A Short History of the United States for School Use Part 51

Without letting go his hold on Petersburg, Grant sent two army corps by water to Was.h.i.+ngton. Early was an able and active soldier, but he delayed his attack on Was.h.i.+ngton until soldiers came from the James. He then withdrew to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant now gave Sheridan forty thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry, and sent him to the Valley with orders to drive Early out and to destroy all supplies in the Valley which could be used by another Southern army. Splendidly Sheridan did his work. At one time, when he was away, the Confederates surprised the Union army. But, hearing the roar of the battle, Sheridan rode rapidly to the front. As he rode along, the fugitives turned back.

The Confederates, surprised in their turn, were swept from the field and sent whirling up the Valley in wild confusion (October 19, 1864). Then Sheridan destroyed everything that could be of service to another invading army and rejoined Grant at Petersburg. In the November following this great feat of arms, Lincoln was reelected President.

[Sidenote: Mobile Bay, 1864. _Hero Tales_, 303-322.]

[Sidenote: _Kearsarge_ and _Alabama_.]

433. The Blockade and the Cruisers, 1863-64.--The blockade had now become stricter than ever. For by August, 1864, Farragut had carried his fleet into Mobile Bay and had closed it to commerce. Sherman had taken Savannah. Early in 1865 Charleston was abandoned, for Sherman had it at his mercy, and Terry captured Wilmington. The South was now absolutely dependent on its own resources, and the end could not be far off. On the open sea, with England's aid a few vessels flew the Confederate flag.

The best known of these vessels was the _Alabama._ She was built in England, armed with English guns, and largely manned by Englishmen. On June 19, 1864, the United States s.h.i.+p _Kearsarge_ sank her off Cherbourg, France. Englishmen were also building two ironclad battles.h.i.+ps for the Confederates. But the American minister at London, Mr. Charles Francis Adams, said that if they were allowed to sail, it would be "war." The English government thereupon bought the vessels.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ADMIRAL FARRAGUT.]

[Sidenote: Sherman's northern march, 1865.]

434. Sherman's March through the Carolinas, 1865.--Early in 1865 Sherman set out on the worst part of his great march. He now directed his steps northward from Savannah toward Virginia. The Confederates prepared to meet him. But Sherman set out before they expected him, and thus gained a clear path for the first part of his journey. Joseph E.

Johnston now took command of the forces opposed to Sherman and did everything he could to stop him. At one moment it seemed as if he might succeed. He almost crushed the forward end of Sherman's army before the rest of the soldiers could be brought to its rescue. But Sherman's veterans were too old soldiers to be easily defeated. They first beat back the enemy in front, and when another force appeared in the rear they jumped to the other side of their field breastworks and defeated that force also. Night then put an end to the combat, and by morning the Union force was too strong to be attacked. Pressing on, Sherman reached Goldsboro' in North Carolina. There he was joined by Terry from Wilmington and by Schofield from Tennessee. Sherman now was strong enough to beat any Confederate army. He moved to Raleigh and completely cut Lee's communications with South Carolina and Georgia, April, 1865.

[Sidenote: Condition of Lee's army.]

[Sidenote: _Higginson_, 317.]

[Sidenote: Surrender of the Southern armies, April 1865. _Source-book_, 329-333].

435. Appomattox, April, 1865.--The end of the Confederacy was now plainly in sight. Lee's men were starving. They were constantly deserting either to go to the aid of their peris.h.i.+ng families or to obtain food from the Union army. As soon as the roads were fit for marching, Grant set his one hundred and twenty thousand men once more in motion. His object was to gain the rear of Lee's army and to force him to abandon Petersburg. A last despairing attack on the Union center only increased Grant's vigor. On April 1 Sheridan with his cavalry and an infantry corps seized Five Forks in the rear of Petersburg and could not be driven away. Petersburg and Richmond were abandoned. Lee tried to escape to the mountains. But now the Union soldiers marched faster than the starving Southerners. Sheridan, outstripping them, placed his men across their path at Appomattox Court House. There was nothing left save surrender. The soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia, now only thirty-seven thousand strong, laid down their arms, April 9, 1865. Soon Johnston surrendered, and the remaining small isolated bands of Confederates were run down and captured.

