o ^"-^- ,** -'., ,.,*^ \' ,0- ■<^ .^nS"' ^ ""^ o\'" .\v •J'. -V ~~ '■•*'-. /• N "^ • O , . -^ '').-. i_ '^ • \ o '' 1 K ,o> ,•"■•,■% -^^^' .^ ^^ ' '• " "^ ' ^ cP' ^c 0^ v^^ f: , 0^ x^^ "i.. ■-,% x«^- * s^-^ -''>.. > * • ^.^- ^ ^ % ^. '■ >, J- '' • ' " . \ -^ o- c \' s ." ' /, .^'•^■ ^.^^C^%,\ - .^^'^^ % -i \ '^^ xV^* ^ '^■p ..\^^' * ', °^. x^^ '->... -/- ^ ■' x->- -•>, /■ ■ •< > c- \ -r^ \' .^^^■ A ^> ^- v^ 0> ^ ^ " " / '^. • \ .>.'<■ '^' ^.'"I'Si^^^ '/ \' » s •• .O 0^ ,A , -z^. .^ %, ^^^ V^^ '■<^ rP' '<^ •^of^'< "^^ GRANT-COLFA The following letter from Major-General Ra-wxins, Chief of Staff" to General Grant, shows the authentic and official character ^of the work: Headquarters Arshes op the United States, Washington, August 8th, I8G0. Piof. Henry Coppee : Sir, — With the especial approval of General Grant, I have the pleasure of sending you, herewith, such material as will be of semce to you in the prep- aration of your History of" Grant and his Campaigns," and shall be happy to give you, at any time, any assistance in my power in securing accuracy and completeness in your work. I am. Sir, very respectfully, Your obedient servant, JNO. A. RAWLINS, Brevet Major-General and Chief of Staff. 3 X ^. .. LIFE AND SERVICES ^^° OF GEN. U. S. GRANT BY / HENRY COPP]gE C H I C A .G 4-' ' THE WESTERN NEWS COMPANY NEW YORK: RICHARDSON AND COMPANY i863 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year ISCO, By CHAELES B. RICHARDSON, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the • Southern District of New Yorli. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, By RICHARDSON AND COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York. PREFACE. The following Military Biography of General Ulysses S. Grant is intended to offer but an outline of the great events in which he has borne the most distinguished part. As he held an independent command of troops in the field, from the beginning of the war — the movement upon Corinth only excepted — I have endeavored to present his plans, their execution, and the results, without entering into the minute details of the battle tactics ; giving only so much of fhese as is necessary to enable the reader to understand the general's purposes and achievements. In writing the life of a subordinate commander, we should gain in detail, but lose in comprehension, — dwelling more upon what he did, than upon the relations sustained to other men and movements on the field ; but it is different here. Grant's life requires a glance at every part of the field of Pittsburg Landing ; the great outline of the Vicksburg campaign ; a summary of the splendid military successes at Chattanooga. After his appointment as commander-in- chief, all parts of the vast theatre of operations must be considered ; while, as he made his headquarters with the Army of the Potomac,, and personally directed it, more stress must be laid upon the move- ments of that army than upon others. I have said thus much by way of self-vindication, should any reader — especially some gallant soldier — fail to find as many battle pictures, and as much of the movements of the lesser organizations, as he had expected. I could not neglect the philosophy of Grant's nistory, and there was not space for both. In describing his earlier campaigns, I have had recourse to much fuller material than in the latter portions. The reports of many subordinate commanders, Union and Confederate, have been pub- 4: PREFACE. lished, and there are even critical commoDtaries upon these, which guard the historian ag'ainst error. But in the latter parts, there i,s yet great dearth of detail. I have been obliged to depend, for the connected outline, upon the masterly — I may say, model — report of General Grant ; and for details to sucn materials as had been re- ceived, not ev^n including extended reports of the coi;ps-commander8. It is not improba.ble, therefore, that, for want of such corrective matter in the details, I may have made occasional mistakes, in spite of my best efforts to avoid doing so. When such errors are pointed out, they shall be corrected. I must express my hearty thanks to General Grant for his kind- ness in sanctioning my attempt to portray his military career, and to Major-General Rawlins for his invaluable assistance in furnish- ing materials without which the work could not have been written. Most of this material could not have been otherwise obtained. For its use, and the form in which it is presented, I alone am re- sponsible. To my friend, Captain Thomas Mitchell, of Philadelphia, late a stafif-ofScer in the Army of the Potomac, I am indebted for valuable assistance in collecting notes, and in transcribing some of the earlier portions of the work. I shall be amply paid for my labors, which have been arduous, if my simple narrative shall prove to the world the truth of the opinion, already very widely entertained, that Grant is the first soldier of the age, and the most distinguished American of the Regenerated Eepublic. December 1, 1865. ' PREFACE TO THE EEVISED EDITION. The pnblisliers having announced to the author their intention to issue a new edition, he has felt it a duty to them, as well as to himself and to the public, to correct all errors which have been pointed out to liini, or which he has been able to discover. He has also availed himself of published material which lias apjteared since the worli was written, especially in cor- rcftliig and amending the latter portions. H. 0. June, 1808. CONTENTS. CHAPTEK I. THE GREAT WAR OPENS; ' RuFfiri's OAr-noN-. — Fort Shmtek. — The effect on the masses. — The Nation must BE SAVED-. — The attitude of the rebels. — Our own duty clear. — The rush tc ARifs. — Our ignorance of war. — The want of every thing. — The education NEEDED and eventually OBTAINED. — GrANT AN APT SCHOLAR 13 CHAPTEE II. » CHILDHOOD AND CADET LIFE. Grant's lineage. — The new school of biography. — His parentage and birth- place. — His name. — Stories of his youth. — Limited education. — Appointment to the Military Academy. — His scholarship. — Classmates. — Kecollkctions of HIM while a cadet. — The germs of character. — He graduates 13 CHAPTEE III. ARMY LIFE AND RETIREMENT FROM SERVICE. Brevet second-lieutenant Fourth Infantry. — Goes to Corpus Christi. — At Palo Alto and Eksaca de la Palma. — At Monterey. — At Vera Cruz. — Rhgi- MENTAL quartermaster. — FlQHTS AT MoLINO AND ChaPULTEPEo. — MENTIONED IN reports and BREVETTED captain. — At close of WAK sent TO the NeRTHERN FRONTIER. — Marries. — Off to Oregon. — Hard work. — LeatTIer-dealer 24 CHAPTEE IV. BELMONT. Effect of the news on Grant. — X Democrat before the war. — An unqualified WAR-MAN now. — RAISES A COMPANY. — DoES GOOD SERVICE AS MUSTERING OFFICEK. — Colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois. — Marches. — Acting brigadier at Cairo. — The value of Cairo. — The rebel strategy. — Expedition to Belmont. — Fr»- mont's orders. — Polk at Columbus. — The battle. — Success. — Enemy re-en- fokoed. — Grant withdraws.— Comments 28 Q CONTENTS. CHAPTEE V. FOET HENRY. IIalleck's Department of Missouki. — Grant's kecoxnoissa.nce into Kentcckt. — Its value. — Map of field of operations. — Colujibdb, the Gibraltar of America. — Rebel line. — Forts Henry and Donelson.^Foote's flotilla. — C. F. Smith and Fiielps reconnoitre Fort Henry. — Grant receives permis- sion TO attack. — The fort described. — Lloyd Tilghman in command. — Grant's orders of march and battle. — The naval attace. — The surrender. — Comments on rebel defeat. — On to Donelson. — Tribute to Commodorb Foote 85 CHAPTER VI. FORT DONELSOISr. Keorganization. — Order of march. — McClernand and Smith move. — A glance AT THE fort. — RlVER-FRONT. — LaNT) APPROACHES. — GaRRISON AND COMMANDERS. Assault upon the trenches. — Unsuccessful. — Storm and cold. — Re-enforce- UENTS UNDER L. WALLACE. — ThE ATTACK OF THE GUNBOATS. — TeRRIBLE CANNON- ADE. — FoOTE WITHDRAWS. — VaLUE OF HIS ATTACK. — ReBEL COUNTER-PLANS. — OUB BIGHT ATTACKED AND ROLLED BACK. — GrANT's CONSUMMATE PLAN. — L. WALLACE MOVES 48 CHAPTER VII. GENERAL SMITH's ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER. Smith's columns organized. — Lauman the forlorn hope. — Smith leads. — Ad- dresses HIS men. — The lines move. — Smith's splendid valor decisive. — Floyd's NEW council. — He turns over the command. — Pillow looks at the cards, and " passes." — The pusillanimous flight. — Buckneb surrenders. — The corre- spondence. — Grand eesults. — Comments. — Eulogy of General C. F. Smith. 63 CHAPTER VIII. PREPARATIONS FOR A NE'W ADVAJSTCE. Grant's enlarged command. — General Buell co-operates with Halleck. — Ad- ministration. — Discipline, justi(;e, humanity. — Nashville falls. — Surprise op THE PEOPLE. — A. S. John.STON RETIRES TO M IRFREESEORO'. — ThE ASCENT OF THE Tennessee. — Corinth threatened.- — Island No. 10 — Seals the river.— Tub POSITION described. — PoPE TAKES NeW MaDBID. — GENERAL MaCKALL AND THE American THEBUOpyL.a. — Schuylee Hamilton's canal. — The captdbe and BOUT 74 CONTENTS. 7 CHAPTEK IX. • grant's new campaign. Pittsburg Landing.— The landing.— Grant's dispositions.— The rebel advance.— Johnston's proclamation.— The attack on Prentiss -On Sherman, Hurlbut, McClernand, and Wallace.— The situation at ten o'clock.- Kebel losses.— The gunboats. — Webster's artillery. — Surgeon Coknyn. — The final attack ON Sunday. — Lewis Wallace arrives. — His delay.^Mondat morning. — Uuell on^Ithe field. — Battle on the left— On the right.— Beauregard retires. — Comments ^'^ CHAPTER X. THE SIEGE OE CORINTH. Corinth described.— Sherman's reconnoissance. — The arrival of Halleck. — Pope's aemt comes up.- Beauregard's order.— His force— Ours.— Popb takes Farmington.— The battle of Faemington.— Elliot's raid.— Corinth evacuated. — The occupation and pursuit. — Co-operating movements. — Mitchel's march.— The navy.— Fight at Memphis.— New efforts of the ENEMY '■^^ CHAPTER XL lUKA AND CORINTH. After a brief halt, forward. — Administration. — Iuka. — Price marches up.— Grant's sagacity. — The battle. — Rosecrans and Ord. — Difficult ground. — Price retreats southward.— Corinth.— The fortifications.— Price's attack . —Van Dorn's.— The bloody repulse.— Ord and Hurlbut in flank and rear. — " How does it all sum up V — Sketches of commanders 117 CHAPTER XII. TH^ DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE. The extent of Grant's command.— Districts.— Retrospect.— Williams' canal.— Fareagut's fleet.— Thj2 Arkansas destroyed.- Grant moves.— Pemberton in command of the rebel army.— Grant's army and staff.— Trade.— The value OF Vicksburg.— Port Hudson.— The Tallahatchie.— Hovey's movement.— The prospect bright.— Murphy's surrender.— Sherman's expedition to Vicks- burg.— Unsuccessful.— Arkansas Post.— Army corps.— Emancipation procla- mation, and colored troops ■'^■* CHAPTER XIII. THE NEW MOVEMENT TOWARDS VICKSBURG. Routes proposed.— Williams' canal.— Why it failed.— Milliken's Bend.— Lake Providence.— The Yazoo Pass.— Steele's Bayou.— Porters energy.— Tan- gled COUNTRY.— What next ?— To New Carthage, and beyond.— Passing THE batteries.— First boats.— Sheets of fire.- Second lot.— Hard Times.— Across to Bruinsbubg.— Battle of Port Gibson.— Enemy routed 153 8 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIV. YICKSBURG : THE BATTLES, ASSAULTS, AND SIEGE. Fortune smiles. — Defences of Vicksbijrg. — Grand Gulf ours. — Sherman's feint ON Haines' Bluff. — Grant's grand tactics. — Battle of Eatmond. — Battle OF Jackson. — Johnston driven out. — Where is Pemberton ? — At Champion's Hill. — Battle there. — Enemy demoralized. — Battle of the Big Black. — Investment. — Fleet co-operates. — Two assaults. — Both fall 164 CHAPTER XV. YICKSBURG BESIEGED. Re-enfoecements. — The complete investment. — The condition of "Vicksburg. — The first mine. — The explosion. — Effects. — We gain a lodgment. — ■ The cannonade. — The second mine. — Preparations for final assault. — Pemberton's change of opinion.— Further delay useless. — Is beady to suk- EENDEK ISO CHAPTER XVI. "VICKSBURG FALLS. — " UNYEXED TO THE SEA." Flag of truce. — Pemberton's request. — The interview. — Terms described. — Correspondence. — Terms accepted. — Vicksburg surrenders. — Fourth of July. — Rf.bellion cut in two. — Only needs shaking, to fall apart. — Grant's tri- umphal ENTRY. — The Mississippi " unvexed to the sea." — Comments 186 CHAPTER XVII. FINISHING TOUCHES : CLEARING TgE "WRECK. Effect of the news. — President's letter to Grant. — Port Hudson waits the FALL of Vicksburg — Surrenders. — Cohrkspondenoe and conditions. — Sher- man moves against Johnston. — Johnston holds Jackson. — His order. — He decamps 19* CHAPTER XVIII. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION. Expeditions in all directions.— The haul at Natchez. — E.x'tra military ques- tions.— Tub SUBJECT of trade.— Tariff of pricks on the Mississippi.— Honors AT Mkmphis.— Kevikw at New Orleans.— Sad accident, and its results.— pARriAL KECOVICUY. — BoARDS OF HONOR. — COMMENTS 203 CONTENTS. 9 CHAPTEE XIX. THE MILITARY DIVISION OF THE MISSISSIPPI — THE DEPAETMENT OP THE CUMBEELAND. CbICEAMAUOA. — A GLANCE AT THE TOPOGRAPHY. ThE NEW COMMAND. — ThE ARMY CONCENTRATES. — AT ChaTTANOOGA. — A EINB CHANCB OF STARVING. SmITh's STRATAGEM. — HoOKER ADVANCES. — BrAGG's FATAL ERROR. — ShERMAN MOVES. — Eeconnoissanoes and plans 210 CHAPTEK XX. THE GEAND MOVEMENT BEGUN. Sherman marches. — Thomas's advance.— Sherman crosses and takes position. — Hooker co-operates. — All ready along the line. — The Confedkrates. — Waiting fob Hooker. — Storming of the ridge. — Hooker attacks. — The VIGHT ended and PURSUIT BEGUN. — PuRSDIT DISCONTINUED. — COMMENTS 224 CHAPTEE XXI. BUENSIDE AT KNOXVILLE. His ENTRANCE INTO KnOXVILLE FoRTIFIES THE TOWN — ADVANCES TO LURK LONG- STBEET ON. — LONGSTEEET INVESTS AND ATTACKS — REPULSED. — Re-ENFORCEMENTS FEOM Grant. — Sherman comes up. — Grant's order. — Summary of losses. . 243 CHAPTEE x:xn. GREAT JOY IN THE LAND. The President's proclamation. — Public honors. — The gold medal. — A lieu- tenant-general proposed. — Societies. — Namesakes. — New labors. — Visits Cumberland Gap. — At Nashville. — To Chattanooga.— Visits St. Louis.— Thb banquet. — Thanks of the city 248 CHAPTEE XXIII. ELSEWHEEE IN THE FIELD. The Mississippi. — Banks. — Steele. — Eosecrans.— Our force compared with the rebels. — Sherman's expedition to Meridian. — Thomas moves upon Dalton. — Seymour at Olustee. — One head needed. — No political aspirations.. 255 CHAPTEE XXIV. THE LIEUTENANT-GENEEAL — EETEOSPECT AND PEOSPECT. Grant Lieutenant-General. — Arrives at Washington. — Recognized at Wil- lard's. — Commission presented. — President's address. — Grant's reply. — Re- vival of the grade. — Washington, Scott, and Grant. — The new law.— 1* 10 CONTENTS. Grant's personal appearance. — The honor unsolicited. — ^Thb country needs HIM. — What he had done to earn it. — Prospect of eesponsibilitt and danger. — Will he succeed i — Unrivalled qlort 258 CHAPTER XXV. THE CONDUCT OP THE WAR. Grant's convictions.— Evils to be remedied. — The new plan. — The great the- atre — How OCCUPIED. — The rebel armies. — Lee and Johnston. — Our opposing armies. — Banks in Virginia. — Directions to General Butler. — Sigel's in- structions 2C7 CHAPTER XXVI. PREPARATIONS FOR THE FINAL CAMPAIGN. Grant's announcement to the armies. — At Washington. — The Armt of the Potomac. — General Meade. — The army reorganized. — Fifth Corps — Second — Sixth. — The Ninth Corps. — The character of the army. — Grant's staff. — Meade's chief, and adjutant- general 277 CHAPTER XXVII. THE CROSSING OF THE RUBICON. All ready. — Grant makes final preparations. — The position of th"e army. — Lee's position. — The roads. — The Wilderness. — Meade's order. — The corps MOVE. — Plans and counterplans. — The rebels come up in column. — Ewell ON OUR RIGHT, BY THE TURNPIKE 285 CHAPTER XXVin. THE BATTLE OF THE WILDERNESS. Orders to Warren and Sedgwick. — The battle-field. -t-Hanoock to the rescue. — General attack on the 6th. — Hancock's encounter. — Second rebel as- sault. — Gordon flanks our right.— Grant on the field.— Comments.— Lol^sEs. —Drawn battle 293 CHAPTER XXIX. ON TO RICHMOND. BUSPENSE AT THE NoRTH. — Lee's RETREAT.— SeDGWIOK KILLED. — WrIOHT TO SiXTH Corps. — Attack on Spottsylvania.— Hancock's feat of arms. — The after-bat- XLE. — Our losses up to the 12th. — Who retreats, Grant or Lee? — The LAND AHEAD. — A NEW FLANKING MOVEMENT 804 CONTENTS. 11 CHAPTER XXX. CO-OPERATING MOVEMENTS. Sheridan's raid. — The battle of Yellow Tavern. — J. E. B. Stuart killed. — The raiders reach the James. — Fortunes of Sioel. — Defeated by Breckin- ridge. — Butler's movements. — His dispatch. — Beauregard's attack. — Her- metically sealed. — Kautz's raid. — Stanton's dispatch. — Butler's failure. — How the want of co-opebation affected Grant 320 CHAPTER XXXI. FROM SPOTTSYLVANIA TO THE CHICKAHOMINY. The corps move. — Re-enforcements. — Losses from Mat 12 to 21. — On the North Anna. — Withdrawn. — Sheridan's return. — Crossing of the Pamunkey, — Change of base. — Sheridan holds Cold Harbor. — Losses from May 21 to 31. — W. F. Smith detached from Butler. — The battles of Cold Harbor. — The crossing of the Chickahominy 330 CHAPTER XXXII. SOUTH OF THE JAMES. The crossing of the James. — Petersburg. — Gilmuore retires. — Kautz attacks. — Sijith's new assault. — The corps come up rapidly. — Butler moves forward. — The new assault on the city — Not successful. — Sheridan's expedition. — New movement of the army. — Against the Wkldon road. — Deep Bottom. — Wilson's raid. — Temporary rest SIG CHAPTER XXXIII. THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. Hunter's instructions. — He beats the enemy. — W. E. Jones killed. — Advance TO Lynchburg. — Retreats to the Kanawha. — What he accomplished. — In what he failed. — The route he should have taken 3G1 CHAPTER XXXIY. THE MIKE AT PETERSBURG. Grant's diversion. — The story of the mine. — Its position. — Lieutenant-Colonel Pleasants. — Description. — Excavated under difficulties. — Meade's order. — The fuse lighted.— Fails. — Gallant men relight it. — The delay. — The stormers move. — Ledlie, Willcox, and Potter. — Ferrero. — The crater. — The Codet of Inquiry 364 CHAPTER XXXV. THE REBEL ADVANCE ON WASHINGTON. Early moves down the Valley. — Grant sends up the Sixth and Ninetkenth- — Wallace moves. — Is defeated, but detains Early. — Destruction. — Wrioiit IN command. — Early retreats. — The Shenandoah Valley. — Grant visits Hunter. — Sheridan— Let loose. — Winchester 374 12 " CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXXYI. AROUND PETEESBTJRG. Adjustment op works.— Movement north op the James.— To the Wbldon road. —The cattle kaid. — Movement on both flanks. — Thk westwaisd movement. — Butler moves. — The Armt of the Potomac in motion.— The Dutch Gaf Canal. — Uregq at Stonet Creek.— Comparative rest 388 CHAPTER XXXVII. OTHER PARTS OF THE GREAT THEATRE. Sheuman. — Hood moves into Tennessee. — General Thomas. — General Hood. — Mobile. — I'rioe invades Missouri.- To Wytheville and Saltville 401 CHAPTER XXXYIII. FORT FISHER. The troops land. — The bombardment and assault. — Comments.— Wilmington falls 408 CHAPTER XXXIX. CONCENTRATION. Plans of Sherman. — March ; the strategic usher. — Fort Steadman. — Shbri- dan's grand march. — Sherman's visit. — The movement to the left 418 CHAPTER XL. THE TRUE "BEGINNINa OF THE END." Fight at Dinwiddie Courthouse. — Battle of Five Forks. — Defeat of the reb- els. — Consternation in Richmond. — Its evacuation by Lee. — Pursuit of thb fleeing army. — Sailor's Creek. — Pee's surrender. — Terms.— Sherman. — Other generals. — Sbckbtaet of war ad interim. — Nomination for the Preszdenct. ..433 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF SCHUYLER COLFAX. CHAPTER I. CHILDHOOD AND EARLY LIFE. Colfax's anoestry. — IIis liiBTii. — His school days. — Goes into a stork at tub age of ten YEARS. — UBMOVES TO INDIANA. — Is AOAIN CLEltK IN A STORE. — BECOMES DEPUTY COUNTY auditor. — Writes for the press 45T CHAPTER n. MANHOOD AND PUBLIC LIFE. Becomes editor of a nf-wspaper. — The dehatino club. — Goes to Congress. — IIis maiden bi'kech. — Is chosen Spkakek of the lIoiTSE. — Across TUB continent. — Is no.minated fob THE ViCE-PkESIDENOY. — HiS LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE 459 LIFE AND SERVICES OF GENERAL U. S. GRANT. CHAPTEE I. THE GKEAT WAR OPENS. Euffin's cannon. — Fort Sumter. — The effect on the masses.— The Nation must BE saved. — The attitude of the rebels. — Our own duty clear. — The rush to ARMS. — Our ignorance of war. — The want of every thing. — The education needed and eventually obtained. — Grant an apt scholar. From profound peace to civil war ! In an instant, with no premonitions that we conld regard, — so often had the threat been made, and the promise not made good, — the poetical toc- sin sounded historically for America in the first gun, fired with great joj and gratitude by the venerable Edmund Euffin,- of Virginia, against the devoted band of seventy patriot soldiers, whom, by a providential poHcy, and in spite of an effete ad- ministration, Major Robert Anderson had placed in Fort Sumter. This was a strong work of the United States, built with government money on government ' property, in Charles- ton harbor, for the occupation of which South Carohna, even after her unlawful secession, had not even the shadow of a State-rights' claim. Foul as was the deed, it was needed to awake the nation to its self-respect and self-preservation. The * " The first shot at Fort Sumter, from Stevens' Battery, was fired by the venerable Edmund RiiflSn, of Virginia." — New York Herald, April 13, 1861. 14 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. loyal masses rose at the sound. Men of all social gTades, all occupations, almost all shades of pohtics, felt that the crisis, long prophesied, but never fully expected, had indeed come ; and that the nation must now and at once awake, arise, or be forever fallen. Supine before, only anxious to avert the horrid scourge of a desolating civil war, many true patriots would have been held back by sentiments of humanity from proceed- ing to extremities with the rebellious States ; and had not the Sumter cowardice been perpetrated, we might still have been ruled by a Southern oligarchy, representing neither the best men nor the masses of the South, and we would have been subjected to the vaporings and hectorings with which South Carohna regaled the country for so manj; years, until the sub- version of our Government, undertaken in some other more prudent and poKtic manner, should have occurred. The gage of battle thus thrown down was the best thing for the United States Government. It placed the seceding Statesj by their own action, out of the pale of the constitution. They had said : " We ask no rights from you ; we declare the Union dissolved ; the constitution, for us, annulled ; we will maintain our own rights." It put us, too, in our true position, as men contending no longer for a dogma or a whim, but for the sal- vation of the country. Every true patriot, even though he had been a pro-slavery democrat, found now no longer South- ern friends to aid in what they considered the maintenance of their legal rights ; but Southern traitors an-d armed rebels to conquer, and either bring back to their allegiance, or de- stroy, root and branch, with all the causes and all the institu- tions' whence the treason and the rebelhon had sprung. Their armies were to be beaten, their territory retaken, their prop- erty confiscated, and fmally, if necessary, their slaves eman- cipated. This was, fi"om the first, the true and simple logic of the war ; and to this, as the alternative of victory, the rebels set their seal and subscription when the venerable Edmund Ruffin fired the first gun at Fort Sumter. Of course they ex- pected to succeed ; but failing of this, they had a right to ex- pect nothing less than what has happened. THE GREAT WAR OPENS. 15 The reverberation of Kuffin's cannon went rolling over the land. It leaped tlie Blue Eidge, screamed tlirougli its wild passes, traversed the valleys of tributary streams, and poured in unabated thunder-tones upon the banks of the Mississippi. Everywhere it roused the patriots to action. The country sprang to its feet. The whole nation, but yesterday a people of compromisers and deprecators of civil war, now flew to arms. Volunteering was the order of the day : the enthusiasm was unbounded. Old men, with spectacles, and in unsightly jackets, nearly killed themselves at nightly home-guard drills in academies of music, concert-rooms, and town-halls ; small boys formed light-infantry companies ; women made haver- sacks and havelocks — the latter of no earthly use except to awaken, or rather keep alive, a spirit of patriotic labor ; and men, in the bloom of youth and prime of manhood, flocked to the i>endezvous to take the field. It is true we did not know how to fight : we had no generals to lead us, except some old relics of our former wars. That fine old veteran. General Scott, had passed his seventieth year, and, fi'om the eflects of old wounds, was in no condition to take the field. Our army was but " the skeleton of the Forty- eighth," an army only in name ; our volunteers were willing, but entirely ignorant ; our regulars had not been drilled at brigade manoeuvres, and the officers knew little about them. In most cases, before the war, there were not sufficient troops at the garrison posts to drill at battahon manoeuvres. No one knew how extensive the theatre of war was to be : on what a scale the rebels had been preparing to carry it on : what we should need in the way of an army, of supplies and munitions of war. We were certain of one thing ; and that was, that we ,were deficient in every thing. Even the strategic features of the country — unlike those of Europe, where every httle rivulet and mountain-spur has been fought over, and has its military place in history — had^never been studied. Perhaps it was in- cident to this state of things that statesmen spoke oracularly of '•' no war," or " one effective blow," or " sixty days," for which to discount the struggle. But in spite of their predic- 16 GRANT AND HIS CALIPAIGNS. tions the storm grew apace, and, in tlio midst of obscurity, we blundered on in ignorant and absjard experiments. Speak but of a man who could aid us, suggest a hero, and the peoj^le turned to him with the blind worship of helpless fear. Not what he had done, but what he was going to do, made him il- lustrious : he was already a new incarnation of the god of war ; a second Napoleon come to battle. It is both needless and useless now to demonstrate how unjust this was to those thus bepraised, and what sore humiliation it was to bring upon the worshippers. But there was no calm judgment then ; the danger was imminent, the need urgent, the fear great. At last the lightning fell, and Bull Kun was followed by a horror of great darkness over the land, — the darkest hour before the dawn. The truth is, there was no man at that time in America who could grasp the colossal problem ; no man on either side. We were babes in military practice ; our armies and our generals needed education from the very elementary principles, and especially that education of disasters which Marmont declares to be the very best of all. The Grant of Belmont could not have fought the battle of Pittsburg Landing ; and it needed the practice of Yicksburg and Chattanooga to fit him for the terrible "Struggles of the campaign from the Kapidan. Months and years passed, and we became gradually euhglit- ened ; our troops became veterans, and our leaders, when the lists were carefully sifted, became generals. None are now invested with honors who have not fully earned them ; and we stand to-day at the open portals of that glorious peace which our defenders have achieved, ready to accord to them intelligent praise in proportion to their real merits. And thus we reach the life and history of General Grant, one of the many who rushed to the field when Ruffin's cannon sounded the alarm— a graduate of West Point, educated, indeed, as a subordinate officer, but not as a general ; to be educated as a general in and by the war. His career, beginning with the Sumter gun, is in itself an epitome of the war, and marks its grandest epoch, when armed rebellion threw down its weapons, THE GREAT WAR OPENS. 17 and the conntry, more by his power than by that of any other individual man, stood new-born, with a giant's strength, and, in the often quoted words of Curran, never elsewhere so appHcable, "redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation." 