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ARMY WAGON.

Meade, at this time, lost 23,000 men. The Un-ion was saved. Meade let Lee go slow-ly a-cross the Po-to-mac. One more move was made by Lee two or three months lat-er in a quick dash o’er the Rap-i-dan, with the thought that he might get a-round Meade’s right flank. But Meade was too bright to be thus caught. Then he tried the same game on Lee but with no gain, and so the “Cam-paign of 1863,” in the East, came to an end.

The great news that the Un-ion troops had won at Get-tys-burg, and that the Un-ion for-ces had al-so won in the West, and that the whole Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er was in the hands of the boys in blue, flashed o’er the wires with-in a few days of each oth-er.

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Pres-i-dent Lin-coln’s heart was made glad. The sad look left his face. When some one in a high post at Wash-ing-ton asked him if he had not felt “great anx-i-e-ty” a-bout the fate of the Un-ion cause at Get-tys-burg, he said he “Thought it would all come out right.” Then came the ques-tion, “Why?” At first Lin-coln did not speak, then he said:

“Be-fore the bat-tle I went a-lone to my room in the White House and prayed to Al-migh-ty God to give us the vic-to-ry. I said to Him that this was His war, and that if He would stand by the na-tion now, I would stand by Him the rest of my life. He gave us the vic-to-ry, and I pro-pose to keep my pledge. I rose from my knees with a feel-ing of deep and se-rene con-fi-dence and had no doubt of the re-sult from that hour.”

Get-tys-burg, Vicks-burg, and Port Hud-son made a turn-ing point in his-to-ry.

CHAPTER XII.

CHATTANOOGA, CHICKAMAUGA, LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN. LINCOLN’S GETTYSBURG SPEECH.

In the West the war was now in two parts. The Un-ion troops had won their first point, which was to hold the Mis-sis-sip-pi Riv-er. But there had to be a long, fierce fight ere they could gain cen-tral Ten-nes-see and north Geor-gi-a. The foe led by Bragg, and the Un-ion troops by Ro-se-crans fought their best but it was not till the warm months, and the fall of 1863 that Ro-se-crans, at last, made Bragg fall back, bit by bit, un-til Chat-ta-noo-ga was in the hands of the Un-ion for-ces. Then more of the foe went to help Bragg, and the great fight of Chick-a-mau-ga came on Sept. 19 and 20, 1863.

The first day the Un-ion ar-my won; but the next day the right half of Ro-se-crans’ ar-my was bro-ken and fled to Chat-ta-noo-ga. George H. Thom-as, a brave man and a hard fight-er, by great skill held the left wing a-gainst charge af-ter charge that the foe made up-on it, and gave Ro-se-crans time to take such steps

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as would make safe the Un-ion men who had fled to Chat-ta-noo-ga.

Grant then had all the troops west of the moun-tains in his charge. He gave Ro-se-crans’ place to Thom-as, who was called “The Rock of Chick-a-mau-ga.” Grant him-self, with Thom-as next, then took com-mand of the be-sieged for-ces at Chat-ta-noo-ga.

Some of Bragg’s men had been sent off to make a strike at Burn-side in East Ten-nes-see, so Grant saw that he had a good chance to make a move on the rear of Bragg’s ar-my.

The line of the foe was twelve miles long, ’twixt Mis-sion-a-ry Ridge on the east and Look-out Moun-tain on the south. The last is a height which makes a sharp rise of 2,000 feet.

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Grant’s plan was to have his troops climb the two heights and storm the works that had been built on them. If he could take them, he would then com-mand the val-ley in which Bragg’s troops lay, and could force him to give up the siege. He gave Hoo-ker the task of mak-ing a strike at Look-out Moun-tain and Sher-man had his work to do at the Ridge.

AT MISSIONARY RIDGE.

There was a dense mist on the morn-ing of Nov. 23. Sher-man went to work and got up-on the north end of the Ridge, while Hoo-ker did his part on Look-out Moun-tain. Hoo-ker’s troops fought their way right up to the top and when there flung to the breeze the stars and stripes.

Grant stood on Or-chard Knob and gave the or-der for 20,000 men to take a line of earth works which lay at the base of the Ridge. This they did and Grant then saw that the time was ripe for a great move. He gave the word for a charge to be made a-long the whole line of bat-tle.

A CHARGE ALL ALONG THE LINE.

The day drew near its close. The shad-ow of Look-out Moun-tain fell far a-cross the plain. The last rays of the sun, ere it sank from sight, shone bright on the arms of the troops as on they came.

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Fierce was the fire which struck them, but on they went up the steep height, climb, climb as best they could, with the flags wav-ing be-yond them.

When the sun went down, with it went the hopes of the foe, for they fled and their own guns were turned up-on them.

Af-ter the bat-tle of Chat-ta-noo-ga, East Ten-nes-see was in the hands of Un-ion troops. The troops of the South that had held the field there, re-tired to guard Geor-gi-a, Al-a-bam-a, and North and South Car-o-li-na.

