patched Sigel into the Shenandoah Valley with a division of eight thousand men. On the 15th of May that officer was met at New Market, fifty miles above Winchester, by the Confederate cavalry division of General Breckinridge. The Federals were routed and the command of the flying divisions was transferred to General Hunter. Breckinridge returned to Richmond, whereupon Hunter again advancing up the val ley, struck the Confederates at Piedmont and gained a signal victory. From this point he advanced with the cavalry of General Averill against Lynchburg, but in this adventure he got into such peril that he was obliged to retreat across the mountains into West Virginia.

General Lee was now able to send Early's command into the Shenandoah Valley with orders to press down to the Potomac, invade Maryland and threaten Washington City. The object of the campaign was to oblige Grant to loose his hold on Petersburg for the defense of the national capital. The situation indeed was sufficiently alarming. Early, with twenty thousand men, gained the Potomac, and on the 5th of July crossed into Maryland. On the 9th he was confronted by the division of General Lew Wallace, on the Monocacy; but the latter was able with the force at his command to do no more than hold the Confederates in check until Washington and Baltimore could be put into a more defensible condition. Early came within gunshot of both of these cities; but on the 12th of the month he fell back and recrossed the Potomac.

The Union command on the Shenandoah was now transferred from Hunter to Wright. The latter pursued Early as far as Winchester, where on the 24th of July he fought with him a successful engagement. But Early turned upon his antagonist, and the Union troops were driven back across the Potomac. Following up his advantage, the Confederate leader pressed on into Pennsylvania, burned Cham

bersburg and returned into Virginia with vast quantities of plunder.

General Grant was greatly vexed by these successful raids of the Confederates. In the beginning of August he consolidated the Union divisions in the Shenandoah Valley and on the upper Potomac into a single army, and gave the command to General Philip H. Sheridan. It was the destiny of this young and brilliant officer to rise above the chaos in the concluding scenes of the war and to contribute much by his daring and genius to the final success of the Union cause.

On the 19th of September Sheridan with an army of about forty thousand men came upon Early at Winchester. A hard battle ensued in which the Confederates were decisively defeated. The Union general followed his antagonist, and on the 22d of the month again routed him at Fisher's Hill. Then came one of the saddest episodes of the war in which the fruitful Shenandoah Valley was, as a military measure, laid waste and ravaged. Grant ordered Sheridan to spare nothing from destruction that might any longer furnish the means of subsistence to the enemy. The ruinous work was fearfully well done and little was left worth fighting for between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghanies.

Early, maddened by this destruction and stung by his defeats, rallied his forces, gathered reinforcements and returned into the desolated valley. Sheridan at this juncture, having posted his army on Cedar Creek and feeling secure in the situation, went to Washington. Early seized the opportunity, and on the 19th of October surprised the Union camp, captured most of the artillery and sent the army in rout and confusion toward Winchester. The pursuit was continued as far as Middletown. The Confederates, believing themselves completely triumphant, paused to eat and rest. On the previous night, however, Sheridan returning from Washing.

ton reached Winchester, and at the time of the rout of his army was on his way to the front. While riding forward he heard the sound of battle, spurred on for twelve miles at full speed, met the panic-struck fugitives, rallied them at his call, turned upon the Confederates and gained one of the most signal victories of the war. Early's army was disorganized and ruined. It was the end of strife in the valley of the Shenandoah.

Grant, having thus cleared the horizon of Virginia, and being confident of the success of Sherman's expedition to the sea, now sat grimly down to the investment of Petersburg. All fall and winter long he pressed the siege with varying success. As early as the 30th of July, 1864, an attempt was made to carry the Confederate defenses by assault. A mine was exploded under one of the forts, and a column sprang forward at full charge to gain the lines. of Petersburg; but the attack failed, and that with serious. losses. On the 18th of August a division of the Union army succeeded in seizing the Weldon railroad. The Confederates made several courageous assaults to regain their lost ground, but were beaten back with losses of thousands. on both sides. On the 26th of September the Federals carried Battery Harrison, on the right bank of the James, and on the next day Paine's brigade of colored soldiers carried a strong Confederate position at Spring Hill. On the 27th of October a bloody battle was fought on the Boydton road, south of Petersburg.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

BOTH armies rested for the winter after the battle near Petersburg. Not until the 27th of February, 1865, was the struggle renewed. On that day General Sheridan attacked the forces of Early at Waynesborough, defeated them, and then joined the commander-in-chief at Petersburg. During March, General Grant pressed the siege of that important position, gathered strong reinforcements, and waited impatiently for the opening of spring. On the 1st of April the campaign began with a severe battle at Five Forks, on the Southside railroad-an engagement in which the Confederates were defeated with a loss of six thousand prisoners. On the next day Grant ordered an assault along the whole line in front of Petersburg, and the Confederate works were carried. The rim of iron and valor which Lee had so long maintained around the Confederate capital was shattered by this tremendous blow. On that night he with his army and the members of the Confederate government fled from Richmond, and on the next morning that city, together with Petersburg, was entered by the Federal army. The warehouses of the ill-fated capital were fired by the retreating Confederates, and the better part of the Southern metropolis was reduced to ruins.

The final catastrophe of the Confederate cause was now not far away. All men perceived that the struggle could last but a few days longer. General Lee retreated as rapidly as possible to the southwest, in the hope of effecting a junction with the army of General Johnston, on its emergence from

Carolina; but that army was destined never to emerge. The Confederates from Petersburg and Richmond joined each other at Amelia Court-house, whither Lee had ordered his supply trains to be stationed. The officer having this duty in charge, however, foolishly mistook his orders and drove the train in the direction of Danville. Nearly onehalf of the Confederate army had to be dispersed through the country to gather supplies by foraging. The 4th and 5th of April, days most precious to the sinking heart of Lee, were consumed with this delay. The heavy Federal columns pressed on in full and close pursuit. On the morning of the 6th of April the greater part of the Union army was at Jettersville, on the Danville railroad, ready to strike the Confederates at Amelia. Sheridan was on the extreme left flank, and pressing forward in the direction of Deatonsville. Ord came up with his division by way of the Southside railroad to Burke's Station. Lee fell back to the west from Amelia Court-house, and reached Deatonsville. Here, however, he found the vigilant Sheridan planted squarely in his course. The division of Ewell, six thousand strong, was flung against the Federal position, but was broken to pieces and captured in the charge.

General Lee still hoped to make a detour to the west and south around the Federal left. By strenuous exertions he succeeded in gaining the Appomattox, at Farmville, crossed to the other side and burned the bridges. He thus sought to interpose a considerable stream between himself and his pursuers; but the effort was in vain. Lee next made a desperate effort to hold the Lynchburg railroad; but Sheri dan was there before him. On the 7th of April the Confederates had their last slight success. But all hope of victory, or even escape, was soon blown out in despair. On that day, Grant, from Farmville, addressed a note to the Confederate commander, expressing a desire that further