The past year.
The year 1864 has gone with the last year's snow.
It has passed away, and is lost in the ocean of eternity.
It was a memorable year in the history of this continent — the most memorable, from the gigantic character of the incidents to which it gave rise, that has passed over it since
Columbus first "gave a new world to the Kingdoms of
Castile and
Leon. " It may not be uninteresting to our readers to go rapidly over the principal incidents which it witnessed, and which have rendered it forever memorable in the history of mankind.
We begin with the famous raid of
Kilpatrick, which took place in the latter part of February and beginning of March, and which had for its object the capture of this city, the release of the prisoners, the total destruction of the town, and the murder of the
President and his Cabinet.
This part of the undertaking was entrusted to
Colonel Dahlgren, who seems to have been formed by nature for the execution of the most atrocious schemes.
Kilpatrick's forces divided in the upper country.
One portion of them, after having attempted to capture the artillery of
General Lee's army at Frederick's Hall, and been driven off, came on direct, and made their appearance on the outskirts of the city, where they had an artillery duel with our batteries, without much damage to either side.
The other, under
Dahlgren, passed through
Goochland, robbing and burning as they went.
They approached the city in a dark night, on the
Westham road, and within a few miles of town, were met, in a dark night, by the battalion of clerks, who fired not more than two or three volleys at them, when, as was to have been expected from professional house-burners and hen roost thieves, they faced to the right about and galloped off.
General Bradley Johnson had already met a party of them, numbering about a thousand, with a small force near Old Church, in
Hanover, and routed them effectually. --The next night,
General Wade Hampton, who had by this time arrived with a body of cavalry, shelled a large body of them, commanded by
Kilpatrick himself, and frightened them so badly that they took to their heels and escaped down the
Peninsula.
Dahlgren was not so fortunate.
He crossed the river into
King and
Queen, and falling into a body of home guards and militia, was surrounded, in a dark night, and furiously attacked.
He himself was killed on the spot and the greater part of his men taken prisoners.
On his person were found papers which revealed his design to set fire to the city during the night and to inaugurate a general scene of pillage and massacre.--The most ample preparations had been made.
Oakum and turpentine had been formed into the most convenient shapes for executing the diabolical purpose.--But death cut short his designs.
The next most notable incident was the defeat of
Banks in
Western Louisiana by
Dick Taylor.
This was a most important victory.
The enemy lost at least twenty thousand men, and would have lost his whole army and the fleet that operated with it but for the want of vigor in following up the blow.
Next came our successes in
North Carolina, especially that at
Washington, in which
General Hoke so highly distinguished himself that he was made a major-general for his gallantry.
We now come to
Grant's great expedition, the object of which was to overwhelm
Lee in the upper country and pass on over his body to
Richmond, which he expected to enter without further opposition.
The Yankee papers had said he was to celebrate the 4th of July in
Richmond, and he seems to have entertained that opinion himself.
He crossed the
Rapid Ann on the 4th of May with an enormous force — reckoned at not less than one hundred and fifty thousand men, in one body.
Notwithstanding a great inferiority of numbers,
General Lee hastened to attack him. The battle lasted three days, and resulted in our complete success.
Grant, whose face was south, and who had proclaimed his determination to fight it out on that line if it took him all summer, was forced to make a move his former line of march, having been utterly unable to drive
Lee out of his way. He lost, according to the
Washington Chronicle,--the
Government paper, edited by
Forney, --thirty-five thousand men on this occasion.
As the
Yankees, of course, do not speak half the truth on such occasions, we may fairly infer that the loss was at least sixty thousand, which estimate is rendered probable by the number of small arms picked up by our men--fifty — seven thousand in all.
Grant wrote a lying dispatch, claiming a victory, at the very time that he was retiring before
Lee; while the latter, following him up, drove him out of Spotsylvania Courthouse and established himself there.
Here he was again assailed by
Grant on the 9th and 10th of May.
On the latter day, he sustained a sanguinary repulse, in which he lost twenty thousand men. On the 12th, he made a sudden assault upon a portion of our lines which was too far advanced, and, by the suddenness of the onset, routed the division of
General Edward Johnson and captured two thousand prisoners (among them the
General himself) and all the artillery of the division.
The
Yankees, however, were soon driven off, and the most tremendous battle of the war ensued.
Being behind breast-works, our men suffered little, while the slaughter of the
Yankees was without a parallel.
We think we may safely put it at thirty thousand men, since they themselves confess to twenty thousand.
The armies remained facing each other for several days; but
Grant had enough of it, and would not try a general assault again.
Several feeble attempts were made, but his men had lost spirit and could not be brought up to the scratch again.
Before he left
Spotsylvania,
Grant had already lost one hundred thousand men. He had been reinforced by twenty-five thousand veterans, so
Stanton said.
Finding he could not drive
Lee out of his path, he again stole around his left, and endeavored to get before him in the race for
Richmond.--He was again unsuccessful; but there was no more heavy fighting until
Grant had arrived at Cold Harbor, where he found
Lee again facing him. Here he sustained another tremendous slaughter, and here he was reinforced by a portion of
Butler's men and forty thousand one-hundred-days' men from
Cincinnati.--Finding it utterly impossible to enter
Richmond from that quarter, he subsequently crossed over the river and united his forces to these of
Butler.
He had had, operating immediately with, first, his own original army, one hundred and fifty thousand second, twenty-five thousand veteran reinforcement third, forty thousand hundred-days' men fourth, twenty thousand from.
But or total, two hundred and thirty-five thousand men, under his own eye. Of these he had lost one hundred and twenty-five thousand before he left Cold Harbor.
