The Project Gutenberg ebook of History of the United States, Volume 4, by

1863] THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS 101

The battle of the second day began about three in the afternoon. Meade had neglected to occupy Little Round Top, which was the key to the Union line. Long­street's men began climbing its rugged sides. Fortunately the movement was seen in time, and Union troops, after a most des­perate conflict, seized and held the crest of the hill.

Along the Union left centre General Sickles's corps had taken a position in ad­vance of the rest of the line, upon a ridge branching off from Cemetery Ridge at an acute angle. Here he was fiercely attacked and most of his force finally driven back into the line of Cemetery Ridge. The Union right had been greatly weakened to strengthen the centre. The Confederates charged here also, and carried the outer intrenchments at Culp's Hill. The Union losses during the afternoon were 10,000--three-fifths in Sickles's corps, which lost half its numbers.

102 CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION [1863

The next morning was spent by Lee in preparing for a grand charge upon the Union centre, that of yesterday upon the left having failed, and the Confederates having this morning been driven from the ground gained the night before on the right at Culp's Hill. The storm burst about one o'clock. For two hours 120 guns on Semi­nary Ridge kept up a furious cannonade, to which Meade replied with 80. About three the Union cannon ceased firing. Lee mis­takenly thought them silenced, and gave the word to charge.

An attacking column 18,000 strong, made up of fresh troops, the flower of Lee's men, and commanded by the impetuous Pickett, the Ney of the southern army, emerges from the woods on Seminary Ridge, and, drawn up in three lines, one behind the other, with a front of more than a mile, moves silently down the slope and across the valley toward the selected spot. Suddenly the Union batteries again open along the whole line. Great furrows are ploughed in the advanc­ing ranks. They press steadily on, and climb the slope toward Meade's lines.

Diagram of the Attack on Sickles and Sykes.

Two regiments behind rude intrenchments slightly in advance pour in such a murder­ous fire that the column swerves a little toward its left, exposing its flank. General Stannard and his lusty Vermonters make an irresistible charge upon this. Windrows of Pickett's poor fellows are mowed down by the combined artillery and musketry fire. A part of the column breaks and flees.

104 CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION [1863

A part rushes on with desperate valor and reaches the low stone wall which serves for a Union breastwork. A venomous hand-to­-hand fight ensues. Union re-enforcements swarm to the endangered point. The three Confederate brigade commanders are all killed or fatally wounded, whole regiments of their followers surrounded and taken prisoners. The rest are tumbled back, and the broken remnants of that noble column flee in wild confusion across the valley.

The Confederate loss on this eventful day was 16,000, the Union loss not one-fifth as great. General Hancock, whose command bore the brunt of the charge, was severely wounded. Meade should have pressed his advantage, but did not, and next day Lee retreated under cover of a storm and escaped across the Potomac. His losses during the three days had been frightful, amounting to 23,000. In one brigade, numbering 2,800 on July 1st, only 835 answered roll-call three days later. Meade's total losses were also 23,000. Meade had had on the field in all 83,000 men and 300 guns, Lee 69,000 and 250 guns.

1863] THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGNS 105

Gettysburg marks the turning of the tide. The South's dream of getting a foothold in the North was forever past. She was soon to hear a gallant Northerner's voice demanding the surrender of Richmond.

CHAPTER VIII.

COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY

Gettysburg was the last general engage­ment in the East during 1863. The next spring, as we have noticed, Grant was appointed Lieutenant-General, with com­mand of all the northern armies, now numbering over 600,000 effectives. This vast body of men he proposed to use against the fast-weakening Confederacy in concerted movements. Sherman's part in the great plan has already been traced. The hardest task, that of facing Lee, the hero of Vicksburg and Chattanooga [he] re­served for himself. Greek thus met Greek, and the death-grapple began.

1864] COLLAPSE OF THE CONFEDERACY 107

May 4th the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan and entered the Wilderness, Meade in immediate com­mand, with 120,000 men present for duty. Lee, heading an army of 62,000 veterans, engaged his new antagonist without delay. For two days the battle raged in the gloomy woods. There was no opportunity for brilliant manoeuvres. The men of the two armies lay doggedly behind the trees, each blazing away through the underbrush at an unseen foe, often but a few yards off, while a stream of mangled forms borne on stretchers came steadily pouring to the rear. The tide of battle surged this way and that, with no decisive advantage for either side.

But Grant, as Lee said of him, "was not a retreating man." If he had not beaten, neither had he been beaten. Advance was the word. On the night of the 7th he began that series of "movements by the left flank" which was to force Lee forever from the Rappahannock front. The army stretched nearly north and south, facing west. Warren's corps, at the extreme right, quietly withdrew from the enemy's front, and marching south took a position beyond Hancock's, hitherto the left. Sedgwick's corps followed.

Death of General Sedgwick at Spottsylvania. May 9, 1864.