both armies are buried there, and, besides many nameless graves, there are those of some of the principal men who fell during those three awful days (July 1-3, 1863). The regiments which took part in the battle have since erected beautiful monuments on the spots where they stood during that terrible but glorious struggle, when both sides proved their valor.

Every year, on the anniversary of the battle, speeches are made in Gettysburg Cemetery, but none of them have ever equaled the short address made by President

Lincoln, when he dedicated it the autumn of 1863. This speech, one of the simplest and most famous in our history, runs as follows:

"Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

"Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

"But, in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember, what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us, the living, rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us, that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion; that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom; and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

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XLV. THE TAKING OF VICKSBURG.

HE fact that the Union forces had won the victory. at Gettysburg filled all Northern hearts with happiness, and they were soon to enjoy a new triumph. You remember that while the disastrous peninsular campaign was going on, Grant was on the Mississippi, where his object was to gain possession of Vicksburg. As already stated, this city stands on a steep bluff; it is more than two hundred feet above the river. It was, besides, well fortified on all sides, and very ably defended by the Confederate General Pem'ber-ton.

Grant soon saw that it would be best to attack Vicksburg from the land side; but to do that he had to convey his troops across the river at a point many miles below that city. The only fleet Grant had lay above Vicksburg, and as he did not like it to run the gantlet of the fire from the forts, he tried to find another way to get the gunboats down the river.

The west shore of the Mississippi River is very low, and there are so many bayous that Grant fancied they might perhaps afford a passage to his fleet. The gunboats, under his orders, therefore went in and out of every bayou, working their way over and under fallen trees, through mud and marshes, until the soldiers laughingly called them "Uncle Sam's webfeet." As no passage was found, an attempt was made to dig a canal. But to do this, trees had to be cut six feet under water, and the job was soon given up as hopeless.

Upon the failure of this plan, Grant saw that the fleet

must steam rapidly down the river past the forts. This was considered so dangerous an undertaking that the men were told that only such as wished need take part in the expedition. But the Union navy was so brave, and the volunteers so many, that all could not be accepted, and lots had to be drawn to select the number of men needed to man the boats. We are told that those thus chosen for dangerous duty were so proud of their luck that they would not give up their places to their comrades, some of whom vainly tried to bribe them to exchange places.

When all was ready, Porter's fleet rushed down the Mississippi, one dark night. But the Confederates had

such bright fires kindled along the river bank, that the Union fleet was seen as plainly as if it had been broad daylight, and a hail of cannon balls and shells was instantly poured down upon it.

Nevertheless, Porter safely ran the gantlet of the deadly Vicksburg batteries, and, having reached the spot where Grant's troops awaited him, carried them safely across the Mississippi. As soon as they had landed, Grant marched them to the northeast, so as to get between Vicksburg and the Confederate forces, under General Johnston, which were moving toward that city.

During the next seventeen days Grant defeated Confederate forces at Port Gibson, Jackson, Champion Hills, and Big Black River, and prevented Johnston from uniting with the army that was defending Vicksburg. Then he completely surrounded Vicksburg by means of his own army, a force under General Sherman, and the fleet commanded by Porter.

Thus hemmed in on all sides, Vicksburg suffered all the horrors of a frightful siege. Before it ended even “mule steaks" gave out, and people were reduced to such strange fare as mice, rats, and pieces of old leather. Meanwhile shells and cannon balls poured into the city from all sides, and as the inhabitants no longer dared stay in their houses, they dug caves in the soft, clayey soil, and went to live there.

The bombardment lasted forty-seven days, and we are told that little children grew so accustomed to flying bullets, and to the noise of exploding shells, that they ceased to mind them, and played out in the streets as merrily as if no siege were going on. But the grown people were very anxious, for the Union troops kept such a keen watch on every part of the fortifications, that when some one put a hat on the end of a stick, and held it for a moment above the ramparts, it was instantly riddled with bullets.