He crossed the river with one hundred and ten thousand men, and there united his operations with those of
Butler, who had with him about twenty thousand men, besides those he had sent to
Grant.
This brings us to the notice of
Butler's operations.
We should notice, however, that a Yankee force, under
General Siegel, having advanced down the
Valley as far as
New Market, was there met by
General Breckinridge and completely routed.
It fled up the
Valley; burning the bridge over the
Shenandoah to prevent pursuit.
The forces of
General Breckinridge having been withdrawn to reinforce
General Lee, the
Valley was left comparatively unprotected, except by the small force under
General Jones.
An enormous body of cavalry, numbering at least twenty thousand, under
Sheridan, while
Lee was still facing
Grant in
Spotsylvania, passed around his army, and, after committing unheard of devastation in the intermediate counties, appeared in the neighborhood of
Richmond.
Here they were met by
General Stuart, who, in the battle that ensued, lost his life.
The Department forces and the local troops, under the command of
Colonel Curtis Lee, displayed, on this occasion, a most commendable alertness and gallantry.
In the meantime,
Siegel had been removed in the
Valley, and
Hunter appointed to succeed him. Finding the
Valley open, this officer advanced in the direction of
Staunton, it being his object to capture
Lynchburg, and thus perform a part in the grand operations by which
Grant hoped to isolate
Richmond.
Encounter defeated it after a severe battle, in which
General Jones was killed.
He then proceeded to
Staunton, and afterwards to
Lexington, burning and destroying as he went.
Sheridan, having set out with the intention of joining him through
Charlottesville, was met at
Trevillian's depot, in
Louisa, by
General Hampton, and utterly routed.
He was driven back to the lower country, and, after sustaining another defeat in
Charles City, crossed over the river.
We must go back a little.
Simultaneously with
Grant's movements in
Spotsylvania, a large land and naval force, under Beast
Butler, passed up from
Old Point, landed at
City Point, took possession of
Bermuda Hundred, and endeavored to capture
Petersburg and the
Port Walthall railroad.
In these attempts they were thwarted by the skill and gallantry of
General Pickett, who, with vastly inferior forces, succeeded not only in holding
Petersburg and the railroad until the arrival of
General Beauregard with his forces from
North Carolina, but in repulsing them and inflicting a severe loss upon them.--
General Pickett added greatly to the renown he had already won at
Gettysburg and other hotly contested fields by his success on this occasion.
Had he been less firm, less determined, or less skillful, it seems certain that
Petersburg would have been lost.
General Beauregard said
Petersburg ought to raise a monument to
Colonel David Harris.--There is no doubt that he deserved one at her hands, as did
General Beauregard himself.
But it may be doubted whether
General Pickett's claims to her gratitude are not even greater than those of either of these two great officers.
The arrival of
General Beauregard with heavy reinforcements quieted the public mind, which was greatly excited.
An attempt to flank
Drewry's Bluff brought on a battle, in which the enemy were signally defeated.
When
Grant found it impossible to enter
Richmond, he crossed the river and attempted to carry
Petersburg by storm.
He was repulsed with enormous slaughter.
The
Yankees themselves computed their loss at twelve thousand.
It was, undoubtedly, at least twenty thousand.
Subsequently they sprung mine under part of our works.
The men rushed in and occupied the chasm caused by the explosion.--Our troops attacked them.
They could not get out, and an awful slaughter ensued.
We have not room to detail the numerous actions around
Petersburg in all of which, with the exception of one, we were victorious.
Nor can we enter into the details of
Hunter's march to
Lynchburg, or his retreat from that place, pursued by
Early; nor of the march of the latter up the
Valley, through
Maryland, to within one mile of
Washington; nor of his subsequent return to the
Valley, and defeats at
Winchester and
New Market, on both of which occasions he rose superior to disaster, and still continued to show a bold front to the enemy.
All of these movements on the part of the enemy were parts of
Grant's grand plan to manœuvre
Lee out of his position after he had failed to do it by direct attacks.
One grand attack along our whole line he attempted in November, soon after the Presidential election, the success of
Lincoln in which the
Yankees fondly believes would so terrify the
Confederates that they would lay down their arms at their bidding.
He failed, and was disastrously repulsed everywhere.
Nor need we speak of the capture of
Fort Harrison, or the AlmsHouse, or
Darbytown, or of Beast
Butler and his grand canal at
Dutch gap.
It is time to turn our eyes elsewhere.
The campaign of
Sherman, early in the spring, from
Vicksburg to the
Alabama line, with the purpose of taking
Mobile and
Selma, having failed, that officer was transferred to
Chattanooga to take command there.
He began to move against
General Johnston early in June That officer fell back from one position to another until he had reached
Atlanta, fighting on the retreat several severe battles, in which, while he lost only nine thousand men, he inflicted upon the enemy, according to their own statements, a loss of fifty-five thousand.
Here, to the great regret of the whole country, and of none so much as the army he commanded, he was relieved by
General Hood.
This General, after fighting a bloody and indecisive action, was eventually defeated by
Sherman at
Jonesboro', and fell back in the direction of Macon Subsequently, he got in the rear of
Sherman and marched into
Tennessee, where, after a hard-won victory at
Franklin, he was defeated before
Nashville by
Thomas.
We have the results of that defeat only from the
Yankees.
We shall, therefore, not state them here.
In the meantime,
Sherman, finding himself unopposed, marched, almost without resistance, through
Georgia and took
Savannah.
The march of
Price and defeat of the great Yankee armada at
Wilmington were the last exploits of the year which we shall notice.
This summary is, no doubt, very inaccurate; but the events are of such a late date that every man's memory will enable him to correct errors.
