900. 0609 : OIOI tt .f ,t r-.^-'ir.tfic-rttftfjc.M^j*,. *\4\^\r%*%> i*j'.^\*\f ^->f^^tf>fr^tr:t€.^r'if tfW • i^Affek-^^i!^//^^ PICTORIAL HISTORY THE CIVIL WAR UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. By BENSON J. LOSSING, ILLUSTRATED BY MANY HUNDEED ENGEAVINGS ON WOOD, BY LOSSING AND BAEEITT, FEOM SKETCHES BY THE AUTHOE AND OTHEES. VOLUME IL HARTFORD: T. BELZNAP, PUBLISHER. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S66, By-,SENSON j. LOSSING, In the Clerk's Office of the District Conrtof the United States for the Southern %^' District of -New "S^»^. v.y'' PRE FA C E. HE peculiar circumstances under which this work has been prepared, caused a much longer interval between the appearance of the first and second volumes than Avas ex pected ; but the delay has been an advan tage to the book, because it has enabled the authoi- to procure and use more authentic and valuable materials than could have been obtained earlier, especially from Confederate sources. An essential part of the original plan of the writer, and which has been carried out, was to make a personal visit to the principal battle-fields and other places of interest connected with the Civil War. This could not be done within the Con federate lines during the war, and it was difficult to do so in many places for several mDuths after the conflict had ceased. As much as possible of this labor was accomplished before the completion of the first volume, in which the events of the con flict, civil and military, to the close of the flrst battle of Bull's Eun, are recorded. After the flrst volurae was completed, in the spring of 1866, the writer made a journey of several thousand miles in visiting the historical localities within the bounds of the Confederacy, observing the topography of battle-fields and the region of the movements of the great armies, making sketches, conversing ¦with actors in the scenes, procuring documents, and iu every possible way gathering valuable materials for the work. The writer bore a cordial letter of inti'oduction from Greneral Grant to any officer commanding a military post within the late Slave- labor States, asking him to afford the bearer every facility in his power. To General O. O. Howard the writer was also indebted for a similar letter, directed to any agent of the Freedmen's Bureau, These, and the kind services everywhere proffered by. 4 PREFACE. and received from, pei'sons who had been in the Confederate ar mies, procured for the author extraordinary facilities for gather ing historical materials, and he was enabled to send and bring home a large araount of valuable matter. This had to be care fully examined and collated. In this and kindred labor, and in the construction of small illustrative maps, and the preparation of the sketches for the engraver, all by his own hands, months were consumed, and the delay in the appearance of the second volume was the consequence. The interval between the appearance of the second and third volumes will be much shorter. The latter (which will conclude the work) will be ready for publication, it is believed, early in the ensuing spring. The present volume includes the record of the war eastward of the Alleghany Mountains to the close of the liattle of Fredericksburg, in the operations of the Army of the Potomac ; the beginning of the siege of Charleston ; the movements of the armies of the Ohio and of the Cumberland to the close of the battle of Murfreesboro', and of the armies of Tennessee, Missouri, and the Gulf, to the fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, Since the appearance of the first volume, George W. Childs has relinquished the publication of the work, and it has been assumed by Thomas Belknap. Mr. Childs relinquished it because his entire attention was needed in the business of pub lishing the Public Ledger newspaper, of Philadelphia, of which he became proprietor just before the first volume of this work was finished, Mr, Belknap will relax no efforts in giving it every excellence in its publication promised by Mr, Childs, B. J. L, PouSHKEEPSIE, N. Y., SeptembtT, 1867. VOLUME II. CHAPTER I. EFFECT OF THE BATTLE OF BULL's EUN. — EEOEGANIZATION OF THE AEMT OF THE POTOMAC. CONGEESS AND THE COUNCIL OF THE CONSPIEATOES. — EAST TENNESSEE. Effect of the Battle of Bull's Eun, page 17.~The Story in both Sections— Scenes in Kiehmond and in Washing ton—A sad Picture, IS.— The Story in Eui-ope— Hopes and Predictions of tbe Euling Classes there— lielative Position of the. Combatants, 19.— Another Uprising of the Peoplf— The Exultation of the Confederates— The "United South," how formed, 20.— Sufferings of Sonthern Unionists— The Confode^'s Army immovable — Jefferson Davis a Marplot, 21. — Wby the Confederate Army was immovable — Alarm of the Conspirators, 22.— General McClellan at the Head of the Army of the Potomac— Reorganization of that Army, 23.— The Defenses of Washington, 24.— Purchase of Arrns for the Government— Domestic Manufactures of Arms, 25. — Prisoners taken at Buirs Eun, in Eiehmond — Tobacco Warehouse Prison and Commissary Winder, 26. — "Eiehmond Prison Association" — Kind Women in Eiehmond, 27. — Object of the War declared by Congress — Measures for crushing the Eebellion opposed, 2S — Thaddeus Stevens's Warnings — Peace Proposition, 29. — A National Loan authorized, 30. — Appeal (jf the Secretary of the Treasury, and tbe Eesponse — Tbe Pro visional Congres3 of the Conspirators, CI.— Jeffi-rson Davis's Misstatements. 32. — Determination of Davis and Ms Fellow-Conspirators to wacre War vigorously — Confiscations, 33. — Protection of Pirates — Davis's so-called "Departments," and tbeir Heads, 34. — Persecution of Union Men, 35 — Outrages in East Tennes see, 36. — Brownlow and other Loyalists hunted— Blood-Hounds, 37. — Unionists in Prison — Biutal Order of Judah P. Benjamin, 88.— Brown low's Defiance— His Eelease, 89. — Writs of Garnishment— Denunciations by Pcttigru, 40. — Pettigru's Actions reviewed, 41. CHAPTER n. CIYIL AND MILITAET OPEEATIONS IN MISSOUEl. Position of National Troops in Missouri— Sigers Pursuit of Price, 42.— Battle near Carthage, 43.— Sigel's Eetreat to Springfield — Lyon's March Southward, 44.— He hastens toward Springfield — Confederates Marching on that Town, 45. — Lyon goes out to meet them— Battle at Uug Springs, 46. — Price and McCulloch at variance — The Confederates at Wilson's Creek, 47. — Lyon marches out to attack thera, 48. — Battle of Wilson's Creek, 49. — Death of General Lyon — Major Sturgis in command — Sigel'a Troops lost by a Trick of the Con federates, 58. — A Drawn Battle — Eetreat of the National Troops Northward, 54 — Guerrillas in Missouri- Activity of Union Troops— Civil Affairs in Missouri, 55.~Promises of Protection to Slavery— 'Movements of the Missouri Traitors— A Military Despotism proclaimed, 56. — Operations of Hardee, Thompson, and Pillow, 57. — Measures for annexing Missouri to the Confederacy, 5S, — General Fremont in command m tho Western Department — His Embarrassments, 59. — Aspect of Affairs in his Department — Kentucky Neu trality a Help to the Insurgents, 60. — Cairo and its Vicinity strengthened — Pillow anxious for a Union of Confederate Forces, 61. — The Confederates alarmed — Polk orders Pillow to fly from Missouri, 62. — Activity of Missouri Secessionists — Guerrilla Bands, 63.^Fremont proclaims Martial Law throughout Missouri— Secessionists rigorously treated — Fremont's Emancipation Proclamation, 64. — Tho Proclamation modified by the President— Relations of the Government to Slavery, 65. 6 . OONTENTS. CHAPTEE III. MILITAKT OPEEATIONS IN MISSODKI AND KENTUCKY. Ben. MeCulloch's Proclamation — Price's Appeal to tho Missourians, C6. — Lexington fortified — Price attaclts the Post, 6T.— Siege of Lexington— .Mulligan expects Ee-enforcements— A Severe Struggle, 68.— Fi-emont called npon for Troops — Whj' Mulligan was not re-enforced, 70.— Fremont assailed — lie puts an Army in motion — IMllow's Designs on Cairo, 71.— Kentucky Neutrality — Conference between McClellan and Bucltner — Magoffin encourages the Secessionists, 72. — Union Military Camps in Iventncky — Magoffin rebuked by the President, 7-3. — The Confederates invade Kentucky — Seizure of Columbus, 74. — ZollicolTer invades Eastern Kentucky — The Kentucky Legislature against the Confederates, 75. — General Grant takes Military Posses sion of Paducah — End of the Neutrality — Flight of Secessionists, 7G. — Ex Tice-President Breckenridge among the Traitors — Operations of Fiuckner — General Anderson's C(»unter-action, 77. — Seed of the Army of the Cumberland planted — The Confederate Forces in Missouri in chock — Price retreats toward arkan- sas, 7S. — Fremont's Array pursues him — Passage of the Os.ige — Fremont's Plans, 79. — The Charge of Fre mont's Bodj'-guard at Springfield, SO. — Fremont's Army at Springfield — Success of National Troops in Eastern Missouri, Sl. — Thompson's Guerrillas dispersed — Comidaints anainst Fremont, S2, — Fremont succeeded in command by Hunter — Preparations for a Battle, 83. — Fremont returns to St. Louis — His Reception, 84 — General Grant in Kentucky, So. — Expedition duU.mac. 129,-Preparations for nwr,Oi'in<. 'on Eicamona-Keilrament of GenciMl Scott, lOii.-Orgauizutlon and Equipment of the \rmy (,f tlio P, ' T -.„¦ CONTENTS. 7 -French Princes on McClbllan's Staff, 131. — Position of the Army of the Potomac— Its Departments, 132. —Keviews— Hostile Demonstrations, 133.- A Land arid Naval Expedition down the Potomac planned— Its Failure — The Potomac Blockade, 134. — Re connoissance near Washington City — Committee on the Conduct ofthe War, 135. — Confederates evacuate Munson^'s Hill — "Quaker Guns," 186.— Expedition to Harper's Ferry, 18T. — Capture of Harper's Ferry— The Combatants along the Potomac, 138.— Movements on the Potomac, 139.— Invasion of Virginia, 140.— Senator E. D. Baker and his Troops, 141.— Battle of Bull's Bluff, 142. — A Terrible Scene on the Eiver, 143. — Disaster to the National Arms, 144.— The Hrjnored Dead- Explanation demanded, 145. — The Case of General Stone, 146.— A Prisoner of State, 147. — The Baltimore Plot, 148.— How Mr. Lincoln's Life was saved. 149. CHAPTER YL THE AEMY OF THE POTOMAC. THE TRENT AFFAIR. — OAPTUEE OF EOANOKE ISLAND. Immobility of the Grand Army ofthe Potomac, 150. — Confederate Incursions— A Battle near Drainsville, 151.— r Feeling in Europe in Favor of the Conspirators — Expression of Leading Men in Great Britain, 152. — Depar ture of Mason and Slidell for Europe as " Embassadors " of the '^ Confederate States," 153. — Thyir cordial Reception at Havana— They embark for England in the Steamer Trent,, aud are captured by Captain "Wilkes, 154. — Mason and Slidell in Fort Warren — Wilkes's Act applauded by all loyal Men, 155. — Appro val of the Secretary of the Navy — The Wisdom of President Lincoln, 156. — British Theory and Practice concerning Neutrals, 157. — The British demand the Release of the '* Embassadors " — Abuse of the American People by the British Press and Orators, 15S. — The Liberal Mind of England represented by John Bright and a few others, 159. — The British Government demands the Release of Mason and Slidell, 160. — Concilia tory Action of the American Government met by Duplicity and Truculence, 161. — American Principles concerning the Eights of Neutrals vindicated, 162.- Arguments of the Secretary of State, 163.— Surrender of the "Embassadors" to British Custody, 1G4. — Enemies of the Eepublic hopeful, 165.— The Government strengthened, 166. — The "Burnside Expedition '"-A Terrible Storm, 167.- The Expedition at Hatteras Inlet, 168. — The Confederates' on Eoanoke Island, 169.— Attack on the Confederate Works there bythe National Fleet— Landing of National Troops, 170.— Battle of Eoanoke Island, 171.— Capture of the Island and the Confederate Army, 178.— Elizabeth City taken, 174. — Medals of Honor bestowed, 175.— The Nation als control Albemarle Sound, 176.— Appeals to the North Carolinians, 177,— Spirit of the Loyal and the Disloyal,, 178. CHAPTER YH. MILITAEY OPEEATIONS IN MISSOUEl, NEW MEXICO, AND KENTUCKY. — OAPTUEE OF FORT HENEY. Position of the Armies in the Mississippi Valley — General Halleck in command of the Department of Mis souri, 179. — His rigorous Treatment of induential Secessionists, ISO.— Fugitive Slaves excluded from Mili tary Camps — Pope in Missouri — Price's Appeal to the Missourians, ISl, — Activity of the Confederates — Battle on the Blackwater, 182. — Halleck declares Martial Law in St. Louis— Price driven out of Missouri, 183. — Hunter's Operations in Kansas, 1S4. — Treason in New Mexico, 1S5. — Loyalty and Disloyalty witliin its Borders— General Canby and Colonel Sibley, 186. — Battle of Valverde- Texas Eangers, 187.— Sibley's Victories in, and final Expulsion from New Mexico, 168. ^Albert Sidney Johnston in the West — A Pro visional Government in Kentucky, 189. — War in Southern Kentucky, 190. — Battle of Piestonburg, 191.— Forces of Generals Buell and ZoUicoffer in Kentucky, 192.— Military Movements in Eastern Kentucky — The Confederates on the Cumberland, 193.— Battle of Mill Spring, 194.— Its Results— Death of ZoUicoffer, 195. — Beauregard sent tothe West, 196. — The Confederates in Kentucky and Tennessee, 197.— Their Fortifi cations in those States — A Naval Armament in Preparation at St. Louis, 198. — Foote's FlotilIa-7-Pi'epara tions to break the Confederate Line, 199. — Thomas's Movements toward East Tennessee, 200. — Expedition against Fort Henry, 201.— Operations of Gun-Boats on the Tennessee Eiver- Torpedoes, 202. — Attack on Fort Heni-y, 203.— Gaptm-e of the Post — Scene just beforo the Surrender, 204. — Effects of the Fall of Fort Henry, 205. CHAPTER YIII. SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON. Gim-Boat Expedition up the Tennessee Eiver, 206. — Commodore Foote in the Pulpit, 207.— Preparations for marching against Port Donelson, 208. — Character and Strength of Fort Donelson, 209. — Disposition of Forces for Battle, 210.— The CarondeUt—OX)Qu\n^ of the Battle, 211.— Defeat of tbe National Troops— Ari-iviil of CONTENTS. General Lewis Wallace's Command, 212.— Attack on the Water Batteries, 213.— The Confederates prepare for a Sortie, 214.— Severe Battle on the National Eight — General Lewis Wallace hastens to McClernand's Assistance, 215.— The Tide of Battle turned by Wallace, 216.— Grant on the Battle-Field— His Order for another Attack, 217.— Struggle on the National Left— Victory for the Nationals, 218.- Tho Confederates in Council- Conduct of their cowardly Leaders, 219.— Terms of Surrender, 220.— Surrender of Fort Donelson, 221.— Effect of the Fall of Fort Donelson, 222.— Floyd and Pillow disgraced, 223.— The Array Mail-Service, 224.— The Army Mail at Washington, 225.— A Voyag6 on the Cumberland River, 226.— Visit to Fort Donel son, 227.— Nashville, 229. CHAPTER IX. EVENTS AT NASHVILLE, COLUMBUS, NEW MADRID, ISLAND NUMBER TEN, AND PEA RIDGE. Advance of National Troops on Bowling Green, 230. — Panic in Nashville — Governor Harris crazy with Aff'right, 281. — Destruction of the Tennessee Iron Works — Clarksville, 232. — Flight of Confederate Troops from Nashville — Floyd and Pillow agaiu on the Winas of Feju-. 233. — Surrender of Nashv He. 284. — Expedtion against Columbus — Polk's Prtjparations to fly from it, 235.- Capture of Culumbus, 236. — Mines and Torpe does at Citlumbus — Island Number Ten, 23T. — Beauregard in command of Island Number Ten — His Call for Bells to cast int > Cannon, 238. — Pope's March on New Madrid — Confederates strengthening that Post, 239. — Transportation of SegeGuns — Capture of New Madrid, 240.— Strength *,f Island Number Ten — Foote prepared fur Actinn, 24L. — Attack on Co- federate Batter es — The Mortar Service, 242. — Pope at New Madrid — General Hamilton's Plan for flanking Island Number Ten by the Gun-Boats, 243. — Cnnstruction of a Flanking Canal, 244. — Passing of Is'and Number Ten by Gun-Bi ats — Success of the Canal Project, 245. — Island Number Ten abandoned— Obstructions in the Eiver, 246 — Capture of the Confederate Army, 247. — Effect of the Victory, 248. — The Confederates alarm* d — Memphis and New Orleans in Tenor, 249. — National Troops in Arkansas — Curtis in Pursuit of Price, 250. — Gathering of Confederate Forces — Curtis's Address to the Inhabitants of Arkansas — General Van Dorn. 251.— His Presence in the Confederate Camp — , His Address to h'8 Soldiers, 252. — Eelative Position of ihe National Tr.,ops — Van Dorn's Flanking Move ment, 2"j3.— He marches to attack— Curtis prepared to receive him, 254. — Opening of the Battle of Pea Eidge — Indinn Savnces led by Albert P ko— A severe Struggle, 255. — A general Battle — Carr's Struggle on the Eight, 256.— Night ends the Battle — Preparations by the Nationals for renewing it, 257. — Battle renewed in the Mornmg — The Nationals vuitorious. 258. — Eesult of the Battle — Atrocities of Pike's Indians, 259. — Curtis marches toward the Mississippi — The Indians, 260. CHAPTER X. GEKEEAL MITCHEl's INVASION OF ALABAMA. — THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. Grant and his victorious Army — Expedition up the Tennessee Eirer planned, 261. — Grant's Army on Trans ports on the Tennessee — Skirmish at Pittsburg Landing, 262. — Events near Pittsburg Landing — Sherman at Shiloh Church, 268. — Movements of BuelPs Army — Morgan, the Guerrilla Chief, 264. — MitchePs extraordi nary March Southward, 265. — Captm'e of Huntsville, Alabama, 266. — Memphis and Charlestipn Kailway seized— Grant's Army near Pittsburg Landing, 26T.— Its Position on the 6th of April, 26S.— The Confederate Army at Corinth — Its forward Movement, 269. — Preparations for Battle iiy the Confederates — The Nationals unsuspicious of Danger, 270. — Opening of the Battle of Sliiloh, 2T1. — First Day of the Battle of Shiloh, 278. General Grant on the B.attle-Field, 274. — Del'eat of the National Army, 2T5. — General Lewis Wallace's' Troops expected — The Cause of their DeLay, 276. — The Confederates prepare for a Night Attack, 277. — Arrival of Buell's Forces, 273. — Opening of the Second Day's Battle on tho Right by Wallace's Troops, 279. — The Struggle ou tho Left, 2S0.— The final Contest for Victory, 2S1. — Dofe.at of the Confederates on the Eight, 2S2.— Flight of the Confederate Army— Miseries ot the Eetreat, 288.— Disposition of the Dead— Jour ney from Meridian to Corintli, 2S4. — Visit to the Battle-Field of Shiloh — Journey from Corinth to tho Field, 285.— A Night on Shiloh Battle-Field, 2S6.— A Victim of the wicked Eebellion— Effects of Shot and Shell on the Battle-Ground, 287. CHAPTER SI. OPERATIONS IN BOUTHEllN TENNESSEE AND NOETHEEN MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA. Situation of the two Armies near Corinth, 283.— The Victory at Shiloh, and its Fruits— Public Eejolcings, 2S9 Forward Movements of tho National Army checked by Halleok— Mitohol's Troops driven from Tuscumbia CONTENTS. 9 and Decatur, 290. — Mitchel's Operations in the Direction of Chattanooga — Halleck moves Cautiously toward Corinth, 291.— The Confederate Army at Corintii — National Troops on detaobed .-service, 292. — The Siege of Corinth — Its Evacuation — Halleck's Surprise, 2;J3. — Beauregard's Flight Southward. 294. — Change of Con federate Commanders— Quiet of tlie National Army under General Halleck, 295 —Operations on the Missis sippi — The opposing Fleets— Siege of Fort Pillow, 296. — P.;ittle at Fort Pillow, 297 — Evacuation of Fort Randolph— Naval Battle bef(»rc Memphis, 293. — Capture of Memphis, 299 —Expeditions sent out by General Mitchel, 800.— Eaid on tbe Eailway^between Chattanooga and Atlanta, 3U1. — Capture and Execution of the Eaiders, 302. — Battle at Chattanooga — Capture of Cumberland Gap, 303. — Generals Buell and Mitchel, 304. CHAPTER XIL OPERATIONS ON THE COAST OF THE ATLANTIC AND THE GTJLE OF MEXICO. Expedition against New Berne — Landing ofthe Army below the Town, 305. — Battle near New Berne, 306. — Eout of the Confederates — Flight of Citizens, 31)7.— Ktfect of the Capture of New Berne, 308. — Christian "Work at New Berne — Mr. Colyer's Schools, 309. — Expedition against Fort Macon — The Naahtyille,, 310. — Preparations tu assail Fort Macon, 311. — Siege and Bombardment of the Fort, 312. — Fort Macon and its Vicinity in 1864, 813.— Expedition to Albemarle Sound— Battle of Soutli Mills, 314.— Oi)erations in the Eear of Norfolk— The Coast of North Carolina in Possesbion of Naticmal Troops, 315. — Blockade Eunners— Expedition against Fort Pulaski. 316.— Obstructions of the Savannah Eiver. 317.— Preparations to bombard Fort Pulaski, 818. — Bom bardment and Capture ofthe Fort, 319.— Expediti37 431. 6-39 432. 540 4-33. .-•^l 4-34. 541 435. 546 436. 437. 647 43S. 4-ngratutate every man of you whose privilege it was to participate in this triumph of courage and truth, to 18 WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND OONTEASTBD. the Army of the Potomac charged with the duty of seizing the Capital of the insurgents, driving them from Virginia, and relieving the City of Washington from all danger of capture. Whilst one section of the Republic was resonant with shouts of exulta tion, the other was silent because of the inaction of despondency. Whilst the Confederates were elated beyond measure by the seeming evidence given by the battle, of their own sui^erior skill and valor and tlie cowardice of their opponents, and thousands flocked to the standard of revolt from all parts of the Southern States, the Loyalists were stunned by the great disaster, and the seventy-five thousand three-months men, whose terms of service were about expiring, were, for the moment, made eager to leave the field and retire to their homes. Whilst in Richmond, now become the Caj)ital of the Confederation, the bells were ringing out merry jjeals of joy, and " the city seemed lifted up, and every one seemed to walk on air," and " the men in place felt that now they held their ofiices for life ;'" where Jeiferson Davis said to the multitude, when referring to the vanquished Nationals, with bitter scorn, " Never be haughty to the humble ;" where aU believed that Walker's prediction would that day be fulfilled, and the banner of Rebellion be unfurled from the dome of the Capitol in Washington,' and that the " tide of war would roll from that day northward into the enemy's country '" — the fertile fields and rich cities of the Free-labor States — ^there was terror and anguish, and the most gloomy visions of a ruined Republic at the seat ofthe National Government, and men in place there were not certain of filling their offices for an hour. Whilst the streets of Richmond were populous with prisoners from the vanquished army, and eager volunteers pressing on toward the camp of the victors at Manassas, the streets of Washington were crowded with discomfited and disheartened soldiery, without leaders, and without organization — the personification of the crushed hopes of tiie loyal people. Such was the sad picture of the situation of the Republic and of the "1861 relative character of the contending parties, much exaggerated, which was presented to Europe in the month of August." The first account of the battle, the panic that seized some, of the National troops, and the confused flight of soldiers and civilians back to Wash ington, was given to the Elder World through the London Times, the assumed and accredited exponent of the political and social opinions of the ruling class in England, by the pen of Dr. Russell," who did not see the con flict, and who was one of the most speedy and persevering of the civilians in fight m the battle of Manassas. You havc created an epoch in the history of liberty, and unborn nations will rise np and call you blessed. Continue this noble devotion, looking always to tho protection of a inst God and before time grows much older, we will be hailed as tho deliverera of a nation of ten millions of noonle Com ' rjides, our brothers who have fallen havc earned undying renown, and their blood, shed in our holv cause is •. precious and acceptable saeriflce to the Father of truth and right. Their graves are beside the tomb of Wash' Ington ; their spirits have joined his in eternal commune." Jefferson Davis addressed the people on his arrival at Richmond, on the evenirg of the 23d and boldlv declared that his troops had captured " everything tho enemy had in the field," including '• provisions enon.h to feed an army of 50,000 men for twelve raonths."-Eichmond papers, July 24. Davis's exaggeration is made plain by the statement that it would require move than 12,000 wagons to transport that amount of food ' A Rebel War Clerks Diary at the Confederate States Capital, pago 65, 2 See volume I., page 889. ' A Rebel War ClerKs Diary, page 65. * See note 8, pago 91, volume I, ENGLISH OPINION.— A CHANGE. 19 their eager flight from the suspected dangers of an imaginary pursuit of Con federate ca-\^alry. His was, in a great degree, a tale of the imagination, " founded on fact," and well served the conspirators for a brief season.' It excited among the ruling classes in Europe a derision of the loyal people and the Government of the United States, and the desires of the enemies of re publicanism and the sovereignty of the people were gratified. The ruin of the Great Republic of the West seemed to them almost as certain as a fact accomplished. English statesmen and journalists dogmatically asserted it, and deplored the folly and wickedness of the President and Congress, in " waging war upon Sovereign States," in vindication of an idea and a prin ciple, and attempting to hold in union, by force, a people who had the right and the desire to withdraw from a hated fellowship. It was declared that "the bubble of Democracy had burst." There was joyful wailing over " the late United States ;" and one of England's poets was constrained to write — "Alas for America's glory ! Ichabod — vanished outright ; And all the magnificent story Told as a dream of the night ! Alas for the Heroes and Sages, Saddened, in Hades, to know That what they had built for all ages, Melts like a palace of snow!" This relative condition of the parties was temporary. The loyal people instantly recovered from the stunning blow,'' and in that recovery awakened from the delusive dream that their armies were invincible, that the Confed erates were only passionate and not strong, and that the rebellion could be crushed in ninety days, as the hopeful Secretary of State had predicted, and continued to predict. It was evident that the battle just fought was only the beginning of a desperate struggle with the enemies of the Republic, who had made thorough preparation for the conflict, and had resolved to win the prize at all hazards. With this conviction of danger added to the sting of mortified national pride, the patriotism of the Loyalists was intensely exercised. The Government, which had been lulled into feelings of security by the song of its own egotism, and had hesitated when urged to engage more troops, " for three years or the war," was now also aroused to a painful sense of danger and the penalties of misjudgment ; and the Secretary of War, who had refused to sanction a call for a larger body of Pennsylvania volunteers ^ Although nearly disabled hy weariness of mind and body, Dr. Russell wrote his famous dispatch to the Times during the night succeeding his fiight from Centreville, that it might go to England by the next Boston steamer. "¦ The pen went flying about the paper," he says, " as if the spirits were playing tricks with it. When I screwed up my utmost resolution, the 'y's' would still run into long streaks, and the letters combine most curiously, and my eyes closed, and my pen slipped." After a brief nap, he was aroused hy a messenger frora Lord Lyons, to inquire after him, and invite him to supper. "I resumed my seat," he says, "haunted by the memory of the Boston mail, which would be closed in a few iours, and I had much to tell, although I had not seen the battle." On the testimony thus given, the Tim^s said (August 10, 1861) : " It is evident that the whole volunteer army of the Northern States is worthless as a military organization .... a screaming crowd ;" and spoke of it as a collection of " New York rowdies and Boston abolitionists, desolating the villages of Virginia." " Five days after the Battle of Bull's Run, the Secretary of State wrote to Mr. Adams, the American Minister in London, saying: "Our Army of the Potomac, ou Sunday last, met a reverse equally severe and unexpected. For a day or two the i>anic which had produced the result was followed by a panic that seemed to threaten to demoralize the country. But that evil has ceased^ already. The result is already seen in a vigorous reconstruction upon a scale' of greater magnitude and increased enthusiasm." 20 ANOTHER UPRISING.— UNIONISTS REPRESSED. than its prescribed quota, stating that "it was more importasnt to reduce than to enlarge the number,'" was now glad to receive all that might be ofiTered from every quarter. Then it was that the Pennsylvania Reserves, called into existence by Govemor Curtin, were so speedily transferred from Harrisburg to Washington,^ and gave security to the National Capital. Everywhere the people flew to arms with a feeling of devotion to then- country, deeper, because born of serious contemplation, than when Fort Sumter was attacked. There was another grand uprising; and within a fortnight after the Battle of Bull's Run, when the terms of service of the • seventy-five thousand three-months men had expired, more than an equal number were in camps or in the field, engaged "for three years or the war." Among them were a large portion of the three-months men, who had re-en listed. Nine-tenths of the non-combatants shared in the fervor and the faith of those who took up arms, and the people ofthe Free-labor States presented to the world a sublime spectacle difficult to comprehend. That terrible crisis in the life of the nation was promptly met, and the salvation of the Republic - was assured. In the mean time, the Confederates, flushed with victory, and satisfled that their so-called attorney-general (Benjamin) had predicted wisely, that pacification through recognition by France or England, or both, would occur "in ninety days," and their independence be secured, were wasting golden moments in celebrating their o'\vn valor.^ Yet, in the manner of that unthriftiness of time and opportunity, there was a potential force that gave amazing strength to the Confederacy. There was a prestige in that battle, and the celebration of the triumph, which almost silenced opposition to the war ; for multitudes, who had loved the Union supremely, and had no faitii in the success of the conspirators, now thought they saw a great revolution nearly accomplished, and themselves made part of a new nation carved suddenly by the sword out of the Republic, with whose fortunes it was their duty and their interest to link themselves. They had already suffered much from the despotism established by the conspirators ; and now, by an act of the "Congress,"" threatened with banishment and confiscation, " ^''*-g ™'' they were utterly helpless, and sought peace ahd reconciliation by a display of zeal in what was dignified by the name of a war for independence.'' That "united South" which the conspirators had falsely ^ General Patterson's ITarrative ofthe Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley. " See note 2, page 520,. volume I. 2 It Is reported that General Buckner, captured- at Fort Donelson several months afterward, while on his way to Fort Warren, at Boston, as a prisoner of war, said to a gentleman in Albany : "The effect of tliat battle was to inspire tlie Southerners with a blind confidence, and lull thein into false security. The effect upon tile Northerners, on the other hand, was to arouse, madden, and exasperate." * The pressure brought to bear on the Union men was terrible, and the youth of that class were driven into the army by thousands, because of the social proscription to which they were subjected. The zeal of the women in the cause of rebellion was unbounded, and their infiuence was extremely potential. Youn'^ men who hesitated when asked to enlist, or even waited to be asked, were shunned and sneered at b\" tho youno' women • and many were the articles of woman's apiiarel which were sent, as significant gifts, to these li^<'ards at lionie. Men who still dared to stand firm in their true allegiance, wore denounced as "traitors to their countrv " .ind treated as such; and the proscription nnd tlio persecution became so general and fiery, that Millie Mavfleld was justified in singing, with scornful lips — " Union men I 0 thrice-fooled fools! As well might ye hope to bind The desert gands with a silken thrcail. When tossed by the whirling wind. THE CONFEDERATE ARMY IMMOVABLE. 21 declared months before, now became a fact, and the terrible strife instantly assumed the proportions and the vigoi' of a civil war of unparalleled magni tude. Almost the entire resources of the inhabitants of the States in which rebellion existed were devoted to the cause, and with wonderful energy on both sides, the great conflict went on. During that conflict, while weaker men were in practical sympathy with the conspirators, there were thousands of the best men of the South, imbued with the martyr-spirit which reverences principle, who could not be made to yield to the terrible pressure, but main tained their integrity throughout. These unconditional Unionists suffered intensely in person and property, and large numbers perished. But the survivors were many, and offered to the nation, at the close of the war, the proper instrumentalities for co-operation with the Govemment in the reorganization of the disordered Union on a basis of justice, which should secure for the Republic, for all time, tranquillity and prosperity. When the shouts of triumph had died away, and the smoke of battle was dissipated, and the people of the Confederacy saw their victorious army immovable at Manassas and indisposed to follow up their victory, they were uneasy, and many a lip queried why " President " Davis, the chief of the army, returned so quickly to Richmond, and spent time in public boastings of the achievements of the present and in predictions of the future, instead of directing Johnston and Beauregard to press on after the fugitives and capture Washington City, the great and coveted prize? The immobility of their army was an enigma. It was an incubus on the spirits of the peojDle. While their tongues were jubilant, their hearts were misgiving. Johnston and Beauregard desired to press on, but the wisdom and the prudence of the first-named officer restrained his own impatience and the folly and rashness of the Creole ; and the perilous movement was delayed until it was too late to hope for success. Johnston knew that it- would be madness to follow the retreating Nationals, and hurl his wearied troops against the strong defenses of Washington, behind which they were resting, supported by fresh soldiers. But he was anxious to carry out his original plan of crossing the Potomac above the National Capital, cut off' that city's communications with the North, and capture it by a vigorous movement in the rear. But for a pursuit, or this grand flank movement, there were two essential re^quisites lacking — namely, a sufficient cavalry force, and means of subsistence, for which lack Confederate experts hold Davis responsible. It is agreed that he always seemed to take a delight in thwarting the wishes of others ; and with a most mischievous obstinacy he followed the dictates of his own will, passions, and caprice, rather than the counsels of judicious advisers. This disposition was conspicuous in his appointment to 'important offices of his incapable personal and political friends ; and the best of the Con federate army officers declare that, by his interference in details, he was a Or to blend the shattered waves that lash The feet of the cleaving rock. When tbe tempest walks the face ofthe deep. And the water-spirits mock. As the sacred chain lo reunite In a peaceful link again : On our burning homesteads ye may write, ' We found no Union men.' " 22 WHY THE CONFEDERATE ARMY WAS IMMOVABLE. marplot in the way of military affiiirs throughout the war. At the begin ning he appointed an incompetent arid vicious companion-in-arms at a former period, named Northrop, to the vitally importantpost of Chief of Subsistence. This was done in the face of earnest protests ; and now, at the first mo mentous trial, this Chief Commissary's incapacity was fatally conspicuous. Under the sanction, if not at the command of Davis, he refused to allow his subordinates to purchase supplies for the army at Manassas in the fertile country adjacent, but sent others to gather them in the rear ofthe anny, and forward them in daily doles, at heavy expense, by the Orange and Alexan dria Railway, exposed to the vicissitudes of war. He allowed no deposits of supplies to be established near the aiTuy ; and on the day ofthe battle, Beau regard had only a single day's rations for his troops.' For weeks afterward this state of things continued, and it was impossible for the army to move forward with safety, under such circumstances.' There it lay at Manassas for many weeks, its officers chafing with impatience, whilst an immense National army was gathering and organizing, and drilling in front of Wash ington City. Johnston made his head-quarters at Grigsby's house in Centreville.' He was compelled to content himself with sending out scouting and foraging parties, and guerrilla bands, who some times approached within cannon- shot of the National defenses oa Arlington Heights. The physical disabilities of the Confederates alluded to, were, probably, not the only reasons for the immobility of their army after the battle. Davis and his associates at Richmond well knew the strength of the lion of the North, which their wickedness had aroused. They had promised their dupes " peaceable secession," because they thought that strength would not be put forth. They found themselves mistaken, and their cause in great peril ; and they well knew, that if they should push on to the extremity of seizing Wash ington at that time, it would so consolidate and invoke to terrible action the power of the North, that the conspirators would not hold the National Capi tal ten days, nor prevent the utter extermination of the insurgent armies, and the desolation of their territories by an exasperated people. This moral effect they dreaded ; so they were content to have the vanity of their fol lowers gratified by the accident of a victory at Bull's Run, and hoped to accomplish, by negotiation and compromise, what they could not expect to win by arms. > GEIGSBT'a HOUSE, CENTREVILLE. ' Statement of General Thomas Jordan, then chief of Beauregard's staff, in Harper's Magamne. xxxi. 610. Jordan says : " Flour bought by speculators in the Valley and Loudon was carried to Richmond, sold to the Subsistence Bureau, and transported back to Manassas." 2 Late In August, Johnston wrote to Beauregard ; " It is impossible, as the affairs of the commissariat are now managed, to think of any other military course than a strictly defensive base." 3 From a photograph by Alexander Gardiner, of Washington City. NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY; OF THE POTOMAC. 2 o The National Government now acted with decision and energy. General McClellan, who, with able subordinates and brave troops, had made a briUiant and successful campaign in Western Virginia, was summoned to Washington on the day after the Battle of Bull's Run," and, with " ''^^^.j^^^' the approbation of the people, who were loudly sounding his praises, he was placed in command of the shattered army at and near the seat of Government. General McDowell, like a true soldier, gracefully with drew, and on the 25th of July, the Adjuiiant-General announced the cre ation of a Geographical Division, formed of the Departments of Washington and of Northeastern Virginia, under the young chieftain, with head-quarters ' at Washington City. Other changes had already been determined upon. On the 'July. 19th,' an order was issued j. from the War Department for the honorable discharge from the service of Major-General Robert Patterson, on the 27'th, when his term of duty would expire ; and General N. P. Banks, then in command at Baltimore, was directed to take his place in charge of the Department ofthe Shenandoah, he being relieved by General John A. Dix. There was a new arrangement of Military Depart- , ments,' and Lieutenant-General Scott, who was the General-in-Chief of the armies, greatly disabled by increasing infirmities, was, at his own suggestion, relieved from active duties. General McClellan turned over the command of the army in Westem Virginia to Brigadier-General Rosecrans, and entered with zeal and vigor upon the arduous task of reorganizing the army, of which he took charge on the 2 "Zth of July. He brought to the service, youth, a spotless moral charac ter, robust health, a sound theoretical military education with some practical experience, untiring industry, the prestige of recent success in the field, and the unlimited confidence of the loyal people. He found at his disposal about fifty thousand infantry, less than one thousand cavalry, six hundred and fifty artillerymen, and thirty pieces of cannOn.' He found, in the men, excellent materials out of which to fashion a fine army, but in a disorganized and com paratively crude condition. His first care was to effect a moral improvement by thorough discipline ; and then, under the sanction of a recent Act of Congress, to winnow the officers of all the volunteer regiments, and dismiss all incompetents. By this process no less than three hundred officers were compelled to leave the service in the course of a few months. Having laid the moral foundations for an efficient army organization, McClellan proceeded with skill and vigor to mold his materials into perfect symmetry. He made the regiment a unit. Four regiments composed a brigade, and three brigades a division. Each division had four batteries : three served by volunteers and one by regulars ; the captain of the latter commanding the entire artillery of the division. With the assistance of Majors William F. Barry and J. G. Barnard, he organized artillery and en gineering establishments ; and the dragoons, mounted riflemen, and cavalry 1 The counties of Washington and Alleghany, in Maryland, .were added to the Department of the Shenan doah, created on the 19th of July, with head-quarters in the field ; and the remainder of Maryland, and all of Pennsylvania and Delaware, constituted the Depa/rirni&nt of Pennsylvania, head-quarters at Baltimore. A Board was also established at this time for the examination of all officers of volunteer regiments. ' General McClellan's Report to the Secretary of War, August 4, 1863. 24 THE DEFENSES OP THE NATIONAL CAPITAL. were all reorganized under the general name of cavalry. To Major Barry were intrusted the details ofthe artillery establishment ; and Major Barnard Avas directed to construct a system of defenses for Washington City, on both sides of the Potomac. In the course of a few months every considerable MAP SHOWING THE DEFENSES OP WASHINGTON. eminence in the vicLuity of the National Capi tal was crownl?'l/V(JV£^>0^ that time. It may here be mentioned that Mr. Huson, who experienced the kind ^l^3**a- ¦)'^^'^ hospitality of Mrs. Tan Lew and her family, died while in prison. Mr. Ely was "^WJ^^"^ 'lL afterward exchanged for Charles James Faulkner, who was the resident Minister ^ ^'SfeJ ^ of the Eepublic at the French Court when Buchanan retired from office, and who, on his return to the United States, was arrested and imprisoned under a charge phison association seal. of complicity In the schemes ofthe conspirators. 3 See chapter xxiv., volume I. ¦* See volume I., page 5T8. 28 VIGOROUS MEASURES PROPOSED IN CONGRESS. was believed by many that the seat of Government was at the mercy of its enemies. Congress, on Mondays deliberated as calmly as if assured of perfect safety. Mr. Crittenden's resolution was adopted by a vote of 117 to 2; and two days afterwards," one identical with it passed the Senate by ° "'isGi ^*' ^ "^°*® almost as decisive.' It was such a solemn declaration of the j Government -that the conspirators were speaking falsely when charging that Government with waging war for the subj ugation of the Southern States, the emancipation of the slaves, and the confiscation of property, that it was not allowed to be published within the bounds of the Confederacy. The writer was so informed by Southern men of intelligence, and that they never ¦ heard of the resolution until the war had ceased ; also that, had its declarations been known, multitudes would have paused in their rebellious career, and the terrible desolation of the South might have been prevented. This was what the conspirators, who had resolved on rule or ruin, justly feared. On the same dav " the House of Representatives, bv an almost i July 22. •' 1 ' .; unanimous vote, anticipated the wishes of the loyal people by declaring that " the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of the Union, and the enforcement of the laws are sacred trusts which must be executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample per formance of this high duty ; and that we pledge to the country and the w-orld the employment of every resource, national and individual, for the sup pression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms." On the same sad day a bill, reported by the Judiciary Committee on the 20th, providing for the confiscation of property used for insurrec tionary purposes, was considered in the Senate, to which Mr. Trumbull, of Illinois, the chairman of that committee, offered an amendment, pro viding that the master of any slave who should employ him for such pur pose should forfeit all right to his service or labor thereafter. It was adopted by a vote of 33 against 6. ¦ ¦ When this bill reached the Lower House, on the 2d of August, it met with strenuous opposition, especially Trumbull's amend ment, from Crittenden and Burnet, of Kentucky, Vallandigham, Pendleton, and Cox, of Ohio, and Diven,,of New York, chiefiy on the ground that it would confirm the belief of the slaveholders that the war was waged for the emancipation of their slaves, and, as a consequence, would produce great exasperation, and increase the rigors of war without increasing the means for the success of the army. Mr. Crittenden was opposed to the passage of anv penal laws. " Shall we send forward to the field," he asked, " a whole cata logue of penal laws to fight this battle with ? Arms more impotent were never resorted to. They are beneath the dignity of our great cause. They are outside of the policy which ought to control this Government, and lead us on to success in the war we are now fighting. " If you hold up before your enemies this cloud of penal laws, they will say, ' War is better than peace : war is comparative repose.' They will say when they are subdued, or if they choose now to submit, 'What next? Have we peace, or is this new army I The negatives were Breckinridge and Powell, of Kentucky; ,Iohni!on and Polk, of Missouri ¦ and Trumbnll of Illinois. The latter opposed it because of tho particular wording of the first clause, and said " the revott was occasioned, m my opinion, by people who are not here, nor in this vicinity. It was started in So„(h Pamllnn l^:^o^^^^^!!^ " """''^' "''''""" f"'"^''''" "™= ¦"•"""'^ "'^ ^"^""''1 ^vho''w^^t te CONFISCATION, EMANCIPATION, AND PEACE. 29 of penal laws then to come into action ? Are these penal laws to inflict upon us a long agony of prosecution and forfeiture?' No, gentlemen, it is not by such means that we are to achieve the great object of establishing our Union and reuniting the country. Sir, these laws will have no efficacy in war. Their only effect will be to stimulate your adversaries to still more desperate measures. That will be the effect of this army of penal laws." Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, strenuously advocated the bill, and espe cially Mr. Trumbull's amendment concerning the freedom of slaves employed for insurrectionary purposes ; and, in reply to the assertions that the insur gents would never submit, that they could not be conquered, that they would " suffer themselves to be slaughtered and their whole country to be laid waste," he said, "Sir, war is a grievous thing at best, and civU war more than any other; but if they hold this language, and the means which they have suggested must be resorted to, if their whole country must be laid waste and made a desert in order to save this Union from destruction, so let it be. I would rather, sir, reduce them to a condition where their whole country is to be peopled by a band of freemen than to see them perpetrate the destruction of this people through our agency I warn Southern gentlemen that if this war is to continue, there will be a time when my friend from New York [Mr. Diven] will see it declared by this free nation that every bondsman in the South^ — belonging to a rebel, recollect ; I confine it to them — shall be called upon to aid us in war against their masters, and to restore this Union.'" The bill was recommitted to the Committee on the Judiciary, and on the following day" it was reported back with Trumbull's amendment so modified as to include only those slaves " jgg^' ^' whose labor for insurrectionary purposes was employed in " any military or naval service against the Government and authority of the United States." With the amendment so modified, the bill was passed by a vote of 60 against 48. When it was returned to the Senate, it was concurred in, on motion of Mr. Trumbull, and was jDassed ' by a vote of 24 against 11. The President's signature to it made it law on the ""' same day. This was the first act of Congress, after the beginning of the war, concerning the emancipation of slaves and the confiscation of jDroperty. We have already observed the peace propositions of Vallandigham, of Ohio, and Wood, of New York.' These were followed, later in the session, after Clarke, of New Hampshire, had asked and obtained leave of the Senate to offer a joint resolution declaratory ofthe determination of Congress to main tain the supremacy of the Govemment and integrity of the Union, by proposi tions for securing peace and reconciliation by friendly measures. One ofthese, offered in the House of Representatives by S. S. Cox, of Ohio, proposed the appointment of a committee, composed of one member of Congress from each State, who should report to the House, at the next session, suoh amendments to the National Constitution as should "assuage all grievances and bring about a reconstruction of the national unity;" also the appointment of a coramittee for the purpose of preparing such adjustment, and a conference ' Congressional ffZo&e, Aug. 2, 1S61 ; History ofthe Anti-slavery Measures ofthe TJiirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Congresses, by Senator Henry Wilson, chapter 1. ' Volume I., page 678. 30 FINANCIAL MEASURES OF THE GOVERNMENT. „„OOOOOOOOOJ„^^ requisite for that purpose, composed of seven citizens, whom he named,' who should request the appointment of a similar committee " from the so-called Confederate States," the two commissions to meet at Louisville, Kentucky, on the first,Monday in September following. This was followed by a propo sition from W. P. Johnson, of Missouri, to recommend the Governors of the several States to convene the respective legislatures for the purpose of calling an election to select two delegates from each Congressional district, to meet in convention at Louisville on the same day, "to devise measures for the restoration of peace to our country." These, and all other proposi tions of like nature. Congress refused to entertain, for they were satisfied that the conspirators, who had appealed to the arbitrament of the sword, would not listen to the voice of patriotism. The judgment of the majority was in consonance with a resolution which Mr. Diven, of New York, proposed to offer, namely : " That, at a time when an armed rebellion is threatening the integrity of the Union and the overthrow of the Government, any and all resolutions or recommendations designed to make terms* Avith armed rebels are either cowardly or treasonable." They recognized war as existing in all its hideousness in the bosom of the nation, and legislated accordingly. Acting upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Chase), Congress authorized a loan of $250,000,000, for which bonds and Treasury- notes were to be issued. The bonds were to be irredeemable for twenty years, and to bear interest not exceeding seven per cent, per annum; while the Treasury notes of fifty dol lars and upwards were to be payable three years after date, with annual interest at the rate of seven and three-tenths per cent, per annum. For greater convenience in the dis bursements of the Government, and the pay ment of revenue. Treasury notes were author ized in denominations not less than five dollars, and to the extent of fifty millions of dollars. The Government was allowed to deposit its funds with solvent banks, instead of confining these deposits to the National Sub-treasury. This measure, together with the issue of the bUls receivable for specie, relieved the financial pressure at a time when it threatened serious embarrassments. To provide for the payment of the interest on this debt, and is6i! ' **' meet other demands, an act' was passed" for the increase of revenues from imports, by which new duties Avere imposed upon foreign articles of luxury and necessity. By a provision of the same act a direct tax of twenty millions of dollars was to be laid upon the real estate of the country, in which the amount to be raised in each State was specified not excepting those in which rebellion existed. Provision was also made for levying a tax on the excess of all incomes above eight hundred dollars • but SEAT. OF THE TREASUET PEPAKTMENT. 1 Edward Everett, of Milssachnsetts ; Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire; Millard Fillmore, of New York- Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland; Martin Van Buren, of New York ; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio ; and James Guthrie' of Kentucky. ' 2 See Ho. 40 ofthe Acts and Resolutions passed during the First Session ofthe Thirty-seventh Congress. ADJOURNMENT OF CONGRESS.— CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 31 Mr. Chase's suggestion conceming excise duties, and other taxes on special articles of personal property, legacies, Thi5 view is from tlio rijina of tile Virginia State Arsenal. TUe works are on Iho left hank of tlio James Elver, nearly opposite Mayo's Island. 2 See pages 8S8-889, volume I. LOYALISTS HUNTED, IMPRISONED, AND HANGED. 37 over to the courts They really deserve the gallows, and, if consistent with the laws, ought speedily to receive their deserts." With the spirit of this Alabama clergyman, the Loyalists were everywhere ill- treated, and no measures seemed to be considered too cruel to be employed in crushing them.' Among the most prominent of the East Tennessee Loyalists, who suffered persecution, were Andrew Johnson and Horace Maynard, members of Con gress, and Rev. W. G. Brownlow, D. D., a Methodist preacher, and editor of the Knoxville Whig.''' Brownlow's fearless spirit, caustic pen, social position, and public relations through the press and the pulpit, made him intensely hated by the conspirators and their friends, and much feared. They thirsted for his life, and finally the false charge was made, that he was acces sory to the burning of several railway-bridges in East Tennessee,^ to cut oif communication between that region and Virginia. His life had been daily threatened by Confederate soldiers ; and, at the urgent solicitations of his fainily, he left his home in the autumn, and went into another district of his State. While he was absent, several railway-bridges were burned. Brown low was accused of being in complicity with their destroyers, and Colonel Wood sent out cavalry in search of him, with instructions, publicly given in the street, at Knoxville, not to take him prisoner, but to shoot him at once.'' Brownlow was informed of his peril, and, with other loyal men, he secreted himself in the Smoky Mountains, on the borders of North Carolina, where they were fed by Loyalists. It' was finally resolved by the Confed erates to rid themselves of so dangerous an enemy, by giving Brownlow a pass to go into Kentucky, under a military escort. The " Secretary of War " at Richmond (Benjamin) was asked for one. He would not give it himself He said he greatly preferred seeing Brownlow " on the other side of the lines, as an avowed enemy ;"* and instructed General Crittenden, then in command at Knoxville, to give him a pass. General Crittenden sent for Brownlow to come to Knoxville to receive it. He did so, and was on the point of departure for the Union lines, when he was arrested " for treason, on the authority of a warrant issued by " Commissioner " " °°™ °'' ' Reynolds, on the affidavit of Attorney Ramsey. He was refused ^ !N:otwithstanding the Loyalists were disarmed, the hatred and cruel passions of the Secessionists were not appeased. Two Confederate officers had the following advertisement printed in the Memphis Appeal : "Bloodhounds Wanted. — We, the undersigned, will pay five dollars per pair for fifty pairs of well-bred hounds, and fifty dollars for one pair of thoroughbred bloodhounds, that Avill take the track of a man. The pur pose for which these dogs are wanted, is to chase the infernal, cowardly Lincoln bushwhackers of East Tennessee and Kentucky (who have taken advantage of the bush to kill and cripple many good soldiers) to their haunts and capture them. The said hounds must be delivered at Captain Hammer^slivery-stahle hy the 10th of December next, where a mustering officer will be present to muster and inspect them. " F. !N. McNairt. ¦¦i'-:V.'<'. , " H- II. Hakkis. bloodhound. "Camp Comfort, Campijell Co., Tenn., Nov. 16." ' See piige 38, volume L 3 So ciger were the Confederates to implicate ]3rownlow in these transactions, that tbey ofi'ered raen under sentence of death their lives and liberty, if they would testify to that effect. The latter spurned the bribe, and would not sacrifice trnth and honor even for the sake of life. ¦< Sketches of the Rise, Progi'ess, and Decline of Secession. By W. G. Brownlow. ' Letter of J. P. Benjamin to Major-General Crittenden, Nov. 20th, 1S61. BENJAMIN'S CRUEL ORDER.— MURDERS AT GREENVILLE. the county jail at KNOXVILLE.1 » Nov. 2 1S61. a hearing or bail, but was cast into the county prison at KnoxvUle, from which appeals to the honor and good faith of Crittenden and his superiors were made in vain. There, in a room so crowded that not all could lie down, and not a chair, bench, stool, table, or other article of furniture, excepting a wooden bucket and tin cup, was to be seen, he and his associates, some of them among the best men in the land, \\ ere kept a long time, subjected to the , i le ribaldry of soldiers and guards, cjid threats of being hung. Nor were these threats idle; for, from time to time, prisoners were taken out and hung — men as innocent of crime as infants. These were citizens, charged with burning the railway-bridges. The alleged crimes of these men and other Loyalists were set forth by Colonel Wood in a letter to Benjamin," in which he declared that the sentiment of the inhabitants in East Tennessee was " hostile to the Confederate government," and that the people were slaves to Andrew Johnson and Horace Maynard. "To release the prisoners," he said, " is ruinous. To convict them before a court is next to an impossibility. The bridge-burners and spies ought to be tried at once." This letter excited the brutal instincts of Benjamin, and he wrote back instantly ' from Richmond, saying, " All such as can be identified ia having been engaged in bridge-burning, are to be tried sum marily by drum-head court-martial, and, if found guilty, executed on the spot by hanging. It would he well to leave' their bodies hanging in the vicinity of the burtied bridges." He ordered the seizure of all arms that were " concentrated by these traitors," and said, " In no case is one of the men, known to have been up in arms against the government, to be released on any pledge or oath of allegiance. The time for such measures is past. They are all to be held as prisoners of war, and held in jail to the end ofthe war." Acting upon these suggestions, some of those who were charged with bridge-burning, but not found guilty, were hung under circuinstances of great cruelty. In compliance with Benjamin's savage instructions, they were left hanging in public places, to receive the indignities of a brutal mob. Such was the case with the bodies of two victims (Hensie and Fry), who were hanged together upon the limb of an oak tree, near the railway-station, at Greenville, Tennessee, by the hands of Colonel Leadbetter, already men tioned.'' He ordered their bodies to hang there four days and nio-hts • and when the trains upon the road passed by, they were detained long enough to allow the passengers to go up and ofier insults to the lifeless remains. 1 This picture is fVom a sketch made by the author in May, 1866, and shows the front of the prison. The window that lighted tho room on the lower floor, in which Brownlow was conflned, is seen on tho right of the door. In tho upper story are two immense iron cages, into • which tho worst criminals are put, and in these some of the most obnoxious Loyalists were conflned. Out of this loathsome place several were taken to the gallows. 2 See pago 1T4, volume I. This man, who was guilty of enormous crimes, it is said, during the war, and fled to Upper Canada at its close, (Hod at Clifton, in that province, of apoplexy, on the 25th of September, 1866. BOLDNESS OF BROWNLOW.— WRITS OF GARNISHMENT. 39 This was done, especially by Confederate soldiers on their way to Virginia, in view of many of the loyal inhabitants of Greenville. In the midst of these fiery trials, the intrepid Brownlow remained firm, and exercised the greatest boldness of speech. They dared not hang hiTn without legal conviction, and they well knew that he had done nothing worthy of death. He was not only bold, but defiant. They ofiered him life and liberty if he would take the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy. He scorned the proposition, saying : " Rather than stultify myself, and disgrace my family by such an oath, I agree to die. I never could sanction this govemment, and I trust no child of mine wUl ever do it." Whilst suffering in the Knoxville jail, and almost daily menaced with death, he wrote to Ben jamin a characteristic letter," in which he said, "You are report- ° December 16, ed to have said to a gentleman in Richmond, that I am a bad man, and dangerous to the Confederacy, and that you desire me out of it. Just give me my pass ports, and I will do for your Confederacy more than the devil has ever done — I will quit the country !" This letter, and a visit from General Crittenden (who felt sensitive on this point), brought one from Beniamin' to the authorities at Knox- ^.,, .'..,..,, 1, , _ _- . „ , iDecember22. yille, indicating his wish that Brownlow should be sent out ot the Confederacy, and regretting the circumstances of his arrest and imprison ment ; " only," as he said, because " color is given to the suspicion that he has been entrapped." He was finally released and sent to Nashville (then in possession of National troops) early in March. Dr. Brownlow was a type of the Loyalists of the mountain regions of that State, who suffered terribly during a great portion of the war. A minute record of the faithful and fearless patriotism of the people of East Tennessee during the struggle, and the cruel wrongs and sufferings which they endured a greater portion of that time, would make one of the most glorious and yet revolting chapters in the history of the late fierce conflict. Incidents of that patriotism and suffering wUl be observed, as we proceed in our narrative. Let us retum a moment to the consideration of the other measure of the Confederate Congress, designed to force loyal men into a sujjport of the re bellion, namely, the Confiscation Act.^ From the " Department of Justice," at the head of which was Judah P. Benjamin, went out instructions that all the gallows ¦TEEE.l ^ This is from a sketch made by the author, in May, 1866. The tree was a vigorous red o.ak, standing on a slope overlooking the town, a few rods northeastward of the Greenville Station. Some person commenced cut ting it down a while after the execution, but was restrained by the consideration offered, that it might serve the purpose of a gallows for the punishraent of some of those who were engaged in the murder of the men who were hanged there. Near the root of the gallows limb (from which a rope is seen suspended) we observed a scar made bythe passage of a Confederate cannon-ball through the tree. Its place is marked by a black spot, in the picture. 2 See page 515, volume L, and page 38, volume TL 40 PETTIGRU'S DENUNCIATIONS. persons, Americans or Europeans, having a domicile in the " Confederate States, and carrying on business or traffic within the States at war with the Confederacy," were alien enemies ; that the property, of every kind, ofthese persons should be seized and held, and that the receivers of the same should apply to the clerk of courts for writs of garnishment,' commanding persons suspected of holding in trust the property of an alien enemy to appear and answer such questions, under oath, touching such custody, as might be pro pounded. The authorized persons making the seizures were furnished with a formula of questions for the garnishees, which implied the establishment of a court of inquisition of the most despotic kind. The citizen was asked, first, whether he held in trust any property belonging to an alien enemy ; secondly, what was the character of such property, and what disposition had been made of any profit, interest, or rent accruing from the use thereof; thirdly, whether the citizen so questioned had, since the 21st day of May, 1861, been indebted to such alien enemy or enemies, and if so to what amount, and to what extent the debts had been discharged, and also to give the names of the creditors ; fourthly, whether he knew of any property or interest belonging to such alien enemies, and if so to tell where it might be found. The citizen was warned that it was his duty, according to the law, to answer all of these questions, under jjenalty of indictment for a high misdemeanor, punishable by heavy fines and imprisonment. Under this searching sequestration act a vast amount of property be longing to owners in the loyal States was seized, swelling the entire loss to the inhabitants of those States by the repudiation of, or inability to pay, honest debts by the business men of the South, to about three hundred mil lions of dollars. It was one of the strong arms of the despotism established by the conspirators, and few men had the boldness to oppose its operations. Yet the constitutionality of the act was questioned in the Confederate courts ; and in that of the district of Charleston, over which Judge Magrath* presided, it was opposed in open court by that stanch loyalist J. L. Pettigru, who, from the beginning of the rebellion until his death, defied the conspirators and their instruments. He was served with a writ of garnishment, and re fused to obey it, telling the court plainly that such proceedings were no better than those which made the English Star Chamber and the Spanish Inquisition odious to every lover of liberty. " Was there ever a law like this endured, practiced, or heard of?" he asked. " It certainly is not found among the people from whom we de rive the common law. No English monarch or Parliament has ever sanc- JAMES LOUIS PETTIGRU. ' A writ of garnishment in English law is a warning or notice for a person to appear in court, or give infor mation of any kind required. Tho person named was called a garnishee. ^ Bee page 49, volume 1. THE POWER OF COURAGE AND PRINCIPLE. 41 tioned or undertaken such a thing. It is no more a part of the la^y of war than it is a part ofthe law of peace." The inquisitors quailed in the presence of the honest old patriot, and his example and his words blunted the keen edge of the law.^ Its enforcement gradually decUned, and it became almost a dead letter during the later period of the war. At the close of August, Congress and the chief council ofthe conspirators at Richmond had each finished its session, and both parties to the contest were preparing to put forth their utmost strength. Let us leave the con sideration of these preparations, and whilst General McClellan is preparing the grand Army ofthe Potomac for a campaign, let us return to the observa tion of the performances on the theater of war westward of the Alleghany Mountains. 1 Mr. Pettigni'B boldness, and fidelity to principle while the ternble insanity of rebellion afflicted the people of his State, was most remarkable. He never deviated a line, in word or act, from the high stand of oppo sition to the maflmen, which he had taken at tbe beginning of the raving mania. And the respect which his courage and honesty wrung from those whose course he so pointedly condemned was quite as remarkable. Tho Legislature of South Carolina, during that period of wild tumult, elected him to the most important trust aud the largest salary in their gift, namely, to codify the State laws. William J. Grayson, a life-long friend of Pettigru, and who died during the siege of Charleston, at the age of seventy-five years, left, in manuscript, an interesting biographical study of his fiiend. Concerning Mr. Pettigru's action at the period we are considering, he wrote : "To induce the simple people to plunge into the volcanic fires of the revolution and war, they were told that the act of dissolution would produce no opposition of a serious nature ; that not a drop of blood would be spilled ; that no man's flocks, or herds, or negroes, or houses, or lands would be plundered, or destroyed ; that unbroken prosperity would follow the Ordinance of Secession ; thai cotton would control all Europe, and secure open ports and boundless commerce with the whole world for the Southern States. To such views Mi-. Petti gru was unalterably opposed. He was convinced that war, anarchy, military despotism would inevitably fol low a dissolution of the Union; that secession would impart to the abolition party a power over slavery tbat nothing else could give them^ — a power to make war on Southern institutions, to proclaim freedom to the negroes, to invoke and command the sympathy and aid of the whole world in carrying on a crusade on the Southern States." " Mr. Pcttigru saw that bankruptcy would follow war ; that public fraud would find advocates in Richmond as well as in Washington. He opposed these schemes of disorder which have desolated the South. Their pro jectors professed to protect her from possible evils, and involved her in present and terrible disasters. The people were discontented at seeing rats infesting the granaries of Southern industry, and were urged to set fire to the four corners of every Southern bam to get rid of the vermin. They were alarmed at attacks on slavery by such men as John Brown and his banditti, and proposed as a remedy to rush into war with the armed hordes of the whole world. For a bare future contingency, they proposed to encounter an enormous immediate evil." 42 POSITION OF NATIONAL TROOPS IN MISSOURI. CHAPTEE II. CIVIL AND MILITAEY -OPEEATIOH-S IN MISSOUKL E left General Lyon in possession of Booneville, Mis souri,' from which he had driven the Confederates under Price and Jackson, on the 1 8th of June." These leaders, as we have ob served, were satisfied that the northem part of the ¦ State was lost to the cause of Secession, for the time, and they endeavored to concentrate their troops with Ben McCulloch's more southem men, in the southwestern part of the Commonwealth. We also left Colonel Franz Sigel in the vicinity of Rolla, pushing with eager Missouri loyalists toward the Confederate camps, on the borders of Kansas and Arkansas.^ Colonel Sigel arrived at Springfield on the 23d of June, where he was informed that the Confederates, under Governor Jackson, were making their way from the Osage River in a southwesterly direction. He pushed on to Sarcoxie, a post-village in Jackson County, where he arrived to ward the evening of the 28th, and learned that General Price, with about nine hundred troops, was encamped at Pool's Prairie, a few miles north of Ifeosho, the capital of Newton County, and that other State troops, under Jackson and Rains, were making their way in the same du-ection. It was important to prevent their junction. Sigel resolved to march first on Price, and capture or disperse his force, and then, turning northward, attack the other troops, and so open a communication with General Lyon, who, he had been informed (but incorrectly), had been fighting with the Confed erates on the banks of the Little Osage. Sigel's march from Sarcoxie had just commenced, when a scout brought him word that Price had fled from Pool's Prairie to Elk Mills, thuty miles south of Neosho. He at once turned his attention to the troops north of him, who he supposed were endeavoring to make their way into Arkansas. He sent forward a detachment of two companies, under Captain Grone, with two field-pieces, toward Cedar Creek and Grand Falls, on the Neosho, to occupy a road in this supposed route of the Confederates, and to gain infor mation, while he pushed on with the remainder of his command to Neosho, receiving greetings of welcome from the inhabitants on the way, who had been pillaged by the insurgents. He had already summoned Colonel Salo mon, with his Missouri battalion, to join him at Neosho, and with this addi- ' See pngo 542, volume I. 2 Soc pago 548, volume I BATTLE NEAR CARTHAGE. 43 tion to his force, he went forward to meet his foe, leaving a single rifle company, under Captain Conrad, to protect the loyal inhabitants there, with orders to retreat to Sarcoxie if necessary. Sigel encamped close by the south fork of the Spring River, southeast of Carthage, the capital of Jasper County, on the evening of the 4th of July, after a march of twenty-five miles, where he was informed that Jackson was nine or ten mUes distant, in the direction of Lamar, the county seat of Barton County, with four or five thousand men. Sigel's force consisted of about five hundred and fifty men of the Third (his own) Missouri Regiment, and four hundred ofthe Fifth (Salomon's) Regiment, with two batteries of artillery, each consisting of four field-pieces — iu all about fifteen hundred men. With these troops, and with his baggage-traiu three miles in the rear, he slowly advanced to find his foe on the moming of the 5th, his skirmishers driving before them large numbers of mounted riflemen, who seemed to be simply gathering information. Six miles northward of Carthage they passed the Dry' Fork Creek, and, after a brisk march of three miles farther, they came ujjon the Confederates, under Governor Jackson, assisted by Brigadier-Generals Rains, Clark, Parsons, and Slack. They had been marching that morning in search of Sigel, and were now drawn up in battle order on the crown of a gentle ascent. Sigel was soon convinced that his foe was vastly his superior, not only in numbers, but in cavalry, but was deficient in artillery. They had but a few old j)ieces, which were charged with trace-chains, bits of iron, and other missiles. Sigel therefore determined to make his own cannon j)lay an im portant part, for they were his chief reliance for success. The battle commenced at a little past ten o'clock by Sigel's field-pieces, under Major Bischofi", and, after a desultory contest of over three hours, it was observed that the Confederate cav alry under Rains were outflanking the Nationals, on the right and left. Sigel's baggage- train at the Dry Fork Creek was in danger, and he fell back to secure it. His antagonist slowly followed, but was kept at a respectful dis tance by the Na tional cannon, two of which were on each flank, and four in the rear, of the little Union army. The retreat was made in perfect order, and was but little interrupted by fighting, excepting at the blufis at Dry Fork Creek, through which the road passed. There the Confederate cavalry massed on Sigel's front and tried to impede his progress. These were quickly dispersed by his guns, and by a vigorous charge of his infantry. sigbl's field op operations. 44 RETREAT TO SPRINGFIELD.— LYON IN MOTION. Finding the presence of an overwhelming force (estimated at fiill five thousand men, includhag a heavy reserve) too great to be long borne with safety, Sigel continued his orderly retreat to the heights near Carthage, having been engaged in a running fight nearly all the way. The Confede rates still pressed him sorely. He attempted to give his troops rest at the village, but the cavalry of his enemy, crossing Spring River at various points, hung so threateningly on his flank, and so menaced the Springfield road, that he contmued his retreat to Sarcoxie without much molestation, the Confeder ates relinquishing the pursuit a few miles from Carthage. The Nationals had lost in the battle thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded, all of whom were borne away by their friends. They also lost nine horses, a battery of four cannon, and one baggage wagon. In the mean time. Captain Con rad and his company of ninety men, who were left in Neosho, had been cap tured by the Confederates.' The loss of the insurgents, according to their own account, was from thii-ty to forty killed, and from one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty wounded.^ They also lost forty-five men made prisoners, eighty horses, and a considerable number of shot-guns, with which Jackson's cavalry were armed. Being outnumbered by the Confederates, more than three to one. Colonel Sigel did not tarry at Sarcoxie, but continued his retreat by Moimt Yemon to Springfield, where he was joined by General Lyon on the ISth," who took the chief command. It was a fortunate movement for Sigel; for within twelve hours after the battle, Jackson was re-enforced by Generals Price and Ben McCulloch, who came with several thousand 3Iis- souri, Arkansas, and Texas troops. General Lyon had left Booneville in pm-suit of the fugitive Confederates on the 3d of July, with a little army numbering about twenty-seven hundred men, with four pieces of artillery and a long baggage-train. The day was intensely hot. The commander was mounted on an u-on-gray horse, accom panied by his body-guard, composed of ten German butchers of St. Louis, who were noted for their size, strength, and horsemanship, and were all well mounted and heavily armed with pistols and sabers. He reached an im portant ferry on the Grand River, a branch of the Osage, in Henry County, on the 7th,' where he was joined by three thousand troops from Kansas, under Major Sturgis. The whole force crossed the river, by means of a single scow, by ten o'clock on the 8th. In the mean tune, two companies of cavalry, who crossed on the evening of the Tth, had pushed forward to gain the ferry on the Osage, twenty-two miles ahead. Near that point, in the midst of a dense forest, the main army reached the river in the afternoon of the 9th, when they were stirred by intense excitement, produced by intelligence of Colonel Sigel's fight near Carthage. Lyon was now eighty miles from Springfield. Satisfied of Sigel's peril, he decided to change his course, and to hasten to the relief of that officer, by forced marches. Early on the morning of the 10th, regardless of the in tense heat and lack of sleep, the army moved from the south bank of the ' Report of Colonel Sigel to Brigadior-G-eneral Sweeney, dated Springfleld, July llth, 1861. 2 Pollard's First Year of tlie War, page 183. It is believed that tho entire loss of the Confederates was at least 300 men. LYON'S MARCH TO SPRINGFIELD.— CONFEDERATE FORCE. 45 Osage, and soon striking a dense forest, sometimes pathless and dark, they Avere compelled to make their way among steep hills, deep gorges, swiftly running streams, miry morasses, ugly gullies washed by the rains, jagged rocks, and fallen timbers. At three o'clock in the afternoon, when the army halted for dinner, they were twenty-seven miles from their starting-jjlace in the morning. The march was resumed at sunset, and was continued until three o'clock on the morning of the llth, when the commander ordered a halt. For forty-eight hours, most of the men had not closed their eyes in sleep. Within ten minutes after the order to halt was given, nine-tenths of the wearied soldiers were slumbering. They did not stop to unroll their blankets, or select a good spot for restin'g ; but oflicers and privates dropped upon the ground in deep sleej). They had marched over a horrible road, during twenty-four hours, almost fifty miles. Early the next morning a courier brought intelligence of Sigel's safety in Springfield, and the remain der of the march of thirty miles was made leisurely during the space of the next two days.' Lyon enciamped near Springfield," and then prepared to contend with the overwhelming and continually increasing number of his ene mies. Within the period of a few weeks, the Confederates had "''"g^j"'^ been driven into the southwestern corner of Missouri, on the bor der of Kansas and Arkansas. Now they were making vigorous preparations to regain the territory they had lost. They had been largely re-enforced, and were especially strong in cavalry. At Cassville, the capital of Barry County, near the Arkansas line, on the great overland mail route, they established a general rendezvous ; and there, on the 29th of July, four Southern armies, under the respective commands of Generals Price, McCulloch. Pearce, and McBride, efiected a junction. At that time General Lyon, with his little force daily diminishing by the expiration of the terms of enlistment, was confined in a defensive attitude to the immediate vicinity of Springfield. He had called repeatedly for re-en forcements, to which no response was given. He waited for them long, but they did not come. Every day his position had become more perilous, and now the Confederates were weaving around him a strong web of real danger ; yet he resolved to hold the position at all hazards.'' At the close of July, Lyon was informed that the Confederates were marching upon Springfield in two columns (in the aggregate, more than twenty thousand strong) ; one from Cassville, on the south, and the other from Sarcoxie, on the west, for the purpose of investing the National camp and the town. He determined to go out and meet them ; and, late in the afternoon ofthe 1st of August, his entire army (5,500 foot, 400 horse, and 18 guns), led by himself, moved toward Cassville, with the exception of a small force left behind to guard the city.' They bivouacked that night on Cave ' Life of General Nathamiel Lyon. By Ashbcl Woodward, M. D. 2 On tho 81st of July, Lyon wrote, saying : '' I fear the enemy may become emboldened by our want of activity. I have constant rumors of a very large force below, and of threats to attack us with overwhelming numbers. I should have a much larger force tlinn I have, and be much better supplied." ^ Lyon's force at this time consisted of flve companies of the Firat and Second Ecgubrs, under Major Sturgis ; five companies of the First Missouri Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews ; two companies of the Second Missouri, Mo,ior Osterhaus; tliroo companies of the Third Missonri, Colonel Sigel ; Fifth Missouri, Colonel Salo mon; First Iowa, Colonel Bates ; First Kansas, Colonel Deitzler; Second Kansas, Colonel Mitchel] ; two com- 46 THE BATTLE OF DUG SPRINGS. Creek, ten miles south of Springfield, and moved forward at an early hour in the morning, excessively annoyed by heat and dust, and intense thirst, for most of the wells and streams were dry. At Dug Springs, nineteen miles southwest of Springfield, they halted. They were in an oblong valley, five miles in length, and broken by j)rojecting spurs of the hUls, which formed wooded ridges. Soon after halting, they discovered, by clouds of dust at the other extremity of the valley, that a large body of men were there and in motion. These were Confederates, under General Rains. A battle-line was formed by the Nationals, and in that order the little army moved forward toward the enemy, led by a company of Regular Infantry, under Captain Steele, supported by another of the Fourth Regular Cavalry, under Captain Stanley, which held the advanced position on the left. Owing to the ridges in the valley, the real force of each party was easily concealed from the other, and afibrded opportunities for surprises. And so it happened. While the van guard of the Nationals was moving cautiously forward, followed by the main body, and skirmishers were exchanging shots briskly, a large force of Con federates suddenly' emerged from the woods, to cut ofl" Steele's infantry from Stanley's cavalry. The latter (about a hundred and fifty strong) immediately drew up his men in proper order, and when the foe was within the range of then- Sharp's carbines, they opened a deadly fire upon them. The latter numbered nearly five hundred. They returned the fire, and a regular battle seemed about to open, when a subordinate officer in Stanley's command shouted " Charge !" and twenty-five horsemen dashed in among the Confederate in fantry, hewing them down with their sabers with fearful slaughter. Stanley could do nothing better than sustain the irregular order ; but before he could reach the heroic little band with re-enforcements, the Confederates had broken and fled in the wildest confusion. "Are these men or devils — ^they fight so?" asked some of the wounded of the vanquished, when the conflict was over. When this body of Confederate infantry fled, a large force of their cavaby appeared emerging from the woods. Captain Totten brought two of his guns to bear upon them from a commanding eminence with such precision, that his shells fell among and scattered them in great disorder, for their frightened horses became unmanageable. The whole column ofthe Confederates now with drew, leaving the valley in possession ofthe National troops. Thus ended The Battle of Dug Springs. Lyon's loss was eight men killed and thirty wound ed, and that of the Confederates was about forty killed and as many wounded. The Nationals moved forward the next moming in search of foes but were disappointed. They encamped at Curran, in Stone County, twenty-six miles from Springfield, and remained m that vicinity until the next day, when General Lyon called a council of officers,' and it was determined ''^"8?L**' to retum to Springfield. The army moved in that direction on the following morning," and reached Sprmgfield on the 6th.^ panics First Regular Cavalry, Captains Stanley and Carr ; three companies First Regular Cavalry (recruitsl Lieutenant Lathrop; Captain Totton's Battery, Eegolar Artillery, six guns, 6 and 12-pounder8- Lieutenant Du Bois' Battery,. Regular Artillery, four gnns, C and 1-2-pounders; Captain Schaeffer's B.attery Missouri Volunteer Artillery, six gnns, 0 and 12-pounders. General Lyon gave tho most important secondary 'commands to Bri-a- (Uer-Goneral Sweeney, Colonel Sigel, and Major Sturgis. 1 The officers called into the council were Brigadier- General Sweeney, Colonel Sigel, Majors Schofleld, Shepherd, Conant, and Sturgis, and Captains Totten and Schaeffer. = ' j . zgrtlsoTindustr'''''''''^^'''^"^'"'' ^"''^'^ ™^ ^"™''^' •^^^^''-^^^""¦"^ ^V<">'' by Dr. Woodward, p.oges MARCH OF THE CONFEDERATES ON SPRINGFIELD. 47 The events of the past few days had given great encouragement to both officers and men. The affair at Dug Springs impressed General McCulloch (a fiart of whose column it was that had been so smitten there) with the importance of great circumspection, and, after consultation with some of his officers, he fell back, and moving westward, formed a junction with the weaker force under Price, then advancing from Sarcoxie. Information reached them at Cane Creek that Lyon's force was immensely superior, and McCulloch counseled a retro grade movement. Price entertained a different opinion, and favored an immediate advance. His officers agreed with him, and he asked McCulloch to loan him arms, that his destitute Missouri soldiers, who were willing to fight, might be allowed to do so. McCulloch refused. So the matter stood, when, on the same evening," an order was received by McCulloch, « August 4, 1861. s August 7. from Major-General Polk,' ordering an advance upon Lyon. He called a council of his officers, exhibited the order to Price, and offered to march immediately on Springfield, upon condition that he should have the chief command of the army. Price, anxious to drive the Nationals out of Missouri, yielded to the Texan, saying he was " not fighting for distinction but for the defense ofthe liberties of his country. He was AvUling to surrender his command and his life, if necessary, as a sacrifice to the cause.'" On taking chief command, General McCulloch issued an order,' direct ing all unarmed men to remain in camp, and all others to put their arms in order, provide themselves with fifty rounds of ammunition each, and be in readiness for marching at midnight. He divided the army into three columns ; the first commanded by himself, the second by General Pearce, of Arkansas, and the third by General Price ; and at the appointed hour the whole force, full twenty thousand strong, in fine spirits, moved toward Springfield, expecting to meet Lyon eight miles dis tant from their camj), where there were strong natural defenses. They approached the position cautiously, at sunrise, but were disappointed. They pushed forward, unmindful of the intense heat, the stifling dust, and the lack of water ; and on the night of the 1 0th the wearied army encamped at Big Spring, a mile and a half from Wilson's Creek, and about ten and a half miles south of Springfield. They were in a sad plight. Their baggage-train was far behind, and so were their beef cattle. The troops had not eaten any thing for twenty-four hours, and for ten days previously they had received only half rations. They satisfied the cravings of hunger by eating green corn on the way, but without a particle of salt or a mouthful of meat. They had no blankets, nor tents, nor clothes, excepting what they had on their backs, and four-fifths of them were barefooted. " Billy Barlow's dress at a circus," wrote one of their number, " would be decent in comparison with that of almost any one, from the major-general down to the humblest pri vate." On the 9th, the whole Confederate army moved to Wilson's Creek, at a point southwest of Springfield, where that stream flows through a narrow valley, inclosed on each side by gentle sloping hills covered with patches of ^ See page 540, volume I. * Pollard's First Year ofthe War, page 135. 48 LYON PREPARES FOR BATTLE. low trees and fields of corn and wheat. They encamped on both sides of the creek, and for neariy two days subsisted wholly upon green corn. Their effective force, according to the best estimates, was about fifteen thousand men, of whom six thousand were horsemen. The latterwere indifferently armed with flint-lock muskets, rifles, and shot-guns; and there were many mounted men not armed at all. They had fifteen pieces of artillei-y.' Gen eral Price reported the number of Missouri State troops at five thousand two hundred and twenty-one. The entire number of Confederates encamped on Wilson's Creek appears to have been about twenty-three thousand. General Lyon had now only a little more than five thousand effective men, and prudence seeined to dictate a retreat northward rather than risk a battle under such disadvantages. But he knew that a retreat at that time would ruin the Union cause in Missouri, and he was willing to risk every thing for that cause. He was conscious of the extreme peril by which his little army was surrounded, but he had reason to hope for success, for he was in command of good officers, ahd brave and well-armed men. Yet, in a council of war, which he called on the 9th, these officers, with great unani mity, favored the evacuation of Springfield, in order to save the troops ; but General T. W. Sweeney vehemently opposed it, and urged making a stand where they were, and withdrawing from Springfield only on com- ' " ^j'^gl^^' ^' pulsion.^ On the same day" each party in the contest prepared to advance upon the other within twenty-four hours. Necessity compelled Lyon to go out and meet his foe, for Springfield, situ ated on an open plain, could not be made defensible by means at his command. Every avenue leading from it would soon be closed by the overwhelming numbers of the Confederates, and the loss of his whole command might be the consequence. Every thing now depended upon secrecy and skill of move ment, and he resolved to march out at night, surprise his enemy, and by a bold stroke scatter his forces. Twice already he had appointed the hour for such a movement to begin, but each time prudence compelled him to post pone it. Finally, on Friday, the 9th of August, he prepared to execute his plan that night. He divided his little army into two colurans, and made dispositions to strike the Confederate camp at two points simultaneously.^ At the same time, as we have observed, the Confederates were preparing for a similar movement. They were divided into four columns, and ordered to march at nine o'clock on the night of the 9th,' so as to sur- ° " round Springfield and attack the National Army at dawn the next morning. On account of a gathering storm and the intense darkness, McCul- ^ Pollard's First Year of the War, page 136. 2 WoodruiFs Life of Lyon, -^^^G 303. General Sweeney had boon in Springfield some time, from which place he had issued a proclamation, on tho 4th of July, commanding all disloyalists to cease their opposition to the Government and to take an o.ath of allegiance. 2 Lyon's column consisted of three brigades, coramanded respectively by Major S. D. Sturgis, Lieutenant- Colonel Andrews, and Colonel Deitzler. Major Sturgis's brigade was coraposed of a battalion of llegul.ar Infantry. under Captain Plummer, Captain Totten's light battery of six pieces, a battalion of Missouri Volunteers, under Major Osterhaus, Captain Wooil's company of mounted Kansas Volunteers, and a company of Eegular Cavalry under Lieutenant Canfield. Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews's brigade consisted of Captain Steele's battalion of PvCguIars, Lieutenant Du Bois' light battery of four pieces, and the First Missouri Volunteers. Deitzler's brigade was composed of the First and Second Kansas and First Iowa Volnnteers, and two hundred mounted Missouri Homo Guards. Sigel's column consisted of the Third and Fifth Missouri Volunteers, ono company of cavalry, nnder Captain Carr, another of dragoons, under Lientenant Farrand, of the First Infantry, and a company of re cruits, with a light battery of six guns, under Lieutenant Lothrop. OPENING OF THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK 49 loch countermanded the order, and his army, wearied with waiting aud watching, was still in camp on Wilson's Creek on the morning of the 10th.' This was a fortunate circumstance for Lyon. He had moved at the ajjpointed hour ; and as McCulloch, in anticipation of his march upon Springfield, had withdrawn his advanced pickets, and, feeling no apprehensions of an attack by Lyon with his small force, had not thrown them out again, the Nationals were afforded an opportunity for a complete surprise of their foe. The two columns of the National Army were led respectively by Lyon and Sigel. The former, with Major Sturgis as his second in command, marched from Springfield with the main body, at five o'clock in the after noon of the 9th," to fall upon the Confederates in front, leaving Sigel, with twelve hundred men and six guns, to gain their rear 1861.* ' by their right. Lyon's force arrived within sight of the Con federate guard-fires at one o'clock in the morning, where they lay on their arms until dawn. Sigel in the mean time had left his position a little south of Springfield, and was in the Confederate rear at the appointed time, ready to strike the meditated blow. Lyon formed a line of battle at five o'clock,' and moved j ^^^ j^, forward to attack the extreme northern point of the Confederate camp, occupied by General Rains, closely followed by Totten's Battery, which was supported by a strong reserve. The Confederate pickets were driven in by Lyon's skirmishers, and the Nationals' were within musket- range of the hostile camp in front of Rains before the latter was aware of their approach. Rains immediately communicated the astounding fact to General Price. He told him truly, that the main body of the National Army was close upon him, and he called earnestly for re-enforcements. McCulloch was at Price's quarters when the alarming news arrived, and he hastened a:t once to his own, to make dispositions for battle. General Lyon pushed oh with vigor when the Confederate camp pickets were driven in. The mounted Home Guards and Captain Plummer's battal- ., ion were thrown across Wilson's Creek, near a sharp bend, and moved on a line with the advance of the main body, for the purpose of preventing tho left flank of the Nationals being tumed. Steadily onward the main column marched along a ravine, when, on ascending a ridge, it confronted a large force of Confederate foot-soldiers, composed of the infantry and artillery of Price's command, under Generals W. Y. Slack, J. H. McBride, J. B. Clark, and M. M. Parsons. These were all Missouri State Guards. Dispositions for a contest were at once made by both parties. The battalions of Major Osterhaus, and two companies of the First Missouri Volunteers, under Cap tains Yates and Cavender, of the Nationals, deployed as skirmishers. At the same time the left section of Captain Totten's Battery, under Lieutenant Sokalski, fired upon their foe. A few moments afterward, the remainder of the battery, planted on an eminence more to the right and front, opened with such destmctive effect, that the Confederates broke, and were driven by Lyon's infantry to the hills overlooking their camp. To seize and occupy the crest of the hills fi-om which the Confederates • Beport of General Price to Governor Jackson, August 12th, 1861. Pollard, in his First Year qf the War, page 187, says, that after receiving orders to march, on the evening of the 9th, the troops made preparation, and got up a dance before their camp-fires. This dance was kept np until a late hour. Vol. II.— 4 50 BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. had been driven was most desirable, and for that purpose the First Missouri, First Kansas, and First Iowa, with Totten's Battery, pushed forward. Major Osterhaus's battalion being on the extreme right, his own right resting on the side of an abrupt ravine. A line of battle was immediately formed on the hill, with the Missouri troops in front, the Kansas troops sixty yards to the left, on the opposite side of a ravine, and the Iowa troops still farther to the left. Totten's Battery was planted on an eminence, between the Missouri and Kansas troops ; and Dubois's Battery, supported by Steele's battalion, was placed about eighty yards to the left and rear of it, in a position to play upon a concealed Confederate battery on the crest of a ridge across the creek, which swept the position of the Nationals. In the mean time, Totten attacked a masked battery on the left bank of tho creek, whose position could only be known by the flash and smoke of its guns. Directly in front, under Totten's guns, lay the camp of General Rains, entirely deserted. The battle now became general. A very severe contest was raging on the right, where the First Missouri was fighting in thick underwood. It was a contest involving a straggle between superior arms well used, and over whelming numbers. As the ranks of the Confederates were penetrated and gaps were made, they were immediately filled ; and in this terrible conflict the line of the Missourians was sadly thinned. Totten was ordered up to their support, and his canister-shot made awful lanes through a large body of Confederates, who, by the trick of carrying a Union flag, approached quite near for the purpose of capturing his cannon. The deception was dis covered in time to allow Totten to punish them severely, and full half an hour his and Dubois's Battery made a continual roar. In the mean time, Plummer's battalion, in the bend of the stream, was encountering a large body of infantry in a com-field. The fight there was terrific for a while, when over two thousand Confederates came pouring into the open field from the woods like a torrent, threatening to overwhelm and annihilate the Nationals in an instant. The latter, perceiving their peril, retreated in good order, while shells from Dubois's Battery, thrown with precision, fell among the pursuers with such fearful effect, that they turned and fied. The Con federates had been struggling vigorously and bravely to turn the left flank of the Nationals ; but now, after suoh fearful loss and demoralization, they abandoned the attempt. Whilst Lyon was thus carrying on the battle on the Confederate front, Sigel, whose assigned duty was to turn their right, bj- the rear, had opened fire. With his twelve hundred men, and battery of six cannon, he had reached a position within a mile of their camp at dawn. He had moved with great skill and caution, and his alert little force had cut oflt" several squads of their enemy in such a way that no intelligence of his approach could reach the Confederate Army. Almost the first intimation given them of his presence was the bursting of his shells over their tents near the middle of their encampment, at the moment when the booming of Lyon's heavy guns was heard in another part of the field. The dismayed Confederates, composed of the regiment of Colonel Churchill, Greer's Texan Rangers, and nearly seven hundred mounted Missourians, commanded by Colonel Brown, fled, leaving every thing behind them ; when Sigel's men rushed across the creek, traversed the desolate camp, and formed almost in its center. The BATTLE OP WILSON'S CREEK. 51 Confederates immediately reappeared in strong force of infantry and cavalry, when Sigel brought his artillery into a commanding position, and with it drove his foes into the woods. Hearing the continued roar of Lyon's heavy guns, Sigel now pressed for ward to attack the Confederate line of battle in the rear. He had passed along the Fayette- ville road, as far as Sharp's farm, with about a hundred prisoners whom he had captured, when the firing at the northward almost ceased. Seeing at the same time large numbers of the Confederates moving southward, he believed that Lyon had won a victory; and that belief was strength ened, when it was reported to him that National sol diers were ap proaching his line. Orders were given not to fire in that direction, and flags of friendly greeting were waved, when suddenly the advancing troops raised the Confederate banner, and two batteries, directly in front of Sigel's force, opened a heavy and destructive fire upon the Nationals. The Confederates, strong in num bers, and dressed like Sigel's men, had so deceived that commander, that they were allowed to approach within less than musket-shot distance before the trick was discovered. The consternation in his ranks was terrible, and every arm seemed paralyzed for a moment. In the sudden confusion the Confed erates rushed forward, killed the artillery horses, and, turning the flanks of the infantry, caused, them to fly in the wildest disorder. They rushed into bushes and by-roads, incessantly attacked by large numbers of Arkansas and Texas cavalry. The entire battery was captured ; and, in the course of a few minutes, of his twelve hundred men, Sigel had only about three hundred left. He saved these and one of his cannon,' but lost his regimental flag. Such now composed the entire remnant of Lyon's second column.'' PLAN OF THE BATTLE OP WILSON'S CREEK. 1 Captain Flagg fastened ropes to this gun, and m.ide some of the Confederate prisoners draw it off the field. ^ The composition of Sigel's corps was not well fitted for a trying position. The term of service of the Fifth Missouri had expired, and the engagement to remain eight days longer ended on the day before the battle. 52 BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK. There had been a lull in the tempest of war, when this successful strata gem of the Confederates was performed. Now the' storm burst with /.i- creased fury, and the fight was terrific all along the line, as we shall observe presently. We left Lyon's column contending with the Confederates in front, when each party in tum had been compelled to give way, but, equally brave and determined, had renewed the contest with vigor. At length, as we have seen, when Sigel was pushing along the Fayetteville road, to strike the Con federate rear, the firing had ceased along almost the entire line. The excep. tion was on the extreme right of the National forces, where the First Mis souri, assisted by the First Iowa and Kansas regiments, were valiantly beating back the foe, in their attempts to turn that flank. They were patiently fan-ying on an unequal contest with a superior force, though decimated, during over four hours' hard fighting. They were almost fainting with weari ness and thirst, after having repeatedly driven back their enemy, when a heavy body of fresh Confederates were seen hurrying forward to give them a crushing blow. The quick eye and judgment of General Lyon saw the peril of his comrades, and he ordered the Second Kansas to their support. He rode forward himself, and perceiving the danger greater than he apprehended, ordered Totten to send aid from his battery for the right of the contending Nationals. Lieutenant Sokalski was immediately ordered forward with a sec tion, and prompt relief was afiferded by his skillful use of his guns. A new danger to the Nationals now appeared. Eight hundred Confede rate cavalry had formed a line of battle, unobserved, behind a ridge, and suddenly dashed toward the National rear, where some Kansas troops were guarding ambulances for the wounded. Volleys from infantry did not check their movement ; but when they were within two hundred yards of Totten's Battery, that officer suddenly wheeled his guns, turned them upou the horsemen, and opened such a deadly fire that they and their beasts fell in heaps. The effect was marvelous. Those mounted men, who had just been prouldy scorning all opposition, and feeling sure of turning the tide of victory in favor of the Confederates with very little more fighting, were now suddenly scattered in confusion. The check immediately became a rout, and every man in the saddle sought the shelter of the woods or intervening ridges. Meanwhile the support of Steele's Battery was trans ferred from Dubois's to Totten's. These had just formed in battle line when a very heavy body of Confederates came pouring out of the woods on Lyon's front and flank. Instantly the hurricane of war was again in full career over that hard-fought field. Backward and forward the contending lines swayed, their fronts often within a few yards of each other. Every effective man in Lyon's column was now engaged. For an hour the conflict was terrible, and all that time it seemed as if a feather's iveight would tum the scale in favor of one or the other. Lyon was seen continually moving alono' the lines wherever the storm raged most furiously, encouraging his men by brave words and braver deeds. Very early in this fierce engagement his horse was shot. Then he received a wound in the leg ; another in the head soon The men serving the cannon were taken from tho infontry, and were mostly recruits. Many officers hart left, and a greater portion of the men of the Third lloglment were imperfectly drilled, and had never been under fire before. DEATH OF GENERAL LYON. 53 followed, when, partially stunned, he walked a few paces to the rear and said to Major Schofield, despondingly, " I fear the day is lost." — " No, Gene ral, let us try once more," was the rej)ly. The commander soon rallied, and, regardless of the blood still flowing from his wounds, he mounted the horse of one of Major Sturgis's orderlies, and placing himself in front ofthe Second Kansas, who were led by the gallant Colonel Mitchell, he swung his hat over his head, and calling loudly for the troops to follow, dashed forward with a desperate determination to gain the victory. Mitchell fell severely wounded, and his troops asked, " Who shall lead us ?" — " I will lead you," said the chief; " come on, brave men !" In a few moments afterward a rifle-ball entered his left side and passed through his body near the heart. He fell in the arms of his body-servant, Albert Lehman, saying : " Lehman, I am going," and expired a few seconds afterward. It was about nine o'clock in the moming when General Lyon fell, and the command devolved upon Major Sturgis. The Confederates had just been repulsed along the whole line, and for twenty minutes there was another lull in the storm. Taking advantage of this respite, Sturgis consulted with his officers. The little army was dreadfully shattered, and its beloved leader was slain. In its front were at least twenty thousand men, of whom two- thirds were eflfective soldiers. The Nationals had then been without water nearly thirty hours, and a supply could be had only at Springfield, twelve miles distant. Certain defeat seemed to await the little band. The loss of Sigel's column was not then known. His silence was ominous. If he had retreated, nothing was left for Sturgis to do but to follow his example. The great question to be decided was, " Is retreat possible ?" It was under con sideration when the council was suddenly broken up by the appearance of a heavy body of infantry advancing from the hill on which Sigel's guns had been heard. Above them was seen waving the banner of the Union. Pre parations were made to form a junction with them, and they had apj^roached to a covered position within a short distance of Sturgis's line, when a battery upon a hill in the rear opened a heavy fire upon the Nationals, and the approaching troops displayed the Confederate flag. For the third time during the battle the Union soldiers had been deceived by this stratagem. In this case the Confederates came, having an appear ance exactly like Sigel's men, and the battery with which they announced their true character was composed of Sigel's captured guns ! Their voice was the signal for a renewal of the conflict, and they were speedily silenced by Dubois, supported by Osterhaus and a remnant of the First Missouri. The battle raged fiercely for a time. Totten's Battery, supported by Iowa and Regular troops, in the center of the National line, was the special object of attack. The two armies were sometimes within a few feet of each other, and faces were scorched by the flash of a foeman's gun. The Union column stood like a rock in the midst of turbulent waves, dashing them into foam. Its opponents were vastly its superior in numbers. At length its line, pressed by an enormous weight, began to bend. At that critical moment Captain Granger dashed forward from the rear with the support of Dubois's Battery, consisting of portions of the First Kansas, First Missouri, and First Iowa Regiments. These poured upon the Confederates a volley so destructive that their right wing recoiled, leaving the earth strewn with their dead and 54 THE NATIONALS WITHDRAWN FROM SPRINGFIELD. wounded. The confusion caused by this disaster spread over the entire Con federate line, and in broken masses they fell back to the shelter ofthe woods. At the same time, their wagon-train was on fire, its huge columns of black smoke in the distance giving heart to the Nationals by its seeming indications of a design on the part of the enemy to fly. But this they did not do. They held the field. Thus ended, at eleven o'clock in the morning," the Battle of ° "^'ilef ^°' Wilson's Ceeek,' after a struggle of five or six hours, which was not surpassed in intensity and prowess, on both sides, during the great war that followed.' The National loss was between twelve and thirteen hundred, and that of the Confederates was, according to the most careful estimate, full three thousand.' The shattered National troops were ill no condition to follow up the advantage which they had gained in the closing contest. Their strength and their ammunition were nearly exhausted, and nothing remained for them to do but to fall back to Springfield. The order for that movement was given at the close of the battle, and the little army, joined on the way by a portion of the remnant of Sigel's column, reached the old camp, still under the protection of a body of Home Guards, at five o'clock in the afternoon. In the hurry of retreat, the body of General Lyon was left behind, but it was subsequently recovered.* Under the general command of Colonel Sigel, the entire Union force left Springfield the next morning' at three o'clock, and in good "^" ' order retreated to Rolla, one hundred and twenty-five miles distant, in the direction of St. Louis, safely conducting a Government train, five miles in length, and valued at one million five hundred thousand dollars. 1 The Confederates called this the Battle of Oak Hill. 2 The example of Lyon in the campaign, which for hira ended at Springfield, inspired all' of his followers with the most soldierly qualities, and they were eminently displayed afterward. From his little army a large number of commanders emiinated, and were conspicuous, especially in the West. Two year.i afterward, a writer iu the Detroit Trihv/iie s.aid : " There was present at Wilson's Creek the usual complement of officers for a force of fivo thousand raen. From them have been made six major-generals, and thirteen brigadiers: colonels, lieutenant-colonels, and majors by the score have sprung from those who were then either line or non-com missioned oflicers. From one company of the First Iowa Infantry thirty-seven commissioned officers are now in the service. Similarly, one company of the First Missouri has contributed thirty-two. It is a curious fact, that, of the officers who survived the battle of Wilson's Creek, not one has been killed in battle, and only one has died from disease. In every battle for the Union the heroes of this terrible contest are found, and nowhere have they disgraced their old record. ' Is it not worth ten years of life to be able to say, I was in the campaign with Lyon ?' " A poet of the day, apostrophizing the Spirit of Lyon as a terror to the conspirators, wrote : " For wheresoe'er thy comrades stand To face the traitors, as of yore. Thy prescient spirit shall command. And lead the charge once more." > See reports of Major Sturgis, August 20th, 1861 ; of Colonel Sigel, August ISth, 1S61, and of the subordinate oflicers of Lyon's army; also, reports of Generals Price and McCulloch and their subordinate oflicers. The National loss was reported at 228 killed, 721 wounded, and 292 missing. McCulloch repotted the Confederate loss at 265 killed, SOO wounded, and 30 missing. At the same time, he reported the National loss to bo over 2,000. He had previously said to a National officer, who was with a party at his quarters, under a flag of truce, " Tour loss was very great, but ours was four times yours." See Report of tlie Committee on the Conduct of tlw War. General Price, in his report ( August 12th, 1861), says the loss of his command was nearly TOO, or nearly one- fifth of his entire force. * Lyon's body was placed in an ambulance to bo raoved from the field, but in the hurry of dep,arture it was left. From Springfleld, a surgeon with attendonts was sent back for it, and General Price sent it to the town in his own wagon. In the eonfusion of abandoning Springfleld, the next morning, it was again left behind when, after being carefully prepared for burial by two members of Brigadier-General Clark's stafi; it was delivered to the care of Mrs. Phelps (wife of J. S. Phelps, a former member of Congress from Missouri, and a stanch Union man), who caused it to bo buried. A few days afterward it was disinterred and sont to St. Louis, and from there it was conveyed to its final resting-place in a churchyard at East Hartford, in Connecticut. MILITAET AND CIVIL AFFAIRS IN MISSOUEL 55 The Confederates, so greatly superior in numbers, did not follow, thereby acknowledging the groundlessness of their claim to a victory, whioh was so exultingly made.' Indeed, McCulloch, in his first official report, only said of the Nationals, " They have met with a signal repulse." It was not even that. The Union forces reached Rolla, a point of railway communication with St. Louis, on the 19th of August, where "Camp Good Hope" was established. The southem portion of Missouri was now left open to the sway of the Con federates, and they were securmg important footholds in the vicinity of the Mississippi River. In the mean time, Harris, one of Governor Jackson's brigadiers, had been making a formidable display of power in Northeastern Missouri. He had rallied a considerable force at Paris, and commenced the work of destroying the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway. He was driven away by loyal forces under Colonel Smith, when he organized guerrilla par ties to harass and plunder the Union people. Finally, with twenty-seven hundred men, he joined General Price before Lexington. Other organized bands of Secessionists had been operating in Northeastern Missouri at the same time, and had compelled the Unionists to organize and arm themselves for defense. The latter, under Colonel Moore, formed a camp at Athens. The Secessionists also organized ; and on the 5th of August, nearly fifteen hundred of them, led by Martin Green, and furnished with three pieces of cannon, fell upon Moore's force, of about four hundred in number, in the village of Athens, where the assailants were repulsed and utterly routed. The Unionists now flocked to Moore's victorious standard ; and these being aided by General Pope, the Secessionists north of the Mis souri River were soon made to behave very circumspectly. In the mean time, the loyal civil authorities of Missouri were making efforts to keep the State from the vortex of secession. The popular Conven tion, which had taken' a stand in favor of the Union, as we have observed,'' reassembled at Jefferson City on the 22d of July, and proceeded to reorganize civil government for the State, which had been broken up by the flight of the Executive and other officers, and the dispersion of the legislators, many of whom were in the ranks of the enemies of the Government. The Conven tion declared the offices of Govemor, Lieutenant-Governor, and Secretary of State, to be vacant, by a vote of fifty-six to twenty-five. They also declared the seats of the members of the General Assembly vacant, by a vote of fifty-two to twenty-eight." On the following day they j)ro- "''igji^"' ceeded to the election of officers for a provisional government,'' and appointed the first Monday in November following as the time for the people ^ McCulloch telegraphed to L. Pope Walker, at Richmond : " We have gained a great victory over the enemy." General Price spoke of it as " a brilliant victory," " achieved upon a hard-fought field," and said tho Confederates had " scattered far and wide the well-appointed army which the usurper at Washington " had been for more than six months gathering. The Confederate " Congress," at Eiehmond, on the 2l8t of August, in the preamble to a resolution of thanks tendered to McCullocll and his men, declared that it had " pleased Almighty God to vouchsafe to the arms of the Confederate States another glorious and Important victory;" while the newspaper press exhibited the greatest jubilation. " The next word will be," shouted the New Orleans Pieayu/ne of the 17th of August, " ' On to St. Louis !' That taken, the power of Lincolnism is broken in the whole West ; and instead of shouting ' Ho I for Richmond !' and ' Ho ! for New Orleans I' there will be hurrying to and fro, among the frightened magnates at Washington, and anxious inquiries of what they shall do to save themselves from the vengeance to come." 2 See piige 462, volume I. " Hamilton R. Gamble, Provisional Governor; Willard P. Hall, Lieutenant-Governor; and Mordecai Oliver, Secretary of State. 56 CONTEST BETWEEN LOYALISTS AND SECESSIONISTS. to elect persons to fill the same offices. After transacting other necessary business, the Convention issued an Address to the people, in which the state of public affairs was cleariy set forth, and the dangers to the State, in conse quence of the hostile movements of the Secessionists within its borders and invaders from without, were as plainly portrayed. The treason of the Gov ernor and his associates was exposed, whereby the action of the Convention in organizing a provisional government was justified. On the 3d of August, the Provisional Governor issued a proclamation to the people, calculated to allay their apprehension concerning one of their special interests. "No countenance," he said, "will be afforded to any scheme, or to any conduct, calculated in any degree to interfere with the institution of slavery existing in the State. To the very utmost extent of executive power that institution will be protected." This assurance was a mordant for the loyalty of the Union-loving slaveholders, and the new pro visional government received the confidence and support of the majority of the people. Large numbers of the disaffected inhabitants took aii oath of allegiance,' and the friends of order were greatly encouraged. Whilst ¦ the loyal State Convention and the provisional government were laboring to bring order out of chaos in Missouri, the leaders in rebelhon there were making the strongest efforts to secure the absolute control of the Commonwealth. On the day when the Convention sent forth its address, the disloyal Lieutenant-Governor (Thomas C. Reynolds), then at New Ma drid, on the Mississippi River, issued a proclamation to the people of the State, in which he declared that, acting as Chief Magistrate during the tem porary absence of Govemor Jackso,n, he had returned to proclaim, under the provisions of an act of the disloyal legislature, the absolute severance of Missouri from the Union. "Disregarding forms, and looking to realities," he said, " I view any ordinance for the separation frorfi the North, and union with the Confederate States, as a mere outward ceremony to give notice to others of an act already consummated in the hearts of her people," and that, consequently, " no authority of the United States will hereafter be permitted in Missouri." With such views of the political rights of the people, it was natural for him to consign them to the infiictions of a military despotism ; so, in the same proclamation, he announced that, by invitation of Governor Jackson, General Pillow, commander of the Tennessee troops in the Confed erate service, had entered Missouri,'' and that he was empowered "to make ^ The following is a copy of the oath which the Confederate leaders had compelled the citizens to take : — " Know all men, that I, , of the County of , State of Missouri, do solemnly swear that I will bear true allegiance to the State of Missouri, and support the Constitution of the State, aud that I will not give aid, comfort, inforra.ation, protection, or encouragement to the enemies or opposers of the Missouri State Guard, or of their allies, the Armies ofthe Confederate States, upon the penalty of death for treason." 2 General Pillow landed with his troops at New Madrid, at near the close of July. His first order issued there was on the 2Sth, prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to his soldiers. He had suggested this move ment into Missouri at an early period, as one of vast importance in his plans for seizing Bird's Point and Cairo. Whilst engaged in strongly fortifying Memphis, Eandolph, and one or two other points on the Tennessee shore of the Mississippi, he earne'stly recommended the occupation of New Madrid and Island No. 10 by his troops, and the erection of strong fortifications there, for the twofold purpose of making New Madrid his base of opera tions against Bird's Point and Cairo, and of preventing armed vessels descending tho river, it being evident early in Juno that preparations were being made for that purpose. At tho middle of Juno he was ready to move forward, and only awaited a oomplianco of Governor Harris, with a requisition of Pillow for additional troops frr)m Middle Tennessee. The threatening aspect of atfairs (n loyal East Tennessee at that time so alarmed Harris fhat he hesitated, and telegraphed to Pillow on the 22d of Juno, as follows : " I still approve, but cannot send troops from here until matters in East Tennessee are settled." Pillow was disappointed and annoyed, nnd PILLOW AND JEFP. THOMPSON. 57 and enforce such civil police regulations as he may deem necessary for the security of his forces, the preservation of order and discipline in his camp, and the protection of the lives and property of the citizens ;" in other words, martial law was established within indefinite limits by this avowed usurper ofthe rights ofthe people. He clothed M, Jeff. Thompson,^ one of Jackson's Missouri brigadiers, with the same power; and he and Pillow, and W. J. Hardee (who had abandoned his flag, joined the insurgents, and was com missioned a brigadier in the Confederate Army), now held military posses sion of the southeastern districts of the CommonAvealth, and made vigorous preparations to co-operate with Price and his associates in " expelling the enemy from the State," Pillow assumed the ^^ompous title of '"'' Liberator of MUsouTi^'^ and his orders and dispatches were commenced, "Head-Quarters . Army of Liberation." Governor Jackson, who had been to Pichmond to make arrangements for on the following; day he wrote to the Governor, saying: "I think it exceedingly unfortunate that you have suspended the movements, forward against Bird^'s Point and Cairo for the relief of Missouri. The main body of the force at these two points has been withdrawn, in consequence of the pressure in the East and therrising up of Missouri, and the work of taking these points wonld now be of comparatively easy accomplishment. If my move ments are to he suspended until East Tennessee ceases to stilk and becomes loyal, it will defer my action to a period when I cannot assume the offenai'oe state. In my judgment, two, three, or four regiments is a force sufficient for any probable contingency in view of the position of East Tennessee. Without aid from the forces of Middle Tennessee I have not the means of advancing, nor will I attempt it. In ten days the enemy will, in all proba bility, increase his force at Cairo, and will have his three gunboats, mounting 30 guns, at Cairo, and then it would be madness to attempt a dislodgment." Then, and for some time afterward, the great want of the Army of Tennessee was arms. In July, Pillow issued an order directing the gathering np of all the rifies in private hands in Western Tennessee, for the pui'pose of having them made of uniform bore and devoted to the public use. In his appeal to the people, he said: "Seventy thous-md additional troops must be raised to protect the country. These troops can be armed only by the country rifles being procured, and thus converted. . . These rifles will give you no protection when scattered over the country in your houses. Nothing will save the coun try from being overrun and devastated by a more than savage foe, but arms in the hands of organized and drilled troops." Workshops for the purpose of changing these arms were employed at Memphis, under Captain Hunt. Agents were api)ointed to collect the rifles, who were authorized to give certificates of purchase, the weapons to be afterwards paid for by the Confederate government. — Pillow's MS. Order Booh. Araong a mass of autograph letters before mo is one from General S. E. Anderson to General Pillow, dated May isth, 1S61, in which he makes an important disclosnre concerning evident preparations for revolt having been made by the authorities of Tennessee, several months before the election of Mr. Lincoln. He says : " I am using every effort to collect together the arms of the State issued to 'volunteer compan ies, raised for politiea I purposes and otherwise., and now disbanded; and in looking over the bonds given for arms, as found in the Secretary of Staters office, I flnd that on,the ^th of Jidy last [1S60], there was issued to W. J. Hendricks, J. E. Crowder, K. E. Moody, and E. Winslow, of Lagrange, West Tenn., the following arms : 64 swords and 128 pistols. These arms are worth looking after, and I would respectfully suggest to you to have them looked after and gathered up, if not in the hands of such men as are going to take the field." 1 Thompson, who became a notorious guerrilla chief, like Pillow, seemed fond of issuing proclamations and writing letters, in both of which he indulged mu9h in hyperbole. Many of the latter, written at the period we are now considering, are before me. The day after Eeynolds issued his proclamation, Tli^mpson sent forth the following manifesto to the people of Missouri, which is a fair specimen of his style: — " Come, now, strike while the iron is hot ! Our enemies are whipped in Virginia. They have been whipped in Missouri. General Hardee advances in the center. General Pillow on tho right, and General McCulloch on the left, with 20,000 brave Southern hearts, to our aid. So leave your i)lows in the furrow, and your oxen in the, yoke, and rush like a tornado upon our invaders and foes, to sweep them from the face of the earth, or force them from the soil of our State I Brave sons of the Ninth District, come and join us! We have plenty of ammunition, and the cattle on ten thousand hills are ours. We have forty thousand Belgian muskets coming; but bring your guns and muskets with you, if you have them; if not, come without them. We will strike your foes like a Southern thunderbolt, and soon our camp-fires will illuminate the Merrimac and Missouri. Come, turn out. "Jeff. Thompson, Srig.-General Comd'g^'' Many Missourians who had fied from the State, late in May and early in June, had enti-red the Tennessee Army. It was desirable to have these and other exiled citizens of that Skite organized for home duty, and Thompson was sent to Memphis for that purpose. There, on the 14th of June, a meeting of Missourians was held, and in a series of resolutions they asked Pillow for quarters and subsistence, and the release from service in the Tennessee Army, such Missourians as had been enlisted. The autograph letter to Pillow inclosing these resolutions is before me, and is signi'd by M. Jeff. Thompson, B. Newton Hart, Thomas P.- Hoy, N. J. McArthur^ James George, and Lewis H. Kenncrly. 58 ADMISSION OF MISSOUEl INTO THE OONFEDEKAOY. military aid, and the annexation of Missouri to the Confederacy had just returned, and from New Madrid he also issued a proclamation." ° "^j"!'/' It was in the form of a provisional declaration of the independence of the State, in which he gave reasons which, he said, "justified" aseparationfromthe Union. These " reasons " consisted of the iisual misrepre sentations' concerning the National Government, in forms already familiar to the reader, and were followed by a formal declaration that Missouri was " a sove reign, free, and independent republic." On the 20th of the same month, the Confederate "Congress" at Richmond passed an act to " aid the State of Mis souri in repelling invasion by the United . States, and to authorize the admission of said State as a member of the Con federate States of America." Jefferson Davis was authorized to " muster into the service of the Confederate States" such Missouri troops as might volunteer to serve in the Confederate Army; the officers to be commissioned by Davis, who was also empowered to appoint aU field officers for the same. Missouri was to be admitted into the Confederacy on an equal footing with the other States, when the Constitution of the "Confederate States" should be "adopted and ratified by the properly and legally constituted authorities of said State;" in other words, when the disloyal fugitive Governor, Jackson, and his friends, and not the i?eople of Missouri, should so adopt and ratify that unholy league. By the same act the government of Missouri, of which Jackson was recog nized as the chief magistrate, was declared to be " the legally elected and constituted government of the people and State of Missouri." ' Measures were speedily adopted for the consummation of the alliance, and, during a greater portion of the war, men claiming to represent the people of Missouri occupied seats in the Confederate " Congress " at Richmond.' At this critical juncture of public affairs in Missouri, John C. Fremont, who had been brought prominently before the American people in 1856, as ]\I. JEFF. TUOMPSON. 1 See Acts and Resolutions of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, Third Session, No. 225. 