CHAPTER XXVIII.

SIEGE OF PETERSBURG.

G

EN. GRANT now determined to adopt the other alternative, which had from the first been in his mind, and transfer his army by flank-marches to the south side of the James River. This operation, in the face of an enemy always alert and energetic, Napoleon pronounced "the ablest manœuvre taught by military art." To conceal his purpose, strong demonstrations were made at Meadow Bridge and two or three other points, as if with a view of crossing the Chickahominy; and Gen. Lee commenced strengthening these points by defensive works. But on Sunday, the 12th of June, the army of more than a hundred thousand men, including cavalry, artillery, and infantry, began their march; and so skilful had been the arrangements, that, though within a short distance of an enemy in nearly equal numbers and a vigilant commander, Gen. Lee knew nothing of the movement, until, on the morning of the 13th, he found that his adroit and active enemy was far on the way to his rear.

The host pressed on night and day with untiring energy. Across rivers and mountains, through valleys and plains, the army moved, until, almost without halting, they were, in thirty-six hours, on the

south bank of the James, fifty-five miles from Cold Harbor.

This extraordinary movement, in the secrecy, quickness, and perfect success with which it was executed, has excited the unqualified admiration of every historian of the war, North and South.

Petersburg is twenty-two miles south of Richmond, on the Appomattox; and is the centre of all the railroads connecting Richmond and the Southern States.

Gen. Butler had, on the 10th, sent a force of infantry and cavalry to capture the place if possible, and to destroy the railroads and bridges over the Appomattox. The work was gallantly done, but with partial suc

cess.

The defences on the south side were carried, and our men penetrated some distance into the town: but the works were too strong to be carried by assault; and Gen. Gilmore, in command of the expedition, retired. Gen. Lee, astonished to find Gen. Grant fifty miles south of him, had hurried his army with all haste to the defence of Petersburg, rushing through Richmond to the amazement of its citizens. They succeeded in arriving a few hours before the assault on the 15th.

In this whole movement of Gen. Grant to the south of Richmond, he evinced a moral courage and selfreliance scarcely surpassed by his determination to move south of Vicksburg against the advice of all his generals. The Administration had no desire to interfere with his plans; but it was well known it was exceedingly anxious that the army should be kept between Washington and Lee's army, and not beyond and south of it. The government was well aware of the supreme importance which in Europe is attached to the cap

ture of a nation's capital. Vienna in possession of the French army was Austria conquered. Paris in the hands of the allied sovereigns was France subjugated. The capture of Washington would lead to immediate and most embarrassing complications in our foreign relations.

But, confident in the right, Gen. Grant "took the responsibility." He had intended to take Petersburg before Lee could arrive; and had ordered Gen. Butler to send forward Gen. Smith's corps for this purpose as soon as it arrived from the Chickahominy, which was promptly done: but Smith, moving in the deliberate style of the former campaigns of the Potomac Army, lost several hours of time, which never returned; and, when the advance was made, Lee and his veterans had arrived in force.

During the week following, several assaults were made with unparalleled heroism by the troops under Generals Meade, Burnside, Butler, Warren, Hancock, and other commanders; but it was demonstrated that the hosts of Lee, securely intrenched behind their formidable works, could resist fivefold their numbers. Petersburg was only to be taken by siege.

June 22, Gen. Wilson, with six thousand cavalry, was sent to destroy the railroad communications south of Petersburg. He struck the Weldon Railroad at Ream's Station, and destroyed sixty miles of track, with dépôts, bridges, cars, locomotives, blacksmith-shops, and mills. He brought in four hundred negroes, and large numbers of horses and mules.

The army, which had now been fighting and marching, almost without intermission, for two months of

extreme heat, enjoyed some days of comparative rest: still the Union lines were steadily closing around Petersburg, which was practically an outwork of Richmond.

Our lines now embraced a circuit of thirty miles. The main body of our army was south of and in front of Petersburg; while Gen. Foster was at Deep Bottom, and Gen. Butler was at Bermuda Hundred.

The labors of Gen. Grant were multiform and unceasing, studying his plans, conferring with his engineers, receiving reports, and issuing orders at headquarters, riding to the outposts, superintending the works, speaking a cheering word to the pickets. Night and day, he was unwearied and unwearying in his care for his army and his watchfulness of the enemy; always plainly dressed, often attended only by a single orderly. The soldiers observed all these things, appreciated their general, and gave him their entire confidence. Officers and men said, "Gen. Grant is so easy to approach!" He always endeavored to set an example of earnest work, of avoiding show, and laying aside all official airs.

Sometimes the lessons which he gave in a quiet way to pompous subordinates were very effective. He happened to be one day on the wharf at City Point, plainly dressed, as usual, where a young second lieutenant, with very bright buttons and a very faultless blue coat, was directing some colored men in rolling a hogshead on board of a boat. It was so heavy, the men could not move it at first; when the young officer shouted gruffly, "Come, niggers, hurry up your work, or get another man to help you!"

A man who stood near, with a faded blue coat on,

turned up his sleeves, joined the negroes in pushing the hogshead on to the boat, then, without speaking a word to any one, walked away. It was the Lieutenant-General of the United States, as the young officer soon learned to his amazement.

It was probably of no consequence whether the boat was loaded five minutes sooner or later; but it was of great consequence to show sympathy with the humble labor of the humblest man in carrying forward the great campaign, and to rebuke snobbery and laziness in high and low.

The soldiers saw, that with all his attention to the great plans, the mighty machinery of the campaign, he provided thoughtfully and with energy for the small comforts of his soldiers. The men expressed a determination to work and fight, because "it is Grant's job, and we are going to put it through for him." Such conduct in all armies always endears a commander to his soldiers.

"What is under my head?" said Sir Ralph Abercromby, when dying at the siege of Alexandria, in Egypt.

"A blanket."

"Whose blanket?" "It is only

one of the men's," was the answer.

"I want to know whose blanket it is. “Duncan Roy's of the Forty-second, Sir Ralph.'

“Then see that Duncan Roy has his blanket tonight." The next day an army wept, and a nation mourned.

Gen. Grant inspired his soldiers by his bravery, won their confidence by his skill, and their love by his kindness.

On the 21st of June, President Lincoln visited Gen. Grant.