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THE BAT-TLE OF BUN-KER HILL. 
 
HISTORY 
 
 BATTLES OF AMERICA 
 
 IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE 
 
 BY 
 
 JOSEPHINE POLLARD 
 
 AUTHOR OF " A HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES IN WORDS OF ONE SYLLABLE," "HISTORY OF 
 THE OLD TESTAMENT," "HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTAMENT," ETC., ETC. 
 
 COP 10 USL V ILL USTRA TED 
 
 GEORGE ROUjTLEDGE AND SONS 
 
 New York : 9 Lafayette Place 
 London, Manchester, and Glasgow 
 
 \^- 
 
 w< 
 
 'V 
 
IN UNIFORM STYLE, 
 
 Words of One Syllable. 
 ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 HISTORY OF UNITED STATES 
 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS OF 
 
 THE UNITED STATES 
 HIS TOR V OF ENGLAND 
 HIS TOR Y OF FRANCE 
 HISTORY OF GERMANY 
 HISTOR Y OF IRELAND 
 HIS TOR Y OF RUSSIA 
 HISTORY OF JAPAN 
 HISTORY OF THE OLD TESTA- 
 MENT 
 
 HISTORY OF THE NEW TESTA- 
 MENT 
 
 HISTOR Y OF THE BA TTLES OF 
 AMERICA 
 
 George Routledge & Sons, 
 
 9 Lafayette Place, New York. 
 
 ^\<T>\ 
 
 Tn-] 
 
 Copyright, 1889, 
 By Joseph L. Blamire. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The author has tried to tell the story of the Amer- 
 ican Battles so simply that the young reader will 
 know just how, when, and where they were fought, 
 and will feel as if with the troops in the camp and 
 on the field. Some of the sea-fights will be found 
 more fully described in " Our Naval Heroes ^ a 
 book published by McLoughlin Brothers. 
 
 J. p. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 Lexington . 
 Bunker Hill 
 Long Island 
 Trenton 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Monmouth Court-House 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 A Traitor in the Camp 
 
 Yorktown . 
 The War of 1812 
 Lundy's Lane 
 In Mexico 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 CHAPTER VIIL 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PAGE 
 I 
 
 • 17 
 
 ■ 41 
 
 ■ 50 
 
 • 56 
 . 66 
 
 ■ 75 
 ^ 85 
 
 • 93 
 
viii Contents. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. PAGE 
 
 Wars with the Indians c . 102 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Bull Run ....... T^/t 
 
 134. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 Fort Donelson •••.„.... 148 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Shiloh . . . . . . . . . ^ . ic8 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Antietam . o ........ ^ l5r 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 ViCKSBURG . . , -174- 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Gettysburg o . . . . . . . . .18c; 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 Lookout Mountain lor 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 In the Wilderness 204 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Atlanta ........... 207 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 With Sheridan . . .214 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 Petersburg . , . . . ^ .221 
 
The Battles of America. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 LEXINGTON: APRIL 19, 1775. 
 
 IN the year 1620 a band of 
 brave men and wom-en, 
 called Pu-ri-tans, left Eng- 
 land, the Old World, and 
 came to A-mer-i-ca, the 
 New World, where they 
 might be free to serve God 
 as they chose. They had 
 heard a great deal of this 
 New World, and thought 
 to dwell there in peace for 
 the rest of their days. But they came to shore on a 
 cold, bleak coast, at the north-east end of the large 
 stretch of land, and here, with but few tools to work 
 with, and scant food to eat, they built their homes, 
 and made the best that they could of their hard fate. 
 
2 The Battles of America, 
 
 That part of the New World had for some tune been 
 known as New Eng-land, and those who made their 
 
 MON-U-MENT COM-MEM-0-RA-TING THE 
 
 LAND-ING OF THE PIL-GRIMS, 
 
 AT PLY-MOUTH 
 
 homes there were still true to the old flag, and to the 
 King who sat on the throne. 
 
 The red men thought that they had the first and 
 best right to the land on which they had dwelt for so 
 long alime. It was their own, and woe to the pale 
 face who would try to wrest it from their hands. 
 
 But man has to fight his way through the world, 
 
Battle of Lexinotoii 
 
 ^ 
 
 from the time he comes in-to it till he goes out of it ; 
 not all the while with guns and fire-arms, but in ways 
 that tend to make the nerves strong, and the heart 
 brave and true. These white men put their trust in 
 God, and he gave them strength, and did not let hope 
 die out of their hearts. 
 
 AN IN-DIAN VIL-LAGE. 
 
 They had fierce fights with the red men, and much 
 blood was shed, their homes were set on fire, their 
 
The Battles of America. 
 
 wives and babes torn from their arms, and no one's 
 
 life was safe. 
 
 But as the years went on new homes were built, farms 
 
 spread out, and towns sprang up here and there, the 
 
 chief one of which was Bos-ton. 
 Here there was a fine bay, and 
 to and from this port, ships came 
 and went, and a large trade 
 was kept up be-tween the Old 
 World and the New. 
 
 The French who dwelt in 
 Can-a-da were loath to have 
 EnQT-land take so much of the 
 wealth of the New World, and 
 wars with them and with the 
 red men were kept up for a 
 long term of years. 
 
 In 1768, Brit-ish troops were 
 placed in Bos-ton to guard the 
 
 town, and to see that no one broke the King's laws. 
 
 These red-coats were harsh at times, and did so much 
 
 to vex the A-mer-i-cans that they looked on them as 
 
 the worst kind of foes. 
 
 In the year 1774, George the Third, then King of 
 
 Eng-land, sought to gain more pow-er in the New 
 
 World, and to make A-mer-i-cans the slaves of his 
 
 will. His acts were such as to rouse the fierce hate 
 
 GEORGE III. 
 
COM-MIS-SION-ERS LAND-ING AT BOS-TON. 
 
The Battles of A luerica. 
 
 of free men, and to put an end to all thoughts of peace 
 and good-will. 
 
 Brit-ish troops were sent to Bos-ton to guard the 
 ports so that no ships should land with tea, or goods 
 
 
 ^ 1 ' 
 
 ' ''11/ /I %\ 
 
 SAMU-EL AD-AMS. 
 
 that did not bear the King's stamp. The A-mer-i- 
 cans would not pay the tax the King put on these 
 things and made up their minds to do with-out tea, 
 and all high-priced goods. 
 
Battle of Lexinoton. 
 
 Soon food grew scarce, and rich and poor felt the 
 scouro;e of the harsh task-mas-ter. Gen-er-al Gaee was 
 warned from time to time that if such harsh acts were 
 kept up there would soon be war. But he felt no fear, 
 as he thought that his well-trained troops would be 
 more than a match for these raw Yan-kees. 
 
 Soon was heard the sound of fife and drums, and 
 young and old, fa-thers and sons, took part each day 
 in the drills that were to teach them how to hold and 
 fire their guns, and how to keep step in the line of 
 march. 
 
 Each win-ter the Bos-ton boys had found it great 
 sport to build mounds of snow on the 
 large Park, or Com-mon, which was 
 their play-ground. These snow-hills 
 the troops would beat down, just to 
 vex the boys, who could stand it once 
 or twice. But when this sort of thing 
 was kept up, the boys were full of 
 wrath, and made up their minds that 
 Gen-er-al Gage should hear of it. 
 
 So they put on a bold front, and 
 when they came near Gen-er-al Gage, 
 a tall boy left their ranks and said to 
 him, "We come, sir, to ask you to give us our rights." 
 
 "What!" said Gage, "have your fa-thers taught 
 you this, and sent you out to show your-selves off?" 
 
The Battles of A?nerlca. 
 
 "No one sent us here, sir," said the boy, with a 
 flash in his eyes that told of the scorn in his heart. 
 *'We have done no harm at all to your troops, but 
 they trod down our snow-hills and broke up the ice 
 on the ponds where we skate. We found fault, and 
 
 they called us young 
 reb-els, and told us to 
 help our-selves if we 
 could. We told the 
 cap-tain of this, and he 
 laughed at us as if he 
 thought it a good joke. 
 It is no joke to us, sir. 
 For the third time our 
 works have been torn 
 down, and we will bear 
 it no longer." 
 
 Gage felt his heart 
 stir with pride at the 
 sight of such brave 
 boys, and he told them 
 that the troops should do no more harm to their play- 
 grounds. Then he turned to an of-fi-cer near, and 
 said, "Why, e-ven the chil-dren here draw in a love of 
 free-dom with the air they breathe." 
 
 Though the Brit-ish were strict and stern, the Yan- 
 kees were sharp and sly, and made use of all sorts of 
 
 JOHN HAN-COCK. 
 
Battle of Lexington. 
 
 tricks to get the can-non balls, powder, and guns out 
 of Bos-ton, that they might fit out a force of 15,000 men. 
 At length word was brought to Gen-er-al Gage 
 that a large stock of guns and war-goods was hid at 
 Con-cord, a town less than a score of miles from Bos- 
 ton. On the night 
 of A-pril 18, 1775, 
 he sent 800 of his 
 troops to Con- 
 cord to seize 
 them, and to tear 
 down or burn the 
 house where 
 they were stored. 
 These troops 
 were in charge of 
 Col-o-nel Smith 
 and Ma-jor Pit- 
 cairn. As soon 
 
 PRO-VIN-CIALS AT CON-CORD. 
 
 as the Yan-kees 
 
 in Bos-ton found where and why the red-coats had 
 gone, they at once sent word to Ad-ams and Han- 
 cock, two of their chief men, to be on their guard. 
 Men were sent here and there to spread the news and 
 sound the call "To arms! To arms! The foe is on 
 The name of one of these men was Paul Re- 
 
 us 
 
 vere, and he rode at break-neck speed up hill and 
 
lO 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 down dale, till he came to Lex-ing-ton, a town on the 
 road to Con-cord, and was the first to tell that the 
 Brit-ish were to march that way. 
 
 Bells were runo;, and guns were fired to rouse those 
 to arms who dwelt on the hills and plains a-round. 
 
 " TO ARMS ! TO ARMS ! " 
 
 Men left their ploughs in the fields, seized their guns, 
 and made haste to join the band that had sworn to 
 fi'ee them-selves fi'om the yoke of King George III. 
 
 As soon as Smith heard the fire of the guns, he 
 called out part of his troops and told them to go to 
 Lex-ing-ton as fast as they could run and seize the 
 
PAUL RE-VERE. 
 
12 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 bridg-es there. It was five o'clock on the morn of 
 A-pril 19 when they reached the place, and the word 
 soon spread, and three-score and ten Yan-kee troops at 
 once took their place on the green near the road. 
 
 THE SKIR-MISH AT CON-CORD.* 
 
 Ma-jor Pit-cairn, who was at the head of the Brit- 
 ish troops, bade the Yan-kees lay down their guns 
 and eo back to their homes. When this was not 
 done, he sprang from the ranks, drew forth his sword, 
 and cried out to his men to fire. 
 
■^ 
 
14 The Battles of America. 
 
 The troops with loud cheers ran up the road, and 
 fired their guns at the Yan-kees, some of whom were 
 killed, and not a few had quite bad wounds. Then 
 Smith came up, and the Brit-ish troops moved on 
 to Con-cord, which is four miles from Lex-ing-ton. 
 Their first act was to spike the big field-guns, and 
 to break up the wood-work so that they would be of 
 no use. 
 
 To spike a gun is to drive a spike or nail into the 
 hole on top, so that it can-not be set off. They then 
 threw 500 pounds of bul-lets in-to the streams and 
 wells, and spoiled all the flour and food of all sorts 
 that they could lay their hands on. 
 
 While these deeds went on more and more Yan- 
 kees came in by all the roads, un-til quite a crowd 
 was on hand. Some of the Brit-ish that had been 
 sent out to scour the land round a-bout Con-cord fell 
 in with them and were forced to turn back to the main 
 band of troops. As they came in the town of Con- 
 cord a fight took place in which a large force of men 
 were slain on both sides. 
 
 The Brit-ish found it much too hot for them in Con- 
 cord, and made haste to march back to Lex-ing-ton. 
 When they came to this place they were so worn out 
 that the Yan-kees might have done with them as they 
 chose, but for the aid — in the shape of fresh troops — 
 that came to them just in the nick of time. As soon as 
 
Battle of Lexington. 
 
 15 
 
 the worn-out troops had had the rest they were so 
 much In need of, the whole force of the Brit-ish took 
 
 up the line of 
 
 march to Bos-ton, 
 
 with two field-guns 
 
 in the rear to keep 
 
 back the Yan-kees, 
 
 who sprang up 
 
 thick and fast, and 
 
 fired at them from 
 
 all sides. A stone- 
 wall or e-ven hedge 
 
 would hide these 
 
 sharp - shoot - ers, 
 
 who had a good 
 
 chance to pick their 
 
 men, and wound if 
 
 they did not kill 
 
 these foes of free- 
 men. We may be 
 
 ,sure that the Brit- 
 ^""ish were glad when 
 
 at sun-set they had 
 
 reached Charles- 
 
 town, for the day 
 had been a hard one, and they had had poor luck. 
 The next morn they were in Bos-ton. 
 
 BRIT-ISH GREN-A-DIER 
 
 A-MER-I-CAN RI-FLE-MAN. 
 
lO 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 In the fight at Lex-ing-ton 65 of the Brit-ish were 
 slain and 180 had bad wounds to nurse. The A-mer- 
 i-cans had 50 killed, and 38 with wounds made by 
 Brit-ish guns. 
 
 It was a great blow to the Eng-lish ; and oh ! how 
 
 BAT-TLE OF LEX-ING TON. 
 
 it hurt their pride to think that the King's troops — so 
 well-dressed and well-trained — ^had to Q^ive wav be- 
 fore such a "flock of Yan-kees" in home-spun suits, 
 and with no skill in the art of war ! But these ill-clad 
 
Battle of Bunker Hill. \^ 
 
 Yan-kees "fought like brave men, one and all," and 
 with a dash that seems born in an A-mer-i-can, and 
 in the fight at Lex-ing-ton they found out what they 
 could do, and it put new strength and hope in their 
 hearts. 
 
 Firm in the right, they took their stand 
 To drive the foe- men from their land. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 BUNKER HILL: JUNE 17, 1775. 
 
 At the close of 
 May there were 
 10,000 red-coats in 
 Bos-ton. With the 
 fresh troops from 
 Eng-land came Gen- 
 er-als Howe, Clin- 
 ton, and Bur-goyne^ 
 who had orreat skill 
 in the art of war, 
 and had won much 
 fame for them-selves 
 and their King on 
 fields of strife. 
 The A-mer-i-cans had 16,000 men, with Gen-er-al 
 
 LORD HOWE. 
 
iS 
 
 The Battles of A merica. 
 
 Ward at their head, and this force was spread out 
 so that the British were quite shut in on the land side. 
 The Yan-kees had thrown up a few breast-works 
 here and there, and guards were placed at all points 
 on the roads as far out as Cam-bridge. 
 
 There were three hills near Bos-ton from whose 
 
 tops one could get a fine view of the town. They 
 were known as Bun-ker Hill, Breed's Hill, and 
 Copp's Hill. 
 
 It was made known to the A-mer-i-cans that on 
 the night of June i8, the Brit-ish would march out 
 and take their stand on Bun-ker Hill, near Charles- 
 
Battle of Bufiker Hill. 
 
 19 
 
 town, and on Dor-ches-ter Heights, south of Bos-ton. 
 From both these points they could bring their guns to 
 
 THE DE-FENCE OF BREED S HILL: PRES-COTT IN THE RE-DOUBT. 
 
 bear on the town, and so keep the Yan-kees out of it. 
 The A-mer-i-cans made up their minds to put a 
 
20 The Battles of A 7nerica. 
 
 stop to this fine plan, so on the night of June i6th 
 Col-o-nel {Ker-nel) Pres-cott, with looo men and two 
 field-guns, set out for Bun-ker Hill, where they 
 were to build earth-works and make it an A-mer-i- 
 can strong-hold. 
 
 For some cause these troops did not stop at Bun- 
 ker Hill, but went on and up Breed's Hill, which 
 was quite near Bos-ton, and brought them in range of 
 the town and of the ships of war in the bay. All 
 night they kept at work with pick-axe and spade, but 
 in such a hush that not a sound was heard by those on 
 guard in the town, and by day-light a strong fort 
 loomed up on the hill-top, where when the sun last set 
 there had been naught but green grass. 
 
 It was first seen at four o'clock in the morn-ing by 
 the cap-tain of one of the ships of war, who at once 
 be-gan to play up-on the A-mer-i-cans with his 
 can-non. The noise woke up the whole town of 
 Bos-ton, and the folks there — Brit-ish and Yan- 
 kees — could scarce be-lieve their eyes when they 
 saw what had been done in the few brief hours of 
 the night. 
 
 Gen-e-ral Gage saw at once that if the A-mer-i-cans 
 had a strong-hold on Breed's Hill they would soon 
 drive him and his troops from the town, so he placed 
 six of his large field-guns on Copp's Hill, and from 
 there sent a storm of shot and shell at the A-mer-i-cans, 
 
Battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 21 
 
 which failed to do them much harm. Some of the 
 guns of the fleet fired at them al-so, but still they kept 
 on at their task and 
 built up the fort — or 
 re-dotibt — which is 
 the right name for that 
 kind of earth-works. 
 At noon the red-coats, 
 3000 strong, led by 
 Gen - er - al Howe, 
 went in boats to 
 Charles-town to storm 
 the earth-works there. 
 They found the fort 
 so strong, that Howe 
 thought it best to wait 
 for more troops. At 
 this time the A-mer- 
 i-cans had a chance to 
 add one more to their 
 force, a Doc-tor Jo- 
 seph War-ren, whom 
 they at once made 
 Ma-jor-Gen-er-al. Gen-er-al Put-nam was the chief 
 one in com-mand and went back and forth a-long the 
 lines with words of help and cheer. 
 
 Crowds swarm on the hill-tops, on church-spires 
 
 JO-SEPH WAR-REN. 
 
22 The Battles of America. 
 
 and roofs, and wait and watch with hearts full of dread 
 to see the fight be-gin. 
 
 At one o'clock the Brit-ish moved in two lines on the 
 Amer-i-cans in Charles-town and drove them back, 
 for they were in fear that they might be cut off from 
 the main force of troops. 
 
 At a word from Gen-er-al Gage Charles-town was 
 set on fire; the flames spread, and soon there was not 
 a house left in the whole place. This act, for which 
 there was no need, cast a gloom o-ver the A-mer-i-cans, 
 and made the fierce fires of hate glow with more 
 warmth in their breasts. 
 
 The dense smoke from Charles-town filled the air, 
 and hung like a veil be-tween the A-mer-i-cans and 
 the Brit-ish. The red-coats hoped the smoke would 
 hide them so that they could rush up to the breast- 
 works, scale them, and drive the Yan-kees out at the 
 point of their guns. 
 
 But a breeze came up out of the west — the first 
 that had been felt that day — and swept the smoke 
 sea- ward, and left the Brit-ish troops in full view of the 
 A-mer-i-cans. 
 
 The Brit-ish, borne down with the weight of their 
 knap-sacks and the heat of the sun, moved up the slope 
 of Breed's Hill at a slow pace. Gen-er-al Howe had 
 charge of the right wing, Gen-er-al Pig-ot of the left. 
 
 All was still in the re-doubt, and but few men. 
 
Battle of Bunker Hill. 2^ 
 
 could be seen by the red-coats on their way up the 
 heights ; but with-in the breast-works, and on the hills 
 at the rear, 500 A-mer-i-cans lay hid, and at a sign 
 from their chief would spring up in haste and fall up- 
 on the foe. As they had no shot to waste, Pres-cott told 
 them not to fire un-til the Brit-ish were so near that 
 the whites of their eyes could be seen. " Then," he 
 said, "aim at their waist-bands, and be sure to pick off 
 those in com-mand who wear the hand-some coats." 
 
 At length, when the foe came to the right place, Pres- 
 cott drew his sword, waved it on high, and at the shout 
 oi Fire! the A-mer-i-cans poured their shot in-to the 
 ranks of the British and cut them down as the scythe 
 cuts the grass in the field. This was kept up un-til 
 the Brit-ish gave way and fled back to their boats. 
 Few troops could be brought to Breed's Hill ere the 
 next at-tack was made. The Brit-ish troops marched 
 on the re-doubt in the same way they had done at first 
 with Gen-er-al Howe in the van ; for he had said to his 
 men," If the foe will not come out of their strong-holds 
 we must drive them out, or else the town of Bos-ton 
 will be set on fire by them. I shall not ask one of you 
 to go a step fur-ther than where I go my-self at you^ 
 head." 
 
 It took Gen-er-al Howe so long to bring up his 
 troops for the third at-tack that the A-mer-i-cans had a 
 chance to rest from the toils of the day. Their small 
 
24 The Battles of America. 
 
 stock of pow-der and ball was well nigh spent, and 
 most of their mus-kets were the old flint-locks that had 
 no points of steel. But the men made up their minds 
 to use their guns as clubs when the pow-der gave out, 
 if need be to fire stones, in place of shot, and to fight 
 with a will as long as there was a ray of hope to cheer 
 them on. 
 
 Put-nam in the mean time had to form the troops on 
 Bun-ker Hill, and get fresh corps in by way of the 
 strip of land, known as The Neck, which was be-tween 
 the Mys-tic and the Charles Riv-ers. The Brit-ish 
 had their ships of war in both these streams, and kept 
 up such a fire that Put-nam had hard work to get his 
 troops past this nar-row cause-way. 
 
 Gen-er-al Howe had found out a weak point be- 
 tween the breast-works and the rail fence, and there 
 he meant to lead the left wing with the field-guns, while 
 a show of at-tack was made on the oth-er side. It was 
 quite late in the day when the Brit-ish troops set out, 
 and as they came up the hill they swept the breast- 
 work with their guns, from end to end, and not a few 
 of the A-mer-i-cans were slain. Those that were left 
 went back in-to the re-doubt, from whence they made 
 each shot tell. Gen-er-al Howe had a wound in his 
 foot, but still fought at the head of his men, and led 
 them on un-til but a brido^e of earth was be-tween 
 them and their Yan-kee foes. This they scaled, and 
 

 
 
 DEATH OF MA-JOR PIT-CAIRN. 
 
26 . The Battles of America. 
 
 the first man to leap on top of the wall was met with a 
 show-er of stones, which must have scared him more 
 than would the shot of a orun. 
 
 Ma-jor Pit-cairn, who led the troops at Lex-ing-ton, 
 sprang up on the wall, and was shot at by a black man, 
 who gave him his death-wound. Hand to hand the 
 foe-men fought, but so large was the force of Brit-ish 
 troops that the A-mer-i-cans had to leave the re-doubt, 
 and yet so loath were they to give up the fight that 
 some of them w^ent back-wards and dealt hard blows 
 right and left with their gun-stocks. 
 
 War-ren was the last man that left the works, and 
 when not far from them, on the way to Bun-ker Hill^ 
 he was shot through the head and fell dead at once. 
 The A-mer-i-cans at the rail fence had stood firm up 
 to this time, and kept back the Brit-ish who sought 
 to turn their flank. But when they saw the troops 
 with their chief in flight from the fort, they too fled 
 from the foe and thought the day was lost. In vain 
 did Put-nam run back and forth like a mad-man, and 
 cry out to them, '' Make a stand here ! We can stop 
 them yet! In God's name, fire, and give them one 
 shot more ! " The whole force went pell-mell a-cross 
 The Neck, and not a few of them were slain by the 
 guns from the Brit-ish ships at that point. The 
 Brit-ish troops were too worn out to keep up the 
 chase so lay on their arms all night on Bun-ker Hill, 
 
Battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 27 
 
 while the A-mer-i-cans did the same on Pros-pect 
 Hill, a mile off. Two Brit-ish field-guns played on 
 them, but did slight harm, and as both sides felt loath 
 to go on with the 
 fight they had kept 
 up for two hours, it 
 now came to an end, 
 and there was peace 
 for a while. 
 
 It was a drawn 
 fight; that is, nei- 
 ther side could 
 claim to have won 
 it ; and, though there 
 were brave deeds 
 done on Bun-ker 
 Hill and much 
 blood shed, it was 
 on Breed's Hill the 
 chief scenes took 
 place. The A-mer- 
 i-cans lost 450 men. 
 The Brit-ish loss 
 was 1000 ; a large part of whom were men of high 
 rank. The death of War-ren was a great blow to the 
 A-mer-i-cans ; and at the close of the war a mon-u- 
 ment was put up on the spot where he fell. It stood 
 
 THE MON-U-MENT AT BUN-KER HILL. 
 
28 The Battles of America. 
 
 for two-score years, and was torn down to make way 
 for the tall shaft now known as Bun-ker Hill Mon-u- 
 ment, which took near two-score years to build. The 
 base is 30 feet square ; and to reach the top you will 
 have to climb 295 stone steps. 
 
 On Ju-ly 2, 1775, Gen-er-al George Wash-ing-ton 
 came up from the South to take his place at the head 
 of the A-mer-i-can troops, and to train them so that 
 they would be less like a wild mob. 
 
 He found near 15,000 men in camp be-fore Bos-ton, 
 where they held the Brit-ish in a state of siege. The 
 Brit-ish troops did all the harm they could with their 
 ships on the coast, and set fire to some of the small 
 towns on the sea-port, but these acts put the Yan-kees 
 more on their guard, and made them stand by their 
 guns. 
 
 Then the cold win-ter set in, and the Brit-ish had 
 hard work to find food to eat. Some of their store- 
 ships were seized by the Yan-kees, and this they felt 
 to be a great loss. On the morn of Feb-ru-a-ry 14, 
 1776, Gen-er-al Howe, who now led the red-coats in 
 place of Gen-er-al Gage, sent some troops o-ver the ice 
 to Dor-ches-ter Neck and burnt a few of the houses 
 there. 
 
 Wash-ing-ton at once saw that his best plan was to 
 march to Dor-ches-ter Heights, which are south of 
 Bos-ton, and make this a strong-hold, so that the Brit- 
 
Battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 29 
 
 ish would be, as it were, be-tween two fires. So, on 
 the night of March 4, a strong force of Yan-kees set 
 out to cross Dor-ches-ter Neck, and as soon as they 
 
 THE MAS-SA-CRE AT BOS-TON. 
 
 reached the Heights, they went to work with a will to 
 build the earth-works to screen them from the fire of 
 Brit-ish guns. 
 
 This was no small task, as there was a thick coat of 
 
30 The Battles of America. 
 
 ice on the ground, and the earth was frost-bound to a 
 great depth. But Wash-ing-ton kept up such a fire 
 with his field-guns at the north, that the noise of pick- 
 axe and spade was not heard by the Brit-ish, and by 
 day-light the A-mer-i-cans had built two forts on the 
 Heights and made the place in-deed a strong-hold. 
 
 When Gen-er-al Howe saw these works, he said 
 the A-mer-i-cans had done more in one night than 
 the whole of his troops would have done in a month. 
 He made up his mind to drive the Yan-kees from the 
 Heights with the aid of his ships of war, and the fight 
 was to take place the next day. But in the night a 
 fierce storm came up that drove some of his ships 
 a-shore on one of the isles, and the next day it rained 
 so hard that the at-tack could not be made. 
 
 This gave the Yan-kees time to add to their strength, 
 and the red-coats saw that it would be sure death for 
 them to face so strong a force. They saw that they 
 were caught in a trap, from which there was but one 
 way to get out, and the Brit-ish troops and their friends 
 were in great haste to quit the town. 
 
 They set sail March 17, 1776, and as the last of the 
 Brit-ish went out of Bos-ton Gen-er-al Wash-ing-ton 
 came in with his troops and was hailed with shouts of 
 joy by those who were glad to be freed from Brit-ish 
 rule, and with their own friends once more. 
 
Battle of Long Island. 
 
 31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 LONG ISLAND: AUGUST 27, 1776. 
 
 When Gen-er-al Howe left Bos-ton it was thought 
 that he meant to join the Brit-ish fleet then near 
 New York. So the next day Wash-ing-ton sent five 
 reg-i-ments, in charge of Gen-er-al Heath, to that 
 
 HAL-I-FAX. 
 
 town, and soon came up with all the rest of the troops, 
 and at once set them to work to build forts at New 
 York and on Long Isl-and. 
 
 Gen-er-al Howe had not orone to New York, but 
 to Hal-i-fax, where he staid for some time to give his 
 
32 The Battles of America. 
 
 troops the rest they had need of, and that the sick 
 ones mio^ht have a chance to o^ain their health and 
 strength. As soon as all were well he set sail for the 
 south, and on July 2, landed on Stat-en Isl-and with a 
 force of 9000 men. His broth-er. Lord Howe, Ad- 
 mi-ral of the Brit-ish fleet, soon came up with his ships 
 of war fresh from Eng-land, on board of which were 
 at least 20,000 men. 
 
