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Les cartes, planches, tableeux, etc., peuvent 6tre filmte A des taux de reduction diffirents. Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre reproduit en un seul cliche, 11 est filmi A pertir de I'angle supiriaur gauche, de gauche k droite. et de haut en bas. en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 tmmmmm Ok sttd- bu Etnrif Sorhrni; I'ml'^ JEFFEKSOW [D)/i\l^DS„. niER^ HTSTORr '«- THK imk.,f i tYii Wl iR ■^ •fi« 'ITL i* STATES. J-|!ffAB .a* ^^,^^^ ■f OKONTO : fi. toyno, 4«i> »iB«0!l. Pft.SXRSs. Y """B (.THKhr ;..«.>„,,, f^t.p SOUTHERN HISTORY OP THB OREAT CIVIL WAR IN THB UNITED STATES. BY EDWARD A. POllAR]) TORONTO • !■• K. KANDALL. PUBIISHEK. - ' 1863. P771 Entered according to Act of Congress, Bt KILPATRICK k PEIOE, In the District of Kentucky, in the Tear 1868. Entered aocording to Act of the Proyincial Legislature of Canada, in the Year 1 868, Bt p. R. RANDALL, In the Office of the Registrar of the ProTince of Canada. I i PREFACE. have bee» ocmpoaed brfh. 1 ! '"^ *"'""'"'• Th^X seeking af,e, ii,„3,y ornaln T ™,hn "°"""'°''' "'""•"' Who ia no. : p^ .:r^; "V™™ "' '"^'"""' ^"^ "' -" -«a.i„« a „„oe „„i.ed a„U h^ty L"-. "' """ ""• I CONTENTS. CHAPTER f. DeluBive Ideas of the Union.. Administration of John Adams The " StrJ«t Oon8truc..on,sts" The "State Kights" Men in the Xonh .S'iSsouri Re CHAPTER II. Bill- of the Confederate Congress .. General Beaureganl .. Fortifications of tS iri CONTENTS. Oharleaton Harbour. .Naval Preparations of the Federal Government .. Attempted Re inforcHment of Fort Sumter. .Perfidy of the Federal Government. .Excitement in Charleston.. Reduction of Fort Sumter by the Confederate Forces .. How the News was Received in Washington. .Lincoln's Calculation.. His Proclamation of Wah. .The "Reaction" in the North .. Displays of Rancour Towards the South. . Northern Democrats .. Replies of Southern Governors to Lincoln's Requisition for Troops. .Spirit of the South.. Secession of Virginia. .Maryland. .The Baltimore Riot.. Patriotic Example of Missouri. .Lincoln's Proclamation Blockading the Southern Ports... General Lee. .The Federals Evacuate Harper's Ferry. .Bumming of the Navy Yard at Norfolk.. The Second Secessiouary Movement. .Spirit of Patriotic Devotion in the South. .Supply of Arms in the South. .The Federal Government and the State of Maryland. .The Prospect. CHAPTER. III. Confidence of the North. .Characteristic Boasts. ."Crushing out the Rebellion" ..Volunteering in the Northern Cities.. The New York " Invincibles ". .Mis- representations of the Government at Woshingtoi.. Mr. Seward's Letter to the French Government.. Another call for Fedenl Volunteers. .Opening morementi of the Ca-npaign. .The Federal occupationof Alexandria. .Death of Col. Ellsworth ..Fortress Monroe.. Th« Battle of Bethel. .Results of this Battle.. General Joseph E. Johnston.. The Upper Potomac. .Evacuation and Destruction of Harper's Ferry. .The Movements in the Upper Portion of the Valley of Virginia . .Northwestern Virginia. .The Battle of RroH Mountain. .Carrock's Ford. .The Retreat of the Confederates. .General McOlellan. .Meeting of the Federal Congress ..Mr. Lincoln's Message.. Kentucky.. Western Virginia. .Ltirge requisitions for Men and Money by the Federal Government. .Its Financial Condition. .Financial Measures of the Southern Confederacy. .Contrast betwen the Ideas of the Rival Governments.. Conservatism of the Southern Revolution. .Despotic excesses of the Government at Washington. CHAPTER IV. The "Grand Army" of the North. .General McDowell. .The Affair of Bull Run ..An Artillery Duel.. The Battle of Manassas. ."On to Richmond ". .SoenSry of the Battle Field. .Crises in the Battle. .Devoted Courage of the Confederate» . .The Rout. .How the News was Received in Washington. .How it was Received in the South. .General Bee., Colonel Bartow.. The Great Errour. .General Johnston's Excuses for not Advancing on Washington .. Inoidknts of the Ma- KAS8A8 Battle. CHAPTER V. Results of the Manassas Battle in tlie North. .General Scott. .McOleU.in, "the ToungNipoIeon".. Energy of the Federal Government. .The Bank Loan. .Ertnits in the West. .The Musoubi Campaign. .G.ivernor Jacks^on's Proclamation.. Ster- ling Price .. rue Affair uf Boon ville. .Organisation of the Missouri Forces. .The Battle of Cartbaok. .General MoCullfK)li..The Battle of Oak Hill. .Death of CONTSWTa. Yll General Lyon..The Confederate Troops lea.e Mi«ouri. .Operation, In Northern M»8oun.. General Ha, ris .. General Prie.3'. March towardg the Mi™,uri tT Aflar at Urywood Creek.. The B.rr« o. L«„e«,. ^fae Jay^;^"«''S; Wy of "the Five Hundred". .General Price'. AchieveLeT^ HU ^* SJaoti Tiff i'" •'v^'^rT "' ^•'""^"^ '^^ T'>«-P-' - ^mh-S^ Ib^aour, The Affair of Fredencktown. .General Price's P^w^e of the (W Rirer. yeeeasion of M.«ouri from the Federal Union . .Fremont ZerLded nJ Federal Forces in Missouri Demoralised. .General Price at 8^"" L^J lardHhir*''--""™" ^' ^"''^''^^ PK.c...C,.,d„e« o? thftoVe™:;" CHAPTER VI. The Campaign in Western Virginia. .General Wise's Co.nmana .. Political Influences in We.teru Virginia. .The Affair of Seary Creek Gene,Twi«^« nf treat to Lewisbur,. General Floyd's Bngade. . Ihe iffJof i^ossL I "mo"v .' ments on the Gauley..The Affair of C«mifn» T?»..r. n- ""■^•^» ■ ■ ai»ve W,^„..Tbe C..p,ig„ i„ W..t.„, Vir«i„i. Ab"! 'd xi,! IffaTr',:/ Date Results. .Other Movements in Virdnia The Pofimn^ T ;„» rpu " ^'"'*'™ Leksbcug. .Overweening Confidence ofTheSouth ""^ ^"''" °' CHAPTER VII. The Position and Policy of Kentucky in the War. .Kentucky Chi valrv R« miniscences of the " Dark and Bloody Ground " Protection nS v .? ^ ' * ^ Kentucky. .How the Debt of Gratitude Has len1 eS A G.^^r^"^ ^ ford Conyention. .The Gubernatorial Canyass of I85T „'^ f T 'J.^'l^. H*'"*- Parties.. Other Causes for the Dily^ o 1 L" Thf "p'o S^" '"" 1 Uaiou" Resolution.. .The " State Guard " ^°"^ , ^- " \''^ Pro-Slavery and ^N...™ut,. .„d Wh.. It Me!r.T?;K.„ J °e" /erTai':," r" "' S.fpr tJn"1"v-°'?";" '=""'"'"^^'- -""X oTwib, ueneral Polk. . r ,e N.utrabiy „r Kentucky Firet Brok-n b, ■ l„ Norlli 0.nL.T Buckwr at Bowba. Green. .Camp " Dick a,bi.«>a ". .The "Hl.oli" T'! Soedf " t£ V- ''""''iT- ■^''" *""'' »f B«*»''r,rille. ."Tbe Wild 0. Oenrriblrsidnr'r r' ^^'-"-^■-^^-kness of Our Forces in Kentucky . ueneiai Albeit Sidney Johnston. .Inadequacy of His Forces at Bowline al Neglect and Indifferance of the Confederate AuthoriUe A ^p^^'i"- ^'''^- • Ad.niss!,nofK.ntuckyi„to the Souther^ Confodlracy! ''" ""'- vUi CONTICNTS. CHAPTER VIII. Prospects of European Interferano8..TLe Selfish Calculations of England Effects of the Blockade on the South .. Arrest by Capt. Wilkes of the Southern Ooinmissioners. .The Indignation of England. .Surrender of the Commissioners by the Lincoln Government. .Mr. Seward's Letter. .Rrvirw ov Affairs at thb Clo8» ovthbYkap. 1861.. Apathy and Improvidence of the Southern Government Superiority of the North on the Water.. The Hatteras Expedition. .The Port Royal Expedition. .The Southern Privateeri. .Their Failure, .Errours of Southern Statesmanship.. "King Cotton ".. Episodeg of the War.. The Affair of Santa Rosa Island. .The Affair of Dranesville. .Poiitical Measures of the South A Weak and Halting Policy. .The Spirit of the War in the North. .Administration of the Civil Polity of the Southern Array.. The Quartermaster's Department. .The Hygiene of the Camps. Ravages of the Southern. Army by Disease. .The Devo- tion of the W omen of the Soulth. r CHAPTER IX. Prospects of the Year 1862. .The Lines of the Potomac. .General Jackson's Expedition to Wiuoheeter. .The Batllb of Mill Spbinqs in Kkntuokt. .General Critt«ndi*n. .Death of General ZoUicoffer. .Sufferings of Crittenden's Army on the Retreat.. Comparative Unimportance oi the Disaster. .The Baitle of Roanokb IsLAWD. .Importance of the Island to the South. .Death of Captain Wise. .Cause* of the Disaster to the South, . Investigation in Congress. .Censure of the Govern- ment. .Interviews of Gen• Virginia.. Recurrence of DiswTers to th. i" . ^fj^ Situation of the War in Newburn. .Fall of Fort PulaskTand pt. tn ."" '^' ^''^''' •'^« ^''»P'"''« <>' ort fuuski and Fort Macon. .Common Sense vs. "West Point." CHAPTER Xir. Federals on the Telesseo fiiver V^ nity".. Death of Grne Gilbert Si'dnev ^7'f °' SHrLOH..A "Lost Opportu- ties of Shiloh and ZLa Th eFeH ?v °^ between the Baf Withdrawal of the ^S^^^F^t^'^^ '^ ^°^"' .^'«»>-«- • .equUs..Ae?ar;f th!tu;;'o7SrMi^ ^^'^ -^ ^- CHAPTER XIII. CONCLUaiON. the' cr;s;: ii'v^Tgria'titr? °^ ^'^^ ^°"'^- -^'^"^ -^ ^^-^^o., or Oo.oent-.«tiol.SK«„aoT;HfBA^^^^^ A "'P"";', '° *••" Galley.. The Policy of Defeat Upon the 5 h Xui!ntXi ''n"'° '^"r"""- * ^^''' "^ McClelbn'. Great Money Job. .^ Gen wL^n ?''T"''^^''''' ^"^''' ''^''^^ ^«r as . Statement o'f the SL^u Filet '^^^^^^^ of the Northern People. . Order8..SummarvofthaW„/r! -ff- J^ Venom.. Qen. Pope's Militory on the Part of t^^oi. e^; ^^''^^f ^ ''''T'i ^^^ R«^«lHati.:j . . English Statesmanshsp. . pL'rlss of he wr- 'l! "^i'"*"P'"*" Interference Vick3burg..MorganVGLtS V T '" ^^"^ West. .The Defence of th. Confederate c"^^^^^^^^ TenneH,e«.Virginia Frontier. .A Glance at Ag:.in..Rapid Movements and" ^™^^^^^^ Moral BeneOt^-of the W^i'Z^^a^llSery^S^.^^-'- '^^ THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. CHAPTER I. Delusive Id3a8 of the Union. .Administration of John Adams The 'Strict Constr..et.omsts"..The -'State Rights" Men in the North :ThMi?8o^ M i:: rofS^'ef '^". r:' the N„-lificatio„ Qaestion..The l^Z tTr" Th. tI; \ r7p , ^'^^.^"''■Sl'^v^'y Party. .The '. Pinckney Resolu- 8^2 Tl e kIZX r f "'^•.■J'^l.Ab.litio.ists in th. Presidential Canvass of Part; TL?ieT tr /'^o^ ^'''' ""'* «'"^^"' °f '^' Republican W; 'p / ft'T °^,P''««"l''°t Buchanan. .Th. Kansas C ,ntPover8y. .The John £r?hfKc?'"'%'';1"--^^™""''"^'™ °^ ''^'^ Northern' Den.ocr«c PoiLl P //^^"^""f Stephen A. Douglas.. The Alabama Resolutions. .The Political Patforms bf 1860. .Election of Abraham Lincoln. President of the United States. .Analysis of the Vote. .Political Condition of t e Nor h Sece J of South Oarohna.. Events in Charleston Harbour. .Di.agreemennM Cot;r^tct'-''r ?"r'"°'^ ''^^^"^•^^ •" P-g.ess..PeacTM:a™Ta Long e.8. he Crittenden Resolutions. .The Peace Congress. .Policy of the Bor- der Slave States. .Organization of the Confederate States Government Pe^idet R::olnrn. ""'"'' '' "" ^^^'"-■^^-«- «f Abraham Lincoln. . Strength r'Se • '-^'!^\^;"^;i«a'^ P°'>Pl^ of tho present . rical strength, where the defeated u TNlO VIKST Y»AR or TUlo WAH. and ,,„H«..I „„„ „ f„ ,i,„ |,h„„„ „f ^„„|„.r„ ,ol, " * * b<>l l,n IIH |n.„,,|„ ,, ,„o ,»„y „r „„„ „gg,p„i,„„ M,„„ f «l.-ir ,.,,li,icim„ ,n.l „.„ l,..„l,„,„ ,„ boli.vo^ m r's,,m 1,^ ZT, T ""' """ i"»"i ■"■'■ -' *" '■• -i' . :r;r;:::;r;rr:r::: :;;;-?=— «'.|..n,l„.„„ of l,U ,ul,ni„i..,„„i„„. H,u .(..y worn ,"v »^^ ». ^mmvvr--, oroprcen. him ,.s „ - comimuT' in Tr^ <-M'lei »ml, i„de«l, ,|,„y f.,„„,, ,,„,„„ ,„ J^;j 2 Z^ N,;S;„:: ■" '■"^'■"■""'•■" -- "'«^'- --- S Oenerul Jackson sulwe,,u..nlly ..xplaiocl «wny, in „ ™„, by on., was „„. of ,h„ p,.„<.,ic„| ...shmonies „f his wis.!,,,,?! l« le.. .„ P0Meri,y. ,)„, ,he i,„„^.aia,„ ,„„„, „„;■;,,' Tn4 w»»T *iwn oy Titlii war. It. effect, of hi, poliby in reteion ,o South Carolina wc«, up6h the whole, dccdedly ohfav, .itable to tho Slate Rights caii, H,. approval of the Force Bill gave to the conaolidationi,,, the benefit of hi. great name and Influence a. a moe. import- TJ^Z J^* "r"'"' "•'°'"'-"' «"'' "■« Union" be. .Same inseparable m tho public estimation ; and the idea WM wrong y and vividly imprc,«rd upon the public mind, that Thb cameoa. of it with an enviable reputation frriritlnd ch.va|,y , h„, ,h„ „„„„,„, „f ,^^ P^^^^.^_^ contrfb ted ,0 the previous popular impression, of ,h„ power and perma- nency of the Union. The idea of the Unioi became whTtU continued to be for a quarter of a century thereafter-TxL agent and sentimental. The people were unwilling to si , " analyze an rtea .fter it had became the subjecf oftn^hL! instn; and the mere name of ihe •• Union," illustrating, "s ft did, the power of word, over the passions „f the muttituoc Zrle Zr f' T' "' '"' ""'""y'' ^-yl d f ihTrr f ? ' ambitious politician, and the favourite heme of demagogues. This unnatural tumor w«, not pecn^ to any party or any portion of the countrv It T.? i f Panted in ihe Northern' mind, but pZiS 1^ t:^^ , derable extent, m the South. Many of the Sonlhem n^iv eians came to the conclusion that the^ could bes" Icerd ;" their designs as advocates and eulogists of what was oorl phrased as "the gloriou. Union," ,„d for a long^l'^r popular v^ucc of the South seemed to justify their foiXsi^ The settlement of the sectional difficulties of is^ift -,i • u grew out of the admission of the .errito raequ fe d ' bt the Mexican War, was bu, a ..petition of the^- Compr:„,is''^" „f 'Sao, so fa, a, it implied a surrender of the rights of the 16 THE FIRST YEAR OP THE WAR. Bi' i I ! (i K'l South and of the principle of conrtitational equality The appeal, urged in behalfof the Union had the uLl effect rf reconchng the South to the sacrifice required of her and embarrassed anything like resis.ance on the part of her re ir5o"Tl'r''T""° ""' "-"P-nise measures""f 1860. South Carolina was the only one of the Southern State, ready at this time to take the bold and ,^ven^ ous 3n,t.a.,ve of Southern independence. Injustice, ToweverT the other States of the South, i, „„„ be stated, that T agre^ ing to what »as called, in severe irony or a wretched fJl «nce .he « Co.pr„™se " of 1850, they declared it la" he last concession they would make to the North ; that they fcx.k ,t as a .. finality, " and that they would resist ;„y fUhe^ :!ZTrz::" ""'-'""'"""' ---"^ »f •-» ™p- »„J'lu''"'"'"'r°'''"""^'' ■'""^"^ ^y "•« North. The am.slavcry sentiment became bolder with sbccess. Stirau- lated by secret jealousies and qualified for success by the low and narrow cunninRof fanaticism, i. had grown up by indirec ion and aspKed to the complete overthrow of the peeu ar .nsutution that had distinguished the peopla of the Sot^h from hose of the North, by a larger happiness, greater ea,c of I and a superior tone of character. Hypocrisy, seeretiveness a rapid and unhealthy erowth anrf .. to., .u '-'euveness, „f /b , S'oma, and at last the unmasked spirit of defiance, were the incidents of the history of the ant slavery sentiment in the North, from the becininrof ^ orgamzation to the last and fatal strain of its i°nsolence and di,^^l" V°7"'"'™'y ■•«'=«■« period, the Norlh3rn majorily wavw^ih ■'""'"''•' "' "'""'''"''S o' i»terfering J J, way with the institution of slavery in any Slate T,.rri,„r„ or District where it existed fin .i, . ' '"""of/ ,. . """<=" existed. On the contrary, they declared their readiness to give their "Southern brelhren" the Zt satisfactory guaranties for the security of their slave- prop^;! THB FIRST TEAS OF THE WAR. ,y They cloaked their design, „„der the disguise of the Right of Pet,t,on and other ooncealmems equally demagogical fLm the organization of the government, petitionsfof he abouZ of save^ signed in eve,y instance by but a few persot "nS most of them women, had, at intervals, been sent T^c^ i^^ , T »°5'*f'°"' apprehension on the part of the South. In the year 1836, these petitions were multipL and ^ the North. An exctement began. On motion of Mr H. L. Rnckney of South Carolina, a resolution was adonted ser.es of resolutions, the last of which was as follows"^ The resolution, were carried by a vote of lliveas m «« s;ti„n^ ss nr r r -*^^^-^-" • tionist among .he'm. tIv „ J e^"^ed tl"? '" r™"'' ^'°"- teeting the slaveholder k^ hTs :ht Z '" T""' °' ^"^ declared by their vo.<./»! I \ ? P'^^P'^y. and yet right of pe.Won to °hl Ti '' "^ "''" 'P*"''''^'' ">»' ">« called in questtn" °' '" ""•"P"'^ "^' ""> '--" «> be calld, 'dr:;:sr,e„c:th7"t"r '""'"•""''•" ^' '"'^ -« In the' monTh o Dec mber llsT? '"''^'Tj ''" "™'''- enacted in that body durinl ,hf ' ''T'''"""'' ''^'"^ ^«' D) ""'^^d imignificani. Mr. CaIl,o„n o" So^ Jf^'T''"''"" »' ■"""> terislic sagaoiiy replied en A J. Carolina, wiih charac ye»", yield 10 ,he storm of Th„ii, r '"^" ''™'''' '» ^ '^^ "helmed by it.» inrnll-^ " fenalicism and be over- Which the ffreat Sonth r« V ^?'**"''^™ "conservatism " with He amned'^^ith a :»:r:„rr''"''''- -'' "■^"'"•'^•'^ way in vrhicrh ,he profLS-!. "iev,lable from the i.»ited the aggrtsCt rf tHTlwn "''""' ""= ^o'"" h"" granting them^fhe rigTof pin 1" 7 '"'' '^ "''"^'""''y asked; that 'he faniicisrof h"' Ch Z '"^^^-^ "" *<=y reqnfred a re«frf„, aad ,|,„, 1 'mL- ^' " *'"'= "hich • M;. Webster andt " Uke h rwrrLX'th""' ™™''' "^ In the ThirfiVtJ, n ^ouia nna ta their cost. mo, the pmfe ed Ab^rf'- "'" ''*"""^'' '» December <"«i Whig parties i„ TZITT^T'" "'" ''^'""'«"« f* about a month. Both the Wh ^l^y*'' »» "gani^ttion .hen claimed to be confer alive Tn t'^^* ^^"'*™'"' P«i« of Iheanti.slavery agi"a,i„r ' ™°^' *' W™"* In the Presidential canvass of I8.?2 h.,,^ »• wei* brought out by pmfesid nS^ '^'""^ *"'' «««' »«PPor.ed in each secllo^X unil ' ,"1"'"'' *"d were ran upon Hhatwas called'th. "f , ?' •'°'""'- "ale, Who «'«='« W ''i ISO THE FIRST yEAB OF THE WAR. During the first session of the first Congress under Mr. Pierce's administration, the bill introduced to establish a terri- torial government for Nebraska led to an agitation in Congress and the country, the consequences of which extended to the last period of the exi-tence of the Union. The Committee on Territories in the Senate, of which Mr. Douglas, of Illinois, was chairman, reported the bill, which made two territories — Nebraska and Kansas — instead of one, and which declared that the Mis!^ouri Compromise act was suspended by the Com- promise mea uied of 1850, and had thus become inoperative. The phri.seol«)j;y of the clause repealing the Missouri Compro- mise was drawn up by Mr. Douglas, and was not supposed at the time to be liable to misconstruction. It held, that the Mis- souii Compromise Act, " being inconsistent with the principles of non-intervention by Congress with slavery in the States and Teiritories, as recognized by the legislation of 1850, com- n:on!y called the Compromise Measures, is hereby declared inoperative and void ; it being the true intent and meaning of this act not to legislate slavery into any Territory or State, nor to exclude it therefrom, but to leave the people thereof perfectly free to form and regulate their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only to the Constitution of the United Slates." The clause here quoted, as drawn up by Mr. Douglas, was incorporaf i into the Kansas-Nebraska bill in the Senate on the 15lh of February, 1854. The bill passed the House at the same session. The repeal of the Missouri Compromise "-^used the deepest excitemint throughout the North. The Abolitionists were wild with fury. Douglas was hung in effigy at different places, and was threatened with personal violence in case of his per- siptence in his non-intervention policy. The rapid develop- ment of a fanatical feeling in every free Stale startLj. ii.u.ay who had but recently indulged dreams of the perpetuity of the Constitutional Union. Abolitionism, in the guise of '•'■Repuh' licanismj^- swept almost everything before it in the North and Northwest m t\ e elections of 1854 and 1855. But few pro- THE FIH8T Y. AR OF THE WAR. gf JX^T '""' '"PP"'^'',"'^ -P^«l of «»"- and\he;dSo.,:rs":,re''iT' 1."";"'"^ ■" ^'--y' .hei, ptoses .ightXr:: 'tpls. '"'''""'°" ''^^"'■':"', Const itntional U,^i„„ C ?h ^^ "'""' """ *"™''' °f ">« of the vote to give hon. " ™ '"^ ''"'" '" '" ""^'y^i' Fremont, wo ran as L '"T''^8em .„t ,0 the patHot. ^Mim votes he ee ^^^^7 JT'I;"'' '^"^'^'^ been elected by „. T J!;;,":!, g' if' T „,Tb "> "'" panyin Pennsylvania had united upo^^'him '"'-''■■"""»" brilgrr^rtrroVebrdK"'''"' "-^ '■^'" ^o^^^' ^ •--. ■he 'bresholdoft n^:„:ThTehT''''°,''^'' """^ '» conservative party in -he " T, v atd in 1™": "', '"' ^"'^ culminated in the run..™ ™r •:.T'' '," '?l'.'"«' fo" years ipture of the Federal Ua ion. A short ill ,1 ;f m TBB FIRST YBAB OF THE WAR. summary of the facts of this controversy mtroduces us to the contest ofl860. in which the Republican party, swollen with Us trmmnhs in Kansas, and infeoliog the Democratic leaders m the North with the disposition to pander to the lusts of a grow- ing power, ohf ained the control of the govejctnent, md sdired ine sceptre of absolute amhority. When IVlr. Buchanan came into office, in March, 1857, ha flattered hinri^elf with the hope that his administration would settle the disputes that had so long agitated and distracted the country ; trusting that such a refuU might be ;,ncompli«hed by the speedy admission of Kansas into the Union, upon the prin- in this distant portion of the Federal territory. ^8l7\^rfT.^T^^'''"'^^'^ "' Topeka, in September. 