2 By proclamation, in September, Jackson called a session of the disloyal members ofthe General Assembly of Missouri, at Neosho, on the 21st of October. In his message to that body, on the 2Sth of October, he recom mended, 1st, the passage of an ordinance of secession ; 2d, uf an '' act of provisional union with the Confederate States ;" 8d, the appointment of " tbree commissioners to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States;" 4th, the passage of a law empowering the Govemor to cause an elrction to be held for Senators and Representatives to the "Confederate States Congress" as soon as practicable after Missouri should become a member of the league; and, 5th, the passage of an act empowering tho Governor to issue bonds of the State of Missouri. The pliant in strumenta of the Governor responded cheerfully to his recommendations. An Ordinance of Secession was passed the same day (October 28th, 1S61), and an " Act to provide for the defense of the State of Missouri " was adopted on tbe 1st of November. It authorized th© issue of what were termed "Defense Bonds," to the amount of $10,000,000, all of which, of the denomination of $5 and upwards, should bear interest at the rate of ten per cent per annum. They were to be issued in denominations not less than $1, and not greater than $500, payable in three, ilve, and seven years. They were made a legal tender for all dues. Such was the currency oifered to th^ people of Missouri as merabers of Ihe Confederacy. See JowrnAils of the Senate, t&c, noticed at the close of note L, page 4C4, volume I. FEEMONT IN MISSOUEl. 59 « 1861. the candidate of the -newly formed Republican party for the Presidency of the United States, assumed the command of the Western Department. He was in Europe when the war broke out, and on the 14th of May, 1861, he was commissioned a major-general of Volunteers. On receiving notice of his appointment, he left his private affairs abroad in the hands of others, and hastened home. He arrived at Boston on the 27th of June," bringing with him an assortment of arms for his Government, and on the 6th of July he was appointed to the important command in the West just mentioned.' He re mained a short time in New York, where he made arrangements for o'\'er twenty thousand stand of arms, with munitions of war, to be sent to his Department. On hearing of the dis aster at Bull's Run, he left fbr the "West, and arrived at St. LquIs on the 26th of July, where Colonel Harding, Lyon's Adjutant-General, was in command. Fremont had f-y"^g^" ~\§v"\^^i*«}^^^^l^^fe already issued orders for General John Pope to proceed from Alton, in Illinois, with troops to suppress the armed Secessionists in Northern Mis souri, who, as we have observed, had commenced the destruction of railways, and depredations upon the Unionists. Fremont made his head-quarters in St. Louis at the house of the late Colo nel Brant, an elegant and splendid mansion, and proceeded at once with great vigor in the performance of his duties. He found disorder everywhere prevailing. The terms of enlistment of the Home Guards, or three-months men, were expiring ; and these, being com posed chiefly of working-men, with dependent families, and having been some time without pay, were unwilling to re-enlist — in fact, some yet in the service were in a state of mutiny on that account. Fremont was embarrassed. He had very little money at his disposal to meet the just demands ofthese soldiers; neither had he arms for new recruits, who were now coming into St. Louis in considerable numbers, and were compelled to remain there in idleness for lack of weapons, when he was anxious to send them to the aid of Lyon, and to points exposed to cap ture. The guns ordered at New York were detained for the use of the Army of the Potomac. Indeed, the National authorities were so absorbed in JOnS C. FKEMONT. FBEMOKt'S IlEAD-QtTAETEES IN ST. LOUIS. ^ The Western Department was created on the 6th of July, and comprised the State of Illinois, and the states and Territories west of the Mississippi and east of the Eocky Mountains, including New Mexico. Head quarters at St. Louis. 60 AFFAIES IN FEEMONT'S DEPAETMENT. taking measures for the defense of Washington City, that the care of the Government was little felt in the West, for a time. Fremont perceived that he could be useful only by assuming grave responsibilities, and he resolved upon that course, with the belief that he would be sustained by his Government. Funds were indispensable, and he applied to the National Sub-Treasurer at St. Louis for a supply. That officer had three hundred thousand dollars in his hands, but he refused to let the General have a dime without an order from the Secretary of the Treasury. So Fremont prepared to seize one hundred thousand dollars of it by military force, when the custodian yielded.' With these funds he secured the re-en listment of many of the three-months men. With vigor and secrecy, Fremont prepared for offensive and defensive action. He strongly fortified St. Louis against external and internal foes, and prepared to place Cairo in a condition of absolute security ; for upon the holding of these points rested, in a great degree, the salvation of the North west fiism invasion and desolation. He was compelled to choose between securing the safety of these places, or re-enforcing Lyon ; and wisely, it seems, he decided upon the former course, Kentucky, professedly neutral, and with doors closed against Union troops from other States, was giving shelter and welcome to large bodies of Confederate soldiers in its western districts. Already full 12,000 Confederate troops were within a circle of fifty miles around Cairo, in Kentucky and Missouri. Pillow, as we have seen,^ had in vaded the latter State at its southeastern extremity with a large number of troops, preparatory to an immediate adv*ice upon Bird's Point and Cairo, while Hardee, with a considerable force, was pushing into the interior to menace Lyon's flank and rear. At the same time Liutenant-Governor Rey nolds, in his proclamation at New Madrid," taking advantage of °'iS6i.^'' the joy ofthe secessionists, and the depression ofthe loyalists, on account of the sad news from Virginia, had said, in connection with his announcement of the presence of Pillow with Tennessee troops, " The sun which shone in its full midday splendor at Manassas is about to rise in Missouri." Every thing at that moment seemed to justify the predic tion. Lyon, with the only considerable National force in the field, was sui"» rounded with the greatest peril, as we have seen ; every county in the Com monwealth was in a state of insurrection, and every post held by the Unionists — even St, Louis itself — was menaced with real danger. To avert the perils threatening Bird's Point and Cairo, Fremont secretly and quickly prepared an expedition to strengthen the latter post ; for Gen eral Prentiss, its commander, had not more than twelve liundred men in 1 Fremont Laid a brief statement of the condition of affairs in Missouri, and his needs, before the President, in a letter on the SOth of July. Ho said : " We have not an hour for d^-iay. There are three coui-ses open for me. One, lo let the enemy possess himself of some ofthe strongest points in the State and threaten St Louis, which is insurrectionary; second, to force a loan from secession banks here; third, to use tho money belonging to the Government which is in the Treasury here. Of course I will not lose the State, nor p»-'rniit the enemy a foot of advantage. I have infused euergy and activity into tho Department, and there is a thoroughly good spirit in oflicers aud men. This morning I will order tho Treasurer to deliver the money in his possession to General Andrews, and will send a force to the Treasury to take the nionc.v, and will dii-fot sub-payments, as tho exigency requires." Tho President made no reply ; and this silence, with a dispatch received four days before -from a Cabinet minister (Postmaster-Ccncrul Blair), saying, " You will havo to do the best you can, and take all needful responsibility to defend and protect the people over whom you arc specially set," justified his course, to his.indgment. ' See page 50. THE OONFEDEEATES DECEIVED. 61 garrison there at the close of July. Mustering about thirty-eight hundred troops on board of eight steamers,' at St. Louis, on the night of the SOth of July, he left that city at noon the next day with the entire squadron, and making a most imposing display. Nobody but himself knew the real strength of the expedition, and the most exaggerated rumors concerning it went abroad. The loyal people and the insurgents believed that these ves sels contained at least twelve thousand men. The deception had its desired effect. Cairo was re-enforced without opposition. Other points were strengthened. Pillow, who had advanced some troops, and, with Thompson, was preparing to seize Cape Girardeau, Bird's Point, and Cairo, and overrun Southern Illinois, fell back, and became very discreet in action ; and Hardee, with his independent command, was checked in his movements into the interior of Missouri. Pillow, notwithstanding he had about twenty thousand troops at his com mand, alarmed by rumors of an immense National force on his front, sent a dispatch" to Hardee, then supposed to be at Greenville, urging the necessity for a junction of their forces, before an attempt " '*^!'£"/' ^' might be safely made to march on Commerce and Cape Girar deau. " Having a good deal of work before us," he said, " we should be careful not to so cripple our forces as to be unable to go forward. ... I ought to have your support before engaging the enemy on my front. . . . . Without the co-operation of your force, I doubt if I can reach you at Ironton, except in a very critical condition. We ought to unite at Benton."^ He informed Hardee that General Thompson, Governor Jackson, and Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds were with him, and that they all re garded the union of , the two forces as essential. On the same day General Polk wrote to Pillow, urging him to " put his troops in the trenches," and strongly fortify New Madrid, near which it was proposed to stretch a chain, to obstruct the navigation of.the Mississippi.^ Polk was then gathering ^ Empress, War Fagle, Jennie Dean, Warsaw. City of Alton, Lowisiana, January, and Graham. Gen eral Fremont and Staff were on the City of Alton. The squadron was in charge of Captain B. Able. ^ Autognaph letter of General Pillow, dated, " Head-quarters Army of Liberation, August 5th, 1861." ^ At that time there were various plans proposed for barricading the Mississippi .against the " invaders." The stretching of a chain across was a favorite one, and materials for the purpose were sent up from New Orleans to Memphis. An anonymous writer, whose autograph letter is before me, dated " New Orleans, July 8d, 1861," proposed a plan, by which, he said, " steamboats dt the enemy could be as effec tually prevented from descending the Mississippi, as from steaming across tho Allegliany Mountains." The letter contained the annexed illustrative diagram. Thomas J. Spear, of New Orleans, in a letter dated the 31st of July, proposed a species of torpedo for the same pur pose, which might also be of use in battle on land. His accompanying diagram, which is annexed, represents the manner of using the torpedo in the river. It was to bo attached to the end of a long rod, projecting, under water, from the bow of the ves sel, and fixed by a tube filled with gunpowder. These plans were not tried; but other obstructions, in the way of sunken vessels, che-vaux de frise of various kinds, and a great variety of torpedoes, were used during the war. Spear proposed to place his torpedoes on land, at " shoot ing distance in front of a chosen place of battle, or in roads over which the enemy would travel, a few inches underground, with wires attached, so as to explode them by means of electricity." The plan was to fall back as the enemy approached, and when they were above the torpedoes to explode them. The illustrations of this note may be exphiined as follows : — Stkamboat Obstructions. — A A, rafts anchored between the shore and the channel. srEA.K8 TOKPEDO. GTE,\.MIiOAT OnSTRL'C- TIONS. B B, batlorlcs 62 THE CONFEDERATES ALARMED strength at Randolph and Fort Pillow, on the Tennessee side of the Missis sippi. He had prohibited dll steamboats from going above New Madrid, had pressed into the service several Cincinnati pilots, and had ordered up two gunboats from :N"ew Orleans, to operate between New Madrid and Cairo. ^ Fremont returned to St. Louis on the 4th of August, having accomplished the immediate objects of his undertaking. He had spread great alarm among the Confederates immediately confronting him, who were somewhat dis tracted by divided commanders. Polk was chief ;** and from his '^'^iseT^' head-quarters at Memphis he ordered* Pillow to evacuate New Madrid, and, with his men and heavy guns, hasten to Randolph and Fort Pillow, on the Tennessee shore. The ink of that dispatch was scarcely dry, when he countermanded the order, for he had heard glad tidings from McCulloch, in front of Lyon. Again, on the 15th, he was so alarmed by rumors from above, that he again ordered Pillow to abandon New Mad- i-id, and cross to Tennessee with his troops and armament immediately. The ambitious Pillow, evidently anxious to win renown by seizing Cape G-irardeau, and with that victory to gain possession of Bird's Point and Cairo, was tardy in his obedience, and the result was, that he kept his head quarters at New Madrid until early in September, as we shall hereafter observe.^ UAFT ANCIIOUED IN TIIE MISSISSIPPI. on the shore. 0, raft with heavy battery in the channej^ D, floating boom to allow friendly vessels to pass through. E, steamer descending the river Such rafts were constracted at several places on the Mississippi, in tlie form seen in the annexed engraving, being held by chains, attached to an chors, passing over them lengthwise. They were inefficient, and were soon abandoned. Speae^s Torpedo. — A, bow of tor pedo vessel. B, torpedo. C C, tube filled with gunpowder, supported by a Bti'ong framework, to which the torpedo is attached. D, end of tube to which the match is applied. 1 Autograph letter of Leonidas Polk to Gideon J Pillow, dated at Memphis, August 5th, 1S6I. 2 General Polk, as we have observed, was Bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana, of tbe Protestant Episcopal Church, when the war broke out. A correspondent of the' New Orleans Picayutie, writing from Eiehmond on the day of Polkas appointment as major-general in the Confederate service, related the secret history of hte lay ing aside the crook of the bishop for the sword of the soldier. Hc had been urged to take the appointment, his miUtary education at the AVest Point Academy being thought sufficient to promise a successful career in tho field. He finally visited Bishop Meade, of Virginia, the senior bishop of the church in the United States, to consult with Mm about it. Tho result was in his case, as in that of General Joseph E. Johnston (who also con sulted Bishop Meade as to what was his duty in a similar emergency) ; he received the approval of the prelate, and joined the army. It seems that Polk had satisfied himself that he ought to accept the commission, before he visited Bishop Meade ; for the writer says, that when the latter suggested that the Diocesan of Louisi- and was already holding a commission in a very difFeVent army, to which he owed allegiance, the great slave- hokling bishop replied: '' I know that very well, and I do not intend to resign it On the contrary, I shall only prove the more faithful to it by doing all that in me lies to bring this unhallowed and unnatural war to a speedy and happy close. We, of the Cimfederate States, are the last bulwarks of civil and religious liberty ; we fight for our hearthstones and our altars; above all, we fl^ht for a race that has been, by Divine Providence, intrusted to our most sacred keeping. Whon I accept a commission in the Confederate Army, therefore, 1 not only perform tho duties of a good citizen, hut contend for the principles which Ue at the foundation of our social, political, and religious polity.'''* 3 Pillow had always been restive undor the rostratnts imposed by tho transfer of the Tennessee Army to the service of the Confederalo authorities, and he never obeyed the commands of General Polk with alacrity. Thompson was under the command of Governor Jackson ; and Hardee, who was at Greenville, some distance in the interior of Missouri, early in August was operating with independence, in a measure, of both Pillow and Polk. Pillow and Thompson had set their hearts on the seizure of Cape Girardeau and Bird's Point, whilst Hardee was aiming at a similar result in a different way. Polk, at Memphis, alarmed by rumor of an immense arma- THE SECESSIONISTS m MISSOURI 63 News ofthe Battle of Wilson's Creek,^ and the death of Lyon, reached Fremont on the 13th of August. The secessionists in St. Louis were made jubilant and bold by it. "^This disposition was promptly met bythe Com^ mander-in-Chief Martial law was declared,* and General Mc- Kinstry was appointed Provost-Marshal. Some of the most ''^^feT*^^' active secessionists were arrested, and the publication of news papers charged with disloyalty was suspended.^ So tight was held the curb of restraint in the city that an outbreak was prevented. More free to act in the rural distncts, the armed secessionists began again to distress the loyal people. In bands they moved over the country, plundering and destroying. Almoet daily, collisions between them and the Home Guards occurred. One of the most severe of these conflicts took place at Charleston, west of Bird's Point, on the 19th,* when three hundred Illinois Volunteers, under Colonel Dougherty, put twelve hundred Confederates to ^"s^^^- flight. Two days afterward, a battery planted by Thompson, at Commerce, was captured by National troops sent out from Cape Girardeau ; and every where the loyalists were successful in this sort of warfare. But the condition of public aifairs in Missouri was becoming daily more alarming. The provi sional government was almost powerless, and Governor Gamble, by a mis taken policy, seriously injured the public service at that critical time by refusing to commission military oflicers appointed by Fremont. The Presi dent commissioned them himself, and the work of organizing a force for the ment about to descend the Mississippi and attack that place, was anxious to strengthen it and the supporting posts above it on the Tennessee shore, and hence his order for Pillowc to evacuate New Mad rid and hasten with his troops and heavy guns to Eandolph and Fort Pillow. Pillow demurred, c August 7, and charged Polk, by implication, with keeping back re-enforcements, and thwarting his well-laid l^^l- plans for the liberation of Missouri. Polk retorted, and intimated that Pillow a neglecting to fortify New Madrid, as he bad-been ordered to do, before the Nationals were ready for an ofl'ensive movement, was a blunder that now made the evacuation of that post a necessity. In his dispatch revoking the order for the evacuation of New Madrid, Polk directed Pillow to break up his base there, send his heavy cannon to Ean dolph and Fort Pillow, and, marching by the way of Pleasanton, join his forces with those of Hardee at Greenville. This was also distasteful to the Tennessee commander. He reported that he hnd tried the path and had been compelled to fall back to New Madrid on account of unsafe bridges ; also, that he intended to move on Cape Girardeau by the river road. Polk, was annoyed, and wrote him a long letter on the 16th of August, in its tone deprecatory of Pillow's course; whilst the restless Thompson, who was now with Hardee, and now with Pillow, was eagerly urging a forward movement " I would like very much," he wrote on the 16th of August, "to have your permission to advance, as I am sure that I can take Cape Girardeau without firing a gun, by marching these moonlight nights and taking them by surprise. Every one gives me the credit of at least 7,000 men, and I have them frightened nearly to deatli." The following day he wrote to Pillow, saying, " If you wish ft legal excuse for advancing, withdraw your control over me for a few hours, and then come to my rescue. We must not lose the moon; the weather may change, and the swamps become impassable." Hardee, on the contrary, who desired, as a preliminary movement against Cape Girardeau, to seize the post at Ironton, the then terminus of the railway running southward from St Louis, did not seem disposed to aid Pillow in his designs; whilst Polk, according to a letter from Lewis G. De Eussey, his aid-de-camp, dated at Port Pillow on the 17th of August, was anxious for Pillow and Hardee to join their forces at Benton, and march upon St Louis. In this undecided state, tbe question concerning offensive movements in Missouri remained until the close of August, when the National forces at Ironton, the Cape, and Bird's Point, had been so increased, that any forward movement of the Confederates would have been extremely perilous, " We can take the Cape, but what would we do with it?" Pillow a.sked significantly on the 29th. Hardee, an old and experienced officer, had positively refused to go forward, and Pillow and Polk would not risk such a movement without his concurrence. The conduct of the ambitious Pillow in this connnection became so insubordinate, that General Polk submitted a statement of it to the " War Department," at Eiehmond, on the 20th of August "Considering you have usurped an authority not properly your own," wrote De Eussey, in behalf of Polk, "by which you have thwarted and embarrassed his arrangements and operations for the general defense, he feds it his duty to submit to the War Department the position you have thought proper to assume." Events during the few suc ceeding days changed all plans.— Autograph Letters of Polk, Hardee^ Pillow, TJiompson, and others, from the close of July to the close of August, 1861. 1 The Confederates, as we have observed, call it the Battle of Oak Hill. 3 Morning Herald, £?ven4ng Missourian, and War bulletin. 64 FREMONT'S STARTLING PROCLAMATION. purpose of sweeping the insurgents out of the State, and clearing the banks of the Mississippi of all hlockading obstructions to free navigation from St. Louis to j^ew Orleans, went steadily on. Satisfied that nothing but martial law and the most stringent measures toward the secessionists would secure peace and quiet to Missouri, and safety to the cause, Fremont took the administration of public affairs there into his own hands, and on the 31st of August he issued a proclamation, in which he declared that martial law was thereby established throughout Missouri, and that the lines of the Army of Occupation in that State extended, for the present, from Leavenworth, in Kansas, by way of the posts of Jefferson City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau on tlie Mississippi River. He declared that all persons within those lines taken with arms in their hands should be tried by court-martial, and, if found guilty, should be shot ;' that the property, real an«l personal, of all persons in Missouri, who should be proven to have taken an active part with the enemies of the Government, in the field, should be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if they had any, should be thereafter free men; and that all persons engaged in the destruction of bridges, railway tracks, and telegraphs, should suffer the extreme penalty of Hhe law. All persons who, by speech or correspondence, should be found guilty of giving aid to the insurgents in any way, were warned of ill consequences to themselves ; and all who had been seduced from thefr allegiance to the IsTational Government were required to retum to their homes forthwith. The declared object of the proclamation was to place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantane ous effect to existing laws, while ordinary civil authority would not be sus pended, where the law should be administered in the usual manner.' General Fremont acted promptly in accordance with his proclamation, and the greatest consternation began to prevail among the insurgents of Missouri, when his hand was stayed. He was most bitterly assailed by the enemies of the Administration, especially because of that portion of his pro clamation Avhich related to emancipation and confiscation. In the border Slave-labor States there arose a storm of indignation which alarmed the Government ; and the President, anxious to placate the rebellious spirit in those States, requested Fremont to modify his proclamation concerning the confiscation of property and the liberation of the slaves, so as to strictly conform to an act of Congress passed on the 6th of Au gust.' Fremont declined to do so, and asked the- President to openly direct him to make that modification, for his judgment and self-respect would not * M. Jeff. Thompson, already mentioned, and who became the terror of all law-abiding citizens in Missouri, issued a proclamation on the 2d of September, declaring that he was intrusted by Acting Governor IJeynokls not only with the comraission of brigadier-general, but also with "certain police powers," and said: "I do most solemnly promise that, for every member of the Missouri State Guard or soldier of our allies, the armies of the Confederate States, who shall be put to death in pursuance of the said order of General Fremont, I will Jiang, draw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham Lincoln." " Fremont specified, as reosons for his assuuiing tho. administrative powers ofthe State, tho fact that "its disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, tho total insecurity of life, and the devastation of property by bands of murderers and marauders," who infested nearly every county in the State, and availed themselves of the pubfiic misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force, lo gratify private and neighborhood vengeance, and who found an enemy wherever thoy found plunder, demanded tho severest measures' to suppress these disorders, to maintain the public peace, and " to give security nnd protection to the persons and property of loyal citizens." 3 See page 29. THE GOVERNMENT AND SLAVEEY. 65 allow him to do it himself.^ The President accordingly issued an order to tbat effect," and a most powerful war measure, which was adopted by tbe Government less than a year later, and wbich now prom- " m/^' ised, as such, the most efficient aid to the ^N'ational cause, was made almost inoperative. Only those slaves who were actually employed in the military service of the Confederates were to be declared free by tbe President's order. So cautiously did the Government move at this time, in the matter of slaves, that special orders were issued to commanders in other Departments on the subject, all having a tendency to calm the apprehensions that a general emancipation ofthe bondsmen Avas contemplated.^ 1 "If I were to retract of my own accord," said Fremont, '* it would imply that I myself thought it wrong, and that I acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not. I acted with full deliberation, and with the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary ; and I think so still." 2 The conservative attitude of the Government in relation to slavery, at that time, however expedient it may havc been as a soothing policy toward the border Slave- labor States, was a disappointment to its friends abroad, who well understood the object of the conspirators to be the formation of a great empire whose political and industrial system should be founded on human slavery. In Western Europe, the long controversy on that sub ject in our National Legislature had beeu watched with great interest; and the more enlightened observers, when the war broke out, believed and hoped that the i)rediction of a distinguished member of Congress (Joshua K. Giddings), made in tbat body in 1S48, when members from Slave-labor States insolently threatened to dis solve the Union if their wishes were not gratifted, would be fulfilled. He said that when that contest should come, " the lovers of oiu- race will then stand forth and exert the legitimate powers of this Government for free dom. We shall then have constitutional power to act for the good of our country and to do justice to tho slave. We will then strike off the shackles from his limbs. The Govemment will then have power to act between slavery nnd freedom, and it can then make peace by giving liberty to its slaves." — See Giddings''s History of the Ilehellion, pnge 481. They were disappointed when, in Mr. Seward's carefully written dispatch to Minister Dayton, on the 22d of April, 1S61, they were assured that the majority ofthe people of tbe Eepublic were willing to let the system of slavery alone, and that whatever might be the result of the war th«n kindling, it would receive no damage. " The condition of slavery in the several States," he said, " will remain just the same, whether it succeed or fail. There is not even a pretext for the complaint that the disafiected States are to be conquered by the United States if the revolution fail; for the rights of the States, and the condition of every human being in them, will remain sub ject to exactly the same laws and forms of administration, whether the revolution shall succeed or whether it shall fail. In the one case the States would be federally connected with the new confederacy ; in tho other, they would, as noM', be members of the United States ; but their constitutions and laws, customs, habits, and insti tutions, in either case will remain the same. It is hardly necessary to add to this incontestable statement the further fact that the new President, as well as the citizens through whose suifrages he has come into the admin istration, has always repudiated all designs, whatever and wherever imputed to him and them, of disturbing the system of slavery as it is existing under the Constitution and the laws." The prediction of Mr. Giddings was fulfilled, while those of his friend and co-worker in the anti-slavery movement, contained in his official assurances, were not. They only served to inflict moral injury upon the cause of the Government, and discourage the friends of humanity ; and such also was tho effect ofthe conserva tive action of the Government on the subject of slavery during tbe earlier period of the war. It was not until the President issued his Emancipation Proclamation, i-ixteen months later, that the warmest sympathies ofthe lovers of liberty and therights of man, in the Old World, were manifested for the cause ofthe Government. Vol. n.— 5 66 MOVEMENTS OF INSUKGENTS IN MISSOUKL CHAPTEE III MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MISSOTJEI AND KENTUCKY, ONTRARY to general expectation, the Confederates did not pursue the shattered little army that was led by Sigel, from Springfield to Rolla.' McCulloch contented himself with issuing a proclamation to the "^Te/^' people of Missouri," telling them that he had come, on the invitation of their Govemor, "to assist in driving the National forces out of the State, and in restoring to the people their just rights." He assured them that he had driven the enemy from among them, and that the Union troops were then in full flight, after defeat. He called upon the people to act promptly in co-operation with him, saying, "Missouri must be allowed to choose her own destiny — no oaths binding your consciences.'''' This was all that the Texan did in the way of " driving the enemy out ofthe State," after the battle of Wilson's Creek. His assumptions and deportment were offensive to Price and his soldiers. Alienation ensued, and McCulloch soon abandoned the fortunes of the Missoun leader for the moment, and, with his army, left the State. Price now called upon the secessionists to fill his shattered ranks. They responded with alacrity, and at the middle of August he moved northward toward the Missouri River, in the direction of Lexington, in a curve that bent far toward the eastern frontier of Kansas, from which Unionists were advancing under General James H. Lane. With these he had some skirmish ing on the Vth of September, at Drywood Creek, about fifteen miles east of the border. He drove them across the line, and pursued them to Fort Scott, which he found abandoned. Leaving a small force there, he resumed his t September ™*i'<'^j ^^"^ reached Warrensburg, in Johnson County, on the llth.' Ll the mean time, he had issued a proclamation to the "^' " ¦ inhabitants of Missouri," dated at Jefferson City, the capital of the State, in which he spoke of a great victory at "Wilson's Creek, and gave the peaceable citizens assurance of full protection in person and property. Lexington,' a town on the southern bank of the Missouri River, three hundred miles, by its course, above St. Louis, and occupying an important frontier position, was now brought into great prominence as the theatre of a desperate struggle. It commanded the approach to Fort Leavenworth by water; and when Fremont was apprised of Price's northward movement, and the increasing boldness of the secessionists in that region, he sent a ^ See page 54. 2 Capital of Lafayette County, MlBSourl, ancl then oontiining about flvo thousand inhabitants. NATIONAL TBOOPS^AT LEXINGTON. 67 small force to Lexington to take charge of the money in the bank there, and to protect the loyal inhabitants. This little force was increased from time to time, until early in September, when Price was approaching Warrensburg, the number of Union troops at Lexington was nearly twenty-eight hundred,' commanded by Colonel James A. Mulligan, ofthe " L-ish Brigade " of Chicago, Illinois. Mulligan, with his men, reached Lexington on the 9th of Septem ber, after a march of nine days from Jefferson City, and, being the senior officer, he assumed the chief command. Peabody's regiment had come in, on the following day, in full retreat from Warrensburg, having been driven away by the approach of the overwhelming forces of Price.'' Satisfied that Price would speedily attack the jjost. Colonel Mulligan took position on Masonic Hill, northeastward of the city, whioh comprised about fifteen acres, and on which was a substantial brick building erected for a college, He proceeded at once to cast up strong intrenchments on the eminence, in compass sufficient to accommodate within their area ten thousand men. His first line of works was in front of the college building. Outside of his embankments was a broad ditch, .and beyond this were skillfully arranged pits, into which assailants, foot or horse, might fall. The ground was also mined outside of the fortifications, with a good supply of gunpowder and suitable trains. But the troops, unfortunately, had only about forty rounds of ammunition each, and six small brass cannon and two howitzers. The latter were useless, because there were no shells. Hourly expecting re-enforcements. Mulligan resolved to defy his enemy with the means at hand. On the morning ofthe 1 1 th of September, after a violent storm that had raged for several hours. Price moved from Warrensburg toward Lexington, and that night encamped two or three miles from the city. There he rest ed until dawn," ° "i^gji '' when he drove in the National pickets, and opened a cannonade, with the batteries of Bled soe and Parsons, upon Mulligan's intrenched camp from four different points. Their fire was at first concentrated upon the stronger works at the col lege building. Some outworks were captured, and the Nationals were driven within their intrenchments ; not, however, until several fierce struggles had LEXINGTONilillfl, n )J •=='h) "M^" I" ' ^ ^a siege. Mulligan now anxiously looked for expected re-enforcements, while his men worked night and day in strengthening the fortifications. He was dis appointed. His courier, sent with supplications for aid to Jefferson City, was captured on the way.' Hour after hour and day after day went by, and no relief appeared. Yet bravely and hopefully his little band worked on, until, on the morning of the 1 Vth, General Price, who had been re-enforced, and now had in hand over twenty-five thousand troops, including a large aumber of recruits who had come with their rifles and shot-guns, cut off the 4 communication of the besieged with the city, upon which they " ^KGi ^^' chiefly relied for water, and on the following day' took possession of the town, closed in upon the garrison, and began a siege in earnest. The Confederates had .already seized a steamboat well laden with stores for the National troops ; and, under every disadvantage, the latter conducted a most gallant defense. General Rains's division occupied a strong position on the east and north east of the fortifications, from which an effective cannonade was opened at nine o'clock, and kept up by Bledsoe's Battery, commanded by Captain Em- mit McDonald, and another directed by Captain C. Clark, of St. Louis. General Parsons took a position southwest of the works, from which his battery, under Captain Guibor, poured a steady fire upon the garrison. Xear Rains, the division of Colonel Congreve Jackson was posted as a reserve; and near Parsons, a part of General Steen's division performed the same ser vice, whilst sharpshooters were sent forward to harass and fatigue the be leaguered troops, who were not allowed a moment's repose. General Harris (who, as we have seen,' came down from Northeastern Missouri and joined Price at Lexington) and General McBride, scormng all rules of Christian warfare, stormed a bluff on which was situated the house of Colonel Anderson, and then used as a hospital, capturing it with its in mates, while a yellow flag, the insignia of its character, was waving over it It was retaken by the Montgomery Guards, Captain Gleason, of the " Irish Brigade," eighty strong, who charged, in the face of the hot fire of the foe, a distance of eight hundred yards up a slope, driving the Confederates from the building and far down the hill beyond. The fight was desperate, and some of the sick were killed in their beds, The Guards were finally repulsed. Captain Gleason came back with a bullet through his cheek and another through his arm, and with only fifty of his eighty men. "This charge," said Colonel Mulligan, in his official report, " was one of the most brilliant and reckless in all history." 1 In consequence of a forced march to Lexington, a large number of Price's soldiers had neither eaten nor slept for thlvtx-six hours.— Price's Report to Governor Jackson, September 23, 1861. 2 On the inth he sent Lieutenant Rains, of his " Irish Brigade," with 12 men, on the steamer Sunsldne, on this errand. The distance to Jefferson City from Le\-ington is 160 miles. Forty miles below Lexington the steamer was captured, and those on board were made prisoners. 3 See page 55. SUERENDEK OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS. 69 For seventy-two hours Mulligan's little band maintained the contest with out cessation, fighting and laboring on the works alternately beneath a scorching sun by day and a scarcely less debilitating heat by night, under a cloudless moon, choked with the smoke of gunpowder, their tongues parched with thirst from which there was little relief, and at last with ammunition and provisions completely exhausted. During that time, Colonel Mulligan was seen at all points where danger was most imminent ; and there were deeds of courage and skill performed on the part of the besieged that baffle the imagina tion of the romancer to conceive. At length, at two o'clock in the afternoon of the ZOth," the Confederates, who had constructed " *'=p*^J"''^'"' movable breastworks of bales of hemp, two deep, wetted so as to resist hot shot, pressed up to within ten rods of the works, along a line forty yards in length. Further resistance would have been madness. Retreat was impossible, for the ferry-boats had been seized, and these being in possession of the Confederates, re-enforcements could not reach the garrison. No water could be had excepting that which came from the clouds in little showers, and was caught in blankets and wrung into camp dishes. The stench of horses and mules killed within the intrenchments was intolerable.' The scant amount of artillery ammunition was of poor quality, and the firearms of the Illinois cavalry (who composed one-sixth of Mulligan's command) consisted of pistols only. Major Becker, of the Eighth Missouri Home Guards (whose colonel. White, had been killed), now, for the second time and with out authority, raised a white flag from the center of the fortifications, and the Siege oe Lexington ceased." Colonel Mulligan, who had been twice wounded, now called a council of officers, and it was decided that the garrison must surrender. That act was performed. The officers were held as prisoners of war,' whilst the pri vate soldiers, for whom Price had no food to spare, were paroled. The vic tor held all arms and equipments as lawful prize.* The National loss in men had been forty killed, and one hundred and twenty Avounded. Price reported his loss at twenty-five killed and seventy-five wounded. Colonel Mulligan was soon exchanged, and for his gallant services was rewarded with tlie ^ There were about 3,000 horses and mules within the intrenchments. These were n burden of much weight, under the circumstances. In the center of the encampment, wagons were Icnoeked into pieces, stores were scattered and destroyed, and the ground was strewed with dead horses and mules. — Correspondence of Iho Chicago Tr'ibune. * The Home Guards seem to have become discouraged early in the siege, and on the morning of the 20th, after Mulligan had replied to Price's summons to surrender, by saying, "If you want us, you must take us," Ma,jor Becker, their commander, raised a white flag. Mulligan sent the Jackson Gu.ard, of Detroit, Captain McDermott, to take it down. After a severe contest that soon afterward ensued, the Home Guards retreated to the inner line of the intrenchments, and refused to fight any longer. Then Becker again raised the white flae, for he was satisfled that resistance was utterly vain, to which conclusion Mulligan and his officers speedily arrived. ^ These were Colonels Mulligan, Marshall, White, Peabody, and Grover, and Major Van Hom, and 118 other commissioned oflicers. * The spoils were 6 cannon, 2 mortars, over 3,000 stand of infantry arms, a large number of sabers, about 750 horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, wagons, teams, ammunition, and $100,000 worth of commissary stores. — See General Price's Report to Governor Jackson, September 24th, 1S61. "In addition to all this," Price said, " I obtained tho restoration of the gi-cat seal of the State, and the public records, which had been stolen from their proper custodian, and about $900,000 in money, of which the bank at this place had been robbed, and which I have caused to be returned to it" The disloyal State Legislature, with Governor Jackstm, had held a session in the court-house at Lexington only a week before the arrival of Colonel Mulligan. They fled so hastily that they left behind them the State seal and $800,000 in gold coin, deposited in the vault of the bank there. These treasures, with the magazine, were in the collar of the college, which was the head-quarters of Mulligan. 70 CALLS UPON FREMONT FOR TROOPS. offer of the commission of a brigadier-general, the thanks of Congress, and the plaudits of the loyal people. Congress gave the Twenty-third Illinois Regiment (which was now called "Mulligan's Brigade") authority to wear on its colors the name of Lexington. Mulligan declined the commission of brigadier, because he preferred to remain with his regiment. General Fremont was censured for his failing to re-enforce the garrison at Lexington. The public knew little of his embarrassments at that time. His forces were largely over-estimated,' and he was receiving calls for help from every quarter. Pressing demands for re-enforcements came from General Ulysses S. Grant, at Paducah, for the Confederates, then in possession of Columbus, in Kentucky, were threatening an immediate march upon that place, so as to flank and capture Cairo. General Robert Anderson, com manding in Kentucky, was imploring him to send troops to save Louisville from the Confederates ; and a peremptory order was sent by Lieutenant- General Scott" to forward five thousand " well-armed infantry to « Sept 14, Washington City, without a moment's delay." There were at that time seventy thousand men under General McClellan in camp near the National Capital, while Fremont's total force was only about fifty-six thousand men, scattered over his Department, and menaced at many points by large bodies, or by guerrilla bands of armed insurgents. He had only about seven thousand men at St. Louis ; the remainder were at dis tant points. When he heard' of Mulligan's arrival at Lexing- 6 Sept 13. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ General Price's movements in that direction with continually increasing strength, he did not doubt that General Jefferson C. Davis, commanding nearly ten thousand men at Jefferson City, and keeping a vigilant eye upon the Confederate leader, would give him immediate aid. He had reason to believe that a large portion of General Pope's five thousand men in Northern Missouri, sent for the purpose under General Sturgis,' would co-operate with the forces of General Lane on the frontier of Kansas, over two thousand strong, and those of Davis at Jefferson City, in giving all needed relief to Mulligan.^ So confident was he that Price would be driven from Lexington by these combined forces, that he telegraphed to General Davis on the 18th, directing him to send five thousand men to the South Fork of La Mine River, in Cooper County, where it is crossed by the Pacific Railway, there to intercept the expected retreat of the Confederates to the Osage River. In these reasonable calculations Fremont was disappointed. Whilst expecting tidings of success, he received from Pope' the sad c Sept 22. jjg.jy.g Qf Mulligan's surrender. The active and vigilant Price, with a force of more than twenty-five thousand men, had been enabled » Fremont's force in St Louis alone, at that time, was estimated at 20,000. A week before the fall of Lex ington, Schuyler Colfax, Representative in Congress fi-om Indiana, visited him, and ui^ed him to send forward a part of that force to confront Price. Fremont informed him how few were his troops in St Louis then, nnd the importance of allowing the false impression of their number to remain. His muster-roll was laid before Colfax, .ind it showed that within a circuit of seven miles around the city, the whole number of troops, including the Home Guards, was less than 8,000. The ofiieinl returns to the War Department at that date gives the number in the City of St Louis at 6,890, including the Home Guards. — Speech of Schuyler Colfax, March T, 1862, cited by Abbott in his Civil War in America ; 232. * Major Sturgis had been commissioned a brigadier-general for his gallant service at the Battle of Wilson's Creek, on the 10th of August s General Pope telegraphed to General Fremont on the 16th, Baying; "The troops I sent to Lexington will bo there tho day after to-morrow [the day when the assault on Mulligan commenced], and consist of two fall FREMONT'S FORCES IN MOTION. ' 71 to beat back re-enforcements for the garrison and to keep the way open for recruits for his own army.' In this work a severe fight occurred at Blue Mills, on the Missouri, thu-ty miles above Lexington, on the 1 7th,'" in which the insurgents, commanded by Genei-al David R. Atch- "^ ' inson,'' were victorious ; and on the 1 9th, General Sturgis, with a large body of cavalry, appeared opposite Lexington, but finding no boats for transporta tion, and being confronted by two thousand men under General Parsons, he was compelled to make a hasty retreat northward. The fall of LexingtQu was a discouraging blow to the Union cause in Missouri. Fremont was violently assailed with charges of incapacity, extrava gance in expenditure, and a score of faults calculated to weaken his hold upon the confidence of the people, and the troops in his Department. The disasters at Wilson's Creek and Lexington were attributed to his remissness in forwarding re-enforcements ; and he perceived the necessity for jjrompt action in the way of repairing his damaged character. In a brief electro- graph to the Adiutant-General on the 23d,' announcing; the fall > T • 1 • -1 1 1 1 , r. ,? T ¦ 1 ^ ' September. 01 Lexington, he said he was ready to take the held himselt, with a hope of speedily destroying the enemy, before McCulloch, who was gathering strength in Arkansas to return to Missouri, should rejoin Price. Believing the latter would follow up his success at Lexington, and march in the direction of Jefferson City or establish himself somewhere on the Missouri River, he immediately pepared to proceed with a large force in the direction of the insurgents. On the 2 7th of September he put in motion an army of more than twenty thousand men, of whom nearly five thousand were cavalry, arranged in five divisions under the respective commands of Generals David Hunter, John Pope, Franz Sigel, J. A. McKinstry, and H. Asboth, and accompanied by eighty-six pieces of artillery, many of them rifled cannon. While this "formidable force is moving forward cautiously, let us observe the course of events on the borders of the Mississippi, and in Kentucky, bearing upon the fortunes ol war in Fremont's Department. During the few weeks preceding the fall of Lexington, General Pillow, as we have seen, had been making great efforts to secure the possession of Cairo by military operations in Missouri. In this effort, as he alleged, he had been thwarted by a lack of hearty co-operation on the part of Generals Polk and Hardee,' and he now turned his attention to a plan which he had proposed at an early day, in which it is probable he had the active sympathies of the disloyal Governor of Kentucky, namely, the occupation and intrench ing of Columbus, in Kentucky, from which he believed he could flank the position at Cairo, take it in reverse, and, turning its guns upon Bird's Point, drive out and disperse its force.'' So early as the 13th of May," he ^^^^j had asked the consent of Governor Magoffin to take possession of and fortify Columbus ; and in reporting the fact to his " Secretary of War," regiments of infantry, four pieces of artillery, and 150 regular horse. These, with two Ohio regiments, which will reach there on Thursday [I9th], will make a re-enforcement of 4,000 men and four pieces of artillery." 1 Martin Green, already mentioned (see page 65), was at about that time operating successfully in North eastern Missouri with 3,000 men. They were effectually broken up by General Pope. 2 Atchinson was at one time a member of the United States Senate, and wag ^.onspicuous as a leader of the Missourians called "Border RufHans," who played a prominent part in the politics of Kansas a few years be fore. s Autograph letter of General Pillow to L. Pope Walker, " Secretary of War," Sept. 6, 1861. * Autograph letter of General Pillow to L. Pope Walker, Sept 1, 1861. 72 MILITARY AFFAIRS IN KENTUCKY. he exhibited his contempt for the neutrality of Kentucky, by saying: "If he (Magoffin) should withhold his consent, my present impression is that I shall go forward and occupy the position, upon the ground of its necessity to protect Tennessee." ' The action of the people and the. Legislature of Kentucky made Magoffin very circumspect. At the election in June, for members of Congress, there appeared a Union majority of over fifty-five thousand, and the Governor saw no other way to aid his southern friends than by insisting upon the strict neutrality of his State in outward form, in which its politicians had placed it. He had sent Buckner to con- ''"''™/''' fer with General McClellan (then" in command at Cincinnati) on the subject, who reported that he had consummated an agreement officially with that officer, for a thorough support of that neutrality. He declared that McClellan agreed that his Government should respect it, even though Confederate troops should enter the State, until it should be seen that Kentucky forces could not expel them ; and then, before troops should be marched into its borders, timely notice of such intended movement should be given to the Governor ; also, that, in case United States troops were com pelled to enter Kentucky to expel Confederate troops, the moment that work should be accomplished the National forces should be withdrawn. McClellan promptly denied ever making any such agreement with Buckner.' Yet Magoffin insisted upon acting as if such an agreement had been actually entered into by the National Government ; and Governor Harris, of Tennes see, to whom Buckner was directed by Magoffin to make an oral report of his conference with McClellan, determined to aid Kentucky in preserving that neutrality, because it promised his own State the best protection against the power of the Government troops.' While Magoffin endeavored to enforce neutrality as against National troops, he seems to have given every encouragement to the secessionists that common prudence would allow. They were permitted to form themselves into military organizations and enter the service of Tennessee or of the Con federate States ;¦• and recruiting for the latter went on openly. The Unionists soon followed the example, and "Camp Joe Holt" was established near Louisville, at an early day, as a military rendezvous for loyal citizens. This was chiefly the work of Lovell H. Rousseau, a loyal State Senator who, when he left the hall of legislation, prepared for the inevitable conflict for the National life. At about the same time, William Nelson, another loyal ^ Autograph letter of General Pillow to L. Pope Walker, May 15, 1861. He appealed to Walker for amis, and promised him, if he should comply with his request, tliat he would have 25,000 of the best flghting men in the world in the fleld in twenty days. " If we cannot get arms." he said, " it is idle to indulge the hope of successfully resisting the bodies of Northern barbarians of a tyrant who has trampled the Constitution under his feet" Tho Mayor of Columbus, B. W. Sharpe, seems to have been in complicity with Pillow in his designs for invading Kentucky. On the flrst of June he informed him by letter, that the citizens there were preparing to mount hearvy guns and to collect military stores. 2 Letter to Captain Wilson, ofthe United States Navy, June 26. 1861. ^ Autograph letter of Isham G. Harris to General Pillow, June 13, 1861. * Many young men joined the Tennessee troops under Pillow, and with his army were transferred to the Confederate service. So early as the middle of May, organizations for tho purpose had been commenced in Kentucky. On the 17th of that month, William Preston Johnston, a son of General A. Sidney Johnston, of the Confederate Army, in a letter to Governor Harris, from Louisville, said : " Many gentlemen, impatient of tho position of Kentucky, and desirous of joining the Southern cause, have urged me to organize a regiment, or at least a battalion, for that purpose." He offered such regiment or battalion to Governor Harris, on certain condi tions, and suggested the formation of a camp for Kentucky volunteers, at Clarkesville or Gallatin, in Tennessee. This was one of many offers of tho kind received from Kentucky by Governor Harris. NEUTRALITY OF KENTUCKY. 73 UEAU-QUAltTBKB AT CAMP DICK ROBINSON. ¦ Aug. 19, 1861. with his » Aug. 24. Kentuckian, established a similar rendezvous in Garrard County, in Eastern Kentucky, called "Camp Dick Robinson." Both of these "men were after ward major-generals in the Na tional Volunteer service. The Government encouraged these Union movements. All Ken tucky, within a hundred miles south ofthe Ohio River, had been made a military department, at the head of which was placed Robert Anderson, the hero of Fort Sumter, who, on the 14th of May, had been commissioned a brigadier-general of Volunteers. When Union camps were formed in Kentucky, Magoffin became concerned about the violated neutrality of his State, and he finally wrote to the President," by the hands of a committee, urging him to remove from the limits of Ken tucky the forces organized in camps and mustered into the National service. The President not only refused compliance request, but gave him a rebuke ' so severe that he did not venture to repeat his wishes.' A similar letter was sent by the Governor to Jefferson Davis, softened with Magoffin's assurance that he had no belief that the Confederates would think of violaJ;ing the neutrality of Kentucky. Davis, thus made apparently unmindful of the fact that his " Con gress" at Richmond had authorized" enlistments for the Confed- " ^' erate armies in Kentucky ; that his officers were organizing bands of Volun teers on its soil, and that already Tennessee troops in his employ had invaded the State, and carried away six cannon and a thousand stand of arms, replied that his "government" had scrupulously respected the neutrality of Ken tucky, and would as scrupulously maintain that respect "so long as her people will maintain it themselves." The loyal Legislature of Kentudky assembled at Frankfort on the 2d of September. Its action was feared by the conspirators f and under the pre text of an expectation that National troops were about to invade the State, General Polk, with the sanction of Davis, and Governor Harris, of Tennessee, and the full knowledge, it is believed, of Governor Magoffin, proceeded to carry out General Pillow's favorite plan of scorning Kentucky's neutrality, and seizing Columbus. On the SOth of August, Polk telegraphed to Pillow, saying: "I shall myself be at New Madrid to-morrow to arrange for the future ;" and on the 3d of September, De Russey, Polk's aid-de-camp, tele graphed to the same officer, that " the general-commanding determines, with troops now at Union City, to fall at once upon Columbus ;" and directed Pillow ' The President said that, taking all means within his reach for forming a judgment, he did not believe it was the popular wish of Kentucky that the Union troops should be removed, and added: "It is with regret I search, and cannot flnd, in your not very short letter, any declaration or intimation that you entertain any desire for the preservation of tho Federal Union." 2 In the Senate were 27 Union and 11 Secession members, and in tho Lower House 76 Union and 24 Secession representatives. 74 INVASION OF KENTUCKY. to take his whole command immediately to Island No. 10. This was done, and 6n the 4th* Polk seized Hickman and Columbus, and com- a Sept., 1861. ^^^^^^ ^Yie erection of batteries on the bluff near the latter place.* He immediately telegraphed the fact to Davis, at Richmond, and to THE BLUFF, AND POLk'S URAD-QUARTBE3, NEAK COLUMBUS. Governor Harris, at Nashville.' Then folloTved some transparent chicanery 1 Columbus is in Hickman County, about twenty miles below the moutii of tho Ohio Eiver. ^ On the same day General Polk issued a proclamationi in which he gave as a reason for his violation of the neutrality of Kentucky, tbat the National Government had done so by establishing camp depots for its armies. by organizing military companies within its territory, and by making evident preparations, on the Missouri shore of the Mississippi^for the seizure of Columbus. It was, therefore, "a military necessity, for the defense of the territory ofthe Confederate States, that a Confederate force should occupy Columbus in advance." When General Fremont heard of this movement, he wrote a private letter to the President, dated tho 8th of September, iu which he set forth apian for expelling the Confederates from Kentucky and Tennessee.* The President urged its immediate adoption, but was overruled by his counsellors. Experts say, that had Fremonfs plan been promptly acted upon, the war that so long desolated Kentucky and Tennessee might have been averted. * The following ia a copy of Fremont's letter: — HsAD-QuARTEKs Wkstkrn Dkp.vrt.mbnt, September ^, 1S61. To the President :— My Deah Sir: — I send, by anolher hand, what I ask you to consider in respect tfi the subject of the note by your special messenger. In thie, I desire to ask your attention to the position of affairs in Kentucky. As the rebei troops, driven out of Missouri, had inrsded Kentucky in considerable force, and by occupying Union City, Hickman, and Columbus, were preparing, to seize Paducah and Cairo, I judged It impossible, wiihout losing important advantages, to defer any longer a forward movement. For this purpose 1 have drawn from tbo Missouri side a part of the force stationed nt Bird's Point, Cairo, and Cape Girardeau, to Fort Holt and Paducah, of which places wc have taken possession. As the rebel forces outnumber ours, and the counties of Kentucky, between tho Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, ns well as those along the Cumberland, are strongly Secessionist, it becomes imperatively necessary to have the co-operation of the Union forces underGenerala Anderson and Xelson, as well as thosealready encamped opposite Louisville, under Colonel Rousseau. I have re-enforced, yes terday, Paducah with two regiments, and will continue to strengthen the position with men nnd artillery. As soon ns General Smith, who commands there, is re-enforced auHicIently for him to spread his forces, he will have to take nnd hold Mayfield and Lovelaceville, to be in the rear and flank of Columbus, and to occupy Smith'land, controUing in its way both the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. At tho same time Colonel Rousseau should bring his force, increased, if possible, by two Ohio regiments, in boats, to Hondorson, and taking the Hen derson and Nashville Railroad, occupy Hopklnsrille, while General Kelson should go, with a force of 5,000, by railroad to Louisville, and from there to Bowling Green. As the population in all the counties through which the above railroads pass are loyal, this movement could be made without delay or molestation to tho troops. Meanwhile, Genernl Grant would take possession of tho entire Cairo and Fulton Ttailroad, Piketon, New Madrid, and the shore of the Mississippi opposite Hickman and Cohunbus. The foregoing disposition having been effected, a combined attack will bo made on Columbus, nnd, If saccossful In that, upon Hickman, while Rousseau and Nelson will move in concert, by railroad, to Nashville, occupying the State capital, and, with adequate force. New Providence. The conclusion of this move ment would bo a combined advnnco towards Memphis, on the Mississippi, ns well ns the Ohio and Memphis Railroad, nnd I trust the result would be a glorious ono to tho country. In a reply to a letter from General Sherman, by the hand of Judge Williams, in relation to the vast importiinco of securing possession, in advnnco, of the country lying between the Ohio, Tennessee, nnd Misslsslpft, I have to-day suggested tho first part of tho plan. By extending my command to Indiana, Tennessco, and Kentucky, you would enable me to attempt tho accomplishment of this all-important result, and in order to sccuro tho secrecy necessary to its success, I shall not extend the ooinmuni- cation I hnvo made to General Sherman, or repeat It to any one else. With high respect and regard, I am very truly youri, J. C. FSEMONT. LOYALTY OF THE KENTUCKY LEGISLATUEE. 75 On the part of the conspirators, to deceive the people and ^efend Confederate honor. Walker, the "Secretary of War," ordered Polk to withdraw his troops from Kentucky, while Davis, his superior, telegraphed to the same officer in approval of his movement — "The necessity justifies the act."' When the authorities of Kentucky demanded from Governor Harris, of Ten nessee, an explanation of the movement, that functionary replied with the false assertion that it had been done without his knowledge or consent; " and I am confident," he said, " without the consent of the President. I have telegraphed President Davis,'' he continued, " requesting their immediate withdrawal." On the day after Polk invaded Ken tucky on the west, and General Felix K. Zollicofier, formerly a member of Congress, with a considerable force had passed from East Tennessee, through the Cumberland Mountains, and entered the State on its eastem border, Magoffin laid a message before the Legislature, in which he mjide special complaint of Union military organizations within the State, and asked for the passage of a law for maintaining for the Common wealth an armed neutrality; also to request the National Government to order the immediate disbanding of such organizations, responded by directing the Governor to order, by proclamation, all the Con federate troops within the State to leave it immediately. An attempt to have the Union troops included in the order was promptly voted down. The Legislature did more. They passed a series of resolutions, by an over whelming vote,'^ declaring that the peace and neutrality of Kentucky had been wantonly violated, its soil invaded, and the rights of its citizens grossly injured "by the so-called Southefti forces;" and, therefore, by special act, the Governor was requested to call out the military force of the State, " to expel and drive out the invaders." It was further resolved that the National Govemment should be asked for aid and assistance in that business ; that General Anderson be requested " to enter immediately upon the discharge of his duties" in that military district, and that they appealed to the people to assist in expelling and driving out " the lawless invaders of the soil." FELIX K. ZOLLinOFPEK. The Legislature ^ This was denied by some of the partisans of Davis. I have before me an autograph letter, written by Nash n. Burt to Governor Harris, dated at Nashville, September 6, 1861, in which he says: "The following dispatch is received this morning, dated Union City, 12 p. m., Sept. 5, 1S61," directed to Governor Harris:— " On last evening I had the honor of telegraphing to you the necessity I had been under, of seizing the town of Columbus in advance of the enemy, who had already taken all the preparatory measures to do so. On this evening I received from his honor the Secretary of War, an order to withdraw the troops from Kentucky; but while issuing the appropriate orders to tbat effect, had the gratification to receive from the President the follow ing dispatch, viz. : ' General- Polk, Union City — Tour telegram received. The necessity must justify the act. Signed, Jefferson Davis.' "Leonidas Polk, Major-General." General Polk sent a dispatch to Governor Magoffin, announcing to him that military necessity had com pelled him to take possession of Columbus, and that, in reporting to Davis, his reply was, "the necessity justified tho action." That dispatch is before me. 2 In the House, 63 to 26 ; and in the Senate, 26 to 8. 76 END OF KENTUCKY NEUTEALITY. Magoffin vetoed these resolutions, and they were promptly passed over his negative by a large majority.' In the mean time, the invasion of Ken tucky by Tennessee troops had brought in a National force, under Major- General Ulysses S. Grant, then in command of the district around ° ^1361 *' Cairo. He took military possession of Paducah," at the mouth ofthe Tennessee River, where he found Secession flags flying in difierent parts of the town in expectation of the arrival of a Confederate army, nearly four thousand strong, reported to be within sixteen miles of that place. He seized property there prepared for the Confederates, and he issued a procla mation declaring that he had come solely for the purpose of defending the State from the aggression of rebels, and to protect the rights of all citizens, promising that when it should be manifest that they were able to maintain the authority of the Government themselves, he should withdraw the forces under his command. Thus ended the neutrality of Kentucky, in which its politicians had unfortunately placed it.' That neutrality had suppressed the practical loy alty of the State, given freedom to the growth of its opposite, and allowed Confederate troops to make such a lodgment on its soil, that large National armies were required to oppose them, and war in its most horrid aspects filled all its borders with misery. But for that neutrality, Te.nnessee, whose disloyal authorities had espoused the Confederate cause, would probably have been the frontier battle-ground, and the blood and treasure of Kentucky, so largely spent in the war, would have been spared. Too late to avoid the penalties of remissness in duty, Kentucky, five months after the war was begun in Charleston harbor, took a positive stand for the Union. Encouraged by the new attitude of Kentucky, the National Government determined to take vigorous measures for securing its loyalty against the wiles of dangerous men. Ex-Governor Morehead, who was reported to be an active traitor to his country, was arrested at his residence, near Louisville, and sent as a State prisoner to Fort Lafayette, at the entrance to the harbor of New York. Others of like sympathies took the alarm and fled, some to the Confederate armies or the more southern States, and others to Canada. Among them was John C. Breckinridge, late Vice-President of the Republic, and member of the National Senate, also William Pres ton, late American Minister to Spain ; James B. Clay, a son of Henry Clay ; Humphrey Marshall, lately a member UirMIMIREY MARSHALL. C J ) J of Congress, and a life-long politician ; Captain John Morgan, Judge Thomas Monroe, and others of less note. 1 Compelled to issue a proclamation by order of the LegisLiture, MagolUn put forth one on tho 13th as mild as possible, simply saying that he was instructed to declare that "Kentucky e.\pects the Confedci-ate or Tennes see troops to withdraw from her soil immediately." 2 See page 458, volume I. ATTEMPT TO SEIZE LOUISVILLE. 77 Breckinridge, Marshall, and Morgan entered the military service of the Con federates. The first two were commissioned brigadier-generals, and the latter became a conspicuous guerrilla chief. Breckinridge became a zealous servant of the Confederates. He issued an address, in which he announced his resignation of his seat in the United States Senate, and in bitter language spoke of the dissolution of the Union, and the atrocious despotism which he alleged had been established at Wash ington ; and he charged his own State Legislature with abject " submission to eveiy demand o Federal despotism, and woeful neglect of every right of the Kentucky citizens." It is well suggested that " Mr. Breckinridge, in his exodus from Kentucky, perpetrated a serious blunder;"' for, had he, like other " friends of the South," remained in Congress, he might have served the cause of the conspirators more efficiently. He was an able and adroit politician and legislator, but was an indiflerent soldier. Vigorous military action in Kentucky, besides the seizure of Columbus and Hickman, speedily followed that act. Simon B. Buckner, the corrupter of the patriotism of large numbers of the young men of Kentucky,'' bearing the commission of brigadier-g;eneral in the Confederate service, had established a camp on the Nashville and Louisville Railway, just below the Kentucky line. Soon after the seizure of Columbus, he left his camp with a considera ble force, with the intention of moving quickly upon Louisville, by the rail way, seizing that city, and establishing a Confederate post on the Ohio at that important point. The telegraph wires were cut, and he was far on his way before any intimation was given of his approach. The trains due at Louisville did not arrive, and the managers sent out an engine to ascertain the cause. It, like a train before it, was seized by Buckner. A fireman escaped, and, procuring a hand-car, soon retumed to Louisville with the startling news. General Anderson immediately ordered General Rousseau to move out on the road with his little force at Camp Joe Holt,* and some Louisville Home Guards. These were his only available forces at that moment. The order was obeyed with alacrity, and very soon a considerable force, under the chief command of General William T. Sherman, Anderson's lieutenant, were on their way to repel the invaders-^the latter, who was in delicate health, remaining in Louisville to forward re-enforcements. Fortunately, Buckner had been delayed, near Bowling Green, by the patriotic act of a young man of that place, who went quietly up the road and displaced a rail, by which the engine of the invaders' train was thrown from the track. But for this, Buckner might have reached Louisville before Anderson could have put any forces in motion. As it was, he penetrated the county as far as Elizabeth- town, forty miles from that city, when he heard of the approaching troops. He thought proper to fall back to Bowling Green, where he established an intrenched camp, and issued a proclamation" to his "fellow-citizens of Kentucky," * and where he remained for several months. At " ^ j^g/'' the same time, Sherman established a camp and general rendez- ¦ Greeley's American Conflict, i. 615. ^ See page 458, volume I. ' See page 72. ^ That ]>roclamation abused the National Government and the loyal Legislature of Kentucky. He declared in it that Confederate troops occupied "a defensive position" In that State, "on the invitation of the people pf Kentucky ;" that he returned to his native State with peaceful intentions, " at the head of a force, the advance of 78 THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY AND MISSOUEL vous on Muldraugh's Hill, not far from Elizabethtown, and there laid the foundation of that notable organization afterward known as the Army of the Cumberland. On account of Anderson's feeble health, General Sherman was placed in chief command of the Department of the Cumberland (which included the States of Kentucky and Tennessee) early in October, when, with a forecast not then appreciated, he declared that an army of two hundred thousand men would be necessary to expel the Confederates from Kentucky and Tennessee, and carry the National banner victoriously to the Gulf. Because of that assertion, whose wisdom was speedily vindicated, he was called insane, and for a time he was overshadowed by a cloud of neglect. Let us now return to a consideration of affairs in Missouri. We left General Fremont, with a strong force, moving toward the interior of Missouri. He had strengthened the forces in Eastern Missouri and at Cairo, that they might keep the Confederates so well employed in that region, that they could not give aid to Price, nor seriously menace St. Louis. In this service, as we have seen, they were successful. Hardee dared not advance much from Greenville ; Pillow was kept in the neighborhood of New Madrid, without courage to move far toward Bird's Point and Cape Girar deau ; and Jefi". Thompson, the guerrilla, contented himself with eccentric raids and " scaring the Federals to death," as he foolishly supposed and declared. Fremont went forward, and on the 28th of September he was at Jefferson City, tho State capital, where he adopted vigorous measures for driving Price from the State. The latter had cause for serious alarm. McCulloch, as we have seen, had left him and gone to Arkansas, and Pillow and Hardee had abandoned Southeastern Missouri, and taken position in Kentucky and Tennessee. McCulloch, who had promised an escort for an ammunition train to be sent from Arkansas to Price, not only withheld that promised aid, but arrested the progress of the train, with the pretext that it would be unsafe in Missouri. These adverse circumstances compelled Price to retreat toward Arkansas. He abandoned Lexington on the SOth of September," leaving a guard of five hundred men there in defense of National prisoners. A squadron of cavalry, called the " Prairie Scouts," one hundred and eighty strong, under Major Frank J. White, surprised this party by a bold dash,' dispersed them, made nearly seventy of them prisoners, released the Union captives, and, bearing away with them the Secession State flag, joined Fremont's forces, which were then on the Osage River, at Warsaw, in pursuit of Price. Fremont, with his splendid body-guard of cavalry, under Major Charles Zagonyi, a Hungarian,' had arrived there on the 16th,° after encountering a severe rain storm. Gen- which is composed entirely of Kentuckians," whom he had seduced by false representations from their homes and their national allegiance ; and that tho Legi.slature of Kentucky was "faithless to the will of the people." He assured tho people that his forces at Bowling Green would be used in aiding Kentucky in maintaining its strict neutrality, and " to enforce it against the two belligerents alike." General Anderson Issued a counter-proclamation, in which he said that he, a native of Kentucky, had " come to.enforce, not to make laws," and to protect tho lives and property of the people of the Commonwealth. He called upon the citizens to arm in their might and drive the invader from their soil. " The leader of the hostile force," ho said, "who now approaches. Is, I regret to say, a Kentuckian, making war on Kentucky and Ken tuckians," He called them to "rally around the flag our fathers loved," and bade them trust in God and do thoir duty. * Zagonyi had been a soldier in his native land, under General Bum. He came to America as an exile. Offering his services lo Fremont at St Louis, he was charged ^viih the duty of recruiting a body of cavalry as FEEMONT'S MOVEMENTS IN MISSOUEl. 79 SIGKI. CEOSSIKO TIIE OSAGE, eral Sigel, who led the advance, had already crossed his force over the rapidly swelling stream by means of a single flatboat and the swimming of his horses ; but its banks were now filled to the brim with the recent rains, and could not be forded, nor were boats or lumber for their con struction to be had there. The a.x was soon heard in the sur rounding forest, and m the course of five days a rude strong bridge was constructed, under the direction of Captain Pike, of the engineers, over which the whole army, now thirty thousand strong, with eighty-six heavy guns, safely passed, and moved on in the direction of Springfield, by the way of Bolivar. The commander was full of confidence in the success of his plans, yet fearful Of ofiicial interference with them by the Secretary of War (Cameron) and the Adjutant-General (Thomas), then in pursuit of him, as he had been informed.' That plan was to capture or disperse the forces of Price, and seizing Little Rock, the capital of Arkansas, so completely turn the position of the Confederate forces under Polk, Pillow, Thompson, and Hardee, as to cut off their supplies from that region, and compel them to retreat, when a flotilla of gunboats then in preparation near St. Louis, in command of Captain Foote, could easily descend the river and assist in military operations against Memphis, which, if successful, would allow the Army and Navy to push on and take possession of New Orleans. "My plan is New Orleans straight," he wrote on the llth of October, from his camjj near Tipton. " It would precipitate the war for ward, and end it soon and victoriously."^ When Fremont's army was at the Pomme de Terre. River, fifty-one miles north of Springfield," he sent the combined cavalry forces of Zagonyi and Major White (led by the former), to reconnoiter the position of the Confederates at the latter place, with instruc tions to attempt its capture if circumstances should promise success. The whole force did not exceed three hundred men. When within a few miles of Springfield,' on the highest point of the Ozark Mountains, they fell in with some foragers and captured them ; and there a Union « Oct 28, 1861. ' Oct. 24. a body-guard for the General. He selected for this purpose young men, and formed them into three companies, one of which were nearly all Kentuckians. There were very few foreigners in the guard, and all the ofl&cers were Americans excepting three, one Hollander and two Hungarians, the latter being Major Zagonyi and Lieutenant Majthenyi. The Guard was mounted ou well-equipped blooded bay horses. Each man was armed with two of Colt's six-barrel navy revolvers, one five-barrel rifle, and a saber. * See letters to his wife in Mrs. Fremont's Story ofthe Guard. 2 Letter of General Fremont to his wife, October llth, 18G1. Mrs. Fremont, daughter of tho late Senator Benton of Missouri, was then at Jcfiferson City. Her husband had long been in the habit of referring all manner of work and duties to her as acting principal in his absence, and in that capacity she was now at Jefferson City and gave him efficient aid. See note on pago SSof TJie Story of the Guard: a Chronicle ofthe War, By Jessie Benton Fremont. 80 CHARGE OF FEEMONT'S BODY-GUAED. farmer told Zagonyi that the Confederate force in the town was full two thousand in number. He was not daunted by this information, but pushed forward. One of the foragers who escaped had heralded his coming, and when he approached the suburbs of the village, on the Mount Vernon road, at a little past four o'clock in the afternoon, he found twelve hundred in fantry and four hundred cavalry well prepared, on the brow of a hill in front of sheltering woods, to receive him. Zagonyi was still undaunted. Not withstanding White's Prairie Scouts had been separated from the Guard, Zagonyi was determined to fight. Turning to his officers, he said : " Follow me and do like me !" And to his little band of followers he spoke a few hurried words, saying : " Comrades ! the hour of danger has come ; your first battle is before you. The enemy is two thousand strong, and we are but one hundred and fifty. It is possible no man will come back If any of you would turn back, you can do so now !" Not a man moved. Zagonyi was delighted. "I will lead you!" he exclaimed. "Let the watchword be, ' Tlie Union and Fremont P Draw sabers ! By the right flank — qui(^ trot — march !" and away dashed the bold leader and his comrades with a shout down a narrow lane fringed with concealed sharp-shooters, with a miry brook and a stout rail fence ahead to oppose them. These were all passed in a few minutes, while the fire from the infantry in their fi-ont was terrible. On an eminence nearer stood the Confederate cavalry, ready to engage in the fray. Already the lane had been strewn with the fallen men and horses of the Guard, and yet Zagonyi's troops had not struck a blow. * The moment for dealing that blow was now at hand. The word is given, and Lieutenant Majthenyi, with thirty men, dashed madly upon the center of the Confederate cavalry, breaking their line, and scattering the whole body in confusion over the adjoining corn-fields. Then Zagonyi shouts to the impatient soldiers he is holding in leashes, as it were, " In open order — charge .'" and with the impetuosity of a whirlwind they sweep up the slope in the face of bullets that fly thick as hail. At the same moment fifty Irish dragoons of Major White's squadron, led by Captain McNaughton, fall upon the foe, and away scampers almost the entire body of Confederate in fantry in wild search for safety. The remnant of the Guard, led by Zagonyi, follow the fugitive horsemen and smite them fearfully, chase them into the town, and fight them fiercely in detail in the streets and in the public square of Springfield, whilst Union women, undismayed by the dangers, come out, and, waving their handkerchiefs, cheer on the victors. When the conflict ended, the Confederates were utterly routed ; and of the one hundred and fifty of Zagonyi's Guard, eighty-four were dead or wounded.' The action had lasted an hour and a half; and in the dim twilight of that bright Octo ber evening, the National flag was raised in triumph over the court-house. At a little past midnight, Zagonyi, with a captured Confederate flag and only seventy of his Guard, and a fcM' released prisoners, rode proudly but sadly out of Springfield, because it was unsafe for them to remain. They ' Dispatch of Major Zagonyi to General Fremont, October 25, 1861. Eeport of Major Zagonyi to Colonel J. 11. Eaton, Assistant Adjutant-General, October 28,1801. Letter of Major Zagonyi to Mrs. Fremont, quoted in hor Story of the Guard. Narrative of Mojor Dorshetmer, of Fremonfs staff, in the Atlantic Monthly. The number of the Guard killed was 15; mortally wonndod, 2; the remainder were wounded or made prisoners. Zagonyi said, " Of the wounded not one will lose a finger." The prisoners were released, and tho actual loss to the Guard was only 17. So Zagonyi said la a letter to Mrs. Fremont, October 28, 1S61. OPEEATIONS IN EASTEEN MISSOUEl. 81 fell back until they met Sigel's advance, between Springfield and Bolivar. The report of this brilliant charge and victory, which had preceded them, filled the whole army with delight and enthusiasm. " This was really a Balaklava charge," wrote Fremont. " The Guard numbered only one hun dred and fifty. You notice that Zagonyi says he has seen charges, but never such a one. Their war-cry, he says, sounded like thunder. This action is a noble example to the army.'" There had been other noble examples for the army during its advance in Missouri.'' Fremont's army arrived at Springfield at the beginning of November, inspirited by news of recent successes in the Department, and the prospect of speedily ridding Missouri of insurgents. While it had been moving forward. Lane and Montgomery, who, we have seen, had been driven back into Kan sas by Price,' had crossed into Missouri again, to cut ofl or embarrass the Confederates in their retreat from Lexington. Montgomery pushed on to the town of Osceola, the capital of St. Clair County, on the Osage, but was too late to intercept Price. The' armed Confederates at that place, after a brief skirmish," were driven away, and the village was laid in ashes, with no other excuse for the cruel measure than the fact ° ^isei.^"' that it was a rendezvous for the foe, and its inhabitants were all disloyal. > A month later the National troops gained a signal victory over the guer rilla chief, Thompson (who was called the " Swamp Fox," and his command, the " Swamp Fox Brigade "), at Frederickton, the capital of Madison County, in Southeastern Missouri. General Grant was in command at Cape Girar deau at that time. General Thompson and Colonel Lowe had been roaming at will over the region between New Madrid and Pilot Knob, Thompson, with six hundred men, had captured the guard at the Big River Bridge, near Potosi, and destroyed that structure on the 15th of October, and on the fol lowing day he and Lowe were at the head of a thousand men near Ironton, threatening that place, where they were defeated by Major Gavitt's Indiana cavalry, and a part of Colonel Alexander's Twenty-first Illinois cavalry, with a loss of thirty-six killed and wounded. Grant determined to ptut an end to the career of these marauders, if possible. Informed that they were near Frederickton, he sent out a considerable force under Colonel Plummer,'' to strike them from the East, while Captain Hawkins, with Missouri cavalry, was ordered up from Pilot Knob on the Northeast, followed by Colonel Carlin with a body of infantry as a support,* to engage and occujjy Thomp- 1 An accident occurred to Major White and prevented his being in this action. He had sickened on the way and been compelled to lag behind. When attempting to overtake his troop?, he was made a prisoner, but escaped and reached Springfield on the morning after the fight, with a few Home Guards. Stationing 22 of his 24 men as pickets, he deceived the Confederates in the towu with the belief that he had a consider.ible force with him. After receiving a flag of truce, and permitting them to bury their dead, he prudently fell back to meet tbo .advancing army. 2 Other detachments of cavalry from Fremont's army, besides those of White and Zagonyi, had been opera ting against the Confederates during the march of the main body. One of them, under Major Clark Wright, routed and dispersed a body of Confederates near Lebanon, in Laclede County, on the 18th of October; and on the following day the same forces captured the village of Lynn Creek. In the forraer engagement, after a charge, and a running fight fora mile and ahalf. there were about GO Confederates killed and wounded, while the Unitm loss was only one man killed. — Eeport of Major Wright, October 13, 1861. 3 See page 66. * They consisted of the Eleventh, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Illinois, and 400 cavalry. '^ These consisted of parts of the Twenty-first, Twenty-third, and Twenty-eighth Illinois, the Eighth Wis consin, Colonel Baker's Indiana cavalry, and Major Schofield's Battery. YOL. n.— G. 82 FEEMONT SUCCEEDED BY HUNTEE. son until Plummer's arrival. They formed a junction at Frederickton, with Plummer in chief command, and, starting in pursuit of the Confederates^ who they supposed were in full flight, found them about one thousand strong, well posted and ready for battle, paitly in an open field and partly in the woods, only a mile from the village, with four iron 18-pounders in position. Schofield opened the battle with his heavy guns. A general ' engagement ensued, and, after two hours' hard fighting, the Confederates fled, hotly pursued by the Indiana cavalry for twenty miles. The Confede rate Colonel Lowe was killed early in the action. Their loss Avas large — how large is not known. The loss of the Nationals was ten killed and twenty wounded. This defeat and dispersion completely broke up Thompson's guerrilla organization for a time, which was composed almost wholly of disloyal and deluded Missourians. They had fought bravely with inferior arms against superior numbers.' We have observed that General Fremont had anticipated an interference with his plans when he heard that the Secretar}'- of War and the Adjutant- General were in pursuit of him. They had overtaken him on the " ° ' ' isth," at Tipton, the then Western terminus of the Pacific Ra,il- way, about thirty miles south of Jefferson City. The intei-A'iew of the officials was courteous and honorable. The Secretary frankly told him that their errand was to make personal observations of his army, and of affairs in his Department. Complaints conceming his administration of those affairs had filled the mind of the President with painful apprehensions, and tho Secretary of War bore with him an order, relieving him of his command, with discretionary ])owers to use it or not. The Secretary carried it back to Washington, and the Adjutant-General made a report highly unfavorable to the commanding general in Missouri. This was published, and had the two fold effect of jjrejudicing the public mind against Fremont, and revealing to the enemy secrets which the highest interests of the country at that time required to be hidden.' The assertion was publicly made, after the return of the Government officials, that the campaign in Missouri was a failure ; and the prediction was confidently uttered that Fremont's army could never cross the Osage, much less reach Springfield. The fallacy of this prophecy was proven in less than a fortnight, when that army lay on the Ozark hills and on the plain around Springfield ; and the campaign failed only, it is believed, because its progress was suddenly checked when the most reasonable promises of abundant suc cess were presented. That check was given on the morning of the 2d of November, when a courier arrived at head-quarters with an order from Gen eral Scott, directing General Fremont to turn over his command to Gener;il ^ More than half of their fire-arms were old flint-lock Rquirrcl guns. "Of tho dead," wrote an eye-witness. " not a single one that 1 saM- was dressed in any kind of uniform, the cloth being generally home-made, and but ter-nut colored." 2 This report was in the form of a journal, and contained a great amount of gossip and scandal, gathered from subalterns and Fremont's polilical enemies, which subsequent information showed to be unworthy of credit. It is due to the Adjutant-General to say that be disclaimed any intention to make that journal public It is said that a copy of it was Burreptitiousiy obtained and given to a newspaper reporter, and suspicion at tho time pointed to the Postmaster-General (whose brother, an officer in the army, it was known had quarrelled with Fremont), as tho ono on whom the responsibility of tho publication should rest Fremont afterward published a vindication of his administration in the Department of Missouri, which almost wholly removed from tho pub lic mind tho unfavorable intpr,.-8sion made by that journ'il. FEEMONT AND HIS AEMY. 83 David Hunter, then some distance in the rear. This order came when the army was excited by the prospect of a battle almost immediately. Price had at first fled to Neosho,' when, finding Fremont still in pursuit, he pushed on to Pineville, in the extreme South western part of Missouri. Further than that his " State Guard " were not ¦ disposed to go. He was unwilling to leave Missouri without measuring strength and powers with Fremont, so he changed front and prepared to receive hun. This attitude gave rise to startling rumors in Fremont's camp, and, at the moment when he was relieved of command, it was reported that Price was marching on Springfield, and that his van guard had reached Wilson's Creek, ten miles distant, pi'epared to give battle on the ground where Lyon was killed three months before. McCulloch was reported to be at Dug Springs ;" and the number of the combined armies was estimated at forty thousand men.' Hunter had not yet arrived, and Fremont, who had made his troops ex ceedingly sorrowful by the announcement in a formal address that he was about to leave them,* was implored by one hundred and ten of his oflicers to lead his army against the foe. He promised compliance with their wishes, if his successor should not reach them by sunset." Hunter failed to do so, and at eight o'clock in the evening Fremont issued the order of battle, and the entire camp was alive with enthusiasm. Lyon's plan for surrounding and capturing the Confederates was substantially adopted. They were to be assailed simultaneously by Generals Pope and McKinstry in the front, by Generals Sigel and Lane in the rear, and by General Asboth on the east, from the Fayetteville road. DAVID IIUNTEF.. 1 There Jackson and the disloyal Legislature of Missouri met, as wc have observed (note 2, page 57), under Price's protection. 2 See pa^e 45. 3 General Asboth's report to General Fremont, Nov. ", 1866. * The following is a copy of his address: " Soldiers of the Mississippi Akmy: Agreeable to orders this day received, I take leave of you. Although our army has been of sudden growth, we have grown up together. and I have become familiar with the brave and generous spirit which you bring to the defense of your country, and which makes me anticipate for you a brilliant career. Continuo as you have begun, and give to my successor the same cordial and enthusiastic support with which you have encouraged me. Emulate the splendid example which you have already before you, and let me remain, as I am, proud of the noble army which I had thus far labored to bring together. Soldiers 1 I regret to leave you. Most sincerely I thank you for the regard and con fidence you have invariably shown to mc. I deeply regret that I shall not havc the honor to lead you to the victory which you are just about to win ; but I shall cLiim to share with you in the joy of every triumph, and trust always to be fraternally remembered by my companions in arms." s "The intelligence of this determination ofthe commanding general," wrote an eye-witness, "was at once communicated from camp to camp, and the greatest enthusia.sm prevailed. Every five minutes during the suc ceeding two and a half hours, the wildest cheering could be heard from some portion of the .army as the informa tion was caiTied to the various regiments. A dozen bands at onee proceeded to the head-quarters and serenaded the General. Crowds of officers gathered infront of his quarters, and greeted him with loud and prolonged cheer ing; and, had the battle occurred according to arrangements, the troops wonld have fought in the most deter mined manner," 84 FEEMONT'S EEOEPTION AT ST. LOUIS. a Nov. S 1861. General Hunter arrived at head-quarters at midnight, and Fremont, after informing him ofthe position of affairs, laid before hhn all his plans. The order for battle was countermanded,^ and nine days afterward Major-General PI. W. Halleck was appointed to the command of tlie Missouri Department. On the morning of the 4th, Fremont and his Staff left the army for St. Louis. The parting with his devoted soldiers was very touching, and his reception in St. Louis" was an ovation like that given to a victor. Crowds of citi zens greeted him at the railway station and escorted him to his head-quarters. An immense torch-light procession passed through the streets that night in honor of his arrival;^ and at an assemblage of the citizens, resolutions of confidence and sympathy, and an address, were adopted. Aftei-ward he was presented with an elegant sword in token of profound re gard, which was inscribed with these words : — " To the Path finder, BT THE Men of the West.'" Disappointed and disheartened, the National army com menced a retrograde march from Springfield toward St. Louis at the middle of November, followed by a long train of vehicles filled with Union refugees. The woraen of Springfield, who had welcomed Zagonyi, and the Union men everywhere throughout Fremont's SWORD. 1 Price seems not to have moved his army from Pineville, hut his scouts penetrated to the front of the National troops, and thus caused the alarm. * '-The General was to hare been at home by nine in the morning; but the management of the train being in other hands, they were delayed nntil nearly that honr in the evening. Bnt patient crowds had kept their watch through the long day, and by night it was a sea of heads in all the open spaces aronnd our house. The door posts were garlanded, and the very steps covered with flowers — touching and graceful offerings from the Ger mans. China-asters and dahlif^s, with late roses and regular bouquets of geraniums, beautified the entrance and p.-rfumed the air; and when the General did make his way at last through the magnificent assemblage, it was to be met by the wives and children of tbe German officers ho had left at Springfield. Unkn<)wn to me, they hud come to speak their hearts to him, but they had moro tears than words. Touched to the heart already, tho General was not prepared for the arrival of citizens — American as well as German — who came to thank him for past services, and ask to stand by him in the honr of disgrace. Meantime, tlie unceasing cheers and shouts of the vast crowd without sounded like the tide after a high wind. I could not stand it ; I went far np to the top of the house, and in the cold night air tried to still the contending emotions, when I saw a sight that added to the throbbing of my heart. Far down the wide avenue the serried crowd was parting, its dark, restless masses glowing in the lurid, wavering torchlight, looking literally like waves; and passing through them came horse men, stamped with the splendid signet of battle, their wounded horses and bullct-t;>rn uniforms bringing cries of love and thanks irom those for whom they had been battling. When they halted before the door, and tho sudden ring and flash of their drawn sabers added new beauty to the picture, I think only tho heart of a Hainan could have failed to respond to the fruth and beauty of the whole scene. Were not these men for the king to delight to honor? Who could have foreseen what was tho official recognition already preparing for llR'nif'*— Mrs. Fremont, in her Story ofthe Guard,, page 201. ^ Fremont had long beforo been called The Pathfinder., because of his wonderful explorations among tho Kocky Mountains. The blade of tho sword now presented to him was made at Solingen, on tho Itliine. The scabbard was of silver, with a design near its upper part, four inches in length. In its center was a bust of Fremont sculptured out of gold. In high relief, with a rich border of diamonds, and on each side a sculptured figure of fame. In the renr of the hilt Ayas a hollow, arched at the top so as to form a canopy for a flErure of America, nt the foot of which, in the midst of appropriate surroundings, was a medallion of blue enamel, bearing tho initials J. C. F. in diamonda. The cost ofthe sword was $1,000. *^ " The official rocognltion " referred to by Mrs. Froinoiit is indicated in tbe following electrogrnphs : — St. Louis, Missuuni, November 11, 18G1, Miij.-Gen. George B. McClhli,\n, Commaiiding-in-Cbief, WnHliingtoii, D. C.:— I would regard itnB nn net of personal couiteay nnd kindness to me, If you will order my Body-Quard to remnin with me, subject tone orders in this department but my own. It is conipoaed of odncatcd nnd intelltgont young men, to whom the country nnd I owe more than the usual coisideriition accorded to the rank nnd file (.f tho nrmv. J. C. FREMo^T, Maj.-Gen. U.S.A. Head Quarters of the Armv, Washington, Nov. 11, ISBl. Maj.-Gon. J. C. Fkhmont: — Beforo receiving yonr dispatch, I had given instructions that tbo cavalry corps, known ns your Bndy-Gunrd, should be otlitrwise die- posed of. Official Informiition hnd reached this city that members of that body hod at Springfleld espreesed sentiments rendering their NATIONAL TROOPS IN KENTUCKY. 85. that region who had received Fremont as a liberator, dared not remain, for they expected, what really happened, that General Price would follow up the receding army, and they would be made to suffer for their loyalty. Price did follow, with more than fifteen thousand men, in three columns ; and all South-western Missouri below the Osage was soon delivered into the power of the Confederates. When at the point of being deprived of his command, Fremont sent an order to General Grant at Cairo, directing him to make some co-operating movements. That officer, as we have observed, had taken possession of Paducah, in Kentucky," on hearing of the invasion of that State by General Polk. He had proceeded to strengthen the position by casting up fortifications there ; and by order of General Fremont, an immense pontoon bridge was thrown- across the Ohio, half a mile below the I Sept. 6, 1861. PONTOON EltlDGK AT PAUUGAU. town.' He also seized and occupied Smithland, not far from the mouth of the Cumberland River, and thus closed two important gateways of supply for the Confederates in the interior of Kentucky and Tennessee, from the Ohio. When Fremont's order for co-operation reached Grant, and was followed the next day by a dispatch,' saying, "Jeff. Thompson is at Indian ^^^^ ^ Ford of the St. Fran5ois Pdver, twenty-five miles below Green ville, with about three thousand men, and Colonel Carlin has started with a force from Pilot Knob; send a force from Cape Girardeau and Bird's Point, to assist Carlin in driving Thompson into Arkansas," he was ready to move quickly and effectively. Grant had already sent Colonel 1 V pontuon bridge is a portablo stracture m.ade to float on boat-shaped buoys, and used by an army on its march for the puroose of crossing rivers where bridges may have been destroyed, or a fordable river made impassable by rains. The more modern boats used for tho purpose are made of vulcanized india-rubber, and consist of cylinders peaked at each end, so as to offer very little resistsmce to a current. The river at Padueah is 8,600 feet across. The bridge was constructed of ooal-barges, strongly braced to gether, and otherwise connected by trestle-work planked over. It was capable of bearing tbe heaviest ordnance and thousands of men. contlnuanco in the service ot doubtful oipediency. Wilh every ilesiro lo gratify your wislie., I do not see ezactly boiv I con violate every rule of military propriety. Plea.e reply. ^^^ ^ McClellan, C,m.-(v-aU/. General Fremont tried lo find out what were tlie ofTensive eentiments tial hnd been eipre.sod by member, of hi. Guard, »hicb had caused [hi. harsh official action toward Iheiu i but lo his appliontiou for a reconsideration of their ca«e, in order that the truth might be dis covered, Genernl llcClellan made no reply. Tlie Guard was mustered out of service on the 28th of November, 1861. It Is snid tbat the iifTensive sentimenH alluded lo were those of Fremont', emoncipntion proclamation. It wa» well known thai .ome of the Guard were outepolfen against the slave system, whose supporters had commenced the war against tbe Government, 86 EXPEDITION DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI. Oglesby to Commerce and Sikeston, to pursue Thompson in conjunction with some troops from Ironton, and had been informed that Polk was sending re-enforcements to Price from Columbus. In this situation of affairs, he determined to threaten Columbus by attacking Belmont, a little village and landing-place on the Missouri shore opposite, and break up the connection between Polk and Price. Oglesby's force was deflected toward New Madrid, and Colonel W. H. L.Wallace, of Illinois, was sent from Cairo to re-enforce him. The movement on Belmont would keep Polk from interfering ' wiih Grant's troops in pursuit of Thompson. General Charles F. Smith, a soldier of rare qualities, was now in command at Paducah. Grant requested him to make a demonstration toward Co lumbus, to attract the atten tion of Polk, and at the same time he sent a force down the Kentucky shore to Ellicott's Mills, about twelve miles above Columbus. When these deceptive movements were put in "''i°86i^' operation, Grant went down the Mississippi from Cairo," with about three thousand troops, mostly Illinois Volunteers,' in four steam transports, convoyed by the wooden gunboats Tyler and Lexington, commanded respectively by Captains Walke and Stemble. They lay at Island N"o. 1 , eleven miles above Columbus, that night. There Grant received information that Polk was sending troops across to Belmont, to cut off Colo nel Oglesby. At dawn the next morning, he pressed forward and landed his forces at Hunter's Point, on the Missouri shore, three miles above Bel mont, where a battalion was left to guard the transports from an attack by land, whilst the remainder pushed on and formed a line of battle two miles from the village. In the mean time, the gunboats had moved down and opened fire upon the Confederate batteries on the Iron Banks, a short distance above Columbus, on the Kentucky shore, and two hundred feet above the river, where twenty heavy guns were planted. Colonel Fouke took command of the center of the attacking column. Colonel Buford of the right, and Colonel Logan ofthe left. Polk was surprised. He was looking for an attack onlj'^ in the rear, for General Smith was threatening him at Mayfield. He at once sent over three regiments, under General Pillow, to re-enforce the regiments of Russell and Tappen (the former acting as brigade commander), then holding Belmont. FIELD OF Ol'EEAlIONa AGAINST BELMONT. ' These consisted of a part Of General John A. MoClornand's Brigade, composed of tho Twenty-sevenll, Thirtieth, and Thirty-flrst Illinois, commanded respectively by Colonels N. H. Buford, Philip B. Fouke, nnd John A, Logan; and a company of cavalry led by Captain J .T. Dolllns. To these were added another company of cavalry under Lieutenant J, E. Catlin. and Captain Ezra Taylor's Chici^o Light Artillery of six pieces and 114 men, all Illinois Volunteers. Also the Twenty-second Illinois, Colonel H. Dougherty, and the Seventh Iowa, Colonel Lauman. BATTLE OF BELMONT. 87 Grant moved forward, with DoUins' cavalry scouring tho woods to the right, and, deploying his whole force as skirmishers, he fought from tree to tree, and drove back the foe to their intrenched camp, which was protected by a strong abatis of slashed UNION CI] trees.' Behind these, opposing Grant's left, lay the Thirteenth Arkansas and Ninth Tennessee ; and opposite his left was a bat tery of seven guns, commanded by Colonel Beltzhoover, and Colonel Wright's Tennessee regi ment. Against these the Nation als charged over the fallen timber, captured the battery, and drove the Confederates back across the low level ground to the river, and some of them to their boats. In this movement Pillow's line was broken into a confused mass of men. The jsowder of the Con federates was nearly exhausted. The victory was complete ; but the ground being commanded by the heavy guns on the bluffs at and near Columbus, it was un tenable. The victors gave three cheers for the Union, set fire to the Confed erate camp (having no wagons, in which to carry away property), and fell back with captured men, horses, and artillery, toward their landing-place in the morning. Polk deteiinined not to allow Grant to escape with his victory and booty. He opened upon him with some of his heaviest guns, and sent General Cheat ham with three regiments to cross the river above, and land between Grant and his flotilla. At the same time the chief crossed, at the head of two regiments, to aid Pillow in his chase of the Nationals. The Confederates now were not less than five thousand strong, and pressing hard. There was desperate fighting for a short time. ' Grant pushed on in good order toward his landing'-place, under fire of the Confederate batteries on the Iron Banks, turning once to punish severely some of Cheatham's troops on his flank, and once again to send back in confusion some of Pillow's men, under Colonel Marks, who had endeavored to out him off from his boats. He finally reached his landing-place, and embarked, after suffering severely. The fight had been gallant on both sides.' The gun-boats had performed most efficient service in BATTLE OF KELMONT. I Abatis is a French word for rows of felled trees, having their smaller br.tnches cutoff and tlie larger ones sharpened, and placed with their ends toward the approach of assailants, either in front of a fort or an intrenched camp. Sometimes tho smaller branches are left, an0so intertwined as to make it extremely difficult to pene trate the mass, excepting by cannon-balls. - In a general order, Nov. 8th, General Grant said : " It bas been my fortune to have been in all the battles fought in MeNico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista, and I never saw one more hotly contested, or where troops bebaved with more gallantry." In his report on the 12th, he spoke in highest terms of General McClernand, as being in the midst of danger throughout the engagement, dispbying coolness and judgment. 88 THE OONFEDEEATES UNEASY. engaging the Confederate batteries, protecting the transports, and covering the re-embarkation. Indeed, to Captains Walke and Stemble, who managed their craft with the greatest skill and efficiency, the country was mostly in debted for the salvation of that little army from destruction or capture.' At five o'clock in the afternoon, the flotilla, with the entire force, was on its way back to Cairo, carrying away two of Beltzhoover's heavy guns, the others having been recaptured. Grant had lost four hundred and eighty-five men,' and Polk six hundred and thirty-two.' Cotemporaries and eye-witnesses on both sides related many deeds of special daring by individuals. The repulse of Grant did not relieve the Confederates of a sense of impending great danger, for intelligence was continually reaching Colum bus of the increase of National forces on the Ohio border. General Mansfield Lovell, then in command at New Orleans, was solicited to send up re-en forcements ; and Governor Pettus, of Mississippi, and Govemor Rector, of Arkansas, were implored for aid. But these men perceived the peril threat ened by the land and water campaign coramanded by Fremont, which events had sufficiently developed to make it fully suspected by the Confederates, and they dared not spare a man. Lovell answered that he had no more troops than were necessary to defend New Orleans, whilst both Pettus and Rector considered themselves deficient in strength for the expected conflict.' Gov ernor Harris, of Tennessee, was urged to increase his efforts in a Nov. 14, 1S61. raising volunteers. He had telegraphed to Pillow," saying : " I congratulate you and our gallant volunteers upon their bloody but brilliant and glorious victory ;" and a week later he added, " I am or ganizing, as rapidly as possible, thirty thousand volunteers and militia, armed with country guns." The hope thus held out was fallacious, for nearly all the troops that Harris could then mustyr, by force or persuasion, were soon needed in the interior of his State, in keeping in cheek the Loyalists of East and having had his horse shot three times. Grant's horse was also shot under him. Colonel Dougherty, ofthe Twenty-second Illinois, was three times wounded, and finally taken prisoner. Major McClurken, ofthe Thir tieth Illinois, and Colonel Lauman, of the Seventh Iowa, were badly wounded. Among tbe killed were Colonel Wentz, of the Seventh Iowa, Captains Brolaski and Markle, and Lieutenant Douffherty. The Twenty-second lUinoislost 23 killed and T4 wounded; and the Seventh Iowa li.ad 26 killed and SO wounded, including neai-ly all of its field officers. The loss of property was estimated at 25 baggase wagons, 100 horses, 1,000 overcoats, aud 1,000 blankets. One man was killed and two wounded on the gunboats. Among the Confederates killed was Colonel John V. Wright, of the Thirteenth Tennessee, and Major But ler, of the Eleventh Louisiana. Wright was a Democratic Congressman, and nn intimate friend of Colonel Philip B. Fouke, of the Illinois Volunteers. " When they p.irted at the close of tho session of 1860-61," says Jlr. Greeley, ^American Conjliet, i. 597), Wright said to his fiiend, ' Phil, I expect tho next time wo meet it will be on the battle-field.' Their next meeting was in this bloody struggle." I After the transports had departed from before Columbus, and gone some distance up tho river, followed by the gunboats, l laptain Walke was informed that some of the troops had been left behind. lie returned with the Tyler, and met detached parties along the banks. Ho succeeded in rescuing nearly all of tho stragglers from capture. ¦^ Eighty-five killed, 801 wounded, and 99 missing. General Pillow, whose performances on tbis occasion were tho least creditable, with his usual bombast and exaggerations, spoke in his report of his " small Spartan army" withstanding the constant flre of three times their number for four hours.— Poll.ard's First Year of tho War, 203. 3 Official reports of Grant and Polk, and their subordinate officers; private letter of General Grant to his father, Nov. 8th, 18C1; Grant's Eevised Eeport, Juno 26th, 1865; Pollard's First Year of Hie War. The latter gives the Confederate loss as it is above recorded. MS. Eeports of Acting Brigadier-General E. M. Eussell, Nov. 9, and of Colonels E. Eicketts, Jr., and T. II. Bell, Now 11, 1861. ¦1 A little later, Governor Pettus changed his views, and, in a special message to tho Mississippi Legislature, he suggested to that body the propriety of sending such troops as could "be immediately raised aud armed, to assist in the defense of the important post of Columbus. I deem the safety of our position and forces at Colum bus as of such vital importance to this State," he said, "as to cloim the prompt and decisive action of all the State authorities.'' KENTUCKY INVADED BY ZOLLIOOFFEE. 89 Tennessee ; in aiding ZoUicoffer in his invasion of Southeastern Kentucky, already alluded to ;' and in supporting Buckner in his treasonable operations in his native State. Zollicoffer had advanced to Barboursville, the capital of Knox County, so early as the 1 9th of September, where he dispersed au armed band of Kentucky Unionists, and captured their camp. He pro claimed peace and security hi person and property for all Kentuckians, ex cepting those who should be found in arms for the Union ; but his soldiers could not be restrained, and the inhabitants of that region were mercilessly plundered by them. Zollicoffer's invasion aroused the Unionists of Eastern Kentucky, and they flew to arms. A large number of them were mustering and organizing under Colonel Garrard, a plain, earnest, and loyal Kentuckian, at a point among the Rock Castle Hills known as Camp Wild Cat. It was in a most picturesque region of one of the spurs of the Cumberland Mountains, on the direct road from Cumberland Gap toward the rich " blue-grass regiop " of Kentucky. Upon this camp Zollicoffer advanced on the 18th of October, with seven regiments and a light battery. When intelligence of his ap proach was received. Colonel Garrard had only about six hundred effective men to oppose him. Others in sufficient numbers to insure a successful re sistance were too remote to be available, for the invader moved swiftly, swooping down from the mountains like an eagle on its prey. Yet when he came, on the morning of the 21st,'' he found at ""^gjf""' Camp Wild Cat, besides Garrard's three regiments, a part of Colonel Coburn's Thirty-third Indiana, and Colonel Connell's Seven teenth Ohio regiments, and two hundred aud fifty Kentucky cavalry, under Colonel Woolford,' ready to resist him. With the latter came General Schoepf, an officer of foreign birth and military education, who assumed the chief command. The position of the Unionists was strong. Zollicoffer with his Tennes- seans and a body of Mississippi " Tigers " boldly attacked them, and was twice repulsed. The first attack was in the morning, the second in the after noon. The latter was final. The contests had been very sharp, and the latter was decisive. The camp-fires of Zollicoffer's invaders were seen that evening in a sweet little valley two or three miles away from the battle ground. Promptly and efficiently had Garrard's call for help been responded to, for toward the close ofthe second attack a portion of Colonel Steadman's Fourteenth Ohio also came upon the field to aid the Kentuckians, Indianians, and Ohioians already there; and when the in\'aders had withdrawn, others were seen dragging cannon wearily up the hill for the defense of Camp Wild Cat. A little later a trial of strategy and skill occurred in the most eastern 1 ZoUlcofTer, like Polk, made necessity the pretext for scorning the neutrality of Kentucky. On the 14th of September he telegraphed to Governor Magoffin, informing him of his occupation of three mountain ranges in Kentucky, because it was evident that the Unionists in Eastern Kentucky were about to invade East Ten nessee, to destroy the great railway and its bridges. He said, apologetically, that he had delayed that "pre cautionary movement.," until it was evident that ''the despotic Government at Washington " had determined to subjugate flrst Kentucky and then Tennessee, whom he regarded as twin sisters. With the old plea of the unrighteous, that "the end justifies the means," he declared that hc felt a "religious respect for Kentucky's neutrality," and would continue to feel it, so long as the safety of the Confederate cause would permit. He issued an order at the same tirae, setting forth that he entered Kentucky to defend "the soil of a sister SLite against an invading foe." 90 BATTLE OF PIKETON, KENTUCKY. a November, ISBl. WILLIAM NELSON. portion of Kentucky, between about three thousand loyalists, under General William Nelson, and a little more than a thousand insurgents, under Colonel John S. Williams. The latter were at Piketon, the capital of Pike County, and were marched against by General Nelson's force from Pres- tonburg, on the Big Sandy River. He sent" Colonel SIU, with nearly one-half of that force,' to march by way of John's Creek to gain the rear of Wil liams at Piketon, whilst with the re mainder he should move forward and attack his front, so bringing him be tween two fires, and compelling him to , surrender. Some one, counting positively on success, telegraphed to Washington that this result had been accomplished, and that a thousand prisoners had surrendered. The whole country was thrilled by the good news, for it seemed as if a way was about to be opened for the relief and the arming of the suffering loyalists in East Tennessee. Truth soon told a different story. Nelson had moved on the 9th with hLs main column'' directly toward Pikeville, twenty-eight miles distant, a bat talion of Kentucky volunteers, under Colonel C. A. Marshall, in advance. They met picket-guards eight miles from that village. The road now lay along a narrow shelf cut in a high mountain side, ending in a steep ridge at Ivy Creek, which bent around it. There lay the Confederates in ambush, and did not fire until Marshall's battalion was close upon them. Then a volley was poured upon his men, and a sharp skirmish ensued. Confederates on the opposite side ofthe creek joined in the attack ; but, after a contest of almost an hour and a half, all the insurgents fled, leaving thirty of their comrades dead on the field. How much greater was their loss was not ascertained. Nelson's loss was six killed and twenty-four wounded. He did not pursue far, and, as he had no cavalry, Williams escaj)ed. The latter was too watch ful and discreet to be caught in the trap laid for him by Nelson. Seeing his danger, he fled to the fastnesses of the mountains at Pound Gap, carrying with him a large amount of cattle and other spoils. General Nelson entered Pikeville on the 10th, where he found Colonel Sill and his division, who, after fighting on the way, had arrived the previous evening, and given WiUiams's troops a few shot aud shell when they departed. On the same day Nelson had the pleasure of saying to his troops, in an order issued from " Camp Hopeless Chase," that " In a campaign of twenty days, 1 Sill's troops for this occasion were tho Thirty-third Ohio (his own regiment), a light battalion, under Major Hart, composed of portions of tho Second, Thirty-third, nnd Fifty-ninth Ohio, and two Kentucky companies; one hundred and forty-two mounted men, mostly teamsters, commanded by Colonel Metcalf; thirty-six volunteers, under Colonel Apperson, and a section of artillery (two rifled 6-pounders), under CohmelKohcr Vncher. = This was composed of the greater portions of the Second, Twenty-flrst, and Fifty-ninth Ohio Vo'lnnteerB, under Colonels Harris, Norton, and Tyffe ; a liattalion of Kentucky vOYD ON NEW RIVER. 101 Lee's position on Big Sewell Mountain was directly in front of that of Rosecrans, who occupied the country in the crotch formed by the Gau ley River and New River. His main camp was on New River, and his lines extended down to the Gauley. The breach between Wise and Floyd widened, and, late in September," the former was recalled to Richmond by the Confederate " Secretary of War." Lee held "^"'ggi^' Wise's position on Big Sewell for about three weeks, in sight of Rosecrans, who had been re-enforced ;' but did not venture to attack him. The latter then fell back, without Lee's knowledge, and concentrated his forces near the junction of the rivers. Lee, too, was then recalled to Rich mond,'' and was soon afterward sent to take charge of the coast defenses of South Carolina and Georgia.' Floyd and Rosecrans were once more com petitors for the possession of the Kanawha Valley. The former, late in Oc tober, took position on the left bank of New River, and erected batteries there a little above its junction with the Gauley, and on the first of Novem ber he opened an annoying fire on the National camp. Already very troublesome raids had been made by small parties of Confederates, and on one occasion they had approached within twelve miles of Charleston. Floyd's batteries now commanded the road over which Rosecrans's sup plies had to pass to his camp at the junction, and it was resolved to dislodge or capture him. Troops were thrown across for that purpose. An attempt of General Schenck to cross behind Fayetteville, and strike Floyd's rear, was frustrated by a sud den flood in New River, and the Confederates were struck only in the front, opposite the mouth of the Gauley, by the First Ken- BEGION OF MILITAICT OPERATIONS IN WESTEEN VIEGINIA. tucky, under Major Leeper. This was gallantly performed,' and Floyd recoiled. General Benham had crossed below the mouth i Nov. 12. I His army now numbered about 10,000 men, composed of the brigades of Generals Cox, Benham, and Schenck, the latter havinz been transferred from the Army of the Potomac. 2 Lee's campaign in Westc'rn Virginia was a failure, and the hopes centered on him were signally disap pointed. The Confederate historian ofthe war. Pollard, commenting on Lee's failure to attack Eosecrans, eays (i. 171) ; " Thus the second opportunity of a decisive battle in Western Virginia was Idindly lost. General Lee making no attempt to follow up the enemy, who had so Bkillfully eluded him; the excuse alleged for his not doing so being mud, swollen streams, and the leanness of hia artillery horses." 3 See Lee's letter of resignation, note 8, page 421, volume I. 102 DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF FLOYD. of New River, with his brigade. Rosecrans, fearing Floyd would retreat, ordered Benham to push forward at once to Cassidy's Mills, on his flank and rear, to intercept liim. This was not accomplished in time, and Floyd fled precipitately, strewing the way ^vith tents, tent-poles, working utensils, and ammunition, in his efforts to lighten his wagons. Benham pressed his rear heavily through Fayetteville, and on the road toward Raleigh ; and near the latter place he struck the Confederate rear-guard of four hundred cav alry, under Colonel Croghan,' who was mortally wounded. Onward Floyd sped, with Benham close at his heels ; but the pursuit was ended near Raleigh, after a thirty miles' race, by the recall of Benham, and the fugitive escaped to Peterston, full fifty miles southward from his pomt of departure. He soon afterward took leave of his army, in a stirring proclamation, praising his men for their courage and fidelity, and remind ing them that for five months "hard contested battles and skirmishes were matters of almost daily occurrence." General Rosecrans also issued an address to his troops, in which he recapitulated their services, and implored them to prepare for greater deeds in the future.' Thus ended the campaign in the Kanawha Valley.' But little more effort was needed to rid Western Virginia of the insur gents. Already General Kelly, who had behaved so gallantly at Philippi in June,'' had struck them a severe blow on the spot where Colonel Wallace first smote them a few months before.' Kelly had recovered from his severe wound, and, with the commission of Brigadier-General, was in command of troops in the autumn, guarding the Baltimore and Ohio Railway along its course through West Virginia. Ascertaining that a considerable insurgent force, consisting of cavalry, under ColOnel ^Vngus McDonald, and militia under Colonel Monroe, was at Romney, preparing 7" I St. George Crogh.in was a son of the eminent Colonel George Croghan, who so gallantly defended Fort Stephenson, at lower Sandusky, in the War of 1812. His family were residing in Newburgh, on the Hudson Eiver, at this time. 2 Eosecrans said : "When our gallant young commander was called from us, after the disaster of BuU's Eun, this department was left with less than 15,000 men to guard 300 miles of railroad, and SOO miles of frontier, ex posed to bushwhackers, and the forces of Generals Floy This squadron had been placed there by Flag-officer McKean, commander of the squadron off Pensscoh, for the purpose of guarding the several entrances to the Mississippi, and erecting a battery at tho head of the passes, which would command the entire navigation of the river. NAVAL EXPEDITIONS. 115 CHAPTEE Y. MILITAET AND NAVAL OPEEATIONS ON THE COAST OF SOUTH CABOLINA.— MILITAET OPEFvATIONS ON THE LINE OF THE POTOMAC EIVEE. ' AMPTON ROADS presented a spectacle, in October, similar to that, late in August, of the Hatteras expe dition ; but more imposing. It was a land and naval armament, fitted out for a descent upon the borders of lower South Carolina, among the coast islands between Charleston harbor and the Savannah River. _^ _^ The want of some harbors under the control of the — •^— ^ ~*^ Government in that region, as stations, and as places of refuge of the blockading vessels during the storms of autumn and winter, had caused the Govemment to take action on the subject even before the meeting of Congress in July. So early as June, a Board of army and navy officers was convened at Washington City.' The Board, after careful inves tigations, made elaborate reports, and, in accordance with their recommen dations, expeditions were planned. The Secretary of the Navy, with the help of his energetic assistant, Mr. Fox, had so far matured an expedition for the Southern coast, that, early in October, rumors of it began to attract public attention. It became tangible when in Hampton Roads a large squadron was seen gathering, and at Annapolis a considerable land force was collecting, which, it was said, was to form a part of the expedition. Whither it was to go was a mystery to the public, and its destination was so uncertain to the popular mind, that it Avas placed by conjecture at almost every point of interest between Cape Hatteras and Galveston, in Texas. Even in official circles its destination was generally unknown when it sailed, so well had the secret been kept. The land forces of the expedition, which assembled at Annapolis, in Maryland, about fifteen thousand in number, were placed in charge of Briga dier-General T. W. Sherman, acting as major-generaL The naval portion of the expedition was placed under the command of Captain S. F. Dupont, who had served as chairman of the Board of Inquiry just mentioned. The fleet was composed of fifty war vessels and transports, with twenty-five coal vessels under convoy of the Vandalia. These, with the troops, lefl Hampton Roads and proceeded to sea on a most lovely October moming," having been summoned to the movement at dawn by ° ^jgji'' the booming of a gun on the Wabash, the Commodore's flag-ship. The destination of the expedition was not generally known by the partici- I This Board was composed of Major John G. Barnard, of the Engineer Corps of the army. Professor Alex ander Bache, of the Coast Survey, and Captains Samuel F. Dupont and Charles II. Davis, of the Navy. 116 AN EXPEDITION IN MOTION. lSW*-)!Sp^^ F. DUPONT. pants in it until it was well out to sea, when, under peculiar circumstances, as we shall observe, it was announced to be Port Royal entrance and harbor, and the coast islands of South Carolina. The army under Sherman was divided into three brigades, com manded respectively by Brigadier- Generals Egbert S. Viele, Isaac J. Stevens, and Horatio G. Wright ; all of them, including the chief, being graduates of the West Point Military Academy. The transports which bore these troops were about thirty- five in number, and included some powerful steamships.' The Wabash led the way out to sea, and its followers, moving in three parallel lines, and occupying g, space of about twelve miles each way, made a most imposing appearance. The war-vessels and transports were judiciously intermingled, so that the latter might be safely convoyed.' During a greater portion of the day of departure, they moved down the coast toward stormy Cape Hatteras, most of the vessels in sight of the shore of North Carolina, and all hearts cheered with promises of fine weather. That night was glorious. The next day was fair. The second night was calm and beautiful. There was no moon visible ; but the stars were brilliant. The dreaded Cape Hatteras was passed in the dimness with such calmness of sea, that on the following morning a passenger on the Atlantic counted no less than thirty-eight of the fifty vessels in sight from her deck. But, on that evening, the aspect of the heavens changed, aud the terrible storm, already mentioned, which swept over Hatteras so fearfully at the beginning of November, was soon encoun tered, and the expedition was really " scattered to the winds." So complete was the dispersion, that, on the morning of the 2d of November, only a single vessel might be seen from the deck of the Wabash. Fortunately, there were sealed orders on board of each vessel. These were opened, and tlic I The Atlantic and Baltic, each carrying nfull regiment of men and a vast amount of provisions nnd stores, were of the larger class. Among the other more notable vessels may be named the Vanderbilt, Ocean Queen, Ericsson, Empire City, Daniel Webster, and Great Republic, the latter having been employed in the British service for the same purpose during a part of the (.'rimc.an war. Among.tlio lesser vessels were five op six ferry-boats, calculated, on account of their capacity and light draught, for landing troops In shallow und still waters. The entire tonnage of the transports was estimated at abimt 40,000 tons. 2 The vessels moved in the following order and connection : The Wabash was fianked by the gunboats Pawnee, Ottawa, Curlew, T^iaac P. Smith, Seneca, Pembina, Un " Commodore Dupont," Eogers wrote to a friend, " had kindly made me his aid. I stood by hira, and I did httle things which I suppose gained me credit. So, when a boat was sent on shore to ask whether thev had surrendered, I was sent. I carried the Stars and Stripes. I found the ramparts utterly desolate, nnd I pl'anted the American flag upon those ramparts with my own hands— first to take nossession, in the majesty of the United States, of the rebel soil of South Carolina." ' SHERMAN'S PROCLAMATION. 