coming up with two divisions, reached Smith just after dark, and offered the aid of his troops, waiving his rank, as he naturally supposed Smith best knew the ground, and what to do. No further assault was made. In the morning Grant arrived, but in the meantime the enemy had reached Petersburg in force. Had Sheridan commanded in place of Smith, the Union flag would no doubt have been found waving over Petersburg. However, the lines of the enemy were attacked, artillery and prisoners taken, and he was driven into an interior line, which was held; and now commenced the long, bloody siege of Petersburg. This city is twenty-two miles south from Richmond, and protected the communications by which the rebel Capital was supplied. It might possibly have been captured by a vigorous assault on the morning of the 16th of June. Every hour's delay, however, enabled the Confederates to strengthen their lines, and these soon became too strong to be carried by assault. General Grant gradually extended his lines south, with a view of cutting the railroads by which Lee's army and the Capital were supplied. In front of General Burnside was an angle in the enemy's lines, covered by a Fort, from which his line was not more than one hundred and fifty yards distant. Burnside conceived the design, and formed the resolve of mining the Fort, and the plan, although suspected by the enemy was successfully accomplished without discovery. General Grant took advantage of the weakening of the rebel lines, caused by their sending troops north of the James to repel an attack, to explode the mine. On the evening of the 30th of July, between 4 and 5 o'clock, the mine was sprung, blowing up a battery and the greater part of a regiment. The advance of the assaulting column formed of the Ninth Corps, immediately took possession of the crater made by the explosion, and the Confederate line for some distance to the right and left of it. Nothing now was in the way to prevent a march directly into Petersburg. Had there been coöperation and an immediate advance, Petersburg would have been taken. Not being properly supported the column failed to advance; and taking shelter for a while in the crater, thus giving time for the enemy to rally, the Union forces were ultimately forced back with great slaughter. Fifteen hundred men in grey and blue, found their graves within the crater formed by the explosion.* On the 7th of August, General Sheridan was placed in command of the Department of Washington and the Shenandoah, and the army under his command was strengthened. The rebel army under Early was encamped on the west bank of the Opequon Creek, and the Union army under Sheridan in front of Berryville. So disastrous would have been a defeat to the Union cause, laying open to the enemy Maryland and Pennsylvania, and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, that General Grant hesitated in allowing the impetuous, confident, and yet careful Sheridan to make an attack. On the 15th of September, Grant visited Sheridan, and became so well satisfied of his ability to whip the enemy, that he says, "I saw there were but two words of instructions necessary: 'Go in!'"+ Early on the morning of the 19th of September, Sheridan attacked Early, and after a bloody battle lasting until 5 P. M., he defeated him, capturing several thousand prisoners, and five pices of artillery. He pursued Early to the passes of the Blue Ridge Mountains, and destroying the Virginia Central Railroad, returned and took position behind Cedar Creek, near Strasburg. In marching back General Sheridan says, "the whole country from the Blue Ridge to the North Mountain has been made entirely untenable for a rebel army." Early having been reënforced, again returned to the Valley, and on the 9th of October, there was an encounter between his and Sheridan's cavalry in which the rebels were defeated with the loss of eleven pieces of artillery and 350 prisoners. On the morning of the 19th of October, Early, under cover of darkness and fog, crossed the mountains, surprised (in the absence of Sheridan) and turned the left flank of his army, *"For some cause, the assaulting column failed to advance promptly to the ridge beyond. Had they done this, there is every reason to believe that Petersburg would have fallen. Thus terminated in disaster what promised to be the most successful assault of the campaign."- Grant's Report, p. 14. +Grant's Report, p. 17. capturing batteries which enfiladed the whole Union line. The Union troops fell back with heavy loss and in confusion, but were finally rallied between Middletown and Newtown. At this juncture, Sheridan, who had been at Winchester and there heard the heavy firing, came forward at full speed, and arrived upon the field.* His presence inspired his troops with fresh courage and enthusiasm. Passing rapidly along the line where his soldiers could see him, his presence was equal to a reënforment of thousands of troops. He arranged his lines just in time to repulse a heavy attack of the enemy. Immediately assuming the offensive, he attacked with great vigor, defeating the enemy with great slaughter, retaking the guns and prisoners captured by Early, and capturing most of his artillery. The wreck of Early's army escaped during the night. Thus ended the war in the Valley of the Shenandoah. No further attempt to menace Washington and Baltimore, nor to invade the North through this valley was ever afterwards made. This ride of Sheridan to the field was the occasion of an ode, certainly one of the most spirited of the war, written by Thomas Buchanan Read, from which I extract the following: SHERIDAN'S RIDE. Up from the South at break of day, The affrighted air with a shudder bore, Like a Herald in haste to the Chieftain's door, The terrible grumble and rumble and roar, Telling the battle was on once more, And Sheridan twenty miles away! But there is a road from Winchester town, A good, broad highway leading down; And there, through the flush of morning light, A steed, as black as the steeds of night, Was seen to pass as with eagle's flight 'As if he knew the terrible need, He stretched away with his utmost speed; But his heart was gay, With Sheridan fifteen miles away. Still sprung from those swift hoofs, thundering south, The heart of the steed and the heart of the master General Grant pressed the enemy in Petersburg. He gradually extended his lines south and west, seeking to cut the railroads from that direction. On the 29th of September, Major General Ord landed north of the James, and captured Fort Harrison and fifteen pieces of artillery. During the autumn, the vast armies of Grant and Lee lay opposite each other in their lines around Petersburg, with frequent skirmishes and often severe battles, but with no decisive results. Cavalry raids and other means for interrupting the enemy's lines of communications and such demonstrations as would prevent the rebels from detaching his forces to any other point, constituted the principal operations of the army of General Grant. The enemy's resources were being rapidly exhausted. The loyal States were filling up a call made by the President on Under his spurning feet the road Like an arrowy Alpine River flowed, Like an ocean flying before the wind; And the steed like a bark fed with furnace ire, But lo! he is nearing his heart's desire He is snuffing the smoke of the roaring fray, With Sheridan only five miles away. The first that the General saw were the groups Of stragglers, and then the retreating troops; What was done-what to do-a glance told him both, Then striking his spurs with a terrible oath He dashed down the line 'mid a storm of huzzas And the wave of retreat checked its course there, because The sight of the master compelled it to pause. With foam and with dust the black charger was gray; By the flash of his eye and his red nostrils' play He seemed to the whole great army to say, I have brought you Sheridan all the way Hurrah! hurrah for Sheridan! the 18th of July, for 500,000 men. General Grant, on the 13th of September, 1864, telegraphed to the Secretary of War: "We ought to have the whole number of men called for by the President in the shortest possible time. Prompt action in filling up our armies will have more effect upon the enemy than a victory over them. They profess to believe the draft cannot be enforced. Let them be undeceived." |