18 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CHAPTER n. CHILDHOOD AND CADET LIFE. Grain's lineage. — The new school of hooraphy. — His parentage and birth- place. — His name. — Stories of his y^stth. — Limited education. — Appointment TO THE Military Academy. — His scholarship. — Classmates. — Recollections or HIM WHILE A CADET. — ThE GERMS OF CHARACTER. — He GRADUATES. Grant's early history needs but little comment. It bears no important relation to his after career, although it is in no way disconsonant to it. Bom of respectable parents to the honorable sturdy life of the "West, he needs no exhibi- tion of long descent to inaugurate his history. If Napoleon could rebuke the genealogist who was creating for him a ped- igree, with the words, " Friend, my patent dates from Monte Notte," Grant may claim his American nobihty from Fort Donelson. On the one hand, all efforts to establish an aristocratic de- scent and a remarkable childliood for such a man are dis- honest and absurd ; and, on the other hand, all attempts to make his antecedents very humble and his childhood very hard, in order to exalt his after-life, are disgusting. The one is absurdly European, and the other belongs to the "new American school of biogi-aphy," the tendency of which is to make boys desjoise their fathers, that they may the more thor- oughly respect themselves.* "We may, however, place on record what is truthfully known of his family and childhood, being sure that there is noth- * See an excellent article, by Oail Hamilton, in " Skirmishes and Sketches," in which, with the vindictiveness of Herod, she slaughters the "Bobbin Boys," " Ferry Boys," " Errand Boys," " Tanner Boys," etc., etc. Let us hope sho has killed all the " innocents." CHILDHOOD AND CADET LIFE. 19 ing in Grant's past upon wliicli he does not look witli lionest pride. It is not without interest, moreover, in such a biography to know that he comes of a good fighting stock. His great- grandfather was a captain, and his grandfather a soldier in our earlier wars. The former was killed at the battle of White Plains in 1756, and the latter did good service in the Kevo- lution. Jesse R. Grant, his father, was born in Westmoreland Co., Penn., in 1794. In 1805, his father died, and Jesse, then an orphan of eleven years, was apprenticed to a tanner. We need not trace the wanderings of Jesse Grant, with his mother and family, from Pennsylvania to Maysville, in Kentucky, then to Ravenna, thence to Ohio. The country was in a dis- ordered state by reason of British intrigue with Indian bar- barity ; in many parts the climate was unhealthy, and so we *find him, after many changes to better his lot, residing at Point Pleasant, Clermont County, Ohio. Grant's mother was Hannah Simpson, the daughter of John Simpson. She was born in Montgomery County, Pennsyl- vania ; but removed with her father and family to Clermont County, Ohio, in 1818, where, in June, 1821, she married Jesse R. Grant. Ten months after, on the twenty-seventh of April, 1822, their first child, known to the world as Ulysses Simpson Geant,* was born in a small one-story cottage, still standing on the banks of the Ohio, commanding a view of the river and of the Kentucky shore. From what we know of Grant's parents^the probity, energy, and hard labor of his father ; the consistent Christian charac- ter, kind heart, and devotion to her family displayed by his excellent mother — we have another beautiful illustration of the moral heritage of children, and another proof that God shows mercy and gives great reward to them that love Him, to many generations. * His father tells us that his name was Hiram Ulysses, but that his cadet warrant was made out for Ulysses Sidney; that he accepted the name while at West Point, only changing it to Ulysses Simpson, in honor of his mother, when he graduated. 20 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. Many stories are tolJ, of course, exhibiting tlie sturdy cliaracter of young Grant, and liis resources under difficulties, but none betokening, in a remarkable degree, the character of his future career. It is said that, upon proper occasion, he could be pugnacious ; that he was not outwitted in a bargain ; and that he contrived means of overcoming difficulties which would have checked other bo3's. In the same way, the biographers of Napoleon have found the types of his after-life in his lording it over his elder brother Joseph, and in his bravery in attacking snow forts. Grant was sturdy, strong, and cool, as many other boys are , but up to the time of his first entering into service, no events or actions of his life were the heralds of his present greatness. The qualities undoubtedly were there, but latent ; and of what has evoked them in most men, ambition, he seems to have none. The education of the boy was quite hmited, like that of most Western boys in moderate circumstances. There was hard work to do, in which the son must help the father, and so it was only in the midwinter months that he could attend the ^dllage school. What he learned, however, he learned well ; and he acquired with the elements of knowledge, not only a basis, but, what is of far more importance, an ardent desu-e for a full education. By the time Grant was seventeen, West Point had acquu-ed great fame throughout the country ; it was known by its fruits ; its eleves were gentlemen of high education and noble bearing. In civic Hfe they were eagerly sought after to take the lead in railway engineering and industrial pm-suits. They were the chief men in all militia organizations ; indeed, the mihtary • knowledge of the country was almost as much confined to them as the esoteric meaning of tlie Egjq^tian mysteries had formerly been to the priests. It was also known that there a boy, with- out the necessary means, could obtain the best education which the country could afford, not gi-atuitously, but more than that — he would be paid for learning, trained and main- tained as a gentleman, and would receive at the last a high, CHILDBOOD AND CADET LIFE. 21 self-sustaining position — a commission in the army. To sucli a youth as Grant, it offered a splendid chance ; and so appli- cation was made to the Honorable Thomias L. Hamer, of Grant's congressional district, who gave him the appoint- ment. Thus, with a good basis of hard, self-reliant, and eager boyhood, he was admitted to the preHminary examination, and entered the Mihtary Academy on the first of July, 1839.* Such are the details, which would have had no importance whatever had it not been for subsequent events. Even a step further we may follow him without any tempta- tion to worship the incipient hero. His scholarship at West Point was respectable, and no more. He went through the entii'e course, hke his classmates, no cadet being allowed any option.t From September to June, the cadets are in barracks, studying, riding, and fencing in the riding-hall, and, in fine weather, drilling in the afternoons at infantry : from June to September, they encamp upon the plain, and their time is entirely employed in drills of every kind, guard duty, pyro- techny, and practical engineering. - In his cadet studies. Grant had something to contend with, in the fact of his own lack of early preparation, and the superior preparation of most of his competitors, who had been over a part of the course before they entered. Among these were William B. Franklin, who stood at the head of the class ; Roswell S. Ripley, not famous for his " History of the Mexi- can War" (written in the interest of General Pillow, and to injure General Scott), but quite infamous for firing with great rapidity upon the burning Sumter, which the devoted garrison were trying to extinguish ; Rufus Ingalls, the excellent quarter- master-general of the Army of the Potomac ; Joseph J. Rey- nolds, late commander in Arkansas ; Christopher 0. Augur, long m command at Washington ; the rebel General Franklin Gardner, who surrendered Port Hudson to Banks when Grant * The preliminary examination is extremely simple — reading, spelling, writing, and arithmetic through decimal fractions. f In our day, it was only the first section of each class who learned some- thing more than was required of the rest. J. 22 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. had taken Vicksburg ; and others, to whom we design no dis- credit by not mentioning them.. Thirty-nine of the one hmi- di-ed and more who had been appointed in 1839, graduated in 1843. Grant stood in the middle of the class, twenty-first on the list. The honor of being his comrade for two years at the Acad- emy enables me to speak more intelligently, perhaps, than those of " the new school," who have invented the most ab- sm-b stories to illustrate his cadet-life. I remember him as a plain, common-sense, straight-forward youth; quiet, calm, thoughtful, and unaggressive ; shunning notoriety ; quite con- tented, while others were grumbling ; taking to his military duties in a very business-hke manner ; not a prominent man in the corps, but respected by all, and very popular with his friends. His sobriquet of JJnde Sam was given to him there, where every good-fellow has a nickname, from these very quahties ; indeed, he was a very uncle-like sort of a youth. He was then and always an excellent horseman, and his picture rises before me as I write, in the old torn coat,* obso- lescent leather gig-top, loose riding pantaloons, with spurs buckled over them, going with his clanking sabre to the drill- hall. He exhibited but httle enthusiasm in any thing : his best standing was in the mathematical branches, and their application to tactics and mihtary engineering. If we again dwell upon the fact that no one, even of his most intimate friends, dreamed of a great future for him, it is to add that, looking back now, we must confess that the possession of many excellent quahties, and the entire absence of all low and mean ones, establish a logical sequence from first to last, and illustrate, in a novel manner, the poet's fancy about — " The baby figures of the giant mass Of things to come at large," * Eiding-jackets, if we remember rightly, had not then been issued, and the cadets always wore their seediest rig into the sweat and dust of the riding drill. CHILDHOOD AND CADET LIFE. 25 the germs of those quahties which are found in besxititul tjom- bination in Wordsworth's " Happy Warrior :" 4 " The generous spirit who, when brought Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought Upon the plan that pleased his infant thought. y And at this point of view, as we find the Western boy, after the compacting, instructing, developing processes of Y/est Point, coming forth a man, ready for the stern realities of American life, we may pause to point him out to our American youth as an example henceforth to be followed ; then, as now, a character which, in the words of a friend, "betrayed no trust, falsified no word, violated no rights, manifested no tyranny, sought no personal aggrandizement, complained of no hardship, displayed no jealousy, oppressed no subordinate ; but, in whatever sphere, protected every interest, upheld his flag, atnd was ever known by his humanity, sagacity, courage, and honor." What more can be claimed for any young man ? What for the greatest of captains ? He left West Point as brevet second-li,eutenant in the Fourth Infantry ; and with his army life we begin another chapter in his history. 24 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CHAPTEE III. AEiTY LITE AND RETIREMENT FROM SERVICE. EnEVET SECOND-LIEUTEN'AIfT FoURTU InFANTRT. — GoES TO CoRPOS ChKISTI. — At Palo Alto and Eesaca de la Palma. — At Monterey. — At Vera Cruz. — Eeox- MENTAL quartermaster. — FlQHTS AT MoLINO AND ChAPULTEPEC. — MENTIONED IN REPORTS AND BREVETTED CAPTAIN. — At CLOSE OF WAR SENT TO THE NORTHERN FRONTIER. — SIaRRIES. — OfF TO OREGON. — HaRD WORK. — LeATHEE-DEALER. On the 1st of July, 1843, Grant began liis army service as brevet second-lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry. The expla- nation of this is, that there being no vacancy in the infantry arm, all graduated cadets are thus attached, in the order of merit, to regiments, as supernumerary officers, each to av/ait a vacancy in his turn. The regiment was then at Jefferson Barracks, near St. Louis, Missouri ; but, m the summer of 1844, it was removed to Natchitoches, Louisiana, and as the Mexican plot thickened, in 1845, it was sent to Corpus Christi, to watch the Mexican army then concentrating upon the frontier. Grant was made a full second-heutenant in the Seventh Kegiment, on the 30th of September, 1845. But h ? •had formed an attachment for the Fourth, and applied to re- main in it : this was granted by the War Department. He was fortunate enough to be at Palo Alto and Eesaca, May 6 and 7, 1846 — the trial fights of the American army against a civilized enemy, after thirty years of jieace ; and he participatecj in the bloody battle of Monterey, September 23, 1846. His. regiment was soon after called away from General Taylor's command, to join General Scott in his splendid campaign from Vera Cniz to Mexico, two hundred and seventy-two miles in the heart of the enemy's country. He was at the siege and captui'e of Vera Cruz, March 29, 1847 ; and on April 1, pre- paratory to the advance, he was appointed regimental quarter- ARMY LIFE AND RETIREMENT FROM SERVICE. 25 master, a post which he held during the remainder of the war. It is a position requiring system and patience, and drawing a small additional pay ; it is usually conferred upon some sohd, energetic, painstaking officer, not necessarily one remarkable for dash and valor. Being in charge of the regimental equipage and trains, the quartermaster may, without impro- priety, remain with these during actual battle, as we have kno^vn many to do. It is therefore recorded, as greatly to the praise of Grant, that he always joined his regiment in battle, and shared their fighting. At Molino del Eey, Septem- ber 8, 1847, he was distinguished, and was brevetted first- lieutenant for his services. This brevet, however, owing to the fact of his becoming a full first-lieutenant by the casualties of that battle, he declined. At Chapultepec, September 13, 1847, Grant joined, with a few of his men, some detachments of the Second Artillery, under Captain Horace Brooks, in an attack on the enemy's breastworks, seryed a mountain howit- zer and hastened the enemy's retreat, and " acquitted himself most nobly under the observation" of his regimental, brigade, and division commanders.* For this action Grant received the brevet of captain for " gallant and meritorious conduct," awarded in 1849, but not confirmed until 1850. His first-lieutenancy dated from September 16, 1847. It must not be supposed that these services during the Mexican war are now dressed up to assimilate with his after-career. He was really distinguished in that war above most of those of his own rank.f * See General Worth's, Lieutenant-Colonel Garland's, and Major Francis Lee's reports of that battle. f During our residence at the capital I heard a "horse-story" about Grant, which has not appeared in the books, but Avhich is, at least, true. He was an admirable horseman, and had a very spirited horse. A ]\Iexican gentleman, with whom he was upon friendly terms, asked the loan of his horse. Grant said afterwards, " I was afraid he could not ride him, and yet I knew if I said a word to that effect, the suspicious Spanish nature would think I did not wish to lend him." The result was, that the INIexican mounted him, was thrown before he had gone two blocks, and killed on the spot. 26 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. Upon the close of the war by the treaty promulgated in April, 1848, the Fourth Infantry was sent first to New York; and then to the Northern frontier, and for some time Grant served in the command of his company, first at Detroit, and then at Sackett's Harbor. In August, 1848, he married Miss Dent, sister of his class- mate, Frederick J. Dent, who resided in St. Louis. Incident to the acquisition of California and the wonderfu/ discoveries of gold, troops were more necessary on our "West- ern coast than elsewhere, to protect the emigrants and the new Pacific settlements from the depredations of the Indians. The Fourth Infantry was therefore ordered to Oregon, in the autumn of 1851, and one battalion, with whicH brevet Captain Grant was serving, was ordered to Fort Dallas, where he saw some service against the Indians. Aiter a two years' absence from his family, and with but little prospect of promotion in those " dull and piping times of peace," Grant having been promoted to a full captaincy in August, 1853, resigned his commission in July 31, 1854, and set forth to commence life anew as a citizen. That he tried many shifts does not betoken a fickle or volatile nature, but simply the invention which is born of necessity. As a small farmer, near St. Louis, and a dealer in wood, he made a pre- carious li^dng : as a money collector he did no more, ha^dng neither the nature to bully nor the meanness to wheedle the debtors. He could not " Crook the pregnant hinges of the knee. That thrift may follow fawning."' He is said also to have played the auctioneer ; but in this branch, unless he made longer speeches than he has since done, he could achieve no success. In 1860 he entered into partnership with liis father, who had been prosperous in the ta»nning business, in a new leather and saddlery store in Galena, Illinois. Here, in a place which had a growing trade with Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minnesota, ARMY LIFE AND RETIREMENT FROM SERVICE. 27 tlie industry, good sense, and honesty of Grant did at length achieve a certain and honorable success, and, had the rebellion not broken out, he would have had a local reputation in the firm of Jesse E. Grant, as an admirable judge of leather, per- harts mayor of Galena, with a thoroughly well-mended sidewalk, visited always with pleasure by his old army friends travelHng westward, but never heard of by the pubhc. His greatest success had been achieved in the army ; his Mexican expe- rience gave ghmpses of a future in that line ; he needed only opportunity, and he was to have it abundantly. Here, then, we mark a new epoch in his hfe — a sudden plunge, unex- pected and unheralded — • " The torrent's smootkaess ere it dash below." 28 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CH1\PTEK IV. BELMONT. Effect of the news ok Grant. — A Democrat before the war. — An unqual- ified WAR-MAjj NOW. — Raises a company. — Does good service as muster- ing officer. — Colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois. — :Marciies. — Acting brigadier at Cairo. — The value of Cairo. — The rebel strategy. — Expe- dition TO Belmont. — %'remont's orders. — Polk at Columbus. — The b.a.ttle. — Success. — Enemy ke-unforced. — Grant withdraws. — Comments. It may be easily conceived how the treachery of Southern leaders, the secession of South Carolina, and the bombard- ment of Fort Sumter affected Grant. A decided Democrat before the war, he had, in his limited sphere, been in favor of conceding to the South all its rights, perhaps more ; but when the struggle actually began, his patriotism and military ardor were aroused together. As a patriot, he was determined to support his Government and uphold his flag ; and as a soldier, he saw opening before him a career of distinction for which he had been educated, and in which be had already, in some degree distinguished himself. In April he helped to raise a company in his. own neighborhood, and, in May, repaired to Springfield, and tendered his services to Governor Yates, to whom he had been recommended by a member of Congress from his State. It was not long before the governor made use of Grant's experience in organizing the State troops. He was appointed a mustermg-officer of the State, and pro- ceeded to the difficult task of mustering the three-months' men, which, amidst much confusion, he accomplished by his indefatigable energy. While on a brief visit to his father, at Covington, Kentucky, Grant received a commission from the governor as colonel of the Twenty-first Illinois Volunteers, th]-ee-months' men. They subsequently enlisted, owing to BELMONT. 29 their confidence in liim, one thousand stiong, for three years' service. Grant's first concern was to drill and discij^line his regiment, which soon became marked for its excellent order. He took command of the regiment at Springfield, Illinois, and superintended their drill ; and, not long after, ho marched them, in default of raih-oad transportation, one hundred and twenty miles, to Quiricy, on the Mississippi, which was sup- posed to be in danger. Thence he moved, under orders, to defend the line of the Hannibal and Hudson E-aihoad, from Hannibal and Quincy, on the Mississippi, to St. Joseph ; and here coming into contact with other regiments, his mihtary knowledge and experience pointed to him, although the youngest colonel, as the commander of the combuaed forces. As acting brigadier-general of this force, his headquarters, on the 31st of July, 18G1, were at Mexico, Missouri. We need not detail the marches of Grant's regiments in the " District of Noi^thern Missouri" — as General Pope's command was called — to Pilot Xnob, and Ironton, and Jefferson City, to de- fend the river against the projected attacks of Jeff. Thomp- son. In August he received his commission as brigadier- ^•eneral of volunteers, to date fi'om May 17. He was seven- teenth in a list of thirty-four original appointments of that date. He was ordered to proceed to Cairo, and there, wdth two brigades, he took command of the important strategic temtory entitled " The District of Southeast Missouri," in- cluding both banks of the Mississippi Ptiver, from Cape Ghar- deau to New Madiid, and on the Ohio it included the whole of "Western Kentucky. A glance at the map discloses the strategic importance of Cairo, as a base of operations for a southern advance, and of vital importance in the line of de- fence for the extensive and rich country lying between the Ohio and the Mississippi. It is especially valuable for river expeditions, the transportation of supphes, and the equipment of a gunboat fleet. The parallel flow of the Tennessee and CumberlfJnd northward into .the Ohio also includes a most important portion of West Kentucky, which Grant saw at a . glance was to become the scene of immediate hostilities. 30 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIQNS. Grant was now in his element ; lie not only accomplished with alacrity what he was ordered to do, but he made work for his troops. He at once displp^yed that energy which he has never abated for an instant during the war. The attempted and absurd neutrahty of Kentucky was one- sided ; it was to keep* Union troops away and let rebels attack.* The latter were not slow in availing themselves of this privilege. Seizing, first Hickman, and then Columbus and Bowling Green, and fortifying the Tennessee at Fort Henry, and the Cumberland at Fort Donelson, they estab- Hshed a first strong hne fi'om the Mississippi to Yu'ginia in the "neutral" State of Kentucky.f Grant followed their lead, and, on the 6th of September, with a strong force, oc- cupied Paducah, where the Tennessee empties into the Ohio, much to the chagrin of the secessionists there, who were anxiously awaiting the arrival of a large rebel force. In the same manner he occupied Smithland, near the mouth of the Cumberland, and thus made two vital moves in the game in which he was to cry checkmate at Fort Donelson. These points were also valuable to the rebels as gateways of sup- lilies. From the places now occupied. Grant at once busied himself in making numerous reconnoissances in every direc- tion, until at length he was ready to try his " 'jprentice hand" upon the rebels. Wlaen all was ready, he moved down the river to Belmont, opposite Columbus, and there the first battle took place. The origin of that movement may be thus briefly stated. General Fremont, under date November 1, 18G1, directed Grant to make demonstrations " along both sides of the river * And yet this neutrality was reproached by the rebels. See Pollard's " First Year of tlie War," p. 183. f On t])o 5th of September, Grant informed Fremont by telegram that the rebels liad inviuled the Stsite, and that lie "vvas " nearly ready for Paducah, should not a telegram arrive ])reventing the movement." Eeceiving no Avord from Fremont, he left Cairo on the night* of the 5th, and oocuiued Paducah Oii the morning of the Gtb. On the same day he published a clear, patriotic, and liuniiinc proclamation to the citizens. BELMONT. 31 lOTvai3s Cliarle&ton, Norfolk, and Blanclville." On the 2d, lie was tlius iiiiormed by Fremont : " Jeff. Thompson is at In- dian' s Ford of xhe St. Frangois Eiver, twenty-five miles below Greenville, with about three thousand men. Colonel Carlin has started with a force from Pilot Knob. Send a force fi'om Cape Girardeau and Bird's Point to assist Carlin in driving Thompson into Arkansas." Incident to these instructions. Grant sent Oglesb}^, on the 3d, with the Eighth Illinois, four companies of the Eleventh Illinois, the whole of the Eighteenth and Twenty-ninth, and three companies of cavahy, to go to Commerce, Missouri, thence to Sikeston, and pursue Jeff. Thompson (in conjunction with a force fi'om Ironton). On clie 5th he was informed that Polk was re-enforcing Price's army from Columbus. In this compHcation of circumstances he determined to threaten Columbus and attack Belmont. Oglesby was deflected to New Madiid, and Colonel "W. H. L. WallgLce sent to re-enforce him. The object of the attack then was to cut off the rebt^l line in Kentucky from Price's forces in Missouri, and also lo Keep Polk from interfering with the detachments Grant had sent oat in pursuit of Jeff. Thompson. Grant directed General C. I . Smitn to make a demonstration upon Columbus from Paducah, and then himself sent down a small force on the Kentucky side lo Elhcott's Mills, about twelve miles from Columbus. Havin^^ taken these precau- tions to deceive the enemy, he embarked his expeditionary force at Caii'o on the 6th of November — thj.ce thousand one hundred -and foiu'teen men,* chiefly Illinois /volunteers, with the Seventh Iowa, upon four boats, convoyed bj ihe gunboats Lexington, Captain Stembel, and Tyler, Captain Walker, the gTinboats in advance. Moving with due caution, th^^y reached Island No. 1, eleven miles above Columbus, that night, and hi}^ against the Kentucky shore. It was then he he.ird that Polk was crossing troops to Belmont to cut off Oglesb/, The * McClernand's brigade (Twenty -seventh, Thirtietli, Thirty-first Illii ois) witli cavalry. Dougherty's brigade (Twenty-second Illiuois, Seventh leva).- Grant's lieriscd Beport, June 26, 18G5. 3'2 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. next morning he moved to Hunter's Point, three miles above Belmont, on the Missouri shore, where his troops were landed and formed into column of attack. The rebel forces at Columbus were commanded by Major- General Leonidas Pollc, a bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church, the purity of whose lawn is forever stained with blood di-a"WT3 by carnal weapons ; a weak but brave man, but one whose West Point education was at least worth somethmg to the rebel cause. Polk had posted a small force on the right bank, to heep open his communications ; and, as soon as he had v,dnd of Grant's movement, and Smith's demonstration to Maysfield, ho expected an attack on Columbus, or at least in Kentucky. Indeed, until the close of the engagement, he apj)rehended an attack in his rear. Grant's movement took him somewhat by surprise. From the point of debarkation, one battalion having been left as a reserve near the transports, the troops were marched by flank towards Belmont, and drawn up in line, of battle two miles from Belmont. Skirmishers were then thrown forward, who soon encountered Colonel Tappan's rebel force, consisting of throe regiments, re-enforced by Pillow with three more, and the general engagement took place. Deploying his entire force as skirmishers, Grant drove the enemy back, fighting from tree to tree, for about two miles, until he reached the intrenched camp protected by slashed timber as an abatis. Li rear of this, opposing our left, were the Thirteenth Arkansas and the Ninth Tennessee ; and on the right was Beltzhoover's battery of seven guns and Colonel Wright's i?egiment. This did not check our impetuous advance. Charging over ihe obstacle with great ardor, our men drove the enemy to the river-bank, and many of them into their transports, and we were in posses- sion of every thing.