-office, and, before turning the knob to enter, read and re-read the advertisement for recruits posted thereon, until I knew all its peculiarities. The f^9!!-f-{f r"ii%ili) Headquarters in the field. above the inlet formed by the junction of Hickman's Creek and the Cumberland River, a sentinel, in the serviceable butternut jeans uniform of the Confederate army of the 62 The Civil War West, might that day have surveyed Fort Donelson ahnost ready for battle. In fact, very Httle was afterward done to it. There were the 2 water-batteries sunk in the north- ern face of the bluff, about thirty feet above the river; in the lower battery 9 32-pounder guns and i lo-inch Colum- biad, and in the upper another Columbiad, bored and rifled as a 32-pounder, and 2 32-pounder carronades. These guns lay between the embrasures, in snug revetment of sand in coffee-sacks, flanked right and left with stout traverses. The satisfaction of the sentry could have been nowise di- minished at seeing the backwater lying deep in the creek; a more perfect ditch against assault could not have been constructed. The fort itself was of good profile, and ad- mirably adapted to the ridge it crowned. Around it, on the landward side, ran the rifle-pits, a continuous but irreg- ular line of logs, covered with yellow clay. From Hick- man's Creek they extended far around to the little run just outside the town on the south. If the sentry thought the pits looked shallow, he was solaced' to see that they fol- lowed the coping of the ascents, seventy or eighty feet in height, up which a foe must charge, and that, where they were weakest, they were strengthened by trees felled out- wardly in front of them, so that the interlacing limbs and branches seemed impassable by men under fire. At points inside the outworks, on the inner slopes of the hills, de- fended thus from view of an enemy as well as from his shot, lay the huts and log-houses of the garrison. Here and there groups of later comers, shivering in their wet blank- ets, were visible in a bivouac so cheerless that not even morning fires could relieve it. A little music would have helped their sinking spirits, but there was none. Even the picturesque effect of gay uniforms was wanting. In fine. Capture of Fort Donelson 63 the Confederate sentinel on the ramparts that morning, taking in the whole scene, knew the jolly, rollicking picnic days of the war were over. To make clearer why the 6th of February is selected to present the first view of the fort, about noon that day the whole garrison was drawn from their quarters by the sound of heavy guns, faintly heard from the direction of Fort Henry, a token by which every man of them knew that a battle was on. Brigadier-General Pillow reached Fort Donelson on the 9th ; Brigadier-General Buckner came in the night of the nth; and Brigadier-General Floyd on the 13th. The lat- ter, by virtue of his rank, took command. The morning of the 13th — calm, spring-like, the very opposite of that of the 6th — found in Fort Donelson a garrison of 28 regiments of infantry: 13 from Tennessee, 2 from Kentucky, 6 from Mississippi, i from Texas, 2 from Alabama, 4 from Virginia. There were also present 2 independent battalions, i regiment of cavalry, and artil- lerymen for 6 light batteries, and 17 heavy guns, making a total of quite 18,000 effectives. Fort Donelson was ready for battle. It may be doubted if General Grant called a council of war. The nearest approach to it was a convocation held on the Nezo Uncle Sam, a steamboat that was afterward transformed into the gun-boat Blackhazvk. The morning of the nth of February, a staff-officer visited each com- mandant of division and brigade with the simple verbal message : " General Grant sends his compliments, and re- quests to see you this afternoon on his boat." Minutes of the proceedings were not kept ; there was no adjourn- ment; each person retired when he got ready, knowing that 64 The Civil War the march would take place next day, probably in the fore- noon. There were in attendance on the occasion some officers of great subsequent notability. Of these Ulysses S. Grant was first. The world knows him now ; then his fame was all before him. A singularity of the volunteer service in that day was that nobody took account of even a first-rate rec- ord of the Mexican War. The battle of Belmont, though indecisive, was a much better reference. A story was abroad that Grant had been the last man to take boat at the end of that afifair, and the addendum that he had lin- gered in face of the enemy until he was hauled aboard with the last gang-plank, did him great good. From the first his silence was remarkable. He knew how to keep his temper. In battle, as in camp, he went about quietly, speaking in a conversational tone ; yet he appeared to see everything that went on, and was always intent on business. He had a faithful assistant adjutant-general, and appreciated him; he preferred, however, his own eyes, word, and hand. His aides were little more than messengers. In dress he was plain, even negligent; in partial amendment of that his horse was always a good one and well kept. At the coun- cil — calling it such by grace — he smoked, but never said a word. In all probability he was framing the orders of march which were issued that night. On the morning of the 13th of February General Grant, with about twenty thousand men, was before Fort Donel- son. We have now before us a spectacle seldom witnessed in the annals of scientific war — an army behind field-works erected in a chosen position waiting quietly while another army very little superior in numbers proceeds at leisure to Capture of Fort Donelson 65 place it in a state of siege. Such was the operation General Grant had before him at daybreak of the 13th of February. A little before dawn Birge's sharp-shooters were astir. Theirs was a peculiar service. Each was a preferred marksman, and carried a long-range Henry rifle, with sights delicately arranged as for target practice. In action each was perfectly independent. They never manoeuvered as a corps. When the time came they were asked, " Canteens full?" "Biscuits for all day?" Then their only order, "All right; hunt your holes, boys." Thereupon they dis- persed, and, like Indians, sought cover to please themselves behind rocks and stumps, or in hollows. Sometimes they dug holes ; sometimes they climbed into trees. Once in a good location, they remained there the day. At night they would crawl out and report to camp. This' morning, as I have said, the sharp-shooters dispersed early to find places within easy range of the breastworks. By the 14th of February the Confederates were com- pletely invested, except that the river above Dover remained to them. It must be remembered that the weather had changed during the preceding afternoon: from suggestions of spring it turned to intensified winter. From lending a gentle hand in bringing Foote and his iron-clads up the river, the wind whisked suddenly around to the north, and struck both armies with a storm of mixed rain, snow, and sleet. All night the tempest blew mercilessly upon the unsheltered, • fireless soldier, making sleep impossible. Inside the works, nobody had overcoats; while thousands of those outside had marched from Fort Henry as to a summer fete, leaving coats, blankets, and knapsacks behind them in the camp, s 66 The Civil War More than one stout fellow has since admitted, with a laugh, that nothing was so helpful to him that horrible night as the thought that the wind, which seemed about to turn his blood into icicles, was serving the enemy the same way ; they, too, had to stand out and take the blast. Up to this time, there had not been any fighting involving infantry in line. This was now to be changed. Old sol- diers, rich with experience, would have regarded the work proposed with gravity; they would have shrewdly cast up an account of the chances of success, not to speak of the chances of coming out alive ; they would have measured the distance to be passed, every foot of it, under the guns of three batteries, Maney's in the center, Graves's on their left, and Drake's on their right — a direct line of fire doubly crossed. Nor would they have omitted the reception awaiting them from the rifle-pits. They were to descend a hill entangled for two hundred yards with underbrush, climb an opposite ascent partly shorn of timber ; make way through an abatis of tree-tops ; then, supposing all that suc- cessfully accomplished, they would be at last in face of an enemy whom it was possible to reinforce with all the re- serves of the garrison — with the whole garrison, if need be. A veteran would have surveyed the three regiments selected for the honorable duty with many misgivings. Not so the men themselves. They were not old soldiers. Re- cruited but recently from farms and shops, they accepted the assignment heartily and with youthful confidence in their prowess. It may be doubted if a man in the ranks gave a thought to the questions, whether the attack was to be supported while making, or followed up if successful, or whether it was part of a general advance. Probably the Capture of Fort Donelson 67 most they knew was that the immediate objective before them was the capture of the battery on the hill. There was confusion in the beginning, or worse, an as- sault begun without a head. Nevertheless, the whole line went forward. On a part of the hillside the trees were yet standing. The open space fell to Morrison and his 49th, and paying the penalty of the exposure, he outstripped his associates. The men fell rapidly; yet the living rushed on and up, firing as they went. The battery was the common target. Maney's gunners, in relief against the sky, were shot down in quick succession. His first lieutenant (Burns) was one of the first to suffer. His second lieu- tenant (Massie) was mortally wounded. Maney himself was hit ; still he stayed, and his guns continued their punish- ment; and still the farmer lads and shop boys of Illinois clung to their purpose. With marvelous audacity they pushed through the abatis and reached a point within forty yards of the rifle-pits. It actually looked as if the prize were theirs. The yell of victory was rising in their throats. Suddenly the long line of yellow breastworks before them, covering Heiman's five regiments, crackled and turned into flame. The forlorn-hope stopped — • staggered — braced up again — shot blindly through the smoke at the smoke of the new enemy, secure in his shelter. Thus for fifteen min- utes the Illinoisans stood fighting. The time is given on the testimony of the opposing leader himself. Morrison was knocked out of his saddle by a musket-ball, and disabled ; then the men went down the hill. At its foot they rallied round their flags and renewed the assault. Pushed down again, again they rallied, and a third time climbed to the enemy. This time the battery set fire to the dry leaves on 68 The Civil War the ground, and the heat and smoke became stifling. It was not possible for brave men to endure more. Slowly, sullenly, frequently pausing to return a shot, they went back for the last time ; and in going their ears and souls were riven with the shrieks of their wounded comrades, whom the flames crept down upon and smothered and charred where they lay. Considered as a mere exhibition of courage, this assault, long maintained against odds — twice repulsed, twice re- newed — has been seldom excelled. The night of the 14th of February fell cold and dark, and under the pitiless sky the armies remained in position so near to each other that neither dared light fires. Over- powered with watching, fatigue, and the lassitude of spirits which always follow a strain upon the faculties of men like that which is the concomitant of battle, thousands on both sides lay down in the ditches and behind logs and whatever else would in the least shelter them from the cutting wind, and tried to sleep. Very few closed their eyes. Even the horses, after their manner, betrayed the suffering they were enduring. It was now 10 o'clock, and over on the right Oglesby was beginning to fare badly. The pressure on his front grew stronger. The " rebel yell," afterward a familiar battle-cry on many fields, told of ground being gained against him. To add to his doubts, officers were riding to him with a sickening story that their commands were getting out of ammunition, and asking where they could go for supply. All he could say was to take what was in the boxes of the dead and wounded. At last he realized that the end was come. His right companies began to give way, and as they retreated, holding up their empty cartridge- 70 The Civil War boxes, the enemy were emboldened, and swept more fiercely around his flank, until finally they appeared in his rear. He then gave the order to retire the division. On the Union side the situation at this critical time was favorable to the proposed retirement. [After an account of the attempted retreat of the Con- federates and of fighting during which it seemed at one time as though the day was lost to the Federals, the narrative continues] : Now on the ground, creeping when the fire was hottest, running when it slackened, they gained ground with aston- ishing rapidity, and at the same time maintained a fire that was like a sparkling of the earth. For the most part the bullets aimed at them passed over their heads and took ef- fect in the ranks behind them. Colonel Smith's cigar was shot off close to his lips. He took another and called for a match. A soldier ran and gave him one. " Thank you. Take your place now. We are almost up," he said, and, smoking, spurred his horse forward. A few yards from the crest of the height the regiments began loading and fir- ing as they advanced. The defenders gave way. On the top there was a brief struggle, which was ended by Cruft and Ross with their supports. The whole line then moved forward simultaneously, and never stopped until the Confederates were within the works. There had been no occasion to call on the reserves. The road to Charlotte was again effectually shut, and the bat- tle-field of the morning, with the dead and wounded lying where they had fallen, was in possession of the Third Di- vision, which stood halted within easy musket-range of the rifle-pits. It was then about half-past 3 o'clock in the after- noon. I was reconnoitering the works of the enemy Capture of Fort Donelson 71 preliminary to charging them, when Colonel Webster, of General Grant's staff, came to me and repeated the order to fall back out of cannon range and throw up breastworks. " The general does not know that we have the hill," I said. Webster replied : " I give you the order as he gave it to me." " Very well," said I, " give him my compliments, and say that I have received the order." Webster smiled and rode away. The ground was not vacated, though the assault was deferred. In assuming the responsibility, I had no doubt of my ability to satisfy General Grant of the correctness of my course; and it was subsequently ap- proved. When night fell, the command bivouacked without fire or supper. Fatigue parties were told off to look after the wounded; and in the relief given there was no distinction made between friend and foe. The labor extended through the whole night, and the surgeons never rested. By sunset the conditions of the morning were all restored. The un- ion commander was free to order a general assault next day or resort to a formal siege. General Buckner, who throughout the affair bore him- self with dignity, ordered the troops back to their positions and opened communications with General Grant, whose la- conic demand of " unconditional surrender," in his reply to General Buckner's overtures, became at once a watchword of the war. Hd. Qrs., Army in the Field. Camp Near Donelson, Feb. i6th 1862. Gen. S. B. Buckner, Con fed. Army. Sir: Yours of this date proposing Armistice, and appointment of Commissioners, to settle terms of Capitulation is just received. 1'- The Civil War No tiTins c'Xfi'pl ;iii niu-oiidit ioiKil .iiid iiimu'diatc suirrii(li.'r can he aicrplcd. i propose lo iiiDVi' iiiinu'dialrly ii|)t)ii your works. I am sir, very respectfully ^'our ol)t. srvl. U. S. ( Ikant, 15ri^. (leii. 'riu' Tliird i)ivisi()n was astir very early on tlic lOtli of l'\'l)niary. 'I'lic fc'.i;inuMits lK-i;;m to fonn and close up the intervals between them, the intention heini;- to charj^e the breastworks south of l)o\er about breakfast-time. In the G('UysburB» (J^^'^'Xr^ y'> llavr« il.. Ornci)^^. wiiiciioliior yx^ ^ V,'§ V —I >?«< I J tp ^» « •« S'lifl StiiliiU-'Mll.vi ' I Tlu- war in die l'".ast. midst of the preparation a but;le was heard and a white Hag was seen eomiui; from the town toward the pickets. 1 sent mv .adjulant-i;eneral to meet the llai;' half-way and in([uire Capture of Fort Donelson 73 its |)in'i)<)sc'. Answer wris rclnnu'd that General lUickner had capiliilated (hn-ini;- the ni_iL;ht, and was now senchnji; in- formation of the fact to the coinniander of the troops in this (|uarter, that there mi.nht he no further hloodslied. ^Mie (h' vision was ordered to advance mid take possession of the works and of .all pnhlic property and prisoners. Union and Con federal c soldiers trading between the lines in a truce. I.eavin<»' that ajj^reeahle duty to the hrij^ade commanders, T joined the officer hearintj;' the llaj^, and with my st.aff rode across the trench and into the town, till we came to the door of the old tavern already descrihed, where 1 dismounted. The tavern was the liea(lf|uarters of (ieneral lUickncr, to whom T sent my name; and heing an accjuaintance, I was at once admitted. I found General lUickner with his staff at hreakfast. lie 74 The Civil War met me with politeness and dignity. Turning to the offi- cers at the table, he remarked : " General Wallace, it is not necessary to introduce you to these gentlemen; you are acquainted with them all." They arose, came forward one by one, and gave their hands in salutation. I was then invited to breakfast, which consisted of corn bread and coffee, the best the gallant host had in his kitchen. We sat at the table about an hour and a half, when General Grant arrived and took temporary possession of the tavern as his headquarters, morning the army marched in and completed the posses sion. A volunteer of the Fourteenth New York Regiment. A Confederate " foot-cavalry- man." Later in the THE BATTLE OF SHILOH By Ulysses S. Grant, General, U. S. A. Shiloh was a log meeting-house, some two or three miles from Pittsburg Landing, and on the ridge which divides the waters of Snake and Lick Creeks, the former entering into the Tennessee just north of Pittsburg Landing, and the latter south. Shiloh was the key to our position, and was held by Sherman. His division was at that time Battery in action. ^yy\jr-: wholly raw, no part of it ever having been .'^- in an engagement, but I thought this de- ficiency was more than made up by the superiority of the commander. McClernand was on Sherman's left, with troops that had been engaged at Fort Donelson, and were therefore veterans so far as Western troops had become such at that stage of the war. Next to McClernand came Prentiss, with a raw division, and on the extreme left, Stuart, with one brigade of Sherman's division. 75 76 The Civil War Hurlbut was in rear of Prentiss, massed, and in reserve at the time of the onset. The division of General C. F. Smith was on the right, also in reserve. General Smith was sick in bed at Savannah, some nine miles below, but in hearing of our guns. His services on those two eventful days would no doubt have been of inestimable value had his health permitted his presence. The command of his division devolved upon Brigadier-General W. H. L. Wallace, a most estimable and able officer, — a veteran, too, for he had served a year in the Mexican War, and had been with his command at Henry and Donelson. Wallace was mortally wounded in the first day's engagement, and with the change of commanders thus necessarily effected in the heat of battle, the efficiency of his division was much weak- ened. The position of our troops made a continuous line from Lick Creek, on the left, to Owl Creek, a branch of Snake Creek, on the right, facing nearly south, and possibly a little west. The water in all these streams was very high at the time, and contributed to protect our flanks. The enemy was compelled, there- fore, to attack directly in front. This he did with great vigor, inflicting heavy losses on the National side, but suffering- much heavier on his own. The Confederate assaults were made with such disregard Chi the skirmish line. of losses on their own side, that our line of tents soon fell into their hands. The ground on which the battle was fought was undulating. The Battle of Shiloh 77 heavily timbered, with scattered clearings, the woods giv- ing some protection to the troops on both sides. There was also considerable underbrush. A number of attempts were made by the enemy to turn our right flank, where Sherman was posted, but every effort was repulsed with heavy loss. But the front attack was kept up so vigor- ously that, to prevent the success of these attempts to get on our flanks, the National troops were compelled several times to take positions to the rear, nearer Pittsburg Land- ing. When the firing ceased at night, the National line was all of a mile in rear of the position it had occupied in the morning. With the single exception of a few minutes after the capture of Prentiss, a continuous and unbroken line was maintained all day from Snake Creek or its tributaries on the right to Lick Creek or the Tennessee on the left, above Pittsburg. There was no hour during the day when there was not heavy firing and generally hard fighting at some point on the line, but seldom at all points at the same time. It was a case of Southern dash against Northern pluck and endurance. Three of the five divisions engaged on Sunday were en- tirely raw, and many of the men had only received their arms on the way from their States to the field. Many of them had arrived but a day or two before, and were hardly able to load their muskets according to the manual. Their officers were equally ignorant of their duties. Under these circumstances, it is not astonishing that many of the regi- ments broke at the first fire. In two cases, as I now re- member, colonels led their regiments from the field on first hearing the whistle of the enemy's bullets. In these cases the colonels were constitutional cowards, unfit for any mili- 78 The Civil War tary position. But not so the officers and men led out of danger by them. Better troops never went upon a battle- field than many of these officers and men afterward proved themselves to be who fled panic-stricken at the first whistle of bullets and shell at Shiloh. During the whole of Sunday I was continuously engaged in passing from one part of the field to another, giving directions to division commanders. In thus moving along the line, however, I never deemed it important to stay long with Sherman. Although his troops were then under fire for the first time, their commander, by his constant pres- ence with them, inspired a confidence in officers and men that enabled them to render services on that bloody battle- field worthy of the best of veterans. McClernand was next to Sherman, and the hardest fighting was in front of these two divisions. McClernand told me on that day, the 6th, that he profited much by having so able a commander sup- porting him. A casualty to Sherman that would have taken him from the field that day would have been a sad one for the troops engaged at Shiloh. And how near we came to this ! On the 6th Sherman was shot twice, once in the hand, once in the shoulder, the ball cutting his coat and making a slight wound, and a third ball passed through his hat. In addition to this he had several horses shot during the day. So confident was I before firing had ceased on the 6th that the next day would bring victory to our arms if we could only take the initiative, that I visited each division commander in person before any reinforcements had reached the field. I directed them to throw out heavy lines of skirmishers in the morning as soon as they could see, and push them forward imtil they found the enemy, following The Battle of Shiloh 79 with their entire