 Wash-ina"-ton's whole force was not more than 
 20,000, and his raw, ill-armed, ill-trained troops were 
 a poor match for the well-drilled red-coats. But he 
 made the best use that he could of the means that he 
 had, and sent Gen-er-al Greene to Long Isl-and to 
 cast up strong earth-works back of Brook-lyn. Greene 
 soon fell sick, and Gen-er-al Sul-li-van took his place 
 with Gen-er-al Put-nam chief in com-mand. 
 
 If you will look on a map of New York you will 
 see that the shore of Stat-en Isl-and is quite near the 
 shore of Long Isl-and. The space be-tween them is 
 called The Nar-rows. 
 
 On Au-gust 22, 1776, Gen-er-al Howe, with 
 15,000 troops, crossed The Nar-rows and landed on 
 Long Isl-and near Graves-end. There was a range of 
 hills, thick with woods, from The Nar-rows to Ja-mai- 
 ca, through which the roads ran here and there. 
 Wash-ing-ton gave strict or-ders that guards were to 
 be kept at all these roads ; but Sul-li-van did not see 
 
Battle of Long Island. 
 
 33 
 
 the need of it, and did not stretch his lines out as far 
 
 as he should have done. He saw his mis-take too late. 
 
 The A-mer-i-cans, 8000 strong, were in camp in 
 
 Brook-lyn, just a-cross from New York. On their 
 
 GEN-E-RAL GREENE. 
 
 right flank was a long, low marsh, and on their left a 
 bend in the East Riv-er, known as Wal-la-bout Bay. 
 It was plain to be seen that the Brit-ish meant to gain 
 the rear of the A-mer-i-cans by the Bed-ford and 
 Ja-mai-ca roads, and 2500 men were at once put ox^ 
 guard at these points. 
 
34 The Battles of A m erica. 
 
 On Au-gust 26, the Brit-ish set out in charge of Sir 
 Hen-ry Clin-ton and Lord Corn-wal-lis, and at three 
 o'clock the next morn-ino^ word came to Put-nam that 
 the Brit-ish had made their way through the pass near 
 where Green-wood now is. Put-nam at once sent 
 Stir-ling with a force of troops to drive them back. 
 Near Gow-an-us Creek Stir-ling was met by a large 
 force of red-coats, and in the Bay on his right flank were 
 some of Howe's ships with well-armed. men on board. 
 
 At the same time the Ger-mans in the pay of the 
 Brit-ish were on their way to force the pass at a point 
 to the east — where Pros-pect Park now is — while 
 Howe, with the main force of the Brit-ish, led by Clin- 
 ton and Corn-wal-lis, sought to gain the rear of the 
 A-mer-I-cans through the Bed-ford pass. 
 
 The A-mer-i-cans stood firm, with their guns and 
 their eyes fixed on the foe. From be-hind breast- 
 work and tree they looked down, and felt no fear, when 
 lo ! the roar of guns in the rear of their left flew through 
 the lines and told a tale of woe. The Brit-ish had 
 turned their left flank, and they were be-tween two 
 fires ! While Sul-li-van tried to keep the Ger-mans 
 at bay, Clin-ton had gained his rear and fell on him, 
 and drove him back on the Ger-mans. There was a 
 sharp hand-to-hand fight, and when Sul-li-van saw 
 there was no chance for his men he bade them make 
 haste for the camp while there was yet time. 
 
Battle of Long Island. 
 
 35 
 
 It was too late! As they came out of the woods 
 they were met by the guns of the Brit-ish, and when 
 the A-mer-i-cans found there was no way out but 
 through the ranks of the foe, they fought with skill and 
 strength, and were 
 most brave and bold. 
 Some forced their 
 way through to the 
 camp, some fled to 
 the woods, a large 
 part of them were 
 slain, and not a few 
 fell in-to the hands of 
 the foe. Sul-li-van 
 was caught in a field 
 of corn. 
 
 Stir-ling and his 
 troops were the last 
 of the A-mer-i-cans 
 left in the field, and 
 for four hours they 
 fought the Brit-ish, 
 whose force was much lar-ger than their own. No 
 fresh troops came to their aid, and when the Brit-ish 
 war-ships fired their guns at the fort at Red Hook 
 In their rear. Stir-ling bade his troops flee for their lives. 
 
 The bridge at Gow-an-us Creek, near which they 
 
 SIR HEN-RY CLIN-TON. 
 
36 The Battles of America. 
 
 fought, was in flames, and the men had to ford the 
 creek, which was thick with mud. Lord Corn-wal-lis 
 tried to stop their flight, but was held back by Lord 
 Stir-ling, who fought with him till all the A-mer-i-cans 
 had crossed but sev-en, who were drowned. 
 
 That night the A-mer-i-can camp was a scene of 
 grief and woe, for they mourned the loss of dear 
 friends, and knew not what was the fate of those who 
 foil into the hands of the foe. It is said that Gen-er- 
 al Wood-hull, who failed to guard the Bed-ford road, 
 was seized by the Brit-ish on his way home, and cut 
 to bits be-cause he would not say " God save the 
 King." 
 
 The Brit-ish held the ground they had won, and 
 spent the night in a mad sort of joy. The next day 
 a fierce rain-storm set in, which kept A-mer-i-cans 
 and Brit-ish in their own camps, and gave the worn- 
 out men a chance to rest. 
 
 Wash-ing-ton had not slept for two days, and his 
 mind was ill at ease, for he thought that Lord Howe 
 would push on and at-tack the camp at Brook-lyn. 
 This he did not do, but threw up earth-works near 
 Fort Greene, and laid plans for a long siege. Fresh 
 troops were sent to Wash-ing-ton from the north end 
 of Man-hat-tan Isl-and, but even with these he could 
 not hope to beat the Brit-ish, so he made up his mind 
 to steal out of their clutch-es. 
 
Battle of Long Island. 
 
 2>1 
 
 On the night of Au-gust 29, 1776, a thick fog 
 
 hung o-ver New York Bay, through which not a 
 
 glimpse could be seen of the Brit-ish fleet. And 
 
 strong as was the Ad-mi-ral's spy-glass he could not 
 
 __ ^_ -_^ make out the shore of 
 
 New York, or tell 
 what friend or foe was 
 do-ing there. 
 
 In the A-mer-i-can 
 
 camp, on Brook-lyn 
 Heights, there was a 
 hush and a stir that 
 told that some great 
 deed was to be done. 
 The troops stole out 
 and made haste to the 
 fer-ry, and in boats 
 that lay in wait for 
 them crossed over the 
 East Riv-er, and, be- 
 ing hid by the dense 
 
 MOUTH OF THE 
 HUD-SON RIV-ER. 
 
 foQT, land-ed safe on the New York side. 
 
 A wo-man who lived near the fer-ry, and knew what 
 was going on, sent her black man to tell the Brit-ish 
 of the flight of the A-mer-i-cans ; but he came up to 
 a Ger-man guard, who did not know a word that he 
 said, and would not let him pass, so he had to turn 
 
38 ' The Battles of America. 
 
 back with his tale not told. On the morn of Au-gust 
 30, the Brit-ish pick-et — that is, the man on guard at 
 a point far from the camp, or the main lines — saw no 
 signs of life a-bout the A-mer-i-can lines. This was 
 a strange thing, and he set off at once to find out the 
 cause. He crept near the earth-works, peeped in the 
 camp, and saw — no one. Then he gave a great 
 shout, and the rest of the out-guards came up with a 
 rush to seize the earth-works, and they saw in mid- 
 stream, out of gun-shot, the last of the boats which had 
 borne the A-mer-i-cans a-cross that night. In a small 
 boat, or barge, there sat an A-mer-i-can of-fi-cer with 
 a calm and proud mien, and a smile on his face that 
 told of the joy he felt as a glance at the shore showed 
 him that his troops were out of the reach of the foe. 
 This was George Wash-ing-ton. 
 
 When Gen-er-al Howe found out what had been 
 done, and how the game had slipped out of his hands, 
 he swore a big oath, raised the Brit-ish flag in the 
 camp on Brook-lyn Heights, and laid plans to seize 
 New York with the A-mer-i-can troops in it. 
 
 In the mean-time the head men of the A-mer-i-cans 
 sought to make peace with the foe, but Lord Howe 
 did not like the terms, and the war went on. 
 
 On Sep-tem-ber 15, Gen-er-al Clin-ton, with 4000 
 men, crossed the East Riv-er in flat-boats, came on 
 shore at Kipp's Bay, and took post on some high 
 
GEORGE WASH-ING-TON. 
 
40 The Battles of America. 
 
 ground a-bout five miles north of New York. The 
 A-mer-i-cans set to guard that place were so scared by 
 the noise of the guns from the ships-of-war, that they 
 fled at sight of the foe and did not fire a shot. Wash- 
 ing-ton met them on the road, drew his sword, and 
 tried to bring them up in-to shape. But it was no 
 use ; and his ser-vant seized the reins of his horse and 
 turned him away from the foe. 
 
 The rest of the Brit-ish troops soon joined those of 
 CHn-ton, and fought their way through the A-mer-i- 
 can ranks, and took New York. The A-mer-i-cans 
 took their stand at Har-Iem, nine miles off, but lest 
 Gen-er-al Howe should hem them in, Wash-ing-ton 
 moved his troops to King's-bridge, and so on from 
 place to place as the Brit-ish drove them. His men 
 were ill-armed, and worse clad, they had but few tents, 
 and no pots or pans in which to cook their food, and 
 would have stood no chance in a fight with so large a 
 force as Howe had with him. So there was naught to 
 do but to fall back and wait for fresh troops. The 
 red-coats kept close at their heels, and fear spread 
 through the land and peace seemed a long way off. 
 
Baffle of Tr en foil. 
 
 41 
 
 VIEW LOOK-ING UP THE DEL-A-WARE RIV-ER. 
 
 TRENTON: DECEMBER 26, 1776. 
 
 Win-ter had set in when Wash-ing-ton and his 
 troops crossed the Del-a-ware, and it was no part 
 of Gen-er-al Howe's plan to lead his men out to fight 
 at such a time of the year, when ice and snow were on 
 the o^round. So he brouQ^ht them to a halt at Tren- 
 ton, and sent corps {kors) of Bnt-ish troops to the 
 towns near at hand, and as far off as Prince-ton, New 
 Bruns-wick, and E-liz-a-beth town. 
 
42 The Battles of America. 
 
 So sure was he that the war would soon be broueht 
 to an end, and the Brit-ish win the day, that he took 
 no care to guard the weak points on the shore of the 
 stream, and not a gun was to be seen there. For he 
 had no thought that the reb-els, who for two months 
 had kept up their flight, would dare to turn and face 
 the foe from whom they fled. 
 
 The A-mer-i-cans were weighed down with a sense 
 of gloom, and but for the brave heart of the Com-mand- 
 er-in-chief, George Wash-ing-ton, all would have been 
 lost. He would not yield to Brit-ish rule; he knew 
 no such word as fail. He went here and there to rouse 
 men to take up arms and drive the foe from the land, 
 and by this means raised his force from 2000 to 6000 
 men. When he learned how far Gen-er-al Howe had 
 stretched out his lines, Wash-ing-ton said, '' Now is 
 the time to clip their wings when they are so spread ; '* 
 and at once be-gan a plan of at-tack. 
 
 Now the King's troops at Tren-ton were Ger-mans, 
 in charge of Col-o-nel Rail, and Wash-ing-ton knew 
 that they thought a great deal of Christ-mas, and would 
 make much of the day, and keep up their feasts till a 
 late hour. They would be off their guard, and that 
 was the time for the A-mer-i-cans to pounce down 
 up-on them. 
 
 A band of scouts on horse-back, who had been 
 through Jer-sey and knew naught of Wash-ing-ton's 
 
44 The Battles of America. 
 
 scheme, came on the Ger-man camp at Tren-ton, and 
 a few shots were fired from both sides. Rail had heard 
 that an at-tack was to be made and thought that this 
 was the whole of it, and so took his ease and kept 
 Christ-mas with his friends in Ger-man style. 
 
 When night set in, Wash-ing-ton brought 2000 of 
 his troops down to the shore of the Del-a-ware at a 
 point five miles above Tren-ton, where they were to 
 cross the strearti, which was full of great lumps of ice. 
 The tide was swift, the night was dark, and oh ! so cold ! 
 and at mid-night a storm of snow and sleet set in. 
 
 But Wash-ing-ton kept on — boats were brought up 
 in haste, and by day-light the troops stood in line of 
 march on the New Jer-sey shore. They moved in 
 two lines : one led by Sul-li-van, who was to keep the 
 riv-er road ; while the oth-er, with Wash-ing-ton at the 
 head, took a road that led off to the left. The roads 
 were a glare of ice in some parts, and the men could 
 scarce keep their feet, yet in spite of all these ills the 
 brave men kept on their way. It was eight o'clock 
 when they reached Tren-ton, but so still had been 
 their march that they were not seen nor heard till they 
 came to the pick-et line on the edge of the town. 
 
 Then the sound of the guns woke Rail and his of- 
 fi-cers from their deep sleep, and there was a great stir 
 in the camp. Rail, who was a brave man, soon had 
 his men un-der arms, and made a bold stand to meet 
 
Battle of Trenton. 
 
 45 
 
 and crush the reb-el foe. There was a sharp fight 
 for half an hour, in the midst of which Col-o-nel 
 Rail met with his death-wound and had to be borne 
 from the field. His men found the fire of the A-mer- 
 i-can euns so hot for them that a-bout looo threw down 
 
 VIEW OF WASH-ING-TON S QUAR-TERS AT MOR-RIS-TOWN. 
 
 their arms and gave them-selves up as pris-on-ers, and 
 the rest — most of whom were light horse-men — took 
 to their heels. But few of the Ger-mans were killed, 
 and the A-mer-i-cans lost but four or five men, some 
 of whom froze to death that cold, cold night. 
 
46 Tlie Battles of Amei'ica. 
 
 Wash-ing-ton and his troops crossed the Del-a-ware 
 a-gain, and took with them the spoils they had won in 
 the fight: 1000 Ger-mans, 1200 small-arms — that is, 
 such fire-arms as are borne in the hand — six brass 
 field-guns, and all the Ger-man flags, both large and 
 small. 
 
 This was a great prize and sent a thrill of joy through 
 the A-mer-i-cans, who had been cast down for so long 
 a time. A fresh hope took hold of their hearts. They 
 felt that there was a turn of the tide ; and Wash-ing-ton, 
 in whom they had great faith, was urged by some to 
 push on and add to the fame he had won, and drive 
 the Brit-ish from the land. 
 
 This he would have been glad to do, but it was 
 thought best not to force a fight, but to wait and see 
 what course the foe would take. 
 
 The Brit-ish troops in Jer-sey made raids on the 
 farms and homes through the state, stole all they could 
 lay their hands on, and by their acts drove the men to 
 arms. Cheered by the news from Tren-ton, and stung 
 by the harsh acts of the red-coats, those who had kept 
 close at home and felt no call to fight now took down 
 their guns and went forth with brave hearts to lay down 
 their lives, if need be, to save the land they loved from 
 Brit-ish rule. 
 
 Thus there was a crreat rain to the A-mer-i-can force, 
 and in the year of 1777, e-lev-en bat-ties took place m 
 
Battle of Trenton. 
 
 47 
 
 the small state of New Jer-sey, some of which were won 
 by the Brit-ish and some by the A-mer-i-cans. 
 
 In the month of June Gen-er-al Howe left New 
 York with 30,000 men and took up his post at New 
 Bruns-wick. Wash-ing- 
 ton was at Mor-ris-town 
 with less than 8000 men, 
 and some of these not fit 
 to take the field. Gen- 
 er-al Howe sought to 
 draw Wash-ing-ton out 
 of his strono^-hold and oret 
 him in a tight place 
 where there would be 
 more of a chance for the 
 Brit-ish; but as Wash- 
 ing-ton would not leave 
 his camp, Howe went 
 back and did all the harm 
 that he could on his march 
 to New Bruns-wick. 
 
 In Ju-ly Ad-mi-ral 
 Howe brought his ships-of-war up the Del-a-ware, 
 and Wash-ing-ton at once moved his troops to Phil- 
 a-del-phia, to guard that town. Here a fierce fight 
 took place, and Wash-ing-ton was forced to fall back 
 as far as Ches-ter, eio^ht miles from the Brit-ish lines. 
 
48 
 
 The Bailees of Afnerica. 
 
 Ben-ja-min Frank-lin, one of the great men of that 
 time, and a stanch friend to A-mer-i-ca, was vexed at 
 the good-will shown to the red-coats by a large part of 
 the towns-folk, and said: "Howe did not take Phil-a- 
 
 IN-DE-PEND-ENCE HALL, PHIL-A-DEL-PHIA. 
 
 del-phia ; Phil-a-del-phia took Howe." And the most 
 of folks like to be on the side that wins. 
 
 Through the fall of the year Wash-ing-ton and his 
 men were in camp at White-marsh, a fine stretch of 
 low-land 14 miles from Phil-a-del-phia. Here they 
 
Battle of Trenton. 
 
 49 
 
 Staid till De-cem-ber ii, 1777, when they set out for 
 
 Val-ley Forge, a score of miles north of Phil-a-del-phia, 
 
 as there they would be more safe from the foe, and 
 
 could serve as a guard for the Con-gress, which had 
 
 fled from Phil-a-del- 
 
 phia, and was then at 
 
 the town of York. 
 Such a march as that 
 
 was ! No pen can write 
 
 — no brush can paint — 
 
 no tongue can tell the 
 
 woes of that brave band 
 
 of 1 1 ,000 men, more than 
 half of whom were not fit 
 to be out of their beds. 
 The cold blast cut like 
 a knife through the 
 clothes that hung on 
 their backs in rags. The 
 ground was hard and 
 rough for their bare feet, and they left a trail of blood 
 to mark the path they trod to Val-ley Forge. 
 
 Here they had naught but rude log huts to live in, 
 which they built them-selves, and which were but a 
 poor screen from the rough winds, for these poor ill- 
 clad, half-starved men. 
 
 At this time the Mar-quis de La-fay-ette — a young 
 
 LA-FAY-ETTE. 
 
50 The Battles of America. 
 
 man of great wealth — came from France to lend his aid 
 to the A-mer-i-can cause. The news that the French 
 king would send troops and lend what aid he could 
 to A-mer-i-ca sent a thrill through the camp at Val- 
 ley Forge. A day was set a-part in which to give 
 thanks to God ; guns were fired ; shouts and cheers 
 were heard and loud cries of " Loner live the Kinor of 
 France!" 
 
 With New Year came good food and clothes, and 
 good cheer to those at Val-ley Forge; and, as fresh 
 troops had been sent to him, Wash-ing-ton broke up 
 the camp, and on June i8 set out to chase the Brit- 
 ish through New Jer-sey as soon as they should leave 
 Phil-a-del-phia. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 MON-MOUTH COURT-HOUSE: JUNE 28, 1778. 
 
 The Brit-ish troops in Phil-a-del-phia had a grand 
 good time, and were as gay as they could be, while 
 those at the north, near Can-a-da, fought hard, with the 
 red men to help them, to drive the A-mer-i-cans from 
 their strong-holds on that line. Word came from Eng- 
 land to push the work at the north, and at day-break 
 of June 18, 1778, Gen-er-al Howe set out from Phil-a- 
 
Battle of Moiiiiwiith Court-House. 
 
 51 
 
 del-phia to join the main force, which was to be led by 
 Gen-er-al Bur-goyne. That night Howe and his men, 
 17,000 strong, went in-to camp at Cam-den, New 
 Jer-sey. 
 
 As soon as Wash-ing-ton heard of their move, he 
 broke up the camp at 
 Val-ley Forge, and 
 at once gave chase to 
 the foe. It was Clin- 
 ton's plan to march to 
 New Bruns-wick, and 
 go by boats from there 
 to New York. But 
 as soon as he found 
 out that Wash-ing- 
 ton was on his track, 
 
 he turned at Al-len- , ^^^ .^ ^^«s«»,-~x^-. ^-^ 
 town and took the Mfc^r l^^^^^ "r-^^ \v 'A 
 
 road to Mon-mouth 
 Court House, so as to 
 make his way to San- 
 dy Hook, and thence 
 to New York by boats. 
 
 Wash-ing-ton kept on a line with him, so as to strike 
 him at the first chance. But Clin-ton did not wish to 
 fight, for he was in no trim to meet a foe. He had 
 charge of all the vans and the camp-stores, and there 
 
 BUR GOYNE. 
 
52 The Battles of America. 
 
 was with him a host of men who served the camp, so 
 that his Hne was twelve miles in length. He set up 
 his camp near the court-house in Free-hold, on 
 June 27, and there Wash-ing-ton made up his mind to 
 strike him, if he should move the next day, so that he 
 could not reach Mid-die-town Heights, which would 
 give him a fine strong-hold. 
 
 Gen-er-al Charles Lee led the van of the A-mer-i- 
 can troops. But he was not true to the cause, and had 
 no wish to check Clin-ton's march through New Jer- 
 sey, and found fault all the time. 
 
 When word came to Wash-ing-ton the next day — 
 June 28 — a hot Sun-day — that Clin-ton was a-bout 
 to move, he told Lee to fall on the rear of the Brit-ish 
 and force them to fight. Lee seemed to have no plan 
 of his own, and was so slow that he gave Clin-ton 
 time to get his troops in line, and his orders were so 
 queer that his gen-er-als sent word to Wash-ing-ton 
 to come on the field at once, and with all his troops. 
 
 While Wayne led an at-tack that he was sure 
 would go hard with the foe, Lee came up and urged 
 him to draw back and make a feint at that point ; that 
 is, give them a scare and do them no harm. Just then 
 Clin-ton changed front and sent a large force, on horse 
 and on foot, to at-tack Wayne. 
 
 La-fay-ette, who thought there was now a good 
 chance to gain the rear of the Brit-ish, rode up in 
 
Battle of Monmouth Court- House. 
 
 53 
 
 haste to Lee and asked If he might not move on them. 
 
 At first Lee said No; but when he saw how much 
 
 the Mar-quis wished to go, he told him to wheel his 
 
 troops to the right and strike Clin-ton's left. At the 
 
 same time he sent some of Wayne s men off to give 
 
 strength to the right; 
 
 and erelong bade 
 
 the whole of the 
 
 right fall back, and 
 
 the troops in his 
 
 charge were soon in 
 
 full flight, with the 
 
 Brit-ish in hot 
 
 chase. 
 
 Wash-ing-ton 
 was on his way with 
 the main force to aid 
 Lee, when he was 
 met with the news 
 that the van-guard 
 had turned back. 
 Lee had sent him 
 word of this, and if these troops came up on a run it 
 would put the whole force to flight. 
 
 Wash-ing-ton was in a rage, and when he met Lee 
 he rode up to him, and in a stern voice asked him the 
 cause of this wild rout. Lee took no blame to him-self. 
 
 GEN-ER-AL C. LEE. 
 
54 Battles of America. 
 
 and there was no time for a war of words. Wash-ine- 
 ton wheeled his horse, and rode to the rear, and bade 
 Os-wald take post on a hill near by with two large 
 field-guns. 
 
 These guns, aimed with skill, soon held the foe in 
 check. It roused the hearts of the troops to have 
 Wash-ing-ton near them, and in a short time the flight 
 was at an end. 
 
 The troops were then brought up on a height, where 
 Sfir-ling had placed a lot of can-non, with Gen-er-al 
 Greene in com-mand on the right and Stir-ling on the 
 left. 
 
 The two foes — the Brit-ish and the A-mer-i-cans — 
 were now face to face. The Brit-ish, 7000 strong, 
 were on a road in the midst of deep swamps. Their 
 horse-men tried at first to turn the A-mer-i-cans' left 
 flank, but were swept back, much to their shame. 
 Then the troops on foot came up, and there was a 
 sharp fight, in which all the guns, great and small, took 
 part. For awhile there was doubt which side would 
 win, when Gen-er-al Wayne came up with fresh troops 
 and claimed the day for A-mer-i-ca. Col-o-nel 
 Monck-ton saw at once that the Brit-ish might have a 
 chance if they could get rid of Wayne, so he led his 
 troops to a bay-o-net charge. 
 
 So fierce was Wayne's storm of bul-lets up-on them 
 that all the Brit-ish of-fi-cers were slain, and the brave 
 
Battle of Monmouth Court-House. 
 
 55 
 
 ^d^^T-^^^ 
 
 Monck-ton fell at the head of his troops, as he waved 
 his sword, and gave the shout to urge them on. His 
 men then fell back to the heights where Lee had been 
 in the morn-ino^. 
 
 Night set in, and the worn-out troops — A-mer-i-cans 
 and Brit-ish — lay down to rest, that they might have 
 strength to go on with the fight as soon as day broke. 
 
 But at mid-night Clin-ton 
 with-drew his troops through 
 the deep sands of the roads, and 
 was far on his way to San-dy 
 Hook when the A-mer-i-cans 
 first knew of his flight. Wash- 
 ing-ton did not give chase, and 
 so the red-coats made their way 
 back to New York, with the loss 
 of looo men, at least three score 
 of whom had died from the heat. 
 The A-mer-i-cans lost more 
 than 50 men from the same cause. The whole loss 
 of the A-mer-i-cans was 228. Wash-ing-ton took up 
 his march north-ward, and went in-to camp at White 
 Plains, New York, till late in the fall. 
 
 All through the year 1779 war was rife at the North 
 and the South, and fierce were the fights with the red 
 men and the Brit-ish. As their foes gained ground, 
 the hearts of the A-mer-i-cans were full of crloom, and 
 
 AN-THO-NY WAYNE. 
 
56 The Battles of America. 
 
 yet they would not yield, nor join in the cry of " God 
 save the Kinor." 
 
 At the close of the year Sir Hen-ry Clin-ton left 
 New York with 8000 troops, and some of the ships of 
 the line, to make an at-tack on the states of the South, 
 and to bring the war to an end as soon as he could. 
 A storm drove the fleet out of its course, some of the 
 ships were seized by the A-mer-i-cans, some lost at 
 sea, and when he reached Sa-van-nah he was in poor 
 trim, and had to stay there for some time. 
 
 The folks through the South were tired of war and 
 longed for peace, and it was no hard task for Clin-ton 
 to get men to join his side and take up arms for the 
 Crown. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 A TRAITOR IN THE CAMP. 
 
 In the spring of 1780 Wash-ing-ton saw there was 
 need of more troops in the Car-o-li-nas, and a large 
 force was sent there, with Gen-er-al Gates as their 
 chief Up to this time the A-mer-i-cans had stood on 
 guard, and let the Brit-ish strike the first blow. But 
 Gates made up his mind to push on and drive the 
 
A Traitor in the Camp. 
 
 57 
 
 Brit-ish, in charge of Lord Raw-don, out of Cam-den 
 and make them fall back on Charles-ton. 
 
 But Raw-don, as soon as he heard the A-mer-i-cans 
 
 GEN-E-RAL GATES 
 
 were near, sent word to Lord Corn-wal-lis at Charles- 
 ton, who made haste to join him. 
 
 On the night of Au-gust 15, the Brit-ish and 
 A-mer-i-cans set out — one from the North and the 
 oth-er from the South — but with no thought or plan 
 
58 The Battles of America. 
 
 as to where they would meet and form in line of bat- 
 tle. The two van-guards met near San-der's Creek, 
 and began to fire in the dark. But both soon came 
 to a halt, formed in line, ceased to fire, and lay in wait 
 for the dawn. Then a fierce fight took place, and for 
 awhile it was hard to tell which side would win. 
 
 The Brit-ish charged with fixed bay-o-nets, and 
 soon put the Vir-gin-ia and Car-o-li-na troops to flight. 
 The Ma-ry-land and Del-a-ware troops still fought on, 
 and seemed as if they would win the day at last, for 
 more than once they forced the British to fall back. 
 
 At length the whole force of the foe was brought to 
 bear on these two corps, and a storm of bul-lets was 
 poured in their ranks. At the same time Corn-wal-lis 
 charged on them with fixed bay-o-nets, which made 
 them give way, and as they broke Col-o-nel Tarle- 
 ton's horse-men charged up-on them, and drove them 
 from the field with great loss. 
 
 Gen-er-al Gates, with his troops that were left, fell 
 back to a safe place, and had no more to do with the 
 war. He was not thought fit to lead troops to fight 
 and win, and so the brave Gen-er-al Greene was put 
 in charge of the A-mer-i-can force at the South. 
 
