ain
ambition of an oligarchy, was toppling to the ruin that six months later
overwhelmed it. Great was to be the fall thereof, and not even to-day is
the atmosphere fully cleared of the dust of its destruction.

Two famous, and as the outcome proved, morally conclusive campaigns had
been fought and closed.

In the East, Grant, moving against Richmond through the wilderness and
swamps of Virginia, all the long summer had been dealing trip-hammer
blows, as deadly and sickening to his foe as the stroke of the axe in the
shambles, and at length resting from the slaughter, lay before Petersburg
and astride the James; feeling out with his left to cut Lee's lines of
communication to the South and West, and pressing him close that he should
not detach any of his force to act against Sherman.

In the West, Sherman, starting from Chattanooga, with an antagonist the
wariest, wisest and most skillful captain of the rebel host to oppose him,
had overreached his foe at every point, and stretching out his sinewy arm,
had seized in a relentless grasp the "Gate City" of the South; and
electrified the country with the exultant shout, "Atlanta is ours and
fairly won;" opening wide the door into the hollow trunk of the
Confederacy and exposing its emptiness.

Of this campaign Halleck wrote: "I do not hesitate to say that it has been
the most brilliant of the war," and Grant himself, with that mutual
magnanimity that characterized the two great friends and competitors for
fame, declared to Sherman, "You have accomplished the most gigantic
undertaking given to any general in this war, and with a skill and ability
that will be acknowledged in history as unsurpassed, if not unequalled."

But much remained.

The dragon of rebellion, though sorely smitten, still lay writhing and
would not die until his time was fully come.

Lee, sullen and desperate, lay within the still invincible intrenchments
of Richmond, nursing his wounds, but with power able yet to strike a heavy
blow, and gathering his remaining strength for the final effort.

Sherman's antagonists, though demoralized and bewildered, were still
unconquered; and forced out from Atlanta, filled the open country with an
angry buzzing, as of an overturned hive. To add to their discomfiture, the
astute Johnston, the most intellectual soldier of the Confederacy, whose
stubborn dispute of every inch of territory, perfect skill in defending
his successive positions, and marvelous success