The National tribune., 1910-08-25

Armies of the Potomac and James were
to lie in close musket range OF the
Army of Northern Virginia, to work oE
saps and approaches still closer, and al
the same time extend out toward the
left to cut one after another OF the
roads leading into Petersburg. The
ARMY of Northern Virginia was to te
held there until it could be DESTROYED
or at least greatly reduced in formid-
ableness The life of the rebellion was
to be sapped away.
This work could be prosecuted with
the greatest advantage at petersburg,
since the Armies of the Potomac ana
James would remain constantly within
a few miles of their base of supphes al
CITY Point, TO which great vessels came
without fear of interference from the
enemy, bringing their freightage OF
what the army needed.
The railroad leading to City Point was
first taken possession OF by our army
as this was protected from assault by
the Appomattox River and the works
at Bermuda Hundred. From this the
army was to gradually reach out ana
cut one after another of the railroads
and wagon roads leading into the city
This was a continuation of the move
ment by the left flank which the Army
of the Potomac had persistently lol-
lowed since It crossed the Rapidan. The
extension of our line first struck the
Jerusalem plank road and then the rail-
road leading to Norfolk. Tho these
we're comparatively unimportant to the
enemy. there was vigorous resistance to
our advance.
orders went out on the night of June
IS TO fortify the ground which had been
gained and to hold il. In a few days
the works on this line became OF i'm
posing strength At first the field pieces
were put in the redoubts. but these
were soon replaced by siege guns
brought up from City Point. Most of
the fortifying was done at night by
heavy details from each regiment. 1t
was impossible to do it in the daytime.
as the lines We're SO close together that
nothing could live that exposed itself to
the accurate fire from the enemy'S
works. In spite of this, the work was
of the highest engineering skill. Great
forts were built with strong bastions
and redoubts. The works were securely
revetted by gabions; that is, round. bot
tomIess baskets about the size of bar
rel. made by weaving branches of trees
in between poles that served as stakes.
When these were completed they were
filed with earth, and were strong
enough to resist even cannon shot. Ad-
ditional security was gained by a bank
thrown up in front of and resting
against them. Even at night this work
ates keot up constant fire in the di-
rec;ion in which they knew the work
was going on. At times the artillery
would join in with the rifiemen, and
shells and solid shot screech around
some work particularly obnoxious.
The enemy did not have things all his
own way by any means, as our men
were quite as good marksmen and as
skilful in devices to repress the audaci-
ty of their foes. They would-take close
observation during the day, each man
picking out his special objective on the
other side Then they would put down
stakes, and arrange rests for their rifles,
so as 10 aim at night with as much GER
tainty as in the daytime. Thus they
were able to keep up a searching fire
under and above the headlogs of the
enemy, and thus keep down his fire to
great extent.
Establishment of the Lines.
In the establishment of the lines the
Ninth Corps moved to the right until
its right flank rested at the Hare House.
where II Joined the left flank of the
Eighteenth Corps. The Fifth Corps
went into position on the left of the
Ninth, with its left resting on the Jeru-
salem road, where Fort Sedgwick was
afterwards built. On June q the Sec
ond Corps. followed by the Sixth Corps.
moved across the Jerusalem plank road
10 the left of the Fifth Corps, with the
intention of taking possession of the
Weldon Railroad. In following it the
Sixth Corps went into position some
distance TO the left of the Second Corps,
leaving large gap between them. The
aim was, after getting possession of the
Weldon road, TO push the Sixth Corps
on toward the South Side Railroad the
: last of those entering Petersburg.
Alas, for the calculations of Gener-
alsi There were to be months Of inces-
SAINT manuvering. intrenching and
bloody fighting before that South Side
Railroad was reached. Thousands OF
men were TO die. many more thousands
were to be wounded and captured in
the bitter struggle prosecuted under
the burning heat of Summer. the
drenching rains of Autumn and amid
the frosts and SHOWS of Winter before
that goal was attained. When il was al
last reached the Confederate army haC
been hammered down TO half its orig
inal strength, altho the last man tha
the conscription agents. raking the en-
tire country as if searching for dia-
monds, had been forced into the ranks
First Fight for the Weldon Railroad.
The Second and Sixth Corps wer,
moved without certain objective. "A!
the maps were worthless, the country
hidden 10y thickets and woods and the
roads perpleXing. II had been intended
that the two corps should mutually
support each other, but the attempt Il
do so in such a confusing terrain only
led to much trouble and delay, anC
finally the corps commanders were in
etructed 10 move independently. Hence
the gap that was allowed to intervene
The enemy's skirmishers clung TO tn,
front of both corps. and were pushed