 On the night be-fore the fight at San-der's Creek, 
 Col-o-nel Sum-ter — from whom Fort Sum-ter takes 
 its name — had been sent to rout the Brit-ish from 
 their post on the Wa-ter-ee. He won the fight, and 
 
A Traitor in the Camp. 
 
 59 
 
 took two-score wag-ons, and one hun-dred pris-on- 
 ers. While Sum-ter was on his way to join Gates, 
 Col-o-nel Tarle-ton with his horse-men rode in-to the 
 camp and found him quite off his guard. Sum-ter's 
 men were worn out with hard work and loss of sleep, 
 and had no strength to 
 fight. Some were killed, 
 some fled to to the woods 
 and swamps to save them- 
 selves, and Tarle-ton set 
 the Eng-lish-men free and 
 with great pride took them 
 back to the Brit-ish camp. 
 
 When the Brit-ish left 
 Phil-a-del-phia, in 1778, 
 Wash-ing-ton placed Gen- 
 er-al Ben-e-dict Ar-nold 
 there with some troops, as 
 chief man of the town. 
 Ar-nold had a bad wound 
 and could not take part in 
 the fights, and he might 
 have done good work for the cause had such been his 
 choice. But, though a brave man, he was not good 
 or true, and Wash-ing-ton could not trust him. 
 
 He lived in fine style, and made a great show ; and 
 those who knew him best did not think it strange 
 
 BEN-E-DICT R-NOLD. 
 
6o The Battles of A merica. 
 
 when he took a wife from a-mong those who hoped for 
 Brit-ish rule in A-mer-i-ca. These folks were known 
 as To-ries. 
 
 At last Ar-nold was charged with fraud, and forced 
 to leave his high place, and he at once went to the 
 camp at Mor-ris-town, where Wash-ing-ton then was, 
 to be tried for his crimes. He used all his arts to help 
 his own cause, but in vain. His guilt was clear. 
 
 He was a proud man, and the shame he felt did 
 not bow him to the dust, but roused in him a fierce 
 hate for A-mer-i-ca and the cause once so dear to his 
 heart. 
 
 His first step was to let the Brit-ish know of this 
 change in his views, and he wrote to Sir Hen-ry 
 Clin-ton of his plans. For a fixed price he was to 
 sell the A-mer-i-cans to the Brit-ish, and none but a 
 Ju-das could have done so base a deed. 
 
 Now there was a strong fort at West Point, which 
 had been a great bar to the Brit-ish in their raids north- 
 ward from New York. Ar-nold's pride would not 
 let him join the Brit-ish ranks, so he made up his mind 
 to go back to the A-mer-i-cans, get com-mand of 
 West Point, and then give it up, with all its arms, 
 troops, and stores, in-to the hands of the Brit-ish. 
 
 He had kept a fair face to the A-mer-i-cans, though 
 his heart was full of hate, and when he asked for the 
 com-mand of West Point they gave it to him, for there 
 
A Traitoi' in the Camp. 
 
 6i 
 
 was great need of brave men. But Wash-ing-ton had 
 doubts if he was the right man for the place, and kept 
 a close watch on him for some time. 
 
 There was a young man named John An-dre, who 
 held the rank of Ma-jor in the Brit-ish ar-my, on the 
 
 WASH-ING-TON AT WEST POINT. 
 
 staff of Gen-er-al Clin-ton. He was well known to 
 Ar-nold, and was a brave youth, with a fine mind. 
 He was drawn into the plot, and notes, in a feigned 
 hand, passed back and forth be-tween the two, which 
 they did not sign with their own names. Ar-nold 
 
62 
 
 The Battles of A^nerica. 
 
 took the name of Gus-ta-vus, and Anydre that of An- 
 derson. 
 
 Ar-nold made his home at the house of a man 
 named Rob-in-son, who, though born in A-mer-i-ca, 
 had joined the ranks of the Brit-ish, and to him the 
 
 plot was made known, as there 
 would be need of his aid. 
 
 As soon as . Ar-nold thouQ^ht 
 Wash-ing-ton had left West Point 
 for Hart-ford, where he had a call 
 to go, he sent word to Clin-ton that 
 he must see An-dre at once ; for 
 in-to his hands, and none but his, 
 would he give the maps and pa-pers 
 that Clin-ton would need ere he 
 could take the fort. It was thought that this blow 
 would end the war, and An-dr6 was glad to take 
 a part in it that he thought would bring him great fame. 
 So on the night of Sep-tem-ber 19, 1780, he and 
 Rob-in-son set forth on board the sloop-of-war Vul- 
 hire, and the next morn-ing were at Fort Clin-ton, six 
 miles south of West Point. They did not leave the 
 boat un-til dark, and Ar-nold met them as they stepped 
 on shore. 
 
 All the plans were laid be-fore An-dr6, and Sep- 
 tem-ber 25 was the day set on which Ar-nold would 
 yield the forts in-to the hands of the Brit-ish. 
 
 '-'s , V, 
 
 MA-JOR AN-DRE. 
 
A Traitor in the Camp. 63 
 
 An-dre set out at once for New York, to take the 
 word to Clln-ton, but when he sought to go on 
 board the V^d-tttre he found that she had had to 
 drop some miles be-low to get out of reach of the 
 guns that were fired on her from the shore. The 
 men in the row boat would not go down to the 
 Vul-ture, and An-dre went back to Ar-nold. He 
 took off his u-ni-form, and put on a suit of plain 
 clothes, which were brought to him by a man 
 named Smith, a friend to the Brit-ish, and set out 
 by land to New York. Smith went with him part of 
 the way, and as each had a pass signed by Ar-nold, 
 they passed through the A-mer-i-can lines with-out 
 harm. An-dre then put spurs to his horse, and dashed 
 on to New York with great speed. 
 
 When near Tar-ry-town a man with a gun sprang 
 from a clump of low trees by the road-side, seized the 
 reins, and cried out, '' Where are you bound ? " At the 
 same time two more men came up. An-dre thought 
 they were Brit-ish, so did not show his pass, but 
 asked them where they came from. "From be-low," 
 said they. An-dr6 thought that this meant that they 
 came from New York, and he said, " So do I. I am 
 an Eng-lish of-fi-cer, and in great haste to get back to 
 my post. So let me go on my way." 
 
 " You belong to our foes ! " they cried. " You are 
 now in our hands!" 
 
64 The Battles of America. 
 
 They searched him, and found in his boots Ar- 
 nold's maps and plans, which gave proof that they had 
 caught a spy. Andr6 was struck dumb for a-while, 
 and scarce knew what to do. Then he told the men 
 they might have his horse, his purse, his watch, and 
 that a large sum of gold would be sent to them from 
 Eng-land, if they would let him go. But they would 
 not; and he was borne by them to Col-o-nel Ja-mie- 
 son, who was in charge of the out-posts. 
 
 Ja-mie-son, who had no thought but that Ar-nold 
 was a true man, wrote him at once that one An-der- 
 son, who bore a pass signed by him, had been seized 
 on the road to New York. 
 
 Ar-nold was at break-fast when the news came to 
 him, and it gave him a great shock. But there were 
 still two days left ere Wash-ing-ton would be back, 
 and he thought some-thing might be done in that time. 
 
 While lost in thought, word was brought him that 
 Wash-ing-ton was near, and would soon be with him. 
 He at once made haste to his wife's room, and cried 
 out " All is found out ! An-dre is a pris-on-er ! Wash- 
 ing-ton will soon know all ! Burn all my pa-pers ! I fly 
 to New York! " He then kissed her and their child, 
 rushed from the room, seized the horse of one of the 
 of-fi-cers, and fled to the Hud-son, where he had a 
 barge with men at the oars. He threw him-self in-to 
 it, and in a short time was on board the Vul-ture. 
 
A Traitor in the Cam-p. 
 
 65 
 
 An-dre was tried as a spy and hung, at Tap-pan, 
 on Oc-to-ber 2. The fate of Ar-nold was worse 
 than that of An-dre; for, though he saved his life, 
 he lost all that makes life sweet and dear. He had 
 
 
 THE CAP-TURE OF AN-DR^. 
 
 no friends. Eng-lish and A-mer-i-cans shunned him 
 as they would a snake. At the close of the war he 
 went to Ene-land to live, and died there in the year 
 1804, at the age of 63. 
 
 Ar-nold was a bold, bad boy ; and yet, in spite of 
 this, he mieht have been a orood man — for some-times 
 
66 The Battles of America. 
 
 boys out-grow their faults, and make up by great and 
 good deeds for all the bad deeds they have done. But 
 his heart was bad all the way through, and he did not 
 love the truth, or fear God as he should have done. 
 
 You may not rise as high as a Wash-ing-ton or a 
 Lin-coln, but it is your own fault if you sink so low as 
 a Ben-e-dict Ar-nold, the great trait-or. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 YORKTOWN: SEPT. AND OCT. 1781. 
 
 The year 1781 brought no ray of hope to the 
 A-mer-i-cans ; nor did the Brit-ish see their way 
 clear to end the war. As you have been told, Gen- 
 er-al Greene took the place of Gates, and had charge 
 of the troops at the South. His whole force was but 
 2000 men, but in spite of this he sent Gen-er-al Mor- 
 gan to the west of South Car-o-lina to put a stop to 
 the wild deeds done there by the Brit-ish and their 
 friends. 
 
 Corn-wal-lis sent Tarle-ton to push Mor-gan, and 
 they met Jan-u-ary 17, 1781, at a place called the Cow- 
 pens. The first fierce on-set of the foe made the 
 
Battle of Torktoivn. 67 
 
 A-mer-i-cans yield ; but Mor-gan soon brought them 
 up, and in one grand charge on the Brit-ish lines they 
 put the red-coats to flight. 
 
 As soon as this came to the ears of Lord Corn- 
 wal-lis he made up his mind to take the field him-self, 
 and was quite sure that he would win back all that 
 had been lost, and bring to terms all the land that lay 
 south of Vir-gin-ia. So he set out on a quick march 
 to stop Mor-gan on his way back to Greene, and on 
 Jan-u-ary 19 crossed the Ca-taw-ba Riv-er. 
 
 But Mor-gan was as shrewd as he was brave, and 
 pushed on his troops at such a pace that they made 
 out to reach Gow-an's Ford and cross the Ca-taw-ba 
 two hours before the van-guard of the foe came in 
 sight. It was quite dark when Corn-wal-lis reached 
 the bank of the stream, where he made a halt till day- 
 light. By this time a rain had set in that swelled the 
 stream so that they would need boats to cross it, and 
 these the A-mer-i-cans had tied up on the other shore. 
 
 As soon as the wa-ters went down Corn-wal-lis be- 
 gan to ford the stream, and some of the A-mer-i-cans 
 on guard at the ford were slain. Greene fled, and had 
 just time to cross the Yad-kin when Corn-wal-lis came 
 up ; but as night had set in Corn-wal-lis thought he 
 would give up the chase till the next day. Ere dawn 
 the rain came down like a flood and the Yad-kin was 
 full to the brim, so that the Brit-ish could not ford it. 
 
68 The Battles of A me7'ica. 
 
 The same thing took place when they came to the 
 Dan Riv-er, and the A-mer-i-cans through-out the 
 land could not but feel that God was with them, and 
 kept them from the foe. And Corn-wal-lis gave up 
 the chase. 
 
 As soon as Greene's troops had had a chance to 
 rest, he led them back in-to North Car-o-li-na, crossed 
 the Dan, and pushed on to Guil-ford Court-House, 
 with-in ten miles of the Brit-ish camp. He reached 
 there March 15, and drew his army up in three lines 
 to wait the at-tack of Corn-wal-lis, who the same day 
 came out to meet him. 
 
 Both sides fought with great skill for an hour and a 
 half, when Greene gave the sign to his men to fall back, 
 and both sides claim to have won the fight. Yet 
 strange to say Corn-wal-lis turned back to Wil-ming- 
 ton, while Greene kept on his march to the south, in 
 hopes to drive the Brit-ish in com-mand of Lord Raw- 
 don out of South Car-o-li-na. On his march, most of 
 those who made up the bulk of Greene's corps left 
 and went to their homes, and when he came near where 
 the Brit-ish were, his force, though small, was for the 
 most part made up of those who were pledged to fight 
 as long as the war should last. 
 
 Greene wished to send word to Sum-ter, then on 
 the San-tee, to get in front of the red-coats and check 
 their flight. But there was no man in the whole ranks 
 
^o The Battles of America. 
 
 brave enough to do this deed. It was a great risk. 
 But a brave young girl, whose name was Em-i-ly Gei- 
 ger, said that she would take the note to Sum-ter. 
 Greene told her what was in it, so that in case there 
 was need she might tear it up and tell Sum-ter what 
 Greene wished him to know. 
 
 The girl got on a fleet horse, crossed the Wa-ter-ee 
 at Cam-den, and while on her way through a dry 
 swamp was brought to a stand-still by some Brit-ish 
 scouts. They took her to a house at the edge of a 
 swamp, and she was searched by a wo-man whom they 
 hired. When left a-lone she ate up Greene's note 
 piece by piece, and as naught was found on her to 
 prove she was a spy or that she had come from Gen- 
 er-al Greene, they let her go, and felt much shame at 
 what they had done. 
 
 The girl went on to Sum-ter's camp, and soon he 
 was on his way to help Greene, and check the red- 
 coats. 
 
 Fights took place through the spring months in 
 South Car-o-li-na and Geor-gia, in which there was 
 great loss on both sides, and af-ter that of Eu-taw 
 Springs the Brit-ish drew off^ their troops to Charles- 
 ton and Sa-van-nah. 
 
 Late in A-pril Corn-wal-lis left Wil-ming-ton and 
 marched north-ward to join his force with those at 
 Pe-ters-burg. He tried to bring on a battle with La- 
 
Battle of 7'orhtoivn. 
 
 71 
 
 fay-ette, who was then in com-mand of 3000 troops to 
 guard the state of Vir-gin-ia; and as he failed in this 
 he went to work with fire and sword to lay waste the 
 land. He tried in the mean-time to seize the A-mer- 
 i-can stores at Al-be-marle Court-House, but was 
 foiled by the Mar- 
 quis, who brought his 
 troops be-tween his 
 stores and the Brit-ish 
 lines. For the skill 
 he showed while in 
 charge of the troops in 
 Vir-gin-ia, the King of 
 France made La-fay- 
 ette Field Mar-shal of 
 France, at the close of 
 the war in A-mer-i-ca, 
 which rank he held 
 un-til his death in the 
 year 1834. 
 
 Corn-wal-lis soon 
 went to Rich-mond, 
 and from there to Ports-mouth, where La-fay-ette set 
 out to meet him with a force of 4000 men. Wayne 
 led the van-guard, and as he thought the Brit-ish had 
 crossed the James Riv-er, he made a bold push for 
 their rear. But lo ! there they all were, and what was 
 
 CORN-WAL-LIS. 
 
72 The Battles of America. 
 
 to be done must be done at once. So Wayne had his 
 men fire, and then turn and run, and by this trick saved 
 their lives. Corn-wal-lis did not think it worth while 
 to give chase, and on Au-gust i crossed the James 
 Riv-er and went to Ports-mouth. Not pleased with 
 the place, he soon moved on to York-town, on the 
 south side of the York Riv-er, and at once be-gan to 
 build forts and to make it a strong-hold. 
 
 In July, 1 78 1, Wash-ing-ton made his plans to move 
 on New York and drive the Brit-ish from that town, 
 and went in camp near Dobb's Fer-ry, where he staid 
 for six weeks. He had sent out a call for troops, which 
 were slow to come, and when Wash-ing-ton was told 
 of the strength of the foe, and that a fresh lot of troops 
 had been sent from Eng-land, he made up his mind 
 to wait till the French fleet, in charge of Count de 
 Grasse, came up from the West In-dies. 
 
 At length, in Au-gust, word came from Count de 
 Grasse that he was a-bout to sail with his whole fleet 
 and 3200 land troops for Ches-a-peake Bay. Wash- 
 ing-ton at once set out for Vir-gin-ia with as large a 
 force as could be spared from the posts on the Hud- 
 son, and reached La-fay-ette at Wil-liams-burg on 
 Sep-tem-ber 14. 
 
 In the mean-while the Count de Grasse with all his 
 ships of war came in-to Ches-a-peake Bay, and on the 
 way had a short fight with the Brit-ish Ad-mi-ral, 
 
Battle of Torhtovjii. 
 
 73 
 
 Graves, off the capes. More troops came by land to 
 join the A-mer-i-cans, and all took up their line ot 
 march for York-town. On the last day of Sep-tem- 
 ber they were all round the place, and the Brit-ish were 
 hemmed in. 
 
 
 THE SUR-REN-DER OF CORN-WAL-LIS AT YORK-TOWN. 
 
 The A-mer-i-cans and French-men went to work 
 the same night to build earth-works, and so still were 
 they that the Brit-ish did not know they were near till 
 the next day at dawn, and it gave them a shock to see 
 the strong-holds they had built. 
 
 On Oc-to-ber 9 and 10, the A-mer-i-cans and 
 French fired their oruns, and with shells and hot shot 
 
74 The Battles of America. 
 
 raked the Eng-lish ships in the bay and did them 
 much harm. 
 
 So fierce was the fire of the great field-guns that by 
 Oc-to-ber i6 the walls- of the Brit-ish earth-works 
 were laid low and the guns thrown out of place. 
 Wash-ing-ton said, ''The work is done, and well 
 done." Corn-wal-lis tried to get a-way by boats, but 
 a fierce storm came up, the boats were swept from their 
 course, and there was naught to do but to give up his 
 sword. This was done, and on Oc-to-ber 19, the 
 terms were signed, and the troops marched out and 
 laid down their arms. 
 
 Not a cheer went up from A-mer-i-cans or French- 
 men, for Wash-ing-ton had told them to check all 
 sounds and signs of joy, and not add to the grief of the 
 foe they had crushed. 
 
 The sur-ren-der of Corn-wal-lis sent a thrill of joy 
 through the whole land. Bon-fires were lit; guns 
 were fired, can-non roared, and all with heart and 
 voice gave thanks to God that peace had come at last, 
 and that A-mer-i-ca was free. 
 
 A horse-man was sent with all speed to bear the 
 glad news to Phil-a-del-phia, where Con-gress then 
 met. It was mid-night, Oc-to-ber 23, when he 
 reached the town, and when the watch-men told the 
 hour they cried out, " All's well ! Corn-wal-lis is 
 ta-ken ! " 
 
The IV ar of 1^12. 75 
 
 Men sprang from their beds, and rushed in-to the 
 streets half dressed. The old State-house bell that 
 had tolled for the first time on the Fourth of Ju-ly, 
 1776, now rang out in glad tones. 
 
 France shared in the joy, and A-mer-i-ca had 
 proved her right to be the land of the free and the 
 home of the brave. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE WAR OF 181 2. 
 
 The war of 1812 is known as the sec-ond war for 
 free-dom, and was brought a-bout in this way; 
 For some time the Eng-lish had done much harm 
 to A-mer-i-cans on the high seas. They had seized 
 and burned their ships, and forced their sea-men to 
 serve the King, and this was too much for the A-mer-i- 
 cans to put up with. 
 
 The first fight took place at Fort Mack-i-naw, which 
 was on a strait — or strip of land — be-tween Lakes 
 Hu-ron and Mich-i-gan. This strait was two-score 
 miles in length, and in the midst of it was a high rock, 
 on which the French had built a strong-hold which 
 fell into the hands of the Brit-ish in 1760. 
 
76 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 The A-mer-i-cans gave the lort the name of Fort 
 Hohiies, and this was in charge of a small force of 
 troops in the year 1812. As soon as it was made known 
 that A-mer-i-ca and Eng-land were once more at war, 
 
 THE IM-PRESS-MENT OF A-MER-1-CAN SEA-MEN IN BOS-TOI^". 
 
 the Brit-ish troops in Can-a-da seized the fort at Mack- 
 i-naw, and with the aid of the red men drove out the 
 troops, and not a gun was fired. 
 
 As this was the key to the vast fur trade in the 
 North-west, the A-mer-i-cans sought to win it back in 
 
The War of 1812. 
 
 77 
 
 the year 1814, but their force was too small, and they 
 had to give it up. 
 
 By sea and land the Brit-ish and A-mer-i-cans 
 fought, and brave deeds were done on both sides. 
 
 On Feb-ru-ary 24, 18 13, Cap-tain Law-rence was 
 in com-mand of the 
 sloop-of-war Hor-net, 
 which fell in with the 
 Brit-ish brio^ Pea-cock 
 off the coast of Bra- 
 zil. Here a fight took 
 place, and ere long the 
 main-mast of the Pea 
 cock fell, and she sank 
 orut of sight and took 
 down with her nine 
 Brit-ish and three 
 A-mer-i-can sea-men. 
 
 While Law - rence 
 was on his way home 
 with the Hot -net and 
 the pris-on-ers from the Pea-cock, the Ches-a-peake, 
 Cap-tain Ev-ans, was out on a long cruise on the 
 coast of South A-mer-i-ca. As she came in-to Bos- 
 ton Bay a gale set in, her main-mast was blown away, 
 and three of her men were drowned. The rest of the 
 sea-men said that was a sim of bad luck, and thev 
 
 CAP-TAIN BROKE. 
 
78 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 were loath to sail in her. Cap-tain Ev-ans was 
 forced to leave her, as he had lost the sight of one of 
 his eyes, and Law-rence, who had been raised in 
 rank, was put in com-mand of her. 
 
 THE "CHES-A-PEAKE" AND THE " SHAN-NON." 
 
 At the close of May the Brit-ish ship-of-war Shan- 
 non, Cap-tain Broke, with 52 guns, came up near Bos- 
 ton and stood off for a fight. Broke wrote to Law- 
 rence to meet the Shan-non, ship to ship. He said if 
 the Ches-a-peake left Bos-ton it would be sure to be 
 
The War of \'6\2. 79 
 
 crushed by the Brit-ish force on the high seas, and it 
 was as well for them to fight where there were no ships 
 near to help or harm, and so test the for-tunes of the 
 flags they bore. 
 
 Law-rence gave heed to this, and with Lieu-ten-ant 
 Lud-low next in com-mand sailed out of Bos-ton Bay 
 to meet the S/ia7t-7wn, at noon of June i, 1813. Near 
 sun-set they were in the midst of the fight. When 
 they had fought for twelve min-utes the Ches-a-peake 
 saw a chance to take the wind out of the sails of her 
 foe, to cross her bow, and rake her fore and aft ; but 
 just then a storm of shot and shell broke her spars and 
 tore her sails so that the ship could not be moved. 
 To add to this her top-sails caught in the fore-chains 
 of the Shan-7ion, and held thus the decks of the Ches-a- 
 peake were swept by the balls of her foe. 
 
 One of them struck the brave young com-man-der, 
 and gave him his death-blow. As he was borne from 
 the deck he said, " Tell the men to fire faster, and not 
 to give up the ship ; fight her till she sinks." The 
 A-mer-i-cans made this their war-cry, and " Don't 
 give up the ship ! " nerved sea-men to be as brave as 
 he who gave up his life for the cause, and whose death 
 was such a great loss. 
 
 Broke's troops now swarmed the deck of the Ches-a- 
 peake, and soon Lud-low met with his death-blow 
 from a sword-thrust, and the Shan-noii won the day. 
 
8o The Battles of A merica. 
 
 Broke sailed at once for Hal-i-fax with his prize in 
 tow, and the day be-fore he reached there (June 7) 
 Law-rence breathed his last, wrapped in the flag of 
 the Ches-a-peake. 
 
 Eng-land rang with shouts of joy, and the vic- 
 tor. Cap-tain Broke won much praise, rich gifts, and 
 high rank for the proud place he had won for the 
 Brit-ish flaor. 
 
 The A-mer-i-can war-ship Con-sti-ht-tioii, 4.4. guns, 
 had been on a long cruise to the coast of Spain, and 
 was on her way back when the war of 18 12 broke out. 
 She set sail from An-nap-o-lis Ju-ly 12, for a cruise to 
 the north, and at the end of three days fell in with the 
 fleet in com-mand of Cap-tain Broke. 
 
 As she would stand no chance at all in a fio^ht with 
 such a force as she would have to meet, her cap-tain, 
 Charles Stew-art, set to work to save her bv flio^ht. 
 The sea was a dead calm, and there was scarce a 
 breath of wind to stir the sails. Her boats were 
 launched with strong sea-men to ply the oars. Guns 
 were run fore and aft on the deck, and all the light 
 sails that would draw were set. 
 
 Soon a breeze sprang up, and the Coii-sti-ht-tion 
 was well on her way when a shot at long range was 
 fired from, the Shan-non, but did no harm. When 
 the wind died out the sea-men would pull at their 
 oars, and when the breeze sprang up the sails did 
 
The War of 1812. 8r 
 
 their work, and thus they moved on, but at a slow 
 rate of speed. 
 
 The Sha7i-non made use of the same means and 
 soon gained on the Con-sti-ht-tioit, and the Gtier-ri~ere 
 [geei^ -re-air), 38 guns, joined in the chase, which was 
 kept up all day and all night. At dawn of the next 
 day the whole Brit-ish fleet were in sight, and bent on 
 catch-ing the A-mer-i-can ship that showed such pluck. 
 It was five a-gainst one, but the skilled sea-men kept 
 such a space be-tween the Co7'i-sti-hc-tto7^ and her foes 
 that not a gun was fired. 
 
 At sun-set of Ju-ly 19 a squall struck the Con-sti- 
 ht-tion, and wind, light-ning, and rain raged on the sea 
 for a short time. But she rode out the storm, and at 
 sun-set was borne by a stiff breeze at the rate of 14 
 miles an hour, which soon took them out of reach 
 of the foe. 
 
 At mid-night the Brit-ish fired two guns, and the 
 next morn-ing gave up the chase, which had been 
 kept up for more than two days. 
 
 Com-mo-dore Ol-i-ver Haz-ard Per-ry in 1812 had 
 charge of the gun-boats near New York, and in 18 13 
 was placed in com-mand of the fleet on Lake E-rie. 
 He had to wait some time for troops, and had to go in- 
 to the fight with less men than he had need of. On 
 the e-ven-ing of Sep-tem-ber 9 he called his chief men 
 round him and had a long talk with them. Ere they 
 
82 The Battles of America. 
 
 left he showed them a square blue flag on which, in 
 large white let-ters, were the words, 
 
 DON'T GIVE UP 
 THE SHIP. 
 
 When he should hoist this flag to the main-yard of 
 his ship, the Law-rence, it was a sign that the fight 
 was to take place at once. 
 
 The next day, Sep-tem-ber lo, the sun shone bright, 
 and the man on the watch in the main-top of the Law- 
 rence cried out, " Sail ho ! " which meant that the Brit- 
 ish fleet had hove in sight. In a short time Per-ry's 
 nine ships were in range for the fight, and at the mast- 
 head of the Law-rence was the blue flag that bore the 
 words, '' Don t give up the ship!' 
 
 The two fleets — like birds with wings out-spread — 
 drew near each oth-er. The Brit-ish was in com-mand 
 of Rob-ert Bar-clay, who had fought with Lord Nel- 
 son in the East. His ships were named De-troit, 
 Qtieeii Char-lotte, Lady Pre-vost, Httn-ter, Lit-tle Belt, 
 and Chip-pe-wa. The names of Per-ry's ships were 
 Law-rence, Ni-ag-a-ra, Cal-e-do-ni-a, A-ri-el, Scor- 
 pi-on, Trippe, Ti-gress, and Por-cu-pine. 
 
 The fight be-gan at noon, at long range, and the 
 Scor-pi-on fired the first shot on the A-mer-i-can side. 
 Fierce and more fierce grew the fight as the ships 
 
The War of 1812. 
 
 83 
 
 drev" near each oth-er, and at times the smoke was so 
 dense as to hide the scene from view. 
 
 For two long hours the Law-rence took part in the 
 
 OL-I-VER HAZ-ARD PER-RY. 
 
 frayc Her ropes hung loose, her sails were torn to 
 ^nreds, her spars were bits of wood, and she was a 
 wreck in-deed. The deck was strewn with blood. 
 But one mast was in place, and from that streamed the 
 
§4 The Battles of America, 
 
 A-mer-i-can flag, which the brave Per-ry would not 
 haul down in spite of his hard luck. All his ships 
 but one had fought hard and done well, and that one 
 was the sloop Ni-ag-a-7^a, which kept out of harm's 
 way. 
 
 She was a stanch ship, and Per-ry made up his 
 mind to fly to her as she drew near the Law-rence, 
 and to go on with the fight. He put on his u-ni-form, 
 and took down the lone Aas: that flew from the mast- 
 head, and the square blue flag that bore the words 
 " Don't give up the ship." Then he stepped in-to the 
 small boat, with his broth-er, who was then but four- 
 teen years of age, and with four stout men at the oars 
 set out on his rash trip. 
 
