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78. Rebel privateers
did much mischief this year among merchant vessels and Maine and
Massachusetts fishermen.
The Alabama and the
Florida,1 in the early part of the year, cruised
near the West Indies, till 
the
vigilance of Commodore Wilkes2 made that neighborhood
too hot for them. The Alabama continued her depredations in the
South Atlantic, while the Florida came boldly up the coast to near
New York, and then prowled on the track of the New York and
Liverpool packets. The schooner Archer, a captured fishing
vessel, manned by Confederates, anchored off Portland, and at
night two boats' crews rowed into the harbor, boarded
the revenue cutter Caleb Cushing, overpowered her crew, and
put to sea with her. The next day she was pursued by two merchant
steamers, the Forest City and the Chesapeake, manned
by soldiers and volunteers. As the steamers bore down upon the
cutter, the rebels set her on fire, and tried to escape in boats;
but they were soon captured. In December the Chesapeake, on
her way from New York to Portland, was seized by a party of
rebels, who had come on board as passengers. She was pursued by
United States vessels, driven into a harbor of Nova Scotia, and
soon afterwards given up to her owners by the Nova Scotia
authorities.3
79. Some persons in the north, who
sympathized with the rebellion, resolved to make the
drafting of troops4 the occasion of exciting
insurrection against the government. Forcible resistance was
attempted in several places, but chiefly in New York city, where,
at the opening of the draft, July 13, a terrible riot broke
out, which resulted in the loss of many lives and of millions of
property. Many buildings were pillaged and burned, among them the
Colored Orphan Asylum. The fury of the mob was especially directed
against the persons and property of negroes. Unfortunately the
city militia had been sent to aid in driving Lee out of
Pennsylvania,5 and it was four days before order was
restored. Further than this, traitors in the north failed to
excite any serious resistance to the government.
80. The year 1863 was one
of great prosperity to the Union cause. The Fourth of July had
received new consecration by the victory at Helena,6
the surrender of Vicksburg,7 and Lee's retreat from
Gettysburg.8 The Confederates had been beaten back,
shattered, from their invasion of Pennsylvania. They had been
foiled in their designs upon Kentucky and the states north of the
Ohio.9 Their territory had been severed by the
1 See p. 274, ¶ 48. 2 See p. 253 ¶ 35. 3 See p. 301, ¶ 34.
4 In March a conscription act was passed authorizing the president to recruit the armies of the United States by a draft from the able-bodied citizens of the country between the ages of twenty and forty-five.
5 See p. 284, ¶ 74. 6 See p. 278, ¶ 59. 7 See p. 279, ¶ 61.
8 See p. 284, p. 73. 9 See p. 276, ¶ 55, and p. 278, ¶¶ 57, 58.
QUESTIONS. -- 78. What is said of rebel privateers? Of the Alabama and the Florida? Give an account of the seizure of the Caleb Cushing and the pursuit of her captors. Of the seizure of the Chesapeake. 79. Give an account of the terrible riot in New York city. 80. What can you say of the year 1863? How had the Fourth of July received new consecration? From what had the Confederates been beaten back, and in what foiled? How had their territory been severed?
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opening of the Mississippi.1 Their efforts, in the loyal states, to excite resistance to the national government, had proved abortive,2 and the Emancipation Proclamation3 had deprived them of the last hope of foreign aid. During the year Union troops had maintained a foothold in every rebel state.
III.
FROM THE BEGINNING
OF 1864 TO THE CLOSE
OF THE WAR. --
THE REBELLION IN ITS
DECLINE. -- Events of 1864.--1. The
nation entered upon the new year with buoyant hopes, which,
however, were not strengthened by the earlier operations.
One of the first movements was an expedition into the interior of
Mississippi,4 directed by General William T.
Sherman.5 This expedition crippled the rebel resources,
but failed to restore permanently any territory to the national
authority.
Early in February Sherman marched east
from Vicksburg, with about twenty-five thousand men, and after
some skirmishing with the enemy, reached Meridian, an
important railroad centre near the eastern border of the state.
Here an auxiliary force from Memphis, under General William S.