* But as Belmont is on low ground, en- * The rebel excuse is, that they were out of ammunition ; good, but not new. Pollard says : " In this movement Pillow's line was more or less broken, and liis corps mingled together, so that when they reached the river-bank they Lad the appearance of a mass of men, rather than an organized corps." — First Ycrir, p. 201. BELMONT. 33 tirely commanded by tlie girns from Columbus, it was manifest tliat " tlie ground thus gained could not be lield, and therefore Grant fired the encampment, burning tents, blankets, and stores, and began his return movement with captured artillery, prisoners, and horses. But the end of our success on the field had been attained. Major-General Polk, who was now quite ahye to the situation, directed his heaviest guns fi'om Colum- bus upon our troops. He had akeady sent over three'^ I'egi- ments in one body, under General Pillow ; these were sup- ported by three others, under General Cheatham, which' landed some distance above, between our soldiers and the boats. Further to crush Grant's small force, the bishop, al- though sadly afraid of an attack on his rear at Columbus, took over two additional regiments in person to aid Pillow's panic- stricken force. But by this time Grant was in retreat to his boats, and only faced to the right and rear to punish Cheat- ham's flankers, and a portion of Pillow's rmder Colonel Marks, who had marched up the river -bank, and endeavored to prevent his return to the boats. In that retreat we suffered very severely, our troops being hard pressed by overpowering numbers. One battaUon had been posted in the morning to guard the transports.- In the hurried retreat, Grant went back with one officer to withdraw it, and was almost cap- tured. At the last moment he rode his horse upon a plank placed from the boat to the shore. At five in the afternoon Grant's force had re-embarked, and were on their way to Cairo, while the rebels were checked by the fire of our gun- boats. "We had left two caissons, but had brought off two of the enemy's guns. We had eighty-five kiUed, three hun- dred and one (many sKghtly). wounded, and about ninety-nine missing. The Confederate loss was six hundred and forty- two.t Both i3arties claimed a victory, but on the recovery of the field and the pursuit of our^retiring columns the rebels base their claims to a success, which we need not dispute. * Pollard says four regiments, but we give the rebels the benefit of clergy, as the bishop^says three. f Pollard, " First Year of the War." 34 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. Although, in comparison with subsequent engagements, Bel- mont seems a small affair, it has an importance pecuharly its own. I. It was a coup cTessai of our new general. While others of his rank were playing quite subordiaate parts in largo armies. Grant was making an indej)endent expedition in com- mand, outwitting the enemy, l^urning his camp, retreating successfully when overpowered, and efiectiag his purpose in a most soldierly manner. II. Again, it. was a trial of our new troops in the "West, and they acquitted themselves so as to ehcit the heai-ty praise of their commander and the country. They fought well in the attack, fi'om colonels to privates,'^' in the retreat, and in cutting their way through Cheatham's force, and were never for a moment discouraged. III. The objects of the expedition, — to prevent the enemy from sending a force to Missouri to cut off our detachments which were pressing Thompson, and to prevent his re-enforciiig Price, — were fully accomphshed. Grant had given him a blow which kept him concentrated, lest another might soon follow. IV. It demonstrated the weakness of the enemy. It led to the \dctories of Forts Henry and Donelson, and the piercing of the rebels' line, which threw it back almost upon the Gulf. Of the personal prowess of General Grant, as evinced in this battle, it is now needless to speak ; it was of the highest order. He, as weU as General McClernand, had a horse shot under him, and amid the crashing projectiles of heavy guns fi'om Columbus and Belmont, and the fatal storm of musketry, " the gallant conduct of his troops was stimulated by his j)resence and inspired by his example."t . * In a letter to liis father (November 8tli) Grant says, " I can say with grati- fication, tliat every colonel, without a single exception, set an example to their ccmmands," etc. f General McClernand's " Official Report." McQernand had tliree horses ehot under him. Nt.TK. — June 20, 18C5, General Grant submitted to tlie Secretary of War a IroBli rtJixirt, to»take the place of the old one. FORT HENRY. 35 CHAPTER Y. FOET HENEY. IIalleck's Department of Missouki. — Grant's EECONTfoissANCE into Kentucky. — Its value. — Map oe field of operations.— Columbus, the Gibraltar op America. — Rebel line. — Forts Henry and Donelson. — Foote's flotilla. — C. F. Smith and Phelps reconnoitre Fort Henry. — Grant receives permis- sion TO attack. — The foet described. — ^Lloyd Tilghman in command. — ■ Grant's orders of march and battle. — The naval attack. — The surrender. — Comments on rebel defeat. — On to Donelson. — Tribute to Commodore FOOTE. The " District of Cairo," to tlie command of wliicli General Grant had been assigned, began now to assume more impor- tance, as tlie immediate field of war in the West blazed from new points almost daily, and the thunder-bursts were answered by echoing guns all over the country. On the 12th of Novem- ber, 1861, General Henry Wager HaUeck, of the regular army, and second on the hst of major-generals, was sent to take command of the " Department of Missouri." He had formerly been an officer of engineers in our army, but had been for some time out of service, as a successful lawyer in San Fran- cisco. He was well known as a diligent military stude^it, and as a writer upon the military art. His department included the States of Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas,* and that portion of Kentucky west of the Cumber- land Biver. This territory he at once divided into districts. Of this department, the District of Cairo was the most im- portant part ; and it was on the 20th of December enlarged, so as to include, all the southern part of Illinois, all that part of Kentucky west of the Cumberland Eiver, and the southern counties of Missouri south of Caj)e Girardeau. Confirmed in this large command. General Grant at once began to organize, 36 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. under the direction of General Halleck, for a new movement, Cairo was the point of departure, rather than a point cVajypui. Grant posted his troops at numerous prominent points for defence, for convenience of suppHes, and for facilities of re- connoissance, and also to deceive the enemy temporarily, with reference to his strength. On the lOtli of January he sent General McClernand, with an expeditionary force of five thousand Illinois Yolunteers, to penetrate into the interior of Kentucky, in the neighborhood of Columbus, and towards Mayfield and Camp Beauregard. This reconnoissance into Kentucky was made by order of Major-General Halleck, and, as it is beheved, at the request of General Buell, with a view to prevent the enemy, who had established his hue, from detaching forces from Columbus and the adjacent country to re-enforce the garrisons of Bowling. Green, against which General Buell was then preparing to move. To aid McClernand, General Grant sent down detached regiments from time to time to join him ; and, on the 14th, he sent the entire divisions of Generals Payne and C. F. Smith to act in concert with him. General Payne 'moved from Bird's Point, with the column from Cairo, and then, holding Fort Jefferson with a portion cjf his command, supported McClernand in the reconnois- sance. General Smith moved from Smithland : Grant him- self accompanied the column from Cairo. The weather was cold, the roads slij)pery and muddy, and the river filled wath floating ice. McClernand occupied Fort Jefferson, marched through BlandviUe, and to within the dis- tance of a mile from the defences of Columbus. He was recalled on the 20tli, havbig discovered new roads and obtained much valuable information for a future advance in force. Indeed, the results of this rapid and vigorous movement, especially so far as the column from Cairo was concerned, was a minute acquaintance witli tlie roads, streams, and general topography of the country, which would have been of incalculable value had we been compelled to operate directly against Columbus. Two of our gunboats had gone down the river at the same FORT HENRY. 37 time, and driven three rebel armed vessels back under tlie shelter of the guns of Columbus. Before q^ttempting to present the succeeding movements, based upon the information obtained from this and other re- connoissances, let us glance for a moment at*ihe rebel position. Com OPEEATIONS IX ■WESTEESf KEN^TTJCKY. Columbus, twenty miles below the mouth of the Ohio, with its bluffs two hundred feet high, was strongly fortified by heavy batteries which swej)t the Mississippi above and below. The landward defences, at first weak, were being daily strengthened ; and the rebel press, calling it the Gibraltar of America, declared that it would seal the gTeat river, until all nations should acknowiedge the independence of the Southern Confederacy. To extend their line eastward, covering Nashville in that direction, they had, beginning in August, 1861, fortified Bowling Green, a small place on the Big Barreirf Kiver, but naturally well adapted to defence, and of strategic importance as being on the Louis\'ille and Nashville Railroad. The Big Barren Biver is at certain seasons navigable for small vessel:-, by the Ohio and Green rivers, from Louisville. The river is very winding in its vicinity, and in all the bends are steep hills 38 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. Avliicli were crowned with lunettes, redans, and even bastioned works. Important lines in the strategic problem were the Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, flowing in a northerly direction, with nearl}^ parallel currents through Kentucky, into the Ohio. The Tennessee is naAdgable at high-water for steamboats to Flor- ence, at the foot of Muscle Shoals ; and the Cumberland, on the right bank of which Nashville is situated, is navigable during high-water for large steamboats to Nashville, about two hundred miles from its mouth, and for small steamers i nearly three hundred miles further. i To bar the navigation of these streams against the passage of Union troops, supplies, and gunboats, into the very vitals of the rebellion, thus cutting it in two places, the rebels had erected two strong works, which they boasted to be quite sufficient for this purpose. The one on the eastern bank of the Tennessee was called Fort Henry : it mounted seventeen guns, and had barracks and tents for fifteen thousand men ; and the other, named Fort Donelson, was erected on the western bank of the Cumberland, and mounted about forty guns. These forts also served immediately to guard the railroads from Memphis to Nashville and Bov/iing Green, and the small branch railroad to Dover. The distance between Forts Henry and Donelson was twelve miles : a good road and telegraph line connected the two. "^ Thus an apparently strong, and a certainly well-chosen line, was formed, extending from the Mississippi at Belmont and Columbus, through Southern Kentucky and Northern Ten- nessee to Cumberland Gap, and thence onward by East Ten- , nessee and Southwestern Vii'ginia to the rebel positions around and beyond Richmond ; and to strengthen this line, ail troops that could be spared from Virginia had been sent by the Confederate government. But the old axiom, that " nothing is stronger than its ' weakest point," was here verified. To break this vaunted lino ; to make stronghold after stronghold crumble or dis- solve, and to lay down the gi'and equations for the solution of ' FORT HENRY. 39 future problems of a higher degi-ee — tlie clearing of the Mississippi and the advance from Chattanooga — these were the plans of our Government ; and among the intelligent any energetic agents in carrying them out, none was more so than General Grant. "We cannot read his history from first to last without being struck with the manifest foresight he has dis- played. He goes on from action to action, in logical connec- tion, as though each was only a means to an end, the end becoming a new means, imtil the final goal should be reached. During the autumn and early winter, numerous gunboats had been built, and many river-boats altered into gunboats, at Cairo, St. Louis, and numerous river-towns, by citizens and quartermasters, under the general superintendence of Com- modore A. H. Foote, of the navy ; and a number of these were now in ireadiness to co-operate with the army in its advance by the rivers into Southern territory. To man them, volun- teers were called for among the river-hands and sea-faring men who had entered the army, and they responded readily : it was, for a time at least, a popular service, and one that the sequel proved to be full of the most romantic adventures. Let us now return for a moment to consider the movements of the reconnoitring column of Geneijal Grant's army which moved from Paducah. These were also of the greatest impor- tance. Upon his return, in accordance with Grant's orders, General C. P. Smith struck the Tennessee Eiver about twenty miles below Fort Hemy. There he met Commander Phelps, of the navy, with a gunboat, patroling the river. After a brief con- ference with that energetic officer. General Smith decided to get upon the gunboat, and run up for a look at Fort Henry. . The boat steamed up sufficiently near to draw the enemy's fire, and present a just idea of the armament of the work. Smith returned at once, and reported to General Grant his conviction that, with three or four of " the turtle iron-clads" and a strong co-operating land force. Fort Henry might be easily captured, if the attack should be made within a short time. It was about the 15th of January that Grant for- 40 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. warded tliis report to Halleck. No action liaYing been at once taken, General Grant and Flag-Officer Foote sent dis- patches, on the 28th of January, asking for permission to storm Fort Henry, and hold it as a strong point from which to operate in any direction. Time was valuable. General Grant vvTote an urgent letter to Halleck (dated Cairo, January 29th), still further explaining his disj)atches, and setting forth the feasibility and the great importance of this movement. At length the desired order came. On the 30th, in the afternoon, Grant received a dispatch from Halleck directing him to make preparations without delay to take and hold Fort Henry, and promising that full instructions should be sent by messenger. iToodenBoatsI g g f V,^ FOET HENRY. Without for an instant proposing to say that Halleck had not blocked out these movements in liis own mind, we do say that the plans of General Grant, based upon the energetic action of his subordinates, and especially of C. F. Smith, were formed and suggested to Halleck in entire ignorance of the plans of General Halleck. From the concentration of troops in Grant's command it was e\ddent tliat Halleck intended a vigorous move in sonic direction, but Grant's title to the actual plan of movement is at least as good as that, of either General Halleck or General Buell. All preparations having been made, the first point of attack designated was Fort Henry. It was an irregular field-work. It FORT HENRY. ' 41 th five bastions, on the eastern bank of the Tennessee, le embrasures were revetted with sand-bags ; and its arma- nt, a large portion of which swept the river below, com- ised qne sixty-two pounder, one ten-inch columbiad, twelve rty-twos, two forty-twos, and one twelve-pounder. Twelve the guns bore upon the river. Both above and below the fort were creeks, defended by ie-pits and abatis of slashed timber, and around it was i/^ampy land with a sheet of back-water in the rear. The nd app'roaches are difficult, and across the river, which is fere about half a mile wide, was an unfinished work, begun o late, and therefore abandoned, but originally designed to d Fort Henry in stopping the passage of the river. Pan- le'r Creek, a short distance below the fort, falls into the Ten- essee just abreast of Panther Island. The command of this important work, a link in the great lain, although, as events proved, a very weak one, was con- ded to Brigadier-General Lloyd Tilghman, of the Confed- ate service, with a forc^of more than three thousand men, ad with a clear exposition — manifest without words — of the liiportance of his command. Tilghman was of the Maryland i,mily of revolutionary repute, a graduate of West Point, and gallant volunteer in our army during the Mexican war. On iie 6th of May, 1861, as colonel commanding the Western )ivision of " Neutral Kentucky," in an interview with Colonel *rentiss at Cairo, he had declared that he had no hostile pur- ose against the Government ; but in less than a year he was aptured at Fort Henry as a Confederate brigadier, and was fterwards killed in the ranks of treason at Baker's Creek, ear Vicksburg. On the morning of Monday, February 2, and after a quiet >unday at Cairo, Commodore Foote having devotedly invoked lod's blessing on the expedition, with all the fervor, but with- )ut the superstition, of a Spanish conquistador, moved up the )hio to Paducah, and thence up the Tennessee. His fleet con- iste'd of the iron-clad gunboats Cincinnati, Essex, Carondelet, md St. Louis, and the wooden boats Lexington, Tyler, and 12 GHANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. Conestoga : the Cincinnati was his flag-ship. By nightfal they were in the Tennessee ; and by easy steaming they wer( three or four miles below Fort Henry at daylight on Tuesday J February 3. Caution was necessary, on account of the infor mation obtained from people on the river-banks that th( stream was mined with torpedoes. Foote had the river chan^ nel dragged with grappling-irons, and succeeded in fishing uj | several, which, however, being imperfectly prepared, woidcl have proved harmless. I Steaming up to within a mile of the fort, the coflimodorcl fired the first gun from the Cincinnati as she passed the heacJ of Panther Island, at half-past twelve o'clock, and from thai time the bombardment was careful and slow, mostly with cm-- vated fire, until the fort sun-endered. - ; And where was Grant's army at this time ? He had movcc to the combined attack, with the divisions of McClernand anc \ C. F. Smith, thus disposed : McClernand, with the Firsi Division, landing at Marbury's, three miles below, was tc move in rear of the fort, to occupy the road leading to Dove] and Fort Donelson, — thus to cut off the retreat of the garrison and prevent re-enforcements from coming in, and also to b^i' "in readiness to charge and take Fort Henry by storin' promptly on receipt of orders." We quote the words oij Grant's order of march and battle. i ( Two brigades of Smith's (Second) division, landing on the! west bank, were to reconnoitre and occupy the unfinishedi" work, Fort Heiman, and the surrounding eminences, andc bring their artillery to bear on Fort Henry. The thirdc brigade of Smith was to march up the east bank in the tracis of McClernand, and either to support him or form a special- column of attack on the fort, as circumstances might prompt) The orders of General Grant were clear, practicable, and weUS timed. It was supposed that if the attack by the fleet iri front began at twelve o'clock of the 6th, the army would be iD| position to co-operate ; and had the fort made any thing like] the defence which was anticipated, this would have been th€^ case. But the roads were very bad, and Grant moved witli FORT HENRY. 43^ ill roper caution over gi'ound entirely untried, and in partial fnorance of the disposition of the enemy's forces between . prts Henry and Donelson. ; i But to return to the gunboats. Constantly steaming slowly :: p towards the fort, and passing Panther Island by the lestern -channel, they came into position just below the fort, ; tid in a line diagonally across the river. The order of the {bn-clads, from left to right, was as follows : the Essex, arondelet, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. In second line, just 30ve Panther Island, were the wooden boats Lexington, lonestoga, and Tyler. ! The firing from the boats was at once warmly responded to y the fort, and a terrific cannonade was kept up ; the naval uns, with both direct and curvated fire, raining in upon the grreplein, knocking the sandbag embrasures to pieces, and dismounting several of the guns in the fort. The rifled gun a the fort soon bursts, killing three men and disabling many ithers ; the flagstaff is shattered and falls ; seven of the guns ke dismantled or useless. The garrison becomes discour- ged, and at last panic-stricken. The three thousand men rho were encamped outside scarcely wait for Tilghman's irders to save themselves. Some, fearing McClernand's ap- iroach, make a rapid flight by tlie upper Dover road, while thers, seizing a small steamer lying at the mouth of the reek above the fort, steam hastily up the river. And thus fflghman is left, wdth eighty or ninety artillerists, to sur- fender the work. Meanwhile the metal of the gunboats has ben fairly put to the test. The Cincinnati, flag-ship, has leceived thirty-one shots ; the Essex, sixteen ; the St. Louis, [even ; the Carondelet, six. The iron sides of the boats shed aost of the balls, but the Essex receives one of the shots in ker boiler, which results in the wounding and scalding of iwenty-nine, officers and men, a.mong whom is the intrepid tommander, W. D. Porter, ! At length, when he had only four guns bearing on the river Still fit for service ; when his frightened garrison had deserted lim, leaving only " fifty privates and twenty sick ;" and when 44 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. he bad done a private soldier's service at the middle battery " covered with smoke, and personally pointing the guns,' Tilgliman hauled down his rebel Hag, and ran up a white one, at five minutes before two, the action having lasted foi only one hour and a quarter. Grant came up half an hour afterwards, pleased of course with the result, but doubtless feeling a soldier's natural dis- appointment that the rapidity of the fight had settled the matter before the arrival of his command. Commodore Foote turned over to him the captured work, munitions, and prisoners ; the transportc and troops which were coming up the Tennessee were turned back or stopped at the fort ; and the next step in the grand game was immediately con- sidered.* * In Grant's brief report to Halleck's stafif-ofl&cor, written the same dai from Fort Henrv, he says : " Cai'TAIN — Inclosed I send you my order for the attack upon Fort Henry Owing to dispatches received from Major-General Halleck, and corroborating information here, to the effect that the enemy were rapidly re-enforcing, ] thought it imperatively necessary that the fort should be carried to-day. Mj forces were not up at ten o'clock last night, when my order was written, ther& fore I did not deem it practicable to set an earlier hour than eleven o'clock to- day, to commence the investment. The gunboats started up at the same houi to commence tlie attack, and engaged the enemy at not over sis hundred yards. In little over one hour all the batteries were silenced, and the fort surrendered at discretion to Flag-OfEcer Foote, giving us all their guns, camp and garrison equipage, etc. The prisoners taken are General Tilghman and staff, Captain Taylor and company, and the sick. The garrison, I think, must have com- menced their retreat last night, or at an early hour this morning. " Had I not felt it an imperative necessity to attack Fort Henry to-day, 1 should have made the investment complete, and delayed until to-morrow, so as to secure the garrison. I do not now believe, however, the result would have been any more satisfactory. " The gunbouts have proven themselves well able to resist a severe can- nonading. All the iron-clad boats received more or less shots— the flag-sliip Boine twenty-eight — without any serious damage to any, except the Essex. This-jpcssel received one shot in her boiler that disabled her, killing and wounding some thirty-two men, Captain Porter among the wounded. " I remain your obedient servant, " U. S. Grant, Brigadier-General." FORT HENRY, 4g General Tilgliman acknowledged, in the dispatch .wLicli lie was permitted to send to General Johnston at Bowling Green, " the courtesies and consideration shown by General Grant and Commodore Foote, and the officers under their command ;" but in his report he was particularly severe upon the Confederate authorities for thus leaving him to be' the victim of a bad mihtary judgment in selecting the post, and a want of proper preparations to hold the ..work. Before giving to this victory its co-ordinate place in the vast strategy of the war, let us indulge in a word of comment upon' the rebel defeat. The Confederate reports are unani- mous in declaring that the site of Fort Henry was badly chosen ; that it' was low, easily surrounded, and commanded by the ground on the opposite side of the river ; and that it was not calculated by its construction to sustain an attack by the fleet. "We grant all this, but whose fault was it ? Can there be a graver fault in war than this ? It is far worse than losing a pitched battle to lose a stronghold, and that strong- hold a link of the most vital value in a grand chain. Be- sides, it- shows the rapidity and \dgor of Grant's and Foote's movements, that Fort Heiman, on the opposite side oi river, was incompletfe and useless. What they thus advr as a bar in judgment, or rather to explain away their defeU and depreciate the military character of our success, really enhances the credit of Grant and Foote. But worse than all that can be said about a faulty location of the fort, is the inglorious flight of three thousand and odd men, without striking a single blow. They should have made I'econnoissances from the moment they divined our purpose, iambushed the road, contested the landing of the troops, pre- Ipared torpedoes that would explode, and, at the least, held the fort long enough to give a respectable appearance to the idefence. Certainly, Fort Henry was not built to surrender in an hour and a quarter. It was the briefest action, to pre- cede an honest surrender, of which we have any record in .the war. The rules of military strategy are simple, few, and immuta- vrl^^ ief^e 46 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. ble ; their applications indefinitely and infinitely varied. By a rapid application of the simplest rule, the first charmed line was cut, and its tension entirely gone. Buckner, who, by command of Albert Sydney Johnston, had occupied BowUng , Green as early as September, 1861, with ten thousand men, and who had vaimted its impregnable strength, felt the fall of Fort Hemy like an electric shock, paralyzing his grasp. Bowhng Green was no longer tenable ; there was but one point which was so, and that only for the time, and that was Fort Donelson ; and so, moving the chief part of his forces thither, he left only a rear-guard, which evacuated Bowhng Green on the 15th of February. Bowling Green, that para- gon of complex fortifications, was entered by General Mitch- ell, of Buell's column, who made a forced march from Ba- con's Creek, and, arriving before he was expected, captured a large amount of stores there. Actions are not to be measured by the numbers engaged, or by their duration or carnage, but by their results. By this strategy Fort Donelson was flanked, and the safety of Nashville imminently endangered. But yet Fort Donelson was exceedingly strong ; its garrison irmament were large, and entirely adapted to its propor- and it was manifest that the rebels would not abandon i^vithout a severe struggle. To this struggle General Grant invited them without a moment's delay. In the mean time, immediately after the surrender of Fort Henry, Flag-Ofiicer Foote dispatched Lieutenant Command- ing Phelps, with the gunboats Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexing- ton, up the Tennessee into Northern Alabama. He destroyed the railroad-bridge twenty-five miles above Fort Henry, and proceeded up to Florence, at the foot of Muscle Shoals, de- stroying several steamers and river-craft, and captured a large quantity of lumber and stores, and developed the loyal senti- ments of many of the people. Note. — There can be no place more fitting than the close of the record of Fort Henry's surrender, in -which to pay our tribute to the brilliant fighting, personal gallantry, and rare piety of Commodore, afterwards Rear-AdmiraJ FORT HENRY. 