1857, and adopted what they called a " Constitution " for Kan- ^s This so-called Constitution was submitted to the people voted"" ''''^''' '^'°""' '^ "^ '^'^^ -«i-^y of *hos'e who voed; scarcely any but A bolitionists going to the polls. Un- der their Topeka Constitution, the Fn>e Slate party elected a ^vernor and Legislature, and o^anized for tlie VXf »mg Congress for the admission of Kansas' into the TZ' J r T^^T^ °^ '^' '^^P^'^^ insurgents was presented Tont • ^f '^^yj^"^'^ ,^o"g'-«- ^t met with a favourable res- mnl ant . ' "^ J^7«^-ntatives, a majority of that body b^ ng anti-slavery men of the New England school ; but found but a poor reception in the Senate, where there was still a majority of conservative and lav^r-abiding men I I M II ill .31 \r 24 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE \7AR. On the 2nd of February, 1858, Mr. Buchanan, at the request of the President of the Lecompton Convention, transmitted to Congress an authentic copy of the Constitution framed by that body, with a view to the admission of Kansas into the Union. The message of the President took strong and urgent position for the admission of Kansas under this Con- stitution ; he defended the action of the Convention in not submitting the entire result of thoir labors to a vote of the people ; he explained that, when he instructed Governor Wal- ker, in general terms, in favour of submitting the Constitution to the people, he had no othei object in view beyond the all- absorbing topic of slavery ; he considered that, under the organic act, the Convention was bound to submit the all impor- tant question of slavery to the people ; he added, that it was never his opinion, however, that, independently of this act, the Convention would be bound to submit any portion of the Con- stitution to a popular vote, in order to give it validity ; and he argued the fallacy and unreasonableness of such an opinion by insisting that it was in opposition to the principle which pervaded our institutions, and which was every day carried into practice, to the effect that the people had a right to delegate to representatives, chosen by themselves, sovereign power to irame Constitutions, enact laws, and perform many other im- portant acts, without the necessity of testing the validity of their work py popular approbation. The Topeka Constitu- tion Mr. Buchanan denounced as the work of treason and insurrection. It is certain that Mr. Buchanan would have succeeded in eftectmg the admission of Kansas under the Lecompton Con-- stitution, if he could have secured to the measure the support of all the Northern Democrats who had conlributed to his elec- tion. These, however, had become disaffected ; they opposed and assailed the measure of the Administration, acting under • the lead of Mr. Douglas ; and the long-continued and bitter discussion which ensued, perfectly accomplished the division of ' THE FIRST lEAll Of THE WaH, w he Democrauc party mto two great factions, mustered u„de, the names of " Lecompton " and ■' Anti-Lecompton." J he latter faction foujided their opposition to the Adminis- trafon on the grounds that the Lecompton Constitution ,vas no the act of the people of Kansas, a„d did not express their will; that only half of the counties of the Territory were represented in (he Convention that framed it, the other half betng dtsfranchtsed, for no fault of their own, but from failure of the olBcers to register the voters, and entitle them to vote for delegates; and that the mode of submitting the Constiiu- t,on to the people for " ratification or rejection" was unfair embarrassing and proscriptive. ' In reply, the friends of the Administration urged that twen- ty-one out of the Ihirty-four organized countL of Ka„«s were einbraced in the apportionment of representation -Z 01 the htrteen counties not embraced, nine had hut a sraa populatton as shown by the fact that, in a succeedit^g eLtTon .0 wluch the Anti-Leoomptonitcs had referred as anfndica i„n of pubhc sentiment in ICansas, they polled but ninety vote in be aggregate ; that, in the remaining four counties, fhe fedur^ to ^gtster the voters, and the consequent loss ol their ^pr^ sen.at,on, were dueto the Abolitionists themselves, who reZed to recogntze all legal authority in the Terri.o.y ; Lnd t a, he snbmtsston of the Constitution, as provided b/ he Le mp on qonven ton, afforded a complete expression of the popu 7^ as the slavery question was the only one about which there wa any controversy in Kansas. "' The bill for the admission of Kansas n.ider the Lecomoton -onstt.ut.on, was passed by the Senate. I„ the HouTa" amendment, offered by Mr. Montgomery, of PennsylvanTawa" adopted, to the effect that, as it was a disputed point wh'cZr the Consmutton framed at Lccomp.on was fairly madror ex pressed the will of the people of Kansas, her adm.ssl mo the Un,„n as a State was declared to be upon the frdamenC condtuon precedent, that the said constitutionalTnt^men should first be submiued to a vote of the people of Kansas I i i m I 2$ TUB FrtST YiEAH OF THE WAR. and assented to by them, or by a majority of the Voters, at an election fo be held for the purpose of determining the question ot the ratification or rejection of the insfrument. The Senate insisted upon its biil : the House adhoi-ed to its atthindme.rt; and a committee of conference was appointed. The result of the conference was the report of a bill for the admission of Kansas, which becatne a law in June, 1858, and substantially secured nearly all that the Nortb had claimed in trie controversy. The Bill, as passed, rejected the Land Ordinance contained in the Lecompton Constitution, and proposed a substitute. Kansas was to be admitted into the Union on an equal footing, in all respects, With the original States, but upon the funda- mental condition precedent, that the question of admission, along with that of the Land substitute, be submitted to a vote of the people; that, if a majonty of the vot6 should be agaityst the proposition tendered by Congress, it should be con^ eluded that Kansas did not desire admission under the L6- - ntinee was rejected by the voters of the Territory; and Kansas did not come into the Union until nearly three years afterwards—jw^'t as the Southern States were going out of it. She came in under an anti-slavery Constitution, and Mr. Bu- chanan signed the bill of admission. The discussions of the Kansas question, as summed in thd preceding pages, had materially weakened the Union. Tho spirit of those discussions, and the result itself of the contixi- versy, fairly indicated that the South could hardly expect, un- TBB rmST VEAB OF THE WAR. 27 derany cirwjmstances, the addiiJon of another slave State to the Union. The Southern mind was awakened; the sentimen- t»l reverences of more than half a century were decried; and men began to calculate the precise value of a Union which, by itB mere name and the paraphrase of demagogues, had lone governed its affections. Some of these calculations, as they appeared in the news- paper presses of the times, were curious, and soon commenced to interest the Southern people. It was demonstrated to them that their section had been u>ed to contribute the bulk of the revenues of the government; that the Norfh derived foi.y to fifty millions of annual revenue from the South, through^he operations of the Tariff; and that the aggregate of the trade of tbe^South in Northern markets was four hundred millions ^dollars a year. It was circulated b-. a Northern writer ^at the harvest of grain reaped by the North from the Union from unequal taxations and the causes of trade as between' the two sections, exceeded two hundred millions of dollars per' year. These calculations of the commercial cost of the "glorious Union " to the «outb. only presented the question in a sittffle aspect, however striking that was. There were other aspects no less important and no less painful, in which it was to be regaEded. The swollen and insolent power of Abolitionism threatened to carry every thing before it; it had already broken the vital principle of the Constitution-that of the equality of Its parts; and to injuries alreariy accomplished, it added the bitterest threats and the most insuffbrable in- solence. While the anti-slavery power threatened never to relax its efforts until, in the language of Mr. Seward, a Senator from N«w York, the " irrepressible conflict » between slavery and freedom was accomplished, and the soil of the Ca^olinas dedicated to the institutions of New England, it affected the mso^nt impertinence of regarding the Union as a concession on the part of the North, and of taunting the South with the 18 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. llllif disgrace wh.ch her association in the Union inflicte,! upon the superior ..nd nore virtuous people of the Northern Staes 1 he excesses of this co.ceit are ridiculous, seon in the light o subsequent, vents. It was said that the South was an inf^- nor part of the country ; that she was a .p.ned and degraded section; th:. the na.io.al {.me abroad was compromised by the association of the South in the Union; and that a New 1-ngland traveller ui Europe blushed to confess himself an Wican because half of the nation of that name were slave" int th;, TV- ^'^ ^'^•''"-"^«»« -^^^ ^ P-tence of pray- 1 W u ^"'"" ™'^*'^ ^' ^'^^^'^^'J' »h«' thev might be cleared by the separatio, of North and South, of'any impl' ca ion m the crime of slaveiy. Even that portion of the par ; calling themselves -Republicans" affected that the Union rohLd b^^ -y<>f'i;e North. Mr. Banks, of .iassachuset s" who had been e ected Speaker of the House in the Thirty.firs to I e baffled, and was the author of the coarse jeer--Z.e< the tl^:Tout ' "^U ""'^ ^°^' "''''^'^ '^' explained t a the South " could not he kicked out of the Union." Mr Seward, the great Republican leader, had spread the evangeW of a natural, essential, and irrepressible hostility between the two sections ; and the North prepared to act on a suggestion, the only practical result of which could be to cleave the Union apart, and to inaugurate the horrors of civil war The raid into Virginia of John Brown, a notorious aboii- tiomst whose occupations in Kansas had been those of a horse-thiefand assassin, and his murder of peaceful and un- suspecting citizens at Harper's Ferry in the month of Octo- ber, lb59 was a practical illustration of the lessons of the Northern Republicans and of their inevitable and. in fact ^giCHl conclusion in civil war. Professed conservatives in the' North predicted that this outrage would be productive of real good in their section, in opening the eyes of the people to What were well characterized as <^ Black Republicnn '' doc THE FIRST yEAR OF THE WAR. ^ trines. This prediction was not verified by succeeding events. The Norlhern elections of the next month showed no diminu* tions in the Blacic Republican vote. The manifestations of sympathy for John Brown, who had expiated his crime on a gallows in Virginia, were unequivocal in all parts of the North, though comparatively few oprnly justified the outrage. Bells were tolled in various towns of New England on the day of his execution, with the knowledge of the local authorities, and, m some instances, through their co-operation ; and not a few preachers from the pulpit allotted him an apotheosis, and con- signed his example to emulation, as one not only of public virtue, but of particular service to God. The attachment of the South to the Union was steadily weak- ening m the historical succession of events. The nomination m December, 1859, to the Speakership of the House of Repre- sentatives of Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, who had made himself especially odious to the South by publicly recommending, in connection with sixty-eight other Republican members, a tanatical document popularly known as " Helper's Book, " • irl^^\^T ^f/'^'\^°'^ ^a" ^i"lcQt in the extreme. We add a few ex- fnr'Knri"*^""-n'['°^\''"'"''y ^'°°"' '' ^''^ S""^'^ retains slave.-y, which God Sni tt E^L^f ..7; It ^''' '-'-''' ' '' "' ^"^^ '° ^^P^^"- -' ''Our own banner is inscribed-No co oporation with slaveholders in poli- Zi.iT ! '^'^- -'"'V^''^ ''^ ^«"8'°"; "° "ffili^tion with them in c'ri'aiL-rrsr '"-''"^^ "^"' '''-'' ^ ^"'«^"«' -"-« -^ delX'o?thlR!'\r '*°"^':' !" ^'' '^' '^'''''' '^' '^^termination and the destiny of the Repuhhcan party to give the death blow to slavery "-(P 034 a ^ustixri »-^^t.f '■ ^""^^'-^ -''' '"^^' ''' -"'"^- «^ ^^ "We are determined to abolish slavery at all hnzards-in defiance of all lZr:'Tr:t1r ""'^J' '\ ' ^^^^^^^'^ ^^^ ^•^^ s,aveocrats to bri g " It is our honest conviolio., that all the pro-sluvery slaveholders deserve at 80 TH« TIK8T TBAIl OF TH« WA«. m I^^h,.rr '"""""■• '"^ "'"''"' "P'-ly <'«''■")«<' and sought Itself to ««„e servile i„™rrection» i„ the South pm. dueed a marked effect in Congress, and was encoun.eredTy the Southern members with a determined apiri, of opposition. ZTr ?™!'>'"° ''''<=8'"i<>" ««»e warning that thay wo„S regard the electron of Mr. Sherman, or of any man with hta of the South, as much so, .ome of the member, declamd, «a House of Eepresenlatives. The Black Kepublican party de- fiaa ly m,m,„ated Sherman, and continued ,o vole for I "m t nearly two months, giving him wi.hin four votes of a ma7orUy upon every trial of his strength. Although he was LZ «!!»"'/'"' T "' '■'' P"'y- "»' " """»">«' 10 th^ /fe/p,rfio„*, was elected; jet the fact .hat more than three fourths of, he entire Northern delegation had adhered to Mr Sherman for nearly two months in a laolious and fanatical spirit produced a deep impression on the minds of Somhem members and of their constituents. The early dissolution " memtTof Co:g™:s!° "^ ^ ""'"'' '"''' ''"--'' -""S With the unveiling of the depth of the designs of the Black the booth. It was the demoralization of the Northern Demo- .r'somrr °" r" t'"^ ''"^'"°»- " '"<' °»"»d with the South for political power. In the depression of that Cr, h.'" T'-*"""" "''"■^ »«-lavery party in the North, ,t had no hesitation in courting and conciliaiin.. the ™l.ng element. This disposition was happily accommodated by the controversy which bad taken place between Mr. tol'°cdw'r"°w'"'"''''''' "■• """'cri-tal. lb., li. f«to«l wiu, ID ine cells of our public prisons. "—{P 168 ) -aTe^v"" sLrl''' "r''rr'' °'' ^^^^^^y' ^haU we fee the cur. of •l«ye»yf ShaU we pay the whelps of slavery y No. never. "-(P. 3«9) dete?sr:b:;:;/sSr'td" ''t r-' p"^-™ «^ •^--- - ^- (P.18t.) ''^' ■°''' ""^ ^*'^P "• Oodl abolish it we will.»- m THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. H IJouglas and the administration of Mr. Buchanan. The anti- alavery sentiment in the North wa. conciliated by the parti- sans of Mr. Douglas, in adopting a new principle for the government of the Territories, which was to allow the people to determine the question of slavery in their territorial capacity, without awaiting their organization as a State, and thus to risk the decision of the rights of the South on the verdict of a few settlers on the public domain. This pander to the antislavery sentiment of the North was concealed under the demagogical name of « popular sovereignty," and was imposed upon the minds of not a few of the Southern people by the artfulness of .is appeals to the name of a prin- ciple, which had none of the substance of justice or equality. The concealment however, wa» but imperfectly availing The doclrmeof Mr. Douglas was early denounced by one of the the ends of Black Republicanism ;" and later in time, while »«H \h '''' ^"^"^ controversy was agitating the cUry! and other question, developing the Union of all the ani slavery elements of war upon the South, a Senator Horn Georgia was found bold enough to denounce, in hi« place in The State Righ, pany of the South had co-operated with the Democracy of the North in the Presidentifl canvass of -^6, upon the principles of the platform adopted by th, Jv ' i.^^^^^'^'^^^C^nvention, assembled in Cincinnatti, it . ?hi n^J ^^y.^^P'^^^^d^ willingness to contiiue thi _ ^peration i„ the election of 1860, upon the principle! ol the Cmcmnatti platform; but demanded, as a cLuo„ precedenttot is, thatthe question of ihe coUucHoToZ Les^'dffil r"'^ "^^'^' °^ theSomhern K 1 , uTi conditions upon which their delegates should hold seats in the National Convention, appointe^d t meet at Charleston, on the 23rd of April, i860. T^e W 30 THE FIRST YEAR OP THE WAR. |i cracy in Alabama moved first. On the llth January, i860, they met in Coni^ention at Montgomery, and adopted a series of resolutions, from which the following are extracted, as pre- senting a summary declaration of the rights of the South, a recapitulation of the territorial question, and a definition' of those issues on which the contest of i860 was to be con- ducted : Jiesolved,hj the Democracy of the State of Alabama in Oonvention assem- b^d Ihfti holding all issues and principles upon which they have heretofore affiliated and acted with the National Democratic party to be inferior in dig- nity and importance to the great question of slavery, they content themselves with a general re-afflrnmnce of the Ciacinnatti platform as to such issues and also endorse said platform as to slavery, together with the following resolutions: ® •*•♦•## Hesolved, That the Constitution of the United States is a compact between sovereign and co-equal States, united upon the basis of perfect equality of righU and privileges. -1.^6 Besolveed, further, That the territories of the United States are common property, id which the States have equal tights, and to which the citizens of every State may rightfully emigrate, with their slaves or other property recognized as such, in any of the States of the Union, or by the Constitution of the United States. Resolved, further, That the Congress of the United States has no power to abolish slavery in the territories, or to prohibit its introduction into any of them. ^ Resolved, further, That the territorial legislatures, created by the legis- tion of Congress, has no power to abolish slavery, or- to prohibit the intro- duction of the same, or to impair by unfriendly legislation the security and full enjoyment of the same within the territories ; and such constitutional power certainly does uot belong to the people of the territories in any capa- city, before, m the exercise of a lawful authority, they form a Con?Jtution. pre- paratory to admission as a State into the Union ; and their action in the exercise of such lawful authority certainly cannot operate or take effect before their actual admission as a State into the Union. Resolved, further. That the principles enunciated by Chief Justice Taney, m his opinion in the Dred Scott case, deny to the territorial legislature the power to destroy or impair, by any legislation whatever, the right of property in slaves, and maintain it to be the duty of the Federal Government in all of its Hepartraents, to protect the rights of the owner of such property in the territories; and the principles so declared are hereby asserted to be rights of the South, and the South should maintain them. ^ Resolved, further, That we hold all the foregoing propositions to contain ' cardinal prinqiples "-t le in themselves-auJ just and proper and neces- THE FIR8T YBAH Of THE WAl. 31 r^it u'fr.."i ci:r .oV' r?j: t ti '"•"-' - i£««.;.»J, /arlher. Thut our delogoto to tire Oh«rU,lon r™,„„.- hereby e«pr.„ly i„,„uc.,d to i„.i.TtL.t ..id Coove' „" .Lu T , ,'" Under these resolutions the delegates from Alabama re- oe ved the,, appointment to the Charleston Convention. The delegMes from some of the other Cotton Stales were ao^ pointed nnder instructions equally binding. Anxious as we« the Sou hern delegates to continue their connection withTh" Convention, and thus to n,aintain the nationality of the Demc! oratn, party, they agreed ,o accept, as the sultanc of The Alabama plalform, either of Ihe two following reports wb ch had been subramed to the Charleston Contention by te maj-"y of the Committee on Resolutions-this majorhy no! .he pLTde^Ililret I'r """'' "' *^ ^^'"--'« P"'^ '» I. refS."""' ''' ^'^''-- ^^ «---^i be re-am^ed with the following prif::ptVJh\\"bieft^rS^^^^^ ^--^ these cardinal has ni power to abo S slavery n^" ''^ 'en' lories : First, that Congresa rial Legfslature has noT^T^^^^^^ «--'' *'^* '"^^ '^-"^o- the introduclion of slavS^ therein uort.v ^ . ^"^ *"""'°''^' ""' *° P'*'^^^ noran,po^er to dest"; a„d T^,;: /^^ Thr of" " "t' ^/--T therefron,, legislation whatever. ^ ^ °^ property in slaves by apy II. Jieiolved, That the platform adopted by the Damntr ,Hn . ^. ;;:^sf ^H V;r ^^"'^'"^ -P'auatoryTeiSrutlr: "° ''''' "' ''"'""''« ^ F.rst. Thatth. ,ovem. ent of a tenit^, organized by an act of Oongrew S4 THE FIRST YEAR Or THE WAR. Hi! ■ is provisional and temporary ; and, during its existence, all citizens of the United' States have an equal right to settle with their property in tho territory with- out their lights, either of person or property, being destroyed or impai>ed by congressional or territorial legislation. Second. That it is the duty of the Federal Governnjeiit, in all its dopartmente, to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and property in the territoricr and wherever else its constitutional authority extends. Third. That when the settlers in a territory having an adequate population form a State Constitutioji, the right of sovereignty commences, and, being consummated by admission into the Union, they stand on an equal footing with the people of other States ; and the State, thus organized, ought to bo admitted iuto the Fuderal Union, whether its Constitution prohibits or recognizes the institution of slavery. The Convention refused to accept either of the foregoing resolutions, and adopted, by a vote of 165 to 138, the follow- ing as its platform on the slavery question : 1. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union, in Convention assembled, hereby declare our aflSrmance of the resolutions unanimously adopted and' declared as a platform of principles by tiic Demociatic Convention at Cincinnati in the year of 1856, believing that Democratic principles are unchangeable in their nature, when applied to tho same subject matters ; and we recommend is the only further rest)lution8 the following : Inasmuch as differences of opinion exist in the Demociatic party as to the nature and extent of the powers of a Territorial Legislature, and as to the powers and duties of Congress, under the Constitution of the United States, over the institution of slavery within the Territories : 2. Resolved, That the Democratic party will abide by tho decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States on tho question of constitutional law. The substitution of these resolutions for those which were satisfactory to the South, occasioned the disruption of tho Convention, after a .session of more than three weeks, and its adjournment to Baltimore, on the 18th of June. The Cotton Stales all withdrew from the Convention ; but the Border Slave States remained in it, with the hope of affecting some ultimate settlement of the dilficulty. The breach, however, widened. The re-assembling of the Convention at Bahimore resulted in a final and embittered separation of the opposing delegations. The majority exhibited a more uncompromising spirit than ever; and Virginia and all the Border Slave Stales, with the exception of Missouri, withdrew from tho Convention» THE FIRST riAB OF THE WAR. 35 and n„,..d w>lh ihc rppresenlatives of ihe Colton Stales, then assembled m Bahlraore, in .ho nomination „f oandidat-s epre" sen.„g , ho views „ ,he Scu.h. Their nominees wore JoLn C. Breol<.„rulge of ke„.uel>y, for President, and Joseph Lane of Oregon, for Vioe-President. "^ * The old Convention, or what remained of it, nominated Stephen A. Douglas, of (llinoi,, for President, and B, nTam!n Fnepjtric ■, of Alabama, for Viee-Preddent. The latt" deeu" .ng, Herschel V. Johnson, of Georgia, was substituted on t The Southern Democracy and the Sonthern people of .11 pames with but few exceptions sustained the pla form <1 " ma ded by the Sonthern delegates in the Co.venti™, a d jus-' ffied the course , hey had pursued. They reeognized^n 1. platform a legitimate and Mr assertion of So^uS rLt In v.ew, however, of the conservative professions an" 2 ed speches „t ap-,rl,on of the Northero Democracy, a reteot able number of Southern Democrat, were induced ,os!,doo .he,r tteket. Mr. Douglas proclaimed his views to be L ^o " of Non-intervention ; he avowed his continued and unalterrbl opposttton to Black Republicanisn. ; his prine pics we p" Court .,h° ;•" -'""J'"' '^ ""-' ''™-°'' <" -he Supreme' Court -the d,st.nct.„„ between jndicial questions and polm ca, questions being purposely clouded ; and his friends wh an .ngcn.ons sophistry that h.d imposed upon the South f ^.:r,y years with success, insisted th't the Ip^not^JZ A. Douglas was a support of the p^rty in the North wM ?^^ «ood by the South amid persecutfon I, d4„a,f„r co^n sequence of these and other protestations, tickos w re go "" for Mr Douglas in most of th. Sonthern Stales. tL ° ^ n.ajor,ty, however, of the De^nocraey of the slave Iom" States, except Missouri, supposed BrecWnrid'o. ^'"^"'"'''■''■'S A Convention of what was called the '• Constitutional rr„:„„., party me, in Baltimore on the Oth of Mav 860 It nated for President and Vice-President, John Mrlr" ^ee, and Edwaid E.crelt. of Mn...,eh„„,„" ""I!.' "f^ Tennes- consisted of a va^n- and xm<\^R„'Zl '. ' P'"""""! « vjj,u. ami undehned enumeration of their politi. 