Smith, was to join him, but failed to do so, and Sherman retraced
his steps, after having destroyed many miles of railroad track,
with its bridges, depots, and rolling-stock, and an immense amount
of such other property as would have contributed to the strength
of the enemy. Smith penetrated nearly to Columbus, on the
Tombigbee River, when he found the rebels in such numbers, under
Forrest,6 that he was forced to return to Memphis,
having also destroyed much Confederate property. Several thousand
negroes followed these expeditions on their return.
2. Forrest moved
northward, and, March 24, captured Union City, Tennessee,
with its garrison of nearly five hundred men. The next day he
attacked Paducah, Kentucky, but was repulsed. On the 12th
of April he appeared before Fort Pillow. The garrison --
less than six hundred troops, nearly half of whom were negroes --
bravely resisted the attack from sunrise till afternoon, when the
enemy, having treacherously gained, under cover of a flag of
truce, a favorable position, suddenly carried the works by
assault. A dreadful massacre ensued. The Union troops threw down
their arms, and tried to escape, but they were cut down without
mercy. The work of death, interrupted by the night, was renewed
the next morning, until the greater part of the garrison had been
butchered. Even women and children, within the works, were not
spared.
1 See p. 281, ¶ 67. 2 See p. 296, ¶ 79 3 See p. 275, ¶ 51. 4 see pp. 279, ¶ 61-281, ¶ 68.
5 See p. 277, ¶ 55. 6 See p. 276, ¶ 53.
QUESTIONS. -- What had proved abortive? What had deprived them of the last hope of foreign aid? What had the Union troops maintained? III. 1. What is said of Sherman's expedition into the interior of Mississippi? -- What particulars can you give of the expedition under Sherman and the auxiliary force under Smith? 2. What capture did Forrest make, and what repulse did he meet with? Give an account of the capture of Fort Pillow and the massacre of its garrison.
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3.
General Sturgis, with a large force, marched from Memphis
in pursuit of the rebel chief, but was routed with heavy loss near
Guntown,1 Mississippi, June 10, and driven back
to Memphis. 
General
Andrew J. Smith was then put in command of an expedition to
retrieve this disgrace. He encountered and defeated Forrest at
Tupelo,1 July 14. The next month Forrest made a
raid into Memphis, but after securing some plunder, and destroying
considerable property, he was obliged to make a hasty retreat.
Raiding expeditions in this region cease henceforth to be of
interest, except as they are connected with Sherman's great
campaign, already far advanced.2
4. Early in the year General
Banks,3 at New Orleans, organized an expedition, known
as the Red River Expedition, to take possession of Western
Louisiana. General Sherman contributed reënforcements from
Vicksburg, and a powerful fleet, under Admiral Porter,3
coöperated. Shreveport was the point aimed at. The Union
forces successfully pushed their way, with occasional skirmishes,
till April 8, when their advance was suddenly attacked and routed
by General Taylor3 at Sabine
Cross-Roads.4 But the pursuing foe was soon checked
by another portion of the Union army, and Banks that night fell
back some fifteen miles to unite with a column of his troops at
Pleasant Hill. Here the enemy fiercely attacked him the
next day, but were defeated and driven from the field in great
disorder. Banks, however, thought it best to continue his retreat,
and the undertaking was given up. General Edwin R. S.
Canby5 soon afterwards took command in this
department.
5. The troops from Vicksburg were
under General Andrew J. Smith, and they, with Porter's
coöperating fleet, began the operations on Red River. Smith
captured Fort De Russy, March 14, and two days later
occupied Alexandria, already in possession of the fleet.
Here Banks joined the expedition with the main army, and marched
towards Shreveport with about twenty thousand men. On his way
back, after the victory at Pleasant Hill, he worsted the enemy at
Cane River, in a sharp conflict. Meanwhile the fleet
had proceeded some distance up the river, but the reverse at
Sabine Cross-Roads compelled its return. As it moved down the
river, it was much annoyed by rebel batteries and sharpshooters
along the banks. When it arrived at Alexandria, the water had
fallen so much that the gunboats could not pass over the rapids at
that place. The difficulty was,
1 Guntown is thirty-six miles south of Corinth. on the railroad to Mobile; Tupelo is thirteen miles farther South. 2 See p. 296, ¶ 23. 3 See p. 281, ¶ 67.
