heroism of his officers and soldiers, averted every danger. The foe made several attacks during the day, but in all he was repulsed. Our troops were now within forty miles of Richmond. In the race for the rebel metropolis, there was no time to be lost."

On the 21st Grant's advance reached the North Anna River; here he found the rebels gathered in force and

WINFIELD S. HANCOCK.

strongly entrenched. Hancock, who was in the advance, immediately opened upon the foe with a furious cannonade, following it up with a charge, driving the enemy from the entrenchments. The following day the whole army crossed at dif ferent points with but little fighting.

By the 25th the entire army was in a strong position, stretching out about four miles on the south side of the river, with its base of supplies at Port Royal, about thirty miles below Fredericksburg. A reconnoissance sent out showed that the Confederates were so strongly entrenched, that their works could not be carried without great loss of life. Under cover of a strong demonstration against the foe General Grant withdrew, recrossed the river and marched down its northeastern bank to the Pamunkey, which is formed by a union of the North and South Anna.

Early Friday morning General Grant took possession of Hanover Ferry on the Pamunkey River, sixteen miles

from Richmond, making his base of supplies at the White House, but a few miles distant. His military strategy in this march from the Rapidan has ever excited the wonder and admiration of military critics; all the efforts of the able and experienced Lee, with an army nearly equal in number under his command—and as many more at Richmondto oppose this steady and unfaltering advance, were baffled.

On Sunday, the 29th, the entire army with all its baggage train, had crossed the Pamunkey in safety. On Wednesday morning, June 1, the advance cavalry force had reached Cold Harbor. General Sheridan was placed in command there with orders to hold the place at all haz ards, and the promise of infantry re-inforcements before nightfall. Foiled in every attack by day, the rebels renewed it in the night, only to meet with disappointment; the struggle had been desperate, our soldiers losing two thous and men.

Posting his troops in line General Grant presented an unbroken front extending from Bethesda Church to Cold Harbor, a distance of eight miles. Assaults were continually made at various parts of the line by the foe, none of which met with any success; the National forces retaining their position.

General Grant was now on the ground made memorable during the "seven days" fight, under McClellan; he was in front of the formidable outer line of entrenchments erected for the defense of Richmond, behind which were not only Lee's veteran soldiers, but the. garrison of Richmond had been called from the inner works to reinforce him. Without delay Grant determined to test the strength of these works. An assault was ordered to be made by the Sixth and Eighteenth Corps; while General Burnside attacked the left, the first line of works was carried

and held. The record of the day's fighting was like that

previously described; charges made with bravery and patriotism that feared not death; this was met by a courage as fearless as it was misplaced. In every instance the assault had failed. Thus nearly a week passed away; each day was like the preceding one, a day of frequent skirmishing, of con

stant practice of sharp

shooters, and incessant cannonading.

All this time the Union General was maturing plans for the most extraordinary movements of this or any other campaign, the transfer by flank of his entire army from the Chickahominy to the south side of the James. By obtaining twenty-four hours the start of the Confederates, he hoped to be able to seize a position to the south of Richmond, tapping the railroads concentrating at Petersburg, and in the event of defeating Lee, to prevent his retreat to the Carolinas, where he might be able to continue the conflict indefinitely. Abbott has graphically described this "change of base as follows:

"On Sunday morning, June the 12th, the army, veiled from observation by its earthworks and by clouds of skirmishers, quietly commenced its march from its entrenchments. For miles these entrench. ments were within reach of the enemy's guns, Unseen and unsuspected in the movements, this majestic host of a hundred and fifty

thousand men,-infantry, artillery, and cavalry,-with their almost interminable line of wagons, pressed on toward their goal. All day long of Sunday and of Monday, and until Tuesday afternoon, with scarcely any rest, even at night, these iron men tramped on in silence, till the extraordinary feat was accomplished. They crossed the Chickahominy and the James, accomplishing a march of fiftyfive miles without the loss of a wagon or a gun. This extraordinary movement was effected in the presence of an enemy a hundred thousand strong, desperate in courage, ably officered, and whose ramparts were in many places within fifty yards of the entrenchments from which General Grant marched his troops. Every possible path was crowded with the immense host. Through swamps and dust, and the blaze of noonday and the gloom of midnight, the army, guided by the energies and protected by the sagacity of one mind, pressed forward till the marvelous feat was accomplished."

It will be remembered that Grant had ordered Butler to ascend the south bank of the James River to menace Richmond from the South, and thus prevent the withdrawal of the garrisons

in and around Richmond-the Confederate forces were under command of Beauregard, who had gone South to meet Butler with an overwhelming force. Butler, learning of this, and fully realizing that he could not successfully meet such an army in the open field, secured a commanding

BENJAMIN F. BUTLER.

position and entrenched his army; the enemy rearing strong entrenchments in front of his lines, had held him where he was and prevented any advance on his part.

On Wednesday, the 15th, the advance of the Union army crossed the James River and joined Butler at Bermuda Hundred; by the 16th the whole army was on the South side. Previous to the arrival of the Army of the Potomac, General Butler had made an ineffectual attempt to capture Petersburg, twenty-two miles south of Richmond-this city is the center of all the railways running South from Richmond, and once in the possession of the Union forces would compel the evacuation of the Confederate capital. By the dilatory movements of the Union

PHILIP H. SHERIDAN.

officer intrusted with the order to occupy Petersburg, General Lee and his veterans had arrived in force, and was able to repulse the several subsequent assaults by the troops of Meade, Burnside, Warren, Hancock, and other commanders. The assaults were made; unparalleled in heroism by

the Northern soldiers-but General Grant became satisfied that the formidable entrenchments manned by the veterans of Lee could not be carried by assault, as they were capable of resisting five-fold their numbers. Petersburg could not be taken except by siege.

May 9 General Sheridan had been sent with Generals Merritt, Gregg and Custer, and a force of cavalry to cut Lee's communications. Cutting loose from the army he