36 THE FIRST YEAR JF THE WAR. 1 M :V 11 cal principles; as, "The Constitution of the country, the Union of States, and the enforcement of laws." The National Convention of the Black Republican party, was held at Chicago, in the month of June. It adopted a plat- form declaring freedom to be the " normal condition " of the Territories ; but ingeniously complicating its position on the slavery question by a number of vague but plausible articles, such as the maintenance of the principles of the Constitution, and especial attachment to the Union of the States. The Presidential ticket nominated by the Convention was Abraham Lincoln, of Illinois, for President, and Hannibal Hamlin, of Maine, for Vice-President. Governed by the nar- row considerations of party expediency, the Convention had adopted as their candidate for President a man of scanty politi- cal record -a Western la vyer, with the characteristics of many of that profession — acuteness, «lang, and a large stock of inde- cent jokes — and who had particular claims to vulgar and dema- gogical popularity, in the circumstances that he was once a captain of volunteers in one of the Indian wars, and at some anterior prriod of life, had been employed, as report differently said, in splitting rails, or in rowing a flat-boa;. The grft?it majority of the Southern Democracy supported the Breckinridge ticket ; it was the leading ticket in all the Slave States, except Missouri; but in the North but a small and feeble minority of the Democratic party gave it their sup- port. In several States, the friends of Douglas, of Breckin- ridge and of Bell coalesced, to a certain extent, with a view to the defeat of Lincoln, but without success, except in New Jer- sey, where they partially succeeded. The result of the contest was, that Abraham Lincoln received the entire electoral vote of every froe State, except New Jersey, and was, of course, elected President of United States, according to the forms of the Constitution. The entire popular vote for Lincoln was, 1,858,200 ; that for Douglas, giving him his share of the fusion vote, 2,276,780 ; that for Breckinridge, giving him his share of the fusion vote, 812,500, and that for Bell, Including his proportion of the fu- THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. m sion vote, 735,604. The whole vote against Lincoln was thus 2,824,874, showing a clear aggregate majority again:,t him of nearly a million of votes. During the canvass, the North had been distinctly warned by the conservative parties of the country, that the election of Lincoln by a strictly sectional vote would be taken as a decla- ration of war against the South. This position was assumed on the part of the South, not so much on account of the declaration of anti-slavery principles in the Chicago plat- form, as from the notorious animus of the party supporting Lincoln. The Chicago Convention had attempted to conceal the worst designs ol Abolitionism under professions of advanc- ing the cause of freedom in strict accordance with the Con- stitution and the laws. The South, however, could not be igno- rant of the fact, or wanting in appreciation of it, that Lincoln had been supported by the sympathizers of John Brown, the endorsers of the " Helper Book, " the founders of the Kansas Emigrant Aid Societies, and their desperate abetters and agents, " Jim " Lane and others, and by the opponents of the Fugitive Slave Law. ft was known, in a word, that Lincoln owed his election to the worst enemies of the South, and that he would naturally and necessarily select his councillors from among them, and consult their views in his administration of the government. Threats of resistance were proclaimed in the South. It is true that a lew sanguine persons in that section, indulging nar- row and temporising views of the crisis, derived no little com- f«xrt and c.mfidence from the huge preponderance of the popular vole in tue Presidential contest in favo .r of ifie con- servalive candidates ; and viewed it as an augury of the speedy overthrow of the first sectional administration. But those whose observations were larger and ccmprehencled the progress ol events, look quite a dilferent view of the matter. They could find no consolation or encouragement from the lace of the record. The anii..slavery parly had organized in 1840. with about seven thousand voters ; and in 1860 had succeeded in ee c mg the President of the United States. The conservali ve iiii ( w 38 m ' Ilii II i I i.!: THB FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. parly ,n the North had been thoroughly corrupted. They were beaten n. every Northern State in 18«0, with a single ex- ception, by the avowed enemies of the South who but a few years ago had been powerless in their midst. The leaders of the JNorlhern Democratic party had in 1856 and in 1800 openly taken the position that freedom would be-more certainly secured m the Territories by the rule of Non-Inte.vention than by any other policy or expedient. This interruption of their pohcy alone saved the Democratic party from entire annihila- Uon The overwhelming pressure of the anti-slavery senti- mtnt had prevented their acceding to the Southern platform in he Presidential canvass. Nothing in the present or in the fu- ture could be looked for from the so-called conservalies of the North; and the South prepared to go out of a Union, which no longer alforded any guaranty for her rights or any perma- nent sense of security, and which had brought her under the domination of a growing fanaticism in the North, the senti- ments of which if carried into legislation, would destroy her instiutions confiscate the property of her people, and even involve their lives. i i , u even The 8tate of South Carolina acted promptly and vigorously, with no delay for argument, and but little for preparation! Considering the argument as fully exhausted, she deter- mined, by the exercise nf her rights as a sovereign State to separate herself from the Union. Her Legislature called a Convention immediately after the result of the Presidential election had been ascertained. The Convention mei a few weeks ihereafter, on the 2GJ. day cf December, 1860, formally dissolved the connection of South Carolina with the Union by an ordinance of secession, which was passed by a unanimous vote. On the samo day, Major Ander.on, who was in command of the Federal forces in Charleston harbour, evacuated Fort Muul- trie. spiking tho guns and burning the aun-carriages, and occu- pied Fort Sumpter, with a viewofstrcn.^iheni.ig his position. On the oOlh of December, John B. Floyd, Secretary of War resigned his olHce, bpcau.se President Buchanan "refused to THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. 39 -order Major Anderson back to Fort Moultrie— Mr. Floyd alleg- ing thnt he and the President had pledged tiie authorities of South Carolina that the existing military status of ihe United States in that State should not be changed during the expiring term of the Democratic administration. The withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union produced some sensation in the North, but the dominant party treated It lightly. Many of these jeered at it; their leaders derided 4he "right of secession ; " and their newspapers prophesied that the " rebellion " in South Carolina would be reduced to the most ignominious extremity the moment the " parental government" of the United States should resolve to have re- course from peaceful persuasions to the chastisement of « a spoilt child." The events, however, which rapidly succeeded -the withdrawal of South Carolina, produced a deep impression upon all reflecting minds, and startled, to some extent, the masses of the North, who would have been much more alarmed but lor their vain and long-continued assurance that the South had no means or resources for making a serious resistance to the Federal authority; and that a rebellion which could at any time be crushed on short notice, might be pleasantly humoured or wisely tolerated to any extent short of the actual commence- ment of hostilities. On the 9th day of January, 1861, the State of Mississippi •seceded from the Union. Alabama and Florida followed on the 11th day of the same month; Georgia on the 20th; Louisiana on the 26th ; and Texu. on the 1st of February. Thus in less than three months after the announcement of Lincons election, all the Cotton States, with the exception of Arkansas, had seceded from the Union, and had, besides, secured every Federal fort within their limits, except the forts in the Charleston harbour and Fort Pickens, below Pensacola. -which were retained by United States troops. The United Slates Congress had, at the beginning of its session in December, i860, appointed committees in both houses to^consider the state of the Union. Neither committee ,g,,^ .^j^„n uny mocie of selllement of the pending .5 010 THB FIRST TEAB OF THE WAR. ' '". issue between Ihe North and the South. The Republican members in both committees rejected propositions acknowledg- ing the right of property in slaves, or recommending the did- sion of the territories between the slaveholding and non-slave- holding States by a geographical line. In the Senate, the propositions, commonly known as Mr. Crittenden's, were voted against by every Republican Senator; and the House, on a vote of yeas and nays, refused to consider certain propositions, moved by Mr. Etheridge, which werd even less favourable to the South than Mr. Crittenden's. . A resolution giving a pledge to sustain the President in the use of force against seceding States, was adopted in the House of Representatives by a large majority ; and, in the Senate, every Republican voted to substitute for Mr. Critten- den's propositions, resolutions oftered by Mr. Clarke, of New Hampshire, declnring that no new concessions, guaranties or amendments to the Constitution were necessary; that the de- iinands of the South were unreasonable, and that the remedy for the present dangers was simply to enforoe the laws— -in other words— cocrc*o« and war. On the 19th day of January, the Legislature of the State ■of Virginia had passed resolutions having in view a peaceful settlement of the questions which threatened the Union, and suggested that a National Peace Conference should be held in Washington on the 4th of February. This suggestion met with a favourable response from the Border Slave States and •from professed ODnservatives in the North. The Conference met on the day designated, and Ex-President Tyler, of Virginia, was called to preside over its deliberations. It remained jai session several days, and adjourned without agreeing upon any aatisfactory plan of adjustment. Most of the delegates from the Border Slave States indi- cate d a willingness to accept the few and feeble guaranties contained in the resolutions offered, a short lime since, in the Semite by Mr. Crittenden. These guaranties, paltry aiwl in- effectual as thiey were, would not be conceded by the repre- sentatives of the Northern States. The Peaeei fcoiifprenet THE FIRST YEAH OF THE WAR. 41 finally adopted what was called the Franklin Substitute in Hen of the propositions offered by Mr. Guthrie, of Kentucky— a settlement less favourable to the South than that proposed by Mr. Crittenden. It is useless to recount the details of these measures. Neither the Crittenden propositions, the Fra-ikiin Substitute, nor any plan that pretended to look to the guaranty ot Southern rights, received a respectful notice from the Re- publican majority in Congress. Shortly after its assemblage in January, the Virginia Legis lalure had called a convention of the people to decide upon the course proper to be pursued by the State, with reference to her present relations to the Union and the future exigencies of her situation. The election was held on the 4th of February and resulted in the choice of a majority of members opposed to unconditional secession. Subsequently, Tennessee and North Carolina decided against calling a convention-the former by a large, the latter by a very small majority. These events greatly encouraged the enemies of the South, but without cause, as they really indicated nothing more than the purpose of the Border Slave States to await the results of the peace propositions, to which they had committed themselves In the meantime, the seceding States were erecting the structure of a government on the foundation of a new Con- federation of States. A convention of delegates from the six secedmg States assembled in Congress at Montgomery Ala- bama, on the 4th of February, 1861, for the purpose 6f organizing a provisional government. This body adopted a Constitution for the Confederate States on the 8th of Feb- ruary. On the 9th of February, Congress proceeded to the election of a President an.i Vice-President, and unanirr.usiv agreed upon Jefierson Davis, of Mississippi, tor President, and Alexander H. Stephens, ot Georgia, for Vice-President. Mr Wavis was tDdUgumted Provisional President on the I8th of February, and delivered an atJdress, explaining the revolution as a change ot the constituent parts, but not the system of the government, and referring to the not unreasonable expectation 'th ^.uiiStUuiion diifering only from that of their 42 THE FIRST YFAU OF THE WAR. fjllifl fathers, in so far as it was explanatory of their well-known intent, freed from sectional conflicis, the States from which they had recenlly parted might seek to unite their fortunes to those (jf the new Confederacy. President Buchanan had in his message to Congress de- nounced secession as revolutionary, but had hesitated at the logical conclusion ot the right of « coercion," on the part of the Federal Government, as not war^r ::«a i-y the cext of the Constitution. Timid, secretive, cold, th no other policy than thHt of selfish expediency, the ren. .t of his idministra- tion was marked by eml)arrassment, double-dealing and weak and contemptible querulousaess. He had not hesitated, under the pressure of Northern clamour, to refuse to order Major Anderson back to Fort Moultrie, thus violating the pledge that he had given to the South C? olina aulhorUies, that the military status of the United States in Charleston harbour should not be disturbed during his administration. He added to the infamy of ttds perfidy by a covert attempt to reinforce Fort Sumpter, under the specious plea of provisioning a " starv- ing garrison ;" and when the Federal steamship, the Star of the West, which was sent on this mission, was, on the 9th of January, driven off Charleston harbour by the South Carolina batteries on Morris Island, ^he had the hardihood to afilect sur- prise and indignation at the reception given the Federal rein- forcements, and to insist that the expedition had been ordered with the concurrence of his Cabinet, including Mr. Thompson, ^f Mississippi, then Secretary of the Interior, who repelled the .slander, denounced the movement as underhand, and as a breach of good faith towards South Carolina, but of personal confidence between the President and his advisers, and left the Cabinet in disgust. On the incoming of the administration of Abraham Lincoln, on the 4i.h of March, the rival government of the South had perfected its organization ; the separation had been widened and envenomed by the ambidexterity and perfidy of President Buchanan ; the Southern people, however, still hoped for a peaceful accomplishment of their independence, and deplored THE riB8T YEAR OF THE WAR. 48 war between the two sections, as "a policy detrimental to the civilized world." Tl:e revolution in the meantime had rapidly gathered, not only in moral power, but in the means of war and the muniments of defence. Fort Moultrie and Castle Pinckney had been captured by the South Carolina troops • Fort Pulaski, the defence of the Savannah, had been taken- the arsenal at Mount Vernon, Alabama, with 20,000 stand of arms, had been seized by the Alabama troops ; Fort Morgan in Mobile Bay, had been taken; Forts Jackson, St. Philip's and Pike, near New Orleans, had been eapturtfd by the Louis- lana troops ; the Pensacola Navy- Yard and Forts Barrancas and McRae had been taken, and the siege of Fort Pickens conimenced ; the Baton Rouge Arsenal had been surrendered ^the Louisiana troops; the New Orleans Mint and Custom House had been taken; the Little Rock Arsenal had been seized by the Arkansas troops ; and, on the 16th of February General Twigs had transferred the public property in Texas to the State authorities. All of these events had been accom- plised without bloodshed. Abolitionism and Fanaticism had not yet lapped blood. But reflecting men saw that the peace was deceitful and temporizing ; that the temper of the North was impatient and dark; and that, if all history was not a lie, the first incident of bloodshed would be the prelude to a war of monstrous proportions. <44 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. '<*M CHAPTER II. Mr. Lincoln's Journey to Washington. .Ceremonies of the Inauguration. .The Inaugural Speech of President Lincoln. .The Spirit of the New Administration. . Its Financial Condition. .Embassy from the Southern Confederacy.. Perfidious Treatment of the Southern Commissiontrs. .Prepantions for War .. The Military Bills of the Confederate Congress .. General Beauregard. .Fortifications of the Charleston Harbour. . Naval Preparations of the Federal Government. .Attempted Be-mforoeinent of Fort Sumter. .Perfidy of the Federal Government. .Excitement ill Charleston.. Reduction of Fort Sumter by the Confederate Forces .. How the News was Received in Washington. .Lincoln's Calculation. .His Proclamation of War. .The "Reaction" in the North. .Displays of Rancour Towards the South. . Northern Democrats. .Replies of Southern Governors to Lincoln's Requisition for Troops.. Spirit of the South. .Secession of Virginia. .Maryland. .The Baltimore Riot.. Patriotic Example of Missouri. .Lincoln's Proclamation Blockading the Southern Ports. General Lee. .The Federals Evacuate Harper's Ferry. .Burning of the Navy Yard at Norfolk. .The Second Secesdonary Movement. .Spirit of Patriotic Devotion in the South. .Supply of Arms in the South. .The Federal Government and the State of Maryland. .The Prospect. The circumstances of the advent of Mr. Lincoln to Wash- ington were not calculated to inspire confidence in his courage or wisdom, or in the results of his administration. His party had busily prophesied, and sought toinnoculate the North with the conviction, that his assumption of the Presidential office would be the signal of the restoration of peace ; that by some mysterious ingenuity he would resolve the existing political complication, restore the Union, and inaugurate a season of unexampled peace, harmony and prosperity These weak and fulsome prophesies had a certain effect. In the midst of anx- iety and embarrassment, in which no relief had yet been suggested, the inauguration of a new administration of the government was looked to by many persons in the North, out- side the Republican party, with a vague sense of h.)pe, which was animated by reports, quite as uncertain, of the vigour, decision, and individuality of the new President. For months since the announcement of his election, Mr. Lincoln's lips had TPHE FIRST YEAR OP THE WAR. 4ft been closed. He had been studiously silent ; expectaUons were raised by what was thought to be an indication of mysterious wisdom ; and the North impatiently waited Ibr the hour when the oracle's lips were to be opened. These vague expectations were almost ludicrously disap- pointed. On leaving his home, in Springfield, Illinois, for Washington, Mr. Lincoln had at last opened his lips. In' the speeches with which he entertained the crowd that at different points of the railroad watched his progress to the capital he aroused the whole country, even in the midst of a great public anxiety, with his ignorance, his vulgarity, his flip- pant conceit, and his Western phraseology. The North dis- covered that the new President, instead of having nursed a masterly wisdom in the retirement of his home at Springfield -nd approaching the capital with dignity, had nothing better to offer to an organized country than the ignorant conceits of a low Western politician, and the flimsy jests of a harlequin His railroad speeches were characterized by a Southern paper as illustrating "the delightful combination of a Western county lawyer with a Yankee bar-keeper." In his harangues lo the crowds which intercepted him in his journey, at a fime when the country was in revolutionary chaos, when commerce and trade were prostrated, and when starving women and idle men were among the very audiences that listened to him be declared to them in his peculiar phraseology that K' nobod/was hurt that -all would come out right, ^' and that there was nothing going wror^g.^^* Nor was the rhetoric of the new President his only entertainment of the crowds that assembled to honcur the progress of his journey to Washington. He amused them by the spectacle of kissing, on a public platform a (ady-admn-pr, who had suggested to him the cultivation of his whiskers ; he measuved heights with every tall man" he encountered in one of hi., public receptions, and declared that he was not to be -overtopped ;" and he made public exhibi- * Mr Lincoln in hia 8j)eeoh at Pittsburgh spoke of Manchester «« ih. 46 I'HE FIRST YKAR OF THE IVAB. It, J tions of his wife-*' the iitile woman," he called her, upon whose appearance and deportment we forbear comment The jests and indecencies of the demagogue who was to take control of what remained of the Government of the UnitecJ States, belong to history. Whatever their disgrace, it was surpassed, however, by another display of character on the part of he coming statesmen. While at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and mtendmg to proceed from there to Baltimore, Mr. Lincoln was alarmed by a report, which was either silly or jocose, that a band of assassins were awaiting him in the latter city. Frightened beyond all considerations of dignity and decency the new President of the United States left Harrisburg a! night on a different route than thai through Baltimore ; and in a motley disguise, composed of a Scotch cap and military cloak, stole to the capital of his government. The Jistinguished fngitive had left his wife and family to pursue the route on which It was threatened that the cars were to be thrown down a precipice by Secessionists, or, if that expedient failed, the work of assassination was to be accomplished in the streets of Baltimore. The city of Washington was taken by surprise by the irregular flight of the President to its shelter and protec- tion The representatives cf his own party there received him with evident signs of disgust at (he cowardice which had har- ried h.s arrival in Washington ; but as an example of the earlv prostitution of the press of that parasitical city to the incom- ing administration that was tc fend its venal lusls,the escapade of Mr. Lincoln was. with a shamelessness almost incredible exploited as an ingenious and brilliant feat, and entitled in the newspaper extras that announced his arrival, as "ano/'w Fort Moultne coup de «2r«-«»_referriiig to the fraud by which the government had si, 'en a march by midnight lo the supposed impregnable defences of Fort Sumter. Bui Mr. Lincoln's fears for his p.-rsojial safety evidenlly did not subsid. with his attainment of the refuges of Washington. A story was published seriously in a Xow York paper, thlt a the moment of his inauguration he was to be shot on the Cap- THB FIRST YFAR OP THE WAB. M itol ,l,p, by an air gun, in the hands of a Seoes.ionisI, selected for .h,, desperate and romantic ta.k of assassinati™ The Prestdent. w,th nerve, already .battered bv bis fligh flm Harrtsburg was casdy put in a new eondition of alarm Z armed guard was posted around Will.rd's hotel, where he baS taken temporary ouarters. Prepantions were busily made to organize a m.l.lary protection for the ceremony of heTnl. ratio. The city of Washington had alr"a y ^ e„ 1:3 w.,1. large md.ta^ forces, under the itnmediate coZ'ntot General Seott whose vanity and weak love of public 'ensa Uons had eas y induced nim to pretend alarm, and to ma,": m hta y dtsplay. more on bis own accoun ,!«„ f™ The my. For weeks the usually quiet city had been filled with Federal bayonets, the bugle's t.veille, the roll of drm, Ij •he tramp of armed guards startled, in every direeir h„ civ.ban of Washington, who had ben accustomed tfn.'t ^ore warlike than parades a. the Nav Y d a, d rotif sZTlL'T'T:' "''"^ ""'"-' ''-ly paraded ,: a :o— d^-:rtr""= ~ '--pon-rrar^r:; The hour of the inauguration-the morning of the four.h of of black for the occasion, and, at the instance of his rLT had subm.tted to the offices of a hairdresser. He eL'cTl: barouche that was to convey hi.n to the Cn,.Un\ .^"''''''' ^^e unusual height, the effect „1 his figure was almo!! 1 r from a swinging gait and .h=.,o„p°of hiZshou 2 „ r'' erou, face, whose expre sin,, was'that of a sott f/une nT hi' mou l^ng, swingingarme, with th. general hirsu, a , It 48 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. 'ill' 111 The inaupuraiion cermony was attended by a most extraor- dinary miiiliiiy display, under the immediate direction of Gen- eral Scott ; who, to give an appearance of propriety, and to increase its importance, affected the most uneasy alarms. Pre- vious to inauguration day, the vauhs of the Capitol were ex- plored lor evidences of a gunpowder plot to hurry Mr. Lincoln and his satellites into eternity. In the procession along Penn- sylvania avenue, t President was hid from public view in a hollow square of cuvalry, three or four deep. The lops of the houses along the route were occupied bp soldiery vj^atching fop signs of tumult or assassination. Artillery and infantry com- panies were posted in different parts of the city ; officers were continually passing to and fro; and as the procession ap- proached the Capitol, Gen. Scott, who was in constant commu- nication with all quarters of the cily, was heard to exclaim, in a tone of relief, " everything is going on peaceably ; thank God Almighty for it." The expression of relief was simply ridiculous. The ceremony was disturbed by but a single inci- dent ; as the procession neared the portico of the Capitol, a drunken man, who had climbed up one of the trees on the ave- nue, amused himself by striking with a staff" the bough of the tree and shouting to the crowd. The thought flashed upon the minds of the special police, that he might be the identical as- sassin with the air-gun ; he was instantly seized by a dozen of them, and hurried from the scene of the ceremony with a ra- pidity and decision that for a moment alarmed, and then amused the crowd. Mr. Lincoln delivered his inaugural from the East portico of the Capitol, to an audience huddled within the lines of the District militia, and with a row of bayonets glittering a1 his feel. The inaugural was intended to be ambiguous ; it proposed to cozen the South by a cheap sentimentalism, and, at the same time, to gratify the party that had elevated Mr. Lincoln, by a sufficient expression of the designs of the new administration.;, These designs were suflUciently apparent. Mr. Lincoln pro- tested that he should take care that the laws of the United U i! THE PIKST YEAH OF THE WAR. ^, Stales were faiihWlyexeeutcl in alMhe Smtes- ■ he denl.r . In the South, the inauffural wasycnprillu tni. nition of war There ^^orn Z ^"""^'^^ ^'^'^^^ as a premo- of ih. n« /"^^feucre other manifestations of the ^oirit Of the new admin stration Vinl^nf ai i- • . P * who.e hatred ol the Son h !: AboJu.onists and men '::;tTte\!:r:L"M'''' ' ^^'"•™ ^- ^^- se": Gen/ra.. Ahso^bS's": w^IrT'^'''' ''''''"'^''"• AuMria, Cas.iusM. Clay, ,1 R„s,ir Car if''^™""''^ 'o James E. Harvey, ,o /onoluCM^t IT' '" ^T' land; and Joshau R. GiddiU ,o Can!