divisions in supporting distance, and to engage the enemy as soon as found. To Sherman I told the story of the assault at Fort Donelson, and said that the same tactics would win at Shiloh. Victory was assured when Wallace arrived even if there had been no other sup- port. The enemy received no reinforcements. He had suffered heavy losses in killed, wounded, and straggling, and his commander, General Albert Sidney Johnston, was dead. During the night rain fell in torrents, and our troops were exposed to the storm without shelter. I made my headquarters under a tree a few hundred yards back from the river-bank. My ankle was so much swollen from the fall of my horse the Friday night preceding, and the bruise was so painful, that I could get no rest. The drenching rain would have precluded the possibility of sleep, without this additional cause. Some time after midnight, growing restive under the storm and the continuous pain, I moved back to the log-house on the bank. This had been taken as a hospital, and all night wounded men were being brought in, their wounds dressed, a leg or an arm amputated, as the case might require, and everything being done to save life or alleviate suffering. The sight was more unendurable than encountering the enemy's fire, and I returned to my tree in the rain. The advance on the morning of the 7th developed the enemy in the camps occupied by our troops before the bat- tle began, more than a mile back from the most advanced position of the Confederates on the day before. In a very short time the battle became general all along the line. This day everything was favorable to the Federal side. We had now become the attacking party. The en- 8o The Civil War emy was driven back all day, as we had been the day before, until finally he beat a precipitate retreat. Shiloh was the severest battle fought at the West during the war, and but few in the East equaled it for hard, de- termined fighting. I saw an open field, in our possession on the second day, over which the Confederates had made repeated charges the day before, so covered with dead that it would have been possible to walk across the clearing, in Checking the Confederate advance (Shiloh). any direction, stepping on dead bodies, without a foot touching the ground. On our side National and Con- federate were mingled together in about equal proportions ; but on the remainder of the field nearly all were Confed- erates. On one part, which had evidently not been plowed for several years, probably because the land was poor, bushes had grown up, some to the height of eight or ten feet. There was not one of these left standing unpierced by bullets. The smaller ones were all cut down. The Battle of Shiloh 81 Contrary to all my experience up to that time, and to the experience of the army I was then commanding, we were on the defensive. We were without intrenchments or de- fensive advantages of any sort, and more than half the army engaged the first day was without experience or even drill as soldiers. The officers with them, except the divi- sion commanders, and possibly two or three of the brigade commanders, were equally inexperienced in war. The re- sult was a Union victory that gave the men who achieved it great confidence in themselves ever after. The enemy fought bravely, but they had started out to defeat and destroy an army and capture a position. They failed in both, with very heavy loss in killed and wounded, and must have gone back discouraged and convinced that the " Yankee " was not an enemy to be despised. The navy gave a hearty support to the army at Shiloh, as indeed it always did, both before and subsequently, when I was in command. The nature of the ground was such, however, that on this occasion it could do nothing in aid of the troops until sundown on the first day. The country was broken and heavily timbered, cutting of¥ all view of the battle from the river, so that friends would be as much in danger from fire from the gun-boats as the foe. But about sundown, when the National troops were back in their last position, the right of the enemy was near the river and exposed to the fire of the two gun-boats, which was delivered with vigor and efifect. After nightfall, when firing had entirely ceased on land, the commander of the fleet informed himself, proximately, of the position of our troops, and suggested the idea of dropping a shell within the lines of the enemy every fifteen minutes during the 82 The Civil War night. This was done with effect, as is proved by the Con- federate reports. Up to the battle of Shiloh, I, as we'll as thousands of other citizens, believed that the rebellion against the Gov- ernment would collapse suddenly and soon if a decisive victory could be gained over any of its armies. Henry and Donelson were such victories. An army of more than 21,- 000 men was captured or destroyed. Bowling Green, Co- -% r Shiloh — Store and part of the National Cemetery in 1884. lumbus, and Hickman, Ky., fell in consequence, and Clarks- ville and Nashville, Tenn., the last two with an immense amount of stores, also fell into our hands. The Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers, from their mouths to the head of navigation, were secured. But when Confederate armies were collected which not only attempted to hold a line far- ther south, from Memphis to Chattanooga, Knoxville and on to the Atlantic, but assumed the offensive, and made such a gallant effort to regain what had been lost, then, indeed, I gave up all idea of saving the Union except by complete conquest. Up to that time it had been the policy The Battle of Shiloh 83 of our army, certainly of that portion commanded by me, to protect the property of the citizens whose territory was invaded, without regard to their sentiments, whether Union or Secession. After this, however, I regarded it as hu- mane to both sides to protect the persons of those found at their homes but to consume everything that could be used to support or supply armies. Protection was still continued over such supplies as were within lines held by us, and which we expected to continue to hold. But such supplies within the reach of Confederate armies I regarded as con- traband as much as arms or ordnance stores. Their de- struction was accomplished without bloodshed, and tended to the same result as the destruction of armies. I con- tinued this policy to the close of the war. Promiscuous pillaging, however, was discouraged and punished. In- structions were always given to take provisions and forage under the direction of commissioned officers, who should give receipts to owners, if at home, and turn the property over to officers of the quartermaster or commissary depart- ments, to be issued as if furnished from our Northern depots. But much was destroyed without receipts to own- ers when it could not be brought within our lines, and would otherwise have gone to the support of secession and rebellion. This policy, L believe, exercised a material in- fluence in hastening the end. THE FIRST FIGHT OF IRON-CLADS By John Taylor Wood, Colonel, C. S. A. The engagement in Hampton Roads on the 8th of March, 1862, between the Confederate iron-clad Virginia, or the Mcrriinac (as she is known to the North), and the United States wooden fleet, and that on the 9th between the Vir- ginia and the Monitor, was, in its resuhs, in some respects the most momentous naval conflict ever wit- nessed. No battle was ever more widely discussed or produced a greater sensation. It revolutionized ,»->* the navies of the world. Line-of- battle ships, those huge, overgrown craft, carrying from eighty to one hundred and twenty guns and from five hundred to twelve hundred men, which, from the destruction of the Spanish Armada to our time, had done most of the fighting, deciding the fate of empires, were at once uni- versally condemned as out of date. Rams and iron-clads were in future to decide all naval warfare. In this battle old things passed away, and the experience of a thousand years of battle and breeze was forgotten. The naval supremacy of England vanished in the smoke of this /7 / The First Fight of Iron-Clads 85 fight, it is tiTie, only to reappear some years later more commanding than ever. The effect of the news was best described by the London Times, which said : " Whereas we had available for immediate purposes one hundred and forty-nine first-class war-ships, we have now two, these two being the Warrior and her sister Ironside. There is not now a ship in the English navy apart from these two that it would not be madness to trust to an engagement with that little Monitor." The Admiralty at once proceeded to reconstruct the navy, cutting down a number of their largest ships and converting them into turret or broadside iron-clads. The same results were produced in France, which had but one sea-going iron-clad, La Gloire, and this one, like the Warrior, w-as only protected amidships. The Emperor Na- Bunimg of the McrninaL 86 The Civil War poleon promptly appointed a commission to devise plans for rebuilding his navy. And so with all the maritime powers. In this race the United States took the lead, and at the close of the war led all the others in the number and efficiency of its iron-clad fleet. It is true that all the great powers had already experimented with vessels partly ar- mored, but very few were convinced of their utility, and none had been tried by the test of battle, if we except a few floating batteries, thinly clad, used in the Crimean War. In the spring of 1861 Norwalk and its large naval es- tablishment had been hurriedly abandoned by the Federals, why no one could tell. It is about twelve miles from Fort Monroe, which was then held by a large force of regulars. A few companies of these, with a single frigate, could have occupied and commanded the town and navy yard and kept the channel open. However, a year later, it was as quickly evacuated by the Confederates, and almost with as little reason. The yard was abandoned to a few volunteers, after it was partly destroyed, and a large number of ships were burnt. Among the spoils were upward of twelve hundred heavy guns, which were scattered among Confederate forti- fications from the Potomac to the Mississippi. Among the ships burnt and sunk was the frigate Merrim-ac of 3,500 tons and 40 guns, afterward rechristened the Virginia, and so I will call her. During the summer of 1861 Lieutenant John M. Brooke, an accomplished officer of the old navy, who with many others had resigned, proposed to Secretary Mal- lory to raise and rebuild this ship as an iron-clad. His plans were approved, and orders were given to carry them out. She was raised and cut down to the old berth-deck. Both ends for seventy feet were covered over, and when The First Fight of Iron-Clads 87 the ship was in fighting trim were just awash. On the midship section, 170 feet in length, was biiih at an angle of 45 degrees a roof of pitch-pine and oak 24 inches thick, extending from the water-line to a height over the gun- deck of 7 feet. Both ends of the shield were rounded so that the pivot-guns could be used as bow and stern chasers or quartering. Over the gun-deck was a light grating, mak- ing a promenade about twenty feet wide. The wood back- ing was covereci with iron plates, rolled at the Tredegar works, two inches thick and eight wide. The first tier w^as put on horizontally, the second up and down, — in all to the thickness of four inches, bolted through the wood- work and clinched. The prow was of cast-iron, projecting four feet, and badly secured, as events proved. The rudder and propeller were entirely unprotected. The pilot-house was forward of the smoke-stack, and covered with the same thickness of iron as the sides. The motive power was the same that had always been in the ship. Both of the en- gines and boilers had been condemned on her return from her last cruise, and were radically defective. Of course, the fire and sinking had not improved them. We could not depend upon them for six hours at a time. A more ill- contrived or unreliable pair of engines could only have been found in some vessels of the United States navy. During the summer and fall of 1861 I had been sta- tioned at the batteries on the Potomac at Evansport and Aquia Creek, blockading the river as far as possible. In January, 1862, I was ordered to the Virginia as one of the lieutenants, reporting to Commodore French Forrest, who then commanded the navy yard at Norfolk. Commodore Franklin Buchanan was appointed to the command, — an energetic and high-toned officer, who combined with daring 88 The Civil War courage great professional ability, standing deservedly at the head of his profession. In 1845 ^""^ ^^^^ been selected by Mr. Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy, to locate and or- ganize the Naval Academy, and he launched that institu- tion upon its successful career. Under him were as capa- ble a set of officers as ever were brought together in one ship. But of man-of-war's men or sailors we had scarcely any. The South was almost without a maritime popula- tion. In the old service the majority of officers were from the South, and all the seamen from the North. Every one had flocked to the army, and to it we had to look for a crew. Some few seamen were found in Norfolk, who had escaped from the gun-boat flotilla in the waters of North Carolina, on their occupation by Admiral Goldsborough and General Burnside. In hopes of secur- ing some men from the army, I was sent to the headquar- ters of General Magruder at Yorktown, who was known to have under his command two battalions from New Or- leans, among whom might be found a number of seamen. The general, though pressed for" want of men, holding a long line with scarcely a brigade, gave me every facility to secure volunteers. With one of his staff I visited every camp, and the commanding officers were ordered to parade their men, and I explained to them what I wanted. About 200 volunteered, and of this number I selected 80 who had some experience as seamen or gunners. Other commands at Richmond and Petersburg were visited, and so our crew of 300 was made up. They proved themselves to be as gallant and trusty a body of men as any one would wish to command, not only in battle, but in reverse and retreat. Notwithstanding every exertion to hasten the fitting out of the ship, the work during the winter progressed but The First Fight of Iron-Clads 89 slowly, owing to delay in sending the iron sheathing from Richmond. At this time the only establishment in the South capable of rolling iron plates was the Tredegar foundry. Its re- sources were limited, and the demand for all kinds of war material most pressing. And when we reflect upon the scarcity and inexperience of the workmen, and the great changes nec- essary in transforming an ordinary iron workshop into an arsenal in Hampton Roads, which all the machinery and tools had to be improvised, it is astonishing that so much was accomplished. The un- finished state of the vessel interfered so with the drills and exercises that we had but little opportunity of getting things into shape. It should be remembered that the ship was an experiment in naval architecture, differing in every respect from any then afloat. The officers and the crew were strangers to the ship and to each other. Up to the hour of sailing she was crowded with workmen. Not a gim had been fired, hardly a revolution of the engines had been made, when we cast off from the dock and started on what many thought was an ordinary trial trip, but which proved to be a trial such as no vessel that ever floated had undergone up to that time. From the start we saw that she was slow, not over five knots ; she steered so badly that, with her great length, it took from thirty to forty minutes to turn. She drew twenty-two feet, which confined us to a comparatively narrow channel in the Roads ; and, as I have before said, the engines were our weak point. She was as unmanageable as a water-logged vessel. It was at noort on the 8th of March that we steamed 90 The Civil War down the Elizabeth River. Passing by our batteries, lined with troops, who cheered us as we passed, and through the obstructions at Craney Island, we took the south chan- nel and headed for Newport News. At anchor at this time off Fort Monroe -were the frigates Minnesota, Roanoke, and St. Lazvrence, and several gun-boats. The first two were sister ships of the Virginia before the w^ar; the last was a sailing frigate of fifty guns. Off Newport News, seven miles above, which was strongly fortified and held by a large Federal garrison, were anchored the frigate Congress, 50 guns, and the sloop Cumberland, 30. The day was calm, and the last two ships were swinging lazily by their anchors. The tide was at its height about 1.40 p. M. Boats were hanging to the lower booms, washed clothes in the rigging. Nothing indicated that we were expected; but when we came within three-quarters of a mile, the boats were dropped astern, booms got alongside, and the Cumberland opened with her heavy pivots, fol- lowed by the Congress, the gun-boats, and the shore bat- teries. We reserved our fire until within easy range, when the forward pivot was pointed and fired by Lieutenant Charles Simms, killing and wounding most of the crew of the after pivot-gun of the Cumberland. Passing close to the Con- gress, which received our starboard broadside, and returned it with spirit, we steered direct for the Ctimberland, strik- ing her almost at right angles, under the fore-rigging on the starboard side. The blow was hardly perceptible on board the Virginia. Backing clear of her, we went ahead again, heading up the river, helm hard-a-starboard, and turned slowly. As we did so, for the first time I had an opportunity of using the after-pivot, of which I had charge. The First Fight of Iron-Clads 91 As we swung, the Congress came in range, nearly stern on, and we got in three raking shells. She had slipped her anchor, loosed her foretop-sail, run up the jib, and tried to escape, but grounded. Turning, we headed for her and took a position within two hundred yards, where every shot told. In the meantime the Cumberland continued the fight, though our ram had opened her side wide enough to drive in a horse and cart. Soon she listed to port and filled rapidly. The crew were driven by the advancing water to the spar-deck, and there worked her pivot-guns until she went down with a roar, the colors still flying. No ship was ever fought more gallantly. The Congress continued the unequal contest for more than an hour after the sinking of the Cnnihcrland. Her losses were terrible, and finally she ran up the white flag. It was now 5 o'clock, nearly two hours of daylight, and the Minnesota only remained. She was aground and at our mercy. But the pilots would not attempt the middle channel with the ebb tide and approaching night. So we returned by the south channel to Sewell's Point and an- chored, the Minnesota escaping, as we thought, only until morning. Our loss in killed and wounded was twenty-one. The armor was hardly damaged, though at one time our ship was the focus on which were directed at least one hundred heavy guns, afloat and ashore. But nothing outside escaped. Two guns were disabled by having their muzzles shot off. The ram was left in the side of the Cumberland. One anchor, the smoke-stack, and the steam-pipes were shot away. Railings, stanchions, boat-davits, everything was swept clean. The flag-staff was repeatedly knocked over, and finally a boarding-pike was used. Commodore Bu- 92 The Civil War chanan and the other wounded were sent to the Naval Hos- pital, and after making preparations for the next day's fight, we slept at our guns, dreaming of other victories in the morning. But at daybreak we discovered, lying between us and the Minnesota, a strange-looking craft, which we knew at once to be Ericsson's Monitor, which had long been expected in ga::.v^....^.^-,-:ia'TWiiilinaaitgiiiBiSis The Mcrriinac driving the Congress from her anchorage. Hampton Roads, and of which, from different sources, we had a good idea. She could not possibly have made her appearance at a more inopportune time for us, changing our plans, which were to destroy the Minnesota, and then the remainder of the fleet below Fort Monroe. She ap- peared but a pigmy compared with the lofty frigate which she guarded. But in her size was one great element of her success. The First Fight of Iron-Clads 93 After an early breakfast, we got under way and steamed out toward the enemy, opening fire from our bow pivot, and closing in to deliver our starboard broadside at short range, which was returned promptly from her 11 -inch guns. Both vessels then turned and passed again still closer. The Monitor was firing every seven or eight minutes, and nearly every shot struck. Our ship was working worse and worse, and after the loss of the smoke-stack, Mr, Ramsey, chief engineer, reported that the draft w-as so poor that it was with great difiiculty he could keep up steam. Once or twice the ship was on the bottom. Drawing 22 feet of water, we were confined to a narrow channel, while the Monitor, with only 12 feet immersion, could take any po- sition, and always have us in range of her guns. Orders were given to concentrate our fire on the pilot-house, and with good result, as we afterward learned. More than two hours had passed, and we had made no impression on the enemy so far as we could discover, while our wounds were slight. Several times the Monitor ceased firing, and we were in hopes she was disabled, but the revolution again of her turret and the heavy blows of her ii-inch shot on our sides soon undeceived us. Coming down from the spar-deck, and observing a divi- sion standing " at ease," Lieutenant Jones inquired : " Why are you not firing, Mr. Eggleston ? " " Why, our powder is very precious," replied the lieu- tenant; "and after two hours' incessant firing I find that I can do her about as much damage by snapping my thumb at her every two minutes and a half." Lieutenant Jones determined to run her down or board her. For nearly an hour we manceuvered for a position. Now "Go ahead!" now "Stop!" now "Astern!" The 94 The Civil War ship was as unwieldy as Noah's ark. At last an opportunity offered. "Go ahead, full speed!" But before the ship gathered headway, the Monitor turned, and our disabled ram only gave a glancing blow, effecting nothing. Again she came up on our quarter, her bow against our side, and at this distance fired twice. Both shots struck about half- way up the shield, abreast of the after pivot, and the im- pact forced the side in bodily two or three inches. All the crews of the after guns were knocked over by the con- cussion and bled from the nose or ears. Another shot at the same place would have penetrated. While alongside, boarders were called away; but she dropped astern before they could get on board. And so, for six or more hours, the struggle was kept up. At length, the Monitor with- drew over the middle ground where we could not follow, but always maintaining a position to protect the Minnesota. To have run our ship ashore on a falling tide would have been ruin. We awaited her return for an hour; and at 2 o'clock p. M. steamed to Sewell's Point, and thence to the dockyard at Norfolk, our crew thoroughly worn out from the two days' fight. Although there is no doubt that the Monitor first retired — for Captain Van Brunt, com- manding the Minnesota, so states in his official report — the battle was a drawn one, so far as the two vessels engaged were concerned. But in its general results the advantage was with the Monitor. Our casualties in the second day's fight were only a few wounded. This action demonstrated for the first time the power and efficiency of the ram as a means of offense. The side of the Cnmberland was crushed like an egg-shell. The Congress and Minnesota, even with our disabled bow, would The First Fight of Iron-Clads 95 have shared the same fate but that we could not reach them on account of our great draft. It also showed the power of resistance of two iron-clads, widely differing in construction, model, and armament, under a fire which in a short time would have sunk any other vessel then afloat. The Monitor was well handled, and saved the Minnesota The cxp 111 llic hurniiig Congress. and the remainder of the fleet at