Department of West Virginia........................... 30,782

Department of the East................................ 2,828

Department of the Susquehanna......................... 2,970

Middle Department..................................... 5,627

Ninth Army Corps...................................... 20,780

Department of New Mexico.............................. 3,454

Department of the Pacific............................. 5,141

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Total.................................................*662,345

Active military operations west of the Mississippi commenced in the month of March, 1864. The principal rebel forces beyond the Mississippi were concentrated under General Kirby Smith at Shreveport, on the Red River. Against this force an expedition was undertaken by Major-General Banks, with a large army from New Orleans, to be co-operated with by troops from the Department of Arkansas, under General Steele, and from the division of the Mississippi under General A. J. Smith, and also a large naval force under Admiral Porter. General Banks with his forces reached Alexandria about the 20th of March. Advancing thence toward Shreveport, a series of disasters commenced that ended in the failure of the expedition with heavy loss of men and material. The cause of this failure is still a subject of discussion, not material to the present report. Although by this mishap the enemy was enabled to occupy the attention of a large designed and that might have been employed in other fields, he was himself kept in check and hindered from taking part in the great campaigns east of the Mississippi.

The campaigns in Virginia opened on the 4th day of May. By simultaneous movements the Army of the Potomac crossed the Rapidan, and City Point, on the south side of the James, was seized and occupied by General Butler. The crossing of the Rapidan was effected without resistance from the enemy. The movement against City Point took him by surprise. The Army of the Potomac was directed at Lee's army, while the city of Richmond was the objective point of the Army of the James.

Minute details of the subsequent campaigns are given in the accompanying reports of the lieutenant-general and other distinguished commanders, so that nothing more than a cursory view of the main results is here required.#

The antagonist armies of Meade and Lee met in conflict near Mine Run on the 5th day of May. Forty-three days of desperate fighting or marching by day and night forced back the rebel army from the Rapidan to their intrenchments around Richmond and carried the Army of the Potomac to the south side of the James River. The

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*But see explanatory foot-note, p. 136.

#For these reports (here omitted) see Series I, As follows: Grant's of July 22, 1865, Vol. XXXVI, Part I, p. 12; Meade's of April 30, 1865, Vol. XLVI, Part I, p. 601; Sheridan's of May 16, 1865, ibid., p. 1101; Sherman's of September 15, 1864, Vol. XXXVIII, Part I, p. 61; Sherman's of January 1, 1865, Vol. XXXIX, Part I, p. 580, and Vol. XLIV, p. 7; Sherman's of April 4, 1865, Vol. XLVII, Part I, p. 17; Schofield's of April 3, 1865, ibid., p. 909; Barry's of March 31, 1865, ibid., p. 177; Sherman's of May 9, 1865, ibid., p. 29; Sheridan's of July 16, 1865, Vol. XLVI, Part I, p. 474; Thomas" of January 20, 1865, Vol. XXXIX, Part I, p. 584, and Vol. XLV, Part I, p. 32; Thomas" of June 1, 1865, Vol. XLIX, Part I, p. 342; Butler's of January 3, 1865, Vol. XLII, Part I, p. 966; Terry's of January 25, 1865, Vol. XLVI, Part I, p. 394; Comstock's of January 27, 1865, ibid., p. 406; Ames" of January 16, 1865, ibid., p. 415; Rosecrans" of December 7, 1864, Vol. XLI, Part I, p. 307; Banks" of April 6, 1865, Vol. XXXIV, Part I, p. 194. For reports of D. H. Strother, of the operations of the army under General Hunter in West Virginia, see p. 1253 of House Executive Document Numbers 1, Thirty-ninth Congress, first session.

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