Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XVI.djvu/200

command of the department of the Ohio, and having organized a force of about 20,000 men at Camp Nelson near Richmond, Ky., began on Aug. 16 an advance on Knoxville, which was occupied on Sept. 1. East Tennessee, where the army was enthusiastically received by the population, was thus restored to the control of the Union with little opposition, the greater part of the confederate forces having been withdrawn to aid Bragg at Chickamauga. On Nov. 17 Longstreet, with forces drawn from Bragg, began a siege of Knoxville, which continued till the beginning of December, when, upon the approach of Sherman to the relief of the city, the confederates retreated into Virginia. A confederate cavalry force under Gen. Morgan, starting on June 27 from Sparta, Tenn., had made a raid, which created great excitement, through Kentucky and S. Indiana into Ohio, where before the end of July they were nearly all captured or destroyed. On Aug. 10 Gen. Steele set out from Helena, Ark., with 12,000 men and 40 guns, for the capture of Little Rock, and, advancing against some opposition, occupied that city on Sept. 10. Other operations in Arkansas and Missouri during the year were of minor importance. On April 6 an attack was made on Charleston by a fleet of ironclads under Com. Du Pont, which was repelled by the fire of Fort Sumter. On July 10 a force was landed by Gen. Gillmore, then in command in South Carolina, on Morris island at the entrance of Charleston harbor, and on the following day an ineffectual attack was made on Fort Wagner, a strong earthwork at its N. end. On the 18th an assault was made in force, which was repulsed with a loss of 1,500 men. The fort was then besieged by regular approaches, and was abandoned on Sept. 7. It was afterward, with other batteries on the island, turned against Charleston, which was nearly destroyed by the bombardment. On the night of Sept. 8 an attempt to carry Fort Sumter by assault was made by a flotilla of boats from Admiral Dahlgren's fleet, which was repulsed with a loss of about 80 killed and wounded and 120 prisoners. The principal occurrence in North Carolina during 1863 was the ineffective siege of the town of Washington in the early part of April by a confederate force under Gen. D. H. Hill. An effort in February, 1864, to restore Florida to the Union by an expedition from Hilton Head, under Gen. Seymour, resulted disastrously. Landing at Jacksonville, he advanced west, and at Olustee on the 20th encountered a confederate force under Gen. Finnegan and was compelled to retreat to Jacksonville. Of about 5,000 men engaged, Seymour lost about 1,500 in killed and wounded; the confederate loss was less than 1,000. On April 20 Plymouth, N. C., was compelled to surrender to a confederate force under Gen. Hoke (see Plymouth), and as a consequence Washington was evacuated by the federals eight days later. On May 5 the confederate ironclad Albemarle, which had taken part in the attack on Plymouth, came out of the Roanoke river and was engaged by the gunboat Sassacus. Having received considerable injury, the Albemarle retreated up the river, and on Oct. 27 was sunk by a torpedo under the direction of Lieut. Cushing. On Oct. 31 Plymouth was retaken by the federal fleet. West of the Mississippi, the most important movement in 1864 was Banks's disastrous Red river campaign in the early spring. (See Louisiana, vol. x., p. 678, and Red River, vol. xiv., p. 237.) In Arkansas Gen. Steele moved S. from Little Rock, March 23-24, with 7,000 men, for the purpose of coöperating with Banks, and advanced as far as Camden on the Washita river, when, receiving news of the failure of Banks, he began a retreat on April 27, reaching Little Rock May 2. During this movement Steele had been repeatedly annoyed by the confederates, the most important engagements being at Marks's mill on April 25, when a detachment of three regiments was captured after a stout resistance by a superior force under the confederate Gen. Fagan, and at Jenkins's ferry on the Saline river, April 30, when a powerful attack by Kirby Smith was repulsed with great loss. In September and October Gen. Price with a considerable force made a raid through Missouri. Entering the state at the S. E. corner from Arkansas, he passed N. W. through the centre past Jefferson City to Lexington and Independence, whence he was driven south, escaping into W. Arkansas with a loss of 10 guns, much material, and nearly 2,000 prisoners. On April 12 Fort Pillow, on the Mississippi about 40 m. above Memphis, garrisoned by about 650 men, of whom half were colored, was taken by assault by the confederates under Gen. Forrest, and many of the garrison as well as non-combatants were killed after the capture. Gen. Sturgis with 12,000 men, being sent after Forrest, who was retreating, came up with and was routed by him at Guntown in N. Mississippi on June 10. Sturgis lost 3,000 or 4,000 men, mainly prisoners, and retreated to Memphis, pursued by Forrest. Another force of 12,000 men under Gen. A. J. Smith was then sent against Forrest, by which he was defeated with great loss at Tupelo, Miss., on July 14. In August Forts Gaines and Morgan, commanding the entrance to Mobile bay, were reduced by a fleet under Admiral Farragut, aided by a land force under Gen. Granger, and the confederate fleet there was destroyed. (See Mobile.)—Early in March, 1864, Gen. Grant was appointed lieutenant general and invested with the chief command of the Union armies, Gen. Halleck being relieved and assigned to duty in Washington as chief of staff to the army. Gen. Grant announced that his headquarters would be with the army of the Potomac in the field. On May 4 he began to cross the Rapidan and advance into the “Wilderness,” a region on the S. bank of that stream in Orange and Spottsylvania counties.