Reproduced by permission of Rand, McNally and Company from E. G. Foster's Illustrative Historical Maps.

for being 500,000, but in view of the excess on previous calls the quotas were considerably reduced,34 and in this instance the 384,882 men furnished surpassed the number required. Notwithstanding the enormous outpouring of men already made in response to the Government's demands, it was found urgent to issue another call on December 19th for 300,000 men, for service ranging from one to three years. Only 70 per cent. were supplied,35 but fortunately without detriment to the cause as the necessity for more troops ceased to exist before the majority of States had furnished their full quotas. As it was, the Government had called for no less. than 1,585,000 troops in fourteen months and had met with responses to the amount of 1,249,709.

36

CAMPAIGN OF 1864

On March 2nd the Senate confirmed the nomination of Ulysses S. Grant as Lieutenant-General, and a week later his commission was handed him at Washington by President Lincoln in person. On the 12th he was officially placed in supreme command of all the armies of the United States, and a fortnight afterward he established his headquarters at Culpeper, Virginia.37 The importance of this appointment can scarcely be over-estimated.38 The chaotic mismanagement of armies which had characterised Halleck's régime became a thing of the past, and thenceforth a definite military policy was inaugurated and consistently followed.39

Grant's initial step was to concentrate all possible Union forces, which had been greatly disseminated, and to have Sheridan placed in command of the cavalry, which had heretofore accomplished but little by comparison with its capabilities under a really skilful leader. 40 Before April 9th Grant had matured his plans. Sherman, who had succeeded him in command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, was to move from Chattanooga directly against Johnston's army and Atlanta, while Meade with the Army of the Potomac which Grant would accompany advanced

were

against Lee and Richmond. 42 These were the principal objectives, and the operations of the other Union forces 43 necessarily secondary and merely intended to supplement and support the main armies. In a word, Grant purposed to make a united effort with the maximum force against the two Confederate armies, to engage them simultaneously and to subject them to continuous hammering until their resistance was overcome and their destruction achieved.*

Pursuant to this plan Meade crossed the Rapidan on May 4th 44 and on the 5th came into collision with Ewell's corps near Wilderness Tavern. 66 The battle raged furiously all day" and throughout the 6th,45 but on the morning of the 7th Lee had fallen back within his entrenched lines. That night Grant resumed his advance, and next day General Warren commanding the 5th Corps which formed the van

was again engaged with Ewell, who sought to delay his movement in order to permit the line at Spottsylvania Court House to be fortified. The ensuing three days were spent in manœuvering and fighting, Sheridan meanwhile starting on the 9th on a raid against Lee's communications with Richmond.46 The battle of Spottsylvania terminated on May 18th, and on the night of the 21st Grant began to transfer his army to the North Anna River but found himself again anticipated by Lee. From the 23rd to the night of the 26th 47 the fighting continued unabated, but the Union commander withdrew to the north bank and set his army in motion to Hanover Court House 48 in the hope of turning his adversary's right flank. But Lee had fathomed his pur

*"I therefore determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of the enemy; preventing him from using the same force at different seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary supplies for carrying on resistance. Second, to hammer continuously against the armed force of the enemy and his resources, until by mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to him but an equal submission with the loyal section of our common country to the constitution and laws of the land.”— Grant's Official Report to the Secretary of War, dated July 22, 1865, and quoted in his Memoirs, II, p. 556.

pose, and from the 28th to the 30th the struggle was renewed at that point. On June 1st the battle of Cold Harbor opened with an attack on the Confederate entrenchments; next day there was a lull in the fighting but on the 3rd it was resumed with the utmost fury.49 Four days later Sheridan was sent on another raid,50 and on the 12th Grant was forced to relinquish his attempts to drive his opponents from their fortified lines, his own tremendous losses being in nowise commensurate with the results achieved.51 That night, moving again by his left flank and changing his base of operations, he started across the James for Petersburg, where he arrived on the 15th and at once attacked. On the 17th and 18th his assaults were renewed with great vigour "but only resulted in forcing the enemy into an interior line, from which he could not be dislodged." 52 Next day he sat down to a regular siege of Beauregard's forces 53" and penned Lee and his Army of Northern Virginia within the intrenchments of Richmond and Petersburg for ten long months 54 on the pure defensive, to remain almost passive observers of local events,55 while Grant's other armies were absolutely annihilating the Southern Confederacy." 56

The operations of the secondary armies in Virginia had their effect, although they were not attended with conspicuous success, with the possible exception of Hunter, who was however driven back from Lynchburg to the Kanawha Valley by Early.57 The latter then continued up the Shenandoah, crossed the Potomac at Shepherdstown on July 5th and 6th, defeated General Lew Wallace at Monocacy 58 and moved against Washington, in accordance with Lee's plan to force Grant to withdraw from the vicinity of Richmond. On the 12th Early, having to use his own words" given the Federal authorities a terrible fright," 59 began his retrograde movement to Strasburg, where he arrived ten days. later. Learning that Wright's corps had been withdrawn from Washington, Early attacked and defeated Crook at Kernstown, recrossed the Potomac into Maryland, burned