47 Foote, and since, greatly to his country's loss, cleud, ana gone to a good man's rest. A son of Senator Samuel A. Foote, whose resolution on the public lands occasioned the famous passage at arms between Webster and Haync, in Janu- ary, I80O, young Foote entered the navy at the age of sixteen, and was known in all grades as an excellent and energetic officer. As first-lieutenant of the sloop-of-war Jolm Adams, he took a prominent part in the attack on the Su- matra pirates in I808 ; and was noted for the aid and sympathy he extended to the American missionaries at Honolulu, when few of our naval officers felt any interest in them. He was a strong advocate of total abstinence in the navy. In 1853, after a cruise on the coast of Africa, he published a volume entitled "Africa, and the Africans," in which he exposed the horrors of the^ slave-trade, by illustrations of the manner in which the negroes were packed 'in slave-ships. In 1856, in protecting the property of American citizens at Canton, which suffered during the English war, he breached a fort with his ship, and then, landing, stormed it, with a loss of forty men out of two hun- dred and eighty. His record during the war for the Union is brilliant in the extreme. He superintended the fitting out of the flotilla on the Mississippi and Ohio in 1861-2 ; took Fort Henry ; was further distinguished at Fort Don- elson, where he was wounded ; and in the successful operations at Island No. 10, which he aided in reducing. His life was devoted to the service of his country. In July, 1863, he was created one of the new rear-admirals, on the active list ; and in June, 1863, while preparing to relieve Admiral Dupont in command of the South Atlantic blockading squadron, he died suddenly, and was buried in New Haven. Although remarkable for his intelligence and tenacity of purpose, he is perhaps more fully characterized as a man of,^|fijejat and consistent piety. It was with him a vital principle, constantly displ^^d. He let his light shine, praying, exhorting, preaching ; urging all with whona he came in contact, with precept upon precept, and, what is far better, alluring them by his shining example. His loss was severely felt ; but liis record was so glorious, and his fitness for departure so manifest, that we can " talk of his fate without a sigh," and thank God for so beautiful an exemplar of the gen- tleman, soldier, sailor, commander, and Christian. GRAJST AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CHAPTEE VI. FOKTDONELSON. KeOBOANIZATION. — OitPiEE OF MABOH. — McClEKNAND AND SmITH MOTE. — A GLAHCB AT THE FORT. — ElVEE-FEONT. — LanD APPKOACHES.— GarKISON AND COMMANDERS.— Assault tpon the trenches. — Unsuccessful. — Storm and cold. — Ke-enfoece- MENTS under L. WaLLACE. — ThE ATTACK OF THE GUNBOATS. — TeRKIBLE CANNON- ADE. — FOOTE WITHDRAWS. — VaLUE OF HIS ATTACK. — KeBEL (JOUNTEB- PLANS. — OUK BIGHT ATTACKED AND ROLLED BACK. — GeANt's CONSUMMATE PLAN. — L. WaLI-ACB MOVES. • As Fort Henry was designed to obstruct the navigation of tlie Tennessee, so Fort Donelson was the work upon which the rebels depended to seal the Cumberland and to protect Nashville. No sooner had the former fallen, than Grant m"&,de his dispositions to assaidt the latter. He saw the im- portance of taking time by the forelock, and confusing the. already dismayed Confederates by the rapidity of his assault. He reorganized his forces, and sent for all available re-enforce- ments that had been collecting at Cairo. His army was formed for this new service into two divisions : the first, under Brigadier-General J. A. McClernand, containing three brigades, under Colonels Oglesby, W. H. L. Wallace, and Morrison ; the second, under Brigadier-General Charles F. Smith, of three brigades, under Colonels Cook, Lauman, and? McAi'thur : a tliird will appear in our narrative, under | Brigadier-General Lewis Wallace, to be composed of his ' brigade of Smith's division, and of forces that were being sent forward by General Hallcck. With McClernand's divi- sion were the field-batteries of Schwartz, Taylor, Dresser,!, and McAUistcr; and with Smith were the heavy batteries ■ of Eichardson, Stone, and Walker ; all Smith's artillery | j| FORT DONELSON. 49 being under Major Cavender, as chief of artillery. Grant's cavakj consisted of the Fourth Illinois cavalry, with several independent companies. The composition of Wallace's pro- visional division will be given hereafter.* By Grant's general field-orders No. 12, of February 11, 1862, we find the order of march arranged as follows : One brigade of McClernand's division was to move by the Tele- graph road from Fort Henry directly upon Fort Donelson, and to halt within two miles of the fort ; the other three bri- gades to march by the Dover Ridge road to within the same distance, and then to unite with the first in forming the riglit wing in the complete investment of the fort. Two brigades of Smith's (second) division were to follow by the Dover road, and these were to be followed by the troops who had occupied the unfinished Fort Heiman, as soon as they could be sent forward. As the force of the enemy was vari- ously reported, details of the attack could not be given until the ground was reached ; but Smith was directed to occupy Dover, if practicable, and thus to cut ofi" all retreat by the river. In accordance with these general directions, which were to be much modified when they reached the ground, McCler- nand and Smith marched across the country from the Ten- nessee River to the Cumberland, on tl^ morning of February 12, to attack the works on the land side ; while sis regiments, which were to constitute a portion of Wallace's (third) divi- sion, were moved by transports, accompanied by the gun- boats, from Smithland up the Cumberland, to join in the movement by an attack on the river-front, or to be disposed of as circumstances should afterwards require. In order to gain time, the movement was made after very rapid and un- satisfactory preparation. The gunboats had been overhauled in a very hasty manner, to repair the damages received hi the * General Lewis Wallace belonged to the division of General C. F. Smith, and when Grant moved against Fort Donelson he was left in command of Forts Henry and Heiman, garrisoned from General Smith's command. 3 50 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. attack on Fort Henry ; but, impatient of delay, and perhaps determined that they should not again get the start of him, and still more cogently, because Grant knew the immense value of every minute of time just at this juncture, he pushed forward with the two divisions mentioned, to the siege and assault. Que of Smith's brigades had been left at Fort Hen- ry, as a garrison, under Lewis "Wallace. All boats were de- flected fi-om the Tennessee to the Cumberland ; many others had joined the great convoy, and the Union army was con- verging in all its strength upon Fort Donelson. Let us look for a moment at the work to be attacked. This stronghold was placed upon a high hill on the left bank of the river, where it makes an abrupt turn from north to west, flow- ing in the latter direction for about a quarter of a mile, and then turning northward again. By this location a large num- ber of guns could be trained directl}^ down the stream, and pour a terrible storm of fire upon the advancing gunboats. At the foot of the hill, riverward, were two strong water-bat- teries, with massive epaulments ; the embrasures revetted with coffee-sacks filled Avith sand. The armament of the lower, or main battery, consisted of eight thirty-twos, and one ten-inch columbiad ; that of the other was one heavy rifled gun, carrying a one hundred and twenty-eight pound bolt, and two thirty -two potind carronades. These batteries were sunken or excavated in the hill-side. The fort itsell was of irregular form, its trace following the inequahties of the hill, and inclosing" nearly one hundred acres. It was flanked by a creek or back-water below, which is not generally fordable ; and just above, a small creek separates it from the toAvn of Dover, which is one mile above the fort, on the river-bank. It needs but one glance at the map to show that the works were exceedingly strong on the river-front. "We turn to the land approaches. Taking advantage of the topogi'aphy of the field, which presents a conglomerate of hills'!! and valleys, knolls and ravines, the rebels had cleared away all the timber, which could mask an enemy's advance, and erected field-works defended^ by artillery and infantry, from FORT DONELSON. 51 the extreme western angle of the fort, following the southern direction of a ridge, a;ad thus presenting a natural flanking arrangement of all the parts. Still in front of this extended hne, encircling the fort and the intrenchment, and the town of Dover, was a line of detached rifle-trenches, constructed of logs, forming a slight parapet ; and in front of the whole was slashed timber, as an abatis. It seemed quite as strong on the land- ward side as on the river-front, and the work before Grant appeared stiQ more difficult, when we consider the strength of the rebel garrison. It consisted of thirteen regiments of Tennessee troops, two of Kentucky, six of Mississippi, one of Texas, two of Ala- bama, four of Virginia, two independent battalions of Ten- nessee infantry, and Forrest's brigade of cavahy ; and, besides the armament of the fort and water-batteries, six batteries of light artillery and seventeen heavy guns. The force, num- bering at least twenty-one thousand men, was skilfully dis- posed ; but the Confederate authorities had erred fatally in their choice of commanders. General Floyd, whom the rebels should have been more sagacious than to have preferred to any office of responsibility and trust, however proper he might have been as an aspirant for a post of profit, had been ordered by General A. S. Johnston to the command of Fort Donelson, and had assumed it, without delay, on the 13th, the day after Grant's movement had begun. Here at once were fatal ele- ments ; he was not only a traitor, but he was beheved to be a j dishonest man, and circumstances were to prove him a coward. I Notwithstanding his preferment to the United States secre- taryship of war, under Buchanan, it was patent that he knew httle of military matters ; and it was certaiu that he knew nothing whatever of the fort, its topography, or its garrison. The next in rank was General Gideon J. Pillow, whom Floyd had assigned to the officii command of the rebel left wing, iu and around Dover. He too had only arrived there on the loth, and being by nature as obtuse, and, in spite of some Mexi- can practice, or rather mal-practice, as ignorant as Floyd, he was of small value as a leader in the defence. The other 1 52 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. prominent commanders were Buckner and B. R. Jolmson, both gi-aduates of West Point, and liiglily esteemed for intel- ligence and bravery, when subordinates in our army. Buck- ner had command of the fort, and the ground in its immediate vicinity, while Johnson had a command. on the left under Pil- low. Such briefly was the work, and such the force, moral and physical, which General Grant rushed to attack with two divisions, not more in all than fifteen thousand men, and with a greater proportional weakness in artillery. This was sub- lime hardihood ; but it was something more ; it was at once the impulsion and the intuition of military genius. He knew little of the difficult topography, which maps never can ad- equately tell ; but he meant to fight, and to continue fighting, and to force the rebels to fight. Time was of priceless value, and " confusion magnifying the foe," the rebels were deceived, as he meant them to be, by his boldness and temerity. And now let us return to McClernand and Smith, who, pre- ceded by the cavalry to clear the front, began their march on the morning of the 12th, from the neighborhood of Port Henry. They came within view of the fort by early afternoon, without having encountered the enemy, who was stupidly caging himself in the intrenchment, instead of coming out like a man to beat, or at least retard, Grant's advancing columns. Our generals took up, that night, the positions as- signed. On the morning of Thursday, the 13th, the fighting began with the dawn, the rebels opening their batteries upon our troops, whose positions were disclosed by the advance of Birge's sharp-shooters upon the enemy's picket line. Under this as yet desultory fire, Grant rapidly posted his divisions thus : General C. P. Smith on the left, opposite the northwest of the fort ; and McClernand on the right, Ogles- by's brigade holding the extreme right. The light artillery was placed with proper supports upon the various roads, while most of the heavy guns, under Major Cavender, were directed against the armament of the fort. General Grant's headquarters were at a farm-house, on the Port Henrv road. FORT DONELSON. 53 THE ASSAULT UPON THE TRENCHES. The first grand act was a furious cannonade on botli sides, in which the rebel practice was excellent, and our own not inferior. This was the herald of our infantry assault. To make a lodgment upon their intrenchment, and particularly upon an epaulment covering a strong battery in his front, General McClemand formed the Forty- eighth Illinois, of Wal- lace's brigade, and Morrison's brigade (consisting of the Seventeenth and Forty-ninth Illinois), into a storming column, under the command of Colonel Hayne of the Forty-eighth, with McAllister's Battery to cover the assault. The move- ment was under the superintendence of Col. W. H. Wallace, of the Second brigade. They formed at the foot of the hiU, where they were in some measure protected from the direct fire ; and at the word, moved forward, firing as they advanced. The attack was not successful ; and although they were re- enforced by the Forty-fifth lUinois, of Wallace's brigade, and other troops, the enemy's fire was so vigorous, and the abatis and palisading presented so strong an obstacle, that they were compelled to retire. The position assaulted was defended by Colonel Heiman's rebel brigade, and t^^o other regiments, with one or more batteries of field artillery.* In this, and several other desultory engagements, our losses were severe. We were at least in contact with the enemy, and had felt his strength ; but there was some danger that he might also learn ours. .• The gunboats and re-enforcements by the river were anxiously expected. Without them, we were weaker than the enemy ; and our very proximity, while it gave prestige, increased our danger. We were also in want of rations, and, to cap the climax of untoward circumstances, the elements conspii-ed. . Tht) im- usual and deceitful mildness of the morning, like many a false harbinger of spring, had suddenly changed to biting cold ; a * Pillow's report. 54 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. rain-storm from the northeast set in, wliicli turned, first to hail, and then to sleet. The cold became more intense, the' thermometer rapidly falling to only ten degrees above zero. The like, it is said, had never been known there. Our troops had no shelter whatever, and were without rations ; few had blankets and overcoats ; some, with the characteristic improv- idence of new troops, beguiled by the mild w^eather, and thoughtless of future need, had throwTi them away. At length hail and sleet w^ere followed by a driving snow ; and, but that the rebels, who were in the trenches, suffered equally, it weiild have seemed that Boreas had become a rebel sympathizer, and was emulating the celestial anger of Juno, against our heroes. Several soldiers were frozen. It would be difficult for a warm, sheltered, and well-fed pen, or rather the hand that holds and the brain that impels such, to depict the sufferings of that night ; the wounded freezing to death, and the weary soldiers benumbed by the cold, which even vigorous vitality could not dispel. They were seeing war for the first time, and they had bitter experience of its heat and cold at the same moment. The morning of Friday dawned sadly upon these war-worn, hungry, freezing men, and brought with it only a new sum- mons to battle. Still anxiously expecting the gvmboats and the bulk of Lewis "Wallace's new division by the Cumberland, and ahve to the immediate hazard of his position, General Grant dispatched a courier to General Lewis "Wallace himself, at Fort Henry, with orders to bring across the gai-rison which had been left there. But no sooner had the messenger been sent, than a scout, who had been posted to watch the river below, came galloping up to headquarters with the welcome intelligence that a boat was just arriving, and a thick cloud of smoke annoimced that the rest of the fleet was below. The first boat, the Carondelet, was the herald of the fleet ; and as soon as she came within long-range, on that terrible stretch of the river swept by the concentrated rebel fire, she opened upon the water-batteries ; and thus began tliat des- perate and unequal battle, in which Commodore Foote was to FORT doneLson. 55 - engage with only partial success, but witli increase of honor to himseH and the navy. Three miles below the fort the troops and the artillery of the Third Division were soon landed^ with provisions and . suppHes for the whole army ; they had come in the very nick of time. Rapidly clearing a road through the woods, they were soon placed in line with the Fii'st and Second divisions. Wallace, being the only general officer without the command of a division, was put in command of this Third Division, or- ganized after the arrival of the re-enforcements. These troops, just arrived, together with the garrison left at Fort Henry, constituted the Third Division ; it was composed of the brigades of Cruft and Thayer, — the former of four, and the latter — two brigades united — of seven regiments. Wal- lace was at once posted in the centre, between Smith and McClernand, and McAi'thur, with two regiments of Smith's division, was posted on the extreme right under McClernand, and thus the line was completed. Not much time was spent in issuing rations — which gladdened the hearts of our men — and ammunition, of which they were in great need, and in making proper arrangements for the wounded, who had suf- fered horrible tortures, when the second act in the drama was begun. This was the ATTACK OF THE GUNBOATS ON THE EnTER-EEONT. The Carftndelet opened the unequal fight : she was not long unaided. As at Fort Henry, the commodore steamed up with his iron-clads — the Pittsburg, St. Louis, Louisville, and Ca- rondelet in the first line, followed by the wooden boats Cones- toga, Tyler, and Lexington. The water-batteries first engaged his attention : if he could silence and pass them, he could take a position in the bend, and would be able to enfilade the faces of the fort with broadsides. Until he could do this, however, his vessels were exposed to the concentrated fire of both batteries, and of the fort, the latter having a most de- structive plunging, as well as raking, fire upon his decks and armor. Under ixfeu cCenfer, such as few naval armaments have 56 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. ever experienced, Foote moved nearer and nearer in a deadly struggle. But his guns did excellent service ; the upper bat- tery of four guns was aheady silenced ; the shot and shell from the heavy guns on the boats had rained upon them for two hours, and the boats were lying, within four hundred yards, perhaps even nearer. Notwithstandmg that they had not been put in a proper condition for the fight, owing to the pressure of time, and that they had suffered very greatly from the gams of the work, a few minutes more would have enabled them to run by into a position fi'om which they could have paralyzed the water-front, when suddenly Foote was forced to fall back. The rebel cross and plunging fire had at length done its work effectually : the Louisville was rendered unmanage- able by a shot which cut away her rudder-chains, and she ch-ifted down the narrow and rapid stream, helpless and use- less. The flag-ship, the St. Louis, had her wheel shot away ; the pilot, by whose side the Commodore was standing, was killed, and Foote himself wounded in the foot by falling timber. Rushing to an additional steering apparatus, upon which ho had depended in such an emergency to keep her up, he found tliat too shot away, and the St. Louis was thus compeUed to drift down in an equaUy helpless condition. Fifty -nine shots had struck the flag-ship, some of them raldng her from stem to stern. The Louisville had received thii'ty-five ; the Caron- delet, twenty-six ; and her rifled gim had burst during tlie action. The Pittsburg had been struck twenty-one times. Tlie fire of at 'least twenty guns had been concentrated upon the boats, and could only be returned by twelve boat-guns. To sum up, two of the iron-clads were unmanageable, the other two greatly damaged between wind and water; and thus, when on tlie very verge of \dctory, the gallant commo- dore, himself di'ifting powerless, was obhged to make signal for all to withch-aw, having lost fifty.-four killed and wounded. After considtation with Grant, Foote returned to Cairo to repair the iron-clads, which were seriously damaged, and to bring down a competent naval force for a new attack, if FORT DONELSON. 57 tlie seige should last long enough to require it : but it did not ; the end was already, at hand. "We need hardly enforce upon our readers the fact that the withdrawal of Commodore Foote was an absolute necessity ; he could not continue the action. But the services of the navy on that day must not be by any means undervalued. They were of the greatest utihty : they reheved General Grant from all danger of attack, while yet too weak to complete the invest- ment ; they made a grand diversion in his favor, while he was posting his new troops and maturing his plans ; and they gave a brighter lustre to the gallantry, skill, and endurance of the American sailor, of whom the country has always been proud. The withdrawal of the fleet after the action on Friday checked for a moment, however, the prosecution of the original plans of the general. The proper course now seemed to be to wait for large re-enforcements, which he knew might be had from St. Louis, Cincinnati, and Cairo ; to strengthen and perfect the investment ; and, perhaps, by marching up the river, to isolate the work, and starve it into surrender. In the mean while, the gimboats could be thoroughly repaired, and return to try another attack. Had the rebels now strengthened their intrenchments and awaited Grant's attack, such might have been the modus operandi. But the rebel counter-plans, formed in a council of war, held on Friday night at Floyd's headquarters, in Dover, de- termined Grant's battle tactics in a different manner, and hurried theii* own ruin. The council was composed of the division and brigade commanders, and they unanimously as- sented to the plan proposed by General' Floyd, which was to throw an overwhelming force—half his army, with Forrest's cavalry, all under Pillow and Johnson — upon our right wing, under McClernand ; to drive it from the heights overlooking the Cumberland, from which there was danger that our bat- teries would soon sweep and close the river above ; to throw it back upon Wallace,' while Buckner with' the remaining force, less the necessary garrison of the fort, should march directly upon oui' encampment in the centre, on the Wjoin's Ferry 8* oS GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. road, and attack "Wallace in front. If these flank and centre attacks should be successful, Grant's army would thus be thrown back around Smith as a pivot, and then it might be easily routed and destroyed. It was a good plan, and par- tially successful, and yet it was the prelude to their imme- diate and OYerwhelming defeat. In case, however, they could only partially succeed, the least Floyd expected was to open a pathway by which he might evacuate the fort — now very like a trap — withdraw his army, and save his precious per- son ; which, in any event, he meant to do, whatever should happen to his troops. Such were FIo^tI's plans ; they were to bo tried with the early morning of Saturday, the 15th. Accordingly, at five A. M., the rebel column, under Pillow and Johnson, moved out from Dover, the advance being taken by Colonel Baldwin's brigade, composed of the Fu'st and Fourteenth Mississippi and the Twenty-sixth Tennessee. These were followed by "Wharton's brigade, of two regiments ; McCousland's, of two ; Davidson's, of three ; Drake's, of five ; and other troops, amountmg in aU to ten thousand men, with thirty guns, which were to crush McClernand, and clear a pathway through our right. McClernand's troops were thus disposed of : McArthur on the right ; and then, in order, Oglesby and W. H. L. Wallace. McClernand's left was near the Fort Henry road, on the left of which was Cruft's brigade, of Lewis Wallace's division. Our lines corresponded to the contour of the rebel intrench- ment, and with each brigade was a field-battery. It was weU posted, and, i^ on the alert, could certainly repel any rebel attack. But, unfortmiately, the first attack of the rebels was of the nature of a surprise. E/eveille was just soimding, the troops were not under arms, and seemed to be in utter igno- rance of the rebel designs ; but it at once became evident that our right flank was seriously menaced. The brigade and regimental commanders soon got their men into line, and, guided by the crack of the rebel rifles and the flashes of theif ^•.ims, executed a partial change of front to meet them. It v/as not a moment too soon, for Pillow had sent his cavalry FORT DONELSON. 69 to try and strike McArthur's rear, while he was pounding away at his exposed right flank. Ccn,Cnait9 ^^J "^ ^^ f^ nrV'ESTMENT OF FOET DONELSON, Oglesby and Mc Arthur, with too scant a supply of ammu- nition for this unexpected battle, stood firm for a while ; but fresh rebel troops constantly arrived, and had it not been for the coolness of the brigade commanders and the inspiring valor of Colonel John A. Logan, who commanded the Thirty- first Illinois, of Oglesby's brigade, the attack might have re- sulted in a panic to our troops. As it was, McArthur and Oglesby were obliged to fall back rapidly to avoid being taken in rear, and to form a new line facing south. But the rebels did not advance with impunity. Our light batteries, admira- bly handled by McAllister, Taylor, and Dresser, shifting their position from time to time, pour in a withering fire of grape and canister, and cause the enemy's front line to recoil again and again, until pushed forward, or replaced by the overwhelm- ing masses in rear. Two regiments of W. H. L. Wallace's bri- gade fly to the rescue, while he arranges the others en potence on his left, to check Pillow, and yet defend the road. Again the rebels move towards the right flank of our new 60 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. line, and again tlie battle rages. Cruft's brigade, of Le^wis Wallace's division, is ordered down upon tliis flanking column at a run. Thus checked, the enemy might have been diiven ^ back and pursued, had it not been for a new and unexpected foe, or rather the fear of one, swarming fi'om their intrench- ments, and passing the rifle-pits hke a surge of the sea. Buckner's force came out to attack the left flank and crotchet of our new line. As soon as they were discovered, Wallace strengthened *he flank thus threatened, and two of Taylor's gims, coming rapidly into ac^tion, dealt grape and canister on his advance. Buckner was easily repulsed, for his attack was very feebly delivered, and his troops behaved in the most cowardly manner, "^^len at eleven o'clock Pillow rode over to Buckner's position, he foimd them huddled under cover,* from which it was only after a good deal of artillery firing that their general could persuade them to emerge. In speaking of tha repulse, Buckner says his attacking regiments " withdrew without panic, but in some confusion, to the trenches." But the moral efi'ect of Buckner's attack was not without its value. Beset on aU sides, PiUow thundering upon our new fi-ont, the cavaby threatening our rear, Johnson weU ex- tended upon our right, checked but not driven off by Cruft, our men were somewhat demoralized by Buckner's demon- stration : many became disheartened ; the fugitives from the front became a crowd. A mounted officer galloped down the road, shouting, " We are cut to pieces."