 Those he had left on board the Ni-ag-a-ra watched 
 him with fear in their hearts, as he stood up in the 
 boat with the two flags wrapped round him. 
 
 The Brit-ish fleet brought all their guns to bear on 
 the small boat, and a storm of shot and shell drenched 
 the sea-men with spray and broke their oars, but not 
 a man was hurt. 
 
 In a quar-ter of an hour Perry was safe on board 
 the Ni-ag-a-ra, the flags he bore were hauled up to 
 the mast-head and main-yard, and he dashed at once 
 in-to the Brit-ish lines. In eio^ht min-utes the flag- 
 ship of the foe struck its col-ors, the fight was at an 
 end, and the A-mer-i-cans had won th^ dav. Per-ry 
 
Battle of Lundy^s Lane. 85 
 
 sat down, put his cap on his knee, and wrote to Gen- 
 er-al Har-ri-son, who had charge of the troops at 
 Camp Sen-e-ca, a score of miles from Lake E-rie, in 
 in these words, " We have met the en-e-my and they 
 are ours — two ships, two brigs, one schoon-er, and 
 one sloop. 
 
 The name of Per-ry stood high on the roll of fame, 
 and A-mer-i-ca gave praise and thanks to her brave 
 young he-ro. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 LUNDY'S LANE: JULY 25, 1814. 
 
 At the close of the fight at Chip-pe-wa, July 5, 18 14, 
 the Brit-ish gen-er-al, Ri-all, fled down the edge of 
 the Ni-ag-a-ra Riv-er to Queens-ton, put some of his 
 troops at Fort George, and made his own stay near 
 the lake, a score of miles to the w^est. 
 
 It was a great blow to the pride of Sir George 
 Drum-mond, chief in com-mand of the Brit-ish troops, 
 that his brave and well-drilled men should be put to 
 flight by a lot of raw A-mer-i-cans. He made up his 
 mind to wipe out the stain, and to drive the blue-coats 
 
86 
 
 The Battles of America, 
 
 out of Can-a-da. The A-mer-i-can troops were in 
 com-mand of Gen-er-al Ja-cob Brown, who, as soon 
 as he had cared for the dead and those who had met 
 
 WIN-FIELD SCOTT. 
 
 with wounds at Chip-pe-wa, gave chase to the Brit-ish, 
 and laid plans to at-tack Fort George. 
 
 On July 24 word came to Brown that Drum-mond 
 with 1000 troops, most of whom had fought with 
 Lord Wel-ling-ton, had landed at Lew-is-ton. Their 
 
S8 
 
 The Battles of A ^nerica. 
 
 plan was, no doubt, to seize the A-mer-i-can stores — 
 the guns, baHs, and pow-der for use in war times — 
 at Schlos-ser, a-bove the Falls. 
 
 Brown at once bade Gen-er-al Scott march a part 
 of his force with all speed, and make a show as if he 
 
 THE FALLS OF NI-AG-A-RA. 
 
 meant to at-tack the forts at the mouth of the riv-er. 
 At dusk of Ju-ly 24, 18 14, as Scott and his troops 
 drew near the edge of the Great Falls, he saw some 
 Brit-ish of-fi-cers leave the house, mount their steeds, 
 and ride off in haste. 
 
Battle of Lujidy's Lane. 89 
 
 He thought by this that the van-guard of the Brit-ish 
 force was near, and made a dash in-to the woods to 
 drive them out, when he was met by Ri-all, with more 
 troops than he had had at Chip-pe-wa. 
 
 The A-mer-i-cans were in a great strait. They 
 could not stand still ; and if they fell back the whole 
 A-mer-i-can force might be put to rout. So Scott 
 made up his mind to stand and fight the foe — three 
 times his strength. 
 
 At sun-set a fierce fight be-gan and did not stop un- 
 til near mid-night. Ri-all's force, 18,000 strong, was 
 on a rise of ground o-ver which went a road known as 
 Lundy's Lane, the high-way to the west from the Ni- 
 ag-a-ra Riv-er. On that height the Brit-ish had their 
 large guns placed. 
 
 Scott found out that there was a blank space be- 
 tween the Brit-ish and the bank of the stream, and he 
 bade Ma-jor Jes-sup and the troops in his charge 
 crawl through the brush-wood that grew in the space 
 and turn the left flank. 
 
 This was done in the still, dark hours of the night, 
 and Jes-sup and his men gained the rear of the Brit- 
 ish, and kept back the troops sent up by Drum-mond. 
 At the same time Scott fought Ri-all, and soon Brown 
 came up with the main force to join in the fight. 
 
 Brown saw that there was no chance for the A-mer- 
 i-cans so long as the Brit-ish had the earth-works on 
 
90 The Battles of America. 
 
 the hill. So he said to Col-o-nel Mil-ler, "Can you 
 storm that work and take it ? " 
 
 "I'll try," said Mil-ler; and he led his 300 men up 
 the hill in the dark. 
 
 "Theirs but to do, or die." They kept close to a 
 fence, where a thick hedge hid them from the view of 
 the gun-ners and those who were on guard near them. 
 When near the earth-works, Mil-ler and his men 
 could see the gun-ners, with the fuse in a glow with 
 which they were to touch off the guns at the word Fire. 
 
 Mil-ler chose his best marks-men, and told them to 
 rest their guns on the fence, fix their eye on a Brit-ish 
 gun-ner, and fire at the sign he would give. 
 
 Soon all the gun-ners fell dead at their posts, and 
 Mil-ler and his men rushed in and seized the earth- 
 works, and had a fierce hand-to-hand fight in the dark 
 with the men who were to guard the guns and the 
 gun-ners. The Brit-ish fell back, and though they 
 tried they could not get back the earth-works nor the 
 five large brass guns that were in it. 
 
 In the mean-time Scott fought hard and well, un-til 
 he met with a wound in his arm. Gen-er-al Brown 
 was hurt so that he had to be borne from the field, 
 and Gen-er-al Rip-ley took his place. The A-mer- 
 i-cans fell back to Chip-pe-wa, where Brown told 
 them to take a brief rest and then come back, ere it 
 was dawn, to take the field the Brit-ish had left. 
 
Battle of Ltmdy'^s Lane. 
 
 91 
 
 But Rip-ley was slow to act, and the Brit-ish came 
 up and took back the earth-work and four of the guns, 
 and the field was theirs. Both sides claimed to have 
 won the fight. The Brit-ish had 4500 troops, and 
 
 AN-DREW JACK-SON. 
 
 lost at least 878. The A-mer-i-cans had 2600, and 
 lost 852. Mil-ler won much fame by his brave deed 
 at Lun-dy's Lane, which was thought to out-shine all 
 the bright deeds done through-out the war. 
 
92 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 The war of 1812 was kept up for three years, and 
 in that time 68 bat-ties were fought, North and South, 
 by land and sea. A great fight took place at New 
 
 T^i^f^" '«i'3ii^sasi^rsi=.'i.J "^J-H.- 
 
 
 
 
 NEW OR-LEANS. 
 
 Or-leans, in which Gen-er-al An-drew Jack-son won 
 great fame for him-self and for the A-mer-i-can cause. 
 
 He rose to high rank and 
 w^as known by the name of 
 !Z°™hI -Old Hick-o-ry." 
 
 i his brouo^ht the war to 
 a close, and there was a long 
 reign of peace in the land. 
 
 PLAN OF BAT-TLE OF NEW OR-LEANS. McU hid doWn thc SWOrd 
 
In Mexico. ■ 93 
 
 and took up the plough-share, and the fields grew 
 rich in corn and grain. Towns sprang up here and 
 there on the plains where the red men used to dwell, 
 and the Stars and Stripes waved at high-mast, and 
 was all the more dear be-cause of the blood it cost 
 to make it "the flag of the free." 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 IN MEXICO. 
 
 A-mer-i-ca was a small child in 1815, but she 
 soon be-gan to spread her-self and to add new States 
 from time to time to the first 13, and to put more 
 stars in her flag. The red men were not on good 
 terms with the white men, for they drove them from 
 the land to which they felt they had the first right. In 
 1832 the Sacs, Fox-es, and Sioux {sooz) set out to kill 
 all the white folks who lived in the north-west. They 
 were led by their chief. Black Hawk, and the war, 
 which was soon brought to an end, is known as The 
 Black Hawk War. 
 
 The red men in Flor-i-da were known as Sem-i- 
 noles, and were good friends with the folks from Spain 
 who laid claim to that part of A-mer-i-ca. They 
 
94 
 
 The Battles of A merica. 
 
 made raids on the States that were near, and did so 
 much harm and shed so much blood that the U-ni-ted 
 States made up its mind to drive the whole band to 
 
 the wild lands west 
 of the Mis-sis-sip- 
 
 T. his brought on 
 what is known as 
 the Sem-i-nole 
 War, which be-gan 
 in 1835 and was 
 kept up for sev-en 
 long years. 
 
 Tex-as was a 
 part of Mex-i-co 
 and und-er the flag 
 of Spain, un-til the 
 year 1845, when she 
 be-came one of the 
 U-ni-ted States. 
 This brought on a 
 war with Mex-i-co, 
 and the first fight 
 took place at Fort 
 Brown on the third of May, 1846. Gen-er-al Zach- 
 a-ry Tay-lor was chief in com-mand of the A-mer- 
 i-can troops, and San-ta An-na of the Mex-i-cans. 
 
 A SIOUX CHIEF. 
 
In Mexico. 
 
 95 
 
 Tay-lor crossed the Ri-o Grande, drove the Mex- 
 i-can troops from the town of Mat-a-mo-ras (May i8), 
 
 OS-CE-O-LA. 
 
 and staid there till some time in Au-gust, when fresh 
 troops were sent him. Gen-er-als Wool, Worth, 
 and Scott were in league with Tay-lor, and did much 
 
c)6 The BaMes of America. 
 
 to aid him, but their whole force was not half so great 
 as the Mex-i-cans. 
 
 Gen-er-al Tay-lor was rough in speech, and did not 
 think much of style. He rode side-ways on his horse 
 more than half the time, and wore a slouch hat and an 
 
 SCENE ON THE COAST OF FLOR-I-DA. 
 
 old suit of clothes, and did not look at all like a great 
 man. But he was much liked, and won for him-self 
 great fame and the name of" Old Rough and Ready." 
 If you will look at the list of Pres-i-dents of the U-ni- 
 ted States you will find that he was the twelfth in line. 
 Gen-er-al Grant took part in the war with Mex-ico, 
 
In Mexico. 
 
 97 
 
 but he was then a young lieu-ten-ant. What he learned 
 then was of great use to him, and well he proved the 
 truth of the old say-ing that "a still tongue shows a 
 wise head." 
 
 IN-DIAN WEAP-ONS. 
 
 A fierce fight took place Feb-ru-a-ry 23, 1847, at 
 Bue-na Vis-ta, which was won by the A-mer-i-cans. 
 
 Grant saw a church close at hand, with a small bel- 
 fry on top — a room In which a bell is hung. So he 
 told the few men with him to take the field-gun a-part 
 and bear it to the door of the church. Here they were 
 
98 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 met by a priest, who said they could not pass. But 
 Grant told him that he might as well stand by, for they 
 meant to come in, and the gun was set up in the tower, 
 and sent its balls right in-to the Mex-i-can ranks. 
 
 It is as well to 
 state that the Mex- 
 i-cans had poor 
 guns, and the 
 A-mer-i-cans had 
 no great fear of* 
 them. Their fields, 
 too, were rank with 
 a tall stiff grass, and 
 when their balls 
 went through it it 
 would bend and 
 sway like a wave 
 of the sea. The 
 A-mer-i-cans could 
 tell by this just how 
 to dodge the balls, 
 and thus saved their 
 lives, and made the 
 
 IN-DIAN OR-NA-MENTS. 
 
 poor Mex-i-cans feel that their foes bore a charm to 
 save them from death, and to help them win their 
 
 way. 
 
 In March the whole north of Mex-i-co was in the 
 
In Mexico. 
 
 99 
 
 hands of the A-mer-i-cans, and Gen-e-ral Win-field 
 Scott was on his way, with 13,000 men, to Mex-i-co, 
 its chief town. 
 
 They came down the Mis-sis-sip-pi on boats, and 
 went on shore near Ve-ra Cruz. 
 
 CIT-Y OF MEX-I-CO. 
 
 Scott laid siege to this town on the 13th, and on the 
 27th it was in his hands, and the flag of Spain gave 
 way to the Stars and Stripes. In the mean-time San- 
 ta An-na came up with 12,000 men to meet the foe, 
 and took post at Cer-ro Gor-do, a rough pass at the 
 
TOO 
 
 The Battles of Aiuei'ica. 
 
 foot of the great hills known as the Cor-dil-ler-as. 
 Here was a fort which was thoug^ht to be as strone as 
 that of Ve-ra Cruz ; but the troops in it soon laid down 
 their arms, and the fort and all it held passed in-to the 
 
 hands of the A-mer-i- 
 cans. 
 
 On they went, these 
 he-roes bold, and on 
 May 15 came to Pu- 
 eb-la, a large town, 
 where they staid till 
 the month of Au-gust 
 to rest and gain 
 strength, and to wait 
 for fresh troops. Scott 
 then pushed on, and 
 was soon near the 
 strong-hold on the out- 
 skirts of the chief town, 
 where King Mon-te- 
 zu-ma once held sway 
 and dwelt in grand 
 state, and there was no lack of eold. 
 
 The camp at Con-tre-ras gave way to the A-mer-i- 
 cans Au-gust 20, and the strong fort-ress of San An- 
 to-ni-o struck her flag the same day. Scott's next 
 move was to the heights of Chur-u-bus-co, and when 
 
 ZACH-A-RY TAY-LOR. 
 
In Mexico. 
 
 loi 
 
 this fell San-ta An-na fled in great haste to the chief 
 town. The next day he sent out men to treat for 
 peace with Gen-er-al Scott, who drew up the terms — 
 which San-ta An-na signed. But this was a mere 
 ruse, or trick, on San-ta An-na's part to gain time to 
 add to the strength of the town ; and when Scott found 
 this out he set out on 
 the war-path with fire 
 in his eye. Less than 
 4000 A-mer-i-cans 
 fought with 14,000 
 Mex-i-cans at Mo-li- 
 no del Rey (the King's 
 Mill) on Sep-tem-ber 
 8, and won the day, 
 but with a loss of 800 
 men. The Mex-i- 
 cans lost 1000 men. 
 
 This mill was long 
 and low, as were all 
 the houses in Mex-i- 
 co, and there were rows of sand-bags on the roof, 
 which made it quite a strong fort. Grant saw a 
 chance to get up on the roof An old cart stood near 
 the mill ; he brought it up, set it close by the wall with 
 the thills up, and "chocked" the wheels so they would 
 not roll back. Up this queer lad-der he and his men 
 
I02 The Battles of America. 
 
 climbed to the top of the mill, drove out the Mex-i-cans, 
 and held the fort. 
 
 The hill of Cha-pul-te-pec was doomed. On its 
 top was a grand fort, built in fine style. This the 
 A-mer-i-cans stormed with shot and shell Sep-tem- 
 ber 12, and the next day the Stars and Stripes waved 
 o'er its bro-ken walls. 
 
 That night San-ta An-na and his troops fled from 
 the town, and the next day, at dawn, the folks there 
 sent to Scott to beg him to spare the town and treat 
 for peace. But he would make no terms; and on 
 Sep-tem-ber 13, 1847, he marched in-to the town in 
 great style. 
 
 San-ta An-na tried to get back what he had lost, 
 but met with poor luck, and at the end of Oc-to-ber 
 fled for his life to the shores of the Gulf, with the loss 
 of one leg, which was shot off at the bat-tie of Bu-e-na 
 Vis-ta. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 WARS WITH THE INDIANS. 
 
 In all New Encr-land there was no tribe of red 
 men quite so fierce and war-like as the Pe-quots. 
 Their chief was named Sas-sa-cus. He was bold, 
 
MAS-SA-CKE OF SET-TLERS. 
 
I04 
 
 The Battles of A inerica. 
 
 crii-el, proud and fierce, and did his best to get the 
 Nar-ra-gan-setts and Mo-he-gans to join him in a 
 scheme to slay all the whites. But these two tribes 
 were good friends of the white men, and had no wish 
 to make war on them. So Sas-sa-cus made up his 
 mind to do the task a-lone — that is, with his own 
 tribe; and so great was his thirst for blood, that he 
 
 slew all who came in his 
 way. 
 
 The chief fort of the Pe- 
 quots was on a hill near the 
 Mys-tic Riv-er in the town 
 of Sto-ning-ton. It was 
 not safe for a white man to 
 pass up or down the stream 
 with-out a guard. 
 
 The Eng-lish had a fort 
 at Say-brook, which was 
 some-what in a state of 
 siege, as the troops did not 
 dare to stir out for fear the Pe-quots would seize or 
 slay them. In Au-gust, 1636, Cap-tain En-di-cott, of 
 Sa-lem, was sent with 80 or 90 men to treat with 
 them, and to make terms of peace with the Pe-quots, 
 or to fight them for the wrongs they had done the 
 white men. But the Pe-quots, as soon as they found 
 out what the men had come for, ran off in-to the 
 
 JOHN EN-DI-COTT. 
 
io6 The Battles of America. 
 
 woods and swamps, where it was no use to search 
 for them. 
 
 In the spring of 1637, the Eng-lish made up their 
 minds to make war on the Pe-quots. They were 
 joined by the Mo-he-gans, with Un-cas at their head,, 
 and the whole force was in charge of Cap-tain John 
 Ma-son. Some Nar-ra-gan-setts and Ni-an-tics lent 
 them their aid, and while Sas-sa-cus dreamed of flight, 
 his foes — 500 strong — were on the march to attack 
 his strong-hold. 
 
 Soon they came to the foot of the hill on which the 
 fort of Sas-sa-cus stood — with its three score and ten 
 wig-wams shut in-side a strong log fence. Shouts 
 and cries and wild war-songs were heard with-in the 
 fort. At mid-night all was still. 
 
 Two hours be-fore the dawn of May 26, 1637, the 
 troops set out for the fort. The red men, who had 
 been in the van, now fell to the rear, and some of them 
 were loath to fight Sas-sa-cus, for they looked on him 
 as all but a god. But Un-cas was firm, and but for 
 him -^he Nar-ra-gan-setts would have left the Eng- 
 lish in the lurch. 
 
 As Ma-son drew near the door of the fort, he heard 
 a dog bark, and one of the guards cry out, 0-wan-ttx! 
 0-wa7t-tLx ! which is Eng-lish-meii ! Eng-lish-men I 
 At once Ma-son fired on them through the logs, for 
 the Pe-quots were in a dead sleep. Then the Eng- 
 
Wars with the Indians. 107 
 
 lish-men wheeled off, and fell on the main door, which 
 was blocked up breast-high with brush-wood. 
 
 The Pe-quots rushed out, but the swords and balls 
 drove them back to the fort, and they crept in-to their 
 wie-wams. Then one of the white men took a torch 
 and set fire to the straw that made the thatched roof 
 of the wig-wams, and soon they were all in a light 
 blaze. 
 
 The Pe-quots were wild with fear, and ran this way 
 and that. Some of them climbed to the top of the 
 high fence in their haste to get out, and some of them 
 — at their wits' end — ran straight in-to the flames. 
 But soon the smoke grew so dense that no one could 
 breathe it and live, and in less than an hour there was 
 naught left of the fort, and at least 600 Pe-quots were 
 slain. 
 
 Sas-sa-cus was not there, but at a fort on the 
 Thames, where Gro-ton now is. He sat still and 
 grave when told what had been done on the Mys-tic, 
 and his braves vowed to take his life if he did not lead 
 them out a-gainst the pale face foes. Just then the 
 blast of a trum-pet was heard. The white men were 
 near, full 200 strong ! The red men fled with their 
 wo-men and chil-dren a-cross the Thames, through 
 the dense woods and o-ver green fields to the west- 
 ward, w^ith the white men in full chase. 
 
 The Pe-quots hid in Sas-co Swamp, near Fair-field, 
 
loS 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 where, in a short time, all but Sas-sa-cus and a few 
 who got off with him laid down their arms and swore 
 
 IN-DI-AN LIFE IN THEIR LOD-GES. 
 
 to live in peace with the Eng-lish. And this blow to 
 the Pe-quots gave peace to New Eng-land for two- 
 score years. 
 
 KING PHIL-IP'S WAR. 
 
 In the year 1621 Mas-sa-soit, King of the Wam-pa- 
 no-ags, who laid claim to all the land from Cape Cod 
 to Nar-ra-gan-sett Bay, came down to New Plym-outh 
 with three-score of his men. They were all armed, 
 and had on their war-paint, and were on their way to 
 call on Miles Stand-ish, and to make terms with him 
 
King Philip'' s War, 
 
 109 
 
 for peace or war. Terms of peace were made, and 
 Mas-sa-soit was a good friend to the white men as long 
 
 
 K fl'^t>. ,.^r 
 
 MAS-SA-SOIT AND THE PU-RI-TANS. 
 
 as he lived. He left two sons, one of whom was named 
 Met-a-com-et, or Phil-ip. Phil-ip dwelt at Mount 
 Hope, where he reigned o-ver the Po-ka-no-kets and 
 
no 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 the Wam-pa-no-ags, * and for twelve years af-ter his 
 fa-ther's death he kept the peace. 
 
 But when he saw how the white men spread them- 
 selves o-ver the land, broke up the fields through 
 
 PIL-GRIMS ON THEIR WAY TO CHURCH. 
 
 which the red men had been wont to hunt the game, 
 and drove them back from the shore so that they had 
 no chance to catch fish, his heart grew hot with-in 
 him, his young braves urged him to make war on the 
 
King Philips s War. iii 
 
 pale-face foes, and tried in all ways to make him hate 
 them, and ere long he was forced to yield to them and 
 to go on the war-path. 
 
 He struck the first blow at Swan-sey, Ju-ly 4, 1675, 
 a place not quite four-score miles south-west of Ply- 
 mouth. It was a fast day, and the white folks were on 
 their way home from church when the red men fell 
 ■on them and slew them. 
 
 The men of Bos-ton, horse and foot, joined the force 
 at Ply-mouth, and all pressed on to Mount Hope, but 
 found that Phil-ip and his braves had fled to a swamp 
 at Po-cas-set. There they kept him in a state of siege 
 for some days, but he at last found his way out and 
 fled to the Nip-mucks, who were friends to his cause. 
 
 With 1500 braves Phil-ip set out to burn and slay 
 till not a white man was left in New Eng-land. Men 
 were struck down in the fields, their homes were set 
 on fire, and death stared the white folks in the face at 
 all hours of the day and night. 
 
 A score of Eno^-lish-men were sent to treat with the 
 Nip-mucks. They met near Brook-field in Au-gust, 
 1675, and the false red men slew the men from Bos- 
 ton and set fire to the small town. Those who dwelt 
 in Brook-field fled to one house in which they shut 
 them-selves. 
 
 Night and day, for two days, the red men .poured 
 shot in up-on them, and thrust poles with fire-brands, 
 
112 The Battles of A merica. 
 
 and rags dipped in brim-stone, tied to the ends of them 
 to fire the house. Then they took a cart and filled it 
 with hemp and flax and set it on fire, and thrust this 
 up close to the house by means of long poles. But as 
 soon as it be-gan to blaze, a storm of rain set in and 
 put out the fire, or else all in the house, three-score 
 and ten souls, would have been burnt up in the flames. 
 
 In Sep-tem-ber, 1675, King Phil-ip and his men 
 burned Deer-field, and slew some of those who made 
 their homes there. The rest fled, and left a great 
 store of wheat in stacks in the fields. 
 
 Cap-tain Loth-rop, with four-score young men, were 
 sent from H ad-ley to save this grain. As they drew 
 near Deer-field, the red men sprang out up-on them, 
 and but four of the brave white men were left to tell 
 the tale. The fight was a fierce one, and in it 96 of the 
 red men were slain. 
 
 In the year 1704 some French-men and In-di-ans 
 came on snow-shoes from Can-a-da to Deer-field, to 
 get a bell that hung on top of the small church in that 
 place. It had been bought in France for a small 
 church at Caugh-na-wa-ga, near Mon-tre-al ; but the 
 ship that bore it to A-mer-i-ca was seized by a New 
 Enor-land man-of-war and ta-ken to Bos-ton. The 
 bell was sold to the Deer-field church, of which John 
 Wil-liams was the pas-tor. 
 
 The priest at Caugh-na-wa-ga coaxed the red men 
 
King Philip"' s War. 113 
 
 to go with him and Ma-jor de Ron-ville to get the 
 bell. When they came near Deer-field they found the 
 snow four feet deep, with a hard crust on top that bore 
 them well. On drifts that lay near the stock-ades, or 
 strong-holds built of up-right logs like a fence, they 
 crawled a-long in the gloom of night while all the folks 
 in Deer-field were a-sleep. Ere day-light had set in, 
 on March i, 1704, their doors were burst in and the 
 sound of the war-whoop roused them to a sense of their 
 doom. Deer-field was set on fire. But one house 
 and the church were saved from the flames. The bell 
 was borne off, and found its place on top of the church 
 at Caueh-na-wa-ora. More than two-score of the 
 A-mer-i-cans were slain, and 120 were borne off to 
 Can-a-da. Two of John Wil-liams' chil-dren were 
 slain at his own door. With his wife and five chil-dren 
 he took up his forced march to Can-a-da through the 
 deep snow. His wife had a young babe in her arms, 
 but two days old, and was in such a weak state that 
 she fell down in a faint. The red man who had her 
 in charo^e cleft her skull with his axe to rid him-self 
 of the care of her. Her hus-band and chil-dren went 
 on to Can-a-da, and for two years dwelt at Caugh- 
 na-wa-ga with the In-di-ans, at the end of which 
 time they were bought back and came to their own 
 home. 
 
 But, one child, a girl of ten years, named Eu-nice, 
 
TI4 The Battles of America. 
 
 the red men would not part with. She grew up with 
 them, and had the same tastes and the same ways as 
 their own squaws. Once she went to Deer-field to see 
 her own folks, but all they could say would not make 
 her chanee her mode of Hfe or leave the church which 
 she had joined. 
 
 Phil-ip, proud of what he had done, made up his 
 mind to strike a blow at Hat-field, one of the chief 
 towns near Spring-field. But the Eng-lish were in 
 wait for him and drove him back with great loss. He 
 then went to Rhode Isl-and, where he was joined by 
 the Nar-ra-gan-setts. Their chief, Ca-non-chet, had 
 sworn to stand by the white men, and 1,500 men of 
 New Eng-land marched out to seize him. They found 
 the red men with King Phil-ip in a fort in a swamp at 
 South Kings-ton, with food to last them through the 
 win-ter. On De-cem-ber 19 the Eng-lish stood in 
 front of the fort, and in a few hours 500 wig-wams 
 were in flames, guns were fired, and great was the loss 
 of life on both sides. Ca-non-chet was slain, but 
 Phil-ip fled and found a safe place with the Nip- 
 mucks. 
 
 In the spring of 1676 he set out on the war-path 
 once more, and laid waste whole towns, fields, and 
 farms in Mas-sa-chu-setts. But ere long the red men 
 fought a-mong them-selves, and some of the tribes left 
 Phil-ip. 
 

ii6 The Battles of America. 
 
 Cap-tain Church, an Eng-lish-man of much fame, 
 set out to find the red men and to put a stop to their 
 cru-el deeds. 
 
 King Phil-ip was chased from place to place, and at 
 last went to Mount Hope, sick at heart. In a few days 
 he heard that his wife and son were in the hands of 
 the Eng-lish. He was now crushed. " My heart 
 breaks," he said. '* It is time for me to die." 
 
 He was shot by an In-di-an — a false friend — and 
 Cap-tain Church cut off his head and bore it on a pole 
 in-to Ply-mouth. 
 
 So died the last King of the Wam-pa-no-ags ; and 
 his death and the end of King Phil-ip's war brought 
 to a close the reio^n of the red men in New Enor-land. 
 
 BRAD-DOCK'S DEFEAT. 
 
 The French, who had made homes for them-selves 
 in Can-a-da, sought to take up more land in the new 
 world, and with the aid of the red men to so guard 
 the O-hi-o River that the A-mer-i-cans would have 
 no use of it. 
 
 Their plans were found out, and on A-pril 2, 1754, 
 some troops were sent from the South to the head of 
 the O-hi-o River. George Wash-ing-ton led the 
 van ; that is, he went out with those who were first in 
 the field. He was then but 22 years of age. 
 
Braddock''s Defeat. 
 