123 retributive justice, so long withheld, was about to be laid heavily upon the chief offender. South Carolina.' "A thrill pervaded the loyal land When the gladdening tidings came to band ; Each heart felt joy's emotion ! The clouds of gloom and doubt dispersed, The sun of hope through the darkness burst, And the zeal the patriot's heart had nursed Burned with a warm devotion." The joy of the Loyalists was equaled in intensity by the sadness of the Secessionists everywhere. The latter perceived that an irreparable blow had been dealt against their cause, and throughout the Confederacy there was much wailing, lamentation, and bitter recriminations. It was believed that Charleston and Savannah would soon be in possession of the National forces, and that Forts Sumter and Pulaski would be " repossessed " by the Gov emment. General R. S. Ripley, an old army officer who had abandoned his flag, was the Confederate commander of that sea-coast district,^ having his head quarters at Charleston. He had arrived on Hilton Head just before the action commenced, but retired to Coosawhatchie, on the main, satisfied that no glory was to be achieved in a fight so hopeless on the part of his friends. It was under his advice that the Confederate troops aban doned that region to the occupation of the National forces. The latter fact was officially announced by General Sherman, in a proclamation to the people of South Carolina on the day after the battle. Unfortunately, a portion of that procla mation was couched in such terms, that neither the personal pride nor the politi cal pretensions of the rebellious leaders was offended. It was so lacking in positiveness that they regarded it with perfect indifference.' Indeed, it was difficult to get them to notice it at all. R. 8. RIPLET. ^ In all the cities and towns in the Free Labor States fiags were flung out, and in many places salvos of can non were fired. The chimes of Trinity church, in the city of New Tork, beneath its great flag that floated from its spire, rang out two changes on eight bells, and twelve airs, under the direction of Mr. Ayllffe, the celebrated chimist The airs were as follows : Hail Columbia; Yankee Doodle; Airfrom "Child of the Eegiment;" Home, Sweet Home ; Last Eose of Summer ; Evening Bells ; Star Spangled Banner Airs by De Beriot ; Airs from '• Fra Diavolo ;" Columbia, tho Gem of the Ocean ; Hail Columbia ; and Yankee Doodle. Tho Secretaries of War and of the Navy publicly tendered to the commanders of the expedition and to their raen thanks, and the latter issued a General Order on tho 16th of November, In which it was directed that a national salute should be fired from each navy-yard at meridian on the day after the reception, to coramemorate the signal victory. 2 See pi^e 811, volume I. 3 Hc acknowledged their pretensions to State sovereignty by speaking of '• the dictates of a duty " which he owed " to a great sovereign State ;'' and he fiattered them by speaking of them as " a proud and hospitable people, among whom he had passed some of the pleasantest days of his life." Then he assured them that they were in a state of active rebellion against tho laws of theii- own country, and that the civilized world stood amazed at their course, and appalled by the crime they were committing against their " own mother." He narrated some 124 FLIGHT FROM THE COAST ISLANDS. Messengers were sent with it, under a flag of truce, first to Port Royal Island, and thence to the main. The Confederate officers they met told them there were no " loyal " citizens in South Carolina, and that no others wanted it, and advised them to turn back with their bundle of proclamations. They acted upon this recommendation, and so ended the attempt to conciliate the South Carolinians. General Sherman set vigorously to work to strengthen his position on Hilton Head, for it was to be made a depot of supplies. Mechanics and lumber had been brought out in the transports. Buildings were sj)eedily erected; also an immense wharf; and in a short time the place assumed the outward appearance of a mart of commerce. Meanwhile, Dupont sent his armed vessels in various directions among the islands and up the rivers of the coast of South Carolina, in the direction of Charleston ; and before the close of November, every soldier occupying earthworks found here and there, and nearly every white inhabitant, had abandoned those islands and fled to the main, leaving the negroes, who refused to accompany them, to occupy their plantations and houses. Everywhere, evidences of panic and hasty departure were seen ; and it is now believed that, had the victory at Port Royal been immediately followed up, by attacks on Charleston and Savannah, both cities might have been an easy prey to the National forces. Beaufort, a delightful city on Port Royal Island, where the most aristocratic portion of South Carolina society had summer residences, was entered," and 1861 ' ^^^ arms and munitions of war seized, without the least resistance,' there being, it was reported, only one white man there, named Allen (who was of Northem birth), and who was too much overcome with fear or strong drink to give any intelligible account of affairs there." The negroes everywhere evinced the greatest delight at the advent of the " Yan kees," about whom their masters had told them fearful tales ; and it was a most touching sight to see them — men, women, and children — ^flocking to the island shores when the vessels appeared, carrying little bundles contain ing all their worldly goods, and with perfect faith that the invader was their of their crimes, implored them to pause, and warned them that they would bring great evils upon their State. He assured them that he and his troops would respect any constitutional obligations to them, and begged them to believe that if, in the performance of their duty in enforcing the National authority, some of those obligations should be neglected, such neglect came only because of the ''necessities of the case." The general had been specially instructed by tho War Department to treat all slaves as General Butler had been authorized to treat them at Fortress Monroe, and to assure all loyal masters t-hat Congress would provide just compensation to them for the loss of the labor of their slaves taken into the public service. I Among the trophies secured at Beaufort, and now (1S6T) preserved at the Washington Navy Yard, was a 6.pounder brass cannon, which had been captured from the British while marauding on the coast of South Carolina during the war of 1S12. It was deposited in the trophy room of tbe National Arsenal, at Charleston, nnd there it remained until the conspirators in that city seized it, with tlio other public property, and appropriated it to their use. According to their code of ethics, the act of seizure conferred the right of owner ship, nnd so they h.ad the name of" South Carolina" engraved CANNON CAPTURED AT EEAUFORT. upon the caunou. It also boro the date of its construction, " ISOS." Its carriage was modern, having been made after its capture from tho British. It, too, was of brass, and w.as decorated with stars. 2 Report of Lieutenant Sproston, of the Seneca, who was tho first to land at Beaufort. Ho says that while he was talklug with Mr. Allen, at his store In Beaufort, an intelligent mulatto boy dismounted from ahorse, and said, " The whole country have left, sir, .and ail the soldiers gone to Port Eoy.al Ferry. Thoy did not think that you could do it, sir." He informed him thatthore were then about 1,000 soldiers at the ferry, a portion of whom wore tho Beaufort Artillery, under Captain Elliott CONQUEST ON THE GEORGIA COAST. 125 « Nov., 1861. r^^Mi deliverer, expressing a desire to go on board the ships, evidently fearing that their masters would return.' The latter had used great exertions, by per suasion, threats, and violence, to induce their slaves to accompany them in their flight to the interior, but with very little success.' With equal ease Dupont took possession of Big Tybee Island, at the mouth of the Savannah River, from which Fort Pulaski, which was within easy mortar distance, might be assailed, and the harbor of Savannah perfectly. sealed against blockade runners. On the approach of the National gunboats, the de fenses, which consisted of a strong martello tower erected there during the war of 1812, and a battery at its base, were abandoned, and on the 25th'' Dupont wrote to the Secretary of War : " The flag ofthe United States is flying over 'the terri tory of the State of Georgia."^ Before the close of the year the National authority was supreme from Wassaw Sound, below the mouth of the Savannah, to the North Edisto River. Every fort on the islands in that region had been abandoned, and there was nothing to make serious oppo sition to National authority.' But at the close of November, and in the month of December, over the curious net-work of creeks and rivers on that coast hung the black clouds of extensive conflagrations, evincing intense hostility to that authority by the South Carolinians. Vast quantities of cotton were on the islands when the National forces came ; and, when the first panic had MARTELLO TOWER ON TYBEE ISLAND.*" I Nowhere in the South were the negroes so shut out from all knowledge of tlie world .as among these coast islands. Their masters assured them that the •' Yankees " were coining to steal them and sell them into bondage In Cuba ; and some described the " Northerners " as monsters who would devour them, or kill .and bnry them in the sand. But most of these simple people did not believe a word of these tales ; on the contrary, they believed the Lord had sent the " Yankees " to take them out of bondage. This faith and liope was most remarkable. 2 When the National forces reached Beaufort, the negroes, finding themselves sole occupants of the place and property, had begun to pillage. They reported that their masters, before their departure, had tried to drive them back into the woods, in the direction of the main, and numbers of them had been shot and killed. (Com mander Eogers. in a letter to a friend (Nov. 9th), said : " A boat which came oif to the Seneca said one man (giving his narae) shot si.x ofthe negroes." 3 This was the appearance of the tower whon I sketched it, in Ajirll, 1866. Its height had been somewhat diminished by demolishing a portion of its upper part, on which rested a roof. Such towers h.ad been erected eariy in the present century along the British coasts, as a defense against an expected invasion by Bonaparte. The lower story was used for stores, and the upper, being bomb-proof, as secure quarters for the men. The walls terrainated in a parapet, behind which cannon were placed. The tower at Tybee was bnilt of solid masonry, like the best of those on the British coast. ' Besides those on Hilton Head, and at B.ay Point on Phillip's Island, there were five other fortifications on _ these islands, n.amely, on Botany Bay Island. North Edisto ; on Otter Island, St. Helena's Sound ; on Fenwick's Island ; on Bay Point, on tho South Edisto Eiver; and on Sam's Point, on the Coosaw Eiver. The little sketch here given of the Ibrt on Bay Point, South Edisto, conveys an idea of the general form of these works, which were constructed ot loose earth, and blocks of tough marsh sod. ^ See m.ap on page 126. P0"1' ON n\v POINT. 126 THE COAST ISLANDS AND COTTON. passed by, planters retumed stealthily and applied the torch to that which was gathered and ungathered, that it should not fall into the hands of the invaders.' In this connection it is proper to say, that BO soon as the report of the existence of a =5^A vast quantity of aban- f-'^'^'/K' doned cotton on these ^anoM^^^^ coast islands — cotton of the **'J' most valuable kind' — reached Washington, an order went forth for its secure preservation and preparation for market. Agents were appointed for the purpose, and the military and naval authorities in that region were directed to give them all necessary aid. Measures were taken to organize the negro population on the islands, and to carry forward all necessary work on the abandoned plantations. This business was left in the control of the Treasury Department, and was efficiently and wisely managed by Secretary Chase, who appointed Edwin L. Pierce as a special agent for the purpose. At the beginning of February following," Mr. Pierce COAST ISLANDS, j-gported that about two hundred plantations on fifteen of the South Carolina coast islands were occupied, or under the control of the I The Cliarlesion Mercury of Nov. SOth, 1861, said : " The heavens to the southwest were brilliantly illn- minated with the patriotic flames ascending from burning cotton. As the spectators witnessed It, they involun tarily burst forth with cheer after cheer, and each heart was warmed as with a new pulse. Such a people can never be subjugated. Let the holy flaraes continue to ascend, and let the demons of hell who come hereon their diabolical errand learn a lesson and tremble. Let the torch be applied wherever the invader pollutes our soil, and let him find, as is meet, that our people will welcome him only with devastation and ruin. Our people are in earnest, men, women, and children, and their sacrifice will ascend as a sacred holocaust to God, crying aloud for vengeance against the fiends in human shape who are disgracing humanity, trampling down civilization, and would blot out Christianity. Patriotic planters on the seaboard arc hourly applying the torch to their crops of cotton and rice. Some are authorized by military authorities to destroy their crops, to prevent ravages by the enemy. Plantations on North Edisto and in the neighborhood, and elsewhere on the coast of South Carolina, are one sheet of flames and smoke. The comraanding oflicers of all the exposed points on our coast have re ceived positive instructions to burn or destroy all property which cannot be conveniently taken away and is likely to bo seized by the enemy." 2 The " Sea Island Cotton " of commerce is the product of a narrow belt of coast islands along tbe shores of South Carolina, and in the vicinity of the mouth of the Savannah Elver. The seed was obtained from tho Ba hama Islands, and the flrst successful crop raised in South Carolina was on Hilton Head Island, in 1790. It is of the arborescent kind, and noted for its long fiber, adapted to the manufacture of tho flnest fabrics and the best thread. It always brought a very high price. Just before the war, when the common cotton brought an average of ten or twelve cents a pound, a bale sent fi-om South Edisto Island brought. In Liverpool, one dollar and thirty-five cents a pound. MOVEMENT AGAINST PORT ROYAL FERRY. 127 TLAT BOATS USED FOE LANDING TROOPS. Union forces, and that upon them there was an aggregate negro population of about eight thousand, exclusive of several thousand colored refugees at and around Hilton Head. The industrial operations in this region under the control of the Government will be further considered hereafter. The only stand made by the Confederate forces in defense of the South Carolina coast islands, after the battle of the Vth of November, was at Port Royal Ferry, on the Coosaw, at the close of the year. They had a fortified position there, and a force estimated at eight thousand strong, under Generals Gregg and Pope, from which it was determined to expel them. A joint land and naval expedition against this post was undertaken, the former com manded by Brigadier-General _^_ ^^~,^ Stevens, and the latter by Commander C. R. P. Rogers. The troops employed by Ste vens were Colonel Frazier's Forty-seventh and Colonel Perry's Forty-eighth New York regiments, and the Sev enty-ninth New York High landers, Major Morrison ; Fif tieth Pennsylvania, Colonel Crist ; Eighth Michigan, Colo nel Fenton; and the One Hundredth Pennsylvania ("Round Heads"), Colonel Leasure, of Stevens's brigade; in all about four thousand five hundred men. The naval force assembled at Beaufort for the purpose was composed of the gun-boats Ottawa, Pembina, Hale, and Seneca, ferry-boat Ellen, and four large boats belonging to the Wabash, each of them carrying a 12-pounder howitzer, under the respective commands of Lieutenants Upshur, Luce, and Irwin, and Acting Master Kempff. The expedition moved in the evening ofthe 31st of December." A large portion of the vessels went up the Broad River, on the westerly side of Port Royal Island, to approach the Ferry by Whale ^ Creek ; and at the same time General Stevens's forces made their way to a point where the Brick Yard Creek, a continuation of the Beaufort River, unites with the Coosaw. There he was met by Commander Rogers, with launches, and his troops were embarked on large flat boats, at an early hour in the morning.' The Ottawa, Pembina, and Hale soon afterward entered the Coo saw, and at Adams's plantation, about three miles below the P''erry, the land and naval forces pressed forward to the attack, two of the howitzers of the Wabash accompanying the former, under Lieutenant Irwin. Stevens threw out the Eighth Michigan as skirmishers, and the gun-boats <>1861. 6 Jan. 1, 1862. POET BOTAL FEERT BEFORE THE ATTACK. 128 BATTLE OF PORT ROYAL FERRY. opened a brisk fire into the woods in their front. The Seventy-ninth New York led. Very soon a concealed battery near the Ferry was encountered. It opened upon them with grape and canister, but was soon silenced hy a close encounter, in which the Eighth Michigan bore the bmnt. The Fiftieth Pennsylvania pressed forward to the support of these and the Highlanders, but very little fighting occurred after the first onset. The Confederates, seeing the gun-boats Ssneca, Ellen, Pembina, and Ottawa coming forward, abandoned their works and fled, and the Pennsylvania "Round Heads" passed over the Ferry and occupied them. At four o'clock in the afternoon. General Stevens joined them. The works were demolished, and the houses in the vicinity were bumed. General Stevens's loss was nine wounded, one of them (Major Watson, ofthe Eighth Michigan) mortally. While the National forces were thus gaining absolute control of the South Carolina coast islands, and the blockading ships, continually multiplying on the Atlantic and on the Gulf, were watching every avenue of ingress or egress for violators of the law, the Government, profiting by the hint given by the insurgents themselves, several months before, in sinking obstructions in the channel leading up to Norfolk,' pro ceeded to close, in like manner, the main entrances to the harbors of Charleston and Savannah. For that purpose a number of condemned mer chant vessels, chiefly whalers, were found in New England harbors, and purchased by order of the Secretary of the Navy. Twenty-five of them, each of three or four hundred tons burden, were stripped of their cop per bottoms, and were as heavily laden as their strength would permit, with blocks of granite, for the purpose of closing up Charleston harbor. In their sides, below water-mark, holes were bored, in which movable plugs were inserted, so that when these vessels reached their destination these might be drawn, and the water allowed to pour in. This " stone fleet," as it was called, reached the blockading squadron off Charleston at the middle of December, and on the 20th, sixteen of the vessels,' from New Bedford and New London, were sunk on the bar at the entrance of the Main Ship channel,^ six miles in a direct southern line from Fort Sumter. This was done under the superintendence of Fleet-captain Charles H. Davis. They were placed at intervals, checkerwise, so as to form THE CHANNELS OP CHARLESTON HAEBOE. I See pago 898, volume I. 3 One of these vessels was named Ceres. It had been an armed store-ship of the British navy, and ns such was iu Long Island Sound during tho old war for Independence, when it was captured by the Americans. 2 There are four channels leading out frora Ch.orleston harbor. The Main Ship channel runs southward along Morris Island. Mafiltt's channel, on the northern side ofthe enti-nnce, is along the south side of Sullivan's Island. Between these aro the North channel and the Swash channel, the former having eight, nnd tho latter nine feet of water on tho bar. The Main Ship channel hnd fifteen feet, and MalBtt's channel eleven. FAILURE OF THE STONE FLEET. 129 disturbing currents that would perplex but not destroy the navigation. Indeed, the affair was intended by the Govemment, and expected by those acquainted with the nature of the coast, the currents, and the harbor, to be only a temporary interference with navigation, as a war measure, and these experts laughed at the folly of those who asserted, as did a writer who accompanied the fleet, that " Charleston Bar is paved with granite, and the harbor is a thing of the past." ' The idea that such was the case was fostered by the Confederates, in order to " fire the Southern heart ;'' and their news papers teemed with denunciations of the " barbarous act," and frantic calls upon commercial nations to protest by cannon, if necessary, against this " violation of the rights of the civilized world." The British press and British statesmen sympathizing with the insurgents joined in the outcry, and the British Minister at Washington (Lord Lyons) made it the subject of diplomatic remonstrance.. He was assured that the obstructions would be temporary, and he was referred to the fact that, since they had been placed there, a British ship, in violation of the blockade, had run into Charleston harbor with safety, carrying supplies for the enemies of the Government. The work of the " stone fleet " was a failure,' and the expected disaster to Charleston, from its operations, did not occur. But a fearful one did fall upon that city at the very tirae when this " stone fleet " was approaching. A conflagration commenced on the night of the 14th of December, and con tinued the following day, devouring churches and public buildings, with several hundred stores, dwellings, manufactories, and warehouses, valued, with their contents, at millions of dollars. Let us now turn from the sea-coast, and observe events at the National capital and in its vicinity, especially along the line of the Potomac River. We left the Confederate army, after the Battle of Bull's Run, lying in comparative inactivity in the vicinity of its victory, with General Joseph E. Johnston as its chief commander, having his head-quarters at Centreville.' We left the Army of the Potomac in a formative state,* under General McClellan, whose head-quarters were in Washington City, on Pennsylvania Avenue, opposite the southeast comer of President Square. He was busily engaged, not only in perfecting its physical organization, but in making a solid improvement in its moral character. He issued orders that com mended themselves to all good citizens, among the most notable of which was one" which enjoined "more perfect respect for the Sabbath." He won " golden opinions " continually, and with the retum of every " ^ jg^'j^' morning he found himself more and more securely intrenched in the faith and affections of the people, who were lavish of both. General McClellan's moral strength at this time was prodigious. The soldiers and the people believed in him with the most earnest faith. His short campaign in Westem Virginia had been successful. He had promised, on taking command of the Army of the Potomac, that the war should be " short, sharp, and decisive ;" and he said to some of his followers,' while the President and Secretary of War were standing by, "^ ' I Special correspondence of the New York Tribune, Dec. 26th, 1861. ¦¦' A similar attempt had been made to close Ocracoke Inlet, in September, but with the same lack of success, tho old hulks being either carried to sea by the strong currents, or so deeply inibedded In the sand as to be harmless. > See page 22. t See page 213. Vol. II.— 9 130 RETIREMENT OF GENERAL SOOTT. " Soldiers ! We have had our last retreat. We have seen our last ¦ defeat. You stand by me, and I will stand by you, and henceforth victory will crown our efforts."^ These words found a ready response from the soldiers and the people, and they were pondered with hope, and repeated with praise. In them were promises of the exercise of that promptness and energy of action, in the use of the resources of the country, that would speedily bring peace. In the hearts ot the people still rang the cry of " On to Richmond !" while their lips, taught circumspection by the recent disaster at Bull's Run, were modestly silent. The soldiers, eager to wipe out the disgrace of that disaster, were ready to obey with alacrity, at any moment, an order to march on Richmond. And it was evidently the determination of the commander, all through the earlier weeks of autumn, to strike the foe at Manassas, as quickly as possible, and march triumphantly on the Confederate capital.^ But the retirement of Lieutenant-General Scott from the chief command of the National Army,''^ and the appointment of McClellan to fill his place, imposed new duties and responsibilities upon the lat ter, and his plan of campaign against the insurgents in Virginia was changed. The new organization of the Army of the Potomac was perfected at the middle of October, when at least seventy-five thousand well-armed and fanly disciplined troops were in a condition to be placed in column for active operations against the Confederates in front of Washington. At that time the National city was almost circumvallated by earth-works, there being no ^ This little speech was on the occasion when Governor Curtin, accompanied by the President and Secriitary of War, presented a set of flags to the Pennsylvania Brigade of General McCall, on Arlington Heights. 2 Mr. Swinton, in his History of the Campaigns qf the Army of tlie Potomac (note on page 69), says : "Though General McClellan used to keep his own counsel, yet General McDowell tells nic he was wont, in their rides over the country south of the Potomac, to point toward the flank of Manassas, and say, ' We shaU strike them there.'' " 3 General Scott was then in the 76th year of his age, having been "born in June, 1736. He had been for some time suffering from i)hysical and mental infirmities, and was incapable of performing, in any degree of efficiency, the duties of his ofBce at that important time. His voluntary retirement from active military duty was a fortu nate circumstance for the country and his own reputation, nnd he descended into the qniet of private life after a most distinguished military career of more than fifty years' duration, followed by the benedictions of a grateful people. It was on his recommendation that General McClellan, his junior by forty years, was made the Com mander-in-chief of all the armies of the Republic. — See General Orders, No. 94, dated Washington, November 1st, 1861.* General Scott left Washington city immediately after he retired from active command, accompanied by his staff, the Secretaries of War and the Treasury, and other distinguished officials. General McClellan bade him an affectionate farewell at the Washington railway-station, and tho veteran was conveyed easily on a couch fitted up for his use. He was everywhere greeted by the people with the most earnest demonstrations of respect In New York, a committee ofthe Chamber of Commerce and the Union Defense Committee made formal calls upon him, tendering him addresses, to which he replied in tho most feeling manner. He expressed confidence in tho ultimate success of the National cause, and spoke in highest terms of President Lincoln, to whom he was politi cally opposed. "I had no part nor lot in his election," he said. "I confess that ho has agreeably disappointed me. He is a man of great ability, fidelity, and patriotism," On the 9th of November, General Scott departed for Havre, in the steamship Arago, his heart cheered by intelligence, byway of Eiehmond, of the victory of Dupont at Port lloyal, and the capture of Beaufort * Tho following letter of tbo PreBidant was embodlod In tho order : " EiECUTiTK Mansion, " Waahington, ^'ovember UI, 1S6I. " On tho iBt day of November, a. d. 1S61, upon Ms own appUctttlon to tlio Proaldeut of tl\Q United States, Brevet Lieuteiiant-GenOTal "Wtnfikld Scott Is orderod to be placed, and hereby Ib placed upon the Hat ol" relirud officers of tho Army of the United Stntes, without reduction in his current pay, BubslsteDce, or allownnce. "The American peoplo will hear with Badness nnd deep emotion that General Scorr has withdrawn from the active control of Uie a.rmy, while the President and a uniinimous Cabinet express their own nnd tho nation's aympathv in his persounl affliction, and their pro found sense of tho Important public services rendered by him to Ills country during his long and brilliant career, ftinong which will ever bo gratefully distinguished bis faithful dovotlon to tho Constitution, tho Union, and tho Flag, when assailed by parricidal rebellion. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN.'' FOREIGN PRINCES IN THE ARMY. 131 less than thirty-two forts completed and armed for its defense, and to these sixteen were added in the course of six weeks.' Provisions, stores, ammuni tion, and clothing, were on hand in the greatest abundance, and the chief commander was furnished with numerous and efficient staif officers,' among whom were two French Princes of the House of Orleans, who had just arrived at the capital, with their uncle, the Prince de Joinville, son of the late Louis Philippe, King of the French. These were the Count of Paris and the Duke of Chartres, sons of the late Duke of Orleans, who wished to acquire military experience in the operations of so large a force as was there in arms. A prominent member of the then reigning family in France, whose head was considered a usurper by the Orleans family, had just left this country for his own. It was the Prince Jerome Bonaparte, a cousin of the Emperor Napoleon the Third, who, with his wife, had arrived in New York in the preceding July, in his private steam yacht. He went to Washington, where he was entertained by the President, and visited the Houses of Congress and the army on Arlington Heights and vicinity. He passed through the lines and visited the Confederate forces under Beauregard, at Manassas. Return ing to New York, he started on a tour to Niagara, Canada, and the Western prairies, with the princess. At the middle of September, he went from New York to Boston and Halifax in his yacht, and so homeward. It was only a few days before Prince Jerome's departure from New York that the Prince de Joinville arrived there, with members of his family. He came to place his son, the Duke of Penthievre (then sixteen years of age), in the Naval School at Newport. He brought with him his two nephews above named, who offered their services to the Government, with the stipulation on their part that they should receive no pay. Each was commissioned a captain, and assigned to the staff of General McClellan. They remained in the service until the close of the Peninsula campaign, in July, 1862, and acquitted themselves well. * See map and fout-note on page 24 of this volume. On llie Tth of December, Chief Engineer Barnard re ported that the defenses of Washington city consisted of about forty-eight works, mounting over 300 guns, some of which were of very large size, and added, " that the actual defensive perimeter occupied is about thirty-five miles, exceeding the length of the famous, and hitherto the most extensive — fortified by extemporized field-works — lines of Torres Vedras hy Ecveral miles." Concerning the creation and use of heavy ordnance at that limp, Swinton says : " Tho task of forming an artillery establishment was facilitated by the fact that the country possessed! i^i the regular service, a body of accomplished and energetic artillery oflicers. As a basis of organization, it was decided to form field-batteries of six guns (never less than four guns, and the guns of each battery tt> be of uniform caliber), and these were assigned to divisions, not to brigades, in the proportion of four batteries to each division ; one of which was to be a battery of regulars, and tbe captain of the regular battery was in each case appointed comm.andant of the artillery of the division. In addition, it was determined to create an .artillery reserve of a hundred guns, and a siege-train of fifty pieees. This work was pushed forward with so much energy, that whereas, when General McClellan took command of the army, the entire artillery establishment con.sisted of nine imperfectly equipped batteries of thirty guns, before it took the field this service had reached tho colossal proportions of ninety-two batteries of five hundred and twenty guns, served by twelve thousand five hundred men. and in full readiness for active field Aaty."— Campaigns ofthe Army ofthe Potomac, [inge 63. 2 The following oflicers composed tho stafiF of General McClellan soon after taking the command of the Army of the Potomac: "Major S. 'Williams, Assistant Adjutant-General; Captain Albert V. Colburn, Assistant Adjutant-General; Colonel E. B. Marcy, Inspector-General; Colonel T. M. Key, Aid-de-Camp; Captain K. B. Sweitser, 1st Cavalry, Aid-de-Camp ; Captain Edward McK. Hudson, 14th Infantry, Aid-de-Camp ; Captain L. A. Williams, 10th Infantr}-, Aid-de-Camp ; Major A. J. Myer, Signal OBicer ; Major Stewart Van Vliet, Chief Qaartermnster; Captain H. F. Clarke, Chief Commissary ; Surgeon C. 8. Tripler, Medical Director; Major J. G. Barnard, Chief Engineer; Major J. N. Macomb, Chief Topographical Engineer: Captain Charles P. Kingsbury, Chief of Ordnance ; Brigadier-General George Stoneman, Volunteer Service, Chief of Cavalry ; Brigadier- General W. F, Barry, Volunteer Service, Chief of Artillery.'' 132 THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE ARMY OE THE POTOMAC. McClellan had organized every necessary department thoroughly, and had endeavored to place at the head of each the best men in tho service." These had been active co-workers with him, and their several departments were in the best possible condition for effective service. The main body of the army was now» judiciously posted, for offense or defense, in the ° O"'- ^°' immediate vicinity of Washington City, with detachments on the ^^"' left bank of the Potomac as far up as Williamsport, above Har per's Ferry, and as far down as Liverpool Point, in Maryland, nearly oppo site Acquia Creek. ^ At the close of September a grand review had been held, Avhen seventy 1 The Fngineers, as we have observed, were placed in charge of Major J. 6. Barnard, and tho Artillery under the chief command of Major William F. Barry. The Topo graphical Engineers were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John U. Macomb, .and a Signal Corps, formed by Major Albert J. Myer, the inventor of a most cflicient system of si.'nalling, was placed in charge of that officer. This system was flrst practically tested during the organization of the Army of the Potomac, and, as we shall observe hereafter, it performed the most essential and important service on land and water, in reconnoitering and in directing the fire of artillery, where objects, such as hills or woods on land, or bluffs or wooded points on the shores of rivers, intervened between the belligerents. The value of that service during the war cannot be esti^mated. A full explanation of its operations, with illustrations, may be found in another part of this work. The Telegraphic operations of the army were intrusted to Major Thomas J. Eckert. In this connection, T. S. C. Lowe, a distinguishedacronaut, was employed, and for some time balloons were used with great efBcicncy in reconnoitering, but later in the progi-ess of the war they fell into disuse. Mr. Lowe made experiments with his balloon in connection with the telegraph so early as June, 1S61, and by perfect success demonstrated the feasibility of the joint use of the Ijalloon and telegraph in reconnoitering. At the height of full flve hundred feet above Arlington Heights, Mr. Lowe telegraphed to the President, at Washington, as follows : " Sir : From this point of observation we command an extent of country nearly fifty miles in diameter. I have pleasure in sending ^ou this first telegram ever dispatched from an aerial station, and acknowledging indebtedness to your encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the science of aeronautics in the service of the country. " I am your Excellency's humble servjint, " T. S. C. Lowe." War-balloons were first regularly used by Louis Wapoleon in the Italian War, in 1859. Their success there commended their introduction into the National army, and the attention of the military authorities was early called to the subject. On receiving the above dispatch, Mr. Lincoln invited Mr. Lowe to the Exccu tive mansion. He introduced him to General Scott, and he w as soon afterward employed as an aeronaut in the military ser vice. When in use, the balloon is kept under control by strong cords in the hands of men on the ground, who, when tho reconnoissance is ended, draw it down to the place of depai ture. Tho Medical Department of the army was placed m charge of Surgeons Charles S. Tripler and Jonathan Letterman who in turn performed the duties of Medical Director. The Quartermaster's Department was intrusted to Major S. "\ an Vliet. The Subsistence Department was placed in charge of Captain H. F. Clarke ; and to the control of tho Ordnance Department was assigned Captain C. P. Kingsbury. Colonel Andrew Porter was made Provost-Marshal General of tho Army of the Potomac ; and Colonel Thomas G. Garrett, of tho Generars staff, was made Judge Advocate.— See General McClellan's Eeport on the Organization of tlie Army of tlie Potomac, and its Campaigns in Virginia and Maryland. 2 The different divisions were posted as follows ; " Hooker at Budd's Ferry, Lower Potomac ; Heintzelmsu at Fort Lyon and vicinity ; Franklin near tho Theological Seminary ; Blenker near Hunter's Chapel ; McDowell at Upton's Hill and Arlington ; F. J. Porter at Hall's and Miner's Hills; Smith at Mackall's HIU; MoCall at Langley; Buell at Tenallytown, Meridian Hill, Emory's Chapel, &c., on the left bank of the river; Casey at Washington.; Stoneman's cavalry at Washington ; Hunt's artillery at Washington ; Banks at Darnestown, with detachments at Point of Bocks, Sandy Hook, Williamsport, &o.-; Stone at Poolesvillo ; and Dix at Baltimore, with detachments un tho Eastern shore." WAli IJALLOU.N. DANGERS POINTED OUT. 133 thousand men of all arms were assembled and maneuvered. It was the largest military force ever gathered on the iimerican Continent, and gave the loyal people assurance of the safety of the Republic. And to these troops, regiment after regiment, at the rate of two thousand men each day, and battery after battery, was continually added from the teeming popula tion and immense resources of the Free-labor States. A little later," there was another imposing review. It was of artillery ° *^g* j and cavalry alone ; when six thousand horsemen, and one hun dred and twelve lieavy guns, appeared before President Lincoln, the Secre tary of State, Prince de Joinville, and other distinguished men. Their evolutions were conducted over an area of about two hundred acres : the cavalry under the direction of General Palmer, and the artillery under the command of General Barry. The whole review was conducted by General Stoneman. But drills, parades, and reviews were not the only exhibitions of war near the Potomac during these earlier days of autumn. There was some real though not heavy fighting between the opposing forces there. The auda city of the Confederates was amazing. Soon after the Battle of Bull's Run, General Johnston had advanced his outposts from Centreville and Fairfax Court House to Munson's Hill, only six miles in an air-line from Washing ton City, where the Confederate flag was flaunted for weeks, in full view of the National Capitol. At other points above the city, his scouts pressed up almost to the Potomac, and he was at .1 J.* J. 1 • J, FAIRFAX COTJKT H0UBB.1 tne same time taking measures for erecting batteries at points below the Occoquan Creek, for the purpose of obstructing the passage of supplies up that river, for the National army around Washington. The probability of such a movement had been per ceived at an early day by vigilant and expert men. So early as June, the Navy Department had called the attention of the Secretary of War (Mr. Cameron) to the importance, in view of the possible danger, of seizing and holding Matthias Point, in order to secure the navigation of the river. At different times afterward,* the attention of the President, General Scott, and General McClellan was called to the matter by the same Department, but nothing was done until toward the close of September, when Confederate batteries were actually planted there.^ Then it was proposed to send a land force down the Maryland side of the river, and crossing in boats, covered by the Potomac flotilla, take possession of the shore just above Matthias Point. The Secretary of the Navy, having 1 This is a view of one of the most frequently mentioned buildings in the records of the Civil War. It is from a sketch made by the author in 1866. It gives the name to the village around it, which is the shiretown of the county. The village was nmch injured during the war. ' July 1st, August 20th, and August 31st. ^ It appears Vtj an autograph letter before me, written by Colonel Wado Hampton, at Freestone Point, between Occoquan and Dumfries, and dated September 24th, 1S61, that a battery was completed at that place, and 134 THE POTOMAC KIVER BLOCKADED. use for the Potomac flotilla elsewhere, was anxious that the movement should take place at once/ Preparations were accordingly made to send four thousand of Hooker's division for the purpose. The Navy Department furnished transportation, and Captain Craven, the commander ofthe flotilla, gathered his vessels in the vicinity of Matthias Point, to co-operate in an attack on the batteries there. In the mean time the chief engineer (Major Barnard) reported adversely,'' and the project was abandoned. On the assurance of sufficient aid from the Navy Department, it was agreed that a land force should march down the right bank of the Potomac, capture all batteries found there, and take permanent possession of that region. This project was also abandoned, because McClellan believed that the movement might bring on a general engagement, for which he did not feel prepared. No attempt was afterward made to interfere with the Con federates in their mischievous work, and early in October Captain Craven officially announced that the navigation of the Potomac was closed, and the National capital blockaded in that important direction. Craven was so mortified because of the anticipated reproach of the public for the supposed inefficiency of his command, that he made a request to be assigned to duty elsewhere. The President, who had warmly seconded the Navy Depart ment in urging McClellan to take measures for keeping the navigation of the river open, was exceedingly annoyed ; whilst the nation at large, unable to understand the cause of this new disaster, and feeling deeply mortified and humiliated, severely censured the Government.^ That blockade, so dis graceful to the Government, was continued until the Confederates voluntarily evacuated their position in front of Washington, in March following. was ready for action at that date. His letter was addressed to Colonel Thomfia Jordan, Beauregard's Assistant Adjutant-General. He says the works were contstructed under Captain Lee, whose battery and a long 32-poonder rifled gun were there. The latter had been sent there by General Trimble, a Maryland traitor, then in the Con- foderate army. He reported that he had every thing in readiness to open fire the previous evening. A fringe of trees had been left standing on the point, to conceal the troops while erecting tho works. These were cut down on the night of the 23d. 1 At that time (late in September) there were in the Potomac the Pawnee, Poealtonttt-s, and Seminole, three heavily armed vessels, and the R. JS. Forbes., witb two very foi'midable guns on board. These vessels had been detailed to go with Dupont's expedition to Port Eoyal, and it was urged by the Navy Department that they should first be employed in destroying the Confederate batteries on the river, and assisting the Army of the Potomac in taking possession of their positions. 2 He referred to the fact that High Point, Freestone Point, and Cock-pit Point, and thence down to Chapa- wausic Creek, opposite Hooker's quarters at Budd's Ferry, were eligible places for batteries, and considered it unwise to attempt the capture of any already completed, unless a campaign was about to be opened in that direction. He concluded that the best way to prevent the erection of batteries, and to keep open navigation, was to have a sufficient naval force patrolling the Potomac See McClellan's Report, page 50. In a review of the Peninsula Campaign, Major (then General) Barnard, alluding to this project, says (page 16), if it had been attempted "a Ball's Bluff affair, ten times intensified, would havo been the certain rL'Sult" ' General McClellan, in his report to the Secretary of War of tho operations of tho Army of the Potomac while under his command, made in August, 1S63 (nearly two years after the events here recorded), attributed the failure to keep the navigation of the Potomac open, at this time, to the remissness of the Navy Department in not furnishing a sufficient number of armed vessels for the purpose. G. V. Fox, the Assistant Secretary of tho Navy, in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War (i. page 289), attributes that failure partly to the remissness of the War Department, under the management of Cameron, but chiefly to the failure of General McClellnn lo furnish a force from his immense army in time to have taken and held possession of the Virginia shore of tho river. The Committee on the Conduct of the War,, in their summary of the testimony of both Mr. Fox and General McClellan, says : "After repeated efforts. General McClellnn promised that 4,000 men should bo ready, at a time named, to proceed down the river. The Navy Department provided the neces sary transports for the troops, and Captain Craven, commanding the Potomac flotilla, upon being notifled to that effect, collected at Matthias Point all the boats of his flotilla at the time named. The troops did not arrive, and the Navy Department was Informed of tho fact by Captain Craven. Assistant Secretary Fox, upon Inquiring of General McClellan why the troops had not been sent, according to agreement, was informed by him that his engineers were of the opinion that so largo a body of troops oould not be landed, and therefore he had concluded not to send them. Captain Fox replie<3 that the landing of the troops was a matter of which the Navy Depart- HOSTILE MOVEMENTS ON THE POTOMAC. 135 As the Army of the Potomac rapidly increased in numbers and equip ment in Virginia in front of V^ashington, it required more space than the narrow strip between the river and the advance posts of the Confederates, and early in September it was determined to acquire that space by pushing back the intniders. Already there had been several little skirmishes be tween the pickets and the outposts of the confronting contestants. On the 5th of August, a detachment of the Twenty-eighth New York, under Captain Brush, mostly firemen, attacked a squad of Confederate cavalry in Virginia, opposite the Point of Rocks, killing and wounding eight men, and capturing nine prisoners and twenty horses; and on the 12th a detachment of the Tenth New York, under Captain Kennedy, crossed the Potomac from Sandy Hook, and attacked and routed some Virginia cavalry at Lovettsville. On the 1 2th of September," a reconnoissance was made toward Lewinsville, four or five miles from Camp Advance, at the Chain Bridge, by about two thousand men, under the command of Gen eral V^illiam F. Smith,^ in charge of a brigade at that post. They had accomplished a topographical survey, for which purpose they were chiefiy sent, and were returning, when they were attacked by a body of Virginians,^ under the command of Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, afterward the famous general leader of cavalry in the Confederate army. Stuart opened heavily with his cannon, which at first disconcerted the National troops. The latter were kept steady until Griffin's Battery was placed in position, when its guns soon silenced those of the Virginians, and scattered their cavalry. Then the National troops, having accomplished their object, returned to their post near the Chain Bridge " in perfect order and excellent spirits," with a loss of two killed and ten wounded.^ mont had charge; that they had provided the necessary means to accomplish the landing successfully ; that no inquiry had been made of them in regard to that matter, and no notification that the troops were not to be sent. It was then agreed that the troops should be sent the next night. Captain Craven was again notified, and again had his flotilla in readiness for the arrival of tbe troops ; but no troops were sent down at that time, nor were any ever sent down for that purpose. Captain Fox, in answer to the inquiry ofthe Committee, as to what reason was assigned for not sending the troops according to the second agreement, replied that the only reason, so far as he could ascertain, Avas that General McClellan feared that it might bring on a general engagement. The Presi dent, who had united with the Navy Department in urging its proposition, first upon General Scott and then upon General McClellan, manifested great disappointment when he learned that the plan had failed in conse quence of the troops not being sent. And Captain Craven threw up his command on the Potomac, and applied to be sent to sea, saying that, by remaining here and doing nothing, he was but losing his own reputation, as the blame for permitting the Potomac to be blockaded would be imputed to him and the fiotilla under his command." As the reports of the Committee may be frequently referred to in this work, it is proper to say that it was ftjoint committee of both Houses of Congress, appointed in December, 1861, consisting of three members ofthe Senate and four members of tho House of Eepresentatives, with instructions to inquire into the conduct of the ¦war. Tho Committee consisted of B. F. Wade, Z. Chandler, and Andrew Johnson, of tho Senate, and D. W. ' Gooch, John Covode, G. W. Julian, and M. F.. Odell, of tho House nf Eepresentatives. They constituted a per manent court of inquiry, with power to send for persons and papers. When Senator Johnson was appointed Military Governor of Tennessee, his place on the Committee was supplied by Joseph A. Wright, of Indiana. 1 These troops consisted of the Seventy-ninth (Highlanders) New York Militia; battalions of Vermont and Indiana Volunteers, and of the First United States Chasseurs ; a Cavalry company, and Griffin's West Point Battery. 2 These were the Thirteenth Virginia Volunteers, Eosser's Battery of the Washington Artillery, and a detachment of cavalry. 3 Eeports of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaler and Adjutant Ireland, aud dispatch of General McClellan, all dated September llth, 1S61. General McClellan joined the column at the close of the affair. Colonel Stuart (Con federate) gave a glowing account of the confusion into which the Nationals were thrown by his first attack, and gave the affair the aspect of a great victory for himself. He reported '" fearful havoc in the ranks of the enemy." " Our loss," he said, " was not a scratch to man or horse." — Stuart's Eeport, Sept. 11, 1861. Stuart appears to have been accused of rashness on this occasion, in exposing his cannon to the danger of capture. In an autograph letter before me, dated at Munson's Hill, September 14th, and addressed to General Longstreet, he repels the accusation, and declares that at no time was a piece of his cannon " in a position that It 136 AN INGENIOUS DECEPTION. Three days after the aifair near Lewinsville, the pickets on the right of the command of Colonel John W. Geary, of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania, stationed three miles above Darnestown, in Maryland, were ' ^Im^' attacked" by four hundred and fifty Virginians, who had boldly crossed the Potomac. A spirited skirmish for about two hours ensued, resulting in a loss to the assailants of eight or ten killed, and several wounded, and their utter repulse. Geary's loss was one killed ; and his gain was great animation for the troops under his command, who were charged J with holding the country opposite Harper's Ferry. A little later, ' o^t 16. National troops permanently occupied Lewinsville,' Vienna,' and doct. IT. Fairfax Court House,'' the Confederates falling back to Centreville without firing a shot. They had evacuated Munson's Hill on the 28th of September, when the position was formally taken possession of by the Na tionals, who had been for some time looking upon it from Bailey's Cross roads with much respect, because of its apparently formidable works and heavy armament. These had been reconnoitered with great caution, and pro nounced to be alarmingly strong, when the fort was really a slight earth work, running irregularly around about four acres on the brow of the hill, without ditch or glacis, " in every respect a squirming piece of work," as an eye-witness wrote. Its armament consisted of one stove-pipe and two logs, the latter with a black disc painted on the middle of the sawed end of each, giving them the appearance, at a distance, of the muzzles of 100-pound Par rott guns. These " Quaker Guns," like similar ones at Manassas a few months later, had, for six weeks, defied the Army ofthe Potomac. In a house near the fort (which was soon made into a strong regular work), Brigadier-Gen eral James Wadsworth, who was placed in command, there made his head-quar ters ; and on the roof he caused a sig nal-station to be erected, from which there Avas an interchange of intelligence with another station on the dome of the capitol at Washington. There the writer visited General Wadsworth, late in November, 1861, and found that ardent and devoted patriot, who had left all the ease and enjoyments which great wealth and a charming domestic circle bestow, and for the sake of his endangered country was enduring all the privations incident to an arduous camp life. His quarters were Iiumble, and in no respect did his arrange ments for comfort difiTer from those of his brother oflicers. On the day of the grand review of the cavalry and artillery of the Army QUAKER GUN AT MANASSAB.l could not have safely retreated from before an army of 10,000 advancing at tlie double-quick." Longstreet sent Stuart's letter to General Johnson, with an indorsement, testifying to the judicious disposition ofthe cannon in the engagement. > This is from a photograph by Gardner, of Washington City, and represents one of the logs in the form of a cannon, and painted black, that was found in an embrasure at Manassas, after the Confederates withdrew froQi that post, in the spring of 1862. HOSTILITIES AT HAEPEE'S FEEET. 137 of the Potomac,' there was an important movement in the vicinity of Har per's Ferry, which led to a still more important one a week later. On that day," Major J. P. Gould, of the Thirteenth Massachusetts, was sent across the river to some mills a short distance above Harper's Ferry, to seize some wheat there belonging to the Confederates.' The "jgei.^' movement was made known to General Evans,^ commanding in the vicinity, and quite a heavy force was sent to oppose them.* Geary was called upon for re-enforcements. He promptly responded by crossing the river with about six hundred men and four pieces of cannon, the latter under the respective conunands of Captain Tompkins of the Rhode Island Battery, and Lieutenant Martin of the Ninth New York Battery.' The wheat was secured and made iuto flour ; and Geary was about to recross the river with his booty, on the moming _^ of the 16th, when his ^^^ pickets, on Bolivar ¦^'^^ =^=^ Heights, two and a ~ half miles west of Har per's Ferry, and ex tending from the Poto mac to the Shenandoah, were attacked by Con federates in three col umns, consisting of in fantry and cavalry, and supported by artillery. The pickets were driven into the town of Bolivar. Geary, who, with his main body, was on Camp Heights,' an eminence around the foot of which nestles the village of Harper's Ferry, rallied them, and a general fight ensued. In his front, on Bolivar Heights, were a large body of troops and three heavy guns, and suddenly there appeared on Loudon Heights on his left, across the Shenan doah River, another large body of men, with four pieces of cannon, which with plunging shot might terribly smite the little National force, and com mand the ferry on the Potomac. Geary sent a company of the Thirteenth Massachusetts, under Captain Schriber, to guard the fords of the Shenandoah, and prevent troops crossing there and joining those on Bolivar Heights. He then had only four hundred and fifty men left to fight his foe on his front. With these he repelled three ' See pago 132. 2 Ilis force consisted of three companies of the Third Wisconsin, and a section of Captain Tompkins's Rhode Island Battery. 3 This was Colonel Eyans, who commanded the extrerae left of the Confederates at the stone bridge, at the opening of the battle of Bull's Eun, on the morning of the 2l8t July, 1S61. See page 590, volume I. * This foree consisted of the Thirteenth and Nineteenth Mississippi, Eighth Virginia, Ashby's Virginia Hegiment of cavalry, and Eogers's Richmond Battery of six pieces, the whole commanded by General Evans in person. ^ The remainder of Geary's force consisted of fonr companies of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania and three ofthe Third Wisconsin. " Geary's quarters were at the large Government house on Camp Heights, delineated in the engraving, in which Generals Kenley, Banks, and Miles were afterward quartered. It was in a terribly dilapidated condition when the writer visited and sketched it, early in October. 1866, its outer walls scarred by shot and shell, and its interior almost a rnin. On the left of the picture is seen the western slope of London Heights across the Shenandoah. Geary's nEAD-QUAETEUS on camp nEianis. 138 NATIONAL VIOTOEY AT HAEPEE'S FEEKY. fierce charges of Ashby's cavalry, and withstood the storm of bullets from a lono- line of infantry on Bolivar Heights, until joined, at eleven o'clock, by Lieutenant Martin, with one rifled cannon, with which he had crossed the Potomac Ferry under a galling fire of riflemen on Loudon Heights. These two companies of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania turned the Confederate left near the Potomac, and gained a portion of the Heights. At the same time, Martin opened a telling fire on the Confederate cannon in front, and Tompkins silenced two guns on Loudon Heights. The main body moved forward at this crisis, charged the foe, and in a few minutes were in possession of Bolivar Heights from river to river. It was now half-past one o'clock in the afternoon. °The Confederates fled, and were driven up the valley in the direction of Halltown. They did not cease their flight until they reached Charlestown, on the line of the railway between Harper's Ferry and Win chester, a distance of six miles. Major Tyndale arrived from Point of Rocks with flve companies of Geary's regiment immediately after the capture of the Heights. He brought with him the standard of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania. It was i"iiimediately unfurled, " and under its folds," wrote the victor, "we directed the fire of our artillery against the batteries and forces on Loudon Heights, and soon succeeded in silencino- every gun and driving away every rebel that could be seen. The victory was now complete.'" Geary's troops rested until evening, when, there beino- no military necessity for holding Bolivar Heights at that time, he crossed the Ferry with his whole command and resumed his position in Mary land. His loss was four killed, seven wounded, and two taken prisoners. The loss fell chiefly on the Wisconsin troops. = The loss of the Confederates is unknown. Still more important movements were made on the line of the Potomac River as the beautiful month of October was passing away. xU that tune Major-General Banks was in command of troops holding the Maryland side of the river from Darnestown to Williamsport. Brigadier-General Charles P. Stone (who had been assigned to the command of a special corps of obser vation on the right flank of the Army of the Potomac), with a considerable body of troops, then had his head-quarters at Poolesville, a short distance from Conrad's and Edwards's Ferries, on the Potomac River. These ferries were not far from Leesburg, the capital of Loudon County, Virginia, where it was reported that the Confederate left, under General N. G. Evans, was strong in numbers. The troops under Stone confronted this lefl; wing, and commanded the approaches to Leesburg, a village at the terminus ofthe Alexandria, Loudon, and Hampshire railway, and which was the key to the upper interior communication with the Valley of the Shenandoah. Between the two ferries just named (which were four or five miles apart) was Harri son's Island, three miles in length and -N-ery narrow and nearly equally divi ding the river. 1 Report of Colonel John W. Geary, October ISth, 1801. In that report Colonel Geary mentioned tho fact that the Honorable Daniel McCook (father of the several McCooks who served the Union cause as general officers ao well throughout the war) was in the engagement, gun in hand, as au "amateur soldier." " In his report General Geary snid : "The four men who were killed were afterward charged npon hy the cavalry and stabbed through the body, strippoil of all their clothing, not excepting shoes and stockings, and left in perfect nurtitj-. Ono was laid out in the form of cruciflxion, with his hands spread and cut through the palms with a dull knife. This inhuman treatment incensed onr troops exceedingly, and I tear its consequences may bo shown In retaliating hereafter." MOVEMENTS ON THE UPPEE POTOMAC. 139 On the 1 7th of October it was reported (erroneously) that the Confederates had evacuated Leesburg. General McClellan then determined to make a thorough reconnoissance of the Confederate left, to ascertain their strength, and to cover the operations of his topographical engineers in making a map of that region. He accordingly ordered" General " ^jgj/^' McCall, who held the advanced command in Virginia on the right of the National line, to move forward and occupy Drainsville, about half way between the Chain Bridge and Leesburg. He did so, and jjuslied his scouts forward to Goose Creek, within four miles of the latter place. On the following morning,' General Banks telegraphed to General McClellan from Darnestown, saying, " The signal station at Sugar Loaf telegraphs that the enemy have moved away from Leesburg." McCall had also reported to McClellan the previous evening that he had not encountered any opposition, and that it was rei^orted that the Confederates had abandoned the town. On the strength of Banks's dispatch, and without waiting for later information from Drainsville, McClellan notified" General Stone of the movement of McCall. He assured him that " heavy reconnoissances " would be sent out that day " in all directions " from Drainsville, and desired him to keep " a good lookout on Leesburg," to see if it had the efl'ect to drive the Confederates away, adding, " Perhaps a slight demonstration on your part would have the eflTect to move them." This dispatch reached Stone before noon. He acted promptly, and at evening he telegraphed to the Chief that he had made a feint of crossing the river, during the afternoon, at two places, and had sent out a reconnoitering i^arty toward Leesburg, from Harrison's Island, adding, "I have means of crossing one hundred and twenty-five men once in ten minutes at each of two points." To this dispatch he received no reply. The feint had been made at the ferries of Edwards and Conrad, already •mentioned. The brigade of General Gorman, Seventh Michigan, two troops of the Van Alen cavalry, and the Putnam Rangers were sent to the former, where a section of Bunting's New York Battery was on duty. To the latter Stone sent a battalion of the Twentieth Massachusetts, under its commander. Colonel Lee, a section of Vaughan's Rhode Island Battery, and Colonel Cogswell's New Tork (Tammany) Regiment. The ferry was at that time de fended by a section of Ricketts's Battery. Colonel Devens was sent to Harrison's Island in two flat-boats from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, bearing four companies of his Massachusetts Fifteenth. One company of the same regiment was already there. A reserve, numbering about three thou sand men, was held in readiness to co-operate, should a battle ensue. With this reserve was the fine body of Pennsylvanians known as the First Cali fornia regiment, commanded by Colonel E. D. Baker, then a representative of the State of Oregon in the National Senate. These movements, at first designed as a feint, resulted in a battle. McCall had made a reconnoissance on Sunday, the 20th,'' which liad evidently caused an opposing movement on the part of the Confederates. An infantry regiment of these had been observed marching from Leesburg and taking shelter behind a hill, about a mile and a half from the position of the Nationals at Edwards's Ferry. In order to disperse or intimidate these. General Gorman was ordered to deploy his forces in their 140 INVASION OF VIEGINIA. view. Three flat-boats, filled with troops, were maneuvered as if crossing, and shot and shell were cast into the place where the foe was concealed. This demonstration caused the Confederates to retire, and at twilight Gorman's force returned to camp. In the mean time, a scouting party of about twenty men had been sent out from Harrison's Island under Captain Philbrick, of the Fifteenth Massa chusetts. They ascended the steep bank on the Virginia side, opposite the island, known as Ball's Bluff, which rises about one hundred and fifty feet above' the Potomac. Philbrick went a short distance toward Leesburg, when he discovered, as he supposed, a small camp of Confederates, appa rently not well guarded. Upon receiving information of this fact. General Stone, who supposed that McCall was near to assist, if necessary, sent orders to Colonel Devens to cross from Harrison's Island with flve companies of his regiment, and proceed at dawn to surprise that camp. Colonel Lee was also ordered to cross from the Maryland shore with four companies of his regi ment and a four-oared boat, to occupy the island after Devens's departure, and to send one company to the Virginia shore, to take position on the heights there, and cover his return. Two mountain howitzers were also to be sent stealthily up the tow-path of the canal, and carried over to the opposite side of the island, so as to command the Virginia shore. These orders were promptly obeyed. Devens advanced at dawn, but the reported camp could not be found. It proved that other objects had been mistaken for tents. . He marched cautiously on to Avithin a mile of Leesburg, without discovering scarcely a trace of a foe. There he halted in a wood, and sent a courier to General Stone for further orders. Devens had been watched by vigilant Confederates.' Evans and his main force lay on Goose Creek. Riflemen and cavalry Avere hovering near, and waiting a favorable opportunity to strike Devens. He had a slight skirmish with the former, in which one of his men was killed and nine were wounded, when he fell back in safety and in perfect order toward the bluif, at about eight o'clock in the morning, and halted Avithin a mile of the little band under Colonel Lee. While tarrying in an open field of about eight acres, he received a message from General Stone, directing him to remain there until support could be sent to him. The remainder of DeAi^ens's regiment had been brought over by Lieutenant-Colonel Ward. His entire force consisted of only six hundred and twenty-five men. In the mean time, Colonel Baker, Avho Avas acting as brigadier-general, in command of the reserves, had been ordered to have the California Regi ment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar, at Conrad's Ferry at sunrise, and the remainder of his command ready to moA'^e early. In order to divert attention from Devens's movement. Colonel Gorman Avas directed to send two companies of the First Minnesota Regiment, Colonel Dana, across tho river at Edwards's Ferry, under cover of Ricketts's cannon, to make a recon- ^ "An English Combatant" in the Confederate service, in a volume entitled Battle-fields of the South, from Bull's Run to Gettysburg (page SO), says that there were several Marylanders in Evans's camp who were em ployed as spies. Among these was a wealthy young farmer named Elijah White, who resided near Poolesville. He belonged to a company of Confederate cavalry, and often crossed the Potomac by swimming his horse, and gathered valuable information for the insurgents. He sometimes went even to Baltimore, where he held con ference with the secessionists, and always returned with assurances that ninety-nine of every hundred of the Marylanders were rebels. COLONEL BAKEE AND HIS TROOPS. 141 noissance tOAvard Leesburg ; and a party of the Van Alen cavalry, led by Major Mix, Avere ordered to scour the country in the direction of that town, and after gaining all possible information concerning its topography, and the position of the Confederates, to hasten back to the cover of the Minnesota skirmishers. These movements Avere well performed. The scouts came suddenly upon a Mississippi regiment, Avhen shots Avere exchanged Avithout much harm to either party. At a little past noon, Devens and his band Avere assailed by Confederates under Colonels Jenifer and Hunton, in the woods that skirted the open field in Avhich they had halted. Infantry attacked the main body on their left, and cavalry fell upon the skirmishers in front. His men stood their ground firmly ; but, being pressed by overwhelming numbers, and re-enforcements not arriA^ing, they fell back about sixty paces, to foil an attempt to flank them. This was accomplished, and they took a position about half a mile in front of Colonel Lee. In the mean time Colonel Baker had been pressing forward from Conrad's Ferry, to the relief of the assailed troops. Ranking Devens, he had been ordered to Harrison's Island to take the chief command, with full discre tionary powers to re-enforce the party on the Virginia shore, or to withdraAV all of the troops to the Maryland shore. He Avas cautioned to be care ful with the artillery under his con trol, and not to become engaged with greatly superior numbers. When Baker found that Devens had been attacked, he decided to re- enforce him. It was an unfortunate decision, under the circumstances, and yet it then seemed to be the only proper one. The task Avas a most difficult and perilous one. The riA'er had been made full by recent rains, and the currents in the channels on each side Avere A-ery swift. The means for transportation were en tirely inadequate. There had been no expectation of suoh movement, and no provision had been made for it. There Avas only one scow, or flat-boat, for the service, between the Maryland shore and Harrison's Island, and at first only two skifis and a Francis metallic life-boat Avere on the opposite side. To these were soon added one scow ; and these four little A'essels com posed the entire means of transportation of several hundred troops and munitions of war. McClellan had not ordered more than a " demonstration " by a small portion of Stone's troops, in conjunction with those of McCall ; but Stone, to whom the chief had not intimated his object in ordering "heavy reconnoissances in all directions " in that vicinity, and who knew that there were forty thousand troops within easy call of his position, naturally con sidered that they were to complete the expulsion of the Confederates from the Potomac. He therefore made Avhat disposition he might to assist in the E, D. BAEER. 142 BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF. movement, in conjunction with McCall, and, as he supposed, with the divi sion of General Smith, knoAvn to be Avithin supporting distance.' He was ignorant of the very important fact that, on the previous evening. General McClellan had ordered McCall to fall back from Drainesville. It was so.. At the very time Avhen Baker was preparing to pass over the reserves in force, McCall, by order of McClellan, was marching back to his camp near the Chain Bridge, and Smith was Avithout orders to do any thing in particu lar, thus making the peril that threatened the Nationals at Ball's Bluff much greater for Avant of this support. Colonel Baker, like General Stone, was ignorant of this damaging move ment, and was pressing on in high spirits, Avith the most Avearisome and per plexing toil in slowly passing his troops in three scows,' when, hearing the sound of battle on the Virginia shore, he hastened over in a small skiff; leav ing instructions to forAvard the artillery as quickly as possible. His Cali fornia regiment had already crossed and joined Devens and Lee. A rifled 6-pounder of Bunting's Rhode Island Battery, under Lieutenant Bramhall, followed them. Two howitzers under Lieutenant French were already there ; and, just before Baker reached the Bluff, a detachment of Cogswell's Tammany Regiment had climbed the Avinding path leading up from the river. Baker noAV took command of all the forces on the Bluff, numbering nineteen hundred.' These Avere immediately formed in battle order, and aAvaited attack. The ground on Avhich the Nationals were compelled to give battle was unfavorable for them. It was an open field, surrounded on three sides hy a dense forest, and terminating on the fourth at the brow of the high bluff at the river. With their backs to the stream, the Union forces Avere prepared for the contest, AA'hich Avas begun at three o'clock in the afternoon, by General Evans, who hurled the Eighteenth Mississippi, under Colonel Burt, upon Baker's left flank, and the commands of Jenifer and Hunton upon his front* These came from the woods, that swarmed with Confederates, and were received Avith the most determined spirit. The battle instantly became general and scA'ere. Colonel Featherston, Avith the Seventeenth Mississippi, joined in the fray. Bramhall and French soon brought their heavy guns to bear, and Avere doing good execution, when both olficers Avere borne wounded aAvay, and their pieces Avere hauled to the rear, to prevent their falling into the hands of their foe. A greater calamity speedily followed. The gallant Baker Avas seen here and there in the thickest of the fight, encouraging his men by Avords and deeds, and Avhen the battle had lasted nearly tAvo liourB ho fell dead, pierced Avith many bullets." ^ See p.ige 135. 2 The current was so strong and deep that it could be navigated by the scows only by dragging them up the Maryland shore above tho Island, .and letting them float diagonally across the stream until they toucheil the island. The voy.ige from the latter to the Virginia shore was accomplished in tho same way. The operation was very slow, and the passage of tho few tr(Kips occupied about three hours. 3 Baker's entire force consisted of the California Kegimont, Lieutenant-Colonel Wistiir, 670 ; the New York Tammany Kegiment, Colonel Milton CogSM-cll, 860; and portions of the Fifteenth Massachusetts, Colonel Devens, 658 and of tho Twentieth, Colonel Leo, 81S— total, 1,901. * The attacking troops were Evans's brigade, composed of the Eighth Virginia, and Thirteenth, Seventeenth, and Eighteenth Mississippi. ^ Colonel Baker was probably killed instantly. Eye-witnesses say that a tall, red-haired man appeared emerging from the sraoke, and approaching to within fivo feet of tho commander, fired into his body, the con tents of a self-cocking revolver pistol. At tho same moment a bullet entered his skull behind his car, anda A TERRIBLE SCENE. 143 The immediate command now devolved upon Colonel Lee, but Cogs well, his superior, soon took the control of affairs. Seeing the desperate situation of the troops, with an overwhelming force on their front and flanks, and a deep and turbulent riA'er in their rear, Cogswell ordered them to move to the left, and attempt to cut their way through to Edwards's Ferry, about three miles distant, Avhere they might receive the aid of the force there under General Stone. This movement was about to take place, Avhen the Tammany Regiment, deceived by the beckoning of a Confederate oflicer, whom they mistook for a National one, dashed off on a charge in the direc tion indicated by the deceiver, carrying with them the rest of the line. Then a destructive fire at close distance was poured upon the whole column by the Thirteenth Mississippi Regiment, Colonel William Barksdale, which advanced from the direction of the ferry. Cogswell's plan was frustrated, and he gave orders for his whole force to retire immediately to Harrison's Island, and thence to the Maryland shore. That retreat almost instantly became a rout. Down the steej) declivity the Nationals hurried, in wild disorder, to reach the boats, while the Con federates, who had folloAved them up to the brow of the bluff with ball and bayonet, fired into the straggling mass beloAV Avith murderous effect. The fugitives huddled on the shore, °^ Wo ¦'¦-- % _ formed in some order at first, and kept up the hopeless fight for a time, Avhile endeavoring to cross the flood to Harrison's Island. Only one large flat- boat AA'as there, and that, with an over-load of Avounded and others, at the beginning of its first voyage, Avas riddled with bullets, and sunk. The small er vessels had disappeared in the gloom, and there was no means of escape for the Union ists but by SAvimming. This was attempted by some. Seve ral of them were shot in the water,' and others, swept aAvay by the current in the darkness, were drowned.' A little more than one-fourth of the Avhole of CogsAvell's ^'^•^.'''..CZ: . ^J: M,s\- Wo O ol;S,, , s-wS^irjuKV 4m MAP OP TUB BATTLE OF JiALL S BLUFF. slug from a Mississippi Yager wounded his arm and made a terrible opening in his side. Captain Beirel, of the California regiment, who was close by Baker, caught the slayer of his friend bythe throat, just as he was stooping to seize the coloners sword, and with his pistol blew out his brains. Baker had enjoined many of his California regiment that if he should fall in battle, not to let the Confederates get possession of his body. Beirel, tho avenger, and the brave leader of company G of that regiment, acting upon these instructions, raised tho precious burden in his arms and bore it away amid a shower of bullets, and delivered it to Major Young, who conveyed it safely to the river and took it across, 1 I'ollard says (i. 181) that after the Nationals had surrendered, "the Confederates kept up their fire upon those who tried to cross, and many not drowned in the river were shot in the act of swimming." ^ The gallant Captain Beirel was among the last who left the shore and swam across the river. He was compelled to drop his sword midway, in order to save his life. Many of the men, bef()re tliey surrendered, threw their arms into the river. Bramhall's gun had been spiked and completely disabled. It was brought to the blulTand tumbled over, with the Intention of having it go into the river. 144 DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF. command, including himself and Colonel Lee, were made prisoners, and marched off to Leesburg, Avhilst Colonel Devens escaped on his horse, that SAvam across the turbulent Potomac. A few were saved from captivity hy stealing along under the banks, and making their Avay to Gorman's camp below. While tho contest Avas raging at Ball's Bluff, General Stone, who was at Edwards's Ferry with about seven thousand troops, had been sending over the remainder of Gorman's brigade to co-operate Avith Baker, all the while unsuspicious ofthe peiilous condition of the troops of that commander. He _ had received information from time to time that Baker was perfectly able to hold his po sition, if not to advance ; and, believing that he would re pulse and driA-e his assailants, he Avas prepared to push Colonel Gorman forward to strike the retreating forces on their flank. He felt anxious, however, and at four o'clock telegraphed to General Banks for a brigade of his division, to place on the Maryland shore, in support of the troops on Harrison's Island and the severely pressed combatants on Ball's Bluff.' A little while afterward, the sad news of Baker's death was received, and Stone hastened forward to take command in person. On his way he Avas met by some of the fugitives, Avith the tale that the Confederates were ten thousand strong, and that all was lost. Still ignorant of the position of McCall, he left orders to hold Harrison's Island, and then hastened back to Edwards's Ferry, to secure the safety of the tAventy-five hundred troops that he had sent across the river. There he Avas joined by General Banks, at three o'clock in the morning," who took the chief command. Orders arrived at about the same time, from Genenal McClellan, to hold the Island and the Virginia shore at all hazards, and intimating that re-enforcements would be sent.' So ended the Battle of Ball's Bluff,' in disaster to the National arms. In the camps of the Unionists, in the vicinity of the battle, on that gloomy night of the 21st of October, there Avas darkness and woe, AA'hile the little BANKS'B nEAD-QTJARTERS AT EDWARDS'S FERP.T. » Oct. 2 1861. 1 Stone had kept McClellan advised of the progress of aifairs at BaU'a Bluflf during tho aftemoon, and the latter commander, toward evening, ordered General Banks to send one brigade to the support of the troops oa Harrison's Island, and to move with tho other two to Seneca Mills, ready to support General Stone, at Edwards's Ferry. — See McClellan's Report, page 84. '' Eeports of General Charles P. Stone and his subordinates, October 23th, 1361, and of General N. G. Evans, tho Confederate commander, October 25th, 1861. The latter report was, in several respects, marred by nils- , representations. It represented the Confederate force at only 1,709, omitting to state the fact that there was a strong reserve of Mississippi troops, with six guns, posted so as to repel any troops that might approach from Edwards's Ferry. From tlio best Information since obtained, it is agreed that Evans's force numbered 4,000. His report also claimed that, with his small force of 1,700, eight thousand Nationals were fought and beaten, and that the Confederates killed and captured a greater number than their whole force engaged. It also declared, that long-range cannon were flred upon tho Confederates from tho Maryland side of the river, when there were no heavy guns there at the time of the battle. 5 This is called the Battle of Leesburg by Confederate writers. THE HONORED DEAD. 145 village of Leesburg, near by, whither the captives were taken, was brilliantly illuminated, and the Confederates there Avere wild with joy. The Union loss was about one thousand men and three cannon. Nearly three hundred men were killed, and over five hundred were made prisoners and taken to Rich mond.' The Confederate loss Avas about three hundred. According to General Evans's report, he had one hundred and fifty-three killed, including Colo nel E. R. Burt, of the Eighteenth Mississippi, and two taken prisoners. He did not mention the number of his wounded, which Avas reported to be large. i The death of Senator Baker was felt as a national calamity." He was one of the ablest men of his time as a statesman and orator. Thoroughly comprehending the great issue, and the horrible crime of the conspirators, he had eagerly left the halls of legislation (where he had combated the friends of the criminals with eloquent words, and voted for abundant means to crush the rebellion) to lead his countrymen into battle for the right. The achieve ments of his little band at Ball's Bluff, who composed a part of the Army ot the Potomac, assisted greatly in effacing from the escutcheon of that army the stain it received at the battle of Bull's Run. Again, as in the case of the battle of Bull's Run, the grieved, and disap pointed, and mortified loyal people demanded an explanation of the catas trophe. To the most inexpert there appeared evidence of fatal mismanagement. General McClellan, General Stone, and Colonel Baker all received censure at different times, and by different persons ; the flrst, for remissness in duty in not informing Stone of the retrograde movement of McCall, and sending re-enforcements ; the second, for sending troops across the river without ade quate transportation for a larger body at a time ; and the third, for rashness in crossing at all and engaging the Confederates, double his own in numbers. There was a natural clamor for investigation, and, on the assembling of Congress, the House of Representatives passed a resolution asking the 1 Twenty-four of the prisoners were officers, namely, two colonels, one major, one adjutant, one assistant- surgeon, seven' captains, and twelve lieutenants. The colonels were M. Cogswell (Captain of the Eighth U. S. infantry), of the Forty-second New York Volunteers, and W. Raymond Lee, of the Twentieth Massachusetts Volunteers. The major was P. J. Elvers, of the latter regiment. At Leesburg, General Evans (who was repre sented as a tall, strongman, of unusual length of limb, and in manners courteous and dignified) ofi'ered the cap tains a parole on the condition that they should not, unless exchanged, again " bear arms against the Southern Confederacy." They refused to accept it, and were sent to Richmond by way of Manassas, arriving there .at nine o'clock in the morning of the 24th of October, where theywere greeted With many jeers ftom an immense crowd, such as " I say, Yanks, how do you feel ?" The captains were conflned in the tobacco warehouse, already men tioned on page 26, where they were soon brought under the petty tyranny of the notorious General Winder. A full acconnt of the experience of the captains may be found in a little volume entitled ^^ Prison Life in the. Tobacco Warelwuse at RicJimond," by Lieutenant William C. Harris, of Baker's California regiment. ^ In a general order issued by McClellan, on the day after tho battle, he announced the death of Baker, and spoke of him as one having " many titles to honor," as a patriot "zealous for the honor of his adopted country " (he was horn in England), cut off " in the fullness of his power as a statesman, and in the course of a brilliant career as a soldier distinguished in two wars." When Congress met, in December, the Senate appointed a day (the llth of that month) for the consideration of the death of this distinguished member. The President was there to participate in the mournful prooeedings. Most touching eulogies were pronounced by the dead hero's ' compatriots of the Senate. From that body went resolutions to the House of Eepresentatives, where like pro ceedings were held ; and all over the country there was general grief because of the fall of that noble man. In California, which had been his chosen residence for a long time, the news of his death created a profound sensa tion. It reached Ban Francisco a few days after the battle, the line of telegraph between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans having been just completed. That line was opened for messages on the 25th of October, when a communication (the first) was sent by Judge Field to President Lincoln. While they were preparing in San Francisco, on the following day, to fire a sainte in honor of this important event, a dispatch from the East announced the death of Baker. Eojoicing was changed into mourning, and the celebration was deferred. Vol. II.— 10 146 THE CASE OF GENERAL STONE. Secretary of War " whether any, and, if any, what measures had been taken to ascertain who was responsible for the disastrous movement of • Dec. 16, ^jjg National troops at Ball's Bluff"." It was answered" that General McClellan was of the opimon that " an inquiry on the subject of the resolution would, at that time, be injurious to the pubhc ser vice." But General McClellan had already answered that inquiry, so far as one of the commanders Avas concerned. He was at Stone's head-quarters, at Poolesville, tAventy-four hours after the disaster, and from there had telegraphed to the President, saying, " I have investigated this matter, and General Stone is without blame. Had his orders been followed, there could (or would) have been no disaster.'" This was unknown to the public. They were dissatis- fled with the apparent desire on the part of the General-in-chief to stifle investigation, and more than ever he was held to be personally responsibly for the disaster. For a time there were warm discussions in Congress on the subject. Finally a victim appeared to propitiate the public feeling, in the fs^^' person of General Stone, who was arrested' by order of the War Department and sent to Fort Lafayette, at the entrance to New York Bay, and then used for the conflnement of political priso ners. There he was detained until the following August, when, Avithout trial, or any public proceedings whatever, he was released. That fort ress being a place of durance for men charged with treasonable acts, this gallant and tmly pa triotic oificer suffered pa tiently and silently, for a greater portion of the war, under the imputa tions of disloyalty. He was imprisoned without public accusation, Ayas held a prisoner about six months, in profound ignorance of any charges against him, and was released AAdthout comment by the poAver that closed the prison doors upon him.'' But little more remains to be said concerning affairs at Ball's Bluff. POKT LAFAYETTE. 'Dispatch to President Lincoln, Tuesday evening, October 22d, 1861. General Stone well knew that tho public would naturally blame him for the disaster, he being in chief command there, and he had suggested to General McClellan that he should desire a court of inquiry, when that officer showed him the above satisfactory vindication by the highest authority. ' The proceedings in this case were extraordinary. So full was the acquittal of all blnmo accorded by Gono- ral McClellan to General Stone, in his disp.atoh to tho President, that Stone was not only retained in command, but his force was increased to tho number of 12,000 men. For about a hundred days Stone was busily engaged i" his duties, and had just submitted to McClellan a plan for the capture of General D. II. Hill and his force of 4,W men, lying opposite his camp, when he was ordered to Washington, and placed before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, to answer charges against his loyalty. His explanations wore such that the Committee simply reported to the Secretary of War that, on the points to whioh his attention had been called, " the testiraony was conflicting."General Stone heard nothing more of the matter until the night of the 8th of February, when, after being engaged at Willard's hotel, in Washington, In tho examination of maps until almost midnight, he was retiringto his residence, he found General Sykes, an old (Hend, and then commander of the city guard, waiting for HO. A PRISONER OF STATE. 147 Supposing all the troops to be on the Virgmia side of the Potomac, McClellan telegraphed to Stone to intrench himself there, and to hold his position, at all hazards, until re-enforcements should arrive. At the same time he ordered Banks to remove the remainder of his division to Edwards's Ferry, and send over as many men as possible to re-enforce Stone. These orders were promptly obeyed. Intrenchments were thrown up ; large numbers of with orders from General McClellan for his arrest,and, immediate departure for Fort Lafayette.* He exchanged his military for citizen's dress, said a few consoling words to his wife, and departed for Sykes's quarters, where he was kept until morning, aud then sent under a guard to Fort Hamilton, near Fort Lafayette. Before leaving he had written to the Adjutant-General, asking for information concerning his arrest, not doubling that there was some strange misunderstanding in the matter. On tbe lOtb be was in tho custody of Colonel Burke, at Fort Hamilton, nnd was then taken over to Fort Lafayette iu a boat There he was confined i n a casemate fifty- four days, receiving the most kind treatment. There be again wrote to the Adjutant-General, requesting a copy of charges, and a trial, but, as before, was denied any response. In the mean time, General Stone's friends had unsuccessfuny endeavored to obtain justice for him at Washing ton. When his brother-in-law, on hia way thither, stopped in New York, to consult with Lieutenant-General Scott, the astonished veteran, who had not till then heard of his arrest, indignantly exclaimed, " Colonel Stone a traitor ! Why, if he is a traitor, I am a traitor, and we are all traitors. While holding Washington last year, he was ray right hand, and I do not hesitate to say that I could not have held the place without him.'"t After the lapse of fifty-four days. General Stone was transferred to Fort Hamilton, where he had larger liberty. He was released on the 16th of August, by an order from the War Department, sent by telegraph. He immediately applied for orders to active duty ; and on returning to Washington he searched in vain in the ofiice of the Adjutant-General and of the War Department for the order for his arrest ; the law requiring the officer issuing such order to give a statement in writing, signed with his own narae, and noting the off'ense, within twenty-four hours. Halleck, then General-in-Chief, knew nothing about it. Stone then went to the President, who said he knew nothing about the matter, but kindly remarked, "I could never be made to believe General Stone was a traitor." In endeavors to give to his country his active services in the war he was thwarted, and it was not until May, 1863, that he was allowed to enter again upon duty in the field, when he was ordered to report to General Banks, then the commander of the Department of the Gulf. He served faithfully during the remainder of the war, until prostrated by malarious fever before Petersburg, when the service lost a meritorious and patriotic officer. In this connection, the following letter, written to the author by the Superintendent of the Metropolitan Police of the City of New Tork, may be appropriately given. It furnishes interesting additions to the history of Mr. Lincoln's journey from Philadelphia to Washington, in February, 1S61, given in the first volume of this work. "Office ofthe Superintendent of Metropolitan Police, *'300 Mulberry Street " New York, August IZth, 1866. "Benson J. Lossing, Esq., " Poughkeepsie, New York. " Deah Sie :— On reading your description of the manner in which the late President Lincoln was induced to change his route in going to the City of Washington, in February, 1861, I was impressed with the faithfulness, so far as the narrative goes, but regretted that ic was not more full in showing how and to whom the country is indebted for the safety of his valuable life at that important period. " It will be remembered that there was much uncertainty at the beginning of the late rebellion as to what course the conspirators designed taking to carry ont their plans ; and, with the view of ascertaining their pur pose, in the latter part of December, 1860, 1 detailed two of my most intelligent detectives to proceed to Wash ington, with instructions to endeavor to discover the secret plans of tho conspirators, if they had any, for taking possession of the seat of Government, and to comraunicate with Senator Grimes, of Iowa, on the subject I did not know the Senator personally at that time, but I had a reputation of him that justified mo in confiding in him, " On Friday, January 4th, 1861, 1 received a note from Hon. Schuyler Colfax, requesting mo to send a num ber of detectives to Washington, for the same purpose that I had already dispatched the two alluded to. I then » In the report of tlie Commiltee on the Conduct of tho War (Part IL, page 18) is a Btfttement of Genernl McClellan, that on the itiy of the arrest he received information from a refugee from Leeaburg, which, in hia mind, "tended to corroborate anme of the charges made against General Stone," which ho reported to the Secretary of War, and received orders to nrreat the General and aend him imme diately to Fort I^ayette. What those charges were, neither the Committee on the Conduct of the War nor General McClellan ever made public. "t When, late in I860, General Stone, who had left the army (in which he held the commisaion of captain by brevet, awarded for mer- lorioiiB services in Mexico), was in Washington City, General Scott desired him to rally around him the loyal men of the District of Columbia. He compiled, and on the 1st of January, 1861, hewas made Inspector-general of the District. He ut once commenced organizing and Instructing volunteers and when Fort Sumter was attacked he had under him no less than 3,000 well-organized troops fit for service. He was the first man mustered into the service for the defense of the Capital. That was done on the ?d day of January, 1861. He was in command of the troops In Washington during the dark days at the close of April, when that city waa cut off from the loyal people. During those seven days, he slept but ihree hours In hia bed, all nther rest being taken in his railitary cloak. All the ontpoets around Washington were under hia command until the passage of a portion of the army into Virginia, in May (see pages 480, 481, and 482, volume I.), and some of his tmops were the first to encounter the pickets of tho ¦nsuTgonfa. 148 THE BALTIMORE PLOT. troops were crossed, and active preparations were in progress for moving strongly upon the Confederates, when, on Tuesday night,* Gene- "^1861^' ral McClellan arrived at Poolesville. Then, as he says, he "learned, for the first time, the full details of the affair." The preparations for a forward movement, which promised the most important results for the National cause, were immediately suspended, and orders were determined to go that night myself, and take with me another of my men. I purposed looking the fleld over, with the view of ascertaining the probability of such an attempt being made. In the morning of Saturday I found a want of harmony among the friends of the Union— scarcely any two looked at the crisis through the same medium. Mr. Colfax invited me to attend a meeting of a sort of committee of members of both houses of Con gress, at the residence of Senatctr Trumbull, that morning. It numbered about a dozen persons, and there weru about twelve different opinions among thera as to the ultimate designs of the conspirators. The extreme viewa were entertained by Senator Trumbull and Eep. E. B. Washburn. One of these gentlemen regarded the 'matter as nothing more than the usual Southern vaunting; that the South had been badly defeated, and the secession talk meant nothing but braggadocio ; that they had had things so long their own way, it could not be expected ¦ of them to quietly submit to defeat ; a few weeks and all would be peaceful again.' The other gentleman wa? of opinion 'that the Southern men meant every word they uttered; tbat they had been preparing for this thing since 1832; that he w^s convinced they had selected this time because they think themselves rearly, while we are not ; that they have made preparations which we know nothing about ; that their plan was to destroy tlio Governraent and to start one of their own ; and that to take possession of Washington was more than half tbe battle.' *' None of the remaining gentlemen agreed with either of these, nor with themselves. " While at this meeting, I learned that a large number of detectives had been sent for to all the larger cities, East, North, and West, and among these it was mentioned that Marshal Kane, of Baltimore, had been applied to, and had promised to send ten detectives. I told the gentlemen plainly the Marshal would betray them ; that his sympathies were with the South in any moveraent they would make ; that but a few weeks before he had declined an invitation to exchange a dftective of his for one of mine, on the ground that he had but one in hie force, and consequently he could not now furnish them with ten. In reply, I was inforraed that Mr. Corwin had confidence in Marshal Kane, and they also had confidence in Mr. Corwin. So, as they decided to hold on to tha Marshal and his bogus detectives, I concluded not to act with tbem, " I then called on a number of other members of Congress, without finding much improvement ; the excep tional case was Senator Grimes. One distinguished Senator informed me that he was in counsel with Jefferson Davis, and that in a day or two t/iey would be able to adjust all apparent difference's. '¦'¦ After that I went among the people, and soon found that Mr. Washburn was nearer right than any other member of Congress I had talked with. I also found that the safety of the country depended on Lieutenant- General Scott, and I determined to consult with him ; but I feared the General could not spare sufficient time to talk with me as fully as I desired, and then concluded to see one of his confidential officers. On inqniring, I learned that two of General Scott's family had great influence vrith him, Col. Eobt. E. Lee and Capt. Chas. P, Stone. I do not know what induced me to select Captain Stone in preference to Col. Lee, but I did so, and called on the Captain at his quarters. We conversed freely in regard to the impending trouble, and especially of the danger in which Washington stood. I informed him I would leave three of my detectives in the citj", and, at his request, agreed to instruct them to report to him verbally any things of importance they should discover. '¦'¦ I stopped in Baltimore that night on my way homo, and ascertained from Marshal Kane himself the plan by wbich Maryland was to be precipitated out of the Union, against the efforts of Govr. Hicks to keep it there; nnd with Maryland also the District of Columbia. He told me Mjiryland would wait for the action of Virginin, and that action would take place within a month ; and ' that when Virginia seceded through a convention, Maryland would secede by gravitation,' It was at this interview I ascertained Fort McHenry to be garrisoned by a corporars guard, consisting of one man, and that the Baltimore police were keeping guanl on the outside, to prevent the roughs from capturing it prematurely. I communicated the facts to Captiin Stone, and on tho following Wednesday, January 9th, troops from Washington took possession of the fort, under orders fi'om General Scott '' At a subsequent visit to Washington I called, of course, on Captain Stone, and informed him of the purposes contemplated in Baltimore. He then requested mo to put some of ray mon on duty there, and instruct them to report to him in person, by word of mouth, and not by mail, as he could not trust the mails. I had previously placed two men there, and on my i-eturn selected a third, whom I sent directly to Captain Stone for special instructions. Under these instructions, this officer, David S. Bookstnver, remained at Baltimore until February 28d, when I relieved hira. During that period, while apparently occupied ns a music agent, Bookstaver gave particular attention to the sayings and doings of the better class of citizens and strangers who frequent music, variety, and book stoves, while the other two detectives, had joined an organization of rebel roughSi destined to go South or elsewhere, whenever their services should be required, "It was on tho evening of Wednesday, February 20th, that Bookstaver obtained the information that made it necessary for him to take the flrst train for Washington. Before going, he posted a lett^er to me, briefly stating the condition of things, and of his intention to go on the four o'clock morning train and report IsM complete this nan-ntive with an extract from a letter written by Captain Stone on the subject '¦ ' It is impossible, with the time now at my disposal, to give you any thing like a detailed history of the information derived fcom your men, and from dozens of letters and reports from other sources, addressed some- HOW ME. LINCOLN WAS SAVED. 149 given for the entire force to recross the river to the Maryland side. Generals Banks and Stone, and the tr«ops under their commands, were disappointed and mortified, for they knew of no serious impediments then in the way of an advance. General McClellan subsequently said, that " a few days after ward," he " received information which seemed to be authentic, to the effect that large bodies of the enemy had been ordered from Manassas to Leesburg, to cut off our troops on the Virginia side ;" and that their " timely with drawal had probably prevented a still more serious disaster."' Plain people inquired whether sufficient re-enforcements for the Nationals, to counteract the movement from Manassas, might not have been spared from the almost one hundred thousand troops then lying at ease around Washington, only a few miles distant. Plain people were answered by the question. What do you know about war ? times to the General-in-Chief and sometimes to myself, which served to convince hoth of us that there was imminent danger that Mr. Lincoln's life would be sacrificed, should he attempt to pass through Baltimore at the time and in the manner published in the newspapers as the programme of his journey. " 'The closing piece of information on the subject was brought by one of your men, Eookstaver. He had for weeks been stationed in Baltimore, and on the morning of Thursday (two days before the intended passage of Mr. Lincoln through B.iltimore) he arrived by the early train and reported to me. His information was entirely corroborative of that already in our possession ; and at the time of making my morning report to the General-in-Chief, I communicated tJiat. General Scott h.ad received from other sources urgent warnings also, and ho stated to me that it was almost a certainty that Mr. Lincoln conld not pass Baltimore alive by the train on the day fixed. "But," said the General, "while you and I know this, we cannot convince these gentlemen that Mr. Lincoln is not coraing to Washington to be inaugurated as quietly as any previous President." " ' I recommended that Mr. Lincoln should be officially warned; and suggested that it would be altogether best that he should take the train of that evening from Philadelphia, and so reach Washington early the next day. General Scott said that Mr. Lincoln's person.al dignity would revolt at the idea of changing the programme of his journey on account of danger to his life. I replied to this, that it appeared to me that Mr. Lincoln's per sonal dignity was of small account in comparison with the destruction, or, at least, dangerous disorganization of the United States Government, which would be the inevitable result of his death by violence in Baltimore ; that in a few days more the term of Mr. Buciianan would end, and there would (in case of Mr. Lincoln's death) he no elected President to assume the ofiice ; that the Northern cities would, on learning of the violent death of the President-elect, pour masses of excited people upon Baltimore, which would be destroyed, and we should find ourselves Inthe worst form of civil war, with the Government utterly unprepared for it. " ' General Sccitt, after asking me how the details could be arranged in so short a time, and receiving my suggestion thai Mr. Lincoln should be advised quietly to take the evening train, and that it would do him no harm to havo the telegraph wires cut for a few hours, he directed me to seek Mr. W. H. Seward, to whom he wrote a few lines, which he handed me. " ' It was already ten o'clock, and when I reached Mr. Seward's house he had left : I followed him to the Capitol, but did not succeed in flnding him until after 13 m. I handed him tho General's note ; he listened attentively to what I said, and asked me to write down my information and suggestions, and then, taking the paper X had written, he hastily left. "'The note I wrote was what Mr. Frederick Seward carried to Mr. Lincoln in Philadelphia. Mr. Lincoln has stated that it was this note which induced him to change his journey as he did. The stories of disguise are all nonsense ; Mr. Lincoln merely took the sleeping-car in the night train. I know nothing of any connection of Mr. Pinkerton with the matter.' " The letter from which the above extract is mi(,de was sent to me by General Stone, in reply to an inquiry of mine, made in consequence of having seen an article in a newspaper which gave the whole credit of tho move ment to a person who I supposed had little to do with it. My opportunity for knowing who tho parties were that rendered this service to the country was very good, but I thought it advisable to have the testimony of one of the most active In it to sustain my views, i'or obvious reasons, I havo not called on either of tho other Uving parties to the matter, regarding the above sufficient to satisfy all reasonable persons that the assassination con summated in April, 1S65, wonld have taken place in February of 1S61 had it not been for the timely ofitorts of Lieutenant-Gener.il Scott, Brigndier-General Stone. Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Frederick W. Seward, Esq.. and David: S. Bookstaver, of the Metropolitan Police of ITow York. " I am, very respectfully, yours, tfcc, "John A. Kennedy." ' See General McClellan's Eeport, page 81. 150 "ALL QUIET ON THE POTOMAC." CHAPTEE YL. THE AEMT OF THE POTOMAC— THE TRENT AFFAIE.— CAPTUEE OP EOANOKE ISLAND. OR the space of nearly two months after the disaster at Ball's Bluff, the public ear was daily teased with the unsatisfactory report, "All is quiet on the Poto mac !" The roads leading toward the Confederate camps, near Bull's Run, were never in better condition. The weather was perfect in serenity. The entire autumn in Virginia was unusually magnificent in all its features. Much of the time, until near Christmas, the atmosphere was very much like that of the soft Indian summer time. Regiment after regiment was rapidly swelling the ranks oi the Army of the Potomac to the number of two hundred thousand men, thoroughly equipped and fairly disciplined ; while at no time did any reliable report make that of the Confederates in front of it over sixty thou sand. Plain people wondered why so few, whom politicians called " raga muffins " and " a mob," could so tightly hold the National Capital in a state of siege, while the " bravest and best men of the North," fully armed and provisioned, were in and around it, and Nature and Patriotism invited them to walk out and disperse the besiegers, lying not two days' inarch from that Capital. But what did plain people know about war ? Therefore so it was that they were satisfied, or tried to be satisfied, with a very little of it from time to time, though paying at enormous rates in gold and muscle for that little. And so it was that when, just before Christmas, the " quiet on the Potomac " was slightly broken by an event wc are about to consider, the people, having learned to expect little, were greatly delighted by it. Let us see what happened. When McCall fell back from Drainsville, the Confederates reoccu- pied it. His main encampment was at Langley, and Prospect Hill, near the 'Leesburg road, and only a few miles above the Chain Bridge, on the Vir ginia side. The Confederates became very bold after their victory at the Bluff, and pushing their picket-guards far up toward the National lines, they made many incursions in search of forage, despoiling Union men, and distressing the country in general With FORAGERS AT WOES. E. O. G. ORD. BATTLE NEAR DRAINSVILLE. 151 McClellan's permission, McCall prepared to strike these Confederates a blow that should make them more circumspect, and stop their incursions. He had observed that on such occasions they generally left a strong reserve at Drainsville, and he deterrained to attempt their capture when an oppor tunity should offer. Later in December the opportunity occurred, and he ordered Brigadier-General E. O. C. Ord to attempt the achievement ; and at the same time to gather forage from the farms of the secessionists. Ord, with his brigade,' undertook the enterprise on the -./ ^ ,1 1 1 "Dec., 1861. 20th.'' McCall ordered Brigadier-General Reynolds to move forward with his brigade toward Leesburg, as far as Difficult Creek, to support Ord, if required. When the force of the latter was within two miles of Drainsville, and his foragers were loading their wagons, the troops were attacked by twenty- five hundred Confederates, under General J.E. B. Stuart,'' who came up the road from the direction of Centre ville. A severe fight ensued. The Confederates were greatly out numbered, and were soon so beaten that they fled in haste, carrying in their wagons little else than their wounded men. The brunt of the battle had fallen on the Sixth and Ninth Pennsylvania, the Rifles, and Easton's Battery. The National loss consisted of seven killed and sixty wounded ; and their gain was a victory, and " sixteen wagon-loads of excellent hay, and twenty-two of corn." Stuart reported his loss at forty-three killed and one hundred and forty-three wounded.' He had been induced to attack superior numbers by the foolish boast of Evans, that he had encountered and whipped four to his one ; and he tried to console his followers by calling this affair a victory for them, because McCall did not choose to hold the battle-field, but leisurely withdrew to his encampment. This little victory greatly inspired the loyal people, for it gave them the assurance that the troops of the Army of the Potomac were ready and able to fight bravely, whenever they were allowed the privilege. While the friends of the Govemment were anxiously waiting for the almost daily promised movement of the Grand Army toward Richmond, as the year was drawing to a close, and hearts were growing sick with hopes deferred, two events, each having an important bearing on the war, were in > His brigade was composed of Pennsylvania regiments, and consisted of the Ninth, Colonel Jackson ; Tenth. Colonel McCalmont; Twelfth, Colonel Taggart; Bucktail Eities, Lieutenant-Colonel T. L. Elane; a battalion of the Sixth ; two squadrons of cavalry, aud Easton's Battery— in all about 4,000 men. ' His troops consisted' of the Eleventh Virginia, Colonel Garland; Sixth South Carolina, Lieutenant-Colonel Seagrist; Tenth Alabama, Colonel Harvey; First Kentucky. Colonel T. H. Taylor; the Sumter Flying Artil lery, four pieces, Gaptain Cutts ; and detachments from two North Carolina cavalry regriments, 1,000 in number, under Major Gordon. Stuart was also on a foraging expedition, and had about 200 wagons with him. 3 Beport of General McCall, December 20, 1S61 ; also. General Stuart to General Beauregard, December 21, 1861. 152 OPIKIOITS OF THE BRITISH ARISTOCRACY. progress ; one directly affecting the issue, and the other affecting it inciden tally, but powerfully. One was the expedition that made a permanent lodg ment of the National power on the coast of North Carolina ; and the other was intimately connected with the foreign relations of the Government. Let us first consider the latter event. The incidents were few and simple, hut they concerned the law and the policy of nations. "We have already noticed the fact that the conspirators, at an early period of their confederation against the Govemment, had sent representatives to Europe, for the purpose of obtaining from foreign powers a recognition of the league as an actual government.^ These men were active, and found swarms of sympathizers among the ruling and privileged classes of Europe, and especially in Great Britain. There was an evident anxiety among those classes in the latter country to give all possible aid to the conspirators, so that the power of the Republic of the West, the hated nursery of democratic ideas, might be destroyed by disintegration resulting from civil dissensions.^ Fortunately for the Republic, the men who had been sent abroad by the conspirators were not such as the diplomats of Euroj)e could feel a pro- 1 See page 259, volume I. s We have alreaOy observed the "precipitate and unprecedented" proceedings, as Mr. Adams termed it, of the British Government, and the leaders of public opinion in England, in allowing to the insurgents the privi leges of belligerents. [Chapter XXIV., volume I.] In Parliament and out of it, no favorable occasion was omitted, by many leading men, to speak not only disparagiugly, but often very offensively, of tbe Government and people of the Eepublic. The enemies of free institutions and supporters of privileged classes acted upon the old maxim of political craft, " Divide and Govern," and they exerted all their powers to wiilen tbe breach between the people of the Free and Slave-labor States. Sir Edward DuUver Ly tton, the author, who had received the honors of knighthood, which allied him to the aristocratic class in Great Britain, appeared among the willing prophets of evil for the Eepublic. He declared in an address before an Agricultural Society, on the 25th of September, 1S61, that he had '" long foreseen and foretobl to be inevitable " a dissolution of the American Union ; and then again, mounting the Delphic stool, he solemnly said : " I venture to predict that the younger men hero present will live to see not two, but at least four, and probably more than four, separate and sovereign Common wealths arisinor out of those populations which u year ago united their legislature under ono President, and carried their merchandise under one fliig." He rejoiced in the prospect that so gladdened his vision, and said: " I believe that such separation will be attended with happy results to the safety of Europe, and the develop ment of American civilization." The desire for such separation was evidently engendered in tho speaker's mind by an unpleasant horoscope of the future of the Great Republic. " If it could have been possible," he said, '¦ that, as population and wealth increased, all the vast continent of Am.'rica, with her aiighty seaboard, and tho fleets which her increasing ambition as well as her extending commerce would have formed and armed, could have remained under one form of government, in which the executive has Tittle or no control over a populace exceedingly adventurous and excitable, why, then, America would have hung over Europe like a gathering and destructive thunder-cloud. No single kingdom iu Europe could have been strong enough to maintain itself against a nation that had once consolidated tho gig.antic resources of a quarter of the globe." A little later, Earl Eussell, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in an after-dinner speech nt Kewcastle-upon- Tyne, declared that the struggle in America was " on the ono side for empire, and on the other for power," and not for the great principles of human liberty, and for the life ofthe Republic, for which the Government was really contending. A little later still, the Earl of Shrewsbury, spe-iking \vith hope for his class, at the old city of Worcester, said that ho saw in America tbe trial of Democracy, and its failure. He believed tho dissolution of tho Union to be inevitable, and that men there before him would live to " see an aristocracy established in America." In the same hour. Sir John Paklngton, formerly a cabinet minister, and then a member of Par liament, told the same hearers, that, "from President Lincoln, downward, there was not a man in America who would venture to tell them that he really thought it possible that by the force of circumstances the North could hope to compel the South to again join them In constitutiug the United States." Sir John Bowring, on eminent English scholar, in a kindly letter to an American ft'iend in England, o.xpressed his solemn conviction of the utter separation of tho Statts, and Intimated that the Government lacked tho sympathy of Englishmen because it had not " shown any ilisposition to put down slaver3%" Overlooking tho fact that tho fathers of the Kopublic fonght for the establishment of liberty for all, and that the conspirators were fighting for tho establishmentof tho slavery of the many for the benefit of the few, he made a comparison, and said, " It does not appear to mo that you are justified in calling the Southerners rebels. Our statesmen of tho time of George III. called Wash ington and Franklin by tbat name." Lord Stanley, who had traveled in tho United States a dozen years before, and better understood American affairs, said, In a speech early in November, that a Southern Confederacy would bo established. " He did not think it reasonable to blame the Federal Government for declining to jzive np ba^f their territory without sU-iking a blow In its defense ;" but the real difficulty in this case, in his miiKl, was NEW CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. 153 found respect for;' and at the beginning of the autumn of 1861 it was pain fully evident to their employers that they were making no progress toward obtaining the coveted good of recognition. It was therefore determined to send men of more ability to vindicate and advocate their cause at the two most powerful Courts of Europe, namely. Great Britain and France. For these missions, James Murray Mason" and John SlidelP were appointed. They were original conspirators. The former was a native of Virginia, and the latter of New York, but long a resident of Louisiana. The former was accredited to the Court of St. James, and the latter to the Court of St. Cloud. Both had been prominent members of the Senate of the United States, and both were somewhat known in Europe. Mason was justly supposed to pos sess a sufficiency of that duplicity (which unfortunately too often characterizes a diplomatist), to cover up the real objects of the conspirators and win for them the good offices of confiding English statesmen. Slidell (whose wife was an accomplished French Creole of Louisiana) was well versed in the French language and habits ; and for adroit trickery and reckless disregard of truth, honor, or justice, he was rightly supposed to be a match for the most wily employe of the Emperor of France, honest or dishonest. These men were duly commissioned as " Ambassadors " for the " Confederate States of America," and their proposed work was regarded as of vital importance to the interests of the Confederacy. The blockade of the Southern ports of the Republic was then very strin gent, and it was some time before these men found an opportunity to leave the country. Thev finally went to sea on the 12th of October," fl 1 S61 in the small steamship Theodore, which left Charleston harbor at a little past midnight, while rain was falling copiously, and in the darkness escaped the notice of the blockading fleet. Mason was accompanied by his secretary (Mr. McFarland), and Slidell by his wife and four children, and his secretary (Mr. Eustis) and his wife, who was a daughter of Corcoran, the eminent banker of Washington City. The Theodore touched first at involved in tho question, " If tliey conquer the Southern States, what will they do with thera when they have got them ?" Ho pictured to himself the need of the establishment of a powerful military government to keep them in subjection. He wisely recommended great caution in judging of American aiTairs. Mr. Gladstone, the Ch.ancellor of the Exchequer, in a speech at Edinburgh, in January, 1862, expressed there the opinion that the N.ational Government could never succeed in putting down the Eebellion, and if it should, he said, it " would only be the preface and introduction of political difHoulties far greater than even the military difficulties of tho war itself." This speech was delivered just after the surrender of Mason and Slidell to the British Government; and Mr. Gladstone, evidently unmindful of the true greatness of flxed principles of action as inseparable from mere worldly interests, was ungenerous enough to make that display of honor, honesty, and consistency on the part of our N.ational Governraent an occasion for disparaging that Government and the people, by charging them with instability of purpose, if not cowardice. He tauntingly said : " Let us look back to tho raoment when the Prince of Wales appeared in the United States of America, and when men by tho thousand, by tens of thousands, and by hundreds of thousands, trooped together from all parts to give him welcome as enthusiastic, and as obviously proceeding from the depths of the heart, as if those vast coun- t:'iea hail still been a portion of the dominions of onr Queen. Let us look to the fact that they are of necessity a people subject to quick and violent action of opinion, and liable to great public excitement, intensely agreed on Iho subject of the war in which they were engaged, nntil aroused to a high pitch of expectation by hearing that one of their vessels of war had laid hold on tbo Commissioners ofthe Southern States, whom they regarded simply as rebels. Let us look to the fact that in the midst of that exultation, and in a country where the prin ciples of popular government and democraey aro carried to extremes— that even, however, in this struggle of life and do.ath, as they think it to be— that even while ebullitions were taking place all over the country°of joy and exultation at this capture— that even there this popular and democratic Government has, under a demand of a foreign Power, written these words, for they are tho closing words in tho disp.atoh of Mr. Seward : ' The four Commissioners will be cheerfully liberated.' " 1 See page 200, volume I. ! See page 884, volume I. » See page 231, volume L 154 WILKES IN SEARCH OF TRAITORS. ¦ Nov. 7, 1861. CHABLE8 WILKES. Nassau, New Providence, a British port, where blockade-runners and Confederate pirate-ships always found a welcome and shelter during the war, and thence went to Cuba. At Havana, the "Ambassadors" were greeted with the most friendly ex pressions and acts, by the British Consul and other sympathizers, and there they took passage for St. Thomas," in the British mail-steamer Trent, Cap tain Moir, intending to leave for England in the next regular packet from that island to Southamp ton. The National Government heard of the departure of Mason and ShdeU, and armed vessels were sent in pursuit. None of these won the prize. That achievement was lefl for Captain Charles Wilkes, of the navy, to perform, an officer of world-wide fame, as the commander of the American Exploring Expedition to the South Seas, a quarter of a century before. At that time he was on his way home from the coast of Africa, in command of the National steam sloop-of-war San Jacinto, mounting thirteen guns. He put into the port of St. Thomas, and there hearing ofthe movements of the pirate ship Sumter, he departed on a cruise in the Gulf of Mexico and among the West India Islands in search of it. At Havana he was informed of the presence and intentions of the Confederate "Ambassa dors," and after satisfying himself that the law of nations, and especially the settled British interpretation of the law concerning neutrals and belligerents, would justify his interception of the Trent, and the seizure on board of it of the two " Ambassadors," he went out' in the track of that vessel in the Bahama Channel, two hundred and forty miles from Havana, and awaited its appearance. He was gratified with that apparition toward noon on the 8th of November, when ofi" Paredon del Grande, on the north side of Cuba, and less than a dozen miles distant. On the appearance of the Trent, all hands were called to quarters ou the San Jacinto, and Lieutenant D. M. Fairfax, a kinsman of Mason by mar riage, was ordered to have two boats in readiness, well manned and armed, to board the British steamer, and seize and bring away the " Ambassadors " and their secretaries. When the Trent was within hailing distance, a request was made for it to heave to. It kept on its course, when a shell fired across its bow made a demand that was heeded. Fairfax was sent on board of the Trent, but found he could do nothing in the matter of his errand Avithout the use of physical force. Captain Moir had declined to show his papers and his passenger-list, and the "Ambassadors" had treated with scorn the summons to go on board the San Jacinto, which, like all the other acts of Fairfax, had been done with the greatest courtesy and propriety." A proper force was i Nov. 2. ' Tho appearance of Lieutenant Fairfax on board tho Trent, with a warrant for tho arrest of Mason and CAPTURE OF MASON AND SLIDELL. 155 FOET WARliKN. sent, and Mason and Slidell, compelled to yield to circumstances, went quietly on board the San Jacinto with their secretaries. The Trent, with the families of Slidell and Eustis on board, and its large number of passengers, was per mitted to proceed on its voyage, after a deten tion of only little more than two hours. The captives were conveyed first to New York and then to Boston Harbor, where they were fur nished with quarters in Fort Warren," then used as a prison for political offenders, under the charge of Captain Dimick, the defender of Fortress Monroe against the Virginia insurgents.' The act of Captain Wilkes was universally applauded by loyal men, and filled the land with rejoicings because two of the worst of the conspirators were in the custody of the Govemment. For the moment men did not stop to consider either the law or the expediency involved in the act. Public honors were tendered to Commander Wilkes," and resolutions of thanks were passed by public bodies. He partook of a public dinner in Boston. The New York Historical Society, while he was present at a stated meeting,* elected him an honorary member of that body, by "^ji^' acclamation. Two days afterward, he was publicly received by Slidell, and their secretaries, produced great excitement. The Captain was asked to show his passenger-list. He refused to do so. Fairfax then said that the vessel would not be allowed to proceed until he was satisfied whether the men he was seeking were on board or not. These, hearing their names mentioned, came forward. They protested against arrest, and in this act they were joined by Captain Moir, and by the Mail Agent, Captain Williams, of the Eoy.al Navy, who said he was the " representative of Her Majesty." The "Ambassadors" refused to leave the Trent, except by force. Fairfax called to his aid Lieutenant Greer, who came on board with a few marines. The Lieutenant then took Mason by the shoulder, and, with another officer on the opposite side, conducted him to the gangway of the steamer, and handed him over to Greer. He then returned for Slidell, who gave him to understand that a good deal of force would be required to make him go. The passengers gathered around in great commotion, making contemptuous remarks, with threats of violence, and one cried out, " Shoot him !" The wife and daughter of Slidell joined in vehement pro tests, and the latter struck Fairfax in the face, .according to tho testimony of Capt. Williams, who told the story of this cabin scene in an after-dinner speech at Plymouth. " Some of the public papers," he said, " have described her as having slapped Mr. Fairfax's face. [Here his audience cried out, ' Served him right if she did,' and ' Bravo.'] She did strike Mr. Fairfa.x," he continued, and the audience gave cheers in her honor. " Eut she did not do it with the vulgarity of gesture which has been attributed to her. Miss Slidell was with ber father in the cabin, with her arm encircling his neck, and she wished to be taken to prison with her father. (Hear, hear.) Mr. Fairfax attempted to get into the cabin — I do not say forcibly, for I do not say a word against Mr. Fairfax, so far as his manner is concerned — ^he attempted to get her away by inducements. In her agony, then, she did strike him In the face three times. I wish that Miss Slidell's little knuckles had struck mo in the face. I should like to have tho mark forever." Exclamations of " Oh !" and laughter followed this assertion. The marines were called in, and Slidell was compelled to go. McFarland and Eustis went quietly, under protest. 1 Fort Warren is on George's Island, and commands the main entrance to Boston Harbor. It is a stron*' . work of masonry, with five fronts, tho southern, eastern, and northern ones being seen in the little sketch. Around the main work is a ditch 80 feet in width. The entire' circuit of the fort is 8,136 feet. Against the south front is an outwork of much strength, which is seen in the sketch. 