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wounded is greater than either of the previous days' fighting. This was owing to the great use made of artillery.

At 6 in the afternoon of the same day, he dispatched: The impression that Lee had started on his retreat, which prevailed at the date of my dispatch this morning, is not confirmed. Our skirmishers have found the rebels along the whole line, and the conclusion now is, that the retrograde movement of last night was made to correct their position after the loss of the key-points taken from them yesterday, and they are still before us in force. Of course we cannot determine, without a battle, whether their whole army is still here, and nothing has been done to-day to provoke one. It has been necessary to rest the men, and accordingly we have everywhere stood upon the defensive.

He then claimed that, in changing his lines, Lee had uncovered the roads leading southward along his right, and that Grant had ordered Meade to withdraw Warren from the right and Wright from the center, around to the left, turn Lee's flank, and force him to move southward.

On the evening of the 12th, that ever-to-be-remembered day of fearful carnage, the sad news came to Lee of the death of Gen. James Ewell Brown Stuart, the "Jeb" Stuart of the Confederacy and of history, who had fallen, the day before, at the Yellow tavern, a few miles to the north of Richmond, in repulsing an attempt of Sheridan to capture that city. Fully occupied with the enemy in his front, Lee waited until the quiet of the 20th before officially announcing to his army the great loss he had sustained, a loss only second, in its far-reaching consequences, to that of "Stonewall" Jackson. In his tribute to this grand leader of his cavalry corps, he said:

Among the gallant soldiers who have fallen in this war, General Stuart was second to none in valor, in zeal, and in unflinching devotion to his country. His achievements form a conspicuous part of the history of this army, with which his name and services will forever be associated. To military capacity of a high order and to the nobler virtues of the soldier, he added the brighter graces of a pure life, guided and sustained by the Christian's faith and hope. The mysterious hand of an all-wise God has removed him from the scene of his usefulness and fame. His grateful countrymen will mourn his loss and cherish his memory. To his comrades in arms he has left the proud recollection of his deeds and the inspiring influence of his example.

Notwithstanding Grant's recorded assertion, "I never maneuver," he spent from the 13th to the 18th of May in front of Lee, maneuvering and waiting for reinforcements, until he had rested his "tired" men, and 25,000 fresh troops were added to his numbers. On the 14th, at 7:10 of the morning, his dispatch read:

The very heavy rains of the last forty-eight hours have made it impossible to move trains of artillery. Two corps were moved, last night, from our right to the left, with orders to attack at 4 a. m., but owing to the difficulties of the roads, have not fully got into position. This, with the continued bad weather, may prevent offensive operations today.

The next morning he again telegraphed:

The very heavy rains of the last three days have rendered the roads so impassable that little will be done until there is a change in the weather, unless the enemy should attack, which they have exhibited but little inclination to do for the last week. I believe it would be better to strengthen the corps here, with all reinforcements coming, than to have them formed into separate commands.

The next morning he dispatched:

We have had five days of almost constant rain without any prospect yet of its clearing up. All offensive operations necessarily cease until we can have twenty-four hours of dry weather. The army is in the best of spirits and feels the greatest confidence in ultimate success... The promptness with which you have forwarded reinforcements will contribute greatly to diminishing our mortality list and insuring a complete victory. You can assure the President and secretary of war, that the elements alone have suspended hostilities, and that it is in no manner due to weakness or exhaustion on our part.

An attack was made by Grant on the morning of May 18th, with his Second and Sixth corps, in another attempt to break Lee's center. Advancing to Lee's new line, which had excluded the great salient, these 12,000 Federals were broken, in retreat, by the heavy fire of twentynine of Lee's guns, before they came within rifle range. In like manner Burnside's simultaneous attack on Lee's right was similarly repulsed. Grant could find no weak point for breaking through, so he drew back, farther to his left, and sought for a third road to Richmond. On the next day, the 19th, Lee sent Ewell around Grant's right, to ascertain what he was doing. In this movement Ewell

was repulsed, with a loss of 900 men, but he had detained Grant another day in front of Spottsylvania Court House and inflicted a severer loss than he himself suffered, as Grant confessed.

On the afternoon of May 19th, Grant wrote: “I shall make a flank movement early in the morning, and try to reach Bowling Green and Milford station," and wished his base, in that event, changed to Port Royal. At 10 p. m., of the same day, he again wrote: "The enemy came out on our right, late this afternoon, and attacked, but were driven back until some time since dark. Not knowing

their exact position, and the danger our trains at Fredericksburg will be in if we move, I shall not make the move designated for to-night, until their designs are fully developed." On the 20th he reported that his casualties of the previous day were 196 killed, 1,090 wounded, and 240 missing.

