The Congress of the United States met in extra session July 4, 1561, and, in response to the President's call, voted 500.000 men and $500, 000,000. The Northern States, in their indi vidual capacity, had before this time drawn upon their own resources in behalf of the Union cause—New York and Pennsylvania each vot ing $3,000,000 for the prosecution of the war; Massachusetts and other New England States sending regiments into the field fully armed and equipped; while in every city, town, and village volunteers were gathering and forming them selves into companies and regiments, to he after wards offered to the Governors of the respective States, and through these officials to the coun try. The latter half of the year 1561 was de voted mainly to organization, and the engage ments that occurred were generally without great importance. At the South the enlistment of 400,000 men was going on under a call from the Confederate Congress. The Confederates also had possession of the United States Arsenal at 'Harper's Ferry and of the Navy-Yard at Nor folk, Va., where they had seized 2000 cannon and the steam-frigate Merrimac, one of the finest in the United States Navy. General Lyon suc ceeded in securing Missouri for the Union by a series of successful engagements. terminating in the battle of Wilson's Creek (near Springfield). August 10, in which he fell. On October 21 the Confederates gained a success by almost an nihilating the Federal force of 1500 to 1700 men which had been sent to Ball's Bluff (q.v.) on the Potomac, and left there unsupported. Gen. U. S. Grant. after having seized Paducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee River, and another important strategic point at the mouth of the Cumberland. captured, on November 7. the Con federate camp at Belmont, Mo., though he was soon driven back by the Confederate General Pillow, acting under orders from General Polk. On the same date a United States naval force under Admiral Dupont captured Forts Walker and Beauregard at Port Royal, S. C. On the fol lowing day the Confederate commissioners. :Ma son and Slidell, were taken, IT Captain Wilkes of the United States frigate San Jacinto, from the British mail steamer Trent, while on their way to their respective missions to England and France. Complications with England were avert ed by the prompt disavowal of Captain Wilkes's act by the United States Government. The Fed eral force in the field in the beginning of 1862 was about 450,000 men; the Confederate force about 350,000. During January some successes were gained in Kentucky, at Prestonburg and Mill Springs, by the Federals, under Colonel Gar field and General Thomas. General Grant, aided by a naval force under Commodore Foote, cap Ore(' Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, Febru ary 6; and ten days later General Grant at tacked Fort DoneIsom on the Cumberland, which surrendered with nearly 15,000 prisoners and 40 cannon. A naval expedition under General Burn side and Commodore Goldsborough captured Ibe anoke New Berne, N. C., on February S. On March 7-8 occurred the battle of Pea Ridge, in western Arkansas, in •hieh the Federals under Gen. S. R. Curtis defeated the Confederates under Gen. Earl Van Dorn. On March 9 the Confed erate ironclad l'iryinia (formerl• the Merrimac), after having on the preceding day inflicted great loss on the wooden vessels of the Union squadron in Hampton Roads, was herself defeated in a re markable naval engagement by the newly con structed Monitor, under Worden. In the West the Northern eampaign was directed toward opening the Mississippi, and toward cutting the Memphis-Charleston railroad line. In the course of the southward movement for the latter pur pose, General Grant fought the great two days' battle of Shiloh (or of 'Pittsburg Landing), on the Tennessee River, April 6-7. On the first day the attack of the Confederates, under Generals A. S. Johnston (who fell) and Beauregard, threatened the destruction of the Cnion force, but on the second day Grant, reinforced by Buell, drove the enemy from the field. In this theatre of the war, at the close of the following month, the Federals, under lfalleck, compelled the evacu ation by Beauregard of the important strategic point of Corinth, Miss. On April S General Pope and Commodore Foote captured Island No. 10 (q.v.), in the Mississippi River. Fort Pulaski, near Savannah, Ga., was bombarded and captured by Major Gilimore. April 11: and at the close of this month New Orleans' was captured by Far ragut and occupied by Northern forces. The Army of the Potomac. which had devoted its time during the winter of 1861-62 to organization, moved early in the spring to the peninsula formed by the James and York rivers, and gained an equivocal success at lYilliamsburgh. Va., Slay 5. The army then advanced up the peninsula to the Chickahominy, and won the battle of Fair Oaks (Seven Pines), on May 31-June 1, against Gen. Joseph E. Johnston, hut the approach of 'Stone wall' Jackson, with a force fresh from a victo rious advance through the Shenandoah Valley, to cooperate with Lee, made it necessary, in the judgment of McClellan, to effect a change of base to the James River: and this hazardous movement was accomplished at the expense of some of the hardest-fought engagements of the war, known collectively as the Seven Days' Battles—those of Oak Grove, .rune 25; Me chanicsville, June 26; Gaines's Mill. June 27: Savage's Station, June 29; Frazier's Farm, June 30; and Malvern llill, July 1. In :July alleck was appointed of the Union armies, but he did not assume personal command. As a result of the peninsula move ment and the 'change of base, the advantage remained with the Confederates, who had suc cessfully defeated the original plan for the cap ture of Richmond by this route. The scene of the Eastern campaign was thus again shifted to northern Virginia, and on August 29-30 occurred the second battle of Bull Run (q.v.), between the Federal forces commanded by Gen. John Pope and