The Washington herald., 1915-01-03
FEDERALS CLAIMED VICTORY
AS NEAR AT HAND.
December 81.
December 81.

ana lrreIIleNdDle QlSaSlerS 10 luelT CduSG'
while the Federals hailed the speedy
close Of the war and the restoration of
the Union.
the year had been one Of great events.
Huge armies and mighty fleets had en-
circled the Confederate States with
band Of steel, which had been drawn TO
choking tightness about the still resist
ing body OF the beliigerent South.
The military policy enunciated by the
break Of the war, OF crushing the South
as an anaconda crushes its prey In its
fold, was being carried out under Grant,
who at the beginning OF the war had
lived in obscurity, a broken ex-captain
Of the army, who had left the service
/ under a cloud.
Until Grant by steady steps had gained
supreme command of the Federal armies,
IN the spring of 1854 the war had been
| carried on by the Federals without con-
sistent method or adequate results.
Grant, with the aid OF the brilliant II
eNc!table Sherman. began to conduct the
4 war on scientific principles. The vastly
prerOnderating strength Of the North at
| once had been made to count for its full
worth. for the first time since the strug-
| gle for the Union began.
The method of conducting the opera
| tions OF 1854. sometimes termed the grand
strategy Of Grants campaign, was siG1-
pie. The object was to surround the
| enemy. cut on his supplies and wear
him down until he surrendered. This
! had worked so well that Lee. the great
leader of the Confederates, upon whose
shoulders had fallen the full rasponsi-
biiity of making the final stand for the
| Southern cause, was in his last ditch at
/ Petersburg, with Grant in frInt Of him
and Sherman coming up in his rear.
Great Armies Move.
The military events OF the year tlIat
had led to this state of affairs are easily
| traced.
Grant was called to the supreme COM
/ mand of the Federal forces in March.
At that time the Federals held the Mis-
sissippi River, the States OF Kentucky
| and Tennessee, and a line OF SOC miles
eastward. from Vicksburg to ChsttR-
nooga. They did not hold Arkansas.
Western Louisiana or Texas.
| Operations had opened wiTn a great
raid across Mississippi by Sherman, who
marched with 20,Ooo men from Vicks-
| burg to Meridian to destroy Confederate
property at that point, which was rail-
road junction.
Then followed the ill-conceived and
badly executed Red River expedition. by
which Gen. n. p. Banks expected to clear
Western Louisiana Of the enemy and
open the way to Texas. Disaster was
narrowly ayerted. Grant attached little
| importance TO this expedition, as he be-
lieved the enemy west OF the Mississippi
would grow steadily weaker If left alone.
Grants plans called for the concentra-
ton of every available man for the great
campaign in the East. This was begun
on May by the simultaneous movement
of three armies, whose ultimate obJec-
| tive was the same-the Confederate army
under Lee.
From Chattanooga Sherman moved
with 10000 men against an army under
: Gen. Joseph z. Johnston, which he pro-
ceeded TO force back through the Geor-
| gia Mountains upon Atlanta. An army Of
| about IS, 900 men under Gen B. F. Butlar
moved up the James River from Hamp-
| ton Roads to cooperate with Grant, who
moved overland toward Richmond with
| 10000 men from the winter camps of
the Army of the Potomac on the Rapi-
dan, seventy miles south of Washington.
The Dash Upon Washington.
History has described in detail Grants
! bloody progress across Virginia in the
face of Lees mastery defense; Of the
great battles of the Wilderness, Spott-
sylvania and Cold Harbor; OF the tardy
] and fruitless attack on Petersburg and
Of the beginning OF the siege of that
place at which, because of its impor-
I
the South to Richmond, Lee had chosen
to fight to the end of his resources.
Grant has been often gravely censured
| for the enormous losses of his overland
| campaign, for II cost him half his army
| in killed. wounded, sick and prisoners
to place 1t before Petersburg. His re-
sponse, when finally he spoke, was that
| the enemy suffered more than he In
vitality, il not in numbers. A glimpse
behind the trenches at Petersburg on the
last day of 1854 would have proven the
accuracy of this view. Lees army was
but a shadow.
In the more southern field Sherman had
paralleled in a different way the success
of Grant. He had forced the enemy be
fore him back upon and out of Atlanta,
and having destroyed the public property
in that city. which was the great ar
senal OF the Sonth, had swept across
Georgia with his forces TO Savannah, the
capture of which he had announced as a
Christmas gift TO the nation.
These two grand movements by the
chief Federal armies in the field haG
been attended by allied movements in
other sections of lesser Importance. but
great brilliancy.
In July a Confederate army corps of
200 men, under Gen. Jubal A. Early
detached by Lee from his meager force
defending Richmond, even when Grant
lay before his trenches at Cold Harbor
had made a swift march upon Wash
iDgton.
But for the quickness Of Grant in send
ing part of his army by water to defend
the city, Early might have grasped the
great prize Of the National Capital. He
could not have held IL, but the moral
effect Of It's capture would have bsen OF
incaleulable benefit to his cause.
Victories ON the Sea.
Driven from before washington, Early
had retired into the Shenandoah Valley.
This movement led Grant TO send mis-
cavalry commander, Gen. p. II. Sheridan.
10 the valley, with orders to lay waste
It's crops, mills and workshops-to de
stroy IL as source of supply TO the
enemy.
The valley campaign, eliminating in
the battle OF Cedar Greek, IN which
Early surprised and drove before him
the Federal army, only to be defeated
few hours later when the Federals
had made a stand, and Sheridan had ar
rived on the field by striking ride from
winchester-ldealized and immortaliEed
in verse-ended in the execution of
Grants force. The remnant of Early's
army. and part Of Sheridan's troops,
wintered in the valley.
On the sea the year had been one Of
victories for the Federals- On June 1s
the Alabama. greatest OF modern sea
rovers, was destroyed In battle on Cher
bomg by the Federal ship Kearsarge. On
Ausust feet under FarraEut forced
the passage OF the Mobile Bay forts, seal
ing the fate of the city OF Mobile. On
the Gulf and the Atlantic Coast the
blockade was strengthened. until only