! The ammunition had given out. Oui' line, including Cruft, who had borne the brunt of the battle for some time, was again forced back. Logan, Lawler, and Eansom were wounded; many field-officers and large^ numbers of subalterns killed. The crisis of the battle had, indeed, arrived, when General Wallace posted Colonel Thayer's (Third) brigade across the road, formed a reserve of three regiments, placed Wood's Battery in position, and awaited the attack. The retiring regiments formed again in rear, and were supplied with ammunition. The rebel * Colonel Gilmer's Report. f General L. Wallace's Report. FOET DONELSON. Ql attack upon tliis new Kne was extremely vigorous ; they had delayed for awhile to plunder the dead, and pick up what the}^ could find in McClernand's camp; and Pillow had sent back an aid to telegraph to Nashville that, '" on the honor of a soldier," the day was theirs. The new attack which he was about to make was only the finishing stroke. Again he moved upon Thayer's brigade ; but, by their unflinching stand and deliberate fire, and especially by the firmness of the First Nebraska and the excellent handling of the artillery, he was now repulsed. Whatever the apparent success of the rebels thus far, in driving our right wing, Grant, thoughtful and imperturbable, had not been for a moment dismayed. He saw from the very desperate nature of the rebel attack that when it culminated, they would give way, if he showed a bold front, and ad- vanced at all points. Riding to the front at three o'clock, he ordered Lewis Wallace, who had first checked the enemy, to advance upon Pillow, and recover the ground lost in the morning, while General C. F. Smith should storm the works on the enemy's right. His new plans were rapidly formed, and will bear the test of military criticism. The column of attack, for the desperate work now under- taken by General Wallace, was formed of Colonel M. L. Smith's and Colonel Cruft's brigades, supported by two Ohio regiments. Over the rough, rolling, and in jjarts thickly wooded ground, these troops moved, diiving the unwilling enemy before them, and only halting when within one hun- dred and fifty yards of the rebel intrenchments. This was at fiA^e o'clock ! We remained in the position thus -gained during the intensely cold night, ministering to the wounded of the morning's battle, with whom the field was thickly strewn, and anxious for the morning. At dayhgiit the next morning, Thayer's brigade was brought up, and preparations were made to storm the intrenchments, when the display of a white flag from the fort, followed by others from different parts of the works, made them pause. Before going to another part of the field, where great deeds were done, we G2 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. pause for a moment to say, this movement of Wallace must be regarded as haying a decided bearing upon the result. And now let us return to the left wing. Smith had received orders to attack the intrenchments directly in front of the fort. His plan was to carry their outer works at the point of the bayonet, then to bring up his batteries, and sweep the in- terior crest, and then to assault and carry the fort. This was the grand stroke of the battle ; it would relieve our right, and, if successful, would insure the capture. Grant had also requested Foote to cause the gunboats to make their appear- ance again, even if they did not go into action. Two were accordingly sent up. SMITH'S ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER. 63 CHAPTEE VII. GENERAL SMITH's ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER. Smith's coLiurNS okganized. — Lauitan The foblorn hope. — Smith leads. — Ad- dresses HIS MEN. — The lines move. — Smith's splendid talob decisite. — Floyd's NEW council. — He turns over the command.— Pillow looks at the cards, and " PASSES." — The pusillanimous flight. — Buckner surrenders. — The corre- spondence. — Grand results. — Comments. — Eulogy of General C. F. Smith. Wallace was already on his war-patli, as we have just de- scribed, when General Smith organized his column of attack. jCook's brigade is posted on his left, and is designed to make ja feint upon the work. Cavender's heavy guns are posted in irear to the right and left, having a cross-fire upon the in- itrenchments, and also playing upon the fort ; but the attack- ing force — the forlorn hope — is Lauman's brigade, formed in close column of regiments, and composed of the Second Iowa, the Fifty-second Indiana (temporarily attached), the Twenty- fifth Indiana, Seventh Iowa, and Fourteenth Iowa. Cook's feigned attack is already begun ; Cavender's guns are thundering away. It is nearly sunset, when Smith, hear- ing Wallace's guns far to the right, puts himseK at the head of Lauman's brigade, and chmbing the steep hiU-side, bursts upon the ridge on which the enemy has constructed his outer works. Before advancing, and when the force was just in read- iness to move, Smith had ridden along the line, and in few but emphatic words had told them the duty they were to per- form. He said that he would lead them, and that the pits must be taken by the bayonet alone. Perhaps dui-ing the whole war, fuU as it is of brilliant actions, there is none more striking than this charge. At the given signal, the liues are put in motion, Smith rid- 04: GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS ing in advance, witli the color-bearer alongside of liim ; Lis commanding fignre, gray hair, and haughty contempt of dan- ger, acting upon his men Uke the white plume of Navarre at I\T:y. Not far has he moved before his ffont line is swept by the enemy's artillery Avith murderous effect. His men waver for a moment, but their general, sublime in" his valor, reminds tliem, in caustic words, that while he, as an old regular, is in tlu line of his professional duty, this is what they have volunteered to do. With oaths and urgency, his hat waving upon the point of his sword, by the splendor of his example he leads them on through this valley of death, up the slope, through the abatis, up to the intrenchment — and over. With a thousand shouts, they plant their standards on the captured works, and pour in volley after volley, before which the rebels fly in precipitate terror. Battery after battery is brought forward. Stone's ar- ri-sdng first, and then a direct and enfilading fire is poured upon the flanks and faces of the work. Four himdred of Smith's gallant column have fallen, but the charge is decisive. Grant's tactics and Smith's splendid .valor have won the day. For thus the matter stands : Wallace has held his advanced ground, and is now informed of Smith's success. At all poijits the rebels are driven back, and at two, their advanced in- trenchments are occupied or commanded. How different fi-om the aspect of things in the morning, when Pillow had telegraphed to Nashville that he had won the day ! And yet there was a logical connection between the morning and the evening. They formed but parts of a concerted whole, of a plan not intelKgible to the division commanders, who had not been able, Uke General Grant, to appreciate the whole field, and to sum the varied issues of the battle. To most of the subordinate commanders, and certainly to the greater number of the men, up to the decisive moment, the enemy seemed to have a great and growing advantage ; but to Grant it was not so. The very vigor of the enemy's attack was a sm-ge which he was sure would soon find its refluence ; and, bv their massing of troops on our right and centre, Grant's I SMITH'S ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER. G5 « '■rater movement, conducted by Smitli, was rendered feasible, :(i the result sure. Thus when night fell, on the 15th, the ctory was certain. Holding the advanced points thus se- ured, and re-enforcing them strongly, Grant only awaited the orning to storm the work. During that cold night,*for the most part without food, and ntirely witliout fire, our devoted men awaited the dawn with mabated ardor. Success had inspired enthusiasm ; and the romise of complete victory in the morning compensated for heir physical sufferings. They would have fought the next lay with irresistible ardor. But if our men were now exultant, the tables were com- )letely turned ; the rebels were completely disheartened ; the )fficers more so than the men, and the generals more so than ;heir subordinates. It is a sorry chapter in the history of var. They no longer thought of fighting, but of escape or urrender. Again a council of war was called that night at eneral Floyd's headquarters, and in it was displayed a scene hich no soldier likes to portray, even if his enemy be the Iramatis jxrsoncv — a scene in which imbecility, ignorance, and cowardice played the prominent parts. Amid much crimina- tion and recrimination, one opinion seemed to have a large majority in its favor : the army must escape, or the place and its garrison be surrendered. Floyd, in great terror, lest after his treason and embezzlements while United States secretary of war, he should come into our hands and meet with sum- mary retribution, in the clutches of a furious soldiery, declared that he would not fall into our power ; that he would sooner die than surrender. He seems to have had little concern for the army,. but partly perhaps from qualms of conscience, and partly that he wanted a large escort, he proposed to cut his way out with his own brigade of Yii'ginia troops — a nice illustration of the State-rights' prmciple, which even the Confederates did not appreciate. Pillow, par nohilef^'atrum, second in command, emulated the virtues of his chief. Yain, foolish, ignorant, during the Mexi- can War, this was his Confederate coup d'essai, and he did not 66 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. disappoint his old acquaintances. He displayed a similar want of military savoir and principle. It is true, as might be expected, that there is some casuistry in his report, to show that he wanted to fight longer ; and it is equally true, that after he had written his report, lest the world should not believe him, he did a thing unheard of be- fore, he got the affidavits of his aids, and other cheers, that what he had said was true — sharp practice, which he brought with him fi'om his lawj'er's desk. It is also true, that when the noble pair had completed their arrangements for flight, Pillow told Floyd, not without some chuckling, that there were no two men in the Confederacy the Federals would rather get into their hands ; whereas, in real- ity, there were no two more anxious to keep out of them. All this is very sickening ; it savors of low comedy of the lowest type. We now turn to Buckner, the third in rank, and the only one of the three having any pretensions to soldier- ship. He at least was a soldier ; and because of this, he was to be made the scapegoat, and to suffer, in j^art at least, a vicarious confinement at Fort "Warren. His West Point ante- cedents compelled him to remain and surrender the now tho- roughly demorahzed forces ; and if he could not avert, at least to share their fate. • In the entire record of the war there is no meaner page than this. Floyd made over the command to Pillow ; who, like a player at cards, " promptly passed it" to Buckner ; and then these two men, who had before disgraced the name of American, now disgraced the name of soldier, by deserting their post and their soldiers, and sneaking away un- der cover of night. In order to join and aid Floyd, as Buck- ner thought. Colonel Forrest was ordered to cut his way out with the cavalry ; but Floyd, embarking such portion of the Virginia brigade as he could hastily collect, upon two small steamers, at the Dover landing, under cover of a guard to check the frantic attempts of others to get on board, and amid the execrations and hisses of thousands collected on the wharf, pushed oft' and fled to Nashville ! Pillow escaped on a hand- flat, and Forrest, with one thousand cavalry, waded over to the SMITH'S ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER. '67 south, of the fort. We wonder greatly that a man of the soldier- ly character of Albert Sidney Johnston should have stooped to wliitewash them, by declaring that, although " the command was irregularly transferred," it was " not apparently to avoid any just responsibility, or from any personal or moral intre- pidity." That not must have given him some trouble to write. Buckner's coui'se was soon taken ; indeed his troops were in such confusion that no other was left him. At the earliest dawn he sent a bugler to sound a parley, and with him an of- ficer bearing a white flag. Dimly discerned in the twilight, and challenged by the picket, the officer announced himseK as the bearer of a letter from Buckner to General Grant. The letter was at once taken to the headquarters. A white flag displayed upon the fort at the same time, informed the army that a capitulation was proposed. Buckner's letter* asked for the appointment of commissioners to settle upon terms of ca- pitulation, to which end he requested an armistice till noon. Grant read the letter, and without a moment's hesitation penned a reply which has become historic.f " No terms," he wrote, " other than an unconditional and immediate surren- der can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." * Headquarters, Fort Donelsox, February 16, 18(i2. Sir — In consideration of all tlie circumstances governing the present situa- tion of affairs at this station, I propose to the commanding ofScer of the Fed- eral forces the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of capitula- tion of the forces and fort under my command, and in that view suggest an "armistice until twelve o'clock to-day. I am sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, S. B. Buckner, Brigadier-General C. S. A.' t Headquarters Army nr the Field, Camp near Donelson, Feb. 16, 18i32. To General S. B. Btjckner, Cmfederate Army : Yours of this date, proposing an armistice and appointment of commissioners to settle terms of capitulation, is j ust received. Ho terms other than an uncon- ditional and immediate surrender can he accepted. 1 propose to move immedi- ately upon your works. I am, sir, very respectfully, your obedient servant, ' U. S. Grai^t, Brigadier-General U. S. A.,' commanding. 68 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. If we do make some allowance for Buckner's chagrin, it would be liard to palliate tlie unmilitary cliaracter of his re ply to Grant's note.* "Why should " the brilliant success of the Confederate arms yesterday" affect Grant, except to malie him the more strenuous to give them no further chance ? In what respect were his terms " ungenerous and unchivah'ous ?" They were rebels in arms ; he had come there to destroy them, and to occupy then- works ; and, besides, Buckner's immediate acceptance of the terms proposed was strangely inconsistent with the charge against Grant. The surrender was immediate and unconditional. The work was given up, with thii-teen thousand five hundred men as prisoners of war, three thou- sand horses, forty-eight field-pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thousand muskets, and an immense quantity of stores,! Two regiments of Tennessee troops, numbering fourteen hun- dred and seventy-five, came up to re-enforce Donelson on the day after the capitulation, and were taken prisoners, greatly to their surprise. This is in itself a comment ujDon the dis- graceful cliaracter of the capitulation. It took the Confed- eracy by surprise. Thus the rupture of the rebel strategic line was completed, and the Cumberland and Tennessee opened to our armies. Thus, moreover, in the midst of our disasters, delays, incerti- tude, and imbecility, we had at length a bright prospect of a * Februaet, 16, 1S62. To Brigadier-Generai, U. S. Grant, U. 8. A. : Sir — The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an uncx pec ted change of commanders, and the overwhelming force under }-our com niand, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success of the Confederate ^ arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchivalrous terms which you propose. • I am, sir, your very obedient servant, S. B. BuCKNER, Brigadier-General C. S. A. f Wc quote the number from Pollard, who seems, however, to have forgot^ ten that he had Siiid Ijefore in his narrative that they had onl}' tliirteen thou- sand troops in all. ^Vhat account does he make of the losses in battle, and of those who tied with Floyd and Forrest ? SMITH'S ATTACK AND THE SURllENDER. 69 jommander, only as yet a subordinate, indeed, but one who 50uld botli plan and fight ; and who, when otliers should fail, night be relied on, as he has since proved himseK, the hope )f the army, and the prop of the country. It was proved, dso, that our troops were possessed of valor, dash, and forti- ;ude. " For four successive nights, without shelter, during ;he most inclement weather known in that latitude, they had 'aced an enemy in large force, in a position chosen by him- seK," and had " secured the greatest number of prisoners of var (up to that time) ever taken in battle on this continent." Chese are the words of General Grant's order announcing the ,'ictory. The confession of the rebels is no less strong. " The lisplay of courage," says Pollard, " on the part of the Federal Toops was unquestionable, . . . and many of our officers lid not hesitate to express the opinion that the Western roops, particularly from Southern Illinois, Minnesota, and [owa, were as good fighting material as there was to be .ound on the continent."* We are content, although he ^ents his spleen in the same paragraph against the Eastern troops. We regret, even in an abstract military point of view, not ;o be able to return his compliment. The comments of mili- ;ary criticism must be entii'ely unfavorable to the Confederate irmy in this series of actions. When Grant first accosted the i7ork, he was in weaker force than they absolutely, and emi- jiently so when we consider the proportion established by Jnilitary science between an army holding strong works and a "orce of besiegers. It is no after-thoughtj based upon later knowledge, which eads us to say that they shordd have gone forth to meet his idvancing column from Fort Henry, and dehvered a fierce jattle, so as, at least, to cripple him, and keep him for a time :rom coming to the siege. Secondly : when he had come up, mill Smith and McClernand alone, they should have sallied :rom the entire line of their intrenchments, and driven him * PoUard, First Year, 346. ^ 70 G1?ANT AND HIS CAlVrPAIGNS. back ; not -u uiting for Wallace to coine up and re-enforce liim. And finally, even after the defection of Floyd and Pillow, Bnckner sliould have fought to the last. His thirteen thou- sand men, with the re-enforcements that were coming, should surely have held that army at bay, or, at least, have made a more vahant fight before surrender. But the morale in war, like the imagination of man, scorns all rules ; and Buckner's condtict, which he defends on the score of humanity, — declar- ing that three-fourths of his army would be cut to pieces if he should attempt to evacuate, — is only really explicable if we believe that his men, deserted by their commanders, would not fight, and that numbers, had they been doubled, wore utterly valueless in such a case. We have a better opinion of Buckner than to be content wdth his own excuse ; if his men would have fought, Buckner would have led them : there was no more fight in them. The news of the Fort Donelson victory — anxiously hoped for, though but trembhngly expected — ^flashed in telegraphic lightnings over the land,"^' and intoxicated the loyal but almost despaii'ing people with joy. The great cities were illuminated, in public buildings and private residences alike ; and wavin flags from every house attested the almost universal senti- ment. National salutes echoed to each other from cities, and' forts, and armies ; Grant's name was on every lip ^ and the least the Government could do it did, by making him a Major- General of Volunteers, to date from the day of the surrender. * Caiko, February 17, 1802. To Major-General McClellAjST : The Union flag floats over Fort Donelsoii. The Carondelet, Captain Walke, brings the glorious inlelligenco. The fort surrendered at nine o'clock yesterday (Sunday) morning. General Buckner and about fifteen thousand prisoners, and a large amount of material of war, are the trophies of the victory. Loss heavy on both sides. Floyd, the thief, stole away during the night previous "with five thousand men, and is denounced by the rebels as a traitor. I am happy to inform you tliat Flag-officer Foote, thougli suffering with his foot, with the noble charao teristic of our nitvy, notwithstanding his disability, will take up immediately two gunboats, and with the eight mortar-boats, which he will overtake, will 1 SMITHS. ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER. 71 His order tells tlie story remarkably well.* He was to movo forward without delay to still greater triumplis. Without the slightest disparagement to any of the brave commanders in that siege, it is our duty and our pleasure to make especial mention of him who, next to General Grant, was the hero of Fort Donelson — General Charles Ferguson Smith, the leader of the assault on the rebel right, which decided the fortune of the dAy. It is the more his due, because this gallant, veteran soldiei died soon after, at the opening of a new and what promised to be a most brilliant chaj^ter in liis life ; and, in watching the progress of our living heroes, it is the tendency of human nature to forget the honor due the dead. The more perfect make an immediate attack on Clarksville, if the state of tlie weather will per- mit. We are now firing a national salute from Fort Cairo, General Grant's late post, in honor of the glorious achievement. [Signed] Geo. W. Cui,lum, Brig.-Gen. Vols, and U. S. A., and Chief of Staff and Engineers. * General Orders, No. 2. IIeadquaeters District of West Tennessee, Fort Donelson, February 17, 1862. The general commanding takes great pleasure in congratulating the troops of this command for the triumph over rebellion, gained by their valor, on the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth instant. For four successive nights, without shelter, during the most inclement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in large force, in a posi- tion chosen by himself. Though strongly fortified by nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by science were added. Without a murmur this was borne, prepared at all times to receive an attack, and, with continuous skir- mishing by day, resulting ultimately in forcing the enemy to surrender with- out conditions. The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it vnll have in breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken in any battle on this continent. Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map of our united country, and the men who fought the battle will live in the memory of a grateful people. By order, U. S. Grant, Brig.-Gen. commanding. 72 ' GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. heau idecd of a soldier never existed in any army thau was General Smith. "We do not design to give a record of liis life, nor to pen an adequate eulogiiim. The son of a surgeon in the army, he was early imbued with the mihtary spirit. He graduated at the Military Academy in 1825 ; and from 1829 to 1842 he was on duty there as assistant instructor of tactics, adjutant, and finally as com- mandant of cadets. The author's recollection of him as com- mandant is of a model soldier — a daily example to the cadets of splendid dignity, great manliness, and magTiificent personal appearance. We all feared him, but thoroughly respected him ; and we beheve no commandant ever accomplished as much for the disciphne of the corps as he did. He was one of the marked men in the army. No one was astonished at his splendid conduct in Mexico. In the battles of the vaUey, he commanded a hght battahon of picked men ; and he was so distingTiished that he received three brevets — as major, lieutenant-colonel, and colonel. At the outbreak of the rebellion he fell, for a short time, under the displeasure of the Government, for reasons never divulged, and was not made a brigadier-general until August, 1861 ; but, opportunity once offered him, the beauty and valor of his charge at Donelson, imder the discriminating eye of Grant, who had formerly been his pupil, won for him imme- diately an appointment as major-general. Pending the battle of Pittsburg Landing, he was lying sick at Savannah, Tennessee, where he died on the 25th of April. An accomplished general ; a superb soldier ; a dignified and punctihously honorable gentleman ; a splendid specimen of a man ; — such is an epitome of his record, made with melan- choly but grateful pleasure by one of his admiring pupUs, who owes to his instniction far more than such a slight acknow- ledgment can repay. T^OTE. — Notwithstanding the bitter rebel spirit which pervades Pollard's work, I desire to say tliat it is, in many cases, very fair and just. He certainly is not afraid to criticise his own people ; and in his " Chronology of the War," ' SMITH'S ATTACK AND THE SURRENDER. . 73 le always calls a Confederate defeat by its right name— seldom inadvertently laming it a victory. I have -waded with patience and weariness through the shallow and turbid vaters of the official Confederate reports, finding little that is worth reprodu- ing in the narrative. Those of Floyd and Pillow are examples of special plead- ng to cover their base desertion. That of Buckner is a succinct account of his traits ; not without sneers, both designed and unconscious, at his superiors, rho, when they had surrendered the command, asked to be permitted to with- raw their troops. The most useful is that of Lieutenant-Colonel Gilmer, late an fficer of our engineers, and chief-engineer of Johnston's rebel army, — from vhich I have taken some details as authentic. The report of Major William 5rown, of the Twentieth Mississippi, is the boldest in the denunciation of ' seniors, who endeavor to escape by throAving the responsibility upon juniors." 4 74 GRAl^T AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CHAPTEE VIII. PEEPAEATIONS FOR A NEW ADVANCE. fiBAirr's ENLARGED COMMAND. — GenEEAL BuELL CO-OPERATES WITH HaLLECK.-'^D- MiNisTRATiON.— Discipline, justice, humanity. — Nashville falls. — Surprise ob THE PEOPLE. — A. S. Johnston retires to MuRniEESBORo'. — The ascent of the Tennessee. — Corinth threatened. — Island No. 10 — Seals the river.— The POSITION DESCRIBED. — PoPE TAKES NeW MaDRID. GENERAL MaCKALL AND THK American TuERMOPYLiE. — Schuyleu Hamilton's canal. — The capture and ROUT. Grant's sphere of action was at once enlarged. By an' order of General HaUeck, bearing date of February 14, 1862,1 lie bad been assigned to the new district of West Tennessee, embracing tlie territory from Cairo, between the Mississippi^ and Cumberland rivers, to the Mississipj)i border, with bis headquarters in the field. Moving his army by the west bank' of the Cumberland, he co-operated with the gunboats in their ascent of the river, under Commodore Foote. When General Halleck had been assigned, in the Novembei- preceding, to the Department of the Missouri, the Department of the Ohio had been confided to Brigadier-General Dop Carlos Buell. His command comprised the States of Ohioi} Michigan, Indiana, that portion of Kentucky east of the Cumberland, and the State of Tennessee. Portions of thesfl two armies, thus divided by the Cumberland, were soon come together, and form a combination against the enemy! In the mean time, however, Clarks^olle, on the 'east bank of the Cumberland, was evacuated by the enemy, and occupies by our forces on the 20th of February, — large quantities stores being found there. The gunboats were then pushed towards Nash-vdlle. The rebels were, in great haste, seeking PREPAEA'^IONS FOR A NEW ADVANCE. 