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implored him to hasten to his relief; but Johnston's forces were not strong enough to encounter the serried ranks of Grant, and every day brought nearer the inevitable catastrophe. The Federal commander assured his Government that the fall of Vicksburg was certain, and by the commencement of July it had become evident to the Confederates themselves that this was the case. Grant had informed Sherman that another assault on Vicksburg would be made at daybreak on the 6th of July; but the necessity for any such attempt was removed by the action of the besieged themselves. Some weeks before, General Pemberton, irritated by a report that he intended to sell the town, said in a published order that he would indeed sell it, but only at the price of his own life, and that of every man under his command. Utterances of this kind are generally followed by surrender when all hope has failed; and so it was in the case of Pemberton. The beleaguered Confederates had done their utmost, and had fought with gallantry, and even heroism. They are not to be blamed for giving way when at length it became evident that nothing more could be done. Yet it is impossible not to contrast Pemberton's gratuitous bravado with his actual conduct when it came to the push.

On the 3rd of July, about half-past seven in the morning, a flag of truce was seen on the crest of a hill outside the town. A messenger was sent to bring in the bearers of the flag, and two Confederate officers, blindfolded, were taken to the tent of General A. J. Smith. They carried a despatch from Pemberton to Grant, in which proposals were made for an armistice, with a view to arranging terms for the capitulation of Vicksburg.. Pemberton said he made this proposition to save further effusion of blood, which must otherwise be shed to a frightful extent, but added that he felt himself fully able to maintain his position for a period still indefinite. General Grant, in reply, declined to appoint commissioners for arranging terms of capitulation, because he would consider no other terms than an unconditional surrender of the city and garrison. An interview subsequently took place between Grant and Pemberton. The scene was an orchard, midway between the contending forces. The two commanders having been formally introduced to one another by Colonel Montgomery, of the Confederate force (one of the officers who had come with the flag of truce), they shook hands, and after a few words adjourned to a more private spot for discussing the state of affairs. Finally, General Grant said he would put his propositions into writing, and, after some interchange of notes, it was agreed that the garrison should be paroled, and

allowed to return to their homes, not to serve again until properly exchanged, and that the town, stores, arms, and trophies should become the prize of the victors. The negotiations were concluded on the 4th of July-the great historical day of America, now rendered still more illustrious by the surrender of a fortified city for the possession of which both sections of the American population, unhappily divided by a miserable feud, had fought with equal valour, devotion, and military skill. Grant had to some extent receded from his original demand of unconditional capitulation; but in his official report he said that this alteration had the advantage of saving the Government the trouble of sending the garrison all the way to the North, while it left the Federals equally free to operate against Johnston. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 4th, the Confederates marched out, and stacked arms in front of their works; after which the city was occupied by three divisions of the Federals. The Northern troops behaved extremely well. At night, fireworks were let off; but this appears to have been done in celebration, not of the victory, but of Independence Day. By the surrender of Vicksburg, the Confederates lost the services of nearly 25,000 men, including three major-generals and nine brigadiers, with upwards of ninety pieces of artillery, and about 40,000 small-arms. During the whole of the campaign, Grant had captured (as he afterwards informed his Government) 37,000 prisoners, including fifteen general officers; and arms and munitions of war for 60,000 men had fallen into his hands. Equally important was the command which the Federals had in this way obtained over the great Mississippi River, which enabled them to divide the Confederate States into two distinct portions-that to the east and that to the west of the stream-and to render it very difficult for either to give assistance to the other. The fall of Vicksburg was lamented all over the South as a weighty misfortune; and it is indeed impossible to doubt that the Confederate cause was materially weakened by the splendid success of General Grant.

After the capture of this great stronghold, the Federal commander reported that his troops were so much fatigued as to require several weeks' rest before undertaking another campaign. Those who were the least exhausted he sent out on various expeditions; but the greater number remained at Vicksburg, the defences of which they strengthened against any movement which the Confederates might undertake. Sherman went in pursuit of General Johnston, who was menacing the rear of the Federal army; and the operations of Grant's principal

1863.]

