The fall of ringly told in Thomas Buchanan Read's famous poem, "Sheridan's Ride." Meanwhile the siege of Richmond and Petersburg dragged on through the fall of 1864 and during the long and weary winter months which followed it. As spring drew near, Grant began to seize the railroads by which supplies reached Richmond. At last Lee could hold out no longer. Early in April he abandoned the Confederate capital and marched away toward the southwest in the hope of joining the southern forces in North Carolina. Grant followed in hot pursuit, and in a few days Lee's army was hemmed in at Appomattox Court House. Further resistance was useless, and on April 9, 1865, Lee surrendered his army to Grant upon the most generous terms. Lee's devoted soldiers were free to go to their homes upon their Appomattox promise not to fight any more against the United States. They Lee sur renders at were not to be punished in any way, and those of them who owned horses or mules were permitted to take the animals home with them because, as Grant said, "They would need them to work their little farms." Grant permitted no rejoicing over the fallen foe, and his men shared their rations with the starving Confederates. Lee bade his men good-by with the words, "I have done the best I could for you," and rode away toward Richmond. Within a few weeks all the other Confederate forces in the field laid down their arms and once more the nation was at peace. REFERENCES. Wilson, Division and Reunion; Dodge, Bird's-eye View of the Ciril War; Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms; Outcome of the Civil War; Rhodes, History of the United States, Vols. III-V; Schouler, History of the United States, Vol. VI; Battles and Leaders of the Civil War. TOPICAL READINGS. 1. The Northern People. poraries, IV, 228-239. Hart, American History Told by Contem 2. The Southern People. Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries, IV, 240-255. 3. England and the Civil War. Rhodes, History of the United States. IV, 76-95. 4. The Monitor and the Merrimac. Rhodes, History of the United States, III, 608-614. 5. The Battle of Shiloh. Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms, 99-111. 6. The Battle of Antietam. Hosmer, The Appeal to Arms, 186-200. 7. Gettysburg. Schouler, History of the United States, VI, 358-369. 8. The Story of Pickett's Charge. Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries, IV, 372-376. 9. Chickamauga. Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries, IV, 381-385. 10. "Marching Through Georgia." Hosmer, Outcome of the Civil War, 201-217. 11. Sheridan's Ride. Hart, American History Told by Contemporaries, IV, 422-427. 12. The Surrender of Lee. Rhodes, History of the United States, V. 120-129. 28 Edward M. Hulme ILLUSTRATIVE LITERATURE Poems: Bryant, Our Country's Call; Longfellow, The Cumberland, Stedman, Kearney at Seven Pines; Read, Sheridan's Ride; Lowell, The Harvard Commemoration Ode. Stories: Coffin, Drumbeat of the Nation; Marching to Victory; Redeeming the Republic; Freedom Triumphant; Stiles, Four Years under Marse Robert; Johnston, The Long Roll; Cease Firing; Brady, The Patriots; Crane, The Red Badge of Courage; Cooke, Wearing the Gray; Hill to Hilt; Cable, The Cavalier. Memoirs: Grant, Personal Memoirs; Porter, Campaigning with Grant; Sherman, Memoirs; Sheridan, Personal Memoirs; Long, Memoirs of Robert E. Lee; Longstreet, From Manassas to Appomattox. Biographies: Wister, Ulysses S. Grant; Trent, Robert E. Lee; Page, Robert E. Lee; Barnes, David G. Farragut; Michie, General McClellan; Pennypacker, General Meade; Force, General Sherman; Coppée, General Thomas. QUESTIONS AND SUGGESTIONS. 1. For what were the soldiers on each side fighting in the Civil War? Compare the military strength of the two sections at the outbreak of the war. 2. Estimate the influence of the blockade in winning the war. Locate on a map the chief seaports of the Confederacy. 3. In what ways did the physical geography of Virginia influence the history of the Civil War? Why was the control of the Mississippi River so important in the Civil War? Why were the people of eastern Tennessee loyal to the Union while the rest of the state favored the Confederacy? 4. Why was each of the following places an important strategic point in the war: Corinth, Vicksburg, Chattanooga, Atlanta? 5. What were Lee's motives in invading the North in 1863? What is meant by calling Gettysburg the "high water mark of the Confederacy" 6. The pupils will enjoy looking at the pictures in Battles and Leaders of the Civil War and in A Pictorial History of the Civil War, and will learn much about war-time life from them. 7. Draw a map of the Confederacy and locate upon it the great battles named in this chapter. CHAPTER XXII THE COUNTRY IN WAR TIME Life in the Army.-In the last chapter we traced the military history of the Civil War. In this we shall study the life of the people during the trying days from 1861 to Numbers 1865. To many the war was a time of service in the army. More than two and a half million men in the North and over a The White House of the Confederacy The home of Jefferson Davis in Richmond during the Civil War million in the South wore the uniform of the soldier. This means that nearly one-half of the northern men of military age put on the Union blue, and that more than nine out of ten of such men in the South were clad in Confederate gray. The first calls for troops were answered with enthusiasm in both sections of the country, and large numbers of eager and patriotic young men hastened to enlist. But as time passed it Volunteergrew more and more difficult to keep the ranks filled. Early ing and drafting in 1862 the Confederate Congress passed a draft law which made 44 lack of it all citizens between the ages of eighteen and thirty-five liable to military service. From time to time the age limits were extended until at last it was said that the South was "robbing the cradle and cheating the grave" to get soldiers for its armies. In 1863 it became necessary for the Congress of the United States to pass a draft act under which men were drawn by lot for military duty. This law was very unpopular, and the first attempt to enforce it led to a great riot in New York City in which hundreds of people were killed. Besides drafting soldiers for the Union armies, the federal government, and many northern states and counties as well, encouraged men to volunteer by paying them bounties in cash when they enlisted. In the end the South failed for lack of men and supplies, but the armies of the Union were larger in 1865 than at any previous time during the war. We must not think of the life of the soldiers in the Civil War as one of constant fighting. After men were mustered Drill and the into the service they were kept usually for weeks and sometimes for months in camps of instruction where their days were given to military drill. Sometimes when the need was great they were hurried off to the battlefield with very little training for the work before them. In many instances the officers knew little more about the art of war than the men they led. In time many of these officers from civil life became skilful soldiers, but most of the men who rose to high command in both the Union and the Confederate armies were graduates of the United States military academy at West Point. The life of the soldier in the field was marked by exposure to all kinds of weather, by long and toilsome marches often In camp and through rain and mud, by days of drill and work in camp, and on the battlefield sometimes by months of tedious inactivity in winter quarters. Yet the men on both sides bore the hardships of army life with stout hearts. The soldiers of the Union sang "John Brown's Body" or "The Battle-Cry of Freedom" as they marched, and the music of "Dixie" often rang out around the campfires of the Confederates. Julia Ward Howe's "Battle Hymn of the Republic" is the noblest of the many songs inspired by the Civil War. We may be sure that the days when letters came from home were awaited with eager expectation by the soldiers of both armies. The exposure and hardships of army life |