When Grant began his forward movement, on the 4th of May, he not only ordered Butler forward, but also directed Sigel, in the Shenandoah valley, to make a simultaneous advance to capture Staunton and break Lee's communications with the Shenandoah valley, with the 6,500 men and 28 guns in his command. Apprised of this movement, Lee ordered Gen. John C. Breckinridge to collect at Staunton the infantry and cavalry outposts that had wintered in the mountains west of the Great valley, and had called upon the governor of Virginia to add to these the cadets from the Virginia military institute, and with these march down the valley to meet this new irruption. Breckinridge had some 4,500 men, including Gen. John Daniel Imboden's cavalry and McLaughlin's artillery company with eight guns. These met Sigel at New Market, on the 15th of May, and completely routed him, capturing six guns and nearly 900 prisoners. Breckinridge's infantry made a front attack, aided by the artillery, while Imboden fell on Sigel's flank. The mere boys from the institute fought like veterans in this, their first engagement. Halleck telegraphed to Grant, on the 17th: "Sigel is in full retreat on Strasburg. He will do nothing but run. Never did anything else." The day before, Grant received the unwelcome news that the "army of the James," under Gen. Ben Butler, from which he expected so much assistance, and which he was longing to join, had been successfully repulsed from a position it had gained on the railroad between Richmond and Petersburg, and driven back into the angle between the James and the Appomattox, where, as Grant says in his official report, "his army, therefore, though in a position of great security, was as completely shut off from further operations directly against Richmond, as if it had been in a bottle strongly corked."

CHAPTER XXVI.

THE MANEUVERS ON THE NORTH ANNA RIVER.

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N the night of May 20, 1864, Hancock led Grant's third southward movement, far to the eastward of Lee's position at Spottsylvania Court House, and followed the road along the line of the Richmond & Fredericksburg railroad toward Richmond, his advance reaching Milford station during the night of the 21st. Grant's losses, since he crossed the Rapidan, on May 4th, had been over 37,000; half of these in the Wilderness battles and the other half in those of Spottsylvania Court House. Lee had lost about one-third of that number. Dana states that the Federal losses were "a little over 33,000," and that when Grant "expressed great regret at the loss of so many men," Meade remarked: “Well, General, we can't do these little tricks without losses."

Apprised, by his scouts, of Grant's movement, Lee dispatched Ewell, whom he accompanied, at noon of the 21st, from the right of his position at Spottsylvania Court House across the country to Mud tavern and on the Telegraph or old stage road from Washington via Fredericksburg to Richmond as far as Dickinson's mill, where he encamped that night, nearer to Hanover Junction than was Grant's advance at Milford station, although Dana was of the opinion that Grant had slipped away without Lee's knowledge.

On the morning of the 22d, Grant telegraphed, from Guiney's station, the position of his advance, and ordered the transfer of his depot of supplies from near Aquia creck to Port Royal on the Rappahannock. During the forenoon of that day, Lee and Ewell reached Hanover Junction, having crossed the North Anna at the Telegraph road bridge; Anderson, with the First corps, followed at midday, and Hill, with the Third corps, crossed, at the same place, on the morning of the 23d, when Lee's whole army took position on the south bank of the North Anna, covering the roads leading to Richmond and the junction of the Virginia Central and Richmond, Freder

icksburg & Potomac railroads, thus controlling two railways to his base of supplies at Richmond and one to his other base at Staunton, and to a connection with Lynchburg. By this timely and well-executed movement, Lee had again, without loss or interruption, anticipated Grant's progressive, but indirect, "on to Richmond," and placed himself directly across the roads the latter desired to follow to the Confederate capital. Dana says, "Now, for the first time, Lee blocked our southward march;' a remarkable assertion, in view of the bloody stoppage in the Wilderness, which had diverted Grant toward Spottsylvania, far to the eastward, to find a new road to Richmond.

Breckinridge, coming from the valley, after his defeat of Sigel at New Market, and Pickett, from toward Richmond, with 9,000 men, awaited Lee at Hanover Junction. Thus concentrated and reinforced, the army of Northern Virginia was quickly posted in one of the best defensive positions it had ever occupied; with its sturdy First corps in the center, across the Telegraph road; its flanking and fighting Second corps on the right, across the railway to Fredericksburg and extending to the North Anna, where that river runs southward in front of the Cedar farm bridge; and its gallant Third corps on the extreme left, extending to the road that crosses the Ox ford of the North Anna, and covering the eastward approaches to the line of the Virginia Central railroad. Pickett and Breckinridge were held in reserve, in the rear of the center, near Hanover Junction.

The march of the Federal army, on the 23d, was much embarrassed by ignorance of the country and the incorrect and misleading maps used as guides; but by 1 p. m., its Sixth corps, in the advance, reached the vicinity of the North Anna, at the Telegraph bridge, and, later in the afternoon, forced Lee's First corps guard across that bridge, and, without much opposition, secured a foothold on the south bank of the river and soon crossed over a large force, which, later in the day, repulsed a vigorous attack by Anderson. Grant's Second corps soon followed his Fifth and took position on its right, covering the Telegraph bridge and road, and later, his Ninth corps extended this line, on the south bank of the river, to a junction with his Fifth corps, which, with the Sixth, he had detached from his direct line of march, at Harris' shop,

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