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army were crossing the James River at Beauregard's lines, and destroy and hold, Richmond, and troops were streaming if possible, the railway in that vicinity.

down towards Petersburg to assist in its defence, and during the night (June 1516) very strong works were thrown up. The coveted prize was lost. Twenty-four hours before, Petersburg might have been easily taken; now it defied the Nationals, and endured a most distressing siege for ten months longer. At the middle of June, a large portion of the Army of Northern Virginia was holding the city and the surrounding intrenchments, and a great part of the Army of the Potomac, with the command of Smith upon its right, confronted the Confederates. On the evening of the 16th a heavy bombardment was opened upon the Confederate works, and was kept up until 6 A.M. the next day. Birney, of Hancock's corps, stormed and carried a redoubt on his front, but Burnside's corps could make no impression for a long time, in the face of a murderous fire. There was a general advance of the Nationals, but at a fearful cost of life. At dawn General Potter's division of Burnside's corps charged upon the works in their front, carried them, and captured four guns and 400 men. He was relieved by General Ledlie's column, which advanced to within half a mile of the city, and held

He had gained possession of the track, and was proceeding to destroy it, when he was attacked by a division of Longstreet's corps, on its way from Richmond to Petersburg. Terry was driven back to the intrenchments at Bermuda Hundred before aid could reach him. On the morning of the 17th the 7th and 9th Corps renewed the attack upon the works at Petersburg, when the hill upon which Fort Steadman was afterwards built was carried and held by the former. Another attack was made by the 9th Corps in the afternoon, and a severe battle began, and continued until night, with great slaughter. Desperate attempts had been made to recapture what the Confederates had lost, and that night a heavy Confederate force drove back the 9th (Burnside's) Corps. A general assault was made on the 18th, with disaster to the Nationals, who were repulsed at every point.

Then, after a loss of nearly 10,000 men, further attempts to take Petersburg by storm were abandoned for a while, and Grant prepared for a regular siege. He at once began intrenching, and to extend his left in the direction of the Petersburg and Weldon Railway, which he de

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a position from which shells might be cast into the town. They were driven back with great loss.

sired to seize, and thus envelop Petersburg with his army. He moved the corps of Hancock and Wright stealthily to the On the same day (June 16) General left, to attempt to turn the Confederate Butler sent out General Terry to force right. The former was pushed back.

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On the following morning (June 22) the a cavalry force under Fitzhugh Lee. Nationals were attacked by divisions of Kautz pushed on, and tore up the track the corps of A. P. Hill, driving back a of the Southside and Danville railways, portion of them with heavy loss. At sun- at and near their junction. The united set Meade came up and ordered both forces destroyed the Danville road to the corps to advance and retake what had Staunton River, where they were conbeen lost. It was done, when Hill retired fronted by a large force of Confederates. with 2,500 prisoners. The next morning They were compelled to fight their way Hancock and Wright advanced, and reach- back to Reams's Station, on the Weldon ed the Weldon road without much oppo- road, which they had left in the possessition, until they began to destroy it, sion of the Nationals; but they found the when a part of Hill's corps drove off the cavalry of Wade Hampton there, and a destroyers. The National line had now considerable body of Confederate infanbeen extended to the Weldon road. Meanwhile a cavalry expedition, 8,000 strong, under Kautz and Wilson, had been raiding upon the railways leading southward from Petersburg, the latter being in chief command. They destroyed the buildings at Reams's Station, 10 miles south of Petersburg, and the track for a long distance. They then struck the South- Now, after a struggle for two months, side Railway, and destroyed it over a both armies were willing to seek repose, space of 20 miles, fighting and defeating and for some time there was a lull in

try.