2 See page 498, volume I. ' The crew of the San Jacinto presented to Lieutenant Fairfax, on board that vessel. In Boston Harbor, a beautiful silver ffoblct. with national, naval, and military devices on it, and the inscription,—" Presented to Lientenant Fairfax, by the crew of the San Jacinto, as a slight token of their esteem and love." 156 CAPTAIN WILKES'S ACT APPROVED. the authorities of the City of New York ; and on his anival in Washington City, toward the middle of December, he was made the recipient of special honors. Already the Secretary of the Navy had written to him" -Nov. 80, ^ congratulatory letter on the "great public service" he had rendered " in capturing the rebel emissaries, Mason and Slidell," who, the Secretary said, '" have been conspicuous in the conspiracy to dissolve ' the Union ; and it is well known that, when seized by you, they were on a mission hostile to the Government and the country." He assured him that liis conduct had "the emphatic approval of the Department." In his annual report, submitted to Congress three days afterward, the Secretary as era phatically approved Wilkes's course, and at the same time remarked that his generous forbearance in not capturing the Tre?it must not be "permitted to constitute a precedent hereafter for the treatment of any case of similar infraction of neutral obligations by foreign vessels engaged in commerce or the carrying trade." On the first day of the Session of Congress,' the House of Representatives, on motion of Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, tendered " the thanks of Congress to Captain Wilkes, for his arrest of the traitors Slidell and Mason." By a further resolution, the President was requested, in retaliation for the outrageous treatment of Colonel Corcoran, then a prisoner in the hands of the Confederates, in confining him in the cell of a convicted felon, to subject Mason to like treatment in Fort Warren." By most of the writers on international law in the United States, in structed by the doctrines and practices of Great Britain, the essays of British publicists, the decisions of British courts, and by the law as laid down by the Queen's recent proclamation,' the act of Captain Wilkes Avas~decide(i to be abiindanElyTustified. But there was one thoughtful man, in whom was vested the tremendous executive power of the nation at that time, and whose vision was constantly endeavoring to explore the mysteries of the near future, who had indulged calmer and wiser thoughts than most men at that moment, hecause his feelings were kept in subjection to his judgment by a sense of heavy responsibility. That man was Abraham Lincoln. The author was in Washington city when the news reached there of the capture of the conspirators, and he was in the office of the Secretary of War when the elec- trograph containing it was brought in and read. He can never forget the scene that ensued. Led by the Secretary, who was followed by Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, and others, cheer after cheer was given by the company, with a will. Later in the day, the writer, accompanied by the late Elisha Whittlesey, First Comptroller of the Treasury, was favored with a brief interview with the President, when the clear judgment of that far-seeing and sagacious statesman uttered through his lips the words which formed the key-note to the judicious action of the Secretary of State afterward. " I fear the traitors will prove to be white elephants," said Mr. Lincoln. " We must stick to American principleg concerning the rights of neutrals. Wo fought Great Britain for insisting, by theory and practice, on the right to do 1 Eeport of the Proceedings of Congress in tho Congressional Globe, Dec 2d, 1661. 2 See pase 667. volume I. of this work. In that proclamation, after enumerating many acts that would be a violation ofthe duty of neutrals, the Qneen specified t!Mt_of.';.can2lng officers, soldiers, dispatchesJiBt. cetera. Mason and Slidell were civil offlcers'oTnso Confederacy, and~wero themaelvSSTWIng-rf'fsSaTS^^^^ MIGHT MAKES RIGHT. 157 precisely what Captain Wilkes has done. If Great Britain shall now pro test against the act, and demands their release, we must give them up, apolo gize for the act as a violation of our doctrines, and thus forever bind her over to keep the peace in relation to neutrals, and so acknowledge that she has been wrong for sixty years.'" That demand speedily came. When intelligence of the affair on board the Trent reached England, and details were given by " Captain Williams, E-. N.," in a public communication dated at sea, November 9th (and also in his after-dinner speech already mentioned), in which he so highly colored a few facts that the courteous acts of Lieutenant Fairfax were made to appear 1 For more than a hundred years Great Britain had denied the sanctity of a neutral ship, when her interests seemed to require its violation. That Power had acquired full supremacy of the seas at the middle of the last century, and Thompson had written that offering to British pride, the song of " Kule Britannia," boastingly asserting that — When Britain first, at Heaven's command. Arose from out the azure main, This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sung the strain — Eule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves I ' Britons never shall be slaves!" Conscious of its might, Great Britain made a new law of nations, for its own benefit, in 1756. Frederick the Great of Prussia had declared that the goods of an enemy cannot bo taken from on board the ships of a friend. A British orderin Council wasi immediately issued, declanng the reverse of this to be " the law of nations," and forbidding neutral vessels to carry merchandise belonging to those with whom she inight be at war. So viola tive of the golden rule was this order, that tlie publicists of Great Britain found it necessary, out of respect for tho opinions of mankind, to put forth specious sophistries to prove that England was not ambitious I Under what was called " The Eule of 1756," the British navy began to depredate npon the commerce of the world. The solemn treaty made by Great Britain with Holland, eighty-two years before, in which it was expressly stipulated that free ships should make free goods — that a neutral fiag should protect a neutral bottom — that the contraband of war should be strictly limited "to arms, artillery, and horses, and to include naval materials," was wantonly violated by the possession of might. The vessels of Holland were not only prohibited from carrying naval stores, but were seized, and their cargoes used for the benefit of the English war-marine. From that time until tho present, Groat Britain has steadily adhered to "The Eule of 1756," excepting in a few instances, when it suited her interests to make a temporary change in her policy. So injuriously did this " Eule," practically enforced, operate upon tho commerce of the world for England's benefit, that in 1780 the northern powers of Europe — Eussia, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland — ^formed a treaty of alliance, called tho "Armed Neutrality," to resist the pretensions and evil praetices of Great Britain. The doctrine of the league was that of Frederick, but much enlarged. Armaments were prepared to sustain the doctrine, but Great Britain's naval strength was too great, and the effort failed. In 1793, when Great Britain was at war with France, "The Eule of 1756" was again put into active operation. By an order in Council, it was directed that '^ all vessels laden with goods, the produce of any colony of France, or carrying provisions or supplies for such colony, should be seized and brought in for adjudication." This was aimed at American commerce, which was then exciting the envy of the British. To that commerce Fr.ance had then opened all her West India ports. Tho order was secretly circulated among the British cruisers, and captures were made under it before its existence was known in London ! For that treachery, English states men and publicists offered tho selfish excuse that it was " British policy to maintain for that power the suprem acy of the seas," that its children might continue to sing "Eule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves." These aggressions were soon followed by more serious outrages against the rights of iViends, or neutrals. Great Britain declared its right to search any vessel on the high seas, and take therefrom any subject of hers found there. This was a "new law of nations," promulgated by Great Britain to suit her necessities. Her cruisers roamed the seas, and held no flag to be an absolute protection of what was beneath it. Seamen were continually dragged from American vessels and placed in tho British navy. The British cruisers were not very particular when they wanted seamen, and under the pretext of claiming the subjects of His Majesty, about 14,000 American citizens were forced into the British service in the course of twelve or fifteen years. This practice was one of the chief causes of tho war declared against Great Britain by the United States in 1812. In tho midst of that war, when overtures for peace on righteous terms were offered by the Americans, the right of search and impressment was insisted upon by a carefully prepared manifesto of the acting head of the British Government, in which it was declared that '• if America, by demanding this preliminary concession, intends to deny the validity of that right, in that denial Great Britain cannot acquiesce, nor will she give coun tenance to such pretensions by acceding to its susiiension, much less to its abandonment, as a basis on which to treat" Tho war went on, and when it was ended Great Britain yet maintained tho doctrine laid down iu "The Eule of 1756," and continued to insist, until 1851, upon tho right of a nation at war to enter the ship of a neutral power in search and for the eeizuro of its subjects, or articles contraband of war, or things intended to be injuri ous to the British nation. In doctrine and practice, Great Britain justified the act of Captain Wilkes. 158 ABUSE BY THE ENGLISH PRESS. like rude outrages, a storm of indignation was raised. The most violent and coarse abuse of Americans was uttered by a portion ofthe British press; and the most absurd threats of vengeance on the offending nation were put forth. Of the courteous and accomplished gentleman. Captain Wilkes, the London Times, the accredited exponent of the opinions of the Government and the rulimg class, said : " He is unfortunately but too faithful a type of the people in whose foul mission he is engaged. He is an ideal Yankee. Swagger and ferocity, built up on a foundation of vulgarity and cowardice — ^these are his characteristics, and these are the most prominent marks by which his country men, generally speaking, are known all over the world. To bully the weak, to triumph over the helpless, to trample on every law of country and custom, willfully to violate all the most sacred interests of human nature, to defy as long as danger does not appear, and, as soon as real peril shows itself, to sneak aside and run away — these are the virtues of the race which presumes to announce itself as the leader of civilization and the prophet of human progress in these latter days. By Captain Wilkes let the Yankee breed be judged." Other publications, of higher and lower character than the Times, used equally offensive language;' and the Government itself, without waiting to hear a word from the United States on the subject, at once assumed a belligerent position, and made energetic preparations for war. So urgent seemed the necessity, that not an hour of procrastination was permitted.). All through Sunday, the 1st of December (immediately after the arrival of the passengers of the Trent), men were engaged in the Tower of London in pack ing twenty-five thousand muskets to be sent to Canada. On the "^'Sm*""' ^t^)" ^ royal proclamation was issued, prohibiting the exporta tion of arms and munitions of war ; and the shipment of saltpeter was stopped. A general panic prevailed in business circles. Visions of British privateers sweeping American commerce from the seas floated before the English mind, and no insurance on American vessels could be obtained. American securities dropped amazingly, and large fortunes were made by wise ones, under the shadow of high places, who purchased and held them for a " rise" ! Orders were issued for a large increase in the naval squadrons on the North American and West India stations, and powerful transports were called for. The great steam-packet Persia was taken from the mail- service, to be employed in carrying troops to Canada. The immense iron clad Warrior, supposed to be invincible, was fitted out for service in haste. Armstrong and Whitworth cannon were purchased by the score ; and pre- pai'ations were made for sending various conspicuous batteries and regiments 1 The Saturday R&vi&w, conducted chiefly by members of the British aristocracy, said with & bitter sneer, "The Araerican Government is in tlie position ofthe rude boor, conscious of infinite powers of annoyance, destitute alike of scruples and of shame, recognizing only the arbitration of the strong arm, which repudiates the appeal to codes, and presuming, not without reason, that more scrupulous States will avoid or defer such an arbitration as long as ever they can." The London Punch gave, in one of its cartoons, a picture representing the relative position of the two Governments at that crisis. America appeared ns a diminutivo blusterer, in the form of a slave-driver, and carrying an American flag. Before him is a huge English s.ailor, impersonating Great Britain, who says to the little American, " Yon do what's right, my son, or I'll blow you out of the water."— " Now, mind you, sir," says the Briton, to a most uncouth American Commodore— "no shuflling— an ample apology — or I will put the matter into the hands of my lawyers, Messrs. Whitworth and Armstrong," alluding to the popular cannon invented by men of that name, and thon extensively manufactured in England, and afterward furnished in considerable numbers to the Confederates. THE WISDOM OF JOHN BRIGHT. 159 to the expected " seat of war." It seemed, from the action of the British Government, and the tone of the utterances of many of the British writers and speakers, that the time had come when the calamity of civil war that had overtaken the Republic of the West was considered England's oppor tunity to humble her rival. And it was with infinite delight that the con spirators at Richmond contemplated the probability of war between the two countries, for in that event they felt sure of achieving the independence of the Confederacy, and procuring its recognition as a nation by the powers of Europe. Yet all Englishmen were not so ungenerous and mad. The great mass of ihe people — the governed c\B.sa of Great Britain — continued to feel kindly toward the Americans,' and there were leading men, who, in the qualities of head and heart, towered above the common level of all society in England as Chimborazo rises above the common height of the Andes, who comprehended the character of our Government, the causes of the rebellion, and the war it was making upon the rights of man ; and with a true catholic and Christian spirit they rebuked the selfishness of the ruling class. Among these, John Bright, the Quaker, and emi nent British statesman, stood most conspicuous. In the midst of the tumultuous surges of popular excite ment that rocked the British islands in December and January, his voice, in unison with that of Richard Cobden, was heard calmly speaking of righteousness and counseling peace. He appeared as the cham pion of the Republic against all its enemies, and his persuasions and warnings were heard and heeded by thousands of his countrymen. All through the war, John Bright in England, and Count de Gasparin in France,'' stood forth conspicuously aa the representatives of the true democracy in America, and for their beneficent labors they now receive the benedictions of the good in all lands. There were other men in Great Britain who had an intelligent conception of the machinery of our Government, and who could not be deceived by the, sophistries of the disciples of Calhoun into a belief that the armed enemies of the Republic were any less rebels against sovereign authority than would a like band of insurgents be in Lancashire, or any county of England, arrayed JOHN BEIOnT. ' In a speech in Parliament on the 17th of Pebmary, 1S62, when appropriations for the army expenses in the contemplated war with the United States were under consideration, John Bright said: "A large portion of the people of this country see in it a Government, a real Government ; not a Government ruled by a mob, and not a Government disregarding law. They believe it is a Govemment struggling for the integrity of a great country. They believe it is a country which is the home of every man who wants a home, and moreover they believe this— that the greatest of all crimes whioh any people in the history of the world has ever been con nected with— the keeping in slavery four millions of human beings— is, in the providence of a Power very ranch higher than that of the Prime Minister of England, or of the President ofthe United States, marching on, as I believe, to its entire abolition." ' See note 4, page 569, volume I. 160 HASTE OF THE BRITISH GOYERNMENT. against the Crown. They well understood that if the American insurgents, whose fathers helped to form the Republic which they were trying to destroy, and who had perfect equality in public affairs with the whole nation, could be justified in rebelling against it, the Irish people — a conquered nation, and made a part of Great Britain against their will — had the fullest warrant for rebelling against their English conquerors at any and at all times. Among these men we find the names of John Stuart Mill, Professors Goldwin Smith and J. E. Cairnes, Rev. Baptist Noel, Henry Vincent, Layard, the eminent Eastern traveler, the eloquent young O'Donoughue,' and others less con spicuous ; while Lord Brougham, who for sixty years was an opponent of slavery, and was known to be thoroughly conversant with the structure of our Government, and an admirer of its practical workings, following the lead of the spirit of his class, took sides with the slaveholders, and said most unkind words. Kinglake, the eminent author and member of Parliament, announced, as a principle which he " had always enforced," that " in the policy of states a sentiment never can govern ;" that ideas of right, justice, philan thropy, or common humanity should have no influence in the dealings of one nation with another, "because they are almost always governed by their great interests," which he thought to be a sound principle ; while Thomas Carlyle, the cold Gothicizer of the English language, dismissed the whole matter with an unintelligible sneer. The British Government, acting upon ex 2^orte and, as was afterward found to be, unreliable testimony in the person of Captain Williams, treated the proceedings on board of the Trent as " an act of violence which was an affront to the British flag and a violation of international law ;" and as soon as the law officers of the Crown had formally pronounced it so, "^ssi^"' Lord John Russell, the Foreign Secretary, sent a letter," by a special Queen's messenger (Captain Seymour), to Lord Lyons, the British Ambassador at Washington, authorizing his Lordship to demand from the Govemment of the United States the liberation of the captives and their restoration to the protection of the British flag, and " a suitable apology for the aggressions which had been committed," at the same time expressing a hope that that Government would, of its own accord, offer such redress, " which alone could satisfy the British nation.'"' On the same day when Earl Russell dated Ins dispatch to Lord Lyons,* Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, in a confidential note to Mr. Adams, the American Minister in London,' alluded to the affair, and 1 " The O'Donoughue," as he was called, was of ono of the most ancient families in Ireland. Hc W.1S lesa than thirty years ot age at that time, of great beauty in form and feature, polished in manners, eloquent in speech, of proven courage, and a man of tbo people in his instincts. In the great Kotunda in Dublin, tbis man boldly declared to an andience of 6,000 persons, after tho rceoplion of tho news of the Trent affair, that if war shonlil come, Ireland would be found on the side of America. This declaration was received with the most vehement applause. 2 Lord John Eussell sent with his dispatch tho following private note to Lord Lyons ; " Shonld Mr. Seward ask for delay, in order that tliis grave and painful matter should bo deliberately considered, you will consent to a delay not exceeding seven days. If at tho end of that time no answer is given, or if any other answer is given except that of a compliance with tho demands of Her Majesty's Government, your lordship is instructed to leave Washington, with nil tho members of your legation, bringing with you tho archives of the legatioa, and to repair immediately to London ; if, however, yon should be of opinion that tbe requirements of Her M.alesty's Govemment are substantially compiled with, you may report tho facts to Her Majesty's Government for tbeir consideration, and remain at your post till you receive flirther orders." ' See page 667, volume I. stock: speculations. 161 mentioned the fact that no words on the subject had passed between himself and the British minister, and that he should say nothing until advised of the action of the British Govemment in the matter. At the same time he called Mr. Adams's attention to the fact that Captain Wilkes did not act under instructions from his Govemment, and therefore the subject was free from much embarrassment. Mr. Seward expressed a hope that the British Government would consider the subject in a friendly temper, and declared that it might expect the best disposition on the part of the Government of the United States. He gave Mr. Adams leave to read his note, so indicative of a desire to preserve a good understanding with the Olbinet of St. James, to Earl Russell and Lord Palmerston (the Prime Minister), if he should' deem it expedient. Mr. Adams did so," and yet the British Government, " ^g°j '' with this voluntary assurance that a satisfactory arrangement of the difficulties might be made, continued to press on its warlike measures with vigor, to the alarm and distress of the people.' The fact that such assurance had reached the Government was not only suppressed, but, when rumors of it were whispered, it was semi-officially denied.' And when the fact could no longer be concealed, it was, by the same authority, affirmed, without a shadow of justice, that Mr. Adams had suppressed it, at the same time suggesting, as a reason, that the minister might jjrofit by the purchase of American stocks at jjanic prices.' The most absurd stories conceming the ^ Lieutenant-General Scott was in Paris at the time of the arrival ofthe news ofthe capture of tho con spirators. He wrote and published a very judicious letter (Dec. 3), in which he gave assurance of friendly ft^el- ing toward Great Britain on tbe part of the Government of the United States. But this semi-oflicial declaration from so high a source was not allowed to have any weight. 2 Letter of Charles Francis Adams to Mr. Seward, January 17th, 1S62. 3 Letter of Charles Francis Adams to Mr. Seward, January Utli, 18G2. An incident occurred on this side of the Atlanticin connection with the Trent affair, and stock speculations, which gave rise to much comment. Dr. Eussell, the correspondent of the London Times (see page 358, volume I.), was then in Washington City, and remained there for some time. He had so persistently disparaged the Nation.al Government and its supporters, and predicted success for the rebellion with an earnestness which indicaied the wish that is "father to the thought," that the confiding courtesy which had been shown him by the National authorities was withdrawn. He waa now, it was said, in daily and intimate intercourse with Lord Lyons. On the 26th of December, Secre tary Seward commnnieated to that Minister his letter announcing th.at Mason and Slidell would be given up to the British Government. Tho fact was intended to be kept in most profound secrecy frora tbe publicfor the moraent; but on the following day Eussell. possessed of the-secret, was allowed to telegr.aph to a stock specula tor in Now Tork ; *' Act as though you heard some ver)' good news for yourself and for me, as soon as you get this." At that time, operations in New York,. in Government stocks, were active and remunerative. Those stocks had been depressed by the menaces of war. Words that would give .assurance of peace would send them up. These had been spoken in secret ; and th« flirst man who was allowed to profit by them pecuniarily was a British subject, a representative of the British journalih the interest of the Crown, most abusive of the Ameri can people, and who was then in intimate relations with the British embassy. What is still more strange is the fact that, iu violation of a positive order to the Censor of tho Press and Telegraph at Washington, to suppress all coramunication concerning the Trent affair, this disiiatch, so palpably burdened with contraband inforraation, was allowed to be sent forty-five minutes after the order for suppression was received. Still raore strange is the fact that, while the reporters of the Press were not allowed to send any dispatches, for all of which they were ready to pay, on the hack of tho favored Dr. Eussell's message (the original is now before the author) were these words, written in pencil : " Mr. Eussell's messages aro free, by order of Mr. Sanford," who was the Censor. For a further elucidation of this subject, see the Report of the Judiciary Committee ofthe House of Repre sentatives, on the Censorship of the Press at Washington. With words calculated to keep up the excitement and alarm, and warlike measures on the other side of the AtLantio, and still further to depress tbe stocks of the United States, Eussell wrote to the London Times, on the day when his proiltablo dispatch was sent to New Tork free, saying : "Asl write there is a rumor that Messi-s. Slidell and Mason are to be surrendered. If it be true, this Government is broken up. There is so much vio lence of spirit among the lower orders of the peoi>le, and they are so ignorant nf every thing except their own politics and passions, so saturated with pride and vanity, that any honorable concession, even in this hour of extremity, would prove fatal to its .authors. It would certainly render them so unpopular that it would damage them in the conduct of this civil war." He had already ventured to make many predictions of evil to the Eepub lic. So early as the previous April he had said to Europe, through the Times, "The Union is gone forever, and no serious attempt will bo made bythe North to save it." In August he had said, "General bankruptcy is Vol. II.— H 162 CONSISTENCY OF THE GOYERNMENT. temper of the American Government, calculated to inflame the public mind and excite a warlike spirit, were put forth, such as the following, paraded conspicuously in the columns of the London Times: " During the visit of the Prince of Wales to America, Mr. Seward took advantage of an entertainment to the Prince to tell the Duke of IN'ewcastle he was likely to occupy a high office ; that when he did so it would become his duty to insult England, and he should insult her accordingly." In the mean time. Earl Russell's demand was communicated to the Gov emment at Washington. It produced much indignation in the public mmd, and there was a general dispositftn to give a flat refusal. The legality of Captain Wilkes's act was not doubted by experts in international law. Bri tish precedents were all in favor of it ; and even a writer in the London Times, two days before the date of Earl Russell's dispatch, admitted this fact, and complained only of the informality of Captain Wilkes, in taking the " Ambassadors " out of the Trent, instead of taking the ship itself with all on board into port, to have the case adjudicated in a court of admiralty. Such was a feature of the decision in the case, of the law officers of the crown, in alluding to which Mr. Adams said, "In other words. Great Britam would have been less offended if the United States had insulted her more.'" In opposition to popular feeling and opinion, the Government decided to restore Mason and Slidell to the protection of the British flag; and the Secretary of State, in a very able letter to Mr. Adams, for the ear of the British Government, discussed the subject in the light in which the Presi dent had viewed it from the begnining. He corrected the misrepresentations of Captain Williams as to the facts of the capture, declaring that Captain Wilkes was not acting under instructions from his Govemment, but only " upon his own suggestions of duty ;'"* " that no, orders had been given to any one for the arrest of the four persons named," and that the United States had no purpose or thought of doing any thing " which could affect in any way the sensibilities of the British nation." Then, with the Queen's proclamation in mind, Mr. Seward spoke of the captives as pretended " Ministers Plenipotentiary, under a pretended com mission from Jefferson Davis, who had assumed to be president of the insur rectionary party in the United States," and so publicly avowed by him, and argued that it was fair to presume that they had carried papers known in law as dispatches.' He also stated that it was asserted by competent autho rity that suoh dispatches, having escaped the search, were actually carried to England, and delivered to the emissaries of the conspirators there ;* also, inevitable, and Agrarian nnd Socialist riots may be expected pretty soon." He had declared, so late as Dec. 'i-Sil, that Mr. Seward would "refuse, on the part of his Government, to surrender Mason and Slidell and their secre taries;" and in the flrst days of 1862, he said, "The fate ofthe American Government will be sealed if January ^ passes without somc great victory." I Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward, Nov. 29th, 1861. 2 Captain Wilkes said in a soeoud dispatch to tho Secretary of the Navy, that he carefully examined all tho authorities on international law at hand— Kent, Wheaton. A^attel, and the decisions of British judges in tho admiralty courts — which bore upon the rights and responsibilities of neutrals. Knowing that tbo Govern ments of Great Britain, Franco, Spain, and Portugid had acknowledged tho Confederates as belhgerents, and that tbe ports of these powers wore open to their vessels, and aid and protection were given them, he believed that the Trent, bearing agents of that so-called belligerent, came under the operations of the law of the right of search. ^ See note 2. page 156. * This service for the Confederates was performed, it is said, by Captain Williams, E. N., Her Majesty's only representative on the Trent. MR. SEWARD'S ARGUMENT. 165 that the assumed characters and purposes of Mason and Slidell were well known to the officers ofthe Trent, including Captain Williams. Having prepared the way for argument, the Secretary entered upon it by a consideration of the inquiries : '¦'¦First, Were the persons named and their supposed dispatches contraband of war? Second, Might Captain Wilkes lawfully stop and search the TVent for these contraband persons and dis patches ? Third, Did he exercise that right in a lawful and proper manner ? Fourth, Having found the contraband persons on board, and in personal possession of the contraband dispatches, had he a right to capture the per sons ? Fifth, Did he exercise the right of capture in the manner allowed and recognized by the law of nations ? If all these inquiries shall be re solved in the affirmative," said the Secretary, " the British Government will have no claim for reparation." These questions, excepting the last, were affirmatively argued by the Secretary, with the assumption that the British doctrine was correct. The conclusion from his reasoning was inevitable, that every thing had been done in strict conformity to the law on the subject of neutrals, as expounded by British authority, excjpting_Jh&JMlurcLofjCaptain.JWilkes _t^^ riglitofca]DtureJn Jhe inanner &S\.owedi&m^~v&e^m2£^LjojX^ Here the Secretary frankly admitted that there had been a fatal irregularity. To meet the requirements of law, Wilkes should have been less generous and humane.' It was his businessjto capture lawfully, bnt Jt was that of a court of admiralty_to_decide Jipon the question of holding the vessej^ or its contents asaTTay^ll prize^ It was not for the captor, to determine „the matter on the de^.j3fJu.a_K©s9el. Having concluded his argument, which British jurists and publicists, and the practice of the British Govemment, admitted was unanswerable, the Secretary, after briefly summing up in an interrogatory the iniquitous features of the " right of search," so strictly maintained by the British, said • " If I decide this case in favor of my own Government, I must disallow its . most cherished principles, and reverse and forever abandon its essential policy. The country cannot afford the sacrifice. If I maintain these prin ciples and adhere to that policy, I must surrender the case itself It will be seen, therefore, that this Government could not deny the justice of the claims presented to us in this respect, upon its merits. We are asked to do to the British nation just what we have always insisted all nations ought to do unto us." The Secretary added that, if the safety of the Union required the de tention of the conspirators, it would be the duty of the Government to detain them ; but the condition of the rebellion, " as well as the comparative unim portance of the captured persons themselves," he said, happily forbade him from resorting to that defense. He continued by delicately alluding to the injuries inflicted on his countrymen by the British in the past, when exer cising power in the manner they now complained of, and said : " It would ' In his dispatch to the Secretary of tho Navy, Captain Wilkes said it was his determination to take pos session of the Trent, and send her to Key West as a prize, for resisting the search, and carrying those " Ambas sadors, whom he considered as ' the embodiment of dispatches ;' " but the reduced number of his oflicers anil crew, and the large number of passengers on board bound to Europe, who would bo put to great inconvenience in not being able to join the steamer from St. Thomas to Europe, "decided him to allow them to proceed." This weak point in the proceedings was noticed by the Secretary ofthe Navy, both in his eonffratulatory letter to Captain Wilkes and his Annual Eeport. 164 SURRENDER OF MASON AND SLIDELL. tell little for our claims to the character of a just and magna,nimous people,. if we should so far consent to be guided by the law of retaliation as to lift up buried injuries from their graves to oppose against what national consistency and the national conscience compel us to regard as a claim intrinsically right. Putting behind me all suggestions of this kind, I prefer to express my satis- faotion°that, by the adjustment of the present case upon principles confessed to be American, and yet, as I trust, mutually satisfactory to both of the nations concerned, a question is finally and rightly settled between them which heretofore, exhausting not only all forms of peaceful discussion, but also the arbitrament of war itself, for more than half a century alienated the two countries from each other, and perplexed with fears and apprehen sions all other nations." The Secretary then announced that the four persons confined at Fort Warren would be "cheerfully liber ated," and requested Lord Lyons to indicate the time and place for re ceiving them. The latter ordered the British gun-boat Rinaldo to proceed to Provincetown, Massachusetts, for that purpose, where, on the 1st of January, 1862, the prisoners were de livered to the protection of the British • flag. They were conveyed first to Bermuda, and then to St. Thomas, where they embarked for England, and arrived at Southampton on the 29th ofthe same month.' So began and ended, in the space of eighty-three days, the event known as " the Trent affair," which cost Great Britain ten millions of dollars for unnecessary warlike preparations, and the j)eoi3le of the two nations con cemed four times that amount, in consequence of the derangement of their industrial operations. While the result was full of promise of good for the two nations, it was pregnant with promises of disaster to the conspirators and their cause. It was so unexpected and discouraging to them and their sympathizers in America and Great Britain, who hoped for and confidently expected a war between the two Governments that would redound to the '^:i^'-' LORD LT0K3. ^ When the captives could no longer serve a political purpose for the rulinc: cla.is in Groat Britain, they Bank into their proper insigniflcance, and, as a general rule, Mason was treated -with courteous contempt by the public authorities and cultivated peoplo everywhere. The Liverpool Post, imitating tlie severer example uf tbe London Jimes* gave the following contemptuous notice of their arrival, on \vhleh occasion they were almost unnoticed: "Messrs. Mason and Slidell havo arrived. Already tho seven weeks' heroes have shrunk to their natural dimensions, and tho apprehensions expressed by the London Times, by ourselves, aud by other jour nals, lest they should have a triumphal reception, already seems absurd." * Tlio Timen, in an edltortnl, snid tlifiy ivero " nbout tho moat wortlilesB booty" if would bo possible to extract from tho jaws of the American lion, for it recognized In them tlio lending rovilers of Grent Britnlii for muny yi-nrs, nnd the promoters of discord between llie two GovernmGnta, tiopinf; thereby to bring on As-Jir, when the opportunity for the conspirntora against the Republic would be presBiited. Tho Times hoped Englishmen would let tho " follows," ns it cnlled them, alone. "England would have done jnat ns much," it said, "for two negroes." This language prodncod both indignation and alarm throughunt the Confederai-y, for it w.aa significant of a policy on tlie part of Great Britain in fnvor of entire non-interforenco. The RiclimoMd Enquirer said, " England iniiy dishonor herself if she will. She may prove false to her duty If she choose. Thunk I-Ieavn, wo are not dependent upon her, and her course will not affect ours. . . • • John Bull ia a surly animal, wo know, but such gratuitous rndonosa shows a want of 'practical sense as well ns good inaiinera," EKEMIES OF THE GOVEENMENT HOPEFUL. 165 I Dec. 16. benefit of the insurgents, that they could not conceal their chagrin and disap pointment.' They had tried to fan the flame of discord between the Cabinets of Washington and London. In England, Liverpool was the focus of efforts in aid of the rebellion. There the friends of the conspirators held a meeting,"' which was presided over by James Spence, who, for " ^"^j ' a time, was the fiscal agent of the Confederates and a bitter enemy of the Republic. On that occasion the act of Wilkes was denounced as a gross violation of the honor of the British flag, for which, according to a resolution offered by Spence, the most ample reparation should be demanded. In concert with these expressions, a sympathizing friend in the American Congress (C. L. Vallandigham, of Ohio) offered a resolution' in the House of Representatives, in which the President was en joined to maintain the position of approval and adoption by the Government (already assumed by the House) of the act of Captain Wilkes, " in spite of any menace or demand of the British Government," and declaring that " this House pledges its full support in upholding now the honor and ^'indicating the courage of the Government and people of the LTnited States against a foreign power." " We have heard the first growl of the British lion," said the author of the resolution, " and now let us see who will cower. The time has now come for the firmness of this House to be practically tested, and I hope there will be no shrinking."^ Fortunately, better counsels prevailed in Congress, and out of it.^ The loyal people acquiesced in the wise decision of the Government, and soon rejoiced that it had sustained Ameri can j)rinciples in a case so tempting to a different course, for thereby the nation was amazingly strengthened. This act of the Govemment was warmly commended by the best men in Europe, and gratified those powers who, like the United States, had been in vain endeavoring to persuade Eng land to a righteous and unselfish course conceming the sacred rights of neutrals. M. Thouvenal, the French Minister for Foreign Affairs, had expressed, in a confidential note to Count Mercier, the representative of France at Washington, a desire that the captives might be delivered up, in accordance with the liberal m COUNT MERCIER. * Tho meeting was called by the foUowing placard, posted aii over the town : " Outrage oi^ tue British Flag — The Southern Commissioners forcibly removed from a British Mail Steamer. A public meeting will be held in the Cotton Salesroom at three o'clock:." 2 Proceedings of Congress, reported in the Congressional Globe, December 16, 1861. The resohition, by a vote of 109 to 16, was quietly disposed of by being referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The 16 who voted against laying the resolution on the table were : Messrs. Alien, G. H. Brown, F. A. Conckling, Cox, Cravens, Haight, Ilolman, Morris, Noble, Nugen, Pendleton. Shier, T. B. Steele, Vallandigham, Vandaver, and C. A. White. 3 The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (Charles Sumnei-) approved tbe action of the Government, and made it tlie occasion of an elaborate speech in that body. He declared that in the dispute Great Britain was "armed with American principles, which throughout our history have been constantly, deiiber- ately, aud solemnly rejected." Spealcing of the release of the prisoners, he said: "Let the rebels go. 166 THE GOVEENMENT STEENGTHENED. » Jan. 13, 1862. principles of the Republic ; and the Prussian and Austrian Governments, through their respective Ministers, had also given their views ofthe policy of releasing the prisoners, in deference to the principles to which the Americans were so firmly pledged. To their communications, which were read to Sec retary Seward, that Minister made the most friendly responses ; and from that time, during the entire war, there was never any serious danger of the recognition of the independence of the so-called " Confederate States " hy. France and England, however much their respective Governments may have wished for a reasonable excuse to do so. This the conspirators, and their chief suppoi-ters ISTorth and South, well knew ; yet they continued to deceive the people within the Confederacy with false hopes of foreign aid, while they were being robbed of life, liberty, and property by their pretended friends. So persuaded was the Secretary of State that war would certainly be averted, that, with a playful exhibition of his consciousness of the strength of the Republic, he telegraj)hed° to the British Consul at Portland, Maine, that British troops that must be sent over to fight the Americans might pass through the United States territory, whilst on their way to Canada to prepare for hostilities ! The public mind was just becoming tranquil after the excitement caused by the Trent^ affair, when its attention was keenly fixed on another expedi tion to the coast of North Carolina, already alluded to. The land and naval armaments of which it was composed were assembled in Hampton Roads early in January, 1 862, ready for depar ture, after a preparation of only two months. Over a hundred steam and sailing vessels, consisting of gun-boats, transports, and tugs, and about sixteen thousand troops, mostly recruited in New England, composed the expedi tion. General Ambrose Everett Bum- side, an Indianian by hu-th, a West Point graduate,' and a resident of Rhode Island when the war broke out, was appointed the commander-in-chief, and the naval operations were intrusted to Flag-Officer Louis M. Goldsborough, then the commander of the North Atlantic Naval Squadron. 51S4T. LOUie M, GOLDSBOEOUGH. Prison doors are opened; but principles aro established which will help to free other men and to open the gates of the sea. Never before in her active history has Great Britain ranged herself on this side. Such nn event is an epoch. Novus swclorwm naseitur ordo. To tho liberties of the sea this Power is now committed. To a certain extent this course is now under her tutelary care. If the immunities of passengers, not in the military or naval service, as well as of sailors, aro not directly recognized, they aro at least implied; while the whole pretension of impressment, so long tho pest of neutral commerce, nnd operating only through the law less adjurtication of .a quarter-deck, is made absolutely impossible. Thus is the fi-eodom of the sea enlarged, not only by limiting the number of persons who aro exposed to tho penalties of war, but by driving from it the most offensive pretension that over stalked upon its waves. To such conclusion Great Britain is irrevocably pledged. Nor treaty nor bond was needed. It is sufficient that her late appeal can be vindicated only by n renunciation of early, long-continued tyranny. Let her bear tho rebels back. The consideration is ample, for the sea became free as this altered Power went forth upon it, steering westward with the sun on an errand of liberation." THE BUENSIDE EXPEDITION. 167 » 1862. The military force which, like Butler's,' had been gathered at Annapolis, was composed of fifteen regiments and a battalion of infantry, a battery of artillery, and a large number of gunners for the armed vessels, who were able to render service on land if required. The whole force was divided into three brigades, commanded respectively by Generals John G. Foster, of Fort Sumter fame, Jesse L. Reno, and John G. Parke.^ The fleet was divided into two col umns for active service, intrusted respectively to the charge of commanders S. F. Hazard and Stephen C. Rowan.' Every thing necessary for the peculiar service assigned to the expedition' was furnished and arranged. The fleet guns were equipped with ship and field carriages, that they might be used on land or water ; and the cannon were mostly of the newest construction. A well-organized signal corps accompanied the expedition, and there were two extensive pontoon trains. Fully equipped in every way, the expedition, whose destination had been kept a profound secret, left Hampton Roads on Sunday, the llth of January," and went to sea. When it was known that the expedition had actually gone out upon the Atlantic at that inclement season, there was great anxiety in the public mind. The storm of November, by which Dupont's fleet had been scat tered, was vivid in memory, and awakened forebodings of like evil. They were well founded. A portion of Goldsborough's fleet now met with a similar fate off tempestuous Cape Hatteras. Its destination was Pam lico Sound, whiph was to be reached' through Hatteras Inlet. The voyage had been lengthened by a heavy fog on Sunday,' and on Monday night those vessels of the fleet which had not reached the stiller waters of the Inlet were smitten and scattered by a terrible tempest. Four transports, a gun-boat, and a floating battery were wrecked. Among these was the fine steamer City of New Tork, Captain Nye. It went down in sight of the shore," with four hundred barrels of gunpowder, one thousand five hundred rifles, eight hundred iJan. 11. STEPHEN C. EOWAN. ' Jan. 12. 1 Seepage 106. 2 The flrst brigade (Foster's) was composed of the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty -fifth, and Twenty- seventh Massachusetts regiments, and the Tenth Connecticut. The second (Reno's) consisted of the Twenty-flrst Massachusetts, Fifty-flrst Pennsylvania, Fifty-flrst New Tork, Ninth New Jersey, and Sixth New Hampshire. The third (Parke's) was composed of the Fourth and a battalion of the Fifth Rhode Island, the Eighth and Eleventh Connecticut, the Fifty-third and Eighty-ninth New York, and Belgier's Rhode Island Battery of 106 men, 120 horses, four 10-pounder Parrott gnns, and two 12-pounder fleld howitzers. ^ The fleet consisted of thirty-one gun-boats, with an aggregate armament of ninety-four guns. These were the Brickner. commanded by J. ,C. Giddings ; Ceres, S. A. McDermaid ; Cliasseur, John West ; Com. Barney, E. D. Eonshaw; Com. Perry, C. H. Flussor; Delaware, S. P. Quackenbush; Granite,'^. Boomer ; Granite,^. IJ. Avery; Gen. Putnam,"^. J. Hoskiss; Iluzzar, Fred. Crocker; nunchback, E. E. Calhoim; Heteel, H. K. Davenport; J. N. Seymour, F. S. Welles; Louisiana, Hooker; Lockwood, S. L. Graves; Lancer, B, Morley; J/or««, Peter Hayes ; Philadelphia, Biiaa 'Reyiio\6a ; Pioneer, C.S.Bai.ei; Picket, T.P.Ives; Rocket, .Tame3 Lake; Ranger, 3. B. Childs; Stars and Stripes, Reed Werden; Southfleld, Behm; Shamsheen, T. S. Wood ward; Shrapnel, Ed. Staples; Underwriter, Jeffers; Valley City, J. 0. Chaplin; Vidette,. ; ^ykite- Aearf, French; Young Rover, 1. B. Studley. 168 EOANOKE ISLAND. shells, and other stores and supplies ; but no human life perished with it. Nor was any man lost in the other vessels that were wrecked ; but of a party who went ashore from one of the transports " yet outside, three "'1^62^*' were drowned by the upsetting of their boat on its return. These were Colonel J. W. Allen, of Burlington, New Jersey, com mander of the Ninth Regiment from that State ; the surgeon, F. S. Weller ; and the mate of the transport. It was several days before all of the surviving vessels of the expedition entered the Inlet. The weather continued boisterous. Many of them drew too much water to allow them to cross the fears ; and the remainder of the month of January was spent in overcoming the difficulties of that perilous passage, and in making Ml preparations for moving forward over the still waters of Pamlico Sound. General Burnside (whose head-quarters were on the S. R. Spaulding) with his oflicers and men had been unwearied in their assistance of the sea men. Time was precious. Delay was very injurious, for the Confederates, accurately divining the destination of the fleet that was worrjdng its way through that " perilous gut," as Goldsborough called it, had made prepara tions for its reception. The newspapers of the North had not yet learned to be as discreet as those of the South,' but vied with each other in giving early revelations of military and naval movements. Through these channels the Confederates had obtained very accurate knowledge of the force that was coming. With the logic furnished by the nature of the coasts and waters of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and the points in their vicin ity which it was evident the Nation als intended to seize, they correctly argued that Roanoke Island, about thirty miles from Hatteras Inlet, would be the first object of attack. It is situated between Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, with a narrow channel on each side, called respect ively Roanoke Sound and Croatan Sound. This island, well fortified and manned, presented the only effec tual barrier to an mvasion from the sea of the entire north-eastern coast of North Carolina, and the rear ap proaches to Norfolk and Portsmouth in Virginia. In some respects it was almost as important as Fortress Monroe, and deserved the special attention of the Confederates. At the time of the approach of Burnside's expedition, Roanoke Island ^ At a very early period of the war, a censorship of the press was established by the conspirators, which wns extremely rigid from the beginning. No contraband intelligence was allowed to be given ; and as the contest progressed, and the despotism at Richmond became more and more absolute, even the opinions of the conduct ors of the press in general were in complete subjection to that despotism. That control was really of essential service in carrying on the war, for the National authorities oould never flnd any reliable information concerning the Confederate forces in the Southern newspapers. So early as May, 1861, General Lee requested tho press of Virginia to keep silent on the subject of military movements. AMBROSE E. BUENSIDE DEFENSES OF EOANOKE ISLAND. 169 BENJAMIN HUGER. and its vicinity were under the command of Brigadier-General H. A. Wise, the- Department! commander being Major-General Benjamin Huger, of South Carolina, whose head-quarters were at Norfolk. Owing to the illness of General Wise, who was at Nag's Head, on a narrow strip of sand lying between Roanoke Sound and the sea, that stretches down from the main far above. Colonel H. M. Shaw, of the Eighth North Carolina Regiment, was in chief command of the forces' on the island. These consisted of his own regiment ; the Thirty-first North Carolina Volunteers, under Colonel J. V. Jordan ; three com panies of the Seventeenth North Carolina, under Major G. H. Hill. and four hundred and fifty men, under Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson. Several batteries had been erected on prominent points of the shores of Roanoke, which commanded the Sounds on its eastern and westem sides ; and upon its narrowest j)art, between Shallowbag Bay and Croatan Sound, was a strong redoubt and intrenched camp, extending across the ' road that traversed the middle of the island. These several fortifications mounted about forty heavy guns. There were batteries also on the main, commanding the channels of Croatan Sound. Vessels had been sunk in the main channel of Croatan Sound, and heavy stakes had been driven in its waters from the main to the island, to obstruct the passage of vessels. Above these obstructions was a flotilla of small gun boats — a sort of " Musquito fleet " like that of Tatnall at Port Royal — eight in number, and carrying eleven guns. These were commanded by Lieuten ant W. F. Lynch, late of the National navy, who had abandoned his flag, received a commodore's commission from the conspirators, and was now charged with the defense of the coast of North Carolina. After a reconnoissance. Commodore Goldsborough slowly moved his fleet of seventy vessels, formed on the morning of the 5th of February," toward Croatan Sound, fifteen of the gun-boats leading, under the immediate command of Rowan, and followed by the armed transports. On the following day Lynch sent the. Curlew, Captain Hunter, to reconnoiter the approaching fleet, and her commander reported it at anchor six miles below Roanoke Island. That evening was dark and misty, and the morning of the 7th was lowery for a time. At length the sun broke forth in splendor, and at about ten o'clock Goldsborough, hoisting the signal, "This day our country expects every man to do his duty," advanced his gun-boats in three columns, the first being led by the Stars and Stripes, Lieutenant Werden ; the second by the Louisiana, Commander Alexander Murray ; and the third by the Hetzel, Lieutenant H. R. Davenport. Goldsborough made the South- Jield his flag-ship. At eleven o'clock, a bombardment was opened upon Fort Bartow, on Pork 170 . LANDING TEOOPS ON EOANOKE. Point, toward the northern end of the island, an^, within thirty minutes afterward, a general engagement between the gun-boats and, the batteries on Croatan Sound ensued. The Confederate flotilla joined in the fight, but was soon driven beyond the range of the National guns, with the Curlew, its largest steamer, so badly disabled, that it began to sink, and was soon afterward beached, under cover of the guns of Fort Forrest, on Redstone Point.' These vessels disposed of, Goldsborough concentrated his fire upon Fort Bartow, at a range of about three-fourths of a mile. Its flagstaff was soon shot away, the barracks were set on fire, its guns began to give feeble responses, and its walls of sand to fall into a confused mass, under the weight of shot and shell hurled upon them. The army transports now came up, and preparations were made for landing them on the island at Ashby's Harbor, about two miles below Fort Bartow. They were confronted by two thousand men, and a battery of three pieces in the neighboring woods ; but these were soon dispersed hy a storm of shells from the gun-boats. Meanwhile the Confederate flotilla had retumed to the attack, and, after an engagement for bout an hour, had been compelled again to retire, considerably damaged. At midnight," in the midst of a cold rain-storm, eleven thou- ""^iseJ"^' ^^"^^ troops were safely put on shore.'' They were without shelter, and at an early hour the next moming they moved forward to attack the intrenchments in the interior of the island, to which all of the Confederate forces out of the other redoubts had now repaired. The advancing column was under the command of General Foster, who' was next in rank to Burnside. These works were about five miles fi-om the landing-place at Ashby's Harbor,' and were situated on land flanked on both sides by a morass. They occupied a line a greater portion of the way across the narrower part of the island. The main work to be attacked could be reached only by a narrow causeway, which was well protected hy a battery of three guns, mounted on an earthwork. Within the intrench ments to be assailed were about twenty-five hundred troops, under the com mand of Colonel Shaw. Foster led the way with his brigade, which was accompanied by a battery of six 1 2-pounder boat howitzers, brought from the naval launches, and commanded by Midshipman B. F. Porter. The brigades of Reno and Parke followed. The road being swampy and fringed with woods, the march was slow and cautious. The first pickets encountered fired their pieces and tan for their lives. Foster pressed on, and soon coming in sight of the Con federate works, he disposed his troops for action by placing the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts, Colonel Upton, in line, with the Twenty-third Massachusetts, * Lynch, who was a man of very moderate ai)ility and courage, was disheartened. He wrote to Mallory that he should endeavor to get tiio guns from the Curlew, and with the squadron proceed to Elizabeth City, from which he would send an express to Norfolk for ammunition. There he would make a flnal stand, and would blow up the vessels rather than they should fall into the hands of his enemy. 2 The water w-as so shallow that the launches and other small boats could not get very near the shore, and the soldiers were compoUod to wade several hundred feet through the water, sometimes sinking deeply into tho cold ooze. = Much valuable information concerning Eoanoke Island, the position of the Confederates, and the best pliice for landing was obtained from a colored boy named Thomas R. Robinson, tho slave of J. M. Daniel, of Eoan oke, who ten days before had escaped to Hatteras. He was taken with tho expedition. BATTLE OF EOANOKE ISLAND. 171 Colonel Kurtz, for a support. With musketry and cannon he opened the battle, and was hotly answered by musketry and cannon. The fight was severe, and soon the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, Colonel Lee, came to the aid of their fellow New Englanders, by falling upon the sharpshooters in the woods, on the left of the Confederate line. To relieve the Twenty- third Massachusetts, the Tenth Connecticut, Colonel Russell, came up to the support ofthe Twenty-fifth, from the former State. THE ATTACK ON EOANOKE ISLAND. The Confederates made a gallant defense ; and the fight raged fiercely. Reno brought up his brigade to the help of Foster's. These were the Twen ty-first Massachusetts, Colonel Maggi ; Fifty-first New York, Colonel Fer- rero ; Fifty-first Pennsylvania, Colone]^SbB>towi^ and Ninth New Jersey. He pushed through the tangled swamps and took a position on Foster's right, with the intention of turning the Confederate left flank, where Lieu tenant-Colonel Frank Anderson was in command of a battalion of " Wise's Legion." The fight in that direction soon became warm, while it continued to rage fiercely in the front. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and New Jersey troops were zealous rivals in deeds of daring, fortitude, courage, and generosity. They continually gained advantages, but at the cost of heavy work. Parke came up with his Fourth Rhode Island, Colonel Rod man ; the first battalion Fifth Rhode Island ; the Eighth Connecticut ; and Ninth New York, Colonel Hawkins, and gave timely aid to the Twenty-third and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts. With all this pressure of overwhelming numbers, the Confederates still 172 BATTLE OF EOANOKE ISLAND. held out. At length the artillery ammunition of the Nationals began to fail, and they were suffering very severely in killed and wounded. Victory could now be won only by a charge. That movement was resolved upon. Major E. A. Kimball, of Hawkins's (Ninth New York) Zouaves (a hero of the Mexican war, who fought gallantly in every battle, from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico), perceiving the necessity, and eager to serve his country (for whose cause he finally gave his life), offered to lead the charge across the causeway against the main battery, with the bayonet. The de lighted Foster said, " You are the man, the Ninth the regiment, and this is the moment ! Zouaves, storm the battery !" he shouted — " Forward !" In an instant they were on the run across the causeway, yelling fear fully, and cheered by their admiring comrades on every side, who cried out, "Make way for the red-caps! They are the boys !" Colonel Haw kins, who was leading two companies in a flank movement on the left, see ing his men rushing to the perilous performance, could not resist his impulses, and, joining them, pressed forward the whole battalion, shout ing, " Zou ! Zou ! Zou !" and closely followed by the Tenth Connecticut. The frightened Confederates, after firing once, had fled, and into the battery the Zouaves rushed, with none to oppose them, almost simultaneously with the Fifty-first New York and Twenty-first Massachusetts, who had attacked the Confederates on their right. The colors of the Fifty-first, being at the head of the regiment, were first planted on the captured battery, and at the same time the State flag of the Massachusetts Twenty-first was triumphantly displayed. Tiie fugitives, in their haste, had left every thing behind them. There lay their dead and wounded as they had fallen. Their heavy guns were in perfeet order, and the knapsacks and blankets of the routed soldiers were strewn about the works. General Foster, who had skillfully directed these successful movements in person, now re-formed his brigade, whilst Reno, Avith the Twenty-first Massachusetts and Ninth New York, started in pursuit. Foster soon fol lowed and overtook Reno, who was maneuvering to cut off the retreat of about eight or nine hundred Confederates on the left, near Weir's Point. With a part of his force, Reno pushed on in that direction. Hawkins, with his Zouaves, hurried toward Shallowbag Bay, where, it was saidj the Con federates had a two-gun battery. Foster pressed forward Avith an adequate force, and was on the heels of the fugitives, after a chase of five or six miles, when he was met by a flag of truce, borne by Colonel Pool, of the Eighth North Carolina, carrying a message from Colonel Shaw, who, as we have observed, was the senior acting officer in command on the Island, asking what terms of capitulation would be granted. " Unconditional surrender I" JOHN G. FOBTEE. EFFECTS OF THE BATTLE. 173 was Foster's reply. These were accepted, and two thousand Confederates soon laid down their arms as prisoners of war. In the mean time, General Reno had received the surrender of about eight hundred Confederates, under Colonel Jordan ; and Colonel Hawkins, after taking possession of the deserted battery on Shallowbag Bay, captured about two hundred Confederates, who were seeking a chance to escape from the island to Nag's Head. Among these was Captain O. Jennings Wise, son of the General in command, and editor of one of the bitterest of the rebellious journals in Richmond, who had been severely wounded while fighting gallantly.' To complete the conquest of the Island, General Foster sent a force to capture Fort Bartow, which Goldsborough had been bombarding while the land battle had been going on. Its inmates had retired, and at a little past four o'clock in the afternoon the National flag was unfurled over its walls, when Goldsborough signalled to his fleet, " The fort is ours." This was followed by the most joyous cheers. In the mean time the Confederate steamer Curlew, which, as we have observed, had been beached under the guns of a battery on Redstone Point, on the main, had been fired by the insurgents, together with the barracks at that place, and the remainder of the flotilla had fled up Albemarle Sound. So ended, in triumj)h for the National cause, the conflict known as The Battle of Roanoke.'' It disappointed the prophets of evil at home and abroad, and spread consternation throughout the Con federacy. There, on Roanoke Island, where the first germ of a privileged aristocracy had been planted in America,' the first deadening blow had been, given to the hopes of an oligarchy, fighting for the establishment of such a social system. The " Government " at Richmond (and especially Jefferson Davis and his " Secretary of War," Benjamin) were severely censured for alleged neglect in making Roanoke Island and its approaches impregnable. Davis, in a " message to Congress," cast reflections upon the troops there ; but a committee of that body, appointed to investigate the matter, declared that the battle was "^ one of the most gallant and brilliant actions of the war," and laid the blame, if any existed, on Huger and Benjamin, especially on the latter, who, it was said, had positively refused to put the Island in a state of defense.'' ' llis father, who, as we have observed, was ill, had remained with a part of the "Legion " at Nag's Head. The wounded son had been placed in a boat to be sent to his camp, when it was tired upon, and compelled to retnrn. Ho was tenderly cared for by Colonel Hawkins aud his officers, but died toward noon on the following day. 2 Eeport of General Burnside to Generiil McClellan, Fcb'y lOtb, 1SJ2 ; of Generals Foster, Reno, .and Parke ; of Commodore Goldsborough to Secretary Welles, Feb'y 9tb, 1862 ; of Commander Lynch to E. S. Mallory, Feb'y Tth, 1862 ; and accounts by other officers and eye-witnesses on both sides. ' There, in the ye.ir 1537, Mauteo, a native chief, who had been kind to colonists sont to that coast by Sir Walter Ealeigh, was, by tbat baronet's command, and with the approval of Queen Elizabeth, invested with tho title of Lord of Roanoke, the flrst and last peerage created in America. Nearly ahundred years later, an attempt was made to found in North Carolina an aristocratic government, with tbe nominal appendages of royalty, it being desiL'iicd to have orders of nobility and other privileged classes in exact imitation of English societv of that peiiod. * Pollard, tho Confederate historian ofthe war, says, that records showed that Wise, who assumed the command there on the Tth of January, had "pressed upon the Government the importance of Eoanoke Island to Norfolk." In a report to Benjamin, on the 13th of that month, he said the canals and railroads connecting with Norfolk " were utterly defenseless." Later he reported that " a force at Hatteras, independent of the Burnside expedition, was amply sufficient to capture or pass Eoanoke Island in twenty-four hours." Wiso also asked for re-onforce- ments from Huger's fifteen thousand men, lying idle around Norfolk. He was answered by a peremptorv order, when Burnside's expedition was passing into Pamlico Sound, to proceed immediately to Eoanoke Isla'nd and 174 ELIZABETH CITY TAKEN. The conquest was complete, and Burnside, taking up his quarters at a house near Fort Bartow, prepared at once for other aggressive movements on the coast. In his report, he generously said, " I owe every thing to Generals Foster, Reno, and Parke," and sadly gave the names of Colonel Charles S. Russell and Lieu tenant-Colonel Vigour de Mon- teuil' as among the killed. The number of his prisoners amounted to about three thousand. Many of the troops buknside'b head-quakteks. ¦' ^ on the Island escaped to Nag s Head, and thence, accompanied by General Wise and the remainder of his Legion, they fled up the coast toward Norfolk." The spoils of victory were forty-two heavy guns, most of them of large caliber, three being 100-pounders.' The Confederate flotilla was immediately followed" by Captain " ^862*' I^owan. It had gone up Albemarle Sound thirty or forty miles, and into the Pasquotank River, toward Elizabeth City, not far southeast of the Great Dismal Swamp. Rowan's fleet consisted of fourteen vessels, the Delaware being his flag-ship. On the morning of the 10th it was in the river near Elizabeth City, and confronting seven steamers and a schooner armed with two 32-pounders, and a four-gun battery on the shore, and one heavy gun in the town in front. The Avhole force was in charge of Commander Lynch. Rowan opened fire upon flotilla and batteries at about nine o'clock. After a short but very severe engagement, Lynch, who was on shore, sig nalled for the abandonment of the vessels, when they were run aground defend it. The neglect of Benjamin was so notoriotis, that the Committee held him responsible. The public indignation was intense, and yet, in the face of all this, Davis, assuming the attitude of a Dictator, as he really was, with his usual haughty disregard of the opinions of others and the wishes of the people, promoted Benjamin to the position of " Secretary of State." The insult was keenly felt, but the despotism of the conspirators was too powerful to allow much complaint from the outraged people. In his report to General Huger, Wiso said Eoanoke Island was the key to all the defenses of Norfolk. It unlocked two sounds— Albemarle and Currituck ; eight rivers — the North, West, Pasquotank, Perquimmons, Little, Chowan, Eoanoke, and Alligator; four canals — tho Albemarle and Chesapeake, Dismal Swamp, North west, and Suffolk; two railways — the Petersburg and Norfolk, and Seaboard and Eoanoke. At tho same time it guarded four-fifths of the supplies for Norfolk. Its fall. Wise said, gave lodgment to the Nationals in a safe harbor from storms, and a command of the seaboard iVom Oregon Inlet to Cape Henry, at the entrance of Chesa peake Bay. "It should have been defended," he said, " at the expense of twenty thousand men, and many millions of dollars." 1 The entire National loss in the capture of Eoanoke was nbout 50 killed and 222 wounded. That of tho Confederates, according to Pollard (i. 2-31), was 2-3 killed, 53 wounded, and 62 missing. Colonel Monteull was the commander of a regiment of New York Volunteers, known as the D'Epineuil Zouaves, These had accompanied the expedition as far as Hatteras, when, for the want of transportation, they wero sent back to Fortress Monroe. Their Lieutenant-Colonel remained with the army, and in the battle ho served as a volunteer. With a Sharp's rifle he fought gallantly in tho ranks of Hawkins's Zouaves, was shot through the head while urging these forward in the notable charge, with the words " Charge, mes enfans ! Charge, Zouaves,!" In honor of this brave and devoted soldier. General Burnside named one of the ciptured batteries Fort de Stnntcuii. = On the 18th of February, Wise issued a characteristic " Special Order No. 1," from " Canal Bridge, Curri tuck County, N. 0.," informing the public that the flag of Captain 0. Jennings Wise would be raised for true men to rjiUy around. " New names were given to the forts. Port Bartow -was changed to Fort Foster ; Fort Huger to Fort Eeno; and Fort Blanchard to Fort Parke. MEDALS OF HONOR BESTOWED. 175 and set on fire. Then the Confederates fled, and Lynch, retiring to the interior of JN'orth Carolina, was not heard of again during the war nntil he reappeared at Smithville, when Fort Fisher was captured, early in 1865. Shortly after the flight of the Confederates, Acting Master's-Mate J. H. Raymond planted the National flag on the shore battery, and thus proclaimed the first conquest achieved by the N"ationals on the main of Korth Carolina. The battle had lasted only forty minutes, and Rowan's loss was only two killed and five or six wounded.^ The number lost by the Confederates was 1 An extraordinary example of heroism was exhibited during this engagement by John Davis, a Finlander, who was a gunner's mate on board the Valley City. A shell entered that vessel, and, exploding in the maga zine, set fire to some wood-work. Davis was there, and, SL'eing the Imminent danger to the vessel and all on board, because of an open barrel of gunpowder from which he had been serving, he seated himself upon it. and so remained nntil the flames were extinguished. For this brave act the Secretary- of the Navy rewarded him with the appointment of acting-gunner in the navy (March 11, 1S62), by which his salary was raised from $300 to $1,000 a year. Admiring citizens of New York raised and presented to him $1,100. The Secretary of the Navy, hy authorityof an act of Congress, approved Dec. 21, 1S61, presented him with a Medal of Honor., on which are inscribed the following words : '• Personal Valor — John Davis, Gunner's Mate, U. S, S. Valley City, Albemarle Sound, February 10th, 1S62." Such medals were afterward presented to a considerable number of gallant men in subordinate stations, for acts of special bravery " before the enemy.'' Davis was the first recipient. The act of Congress authorized the Secretary to cause two hundred of these Medals of Honor to be pre pared, and to bo bestowed by him upon "such petty officers, others of inferior rating, and marines, as should most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other commendable qualities during the present war." These were made of bronze, in the form of a star offive rays, with a device emblematic of lTnir)n crush ing the monster Eebellion, around which is a circle of thirty-threo smaller stars, representing the thirty-three States then (1861) composing the Union. The medal is suspended from the flukes of an anchor, which in turn is attached to a buckle and ribbon. The Secretary directed that the medal should he worn suspended from the left breast, by a ribbon all blue at top for half an inch downward, and thirteen vertical stripes, alter nate red and white for eight-tenths of an inch. The name ofthe recipient to be engraved on tlic bnck, with his rating, the name of the vessel in which he was serving, and tho place where, and the date when, his meritorious act was performed. The picture here given ofthe medal — an American "Legion of Honor" — is the exact size of tho original. For fuller particulars concerning the Medal of Honor, see Regulations for the Government ofthe United States Na'Gy^ 1865, pagre 140. The following is a list of the names (320 in number) of those to whom medals were awarded : James Mc- Cloud, Louis Richards, Thomas Flood, James Buck, Oscar E. Peck, Thomas Gehegan, Edward Farrel, Peter Williams, Benjamin Sevearer, John Davis, Charles Kenyon, Jeremiah Regan, Alexander Hood, John Kelley, Daniel Lakin, John Williams, John iireese, Alfred Patterson, Thomas C. Barton, Edwin Smith, Daniel Harrington, John Williams, J. B. Frisbee, Thomas Bourne, William McKnight, William Martin, John Greene, John McGowan, Amos Bradley, George Hollat, Charles Florence, 'William Toung, William Parker, Edward Wright, Charles Bradley, Timothy Sullivan, James Byrnes, John McDonald. Charles Rob inson, Pierre Lono, Peter Colton, Charles W. Morton, William Martin, Robert Williams, George Boll, William Thompson, John Williams, Matthew Arthur, John Mackie, Matthew McClelland, Joseph E. A'antiue, John Rush, John Hickman, Robert Anderson, Peter Howard, Andrew Brinn, P. R. Vaughn, Samuel Woods, Henry Thielberg, Robert B. Wood, Robert Jordan, Thomas W. Hamilton, Frank Bois, Thomas Jenkins, Martin Mc- Hugh, Thomas E. Corcoran, Henry Dow, John Woon, Christ. Brennen, Edward Ringgold, James K. L, Dun- naval medal of honor. 176 CONTROL OF ALBEMAELE SOUND. ¦ Feb. 11, 1S62. large, but was never ascertained. Only one of the Confederate vessels (the Ellis) was saved from destruction ; and it was with difficulty that the town was preserved, for the insurgents, when they abandoned their vessels, set fire to it in several places. It was a most barbarous act, for only a few defense less women and children remained in the town. These at once experienced the humanity of the Nationals, who showed them every kind ness, when, on the following day," they took possession of the place. This success was followed up by other movements for securing the con trol of Albemarle Sound and the adjacent country, as well a^ the waters through which communication was held with N'orfolk. To, this end. Rowan sent Lieutenant A. Maury,"; with a part of his fleet, to take posses sion of Edenton, near the western end of the Sound. This was easily done on the day after the capture of Elizabeth City,' a body of flying artillery station ed there having left it j)recipitate]y without firing a shot. Maury destroyed a schooner on the stocks and eight cannon, and then passed on, capturing vessels on the Sound. On the following day,' Lieutenant Jefiers, with some of the fleet, proceeded to the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal, that traverses the Dismal Swamp on its way from the Elizabeth River to the Pasquotank, for the purpose of * Feb. 12, 1862. « Feb. 18. can, Hudi Melloy, William P. .Tohnson, Bartlett Laffey, Eicliavd Sew.ard, Christopher JTugent, James Brown, "WilUam Moore, William P. Brownell, William Talbot, Richard Stout George W. Leland, Horatio N. Young, Michael Huskey, John Dorman, William Parley, J. Henry Denig, Michael Hudson, William M. Smith, Miles M. Oviatt, Barnett Kenn.^ William Halsted, Joseph Brown, Joseph Irlam, Edward Price, Alexander Mack, "ffilliam Nichols, John Lawson, Martin Preeman, William Dinsmore, Ad.nm Duncan, Charles Dcakin, Cornelius Cronin, William Wells, Hendrick Sharp, Walter B. Smith, Georso Ptirks, Thomas llaycs, Lebbeus Simkins, OloflF Smith, Alexander H. Truett, Itobert Brown, John JI. James, Thomas Cripps, John Brazell, J.ames II. Morgan, John Smith, James B. Chandler, William Jones, William Doolen, James Smith, .Hugh Hamilton, James Mcintosh, William M. Carr, Thomas Atkinson, David Sprowlc. Andrew Miller, James Martin, William Phinney, John Smith, Samuel W. Kinnard, Patrick Dougherty, Michael Cassidj', George Tjvylor, Louis G. Chaput, James Ward, Daniel Whitfield, John M. Burns, John Edwards, Adam McCulloch, James Sheridan, John E. Jones, William Gardner, John Preston, William Newland, David Naylor, Cli.arles B. Woram, Thomas Kendrick, James S. Eoan, tree, Andrew Jones, .James Seanor, William C. Connor, Martin Ilow.ard, James Tallentine, Robert Graham, Henry Brutsohe, Patrick Colbert, James Haley, John F. Bickford, Charles A. Read, William Smith,, William Bond, Charles Moore, George II. Ilai'rlson, Thomas Perry, John Hayes, George E. Read, Robert Stuahan, James H. Lee, Joachim Pease (colored), William B. Poole, Michael Aheam, Mark 6. Ham, John W. Loyd, Charles Baldwin, Alexander Crawford, John Laverty, Benjamin Loyd, D.avid Warren, William Wright, John Snllivan, Eobert T. Clifford, Thomas Hiirding, Perry Wilkes, John Ilyland, Michael McCormick, Timotliy O'Donohiie, Georyc Butts, Charles Asten, John-Ortoga, Maurice Wagg, ii. II. King, Wilkes, Demming, Bernard Harley, William Smith, Richard ILamilton, Edward J. Houghton, Oliver O'Brien, Frank Lucas, William Garvin, Charles J. Bibber, John Neil, Robert Montgomery, James Roberts, Chiu-les Hawkins, Dennis Conlan, James SulUvan, William Ilinnegan, Charles Rico, John Cooper, Patrick Mullin, James Saunders, James Horton, James Eountry, John II. Ferrell, John Dltzenbach, Thomas Taylor, Patrick Mullin, Aaron Anderson or Sanderson (colored), Charles H. Smith, Hugh Logan, Lewis A. Horton, George Moore, Luke M. Griswold, John Jones, George Pyne, Thomas Smith, Charles Reed, John S. Lann, Gcdrgo Schutt, John Mack, John H. Nibbe, Othniel Tripp, John GrifTlthB, Edward Swatton, John Swatson, Phillip Bazaar, George Province, Augustus Williams, Auzclla Savage, John Jackson, Robert M. Blair, Anthony Williams, James W. Verney, A.'-a Bettram, John P. Ericson, Clement Dees, Tr[>aE y^D®M ©[e^[E[^^[l©, 1 ISAAC 1 STEVENS, M G. a WILLtAM H. LYTLE, B G 3 JOHN FULTON aEVNOLDS, M G- 4- JESSE L. FLENO. M. G 5 NATHANIEL LYON. B G 6 J K, F MANSFIELD, M. G 7 PHILIP KEARNEY, M G. . ., 8 OR-t/'SBY M MITCHELL. M G 9. GEORGE W TAYLOR., B G 10 GEORGE C. STRONG, B. G 11 GEOaCE D BAYARD, B- G iJl- HIRAM U. BERRY, M, G . APPEALS TO THE NORTH OAEOLINIAITS. 177 disabling it. They found Confederates engaged in the same work, who fled on the approach of the Nationals. The latter sunk two schooners in the canal and departed. Finally, on the 19th, the combined fleet set out from Edenton on a reconnoissance, which extended up the Chowan River as far as Winton (whicli was partially de stroyed), and the Roanoke to Ply mouth. The Perry, bearing Colonel Hawkins and a company of his Zou aves, received a volley of musketry from the high bank near the latter place, when Rowan ordered the town to be shelled. It was nearly all de stroyed excepting the church. The power of the Government was so fully displayed in this region, while its justice and clemency were pro claimed by Burnside and Goldsborough conjointly, in an address to the people of North Camilina, issued on the 1 8th, that the great bulk of the inhabitants, naturally inclined to loyalty, were anxious to render full submission. The proclamation assured them that the expedition was not there for the purpose of invading any of their rights. On the contrary, it came to protect them under the rightful authority of the National Govemment, and to close the desolating war which their wicked leaders had commenced. They were admonished of the truth, that those leaders were imposing upon their cre dulity, deceiving them by fictions about the intentions of the Government, such as destroying their property, injuring their women, and liberating their slaves. " We are Christians as well as yourselves," they said, " and we pro fess to know well and to feel profoundly the sacred obligations of the charac ter. No apprehensions need be entertained that the demands of humanity or justice will be disregarded." ..." We invite you, in the name of the Constitution, and in that of virtuous loyalty and civilization, to separate yourselves at once from these malign influences, to return to your allegiance, HAWKINS ZOUAVE. George W. McWilliams, John Angling, William Dunn, Eobert Summers, Joseph B. Hayden, Isaac N. Fry, Edward E. Bowman, William Shipman, William G. Taylor, George Prance, Thomas Jones, William Campbell, Charles Mills, Thomas Connor, David L. Bass, Franklin L. Wilcox, Thomas Harconrt, Gurdon H. Barter, John Eannaban, John Shivers, Henry Thompson, Henry S. Webster, A. J. Tomlin, Albert Burton, L. C. Shepard, Charles H. Foy, James Bamum, John Dempster, Edmund Haffee, Nicholas Lear, Daniel S. Milliken, Eichard Willis, Joseph White, Thomas English, Charles Eobinson, John Martin, Thomas Jordan, Edward B. Toung, Edward Martin, John G. Morrison, William B. Stacy, Henry Shutes, John Taylor, John Harris, Henry Baker, . J.ames Avery, John Donnelly, John Noble, John Brown, Eichard Bates, Thomas Burke, Thomas Eobinson, Nicholas Irwin, John Cooper, John Brown, John Irving, William Blagdeen, William Madden, James Machon, William II. Brown, James Mifflin, James E Sterling, Eichard Dennis, Samuel W. Davis, Samuel Todd, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Charles Melville, William A. Stanley, William Pelham, John McFarland, James G. Garrison, Thomas O. Connell, Wilson Brown. Tho following named persons, having had Medals of Honor awarded to them for distinguished service in battle, and having again performed acts which, if they had not received that distinction, would have entitled them to it, were authorized to wear a bar attached to the ribbon by which the medal is suspended ; John Cooper, Patrick Mullen. Tho following persons, whose naces appear on the above list, forfeited their medals by bad conduct: Joseph Brown, John Brazell, Frank Lucas, John Jackson, Clement Dees, Charles Eobinson, John Martin, Eich ard Bates. A^OL. II.— 12 178 SPIRIT OF THE LOYAL AND DISLOYAL. and not compel us to resort further to the force under our control. The Government asks only that its authority may be recognized; and, we repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, con stitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your prop erty of any sort, or your usages in any respect." This appeal alarmed the Confederate leaders in that State, and the Gover nor, Henry T. Clark, issued a counter-proclamation a few days ° ^186"^^' afterward," in which he denounced the expedition as an attempt to deprive the inhabitants of liberty, property, and all they held " most dear as a self-governing and free people." He called upon them to supply the requisitions just made by Jefierson Davis for troops to repel the enemy. " We must resist him," he said, " at all hazards, and by eveiy means in our power. He wages a war for our subjugation — a war forced upon us in wrong, and prosecuted without right, and in a spirit of vengeful wickedness, without a parallel in the history of warfare among civiUzed nations." He assured them that the Govemment was increasing its efforts " and straining every nerve " not to regain its rightful authority, but to over run the country and subjugate the people to its domination, its "avarice and ambition." "I call upon the brave and patriotic men of our State to volun teer," he said, " from the mountains to the sea." Such was the opposing spirit of the Government, and the conspirators against its life. The former was anxious for peace, the latter were zealous for war. The former, battling for right, justice, and the perpetuity of free institutions, and conscious of the righteousness of its cause, was firm but mild, 'patient, and persuasive ; the latter, battling for wrong, injustice, and the perpetuation of slavery for the negro, and serfdom for the poor white man, with no warrant for their acts but selfishness, were bitter, vehement, and uncompromising; continually appealing to the passions of the people rather than to their reason and judgment, and by fraud and violence dragging them into the vortex of rebellion, in which their prosperity and happiness were sadly wrecked. Here we will leave the National forces for a while in the waters of North Carolina, preparing for another important victory, which they achieved a month later, and observe the progress of military events westward of the Alleghanies during the later days of autumn, and the winter of 1861-62. j6^/^ WESTERN MILITARY DIVISIONS. 179 CHAPTEE YII. MILITAET OPEEATIOMS IN MISSOUEl, NEW MEXICO, AND EASTEEN EENTTJCKT-CAP- TUEE OF FOET HENET. i,^^_. OWARD the close of the autumn of 1861, the attitude "~ "" of the contending parties, civil and military, in the great basin of the central Mississippi Valley was ex ceedingly interesting. We left the National army in Southern Missouri, at the middle of November, dis pirited by the removal of their favorite leader, slowly making their way toward St. Louis under their tempo rary commander. General Hunter, while the energetic Confederate leader. General Price, was advancing, and reoccupying the region which the Nationals abandoned.' We left Southem Ken tucky, from the mountains to the Mississippi River, in possession of the Confederates. Polk was holding the western portion, with his head-quarters at Columbus ; General Buckner, with a strongly intrenched camp at Bowling Green, was holding the center ; and Generals Zollicoffer and Marshall and others were keeping watch and ward on its mountain flanks. Back of these, and between them and the region where the rebellion had no serious opposition, was Tennessee, firmly held by the Confederates, excepting in its mountain region, where the most determined loyalty still prevailed. On the 9th of November, 1861, General Henry Wager Halleck, who had been called from California by the President to take an active part in the war, was appointed to the command of the new Department of Missouri.'' He had arrived in Washinarton on the Sth," and on the 19th took the com- . ^ . « Nov., 1861. mand, with Brigadier-General George W. Cullum, an eminent engineer officer, as his chief of staff", and Brigadier-General Schuyler Hamilton as assistant chief. Both officers had been on the staif of General Scott. The head-quarters were at St. Louis. General Hunter, whom Halleck superseded, was assigned to the command of the Department of Kansas.' General Don Carlos Buell had superseded General Sherman, and was appointed commander of the Department of the Ohio ;'' and the Department of Mexico, which included only the territory of New Mexico, was intrusted to Colonel E. R. S. Canby. Such was the arrangement of the military divisions of the territory westward ofthe Alleghanies late in 1861. ^ See page 84. 2 It included Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas, and that portion of Kentucky lying west of the Cumberland Elver. 3 This included the State of Kansas, the Indian Territory, most of Arkansas, and the Territories of Nebraska, Colorado, and Dakota. * This included the State of Ohio, and tho ],ortion of Kentucky lying eastward of the Cumberland Eiver, wbich had forraed a part of Shcrman^s Department of the Cumberland. HENRY WAGEE HALLECK. 180 HALLECK'S TREATMENT OP SECESSIONISTS. General Halleck was then in the prime of life, and he entered upon his duties with zeal and vigor. He was possessed of large mental and physical energy, and much was expected of him. He carefully considered the plan ar ranged by Fremont for clearing the States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis souri, and Arkansas of armed insur gents, and securing the navigation of the Mississippi by sweeping its banks of obstructions, from Cairo to New Orleans.' Approving of it in general, he pushed on the great entei-prise with strong hopes of success. Halleck's first care w^as to establish the most perfect discipline in his army, to overawe the secessionists, and to relieve the loyal people of Missouri of the effects of the dreadful tyranny in flicted by the latter, many of whom were engaged in armed bands in plundering the inhabitants, desolating the property of Union men, and destroying railways and bridges. Refugees were then crowding into the Union lines by thousands. Their miseries cannot be described. Men, women, and children were stripped, plundered, and made homeless. Naked and starving, they sought refuge and relief in St. Louis. Seeiug this, the com mander determined to apply an eflfectual remedy. In a general order, he directed the Provost-Marshal of St. Louis (Brigadier-General Curtis) to in quire into the condition of these refugees, and to take measures for quarteiing them " in the houses of avowed secessionists," and for feeding and clothing them at the expense of that class of citizens, or others known to have been guilty of giving " assistance and encouragement to the enemy." jggj ' He also further ordered" wealthy secessionists to contribute for the support of these refugees, and that all who should not volun tarily do so should be subjected to a levy, either in money, food, clothing, or quarters, to the amount of ten thousand dollars each. This order was rigidly enforced, and many wealthy citizens were made to pay liberal sums. One prominent merchant, named Engel, who ventured to resist the order by appealing to the civil courts, was ordered out of the Department. This was the last appeal of that kind. Determined to put a stop to the continual outflowing of information to . the Confederates from within his lines, Halleck issued some very stringent orders. The earliest of these was Order No. 3,' which forbade i Nov 20 fugitives entering or remaining within his lines, it having been rep resented to him that they conveyed contraband information out of them.' This order Avas a subject of much comment, because of its seeming tender ness for the rebellious slaveholder, and cruelty toward the bondman seeking ^ See page 79. ' "In order to remedy this evil," r.an tho order, "it is directed that no such person be hereafter permitted to enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on tho march, and that any now within such lines be immediately excluded therefrom." POPE IN MISSOURI.— PRICE'S APPEAL. 181 freedom. That it was a mistake, subsequent experience fully demonstra ted; for throughout the war the negro, whether bond or free, was uni formly the friend and helper of the National cause. General Halleck had been misinformed, and upon that misinformation he acted with the best intentions, one of which was to prevent the betrayal of the secret of his camps, and another that he might keep clear of the questions relating to masters and slaves,' in which Fremont had been entangled, to his hurt. In the order of the 4th of December, concerning the treatment of avowed secessionists, Halleck further directed that all rebels found within his lines in the disguise of pretended loyalty, or other false pretenses, or found giving information to the insurgents, should be " arrested, tried, and, if condemned, shot as spies." This and all other orders, concerning the disloyalists by whom he was surrounded, were enforced; and he directed that any one attempting to resist the execution of them should be arrested and imprisoned, to be tried by a military commission. Many offenders being women, it was declared that "the laws of war make no distinction of sex." To enforce these laws, it was necessary to use military power, especially in the suppression of the bands of marauders who were then sweeping over the country. He accordingly sent General John Pope, who, as we have already observed, had been active in that Department, to disperse the encampments of these guerrillas in Western Missouri. Pope had been acting with vigor during the latter part of summer and the early autumn. The people of a district where outrages were committed had been held responsible for them. He had quartered his troops on such inhabitants, and required from them contributions of horses, mules, provisions, and other necessaries. He had organized Committees of Safety, on which were placed prominent secession ists, charged to preserve the peace ; and in a short time comparative good order was restored. Now Pope was charged with similar duties. On the 7th of December, he was assigned to the command of all the National troops between the Missouri and Osage Rivers, which included a considerable por tion of Fremont's army that fell back from Springfield. Price was advanc ing. He had made a most stirring appeal by proclamation to the Missouri ans to come and help him, and so help themselves to freedom and independ ence. The Governor (Jackson), he said, had called for fifty thousand men, but only five thousand had responded. " Where are those fifty thousand men ?" he asked. "Are Missourians no longer true to themselves? Are they a timid, time-serving race, fit only for subjugation to a despot ? Awake ! my countrymen," he cried, " to a sense of what constitutes the dignity of the true greatness of a people Come to us, brave sons of the Mis souri Valley ! Rally to our standard ! I must have the fifty thousand men. . . . . Do you stay at home for protection? More men have been murdered at home than I have lost in five successive battles. Do you stay at home to secure terms with the enemy ? Then I warn you the day soon may come when you will be surrendered to the mercies of that enemy, and your substance given to the Hessians and the Jayhawkers." . . . Leave ' Letter of General Halleck to General Asboth, December 20, 1861. ' A name given to certain rangers or guerrilla bands of Kansas and especially those under Colonel Jenni- son, who was active against the insurgents. 182 BATTLE ON THE BLACKWATER. your property to take care of itself Come to the Army of Missouri, not for a week or a month, but to free your country. ' Strike till each armed foe expires ! Strike for your country's altar fires! Strike for the green graves of your sires, God and your native land !' Be yours the oflaoe to choose between the glory of a free country and a just government, or the bondage of your children. I, at least, will never see the chains fastened u]3on my country. I will ask for six and a half feet of Mis souri soil in which to repose, for I will not live to see my people enslaved." This appeal aroused the disaffected Missourians, and at the time when Pope was ordered to his new field of operations, about five thousand recruits, it was said, were marching from the Missouri River and beyond to join Price. To prevent this combination was Pope's chief desire. He encamped thirty or forty miles southwest from Booneville, at the middle of Decem ber, and after sending out some' of the First Missouri cavalry, under Major Hubbard, to watch Price, who was then at Osceola with about eight thou sand men, and to prevent a reconnoissance of the main column of the Nation als, he moved his whole body" westward and took position in the " ^ig^j/^' country between Clinton and Warrensburg, in Henry and John son counties. There were two thousand Confederates then near his lines, and against these Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, of the Seventh Mis souri, was sent with a considerable cavalry force that scattered them, Having accomplished this, Brown returned to the main army,' JDec.18. S y ' •" which was moving on Warrensburg. Informed that a Confederate force was on the Blackwater, at or near Milford, North of him, Pope sent Colonel Jefferson C. Davis and Major Mer rill to flank them, while the main body should be in a position to give immedi ate aid, if necessary. Davis found them in a wooded bottom on the west side of the Blackwater, opposite the mouth of Clear Creek. His forces were on the east side, and a bridge that spanned the Blackwater between them was strongly guarded. This was carried by assault, by two companies of the Fourth Regular Cavalry, under Lieutenants Gordon and Amory, supported by five companies of the First Iowa cavalry. Gordon led the charge in per son, and received several balls through his cap. The Confederates were- driven, the bridge was crossed, and a pursuit was pressed. Unable to escape, the fugitives, commanded by Colonels Robinson, Alexander, and Magoffin (the latter a brother of the Governor of Kentucky), surrendered. The captives were one thousand three hundred in number, infantry and cav alry ; and with them the Nationals gained as spoils about eight hundred horses and mules, a thousand stand of arms, and over seventy wagons loaded with tents, baggage, ammunition, and supplies of every kind. At about midnight the prisoners and spoils were taken into Pope's camp, and the next day the victors and the vanquished moved back in the direc tion of Sedalia, Pope's starting-place. In the space of five days the infantry had marched more than one hundred miles, and the cavalry double that distance. During that time they had captured nearly fifteen hundred pri soners, with the arms and supplies just mentioned. They had swept the PRICE DRIVEN OUT OP MISSOURL 183 whole country west of Sedalia, in the direction of Kansas, far enough to foil the attempts of recruits to reach Price in any considerable numbers, and to compel him to withdraw, in search of safety and subsistence, toward the borders of Arkansas. Among the captured on the Blackwater, were many wealthy and influen tial citizens ot Missouri. This event dealt a stunning blow to secession in that State for the moment, and Pope's short campaign gave great satisfaction to all loyal people. Halleck complimented him on his " brilliant success," and feeling strengthened there by, he pressed forward with more vigorous measures for the complete suppression of the rebellion in his Department westward of the Mississippi River. On the 23d of December he declared martial law in St. Louis ; and by proclamation on the 25th this system of rule was extended to all railroads and their vicinities.' At about the same time General Price, who had found himself relieved from immediate danger, and encouraged by a promise of re-enforcements from Arkansas, under Gen eral Mcintosh, concentrated about twelve thousand men at Springfield, where he put his army in comfortable huts, with the intention of remaining all winter, and pushed his picket-guards fifteen or twenty miles northward. This demonstration caused Halleck to concentrate his troops at Lebanon, the capital of Laclede County, northeastward of Springfield, early in February, under the chief command of General (late Colonel) S. R. Curtis. These were composed of the troops of Generals Asboth, Sigel, Davis, and Prentiss. In the midst of storms and floods, over heavy roads and swollen streams, the combined forces moved on Springfield" in three columns, the right under General Davis, the center under General Sigel, and " jg^j ' Ihe left under Colonel (soon afterward General) Carr. On the same day they met some of Price's advance, and skirmishing ensued ; and on the following day about three hundred Confederates attacked Curtis's picket-guards, but were repulsed. This feint of offering battle was made by Price to enable him to effect a retreat. On the night of the 12th and 13th' he fled from Springfield with his whole force. Not a man of them was to be seen when Curtis's vanguard, the Fourth Iowa, entered the town at dawn the next morning. There stood their huts, in capacity sufficient to accommodate ten thousand men. The camp attested a hasty departure, for remains of supper and half-dressed sheep and hogs, that had been slain the previous evening, were found. Price retreated to Cassville, closely pursued by Curtis. Still southward he hastened, and was more closely followed, his rear and flanks continually harassed during four days, while making his way across the Arkansas border to Cross Hollows.^ Having been re-enforced by Ben McCulloch, near a range of hills called Boston Mountains, he made a stand at Sugar Creek, where, in a brief engagement, he was defeated," and was again compelled to fly. He halted at Cove Creek, where, on the 25th, he reported ''^*' ^"" 1 The proclamation of the 25th was issued in consequence of the destruction or disability, on the 20th of about one hundred miles of tho Missouri railroad, by some men returned from Price's army, assisted by inhab itants along tho lino of the road, acting by pre-concert. On the 28d, Halleck issued an order, fixing the penalty of death for that crime, and requiring the towns and counties along tho line of any railway thus destroyed, to rejtair tho damages and pay the expenses. ' ' During the operations of this forward movement of the National troops, Brigadier-Gener.al Price, son of the chief, was captured at Warsaw, together with several officers of the elder Price's staif, and about 500 recruits. S Dec. 2, 1861. 184 HUNTER'S OPERATIONS IN KANSAS. to his wandering chief, Jackson, saying, " Governor, we are confident of the future." General Halleck, quite as " confident of the future," was now able to report to his Government that Missouri was effectually cleared of the armed forces of insurgents who had so long infested it, and that the National flag was waving in triumph over the soil of Arkansas. In accomplishing this good work, no less than sixty battles and skirmishes, commencing with Boone ville at the middle of June,' and ending at the middle of the suc ceeding February," had been fought on Missouri soil, resulting in an aggregate loss to both parties, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of about eleven thousand men.'' While Halleck was thus purging Missouri, Hunter, with his head-quarters at Fort Leavenworth, was vigorously at work in Kansas, on the west of it.' The general plan of his treatment of the rebellion, which was rife on the Missouri border, was set forth in a few words addressed to the Trustees of Platte City,' concerning an outlaw named Gordon, who, with a guerrilla band, was committing depredations and outrages of every kind in that region. Hunter said, "Gentlemen, I give you notice, that unless you seize and deliver the said Gordon to me at these head-quarters within ten days from this date, or drive him out of the country, I shall send a force to your city with orders to reduce it to ashes, and to burn the house of every secessionist in your county, and to carry away every negro. Colonel Jennison's regiment will be intrusted with the execution of this order." Jennison, who was the commander of the First Kansas cavalry, was well known to the people as an ardent anti-slavery champion during the civil war in Kansas in 1855,'' and a man ready to execute any orders of the kind. That letter, the power given to Jennison, and a proclamation issued by the latter a short time before,' made the secessionists very circumspect for a while, and " all quiet in Kansas " was a frequent report inthe Spring of 1862. Active and armed rebellion was at this time co-extensive with the slave- labor States. Colonel Canby found it ready to meet him even in the remote region of New Mexico, in the shape of invaders from Texas. Like Halleck and Hunter, he attacked the monster quickly and manfully. ^ See page 540, volume I. 2 Several of these skirmishes were so light, and so unimporljint in their bearings upon the gi'eat issues, that the narrative of this general history baa not been unduly extended by a record of them. Such record belongs to a sti-ictly statistical and military history of the war. During the last fortnight of the month of Deceraber, 1S61, the Nationals in Missouri captured 2,500 prisoners, including 70 commissioned officers ; 1,200 horses and mules; 1,100 stand of arms; 2 tons of powder; 100 wagons, and a large amount of stores and camp equipage. 3 Preparations had been made for organizing an army in Kansas to go through the Indian Territory and a portion of Southwestern Arkansas and so on to New Orleans, to co-operate with the forces that were to sweep down the Mississippi and along its borders. James H. Lane, then a member of the United Stiites Senate, was to command that army. Owing to some difficulties, arising from misapprehension, the expedition was abandoned, and Lane took his seat in tho Senate at Washington. < See note 2, page ISl. ^Jennison had said to the inhabitants of Lafayette, Cass, Johnson, and Pettis Counties, in Missouri: " For four months our armies have marched through your country. Tour professed friendship has been a fraud ; your oaths of allegiance have been shams and perjuries. Vou feed tho rebel army, you act as spies while claiming to bo true to tho Union Neutrality is ended. If you are patriots, you mnst fight; if you aro traitors, you must be punished." .... He told them that the rights and property of Union men would be everywhere respected, but "traitors," ho said, " will everywhere be treated as outlaws — enemies of Godanii men, too base to hold any description of property, nnd having no rights which loyal men are bound to respect The last dollar and the last slave of rebels will bo taken and turned over to the General Government Playin? war is pliiyed out, and whenever Union troops aro fired upon the answer will boom from cannon, and desolation will follow." TREASON IN NEW MEXICO. 185 We have seen the loyal people of Texas bound hand and foot by a civil and military despotism after the treason of General Twiggs.' The con spirators and their friends had attempted to play a similar game for attaching New Mexico to the intended Confederacy, and to aid Twiggs in giving over Texas to the rale of the Confederates. So early as 1860, Secretary Floyd sent Colonel W. H. Loring, of North Carolina (who appears to have been an instrument of the traitor), to command the Department of New Mexico, while Colonel George B. Crittenden, an unworthy son of the venerable Ken tucky senator, who had been sent out for the same wicked purpose as Loring, was appointed by the latter, commander of an expedition against the Apaches, which was to start from Fort Staunton in the Spring of 1861. It was the business of these men to attempt the corruption of the jiatriotism of the oflicers under them, and to induce them to lead their men into Texas and give them to the service of the rebellion. One of these officers (Lieutenant-Colonel B. S. Roberts, of Vermont), who had joined Crittenden at Fort Staunton, perceiving the intentions of his commander, refused to obey any orders that savored of a treasonable purpose, and procuring a furlough, he hastened to Sante Fe, the head-quarters of the Department, and denounced Crittenden to Colonel Loring. He was astonished when, instead of thanks for his patriotic service, he received a reproof for meddling with other people's business, and discovered that Loring was also playing the game of treason. Roberts was ordered back to Fort Staunton, but found an opportunity to warn Captain Hatch, the commander at Albuquerque, and Captain Morris, who held Fort Craig (both on the Rio Grande), as well as other loyal officers, of the treachery of their superiors. The iniquity of Loring and Crittenden soon became known to the little army under them, and they found it necessary to leave suddenly and unattended. Of the twelve hundred regular troops in New Mexico, not one proved treacherous to his country. Loring and Crittenden made their way to Fort Fillmore, not far from El Paso and the Texas border, then commanded by Major Isaac Lynde, of Ver mont. They found a greater portion of the officers there ready to engage in the work of treason. Major Lynde professed to be loyal, but, if so, he was too inefficient to be intrusted with command. Late in July, while leading about flve hundred of the seven hundred troops under his control toward the village of Mesilla, he fell in with a few Texas insurgents, and, after a slight skii-mish, fled back to the fort. He was ordered to evacuate it, and march his command to Albuquerque. Strange to say, the soldiers were allowed to fill their canteens with whisky and drink when they pleased. A large por tion of them were drunken before they had marched ten miles, and then, as if by previous arrangement, a Texas force appeared on their flank." The soldiers who were not prostrated by intoxication "'^jsg/^' wished to fight, but, by order of a council of officers, with Lynde at their head, they were directed to lay down their arms as prisoners of war. Lynde's commissary. Captain A. H. Plummer, who held seventeen thousand dollars in Government drafts, which he might have saved, handed them over to Baylor, the commander of the insurgents. For this cowardice or treachery, Lynde was simply dismissed from the army, and Plummer ,was reprimanded * See chapter XI., volume L 186 LOYALTY AND DISLOYALTY IN NEW MEXICO. and suspended from duty for six months. Thus, at one sweep, nearly one- half of the Government troops in New Mexico were lost to its service. The prisoners were paroled, and then permitted to go on to Albuquerque. Their sufferings from thirst on that march were terrible ; some of them seeking to quench it by opening veins and drinking their own blood ! It was now thought that New Mexico would be an easy prey to the Texas insurgents. Miguel A. Otero, its delegate in the National Con- "^se/^' gi"ess, had endeavored, by a published address," to incite the in habitants of New Mexico to rebellion, while Govemor Abraham Rencher, of North Carolina, took measures to defend the Territory against the insurgents. His successor, Henry Connolly, was equally loyal. So also were the people ; and when, at this junc ture of affairs. Colonel Canby arrived as Commander of the Department, he was met with almost universal sym pathy. He successfully appealed for a regiment of volunteers to the Gover nor of the neighboring Territory of Colorado, and these, with his few regular troops and New Mexico levies, made quite a respectable force in numbers, »^iaMv*jB'-- -' r~\ ^^^^ Canby was informed that Colonel i f^^^y^ '' f Henry H. Sibley, a major by brevet in f 1^ ' Afx J the National army, and a Louisianian, who had abandoned his flag and put himself at the head of a band of insur gents known as Texas Rangers, some of them of the worst sort, was invading the Territory. His force was for midable in numbers (twenty-three hundred) and in experience, many of them having been in successive expeditions against the Indians. Sibley issued a proclamation to the people of New Mexico, in which he denounced the National Govemment and demanded from the inhabitants aid for and allegiance to his marauders. Confident of success, he moved slowly, by way of Fort Thorn, and found Canby at Fort Craig, on the ' ^S62^^' ^^° Grande,' prepared to meet him. A reconnoissance satisfied him that, with his light field-pieces, an assault on the fort would be foolish. He could not retreat or remain with safety, and his military knowledge warned him that it Avould be very hazardous to leave a well- garrisoned fort behind him. So he forded the Rio Grande at a point below Fort Craig, and out of reach of its guns, for the purpose of drawing Canby out. In this he was successful. Canby at once thrcAv a force across the river,' to occupy a position on an eminence commanding the fort, which it was thought Sibley might attempt to gain. In the afternoon of the following day, some cavalry, under Captain Dun can, and a battery were sent across, and drew a heavy cannonade from the Texans. The infantry were nearly all thrown into confusion, excepting ,iF HENET n. SinLET. I These consisted of the Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Eegular Infantry, under Captains Selden and Wingate, and the volunteer regiments of Colonels Carson and Pino. BATTLE OF VALVERDE. 187 Colonel Kit Carson's regiment. The "panic was so great that Canby ordered a return of all the forces to the fort. That night the exhausted mules of the Texans became unmanageable, on account of thirst, and scampered in every direction. The National scouts captured a large number of these, and also wagons, by which Sibley was greatly crippled in the matter of trans portation. At eight o'clock the next morning," Canby sent Lieutenant- Colonel Roberts, with cavalry, artillery, and infantry,' across the "^igga.^'' Rio Grande ; and at Valverde, about seven miles north of the fort, they confronted the vanguard of the Texans under Major Pyron, who were making their way toward the river. The batteries opened upon Pyron, and he recoiled. Desultory fighting, mostly with artillery, was kept up until some time past noon, when Canby carae upon the field, and took command in person. In the mean time, Sibley, who was quite ill, had turned over his command to Colonel Thomas Green, of the Fifth Texas regiment. Canby, considering victory certain for his troops, was preparing to make a general advance, when a thousand or more Texans, foot and horse, under Colonel Steele, who had gathered in concealment in a thick wood and behind sand hills, armed with carbines, revolvers, and bowie-knives, suddenly rushed forward and charged furiously upon the batteries of McRea and Hall. The Texas cavalry, under Major Raguet, charged upon Hall's battery, and were easily repulsed ; but those on foot, who made for McRea's battery, could not be checked. His grape and canister shot made fearful lanes in their ranks, but they did not recoil. They captured the battery, but not without encountering the most desperate defenders of the guns in McRea and his artillerists, a large number of whom, with their commander, were killed. McRea actually sat upon his gun, fighting his foe with his pistol until he was shot. The remainder of the Nationals, with the excep tion of Kit Carson's men and a few others, panic-stricken by the fierce charge of the Texans, fled like sheep before wolves, and refused to obey the com mands of officers who tried to rally them. That flight was one of the most disgraceful scenes of the war, and Canby was compelled to see victory snatched from his hand when it seemed secure. The surviving Nationals took refuge in Fort Craig. Their loss was sixty-two killed and one hundred and forty-two wounded. The loss of the Texans was about the same. Sibley well comprehended the situation. The fort could not be taken. ONE OF SIBLEY'S TEXAS BANGEB8.2 1 These were composed of a portion of Roberts's and Colonel Valdez's cav.alry; Carson's volnnteers; the Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Regulars, and two batteries, commanded respectively by Captain McEea and Lieutenant Hall. 2 These Eangers who went into the rebellion were described as being, many of them, a desperate set of fellows, having no higher motive than plunder and adventure. They were half savage, and each was mounted on a mustang horse. Each man carried a rifle, a tomahawk, a bowie-knife, a pair of Colt's revolvers, and a lasso for catching and throwing tho horses of a flying foe. The above picture is from a sketch by one of Colonel Canby's subalterns. 188 VICTORIES AND FLIGHT OF INSURGENTS. and the spirit shown by a large portion of Canby's troops satisfied him that, notwithstanding his loss of transportation by the capture of his mules and wagons, he need not fear a pursuit. So, passing on and leaving his wounded at Socorro, thirty miles above Fort Craig, Sibley pressed forward to Albu querque, fifty miles farther, which was at once surrendered. His destination was Santa Fe, and he was marching with perfect confidence of success there, when his vanguard, under W. R. Scurry, was met near Fort Union, in the Caiion Glorietta, or Apache Pass, fifteen miles from the capital of New Mexi co, by about thirteen hundred National troops, under Colonel John P. Slough. These were mostly Colorado Volunteers, with a few regulars. A greater part of these had just traversed the mountain wilderness from Denver, and during the latter part of their journey, after hearing of Sibley's approach to Santa Fe, they had marched at the rate of forty miles a day. In that nar row defile, where flanking was out of the question, a very severe fight between the infantry and artillery of both parties occurred," in " '^1862 ^ which the Texans were victorious, after a loss of thirty-six killed and sixty wounded. The National loss was twenty-three 'killed and fifty wounded.' Sibley entered Santa Fe without further resistance. His army was greatly crippled, and the people were either indifferent or actively opposed to him. He seized whatever property might be useful to him, and hoped to hold his position ; but a month had not elapsed before he was compelled to fly back to Albuquerque, which he had made his depot of supplies, for these were threatened by the forces of Colonel Canby, approaching fi-om below. He accomplished that purpose, but was so satisfled that he could not hold New Mexico, that he evacuated Albuquerque on the 12th of S1S62 April,' leaving his sick and wounded in hospitals there and at Santa Fe. After skirmishing with his opponents along the river, each party moving on opposite sides of the stream, and perceiving imminent danger to his whole command, Sibley fled under cover of the night to the mountains, with his scanty provisions on pack mules, dragging his cannon over rugged spurs and along fearful precipices, for ten days. Then he again struck the Rio Grande at a point where he had ordered sup plies to meet him. He then made his way to Fort Bliss,' in c May 4. . . . Texas," a wiser if not a happier man. Canby did not follow him over the mountains, but returned to Santa Fe, and reported to the Secretary of War that Sibley, who had been compelled to evacuate New Mexico, had left behind him, " in dead and wounded, and in sick and prisoners, one-half of his original force." Let us now observe events eastward of the Mississippi River, within the Departments of Generals Halleck' and Buell,'' having a connection with the 1 On the previous morning, in a skirmish with Pyron's Cavalry, Colonel Slough took fifty-seven prisoners, but losing fifteen of his own men. In the fight just recorded. Major Chivlngton, with four Colorado com panies, gained the rear of tho Texans, and was inflicting serious injury upon them, when he heard of Slough's defeat, and wns compelled to withdraw. 2 At Albuquerque, according to Sibley's report, the brothers Raphael and Manuel Armljo were So warmly interested in the Confederate cause that they placed at his disposal stores valued at $200,000. They fled over the mountains with Sibley. Their generosity and sacrifices so touched his henrt, that he expressed a hope that they might not be forgotten by the "Confederate Government" in the flnal settlement. s See page 179. < See page 179. PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT IN KENTUCKY. 189 grand plan for expelling the Confederates from Kentucky, and liberating Tennessee from their grasp. We have seen how the loyalists in the Kentucky Legislature foiled the efforts of the Governor and his political friends to link the fortunes of that State with those of the " Southern Confederacy." These efforts were met, as we have observed, by the occupation of the whole southern portion of the commonwealth by Confederate troops, all of which were within the Depart ment commanded by General Albert _ Sidney Johnston. That officer had .0^''^. been an able veteran iu the army of the Republic, and was then about sixty years of age. He was a Ken tuckian by birth, and his sympathies were with the conspirators. He was on duty in California when the -n-ar was kindling, and was making pre parations, with other conspirators there, to array that State on the side of the Confederacy,' when he was superseded in command by Lieu tenant-Colonel E. V. Sumner, of Mas sachusetts. Johnston then abandon ed his flag, joined the conspirators»in active rebellion, and was appointed by Jefferson Davis to the command of the " Western Department," with his head-quarters at Nashville. Under the shadow of Johnston's protection, and behind the cordon of Confederate troops stretched across the State, the disloyal politicians of Kentucky proceeded to organize an independent government for the com monwealth. They met at Russellville, the capital of Logan County, in the southern part of the State, on the 29th of October. They drew up a mani festo, in which the grievances of Kentucky were recounted, and the action of its Legislature denounced. They then called upon the people of the State to choose, " in any manner" they might see fit, " delegates to attend a 'Sovereignty convention,'" at Russellville, on the 18th of November. At the appointed time, about two hundred men from fifty-one counties, not elected by the people, assembled, and with difficult gravity adopted a " Declaration of Independence," and an " Ordinance of Seces sion,"" and then proceeded to organize a " Provisional Govern- jgj^ ' ment," by choosing a governor, a legislative council of ten, a treasurer, and an auditor.'' Bowling Green was selected as the new capital of the State. Commissioners were appointed to treat with the " Confede rate Government," for the admission of Kentucky into the league;' and before the close of December the arrangement was made, and so-called ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON. 1 Annual Cyclopajdia for 1S62. Article — A. S. Johnston. '^ George W. Johnson, of Sc^tt County, was chosen Governor. The ministers of the Legislative Council were : William B. Machin, John W. Crockett, James P. Bates, James 8. Critman, Philander R. Thompson, J. P. Burnside, H. W. Bruce, J. W. Moore, E. M. Bruce, and George B. Hodge. 3 Tho Commissioners wero : Henry C. Burnett, W. E. Simons, and William Preston. 190 THE WAR IN SOUTHERN KENTUCKY. *Dec. 16. representatives of that great commonwealth were chosen by the " Legisla^ tive Council"" to seats in the "Congress" at Richmond.' The '^ise/*' People had nothing to do with the matter, and the ridiculous farce did not end here. All through the war, disloyal Kentuckians pretended to represent their noble old State in the supreme council of the conspirators, where they were chosen only, a great portion of that time, hy the few Kentuckians in the military service of Jefferson Davis. While these political events in Kentucky were in progress, military movements in that quarter were assuming very important features. General Johnston concentrated troops at Bowling Green, and General Hardee was called from Southeastern Missouri, to supersede General Buckner in com mand there. The forces under General Polk at Columbus were strength ened, and Zollicoffer, having secured the important position of Cumber land Gap, proceeded to occupy the rich mineral and agricultural districts around the upper waters of the Cumberland River. He issued a proclamation' to the people of Southeastern Kentucky, declaring, in the set phrases used by all the instruments of the conspirators, when about to plant the heel of military despotism upon a community, that he came as their " liberator from the Lincoln despotism " and the ravages of " Northern hordes," who were " attempting the subjugation of a sister Southern State." In the mean time. General Buell had organized a large force at LouisviUe, with whioh he was enabled to strengthen various advanced posts, and throw forward, along the line of the railway toward Bowling Green, about forty thou sand men, under General Alexander McD. McCook. As this strong body advanced, the vanguard of the Confederates, under General Hindman (late member of Con gress from Arkansas), fell back to the southern bank of the Green River, at Mumfordsville, where that stream was spanned by one of the most costly iron bridges in the country.^ This was partially destroyed, in order to impede the march of their pursuers. The latter soon con structed a temporary one. For this pur pose, a greater portion of Colonel Auguste Willich's German regiment (the Thirty- second Indiana), forming McCook's vanguard, were thrown across the river, where they were attacked," at Rowlett Station, by a regiment of mounted Texas Rangers, under Colonel Terry, supjjorted by two buell's nEAD-QTJAKTEKS AT LOITISVILLE.^ ' These were : Henry C. Burnett, John Thomas, Thomas L. Burnett, S. H. Ford, Thomas B. Johnson, George W. Ewing. Dr. D. V. White, John M. Elliott, Thomas B. Monroe, and George B. Hodge. On the day when these men were chosen by the " Council," two of fhem — Henry C, Burnett nnd Thomns Monroe— were sworn in at Richmond as members ot the Confederate Senate. Of such usurpers of the political rights of the people, the " Confederate Congress," so called, wns composed. 2 This is a view of General BueU's head-quarters on Fourth Street, between Green and Walnut Streets, in the most aristocratic portion oi the city of St. Louis. * See page 351, volume I. BATTLE OF PRESTONBURG. 191 ^% M- THOMAB C. UINDMAN IN 1858. '^; regiments of infantry and a battery of six guns. The Nationals, though greatly outnumbered, and attacked chiefly by cavalry and artillery, repulsed the assailants with ball and bayonet, killing Terry and thirty-two others, wounding about fifty, and losing eight killed and ten AVOunded themselves.' In this work they were aided by a battery on the north side of the river. Seeing re-enforcements crossing, the Confederates withdrew toward Bowling Green, slowly fol lowed by the Nationals. In the mean time, stirring scenes were in progress in the extreme eastem part of Kentucky, and move ments there caused a brief diversion of a part of Buell's army from the business of pushing on in the direc tion of Tennessee. Humphry Mar shall was again in the field, at the head of about twenty-five hundred insurgents, and at the beginning of January was intrenched in the neighborhood of Paintsville, in Johnston County, on the main branch of the Big Sandy River, that forms the boundary between Kentucky and Virginia. Colonel James A. Garfield, one of the most energetic young men of Ohio, was sent with the Forty-second Ohio and Fourteenth Kentucky regiments, and three hundred of the Second Vir ginia cavalry, to dislodge him. Garfield followed the course of the river in a march of greatest difficulty and danger, at an inclement season. When Marshall heard of his approach, he fled in alarm up the river toward Pres- tonburg. Garfield's cavalry pursued, and, in an encounter with those of Marshall," at the mouth of Jennis's Creek, they killed ° j^j^' some, and drove the others several miles. On the following day, Garfield also set out with about eleven hundred of his force in pursuit, and overtaking Marshall in the forks of Middle Creek, three miles above Pres- tonburg, where he was strongly posted with three cannon on a hill, he gave battle, fought him from one o'clock in the afternoon until dark, and drove him from all his positions. Garfield, having been re-enforced by seven hundred men from Paintsville, was enabled to make the victory for the Unionists at the Battle of Pkestonbueg, as it is called, complete. The National loss was two killed and twenty-five wounded. That of the insur gents was estimated at sixty killed, and about one hundred wounded or made prisoners." The ponderous Marshall was not heard of afterward as a military leader. Because of his services on this occasion, Gar field was commissioned' a brigadier-general of volunteers. » Jan. 11. 1 Report of General Buell to General McClellan, December 18, 1861. General Hindman, in his report on the 19th, said General Terry and three of his regiment were killed, three others slightly wounded, and only six missing. As they left a much larger number dead on the field, Hindman's report must have been incorrect. * Garfield, in his report, says that twenty-seven dead insurgents were found on the field the next morning. The Richmond papers reported the battle as a success for the insurgents, iu which they lost only nine killed and the same number wounded ; while tho loss of the Nationals was "from 400 to 600 killed, and about the same number wounded I" Such was the usual character of the reports in the Confederate newspapers, under the 192 FORCES OF ZOLLICOFFER AND BUELL. This victory on the Big Sandy was soon followed by another of the greatest importance, on the borders of the Cumberland River, farther west ward. Zollicoffer, as we have observed, had established himself in the region of the upper waters of the Cumberland. At the close of the year" he was strongly intrenched at Beech Grove, on the north side of that river, opposite Mill Spring, in Pulaski County, at the bend of the stream where it receives the White Oak Creek. On a range of hills that rise several hundred feet above the river, and with water on three sides of him, he had constructed a series of fortifications ; and on the opposite, or south side of the Cumberland he had also erected supporting works. There he had gathered a large part of his force, composed of infantry, cavalry, and artillery; and there, early in January,' he was joined by Major- General George B. Crittenden, already mentioned,' who had been discharged from the National army because of his intemperance, and had espoused the cause of the conspirators, while a brother was in the military service of the Govemment, in the same State. He ranked Zollicoffer, and assumed the chief command.'' On the same day he inflicted a long and bombastic proclamation on the " people of Kentucky," closing with the appeal, " Will you join in the moving columns of the South, or is the spirit of Kentucky dead ?" At this time General Buell had under his command about one hundred and fourteen thousand men, composed chiefly of citizens of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne sota, Pennsylvania, and loyaUsts of Kentucky and Tennessee, with about one hundred and twenty-six pieees of artillery.' This large army was divided into four grand divisions, commanded respectively by Brigadier- Generals Alexander McDowell Mc Cook, Ormsby M. Mitchel, George H. Thomas, and Thomas L. Critten den, acting as major-generals, aided by twenty brigade commanders. These divisions occupied a line across the State, nearly parallel to that held by the Confederates. McCook's, as we have observed, was in the vicinity of Mumfordsville. Brigadier-General William Nelson was DON 0AKL08 BTJELL. eye ofthe conspirators at Richmond. With the most absurd mendacity, they made the deceived people believe that in every fight tho Confederates won a victory over vastly superior numbers, killing, wounding, and capturing the Nationals by hundreds and thousands. These false reports wero made on purpose to deceive the people, so as to draw raen into the army, and money fi'om the pockets of tho dupes of the conspirators. 1 See page 185. ^ The contributions ofthese States to Buell's army were as follows: Ohio, thirty regiments of infantry, two rnd a half of cavalry, and eight batteries of artillery ; Indiana, twenty-seven regiments of infantry, one and a half regiment of cavalry, and flve batteries of artillery; Illinois, three regiments of infantry; Kentucky, twenty-four regiments of infan.ry, four of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery ; Pennsylvania, three regiments of infantry, two of cavalry, and one battery of artillery ; Michigan, three regiments of infantry, and one battery of artillery ; Wisconsin, three regiments of infantry ; Minnesota, two regiments of infantry and ono battery of artillery ; Tennessee, two regiments of infantry. MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN EASTERN KENTUCKY. 