 117 
 
 Mean-while Cap-tain Trent, and. those who dealt 
 with the red men west of the great range of hills, had 
 formed a band and set out to build a fort at the forks 
 of the O-hi-o where three streams meet, and where 
 Pitts-burgh now stands. On A-pril 18 a band of 
 
 FORT DU-QUESNE. 
 
 French-men and red-skins made an at-tack on the 
 fort, drove out Trent and his men, built up the fort to 
 suit them-selves, and named it Fort Du-quesne {^kane). 
 News of this deed came to Wash-ing^-ton while he 
 
Ii8 llie Battles of America. 
 
 was at Will's Creek, and he at once took up his 
 march for a point less than two-score miles from the 
 fort. There he learned that a strong force of French 
 and red men were on their way to stop him, so he fell 
 back to the Great Mead-ows, where he built a stock- 
 ade, and called it Fort Ne-ces-si-ty. A stock-ade is a 
 line of posts set in the earth as a fence, to shut in 
 troops. 
 
 While he was at work on this fort, scouts sent 
 word to Wash-ing-ton by a red man known as Half- 
 King, who was on good terms with the A-mer-i-cans, 
 that the French were quite near his camp. 
 
 Wash-ing-ton, at the head of two-score men, set off 
 at nine o'clock of a dark night for the camp of Half- 
 King. The rain poured down, and they did not 
 reach the red men's home till sun-rise the next day, 
 May 28, 1754. Half-King and his men joined Wash- 
 ing-ton's troops, and when they found the foe in a lone 
 place a-mong the rocks, they at once fired on them. 
 A sharp fight took place. Ju-mon-ville, who led 
 the French, and ten of his men were killed, while 
 Wash-ing-ton lost but one man. This was the first 
 blood shed in the French and In-di-an w^ar. 
 
 Troops made haste to join Wash-ing-ton at Fort 
 Ne-ces-si-ty, and he set out for Fort Du-quesne with 
 400 men. But when word came to him that a large 
 force of red men and a few of the French were on 
 
brad-dock's forces SUR-l'RlSED BY AN AM-BUS-CADE. 
 
I20 The Battles of America. 
 
 the way to meet him, he fell back to Fort Ne-ces-si-ty, 
 where a fight took place on the 3d of July. It was 
 kept up for ten hours, at the end of which time Wash- 
 ing-ton was forced to make terms of peace. The 
 next day the troops marched out of the fort and went 
 back to their homes. 
 
 In 1755 a plan was laid by the A-mer-i-cans and 
 Brit-ish to wrest Fort Du-quesne from the hands of 
 the French, and on June 10, a large force of troops, 
 with Gen-er-al Brad-dock at their head, set out from 
 Will's Creek. 
 
 Brad-dock was a Scotch-man, and had fought in 
 more than one war on Brit-ish soil, and was quite set 
 in his own way. Wash-ing-ton made bold to tell him 
 that it would be well to spread his troops out and 
 fight as the red men did, for they would hide be-hind 
 a tree, a bush, or a rock, and pick out the men they 
 meant to kill. 
 
 Brad-dock curled his lips with scorn, and said, 
 "What! Can you teach a Brit-ish gen-er-al how to 
 fight ? My men are too brave to skulk be-hind trees ! " 
 So his troops marched on, and on Ju-ly 9, crossed the 
 Mo-non-ga-he-la and moved in close ranks a-long the 
 south bank of that stream. At noon they crossed to 
 the south shore, and thought themselves quite safe 
 from the foe, when all at once a storm of shot and 
 clouds of ar-rows struck them on their front and flanks. 
 
Braddock'^s Defeat. 121 
 
 What Wash-ing-ton had in vain warned them of had 
 come to pass. 
 
 The war-whoops and wild yells of the red men 
 were new to the Brit-ish, and filled them with a strange 
 sort of fear. Brad-dock took the front of the fight, and 
 did all he could to keep his men at their posts, and 
 for more than two hours the bat-tie raged. 
 
 Brad-dock had five hor-ses shot un-der him, and 
 at last he too met with his death-wound. When 
 Brad-dock fell the few of his troops that were left 
 broke ranks and fled. When Wash-ing-ton, who 
 was then forced to act as chief, saw that the day was 
 lost, he called in the A-mer-i-can troops and bore 
 Brad-dock from the field that he might die in peace. 
 The foes did not give chase. The Brit-ish left their 
 guns and their dead on the field. In three days Brad- 
 dock was dead, and his grave was dug in the deep 
 woods, where by torch-light his form was laid. 
 
 This fieht which came to such a sad end is known 
 as Brad-dock s de-feat. 
 
 In 1758 Gen-er-al John Forbes set out with a large 
 force of troops to move on Fort Du-quesne. It was 
 known that the force there was small, and that the 
 fort could be ta-ken with ease. But the march was 
 such a slow one that by No-vem-ber 8, they were 
 sfiU two-score and ten miles from the fort. This 
 pace did not suit Wash-ing-ton, who was quick to 
 
122 The Battles of America. 
 
 move and to act, and it was thought best to give up 
 the scheme. 
 
 Just then word was brought that there were but few 
 troops in the fort, and Wash-ing-ton was at once sent 
 to the front. When with-in a day's march of the fort 
 they were seen by In-di-an scouts, who took word to 
 the French that the foe were on them in great force. 
 The French were in great fear, and set fire to the fort 
 that night — No-vem-ber 24 — and fled down the O-hi-o 
 in boats by the Hght of the wide-spread flames. 
 
 The next day the Brit-ish flag was raised o-ver the 
 spot where the strong-hold had been, and the name of 
 the fort was changed to Fort Pitt. The small town 
 that soon grew a-round it was called Pitts-burgh, and 
 the name clings to it, though it is much more than a 
 small town now-a-days. 
 
 TIP-PE-CA-NOE. 
 
 Te-cum-seh, or Wild-cat, '\w'2iS the name of a chief of 
 one of the tribes of red men who lent their aid to the 
 Brit-ish. He was brave and bold, and in the year 
 18 1 1 sought to have all the tribes in the South join with 
 those in the North-west, and slay all the white men, 
 that the red men might have the land to them- 
 selves. 
 
 In the year 1812 he was sent out by the Brit-ish to 
 
Tippecanoe. 
 
 123 
 
 urge the tribes to join them a-gainst the A-mer-i-cans. 
 The Choc-taws and Chick-a-saws paid no heed to his 
 words, but the Sem-i-noles and Creeks did. He told 
 the Creeks to throw a-way the plough and the loom, 
 and cease to till the soil, for such work was not fit for 
 brave men. 
 
 Te-cum-seh took with him his brother, who was 
 called The Proph-et. He 
 was sharp and shrewd, and 
 made the red men think that 
 he had pow-er from God 
 to work strange charms, to 
 heal the sick, and to save 
 from death. So great was 
 his fame that men and wom- 
 en would come a long way 
 to see him, and to learn of 
 him what was to come to 
 pass. The Proph-et was 
 not much to look at, for he 
 had lost an eye in his youth, 
 and his love of drink and the low life he had led 
 made him seem an old man when quite young in years. 
 It is said that he fell down one day, and was thought 
 to be dead, but when his friends bore him to the grave 
 he raised his eyes and said, " Be not fear-ful ; I have 
 been in the Land of the Blest. Call the tribes that 1 
 
 TE-CUM-SEH. 
 
124 '^^^^ Battles of America. 
 
 may tell them what I have seen and heard." They 
 came, and he told them such strange tales that they 
 had great faith in him, and from that time forth he was 
 known as The Proph-et. He told them he could make 
 pump-kins as big as wig-wams spring out of the ground, 
 and corn so lar^e that one ear would feed 12 men! 
 
 He warned the Creeks that the A-mer-i-cans had 
 come to drive them out of their land, and told them that 
 their friends, the Brit-ish, had sent him from the Great 
 Lakes to ask them to go on the war-path. 
 
 The Proph-et had been told by the Brit-ish when a 
 com-et would be in sight, and he told the red men that 
 they would see the arm of Te-cum-seh stretched out in 
 the sky, and they would know by that sign when to be- 
 gin the war. The red men looked on him with awe, 
 for the fame of Te-cum-seh and the Proph-et had gone 
 be-fore them. 
 
 But there was one big brave on whom all their arts 
 failed. His name was Tus-ti-nug-gee Thluc-co. At 
 length Te-cum-seh said, '* Tus-ti-nug-gee Thluc-co, 
 your blood is white. You have ta-ken my red-sticks 
 and my talk, but you do not mean to fight. I know 
 why. You do not be-lieve the Great Spir-it has sent 
 me. You shall be-lieve it. I will leave here at 
 once, and go to De-troit. When I get there I will 
 stamp my foot on the ground and shake ev-e-ry house 
 in Toock-a-batch-a." 
 
Tippecanoe. 125 
 
 Strange to say, at a-bout the time Te-cum-seh must 
 have reached De-troit there was heard a deep roar 
 un-der ground all through Al-a-ba-ma. The earth 
 heaved so that the houses reeled and shook as if 
 a-bout to fall. 
 
 • The red-skins ran out in great fright, and cried out, 
 "Te-cum-seh is at De-troit! Te-cum-seh is at De- 
 troit! We feel the stamp of his foot!" It was the 
 shock of an earth-quake that was felt all through the 
 South in De-cem-ber, 18 12. At the same time a com- 
 et was seen in the sky, and the Creeks at once rose 
 up in arms. 
 
 On the night be-fore the fight at Tip-pe-ca-noe, the 
 Proph-et stood in the midst of his dupes — 700 red 
 men — and told them that the time to crush the white 
 men had come. He brought out what he made them 
 think was a mao^-ic bowl. In one hand he held a 
 torch, in the other a string of beads. Each brave was 
 to touch this charm as a safe-guard from death, and 
 then to take an oath that he would kill the white men. 
 When this was done the Proph-et waved his arms 
 this way and that and said o-ver some strange words 
 to add strength to the charm. Then he said, as he 
 held up the string of beads to make them think of 
 their oath, " The time has come ; the white men are 
 in your pow-er. They sleep now, and will nev-er 
 a-wake. The Great Spir-it will give light to us, and 
 
126 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 will keep them in the dark. Their bul-lets shall not 
 harm us, but not one of our ar-rows shall miss its 
 mark." 
 
 Then they sang war-songs and had a great war- 
 dance, and wrought them-selves up in-to such a wild 
 state that they were like mad-men. 
 
 
 THE BUF-FA-LO DANCE. 
 
 Let us now take a glance at the white men. At 
 that time Wil-liam Hen-ry Har-ri-son was Gov-ern- 
 or of In-di-an-a, and as soon as it was known that 
 Te-cum-seh had gone south to stir up the red men 
 to war, there was a loud call for troops. Har-ri-son 
 
Tippecanoe. 
 
 127 
 
 went up the Wa-bash as far as Ter-re Haute (high 
 ground), and near there built a strong-hold which was 
 called Fort Har-ri-son. 
 
 He sent some chiefs to make terms with the Proph- 
 
 WIL-LIAM HEN-RY HAR-RI-SON. 
 
 et, who turned from them with scorn, for he was bent 
 on war. So the troops pushed on, and on No-vem- 
 ber 6, 181 1, went in-to camp with-in three miles of the 
 Proph-et's town. Har-ri-son placed his men in the 
 
128 The Battles of America. 
 
 form of a large square, and soon the whole camp was 
 in a sound sleep. There had been a slight fall of rain, 
 and the night was dark and damp. 
 
 The red men from the camp of the Proph-et crept 
 through the long grass, and with wild yells fell up-on 
 Har-ri-son's camp. Such was their faith in Te-cum- 
 seh and the Proph-et that they had gone out like a 
 wild mob with no one to lead them. A fierce fight 
 took place, which was kept up till af-ter day-light, 
 when the red men were put to flight by the troops on 
 horse-back. They left two-score of their dead on the 
 field. More than three-score of Har-ri-son's men 
 were slain. 
 
 The horse-men rode to the Proph-et's town and 
 found no one in it. So they set it on fire, and Har- 
 ri-son fell back to Vin-cennes. 
 
 This fight gave him great fame, and he had charge 
 of all the troops in the North-west in the war of 1812, 
 and was in Con-gress for a long term of years. When 
 the time came to choose a new Pres-i-dent, the choice 
 fell on him, and songs in praise 
 
 Of Tip-pe-ca-noe 
 And Ty-ler too 
 
 rang through the land. He took his place March 4, 
 1841, and just one month from that time he died. 
 
Little Big Horn. 
 
 129 
 
 LIT-TLE BIG HORN. 
 
 Such was the growth of the U-ni-ted States that 
 the red men were pushed to the far West and the 
 North-west. At times force had to be used to get 
 them to move from the land on which they had Hved 
 so long that they felt that they owned it. 
 
 These wars caused 
 much blood - shed, and 
 both white men and red 
 men did deeds that seemed 
 more like the work of 
 fiends. 
 
 The Mo-docs were first 
 found on the south shore 
 of Lake Kla-math, in Cal- 
 i-for-ni-a. Their name 
 means "foes." They drest 
 in skins. In their wars 
 they held cap-tives as 
 slaves, and sold them when 
 they had a good chance. 
 They were in-deed foes to 
 the white men, and had slain those who had sought 
 to make homes for them-selves in the " land of crold." 
 
 A man named Ben Wright thought they should be 
 paid back for these deeds. It may be that some of 
 
 GEN-E-RAL CUS-TER. 
 
130 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 his folks had been killed by 
 the Mo-docs. So in 1852 
 he made a feast, and sent 
 for a band of Mo-docs to 
 share in it. They came in 
 good faith, when Wright 
 and his friends fell on them 
 
 A CROW CHIEF. 
 
 and slew 41 ot the 
 46 who were there. 
 
 The Mo-docs 
 could not for-give 
 such a wrong as 
 that, and war with 
 them was kept up 
 till the year 1864, 
 when they made 
 terms with the 
 U - ni - ted States, 
 gave up their lands, and said they would go else- 
 where. 
 
 The white men did not keep their word with them, 
 
 AN O-JIB-E-WAY CHIEF. 
 
Little Big Horn. 131 
 
 and this made the red men hot with wrath. A clan 
 known as Cap-tain Jack's band were so full of fight 
 that their own tribe found fault with them, and they 
 were told to go back to the Kla-maths. This they 
 would not do, and in the spring of 1872 troops were 
 sent to drive them out of Or-e-gon. The whites were 
 forced back with loss, and the Mo-docs fled to the 
 La-va Beds — where a vol-ca-no had once been and 
 burnt it-self out — and there they were safe from their 
 foes for a while. 
 
 In June, 1873, Gen-er-al Whea-ton tried to drive the 
 Mo-docs from their strong-hold, but could not get 
 with-in three miles of them, af-ter the loss of not a few 
 of his troops. Gen-er-al Gil-lem met with the same 
 luck. In the mean-time the U-ni-ted States had formed 
 a plan by which they thought to make peace with these 
 Mo-docs. A band of wise men were sent out to treat 
 with them. They met with the red men for a peace 
 talk on A-pril 11, 1873, when the Mo-docs shot 
 down Gen-er-al Can-by and Dr. Thom-as in cold 
 blood. This foul deed was the cause of a long and 
 fierce war with the Mo-docs, and at last Cap-tain Jack 
 and his band were forced to come to terms. The 
 chief and three of his head men were tried and hung 
 at Fort Kla-math, Oc-to-ber 3, 1873. 
 
 In 1867 the Sioux {soos) had made terms by which 
 they were to give up all their lands south of the Ni-o- 
 
132 The Battles of America. 
 
 bra-ra Riv-er in Ne-bras-ka, and go to a new place in 
 Da-ko-ta called the Black Hills, by Jan-u-a-ry i, 
 1876. In the mean time gold was found in the place 
 set a-part for the Sioux, and hordes of white men from 
 all parts of the world flocked to the Black Hills. 
 
 On the strength of this the Sioux made raids on all 
 the land a-round, stole all they could lay hands on, set 
 fire to the homes that had been put up, and slew all 
 those who dared cross their path. Their chief was 
 Sit-ting Bull, and he would not come in and live on 
 the land set a-part for him and his band. They stole 
 so much land from the Crows, who were more fond 
 of peace than of war, that they asked for help from the 
 white men. A large force of troops were sent out, 
 with Gen-er-als Ter-ry and Crook at their head, to 
 drive the Sioux back, and to take Sit-ting Bull by the 
 horns, as it were. 
 
 The troops had been in camp for some time, and it 
 was a sad hour for their wives when they set forth to 
 meet the foe. Their march was from Mis-sou-ri to the 
 Yel-low-stone Riv-er in Mon-ta-na. 
 
 Gen-er-al George A. Cus-ter — a brave man, who 
 dared do all that man could do — was at the head of 
 the 7th Cav-al-ry. 
 
 The Sioux were forced back to the Big Horn 
 Moun-tains, and Cus-ter and Re-no were sent on to 
 find out just where they were, and how large a force 
 
Little Big Horn. 133 
 
 they had. The Sioux were found in camp on the left 
 bank of the Lit-tle Horn Riv-er. 
 
 The red men keep out-posts and fires on each hill- 
 top so that no one could reach their camps with-out be- 
 ing seen. The In-di-an scouts who were with the 
 troops made out as well as they could that Sit-ting Bull 
 had with him at least looo men. 
 
 Cus-ter thought that he and his 300 men were a 
 match for so small a force, and did not wait for troops to 
 come up to aid him in case of need. But Sit-ting Bull 
 was more shrewd, and had sent here and there for aid till 
 his band had swelled to five times the size it was when 
 it fled to Big Horn. 
 
 Had Cus-ter known this he would not have been so 
 rash, but on June 25 he charged on the Sioux and was 
 met by a force more than ten times the size of his 
 own. No one knows just what took place, for Cus- 
 ter and all his brave horse-men fell in the fight. 
 
 Fresh troops were sent to the front, and the Sioux 
 were so hard pressed that they fled to Can-a-da, with 
 Sit-ting Bull and Cra-zy Horse, and set up their camp 
 on the north side of the Milk Riv-er.- 
 
134 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 BULL RUN; JULY 21, 1861. 
 
 We now come to a sad, sad time. The Good Book 
 says that "a man's worst foes are those of his own 
 house-hold," which means It is worse for those who 
 
 live in the same 
 house to fall out 
 than it is for 
 those who are 
 not friends. 
 
 Now the whole 
 U-ni-ted States 
 had been like one 
 great house-hold 
 for a long term of 
 years. U-ni-ted 
 means joined; 
 held firm and fast. 
 But as bad boys and girls — old and young — can 
 up-set a home and rob it of all its joy and peace, so 
 some of those who made up the U-ni-ted States and 
 should have been its best friends, proved false, and 
 with hearts full of hate broke the bond that made them 
 One. 
 
 FORT SUM-TER AF-TER THE BOM-BARD-MENT. 
 
Battle of Bull Run. 
 
 135 
 
 IN-TE-RI OK OF FORI SUM-TER AF-TER THE 
 rOM LARD-MENT 
 
 Then men took sides. 
 Some were for the North, 
 and some for the South, 
 and there were hot words, 
 and fierce looks, and a 
 mur-mur in the air that 
 told that a storm was close 
 at hand. It broke in 
 A-pril, 1 86 1, when the South fired on Fort Sum-ter, 
 just off the coast of South Car-o-li-na, and forced her 
 to haul down her flag. 
 
136 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 FLAG OF FORT SUM-TER AF-TER THE 
 BOM-BARD-MENT. 
 
 An old man named 
 Ruf-fin, who was three- 
 score and ten years of 
 age, fired the first shot, 
 and made a great boast 
 of this feat w^hich caused 
 such a flow of blood and 
 tears. The shot from that 
 gun sent a thrill of fear 
 through the hearts of all 
 true A-mer-i-cans, and 
 
 the cry To arms! To arms! rang through-out the 
 
 length and breadth of the land. 
 
 Troops fi-om the North set out at once for Wash- 
 ing-ton to guard that place, and the tramp ! tramp ! 
 
 tramp! of armed men was heard on the streets of 
 
 all the large towns. Most of the troops were "green" 
 
 and had to be taught 
 
 how to march and fisfht 
 
 all at the same time; 
 
 but they were full of 
 
 pluck, and kept up 
 
 heart in the face of the 
 
 worst kind of ills. 
 The first hard fig^ht 
 
 took place at Bull Run, 
 
 J U-iy 21, lODi, DC- THE CON-FED-ER-ATE FLAG. 
 
The Battles of A m eric a. 
 
 THE SIXTH MAS-SA-CHU-SETTS REG-I-MENT IN BAL-TI-MORE. 
 
 tween Gen-er-al McDow-ell and his troops from the 
 North, and Gen-er-al Beau-re-o-ard and his men, who 
 
Battle of Bull Run. 
 
 39 
 
 had their post at Man-as-sas. Bull Run was a small 
 stream in Vir-ein-ia that ran be-tween Man-as-sas and 
 Cen-tre-ville. 
 
 The main road crossed the Run at Black-burn's 
 ford, three miles from Cen-tre-ville, and on each side 
 were two more roads that 
 struck the Run at Un-ion 
 Mills and the Stone Bridge. 
 At all these points the 
 South had guns and guards 
 placed to keep back the 
 foe. But McDow-ell found 
 a good ford at Sud-ley 
 Springs, two miles a-bove, 
 to which there was no road, 
 but which could be reached 
 with ease through the 
 woods. 
 
 His plan was to pass 
 Sud-ley Springs with his 
 right, and turn the left flank 
 of the foe. The time to 
 start was fixed for half past two o'clock of Sun-day 
 morn-ing, Ju-ly 21, and at mid-night the troops were 
 all a-stir. But it took them a long time to get out 
 on the road, and the route through the woods was 
 so long- and so hard that the head of the line did not 
 
 IR-VIN McDOW-ELL. 
 
140 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 reach the stream till half past nine — three hours too 
 late. Mean-while, Ty-ler had reached Stone Bridge 
 on the turn-pike, and at half past six fired his gun, 
 as he had been told to do by McDow-ell. 
 
 The noise of Ty-ler's guns roused the foe, and 
 
 Col-o-nel Ev-ans, who was 
 on the left of the Stone 
 Bridge, made a change of 
 front, and marched out to 
 meet McDow-ell's men as 
 they came out of the woods. 
 These men were in charge 
 of Gen-er-al Burn-side, and 
 as soon as the head of the 
 line came in sight Ev-ans 
 fired on them, and for half 
 an hour a brisk fight was 
 kept up, by which time 
 Burn-side had his troops in 
 hand. 
 
 Fresh troops and field- 
 guns were sent to aid both, 
 but the Un-ion troops had it all their own way, and 
 soon put their foes to flight. Up the slope of land to 
 its top-most crest rushed the troops of Col-o-nel Bee, 
 and there found that a large force of troops held the 
 heights, with Col-o-nel Jack-son at their head. Here 
 
 G. T. BEAU-KE-GARD. 
 
Battle of Bull Run. 
 
 141 
 
 Bee brought his Hne in-to shape, and said to his men 
 to rouse their hearts, "There stands Jack-son just Hke 
 a stone-wall!" and the name of Stone-wall Jack-son 
 clung to him from that day. 
 
 Johns-ton and Beau-re-gard came up to the aid of 
 Bee and Bar-tow, and McDow-ell moved on them with 
 18,000 men. The _ _ 
 
 Con-fed-er-ates 
 now took their stand 
 on a piece of high 
 land at the base of 
 which ran Bull Run 
 and the small creeks 
 that were a part of 
 the stream. The 
 main part of the hill 
 was broad and bare, 
 but at the south and 
 east were thick pine 
 woods, and on the 
 west the Sud-ley 
 road ran through a dense growth of stur-dy oak trees 
 
 In the first fight the Un-ion troops had seized 
 the slopes that led up the hill from the turn-pike. 
 A turn-pike road is one where toll-gates are set, 
 and a tax is paid to keep the high-way in good 
 order. 
 
 STONE BRIDGE. 
 
142 
 
 Tlie Battles of America. 
 
 The Un-ion troops sought now to sweep the Con- 
 fed-er-ates from the top of the hill, and the smooth 
 space be-yond, and at noon they were in the midst of 
 the fight. 
 
 Hard pressed, Ev-ans' line was a-bout to give way 
 when Gen-er-al Bee came up with fresh ^troops, and 
 
 gave it strength. Then the 
 Un-ion line lost its hold, 
 for the men were worn out 
 with the long march and 
 hard fight, and fresh troops 
 were sent to their aid. 
 
 A charge made by some 
 New York troops, led by 
 Col-o-nel H. W. Slo-cum, 
 broke the Con-fed-er-ate 
 line, and the troops fled in 
 wild haste to a field, where 
 their flight was checked. 
 (STONE- By this time Jo-seph E. 
 Johns-ton was on the field, 
 to act as chief, and his gaze was fixed on the gaps 
 in the hills through which he hoped to see fresh 
 troops on their way to aid him. For well he knew 
 that with-out these he could not hope to win the day. 
 Two o'clock came — and no fresh troops were in 
 sight. 
 
 
 THOM-AS JON-A-THAN JACK-SON 
 WALL.) 
 
Battle of Bull Run. 
 
 143 
 
 On the Un-ion left Keyes' troops charged up the 
 slope from the turn-pike, and found them-selves In a 
 sharp fight with men on horse and on foot. But they 
 reached the crest at last and seized the house there, 
 which they held but for a short time. The great 
 fight, mean-while, was on 
 the Un-ion right, not far 
 fi*om the Hen-r)^ House, 
 where the Con-fed-er-ates 
 had placed their field-guns, 
 and on which from a hill- 
 top near the Un-ion can- 
 non had played. Rick- 
 €tts' and Grif-fin's troops 
 had charge of these guns, 
 and with them were Ells- 
 worth's Fire Zou-aves, 
 drest like Turks in bright 
 red suits with fez caps and 
 white leg-gings. 
 
 They made a great show, 
 and were a rough lot of 
 
 boys and men who could use their fists if their guns 
 failed them. More troops from the East and West 
 came up to swell the Un-ion force. The gun-ners 
 and the Zou-aves were on the march, when all at once 
 the Con-fed-er-ates fired on their flank, and Stu-art's 
 
 ^H 
 
 JO-SEPH JOHNS-TON. 
 
144 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 Black Horse Cav-al-ry came up in the rear, and the 
 Zou-aves fell back. Then some Un-ion troops from 
 Min-ne-so-ta were sent to fill up the gap, when down 
 on them came a Con-fed-er-ate fire that thinned their 
 ranks. 
 
 The loss was great on both sides. 
 It was now three o'clock. The day was hot, and 
 
 the air full of smoke 
 - ^ \ '^^ and dust. McDow- 
 
 ell still felt that he 
 could make the day 
 his own. Johns-ton 
 sighed for more 
 troops. Just then 
 he saw a cloud of 
 dust on the line of 
 the Man-as-sas Gap 
 rail-way ; and soon 
 4000 fresh troops 
 swelled the Con-fed- 
 er-ate ranks. Loud cheers and the rat-tie of guns 
 were heard on the right flank and rear of the Un-ion 
 troops, who fought their way up the ridge to the 
 Hen-ry House. 
 
 It was the van-guard of Con-fed-er-ate troops led 
 by Gen-er-al Kir-by Smith. The Un-ion troops, 
 worn out with their lonor march, faint from lack of 
 
 
 
 PICK-ET DU-TY. 
 
Battle of Bull Run. 
 
 HS 
 
 food, and parched with thirst, gave way at the fierce 
 on-set of the Con-fed-er-ates. Like wild-fire ran from 
 
 BAT-TLE OF BULL RUN. 
 
 man to man the cry that "Johns-ton's troops had 
 come!" and they fled down the slopes, and ran in wild 
 haste from the field of blood. 
 
146 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 Crowds drove out to see the fight, as they would 
 have done if a cir-cus had come in-to town, and the 
 heights all round were gay with folks — great and 
 small — who looked on and thought it a fine show. 
 
 But there was no fun in it when the Con-fed-er- 
 ates gave chase to the Un-ion troops in their wild 
 flight down the slopes. Pale with fright the crowd 
 rushed pell-mell down the heights, blocked the roads 
 
 with their teams, not 
 a few of which were 
 up-set, and ran this 
 way and that in their 
 wild haste to find a 
 safe place. 
 
 As ofood luck would 
 have it, Johns-ton gave 
 up the chase, and the 
 folks found their way 
 home in a calm-er frame of mind. 
 
 McDow-ell saw that all was lost. He did his best 
 to check the flight of his "raw" troops, but it was no 
 use. They were not used to war, and no doubt 
 thought they had done the right thing. For 
 
 " He who fights and runs a-way 
 May Hve to fight an-oth-er day." 
 
 AR-MY HUTS. 
 
 But they soon learned to stand fire, and did good 
 
Battle of Bull Run. 
 
