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firmly for the prosecution of the war, and the maintenance of the Union, but was not in full sympathy with
the policy of the administration. He carried only three States. Lincoln had a popular majority of over four
hundred thousand.
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR.
The Confederates had gained the battles of Olustee,
[Footnote: This battle ended an expedition fitted out by General Gilmore, at Hilton Head, S. C, to recover
Florida. After some success his troops, under General Seymour, advanced to Olustee, where (February 20)
they met a disastrous defeat and were forced to relinquish much they had gained. The men were afterwards
taken to Virginia to engage in more important work.]
Sabine Cross Roads, the Wilderness, Bermuda Hundred, Spottsylvania, New Market, Cold Harbor, and
Monocacy; had defeated the expeditions into Florida and the Red River country, the two attacks upon
Petersburg, and one against Fort Fisher, and yet held Grant at bay before Richmond. They had, however, lost
GENERAL REVIEW OF THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR. 142
 A Brief History of the United States
ground on every side. Of the States east of the Mississippi, only North and South Carolina were fully
retained. Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and Florida were overrun by the Union armies.
The Federals had gained the battles of Pleasant Hill, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw, Atlanta, Winchester, Fisher's
Hill, Cedar Creek and Nashville. They had captured Fort de Russy, the forts in Mobile harbor, and Fort
McAlister, and had taken Atlanta and Savannah. Sherman had swept across Georgia; Sheridan had devastated
the Shenandoah, driving its defenders before him; Thomas had annihilated Hood's army; Grant held Lee
firmly grasped at Richmond, and the navy swept the entire coast.
1865.
THE SITUATION. The plan of the campaign was very simple. The end of the war was clearly at hand.
Sherman was to move north from Savannah against Johnston, and then join Grant in the final attack upon
Lee. Sheridan, with ten thousand troopers, had swept down from the Shenandoah, cut the railroads north of
Richmond, and taken his place in the Union lines before Petersburg. Wilson, with thirteen thousand
horsemen, rode at large through Alabama and Georgia, and at Macon held a line of retreat from Virginia
westward. Stoneman, with five thousand cavalry from Tennessee, poured through the passes of the
Alleghanies and waited in North Carolina for the issue in Virginia.
[Illustration: SHERMAN'S MARCH.]
SHERMAN'S MARCH THROUGH THE CAROLINAS. In the meantime Sherman had given his troops
only a month's rest in Savannah. Early in February, they were put in motion northward. There was no waiting
for roads to dry nor for bridges to be built, but the troops swept on like a tornado. Rivers were waded, and
one battle was fought while the water was up to the shoulders of the men. The army, sixty thousand strong,
moved in four columns, with a front of more than fifty miles. Cavalry and foragers swarmed on the flanks.
Before them was terror; behind them were ashes.
COLUMBIA was captured (February 17), and Charleston, thus threatened in the rear, was evacuated the next
day.
[Footnote: The cotton stored in the city was scattered through the streets and destroyed by fire. The flames
quickly spread to the houses adjoining. All efforts to subdue the conflagration were unsuccessful, and a large
portion of the city was destroyed.]
[Footnote: General Hardee, on leaving, inflicted a terrible injury. He set fire to every shed and warehouse in
which cotton was stored. The flames spread to a quantity of powder in the depot, which exploded with fearful
destruction. Two hundred lives were lost. In spite of the efforts of the Union troops, a vast amount of private
property was involved in the general devastation. The ravages which the war had made were well illustrated
by the appearance of this city after its evacuation. An eye-witness says:  No pen, no pencil, no tongue can do
justice to the scene; no imagination can conceive the utter wreck, the universal ruin, the stupendous
desolation. Ruin, ruin, ruin, above and below, on the right hand and on the left-ruin, ruin, ruin, everywhere
and always, staring at us from every paneless window, looking out at us from every shell-torn wall, glaring
at us from every battered door, pillar, and veranda, crouching beneath our feet on every sidewalk. Not
Pompeii, nor Herculaneum, nor Tadmor, nor the Nile, has ruins so saddening, so plaintively eloquent. ]
In this emergency, Johnston was again called to the command of the Confederate forces. He gathered their
scattered armies and vigorously opposed Sherman's advance. After fierce engagements
at Averysboro and Bentonville (March 15, 18), he was driven back, and Raleigh was captured (April 13). [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]