night General Schofield fell back toward Nashville; this left the field to the enemy,-not lost by battle, but voluntarily abandoned, so that General Thomas' whole force might be brought together."

Hood pressed forward to Nashville, and by December had drawn his lines around the city. Skirmishes were now of daily occurrence, principally by the cavalry force of the contending armies. By the 14th Thomas was ready to take the offensive, and gave orders accordingly. During the following two days he fought a continuous. battle, breaking through the rebel lines, defeating and routing him,-capturing four thousand, four hundred and sixty-two prisoners, nearly all of his artillery, and drove him southward, a disorganized mass of stragglers rather than an army, its spirit broken beyond hope of recovery. Hood had entered Tennessee with a well-organized army of fifty-five thousand men, full of enthusiasm, confident of victory. He left it with half that number, intent only in saving themselves from becoming prisoners of war. Thomas pursued the rebel forces as rapidly as he could rebuild bridges destroyed by the retreating foe. On the 30th of December he announced the campaign ended, and distributed his troops in winter cantonments.

General Grant, who at one time was greatly concerned at the bold advance of Hood and the seemingly dilatory movements of Thomas, has presented his views and the great pleasure which he felt at the result, in these words:

"Before the battle of Nashville, I grew very impatient over, as it appeared to me, the unnecessary delay. This impatience was increased upon learning that the enemy had sent a force of cavalry across the Cumberland into Kentucky. I feared Hood would cross his whole army, and give us great trouble there. After urging upon General Thomas the necessity of immediately assuming the offensive, I started West to superintend matters there in person. Reach

ing Washington City, I received General Thomas' dispatch announcing his attack upon the enemy, and the result, as far as the battle had progressed. I was delighted. All my fears and apprehensions were dispelled. I am not yet satisfied but that General Thomas, immediately upon the appearance of Hood before Nashville, and before he had time to fortify, should have moved out with his whole force and given him battle, instead of waiting to remount his cavalry, which delayed him until the inclemency of the weather made it impracticable to attack earlier than he did. But his final defeat of Hood was so complete, that it will be accepted as a vindication of that distinguished officer's judgment."

Thomas had been more than vindicated, and it had confirmed him in the good opinion of his superiors and the army at large, as a cool, determined and far-seeing general. For this achievement he was appointed Major-General in the regular army, to date from the 15th day of December, the date of his victory at Nashville.

Thus closed the year 1864. At every point the armies of the Union had been victorious, "everywhere the rebellion was reeling and staggering beneath the blows which were dealt it."

CHAPTER XVI.

THE FINAL VICTORY.

The fourth year of the war was now entered upon. The final overthrow of the Rebellion was near at hand. It was evident, not only to the North and foreign powers, but the South, also, that their affairs were hopeless, and that a prolongation of the conflict could only prolong the reign of misery and death. Throughout the entire North there was a desire for peace, and a willingness to concede almost any terms consistent with national honor and territorial integrity.

President Lincoln, during the latter part of the winter of 1864-5, visited the army in front of Petersburg, and for the first time witnessed war in all of its horrors. His humane nature was deeply stirred by the revolting spectacle. Headley, in his "Sherman and His Campaign," in speaking of this visit, says:

“He walked over ground covered with bodies of the slain, more numerous than he could count or cared to count. He saw living men with broken heads and mangled forms, and heard the hopeless groans and piteous wails of the dying whom no human hand could save. He witnessed the bloody work of the surgeons,-those carpenters and joiners of human frames,--and saw amputated legs and arms piled up in heaps, to be carted away like the offal of a slaughter-house; and he turned from the horrid sight, exclaiming, 'This is war, horrid war--the trade of barbarians.' Appealing to his principal officers, he inquired, 'Gentlemen, is there no way by which we can put a stop to this fighting?'"

The Rebel Government had madly resolved to overthrow free institutions, and they refused to listen to any terms whatever which would tend to a reconstruction of the Union divested of slavery and State rights doctrines. To the Nationals, nothing was left but to strike, with all their strength, the final blows. The stirring events which followed, and the magnificent combinations which were brought to a triumphant conclusion, if told in detail, would

require another volume. Suffice it to say, that in March, 1865, General Canby was advancing from New Orleans against Mobile, to co-operate with Admiral Farragut; after a hard-fought and desperately contested battle at Blakely, the city surrendered on the morning of April 13.

General J. H. Wilson, with a cavalry expedition of fifteen thousand men, was sent out from Thomas' command

in Middle Tennessee, to co-operate with General Canby, in the reduction of Mobile. Sweeping over the region watered by the Tombigbee and Black Warrior Rivers, they captured Selma after a hard fight with Forest's Cavalry and Taylor's Infantry, capturing many prisoners and guns, and destroying all public property, stores and cotton; moving rapidly to Montgomery, he entered it unopposed on the morning of April 12. The Rebel Commander Adams, not waiting for his arrival, had set fire to ninety-five thousand bales of cotton before he fled. The "original" capital of the Confederacy was now in the hands of the Federals, and the "Stars and Stripes" were unfurled in triumph over the State House where, four years previous, the first Confederate flag was given to the breeze, upon its adoption as the ensign of the Confederacy by the "Provisional Government," at Montgomery, March 4, 1861. Stopping two days only at Montgomery, his columns swept eastward across the State into Georgia, capturing Columbus, and West Point, reaching Macon on the 20th. Here he was informed of the surrender of Lee to Grant, and at once suspended hostile operations in accordance with an arrangement between Sherman and Johnston, which is mentioned later on. During the raid Wilson captured five fortified cities, two hundred and eighty-eight pieces of artillery, six thousand eight hundred and twenty prisoners, and destroyed a vast amount of property. He lost seven hundred and twenty-five men, ninety-nine of whom were killed.

General Stoneman was sent from East Tennessee with a cavalry force into North Carolina, to destroy railroads and military resources, and release the starving Union sol