4 Near Mansfield, which place has also given name to the battle. 5 See p. 309, ¶ 56.
QUESTIONS. -- 3. What can you tell of General Sturgis's expedition against Forrest? Of General Andrew Smith's expedition? Of Forrest's raid into Memphis? 4. Give an account of the Red River expedition including the defeat at Sabine Cross-Roads and the victory at Pleasant Hill. 5. Give further particulars of this expedition. Give an account of the return of the fleet
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however, removed by the engineering skill of Colonel Joseph
Bailey, who constructed dams by which the channel was contracted
and the water raised high enough to allow the vessels to pass.
Banks lost in this expedition five thousand men, and the rebels at
least as many more. Some Union gunboats and transports were
destroyed, or fell into the hands of the enemy, before the fleet
reached the Mississippi.
About the time of Banks's advance to
Alexandria, General Steele1 left Little Rock, Arkansas,
with an army to coöperate in the Red River expedition. He
advanced, driving the enemy before him, and reached Camden about
the middle of April. But the loss of one of his trains, and
tidings of Banks's reverse, determined him to turn back. The
rebels, strongly reënforced, now pressed him closely, and,
April 30, attacked him while crossing the Saline River at
Jenkins's Ferry, but were repulsed with great loss. Steele
reached Little Rock, having suffered
severely.2
6. While Sherman was on his expedition to
Meridian, another Union expedition; fitted out from South Carolina
by General Gillmore, to reclaim Florida,3 was
disastrously defeated under General Seymour, near Olustee,
February 20.4 Seymour retreated to Jacksonville, and a
few months later the troops on both sides were called to more
important work in Virginia.
Early this year the rebels renewed their efforts
to drive the loyal troops out of North Carolina. An attempt
was made upon Newbern, February 1; but after the capture of
an outpost, the city was found too strongly defended to be
hopefully assailed. Plymouth, with its garrison, after a
most gallant resistance, surrendered, April 20, to a rebel land
force, assisted by the ram Albemarle. Washington was soon
after abandoned, and Newbern alone on the main land, in North
Carolina, was occupied by Union forces. Later in the year,
however, the Albemarle5 was destroyed and
Plymouth retaken.6
7. In Virginia7
and West Virginia, early in the year, small parties of
rebels seized some Federal trains of considerable value. But the
boldest enterprise of this part of the year was a raid by
General Judson Kilpatrick,8 who, with a body of
cavalry from the Army of the Potomac,
attempted
1 See p. 278, ¶ 60. 2 See p. 301, ¶ 33. 3 See p. 282, ¶¶ 69, 70.
4 The action fought here is also called the battle of Ocean Pond.
5 In the latter part of October, the Albemarle, then lying at Plymouth, was sunk by Lieutenant William B. Cushing, who, with thirteen men, in a steam launch, went up the Roanoke River on a dark night, and in spite of a severe fire opened upon them, exploded a torpedo under the ram. At the same instant the launch was disabled and filled with water. Cushing and one of his men escaped by swimming, but most of his party were captured.
6 See p. 304, ¶ 40. 7 See pp. 282, ¶ 71--285, ¶ 76. 8 See p. 305, ¶ 42.
QUESTIONS. -- What can you tell of the coöperating force under General Steele? 6. Give an account of the Union disaster at Olustee. -- What is said of the efforts of the rebels in North Carolina? Of the attempt upon Newbern? The capture of Plymouth? The abandonment of Washington? What happened later in the year? 7. Give an account of Kilpatrick's raid.
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to dash into Richmond and liberate the Union prisoners confined
there. He crossed the Rapidan late in February,
and succeeded in getting within the outer fortifications of the
rebel capital; but a force under Colonel Ulric Dahlgren, detached
to strike the James River above the city, and coöperate in
the attack, was led a day's march out of the way by the ignorance
or treachery of a guide; and Kilpatrick, 
unable
to penetrate farther, fell back. Afterwards most of Dahlgren's
detachment joined the main column; the rest were cut off, and
either captured, or, as was their brave leader, slain. This raid
inflicted great damage upon the enemy's railroads, bridges, and
upon the canal above Richmond.1
8. Meanwhile the nation had been making
preparations for the final struggle. The rank of Lieutenant
General was conferred upon General Grant,2
who was assigned to the chief command of all the armies of the
Union.
