The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-09-17

West Virginia to the headwaters of the
Hiolston river. in Tennessee; down that
thence along the Memphis Tennessee
railroad to the Mississippi. which was also
In Union hands All south of that line was
In the hands of the enemy, except a few
stations along the seacoast, the possession
or which assisted in the blockade.
The enemy had concentrated most of
tnelr troops which were east of the Mis-
sissippi into the armies commanded by Lee
and Johnston; that commanded by Lee fac
Ing the. Army of the Potomac and guard
at Dalton, in the northern part of Geor-
gia, facing Sherman and defending At
lanta, a great railroad center and point
federate troops wherever they were sta
toned, east Of the Mississippi river. Rich
mond and the armies under Lee and john
ston We're the main detectives of the cam
paign. General Grant. as commander of
the Union armies, placed himself with the
Army of the Potomac where the greatest
opposition was to be expected, and where
he considered his personal presence would
be of the greatest value, and whence he
exercised general supervision of the move
ments of. all the armies. The main move
other troops were. directed to cooperate
with the main armies. The movements OF
either to detaeh largely for the protection
of his supplies and lines of communication
or else lose them altogether.
Everything being prepared, orders were
given for the start apd all the armies were
on the move by the 9Th of May Early on
the morning of the 4th of May. 1864. the
camp near Culpepper Courthouse and head
ing toward Richmond-crossing the Rapi-
dan at Germania and Ely fords-plunged
into the Wilderness. AT the same time, the
Army of the James moved from Fortress
Monroe up the James river, landing on the
south side OF the James near City Point,
threatening Petersburg The army In the
Shenandoah valley had already started and
Sherman was about to move.
"As the Army of the Potomac was
marching through the. Wilderness. it was
attacked by Lee, who had moved from his
fortifications at Mine run. The head of
Lees column met the Army of the Poto-
mac at the Old Wilderness tavern and the
struggle for military supremacy in the
field began. This battle, locally known as
the Wilderness had by the 7th of May
spread along the entire line of the federal
armies and was raging from the Atlantic
ocean to the Mississippi valley. Columns
of men were engaged in the battle on the
James river, In the Wilderness, in the
Shenandoah valley and in northern Geor-
gia In few days the question was to be
determined whether the North or the South
possessed the military mastery OF the con-
tinent.
REBELS ON THE DEFENSIVE.
by the 11th of May the Southern troops
were forced to act entirely on the defensive
and the Union lines had been consider
ably advanced. 1t was on the evening of
this day, the end of the first week of the
campaign, that General Grant, in report
ing his view of the general results, wrote
letter containing the remark: i propose
to fight it out on this line If 1t takes all
summer From now on the tactics of
Lee and Johnston were defensive and they
awaited the assaults of the Union army
behind Notifications The Union center at
tackled and maneuvered always by the left
flank, while the right wing maneuvered
generally by the right flank. One flank
movement after another forced the enemy
out Of position after position, Until their
the James river, Staunton, Va, and to
the Eutaw river, Georgia. In the East
the great battle of Cold Harbor was fought
was made, the crossing Of the James ef-
fected and the carrying of the outer lines
of Petersburg, which city. with Richmond,
was Immediately laid under siege. The
junction of the armies of the James and
cf the Potomac now took place and from
this time on they together formed the left
wing Of the Union armies The column in
near Staunton and Iynchburg, in Virginia,
but their ammunition becoming almost ex-
hausted, especially that for artillery. the
army had to move over the mountains, to-
ward the Kanawha valley, thus leaving the
Shenandoah valley. open to the enemy to
pass through in making raids on the North,
while the right wing of the Union army
pushed its way on through northern
it crossed and moved toward Atlanta. The
first phase of the great campaign was
thus ended and the second phase now opens
before us.
..As already described, the Shenandoah
valley was left open to raids by Southern
troops into the North and SO able a man
as General Lee did not miss such an op-
A portion of the Confederates
within the strong entrenchments of Peters
burg and Richmond were detached under
General Early, , who IN marched pa1e. down Is the
tered Maryland, penetrating as far as
Early then turned and
on Washington, for the defense of
which city two corps were detached from
the right wing. They succeeded In saving
the national capital and in driving the
enemy to the north and west, wnere they
idan was given the command OF these
troops. He soon placed himself in the val
ley of the Shenandoah, where his army
now became the center Of the Union
"The second phase was the adoption of
the policy to keep the enemy within within the
Atlanta and actively to engage the outside
troops to drive all the smaller bands to
the South, to devastate the country from
which supplies were drawn, and, as far as
possible, to destroy the troops that gathered
these supplies. In these movements. the
most active and most effective column was
sent the enemy. as Sheridan expressed it,
whirling through Winchester, a1nhilated
two armies gathered to protect the valley,
and destroyed all the war supplies it con-
THE DEFEAT OF HOOD.
I'm the meantime the Confederate gov
ernment, finding that it was losing so much
ground by its defensive policy, relieved
Johnston, an officer of great ability, who
was commanding at Atlanta. This placed
Hood in charge Of that wing Of the army
Hood Immediately assumed the offensive
and attacked the Army OF the Tennessee
OH the 22d of July. He was defeated and
thrown back with great loss into his works
at Atlanta. In this encounter Gen. James
B. Mcpherson was killed, by which sad
event the Army of the Tennessee lost its
able and brilliant commander and General
Grant lost one of his best friends.
Sherman soon followed Hoods lead tbv
making another flank movement, which
caused the fall of the city, the Confeder
ates evacuating the place and moving TO
lines of supplies. Sherman followed Hood
a while, but 1t was soon decided to detach
part of the troops under him to concen
trate them at Nashville Tenn, so as TO
prevent an invasion of the North by Hood 8
army and to abandon the lines of supplies
In the rear, and for Sherman TO push on to
the sea, cutting through Georgia, living of
the country and destroying, as far as posi-
bic. the warehouses in which the army in
gathered It's food
while Sherman was marching through
Georgia the siege of Richmond pressed, and
all troops to the west, as far as the Mis-
sissppi. were kept active in preventing the
raids of the enemy and throwing back the
raiders who had become especially active