193 about ten miles farther east, with a considerable force, and Mitchel's was held as a reserve to aid McCook in his contemplated attack on Hindman, at Cave City. General Thomas was at Columbia, midway between Bowling Green on the west, and Somerset on the east, and Crittenden was in the extreme eastem part of the State, in the direction of Cumberland Gap. To General Thomas was assigned the duty of attacking the Confederates at Beech Grove and Mill Spring, where, at the middle of January, there were about ten thousand effective men, with nearly twenty pieces of artillery. If successful there, Thomas was to push on over the Cumberland Mountains into the great valley of East Tennessee, seize the railway that traversed that region, and afforded quick communication between the Confederate armies in the West and in Virginia, and liberate the East Tennesseeans from their ter rible thrall. It was a great work to be performed, and Thomas was precisely the man for the task. He entered upon it with alacrity. He divided his force, giving a smaller portion to the care of General Schoepf at Somerset, while he led the remainder in person, in a flank movement from Columbia, by way of Jamestown. He reached Logan's Cross Roads, ten miles from Beech Grove, on the 1 7th," where, during the prevalence of a heavy rain-storm, he gathered his troops and made disposition for an immediate "'''^^^2^' attack. In the mean time the Confederates had left their in trenchments, and had marched to meet him. General Crittenden, satisfled that Zollicoffer's position was untenable against superior numbers,' had determined to take the offensive. The Fishing Creek, which lay between the forces of Thomas and Schoepf, was so swollen by the rain that he hoped to strike the Nationals before these divisions could unite. He called a council of war on the evening of the 18th, when it was unanimously agreed to make the attack." Zollicoffer was immediately ordered to lead the column. He started at midnight, Carroll's Brigade following his.'' Following these as a reserve were the Sixteenth Alabama, Colonel Wood, and Branner's and McClellan's battalions of cavalry. The whole force was between four and five thousand strong. At early dawn, Zollicoffer's advance met the Union pickets. General Thomas had been advised of this movement. He had made dispositions accordingly, and the pickets, encountered by the Confederate vanguard, were of Woolford's cavahry. These fell slowly back, and Wool- ford reported to Colonel M. D. Manson, of the Tenth Indiana, who was in command of the Second Brigade, stationed in advance of the main body. That officer formed his own and the Fourth Kentucky (Colonel S. S. Fry) in battle order, at the junction of the Somerset and Mill Spring Roads, ¦ The lino of intrenchments was so extensive that the force was not snfBcient to defend it thoroughly The faee of the country wns such that there was bad range for artillery. At tho same time, the conntly around the post could not fumish adequate subsistence for the army. At the time in question, tho troops were reduced to a single ration of beef and a half ration of corn a day, the latter being parched, and not issued as meal. ' Correspondence of the Louisville Courier,hy an eye-witness, January 26th, 1862. = Zollicoffer's Brigade was composed of the Fifteenth Mississippi, and the Tennessee regiments of Colonels Oummmgs, Battle, and Stanton, marching in the order here named, with four guns commanded by Captain Eutledgo, inrimediately in the rear ofthe Mississippians. Carroll's troops were composed of the Tennessee regi ments of Colonels Newman Murray, and Powell, with two guns commanded by Captain McClung, marching in the order named Colonel Wood's Sixteenth Alabama wasin reserve. Cavah-y battalions in the re"r; Colonel Branner on herigh^ and Colonel McClellan on the left. Independent companies in front of the advance regi ments. Following tho whole were ambulances, and ammunition and other wagons. ¦Vol. II.— 13 194 BATTLE OF MILL SPRING. about five miles from the latter place, to await attack, and then sent a courier to inform Thomas of the situation. The commanding general hastened forward to view the position, when he found the Confederates advancing through a corn-field, to flank the Fourth Kentucky. He immedi ately ordered up the Tennessee brigade and a section of artillery, and sent orders for Colonel R. L. McCook to advance with his two regiments (Ninth Ohio, Major Kasmmerling, and Second Minnesota, Colonel H. P. Van Cleve) to the support of the vanguard. The battle was opened at about six o'clock by the Kentucky and Ohio regiments, and Captain Kinney's Battery, sta,tioned on the edge of the field, to" the left of the Fourth Kentucky. It was becoming very wann when McCook's reserves came up to the support of the Nationals. Then the Con federates opened a most galling fire upon the little line, which made it waver. At that moment it was strengthened by the arrival of the Twelfth Kentucky, Colonel W. A. Hoskins, and the Tennessee Brigade, who joined in the fight. The conflict became very severe, and for a time it was doubtful which side would bear off the palm of victory. The Nation als had fallen back, and were hotly contesting the possession of a com manding hill, with Zollicoffer's Bri-\ gade, when that General, who was at the head of his column, and near the crest with Colonel Battle's regiment, was killed. The Confederate General Crittenden immediately took his place, and, with the assistance of Carroll's Brigade, continued the struggle for the hill for almost two hours. But the galling fire of the Second Minnesota, and a heavy charge of the Ninth Ohio with bayo nets on the Confederate flank, com pelled the latter to give way, and they retreated toward their camp at Beech Grove, in great confusion, pursued by the victorious Nationals to the sum mit of Moulden's Hill. From that commanding point Standart's and Wet- more's Batteries could sweep the Confederate works, while Kinney's Bat tery, stationed near Russell's house on the extreme left, opened fire upon the ferry, to prevent the Confederates from escaping across the Cumberland. Such was the situation on Sunday evening," at the close of the ° 1862.^^' battle, when Thomas was joined by the Fourteenth Ohio, Colonel Stedman, and the Tenth Kentucky, Colonel Harlan ; also by General 1 References.— The figures 1, 2, 8, 4, 5, and 6, refer to the flrst and succeeding positions ofthe Tenth Indl- ana Regiment in the battle; 8, denotes the second position of tho Fourth Kentucky; 9, the second position of the Second Minnesota; 10, the third position of tho same; nnd 11, tho second position of the Ninth Ohio. CHrEDenATB MAr OF THE BATTLE OF MILL SPUING.^ EESULT OF THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRING. 195 Schoepf, with the Seventeenth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-eighth Ohio. Disposi tion was made early the next morning to assault the Confederate intrenchments, when it was ascertained that the works were abandoned. The beleaguered troops had fled in silence across the river, under cover of the darkness, abandoning every thing in their camp, and destroying the steamer Noble Ellis (which had come up the river with supplies), and three flat-boats, which had carried them safely over the stream.' Destitute of provisions and forage, the sadly-smitten Confederates were partially dispersed among the hills on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee, while seeking both. Crit tenden retreated first to Monticello, and then continued his flight until he reached Livingston and Gainesborough, in the direction of Nashville, in order to be in open communication with head-quarters at the latter place, and to guard the Cumberland as far above it as possible. Thus ended the Battle of Mill Speing (which has been also called the Battle of Beech Grove, Fishing Creek, and Somerset), with a loss to the Nationals of two hundred and forty-seven, of whom thirty-nine were killed, and two hundred and eight were wounded; and to the Confederates of three hundred and forty-nine, of whom _ __ _ , one hundred and ninety-two were _ ^iS^^fei- killed, sixty-two were wounded, and eighty -nine were made prisoners. Among the killed, as we have seen, was General Zollicoffer, whose loss, at that time, was irreparable.' The spoils of victory for Thomas were twelve pieces of artillery, with three caissons packed, two army forges,' one battery wagon, a large amount of am munition and small arms, more than a thousand horses and mules, wagons, commissary stores, intrenching tools, AE.MV FOKGE. > Somo accounts say that the Ellis was set on flre by the shells of the Nationals, but the preponderance of testimony is in favor of the statement in the text. The Confederates hoped to prevent immediate pursuit by leaving nothing on which their foe could cross the river. The Confederates suffered terribly iu their retreat. " Since Saturday night," wrote one of their oflicers, " we had but an hour of sleep, and scarcely a morsel of food. For a whole week we have been marching under a bare subsistence, and I have at length approached that point in a soldier's career when a handful of parched corn may bo considered a first-class dinner. Wo marched the first few days through a barren region, where supplies could not be obtained. I have more than once seen the men kill a porker with their guns, cut and quarter it, and broil it on the coals, and then eat it without bread or salt. The suffering of the men from the want of the necessaries of life, of clothing, and of repose, has been most intense, and a more melancholy spectacle than this solemn, hungry, and weary procession, could scarcely be imagined." 2 Zollicoffer was killed by Colonel Fry, of the Fourth Kentucky. That officer, according to his own state ment in a letter to his wife, was leading his regiment in a charge upon the Mississippians, when hc was mistaken for a Confederate oflicer by Zollicoffer. The latter rode up to Fry, saying, as he pointed toward the Mississip pians, " You are not going to fight your friends, are you ?" At that instant Zollicoffer's aid. Major Henry M. Fogg, of Nashville, fired at Fry, wounding his horse. Fry turned and fired, killing Zollicoffer, not knowing .at tho time his person or his rank. He was covered in a white rubber coat, and on tho previous evening had his beard shaved off, so as not to bo easily recognized. The aid of Zollicoffer was mortally wounded at the same time. Zollicoffer's body was taken to Mnmfprdsvlllo, and sent by a flag of truce to General Hindman. It was honored with a funeral salute at the National camp when it was carried over Green River. s The army forge is a part of the equipment of a corps ot artillery or cavalry in the field, and is portable. It consists of a four-wheeled carriage, with compartments in which a blacksmith's outfit of fuel and implements may be carried, and may be made ready for use in the course of half an hour. The fore and the hind wheels of the carriage may be separated—" nnllmbered "—the same as those of a cannon. Attached to the fore wheels are 196 BEAUREGARD SENT TO THE WEST. and camp equipage. The men in their flight left almost every thing behind them, except the clothing on their persons.' This victory was considered one of the most important that had yet been achieved by the National arms. It broke the line of the Confederates in Kentucky, opened a door of deliverance for East Tennessee, and prepared the way for that series of successful operations by which very soon afterward the invaders were expelled from both States. The Government and the loyal people hailed the tidings of the triumph with great joy. The Secretary of War, by order of the President, issued an order announcing the event, and publicly thanking the officers and soldiers who had achieved the victory.' He declared the purpose of the war to be " to pursue and destroy a rebellious enemy, and to deliver the country from danger ;" and concluded by saymg, " In the prompt and spirited movements and daring at Mill Spring, the nation will realize its hopes," and " delight to honor its brave soldiers." The defeat was severely felt by the Confederates ; for they were wise enough to understand its significance, prophesying, as it truly did, of further melancholy disasters to their cause. The conspirators perceived the urgent necessity for a bold, able, and dashing commander in the West, and believing Beauregard to be such an one, he was ordered to Johnston's " ¦'j™82^^' Department," and General G. W- Smith, who had been an active democratic politician in New Tork city, was appointed to suc ceed him at Manassas.' Crittenden was handled without mercy by the critics. He was accused of treachery by some, and others, more charitable, charged the loss of the battle to his drunkenness. All were compelled to acknowledge a serious disaster, and from it drew the most gloomy conclusions. Then- despondency was deepened by the blow received by the Confederate cause at Roanoke Island soon afterward ;' and the feeling became one of almost despair, when, a few days later, events of still greater importance, and more withering to their hopes, which we are about to consider, occurred on the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers.* So active and skillful had Johnston been in his Department, in strength ening his irregular line of posts and fortifications for nearly four hundred the boxes for supplies and tools, and to the rear wheels the bellows and forge, as seen in the engraving. When needed for nse, the anvil is taken out and placed on a block made from .any neighboring tree, and the work may be speedily begun. 1 Eeport of General Thomas to General Buell, dated at Somerset, Kentucky, Jaft. 81, 1862 ; also the reports of his subordinate officers. 2 On leaving the army at Manassas, Beauregard issued a characteristic address to them, telling them ho hoped soon to be back among them. " I am anxious," he said, " that my brave countrymen here in arms, iVonting the haughty arrny and muster of Northern mercenaries, should thoroughly appreciate the exigency." Allu(Vng to their disquietude because of long inaction, and the disposition to give up, he said it was no time for the men of the Potomac army " to stack their arms, and furl, even for a brief period, the standards they had made glorions' by their manhood." = See page 173. * These are remarkable rivers. The Tennessee rises in the rugged valleys of Southwestern Virginia, between the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains, having tributaries coming ont of North Carolina and Georgia. It sweeps in an immense curve through Northern Alabama for nearly three hundred miles, from its northeast to its northwest corner, and then entering Tennessee, passes through it in a due north course, when, bending a little near the Kentucky border, it traverses that State in a northwesterly direction, and falls into the Ohio seventy miles above its mouth. It drains an area of forty thousand square miles, and is navigable for small vessels to Knoxville, flve hundred miles from its month. The Cumberland Eiver rises on tho western slopes of tho Cumberland Mountains, In Eastern Kentucky, sweeps around iuto Middle Tennessee, nnd turning northward, in a course generally parallel to the Tennessee River, falls into tho Ohio. It is navigable for largo steamboats two hundred and flfty milcs, and for smallw ones, at high water, nearly three hundred miles farther. THE CONFEDERATES IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 197 miles across Southern Kentucky, and within the Tennessee border from Cum- beriand Gap to Columbus on the Mississippi, that when General Thomas had accomplished the first part ofthe work he was sent to perform, it was thought expedient not to push farther, seriously, in the direction of East Tennessee just at that time. It was evident that the Confeder- " ' ates were preparing to make an effort to seize Louis ville, Paducah, Smithville, and Cairo, on the Ohio, in order to command the most important land and water highways in Kentucky, so as to make it the chief battle ground in the West, as Virginia was in the East, and keep the horrors of war from the soil of the more Southern States. As Charleston was defended on the BEOION OP MILITAEY MOVEMENTS IN EASTERN KENTITCKIT.i Potomac, so New Orleans was to be defended by carrying the war up to the banks of the Ohio. Looking at a map of Kentucky and Virginia, and con sidering the attitude of the contending forces in each at that time, the reader may make a striking parallelism which a careful writer on the subject has pointed out.'' Governed by a military necessity, whioh changing circumstances had created, it was determined to concentrate the forces of Halleck and Buell in a grand forward movement against the main bodies and fortifications of the Confederates. Thomas's victory at Mill Spring had so paralyzed that line eastward of Bowling Green, that it was practically shortened at least one- half Crittenden, as we have observed, had made his way toward Nashville, and left the Cumberland ,&lmost unguarded above that city ; yet so moun tainous was that region, and so barren of subsistence, that a flank move- 1 For an account of other movements in Eastern Kentucky, see Chapter III. of this volume. * " If Washington was threatened in the one qufirter, Louisville was the object of attack on the other. As Fortress Monroe was a great basis of operations at one extremity, furnishing men and arms, so was Cairo on the west; aud as the one had a menacing neighbor in Norfolk, so had the other in Columbus. What the line of the Kanawha was to Northern Virginia, penetrating the mountainous region, the Big Sandy, with its tributaries emptying also in the Ohio, was to the defiles of Eastern Kentucky. What Manassas or Richmond was, in one quarter, to the foe. Bowling Green, a great railway center, was to the other. As Virginia was pierced on tho east by the James and the Rappahannock and the Tork, so was Kentucky on the west by the Cumberland and Tennessee ; and as the Unionists held Newport News [Newport-Newce], a point of great strategic Importance at the mouth of one of these streams, so were they in possession of Paducah, a place of equal or greater advantage, at tho entrance to anothei."—Biatory of the War for the Union, by E. A. Duyckinck. 198 CONFEDERATE "WORKS IN KENTUCKY AND TEKNESSEE. PLAN OF THE POETIFICATIONS AT COLUMBUS. ment in that direction would have been performed with much difficulty and danger. The great body of the Confederate troops, and their chief fortifications, were between Nashville and Bowling Green and the Mississippi River, and upon these the combined armies of Halleck and Buell prepared to move. These fortifications had been constructed with skill, as to location and form, under the direction of General Polk, and chiefly hy the labor of slaves. • The principal works were redoubts on Island No. 10, in the Mississippi River, and at Columbus, on its eastern bank; Fort Henry, on the Ten nessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River. The two latter were in Tennessee, not far below the line di viding it from Kentucky, at points where the two rivers approach within a few miles of each other. During the autumn and early winter, a naval armament, projected hy Fremont for service on the Mississippi River, had been in preparation at St. Louis and Cairo, for co-operation with the military forces in the West. It ^jggjj consisted, at the close of January," of twelve gun-boats (some new and others made of river steamers), carrying one hundred and twenty-six heavy cannon and some lighter guns,' the whole commanded by Flag-officer Andrew Hull Foote, of the National navy. Seven of these boats were covered with iron plates, and were built very wide in proportion to their length, so that on the still river waters they might have almost the steadiness of stationary land batteries when discharging their heavy guns. The sides of these armored vessels were made sloping upward and downward from the water-line, at an angle of forty-five degrees, so as to ward off shot and shell ; and they were so constructed that, in action, they could be kept " bow on," or the bow toward the enemy. Their hulls were made of heavy oak timber, with triple strength at the bows, and sheathed ^^'ith wrought- iron plates two and a half inches in thickness. Their engines were very powerful, so as to facilitate movements in action ; and each boat carried a mortar of 13-inch caliber." These vessels, although originally constructed for service on the Missis sippi River, were found to be of sufficiently light draft to allow them to navigate the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, into whose waters they were speedily summoned, to assist an army which General Halleck had placed under the command of General Grant, in an expedition against Forts 1 None of the cannon wero less in metal than 82-ponnder3. Some were 42-ponnders ; some were nine and ten-inch Navy Columbiads, and tho bow guns were rifled 84-potmders. 2 The larger of these vessels wore of the proportion of about 175 feet to 50 feet, and drawing, when armed and laden, about flve feet of water. They were manned by Western boatmen aud Eastern volunteers who had been navigators, commanded by officers of the National navy. PREPARATIONS TO STRIKE THE CONFEDERATE LINE. 199 Henry and Donelson. Notwithetanding repeated assurances had been given to Mallory— the Confederate Secretary of the Navy— that these forts would be, in a great degree, at the mercy ofthe National gun-boats abuilding, that conspirator, who was remarkable for his obtuseness, slow method, and indif ferent intellect, and whose ignorance, even of the geography of Kentucky and Tennessee, had been broadly travestied in " Congress,'" paid no atten tion to these warnings, but left both rivers open, without placino- a sino-le floatmg battery upon either. This omission was observed and taken advan tage of by the Nationals, and eariy in February a large force that had moved from the Ohio River was pressing toward the doomed forts, whose FOOTES FLOTILLA. capture would make the way easy to the rear of Bowling Green. Bv that movement the Confederate line would be broken, and the immediate evacuation of Kentucky by the in^-aders would be made an inexorable necessity. _ Preliminary to this grand advance, and for the double purpose of study ing the topography of the country, and for deceiving the Confederates con cerning the real designs of the Nationals, several reconnoissances, in con siderable force, were made on both sides of the Mississippi River, toward the reputed impregnable stronghold at Columbus. One of these minor expe ditions, composed of about seven thousand men, was commanded by General McClernand, who left Cairo for Fort Jefferson, and other places below, in river transports, on the 10th of January." From that point he penetrated Kentucky far toward the Tennessee line, threatening Columbus "''''¦ and the country in its rear. At the same time. General Paine marched with nary an equal force from Bird's Point, on the Missouri side ofthe Missis sippi, m the direction of Charieston, for the purpose of supporting McClei- SvTeld -"rf r°="' ""'I"- ^^'^^^^^ ^- ^- ^-i^h, moved from Paducah trelmeZ. V *'"''" '^' ^'""''''' ^""^ Cumberland Rivers; and at ¦mln ^""1 T '""'¦" P"*™^^^^^ *^" ^"*^^^ °f the Ohio and Missis sippi, those on the latter threatening Columbus. These reconnoitering ' Pollard's Mrst Year ofthe War, page 287. 200 THOMAS'S MOVEMENT TOWARD EAST TENNESSEE. parties all returned to their respective starting places preparatory to the grand movement. These operations alarmed and perplexed the Confederates, and so puzzled the newspaper correspondents with the armies, that the wildest speculations about the intentions of Halleck and Buell, and the most ridiculous criti cisms of their doings, filled the public journals. These speculations were made more unsatisfactory and absurd by the movements of General Thomas, immediately after the Battle of Mill Spring, who, it was then believed hy the uninformed, was to be the immediate liberator of East Tennessee. He had crossed the Cumberland River in force, after the battle of Mill Spring, at the head of navigation at Waitsboro, and had pushed a column on toward Cumberland Gap. Predictions of glorious events in the great valley between the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains were freely offered and believed; but the hopes created by these were speedily blasted. The movement was only a feint to deceive the Confederates, and was successful. To save East Tennessee from the grasp of Thomas, Johnston sent a large body of troops by railway from Bowling Green by way of Nashville and Chattanooga to Knox ville, and when the Confederate force was thus weakened in front of Buell, Thomas was recalled. The latter tumed back, marched westward, and joined Nelson at Glassgow, in Barren County, on Hardee's right flank. In the mean time, Mitchel, with his reserves that formed Buell's center, had moved toward the Green River in the direction of Bowling Green. These developments satisfied Johnston that Buell was concentrating his forces to attack his front, so he called in his outlying posts as far as " "'186^'^' prudence w^ould allow, and prepared" for the shock of battle, that now seemed inevitable. The combined movements of the army and navy against Forts Henry and Donelson, arranged by Generals Grant and C. F. Smith,' and Commodore Foote, and approved by General Halleck, were now commenced. The chief object was to break the line ofthe Confederates, which, as we have observed, had been established with care and skill across the country from the Great River to the mountains ; also to gain possession of their strongholds, and to flank those at Columbus and Bowling Green, in the movement for clearing the Mississippi River and valley of all warlike obstructions. Fort Henry, lying on a low bottom land on the eastern or righ tbank of the Tennessee River, in Stewart County, Tennessee, was to be the first object of attack. It lay at a bend of that stream, and its guns commanded a reach of the river below it toward Panther Island, for about two miles, in a direct line. The fort was an irregular field-work, with five bastions, the embrasures revetted with sand-bags. It was armed with seventeen heavy guns, twelve of which commanded the river. Both above and below the fort was a > General Smith seems to have been fully Instructed by Fremont with tho plan of his Mississippi Valley campaign. An oflicer under Smith's command (General Lewis Wallace), in a letter to the author, says: " One evening Genernl Smith sent for me. At his head-quarters, before a cozy flre, he opened his map on tho tabic, nnd with flngers now on his map, then twirling his great white moustache, and his gray eyes all the time as bright as the flames in his grate, he painted glowingly the whole Tennessee River campaign. I recollect dis tinctly his stopping at Corinth, and saying emphatically, ' Here will be the decisive battle.' He finished tho conversation by saying that the time was come. The troops at Cairo, strongly re-enforced, and those at Paducah would very shortly embark. In tho mean ttmo I was to go to Smithland, at tho mouth of the Cumber land River, nnd get tho regiments there in condition to march. He handed me an order to that efl'eot, nnd I executed it." EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT HENRY. 201 creek defended by rifle-pits, and around it was swampy land with back water in the rear. It was strong in itself, and so admirably situated for defense, that the Confederates were confident that it could not be cap tured. At the time we are considering, the garrison in the fort and the troops in camp within the outer works, con sisting of less than three thousand men,^ were commanded by Brigadier- General Loyd Tilghman, a Marylander, and graduate of West Point Academy, and it was supplied with barracks and tents sufficient for an ai-my fifteen thousand strong. General Halleck, as we have seen, had divided his large Department into military districts, and he had given the command over that of Cairo to General Grant. This was enlarged late in December," so as to include all of Southern Illinois, Kentucky west of the Cumber- "^Ig'^i"' land River, and the counties of Eastern Missouri south of Cape Girardeau. Grant was therefore commander of all the land forces to be engaged in the expedition against Fort Henry.^ To that end he collected his troops at the close of the reconnoissance just mentioned, chiefly at Cairo and Paducah, and had directed General Smith to gain what information he could concerning the two Tennessee forts. Accordingly, on his retum, that officer struck the Tennessee River about twenty miles below Fort Henry, where he found the gun-boat Lexington patrolling its waters. In that vessel he approached the fort so near as to draw its fire, and he reported to Grant that it might easily be taken, if attacked soon. The latter sent the report to General Halleck. Hearing nothing from their chief for several days afterward. Grant and Foote united, in a letter to Halleck,' in asking permission to storm Fort Henry, and hold it as a base for other operations. On the ' '^'^^^^ following day Grant wrote an urgent letter to his commander setting forth the advantages to be expected from the proposed movement, and on the SOth an order came for its prosecution.* The enterprise was 1 Referenoes. — The A's denote the position of twelve 82-pounder8 ; B, a 24-pounder barbette gun ; C, a 12-inch Columbiad ; D, 24-pounder siege-gun ; E E, 12-pounder siege-guns; P, Flag-staflf; H, Draw-bridge; E, Well; M, Magazine; 0, Ordnance Stores; P, Adjutant's Quarters; Q, Head-quarters; R, Officers' Quarters. "^ These were divided into two brigades — the flrst, under Colonel A. Hieman, was composed of the Tenth Tennessee (his own), consisting of about 800 Irish volunteers, under Lieutenant-Colonel McGavock; Twenty- seventh Alabama, Colonel Hughes; Forty-eighth Tennessee, Colonel Voorhies; Tennessee battalion of cavalry, Lieutenant-Colonel Gantt; and a light battery of four pieces, commanded by Captain Culbertsou. The Second Brigade, under Colonel Joseph Drake, of the Fourth Mississippi Regiment, was composed of his own troops nnder Major Adair; Fifteenth Arkansas, Colonel Gee; Fifty-flrst Tennessee, Colonel Browder; Alabama battalion. Major Garvin; light battery of three pieces. Captain Clare; Alabama battalion of cavalry; an inde pendent company of horse, under Captain Milner; Captain Padgett's Spy Company, and a detachment of Rangers, commanded by Captain Melton. The heavy artillery manned the guns ofthe fort, and were in charge of Captain Jesse Taylor.— Report of General Tilghman to Colonel Mackall, Johnston's Assistant Adjutant- General, Feb. 12, 1862. * The number 5f troops — officers and men — under General Grant's command, who were fit for duty at tho middle of January, 1862, was 24,608. < Grant and his Campaigns, by Henry Oopp^e, pages 39 and 40. 202 OPERATIONS OF GUN-BOATS ON THE TENNESSEE. * Feb. 3, immediately begun, and on Monday morning, the 2d of February,** Flag- officer Foote left Cairo with a little flotilla of seven gun-boats' ''^^^^' (four of them armored), moved up the Ohio to Paducah, and on that evening was in the Tennessee River. He went up that stream cau tiously, because of information that there were torpedoes in it, and on Tuesday morning,* at dawn, he was a few miles below Fort Henry. Grant's army, composed of the divisions of Generals McClernand and C. F. Smith, had, in the mean time, embarked in transports, which were convoyed by the flotilla. These landed a few miles below the fort, and soon afterward the armored gun-boats {Essex^ St, Louis^ Carcmr delet^ and Gincinnati) were sent for ward by Grant, with orders to move slowly and shell the woods on each side of the river, in order to discover concealed batteries, if they existed. At the same time the Conestoga and Tyler were successfully engaged, under the direction of Lieutenant Phelps, in fishing up torpedoes.^ ANDEEW n. FOOTE. 1 These were the armored gun-boats Cinei-miaU (flag-ship), Commander Stembel ; CaroTuielet^ Commander Walke ; Msex, Commander W. D. Porter ; and JSt. Louis, Lieutenant Commanding Paulding ; and the wooden gun-boats Zea>i«(/ton-, Lieutenant. Commanding Shirk; TyZer, Lieutenant Commanding Givin ; BXi.^ Conestoga^ Lieutenant Commanding Phelps. 2 Information concerning these had been given by a woman living near the banks of the river. Tho "Jessie Scouts," a dar ing corps of young men in Granfs army, went into a farm-house wherein a large number of women were gathered for safety. When their fears were allayed, one of the women said that her hus band was a soldier in Fort Henry. *• By to-morrow night, madam," said one of the scouts, "there will be no Fort Henry — our gun boats will dispose of it.''— ''Not a bit of it," was the reply; "they will all be blown up before they get past the Island" — meaning Panther Island. The scouts threatened to carry her away a pri soner if she did not tell all she knew about them, when she told them that torpedoes had been planted all along tbe channels near the island, and gave them- directions as to their locations. Acting upon this information, these little floating mines were searched for, and eight of them were found. They were cylinders of sheet iron, tive feet and a half long, pointed at each end, each contaming, In a canvas bag. seventy-five pounds of gunpowder, with a simple apparatus tor exploding it by means of a percussion cap, to bo operated upon by means of a lever, extending to the outside, and moved by its striking a vessel. These were anchored In the river^ a little below the surface. The rise in the river at this time had made them harmless, and it was found that moisture had ruined the powder. TORPEDO,* * Explanation. — A, the bIicII of tlie Torpedo ; B, air cliambor, made of sheet zinc, and tightly fastened ; C, a chamher, or sact contain ing gunpowder j D, a pistol with the muzzle in the powder, having Ita trigger connected with the rod E. Tbat rod had prongs, which were designed to strike the bottom of a vessel in motion In such a way that It would operate, by a lever and cOrd, on the pistol, dischai^ng it in the powder, and so exploding the torpedo under the bow of the vessel. E, F, heavy iron bands, to which the anchors or weighta, G, G, weM Attached. The torpedo was anchored so as to meet a vessel going against the current, the direction of which is Indicated by tiie arrow. .<5l:a., ATTACK ON FOET HENEY. 203 By the moming of the 6th, every thing was in readiness for the attack, which was to be made simultaneously on land and water. McClernand's division' moved first, up the eastern side of the Tennessee, to get in a position between Forts Henry and Donelson, and be in readiness to storm the former from the rear, or intercept the retreat of the Confederates, while two brigades of Smith's division,' that were to make the attack, marched up the west side of the river to assail and capture half-finished Fort Hieman,^ situated upon a great hill, and from that commanding point bring artillery to bear upon Fort Henry. There had been a tremendous thunder-storm during the night, which made the roads very heavy, and caused the river to rise rapidly. The conse quence was, that the gun-boats were in position and commenced the attack some time before the troops, who had been ordered to march at eleven o'clock in the morning, arrived. The little streams were so swollen that they had to build bridges for the passage of the artillery ; and so slow was the march that they were compelled to hear the stirring sounds of battle without being allowed to participate in it.'' It was at half-past twelve o'clock at noon when the gun-boats opened fire. The flotilla had passed Panther Island by the western channel, and the INTEEIOK OF FOET nENP.y. armored vessels had taken position diagonally across the river, with the unarmored gun-boats Tyler, Lexington, and Conestoga, in reserve. The fort warmly responded to the assault at the beginning (which was made at a distance of six hundred yards from the batteries), but the storm from the ^ This was the -First division, and consisted of two brigades, composed of the Eighth, Eleventh, Eighteenth, Twentieth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-flrst. Forty-fifth, and Forty-eighth Illinois Eegi ments ; with one Illinois cavalry regiment, and fom* independent cavalry companies, and four batteries of artillery. 2 This, the Second division, comprised the Seventh, Ninth, Twelfth, Twenty-eighth, and Forty-first Illinois Eegiments, the Eleventh Indiana, the Seventh and Twelfth Iowa, the Eighth and Thirtieth Missouri, with a considerable body of cavaliy and artillery. 8 So named in honor of Colonel A. Hieman, of Tilghman^s command, who was at the head of a regiment of Irish volunteers. Hieman was a German, and a resident of Nashville. He was an architect, and a man of taste, culture, and fortune. * General Lewis Wallace, who commanded one of the brigades that marched upon Fort Hieman, in a letter to the author soon after the affair, said ; " The whole march was an exciting ono. When we started from our bivouac, no doubt was entertained of our being able to make the fivo miles, take up position, and be ready for 204 OAPTUEE OF FOET HENET. flotilla was so severe, that very soon the garrison became panic-stricken. Seven of the guns were dismounted, and made useless ; the flag-staff was shot away ; and a heavy rifled cannon in the fort had bursted, killing three men. The troops in the camp outside the fort fled, most of them by the upper Dover road, leading to Fort Donelson, and others on a steamer lying just above Fort Henry. General Tilghman and less than one hundred artillerists in the fort were all that remained to surrender to the victorious Foote.' The Confederate commander had behaved most soldierly throughout, at times doing a private's duty at the guns. His gallantry, Foote , said in his report, " was worthy of a better cause." Before two o'clock he hauled down his flag and sent up a white one, and the Battle of Foet Heney °^862*' ceased," after a severe conflict of little more than an hour.' It was all over before the land troops arrived, and neither those on the Fort Henry side of the river, nor they who moved against Fort Hieman, on the other bank of the stream, had an opportunity to fight. The occupants of the latter had fled at the approach of the N^ationals without firing a shot, and had done what damage they could by fire, at the moment of their departure. " A few minutes before the surrender," says Pollard, " the scene in and around the fort exhibited a spectacle of fierce grandeur. Many of the cabins in and around the fort were in flames. Added to the scene were the smoke from the burning timber, and the curling but dense wreaths of smoke from the guns ; the constantly recurring, spattering, and whizzing of fragments of crashing and bursting shells ; the deafening roar of artillery ; the black sides of five or six gun-boats, belching fire at every port-hole ; the volumes of smoke settled in dense masses along the surrounding back-waters ; and up and over that fog, on the heights, the army of General Grant (10,000), deploying around our small army, attempting to cut off" its retreat. In the the assault at the appointed hour. "Never men worked harder. The guns of the fleet opened while we were yet quite a mile from our objective. Our line of march was nearly parallel with tbe line of iire to and from the gun-boats. Not more than seven hundred yards separated us from the great shells, in their roaring, fiery pas sage. Without suffering from their effect, we had the full benefit of their indescribable and terrible noise. Several times I beard tbe shot from tho fort crash against the iron sides of the boats. Tou can imagine the excitement and martial furor the circumstances were calculated to inspire our men with. I was all eagerness to push on with my brigade, but General Smith rode, like the veteran he was, laughing at my impatience, and refusing all my entreaties. lie was too good a soldier to divide his column." 1 Eeport of Commander Foote to the Secretary of the Navy, February 6, 1S62. Commander Stembel and Lieutenant-Commander Phelps were sent to hoist the Union flag over tho fort, and to invite General Tilghuioa on board the commodore's flag-ship. When, an hour later, Grant arrived, the fort and all the spoils of victory were turned over to him. General Tilghman, and Captain Jesse Taylor of Tennessee, who was tbe commander ofthe fort, witb ten other commissioned officers, with subordinates ajid privates in the fort, were made piisoners. It was said that tbe General and somo of his oflicers attempted to escape, but were confronted by sentinels who had been pressed into the service, and who now retaliated by doing their duty strictly. They refused lo let thera pass the line, such being their orders, and threatened to shoot the first man who should attempt it ' The National loss was two killed and thirty-eight wounded, and the Confederates had flve killed and ton wounded. Of the Nationahs, twenty-nine were wounded and scalded on the gun-boat Esseto, Captain "W. D. Porter; somc of them mortally. This calamity was caused by a 32-pound shot entering tbo boiler of the Asm. It had passed through the edge of a bow port, through a bulkhead, into the boiler, In which, fortunately, there was only about sixty pounds of steam. In its passage it took off a portl(m of tbe head of Lieutenant S. B. Brittain, Jr., one of Porter's aids. Ho was a son of the Rev. S. B. Brittain, of Now York, and a very promising youth, not quite seventeen years of age. He was standing very near Commander Porter at the time, with one hand on that ofiicer's shoulder, and the other on his own cutlass. Captain Porter was badly scalded by tho steam that escaped, but recovered. That oflioer was a son of Commodore David Porter, famous in American annals as tho commander of the Essex in the war of 1812 ; and he inherited his father's bravery and patriotism. Tho gun-boat placed under his command was named Easea:, in honor of his father's memory. EFFECTS OF THE CAPTUEE OF FOET HENEY. 205 midst of the storm of shot and shell, the small force outside of the fort had succeeded in gaining the upper road, the gun-boats having failed to notice their movements until they were out of reach. To give them further time, the gallant Tilghman, exhausted and begrimed with powder and smoke, stood erect at the middle battery, and pointed gun after gun. It was clear, however, that the fort could not hold out much longer. A white flag was raised by the order of General Tilghman, who remarked, ' It is vain to fight longer. Our gunners are disabled — our guns dismounted ; we' can't hold out five minutes longer.' As soon as the token of submission was hoisted, the gun-boats came alongside the fort and took possession of it, their crews giving three cheers for the Union. General Tilghman and the small garrison of forty were taken prisoners.'" The capture of Fort Henry was a naval victory of great importance, not only because of its immediate effect, but because it proved the efiiciency of gun-boats on the narrow rivers of the "West, in co-operating with land troops. On this account, and because of its promises of greater achievements near, the fall of Fort Henry caused the most profound satisfaction among the loyal people. Halleck announced the fact to McClellan with the stirring words, " Fort Henry is ours ! The flag of the Union is re-established on the soil of Tennessee. It will never be removed." Foote's report, brief and clear, was received and read in both Houses of Congress, in open session ; and the Secretary of the Navy wrote to him, " The country appreciates your gallant deeds, and this Department desires to convey to you and your brave associates its profound thanks for the service you have rendered." The moral effect ofthe victory on the Confederates was dismal, and drew forth the most serious complaints against the authorities at Richmond, and especially against Mallory, the so-called " Secretary of the Navy." Painful apprehensions of future calamities were awakened ; for it was felt that, if Fort Donelson should now fall, the Confederate cause in Kentucky, Ten nessee, and Missouri; must be ruined. The first great step toward that event had been taken. The National troops were now fii-mly planted in the rear of Columbus, on the Mississippi, and were only about ten miles by land from the bridge over which was the railway connection between that post and Bowling Green. There was also nothing left to obstruct the passage of gun boats up the Tennessee to the fertile regions of Northern Alabama, and carrying the flag ofthe Republic far toward the heart ofthe Confederacy. ' First Year of the War, page 288. 206 GUN-BOAT EXPEDITION UP THE TENNESSEE. CHAPTEE Ylir. THE SIEGE AND CAPTUEE OF FOET DONELSON. HE fall of Fort Henry was followed by immediate preparations for an attack on Fort Donelson, on the Cumberland River. Preparatory to this was a recon noissance up the Tennessee River. Lieutenant-Com mander S. L. Phelps was sent up that river " W62 °' °^ *^® evening of the day of battle," with a detachment of Foote's flotilla, consisting of the Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexington, to reconnoiter the borders of the stream as far toward its upper waters as possible. When he reached the brido-e of the railway between Memphis and Bowling Green, he found the draw closed, its machinery disabled, and some Confederate transports just above it, escaping up the river. A portion of the bridge was then hastily destroyed, and the work of demolition was completed the following day by Commander Walke, of the Carondelet, who was sent up by General Grant for the purpose. The fugitive transports were so closely pursued that those in charge of them abandoned all, and burned two that were laden with military stores.' In this flight an officer left papers behind him which gave an im portant official history of the Confederate naval preparations on the western rivers. Onward the little fliotilla went, seizing Confederate vessels and destroying Confederate public property as far up as Florence, in Alabama, at the foot of the Muscle Shoals. When Phelps appeared in sight of that town, three Confederate steamers there, loaded with supplies, were set on fire, but a part of their contents, with other property on shore, was saved. A delegation of citizens waited upon the commander to ask for kind treatment for then- families, and the salvation of the bridge that spanned the Tennessee there. He assured them that women and children would not be disturbed, as he and his men were not savages ; and as to the bridge, being of no military ac count, it should be saved. Returning, Lieutenant Phelps recruited a number of loyal Tennesseeans, seized arms and other Confederate property in several places, and caused the ^ " The flrst one flred," says Lieutenant Phelps, In his report to Commodore Foote, " bad on board a quantity of submarine batteries ; the second one wns freighted with powder, cannon-shot, grape, balls, &c Fearini: an explosion from the flred boats, I had stopped at the distance ot a thousand yards; but even there our skylights were broken by the concussion." The boat was otherwise injured; and he said, "the whole river for half a mile round about was completely beaten up by tho falling fragments and tbe shower of shot, grape, balls, &c." He also said that the house of a reported Unionist was blown to pieces. It was believed that the vessels wero fired In front of It for the purpose of destroying it. FOOTE IN THE PULPIT AT OAIEO. 207 a flight of a considerable number of troops from Savannah, on the eastern bank of the river, which he had prepared to attack. His reconnoissance was a perfect success. It discovered the real weakness of the Confederacy in that direction, the feasibility of marching an army into the heart of the Con federacy, and, better than all, it developed the most gratifying evidences of genuine Union feeling in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. The river banks in places were crowded with men, women, and children, who greeted the old flag with the greatest enthusiasm. " I was assured at Savannah," he said, "that, of the several hundred troops there, more than one-half, had we gone to the attack in time, would have hailed us as deliverers, and gladly enlisted with the National forces." Over and over again he was assured that nothing but the dreadful reign of terror then prevailing kept thousands from openly expressing their attachment to the old flag. " Bring us a small organized force, with arms and ammunition," they said, " and we can maintain our position.'" The report of this reconnoissance was very cheering, and it was deter mined to capture Fort Donelson as speedily as possible, and then, with a heavy force, march across Tennessee and penetrate Alabama. Foote had already hurried back to Cairo with the Cincinnati, Essex, and St. Louis, to prepare mortar-boats for the new enter prise, leaving Commander Walke, of the Carondelet, in charge of a portion of his flotilla at Fort Henry. With the spirit of the old Puritans (from whom he was descended'), who were everr eady to fight or pray, as circum stances might require, he went into the pulpit of the Presbyterian church at Cairo, on the Sunday after the capture of Fort Henry,' and preached a stirring sermon from the words ot J esus — Let not your hearts be troubled. Ye believe in God ; believe also in me." He poured forth eloquent sentences ifl humble thanks to Almighty God for the recent victory, and inspired all who heard him with burning zeal in the National cause. General Grant, at the same time, was making vigorous preparations for attacking Fort Donelson." Re-enforcements were arriving in Cairo, where » Eeport of Commodore Foote, Feb. 6th, 1S62. " He was a son of Senator Samuel Foote, of Connecticut, whose resolution concerning the public lands occasioned tbe famous debate in the Senate of the United States between Daniel Webster and Eobert Y. Hayne. * The congregation were disappointed by the non-appearance of their pastor at tbe proper time, and Foote was invited to conduct the religious services of^the occasion. 4 This represents a mortar-boat. They were constructed for strength and steadiness of position. On a broad float were walls of wood, about eight feet in height, plated with iron on the outside, and sloping, so as to more easily ward off shot. In each was a single heavy mortar, with ammunition below water-mark, a tent for shelter, and other conveniences. * The following named oflicers composed General Grant's personal Staff at this time : Colonel J. D. Web ster, Chief of Staff ; Colonel J. Riggin, Jr., Volunteer Aid ; Captain J. A. Eawlins, Assistant Adjutant-General ; Captains 0. B. Logan and W. S. Hillyer, Aids ; nnd Lieutenant-Colonel V. B. McPherson, Chief Engineer. According to the report of the Adjutant-General, Grant had under him In the district of Cairo, on the 10th of January, 1863, 26,875 men, officers and privates. 208 PEEPAEATIONS TO MAECH AGAINST FOET DONELSON. they were rapidly gathering. He reorganized his army, with McClernand and Smith at the head of the principal divisions, as before, while a third division was formed of small proportions at first, but destined to be enlarged by six regiments sent around by water. The latter division was under the command of Lewis Wallace, of the faraous Eleventh Indiana Zouave Regi ment,' who was promoted to be a brigadier-general on the day of the capture of Fort Henry.° With McClernand's division were the field batteries of Schwartz, Taylor, Dresser, and McAllister ; and with Smith's were the heavy batteries of Richardson, Stone, and Walker, the whole under the command of Major Cavender, chief of artillery. On the llth, General Grant called a council of war, which was composed of his division commanders and several acting brigadiers. " Shall we march on Donelson, or wait for further re-enforcements ?" was the question con sidered. Information that heavy re-enforcements were hastening toward that stronghold carried a decision in favor of an immediate march against it ; and in general field orders the next morning," Grant directed " ^i8J2^^' one of McClernand's brigades to move at once by the telegraph road directly upon Fort Donelson, and to halt within two miles of it ; his other three brigades to march by the Dover Ridge road, to within the same distance, to unite with the first in fonning the right wing in the invest ment of the fort. Two of Smith's Brigades were to follow by the Dover Road, and these were to be fol lowed, in turn, by the troops on the left bank of the river, then occupying Fort Hieman, as soon as they could be sent forward. Smith was directed to occupy the little village of Dover, on the river bank, a short mile above the fort, if possible, and thus cut off the retreat of the Confederates up the stream. Let us observe the character and strength of the works to be assailed, called Fort Donelson. In the center of Stewart County, in Tennessee, was its shire town of Dover, situated on the left bank of the Cumberland River, where that stream, running nearly due north, makes an abrupt tum to the westward, and, after flowing about half a mile, as suddenly turns to the northward. At this turn, about a mile below Dover, Fort Donelson was constructed, with two water batteries near the river's edge, and all so arranged as to have a large number of guns trained directly down the stream. The country in that vicinity is broken into a singular conglomerate of hills and knolls, dividied by deep valleys and ravines, rendering possession easy, and attack very difficult. Upon one of these hills, terminating at the river, and broken by hollows. Port Donelson was built. Its lines were irregular, and inclosed almost one hundred acres of land. Below it was Hickman's Creek, 1 See page 516, volume I. His commission was dated September 8d, 1861. CHAEACTEE AND STEENGTH OF FOET DONELSON. 209 a sort of back-water of the Tennessee, seldom fordable, excepting at the dis tance of a mile or more from the river. Just above the fort, and between it and Dover, was a small creek, flowing through a ravine. The water batteries were admirably planted for commanding the river approaches from below. They had strong epaulments, or side works, and '"-'^^^^m::.. LOWEa WATEE EATTEKT. tlieir embrasures were revetted with coffee-sacks filled with sand. The lower or principal battery was armed with eight 32-pounders, and one 10-inch Columbiad; and the other bore a heavy rifled cannon that carried a 128- pound bolt, flanked by two 32-pound carronades.' The only guns in the fort (which was at a mean elevation above the river of nearly one hundred feet) were four light siege-guns, a 12-pound howitzer, two 24-pounders, and one 64-pound howitzer. Back of the fort the forest was cut down, and sup porting field works were erected for the use of infantry and artillery. Still farther back, at the mean distance of a mile from the fort, was an irregular and detached line of light intrenchments for riflemen, fronting landward, with a parapet of logs and earth, which commenced at Hickman's Creek, and extended to a back-water on Hysmith's farm, above Dover, thus completely surrounding the fort and the town landward. In front of these intrench ments was a row of slashed timber, forming strong abatis. Altogether, the post seemed to have been made by nature and art almost impregnable. And within these intrenchments, when Grant appeared before them to make an assault, were more than twenty thousand effective men." It was expected ^ A carronade is a short piece of ordnance, liaving a large caliber, and a chamber for the powder like a mortar. It is similar to the howitzer. Its name is derived from Carron, a place in Scotland, where it was first manufactured. ^ These consisted of thirteen regiments of Tennessee troops, two of Kentucky, six of Mississippi, one of Texas, two of Alabama, four of Virginia, two Independent battalions of Tennessee infantry, and a regiment of cavalry, under the afterw.ard famous leader Colonel A. B. Forest With these were artillerymen for manning six batteries of light cannon, and seventeen heavy guns. YOL. II.— 14 210 DISPOSITION OF FOECES FOE BATTLE. » Feb., 1862. that this force behind fortifications would check the further advance of the Nationals up the Cumberland, and thus secure the safety of Nashville. Johnston clearly perceived the importance of the post, and when it was threatened by the attack on Fort Henry, which was only twelve miles dis tant, he gave it all the re-enforcements in his power. " I determined," he said, " to fight for Nashville at Donelson, and have the best part of my army to do it," and so he sent sixteen thousand troops there, retaining only fourteen thousand men to cover his front at Bowling Green.' It is difficult to conceive how a veteran soldier like Johnston could have intrusted a business so important as the command of so large a force, on so momentous an occasion, to such weak men as Gideon J. Pillow and John B. Floyd, who were successively placed in chief command of Fort Donelson, at that time. But so it was. Pillow had arrived there on the 10th of the month," and with the aid of Major Gilmer, General Johnston's chief engineer, had worked diligently in strengthening the de fenses. On the 13th he was superseded by Floyd, who, as we have observed, had fled from Virginia with his followers.' He had been ordered from Cum berland City by General Johnston, to hasten to Fort Donelson, and take chief command. He arrived there, with Virginia troops, on the morning of the 13th. General Simon B. Buckner was there at the head of re-enforcements from Bowling Green, and he was the only one of the three possessed of suf ficient ability and military knowledge to conduct the defense with any hope of success ; yet he was subordinate to the other two, until, as we shall observe presently, their fears overcame their honor, and in the hour of extreme necessity they invested him with the chief command, and deserted him. The morning ofthe 12th' was 5 Feb. -.- . r 1 like one m sprmg, so warm and balmy was the atmosphere. At an early hour, the divisions of McClernand and Smith, preceded by cavalry, in all about fifteen thousand men, began their march over the hilly country toward Fort Donelson, leaving behind them a brigade at Fort Hieman, under General Wallace, who was placed in command of that post and Fort Henry. At the same time, Foote was moving up the Cumberland with his gun-boats, convoying transports filled with troops that were to constitute Wallace's Third Division. The columns, commanded respectively by Colo nels Oglesby and W. H. L. Wallace, of the First division, and Colonels Cook and Lauman, of the Second division (who were acting brigadiers), while moving across the wooded country between the two rivers, met with no armed men ; and early m ¦¦^¦^-v*^^' beege's bharp-bhooteh. ' Letter of General Johnston to "Congressman " Barksdale, at Richmond, March 13, 1862. - See page 103. THE CAEONDELET.— OPENING OF BATTLE. 211: the afternoon they came in sight ofthe fort, drove m the pickets, and proceeded, with some severe skirmishing, to take their prescribed positions, as nearly as possible. Every thing was in readiness for battle before morning, and at dawn" the attack was commenced by the sharp-shooters of Colo nel Berge (Sixty-sixth Illinois Regiment'), who advanced upon "^^^^2^' the Confederate pickets, and thus disclosed the position of the Nationals. The batteries of the Confederates, on the land side, were at once opened, while the water batteries engaged the Carondelet, a solitary iron clad gun-boat in the river. During a desultory fire from the Confederates, Grant rapidly posted his troops for the most vigorous work. McClernand was placed on the right, with Oglesby's Brigade *at the extreme, and Smith's was posted on the left, opposite the northwest portion of the fort. The light artillery was planted, with proper infantry supports, upon the various roads, to repel approaching columns, while the heavier guns, under the direction of Major Cavender, were brought to bear upon those of the fort. With this general disposition of his troops along a line nearly four miles in length. Grant, who had made the house of Mrs. Crisp, about two miles from Dover, at the head of Hickman's Creek, his head-quarters, refrained from a general attack, while waiting for the ar rival of the gun-boats and Wallace's Third Di vision. Yet heavy artil lery firing and brisk skir mishing were kept up all the forenoon, and Berge's sharpshooters, concealed behind logs and trees, spread terror among the Confederate gunners, who were rapidly picked off by them. Finally, with a deterniination to make a lodgment upon the Confederate intrenchments, McClernand, at about noon, ordered Colonel Wallace to capture a formidable battery, known as the Middle Redoubt, on a hill west of a valley, which separated the right wing under Buckner from the right center commanded by Colonel Hieman. The troops employed for this purpose were Illinois regiments — ^the Seventeenth, Major Smith, commanding; the Forty-eighth, Colonel Hayne; and the Forty-ninth, Colonel Morrison— covered by McAllister's battery. They were placed under Hayne, who was the senior colonel. Dashing across the intervening knolls and ravines, and up toward the battery, with great spirit, they found themselves confronted by superior numbers. Their line not being lono- enough to envelope the works, the Forty-fifth Illinois, Colonel Smith, were geaht's iiead-qttaetebb, fort donelson. ' This regiment, armed with the Henry rifle, were organized as sharp-shooters by General Fremont Each man was chosen because of his skill as a marksman. The regiment flrst appeared in action in the siege now under consideration. They wero afterward conspicuous at the battle of Shih)h, and the siege of Corinth. They wero also in active service In Sherman's Campaign in 1864, where they were highly complimented by Generals McPherson and Logan, for having held a ridge at Eesaca against a brigade of Confederates. I am indebted to Lieutenant A. W. Bill, of the regiment, for the sketch from which the engraving on page 210 was made 212 DEFEAT OF THE NATIONAL TEOOPS. sent to their support on the right. They, too, displayed great courage in the face of a galling fire. The Confederates were concentrated in defense of the position with two supporting field batteries, and soon began to show strength in front of Oglesby's brigade. Schwartz's battery was first advanced to meet this new danger, and then Taylor was directed to throw forward two sections of his battery to that position. The fight for a little while was severe and stubborn, when the Nationals were repulsed. Similar movements on the left by a portion of Colonel Lauman's brigade were equally unsuccessful, and in both cases the National loss was heavy. The troops, somewhat discouraged, fell back to the position they occupied in the morning, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the gun-boats and expected re-enforcements. That night the National troops were terribly smitten by an unexpected enemy. The spring-like morning, during which many of them, in expecta tion of a battle, had laid aside their overcoats and blankets, was succeeded by clouds and chilliness in the afternoon, heavy rain in the evening, and sleet and snow and severe frost at midnight, the mercury having i;apidly fallen at that hour to only ten degrees above zero. The besiegers were bivouacked without tents, and dared not light a fire, because it immediately became a mark for the guns of the besieged. Their food was scant, and some were without any ; and in that keen wintry air, the ground like iron, and mailed in ice, with insufficient clothing, no shelter, and half starved, the weary, worn, and intensely-suffering troops sadly and anxiously awaited the dawn and the expected re-enforcements. The Confederates, who lay upon their arms all night in the trenches, were equal sufferers. Conscious of the peril of his situation. Grant had sent a courier to General Wallace at Fort Henry, to bring over the garrison there imme diately. The order reached that officer at about midnight. At ' ^'i^/-o*' dawn" he marched for Fort Donelson, with the Eleventh Indiana, 1S62. .... ' the Eighth Missouri, and his battery in charge of Company A, Chicago Artillery. A crust of sleet and snow covered the ground, and the air was full of drifting frost. With cheering, and singing of songs, and sounding of bugles these troops pressed on, and at noon the general reported at Grant's head-quarters, and dined with him on crackers and coffee. In the mean time the gunboats and transports had arrived, and with them the re-enforcements that were to form the Third Division. The advent of the latter was most timely. They were landed with their artillery three miles below the fort, and, rapidly clearing the woods before thera, were standing around Grant's head-quarters soon after Wallace's arrival there. He was at once placed in command of them,' and posted between McClernand and Smith, thereby (with two of Smith's regiments, under McArthur, posted on McCler nand's extreme right) completing the absolute investment of the fort and its outworks. He was ordered by Grant to hold that position, and to prevent 1 This division consisted of two brigades, commanded respectively by Colonels Cruft and John M. Thayer. The flrst brigade ^Cruft's) was composed of tho Thirty-flrst Indiana, Colonel Osborn; Seventeenth Kentucky Colonel McHenry; Forty-fourth Indiana, Colonel lieed; and Twenty-fifth Kentucky, Colonel Shackelford. Tho ¦ second brigade (Thayer's) was composed of the First Nebraska, Colonel McCord ; Seventy-sixth Ohio, Colonel Woods ; and Fifty-eighth Ohio, Colonel Steadman. Three regiments (Forty-sixth IllInolB, Colonel Davis ; Fifty- seventh Illinois, Colonel Baldwin; and Fifty-eighth Illinois, Colonel Lynch) came up the next day dining the action, and M'cre attached to Colonel Thayer's command. ATTACK ON THE WATEE BATTEEIES. 213 the enemy from escaping in that direction ; in other words, to repel any sally from the fort. Rations that had been brought forward were now issued to the half-starved men of the line, and all the preparations for a general assault were soon completed. The gun-boat Carondelet, Commander Walke, which had arrived two days before, and made a diversion in favor of Grant' on the 13th, had the honor of opening the assault on Fort Donelson, at three o'clock in the after noon of Friday, the 14th," and was immediately joined by the armored vessels St. Louis, Pittsburg, and Louisville. These " ig^™"^^' formed the first line. The second line was composed of the unar mored gun-boats Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexington. The whole were under the personal command of Commodore Foote, who had not been able to get his mortar-boats in readiness to accompany the expedition. The fiotiUa made direct war upon »the water-batteries, with the intention of silencing and passing them, so as to gain a position to enfilade the faces of the fort with broadsides. The fight was severe. Never was a little squadron exposed to so terrible a fire. Twenty heavy guns were trained upon it, those from the hill-side hurling plunging shot with awful precision and effect, while only twelve boat-guns could reply. Yet, in the face of this terrific storm, Foote, with his flag-ship {^St. Louis) and the other armored boats, slowly moved nearer and nearer in the desperate struggle, until he was only four hundred yards from the bat teries. Very soon the upper one of four guns was silenced, the men were flying from both to the fort above, and the victorious vessels were on the point of shooting by, when the Louisville, assailed by flying mis siles and a cross fire, was disabled by a shot which cut away her rudder-chains. Utterly helpless, she drifted away with the current of the narrow river. The flag-ship was very soon in a similar condition, and the commodore was severely wounded in the foot by a falling piece of timber. The other two armored vessels were terribly wounded, and a heavy rifled cannon on the Carondelet was bursted during the engagement. For more than an hour the tempest of iron had been beating furiously POSITION OP THE gitn-boats in the attack ON FOET DONEL80N.2 ^ That diversion was more in the form of a reconnoissance, and the operations of the gun-boat were extremely useful. The Carondelet lay behind a jutting promontory, secure from the heavier shots from the shore, and hurled shot and shell into the fort and on tho water batteries with great effect. The commander of these batteries afterward declared that the fire of the Carondelet did more actual damage to his guns than the heavy bombardment on the following day. A shot from the Carondelet, on the morning of the 13th, killed Captain Dixon, one of the best of tho Confederate engineers, and that vessel was specially singled out for injury on the 14th, for, as a Confederate officer (Paymaster Nixon) said, "She was the object of our hatred;" and added, " Many a gun was leveled ather .ilone." ' I am indebted to the courtesy of Commander Walke, of the Carondelet, for the above sketch showing the position of the flotilla at the beginning of the attack on the water batteries. 214 THE OONFEDEEATES PEEPAEE FOE A SOETIE. a February, 1S62. upon the four armored vessels, and so perilous becarae the condition of them all, that Foote ordered them to withdraw. Then the fugitives from the shore batteries ran back to their guns, and gave the retiring flotilla some deadly parting blows. The four vessels received during the action, in the aggregate, no less than one hundred and forty-one wounds from the Confederate shot and shell,' and lost fifty-four raen killed and raairaed. After consultation with General Grant and his own officers, Foote set out for Cairo, for the purpose of having the damages to his flotilla repaired, and to bring up a corapetent naval force to assist in carrying on the siege with greater vigor.' Grant resolved to wait for his return and for large re-enforcements, meanwhile strengthening his own weak points, holding the Confederates tightly in their intrenchments, and cutting off their supplies, with a possibility of starving them into a surrender. The besieged were conscious of their peril, which would increase with every hour, of delay. The officers of divisions and brigades held a council of war on the evening of the 14th," over which Floyd, the chief commander, presided. He gave it as his opinion that the fort was untenable with less than fifty thousand men to defend it, and proposed, for the purpose of saving the gamson, to make a sortie next moming, with half his army and Forrest's cavalry, upon McClernand's division on Grant's right, crush it, or throw it back upon Wal lace, and by a succeeding movement on the center, by Buckner, cast the whole beleaguering army into confusion, or rout and destroy it, when the liberated troops might easily pass out into the open country around Nash ville. This plan, promising success, was agreed to by unanimous consent, and preparations were made accordingly. The troops designated for the grand sortie, about ten thousand in number, were under the command of Generals Pillow and Bushrod R. Johnston, the former being chief. They were put in motion from Dover at five o'clock on Saturday morning;' Colonel Baldwin's brigade of three regiraents of iMississippi and Ten nessee troops in advance, followed by four Virginia regiments, under Colonels Wharton and McCausland, and several more under Colonels Davidson, Drake, and others. These were accompanied by Forest's cavalry and thirty heavy guns, with a full complement of artillerists. This main body were directed to attack McClernand's troops, who occupied the heights that reached to the river, just above Dover. Buckner was directed to strike Wallace's division, which lay across the Wynne's t Feb. 15. BUSUUOD R. JOUNSTON. ' Fifty-nine shot struck the St. Louis, thirty-six hit the Louisville, twenty-six wounded the Carondelet, and twenty shot were received by the Pittsburg. 2 Report of Commodore Foote to the Secretary of the Navy, on board his flag-ship, Feb. 15th, 1862. BATTLE OF FOET DONELSON. 215 Ferry road, at about the same time, so that it should not be in a condition to aid McClernand. Pillow expected, he said, " to roll the enemy in full retreat over upon General Buckner, when, by his attack in flank and rear," they " could cut up the enemy and put hira completely to rout.'" McClernand's division was well posted to resist the assailants, had they been on the alert ; but the movement of the Confederates appears not to have been even suspected. Reveille was just sounding, and the troops were not under arms ; and so sudden and vigorous was Pillow's attack, that the whole of Grant's right wing was seriously menaced within twenty minutes after the presence of the Confederates was observed. Then vigor and skill marked every raovfement, and Pillow's attempt to throw cavalry in the rear of McArthur, on Oglesby's extreme right, was thwarted. The attack was quick, furious, and heavy. ¦ Oglesby's brigade had received the first shock of the battle, and gallantly withstood it until their ammunition began to fail. Colonel W. H. L. Wallace's brigade hastened to their relief, but the pressure was so tremendous that Oglesby's line all gave way, excepting the extrerae left, held by the Thirty-first Illinois, whose commander. Colonel John A. Logan, inspired his troops with sueh courage and faith by his own acts, that they stood like a wall opposed to the foe, and prevented a panic and a rout. In the mean time the light batteries under Taylor, McAllister, and Dresser, shifting positions and continually sending heavy volleys of grape and can- ^ ister shot, made the line of the assailants "* recoil again and again. But the fresh troops continually pressing forward in greater numbers kept its strength unim paired, and very soon the whole of Mc Clernand's division was in such a perilous situation, that at about eight o'clock he sent to General Lewis Wallace, commanding the Third Division, for immediate assistance. As the latter was assigned to the special duty of preventing the escape of the Confederates, he applied to head-quarters for instructions. Grant was away in conference with Commodore Foote. Again McClernand sent for assistance, saying substantially that his flank was turned, and his whole command was endangered. Wallace took the responsibility of immediately ordering Colonel Cruft to move his brigade on to the right, and report to McClernand. An incompetent guide took Cruft too far to the right, where he was fiercely assailed by a greatly superior force, and compelled to bear the brunt of battle for a time. He struggled gallantly with an equally gallant foe, charging and receiving charges with varied fortunes, until his antagonists gave up the fight. In the mean time General Buckner had made his appearance, in consider- AIcCLEUNAND. 1 Pillow's report to Captain Clarence Derrick, "Assistant Adjutant-General," written at his home ' Columbia, Tennessee, on the 18th of February, 1862. 216 BATTLE OF FOET DONELSON. able force, to attack the left of the center of Grant's line, and produce the confusion as directed in Floyd's programme. There seemed to be much peril to the National troops in this moveraent, and the danger seemed more imminent when some frightened fugitives from the battle came crowding up the hill in the rear of Wallace's Division, and a mounted officer dashed along, shouting, " We are cut to pieces !" It was here that the whole of McClernand's line, including Cruft's men, was rapidly falling back. Colo nels Logan, Lawler, and Ransom were wounded, and a large number of subalterns had been Idlled, yet there was no confusion in that line. This was the crisis of the battle, and it was proraptiy raet. To prevent a panic in his own brigade, Wallace ordered Colonel Thayer to move on by the right flank. Riding at the front, he met the retiring troojDS, moving in good order and calling for ammunition, the want of which had been the chief cause of their misfortune. He saw that every thing depended upon prompt action. There was no time to wait for orders, so he thrust his third brigade (Colonel Thayer comraanding) between the retiring troops and the flushed Confederates, who were rapidly following, forraed a new line of battle across the road, with the Chicago artillery. Lieutenant Wood, in the center, and the First Nebraska, Fifty-eighth Illinois, Fifty-eighth Ohio, and a company of the Thirty-second Illinois on its right and left. Back of these was a reserve, composed of the Seventy-sixth Ohio, and Forty-sixth and Fifty- seventh Illinois. In this position they awaited attack, while McClernand's retiring troops, halting near, supplied theraselves with ammunition from wagons which Wallace had ordered up. These preparations were just completed when the Confederates (the forces of Pillow and Buckner combined') fell heavily upon the battery and First Nebraska, and were cast back by thera as the rock throws back the billows. "To say they did well," said Wallace, "is not enough; their conduct was splendid. They alone repelled the charge ;"' and the Confede rates, after a severe contest, retired to their works in confusion. " They withdrew," said Buckner, " without panic, but in some confusion, to the trenches."' This was the last sally from the fort, for, by the timely and effec tual interposition of the Third Division, the plans of the Confederates were frustrated. '¦'¦ I speak advisedly^'' wrote Captain W. S. Hillyer (Grant's Aid- de-camp) to General Wallace the next day, on a slip of paper with pencil, " God bless you ! you did save the day on the right !" Poor Pillow, with his usual shallowness, had sent an aid, when McClernand's line gave way, to tele graph to Johnston, that " on the honor of a soldier " the day was theirs ;¦* and he foolishly persisisted in saying, in his first report, a few days afterward, that the Confederates had accomplished their ol^ject, when it was known to all that they had utterly failed. It was at about noon when the Confederates were driven back to their trenches. General Grant seemed doubtful of his ability to make a successful assault upon their works with his present force, and at about three o'clock in the afternoon he called McClernand and Wallace aside for consultation. 1 General Pillow's flrst Eeport ! Eeport of General Wallace. 3 Eeport of General Buckner. * On the strength of this, Johnston sent a dispatch to Eiehmond, announcing a great victory, and on Mon day the Ridimond Enqmrer said : "This splendid feat of arms and glorious victory to our cause will send a thrill of joy over the whole Confederacy." BATTLE OF FOET DONELSON. 217 They were all on horseback. Grant held some dispatches in his hand. He spoke of the seeming necessity of falling back and intrenching, so as to stand on the defensive, until re-enforcements and Foote's flotilla should arrive. His words were few, as usual, and his face was flushed by strong emotions of the mind, while he turned his eyes nervously now and then on the dispatches. It was suggested that McClernand's defeat uncovered the road by which the enemy might escape to Clarksville. In an instant the General's countenance changed from cloudiness to sunshine. A new thought took possession of him and he acted instantly on its suggestions. Grasping the dispatches raore firraly, he ordered McClernand to retake the hill he had lost, while Sraith should raake a siraultaneous attack on the Confederate right.' The new raovement was immediately begun. McClernand requested Wallace to retake the ground lost in the morning. A column of attack was soon formed, with the Eighth Missouri, Colonel Morgan L. Smith, and the Eleventh Indiana (Wallace's old regiment). Colonel George McGinnis (both led by the former as a brigade), moving at the head. Two Ohio regiments, under Colonel Ross, formed a supporting column. At the same time. Colonel Cruft formed a line of battle at the foot of the hill. The Eighth Missouri led the van, closely followed by the Eleventh Indiana ; and when about half way up the hill, they received a volley from its summit. The ground was broken, rough, and partly wooded. The Nationals pressed on, and the struggle was fierce and unyielding for more than an hour. Gradually the Confederates were pushed back, and their assailants soon cleared the hill. They drove the insurgents to their intrenchments, and would have assailed them there had not an order reached Wallace, when he was only one hundred and fifty yards off the works, to halt and retire his column, as a new plan of operations was in contemplation for the next day. That commander was astonished and perplexed. He was satisfied that Grant was not informed of the entire success of his movement. He was also satisfied that if he should fall back and give up the hill (it was then five o'clock in the evening) the way would be opened for the Confederates to escape under cover of approaching darkness. So he assumed the responsi bility of disobeying the or der, and he bivouacked on the field of victory. All of that keen wintry night his wearied troops were busy in ministering to the wants of the wounded, and in bur^'lng the many Illi- '™'' oeaves of the Illinois teoops.2 ' General Sherman says that General Grant told him that, at a certain period of the b.attle, "he saw that cither side was ready to give way if the other showed a bold front, and he determined to do that very thins, to advance on tho enemy, when, as he prognosticated, the enemy surrefidcred."— Sherman's Letter to t!io Editor of the United States Service Magazine, January, 1863. ' This is from a sketch made by the author early in May, 1866. This burial-place, surrounded by a rude wattling fence, was in Hysmith's old field, in the edge of a wood, near where McArthur's troops were posted. Tho trees and shrubbery In tho adjoining wood showed hundreds of marks of the severe battle. 218 THE OONFEDEEATES IN COUNCIL. nois troops who had fallen in the conflict of the moi-ning. They also made preparations for storming the Confederate works at an early hour on the following day. While Wallace was carrying on the successful movement on the Con federate left. Smith was assailing their intrenchments on their right. He posted Cavender's heavy guns so as to pour a murderous fire upon these and the fort. Lauman's Brigade formed the attacking column, while Cook's Brigade, posted on the left, was ordered to make a feigned attack. Lauman was directed to carry the heights on the left of the position that had been assailed on Thursday. He placed the Second Iowa, Colonel Tuttle, in the van. These were followed by the Fifty-sixth Indiana as a support. These, in turn, were closely followed by the Twenty-fifth Indiana and Seventh and Fourteenth Iowa, while Berge's sharp-shooters were deployed as skir mishers on the extreme right and left of the column. When all were in readi ness. General Smith rode along the line, told the troops he would lead them, and directed them to clear the rifle-pits with the bayonet alone. At a given signal, the column moved, under cover of Captain Stone's Missouri Battery; and Smith, with a color-bearer at his side, rode in advance, his commanding figure, flowing gray hair, and courageous example, inspiring the men with the greatest adrairation. Very soon the column was swept by a terrible fire fi-om the Confederate artillery. It wavered for a raoment, but the words and acts of the General soon restored its steadiness, and it raoved on rapidly. When Tuttle was within range of the Confederate muskets, he placed himself at the head of his men and shouted " Forward !" Without firing a gun, they charged upon the Confederates with the bayonet, driving them from their intrenchments, and, in the midst of cheers frora a thousand voices, the National standard was planted upon them. When darkness fell. General Grant knew that his plan, so suddenly conceived in a moment of anxiety, had secured a sohd triumph — that the rich fruit of victory was ripe and ready to fall into his lap. There was joy in the National camp that night, while terror brooded over the imprisoned Confederates. " How shall we escape ?" was the important question anxiously considered by the Confederate leaders that night, especially by Floyd and Pillow ; the former terror-stricken, because of the danger of falling into the hands of the Governraent, against which he had coraraitted such fearful crimes ; and the latter suffering unnecessarily for the same reason, his vanity magnifying his own importance much beyond its true proportions. A Council of War was held at Pillow's head-quarters, in Dover, at midnight, to consider the matter. There were criminations and recriminations, and Floyd and Pillow seemed to think of little else than the salvation of themselves from the power of their injured Government. Buckner, too, desired to escape, and it was resolved to effect it, if possible, by cutting their way through the supposed weak right of the National lines, at five o'clock in the morning, and press on toward Nashville. Colonel Forest was ordered, at about two o'clock, to ascertain the position of the Nationals, and the practicability of escaping by the river road. He reported, that the position from which the Confederates had been driven by Wallace in the afternoon, on the left, by which lay their projected course of ACTION OF COWAEDLY LEADEES. 219 escape, was held by a large body of troops, and that the back-water above Dover could not be crossed except by cavalry. Again the council deliberated, when is was agreed that the cost of an atterapt to cut their way out would probably be the loss of the lives of three-fourths of the troops. " No com mander," said Buckner, " has a right to raake such a sacrifice." Floyd agreed with hira, and quickly said, " Then we will have to capitulate ; but, gentle men," he added, nervously, " J cannot surrender; you know my position with the Federals : it wouldn't do, it wouldn't do." Pillow then said to Floyd, "Iwill not surrender myself nor the coraraand ; will die first." — "Then," said Buckner, coolly, " I suppose, gentleraen, the surrender will devolve upon. me." The terrified Floyd quickly asked, " General, if you are put iu com mand, will you allow me to take out, by the river, ray brigade ?" — " If you move before I shall offer to surrender," Buckner replied. " Then, sir," said Floyd, " I surrender the coraraand." Pillow, who was next in rank, and to whom Floyd offered to transfer the command, quickly exclaimed, " I will not accept it — I will never surrender." While speaking, he turned toward Buck ner, who said, "I will accept, and share the fate of my command.'" When the capitulation was determined upon, Floyd and Pillow, who, it has been justly remarked, had already disgraced the narae of American citizens, proceeded to disgrace the character of a soldier also," by stealing away under cover of the night, deserting, in the most cowardly manner, the soldierly Buckner and the brave men who had defended the post. In order to aid their flight, the latter allowed Forest to attempt to cut his way out with his cavalry. In too much haste to save himself, Floyd did not wait for all of his Virginians to get ready to escape with him, but with a few of them, hastily collected, he embarked on a steamer at Dover, followed by the curses and hisses of thousands on the shore, and fled to Nashville.' Pillow sneaked away in the darkness, and, in perfect safety at his horae in Colurabia, in Middle Tennessee, he sat down a few days afterward to write a report to his indignant superiors. Forest and his horsemen, about eight hundred in num ber, also escaped. There is not in all history a meaner picture of the conduct of traitors than that afforded by the Council of War at Dover, on Sunday morning, the 16th of February, 1862. That Sunday morning dawned brightly upon the Union army. At day break, Wallace prepared to storm the Confederate intrenchraents, and while making dispositions for that purpose, a bugle in the direction of the fort sounded a parley. Dimly seen in the morning twilight was an officer with the bugler, bearing a white flag, and at the same time a similar flag was seen waving over the fort, in token of a willingness to surrender. Wallace immediately rode to Buckner's quarters. The latter had posted a letter to Grant, asking for the appointment of comraissioners to agree upon terras of ' Sworn statements of Colonel Forest, Major Gustavus A. Henry, Major W. H. Haynes, and Hunter Nichol son, who were present at the council. '^ Coppfie's Grant and Ms Campaigns, page 66. ^ An epigrammatist of the day wrote concerning Floyd's escape, s.aying : — "The thief Is a coward by nature's law ; Who betrays the State, to no one is true ; And the brave foe at Fort Donelson saw Their light-fingered Floyd was light-footed toa 220 TEEMS OF SUEEENDEE. capitulation, and suggesting an armistice until noon. Wallace immediately sent word to Grant that Dover was surrendered, and his troops were in possession of the town. This made Grant's reply to Buckner short and explicit. He considered Buckner and his troops as simply rebels in arms, with no rio-ht to ask any terms excepting such as humanity required, so he said " No terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can he accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." Grant's reply irritated the helpless Buckner, and, with folly equal to his chao-rin, he answered, " The distribution of the forces under my command, incident to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming force under your command, compel rae, notwithstanding the brilliant success -s^immMS OAMP DOUGLAS. of the Confederate arras yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchival- rous terms which you propose." This was followed by the speedy surrender of the fort, with thirteen thousand five hundred men, as prisoners of war (including the sick and wounded), a large proportion of whom were sent to Camp Douglas, near Chicago ;' also three thousand horses, forty-eight field- ^ Gener.a]s Buckner and Tilghman, who were captured at Fort Henry, were sent to Fort Warren, in Boston Harbor. Leading Unionists of Kentucky asked for the surrender of Buckner to the civil authorities of that State, to bo tried for treason against 1: J that commonwealth. The applioatibn was refused, and he was afterward ex changed. Camp Donglas was so named in honor of Senator Douglas, and was sita- ated on land that had belonged to him. In this camp many of the Western regiments, that performed such slgaal service, were drilled. It was converted into a prison, and early in April, 1862, after the battle of Shiloh, it containcil full 8,000 captives, most of whom wem from Alabama. Mississippi, and Texas. The passage of these prisoners through tbe country to their dostinatiog produced a jirofound sensation. A St. Louis journal mentioned the arrival there of ten thousand of them, on ten steamers. A large number of tho ciiptlves at Forts Henry and Donelson were also sent to Camp Chase, at Columbus, PKI80N AT OAMP CHASE, COLUMBUS, OHIO. SUEEENDEE OF FOET DONELSON. 221 pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thousand muskets, and a great quan tity of military stores.! On the following day, two regiments of Tennessee LAnJI.'JG PLA. A'^ 9 6 a>- ' '\ /' t- das -i^-^^ ^ v - ' ''0^ ^,j^ / '¦« ,^ifc/ ¦'-^ -m'^ 14,) f^, ¦ '/.« ^ <>o> °ORT( C^. ' -¦ '- ." '? O G L E S B y's B R I g\ ^ PLAN OF TUB BIEGE OF FOKT DONELSOW. troops, that came up to re-enforce the garrison, in ignorance of the surrender, were also made prisoners. During the siege, the Confederates had lost, it Ohio, which was so named in honor ofthe Secretary of the Treasuiy. The prison there was in the southeast corner of the camp. The strong inclosure was about sixteen feet in height, bnilt of two-inch pine plank, with scantling well bolted and braced. The picture shows the exterior of the prison and the guard-houses. 1 A participant in the ficenes at Fort Donelson wrote as follows concerning the surrender: " One of the grandest sights in tho whole siege, and one which comes only once in a century, was the triumphal entry into the Fort on Sunday morning. . . The sight from the highest point in the fort, commanding a view of both river and camp, was imposing. There were on one side regiment after regiment pouring in, their flags floating gayly in the wind- some of them which had been rent and faded on the fields of Mexico, and others with ' Springfleld ' emblazoned on their folds; one magniflcent brass band pouring ont the melodies of 'Hail Co lumbia,' 'Star Spangled Banner,' 'Yankee Doodle,' etc., in such Etyle as the gazing captives had never heard, even in the palmy days of peace. On the other was a spectacle which surpasses all description. The narrow Cumber land seemed alive with steamers. First came the gun-boats, firing salutes; then came little black tugs, snortir:; their acclamations ; and after them the vast fleet of transports, pouring out volumes of black sraoke, their banners floating gayly in tho breeze, firing salutes, their decks covered with people sending deafening shouts in response to those from the shore. The scene was sublime, impressive, and will not easily be forgotten." 222 EFFECT OF THE FALL OF DONELSON. was estimated, two hundred and thirty-seven killed, and one thousand and seven wounded. The National loss was estimated at four hundred and forty- six killed, one thousand seven hundred and forty-five wounded, and one hun dred and iifty prisoners. The latter had been sent across the river, and were not re-captured.' The victory at Fort Donelson was of the greatest imjjortance to the National cause, and the ofiicial announceraent of it,° spreading with speed of lightning over the land, produced intense joy in every loyal bosom. Cities were illurainated, heavy guns thundered forth National salutes ; and every where the flag of the Republic Avas flung to the breeze, in token of profound satisfaction. The news filled the conspirators with despair, and terribly depressed the spirits of the soldiers of the Confederate anny. By it Europe was made to doubt the success of the rebellion ; and at some courts it pro duced the first serious thoughts of abandoning the cause of the conspirators. Its effect, in all relations, was similar to that of the capture of Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga, in 1777. So powerful was the irapression, that the Confederate Coraraissioners abroad felt compelled to do all in their power to belittle the event, and, by taking advantage of the general deficiency of knowledge of Araerican geography,' to satisfy the ruling class that it was of no military iraportance whatever. In that efibrt the Coraraissioners failed. At Richmond the fall of Fort Donelson caused emotions of mingled anger and dismay. The loss of Roanoke Island, a few days before, had greatly alarmed and irritated the conspirators ; and now the chief of the Confede- ^ Eeports of Generals Grant, McClernand, "Wallace, aud subordinate officers; and of Floyd, Pillow, and Buckner, and their subordinates. Also written and oral statements to tho author by participants iu the action. 2 Commander Walke, in the Carondelet, carried the flrst news of the victory to Cairo, from which it was telegraphed to General McClellan by General George W. CuUnm, Halleck's Chief of StaflT, then at Cairo, saying: "The Union flag floats over Donelson. The Carondelet^ Captain Walke, brings the glorious intelligence. The fort surrendered at nine o'clock yesterday (Sunday) morning. Generals Buckner, Bushrod E. Johnston, and 15,000 prisoners, and a largo amount of materials of war, are the trophies of the victory. Loss heavy on hoth sides. Floyd, tlie thief, stole away during the night previous with 5,000 men, and is dennunced by the rebels as a traitor,'' He then spoke of the good conduct of Commodore Foote, and announced the fact that, notwithstanding his sufferings from the wound in his foot, he would immediately make an attack on Clarksville, an important post about forty miles above. He concluded by saying, "We are now flring a National siilute from Fort Cairo, General Grant's late post, in honor .of the^glorious achievement" The women of St. Louis, desirous of testifying their admiration of General Halleck, in whose Departraent and by whose troops these victories had been achieved (and hecause of his energy in suppressing secession in Missouri), ordered an elegant sword to be made by Tiffany &. Co., of New Tork, to be presented to hitn in their name. This was done in the parlor of tho Planters' Hotel, in St Louis, on the evening of the 17th of March, 1862, by Mrs. Helen Budd, who spoke in behalf of tho donors. In his brief reply, General Halleck assured the women of St Louis that it should he '*used in defense of their happiness, their rights, and their honor, and solely in behalf of justice." The weapon was an elegant one, richly ornamented with classical designs. halleck's sword. 3 The amazing territorial extent of the United States is but little comprehended in Europe, and the relative position of places mentioned in connection with the war seemed to be very Uttle understood, even by some of the best informed writers and speakers. This lack of exact information led writers on American affairs into the most absurd speculations as well as serious blunders. An illustrative example was found in the summary of war news from America in the Paris Moniteur, at about tho time wo are considering. Speaking of tho captnro of Eoanoke Island, and of Elizabeth City, in Eastern North Carolina," the writer observed: ffFeb,, 1S62. "The Federal army landed, and proceeded toward Elizabeth City, which it found evaciinted and burned by the Southern troops. From there a detadiment advanced aa far as tin Tennessee Biver, and thus occupies the principal road between Memxjhis and Columbus. This movement establishes tho troops of General Burnside in tho rear of the great army nf the Potomac." Elizabeth City, on tho Atlantic coast, nnd the Tennessee Eiver, at tho point indicated, are fully 750 miles apart, in an air line, and at least 1,200 miles by any route troops might be taken. FLOYD AND PILLOW DISGEACED. 223 rates, with as much dignity as possible, commented seriously on their calami ties in a raessage to his " Congress." Ofiicial inforraation had not reached him. " Enough is known," he said, " of the surrender of Roanoke Island to make us feel that it was deeply humiliating." Of the disaster at Fort Donel son, he said : " I am not only unwilling but unable to believe that a large array of our people has surrendered without a desperate efibrt to cut its way through the investing forces, whatever raay have been their nurabers, and to endeavor to make a junction with other divisions of the army."' A little later, in transmitting to his " Congress " the reports of Floyd and Pillow, he said they were " incomplete and unsatisfactory. It is not stated," he said, " that re-enforcements were at any time asked for ; nor is it demonstrated to have been irapossible to have saved the troops by evacuating the position ; nof is it known by what raeans it was found practicable to withdraw a part of the garrison, leaving the reraainder to surrender ; nor upon what authority or principle of action the senior generals abandoned responsibility by trans ferring the command to a junior ofiicer." Notwithstanding General John ston attempted to glo'Ss the cowardice of Floyd and Pillow,' Davis, in the communication we are considering, said ; " I have directed, upon the exhibi tion of the case as presented by the two senior Generals, that they should be relieved from coraraand, to await further orders, whenever a reliable judg ment can be rendered on the merits of the case."' Davis' himself, it has been charged since the close of the rebellion (for all spoke of him during the war with bated breath), was continually inter fering in military affairs, and with the action of skillful commanders most mischievously.* Generals Grant, McClernand, and Wallace' issued orders congratulating their victorious troops f and General Halleck, who had drawn frora General ' Message of Jefferson Davis to the Confederate Congress, Feb. 28th, ]862. 2 General Johnston said in a private letter to Jefferson Davis: "Although the command was irregularly transferred, it was not apparently to avoid any just responsibility, or from any lack of personal or raoral intre pidity." Johnston could not havc been aware of the disgraceful scene in the midnight council at Pillow's quar ters in Dover, when he wrote that apology. The temper of the Conspirators in Eiehmond was in no mood to receive an apology. They had been elated beyond measure by Pillow's premature boast of victory, .ind now the disappointment was of corresponding force. ^, 3 Jefferson Davis's message to his " Congress," March llth, 1862. ^., * So say miliUary experts, and those most intimately acquainted with his oCBcial conduct. " Twenty years hence," says a politician of Mississippi, who was a fellow-worker In rebellion with Davis in Eiehmond, " no one will be heard to deny that to the direct and unwise interferences in great militivry movements, on the part of Davis, are to be attributed nearly all the principal disasters of the war. In the gross mismanagement of the War Department, under the supervision and control of Mr. Davis himself, may safely be charged tho calamitous occurrences at Forts Donelson and Henry, and at Eoanoke Island."— War of ihe Rebellion, by Henry S. Foote. 5 For their services in the siege of Fort Donelson. Generals Grant, McClernand, and Wallace were each promoted to Major-General of volunteers,^he commission of the former bearing tho date of the surrender (Feb ruary 16, 1862), and tho other two of March 21st, 1862. " Grant said (February 17th), after congratulating his troops on tlieir '^ triumph over the rebellion, gained by their valor," that " for four successive nights, without shelter during the most inclement weather known in this latitude, they faced an enemy in large force in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly fortified hy nature, all tho additional safeguards suggested by science were added. Without a murmur this waa borne, prepared at all times to receiv« an attack, and with continuous skirmishing by day, resulling ultimately in forcing the enemy to surrender without conditions. The victory achieved is not only great in tho effect it will 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 he m.arked in capitals on the map of our united country, and the raen who fought the bjittlo will live in the meraory of a grateful people." McClernand, ina fleld-order (February 18th), said: "You have continually led the way inthe Valley of the Lower Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland. Tou have carried the flag ot the Union fiirther South than any other land forces, marching from the interior toward the sea-boai'd. " Being the first division to enter Fort Henry, you also pursued the enemy for miles, capturing from him, 224 THE AEMY MAIL-SEEVICE. Hunter's Kansas Departraent some of the re-enforcements which he had sent to Grant, said, in a letter to him,' " To you, more than to any " ""^i^on^' other raan out of this Department, are we indebted for our success at Fort Donelson. In my strait for troops to re-enforce General Grant, I applied to you. You responded nobly, placing your forces at my disposition." The Secretaries of War and ofthe Navy also issued congratu latory orders. The Governraent and people were satisfied that a withering blow had been given to the rebellion, and that henceforth its proportions would be less, and its raalignity not so dangerous to the life of the Republic. At Forts Henry and Donelson was successfully begun that army mail- service which was so admirably organized and so efficiently executed during the war by Colonel A. H. Markland. It was suggested to General Grant hy Colonel Markland, who was the special agent of the National Post-office Department. It was immediately adopted, and was ever afterward warmly cherished by that sagacious coraraander ; and to hira is justly due much of the credit of making it practically efifective in blessing the officers and soldiers of the armies of the Republic during the great struggle. The perfection of the system was exhibited even so early as at the capture of Forts Henry and Donelson, and it never failed to give ample satisfaction to all, untU the end ofthe war.' The peculiar army mail-service organized under the auspices of General Grant was finally extended to all Departments, and was managed by Colonel Markland, who was made the general superintendent of the mails of the armies of the Republic. Soldiers in camp or on the march, and even under the fire of the eneray, received letters from home with as much regularity as if they had been residents of a lar^e city. That system was not introduced into the Army of the Potomac while McClellan commanded it. One much less perfect and efficient, which he found in operation, was continued. That was established when the troops under the first call began to assemble around Washington, in April and May, 1861. The chaplaiu of each regiment was recognized as " regimental post-master," and he usually called at the Wash ington City Post-office for the array raail. When the army was increased in his flight, six field-pieces, many of his standards and flags, a number of prisoners, and a great quantity of military stores. Following the eneray to this place, yoa were the first to encounter him outside of his intrench ments, and drive him within them." After recounting their exploits, ho said : " The battle-field testifies to yoar valor and constancy. Even the magnanimity of the enemy accords to you an unsurpassed heroism, and an enviable and brilliant share in the hardest-fought battle and most decisive victory ever fought and won on the American continent." " The death-knell of rebellion is sounded ; an army has beeu annihilated ; and the way to Nashville and Memphis is opened." 1 The origin and general efficiency of that service is stated in the following letter to the author, datoll, '¦ Head-quarters Armies of tho United States, Washington, D. C, July SOth, 1366 :" — " Dear Sir :— Among the subjects that occupied my mind when I assnmed command at Ciiro, in the fall of 1861, was the regular supply of mails to and from the troops ; not only those in garrison, bnt those on tbo march when active movements should begin. Whon I commenced the movement on Fort Henry, on Jan. 7, 1862, a plan was proposed by which the mails should promptly follow, and as promptly bo sent from the army. So perfect was tho organization, that the mails wero delivered to tho army immediately upon its occupation of the fort. Within one hour after the troops began to march into Fort Donelson, tho mail waa being distributed to them from the mail wagons. The same promptness waa always observed in tho armies under my command, up to the period of the final disbandment. "It is a source of congratulation that tho postal service was so con ducted, that officers .and men were in constant communication with kindred and friends at home, and with as much regularity as the most favored in the large cities of tho Union. Tho postal system of tho army, so far as I know, was not attended with nny addition.al expense to tho service. Tho system adopted by me was sug gested nnd ably superintended by A. II. Markland, special agent ofthe Post-offlco Department " Pwespectfully, &c., " U. S. Gbakt, General." THE AEMT MAIL AT WASHINGTON. 225 and fully organized, the commanding officer of each regiment selected a reliable raan frora the non-coraraissioned officers or privates to act as mail messenger, and that systera was continued until the troops were called to the field in the spring of 1862. Then the raails were " brigaded," placed in canvas bags, labeled and addressed to the brigade, and forwarded to their destination by steamer or railway, under military authority. The Post-office Department had no further control of the army mail after it left the post- office at Washington City. ^ During the Peninsula campaign, the mail for the Army of the Potomac was forwarded frora Washington by way of Baltimore and Old Point Com fort, the Potomac being blockaded by shore batteries. At the same time, the troops in the Shenandoah Valley were supplied with a mail service by way of Harper's Ferry, the mails being sent under military control to that place, over the Baltimore and Ohio railway, and there furnished to the brigades when called for. Owing to the peculiar condition of affairs in that region, much of the time there was very little regularity in the delivery of the mails, and communication between the army and home was at times very uncertain. The mails for these armies, and also for the Array of the Jaraes, were all distributed in the Post-office at Washington City, wHere they were assorted into regiments, batteries, and independent comraands. Rosters, for the guidance of the postmaster at Washington, were furnished when troops changed localities. In his office boxes were prepared and labeled for the respective regiments ; and at one tirae no less than eight hundred regiraents and batteries, which extended over the seaboard to New Orleans, and the entire Shenandoah Valley, had the mail matter for them thus prepared for distribu tion. After being thus sorted, these mails were delivered to authorized mili tary agents, who attended to their transmission. In this way hundreds of thousands of letters passed to and from the army daily.' The regularity with which the great armies of Grant, Sherman, Thomas, and others in the West were supplied with raails, under the general superin tendence of Colonel Markland, was raarvelous. He and his assistants seemed to be almost ubiquitous. No danger was so appalling, and no obstructions were so apparently insurraountable as to deter these messengers of good. They endured all that the army endured — perils, fatigues, and privations. The mail was nearly always in advance of the armies, or moving in a direction to meet thera, and yet Colonel Markland never lost one, by capture, over which he had personal control. When Sherraan reached tide-water, after his inarch for the sea, the mail for his army was in readiness for distribution ; and the 1 "For months," says Mr. S. J. Bowen, the postmaster of Washington City, in a letter to the author, on tho 22d of July, 1866, "we received and sent an average of 260.000 military letters per day. It is believed that this number w.as exceeded after General Sherman's army reached Savannah, and up to the time of the review of the troops in this city in the month of May, 1865." "Taking into consideration," continues Mr. Bowen, "the quantity of mail matter, consisting of letters, newspapers, packages of clothing, and other articles of every conceivable kind that passed through this office to nnd from our armies, it is surprising that so few losses occurred. Almost every package reached the person to whom it was addressed, and the failure of letters to find their owners in ' due course of mail ' was extremely rare. Indeed, I think the armies were provided with mails with just about as much certainty as people are in large cities, and with about as little delay. "The only loss of any moment that occurred to the Post-oiBce Department, on account of this heavy mail service, wasin mail-bogs.^ Itis estimated that at least thirty thousand of these were sent out which never found their way back to this office, although every effort was made by us to have them returned." Vol. 11— ! 5 226 A VOYAGE ON THE OUMBEELAND EIVEE. first vessel to reach King's Bridge, on the Ogeechee River, was the mail steamer. Subsequently, when Sherman raarched through the Carolinas, and after the hard-fought battle of Bentonville, he raet the mail for his ai-my on the evening ofthe day of that battle.' That army mail-service presents to the contemplation of those who com prehend its extent and usefulness, one of the moral wonders of the great con fiict ; and in its salutary infiuence and value seeras second only to the Sanitary Commission or the Christian Commission. It kept entire armies in continual communion, as far as possible, with home and kindred — a circumstance oj incalculable benefit to the soldier and the service. It prevented that terrible home-sickness with which raw troops are often prostrated. It also exercised the affections, and, in a remarkable degree, brought the sweet . influences of the domestic circle to bear most powerfully in strengthening the men against the raultiforra temptations of the camp, and the yearnings for family joys which so often seduce the less favored soldier to desert ; while courage and patriotism were continually stimulated by heroic words from patient and loving ones at home. The writer visited the theater of events recorded in this chapter, early in May, 1866. He left Nashville in the steamer Tyrone, toward the evening of the 5th. Most of his fellow-passengers, as far as Clarksville, sixty miles down the Cumberland River, consisted of about two hundred colored soldiers, who had just been paid off" and discharged from the service. The few white passengers on board, and the officers and crew of the Tyrone, who were mostly secessionists, were greatly relieved when these soldiers debarked at midnight, for the fearful massacre of negroes at Memphis had just occurred, and they did not know what might be the temper of these troops on that account. They were in dread of personal danger. But there was no occasion for alarm. The preparations raade for surrendering the steamer to the soldiers, on deraand, and taking the woraen and children ashore in the yawl-boat, as well as the raore belligerent one for giving the negroes a shower of hot water frora the boiler, in the event of an uprising, Avere quite unnecessary. The writer, who mingled among and conversed with many of the soldiers, never saw a raore orderly and well-disposed corapany pf men, just loosed from railitary discipline, than they. There was only one intoxi cated man araong them. They were too full of joy to think of mischief. The shores ofthe Cumberland resounded with their sonars and lausjliter, for 1 Letter to the author by General Markland, August 20, 1866. In a letter to Colonel Markland, written in May, 1865, General 0. 0. Howard s This fort was so named in honor of Andrew Jackson Donelson, the adopted son of President Jackson, and who at that time was occupying the " Hermitage," a few miles from NaahviUe. He warmly espoused the cauae of the conspirators. 228 VIEW AT FORT DONELSON. compliments to the General, and then, at almost sunset, we bade her farewell and galloped back toward Dover, diverging to the left to visit Fort Donel son, and sketch the scene of the battle on the river between the armed vessels and the water-batteries. The sun was just setting behind some thin clouds when we arrived there, and it was soon too dark to allow the use of the pencil. So we rode to Dover, supped with Mr. Stewart, and lodged at Cooley's. Wishing to take passage on the first steamer that should pass up the Cumberland the next raorning, the writer arose at dawn, and found Mr. Stewart, as previously arranged, ready, with two saddle-horses, to visit the fort. We breakfasted before sunrise, and then rode over the lines of the famous stronghold on which the Confederates had spent so much labor, and placed so much dependence. These, too, were half hidden by shrubbery and vines, and in the course of a very few years it will be difficult to trace the ^ '^*^t VIEW AT 1'or.T DONELSON.l outlines of these fortifications. Between these and Dover, we visited a strong work on a commanding erainence, built by the National troops under the direction of Captain Flood and others, but which was never made use of Frora the hill overlooking the water batteries I made the accompanying sketch, and had just finished it when a steamer came in sight below, at the point where Foote's armored vessels, ranged in a line, assailed the Confede rate works. Remounting our horses, we hurried back to Dover, reaching ^ This is a view looking down the river, in which tho remains of the upper water battery are seen in the foregr<)und. In the distance, on the left, near which is seen a ste.amboat, is tho prounmtory behind which the Carondelet lay while bombarding the Confederate works on the 18th. The fort lay on the top of the hill on the extreme left Across the river is seen the shore to which Pillow escaped when he stole out of the fort RETURN TO NASHVILLE. 229 there just as the steamer was moored at the gravelly bank. It was the Emma Floyd, one of the most agreeable boats on the Cumberland, and with its intelligent pilots, John and Oliver Kirkpatrick, and their wives and chil dren, the writer spent most of the day in the pilot-house, listening to the stories of the adventures of these men while they were acting a? pilots in the fieets of Farragut and Porter, during those marvelous expeditions on the Mississippi, its tributaries, and its mysterious bayous, carried on in connec tion with the armies of Grant and Banks. After a delightful voyage of twenty-four hours, we arrived at Nashville, where the writer was joined by his former traveling companions, Messrs. Dreer and Greble, of Philadelphia, with whom he afterward journeyed for six weeks upon the pathways and battle-fields of the great armies in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia. The aspect of Nashville, and especially its surroundings, had materially changed since the author was there in 1861. The storm of war had swept over the country in its vicinity with fearful effect. The city itself had not suffered bombardment, yet at times it had \>een in imminent danger of such calamity ; first on the approach of the forces of Grant and Buell, and after ward when it was held by the National troops and was threatened by the Confederates. The hills had been stripped of their forests, pleasure-grounds had been robbed of their shade-trees, and places of pleasant resort had been scarred by trenches or disfigured by breastworks. Buildings had been shattered by shot and shell or laid in ruins by fire ; and at' every approach to the city were populous cemeteries of soldiers who had fallen in defense of their country. In the Capitol were stores of correspondence and other papers cajstured from Pillow and his fellow-traitors, and these were placed at the disposal of the author, who also had the good fortune to meet in Nashville General Ewell, one of the most estimable of the Confederates who took up arms against the Government, as a man and as a military leader. He kindly al lowed him to make abstracts of his later reports, in manuscript, concerning operations in the Shenandoah Valley, in which he and " Stonewall Jack son" were associated, and also furnished him with information relative to the evacuation of Richraond, and the destruction of a great portion of it by fire iraraediately succeeding that event, when Ewell was in coraraand of the post. That subject will be considered hereafter. 230 ADVANCE ON BOWLING GREEN. CHAPTEE IX. EVENTS AT NASHVILLE, COLUMBUS, NEW MADRID, ISLAND NUMBER TEN, AND PEA EIDGE. » Feb. 11, 1862. HEN Fort Donelson fell, Kentucky and Missouri, and all of northern and middle Tennessee were lost to the Con federates, and the more Southern States, whose inhabit ants expected to have the battles for their defense fought in the border Slave-labor States, were exposed to the inroads ofthe National arraies. The terror inspired all along the Confederate line by the fall of Fort Henry, and the forward movement of General Mitchel, of Buell's army, from his camp at Bacon's Creek, across the Green River at Mumfords ville, toward Bowling Green, simultaneously with Grant's investment of Fort Donelson," caused that line, which seemed so strong almost to invincibility a few weeks before, to crumble into fragments and suddenly disappear as a mist. General Johnston clearly perceived that both Bowling Green and Columbus were now untenable, and that the salvation of his troops at each required the immediate evacuation of these posts. He issued orders accordingly, and when Mtchel, having marched forty-two miles in thirty-two hours, reached the northem bank of the BaiTen River, on whose southern border Bowling Green' stood, the main . ^_ ^ _ body of Johnston's troops, seven or eight thousand strong, had left it and fied south ward. Mitchel found the bridges on that stream all destroyed ; and when, on the same night. Colonel Turchin crossed it below the village, with his bri gade, the heavens were BOWLINO OREEN AFTER TUK EVAOITATION. illuminatcd by thO fiames of the burning railway station-house, and Confederate stores in the ' Bowling Green is about 74 miles fi-om Nashville, and contained a little less than 8,000 inhabitants when the war broke ont. Around it arc numerous little hills or "knobs," on which the insurgents planted battcrirs and made the post very strong. Our litlo picture shows the appearance of Boiling Green, in the vicinity of the railway station, on the day after the evacuation. PANIC IN NASHYILLE. 231 center ofthe town. These had been fired by Texas Rangers, left behind for the purpose, and who were then-just moving off" on a railway train. Mitchel's troops were exhausted by their forced march in the keen frosty air, and the labor of removing trees from the roads which the Confederates had cut down ; and the water in the stream being too high to ford, his army did not cross uiitil the next day, when they found Bowling Green to be almost barren of spoils. Half a raillion dollars' worth of property had been destroyed, and only a brass 6-pounder, and coramissary stores valued at five thousand dollars, remained. The Confederates had also removed, during the preceding four days, a large quantity of provisions and stores to Nashville. Imminent danger now impended over Nashville. Johnston, as we have seen, had declared that he fought for that city at Fort Donelson. When the latter fell, Nashville was doomed, and its disloyal inhabitants were pale with terror. On the day of the surrender, the intelligence of the sad event reached the city just as the people were comfortably seated in the churches, for it was the Christian Sabbath. Pillow's foolish boast' and dispatch founded upon it" had allayed all fears ; now these were awakened with ten-fold intensity. The churches were instantly emptied, and each citizen seemed to have no other thought but for personal safety.' That the town would be speedily occupied by the Governraent troops, no one doubted. Grant's vigor had been tested. It had been observed that he did not stop when a victory was gained, but pushed forward to reap in full all of its advantages. So they gave up all as lost. The public stores were thrown wide open, and everybody was aUowed to carry off" provisions and clothing without hindrance. The panic among the Secessionists was fearful. Governor Harris, the • worst criminal of them all, was crazy with alarm. He rode through the streets with his horse at full speed, crying out that the papers in the capital must be removed.'' He well knew what evidence of his treason was among them. He and his guilty legislature gathered as many of the archives as possible, and fied by railway to Memphis,' while the officers of banks, bear- 1 See page 216. This boast had so assured the citizens that all was safe, that they felt no apprehensions of evil. Indeed, they had indulged in rejoicings over the victory of the Confederates at Fort Donelson. For this reason, the astounding news that now reached thera was more appalling. 2 The dispatch was headed in large letters — Enemy retreating ! — Glorious result 1 ! — Our boys follow- INQ AND PEPPERING TUEIR REAR! ! — A COMPLETE VIOTOUY ! I 3 " .Vu earthquake," says Pollard (i. 247), " could not have shocked the city more. The congregations at tho churches were broken up in confusion and dismay; women and children rushed into the streets, wailing with terror; trunks were thrown from three-story windows in the haste of the fugitives, and thousands hastened to leave their beautiful city in the midst of the most distressing scenes of terror, confusion, and plundering by the mob." The panic of the people waa natural. They had been deceived .and mialed, by false teachers in their midst. Into the helief that the people of the North were half savages. Among these teachers, who should be held responsible for much of the sufferings inflicted by the war, was W. E. Ward, a clergyman who, in his paper, called Tlie Banner of Peace, published at Nashville, had just said : " We have felt too secure, we have been too blind to the consequence of Federal success. If they succeed, we shall see plunder, insult to old andyoung, male and female, murder of innocents, release of slaves, and causing them to drive and insult their masters nnd mistresses in the most menial services, the land laid waste, houses burned, banks and private coffers robbed, cotton and every valuable taken away before our eyes, and a brutal, drunken soldiery turned loose upon us. Who wants to see this? If you do not believe, you will see it; look at Missouri." * Nashville correspondent of the Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 17, 1862. f* At Memphis, on tho 19th, Governor Harris issued a proclamation, in which he deplored the loss of Fort Donelson, and the danger that threatened the capitiil, and told the people that henceforth Tennessee was to become tho battle-field In which her inhabitants would show to the world that they wero worthy to be — ^wejit they had solemnly declared themselves to be — "freemen." He encouraged, or discouraged them by tho announcement that ho wonld take the field at their head ; and then in turgid phrases he tried to arouse thern 232 DESTRUCTION OF THE TENNESSEE IRON WORKS. ing away specie from the vaults, and citizens encumbered with their most valuable effects that were portable, crowded the stations of the railways leading to Decatur and to Chattanooga. Every vehicle was brought into requisition, and hack-hire was "raised to twenty-five dollars an hour. This fearful panic was increased when a portion of the troops, flying from Bowl ing Green, carae rushing into the city across the railway and the Suspension bridges, and a rumor spread over the town that the victors at Fort Donelson were raaking their way rapidly up the Cumberland. The rumor was true. On the evening of the day after the suiTender of Fort Donelson," Commodore Foote sent the St. Louis up the "^18®^' Cumberland to the Tennessee Iron Works, six or seven miles above Dover. These belonged, in part, to John Bell, the candi date of the " Constitutional Union Party " for President, in 1 860,' who, as we have observed, had early espoused the cause of the conspirators.^ There appeared to be sufficient evidence of these works having been employed in the interest of the rebellion to warrant their destruction, and they were laid in ashes. Nothing remained of them, when the writer passed by the spot in the spring of 1866, but three tall chimneys, ruined raachinery, and heaps of brick. On the 19th, the commodore, with the gun-boats Cairo, Lieutenant-com manding Bryant, and Conestoga, Lieutenant-coraraanding Phelps, ascended Jl'Ilillj^ FORT BRUCE AND ITS VICINITY, the river to Clarkesville (a city on its right bank, of about two thousand inhabitants before the war, and the capital of Montgomery County), with the intention of attacking an unfinished fort there, which the Confederates to resist the Union armies. He had, he said, in a message to the Legislature on the 20th, organized and put into the field since May, 1861, "for tho Confederate service, flfty -nine regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, eleven cavalry battalions, and over twenty independent companies, mostly of artillery." Fifteen thousand of these troops, he said, had been armed by the " Confederate Government," and to arm the remainder he called for " the sporting guns " ofthe citizens. 1 See page 80, volume I. 2 Sec page 874, volu?he I. s The National troops completed the work nnd named it Fort Bruce, in honor of tho loyal Colonel Bruce, of Nashville. The engraving shows its situation at the bend of the Cumbeiland, about half a mile below Clarksville. It commanded the river up and down. Tho mouth of the Eed Eiver is seen at the center of the picture, near a storehouse. On the Clarksville side of that stream was a small redoubt, called the Mud Fort, it being overflowed nnd covered with sediment at high water. This sketch was made by the writer from the deck of the Emma Floyd, while lying at Clarksville, looking down the river. FLIGHT OF CONFEDERATES FROM NASHVILLE. 233 were erecting on the high blufiT at the mouth of the Red River, a small stream that enters the Cumberland just below the town. The garrison, startled by the general panic, fied, and, in defiance of the wishes and remon strances of the citizens of Clarkesville, set fire to the fine railway bridge that spanned the river at that place. Colonel Webster, Grant's chief of staff", and Lieutenant Phelps, iraraediately went ashore and hoisted the National flag over the fort. Two-thirds of the terrified citizens of Clarkes ville had fied v/hen Foote arrived. At the suggestion of the late venerable Cave Johnson, and one or two others, he proclaimed full protection to all peaceable citizens, at the same tirae warning them not to display any seces sion fiags or other evidence of rebellious feeling. General Smith, with the advance of the National array, marched up to Clarkesville and took command thei'e ; while Foote returned to Cairo for more gun-boats, for the purpose of attacking Nashville. In the mean time General Johnston and his forces frora Bowling Green had continued their fiight southward as far as Murfreesboro, twenty-five miles on the way toward Chattanooga,' leaving General Floyd, the fugitive from Fort Donel son, with a few troops to secure the iraraense amount of stores and provisions in Nashville. Pillow, the other fugitive from Fort Donelson, and Hardee, who had come down from JBowling Green, were directed to assist Floyd in the business. The assignment to the perilous duty of remaining nearest the^ dreaded Nationals seemed like punishment inflicted on Floyd and Pillow by Johnston for their cowardice. If so, it was successful ; yet it was injurious to the Confederate cause, for these raen, unwilling to risk their persons again, suffered terribly frora fear, and counseled flight, as before. Floyd, on hearing that Foote's gun-boats were coming, gave orders on Monday" for the Confederate stores to be thrown open to tjie public ; two steam-packets, which were being ~ z^.,_ changed into gun boats, to be burned ; and the two bridges' at Nashville to be destroyed. Against the last act the citi zens most vehement' ly protested, and it was postponed until Tuesday night, when they were both bum ed by Floyd's order ; and he and Pillow literally scampered away southward by « Feb. 17, 1862. NASHVILLE AND ITS BRIDGES 1 It was auppoaed by the Confederatea th.at the Nationals would push on toward East Tennessee and it was for the purpose of confronting such movement that Johnston took position at Muri'reosboro ! The wire suspension-bridge was a beautiful structure, and cost about $150,000. i lai-e' portion of ihi stock belonged to the slain General ZoUicoffer, and waa the chief reliance for support, ofhis orphaned daughters But Floyd and Pillow wished to put a gulf between themselves and the Nationals, that they mi-rht aavo their own worthless persons ; and ao the claims of orphans and ihe pr.ayers of citizens were of no avail" 234 SURRENDER OF NASHVILLE. the light of the conflagration.' The troops that remained longest in Nash ville were Forest's cavalry, led by that brave captain. During the remainder of the week, Nashville was the theater of the wildest anarchy, and neither public nor private property was safe for an hour. Happily for the well-disposed inhabitants. Colonel Kenner, of the Fourth Ohio cavalry, of Mitchel's division, entered the city on Sunday evening, the 2.3d, and endeavored to restore order. He was immediately followed by the reraainder of his commander's force, who encamj)ed at Edge field, opposite Nashville, and there awaited the arrival of General Buell. That officer came on the 25th, and on the same morning the Conestoga arrived from Clarkesville, as a convoy to transports bearing a considerable body of troops, under General Nelson. These had not been opjsosed in their passage up the rjver, for the only battery on its banks between the two cities was Fort Zollicoifer, on a blufi", four or five miles below Nashville, which was unfinished, and was then abandoned. The citizens of Nashville, believing General Johnston would make a stand there, had commenced this fort on the south or left bank of the Cumberland, and were much incensed by its sudden abandonment. Pursuant to previous arrangement, the mayor of Nashville (R. B. Cheat ham) and a small delegation of citizens crossed over to Buell's quarters at Edgefield, and there made a formal surrender of the city." Gen eral Buell at once issued an order congratulating the troops " that it had been their privilege to restore the National banner to the Capitol of Tennessee."'^ He expressed. a belief that the. hearts of a greater portion of the people of that State would be rejoiced by the fact ; and he assm-ed the in habitants that the rights of person and property should he respected. On the following day, Gen eral Grant and staff arrived, and he and General Buell held a consultation about future movements. Colonel Stanley Mat thews, of the Fifty- first Ohio Volunteers, was appointed Pro vost-Marshal, and or der was speedily re- o Feb. 26, 1862. CAPITOL AT NASHVILLE. 1 A greater portion of the cannon at Nashville were spiked, and many of them wero placed upon tho bridges beforo they were flred, and whon these perished in the flames, tho cannon went to tho bottom of the Cumberland. '^The Capitol of the State of Tennessee ia ono of tho finest of its kind in tho United States. It is in tho center of four acres of ground in tho midst of the city, nnd crowns a hill that rises 197 feet above the Cumberland Eiver. It is composed of fossilnted limestone, taken from quarries near the.city, and its style is of the most beautiful of the Grecian orders, with four porticoes, whose columns are 83 feet in height. It is a parallelogram in form, 140 by 270 feet In size, nnd is surrounded by a terrace 17 feet in width and six iu height. The pinnacle » March 4, 1862. EXPEDITION AGAINST COLUMBUS. 