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November, 1863: Grant
MAY, 1864. 1864.
5-6-Battle of the Wilderness fought by the forces of Grant and Lee. This battle was a peculiar one, as it was fought in the midst of a dense forest. There was no manœuvring or strategy possible, "none of the pomp and glory of war, only its horrible butchery." The battle lasted three days, neither side having the advantage. The woods meantime took fire, and numbers of the wounded were burned to death. The Federals lost twenty thousand men, and the Confederates who fought on the defensive, ten thousand. Instead of recrossing the Rapidan as the enemy expected, Grant hurried to Spottsylvania Court House, around the Confederate right flank.
6-Gen. Grant having been placed in command of the Union armies in March, the Northern forces were thenceforward to act in concert, and thus prevent the enemy's armies from assisting one another. Grant was to attack Lee in Virginia, while Sherman was to oppose Johnson in Georgia. The latter marched on Atlanta with an army of a hundred thousand men, and drove Johnson for one hundred miles from position to position through mountains and woods, fighting the bloody battles of Dalton, Resaca, May 14-15, Dallas, May 25-28, and Lost Mountain, June 15-17, Kenesaw Mountain, June 27. On July 10, Johnston withdrew within the fortifications of Atlanta.
8-12-After the battle of the Wilderness, Lee having discovered Grant's flank movement sent a division to head him off, and the two armies came into collision at Spottsylvania. The manœuvring and fighting lasted five days, neither side having a decisive advantage. So fierce was the fighting at times, that a tree eighteen inches in diameter was cut in two by bullets. Each side lost ten thousand men. The wounded lay within the concentrated fire of both armies, and hundreds of them were riddled by bullets after they had fallen. It was at this battle that Grant wrote his famous dispatch, " I propose to fight it out on this line if it takes all summer." JUNE, 1864.
3-The battle of Cold Harbor was fought between Grant and Lee. "Twenty minutes after the first shot was fired ten thousand Union men were stretched writhing on the sod, or still and calm in death, while the enemy's loss was a little over one thousand." Grant had planned for three co-operative movements, but they failed. Sigel was defeated at New Market; Hunter was driven into West Virginia; and Butler was "hermetically sealed up" at Bermuda Hundred. General Sheridan however, passed, meantime, in the rear of the Confederates, destroyed many miles of railroad, captured four hundred prisoners, and killed at Yellow Tavern, General J. E. B. Stuart, the best cavalry leader in the Confederate armies.
19-The investment of Petersburg, whence Lee had retired, was begun by Grant. On the 16th an attack was made on the works, but failed. Grant now prepared for a seige of Richmond, Petersburg being his advanced position. In this campaign Grant lost seventy thousand men, and the Confederates forty thousand. Some writers, Grant among the number, place the losses at a lower figure, however.
19-The Alabama, a Confederate cruiser that had done untold damage to American commerce, was sunk off Cherbourg, France, by the Kearsage. This vessel was not a privateer, as she was built in England, and manned by British sailors, being only commissioned by the Confederate government. She sailed from England against the protest of the American Minister, and she destroyed sixty vessels before she was sunk. The British Government, after the close of the war, was compelled to pay fifteen million dollars to the United States, on account of the Alabama.
21-22-The Federals were repulsed in attacks upon the Weldon Railroad, with a loss of four thousand men. As this road communicated with the South its capture was of great importance. The fact that this fight was not mentioned in the military reports, and is not known by any specific name, is an indication of the proportions the war had now assumed.
28-The Confederates, under General Early moved on Washington by way of the Shenandoah Valley, and defeating General Wallace at Monocacy River, July 9, reached the defenses of Washington, July 10. Reinforcements having arrived, Early was forced to recross the Potomac. On July 30, he returned, entered Chambersburg, Pa., and not receiving $500,000 ransom, he burned the village. JULY, 1864.
30-Another unsuccessful assault was made by the Federals upon Petersburg, Virginia. A mine was dug under a Confederate fort, and fired with eight thousand pounds of powder. The garrison of three hundred men was blown into the air. The Federals dashed forward, but were met by the Confederate fire from all sides when they reached the demolished fort. The Federals lost four thousand men in this attack.