In attempting to force their way through them, the Nationals were defeated, with heavy loss, and they made their way sadly back to camp with their terribly shattered army of troopers. Their estimated loss during the raid was nearly 1,000 men.

fully 50 feet in width, and from 20 to 30 feet in depth. The fort, its guns, and other munitions of war, with 300 men, were thrown high in air and annihilated. Then the great guns of the Nationals open

sult was a most disastrous failure on the part of the assailants.

the storm of strife. The Union army lay in front of a formidable line of redans and redoubts, with lines of intrenchments and abatis, altogether 40 miles in length, extending from the left bank of the Appomattox around to the west- ed a heavy cannonade upon the remainder ern side of Petersburg, and to and across of the Confederate works, with precision the James to the northeastern side of and fatal effect, all along the line; but, Richmond. Within eight or nine weeks, owing partly to the slowness of motion of the Union army, investing Petersburg, a portion of the assaulting force, the rehad lost, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, about 70,000 men. Reinforcements had kept up its numbers, but not the quality of its materials. Many veterans remained, but a vast number were raw troops. The Nationals continued building fortifications and preparing for an effective siege. Butler, by a quick movement, had thrown Foster's brigade across the James River at Deep Bottom, and formed an intrenched camp there, within 10 miles of Richmond, and connected with the army at Bermuda Hundred by a pontoon bridge. By this movement a way was provided to move heavy masses of troops to the north side of the James at a moment's warning, if desired. Lee met this by laying a similar bridge at Drury's Bluff. By the close of July, 1864, Grant was in a position to choose his method of warfare-whether by a direct assault, by the slower process of a regular siege, or by heavy operations on the flanks of the Confederates.

The regular siege of Petersburg began in July. On June 25 operations were started for mining under the Confederate forts so as to blow them up. One of these was in charge of Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants, who completed it on July 22. When the mine was ready Grant sent Hancock to assist Foster to flank the Confederates at Deep Bottom, and, pushing on to Chapin's Bluff, below Drury's Bluff, to menace Lee's line of communications across the river. It was done; and, to meet the seeming impending dan ger to Richmond, Lee withdrew five of his eight remaining divisions on the south side of the James, between the 27th and the 29th. Grant's opportunity for a grand assault now offered. The mine under one of the principal forts was exploded early on the morning of July 30, with terrible effect. In the place of the fort was left a crater of loose earth, 200 feet in length,

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A fortnight later General Grant sent another expedition to the north side of the James, at Deep Bottom, composed of the divisions of Birney and Hancock, with cavalry under Gregg. They had sharp engagements with the Confederates on Aug. 13, 16, and 18, in which the Nationals lost about 5,000 men without gaining any special advantage excepting the incidental one of giving assistance to troops sent to seize the Weldon Railway south of Petersburg. This General Warren effected on Aug. 18. Three days afterwards he repulsed a Confederate force which attempted to recapture the portion of the road held by the Unionists; and on the same day (Aug. 21) General Hancock, who had returned from the north side of the James, struck the Weldon road at Reams's Station and destroyed the track for some distance. The Nationals were finally driven from the road with considerable loss.

For a little more than a month after this there was comparative quiet in the vicinity of Petersburg and Richmond. The National troops were moved simultaneously towards each city. General Butler, with the corps of Birney and Ord, moved upon and captured Fort Harrison on Sept. 29. These troops charged upon another fort near by, but were repulsed with heavy loss. Among the slain was General Burnham, and Ord was severely wounded. In honor of the slain general the captured works were named Fort Burnham. In these assaults the gallantry of the colored troops was conspicuous. Meanwhile, Meade had sent Generals Warren and Parke, with two divisions of troops each, to attempt the extension of the National left to the Weldon road and beyond. It was a feint in favor of Butler's movement on the

PETERSBURG

north side of the James, but it resulted sum would be fully 100,000 men. The in severe fighting on Oct. 1 and 2, with Army of the Potomac had captured 15,varying fortunes for both parties. Then 378 prisoners, sixty-seven colors, and there was another pause, but not a set- thirty-two guns. They had lost twenty

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tled rest, for about two months, when the five guns. The Confederates had lost, ingreater portion of the Army of the cluding 15,000 prisoners, about 40,000 Potomac was massed on the Confederate men. right, south of the James. On Oct. 27 they assailed Lee's works on Hatcher's Run, westward of the Weldon road, where a severe struggle ensued. The Nationals were repulsed, and, on the 29th, they withdrew to their intrenchments in front of Petersburg. Very little was done by the Army of the Potomac until the opening of the spring campaign of 1865. The losses of that army had been fearful during six months, from the beginning of May until November, 1864. The aggregate number in killed, wounded, missing, and prisoners was over 80,000 men, of whom nearly 10,000 were killed in battle. Add to these the losses of the Army of the James during the same period, and the

