FEDERAL GAINS IN 1863.
THE third year of the Secession War has turned wholly to
the advantage of the Federals. Although they have endured two great defeats—Chancellorsville and the first battle of Chickamauga—yet from these their opponents were unable to draw any solid profit, while the Federals, winning three great victories—Murfreesboro', the second battle of Chickamauga, and Gettysburg, besides several smaller actions in Mississippi and Louisiana—have so far profited by them as to acquire the control of the Mississippi River, to grasp the line of the Tennessee, and to force the Confederates in Virginia to shelter themselves behind the Rapidan. The Federals have also established themselves on Morris Island, capturing its strong defences, and reducing the famous Fort Sumter to ruins. They have overrun half Arkansas, and have interposed, at Brownsville, between the Confederacy and the Mexican shore of the Rio Grande, thus blocking up a port swarming with contraband traders. These fruits have been gathered in three several campaigns, and in order that they may be appreciated we must look at them closely and severally.
At the beginning of the year the Confederates were masters of the whole region of the A.Ilegbanies, from the Potomac to Middle Tennessee. Their outposts were within a few miles of Nashville ; their horsemen harried the line of communica- tions with Louisville, and repeatedly broke into West Ten- nessee. They held the whole of the State of Mississippi, except a narrow strip about Corinth. They had two strong posts on the great liver, Vicksburg and Port Hudson, and between the two they had a tegular line of transport from Arkansas and Louisiana to Mississippi. The very outposts of the Federals in New Orleans were in constant peril. On the western side of the Mississippi they were masters of the whole country, with few exceptions, from Southern Missouri to the Gulf. From these extensive territories they drew sup- plies of cattle and horses, as from the mountains of Tennessee they drew stores of minerals—iron, copper, sulphur. Nor these alone. A relentless conscription swept up the adult males, and Texas and Louisiana furnished men not only for their own defence but for the defence of 'Virginia. Politically the possession of the Lower Mississippi and the central course of the Tennessee was of great moment. By the first they, raised dissatisfaction in the north-west and kept the Confe- deracy together. By the second they barred the roads into Georgia, Alabama, and North Carolina, thus covering those wealthy States at the expense of the boiler land of Tennessee, whence the Federals might draw some recruits. The cam- paigns of 1863 have, in a great measure, torn away from the Confederates the great advantages which we have described.
The first blow was struck by General Rosecranz. After Bragg's fruitless irruption into Kentucky in 1862, Rosecranz had established himself in Nashville, and Bragg had posted himself at Murfreesboro'. In January Rosecranz moved out of Nashville, which he had taken care to entrench, and assailed Bragg. The action lasted three days, and although the Confederates were at first successful, capturing cannon and prisoners, yet so tenacious was the Federal general of his hold upon a weak place in the Confederate line,. that, by forcing the fight on that side, and almost turning their right, he ultimately obliged Bragg to retreat and shelter himself behind the Duck River. By this conquest Rosecranz gained ground where he could form a strong camp covering Nash- ville, his base of operations, and where he could organize and train his army for decisive movements at an opportune mo- ment.