Fort Monroe. But her gunnery was poor. Not a single shot struck us at the water-line, where the ship was utterly unprotected and where one would have been fatal. Or had the fire been concentrated on any one spot, the shield would have been pierced ; or had larger charges been used, the result would have been the same. Most of her shot struck us obliquely, breaking the iron of both courses, but not injuring the 96 The Civil War wood backing. When struck at right angles, the backing would be broken, but not penetrated. We had no solid projectiles, except a few of large windage, to be used as hot shot, and, of course, made no impression on the turret. But in all this it should be borne in mind tliat both vessels were on their trial trip, both experimental, and both were re- ceiving their baptism of fire. The news of our victory was received everywhere in the South with the most enthusiastic rejoicing. Coming, as it did, after a number of disasters in the south and west, Arrival of the Monitor at Hampton Roads. it was particularly grateful. Then again, under the cir- cumstances, so little' was expected from the navy that this success was entirely unlooked for. So, from one extreme to the other, the most extravagant anticipations were formed of what the ship could do. For instance : the blockade could be raised, Washington leveled to the ground, New York laid under contribution, and so on. At the North, equally groundless alarm was felt. As an example of this. Sec- retary Welles relates what took place at a Cabinet meeting called by Mr. Lincoln on the receipt of the news. " ' The Merrimac' said Stanton, ' will change the wliole character The First Fight of Iron-Clads 97 of the war; she will destroy, seriatim, every naval vessel; she will lay all the cities on the seaboard under contribu- tion. I shall immediately recall Burnside ; Port Royal must be abandoned. I will notify the governors and municipal authorities in the North to take instant measure to protect their harbors.' He had no doubt, he said, that the mon- ster was at this moment on her way to Washington; and, looking out of the window, which commanded a view of the Potomac for many miles, ' Not unlikely, we. shall have a shell or cannon-ball from one of her guns in the White House before we leave this room.' Mr. Seward, usuall_y buoyant and self-reliant, overwhelmed with the intelligence, listened in responsive sympathy to Stanton, and was greatly depressed, as, indeed, were all the members." THE OPENING OF THE LOWER MISSISSIPPI By David D. Porter, Admiral, U. S. N. The most important event of the War of the RebelHon, with the exception of the fall of Richmond, was the cap- ture of New Orleans and the forts Jackson and St. Philip, guarding the approach to that city. To appreciate the na- ture of this victory, it is necessary to have been an actor in it, and to be able to comprehend not only the immediate results to the Union cause, but the whole bearing of the fall of New Orleans on the Civil War, which at that time had attained its most formidable proportions. Previous to fitting out the expedition against New Or- leans, there were eleven Southern States in open rebellion against the Government of the United States, or, as it was termed by the Southern people, in a state of secession. Their harbors were all more or less closed against our ships-of-war, either by the heavy forts built originally by the General Government for their protection, or by tor- pedoes and sunken vessels. Through four of the seceding States ran the great river Mississippi, and both of its banks, from Memphis to its mouth, were lined with powerful bat- teries. On the west side of the river were three important States, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, with their great tributaries to the Mississippi, — the White, the Arkansas, and the Red, — which were in a great measure secure from the attacks of the Union forces. These States could not only raise half a million soldiers, but could furnish the Opening of the Lower Mississippi 99 Confederacy with provisions of all kinds, and cotton enough to supply the Rebel Government with the sinews of war. New Orleans was the largest Southern city, and contained all the resources of modern warfare, having great workshops where machinery of the most powerful kind could be built, and having artisans capable of building ships in wood or iron, casting heavy guns, or making small arms. The peo- ple of the city were in no way behind the most zealous se- Farragut's flagship, the Hartford. cessionists in energy of purpose and in hostility to the Gov- ernment of the United States. The Mississippi is thus seen to have been the backbone of the Rebellion, which it should have been the first duty of the Federal Government to break. At the very outset of the war it should have been attacked at both ends at the same time, before the Confederates had time to fortify its banks or to turn the guns in the Government forts against the Union forces. A dozen improvised gun-boats would have held the entire length of the river if they had been sent there in time. The efficient fleet with which Du Pont, in November, 1861, attacked and captured the works at 100 The Civil War Port Royal could at that time have steamed up to New Orleans and captured the city without difficulty. Any three vessels could have passed Forts Jackson and St. Philip a month after the commencement of the war, and could have gone on to Cairo, if necessary, without any trouble. But the Federal Government neglected to ap- proach the mouth of the Mississippi until a year after hos- tilities had commenced, except to blockade. The Confeder- ates made good use of this interval, putting forth all their resources and fortifying not only the approaches to New Orleans, but both banks of the river as far north as Mem- phis. I gave Secretary Welles in as few words as possible my opinion on the importance of capturing New Orleans, and my plan for doing so. Mr. Welles listened to me at- tentively, and when I had finished what I had to say he remarked that the matter should be laid before the Presi- dent at once; and we all went forthwith to the Executive Mansion, where we were received by Mr. Lincoln. My plan, which I then stated, was as folldXvs : To fit out a fleet of vessels-of-war with which to attack the city, fast steamers drawing not more than i8 feet of water, and carrying about 250 heavy guns; also flotilla of mortar-ves- sels, to be used in case, it should be necessary to bombard Forts Jackson and St. Philip before the fleet should attempt to pass them. I also proposed that a body of troops should be sent along in transports to take possession of the city after it had surrendered to the navy. When I had outlined the proposed movement the President re- marked : " This should have been done sooner. The Mississippi is the backbone of the Rebellion; it is the key to the whole sit- Opening of the Lower Mississippi loi uation. While the Confederates hold it they can obtain sui> plies of all kinds, and it is a barrier against our forces. Come, let us go and see General McClellan." At that time General McClellan commanded all of the military forces, and was in the zenith of his power. He held the confidence of the President and the country, and was engaged in organizing a large army with which to guarantee the safety of the Federal seat of Government, and to march upon Richmond. Our party was now joined by Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, and we proceeded to McClellan's headquarters, where we found that officer diligently engaged in the duties of his responsible position. He came to meet the President with that cheery manner which always distinguished him, and, seeing me, shook me warmly by the hand. We had known each other for some years, and I always had the highest opinion of his military abilities. *' Oh," said the President, " you two know each other ! Then half the work is done." He then explained to the general the object of his calling at that time, saying: " This is a most important expedition. What troops can you spare to accompany it and take possession of New Or- leans after the navy has effected its capture ? It is not only necessary to have troops enough to hold New Orleans, but we must be able to proceed at once toward Vicksburg, which is the key to all that country watered by the Mis- sissippi and its tributaries. If the Confederates once for- tify the neighboring hills, they will, be able to hold that point for an indefinite time, and it will recjuire a large force to dislodge them." In all his remarks the President showed a remarkable 102 The Civil War familiarity with the state of affairs. Before leaving us, he said : " We will leave this matter in the hands of you two gen- tlemen. Make your plans, and let me have your report as soon as possible." General McClellan and myself were then left to talk the matter over and draw up the plan of operations. With a man of McClellan's energy, it did not take long to come to a conclusion ; and, although he had some difficulty in finding a sufficient number of troops without interfering with other important projects, he settled the matter in two days, and reported that his men would be ready to embark on the 15th of January, 1862. The plan of the campaign submitted to the President was as follows : A naval expedition was to be fitted out, com- posed of vessels mounting not fewer than two hundred guns, with a powerful mortar-flotilla, and with steam trans- ports to keep the fleet supplied. The army was to furnish 20,000 troops, not only for the purpose of occupying New Orleans after its capture, but to fortify and hold the heights about Vicksburg. The navy and army were to push on up the river as soon as New Orleans was occupied by our troops, and call upon the authorities of Vicksburg to surrender. Orders were to be issued to Flag-Officer Foote, who commanded the iron-clad fleet on the upper Mississippi, to join the fleet above Vicksburg with his vessels and mor- tar-boats. The above plans were all approved by the President, and the Navy Department immediately set to work to prepare the naval part of the expedition, while General McClellan prepared the military part. By the latter part of January the mortar-flotilla got off. Opening of the Lower Mississippi 103 In addition to the schooners, it included seven steamers (which were necessary to move the vessels about in the Mississippi River) and a store-ship. Seven hundred picked men were enlisted, and twenty-one officers were se- lected from the merchant marine to command the mortar- schooners. An important duty now developed on the Secretary of the Navy, viz., the selection of an officer to command the whole expedition. Mr. Fox and myself had often discussed the matter. He had had in his mind several officers of high standing and unimpeachable loyalty; but, as I knew the officers of the navy better than he did, my advice was listened to, and the selection fell upon Captain David Glas- gow Farragut. I had known Farragut ever since I was five years old. He stood high in the navy as an officer and seaman, and possessed such undoubted courage and energy that no pos- sible objection could be made to him. On the first sign of war Farragut, though a Southerner by birth and resi- dence, had shown his loyalty in an outspoken manner. I found him, as I had expected, loyal to the utmost extent ; and, although he did not at that time know the destination of the expedition, he authorized me to accept for him the Secretary's offer, and I telegraphed the department: " Farragut accepts the command, as I was sure he would." In consequence of this answer he was called to Wash- ington, and on the 20th of January, 1862, he received orders to command the expedition against New Orleans. In the orders are included these passages : " There will be at- tached to your squadron a fleet of bomb-vessels, and armed steamers enough to manage them, all under command of Commander D. D. Porter, who will be directed to report 104 ^^^ Civil War to you. As fast as these vessels are got ready they will be sent to Key West to await the arrival of all and the commanding officers, who will be permitted to organize and practise with them at that port. " When these formidable mortars arrive, and you are completely ready, you will collect such vessels as can be spared from the blockade, and proceed up the Mississippi River, and reduce the defenses which guard the approaches to New Orleans, when you will a])pear off that city and take possession of it under the guns of your sfiuadron, and hoist the American flag therein, keeping possession until troops can be sent to you. If the Mississippi expedition from Cairo shall not have descended the river, you will take advantage of the j^anic to push a strong force up the river to take all their defenses in the rear." As soon as possible Farragut proceeded to his station and took command of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron. In the meantime the Confederates had not been idle. They had been made acquainted early with the destination of the expedition, and had put forth all their energies in strength- ening Forts Jackson and St. Philip, obstructing the river, and preparing a naval force with which to meet the in- vaders. The ram Manassas was finished and placed in commission, and the iron-clad Louisiana, mounting six- teen heavy guns and heavily armored, was hurried toward completion. Besides these vessels there was another pow- erful iron-clad, building at New Orleans, which was ex- pected to sweep the whole Southern coast clear of Union vessels. Two iron-clad rams, the Arkansas and Tennessee, were building at Memphis, and several other iron-clad ves- sels were under construction at different points on the tribu- taries. Opening of the Lower Mississippi lo^ This energy and foretlioui^ht displayed by the Sonth seems marvelous when compared with what was done by the North during the same period of time; for among- all the ships that were sent to Farragut there was not one whose sides could resist a twelve-pound shot. Considering the great resources of the Northern States, this stipineness Bird's-cyc view of the passage of the forts below New Orleans, April 24, 1862. The second division in action, 4: 15 A. M. of the Government ap|)ears inexcusable. Up to the time of the sailing of the expedition, only three iron-clads, the Mon- itor, Calcna, and Nciv Ironsides, had been commenced, in addition to the gun-boats on the Upi)er Mississippi; and it was only after the encounter of the Monitor with the Mer- rimac that it was seen how useful vessels of this class would be for the attack of New Orleans, particularly in contending with the forts on the 1)rmks of the Mississippi. The Confederates liad lost no time in strengthening their io6 The Civil War defenses. They had been working night and day ever since the expedition was planned by the Federal Government. Forts Jackson and St. Philip were strong defenses, the former on the west and the latter on the east bank of the Mississippi. Each of the forts held a garrison of about 700 men, some of whom were from the Northern States, besides many foreigners (Germans or Irish). The Confederate fleet mounted, all told, 40 guns, of which 25 were 32-pounders, and one-fourth of them rifled. It is thus seen that our wooden vessels, which passed the forts carrying 192 guns, had arrayed against them 126 guns in strongly built works, and 40 guns on board of partly armored vessels. Having finished the preliminary work, on the i6th of April Farragut moved up with his fleet to within three miles of the forts, and informed me that I might commence the bombardment as soon as I was ready. The vessels now being in position, the signal was given to open fire; and on the morning of the i8th of April the bombardment fairly commenced, each mortar-vessel having orders to fire once in ten minutes. The moment that the mortars belched forth their shells, both Jackson and St. Philip replied with great fury; but it was some time before they could obtain our range, as we were well concealed behind our natural rampart. The en- emy's fire was rapid, and, finding that it was becoming rather hot, I sent Lieutenant Guest up to the head of the line to open fire on the forts with his 11 -inch pivot. This position he maintained for one hour and fifty minutes, and only abandoned it to fill up with ammunition. In the mean- time the mortars on the left bank (Queen's division) were Opening of the Lower Mississippi 107 doing splendid work, though suffering considerably from the enemy's fire. I went on board the vessels of this division to see how they were getting on, and found them so cut up that I con- sidered it necessary to remove them, with Farragut's per- mission, to the opposite shore, under cover of the trees, near the other vessels, which had suffered but little. They held their position, however, until sundown, when the enemy ceased firing. At 5 o'clock in the evening Fort Jackson was seen to be on fire, and, as the flames spread rapidly, the Confederates soon left their guns. There were many conjectures among the officers of the fleet as to what was burning. Some thought that it was a fire-raft, and I was inclined to that opinion myself until I had pulled up the river in a boat and, by the aid of a night-glass, convinced myself that the fort itself was in flames. This fact I at once reported to Far- ragut. At nightfall the crews of the mortar-vessels were com- pletely exhausted; but when it became known that every shell was falling inside of the fort, they redoubled their exertions and increased the rapidity of their fire to a shell every five minutes, or in all two hundred and forty shells an hour. During the night, in order to allow the men to rest, we slackened our fire, and only sent a shell once every half hour. Thus ended the first day's bombardment, which was more effective than that of any other day during the siege. Next morning the bombardment was renewed and con- tinued night and day until the end. Bailey's division may be said to have swept everything befort it. The Pcnsacola, with her heavy batteries, drove io8 The Civil War Explosion of the Confederate ram Louisiana. the men from the guns at Fort St. Phihp, and made it easier for the ships astern to get by. Fort St. Phihp had not been at all damaged by the mortars, as it was virtually beyond their reach, and it was from the guns of that work that our ships received the greatest injury. As most of the vessels of Bailey's division swept past the turn above the forts, Farragut came upon the scene with the Hartford and Brooklyn. The other ship of Farragut's division, the RicJunond, Commander James Alden, got out of the line and passed up on the west side of the river, near where I was engaged with the mortar-steamers in silencing the water-batteries of Fort Jackson. At this moment the Confederates in Fort Jackson had nearly all been driven from their guns by bombs from the mortar-boats and the grape and canister from the steamers. I hailed Alden, and told him to pass close to the fort and in the eddy, and he would receive little damage. He followed this advice, and passed by very comfortably. opening of the Lower Mississippi 109 By this time the river had been illuminated by two fire- rafts, and everything could be seen as by the light of day. I could see every ship and gun-boat as she passed up as plainly as possible, and noted all their positions. When our large ships had passed the forts, the affair was virtually over. Had they all been near tlie head of the col- umn, the enemy would have been crushed at once, and the flag-ship would have passed up almost unhurt. As it was, the Hartford was more exposed and imperiled than any of her consorts, and that at a time when, if anything had hap- pened to the commander-in-chief, the fleet would have been thrown into confusion. I had an excellent opportunity of witnessing the move- ments of Farragut's fleet. By the aid of powerful night- glasses, I could almost distinguish persons on the vessels. The whole scene looked like a beautiful pan- orama. From almost perfect silence — the steamers mov- ing slowly through the water like ])hantom ships — '^^^i^J- /3^ • The Confederate "River Defense" ram Stonewall Jackson. one incessant roar of heavy cannon commenced, the Confederate forts and gun-boats opening together on the head of our line as it came within range. The Union vessels returned the fire as they came up, and soon 110 The Civil War the guns of our fleet joined in the thunder, which seemed to shake the very earth. A kirid glare was thrown over the scene by the burning rafts, and, as the bomb-shells crossed each other and exploded in the air, it seemed as if a battle were taking place in the heavens as well as on the earth. It all ended as suddenly as it had commenced. In one hour and ten minutes after the vessels of the fleet had weighed anchor, the affair was virtually over, and Farragut was pushing on toward New Orleans, where he was soon to crush the last hope of Rebellion in that quarter by opening the way for the advance of the Union army. At noon of the 25th instant I sent Lieutenant-Command- ing Guest with a flag of truce to Fort Jackson, to call on the commanding officer to surrender the two forts and what was left of the Confederate navy into the possession of the United States, telling him that it was useless to have any more bloodshed, as Farragut had passed up the river with very little damage to his fleet, and was now probably in possession of New Orleans. I also took advantage of the occasion to compliment the enemy on his gallant resist- ance, and further to inform him that, if his answer was unfavorable, I would renew the bombardment. General Duncan sent me a very civil reply, but declined to surrender until he should hear from New Orleans ; whereupon I im- mediately opened a very rapid fire on Fort Jackson with all the mortars, and with such good effect that a mutiny soon broke out among the Confederate gunners, many of whom, refusing to stay in the fort and be slaughtered uselessly, left their posts and went up the bank out of range of our shell. Those who remained declined to fight any longer. They had borne without flinching a terrible bombardment, and their officers had exposed themselves throughout the Opening of the Lower Mississippi in trying ordeal with great courage ; but it was now the opin- ion of all that the fort should be surrendered without fur- ther loss of life. The mortars kept up their fire until late in the evening, when their bomb-shells were all expended. On the 26th instant I ordered the schooners to get under way, proceed to Pilot Town, and fill up with ammunition. Six of them were ordered to cross the bar and proceed to the rear of Fort Jackson, and be ready to open fire when signaled. In the meantime we kept an eye upon the Louisiana and the Confederate gun-boats. On the 27th instant five mor- tar-vessels appeared in the rear of Fort Jackson, and the U. S. steamer Miami commenced landing troops close to Fort St. Philip. The garrison of Jackson was still muti- nous, refusing to do duty, and General Duncan at midnight of the 28th sent an officer on board the Harriet Lane to inform me of his readiness to capitulate. On the follow- ing day I proceeded with nine gun-boats up to Fort Jack- son, under a flag of truce, and upon arrival sent a boat for the commanding officer of the river defenses, and such others as he might think proper to bring with him. I received these officers at the gangway, and treated them as brave men who had defended their trusts with a courage worthy of all praise ; and though I knew that they felt mor- tified at having to surrender to what they must have known was in some respects an inferior force, their bearing was that of men who had gained a victory, instead of undergo- ing defeat. Farragut's vessels were only struck twenty-three times in their hulls by shots from Fort Jackson, while they received their great damage from Fort St. Philip, as appears from the official reports. This shows how difficult it was for 112 The Civil War the Confederate gunners in the former work to fight while enduring the terrible pounding of the mortars. There can be no doubt that their fire prevented a greater loss of life in the Federal fleet and materially assisted toward the final result. Our total loss