 147 
 
 work in the war, the first shock of which gave them 
 such a great scare, as well it might. 
 
 The news of the fight at Bull Run sent a thrill of 
 joy through the whole South. 
 The Con-fed-er-ates were sure 
 now that their cause would 
 win, and they were full of 
 pride, and made haste to add 
 to their stock of arms, ships, 
 and such things as they had 
 need of. 
 
 The North was cast down, 
 and hearts that had beat high 
 with hope were now deep in 
 gloom. But this did not last 
 long. "There is no such word 
 as fail" to those who set out 
 with a high aim, and theirs was 
 to save the Un-ion. They 
 saw now, as they had not done at first, that the war 
 was to be a long one ; and if they would win they 
 must stand firm, put their trust in God, and fight with 
 all the strength they had. 
 
 MON-U-MENT E-RECT-ED ON THE 
 BAT-TLE-FIELD. 
 
148 
 
 The Battles of A nierica. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII.. 
 
 FORT DONELSON: FEBRUARY 16, 1862. 
 
 The year 1862 found the North and South at war in 
 
 the heart of the U-ni-ted States, through which runs 
 
 the Ten-nes-see 
 Riv-er. This 
 stream joins the 
 O-hi-o Riv-er, 
 and on both were 
 a lonor line of 
 strong forts and 
 earth-works. 
 
 At a bend of 
 the riv-er, twelve 
 miles from where 
 it joins the Cum- 
 ber-land, the 
 Con-fed-er-ates 
 
 built Fort Hen-ry on the right bank, and Fort Hie- 
 
 man on the left — on a high hill. 
 
 In Feb-ru-a-ry, 1862, a land force led by Gen-er-al 
 
 (J-lys-ses S. Grant, and a fleet of boats in charge of 
 om-mo-ddre A. H. Foote were sent to seize those 
 
 two forts. 
 
 Fort Hen-ry had 17 great guns, twelve of which 
 
Battle of Fo7'f Don el son. 
 
 149 
 
 swept the riv-er, and there were less than 3000 troops 
 in camp out-side. These were in com-mand of Gen- 
 er-al Tilgh-man {till-maii). 
 
 Foote brought four of his gun-boats in-to Hne, and 
 
 COM-MO-DORE FOOTE. 
 
 sent a storm of bomb-shells on to the fort. His fierce 
 shots soon made them-selves felt. In a short time one 
 of the large guns burst and killed three of the men at 
 the piece. Then a shell came in and hurt some more 
 
I50 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 The flag of the Un-ion 
 on the soil of 
 
 of the gun-ners. It was not long ere one of the 42 
 pound-ers went off too soon and killed three men; and 
 by this time the gun-ners lost heart, and ceased to work 
 the small guns, which they felt were too light to harm 
 the i-ron-clad gun-boats. 
 
 Tilgh-man did his best to urge the men on, but they 
 were worn out, and in less than an hour the white flag 
 
 was sent up as a sign that they 
 
 gave up the fight. 
 
 Word was at once sent by 
 
 wire to the North: " Fort Hen-ry 
 
 is ours ! 
 
 waves once more 
 
 Ten-nes-see!" 
 
 The troops out-side the fort 
 
 fled to Fort Don-el-son, twelve 
 
 miles off, and less than four-score 
 men were left in the fort to lay down their arms to 
 Com-mo-dore Foote. 
 
 Gen-er-al Grant and his land troops had found the 
 roads deep with mire, and their march from the place 
 where they went on shore was a slow one. They 
 came up too late to take part in the fight, or to give 
 chase to the Con-fed-er-ates, who thus had a good 
 chance to get in-side the walls of Fort Don-el-son. 
 
 This part of the Con-fed-er-ate land force was then 
 in com-mand of Al-bert Sid-ney Johns-ton. The 
 
 AL-BERT SID-NEY JOHN-STON. 
 
Battle of Fort Donelson. 1 5 1 
 
 South knew that if Fort Don-el-son fell Nash-ville 
 would be lost, so fresh troops were sent at once to add 
 to its strength. On Feb-ru-a-ry 12, Gen-er-al Buck- 
 
 GEN-ER-AL GRANT. 
 
 ner brought a lar^e force from Bow-lino^ Green, and 
 the next day Gen-er-al Floyd came with more, and 
 he took charge of the whole Con-fed-er-ate force. 
 Fort Don-el-son stood on the high left bank of the 
 
152 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 Cum-ber-land Riv-er, two-score miles from where it 
 pours it-self in-to the O-hi-o. It was a large field- 
 work near the town of Do-ver, and on the land side 
 of it there were hills and dales and deep sloughs 
 that made it still more of a strong-hold. 
 
 At Fort Hen-ry Gen- 
 er-al Grant placed his army 
 in three parts, in charge of 
 McCler-nand, Smith, and 
 Lew Wal-lace. Foote 
 went back to Cai-ro {ki-ro) 
 to take his mor-tar boats — 
 those that threw the bomb- 
 shells — up the Cum-ber- 
 land to aid in the fight. 
 
 On the morn-ing of Feb- 
 ru-ary 12, 1862, McCler- 
 nand and Smith set out for 
 Fort Don-el-son, while 
 Wal-lace stayed to hold 
 the forts on the Ten-nes- 
 see. That night Fort Don- 
 el-son was hemmed in. On all sides were Un-ion 
 troops. At dawn of the 13th the Un-ion guns were 
 fired and a fierce fight took place, and Grant's men 
 were forced back with great loss. The night grew 
 cold, and a fierce rain-storm set in. Grant's men had 
 
 JOHN A. McCLER-NAND. 
 
Batth of Fort Donehon. 
 
 153 
 
 no tents, and they were chilled through and through. 
 
 They dared not light camp-fires, for fear of the guns 
 
 of their foes, and they were scant of food and clothes. 
 
 The next day, the 14th, Foote came up with his 
 
 I-RON-CLAD GUN-BOAT. 
 
 gun-boats and brought food and fresh troops, that were 
 hailed with cheers of joy by the boys in blue. 
 
 By three o'clock in the af-ter-noon Foote had his 
 gun-boats in range, a mile and a half a- way, and sent 
 up a fire from all the guns that could be brought to 
 bear on the fort. The Con-fed-er-ates did not send 
 
1^4 The Battles of America. 
 
 back one shot till the boats came up with-in point- 
 blank range. Then all the guns on the shore, twelve 
 in all, sent forth their fire, and a fierce fight was kept 
 up be-tween the fleet and the fort. 
 
 But the shot and shell of the ships spent their force 
 on the sand-banks round the fort, and not a man was 
 killed, while the Con-fed-er-ate guns made their shots 
 tell on the fleet. The gun-boat which Foote was on, 
 which was the flag-ship, was struck at least three-score 
 times ; one shot killed the man at the wheel, and the 
 Com-mo-dore was hurt in the foot. One by one the 
 boats fell back, and at the end of an hour and a half 
 the fleet gave up the fight, with a loss of 54 of its 
 men. 
 
 The South was full of joy, and at once sent the 
 news to Rich-mond. But when the sun went down 
 that night the troops in front of Fort Don-el-son were 
 in a sad plight. The cold was so sharp that the men 
 dared not lie down to sleep lest they should freeze to 
 death. Grant did not know what it was best to do. 
 
 On the morn of the 15th, ere yet it was broad day, 
 Foote sent for Grant to come and see him on board 
 the flag-ship, as he was too much hurt to come him- 
 self Grant set out on horse-back, and was forced to 
 go at a slow pace, as the roads were in such a bad 
 state, much worse than if they had been a mass of 
 mud. Grant had thought that if there was a land. 
 
Battle of Fort Donelson. 
 
 155 
 
 fight he would have to bring it on him-self, and laid 
 his plans for a long siege. But when he came back 
 from the flag-ship he was met by one of his staff, who, 
 with a face white with fear, told him that the Con-fed- 
 er-ates had come 
 out in full force 
 and put McCler- 
 nand's troops to 
 flight. 
 
 Grant was four 
 or five miles north 
 of the left of his 
 line, which 
 three miles 
 He rode as fast as 
 he could, and saw 
 no signs of rout 
 till he came to the 
 right of his line, 
 where McCler-nand's men had had to bear the brunt 
 of the at-tack. He was told that the foe had come 
 out with their knap-sacks on, as if they meant to stay 
 out and fight as long as their food held out. But they 
 fell back when fresh troops came up, and that made it 
 clear to Grant's mind that some of the Con-fed-er-ates 
 had tried to force their way out of the fort, and that it 
 was time now to strike the blow. So he told Col-o- 
 
 was 
 long. 
 
 DOU-BLE TUR-RET I-RON-CLAD. 
 
156 The Battles of A^nerica. 
 
 nel Web-ster to ride with him and call out to the men 
 to come in-to line, for the Con-fed-er-ates meant to 
 leave the fort if they could, and they must do their 
 best to keep them back. 
 
 This brought each man to his place. It was noon, 
 and Grant was on the field, and he bade McCler-nand 
 take back the hill he had lost. This was soon done 
 by the brave troops, and they camped on the new won 
 field that cold win-ter night. Mean-while Gen-er-al 
 Smith had struck the Con-fed-er-ates such hard blows 
 on the right that when night came on they were shut 
 in the trench-es — or ditch-es — and there was no way 
 for them to get out. 
 
 Scouts who had been sent out to view the land 
 brought back the real state of the case, and Floyd, 
 Pil-low, and Buck-ner saw that the game was lost. 
 There was but one thing for them to do, but who was 
 to do it? 
 
 Pil-low said, 'T will not sur-ren-der! I will die 
 first!" 
 
 Floyd said, "Nor will I. It won't do. It won't 
 do." 
 
 He had once held a high place in Wash-ing-ton, and 
 had sworn to be true to the Un-ion and to the Stars 
 and Stripes. He had been false to his oath, and if 
 caught would have been tried and no doubt hung, for 
 his crimes were great. So he had good cause for fear. 
 
Battle of Fort Donelson. 157 
 
 Buck-ner, who was a brave man, then said, *' I will 
 sur-ren-der, and share the fate of my men." 
 
 In the night two small steam-boats had come up the 
 Cum-ber-land. Floyd seized them and fled up the 
 stream with part of his troops, while Pil-low, with the 
 aid of a skiff, sneaked off in the dark and made his way 
 to his home in Ten-nes-see. 
 
 Buck-ner wrote a note to Grant, to ask him on 
 what terms he would make peace, and sent it out with 
 a flag of truce. 
 
 Grant wrote back that he would make no terms but 
 a free and full sur-ren-der, and said, " I pro-pose to 
 move at once up-on your works." 
 
 Buck-ner did not like the style of Grant's note, but 
 was forced to yield to what he thought were harsh 
 terms, and at dawn of the next day 10,000 men 
 laid down their arms, and the Stars and Stripes flung 
 out their folds o-ver the strong-hold on the Cum-ber- 
 land. 
 
 On March 9, 1862, the great sea fight took place at 
 H amp-ton Roads be-tween the Mo7^-i-tor and the 
 Mer-ri-mac, which you will have to read of else-where, 
 as there is not space in this book to tell it as it ought 
 to be told. The Mon-i-tor was a new kind of boat — 
 "like a cheese-box on a raft" — and it won the day, 
 and fought like a spit-fire. 
 
158 The Battles of America. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 SHILOH : APRIL 6 AND 7, 1862. 
 
 On the west bank of the Ten-nes-see, near the south 
 end of the State Hne, is Pitts-burg Land-ing, where 
 steam-boats were wont to leave or call for freight on 
 their way up or down the river. The banks at the 
 Land-ine rise to a heis^ht of four-score feet, and are 
 cleft here and there by great chasms, through one of 
 which runs the main road to Cor-inth. Back of the 
 bluff is a flat piece of land, cleared near the shore, but 
 rough and with a orrowth of woods out from the stream. 
 
 On a ridge three miles out was Shi-loh Church, 
 built of logs in a rude style. Near it two small streams 
 — Snake Creek and Lick Creek, five miles a-part — 
 wound their way to the Ten-nes-see and came out on 
 each side of Pitts-burg Land-ing. This ridge was 
 held by Sher-man, with a lot of raw troops who were 
 yet to take part in their first fight. McCler-nand was 
 on his left with the troops that had fought at Forts 
 Hen-ry and Don-el-son. Next to him was Pren-tiss 
 with more raw troops ; Stu-art was on the far left, 
 and Hurl-but in the rear. Gen-er-al C. F. Smith's 
 men were on the right in charge of Gen-er-al W. H. L. 
 Wal-lace, who had served in the Mex-i-can War. 
 Smith was sick in bed in Sa-van-na, with-in sound of 
 
Battle of S hit oh. 
 
 159 
 
 the Un-ion oruns, and from that bed he did not rise 
 
 again. 
 
 The foe were in force at Cor-inth, where two great 
 rail-roads joined : one that led through Mem-phis to 
 the East, and one that led south to all the cot-ton States. 
 
 On A-pril 2 Johns-ton moved on the Un-ion 
 troops, and seized a 
 guard of five or six 
 men five miles out from 
 Pitts-burg on the Cor- 
 inth road. Sher-man 
 gave chase at once, and 
 drove the bold horse- 
 men three miles from the 
 point where the guards 
 were seized. 
 
 Grant had to keep 
 watch on all sides, and 
 it had been his plan to 
 spend the day at Pitts- 
 burg and ride back to 
 Sa-van-na at night-fall. 
 But there was such a 
 stir at the front from A-pril 3 that he did not leave 
 Pitts-burg till quite late at night. 
 
 On the 4th he set out in great haste for the front, 
 from whence came the sound of guns. The night 
 
 WILL-IAM T. SHER-MAN. 
 
i6o The Battles of America, 
 
 was dark, and it rained hard. Now and then a fierce 
 flash lit up the sky and made the scene more weird 
 and strange. Grant had to trust to his horse to keep 
 the road. He had not gone far when he met Wal- 
 lace and McPher-son, who brought word that all was 
 still at the front. On his way back to the boat the 
 horse slipped and fell on Grant's leg, and for two or 
 three days he had to go on crutch-es. 
 
 The Un-ion troops were stretched out in one long 
 line from Lick Creek on the left to Snake Creek on 
 the right, both of which streams were so high that the 
 foe had to make their at- tack on the front. They came 
 up with such a dash that the line of Un-ion tents 
 soon fell in-to their hands. They tried hard to turn 
 the right flank which Sher-man held, and to ward them 
 off the Un-ion troops had to fall back from time to 
 time and take posts near Pitts-burg Land-ing. 
 
 In one of these moves Pren-tiss and his troops did 
 not fall back with the rest, and by this means he and 
 2000 of his men fell in-to the hands of the Con-fed- 
 er-ate foe. 
 
 Though mxost of Sher-man's troops had their first 
 taste of war at Shi-loh — and some of them had their 
 guns placed in their hands on the way to the field — 
 **they fought like brave men, long and well," and had 
 great faith in their chief, "Te-cum-seh." 
 
 On the 6th Sher-man was shot twice, once in the 
 
Battle of SMloh. 
 
 i6i 
 
 hand, and once in the shoul-der, when the ball cut 
 his coat and made a slight wound. A third ball went 
 through his hat, and more than one horse was shot 
 from under him in this great fight. His loss would 
 have been a sad one for his troops had he been forced 
 to leave the field at Shi-loh. 
 It was the plan of the Con- 
 fed-er-ates to turn the 
 Un-ion left, sweep a-long 
 the bank, seize their base 
 at the Land-ing, and then 
 drive them down the 
 stream. For a time they 
 held their ground, but in 
 the hot fire that was sent 
 back a ball struck Gen-er- 
 al Al-bert Sid-ney Johns- 
 ton as he sat on his horse 
 and gave him his death- 
 wound. 
 
 It was now three o'clock 
 and the battle was at its 
 heiorht. Braee drove Stu-art and Hurl-but to the 
 Land-inor. Braee cried out to his men, "For-ward! 
 for-ward!" Beau-re-gard's or-der had been, "For- 
 ward, boys, and drive them in-to the Ten-nes-see!" 
 and there was the stream close at hand. 
 
 DON CAR-LOS BU-ELL. 
 
i62 The Battles of America. 
 
 One more dash, and they were sure to win the 
 day! At five o'clock the out-look for the Un-ion 
 troops was a sad one. But hope was not lost with 
 Grant and Sher-man there. 
 
 On the top of the bluff, and just south of the log- 
 house at Pitts-burg Land-ing, Col-o-nel Web-ster, of 
 Grant's staff, had placed a score or more of large 
 siege guns. These guns faced the south, and were 
 on the edge of a deep gorge. 
 
 The right of the line was now — at the close of Sun- 
 day — near the bank of Snake Creek, not far from a 
 bridge which had been built by the troops to join 
 Crump's and Pitts-burg Land-ings. 
 
 Sher-man had some troops in a log-house to guard 
 the bridge by which Lew. Wal-lace and his troops 
 were to come from Crump's Land-ing. Through the 
 night the foe tried to drive Sher-man from this post, 
 but he held it till he gave it up of his own free will. 
 
 Then the foe sought to turn the left flank, but were 
 swept back by the fire from the gun-boats Ty-ler and 
 Lex-i7ig-ton and from the guns on top of the hill. 
 
 At dusk Bu-ell came up with fresh troops and 
 formed the left wing, and when it was quite dark Lew. 
 Wal-lace brought 5000 more, which were placed at 
 the right. That night a fierce storm set in and 
 drenched the Un-ion troops, who were with-out tents. 
 Grant sat under a tree. The bruise on his leo: Sfave 
 
164 The Battles of America. 
 
 him such pain that he could get no rest. For a change 
 he went back to the log-house down by the shore. All 
 night men were brought in here to have their wounds 
 dressed, or a leg or an arm cut off, and these sights 
 made Grant haste with speed to the tree. 
 
 The next day, the 7th, the troops on both sides rose 
 at dawn, tired, wet, and faint for want of food. The 
 Con-fed-er-ates were in the Un-ion camps, from which 
 Bu-ell and Wal-lace meant to rout them. No time was 
 to be lost. Beau-re-gard met the on-set with a firm 
 front, and soon the whole field was in the fight. Now 
 the Blue would seem to gain, then the Gray ; then there 
 came a lull, and at one o'clock the fight went on more 
 fierce than ev-er. 
 
 At half past one o'clock Beau-re-gard sent word to 
 his men to with- draw from the field. The last point 
 held by him was near the road that led from the Land- 
 ing to Cor-inth. At three o'clock Grant drew near 
 that point, and gave the command to his men, Charge! 
 With loud cheers and a run they burst through the 
 woods, and the foe broke ranks and fled. By four 
 o'clock the last gun was fired, and the fight was at an 
 end on the field of Shi-loh. 
 
 The Un-ion loss was 1754. These were killed on 
 the field. Beau-re-gard is said to have lost 1728 men 
 in the two days' fight. 
 
Battle of A ntietam. 
 
 165 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 ANTIETAM : SEPTEMBER 17, 1862. 
 
 In the Spring of 1862 Gen-er-al Rob-ert E. Lee 
 was placed in com-mand of the Con-fed-er-ates, as 
 Johns-ton had been hurt in the fight at Fair Oaks. 
 George B. McClel-lan 
 had charge of the Ar-my 
 of the Po-to-mac, and 
 Pope of the Ar-my of 
 Vir-gin-ia, and both had 
 met with Lee and been 
 swept back from their 
 posts. Hal-leck was 
 now chief of the Un-ion 
 troops, and in Ju-ly of 
 this year Lin-coln sent 
 out a call for 300,000 men 
 to serve till the close of 
 the war. And they came. Lee made up his mind to 
 cross the Po-to-mac, strike Bal-ti-more, and fall on 
 Wash-ing-ton in the rear. On Sep-tem-ber 2, he 
 sent a van-guard to Lees-burg, and at the end of five 
 days the rest of his troops came up, crossed the Po-to- 
 mac at the Point of Rocks, and went in camp not far 
 from the town of Fred-e-rick. 
 
 ROB-ERT ED-MUND LEE. 
 
i66 
 
 77^6^ Battles of A m erica. 
 
 Here Lee hung out his flag, and thought to add to 
 his force, but in-stead of that not a few of his men ran 
 off, so that he lost more than he gained. 
 
 When McClel-lan heard of Lee's move, he left 
 Wash-ing-ton with 90,000 men, and went out to meet 
 
 thegreat Con-fed-er-atechief 
 But at sight of such a force 
 Lee fell back, and the Un-ion 
 men gave chase in two long 
 lines. Burn-side led the 
 right, by way of Tur-ner's 
 Gap, and the left went by the 
 way of Cramp-ton's Gap, 
 which was near Har-per's 
 Fer-ry. 
 
 The Con-fed-er-ates had 
 no thought that the Un-ion 
 men would keep up the chase 
 as they did ; but on the morn- 
 ing of Sep-tem-ber 14, 1862, 
 a strange sight met their gaze 
 as they looked down from the heights. The vale 
 was filled with Un-ion troops, who pushed their way 
 up South Moun-tain and fought for each inch of 
 o^round. Lono^-street came to the aid of Hill, who 
 fought for the South ; and Hook-er's troops, with 
 Rick-etts', Re-no's, and Kinor's, lent streno^th to 
 
 GEORGE B. McCLEL-LAN. 
 
iiftKTs:'-''jaHi>'PWK';r\: 1 !i frT^ 
 
 
 J|M-^'i: 
 
1 68 The Battles of America. 
 
 the Un-Ion side. At dusk Hook-er turned the left 
 flank of the foe. Re-no's men, who had gained a foot- 
 hold on the crest, fought hard till dark. At sun-set 
 Re-no was killed at the head of his troops, and died 
 
 
 HAR-PER S FER-RY. 
 
 just ere the cheers went up that told the fight was won. 
 In the night Lee drew back to a point near Har- 
 per's Ferry, which was held by Un-ion troops. In com- 
 mand of Col-o-nel D. H. Miles. The Con-fed-er- 
 ates, led by Jack-son and Lee, swarmed on the heights 
 
Battle of Antietam. 
 
 169 
 
 all round the place. 
 Miles was told by 
 McClel-lan to hold on, 
 but he paid no heed, and 
 did not try to save the 
 war-goods stored at that 
 place. 
 
 On the 15th the Con- 
 fed-er-ates sent such a 
 storm of shot and shell 
 on the fort, that Miles « 
 soon showed the white t 
 .flag,, and the post with ^ 
 all its troops and stores 1 
 fell into the hands of the t 
 foe. There were 11,583 % 
 men ; and the spoils were ^ 
 73 great guns, 13,000 
 small arms, 200 wag-ons, 
 and a large lot of tents 
 and camp-goods. 
 
 Lee had no time to 
 gloat o-ver his prize, for 
 the next day he found 
 that the Un-ion troops 
 were on their way to cut 
 his ar-my in two. So he 
 
I70 
 
 Tl:c Battles of A inerica. 
 
 with-drew his troops from South Moun-tain, and 
 took his stand near Sharps-burg, while Jack-son by 
 a swift march joined him on An-tie-tam Creek. Lee 
 had 60,000 men, McClel-lan 87,000, well in hand. 
 
 AN-TIE-TAM BRIDGE. 
 
 On Sep-tem-ber 16, Lee's troops were on the 
 heights near Sharps-burg, on the west side of An- 
 tie-tam Creek, a small stream with few fords and 
 four stone brids^es. On the risrht of the Un-ion line 
 
Battle of A7itietam. 
 
 171 
 
 were the corps of Hook-er and Sum-ner. In the 
 fore-ground and near the An-tie-tam was Rich-ard- 
 son's part of Sum-ner's corps. On a Hne with this 
 was Sykes' part of Por-ter's corps. Down the stream 
 was Burn-side's corps. In front of Sum-ner and 
 Hook-er were long lines 
 of field guns. 
 
 Let us now see how 
 Lee's troops were placed. 
 From the town of Sharps- 
 burg two main roads led 
 out. One ran east a-cross 
 the creek to Boons-bor-o', 
 and one ran north on the 
 west side of the creek to 
 Ha-o^ers-town. It was a 
 mile from Sharps-burg to 
 the stream. 
 
 Long-street was on the 
 right and Hill on the left 
 of the Boons-bor-o' road. 
 Hood's part of Long- 
 street's troops were on the left of Hill's line, and 
 stretched out to the Ha-gers-town road. When 
 Stone-wall Jack-son came up on the i6th he was 
 placed to the left of the Ha-gers-town road, hard by 
 a strip of woods. 
 
 A. E. BURN-SIDE. 
 
172 The Battles of America. 
 
 It was McClel-lan's plan to cross the bridge on his 
 right, strike the Con-fed-er-ate left with the corps of 
 Hook-er and Mans-field, and if need be Sum-ner's 
 and Frank-lin's, and if all went well to move Burn- 
 side's corps on Lee's right, on the ridge that ran to the 
 south and rear of Sharps-burg. 
 
 The first gun was fired by the Con-fed-er-ates at 
 day-light of the i6th, but it was not till af-ter-noon 
 that Hook-er set out with a part of his corps to strike 
 the Con-fed-er-ate left, where Stone-wall Jack-son 
 was in com-mand. He drove them back from their 
 strong-hold, and his troops slept on their arms that 
 night on the ground they had won. 
 
 Mans-field's corps crossed the An-fie-tam late in 
 the day, and at dawn of the 17th Hook-er went on 
 with the fight. Both sides fought with all their might, 
 but the euns on the east side of the creek drove the 
 Con-fed-er-ates, with great loss, back of a line of woods. 
 
 Hood came up to Jack-son's aid, and the Con-fed- 
 er-ates swarmed out of the works and fell on Meade, 
 when Hook-er called on Doub-le-day for help. Fresh 
 troops came up in the face of a storm of shot, and 
 those who led them were the first struck down. A 
 ball hit Gen-er-al Hook-er and he had to be borne 
 from the field. 
 
 The Un-ion men bore down on the Con-fed-er-ates 
 more to the left, and were just about to win the day 
 
Battle of Antietam. 
 
 173 
 
 when fresh troops came up to aid the Con-fed-er-ates 
 and drove them back in turn. This game was kept 
 up for some time, till at last Gen-er-al Han-cock made 
 a charge that drove the Con-fed-er-ates back in a wild 
 flight. Then night set in and closed the scene. 
 
 The next day the Un- 
 ion left, under Burn-side, 
 fouorht hard for a bridoe 
 near Sharps-burg, which 
 they had been told to hold. 
 Here they were met by a 
 sharp fire that more than 
 once drove them back. But 
 at noon fresh troops came 
 up to Burn-side's aid and 
 drove the Con-fed-er-ates 
 back as far as Sharps-burg, 
 then Hill bore down on 
 Burn-side's left and drove 
 them back to the bridge 
 once more. Hill came up 
 just in time to save Lee's 
 ar-my, for the Un-ion guns checked the Con-fed-er- 
 ates on the east side of the creek, and they gave up 
 the fight. 
 
 McClel-lan lost 12,460 men, 2010 of whom were 
 slain on the field. It was thouo^ht that Lee's loss was 
 
 JO-SEPH HOOK-ER. 
 
174 The Battles of America, 
 
 more than this. The next clay both sides were too 
 worn out to fight; they had need of rest; and that 
 night Lee and his troops stole a-way in the dark, 
 crossed the Po-to-mac, and were for some weeks in 
 camp at Win-ches-ter. McClel-lan failed to give 
 chase, and as it was thought that more blood had been 
 shed than there was need of — for the gain was not 
 great — he lost his com-mand, and Burn-side took his 
 place as Chief of the Ar-my of the Po-to-mac. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 VICKSBURG: MAY 19 TO JULY 4, 1863. 
 
 In the year 1862, the North and South fought, by 
 land and by sea, 33 times, and still the war was not 
 yet near its close. In 1863 the field of battle was in 
 the south-west, and Gen-er-al Grant had charge of the 
 Ar-my of the Ten-nes-see. 
 
 The South had blocked the Mis-sis-sip-pi River so 
 that the North could have no use of it, and had great 
 strone-holds at Vicks-buror and Port Hud-son. 
 
 Vicks-burg stood on a high bluff, one of the group 
 of Wal-nut Hills, on the east bank of the Mis-sis-sip- 
 pi, at a bold bend in the stream. The North had sent 
 a fleet of gun-boats up the riv-er to take the fort, but 
 
176 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 ■^ 
 
 they failed to do so. All sorts of plans had been 
 tried to bring on its down-fall, but still the flag of the 
 South waved its folds on the Vicks-burg bluff. 
 
 Gen-er-al Grant had thought for some time that 
 
 there was but one 
 way to take the town 
 of Vicks-burg, and 
 that was to be-siege 
 it. So he sent for 
 Com-mo-dore Por- 
 ter, and had a long 
 talk with him, and the 
 two laid their plans 
 to place a ring of fire, 
 as it were, a-round 
 the town. Por-ter 
 had a fleet of gun- 
 iS-.^A-^ boats at the mouth of 
 ^"^ the Ya-zoo Riv-er, 
 north of Vicks-burg, 
 and said that he would 
 brino^ them and all 
 the troops that were 
 with him to the aid of Gen-er-al Grant. 
 