The State of Penn-syl-va-ni-a bought a part of the Get-tys-burg bat-tle-field for a place of bur-i-al for the

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Un-ion sol-diers who there had fought their last fight. On Nov. 19, 1863, that rest-ing place for the dead was to be “con-se-cra-ted.” Ed-ward Ev-e-rett, of Mas-sa-chu-setts, was to give the o-ra-tion, or chief speech of the day.

Some one told Pres-i-dent Lin-coln, that he, too, might be asked to speak. He said he would “put some stray thoughts to-geth-er,” and so, while in the cars on his way from the White House to the bat-tle-field, he took a pen-cil from his pock-et, and on bits of pa-per wrote the best speech of his life and one of the great-est speech-es of the world.

Each word was of use. There were 267 words in all and they came straight from Lin-coln’s heart. Here they are:

“Four score and sev-en years a-go our fa-thers brought forth on this con-ti-nent a new na-tion, con-ceived in lib-er-ty, and ded-i-ca-ted to the prop-o-si-tion that all men are cre-a-ted e-qual. Now we are en-gaged in a great civ-il war, test-ing wheth-er that na-tion or an-y na-tion so con-ceived and so ded-i-ca-ted can long en-dure. We are met on a great bat-tle-field of that war. We have come to ded-i-cate a por-tion of that

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field as a fin-al rest-ing place for those who here gave their lives that that na-tion might live. It is al-to-geth-er fit-ting and pro-per that we should do this. But, in a lar-ger sense, we can-not ded-i-cate—we can-not con-se-crate—we can-not hal-low this ground. The brave men, liv-ing and dead, who strug-gled here, have con-se-cra-ted it far a-bove our poor pow-er to add or de-tract.

“The world will lit-tle note, nor long re-mem-ber, what we say here; but it can nev-er for-get what they did here. It is for us, the liv-ing, rath-er to be ded-i-ca-ted here to the great task re-main-ing be-fore us—that, from these hon-ored dead, we take in-creased de-vo-tion to that cause for which they gave the last full meas-ure of de-vo-tion; that we here high-ly re-solve that these dead shall not have died in vain; that this na-tion, un-der God, shall have a new birth of free-dom, and that gov-ern-ment of the peo-ple, by the peo-ple, for the peo-ple shall not per-ish from the earth.”

CHAPTER XIII.

GRANT IN THE EAST. LINCOLN CHOSEN FOR SECOND TERM.

Grant for his great work in the West was made Lieu-ten-ant Gen-er-al, and put in charge of all the for-ces of the Un-ion. He came East, and took the Ar-my of the Po-to-mac in-to his strong safe hands, and Pres-i-dent Lin-coln saw that he would fight to the end.

Then the Ar-my of the Po-to-mac un-der Grant and Meade made a move to-ward Rich-mond. It met Lee in dense woods known as “The Wil-der-ness,” and there, and in and a-bout Spott-syl-va-ni-a Court House, fought for 16 days. The Un-ion ar-my lost 37,000 men. Lee, who led the foe, lost vast hordes, still he would not give up. Grant saw that he must get near-er to Rich-mond and this he did in a qui-et way by send-ing off a part of his ar-my from his right and march-ing it a-round to the rear of his oth-er troops. Then he pushed it as far a-head as he could on his left. Though “out-flanked,” Lee would fall back in time to be a-gain twixt Grant’s troops and Rich-mond. With troops so well matched it was hard for ei-ther to win.

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GENERAL GRANT.

GENERAL LEE.

On June 3, 1864, Grant and his men were so near Rich-mond, at a place called Cold Har-bor, that the Un-ion for-ces made a strike at the works of the foe a-long the whole line. In one hours’ time near 6,000 Un-ion men met death.

When ten days had gone by a quick march to the left was made by Grant’s ar-my and they all got a-cross the James Riv-er. They tried to take Pe-ters-burg so that they could cut off one source of the stores sent to the foe, but they found the works too strong to be seized by storm. Then the Un-ion troops built trench-es close up to the foe’s works and staid there nine months.

On the 21st of June, Pres-i-dent Lin-coln rode out to the front. On his way back he had to pass some black troops who had fought well in the first charge on

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Pe-ters-burg. These men had been slaves, and Lin-coln was the good friend who had set them free. They crowd-ed round him with tears in their eyes, and gave cheers of joy. They laughed and cried, and pressed up to him to shake or kiss his hand, to touch his clothes, or the horse on which he rode. The scene moved Mr. Lin-coln to tears, and he could not trust him-self to speak.

LINCOLN AND THE BLACK TROOPS.

There had been, through all the years of the war, fights on a small scale in the Val-ley of Vir-gin-ia, and each side had a chance to win from time to time.