in the fleet was — killed, 37 ; wounded, 147. The ships which suffered most were the Pensacola, 37; Brooklyn, 35; and Iroquois, 28. When the sun rose on the Federal fleet the morning after the fight, it shone on smiling faces, even among those who were suffering from their wo'unds. Farragut received the congratulations of his officers with the same imperturbability that he had exhibited all through the eventful battle; and while he showed great feeling for those of his men who had been killed or wounded, he did not waste time in vain re- grets, but made the signal, " Push on to New Orleans." The fact that he had won imperishable fame did not seem to occur to him, so intent were his thoughts on following up his great victory to the end. long THE PENINSULAR CAMPAIGN By George B. McClellan, Major-General, U. S. A. From a small assemblage of unorganized citizens, utterly ignorant of war and almost of the use of arms, was evolved that mighty Army of the Potomac, which, unshaken alike in victory and defeat, during a series of arduous campaigns against an army most ably com- manded and the equal in heroism of any that ever met the shock of battle, proved itself worthy to bear on its bayonets the honor and fate of the nation. In July, 1 86 1, after having secured solidly for the Union Headquarter's flag, Army of that part of Western Virginia the Potomac. .t r ,-i tt- i i i. north of the ivanawiia and west of the mountains, I was suddenly called to Washington on the day succeeding the first battle of Bull Run. Reaching the capital on the 26th, I found myself assigned to the com- mand of that city and of the troops gathered around it. All was chaos and despondency; the city was filled with intoxicated stragglers, and an attack was expected. The troops numbered less than fifty thousand, many of whom were so demoralized and undisciplined that they could not be relied upon even for defensive purposes. Moreover, the 8 113 114 The Civil War term of service of a large part had already expired, or was on the point of doing so. On the Maryland side of the Potomac no troops were posted on the roads leading into the city, nor were there any intrenchments. On the Vir- ginia side the condition of affairs was better in these re- spects, but far from satisfactory. Sufficient and fit ma- terial of war did not exist. The situation was difficult and fraught with danger. The first and most pressing demand was the immediate safety of the capital and the Government. This was se- cured by enforcing the most rigid discipline, by organizing permanent brigades under regular officers, and by placing the troops in good defensive positions, far enough to the front to afford room for manoeuvering and to enable the brigades to support each other. The contingency of the enemy's crossing the Potomac above the city was foreseen and promptly provided for. Had he attempted this " about three months after the bat- tle of Manassas," he would, upon reaching " the rear of Washington," have found it covered by respectable works, amply garrisoned, with a sufficient disposable force to move upon his rear and force him to " a decisive engagement." It would have been the greatest possible good fortune for us if he had made this movement at the time in question, or even some weeks earlier. It was only for a very few days after the battle of Bull Run that the movement was prac- ticable, and every day added to its difficulty. Two things were at once clear : first, that a large and thoroughly organized army was necessary to bring war to a successful conclusion; second, that Washington must be so strongly fortified as to set at rest any reasonable appre- The Peninsular Campaign 115 hensions of its being carried by a sudden attack, in order that the active army might be free to move with the maxi- mum strength and on any Hue of operations without regard to the safety of the capital. These two herculean tasks were entered upon without de- lay or hesitation. They were carried to a successful con- clusion, without regard to that impatient and unceasing clamor — inevitable among a people unaccustomed to war — which finally forced the hand of the general charged with their execution. He regarded their completion as es- sential to the salvation of his country, and determined to ac- complish them, even if sacrificed in the endeavor. Nor has he, even at this distant day, and after much bitter experience, any regret that he persisted in his determination. Washington was surrounded by a line of strong detached works, Old bridge across J .^, . ^-,1 J Chickahominy. armed with garrison artillery, and secure against assault. Intermediate points were occupied by smaller works, battery epaulements, infantry intrench- ments, etc. The result was a line of defenses which could easily be held by a comparatively small garrison against any assault, and could be reduced only by the slow opera- tions of a regular siege, requiring much time and material, and affording full opportunity to bring all the resources of the country to its relief. At no time during the war was the enemy able to undertake the siege of Washington, nor, if respectably garrisoned, could it ever have been in danger from an assault. The maximum garrison necessary to hold ii6 The Civil War the place against a siege from any and every quarter was 34,000 troops, with 40 field-guns ; this included the requisite reserves. With regard to the formation of the Army of the Po- tomac, it must suffice to say that everything was to be created from the very foundation. Raw men and officers were to be disciplined and instructed. The regular army was too small to furnish more than a portion of the general officers, and a very small portion of the staff, so that the staff-departments and staff-officers were to be fashioned mainly out of the intelligent and enthusiastic, but perfectly Fort Monroe — Parade of 3rd Pennsylvania Artillery. raw, material furnished. Artillery, small-arms, and am- munition were to be fabricated, or purchased from abroad ; wagons, ambulances, bridge trains, camp equipage, hospital stores, and all the vast impedimenta and material indispen- sable for an army in the field, were to be manufactured. So great was the difficulty of procuring small-arms that the armament of the infantry was not satisfactorily completed until the winter, and a large part of the field-batteries were not ready for service until the spring of 1862. As soon as possible divisions were organized, the formation being es- sentially completed in November. On the ist of November,. upon the retirement of General The Peninsular Campaign 117 Winfield Scott, I succeeded to the command of all the ar- mies, except the Department of Virginia, which comprised the country within sixty miles of Fort Monroe. Upon assuming the general command, I found that the West was far behind the East in its state of preparation, and much of my time and large quantities of material were consumed in pushing the organization of the Western armies. Mean- while the various coast expeditions were employed in seiz- ing important points of the enemy's seaboard, to facilitate the prevention of blockade-running, and to cut or threaten the lines of communication near the coast, with reference to subsequent operations. The plan of campaign which I adopted for the spring of 1862 was to push forward the armies of Generals Halleck and Buell to occupy Memphis, Nashville, and Knoxville, and the line of the Memphis and Danville Railroad, so as to deprive the enemy of that important line, and force him to adopt the circuitous routes by Augusta, Branchville, and Charleston. It was also intended to seize Washington, North Carolina, at the earliest practicable moment, and to open the Mississippi by affecting a junction between Gen- erals Halleck and Butler. This movement of the Western armies was to be followed by that of the Army of the Po- tomac from Urbana, on the lower Rappahannock, to West Point and Richmond, intending, if we failed to gain Rich- mond by a rapid march, to cross the James and attack the city in rear, with the James as a line of supply. [The author, in his paper, then describes the campaign as it subsequently took place; the preparation for the cap- ture of Yorktown, the battle of Fair Oaks and other fight- ing including the seven days' battle near Richmond. In this the Confederates checked the Union army and saved ii8 The Civil War their capital, so that the Peninsular Campaign cannot be called a success for the Union side. Concluding his paper General McClellan says:] No praise can be too great for the officers and men who passed through these seven days of battle, enduring fatigue without a murmur, successfully meeting and repelling every attack made upon them, always in the right place at the right time, and emerging from the fiery ordeal a compact army of veterans, equal to any task that brave and disci- plined men can be called upon to undertake. They needed now only a few days of well-earned repose, a renewal of ammunition and supplies, and reinforcements to fill the gaps made in their ranks by so many desperate encounters, to be prepared to advance again, with entire confidence, to meet their worthy antagonists in other battles. It was, however, decided by the authorities at Washington, against View of Alexandria in 1861. The Peninsular Campaign 119 Fortress Monroe. Richmond. Washington. Bird's-eye view of the scene of the Peninsular Campaign. The city of Washington lies nearly in the center of the picture — the dark spot on the broadest part of the river (the Potomac) in the foreground. The next river is the Rappahannock, the next the York, and the last the James. All these rivers flow into Cheasapeake Bay. Richmond is the dark spot on the James River, almost due south from Washington. The " Peninsula " is the land between the York and the James rivers. McClellan, starting from Fortress Monroe, moved his army up the Peninsula toward Richmond. my earnest remonstrances, to abandon the position on the James, and the campaign. The Army of the Potomac was accordingly withdrawn, and it was not until two years later that it again found itself under its last commander at sub- stantially the same point on the bank of the James. It was as evident in 1862 as in 1865 that there was the true de- fense of Washington, and that it w^as on the banks of the James that the fate of the Union was to be decided. STONEWALL JACKSON IN THE SHENANDOAH By- John D. Imboden, Brigadier-General, C. S. A. Soon after the battle of Bull Run Stonewall Jackson was promoted to major-general, and the Confederate Government having on the 21st of Oc- tober, 1 86 1, organized the Department of Northern Virginia, under command of General Joseph E. Johnston, it was Stonewall Jackson's divided into the Valley District, the Po- tomac District, and Aquia District, to be commanded respectively by Major-Generals Jackson, Beau- regard, and Holmes. On October 28th General Johnston ordered Jackson to Winchester to assume command of his district, and on the 6th of November the War Department ordered his old " Stonewall " brigade and 6,000 troops under command of Brigadier-General W. W. Loring to report to him. These, together with Turner Ashby's cavalry, gave him a force of about ten thousand men all told. In March Johnston withdrew from Manassas, and Gen- eral McClellan collected his army of more than one hundred thousand men on the Peninsula. Johnston moved south to confront him. McClellan had planned and organized a masterly movement to capture, hold, and occupy the Valley and the Piedmont region; and if his subordinates had been equal to the task, and there had been no interference from Jackson in the Shenandoah 121 Washington, it is probable the Confederate army would have been driven out of Virginia and Richmond captured by midsummer, 1862. Jackson's little army in the Valley had been greatly re- duced during the winter from various causes, so that at the beginning of March he did not have over 5,000 men of all arms available for the defense of his district, which began to swarm with enemies all around its borders, aggregating more than ten times its own strength. Having retired up the Valley, he learned that the enemy had begun to withdraw and send troops to the east of the moun- tains to co-operate with McClellan. This he re- solved to stop by an aggressive demonstration against Winchester, occupied by General Shields, of the Federal army, with a division of 8,000 to 10,000 men. , ^ ^ , . 1- 1 r 1 • 1 -^ Confed- A little after the middle of March, Jackson con- erate of centrated what troops he could, and on the 23d he ^ ^' occupied a ridge at the hamlet of Kernstown, four miles south of Winchester. Shields promptly attacked him, and a severe engagement of several hours ensued, ending in Jackson's repulse about dark, followed by an orderly retreat up the Valley to near Swift Run Gap in Rockingham county. The pursuit was not vigorous nor persistent. Although Jackson retired before superior numbers he had given a taste of his fighting qualities that stopped the withdrawal of the enemy's troops from the Valley. The result was so pleasing to the Richmond government and General Johnston that it was decided to reinforce Jackson by sending General E well's division to him at Swift Run Gap, which reached him about the ist of May, thus 122 The Civil War giving Jackson an aggregate force of ooo men to open his campaign with. Map of the Battle of McDowell. By Major Jed. Hotchkiss, Topographical Engineer Val- ley District Army of Northern Virginia. The Confederate commands (indicated by white bars) of Generals Edward Johnson and W. 15. Taliaferro were posted on Setlington's Hill in the following order, beginning on the left: 52d, loth, s8th, 31st, and 23d Virginia; ijith Georgia; 37th Virginia. General Milroy's troops (indicated by black bars) moved from the valley of the Bull Pasture River against t'le Confederate position, and were engaged from right to left, as follows: 2Sth, 75th, 326, and 8jd Ohio, and 3d W. Virginia, with Johnson's utli Ohio battery on Hall's Ridge, the extreme left. The attack oi)ened on the Union right and ended with a flank movement by the regiments on the left. from 13,000 to 15,- Early in May Jackson was near Port RepubHc con- templating his sur- roundings and ma- turing his plans. What these latter were no one but himself knew. Suddenly the ap- palling news spread through the Valley that he had fled to the east side of the Blue Ridge through Brown's and Swift Run Gaps. Only Ashby remained be- hind with about one thousand cav- alry, scattered and moving day and night in the vicin- ity of McDowell. Franklin, Stras- burg, Front Royal, and Luray, and re- porting to Jackson every movement of the enemy. De- Jackson in the Shenandoah 123 spair was fast settling upon the minds of the people of the Valley. Jackson made no concealment of his flight, the news of which soon reached his enemies. Milroy advanced two regiments to the top of the Shenandoah Mountain, only twenty-two miles from Staunton, and was preparing to move his entire force to Staunton, to be followed by Fre- mont. Jackson had collected, from Charlottesville and other stations on the Virginia Central Railroad, enough railway trains to transport all of his little army. That it was to be taken to Richmond when the troops were all embarked no one doubted. It was Sunday, and many of his sturdy sol- diers were Valley men. With sad and gloomy hearts they boarded the trains at Mechum's River Station. When all were on, lo! they took a westward course, and a little after noon the first train rolled into Staunton. News of Jackson's arrival spread like wild-fire, and crowds flocked to the station to see the soldiers and learn what it all meant. No one knew. As soon as the troops could be put in motion they took the road leading toward McDowell, the general having sent forward cavalry to Buffalo Gap and beyond to arrest all persons going that way. General Edward Johnson, with one of Jackson's Valley brigades, was already at Buffalo Gap. The next morning, by a circuitous mountain-path, he tried to send a brigade of infantry to the rear of Milroy's two regiments on Shenandoah Mountain, but they were improperly guided and failed to reach the position in time, so that when attacked in front both regiments escaped. Jackson followed as rapidly as possible, and the following day, May 8th, on top of the Bull Pasture Mountain, three miles east of McDowell, encountered Milroy reinforced by 124 The Civil War Schenck, who commanded by virtue of seniority of com- mission. The conflict lasted four hours, and was severe and bloody. It w^as fought mainly with small-arms, the ground forbidding much use of artillery. Schenck and Milroy fled precipitately toward Franklin, to unite with Fremont. The route lay along a narrow valley hedged up by high moun- tains, perfectly protecting the flanks of the retreating army from Ashby's pursuing cavalry, led by Captain Sheetz. Jackson ordered him to pursue as vigorously as possible, and to guard completely all avenues of approach from the direction of McDowell or Staunton till relieved of this duty. Jackson buried the dead and rested his army, and then fell back to the Valley on the Warm Springs and Harrisonburg road. The morning after the battle of McDowell I called very early on Jackson at the residence of Colonel George W. Hull of that village, where he had his headquarters, to ask if I could be of any service to him, as I had to go to Staun- ton, forty miles distant, to look after some companies that were to join my command. He asked me to wait a few moments, as he wished to prepare a telegram to be sent to President Davis from Staunton, the nearest office to Mc- Dowell. He took a seat at a table and wrote nearly half a page of foolscap; he rose and stood before the fireplace pondering it some minutes; then he tore it in pieces and wrote again, but much less, and again destroyed what he had written, and paced the room several times. He sud- denly stopped, seated himself, and dashed off two or three lines, folded the paper, and said, " Send that off as soon as you reach Staunton." As I bade him " good-by," he re- marked : " I may have other telegrams to-day or to-mor- row, and will send them to you for transmission. I wish Jackson in the Shenandoah 125 you to have two or three well-mounted couriers ready to bring me the replies promptly." I read the message he had given me. It was dated " Mc- Dowell," and read about thus : " Providence blessed our arms with victory at McDowell yesterday." That was all. A few days after I got to Staunton a courier arrived with a message to be telegraphed to the Secretary of War, I read it, sent it off, and ordered a courier to be ready with his horse, while I waited at the telegraph office for the reply. The message was to this effect : " I think I ought to at- tack Banks, but under my orders I do not feel at liberty to do so." In less than an hour a reply came, but not from the Secretary of War. It was from General Joseph E. Johnston, to whom I supposed the Secretary had referred General Jackson's message. I have a distinct recollection of its substance, as follows : " If you think you can beat Banks, attack him. I only intended by my orders to caution you against attacking fortifications." Two hours after receiving this telegram from General Johnston, Jackson was en route for Harrisonburg, where he came upon the great Valley turnpike. By forced marches he reached New Market in two days. Detach- ments of cavalry guarded every road beyond him, so that Banks remained in total ignorance of his approach. This Federal commander had the larger part of his force well fortified at and near Strasburg, but he kept a strong de- tachment at Front Royal, about eight miles distant and fac- ing the Luray or Page Valley. From New Market Jackson disappeared so suddenly that the people of the Valley were again mystified. He crossed the Massanutten Mountain, and, passing Luray, hurried toward Front Royal. He sometimes made thirty miles in 126 The Civil War Union camp at Front Royal. twenty-four hours with his entire army, thus gaining for his infantry the sobriquet of " Jackson's foot cavalry." Very early in the afternoon of May 23d he struck Front Royal. The surprise was complete and disastrous to the enemy, who were commanded by Colonel John R. Kenly. After a fruitless resistance they fled toward Winchester, twenty miles distant, with Jackson at their heels. A large number were captured within four miles by a splendid cav- alry dash of Colonel Flournoy and Lieutenant-Colonel Watts. Jackson now chased Bank's fleeing army to Winchester, where the latter made a stand, but after a sharp engage- ment with Ewell's division on the 25th he fled again, not halting till he had crossed the Potomac, congratulating him- self and his Government in a dispatch that his army was at last safe in Maryland. Jackson in the Shenandoah 127 The news of Bank's defeat created consternation at Washington, and Shields was ordered to return from east of the Blue Ridge to the Luray Valley in all haste to co- operate with Fremont. Jackson was advised of Shield's approach, and his ain^ was to prevent a junction of their forces till he reached a point where he could strike them in quick succession. He therefore sent cavalry detachments along the Shenandoah to burn the bridges as far as Port Republic, the river being at that time too full for fording. At Harrisonburg he took the road leading to Port Republic, and ordered me from Staunton, with a mixed battery and battalion of cavalry, to the bridge over North River near Mount Crawford, to prevent a cavalry force passing to his rear. I reached Port Republic an hour before daybreak of June 9th, and sought the house occupied by Jackson ; Imt not wishing to disturb him so early, I asked the sentinel what From a photograph taken in 1885. View from Bank's Fort, near Strasburg, across to Fisher's Hill. 128 The Civil War room was occupied by " Sandy " Pendleton, Jackson's ad- jutant-general. " Upstairs, first room on the right," he replied. Supposing he meant our right as we faced the house, I went up, softly opened the door, discovered General Jack- son lying on his face across the bed, fully dressed, with sword, sash, and boots all on. The low-burnt tallow candle on the table shed a dim light, yet enough by which to rec- ognize him. I endeavoured to withdraw without waking him. He turned over, sat up on the bed, and called out, ''Who is that?" He checked my apology with, " That is all right. It 's time to be up. I am glad to see you. Were the men all up as you came through camp? " " Yes, General, and cooking." " That 's right. We move at daybreak. Sit down. I want to talk to you." I had learned never to ask him questions about his plans, for he would never answer such to any one. I therefore waited for him to speak first. He referred very feelingly to Ashby's death, and spoke of it as an irreparable loss. When he paused I said, " General, you made a glorious winding-up of 3'our four weeks' work yesterday." He replied, " Yes, God blessed our army again yester- day, and I hope with His protection and blessing we shall do still better to-day." Then seating himself, for the first time in all my inter- course with him, he outlined the day's proposed operations. This plan of battle was carried out to the letter. Jackson's military operations were always unexpected and mysterious. In my personal intercourse with him in the early part of the war, before he had become famous. Jackson in the Shenandoah 129 he often said there were two things never to be lost sight of by a military commander : " Always mystify, mislead, and surprise the enemy, if possible; and when you strike and overcome him, never let up in the pursuit so long as your men have strength to follow; for an army routed, if hotly pursued, becomes panic-stricken, and can then be de- stroyed by half their number. The other rule is, never fight against heavy odds, if by any possible manoeuvering you can hurl your own force on only a part, and that the weakest part, of your enemy and crush it. Such tactics will win every time, and a small army may thus destroy a large one in detail, and repeated victory will make it in- vincible." His celerity of movement was a simple matter. He never broke down his men by too-long-continued marching. He rested the whole column