/' r "I'' '" ^"S" which was eonvene.1 i„ an e"?! ilfon f « "'" ^'="^"' appointmenrs and ,o -ransae „,he, „" W^b ™ '".T""™ Sumner was ana inied n, ^ £ business, Charles 'iam P. Fossen ler of F^iT'" "'/^r^" «''""'">'; VVil. tary Affairs, to::!! Zl^f:;^ :"-■ °f Mill, consumed i„ discussing ,he pllicvTf L » > " ""■'""' '""» Douglas, who had rep^senled he N„ M ^''T'""''""'- ^'^ Pfesideniial eonlest and sUII . „ , '^«™<«^'-acy in the bad already courled'ihe new , '° "P'"'^"' "• *"'' >vho held Mr. Lincoln' h auire tZ'T'"" "' ""' "'^'-"^O ao-cd ,he par. „r Mrs. tZ^'^Z' ::^-^;y' -^ - ball-essnyed lo give lo the Prosidem',1 ""^ '"a"g«ralion «erpre,a,i„„, and to soften whj, lad be^n 7"°°",' >' "^"^ '- .-. Aryans., Misso„.'?td7:;rctr;,-^^^^^ ,50 HIE FIRST YBiVR OF THB WAR. r, tinuedin the councils of lh< givemment. remained long enough to witness the subversion of ill the principles that had before contributed to tiie pros|erily amd stability of (he American Government ; to !earn as, far as possibl»>, (he course the gov- ernment would pursue towards the Confederaie States ; and to return home to prepare th ir pepple (or the policy of discord, conflict and civil wnr, which had leen inaugurated. The financial condition of i he government at the time of Mr. Lincoln's accession was by no means desperate. There was a balance in the Treasury of six millions, applicable to current expenses; the receipts from customs were estimated at eighty thousand dollars perday; and it was thought that a Lan would not be calUd for for some lime, should there be a happy con- tiiuiation of peace. The Confederate States government at Montgomery had shown nothing of a desperate or tumultuous spirit; it had not watched events, with recklessness as to their conclusion ; it was anxious for peace ; and it gave a rare evidence of the vir- tue and conservatism of a new government, which was histori- cally the fruit of a revolution, by the most sedulous efforts to avoid all temptations to violence, and to resist the consequence of war. Scon after the inauguration of Mr. Lincoln, it had deputed au embassy of commissioners to Washington, author- ized to negotiate for the removal of the Federal garrisons from Forts Pickens and Sumter, and to provide for the settlement of all claims of public property arising out of the separation of the Slates from the Union. Two of the commissioners, Mar- tin Crawford, of Georgia, and John Forsythe, of Alabama, attended in Washington, and addressed a communication to Mr. Seward, which explained the functions of the embassy and its purposes. Mr. Seward declined for the present to return an official an- swer to the commissioners, or to recognize in an official light ■ their humane and arnieable mission. His government had re- solved vn a po.lcy of perfidy. The commissioners were amused from wetk to weVk with verbal assufances that the government THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. ill was disposed to recognize them ; that to treat with them at the particular juncture might seriously embarass the administra- tion of Mr. Lincoln; that they should be patient and confi- .dent; and that in th« meantime the military status of the .United states in the South would not be disturbed. Judge .Campbell, of the Supreme Court, had consented to be the in- 4ermed.ary of these verbal conferences., When the soquer of ,the perfidy of the administration was demonstrated/he wrote •two notes to Mr. Seward, distinctly charging him ^ith over- reachmg the equivocation, to which Mr. Seward never at ..tempted u defence or a reply. ^^" The dalliance with the commissioners was not the only de- .peitfu indication of peace. It was given out and confidently reported in the newspapers, that Fort Sumpter was to be evacu ated by the Federal forces. The delusl was condnued t w.eks. ne Black Republican party, of course, resented t reported policy of the government; but a nur;ber of tie newspapers endeavoured to compose the resentment by the arguments that the evacuation would be ordered solely on the ground^of military necessity, as it would be impossible (o rein- force the garrison without a very extensive demonstration of orce which the government then was not prepared to make ; ha the purposes of the administration had not relaxed, and that the evacuation of Sumter was, as one of the organs of the heTe^td"'^^ "''''""' ''' "'"' '""°"°' "'^^« ^'S- b«f-^« It was true that the condition of the garrison of Fort Sumter had been a subject of Cabinet consultation; but it was after' wards discovered that all that had been decided by the advisees of he President, among whom General Scott had been ad- muted, was that military reinforcement of the fort was, under he crcuAistances, impracticable. There never wan an inten- tion o evacuate it. The embarrassment of the government was ,o avoid the difficulty of military reinforcement by some artifice that won d .qu.lly well answer it. purposes. That Tr! tifice continued for a considerable time to be the subjec of secret and sedulous consultation. ^ ^ 52 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. While a portion of the public were entertained in watching- the surface of events, and were impo>ed upon by the' deceitful signs of peace, discerning nnen saw the inevitable consequence in the significant prepurations made on both sides for war. These preparations had gone on unremittingly since the inau-^ guratiun of tlie Lincoln government. The troops ot the United States were called from the Ironiiers to the military centres; the Mediterranean squadn^n and othrr navai forces were or- dered home ; and the city of Washington iisell was converted into a school where there were daily and ostentatious instruc- tions of the soldiers On the other hand, the government at MoiiJgomery was not idl'\ Three military bills had been passed by the Confederate Congress. The first authorizing the raising of one hunderod thousand volunteers when deemed necessaiy by the President ; the second provided for the Provisional Array of the Confederate States, which was to be formed from the regular and volunteer forces of the different States ; and the third provided for the organization of a Regular Army, which was to be a permanent establishment. But among the strong- est indications of the probability «f war, in the estimation of men calculated to judge of the matter, and among the most striking proofs, too, of devotion to the cause of the South, was the number of resignations from the Federal army and navy on the part of elfieers of Southern birth or association, and their prompt idaniification with the Confederate service. These resignations had commenced during t!;e close of Mr. Buchan- an's administration. On the accession of Mr. Lincoln, Adju- tant Cooper hid in)mediaiely resigned; and the distinguished example was followed by an array of names, which had been not a little illustrious in the annals of the Federal service. While the South was entreating peace, and pursuing its accomplishment by an amicable missioh to Washington, a strong outside pressure was being exerted upon fht; adminis- tration of Mr. Lincoln to hurry it to the conclusion of war. He had been visited by a number of Governors of the Northern States. Tley ofl'ered him money and men ; but it THE FiaST YEAR OP THE WAR. 5$ was understood that nothing would be done in the way of calling out the Stale nnilitia and opening special credits, until the Southern revolutionists would bo actually in aggression to the autboriiy of the Federal government. Another appeal was Btil! more eflectively urged. It was the argument of the partisan. The report of the intended evacuation of Fort Sumter, and the apparent vacillation of the administration, were producing disaffection in the Black Republican party. This parly had shown a considerable loss of strength in the municipal elections in St. Louis, Cincinnati and other parts of the West; they had lost two Congressmen in Connecticut and two in Rhode Island. The low tariff, too, of the Southern Confederacy, brought info competition with the high protective tariffwhich the Black Republican majority in Congress had adopted, and which was popularly known as "the Morrill Tariff," was threatening serious disaster to the interests of New England and Pennsylvania, and was indicating the ne- cessityofthe repeal of a law which was considered asan indispensable parly measure by the most of Mr. Lincoln's constituents. For weeks the Cabinet of Mr. Lincoln had been taxed to devise some artifice for the relief of Fort Sumter, short of open military reinforcements, (decided to be impraclicablr,) and which would have the effect of inaugurating the war by a safe indirection and under a plausible and convenient pretence. The devise was at length hit upon. It was accomplished by the most flagrant perfidy. Mr. Seward had already given a.ssurances to the Southern commissioners, through the inter- mediation of .ludge Campbell, that the Federal troops would be removed from Fort Sumter. Referring to the drafi of a letter which Judge Campbell had in his hand, ani proposed to address t. President Davis, at Montgomery, he said, "beforo that letter reaches its destination, Fo.-t Sumter will have been evacuated." Some time elap ed, and tliere was reasui to distrust the promise. Colonel Lamon, an'igont of the Wash- ingfon Government, was sent to Charleston, and was reported to be aulhuri^od to make unangcmenis with Governor Pickens, 6i' THZ rfRSt YEAR OF THE WAIi. of South Carolina, fdr the withdrawal of the Federal troops fdrtm Fort Sumter. He returned without any acco plish- nldnt of his reported mission. Another confidential agent of Mr. Lincolii, a Mr. Fox, was permitted to visit Fort Sumter,^ atid was discovered to have acted' the part of a spy in carry- iiig- ceneealed dispatehes to Major Anderson, and collecting infomiation with reference to a plan for the forcible reinlorce*'' ment of the fort. On the 7th of April, Judge Campbell, uheasy as to the good faith of Mr, Seward's proriiise of the- evacuation of Sumter, addressed him another note on the stlb-t ject. To this-the emphatic and lacdnit reply was: ^' Faith ai to Sumter fully kept— wait and sea'*' Six days thereafter a hostile fleet was menacing Charleston, the Lincoln Governmbfat threw down the gauntlet of war, and the- battle of Sumter waii'^ fbught. - On the day siieceiedlrig' the indtigura'tiori' of A;braham Liii-* coin, General P. G. Toutanl 'Beauregard* was'piit in commatid' of ihe Confederate troops besieging Fort Suhiiier. Hismili-i" tary record was slight, but gave evidence of gehiufe. He v^W the son of a wealthy and influential Louisiana plaiiifei^. Hfe' had graduated at the' military aicadehtiy at Wiesi Point, taking th^ second hohoui's in his cla<«s, arid had served in the Mexicani^ v\^ar with distinction, being twice brevetied for gallant arid^- nieritorrous conduct in the field —the first time as captain foF the battles of Coriireras and Cherubusco, arid again asi'majbi* fdi^ the battle of Chepiiltepec. He was subsequently placed' by the Federal Government in charge of the coristructiori of- the rhini and custom-hbuso at New Orleans. He had beieii^- * Beauriegard is forty yeni's of age. He is small, brown, thin, extrem'eljh vigorous, although his feiUurea wear a dead expression, and his hair has ' whitened prematurely. Face, pliysiognoiuy, tongue, accent — every thing about bini is French. He is quick, a liltle abrupt, but well educated and' diBtibguished iu his maube. << He does not care to express the maiiifesfa*' tion of an ardeut personality which knows its worth. He is extremely im- passioned In the defence * the OKuse which he serves. At least he takes less pains to conceal his passion under a calm and cold exterior than do most of his comrades in the army. The South found iu hiih a man of uncoiiimbr ardoiii*, a' oeaaejesa activity, and an indomitAble prce of 285 guns and 2400 men. There was now not the slightest doubt that the first blow of the rival forces would bo struck at Sumter. The fl.ct dispatched to Charles- ton harbor consisted of the sioop-of. war Pawnee, the sloop-of- war Powhattan, and the cutter Harriet Lane, with three steam transports. No sooner was the hostile fleet of the Federal Govrrnmonl safely on its way to the Southern coasts tha„ the perfidy of Abraham Lincoln and his advisers was openly and shamelessly consummated. The mask was dropped. The Southern Com- missioners who had been so long cozened, were distinctly rebuffed; and simultaneously with the appearance of the Fed- cral fleet in the offing of the Charleston haruoiu, an official message, on the 8th day of April, was conveyed to Governor Pickens, of South Carolina, by Lieutenant Talbot, an author- ized agent of the Lincoln Government, announcing the deter- mination of that government to send provisions to Fort Sumter, peaceably it they can, forcibly if. they must." The messacxe was telegraphed by General Beauregard to Montgomery, and he instruetinns of his government aske i. He was answered by a telegram from Mr. Walker, the Secretary of War in- structmg him to demand the evaculion of the fort, and if that was refused, to proceed to reduce it. The dem.nd was made; It was refused. Major Anderson replied that he regretted that his sense of honor and of his obligations to hjsgove.nment prevented his compliance with the demand Nothing wns left but to accept the distinct challenge of the L.incoln Government to arms. The most intense excite.nent prevailed at Ch:uIeston No sooner had the official message of Mr. Lincoln been received, han orders were i.sued to the entire military force of the city lo proceed to ilifir stnt "n<^ v -ii- t » c i , „.ai.„,„, j^^.u, icijtiiiLni.s, of one thousand 58 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. i men each, were telegraphed for from the couniiy. Ambu- lancf 8 for the wounded were prepared ; surgeons W(Te ordered to their posts, and every preparation ni .de foi a regular battle. Among th6 portentous signs, the community wasthrown intoa fever of excitement by the discharge of several guns from thB' Capitol Squart', the signal for iho assembling of all the re*" serves ten minutes afterwards. Hundreds of men left thfeir beds, hurry inn; to and fro towards their respective location*. Iiii the absence of sufficient armories, th ■ corners of the streets^ the [lublii; squares, and other convenient points formed places of meeting. All nighi long the roll of the drum and the steady trnmp of ii e military and the yallop of the cavalry, resotindin^: through the city, betokened the progress of the prie- paration for the long-ex ijected hostilities. The Home Guard corps of old gentlemen, who occupied the position of military exempts, n)de liimugh the city, arousing the soldiers and; doing other duty requind at the moment. Hundreds of the citizens were up all night. A terrible thunder-storm prevailed autil a late hour, but in nowise interfered with the ardor of the soldiers. On the 12th dpy of April, at half-past four o'clock in ihter morning, fire was ope-nod upon Fort Sumter, The firing was deliberate, and was continued, without, interruption, for twelv6 hours. The iron battery at Cumming's Point did the most effective service, perceptibly injuring the walls of the fortifica- *^ion, while the floating battery dismounted two of the parapet guns. The shell batteries wore served with skill and effect shells being thrown into the Fort evi^ry twenty minutes. Thfe" fort had replied steadily during the day. About dark, its fire' fell ofi') while ours was continued at intervals during the night. The contest had been watcheJ during the day by excited and- anxious citizens froni every available point of observation in Charleston — the battery, the shipping in the harbour, and the steeples of churches — and, as night closed, the illuminations of the shells, as they coursed the air, added a strange sublimity to the scene to men who had never before witnessed the fiery snlendours of a bombardment-. The next mornino'- at seven' rnt' F*IR8T YBAfr'OF' THIS WAHl 6^ o'clock, the fort resumed its fire, doing no datDage of consei- quence. A short while iliereaftefr, the fori was discovered to be on fire, and through the smoke and glare, its flag was dis- covered at half mast, as a signal of distress. The Federal flefet, which was off the bar, contrary io all expectations, te- mained quietly where it was ; they did not remove from their' anchorage or fire a gun. In the meantime, the cohflagratidtiy which had seized upon the oflScfers' quarters and barracks at the fort, continiied ; it- no longer responded to our fire, which' was kept up for an anxious look-out for tokens of surrender; its garrison, black and begrimed with smoke, were employed ihefl!brts to extinguish the conflagration, and in some instanrtes had to keep themselves lying upon their faces to avoid death from suffocation. During the height of the conflagration, a boat was despatched by General Beauregard to Major Ander- son' with offers of assistance in extinguishing the fire. Before it could reach the fori, the long expected flag of truce had be^n hoimed ; and the welcome event was instantly announced in every part of the city by the' ringing of bells, the pealing of cannon, the shouts of couriers dashing through the streets, and by every indication of general rejoicing. Major Anderson agreed to an unconditional surrender, as? demanded of him ; he received of his enemy in return, the most distinguished marks? of lenity and consideration ; his sword was returned to him byi General Beauregard, himself and garrison allowed to take pas- sage, at their convenience, for New York, and, on leaving the fort, he was permitted to salute his flag with fifty guns, the per-; formance of which was attended with the melancholy occurrence of mortal injuries to four of his men, by the bursting of two cannon. There was no other life lost in the whole affair. Thus ended the bombardment of Sumter. It had continued during two days ; it is estimated that two thousand shots had been fired in all •, a frowning fortification had been reduced to a blackened mass of ruins ; and yet not a life had been lost, by a limb injured in the engagement. The news of the fall of Fort Sumter, when it was received in Washington, did not disturb President Lincoln. He received 60 THE FIRST Y£AR OF THE WAR. it with remarkable calmness. The usual drawing-Too.Ti enter* tainment nt the While House was not -ntermittcd on the even- ing of the finy of tlic commencement c f civil war. The same evcnmg the President turned to a Western Senator and asked, ** will your State sustain nie with miliiary power ? " He made no other comment on the news, which was agitating every part of the country to its foundation. The fact was, that the President had long ago calculated iho result and the efTect, on the country, of the hostile movements which he had directed against the sovereignty of South Caro- lina. He had procured the battle of Sumter; he had no desire or hope to retain the fc t ; the circumstances of the battle and the non-participation cf h s fleet in it were sufficient evidences to every honest and reflecting mind, that it was not a contest f'ir victory, and that " the sending provisions to a starving garrison " was an ingenious artifice to commence the war tha the Fec'cia! Government had fully resolved ipon, under the specious but shallow appearance of that government being* in- volved, by the force of circumstances, rather than by its ov.'n volition, in the terrible cpnsequence of civil war. On the 14lh day of April, Mr. Lincoln published his pro- clamation of war. He acted to the last in a sinister spirit. He had just assured the commissioners from Virginia, who had been deputed to ascertain the purposes of his government, that he would modify his inaugural only so far as to " perhaps cause the United States mails to be withdrawn " from the seceded States. The following proclamation was the " modification " of '.ho inaugural : " Whereas the Laws of the Uuited States have been for some time pnsl, ai^d now are. oppose'!, ami the execution ilioroof ol)striietctl in the States of South •Ciiiolina, Georgia, Ahibuniu, Floiidu, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tcxnss, by cotiibi' nations too powerful to hn puppressed l>y ilie oidinaiy couiso of judicial proccnJ- ing, or t)y the jwwers vested in tlio mnrsliMls l^y law — "Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, Piesidcnt of (he United Stntcf, in virtue of the power in me vc-ted by the Cons^tiiition nnd the la-w-", hnva thought fit to call forth, and do heeiby call furlh tlio militia of the several States of the Union, to the aggregate number of seventy-five thousand, iii •order to suppress lue said conibinaiioiis, and to cau»« Uie lawd u.i be duly executed. THE FIRST YEAR Or THE WAR. 61 The details or this objecl will be iininediately cemmunicated to the qfnf« -„»i. ities through tho War Department. ^"''^ *"*''°'^ «T appeal to all loyal citizens to favour.ifacilitate and aid this effort to mamtain the honour, tl.e integrity and the existence of our National Tn-nnlrS the p.^pet«ty of popular government, and to redre. wrongs ai; loireJo:^,' Which h«ve been sLed rr.n .he Unio^L •n\tr 'eJ^r;.:" tn^S wdl be ob=o,ve.! cons.s.ently ^vith tho object, aforesaid, Jo avoid nnv devas taS and destructten of, or interference with property, or cny distu.l.anco'Iof 1 r^ citizens in any part of the country. And I hereby co nn.a d . "^ ^"^ .;ng the combinat on, aforesaid to disperse a^rri^ire p lb Iv to' tu" '""*"" tivo abodes within twenty days from this date '^ ^ ^^'" ""P"" • • • # • ABRAnAM LINCOLJf." The irick of the government, to which we have referred in Its procurement of ihe^batile of Sumter, is too dishonest ^nd shallow to account for the imme.e reaction of sentiment in th« North that ensued. That reaction is certainly to be attributed to causes more intelligent and permanent than the weak failacv that the Lincoln Government was not responsible for the hos- tilit.es in Charleston harbour, and that the South itself had dragged the government and the people of Abrah.m Lincoln unwillmgly into the inaugural ion of war. The problem of this reaction may be more justly solved. In fact, it involved no new (act or principle. The northern people, including all oar- lies, secretly appreciated the value of the Union to themselves • they knew they would be ruined by a permanent secession of the Southern States ; many of them had sought to bring the dissatisfied States back into the Union by the old resource of artful speeches and rlne promises: and finding, at last, that tho South was m earnest, and was no longer to be seduced by cheap professions, they quickly and sharply determined to co- erce what they could not cozen. This is the whole explana- tion of the wonderful reaction. The North discovered bv the fiery denouement in Charleston harbour, Ithat the South was in earnest, and itself became as instantly in earnest The suddc^ display of Northern rat.cour vas no reaction ; it was no new fart ? it ri^vaa\f,A x^rU^t _i..__ 11.