The Story of Our Country Part 16

General Lee and Stonewall Jackson were not the men to keep quiet. In a short time they drove McClellan back after a hard fight lasting a whole week, and then made a sudden march to the north. Here was another Union army, on the old battle-field of Bull Run. A dreadful battle followed; men fell by thousands; in the end the Union army was defeated and forced back towards Was.h.i.+ngton.

General Lee knew that he could not take Was.h.i.+ngton, so he marched away north, waded his men across the Potomac River, and entered the state of Maryland. This was a slave state, and he hoped many of the people would join his army. But the farmers of Maryland loved the Union too well for that, so General Lee got very few of them in his ranks.

Then he went west, followed by General McClellan, and at a place called Antietam the two armies met; and there was fought the bloodiest battle of the war. They kept at it all day long and neither side seemed beaten.

But that night General Lee and his men waded back across the Potomac into Virginia, leaving McClellan master of the field. There was one more terrible battle in Virginia that year, in which General Burnside, who after McClellan commanded the Union army, tried to take the city of Fredericksburg, but was defeated and his men driven back with a dreadful loss of life.

Both armies now rested until the spring of 1863, and then another desperate battle was fought. General Hooker had taken General Burnside's place, and thought he also must fight a battle, but he did not dare to try Fredericksburg as Burnside had done, so he marched up the river and crossed it into a rough and wild country known as the Wilderness.

General Lee hurried there to meet him and the two armies came together at a place called Chancellorsville. They fought in the wild woods, where the trees in some places were so thick that the men could not see one another. But Stonewall Jackson marched to the left through the woods and made a sudden attack on the right wing of the Union army.

This part of the army was taken by surprise and driven back. Hooker's men fought all that day and the next, but they could not recover from their surprise and loss, and in the end they had to cross the river back again. General Lee had won another great victory. But Stonewall Jackson was wounded and soon died, and Lee would rather have lost the battle than to lose this famous general.

Do you not think the North had a right to feel very much out of heart by this time? The war had gone on for two years, and the Union army had been defeated in all the great battles fought in Virginia. The only victory won was that at Antietam in Maryland. They had been beaten at the two battles of Bull Run, the seven days' fight at Richmond, and the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, while the battle of Antietam had been won with great loss of life.

But there was soon to be a victory that would make up for more than one defeat. Shortly after the fight at Chancellorsville General Lee broke camp and marched north with the greatest speed. The Union army followed as fast as they could march, for there was danger of Baltimore or even Philadelphia being taken. Both armies kept on until they reached the town of Gettysburg, in the south of Pennsylvania. Here was fought the greatest battle of the war. It lasted for three days, the 1st, 2d and 3d of July, 1863.

The loss of life on both sides was dreadful. But the Confederates lost the most men and lost the battle besides. They tried in vain to break through the Union lines, and in the end they were forced to retreat. On the 4th of July General Lee sadly began his backward march, and the telegraph wires carried all through the North the tidings of a great victory. This was the turning point in the war. Six months before, President Lincoln had proclaimed the freedom of the slaves, and the armies were now fighting to make his word good. Negroes after this were taken into the Union ranks, that they might help in the fight for their own liberty.

I wish to say just here that the people of the North bore the defeats in Virginia better than you would think. They had good reason to, for while they had been losing battles in the East they had been winning battles in the West. So one helped to make up for the other. If you will follow me now to the West we will see what was taking place there.

The North did not have to change its generals as often in the West as in the East, for it soon found a good one; and it was wise enough to hold on to him. This was General Ulysses S. Grant, who is now honored as one of the greatest generals of the world's history.

Grant was only a captain at first. Then he was made a colonel, and was soon raised to the rank of general. He met the Confederates first at Belmont, Missouri. Here he was defeated, and had to take his men aboard river-boats to get them away. That was his first and nearly his last defeat.

The Confederates had built two strong forts in Kentucky which they named Fort Henry and Fort Donelson. General Grant marched against them with an army and Commodore Foote steamed against them with a fleet of iron-clad steamboats. Fort Henry was taken by the fleet before Grant could get to it. Then he marched across country to Fort Donelson, on the c.u.mberland River. He attacked this fort so fiercely that the Confederates tried to get out of it but did not succeed. Then they proposed to surrender, and asked him what terms he would give them.

"No terms except an immediate and unconditional surrender," he said. "I propose to move immediately on your works."

This settled the matter. They surrendered--fifteen thousand in all.