very often, but only for a few minutes at a time. I remember that he liked to see the men lie down flat on the ground to rest, and would say, " A man rests all over when he lies down." THE SEVEN DAYS' FIGHTING (incidents of the close of the peninsular campaign) the army near richmond By Fitz John Porter, Major-General, U. S. V. Under the direction of General McClellan certain meas- ures for the protection of the right flank of the army in its advance upon Richmond were put in my hands, beginning simultaneously with the march of the army from the Pa- munkey. Among these were the clearing of the enemy from the upper Peninsula as far as Hanover Court House or beyond, and, in case General McDowell's large forces, then at Fredericksburg, were not to join us, the destruction of railroad and other bridges over the South and Pamun- key Rivers, in order to prevent the enemy in large force from getting into our rear from that direction, and in or- der, further, to cut the Virginia Central Railroad, the one great line of the enemy's communications between Rich- mond and Northern Virginia. On the 24th of June, at midnight. General McClellan telegraphed me that a pretended deserter, whom I had that day sent him, had informed him that Jackson was in the immediate vicinity, ready to unite with Lee in an attack upon my command. Though we had reason to suspect Jackson's approach, this was the first intimation we had of his arrival ; and we could obtain from Washington at that time no further confirmation of our suspicions, nor any 130 The Seven Days' Fighting 131 information of the fact that he had left the front of those directed to watch him in Northern Virginia. Reynolds, who had special charge of the defenses of Beaver Dam Creek and of the forces at and above Mechan- icsville, was at once informed of the situation. He pre- pared to give our anticipated visitors a warm welcome. The infantry division and cavalry commanders were di- rected to break camp at the first sound of battle, pack their wagons and send them to the rear, and, with their brigades, to take specified positions in support of troops already posted, or to protect the right flank. On the 25th the pickets of the left of the main army south of the Chickahominy were pushed forward under strong opposition, and, after sharp fighting, gained consid- erable ground, so as to enable the 2d and 3d Corps (Sum- ner's and Heintzelman's) to support the attack on Old Tavern which it was intended to make next day with the 6th Corps (Franklin's). The result of the fighting was to convince the corps commanders engaged that there had been no reduction of forces in their front to take part in any movement upon our right flank. Early on the 26th I was informed of a large increase of forces opposite Reynolds, and before noon the Confederates gave evidence of their intention to cross the river at Meadow Bridge and Mechanicsville, while from our cav- alry scouts along the Virginia Central Railroad came re- ports of the approach from the north of large masses of troops. Thus the attitude of the two armies toward each other was changed. Yesterday, McClellan was rejoicing over the success of his advance toward Richmond, and he was confident of reinforcement by McDowell. To-day, all the 132 The Civil War united available forces in Virginia were to be thrown against his right flank, which was not in a convenient posi- tion to be supported. The prizes now to be contended for were : on the part of McClellan, the safety of his right wing, protection behind his intrenchments with the possi- bility of being able to remain there, and the gain of suffi- cient time to enable him to effect a change of base to the James; on the part of Lee, the destruction of McClellan's right wing, and, by drawing him from his intrenchments and attacking him in front, the raising of the siege of Rich- mond. The morning of Thursday, June 26th, dawned clear and bright, giving promise that the day would be a brilliant one. The formation of the ground south of the Chickahominy opposite Mechanicsville, and west to Meadow Bridge, largely concealed from view the forces gathered to execute an evidently well-planned and well-prepared attack upon my command. For some hours, on our side of the river, all was quiet, except at Mechanicsville and at the two bridge- crossings. At these points our small outposts were con- spicuously displayed for the purpose of creating an impres- sion of numbers and of an intention to maintain an obstinate resistance. We aimed to invite a heavy attack, and then, by rapid withdrawal, to incite such confidence in the enemy as to induce incautious pursuit. In the northern and western horizon vast clouds of dust arose, indicating the movements of Jackson's advancing forces. They were far distant, and we had reason to be- lieve that the obstacles to their rapid advance, placed in their way by detachments sent for that purpose, would prevent them from making an attack that day. As before stated, The Seven Days' Fighting 133 we did not fear Lee alone; we did fear his attack, com- bined with one by Jackson on our flank. NORTHERNER AND SOUTHERNER By Daniel H. Hill, Lieutenant-General, C. S. A. While encamped, about noon on Monday, the 23d of June, 1862, on the Williamsburg road, about a mile from the battle-field of Seven Pines, in command of a division The Union defenses. of the Confederate army, I received an order from General Lee to report immediately at his quarters on the Mechanics- ville road. On approaching the house which the general occupied, I saw an officer leaning over the yard-paling, dusty, travel-worn, and apparently very tired. He raised himself up as I dismounted, and I recognized General Jack- son, who till that moment I had supposed was confronting 134 The Civil War Banks and Fremont far down the Valley of Virginia. He said that he had ridden fifty-two miles since i o'clock that morning, having taken relays of horses on the road. We went together into General Lee's office. General Jackson declined refreshments, courteously tendered by General Lee, but drank a glass of milk. Soon after. Generals Longstreet and A. P. Hill came in, and General Lee, closing the door, told us that he had determined to attack the Federal right wing, and had selected our four commands to execute the movement. He told us that he had sent Whiting's division to reinforce Jackson, and that at his instance the Richmond papers had reported that large reinforcements had been sent to Jackson " with a view to clearing out the Valley of Virginia and exposing Washington." He believed that General McClellan received the Richmond papers regularly, and he (Lee) knew of the nervous apprehension concerning Washington. He then said that he would retire to another room to attend to some office work, and would leave us to arrange the details among ourselves. The main point in his mind seemed to be that the crossings of the Chicka- hominy should be uncovered by Jackson's advance down the left bank, so that the other three divisions might not suffer in making a forced passage. During the absence of General Lee, Longstreet said to Jackson : " As you have the longest march to make, and are likely to meet opposition, you had better fix the time for the attack to begin." Jackson replied : " Daylight of the 26th." Longstreet then said : " You will encounter Federal cavalry and roads blocked by felled timber, if noth- ing more formidable: ought you not to give yourself more time?" When General Lee returned, he ordered A. P. Hill to cross at Meadow Bridge, Longstreet at the Mechan- The Seven Days' Fighting 135 icsville Bridge, and me to follow Longstreet. The con- ference broke up about nightfall. One of the saddest things connected with the miserable fratricidal war was the breaking up of ties of friendship and of blood. The troops opposing mine on that murder- ous field that day were the regulars of General George Sykes, a Southerner by birth, and my room-mate at West Point, — a man admired by all for his honor, courage, and frankness, and peculiarly endeared to me by his social qual- ities. During the negotiations of the cartel for the ex- change of prisoners, intrusted to General Dix and myself, I sent word to General Sykes, through Colonel N. B. Sweitzer, of General McClellan's staff, that " had I known that he was in front of me at Cold Harbor, I would have sent some of my North Carolina boys up to take him out of the cold." He replied through the same source: "I appreciate the sarcasm, but our time will be next and the tables will be turned." Alas ! it was a true prophecy. About 9 p. M. on the 27th, Major H. B. Clitz was brought into my room at the McGehee house, headquarters for the night, wounded in the leg, and a prisoner. He was very young and boyish-looking when he entered West Point, and was a very great favorite with us of maturer years. It flashed upon my mind how, in the Mexican War, as his regiment filed past, I had almost a fatherly fear lest he should be struck ; and now he was here, wounded by one of my own men ! He was tenderly cared for by my medical director. Doctor Mott, and I was delighted to learn that he would not lose his leg. The next morning General John F. Reynolds was brought in as a prisoner. He had been my messmate in the old army for more than a year, and for half that time my tent-mate. Not an unkind word had 136 The Civil War ever passed between us. General Reynolds seemed con- fused and mortified at his position. He sat down and cov- ered his face with his hands, and at length said : " Hill, we ought not to be enemies." I told him that there was no bad feeling on my part, and that he ought not to fret at the fortunes of war, which were notoriously fickle. He was placed in my ambulance and sent over to Richmond, declin- ing a loan of Confederate money. General Reynolds had gone to sleep in the woods between the battle-ground and the Chickahominy, and when he awoke, his troops were gone and the bridge was broken down. During Lee's absence Richmond was at the mercy of McClellan. The fortifications around Richmond at that time were very slight. McClellan could have captured the city with very little loss of life. The want of supplies would have forced Lee to attack him as soon as possible, with all the disadvantages of a precipitated movement. But McClellan seems to have contemplated nothing of the kind ; and as he placed the continuance of the siege upon the hazard of Cold Harbor, he was bound to put every available man into that fight. THE ARMY AND THE CONDUCT OF THE MEN By William B. Franklin, Major-General, U. S. V. A short time after I separated from General McClellan at the junction of the Charles City and Quaker roads, I bade farewell to the Prince de Joinville, who told me that he and his nephews were about to leave us and return to Europe. He had always been very friendly, and now ex- pressed many good wishes for my future. Holding my The Seven Days' Fighting 137 hand in his, he said, with great earnestness, " General, ad- vise General McClellan to concentrate his army at this point, and fight a battle to-day; if he does, he will be in Rich- mond to-morrow." I was much impressed by his manner and by what he said, and from the purely military point of view the advice may have been good; but it was im- practicable for me to adopt the suggestion. General Mc- Clellan was then well on his way to the James River, and I had no right to leave my command. It was impossible to concentrate the army there that day early enough to give battle, and had it been possible to risk a general engagement there, it would have been contrary to General McClellan's views as to his responsibility connected with the safety of the army, views which were actuating him in the very move- ment then taking place. It is likely from what we know now, that had it been possible to follow the prince's ad- vice, his military forecast might have proved correct. But no one at that hour could have predicted the paralysis of Jackson's large force in our rear for the whole of that day, nor General Lee's ignorance of McClellan's intentions. Had a general engagement taken place, and had we been defeated, the army would have reached the James River, it is true, but instead of getting there as it did, with its morale unharmed, and with slight damage to its men and material, it would have been a disorganized mob, and as an army would have perished miserably. General McClel- lan believed that the destruction of the Army of the Poto- mac at that time would have been ruin to our cause, and his actions, for which he al'one is responsible, were guided by that belief and by the conviction that at any sacrifice the preservation of that army, at that time, was paramount to every other consideration. 138 The Civil War I cannot finish without a word as to the conduct of the men. My experience during the period generally known as " the Seven Days " was with the 6th and 2d Corps. During the whole time between June 26th and July 2d, there was not a night in which the men did not march almost continually, nor a day on which there was not a fight. I never saw a skulker during the whole time, nor heard one insubordinate word. Some men fell by the wayside, ex- hausted, and were captured; but their misfortune was due to physical inability to go on. They had no food but that which was carried in their haversacks, and the hot weather soon rendered that uneatable. Sleep was out of the ques- tion, and the only rest obtained was while lying down awaiting an attack, or sheltering themselves from shot and shell. No murmur was heard ; everything was accepted as the work for which they had enlisted. They had been soldiers less than a year, yet their conduct could not have been more soldierly had they seen ten years of service. No such material for soldiers was ever in the field before, and their behavior in this movement foreshadowed their success as veterans at Appomattox. AN ESTIMATE OF GENERAL LEE By James Longstreet, Lieutenant-General, C. S. A. When General Joseph E. Johnston was wounded at the battle of Seven Pines, and General Lee assumed his new duties as commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, General Stonewall Jackson was in the Shenandoah Valley, and the rest of the Confederate troops were east and north of Richmond in front of General George B. McClellan's army, then encamped about the Chickahominy River, 100,- The Seven Days' Fighting 139 000 strong, and preparing for a regular siege of the Confederate capital. The situation required prompt and successful action of General Lee. Very early in June he called about him, on the noted Nine-mile road near Richmond, all his commanders, and asked each in turn his opinion of the military situation. I had my own views, but did not express them, believing that if they were impor- tant it was equally important that Robert E. Lee. they should be unfolded privately to the commanding gen- eral. The next day I called on General Lee, and sug- gested my plan for driving the Federal forces away from the Chickahominy, where they were then located. The Seven Days' Fighting, although a decided Confed- erate victory, was a succession of mishaps. If Jackson had arrived on the 26th — the day of his own selection — the Federals would have been driven back from Mechanics- ville without a battle. His delay there, caused by obstruc- tions placed in his road by the enemy, was the first mishap. He was too late in entering the fight at Gaines's Mill, and the destruction of Grapevine Bridge kept him from reaching Frayser's farm until the day after the battle. H he had been there, we might have destroyed or captured McClellan's army. Huger was in position for the battle of Frayser's farm, and after his batteries had misled me into opening the fight he subsided. Holmes and Magruder, who were on the New Market road to attack the Federals as they passed that way, failed to do so. 140 The Civil War General McClellan's retreat was suc- cessfully managed; therefore, we must give it credit for being well managed. He had 100,000 men, and insisted to the authorities at Washington that Lee had 200,000. In fact, Lee had only 90,000. General McClel- lan's plan to take Richmond by a siege was wise enough, and it would have been a succcess if the Con- ^ federates had consented to such a program. In spite of McClellan's excellent plans, General Lee, with a force inferior in numbers, com- pletely routed him, and while suf- fering less than McClellan, cap- tured over six thousand of his men. General Lee's plans in the Seven Days' Fight were excellent, but were poorly executed. General McClellan was a very accomplished soldier and a very able engi- neer, but hardly equal to the position of field-marshal as a military chieftain. He organized the Army of the Potomac cleverly, but did not handle it skilfully when in actual battle. Still I doubt if his retreat could have been better handled, though the rear of his army should have been more positively either in his own hands or in the hands of Sumner. Heintzelman crossed the White Oak Swamp prematurely and left the rear of McClellan's army exposed, which would have been fatal had Jackson come up and taken part in Magruder's afifair of the 29th near Savage's Sta- tion. I cannot close this sketch without referring to the Con- " Gin'l Longstreet's body- servant, sail, endu'in' de Wah!". The Seven Days' Fighting 141 federate commander when he came upon the scene for the first time. General Lee was an unusually handsome man, even in his advanced life. He seemed fresh from West Point, so trim was his figure and so elastic his step. Out of battle he was as gentle as a woman, but when the clash of arms came he loved fight, and urged his battle with won- derful determination. As a usual thing he was remarka- bly well-balanced — always so, except on one or two oc- casions of severe trial when he failed to maintain his exact equipoise. Lee's orders were always well considered and well chosen. He depended almost too much on his officers for their execution. Jackson was a very skilful man against such men as Shields, Banks, and Fremont, but when pitted against the best of the Federal commanders he did not ap- pear so well. Without doubt the greatest man, of rebel- lion times, the one matchless among forty millions for the peculiar difficulties of the period, was Abraham Lincoln. PASSAGES FROM LINCOLN letter to horace greeley August 22, 1862. Dear Sir: I have just read yours of the 19th addressed to myself through the New York Tribune. If there be in it any state- ments or assumptions of fact which I may know to be er- roneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be in it any inferences which I may beHeve to be falsely drawn, I do not, now and here argue against them. If there be perceptible in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend whose heart I have always supposed to be right. As to the policy I " seem to be pursuing," as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt. I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national au- thority can be restored, the nearer the Union will be " the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time de- stroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave, I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it ; and if I 142 Passages From Lincoln 143 could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone, I would also do that. What I do about slavery and the col- ored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union ; and what I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be er- rors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall ap- pear to be true views. I have stated here my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-ex- pressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free. Yours, A. Lincoln. emancipation proclamation January i, 1863. Whereas, on the twenty-second day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the United States, containing, among other things, the follow- ing, to-wit: That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, all persons held as slaves within any State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the Executive Government of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom. 144 ^^^ Civil War That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof respectively shall then be in rebellion against the United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the Con- gress of the United States by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall in the absence of strong countervailing testimony be deemed conclusive evidence that such State and the people thereof are not then in rebellion against the United States. Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincohi, President of the United States, by virtue of the power in me vested as com- mander-in-chief of the army and navy of the United States, in time of actual armed rebelHon against the authority and government of the United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebelhon, do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for the. full period of lOO days from the day first above mentioned, order and desig- nate as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively, are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to-wit : Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaquemines, Jefferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans), Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia (except the forty- eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of Berkeley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk, including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are Passages From Lincoln 145 for the present left precisely as if the proclamation were not issued. And by the virtue of the power and for the purpose afore- said, I do order and declare that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are, and /l^^tSto^ err ^e-t 174 The Civil War the old style and the new. The ships with which Decatur and Perry and Hull and Porter won glory in 1812 were The blowing up of the Albemarle. essentially like those with which Drake and Hawkins and Frobisher had harried the Spanish armadas two centuries and a half earlier. They were essentially like the ships Gushing and the Ram Ambemarle 175 that made up the fleets of Tromp and De Riiyter, as of Colhngwood and Nelson. But, in the Civil War, steam, iron armor, and entirely new weapons, worked such revo- lution that the fleets of to-day differ as widely from those of Nelson as did his ships-of-the-line from the galleys of Alcibiades twenty-two hundred years before. The steam- frigate, the iron-clad, the ram, and the torpedo in all its forms — the practical use of all these dates from the Civil War. Terrible encounters took place when these engines of war were brought into action for the first time, and one of these encounters has given an example which, for heroic daring combined with cool intelligence, is unsur- passed in all time. The Conferates showed the same skill and»energy in build- ing their great iron-clad rams as the men of the Union did in building the monitors which were so often pitted against them. Both sides, but especially the Confederates, also used stationary torpedoes, and on a number of occasions torpedo- boats likewise. These torpedo-boats were sometimes built to go under the water. One such, after repeated failures, was employed by the Confederates, with equal gallantry and success, in sinking a Union sloop-of-war off Charleston harbor. The torpedo-boat itself went to the bottom with its victim, all on board being drowned. The other type of torpedo-boat was simply a swift, ordinary steam-launch operated on the surface. It was this last type of boat which Lieutenant W. B. Cushing brought down to Albemarle Sound to use against the great Confederate ram Albemarle. The ram had been built for the purpose of destroying the Union blockading forces. Steaming down the river, she had twice attacked the Federal gun-boats, and in each case had sunk or disabled one or more 176 The Civil War of them, with Httle injury to herself. She had retired up the river again to he at her wharf and refit. The gun-boats had suffered so severely as to make it a certainty that when the ram came out again, thoroughly fitted up, to renew the attack, the wooden vessels would be destroyed ; and, \\hile she was in existence the Union ves- sels could not attack and reduce the forts and coast towns. Just at this time Gushing came down from the North with his swift little torpedo-boat — an open launch with a spar rigged to push out in front, the torpedo being placed at the end. The crew of the launch consisted of fifteen men, Gushing being in command. He not only guided his craft, but himself handled the torpedo by means of two small ropes, one of which put it in place, while the other exploded it. The action of the torpedo was complicated, and it could not have been operated in a time of tremendous excite- ment save by a man of the utmost nerve and self-command. But Gushing had both ; he possessed precisely that combina- tion of reckless courage, presence of mind, and high mental capacity necessary to the man who leads a forlorn hope under peculiarly difficult circumstances. On the night of October 27, 1864, Gushing slipped away from the blockading fleet, and steamed up the river toward the wharf, a dozen miles distant, where the great ram lay. The Gonfederates were watchful to guard against surprise, for they feared lest their foes should try to destroy the ram before she got a chance to come down and attack them again in the Sound. She lay under the guns of a fort, with a regiment of troops ready at a moment's notice to turn out and defend her. Her own guns were kept always clear for action, and she was protected by a great boom of logs thrown Gushing and the Ram Ambemarle 177 out roundabout, of which last defense the Federals knew nothing. Gushing went up-stream with the utmost caution, and by good luck passed, unnoticed, a Confederate lookout below the ram. About midnight he made his assault. Steaming quietly on through the black water, and feeling his way cautiously to- ward where he knew the town to be, he finally made out the loom of the Albemarle through the night, and at once drove at her. He was almost upon her before he was dis- covered ; then the crew and the soldiers on the wharf opened fire, and at the same moment he was brought to by the boom, the existence of which he had not known. The rifle-balls were singing about him as he stood erect guiding his launch, and he heard the bustle of the men aboard the ram, and the noise of the great guns as they were got ready. Backing off, he again went all steam ahead, and actually surged over the slippery log of the boom. Meanwhile, on the deck of the Albemarle the sailors were running to quarters, and the soldiers were swarming down to aid in her defense. And the droning bullets came always thicker through the dark night. Gushing still stood up- right in his little craft, guiding and controlling her by voice and signal, while in his hands he kept the ropes which led to the torpedo. As the boat slid forward over the boom, he brought the torpedo full against the somber side of the huge ram, and instantly exploded it, almost at the same time that the pivot-gun of the ram, loaded with grape, was fired point-blank at him, not ten yards ofiF. At once the ram settled, the launch sinking at the same moment, while Gushing and his men swam for their lives. 