It was late in the month of August before I rose from my bed again, and
set out on my return.
In those three months and a half--counting from the time I left
Spottsylvania with Stuart--great events had happened in Virginia.
Grant's hammer and Lee's rapier had been clashing day and night. Hill
and valley, mountain and lowland--Virginia and Maryland--had thundered.
General Grant had hastened forward from the Wilderness, only to find
Lee confronting him behind breastworks at Spottsylvania Court-House.
The Confederate commander had taken up a defensive position on the line
of the Po; and for more than two weeks Grant threw his masses against
the works of his adversary, in desperate attempts to break through.
On the 12th of May, at daylight, he nearly succeeded. "The Horse Shoe"
salient was charged in the dusk of morning; the Southerners were
surprised, and bayoneted in the trenches; the works carried; the
artillery captured; and a large number of prisoners fell into the hands
of the enemy.
The blow was heavy, but General Grant derived little advantage from it.
Lee rallied his troops; formed a new line; and repulsed every assault
made on it, throughout the entire day. When night fell, Grant had not
advanced further; Lee's position was stronger than before, and plainly
impregnable.
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