 In the month of A-pril Grant sent a strong land 
 force down the west side of the Mis-sis-sip-pi, and 
 Por-ter ran by the guns at Vicks-burg, on the night 
 
 COM-MO-DORE POR TER. 
 
Siege of Vickshiirg. 
 
 177 
 
 of A-pril 16, 1863, with most of his fleet. On A-pril 
 27 he ran by the Con-fed-er-ate guns at Grand 
 Gulf, so as to guard Grant's troops who crossed the 
 stream at De Shroons. 
 
 Grant's son, Fred, a 
 boy twelve years of age, 
 was with hmi at this time, 
 and on board one of the 
 gun-boats a-sleep. His 
 fa-ther left him there and 
 hoped he would stay till 
 Grand Gulf fell in-to 
 their hands. But when 
 Fred woke up, and found ^ 
 that his fa-ther had gone, 
 he went out to search 
 for him. He heard the 
 sound of the guns on 
 Thomp-son's Hill, and 
 found his wav to where 
 his fa-ther was. He had 
 
 no horse to ride on, and as there was no chance ta 
 cook meals, the boy had to look out for him-self, and 
 get a-long the best way that he could. 
 
 Sher-man came down the west side of the Mis-sis- 
 sip-pi to join Grant, McPher-son and McCler-nand 
 brought up their troops and on May 8 the whole 
 
 GEN-ER-AL McPHER-SON. 
 
178 
 
 The Battles of Avierica. 
 
 force pushed on and seized Jack-son, the chief town 
 of Mis-sis-sip-pi. Then they turned to the west, and 
 had a fierce fight at Cham-pi-on's Hill, in which they 
 cut Johns-ton's and Pem-ber-ton's force in two, and 
 put the foe to flight. 
 
 The Un-ion van-guard gave chase, and came up 
 with them at the Big Black Riv-er, and one of the Gen- 
 
 er-als led 
 the charge 
 in his shirt 
 sleeves. The 
 foe fled from 
 the west 
 
 ^^Jl»l bank, burnt 
 
 CAVES AT VICKS-BURG. 
 
 the bridge, 
 and left the 
 men and the 
 
 guns on the east side to fall in-to the hands of the 
 North. 
 
 Then Grant swept on to the rear of Vicks-burg ; 
 Sherman took his stand at Haines Bluff', on one of 
 the Wal-nut Hills, while McPher-son and McCler- 
 nand filled out the line that was a score of miles in 
 lenoth, and stretched from the Ya-zoo to the Mis-sis- 
 sip-pi. 
 
 Por-ter, with his fleet of gun-boats, lay in the Mis- 
 sis-sip-pi, north of Vicks-burg, and by May 18, all 
 
Siege of Vicksbiirg. 
 
 179 
 
 the roads that led out of 
 Vicks-burg were held by 
 Un-ion troops. 
 
 For two weeks the Un- 
 ion troops had been fed 
 from the land through 
 which they passed, but 
 now they felt the want of 
 bread. Theory of " Hard | 1 *''^\' 
 
 tack! Hard tack!" was o '^ ' ' 
 
 ►13 
 
 heard all a-long the line ; < , ,^ ,,^^ 
 but in a few days, by dint \ 
 of hard work the road 
 was built through which 
 could be brought all they o 
 had need of, and the cry 
 was changed to cheers. 
 
 At two o'clock on the % 
 af-ter-noon of May 19, ^ 
 Grant gave the sign to 
 storm the fort, and Sher- 
 man's corps took the lead. 
 McPher-son was at his 
 left, on both sides of 
 the Jack-son road, and 
 McCler-nand at his left 
 and as far out to War- 
 
i8o .The Battles of America. 
 
 ren-ton as his line would reach. There was a hard 
 fight, and close work, but the Un-ion troops had to 
 fall back. 
 
 Grant sent word to Por-ter to lend his aid, and all 
 night of the 21st and 22d a storm of shot and shell 
 poured in-to Vicks-burg. At ten o'clock the next day 
 Grant's whole line moved on the works. At two 
 points on the right they were swept back. McCler- 
 nand on the left sent word that he held two forts. 
 Then a charge was made by Sher-man's corps, and 
 McPher-son brought his men up. But none of them 
 could keep what they had won. Por-ter joined in the 
 fray, but spent his shot for naught, and as soon as it 
 was dark Grant drew off his troops, and then set in 
 the siege of Vicks-burg. 
 
 The first thing to do was to build earth-works and 
 to screen the marks-men from the guns of the foe. 
 To do this sand-bags were placed on the tops of the 
 walls, and a space left here and there as loop-holes 
 for the guns. On top of these, logs were put, so that 
 the men could walk at their ease when they had a 
 chance to rest, and feel no fear that the Con-fed-er-ate 
 marks-men would aim at their heads. 
 
 They had no mor-tars with them to throw bomb- 
 shells, so they took logs of tough w^ood, bored them 
 out for six or twelve pound shells, and bound them 
 with strong i-ron bands. These were made use of, 
 
Ibl 
 
 Siege Of Vicksburg. 
 
 and shells were thrown from them in-to the Con-fed- 
 er-ate pits or trench-es. 
 
 The troops went to work with a will, and the black 
 men who had come in-to the lines were hired to help 
 
 --=■ 
 
 =-:L 
 
 --" 
 
 — ---^ 
 
 
 
 ~- 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 k 
 
 
 1; 
 
 
 A RAIL-ROAD BAT-TER-Y. 
 
 them dig and build. Grant felt that now he had 
 strength to meet the foe, and he drew his lines clo-ser 
 and clo-ser round Vicks-burg. 
 
 On June 22 he heard that Johns-ton had crossed 
 
1 82 The Battles of America. 
 
 the Big Black River to raise the siege and set Pem- 
 ber-ton free. This news put Grant in a great strait, 
 as he was be-tween two fires. 
 
 At three points on the Jack-son road a mine was 
 dug that led up to the Con-fed-er-ate earth-works, 
 and on June 25 the mine was charged. The foe had 
 dug on their side in hopes to strike the Un-ion 
 mine, but failed to do so. At three o'clock in the 
 af-ter-noon the fuse was lit and the mine blew up with 
 a great noise. The top of the hill was blown off, and 
 a hole left scarce wide e-nough for troops to march 
 through. 
 
 A few of the Con-fed-er-ates were at work in the 
 mines they had dug on their side to find and spoil 
 those that the Boys in Blue had made, and these were 
 thrown in the air, and some of them came down on the 
 wrong side. One of these was a black man, who 
 was more scared than hurt. Some one asked him 
 how high he had gone up. " Dun-no, mas-sa," said 
 he, "but I t'ink 'bout tree mile." 
 
 No good was done by these mines, and Grant made 
 up his mind that no more should be dug. 
 
 In the mean-time, what sort of life did those lead 
 who were shut up in Vicks-burg? The folks there 
 had dug caves in the sand-hills on which the town 
 stands, and here they spent their days and nights, and 
 here some babes were born. 
 
Sieo-e of Vicksbarsc. 
 
 ^«3. 
 
 Food grew scarce, and when beef could not be had 
 they ate mule meat, and were glad to get it. Their 
 sole hope was that Johns-ton would come up from 
 Jack-son with a large force and drive the Un-ion 
 troops a-way. 
 
 But June wore on, and Grant drew in his lines clo- 
 ser and clo-ser. 
 
 Johns-ton tried to help Pem-ber-ton, but could not, 
 and Pem-ber-ton lost hope. 
 For six weeks or more he had 
 kept up a brave show, and had 
 done all that he could to save 
 the strong-hold from the clutch 
 of Un-ion men. But it was no 
 use. The end had come; and 
 at ten o'clock on the morn of Ju- 
 ly 3 white flags were seen on 
 the Con-fed-er-ate works. The 
 sight of them sent a thrill of joy through all the lines. 
 
 Soon two men came up with a flag of truce and a 
 note for Grant, which asked for a stay of blood-shed 
 for a few hours, and a chance to make terms for the 
 sur-ren-der of Vicks-burg. Grant sent back word 
 that his terms were a full and free sur-ren-der of the 
 town, its forts, and all the troops, and said that if Pem- 
 ber-ton chose he would meet him in front of McPher- 
 son's corps at three o'clock that af-ter-noon. 
 
 GEN-ER-AL J. C. PEM-BER-TON. 
 
1 84 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 At three o'clock Pem-ber-ton with three of-fi-cers, 
 and Grant with three of his staff, met on a hill-side 
 near the Con-fed-er-ate lines. Pem-ber-ton did not 
 like the terms Grant made at all, and left the place 
 in quite a huff 
 
 Grant made a slight change in his terms to please 
 Pem-ber-ton, and sent the note to him at ten o'clock 
 
 IN-TER-VIEW BE-TWEEN GEN-ER-ALS GRANT AND PEM-BER-TON. 
 
 that niorht. This brouQrht word from Pem-ber-ton 
 that he would march out at ten o'clock a.m. on the 
 Fourth of Ju-ly. 
 
 While the siege was kept up the Yan-kees had been 
 heard to boast that they would dine in Vicks-burg on 
 the Fourth of Ju-ly. Some-times the lines were so 
 close that the "Yanks" and "John-nies" — as the 
 
Battle of Getty sbzirg. 185 
 
 Con-fecl-er-ates were called — could talk back and 
 forth. John-ny would sing out, "Well, Yank, when 
 are you coming to town?" and the Yank would 
 say, "We'll dine there on Fourth of Ju-ly." 
 
 The news-pa-pers took this up and made great sport 
 of it, but the boast came true, and the Fourth of Ju- 
 ly, 1863, was a bright day for the North; for the sun 
 shone on the Stars and Stripes, there were signs that 
 the right would win, and that the long, sad war was 
 near its close. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 GETTYSBURG: JULY i TO 4, 1863. 
 
 For some time the cry of the Un-ion troops had 
 been " On to Rich-mond!" and Lee had kept a large 
 force to guard the chief town on the "sa-crecl soil." 
 But in the Spring of 1863 he made up his mind to 
 move on Phil-a-del-phi-a, and by the 8th of June 
 Long-street's and Ew-ell's corps had joined Stu-art's 
 horse-men at Cul-pep-er. 
 
 As soon as Gen-er-al Hook-er found out that Lee 
 was on the march, and there were but few troops at 
 Rich-mond, his plan was to move on that place and 
 eet at the rear of the Con-fed-er-ates. But to do this 
 
i86 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 he would need to take troops from Wash-ing-ton, 
 and as this was not thoug^ht to be a safe move nor a 
 wise plan, Gen-er-al Hook-er was called from his 
 high place, and on June 28 Gen-er-al George G. 
 
 Meade was made chief 
 of the Ar-my of the Po- 
 to-mac. 
 
 Up to this time the 
 State of Penn-syl-va- 
 ni-a had sent out but 
 few troops when the 
 call was made for ''300,- 
 000 more," but now 
 that the war was at her 
 door she was up in 
 arms. 
 
 When Lee saw this, 
 and heard that the Un- 
 ^P' ion troops were on his 
 flank and rear, he gave 
 up his scheme and 
 bade his men fall back. 
 On the same day Stu-art's horse-men crossed the Po- 
 to-mac and pushed on to Car-lisle, where they fell in 
 with Kil-pat-rick and Cus-ter with their brave horse- 
 men, and had a hard fight. They then kept at the 
 rear of Ew-ell in his march to Get-tys-burg. Long- 
 
 GEN-ER-AL STU-ART. 
 
Battle of Gettysburg^. 
 
 187 
 
 street was to cross the South Moun-tain range, and 
 press on through Get-tys-burg to Bal-ti-more to keep 
 Meade at bay. 
 
 Lee hoped to crush Meade, and then march on to 
 Wash-ing-ton, or, in 
 case he failed, to make 
 it safe for him to fall 
 back in-to Vir-gin-ia. 
 
 Mean-while Meade 
 brought up his troops 
 in such a way as to 
 force Lee to fight ere 
 he could cross the Sus- 
 que-han-na, and on 
 the 29th he set out 
 with Bu-ford and his 
 horse-men at the left, 
 Greo^o^ at the rio^ht, and 
 Kil-pat-rick in front. 
 
 He learned that 
 night that Lee was 
 on the way to Get- 
 tys-burg, and he left for that place the next day, and 
 his troops were spread out to the east and south of 
 the town. 
 
 From Get-tys-burg good roads led to all large 
 points be-tween the Sus-que-han-na and the Po-to- 
 
 GEORGE G. MEADE. 
 
1 88 The Battles of America. 
 
 mac. West of the town and half a mile from it there 
 is a hio^h rido^e on which stands the " Lu-ther-an Sem- 
 i-na-ry." On this ridge there is a fine growth of trees 
 its whole length, but at the north end, a mile and a 
 half out, is a high knoll, called Oak Hill, which is 
 quite bare. on the south side. From this ridge the 
 ground slopes to the west, and then swells up in-to 
 a ridge on top of which is McPher-son's farm. West 
 of McPher-son's ridge, a small stream — or run — 
 flows in-to Marsh Creek. North of the town the 
 land is flat and there is a clear out-look. 
 
 On the south is a ridge of bold high grounds, at 
 the west end of which is Cem-e-ter-y Hill, and at the 
 east Gulp's Hill. Gulp's Hill is steep on the east side, 
 with a thick growth of woods, and at its base flows 
 Rock Greek. 
 
 On the morn of July i, Bu-ford, with 6000 horse- 
 men met the van of Lee's army, led by Gen-er-al 
 Heth, not far from Sem-i-na-ry Ridge, where a sharp 
 fight took place. Rey-nolds, who led the left wing of 
 Meade's troops, was on his way from Marsh Greek, 
 with How-ard's corps at his rear, and Sick-les and 
 Slo-cum with-in call. 
 
 The sound of fire-arms made him add speed to his 
 pace, and he made haste to aid Bu-ford, who held the 
 Gon-fecl-er-ates in check. Rey-nolds placed some of 
 his troops on the Gham-bers-burg road; the Gon-fed- 
 
Battle of Gettysburg. 
 
 189 
 
 er-ates fired, the Un-ion troops fired back, and then 
 the fight at Get-tys-burg was be-gun. 
 
 Some of those in blue charged in-to a wood in the 
 rear of the Sem-i-na-ry to fall on Hill's right, which 
 was led by Gen-er-al Ar-cher. But they were forced 
 back. Then more troops came up, led by Rey-nolds 
 him-self, struck Ar-cher's flank, and seized him and 
 a large force of his men. But . 
 when the charge was made, 
 a shot from a Con-fed-er-ate 
 marks-man struck Rey-nolds in 
 the neck, and he fell dead on 
 the field. 
 
 Gen-er-al Doub-le-day took 
 his place, and at noon the whole 
 of the First Corps was well 
 placed on Sem-i-na-ry Ridge, 
 and the rest of Hill's corps was 
 close at hand. 
 
 Mean-while the van of Hill's 
 corps took its stand on a ridge north of the town, and 
 made threats on the line held by Gen-er-al Cut-ler. 
 Doub-le-day sent aid to Cut-ler, and a sharp fight 
 took place 'twixt the Blue and the Gray, and three 
 North Car-o-li-na reg-i-ments were seized. 
 
 It was past noon when How-ard with his corps 
 came on the field of strife, and took the chief com- 
 
 WIN-FIELD SCOTT HAN-COCK. 
 
190 The Battles of America. 
 
 mand of all the troops. To meet an attack from the 
 north and west How-ard stretched out his lines to the 
 length of three miles, with Gulp's Hill on the right. 
 Round Top on the left, and Cem-e-ter-y Hill in the 
 cen-tre. At three o'clock in the af-ter-noon the Con- 
 fed-er-ates, who were in great force, swept down on 
 the Un-ion troops, and there was a fierce fight and 
 great loss on both sides. The Blue line was forced 
 back, and the day was lost. 
 
 Gen-er-al Meade was at Ta-ney-town — 13 miles 
 a-way — when he heard of the death of Rey-nolds, 
 and he at once bade Gen-er-al Han-cock leave his 
 corps with Gib-bons and take the chief com-mand 
 at Get-tys-burg. He came up just as the Blue line 
 broke and was on a wild run for Cem-e-ter-y HilL 
 Sick-les and Slo-cum were there, and Han-cock told 
 Meade that How-ard had his men well placed. 
 
 Then Han-cock went back to his own corps and 
 took his stand a mile and a half in the rear of Cem-e- 
 ter-y Hill. 
 
 Meade now brought his troops in a mass to Get- 
 tys-burg, and roused them at one o'clock on the morn- 
 ing of Ju-ly 2, when all but two corps were in line. 
 Lee too brought up his troops as fast as he could, and 
 took his stand on Sem-i-na-ry Ridge. 
 
 Thus the Blue and the Gray stood face to face for 
 some hours, as if each one were loath to strike the 
 
19- The Battles of America. 
 
 first blow. Sick-les, on the left, 'twixt Cem-e-ter-y 
 Hill and Round Top, had pushed his corps quite near 
 the Con-fed-er-ate line, and Lee made an at-tack on 
 him with Long-street's corps. There was a fierce 
 fight, in which the Un-ion troops won. 
 
 While yet the strife was at its height, Gen-er-al 
 Craw-ford, with six reg-i-ments of Penn-syl-va-ni-a 
 troops, swept down the north-west side of Round 
 Top, and with loud shouts drove the Con-fed-er-ates 
 through the woods to the Em-mits-burg road, and 
 took 300 of them pris-on-ers. 
 
 Gen-er-al Humph-rey was then well to the front, 
 with his right on the Em-mits-burg road, when Hill 
 came up with a strong force, fell on him, and drove him 
 back with a loss of half his men and three guns. 
 
 In this on-set Sick-les lost a leg, and Bir-ney took 
 com-mand of the corps. 
 
 At sun-set Han-cock made a charge with fresh 
 troops, drove back the Con-fed-er-ates, and took back 
 four of the guns that had been lost by the Un-ion 
 troops. The fight on the left came to an end at dusk. 
 
 Gen-er-al Slo-cum was chief on the ri^ht of the Blue 
 Ime, and at the time Long-street made his at-tack on 
 the left, Ew-ell had struck out on the rio^ht. It was 
 a fierce fight. Up the north slopes of Cem-e-ter-y 
 Hill the Con-fed-er-ates pressed, in the face of a red 
 hot fire of shot and shell, close up to the mouths of 
 
Battle of Gettysburg. 
 
 193 
 
 the guns. Part of Ew-ell's corps tried to turn the 
 Un-ion right by a charge on its weak part at Gulp's 
 Hill. But they failed, and the Con-fed-er-ates were 
 held in check; but not till ten o'clock at night did the 
 fight end, and then 40,000 men in Blue and Gray were 
 left dead on the field. 
 
 Lee made up his mind 
 to aim his chief blow at 
 Han-cock's post on Gem- 
 e-ter-y Hill, and at one 
 o'clock on the af-ter-noon 
 of July 3, 115 of his large 
 guns poured their fire on 
 this point. They were met 
 by as fierce a fire from the 
 Un-ion guns, and for two 
 hours the earth a-round 
 shook with a roar that could 
 be heard for miles and miles. 
 
 Then the Gon-fed-er-ate 
 troops, in a line three miles 
 long, swept a-cross the 
 
 plain. Pick-ett led the van, and, 15,000 strong, made 
 a wild charge up Gem-e-ter-y Hill. On they came 
 with a rush ! The can-nons had ceased to roar, and 
 the roll of mus-kets was now heard ! Shot and shell 
 cut their way through the Gon-fed-er-ate ranks. 
 
 GEORGE E. PICK-ETT. 
 
194 The Battles of America, 
 
 Han-cock was struck with a ball and forced to yield 
 his place to Gib-bons. 
 
 Pick-ett pushed on, while the troops of Hayes and 
 Gib-bons poured a rain of shot in their midst. Part 
 of the Con-fed-er-ate line gave way, and 2000 men 
 and 15 flags fell in-to Un-ion hands. 
 
 Still Pick-ett moved on, scaled Cem-e-ter-y Hill, 
 burst through Han-cock's line, drove back part of 
 Webb's force, and raised the Con-fed-er-ate flag on 
 a stone wall. But this was as far as he could go. 
 Such a storm of shot rained down on Pick-ett's troops 
 that they gave way at last, and soon 2500 men and 
 twelve flags were in the hands of the Un-ion troops, 
 and a host of the brave men in gray lay dead on the 
 field. Wil-cox came up to Pick-ett's aid, but was 
 swept back by the fire of the Ver-mont troops. 
 
 Mean-while Craw-ford came up on Lee's right flank 
 from near Lit-tle Round Top. The Gray line broke 
 and fled, and in this raid the whole ground lost by 
 the Blue was won back, with 260 men, 7000 small 
 arms, a can-non, and a lot of Un-ion men who had 
 been left a whole day with none to care for their 
 wounds. Thus, at near sun-set, Judy 3, 1863, the 
 fight at Get-tys-burg came to an end. That night 
 and all the next day Lee's ar-my staid on Sem-i-na-ry 
 Ridge, and on Sun-day morn-ing, Ju-ly 5, they were 
 on their way back to Rich-mond. 
 
Battle of Lookout Mountain. 195 
 
 Lee had said, when he went out, '' I will whip them, 
 or they will whip me;" and it was with a sad heart he 
 left the field that he had hoped to win. His loss was 
 not made known, but was thought to be at least 30,000. 
 
 Vicks-burg and Get-tys-burg were a great gain to 
 the North, and worth all that they cost. It was felt 
 that the war was near its close, and smiles of hope 
 shone through the tears that filled the eyes of those 
 who mourned their dead. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN : NOVEMBER 24, 1863. 
 
 In June, 1863, Gen-er-al Rose-crans was in com- 
 mand of the Ar-my of the Cum-ber-land, and had his 
 post at Mur-frees-bor-o, Ten-nes-see, where he held 
 the Con-fed-er-ate Gen-er-al Brago^ in check. 
 
 The siege of Vicks-burg had drawn from Bragg's 
 troops — who had gone to aid Johns-ton and Pem- 
 ber-ton — and had Rose-crans moved at that time he 
 would have been sure to win the day. But he did 
 not move till late in June, when he drove Bragg south 
 of the Ten-nes-see Riv-er and through and be-yond 
 Chat-ta-noo-ga. 
 
 In the mean-time Bragg's troops came back to him, 
 and with fresh strength he bore down on Rose-crans, 
 
196 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 SO that he had to fall back in turn. He got his troops 
 well in hand at Chick-a-mau-ga, some miles south- 
 east of Chat-ta-noo-ga, and there the Blue and the 
 Gray met on Sep-tem-ber 19. 
 
 Chat-ta-noo-ga is on the south bank of the Ten- 
 
 nes-see, where that riv-er 
 runs to the west. It is at 
 the north end of a low 
 strip of land five or six 
 miles in width, through 
 which runs Chat-ta-noo- 
 ga Creek. To the east is 
 a high hill, called Mis- 
 sion-a-ry Ridge. On the 
 west is Look-out Moun- 
 tain, which at its north end 
 is a steep cliff up to quite 
 a height, then slopes off 
 in-to farm lands. 
 
 At Chick - a - mau - ga 
 Creek Rose-crans drew up 
 his men, 55,000 strong. 
 He did not know that Bragg's force had been swelled 
 by fresh troops till he had full 70,000, or he had been 
 less bold. The Con-fed-er-ate right was in charge of 
 Gen-er-al Polk, and the left by Gen-er-al Hood till 
 Long-street should come. 
 
 W. S. ROSE-CRANS. 
 
Battle of Lookout Mountain. 
 
 197 
 
 Gen-er-al George H. Thom-as, who was on the left 
 of the Un-ion line, by a move to seize some of the 
 Con-fed-er-ates, brought on the fight at ten o'clock in 
 the mornino^. It racked with fierce heat, and at first 
 the Blue won ; then the Gray would charge and drive 
 them back, and so each side 
 took its turn. Then there 
 was a lull, but at five o'clock 
 the Grays took a fresh start 
 and pressed hard on the 
 Blue line, when Ha-zen, 
 who was in charge of what 
 is called a "park" — which 
 means a score of great guns 
 — brought them to bear on 
 the Con-fed-er-ates at short 
 range, and the day was 
 saved on the left. 
 
 Niorht closed the fiorht. 
 The next day a dense fog 
 set in, which gave Thom-as 
 a chance to put up breast- 
 works of logs, rails, and earth. The Con-fed-er-ates 
 souorht to turn the left flank, but Thom-as and his 
 brave men stood like a wall in their way. A gap was 
 in the Blue line, when Hood with Stew-art charged 
 with orreat force, and struck so hard that the right 
 
 BRAX-TON BRAGG, 
 
198 The Battles of America. 
 
 wing gave way and fled to-ward Chat-ta-noo-ga. 
 The tide bore with it the troops led by Rose-crans, 
 Crit-ten-den, and McCook, but Thom-as and his 
 corps stood their ground for some time. Gen-er-al 
 Gran-ger came up with fresh troops, and then they 
 formed a new line, fought their way to the top of a 
 hill, turned their guns on the foe, and drove them 
 down the south slope of the ridge with great loss. 
 The Con-fed-er-ates fought hard, but soon the Un- 
 ion troops held both the ridge and the gorge. But 
 this state of things did not last long. The Con-fed- 
 er-ates, led by Long-street, swarmed at the foot of the 
 ridge on which stood Thom-as and a small part of 
 the Ar-my of the Cum-ber-land. There seemed no 
 hope for them, but Thom-as stood like a rock, and 
 kept the Con-fed-er-ates at bay till the sun went down, 
 when he drew off his troops to Ross-ville, for pow- 
 der and shot were well nigh gone. 
 
 Gen-er-al Gar-field, Rose-crans' chief of staff, came 
 up with word that Thom-as w^as to take charge of the 
 whole Un-ion force, and that was the first that Thom-as 
 knew of the fate of the right of the line. 
 
 Much blood was shed in this fight, and the loss 
 was great on both sides, but the Con-fed-er-ates won 
 the day. 
 
 On the night of the 20th the whole Un-ion force 
 made its way to Chat-ta-noo-ga, while Bragg took his 
 
Battle of Lookout Mountain. 
 
 199 
 
 stand on Mis-slon-a-ry Ridge and Look-out Moun- 
 tain. Bragg held all the roads near the place, and all 
 the food for Rose-crans and his men had to be hauled 
 three-score miles. Bread and meat were scarce, and 
 their shoes and clothes well worn. They had burnt 
 up all the wood they could 
 lay hands on, and dug up 
 the stumps of the trees. 
 As there were no teams 
 to draw the big logs, they 
 made them in-to rafts and 
 let them float down the 
 stream to the south side, 
 where they could be hauled 
 on shore with poles, and 
 borne by the men to their 
 camps. 
 
 In Oc-to-ber word was 
 sent from Wash-ing-ton 
 to Grant of the strait that 
 Rose-crans was in, and 
 the fear there was that he might fall back and let his 
 whole force be seized by the Con-fed-er-ates. 
 
 Grant sent word to Thom-as by the wire that he 
 must hold Chat-ta-noo-ga, and told him at the same 
 time that he would be at the front as soon as he could 
 get there. 
 
 '^ry- 
 
 GEORGE H. THOM-AS. 
 
200 The Battles of America. 
 
 Thom-as sent word back, ''We will hold the town 
 till we starve." 
 
 In a day or two Grant and his staff were at the 
 front, Thom-as was made chief m place of Rose-crans, 
 and the two went to work to get clothes and food for 
 the men, and to bring up their strength so that they 
 could stand the siege. 
 
 On No - vem - ber 4, Long - street set out with 
 20,000 troops, 5000 of whom were horse-men, to march 
 on Burn-side, who was at Knox-ville. Sher-man 
 was on his way to join Grant, who urged him to make 
 haste. 
 
 Long-street had a rail-road as far as Lou-don, 
 where he stayed for nine days. Sher-man reached 
 Chat-to-noo-ga Oc-to-ber 14. The bad roads had 
 made his march a slow one. 
 
 Grant's plan was for Sher-man to move on the right 
 flank of the foe, cross the South Chick-a-mau-ga, and 
 hold the rail-road in Bragg's rear. Hook-er was to 
 do the same on the right, while Thom-as was to push 
 his way from the cen-tre and strike the foe when 
 most of them would be in the fights on the two flanks. 
 
 On the night of No-vem-ber 23, Sher-man set out 
 to cross the Ten-nes-see at Brown's Fer-ry, and to 
 place his troops back of the foot-hills, out of sight of 
 the foe on Mis-sion-a-ry Ridge. 
 