the Confederates under Lee, Jaekson, and Longstreet. Pope was utterly defeated, and his broken and dispirited columns were driven back upon Washington. Lee now undertook the inva sion of the Union territory, and crossed the Poto mac into Maryland. :McClellan encountered him successfully at South Mountain. September 14, and definitively clucked his progress in the severe battle of Antietam. September 16-17, forcing him to retreat across the Potomac. Harper's Ferry, which had been evacuated by the Confederates in June, 1861, was recaptured by Stonewall Jack son (q.v.), September 15, 18,62, when 11.5S:3 men and a great quantity of munitions of war fell into the hands of the Confederates. On Septem ber 22 President Lincoln issued a proclamation decreeing the emancipation on January 1, 1863, of all slaves in the States which should till then continue in a state of rebellion. This was fol lowed on January 1 by a proclamation definitively emancipating the slaves in the rebellious States. On November 7, 1862. General SleClel Ian was superseded in the command of the Army of the Potomac by General Burnside, against the wish of the latter. who was defeated disastrously at Fredericksburg, Va., December 13. (See FREDERICKSBC RG. ) On January 26, 1863, General Burnside was relieved by General Hooker, who was defeated by Lee in a great battle at Chancellorsville (q.v.), on Slay 2-4. The death of Stonewall Jackson made the victory a dearly bought one fur the Confederates. Lee fol lowed up this success by invading Maryland again, and early in .tune entered Pennsylvania. On June 2S Hooker was relieved from the command of the Army of the Potomac by Gen. George G. Meade (q.v.), and the latter at once pursued the Confederates with such celerity and determination that Lee was forced to stop and give battle. The two armies met in the great battle of Gettysburg, which lasted July 1-3. Gen eral Reynolds was killed during the first day's fight, and on the last day General Hancock was dangerously wounded. The result of the three days' battle was a most complete Federal vic tory. Lee, having recrossed the Potomac, now retreated to a position on the Rapidan. and stra tegic movements on the part of the two armies, accompanied by occasional heavy skirmishing, occupied the time until winter. In the South
west, since the close of 1862, the main operations had centred about Vicksburg, converted by the Confederates into a great stronghold. After va rious attempts at its capture had failed. General Grant, by a series of brilliant strategic move ments. succeeded in Slay, 1863. in closely invest ing the city, and on July 4. almost at the mo ment of the victory of Gettysburg, General Pem berton was forced by famine to surrender the place with his army of 30.000 men. The fall of Port Hudson. July S. secured the complete cunt rol of the Mississippi by the Union forces, and thus separated the two sections of the Confederacy. The struggle for the middle ground of Kentucky and Tennessee was marked by the battles of Perry ville, October 8, 1862. and of Murfreesboro, De cember :11, 1832, and January 2, 1863, with a re sult favorable to the Federals. On September 9, 1S63, General Itoseerans occupied Chattanooga. On Sept eniber 19-20 he fought a bloody bat tle at Chickamauga and was defeated, the heroic made by General Thomas alone saving the Union army from (b•struetion. This reverse was more than redeemed by the great victory of Grant over Bragg at Chattanooga (November 23-25—storm ing of Lookout Mountain, November 24, and of MIssionary Ridge. November 25). This made it possible for Sherman to raise the siege of Knoxville, where General Burnside had been hard pressed by the Confederates under Longstreet. At the close of the year the Federal forces held Mis souri. Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, a large part of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida, and the Rio Grande frontier of Texas, and had control of the Mississippi River. A draft in the North ern States for 300.000 nun, with an exemption clause. had added 50,000 men to the Federal armies.
in the early part of 1S64 General Banks. assist ed by Gen. A. J. Smith and a fleet under Admi ral Porter, undertook an expedition up the Red River. A defeat at the hands of Generals Kirby Smith and Richard Taylor at Sabine Cross Roads, April S. ruined the prospects of the expedition, which ended in complete failure.
General Grant was made Lieutenant-General and Commander-in-Chief in March, 1S64. He turned over his command in the West and South to Sherman, and took personal command of the armies of the East. A combined movement against the two remaining armies of the Confed erates, those of Lee and Johnston. was now to be made under the personal direction of these two great generals. Sherman's army was in motion from Chattanooga by May 7, and forced General .Tohnston through Georgia as far as Atlanta, de feating the Confederates at almost every point in a series of vigorous engagements, including those at Dalton. Rome. and Resaca, though he met with a severe defeat at Kenesaw Mountain. General Hood, who now replaced General John ston. made repeated but disastrous attacks upon Sherman's forces (July 20, 22. 28), and after be ing beleaguered in Atlanta, evacuated the city, which was occupied by Sherman on September 2. in the meantime the Army of the Potomac, with General Meade in immediate command, had broken camp on the Rapidan, and undertaken the tremendous campaign of the 'Wilderness,' with the design of forcing the fighting straight to Richmond. Dining this campaign of forty-three days. fully 130,000 men on the Federal side and about. 70,000 men on the Confederate side, with constant reinforcements, were engaged almost continuously. On May 5-6 was fought the hattle of the Wilderness, which was followed by the battles of Spottsylvania Court-House, the sharp engagement on the North Anna, and the terrible repulse of the Federal army at Cold Harbor on June 3. Finally. on the night of