ould have presented a duel of giants.
The Confederacy was falling, gradually, it is true, but the end was in
sight. It was virtually confined to four States, Georgia, the Carolinas
and Virginia, and these but shells that only needed Sherman's march to
the sea to prove how hollow they were. General Grant fought his way
through the battles of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania and Cold Harbor, and
across the James River to Petersburg. His losses of men were enormous,
but the strength of his army was maintained by a continuous supply of
recruits from the North. Grant established his lines in front of
Petersburg, and proceeded to reduce that place. He gave Lee no rest, and
exhausted the Confederates with repeated surprises and attacks.

General Lee had about 50,000 men to defend two cities and a line of
intrenchments enveloping both, thirty-five miles long, against about
150,000 men, a large proportion of them veterans, trained and steeled to
war. The time had passed for offensive operations on any effective scale
on the part of the Confederates, although a desperate dash now and then
gave a false impression to the world outside that the Confederacy still
had a vigorous vitality. While General Philip H. Sheridan, Chief of
Cavalry of the Army of the Potomac, was at Winchester, October 19,
General Jubal Early suddenly attacked Sheridan's forces at Cedar Creek,
nearly twenty miles from Winchester. The attack was made at dawn, and
proved a complete surprise. The National troops were defeated, and the
roads were thronged with fugitives, while camp, and cannon and a large
number of prisoners fell into the hands of the enemy. Sheridan was riding
leisurely out of Winchester, when he met his routed troops. At once he
dashed forward on his black charger, crying out to his men: "Face the
other way, boys! Face the other way!" and, as he learned the extent of
the disaster, he added: "We will have all the camps and cannon back
again!" With courage revived by their leader's example, the Union troops
rallied and turned upon the foe, recovering all the spoil, and virtually
destroying Early's army.

* * *

Disaster attended the Confederate cause on land and sea. The British
cruiser Alabama, flying the Confederate flag, was defeated and sunk by
the United States frigate Kearsarge, off the coast of France, in June,
1864. Admiral David Glasgow Farragut entered Mobile Bay, August 5, lashed
to the mast of hi