75 new line ; and it was of vast importance so to hurry them, that they should find this a difficult or troublesome, task. Grant's administration of his new district was energetic, and his preparations for a new advance were rapidly made. He estabhshed martial law over "West Tennessee ; and ordered that " Tennessee, by her rebellion, having ignored all laws of the United States, no coui'ts will be aUowed to act under State authority ; but all cases coming within reach of the mil- itary arm will be adjudicated by the authorities the Govern- ment has established within the State." To guard against all Hcense in the conduct of his troops, he repubhshed General Halleck's order, that they should "let no excesses on their part tarnish the glory of their army." The course of justice was tempered with humanity ; and when it was necessary to take supphes and subsistence for his troops from citizens, ho ordered that the demands should be as Kght as possible, — so distributed as to produce no distress, and in every case re- ceipted for. Justice and consideration to citizens not in arms, and sucqpr to the poor, when oppressed by Union men or rebels, have always been his rule, — a course of action prompted by principle, and never intermitted on account of pubhc opinion or poHtical pressure. Nashville, where Johnston had only remained to await the issue of the fighting at Donelson, was abandoned as soon as that fortress fell, and was occupied on Sunday evening, Feb- ruary 23d, by Colonel Kennet, of the Foui'th Ohio cavalry, of General O. M. Mitchell's division.* On the 3d of March, Co- lumbus, the second Gibraltar of the West (Bowling Green was the first, and Vicksburg was to be the third), fell before the strategy of Halleck and Buell, and the splendid battle tactics of Grant. Fort Henry was the first act in the process of destruction : Fort Donelson dealt an additional blow to the tottering ruin. The fall of Nashville was a terrible blow. The rebel his- * The surrender is publicly believed to have been made to General Nelson, but that officer did not arrive with his division until three days after. 76 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. torian qompares the effect to the shock of an earthquake, "when the congregations in the churches heard that the Fed- erals were coming.* The people had been entirely deceived, or lulled into security. No one anticipated such a fate. Johnston moved with his main body to Murfreesboro', leav- ing to Floyd and Fon-est (who had just "retreated" from Donelson) the duty of removing or destroying the supplies ; while a mob, ravenous for spoils, " secured and secreted gov- ernment stores enough to open respectable groceries." The evacuation of Columbus, also, was a great blow to them, and a great acquisition to us ; but it was a military necessity — a sequence in the inexorable logic of the war. The works were of immense strength, consisting of tier on tier of bat- teries on the river-front, and a strong parapet and ditch, crossed by a thick abatis, on the land side,t and a vast chain, to stop the passage of the Mississippi. The fleet was now withdrawn down the Cumberland, and a portion of it sent up the Tennessee, over the ground abeady so adventurously reconnoitred by the expedition of Lieutenant- Commander Phelps. That river General Halleck designed to be a most important line of operations for Grant's army ; and Grant was putting out his antennae to feel his way to the ter- rible battle-field of Pittsburg Landing. Making his temporary headquarters at Fort Henry, — where, indeed, he was detained by department orders, for causes not pubhcly divulged,:]:— he began a new organization of his forces, for this still more difiicult campaign. The troops, as they came up from every direction, were pushed forward as rapidly as possible, under General C. F. Smith, to Savannah, about twenty miles fi-om the Mississippi line, and to other adjacent points ; and as they moved forward, it was evident to the Confederates that their great route of communication from east to west, by the Mem- phis and Charleston Eailroad, was threatened. This road crosses the Mobile and Ohio Eailroad at the little village of Corinth ; and the jimction there was seen at a glance, by the * Pollard, Fixst Year of the War, p. 246. f General Cvillum's dispatch, t See note at end of the chapter. PREPARATIONS FOR A NEW ADVANCE. 77 generals of both armies, to be a point of great strategic importance. Grant was marcliing down to attack or -flank it, and cut the railroad ; and the rebels, with wise foresight, and praiseworthy valor, — a different spii'it from that displayed at Fort Henry and Fort Donelson,-— determined to hazard a battle, and strike a stunnmg blow in its defence, at some dis- tance north of it, on the Tennessee. For once they had good generals — " foemen worthy the Steel" of Grant — men who, in a just cause, would have gained immortal renown. ISLAND NO. 10. Before, however, attempting a delineation of the great battle of Pittsburg Landing, we must retui-n for a brief space to the Mississippi Biver, which, having been for a time effect- ually barred by the fortifications of Columbus, needed a new seal and barrier, when, on the 3d of March, those works were dismantled and abandoned by General Polk. That fiery pre- late had been directed to " select a defensive position below ;" and, moving his forces to the river, had, by the aid of his en- gineers, arranged strong defences at Island No. 10, the main land in Madrid bend, and at the town of New Madrid.* This was part of a concerted plan ; Johnston was moving southward by the left bank of the Tennessee to defend Mem- phis, where strong works were erected. Vicksburg, with its river-knot in front, was strong by nature, and also fortified by the engineer's art. New Orleans was, to aU seeming, in rebel possession until " the crack of doom," and the forts below it seemed to preclude approach from the Gulf. Among the most loyal men there were many who doubted the practicability of clearing the Mississippi ; and until that should be done, all doubted the downfall of the rebellion. The Father of Waters had submitted to the rebel chain, and there was no patriot sword or battle-axe which could strike off * Tlie principal islands in the Mississippi, beginning just below tlie mouth, of the Ohio, are numbered down the river. Island No. 1 lies just below Cairo. 7S GRANT AND HIS CAMP^VI^NS. the aw-Tirsed links. It was a gigantic task, for wliich neither workman nor implements seemed to have been yet found. Island No. 10 is about forty-five miles below Columbus. It lies nearly in mid-channel, and is about a mile long and a half mile in breadth at its widest part. Its armament consisted principally of four heavy batteries on the island, sweeping the main channel, and seven on the Kentucky and Tennessee shores, most of the gims having been brought from Colum- bus. To define its situation a little more clearly, the river, which above it flows westward, makes a bend to the south ; then to the west and north, in which is the island ; and again, eight miles below, a turn to the south, on which, upon the right bank, is New Madi-id. Point Pleasant is a village on tlie right bank, about ten miles below New Madrid ; while Tip- tonville is on the opposite bank, a short distance below Point Pleasant. The double bend, in the form of an irregular and inverted S, with the island and the town at the extreme points, with peninsulas thus formed, cutting off in the one case nine miles, and in the other twenty, seems exactly formed to take the eye of the strategist and engineer. The works on the island, and the supporting batteries on the left bank, having been completed, the old Pehcan dock of New Orleans was brought up, armored, and converted into a floating battery ; the rebel gunboats nestled under, the bat- teries ; forts were erected at New Madrid, and the entire de- fences of Island No. 10 were declared to be very strong — at least, a sort of semi-Gibraltar. It mattered Httle to the Confederacy that General John Pope was dispatched against them ; and, even when he had captiu-ed Point Pleasant, they felt httle concern. They were still more exultant when the nine houi's' bombardment by Flag- Oflicer Foote failed of results. He had, in order to test the strength of the works, moved down with a fleet, consisting of five grmboats and four mortar-boats, from Hickman, twenty miles above, and his bombardment had seemed to produce no effect. Pope's first essay was to take New Madrid ; and this he sue- PEEPARATIONS FOR A NEW ADVANCE. 79 ceeded in doing, notwitlistauding tlie efforts of Commodore Hollins witli tlie rebel gunboats to prevent him. Thus, while Foote was coming down to try the defences above, he received information from Pope that, under fire of his siege-guns, the enemy had evacuated the town, that the river was closed be- low, and that there was no escape for the garrison by water. The first act was done, and well done. But, although shut up by water, the garrison was strong, the works numerous and powerful, and the island would seal the river for us, until they should be reduced. The rebel force consisted of about eight thousand men, commanded by Brigadier-General W. W. Mackall, who had assumed command on the 5th of March, — so much a stranger to his own troops, that he deemed it necessary to rest his merits in then- eyes upon the fact that he was " a general made by Bragg and Beauregard." He was a graduate of West Point, and, as an assistant adjutant-general in our service, had been esteemed a good officer ; but he promised too much at the island, and failed. His promises and his energy, how- ever, had given new hope to the Confederacy. They con- sidered us checkmated in the river game : at the least, it was to be " an American Thermopylae." The rebel generals were fond of Grecian and Pioman precedents, but the comparison was never complete. Although thus hemmed in by Pope's army on the south, and the gunboats on the north, they would, however, have kept the river sealed against us for some time, had it not been for a plan conceived by General Schuyler Hamilton, who commanded a division in Pope's army. The overflow in the river-bottom rendered it impossible for Pope to march his troops from New Madrid to the \dcinity of the Union gunboats, and he had no transports to carry them across to any point south of the island. Could that passage be made, the strong works would be taken in rear by a land force, and must fall. . Hamilton's suggestion v/as this : to cut a navigal^le passage across the peninsula above New Madrid, by v^liich to float (he 80 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. transports across. Tliis lierculean task was at once executed, ^ and with perfect success. In nineteen days our army liad completed a canal twelve miles long, and fifty feet wide, a portion of it through heavy] timber, which had to be sawed oif four and a half feet under ij water by the hand. The work was done under the superin- tendence of Colonel J. W. BisseU, with his engineer regiment. , The passage was pronounced ready, Foote again engaged the; enemy, and while one gunboat was attracting, or rather dis tracting, the attention of Rucker's Battery, the Carondelett shipped past them all, and ran down to New Madrid. This was on the night of the 4th of April. On the Gth, at' nightfall, the Pittsburg likewise ran the batteries, not without some damage ; and, on the same night, a fleet of steamboats and transport barges came through the canal, took on ouri troops at New Madrid, carried them over to the Ten- nessee shore, and the impregnable works fell like the walls of Jericho. Where now was their boasted strength ?'i "Would they immortalize their American Thermoj^ylse ? Alasj for their vain-glorying ! There was no intrepidity, no! dignity ; the scene was pitiable in the extreme. Theyi had shown great skill in putting themselves into traps : the attempt to escape was panic, confusion, utter imbe cility. One hundi'ed and twenty-four guns were taken^ most of them uninjured. The attempt at spiking, by th© hands of those eager to fly, was an entii-e failure. Theii boats, not effectually scuttled, were most of them recovered by our men. The floating-battery was true to her name ; although scuttled, she would not sink, but was found high and dry near Point Pleasant, and was immediately put in comn mission, as chief of the United States nondescrij)ts. The number of prisoners actually accounted for at the surrendei was not more than three thousand, but hundreds upon hunn dreds of starving wretches wandered among the swamps in their efforts to escape, most of whom fell into our hands, and were glad at the last to escape starvation on the terms of im^ prisonment or parole. PREPARATIONS FOR A NEW ADVANCE. 81 Again liad tlie soldiers of the Confederacy been duped by tlieir leaders ; again liad the people been begTiiled into false security. A glance at tlie map will show to any military eye, that Island No. 10 was only a temporary expedient. Strong as an isolated point, it could be flanked, surrounded, perfectly invested, and then its very isolation made it a cage. Its fall was certain ; and the value of their boasted strategy is indi- cated, when we remember that Polk evacuated Columbus on the 3d of March ; MackaU took command of the island de- fences on the 5th ; and just one day over a month — that is, on the 6th of April — our transports were going down to New- Madrid. The formal surrender was made on the 8th. Although General Grant had no immediate connection with these operations, we have dwelt upon them as forming a part of the great problem, a knowledge of which is needed to en- able us to take in the entire scope of action. And now, after this glance at the collateral and contemporaneous movements by Pope, let us return to Grant. Note.— After the battle of Fort Donelson, Grant had gone (Feb. 26) to Nash- ville to confer with Buell. Some malignant persons had reported this to Hal- leck and to Washington, and it -was made a cause of complaint against him. Add to this, that the state of his command, on account of constant marchings, battles, sickness, detachments, and re-enforcements, made it difiBcult for liim to report its exact condition ; for this, fault was found with him. He was also blamed for letting C. F. Smith go to Nashville with his division. And to his utter astonishment, he was, on March 4th, ordered to turn over the command of his forces moving up the Tennessee to C. F. Smith, while he was to remain at Fort Henry. A correspondence took place between himself and Halleck, in which he asked to be relieved entirely from duty — taking es- pecial umbrage at an anonymous letter which had been sent vilifying him. But he was restored to duty and fuU command, and General Halleck wrote a letter to the headquarters of tlie army removing all misconceptions. He aa- Bumes general command March 14th. 4* 82 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CHAPTER IX. gbant's new campaign. PiTTSBUBG Landing. — The landing. — Grant's dispositions. — The eebel advanck. — Johnston's proclamation. — The attack on Pkentiss. — On Sheeiian, Huklbbt, MoClernand, and Wallace. — The situation at ten o'clock. — Rebel losses. — The gunboats. — Webstee's Aetilleey. — Suegeon Coenyn. — The pinal attack on Sunday. — Lewis W'allace aeeives. — IIis delay. — Monday moening. — Buell ON the field. — Battle on the left — On the right. — Beaueegaed eetiees. — Comments. The field of Pittsburg Landing had been selected by Gen- eral C. F. Smitli," wlio liad immediate command of the troops in the field, ^nd who soon acquired information of the rebel designs. It was on the west bank of the Tennessee, and for the most part densely wooded with taU trees, and but httle undergrowth. The landing is immediately flanked on the left by a short but precipitous ravine, along which runs the road to Corinth. On the right and left, forming a good natural flanking arrangement, were Snake and Lick creeks, which would compel th'e attack of the enemy to be made in front. The distance between the mouths of these creeks is about two and a half miles. The localiiy was well chosen. The landing was protected by the gunboats Tyler and Lexington. Buell's Army of the Ohio was coming up to re-enforce Grant ; and although the river lay in our rear, that was the direction of advance. Just at that time it was the best possible thing for our army to fight a battle, and the moral effect of a victory would be invaluable to our cause. Grant, who arrived at Savannah on the 17th of March, a point fi'om which he could beswvef see his whole force, keep ac- * Sherman's letter to the editor of the United States Sendee Magazine, January, 1866. GRANT'S NEW CAMPAIGN. 83 count of his re-enforcements, and daily visit liis detachments, had phiced the five divisions of Prentiss, McClornand, W. H. Wallace,* Hmibnt, and Sherman. Lewis Wallace's division was thus disposed : the first brigade at Crumj)'s Landing ; the second two miles above it ; the third at Adamsville ; all ready to concentrate and move down to join the main force when- ever circumstances should render it necessary. Grant's force on the field was thus arranged : Prentiss was on the left, about a mile and a half from the landing, facing southward ; McClernand at some distance on his right, facing southwest ; Sherman at Shiloh Church, on the right of Mc- Clernand, and in advance of him ; Hurlbut and Wallace a mile in rear of McClernand, in reserve, the former supporting the left, and the latter the right wing. The whole force was about thirty-eight thousand men. To attack and overwhelm Grant's Army of the Tennessee, before the Army of the Ohio, could arrive, was Beauregard's purpose ; for that general had, in his headquarters at Corinth, planned the wiiole movement, and even v/hile Johnston was on the field, v/as loolied upon as the leader. By the fall of John- ston, he became also the nominal commander, on the after- noon of the first day. Beauregard had been very dihgent in collecting troops from every available quarter, and although Grant had assumed the offensive, the rebel leader took the initiative in a very hand- some manner. Bragg's corps had been brought from Mobile and Pensacola ; Polk had come down with the gTeater part of his troops from the evacuation of Columbus ; and Johnston had brought up his reserve army, which had retreated from Nash- ville to Murfi-eesboro'. These concentrated forces, first hav- ing been disposed as an army of observation, along the Mobile and Ohio Bailroad, from Bethel to Corinth, and along the Memphis and Charleston Kailroad, from Corinth to luka, were now informed of the work before them. ■■ Owing to Smith's severe sickness, and McGlcrnand's dissatisfaction at being commanded by a junior, Grant assumed tlie immediate command of the expe- ilition, Marcli 31. 84 GRANT AND HTS CAMPAIGNS. "What Beauregard liopcd to effect, we can only now conjec- ture. His report, made after bis discomfiture, declares — Credat Juchvus — that it was only to stun our army, take our stores, and tlien return to Corinth. The advance of the rebels was not without some premoni- tions. There was slight skirmishing at Crump's Landing, on the 2fd of April, and on the 4th a grand reconnoissance of our position was made, from which, however, they rapidly retired. It was then known also that Beauregard expected to be re- enforced by the trans-Mississippi armies of Price and Van Dorn. On the 3d of April, General A. S. Johnston, their ostensible commander-in-chief, issued a stirrmg proclamation to the "Army of the Mississippi,"* and the march was begun. The rebel force thus set in motion, with high hopes and overween- ing fancies, was composed of the army corps of W. J. Hardee, Braxton Bragg, Leonidas Polk, and the reserves under Breck- inridge. Hardee's corps was in front, and contained the divisions of Hindman, Cleburne, and Wood ; Bragg had two divisions, those of Buggies and Withers ; Polk had two, Clark's and Cheat- ham's ; Breckinridge's reserves were composed of the brigades of Trabue, Bowen, and Statham. , * SOLBIERS OF THE ARMY OF THE MISSISSIPPI : I have put you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your country, with the resolution, and discipline, and valor becoming men, fighting, as you are, for all worth living or dying for. You can but march to a decisive victory over agrarian mercenaries, sent to subjugate and despoil you of your liberties, property, and honor. Remember the precious stake involved ; remember the dependence of your mothers, your wives, your sisters, and your children, on the result. Remember the fair, broad, abounding lands, the happy homes, tliat will be desolated by your defeat. The eyes and hopes of eight millions of people rest upon you. You are expected to show yourselves worthy of your valor and courage, worthy of the women of the South, whose noble devotion in this war has never been exceeded in any time. With sxich incentives to brave deeds, and with trust that Ood is with us, your general will had you confidently to the combat, as- Bured of success. By order of Gknek.vt. A. S. JOHNSTON, commanding. • BAf TrilE or PlTTSBU RGHi li^»IDI||j £iU)niivii H>r' ('•null mill I/i-k I uiiifjiiit/iix * . "if • • t> « . f \\ s ^ 5* GEANT'S NEW CAMPAIGN. 35 On Friday, the 4th, five days' rations liad been issued, — they expected to have later issues from our stores, which they were going to capture. The rebel march was along the numerous narrow and heavy roads which converge towards the landing. They were unencumbered and light, but it rained very heavily, and they were not able to get into position in our front until Saturday night ; and then so weary and worn, that they were in no condition to attack without a night's rest. The great armies being now fairly in contact, the men lay down to their rest in silence. Those nearest our Hues were allowed no .fires, and there were no sounds of drums or bugles which should disclose to us their position or their strength. Beauregard, weak from recent sickness, is the oracle of the more distant camp-fire at his headquarters ; he completes his dispositions, and gives to his commanders their orders for the morrow. He declares, that the next night they would sleep in our camps, which they did ; but if we may beheve the current report of the time, he also said, that the next day he would water his horse in the Tennessee or in h — U. . Fortunately — and perhaps unfortunately — he was enabled to do neither. But, it must be confessed, his plans were well conceived. Through spies, residents of the country, he had an intimate, knowledge of the position and composition of Grant's army. He M^as in great hopes that Buell would not arrive in time to aid our forces ; and stealing upon us, to some extent una- wares, he and his generals were in admirable spirits ; and there was not one in that uiformal council, v/ho did not feel sure of an easy and complete victory on the morrow. THE BATTLE. The morning of the 6th rose bright and clear — a lovely spring day. By three o'clock the rebel army had breakfasted, laid aside their knapsacks, and stripped to the bloody work. Portions of the Union army were still wrapped in the most profound slumber ; others, nearer the enemy, were making lazy preparation for breakfast. Prentiss, warned, indeed, of 3(} GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. an unusual demonstration in his front, but by no means sus- pecting that forty-five thousand men were about to spring upon him, had not only strengthened his pickets, but had sent out Colonel Moore, with five companies, to reconnoitre. The attack upon Moore was sudden, and he sent back in haste for re-enforcements, while he was falling back. The shock had come : it was sudden and stunning. Pren- tiss was formed in two brigades. Peabody with the Twenty- first Missouri, Sixteenth Wisconsin, and Twelfth Michigan, was first to bear the brunt. His second brigade was at the landing, but was at once hurried up. But it was too late. Prentiss was driven back in great confusion : some guns and a few prisoners were lost. A glance at the original position of Prentiss and Sherman, on the map, shows a wide gap be- tween them. Hurlbut is too far in the rear, and McClernand too far to the right. Into this gap Hardee pushes vigorously, forming the first rebel line, strengthened by Gladden's brigade of "Wither's division, sent by Bragg; he is almost entirely unopposed, and thus he flanks not only the flying regiments of Prentiss, but those of Sherman, unless McClernand is ready in his support. Prentiss, re-enforced, endeavors to rally, but Bragg, whose corps forms the rebel second line, sends the rest of Wither's division to re-enforce Hardee ; Chal- mers attacks his left, Jackson his right. He is rolled up at both ends. Peabody is killed, and Prentiss and his division again driven back in confusion. He fights with varied fortunes dur- mg the day ; but, by an overwlk^ining charge of the rebels, is cut ofl" -from the rest of the army and the landing, and captured, with the gi'cater part of his division, late in the afternoon. Let us turn to Sherman. His line to the right and rear of Shiloh church was thus formed and arranged : Hildebrand's brigade, of three Ohio and one Illinois regiments, was on the lert ; Buckland's, of three Ohio regiments, in the centre ; and McDowell, with one Ohio, one Illinois, and one Iowa, on the right. His artillery, under Captain Taylor, was at the church. Sherman's pickets were driven in about sunrise, and his line hastily formed. To the men it was something of a surprise. GRANT'S NEW CAMPAIGN. 87 Some ran in confusion, but most of them stood firm, wliile Taylor's guns opened on the enemy's advance. Here, also, the contest was to be for a time unequal. Euggles' division of Bragg's corps, vi^ith Hodgson's Battery, attacked him in front, while Hardee, having routed Prentiss, executed a left lialf-wheel, to flank and envelop Sherman. Euggles' brigades were commanded by Gibson, Anderson, and Pond. Sher- man's position at the church was on a ridge, and a creek lay in front. The first effort to stay the rebel tide was a charge by Hildebrand, but he was soon compelled to fall back before the enemy's nvimbers and vigor ; and, in spite of our attack, the admirable fire of Taylor's guns, the help of McClernand, the splendid gallantry of Sherman, the rebels crossed the creek and surged upon our line, and into the gap on Sherman's left flank. Checked again and again by Taylor's fire, the tide swelled on, until at length an enfilading fire on our left com- pelled Sherman to fa^ back, with the loss of three of Water- house's guns ; for, while this terrible struggle was going on on the left of Sherman, his right and centre were also hotly engaged. Buckland and McDowell were sustaining a vigor- ous attack from Pond's and Anderson's brigades, which ad- vanced vnth a heavy artillery fire. Thus Sherman's flanks were rolled back, and he was compelled to take up a new po- sition, which, however, he was not permitted to hold long ; for Polk, with the third rebel line, had come up to aid Bragg, and they were moving to Sherman's rear, who was thus in danger of being cut off from the landing and from the rest of the army. His last position was taken up on a ridge, with his left flank on a run, covering the bridge across Snake Creek, by which he expected the arrival of Lewis Wallace's division. In describing scT confused, a battle, we must not attempt to interw:eave the actions of the various commanders in one nar- rative, but to keep each distinct, until, by an array of the facts, we are able to combine and collate them. Having thus briefly disposed of the divisions of Shermain and Prentiss, and having brought upon the field the rebel force, Hardee, Bragg, and Polk — all, except Breckinridge's reserves — we are now ready 88 GRANT AND HTS CAMPAIGNS. to notice tlie parts played by Hurlbut, McClernand, and "W. H. L. Wallace, botli in support of tlie advanced troops, and in separate actions of their own. Hurlbut's division was composed of the brigades of Veatch, "Williams, and Lauman, and a light battery was attached to each brigade. Upon the first urgent request of Prentiss, he had sent him Veatch' s brigade ; and as that had been unable to stem the tide, he formed Williams and Lauman, with bat- teries on the right and left, in a cotton-field on the Hamburg road, and there awaited the advancing rebels. In came Pren- tiss's command in hot haste, and on came Withers, pursuing. Meyer's battery, which had been placed on the left, was de- serted by the gunners, but Prentiss called for volunteers to man it, and a dozen men came forward ; they held their posi- tion, while Prentiss's debris were rallying in rear. This was the darkest hour, and Hurlbut and Wallace, who had been held in reserve, were now to bear the brunt of the battle. Hurlbut and McClernand were slowly pressed back untU they came upon a line with the camps of Wallace's di"sdsion. Pren- tiss was a prisoner, and his division broken up. Sherman had been forced back, and Hildebrand's brigade cut to pieces. The regiments sent by McClernand to Sherman had been very much cut up. Many guns were lost, and the rebels had driven our forces a mile, and were in our camps. As far as mathematical statements and lines can indicate such a confused condition of things, the order at ten o'clock was the followmg : Colonel Stewart, of Sherman's division, who had been posted on the Hamburg road in the morning, far to the left, and who had held his position most gallantly against the overwhelming numbers of Breckinridge's reserves, had been slowly driven back to join Hurlbut's left, in spite of the re-enforcements of Mc Arthur's brigade of Wallace's division. Next came Hurlbut, who had posted himself to resist the rebel advance ; and behind him were the fugitives of General Prentiss. McClernand was on his right and rear ; and Sher- man's left in rear of McClernand. General William H. X. Wallace had sent McAi'thur's bri- GRANT'S NEW CAMPAIGN. 