repulse on Wilderness Run.
The soldiers, too, of each army were as ready at Spottsylvania to test
their relative valor as they had been in the Wilderness.

At Spottsylvania we had lost thousands of our best men, and hundreds of
our ablest officers in futile attempts to drive our enemy from
impregnable positions; yet, notwithstanding all our losses, and our
hitherto unsuccessful assaults, our men rushed against the strong
defenses at Coal Harbor with as much resolution and fortitude as though
they had met with no reverses.

From the Rapidan to the Chickahominy the advance had been almost a
continuous battle, in which our army fought at a disadvantage. The men
had for more than a month engaged the enemy in mortal combat by day and
made fatiguing marches by night only to find themselves again face to
face with the enemy in the morning. Sixty thousand of our comrades were
either killed, wounded or missing. Of these more than thirteen thousand
had been lost at Coal Harbor, about thirty-two thousand in the
Wilderness, and nearly fifteen thousand at Spottsylvania and on the
North Anna.

It is true that our enemy had suffered great losses, yet not half as
many rebels as Union men had fallen. At Coal Harbor the disproportion
was much greater than elsewhere. There the rebel loss had not been
one-tenth as great as our own. Notwithstanding our frequent repulses,
and despite the fact that our road was continually blocked by an army
behind powerful defenses, our march had been straight on toward the goal
of our ambition, the rebel capital.

From the crossing of the Rapidan to the halt at Coal Harbor, in all our
battles and all our flank movements, we had not swerved from the direct
line to Richmond; and now, with unimpaired vigor and still relentless
determination, the Army of the Potomac, and the imperturbable leader of
the Union armies, were ready to undertake the capture of Richmond, by
way of Petersburgh, fully assured that their illustrious valor and never
failing courage must sooner or later meet with their award.

CHAPTER XXVII.

PETERSBURGH.

The march to Petersburgh--Smith's successes--The battle of June
18th--The Sixth and Second corps sent to the left--Rebels
penetrate the line--Progress of the siege--Sixth corps proceeds
to Reams' Station--Kautz's and Wilson's raids.

At sunset on the 16th, the Sixth corps gathered upon the banks of the
James river, and while the First and Third division