^ , wisuu , a.fvi ^::at v.a3 ulrcauy historical, and had I I '62 XmS FIRST YEAR OF THE yf^B. been concealed only for purposes of policy — the distinct and sharp antipathy between the two sections, of which war or sep- aration, at some time, was bound to be the logical conclusion. The crusade against the South involved all parties,, and united every interest in the North by the common bond of at- tachment to the Union. That attachment had its own reaspna* The idea of the restoring of the Union was conceived in no historical enthusiasm for restoring past glories; it was ani- mated by no patriotic desires, contemplating the good of the whole country ; the South was to be " whipped back into the Union," to gratify either the selfishness of the North, or its worse lusts of revenge and fanaticism. The holiness of the crusade against the South was preached alike from the hustings .and pulpit. The Northern Democratic party, which had so long professed regard lor the rights^of the Southern States, and even sympathy with the first movements of their secession, rivalled the Abolitionists in their expressions of fury and re- venge ; their leaders followed the tide of public opinion ; Mr. Jidward Everett, of Massachusetts, who spprie months before had declared in a public speech that if the seceded States were " determined to separate, we had better part in peace,'' became a rhetorical advocate of the war; Daniel S. Dickinson, pf New York, rivalled the Abolition leaders in his State in in- flaming the puhlic mind ; and in the city of New York, where but a few months before it had been said that the Southern Confederacy would be able to recruit several regiments for its military service, demagogues in the ranks of the "National Democracy,'' such as John Cochrane, haranged the multi. tude, advising them to "crush the rebellion," and, if need be, to drown the whole South in one indiscriminate sea of blood. Old contentions and present animosities were forgotten. De- mocrats associated with recreants and fanatics in one grand league for one grand purpose ; foreigners from Europe were induced into the belief that they were called upon to fight for the "liberty" for which they had crossed the ocean, or for the " free homesteads" which were to be the rewards of the war; and all conceivable and reckless artifices were resorted to ,.Jo TflE FIBUT ;YJ:AR OF TUB WAR. swell the tide of numbers against the South. ^New England which had been too conscienaous to defend the national honor in the war with Great Britain, poured out almost her whole population to, aid in the ©xterminaUon of a people who had given to the nation ail the military glory it had achieved.* • In the war of 1812, the North furnished 58,552 soldiers; the South 96,812-making a majority of 37,030 in favour of the South. Of the number furnished by the iVorth— .' Massachusetts furnished 3,no . New Hampshire " §97 Connecticut " 337 Rhode Island " 637 Vermont " 181 6.1*62 While the little State of South qaroUna furnished 5,696. In the Mexican War, Massachusetts furnished 1,047 New Hampshire " i The other New England States 0,000 1,048 The whole number of troops contributed by the North to the Mexican war was 23,054 ; while the South contributed 43,630, very nearly double, and in proportion to her population, four times as many soldiers as the North. When a resolution was introduced into the Legislature of Massachusetts tendering a vote of thanks to the l^eroic Lawrence for bia capture of the Pea- eock, that pious State refused to adopt it, and declared— "That in war like the present waged without justifiable cause, and pro- secuted in a manner indicating that conquest and ambition are its real motives it is not becoming a moral and religious people to express any approbation 01 military and naval exploits not directly connected with the defence of our sea past and our soil." Subsequently, the famous Hartford Convention was called. It assembled in the cty of Hartford, on the 16th December. 1814, and remained in Session twenty days. It made a report accompanied by a series of resolutions. The following is a part of the report, aa adopted ; "In cases of dehberate, dangerous and palpable infractions of the Constitution aflfcc n,g the sovereignty of a State and the liberties of the people, it is not only yht but the duty, of each State to interpose its authority for their protection m the manner be,t cnhulated to secure that end. When emergencies occur which 64 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE M» AR. The effect of Mr. Lincoln's proclamalion at the South was no less decisive ihnn at the North. It remains a problem, which facts were never permitted to decide, but the solution of which may at least be approached by the logical considerations of history, to what extent the Border Slave States might have been secured to the Union by ti.e policy of peace, and the simple energy of patience on the part of the government at Washington. As it was, the proclamation presented a new issue ; it superseded that of the simple policy of secession ; and it inaugurated the second secessionari/ movement of the Southern States on a basis infinitely higher and firmer, in all its moral and constitutional aspects than t!iat of the first movement of the Cotton States. The proclamation was received at Montgomery with derisive laughter; the newspapers were refreshed with the Lincolniana of styling sovereign States '* unlawful combinations,'' and warning a people (•tMnditig on their own soil to return within twenty (lays to their "homes;" and, in Virginia, the seces- sionists were hugely delighted at the strength Mr. IJncoln had unwittingly or perversely contributed to their cause. One after the other of the Border Slates refused the demands lor their quotas in terms of !" act of secession, the second important movement of ths revolution and st,e added to the moral influence of the event by he fto" " d2ot a:d TTt' ""."' "^"^ »'• Poiicy, but'on onHf disimct and practical constitutional right, and that t«, i„ ,he face of a war, which had become absolutely inevitable and wa! liowning upon her own borders. Virginia had been chided for her delay in followinp the Cotton States out of the Union, and, on the other hanilhen she .Ud secede, she was charged by the Norlhern politirian! with being mconsistent and having kept bad faith i „ herX ttoos w„h ,he Federal Govern.nent. Both co,„pla n,s" 't equally without Ibundafon. The record of the' Stat ZZ ngulfirly explicit and clea.. Tb8: Virginia Resoiutiuiw of *98 and *99 had for E sixty years «Jl, I (I / i $9 THS FIRST rSAR OF THE WAR. I constituted the text-book of the State Rights politicians of the South. The doctrine of State sovereignty was therein vindi- cated and maintained, and the right and duty of States, suf- fering grievances from unjust and unconstitutional Federal legislation, to judge of the wrongs, as well as of " the mode and measure of redness," were made clear. The Virginia platform, as thus laid down in the eider Adams' time, was adopted by the " Strict Constructionist" party of that day, and has been re-asserted ever since. Mr. Jefferson, the founder of the Democratic party in this country, was elected upon this platform, and his State Rights succeiisors all ac- knowledged its orthodoxy. Whenever there arose a conflict between Federal and Stale authority, the voice of Virginia was the first to be heard in behalf of State Rights. I» 1832-33, when the Tarriff and Nullification controversy arose, Virginia', though not agreeing with South Carolina as to the particular remedy to which she resorted, yet assured that aallant State of her sympathy, and, at the same time, re- as'ierted her old doctrines of State Rights. Her gallant and patriotic Governor, John Floyd, the elder, declared that Fede- ral troops should not pass the banks of the Potomac to coerce South Carolina into obedience to the tarriff laws, unless over his dead body. Her legislature was almost unanimously opposed to the coercion policy, and a majority of that body indicated their recognition of the right of a State to secede from the Union. The voice of Virginia was potential in set tling this controversy upon conditions to which the Palmetto State could agree with both honour and consistency. At every stage of the agitation of the slavery question in Con- areas and in the Northern States, Virginia declared her senti- nients and her purposes in a manner not to be misunderstood by friend or foe. Again and again did she enter upon her legislative records, in ineffable characters, the declaration that Bhe would resist the aggressive spirit of the Northern majority even to the disruption of the ties that bound her to the Union. i j • With almost entire unanimity, Virginia had resoiveu ir. THE riMT lEAIl iiF THE WAR. 67 legislative council, in 1848, that she would not submit lo the passage of the Witaot Proviso, or any kindred m'I°ure From the date of the organiza.ion of the An.i^lavrpar' her people, of al parties, h»d declared that the election 71n Abolitionist to the Presidency would be a virtual declaration o" war against the South on .he part of the North, and ,h« Vir- ginia and every o.her slave State ought to i^si; it as such. The Legislature that assembled a few weeits afte LincX'a election declared in effect, wi.h only four dissenting vot, hat .he i„,eres.s of Virginia, were .horoughly identified S hose of the Cher Southern S.a.es, and ,hat any i„timal"on from any source, that her people were looking to any cZb „a' ■on in the last resorl other than union with Ihem, was „„"» tnolic and treasonable. P February, 1861, for a long time lingered in the hope .hat the breach that h.,d taken place in the Union might be repaiLd by new oo„s,i,„,io„al guaranties. Nevertheless, thaZTy before ..ad yet determined to pass an ordinan e of seces: lon-while 1. was, in fact, hopeful ihat .he Union would ^ aved Ihmugh the ^turning saniiy „f ,he Northern p^Fe^ adopted unanimously .he following lesolu.ion : ^ th. ...... su.„ of ,bu Unto, r/ri,;!"':,,^." • r''" " eiMion under lU F.d.rnl Uor«rL.„. ■,? f' •"'•'""' '">«> 'heir uu- coawnt th.t the Federal power, which Ib in\ZT \u ' *^ °''^*'' ^'" The entire antecedents of Virginia were known fo Mr Lincoln and h.s cabinet. They knew that sh. was sole.nnlv pledged, at whatever cost, to separate fro.n the Unionl th^ very contingency they had bronght about-namely ,1 e at tempt to subjugate her sister States of the South Thev knew that the original "Union men." «- «-oii .„ .u __. ,'? secessionists, were committed beyond the posTibTlItyT'Je'' ■ i f r. AA THE FIRST YEAB OF THE WAR. cantation to resistance to the death of any and every coerrm measure of the Federal Government. Nevertheless, Mr. Lin- coln Knd hi? advisers h-i(i the temerity to make a call upon the State of Virginia to furnish her quota of seventy-five thousand men to subjugate the seceded States. They had but little right to be surprised at the course taken by the State, and still less to chrrjre it with inconsistency or perfidy. .,j,,jji It was exppcted that Maryland might follow the heroic course of Virginia, and but two days £ifter the secession of the latter State, there were indications in Maryland of a spirit of emulation ^f the daring and adventurous deeds that had been enacted South of the Potomac. On the 19th of April the passage of Nolhern volunteers, on their way to Washington, was intercepted and assailed by the citizens of Baltimore, and for more than two weeks the route through that city was effectu- ally closed to Mr. Lincoln's mercenaries. The Baltimore " riot,'' as it was called, was one of the most remarkable col- lisions of the times. A number of Massachusetts volunteers, passing through Baltimore in horse-cars, found; the track bar- ricaded near one of the docks by stones, sand and old anchors thrown upon it, and were compelled to attempt the passage to the depot, at the other end of the city, on foot. They had not advanced fifteen paces after leaving the cars when they found their passage blocked by a crowd of excited citizens, who taunted them as mercenaries, and fi<,ated a Southern flag at the head of their column. Stones were thrown by a portion < f the crowd, wh n the troops presented arms and fired. The crowd was converted into an infuriated mob; the fire was returned from a number of revolvers ; the soldiers were attacked with sticks, stones, and every conceivable weapon, and in more than one instance their muskets were actually wrung from their hands by desperate and unarmed men. Unable to withstand the gathered crowd, and bewil- dered by their mode of attack, the troops pressed along the street confused and staggering, breaking into a run whenever there was an opportunity to do so, and turning at intervals to fire upon the citizens who pursued liieui. As they reached tho THE FIRST YKAR OF THE WAR. 69 depot they found a crowd already collected there and gather- ing from every point in the city. The other troops of the Massachusetts ngiment who had precede! ihem in the horse cars had been pursued by the people along the route, and the soldiers did not hesitate to stretch themselves at full length on the floors of the cars, to avoid the missiles thrown through the windows. The scene that ensued at the depot was lerrific. Taunts, clothed in the most fearful language, were hurled at the troops by the panting crowd who, almost breathless with mnning, pressed up lo the windows, presenting knives and revolvers, and cursing up in the faces of the soldiers. A wild cry was raised on the pla.form, and a dense crowd rushed out spreadmg itself along the railroad track, until ior a mile it wj black with the excited, rushing mass. The crowd, as they went filled the track with obstructions ; the police who, throug- out the whole affair, had contended for order with the most :devoted courage, followed in full run, removing the obstructions • as far as the eye could reach the track was crowded with the pursuers and pursued, a struggling and shouting mass of human beings. In the midst of the excitement the train moved off- and as jt passed from the depot a dozen muskets were fired by the soldiers into the people that lined the track, the volley kilmg an estimable citizen who had been drawn to the spot only as a spectator. The resnits of the riot were serious enough ; two of the soldiers were shot ; several of the citizens nad been killed, and more than twenty variously wounded ^ The excitement in Baltimore continued for weeks • the bridges on the railroad to the Susqueh^nnH were destroyed- the regular route of travel broken up, and some twenty ^r tweniy.five thousand Northern volunteers, on their way to Washington, detained at Havre de Grace, a portinn of them only managing to reach their (iesti.iation by the way of Annap- ohs On the nighr of the day of the rio-, a mass meeiincr was Held m Monument Square, and was addressed by ur^-ent ap- peals for the secession of Maryland, and speeo-^es of defiance to the Lincoln Government. Governor Hicks, alarmed by the digp,ay ol public sentiment, affected to yield to it. He ad- 70 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. dressed the crowd in person, condemning the coercive policy of the government, and ending with the fervid declaration, " I will suffer my right arm to be torn from my body before I will raise it to strike a sister State." The same man in less than a month thereafter, when Maryland had fallen within the grasp of the Federal Government, did not hesitate to make a call upon the people for four regiments of volunteers to assist that government in its ihen fully declared policy, of a war of inva- sion and fell destruction upon the South. In the cily of St. Louis there were collisions between the citizens and soldiery as well as in Baltimore ; but in Missouri the indications of sympathy with the South did not subside, or allow themselves to be choked by spectral fears of the '* crucial experiment of secession' — they grew and strengthened in the face of all the Federal power could do. The riots in Maryland and Missouri were however only inci dents in the history ijf the period in which they occurred. That history is occupied with far more important and general events, indicating the increased and rapid preparations. North and South, for war; the collection of resources, and the policy and spirit in which the gathering contest was to be con- ducted. Mr. Lincoln had, on the 19th of April, published his pro- clamation, decliring the ports of the Southern Confederacy in a state of blockade, j^nd denouncing any molestation of Federal vessels on the high seas as piracy. The Provisional Congress at Montgomery, liad previously recognized the existence of war with the North, and letters of marque had been issued by the Confederate authorities. The theatre of the war on land was indicated in Virginia, General Lee, who had resigned a com- mission as Colonel of Cavalry in the old United Stales army, was put in command of all the Confederate Slates forces in Virginia. That State was the particular object of the rancor of (he government at Washington, which proceeded to inai!gurate hostilities on her territory by two acts of ruthless vandiUsm. On the 19lh dav of April the Federals evacuated Harper's THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. Tl Ferry after an attempt to destroy the buildings and machine shops there, which only partially succecded-the armory build- ings bemg destroyed, but a train to blow up the machine shop failed, and a large quantity of valuable machinery wa» uninjured. On the succeeding day, prepartions were made for the destruction of the Navy Yard at Norfolk, while Federal reinforcements were thrown into Fortress Monroe. The work of vandalism was not as fully completed as the enemy had de- signed, the dry-dock, which alone cost several millions of dol- lars, being but little damaged ; but the o'estrnction of property was immense and attended by a terrible conflagration, vvhicb at one time threatened the city of Norfolk. All the ships in the harbor, excepting the old frigate, the United States, were set fire to and scuttled. They were the Pennsylvania the Columbus and Deleware, the steam frigate Merrimac, (she was only pnrtially destroyed) the sloops. Get- mantown and Plymouth, the frigates Raritan aud Columbia, and the brig Dolphin. The Germantown was lying at the wharf under a large pair of shears, which were thrown across her decks by cutting loose the guys. The ship was nearly cut in two and sunk at the wharf. About midnight an alarm was given that the JNavy Yard was on fire. A sickly blaze, that seemed neither to diminish nor increase, continued for several hours Men were kept busy all night transferring everythinir of value from the Pennsylvania and Navy Yard to the Pawnee and Cumberland, and both vessels were loaded to their lower ports. At length four o'clock came, and with it flood tide A rocket shof^ up from the Pawnee, and then, almost in an instant, the whole front of the Navy Yard seemed one vast Sheet of flame. The next minute streaks of flame dashed along the rigging of the Pennsylvania and the other doomed Ships, and soon they were completely wrapped in the devouring element. The harbour was now one blaze of light The re* inotesl objects were distinctly visible. The surging flames leaped and roared with mad violence, making their hoarse wrath heard at the distance of several miles. The people of * ^ — , ,.„., , ,^„ ,„^,3e ^„y i^ygQ Deyoiid, saw the red light, Iff '1 vn Tn» PIWST TKAR OT THE WAft. artd thought all Norfolk was on fire. It was certamly a grand though terrible sjiectacle to witness. In the midst of the bril- liance of the scene, the Pawnee, with the Cumberland in tow, Btofe like a guilty thing through the harbor, fleeing from the destruction they had been sent to accomplish i The Lincoln Government had reason to be exasperated Id' wards Virginia. The second secessiohary movement, com*- menced by that State, added three other States to the Southiem Confederacy. Tennessee seceded from the Union, the 6th of May; on the 18th day of May, the State of Arkansas was formally admitted into the Southern Confederacy ; and on the 21 St of the same month, the sovereign Convention of North Carolina, without delay and by ai unanimous vote, passed an wdinance of secession. The spirit of the rival governments gave indications to dis- cerning minds of a civil war ot gigantic proportions, infinite coiiseq lenceS) and indefinite duration. In every portion o£ the Sou I h the most patriotic devotion was exhibited, l^ansporta'- tion companies freely tendered the use of their lines for trantr- portaiioti and supplies'. The presidents of the Southern rail- roads consented not only to reduce their rates for mail serVio* and conveyance for troops and munitions of waf, but volun- tarily proffen d ta take their compensation in bor>ds of the Ccnf.deracy, for the purpose of leaving all the resources of the government at its disposal for the common defence. Under the act of the Provisional Congress authoriziug a loan, prc- posals issued for the subscription of five millions of dollars were answered by the prompt subscription of more than eight millions by its own citizens ; and not a bid was made under par. Requisitions lor troops were met with such alacrity that the number in every instance, tendering their services ex- ceeded the demand. Under the bill for the public defence, one hundred thousand volnnteers were authorized to be accepted by the Confederate States Government for a twelve monthsf' term of service. The gravity of age and the zoal of youth rivalled each other to be foremost in the public service ; every village bristled with bayonets: large forces were put in the I HE FIRST TKAH OF THE WAR, n field, at: Char eston, Pen^acola,: Forts Morgan, Jackson, St. Miihp and Pulaski; white formidable numbers from all oarts of the Confederacy were gathered in Virginia, on what was now becommg the immediate theatre of the war. . On the 20th day of May, the seat of government was removed from Mont- gomery, Alabama, to Richmond, Virgina, and President Davis was welcomed in the latter ci:ty with a burst of genuine joy and enthusmsm to which none of tiae military pageams of the North WKaldiurnish a parallel. f; It had been supposed that the Southern people, poor in manU- fectures C8 they were, and in the haste of preparation for the mighty contest thatwastc. ensue, would find themselves b«t Illy provided with arms to contend with an enemy rich m the taeans and munitions of war. This advantage had hem I«ov,ded against by the timely act of one man. Mr. Floyd, of Virginia, when Secretary of War under Mr, Buchanan^s admmj^tratian, had by a single order effected the transfer of 116,000 improved n^uskcts and rifles from the Springfield armory and Watervliet arsenal to different arsenals at the South Adding to these the number of arms distributed by the Fed^ ra^government to the States in the preceding years of our histoiy, and those purchased by the States and citizens, it was l^^I TTf. '^^! '^' ^"^'^ '"*^^^^ "P^'^ '^' ^^r with one hundred and fifty thousand small arms of the most anproved modern pattern and the best in the world. -n.The government at Washington rapidly collected in that city a vast and motley army. Baltimore had been subdued; the mute through It was restored; and such were the facilities of Northern transportation, that it was estimated that not less than four or^five thousand volunteers were transported through the former Thermopylffi of Baltimore in a single day. The first evidences of the despotic purposes of the Lincoln govern- ment were exhibited in Maryland, ar-d the characteristics of the war that it had commenced on the South were first dis- played in the crushing weight of tyranny and oppression it laid upon a State which submitted before it was conquered. The Legislature of Maryland did nothing practical. It was I: i 74 THC FIRST TKAR OF THB WAS. unable to arm the Slate, and it marie no attempt to improve the spirit of ine people, or to make preparations for any future opportunity of action. It assented to the attitude of submis- sion indefinitely. It passer? "* ■ r ions piotestii^g against the military occupation of thr 'fie by the Federal government and indicating sympathy vviii me South, but concluding with the declaration : " under existing circumstances, it is iujxpe- dient to call a sovereign Convention of the State at this time, or take any measures for the immediate organization or arminjj of the militia." The government of Ab* liui^ti Lincoln was not a government to spare submission or to be moved to magna- nimity by the helplessness of a supposed enemy. The submi*?