THE FATAL FEAST OF LI HUNG CHANG

1863

tles of the war. Chung Wang seized the opportunity of Gordon's absence to attack Chanzu. At first the Taipings carried everything before them, but the imperialists prevailed. Chung Wang kept open communication by the Grand Canal. At Wusieh, and at Monding, Chung Wang concentrated his entire force for the defence of the Grand Canal. At the Low Mun breast works Gordon was beaten off with tremendous loss. This was Major Gordon's first defeat after thirteen victories. Undismayed by his reverse, he returned to attack the Low Mun. The capture of the stockades meant the fall of Soochow.

Mow Wang's murder by the other Wangs removed the only leader who was opposed to the surrender of Soochow. Unable to obtain his soldiers' pay from Li Hung Chang, Gordon resigned. The departure of Gordon's force left Li free to follow his inclinations. The Wangs were invited to an entertainment on the Futai's boat. Nine headless bodies were afterward found not far distant from the Futai's headquarters.

In North America the Unionists were especially anxious to reduce Charleston, as the chief port of the Confederacy. A naval squadron kept up a continuous blockade on the city. Several monitors, built after the model of their famous prototype, joined this squadron. The Confederates mined the approaches to the harbor. Two small ironclads, built after the manner of the "Merrimac," were constructed. They were the "Palmetto State" and "The Chicora." On the last day of January, in the midst of early morning, the “Palmetto State" ran out and engaged the "Mercedia" at close range. The first broadside disabled the "Mercedia." Swinging around with her ram, the "Palmetto State" challenged the "Mercedia": "Surrender, or I will sink you." The Federal captain hauled down his flag and sent the boat off to give parole for his crew. Thereupon the "Palmetto State" ran

1863

THE DRAFT RIOTS

off to engage the Federal "Keystone State." The captain of the "Mercedia," ignoring his parole, rehoisted the Stars and Stripes. Meanwhile the "Keystone State" was taken between the crossed fire of the "Palmetto State" and "Chicora." Sinking, she was towed out of the action by the "Housatonic."

Late in May a combined assault was made upon Vicksburg by the Union army and navy. The "Cincinnati" was sent to silence the Confederate battery, and while doing so came under the fire of a powerful masked battery on a bluff. The first Confederate shot entered her below the water line, and she began to fill. Drifting down stream, shot after shot was put into her. With the colors nailed to the flagpole, the "Cincinnati" went down. The crew had to swim for life under Confederate fire. Nineteen were killed and wounded, fifteen drowned.

On March 3 President Lincoln had approved the act enrolling citizens between twenty and forty-five, and the calling out of the national force by draft without the intervention of the States. In June, under a draft for 300,000 men, only 50,000 were obtained after many weeks. The drafting of soldiers threw New York into the hands of an anti-draft mob. A colored orphan asylum was fired, and the "Tribune" office dismantled. Colonel O'Brien, with several hundred others, was murdered by the enraged mob. Similar riots occurred elsewhere. In reply to Governor Seymour's request that the draft be suspended, President Lincoln proclaimed that the drafting of troops would have to continue. Many New Yorkers were drafted to the colors.

Democratic journals began a crusade against Lincoln. The Chicago "Times" was suppressed for one day for inciting disloyalty. Vallandigham made a speech at Mount Vernon, Ohio, against "King Lincoln," and urged the people to hurl the tyrant from the throne. Burnside, in military

BATTLE OF CHANCELLORSVILLE

1863

charge at Cincinnati, arrested Vallandigham at Dayton, Ohio, court-martialed him for inciting resistance to the draft, and, at Lincoln's suggestion, sent him over into the Confederate lines. Thence Vallandigham, by running the blockade, passed into Canada. Anti-War Democrats expressed great indignation at the "overthrow of free institutions" by Lincoln. In May great meetings were held in New York and Philadelphia to express sympathy with Vallandigham. The Democratic State Convention, on June 11, in Ohio, nominated Vallandigham for Governor.