OPERATIONS IN THE WEST.

subordinate were so vigorously carried out that Johnston evacuated Jackson on the night of the 16th of July, and retreated towards the east. Grant had become the hero of the day. He had proved himself the best General that the North had yet produced, and the President wrote to him on the 13th of July:- "I do not remember that you and I ever met personally. I write this now as a grateful acknowledgment for the almost inestimable service you have done the country." He then proceeded to say that in some respects, during the operations against Vicksburg, he had thought the General in the wrong, but that he desired to make a personal acknowledgment that he had always been in the right. Grant afterwards left Vicksburg to assume the command east of the Mississippi, and McPherson then moved with a part of his force to Canton, where he scattered the Confederate cavalry, destroyed a large amount of material, and broke up all the roads by which the enemy might annoy the Northern forces.

While Grant was steadily pursuing his plans against Vicksburg, other operations in the west were being carried out by several Generals. Rosecrans, in Tennessee, though only just able to win the battle of Murfreesborough, was strong enough to prevent Bragg from detaching any regiments to the aid of Johnston. The latter General began to fear that either Tennessee or Mississippi must be given up; yet some reliance was placed upon the Confederate Army of the Trans-Mississippi Department for averting such a catastrophe. Several desultory, yet not entirely unimportant, actions were fought in that department in the opening months of 1863; but an attempt made by General Marmaduke early in January to seize Springfield, in South-western Missouri, was unattended by success. Towards the end of April, the same General, at the head of a large Confederate force, advanced into Eastern Missouri, and threatened Cape Girardeau, a small town on the Mississippi, above Cairo, but on the opposite side of the river. Marmaduke, however, was not more fortunate in this than in his previous enterprise, and again retreated into Arkansas. The possession of Cape Girardeau would have enabled the Confederates to embarrass the navigation of the Mississippi, and might have compelled Grant to detach a portion of his army for operations against that place; but General McNeil had so fortified the town that the utmost efforts of Marmaduke proved unavailing. Another Confederate officer-General Kirby Smith- was at the same time operating in Louisiana, though without any advantage to the Southern cause. Smith made a vigorous attack on

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the Federal camp at Milliken's Bend, but was ultimately repulsed, and shortly afterwards his advanced brigades were defeated at Richmond, a small town about nine miles off. Both these attempts were made in the hope of drawing away some portion of the Federal army from the siege of Vicksburg; but they had not the slightest effect of that nature. In Kentucky and Tennessee, much desultory fighting took place during the period to which this narrative now refers. Even Indiana was occasionally entered by the adventurous cavalry of the South; yet on the whole the Southern cause declined in the more distant regions of the West. A melancholy event in Tennessee, occurring in the month of June, excited general interest. Two Confederate officers, acting as spies, were discovered at Franklin, and, after a trial by drum-head courtmartial, were hanged by order of General Rosecrans. The incident was painful, but it cannot be questioned that Rosecrans was justified by the usages of war.

The tide of success was now running completely in favour of the Federals, and the capture of Port Hudson on the Mississippi was an event second in importance only to that of Vicksburg. General Banks quitted Simmsport about the middle of May, and, having crossed to the eastern side of the Mississippi, advanced towards the object of his attack on the 22nd of the month. On the 25th, the defenders of Port Hudson, who were commanded by General Gardner, were driven from the outer works, and a powerful assault was made on the 27th. The Federal commander had a large army with which to conduct his attack, and was still further assisted by a fleet of gunboats, which bombarded the defences from the river. Gardner could not place more than 6,000 men within his entrenchments, and the works, which had been hastily constructed, were furnished with but feeble artillery. Nevertheless, a successful resistance was offered to the attacking force; but the Federals were in a position of such immense superiority that the capitulation of the city, unless it could be relieved by an external force, which was hardly possible, was only an affair of time. Several negro regiments were included in the Northern ranks, and are said by the commanding General to have behaved admirably. Confederates give a totally different account, and allege that on one occasion, when they fled without firing a shot, many of them were killed by their enraged white comrades. So much prejudice coloured the reports of both sides, as far as these black soldiers were concerned, that it is exceedingly difficult to get at the truth. It is certain, however, that whites and blacks were animated by the

