Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 14.djvu/97

 Ceremonies at Unveiling of Statue of General Lee. 91

flank movements eastward, Lee moving- on parallel lines, and con- fronting him at every halt, until at last the two armies met on the his- toric field of Cold Harbor.

Here Grant again closed with his adversary and hurled his col- umns in repeated assaults upon the impregnable front of Lee, re- pulsed with such terriblg carnage that, though the intrepid Federal commander would have desperately continued them, his troops, gal- lant as they were, unmistakably reminded him that they were weary of slaughter.

This campaign may be said to have ended with the next move- ments of Grant, which brought him in front of Petersburg, within the entrenchments of which, by the mvaluable co-operation of Lou- isiana's foremost soldier, Beauregard, Lee succeeded in establishing his army, and the siege of Petersburg was begun.

Take now a brief retrospect of the campaign.

Grant started with over 07ie hundred and forty -one thousand men against sixty-four thousand men. He received reinforcements swell- ing his aggregate engaged in the campaign to 07ie hiaidred and ninety-two thousand men, while Lee had received but fou7'teen thousand reinforcement. Lee had so managed his inferior force as to confront his adversary at every halt and to be ready for battle whenever offered. Such skill had he displayed in the selection of his positions and the disposition of his troops that he repulsed every assault, won every battle and forced his adversary to retire from every field. According to the authority of Swinton, the Federal historian. Grant had lost sixty thousand men, a number nearly equal to the entire force of his opponent. And what had the Federal commander accomplished ? He had reached a point on the James River, the water route to Richmond always open, where, in much less time and without the loss of a man, he might have established himself at the opening of the campaign.

The siege of Petersburg ! How shall I commemorate it ? How shall I do justice to the heroism displayed in the defence of those immortal lines ? During nine wearj^ months the great Federal leader, with all his intrepid daring, with his unquestioned military talent, with his vastly superior force, with all the expedients of science and art at his command, and with unlimited supplies of everything essential for his operations, struggled in vain to surmount them. He tried to get over them by assault. He tried to get under them by subterranean mining. He tried to get around them by flanking. He tried to move them out of his way by explosion. In vain ! The genius of Lee met and foiled him at every point.