235 stored. Railroad connection with Louisville was soon opened, and the inhabitants were invited to resume their avocations. The capture of Nashville, the flight of the Governor and Legislature of Tennessee from the State capital, and the virtual dissolution of civil govern ment in that Commonwealth, imposed upon the National authorities the duty of providing a substitute for the people. It was resolved to appoint a raili tary governor to administer the public affairs of the State under martial law ; and Andrew Johnson, formerly a chief magistrate of that Common wealth, and then one of its representatives in the United States Senate, was appointed" to that responsible position, with the military rank of Brigadier-General.' He reached Nashville on the 12th of March, and, in a speech to the citizens assembled that evening, he promised friendship and protection to the loyal, and gave thera to under stand that "intelligent and conscious treason in high places" would be punished. Another bloodless victory soon followed the capture of Naghville. Six days after the forraal surrender of that city. General Halleck telegraphed to General McClellan from St. Louis,' "Columbus, the Gibraltar of jj^^^j^^ the West, is ours, and Kentucky is free, thanks to the brilliant strategy of the campaign by which the enemy's center was pierced at Forts Henry and Donelson, his wings isolated from each other and turned, com pelling thus the evacuation of his stronghold of Bowling Green first, and now Columbus." The history of the latter event may be told in few words. When it was evident to the conspirators at Richmond that the " Gibraltar " was untenable, the so-called Secretary of War instructed Polk, through Beauregard, " to evacuate Columbus, and select a defensive position below." Polk chose that section of the Mississippi and its shores which embraces Island Nuraber Ten, the raain land in Madrid Bend on the Kentucky shore, and New Madrid. Defensive works had been thrown up at the two latter places during the preceding autumn, and now measures were immediately taken for strongly fortifying Island Number Ten. So early as the 25th of February, Polk ordered the removal of the sick from Columbus, as a preparatory step toward the evacuation of that post, and assigned the command of the river defenses at the position chosen to General I. P. McCown, whose division was ordered thither on the 2'7th. The remainder of the troops, 'excepting the cavalry, left Columbus on the 1st of March. General Stuart's brigade went by steamer to New Madrid, and the remainder marched by land to Union City, in Tennessee,'' under General Cheatham. The removal of sjjecial articles of value to Jackson, Tennessee, of its cupola is 200 feet from the ground. In compliance with the request of Mr. Strickland, its ai-chitect, his remains are inclosed in its walls, with a proper inscription on the outside ; and so that imposing pile has become his raonument. Tho cost of the building was over $1,000,000. The population of Nashville, at the time we are considering, was about 24,000 souls. In our little sketch ia seen a cabin in front of the Capitol. It waa uaed hy the architects during the erection Ol the great ; building and in it Governor Harris was living, it is said, in a very frugal manner, when he was summoned to fiy from Nashville. 1 See page 226, volume I. * This is at the intersection of the Nashville and Northwestern and the Mobile and Ohio Uaihvays; the former leading directly to Hickman, on tho Misaiasinpi Eiver. 236 CAPTURE OF COLUMBUS. had been accomplished at that tirae. Then the cavalry set fire to the military- buildings of the post, and, accompanied by Polk and his staff °1S62°''' fi^llowed the retiring columns, at three o'clock in the afternoon of the 2d."' In the mean time preparations had been made to capture Columbus, with its troops and munitions of war. When Foote retumed to Cairo from Clarkesville, he collected a fiotilla of six gun-boats, coramanded respectively by Captains Davis, Walke, and Stembel, and Lieutenants-commanding Paul ding, Thompson, and Shirk ; four raortar-boats, under the general command of Lieutenant-commanding Phelps, assisted by Lieutenant Ford, of the Ord nance Corps, and Captain George Johnson, of Cincinnati; and three trans- j)orts. The latter bore a sraall land force of little more than two thousand men,^ commanded by Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman (who was in com mand at Paducah), accorapanied by General Cullum, of Halleck's staff". The J flotilla left Cairo before daylight on the morning of the 4th,' and at sunrise was in sight of the fortified blufis at Columbus. Prepa rations were raade for attack. Rumor had declared that the fort had been evacuated. It was cautiously approached, even after a farmer, a professedly Union man, had assured the comraodore that the troops had fled. At length the National flag was dimly seen waving over the Confederate works. It might be a trick. Colonel Buford and a detachment of the Twenty-seventh Illinois were landed to reconnoiter. They were soon clambering up the steep bluffs with shouts of triumph. Troops were in the fortifications, but they were friends. A detachment of the Second Illinois cavalry, under Lieutenant Hogg, two hundred and fifty strong, who had been sent out as scouts from Paducah, had entered the place at five o'clock the day before, and hoisted the Stars and Stripes over the main work of that stronghold.^ They found the town deserted by nearly all of its disloyal inhabitants.* There was evi dence of great haste in the evacuation, " considering," says General Cullum, " the quantities of ordnance and ordnance stores, and number of anchors, and the remnant of the chain which was once stretched over the river,' and a larsfe 1 Eeport of Major-General Leonidas Polk to Colonel Thomas Jordan, March 18th, 1862. "In five days," said Polk, in his report, " we removed the accumulation of aix months, taking with us all our commissary and quarter master stores— an amount sufficient to supply my whole command for eight mouths; all our powder and other ammunition and ordnance stores (excepting a few shot, and gun-carriages), and every heavy gun in the fort Two 82-pounders ina remote outwork were the only valuable guns left." These, with some sm.aller ones, were spiked. "The whole nutnber of pieees of artillery comprising our armament," he continued, "was one hundred nnd fifty." General Cullum's report contradicts that of Polk concerning the removal of nearly all that was valuable, for a large quantity of ordnance and ordnance stores, he says, was found there. 2 These were composed of Colonel Buford's Twenty-seventh Illinois, and a battalion each of the Fifty-fourth and Seventy-fourth Ohio, and Fifty-fifth Illinois regiments, commanded by Majors Andrewa and Sawyer. ' Eeport of Commodoro Foote to the Secretary of the Navy, March 4, isC2; also of Gener.al Cullum to General McClellan, on the a.arae day. General Polk, in his report, says, " The enemy's cavalry, the flrst of hia forces to arrive after the evacuatim, reached Columbus in tho afternoon ofthe next day [March 3], twenty-fonr hours after the last of our troops had left." ^ A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, who accompanied Commodore Foote, mentioned "Mrs. Sharpe, wife of the ex-mayor of Columbus," as the only woman he met with in his ramblea through tho town. She aaid she had stuck up for the Union cause while the secessionists threatened to pull her house down. Her husband, she said, had been "forcibly cnrried off by the rebels."— See notice of Sharpe's letter to General Pillow, note 1, p.age 72. « This was a contrivance of General Pillow, and, like most of his military operations, wns a failure. It was n huge affair, stretching down from the bluifs into the Mississippi, with its Missouri shore end loose, and the most of it lying at the bottom of tho river. MINES AND TORPEDOES AT COLUMBUS. 237 supply of torpedoes remaining.' Desolation was visible everywhere — huts, tents, and barricades presenting but their, blackened remains." A number of heavy cannon had been spiked and rolled ofi" the bluff" into the river. A train on fire, connected with both ends of a magazine, was cut, and safety was soon secured. A garrison of a little over two thousand men, including four hundred cavalry, was left to hold the post. We have observed that Polk and his confederates, on retiring from Co lumbus, took position on the Mississippi shores and Island Number Ten ISLAND NUMUEE TEN.^ below. New Madrid, on the Missouri side of the river,' to which many of the troops went, had been much strengthened by Jeff". Thompson,* who had occu pied it for some tirae, and had strong military works there, one of which was TOEI'EDOES. ^ These torpedoes were numerous and foi-midablc, and, had men been there to flre thoae in the river, by tbe electrical batteries on the shore, there might have been much damage done to Foote's flotilla, had it gone near. These, and "infernal machines,'* found in mines in the bluff, at tested the great danger to which the Nation.al forces wonld hjivo been exposed in an assault upon the Confederate works, which were of immense strength from the water to the table-land above. In the bluff near the grand b.attery above Columbus a cavern was discovered, in which were found electrical machinea, having a connection hy wires with portable mines in several directions, so arranged as to destroy troops that might be gathered above thera. These mines wero iron casks, some thing of a pear shape, about three feet in height, with an iron cap, fastened with eight screws. In each was a 4-pound shell, with grape and canister shot, "surrounded by about two bushels of coarse powder," wrote an eye-witness. On the bottom of each cask waa a wooden box, to which, and entering the powder, were fastened insulated wires, connecting with the electrical machines in the cavern. Several other caverns were found with these machines connecting with mines, to tho number, it w,a3 supposed, of nearly one himdred. The torpedoes found in the river and on the shore wero pointed cylindera, about three feet in length, containing fllty or aixty pounds of powder, which was to bo ignited by electricity. The electrical machines were very much like those uaed in teleTapli ofiices. '^ 2 This was the appearance of Island Number Ten, to the eye of the author, from a Mississippi steamer in April, 1866. It lies in a sharp bend of tho Mississippi, about 40 miles below Columbus, and within the limits of Kentucky. >N cw Madrid ia the capital of New Madrid County, Miasouri, 79 railea below Cairo, .and 947 miles above New Orleans, by tho winding river. Island Number Ten is about ten miles above it The Islands in the Missis sippi, from the mouth of the Ohio Eiver downward, are distinguished by numbers, this, as its name implies, being tho tenth. t gee page 58. INFEUNAL MACHINE. 238 BEAUREGARD AND HIS CALL FOR BELLS. called Fort Thompson.' The post was now in charge of General Gantt, of Arkansas. The town was at the junction of a bayou and the Mississippi, at a sharp turn of that streara, and was naturally an eligible position to repel an eneiny approaching by water, from above or below. In addition to its land defenses, it was now guarded by a fiotilla of six gun-boats, carrying from four to eight heavy guns each, which had been sent up from New Orleans, under the command of the incompetent Hollins." The country around New Madrid being fiat, and the water in the river, at the time we are considering, very high, the cannon of the fiotilla comraanded the land approaches to the town for a long distance. This post, although about a thousand miles away from New Orleans, was, with Island Number Ten, a few miles above, regarded as the key to the lower Mississippi, and the metropolitan city on its banks, and therefore an object of great iraportance to both parties. When the garrison at New Madrid was re-enforced from Columbus, it was placed under the charge of General McCown, whUe the troops on Island Number Ten were commanded by General Beauregard.^ These officers had scarcely established their quarters at their respective posts, when they were disturbed by the thunder of the Union troops, who were bent upon the redemption of the navigation of the Mississippi from the control of rebel cannon and vessels. It was confidently expected at Richmond, how ever, that, at this great bend in the river, they might say to the National ^ This was an irregular bastioned work, mounting fourteen heavy guns, and situated about half a milo below New Madrid. There was another similar, but smaller work at the upper end of the town, mounting seven heavy guns. Between them was a continuous line of intrenchments and defenaive works. 2 See page 114. 3 Beauregard, who had just been appointed to the command of the Department of Mississippi, was in immediate command of the troops, and the property at Jackson, Tennessee, after the evacuation of Columbus; and, inspired by an appeal from the Ordnance Department at Eiehmond,* he there indulged in his favorite arauseraent of issuing sensation orders. He sent forth one dated the Sth of March, addressed "To the Planters of the Mississippi Valley," telling them that more than once a people fighting with an enemy less ruthless than theirs, for " imperiled rights not more de.ar and sacred." for " homes and a land not more worthy of resolute and unconquerable men," and for " interests of far less magnitude than theirs, had not hesitated to melt and mould into cannon the precious bells surmounting their houses of God, which had called generations to prayer. The priesthood," he told them, " had ever sanctioned and consecrated the conversion, in the hour of their country's need, as one holy and acceptable in tho sight of God, We w.ant cannon," he continued, "as greatly as any people who ever, as history tells you, melted their church bells to supply them ;" so he, their General, called upon them to aend their " plantation bells to the nearest railroad depot," subject to his order, " to be melted into cannon for the defense of their plantations." There was a liberal response to this call, and not only "planta tion bells " but church bells were offered for t%e purpose. " In some cities," wrote a soldier in the Confederate army, " every church g,ave up its bell. Court-houses, factories, public institutions, and plantations, sent theirs. And the people furnished large quantities of old brass of every description— andirons, candlesticks, gaa-flxtnres, nnd even door-knoba. I have aeen wagon-loads of these lying at depots, waiting shipment to the fonndries."— Sec T/iirteen Montlis in the Rebel Army, by an impressed New Yorker (William G. Stevens), page S4. These brazen contributions were all sent to New Orleans, where they were found by General Butler, who sent the bells to Boston, to be used for a more peaceful purpose. Thoy were sold at auction there in August following, by Colonel N. A. Thompson, who prefaced the sale by a patriotic speech. Ten days before Beauregard's appeal for bell-metal, his Surgeon-General, Dr. Choppin, whom he had sent to New Orleans, after the fall of Fort Donelson, for the purpose, issued in that city the following characteristic address to hia Creole brethren : " SoLDiEES OF New Okleans : You are aware of the disnstera which have befallen our arms in the West Greater disasters still are staring us in the face. General Beauregard — tho man to whom we must look as the saviour of our country — aends me among you to summon you to a great duty and noble deeds— invoking and inspired by the sacred love of country and of priceless liberty, ho has taken the deathless resolution de lee venger ou de les suivre. And, with the immortal confldence and holy fervor of a soul willing, if need be, to meet martyrdom, he calls upon you to join him, in order that he may restore to onr country what she has lost, * Tin, an essential arliclo in tho inRnufactnre of brnsa cannon, wns so scarce within tto bounds of the Confederacy, thnt tlie Ordnntce Department solicited tho people to contribute bells for the purpose. ID is said that sufBcient bell-metal was sent to Richmond, from Freder icksburg nloue, to make two light batteries. POPE'S MARCH ON NEW MADRID. 239 forces, " Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther ;" but, like most of their cal culations, this one signally failed. While Johnston was pressing southward through Nashville with his fugitive army from Bowling Green, and Polk was trembling in his menaced works at Columbus, Halleck was giving impetus to a force destined to strike a fatal blow at the Confederates at New Madrid. He dispatched General Pope from St. Louis on the 22d of February, with a considerable body of troops, chiefiy from Ohio and Illinois, to attack that post. Pope went down the Mississippi in transports, and landed at Comraerce, in Missouri, on the 24th. He marched from there on the 27th, and three days afterward two companies of the Seventh Illinois cavalry, under Captain Webster, and a com pany of independent cavalry, under Captain Noleman, encountered the guer rilla chief M. Jefi". Thompson with about two hundred mounted men. These were routed, and pursued with great vigor to Thompson's lines at New Madrid, losing in their fiight three pieces of artillery, and throwing away guns and every thing else that raight lessen their speed. In the mean time Pope's main column moved on, traversed with the greatest difiiculty over flowed miry swamps,' and on the day when the 'National standard was unfurled at Columbus" it appeared before New Madrid. Pope- found the post occupied by five regiments of infantry and several companies of artillery, with Hollins's fiotilla on the river. Satis fied that he could accomplish very little with his light artillery, he encamped out of range of the gun-boats, and sent Colonel Bissell, of the Engineer Corps, to Cairo for heavy cannon. While Pope was waiting for his siege-guns, the Confederates were strengthening New Madrid by re-en forcements from Island Number Ten; and on the 12th, when the cannon from Cairo arrived, there were about nine thousand infantry, besides artillery, within the works • in front of Pope, commanded by Generals McCown, Stuart, and Gantt. Meanwhile, three gun-boats had been added to Hollins's fiotilla. Fearing the Confederates might be re-enforced from below. Pope sent Colonel J. B. Plumraer, of the Eleventh Missouri, to Point Pleasant, ten or twelve miles down the river, to plant a battery, and blockade it at that • March 3, 1862. POPE'S IIEAD-QUAETERS NEAK NEW MADRID. and lead yon on to glory and independence. In tones rigid and sullen as the tailings qf the.funeral knell, but with clarion accents that should send a quiver through every heart, and string the nerves of every man he cries out the final refrain of that immortal hymn — ¦ " ' Au.x armes citoyens 1 formez vos bataillons, Marchons 1 Marchons Qu'un sang impur abreuve nos sillons I' " ' Creoles of Loaisinna, on to the work !' " ' " Tho men," said a newspaper correspondent, " waded in mud, ate in it, slept in it, were surrounded by it as St Helena is by the ocean.*' 240 CAPTURE OF NEW MADRID. a March 12, 1863. J March 13. point. He took with him three regiments of infantry, three companies of cavalry, and a field battery of 1 0-pound Parrott guns. He formed rifie-pits for a thousand men, and planted his cannon in sunken batteries below them. This was done with perfect success in the face of cannonading from the Con federate gun-boats. This position coraraanded the passage ofthe river in the rear of Island'Nuraber Ten, and prevented supplies being fumished to that post across the peninsula formed by Reel Foot Lake and Madrid Bend. Pope's four siege-guns (three 32-pounders and an 8-inch mortar) arrived at near sunset," and at dawn the next moming (thirty-five hours after they left Bird's Point, on the Cairo and Fulton Railway) they were in position, within half a mile of Fort Thorapson.' On that work _ __^^ and Hollins's fiotilla he at once opened ^^ ^siS^^ei^^"'^""''^ a vigorous cannonade and bombard ment.' They replied with equal vigor, but in the course of a few hours three ofthe cannon in the fort were dismounted, and three of the gun-boats were disabled. The fierce artillery duel continued throughout the whole day,^ the Nationals continually extending their trenches, for the pur pose of pushing their heavy batteries to the river bank during the night. General Paine, in the mean time, was making demonstrations against in trenchments on the Confederate right, supj^orted by General Palmer's divi sion. The Confederate pickets were driven in, and when night fell the entire insurgent force at New Madrid, on land and water, were in a perilous posi tion. Their commanders perceived this, and during a furious thunder-storm, at about midnight, while the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-ninth Ohio and Tenth and Sixteenth Illinois were on duty guarding the rifie-pits and bat teries, they evacuated the post and fled to Island Number Ten, leaving almost every thing behind them.^ So precipitate was their fiight that their suppers and lighted candles were in their tents, and their dead were left unburied. New Madrid presented a most pitiable sj)ectacle. The original inhabitants had fied, and it had evidently been sacked and plundered by its Confederate occupants, for household articles were scattered in every direc tion. The huraan loss of the Confederates in this quick, sharp siege is not known. One hundred new graves and many bodies left unburied showed it to have been severe on the land. That of the Nationals was fifty-one killed and wounded.' A CANNON TRUCK.3 ^ These guns were carried twenty miles by railway, and dragged on trucks (auch aa is delineated in tho engraving) twenty miles farther, over a miry mad most of the way. 2 The heavy guns were handled by companies A and H, of tho First U. S. Eegular Infantry, under Captain Mower. 3 See pago 5S3, volume I. * They left thirty-three cannon, several thousand stand of small arms, a mngazlne full ol flxed amnunition, several hundred bo.ves of rausket cartridges, tents for an array of ten thousand men. Intrenching tools, and a large number of horses, mulea, and wagons, ' Eeport of General .John Pope to General Cullum, March 14, 1S62; and statements to the author hy eye witnesses. STRENGTH OF ISLAND NUMBER TEN. 241 Just before daylight on the morning after the siege, Brigadier-General David S. Stanley, whose command had been in the trenches all night, was relieved by Major-General Schuyler Hamilton; and, a little after dawn, a flag of truce appeared with information that the place was abandoned. When the fact was certified, Hamilton sent Captain Mower and his artillerists to plant the hational fiag on Fort Thompson. At almost the sarae hour," Commodore Foote left Cairo with a powerful fieet, com- "^^H^, *" posed of seven armored gun-boats, one not armored, and ten mortar-boats,' for the purpose of co-operating with General Pope. At Colum bus he was joined by the Twenty-seventh Illinois, Colonel Buford, and some other troops,' and raoving down to Hickraan, on the sarae shore , j^^^^j^^^ of the Mississippi, he took possession of that place.' He did not tarry, but, pressing forward, his fieet appeared in sight of Island Nuraber Ten the next day," when he carefully reconnoitered the Confeder- ^ ^^^^^ ^^ ate position and prepared for a siege. Under the skillful and energetic raanageraent of General Beauregard, Island Number Ten had been raade the raost impregnable to assault of all the posts in the Mississippi valley. On the day of his arrival ^ ^^^^^ ^ there,"* he had assumed the command of the Department of the Mississippi, to which, as we have observed, he had recently been appointed, and had called General Bragg frora Pensacola to his aid. He issued a stirring order, frora Jackson, Tennessee," addressed to the inhabi- ^ ^^^^^ ^ tants of his department, announcing his assumption of the command, and calling upon the men to arouse in defense of their " raothers, wives, sisters, and children." If high-sounding words and good engiAcering could have made Island Number Ten impregnable, it would have ___ - : -- _ been so. ".rJ ' - On Saturday night,/ ^^^^^^ ^^ Commodore Foote was prepared for action, and on Sunday morning he commenced the siege with a bombardment by the rifled guns of the Benton^ his flag-ship. This was followed by the mortar- boats, moored at proper points along the river shore, from which these immense pieces of ordnance hurled tons of iron upon the devoted island^ 1 The fleet consisted of tbo gun-boats JBenton., Lieutenant Phelps acting flag-captain ; Oinainnati, Comman der Stembel ; Carondelet, Commander Walke ; Mound City, Commander Kelley ; Louisville, Commander Dove ; Pittabitrg, Lieutenant Thompson ; ^S"^. Louis. Lieutenant Paulding; and Conestoga (not armored), Lieu tenant Blodgett. The mortar-boats were in charge of Captain II. E. Maynadier, commander of the squadron ; Captain E. B. Pike, assistant commander; and Sailing-Musters Glassford, Gregory, Simonds, and Johnson. 2 Hickman had been visited by National gun-boats once before. On the day when it was flrst occupied by the Confed erates,* the Tyler and Lexington approached that place, where they encountered a Confederate gun-boat called The Yankee. With this, and a masked battery of four rifled can- a Sept. 4, non on the shore, just above Hickman, the Tijlerand L&nin'gion fought about an hour, driving 1S61. T?t0 Yankee to Hickman, silencing the shore battery, burning the tents near it with hot shot, and scattering the Insurgents. ' The mortar was one of the earliest forms of cannon, being in use in Europe as early as 1485. Its name is derived from Its form, which resembles the apothecaries' utensil of that name. The more ancient form is seen Vol. il— 16 TniETEEN-INOII MORTAK. 242 ATTACK ON OOISFFEDERATE BATTERIES. and the batteries on the Kentucky shore opposite. All day long the bom bardment was . kept up, and vigorous responses were made, with very little injury to either party.^ Meanwhile a battery of the Second Illinois artillery was landed on the Missouri shore, in a position to assail the Confederate fleet near the island. This battery was active and effec tual, and did excellent service the next day, when a most deadly attack was made on the Confed erate works, after meridian, by a floating battery of ten guns, formed of the gun-boats Cincinnati^ Ben ton., and St. Louis^ lashed side by side, followed by the Carondelet^ Pittsburg^ and Mound City, They went nearer to the works, and l^ounded them severely. Heavy blows were given in return, and the second day of the siege was as barren of decisive results as the first. " Island Number Ten," said Commodore Foote to the Secretary 1862. ' of the Navy,'' " is harder to conquer than Colrmibus, as the island ISLAND NUMBEE TEN AND ITS DEFENSES.^ in the little engraving on page 24T. Tho great mortars used in sieges on land and water, during the late war, were truly monster-weapons for destruction. Our picture shows one used on land, mounted and worked precisely as were those on the mortar-boats. It is what is technically termed a 13-inch mortar, that is to say, it will receive a bomb-shell thirteen inches in diameter. Its weight was 17,000 pounds. It was discharged by means of a cord attached to a percussion lock. The Immense balls or shells used for these mor tars were so heavy (weighing over two hundred pounds), that one man could not handle one of them, and they were carried from the magazine to the mortar by tho method delineated in the engraving. In the river- service, during the late war, the mortar-boats were firmly moored to the bank, and a derrick was set up on the shore in a position to drop the shell into the mouth of Ihe monster after a bag full of powder had gone down its throat. A correspondent ofthe Chicago Times, who was at the bombardment of Island Number Ten, thus graphically describes the manner of using these im mense can'non : " The operation of flring the mortars, which was conducted while we were near by, is inter esting and rather stunning. The charge is from fifteen to twenty-two pounds. The shell weighs 230 pounds, and is thirteen inches in diameter. For a familiar illustration, it is about the size of a large soup-plate, so your readers may Imagine, when they sit down to dinner, the emotions they would experi ence if they happened to see a ball of iron of those dimensions coming toward them at the rate of a thousand miles a minute. Tho boat is moored alongside tho shore, so as to withstand tbe shock firmly, and tbo men go ashore when the mortar is to be flred. A pull of the string does the work, and the whole vicinity is shaken with the concussion. Tho report is deafening, and the most enthusiastic person gets enough of it with ono or twii discharges. There is no sound from the shell at this point of observation, and no indication to mark tho course it is taking, but in a few seconds the attentive observer, with a good glass, will see the cloud of smoke that follows its explosion, and then the report comes back with a dull boom. If it has done execution, tho enemy may be seen carrying otf thoir killed and wounded." 1 During the bombardment of this day, Commodore Foote was informed of tho death, at New Haven, Con necticut, of his second son, a promising boy thirteen years of age. It was so unexpected that, for a moment, the bi-ave warrior was overcome. He soon rallied, and pushed on the combat with great vigor, making private sorrow subordinate to public duty. s The figures on this map denote the numbers of tho batteries, as given by the Confederates. It will be seen that the channel of tho river was completely covered by them at the approaches of the Island fi'om above. METHOD OF CARRYING A SUELI- POPE AT NEW MADEID. 243 shores are lined with forts, each fort commanding the one above it." And so the siege went on, with varying fortunes, until the first week in April, when Foote's flotilla was yet above Island Xumber Ten, and Beauregard telegraphed" to Richmond that the National guns " jg^^ ' had "thrown three thousand shells and burned fifty tons of gun-powder" without damaging his batteries, and killing only one of his men. The public began to be impatient, but victory was near.' While Commodore Foote was pounding away at Island Number Ten and its seven supporting shore-batteries. General Pope was chafing at New Madrid with impatience for decisive action. His guns easily blockaded the river, but he wished to do more. He desired to cross it to the peninsula and attack the island in the rear, a movement that would insure its capture with its dependencies, their garrisons and munitions of war. The river there was about a mile in width, and with a current then flowing at the speed of seven or eight miles an hour. The opposite shore was lined with batteries garnished with guns of heavy caliber. Until these could be silenced, it would be madness to attempt to cross the river with any means at Pope's command. He tried to induce Foote to allow some of his armed vessels to run the batteries of Island Number Ten, and, after silencing these Tennessee shore-batteries, transport the troops across. Foote would not incur the risk, and Pope was at his wit's end, when General Hamilton came to his relief with a most extraordinary proposi tion. It was the construction of a canal from the bend of the Mississippi, near Island Number Eight, across the neck of a swampy peninsula, to the vicin ity of New Madrid, of sufficient capacity to allow the passage of gun boats and transports, and thereby effectually flank Number Ten and insure its capture. He offered to undertake the task with his division, and to execute the work in the space of two weeks, under the general direction of Lieutenant Henry B. Gaw, of the Engineers. General Pope favored General Hamilton's proposition, and directed Colo nel Bissell to perform the task, with the plans so modified as to allow only transports and barges to pass through. Bissell set about it with his regi- SCnUYLER HAMILTON. 1 While Foote -vvas carrying on this siege, Colonel Buford with the Twenty-seventh Illinois, Colonel Hogg with the Fifteenth Missouri, and Colonel Foster with a battalion of the Twenty-second Missouri, accompanied by a battery of six rilled cannon, under Captain Spatsmon, of the Second Illinois artillery, and 200 of the Second Illinois cavalry, went to Hickman on the gun-boat Louisville. They landed quietly, and soon after ward pushed on toward Unitm City, au important point at the junction of railways south of Columbus, occu pied by a Confederate force composed of the Twenty-first Tennessee infantry and a battalion of cavalry, in all about 1,000 men. Their way led through a densely wooded country. Their march was rapid, and they fell suddenly upon their enemies and scattered them at the iirst onset. After burning their camp, and eifectually purging Union City of armed insurgents, the Nationals returned to Hickman and re-embarkcd for Island Num ber Ten. Ui HAMILTON'S FLANKING CANAL. a April 4, 1862, attested. ment, with great vigor, assisted by some of Buford's command. Four light- kraft steamers and two or three gun-barges were sent down from Cairo for use in the work ; and, after nineteen days of the most fatiguing labor, a canal twelve miles long, one-half the distance through a growth of heavy timber ' was completed;" a wonderful monument to the engineering skill and indomitable perseverance of the Americans.^ In the mean tirae Foote had not been idle, as Beauregard's electrograph The upper (Rucker's Battery) or number one ofthe seven forts on ^ the Kentucky shore P^X-V. ^ J a ^^"^ received his ' A' ^^Ll'"^^^ special attention, ^1 IMl W|v and on the night of the 1st of April an expedition to take it by storm was set in motion under the command of Colonel Roberts, of the For ty-second Illinois, who was accom panied by only for ty of his men. They went in five boats manned by armed crews picked from the steamers Ren- ton, St. Louis, Cin cinnati, Pittsburg, and Mound City— a hundred men in all, seamen and soldiers — and, pulHng directly for the face of the battery, met with no other opposition than the fire of two sentinels, who scampered avray. The six guns ofthe battery were spiked, and thus one of Foote's most formidable opponents was silenced. This daring feat was followed on the night of the 3d' by another. Pope had frequently implored Foote to send a gun-boat to his assistance. At length the gallant Captain Walke obtained permission of the commander to undertake to run by the Confederate batteries with the Carondelet. This perilous feat was successfully performed at midnight, during a tremendous thunder-storm. The flashes of lightning revealed her to the Confederates, and she was compelled to run the gantlet of a heavy fire from all of the batteries. She did not return a shot ; and Foote was soon rejoiced by hearing the booming of three signal-guns from her deck, which was to be his assurance of her safety.^ She was received at Xew CONSTRUCTING THE CANAL.^ h April. 1 Through this timber a way, at an average of flfty feet in width, was cut by sawing off trees, in some plaot' four feet under water. ¦' Kcport of General Pope to General Halleck, April 9, 1SG2, Statement of General Hamilton to tho author, June T, 1803. 3 In this picture tho accompanying gnn-barges are seen to the i-ight and left of the steamer. * The weak sides of the Carondelet, where tho iron plates did not cover them, were protected by hales of PASSING THE CONFEDERATE BATTEEIES. 245 THE CARONDELET. Madrid with the wildest demonstrations of delight, the soldiers catching up in their arma the sailors who rowed Walke's gig ashore, and passing them from one to an other. The Carondelet was the first vessel that ran the Confederate blockade on the Mis sissippi River ; and her brave commander and his men received tho special thanks of the ^ Secretary of the Navy," "X''' for his cou rageous and important act. On the following morning,' the JBenton, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg, with three boats, opened a heavy fire upon a huge floating battery of sixteen guns, which the Confederates had moored at Island Number Ten.' Unable to defend it, the Confederates imperfectly scuttled the monster, and cut it loose. It drifted down the river and lodged a short distance above Point Pleasant. So one by one advantages were gained by the Nationals. ' The impatient Pope, satisfied that he could not rely upon the flotilla for much aid on his side of Island Number Ten, had caused several floating batteries to be constructed of coal-barges, at the upper end of the canal, with which he intended to silence the guns on the Kentucky shore, opposite his position, and cover the passage across of his troops.^ These were com pleted when the canal was finished, and on the Sth of April they, with four steamers and some barges, were brought through that channel into the bayou which empties into the Mississippi at New Madrid. There all were kept concealed until every thing was in readiness for a forward movement. > On the morning of the 6th, Pope sent the Carondelet down the river toward Tiptonville, with General Granger, Colonel Smith, of the Forty-third Ohio, and Cajjtain L. B. Marshall, of his staff, to reconnoiter the stream below. They found the whole Kentucky and Tennessee shore for fifteen miles lined with heavy guns, at intervals in no case more than a mile apart, and between these intrenchments for infantry were thrown up. On their hay, lashed firmly together. She was cast loose at ten o'clock, and very soon afterward the furious thunder-, storm commenced. The thunder above and tho artillery below kept up a continual and fearful roar. The ves sel was about half an hour passing tho batteries, .and in that time forty-seven shot were fired at her, but not one touched her. — Statement of Captain Walke to the author. 1 This was formerly the " Pelican Floating Dock," in New Orleans, and had been towed up the river over nine hundred miles. » Each battery was constructed of three heavy coal-barges, lashed together and bolted with iron. The middle one carried the men and the guns, and was bulk-headed all around so as to give four feet of thick ness of solid timber, sides and ends. The outside barges had a layer of empty water-tight barrels securely lashed, then layers of dry cotton-wood r.ails and cotton, cloSely packed, so that a shot before reaching tho miildle barge mnst pass through twenty feet of rails and cotton. The empty barrels were intended as floats, in the event of tho outer barges being pierced by shot below water-mark. Each battery had three heavy guns protected by traverses of sand-bags, and corried eighty sharp-shooters. 246 ISLAND NUMBER TEN ABANDONED. return, the Carondelet silenced a battery opposite Point Pleasant, and Captain Marshall, with a few men, landed and spiked its guns. That night, at the urgent request of Pope, Foote ordered the Pittsburg Lieutenant Thompson, to run the blockade. It was done, and she arrived at New Madrid at dawn on the Vth, when Captain Walke went down the river with the two gun-boats to silence 'batteries near Watson's Landing, below Tiptonville (Tennessee), where Pope intended to disembark his troops (then on the steamers that had passed through the canal), on the Tennessee shore, in the rear of Island Number Ten. A few days before, he had established batteries of 32-pounders, under Captain Williams, of the First Regular Infantry, opposite that point. The troops on the steamers comprised General Paine's division, and con sisted of the Tenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, and Fifty-first Illinois regi ments, with Houghtailing's Battery. A heavy rain-storm was sweeping over the country, but it did not impede the movement. Captain Walke performed his assigned duty admirably, and struck the final blow that secured a victory ' for the Nationals. At noon he signaled to Pope that the batteries were silenced. The steamers with the troops immediately moved forward, and when they commenced crossing tho broad river (which Pope said was < _ _ the most magnificent Ifi:- '^^^^^^^S^^fcSSF^^^^a^ - Spectacle he had ever _ '^ ^ __ seen), it was ascertained that the Confederates were abandoning their batteries along that por tion of the Tennessee and Kentucky shore. Walke's victory assured the latter that all was lost, and their only thought was concerning safety in flight. There was now equal commo tion on Island Number Ten. Positive information concerning the flanking canal had been given at Confederate head-quarters there, but the story was not believed until the steamers were seen emerging from the bayou at New Madrid, when hope forsook them. Sinking their gun-boat. Grampus, and six transports in the river between the island and New Madrid, so as to form, as they supposed, effectual obstructions to navigation, they abandoned every thing and fled. It was important to capture the fugitives, and for that purpose Pope directed Stanley and Hamilton, who had come down by land, to cross their divisions. Ho pushed his troops on toward Tiptonville as fast as they were landed. They met and drove back the Confeclerates, who were attempting to fly toward Union City. These were joined at Tiptonville that night hy many fugitives from Island Number Ten. The Avildest confusion prevailed among them. They were driven to the swamps by Pope's " "i5j2 ' advancing forces, and, at four o'clock in the morning," hemmed in on all sides, and finding it impossible to escape, they suv- SrNKEN VESSELS IN THE MISSISSIPPL CAPTURE OF ISLAND NUMBER TEN. 247 Tendered unconditionally, laid down their arms, and received each his parole. At almost the same hour. Commodore Foote received a flag of truce from Island Number Ten, with an offer to surrender the island to him. Up to that time, the Confederates on the island had been ignorant of the disaster that Walke and Pope had inflicted upon their friends below, and those who had fled in that direction expected to find shelter behind the batteries near Tiptonville. There had been grave doubts in the minds of the commanders on the island concerning their ability to hold it, ever since the Carondelet ran the blockade," and "^862'*' Beauregard's quick perceptions were satisfied that the siege must soon end in disaster and perhaps disgrace. So, on the moming after the passage of that vessel,' he turned over the command on ^ p, ^-y^ the island to General McCall, leaving McCown in charge of the troops on the Tennessee and Kentucky shores, and, with a considerable body of the best troops, departed for Corinth, in Upper Mississippi, there to prepare to check a formidable movement of the Nationals toward Alabama and Mississippi, by way of Middle Tennessee and the Tennessee River, which we shall consider presently. On assuming command, McCall issued a fiaming order announcing it,' and within thirty-six hours afterward he, too, satisfied of imminent danger, ordered his infantry and Stewart's battery to the Tennessee shore, in a posi tion favorable to escape, leaving only the artillerists on the island. The latter was the force that offered to surrender to Foote, and the entire number of llis prisoners was only seventeen officers, three hundred and sixty-eight pri vate soldiers, four hundred sick, and one hundred men employed on the Con federate vessels. The number of prisoners taken by Pope and Foote together was seven thousand two hundred and ^ - .^-^ seventy-three, including three generals and tvvo hundred and seventy-three field and company officers. The spoils of vic tory were nearly twenty batteries, with one hundred and twenty-three cannon and mortars," the former varying from 32 to 100-pounders ; seven thousand small anns; an immense amount of ammunition on the island and in magazines at points MAGAZlifE OPPOSITE ISLAND NUMBER TEN. * The following is a copy of the order which was found at the Confederate hcad-quai-ters on the island : " Soldiers, — We are strangers, commander and commanded, each to the other. Let me tell you who I am. I am a general made by Beauregard — a general selected by lieauregard and Bragg for this command, when they knew it was in peril. They have known me for twenty years; together we have stood on the fields of Mexico. Give them your confidence now; give it to me when I have earned it. Soldiers I the Mississippi valley is intrusted to your courage, to your discipline, to your patience. Exhibit tbe vigilance and coolness of Last night and hold it." 2 Among the mortars on the island was an ancient one, already alluded to, made of bronze and bearing the name of George the Second of England, which fact declared that it was more than one hundred years old. Tt was formerly in Jackson Square, New Orleans, where it was regarded as a pre cious trophy, it having been captured by the Americans from the British during the battle near that city, at the close of 1814 and the beginning of 1815. Manyof the cannon were from the Navy Tard at Norfolk. Seepage 89T, volume I. ANCIENT .MOBTAR. 248 EFFECT OF THE VICTORY. along the Kentucky and Tennessee shores ; many hundred horses and mules with wagons, et cetera, and four steamers afloat. Never was a victory more complete and decisive, for very few men escaped and very little property was destroyed." During the whole of his opierations in the siege. Pope did not lose aman, nor meet with an accident ; and the casualties in the fleet were very few. There did not seem to be evidence of much loss of life on the part of the Confederates ; but every where, from Beauregard's and McCall's head-quarters on the island to the smallest tent, there were proofs of the greatest haste in leaving. Among other things found at head-quarters was a bundle of important official pa pers, one of them containing a drawing of Fort Pillow on the river below. The victory at Island Number Ten produced the most profound sensation throughout the entire republic. Its importance to each party in the conflict could scarcely be estimated. The announcement of it went over the land simultaneously with that of the hard-won triumph at Shiloh on the Tennessee °^i862^' Ri'^er," which we shall consider presently, and was followed, a few days afterward, by that of the capture of Fort Pulaski, at the mouth of the Savannah River. Every loyal heart was filled with joy and hope, and Government securities, which were at two and a half and three per cent, below par, immediately com manded a premium. The Confederates almost despaired. It was probable that Memphis, one of their strongholds on the Mississippi, where they had im mense workshops and armories, would confederate nEAD-QtiAnTKRs, island xi-mber tes. soon share the fate of Columbus. It was probable that the great river would speedily be patrolled from Cairo to New Orleans by the almost invincible armored vessels of the Government, and the rich supply-country west of that stream be separated from the rest of the confederacy. They also appre hended that the great line of railway running almost parallel with the Missis sippi, between Southwestern Tennessee and New Orleans, would be seized MAP OF TUE OPERATIONS OF POPE AND FOOTE.^ 1 The value of the captured property was estimated at over a million of dollars. The steamers that wero sunk were easily raised. 2 The figures on this map refer to tho numbers of the Islands. ' In this little picture is seen a reprosontation of one of the " plantation bells " that Beauregard called for. THE CONFEDERATES ALARMED. 249 by National troops. Panic everywhere prevailed along the " Father of Waters " below Island Number Ten. Martial law was proclaimed in Mem phis, and the specie of the banks there was removed to places of supposed safety. Many inhabitants fled ; and the troops that " guarded the city," and secessionists that remained, proposed to lay it in ashes if it could not be saved from " northern invaders ;" but the mayor somewhat allayed the panic caused by this proposition by publicly proclaiming (" not as magis trate," he said, "but as John Park"), that "he who attempted to fire his neighbor's house, or ev^n his own, whereby it endangers his neighbor's, regardless of judge, jury, or the benefit of clergy, I will have him hung to the first lamp-post, tree, or awning." The disloyal inhabitants of New Orleans were also filled with the most dreadful apprehensions. The Governor of Louisiana (Moore), who had been chiefly instrumental in that State in bringing on the war, issued a despairing appeal to the people;' while in Richmond, the head-quarters ofthe conspira tors, the most gloomy apprehensions were entertained by them and by the disloyal inhabitants. " The trepidations and murmurings, the croakings and prophesyings of doom that have possessed many of the citizens of Rich mond during the past week," wrote a resident of that city, " would be enough to make us despair of the republic, if we could suppose the masses of the people of the Confederate States were equally timorous and ii-resolute."^ There were reasons for despondency, for 'upon every breeze of intelli gence from the West, for several weeks preceding, were borne to Richmond GRAND JUNCTION, MISSISSIPPI. tidings of disaster to the Confederate cause. There were desperate reasons why the most vigorous efforts should be put forth to stay the southem march of the Nationals ; and conscriptions and impressments were commenced. 1 " This is not tho hour for vain regrets or despondency," said Moore. " No, not even for hesitation. An Insolent and powerfnl foe is already at the castle gate. The current of the mighty river speaks to us of his fieets advancing for our destruction, and the telegraph wires tremble with the news of his advancing columns. In* the name of all most dear to us, I entreat you to go and meet him." But there was little disposition to comply with the Government's wishes. When a letter from General Beauregard, which he sent by his Surgeon-Gen eral, Dr. Choppin (see note 8, page 238), making an urgent demand for New Orleans to send 5,000 troops to him at once, " to save the city," and it was read by the Surgeon to the First ancl Second City Brigades, who were called out, tbeir reply was, " We decline to go." 2 Eiehmond correspondent of the Memphis Appeal. 250 NATIONAL TROOPS IN ARKANSAS. Jackson, in Tennessee, and Grand Junction," on the southern border of that State ; Corinth, in Mississippi, and Decatur, in Alabama, all of them along the line of the Chaileston and Memphis Railway, that stretches from the Mississippi to the Atlantic seaboard — were made places for the rendezvous of troops from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. And while Johnston was fleeing southward before the followers of the energetic Mitchel, to join his forces to those of Beauregard, the latter was gathering an army at Corinth to confront a raost serious movement of the Nationals up the Ten nessee River, already alluded to. While Grant and Foote were pulling down the strongholds of rebellion in Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, the National troops, under Generals Curtis, Sigel, and others, were carrying the standard of the Republic, in triumph into Arkansas, in the grand movement down the Mississippi Valley toward the Gulf We have observed how Price was ex pelled from Missouri and driven into Arkansas. He was closely followed by the National forces under the chief command of General Samuel R. Curtis, of Iowa, who crossed the line on the 18th of February, his troops cheering with delight as they saw the old flag waving in triumph over the soil of another of the so-called Con federate States. On the same day. General Halleck sent a thrill of joy to every loyal heart, by telegraphing to General McClellan, "The fl.ig of the Union is floating in Arkansas. . . . The army of the Southwest is doing its duty nobly.'' Curtis pushed on, notwithstanding his effective fighting force was con tinually diminishing, by the planting of guards along his extended line of communication with his sources of supply and re-enforcements. He captured here and there squads of Missouri recruits for Price's army ; fought the halt ing Confederates at the strong positions of Sugar Creek,' the Cross Hollows, and other places in mountain defiles ; and his cavalry penetrated as far as Fayetteville, the capital of Washington Countj', near the northwestern border of the State. The Confederates fled so hastily from Cross Hollows that they left behind tliem their sick and wounded, and stores that they could not take away. They burned their extensive barracks there, left poisoned provisions SAMUEL B. CURTIS. 1 Grand Junction was a very important point, being at the junction of tUo Charleston and Memphis Rail way and tho railway from New Orleans to Jackson, in Tennessee. It was only about two miles northward of tbe '¦State of Mississippi. During all the time that the Confederates held that section of the country, Grond Jnnctina was the scene of large gatherings of troops. See page 848, volume I. 2 Here, on the 20th of Fehrnarj', some of Curtis's cavahy, under Colonel Ellis, and Majors McConnell, Wright, and Bolivar, made a desperate charge on a brigade of Louisianians, under Colonel Hubert Two regi ments of infantry, undor Colonels Phelps and Heron, and Captain Hayden, with his Dubuque Battery, followed In support ofthe National cavalry. There was a sharp but short fight, and the Confederates were dispersed. The loss of the Nationals was nineteen, killed and wounded. GATHERING OF CONFEDERATE FORCES. 251 in the pathway of their flight," and, setting fire to Confederate stores and buildings at Fayetteville when they left it, went over the range of hills known as the Boston Mountains, in much confusion. This march of the Nationals was one of the raost extraordinary of the war. The little army had moved at the rate of twenty miles a day, often fighting, and enduring great privations from inclement weather and insufficient food. General Price, meanwhile, had been joined by Ben McCulloch, with Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas troops, and his force had become fully equal in numbers to that of Curtis. The latter, glancing back over his long line of communications, and reflecting on the fact that his troops had been sub sisting mostly upon what had been taken from the Confederates since he had entered Arkansas, considered it prudent to retrace his steps, and take a stronger position neairer the Missouri border. He accordingly fell back from , Fayetteville to Sugar Creek, not far from Bentonville, the capital of Benton County, Arkansas. On the 1st of March he issued an address to the inhabi tants of Arkansas, who had fled frora their homes on his approach, to remove from their minds the false impressiofis which the Confederates had given them of the character of his army and the object of its presence in their State. He assured all peaceable citizens of safety and protection in person and property, and he called upon the deluded ones who had taken up arms to lay them down at once and take an oath of allegiance to their common country. Curtis did not wait for a response to his friendly communication. He was aware that his foe was rapidly increasing in numbers, and behind the sheltering hills was preparing to strike a heavy blow. Suddenly came the startling intelligence that Price and McCulloch had been joined l;y General Earl Van Dorn," one of the most dashing and energetic of the Confederate officers, who had lately been appointed' commander of the Trans- Mississippi Department ;' also by General Albert Pike,' at the head of a considerable body of half-civi lized Indians, making the whole Confederate force, including large numbers of Arkansas compulsory recruits, about twenty-five thousand strong.* These were in and near Boston Mountains at the beginning of March. Van Dorn, the senior officer, was in chief command, and he was " March 2, 1862. >Jan. 29. EARL VAN DORN. 1 They left poisoned provisions at a place called Mud Town, of which forty-two of the oflicers and soldiers of the Fifth Missouri cavalry partook. Several of them died, and all sufl'ered much.— H.alleck's disnatch to McClellan, Feb. 27, 1SC3. ' « Ho had come from Eiehmond with instructions from Davis to stop the march of the National troops southward. ^ See page 4T5, volnme I. • Arkans.as, Louislan.a, and Texas troops nnder MoCunoch, 13,000 , Choctaw, Cberokce. Chickasaw, and other Indians, with two white regiments under Pike, about 4,000; and Missouri troops under Price, about 8,000. 252 VAN DOEN 1'^ THE CONFEDERATE OAMP. rallying the whole Confederate army in that quarter, to drive Curtis back into Missouri. The forces of the latter, of all arms, did not at that time exceed eleven thousand men, with forty-nine pieces of artillery, including a mountain howitzer. Satisfied that he must soon fight a greatly superior force, he at once prepared for the encounter by so arranging his troops as best to present a strong front to the foe from whatever point he might approach. His head-quarters were near Cross Hollows, on the main road and telegraph line from Fayetteville to Spiingfield.^ The advent of General Van Dorn in the Confederate camp was a cause for great rejoicing. Forty heavy guns thundered a welcome, and the chief harangued his troops in a boastful and grandiloquent style.^ For the pur pose of encouraging the people to take up arms, he caused telegraphic dis patches to be published, falsely proclaiming a great battle at Columbus, in which the Nationals had lost three gun-boats and twenty thousand men ; and he told his dupes that the way was now opened to drive the invaders from the soil of Arkansas, and give a final and successful blow for a Southern Con federacy.^ Van Dorn's preliminaries were followed by vigorous measures. Two days afterward his troops were in motion for ofiensive action, and ani mated by a full expectation of gaining a victory whenever they should meet the Nationals. 1 The following was Ihe disposition of the National forces on the 4th of March. The First and Second Divisions, under General Sigel and Colonel Asboth, were at Cooper's farm, near Osage Springs, four miles southwest of Bentonville, the capital of Benton County, under general orders to move ronnd to Sugar Creek, about fourteen miles eastward. The Third Division, under General Jefferson C. Davis (acting major-general), ¦was at Sugar Creek; and the Fourth Division, under Colonel E. A. Carr (acting brigadier-general), was near Cross Hollows, about twelve miles from Sugar Creek. Large detachments were out for forage and information, under Colonel Vandever, Major Conrad, and others, and some of them were too distant to engage in the battle that speedily ensued.* '•* "Soldiers,"" he cried, "behold your leader! He comes to show you the way to glory and immortal renown. He comes to hurl back the minions of the despots at Washington, whose ignorance, licentiousness, and brutality are equaled only by their craven natures. They come to free your slaves, lay waste your planta tions, burn your villages, and abuse your loving wives and beautiful daughters." Van Dorn had sent foi'th a characteristic address to "the young men of Arkansas, Texas, and Northern Louisiana."" " We have voted to he free," he said. " We must now fight to be free, or present to the world the humiliating spectacle of a nation of braggarts, moro contemptible than the tyrants who seek to enshtve us. The flag of our country is waving on tho southern borders of Missouri — planted there by my hands, under authority from our chief magistrate. It repre sents all that is dear to us in life. Shall it wave there in melancholy loneliness, as a fall leaf in our primeval forests, or shall its beautiful field and bright stars flaunt in the breeze over the bright battalions of Arkansas, of Texas,' and of Louisiana, as they are marshaling to do battle with Missouri for victory, for honor, and for inde pendence? Awake, young men of Arkansas, and arm! Beautiful maidens of Louisiana, sraile not upon the craven youth who may linger by your hearth when the rnde blast of war is sounding in your ears! Texas chiv-, airy, to arms! Hardships and hunger, disease and death are preferable to slavish subjugation; and a nation with a briglit page in history aud a glorious epitaph is better than a vassaled land with honor lost, and a people sunk in infamy." 3 General Curtis'^s second report to General Halleck. * The following wna tlie composition of Genernl Curtis's nrmy nt this time : — First Viviiion, commnnded by Colonel Peter J. OBlerlinne, coneisted of the Tbirty-slstli lUiiioiB, Twelfth and Seventeenth Missouri, n bftttalinn of the Third Missouri ; tho Twenty-fifth nnd Twenty-fourth Illinois, under Colonel Coler , two bnttnlions of Illinois cavalry, nnd bfttteries A. nnd B, twelve gnns. There wna nlso n brignde of two regiments under Colonel Grensel. The Second Division, commanded by Colonel (acting Brigndier Genernl) Asboth, conBisted of two brigndes, the first commiinded by Colcnel Schnolfer, nnd composed of tho Second Missouri nnd Second Ohio Bnttory, six guns, under Lleutennnt Cliapmnn. The Second. Biig'i'Joi Colonel Joliet, wns composed of the Fifteenth Missouri ; the Sixth nnd n bnttnlion of the Fourth Missouri cavnlry , nnd n flying buttery of six guns, under Cnptnin Elbert. Those two divisions were commnnded by Genernl Sigel. The Tiiird Pivision, under Brigndior-Genernl J. C. Dnvis, consisted of two brigades ; the first composed of the Eighth, Eighteenth, nnd Twenty-second Iridinnn ; nnd nn Indlnnn bnttery of six guna wns commnnded by Colonel Bnrton. The second, commanded by Colonil White, wns composed of the Thirty-seventh Illinois nnd Ninth Missouri, and the Firat Miaaouri cavalry, wilh n batterj' of fonr guns. Tiie Fourth Division, under Colonel Eugene A. Cnrr, wns composed of two brigades. Tho first, under Colt-nel Dodge, consist'ng of the Fourth Town, Thirty-fifth Illinois, and an lown battery undor Captain Jones. The Second Brigade, under Colonel Vandever, wna com- poaed ofthe Ninth lown, Twenty-filth Miesourl, Third Illinois Cavnlry, and a Dubuque battery ¦ f six guna under Captain Hayden. There were also two battnlioiiB of the Third Iowa cavalry under Cnptnin Buasey, nnd a bnttery of four mountain howitzers under Captain Stevens, Ihnt wero uot brigaded. There wi;b also a battnllun of cnvnlry under Mnjor Bowen, ncting'ns General Curtis's body-guard. POSITION OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS. 253 The morning of the 5th" (when Van Dom moved) was blustery, and snow covered the ground. Curtis was unsuspicious of the movements „ , . ° ., , , 1 . , /! 1 1 "March, 1862. 01 nis enemy until two o clock in the aiternoon, when scouts and fugitive citizens came hurrying to his tent, in which he was writing, with the startling intelligence that the Confederates were approaching in large force from the direction of Fayetteville, that their artillery had already passed that place, and that their cavalry would be at Elm Springs, not more than twelve miles from head-quarters, that night. Curtis at once determined to concen trate his forces in Sugar Creek Valley, not far from Mottsville, and a short distance south of Pea Ridge, a portion of a spur of the Ozark Mountains, on the highway between Fayetteville and Springfield, where there was a good point for defense and an abundance of water, and where General Davis had already thrown up intrenchments.' He gave orders accordingly, and there, on the morning of the 6th of March,' the greater portion of his troops were gathered, excepting those under General Sigel and a few who were yet abroad. Sisfel had moved his camp' from Osasre a ¦ ^ ¦ T. -11 -, • • » March 1. springs to a point nearer Isentonville, to secure a better position for obtaining forage. He now found his command, and a train of two hun dred wagons, placed in a perilous position by Van Dorn's sudden and unex pected advance ; but, as we shall observe presently, he extricated them with small loss. Van Dom had marched rapidly from his camp near the Boston Mountains, in the edge of the Indian Country, about fifty miles from Pea Ridge, accom panied by Generals Price, McCulloch, Mcintosh, and Pike. Informed of the strength of Curtis's position in front, he left the direct road at Fayetteville, and, marching more westward through Bentonville, struck the highway near the State line, about eight miles north of Sugar Creek, in the rear of the Nationals, thereby, as he thought, cutting off Curtis's supplies and re-enforce ments, and securing hira and his army as captives. It was while he was on that march from Fayetteville that his approach was made known.'' He encamped that night at Cross Hollows,' which Carr had left ; ' ^^"'"^ ^' and Sigel, by a skillful movement in sending cavalry to Osage Sprino-s to cover his right flank, safely conducted his train from MoKissick's fai-m,*west of Bentonville, to the latter place, and secured it from the grasp of the Con federates. Leaving a rear-guard (Thirty-sixth Illinois and a portion of the Second Missouri) at Bentonville, he sent his train forward toward Sugar Creek. Mistaking an order. Colonel Schaeffer with the Second Missouri also went forward, leaving only about six hundred men and five pieces ot light artillery behind. These were surrounded by a battalion of cavalry formino- Price's body-gnard, and Louisiana infantry. Fortunately, Sigel had remained with his rear-guard, and he handled his little band so skillfully and bravely that they cut their way through, and, changing fi-ont, they fought and fell rerK;^J:sr„rr;:^'"""''^^^^^^ » This is a place at the head waters of the Osage Creek, and not far from those of Sugar Creek It was so named because three hollows, or ravines, from 75 to 100 feet wide, there cross each other It warto thi! ZIT 254 FLANK MOVEMENT OF THE CONFEDERATES. back alternately along the cross road leading through Leetown to the Elk- horn Tavern, until they were met by re-enforcements sent out by Curtis, when the pursuit ended. In this gallant affair Sigel lost twenty-eight killed and wounded and about fifty made prisoners.' The latter were chiefly Schaeffer's men, who had fallen into an ambuscade. The remainder joined the forces of Davis and Carr at the west end of Pea Ridge, an elevated table-land broken by ravines, and inclosed in a large bend of Sugar Creek. Van Dorn completed his flank movement on the night of the "^m^ eth," and proceeded to atta'ok the Nationals early the following moming. He left a small force to make a feint on their front, while Pike, with his Indian followers, took position about two miles to their right, to divert their attention from the main point of attack in their rear. Price occupied the main road not far from the Elkhorn Tavern, north of Curtis's camp, and McCulloch -and Mcintosh lay north of Sigel and Davis, after the National army had changed position, as we shall observe presently. In the mean time Curtis had been busy in felling trees to block the avenues of approach to his camp, and the roads running parallel to the main highway. Breastworks had been speedily constructed at important points, and a bat tery had been planted and masked near the passage of the main road across Sugar Creek, under the direction of General Davis. His position was strong. On the morning of the 7th, Curtis was first informed of Van Dorn's flank movement, which seriously threatened the communication between his camp and his resources. The peril was extreme, and j)rompt action was necessary. He at once changed his front to rear, bringing his line of battle across Pea Ridge, and prepared to fight. The number of his foes was more than double that of his own, but there' was no alternative. He must either fight or make a perilous flight. His ample preparations to receive Van Dorn in his fi-ont were now useless, and he was compelled to meet the skillful Mississippian on a field of the latter's own choosing. In that change of front, the First and Second divisions, under Sigel and jVsboth, were on his left, the Third, under Davis, composed his center, and Carr's Fourth division formed his right. His line of battle stretched between three and four miles, from Sugar Creek to Elkhorn Tavern. Confronting this was the Confede rate line, with Price and his ilis- sourians on their right, Mcintosh in the center, and McCulloch on their left. A broad and deep ravine called Cross Timber Hollow, covered witlj fallen trees, intersected the lines of both armies, and made maneuvering very difficult. At about half-past ten in the ALEXANDER A8B0TII. 1 Congratulating his troops on the ISth of March, Sigol said of this affair— '-On the retreat ftom BentonviUo to Sugar Creek, a distance of ten miles, you cut your way through an enemy at least flve times stronger thaa yourselves." BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE. 255 morning," Colonel Osterhaus was sent out with a detachment of the Third Iowa cavalry and some light artillery (Davidson's Peoria Batteiy), supported by the First Missouri cavalry, Colonel Ellis, and Twenty- ° ^ig^_''' second Indiana, Colonel Hendricks, to fall upon Van Dom's cen ter before he could fully form in battle order. Just as this movement had commenced, and Curtis was giving instructions to division commanders at Asboth's tent, word came to him that his pickets, under Major Weston (Twenty-fourth Missouri), on his extreme right, near Elkhorn Tavern, had been heavily attacked. Colonel Carr was at once sent to the support of "Weston, and a severe battle ensued. Thus opened the fight on that eventful morning. Meanwhile Osterhaus had advanced about a mile beyond Lee town, and attacked what seemed to be a small body of Confederates in the edge of a wood and shrub-oak thicket. He brought three cannon (Davidson's Battery) to bear upon them, and they were apparently disjjersed. Then he moved forward with the Iowa cavalry, to clear the woods of any insurgents that might be left, when he fell into a traj) which had been laid for him. The woods swarmed with Confederates. The charge of the cavalry was broken, and they were driven back in disorder upon their supports, hotly pursued by Van Dorn's horse and foot. Two guns were cai^tured by the latter, and a total rout and dispersion of the attacking column seemed inevi table, when General Davis and his division, who had bivouacked on the alert all the night before, came to the rescue, with General Sigel, who appeared on the Confederate flank. Curtis had at first ordered Davis to tbe relief of Carr on his extreme right, but, deeming the peril to Osterhaus the most imminent, he directed him to hasten to his aid. Davis changed his march skillfully under fire, and advancing through Leetown his Second brigade,' commanded by Colonel Julius White, he was soon fighting heavily with McCulloch and Mcintosh, and Pike's Indians, under himself and Ross. The battle 'was fierce and destructive. The Confederates were continually re-en forced. Davis and Osterhaus recoiled and recovered alternately ; and the line of battle swayed like a pendulum. The issue ofthe strife seemed doubt ful, when the Eighteenth Indiana, who had been ordered to attack the Con federate flank and rear, performed the duty so vigorously with ball and bayonet that they drove them from that part of the field, strewed it with the dead and wounded bodies of Texans and Indians, and recaptured the two cannon which, amid the shouts of the victors, were instantly trained upon their foe. That regiment and the Twenty-second (Colonel H. D. Wash burn), from the same State, were conspicuous for their gallantry on the occasion. The latter had engaged a large force of Arkansas troops and Indians, and put them to flight. The Confederates had now become fugitives iu turn. In their flight they left their dead and wounded on the field, among whom were Generals McCulloch and Mcintosh, mortally hurt. The insurgents tried to re-form at their former position on the Bentonville road, but the arrival, at about this time, of Sigel with two batteries of heavy artillery (18-pounders) settled the issue of the day. After a brief but sharp artillery duel, the Confederates were driven back, and Sigel's heavy guns, with Osterhaus's command were ' See sub-note, page 252. 256 BATTLE .OF PEA RIDGE. . - '. -V" -* ^ *, moved te-ffijaaj. the Tigiit _tp:,assKt''C0lonel Carr, if- necessary. The day was fast wearj^^^j^ and," there being no indications of a disposition on the part of the Confedijrates to renew the fight, Davis's command bivouacked on the field they ha;d\^o 'nobly assisted in winning.' While the battle was raging in the center, Curtis's right wing W3.s heavily pressed. Colonel Carr had moved up the ma,in road toward Elkhorn Tavern ; Colonel Dodge's brigade filing off to the road leading from that j)lace to Ben tonville, where Captain Jones, of the Iowa Battery, opened upon the Con federates, and a smart artillery fight ensued, in which infantry were .engaged. Colonel Vandever's brigade passed about half a mile beyond the tavern, and Captain Hayden's Dubuque battery at about nine o'clock also opened upon the Confederates.'' Very soon there was fighting along the whole line of Carr's division, and one of the guns of the Dubuque battery was captured by the foe. So fierce and heavy was the work of the Confederates, that Carr was driven back a short distance after an hour's hard fighting. Still hard pressed, he fought on. H3 sent for re-enforcements, but all Curtis could spare were a few cavalry, his body-guard, and a little mountain howitzer, under Major Bowen. He told the gallant Colonel to stand firm, and he did so. Again, when Carr thought he could hold out no longer, Curtis sent him word to "persevere" and he should receive succor. He did so at a feaiful cost — how fearful, the records of the sad havoc made in the ranks of the Fourth and Ninth Iowa, and Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Missouri, bear witness. A little later, when Curtis was satisfied that his left and center were safe, he sent first some artillery and a battalion of infantry to Carr's aid. Then he ordered General Asboth to move to the right with his division, by the Fayetteville road, and take position at the Elkhorn Tavern, while Sigel should re-enforce Davis, and, if proper, press toward the Elkhorn also. Asboth was accom panied by the Commanding General, who arrived at Carr's position at about five o'clock, and found him severely wounded in the arm, but fighting bravely. Many of his oflicers were disabled, and his dead and maimed, composing nearly one-fourth of his entire command, strewed the ground, over which he had. been pushed back about a mile. For seven hours he had contested the field inch by inch, under a continuous fire. The re-enforcements were timely, and prevented more severe disaster. General Asboth planted his cannon in the road and opened a heavy fire at short range, but was soon severely wounded, while his guns became silenced for want of ammunition. The fight, for a time, was very fierce. The Second Missouri regiment became hotly engaged ; and the Fourth Iowa, who were falling back in good order, after exhausting their ammunition, quickly obeyed a command to make a bayonet charge, and so recovered the field they 'had abandoned. One of Curtis's body-guard was shot dead, and an orderly near the General was hit with a bullet. The pressure on his line was yet heavy 1 This has been called The Battle of Leetown, it having been fought near that village. 2 Colonel Vandever had been to Huntsville, in Madison County, for the purpose of capturing a regiment of insurgents there. These had left two days before. On receiving a message from General Curtis, announcing the approach of Van Dorn, Vandever made a forced march of forty-one miles to the N.^tional camp, making only three halts, of fifteen minutos each, during the entire distance. The infantry consisted of the Ninth Iowa nnd Twenty-fifth Missouri. Vandever arrived on tho evening of the Cth, and went into tho flght refreshed. Another expedition under Major Conrad, consisting of about six hundred infantry, a section of artillery, and a battalion of cavalry which had been sent toward the borders of the Indian Nation, did not return in time to engage in tho battle. BATTLE OF PEA. RIDGE. 257 and unabated, and Asboth -had directei^^0HfBg£H||^g|||^|]}e taken back to a place of safety, when a courier came fl:o^TOi^Ri^^^H|PtiS near approach. Animated by these tidings, the Natiotials stood •nTjarintil their ammunition was entirely exhausted and night fell. The' Confederates fired the last shot, but the Nationals held the field.' The wearied Union troops slept that night on their arms. Their right had sufiered disaster, but thein center had driven the Confederates from the battle-ground, and their left was untouched. In such condition (the lacking being supplied with ammunition), they awaited the dawn to renew the conflict. Their foe, severely smitten and disheartened by the loss of two generals and scores of maimed and slaughtered comrades, were quite willing to have an opportunity for repose. Both armies lay among the dead and dying during that gloomy night. Van Dom, who had been a greater part of the day in command of the troops that fought Carr, now concentrated his whole available force on Curtis's right. He lodged at the Elkhorn Tavern that night, and made preparations to open the battle in the moming. Curtis was vigilant, and easily penetrated his enemy's designs ; so, notwithstanding the weariness of his troops, he effected a change of front during the darkness. At two o'clock in the moming he was joined by Sigel and his command, who had been com pelled to make a wide circuit in order to reach that position, and at a little after sunrise the Nationals were almost ready for battle, the whole four divisions so posted as to fight Van Dom with vigor. Curtis and his troops were in fine spirits, and felt confident of victory. The silence of the Confederates so late in the morning seemed ominous of weakness, and when a stir was observed among them, the General, fearing they might be moving ofi", did not wait for Asboth and Sigel to get into position, but ordered Davis, who occupied the center in the new line, to open the battle. Davis at once deployed Colonel Pattison's brigade a few hundred yards to the right of the Fayetteville road, to support Klaus' s First Indiana battery, which was placed at the edge of an open field, between the hills at Elkhorn Tavern and the National camp. Davidson's battery was placed in a similar position on the left of the road, supported by Whitens brigade. These batteries opened fire briskly, and were responded to with terrible energy from batteries which the Confederates had planted during the night, some of their heavy guns sending raking shot, and compelling the National right to fall back to avoid them. The battle-line was soon perfected, with Asboth and Sigel a little to the rear of the remaindei-. Curtis well knew the ground and the relative position of his foe. He ordered his right to move forward to a position occupied the night before, while the left was so extended as to command Pea Ridge and make a flank movement on that wing almost impossible. Upon an eleva tion on the extreme right, which commanded Van Dom's center and left, he planted the Dubuque battery, with orders for the right wing to sup port it, and very soon its commander, Hayden, opened a galling fire on the Confederates. Captain Davidson, with his First Iowa battery, also opened fire on their center, and thus skirmishing was kept up until Sigel's command on the left was in perfect readiness, when the decisive action commenced. ' This was called by the Confederates the Battle of Elkhorn. Vol. ii.— n 258 NATIONAL VIOTOEY AT PEA EIDGE. Sigel firslr'Sraered Colonel Coler to post his Twenty-fifth Illinois along a fence in open 'view of the Confederate batteries, which immediately opened fire on them. AtTM' same time, Sigel placed a battery of six guns on a rise of ground in their rear. Then the Twelfth Missouri wheeled into line on the right of Coler's regiment, and another battery of heavy guns was planted in •a similar position behind these. Then other regiments and other batteries were brought into line ; and, when all were in readiness, the infantry lay down in front of the heavy guns, and a terrible cannonade was opened. Battery after battery of the Confederates was silenced in the course of two hours, and so horrible was the tempest of iron that fell upon Van Dorn and his followers that they were compelled to fly to the shelter of the ravines of Cross-Timber Hollow. Sigel's infantry at the same time crept steadily forward, and the troops ofthe center and right pressed onward and joined in the fighfc When the Confederates fled, Sigel's whole division were seen climbing up and occupying the rugged hills from which the in surgents had been driven.' The flight of Van Dom's troops was so sudden, rapid, and scattering, that it was dif ficult for Curtis to determine which way to follow them with the best efiect." General Sigel pushed forward along the main road toward KeitsviLle, where General Price had been posted He too had fled, and the Con federate army, so strong and so confident of victory twenty-four hours before, was broken into BATTLE-FIELD OF PEA EIDGE. fra^^'meUtS.^ "'The upward movement of tho gallant Thirty-sixth Illinois," said Curtis, in his report, " with its dork- blue line of menand its gleaming bayonets, steadily rose from base to summit, when it dashed forward into the forest, driving and scattering the rebels from these commanding heights. The Twelfth Missouri, far in advance of others, rushed into the enemy's lines, bearing oif a flag and two pieees of artillery. Everywhere our liae moved forward and the foe as gradually withdrew. Tho roar of cannon and small arms was continuous, and no force could then withstand the converging line and concentrated cross-fire of our gallant troops. Our guns continued somo time after tho rebel flre ceased, and tbe rebels had gone down into the deep caverns tlirongh which they had begun their precipitate flight. Finally, our flring ceased. Tho enemy suddenly vanished." 2 " FoUowing down the main road, which enters a deep cafion, I saw some straggling teams and men running in great trepidation through the gorges of the mountain. I directed a battery to move forward, which threw a few shots at them, followed by a pursuit of cavalry, comprised of tho Benton Hussars, and my escort from Bowen's battalion, which was all the cavalry convenient at the time. General Sigel also followed in pursuit toward Keltsville, while I returned, trying to check a movement which led my forces north, where I was coal- dent a frightened foe was not likely to go. I soon found tho rebel forces had divided and gone in every direo- tion, but it was several hours before I learned that the main force, after entering the cation, had turned short to the right, following ravines whioh led into tho Huntsville road in n due south direction. General Sigel followed, some miles north, toward Keitsvillo, flring on the retreating force that ran away j Colonel Bussy, with cavalry and the little howitzers, followed beyond Bentonville ; I camped on the fleld, and made provision for burying tie dead and care of the wounded,"— General Curtis, in his ofiicial report. ' Eeports of General Curtis and his subordinate oflicers ; also of Generals Van Dorn and Price. ca NATIONALS ¦m. CONFEDERATES >ik N19 0UUOCH FELL ¦ "b tM^tNT09H FELL THE EESULT. OF THE BATTLE. 259 The hard struggle during those early days of Spring," in the extreme northwestern corner of Arkansas, called by the general name of the Battle of Pea Ridge,' notwithstanding its magnitude, was '^^^11^1''''^' not of very great importance in its bearing upon the results of the war. There was heavy loss incurred by both parties." Although victory was awarded to the Nationals, the spoils that fell into their hands were of incon siderable consequence, for Van Dom managed very skillfully in carrying away nearly all of his artillery and baggage. Indeed, his whole design in giving battle on the moming pf the Sth was to blind Curtis to the fact that he was withdrawing his troops and materials of war. His army was not captured, nor was it more than temporarily dispersed. There was great gallantry displayed on both sides, sufficient to receive the highest praise from, and give the greatest satisfaction to, the friends of each,' but a stain that cannot be effaced tarnishes the glory of all the achievements of the Confederates on that occasion, because of their employment of Indians in that campaign, whose savage atrocities on the field of Pea, Ridge are too well authenticated to be denied.* Both parties tacitly agreed to fight no more in that exhausted section of the State, and both soon disappeared from the scene of this conflict. Van Dorn collected his scattered forces on the road between the Elkhorn Tavern and Bentonville, about eight miles from the battle-field, made an arrange- 1 The Confederates gave it the general title of Battle of Elkhorn. "^ General Curtis reported hia loss at 1,851 killed, wounded, and missing, of whom more than one-half (701) were of Colonel Carr's division. Among the slain was Colonel Hendricks. The loss of the Confederates was never reported. It could not have been less than that of the Nationals. Pollard (i. 277) says Van Dorn esti mated his entire loss at "about 600." 8 Van Dorn wrote to his superiors at Eiehmond, saying, "During the whole of this engagement I was with the Missourians under Price, and I have never seen better fighters than these Missouri troops, or more gallant leaders than General Price and his officers. From the first to the last shot, they continnally rushed on, and never yielded an inch they had won ; and when at last they had orders to fall back, they retired steadily and with cheers." In a stirring address to his troops from " Camp Pea Eidge," a week after tho battle, Sigel said : " You may look with pride on the few days just passed, during which you have so gloriously defended the flag of the Union. From two o'clock on the morning of the sixth, when you left McKissick's farm, until four o'clock in the afternoon of the ninth, when you arrived from Keltsville in the common encampment, you marched fifty miles, fought three battles, took not only a battery and a fiag from the enemy, but more than one hundred and flfty prisoners. . . . Tou have dono your duty, and you can justly claim your share in the common glory of this victory. But let us not be partial, unjust, or haughty. Let us not forget that alone we were too weak to perform the great work before us. ¦ Let us acknowledge the great services done by all the brave soldiers of the Third and Fourth divisions, and always keep in mind that ' united wo stand, divided we fall.' Let us hold out and push the work through — not by mere words and great clamor — ^but by good marches, by hardships and fatigues, by strict discipline and effective battles. " Columbus has fallen, Memphis will follow, and if you do in future as you have done in these days of tri.il, the time will soon come when you will pitch your tents on the beautiful shores of the Arkansas Eiver, and there meet our own iron-clad propellers at Little Book and Fort Smith. Therefore keep alert, my friends, and look forward with confidence." * According to the statement of eye-witnesses, and a correspondence between Generals Curtis and Van Dorn, commenced when the latter asked (March 9th) the privilege of burying his dead, the Indians, under Pike and Eoss, tomahawked, scalped, and shamefully mangled the bodies of National soldiers. These Indians, many of whom claimed to be civilized, wero m'addened with liquor, it is said, before the battle of the 7th, that they might allow the savage nature of their race to have unchecked development. In their fury they respected none ofthe usages of war, but scalped the helpless wounded, and committed atrocities too horrible to mention. When Curtis made the charge agjiinst these allies of the insurgents. Van Dorn did not deny it, but sought to break its force by accusing the Germans in Curtis's army of murdering prisoners of war. We have already observed (pages 474 to 477, inclusive, volume I.) how the conspirators had tampered with the civilized and half-civilized Indians in tho regions bordering on Kansas and Texas, and how in August, 1861, the Cherokees tendered their support to the Confederate, cause. That was after the battle of Wilson's Creek, which the emissaries of the Confederates made the Indians believe was an overwhelming defeat to the Union ists, and utter destruction of the National power in Missouri. The battle of BuH's Eun was represented as a com plete discomfiture of the Government ; and the flight of the Union army from that fleld, and the death of Lyon, 260 INDIANS EMPLOYED BY THE CONFEDERATES. ment with Curtis for burying the Confederate dead, and, after accomplishing that humane object, withdrew ; Curtis gave his army ample rest on the field of his victory, and finding no foe to fight in that section of Arkansas, he marched in a southeasterly direction to Batesville, the capital of Independ ence County, on the White River, where he arrived on the 6th of May. and the falling back ofthe Union troops in Missouri after the battle of Wilson's Creek, fixed the impression on the minds ofthe Indians that henceforth the Confederate "Government" "would be the only legitimate and powerful one on which they could rely. While Chief Eoss and his associates were perplexed by indecision, Ben. McCalloch and his Texans, who as we have seen, abandoned Price in Missouri, marched to the Indian border, and required the Creeks and Cherokees to decide immediately to which cause they would adhere, on penalty of having their country ravaged by 20,000 Texas and Arkansas troops. This produced the council at Tahlequah on the 20th of August, and the message of Chief Ross, printed on page 476, volume I. A lai'ge minority of both nations, led by the Creek Chief Opothleyolo, resisted the Confederates and their Indian adherents. Between these and the Indian insur gents a battle was fought on the 9th of December, 1861, on Bushy Creek, ISO miles west of Fort Smith, when Opothleyolo and his followers, as we have observed, were driven into Kansas. The Indian Territoiy was then left in the undisputed possession of the Confederates; and there It was that Pike collected about 4,000 warriors, who appeared in the Battle of Pea Eidge. This was the only battle in the war in which any considerable num ber of Indians were engaged ; and it was agreed by the Confederate officers that they damaged their cause more than they aided it. Pike and his Indians soon afterward disappeared from the stage, and were not again sum moned to action. In his official report. General Van Dorn does not mention that any assistance was derived from the plumed Pike and his dusky followers. That degenerate Bostonian (see note 1, page 475, volume L) soon took otf his Indian costume and was hidden in the shadows of obscurity un til the close of the war, when he re-appeared fur a moment as a suppliant for mercy, and was granted a full pardon by President Johnson. GRANT AND HIS ARMY. 261 Feb 27 was upon every jsja » Feb. 14. CHAPTER X. GENEEAL MITCHEL'S INVASION OF ALABAMA.— THE BATTLES OF SHILOH. ET US return to Tennessee, and observe what Generals Grant and Buell did immediately after the fall of Fort Donelson, and the flight of the Confederates, civil and military, from Nashville. We left General Grant at the Tennessee capi tal, in consultation with General Buell." His praise loyal lip. His sphere of action had just been enlarged. On hearing of his glorious victory at Fort Donelson, General Halleck had assigned' him to the command of the new District of West Tennessee, which em braced the territory from Cairo, between the Mississippi and Cumberland Rivers, to the northern borders of the State of Mississippi, with his head quarters in the field. It was a wide and important stage for action, and he did not rest on the laurels he had won on the Tennessee and Cumberland, but at once turned his attention to the business of moving vigorously forward in the execution of his part of the grand- scheme for expelling the armed Con federates from the Mississippi valley. For that purpose he made his head quarters temporarily at Fort Henry, where General Lewis Wallace was in command, and began a new organization of his forces for further and impor tant achievements. Foote's flotilla was withdrawn from the Cumberland, and a part of it was sent up the Tennessee River, while its commander, as we have observed, went down the Mississippi with a more powerful naval arma ment to co-operate with the land troops against Coluinbus, Hickman, Island Number Ten, and New Madrid. An important objective was Corinth, in Northern Mississippi, at the inter section of the Charleston and Memphis and Mobile and Ohio railroads, and the seizure of that point, as a strategic position of vital importance, was Grant's design. It would give the National forces control of the great rail way communications between the Mississippi and the East, and the border slave-labor States and the Gulf of Mexico. It would also facilitate the capture of Memphis by forces about to hiove down the Mississippi, and would give aid to the important movement of General Curtis in Arkansas. Grant was taking vigorous measures to accomplish this desirable end, when an order came from General Halleck," directing him to turn over his forces ^to his junior in rank. General C. F. Smith, and to remain himself at Fort Henry. Grant was astonished and mortified. He was unconscious of acts deserving of the displeasure of his superior, and he requested Halleck ' March 4. 262 EXPEDITION UP THE TENNESSEE. a Mareh 10, to relieve him entirely from duty. That oflicer, made satisfied that no fault could justly be found with Grant, wrote a letter to head-quarters that removed all misconception, and on the 14th of March the latter was restored to the chief command.' This satisfied the loyal people, who were becoming im patient because of seeming injustice toward a successful commander. Meanwhile the troops that gathered at Fort Henry had been sent up the Tennessee in transports. The unarmored gun-boats Tyhr and Lexington, had gone forward as far as Pittsburg Landing, at the termination of a road from Corinth, and about twenty miles from that place. There they were as sailed by a six-gun battery, which, after a mutual cannonade, was silenced. When the report of this success reached General Smith, sixty-nine transports, with over thirty thousand troops, were moved up the river.' The advance (Forty-sixth Ohio, Colonel Worthington) landed at Sa vannah," the capital of Har din County, on the eastem bank of the stream, and took military possession of the place. General Smith, whose head quarters were on the steamer Leonora,, immediately sent out scouts in the di rection of Corinth, where Beauregard was straining every nerve to concentrate an anny to oppose this formidable movement. Their reports satisfied him that the Confederates were not then more than ten thousand strong in his front, and that their caiDture or dis persion would be an easy matter. He hoped to be allowed to move upon them at once, and, as a preparatory measure, he ordered General Lewis Wal lace, with his division, to Crump's Landing on the west side of the river, four miles above Savannah, and thence sixteen miles westward to Purdy, a village on the railway between Humbolt, in Tennessee, and Corinth, to destroy portions of the road and important bridges in that vicinity, and especially one with extended trestle-work at each end, a few miles south of Purdy. This was a hazardous undertaking, for General Cheatham, with a large force of the Confederates, was lying near, in the direction of Pittsburg Landing. But it was successfully accomplished by a battalion of Ohio cavalry, under Major Hayes, in the midst of a sei-ies of heavy thunder- 0HARLE8 FEEGU80N SMITH.' 1 It seems that some malignant or jealous person had made Grant's consultation with Buell at Nashvillo scpm like an offense against General llalleek, his immediate chief; and the march of General Smith's forces up tho Cumberland from Fort Donelson was condemned as a military blunder. Grant's inability, on account of enfficient reasons, to report the exact condition of his forces at that time was also a cause of complaint ; and, without Inquiry, he was suspended from the chief command for ten days. — See Copp6e's Grant and- his CampaiQW. Note on page 81. '^ " It is difficult to conceive any thing more orderly and beniitifiil," wrote General Wallace to the author, soon afterward, " than the movement of this army up the river. The transports of each division were assemolea together in the order of march. At a signal, they put out in line, loaded to their utmost capacity with soahers and materials. Cannon flred, regiments cheered, bands played. Looking up the river, after the boats had ono^ by one taken their places, a great dense column of smoke, extending far as the eye could reach, marked the sinuosities ofthe stream and hnnir in the air like a pall. It was. Indeed, a sight never to be forgotten." 3 Prom a photograph by Brady, taken before the war. EVENTS NEAR PITTSBURG LANDING. 263 showers. A train, crowded with Confederate troops, came down while the bridge and trestle-work were burning, and escaped capture by reversing the engine and fleeing at railway speed. PITTSBURG LAlfDENG, IN 1S66. ^!^;^>'--< :«:rt-^^::?' a March 14, 1S63. General Sherman's division was sent farther up the river to Tyler's Land ing," at the mouth of Yellow Creek, just within the borders of Mississippi, to strike the Charleston and Memphis railway at Bumsville, a little east of Corinth. Floods prevented his reaching the railway, when, by order of General Smith, he tumed back and disem barked at Pittsburg Landing, and took post in the vicinity of Shiloh Meeting house, a little log-building in the forest, about two miles from the Tennessee River, that belonged to the Methodists. General Stephen A. Hurlbut took pos session of Pittsburg Landing' without opposition, _^ and held it in quiet until the night of the s jj^^^j^^ l^^^S^B^iSS^^i 20th,* when a scouting party, composed of detachments of the Fourth Illinois and Fifth Ohio cavalry, three hundred and fifty strong, and nearly one hundred infantry, all under Lieutenant-Colonel Heath, went out in the direction of the railway, near BiriLOH MEETING-HOrSB. 1 Pittsburg Landing was the projected site of a commercial river-town, to rival Savannah, below it, and Hamburg, above it. The only buildings there were a store-house on a terrace, at the mouth of a ravine near the shore, and a dwelling-house, on the high bank above, which served as a post-office. When the writer visited the Landing, In April, 1866, only a few scattered bricks and some charred wood were to be seen on the site of tho buildings. In the view here given, the spectator is looking down the Tennessee Eiver from across the ravine and creek, at the month of which, as we shall hereafter observe, the gun-boats Tyler and Lexington lay on Sun day night, April 6th and Tth. The river had been made brim fhll by recent rains atthe time ofthe author's visit. 264 NASHVILLE AND JOHN MORGAN. Iuka. These encountered, and, in a skirmish in Black Jack Forest, dispersed, six hundred Confederate horsemen, on their way to surprise and attack Huii- but's encampment.' These had come from Beauregard's army at Corinth. While the movement up the Tennessee was going on. General Buell's army was slowly making preparations to march southward overland and join Grant's at Savannah. It was not until the 28th of March, when Grant's position had become a perilous one, as we shall observe, that Buell left Nash ville. A part of his force, under General Mitchel, went in the direction of Huntsville, in northern Alabama, to seize and hold the Memphis and Charles ton railway at that place, while the main body under Buell, composed of the division of Generals Thomas, McCook, Nelson, Crittenden, and T. J. Wood, moved more to the westward by way of Columbia, at which place they left the railway. General James S. Negley was left in command of reserves at Nashville, where he immediately commenced cast ing np strong fortifications on the surrounding heights for its defense. Among these, Fort Negley was the most formidable and conspicuous. It was erected on the most commanding hill near the city ; and on other emi nences redoubts and block-houses were soon buOt. The Confederates under Johnston, as we have observed, hastened from Nash ville to Murfreesboro, twenty-five miles below, on the railway leading to Chat tanooga." From that point they went across the country in a southwesterly direction, to form a junction with the JAMES S. HEGLET. 1 This skirmish was maintained by the advanced company of Illinois cavalry, under Captain George Dodge. ^ It was at about this time that John Morgan, tho famous guerrilla chief, first became conspicuous. The Confederate Congress had given its sanction to what the Spaniards call guerrilla warfare, which was carried on in small bands hy troops not under any brigade-commanders, roaming at plea,*5ure, with power to take any thing from foes or neutrals, but generally responsible to the major-general commanding in their department They became, in many instances, mere roving bands of marauders and plunderers, equally terrible to all parties. Among the most noted of these was Morgan, a young man .about thirty-five years of age, six feet in height, well made, strong, agile, and perfect master of himself. He had a keen, bluish-gray eye, a light complexion, fardy hair, and generally wore a moustache. Before the war he wns known as a generous and jolly horse-loving and horse-raeing Kentuckian, and he had great influence over his associates. He was an admirable horseman and precise marksman. He was an inexorable diseiplinartan, and demanded implicit obedience. He once ordered one of his troopers to perform some perilous act in battle. The man did not move. " Do you understand my orders?" asked the chief. "Tes, Captain, but I cannot obey," was the answer. "Then good by," said Morgan, and shot him dead. Turning to his men, he said, " Such he the fate of every man disobeying orders in tho face of an enemy." After that, no man waited for a second order. We shall meet this bold rider fixquently westward of the mountains and in East Tennessee. Here we will notice a single act of his, at about tho time we are considering, which illustrates his coolness and daring. Itis said to h.ave been performed just after Johnston had fled from Nashville, and Morgan was scouting and foragins in his rear. He went into the city dressed as a farmer, with a load of meal, which he gave to the National Com missary, saying that there were somo Union men out in his region, but they had to be careful to avoid the rebel cavalry. He dined at the St Cloud hotel, and, at the table, sat by tho side of General McCook, who wns so cruelly murdered afterward. lie was pointed out as tho generous Union farmer who had m.ido the gift 'o the commissary, and ho was persuaded to take the value of it in gold. Then he secretly informed the general that a band of Morgan's cavalry was camping near his residence, and that if one or two hundred horsemen would come to hia house he would show them how to capture the noted rough-rider. They were sent, and were all captured by Morgan.— See Thirteen Montlis in the Rebel Army, by an impressed UTeno Yorker. MITCHEL'S EXTRAORDINARY MARCH. 265 POBT NEGLEY.' forces of Beauregard at Corinth. This was effected on the 1st of April, and the united armies lay upon the line of the Mobile and Ohio railway from Corinth south _ _ to Bethel, and on the Memphis and Charles ton railway, from Cor inth east to Iuka. They were joined by several regiments from Louisi. ana ; two divisions from Columbus, under Gen eral Polk; and a fine corps from Mobile and Pensacola, commanded by General Bragg. " In numbers, in discipline, in the galaxy of the distinguished names of its commanders, and in every article of merit and display, the Confederate ai-my in the vicinity of Corinth was one of the most magnificent ever assembled by the South on a single battle-field.'" The whole number of effective troops was about forty-five thousand. It was this army that Grant and Buell were speedily called upon to fight near the banks of the Tennessee. General Mitchel performed his part of the grand movement southward with the most wonderful vigor and success. With the engines and cars captured at Bowling Green, his troops had entered Nashville. He was sent forward, and occupied Murfreesboro' when the Confederates abandoned it in March. After he parted with the more cautious Buell at that place, oh the moving of the army southward at the close of March," his own iudsment was his guide, and his was practi cally an independent command. Be fore him the insurgents had destroyed the bridges, and these he was com pelled to rebuild for the passage of his troops and munitions of war. This work was done so promptly, that his army was seldom even halted in waiting. On the 4th of April he was at Shelbyville, the capital of Bedford County, Tennessee, at the terminus of a short railway branching from that which connects NashvUle with Chattanooga. This was almost sixty miles from Nashville, and there he made his deposit of supplies. At that point he « March 28, ^ / OBMSBY M. MITCHEL. ^ This is a view of the front of Fort Negley, or the face toward the conntry, commanding the southern approaches to Nashville, as it appeared when sketched by the author in May, 1S66 ' Pollard's First Year ofthe War, page 295. 266 CAPTURE OF HUNTSVILLE. struck across the country with a supply-train, sufiicient for only two days' provisions, in the direction of Huntsville, making forced marches all the way. On the 10th" he left Fayetteville, in Lincoln County, Tennessee, "im' crossed the State line the same day, and entered Northern Ala-~ bama, somewhat depressed in spirits by a rumor that Grant had been terribly defeated in a battle near Pittsburg Landing. Mitchel had passed through a very hostile region, but now began to perceive some signs of loyalty among the inhabitants,' and before midnight he was cheered by another rumor that Grant had been victorious and that Beauregard was in flight toward Corinth. Both rumors were true, as we shall observe pres ently. Mitchel had pushed on with his cavalry to within eight miles of Hunts ville, the capture of which and the seizure of the Memphis and Charleston railway there was the chief objective of his rapid march. There he halted for his artillery and infantry to come up, that he might prepare for striking a decisive blow. His entire march had been so rapid and well masked that the Confederate leaders were puzzled. They could obtain no positive infor mation of his whereabouts or his destination. It was only known that he was moving southward with the apparent fleetness of a northern gale, and was spreading consternation among the inhabitants into whose midst his armed hosts suddenly appeared. At this last halting-place no tents were pitched, for work was to be done before the dawn. The weary troops slumbered around their camp- fires in the evening, and when the half-moon went down, at April 11. ,. , , 1 1 • •. ¦ k , n a little past two o clock in the morning, they were summoned to their feet by the shrill notes of a bugle. They were soon in motion toward Huntsville, with one hundred and fifty of Kenner's Ohio cavalry and a section of Captain Simonson's battery, in advance, supported by Turchin's brigade, the whole commanded by Colonel Kenner, who, as we have observed, was the first to enter deserted Nashville. What force inight meet them, none could conjecture. Every thing must be developed by action. Two working parties, well supported by troops, were sent with picks and crowbars to tear up the railway at the east and west of the town, while the cavalry moved directly upon the city and the railway station. Never was a surprise more complete. It was accomplished at a little before dawn," while the inhabitants were vet in bed. "The clattering noise of the cavalry," wrote a spectator, " aroused them from their slumbers in the dawn of the morning, and they flocked to door and window, exclaiming, with blanched cheek and faltering tongue, ' They come ! they come ! the Yankees come !' Men rushed into the streets almost naked, the women fainted, the children screamed, the darkies laughed, and for a time a scene of perfect terror reigned." Seventeen locomotives, more than one hundred passenger cars, a large amount of supplies of every kind, and about one hundred and sixty prisoners were the spoils of this bloodless victory. 1 On this day's march, Mitchel's army passed the extensive estate of L. Pope Walker, the Confederate " Secretary of State," whioh stretched along the road for miles. The mansion had been deserted, and the furni ture removed ; but a host of slaves remained who gave the " Yankees" a cordial welcome. One of the slaves had a heavy iron ring and bolt fastened to one of his legs, which he said he had worn for three months. MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON RAILWAY SEIZED. 267 General Mitchel did not tarry long at Huntsville. Appointing Colonel Gazeley, of the Thirty-seventh Indiana, Provost-Marshal, and finding him self in possession of an ample supply of rolling stock on the railway, he immediately organized two expeditions to operate along its line each way from Huntsville. One, under Colonel Sill, went eastward as far as Steven son, at the junction of the roads leading to Chattanooga and to Nashville, where five locomotives and a considerable amount of other rolling stock were captured. The other, under Colonel Turchin, went westward to Decatur' and Tuscumbia, south of Florence, from which an expedition was sent south ward as far as Russellville, the capital of Franklin County, Alabama. Neither of these expeditions encountered any serious opposition, and on the 16th" Mitchel said to his soldiers, "You have struck blow after blow with a rapidity unparalleled. Stevenson fell, sixty miles to the east of Huntsville. Decatur and Tuscumbia have been in like manner seized, and are now occupied. In three days you have extended your front of opera tions more than one hundred miles, and your morning guns at Tuscumbia may now be heard by your comrades on the battle-field made glorious by their victory before Corinth."^ He had placed his army midway between Corinth and Nashville, opened communication with Buell, and controlled the naviga tion of the Tennessee for more than one hundred miles. For these achieve ments, accomplished without the loss of a single life, Mitchel was com missioned a Major-General of Volunteers, and, with orders to report to the War Department directly, his force was constituted an independent corps. Let us turn again to the banks of the Tennessee, and see what was occur ring there. General Grant arrived at Savannah on the iHh of March, and made his head-quarters at the house of Mr. Cherry, eight or nine miles below Pitts burg Landing, which General Smith had chosen for his own. The latter had already selected the position of the army in the vicinity of Pittsburg Landing. On its right was Snake Creek, and on its left Lick Creek, streams which formed good natural flank defenses against approach. The whole country for miles around was mostly covered with woods, in some parts filled with undergrowth, and at others presentiug a beautiful open forest, composed of large red oak trees. Pittsburg Landing, the post on the river nearest to the Confederates, was protected by the gun-boats Tyler and Lex ington. Sherman's division formed a sort of outlying picket, while those ot McClernand and Prentiss were the real line of battle, with General C. F. Smith's, commanded by W. H. L. Wallace, in support of the right wing, and Hurlbut on - the left.^ Lewis Wallace's division was detached and stationed at Crump's Landing, to observe any movements of the Confed erates at Purdy, and to cover the river communications between Pittsburg Landing and Savannah. The latter was made the depot of stores, to which point General Halleck at St. Louis continually forwarded supplies of every kind. 1 Here the railway southward from Nashville connects with the Memjihis and Charleston road. 2 General Mitchel's thanks to his soldiers. Camp Taylor, Huntsville, April 16th, 1862. ' Letter of General Sherman to the Editor of the United States Service Magazine, January, 1865. " Tho ground was well chosen," General Sherman wrote: "On any other we surely would have been overwhelmed, as both Lick nnd Snake Creeks forced the enemy to c»nflne his movements to a direct front attack, which new troops are better qualifled to resist than when the flanks are exposed to real or chimerical danger." 268 POSITION OF GRANT'S ARMY. From the time of Grant's arrival at Savannah" until the first week in April, very little of interest occurred. The commander-in-chief continued « March 17, j^jg head-quartcrs at Savannah ; and there seemed to be very little apprehension of any attack from the Confederates. No breast works were thrown up, or abatis formed in front of the National anny, at^ whose rear lay the broad and deep Tennessee River. The greater portion EUINS OF SIIILOII MEETING-nOUBE. of General Sherman's division was then lying just behind Shiloh Meeting house.' General Prentiss's division was encamped across the direct road to Corinth, and General McClernand's was behind his right. These three divi sions formed the advanced line. In the rear of this, between it and the Landing, lay General Hurlbut's division, and that of General Smith, under General W. H. L. Wallace.' General David Stuart's brigade, of Sherman's division, lay on the Hamburg road, near its crossing of Lick Creek, on the extreme left. General Lewis Wallace's division was still at Crump's Landing. Such was the disposition of Grant's army on the eventful Sunday morn ing, April 6, 1862. Nearly four miles intervened between parts of Sher- ¦ The meeting-house (see page 263) was destroyed after the battle there, early in April. Near it some of tho severest of that struggle occurred. The above picture shows the appearance of its site when the author visited it, four years after tho contest. Nothing remained but a few logs of which it was built Several had been carried away, to be manufactured into canes. » General Smith was then so ill at his head-quarters at Savannah that he could not take the fleld. In passing from General Lewis Wallace's head-quarters on a steam-boat, two or three weeks before, he fell from the guard into his yawl, and abraded his leg between his knee and his foot The hurt disabled him, ond it resulted in a fever, which, in connection with chronic dysentery, conti^acted while serving in Mexico, proved fatal. He died at tho house of Mr. Cherry, on the 25th of April, 1S62. THE CONFEDERATE ARMY AT CORINTH. 269 man's division ; and large gaps existed between the divisions of McClernand and Prentiss. The extreme left of the line was commanded by unguarded heights, overlooking Lick Creek, which were easily approached from Corinth. The eleven thousand men at Corinth three weeks before had increased to over forty thousand, and the skillful Johnston and active Beauregard were at their head. Re-enforcements had been continually arriving there, while General Buell was making easy marches across Tennessee, to the assistance of Grant, and great uncertainty existed as to the time when he might be expected. . On tbe first of April, Johnston was informed that Yan Dorn and Price were making their way toward Memphis from Central .Arkansas, with thirty thousand troops, and would join him within a week. A day or two after ward he heard of the approach of Buell, and at once prepared for an advance upon Grant. His right, under General John C. Breckinridge,' eleven thou sand strong, rested at Bumsville, ten miles east of Corinth ; his center, more than twenty thousand in number, under G;enerals Hardee and Bragg, were massed at Corinth ; and his left, under Generals Polk and Hindman, about ten thousand, extended north ward from the Memphis and Charles ton road. His cavalry pickets were continually scouring the country in all directions, and were surprised and gratified by never falling in with a scout or vedette from the National lines, though sometimes approaching within a mile and a half of them. Informed of this fact, and made fully acquainted, by spies and resident in formers, of the position and number of his opponent's army, Johnston was about to move forward on the 5th," to attempt to penetrate its center, divide it, and cut it up in detail, when information reach- ° "*" ' ^^ ed him that the troops from the west would certainly join him the next morning. The Confederate forces were now within four miles of the National camp. They had ^oved silently forward by separate routes, in a heavy rain-storm, toward Shiloh, as the region around Shiloh Meeting-house was called, and on the morning ofthe 5th these divisions had joined on the range of rugged hills on which stood the little hamlet of Monterey, seven or eight miles from Corinth. Cautiously and silently they had moved still farther on, and halted near the intersection of the roads leading to Hamburg and Pittsburg Landing, and there it was resolved to wait for Van Dorn and Price. Yet there was peril in delay. If Buell should arrive, Johnston's golden opportunity might be lost. Becoming satisfied that evening that his forward movement was unknown to Grant, the chief commander called a council of war at eight BRAXTON BRAGG. ' See page 7& 270 PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE. » April 6, 1862. o'clock, and, after a deliberation of two hours, it was resolved to strike their enemy a blow before the dawn. Pointing toward the Union camp, at the close of the council, Beauregard said : " Gentlemen, we sleep in the enemy's camp to-morrow night.'" The greatest precautions were now taken by the Confederates to prevent any knowledge of their presence reaching the Nationals. No one was per mitted to leave the camp, and no fires were allowed, excepting in holes in the ground. It was a chilly and cheerless night, and many of the soldiers lay down in the gloom supperless. At three o'clock in the mom ing" the whole army was in marching order, in three lines of battle, the first and second extending from Owl Creek on the left to Lick Creek on the right, a distance of about three miles, supported by the third and a reserve. The first line was commanded by General Hardee, and was composed of his own corps and Gladden's brigade of Bragg's corps, with artillery following by the main road to Pittsburg Landing. The cav alry was in the rear and on the wings. Bragg's corps, composing the second line, followed in the same order, at the distance of five hundred yards. At the distance of about eight hundred yards behind Bragg was Polk's corps, in lines of brigades, deployed with their batteries in rear of each brigade, also moving on the Pittsburg Land ing road, supported by cavalry on the left wing. The reserves, com manded by Breckinridge, closely fol lowed Polk's (third) line, its right wing supported by cavalry. In this order the Confederate army was slowly advancing to battle early on Sunday morning, the 6th of April,' over the rolling wooded coun try, while the Nationals were repo sing in fancied security. It was one of the most delightful of those spring mornings, which so often give exquisite pleasure to the dwellers in that region ; and he who in the gray dawn of that eventful day should have stood at the house of the widow Rey, on a branch of the Owl Creek, within the sound of voices of Sherman's camp near the Shiloh Meeting-house, would not have believed a prophecy that within an hour that Sabbath stillness would be broken by the tumult of battle, and those quiet woods just robed in the most delicate green, and enlivened by the songs of birds, would within sixty minutes be filled with sulphureous smoke, and all the hideous sounds W. J. HARDEE, 1 Statement of '' An impressed New Yorker " ( Thirteen Montlis in Vie Rebel Army, page 147), who was on Breckinridge's stafl', and was present at the council. 2 General Johnston Issued a stirring order to his troops when they were about to move, saying : " I have put you in mation to offer battle to the invaders of your country. With resolution and disciplined valor, becoming men flghting as you are, for all that is worth living or flying for, you can but march to decisive victory over tho agrarian mercenaries who have been sent to despoil you of your liberties, your property, and your honor." He told them that the eyes and hopes of eight miUions of people wore resting upon them, and assured them that their generals would lead them to victory. OPENING OF THk BATTLE OF SHILOH. 271 and images of infernal war. So it was. Hardee's advance first touched heavily and destructively Sherman's left,' and glancing off from that com mander's skillful foil, feU with crushing force upon Prentiss's division. The pickets of each and five companies under Colonel Moore, sent out by Prentiss to reconnoiter, were driven in at daylight, and the advancing foe reached the camp of the Nationals almost as soon as did the assailed out-lymg troops. It was a complete surprise. Many of the officers were yet slumbering; others were dressing ; others were washing ^^ or cooking, and- oth ers were eating break fast. Their guns were unloaded, and accouterments were strewn around with out order. Many of the troops were without a su.fficient supply of ammuni tion. The first inti mation that the Con federates were close upon them in force, was the wild cry of the flying pickets rushing into the camps, and the scream arid crash of shells, and the whistle of bullets as they flew on deadly errands through the tents and the forest. A few minutes afterward, Hardee's eager troops were pouring like a flood into the camps of the bewildered Nationals, fighting desperately here, driving half-dressed or half-armed fugitives there, and dealing death and terror on every hand. It was an unexpected assault, followed by the most fearful results. Hildebrand's brigade of Sherman's corps, which was the first attacked, was lying near Shiloh Meeting-house, at which point Sherman's artillery, under Captain Ezra Taylor, was stationed. Ruggles's division of Bragg's corps, with Hodgson's battery, made the direct assault, and Hildebrand's brigade, composed largely of comparatively raw troops, was driven from its camp almost without a struggle, for a panic seized some of the companies at the first onslaught. Buckland's and McDowell's had just time to fiy to arms and form in battle order, when they^ too, were attacked by the brigades of Pond and Anderson, of Ruggles's division, with a heavy artillery fire. For a PICKETS ON irUTY.^ ' The troops here atlackcd were those of the brigade of Colonel Hildebrand, composed of the Fifty-third, Fifty-ninth, and Seventy-seventh Ohio, and Fifty-third Illinois ; Colonel Buckland's brigade, coraposed of tbe Forty-eighth, Seventieth, and Seventy-second Ohio; and Colonel McDoweU's brigade, composed of the Sixth Iowa, Fortieth Illinois, and Forty-sixth Ohio. ^ This was composed of the Twelfth Michigan, Sixteenth and Eighteenth Wisconsin, Eighteenth, Twenty- third, and Twenty-flfth Missouri, and Sixty-flrst Illinois. ' This is from a sketch by W. Homer, published in Harper's Weekly, showing the manner of watching for an enemy by out-lying pickets in the woods. 272 FIRST DAY OP THE BATTLE. while the conflict raged fiercely along the whole of Sherman's line. That gallant oflicer was seen in the thickest of the fight, exposing his life to quick destruction every moment, in encouraging his men to resist the tremendous assault, and escaping with only the hurt of a bullet passing through his hand. He tried in vain to rally Hildebrand's brigade, but he kept those of Buck- land and McDowell steady for some time, while Taylor's heavy guns did admirable execution. These, heavily pressed, were soon compeUed to fall back to an eminence across a ravine, where they made a gallant stand for a while. In the mean time, McClernand, who lay in the rear of Sherman,' and at first supposed the firing to be only picket skirmishing, had thrown forward his left to the support of the smitten Hildebrand, and these troops for a while bore the shock of battle. This was at about seven in the morning, and before nine o'clock a greater part of Sherman's division was virtually out of the fight. His fianks had been rolled up by fresh troops under Bragg ; and Polk, with the third Confederate line, was soon moving toward Sherman's rear, endangering his communication with the rest of the army and with the river. He collected and reorganized his broken columns, keeping up a desultory fight until, in the afternoon, he formed a new battle-line on a ridge in advance of a bridge over Snake Creek, by which General Lewis Wallace's division, ordered up from Crump's Landing, bad been expected. Turned by the steadiness of a portion of Sherman's division, and the troops of McClernand, the Confederates threw nearly their whole weight upon Prentiss. Only his first brigade, under Colonel Peabody,' was there to receive them, the second brigade being near the landing. . These men, though surprised and bewildered, fought obstinately for a while, but in vain. The foe was in their midst, and a wall of living men, strong with ball and bayonet, was closing around them, ready to crush them out and make an open way for the Confede rates to the river. Prentiss had asked Hurlbut for help. Veatoh's brigade was sent, but it was not suf ficient. Then the brigades of Wil liams and Lauman were ordered to his assistance, when back upon these Prentiss was pushed by Wither's divi sion of Bragg's corps. At that perilous moment seeming relief came, but it was only a mockery. McArthur's brigade of W. II. L. Wallace's division had been sent to the aid of Stuart's brigade of Sherman's division, on the ' McClernand's division was composed of three brigades. The first, commanded by Colonel Hare, was com posed of the Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois, and Eleventh and Thirteenth Iowa. The second brigade, com manded by Colonel 0. C. M.arsh, consisted of the Eleventh, Twentieth, Forty-flfth, and Forty-eighth Illinois. The third brirade was led by Colonel Eaith, and was composed of the Seventeenth, Twenty-ninth, Forty-third, and Forty-ninth Illinois. Attached to this division were the fine batteries of Schwartz, Dresser, McAllister, ond Waterhouse. 2 Tho Twenty-flfth Missouri, Sixteenth Wisconsin, and Twelfth Michigan, FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 273 extreme left, which was in danger of being cut off if Prentiss's hard-pressed troops should perish. McArthur took a wrong road, and came directly upon Withers. He engaged him gallantly, and for a time there seemed to be a prospect of salvation for the environed troops. But McArthur was soon compelled to fall back. Prentiss's second division was hurried up, but it was too late. In the struggle, Peabody had been killed, Prentiss had become separated from a greater portion of his division, and it fell into the wildest confusion. By ten o'clock in the morning, it had practically disappeared. Fragments of brigades and regiments continued to fight as opportunity offered, and a large number of the division drifted behind new-formed lines, particularly those of Hurlbut; Prentiss and three of his regiments, over two thousand in number, maintained an unassailed position until late in the afternoon, when they were captured, sent to the rear of the Confederate army, and then marched in triumph to Corinth, as prisoners of war. We have seen how McClernand's left hastened to the support of Hilde brand. As Sherman's line fell back, McClernand was compelled to bring in the remainder of his brigades to the protection of his left ; for against that the Confederates, elated by their success in demolishing Prentiss, now hurled themselves with great force. McClernand's whole division formed a front along the Corinth and Pittsburg Landing road, with his batteries in good position, and there, until ten o'clock, he foiled every attempt of his foe to gain that road. Very soon a new peril appeared. The falling back of Sher man gave the Confederates a chance to flank McClernand's right, and quickly they seized the advantage. They dashed through the abandoned camps and pressed onward until driven back by Dresser's rifled cannon, which had smitten them fearfully. But reserves and fresh regiments pressing up toward the same point, with great determination and overwhelming numbers, com pelled JMcClornand to fall back. His batteries were broken up,' many of bis officers were wounded, and a large number of his men lay dead or mutilated on the field. The division fell slowly back, fighting gallantly, and by eleven o'clock it was in a line with Hurlbut's, that covered Pitts burg Landing. We have alluded to the perilous position of the brigade of Stuart, of Sherman's division, on the extreme left of the National line,' to whose assist ance General W. H. L. Wallace sent McArthur. It was posted about two miles from Pittsburg Landing on the Hamburg road, near the crossing of Lick Creek. Its position was isolated, and could be easily reached by the foe by a good road from Corinth ; but, as it was intended to land Buell's forces at Hamburg, it was thought the brigade might be safely left there until that event. But the Confederates did not wait for the arrival of Buell • and now, when they were thundering away at the front of Sherman, McClernand, and Prentiss, his advance was more than half a day's usual march away. The isolated brigade was, therefore, placed in great peril. So isolated was it, that the first intimation its commander had of disaster on 1 Dresser h.ad lost several of his rifled cannon, three caissons, and eighteen horses. Schwartz had lost half of his guns and sixteen horses; and McAllister had lost half of his 24-pound howitzers. ' David L. Stuart was a resident of Chicago, and was then, as colonel of a regiment from Illinois aetin- brigaoier-enernl, in command of a brigade composed of the Fifty-flfth Illinois, aud Fifty-fourth fZouavesI and Seven ty-flrst Ohio regiments. Vol. II.— 18 274 GRANT ON THE BATTLE-FIELD. "April 6, 1862. the right was the cessation of firing in that direction, tbe scream of a shell in its passage among the branches above him, and in the apparition of a Con federate column of cavalry and infantry bearing down upon him by the forest road from Corinth to Hamburg. That column was mostly composed of Breckinridge's reserves. He had planted batteries on heights near the ford, and under cover of these his troops rushed to the attack. For ten minutes a desperate conflict ensued, when Stuart fell back and sent to Wallace for aid. It was furnished, as we have seen, but missed its aim. McArthur, however, so vigorously fought the Confederates that Stuart's force was saved from capture, and was enabled to retreat to a place of comparative safety, where its shattered members were brought into order. It was now twelve o'clock at noon." The Confederates had full posses sion of the ground on which lay the first line of the National army in the morning, and of the camps of Sherman, McClernand, Prentiss, and Stuart. Three of the five divisions of that army on the field had been thoroughly routed, and all were hemmed within a narrow^ strip of ground between the triumphant Confederate line and the broad and rapid Tennessee River. General Grant, who was at his head-quarters at Cherry's, eight miles aif ay when the battle commenced,' had hastened to the field at the summons of the cannon's roar. He reached it at about eight o'clock, and at ten was with Sherman, when the battle was hottest. He comprehended the peril that threatened his whole army, and he took vigorous measures to avert it by re-forming the shattered bri gades, re-establishing batteries and new lines, and ordering General Lewis Wallace, at Crump's Landing, to hasten to the field of strife with his fresh division. Buell's advance was at Savannah, but could not come in time, perhaps, to assist in must win or lose the battle without "ULYSSES S. GRANT. Struggle, and he believed that he thethem. The gap made by the demolition of Prentiss's brigade and Stuart's retreat, through which the Confederates expected to rush upon Hurlbut and push him into the Tennessee River, was speedily closed by General W. H. L. Wal lace, who marched with his remaining brigades and joined McArthur, taking Avith him the Missouri batteries of Stone, Richardson, and Webber, which were all under the command of Major Cavender. Hurlbut had been stationed in open fields ; now he fell back to the thick woods between his camp and ' There was somo disposition to censure General Grant for having his head-quarters so far away from lie bulk of his nrmy. It is proper to remember that Savannah w.as tho point toward which his expected rC-enturce- mcnts, nnder Buell, iverc'to join him ; nnd it was essential for him to be where he could, at the earliest momfnt confer with that commander, after he should reach the Tennessee. Grant spent most of each day with his main army^ j£turnlng to. his quarters in a steamer at evening. DEFEAT OF THE NATIONAL ARMY. 275 the river, and there, from ten o'clock in the morning nntil between three and four o'clock in the afternoon, he and Wallace held the Confederates in check, fighting a greater part of the time, and hurling back tremendous charges by the massed foe. On both sides death had been reaping a bountiful harvest. The brave General Wallace had fallen, mortally wounded, and been carried on a litter from the field. General Gladden, of the Confederate army, had been killed, and their Commander-in- _„ .. _ chief. General A S. Johnston, who had almost recklessly exposed himself, had also been mortally hurt at about half- past two o'clock.' The superior force of tho Con federates pressed Hurlbut further to ward the river at four o'clock. At that time the gallant Wallace fell, and the command devolved on General McArthur. His division, animated by his words and deeds, had been fighting hopefully, biit they too were now com pelled to retreat, to avoid being flanked and surrounded, as Prentiss had been. They took position in a line with Hurlbut's men, about half a mile from the river, having lost only a single heavy gun, which was afterward re covered. The day was now fairly lost. The victorious Confederates occupied the camps of all the Union divisions on the field excepting Wallace's,' and just in the rear of that the broken and terribly smitten army had now gathered in a space of not more than four hundred acres on a rolling plateau, very near the high banks at Pittsburg Landing, below which four or five thousand fugitives from the battle-field, chiefly inexperienced troops,' were ignobly sheltering themselves from the storm of war. The army could fall back no farther. Its next retrograde movement could only be into the fiood of the Tennessee, for there were not transports enough there to carry over it a single division.'' A HAND-LITTEK.