Lee's army was therefore driven
into its fortifications around the Confederate capital and then
came the siege of Richmond, lasting more than nine months, but
pushed forward all that time with relentless energy, in spite of
Grant's heavy losses.
In the West, meanwhile, General William T. Sherman, Grant's
closest friend and brother officer, pursued a task of almost
equal importance, taking Atlanta, Georgia, which the Confederates
had turned into a city of foundries and workshops for the
manufacture and repair of guns; then, starting from Atlanta,
marching with his best troops three hundred miles to the sea,
laying the country waste as they went; after which, turning
northward, he led them through South and North Carolina to bring
his army in touch with Grant.
Against this background of fighting the life of the country went
on. The end of the war was approaching, surely, but so slowly
that the people, hoping for it, and watching day by day, could
scarcely see it. They schooled themselves to a dogged endurance,
but there was no more enthusiasm. Many lost courage. Volunteering
almost ceased, and the government was obliged to begin drafting
men to make up the numbers of soldiers needed by Grant in his
campaign against Richmond.
The President had many things to dishearten him at this time,
many troublesome questions to settle.
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