1865 Evacuation of Richmond. 291 sued instructions for a general movement against Richmond, and, on the morning of Wednesday, March 29th, The final it began. Sheridan's advance led to the battle campaign. of Five Forks and to a decisive victory for Sheridan (April 1). The next morning, at daybreak, a general assault upon the Confederate lines was made, and before noon the entire exterior defenses were captured. "In Richmond, for it was Sunday, the people had assembled in the churches, knowing little of what was going on twenty miles distant at the front. Davis had repaired to his customary place of worship. There came up the aisle a messenger, who handed him a dispatch from Lee, which contained intelligence of the most momentous event of the war. The news quickly passed from lip to lip, from church to church." 59. "Men, women, and children rushed from the churches. Wagons on the streets were soon hastily loaded at the departments with boxes, trunks, etc., and driven to the Danville depot. Those who had determined to leave with Evacuation the fugitive government looked on with amaze- of Richmond. ment; then, convinced of the fact, rushed to follow the example. Vehicles suddenly rose to a premium value that was astounding; and ten, fifteen, and even a hundred dollars, in gold or Federal currency, was offered for a conveyance. Suddenly, as if by magic, the streets became filled with men, walking as though for a wager, and behind them excited negroes with trunks, bundles, and luggage of every description. All over the city it was the same--wagons, trunks, bandboxes, and their owners, a mass of hurrying fugitives, filling the streets. The banks were all open, and depositors were as busy as bees removing their specie deposits; and the directors were equally active in getting off their bullion. Hundreds of thousands of dollars of paper money were destroyed. 1 Jefferson Davis fled southward on the abandonment of Richmond; but soon a party of cavalry started on his track. They followed him through the Carolinas into Georgia, where they suddenly came upon his hiding place; and, notwithstanding an attempt to escape, he was discovered and seized. He was convored a prisoner to Fortress Monroe, where he was kept in confinen cut un 1867, when he was released. 60. Night came, and with it came confusion worse confounded. There was no sleep for human eyes in Richmond that night. The City Council had met in the evening, and resolved to destroy all the liquor in the city, to avoid the disorder consequent on the temptation to drink at such a time. About the hour of midnight the work commenced. Hundreds of barrels of liquor were rolled into the street. The gutters ran with a liquor-freshet, and the fumes filled and impregnated the air. Fine cases of bottled liquors were tossed into the street from third-story windows, and wrecked into a thousand pieces. As the work progressed, some straggling soldiers retreating through the city, managed to get hold of a quantity of the liquor. From that moment, law and order ceased to exist. The air was filled with wild cries of distress, or the yells of roving pillagers. 61. But a more terrible element was to appear upon the scene. An order had been issued from General Ewell's headquarters, to fire the four principal tobacco warehouses of the city. Mayor Mayo dispatched a remonstrance against this order, which plainly put in jeopardy the whole business portion of Richmond. It was not heeded. Nothing was, there fore, left for the citizens but to submit to the destruction of their property. The warehouses were fired. The rams on the James river were blown up. The bridges leading out of the city were also fired, and were soon wrapped in flames. 62. Morning broke upon a scene such as those who witnessed it can never forget. The roar of an immense conflagration sounded in their ears; tongues of flame leaped from street to street; and in this baleful glare were to be seen, as of demons, the figures of busy plunderers, moving, pushing, rioting, through the black smoke, and into the open street, bearing away every conceivable sort of plunder." "The sun was an hour or more above the horizon, when suddenly there ran up the whole length of Main street the cry of 'Yankees !' "Yankees !' The Union soldiers were indeed entering the city, and Petersburg was also in possession of the national forces. Over both cities the stars and stripes again floated 1865 Assassination of Lincoln. 