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utmost ferocity and hatred towards one another. The New Orleans Express, in describing the assault of May 27th, said :— "The negroes were soon disarmed, and in defending themselves they rapidly used the weapons of savage warfare. In every position in which the struggle placed them, they fought with their teeth, biting their assailants in every available part of the body, kicking and scratching them. Soon, however, they had to succumb,-the bayonet, the trigger, the revolver, and merciless hands at their throats, doing the work for them with fearful fatality. It may here be noted, as a key perhaps to other battles, that the presence of the black troops made the rebels in the forts almost as ferocious as the blacks. In the attack, the enemy did not content himself with wounding the Africans. Of eight hundred, six hundred were killed at once; when one was wounded, the assault was repeated till he died."

The assault of May 27th having failed, General Banks commenced the siege in regular form. Gardner was summoned to surrender on the 13th of June, but replied by a refusal. On the following day, which was Sunday, another assault was delivered. Several storming parties were led against

the works, and a few men even got within them; but the supporting column did not arrive in time, and the assailants, falling back, lay down for hours in the cotton-furrows, as their only protection against the hail of bullets which came rushing out of the forts. Banks now resumed his siege operations, and the trenches were pushed forward still nearer to the walls. The garrison were getting short of provisions, and the probability of any succour arriving grew less with each succeeding day. When at length it came to the knowledge of General Gardner that Vicksburg had surrendered, he perceived that further resistance would be altogether vain. The place was formally surrendered on the 9th of July, and the Confederates were treated with great kindness and consideration by heir conquerors. Full possession of the Mississippi was now restored to the Federals. From its source in Minnesota, down to its outfall in the Gulf of Mexico, that magnificent stream was held by the Government at Washington. The great bulk of the Confederacy was split in two, and through the rift the enormous forces of the Union could pass to and fro, dealing their bolts of death far to the right hand and to the left,-to the west and to the east.

CHAPTER LII.

The Prospects of the Union brightening-Feeling in England-Mr. Carlyle on "Peter" and "Paul"-The Case of Mr. Vallandigham-General Burnside's Summary Proceedings for repressing Sedition-His Arrest of Mr. Vallandigham justified by Judge Leavitt-Proceedings of the President in the Matter-The Principles involved-Renewed Operations in Virginia-Plans of General Lee for invading Maryland and Pennsylvania-Movement of the Confederates from the Line of the Rappahannock-General Milroy surrounded at Winchester-Federal Defeat-The Confederates followed by General Hooker-Proclamation of President Lincoln, calling for more Men-Hooker succeeded in the Command by General Meade The Southern Troops across the Potomac-Conduct of the Confederates towards the People of the Invaded Districts-The Potomac crossed by Meade-The Hostile Armies both approaching Gettysburg-Exposed Position of Richmond-Action before Gettysburg on the 1st of July-Rout of the Federals-The Action resumed on July 2ndStrength of the Federal Position-The Confederates driven back-Desperate Fighting on the 3rd-Defeat of the Confederates-General Lee retires from the Neighbourhood of Gettysburg-Pursuit by the Federals-Crossing of the Potomac by Lee-Further Pursuit-Close of the Campaign in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

WITH the fall of Vicksburg and of Port Hudson, the prospects of the Union received an accession of brightness, which cheered the hearts of Americans all over the loyal States after the long and depressing run of bad luck which had so severely taxed the patience of the Federals. The national cause no longer hung trembling in the balance. Men no longer felt ill with sudden tidings of disaster, or shaken with the intermittent fever of anxiety, or restless with insatiable desire for news, or incapable of study, business, or pleasure, as they had done in

the earlier days of the struggle.* They had grown accustomed to the vicissitudes of war, and had discovered that a really great nation is not ruined, but rather strengthened, by the rough handling of adversity. They had lived through many trials; and now came the broad sunshine, comforting the waste places and the yet cloudy sky. Many more trials were still to be endured; but they had learned the

*The symptoms of that memorable time have been minutely described by a most skilled observer,-Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, in his "Soundings from the Atlantic," 1864.

1863.]

