Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Previous Page
–
Next Page
OCR
With each passing minute it increased in
volume, and soon the woodwork of
oo
bridge itself was attacked by the fierce
monster.
This was what the Federal commander
was looking forward to, and he did not
mean to leave the spot until it was impossi-
ble for the rebels to cross the river.
They had been reinforced by’ some men
from the rebel camp, and a gun had been
procured with which they opened fire.
As their aim was wretched their shots
“went wide of the mark.
Bob returned the compliment.
He succeeded in creating some consterna-
tion among the enemy. .
They made several feints of rushing across
the bridgein order to put out the fire, but
that was all it amounted to.
Death would have met them half way.
Many would never have gotten over at all,
and those who did must face the same grim
‘monster on the other shore.
Rapidly the flames did their work now.
In half an hour the fire had eaten timbers
and planks. so that a horse could not be
gotten across, and it was doubtful whether
aman on foot could do so.
This was enough.
Captain Bob was now ready to withdraw.
After firing another shot across at the
rebels and giving them a parting cheer, our
friends let the field-gun run down the slop-
ing bank into the deep water of the river.
Then mounting their horses they vanished
from the view of their defeated enemies.
All honor to the heroes of that band.
Of forty men seven were left behiad, while
there were many others who would carry
scars upon their bodies to tell for many a
year the story of their escapade.
t wasa featof daring that commended
Captain Bob Arden to his leaders as a man
who could ,be depended upon, had they a
job that needed the exercise of coolness and
limitless courage.
The men were never tired of talking about
the wonderful work he had done in the
heart of Secessia with a handful of troops.
After leaving the burned bridge and cut-
ting off all pursuit, they had no difficulty in
reaching the Union lines.
Here they learned that the main column
had been heard from, and that the captain
and his band had been absolutely given up
as lost, no one dreaming they would be able
to pull through.
This was the sort of stuff the men of Grant
were made of.
Fight as glesperately as leader ever ‘fought
in ancient or modern times, General Lee
knew from the dogged temper of the army
facing him that it was only a question of
time, for he and his .faithful followers were
surely doomed.
- CHAPTER V.
Those were stirring days.
In times gone by the army of the Potomac
had seen much inaction.
It had been drilled almost to death, and
then in the result conducted a series of
; masterly’ retreats instead of gaining brill-
--jant victories.
Later on it had fought with amazing
courage with a foe perched upon com-
manding ridges and back of impassable
thickets.
In every case the grand army had stood
by its leaders and reflected their ideas.
Now, however, & new leader had come
who had won fame along the Mississippi
and at the never-to-te-forgotten battles of
Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge.
Grant, the Hammerer! :
Already had he proven how well he
' merited that strange titlein the campaign
of the preceding spring and summer. ,
His sledge-hammer blows had stunned
* the great captain of the Confederates.
Lee was awakened rudely to the fact that
he had now opposed to him a foeman
worthy of his steel. 7
He might perch upon the ridges and beat
back the tide of blue, but when on the fol-
lowing morning his men looked down from
their lofty perch and’ waitedfor a new at-
tack, lo! the Union camp was deserted, and
the great column in blue was discovered on
the march between Lee and Richmond.
A tlank movement. :
_Grant was the original great flanker.
Sherman learned the lesson from him.
Of course nothing was now. left to Lee
but to gather up his forces and set off in hot
speed to again throw himself between Grant
and Richmone, : ;
Then the operation would be repeated,
, Our readers are no doubt familiar with
‘
THE WAR LIBRARY.
that astonishing series of battles where, be-
cause of their impregnable position the
Confederates. always got the best of it, and
lost their advantage through this strategy
of General Grant.
Then came Cold Harbor.
After this battle had been fought, the
greatest flank movement of all was made.
Grant took his army around Richmond
and brought it in front of Petersburg.
The wonderful nature of. this move can
best .be appreciated when it is said that
General Lee was almost in total ignorance
of Grant’s intentions.
Not until he received hot news from
Petersburg to whirl some of his army down
therein the night to save the city did he
awaken to the truth.
Had one of Grant’s generals not taken his
orders too literally Petersburg would have
been captured before dark.
We have often lamented the fact that a
man like Phil Sheridan had not the com-
mand of those forces.
He would haveswept through Petersburg,
and been on the road north to Richmond
before Lee learned of the terrible danger.
After this began the siege of Petersburg.
Heavy guns bombarded the doomed city,
and week by week the lines of- the Federal
troops pushed nearer and nearer.
To the careful observer the fate of the
Confederacy was sealed when the Ham-
merer of modern times began to dash his
sledge against the walls of Petersburg and
Richmond.
Still those men in gray fought like devils.
Lee attempted a counter-movement with
Early in the Shenandoah Valley.
Had there been any one but Sheridan in
that quarter, the plans of the rebel leader
might have been carried out.
But Grant knew his man.
His greatest quality was in his selection
of the men best fitted for the tasks he had
in view.
We have all read how Sheridan fell upon
the force of Early as did Joshua of old
when hesmote the Philistines.
He smote them hip and thigh, and sent
them, as he himself has said,“ whirling
through Winchester.”
