EASTWORKS.]

[Sidenote: Importance of Petersburg.]

431. Petersburg, June-December, 1864.--Petersburg guarded the roads
leading from Richmond to the South. It was in reality a part of the
defenses of Richmond. For if these roads passed out of Confederate
control, the Confederate capital would have to be abandoned. It was
necessary for Lee to keep Petersburg. Grant, on the other hand, wished
to gain the roads south of Petersburg. He lengthened his line; but each
extension was met by a similar extension of the Confederate line. This
process could not go on forever. The Confederacy was getting worn out.
No more men could be sent to Lee. Sooner or later his line would become
so weak that Grant could break through. Then Petersburg and Richmond
must be abandoned. Two years before, when Richmond was threatened by
McClellan, Lee had secured the removal of the Army of the Potomac by a
sudden movement toward Washington (p. 321). He now detached Jubal Early
with a formidable force and sent him through the Shenandoah Valley to
Washington.

[Illustration: GENERAL SHERIDAN.]

[Sidenote: Confederate attack on Washington, 1864.]

[Sidenote: Sheridan in the Valley. _Hero Tales_, 263-290.]

[Sidenote: Confederate disaster, October, 1864.]

[Sidenote: Lincoln reelected, November, 1864. _McMaster_, 425-426.]

432. Sheridan's Valley Campaigns, 1864.--The conditions now were
very unlike the conditions of 1862. Now, Grant was in command instead of
McClellan or Pope. He controlled the movements of all the armies without
interference from Washington, and he had many more men than Lee.
Without letting go his hold on Petersburg, Grant sent two army corps by
water to Washington. Early was an able and active soldier, but he
delayed his attack on Washington until soldiers came from the James. He
then withdrew to the Shenandoah Valley. Grant now gave Sheridan forty
thousand infantry and fifteen thousand cavalry, and sent him to the
Valley with orders to drive Early out and to destroy all supplies in
the Valley which could be used by another Southern army. Splendidly
Sheridan did his work. At one time, when he was away, the Confederates
surprised the Union army. But, hearing the roar of the battle, Sheridan
rode rapidly to the front. As he rode along, the fugitives turned back.
The Confederates, surprised in their turn, were swept from the field and
sent whirling up the Valley in wild confusion (October 19, 1864). Then
Sheridan destroyed ever