- sion of Maryland was the signal for its persecution. By the middle of May, her territory was occupied by thirty thousand Federal troops ; her quota of troops to the war was demanded at Washington, and was urged by a requisition of her obsequi- ous Governor ; the city of Baltimore was invested by General Butler, of Massachusetts, houses and stores searched for con- cealed arms, and the liberties of the people violated, with every possible addition of mortification and insult. In a few weeks the rapid and aggravated progression of acts of despotism on the part of the Lincoln Government reached its height in Maryland. The authority of the mayor and police board of the city of Baltimore was superseded, and their persons seized and imprisoned in a military fortress ; the writ of habeas corpus was suspended by the single and unconstitu- tional authority of the President ; the houses of suspected citizens were searched, and they themselves arrested by mili- tary force, in jurisdictions where the Federal courts were in uninterrupted operation: blank warrants were issued for domi- ciliary visits ; and the sanctity of private correspondence was violated by seizing the despatches preserved for years in the telegraph offices of the North, and making them the subject of inquisition for the purpose of discovering and punishing as traitors men who had dared to reproach the Northern Govern- ment for an unnatural war, or had not sympathized with its rancour and excesses. THE FIH«T T«AR OF THE WA«. f?# Such was the inauguration of « the strong goverament'* of Abraham Lincoln in Maryland, and the repetition of its acts was threatened upon the *' rebel" States of the South, with the addition that their cities were to be laid iu ashes, their soil Bown with blood, their slaves freed and carried in battalions against their masters, and "the rebels" doomed, after their subjection, to return home to find their wives and children ia rags, and gaunt Famine sitting at their fire-sides. I y ill 76 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. -A. CHAPTER, ni. Confidence of the North. .Cbaraott'ristio Boa^tB. . " Orushjng out the Rebellioa-* ..Volunteering in the Northern Cities.. The New York " In viucibles". .Mis- representations of the Government at Washinfrton. .Mr. Seward's Letter to the French Government. .Anotlier call for Federal Volunteers. .Opening movpwenta of the Campaign. .The Federal occupation of Alexandria. .Death of Col. Ellsworth ..Fortress Mimroe. .The Battle of Bethel. .Results of this Battle. .General Joseph E. John- tion of the war, was wholly affectation on the part of tbe in- telligent and better informed authorities at Washington. The' government had a particular object in essaying to represent the Southern revolution as nothing more than a local mutiny/ The necessity was plain for balking anything like a European recognition of the Southern Confederacy, and Mr. Seward waS' prompt to rank the rebellion as a local and disorganized insur- rection, amounting to nothing more than a passing and inci- dental "change" in the history of the Union. At the time that all the resources of the government were put out to en- counter the gathering armies of the South, already within a few miles of its capital, Mr. Seward, in a letter of instructions to Mr. Dayton, the recently appointed minister to France, dated the 4th of May, urged him to assure that government of the fact that an idea of permanent disruption of the Union was absurd; that the continuance of the Union was certain/' and that too as an object of '' affection /" He wiote • " The thought of a dissolution of this Union, peaceably or by force, has never entered into the mind of any candid statesman here^ ' and it is high lime that it be dismissed by the statesmen in Europe*" The government at Washington evidently showed, by its preparations, that it was secretlv conscious of the resources and determined purposes of the revolution. Another procla- mation for still further increasing his military forces had been made by Mr. Lincoln on the 3d of May. He called for forty*' - odd thousand additional volunteers to enlist for the war and eighteen thousand seamen, besides increasing the regular army by the addition of ten regiments. It is curious that these im-; mense preparations should have attractehot from the Parrott gun in oar main battery aimed by himself. One of the guns of the battery being spiked by the breaking of a priming wire in the vent, the infantry supports were withdrawn, and the work was occu- pied for a moment by the enemy. Captain Bridges, of the 1st North Carolina regiment, was ordered (o retake it. The charge of the North Carolina Infantry, on this occasion, was the most brilliant incident of the day. They advanced calmly and coolly in the face of a sheet of artillery fire, and when within sixty feet of the enemy dashed on at double quick. The Federals fell back in dismay. The en^my continued to fire briskly, but wildly, with his ar- tillery. At no time, during the artillery engagement, could the Confederates see the bodies of the men in the column of attack, and their fire was directed by the bayonets of the enemy. The position of the enemy was obscured by the shade of the ■woods on their right and two small houses on their left. The fire of the Confederates was returned by a battery near the head of the enemy's column, but concealed by the woods and the houses so effectually that the Confederates only ascertained its position by the flash of its pieces. THE riBST YEAR Of THE WAR. gft Federals. They fired upon us wilh shot, shell, spherical ease canister and grape, from six and twelve ponnders, at a d a.anca of sa hundred yards. The only injury received IZT ar.il ery was the loss of a mule. 'We L Tn ™' Z IZ deliberate, and was suspended whenever masses of , he enem^ were not within rage. From 9 o'clock A.M. until HO P m ^. .ne.y.„ight shotswere tired hy ,is, every one'llf t'il H umt;=;T=;::^t rt^v^- : ?- - ance , .^e Hampton Road and pressed tbr^arf owaX ,1 bridge, carrying the United Stales flag at its head. This col! umn was under command of Major Winthrop, aid to Genera Butler. Those m advance had put on the distinctive badge of the Confederates-a white band round the cap. They cried on, repeatedly, " don't fire." Having crossed .'he creel th y began to cheer most lustily, thinking that our work was open ThX^Tr v'^'^y ""'S*" ^"^ ■" ^y " '""den rush The North Carolina infantry, however, dispelled this illusion Their firm, was as cool as that of veterans ; the only difficZ being the anxiety of the riflemen to pick ofl^ .he &/ the men repeatedly_ca,lingtotheoflicers,..m% ' fire ^i ':,h'i„f, ^ As the enemy fell back in disorder and bis final route com- menced the bullet of a North Carolina rifleman pierced ,te b^astof the brave Federal officer. Major Wm.hrop? w ho had made hm,, 1, , ,, „„^, ^^ ^.^ ^ P. bad He *as," says Colonel Hill, of the North Caroina regimen, who exhibited even an approximation to courage during the 01 great gallantry. He was shot while standing on a lo- oZ? »::: ""Vff' """""""^ ••' '^"^ ^'^ -»""he Charge. His enemy d,d honor to his memory ; and the Soulh- ^n people, who had been unable to apprecia,; the coLage of tllsworth, and turned with disgu.,. from the apotheosis tnthe '! -* 88 THE FIRST TEAR OF TffB WAR. !i ill IM \ North, did not fail to pay the tribute due a truly brave matt to the gallant Winthrop, who having simply died on the battle- field, without the sensational circumstance of a private brawl or a bully's adventure, was soon forgotten in the North. During the fight at the angle of our works, a small woodett house in front was thought to give protection to the enemy. Four privates in the North Carolina regiment volunteered to advance beyond out lines and set it on fire. One of them, a youth named Henry L. Wyait, advanced ahead of his com- panions, and, as he passed between the two fires, he fell pierced by a musket-ball in the forehead, within thirty yards (rf the house. This was our only loss in killed during the entity engagement. , The results of the battle of iBethel were generally magnified in the South. It is trtie that a Confederate force of some eighteen hundred men, in a contest of several hours with an enemy more than twice their numbers, had repulsed them ; that the entire loss of the former was only one man killed and seven wounded, while that of the enemy, by their own ad^ knowledgment, was thirty killed and more than one hundred wounded. The fact, however, was, that our troops had fought under the impenetrable cover of their batteries, the ouiy in- stance of exposure being that of the North Carolina infantry, who, by their charge on ihe redoubt taken by the enemy early in the action, contributed, most of all, to the success and glory of the day. The battle had been the result of scarcely any thing more than a roconnoissance ; it was by no means to be ranked as a decisive engagement, and yet it was certatnly a serious and well-timed check to the foe. In one respect, however, the result was not magnified, and that was in its contribution of ccmfidence and ardor to the South. Thus regarded, it was an important event, and its effects of the happiest kind. The victory was achieved at a time when the public mind was distressed and anxious on ac- count of the constant backward movements of our forces in Virginia, and the oft-recurring story of "surprise" and con- sequent disaster to our troops in the neighborhood ol '\e THE FIRST YEAH OP THE WAR. 8t enemy's lines. The surrender of Alexandria, the surprise and d-spersion of a camp at Phillippi by a body of Federal troops/ and the apparently uncertain movements of our forces on the Upper Potomac, had unpleasantly exercised the popular mind, and had given me to many rash and ignorant doubts with re- Bpect to the openmg events of the war. The battle of Bethel ^as the first to turn the hateful current of retreat, and sent the General Tpp fn « ii «• ,'* /^ ^'^7' l8««' witb written instructiotis from Upon dirertiog lie caplain, of „,.gaoi„d volunteer eompauia, to p»eeed ™h ,be,r ooinpae,.. ,„ Gr.ftoo, they replied t1„., not Z. than twer^ Companies numbering sixtv were willino- fn +„t„ ,, . . "' '° tmval of several o her eompan.es, two of which were unarmed cavalry com panies-amonnting in all to about 600 infantry and 160 cavalrv Thre Cdonel Porterfield was reliably informed of the force of the enemy and rf'TheTh=t rdrt r ''""^^;- "^''^-^ ^^^« ^-^ ^- the destLion' or the l-hsat Bridge, but were not rxecuted. The enemy's force at Grafton ^a, abou. eight thousand men. On the 3.d of June, though the fa^ure^" he guard or ,ufant.y pickets to give the alarm, the cowman i^at PhiUppiw^ BuiTrised by about five thousand infmtry and a batt.ry of artillery and dk- pereed in^roat confusion, but with inconsiderable loss of 1 frth;^ Si woods. The command had no equipments and very little amun t^ S>^h wa^the^inaugurationof the improvident and unfortnnL'ctprgrrWesta General Garnet^ succeeded Colonel Porterfield in the command in North- west rn Virginia with a much larger force (about six thousand meif) but one obvious^- inadequate considering the extent of the district it was xn cted Ltnt; ''' ^'"■"'" ""' '''' "°""^'-^ -'^ "- invadmg fX :' f ; :is 88 THB FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. first gleam of sunlight through the sombre shadows that had hung over the public opinion in the South. It is certain that the movements on the Upper Potomac were greatly misunderstood at the time, especially in regard to the evacuation of Harper's Ferry. General Joseph E. John- ston, who had been a Quartermaster-General in the old Tnited States service, and had resigned to lake part in the defence of his native State, Virginia, had assumed command at Harper's Ferry, on the 23rd of May. On the 27th of the same month, Ganeral Beauregard had relinquished his command at Charles- ton, being assigned to duly at Corinth, Mississippi ; but, the order being re-called, he was put in command at Manassas, our forces being divided into what was known as the armies of the Potomac and of the Shenandoah. At the time General Johnston took command at Harper's Ferry, the forces at that point consisted of nine regiments and two battalions of in- fantry, with four companies of artillery — a force which was certainly not sufficient^ when wo consider that it was expected to hold both sides of the Potomac, and take the field against an invading army. After a complete reconnoisance of the place and environs. General Johnston decided that it was untenable, but determined to hold it until the great objects of the government required its abandonment. The demonstrations of the Federal forces in the direction of the Valley of Virginia were certainly thwarted by the timely falling back of our army from Harper's Ferry to Winchester, General Patterson's approach was expected by the great route into the Valley from Pennsylvania and Maryland, leading through Winchester, and it was an object of the utmost im- portance to prevent any junction between his forces and those of General McClellan, who was already making his way into the upper portions of the Valley. On the morning of the 13th of June, information was received from Winchester that Rom- ney was occupied by two thousand Federal troops, supposed to be the van-guard of McClellan's army. A detachment was despatched by railway to check the advance of the enemy ; THE FIRoT YEAR OF THE WAR. 89 and, on the morning of the I5th, the Confederate army left Harper's Ferry for Winchester. The next morning, after the orders were issued for the eracuation of Harper's Ferry, brought one of those wild, fearfiu scenes which make the desolation that grows out of war. The splendid railroad bridge across the Potomac— one of the most superb strictures of its kind on the continent- was set on fire at its nurlhern end, while about four hundred feet at Its southe extremity was blown up, to prevent the flames reaching other works which it was necessary to save. Many of the vast buildings were consigned to the flames. Some of them were not only large, but very lofty and crowned with tall towers and spires, and we may be able to fancy the sublimity of thr .^ene, when more than a dozen of these huge fabrics, crowded in i small space, were blazing at once. So great was the heat and smoke, that many of the troops were forced (,ut of town, and the necessary labors of the removal were performed with the greatest difficulty On the morning of the day afler the evacuation of Harper's *erry, intelligence was received that General Patterson's army had crossed the Potomac at Williamsport ; also that the Fed- eral force at Romney had fallen back. The Confederate army was ordered again to Martiiisburg turnpike by a flank movement to Bunker's Hill, in order to place itself between Winchester and the expe, d advance of Patterson. On hearmg of this, the enemy crossed the river precipitately. Kesuming his first curection and plan, General Johnston pro- ceeded to Winchester. There his army was in position to oppose either McClellan from the West, or Patterson from the Northeast, and to form a junction with General Beauregard when necessary. ° Iiitelligence from Maryland indicating another .novement by Patterson, Colonel Jackson with his brigade was sent to the neighborhood of Martinsburg to support Colonel Stuart, who had been placed in observation on the line of the Potomac with h,s cavalry. On the 2nd of July, General Patterson aj^ain crossed the Potomac. Colonel Jackson, pursuant to instruc- h««^ iK. V^ ^b. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) 1.0 I.I 1.25 12.2 12.0 1.8 1.4 !!||l.6 V] 6>B /: ^^^ "c^ e3 4 ■^y ^^'^^ Photographic Sciences Corporation d V # '^ ^^-0- % V ^V<^ '%"■ 23 WEST MAIN STREET WF.BSTER, N.v. 14580 (716) 872-4i03 :/j ^ T&E riRST tKAM or TRIB W4ft. ^6ils, again fell back before him; but, In retiring, g^ve him A severe lesson. With a battalion of the Fifth Virginia regl- aient and Pendleton's Battery of Field Artillery, he enj^aged the enemy's advance. Skiliblly taking a position where the stnallness of his force was concealed, he eng<%ged them for a considerable time, inflicted a heavy loss, and retired when about to be outflanked, scarcely losing a man, but bringing off forly-five prisoners. Upon this intelligence, the force at Winchester, strength- etted by the arrival of General Bee and Colonel Elzey and the Ninth Georgia regiment, were ordered forward to the supp(nrt ^Jackson, who, it was supposed, was closely followed by Gen- eral Patterson. Taking up a position within six mites itotn Martinsburg, which toWh the enemy had investedj General Johnston waited for him four days, hoping to ba attacked by an adversary double his number. Convinced at length that the enemy would not approach him, General Johnston returned to Winchester, much to the disaijjpointment of his troops, who sullen and discontented, withdrew in the face of the enem) . On the 15th of July, Colonel Stuart, who, with his cavalry, remained near the enemy, reported the advance of General Pktterson from Martinsburg. He halted, however, at Bunker'^ Hill, nine miles from Winchester, where he remained on the 16th. On the 17th, he moved his left to Smithfield. This movement created an impression that an attack was intended 6n the south of the Confederate lines ; but, with a clear and q\iick intelligence. General Johnston had penetrated the de- signs of the enemy, which were to hold him in check, while *' the Grand Army" under McDowell was to bear down upon General Beauregard at Martassas. In the meantime General McClellan's army had moved filcuthweslward from Grafton. In the progress of the history of the war, we shall meet with frequent repetitions of the tesson of how the improvident spirit of the South, in placing small forces in isolated localities, was taken advantage of by the quick strategic movements and the overwhelming numbers THE FCRBT VEAU OF THE WA«i 91 ■= '■"-'• which consisted of the 33d Virginia regiment and the artillery • and ,. ! (1 ™' """.""^ '° <"=™py "»< bigh bank on the right of h! ford „„h his regimen, and arlilleiy. On (he ri2 iL • bu. the hill commanHed the ford and the 'apprU to it "; thj Ike lln,,, ,elie,i„„ l,iui8«lf f™, 1Z '^ , ^ " '""' '" "« »«"»Pape~ .1 Oaraetl .tth. !„.,.„„ JfO„rpI^„';'"°'' '" "*■ l'«™'»Ploiily ordered I,, 0,„, u TEE ri»8J YEAR QW THE WJ^^. Toad, and was admirably selected for a defence. In a few minutes, the skirmishers of the enemy were seen running along the opposite bank, which was low and skirted by a few trees, aod were at first taken for the Georgians, who were known ta have been cut off, but our men were soon undeceived, and wit^ A aimultaneous cheer for " JefF. Davis" by the whole coiT^inai^d, Hiffiy opened upon the enemy. The enemy replied with a heavy fire from their infaijtry a|i^ artillery. A large force was brought to the attack, but thp continued and well-directed fire of the Confederates kept them from crossing the river, and twice the eneniy was driven back some distance from the ford. They again, however, came up with a heavy force and renewed the fight. The fire of their ^tillery was entirely ineffieclive, although their shot and shel^ iwere thro>yn very rapidly, but they all flew over the heads of tbe Confederate troo|», without any damage except bringing the limbs of the trees down upon them. After continuing the fight until neaily every cartridge ha^ beeij expended, and until the artillery had been withdrawn by General Garnett's orders, and as no part of his command was within sight or supporting distance, as far as could be dis- covered, or, as was afterwards ascertained, within four miles of the ford, Colonel Taliaferro, after having sustained a loss of i^bout thirty killed and wounded, ordered the regirnept tP retire — the officers and men manifesting deoided reluctance «tt being withdrawn. The lops to the enemy in this gallant little affair must have been quite considerable, as they had, from their own accounf, three regiments engaged. The people in the neighborhood re- ported a heavy loss, which they stated the enemy endeavoured to conceal by transporting the dead and wounded to BealingtoB in covered wagons, permitting no one to approach them. At the second ford, about half-past one o'clock in the day, Gen. Garnett was killefi by almost the last fire of the enemy. On reaching at this ford the opposite bank of the stream. Gen. Garnett desired one company from thf>. 23d Virginia regiment to be formed behind some high drift wood. He staled that he wouW in person take oharee of them „n^ ^;a Mng the Richmond Sba^hlltrCapf T«f Z^' ■n«u.e« Cap,. Ton,pk»a and all his L taMen „ame no ^ tn^^rtr'"* "" ^^"""^ «""^" only wan.li"C wen. -yhe in/erence was palpable— he h«w toi, ^ At the second ford, where General Gamett was biJW *u enemy abandoned the pursuit and twl T ! ^^ ^' *^^ «.msey reached MonterCSi^^e^ ,7^^^^^^ "^f i^°'- Jackson, Jf. 'wa lorweu a ^^Q^y^ wuh Geo. oditiCanrnvt „:r "^-^'"^ " -"■" "-^"y- a portion of which was us^ri in ki u- u ' '>agg«ge, ..»»y'a a^meo."" T^: rfl". td T tr' rT' ""^ «d f..ig«e of ,h. men, n»ny of whom d^pp'd Irim 1 „T «we„t, thousand men, without snpplioJ^'n a atral ^ "^ and in .he mida. of condnuou. a'^ dVnohlS hT'' wonder that ,he little army of three .*o Jand i™ hou d h''.' " wstmg only fiw honia, and had endured a m»r„i, ./"'y™""' fo».t without fo«l for U or hortr """"«'' ""* Gen. MoCiellan announoed to the Government .1 w ^■ .on a signal victory. He summed np ^^01" o Z uT on the mountain and his Dursuii „f ,1 . , . .• '"""'' hundred hiued ^■>'i^:zT:L:tz'Z7:zizz baggage of the eatire command captured, and seven gZS.™ 'Our sucoees," hewrote to Washinoinn '.;. 8"™™'«»- Secea,;™, J, ki|,,d i„ „,), Zni^''^ ' " "'•"'^''' ">^ The affair of Ri„h Mouwain waa certainlya sedous d.a,s.,r ; ' 96 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. ! !' it involved tho surrender of an important portion of North- western Virginia ; but with respect to the courage and dis- tjipline of our troops, it had exhibited all that could be desired, and the successful retreat was one of the most remarkable in history. It is certain that the unskilful disposition of our troops, as well as their inadequate numbers, had contributed to the success of the enemy, and doubts are admissible whether more advantage might not have been taken of the position at Carrock's Ford, with proper supports, considering the extra- ordinary advantages of defence, and how long it had been held against the forces of the pursuing enemy by a single regiment. A feeling of deep sympathy, however, was felt for the un- fortunate commander, whose courage, patriotic ardor, and generous, because unnecessary, exposure of his person to the bullets of the enemy, commended his memory to the hearts of his countrymen. Whatever might have been the depression of the public mind of the South by the Rich Mountain disaster, it was more than recovered by news from other quarters. The same day that the unfavorable intelligence from Rich Mountain reached the government at Richmond, the telegraph brought, by a devious route, the news of the battle of Carthage in Missouri. The blow given to the enemy at that distant point, was the first of the brilliant exploits which afterwards made the Missouri cam- paign one of the most brilliant episodes of the war. It had gone far to retrieve the fortunes of an empire that was here- after to be added to the Southern Confederacy, and assure the promise that had been made in the proclamation of the gallant General Price of that State— "a million of such people as the citizens of Missouri were never yet subjugated, and, if attemted, let no apprehension be felt for the result.'' But of this herealter. On the anniversary of the Fourth of July, the Federal Con- gress met at Washington. Galusha A. Crow, a Pennsylvania Abolitionist, and an uncompromising advocate of the war, was elected Speaker of the House. The meeting of this Congress Affords a suitable period for a statement of the posture of po- ■•■14' . », 'xl; t^: 'h. M ■: J,'' : : .- ■;, ■ y |. I . ' Ml I:' i I kki fmm^mmm'mmmmFmfm mrnmmmmmmmmmmmnimM 96 THB *»«.»» il'AR !,'» it iavok^d ibr nnrmiifitir t-, 'Pf«^*;teni Vii'gi'iia; but ^ilh oiplhif ot our troop«, it had - and the sutcqssful relreat w history. It is certain ih-t lb Iroops, as well as their tna • to the succesfiof the euomy, ana more advant^gp might noi b«v- Ci^rrock'* i*'ord, with proiver ."U|!|>o<'* -lion of Nortb- Hirage and dis- uuid be desired, 4 remurkable in i*f)fK)sition of oar :'i contribut^;d ;;,';««ibie whetbijr « he position at ■ !j2f ih«^ extra- ,,?;ri;jfy advantages of detect'/, e.:v,\ how tong it had been held ..