[Sidenote:  Battle of the Wilderness, May, 1864.]

428.  The Wilderness, May, 1864.—­On May 4 and 5 the Union army crossed the Rapidan and marched southward through the Wilderness.  It soon found itself very near the scene of the disastrous battle of Chancellorsville (p. 335).  The woods were thick and full of underbrush.  Clearings were few, and the roads were fewer still.  On ground like this Lee attacked the Union army.  Everything was in favor of the attacker, for it was impossible to foresee his blows, or to get men quickly to any threatened spot.  Nevertheless Grant fought four days.  Then he skillfully removed the army and marched by his left to Spotsylvania Court House.

[Illustration:  GENERAL GRANT.  From a photograph taken in the field, March, 1865.  “Strong, simple, silent, ... such was he Who helped us in our need.”—­LOWELL.]

[Sidenote:  Spotsylvania, May, 1864.]

429.  Spotsylvania, May, 1864.—­Lee reached Spotsylvania first and fortified his position.  For days fearful combats went on.  One point in the Confederate line, called the Salient, was taken and retaken over and over again.  The loss of life was awful, and Grant could not push Lee back.  So on May 20 he again set out on his march by the left and directed his army to the North Anna.  But Lee was again before him and held such a strong position that it was useless to attack him.

[Sidenote:  Cold Harbor.]

[Sidenote:  Blockade of Petersburg.]

430.  To the James, June, 1864.—­Grant again withdrew his army and resumed his southward march.  But when he reached Cold Harbor, Lee was again strongly fortified.  Both armies were now on the ground of the Peninsular Campaign.  For two weeks Grant attacked again and again.  Then on June 11 he took up his march for the last time.  On June 15 the Union soldiers reached the banks of the James River below the junction of the Appomattox.  But, owing to some misunderstanding, Petersburg had not been seized.  So Lee established himself there, and the campaign took on the form of a siege.  In these campaigns from the Rapidan to the James, Grant lost in killed, wounded, and missing sixty thousand men.  Lee’s loss was much less—­how much less is not known.

[Illustration:  A BOMB PROOF AT PETERSBURG AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY WITH THE TREES GROWING ON THE BREASTWORKS.]

[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.