between the Confederate army and Richmond, the vigilant Lee discovered the movement and boldly attacked the Nationals. The two armies numbered, in the aggregate, about two  hundred thousand men; and that mighty host fought desperately for almost two days (May 5th and 6th) on one of the most remarkable battlefields ever known. The ground was covered with a thick -growth of pines, cedars, and scrub-oaks, with tangled underbrush and vines, wherein regular military movements were impossible. Cavalry could not contend; and no single vision could discern a thousand men at one time. In that mysterious land the brave General Wadsworth of the Genesee Valley was killed, and the slaughter of troops was fearful. Both armies were badly shattered; and there was no victory for either. The Confederates withdrew to their intrenchments; and the Nationals, led by General Warren, hastened to the open country near Spottsylvania Court-House.
Lieutenant-General Grant was the guiding-spirit in the National army. He was determined to flank Lee; but when his troops emerged from the Wilderness, he found the Confederates in  heavy force and rapidly gathering athwart his path. Arrangements were immediately made for another battle, during which the gallant General Sedgwick, leader of the Sixth Corps, was killed by a Confederate sharp-shooter. Both armies were cautious in their movements; and finally, on the morning of the 10th (May, 1864), when all was in readiness, a furious conflict began and raged all day with dreadful losses on each side. On the following rnorning, General Grant sent to the President the famous despatch, in which he said "I propose to fight it out on this line, if it takes all summer."
On the 12th, another sanguinary battle was opened. General Hancock, after the most gallant struggle, broke through the Confederate line and gained a great advantage; but the fierce conflict continued until twilight, and did not entirely cease until midnight, when Lee suddenly withdrew behind a second line of entrenchments, and appeared as strong as ever. Yet Grant, stubborn and bold, was not disheartened. He sent cheering despatches to the government; and pressing forward, fought another desperate battle on the Ny, not far from Spottsylvania Court-House. Lee was repulsed. Grant's flanking movement was temporarily checked, but he speedily resumed it. The losses on both sides, during about a fortnight, had been fearful. That of the Army of the Potomac was about forty thousand men, killed, wounded, and prisoners; and that of the Army of Northern Virginia was about thirty thousand.
In the meantime, General Sheridan bad been raiding in Lee's rear with a greater part of the National cavalry. Like Kilpatrick, he swept down into the Confederate outworks at Richmond, but with more successful results, for he destroyed the railway communication between Lee's army and that city. At the same time there was a co-operating force in the Shenandoah Valley, first under General Sigel and then under General Hunter; but they did not accomplish much of importance besides destroying a vast amount of property. There was another co-operating force below Richmond, commanded by General Butler. He had been joined by Gillmore's troops, which had been ordered up from Charleston; and with about twenty-five thousand men he went up the James River in armed transports, seized City Point at the mouth of the Appomattox River, and took possession of the Peninsula of Bermuda Hundred. He cast up a line of intrenchments across it from the Appomattox to the James and destroyed the railway between Petersburg and Richmond, so cutting off direct communication between the Confederate capital and the South. At the same time General A.V. Kautz went tip from Suffolk with three thousand cavalry, to destroy the railways south and west from Petersburg; but before be struck them, Beauregard, who had been called from Charleston, bad filled that city with defenders. The withdrawal of Gillmore's troops relieved Charleston of immediate danger; and when Butler went up the James, Beauregard was summoned to Richmond. At Petersburg he received hourly reinforcements, and some of them he massed in front of Butler's forces, along the line of the railway. Finally, on the morning of the 16th of May, while a dense fog brooded over the
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