At last Gen-er-al Sher-i-dan was put in charge of the Un-ion troops on that line, but held off from a great fight till Sept. 19, ’64, when he won at Win-ches-ter and three

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days lat-er at Fish-er’s Hill a-gainst the foe un-der Ear-ly. Sher-i-dan took all the stock from the Val-ley and burned barns full of grain, so the foe would not find food there, but still Ear-ly sent a part of his men af-ter the Un-ion troops, mov-ing so that his for-ces would not make a noise in the night on a lone-path till they got to a place where the Un-ion troops were sound a-sleep. The rest of his ar-my, Ear-ly kept by him to strike at Sher-i-dan’s force in front. The bat-tle of Ce-dar Creek came then twixt these two ar-mies. The foe won. Sher-i-dan was not there but heard the guns and rode

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up the Val-ley full speed, and with a shout to his men who had fled, “Come, boys, we’re go-ing back!” turned the tide and put down the Ear-ly troops. There were but few more fights, just there, for both sides had to go to Pe-ters-burg for the last scenes.

“COME, BOYS, WE’RE GOING BACK!”

While the ar-my did its best in war work, the na-vy, too, or men of the sea, did brave deeds.

Ad-mir-al Far-ra-gut, who had done so much good work with his fleet from the North in the Spring of 1862, brought fame once more to him-self in his at-tack on Mo-bile in Au-gust, 1864. So that he might see and di-rect his fleet of i-ron-clads and ships of wood in the best

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way, Far-ra-gut went up in-to the main-top of the “Hart-ford,” and at last took the forts in Mo-bile Bay. He closed the port, though the town was kept in the hands of the foe till the war came to an end.

In De-cem-ber, 1864, when Con-gress met, the doom of the foe was in sight. Grant had Pe-ters-burg in his grip, and said he would “see the end of the job.”

With Lee’s ar-my at Rich-mond, the on-ly oth-er large force of the foe was led by John-ston in the south. Sher-man with a lar-ger force made a move a-gainst it, and af-ter much fight-ing John-ston took his stand at At-lan-ta. He had fought with much skill, but the South failed to see this, and put Gen. Hood in his place. Hood was rash, and Sher-man soon forced him to leave At-lan-ta. From At-lan-ta, Sher-man set out on his great “March through Geor-gi-a,” burn-ing At-lan-ta when he left, so that it might not a-gain be a ref-uge for the foe.

SHERMAN’S FORCES LEAVING ATLANTA.

In the midst of all the strife, Lin-coln’s first term as Chief came to an end. It was asked by some, “What new man shall we put in Lin-coln’s place?” Names came up, but it was hard to find a new man who “knew the ropes.” Lin-coln, though worn with toil, had a

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great wish to keep his post, for he felt that he had not then done his full work. In his quaint way he said to his friends:

“It is-n’t safe to swap hor-ses when you are cross-ing a stream.”

In No-vem-ber, 1864, Lin-coln was once more the

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choice of the peo-ple. They told him that it was their wish that he should lead them, be their Chief for one more term, and take the chair on the fourth of March, 1865.

When that day came, A-bra-ham Lin-coln stood on the por-ti-co of the cap-i-tol and took the oath of off-ice. The cloud of war which hung o’er the first in-au-gu-ra-tion, was now a-bout to leave. As the gloom went by, bright-er days came, and the sun of a new e-ra shone out up-on the land.

The words which the Pres-i-dent said were few, but they will nev-er die. While Lin-coln’s “Get-tys-burg Speech” will ev-er be praised, far more must these last words dwell in the hearts of men, for they show the de-vo-tion and ten-der love of that great soul, poured out to bless his chil-dren ere he lay down to die.

The woes of Lee and his troops grew too hard for them to bear. Arms and food which had come to them

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from the South and oth-er pla-ces were now cut off. No more troops could join them and those who were on the ground were weak for lack of food. The great drama was soon to close.

ON THE SKIRMISH LINE.

Sher-man’s ar-my was in North Car-o-li-na. There were, too, “Boys in Blue” in Charles-ton and Wil-ming-ton, N. C. “Sher-i-dan’s Cav-al-ry” was en route from the Shen-an-do-ah to Pe-ters-burg. The last blow must come in a few weeks.

Lee knew that he and his men of the South must hold Five Forks at all risks. They put up strong breast works and did what they could to hold the land a-bout Pe-ters-burg.

WOUNDED SOLDIERS LEAVING THE BATTLE.

Grant’s force was then twice as large as Lee’s. Do the best he might Lee found him-self out-num-bered at each tack and turn. The Un-ion men beat the foe and took hordes of them pris-on-ers at the great fight of Five Forks on A-pril 1, 1865. While

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this fight went on, some of the foe’s works at Pe-ters-burg were stormed and one by one they fell in-to the hands of Grant’s men. But still Lee, on A-pril 2, when night came on, held the line south of the Ap-po-mat-tox. His men were worn out, for their work had been hard and their food scarce.

CHARGE AT FIVE FORKS.

As no news had come to Grant from Rich-mond, he rode out to a line where he thought he could get news and on his way a note was put in his hands from Gen. Weit-zel. It said, “Rich-mond is ours. The foe left in great haste and have set fire to the town.”

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SOUTHERN TROOPS RETREATING FROM RICHMOND.