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February, 1865

Sherman having captured Savannah, gave his troops a month's rest, and then turned north against Johnston, on his way through the Carolinas. He divided into four columns with a front of more than fifty miles, spreading "terror ahead of him, and leaving ashes behind him." Columbia was captured and burned, February 17, and Charleston surrendered the day following. At Averysboro and Bentonville Johnston was driven back, March 15 and 18, and Raleigh was taken on April 13. APRIL, 1865. 1-Battle of Five Forks. Sheridan by this battle succeeded in getting his forces in Lee's rear, and the latter, assailed on both sides, found his position untenable.

2-3-The Union forces made an assault along the entire front at daybreak on the 2d. At noon they had broken the Confederate intrenchments and taken thousands of prisoners. Petersburg and Richmond were evacuated during the night, and the Union troops entered Richmond the following day.

9-General Lee with his army surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia. After the evacuation of Richmond, Lee with the wreck of his once fine army sought to escape, but whichever side he turned to he was met by Sheridan's cavalry. At length, as the war was about to end in a bloody battle, he received a note from Grant asking his surrender on very honorable terms. Lee accepted the offer; his soldiers laid down their arms, and went to their homes on parole. Grant allowed the officers to retain their side-arms, and the men to keep their horses.

13-Mobile surrendered to a combined army and naval attack, and on the following day the flag that Gen. Anderson had lowered at Fort Sumter was restored to its position. On the 26th, General Johnston surrendered to Gen. Sherman in North Carolina, and the great conflict was over.

14-President Lincoln was assassinated at Washington. He was shot in the back of the head at Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth, an actor. Lincoln died next morning. The assassination was the result of a conspiracy of Southern sympathizers. The same evening an unsuccessful attempt was made to assassinate William H. Seward, Secretary of State. Four of those implicated in the plot were hanged, others imprisoned, and the assassin, Booth, who had escaped and taken refuge in a barn was shot by one of the pursuing soldiers.

15-Andrew Johnson, vice-President, took the oath of office as President, within three hours after the death of President Lincoln, and assumed the duties of his office.

MAY, 1865.

13-The last fight of the war took place near Brazos, in eastern Texas. A small force sent to surprise a Confederate camp was overtaken on the return march by a stronger force and defeated, losing eighty men.

26-The armies numbering over a million and a half of men, began to be mustered out of service, and in six months all had returned peaceably to their occupations. It was the grandest triumph of law and order in the history of the world. Previous to the disbandment, a grand review of the armies of Grant and Sherman was held in Washington. For twelve hours, a solid column, twenty men deep and thirty miles long, filed past before the President and his cabinet. Dick Taylor's and Kirby Smith's forces surrendered immediately after the surrender of Johnston, and Jefferson Davis, hoping to escape by flight was captured near Irwinsville, Georgia, and taken as a prisoner to Fortress Monroe. JUNE, 1865.

6-An order was issued for the release of all prisoners of war in the depots of the North. A month previously the President issued a proclamation of amnesty and pardon to all secessionists on the condition of their taking the oath of allegiance to the government. Certain classes were excluded, but many of those were pardoned by the President on personal application. Subsequently full pardon was granted to all not under indictment for treason. JULY, 1865.

4-The corner-stone of a monument was laid at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in memory of the soldiers who fell there.