After that many said that U. S. Grant stood for "Unconditional Surrender" Grant.

I cannot tell you about all the fights that took place in the West, but there was a terrible battle at a place called Pittsburg Landing, which lasted two days, and in which Grant came very near being defeated. There was a severe one at Murfreesboro on the last day of the year, and another three days afterwards. Grant was not there, but Bragg, the Confederate General, was defeated.

The Confederates had an important stronghold on the Mississippi River at the city of Vicksburg, where they had many forts and a large number of cannon. General Sherman tried to capture these forts but was driven back. Then General Grant tried it and found it a very hard task.

The country was all swamp and creeks which no army could get through, so Grant at last marched south on the other side of the river, and then crossed over and marched north again. He had to fight every step of his way, and to live on the food his men could carry, for he had cut loose from the North. But he soon reached the city and began a long siege. The Confederates held out until all their food was gone, and until they had eaten up nearly all their horses and mules. Then they surrendered.

Twenty-seven thousand men were taken prisoners.

This took place on the 4th of July, 1863, the same day that General Lee marched away from the field at Gettysburg. That was one of the greatest Fourths of July this country had ever seen, for with it the last chance of the South was lost. General Lee had lost many thousands of his hardy veterans, men whom he could never replace. And in the fighting around Vicksburg and the capture of that city nearly fifty thousand more fell on the battle-field or were taken prisoners. It was a loss which the leaders of the Southern army bitterly felt. Fighting kept on for two years more, but they would have been wiser to give up then and save all the death and misery that came to them afterwards.

CHAPTER XXIII

WAR ON SEA AND LAND

I HAVE told you part of the story of how our people fought on land. Now suppose we take a look at the water, and see how they fought there. Have any of you heard of the wonderful battle between the "Monitor" and the "Merrimac"? If you have you will be sure to remember it, for it is one of the strangest stories in the history of war. In the lower part of Chesapeake Bay is what I may call a pocket of water named Hampton Roads, into which the James River flows. Here, in the month of March, 1862, lay a fleet of war-vessels. These were not the kind of s.h.i.+ps-of-war which we see now-a-days. They were wooden vessels, such as were used in former wars, but which would be of no more use than floating logs against the sea-monsters of to-day.

Something strange was soon to happen to these proud s.h.i.+ps. On the 8th of March there came into the waters of the bay a very odd looking craft. It was a s.h.i.+p, but instead of a deck it had a sloping roof made of iron bars. It looked something like a house gone adrift. I fancy the people in the wooden s.h.i.+ps must have been a little scared when they saw it coming, for they had never seen a war-vessel with an iron roof before.

They might well be scared, for they soon found that their cannon were of no more use than pea-shooters against this queer craft. The cannon-b.a.l.l.s bounded off from her sides like so many peas. On came the monster and struck one of the s.h.i.+ps with her iron beak, tearing a great hole in its side. Down into the waters sunk the gallant s.h.i.+p, with all on board. And there it lay with its flag flying like a flag above a grave. Another s.h.i.+p, the "Congress," was driven on the mud and had to give up the fight.

There were three more s.h.i.+ps in the fleet, but it was now near night, and so the "Merrimac," as the iron monster was called, steamed away. Her captain thought it would be an easy thing to settle with them the next morning, and very likely the people on them did not sleep well that night, for they could not forget what had happened to the "Congress" and the "c.u.mberland," and felt sure their turn was to come next.

But, as the old saying goes, "There is many a slip between cup and lip."

The "Merrimac" was to learn the truth of this. For when she came grimly out the next day, expecting to sink the rest of the fleet and then steam up to the city of Was.h.i.+ngton and perhaps burn that, her captain found before him the queerest thing in the shape of a s.h.i.+p he had ever seen.

It was an iron vessel that looked like "a cheese box on a raft." All that could be seen was a flat deck that came just above the water, and above this a round tower of iron, out of which peeped two monsters of cannon.

This strange vessel had come into Hampton Roads during the night, and there it lay ready to do battle for the Union. It was a new style of war-s.h.i.+p that had been built in New York and was called the "Monitor."

The "Merrimac" soon had enough to keep herself busy, and was forced to let the wooden fleet alone. For four long hours these two iron monsters battered each other with cannon b.a.l.l.s. Such a fight had never been seen before. It was the first time two iron-clad s.h.i.+ps had met in war.