DIFFICULTIES OF THE NORTH.

virtue of fortitude-they had won the prerogatives of success. Thenceforward, the future of the Union was secure. It was no longer permissible to doubt that the Republic would emerge out of its brief but terrible eclipse, not only with unimpaired, but even with added, light.

As the feeling of confidence increased in America, the current of English opinion in certain classes grew stronger against the Federal cause. In neither of the two previous years had there been a more positive conviction that the North neither ought to win nor could win. A singular expression of this view may be found in the number for August, 1863, of a popular English periodical. The contribution consists of but a few lines, written in the month of May; but those lines were the production of Thomas Carlyle, and therefore commanded the attention of men. A more memorable instance of the perversity of a man of genius is probably not to be found in the whole range of literature. "Paul, you unaccountable scoundrel," says Peter of the North to Paul of the South, in the philosophical meditations of Mr. Carlyle, "I find you hire your servants for life, not by the month or year, as I do. You are going straight to Hell, you !" "Good words, Peter!" replies Paul, in the same lofty reflections. "The risk is my own; I am willing to take the risk. Hire you your servants by the month or the day, and get straight to Heaven; leave me to my own method." "No, I won't," says Peter; "I will beat your brains out first!" And," added Mr. Carlyle, as a complete settlement of the whole case, "is trying dreadfully ever since, but cannot yet manage it.”* This he called "The American Iliad in a Nutshell." The nutshell will not be disputed; the Iliad is less apparent.

The serene superiority to facts which could describe the system of slavery as a species of hiring in any sense whatever,the abnormal insensibility to humane considerations which could put out of view the multitudinous agony of the slave for many ages, the almost miraculous mental blindness which could fail to see the great political, social, and national questions involved in the portentous quarrel, and could narrow them down to a mere dispute as to terms of hiring, these things would of themselves alone render the imaginary dialogue between Peter and Paul worthy of a regretful place in memory. But that dialogue has an historic value, as expressing what was felt by a good many Englishmen while the taking of Vicksburg and Port Hudson was still recent news in America. Happily, there were many other Engüshmen who thought differently.

* Macmillan's Magazine, Vol. VIII., p. 301.

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Not much disturbed by these eccentricities of genius, the President and Government of the Union went their way, dealing, on the whole, successfully with the rebellion, but sometimes troubled by internal difficulties arising out of the state of war. One of these resulted from the severe proceedings of General Burnside against persons lying under suspicion of being sympathisers with the Confederate cause. That officer was now in command of the Department of the Ohio, where he applied with considerable rigour the exceptional laws then in force for the repression and punishment of seditious acts and writings. It was not long before he came into collision with Mr. Vallandigham, of Ohio, a well-known member of Congress, devoted to Southern and pro-slavery views. In the early part of 1863, this gentleman belonged to a party called by its opponents "the Copperheads," after a small but venomous serpent found in America, which, unlike the rattlesnake, gives no warning of its blow, and is therefore regarded as a type of malignant treachery. In the early days of Secession, Mr. Vallandigham had been disposed to compromise matters by yielding a good deal to the rebels, and he had never been heartily on the side of the North. The faction with which he was now allied-an offshoot from the great Democratic body, whose principles it carried to an extreme degree-had opposed the measures of Government most likely to deal effectually with the rising of the slaveholders; and its latest policy was to suggest the conclusion of an armistice, preparatory to the holding of a convention, at which concessions should be granted to the Southern States. Mr. Vallandigham made no secret of his sympathy with these views, and, while on several occasions protesting that he desired the preservation of the Union, denounced the continuance of the war as a crime. Burnside, though himself a Democrat, was resolved not to tolerate such opinions in his department, and, shortly after his accession to the Ohio command, made his intentions widely known. A General Order issued on the 13th of April declared that "all persons found within our lines who commit acts for the benefit of the enemies of our country will be tried as spies or traitors, and, if convicted, will suffer death." It was added :— "The habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy will not be allowed in this department. Persons committing such offences will be at once arrested, with a view to being tried as above stated, or sent beyond our lines into the lines of their friends. It must be distinctly understood that treason, expressed or implied, will not be tolerated in this department." Nothing could be more clear than

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