Now first the national forces were
moved in obedience to a single will, and were persistently held to
the accomplishment of a single purpose. Hitherto they had acted
without much concert, so that when one was prosecuting a campaign
with vigor, the rest often were inactive. This left the
Confederates at liberty to concentrate upon the point of attack,
and gave them, with actually a smaller force in the field, a
practical superiority in numbers. Grant determined to deprive them
of this advantage, by making a simultaneous attack in the East and
the West.
9. The bulk of the Rebel forces
was concentrated east of the Mississippi, into two great armies.
One in Virginia, under Lee,3 occupying the south
bank of the Rapidan, covered and defended Richmond; the other, in
Georgia, under Johnston,4 intrenched at Dalton,
covered and defended Atlanta, the great railroad centre of the
Southwest, and depot of rebel supplies.
1 See p. 291, ¶ 10.
2 See p. 276, ¶ 55. In 1798 Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of all the armies of the United States with the rank of Lieutenant-General. The brevet rank of Lieutenant General was conferred upon Scott in 1855.
3 See p. 282, ¶ 71. 4 Seep. 280, ¶ 66.
QUESTIONS. -- 8. Who was appointed commander-in-chief of the Union armies, and with what rank? -- How did this affect the movements of the national forces? 3. What was the position of the bulk of the enemy's forces?
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So thoroughly had the disloyal states been
stripped of men and means to raise and equip their armies already
in the field, that, if these should be captured or destroyed, it
would be impossible to supply their places, and armed rebellion
would cease.
10. March and April were spent in
reorganizing the Union armies and preparing them for action.
General William T. Sherman1 was put in command of the
forces west of the Alleghany Mountains, to operate against
Johnston. The Army of the Potomac; still under the command
of General Meade,2 had for its duty the destruction of
the army under Lee. It was supported by a force in the Shenandoah
Valley and West Virginia, under General Sigel;3 by
another about Fortress Monroe, under General Butler;4
and by a column of reserves, under General Burnside,5
which were soon incorporated with Meade's command. All the
military movements were under the general supervision of the
Lieutenant-General, who had his headquarters with the Army of the
Potomac.
11. This army crossed the Rapidan,6 May
4. The next day, Lee hurled his whole army upon it, in the region
known as the Wilderness, and a terrific battle raged for
two days, at the close of which the Confederates withdrew behind
their intrenchments. Grant now, by a succession of flank
movements, interrupted by deadly conflicts at
Spottsylvania, the North Anna, and Cold
Harbor, crowded the Confederates back nearly to the defences
of Richmond, and then (June 14) began to throw his army across the
James, where be laid siege to Richmond and Petersburg, and
threatened Lee's communications with the south. This bloody
campaign to the James, lasting forty-two days, cost the
Union army sixty thousand men. The rebel loss was much less,
because, in most cases, the national troops were the attacking
party, and the enemy were intrenched.
12. The Army of the Potomac was
organized in three corps, led by Generals Hancock, Warren, and
Sedgwick.7 General
Sheridan8
1 See p. 287, ¶ 1. 2 See p. 283, ¶ 73. 3 See p. 271, ¶ 39.
4 See p. 277, ¶ 77-- 285, ¶ 76. 5 See p. 277 ¶ 57. 6 See pp. ¶ 71--285, ¶ 76.
7 See p. 293, ¶ 72. 8 See p. 276, ¶ 53.
QUESTIONS. -- What would be the effect if these armies should be captured or destroyed? 10. What Union forces were to operate against Johnston, and who was in command of them? What army was to operate against Lee, and who was its commander? By what forces was the Army of the Potomac supported? Who exercised general supervision of all the movements, and where did he have his headquarters? 11. When did the Amy of the Potomac cross the Rapidan? Give an account of the battle of the Wilderness, and Grants movements thence to the James. What more can you say of this campaign to the James?
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© 1999, 2000, 2001 for NEGenWeb Project by Ted & Carole Miller