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shortest notice after the 20th of that month. Every arrangement was accordingly made, and on the 23d, at early morning, the Ninth Corps broke camp and took up its line of march. The direction was not towards the harbor, but into the interior, and the column was soon on the road to Washington, whither General Burnside repaired by rail. General Willcox had direction of the march, and, on the night of the 24th, encamped his command on the Bladensburg road, about six miles distant from the Capital. In Washington, it began to be rumored that the Ninth Corps would pass through the city, and that a division of colored troops, five or six thousand strong, was incorporated in the column. The citizens were on the qui vive, the members of Congress and the President were eager to witness the movement. About nine o'clock in the morning of the 25th, the head of the column entered the city, and by eleven, the Corps was marching down New York Avenue. Halting a short distance from the corner of Fourteenth street, the column closed up, and prepared to pay a marching salute to the President, who, with General Burnside and a few friends, was awaiting the coming of the troops. The President and his party occupied a balcony over the entrance of Willard's Hotel.

The scene was one of great beauty, spirit and animation. The day was superbly clear. A cool wind breathed through the soft air of the early Spring. Rain had fallen during the previous night, and there was no dust to cause discomfort to the soldiers or the spectators. The troops marched and appeared exceedingly well. Their soiled and tattered flags, bearing inscriptions of battles in six States, east and west, were silent and affecting witnesses of their valor and their sacrifices. The firm and soldierly bearing of the veterans, the eager and expectant countenances of the men and officers of the new regiments, the gay trappings of the cavalry, the thorough equipment and fine condition of the artillery, were all subjects of warm commendation. Multitudes of spectators filled the streets and greeted the column with enthusiastic cheers. Gen

eral Ferrero's division was the first body of colored troops of any magnitude that ever marched through Washington, and their fine appearance and demeanor, though they had been but a week or two in the service, elicited numerous expressions of the heartiest approval. Mr. Lincoln himself seemed greatly pleased, and acknowledged the cheers and plaudits of the colored soldiers with a dignified kindness and courtesy. As they saw the modest and true gentleman who, with head uncovered, witnessed their march, a spirit of wild enthusiasm ran through their ranks. They shouted, they cheered, they swung their caps in the exuberance of their joy. They were now freemen. They had a grand and glorious object to live for. They would now make a history for their race, and there, looking down upon them, was the man who had given them this magnificent opportunity, and who was opening before them a new path of ambition and hope! It was a spectacle which made many eyes grow moist and dim. Through the greater part of the day, the column, with its long wagon train, filled the streets of the city. And thus the Corps that had never lost a flag or a gun marched through Washington! Crossing Long Bridge, the troops went into camp in the vicinity of Alexandria.

Even then, many of the officers and men had not entirely given up the thought of moving to some point upon the southern coast. They still cherished the hope that transports would be put in readiness for them at Alexandria. But the duty to which the Corps was now assigned effectually dispelled any such idea. To guard the Alexandria and Orange Railroad, from the Rapidan to the Potomac, was the immediate work to which General Grant had appointed the command. General Willcox, who was still in charge, established his headquarters at Manassas, and distributed the different divisions of the Corps along the railroad. In the course of the next few days, General Burnside had made his personal preparations to take the field. On the 27th, he proceeded to Manassas, and thence to Warrenton Junction, and, through all the stirring

scenes of the next four months, commanded the Corps in person. It was definitely settled by the 1st of May, that the Ninth Corps was to operate in Virginia, in immediate connection with the Army of the Potomac. Once more the soil of Virginia was to be ensanguined with the blood of brave men, and to tremble beneath the roar of artillery and the march of armies.

CHAPTER II.

THE

THE WILDERNESS AND SPOTTSYLVANIA.

HE Battle Summer of 1864 was a season of sanguinary conflicts, unsurpassed and even unequalled by any that had yet been recorded in the annals of this bloody war. General Grant had said that the "Army of the Potomac had never fought out its battles." He seemed determined now to carry his command through to victory, cost what it would. In his own words, he was resolved "to fight it out on that line, even if took all summer." General Lee was equally resolute in his resistance. The contending armies were equally brave. They were both composed of Americans, with all the courage and determination of the race-the finest citizen soldiers in the world. Able officers on both sides directed the movements of the opposing forces. The question was one of endurance and resource. Who could give, who could withstand the hardest hammering"? Who could bring the largest number of men into the field? Who could animate those men with the liveliest hope, or endue them with the most persistent fortitude? It was sufficiently manifest that the first aggressive movement of either party, which had lain quiescent so long upon the banks of the Rapidan, would inaugurate the life and death struggle of the rebellion.

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General Grant took the initiative. On the 3d of May, the Army of the Potomac was put in motion from its camps upon the north bank of the Rapidan. General Grant's plan was to turn the enemy's position upon the south bank, by a rapid march in the direction of Spottsylvania Court House. He hoped to draw General Lee out of his fortified position and

fight him on more favorable ground. A part of the army crossed the Rapidan at Germania ford; the remainder crossed the Rappahannock at United States ford; all moved with promptness. On the afternoon of the 4th, the Ninth Corps was ordered to follow with all despatch, and reënforce the Army of the Potomac. The bulk of the Corps was then at the crossing of the Rappahannock by the Alexandria Railroad, holding that road back to Bull Run. It was to move as soon as a crossing of the Rapidan had been secured by the army in front. General Burnside at once put his Corps in motion, and proceeded with all speed to the scene of operations. He marched through the 4th until after midnight, went into bivouac for a few hours and was again upon the road at an early hour on the 5th. The advance of the Corps crossed the Rapidan at Germania ford on the night of that day. A cloud of dust upon the right showed that other movements were going on. It proved to be the march of General Longstreet's corps, that was hastening on a parallel road to the aid of General Lee. The two antagonists were once more pitted against each other, and arrived almost simultaneously upon the field where their chiefs were contending.

On the 5th, General Lee struck the Army of the Potomac amid the entanglements of the Wilderness, and for two days a stubborn and bloody battle raged. Among the trees, in the under brush, along the forest paths, the armies grappled with each other, mostly in detached bodies of regiments and brigades. But little artillery was used, except in the roads, and the ground was unfavorable for the movements of cavalry. It was almost entirely an infantry fight, and was illustrated by many individual instances of heroic daring. Early on the morning of the 6th, General Burnside led his corps into the action near the Wilderness tavern. The command had marched a distance of thirty miles-a portion ten or fifteen more-crossing both the Rappahannock and Rapidan rivers. The colored division had marched from Manassas Junction, leaving there on the 4th, arriving at Catlett's at two o'clock on the morning of the 5th,

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