The Civil War Through the CameraElson, Henry W. (Henry William)
History
The Civil War Through the Camera
Elson, Henry W. (Henry William)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865; United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Pictorial works
But here, on the banks of the North Anna, Grant had been completely
checkmated by Lee. He realized this and decided on a new move, although he
still clung to his idea of turning the Confederate right. The Federal
wings were withdrawn to the north side of the river during the night of
May 26th and the whole set in motion for the Pamunkey River at
Hanovertown. Two divisions of Sheridan's cavalry and Warren's corps were
in advance. Lee lost no time in pursuing his great antagonist, but for the
first time the latter was able to hold his lead. Along the Totopotomoy, on
the afternoon of May 28th, infantry and cavalry of both armies met in a
severe engagement in which the strong position of Lee's troops again
foiled Grant's purpose. The Union would have to try at some other point,
and on the 31st Sheridan's cavalry took possession of Cold Harbor. This
was to be the next battle-ground.
[Illustration: IN THE AUTUMN OF 1863--GRANT'S CHANGING EXPRESSIONS]
Although secure in his fame as the conqueror of Vicksburg, Grant still has
the greater part of his destiny to fulfil as he faces the camera. Before
him lie the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, and the slow investment
of Petersburg. This series forms a particularly interesting study in
expression. At the left hand, the face looks almost amused. In the next
the expression is graver, the mouth close set. The third picture looks
plainly obstinate, and in the last the stern fighter might have been
declaring, as in the following spring: "I propose to fight it out on this
line if it takes all summer." The eyes, first unveiled fully in this
fourth view, are the unmistakable index to Grant's stern inflexibility,
once his decision was made.
[Illustration: IN THE AUTUMN OF 1864--AFTER THE STRAIN OF THE WILDERNESS
CAMPAIGN]
Here is a furrowed brow above eyes worn by pain. In the pictures of the
previous year the forehead is more smooth, the expression grave yet
confident. Here the expression is that of a man who has won, but won at a
bitter cost. It is the memory of the 50,000 men whom he left in the
Wilderness campaign and at Cold Harbor that has lined this brow, and
closed still tighter this inflexible mouth. Again, as in the series above,
the eyes are not revealed until the last picture. Then again flashes the
determination of a hero. The great general's biographers say that Grant
was a man of sympathy and infinite pity. It was the more difficult for
him, spurred on to the duty by grim necessity, to order forward the lines
in blue that withered, again and again, before the Confederate fire, but
each time weakened the attenuated line which confronted them.
[Illustration: MEADE AND SEDGWICK--BEFORE THE ADVANCE THAT BROUGHT
SEDGWICK'S DEATH AT SPOTSYLVANIA
COPYRIGHT 1911, PATRIOT PUB. CO.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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