473. Farragut Goes Into Mobile Bay (1864). Mobile Bay was the favorite resort for blockade runners (§ 439). From this point European supplies reached by railroad or river the main centers of the Confederacy. While Grant was campaigning against Lee, and Sherman battering Hood, Admiral Farragut planned to capture Mobile with his fleet. The entrance to the bay was guarded by two powerful forts, Gaines and Morgan, a monster iron ram, the "Tennessee," and a fleet of gunboats.

With his vessels lashed together, two and two, and with the ironclads between his wooden ships and the stronger fort, Farragut gave the signal for the Union fleet to move in between the two forts. Lashing himself to the rigging he directed the battle amid a storm of shot and shell. It was terrific but short, for the Union vessels were soon past the forts. Farragut lost one vessel and the Confederates their whole fleet. The forts shortly surrendered and another artery of the Confederacy had been cut.

474. End of the Confederate Navy. The year 1864 witnessed the disappearance of most of the Confederate cruisers. The English government, though repeatedly warned by Minister Adams, permitted Confederate vessels to be constructed in British docks (8437). The first of these, the "Florida," built at Liverpool, was captured early in the war. But the most celebrated and destructive was the "Alabama," also built at Liverpool.

DAVID GLASCOE FARRAGUT

of Engraving and Printing, WashingFrom an engraving made by the Bureau ton, D. C., after a photograph by Rockwood, New York

In all she destroyed between sixty and seventy merchant vessels. She was the terror of the seas, and the North was most anxious for her capture. At last the "Alabama" was sent to the bottom by the Union man-of-war, "Kearsarge," in a great naval duel off Cherbourg, France (June, 1864). Another cruiser, the "Shenandoah," obtained in England, sailed into the Pacific and destroyed undisturbed till the war ended.

After the destruction of the ram "Tennessee," the most dangerous Confederate war vessel remaining was the ironclad ram "Albemarle." Twice had she damaged the Union fleet, and Lieutenant Cushing resolved to end her career. On a dark night in October he approached the ram off Plymouth, North Carolina, in

WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN

From a war-time photograph in the pos-
session of the Military Order of the Loyal
Legion of the United States, Cadet
Armory, Boston, Massachusetts

a small boat, and exploded a torpedo beneath her. Cushing escaped capture by jumping into the river, and finally reached the Union fleet.

475. Sherman's March to the Sea (1864). Sher

man was not satisfied with the capture of Atlanta, but proposed to break in two what remained of the Confederacy by marching his army directly to Savannah. But Hood suddenly turned and moved toward Tennessee, intending to crush Thomas, who had been sent to Nashville, and thus to

retreating, he cut all communications with the North (November 12th) and started for the sea, two hundred miles away.

With sixty thousand veterans he swept a belt sixty miles broad. Railroads were destroyed by wrecking engines, burning cars, and by twisting the rails out of

shape while heated. Sherman's soldiers swept the region bare of food for both man and beast. Houses, barns, and mills were left in ashes, and their owners reduced to poverty. But to the negroes Sherman seemed a deliverer. They gathered to witness the strange scene, and many followed in the rear of the army.

Week after week went by and no word came back to tell the anxious North of the fate of Sherman and his men. They were lost to those at home. Not until December did the North hear that Sherman's men had captured Savannah.

476. The Battle of Franklin; Thomas Overwhelms Hood at Nashville (1864). While Sherman was moving southward, the bold but reckless Hood was trying to demolish the "Rock of Chickamauga " and recover Tennessee. At Franklin he assaulted Schofield's columns, which were retreating to join Thomas, but failed to

defeat them. The North became alarmed at Thomas' unavoidable delay in attacking Hood. But after all was ready, he took the aggressive and overwhelmed Hood's army at Nashville, capturing thousands of prisoners and following the poorly armed and poorly clad remnants into Alabama. Hood resigned and Johnston was restored to the command of his old army.

477. Sherman Marches to Goldsboro and Hears News of Peace (1865). Early in February Sherman started on his march of over four hundred miles through the Carolinas. Columbia, South Carolina's capital, was reached and burned.1 Charleston soon fell. Fort Sumter had already been knocked to pieces by General Gillmore and Admiral Dahlgren, and Fort Wagner had been taken after one disastrous assault had failed (1863).

Sherman pushed on and met his old antagonist at Bentonville, North Carolina. But Johnston's forces were too few to offer successful resistance, and the Union army entered Goldsboro, which

JOSEPH EGGLESTON JOHNSTON From a photograph taken in 1870. The negative is now in the possession of George S. Cook of Richmond, Virginia. A painting had railroad connections with from it by Browne is now in the Westmoreland Club, Richmond Richmond and the coast. Lee was now cut off, and could not escape to the southward. A month later, while marching to attack Johnston, news came to Sherman that Lee and his army had surrendered.

478. The Capture of Richmond; The Surrender of Lee and Johnston (1865). After the defeat of Early. Sheridan severed Lee's connections with Lynchburg

There has been much dispute as to whether the fire was accidental

or not.

and the mountains to the west by destroying the railroad and canal nearly to Richmond. He then joined forces with Grant, who was still besieging Petersburg and extending his lines to the southward of Richmond to prevent Lee's escape to Johnston. Finally Sheridan, on April 1st, seized a position at Five Forks which completely cut off the Confederate supplies.

On the night of April 2d Lee withdrew from Petersburg and Richmond. The officers of the Confederate and state governments gathered up their records and hastily fled southward under cover of the night. Lincoln came to rejoice with Grant and his men over their victory. The capital of the Confederacy was on fire and thieves were pillaging shops and homes when the Union troops entered to hoist the old flag, put out the fires, and restore order.

But Lee's army was of more importance than Richmond. Day and night the pursuit was kept up, and on the morning of April 9th Sheridan's cavalry were directly across the line of march of Lee's struggling and starving troops. The brave Confederate commander soon saw that resistance was in vain, and, unwilling to submit his men to useless hardship, he gave up the fight.

In the village of Appomattox Grant and Lee arranged the terms of surrender. The Confederates were simply to lay down their arms, go to their homes, and obey the laws. They even kept swords, baggage, and horses. Never before, in civil war, were terms so generous granted by victor to vanquished, and never were terms more faithfully observed. Grant immediately ordered that Lee's hungry army be fed, and forbade the firing of salutes in celebration of the surrender, for foes were now to be friends.

Johnston surrendered to Sherman April 26th, at Durham, North Carolina. But President Davis still held