attack along Bragg's line upon Missionary Ridge. The Ridge was so steep that the Confederate artillery could not be sufficiently depressed to reach the storming

party as they ascended the heights. Bragg's entire line was therefore captured by a sudden assault.

611. Lookout Mountain. - Lookout Mountain also witnessed a unique battle. A portion of Bragg's troops were stationed upon a plateau high upon the mountain, where sometimes the clouds settled down around the mountain below. Here occurred what is sometimes called "The Battle above the Clouds." It was, however, an insignificant affair, but entirely successful to the Union side. Grant had been reinforced by two corps from the Army of the Potomac, under Hooker, and Sherman had hastened up by forced marches from Iuka, two hundred miles away. In November, also, Thomas captured Orchard Knob. Bragg's army was routed, and the Union forces were left in possession of Chattanooga. These successes were brilliant, and added new laurels to the already great popularity of General Grant.

(From a negative in the possession of the U. S. Government.)

On

612. Burnside at Knoxville. Longstreet, with a considerable force, had shut up Burnside at Knoxville. After the Confederates had retreated from the vicinity of Chattanooga, Grant sent Sherman (1626) to the assistance of Burnside (1 592) at Knoxville. the 30th of November Longstreet made an assault, but was repulsed with heavy loss, and, hearing of Sherman's approach, he abandoned the siege and retired toward Virginia. The fall campaign in the West was now practically ended. Eastern Tennessee was in the hands of the Union forces, and the gate was open through which Sherman was subsequently to pass on his march through the heart of the Confederacy.

CHAPTER LXXV.

GRANT AND LEE. - SHERMAN AND JOHNSTON

613. The Position of the Armies. During the last year of the war the Union forces were principally massed in two great armies under Grant (1656) and Sherman (¶ 626). The Confederate forces were also massed in two great armies under Lee (1 589) and Johnston

General U. S. Grant.

(After a photograph taken at the time of the siege of Vicksburg.)

and that each should keep his opponent

(1 586). Lee was in Virginia with Grant threatening him. Johnston was at Dalton, in western Georgia, in a mountainous country, where it would be difficult to drive him back into the level region to the eastward. Grant now received the rank f Lieutenant-General, and was placed in command of all the armies. Grant and Sherman agreed on a plan of campaign which they felt assured would prove successful in the capture of all the Confederate armies and the overthrow of the Confederacy. They determined that the movement of the two armies should begin at the same time, so thoroughly occupied

that the two divisions of the Confederate army could not help each

other.

war.

614. The Wilderness. Grant started for Richmond from the Rappahannock, through the country known as the Wilderness. The struggle began almost immediately, and for several weeks the fight ing was intense, and the slaughter the most frightful of the whole The obstacles threatening Grant's success were extreme. A veteran army was before him. He was in the enemy's country, which itself was indeed a wilderness; and whatever movement he undertook he was sure to find a formidable opposing force in front of him. Here he showed his skill and strategy, especially by the simple device of "flank movements." Instead of a bull-dog attack in front, whenever he found his opponent in position, he simply marched his army past the enemy's flank, and forced him to retreat to a new position. In this way, with fearful slaughter, day by day, he pushed forward until his army had reached the Chickahominy, and Lee, with almost his entire force, was within the defences of Richmond. Grant lost nearly thirty thousand men, and Lee about eight thousand.

615. The Defences Impregnable. - Grant was sagacious enough soon to discover that the defences upon the north side of Richmond were impregnable. At one time he assaulted the entire Confederate line. at once, but was repulsed with heavy loss. He therefore determined to move his army to the other side of the James River and attack Richmond from the south. In doing this, it became necessary to follow almost the exact line over which McClellan had passed two years before in his seven days' fight. Having passed the river, Grant next attacked Petersburg.

616. The Petersburg Campaign. The Confederate fortifications. were so formidable that they could not be taken by assault. Grant therefore laid siege to Petersburg. Meantime he determined to push around still further to the westward, and, if possible, thus extend his left flank so as to be able finally to cut off the railroads which brought supplies for Lee's army. These movements obliged the Confederates to be constantly alert, continually to face Grant with new fortifications, and Lee was thereby prevented from sending any reinforcements to Johnston.