178 The Civil War Most of them sank or were captured ; but Gushing reached midstream. Hearing something splashing in the darkness, he swam toward it, and found that it was one of his crew. He went to his rescue, and they kept together for some time, but the sailor's strength gave out, and he finally sank. In the pitch darkness Gush- ing could form no idea where he was; and when, chilled through, and too ex- hausted to rise to his feet, he finally reached shore, shortly before dawn, he found that he had swum back, and landed but a few hundred feet below the sunken ram. All that day he remained within easy musket-shot of where his foes were swarming about the fort and the great drowned iron-clad. He hardly dared move, and until the afternoon, he lay without food and without protection from the heat or insects. Then he managed to slip unobserved into a dense swamp, and began to make his way toward the fleet. Toward even- ing he came out on a small stream, near a camp of Gon- federate soldiers. They had moored to the bank a small skiff, and with equal stealth and daring he managed to steal this, and began to paddle down-stream. Hour after hour he paddled on through the fading light, and then through the darkness. At last, utterly worn out, he found the squad- ron, and was picked up. At once the ships weighed their anchors, and they speedily Commander W. B. Cushiiig, U. S. N. Gushing and the Ram Ambemarle 179 captured every coast town and fort, now that their dreaded enemy was no longer in the way. The fame of Cushing's deed went all over the land, and his name will stand forever among the highest on the honor- roll of the American Navy. PICKETT'S CHARGE AT GETTYSBURG By General Adam Badeau, U. S. A. Lee gave Longstreet three divisions for the charge. Pickett, from Longstreet's own corps, was to lead, supported by Wilcox and Pettigrew from Hill's. *' This will give me fifteen thousand men," said Longstreet, '" and there never was a body of fifteen thousand men who could make that at- tack successfully." But the arrangements went on. All the Southern artil- lery was collected on the heights; half of it extending south- ward opposite Meade's left, and the remainder immediately in front of the Union center. The troops for the charge were hidden behind the crest of Seminary Ridge. Long- street took Pickett to the front, and showed him what he had to do. After a heavy artillery fire, he was to march over the crest, and down the slope of Seminary Ridge, and then up the opposite hill where Meade was in force — a distance of fourteen hundred yards. Longstreet's heart was heavy when he gave this direction, for he foresaw the slaughter and the result. But Pickett was one of the most gallant of soldiers, and made no objection to the order. At about II o'clock the Confederate batteries opened a tremendous fire. One hundred and thirty-eight cannon were ranged in full sight along the crest of Seminary Ridge, from the point opposite Gettysburg down to that wrung from the Llnion forces on Meade's left the day before, just under Round Top. They poured across the valley shot and shell i8o Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg 181 against Cemetery Hill, the center of Meade's line. Here Hancock was in position with the 26. Corps, and there could be neither general nor troops better fitted to repel assault. But it was not known as yet which point the Confederates would attack. Artillery fire, of course, preceded infantry assaults, and a hundred Union guns were collected, under Hunt, Meade's chief of artillery, to reply. From Round Top on Meade's left to Cemetery Hill, the northern ex- tremity of the ridge, there was a line "of flame nearly two miles long responding to the semicircle of fire that belched from the throats of Confederate cannon on the other side. Never on the American continent was seen such a storm of artillery. The smoke half enveloped and obscured the hills, while sharp tongues of flame darted out all along the ridges, and shells in the air formed circles of fire above the heads of the combatants ; then came the whiz, the explosion, the crash, the disaster among the cannoneers; for on both sides the infantry was covered as much as possible from the en- emy, but the gunners must remain exposed. The object of the Confederates was to silence the Union batteries, so that when their infantry advanced, they would find less to encounter. But this the Union general knew as well as his enemy; and after about an hour, orders were issued by Meade to cease artillery firing. The Confeder- ates supposed this was proof of their success, and at about I o'clock the command was given for Pickett to advance. Longstreet was still unwilling. When Pickett came up to ask if it was time, his commander could not speak, for emo- tion. Pickett repeated the inquiry, and Longstreet simply bowed his head. Then Pickett replied : " Sir, I shall lead my division forward." The men advanced in magnificent array. Pickett's troops i82 The Civil War were fresh; they had not been engaged the day before. He was supported by Pettigrew on his left and Wilcox on the right, and they marched down the slope and into the valley till they reached the Emmettsburg road, which runs along the foot of Cemetery Ridge. Those who saw the movement, — Union, Confederate, and foreign spectators, — all declared the sight one of the most splendid that could occur in war. The day was clear; it was the 3d of July; the sky was without a cloud. Between two long ranges of hills, on each of which a hostile army was extended, fifteen thousand soldiers advanced, slowly, so as not to break the line, and approached the strongest point in the position of the enemy, a hill one hundred feet high, where the Union lines projected, so that they formed what is called a sali- ent, — an angle from which the defenders can fire in either direction. When he reached the Emmettsburg road, Pick- ett changed the direction of his march, and moved to the left for a while, so as to come directly in front of the point he wished to attack. This movement exposed his right flank, and the Union artillery at once began to fire. Forty guns opened on the assailants, but they pressed on. Hancock was at the center of the position to be attacked, Howard was on his right, and a portion of the ist Corps under Doubleday was on the left. When Pickett changed direction, Wilcox, who was on his right, did not follow, but continued moving forward. This left a gap in the Con- federate line, and when Pickett advanced again, his right was still more exposed. Doubleday saw his chance, and at once moved forward Stanard's brigade and struck Pickett's right with tremendous force. But the splendid Southerner still advanced, and all his men were heroes. The whole line pressed onward up the ridge, among rocks and trees, against Pickett's Charge at Gettysburg 183 Hancock's center. They seized for a moment the crest of Cemetery Hill, and Lee could discern from the opposite ridge the blue flag of Virginia waving over the Union lines. But Hancock came to the rescue. Webb and Gibbon, his two division commanders, led their men forward. The fighting now was terrific. Hancock, Webb, and Gibbon all were wounded. The Confederates, too, performed prodigies of valor, but in vain. Pickett's force had gained the ridge, but it was impossible to remain. The Union men rushed in on them from every side. Stanard on the. right, Hancock in front, enveloped them. Pettigrew had given way on the left, Wil- cox never reached the crest on the right; and here was Pickett thrust forward two-thirds of a mile from Lee, and unsuccessful. The great column was mowed down like grass before a scythe, and the men surrendered in masses. They rallied now and then, but two-thirds of Pickett's com- mand were killed, wounded, or captured. Every brigade commander and every field-officer but one in his column fell. The hill and the plain w^ere covered with fugitives. The mass did not retreat : none but disorganized stragglers returned. The flag that had waved in victory over the Union parapet was in Union hands. The assault was over in less than half an hour. The battle was lost — the Union was saved — the invasion was at an end. Everybody in each army knew the result. As the stragglers came up, disorganized, Lee endeavored to rally them, and nobly admitted his error. " It was all my fault," he cried to his men; and every one set to work to prepare for a counter assault. Longstreet brought up the troops that had not been engaged. The artillery was posted again, though its ammunition was nearly exhausted. i84 The Civil War But Meade determined to make no counter attack. He came upon the ground after the charge, and, though Han- cock, wounded and in an ambulance, urged him to carry on the battle and reap the result of the victory, Meade was cautious, and believed that Lee had not exhausted himself;' so, nothing more was done on either side. The Army of the Potomac had repulsed its great antagonist in a pitched battle. It had saved the capital. Meade had won, and he was satisfied with this without risking more. Nothing had been arranged for the offensive. This complete success had not been anticipated, and on the morrow Lee remained un- molested, though many in both armies anticipated a renewal of the battle. A shell at headquarters. THE GRAND STRATEGY OF THE LAST YEAR By William T. Sherman, General, U. S. A. On the 4th day of March, 1864, General U. S. Grant was summoned to Washington from Nashville to receive his commission of lieutenant-general, the highest rank then known in the United States, and the same that was con- ferred on Washington in 1798. He reached the capital on the 7th, had an interview for the first time with Mr. Lincoln, and on the 9th received his commission at the hands of the President, who made a short address, to which Grant made a suitable reply. He was informed that it was de- sirable that he should come east to command all the armies of the L^nited States, and give his personal supervision to the Army of the Potomac. On the loth he visited General Meade at Brandy Station, and saw many of his leading of- ficers, but he returned to Washington the next day and went on to Nashville, to which place he had summoned me, then absent on my Meridian expedition. On the 18th of March he turned over to me the command of the Western armies, and started back for Washington, I accompanying him as far as Cincinnati. Amidst constant interruptions of a busi- ness and social nature, we reached the satisfactory conclu- sion that, as soon as the season would permit, all the armies of the Union would assume the " bold offensive " by " con- centric lines " on the common enemy, and would finish up the job in a single campaign if possible. The main " ob- 185 i86 The Civil War jectives " were Lee's army behind the Rapidan in Virginia, and Joseph E. Johnston's army at Dalton, Georgia. On reaching Washington, Grant studied with great care all the minutise of the organization, strength, qualities, and resources of each of the many armies into which the Union forces had resolved themselves by reason of preceding events, and in due time with wonderful precision laid out the work which each one should undertake. His written instructions to me at Nashville were embraced in the two letters of April 4th and April 19th, 1894, both in his own handwriting, which I still possess, and which, in my judg- ment, are as complete as any of those of the Duke of Well- ington contained in the twelve volumes of his published letters and correspondence. With the month of May came the season for action, and by the 4th all his armies were in motion. The army of Butler at Fort Monroe was his left, Meade's army the center, and mine at Chattanooga his right. Butler was to move against Richmond on the south of James River, Meade straight against Lee, intrenched behind the Rapidan, and I to attack Joe Johnston and push him to and beyond Atlanta. This was as far as human foresight could pene- trate. Though Meade commanded the Army of the Poto- mac, Grant virtually controlled it, and on the 4th of May, 1864, he crossed the Rapidan, and at noon of the 5th at- tacked Lee. He knew that a certain amount of fighting, " killing," had to be done to accomplish his end, and also to pay the penalty of former failures. In the " wilderness " there was no room for grand strategy, or even minor tactics ; but the fighting was desperate, the losses to the Union army being, according to Phisterer, 18,387, to the Confederate loss of 11,400 — the difference due to Lee's intrenchmeflts Strategy of the Last Year 187 and the blind nature of the country in which the battle was fought. On the night of May 7th both parties paused, ap- palled by the fearful slaughter; but Grant commanded, " Forward by the left flank." That was, in my judgment, the supreme moment of his life; undismayed, with a full comprehension of the importance of the work in which he was engaged, feeling as keen a sympathy for his dead and wounded as any one, and without stopping to count his numbers, he gave his orders calmly, specifically, and abso- lutely — " Forward to Spotsylvania." But his watchful and skilful antagonist detected his purpose, and, having the inner or shorter line, threw his army across Grant's path, and promptly fortified it. These field intrenchments are peculiar to America, though I am convinced they were employed by the Romans in Gaul in the days of C?esar. Troops, halting for the night or for battle, faced the enemy ; moved forward to ground with a good outlook to the front ; stacked arms ; gathered logs, stumps, fence-rails, anything which would stop a bullet ; piled these to their front, and, digging a ditch behind, threw the dirt forward, and made a parapet which covered their persons as perfectly as a granite wall. When Grant reached Spotsylvania, May Sth, he found his antagonist in his front thus intrenched. He was de- layed there till the 20th, during which time there was in- cessant fighting, because he was compelled to attack his enemy behind these improvised intrenchments. His losses, according to Phisterer, were 12,564, while the Confederates lost 9,000. Nevertheless, his renewed order, " Forward by the left flank," compelled Lee to retreat to the defenses of Richmond. Grant's " Memoirs " enable us to follow him day by day i88 The Civil War across the various rivers which lay between him and Rich- mond, and in the bloody assaults at Cold Harbor, where his losses are reported 14,931 to 1,700 by his opponent. Yet ever onward by the left flank, he crossed James River and penned Lee and his army of Northern Virginia within the intrenchments of Richmond and Petersburg for ten long months on the pure defensive, to remain almost passive observers of local events, while Grant's other armies were absolutely annihilating the Southern Confederacy. \\^hile Grant was fighting des- perately from the Rapidan to the James, there were two other amiies w ithin the same " zone of oper- ations " — that "of the James" under General Butler, who was expected to march up on the south and invest Petersburg and even Richmond; and that of Sigel at Winchester, who was expected to march up the Valley of Virginia, pick up his detachments from the Kanawha (Crook and Averell), and threaten Lynchburg, a place of vital importance to Lee in Richmond. Butler failed to accomplish what was expected of him; and Sigel failed at the very start, and was replaced by Hunter, who marched up the valley, made junc- tion with Crook and Averell at Staunton, and pushed on with commendable vigor to Lynchburg, which he invested on the 1 6th of June. CciiLi'al Grant. Strategy of the Last Year 189 Lee, who had by this time been driven into Richmond with a force large enough to hold his lines of intrenchment and a surplus for expeditions, detached General Jubal A. Early with the equivalent of a corps to drive Hunter away from Lynchburg. Hunter, far from his base, with inade- quate supplies of food and ammunition, retreated by the Kanawha to the Ohio River, his nearest base, thereby ex- posing the Valley of Virginia; whereupon Early, an edu- cated soldier, promptly resolved to take advantage of the occasion, marched rapidly down this valley northward to Winchester, crossed the Potomac to Hagerstown, and thence boldly marched on Washington, defended at that time only by militia and armed clerks. Grant, fully alive to the dan- ger, dispatched to Washington, from his army investing Pet- ersburg, two divisions of the 6th Corps, and also the 19th Corps just arriving from New Orleans. These troops ar- rived at the very nick of time — met Early's army in the suburbs of \^^ashington, and drove it back to the Valley of Virginia. This most skilful movement of Early demonstrated to General Grant the importance of the Valley of Virginia, not only as a base of supplies for Lee's army in Rich- mond, but as the most direct, the shortest, and the easiest route for a " diversion " into the Union territory north of the Potomac. He therefore cast around for a suitable com- mander for this field of operations, and settled upon Major- General Philip H. Sheridan, whom he had brought from the West to command the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac. Sheridan promptly went to his new sphere of operations, cjuickly ascertained its strength and resources, and resolved to attack Early in the position which he had chosen in and 190 The Civil War about Winchester, Va. He delivered his attack across broken ground on the 19th of September, beat his antago- nist in fair, open battle, sending him "whirling up the val- ley," inflicting a loss of 5,5C)0 men to his own 4,873, and followed him up to Cedar Creek and Fisher's Hill. Early re- composed his army and fell upon the Union army on the 19th of October, at Cedar Creek, gaining a temporary ad- vantage during General Sheridan's absence; but on his op- portune return his army resumed the offensive, defeated Early, captured nearly all his artillery, and drove him com- pletely out of his field of operations, eliminating that army from the subsequent problem of the war. Sheridan's losses were 5,995 to Early's 4,200; but these losses are no just measure of the results of that victory, which made it im- possible to use the Valley of Virginia as a Confederate base of supplies and as an easy route for raids within the Union lines. General Sheridan then committed its protection to detachments, and with his main force rejoined General Grant, who still held Lee's army inside his intrenchments at Richmond and Petersburg. I now turn with a feeling of extreme delicacy to the conduct of that other cam- paign from Chattanooga to Atlanta, Savannah, and Raleigh, which with liberal discretion was committed to me by General Grant in hie minute instructions of Sherman's soldiers tearing up rail- April 4th and April 19th, road tracks. jgg^^ -po ^^ military students these letters must be familiar, because they have been published again and again, and there never was Strategy of the Last Year 191 and never can be raised a question of rivalry or claim be- tween us as to the relative merits of the manner in which we played our respective parts. We were as brothers — I the older man in years, he the higher in rank. We both believed in our heart of hearts that the success of the Union cause was not only necessary to the then generation of Americans, but to all future generations. We both pro- fessed to be gentlemen and professional soldiers, educated in the science of war by our generous Government for the very occasion which had arisen. Neither of us by nature was a combative man ; but with honest hearts and a clear purpose to do what man could w^e embarked on that cam- paign, which I believe, in its strategy, in its logistics, in its grand and minor tactics, has added new luster to the old science of war. Both of us had at our front generals to wdiom in early life w-e had been taught to look up — edu- cated and experienced soldiers like ourselves, not likely to make any mistakes, and each of whom had as strong an army as could be collected from the mass of the Southern people — of the same blood as ourselves, brave, confident, and well equipped ; in addition to which they had the most decided advantage of operating in their own difficult coun- try of mountain, forest, ravine, and river, affording ad- mirable opportunities for defense, besides, the other equally important advantage that we had to invade the country of our unqualified enemy and expose our long lines of supply to the guerrillas of an " exasperated people." Again, as we advanced we had to leave guards to bridges, stations, and intennediate depots, diminishing the fighting force, while our enemy gained strength by picking up his detachments as he fell back, and had railroads to bring supplies and re- inforcements from his rear. I instance these facts to offset 192 The Civil War the common assertion that we of the North won the war by brute force, and not l^y courage and skill. [Here we omit General Sherman's description of his own campaign, until ready for the march to the sea.] Then began tlie real trouble. We were in possession of Atlanta, and Hood