Chapter 31:
- Opening of the great spring campaign of 1864. -- explanation of renewed confidence in Richmond. -- prospect for the Confederates in the Presidential contest of 1864. -- a New theory of peace. -- value of endurance. -- the mission of Messrs. Holcombe, Clay, and Thompson. -- they leave Wilmington when the campaign on the Rapidan opens. -- U. S. Grant appointed Lieutenant -- General of the Federal armies. -- character of Grant. -- compared with Buell. -- Gen. Grant's low and gross conception of war. -- the Federal Government prepares an army organization of one million of men. -- distribution of the Federal forces in Virginia. -- strength of the army of the Potomac. -- position and numbers of Gen. Lee. -- his great anxiety. -- appeal of Confederate women. -- the battles of the Wilderness. -- Grant crosses the Rapidan. -- Lee springs upon his flank. -- attack of Ewell and Hill. -- the Confederate line broken. -- Gordon's splendid charge. -- gallant conduct of Pegram's and Hays' divisions. -- night attack of the enemy. -- the second day's battle. -- Hill's corps broken. -- Longstreet comes up and turns the fortunes of the day, -- he is shot down by his own men. -- Gen. Lee offers to lead a charge. -- touching remonstrances of the men. -- the Confederate attack withdrawn. -- results of the day. -- Gordon's night attack. -- Grant's whole army on the verge of rout. -- his immense losses. -- movements of the two armies to Spottsylvania Court-house. -- masterly performance of Lee. -- a melancholy episode to the campaign. -- Sheridan's expedition. -- death of Gen. Stuart. -- battles of Spottsylvania Court-house. -- combat of Anderson's corps. -- the fighting on the 10th May. -- the battle on the 12th. -- a salient of the Confederate line taken. -- great slaughter of the enemy. -- Grant confesses a failure, and waits six days for reinforcements. -- operations on. The south side of Richmond. -- Grant's instructions to Butler. -- Sigel's column in Western Virginia, another part of the combination. -- Butler's boastful despatch. -- he dares “the whole of Lee's army.” -- he is defeated by Beauregard, and his army “bottled up.” -- operations in the Kanawha and Shenandoah Valleys. -- signal defeat of Sigel. -- Grant's combination broken down. -- he moves to the North Anna River. -- is foiled again by Lee. -- he crosses the Pamunkey River. -- “the Peninsula” made the battle-ground again. -- the sum of glory achieved by Lee's army. -- statement as to Lee's reinforcements. -- the Federal host held at bay by an army of fifty thousand men. -- gaseous nonsense in New York about Grant's generalship. -- his operations in May absurd and contemptible failures
It is remarkable that at the opening of the great spring campaign of 1864, there should have simultaneously prevailed at Washington the opinion that the operations of the year would certainly restore the Union, and