- ' .lohnston was hit by a piece of a shell that burst near him. It struck his tliigh, half way between his hip and knee, cutting a wide p.ath, and severing the femoral artery. Governor Hairis, of Tennessee (his brother-in- law), who was his chief of stafl", was at his side. Ten minutes after he was lifted from his horse he died. John ston was one of tli'e hravest and most accomplished officers in the Confederate army. His death was concealed from his troops at that time, and it was not publicly made known until the nrmy had returned to Corinth. Johnston's body was left on the fleld when the Confederates fled th(! next day. and was buried there. In January, 1367, his remains were taken to Austin, iu Texas, for re-interment The disloyal mayor and other citizens of Galveston asked permission of General Sheridan, the military commander of that district, to honor the remains by a public demonstrati boats, which now might give them aid in fighting, or the, help of Buell's ^ — ,1^^ vanguard, then on the opposite shore, or the advent of Lewis Wallace with llis fine division,' who had been anxiously cxjjected all the afternoon. As the columns were pushed back from one position to another, Grant anxiously listened for the noise of Wallace's cannon thundering on the flank of the Confederates. Early in the morning he had sent him word to hold his troops in readiness to march at a moment's warning, " certainly not later than eleven o'clock." At half-2:)ast eleven Wallace received an order from his chief to move up and take position " on the right of tho army, and form a line of battle at a right angle with the river." VPime passed on ; the Confederates were pressing hard ; the disorganized brigades were in great confusion and falling back toward the river's brink. Yet Wallace did not come. Grant sent one of his staff to hurry him up. He did not come. Then he sent his adjutant-general (Captain Rawlins) to urge him for«-ard, and yet he did not appear. Night had fallen, and the discomfited ai-my lay huddled in great peril on the banks of the Tennessee, when the seemingly tardy General arrived. Ide was afterward censured for the delay, for the impression went abroad that, had he promptly responded to Grant's call, victory for the National army might have been achieved on that day, for he was a skillful commander, and his men, fresh and spirited, had been well tried, and found sufficient in all things. A few words of explanation, after ward given, made the record of that prompt and gallant officer clear to the apprehension of his chief and the people, and showed that the whole delay had occurred in consequence of a blunder of omission committed by Grant's messenger who bore the order for his advance.^ STEPHEN A. nuRLBTrr. my troops across the river," was Grant's reply. "But you had not transportation sufficient," answered Luc'l. " Plenty." responded Grant, *' to take over all that wonld liave been left when we had done flghting." ^ Wallace's division was composed of three brigades, stationed on the road from Crump's Landing to Purdy, the first at the Landing, the second two miles out, and the third two miles and a half farther, at Ad.amsvillc. Owing to the pushing bade of an Ohio brigade, that had been sent out to reconnoiter in the direction of Purdy, his division raarched as far as Adamsville in a drenching rain, on Friday night (.Vpril 4), and there a brigado was left The flrst brigade, commanded hy Colonel Morgan L. Smith, was composed of tho Eleventh and Twenty-foin-th Indiana and Eighth Missouri. The second, commanded by Colomd John M. Thayer, was com posed of the First Nebrask.a, Twenty-third Indiana, and the Fifty-si.-sth and Fifty-eighth Ohio. Tho thinl brigade, under Colonel Charles Whittlesy, was composeil of the Twentieth, Sixty -eighth. Seventy-sixth, nnd Seventy- eighth Ohio. To the division were attached Thurber's Missouri and Thompson's Indiana Batteries; alsu tho third battalion of the Flflh Ohio, and third battalion of the Eleventh Illinois cavalry. ¦' General Grant, as wo havo seen, had ordered General Wallace to pl.ace his division " on the right of tho army." That position in the morning was nbout four miles from Pittsburg Landing. The messenger who boi'o the order not only omitted to inform Wallace that tho " right " had been beaten back, and was thus much nearer Pittsburg Landing, but had told him (as he doubtless supposed trnly) that the Confederates were being repulsed at all points. Believing it to bo yet in its morning positicm at the right of Shiloh Mecting-houso, Wallace promptly put his whoK. division (excepting two regiments left nt Crump's Landing) in motion half an hour after receiving the order, by tho nearest route to the supposed "right of the army." When he had proceeded, M rapidly as the miry roads would allow, for ahout six miles, the roar of battle quickening the steps ofhis BoWicrs, preparations for a night attack. 277 By the side of a little log house which had lately been the post-office of Pittsburg Landing, and constituted the " village," General Grant and his staff were grouped at sunset on that fearful Sunday evening, while there was a lull in tbe storm of war. They were in continual expectation of another attack, but Grant felt confident of final victory.' Buell's vanguard was in sight, and Wallace was expected to appear at every moment. If the assail ants could be kept at bay a few hours, all would be well. Preparations to withstand them were hastily made. The quiet time was improved, and in a semicircle around the army, half a mile back from the bluff, slight earthworks of half-moon form were quickly thrown up, and twenty-two heavy guns were mounted on them, under the direction of Colonel Webster, Grant's chief of staff, and manned by artillerists selected from all the batteries. These guns were scarcely in position, toward the close of twilight, when a lurid glare lighted up the surrounding forests, and shot and shell from Confederate cannon on the left and center of the Nationals came crashing through the trees in the direction of the Landing, but falling short of tho intended victims. These were quickly answered by Grant'.s guns, when the Confederate brigades in full force pressed forward from their new line, that stretched between the positions of Stuart and Hurlbut in the morning, from Lick Creek across the Corinth road, and tried to cross a ravine, that sepa rated them from the Nationals, in order to give a final and crushing blow to the latter. This force was large, composed of Chalmers on the right, with Breckinridge in the rear ; and ranging to the left, the reduced brigades of Withers, Cheatham, Ruggles, Anderson, Stuart, Pond, and Stevens were engaged. They were bravely met by the National infantry, composed of portions of all the brigades, and by the well-directed artillery,'' and were kept at bay until a force that had not yet been brought into action was j)laced in position and commenced work. This was composed of the gun-boats Tyler and Lexington, under the general command of Lieutenant William Gwin. They came up to the mouth of the little creek that traverses a short ravine at Pittsburg Landing, and were soon hurling 7-inch shells and G4-pound shot up that hollow in the bluff, in curves that dropped them in the midst of the Confederates. General Nelson, who led Buell's advance, had crossed the river with Amnion's brigade, and boro an important part in repelling the assailants. The crushing blow which the latter expected to give was foiled, and the palm of victory, which they confidently expected to hold before mid night, eluded their grasp. Three hours before that midnight, the roar of battle, which had been kept up during the evening, had ceased, and Beau- he was overtaken hy Captain Eawlins and another, and from them first learned that the Nalflonal troops had been beaten back toward the river. His route would take him to an istdated and dangerous position in the rear of the Confederates, so he retraced his steps, crossed over lo the river road near Snake Creek, by the nearest possible route, passed that stream over a bridge, and took his assigned position on the right of the army. He had marched and countermarched, in consequence of misinformation and lack of information, about sixteen miles, whicli had consumed the whole afternoon. * A remark made by General Prentiss seems to have been tho cause of Ueanregard not pressing an attack that night That general .asked Prentiss if tho Nationals had nny fortifications .at the river, to which hc replied, " You must consider ns poor soldiers, general, if you suppose we would have neglected so plain a duty." Tho truth was, tho Nationals h.ad not a single fortification anywhere on or near that battle-field until after Beaure gard ceased to fight ou Sunday evening. H.ad he pressed forward, he might have captured the entire army. ^ Among these pieces wero two long 82-pound siege guns, but there seemed to be no one to work them, when Dr. Cornyn, surgeon of tho old First Missouri artillery, offered his services for the purpose. They were accepted, and th(! guns were worked i;'.ost cfllcicntly. 278 ARRIVAL OF BUELL'S FORCES. regard, who succeeded the slain Johnston in supreme command, ignorant of the arrival of Buell, and feeling confident of victory in the morning, was writing a glowing dispatch to Adjutant-General Cdoper from his quarters in Shiloh Meeting-house, announcing a complete victory.' We have observed that the vanguard of Buell's army,^ composed of Nelson's division, made its a23pearance, opposite Pittsburg Landing, toward Sunday evening." It had reached the Tennessee River, at Savannah, on "IsS'^' *^^® previous day; and, on the same evening, the commanding General arrived there. On the following morning, hearing the sound of heavy guns up the river, Buell hastened to Grant's head-quarters, at Cherry's, for information. The latter had just started for Pittsburg Land ing in a steamer, having left orders for Nelson's division to be sent up at once. It started early in the afternoon, leaving its cannon to be forwarded by water, on account of bad roads, and arrived opposite the Landing, as we have observed, toward sunset. Buell reached there at about the same time, and requested Grant to send vessels down to bring up Crittenden's division^ which had just arrived at Savannah. "These, and the remainder of Nelson's division, and Wallace's, from Crump's Landing, had taken positions before midnight, and were preparing, in the midst of a drenching rain, to renew the conflict in the morning. All night long Buell's troops were arriving by land and water ; and, at intervals of ten or fifteen minutes, the gun-boats were hurling a heavy shell into the camps of the Confederates, wearying and worry ing them with watchiilg and unceasing alarm. By these they were com pelled to fall back from their position, from which they intended to spi-ing upon the Nationals during the night, and they lost more than half the ground they had gained by the retreat of the Unionists on Sunday after noon. The morning of the Vth dawned gloomily upon the battle-field, which was overshadowed by heavy clouds, distilling a drizzling rain. Before sunrise the conflict was opened by General Lewis Wallace, whose division had been disposed in battle order at a little past midnight, and formed the extreme right of the newly established line of the army. Captain Thompson's field 1 The following is a copy ofthe dispatch, dated "Battle-field of Shiloh, April 6, 1862: We have this morning attacked the enemy in a strong position in front of Pittsburg, and after a severe battle of ten hours, thanks to Almighty God, gained a complete victory, driving the enemy from every position. The loss on both sides Is heavy, including our commander-in-chief. General Albert Sidney Johnston, who fell gallantly leading his troops into the thickest ofthe fight" 2 Bueirs forces, that reached the field of action in time to participate in its events, consisted of three divi sions, commanded respectively by Generals William Nelson, Thomas T. Crittenden, and Alexander McDowell McCook. Nelson's division wns composed of three brigades : tho first, commanded by Colonel Ammon. con Bisted of the Sixth and Twenty-fourth Ohio, and Thirly-sixth Indiana; the second. Colonel Bruce, consisted ofthe First, Second, and Twentieth Kentucky; tho third. Colonel Ilazen, w.as composed of the Forty-first Ohio, Si.xth Kentucky, and Ninth Indiana. General Crittenden's division consisted of three brigades : the first, commanded by Gener.al Boyle, was coraposed of the Nineteenth and Fifty-ninth Ohio, and Ninth and Thirteenth Kentucky ; tho second. Colonel William L. Smith, consisted of tho Thirteenth Ohio, and Eleventh and Twenty-sixth Kentucky, with Menden- hall's regular and Bartlett's Ohio batteries. General McCook's division was composed of three brigades ; the first. General Eousseau, consisted of tho First Ohio, Sixth Indiana, Third Kentncky (Louisvilio Legion), nnd battalions of tho Fifteenth, Sixteenth, mill Nineteenth regulars ; the second brigade. General Johnson, consisted of tho Thirty-seeojid and Thirty-ninth Indiana, and Forty-ninth Ohio ; the third brigade. Colonel Kirk, was composed of the Thirty-fourth Illinois, Thirteenth and Twenty-ninth Indiana, and Seventy-first Pennsylvania. The division of Oeneiul T. J. Wood w.as too far in the rear to reach the scene of action in time to partici pate in the battle. That of General Thomas Avas still farther in tho rear. • OPENING OF the SECOND DAY'S BATTLE. 279 guns first awakened the echoes of the forest and brought both armies to their feet. These shelled the Confederates, who were strongly posted, with artil lery, upon a bluff across a stream and a deep wooded ravine in front of Wallace. The response was vigorous, and Thurber came to Thompson's aid. The conflict was brief. One of the rifled guns of the Confederates was speed ily silenced, and its supporters were falling back. At that moment General Grant amved, and directed Wallace to press forward and attack the Con federate left, commanded by General Bragg in person, and consisting of the division of General Ruggles, and the brigade of Colonel Wobue, of Breck inridge's reserves. This was done with his brigades en 'echelon, his line at right angles with the river. The Confederates were soon driven from the hill, and their places were occupied by Wallace's victorious troops. There a halt was made for Sherman's division, which lay to the left, to come up in support. Wallace was now on the edge of an open field, and a wood and low swampy grounds, along Snake Creek, formed an impassable flank defense. Perceiving this, and that the left flank of the Confederates was exposed by the falling back of the force on the bluff, he attempted to turn it. To do so, it was necessary to change his front. This was skillfully done by a left half- wheel of the whole division, leaving a gap between it and Sherman's right, which was expected to move forward at once. While this movement was in progress, a heavy column of the foe was seen in the woods, across an open field, making rapidly toward their endan gered left, evidently for the purpose of turning Wallace's right. Buell's vete rans had made Grant's left too strong for Beauregard to hope to win his expected victory there, and he was now seeking it on the National right. But there he found as determined a foe. Wallace ordered up Thompson's battery, which played upon the moving column with terrible effect until its ammunition was exhausted, when Thurber's was sent forward and continued the work most effectually. The flank movement was checked, and then Con federate cavalry attempted to take the battery. They were driven back by the skirmishers of the Eighth Missouri. Then a heavy column of infantry, with Watson's Louisiana Battery of destructive steel rifled cannon moved against Wallace's advance, when his first brigade. Colonel M. L. Smith, easily repelled them. For an hour and a half the contest went on, the bulk of Wallace's division all the while enduring a furious cannonade, but well sheltered, as they lay in wooded hollows, waiting for Sherman to come up. While Wallace was holding the Confederates in check, Sherman, who had been waiting to hear the thunders of Buell's capnon advancing alono- the main Corinth road, moved forward with a resolution to obey Grant's command to retake the camp, lost the day before. At the same time Wallace ordered his division to advance. The first brigade led the way from the woods into and across an open field, beyond which, on a thickly wooded ridge, not far from Shiloh Meeting-house, the foe was posted. The division moved steadily on under an ordinary fire down into a slight hollow, and up a gentle slope toward their foe, when suddenly the woods were all ablaze with musketry, and the destructive Louisiana Battery hurled its bolts with fearful effect. Sherman's advance recoiled, when AVallace, whose flank was thereby exposed, ordered a halt. 280 THE SECOND DAY'S BATTLE. Let us see what has been doing on the left meanwhile. Buell's forces on the field lay near Pittsburg Landing, and composed the center and left wing of Grant's new line of battle, upon which it was expected the Confederates would fall in the morning. Only the divisions of Nelson and Crittenden were well in hand at dawn. The former had quietly called up his men at four o'clock, and soon afterward he notified his general of his readiness for motion. Crittenden was ready at the same time, and when the booming of Wallace's heavy guns on the right was heard, they both moved forward. Nelson's division leading, with Ammon's brigade on the extreme left, Bruee's in the center, and Llazen's on the right. Nelson's artilleiy, which was to be sent up by water, had not yet arrived, but the battery of Mendenhall, of the regular service, and Bartlett's Ohio Battery, were on the field. McCook, who had been moving all night, so as to be a j)articipant in the impending battle, had just arrived at Pittsburg Landing with "¦^iom ^' his division when. Nelson , and Crittenden be^an their march, at 1S62. ^ ^ o 3 half-past five in the morning." Nelson moved forward through the open woods and some cleared *fields over the rolling plateau for about a mile before encountering the Confede rates in force, when, at six o'clock, he was assailed by their artillery, and halted. Mendenhall's battery was brought into action, and Crittenden took a commanding position on the right of Nelson, with Bartlett's battery posted at his center. A contest was maintained for some time, when McCook's division arrived on the ground, accompanied by General Buell, who assumed the direction of affairs. McCook's forces were formed on Crittenden's right, and some straggling troops that were on the field the day before were placed on McCook's right, making BuelFs entire line about a mile in length, extending from a point southeastward of the Ham burg road, and across the Corinth road, so as to touch Hurlbut on the left and at the rear of McClernand. The entire National line formed an irregu lar curve.While Buell's force was getting into position, Mendenhall and Bartlett fought three batteries of the Confederates in front of Nelson^ and Crittenden. The foe was evidently in strong force. A little to the rear ofhis left was the high, open wooded ridge on which Sherman and McClernand wore encamped on the morning of the 6th, and this was an objective, according to Grant's order already alluded to. Forward Buell's column moved, and Nelson's division first felt the shock of battle, which soon became general along the whole line. Colonel Hazen, with his brigade, made a gallant charge and seized one of the Coufederate batteries, but was driven back by superior numbers thrown into the woods on Crittenden's left, and a cross-fire of artil lery, sustaining a heavy loss. Colonel Smith's brigade of Crittenden's divi sion then advanced into the woods and repulsed the Confederates, and at the same time Terrell's Regular Battery of 24-pound howitzers was brought on the field and advanced to Nelson's left, near the Hamburg road, then heavily pressed by great numbers. Its effect was most salutary, for it soon silenced the right battery of the Confederates ; but Terrell was speedily forced back, with Ammon's brigade, when a regiment from Boyle's brigade re-en forced Nelson's left, and it again moved forward and drove the foe. This exposed the Confederates at their second and third batteries, from which BATTLE OF SHILOH. 281 they were soon driven by the concentrated fire of Mendenhall and Terrell, with a loss of several of their cannon. Meanwhile McCook's division had been fighting the Confederate center, pushing it back step by step, until it was driven from its i^osition. The action of that division was commenced by General Rousseau's, which was well supported by Generals Kirk and Gibson, Willich's regiment, and two regiments of Hurlbut's division.' After expending its ammunition, and marching to the rear for a supply, it was seen moving "in splendid order, and steadily to the front, sweeping every thing before it,"^ smiting the foe so severely that he was driven from his position, and lost one of his batteries at the first onset,^ It was in front of this division that the Con federates, commanded by Beauregard in person, assisted by Bragg, Polk, and Breckinridge, made their last decided stand, in the woods beyond Sherman's old camp, near Shiloh Meeting-house, where we left that officer and Wallace confronting them. Two brigades of General T. J. Wood's division had just reached the field, but not in time to participate in the engagement. But they relieved the weary fighters, and sealed the doom of the Confederates, who now abandoned all hope of conquering the National left, and concentrated on their right, as we have observed. It was now long past noon. Wallace had again changed his front for attack, with Sherman on his left as a support. Again his first brigade hacl moved forward, when a squadron of Confederate cavalry dashed out of the woods toward his temporarily exposed flank. These were repulsed by the Twenty-third Indiana, aided by an oblique fire by the First Nebraska. But a greater peril was menacing Wallace's whole division, at that moment. Sher man's forces, touching his left, had again given way, and were followed by a heavy mass of desperate Confederates, who were eagerly pushing forward to isolate Wallace from the rest of the National army. The situation of the gallant Indianian was extremely critical for a while. He immediately ordered up Colonel Charles R. Woods, of the reserves, with his Seventy- eighth Ohio. These, with a regiment sent by General McClernand, and the Eleventh Indiana, Colonel McGinniss, whose front and flank had been attacked, stoutly held the ground, with the gallant Thurber ready to act with his artillery if required, until Colonel August Willich, with his splendid Thirty- second Indiana, of McCook's division, dashed against the Confederates, and drove them back.* Meanwhile Sherman had recovered his line, and the brigade of the wounded Colonel Stuart (now commanded by the skillful Colonel T. Kilby Smith) and that of Colonel Buckland, supported by two 24-pound howitzers of McxVllister's battery, moved forward abreast of Rous seau's Kentucky brigade. Wallace's troops, who had entered the woods, also ' Hurlbut's shattered division, which had fought on tho previous day, was held in reserve ranch ofthe time at the rear and left of McClernand. 2 Bee General Sherman's report ' General Eousseau had the honor of retaking General McClernand's head-quarters on Sunday mornin". At the outer edge of that encampment the dead body of General A. S. Johnston was found. * Speaking of this movement in his report. General Sherman said: "Here I saw Willich's regiment advance upon a point of water-oaks and thicket, behind which I knew the enemy was in great strength, and enter it in beiiutiful style. Then arose tho severest musketry-fire I ever heard, and lasted twentv minutes, when this splendid regiment had to fall back. This green point of timber is about flve hundred y.ards east of Shiloh Meeting-house, and it was evident here was to bo the struggle." 282 BATTLE OF SHILOH. pressed steadily forward, while " step by step, from tree to tree, position to position," said that officer, " the rebel lines went back, never stopping again— infantry, horses, and artillery— all went back. The firing was grand and terrific. Before us was the Crescent regiment of New Orleans ; shelling us on the right was the Washington artillery, of Manassas renown, whose last stand was in front of Colonel Whittlesey's command. To and fro, now in my front, then in Sherman's, rode General Beauregard, inciting his troops, and fighting for his fading prestige of invincibility. The desperation of the struggle may bo position of tub national troops in THB BATTLES bF SHILOH.^ easily imagined. While this was in progress, far along the lines to the left the contest was raging with equal obstinacy. As indicated by the sounds, however, the enemy seemed retiring everywhere. Cheer after cheer rang through the woods, aijd each man felt the day was ours."- And so it was. Heavily pressed on all sides, the Confederates gave way, > The general position of the Confederates may be understood, by considering that on both days theh: Iin were parallel to those of the Nationals. 2 Wallace's report FLIGHT OF THE CONFEDERATES. 283 and flying through the National camps of Sunday morning, they bumed their ovm, and with a powerful rear-guard under Breckinridge,' they hurried, in a cold, drizzly rain that soon changed to hail, with their sick and wounded in every conceivable conveyance,^ to the heights of Monterey that night* far on the road toward Cor inth, but happily pursued by tbe conquerors only as far as the bluffs and swamps of Lick Creek. They were astonished at the fact that they were not more vigorously follow ed,' for Breckinridge, it was thought, could easily have been separated from the remainder of the Con federate army and cap tured, and Beauregard's whole force might have been dispersed or made prisoners.' Thus ended The Battle of Shiloh.' Although tbe Confederates had utterly failed in their intentions, and were thoroughly vanquished and driven from the field, with an acknowledged loss of nearly eleven thousand men,' Beauregard telegraphed to Richmond MULES CAKRVING WOUNDED MEN.* 1 Breckinridge's command Wias strengthened by the cavalry regiments of Forest, Adams, and the Texas Eangers, making the effective force ofthe rear-guard about 12,000 men. '^ That retreat must have been a terrible experience for the sick .and wounded. " Here," wrote an eye-wi*^ ness, "was a long line of wasons loaded with wounded, piled in like bags of grain, groaning and cursing, wh' > the mules plunged on in mud and water, belly deep, the water sometimes coming into the wagons. Next eanio u straggling regiinent of infantry, pressing on past the train of wagons ; then a stretcher borne upon the shoulders of four men, carrying a wounded oflicer ; then soldiers staggering along, with an arm broken and hanging down, or other fearful wounds which were enough to destroy life I passed long wagon-trains, filled with wounded and dying soldiers, without even a blanket to shield them from the driving sleet and hail, which fell In stones as large as partridge-eggs, until it lay on the ground two inches deep. Some three hundred men died during that awful retreat, and their bodies were thrown out to make room for others, who, although wounded, had struggled on through the storm, h See page 292. 288 SITUATION OF THE TWO ARMIES. CHAPTEE XI. OPEEATIONS IN SOUTHERN TENNESSEE AND NORTHEEN MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA lEWING events in the light of fair analysis and com parison, it seems clear that a prompt and vigorous pursuit of the Confederates from Shiloh would have resulted in their capture or dispersion, and that the campaign in the Mississippi Valley might have ended within thirty days after the battle we have just con sidered. Within a few days afterward, the Lower Mississippi, with the great city of New Orleans on its" banks, was in the absolute possession of the National forces. Mitchel was holding a line of unbroken communication across Northern Alabama, from Florence to the confines of East Tennessee; ahd the National gun-boats on the Mississippi wero preparing, though at points almost a thousand miles apart, to sweep victoriously over its waters, brush away obstructions to navigation, and meet, perhaps, at Vicksburg, the next " Gibraltar" ofthe Valley. Little was to be feared from troops coming from the East. They could not be spared, for at that time General McClellan was threatening Richmond with an immense force, and the National troops were assailing the strongholds of the Con- ^^- —^.^^=.-= =-^r_^ — ""^^11^ federates all along the ^^ -^—ST-^^ Atlantic coast and the waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Beauregard's army was terribly smitten and demoralized, and he had sent an imploring cry to Richmond for immediate help.' The way seemed wide open BEAUKEGAnn'S nE..D-QUARTRES at OOEINTH.^ for his immediate de struction; but the judgment of General Halleck, the commander of both 1 On the day after his arrival at Corinth, Beauregard forwarded a dispatch, written in ciphtr, to fienoral Cooper, at Eiehmond, saying he could not then number over 3.),000 effective men, but that Van Dorn inight join him in a few days with about 1!),000. He asked for re-enforcements, for, he said, '¦ if defeated here, we losu tho Mississippi Valley, and probably our cause." This dispatch was intercepted by General Mitchel, at Huntsville, and gave, doubtless, a ecirrect view of Beanr-gard's extreme weakness thirty -six hours after he fled from Shilnl'- 2 This was the dwelling of Mr. Ford when the writer visited Corinth, lato in April, 1S66. It stood upon the brow of a gentle slope in the northwestern sub'.irbs of the village. VICTORY AND ITS FRUITS. 289 • April 6, 1862. ^ April. Grant and Buell, counseled against pursuit, and for about three weeks the combmed armies ofthe Tennessee and Ohio, not far from seventy-five thou sand strong, rested among the graves of the loyal and the disloyal (who fought with equal gallantry) on the field of Shiloh, while Beauregard, encouraged by this inaction, was calling to his standard large re-enforcements, and was casting up around the important post of Corinth a line oi fortifica tions not less than fifteen miles in extent. Meanwhile the people everywhere had become acquainted with the true outline history of the great battle of Shiloh, and began to perceive its sig nificance. Jefiferson Davis, who, on the reception of Beauregard's dispatch of Sunday evening," had sent an exultant message to the Confederate "Senate,"' had reason to change his tone of triumph; while the orders that went out from the War and Navy Departments at Washington^ on the 9th,' for demonstrations of thanksgiving and joy throughout the army and navy for the victories gained at Pea Ridge, New Madrid, Island Number Ten, and Shiloh, and the proclamation from the Executive Department recommending the same in the houses of public worship through out the land, were not stripped of their power by the fingers of truth. They were substantial and most important victories for the Govern ment, over which the loyal people had reason to rejoice. Yet the lat ter battle was a victory that carried terrible grief to the hearts of thousands, for in the fields and forests around Shiloh hundreds of loved ones were buried, and tbe hospital vessels that went down the Tennessee with their human freight, carried scores of sick and wounded soldiers who never reached their homes alive. General Halleck arrived from St. Louis, his head-quarters, on the 12th of April," and took command in person of the armies near Pitts burg Landing. He found General Grant busily engaged in prepa- CABIN OF A HOSPITAL BTEA.MEB ON THE TENNESSEE EIVEB. = 1862. 1 He t(dd them that, from " otflcial dispatches received from official sources," he was able to announce, " with entire confldence," that it had "pleased Almighty God to crown the Confederate arms with a glorious and decisive victory, after a hard-fought battle of ten hours." He spoke in feehng terras of the death of Johnston and of his loss as "irreparable." 5 The order from each Departraent directed that, on the Sunday next after receiving it, chaplains should offer In each behalf a prayer, "giving thanks to the Lord of Hosts for the recent manifestations of His power, in tho overthrow of rebels and traitors," and invoking a continuance of His aid in delivering the nation, " by arms from the horrors of treason, rebellion, and civil war." Tho President recommended (April 10) to the people, at their "next weekly assemblage in their accustomed places of public worship " which should occur after notice of his proclamation should be received, to especially acknowledge and render thanks to " our Heavenly Father for the inestimablo blessings He had bestowed, and to implore His continuance ofthe same;" also to implore Him to hasten the establishment of fraternal relations at home, and " among all the countries of the earth." Vol. il— 19 290 A FORWARD MOVEMENT CHECKED. rations for an advance upon Corinth while Beauregard was comparatively weak and disheartened, not doubting that it would be ordered on the arrival of his chief He had sent Sherman out in that direction with a body of cavalry on the day after the battle, who skirmished some with horsemen of Breckinridge's rear-guard and drove them, and who found a general hospital with nearly three hundred sick and wounded in it. The roads, made miry by the recent rains, were strewn with abandoned articles of every kind, testi fying to the precipitancy of the retreat. Sherman returned the same night, and was sent up the Tennessee, accompanied by the- gun-boats as far as East- port, to destroy the Memphis and Charleston railway over Big Bear Creek, between Iuka and Tuscumbia, and cut ofi" Corinth from the latter place, where Colonel Turchin had large supplies. This expedition was arranged before Halleck arrived, and was successfully carried out, after which such demonstrar tions ceased for a while. No movement of importance was again made toward Corinth until about the first of May, when Monterey, nine or ten miles in that direction, was occupied by National troops. General Pope " "^^isjj^^' had arrived in the mean time," with the Army of Missouri, twenty- five thousand strong, and these, with some regiments from Curtis, in Arkansas, made Halleck's forces a little over one hundred thousand in number. General Mitchel, in the mean time, with his few troops and the cordial assistance of the negroes, who acted as spies and informers,' had been holding a hundred miles of the Memphis and Charleston railway, on Beauregard's most important' fiank, tightly in his grasp. Turchin held Tuscumbia,' at the western end of his line, until the 24tb of April, when a Confederate force advanced from Corinth, for the purpose of seizing his stores (one hundred thousand rations, which had been sent to him by way of Florence), in such strength that he was compelled to fly; but he carried away the coveted property and fell back to Decatur, skirmishing on the way. He was yet hard pressed, so, burning a part of his provisions (forty thousand rations), he fled across the Tennessee River' at Decatur, his rear-suard under 6 April 27 ? o Colonel Lytle firing the magnificent railway bridge that spanned the stream at that place.' It was the only bridge over the Tennessee between Florence and Chattanooga, excepting one at Bridgeport, eastward of Stevenson, which was then the eastern extremity of Mitchel's occupation ofthe railway. At this time Mitchel's left was threatened by a considerable force under General E. Kirby Smith, that came up from Chattanooga ; and the Confede rates were collecting here and there in his rear in alarminsr numbers. His chief objective was now Chattanooga, from which point he might operate ' General Mitchel informed the writer, late in the summer of that year, that ho could not have held the rail way from Tuscumbia to Stevens(m so long as ho did, had it not been for the assistance of the negroes. He found, near Huntsville, an intelligent one who was a carpenter. Having worked at his trade along the whole line of the railway then held, he knew trusty slaves on plantations all along its course, and of the Tennessee Eiver. He employed this man to organize, among his fellow-slaves, a band of informers, who should watch the river and the railway, and report to him any hostile movements of the Confederates. To every man who should give important information he olTered freedom from slavery, among the rewards. They were faithful, on4 '« often checked incipient movements against his posts, in consequence of Information received from these slaves. " See page 267. s That bridge, lying upon massive stone piers, was ono of the flnest of the kind in the South. It was not yet rebuilt when the writer visited Decatnr and crossed the Tennessee In a ferry-boat, lato In April, 1S66. MITCHEL'S OPERATIONS. 291 against the great system of railways which connected the eastem and west ern portions of the Confederacy, and by their destruction or control to isolate the active body of that organization beyond the mountains from the scheming head at Richmond, and so paralyze its whole vitality. Mitchel proposed to reach out from Chattanooga a helping hand to East Tennessee in destroying the Confederate forces at Knoxville, Greenville, and Cumberland Gap ; and another, as a destructive one, smiting the great founderies of the Confederates at Rome, and breaking up the railway connection between Chattanooga and Atlanta. Already a secret expedition for the latter purpose had been set on foot ; and it was more important for Mitchel to extend his conquests to Chat tanooga than to hold the posts at Decatur and Tuscumbia. Accordingly, when Colonel Turchin was driven from the latter place, Colonel Sill, at Stevenson, was ordered to Bridgeport, in the direction of Chattanooga, at which point a fine railway bridge crossed the Tennessee River. When Turchin fied from Decatur, he was ordered to the support of Sill. Lytle's brigade of Ohioans joined that leader on the 28th, between Steven son and Bridgeport, and, four miles from the latter place, a severe skirmish occurred the next day." Mitchel, on hearing of the danger to his left, had hastened thither to take command in person. The skir- " ^l"^<^^^' mish resulted favorably to the Nationals. The Confederates were driven beyond the Tennessee, at Bridgeport, with a loss of sixty-three killed, many wounded, and two pieces of cannon. They attempted to destroy the great bridge' there, but failed. A detachment of Mitchel's troops crossed it in pursuit, captured two cannon on the eastern side, and, pushing on as far as Shellmound station, destroyed a Confederate saltpeter manufactory in Nickajack Cave, at the base of the mountain, half a mile southward of the railway." Having secured the post at Bridgeport, Mitchel wrote to the Secretary of War on the first of May,' " The campaign is ended, and I now occupy Huntsville in perfect security, while in all Alabama north of the Tennessee River floats no flag but that of the Union." Let us now return to a consideration of events in the vicinity of Corinth. General Halleck's army commenced a cautious forward movement on the 2'rth of April," and on the 3d of May his advance, under Sher man, was in the vicinity of Monterey, within six or seven miles ' ^^^^' of Beauregard's lines. It had been re-organized with the title of tbe Grand Army of the Tennessee, and Grant was made his second in command. That General's army was placed in charge of General George H. Thomas, and composed the right wing. General Pope commanded the left, and General Buell the center. The reserves, composed of his own and Wallace's divisions, .were in charge of General McClernand. The whole force now slowly approaching Corinth, and cautiously casting up breastworks, numbered about one hundred and eight thousand men. Beauregard prepared to meet Halleck. He too had been re-enforced and his army was re-organized. Price and. Van Dom had arrived with a large > The river is there divided by an island, and tho bridge was a long and important one, as it continued at a considerable elevation over the island. ' This is a most remarkable cave, and has been explored for more than a mile. For some distance from its month It is spacious enough for a man to ride on horseback. This opening in the mountain is plainly visible ftom the railway near SheUmannd station. 292 MOVEMENT TOWARD CORINTH. body of Missouri and Arkansas troops ; and General Mansfield Lovell, who had fled from New Orleans when Butler's troops and the National gun-boats approached that city," had just arrived with his retreating force. 1862. ' In addition to these, the army had been largely increased by militia who had been sent forward from Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana, the States immediately threatened with invasion. The organiza tion of the corps of Hardee, Polk, Breckinridge, and Bragg, was continued. The whole number of Beauregard's troops was about sixty-five thousand. Most of them were the best drilled and best tried fighting men in the Confed eracy. Bragg was Beauregard's second in rank, and commanded the Army of the Missis>>ip)pi. Van Dorn was placed at the head of the re-enforcements, and Breckinridge of the reserves. The whole force was within intrenched lines.' Such was the condition and position of the contending armies on the 3d of May.' On that day General Pope sent out Generals Paine and Palmer with detachments" on a reconnoissance in force toward the hamlet of Farmington, an outpost of the Confederates, about five miles northwest of Corinth, and then in command of General Marmaduke, of Missouri.' His troops, about forty-five thousand strong, were in the woods around the little log meeting house near the hamlet. Marmaduke u *V made very little resistance when _ ^^ ;, V attacked, but fled to the lines at Cor- --.-i^vA •~^p inth, leaving as spoils for the victors » ^sp J J^^IT" ,v"«^' ^-^ ^^°^^ thirty of his command slain and "/'""^ ' * ''i* >, ¦SllffP'^ ^ hundred wounded; also his camp, '*tf-''-'V- iJ*"^* "l 'fl *^B' with all its supplies, and two hundred • ^'^isJi^ ¦'¦¦'A ''^^ ^U. prisoners. .The National loss was two •*«»^WS.^.„_ U^'t^i^^ Idlled and eleven wounded. The cav- ^ airy and artillery pushed on to Glen dale, a little east of Corinth, and destroyed the railway track and two FAEMINGTON MEETING-HOUSE. _ •' " J " important trestle-bridges there. In the mean time. General Wallace had sent out" Colonel Morgan L. ^" ¦ Smith, with three battalions of cavalry and a brigade of infantry, upon the Mobile and Oliio railway, who fought the Confederates in a wood, and destroyed an important bridge and the track not far from Purdy, by which supplies and re-enforcements for Beauregard, at Jackson, Tennessee, were out off".* ^ These defenses were mostly along the brows of the flrst ridges outside of the village of Corinth, extending firom the Memphis and Charleston railway ou the east, and sweeping around northward, crossed the Mobile and Ohio railway to the former road, about three miles westward of Corinth. See map of the battle-fleld, on pnge 294. At every road crossing there was a redoubt, or a battery with massive epauleraents. Outside of these works on tho north were deep linos of abatis. ' These troops were composed of the Tenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-seventh, Forty-second, and Fifty-flrst Illinois volunteers; the Tenth and Sixteenth Michigan volunteers; Yates's Illinois sharp-shoot ers; Houghtailing's Illinois and Hezeock's Ohio batteries; nnd the Second Michigan cavalry. , ' See page 640, volume I. ' This was a timely movement, for, while the bridge was burning, an engine that had been sent np frora Corinth to help through three trains heavily laden with troops from Memphis, and hurrying forward by the longer way of Humbolt and Jackson, because the direct road wns of insufficient capacity at that time, came thundering on. The Nationals, who lay In ambush, captured. It, and ran tt off at fhll speed Into the ravine under the burn ing bridge. The re-enforcements for Beauregard were thus effectually cut off. EVACUATION OF CORINTH. 293 Pope left a brigade to hold Farmington and menace Beauregard's right. Twenty thousand men, under Van Dorn, fell upon them on the Oth," and drove them back. Eight days afterward. Pope re-ocou- °^g^'' pied the post with his whole force, and, at the same time, Sher man moved forward and menaced the Confederate left. On the 20th, Halleck's whole army was engaged in regular siege-operations, casting up field-work after field-work, so as to invest and approach Corinth, and at the same time engaging in skirmishing with all arms, in force equal to that employed in battles at the beginning of the war. Steadily the army moved f>n, and, on the 28th, it was at an average distance of thirteen hundred yards from Beauregard's works, with heavy siege-guns in position, and reconnois sances in great force in operation on flanks and center. In these the Con federates were driven back. On the following day. Pope expelled them from their advance batteries, and Sherman planted heavy guns within a thousand yards of Beauregard's left. Halleck expected a sanguinary battle the next morning,' and prepared for it. He felt confident of success, and quite sure of capturing or dispersing the whole Confederate army, for he had a greatly superior force ; had cut Beauregard's railway communications on the north and east of Corinth, and had sent Colonel Elliott on the night of the 27th to strike the Mobile and Ohio railway in his rear. Halleck's expectations were not realized. All night the vigilant ears of his pickets and sentinels heard the continuous roar of moving cars at Corinth, and reported accordingly. At dawn skirmishers were thrown out, but no foe appeared. How strange ! Then the earth was shaken by a series of explosions, and very soon heavy smoke rolled up from Corinth. What did all this mean ? "I cannot explain it," said Halleck to an inquiry by Sherman ; and then ordered that oflacer to advance and " feel the enemy if still in his front." This was done, but no enemy was found. Beauregard l> May SO. OOEINTH AFTBE THE EVACUATION. had entirely evacuated Corinth during the night. For two or three days he had been sending toward Mobile his sick and his most valuable stores • and twenty-four hours before, he had sent away in the same direction a part of his eflfective force, with nearly all of his ordnance. The rear-guard had left for the south and west during the night, allowing many pickets, unsus picious of the movement, to be captured. They had blown up the magazines, and fired the town, store-houses, and railway station ; and when the Nationals entered' they found the smoldering nuns of many ' May SO. 294 BEAUREGARD'S FLIGHT. dwellings, and warehouses filled with Confederate stores. Thus ended The Siege oe Coeinth ; and thus the boastful Beauregard, whose performances generally fell far short of his promises, was utterly discomfited.' He staggered at Shiloh and fell at CorintL The fugitives were pursued by the brave Gordon Granger from Farm ington to Guntown, on the Mobile and Ohio railway, a little more than forty miles south of Corinth, and there the chase ended. Few captures were made, excepting of stragglers. The ex pedition of Colonel Elliott, with his Iowa' cavalry, had not ma terially intercepted Beauregard in his flight, for he did not strike the road until two o'clock on the morning of the 30th, when tbe Confede rates were pressing southward in force.; He destroyed much property at Boonville, and produced a panic, but the raid had little to do with the great result, except to ex pedite it.'' Beauregard collect ed his scattered troops at Tupelo, on a tribu tary of the Tombig- bee, in a strong posi tion, and on the 13th of June reported to head-quarters at Richmond that he was " doing all practicable to organize for defensive operations." He soon afterward turned over his army temporarily to General Bragg, and" sought ^ Beauregard had issued the following address to his combined army on tho Sth of May; "Soldiers of Shiloh and Elkhorn :* We are about to meet onee 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 freemen, or vile shaves of those who are only I^-ee in name, and who but yesterday were vanquished, although in largely superior numbers. In their own encampraents, on the ever-memorable field of Shiloh. Let the irapending 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 congratu late yon on your timely junction. Witli our mingled banners, for the first time during the war, we shall meet our foe in strength that should give us victory. Soldiers, can the result be doubtful ? Shall we not drive back to Tennessee the presumptuous mercenaries collected for our subjugation ? One more manly effort, and, tnist- Ing in God and tho justness of our cause, we shall recover more than we lately lost. Let the sound of our vic torious guns be re-echoed by those of Virginia on the historic battle-fleld at Yorktown. "t 3 Colonel Elliott's movement, withont doubt, hastened Beauregard's departure. When it became known to that General, a train of box and flat cars, with flying artillery and 6,000 infantry, were kept running up and. down the road continually, to prevent Elliott's reaching it. He struck it at Boonville, at a little past midnight on ihe THE SIEGE OF COEINTH. * Tlie ConfederHteB, hb we have observed, culled the conflict between Curlls and Van Dom, at Pen Ridge, the Battle of Elkhorn. t It BO happened that the Confederatoe had fled from Yorktown, before McCleHan, on tbe day this address was issued. CHANGE OF COMMANDERS. 295 halleck's uead-quaetees at coeinth.^ repose and health for a few days at Bladen Springs, in Alabama. Jef ferson Davis, whose will was law in the Confederacy, on hearing of this, directed Bragg, his favorite, to take permanent command of that army, and he "passionately declared" that Beauregard should not be reinstated, "though all the world should urge him to the measure."' This was a for tunate circumstance for the National cause. Although the possession of Corinth was of great military importance, and the news of it was hailed with delight by the loyalists, it could not be considered a yictory, in its proper sense. The Confederate army had escaped, with its can non and most of its stores, thereby frustra ting and deranging the plans of Halleck ; and it was soon again ready for oSensive opera tions. This result was charged to Halleck's tardiness; and experts declared their belief that, if he had remain ed in 'St. Louis a week longer. Grant, left free to act, would have captured Beauregard's army, sup plies, and munitions of war. -After the evacuation of Corinth, no military operations of importance were undertaken by the Grand Army ofthe Tennessee while General Halleck was in personal command of it. The Confederate fortifications at Corinth were much weaker than Halleck supposed, and were indeed unworthy of Beauregard, whose skill as an engineer was acknowledged by all. These Halleck proceeded to strengthen for defense, and as the heat of summer would make the Tennessee River too shallow for transportation for his sup plies, the railways leading to Columbus from Corinth were put in order. A portion of the army was picketed along the railway between Iuka and Memphis ; and General Buell was sent with the Army of the Ohio toward Chattanooga, where the active Mitchel was keeping General E. Kirby Smith, the Confederate commander in East Tennessee, in a state of continual alarm for the safety of his department. Mitchel begged Buell to march the combined forces into East Tennessee, but the more cautious General declined to do so.^ 80th, destroyed the switch, track, depot, locomotives, twenty-six ears flUed with supplies, 10,000 small arms, three pieces of artillery, and a large quantity of clothing and ammunition. He also captured and paroled 2,000 sick and convalescent soldiers, whom he found in a very suffering condition. * Notes of an interview of a " Congressional Committee " with Davis, who requested the restoration of Beauregard, cited by General Jordan, in Harper's Magazine, xxxi., 616. While Beauregard was at Bladen ho wrote a letter to th^ Confederate General Martin, in which he expressed a coincidence of opinion with " Stone wall Jackson," that the time had come for raising the black flag — ^In other words, giving no quarter but killino- every foe, armed or disarmed. In battle, " I believe," he said, "it is the only thing that will prevent recruiting at the North."— See The Weekly Register, Lynchburg, Virginia, April 16, 1864. 2 This was the dwelling of Mr. Symington when the writer visited Corinth, late in April, 1866. It was one of the houses In the suburbs of the village that survived the war. s Oral statemert of General Mitchel to the author, in August, 1S62. 296 ' OPPOSING FLEETS ON THE MISSISSIPPL McClernand's reserve corps, employed in keeping open communication with the l^ennessee River, was now broken up, and General Wallace was sent to preserve and protect the Memphis and Ohio railway between Hum- bolt and the City of Memphis. He made his head-quarters at the latter place ; and very soon afterward Halleck was called to Washington, to occupy the important position of General-in-Chief of all the armies of the Republic in the place of McClellan, leaving General Thomas at Corinth, and General Grant again in command of his old army, and with enlarged powers. We have just observed that Wallace made his head-quarters in Memphis. How came that city, one of the Confederate strongholds, and most impor tant posts, to be in possession of the Nationals ? Let us see. We left Commodore Foote and his fleet, after the capture of Island Number Ten, ready, at New Madrid,' for an advance down the Mississippi River. This was soon begun, with General Pope's army on transports. Memphis was the main object of the expedition ; but above it were several formidable fortifications to be passed.'' The first of these that was encountered was Fort Wright (then named Fort Pillow), on the first Chickasaw bluff, about eighty miles above Memphis, and then in command of General Ville- pigue, a Creole of New Orleans, who was educated at West Point as an engineer. He was regarded as second only to Beauregard. His fort was a very strong one, and the entire works occupied a line of seven mUes in cir cumference. There Memphis was to be defended from invasion by the river from above. Jeif. Thompson was there, with about tbree thousand troops, and Hollins had collected there a considerable flotilla of gun-boats. The siege of Fort Pillow was begun by Foote with his mortar-boats on the 14th of April, and he soon drove Hollins to shelter below the fort. Gen eral Pope, whose troops had landed on the Arkansas shore, was unable to co-operate, because the country was overflowed ; and, being soon called by Halleck to Shiloh, Foote was left to prosecute the work alone. Finally, on the 9th of May, the painfulness of his ankle, because of the wound received at Fort Donelson, compelled him to leave duty, and he was succeeded in command by Captain C. H. Davis, whose important services with Dupont at Port Royal we have already observed.^ Hollins, meanwhile, had reformed his flotilla, and early in the morning of the lOth" he swept around Point Craighead, on the Arkansas shore, with armored steamers. Several of them were fitted with strong bows, plated with iron, for pushing, and were called " rams." Davis's vessels were then tied up at the river banks, three on the eastern and four on the western side of the stream. Hollins's largest gun-boat {McPea), finished with a sharp iron prow, started for the mortar-boat No. 16, when its commander. Acting-master Gregory, made a gallant fight, firing his single mortar no less than eleven times."" The gun-boats Cincinnati and Mound City, lying not far off, came 1 See page 243. 2 Those were Tort Osceola, on Plum Point, on tho Arkansas shore ; Fort Wright, on the flrst Chickasaw bluff; Tort Harris, nearly opposite Island Number Forty, and Eort Pillow, j ust above Memphis. Fort Pillow wns named in honor of the Confederate General ; Fort Wright in honor of Colonel Wright, of the Tennessee troops, who oast up fortiflcations there a year before ; and Fort Harris after the fngitlve Governor of Tennessee. ' See page 117. * The engines of the McRea were protected by railway iron, and other parts were shielded by bales of BATTLE AT FORT WRIGHT. 297 to his assistance. The McRea then turned upon the former with great fury, striking her port quarter, and making a large hole. The Cincinnati gave the ram a broadside, when the latter drew off, struck the gun-boat again on her starboard side, making an ugly wound. The assailed vessel gave its antagonist another broadside, when the ram Van Dorn, that now came up, struck her in the stern. The Mound City hastened to help her companion, and as she bore down she hurled a heavy shot at the McPea, which dis mounted its bow gun, which was about to be discharged at her. Seeing this, another ram (the Sumter) hastened to the support of the McRea, and, in spite of two broadsides from the Mound City, she pressed on and struck the bow of the latter vessel with such force, that a breach was made in her through which the water poured in large streams. The Sumter was about to strike its victim again, when the gun-boat Denton gave ber a broadside ¦vvith telling effect. The Confederate gun-boats were lying on the Tennessee shore, mean while, and firing at the National vessels every few minutes, while the how itzers of Fort Pillow were throwing shells, but without effect. Finally, the Denton sent a shell that pierced the McRea. Hot steam instantly enveloped the vessel, killing and scalding many of its people, and caiising its flag to be struck in token of surrender. The conflict, which had continued for an hour, now ceased. The McRea floated away and escaped; the Cincinnati and Mound City were too much injured to give chase, and the former soon sunk to the bottom of the Mississippi The Union loss in the engagement was four men wounded. That of the Confederates was said to have been heavy, especially on the McRea, by the steam. Among the wounded was Captain Stembel, of the Cincinnati, very severely, a ball having entered his body at the right shoulder, and passing out at his throat. For more than three weeks the two flotillas lay off Fort Pillow, watching each other, and in the mean time that of Davis had been re-enforced by a " ram " squadron under Colonel Charles Ellet, Jr., the eminent civil engineer, who built the Niagara Suspension Bridge. He had recom mended the use of such vessels, and had been constructing them under the authority of the Secretary of War.' But when, with this addition, the National fleet was ready for another trial of strength, at the be ginning of June, there was no foe to -'"" encounter at Fort Pillow. The flisht chaeles ellet. cotton, behind which there was a large number of Jeff. Thompson's sharp-shooters, to pick off the officers ofthe National vessels. The " rams " proper were protected by cotton and flUed with sharp-shooters, yet it was seldom that a man appeared on their decks. ' These vessels were river boats, some with stern wheels and some with side wheels, whose bows wero strengthened by the addition of heavy timber, and covered with plates of iron. Their chief business was to destroy vessels by powerful collision. Their average cost to the Govemment was between $26,000 and $30 000 each. ' 298 NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE MEMPHIS. of Beauregard from Corinth had filled the garrison with alarm, and on the night of the 4th'' they evacuated that post in srreat haste, leavino- "June, 1862. » ,.,,.,/ ,, . ,,^. ® . .,', • . & every thing behind them, blowing up their magazines, and burning their barracks and stores. The National standard was hoisted over the works the next morning. The fugitives went down the river in transports, accom panied by the Confederate fieet. Fort Randolph was also evacuated, and Colonel Ellet, whose ram fleet was in advance of the now pursuing flotilla, raised the flag over tbat stronghold likewise.' The same evenmg the flotilla of gun-boats' anchored at about a mile and a half above Memphis, and the ram fleet" a little farther up the river. The Confederate fleet,' now commanded by " Commodore " Montgomery, in place of Hollins, was then lying on the Arkansas shore, opposite Memphis, with steam up, and ready for action. At dawn on the morning of the 6th,' the National vessels, with the Cairo in the advance, moved slowly toward the Con federate fleet, in battle order. When within long range, the Little Rebel hurled a shot from her rifled cannon at the Cairo, to which the latter answered by a broadside. So the conflict was opened in front of the popu lous city of Memphis, whose inhabitants, suddenly aroused from repose, quickly covered the bluffs and roofs as most anxious sjiectators of what soon became a severe naval battle. This was waged for a time between the gun boats, when two of the Confederate rams [Deauregard and Price) pushed swiftly forward to engage in the affray. The watchful Colonel Ellet saw this movement, and instantly took a position in front of the gun-boats with his flag-vessel, the ram Queen of the West, followed by the ram Monarch, Cap tain Dryden. They both made for the two Confederate rams, when the latter, unwilling to fight, tried to get away. The Queen dashed first at the Deauregard (which opened fire), and missed her, but was more successful in chasing the Price. She struck the wheel-house of that vessel with her iron prow, crushing it, and so damaging the hull that she was compelled to run for the Arkansas shore, to avoid sinking in deep water. The Deauregard now tumed furiously upon the Queen, when both vessels rushed toward each ¦ other at full speed. The skillful pilot of the former so managed his vessel as to avoid a blow from the latter, but gave one to the Queen so heavily that she was disabled. Her consort, the Monarch, hastened to her relief Dashing at the Deauregard, she stove in her bow, and caused her to sink in the space of a few minutes, but in water so shallow that her upper works were above it. A white flag waved over the ruined vessel, and the fight of the terrible rams ceased. The Monarch found the Queen in the midst ofthe smoke, badly wounded, and towed her to a place of safety at the shore. The National gun-boats continued pressing hard upon those of the Con federates, which were steadily falling b'ack. A conquering blow was soon given by the Denton, whose 50-pound rifled,Parrott gun hurled a ball at the ' Benton, Captain Phelps; Carondelet, Captain Walke; St, Louis, Lieutenant-commanding McGonigle; Zomsville, Captain Dove ; Cairo, Lieutenant Bryant. " These consisted of the Monardi Queen of tlie West, Lioness, Switserlamd, Mingo, Lancaster No, 8, Fulton, Hornet, ond Samson, all under the general command of Colonel Ellet. » It consisted of tho General Yan Dorn (Hollins's flagship). General Price, General Bragg, General Lovell, Little Rebel, Jeff, Thompson, Sumter, and General Beauregard. CAPTURE OF MEMPHIS. 299 Lovellwith such precision and effect that she was made a wreck in an instant, and began to sink. In less than four minutes she went to the bottom of the Mississippi, where the water was seventy-five feet in depth. A greater por tion of the oflicers and crew of the Lovell went down with her, or were drowned before help could reach them. The battle continued only a short time after this, when the Confederates, having only four vessels afloat {Thompson, Dragg, Sumter, and Van Dorn), and these badly injured, made for the shore, where they abandoned all their craft but one, and fled for life and liberty. The Van Dorn escaped down the river, the sole survivor of the Confederate fleet. Not a man had been killed on board the National gun-boats during the action.. What the Confederate loss was, in killed and wounded, is not known. About one hundred of them were made captives. Jeff. Thompson, then in command in Memphis, after providing for the safe flight of his troops, had stood upon the bluff and watched the strange naval battle. When he saw his friends vanquished, he galloped away and joined his retreating troops. The National fleet was now - — _ -__ _ drawn up in front of Memphis, — — -=ii=rE-.jsSj& — and Commodore Davis sent a request to the Mayor of the city to surrender it. That ofiicer (John Park') replied, that, as the civil authorities had no means for defense, the city was in his hands. The National flag had already been raised there. Colonel Ellet, at the conclusion of the ram fight, informed that a white flag was waving in the city, approached the shore on his vessel, and sent his»son, Charles R. Ellet, with a message to the Mayor, saying, that the bearer would place the National ensign on the Custom-house and Post-office, " as evidence of the retui-n of the city to the care and protection of the Constitution." The Mayor made a reply to this note, substantially the same as that to Com modore Davis ; and young Ellet, with Lieutenant Crankell, of the Fifty- ninth Illinois, and two men of the boat-guard, unfurled the Stripes and Stars over the Post-office, in the midst of an excited and threatening populace. Immediate military possession of Memphis followed the reply of Mayor Park to Commodore Davis, and Coloffel Fitch, of the Forty-sixth Indiana, was appointed Provost-marshal. So it was that General Wallace, of Grant's army, was permitted to enter and occupy Memphis without resistance. His advent was hailed with joy by the Indiana regiment there and the Union citizens, for they were not strong enough to repress the secessionists, or guard the city against the incursions of Jeff. Thompson's guerrillas. All Kentucky, Western Tennessee, and Northern Mississippi and Alabama were now in the possession ofthe National authorities, and it was confidently expected that East Tennessee would almost immediately be in the same ELLET'8 BTEEN-WHEEL EA.1I. • See page 249. 300 EXPEDITIONS SENT OUT BY MITOHEL. position. When General Buell joined Mitchel, after the close ofthe siege of Corinth, the latter, as we have observed, urged that oflacer to march dii-ectly into the great valley between the Cumberland and Alleghany Mountains, by way of Chattanooga and Cleveland, for it then seemed an easy matter to do so. Buell would not consent, and again East Tennessee, made confident of speedy liberation by so large an army on its borders, was doomed to bitter disappointment, and the endurance of still greater afflictions than it had yet suffered. Although Mitchel had assured the Secretary of War" that his " "isB^^' campaign was ended,' and that he occupied Huntsville in perfect security, he was not idle nor less vigilant than before. He not only watched, but worked, and scouts and raiders were continually out on special duties, the chief object being to keep danger from his rear, and the door open into East Tennessee and Northem Georgia. Colonels Turchin and Lytle were sent northward along the line of the Nashville and Decatur rail way, while General Negley was operating in that vicinity, and farther east ward, dispersing the Confederate forces at various points. On the 1 3th of May, the latter went out from Pulaski on that railway, and, supported by Colonel Lytle, at Athens below, drove a gathering force of Confederates from Rogersville, in Alabama, across the Tennessee River.- Later, Colonel Turchin, who was at Athens, was attacked by Confede rates* and driven away. In the assault and pursuit, many of the citizens of that village joined. With re-enforcements Turchin returned, and drove the Confederate troops out of the town, when his exas perated soldiers sacked and pillaged the houses of secessionists there, because of their active complicity in the hostile movements. For this Colonel Turchin was tried by a court martial, and acquitted. He was promoted to brigadier- general while the investigation was going on. On the same day," General Negley, who, in a forced march of ¦Jnne4 ., ,,•''.,., ° -l' '. twenty miles, had climbed over an almost impassable mountain, northeastward of Stevenson, surprised a Confederate camp of cavalry under General Adams at its foot, at a place called Sweeden's Cove, on the road between Winchester and Jasper, and drove them from it. After a very- severe skirmish near Jasper, in which Colonel Hambright led the Nationals, the Confederates were routed and dispersed, leaving as spoils their ammu nition and commissary wagons with supplies ; also arms scattered alongthc pathway of their flight, and twelve prisoners. Ada^m^ escaped without his hat, sword, or horse, borrowing one of the latter from a negro on which to fly. Negley lost two killed and seven wounded.' But one of the most important of the expeditions sent out by Mitchel, and, indeed, one of the most daring of the war, was tbe secret one, already alluded to, sent to break up the r.ailway between Chattanooga and Atlanta. This expedition was composed of twenty-two picked men,* led by J. J- Andrews, who had been for several months in the secret service under 1 See page 291. s Eeports of Generals Mitchel and Negley, May 14th and ISth, 1862. 3 Eeport of Genernl Negley to General Mitchel, June 4, 1862. * Two of these (Andrews and Campbell) wore civilians, and citizens of Kentucky; the remainder were soldiers, selected from the Second, Twenty-flrst, and Thirty-third Ohio regiments of volunteers. Sill's brigndf. Thch: names wero as follows : J. J. Andrews, William Campbell, George 1). Wilson, Marion A. Eoss, Perry G. RAID ON A GEORGIA RAILWAY. 301 General Buell. He had proposed the expedition to Buell at Nashville, and that ofiicer directed General Mitchel, then at Murfreesboro, to furnish him with the means for carrying it out.' Mitchel did so with alacrity, for it promised to be of vast service to him in executing his designs against the Confederates beyond the Tennessee River ; and that band of young men left in detachments on their perilous errand at about the time when that daring general commenced his march for Alabama. They passed within the Con federate lines at Wartrace, on the Nashville and Chattanooga railway, thirteen miles from Murfreesboro, traveling on foot as Confederate citizens making their way from oppression in Kentucky to freedom in Georgia. In this disguise they went over the rugged Cumberland mountains. Most of them met at Chattanooga, on the day that Mitchel took possession of Huntsville." Some, who had arrived sooner, had gone by rail- " ^.^^^l ^^' way to Marietta, in Georgia, the final rendezvous of the party before commencing operations. On the same evening the whole party were at the latter place. The designated point at which to begin their bold raid on the Georgia State road was at Big Shanty, eight miles above Marietta, and a short dis tance from the foot of the Great Kenesaw Mountain, where several regiments of Confederate troops were stationed. With an early train the next morn ing, all but two of the party, who were accidentally left behind, started for that place. While the conductor and engineer were at breakfast, the raiders uncoupled the engine and three empty box-cars from the passenger cars, and * started at full speed up the road,'' leaving behind them wonderers who could scarcely believe the testimony of their own eyes. On they went with the fleetness of the wind, answering all questions satisfactorily, where they were compelled to stop, with the assurance that it was a powder-train for Beaure gard. After going five miles on their journey, they cut the telegraph wires and picked up about fifty cross-ties. Before reaching Adamsville, at a curve on the summit of a high embankment, they tore up the rails of the road, and placed some ofthe ties in such position on the bank that a passing train was hurled off and down the precipice. At this point Andrews said, exultingly, " Only one more train to pass, boys, and then we will put our engine to full speed, burn the bridges after us, dash through Chattanooga, and on to Mitchel at Huntsville." But more than one train had to be passed before tbey could commence their destructive work; and just as they had begun it, well up toward Cal houn, they were ma'de'to desist and fiee by the sound ofthe whistle of a pur suing train. When this came to the break in the road just mentioned, the engineer of the train they had passed, made acquainted with the circum stances, reversed his engine, and it became a pursuer. Then occurred one ofthe most thrilling races on record. Both engines were put at full speed, and away they went, thundering along, to the amazement ofthe inhabitants' Shndrack, Samuel Slovens, Somuel Eobinson, John Scott, W. W. Brown, William Knight J E Porter Mark Wood, J. A. Wilson, M. J. Hawkins, John Wollam, D. A. Dorsey, Jacob Parrott, Eobert Buffum William Bensinger, William Eeddick, E. H. Mason, William Pettinger. ' ' Letter of General Buell to the adjutant-general, August, 1S6S. a Andrews, the leader, W. W. Brown, and William Knight, had taken position on the locomotive • Brown being the engineer, while J. A. Wilson, mounted on one of the box-cars, acted as brakesman. 302 CAPTURE AND EXECUTION OF RAIDERS. who had no conception of the urgency of the errand of both. That of the pursued, having the less burden, was fleetest, but its time was consumed by stopping to cut telegraph wires and tear up rails. The latter, and also ties, were cast upon the track ; but very soon the pursuers were too close to allow the pursued to do this, or to allow them to take in a supply of fuel and water. Their lubricating oil became exhausted; and, such was the speed of the machine, that the brass journals on which the axles revolved were melted. Fuel failing, the fugitives despaired ; and, when within fifteen mUes of Chat tanooga, Andrews ordered them to leave the train, and every man to seek his own safety. They jumped from the train while it was in ° April 12, jnotion, and fied for shelter to the tangled forests of Georgia, around the sinuous Chickamauga Creek." Notice of this chase had been telegraphed to Chattanooga, and produced great constei-nation. A stupendous man-hunt was at once organized. Re wards were offered ; every ford, ferry, cross-road, and mountain pass was picketed ; and thousands of horsemen and foot soldiers and citizens, and several blood-hounds, scoured the country in all directions. The whole party were finally captured and imprisoned ; and thus ended one of the most adventurous incidents in history.' Twelve of them, after being confined at Chattanooga, were taken to Knoxville for trial, and kept in the iron cages there in which Brownlow and his friends had suffered, in the county jail.'' Andrews, the leader, soon afterward escaped from the prison at Chattanooga, but, after intense suffering on the shores and little islands of the Tennessee River, was re-captured, taken to Atlanta with eight of his comrades, and was there hanged without trial. Seven of those who were taken to Knoxville had been tried by a court-martial as spies, when the cannon of General Mitchel, thundering near Chattanooga, bioke up the court, and the prisoners, against whom there was not a particle of evidence to support the charge, were soon afterward conveyed to At lanta. After a brief confinement, the seven who had been arraigned at Knoxville were taken out and hanged. Eight of those bold and patriotic young men thus gave their lives to their country.' Eight of their companions afterward escaped from confinement, and six were exchanged as prisoners of war in March, 1863. To each ofthe survivors of that "raid, the Secretary of War afterward presented a medal of honor.'' When the writer visited the National cemetery at Chatta- 1 The adventure commanded the admiration of both parties. "It was the deepest laid scheme, and on the grandest scale," said an Atlanta newspaper, oo the 15th of April, '¦ that ever emanated from the brains of any number of Yankees." J udge Holt, in an ofiicial report, said : " The expedition, in the daring of its conception, had the wildness of a romance, while, in the gigantic and overwhelming results it sought, nnd was likely to accomplish. It was absolutely sublime." 2 See page 87. ^ These were, Andrews, Campbell, G. D. Wilson, Eoss, Shadrack, Stevens, Eobinson, and Scott. ^ This medal was precisely like that presented to naval heroes. Instead of an anchor at tho connective between the medal and tbe ribbon, there was an eagle surmounting crossed cannon, and somc balls. ENTEAKOE TO THB CAVE. BATTLE AT CHATTANOOGA. 303 nooga, in May, 1866, he saw, in the cave that forms the receiving vault,' seven coffins, containing the remains of the seven young men who were hanged at Atlanta, and which had lately been brought from that city for re-interment." Before General Buell's arrival. General Mitchel had made an effort to seize Chattanooga. His force was too small to effect it, for Kirby Smith, com manding the Confederates in East Tennessee, was skillful, active, and watch ful. Mitchel had asked for re-enforcements, but they were not afforded. Finally, General Negley, three days after his successful attack on Adams, near Jasper, having , made his way rapidly over the rugged ranges of the Cumberland Mountains, suddenly appeared opposite Chattanooga. It was on the morning of the Yth of June when he arrived. Toward evening he had heavy guns in position; and for two hours he cannonaded the town and the Confederate works on Cameron's Hill and at its base. The guns of his enemy were silenced; and that night the ^inhabitants fled from the town. During the darkness Smith was re-enforced, and some of his infantry took positions to annoy Negley greatly. The latter opened his batteries again at nine o'clock, and before noon the Confederates had all been driven from the town and their works, and had commenced burning railway bridges, east ward of Chattanooga, to impede a pursuit. Considering the inferiority of his numbers, and the approach of re-enforcements for Smith, Negley prudently withdrew. Reporting to the military governor of Tennessee, he said, " The Union people in East Tennessee are wild with joy." Here, it now seems, was presented a golden moment in which to accom plish great results, but it was not improved. With a few more regiments, Negley might have captured and held Chattanooga ; and Buell and Mitchel could doubtless have marched into East Tennessee with very little resist ance, and so firmly established the National power there that it might not have been broken during the remainder of the war. But General Buell would not consent to such movement, even when the thunder of Negley's cannon at Chattanooga made the Confederates in all that region so fearful, that they were ready to abandon every thing at the first intimation of an advance of their adversary. See how precipitately they fled from Cumberland Gap, their " Gibraltar of the mountains," and the fortified heights around it, when, ten days after the assault on Chattanooga, General George W. Morgan, with a few Ohio and Kentucky troops, marched against it" from Powell's Valley. Twenty miles his soldiers traveled that day, "''isii^' climbing the Cumberland Mountains, dragging their cannon up the precipices by block and tackle, and skirmishing all the way without losing a man. They were cheered by ramors that the foe had fied. At sunset they were at the main works, and the flags of the Sixteenth Ohio and Twenty-second Kentucky were floating over those fortifications in the twilight. The Confederate rear-guard had departed four hours before; and the whole force had fied so hastily that they left almost every thing behind them. They had been supplied with food chiefly by plunderers ofthe Union ' This cave and the National cemetery will bo considered hereafter. ' For 0 minute occount of the daring adventures of Andrews and his party of young soldiers, see a well- written volume from the pen of one of them (Lieutenant William Pettinger, ofthe Second Ohio), entitled, Z>(ir- ing and Suffering ; A History of the Great Railroad Adventure. 304 CAPTURE OF CUMBERLAND GAP. people. They saw a prospect of a sudden cessation of that supply, so they fled whUe a way of escape was yet open. The cautious Buell and the fiery Mitchel did not work well together, and the latter was soon called to Washington City and assigned to the command of the Department of the South, with his head-quarters at Hilton Head, leaving his troops in the West in charge of General Rousseau. For a short OnMEEELAND GAP AND ITS DEPENDENCIES.^ time afterward there was a lull in the storm of war westward of the Alleghany Mountains, but it was the precursor of a more furious tempest During that lull, let us observe and consider events on the Atlantic coast, along the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and on the Lower Missis sippi. ^ Cumberland Gap is a cleft in the Cumberland Mountains, five hundred feet in depth, and only wide enough at the bottom in some places for a roadway. It forms the pi-incipal door of entrance to southeastern Kentucky from the great valley uf East Tennessee, and during the W'ar was a position of great military importance. It was very strongly fortified by the Confederates at the beginning of the contest, and supporting works were con structed on all of the neighboring heights. The relative position of these, their names, and a genernl outline of the mountains at the Gap, and in the vicinity, are seen in the above topographical sketch, by Dr. B. Howard, of the United States Army, from tho western side. A small foree, well provisioned, might havo held the Gap against an immense array. Explanation.— A, Fort State corner ; B, a fort not named ; C, Fort Colonel Churchill ; D, the Gap ; E, Fort Colonel Eains ; F, Fort Colonel Mallory ; G, G, G, G, stockades and rifle-pits ; I, Lewis's Gap ; L, Fort Colonel Hunter; M, Kentucky road through the Gap; O, Baptists' Gap; P, Earthworks then recently constructed. EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW BERNE. 305 CHAPTER XII. OPEEATIONS ON THE COASTS OF THE ATLANTIfi AND THB GULF OF MEXICO. E left General Burnside in Albemarle Sound, after the cap ture of Roanoke Island and the operations at Elizabeth City, Edenton, and Plymouth,' preparing for other conquests on the North Carolina coast. For that purpose he con centrated his forces, with the fleet now in command of Commodore Rowan (Goldsborough having been ordered to Hampton Roads), at Hatteras Inlet. New Berne, the capital of Craven County, at the confluence of the rivers Trent and Neuse, was his first object of attack.^ The land and naval forces left Hatteras Inlet on the morning ofthe 12th of March," and at sunset the gun-boats and transports anchored ^ ^^^^ off the mouth of Slocum's Creek, about eighteen miles from New Berne, where Burnside had determined to make a landing. His troops numbered about fifteen thousand. The landing was begun at seven o'clock the next morning,' under cover of the gun-boats ; and so eager ^ ^^^^ ^^ were the men to get ashore, that many, too impatient to wait for the boats, leaped into the water, waist deep, and waded to the land. Then they pushed on in the direction of New Berne, in a copious rain, dragging their heavy cannon,' with great diflBculty and fatigue, through the wet clay, into which men often sank knee deep. The head of the column was within a mile and a half of the Confederate works at sunset, when it halted and bivouacked. During tbe night the remainder of the army came up in detachments hour after hour, meeting no resistance. The gun-boats mean while had moved up the river abreast the army, the flag-ship Delaware lead ing. A shore-battery opened upon her at four o'clock in the afternoon, but was soon quieted by her reply. The main body of the Confederates, under the command of General Branch, consisted of eight regiments of infantry and five hundred cavalry, • with three batteries of field-artillery of six guns each. These occupied a line of intrenchments extending more than a mile from near the river across the railway, supported by another line, on the inland flank, of rifle-pits and detached intrenchments in the form of curvettes and redaijs, for more than a mile, and terminating in a two-gun redoubt. On the river-bank and cover- I See Chapter VI. pages 170 to 175, inclusive. 2 New Berne was a point of much military importance. It was ne.ar the head of an extensive and navigable arm of tho sea, and was connected by railway with Beaufort harbor at Morehead City, and Ealeigh, the capital of the State. » Aniong them were six naval howitzers that Eowan put ashore, under Lieutenant E. S. McCook, to assist In the attack. Vol. II.— 20 306 BATTLE OF NEW BERN:E. ing their left was Fort Thompson, four miles from New Berne, armed with thirteen heavy guns ; and other works and appliances, prepared by good engineering skill, for the defense of the river-channel against the passage of gun-boats, were numerous.' At daylight on the morning of the 1 4th," the army moved forward in three columns, under Generals Foster, Reno, and Parke. A heavy " 1862*' ^'^S ^^7 ^""^ ^ short time upon the land and water, but it was soon dissipated. Foster, with the first brigade, marched up the main country road to attack Fort Thompson and the Confederate left. Reno, with the second brigade, followed nearer the line of the railway, to fall upon their right ; and Parke, with the third brigade, kept such position that he might attack their front or assist the other two brigades. Foster began battle at eight o'clock.' At the same time Reno pushed on toward the Confederate right fiank, while Parke took position on their front. Foster was supported on his left by the boat-howitzers, manned by Lieuten ants McCook, Hammond, Daniels, and Tillotson, with marines and a detach ment of the Union Coast Guard. Before the Confederate center was jjlaced a 12-pounder steel cannon, nnder Captain Bennett, of the Cossack, who was assisted in its management by twenty of that ship's crew ; and on the left of the insurgents was Captain Dayton's battery, from the transport Dlighlander. Foster's brigade bore the brunt of the battle for about four hours. In response to his first gun, the assailed ran up the Confederate fiag with a shout, and opened a brisk fire which soon became most severe. There was a hard struggle for the position where their intrenchments crossed the railway, and in this the Second Massachusetts and Tenth Connecticut were con spicuous. General Parke gave support to Foster until it was evident that the latter could sustain himself, when the former, with his wiiole brigade excepting the Eleventh Connecticut, Colonel Mathews, went to the support of Reno in his flank movement, which that ofiicer was carrying on with success. After he had fought about an hour, he ordered the Twenty-first Massachu setts, Colonel Clark, to charge a portion of the Confederate works. It dashed forward at the double-quick, accompanied by General Reno in person, and in a few moments was within the intrenchments, from which it was as speed ily driven by two of Branch's regiments. This was followed by a charge of the Fourth Rhode Island upon a battery of five guns in its front, supported by rifie-pits. The battery was captured, the National flag was unfurled over it, and its occupants and supporters were driven pell-mell far away 1 A little below Fort Thompson was Fort Dixie, four gnns. Between Fort Thompson and the city wero Forts Brown, Ellis, and Lane, each mounting eight guns; nnd a mile from New Berne was Union Point Bat tery, of two guns, manned by a company of public singers. In the channel of the Nense were twenty-four sunken vessels, several torpedoes,* and submerged iron-pointed spars, planted so as to pierce the bottoms of ves sels ascending tho river. On tho left bank of the Neuse was a succession of redoubts, over half a mile in extent; In the midst (if woods and s\varap.s, for riflemen and field-pieces. ' His troops consisted of tho Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-seventh Mas sachusetts, commanded respectively by Colonels Kurtz, Stevenson, Upton, and Lee; and the Tenth'Conmcii- cut. Colonel Drake. » ThesB torpodoo. cnnBlsled of n cylinder nf Iron, nbont Ion Inchts in dlmneter, Into which fitted n honi-ily londed bomb-.bell, rallne on springs. The torpedo wn. placed on tlio point of iicnvy timber, in tho form nnd poBlt on of cJmarii-*-/r;«e, held flrmly al tha !>«"»"' of tho river by stones in a box, and lyinff at oi, angle ot forly-llyo dogroos in tho direction of an approaching voseol. Tbe shell "• »» arranged, that when a vessel should strike tho cylinder on tho point ot the limber, a percussion cop would bo dischaised nadtho«li«" exploded. Those wero very tormldoblo mlseilos, but tho gun-boats did nol go near thom. CAPTURE OF NEW BERNE. 307 from their lost guns and breast-works. ¦ The victory •^ was ^made com plete by the aid of the Fifth Rhode Island and Eighth and Eleventh Con necticut. All this whUe, Reno was losing heavily from the effects of another bat tery. So he called up his reserve regiment (the Fifty-first Pennsylvania, Colonel'=^artra)|.ft), and ordered it to charge the work. It was done gallantly, and the Fifty-first New York, Twenty-first Massachusetts, and Ninth New Jersey ]Darticipated in the achievement and the triumph. Foster, meanwhile, hearing the shouts on the left when the. order to charge was given, had directed his brigade to advance along the whole line. Pressed at all points, on front and flank, the Confederates abandoned every thing and fled, pursued by Foster to the verge of the Trent. The fugitives were more fieet than he, and, burning the rail way and turnpike bridges behind them that spanned the Trent (the first by sending a raft of fiaming turpentine and cotton against it), they escaped. So ended the Bat tle OF New Beene.' The National squadron, in the mean time, had co-operated with the army in the attack on Fort Thompr son, and in driving the Confede rates from the other batteries on the shore. When these were evacuated, the gun-boats passed the obstructions and went up to the city. The Confederate troops had fired it in seven places, and then hurried to Tuscarora, about ten miles from New Berne, where they halted. Large numbers of the terrified citizens had abandoned their homes and fied to the interior. No less than seven railway trains, crowded to overflowing with men, women, and children, left New Berne for Goldsboro' on the day of the battle. " The town of New Berne," says Pollard, " originally contained twelve hundred people ; when occupied by the enemy, it contained one hundred people, male and female, of the old poj)ulation." Pollard did not count the large number of colored loyalists who remained as " people." General Foster's brigade was taken over the Trent and to the city wharves by some of Rowan's boats, and took military possession of New Berne. General Burnside made the fine old mansion of the Stanley family. OPERATIOKS KEAR HEW BEENE. 1 See reports of General Burnside and his subordinate officers, and of Commodore Eowan. 308 EFFECT OF THE CAPTURE OF NEW BERNE. BTrKKSIDE'S HEAD-QCARTEES, NEW BEEXE. in the subui-bs of the town, his head-quarters, and there, on the fol lowing day, he issued an order, appointing General Foster military governor of the city, and directing the places of public worship to be opened on Sunday, the 16th, at a suitable hour, in order that the chap lains of the different regiments might hold divine service in them ; the bells to be rung as usuaL On the , same day Burnside issued an order, congratulating his troops on account of the "brilhant and hard-won victory," and directed each regiment engaged in it to place the name of JTew Derne on its banner. In his report, he spoke in the highest terms of the courage and fidelity of his troops, and gave to the general-in-chief (McClellan) the credit of planning the expedition.' In this battle the Nationals lost about one hundred in killed and four hundred and ninety-eight in wounded. Among the former were Lieutenant- Colonel Henry Merritt, of the Twenty-third Massachusetts, and other gallant oflicers and men. The loss of the Confederates was much less in killed and wounded, but two hundred of them were made prisoners." The spoils of victory were many and important, ;' and the possession of the town of New Berne, by which the Wilmington and Weldon Railway, the great line of travel between tbe North and the South, was exposed, gave to the National cause in that region an almost incalculable advantage. Its moral effect was prodigious, and greatly disheartened the enemies of the Government, who saw in it " a subject of keen mortification to the South."* In the midst of the horrors of war at New Berne, and almost before the smoke of battle was dissipated, the Christian spirit of the friends of the Governraent was made conspicuous in acts of benevolence by the generous deeds of Vincent Colyer, a well-known citizen of New York, and the origi nator of the Christian Commission of the army, whose holy ministrations, nearly co-extensive with those of the United States Sanitary Co^imission, in the camp, the field, and the hospital, throughout almost the entire period of the war, will be considered hereafter. Mr. Colyer was with Burnside s 1 " I beg to Day to tho general commanding the army," he wrote, " that I liave endeavored to carry out the very minute instructions given me by him before leaving Annapolis, and thus far events have been singular . coincident with his anticipations.'' 2 Tbey reported their loss at 64 killed, 101 wonnded, and 418 missing. * These were the impoi-tant town and harbor of New Berno ; eight b.atteries mounting forty-six heavy gnns. three batteries of light nrtillery of six guns each ; two steamboats ; a number of sailing vessels ; w.agons, hnises. and mules ; a large quantity of ammunition and army supplies ; the entire camp equipage of the Confedero , and much turpentine, rosin, and cotton, * Polhird's First Year qf the War, i. 288. CHRISTIAN WORK AT NEW BERNE. 309 expedition for the two-fold purpose of distributing to the sick and wounded the generous contributions of patriotic and charitable citizens, and to exer cise a fostering care of the poor and ignorant colored people, from whose limbs the hand of the loyal victor had just unloosed the shackles of hopeless slavery. Mr. Colyer began his blessed work on Roanoke Island in February, and now, at the middle of March, he was made busy in the same high vocation at NTew Berne. When his labors in the hospitals were finished, he was placed in charge of the helpless of that town of every kind, by ^ an order issued by Burnside," which read thus : " Mr. Vincent ^g^^ ' Colyer is hereby appointed Superintendent of the Poor, and will be obeyed and respected accordingly.'" Mr. Colyer took for his head quarters a respectable dwelling in the town, and at once began the exercise of the most commendable form of benevolence, in finding remunerative employment for the healthy destitute.' He opened evening schools for the edu cation of the colored people, in whicli over eight hundred of the most eager pupils were nightly seen, some of General Foster's New England soldiers acting as teachers. But this promising, benevolent work was suddenly stopped by Edward Stanley, who ^ had been appointed' by the President military governor of North Carolina, and whose policy was that of a large class of IJnionists in border slave-labor States, namely, to preserve slavery, and, if possible, the Union. The closing of the schools was the first administrative act of the new governor, in conformity with the barbarous laws of North Carolina, which made it, he said, " a criminal offense to teach the blacks to read." He also retumed fugitive slaves to tbeir masters ; and the hopes of that down-trodden race in that region, which were so delight fully given in promises, were suddenly extinguished.' Having taken possession of New Berne, Burnside proceeded at once to further carry out the instructions of General McClellan by leading a force 1 On the 24th of April, General Foster issued an order that all passes given to negroes by Mr. Colyer to go out ot the lines be respected at the outposts, and that all persons outside, inquiring for him, be sent to him unquestioned. 2 Mr. Colyer gave employment to every able-bodied man that could be found ; and in the course of the four months that ho administered the duties of his office under Burnside there, colored men built three first-class earthwork forts : one at New Berne, another on Roanoke Island, and a third at Washington, North Carolina. They also performed much labor as carpenters and blacksmiths, and were made useful in loading and discharging carcrtes for about three hundred Government vessels, serving as crews on about twenty steamers, and as gangs of laborers in several departments. , More than fifty of them were employed in the perilous duty of spies, going sometimes three hundred miles within the Confederate lines, and bringing back the most reliable information, because the negroes were uniformly loyal to the National cause. During tho four months th.at Mr. Colyer was in New Berne, he and his assistants cared for .and kept from want and suffering over eight hundred people. ' When this fact was told to President Lincoln, he said, with great earnestness, "Well, this I have alwtiys maintained and shall insist on, that no slave who once comes within our lines a fugitive from a rebel shall ever bo returned to his master. For my part, I have hated slavery from my childhood." This was said at about the time when hc had written a proclamation of emancipation, which, by the advice of the Secretary of State, was -f, , ^.L„ *'^'*' COLYEe'S IIEAD-QUAILTEES. 310 EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT MACON. against Fort Macon, that commanded the important harbor of Beaufort, North Carolina, and Bogue Sound.' That fort, with others, it will be remem bered, was seized by Governor Ellis, early in 1861,'' before the so-called seces sion of the State. Its possession by the Government would secure'the use of another fine harbor on the Atlantic coast to the National vessels engaged in the blockading and other service, an object of great importance. It stands upon a long spit or ridge of sand, cast up by the waves, called Bogue Island, and separated from the main by Bogue Sound, which is navigable for small vessels. At the head of the deeper part of Beaufort harbor, and at the terminus of the railway from New Berne, is Morehead City, thirty-six miles from the former ; and on the northern side of the harbor is Beaufort, the capital of Carteret County, and an old and pleasant town, which was a popular place of resort for the North Carolinians in the summer. Into that harbor blockade-runners had for some time been carrying supplies for the Confederates.' General Burnside intrusted the expedition against Fort Macon to the command of General Parke, at the same time sending General Reno to make' further demonstrations in the rear of Norfolk. Parke's forces were trans ferred by water to Slocum's Creek, from which point they marched across the country and invested Morehead City, nine days after the fall of "^illl^' I^ewBeme." The latter place was evacuated. On the 25th, a de tachment, composed of the Fourth Rhode Island and Eighth Connecticut, took possession of Beaufort without opposition, for there was no military force there. In the mean time a flag had been sent to Fort Macon with a demand for its surrender. It was refused, the commander. Colonel Moses T. White (nephew of Jefferson Davis), declaring that he would not yield until he had eaten bis last biscuit and slain his last horse. Vigorous preparations were at once made to capture it, ahd on the llth of April General Parke made a reconnoissance in force on Bogue Spit, drove in the Confederate pickets, and selected good points for the planting of siege-guns. At that time regular siege operations commenced, and the garrison was confined within the limits of the' fort, closely watched, for it was expected that in their supposed des- withheld for some months, for prudential reasons. — See Mr. Colyer's Report of the Christian Mission to the United States Army, from August, 1861, to August,'lS62. In that report may be found most interesting details of work and experience among the freedmen on the Atlantic coast. I "Havinggained possession of which [New Berne], and the railroad passing through it, you will at once throw a sufficient force upon Beaufort, and take the steps necessary to reduce Fort Macon and open that port.''— McClellan's Instructions, January Tth, 1862. 2 See page 161, volume I. ^ The Confederates owned a war steamer called the J^TashriJle, commanded by Captain E. P. Pegram. At the beginning of February, 1862, she was lying in the harbor of Southampton, England, with a cargo of stores valued at $8,000,000. Near her was the United States gun-boat Tuscarora, Captiin Cr,aven, carrying nine heavy guns, which had been sent over for the special purpose of watching the Naslimlle, and capturing her when she should put to sea. The British ahthbrlties, sympathizing with the Confederates, notifled Captain Craven that the Tuscarora wonld not be allowed to leave tho port until twenty-four hours .iftcr the Kaslwille shonld depart. The British war-ship Danntlexs lay near, ready to enforce the order, and the armored ship Wai-rittr was within call, if necessity should require its presence. The result was, that on tho 8d of February the Naslaille W Southampton, eluded the chase of the Tuscarora, that commenced twenty-fonr hours afterward, and ran the blockade Into Beaufort harbor on the 2Sth of tho s.arae month, with her valuable cargo. She had coaled on tho way at the friendly Enghsh port of Bermuda, where, on the 22d of Febrnary, an order was promulgated pro hibiting the use of that port as a coal d6p6t by the United States. This was one of many similar cvhibitions of tho professed neutrality of Great Britain during the War. The Naslvnille remained in Beaufort until the night of the 17th of March, when she agaiu ran the blockade, and went to sea to depredate upon American merohant- Tessels. PKEPARATIONS TO ASSAIL FORT MAOOJST. 311 perate strait they might make a sudden and fierce sortie, but there was only- some picket skirmishing occasionally. Ordnance and ordnance stores were rafted over from a -wooded point near Carolina City by General Parke, and batteries were constructed behind sand dunes on Bogue Spit. Gun-boats TIBW AT THE LANDINa AT MOKBHEAD CITY.^ "Were co-operating with them, and the garrison, composed of about five hundred North Carolinians, was cut off from all communication by sea and knd.' Three siege batteries were erected on Bogue Spit behind sand-hills, the sides and front being formed by sand-bags. The most distant, under Lieu tenant Flagler, of the New York Third Artillery, was in the borders of a marsh, about fourteen hundred yards from the fort, and mounted four ten- ^ This is a view looking westward of the causeway, on which lies the railway track from the main at More- head City to the wharf at deep water. Morehead City is seen in the distance, and Bogue Sound and Spit appear on the left, where the vessels are seen. The single bird indicates the place of Morehead City; the two birds, the site of a fort erected by the Nationals ; the three birds, the wooded point at Carolina City from which or^ri^nce and supplies were sent over to the Bpit ; and the four birds show the position of the landing-pJ^e on -thfe Spit from which the siege-guns were taken to their proper places. The picture is from a sketch made by .the writer ftom the deck of tho .Ben. X'e/ortZ, in December, 1861 2 Two of the companies in the fort were young men from Beaufort, and there, in sight of theirhomes, they were really prisoners. They resorted to various devices to keep up communication with theii* friends.' Among others, they would send out tiny vessels, with sails all set, to drift across the bay, around the marshes, to Beaufort, carrying letters or other kinds of messages. On a thin board, thus set afloat on the '20th of April, was inscribed the following message : " To the Lady s of Beaufort ~\v^ are still iuduring the privations of War, with unexosted Hopes if this vessil due reach hur port of destiny you will find that we are still well and alive and will not leeve till wo sea the ruins of theas old Walls we have had several scurmish fights with the Yankee Piket Gard, the old topsail gards sends there best Respects to all there Lady friends of Beaufort and surrounding country." Such contrivances for communication were used else where. While the contending armies were on the Eap pahannock, the pickets of both sides would send news papers backward and forward across the stream in that way. Onr little picture shows one in tho possession of liieutenant 0. A. Alvord, Jr., of General Caldwcirs staff, which he brought from the Eappahannock. It is raade of a piece of thin board, about- twenty-three inches in length, with a strip of the same for a keel, and a rudder of tin. Two small sticks formed masts, and tho sails were made of checked cotton cloth. On it a newspaper was sent over by the insurgents from the Fredericks burg side of the river. NEWSPAPER-BOAT AT FREDERICKSBTTEG. 312 SIEGE AND BOMBAEDMENT OF FOET MAOOK inch mortars. The second was about two hundred yards in front of it, under Captain Morris, of the First Regular Artillery, and mounted three long 30- pound Parrott guns ; and the third was one hundred yards still nearer the fort, composed of four 8-inch mortars, and commanded by Lieutenant Prouty, of the Third ISTew York Artillery. "When these batteries were completed, the gun-boats Daylight (fiag-ship) ; State of Georgia, Commander Armstrong ; and Chippewa, Lieutenant Bryson, and the barque Gemsbok, Lieutenant Cavendish, took position for battle outside the Spit, within range of the fort. Burnside came down from New Berne, and passed over to the batteries ; and at six o'clock, on the morning of the 25th of April," Flagler «1862. ' . ° , . ° opened fire with his 10-inch mortars, directed by Lieutenant Andrews of the Signal Corps, and his accomplished young assistant. Lieu tenant Wait.' The other batteries followed, and in the course often minutes the fort replied with a shot from Captain Manney's 24-pounder battery on the terreplein. The heavy columbiads and 32-pounders en barbette joined in the cannonade, and at eight o'clock the fort, belching fire and smoke like an active volcano, was sending a shot every minute. The National batteries were responding with equal vigor, and the war vessels were doing good service, maneuvering in an elliptical course, like Dupont's at Port Royal Entrance, and throwing heavy shot and shell upon the fortress. But the roughness of the sea, caused by a southwest wind, compelled them to with draw after fighting an hour and a quarter. The land batteries kept at work until four o'clock in the afternoon, when a white fiag, displayed on Fort Macon, caused their firing to cease. Captain Guion, of the garrison, came out with a proposition from Colonel "White tO surrender; and before ten o'clock the next morning' the fort was in the possession of the National forces, with about five hundred prisoners of war.'' Burnside was present, and had the pleasure of seeing the ensign of the ^ In cases like this, where the mortars and guns were so situated behind olistructions to vision that the range could not be precisely known, nor tho effects of missiles sent determined, the services of the members of the Signal Corps were most important. As an illustrative example, I quote IVom the report of Lieutenant Andrews on this occasion ; " I was the only [Signal] officer on duty on Beaufort station, until Lieutenant Marvin Wait reported for duty. My station was at a right angle with the line of firo, so that I was enabled to judge with a^uracy the distance over or short a shot fell. The 10-inch shell were falling, almost without exception, raore than three hundred yards beyond the fort. Lieutenant Wait and myself continued to signal to the oflBcer in charge until the correct range was obtained. The 8-inch shell were falling short— we signaled to the officer in charge of that battery with the same eifect. The same was the case vrith the battery of Parrott guns, which was too much elevated. From the position of our batteries, it was impossible for the officers in charge to fi«6how their shots fell, but owing to the observations made by Lieutenant Wait and myself, and signaled to them from time to time, an accurate range was obtained by all the biitteries, and was not lost during the day. After 13 M,, every shot fired from ov/r batteries fell in or on the fort'' Lieutenant Wait (son of John Q. Wait, of Norwich, Connecticut) was then only a little more than nineteen years of age. He had acquired great skill in signaling, and, for his services on this occasion. Major Myer, the chief of the Signal Department, presented him with a very beautiful battle-Hag. A few months Later he gave his young life to his country, while gallantly battling with his regiment (Eighth Connecticut) on the field of Antietam. ¦' Tho capitulation was signed by Colonel M. T. White, Genernl J. G. Parke, and Commodore Samuel Lockwood. The troops of the carrison wero held as prisoners of war on parole until duly exchanged. The officers were allowed to retain their side-arms ; nnd both officers nnd men had the privilege of siiving their pri vate effects. In this conflict tho Nationals lost only one man killed and two wounded. The Confederates lost seven killed nnd eighteen wounded. The fruits for the victors were— tho important fort; the command of Beaufort Harbor ; 20,000 pounds of powder ; 150 10-inch shells ; 250 82-pound shot ; ISO S-inch shot, and 400 stand of arms.— See Eeports of General Burnside and Commodoro Lockwood, April 2T, 1S62. On the day after the surrender Burnside issued a congratulatory order, in which ho said ho took piffticular pleasure "In thanking General Parke and his brave command for the patient labor, fortitude, and ooiirago displayed in the investment and reduction of Fort Macon," and declared that the troops had " earned the right to wear upon thoir colors and guidons the words, ' Fokt Macon, April 25, 1SC2.' " FOET MAOON AND. ITS VICINITY. 313 Republic, and the new colors ofthe Fifth Rhode Island battalion, which had just been presented tcS it by the women of Providence, unfuried over the fort.' The writer visited and sketched Fort Macon in December, 1864, while accompanying the expedition under General Butler against Fort Fisher. The transports bearing his troops, and the Den Deford, his head-quarters ship, had been furnished with water and fuel for only ten days. Having waited three days at the place of rendezvous, twenty-five miles at sea, oflf Fort Fisher, for the arrival of the war-vessels that were to co-operate with the soldiers, it was necessary to run up the coast seventy miles to Beaufort for a new supply of fuel and water. This gave the writer a wished for opportunity to visit Beaufort Harbor and its surroundings. "We entered it during one of the heaviest gales known on that coast for thirty years, and were detained there four days, during which time we visited the old town of Beaufort, the more modern Morehead City, Carolina City, the Bogue Banks or Spit, and Fort Macon. The latter is at the eastern point of the Spit, upon an elevation above the common level, composed of a huge mound of sand thrown up for the purpose. The fort was built of brick and stone. rOET MACON IN 1864.* and named in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a distinguished statesman of North Carolina. Built for defense against a foreign foe, its principal strength in ' The Confederate flag that was displaced by the National banner was made of tho old United States flag that was over the fort when the insurgents seized it, more than a year before. The red and white stripes had been ripped apart, and theu put together so as to form the broad bars of the Confederate flag. The superfluous stars had been cut out, and the holes thus made were left. * This view is from the ramparts, near the sally-port, looking seaward. The lower and the upper terre[tlein, on which forty-nine heavy guns and some mortars were then mounted, en barbette, are seen, the first being a part of the outer works, nnd the second the surmounting of the walls of the citadel (eighteen feet in height), which were cnsemated, covered with turf, and surrounded a large parade. In tho foreground is seen an iron 33- ponnder. 314 BATTLE OF SOUTH MILLS. masonry and guns was toward the sea, and it perfectly commanded the nar row ship channel at the entrance to the harbor. "We found Fort Macon very much in the condition in which Burnside observed it when he entered it, excepting the absence of fragments of shot and shell and cannon and carriages, made by the National missiles. On its wall, landward (seen in shadow in the engraving), that bore the brunt ofthe bombardment, were the broad wounds made by shot and shell ; and here and there the remains of furrows made by them were seen on the parades, the ramparts, and the glacis. After passing half an hour pleasantly with Cap tain King, the commandant, and other oflicers of the garrison, and making the sketch on the preceding page, we departed for the De7i Deford in the tug that took us from it and on the following day left the harbor for the waters in front of Fort Fisher. While Parke and Lockwood were operating at Beaufort Harbor, troops under General Reno were quietly taking possession of important places on the waters of Albemarle Sound, and threatening Norfolk in the rear. The movement was partly for the purpose of assisting Parke in his siege of Fort Macon, and partly to gain some substantial advantages on the Sounds. Reno's force consisted of the Twenty-first Massachusetts, Fifty-first Pennsylvania, the Sixth New Hampshire, and a part of the Ninth and Eighty-ninth New York. They advanced in transports up the Pasquotank to within three miles of Elizabeth City, and, landing cautiously " ^^^ ^^' in the night," a part of them under Colonel Hawkins were pushed forward to surprise and intercept a body of Confederates known to be about leaving that place for Norfolk. Hawkins took with him por tions of the Ninth and Eighty-ninth New Tork, and Sixth New Hampshire ; and a few hours later he was followed by General Reno and the remain der of the troops. Hawkins was misled by a treacherous or incompetent guide, and, march ing ten miles out of his way, lost so much time that in retracing his steps he came in behind General Reno. Meanwhile the Confederates had been apprised of the movement, and when the Nationals were within a mile and a half of South Mills, near Camden Court-house, they were assailed with grape and canister shot from the foe, Avho were in a good position with artil lery, having a dense forest in their rear for a protection and cover, and swamps on their fianks. The attack was bravely met. Reno's superior num bers soon fianked the Confederates, and the latter hastily withdrew. A gun boat under Captain Flusser had, in the mean time, driven the foe out of the woods along the river-banks. Hawkins's Zouaves had made a gallant charge, but were repulsed, and in this the chief loss to the Nationals occurred They had fifteen killed, ninety-six wounded, and two made prisoners. The loss of the Confederates is not known. They left thirty killed and wounded on the field. This engagement is called The Battle of South Mills. The defeat of the Third Georgia regiment in the fight produced much consternation in Norfolk. General Reno allowed his wearied troops to rest on the battle-field about six hours, when they returned to the boats. For want of transportation, he was compelled to leave some of his Idlled ancl wounded behind. Winton, at the head of the Chowan ; Plymouth, at the mouth of the OPERATIONS IN THE EEAR OF NORFOLK. 315 Roanoke ; and Washington, at the head of the Pamlico River, were all quietly occupied by the National forces.' This occupation so widely dis persed Burnside's troops, which at no time num bered more than sixteen thousand, that he could no longer make aggres sive movements. The Gov ernment had no troops to spare to re-enforce him ; and matters remained comparatively quiet in his department until the mid dle of July, when he was hastily summoned to Fort ress Monroe" with all the J8g2. ' forces he could collect; for the Army of the Potomac, on the "Vir ginia Peninsula, under General McClellan, was then apparently in great danger. General Burnside promptly obeyed the sum mons, leaving General Fos ter in command of the department. During the four months of his cam paign in that region, Burn- OPEEATIONB IN EUEKSIDE 8 DBl'AttTMBNT. side had exhibited those traits of character that marked him as an energetic, sagacious, and judi cious commander, and led to his appointment to more important posts of duty. For the remainder of the year, the coasts of North Carolina were in the possession of the National troops. Its ports were closed, either by actual occupation or by blockading vessels, and its commerce ceased entirely, excepting such as was carried on by British blockade-runners. These, in spite of the greatest vigilance of the blockading squadrons cruising oflf its entrances, constantly entered the Cape Fear River, with military supplies^ and necessaries for the Confederates, until the fall of Fort Fisher, at the beginning of 1865. These blockade-runners were steamships, built expressly 1 At about this time, an expedition under Commodore Eowan was sent to obstruct tho Dismal Swamp Canal, in the rear of Norfolk. Bowan left Elizabeth City on the 28d of April, with the Lockwood, Whitehead, and Putnam, each with an officer and a detachment of troops. In tho afternoon ho landed one hundred men' (flfty on each bank), and then, with a launch on the canal eaiTying a heavy 12-pounder, went forward about two miles. They sunk a schooner in tho canal, and filled the stream, for about flfty yards above it, with stumps and/' trunks of trees, brush, vines, and earth. In this work they met with no opposition. In fact, the Confeder.ites themselves had evidently abandoned the use of the canal, for they had obstructed it farther on toward Norfolk. 316 EXPEDITION AGAINST FOET PULASKI. A BLOCKADE-EUNNEE. for the purpose, and were remarkable for strength and speed. They drew but little water, and had raking smoke-stacks. Every part of them was ^ _ _ painted a gray color, so that they could not be seen even in a very light fog. Their achieve ments in supplying the Confederates with arms, ammunition, and the necessaries and luxuries of life, will be consid ered hereafter. While Burnside and Rowan were operating on the coast of North Carolina, Sherman and Dupont were engaged in movements on the coasts of South Carolina and Georgia, having fbr their first object the capture of Fort Pulaski, and ulti mately other important points and posts between the Savannah River and St. Augustine in Florida. We have seen that at the close of 1861 the National authority was supreme along the coast from Wassaw Sound, below the Savannah River, to the North Edisto, well up toward Charleston.' National troops were stationed as far down as Daufuskie Island ; and so early as the close of December, General Sherman had directed General Quincy A. Gillmore, his Chief Engineer, to reconnoiter Fort Pulaski and report upon the feasibility of a bombardment of it. Gillmore's reply was, that it might be reduced by batteries of rified guns and mortars placed on Big Tybee Island, southeast of Cockspur Island, on which the fort stood, and across the narrower channel of the Savannah ; and that aid might be given from a battery on Venus Point of Jones's Island, two miles fi-om Cock- spur, in the opposite direction. While waiting orders from Washington on the subject, the Forty-sixth New York, Colonel Rosa, was sent to occupy Big Tybee. At about this time" explorations were made by the Nationals for the pur- ¦ J 1862 P°^^ ^^ finding some channel by which gun-boats might get in the rear of Fort Pulaski. Lieutenant J. H. Wilson, of the Topo graphical Engineers, had received information from negro pilots that con vinced him that such channel might be found, connecting Calibogue Sound with the Savannah River. General Sherman directed him to explore in search of it. Taking with him, at about the first of January, 1862, seventy Rhode Island soldiers, in two boats managed by negro crews and pilots, he thridded the intricate passages between the low, oozy islands and mud-banks in that region (always under cover of night, for the Confederates had watchful pickets at every approach to the fort), and found a way into the Savannah River above the fort, partly through an artificial channel called Wall's Cut, which had for several years connected Wright's and New Rivers. He ' See pago 125. OBSTEUOTIONS IN SAVANNAH EIVEE. 517 reported accordingly, when Captain John Rogers made another reconnois sance at night, and so satisfied himself that gun-boats could navigate the way, that he offered to command an expedition that might attempt it. Sher man and Dupont at once organized one for the purpose. The land troops were placed in charge of General Viele,' and the gun-boats were commanded by Rogers. Another mixed force, under General H. G. Wright' and Fleet- OI'.STKUCTIONa IN TUE SAVANNAH EIVEE.3 captain Davis, was sent to pass up to the Savannah River, in rear of Fort Pulaski, by way of Wassaw Sound, Wilmington River, and St. Augustine Creek. The latter expedition found obstructions in St. Augustine Creek; but the gunboats were able to co-operate with those of Rogers in an attack" on the little fiotilla of five gun-boats of Commodore ° ''isjj^^' Tatnall, which attempted to escape down the river from inevi table blockade. Tatnall was driven back with two of his vessels, but the others escaped. The expedition, having accomplished its object of observation, returned to Hilton Head, and the citizens of Savannah believed that designs against that city and Fort Pulaski were abandoned. Yet the Confederates multi plied the obstructions in the river in the form of piles, sunken vessels, and regular chevaux-de-frise ; and upon the oozy islands and the main land on tbe right bank of the river they built heavy earthworks, and greatly enlarged and strengthened Fort Jackson, about four miles below the city. Among the most formidable of the new earthworks was Fort Lee, built under the direction of Robert E. Lee, after his recall from Western Virginia, in the autumn of 1861. Soon after the heavy reconnoissance of Rogers and Wright, the Nationals made a lodgment on Jones's Island, and proceeded, under the immediate direction of General Viele, to erect an earthwork on Venus Point, which was named Battery Vulcan. This was completed on the llth of February, after very great labor,* and with a little battery on Bird Island, opposite 1 These troops consisted of tho Forty-eighth New Tork ; two companies of Now Tork volunteer engineers fJid two companies of Rhode Island volunteer artillery with twenty heavy guns = Wright's ^oops consisted ofthe Fourth New Hampshire, Colonel Whipple ; Sixth Conneoticut, Colonel Chatfleld ; and Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania, Colonel Guess. » This Is from a sketch made by the author from the deck of a steam-tug, just at sunset in Ariril 1S66 These were only the remains of the formidable obstructions, those from the main channel having been removed The scene is near Fort Jackson On the right are seen earthworks on a small island, and on the left the shore ofthe mam land, while in the distance is the City of Savannah. " A causeway was built across the Island, chiefly by the Forty-eighth New Tork, over which heavy mortnrs CIIEVAUX-DB-FKISE. 318 BOMBAEDMENT OF FOET PULASKL (Battery Hamilton), eflfectually closed the Savannah River in the rear of Fort Pulaski. That fortress, as we have already observed,' was a strong one on Cockspur Island, which is wholly a marsh. Its walls, twenty-five feet in height above high water, pre sented five faces, and were casemated on all sides, and mounted one tier of guns in embrasures and one en barbette. The absolute blockade of Fort Pu laski may be dated from the 22d of February. Preparations w^ere then made on Tybee Island to bombard it. Nearly all of the worfe had to be done in the night, and it was of the same laborious nature as that per formed on Jones's Island. It took about two hundred and fifty men to move a single heavy gun, with a sling-cart, over the quaking mud jelly of which Tybee Island is com posed ; and it w^as often with the greatest difficulty that it was kept from going down twelve feet to the bottom of the morass, when, as sometimes it happened, it slipped from the causeway or a plat- 'form.° Patiently the work was carried on under the super vision of General Gillmore, who was in chief command, and on the 9th of April eleven bat teries, containing an aggregate of thirty- six guns, were in readiness to open fire on the fort.' On that day the commanding General QUINCY A. GILLMOEE. SIEGE OP FOET PULASKI. Were dragged. The islands near the mouth of the Savannah are formed of mud, of jelly consistency, from fonr to twelve feet in depth, and resting on half liquid clay. The surface Is cc)vered with a light turf of matted grass roots. Over this the causeway was built, of poles covered with loose planks ; and upon this road mortars weigh ing more than eight tons were dragged, and placed in buttery on heavy plank platforms. This labor was all per formed at night. * Sec p.igo 179, volume I. 2 " No one,'' said Gillmore in his report, " can form any but a faint conception of the Herculean labor by which mortars of eight and a hjvlf tons weight, and columbiads but a trifle lighter, were moved in the dead of night over a narrow causeway bordered by swamps on each side, and liable at any moment to be overturned, and buried in the mud beyond reach." 3 These were batteries Stanton and Grant, three 10-inch mortars each ; Lyon and Li^icoln, three columbiads each ; Burnside, one heavy mortar ; Sherman, tbree heavy mortars ; Halleck, two heavy mortars ; Seott, four columbiads; Siffei, flve 80-poundor Parrott, and one 4S-ponnder James; McClellan, two 84-pounders and two 64-pounders James; Totten, four 10-inch siege mortars. Totten and McClellan were only 1,650 yards from the fort; Stanton was 8,400 yards distant. Each battery had n service magazine for two days' supply of ammm'- tion, and a depot powder magazine of 8,000 barrels capacity was constructed near the Martello tower, printed- on page 125, whioh was the landiug-place for all supplies ou Tybee, CAPTUEE OF FOET PULASKI. 319 issued minute orders for the working of the batteries, which was to com mence at daybreak the next morning.' General David Hunter, who had just succeeded General Sher- man" in the command of the Department, arrived at lybee on iso2. the evening of the 8th, accompanied by General Benham as dis trict commander. At sunrise on the mornin^ of the 10th, Hunter sent Lieutenant J. H. Wilson to the fort, with a summons to the commander of the garrison (Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, of the First Geprgia Volun teers) to surrender. It was refused, the commander saying, "I am here to defend this fort., not to surrender it," and at a quarter past eight o'clock the batteries opened upon it. They did not cease firing until night, when five of the guns of the" fortress were silenced, and the responses of the others were becoming feeble. All night long, four of Gillmore's guns fired at intervals of fifteen or twenty minutes; and at sunrise the next morning' ^^ ^^^^^ the batteries commenced afresh, and with the greatest vigor. It was soon evident that the fort, at the point on which the missiles from the three breaching batteries (Sigel, Scott, and MqClellan) fell, was crumbling. A yawning breach was visible ; and yet the fort kept up the fight gallantly until two o'clock in the " aftemoon, when pre parations were made to storm it. Then a white flag displayed from its walls caused the firing to cease, and the siege to end in its surrender. Ten of its guns were dis mounted ; and so de structive of masonry had been the Parrott projectiles (some of which went through the six or seven feet of brick walls) that there was imminent danger of their pierc ing the magazine and exposing it to explosion.' The Nationals, who were under the immediate command of General Viele, had only one killed. The Confederates had one killed and several wounded. It was a very hard fought but almost bloodless battle. The spoils of victory were the fort, forty-seven EEKACU IN FyUT PULASKI.^ ' See tho report of General Gillmorp, dated April 80, 1862. 2 This Is a view of the angle of the fort where the great breach was made. It was copied by permission, from a drawing that accompanied General Gillmore's report, published by D. Vanostrand, New York. It was sketched on the morning after the battle. When the writer visited Fort I*ulaski, in April, 1866, this breach was repaired, but the casemates within it were still in ruins. 8 Gillmore's breaching batteries had been ordered to assail the eastern half of tho paneoup6, coverin'' the south and southeast faces, so as to take in reverse, through the opening formed by them, the powder magazine. These batteries were established at the mean distance of 1,700 yards from the scarp walls of the fort. 320 EXPEDITION AGAINST FOET CLINCH. heavy guns, a large supply of fixed ammunition, forty thousand pounds of gunpowder, and a large quantity of commissary stores. Three hundred men were made prisoners.' By this victory, won on the first ""^iseV^' anniversary of the fall of Fort Sumter," the port of Savannah was sealed against blockade-runners. The capture of Fort Jackson above, and of the city, would have been of little advantage to the Nationals then, for the forces necessary to hold them were needed in more important work farther down the coast. While Gillmore and Viele were besieging Fort Pulaski, Commodore Dupont and General Wright were making easy conquests on the coast of Florida. Dupont left Port Royal on the 28th of February,' in '^^''^' the Wabash, with twenty armed vessels, and six transports bearing land forces, and on the 1st of March arrived in St. Andrew's Sound, north of Cumberland and St. Andrew's Islands. Leaving the Wabash, Du pont raised his flag on the smaller war vessel Mohican, and, at ten o'clock on the 2d, the fieet anchored in Cumberland Sound, between Cumberiand Island and the Georgia main. Its destination was Fort Clinch,' on the FOET OLINCn. northern extremity of Amelia Island, a strong regular work, and prepared by great labor for making a vigorous defense. Outside of it, along the shores, were heavy batteries, well sheltered and concealed behind sand-hills on their front, while on the southern extremity of Cumberland Island was a battery of four guns. - These, with the heavy armament of Fort Clinch, per fectly commanded the waters in the vicinity. Dupont had expected vigorous resistance at Fort Clinch, and he was incredulous when told by a fugitive slave, picked up on the waters, that the ¦ troops had abandoned it, and were fieeing from Amelia Island. The rumor was confirmed, and Dupont immediately sent forward Commander Drayton, of the Pawnee, with several gun-boats, to save the public property there and prevent outrages. He then returned to the Wabash, and, going outside, went down to the main entrance to Fernandina harbor. There he was detained until the next morning. Meanwhile Drayton had sent Lieutenant White, of the Ottawa, to hoist the National fiag over Fort Clinch. This 1 Eeport of General Hunter, April 13; of General Benham, April 12, and of General Gillmore, April 30, 1862. " So named in honor of Brigadier-General Clinch, who was active in the war of 1812. He was the father-in- law of General Eobert Anderson. CAPTUEE OF JACKSONVILLE. 321 was the first of the old National forts which was "repossessed" by the Government. The Confederates fied from the village of Fernandina,' near the fort, and also from the village of St. Mary's, a short distance up the St. Mary's River. These were at once occupied by National forces. Fort Clinch was garrisoned by a few of General Wright's troops, and Commander C. R. P. Rogers, with somc launches, captured the Confederate steamer Darlington, lying in the adjacent waters. The insurgent force was utterly broken up. " We captured Port Royal," Dupont wrote to the Secretary of the " '^l^^ ' Navy," " but Fernandina and Fort Clinch have been given to us." News reached Dupont that the Confederates were abandoning ev^ry post along the Florida coast, and he took measures to occupy them or hold them in durance. Commander Gordon was sent with three gun-boats to Bruns wick, the terminus of the Brunswick and Pensacola railway. He took pos session of it on the 9th of March. The next day he held the batteries on the islands of St. Simon and Jekyl, and on the 13th he proceeded with the Potomska and Pocahontas through the inland passage from St. Simon's Sound to Darien, on the Altamaha River, in Georgia. This place, like Bruns wick, was deserted, and nearly all of the inhabitants on St. Simon's and neighboring islands had fled to the main. In the mean time Dupont sent a small flotilla, under a judicious oflicer. Lieutenant Thomas Holdup Stevens, consisting of the gun-boats Ottawa, Ssneca, Pembina, and Huron, with the transports I. P. Smith and Ellen, to enter the St. John's River, twenty-five mUes farther down the coast, and push on to Jacksonville, and even to Pilatka, if possible. Stevens approached Jacksonville on the evening of the llth of March,' and saw lartje fires in that direction ; and on the _„.