to the rumor when it first went abroad, and to show the intention of holding on to the place new fortifications were constructed at several points. But Grant was not to be deceived, and he pushed his preparations for taking the Confederate army in a trap.
With 10,000 cavalry Sheridan moved like a whirlwind through the Shenandoah Valley and made a wide sweep to the left of the Army of the Potomac, meeting little opposition, and demonstrating that all troops that could possibly be withdrawn from isolated points had been sent to Richmond. Wilson, with 13,000 men in his command, swept through Alabama and Georgia; and about the same time Stoneman advanced from Knoxville, Tennessee, with a strong column of cavalry, with which he devastated Western North Carolina. These various raids demonstrated that the Confederacy was but a shell whose kernel had been exhausted. All men capable of bearing arms had gone to the war, and there was no remaining material for the formation of new armies.
Though much larger on paper, Lee's army was not over 50,000 strong in effectives, while that of Johnston could not muster more than 30,000. Against Lee, Grant could bring a force of double the number, and while the former planned to escape and join Johnston, with whom he hoped to deliver a crushing blow to the Army of the Mississippi before Grant could overtake him, the latter was quietly studying to prevent the escape. Lee's plan was to retire by the Cox road, south of the Appomattox, and in order to cover his movement he made on the 25th of March an attack on Fort Steadman, on the Union right. Grant was in position in front of Petersburg, so that his army extended nearly to, but did not cover, the Cox road. Lee thought that the troops near the Cox road would be drawn away to support the attack on Fort Steadman. The attack was made by two divisions of Gordon's corps, and the fort was carried in fine style. But the attack was