The second blow was struck on the Mississippi. Hitherto the Federals had failed in every effort to capture Vicksburg. Seated on a bluff commanding a wide reach of the river, supported on one flank by the Yazoo and its swamps, and on the other by Grand Gulf, the mouth of the Big Black River, the garrison of Vicksburg defied a bombardment from the water, repulsed an attempt to storm it in front, frustrated every effort to break through the swamps and turn the lines from the north, and laughed at the vain efforts of the Federals to cut a canal and divert the course of the Mississippi. In a happy moment the Federal General Grant conceived the idea of turning it from the south. The Big Black, rising in the heart of the State, enters the Mississippi a few miles below Vicksburg. The railway connecting that place with Jackson and the great internal lines of communication crosses the Big Black. The plan of the Federal General was to land at Grand Gulf, defeat the small* force at Port Gibson, hard by, and, pressing up the left bank of the river, interpose between the garrison of Vicksburg and the Confederate force at Jackson, and defeat both in detail. This plan he swiftly and skilfully executed. Having routed the Vicksburg garrison under Pemberton in a bloody action, he resolutely marched upon Jackson, defeated the force there, and destroyed a large quantity of rolling stock. Then, returning towards the Big Black, he defeated Johnston, who tried to obstruct his progress, and marching upon Haines's Bluff, took the whole of the outlying works of the Confederates in reverse and shut up the garrison in Vicksburg. By these rapid and skilful movements he had not only driven his enemy from the field, but had changed his base from Grand Gulf to the Yazoo. The result was the surrender of Vicksburg after an obstinate resistance. During this time General Banks had overrun Louisiana from Brayshear City to Alexandria ; then, returning to the Mississippi, he had laid siege to Port Hudson. The contemporaneous siege of these two Confederate strongholds, and the successful issue of both, for both fell nearly at the same time, is a striking proof of the resources and energy of the Federals. By the beginning of July there was not a single post on the Mississippi in the hands of the Confederates. Thenceforth the transit of men, and stores, and cattle, and horses, except by stealth and in small numbers, was effectually prevented; and although the existence of guerilla bands on both banks did not admit of the passage of shipping to any great extent, yet the Federals had gained the inestimable advantage of breaking the centre of the Confederate line and of gaining possession of the great river as a military highway, and access to all its tributaries. From that time to this, Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas have been obliged to provide for their own defence, and the States east of the Mississippi have been forced to do without the invaluable supplies incessantly until June flowing across the river.
In the meantime, the campaign in Virginia had languished. The Federals held really but a little nook, a mere strip along the Potomac, for although Hooker at Falmouth faced Lee at Fredericksburg, yet the Confederate horse roamed at pleasure nearly round the Federal main body, and held the Shenandoah valley. In May General Hooker resolved to assume the offensive. He framed a very good plan, and for a moment fortune seemed disposed to favour him. He successfully
r crossed the Rappahannock and threatened Lee's rear, and his cavalry rode as far as the James, and appeared for an instant before the ramparts of Richmond. But Lee's fine generalship disconcerted the Federal commander. The defeat of Hooker at Chancellorsville is Lee's finest military exploit. Yet here, again, the Confederate-was unable to prevent the Federal from carrying off the whole of his army, just as in December, 1862, he had failed to destroy Burnside. These are Lee's two capital errors. Fortune gave him twice a Federal army, and twice he neglected the precious gift. Having allowed Hooker to escape and given him a month's respite, Lee determined to try whether he could entice him to fight, at all events draw him away from the Rappahannock. He therefore, in June, moved off towards the Shenandoah valley with speed and secrecy, surprised and defeated Milroy at Winchester, and having failed to bring Hooker to action, boldly pushed over the Potomac into Pennsylvania. Perhaps this was the proudest moment for the Confederacy. The Federals were in dismay, the Confederates were exulting on the Susquehanna ; some thought they were certain of Baltimore first and Washington afterwards. But, though .a signal display of strength, the invasion of the North proved too much even for Lee. Meade, replacing Hooker, advanced towards Gettysburg, evidently with the design of seeking the enemy and fighting him for his line of retreat. Lee, knowing he was moving, but not exactly where, also moved towards Gettysburg. Thus the two armies met, and the Confederates suffered a bloody repulse. Forced to retreat, Lee fell back upon Hagerstown. Except on the supposition that the Federals were severely hurt at Gettysburg, and that Meade stood in some awe of Lee, we have never been able to account for the