South came together for the last great struggle of the war.

Grant led his men into the Wilderness where General Hooker and his army
had been sadly defeated the year before. Lee was there to meet him, and
a great battle was fought in the depth of the woods and thickets. It
lasted two whole days, but neither side won.

Then Grant marched towards Richmond and Lee hurried down to head him
off. Several hard battles were fought, the last being at Cold Harbor,
near Richmond. Here the Union army lost terribly. Ten thousand men were
killed and wounded, while the Confederates, who were behind strong
earthworks, lost only a thousand.

General Grant saw he could not reach Richmond that way, so he crossed
the James River and began a siege of Petersburg and Richmond. This siege
lasted nine months, both sides digging instead of fighting till great
heaps of earth were thrown up, on whose tops were hundreds of cannon.

General Grant kept his men very busy, as you may see. But General
Sherman's men were just as busy. He marched south from Chattanooga, and
fought battle after battle until he had gone far into Georgia and
captured the important city of Atlanta. General Hood, the Confederate
commander, then made a rapid march to Tennessee, thinking that Sherman
would follow him. But Sherman did not move. The brave General Thomas was
there to take care of Hood and his army.

"Let him go; he couldn't please me better," said Sherman.

What Sherman did was to cut loose from the railroads and telegraphs and
march his whole army into the center of Georgia. For a whole month the
people of the North heard nothing of him. His sixty thousand men might
be starving for food, or might all be killed, so far as was known. It
was November when they started and it was near Christmas when they were
heard of again.

They had lived on the country and destroyed railroads and stores, and at
length they came to the sea at the city of Savannah. Three daring scouts
made their way in a boat down the river by night and brought to the
fleet the first news of Sherman's march. No doubt you have heard the
song "Marching through Georgia." That was written to describe Sherman's
famous march.

The South was now getting weaker, and weaker, and most men saw that the
war was near its end. It came to an end in April, 1865. Grant kept
moving south till he got round the Confederate earthworks at Petersburg,
and Lee was forced to leave Richmond in great haste.

The Unio