Efforts to Capture Charleston: Meridian and Chattanooga

While the authorities at Richmond were preparing to carry out these measures, they received a despatch from Lord John Russell, the British Foreign Secretary, which deprived them of the last prop of hope for the recognition of the independence of the Confederate State from any foreign State excepting that of the Roman pontiff. That despatch gave them notice that no more vessels should be fitted out in Great Britain (nor tolerated in British waters) for depredating on the commerce of the United States by persons employed by the "so-called Confederate States." The last expression, which absolutely ignored the very existence of the "Confederate States" was very significant, and also very offensive to Davis and his associates. The latter replied sharply, protesting against the "studied insult;" and thenceforward the Confederates regarded the British government as their enemy. That government, perceiving the weakness of the Confederacy which it had tried to foster, stood firm, and so did our own. Regardless of the menaces of the Confederate leaders, the President determined to defend the colored troops against the vengeance of their late masters, and to prosecute the war with greater vigor. "The signs," he said, "look better." More than fifty thousand square miles of territory had already been recovered from the Confederates. There were about eight hundred thousand National troops in the field, while the Confederates had only about half that number; and the former were disposed to act on the offensive, while the latter were generally standing on the defensive.

Early in 1864, Congress created the office of lieutenant-general. The President nominated Ulysses S. Grant to fill it, and the Senate confirmed the nomination. Grant was made general-in-chief of the armies of the Republic, and he fixed his headquarters with that of the Army of the Potomac. He believed that mercy required that war should be made sharp and decisive, so as to end it speedily, and he acted accordingly. He believed his government to be right and its assailants wrong; and with all the zeal born of positive convictions, he prepared for the campaign of 1864. Two grand expeditions were planned--one for the capture of Richmond, the other for the seizure of the great railroad centre, Atlanta, in Georgia. To the Army of the Potomac, commanded by General Meade, was assigned the task of taking Richmond; and to General Sherman was given the command of the forces destined for Atlanta. Meanwhile important events had occurred in the Valley of the Mississippi.

When General Sherman was called to Chattanooga, he left General J. B. McPherson in command at Vicksburg; but soon after Bragg was driven southward from Chattanooga, Sherman suddenly reappeared in Mississippi; and at the head of twenty thousand troops, he made a most destructive raid (February, 1864) from Jackson to the intersection of important railways at Meridian, in that State. His object was to inflict as much injury as possible upon the Confederate cause and its physical strengh. Like Grant, he believed in the righteousness and efficacy of making war terrible. The line of his march from Jackson, eastward, presented a black path of desolation. No public property of the Confederates was spared. The station-houses and the rolling stock of the railway were burned. The track was torn up, and the rails, heated by the burning ties cast into heaps, were twisted and ruined; and were often, by bending them, while red-hot, around a sapling, converted into what then men called "Jeff. Davis's neckties." General Sherman intended to push on to Montgomery, Alabama, and then, if circumstances appeared favorable, to go southward and attack Mobile.

At Meridian, General Sherman waited for General W. S. Smith to join him with a considerable force of cavalry; but that officer was held back by Forrest and others. After waiting in vain for a week, Sherman laid Meridian in ashes and returned to Vicksburg with four hundred prisoners and five thousand liberated slaves. This raid spread great alarm over the Confederacy; for General (Bishop) Polk, in command of the insurgents in that region, made but a feeble resistance General Joseph E. Johnston, in command of Bragg's army in northern Georgia, had sent troops to reinforce Polk; but was compelled to recall them when his own army was menaced by a National force under General Palmer, which had been sent down from Chattanooga. Johnston fought Palmer between Ringgold and Dalton (February, 1864), and drove him back to Chattanooga.