remained at Lovejoy's Station, thirty miles southeast, on the Savannah railroad, with an army of about 40,000 veterans inured to war, and with a fair amount of wagons to carry his supplies, independent of the railroads. Many an orator in his safe office at the North had pro- claimed his purpose to cleave his way to the sea. Every expedition which crossed the Ohio River in the early part of the war headed for the sea; but things were not ripe till the Western army had fought, and toiled, and labored down to Atlanta. Not till then did a " March to the Sea " be- come practicable and possible of grand results. Alone I never measured it as now my eulogists do, but coupled with Thomas's acts about Nashville, and those alx)ut Richmond directed in person by General Grant, the " March to the Sea," with its necessary corollary, the march northward to Raleigh, became vastly important, if not actually conclusive of the war. Mr. Lincoln was the wisest man of our day, and more truly and kindly gave voice to my secret thoughts and feeling when he wrote me at Savannah from Washing- ton under date of December 26th, 1864: When you were about leaving- Atlanta for the Atlantic coast I was anxious, if not fearful ; but feeling that you were the better judge, and remembering " nothing risked, nothing gained," I did not interfere. Now the undertaking being a success, the honor is all yours; for I believe none of us went further than to acquiesce; and Strategy of the Last Year 193 taking the work of General Thomas into account, as it should be taken, it is indeed a great success. Not only does it afford the ob- vious and immediate military advantages, but in showing to the world that your army could be divided, putting the stronger part to an important new service, and yet leaving enough to vanquish the old opposing force of the whole. Hood's army, it brings those who sat in darkness to see a great light. But what next? I suppose it will be safer if I leave General Grant and yourself to decide. So highly do I prize this testimonial that I preserve Mr. Lincoln's letter, every word in his own handwriting, unto this day; and if I know myself, I believe on receiving it I experienced more satisfaction in giving to his over-burdened and weary soul one gleam of satisfaction and happiness, than of selfish pride in an achievement which has given me among men a larger measure of fame than any single act of my life. Meantime Hood, whom I had left at and near Florence, 317 miles to my rear, having completely reorganized and resupplied his army, advanced against Thomas at Nashville, who had also made every preparation. Hood first encoun- tered Schofield at Franklin, November 30th, 1864, attacked him boldly behind his intrenchments, and sustained a posi- tive check, losing 6,252 of his best men, including Generals Cleburne and Adams, wdio w^re killed on the very parapets, to Schofield's loss of 2,326. Nevertheless he pushed on to Nashville, which he invested. Thomas, one of the grand characters of our Civil War, nothing dismayed by danger in front or rear, made all his preparations with cool and calm deliberation; and on the 15th of December sallied from his intrenchments, attacked Hood in his chosen and in- trenched position, and on the next day, December i6th, 194 ^^^ Civil War actually annihilated his army, eliminating it thenceforward from the problem of the war. Hood's losses were 15,000 men to Thomas's 3,057. Therefore at the end of the year 1864 the conflict at the West was concluded, leaving nothing to be considered in the grand game of war but Lee's army, held by Grant in Richmond, and the Confederate detachments at Mobile .and along the seaboard north of Savannah. In January Fort Fisher was captured by a detachment from the Army of the Potomac, aided by Admiral Porter's fleet, and Wil- mington was occupied by Schofield, who had been brought by Grant from Nashville to Washington and sent down the Atlantic coast to prepare for Sherman's coming to Goldsboro', North Carolina — all " converging " on Rich- mond. Preparatory to the next move. General Howard was sent from Savannah to secure Pocotaligo, in South Carolina, as a point of departure for the north, and General Slocum to Sister's Ferry, on the Savannah River, to secure a safe lodgment on the north bank for the same purpose. In due time — in February, 1865 — these detachments, operating by concentric lines, met on the South Carolina road at Mid- way and Blackville, swept northward through Orangeburg and Columbia to Winnsboro', where the direction was changed to Fayetteville and Goldsboro', a distance of 420 miles through a difficult and hostile country, making junc- tion with Schofield at a safe base with two good railroads back to the sea-coast, of which we held absolute dominion. The resistance of Hampton, Butler, Beauregard, and even Joe Johnston was regarded as trivial. Our " objective " was Lee's army at Richmond. When I reached Goldsboro', made junction with Schofield, and moved forward to Ra- Strategy of the Last Year 195 leigh, I was willing to encounter the entire Confederate army ; but the Confederate armies — Lee's in Richmond and Johnston's in my front — held interior lines, and could choose the initiative. Few military critics who have treated of the Civil War in America have ever comprehended the importance of the movement of my army northward from Savannah to Goldsboro', or of the transfer of Schofield from Nashville to cooperate With me in North Carolina. This march was like the thrust of a sword toward the heart of the human body; each mile of advance swept aside all op- position, consumed the very food on which Lee's army de- pended for life. Therefore, in March, 1865, but one more move was left to Lee on the chess-board of war : to abandon Richmond ; make junction with Johnston in North Carolina; fall on me and destroy m.e if possible — a fate I did not apprehend ; then turn on Grant, sure to be in close pursuit, and defeat him. But no ! Lee clung to his intrenchments for political reasons, and waited for the inevitable. At last, on the ist day of April, General Sheridan, by his vehement and most successful attack on the Confederate lines at the " Five Forks " near Dinwiddle Court House, compelled Lee to begin his last race for life. He then attempted to reach Danville, to make junction with Johnston, but Grant in his rapid pursuit constantly interposed,. and finally headed him off at Appomattox, and compelled the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia, which for four years had baf- fled the skill and courage of the Army of the Potomac and the power of our National Government. This substantially ended the war, leaving only the formal proceedings of ac- cepting the surrender of Johnston in North Carolina and of the subordinate armies at the Southwest. THE SURRENDER AT APPOMATTOX COURT HOUSE By Horace Porter, Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. A. The house had a comfortable wooden porch with seven steps leading up to it. A hall ran through the middle from front to back, and on each side was a room having tw^o windows, one in front and one in rear. Each room had two doors opening into the hall. The building stood a little distance back from the street, with a yard in front, and to the left was a gate for carriages and a roadway running to a stable in rear. We entered the grounds by this gate and dismounted. In the yard were seen a fine large gray horse, which proved to be General Lee's, and a good-looking mare belonging to Colonel Marshall. An orderly in gray was in charge of them, and had taken ofif their bridles to let them nibble the grass. General Grant mounted the steps and entered the house. As he stepped into the hall Colonel Babcock, who had seen his approach from the window, opened the door of the room on the left, in which he had been sitting with General Lee and Colonel Marshall awaiting General Grant's arrival. The General passed in, wdiile the members of the staff, Generals Sheridan and Ord, and some general officers who had gathered in the front yard, remained outside, feeling that he would probably want his first interview with General Lee to be, in a measure, private. In a few minutes Col- onel Babcock came to the front door and, making a motion 196 The Surrender 197 with his hat toward the sitting-room, said : " The General says, come in." It was then about half-past i Sunday, the Surrender of Lee to Grant. gth of April, 1865. We entered, and found General Grant sitting at a marble-topped table in the center of the room, and Lee sittinsr beside a small oval table near the front 198 The Civil War window, in the corner opposite to the door by which we entered, and facing General Grant. Colonel Marshall, his military secretary, was standing at his left. We walked in softly and ranged ourselves quietly about the sides of the room, very much as people enter a sick-chamber when they expect to find the patient dangerously ill. Some found seats on the sofa and the few chairs which constituted the furniture, but most of the party stood. The contrast between the two commanders was striking, and could not fail to attract marked attention as they sat ten feet apart facing each other. General Grant, then nearly forty-three years of age, was five feet eight inches in height, with shoulders slightly stooped. His hair and full beard were a nut-brown, without a trace of gray in them. He had on a single-breasted blouse, made of dark- blue flannel, unbuttoned in front, and showing a waistcoat underneath. He wore an ordinary pair of top-boots, with his trousers inside, and was without spurs. The boots and portions of his clothes were spattered with mud. He had had on a pair of thread gloves, of a dark-yellow color, which he had taken off on entering the room. His felt " sugar-loaf " stiff-brimmed hat was thrown on the table beside him. He had no sword, and a pair of shoulder- straps was all there was about him to designate his rank. In fact, aside from these, his uniform was that of a private soldier. Lee, on the other hand, was fully six feet in height, and quite erect for one of his age, for he was Grant's senior by sixteen years. His hair and full beard were a silver-gray, and quite thick, except that the hair had become a little thin in front. He wore a new uniform of Confederate gray, buttoned up to the throat, and at his side he carried The Surrender 199 a long sword of exceedingly fine workmanship, the hilt studded with jewels. It was said to be the sword that had been presented to him by the State of Virginia. His top- boots were comparatively new, and seemed to have on them some ornamental stitching of red silk. Like his uniform, they were singularly clean, and but little travel-stained. On the boots were handsome spurs, with large rowels. A felt hat, which in color matched pretty closely that of his <1 -^^^ii*;; «;.'r'V''fii£:,'ii2^g^y Appomattox Courthouse. uniform, and a pair of long buckskin gauntlets lay beside him on the table. We asked Colonel Marshall afterward how it was that both he and his chief wore such fine tog- gery, and looked so much as if they had turned out to go to church, while with us our outward garb scarcely rose to the dignity even of the " shabby-genteel." He enlightened us regarding the contrast, by explaining that when their headquarters wagons had been pressed so closely by our cavalry a few days before, and it was found they would 200 The Civil War have to destroy all their baggage, except the clothes they carried on their backs, each one, naturally, selected the newest suit he had, and sought to propitiate the god of destruction by a sacrifice of his second-best. General Grant began the conversation by saying: "I met you once before. General Lee, while we w^ere serving in Mexico, when you came over from General Scott's head- cjuarters to visit Garland's brigade, to which I then belonged. I have always remembered your appearance, and I think I should have recognized you anywhere." " Yes," replied General Lee, " I know I met you on that occasion, and I ha\'e often thought of it and tried to recol- lect how you looked, but I have never been able to recall a single feature." After some further mention of Mexico, General Lee said : " I suppose. General Grant, that the object of our present meeting is fully understood. I asked to see you to ascertain upon what terms you would receive the surrender of my army." General Grant replied : " The terms I propose are those stated substantially in my letter of yesterday, — that is, the officers and men surren- dered to be paroled and disqualified from taking up arms again until properly exchanged, and all arms, ammunition, and supplies to be delivered up as captured property." Lee nodded an assent, and said : " Those are about the conditions which I expected would be proposed." General Grant then continued : " Yes, I think our correspondence indicated pretty clearly the action that would be taken at our meeting; and I hope it may lead to a general suspen- sion of hostilities and be the means of preventing any further loss of life." Lee inclined his head as indicating his accord with this wish, and General Grant then went on to talk at some The Surrender 201 length in a very pleasant vein about the prospects of peace. Lee was evidently anxious to proceed to the formal work of the surrender, and he brought the subject up again by saying : " I presume, General Grant, we have both carefully con- sidered the proper steps to be taken, and I would suggest that you commit to writing the terms you have proposed, so that they may he formally acted upon." " Very well," replied General Grant, " I will write them The village of Appomattox Courthouse. The McLean house on the right. out." And calling for his manifold order-book, he opened it on the table before him and proceeded to write the terms. The leaves had been so prepared that three impressions of the writing w^re made. He wrote very rapidly, and did not pause until he had finished the sentence ending with " officers appointed by me to receive them." Then he looked toward Lee, and his eyes seemed to be resting on the handsome sword that hung at that officer's side. He said afterward that this set him to thinking that it would be an unnecessary humiliation to require the officers to sur- 202 The Civil War The McLean house at Appomattox, where Lee surrendered. render their swords, and a great hardship to deprive them of their personal baggage and horses, and after a short pause he wrote the sen- tence : " This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor their pri- vate horses or baggage." When he had finished the letter he called Colonel (afterward General) Ely S. Parker, one of the military secretaries on the staff, to his side and looked it over with him and directed him as they went along to interline six or seven words and to strike out the word " their," which had been repeated. When this had been done, he handed the book to General Lee and asked him to read over the letter. It was as follows : Appomattox Ct. H., Va., April 9, 1865. General R. E. Lee, Commanding C. S. A. General : In accordance with the substance of my letter to you of the 8th inst., I propose to receive the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia on the following terms, to-wit: Rolls of all the officers and men to be made in duplicate, one copy to be given to an officer to be designated by me, the other to be retained by such officer or officers as you may designate. The officers to give their individual paroles not to take up arms against the Government of the United States until properly [exchanged], and each company or regimental commander to sign a like parole for the men of their commands. The arms, artillery, and public property to be parked, and stacked, and turned over to the officers appointed by me to re- ceive them. This will not embrace the side-arms of the officers, nor The Surrender 203 their private horses or baggage. This done, each officer and man will be allowed to return to his home, not to be disturbed by the United States authorities so long as they observe their paroles, and the laws in force where they may reside. Very respectfully, U. S. Grant, Lieutenant-General. Lee took it and laid it on the table beside him, while he drew from his pocket a pair of steel-rimmed spectacles and wiped the glasses carefully with his handkerchief. Then he crossed his legs, adjusted the spectacles very slowly and deliberately, took up the draft of the letter, and proceeded to read it attentively. It consisted of two pages. When he reached the top line of the second page, he looked up, and said to General Grant: "After the words 'until properly,' the word ' exchanged ' seems to be omitted. You doubtless intended to use that word." "Why, yes," said Grant; "I thought I had put in the word ' exchanged.' " " I presumed it had been omitted inadvertently," con- tinued Lee, " and with your permission I will mark where it should be inserted." " Certainly," Grant replied. Lee felt in his pocket as if searching for a pencil, but did not seem to be able to find one. Seeing this and happening to be standing close to him, I handed him my pencil. He took it, and laying the paper on the table noted the inter- lineation. During the rest of the interview he kept twirl- ing this pencil in his fingers and occasionally tapping the top of the table with it. When he handed it back it was carefully- treasured by me as a memento of the occasion. When Lee came to the sentence about the officer's side- arms, private horses, and baggage, he showed for the first 204 ^^^ Civil War time during the reading of the letter a slight change of countenance, and was evidently touched by this act of generosity. It was doubtless the condition mentioned to which he particularly alluded when he looked toward Gen- eral Grant as he finished reading and said with some degree of warmth in his manner: " This will have a very happy effect upon my army." General Grant then said : " Unless you have some sug- gestions to make in regard to the form in which I have stated the terms, I will have a copy of the letter made in ink and sign it." " There is one thing I would like to mention," Lee replied after a short pause. "' The cavalrymen and artillerists own their own horses in our army. Its organ- ization in this respect differs from that of the United States." This expression attracted the notice of our officers present, as showing how firmly the conviction was grounded in his mind that we were two distinct countries. He con- tinued : " I would like to understand whether these men will be permitted to retain their horses? " " You will find that the terms as written do not allow this," General Grant replied ; " only the officers are per- mitted to take their private property." Lee read over the second page of the letter again, and then said : "No, I see the terms do not allow it; that is clear." His face showed plainly that he was quite anxious to have this concession made, and Grant said very promptly and without giving Lee time to make a direct request : " Well, the subject is quite new to me. Of course I did not know that any private soldiers owned their animals, but I think this will be the last battle of the war — I sin- The Surrender 205 cerely hope so — and that the surrender of this army will be followed soon by that of all the others, and I take it that most of the men in the ranks are small farmers, and as the country has been so raided by the two armies, it is doubtful whether they will be able to put in a crop to carry them- selves and their families through the next winter without the aid of the horses they are now riding, and I will arrange it in this way : I will not change the terms as now written, but I will instruct the officers I shall appoint to receive the paroles to let all the men who claim to own a horse or mule take the animals home with them to work their little farms." (This expression has been quoted in various forms and has been the subject of some dispute. I give the exact words used.) Lee now looked greatly relieved, and though anything but a demonstrative man, he gave every evidence of his appreciation of this concession, and said, " This will have the best possible effect upon the men.^ It will be very gratifying and will do much toward conciliating our people." He handed the draft of the terms back to Gen- eral Grant, who called Colonel T. S. Bowers of the staff to him and directed him to make a copy in ink. The letter when completed read as follows : Headquarters, Army of Northern Virginia, April 9th, 1865. General: I received your letter of this date containing the terms of the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia as pro- posed by you. As they are substantially the same as those ex- pressed in your letter of the 8th inst., they are accepted. I will proceed to designate the proper officers to carry the stipulations into effect. R. E. Lee, General. Lieutenant-General U. S. Grant. 206 The Civil War General Lee now took the initiative again in leading the conversation back into business channels. He said : " I have a thousand or more of your men as prisoners, General Grant, a number of them officers v^diom we have required to march along with us for several days. I shall be glad to send them into your lines as soon as it can be arranged, for I have no provisions for them. I have, indeed, nothing for my own men. They have been living for the last few days principally upon parched corn, and we are badly in need of both rations and forage. I telegraphed to Lynchburg, directing several train-loads of rations to be sent on by rail from there, and when they arrive I should be glad to have the present wants of my men supplied from them." At this remark all eyes turned toward Sheridan, for he had captured these trains with his cavalry the night before, near Appomattox Station. General Grant replied : " I should like to have our men sent within our lines as soon as possible. I will take steps at once to have your army supplied with rations, but I am sorry we have no forage for the animals. We have had to depend upon the country for our supply of forage. Of about how many men does your present force consist ? " " Indeed, I am not able to say," Lee answered after a slight pause. " My losses in killed and wounded have been exceedingly heavy, and, besides, there have been many stragglers and some deserters. All my reports and public papers, and, indeed, my own private letters, had to be destroyed on the march, to prevent them from falling into the hands of your people. Many companies are entirely without officers, and I have not seen any returns for several The Surrender 207 days; so that I have no means of ascertaining our present strength." General Grant had taken great pains to have a daily- estimate made of the enemy's forces from all the data that could be obtained, and, judging it to be about 25,000 at this time, he said: "Suppose I send over 25,000 rations, do you think that will be a sufficient supply? " " I think it v^ill be ample," remarked Lee, and added with consider- able earnestness of manner, " and it will be a great relief, I assure you." General Grant now turned to his chief commissary. Colonel M. R. Morgan, who was present, and directed him to arrange for issuing the rations. The number of officers and men surrendered was over 28,000. As to General Grant's supplies, he had ordered the army on starting out to carry twelve days' rations. This was the twelfth and last \^ day of the campaign. Grant's eye now fell upon Lee's sword again, and it seemed to remind him of the absence of his own, and by way of ex- planation he said to Lee : " I started out from my camp several days ago without my sword, and as I have not seen my head- General Lee and Colonel Marshall ■^ ^ leaving McLean s house after the quarters baggage since, I surrender. 