I cannot say that either s.h.i.+p was hurt much. The b.a.l.l.s could not get through the iron bars and plates and glanced off into the water. But the "Merrimac" got the worst of it, and in the end she turned and hurried back to Norfolk, from which place she had come. The "Monitor" waited for her, but she never came out again. Soon afterwards the Confederates left Norfolk and sunk their iron s.h.i.+p, and that was the last of the "Merrimac."

When the news of this wonderful sea-fight got to Europe the kings and ministers of war read it with alarm. They saw they had something to do.

Their wooden war-vessels were out of date, and they went to work in a hurry to build iron-clad s.h.i.+ps. To-day all the great nations of the earth have fleets of steel-covered s.h.i.+ps-of-war, and the United States has some of the best and strongest of this kind of s.h.i.+ps.

All through the war there were battles of iron-clads. On the western rivers steamboats were plated with iron and attacked the forts on sh.o.r.e.

And along the coast iron-clad vessels helped the wooden s.h.i.+ps to blockade the ports of the South. More vessels like the "Monitor" were built in the North, and a number somewhat like the "Merrimac" were built in the South. I cannot say that any of them did much good either North or South.

A great naval battle was fought in the Mississippi, which led to the capture of New Orleans, and another was fought in the Bay of Mobile, on the Gulf of Mexico. Here there were some strong forts and a powerful iron-clad s.h.i.+p. Admiral Farragut sailed into the bay with a fleet of wooden s.h.i.+ps and several iron vessels like the "Monitor." When he went past the forts he stood in the rigging of his s.h.i.+p, with his spy-gla.s.s in his hand. He did not seem to care anything for cannon-b.a.l.l.s. He took the forts, and since then Farragut has been one of our great naval heroes.

There was one Confederate privateer, the "Alabama," which caused terrible loss to the merchants of the North. It took in all sixty-five vessels, which were set on fire and burned. In June, 1864, the "Alabama"

was met near the coast of France by the frigate "Kearsarge," and a furious battle took place. For two hours they fought, and then the "Alabama" sagged down into the water and sank to the bottom of the sea.

She had done much harm to the North, but her career was at an end.

Now let us turn back to the war on land and see what was going on there.

I have told you the story of the fighting up to the great 4th of July, 1863, when Vicksburg surrendered to General Grant and General Lee marched away from Gettysburg. That is where we dropped the threads which we have now to take up again.

After Grant had taken Vicksburg and opened the Mississippi from St.

Louis to its mouth, he set out for the town of Chattanooga, which is in Tennessee just north of Georgia. Here there had been a great battle in which the Confederate army won the victory, and the Union troops were shut up in Chattanooga with very little to eat.

Grant was not there long before there came a change. General Bragg, the Confederate commander, had his army on the summits of two mountains named Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. These were defended by strong forts. But the Union troops charged up the mountain sides in the face of the fire of rifles and cannon and soon had possession of the forts. General Bragg's army was defeated with great loss. This was one of the most brilliant victories of the war. The battle of Lookout Mountain has been called "the battle above the clouds."

Everybody now saw that General Grant was much the best general on the Union side, and President Lincoln made him commander-in-chief of all the armies in the field. Grant at once laid his plans to have the armies all work together. General Sherman was left in command of the army of the West and Grant came to Virginia to fight General Lee.

In the green month of May, 1864, all the armies were set in motion, and North and South came together for the last great struggle of the war.

Grant led his men into the Wilderness where General Hooker and his army had been sadly defeated the year before. Lee was there to meet him, and a great battle was fought in the depth of the woods and thickets. It lasted two whole days, but neither side won.

Then Grant marched towards Richmond and Lee hurried down to head him off. Several hard battles were fought, the last being at Cold Harbor, near Richmond. Here the Union army lost terribly. Ten thousand men were killed and wounded, while the Confederates, who were behind strong earthworks, lost only a thousand.

General Grant saw he could not reach Richmond that way, so he crossed the James River and began a siege of Petersburg and Richmond. This siege lasted nine months, both sides digging instead of fighting till great heaps of earth were thrown up, on whose tops were hundreds of cannon.

General Grant kept his men very busy, as you may see. But General Sherman's men were just as busy. He marched south from Chattanooga, and fought battle after battle until he had gone far into Georgia and captured the important city of Atlanta. General Hood, the Confederate commander, then made a rapid march to Tennessee, thinking that Sherman would follow him. But Sherman did not move. The brave General Thomas was there to take care of Hood and his army.

"Let him go; he couldn't please me better," said Sherman.