[Sidenote: Murder of Lincoln, April 14, 1865. _Higginson_, 322-323; _Source-book_, 333-335.]

436. Lincoln murdered, April 14, 1865.--The national armies were victorious. President Lincoln, never grander or wiser than in the moment of victory, alone stood between the Southern people and the Northern extremists clamoring for vengeance. On the night of April 14 he was murdered by a sympathizer with slavery and secession. No one old enough to remember the morning of April 15, 1865, will ever forget the horror aroused in the North by this unholy murder. In the beginning Lincoln had been a party leader. In the end the simple grandeur of his nature had won for him a place in the hearts of the American people that no other man has ever gained. He was indeed the greatest because the most typical of Americans. Vice-President Andrew Johnson, a war Democrat from Tennessee, became President. The vanquished secessionists were soon to taste the bitter dregs of the cup of defeat.

[Ill.u.s.tration: MAYOR'S OFFICE, APRIL 15th, 1865, Death notice of Abraham Lincoln]

QUESTIONS AND TOPICS

[Use maps constantly while studying this period. The maps provided in Dodge's _Bird's-Eye View _are admirably adapted to this purpose.]

CHAPTER 37

-- 380.--_a_. What did Lincoln say about the Union? What did he say about slavery? What oath did Lincoln take?

_b_. Was his inaugural conciliatory to the South?

---- 381, 382.--_a_. What was the result of Buchanan's attempt to send supplies to Fort Sumter?

_b_. Why did Lincoln inform the governor of South Carolina of his determination to succor Fort Sumter?

_c_. What was the effect on Northern opinion of the attack on Fort Sumter?

_d_. Could the Southerners have done otherwise than fire on the flag?

---- 383-385.--_a_. Why were the Virginians so divided? What resulted from this division?

_b_. What were the "border states"? Could these states have been neutral?

_c_. Describe the especial importance of Maryland.

_d_. What oath had the officers of the United States army and navy taken? Did Lee and other officers who resigned necessarily believe in the right of secession? Give your reasons.

CHAPTER 38

---- 386, 387.--_a_. State the advantages of the Southerners from the geographical point of view.

_b_. Explain how rivers were lines of defense.

_c_. Describe carefully the plan of the Bull Run campaign.

_d_. Why was the Shenandoah Valley so important?

---- 388-390.--_a_. Why was McClellan placed in command of the Army of the Potomac?

_b_. Of what advantage to the South were the negroes?

_c_. Describe the plan of the Peninsular Campaign. What was the great objection to it?

-- 391.--_a_. Describe the _Merrimac_, the _Monitor_. Compare them with the _Congress_.

_b_. What effect did the _Monitor-Merrimac_ fight have on McClellan's campaign?

---- 392, 393.--_a_ Describe the Peninsular Campaign. Why were not more soldiers sent to McClellan?

_b_. What is meant by the phrase "change of base"?

_c_. How did Lee secure the removal of McClellan's army from the James?

---- 394, 395.--_a_ Why did Lee invade Maryland? _b_. Describe the battle of Antietam, of Fredericksburg. What was the result of each of these battles?

---- 396, 397.--_a_. Give an account of the early life and training of Grant and of Thomas.

_b_. Why were the seizures of Cairo and Paducah and the battle of Mill Springs important?

_c_. What is meant by the phrase "unconditional surrender"?

---- 398, 399.--_a_. Explain carefully the importance to the South of New Orleans and the lower Mississippi.

_b_. Give an account of Farragut's early life. How did it fit him for this work?

_c_. Describe the operations against New Orleans.