Part 49 (1/2)

GENERAL EARLY'S RAIDS.

Since the entire Army of the Potomac was in front of Petersburg, the Confederates took advantage of the opportunity to give Was.h.i.+ngton another scare, in the hope, also, of compelling Grant to withdraw a considerable body of troops from before Richmond. General Early was sent thither with 8,000 men by General Lee, with orders to attack the Federals in the valley. Sigel, whose great forte was that of retreating, fell back before the advance of Early, crossed the Potomac, and took position on Maryland Heights. Early moved up the Monocacy into Maryland, causing great alarm in Was.h.i.+ngton. The President called upon Pennsylvania, New York, and Ma.s.sachusetts for militia with which to repel the invasion. They were placed under the command of General Lew Wallace, who was defeated at Monocacy Junction, July 9th. Early attacked Rockville, fourteen miles west of Was.h.i.+ngton, and Colonel Harry Gilmor, himself a citizen of Baltimore, cut the communications between that city and Philadelphia. He captured a railway train, and among his prisoners was General Franklin, who was wounded and on his way north. The loose watch kept over the captives allowed them to escape.

Early was in high feather over his success, and his cavalry appeared in front of Was.h.i.+ngton, July 11th, and exchanged shots with Fort Stevens; but a spirited attack drove them off, and they crossed the Potomac at Edward's Ferry, and pa.s.sed to the western side of the Shenandoah. Early made his headquarters at Winchester and repelled several a.s.saults upon him.

The Confederate leader had been so successful that he soon made a second raid. He crossed the Potomac, July 29th, and, entering Pennsylvania, reached Chambersburg, from which a ransom of $200,000 in gold was demanded. It not being forthcoming, the city was fired, and the invaders, after some hard fighting, succeeded in getting back to the southern sh.o.r.e of the Potomac.

SHERIDAN IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

These raids were so exasperating that Grant, who could not give them his personal attention, determined to put an effectual stop to them. The government united the departments of western Virginia, Was.h.i.+ngton, and the Susquehanna, and placed them under the charge of General Sheridan, who had 40,000 men at his disposal. Sheridan, whose force was three times as numerous as Early's, was anxious to move against him, and Grant finally gave his consent on the condition that he would desolate the Shenandoah Valley to that extent that nothing would be left to invite invasion.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GENERAL PHILIP H. SHERIDAN.]

In the first encounter between Sheridan and Early near the Opequan, a small tributary of the Potomac, west of the Shenandoah, Early was routed and sent flying toward Winchester, with the loss of many prisoners and supplies. He was driven through the town, and his troops intrenched themselves on Fisher's Hill, near Strasburg. They were again attacked, on the 21st of September, and compelled to retreat further up the valley. Early received a reinforcement, and secured himself at Brown's Gap, in the Blue Ridge Mountains, where for the first time he was really safe.

This left Sheridan free to carry out the orders of Grant to devastate the valley, and he made thorough work of it. Nothing was spared, and the burning and destruction were so complete that his homely remark seemed justified when he said that no crow would dare attempt to fly across the region without taking his rations with him.

Feeling that the situation was secure, Sheridan now went to Was.h.i.+ngton to consult with the government. On the 19th of October the Union camp at Cedar Creek was surprised and routed by Early, who captured eighteen guns, which were turned on the fugitives as they fled in the direction of Middletown. Their commander, General Wright, finally succeeded in rallying them, mainly because the Confederates were so overcome at sight of the food in the abandoned camps that they gave up the pursuit to feast and gorge themselves.

”SHERIDAN'S RIDE.”

Sheridan had reached Winchester, ”twenty miles away,” on his return from Was.h.i.+ngton, when the faint sounds of firing told him of the battle in progress. Leaping into his saddle, he spurred at headlong speed down the highway, rallied the panic-stricken troops, placed himself at their head, and, charging headlong into the rebel mob at Cedar Creek, scattered them like so much chaff, retook the camps, and routed Early so utterly that no more raids were attempted by him or any other Confederates during the remainder of the war. Indeed, it may be said that this disgraceful overthrow ended the military career of Jubal Early. When some months later General Lee was placed at the head of all the military affairs of the Confederacy, he lost no time in doing two things: the first was to restore General Jo Johnston to his old command, and the second to remove Early from his.

The stirring incident described furnished the theme for the well-known poem of T. Buchanan Read, ent.i.tled ”Sheridan's Ride.”

Grant held fast to that which he won by terrific fighting. Petersburg lies about twenty miles to the south of Richmond, and the strongly fortified Union lines were nearly thirty miles in length, extending from a point close to the Weldon Railroad, on Grant's left, across the James to the neighborhood of Newmarket, on the right. Holding the inner part of this circle, Lee was able for a long time to repel every a.s.sault.

The Confederate commander fought furiously to prevent his enemy from obtaining possession of the Weldon Road, but late in August a lodgment was effected from which the Federals could not be driven. Other advantages were gained, but the close of the year saw Lee still unconquered and defiant.

GRANT'S SLOW BUT RESISTLESS PROGRESS.

Early in February, 1865, Grant attempted to turn the Confederate right, but was repulsed, though he gained several miles of additional territory. Sheridan soon after destroyed the Richmond and Lynchburg Railroad and the locks of the James River Ca.n.a.l, after which he joined the Army of the James.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SURRENDER OF GENERAL LEE TO GENERAL GRANT, AT APPOMATTOX COURT-HOUSE, APRIL 9, 1865.

”The two generals met at the house of Major McLean, in the hamlet of Appomattox Courthouse, where Lee surrendered all that remained of the Confederate Army, which for nearly four years had beaten back every attempt to capture Richmond. Grant's terms, as usual, were generous. He did not ask for Lee's sword, and demanded only that he and his men should agree not again to bear arms against the Government of the United States.”]

But Lee was beginning to feel the tremendous and continued pressure. His army numbered barely 35,000 men. A.P. Hill commanded the right wing, stretching from Petersburg to Hatcher's Run; General J.B. Gordon, the centre, at Petersburg; and Longstreet, who had recovered from his wound, the left wing, north and south of the James; while the cavalry did what it could to cover the flanks. This attenuated line was forty miles long.

Realizing the desperate straits, the Confederate authorities early in 1865 placed the entire military operations of the Confederacy in the hands of Lee.

The latter planned to fall back toward Danville and unite with Johnston.

If successful this would have given him a formidable army; but Grant did not intend to permit such a junction. Fighting went on almost continually, the gain being with the Union army, because of its greatly superior numbers and the skill with which they were handled by the master, Grant. April 1st a cannonade opened along the whole Union line.

Lee's right wing had been destroyed, but the others were unbroken. At daylight the next morning an advance was made against the Confederate works. Lee was forced back, and he strengthened his lines by making them much shorter.

The Confederates steadily lost ground, many were killed and taken prisoners, and in a charge upon the Union left General A.P. Hill lost his life. At last the enemy's outer lines were hopelessly broken, and Lee telegraphed the startling fact to President Davis, who received it while sitting in church, Sunday, April 2d. The Confederate President was told that Lee could hold Petersburg but a few hours longer, and Davis was warned to have the authorities ready to leave Richmond unless a message was sent to the contrary. No such longed-for message arrived.

EVACUATION OF RICHMOND.