leisurely escape of the latter across the Potomac. Once over, he easily made good his retreat to the Rapidan, quickened, however, some- what in his movements by the progress of Meade along the eastern slopes of the Blue Ridge. Thus the fruit of the invasion of the North was a defeat on a pitched field and some plunder. Virginia remained the theatre of war. The misfortunes of the Confederates were not yet at an end. Rosecranz, who had been so long motionless before Bragg, moved in July. By skilful combinations he puzzled the Confederate General, and forced him out of his fortified lines at Tullahoma. This was a long stride towards the Tennessee. Having gained this ground, faithful to his system, he began to make good his grasp of it, so that his progress might be sure. General Burnside, with a force largely composed of mounted men, was secretly marching through Kentucky, intent on turning the Cumberland Mountains, seizing Knox- ville, in East Tennessee, and cutting off the Confederate post in Cumberland Gap. As soon as Burnside was at Kingston, on the Clinch, Rosecranz marched to Stevenson and Bridge- port on the Tennessee. Bragg was again bewildered. While Burnside seized Knoxville and Cumberland Gap, Rosecranz threw his whole army over the Tennessee, and was working his way through the mountains into the rear of Chattanooga, when, growing alarmed, and having rallied to himself Buckner from East Tennessee, Bragg retreated from Chatta- nooga to save his lino of retreat. Thus, by sheer manoeuvring, had the Confederates been driven from the line of the Duck and Elk rivers, and now from the Tennessee. Chattanooga and Knoxville, the keys of these mountain regions, were in Federal hands. The gates of Georgia and North Carolina were open. Seeing the peril, President Davis reinforced Bragg with Longstreet and part of the Virginian army ; and so swiftly, that, in ten days after his retreat from Chattanooga, Bragg was ready to fight. He fought and won. Rosecranz, for some unexplained reasons, had failed to keep his troops together, and the Confederates attacking with decision the ill-joihted line, would have destroyed the army, had not Thomas on the left clung tenaciously to the road to Chattanooga until- the defeated centre and right had reached the rear. Now it seemed that the Confederates must recover the line of the Tennessee ; but utterly deficient in enterprise, General Bragg contented him- self with maintaining a partial blockade when he should have acted boldly on the Federal communications. The golden moments slipped by. Neglected by the Con- federates, they had been used by the Federals. Two corps under Hooker were despatched from Virginia to Tennessee by the circuitous route of Cincinnati, Louis- ville, Nashville, a more remarkable feat than that of Longstreet's passage through North Carolina and Georgia. More striking still is the movement of Sherman from Vicksburg yid Memphis and Corinth to Chattanooga, for he had literally to force a passage for himself as soon as he quitted Memphis. The arrival of Hooker enabled Grant, who had succeeded Rosecranz, to re-open the road to Bridgeport, and thus save the army from starving in Chattanooga. This operation was effected with great skill in the face of the Con- federates. And now, hearing of the approach of Sherman, Bragg detached Longstreet against Burnside in the hope that East Tennessee might be re-conquered before Sherman could arrive, and that Longstreet again joining Bragg, they might together expel Grant from Chattanooga. Bragg's calculations were unsound. Burnside fell back upon Knoxville and defied Longstreet. Sherman joined Grant, and by skill and valour the latter tumbled Bragg out of his mountain lines, took many prisoners and several guns, and swept him back to Dalton, in Georgia. Then sending Sherman towards East Tennessee, he drew back himself to Chattanooga, the prize of this long and well-fought campaign. Sherman's advance convinced Longstreet, who, hearing of Bragg's defeat, had tried and failed to carry Knoxville by storm, that he had better get away as soon as he could towards Virginia. This he did in the first week of December; and thus was the line of the Tennessee won by the Federals. It will be seen from this brief summary that the substantial fruits of three campaigns have been reaped by the Federals ; that instead of hanging about the fringe of the Cotton States, they have broken through that, and made a breach in the great defensive lines; and that for practical military purposes they have cut the Confederacy in two. The great gains in the south-west are ample compensation for the failure of their generals to penetrate beyond the Rappahannock in Eastern Virginia, where the genius of General Lee stands between them and Richmond. Whether, in 1864, they will be equally successful, and carry their arms into North Carolina, Georgia, and Alabama is uncertain. Further pro- gress southward will depend mainly on the solidity with which they organize the new base on the Tennessee, and the skill which they exert to keep General Lee and a large army employed in Virginia. The only things certain are that the Federals are determined to persevere, and that this determina- tion ensures to the war a great duration.
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