1, „„ U„„ -"J"™ -L i. From a sketch made at the time. have been ridnig about without any side-arms. I have generally worn a sword, however, as little as possible, only during the actual opera- 208 The Civil War tions of a campaign." " I am in the habit of wearing mine most of the time," remarked Lee; "I wear it in- variably when I am among my troops, moving about through the army." General Sheridan now stepped up to General Lee and said that when he discovered some of the Confederate troops in motion during the morning, which seemed to be a viola- tion of the truce, he had sent him (Lee) a couple of notes protesting against this act, and as he had not had time to copy them he would like to have them long enough to make copies. Lee took the notes out of the breast-pocket of his coat and handed them to Sheridan with a few words expressive of regret that the circumstances had occurred, and intimating that it must have been the result of some misunderstanding. After a little general conversation had been indulged in by those present, the two letters were signed and delivered, and the parties prepared to separate. Lee before parting asked Grant to notify Meade of the surrender, fearing that fighting might break out on that front and lives be use- lessly lost. This request was complied with, and two Union officers were sent through the enemy's lines as the shortest route to Meade, — some of Lee's officers accom- panying them to prevent their being interfered with. At a little before 4 o'clock General Lee shook hands with Gen- eral Grant, bowed to the other officers, and with Colonel Marshall left the room. One after another we followed, and passed out to the porch. Lee signaled to his orderly to bring up his horse, and while the animal was being bridled the General stood on the lowest step and gazed sadly in the direction of the valley beyond where his army lay — now an army of prisoners. He smote his hands The Surrender 209 together a number of times in an absent sort of a way; seemed not to see the group of Union officers in the yard who rose respectfully at his approach, and appeared uncon- scious of everything about him. All appreciated the sad- ness that overwhelmed him, and he had the personal sympathy of every one who beheld him at this supreme Union soldiers sharing their rations with the Confederates. moment of trial. The approach of his horse seemed to recall him from his reverie, and he at once mounted. Gen- eral Grant now stepped down from the porch, and, moving toward him, saluted him by raising his hat. He was followed in this act of courtesy by all our officers present ; Lee raised his hat respectfully, and rode off to break the sad news to the brave fellows whom he had so lone- commanded. THE FOURTEENTH OF APRIL By Helen Nicolay Refreshed in body by his visit to City Point, and greatly cheered by the fall of Richmond, and unmistakable signs that the war was over, Mr. Lincoln went back to Wash- ington intent on the new task opening before him — that of restoring the Union, and of bringing about peace and good will again between the North and the South. His whole heart was bent on the work of " binding up the nation's wounds " and doing all which lay in his power to " achieve a just and lasting peace." Especially did he desire to avoid the shedding of blood, or anything like acts of deliberate punishment. He talked to his cabinet in this strain on the morning of April 14, the last day of his life. A little band of desperate secessionists, of which John Wilkes Booth, an actor of a family of famous players, was the head, had their usual meeting-place at the house of Mrs. Mary E. Surratt, the mother of one of the number. Booth was a young man of twenty-six, strikingly handsome, with an ease and grace of manner which came to him of right from his theatrical ancestors. He was a fanatical South- erner, with a furious hatred against Lincoln and the Union. After Lincoln's reelection he went to Canada, and associ- ated with the Confederate agents there; and whether or not wath their advice, made a plan to capture the President and take him to Richmond. He passed a greater part of the autumn and winter pursuing this fantastic scheme, but the The Fourteenth of April 211 winter wore away, and nothing was done. On March 4 he was at the Capitol, and created a disturbance by trying to force his way through the Hne of poHcemen who guarded the passage through which the President walked to the east front of the building to read his Second Inaugural. His intentions at this time are not known. He afterward said he lost an excellent chance of killing the President that day. After the surrender of Lee, in a rage akin to madness, he called his fellow-conspirators together and allotted to each his part in the new crime which had risen in his mind. It was as simple as it was horrible. One man was to kill Secretary Seward, another to make way with Andrew Johnson, at the same time that he murdered the President. The final preparations were made with feverish haste. It was only about noon of the fourteenth that Booth learned that Mr. Lincoln meant to go to Ford's Theater that night to see the play, " Our American Cousin." The President enjoyed the theater. It was one of his few means of recreation. Mrs. Lincoln asked General and Mrs. Grant to accom- pany her. They accepted, and the announcement that they would be present was made in the evening papers, but they changed their plans and went north by an afternoon train. Mrs. Lincoln then invited in their stead Miss Harris and Major Rathbone, daughter and stepson of Senator Ira Harris. Being detained by visitors, the play had made some progress when the President appeared. The band struck up, " Hail to the Chief," the actors ceased playing, the audience rose and cheered, the President bowed in acknowledgment, and the play went on again. From the moment he learned of the President's intention 212 The Civil War Booth's actions were alert and energetic. He and his con- federates were seen in every part of the city. Booth was perfectly at home in Ford's Theater. He counted upon audacity to reach the small passage behind the President's box. Once there, he guarded against interference by arranging a wooden bar, to be fastened by a simple mortice in the angle of the wall and the door by which he entered, so that once shut, the door could not be opened from the outside. He even provided for the chance of not gaining entrance to the box by boring a hole in the door, through which he might either observe the occupants, or take aim and shoot. He hired at a livery stable a small, fleet horse. A few moments before ten o'clock, leaving his horse at the rear of the theater, in charge of a call-boy, he entered the building, passing rapidly to the little hallway leading to the President's box. Showing a card to the servant in attendance, he was allowed to enter, closed the door noise- lessly, and secured it with the wooden bar he had made ready, without disturbing any of the occupants of the box, between whom and himself yet remained the partition and the door through which he had bored the hole. No one, not even the actor who uttered them, could ever remember the last words of the piece that were spoken that night — the last that Abraham Lincoln heard upon earth ; for the tragedy in the box turned play and players alike to the most unsubstantial of phantoms. For weeks hate and brandy had kept Booth's brain in a morbid state. He seemed to himself to be taking part in a great play. Hold- ing a pistol in one hand and a knife in the other, he opened the box door, put the pistol to the President's head, and fired. Major Rathbone sprang to grapple with him, and received a savage knife wound in the arm. Then, rush- The Fourteenth of April 213 ing forward, Booth placed his hand on the raihng of the box and vaulted to the stage. It was a high leap, but nothing to such a trained athlete. He .might have got safely away, had not his spur caught in the flag that draped the front of the box. He fell, the torn flag trailing on his spur; but though the fall had broken his leg, he rose instantly, brandishing his knife and shouting, " Sic Semper Tyrannis ! " fled rapidly across the stage and out of sight. Major Rathbone shouted, "Stop him!" The cry, "He has shot the President ! " rang through the theater, and from the audience, stupid at first with surprise, and wild afterward with excitement and horror, men jumped upon the stage in pursuit of the assassin. But he ran through the familiar passages, leaped upon his horse, and escaped into the night. The President scarcely moved. His head drooped for- ward slightly, his eyes closed. Major Rathbone, not regarding his own grievous hurt, rushed to the door to summon aid. He found it barred, and some one on the outside beating and clamoring to get in. It was at once seen that the President's" wound was mortal. He was carried across the street to a house opposite, and laid upon a bed. Mrs. Lincoln followed, tenderly cared for by Miss Harris. Rathbone, exhausted by loss of blood, fainted, and was taken home. Messengers were sent for the Cabi- net, for the Surgeon-General, for Dr. Stone, the Presi- dent's family physician, and for others whose official or private relations with Mr. Lincoln gave them the right to be there. A crowd of people rushed instinctively to the White House, and bursting through the doors, shouted the dreadful news to Robert Lincoln and Major Hay, who sat together in an upper room. 214 The Civil War The President had been shot a few minutes after ten o'clock. The wound would have brought instant death to most men. He was unconscious from the first moment, but he breathed throughout the night, his gaunt face scarcely paler than those of the sorrowing men around him. At twenty-two minutes past seven in the morning he died. Secretary Stanton broke the silence by saying, " Now he belongs to the ages." It was determined that the funeral ceremonies in Wash- ington should be held on Wednesday, April 19, and all the churches throughout the country were invited to join at the same time in appropriate observances. The ceremo- nies in the East Room were simple and brief, while all the pomp and circumstance that the Government could com- mand were employed to give a fitting escort from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol, where the body of the President lay in state. When it was announced that he was to be buried at Springfield, Illinois, every city on the way begged that the train might halt within its limits, to give its people oppor- tunity of showing their grief and reverence. It was finally arranged that the funeral cortege should follow substan- tially the same route over which Lincoln had come in 1861 to take possession of the office to which he added a new dignity and value for all time. On April 21, accompanied by a guard of honor, and in a train decked with somber trappings, the journey was begun. At Baltimore, through which, four years before, it was a question whether the President-elect could pass with safety to his life, the coffin was taken with reverent care to the great dome of the Exchange, where, surrounded with evergreens and lilies, it lay for several hours, the people passing^ by in mournful The Fourteenth of April 215 throngs. The same demonstration was repeated, gaining constantly in depth of feehng and solemn splendor of dis- play in every city through which the procession passed. Springfield was reached on the morning of May 3. The body lay^ in state in the Capitol, which was richly draped from roof to basement in black velvet and silver fringe, while within it was a bower of bloom and fragrance. For twenty-four hours an unbroken stream of people passed through, bidding their friend and neighbor welcome home and farewell. At ten o'clock on the morning of May 4 the coffin lid was closed, and a vast procession moved out to Oak Ridge, where the town had set apart a lovely spot for his grave. Here the dead President was committed to the soil of the State which had so loved and honored him. The ceremonies at the grave were simple and touching. Bishop Simpson delivered a pathetic oration, prayers were offered, and hymns were sung, but the weightiest and most eloquent words uttered anywhere that day were those of the Second Inaugural, which the committee had wisely ordained to be read over his grave, as centuries before, the friends of the painter Raphael chose the incomparable canvas of " The Transfiguration " to be the chief ornament of his funeral. Though President Lincoln lived to see the real end of the war, various bodies of "Confederate troops continued to hold out for some time longer. General Johnston faced Sherrrian's army in the Carolinas until April 26, while General E. Kirby Smith, west of the Mississippi River, did not surrender until May 26. Why was this man so loved that his death caused a whole nation to forget its triumph, and turned its gladness into mourning? Why has his fame grown with the passing 2i6 The Civil War years until now scarcely a speech is made or a newspaper printed that does not have within it somewhere a mention of his name or some phrase or sentence that fell from his lips? Let us see if we can, what it was that made Abraham Lincoln the man that he became. A child born to an inheritance of want ; a boy growing into a narrow world of ignorance ; a youth taking up the burden of coarse and heavy labor; a man entering on the doubtful struggle of a local backwoods career — these were the beginnings of Abraham Lincoln if we look at them only in the hard, practical spirit which takes for its motto that " Nothing succeeds but success." If we adopt a more generous as well as a truer view, then we see that it was the brave, hopeful spirit, the strong, active mind, and the grave law of moral growth that accepts the good and rejects the bad, which Nature gave this obscure child, that carried him to the service of mankind and the admiration of the centuries as certainly as the acorn grows to be the oak. Even his privations helped the end. Self-reliance, the strongest trait of the pioneer, was his by blood and birth and training, and was developed by the hardships of his lot to the mighty power and firmness needed to guide our country through the bitter four years' struggle of the Civil War. In such settlements, far removed from courts and jails, men were brought face to face with questions of natural right. The pioneers not only understood the American doctrine of self-government — they lived it. It was this understanding, this feeling, whicli taught Lincoln to write : *' When the white man governs himself that is self-govern- ment; but when he governs himself and also governs The Fourteenth of April 217 another man, that is more than self-government — that is despotism ' ; and also to give utterance to its twin truth: " He who would be no slave must consent to have no slave." Lincoln was born in the slave state of Kentucky. He lived there only a short time, and we have reason to believe that wherever he might have grown up, his very nature would have spurned the doctrine and practice of human slavery. Yet, though he hated slavery, he never hated the slave-holder. His feeling of pardon and sym- pathy for Kentucky and the South played no unimportant part in his dealings with grave problems of statesmanship. It is true that he struck slavery its death blow with the hand of war, but at the same time he offered the slave- owners golden payment with the hand of peace. Abraham Lincoln was not an ordinary man. He was, in truth, in the language of the poet Lowell, a " new birth of our new soil." His greatness did not consist in grow- ing up on the frontier. An ordinary man would have found on the frontier exactly what he would have found else- where — a commonplace life, varying only with the chang- ing ideas and customs of time and place. But for the man with extraordinary powers of mind and body — for one gifted by Nature as Abraham Lincoln was gifted, the pioneer life with its severe training in self-denial, patience and industry, developed his character, and fitted him for the great duties of his after life as no other training could have done. His advancement in the astonishing career that carried him from obscurity to world-wide fame — from postmaster of New Salem village to President of the United States. from captain of a backwoods volunteer company to Com- 2i8 The Civil War mander-in-chief of the Army and Navy, was neither sud- den nor accidental, nor easy. He was both ambitious and successful, but his ambition was moderate, and his success was slow. And, because his success was slow, it never out- grew either his judgment or his power. Between the day when he left his father's cabin and launched his canoe on the headwaters of the Sangamon River to begin life on his own account, and the day of his first inauguration, lay full thirty years of toil, self-denial, patience; often of effort baffled, of hope deferred; sometimes of bitter disappoint- ment. Almost every success was balanced — sometimes over- balanced, by a seeming failure. He went into the Black Hawk war a captain, and through no fault of his own, came out a private. He rode to the hostile frontier on horseback, and trudged home on foot. His store " winked out." His surveyor's compass and chain, with which he was earning a scanty living, Avere sold for debt. He was defeated in his first attempts to be nominated for the legis- lature and for Congress ; defeated in his application to be appointed Commissioner of the General Land Office; de- feated for the Senate when he had forty-five votes to begin with, by a man who had only five votes to begin with; defeated again after his joint debates with Douglas ; de- feated in the nomination for Vice-President, when a favor- able nod from half a dozen politicians would have brought him success. Failures? Not so. Every seeming defeat was a slow success. His was the growth of the oak, and not of Jonah's gourd. He could not become a master workman until he had served a tedious apprenticeship. It was a quarter of a century of reading, thinking, speech-making and The Fourteenth of April 219 lawmaking which fitted him to be the chosen champion of freedom in the great Lincohi-Douglas debates of 1858. It was the great moral victory won in those debates (although the senatorship went to Douglas) added to the title " Honest Old Abe," won by truth and manhood among his neighbors during a whole lifetime, that led the people of the United States to trust him with the Presidency. And when, at last, after thirty years of endeavor, success had beaten down defeat, when Lincoln had been nominated, elected and inaugurated, came the crowning trial of his faith and constancy. The outlook was indeed grave. There was treason in Congress, treason in the Supreme Court, treason in the army and navy. Confusion and discord were everywhere. To use Mr. Lincoln's forcible figure of speech, sinners were calling the righteous to repentance. Finally the flag was fired upon, at Sumter; and then came the humiliation of the riot at Baltimore, and the President for a few days practically a prisoner in the capital of the nation. But his apprenticeship had been served, and there was to be no more failure. With faith and justice and gener- osity he conducted for four long years a war whose fron- tiers stretched from the Potomac to the Rio Grande ; whose soldiers numbered a million men on each side. The labor, the thought, the responsibility, the strain of mind and anguish of soul that he gave to this great task, who can measure ? " Here was place for no holiday magistrate, no fair weather sailor," as Emerson justly said of him. " The new pilot was hurried to the helm in a tornado. In four years — four years of battle days — his endurance, his fer- tility of resources, his magnanimity, were sorely tried and never found wanting." " By his courage, his justice, his 220 The Civil War even temper, . . . his humanity, he stood a heroic figure in the center of a heroic epoch." What but a hfetime's schoohng in disappointment, what but the pioneer's self-rehance and freedom from prejudice, what but the clear mind, quick to see natural right and unswerving in its purpose to follow it ; what but the steady self-control, the un warped sympathy, the unbounded char- ity of this man with spirit so humble and soul so great, could have carried him through the labors he wrought to the victory he attained? With truth it could be written, " His heart was as great as the world, but there was no room in it to hold the mem- ory of a wrong." So, " with malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gave him to see the right " he lived and died. We, who have never seen him, still feel daily the influence of his kindly life and cherish among our most precious possessions the heritage of his example. O CAPTAIN! MY CAPTAIN! O Captain ! my Captain 1 our fearful trip is done, The ship has weather'd every rack, the prize we sought is won, The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting, While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring; But O heart! heart! heart! O the bleeding drops of red. Where on the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. O Captain ! my Captain ! rise up and hear the bells ; Rise up — for you the flag is flung — for you the bugle trills. For you bouquets and ribbon'd wreaths — for you the shores a-crowding, For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning ; Here Captain ! dear father ! This arm beneath your head ! It is some dream that on the deck, You've fallen cold and dead. My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still, My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will, The ship is anchor'd safe and sound, its voyage closed and done, From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won; Exult O shores, and ring O bells ! But I with mournful tread, Walk the deck my Captain lies, Fallen cold and dead. Walt Whitman. INDEX Alabama, The, and The Kcarsargc, 161-172. Albemarle, The, 173-179. Appomattox Courthouse, 195, 196- 209. Battle hymn of the RepubHc, 2. Beauregard, General, 20, 23, 56. Bull Run, first battle of, 47-59. Conduct of the Soldiers, 136-138. Confederate battle flag, 19. Confederate Congress, 19. Confederate drummer, 47. Contributors to this volume. Confederate States Army. Beauregard, Gen'l G. T., 47-55. Harrison, Constance Cady, 150-161. Hill. Lt. Gen'l Dan'l H., 133- 136. Imboden, Brig. Gen'l John D., 55-59. 120-129. Lee, Lt. Gen'l Stephen D., 19- 27. Longstreet, Lt. Gen'l James, 138-141. Wood, John Taylor, C. S. A., 84-97. U. S. Army. Badeau, Gen'l Adam, 180-184. Cox. Maj. Gen'l Jacob D., ;i6- 46. Franklin, Maj. Gen'l Wm. B., 136-138. Grant, Gen'l U. S., 75-83. Lincoln, Abraham, 140-149. McClellan, Gen'l Geo. B., 113- 119. 223 Contributors (continued). U. S. Army (continued) . Porter, Admiral David B., 98- 112. Porter, Maj. Gen'l Fitz John, 130-133. Porter, Gen'l Horace, 196-210. Sherman, Gen'l Wm. T., 185- 196. Stone, Brig. Gen'l Chas. P., 3- 18. Wallace, Maj. Gen'l Lew, 60- 74. Cushmg, Lieut., and The Albe- marle, 173-179. Davis, Jefferson, 56, 57, 158, 159. District of Columbia Volunteers, 12, 18. Douglas, Stephen A., 39. Emancipation Proclamation, 143- 146. English naval supremacy, 84, 85. Enlisting, 29-33, 45. 46. Fairfax Courthouse, 57. Farragut, Admiral, 99, 103, 106, III. Fort Donelson, 60-74. Fort Johnson, 20. Fort Sumter, 20, 21, 22, 24, 25, 27, 37, 47- Garfield, James A., 40. Gettysburg Address, 146, 147. Gettysburg, Pickett's charge at, 180-184. 224 Index Grant, Gen'l U. S., 63, 66, 69, 75- 83, 187-190, 196-210. Greeley, Horace, 142. Hampton Roads, 84, 89. Howe, Julia Ward, 2. Ironclads, First Fight of, 84-97. Jackson, Gen'l, 55, 58, 59, 120-129. Kcarsarge, The, 161-1 72. Lee, Robert E. Estimate of, 138-141. Home of, 52. Surrender of, 196-210. Lincoln, Abraham, 13, 14, 15, 39, 97, 100, loi, 140-149. Lincoln, Assassination of, 210-221. Lincoln, Inauguration of, 16, 17. Lincoln, Proclamation, 38, 143-146. McClellan, Gen'l Geo. B., 102, 113- 119, 120, 130, 140. Merrhnac, The. 84-97. Mississippi, Opening of, gS-ii^ Monitor, The, 84-97. New Orleans, 98, 105, no, 112. Northerner and Southerner, 133- 136, 209. Ohio, 36-46. Opening of the ^Mississippi, 98-112. Peninsular Campaign, 113-119 130- 141- Potomac, the, 114, 116. Richmond, Scenes in '62. 150-161. Scott, Lt. Gen'l, 4, 5, 6, 14, 48. recession, 3. Seven days' fighting, 130-141 Seward, Secretary, loi, 210-221. Shenandoah, 120-129. Sheridan, Gen'l P. s'., 189, 190 195, 208. Sherman, Gen'l Wm. T., 185-196 Shiloh, Battle of, 75-83. '■ Shoot him on the spot," 28. Slavery, 142, 148, 149. Strategy of the last year, 185-196. " Unconditional Surrender," 69, 72 Uniforms, 4, 47, 49. 74, 84, 113, 116. 121. Virginia, The, 84-97. War preparations, 36-46. Washington, D. C.,' 3-18, 14-^c; West Point, 47. "^^ -^^' im 1 mi