withdrew the army across the Rapidan, and it resumed its old camps.* Lee did not follow up in the least.

IV.

THE ARMY IN WINTER QUARTERS.

The movement on Mine Run terminated for the season grand military operations in Virginia, and the army established itself in winter cantonments for the next three months. During this period the dignity of dulness was disturbed only by one or two cavalry expeditions, planned with the ambitious aim of capturing Richmond by a sudden dash. The first of these schemes, which had the merit of boldness in conception if not in execution, was devised by General Butler, then commanding the Department of Virginia and North Carolina. Believing that Richmond had been stripped of its garrison for the purpose of strengthening the Confederate force operating in North Carolina under General Pickett, General Butler formed the design of swooping down on the Confederate capital with a cavalry raid by way of New Kent Courthouse on the Peninsula. As a "diversion" in favor of this enterprise, the Army of the Potomac was to make a demonstration across the Rapidan. The raiding column, under command of Brigadier-General Wistar, left New Kent Courthouse on the 5th of February, and reached the Chickahominy at Bottom's Bridge

* It would have been a move well adapted to the circumstances had General Meade, on seeing his plan of operations frustrated, advanced on Fredericksburg instead of falling back to his old line across the Rapidan. This would have had the character of an offensive movement, and would have saved the morale of the army and the confidence of the country, both of which were rudely shaken by these frequent fruitless operations. But here General Meade was met by previous prescriptions from General Halleck, not to make any change of base. This absurd piece of pedantry prevented what would have been an excellent From General Meade I learn that he would assuredly have made this move, had he been free to do so.

measure.

on the following day. The 7th, in obedience to orders from Washington, General Sedgwick, temporarily commanding the Army of the Potomac in the absence of General Meade, threw Kilpatrick's cavalry division across the Rapidan at Ely's Ford, and Merritt's division at Barnett's Ford, while, at a point between, two divisions of the Second Corps made the passage at Germanna Ford by wading. The Confederates held their positions, and considerable skirmishing took place during the day. The troops remained on the south bank until the time fixed for the termination of General Butler's movement, when they were withdrawn. The raiding scheme resulted in nothing. General Wistar found Bottom's Bridge blockaded, and after reconnoitring the position, he returned. He does not appear to have lost any thing; but the troops of the Army of the Potomac, that had the luck to be engaged in the "diversion," suffered a sacrifice of two hundred and fifty

men.

A few weeks later a bold expedition was fitted out with the view of releasing the large body of Union prisoners held at Richmond, the accounts of whose ill-treatment had excited profound sympathy throughout the North. This enterprise was under command of General Kilpatrick, with some three or four thousand cavalry, seconded by Colonel Dahlgren, a young officer of extraordinary dash and daring. It set out on the 28th of February, after Sedgwick's corps and Custer's cavalry had made a demonstration on Lee's left. Crossing the Rapidan at Ely's Ford, beyond the Confederate right flank, the force marched thence to Spottsylvania Courthouse. Here Colonel Dahlgren, with five hundred picked men, assuming the most daring part of the expedition, diverged from the main body and pushed forward by way of Frederickshall towards the James River. The column under General Kilpatrick at the same time moved rapidly southward, and on the following night, the 29th, struck the Virginia Central Railroad at Beaver Dam Station, whence parties were sent out to damage the road. While engaged in this work, a train of troops arrived from the direction of Richmond; but

after some skirmishing these retired. Another party was dispatched to destroy the bridge of the Fredericksburg apd Richmond Railroad across the South Anna-a purpose that was foiled by the presence of a small observing force. The main column then advanced with insignificant opposition, and on the forenoon of the following day, March 1st, reined up before the fortifications of Richmond. The swoop had been so sudden that the troopers passed unopposed within the outer line of redoubts; but the Confederates having, meanwhile, brought up some forces, Kilpatrick found himself arrested before the second line by opposition he could not break through. In the mean time, Colonel Dahlgren, with his isolated party, had moved southward from Frederickshall, after destroying the depot, till he struck the James River, where he did considerable damage to the canal, etc. A native of the country had undertaken to lead the party to a ford not far from Richmond, but through ignorance or treachery he missed his way, and conducted the column to near Goochland Courthouse, a full day's march from the intended point. The guide was hanged on the nearest tree, and Dahlgren moved down the course of the river towards Richmond, in front of which he arrived late on March 1st. But in the interim, General Kilpatrick, having been estopped in front of the fortifications, and hearing nothing of Dahlgren's column, became fearful as to his safety, and decided to fall back down the Peninsula, which he did in face of considerable opposition.

Dahlgren was thus completely isolated from the main body, while the country around him, now thoroughly aroused, was alive with parties of armed citizens and militia. During the night of the 3d, while on the retreat, Colonel Dahlgren, with a hundred horsemen, became separated from the rest of his command, and falling into an ambush, he was killed, with some of his men, the rest surrendering. The other portion succeeded in making a junction with Kilpatrick's column, which returned to the Army of the Potomac by way of Fortress Monroe.

These outlying operations, which were indeed of a rather Quixotic character, very slightly affected the main current of the war, whose issue, it was clearly seen, must await new and weightier trials of strength by the two great armies. As all the grounds of inference led to the belief that the spring campaign must be decisive of the war, both armies, as by consent, settled down in winter cantonments, to recuperate from the wear and tear of the trying season of 1863, and renew their strength for the impending shock of arms. Lee held the south bank of the Rapidan, his forces being distributed from the river along the railroad to Orange Courthouse and Gordonsville. The Army of the Potomac established itself along the Orange and Alexandria Railroad from the Rapidan back to the Rappahannock. The ranks of both armies were replenished by conscripts, and drills, inspections, and reviews were energetically pushed forward within the opposing camps. Thus the months of winter glided by, till vernal grasses and flowers came to festoon the graves on battle-fields over which the contending hosts had wrestled for three years.

Then, upstarting, the armies faced each other along the lines of the Rapidan.

XI.

GRANT'S OVERLAND CAMPAIGN.

MAY-JUNE, 1864.

I.

COMBINATIONS OF THE SPRING CAMPAIGN.

If one should seek to discover the cause of the indecisive character of the Virginia campaigns, and why it was that for three years the Army of the Potomac, after each advance towards Richmond, was doomed to see itself driven back in discomfiture, it might be thought that a sufficient explanation was furnished in the consideration of the inherent difficulty of the task, arising from the near equality of its adversary in material strength, and the advantage the Confederates enjoyed in fighting defensively on such a theatre as Virginia. But to these weighty reasons must be added another, of a larger scope, and having relation to the general conduct of Justice to the Army of the Potomac demands that this should here be stated, especially as the campaign on which I am about to enter will, happily, show the army under new auspices as regards this particular.

the war.

In Virginia, the Army of the Potomac had not only to combat the main army of the South, but an army that, by means of the interior lines held by the Confederates, might be continually strengthened from the forces in the western zone, unless these should be under such constant pressure as to prevent their