a third series
of bounties.

Still the success of the Northern cause seemed to depend on the
renomination of Lincoln, for any other Republican Unionist would
certainly be defeated by the Democrats, who were fast uniting upon
General McClellan, exceedingly popular with both War Democrats and those
who had opposed the war from the beginning. If the outlook in the South
was discouraging, that of the North was almost as depressing.

With public opinion keen, critical, and watchful, the great duel
reopened in Virginia and Georgia in May, 1864. Grant attacked with an
army of 120,000 men; Lee returned the blow with a force of about 60,000
seasoned and resolute soldiers. From May 3 to June 12 the two great
generals fought over the tangled thickets and sandy ridges which extend
from the Wilderness to Cold Harbor near Richmond, where McClellan had
failed in 1862. Grant failed in every attempt to defeat his foe, and he
lost in that short period about 54,000 brave men--an army almost equal
in numbers to that which they opposed. The people and the papers of the
North were demanding the removal of their last general; United States
bonds and paper money were a drug on the stock market; it was reported
that Grant was drinking deeply. Lincoln knew that to remove his general
would be tantamount to surrender, for B. F. Butler, then on the lower
James, would be the only and last resort, and Lee would make short work
of that remarkable commander. There was a little encouragement in the
fighting of Sherman against Joseph E. Johnston, who was yielding more
and more of northern Georgia to his rival. But June and July, 1864, were
the darkest hours of the Union cause and of Lincoln, its champion.

Lee now felt himself secure in his position near Malvern Hill, and
expected daily to hear of the removal of his antagonist. But Grant, to
the surprise of all, performed the greatest feat of his military career
by safely placing all his army, still 120,000 strong, on the south side
of the James River, where there were no intrenchments and no other
obstacles to their marching upon Petersburg, the key to Richmond. This
was done with incredible facility, June 16, 17, and 18, while Lee
quietly waited for the enemy to attack him once more. While Lee thus
rested on his arms, Grant carried his army through the open country east
of Petersburg. Too late, June 18, the Confederate commander hastened all
his forces to the new scene of war. Grant had played an in