"Fighting" Joe Hooker on April 27 threw 70,000 men across the river, at points twenty-five miles above and ten miles below Chancellorsville, with a view to taking Lee's entire system of defences. His preliminary movements were well executed. For the moment he seemed to have Lee at a disadvantage. General Sedgwick was in command of the lower division, while Hooker himself commanded in the neighborhood of Chancellorsville. Lee was thus placed between two armies, which together far outnumbered his own force. Once more he had recourse to a daring flank movement and called on Jackson to execute it. While Lee, keeping between Hooker and Sedgwick, prevented the latter from advancing to his superior officer's support, Jackson with 26,000 men started off to the left on a movement which Hooker mistook for a retreat. Circling the Federal army, Jackson came, in the late afternoon of May 2, upon Howard's division, which formed the right, and really considered itself the rear of Hooker's army. The attack was a complete surprise. Howard was crushed, and Jackson had got very close to Hooker's headquarters before he was stopped.

The brilliant Confederate movement, successful as it was, proved costly. Jackson himself, pressing on ahead of his line of battle, was accidentally shot by some of his own men and died in a few days. The next morning, the 3d, Stuart,

1863

LEE INVADES PENNSYLVANIA

taking command of Jackson's men, renewed the attack, while Lee struck Hooker from the other side. The result was another Confederate victory. Sedgwick and Hooker failed to effect their junction, and both retreated across the river. It was again apparent that Lee was more than a match for any of the Federal generals who had yet opposed him.

Lee, elated by Chancellorsville, planned a new invasion of the North. With 80,000 men led by Longstreet, Hill, and Ewell, Lee intended to "transfer the scene of hostilities north of the Potomac." On June 3 he started from Culpepper. Hooker telegraphed to the President for permission to advance on Richmond. "I think Lee's army, and not Richmond, is your true objective point," said Lincoln. "Fight him when opportunity offers. If he stays where he is, fret him and fret him." Compelled to take his men from the Shenandoah Valley, Lee sent a force under Ewell and captured Winchester, Virginia, and Martinsburg, West Virginia. His army was soon crossing the Potomac. Hooker now swung his army around to confront Lee and hold his own base at one and the same time. Near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, on June 27, the Confederate army encamped on Northern soil. Lee pushed forward, threatening Harrisburg, and despatched Ewell eastward toward Carlisle and York. Hooker advanced parallel with the enemy and determined to strike Lee on the rear. He asked Halleck to permit him to abandon Maryland Heights and use its garrison elsewhere. Halleck overruled him, and Hooker asked to be relieved. The President accepted his resignation without delay, and assigned General George Gordon Meade to the command.

The fifth change of commanders within a year was made on the eve of a decisive battle. Meade was a man of reCool and thoughtful in time of danger, he was indisposed to retreat. He moved northward, his front stretch

sources.

FIRST DAY'S FIGHT AT GETTYSBURG

1863

ing thirty miles across the country. During the last day of June the two armies approached each other, Longstreet and Hill moving east, and Meade heading toward them at right angles. Neither Meade nor Lee made choice of the position in which they at last stood face to face. In the battle of Gettysburg Meade had approximately 94,000 men and 300 guns, and Lee 78,000 men with 250 guns. Meade had under him Reynolds, Hancock, Hayes, Sickles, Sykes, Sedgwick, Howard, and Slocum. Lee had Longstreet, Ewell, and A. P. Hill, as general commanders, with division commanders McLaws, Pickett, Hood, Early, Johnston, Rodes, Anderson, Heth, Pender, and Wilcox. Stuart, being detached on a cavalry raid, was not on the field, and this was a great disadvantage to his chief.

Gettysburg lies in a pastoral region. pastoral region. A valley lies between two ranges of hills-Seminary Ridge on the west, and on the southeast Cemetery Ridge. The latter begins with a bold and rocky bluff, Culp's Hill, at the southern end of which towers a commanding rock known as Round Top, crowned with a smaller spire called Little Round Top. Midway in the valley is a lower intermediate ridge. Meade had on July 1 adopted a defensive line along Pike Creek. Reynolds occupied the village with three corps. Buford encountered a fragment of the Confederate host on the Chambersburg road, and informed Reynolds, who ordered the rest of his command to hurry up from the distant rear.

After a survey from the Lutheran Seminary, which stood near Seminary Ridge, Reynolds decided on the morning's work. Hill's division appeared from the west. While Reynolds held it in check he was killed. From 10 A. M. to 1 P. M. the first corps, with Buford's cavalry, bore the brunt of the onset and forced Hill to wait for Ewell. The Confederates, reenforced, were pressing on hotly, when Howard arrived with his eleventh corps and assumed command. But