Again at Fisher’s Hill he engaged the
enemy and another great victory was won.
Early had to recruit.
Citizens of Richmond sending him can-
non to replace those he had lost, with grim
irony as to the probable fate of these also,
inscribed them:
“To General Phil Sheridan, care of Jubal
Early.”’
They were quite right.
Before many months had gone by those
guns had reached their destination in the
eamp of Little Phil.
It was after the battle of Cedar Creek.
Sheridan won the day when his army had
been in full retreat, simply by arriving on
the scene after aride of twenty miles from
Winchester, and this time Early was so
thoroughly broken by his defeat that Lee
gave up the idea of a counter-movement
against Washington, by means of which he
had hoped to force Grant to break thesiege.
Later on General Sheridan assumed com-~
mand of the cavalry about the besieged city,
and rightroyally was his work done.
It was not finished until Five Forks had
been fought, and Sheridan was the man
who was most instrumental in cutting off
Lee and his broken army in their flight
from Richmond.
These matters are historical.
Around Petersburg during the months of
the siege, which virtually lasted from early
inthe summer of ‘64to April of ’65, many
bloody engagements were fought.
Of course, the most severe fighting oc-
curred at the defenses of Petersburg, where
thousands, yes, tens of thousands fell.
When Grant realized that the place was
a second Sebastopol, an American Gibraltar
so to speak, which could not be taken by di-
rect assault, unless the force defending it
was weakened, he gave up that method and
went at the other,
Raids‘ were made cutting off supplies,
breaking up railroads and decimating the
force of the enemy wherever it could be
one, :
Far-sighted Robert E. Lee knew what the
end was bound to be.
The folds of the anacouda were gradually
growing tighter and tighter.
Before another summer came the end
must be at hand. ys
Still he encouraged his troops in every
possible way. \ .
About this time the followers of Lee
needed some encouragement, certainly.
: ' 5
t They suffered keenly through that win-
er. : :
Braver men never lived. ° oO
In every battle of the war they proved
their dauntless courage, and had the found-
ation of their rebellion been freedom in-
stead of slavery, they would never have
been compelled to yield.
Though ragged and half starved, they
went out to meet their foe as though every
necessary of life was theirs. ’
No doubt many of them were sick of war
and longed for the piping times of peace,
when the sunny South could regain that
which she had los ;
At the last gasp many deserted the Lost
Cause, and thus Lee’s army was cut down
by loss in battle and desertion until he had
only 2 remnant left with which to face
rant.
During these exciting months Captain
Bob Arden and his company had been in
more than one hard battle.
They were with Sheridan, that cavalry
leader having come from the valley to as-
sume charge of the mounted forces near
Petersburg.
With Sheridan had been born the idea of
making a distinct command of the cavalry,
Heretofore they had always been de-
tached for certain work, and the rebel cav-
alry had generally beeu superior to the
riders of the North.
Sheridan changed this.
In his battles he made his cavalry serve a
distinct purpose, and when the tide was
turned let the riders loose upon the flying
enemy.
The many cavalry raids that took place
also demonstrated the fact that in process
of time the line between the riders of the
North and South. had been utterly wiped
out.
Wade Hampton had found his matchin
the dashing Kilpatrick, and Sheridan him-
self was the peer of all,
Captain Bob, having in many an engage-
ment proven himself worthy in every re-
spect, had upon more than one occasion
been eutrusted with a separate command.
Whenany particularly hot work was to
be done thisman was looked up, to make
sure he was in position, and his leader never
worried about his standing like a rock and
doing his duty.
CHAPTER VI. ‘
One dark night in the spring of ’65, the
cavalry captain received orders to be in
readiness for a ride before morning.
There was much of mystery in the order.
He had not the slightest idea: where he
was to go, nor what his company would be,
Was he to go alone? °
It did not take Captain Bob long to get
himself in readiness. .
Then he laid down to get what rest he
could. :
In those days it was policy to obtain all
the sleep possible before starting on any
raid, as no one could say when the chance
would come again,
It was something after midnight when he
was aroused from his sleep by an orderly.
‘“The general is ready to see you, cap-
tain.” :
Five minutes later Captain Bob was in the ;
presence of the gallant commander.
He tried to read the general's face to get a
clew as to what his work was to consist of,
but this was im possible. .
The general was like a sphinx,
He greeted the captain with a nod.
“Sit down, captain.”
Then he went on with his writing.
Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed. :
All this while not a sound was heard in
the hut that constituted the general’s head. -
quarters, : ’
Now and then the heavy boom of a great
gun was to be heard from the Union works,
where some iron monster was at work hurl-
ing missiles into the rebel lines and beyond
among the houses of the doomed city, :
Night and day this bombardment was
kept up, and although of course every shot
did not tell, still in the aggregate it was as
destructive as any shower of shot and shell
ever thrown upon a devoted city. +
At last the general put down his pen. :
“Captain,” he said, gravely, ‘you have
been recommended to me asa brave man.”
_ Captain Bob did not answer. .
There was no need, and yet the colorin
his cheeks told that he appreciated the gen,
eral’s words, ' :
* Are you willing that your love for the
Union should be put toa severe test?”