 At two o'clock on the morn of No-vem-ber 24, 
 
Battle of Lookout Mountazn. 
 
 20I 
 
 Giles A. Smith pushed out from the North Chick-a- 
 
 mau-ga with ii6 boats filled with 30 brave men well 
 
 armed. These boats slipped down the stream with 
 
 the tide and came to land near che mouth of the 
 
 South Chick - a - 
 
 mau - ga, when a 
 
 rush was made on 
 
 the guard known to 
 
 be at that point. 
 
 The men in gray 
 
 were off guard and 
 
 a score of them were 
 
 seized. By noon 
 
 the bridge of boats 
 
 was built, and by 
 
 half past three all 
 
 the troops and the 
 
 guns were on the 
 
 south bank of the 
 
 Ten-nes-see. 
 
 How-ard crossed 
 at Cit-i-co Creek, 
 to join Sher-man. 
 
 There had been a fine rain all day, and the clouds 
 hung so low that the tops of the hills were lost to view. 
 But ere lone the foe turned their oruns on Sher-man's 
 men and did their best to drive them a-way. A ball 
 
 GEN-ER-AL LONG-STREET. 
 
202 The Battles of America. 
 
 struck Gen-er-al Giles A. Smith and he was borne 
 from the field. 
 
 Hook-er was on the low ground at the west in front 
 of Look-out Moun-tain, which was rough and steep 
 and full of chasms on that side. He moved Gea-ry's 
 men and some of Cruft's up Look-out Creek, where 
 they were to cross. The rest of Cruft's troops were 
 to seize the bridge, when Os-ter-haus was to move 
 up and cross it. 
 
 The fog was so great that Gea-ry's move was not 
 seen, and he pushed his way up the hill in the face of 
 the guns on the top. The troops scaled the heights, 
 cut their way through the trees that had been hewn 
 down, drove the marks-men from their pits, and swept 
 the Con-fed-er-ates up to the top of the ridge. 
 
 The fight in the clouds was a fierce one. In the 
 af-ter-noon the foe were hard pushed and at last gave 
 way and fled pell-mell down the steep chasms and 
 slopes to the smooth plain at the base. 
 
 Grant and Thom-as were on a knoll, called Or- 
 chard Knoll, where they were in full view of the fight, 
 at least what could be seen of it. 
 
 The fog was so dense that it hid Hook-er's men 
 from sight for a while. Then a cloud would lift and 
 ^how where they were. But the roar of the big guns 
 and the roll of the small ones could be heard all the time. 
 
 At four o'clock Hook-er sent word to Grant that 
 
Battle of Lookout Mountain. 203 
 
 he could not be moved from his strong-hold ; and 
 Sher-man was well fixed at the end of Mis-sion-a-ry 
 Ridore. 
 
 At mid-niorht all was still. Sher-man was to move 
 on the foe at day-light the next day, and Hook-er was 
 to move at the same hour. 
 
 The 25th was clear and bright, and the whole field 
 was in full view from the top of Or-chard Knob. 
 
 Sher-man was out as soon as he could see, and by 
 sun-rise had his troops to move on the main ridge, 
 which was cut off from the point he had gained by a 
 low pass, through which ran a road, and near which 
 was a rail-road tun-nel. 
 
 The foe were strong at this point, and all their guns 
 were brought to bear on Sher-man and his men. 
 They were in great need of help, and Thom-as sent 
 troops to their aid. Soon loud cheers were heard as 
 Sher-i-dan and Wood charged up the ridge and put 
 the foe to flight, and those in front of Sher-man like- 
 wise took to their heels. 
 
 The foe had left Look-out Moun-tain on the night 
 of the 24th, burned the bridge that spanned Chat-ta- 
 noo-ga Creek, and cut up the roads as much as they 
 could. It took Hook-er four hours to build the bridge 
 and cross the creek, by which time the Con-fed-er- 
 ates were a long way off. But Hook-er gave chase, 
 and at Ross-ville came on a part of the foe which soon 
 
204 The Battles of America. 
 
 fell back, and were caught by Un-ion troops at the 
 rear. 
 
 Chat-ta-noo-ga was now safe. Bragg had lost the 
 strong-hold that was in his grasp, and which was of 
 so much worth to the South. Burn-side was safe at 
 Knox-ville, and had no fear of Long-street, and Grant 
 had done the best that he could for the cause he held 
 dear. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX.. 
 
 THE WILDERNESS: MAY 5 AND 6, 1864. 
 
 At the dead of night on May 3, 1864, the Ar-my 
 of the Po-to-mac, full 100,000 strong, set out on its 
 march to Rich-mond. The men were strong, fresh, 
 and full of hope. On the right were War-ren and 
 Sedg-wlck's corps; on the left Han-cock's. There 
 were horse-men, and oruns, and a lono^ train of wae- 
 ons — 4000 in all — and the roads were poor, and 
 there were not a few streams to cross. 
 
 Burn-side's Ninth Corps had been left at War-ren- 
 ton for a while, lest Lee should move on Wash-ing- 
 ton, but by sun-down on May 5 all the Un-ion troops 
 were on the south side of the Rap-i-dan. Then the 
 
Battle of the Wilderness. 
 
 205 
 
 whole force pushed on to the great belt of woods 
 known as the Wil-der-ness. 
 
 Lee was in force at Mine Run, and when he found 
 out this move he marched out most all of his men to 
 strike the flanks of the Un-ion troops on their march. 
 
 Hill and Long-street 
 were to move to the right, 
 by the Orange Plank Road. 
 Ew-ell, who was near by, 
 took his post that night four 
 miles east of Mine Run. 
 
 Grant bade Meade move 
 his men on the morn-ing 
 of the 5th. War-ren was 
 to move to Par-ker's store, 
 and Wil-son's horse-men 
 to Craio^'s church. Sedo^- 
 wick closed in on War-ren's 
 right, while Han-cock went 
 to the south-west to join 
 War-ren's left at Sha-dy 
 Grove Church. At six o'clock War-ren sent word 
 back that he saw the foe, and he was told to halt and 
 get in shape to meet him. Wright, of Sedg-wick's 
 corps, was sent to join on to War-ren's right, while 
 Get-ty was to move by War-ren's rear and get on 
 his left. 
 
 RICH-ARD S. EW-ELL. 
 
2o6 The Battles of America. 
 
 Soon the fight took place. Ew-ell was pushed 
 back, but the Un-ion troops could do no more than 
 hold their ground. Han-cock and Hill fought till 
 night set in, and the gain was slight for Blue or Gray. 
 
 Grant was sure that Lee was near in full force, and 
 had no mind to let him strike the first blow the next 
 day. So he told Han-cock to move on the foe at five 
 o'clock in the morn-ing. Wads-worth was to move 
 at the same time and strike Hill's left; while Burn- 
 side was to get in 'twixt War-ren and Wads-worth, 
 and strike as soon as he had a chance to do so. 
 
 Lee brought up Long-street with 12,000 men to aid 
 Hill, and the fight was a fierce one. It was kept up 
 for an hour, at the end of which time the Con-fed-er- 
 ates turned and fled like a wild mob, and ran for a 
 mile and a half ere they came to a stop. 
 
 On the morn of the 6th, Sher-i-dan was sent to join 
 with Han-cock's left and at-tack the Con-fed-er-ate. 
 horse-men who sought to get on the left and rear of 
 the Un-ion troops. He met them at two points, and 
 drove them back. The brave Gen-er-al Wads-worth 
 met with his death-wound, and fell in-to the hands of 
 the foe. 
 
 Long-street was shot and had to leave the field, 
 and it was some weeks ere he could take charge of 
 his troops. His loss was a great one to Lee, who 
 had need of all his best men. 
 
Battle of Atlanta. 207 
 
 In the af-ter-noon Lee took the field him-self, and 
 threw the whole corps of Long-street and Hill on 
 Han-cock, who had a large force to aid him and a 
 strong line of breast-works. Han-cock stood firm 
 till the woods were set on fire by the shells, and the 
 flames seized the logs and brush of the breast- works, 
 and ran on the ground through the net- work of vines. 
 
 The wind blew the heat and smoke in-to the fa-ces 
 of the men, and drove them from their posts, when the 
 Con-fed-er-ates at once dashed in and placed their 
 flags on the walls of the breast- works. 
 
 They were soon pushed out, and as night came on 
 Lee fell back, and the Wil-der-ness fight was at an end. 
 
 The loss on both sides was great, and the gain was 
 small, but for the hope it gave that the war was near 
 its close, and the North would win at last. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 ATLANTA: JULY 28, 1864. 
 
 In the first part of Ju-ly, 1864, Sher-man had 
 forced Johns-ton to take his stand at At-lan-ta with 
 his left on the Chat-ta-hoo-chee and his right on 
 Peach Tree Creek. 
 
2o8 The Battles of America. 
 
 Sher-man was then eight miles from the town. On 
 the 17th Thom-as crossed the Chat-ta-hoo-chee close 
 to Scho-field's rio^ht. McPher-son moved a-rainst 
 the rail-way east of De-ca-tur, and the next day tore 
 up four miles of the track. Scho-field seized De-ca- 
 tur, and at the same time, on the 19th, Thom-as crossed 
 Peach Tree Creek in the face of the Con-fed-er-ate 
 earth-works, and fought his way step by step. 
 
 At this date Gen-er-al Rous-seau, who had swept 
 through Al-a-bam-a and Geor-gia, joined Sher-man 
 with 2000 horse-men, and on the 20th the Un-ion 
 troops had all closed in and shaped their course to 
 At-lan-ta. On the af-ter-noon of that day — at four 
 o'clock — Hood set out from At-lan-ta and struck 
 Hook-er's corps with great strength, but was forced 
 back to his strong-holds, with a loss of at least 5000 
 men, 500 of whom were left dead on the field. Sher- 
 man's loss was 1500. 
 
 The next morn, the 21st, the Con-fed-er-ates had 
 left their post on the south side of Peach Tree Creek, 
 and Sher-man thought they were about to leave At- 
 lan-ta. So he pressed on to-ward the town, and at a 
 point two miles from it was met by a strong line of 
 earth-works, back of which swarmed a Con-fed-er- 
 ate host. 
 
 The next day McPher-son moved from De-ca-tur 
 to break this strong line, with Lo-gan's corps in the 
 

 ^\r^\\A "■ 
 
2IO 
 
 The Battles of A in erica. 
 
 cen-tre, Dodg-e's on his right, and Blair's on his left. 
 Hood left a force of troops in front of Sher-man to 
 hold them, and by a night march to the Hank and 
 rear of the Un-ion troops struck them a sharp and 
 not-looked-for blow. 
 
 At the. same time Har-dee came up, and his men 
 
 poured through a gap that 
 had been made 'twixt Blair 
 and Dodge. McPher-son 
 had just called out to his 
 men to fill that gap, when 
 he was struck and killed by 
 a marks-man shot. Lo-gan 
 then took charge of the Ar- 
 my of the Ten-nes-see, and 
 the fierce war-fare raged for 
 hours and hours. Late in 
 the day there was a brief 
 lull. Then a Con-fed-er- 
 ate charge broke Lo-gan's 
 line, and the troops fell back 
 in wild haste, and let some of their large guns fall in the 
 hands of the foe. Sher-man sent more troops to his 
 aid, so that Lo-gan soon took back all that he had 
 lost. The Con-fed-er-ates gave way, and fell back to 
 their strong-holds. The loss on both sides was great. 
 Then raids were made by the Blue and the Gray, 
 
 GEN-ER-AL HOOD. 
 
Battle of Atlanta. 
 
 2ir 
 
 now on the right flank and now on the left, and for a 
 whole week the fight was kept up, and much blood 
 was shed. 
 
 Sher-man's long-range guns caused large fires in 
 At-lan-ta, which was now in a state of siege. Hood 
 drew off his troops, and on 
 Sep-tem-ber 2, 1864, the 
 Un-ion troops marched in- 
 to At-lan-ta, and the Stars 
 and Stripes flung out its 
 folds o-ver the court-house. 
 
 A bold plan now formed 
 it-self in the mind of Gen- 
 er-al Sher-man. This 
 was to march from At-lan- 
 ta to the sea, tear up all the 
 rail-roads, and cut off the 
 Con-fed-er-ates from their 
 grain fields and their war 
 stores ; in fact, to starve 
 them out. 
 
 The rail-ways in and near At-lan-ta were first torn 
 up. The wood-work was laid in piles, and a great 
 bon-fire made of it, on which the rails were thrown. 
 The heat would soon twist the rails out of shape so 
 they could not be used at all, and no cars, of course, 
 could come that way. 
 
 WILL-IAM J. HAR-DEE. 
 
212 The Battles of America. 
 
 On the morn-ing of No-vem-ber 14, the whole of 
 At-lan-ta was in flames, and while the fire raged, the 
 bands played, and Sher-man and his men took up the 
 line of march to the tune of *' John Brown." 
 
 As soon as it was found out what Sher-man meant 
 to do, the whole South was up in arms. Beau-re- 
 gard was sent from the Ap-po-mat-tox to the Sa- 
 van-nah to stop his march. 
 
 The cry all through the South was, "To arms! to 
 arms ! Burn what you can-not take a-way, and block 
 up all roads on your route. Strike the foe in front, 
 flank, and rear, by night and by day. Let him have 
 no rest." Not a few lost faith in Jeff. Da-vis. They 
 said it was "the rich man's war, and the poor man's 
 fight," and they paid no heed to the rules laid down 
 for them at Rich-mond. 
 
 Sher-man kept on his march, and his troops fed 
 them-selves from the farms and fields through which 
 they went. At Gris-wolds-ville there was a sharp 
 fight, on No-vem-ber 22, with some of Har-dee's 
 troops sent up from Sa-van-nah, but they were put to 
 flight with a loss of 2500 men. 
 
 While at work on a bridge of boats, on the O-co- 
 nee, Wheel-er came up with his horse-men and had 
 a brush — that is, a short fight — with Kil-pat-rick, 
 who drove them back. 
 
 On the 30th Sher-man's whole force had passed the 
 
Battle of Atlanta. 213 
 
 O-gee-chee, and as the chief rail- ways in Geor-gia were 
 all torn up, the time had come for him to seize the 
 State. 
 
 Then he set out for the sea, through swamps and 
 sands, and though now and then he had a fight on the 
 way, the Con-fed-er-ates were not seen in force till he 
 was near Sa-van-nah. All the roads that led to that 
 place — the chief town in the State — were blocked 
 with earth-works, guns, and trees that had been cut 
 down. These were turned, and by De-cem-ber lo the 
 Con-fed-er-ates were shut in Sa-van-nah, with the At- 
 lan-tic on one side, and no way to get out by land. 
 
 But Fort Mc Al-lis-ter, at the mouth of the O-gee- 
 chee, was a bar to Sher-man's march to the sea, where 
 lay the Un-ion fleet. It was a strong fort, and had 
 in it at least 200 men. 
 
 Gen-er-al Ha-zen was told to seize it, and on 
 De-cem-ber 13 he crossed the O-gee-chee at King's 
 Bridge, and at one o'clock was in front of the fort. 
 Sher-man and How-ard went to a high place, and each, 
 with a field-glass in hand, kept a close watch on all 
 that was done at the front. 
 
 Ha-zen's bu-gles blew, and the men charged up the 
 walls of the fort, and fought hand-to-hand with the foe, 
 who sought to drive them back. But on and on 
 went the bold men in Blue, and soon the fort and all 
 it held were in their hands. As soon as Sher-man 
 
214 1^^^^ Battles of America. 
 
 and How-ard saw the Stars and Stripes float from 
 Fort McAl-Hs-ter, they took a small boat for that 
 point, and gave no thought to the bomb-shells and 
 such things that were strewn on the bed of the stream. 
 
 Sher-man called on Har-dee to yield up his sword 
 and to lay down his arms. But Har-dee would not, 
 and on the dark night of De-cem-ber 20, when a fierce 
 storm raged, he stole out of Sa-van-nah with 15,000 
 men and made his way to Charles-ton. 
 
 The Un-ion troops marched in-to Sa-van-nah 
 De-cem-ber 22, 1864, and this was the end of Sher- 
 man's March to the Sea, which won him great fame, 
 and which has been told so well in prose and in song 
 that old and young ought to know it by heart. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 WITH SHERIDAN. 
 
 At the close of the Wil-der-ness fight Sher-i-dan 
 was sent out to tear up all the rail-roads that led in or 
 out of Rich-mond, so that Lee and his force would 
 be shut up in that town. 
 
 This was the first of the great raids which he led, 
 and which are so linked with the name and fame of 
 *'Lit-tle Phil." 
 
With Sheridan. 
 
 215 
 
 He pushed on with a dash, fought in the same way, 
 and did so much good for the cause that he was placed 
 at the head of a large force of troops. This was on 
 Au-gust 7, and he 
 took his stand at 
 Har-per's Fer-ry, 
 and at the end of 
 a month had his 
 troops well in hand. 
 
 The Con-fed-er- 
 ate Ear-ly tried to 
 lure him up the vale 
 that he might flank 
 him, but Sher-i-dan 
 was too shrewd for 
 him, and kept a close 
 watch on the foe. 
 
 Grant went to see 
 him, and to view 
 the land. Sher-i- 
 dan told him that 
 he wished to move 
 on the foe at once, 
 and was sure he 
 
 could whip them. Grant said, ''Go in!" for he had 
 great faith in Sher-i-dan, and knew that he would 
 not fail in what he set out to do. 
 
 GEN-ER-AL SHER-I-DAN. 
 
2ib 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 Then Sher-i-dan went out to meet Ear-Iy, and the 
 two hnes met at O-pe-quan Creek, a few miles east of 
 Win-ches-ter. Sher-i-dan kept a close watch, and 
 when, on Sep-tem-ber i8, Ear-ly sent half his force to 
 
 TROOPS CROSS-ING THE SHEN-AN-DO-AH VAL-LEY. 
 
 Mar-tins-burg, Sher-i-dan at once put his force un-der 
 arrns, and at three o'clock the next morn set out for 
 Win-ches-ter. 
 
 Here a fierce fight was fought, but at last Ear-ly was 
 
With Sheridan. 
 
 217 
 
 put 
 the 
 
 to flight, and Sher-i-dan chased him quite out of 
 Shen-an-do-ah Val-ley, and through the gaps of 
 
 ^'^'i\ 
 
 *;^'^ 
 
 ^-^^r 
 
 SHER-I-DAN AT CE-DAR CREEK. 
 
 the Bkie Ridge. Then he came back to Stras-burg, 
 and took his stand on the north side of Ce-dar Creek. 
 
ZIO 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 In Oc-to-ber, a lot of fresh troops were sent to Ear- 
 ly, and on the night of the i8th he crossed the hills 
 and the north Fork of the Shen-an-do-ah. The next 
 morn, in the dark, and, with a dense fog to hide him, he 
 swept down on the left flank of the Un-ion troops, and 
 seized the large guns that were to guard the whole line. 
 
 The Un-ion troops fell back in great fear, and with 
 great loss. 
 
 At this time Sher-i-dan was at Win-ches-ter, at 
 least a score of miles a- way, and as soon as he heard 
 of the fight he set out at once for Stras-burg. He 
 rode at break-neck speed, and came up with his men 
 near New-town. They were like a wild mob, and 
 were in haste to reach a safe place. 
 
 Sher-i-dan, with sword in hand, screamed out to 
 them, " Turn back, boys ! Turnback! We'll lick them 
 yet!" and moved by the sound of his voice they turned 
 back just in time to meet a fierce charge from the foe^ 
 and to drive them quite out of the Shen-an-do-ah Val- 
 ley. Ear-ly's force was a great wreck ; and with the 
 few troops he had left he fled by night to Lynch-burg. 
 
 The fame of Sher-i-dan's great deed, known as 
 Sher-i-dan's Ride, rang through the land, and won 
 him much praise. The eyes of all the North were 
 now on Phil. Sher-i-dan — the brave horse-man — 
 who was yet to stand on the sun-crowned height, side 
 by side with Grant and Sher-man. 
 
With Sheridan. 219 
 
 Through the win-ter the roads were so bad that the 
 troops could not march, or move their big guns, and 
 they had to spend the most of their time in their camps. 
 But this was not the case all through the South, for 
 the war was still kept up. 
 
 Sher-man held Johns-ton in check, while Grant 
 kept a close watch on Lee. In the spring of 1 865 Grant 
 feared, from signs that he saw, that Lee meant to slip 
 out of Rich-mond some dark night, join Johns-ton, 
 and strive to crush Sher-man. So he told his chiefs 
 to keep a sharp look-out, and sent word to Sher-i-dan 
 to join him at once, for there would be need of his 
 horse-men. 
 
 It was the 26th of March when Sher-i-dan reached 
 City Point. His men were worn out, and so were his 
 steeds, not a few of whom had lost their shoes on the 
 way. They had to be shod and put in good trim, 
 and a few days of rest made them feel fresh and strong 
 once more. 
 
 Grant told Sher-man that his plan was to seize 
 Five Forks, drive the foe from Pe-ters-burg and 
 Rich-mond, and end the war right there. 
 
 Sher-i-dan's face lit, and with a slap on his leg he 
 said, 'T am glad to hear it, and we can do it!" 
 
 All through the month of March there had been so 
 much rain that the roads were not fit to use. But by 
 the 29th, the ground had had a chance to dry and 
 
220 The Battles of A^nerica. 
 
 Grant moved out with as much of his force as he dared 
 take up the road to Five Forks. 
 
 But the rain set in once more, and in a short time 
 the roads were in a bad state. Some-times a horse 
 or mule would stand on what seemed to be firm 
 ground. Then all at once one foot would sink, and 
 as he tried to scratch his way out all his feet would 
 sink, and he would have to be drawn by hand out of 
 the quick-sands. 
 
 Sher-i-dan moved to Din-wid-die Court-House on 
 the night of March 30, and took the road north-west 
 to Five Forks. He had none but his horse-men 
 with him, and on the way he fell in with some Con- 
 fed-er-ate horse-men, and it went hard with him for 
 a while. He at last drove them back ; but when near 
 Five Forks fell in with more troops and the same 
 horse-men, and was forced to give way, and fell back 
 to the Court-House. 
 
 Sher-i-clan sent w^ord to Grant of the plight he was 
 in, and War-ren's corps set out on the 31st to lend 
 him aid. But War-ren was too slow to suit Sher-i- 
 dan, who went out to meet him, and led the whole 
 force him-self He then pushed on to Five Forks. 
 Ayres charged on the right, Mer-ritt on the front, 
 and Grif-fin on the left with such force that they broke 
 through a part of the Con-fed-er-ate line, and seized 
 more than 1000 men. Mean- while Craw-ford came 
 
Battle of Petersburg. 
 
 221 
 
 up and cut off the road by which they might have 
 fled to Lee's hnes, struck them in the rear, and seized 
 four of their large guns. 
 
 Though hard pressed, the Con-fed-er-ates fought 
 well and held their ground. But at last Sher-i-dan 
 with all his horse-men charged o-ver the works with 
 such a fierce dash that the Con-fed-er-ates threw 
 down their arms, and fled pell-mell down the west- 
 ward road. Sher-i-dan drove them till night closed 
 in, and then he and Gen-er-al Miles camped on the 
 ground they had won from the foe. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 PETERSBURG: APRIL 2, 1865. 
 
 In June, 1864, Gen-er-al Grant 
 made up his mind to move from 
 Cold Har-bor, on the Chick-a-hom- 
 i-ny, to some point on the south side 
 of the James Riv-er. He and Sher- 
 i-dan had had some hard fights with 
 Lee's troops, the loss had been 
 great and the gain small, and he 
 felt it was not safe for them to stay 
 where they were. 
 On the night of the 12th, part of the force set out 
 
 JEF-FER-SON DA-VIS. 
 
222 
 
 The Battles of America. 
 
 for White House, where they 
 once for Cit-y Point. Some of 
 Brido^e crossed the stream on 
 and drove off the men on guar 
 
 BEN-JA-MIN F. BUT-LER. 
 
 stones, and on the 13th, Grant 
 boats sunk as high up the 
 troops could guard them, and 
 hands of the foe. 
 
 were to take boats at 
 the horse-men at Long 
 foot through the mud 
 d there. A bridge of 
 boats was then 
 built, and the next 
 day all of Grant's 
 troops were on the 
 south side of the 
 James. 
 
 It was known 
 that Lee had some 
 gun-boats at Rich- 
 mond, and these 
 might run down 
 at night and do 
 ^: much harm ere 
 I they could be sunk 
 by the Un-ion fleet. 
 So Gen-er-al But- 
 ler, with wise fore- 
 thought, had filled 
 some boats with 
 sent word to have these 
 stream as the Un-ion 
 keep them out of the 
 
Battle of Petersbtiror. 
 
 22^ 
 
 On June 25, Burn-side be-gan to lay a mine to blow 
 up the Con-fed-er-ate forts in front of him, and a-round 
 Pe-ters-burg. He spoke to Grant and Meade of his 
 
 THE HOUSE WHERE GEN-ER-AL LEE SUR-REN-DERED. 
 
 scheme, and they thought it a good one, as It would 
 -give the men some work to do. 
 
 The mine was charged, and July 30 was the day 
 set for it to be touched off. It was done, the fort, its 
 guns, and 300 men were thrown high in air, and a 
 
224 * ^^^^ Battles of America. 
 
 great hole was left in the earth, full loo feet in length, 
 and from 20 to 30 feet in depth. 
 
 Then the great Un-ion guns poured their fire 
 through the gap, but for some cause the scheme did 
 not work well, and no good was gained by it. Grant 
 lost 4000 of his men, most of whom were caught 
 by the foe ere they could get back to their own 
 lines. 
 
 In the spring of 1865, Lee w^as at Pe-ters-burg, and 
 had built a strong line of earth-works there, where he 
 meant to fight his last fight, and "hold the fort." 
 
 By A-pril 2, Grant had his troops well fixed in 
 a long line that stretched from the Ap-po-mat-tox 
 to the James. 
 
 That night a storm of bomb-shells was kept up 
 in front of Pe-ters-burg, and the next morn, at day- 
 break the Un-ion troops stormed its walls. Though 
 checked now and then, they pushed their way 
 through the Con-fed-er-ate lines, and drove the foe 
 at all points. 
 
 On the same day the South-side Rail-way was 
 struck at three points, and this was a great blow to 
 Lee, who was now shut in-to the line of works close 
 to Pe-ters-burg. Long-street went to his aid, and 
 tried to win back some of the lost ground. But he 
 could not do it, and at half past ten o'clock on Sun- 
 day morn-ing — A-pril 2 — he sent word to Jeff. Da- 
 
Battle of Petersburg. 
 
 22 
 
 vis that he could not hold Pe-ters-burg, and would 
 have to leave it that day. 
 
 Da-vis was at church when the word came to him, 
 
 GEN-ER-AL LEe's FARE-WELL TO HIS SOL-DIERS. 
 
 and it did not take him lonor to get out of Rich-mond. 
 Lee moved to A-me-lia Court-House, and Grant 
 set out to meet him. A few sharp fights were had on 
 the way, but at last on the 9th Lee set up a white flag. 
 
226 
 
 The Battles of A m erica. 
 
 Grant and Lee met at the house of a Mr. McLean, 
 at Ap-po-mat-tox Court-House. When Grant left 
 his camp that morn he had no thought that Lee would 
 give up the fight so soon. So he was with-out his 
 
 RU-INS OF RICH-MOND AF-TER THE WAR. 
 
 sword, and had on the loose blouse that he wore 
 when on horse-back on the field. 
 
 When Grant reached the house he found Lee there. 
 The two shook hands, and then took their seats. 
 Lee had on a brand new un-i-form, with the bars and 
 straps that told his rank, and at his side hung a fine 
 
228 The Battles of A mei'ica. 
 
 sword, the gift of the State of Vir-gln-ia. He was 
 six feet high, and had a fine face and form, and was 
 much thought of by his troops, and was, in fact, the 
 hero of the South. 
 
 When he gave up the fight it was the death-blow 
 to their cause, and the end of the four- years' war that 
 had cast its blight through the whole land. 
 
 Terms were made, and soon the dawn of peace set 
 in, and men laid down their swords and guns, and 
 went back to their homes and fire-sides, to their farms 
 and trades. 
 
 I have not told you of all the fights that took place 
 in the four years that the North and South were at war. 
 The list is a long one — 107 in all — some of which 
 were on sea and some on shore, some on the coast and 
 some in-land, so that the whole U-ni-ted States was 
 stained with blood. 
 
 Love peace, hate strife, put your trust in God, and 
 fear not: 
 
 For He will help 3'ou in the fra}/ 
 And give you strength to win the day. 
 
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