Henceforth, from June, 1864, to the close of the war the operations of Grant resembled a siege rather than a series of battles.  He had lost over fifty thousand men thus far in his march, and he, too, now became economical of his soldiers’ blood.  He complained not, but doggedly carried out his plans without consulting the government at Washington, or his own generals.  His work was hard and discouraging.  He had to fight his way, step by step, against strong intrenchments,—­the only thing to do, but he had the will and patience to do it.  He had ordered an attack on Petersburg, which must be reduced before he could advance to Richmond; but the attack had failed, and he now sat down to a regular siege of that strong and important position.  The siege lasted ten months, when Lee was driven within his inner line of defences, and, seeing that all was lost, on April 2, 1865, evacuated his position, and began his retreat to the west, hoping to reach Lynchburg, and after that effect a junction with Johnston coming up from the south.  But his retreat was cut off near Appomattox, and being entirely surrounded he had nothing to do but surrender to Grant with his entire army, April 9.  With his surrender, Richmond, of course, fell, and the war was virtually closed.

Out of the 2,200,000 men who had enlisted on the Union side, 110,000 were killed or mortally wounded, and 250,000 died from other causes.  The expense of the war was $3,250,000,000.  The losses of the Confederates were about three-quarters as much.  Of the millions who had enlisted on both sides, nearly a million of men perished, and over five thousand millions of dollars were expended, probably a quarter of the whole capital of the country at that time.  So great were the sacrifices made to preserve the Union,—­at the cost of more blood and treasure than have been spent in any other war in modern times.

I am compelled to omit notices of military movements in other parts of the Union, especially in the West, where some of the most gallant actions of the war took place,—­the brilliant strategy of Rosecrans, the signal achievements of Thomas, Sherman’s march to the sea, Sheridan’s raids, the naval exploits of Farragut, Porter, and Foote, and other acts of heroism, as not bearing directly on the life of Lincoln.  Of course, he felt the intensest interest in all the military operations, and bore an unceasing burden of study and of anxiety, which of itself was a great strain on all his powers.  If anything had gone wrong which he could remedy, his voice and his hand would have been heard and seen.  But toward the last other things demanded his personal attention, and these were of great importance.  There never had been a time since his inauguration when he was free from embarrassments, and when his burdens had not been oppressive.