The South was still undismayed, even hopeful of final victory. The North was exultant and defiant. In December, in his annual report, the Federal secretary of war wrote: "The success of our arms during the last year has enabled the department to make a reduction of over two hundred millions of dollars in the war estimates for the ensuing fiscal year."

CHAPTER XVI

CAMPAIGNS OF 1864—IN THE EAST

THE confidence of the Southern people in their ultimate success did not seem, during the early months of 1864, to be a mistaken one. The year opened with a series of successes which surprised the Northern people and showed them that the spirit of the Southern armies had not grown less as their numbers diminished. These successes were a decisive victory in Florida, the defeat of Sherman's expedition in the southwest, and a triumphal ending of the most important campaign that had yet taken place west of Mississippi River. It is a remarkable fact that while there was a strong confidence at Washington that the operations and events of the year would certainly end the war, there was just as strong a feeling in Richmond that the coming campaigns would accomplish the independence of the Southern Confederacy. This impression was very strong in Richmond after the successes mentioned.

Before treating of these events, however, we will once more take up the thread of the story where it was dropped at the close of the campaigns of 1863 in Virginia. The bloody drama was to recommence on the banks of the stream where the Army of Northern Virginia had been spending the winter. The army had lain along its entrenchments on the Rapidan from Barnett's Ford to Norton's Ford, a distance of eighteen or twenty miles. The lower part of the defences was held by General Ewell, the upper by General A. P. Hill. While a few brigades guarded

the river, the main body of troops was in the rear ready to advance to the river or to either flank as might be required. The cavalry lay along the Rappahannock below Fredericksburg, where forage was abundant. The situation of the army did not require cavalry in front or on the right, except small parties to watch the main roads and the crossings of the river. General Longstreet returned to the Army of Northern Virginia in April, and his troops were held in the vicinity of Gordonsville.

The Army of the Potomac lay between the Rapidan and the Rappahannock, the infantry chiefly in the vicinity of Culpepper Court House covering the roads from Lee's position. The Ninth Corps under General Burnside began to relieve the Fifth Corps, April 25th, and in the opening days of May encamped along the railroad from Manassas Junction to Rappahannock Station. The main part of the cavalry was about two miles from Culpepper Court House and the rest near Stevensburg. A chain of infantry pickets encircled the whole army, with cavalry pickets outside of these to give notice of any movement of the other army. The Rapidan was closely watched at the fords and at the bridge. The strength of the Army of the Potomac on the 30th of April was 99,438, to which was added, on May 24th, the Ninth Corps with a strength of 22,618, giving a total of 122,056 men. They had 316 guns. The Army of Northern Virginia had, on May 1, 1864, according to the best obtainable reports, 61,953 men and officers with 224 guns.

In March a new and important actor came upon the scene in the person of General Grant, whose success in the west had caused him to be summoned to Washington early that month and to be made lieutenant-general and placed in command of all the forces of the United States; he thus stood second only to the president. Sherman was at the same time placed over all the forces between the Alleghany Mountains and the Mississippi, while McPherson was appointed to Sherman's position as commander of the

Army of the Tennessee. General Grant at once arranged the plans by which he would operate to bring the war to a close. There were then but two Southern armies of any strength left in the field,—Lee's force on the Rapidan and Johnston's at Dalton, Georgia. Grant's plan was to strike these two armies at the same time, and with such overwhelming numbers that effectual resistance would be impossible. Sherman was sent against Johnston to break up his army, destroying as he went all property that could in any manner assist in carrying on the war. At the same time, Banks was ordered to move against Mobile, so as to prevent any reinforcements being sent to Johnston, and to destroy the railroads in Alabama. Deeming the Virginia campaign the most important, General Grant placed himself with General Meade's army, then assembled on the Rapidan. It will be remembered from the figures given 'above that the Northern army outnumbered the Southern by almost

two to one.

General Sigel was sent up the Valley of Virginia to cut off Lee's supplies from that quarter. General Butler, who was at Fortress Monroe with 30,000 men, was ordered to move toward Richmond to cooperate with Meade's army. Preparations were hurried for an immediate advance.

Previous to General Grant's arrival there had been but one movement of note in Virginia, and that was General Judson Kilpatrick's raid upon Richmond. General Meade did not favor this raid, which was arranged in Washington, but carried out the order when it was given him. It was supposed to have been arranged with great secrecy, but when Colonel Ulric Dahlgren arrived from Washington and asked to accompany Kilpatrick, Meade knew it was a subject of more or less general discussion. Kilpatrick was to pass around Lee's right and go as directly as possible to Richmond. He left Meade's headquarters on the Rapidan on February 28th with 4,000 men and a battery of horse artillery and marched rapidly by Spottsylvania Court House to Richmond. His purpose was to enter the city and release