^ ,st the forcpss of the piirsuing t'lemy by » migf* r«^ment. "^A feeling of deep sympathy, however, v^m hh io» the an- fod-male commander, whose courage, patriotic ardor, and gjsnerous, because unnece-ssary, tfxposure of his pernoa to the h '■ *' ihe ert«rwy% eomtnendetl hi# memory to the hearts of hu ht'.'^iy *h*f "^iej^ipe^sk-' r fuWjo mind aat -;a€h«>«i, the iUijai, by a devion.? ..,i General Fri. the citizens > attemtcd) h:i ■ thi(« fierisaiter Ui-. iS'^e, !»nr s gvess m'*^ ^' Ai)olit;oit:^-t, and n.: ele.-' '■■■.■' li ffi rr«j H a fi u U !i ci y Y'f rr. - .hiui)jugat<'<", ;>, it ;, ; for the resuii. t'i'.t of < if .Ttdy, the Federal Gon- n A. Crow, » Pennsylvania ■v2 advocate of the war, was "hi' meetifltf of this Congress; ■! xiiient of the pohtuie of po- I u, if H^(^^^ '^CM/— n re th pj th ne w< wi of ist mj saj no 8ti N< clo( of tor ha( me abs tiei No on dec Jul Sec mei Go^ lile, Sta sen Set 1 THE FIRST YBAR OF THE WAR. 97 litical affairs, and of the spirit which animated the North, with, respect to existing hostiJities. In his message, Mr. Lincoln denounced the idea of any of the States preserving an armed neutrality in the war, having particular reference to the continued efforts of Governor Ma- goffin, of Kentucky, to maintain a condition of neutrality on the part of that State. Mr. Lincoln declared that if armed neutrality were permitted on the part of any of the States, it would soon ripen into Disunion ; that it would build impassable walls along the line of separation ; and it would tie the hands of the Unionists, while it would free those of the Insurrection- ists, by taking all the trouble from Secession, except that which might be expected from the external blockade. Neutrality, he said, gave to malcontents Disunion without its risks, and was not to be tolerated, since it recognized no fidelity to the Con- stitution or obligation to the Union. Kentucky was not unreasonably accounted a part of the Northern government. But with an outrage of the plainest doctrines of the government, and a practical denial not only' ofeverything like the rights of States, but even of their terri- torial integrity, the Northwestern portion of Virginia, which had rebelled against its Stat- governmpnt, was taken into the membership of the Federal Union as itself a State, with the absurd and childish addition of giving to the rebellious coun- ties the name of '» Virginia." A convention of the disaffected . Northwestern counties of Virginia had been held at Wheeling, on the 13th day of May, and, after a session of three days* decided to call another Convention, to meet on the llth of June, subsequent to the vote of the State on the Ordinance ol Secession. The Convention re-organized the counties as a member of the Federal Union; F. W. Pierpont was elected Governor; and W. T. Willie and the notorious John S. Car- hle, both of whom had already signified their treason to their State by their course in the Convention at Richmond, were sent as representatives of « Virginia" to the United States Senate, in which absurd capacity they were readilv received. The message of the President gave indication of a detex- I 98 THB irmST YEAP OF THE WAR. mined and increased prosecution of hostili^iies. It ca,^led for an army of four hundred thousand nien, and a loan of four hundred millions of dollars. The call was a curious conimen- tary upon the spi' it and resources of vhe people, who it had been thought in the North would be crushed out by the three months' levies before the Federal Congress met in July to de- cide upon what disposition should be made of the conquered States. The statements of Mr. Lincoln's tiscal Secretary was alarm-' ing enough ; they showed a state of the treasury unable even to rtieet the ordinary expenditures of the government, ^pd it? resources v;ere now to be taxed to the last point of ingenuity M make for the ne^^t fiscal year the necessary provision of four hundrvif< and eighty million of dollars out ot an actual revenue, the first quarter of which had not exceeded five millions. The ordinary expidenture of the Federal government for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1862, was estimated at eighty railliqps of dollars; the extraordinary expenditures, on the basis of in- creased military operations, at four hundred millions. To meet these large demands of the civil and wai^ service, Secretary Chase confessed to a receipt of but five millions per qua ter from the " Morrill'' Tariff, showing that, at this rate of the receipt of customs, tne income of the goy^rnm^;nt would be twenty millions per year against nearly ^ve hundred millions of prospective outlay. It was proposed in this financial agency to levy specific duties of about thirty-three per cent, on cqffe^, tea, sugar, mo- lasses and syrup, \irhich might yield twenty milliqns a year ; it was hoped by sorpe modificatioa o( the MorHU Tariff, with, respect to other ai^ticles, to increase it.s productiveness from twenty to thirty-seven milliops; the je^jenue from the sale of public lands was estimated ^t three millionc ; and it was timidly pronosed, that a tax should be levied nppn real property 9?, one-third or one.fifth per cent.,, to produce im.^\y mil'ions addi^ tipijai. Thus, by mea^ns of— ■.>^7 Tmnm VBM OP xm, WAP. 8a Tbe Tariff,.,,... Tea, Sugar and Coffee "'" ' MXOQO.OOO , PuWio Lands 20,000,000 Pirf(* Taxes, .'.*. S.OOO.OCO 20,000,000 ; Producing a total of *"T — '^ ~ * "^"^'o^ $90,000,000 tfee Northern government proposed to eke ont fh Jtieeting its ordinary exnpn«l )^ • f ""® means of n.e*n, by which (heSonthern Confederacy had t f "T^ Iwen aUe to caitv on the w«t ■nT.'^ u . '**" '" K .o a paper c^ae^Z't S J'.t " ^ : t'" """'"'' he great staple of cotton,, which in the shapf lf.1""^^' loan was praoticallv dIM».h .„ .i T "^ "^ * produce debt Plpec.r" rfSained f '"'''i™ '■' """ P""'" •he Confederacy ,o other expediemrof „venui " a w^ ?*' ~,^.e af,:rxs:ttra°d^Zc:rc: ■fl!ie m^ltet would "ffoid the Southern gcvernmem.h' . ihe federal Congress commenced its work in . .„! •. u essentially tended to revolutionize ZZ„,^"* """ irfeaa of the North itself. tTZy votedt t' ^'^T ''»* men and supplies he asked for, but the tt L^of^T " "" 1- Signalized by a resplutio,'. .„ gag alKraitilrirZ: **. of 6(»,tJ .,,„,„" l|,s^,°a'C°',*». 8>.»th.rb seat™ .mbAuM 4" 100 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. I towards peace, or anything else than a prosecution of the war , by another, to approve the acts done by the Presideni; without constitutional authority, including his suspension of the habeas corpus ; and by the introduction of a bill to confiscate the pro- perty of '• rebels.'' The pages of history do not afford the commensurate instance of the wide opposilio:i in the social and political directions of two nations who had so long lived in political union and inter- course as the North and the South. While the latter was daily becoming more conservative and more attached to existing in- stitutions,* the North was as rapidly growing discontented, restless, radical and revolutionary. The people of the North had passed the stage of pure Democracy, and inaugurated mili- tary despotism. They, in effect, had changed the form of government, while vainly attempting to preserve their territo- rial ascendancy. They chained the South with attempting revomtion, when it was only fighting for independence ; while' they, themselves, actually perpetrated revolution rather than forgoe the advantages of a partial and iniquitous Union. The • AtypeoflhecpnservatiBmof the Southern revolution— its attachment to the past— was vividly displayed in the adoption of its national ensign, a blue union with a circle of stars and longitudinal bars, red, white and red, in place of''theetripc8,"oftheflag of the old government. The present Confederate flag was ballotted for in the Provisional Congress, and was selected by a ma. jority of votes out of four different models. At Jhe time of the early session of Congress at Montgomery, the popular sentiment was almost unanimous, and very urgent, that the main features of the old Federal Constitution should be copied into the new government, and that to follow out and give expression ie (his idea, the flag should be as close a copy as possible of the Federal ensign. A resolotion was introduced in the Provisional Congress to the effect that the fliig should be as little different as possible from that of the Federal government; which resolution was vigorouJy opposed by Mr. Miles, of South Carolina, who was then chairman the Flag Committee. The design recom- mended by Mr. Miles, but voted down, has since been adopted as the battle flag of Generals Johnston and Beauregard. It is a blue taltUr, (or Maltese cross) with inner rows of stars, <->n a ren field-the emblem of the taltUr («aZ/«r#, to leap,) being appropriately that of progress and power. The two other competing designs, from which our present flag was selected, were, one, an almost exact reproduction of the Federal stars and stripes, the only varia- flon being that of a blue stripe, and the other a simple blue circle or rim on a red field. The consideration that determined the .lelecti^n of the present flag WM its simiiaritj to that of the old govertuieat. THE mST r^AB OF THE.WAll. j^^ South in the midst of a war of i^^r. j not ,„ destroy, but to p Je4tSr,°ntnT'' "" ^'^'^ ring to the past, and proposing f,^ >nstitat,o„s-was recar- •■ tetrad 't ~-^"H:;;:.re~« "- the people to surrender their oo?.,,.,!,,.^""''"'^"^'' "f government that would g atify SI 'n" . '""' '° ■"■' This peooliaritv of tJ.™ i- • ? '"'°*' P^^'OM. , more 4nifloan?'ii t d siTe ^t''"''',"" ^"""'y' "" than all other circunisi»„™. *? "' revolutionary destiny bined,inlosso,^rp:s"rnr" hunger of the peoplfTwas ,L ""' ''''''/»'^«y '"'^ virtue. The love of eons luTin^ ''f., ™™P"on of the pablio litical hatreds While Z! ''^"^ ""' ^^^r^^^ to po- were wilMn/lo altuir.^^^^brt "slo^^ '*^? '"=''^'« .^s:;rerxr^ -"- «n:tx .he despot wh^Ti ::r7tLr4tT:?iirfT^^^^^ cesses, they had seen every vesti™ of .""'"" "" .wep, away, while they i™I2nrdhrr ,h • ''""'r-^' ""-"'y towards the South was'to bS d t^rVheTrr"' the liberties of the Deonl» ..,. , '° "' ""• They had seen inginthe Union TbeTLd"^"'" '" ^'^'" ''^"'^i-'- denied, not onTv bv 1 • "" ""' "^ *"*»-« <"»?«» Ma-yi/nd, bu:^^:L:iz;°r oLro^^-o^^^^^^^ and Lafayette. Thev h«ri .« "mcers ot i-orts Hamilton .peech.bu^.hesanSevenoZCe'e" '""' 7'" "' '"^ by the seizure of disDatohin„ ^ """-^'Pon'fenoe, violated had s™n the law of ,h„ i i, ?"" '''"S'^Ph offices. They «more, bufJearre .otbTet; ""'""'^ -"""-"-' '" Bal- inaugaraled by a svlm f '"^" niunicipal liberties, «■ Union. ThelldTuffIr; 7 """^ '"" '"^ """'^ F^"- .trous violations'of .he Cotttur '''?"'r'''''°" '^^'-^ ""»'• 'o live. They had no. oi, J s, ff" "fu "'u^'"" ""' "'"•<''««<' They had no.^nly do otfs bu^I'h ' ."' i'"' "l'"'"'^'' """"• governmen. of Al/»h°" r .I.',!! '.'^^ ''°'' =PP'a"ded in thi. aud truth, -e i;,a.n™s^;rr::r,:„^^^^^ ™' lot ftit nnii! sitAiL dr o^i WiM.^ 'It ''i^* CHAPTER IV. 1' The " Of attd Army " bt the Ndrth . . General MeDowelV. .The AfiEiir of fiuU! ^lii ,tAaAvtilIev7 Duel.. The Battle or Manassas.. "Oa to iRichmoiid'*. .Scehery of t^«IattleFi^ld..Cri8eftintheBattiQ..Peyoted0our{lge of the CoUfedetaMt .'.Tmc Bout. .Ho«r the Newa was Beceived in Washington. .How it was ReceivMl ill llife South.. General Bee. .Colonel Bartow. .The Great Errour. .General JohtiBt^b SzoiMM tot Abt Advancing on Washington.. IkoiDKMTS oi' t^b M^ HAaiAB.BATrtiK. fiiiqu ^^f'- ^|i^ ixtonith pf July foiind confronting the Kties of thfe P^lbi mac two of the largest armies that this continent had ever sei^n. The confidence of the North in the nuttibers^ spirit and appointments of its "Grand Arftiy " was insolent in the ex- treme. It was thought to be bin an easy undettaking for it to march to Richmond, and plant the Stars and Stripes in Capitol Square. An advance was urged not only by the popular clamour of " On to Richmond," but by the ptessuro c^ extreme parties in Congress, and when it was fully resolved upon, the exhilaration was extreme, and the prospect of tho occupation of Richmond in ten days was ascertained with every vtaiety of public joy. kIA Nothing had been left undone to complete the preparations of the Northern army. In numbers it was immense ; it was provided with the best artillery in the world ; it comprised^ besides its immense force of volunteers, all the regulars east of the Rocky Mounlains, to the number of about ten thousana collected since February, in the city of Washington, from Jef- ferson Barracks, from St. Louis and from Fortress Monroe, Making all allowances for mistakes, we are warranted in pay- ing that the Northern army consisted of at least fifty-fiv^ regiments of volunteers, eight companies of regular infantry four of marines, nine of regular cavalry and twelve batteries, ifor\y-nine nriina 5" Thio ormv vv'iia r»lan«d nt ihp i^nmniand of one * "•'■-^ •' — ^ f' — ■ — — — ■ "" — THE WHST TEAR OF THE WAR. lOS Uon sough, after by a oertau. number of We,, Poin, p„pi£. McDowell. The vaua,.„g and audacious declaration of ,to enen^'^ purpose lo force his position, and press on ,o RiclT jnond,was me. by firm and busy preparatC for 2 en'st It was no mean crisis It was to involve the first tapoZ^ *ock of arm. between two people, who, from iongraS peaee and prosperity, had brought ,o the struggle more tC t>rdmary resources and splendours of war. JimltTtrTt.TfT''^''^ "y"-^ irtponattaffairoJ TthT^'u^J'f^l '['"^'"^''^ * precursor ,o4he e*enti ^ the 21.t of July, furnishes an intelligent introduction to the *s.gns of .he enemy, and alike ,o .h! complica.ed pkl aid of a whole day, wrcslled over .he plains of Manassas. "■ Bull Run con8.i.u.es .he nor.hern boundary of .ha. coom^ wh,eh,,dmdes from Fairfax, and on i-s .nemorable raS abom .hree mtles .0 the northwest of .he ju„c.i„„ of .ht Manasa.Gapw..h.he Orange and Alexandria railmad, wa! fought the gallant action of the 18th of July. It is a imall •tream, runnmg ,„ this locality, nearly from West to Kas., to 1.8 confluence with .he Occoquan River, abou. .welve m le, from .he Potomac, and draini„g a considerable scope of cTnn- ItlT f TT '" **"" '*"" *'™°'»i" 'o within a short tTT. ?h '"T" "' °'="'"1"^"' Ro'd^ ""versc and brZl f?r""''"'^ "'""'"y '" ^''"°»' every direclion. he banks of .he ..ream are rocky and s.eep, but abound il^ equid,s.an. between Cen.rcville and Manassas, some six miles apart • Anticipating the deterrainati.m of the enemy to advance on Manassas, General Beauregard had . .-.d^awn his .dva^»d br^ades wu „n the lines of Bull Run. On the morning of the nth of July, our troops rested on Bull Run. from Union 104 THE FIRST TEAR OP THE WAR. Mill's Ford to the Stone Bridge, a distance of about eight miles. The next morning the enemy assumed a threatening attitude. Appearing in heavy force in front of the position of General Bonham*s brigade, which held the approaches to Mitchell's Ford, the enemy, about meridian, opened fire with several 20-pounder rifle gun? from a hill over one and a-half miles from Bull Run. At first, the firing of the enemy was at random; but by half-past 12 P.M., he had obtained the range of our position and poured into the brigade a shower of shot, but without injury to us in men, horses or guns. Our fire was reserved, and our troops impatiently waited the oppor- tune moment. In a few moments, a light battery was pushed forward by the enemy, whereupon Kemper's battery, which was attached to Bonham's brigade, and occupied a ridge on the left of the Centreville road, threw only six solid shot, with the remarks able effect of driving back both the battery and its supporting force. The unexpected display of skill and accuracy in our artillery held the advancing column of the enemy in check, while Kemper's pieces and support were withdrawn across Mitchell's Ford, to a point previously designated, and whicb commanded the direct approaches to the ford. In the meantime, the enemy was advancing in strong col- umns of infantry, with artillery and cavalry, on Blackburn's Ford, which was covered by General Longstreet's brigade. The Confederate pickets fell back, silently, across the ford before the advancing foe. The entire southern bank of the stream, for the whole front of Longstreet's brigade, was cov- ered at the water's edge by an extended line of skirmishers. Taking advantage of the steep slopes on the northern bank of the stream, the eiiemy approached under shelter, in heavy force, within less than one hundred yards of our skirmishers. Before advancing his infantry, the enemy maintained a fire of rifle artillery for half an hour; then he pushed forward a column of over three thousand infantry to the assault, with such a weight of numbers as to be repelled with difficulty by the comparitively small force of not more than twelve hundred bayonets, with which Brigadier-General Longstreet met him THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAB. JQ^ .hJllrni''" "'""" ■"' '"'"'P'''"y' The repulse of Mils Charge of the enemy was, an exhibition of the devot J No. T/Tr™'"'"'^ ""'""'"'-' ---J"" of the dlf of the fitrpnm .V aniiiery. l/nable to effect a passage o^t^r fi-r ""'t^ "'f "-™ o/o^ re ^- r.af W«sf For » ? • """""""'"^ '"«'■ '""' '"» ""<" "'S'" r«m^h ok JT ?"'°':'^ "'""'<«'''• "»<» ^hot fell and shell. Durst thick .,nd fast in the very midst of our battery Prom the position of our pieces and the nature of the g ound Zt r T r r'^ ^; '""'=""' ''y "■" ""'""' "' "■« enemrart'illet how skilfully and with what execution thiswas done can only te realized by an eye-witness. For a few moments, the guns of th^ enemy were silenced, but were soon re^ipeued. By dirtion of ouT:;1 rT'"^'* "'' "^""-^ -"' "'™ "Jvanced, "; and o?Lh' . ^""Tr"""'"^'' ''y">» encmy.sndashowe ofspherical case, shell and round shot flew over the headrrf 106 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. our gunners. From this new position our guns fired as before, with no other aim than the smoke and flash of their adversa- ries* pieces, and renewed and urged the conflict with such signal vigour and effect, that gradually the fire of the enetny slack- ^shed, tile intervals between their discharges grew longer and longer, finally to cease ; and we fired a last gun at a baffled, flying toe, whose hea!vy masses in the distance were plainly seen to break and scatter in wild confusion and utter rout, strewing the ground with cast-away guns, hats, blankets a^4 knapsacks, as our paiting shell was thrown among them. llius ended the brilliant action of iBuU Run. The guns engaged in the singular artillery conflict on our side were thiree six-pounder rine pieces and four ordinary six-pounders, all of Walton's battery — the Washington Artillery, of New Orleans. Our casualties were uniriiportant — fifteen killed and fifty-three woUnded. The loss of the enemy can only be con- jectured ; it was unquestionably heavy. In the cursory examinar tiqin, which was made by details from Longstreet's and Early's brigades, on the 18th of July, of that portion of the field •immediately contested and near Blackburn's Ford, some sixty- four corpses were found and buried, and at least twenty pri- spners were also picked up, besides one hundred and seventy? five Bland of arms, and a large quantity of accoutrements and blankets. iThe effect of the day's conflict was to satisfy the enemy that lie could not force a passage across Bull Run in the face of 6ur troops, and led him into the flank movement of the 21st of July arid the battle of Manassas. THE BATTLE OF MANASSAS. General Scott, having matured his plan of battle, ordered General McDowell to advance on Manassas on Sunday, the 21st of July— three days after the repulse at Bull Run. The ftiovement was generally known in Washington ; Congress had a:<^ijurned for the purpose of affording its members an oppor- tunity to attend the battle-field, and as the crowds of camp followers and spectators, consisting of politicians, fashionable women, idlers, sensation-hunters, editors, &c., hurried in car- rekk 'pietir i^tjAft of 'int WA^^ m rik^es, omnibuses, gigs, and every conceivable style o( vfeTiicle aoross the Potomac in the direciioti of the army, th6 dbnstai^t dhd unfailing je&t was. that they were going on a visit to RidtiV ittond. The idea of the defeat of the Grand Army, which, ift ihow, splendid boast and dramatic accessories, exceeded any- thing that had evfer been seen in America, seems never to havfe ei-08s6d the minds of the poliiicians who went prepared with CAWi^ge loads of champagne for festal ;jelebration of the victory that was to be won, or of the fair dames who were equipped with opera glasses to entertain themselves with the ntiVel scenes of a battle and the inevitable rout of " rebels." The indecencies of this exhibition of morbid curiosity and ei- nltant hale ai'e simply unparalleled in the history of civilized liations. Mr. Russell, correspondent of the London Times, an ey6-witfiess Of the scene, describes the concourse of carriages and gaily-dressed spectators in the rear of the army on the morning of the battle of Manasses as like a holiday exhibition oh a race-course. j The scene was an extraordinary one. It had a beauty ari^ grandeur, apart from the revolting spectacle of the indecen^ arid bedizened rabble that watjhed from k hill in the rear of , the army the dim outlines of the battle, and enjoyed the liervous emotions of the thunders of its artillery. The g^^ uniforms of the Northern soldiers, their streaming flags arid glistening bayonets, added strange charms to the primevdf^ forests of Virginia. No theatre of battle could have beeii rfaofe magnificent in its address to the eye. The plain^, broken by a wooded and intricate country, were bounded ^ far as the eye could reach to the west by the azui^e combs d^ the Blue Ridge. The quiet Sabbath raornihg opened upon the scene enlivened by moving masses of men ; the red lights of the morning, however, had scarcely broken upon that scene, with Its landscapes, its forests and its garniture, before it was obscured ju the clouds of battle. For long intervals nothing^ of the conflict was presented to those viewing it at a distance, but wide and torn curtains of smoke and dust and the endles? beat of the artiljerv. 1^ THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. Orders had been issued by McDowell for the Grand Army to be in motion by two o'clock on the morning of the twenty- first, and on route for their different positions in time to reach them and be in position by the break of day. It was also ordered that they should have four days' rations cooked and stored away in their haversacks— evidently for the purpose of gaining Manassas and holding il, until their supplies should reach them by the railroad from Alexandria. Thus stood the arrangements of the Northern forces on the evening preceding the battle of the twenty-first. It is a remarkable circumstance of the buttle of Manassas^ that it was fought on our side without any other plan than to suit the contingencies arising out of the development of the enemy's designs, as it occurred in the progress of the action. Several plans of battle had been proposed by General Beaure- gard, but had been defeated by the force of circumstances. He had been unwilling to receive the enemy on the defensive line of Bull Run, and had determined on attacking him at Centreville. In the meantime, General Johnston had been crdered to form a junction of his army corps with that of General Beauregard, should the movement, in his judgment, be deemed advisable. The best service which the army of the Shenandoah could render was to prevent the defeat of that of the Potomac. To be able to do this, it was necessary for General Johnston to defeat General Patterson or to elude him. The latter course was the most speedy and certain, and was» therefore, adopted. Evading the enemy by the dispo-^ition of the advance guard under Colonel Stuart, our army moved through Ashby's Gap to Piedmont, a station of the Manassas Gap railroad. Hence, the infantry were to be transported by the railway, while the cavalry and artillery were ordered to continue their march. General Johnston reached Manassas about noon on the ^veiitieth, preceded by the 7th and 8th Georgia regiments and by Jackson's brigade, consisting of the 2nd, 4th, 5lh, 27th and 33rd Virginia regiments. He was ac- companied by General Bee, with the 4th Alabama, the 2d and two companies of the 11th Mississippi. The president of the THE FIRST TEAR Or THE WAR. IQQ General Johnston being the senior in rank necessarilv assumed command of all ,he force, of ,he ConfedemTe st es ^ nsTf^GeiTerT R ' """""r "^' "o""". ap;Ld ;: iiee^lion under hi^"""*; ""' ^'-""U^ly directed their f£ir:Mtrnrd^in';h:iets^^^^^ X""het:«:; t^'hrme^rczrn r-""^-"^^^^^^^^ .Wen^-fir., hefor; daylight, to^rdi^ he"; arreted t «it the contingeney of an immediate altack'^on ourTne, b? the mam force of the enemy, then plainly at hand J. thu^ happened that a battle ensued, diffcLt in placrand cLum stance from any previous plan on our side. Our effective force of all arms, ready for action on the field on the eventful morning, was less than thirty thousand men Onr troops were divided into eight brigaded, occuX Te defensive Ime of Bull Run. Brigadier-General P„f]^ posted at the Union Mill's Fordf BrigfdTe -Gener 'd T Jones' at McLean's Forf; Brigadier oLeral Lon^te"', at Blackburn's Ford, Brigadler-General Bonham's at Mitchell" a^d <^ I ?