The Army of the Potomac had its winter quarters in front of the Army of Northern Virginia in 1864-65. The left of the former held a tight grasp upon the Weldon road, while the Army of the James, on the north side of that river, and forming the right of the besiegers of Petersburg and Richmond, had its pickets within a few miles of the latter city. Sheridan, at the same time, was at Kernstown, near Winchester, full master of the Shenandoah Valley from Harper's Ferry to Staunton. Grant's chief business during the winter was to hold Lee tightly while Sherman, Thomas, and Canby were making their important conquests, in accordance with the comprehensive plan of

the lieutenant-general. The leaders in the Confederacy to obtain a law to that the Confederate government at Richmond effect. Viewing the situation calmly, he contemplated the abandonment of Virginia and the concentration of the troops of Lee and Johnson south of the Roanoke. The politicians of Virginia would not allow such a movement, nor would Lee have led the Army of Northern Virginia out of that State; sc President Davis and his advisers had to abandon their project. Besides, Grant held Lee so firm ly that he had no free choice in the matter.

saw no hope for the preservation of his army from starvation or capture, nor for the existence of the Confederacy, except in breaking through Grant's lines and forming a junction with Johnston in North Carolina. He knew such a movement would be perilous, but he resolved to attempt it; and he prepared for a retreat from the Appomattox to the Roanoke. Grant saw symptoms of such a movement, and, on March 24, 1865, issued an order It was near the close of March, 1865, for a general forward movement on the before Grant was ready for a general 29th. On the 25th Lee's army attempted movement against Lee. Early in Decem- to break the National line at the strong ber Warren had seized the Weldon road point of Fort Steadman, in front of the farther south than had yet been done. 9th Corps. They also assailed Fort HasHe destroyed it (Dec. 7) all the way to kell, on the left of Fort Steadman, but the Meherin River, meeting with little were repulsed. These were sharp but opposition. A few weeks later there fruitless struggles by the Confederates to was some sharp skirmishing between Confederate gunboats and National batteries near Dutch Gap Canal. A little later a movement was made on the extreme left of the Nationals to seize the Southside Railway and to develop the strength of Lee's right. The entire army in front of Petersburg received marching orders, and, on Feb. 6, the flanking movement began. After a sharp fight near Hatcher's Run, the Nationals permanently extended their left to that stream. Grant now determined to cut off all communication with Richmond north of that city. The opportunity offered towards the middle of February. Lee had drawn the greater portion of his forces from the Shenandoah Valley, and Sheridan, under instructions, made a grand cavalry raid against the northern communications with the Confederate capital, and especially for the seizure of Lynchburg. It was a most destructive march, and very bewildering to the Confederates.

break the line. The grand movement of the whole National army on the 29th was begun by the left, for the purpose of turning Lee's right, with an overwhelming force. At the same time Sheridan was approaching the Southside Railway to destroy it. Lee's right intrenched lines extended beyond Hatcher's Run, and against these and the men who held them the turning column marched. General Ord, with three divisions of the Army of the James, had been drawn from the north side of that river and transferred to the left of the National lines before Petersburg. The remainder of Ord's command was left in charge of General Weitzel, to hold the extended lines of the Nationals, fully 35 miles in length.

Sheridan reached Dinwiddie Court-house towards the evening of March 29. Early that morning the corps of Warren (5th) and Humphreys (2d) moved on parallel roads against the flank of the Confederates, and, when within 2 miles of This raid, the junction of the National their works, encountered a line of battle. armies in North Carolina, and the opera- A sharp fight occurred, and the Confedtions at Mobile and in Central Alabama erates were repulsed, with a loss of many satisfied Lee that he could no longer killed and wounded and 100 made prisonmaintain his position, unless, by some ers. Warren lost 370 men. Lee now fully means, his army might be vastly increased comprehended the perils that menaced and new and ample resources for its sup- him. The only line of communication ply obtained. He had recommended the with the rest of the Confederacy might emancipation of the slaves and making be cut at any hour. He also perceived the soldiers of them, but the slave interest necessity of strengthening his right to was too powerful in the civil councils of avert the impending shock of battle; like

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