89 gade to support Stewart, but it had lost its way, and was unable to join Stewart, who had, as we have seen, been obhged to fall back. As it was now manifest that the furj of the rebel attack was to be directed to our left, General Wal- lace marched his other brigades over to join McAi'thur, thus filling the space so threatened upon Hurlbut's left, and took with him three Missouri batteries — Stone's, Richardson'^ and Webber's — all under Major Cavender. Here, from ten o'clock until four, this devoted force manfully sustained the terrific fire and frequent attack of the continually increasing foe. Upon Wallace and Hurlbut the enemy made four separate charges, which were splendidly repulsed. At length Hurlbut was obliged to fall back, and, their sujDports all gone, Wallace's division were satisfied that they too must retire. To add to the disorder, their commander. General Wallace, fell mortally wounded, and was carried from the field. The artillery had done admirable execution. Stone's Battery, particularly, re- treating slowly, and firing continually. The rebels had accomplished much, but they were paying dear for their experiment. Gladden and Hindman ' were killed ; and at half-past two a minie ball pierced General A. S. Johnston's leg, and the wound, though small, was mortal. But they had as yet far the best of it. We had lost Prentiss and three thousand prisoners, and the greater jiart of our advanced artillery,* The river-banks are swarming with fugitives and skulkers, who, when asked why they do not return to the front, say their regiments are cut to pieces, or they cannot find them, and who resist all the swearing, coax- ing, and storming of the officers sent to bring them back. But the action of the day is not yet at an end. The rebels have reached the ravine, and, placing their guns in battery, they must clear a path for an infantry attack before they can drive away our forces, and seize the landing. And now the grand opportunity for our artillery, land and naval, has * Only the organizations of four regiments were captured, viz., the Eighth Twelfth, and Fourteenth Iowa, and the Fifty-eighth Illinois infantry. 90 GRANT AND Hi^ a\MPAIGNS. arrived. Captain Gwin, of the Tjler, sends an officer to General Grant for permission to shell the woods and sweep the ravine. He is told t6 act according- to his own judgment ; and he does it to good purpose. The Tyler and Lexington open, and sweep the ravine — enfilading the rebel hues and batteries. Colonel Webster, of General Grant's staff, with a quick eye and a skilful hand, h^s placed upon a ridge at the landing three thirty-twos and two eight-inch howitzers. Vol- unteers are called for to man them, and, to his great honor be it said, Dr. Cornyn, surgeon of the Pirst Missouri artillery, offers his services, and does most excellent duty, cutting out work for other surgeons. All along the crest, our reserve artillery, consisting of twenty-fours, tens, and twenties, sixty guns in all, is placed in position, and the landing is safe be- yond any peradventure. But oiu' army is exhausted ; the Hne is reduced to one "mile in length, in a curve at the landing ; it is a forced concentra- tion, but it really consoHdates what remain. Prentiss and Wallace's divisions, owing to the loss of general officers, are subdivided, and assigned to other di\d- sions, and all the commands are greatly intermingled. The rebels encircle our reduced and crowded line south and west of the ravine. They have placed their artillery on the opposite crest, and still determine to cross that ravine, seize the road, and cut us off from the landing. Vain boast ; if our troops have been worsted, Beauregard is not unscathed. His army is badly cut up, and the organizations are very much confused and mixed ; and yet he essays the herculean task. As far as we can determine the rebel order now, the corps organization is lost; they are fighting by divisions and brigades. Chal- mers is on their right, with Breckinridge in rear ; and then ranging to the left are Withers, Cheatham, Ruggies, Gibson, Stewart, Anderson, Stephens, and Pond, much reduced, but stni ready to fight. But this new attack is destined to be a failure. Our artil- lery fire from the north crest is continuous and severe ; and wherever the smoke and flashes of their guns disclose the GRANTS NEW CAMPAIGN. 91 rebfd positions, tliej are swept by the guns of Gwin and Shirk from the boats. At length the rebel column is launched forth, consisting of Chalmers and Jackson's brigades ; they rush down the ravine and up the northern slope ; but a few Tolleys cut them up, and drive them back like sheep. Three times they face the horrible fire, and are mowed down by an invisible enemy. The tide has turned. It is now nightfall, and Beauregard, professing himself satisfied with what he has done, and certainly checked in what he is now doing, ignorant too of BueU's arrival, determines to leave the finishing touch, the final overthrow of Grant's discomfited army, until the morning. But at last our men are in a secure position, while his are disheartened and demoraHzed by their last repulse. Grant, who had been all day upon the field, anticipating the want, by sending up ammunition, had visited Sherman about five-o'clock, and, yet ignorant of BueU's arrival, had ordered him, with the assistance of Lewis Wallace-, who was now crossing the Snake Creek bridge, to assume the offensive in the morning. Of the movements of General Wallace, it must be said, that Grant had expected his appearance earlier upon the field. He had been particularly directed to move by the road nearest the river, and parallel to it, until he reached our right in rear of the camps of the Second (W. H. L. Wallace's) division, and there form in line at right angles with the river. He moved at twelve o'clock fi'om a point only four miles and a half dis- tant from that to which he was ordered ; but, from some mis- conception or misunderstanding of the orders, he pursued a road almost at right angles to the one he had been directed to take, so that, after marching five miles, when he was over- taken by Colonel Eowley, of General Grant's stafi', he was no nearer the battle-field than when he started. He marched back again to within half a mile fi-om the point from which he started, where he struck the road to Pittsburg Landing, which he should have taken at the first. Thus it happened that he did not reach the field until after dark. General Grant's opinion is, that, had, he not been delayed, Pren- tiss might have been saved from capture, and, perhaps, 92 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. the battle won tlio first day. He had not for a momen lost heart, and he has always beheved that he could have suc- cessfully resisted the rebel army without further assistance. But assurance is now doubly sure ; Buell has arrived, and is in person on the field. In the fading hght, Nelson's division*^ of his army crosses above the landing, with the in- telligence that McCook and Crittenden are coming up the river from Savannah. On the right, behind Sherman, Lewis Wal- lace, leaving only two regiments at Crump's Landing, is cross- ing the creek with his fi'esh division by a good bridge, near the landing. The tables are completely turned. Our artil- lery and the gunboats, having forced Beauregard to fall back for safety, are keeping his wearied troops awake during the night. All night long steamers will ply between Savannah and Pittsburg, bringing up the divisions of McCook and Crit- tenden ; and with the first streak of dawn, we shall be ready for an overwhelming advance. Sherman has already ad- vanced to the right and front ; Lewis Wallace files in upon his right, and thus the worn-out troops sink into dreamless . rest. The forest is full of de?.d and wounded, who cannot.! yet be cared for ; when, to add to the horrors, the woods are set on fire. Some of the wounded perish in the flames, while i others are shrieking as the fiery dea^jii sweeps upon them. But, thanks be to God, a sudden A^ril rain-storm quenches li the fire, and tempers the fever of these helpless men, as rain i only can. MONDAY MOKNING. Commanders and men-mr both sides knew that the dawni must bring on the battle again, — a struggle the more bitter, because each was determined to assume the offensive, and the * General Grant, hearing that Nelson's division had arrived on the night on fhe 5th in the vicinitj' of Savannah, had sent him an order, as early as sevem o'clock in the morning of the ()th, to move to a point on the river o])posite Pitts- burg Landing ; but, according to his official report, he did not start until abouti one o'clock, and did not reach his destination until late in the afternoon. GRANT'S NEW CAMPAIGN. 93 shock would be like that of mediaeval knights in mid lists. The fresh troops were placed m line as they came upon the field, far in advance, upon the ground abandoned by Beaure- gard after the failure of his last attack. Nelson was on the left ; then in order Crittenden, McCook, Hurlbut, McClernand, Sherman, and Lewis Wallace, — the new line on the left negtrly a mile in advance of our position on Sunday evening. Nelson's division contained the brigades of Ammen, Bmce, afid Hazen ; and Ammen's brigade, which had first arrived, bad joined in resisting the advance on Sunday evening, when they crossed. Crittenden had two brigades — Boyle's and W. S. Smith's, with Mendenhall's regular battery, and Bartlett's Ohio bat- tery. McCook had the three brigades of Eofisseau, Gibson, and Kirk, with the batteries of Stone, Goodspeed, and Terrill. Rousseau's brigade was a large one. Colonel Gibson com- manded the brigade of E. W. Johnson, who was absent sick. Lewis Wallace's division contained the brigades of M. L. Smith, Thayer, and Whittlesey. The battle began by a determined advance on our left and 3entre ; simultaneously with which, Beauregard, having formed 3. strong rear-g-uard and whipping in all stragglers, undertook a vigorous assault uppn our left. He was still deceived into the hope that he might capture the landing. The assault upon Nelson was tremendous ; but while his troops were svavering, in spite of all his efforts, the regular battery of Captain Mendenhall, detached by Buell from Crittenden's division, came into action, unlimbering at a jump, while the rebels were xrushing forward, and, by rapid discharges of wrape and canister, hurled them back. Again and again Eresh troops were poured upon our left, but only to be driven back. At length Hazen's brigade charged, captured a rebel battery, and turned it upon the astonished enemy. Once more a rebel charge, and Hazen is driven back, when Terrill's battery, of McCook's division, being in search of its position, is posted by General BuelTat the contested point 94 GRAKT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. He opens witli shell from liis ten-pounders, and grape and canister fi'oni his brass twelves, and the brnnt of the battle burns low in Nelson's front. Buell has admirably posted his artillery, and the guns have been splendidly served. Nelson can move forward. On his right, Crittenden and McCook ad- vanced abreast, but to meet with a stubborn resistance. Throughout the war, as numerous examples could testify, the rebel generals always sought to pierce our line at its weakest point — at some joint in the armor. It was so now. In the slight interval between Crittenden and McCook they endeav- ored to force a passage. Eousseau, partially flanked, is di'iven back, but rallies upon the support of Kirk's and Gibson's brigades. On the right, Sherman and Wallace have advanced with ardor to the same ridge occupied by the former on Sunday morning. But here again furious battle was to be jomed, for the rebels, when satisfied that they could effect nothing on the left, had countermarched their troops to try the right once more, and the Httle log church of Shiloh was again to witness a desperate struggle. By well-concerted movements, our troops are kept weU abreast throughout the whole line, and when at length a concerted advance was made, in spite of the great efforts of the enemy, it was successful. By four o'clock the rebel commander had seen the uselessness of further eflbrt ; by half-past five he was in full retreat. He had failed in all his projects, and was driven finally back, to return no more, with an acknowledged loss of nearly eleven i thousand men ; and yet he had the hardihood to telegraph to tne rebel secretary of war that night, that he had "gained a great and glorious victory." "^ He quahfied this, however, by adding, with singular inconsistency : "Buell re-enforced Grant, * Corinth, Tuesday, April 8, 1862. To THE Secretary of War, Richmond : We have gained a great and glorious victory. Eight to ten thousand priKorn| ers, and thirty-six pieces of cannon. Buell re-enforced Grant, and we retired ^| our iutrenc7iments at Corinth, which we can hold. Loss heavy on both sides. Beauregard. GRANTS NEW CAMPAIGN. 95 and we retired to our mtrencliments at Corintli, wliicli we can hold." The triith is, that having utterly failed, Beauregard burned his camp and withdrew his troops, defended by Breck- inridge, with a powerful rear-guard, and trembUng in fear of a pursuit, which would have scattered him Uke spray.* He made all haste to Corinth, began to dig with an energy in- cited by fear, while Grant's forces were " too much fatigued from two days' hard fighting, and exposure to the open air, in a drenching rain, dui'iug the intervening night, to pursue im- mediately." * The followirfg correspoudence is significant : Headquaetees Department of Mississippi, Monterey, April 8, 1862. Sm — At tlie close of the conflict yesterday, my forces being exhausted by the extraordinary length of the time during which they were engaged with yours on that and the preceding day, and it being apparent that you had re- ceived, and were still receixang, re-enforcements, I felt it my duty to withdraw my trooijs from the immediate scene of the conflict. Under these circum- stances, in accordance with the usages of war, I shall transmit this under a flag of truce, to ask permission to send a mounted party to the battle-field of Shiloh, for the purpose of giving decent interment to my dead. Certain gentlemen wishing to avail themselves of this opportunity to remove the remains of their eons and friends, I must request for them the privilege of accompanying the burial party ; and in this connection, I deem it proper to say, I am asking what I have extended to your own countrymen under similar circumstances. Respectfully, general, your obedient servant, P. G. T. Beaukegard, General commanding. To Major-Generai. U. S. Grant, Commanding U. S. Forces, Pittsburg Landing. Headquarters Army in the Field, Pittsburg, April 9, 1862. General P. G. T. Beauregard, Commanding Confederate Army on Mima- si.ppi, Monterey, Tenn. : Your dispatch of yesterday is just received. Owing to the warmth of the weather, I deemed it advisable to have all the dead of both parties buried im- mediately. Heavy details were made for this purpose, and it is now accom- plished. There cannot, therefore, be any necessity of admitting within our lines the parties you desired to send on the ground asked. I shall always be glad to extend any courtesy consistent with duty, and especially so when dic- tated by humanity. I am, general, respectfully, your obedient servant, • U. S. Grakt, Major-Qeneral commanding. 96 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. Sherman went out, however, on the morning of the 8th, with two brigades, and some cavalry, to reconnoitre the re- treat, and found abandoned camps and hospital flags, with signs of a disorderly and precipitate departure. Our own losses were 12,217— t. e., 1,700 killed, 7,495 wounded, and 3,022 missing. Of these Buell lost 2,167. Beauregard's were far greater: he confesses to a loss of one thousand seven hundred and twenty-eight killed, eight thousand and twelve wounded, nine hundred and fifty-fivo missing— total, ten thousand six hundred and ninety-nine; and as his army went into action forty-five thousand strong, and he could not on Monday, by his own account, bring twenty thousand into action, there must have been fi-om fifteen to eighteen thousand stragglers. The news flew over the country. Telegi-aphed to Washing- ton, it was read by Mr. Speaker Colfax to the House. The people, careless of military criticism, were satisfied with the victory, and there was general rejoicing. General Halleck, in orders, thanked Generals Grant and BueU, " and the officers and men of their respective commands, for the bravery and endurance with which they sustained the general attack of the enemy on the 6th, and for the heroic manner in which, on the 7th, they defeated and routed the entii*e rebel army." General Halleck then, retaining Grant and Buell in com- mand of theu' respective armies, took command of the whole in person, and advanced upon Corinth, that important point I fofr whose security Beauregard had fought and lost the battle of Pittsburg Landing. But our task would be incomplete, without a brief considera- tion of the battle as subjected to the canons and rules of mili- tary criticism. The great features of the action are clear and simple ; but tlie details, notwithstanding, or rather in part by reason oi^ the crowd of reports, Union and Confederate, are extremelyj confused. At the outset, our troops were shamefully sur-i prised and easily overpowered ; there was a want of proper* GRANT'S NEW CAMPAIGN. 97 adjustment in our advanced lines ; the panics were disgrace- ful, and swelled "that sickening crowd of laggards and fugi- tives which thronged the landing," Halleck had ordered in general terms that the position should be fortified ; but C. F. Smith opposed it, and his views were corroborated by Grant and all the division commanders, on the ground that it would tend to injure the morale of our army, and that we could stand any rebel attack. For want of this precaution we were surprised at the out- set, driven back from every point, in three grand movements of the enemy on the first day — viz., at the early morning, at half-past ten, and at four. But there the disasters were at an end. It is useless to speculate upon what would have happened had Buell not come up, or to accumulate ifs, which always set the fancy into most fantastic working. There has been much controversy and heart-burning between commanders and par- tisans of the companion Armies of the. Tennessee and the Ohio — criminations and recriminations, which are unwise and un- generous. Grant never despaired of the issue. ' At the first sound of the battle he had left his headquarters at Savannah, ia a steamer, and by eight o'clock he was upon the groimd. He immediately dispatched an order to Lewis Wallace to hasten to the field. Feehng the fierceness of the onslaught. Grant rode along the hues all day long, recklessly exposing himself, while at- tempting to stay the, torrent. At ten he visited Sherman. Again, at five, he saw him, and declaring with perfect coolness that the fury of the rebel attack was expended, he ordered that at the dawn, with Wallace's division to aid, we should assume the offensive. It was just about sunset that Buell, a portion of whose army was now on the opposite bank, rode 1 up in person, and, in the words of Sherman, " his arrival made that certain which was before uncertain." Whatever might have happened had Buell not come up, 5 < 98 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. one thing is certain, his arrival did put a new face upon the affair. Whatever we may have been able to effect without him, the battle of Monday as fought, and the victory of Monday as gained, were due to the fresh troops which he brought with him. Buell's arrival, then, was most timely ; his re-enforcements gave us largely preponderating numbers ; his troops were handled with great coohiess, judgment, and skill. He and his army deserve the greatest praise, which every military man is ready to accord ; but let us not, in the glitter and glory of Monday, be so dazzled as not to estimate at its full value the severe fighting, the heroic endurance, and the un- shaken purpose which were displayed in the dark houl-s of ■Sunday. Let us not forget that Grant had organized his army with great quickness ; had brought them fearlessly to the fi'ont, looking for the enemy, determined to fight him wherever he could find him, and with troops, most of whom had not only never seen a battle, but hardly been drilled at the simplest company manoeuvres, had fought the best mate- rial in the Confederacy for a whole day. Nay, more than this; undismaj^ed by ill fortune, and unappalled by the cowardly conduct of thousands of stragglers, he had formed his line at night, under cover of a line of batteries, the fire of which caused the rebel attack to melt away ; he had ordered Sher- man to assume the off'ensive in the morning, with the aid of Lewis Wallace's division of his own army ; he had confidently anticipated Buell's arrival as one of the elements of the vic- tory ; and, by all these in combination, the greatest victory until then ever achieved on the American continent had m been won. jj T(3 those who still think that he risked too mu<3h by placing his army on the west bank, and thus came very near total defeat, we can only quote J;he words of General Sherman'sJ letter : " If there were any error in putting that army on the| west side of the Tennessee, exposed to the superior force of the ^5ncmy, also assembling at Corinth, the mistake was no| General Grant's ; l)ufc there was no mistake. It was necessary^ that a combat, fierce and bitter, to test the manhood of tivo armies,' GRANT'S NEW CAMPAIGN.' 99 should come off ; and that was as good a place as any. It ivas not then a question of military skill and strategy, but of courage and plucJc : and I am convinced, that every life lost that day to us ivo^ necessary ; for otherwise, at Corinth, at Memphis, at Vichs- hurg, loe would have found harder resistance, had we not shown our enemies that, rude and untutored as we then ivere, we could ■fight as ivell as they." Of the subordinates on that field, many fleserv^ praise ; but of them all, Sherman claims the greatest. He then gave splendid earnest of his future achievements. Although severely wounded in the hand on the first day, his place was never vacant. Again he was wounded. He had three horses shot un- der him ; but he was undaunted and undismayed to the last. Of Beauregard, the rebel commander, it is also our duty to speak. His place as a military man has not been understood. For some personal reasons, he afterwards fell into disfavor with Jefferson Davis, which impaired his services as a soldier ; and his silly and wicked letters have caused him to be hated and despised by our own people. But we do not except Lee, when we express the opinion, that he had no equal among the Confederate generals. Of strong, clear mind ; thoroughly instructed in the military art ; at once enthusiastic and tenacious of purpose ; brave and self-reliant, — he had the power to bring all he was, and all that he knew, into practical use. His plans in this battle were excellent ; his generalship, admirable ; his battle-tactics, sagacious and rapid ; and had it not been for the skill of our chief commander, the determined valor of some of our troops, the effective management of the artillery, the accurate fire of the gunboats, and the timely arrival and admirable co-opera- tion of Buell, he might longer have contested the field, and even defeated our army entirely. Note.— The Confederate general has called this the battle of Shiloh. I have preferred the name of Pittsburg Landing, and hope we shall retain that name . The battle was fought by Beauregard to take the landing, and by Grant to hold it. Shiloh church was but one among the important positions on the field. 100 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. CHAPTEK X. THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. COROrrH DESCRIBED. — S HERMAN'S EECONNOISSANCE. — ThE ARRIVAL OF HaLLECK. — Pope's armt comes tjp. — Beauregard's order. — His force — Oiirs. — Poi*b TAKES FaRMINGTON. — ThE BATTLE OF FaRMIKgTON. ElLIOT's RAID.— CoRINTH evacuated. — The occupation and pursuit. — Co-operating movements. — Mitchel's march. — The navy. — Fight at Memphis. — New efforts of the enemy. CoEiNTH was tlie objective point, at wliich Beauregard was to make his stand, and whicli Halleck was to capture at any cost. Specifically, tlie immediate matter in hand for the Union general was to cut the enemy's communication from east to west, on the new line which he had established, and the strength of which he vaunted ; and thus to force him b^clc upon the southern route from Yicksburg to Montgomery. In executing this, the commander of the land forces was to move pari passu with the naval armament, which was endeavoring to clear the Mississippi ; and finally, he was either to beat Beauregard, or, if that wily commander would not stay to be beaten, he was, at the least, to compel him to abandon Corinth in a disastrous retreat. Only a small village, not upon common maps, Corinth owes its mihtary importance to the fact that it is at the intersection of two great arterial railroads — the ." Mobile and Oliio" and the " Memphis and Charleston." The length and value of these routes are indicated by their names. Corinth is forty miles east of the Grand Junction, which it covered fi'om Hal- THE 8XEGE OP CORrNTH. I 102 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. leek's army, and nineteen from Pittsburg Landing, where the last great battle was fought. It is built upon a low and clayey plain, but has for natijral defences ridges at some dis- tance outside. The country beyond, to the banks of the Ten- nessee, is very much broken by ridges, valley streams, and marshes. The approach was rendered more difficult from the fact that, in his retreat from Pittsbiu'g, the bridges over the creeks had been destroyed by Beauregard, and the roads heavily obstmcted by timber. Farmington, on the east, and College Hill, on the north, are the highest points in the immediate vicinity of Corinth, and were occupied by the enemy as the signal-outposts of his vast intrenchments, en- cu-cling the town. The advance of the Union- army upon Corinth was deter- mined upon by General Halleck, as soon as the battle of Pitts- bui'g Landing had been fought. Had Beauregard won that, battle, the advance would have been impossible : as Grant won it, it was the next obvious move upon thQ chess-board. On the 8th of April, as we have seen, Sherman had recon- noitred the retreat of the enemy, with two brigades and a cavah-y force, and had foimd the roads very bad. But the badness of the roads was compensated for by the signs of haste in the enemy's retreat. They were strewed with the accoutre- ments^ wagons, ambulances, and hmber-boxes of the retiring rebels ; who had also, as an expedient to save time, left here and there a hospital flag flying. Sherman returned that same night to Pittsburg, to report. On the 9th of April, Halleck left St. Louis for the scene of action. But before his arrival Grant had not been idle. He had sent an expedition under Sherman up the Tennessee, accompanied by the gunboats, as far as East2iort, to destroy the railroad-bridge over Big Bear Creek, east of luka. This was effectually done, and thus Corinth was cut oif by that route from Eichmond. On the 22d of April, General Jolm Pope came up to the landing, with his army, fi-om New Madrid, twenty-five thou- sand strong. On the 30th, General Wallace was sent through THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. 