raiders, they acquitted themselves with great credit, and succeeded in checking the enemy's advance. They were warmly commended by General Meade. Before the rebels could make a second charge, or follow up any advantage they might have gained by dint of superior numbers, Colonel Tannatt's brigade came to the assistance of Tyler, and Ewell's men were effectually brought to a halt. Another brigade came forward at this point, and the enemy was driven in great confusion back into the forest. Again, at five o'clock, the rebels, with the desperation of starving men, made a second attack on the baggage-trains, but were speedily driven back.

During these brisk, but deadly conflicts, the Unionists lost upwards of six hundred men; the rebel loss was not so heavy. For the remainder of the day, and during the night, the baggage-trains were closely watched, but no further attempts were made upon them.

From the 20th of May onward, the movements of General Grant contemplated forcing General Lee to abandon his position at Spottsylvania, and fall back towards Richmond. Continued efforts were, therefore, made to flank the rebel army. Nor were these efforts unsuccessful. On May 23, General Grant's army was in a position facing westward, extending from Guinea Station to Milford, while the enemy had fallen back beyond the North Anna river.

A fight took place at Taylor's Bridge Ford, on the 23d, in which General Birney's division behaved with great gallantry. The bridge, of course, was the point at issue, and both parties contested the prize with desperate valor-the rebels striving to hold, and the Unionists to take it. About five hundred men were killed on each side The National troops succeeded in obtaining possession of the bridge, but it was repossessed by the rebels during the night, and again taken by the Unionists in the morning.

On the 24th, the whole army crossed the North Anna; and on the 29th it had crossed the Pamunkey, its base being White House. The rebels continued to fall back. There was some fighting on the 30th and the 31st of May, but no serious engagement until the

BATTLE OF COAL HARBOR.

JUNE 1-3, 1864.

At the time this battle was fought, the Eighteenth Army Corps (General Smith) which was detached from the Army of the James, had rein. forced the army of General Meade. The first charge was made by this

corps, which took and held the first line of the enemy's riflepits, cap. turing six hundred prisoners. Finding himself thus attacked on his right wing, the enemy retaliated by a severe assault upon the National right, thinking it had been weakened to sustain the charge by the left. Longstreet's corps, on the rebel side, did most of the fighting. Warren's and Hancock's divisions were, on the Union side, especially assailed. The enemy made repeated charges, which were as repeatedly repulsed. Artillery was freely employed in this fight, and the losses on both sides were very heavy. The rebels being intrenched, their loss was not so severe as otherwise it would have been. The Union loss was about two thousand. Thursday, the 2d of May, proved rainy, and General Grant, for this reason, delayed a further attack of the enemy, although he permitted one or two charges, which resulted in no positive success. Skirmishing, of course, was frequent, owing to the close contiguity of the lines of battle. The first day's operations had put the Union army in possession of Coal Harbor, and General Grant's design now was to push the rebels across the Chickahominy river-his ultimate object being to hem in the army of Lee within the cities of Petersburg and Richmond, isolate those places on all sides, and then compel the surrender of the rebels, either through starvation or in one general and desperate battle. The rebel commander penetrated this design, and, naturally, opposed it at every point; and so skillful and successful was his resistance, that as will presently be seen -he was enabled to prolong this contest through a period of ten months, holding Petersburg and Richmond all the while, and keeping open his communications with the south and southwest, by way of Weldon and of Lynchburg. His defenses, it is true, were of the most formidable character, and so extensive, that it was impossible for General Grant to concentrate sufficient force for successful assault, at any one point, without weakening his own lines, which were far more extended than the rebel defenses, and thus expose himself to an attack from General Lee.

The battle of the second day at Coal Harbor-being the 3d of Junewas desperate and bloody. The assault was commenced by the National forces at half-past four o'clock in the morning. The brigades of Generals Gibbons and Barlow, of General Hancock's division, made the first attack on the rebel lines. It was a dark and cloudy morning, and, at intervals, rain poured down upon the battle-field. Barlow's and Gibbons' brigades took a portion of the rebel works, but were not able to hold their prize. They captured many prisoners, however, and then, falling back, took up an advanced position and intrenched themselves. The Eighteenth and Sixth corps met with about the same success, capturing works which they were subsequently obliged to resign, and finally intrenching themselves in a new position close to the enemy's line. On the Union right the battle was less severe than upon the left. Far to tho

left General Wilson's cavalry fought that of Wade Hampton. All day long the battle raged furiously, and even encroached upon the night-a fierce assault being made by the rebels at nine o'clock in the evening, which was repulsed by the soldiers of Hancock, Smith, and Wright. But the results were scarcely commensurate with the sacrifices made for their attainment.

On the morning of the 5th, the National troops held their advanced position, and it was found that the enemy's left wing, in front of the forces of General Burnside, had been drawn in during the night. The Union losses, during the three days operations around Coal Harbor, are set down at not less than seven thousand five hundred.

For several days succeeding this battle, both armies occupied themselves in strengthening their respective lines of battle. A truce of two hours, declared on the 6th, enabled the belligerents to bury their dead and relieve their wounded.

GENERAL GRANT'S OHANGE OF BASE.

From the 5th till the 14th of June, General Grant occupied himself in building defensive works, receiving and placing reinforcements, distributing supplies, and preparing for a movement across the Chickahominy and the James rivers, in pursuance of his design of extending his lines of circumvallation around Petersburg, and of pushing Lee nearer and nearer to the interior rebel works.

On the 12th of June the enemy's line extended from Bottom's Bridge along the Chickahominy, confronting that of Grant at every point. That night the National forces began to move, crossing the Chickahominy at Long's Bridge and at Jones's Bridge, and marching for Wilcox's wharf on the James river. A portion of the troops went by transports from White House to Bermuda Hundred, General Butler's headquarters. On Wednesday, the 15th, the entire army was on the south side of the James river, having lost, in the skirmishing incident to this important movement, only about four hundred men. White House had been abandoned as a base, the railroad leading thither being taken up and all the supplies there accumulated brought safely away. The distance traversed was fifty-five miles.

By this change of base General Grant's army was augmented by a junction with General Butler's, and by alliance with the United States naval forces on the James river. He had possessed himself, moreover, with a healthier tract of country in which to operate, and he had narrowed the scene of his operations. His dispositions for other and cooperative campaigns had been wisely made-as shown in other chapters of this narra