293 63. Lee retreated to the southwest, hoping to be able to join Johnston in North Carolina; but his troops were hotly pursued. There was no rest for them either by night or by day. If they attempted to snatch a few mo 66 Surrender ments' sleep, they were roused by the hoof-clatter of Lee and of Sheridan's cavalry." At last, overtaken, and Johnston. seeing no hope of escape, Lee agreed to surrender. In the largest building of Appomattox Court House, which boasted of only five dwellings, he and Grant met. "Lee stood beside a table, wearing a bright bluish-gray uniform, a military hat with a gold cord, buckskin gauntlets, high riding-boots, and a beautiful sword. Grant, with his slouched hat, dark blue frock-coat covered with mud, pantaloons tucked in his soiled boots-wore no sword. They shook hands, sat down," and soon agreed to the terms of surrender (April 9).' The surrender of Johnston soon followed, and the Great Civil War was at an end. 64. The North had triumphed, and on every side were joy and gladness. Flags waved, bells rang, guns were fired, houses were illuminated; but this great joy was soon and suddenly turned into mourning. Just forty days Assassination after President Lincoln had entered on his second of Lincoln. term, but less than a week after Lee's surrender, he was assassinated' in a theater at Washington by a person named 1 On this occasion Grant exhibited the greatest magnanimity. He declined to receive the sword of Lee, and in his capitulation paroled him and the less than eight thousand Confederates who then and there grounded their arms. Alex. H. Stephens. 2 As the President sat in his box in Ford's theater, with his wife and friends, the assassin stealthily approached, entered the box, and shot his victim in the back of the head. Then leaping to the stage, he waved his pistol, and shouted, Sic semper tyrannis!" (the motto of Virginia-So be it to tyrants), and rushed away. In jumping, however, his spur had caught in the American flag which draped the box, and he fell, injuring his leg severely. He nevertheless succeeded in making his escape, and fled into Maryland, where he was tracked to his hiding-place, and refusing to surrender, was shot by one of the soldiers. Another assassin, with similar feelings of revenge, on the same evening broke into the chamber of Wm. H. Seward, the Secretary of State, who was lying sick, and made an almost fatal attack upon his life. Booth, who, sympathizing with the Confederate cause, had become frenzied by its failure, and fancied that in killing the President he was avenging the wrongs of the South. The dying President lingered till morning in entire unconsciousness, and then passed away (April 15). The grief of the American people was deep and bitter. Never was a public man more sincerely lamented.' Cost of the war. 66 65. Probably no other war in the history of the world called forth such mighty efforts as were made by both parties in this, the great "American Conflict;" nor was any similar struggle ever waged on so grand a scale, or with so vast a destruction of men and material, especially in proportion to the time of its duration—about four years. On the side of the National government nearly two million seven hundred thousand men were enlisted during the war, of whom at least one million and a half wer actually and effectively engaged in the service. The Confederates, it is stated, could enlist only about six hundred thousand men. Of this number " one third were either killed outright upon the field or died of disease and wounds.” The total losses, both sides included, probably amounted to about six hundred thousand men ; and, with the wounded and disabled, did not fall far short of a million. 66. The national debt, at the close of the war, amounted to about twenty-seven hundred millions of dollars. "To it, should be added, the sums expended by the individual states and local bodies. The total rises above four thousand millions of dollars. To raise the enormous sums for the support of the great armies and fleets, and for other purposes in carrying on the war, the Federal government had asked for loans, which were freely granted; taxes were imposed on incomes and manufactures; and revenue stamps were required for bonds, deeds, receipts, etc. The Confederate debt, which must have amounted to a vast sum, was never paid. 67. "In a land where every man is free to think and free 1865 Funeral of Abraham Lincoln. 295 to act as he likes-where, one might suppose, there would of necessity, be a Babel hubbub of confusion, and society only a rope of sand, the shot of a gun at their flag Miracles brought half a million of riflemen into the field. of the war. The waste of battle and of the hospitals was for years more than supplied. With admirable energy, an iron-clad navy, that could match the navies of the world, was sent to sea. Never was there such an exhibition of public resolution and of private charity. If an army of a hundred thousand men melted away before cannon and by fever, there was another army of a hundred and fifty thousand men put into its place. The wars of Europe, even those of the French Empire, were outdone in brilliancy and in result." Johnson's Administration. 1. On the death of the lamented Lincoln, the vice-president, Andrew Johnson, became the third "accidental President." The funeral obsequies the whole people. His remains were borne to Springfield, Illinois, the former home of the deceased; and, as the procession moved on its long journey of nearly two thousand miles, the people everywhere sought to give expression to their reverential sorrow. At the great cities the body lay in state, and all business was suspended. ANDREW JOHNSON. 2. The great work of disbanding the army was the first to be attended to. The leading newspaper in Europe had said: "It is true that the United States have easily raised great |