103 Purely to tlie track four miles beyond, to destroy tlie bridge across the Mobile and Ohio railroad ; thus cutting off supplies and re-enforcements that might come from Jackson, Tennes- see. This also was effectually done. These precautions having been taken, the " Grand Ai'my of the Tennessee"— one hundred and twenty thousand strong- was ready to move, which it did with the greatest caution. On the 1st of May, Monterey, a town about haK-way from the landing to Corinth, was occupied ; and on the 2d, Beauregard, being now assured of our purpose, prepared to receive Hal- leck's attack. TMiatever his hopes may have been, his words were defiant. In gi-andiloquent orders, to the invincible " soldiers of Shiloh and Elkhorn,"*— in both which battles the Confederates had been defeated,--he assured them of victory, and invoked an echo fi'om " the historic fields of Yorktown," which, it so happened, were hastily evacuated the very day on which his order was written. He is unfortimate with a pen, but in this respect does not differ fi-om many other generals on both sides, who do violence to the adage, that " the pen is mightier than the sword." Beauregard's army, concentrated at Corinth, was composed * Headquai'.teks of the Forces at Corinth, MISS.^ May 8, 1862. Soldiers op Shiloh and Elkhorn !— We are about to meet once more, in the shock of battle, the invaders of our soil, the despoilers of our homes, the disturbers of our family ties, face to face, hand to hand. We are to decide whether we are to be freemen, or vile slaves of those who are only free in name, and who but yesterday were vanquished, although in largely superior num- bers, in their own encampments, on the ever memorable field of Shiloh. Let the impending battle decide our fate, and add a more illustrious page to the history of our revolution — one to which our children will point with noble pride, saying — " Our fathers were at the battle of Corinth." I congratulate you on your timely junction. With our mingled banners, for the first time during the war, we sliall meet our foe in strength that should give us victory. Soldiers, can the result be doubtful? Shall we not drive back in Tennessee tlie presumptuous mercenaries collected for our subjugation ? One more manly eflRirf, and trusting in God and the justness of our cause, we shall recover more than we lately lost. Let the sound of our victorious guns be re-echoed by those of the Army of Virginia, on the litstoric battle-field of "i'orktown. * P. G, T. Beaxjkegaed, General commanding. 104 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. of several elements : tlie " soldiers of Sliiloli," the arni}^ wliicL bad fought at Pittsburg Lauding ; those of " Elkhorn," tlie combined army of Van Dorn and Price, from Ai'kansas and Missoui'i ; and the forces under General Lovell, which had evacuated New Orleans when, on the 28th of April, our gun- boats appeared before it. In addition to these, a large militia force had been hastily sent forward from Alabama, Missis- sippi, and Louisiana. Bragg, as second in rank, had com- mand of the "Army of the Mississippi." The old organization of the corps — under Hardee, Bragg, Breckinridge, and Polk — was retained. Breckinridge commanded the reserve, and Van Dorn the re-enforcements. The whole force was about sixty-five thousand men, most of them the best troops in the Confederacy ; and they were expected to accomphsh great things under Beauregard at Corinth. To drive this well-appointed and large army from its stronghold, and even, perhaps, to capture it, General Hal- leck moved with his large force, comprising three armies — the Army of the Tennessee,* originally General Grant's, now confided to General George H. Thomas and General John A. McClernand ; the Array of the Ohio, commanded by Don Carlos Buell, and composed of the divisions of McCook, T. J. Wood, Nelson, and Crittenden ; the Army of the Mississippi, General John Pope, originally containing three divisions, and re-enforced by one division fi'om General Curtis. Thomas formed the right wing, Buell the centre. Pope the left, and McClernand the reserve. Grant, being in orders second in command, retained the command of the district of West Ten- nessee, and had a general supervision of the right wing, under Thomas, and the reserves under McClernand. This general command of Grant also extended to the compiling of reports, ordering the discharge of soldiers on surgeon's certificate of disability, and similar duties. On the 3d of May, our advance had reached a point eight miles from Corinth, and, on the same day. Pope sent Painc's * See note at page 116. THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. " 105 division to reconnoitre, and, if possible, occupy Farmington, an important outpost of Corintli, already mentioned. The resistance made by the Confederate garrison of Farm- ington, four thousand five hundred strong, under General Marmaduke, was not by any means a vigorous one. Indeed he retired rapidly to Corinth, leaving his camps with all its supplies, and only thirty dead. At the time it seemed as though his orders had been to withdraw, but the subsequent efforts of the rebels to recover Farmington prove that this could not have been so. An artillery reconnoissance, well supported by cavalry, as far as Glendale, on the Memphis and Charleston Kailroad, was successful in destroying the track and breaking up two important trestle-bridges. HaUeck's scheme was work- ing well ; we were gradually approaching in front, and at tke same time cutting and recutting the communications on both flanks. Meanwhile Beauregard, while apparently plying tooth and nail to render Corinth impregnable, was already medi- tating an evacuation and retreat. We have said the advance was made with great caution ; the movements of the several armies .were in a kind of eche- lon, and at every step strong intrenchments were the order of the day. If Beauregard was fortified at Corinth, Halleck was equally so in almost every encampment. It is easy now to say, and to say truly, that the caution was too gTeat and the approaches too slow, but that was our day of experiments. The rebel defences at Corintli were very strong. In a general way, they may be described as a continued line of in- trenchments, occupying the brow of the first ridge outside of the town of which we have spoken. On the east there was a ravine, and Philip's Creek in front ; on the north was a hea^y abatis, and a cleared space in front. The exterior lines were fifteen miles long — a miniature Torres Yedras— and at every road-crossing there were either strong redoubts, or batteries with massive epaulments. Here, as always in engineering, Beauregard had acquitted himself well, not without pride that his work was now to test the skill of his fellow West Pointer and engineer, Halleck. 5* IQQ CIKANT AND TUB CAMPATCJNS. The experience of tlie last battle had taught our generals the value of intrenchments, by the dangers which their absence incurred, and now aU our approaches were strengthened by the spade, or such other impromptu implement as often takes its place. A crib of fence-rails, hastily made, was the recep- tacle into which the earth was throwTi : the batteries were made heavier than the lines, and the log-houses in the vicinity formed rude but strong platforms for the guns. The right wing of Thomas and McClernand in reserve, all under Grant's general supervision, moved in three columns ; the centre, under Buell, m two, while Pope occupied Farming- ton with one column from the north and one from the east. THE BATTLE OF FAEMINGTON. On the 9th of May, the battle of Farmington was fought. The rebel general was not content to let General Pope retain the position so easily gained, and hold the front of that town with a single brigade, separated from it by a small stream. Launching with great rapidity and secrecy a force of twenty thousand men, the enemy fell upon this advanced brigade of Pope's army, which, though separated from the rest, had been advantageously posted, under the supervision of Gener- als Paine and Palmer. It resisted the attack for several hoiu^s, but at length fell back, because it was beheved that General Halleck did not desii'e, by supporting it, to brmg on a general engagement. The front attack of the enemy w^as conducted by Yan Dorn, while Price had been ordered early in the day , to make a detour around our extreme left, and get into the rear of these isolated troops. Either he was too late, or Van Dorn too early. The combination was a failure ; they did not capture any f)ortion of Pope's army, althaugh they occu- pied Farmington, and found a small quantity of baggage there. By a little foresight and valor, they need never have lost it ; with a stronger advanced force. Pope might have held it against these last attacks. V^e need not stop to detail the i)ainfully slow approaches THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. 107 to Corintli. The digging was excessive. A slight advance of four miles brought a new parallel. In later days, when flank- ing movements were better understood — the days of Chatta- nooga, and of the Wilderness and>Spottsylvania— ^the evacua- tion of Corinth would have been greatly expedited. Without designing to be critical, we can only now beheve that, in the process of education which our generals were receiving, the no-intrencliments at Pittsburg led to the excess at Corinth : safe practice certainly, but rather expensive, and utterly unneces- sary. The happy medium was fully developed in our later campaigns ; but they had all this experience to act upon. On the 17th, the army, eager for action, was enhvened by a gallant battle on a small scale — that projected by Sherman for the capture of Russel's house. This was an important eminence, commanding the junction of the roads three hun- dred yards beyond, and only a mile and a quarter from the enemy's outer intrenchments. General Hurlbut sent two re- giments and a battery on the road leading from his front to Bussel's house. The attackmg force consisted of General Denver, with two regiments and a battery, mov-ing by the right, and General M. L. Smith in front. The attack was successful : the position, found to be of great natural strength, was at once fortified and occupied by a large force. At length, on the 21st of May, we were fairly in line, three miles from Corinth, with detached works in our fi'ont corre- sponding A^dth the general direction of those of the enemy. A desperate striiggle was at last to be expected, when the spade should give way to the bayonet. Would the enemy stand up for the fight? No one doubted that he would. Corinth would fall, but not before, at least, one desperate struggle had been made in its defence. Such was the general behef. ELLIOTTS RAID. The position of Beauregard was now becoming critical : his raih'oad communications were cut atPurdy and Glendale ; the 108 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. bridges had been destroyed beyond luka. To isolate him completely, making either a vigorous attack or an evacuation the only alternatives, Halleck now ordered his southern com- munications to be interrupted. This was done by Colonel EUiott, of the Second Iowa cavalry (a captain in the United States cavalry), who, with his regiment and the Second Michigan cavalry, marched on the night of the 27th. His route was from Farmington, across the raikoad east to luka ; then along the Tuscumbia road to Cartersville and Boones- ville, twenty-j&ve miles distant. The expedition was well con- ducted, and enthely successful : the surprise of the people tilong the route was very great ; and there was no Httle con- sternation in the army of Beauregard. Elliott destroyed at Boonesville five cars loaded with arms, five containing loose ammunition, six filled with officers' baggage, and five with subsistence stores. He paroled the prisoners and the sick whom he found in his route, burnt train? and depots, and de- stroyed many locomotives. His work was done in the most admirable manner, and he set out upon his perilous return. He had been directed, in the event of finding his pathway blocked in returning, to strike oif, and choose his own route to return. But, by taking the Tuscumbia road, he eluded pursuit, and joined General Pope's army on the 31st. For this service he^as afterwards made, as he fuUy deserved to be, a brigadier-general of volunteers. THE EVACUATION OF CORINTH. And now, by slow movements, our combined forces have closely embraced the Confederate lines. On the 28th, Halleck advances three strong reconnoitring columns, one from each army : on the 28th, also, Sherman attacks a strong position in his front, commanded by a house which had been arranged for defence, like a blockhouse, and takes it, estabhshing his linos -within a thousand yards of the enemy : on the 30th, Pope's batteries are opened. But tliey will not be needed. THE SIEGE OF CCEINTH. 1Q9 Tlie rebels are evacuating Coriutli. Tlio fierce display is but a mask. They liad beguu their preparations for retreat on the 26th. The musketry ceases on Friday. Soon clouds of smoke and sheets of flame announce that Beauregard is tiring the town ; and as he moves out, filling the southern and western roads, our forces move in. He has destroyed all that he can, and is off. The " sol- diers of Shiloli and Elkhorn" may now put " Corinth" on their colors ! With an immense army, after loud boasts and protestations, in a position and with works of amazing strength, why has he fled without a blow ? His own statements are such as would indeed make De- mocritus laugh, if he still lived. In his report, written at Tu- pelo, on the 13th of June, he declares that he had " accom- plished his purposes and ends." He denies Elliott's capture of cars, etc., and charges him with inhumanities in burning his sick soldiers, — criminations ably and boldly answered in a letter by Gordon Granger, to which Beauregard has not vouchsafed a reply. He says he twice ofl'ered battle, which we declined ; and the appearance he would put upon mattei's is, simply, that the occupation of Corinth was merely a tempo- rary shift, and that it was to be abandoned when weightier matters, then in train, should have made sufficient progress. How does this agree with his former declarations, that Corinth was " the strategic point of that campaign,"' and that " he could hold it?" The facts in the case are few and simple. His strategy was entirely at fault. He must either drive back Halleck's army, or abandon Corinth ; he could not stay there. When he fought the battle at the landing, he expected to overpower Grant. That was his first failure. Hd considered the Mississippi secure, both above and be- low ; whereas New Orleans and Island No. 10 feU, Yicksburg was not yet strong, and Memphis was shaking to its centre. Farragut had attacked Forts St. Pliihp and Jackson on the 18tli of April ; had destroyed the rebel fl^et of thirteen gunboats and three rams ; and had so isolated the forts that they sur- 110 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. rendered on the 28th. On the same day Lovell reth-ed, and New Orleans was ours. By its capture, the heaviest blow of the war, up to that time, had fallen upon them. Unprepared for such crushing disasters, the entire people of rebeldom be- gan to -exhibit signs of distrust, and even the " soldiers of Shiloh and Elkhorn" were in no condition to bear our attack. Under the influence of these moral and strategical causes, like the massive portal of that Corinth of which Byron de- scribes the fall, "It bends — it falls — and all is o'er; Lost Corintli may resist no more." Virginia was in a blaze of lurid fires, with the advance of McClellan. Yorktown was evacuated on the 3d and 4th of May ; Norfolk on the 10th. Pensacola and Natchez came into . Federal possession on the 12th. The second great rebel Kne in the West had dissolved like the fabric of a dream, and the enemy must fall back on the third and last — that upon which the strategic points were Vicksburg, Jackson, Meridian, and Selma. Unfortunately, notwithstanding the clear intelligence and dashing valor of General O. M. Mitchel, they were still to hold Chattanooga, which was long to be to them a tower of strength, and to us a cause of great trouble, carnage, and de- lay. But, to an unprejudiced eye, it was evident that the de- cree had gone forth. Line after line had been cut. Boasting of victory, they had retreated from every field ; but ever hope- ful, ever deluded by su-en voices, the rebels prolonged the war, when, by a simple application of military princiiDles,. it became dail}' more manifest that success was impossible. The occupation of Corinth by our forces was both pictur- esque and inspiring. From the highest points of the rebel intrenchments it was a magnificent sight, on that brilliant May morning. The eye ranged over a horizon five miles dis- tant, and the intervening space was glistening with bayonets fluttering with banners, battle-torn, and inscribed with the ru- bricated glories of former fields ; and busy with martial Ufo THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. Ill Tiiey entered Corintli in triumpli and joy ; but, except tlie garrison hastily designated, not to stay there. THE ADVANCE. The pui'suit was immediately begun. On the 30th, at seven in the morning, Pope's advance drove the small rear-guard of rebel cavalry through the town, only stopped for a brief time by the burning of a bridge. Gordon Granger, brave and ar- dent, set out with a brigade and a battery on the Booneville road, from Farmington, at noon, and pushed the flying foe through Booneville. The next day he had crossed Twenty- mile Creek, the main army following close at his heels. On the 10th, our advance was at Baldwin and GuntoAvn, still on the raih-oad ; and at the latter point the pursuit ended. Beau- regard had taken a strong position at Tupelo, a few miles be- low, where the railroad is crossed by Old-town Creek, an affluent of the Tombigbee, and Halleck bethought himself of the safety of his communications and the strengthening of his base. And thus tlie brief campaign of Corinth was brought to an end. ' Although General Grant was not in command, as second in rank he was exceedingly active and eager, always on the field, constantly making valuable suggestions, and lending import- ant aid in achieving the final result. His position was a sin- gular, and in some respects a painful one ; but he was assured by Halleck that no censure was intended, but that his position was that due to his rank. We have no comments to miike. ^ We have dwelt upon the siege and capture of Corinth as a necessary hnk in the story of Grant's hfe. It was in pursu- ance of the plan formed before the battle of Pittsburg Land- ing was fought. It opened the way to the next and immortal campaign of Vicksburg, of which he was the projector, and in which he was to be the chief actor. To this, after a few de- tails of organization and preparation, we shall come. The Union army returned to Corinth, and remained there in busy labors, making ready for a new movement, until the 112 GRAI^T AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. 10th of June. The Teunessee River was already low, and tlie summer heats would make it lower ; so, in order to secure the communications when the river should fail, the railroad was put in good order to Columbus. Buell, with the Army of the Ohio, was detached, and sent towards Chattanooga, while Grant's army occupied the new strategic line of railroad which the rebels had lost, from Memphis to luka, and which they were never to regain. CO-OPERATING MOVEMENTS. Pending the operations which we have been describing, two grand co-operating movements were in progress, which mate- rially aided the advance on Corinth, and had such important direct results that we must briefly allude to them. Indeed, so thoroughly are the parts of the great war in relation with each other, that no campaign can be properly described with- out S, reference to the co-ordinate movements. The first was General Mitchel's rapid march and captures in Northern Alabama ; and the second, the successful advance of our naval armament on the Mississippi. Let us take them in order. mitchel's maech. General Ormsby McKnight Mitchel, a graduate of "West Point, the founder of the astronomical observatory at Cincin- nati, and the director of that at Albany, had brought to the service of the country, energy, intelligence, patriotism, and a genius for war. His career in this war was brief but brilliant, and his exploits at the Southwest excited the admhation of the whole country. Originally commanding a division in Buell's army, he had been detached to act, to some degree, independently, when , that army marched to join Grant at Pittsburg. Early in March he was at Murfreesboro'. On the 6th of April ho marched to Shelby ville ; on the IQth he was at Fayetteville, and on the 11th he reached Hiintsville, in Alabama. There,- THE SIEGE OP CORINTH. - 113 seizing the roUing-stock, lie immediately sent out two railway expeditions, east and west, to Decatur and Stevenson, con- ducting the latter in person. He thus threw the whole of the adjacent country into a panic. Taking advantage of this, he marched towards Chattanooga, which he saw at once to be a most important strategic point. He called for re-enforce- ments, but they could not be had ; and he was fain, therefore, to draw back, not having accomplished all he desired, but writing, however, to tloB Secretary of War, under date of May 1 : " The campaign is ended, and I now occupy Huntsville in perfect security ; while all of Alabama, north of the Tennessee Jliver, floats no flag but that of the Union." In that day of experiments and caution, Mitchel's fault was seeing too far and daring too much. THE NAVY ON THE MISSISSIPPI. Let us now look at the state of affairs on the Mississippi. On the 12th of April, Commodore Foote, with his fleet of gun- boats and mortar-boats, had steamed down the river from New Madrid on a new voyage of discovery, with the divisions of Stanley, Hamilton, and Palmer on transports. The first fortified point where they expected a check was Fort Pillow, a strong work on the Tennessee shore, about forty miles above Memphis, which was afterwards to have such atrocious noto- riety for the massacre of our prisoners by Forrest. It stands upon the first Chickasaw Bluff, near Islands Nos. 33 and 34, and sixty-five miles above Memphis. As our fleet ap- proached, the rebel gunboats and rams kept retreating down at a respectful distance, turning back occasionally to try our strength. But when Pope's army was withdrawn to join the advance on Corinth, the expedition of Foote came to an end, or rather awaited the fall of Corinth. The effect of that fall was hke magic. After Beauregard had retreated. Fort Pillow was evacuated, on the 4th of June. Fort Piandall, some miles below, was abandoned by the enemy soon after, and the great river was open to Memphis. 114, GRANT AND HIS CAilPAIGNS. THE FIGHT AT MElIPHIg. The people of Memphis, emboldened by the presence of a formidable rebel fleet, and encouraged by the confident pre- dictions of its commander, Commodore Montgomery, that he would " soon send Lincoln's gunboats to the bottom," had col- lected upon the banks of the river, and at all points of ob- servation in the city, to see this great sight, not at all doubt- ful of the result. Commodore Foote had, at his own request, on the score of his health, which had greatly suffered, been relieved from duty, and our fleet was now in charge of Commodore Charles Henry Davis, an officer well known for his scientific attain- ments, and who was now determined to lose no time in win- ning honors like those which a grateful country had awarded to the gallant Foote. Memphis gave him a splendid opportu- nity, and he made the most of it. On the 5th of June he left Fort Pillow, with a fleet of nine boats — five gimboats, two tugs, and Colonel EUet's tv»'o rams, the Queen Cit}^ and Mon- arch. To oppose this force Montgomery had eight boats, mounting twentj^-four guns, most of them rifled and pivoted. Want of space, and direct relevancy to the subject, forbid our describing the famous battle. It should be read in its ter- ribly picturesque details. The city on the hill-side, like the tiers in an amphitheatre ; the crowding inhabitants, eager, bitter, hopeful, and breathless ; the hostile hues of armed ves- t sels • the roar of their artillery ; the Queen City, under Colo- nel Ellet, crus^hing in the sides of the Price like pasteboard ; the Monarch, under Captain Ellet, drenching the Beauregcud with boiling water ; the burning of the boats ; the humanity of Davis and his men, as they pick up the drowning rebels ; the explosion of the Jeff. Thompson, which shakes Memphis. 1 to iti? foundations ; such are some of the elements of this grand I)ictorial display. We can only state the results. The rebel flotiha, rammed by Ellet's boats, and torn to pieces by our .shot, was put entirely hors de coinhat. Three of the largest vessels, the Price, Beauregard, and Lovell, were sunk ; one, THE SIEGE OF CORINTH. II5 the Jeff. Thompson, was burned; and the three others, the Bragg, Sumter, and Little Rebel, were ca23tured. It was a cle'an sweep, and with no loss to ourselves. Colonel Ellet was the only man wounded, and his ram, the Queen City, the only boat disabled, and that but temporarily. It was a gallant ac- tion, and "will rank high among the most memorable achieve- ments of the navy. Memphis, a hot-bed of treason, was thus brought into our possession, on the 6th of June. The river was open to Vicks- burg, above and below, and the new element, waited and longed for by Grant, had^ at length fairly come into his calcu- lation. " On to Vicksburg" was now his cry, not to be abated until Yicksburg should fall, and the great river, upon which the last chances of rebel success depended, flow, with Union boats, barges, and commerce, " unvexed to the sea." NEW EFFORTS OF THE ENEMY. % But the rebels were now fairly awake to their condition. If the people were alarmed and distrustful, and ready, upon Federal occupancy, to " come back to thejr old allegiance," the responsible leaders, selfish, clever, and determined, made good use of the lessons of disaster. The war was inaugurated for them and by them, and the people must be made to carry it on for their behoof. If they could not, as at first, " fire the Southern heart," they could at least press the Southern body into service ; and this they did in a most unscrupulous and ty- rannical, but effective manner. A sweeping conscription act was passed by the Confederate Congress, giving virtual power to the President to call out and place in the military service all-white men between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, for three years or the war. No military despotism was e\.ev so severe and so uncompromising. A httle later, camps of instruction were established in each State : the levies were distributed according to a proportional system among the States ; heutenant-generals were appoint- ed, to command corps and departments ; and troops from tlio 116 GRANT AND HIS CAMPAIGNS. same State were brigaded together, — tliis latter being an infini- tessimal concession to the Grand Lama of States-rights. In a word, evei}^ nerve was strained by the Confederate authori- ties to regain lost ground, repair their broken fortunes, and achiere, at least, a partial success. The results were striking. The disasters of the spring of 1862 were followed by the successes of the Peninsula, the vic- tories of the second Bull Run, and the advance into Mary- land. Rebel troops gathered in large numbers in the West, and Grant was to have no easy task ia his advance upon Yicksburg. The first step towards Yicksburg was the capture and occu- pation of Holly Springs, by Sherman, on the 30th of June. Note. — Beauregard left the army at Tupelo on tlie IStli of June, relievinG; himself from duty, on account of ill-health, which he certified by the opinion of two surgeons. For two months he was in retirement with his family at Mobile and Bladon Springs ; and turned up again at Charleston, m an unimportant command. He had evidently fallen under the displeasure of the Davis admin- istration.* * The rationale of this is thus presented by the Confederate General Jordan, in an excellent articl^on Jefferson Davis, ui Harper's Monthly Magazine for October, 1S65: " General Beaiire^aril, for some time in bad liealth, tliousht it best for the service to take advantage of the lull in ojieiations, incident to llie position' of his army at Tupelo, after tiic suc; cessful evacuation of Corinth, an