CHAPTER XIII.

ON TO RICHMOND.

"ON TO RICHMOND "-OUT OF THE WILDERNESS-BATTLE OF SPOTTSYLVANIA-"I PROPOSE TO FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS LINE, IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER ”—AT NORTH ANNA—CROSSING THE PAMUNKEY-BATTLE OF COLD HARBOR-CROSSING THE JAMES-RAIDS-THE ARMY RESTS.

OF

F all our blunders in the war, (and we made many,) “On to Richmond” had been the greatest; because Richmond, taken in the early period of the war, would have been of no practical advantage. It would have given us éclat, but not success. Let the reader suppose General Lee to have been driven from Richmond into Lynchburg-would he not have been as defensible there as in Richmond? He would have lost some advantage in defending the sea-board, but he would have gained more in defending the Valley of Virginia, and covering the approaches to Chattanooga. But we already had Norfolk, securing Chesapeake Bay. Whatever opinions may be formed of that matter, it is certain that we had lost three years, and nearly three armies, in a useless attack on the defenses of Richmond. The critics who complain of the losses sustained by Grant's army should remember this, and consider whether it was not better to finish the work in one vigorous campaign, however

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bloody, than to take three years, and slaughter three armies?

But here we are moving out of the Wilderness, (and we shall all be glad to get out,) and we are not going to Fredericksburg, for we have got Fredericksburg. We are obliquing to Lee's right. He was not quick enough to get in front of us; and if he had got there, and could have successfully resisted us, we should. have turned his left. He was not strong enough to prevent the movement, which was inevitable. On the 8th our army is on the road to Spottsylvania-Second, Fifth, Sixth, and Ninth Corps-all of them, with the cavalry and trains. Two of our corps took the road to Todd's tavern, half a dozen miles west of Spottsylvania, and others the plank-road toward Fredericksburg. Lee took another road on the south, and, in general, parallel to the course of our troops. Saturday night and Sunday morning, (the 9th,) the Second and Fifth Corps passed on toward Spottsylvania. In the next five days Lee made repeated attacks laterally, endeavoring to flank and drive back our columns, and, at Spottsylvania, fought a hard and bloody battle. On Sunday there was an engagement with a part of Warren's Corps, and on Monday, one with Hancock; during which day General Sedgwick, a good and much admired officer, was killed in a skirmish.

On Tuesday, the 10th of May, Grant's army lay along the Po, (one of the small streams which make the Mattapony,) near Spottsylvania Court-House. The enemy held a fortified position directly opposite, partly on the Ny, (another little branch of the Mattapony,) on a rising ground, with breastworks, and the marshy

ground of the Ny in front. And now it is very plain we are to have another battle. Lee had got into Spottsylvania a little ahead of us, and if we are to go on, we must fight him; and, moreover, my reader, the more he fights the better for us. We shall lose gallant men, but we shall win the campaign.

On the 10th a gallant charge was made by the Fifth Corps, with part of the Second, under Gibbons and Birney. Repeated charges were made, till the enemy was driven to his rifle-pits. In the mean time Barlow's Division, on the right, had been turned, and suffered some loss; but, in the afternoon, General Upton, of the Sixth Corps, made a successful charge on the enemy, scaling his works, capturing a thousand prisoners and several guns. So closed the 10th of May, with heavy losses, but with no decisive results. Spottsylvania was not taken, but we were there to begin again. So far it was nothing but fighting, and so it was likely to continue. We commenced fighting on the 4th, and it is now the morning of the 11th, when Grant sent to the War Department a very celebrated dispatch:

"HEAD-QUARTERS IN THE FIELD, May 11, 1864, 8, A. M. "We have now ended the sixth day of very heavy fighting. The result, to this time, is much in our favor.

"Our losses have been heavy, as well as those of the enemy. I think the loss of the enemy must be greater.

"We have taken over five thousand prisoners by battle, while he has taken from us but few, except stragglers.

"I PROPOSE TO FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS LINE, IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER. U. S. GRANT, “Lieutenant-General, Commanding the Armies of the United States."

I remember when that dispatch came to Cincinnati. It was noon of a bright day-a glorious May

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day. "I PROPOSE TO FIGHT IT OUT ON THIS LINE, IF IT TAKES ALL SUMMER." Some persons have criticised this, by saying Grant did not go on that line. He did go on that line precisely, for the line he was on was after Lee and his army,' whether that was a straight line or a curved line. It did take all summer, and all winter too, but it was the same line, and the Army of the Potomac never again retreated. When the people heard that Grant was determined to "fight it out on that line" they rejoiced, for they knew that was the line which would lead to victory and peace. All was not quiet on the Potomac, but all was the march of armies and the shock of battles. On the 11th there was no fighting. The positions of the armies were the same, and Lee covered Spottsylvania in a crescent-shaped line.

On the 12th, (Thursday,) the dawn of day came on with a dense fog, and in this dim light Hancock again advanced to the attack. The noble Second, led by its dashing commander, was again to be crimsoned with blood. The Second Corps was formed in two heavy lines, with double columns of battalions, Barlow and Birney in the first line, and Gibbon and Mott in the second. The attack was on the enemy's right center, at a salient angle of earthworks held by Johnson's Division of Ewell's Corps. Our columns moved silently, and, from what followed, it seems unseen by the enemy. Professor Coppée thus describes what followed:

"They passed over the rugged and densely wooded

'This was distinctly stated in Grant's Order to Meade, (in March,) that Lee's army was the objective point, and where Lee went he was to go.

space, the enthusiasm growing at every step, till, with a terrible charge, and a storm of cheers, they reached the enemy's works, scaled them in front and flank, surprising the rebels at their breakfast, surrounding them, and capturing Edward Johnson's entire division, with its general, two brigades of other troops, with their commander, Brigadier-General George H. Stuart, and thirty guns. The number of prisoners taken was between three and four thousand. It was the most decided success yet achieved during the campaign. When Hancock heard that these generals were taken, he directed that they should be brought to him. Offering his hand to Johnson, that officer was so affected as to shed tears, declaring that he would have preferred death to captivity. He then extended his hand to Stuart, whom he had known before, saying, 'How are you, Stuart?' but the rebel, with great haughtiness, replied, 'I am General Stuart, of the Confederate Army; and, under present circumstances, I decline to take your hand.' Hancock's cool and dignified reply was: 'And under any other circumstances, General, I should not have offered it.'” 1

An hour after the column of attack had been formed, Hancock sent to Grant a pencil dispatch, which went over the country like electric fire: "I have captured from thirty to forty guns. I have finished up Johnson, and am now going into Early.” His going into Early was not quite so successful; still he pushed on to the second line of rifle pits, stormed and took it. The enemy now rallied with desperate energy, and for fourteen long hours, weary

'Coppee's "Grant and His Campaigns,” page 313.