The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1864-09-30
IHE EQITRTH YEAR nE TIE

Ah6, PAOEtl0SCy duu
VII.
THE FOURTH YEAR OF THE WAR,
The opening of the fourth year of the war
saw the forces of the rebellion driven from
the whole circumference of the Confederacy,
and brought to definite points in two armies
the army Of Bragg, on the mountain ridges
south Of Chattanooga, and the army of Lee,
on the Rapidan. The former assailed BY
Gen. Grant in his mountain Businesses, saw
himself driven from his stronghold, and his
army broken and routed liz the most disas-
trous defeat since Waterloo. He left in our
hands 10000 prisoners and 60 guns, suffered
loss of 5000 in killed and wounded, and
sought shelter for his shattered force by q
disordered retreat to Dalton.
This review brings the catalogue of Union
victories up to the time of the commencement
of the great campaign of this Summer, the
events of which a:e too fresh in the memory
of all to require any detailed recital.
During the early days of May the two
grand armies of the Union, under the su-
preme control of the Lieutenant General
commanding all the armies of the United
States, began their advance-the one from
Chattsn ooga, the other from the Rapidan.
Gen. Sherman, after an advance from
Chattanooga, over a hundred miles, marked
tions, in which the enemy's force was driven
from a succession of strongholds looked up
on as impregnable, at length planted his
army in front of Atlanta Here he was
thrice assailed by an enemy willing 10 lavish
everything in the desperate effort TO drive
him back.
The enemy thrice met a bloody repulse.
Sherman now began working slowly but
surely round on the rebel communications
not with a view to take Atlanta simply. but
for the purpose of capturing the rebel army
"a result from which Hood has only been
saved by precipi,a,e flight from Atlanta
thus abandoning the foremost city of the
Southwest, and the important communica-
tions it commands. In tie engagement
which resulted in this brilliant success, the
rebels lost two thousand prisoners and very
heavily in killed|and wounded. Ii may now be
safely said that Hoods force, as an army. no
longer exists.
In this great campaign Gen. Sherman has
put hors du combat over forty thousand men,
that is, more than half the army opposed 10
him, besides effecting great captures in men
and materiel.
Gen. Grant has planted his army before
Petersburg and on the communications OF
Richmond, after campaign of even greater
magnitude, marked by the most terrible and
( continuous fighting on record. During its
progress he has gained dozen victories, any
one of which would have sealed the fate of
any European war. Its course has been
marked by the constant use of those double
instruments of war-strategy and what Wei
lington called hard pounding" by the for
mer he has driven the enemy, by b!ood!ess
victories on our part, from six chosen lines
of defense; by the latter he has put out Of
the way between fifty and sixty thousand OF
the fighting veterans of the South. In ad-
ditiou he has taken over twenty-five thous.
and prisoners, and prodigious number OF
guns. He is certain, ere long, to crown his
work by the capture of the rebel capital and
the destruction of the main rebel army.
Finally, while the situation is as thus pre-
sented at the main points of war, the prog
ress of our arms by land and sea shows equa
lustre wherever they met the foe. 1t is but
the other day that Admiral Farragut capped
. the climax Of bis great achievements by the
capture of the forts guarding the entrance tc
Mobile Bay, the destruction or capture Of
the enemy's powerful feet in those waters
thus sweeping away, it is believed, the las
ves,ige of rebel naval power on the coast o
the Atlantic and the Gulf From the higf
seas, too, the rebel naval power has beer
swept. 1t is but the other day that its mos
formidable embodiment, the Alabama wal
sent to the bottom by the kearsarge, afford
ing significant lesson both to the rebel
and the British allies who have furnished
them with that and other proofs of their ma
terial support.