617. Sheridan and Winchester. Grant had retained with his army his best cavalry-general, the intrepid Phil Sheridan. Sheridan's cavalry was sent by Grant into the Shenandoah Valley, where

General Early with twenty thousand men was making a raid with the intent to threaten Washington. "The movement out of Baltimore, by General Lew Wallace, to attack a force far superior to his own, on the Monocacy River, so delayed the enemy," according to General Grant's statement, "as to enable him to get troops from

City Point, Virginia, in time to save the city" of Washington. Sheridan was placed in command of all the troops in that region. He defeated Early at Winchester and Fisher's Hill, after which Early retreated rapidly up the Shenandoah Valley. Being reinforced, he returned and surprised the Union army at Cedar Creek. Sheridan being absent, his forces yielded and began a rapid retreat in great confusion. At Winchester, twenty miles away, he heard the cannonading, returned upon a rapid gallop, and arrived just at the critical moment. As

he rushed along the road upon his fiery horse foaming with perspiration, he shouted, "Turn, boys, turn; we are going back." His presence was so magnetic that the men who had already retreated followed him into the fight, and secured a victory. Sheridan's Ride" has been immortalized in a stirring poem by T. Buchanan Read.

66

618. Sherman and Atlanta. Leaving Grant daily pushing his siege at Petersburg, let us see what Sherman is doing further south. Sherman's army consisted of perhaps one hundred thousand men. His first movement was against his antagonist at Dalton in Georgia. He had to pass through a mountainous country, largely wooded, for a hundred miles, where he found the Confederates posted in a series of well-fortified positions, some of them almost impregnable. He continued his skirmishing, both armies being led by consummate strategists. Sherman's general plan was to drive Johnston into one of his strongholds, and then flank him and push forward. His force was superior to the Confederates, and he subsisted largely upon the

country through which he was passing. Bloody battles were fought at Dalton, Resaca, Dallas, Lost Mountain, and Kenesaw Mountain. It was nearing the middle of July, 1864, when Sherman presented himself before the city of Atlanta, within whose intrenchments Johnston had then retired.

619. The Capture of Atlanta. - Although Johnston had handled his army with consummate skill, yet, as he was inevitably everywhere unsuccessful, Davis displaced him and put General Hood in command. As Johnston's defensive policy had been criticised by the authorities at Richmond, it seemed necessary for Hood to assume the offensive.

Three

times, therefore, he attacked Sherman, and each time he was completely repulsed with terrible slaughter. After this, Sherman executed another flank movement, taking with him his entire supply train with fifteen days' rations, and moving his whole force so as to cut off completely Hood's line of supplies. This brought about the evacuation of the city, September 2d, 1864.

Philip Henry Sheridan, the hero of Winchester, was born March 6th, 1831, at Albany, N. Y. As a boy, "Phil" showed signs of a fondness for military affairs. He graduated from West Point in 1853, and for about eight years served in the western Territories. Colonel Sheridan's active service in the Civil War began in the summer of 1862, in Mississippi. Transferred, a little later, to the Army of the Ohio, he was made major-general for his bravery in the battle of Murfreesboro. In 1864 General Sheridan took command of the cavalry corps of the Army of the Potomac, and to the end of the war he proved the right man in the right place. Sheridan was made lieutenant-general in 1869, and on his death-bed was honored with the rank of general. Generals Grant and Sherman were the only ones who had previously held that rank. General Sheridan died August 5th, 1888.

620. The Results of Sherman's Success. Sherman had now been four months on the march. He had fought ten pitched battles and many smaller engagements, and although he had lost fully thirty thousand men, yet he had inflicted a heavy loss upon the Confederate army and had cut them off from their source of manufactured supplies. At Atlanta and other towns in Georgia were large manufacturing establishments which furnished the Confederate army with wagons, harnesses, clothing, and all sorts of military supplies. The source of these supplies was now entirely cut off.

621. Hood invades Tennessee. At this point an unexpected turn of affairs takes place. Whatever supplies Sherman received from Union sources were brought to him over a single line of railroad from Nashville. Hood evidently supposed that if he should invade Tennessee, cutting off the source of Sherman's supplies, Sherman would