„ ' ^ . ' ¦ '' 1862. following day he appeared before the town, which was abandoned by the Confederate soldiers." The fires had been kindled by order of General Trapier, the insurgent commander of that district, who directed the houses, stores, mills, and other property of persons suspected of being in favor of the Union, to be burnt. Under that order, eight immense saw-mills and a vast amount of valuable lumber were burned by guerrillas. On the appearance of Stevens's flotilla, the corporate authorities of the town, with S. L. Burritt at their head, went on board his vessel (the Ottawa) and formally surrendered the place. The Fourth New Hampshire, Colonel Whipple, landed and took possession, and it was hailed with joy by the Union people who remained there. Tvvo days before Jacksonville was surrendered to Stevens, Fort Marion and the ancient citv of St. Augustine, still farther down the coast,* ' c March 11. were surrendered to Commander C. R. P. Rog;ers, who had crossed' ^ Fern.indina was the eastern terminus of the Cedar Keys and Fernandina Kailway, that crossed from the ¦ island to tho main on trestle-work. A train was just starting on the arrival of Drayton. In the Ottawa ho pursued it about two miles, firing several shots at the locomotive, but without doing much damage. * So large .1 number of Northern ' people inhabited Jficksonville at the beginning of the w.ir, that it was called by the natives a "Tankee town.'" But many of them were secessionists, and of 400 fnmilii'S who were there when Dupont arrived on the coast, only 70 remained when Stevens appeared. Jiicksonvllle was on.: of the most beautiful, as well as the most flourishing and important cities in Florida; but this beginning of misery for tho Inhabitants did not end until it was nearly all destroyed diirlnrr ths war. ' St Auinstine Is tho capital of St. John's County, Florida, and is situated on nn estuary of the Atlantic. called North Elver, and two miles from the ocean. It is upon a plain a few feet above the sea. It i's the oldest town in the United States founded by Europeans. The Spaniards built a fort there in 1565. Vol. II— 21 322 CAPTURE OF ST. AUGUSTINE. FOET MAEION. the bar in the Wabash. With a flag of truce, and accompanied by Mr. Dennis, of the Coast Survey, he landed, and was soon met by the Mayor of the town, who conducted him to the City Hall, where he was received by the Common Council. He was informed that two Florida com panies, who had garrisoned the fort, had left the place on the previous evening, _ ^_ and that the city had no means for resistance, if there was a disposi tion to fight. On as suring the authorities of the kind intentions of his Government toward all peacefiil citizens, they formally resigned St. Augustine into his hands. Fort Marion, a decayed castle of heavy walls, built by the Spaniards early in the last century (and which was seized by the insurgents early in 1861'), wdth its dependencies, passed into the hands' of the Nationals. On the top of the broad walls of the fort, huts and tents were soon erected. The capture of St. Augustine was followed by a visit of National gun boats to Musquito "Inlet, fifty miles farther down the Florida coast, into which it Avas reported light-draft vessels were carrying English arms and other supplies for the Confederates, which had been transhipped from the British port of Nassau. The boats were the Penguin, Lieutenant Budd, who commanded the expedition, and the Henry Andrew, Acting-master Mather. On their arrival, a small boat expedition, composed of forty-three men, under Budd and Mather, was organized for a visit to Musquito Lagoon. While returning, the two commanders, who were in one boat, landed at an abandoned earthwork and dense grove of live oaks. There they were fired upon by the concealed foe. Budd and Mather, and three of the five men composing the boat's crew, were killed, and the remaining two were wounded and made prisoners. The other boats were fired upon when they came up, and their passengers suifered much ; but under the cover of night they escaped. In this expedition the Nationals lost five killed and eleven wounded. Had it been entirely successful, all Florida might have been brought under the control of the National forces for a time, for there was panic everywhere in that region after the fall of Fort Pulaski. Pensacola was soon "^^862!"^ afterward evacuated" by the Confederate General, T. N. Jones, who burnt every thing that he could at the navy yard, at the hospital, and in Forts McRee and Barrancas, and retreated toward the interior. But, as events proved, the Nationals could not have held Florida at that time. Because of their weakness in numbers, their conquests resulted, apparently, in more harm, than good to the Union cause. At first, the hopes ' See page 170, volume I. THE ATLANTIO COAST ABANDONED. 323 they inspired in the breasts of the Union people developed quite a wide spread loyalty. A Union convention was called to assemble at Jacksonville on" the 10th of April, to organize a loyal State Government, when, to the dismay of those engaged in the matter. General Wright prepared to with draw his forces, two days before the time when the convention was to meet. General Trapier would of course return, so the leaders were com pelled to fly for their lives with the National troops, instead of attempting to re-establish a loyal government. In consequence of a sense of insecurity caused by this event, very little Union feeling was manifested in Florida during the remainder of the war. Dupont returned to Port Royal on the 27th of March, leaving a small force at difierent points to watch the posts recovered. He found Skiddaway and Greene Islands abandoned by the Confederates, and the important Wassaw and Ossabaw Sounds and the Vernon and Wilmington Rivers entirely open to the occupation of National forces. So early as the llth of February, General Sherman, with the Forty-seventh New York, had taken quiet possession of Edisto Island, from which all the white inhabitants had fled, burning their cotton on their departure. By this movemen^, the National flag was carried more than half way to Charleston from Beaufort. And so it was, that on the first anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter, the entire Atlantic and Gulf coast, from Cape Hatteras to Perdido Bay, excepting the harbor of Charleston and its immediate surroundings, had been abandoned by the insurgents, and the National power was su preme. To Dupont and the new Commander of the Department of the South (General Hunter) Charleston was now a coveted prize, and they made preparations to attempt its capture. That movement we will consider hereafter. Turning again to Hampton Roads, we see General Butler and some troops going out upon another expedition, with his purpose a profound secret, but which proved to be one of the most important movements of the first year and a half of the war. It was the expedition against New Orleans. We have seen' that so early as September, 1861, General Butler was commissioned by the Secretary of War to go to New England and " raise, arm, and uniform a volunteer force for the war," to be composed of six regiments. Unavoidable collision with the eftbrts of State authorities to raise men ensued, and at one time it seemed as if Butler's mission would be fruitless. To give him more efficiency, the six New England States were constituted a Military Department, and Major-General Butler was made its commander while engaged in recruiting his division. He worked to that end with untiring energy, in the face of opposition ; and it was not lone before his six thousand troops and more were ready for the field. The Government had then tumed its attention to the posts on the Gulf of Mexico and its tributary waters, and the seizure of Mobile and New Orleans and the occupation ot Texas, formed parts of its capital plan of operations in that region. Butler was called upon to suggest the best rendezvous for an expe dition against Mobile. He named Ship Island, oflf the coast of Mississippi ¦ See page 108. 324 EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW ORLEANS. between Mobile Bay and Lake Borgne (a low sand-bar, lying just above low water, and averaging seven miles in length and three-fourths of a mile in width), as the most eligible point for operations against any part ofthe Gulf Coast. Thither some of his troops were sent, in the fine steamship Consti tution, under General J. W. Phelps, whom Butler well knew, and honored as a commander at Fortress Monroe and vicinity. The Constitution returned, and two thousand more of the six thousand men embarked, when an electro- graph said to Butler, in Boston, '¦'¦¦DorCt sail. Disembark^'' The Government was then trembling because of the seeming imminence of war with Great Britain, on account of the seizure of Masoli and Slidell. They were in Fort Warren, and the British Govei'*ment had demanded their surrender. This made the authorities at Washington jjause in their aggressive j^olicy, to wait for the development of events in that connection. But the tremor was only spasmodic, and soon ceased. The work against treason was renewed with increased vigor. Edwin M. Stanton, who was in Mr. Bucha nan's Cabinet during the closing days of his administration' — a man pos sessed of great physical and mental energy, comprehensiveness of intellectual grasp, and great tenacity of will, had superseded Mr. Cameron " ''fsV^' ^® Secretary of War," and a conference between him and General Butler resulted in a decision to make vigonous efforts to capture New Orleans, and hold the lower Mississippi. When that decision was referred to General McClellan, the latter thought such an expedition was not feasible, for it would take fifty thou sand men to give it a chance of suc cess, and where were they to come from ? He was unwilling to spare a single man of his more than tvo hundred thousand men then lying at ease around Washington City. His question was promptly answered. New England was all aglow with enthusiasm, and its sons were eagerly flocldng to the standard of General Butler, who asked for only fifteen thousand men for the expedition. Already more than twelve thousand were ready for the field, under his leadership. T-\vo thousand were at Ship Island ; more than two thousand were on ship-board in Hampton Roads ; and over eight thou sand Avere ready for embarkation at Boston. President Lincoln gave the project his sanction. The Department of the Gulf was created, and General Butler was placed in command of it. On the 2.3d of February' he received minute orders from General McClellan to co-operate witli the navy, first in the capture of New Orleans and its approaches, and then in the reduction of Mobile, Galveston, and Baton Rouge, with tho ultimate view of occupying Texas. To his New EDWIN >I. STANTON. b ISO'2, ^ Soe page 146, volume I. THE NATIONALS AT SHIP ISLAND. 325 England troops were added three regiments, then at Baltimore, and orders were given for two others at Key West and one at Fort Pickens to join the expedition. On paper, the whole force was about eighteen thousand, but when they were all mustered on Ship Island they amounted to only thirteen thousand seven hundred. Of these, five hundred and eighty were artillery men and two hundred and seventy-five were cavalry. On the day after receiving his instructions. General Butler left Washington and hastened to Fortress Monroe. To Mr. Lincoln he said, " Good-bye, Mr. President ; we shall take New Orleans or you'll never see me again ¦" and with the assurance of Secretary Stanton, that " The man who takes New Orleans is made a lieutenant-general,'" Butler embarked at Hampton Roads," accompanied by his wife, his staff, and fourteen " ^l^oa"' hundred troops, in the fine steamship Mississiiypii- Fearful perils were encountered on the North Carolina coast, and vexatious delay at Port Royal ;' and it was thirty days after he left the capes of Virginia before he debarked at Ship Island.' There was no house upon that desolate , March 25. sand-bar, and some charred boards were all the materials that could be had for the erection of a shanty for the accommodation of Mrs. Butler. The furniture for it was taken from a captured vessel. When the war broke out, there was an unfinished fort on Ship Island, to which, as we have observed, Floyd, the traitorous Secretary of War, had ordered heavy guns.'' The insurgents of that region took possession of it in considerable force," and, during tfieir occupation of it for about two months, they made it strong and available for defense. They '^' constructed eleven bomb-proof casemates, a magazine and barracks, mounted twenty heavy Dahlgren guns, and named it P'ort Twiggs. When rumors of a heavy naval force approaching reached the garrison, they abandoned the fort,'' burnt their barracks, and, with their cannon, fled to the main. On the following day, a small force was landed from the "^ ' National gan-boat Massachusetts, and took possession of the place. They strengthened the fort by building two more casemates, adding Dahlgren and rifled cannon, and piling around its outer walls tiers of sand-bags, six feet m depth. Then they gave it the name of their vessel, and called it Fort Massachusetts.'' The Constitution arrived there witli General Phelps and his troops' on the 3d of December, and on the following day- he issued a proclamation to the loyal inhabitants of the south western States, setting forth his views as to the political status of those 1 P:irton's General Butler in New Orleans, page 104. 2 The captain of tho Mississippi !i,\i\teM'S to have been utterly incompetent. On the night after leaving Hampton Eoads, he ran his vessel on a shoal ofl' Hatteras Inlet, and barely escaped wreclcing. On the following il.iy it struck a sunken reel;, flve miles from land, off the mouth of the Cape Fear, and an hour later, while leakirif b.idly. it was hard fast on the Frylngpan Shoals, and partly submerged, when relief came in the gun-boat Mount Vernon, Commander 0. S. Gllsson, of the blockading squadrim off Wilmington. The .Vl.-iiis«i/,pi was' token to Port l;(]yal and repaired, and was again run aground while passing out of that harbor, when her corainander was deposed. 3 See page 128, volume I. •¦ This fort was on the extreme western end of the island. It was nearly circular in shape, and built of brick. The sand-bags made its walls boiiib-ijroof. Outside of the fort was a redoubt, built of sand-bags, upon wiiich a heavy Dahlgren gun was mounted, so as to command the channel leading into the really line harbor, in which vessels might flnd shelter from the worst storms on the Gulf. » These were the Twenty -sixth Massachusetts. Colonel Jones, Ninth Connecticut, Colcnel Cahill.and Fourth Batte-.y Mass-ichnsetts Artillery, Captain Manning. 326 PROCLAMATION OF GENERAL PHELPS. States and the slave-system within their borders. It pointedly condemned that system, and declared that it was incompatible with a free government incapable of forming an element of true nationality, and necessarily danger ous to the Republic, when assuming, as it then did, a political character. He pictured to them the blessings to be derived fi-om the abolition of slavery. FOKT MASSACHUSETTS, ON SHIP ISLAND. and declared that his motto and that of his troops coming among them was, Feee Laboe and Woeking-men's Rights. This proclamation astonished Phelps's troops, provoked the pro-slavery oflicers under his command, and highly excited the people to whom it was addressed, who heard it, and who used it efiectually in " firing the Southem heart " against the " abolition Government " at Washington. It was too far in advance of public opinion and feeling at that time, and General Butler, whose views were coincident with the tenor of the proclamation, considering it premature, and therefore injudicious, said, in transmitting his brigar dier's report ot operations at Ship Island, that he had not authorized the issuing of any proclamation, " and most certainly not such au one."- So General Phelps and those of his way of thinking were compelled to wait a year or two before they saw a public movement toward the abolition of slavery. All winter Phelps and his troops remained on the dreary little island, unable, on account of great and small guns in the hands of the neighboring insurgents, to gain a footing on the adjacent shore, and waiting in painful anxiety, at the last, for the arrival of General Butler and the remainder of his command, who, at one time it was feared, had gone to the bottom of the sea. Their advent produced joy, for the troops well knew that the stagna tion of the camp would soon give place to the bustle of preparations for the field. That expectation was heightened when, a few hours after he landed, Butler was seen in conference with Captains Farragut and Bailey, of the navy, who were there, in whioh his Chief of Staif, Major George C. Strong, and his Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Godfrey Weitzel (both graduates of West Point) participated. The latter had been engaged in the completion of the forts below New Orleans, and was well acquainted with all the region around the lower Mississippi. At that conference, a plan of operation against the forts below New CAPTUEE OF BILOXI AND PASS CHRISTIAN. 327 Orleans and the city itself was adopted, and was substantially carried out a few weeks later. While preparations for that movement were in progress, some , minor expeditions were set on foot. One against Biloxi, a summer watering-place on the Mississippi Main, was incited by the conduct of some Confederates who violated the sanctity of a flag of truce, under circumstances of peculiar wickedness. A little girl, three years of age, the daughter of a physician and noted rebel of New Orleans, was cast upon the shore at Ship Island after a storm, in which it was supposed her father had perished. She was kindly cared for by Mrs. Butler ; and, as the child knew the name of her grandfather in New Orleans, the General determined to send her there. For that purpose Major George C. Strong, General Butler's chief of staff, took her in a sloop, under a flag of truce, to Biloxi, with money to pay her expenses to New Orleans. There she was left to be sent on. The sloop grounded on her return in the evening, and, while in that condition, an attempt was made to capture her by men who had been witnesses of Major Strong's holy errand. By stratagem he kept the rebels at bay until a gun boat came to his rescue. On the following day, an avenging expedition, commanded by Major Strong, proceeded to Biloxi. It was composed of two gun-boats {Jackson and New Londmi), and a transport with the Ninth Connecticut, Colonel Cahill, and Everett's battery on board. Fortunately for the Biloxians, they were quiet. Their place was captured without opposition, and the Mayor was compelled to make a humble apology in writing for the jjerfidy of his fellow-citizens in the matter of the flag of truce. Leaving Biloxi, Major Strong went westward to Pass Christian. While his vessels lay at anchor there that night, they were attacked by three Con federate gun-boats, that stole out of Lake Borgne. The assailants were repulsed. Major Strong then landed his troops, and, making a forced march, surprised and captured a Confederate camp three miles distant. The soldiers had fled. The camp was destroyed, and the public stores in the town on the beach were seized and carried away. Major Strong also captured Mis sissippi City. 328 PLAN FOR THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS. CHAPTEE XIII. THE CAPTUEE OF NEW OELEANS. HIP ISLAND was the place of rendezvous for the naval as well as the land portion of the forces destined for the capture of New Orleans. The naval force was placed under the command of Captain David G. Farragut, a loyal Tennesseean, who sailed from Hampton Roads in the National armed steamer Hartford, on the 2d of Febru ary, 1862, and arrived in the harbor of Ship Island on the 20th of the same month, having been detained by sick ness at Key West. He had been instructed by the Secretary of " ^1862"' ''^^ Navy" to proceed with all possible dispatch to the Gulf of Mexico, with orders for Flag-officer McKean, on duty there, to transfer to tho former the command of the Western Gulf squadron. He was informed that a fleet of bomb-vessels, under Commander David D. Porter (with whose father Farragut had cruised in the Essex during the war of 1812), would be attached to his squadron, and these were to rendezvous at Key West. He was directed to proceed up the Mississippi so soon as the mortar-vessels were ready, with such others as might be spared from the blockade, reduce the defenses which guarded the approaches to New Orleans, and, taking possession of that city under the guns of his squadron, hoist the American flag in it, and hold possession until troops could be sent to him. If the Mississippi exjscdition from Cairo should then not have descended the river, he was to take advantage of the panic which his seizure of New Orleans -vvould produce, and push a strong force up the -stream, to take all their defenses in the rear. " Destroy the armed barriers which these deluded people have raised up against the power of the United States Government," said the Secretary, '' and shoot down those who war against the Union ; but cultivate with cordiality the first returning reason, which is sure to follow your success." With these instructions, and with plans of the known works on the lo-wer Mississippi, furnished by General Barnard, who constructed Fort St. Philip, one of the chief of those works, Farragut proceeded to the performance of the duties required of him. Porter's mortar fieet had been for several months in preparation at the Navy Yard at Brooklyn, and had caused a great deal of speculation. It con sisted of twenty-one schooners of from two hundred to three hundred tous each, made -very strong, and constructed so as to draw as little water as pos sible. They were armed with mortars of eight and a half tons weight, that would throw a 15-inch shell, weighing, when filled, two hundred and twelve pounds. Each vessel also carried two 32-pounder rifled cannon. They rendez- THE DEFENSES OF NEW ORLEANS. 329 voused at Key West ; and when all were in readiness, it was arranged that the forts below New Orleans should be first attacked by Porter's fleet, Far ragut and his larger and stronger ves sels remaining in a reserve just outside ofthe range of the Confederate guns, until they should be silenced by the mortars. Failing in that, Farragut was to attempt to run by the forts. When this should be accomplished, he was to clear the river of the Confede rate vessels and isolate the forts from their supplies and supports, when General Butler should land his troops in the rear of Fort St. Philip, the weaker fortification, and attempt to carry it by assault. If success should crown these efforts, the land and naval (. ^ J. T TWT DAVID D. PORTEE. forces were to pass on toward JNcw Orleans in such manner as might seem best. For these purposes, the com bined forces were ready for action at the middle of- April. The Confederates had made the most ample provisions, as they thought, for the sure defense of New Orleans. The infamous General Twiggs,' whom the Louisiana insurgents had called to their command, had been superseded by Mansfield Lovell, formerly a politician and office-holder in the City of New York. He was assisted by General Ruggles, a man of considerable energy. Lovell everywhere saw evidences of Twiggs's imbecility ; and, when he was informed of the gathering of National ships and soldiers in the Gulf, he perceived the necessity of strongly guarding every avenue of approach to New Orleans.' Lovell's special efforts for defense were put forth on the banks of the Mis sissippi, between the city and its passes or mouths.' The principal of these were E'orts Jackson and St. Philip, the former built by the Government, and the latter was an old Spanish fortress, whioh had figured somewhat in the war of 1812. These were at a bend of the Mississippi, about seventy-five miles above its passes. They occupied opposite sides of the stream, and were under the immediate command of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Higgins, a Virginian. The general command of the lAvav defenses was intrusted to General J. K. Duncan, formerly an office-holder in New York, who was regarded as one of the best artillerists in the Confederate service. The armament of the forts, for which they were prepared, was one hundred and fifty guns each. Between Fort Jackson, on the right bank of the river, 1 See pngo 26.5, volume I. ¦^ This was by far the largest and most important city within the bounds of the Confederacy. It Is on tho eastern side of the Missl&si[ipl Eiver, about one hundred miles above its jtasses, or mouths, and has tvvo extensive bodies of water lying to the north and east of it, named, resi)ectively. Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne. Its population was about 170,000 when the war began. Being at the outlet to the sea of the v.ast products of the region watered by the Mississippi and its tributaries, it had the largest export trade of any city in the world. " The principal passes by which the waters of the Mississippi flow into the Gulf of Mexico, through vast morasses, are flve in number, and named respectively, the Southwest, South, Southeast, and East Pass, and Pass h rOutre. The seaward edge of these passes lies almost directly upon the arc of a circle with a radius of flftC'-Ti milcs. 330 CONFIDENCE OF THE INSURGENTS. and the opposite shore, seven hundred yards distant, a heavy iron chain-cable was stretched upon buoys made of cypress logs, and covered by a battery at each end. Adjoining Fort Jackson a formidable water-battery was constructed 5 and under the guns ofthe forts lay a fleet composed of thirteen gun-boats, a powerful iron clad floating battery called the Louisiana, and the ram Manassas, already men tioned.' Also numerous fire- rafts, prepared to send down to destroy the invading fleet. In and around New- Orleans was a force estimated at about ten thousand men, which the newspapers mag nified, for the purpose of alarming the Nationals and strengthening the faith of the people." That faitii in the defenses of the city wa,B very strong, for they believed them to be impregnable. Never doubting that impregnability, the citizens continued their occupations as usual. One of the journals boastingly said, " Our only fear is, that the northern invaders may not appear. We have made such exten sive preparations to receive them, that it were vexatious if their invincible armada escapes the fate we have in store for it."' " The authorities at Rich mond were so well assured of safety, by General Duncan, that they refused even to entertain the possibility of a penetration of the outer line of defenses, even when the mortar-fleet had begun its work."^ All things were in readiness for assault on the lYth of April. The fleets of Farragut and Porter^ were in the river, and Butler, with about nine thousand troops,' was ready at the Southwest Pass, just below, to THE LO-(JISTANA. 1 See page 118. ¦ = The New Orleans Picayune of April 5 said, " We have 82,000 infantry, and as many more quartered In the neighborhood. In discii)line and drill they are far superior to the Yankees. We have two very able and active generals, who possess our entire confldence— General Mansfleld Lovell and Brigadier-General Euggles. For Commodore, we have old Hollins— a Nelson iu his way." ^ New Orleans Picayune, April 5, 1862. ¦¦ Pollard's First Year of the War, page 310. ° These consisted of forty-seven armed vessels, eight of which were large and powerful steam sloops-of-war. Fiirragut's fleet was composed of the steamers Hartford (the fl.ig-ship). Gaptain -V7.ainright; sloops Pensacola, Captain Morris, and Brooklyn, Captain Craven, 24 gnns each; Ridimond, Captain Alden, 26; Mississippi, Captain M. Smith, 12; Iroquois, Commander Do Camp, and COwitZa, Commander S. P. Lee. 9 each; sailing sloop-of-war Portsmouth, 17 ; gun-boats Varuna, Captain Boggs, 12 ; Cayuga, Lieutenant Harrison, 5 ; Wimtia, Lieutenant Nichols, 4 ; Hatalidin, Lieatenunt Preble, 6; /ftrsfrt, Lieutenant Caldwell, 5; KinM, Lieutenant Eansom, 5 ; Wissahickon, Lieutenant A. N. Smith, 3 ; Pinnla, Lieutenant Crosby ; Kennebec, Lieutenant Eus sell, 5; Sciota, Lieutenant Donalson, 6; schooner Kitiatinny, Lieutenant Lamson, 9 ; Miami, Lieutenant Harroll, 6 ; Clifton, 5 ; and Westfield, Captain Eenshaw, 6. There were twenty mcjrtar-vessels. In three divisions, the flrst, or Eed, of six vessels, unth^r Lieutenant Watson Smith, in tho Xoi'folk Packet; the second, or Blue, of seven vessels, commanded by Lieutenant Queen, in tho T. A. Ward; nnd the third, or White, of seven ves sels, commanded by Lieutenant Brocse, in tho Horace Beales. The names of the mortar-vessels were ; Norfolk Packet, Oliver H. Lee, Para, C. P. William.^. Orletta, Wdliam Bacon, T. A. Ward, Sidney 0. Jones, Mut- thew Tasstir, Jr., Maria J. Carlton, Orvetta, Adolphe Ilugel, George Mangham, Horace Beales, John Grif- flili, Sarah Bruin, Racer, Sea Foam, Henry James, Dan Smith, accompanied by the steamer Harriet Lnne, 4 (Porter's flag-ship-), and the gun-boat Owasco, Lieutenant Guost, 5. Some were only armed tugs, intended for the purpose of towing the mortar-schooners Into position. « Butler's troops, borne on flve transports, consisted ofthe following regiments : On the Mississippi. Oi^ Commanding General and the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts, Colonel Jones: Thirty-flrst Mass.achusett,l, Colonel Gooding, and Everett's Sixth Massachusetts battery. On the Matantsas, General Phelps, with tho Ninth Con- NATIONAL VESSELS IN THE MISSISSIPPI. 331 jMuItTAll VESSELS DISGUISED. co-operate.' So early as the 28th of March, Fleet-captain Henry H. Bell had made a reconnoissance well up toward Fort Jackson, with two gun-boats, and found a thick wood covering the shores of the Mississippi for about four miles below it. This was favorable for the intended operations of the Nationals. On the Sth of April, a detachment of the coast-survey party made a minute examination of the river-banks under the protection of the Owasco; and, on the 18th, two divisions (four teen vessels) of Portei''s fiotilla were moored under cover of the wood, on the shores just below Fort Jackson. To prevent the discovery of his move ment. Porter had daubed the hulls of his vessels with Mississippi mud, and clothed their masts and rigging with the boughs of trees, in such a way that they could not, at a distance, be distinguished from the forest. As when "Birnamwood" moved "toward Dunsinane," the strategy was successful, and his vessels were moored at desirable points without being discovered, the nearest one being two thou sand eight hundred and fifty yards from Fort Jackson, and three thousand six hundred and eighty from Fort St. Philip. The remaining division (six vessels) was moored on the opposite side of the river, at a little greater distance from the forts, the hulls ofthe vessels screened by reeds and willows to conceal their character. The Mississippi was full to the brim. It was rising, and gradually submerging the adjacent country. The chain and its supports at Fort Jackson had been swept away by the flood, and only slight obstructions appeared in its place, composed of eight hulks and some of the cypress logs chained together. The battle was begun before nine o'clock on the morning of the 1 8th, by a shot from Fort Jackson. As soon as Porter was ready, the Owasco opened fii-e, and the bombardment was commenced by the fourteen mortar-vessels, concealed by the woods, and the six in full view of the forts. Porter was in a position on the Harriet Lane to observe the effects of the shells, and he directed their range accordingly ; and by ten o'clock the conflict was very warm. It was continued for several days with very little intermission, the gun-boats taking part by running up when the mortar-vessels needed relief, and firing heavy shells upon the forts. Perceiving little chance for reducing the forts, Farragut prepared to execute another part of his instructions by running by them. On ^ ^ ^^.^ .^ the 20th'' he called a council of captains in the cabin ofthe Hart- necticut. Colonel Cahill, and Holcomb's Second Vermont battery. On the Great Republic, General Williams, with the Twenty-flrst Indiana, Colonel McMiUen; Fourth Wisconsin, Colonel P.alne, and Sixth Michigan, Colo nel Cortinns. On the North America, the Thirtieth Massachusetts, Colonel Dudley, and a company each of Eeed's and Durivage's cavalry. On the Will Farley, the Twelfth Connecticut, Colonel Deming. ^ On that day the Confederates sent down a "flre-ship" — a fl.at-boat filled with wood saturated with tar and turpentine — to burn the fleet. It came swiftly down the strong current, freighted with destruction ; but it waa qnietiy stopped in its career by some men in a small boat that went out frora tho Iroquois, who seizt-d it with grappling irons, towed it to the shore, and there let it burn out in perfect harmlessness. 332 BOMBARDMENT OF FORTS JAOICSON AND ST. PHILIP. ATTAOK ON THB FOKTS. ford, when that measure was decided upon. General Butler, who had arrived with his staff, had been up in a tug to take a look at the obstructions, and had reported that they must be opened before any vessels could pass, especially when under fire. So, at ten o'clock that night, under cover of intense darkness, the wind blow ing fiercely from the north. Commander Bell, with the Pinola and Itasha, supported by the Iroquois, Kenne bec, and Winona, ran up to the boom. The Pinola ran to the hulk under the guns of Fort Jackson, and an attempt was made to destroy it by a petard, but failed. The Itaska was lashed to the next hulk, when a rocket thrown up from Fort Jackson revealed her presence, and a heavy fire from the fortress was opened upon her. The vigorous application of chisels, sledges, and saws for half an hour parted the boom of chains and logs, and the hulk to A^'hich the Daska was lashed swung round and grounded the latter in the mud, in shallow water. The Pinola. rescued her. T-«'o hours afterward an immense fire-raft came roaring down the stream like a tornado, and, like its predecessors on similar errands, it was caught, and rendered harmless to the vessels it w^as intended to destroy. Day after day the bombardment was continued, and night after night the fire-rafts were sent blazing down the stream. Fort Jackson, the principal object of attack, still held out. On the first day of the assault, its citadel was set on fire by Porter's shells and destroyed, with all the clothing and commissary stores, the garrison sufifering severely for several hours from the intense heat of the conflagration. On the 1 9th, the mortar-schooner Maria J. Carleton was sunk by a rifle-shell from Fort Jackson, and, at the same time, the levee having been broken in scores of places by exjjloding shells, the waters of the Mississippi had flooded the parade-ground and casemates of the fort. For six days the bombardment continued, -with such slight eifect that Duncan reported that he had suffered very little, notwithstanding his barbette guns had been disabled at times, and that twenty-five thousand heavy shells had been hurled at him, of whicli one thousand had fallen within the fort.' " God is certainly protecting us," he said. " We are still cheer ful, and have an abiding faith in our ultimate success." 1 1862 -^^ sunset on the 23d,'' Farragut -was ready for his perilous forward movement. The mortar-boats, keeping their position, were to cover the advance with their fire. Six gun-boats {Harriet Lane, Westfield, Owasco, Clinton, Miami, and Jackson, the last towing the Ports-^ mouth) Avere to engage the -\vater-battery below Fort Jackson, but not to make an attempt to pass it. Farragut, with his flag-ship Hartford, and the equally large ships Richmond and Drooklyn, that formed the first division, was to keep near the right bank of the river, and fight Fort Jackson, while Captain Theodorus Bailey, with the second division, composed of 1 Duncan was not singular amoni Confederate odlcors in making other than the most exaggerated reports for the public. The numher of shells thrown was about flve thousand, and the number' that entered the fort about three hundred. THE WAR VESSELS PASS THE FORTS. 333 TnKUI)OP.i:8 BAILEY. the Pensacola, Mississippi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdin, Kineo, Wissa hickon, and Portsmouth, was to keep closely to the eastern bank, aud fight Fort St. Philip. To Captain Bell was assigned the duty of attack ing the Confederate fleet above the forts. He was to keep in the channel of the river with the Sciota, Winona, Iroquois, Pinola, Itaska, and Ken nebec, and push right on to his as signed work without regard to the forts. General Butler and his stafT went on board the Saxon, and at eleven o'clock at night a signal from the Itaska, that had run up to the boom, announced the channel clear of obstructions, excepting the hulks, which, with care, might be passed. The night was very dark, owing to a heavy fog ; and the smoke from the steamers settled upon the waters, and shrouded every thing m almost impenetrable gloom. At one o'clock' in the morning," everybody was called to action. There was an ominous silence at the forts, Avhich the inexperienced thought indicated their evacuation. It was not so. preparations for a more formidable assault were going on there. now in command of Commodore Whittle, was summoned to a rendezvous near the fort ; and other preparations indicated that a knowledge of the movement about to take place below had been communicated to the Con federate commanders. The fleet moved at two o'clock, and at half-past three the divisions of Farragut and Bailey were going abreast up the swift stream, at the rate of four miles an hour. Then the mortars (the vessels still at their moorings), which were prepared for the most rapid firing, opened a terrible storm on Fort Jackson. Not less than half a dozen enormous shells were screaming through the thick night air, -with their fiery trails, at the same moment. Steadily the fleet moved on, when the discovery of the Cayuga, Captain Bailey's ship, just as she had passed the opening in the boom, caused the forts to break their long silence, and bring heavy guns to bear upon her. She did not reply until she was close under those of Fort St. Philip, when she gave that work heavy broadsides of grape and canister as she passed by. The Pensa cola, Mississippi, Varuna, and Portsmouth were following close in the wake of the Cayuga, and in all respects imitated her example ; and the whole of Bailey's division passed the forts almost unharmed, excepting the sailing A'essel Portsmouth, which, on firing a single broadside, lost her tow and drifted down the ri\'er. Captain Bell was less fortunate. The Sciota, Iroquois, and Pinola passed the forts, but the Itasca was disabled by a storm of shot, one of which pierced her boiler, and she drifted helplessly down the river. From that storm the Winona recoiled, and the Kennebec, becoming entano-lcd in the a April 24, 1862. Energetic The fleet. 334 SHIPS AND FORTS IN CONFLICT. obstructions, lost her way in the intense darkness, and finally returned to her moorings below. The waning moon was now just above the horizon, and the mist and smoke had become less dense. Farragut, in the fore-rigging of the Hartford, had been watching the movements of Bailey and Bell through his night- glass with the greatest interest, while the vessels under his immediate com mand v/pre slowly approaching Fort Jackson. When he was within a mile and a quarter of it, the heavy guns of that fortress opened with a remarkable precision of aim, and the Hartford was struck several times. Farragut had mounted two guns upon the "forecastle, and with these he promptly replied, at the same time pushing ahead directly for the fort. When he was within half a mile of it, he sheered off and gave the garrison such broadsides of grape and canister that they were driven from all their barbette guns. But the casemate guns were kept in full play, and the conflict became very severe. The Richmond soon joined in the fight ; but the Drooklyn lagged behind, in consequence of becom ing entangled with one of the hulks that bore up the great chain. As soon as the Drooklyn was extri cated and turned its bow up the river, the ram Manassas came down upon it furiously, and fired from its trap door, -ivhen within about ten feet of the ship, a heavy bolt at thcBrooA- lyn^s smoke-stack, which fortunately lodged in some sand-bags that protected her steam-drum. The next moment the ram butted into the ship's starboard gang-way, but the chain armor that had been formed over the sides of the Drooklyn so protected it that the Manassas glanced off' and disappeared in the gloom. The Drooklyn had been exposed to a raking fire from Fort Jackson while entangled in the boom and encountering the Manassas. She had just escaped the latter, when a large Confederate steamer assailed her. She gave it a broadside that set it on fire and consigned it to swift destruction. Then pushing slowly on in the dark she sud denly found herself abreast Fort St. Philip, and very close to it. She was in a position to bring all her guns to bear upon it in the course of a few minutes. This was done with powerful effect. " I had the satisfaction," said Captain Craven in his re port, " of completely silencing that work before I left it, my men in the tops witnessing, in the fiashes of the bursting shrap nel,' the enemy running like sheep for more comfortable quarters." ^ A Shrapnel shell is sometimes spherical and sometiraes conical, like tli.it represented iu section In the engraving. They are hollow spheres or cones of iron, filled with musket-balls or grape-shot, with sufflclent gun powder to explode them when ignited by a fuse. The balls are then scattered and aro very destructive; EAM MANASSAS ATTACKING THE BROOKLYN. A HEAVY BOMBARDMENT. 335 Commodore Farragut, in the mean time, " was having a rough time of it," as he said. While battling with the forts, a huge fire-raft, pushed by the Manassas, came suddenly upon him, all a-blaze. In trying to avoid this, the Hartford was run aground, and the incendiary came crashing alongside of her. " In a moment," said Farragut, " the ship was one blaze all along the port side, half way up to the main and mizzen tops. But thanks to the good organization of the fire department, by Lieutenant Thornton, the flames were extinguished, and at the same time we backed off" and got clear of the raft. All this time yve were pouring shells into the forts, and they into us, and now and then a rebel steam er would get under our fire and receive our salutation of a broad side." Before the fleet had fairly passed the forts, the Confederate gun boats and rams appear ed and took part in the battle, producing a scene at once awful and grand. The noise of twenty mortars and two hun dred and sixty great guns, afioat and ashore, was terrific. The explosion of shells, sunken deep in the oozy earth in and around the forts, shook land and water like an earth quake; and the surface of the river was strewn with dead and helpless fishes stunned by the concussions. " Combine," said Major Bell, of Butler's staff, "all that you have ever heard of thunder, and add to it all you have ever seen of lightning, and you have perhaps a conception ofthe scene." And all this noise and destructive energy — the blazing fire-rafts, the floating volcanoes sending forth fire and smoke, and bolts of death, and the thunder ing forts, and the ponderous rams, were all crowded, in "the greatest darkness just before the dawn," within the space of a narrow river — "too narrow," said Farragut, " for more than two or three vessels to act to advan tage. My greatest fear was that we should fire into each other ; and Captain Wainwright and myself were hallooing ourselves hoarse at the men not to fire into our ships." We have observed that the fieet had not fairly passed the river obstruc tions before the Confederate rams and gun-boats appeared.' The Cayuga encountered that flotilla as soon as she passed Fort St. Philip. The ram THE UAETFOKD. ' There wero six rams, named Warrior, Stonewall Jackson, Defiance, Resolute, Governor Moore, and General Quitman, commanded respectively by Captains Stephenson, Philips, McCoy, Hooper, Kennon, and Grant These were river steamers, raade shot-proof by cotton bulk-heads, and furnished with iron prows for pushing. The i-iim Manassas, then commanded by Captain Warley, was an entirely different aifair. She -was thus described hy an eye-witness ; " She is about one hundred feet long and twenty feet be.am. nnd draws from nine to twelve feet water. Her shape above water is nearly that of half a sharply pointed egg-sliell, so that a shot wilt glance from her, no matter where it strikes. Her back is formed of twelve-ineh oak, covered with one- and-a-half-inch bar iron. She has two chimneys, so arranged as to slide down in time of action. The pilot- 336 A DESPERATE NAVAL BATTLE. Manassas, the floating battery Louisiana, and sixteen other armed vessels, all under the command of Captain Mitchell ofthe Louisiana, were, for a few moments, intent upon her destruction. To stand and fight would have been madness in Captain Bailey, for no supporting friend appeared. So he exer cised his skill in steering his vessel in a manner to escape tho butting of the rams, and the attempts to board her. Thus he saved the Cayuga. He did more. In his maneuvers he was offensive as well as defensive, and compelled three of the Confederate gun-boats to surrender to him before the Varuna, Captain Boggs, and the Oneida, Captain Lee, came to his rescue. The Ca yuga had been struck forty-t-vvo times during the struggle, and -«-as so much damaged in masts and rigging that Captain Bailey thought it prudent to withdraw from the battle. The Varuna was now the chief object of the wrath of the foe, and terribly its vials were poured upon her. Commander Boggs said, in his report, that immediately after passing the forts, he found himself " amid a nest of rebel steamers." His vessel rushed into their midst, and fired broadsides into each as he passed. The first one that received the Varimd's fire seemed to be crowded ¦ndth troops. Her boiler was exploded by a shot, and she drifted ashore. Soon afterward the Varuna drove three other vessels (one a gun-boat) ashore, in flames, and all of them blew up. She was soon afterward furiously attacked by the ram Gov ernor Moore, commanded by Beverly Kennon, who had abandoned his flag. It raked along the Varuna's port gangway, killing four and wounding nine of her crew. Boggs managed, he said, " to get a three-inch shell into her, abaft her armor, and also several shot from the after rifled gun, when she dropped out of action, partially dis abled." Meanwhile another ram, its iron prow under water, struck the Varuna a heavy blow in the port gang-^vay. The Varund's shot in return glanced harmlessly from the armored bow of her antagonist. Backing off a short distance, and then shooting forward, the ram gave the Varuna another blow at the same place, and crushed in her side. The ram, becoming entangled, was drawn around nearly to the side of the Varuna, when Boggs gave her five 8-inch shells abaft her armor from his port guns. " This settled her, said Boggs, " and drove her ashore in flames." Finding his own vessel sink ing, he ran her into the bank, let go her anchor, and tied her bow up to the CHARLES BOGGS, house is in the stern of the boat. She is worked by a powerful propeller, but cannot stem a strong current. She carries only one gun, a 68-pounder, right in her bow. "There is only one entrance to her, through a trap-door in ber back. Her port-hole is fhmished with a heavily plated trnp, which springs up when the gun Is run out, and falls down when it Is run back. How tlio crew get thar light and air, I cannot pretend to say.'' CAPTURE OF THE QUARANTINE GROUNDS. 337 trees. All that time her guns were at work crippling the Moore, and they did not cease until the water was over the gun-trucks, when Boggs turned his attention to getting the wounded and crew out of the vessel. Just then, the Oneida, Captain Lee, came to the rescue of the Varuna, but Boggs "waved him on" after the Moore, which was then in flames. The latter was surrendered to the Oneida by* her second oflicer. She had lost fifty of her men, killed and maimed ; and Kennon, her commander, had set her on fire and fled, leaving his wounded to the cruelty of the flames." Thus ended one of the most desperate combats recorded in the history of the war. It -\vas " short, sharp, and decisive." Within the space of an hour and a half after the National vessels left their anchorage, the forts were passed, the struggle had occurred, and eleven of the Confede rate vessels, or nearly the whole of their fleet, were destroyed. The National loss was thirty killed and not more than one hundred" and twenty-five wounded. When Captain Bailey -withdrew with the crippled Cayuga, and left the A'^;A^- . .;'.''»!r«w-*^ VIEW AT THE QUARANTINE GROUNDS.^ Varuna to continue the fight, he moved up the river to the Quarantine Sta tion, a short distance above Fort St. Philip. On the west bank of the river opposite was a battery, in charge of several companies of Confederate sharp shooters of the Chalmette (Louisiana) regiment, commanded by Colonel Szymanski, a Pole. On the approach of the Cayuga they attempted to flee, but a volley of canister-shot from her guns made them halt, and they became ^ Eeport of Captain Charles Boggs to. Commodore Farragut, April 29th, 1S62. In his report Captain Boggs warmly commended a powder-boy named Oscar Peck, only thirteen years of age, -n'hose coolness and bravery were remarkable. Seeing' him pass quickly, Boggs inquired where he was going in such a hurry. "To get a passing-box, Sir," he replied; "the other was smashed by a ball.'' When the Varuna went down, the boy was missed. Ho had stood by ^ne of the guns, and had been cast into the water. In a few minutes he was seen swimming toward the wreck. When he got on the part above Water, on which Boggs was standing, he gave the usual salute and said, " All right. Sir ; I report myself on board." ^ This is a view of the quarantine grounds, its buildings, and a store-house, built of brick, belonging to tho Government, and situated on the east or left bnnk of the Mississippi, just above the forts. This was the flrst Government property in Louisiana " repossessed " by the Government. The store-house is seen on the right The next building was a hospital, and the small house next to if was General Butler's head-quarters when he took possession of the grounds. TOL. ir.— 22 338 THE LAND TROOPS ON THE MISSISSIPPL prisoners of war. The battle was now over, and all of Farragut's ships, twelve in number, that had passed the forts joined the Cayuga. Then the dead were carried ashore and buried. While this desperate battle was r.aging, the land troops, under General Butler, had been preparing for their part in the drama. They were in the transports at the Passes, and had distinctly heard the booming of the guns and mortars. The General and his staff, as we have observed, were on the Saxon. She followed close in the rear of Bailey's division, until the plunging of shells from the forts into the water around her warned the commanding General that he had gone far enough. So eager had been his interest in the scenes before him, that he had entered the arena of imminent danger without perceiving it. He ordered the Saxon to drop a little astern, to the great relief of her Captain, to whom a flaming shell would have been specially unwelcome, for his vessel was laden with eight hundred barrels of gun powder. Almost at the same moment the Manassas, that had been terribly pounded by the Mississippi, and sent adrift in a helpless state, -\vas seen moving down into the midst of Porter's mortar-fleet. Some of these opened fire upon her, but it was soon perceived that she was harmless. Her pipes were all twisted and riddled by shot, and her hull was well battered and pierced. Smoke was issuing from eveiy open ing, for she was on fire. In a few minutes her only gun went of^ and the flames burst out from her bow-port and stern trap-door. Giving a plunge, like some huge monster, she went hissing to the bottom of the JMis- sissippi. Farragut had now thirteen of his vessels in safety above the forts, and he prepared to move up to New Orleans, while Porter, with his mortar-fleet, was still below them, and they were yet firmly held by the Confederates. , The time for Butler to act had arrived. Half an hour after Farragut had reached the Quarantine, he sent Captain Boggs in a small boat, through shallow bayous in the rear of Fort St. Philip with dispatches for Butler and Porter. The former had already procured the light-drafb steamer Miami from Porter, and had hastened to his transports. These were taken to Sable Island, twelve miles in the rear of Fort St. Philip, and from that point the troops made their way in small boats through the narrow and shallow bayous with the greatest fatigue, under the general pilotage of Lieutenant Weitzel. Sometimes the boats were dragged by men waist deep in cold and muddy water ; but the work was soon and well accomplished, and on the night ofthe 2'7th Butler was at the Quarantine, ready to begin the meditated assault on Fort St. Philip the next day. His troops were landed a short distance above the fort, under cover of the guns of the Mississippi and Kineo. A small force was sent across the river to a position not far above Fort Jackson. THE MANA8SA8. CAPTURE OF FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP. 339 In the mean time Porter had been pounding Fort Jackson terribly with the" shells from his mortars. On the 26th, he sent a fiag of truce with a demand for its surrender, and saying that he had information that Commo dore Farragut was in possession of New Orleans. On the following morning. Colonel Higgins, the commander of the forts, replied that he had no official information of the surrender" of New Orleans, and, until such should be received by him, no proposition for a surrender of the works under his com mand could be entertained for a moment. On the same day, General Duncan, then in Fort Jackson, issued an address to the soldiers, as the commander of the coast defenses, urging them to continue the contest, saying : " The safety of New Orleans and the cause of the Southern Confederacy — our homes, families, and every thing dear to raan — yet depend upon our exertions. We are just as capable of repelling the enemy to-day as we were before the bombardment." But the soldiers did not all agree with him in opinion. They savv the blackened fragments of vessels and other property strewing the swift current of the Mississippi, and were satisfied that the rumors of the fall of New Orleans that had reached them were true. They had also heard of Butler's troops in the rear of Fort St. Philip. So that night a lai-ge por tion of the garrison mutinied, spiked the guns bearing up the river, and the next day sallied out and surrendered themselves to Butler's j)ickets on that side of the river, saying they had been impressed, and would fight the Gov emment no longer. Colonel Higgins now saw that all was lost, and he hastened to accept the generous terms which Porter had offered. While these terms were being reduced to writing in the cabin of the HarrietLane,^ Mitchell towed his battery (the Louisiana), which lay above the forts, out into the strong current, set her on fire, and aban doned her, with her guns all shotted. He expected she would blow up in the midst of the mortar-fleet, but the explosion occurred when she was abreast of Fort St. PhiUp, when a flying frag ment from her killed one of its garrison. She at once went to the bottom of the river, and the remaining Confederate steamers surrendered without resist- PLAN OP FORT JACKSON. ' The capitulation was signed on tho part of the Nationals by Commanders David D. Porter and W. B Eenshaw, and Lieutenant W, W. Wainright, commander ofthe Harriet Lane; and on the part of the Confede rates by General J. K. Duncan, commander of the coast defenses, and Colonel Edwin Higgins, the commander of the forts. The writer was informed by an oflio er of the navy who was present at the surrender of Fort Jack son, that when the flag-offlcer of that work was asked for the garrison flag, which was not to be seen, he pre tended to be ignorant of its whereabouts. He appeared to be unduly corpulent, and, on a personal examination, it waa found that his obesity was caused by the flag, which was wrapped .wound his body. 340 EXCITEMENT IN NEW ORLEANS. ance.' Commodore Porter turned over the forts and all their contents to General Phelps. Fort Jackson was only injured in its interior works, and Fort St. Philip was as perfect as when the bombardment began. ° No reliable report of the losses of the Confederates in killed and wounded was ever given. The number of prisoners surrendered, including those of the Chal mette regiment and on board of the gun-boats last taken, amounted to nearly one thousand. The entire loss of the Nationals, from the beginning of the contest until New Orleans was taken, was forty killed and one hundred and seventy-seven wounded. Porter told Higgins the truth when he said Farragut was in possession of New Orleans. The city was really lost when the Commodore's thirteen armed vessels were lying in safety and in fair condition at ¦"^^2.^ the Quarantme.° Of this imminent peril of the city General Lovell had been impressed early that morning. He had come down in his steamer Doubloon, and arrived just as the National fleet was passing the forts. He came near being captured in the terrible melee \ on the river that ensued, and sought safety on shore. Then he hastened to New Orleans as fast as courier horses could take him, traveling chiefly along the levee, for much of the country was overflowed. He arrived there early in the afternoon, and confirmed the intelligence of disaster which had already reached the citizens. A ^^=nr.^ . —=^ fearful j)anio ensued. Drums were beating ; soldiers were seen hurrying to and fro ; merchants fled from their stores ; women without bonnets and brandishing pistols were seen in the streets, crying, " Burn the city ! Never mind us ! Burn the city !* Military officers impressed vehicles into the ser vice of carrying cotton to the levees to be burned. Specie, to the amount of four millions of dollars, -vvas sent out of the city by railway ; the consulates were crowded with foreigners deposit- MANSFIELD LOVELL. TWIGOS'S IIOUSE.^ * There seems to li.avo been no kindly co-operation between tho forts and the Confederate fleet, and some very spicy correspondence occurred between General Duncnn and Captain Mitchell. The former, in his official report, declared that tho great disaster was " the sheer result of that lack of cheerful and hearty co-operation from the defenses afloat " which he had a right to expect = Over 1,600 shells fell inside of Tort Jackson, 170 in the water-battery, and about 3,000 in the ditches around the works. For minute particulars of tho battle and its results, see tho reports of Captains Farragut and Porter, and their subordinate commanders ; of General Butler and those under his command ; and of General Duncan and Colonel Higgins, of the Confederate forces. 8 This was the appearance of Twiggs's residence when the writer visited it, in the spring of 1866, It was .1 MILITARY EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS. 341 ing their money and other valuables for safety from the impending storm ; and poor old Twiggs, the traitor, like his former master, Floyd, fearing the wrath of his injured Government, fled from his home, leaving in the care of a young woman the two swords which had been awarded him for his services in Mexico, to fall into the hands of the conquerors who speedily came.' On his way to New Orleans, Lovell had ordered General Smith, who was in command of the river defenses below the town, known as the Chalmette bat teries,- to make all possible resistance ; and in the city he tried to raise a thou sand volunteers, who should make a desperate attempt to board and capture the National vessels, but he found only one hun-" dred men who evinced sufficient courage or de^eratioir to under take the perilous task. Lovell was satisfied himself, and he con vinced the city authori ties that the regular and volunteer troops under his immediate command were too few to make resistance, and he could not rely on the mili tia conscripts, nor a regiment of free colored men who had been pressed into the service, in the presence of foes that they might wel come as their friends. These considerations, and the fact that, on account of the height of the river surface at that time of flood, a gun-boat might pass up to Kenner's plantation, ten miles above the city, and command the narrow neck between the river and the swamp, across which the railway passes, and thus prevent the troops and supplies going out, or supplies and re-enforcements going into the town, made it absolutely necessary that they should escape as soon as possible. So Lovell prepared to abandon New Orleans. He disbanded the conscripts, and sent stores, munitions of war, and other valuable property up the country by steamboats and the railroad ; and while a portion of the vol unteers hastened to Camp Moore, on the Jackson and New Orleans NEW OELEANS AND ITS VICINITY. large brick house, at the junction of Camp and Magazine Streets, and was then used by General Canby, the com mander of the Department, as the quarters of his paymaster. ' Partoii's Butler im New Orleans, page 264, ^ These \76re on each side of the river. There were five 32-pounders on one side and nine on the other. 342 DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AT NEW ORLEANS. railway, seventy-eight miles distant, the regiment of colored troops refused to go. With nine vessels Farragut proceeded up the river on the morning ofthe 2oth, and when near the English Turn he met evidences of the abandonment of New Orleans by the Confederates in the form of blazing ships, loaded with cotton, that came "floating down the stream. Soon afterward, he discovered the Chalmette batteries on both sides of the Mississippi, a few miles below the city, and at once made dispositions to attack them. The river was so full that his vessels completely commanded the Confederate works. Moving in two lines, they proceeded to the business of disabling them. The gallant Bailey, who had not noticed the signal for close order, was far ahead with the Cayuga, and for twenty minutes she sustained a heavy cross-' fire alone. Farragut pressed forward with the Hartford, and, passing the Cayuga, gave the batteries such destructive broadsides of shell, grape, and shrapnel that at the first discharge the Cgnfederates were dri-C-en from their guns. The Pensacola and the Drooklyn, and then the remainder of the fleet, followed the Hartford's example, and in the course of twenty minutes the batteries were silenced and their men were running for their lives. The victors were now in the midst of a terrific scene. The river was strewn with fire rafts, burning steamers, and blazing cotton bales, and over hung by an awful canopy of black smoke, se'nt up by the great confiagration. As soon as it was known that the National vessels -\vere approaching the city, another great panic prevailed, and the work of destruction of property commenced, by order of the Governor of Louisiana and General Lovell.' In a very short time a sheet of flame and pall of smoke, caused by burning cot ton, sugar, and other staples of that region, were seen along the levee for the ._^ distance of five miles. Foolish ly believing that the cotton which they regarded as king was the chief object of the Nationals, the infatuated people sent it in huge loads to the levee to be destroyed. In front of the va rious presses along the river front it -\vas piled and fired, and in this way no less than fifteen thousand bales, valued at one million five hundred thousand dollars, were consumed. More than a dozen large ships, some of them laden with cotton, and as many magnificent steamboats, with unfinished gun boats and other vessels, were soon wrapped in flames and sent floating down the river, the Confederates hoping they might destroy the approaehmg THE LEVEE AT NEW OKLEANS. 1 Pollard, i. 816. COMMODORE FARRAGUT AT NEW ORLEANS. 343 vessels." Bnt the latter all escaped, and at about one o'clock in the after noon Farragut's squadron was anchored off" the city, while a violent thunder storm was raging. New Orleans was now utterly defenseless. Lovell was there, but a greater portion of his troops had been sent away, with the concurrence of the civil authorities, who wished to spare the town the horrors of a bombard ment. Captain Bailey was sent ashore with a flag, bearing a summons from Farragut for the sui-render of the city, and a demand that the Confederate flag should be taken down and that of the Republic raised over the public buildings. Bailey made his way through a hooting, cursing crowd to the City Hall, escorted by sensible citizens. To the demand for surrender, Lovell returned an unqualified refusal, but saying, that as he was powerless to hold the city against great odds, and -wishing to save it from destruction, he would withdraw his troops and turn it over to the civil authorities. At the same time he adyised the Mayor not to surrender the city, nor allow the flags to be taken down by any of its people. Acting upon this foolish advice, the Mayor (John T. Monroe), one of the most jinworthy of the public men of the day, refused to surrender the city or take down the Louisiana flag from the City Hall. This refusal was in the form of a most ridiculous letter to Farragut, in -which the Mayor declared that, while his people could not prevent the occupation of the city by the National forces, they would not transfer their allegiance to a government they had deliberately reiradiated.'' In the mean time a force had landed from the Pensacola, which was lying opposite Esplanade Street, and, unopposed, hoisted the National flag over the Government Mint ; but as soon as they re tired it was torn down and draggfed in derision through the streets by young men belonging to the Pinckney Battalion, and a *ganibler named William B. Mumford.' This act was hailed with acclamation by the secessionists of New Orleans, and caused paragraphs of praise and exultation to appear in the public journals. It ended in a serious .tragedy, as we shall observe 1 presently. In reply ^ the Mayor's absurd letter, the patient Farragut referred to the pulling down of the flag, the indignities to which it was subjected, and the insults offered to his oflicers, and said, with a meaning which the most obtuse might understand, " all of which go to show that the fire of this fieet may be drawn upon the city at any moment, and in such an event the levee would, in all probability, be cut by the shells, and an amount of distress ensue to the innocent population which I have heretofore endeavored to assure you that I desire by, all means to avoid." He concluded by saying, "The election, therefore, is with you ; but it becomes my duty to notify you to remove the women and children from the city within forty-eight hours, if I have rightly understood your determination." * The shipyard at Algiers, opposite New Orleans, was burned, and with it an immense armored ram called Mississippi, which was considered the most important naval structure which the Confederates had j'et undertaken. ^ " As to tho hoisting of any flag," ho said, " than the flag of our own adoption and allegiance, let me say to yon. Sir, that tho man lives not In our midst whose hand and heart would not be palsied at the mere thonght of such an act; nor could I flnd in my entire constituency so wretched and desperate a renegade as would dare to profane with his hand tho sacred emblem of our aspirations." ' There was no guard left at the Mint to defend the flag, but a watch was set in the top of the Pensacola, from which a howitzer hurled grape-shot at the raen who pulled down the flag, but without efl'eot 344 FOLLY OF THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES. To this message the absurd Mayor returned a most ridiculous answer-^as ridiculous, considering the circumstances, as the mock-heroic babble of a circus harlequin — in which he uttered nonsense about "murdering" women and children,' and charged Farragut -with a desire to "humble and disgrace the people." After solemnly assuring the Commodore that such satisfaction he could not obtain, he said dramatically, " We will stand your bombard ment, unarmed and undefended as we are. The civilized world will consign to indelible infamy the heart that will concei-\'e the deed and the hand that will consummate it." The substance of the Mayor's letter was, as has been ¦ observed, " ' Come on shore and hoist what flag you please. Don't ask us to do your flag-raising.' Slightly impudent, perhaj)s ; but men who are talking from behind a bulwark of fifty thousand women and children can be impu dent if they please.'" To the insolence of the Mayor was added the greater impertinence of the commander of a French ship-of-war which had just arrived, who wrote a note to Farragut that his Government had sent him to protect the persons and property of its thirty thousand subjects in New Orleans, and that he demanded sixty days, instead of forty-eight hours, as the time to be "given for the evacuation of the city by the inhabitants. He concluded -with a threat, saying, " If it is your resolution to bombard the city, do it ; but I -wish to state that you will have to account for the barbarous act to the jjower which I represent." The veteran commodore -was sorely perplexed, and, while revolving in his mind what to do, he was relieved by the intelligence of the surrender of the forts below. He now felt that he could afford to wait, for the speedy possession of New Orleans by General Butler's troops was made an almost absolute certainty. Up to that moment it -n'as believed by tho citizens that the forts below could not be taken, and this was the chief reason for the defiant attitude of the public authorities there. Now their tone was changed, and, to appease Farragut, he -was semi-officially informed, in a pri vate manner, that the hauling down of the flag from the Mint was the "unauthorized act ofthe men who performed it."^ On the following day. Captain Bell landed with a hundred marines, put the National flag in the places of the ensigns of rebellion on the Mint and Custom House, locked the door of the latter, and returned with the key to his vessel. Those flags were undisturbed. The occupation of the " Euro pean Brigade," a military organization in New Orleans, ostensibly for :the purpose of aiding the authorities in the protection of the citizens from unruly members, but really in the interests of the Confederates, composed of British, French, and Spanish aliens, was now almost at an end, and the English members of it, who admired the frequent displays of " British neutrality " elsewhere, now imitated it by voting at their armory, that, as they would have no further use for their -weapons and accouterments, ' " Our women and children cannot escape from your shells, if it he your pleasure to murder them on a mere question of etiquette ; but if they could, there ai'e few among them who would consent to desert their families and their homes and the graves of their relatives in so awful a moment: they would bravely stand in sight of your shells, rolling over the bones of those who wero dear to them, and wonld deem that they died not ingloriously by the side .of tho tombs erected by their piety to the memory of departed relatives.' 2 Parton's Butler in New Orleans, page 274. = These were W. B. Mumford (who cut it loose from the flagstaff). Lieutenant Holmes, Sergeant Burns, and James Eeed, all but Mumford members of the Pinckney Battalion of Volunteers. NATIONAL TROOPS IN NEW ORLEANS. 345 they would send them to Beauregard's army at Corinth, as " a slight token of their affection for the Confederate States." On the SOth," Farragut informed the city authorities that he- should hold no further intercourse with a body whose language was so offensive, and that, so soon as General Butler should arrive with his forces, he should turn over the charge of the city to him, and resume his naval duties. Let us see what General Butler had been doing for the few preceding days. A few hours after Mumford and his companions had pulled down the National fiag. General Butler arrived and joined Farragut on the Hartford ; and, in his report to the Secretary of War on the 29th, he foreshadowed his future act by saying : " This outrage will be punished in suoh manner as in my judgment will caution both the perpetrators and abettors of the act, so that they shall fear the stripes if they do not reverence the stars of our ban ner." He hastened back to his troops, and took measures for their immediate advance up the river. His transports were brought into the Mississippi, and these, bearing two thousand armed men, ajspeared off the levee in front of New'Orleans on the first of May. The General and his staff, his wife, and fourteen hundred troops, were on the same vessel {Mississippji) in which they left Hampton Roads sixty-five days before. Preparations were made for landing forthwith. In his order for the movement, he forbade the plunder of all property, public or private, in the city ; the absence of officers and soldiers from their stations -without arms or alone ; and held the com manders of regiments and companies resjionsible for the execution of the orders. At four o'clock in the afternoon' the debarkation of a part of hu. t the troops at the city commenced, while others were sent over to occupy Algiers, opposite New Orleans. A company of the Thirty-first Massachusetts -was the first to land. These were followed by the remainder of the regiipent ; also by the Fourth Wisconsin, Colonel Paine ; and Everett's battery of heavy field-guns. These formed a procession and acted as an escort for General Butler and his staff, and General Williams and his staff; and to the tune of the " Star Spangled Banner " they marched through Poydras and St. Charles Streets to Canal Street, under the guidance of Lieutenant Weigel, of Baltimore, one of Butler's aids, who was familiar with the city. They took possession of the Custom House, whose principal entrance is on Canal Street, and there the Massachusetts regiment was quartered. Strict directions had been given not to resent any insults that might be offered by the vast crowd that filled the side--*valks, without orders ; but if a shot should be fired from a house, to halt, arrest the inmates, and destroy the building. Every moment the crowd became greater and more boisterous, and the patience of the troops was much tried during that short march. Their ears were assailed by the most offensive epithets, vulgar and profane, applied to the General and his troops,' yet the consciousness of supporting power behind the pacific order caused them to march silently on to their ^ Before the troops landed, voices from the crowd that covered the levee had been heard calling for " Pica yune Butler." and asking him to show himself. The General was willing to have a practical joke, well satisfied 346 GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS. destination. Captain Everett posted his cannon around the Custom House, and comparative quiet prevailed in New Orleans that night. Colonel De- ming's Twelfth Connecticut landed, and bivouacked on the levee by the side of Butler's head-quarter* ship, the Mississippi, on board of which the com manding general spent the night. At an early hour in the evening, lie had completed a proclamation to the inhabitants of New Orleans, in which his intentions, as the representative of the Government, were explicitly stated.' General Butler had resolved to act with strictest justice toward the deluded people, and to be kind and lenient to all who showed a disposition to be peaceable. But his first trial of the temper of those with whom he had to deal was discouraging. He sent his proclamation to the office of the T^ue Delta newspaper, to be printed as a hand-bill. The proprietor flatly refused to use his types in such an act of " submission to Federal rule." Two hours afterward an officer with a file of soldiers (half a dozen of whom were printers) had possession of the True Delta office, and the proclamation was soon issued in printed form. Meanwhile, Colonel Deming had encamped in Lafayette Square, and General Butler had taken possession of General Lovell's recent head-quarters in the St. Charles Hotel, not far distant, establishe'ifliis own there, and invited the city authorities to a conference. The silly Mon roe told the General's messenger that ' the" Mayor's place of business was at the City Hall. It was intimated to him that such a reply -would not satisfy the commanding general ; so the Mayor, taking counsel of prudence, waited upon General Butler at the St. Charles, -H'ith Pierre Soule, formerly a repre sentative in Congress, and some other friends. The interview was instruc tive to both parties. There appeared a wide difference of opinion as to the that the real merriment would be on the side of himself and friends ; so he requested the lively air of " Picayune Butler" to be played when they should debark. But none of the band-masters had the music, and the more appropriate National airs were the first that the citizens of New Orleans heard when the troops landed. 1 In that proclamation, Greneral Butler called npon all -v\'ho had taken up arms against their Government to lay them down, and directed all flags and devices indicative of rebellion to be taken down, and the American flag — the emblem of the Government — to be treated with the greatest respect He told thefn th.it all well- disposed persons, natives or foreigners, should be protected in person and property, subject only to the laws of the United States ; and he enjoined the inhabitants to continue in their usual avocations. He directed the keepers of all public property whatever, and all manufacturers of arms and munitions of war, to report to head quarters. He directed that shops and places of amusement should be kept open as usual, and the services in the churches and religious bouses to be held as in times of profound peace. Martial la-^v was to be the governing power; and to the Provost-Marshal, keepers of public houses and drinking saloons were required to report and obtain license, before they were permitted to do business. He assured tho inh.abitants that a sufficient nnmhcr of soldiers would bekei>tin the city to preserve order; and that the killing of any National soldier by a dis orderly mob should be punished ns murder. All acts interfering with the forces or laws of the United States were to be referred to a military court for adjudication and punishment Civil causes were to be referred to the ordinary tribunals. The levy and collection of taxes, excepting those authorized by the United States, were for bidden, sai-e those for keeping'in repair and lighting the streets, for S£initary purposes. The use, in trade, of Confederate bonds or other evidences of debt was forbidden, excepting those in form of bank notes, which con stituted the only circulating medium, and the use of the latter w.as to bo allowed only until further orders. No seditious publications were to be allowed ; and communications or editorials in newspapers, which should give accounts of the movements of the National soldiers, were not permitted to be circulated until the same hnd been submitted to a military censor. The same rule was to be app'i'ed to telegrjiphic dispatches. It was requested that any outrages committed by the National soldiers upon the persons or property of the citizens, should be reported to tho provost-guard. Assemblages of persons in .the streets were forbidden ; and the munici pal authority was to be continued, so far as the police of the city and its environs were concerned, until sus pended. To assist in keeping order, tho "European Brigade," 'which, as wc have observed, had professedly been employed for that purpose, on the evacuation of the city by Lovell nnd his troops, were invited to co-operate with the military authorities. The General said, in conclusion ; "All tho requirements of martial law wlU bo imposed, so long ns, in the judgment of the United States authorities. It may be necessary; and while it l9 desired by these authorities to exercise this government mildly, and after the usases of the past, it must not be supposed that it will not he vigorously nnd flrmly administered, as the occasion calls for it" REBELLION EEBUKED AND CHECKED. 347 status of the inhabitants of New Orleans in relation to the General Govern ment ; and the dividing line was so distinctly seen at this interview, that there could be no question about it thereafter. Butler took the broad national ground that the inhabitants in general had been in rebellion against their lawful Government ; that the authority of that Government, being supreme, rightfully demanded the allegiance of the people ; and that no other authority, except that sanctioned by the Government, could be allowed in the manage ment of the public affairs of the city. Soule and his friends persisted in recfarding Louisiana as an independent sovereignty, and the object of the primary allegiance of its citizens. They considered the National troops as invaders and intruders, and, as a sequence, the people as doing right in treat ing them with contempt and abhorrence, and fully justified in driving them from the city if they could. An instant reply to this assumption was practically given. An immense mob had collected in the street in front of the St. Charles. They were exas perated by the seizure of that building by General Butler, and threatened violence. Cannon had been planted and a regiment had been posted for the protection of head-quarters, but, while the General and the city authorities had been' in conference, the conduct of the populace had become so alarming, that General Williams sent word to Butler that he feared he could not con trol them. The General calmly replied : " Give my compliments to General WiUiams, and tell him, if he finds he cannot control the mob, to open upon them -with artillery." The Mayor and his friends sprang to their feet in consternation. " Don't do that. General," exclaimed the terrified Monroe. "Why not, gentlemen?" said Butler. " The mob must be controlled. We can't have a disturbance in the street." The lunatic Mayor had partially recovered his senses in Butler's presence, and, going out to the balcony, he informed the mob of the General's orders, and advised them to disperse. That evening the inhabitants of New Orleans, who chose to listen, heard " The Star Spangled Banner " and other National airs, to which their ears had long been strangers, played by a band on the balcony ofthe St. Charles.' Within twenty-four hours after this occurrence, the temper of the people and that of General Butler were mutually understood; and his proclamation, which was not issued until the 6th of May, was a rule for all loyal or disloyal citizens. It had been read at the conference at the St. Charles just men tioned, when Soule declared that it would give great offense, and that the people, who were not conquered, and could not be expected to act as a con quered people, would never submit to its demands. " Withdraw your troops. General," said the distinguished and accomplished Frenchman, " and leave the city government to manage its own affairs. If f he troops remain, there will certainly be trouble." This threat, though uttered in smooth terms, brought a withering rebuke from the commanding general. " I did not expect to hear from Mr. Soule a threat on this occasion," he said. " I have long been accustomed to hear threats from southern gentlemen in' political conventions ; but let me assure the gentlemen present that the time for tactics of that- nature has passed, never to return. New Orleans is a conquered city. If not, why are we « Parton's Butler in New Orleans, page 285. 348 MARTIAL LAW IN NEW ORLEANS. here ? How did we get here ? Have you opened your arms and bid us welcome ? Are we here by your consent ? Would you or would you not expel us if you could ? New Orleans has been conquered by the forces of the United States, and, by the laws of all nations, lies subject to the will of the conquerors.'" In accordance with this doctrine General Butler found it necessary to ad minister the affairs in the Department of the Gulf, of which he was the com mander. In his interview with the Mayor and Soule, he had generously offered to leave the municipal government of New Orleans to the free exer cise ot all its powers so long as it should act in consonance with true allegiance to the General Government, and that offer had been ans-wered by a threat. He saw clearly that compromise was out of the question, and that rebellion must be treated as rebellion, and traitors as traitors. He accordingly commenced a most vigorous administration of public affairs. Major Joseph W. Bell was appointed Provost-Judge and Colonel Jonas H. French Provost-Marshal. At the same time an effort -was made to remove all causes for unnecessary irritation, and to conciliate the people. The General left the St. Charles Hotel, and made his military head-quarters in the house of General Twiggs, and his private residence in the fine mansion of Dr. Camp bell, on the corner of St. Charles and Julia Streets, which was afterward occupied hy General Banks. The Common Council having accepted a generous proposition of the General, the civil city government was allowed to go on as usual. The troops -n^ere' -withdrawn from the vicinity of the City Hall, and camps on public squares were broken up. Quite a large number of the soldiera were sent to Carrolton, under General Phelps, where a permanent camp was formed. Others, under General Williams, went up the river with Commodore Farragut, to take possession of and hold Baton Rouge. Others -\vere sent to points in the vicinity of New Orleans, and in the course of a few days the wish of Soule was literally complied with, for the troops were all -withdrawn from the city, excepting a sufficient number retained to act as an efficient provost-guard. These concessions did not necessarily imply any relaxation of all proper authority. They were mistaken as such, ho-n^ever, and the rebellious spirit, which was made quiet only by compulsion, soon began to show itself That spirit speedily learned that the commander of the Department was a real power within the sphere of his assigned duty, that must not be resisted. Sensible men also perceived that he was a power fraught -ndth much good for the city, which had been ruled for years by vicious politicians of the Monroe school' He established the most perfect order, and instituted a GENEEAL EUTLEK'B EE8IDENCE, 1 Parton's Butler in New Orleans, page 299, 2 " For seven years past" said Hie True Delta, on the 6th of May, in commenting on Butler's proclamation, " the world knows that this city, lu all its departments— judicial, legislative, and executive— had been at tie THE REBELLIOUS SPIRIT IN NEW ORLEANS. 349 system of cleanliness for the promotion of the health of the citizens, before unknown to them, and which is yet in successful operation. On his arrival, ribald voices in the crowd on the levee had cried out, " Wait till Yellow Jack [yellow fever] comes, old Cock-eye ! He'll make you fiy 1" But " Yellow Jack" was not allowed to come; and that terrible scourge has not appeared in New Orleans since General Butler made it . clean, and taught the inhabit ants to keep it so. Residents there declared to the author, when he visited that city in the spring of 1866, that gratitude for incalculable blessings should prompt the inhabitants to erect a statue of General Butler in one of the public squares, in testimony of their appreciation of a real bene factor. General Butler organized plans for the alleviation of the distress among the inhabitants, and invited the civil authorities to unite with him in the merciful work. But they were deaf to the voice of righteousness. With holding relief from their starving fellow-citizens, they sent provisions to the camps of the insurgents who had fled from the city.' In every possible way attempts were made to thwart the orders and wishes of General Butler while he was feeding the starving p)oor by thousands, and was working day and night to revive and restore the business of the city, that its wonted pros perity might return. Among his troops there -was jDerfect order. No man had been injured, and no woman had been treated with the least disrespect. But the corrupt Mayor was surly and insolent. The newspapers were barely restrained from seditious teachings. The foreign consuls, and foreign f)opu- lation generally, sympathized with the spirit of resistance ; and many of the women wdio claimed to be of the better sort, taking advantage of the wide latitude in speech and action allowed to their se.x in American society, were particularly offensive in their manifestations of contempt for the General and his troops. When Union officers approached, they -would leave the sidewalks, go round them in the middle of the street, and with upturned noses would utter some insulting words, often raore vigorous than elegant. They would draw away their skirts when a private soldier passed them, and leave street cars and church pews when Union officers entered them. They wore seces sion colors on their bonnets ; in feminine schools they kept the pupils sing ing rebel songs ; groups on balconies turned their backs on passing soldiers, and played airs that were used with rebellious words ; and in every con ceivable way they insulted the troops. These things were patiently borne, as sensible men endure the acts of imbeciles or lunatics, notwithstanding they were indicative of the hellish spirit that was making war on the Govern ment and the rights of man ; and the follies of these deluded -women were the subjects of much merriment among the troops. But when, at length, a woman of the " dominant class," with the low manners of the degraded of her sex, deliberately spat in the face of two oflBcers, who were walking peace- fally along the street. General Butler determined to arrest the growing evil at once, and on the 15th of May the town was startled by an order that struck the root of the iniquity, by placing such actors in their appropriate social position. absolute disposal of the most godless, brutal. Ignorant, nnd ruthless ruffianism the world has ever heard of since the days ofthe great Koman conspirators." ' See Butler's Order, May 9, 1862. 350 • BUTLKR'S ''WOMAIST ORDER." That ordcr^ was intended to work silently, jDeacefulIy, and effectually. And so it did. The grave offense was not repeated. Sensible and virtuous women did not indulge in such vulgarities, and were not touched by the order. The foolish women recovered their senses through its operation f and so did the Mayor and his accomplices in crime, when the power of their out raged Government was felt by the former, by arrest and threatened imprison ment in Fort Jackson ; by Soule, the ablest of the instigators of treason ia Louisiana, as a prisoner in Fort Warren ; and by one of the leaders of the mob, when he stood a felon on the scaffold, in the midst of a vast number of his fellow-citizens, because of his overt act of treason in pulling down tlie National flag from the Government Mint.^ The Mayor had made the publication of the " Woman Order " the occa sion of a most impudent and absurd letter to General Butler, saying, amono- other things, "Your oflicers and soldiers are permitted by the terms of this order to place any construction they may please upon the conduct of our Avives and daughters, and upon such construction to offer them atrocious insults."* This letter was answered by the deposition and arrest of the 1 The following is a copy of the document known as the " Woman Order,"' which the General himself framed from a similar une, and for a similar purpose, which he had read long before in a London newspaper : "Head-Qitaetees, Department op tue Gttlf, New Orleans, May 35, 1S62. " General Order Ko. 2S : " As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the TTomen (caUing themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on our part, it is ordtTed that hereafter, when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show con tempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a woman of the town plying her avocation. '¦ By command of " Ma jor-Genkkal Cutler. "George C. Strong, Assistant Adjutant-General., Chief of Staf.''"' 2 Mr. Parton says that one of the women — " a very fine lady " — who lost her senses and behaved indiscreetlyi and who, in sweeping her skirts away from possible contact witli passing Union officers, lost her balance, fell in the gutter, and received the proffered aid of one of them, which she spurned, afterward declared that she really felt grateful to the officer atthe timo fur his politeness, and added, "Order 2S [the 'Woman Order '] served the women right,"" 8 See page 843. * This willful perversion of the X'lfiin letter and spirit of the "Woman Order" was made the key-note of a cry of indignation that was heard in every part of the Confederacy, and was echoed by the friends of tho con spirators in the North and in Europe. "Do not leave your women to the merciless foe," appealed "The daugh ters of New Orleans " to " every Southern soldier." . . "Eather letusdle with you, oh, our fathers I Eathcr, like Virginias, plunge your swords into our breasts, saying, 'This is all we can give onr daughters.'" The Governor of Louisiana said : " It was reserved for a Federal general to invite his soldiers to the perpetration of outrages, at the mention of which the blood recoils "with horror." A Georgian offered a reward of $10,000 "for the infamous Butler's head;" and " A Savannah Woman" suggested a contribution "from every woman, in the Confederacy " " to triple the sum.." Paul E. llayne, the South Carolina poet, was again inspired to 'writo nonsense (see pago 104, volume L), and said : — " Yes I but there's one who shall not die III battle harness I One for -whom Lurks in the darkness silently Another and a sterner doom 1 A warrior's eud should crown the brave — For hitn^ swift cord ! and felon grave I" Lord Palmerston, the British premier, in the plenitude of his admimtion for thb insurgents, and remember ing "how savages in red coats had been wont to conduct^ themselves in captured cities " on tho Peninsula, arid naturally supposed that "patriots in blue coats would follow their example," made himself appear exceedingly absurd before the world by mentioning the matter in Parliament, and saying, " An Englishman must bluSh to think that such an act has been committed by one belonging to tho Anglo-Saxon race." Beauregard, whose wife and mother, living in tbe house of Johu Slidell, in New Orleans, were there treated in the raost tenderand respectful manner by tho commanding general, first applied to that officer, it is said, the vulgar epithet of -'Butler the BeaRt," and it was freely used by every enemy of the Governraent, South and North, until the end of the. strife. GEORGE r. 8IIEPLET. TRIAL A'S!) EXECUTION' OF A TEAITOE. ¦ 351 Mayor,' and the appointment of General G. F. Shepley, of Maine, as Mili tary Governor of Xew Orleans, who at once organized an efficient police force and made the city a model of quiet and good order. This vigor ivas followed by the arrest of William B. Mumford, his trial and conviction by a military com-t, and his execution as a'traitor in the presence of a vast multitude, wljo quietly dispersed to their homes, with the sahitary reflec tion that the Government had indeed " repossessed " its propei-ty, and was exercising its rightful authority in the city of New Orleans.' Of the details of General Butler's administration in the Department of the Gulf, until -he was superseded by General Banks, at the middle of December following — ^how he dealt with representatives of foreign governments ; with banks and bankers ; with the holders of Confederate money and other property; and with disloyal men of every kind, from the small offender in the street to the greater offender in public positions and in the pulpit — it is not our province here to consider.^ Suffice it to say, that it then seemed wise and salutary in tho necessary assertion ofthe sovereign authority ofhis Government ; and, to the candid stndent of events' there, it yet seems to have been wise and salutary. Promptness and decision marked every step of his career.'' Measures for the ^ The terrified official hastened to explain his letter, when Butler agreed to release him from the penalty of imprisonment on condition that he should withdraw the letter and make an apology. This he did in the most humble manner, 2 Mumford.was a professional gambler, and consequently an enemy of society. He was about forty-two years of age. He was in the crowd in front of the St. Charles on the occasion of the General's conference with tho Mayor and his friends, already .alluded to, boasting of his exploit with the flag, inciting them to riot, and daring the National officers to arrest him. He continued his attitude of defiance, and became so dangerous to good order, as a leader of the turbulent spirits of New Orleans, tbat his arrest and punishment was a necessity. nis overt act oP»treason was clear, and his execution had a most salutary effect. Mumford is the only man who, up to this time (1S67), has been tried, condemned, and executed for treason since the foundations of the National Government were laid. ^ In Mr. Parton's work, which has been so frequently referred to, and whose full title is. General Butler in New Orleans : History of the Admirnstration qf the Department of ihe Gulf in the Year 1862 ; with an Account of the Capture of New Orleans, may be found full details of that administration. * So vigorous and efficient, so uncompromising with treason and rebellion, was Butler's .administration of affairs in Now Orleans, that the conspirators, and particularly the chief of the Confederacy, who had been his political associate a few years before, regarded him as an arch-enemy more to be dreaded than balls or bayonets, Their fears of him and personal hatred led them to tho perpetration of the raost foolish acts. At about the time when Butler left New Orleans, .Jeiferson Davis issued a notable proclama- " Dec. 23, ? tiult," tor tho purpose of "flring the Southern heart," in which he professed to review Butler's 1862. administration of affairs there. In connection with a recitation of Butler's .alleged crimes, he pronounced him " to be a felon, deserving of capital punishment," and ordered that he should not be " treated simply as a public enemy of the Confederate States of America, bnt as an outlaw and common enemy of man kind; and that, in tho event of his capture, the officer iu command of the capturing force do cause him to he immediately executed by hanging." He also ordered that the same treatment should be awarded to all com missioned oflicers serving under Butler. In addition to these instructions, he ordered that all negro slaves cap tured in arms against the Confeder.acy, and all commissioned ofBcers of the United States serving in corapany ^th them, who shonld be captured, should be delivered to the executive authorities ofthe respective States to which the negroes belonged, " to be dealt with according to the laws of said States." There is not, probably, any intelligent .and candid man in the Union to-day, .and especially among the resi- flents of New Orleans at that time, wlio does not agree, in honest opinion, with the verdict of a competent 352 THE LOUISIANA NATIVE GUARD. public good were continually planned and executed, and toward the close of summer he took the first step in the employment of negroes as soldiers, which the enemies of the Government had practised there. When General Banks arrived to take command of the Department, there were three regiments of these soldiers, with two batteries manned by them, well drilled for his use, under the common name of the Louisiana Native Guard. The loss of New Orleans was the heaviest blow the Confederacy had yet received, and for a, while it stag gered under its infliction. " It annihilated us in Louisi ana," said the Confederate historian ofthe war; " dimin ished our resources and supplies, by the loss of one of the greatest grain and cattle countries within the limits of thie Confederacy ; gave to the enemy the Mississippi River, with all its means of navigation, for a base of operations, and finally led, by plain and irresistible conclusion, to our virtual abandonment of the great and fruitful valley of the Mississippi.'" Let us now return to a consideration of the Army of the Potomac, which we left in a quiet condition after the little flurry at Drainsville, at near the close of the year. LOUISlAIfA NATIVE GUARD. historian (Parton), that " each of the paragraphs of Jefferson D.avis's proclamation which relates to General Butler's conduct is the distinct utterance of a lie." A few days after the proclamation was issued, Eichard Teadon, a prominent citizen of Charleston, publicly offered" a reward of $10,000 " for the capture and delivery of the said Benjamin P. Butler, dead or ' Jan, 1, alive, to any proper Confederate authority," ¦ And " A Daughter of South Carolina," in a letter 1863, to the Charleston Courier, said, " I propose to spin the thread to make the cord to execute the order of.our noble President, Davis, when old Butler is caught, and my daughter asks that she may be allowed to adjustilt around his neck," 1 Pollard's First Year of the Wa/r, page 321. -¦'HrLADELPHIA IMMOBILITY OF THE AKMY OF THE POTOMAC. 353 OHAPTEK XIV. MOVEMENTS OF THE AEMT OF THE POTOMAC— THE MONITOE AND MEEEIMACK. HE Grand Army of the Potomac had gained strength in numbers and discipline during the months it had been lying in comparatively quiet camps around the National Capital. The battles of Ball's Blufi" and Drainsville, already mentioned, had kept it from rusting into absolute immobility ; and the troops were made hopeful at times by promises of an immediate advance upon the Confed erates at Manassas. But at the beginning of the year 1862, when that army numbered full two hundred thousand men, the pros pect of an advance seemed more remote than ever, for the fine weather that had prevailed up to Christmas was succeeded by storms and frost, and the roads in many places soon became almost impassable. Very little prepara tion had been made for winter quarters, and much sufifering and discontent was the consequence.' The people were exceedingly impatient, and were more disposed to censure the Secretary of War than the General-in-Chief, for they had faith in the latter. They were gratified when Mr. Cameron left the ofBce, and they gave to the new incumbent, Mr. Stanton, their entire confi dence.' The President was much distressed by the inaction of the great army. He could get no satisfaction from the General-in-Chief, when he inquh-ed why that army did not move. Finally, on the 10th of January, he summoned Generals McDowell and Franklin to a conference with himself and his Cabi net. Never, during the whole war, did he exhibit such despondency as at ^ Various efforts were made by many officers to brealt the monotony flf the camp and keep the soldiers cheerful. With this view, the musical " Hutchinson Family " wero permitted, by Secretary Cameron, to visit the camps and sing their simple and stirring songs. They were diffusing sunshine through the army by delight ing crowds of soldiers who listened to their voices, when their career ofuseiulness was suddenly arrested by the following order : By direction of General McClellan, the permit given to the ' Hutchinson Family ' to sing in the camp, and their pass to cross the Potomac, are revoked, and they will not bo allowed to sing to the troops." Why not? The answer was in the fact, that they had sung Whlttier's stirring song, lately written, to the tune of Luther's Hymn, "Ein feste burg ist unser Gott," in which, among eight similar verses, was the fol lowing ;— "What gives the wheat-field blades of steel ? What points the rebel cannon ? What sets the roaring rabble's heel On th' old star-spangled pennon? What breaks the oath Of th' men o' th' South ? What whets the knife For the Union's life ? Hark to the answer : Slavebt I " 'Edwin M. Stanton sttcceeded Simon Cameron, as Secretary of War, on the 13th of January, 1862. Vol. II.— 23 354 IMPATIENCE OJ THE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE. that conference. He spoke of the exhausted condition of the treasury ; of the loss of public credit ; of the delicate condition of our foreign relations ; the critical situation of National afiairs in Missouri and Kentucky since Fre mont left the Western Department ; the lack of co-operation between Gen erals Halleck and Buell, and the illness of the General-in-Chief, which then, it was said, confined him to his house. He said he was in great distress under the burden of responsibility laid upon him. He had been to the house of the General-in-Chief, who did not ask to see him. He must talk to somebody, and he had sent for McDowell and Franklin to obtain a military opinion as to the probability of an early movement of the army. " If some thing is not soon done," he said in his simple way, " the bottom will be out of the whole afiair ; and, if General McClellan docs not want to use the army, I would like to borrow it, provided I can see how it could be made to do something.'" The President, supported by public opinion, had resolved that something must be done by the army of the Potomac immediately, under the direction of General McClellan, or some other officer, and arrangements were in pro gress to that effect, when the General-in-Chief, who had been too ill to see •Jan 1862 ^^® President on the lOth," was out, and "looking quite weU," on the following day. McDowell and Franklin, meanwhile, had been charged by the President with the duty of submitting a plan of a cam paign. The former was decidedly in favor of an advance in heavy force upon the front and flanks of the Confederates at Manassas, whose numbers he was satisfied had been greatly exaggerated.^ Such movement, if success ful, would end the disgraceful blockade of the Potomac, and drive the army that was really besieging the National Capital back upon Richmond. Gen eral Franklin, who had been somewhat informed by General McClellan of his plans, was in favor of moving on Richmond by way of the Lower Che sapeake and the Virginia Peninsula. They consulted with Quartermaster- General Meigs (who agreed with McDowell), Colonel Kingsbury, the Chief of Ordnance of the Army of the Potomac, General Van Vliet, the Chief Quartermaster, and Major Shiras, the Commissary of Sub sistence. The subject was discussed by these military officers and the Presi dent and his Cabinet on the same ,. , ,, evening:,' when McDowell 6 Jan. 11. *' and Franklin, bemg m seneral agreement as to the neces- MONTGOMEUT C. MEIOS. ^ Notes by General McDowell of a conference with the President .and others, on the subject of the move ment of the Army, cited by Mr. Swinton, in his Campangns of the Army of the Potomac, page '79. Mr. Swinton says he submitted these notes to Mr. Lincoln, during the summer of 18M, who declared that they wero substantially correct. 2 At the flrst meeting of the Cabinet to consider tho subject, Mr. Seward stated, that fVom information which he had received from an Englishm.an,just from the Confederate lines, hc was satisfied that they might HAUGHTINESS OF GENERAL MoCLELLAN. 355 sity note of moving directly upon Manassas, recommended such move ment. But there was a difference of opinion in the Cabinet.' Two days afterward there was another meeting of those officers with the President and his Cabinet. General McClellan was present, but took no part in the discussion. He seefhed offended ; and in reply to some apologetic remarks from McDowell, in explanation of the position in which he and Franklin were placed, the General-in-Chief curtly remarked, " You are entitled to have any opinion you please." When the President asked McClellan " what and when any thing could be done, the latter replied, with more force than courtesy, that the case was so clear that a blind man could see it ; and then spoke of the diflSculty of ascertaining what force he could count upon ; that he did not know whether he could let General Butler go to Ship Island,''' or whether he could re-enforce Burnside."' To the direct question of the Secretary of the Treasury, to the effect as to what he intended doing with his army, and where he intended doing, McClellan answered, that tt^p move ments in Kentucky were to precede any from Washington.'' This part of the plan of the General-in-Chief (the movements in the West) was soon gloriously carried out, as we have already observed ; and before the Army of the Potomac had fairly inaugurated its camj^aign, in the spring of 1862, the active little army under Grant, and the forces of Buell and Pope, in connec tion with Foote's gun-boats and mortars, had captured Forts Henry and Donelson, Nashville and Columbus ; had driven the Confederates out of Ken tucky ; had seized the Gibraltar of the Mississippi (Island Number Ten) ; and had penetrated to Northern Alabama, and fought the great battles and won a victory at Shiloh.' At that conference, McClellan expressed his unwillingness to develop his plans, " always believing," he said, " that in military matters the fewer persons knowing them the better." He would tell them if he was ordered to do so. The President then asked him if he counted upon any particular time ; he did not ask what time that was, but had he in his own mind any particular time fixed when a movement could be commenced. The General replied he had. " Then," rejoined the President, " I will adjourn this meeting."" A few days after this conference. General McClellan, at the request of the President, laid before the latter a plan for moving against Richmond. It was to abandon his present base, and proceed "toward the Confederate capital by way of the Lower Chesapeake. The President disapproved of the plan-, because of the long time it would take to prepare for the move- concentrate in front bf the National army, at short notice, 108,000 men. General Wool, who had excellent means for obtaining correct information, had satisfied himself, and had so reported, th.at not one-half that number of Confederate soldiers were in all Virginia. It was afterward clearly shown that General Wool's estimate was not too low, and " that from October to March, Johnston never had an effective force of more than 40,000 nnder his orders, and that his preparations for an evacuation were begun as early as October, 1861 ; and that, after that time, he lay simply in observation." So declared W. H. Hurlburt, a public writer, who had many and rare facilities for knowing the strength of the Confederates, ' The Postmaster-General (Montgomery Bliiir) strongly urged McClell.an's plans of moving at some future time by way of the Peninsula, because of the great obstacles of bad ro.ads and immense forces to be encountered on the other route ; to which the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr, Chase) repUed that it was probable that, after losing much time and millions of money, there would be found as many obstacles to success on the newly pro posed route. The Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) thought that a victory by the Army of the Potomac some where was desirable, it mattered not where. — McDowell's Notes. ' See page 321. ^ See page 315. * McDowell's Notes. ' See Chapters VIL, VIIL, IX., and X. • McDowell's Notei 356 THE ARMIES ORDERED TO MOVE. ment, and the importance of striking a blow immediately. He could no longer endure the delays of the General-in-Chief, and without consulting him, he, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the Republic, issued an order on the 2 Vth of January," known as General War Order No. 1, in which he directed the 22d of February following "to be the day for a general movement of the land and naval forces of the United States against the insurgent forces."' He also declared that the heads of executive departments, and especially the Secretary of War and of the Navy, with all their subordinates, as well as the General-in-Chief, with all commanders and subordinates of the land and naval forces, should " severally be held to their strict and full responsibilities for prompt execu tion of the order." This proclamation sent a thrill of joy through every loyal heart. Four days later the President issued a special order to McClellan, directing him to form.all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, after provi ding safely for the defense of Washington, into an expedition for the imme diate object of seizing and occupying a point upon the railroad southwest of Manassas Junction, the details of the movement (which was to take place on or before the 22d of February) to be left to the discretion of the Gene ral-in-Chief The object was to flank the insurgents at Manassas and Cen treville, relieve Washington, threaten Richmond, and paralyze the main strength of the rebellion by destroying its most formidable army. Secretary Stanton at the same time urged McClellan to take immediate steps " to secure the reopening of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, and free the banks of the lower Potomac from the rebel batteries which annoyed passing vessels.'"' Instead of obeying the President's order, McClellan remonstrated against its execution. The patient Lincoln listened to all he had to say, and on the 8d of February wrote him 'a kind note, saying : " You and I have distinct and difierent plans for a movement of the Army of the Potomac ; yours to be down by the Chesapeake, up the Rappahannock, to Urbana, and across land to thfe terminus of the railroad on the Y^ork River; mine to move directly to a point on the railway southwest of Manassas. If you will give satisfactory answers to the following questions, I shall gladly yield my plan to yours : 1st. Does not your plan involve a greatly larger expenditure of time and money than mine ? 2d. Wherein is victory more certain by your plan than mine ? 3d. Wherein is victory more valuable by your plan than mine ? 4th. In fact, would it not be less valuable ; in this, that it would break no great line of the enemy's communications, while mine would ? Sth. In case of disaster, would not a retreat be more difficult by your plan than mine ?" McClellan did not reply to the President's kind note and important inquiries ; but on the same day he sent a long letter to the Secretary of War, in which he recited a history of his connection with the Army of the 1 He specially ordered the army " at and around Fortress Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of Western Virginia, the army near Mumfordsville [Buell's] in Kentucky, the army and flotilla [Grant's and Foote's] at Cairo, and a naval force in the Gulf of Me.\ico [Farragut's aud Porter's] to be ready to move on that day." ' General McClellan's Eeport, page 42. CAMPAIGN AGAINST RICHMOND CONSIDERED. 357 Potomac, and its organization ; complained of the total absence of a general plan of operations under the administration of General Scott ; and declared that it was his intention to gain, through the forces in the West, the control of the Eastern Tennessee Railroad, and then have attacks made simul taneously on Nashville and Richmond. He developed his plan for operations by the Army ofthe Potomac against Richmond by way of Chesapeake Bay, already mentioned, the base being Urbana, on the lower Rappahannock, and presented a long array of arguments in its favor. He arrayed against the President's plan the advantage possessed by the Confederates in holding a central defensive position; the uncertainties of the weather ; the necessity of having long lines of communication, and the probable indecisiveness even of a victory. McClellan was so impressed with apprehensions of the sad fate that might befall his army by following the President's plan, that he declared he should " prefer to move from Fortress Monroe as a base, to an attack upon Manassas." The President was not convinced by the General's arguments, but, in con sequence of the latter's steady resistance and unwillingness to enter upon the execution of any other plan than his own,' he consented to submit the matter to a council of twelve officers, which was held at head-quarters on the 27th of February. The decision was made in favor of McClellan's plan, by a vote of eight against four." The President acquiesced ; and on the same day orders went out from the War Department for procuring transports, and preparations for the forward movement went rapidly on. On the Sth of March the President, in a general order, directed the Army of the Potomac to be divided into four corjjs, and designated as their respec tive commanders Generals Keyes, Sumner, Heintzelman, and McDowell. Apprehending, because of some indications, that the General-in-Chief intended to take nearly the entire Army of the Potomac with him, the Presi dent, on the same day," issued another order, directing that no change of the base of operation of that army should be made " .^^ ' without leaving a competent force for the protection of Washing ton ; that not more than fifty thousand troops should be moved toward the scene of intended operations, until the navigation of the Potomac from Washington to the Chesapeake should be " freed from the enemy's batteries and other obstructions ;" that the new movement on Chesapeake Bay should begin as early as the 18th of March, and that the General-in-Chief should "be responsible that it so moves as early as that day ;" and that "the army and navy co-operate in an immediate effort to capture the enemy's batteries upon the Potomac, between Washington and the Chesapeake Bay." At this moment events were occurring that caused a material modification of the plans of the General-in-Chief. A new war-power had just been crea ted, and was about to manifest its strength in Hampton Roads. The Moni tor, whose exploits we shall consider presently, was on its way to those waters. At the same time a movement of the insurgents in front of Wash- ' See Life, Public Services, and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, by Henry J. Eaymond, page 26T. " The council was composed of Generals Fitz-John Porter, Franklin, W. F. Smith, M'Call, Blenker, Andrew Porter, Naglee, Keyes, McDowell, Sumner, Heintzelman, and Barnard. The first eight voted in f»vor of McClel lan's plan, Keyes qualifying his vote by the condition that the army shonld not move until the rebels were driven from the Potomac. 358 • CONFEDERATES EVACUATE MANASSAS. ington was more immediately affecting the Army of the Potomac. On the day after the President's order just cited," the General-in-Chief 1862 ' received information that the Confederates had abandoned Cen treville and Manassas, and were falling back toward Richmond, by which McClellan's proposed flank movement by way of the lower Rap pahannock was made unnecessary. Preparations for this retirement had been commenced three weeks before by a quiet removal of the army stores and munitions, but the officers of McClellan's secret service seem to have been in profound ignorance of the fact, and by their reports were strengthening his belief that the number of the Confederates on his front was so great, that the utter discomfiture of his army would be risked by advancing against them at Manassas.' But from the statements of the Confederate commanders, and writers in the interest of the rebellion, it appears that Johnston had at no time during the winter intended to make a stand at IManassas, for his troops were too few in number and too scantily provided to make even a show of strong resistance. It was this weakness of his forces, and the order of the President for the forward movement of all the National armies on the 22d of February, and not a knowledge of McClellan's intended flank movement, as the latter after ward supposed, that caused Johnston to fiee from Manassas." The removal of his stores and war materials commenced a few days before the prescribed time for McClellan to advance upon his position. It was a masterly move ment, and evinced that ability which has caused Johnston to be regarded by experts on both sides as by far the most able of the commanders of the Con federate armies. On receiving information of the evacuation of Centreville and Manassas,' McClellan crossed the Potomac, and issued orders for the immediate advance of the whole army toward the abandoned posts, not, as he afterward explained in his report, for the purpose of pur suing the retiring Confederates, and pushing on toward Richraond, but to " get rid of superfluous baggage and other impediments which accumulate so easily around an army encamped for a long time in one locality," and to " give the troops some experience in the march and bivouac preparatory to the campaign.'" His advance, composed of Colonel Averill's cavalry, 1 On the day when Johnston's little army withdrew from Manassas, E. J Allen, tho chief of McClellan's secret service corps, reported to his commander that the forces of the Confederates " at that date " were as fol lows : At Manassas, and within twentv miles of it, 98,000 men , at Leesburg and vicinity, 4,500 ; and in the Shenandoah Valley 18,600, making a total of 115,000. He also reported that they had ahout 800 fleld-gnns, and from 26 to 80 siege-guns " in front of Washington." See General McClellan's Eeport, pages 56 and 57. At the same time General Wool at Fortress Monroe, and General Wadsworth, b.ack of Arlington Heights, had the most reliable information that, ten days before the evacuation, not 50,000 troops were in front of the Army of the Potomac. Subsequent investigations and statements reduce that number below 40,000. ' In his report, made seventeen months after this occurrence, McClellan says: "The retirement ofthe enemy toward Eiehmond had been expected as the natural consequence of the movement to the Peninsula,'' .and adds that '' it was dono immediately on ascertaining that such a movement was intended." See McClellan's Eeport, page 64. The evacuation was commenced almost a fortnight before the council of officers decided on the "movement to tho Peninsula." That Johnston was ignorant of tho intended flank movement at the timo of the evacuation, is evident from a remark of an Euglish ofheer then serving under him, who said, in speaking of the forces there: " In fact, McClellan was quietly maturing plans for tho seizure of Centreville and Manas sas, when Johnston suddenly gave orders for a general retreat, and all our army bcffan to move rapidly south ward." — See battle-fields of the South, from Bull Run to Fredericksburg ; by an English Combatant, Lieutenant of Artillery on the Field Staff. 3 McClellan's Eeport, pages 54, 55. "PROMENADE" OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 859 GEOEGE STONEMAN. reached Centreville on the 10th. The works there and at Manassas Junc tion were abandoned, and yet the Confederates were not far away for four days afterward." General Stoneman, who had been " ^^l^ ^'*' sent out with a heavy force of cavalry to push their rear across the Rappahannock, saw them in large numbers at Warrenton J unc tion. On account of difficulty in procuring subsistence, heavy rains, and .bad roads, Stoneman did not molest the retiring army, and the pursuit, if it may be so called, ended here. On the following day the main body of the Army of the Poto mac, under the mask of a strong reconnoissance of the corps of How ard and Sumner toward the Rappa hannock, moved back to Alexandria. Stoneman's advance retired at the same time, followed some distance, in spite of mud and weather, by the cavalry of Stuart and Ewell, a battery of artillery, and some infantry.' Then the Confederates moved leisurely on and encamped, first behind the Rappahannock, and then in a more eligible position beyond the Rapid Anna.'' This " promenade " (as one of McClellan's aids, of the Orleans family, called it) of the Army of the Potomac disappointed the people, and con firmed the President's opinion, indicated in an order issued on the llth, that the burden of managing that army in person, and, as general-in-ehief, direct ing the movements of all the others, was too much for General McClellan to bear. By this order he kindly relieved that officer of a part of the burden.' To General Halleck was assigned the command' of the National troops in the Valley of the Mississippi, and westward of the longitude of Knoxville in Tennessee ; and a Mountain Department, consisting of the region between the commands of Halleck and McClellan, was created an'd placed under the command of General Fremont. The commanders of Departments were ordered to report directly to the Secretary of War. The notable events in Hampton Roads, that modified McClellan's plans for marching on Richmond, occurred at this juncture. It was known that the Confederates were fashioning into a formidable iron-clad ram the fine steam-frigate Merrimack, which, as we have observed, was burned and sunk at Norfolk in the spring of 1861.'' She had been raised; and, in accordance with a plan furnished by Lieutenant John M. Brooke, formerly 1 stoneman's report to General McClellan, March 16, 1862. ' This is the correct orthography of the name of one of three rivers in that part of Virginia, which has been generally written, in connection with the war, Eapidan. These small rivers are called, respectively. North Anna, Sonth Anna, and Eapid Anna; the word Anna being'frequently pronounced with brevity, Ann, ' "Major-General McClellan," said the order, "having personally taken the field at the head of the Army oi the Potomac, until otherwise ordered, he is relieved from the command of the other Military Departments, he retaining the command ofthe Department ofthe Potomac" * See page 898, volume I. 360 THE "MERRIMACK" AKD "MOOTTOE." of the National navy, she was transformed into a destructive implement of war, and named Virginia? The world had never before seen a floating engine of war equal to this.^ From the spoils of the Norfolk Navy Yard she was completely equipped, and her commander was Captain Franklin Bucha nan, an experienced officer of the National navy (who had been forty- five years in the service), assisted by Catesby Ap R. Jones, another traitor to his flag. This terrible battery was com pleted at the beginning of March, and its appearance in Hampton Koads was then daily expected. Meanwhile another engine of de struction, .of novel form and aspect, had been prepared at Green Point, Long Island, a short distance from New York, under the direction of its inventor, Captaiii John Ericsson, a scientific Swede, who had been a resident of the United States for twenty years. This vessel, almost a dwaif in appearance by the side of the MerriTnack^ presented to the eye, when afloat; a simple platform, sharp at both ends, and bearing a round revolving iron Martello tower, twenty feet in diameter and ten feet high, and forming a bomb-proof fort, in which two 11-inch Dahlgren cannon were mounted.^ FRANKLIN BUCHANAN. 1 The MerrimacJc or Virginia appeared, when afloat, like a huge roof. This and her sides were composed of lieavy oak timber, twenty-eight inches in thickness, covered six inches deep by railway iron bars and iron plates. A bulwark, or false bow, was added, and beyond this was a strong oak and iron beat, thirty-three feet long, after the fashion of those -on the western waters, already mentioned. She was made apparently shot- proof; was propelled by two engines of great power, and carried on each side four SO-pounder rifled cannon, and at the bow and stern a gun that would hurl a 100-pound solid shot, or 120-pound shell. She was famished with fnrnaces for beating shot, and apparatus for throwing hot water. Her engines and other apparatus were all below water-mark, 2 The deck of tho Monitor was only a fevv inches above water. Tho round revolving tower was twenty feet in diameter and ten feet in height above the deck. The smoke-sta.ck was made with tele scopic slides, so as to be lowered in action. The hull was sharp at both ends, the angle at the bow being about eighty degrees to the vertical line. It was only six feel six inches deep, with a flat bottom, and was 124 feet in length and 34 in -width at tho top. On this hull rested another, five feet in height, of the same form, that extended over the lower one three feet seven inches all around, excepting at the ends, where it projected twenty -flve feet, by which protection was afforded to the anchor, propeller, and rudder. The whole was built of light three-inch iron, and was very buoyant. Its exposed parts were puarded by a wall of white oak, thirty inches in thickness, on which was laid iron armor six inches thick. A shot, to reach the lower hull, would have to pass through twenty-five feet of water, and then strike an inclined Iron plane at an angle of aboui INTERIOR OF tHE MONITOB''a TUKEET. ONSLAUGHT OP THE "MBREIMAOK." 361 This little vessel, full of the most destructive power, was called by the inventor The Monitor} She too was completed at the beginning of March, and when General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, and Captain Marston, the commander of the squadron in Hampton Roads, informed the authorities at Washington that the Merrimack was ready for action, the Monitor was ordered to jiroceed to the expected scene of her performance. At a little before noon on Saturday, the Sth of March," the dreaded Merri mack was seen coming down the Elizabeth River toward Hampton Eoads, accompanied by two ordinary gun-boats. At the same time, " ^^^^' doubtless by pre-concert, two other Confederate gun-boats had come down from Richmond and made their appearance in the James River, a short dis tance above Newport-Newce. The sailing frigate Congress, commanded by Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, and the sloop of war Cumberland, Lieutenant George M. Morris in temporary command, were lying in the mouth of the James River, off Newport-Newce.' Toward these the Merrimack moved. The flag-ship of the squadron {Roanoke), Captain John Marston, and the steam frigate Minnesota, Captain Van Brunt, were lying at Fortress Monroe, several miles distant. These were signaled to come to the assistance of the menaced vessels. They could not reach them in time to serve them much. The Merrimack, with her ports closed, paid no attention to the heavy shot from her intended victims, for they were turned away by her armor, as harmless as so many beans. The Merrimack pushed right on in the face of the storm, and struck the Cumberland such a tremendous blow with her beak, under her starboard fore-channels, that a chasm was opened through which water flowed sufficient to drown the powder-magazine in thirty minutes. At the same time she opened her ports and delivered a most destructive fire. The Cumber land fought desperately in this death-grasp with the monster, and the conflict continued until half-past three -o'clock, when the water had risen to her main hatchway, and she began to careen. Morris then gave the Merrimack a part ing fire, and ordered his men to jump overboard and save themselves. The dead, and the sick and wounded, who could not be moved, to the number of about one hundred, were left on board, and these went down with her a little while afterward, in fifty-four feet of water. The top-mast of the Cumber- ten degrees. The deck, lying: flush with the sides of the upper hull, was .also armored and made bomb-proof, and nothing was seen on it but the tower or citadel (turret, it is technically termed), the wheel-house, and a box covering the smoke-stack. The insurgents spoke of the vessel as a " Yankee cheese-box set on a plank." The only entrance into the vessel that boarders of it could find was from the top of the turret, and then only one man at a time could descend. That turret was made of eight thicknesses of one-inch iron plate, so overlapped that at no spot was there more than one inch thickness of joint. The roof was of plato iron, per forated and shell proof, and placed on wrought iron beams six inches down the cylinder. In this was a sliding hatch to give light, and allow the employment of musketry if the vessel should be boarded. The turret was turned by a contrivance connected with the double-cylinder engine that propelled the vessel, and so placed that the governor could control its motion in taking aim. The two heavy guns, as seen in the engraving on the preceding page, moved on wrought iron slides across the base of the turret, on well-fitting carriages, and their muzzles were run out into the port-holes with ease. Such was the strange weapon of war destined to measure strength with tho Merrimack. ^ To Captain Fox, the Assistant-Secretary of the Navy, Ericsson wrote when proposing this name, that it would admonish tho insurgents that their batteries on banks of rivers would no longer be barriers to the passage of the Union forces, and that it would prove a severe monitor to the leaders of the rebellion. He also said ,