^ '''""''' "' ^""'« *""''• ^°""' ">'« miles ab^e Gene.1 Holmes and Colonel Etlylte^S^^^ ^^^ In his entire ignorance of the enemy's plan of attack r.n ' eral Beaurega«l was compelled to keep his army T^Sn^ :^;»r e7S hTs ^«;e Jl;"tr.£"lt Manassas by the lower routes from Washington and Aleian- ^q THi; ri«pT J^^^ OF THE W^R, diia, and had resolved upon turning tho \eh flank of tl^ Con- federates. The fifth divison of his Grand Army, copnposed of at lei^st fpqr brigades, undqr cpmnrmnd of General Miles, was to re- iXia,in at Centreville, in reserve, and to make a false attack on iPtl^pkbiirn's and Mitchell's Fordt", and thereby deceive Gene- T,^\ pefturegar(J as to its jntention. The first division, CQi(t^' ppsed of at TesuBt three brigades, coiTimanded by General Tyler, "Wf^s to take position at the Stone Bridge, and feign an attaq)^ ppon that poiqt, Tho third division, composed of at leq^f three brigades commanded by Heintzelman, was to proceed a» qiMolly as possible to the Red Souse Ford, and there remai^i ijjptii \\\Q troops guarding that ford shonld be cleared away,., 5)^e second division, cornposed of three or four brig^i^es, cpip. i^anded by Hunter, was to march, unobserved by tl^e Qot^* jfj^jjer^te troops, to Sud'ey, and there cross over the rui^ ap^ i^pve do\yn the stream to thp Red House Ford, ai^d clej^i avray any troops the^t niighj be guarding; tha,t po^nt, whore he was to be joined by ihe third or Heintzelm^n'a divisiop. Together, these two divisions were to charge upon, and drive away, eny troops that might be stationed at the ^t^ne Bridge> wi^en Tyler's division was to cross over and join them, arUf, thus produce a junction of three forn(iid«ble divisions of tjiej Gr^nd Army across the run, for offensive oparations against the forces ot Qeneral Beauregard which the enemy expected to find sq£^tte^ed alopg the run fi . seven or eight miles — th^ bulk of them being at and below Mitchell's Ford, and so situ^ ated as to render a concerted movement by thena utterly im- practicable. Soon after sunrise, the enemy appeared in force in front of Colonel Evans' position at the Stone Bridge, and opened a,, light cannonade. The monstrous inequality of tho two forces at this poii . was not developed. Colonel Evans only observed in lii? imrpediate front the advance portion of Gener?ii( Sheiji^ck'^ lirigade of General Tyler's divii^ion «|nd two othpr heavy brir g^j^e^i Thif* djivi^ion of tljbe enemy's forces nuwibeirpd uit^ei t^^^usaud rnen ajad tbicteen pieces of artiUeryrr-Carliide's and, AyresV ,batt^ries}-rlb«4 >8^ i^}j^^ l;\^pdred men an^ two six- i THB FIRST TBAB OF THB WAV. m pounder, confronted by „ipc lhou8,qd men and Ihirleen piece. ofartillery, mostly rifled. 'i"'"^.f A movement was instantly determined ,non by General ft!.T*'":^!°'"r''.'' '''■'"''"''• ^' " "?'<■' <'«'«« attack with hie r.ght wing and centre on the e,eray', flank and,«aratCentreville,wi.h precaution, against Th^Mva^ce of his reserves from tho direction of Washington In the quarter of the Stone Bridge, ,he two artnies stood Z T-* I ." "") ^'"" "^^S^d In slight skirmishing, while the -air: body of the enemy was marching his devious way throt^h the " b,g fore.,," ,o cross Bull Run some two mTle^ abpve our leit, ,„ take our force, in flank and rear T^i. lyoveraent was fortunately discovei^d in time for us to check Its progress and ultimately to form a new line of battle nearly at right angles with the defensive line of Bull Run On discovering that the enemy had crossed 'the „r,am above h,m Colonel Evans moved to the left with eleven c^ paniesand woheld pieces to oppose his advance, »nd Z- pose his httle force under cover of the wflod, near the inter- «e.on of ,he Warrenton turnpike J , e Sudi^ S Ifere^he was attacked by the enW i« i.ppe„e(y l,^Z,, rJ!l' ^'Ti' .^/S'""'"? >■« "J"'"'''- fl^^n the twnpike. a, a point nearly half-way between Stone bridge and Cep^^vl? had pursued a tortuous, ^arrow track of a rarely us»d road th«,,gh a dense wood, the greater part of his^ay until S *e Sndley road. A division undL Colonel Hume,, of^lh^ TOt^oe, followed immediately by another division, unde;. Colonel kr e»r r°"' °. """' "T^"'' »"'' '^^"' "•">?'"'!«« <•( regu- lar oavalc^ and twenty.four pieces of artillery-eighteen of wi,,o„ were rifle guns. This column, as it croLd C Run ^^'""'^'- """"'*°'^ '"''■'• °f """■ns. by their ow" Burnside's brigade-which here, ,s at Fairfax Conrt-honse. ' ed the advance-at about 9.45 A.M., debouehed from a wo«l' in sight of Evans- position, some five hundred yards dUtant 112 THE FIRST YEA.R OP T»:K WAR. i ill . :('. from Wheat's Louisiana battalion. He immediately threw for- ward his skirmishers, in force, and they became engaged with Wheat'3 command. The Federalists at once advanced, as they report officially, the "^nd Rhode Island volunteers, with its vaunted battery of thirty-six pounder rifle guns. Sloan's companies of the 4th South Carolina were thea brought into action, having been pushed forward through the woods. The enemy, soon galled and staggered by the fire and pressed by the determined valour with which Wheat handled his battalion, until he was desperately wounded, hastened up three other regiments of the brigade and twoDahlgreen howitzers, making in all quit^ three thousand five hundred bayonets and aight pieces of artillery, opposed to less than eight hundred men and two six-pounder guns. Despite this odds, this intrepid command, of about eleven weak companies, maintained its front to the enemy for quite an hour, and until General Bee came to their aid with his command. General Bee, moving towards the enemy, guided by the firing, had selected the position near the now famous " Henry House," and formed his troops upon it. They were the 7th and 8th Georgia under Colonel Bartow, the 4th Alabama, 2nd Mississippi and two companies of the 1 1th Mississippi regi- ments, with Imboden's battery. Being compelled, however, to sustain Colonel Evans, he crossed the valley, and formed on the right and somewhat in advance of his position. Here the joint force, little exceeding five regiments, with six field pieces, held the ground against fifteen thousand Federal troops. A fierce and destructive conflict now ensued— the fire was withering on both sides, while the enemy swept our short thin lines with their numerous artillery, which, according to their official reports, at this time consisted of at least ten rifle guns and four howitzers For an hour did these stout-hearted men, of the blended commands of Bee, Evans and Bartow, breast an untermiiting battle-storm, animated surely by some- thing more than the ordinary courage of the bravest men under fire. THE HR8T TEAR or THE WAR. ,„ the right of t.,^ Sumey ro'a » ' 'T^'' "" ™ """■"«■><=« to tery. At this lime oLZn'n7n *'" "" ^""xxlen's bat- Evan., eleve,, con, ^^re'T fw ^™:"'^Be:f "^^ «■" ^•" fo« ,egi,„e„t,, the two compln ef , ,■;: vm' * ^'"'""'^ Lieuienant-CoLmol Liddell a„rf .hT • *'''"ss'PPi under and Eichardson. Ttrenemv hid ? "' r"'' ""''" '"''^^o brigades, i„„,„ding JveTS ol ritTrr," ™^^'™^ cavalry and anil Iprv' f«.,». »'F- As our shattered b.itfalions retired U.o i plorable. They f.]| baeic in h r «'«"shter was de- I ^^'^y II II oaeic in the direct on nf tUr. n ,• house, under the fires of PT.i....K.„„, T^" .''*• '^^ Robinson -tf-n.i 3 division on one side 114 THE riBST YEAR OF THE WAR. Keyes' and Sherman's brijjades of Tyler's division on the other, and Hunter's division in their rear, and were compelled to engage the enemy at several points on their retreat, losing both officers and men, in order to keep ihem from closing m around them. Under the inexorable stress of the enemy s fire the retreat continued. The enemy seemed to be inspired with the idea that he had won the field ; the news of a victory was carried to the rear, and, i^- i-ss than an hour thereafter, the telegraph had flashed the intelligence through all the cities of the North, that the Federal troops were completmg their victory, and premature exultations ran from mouth to mouth in Washington. If the enemy had observed the circumstances and character of this falling back of a portion of our lines, it would have been enough to have driven him in consternation from the field. While the terrible desperation that had sustained them so long in the face of five-fold odds and the most frightful losses, our troops fell back sullenly ; at every step of their re- treat staying, by their hard skirmishing, the flanking column of the enemy. The retreat was finally arrested just in rear of the Robm- gon House by the energy and resolution of General Bee, as- aisted by the support of the Hampton Legion and the timely arrival of Jackson's brigade of five regiments. A moment before General Bee had been well-nigh overwhelmed by su- perior' numbers. He approached General Jackson with the pathetic exclamation, " General, they are beating us back; to which the lailer promptly replied, "Sir, we'll give them tne bayonet." General Bee immediately rallied his over-tasked troops with the words, "There is Jackson standing like a stone-wall. Let us determine to die here, and we will con- Quer In the meantime, the crisis of the battle and the full devel- opement of the enemy's designs had been perceived by our generals. T' ey were yet four miles away from the immediate field of action, having placed themselves on a commanding hill in the rear of Generaf Bonham's left, to observe the move- TBI IIBST TEAB or THE WAR. 115 ments of the enemy. There could be no mistake now of the enemy s mtentlcs from the violent firing „n the left and the .mtnense c cuds of dust raised by the march of a large body of troops (rom h,s centre With the keenest impatience General BeauregaM awaited the execution of his orders oj the morning, wh.ch were intended to relieve his left flank by an attack on the enemy', flank and rear at Cen.revilTe As the contmuou, roll of musketry and the sustained din of the iTn'lT'"""'-'^ ','"' '"'""' °""'""' °f ">« battle on onr of confl,c, from onr front at Centreville. When it was too lat, for th3 efTective execution of the contemplated movemenl he fr»l r""' 't ':," ^"""""^ Jisappoimment, that his „rie« lor an advance had miscarried. No time was to be lost. It became immediately necessary to depend on new combinations, and to meet the enemy on th^ field upon which he had chosen to give us battle. It was plain hat nothing but the most rapid combinations and the mos" heroic and devoted courage on the part of our troops could retneve the field, which, according to all mill.ar; coT irons appeared to be positively lost. • . ""'<">s. uf^VTVl'^"^"" "' "'" ""'"^ ""» unutterably sub- lime Not until then could one of the present generation, who had never witnessed a gran.l battle, have imagined ."ch a spectacle The hill occupied in the morning by Gene als Be.u.ega,d. Johnston and Bonham and their staffs, placed The whole scene before one_a grand, moving diorama. When il Ike^r 7 'V^'^^'''^ ">« "f artiilery reached the hill Ike that of protracted thunder. .For one long mile the whole valley was a boiling crater of dust and smoke Occ«! eionally the yells of our men, in the few instances in wMch the e„e„y fell back, rose above the roar of artillery. 7n the diMance rose the Blue Ridge, to form the dark baek-ground of a most magnificent picture. ^ The condition of the battle-field was now, at the least des perate. Our left flank was overpowered, and it becauLtces sery to bring immediately up to their sunnort " r r' the reserve uofe 116 THE FIRST TEAB OF THE WAB. al'epdy in motion. Holmes' two regiments and battery of artillery, under Captain Lindsey Walker, of six guns, and Early's brigade were imm< diately ordered up to support our left flank. Two regiments Irom Bonham's brigade, with Kem- per's iour six-puuuders, were also called for, and Generals Ewell Jones (D. H.,) Longsireet and Bonham were directed to make a demonstration to their several fronts to retam and engross the enemy's reserves and any forces on their flank, and at and around Centre ville. Dashing on at headlong gallop, (General Johnston and Gene- ral Beauregard reached the field of action not a moment too Tney were instantly occupied with the re-org.nization of the heoric troops, whose previous stand in stubborn and natroitic valour had nothing to exceed it in the records of his. Lv It was now that General Johnston impressively and Gallantly charged to the front, with the colours of the 4th llabama regiment by his side The presence o the two fenerals with the troops under fire and their example had the Lopiest effect. Order was soon restored. In a brief and rapid conference, General Beauregard was assigned to the rommand of the left, which, as the younger officer, he claimed, Lhile General Johnston returned to that of the whole field^ The battle was now re-established. The aspect of aff^airs was critical and desperate in the extreme. Cunfronting the enemy at this lime, General Beauregard s forces numberero?^:nX;|ytc:une^""- ^«^^^^« ^-'• for about an hour. The enemv in Z nT ;• , ""' '"'""""'^ stationary de.voured to dislodge us with he^ she 1 whTc.f'"'' ""'"^ ""' f"^"''""' ^°- our heads, and exploded harml sty n 'r T' "r" '"^iZ! T '"'Zt'''\'^ "^^ their guns sufiieiently to cause thei; sho ^^ touch the c ft onirhJl 'd •""/.' mto our verv midst kiHin»> «n^ ., u -j crest ot tfle hill, and ncochH number o77or^r B "Sli J/ T'- ''T'^'' ^""""^'"S «^^«'-'''' «"^ -«™i"g a which now becle ten-ific '''""'' '"■■ P"^'^'"" "™''^ '^« -'- "^ batUe, Prom the distance came thh rnoi. ^.f tu.. our field pieces were incessa 1 ^litlL the r T '> "'"' """' ^^' their small shell into the very t^tiroT ttffoo A TnT'" T' ^''''''' ""'^ '^"^""^ face to fate, the unmistakable .a7f « nf m f ""e' vnls, as regiments came of our bra;e y^J^^^l^^Z^^^^^^ ^^ the sr,,ai arms yells and cheers which rose abov. 1 1 T , ' "^^ *'""''' ^car wild cimrge. Then follo^ Tn om uuus ,.'" an^T '""'T' '""'^'^ "" '" *»»« quiet work of steel to steel uut^r„,,'. u '""'" '»»*'"« t^e fi.rce but baffled enemy ' ^'' ■"""''^•'" '=^"«'" '"""8''' "^^ l^nowlcdge of the Meanwhile, our reinforcements were pouring by. and pressing with euthusi- m 130 THE FIRST YEAR OP THE WAR. ^,^i \.*i' SBti- cheers to the battle field. On tlie other Imnd, niauy of our wounded were borne past us to the rear. One poor fellow was shot through the left, cheek- as he ciime pas^t me, he smiled, and muttered with difficulty, "BoyB, they've spoilt my beauty." He could say no more, but au expression of acuto pain flitted across his face, and shaking his clenched fist in the direction of the foe he passed on. Another came by, shot in the breast. His clothing had been. Btripped from over his ghastly wound, and at every breath, the warm life blood "ushed from his bosom. I rode up to him, as, leaning on txvo compa- nions, "he stopped for a moment to rest. "My poor f.Uow," said I, 'I am Borry to see ou thus." "Yes I yes," was his reply, "they've done for m* now, but my father's there yell our army's there yet 1 our cause is there ye J » andraisinc' himself from the arms of his compnuious, his pale face lighting up like a sunbeam, he cried with an enthusiasm I shall never forget, " and Liberty s there vet 1" But this spasmodic exertion was too much for him, a purple flood noured from his wound, and ho swooned away. I was enthusiastic before but I felt then as if I could have ridden singly and alone upon a regiment, regardless of all but my country's cause. . , , . . ~ j »t. Just then, the noble Beauregard came dashing by with his Btaff and the cry was raised, that part of Sherman's battery had been taken Cheer after ohee^ went up from our squadrons. It was taken up and homo along the whole battle-field, until the triumphant shout semed one ^^'^"'i ^^'^ o victory. It this auspicious moment, our ir.fantry who had been supporting the baUe- ries were ordered to rise and charge the enemy with the bayonet. W^'h ter- rific yells, they rushed upon the Federal legions with an impetuosity which could "ot be w itstood. and te!ror-8tricken, they broke and fled lik.deers from the cy of wolves. Our men followed hard upon them, shouting, and driving their bayonets up to the hilt in the backs of such of the enemy as by ill luck chanced to be hind- "tt'^hls moment, one of General Beauregard's aids rode rapidly up and spoke to- CofVard commander of our regiment of Virginia cavalry, who immediately turned to us nd shouted, " Men, now is your time I " It was the happiest moment of my 1 fe. Taking a rapid gallop, we crossed Bull Run about three-quarters of a L7b bw the Stone Brhlge. and made for the rear of the now flyn.g enemy. Oa we dastel, with the speed of the wind, our horses with wild excitemen . leaping: Tnces dit lies an i fallen trees, until we came opposite to the hor.se of Mrs. Snin- dleThi h was used by the enemy as a hospital, and in front of which was a small clemxd space the fence which enclosed it running next the timber Leaping hi,. See! JdeLuched from the woods with a demoniacal yell, and found ourselves. ^Thl r:l:Vof sTeTnan's battery was passing at the time, and tlnis we threw ineiemnanioi o eneuiy and Shermans battery, which, Zdnt Zi dW>W in tlic cb.,g.,nmi our ,WI«. .ment now co,„„lod of ,„?:: :::!:;trfl;:S„ge, ,.,» ^,,.:, «« ...,■«,. «. «"" Federals to „buudon it. ^ " ' ''^" ""'"^ '° ^"" '^"'^ Pa^t in causing the rain,i*rol«on ". .Energy of the Federal Govemajeot. .Tie Bauk Loan. .Btwis n the West.. The Missouri Campaign. .Go vemor Jackson's Proolam8tioD..Ster. Ung Price.. The Affair ..f Boonville. .Organisation of the Missouri Force. The Battle OF Cahthage. .General MeCulloeh. .The Batob oj Oak Hat. .Deitb^if Q««erall4yun. .The OonfedeMte Troopa leave Missouri. .Operations in Northem Missouri.. General Harris .. General Price's March towards the Missouri.. The Affair at I )ry wood Creek. .The Batfle oe LExiNOK)N..The Jay hawkers, .the Victory Of "the Five Hundred ".. General Price's Achievements. .His Retreat and the Necessity for it. .Operation, of General Jeff. Thompson iu South-Eastoro 448so«ri The Affair of Frederiokt.mn. .General Price's Passage of the Osage Biver. Secession of Missouri from the Federal Union. .Fremont Superseded. .T^e Federal Forces in Missouri Demoralized . .-General Price at Springfield.. Revijrtr of hiB Campaign.. SsBTOH of GEMitftAi, pRieE...Coldness of the Q^jvertinveOt towards him. Th ; Norlhern mind demanded a distinguished victim foi'fte humiliating defeat at Manassas. The people and government of ihe North had alike flattereJ themselves with the expeblA* tion of possessing Richmond by midsummer ; their forces Were said to be invincible, and their ears TiTere not open to any te*. port or suggestion of a p ssible disaster. On ihe ni^fht of i\^ «l8t July, the inhabitants of the Xorihem cities \ad slept upon the assurances of victory. It would be idle to attempt a description of their diaappointments and consterwatiion on the succeeding day. The Northern newspapers were forced to the adtnowl dg- mentofa disaster at once h«railiating anl terrible. Th^y assigned various causes for if.. Among these were the non- arrival of General PaUer.^on and the incompeien e of their general (dicers. The favoriie explan .lion of the disaster was, however, the premature advance of (he amy under Gen« eral Scott's direction ; altliough tiie fact wais, that liie advance 134 THE FIRST YEAR OF THB WAR. 11? movement had been undertaken from the pressure of popular clamour in the North. The clamour was now tor new commanders. It came from the army and the people indiscriminately. The commander- in-chief, General Scott, was said to be impaired in his faculties by age, and it was urged that he should be made to yield the command to a younger and more eflicient spirit. The railing accusations against General Scott were made by Northern journals that had, before the issue of Manassas, declared hira to be the " Greatest Captain of the Age," and without a rival among modern military chieltains. It was thought no allevia- tion of the matter that he was not advised, as his friends repre- eented, of the strength of '* the rebels." It was his business to have known it, and to have calculated the result. General Scott cringed at the lash of popular indignation with a humiliation painful to behold. He was not great in misfortune. In a scene with President Lincoln, the incidents of which were related in the Federal House of Representatives by General Richardson, of Illinois, he declared that he had acted *'the coward," in yielding to | opular clamour for an advance movement, and sought in this wretched and infamous confession the mercy of demagogues who insulted his fallen fortunes. The call for a " younger general" to take command of the Federal forces was promptly responded to by the appointment of General G. B. McClellan to the command «jf the Army of the Potomac. The understanding on both sides of the line -was, that General Scott was virtually superseded by the Fed- eral government, so far as the responsibility of active service was concerned, though he retained his nominal position and pay as lieutenant-general and commander-in-chief of the Army of the United States. The unfortunate commander experienced the deep humiliation and disgrace of being adjudged incompe- tent by the ' orth, whose cause he had unnaturally espoused, and whose armies he had sent into the field as invaders of the land of his birth. The retribution was righteous. No penal- ties of J'oriune were loo atvere for a g« noral who had led or THE riBST YEAR OF THE WAB. 135 :d or directed an army to trample upon the graves of his sires and to despoil the homes of his kindred and country. General McClellan had been lifted into an imtnense popu- larity by his successes in North-western Virginia, in the affair of Rich Mountain and the pursuit of General Garnett, which Northern exaggeration had transformed into great victories. For weeks he had been the object of a " sensation." His name was displayed in New York, on placards, on banners, and in newspaper headings, with the phrase, " McClellan— two victo- ries in one day." The newspapers gave him the title of " the Young Napoleon," and in the South the title was derisively perpetuated. He was only thirty-five years of age— small in stature, with black hair and moustaches, qud a remarkable military precision of manner. He was a pupil of West Point, and had been one of the American Military Commission to the Crimea. When appointed major-general of volunteers by Governor Dennison, of Ohio, he had resigned;from the army, and was superintendent of the Ohio and^; Mississippi ^railroad. A leading Southern newspaper had declared, on the an- nouncement of the complete and brilliant victory at Manassas, "the independence of the Confederacy is secured." There could not have been a greater mistake. The active and elas- tic spirit of the North was soon at work to repair its fortunes]; and time and opportunity were given it by the South, nor only to recover lost resources, but to invent new. The government at Washingion displayed an energy which, perhaps, is the most remarkable phenomenon in the whole history of the war: it multiplied its armies ; it re-assured ihe confidence of the people ; it recovered itself from financial straits which were almost thought to be hopeless, and while the politicians of the South were declaring that the Federal treasury was bankrupt, it negotiated a loan of one hundred and fifty millions of dollars from the banks of New York, Philadelphia and Boston, at a rate but a fraction above that of legal interest in the State of New York. While the North was thus recovering its resources on the '" '" '-•» vuginicj. ana picparmg lur uu exiensiun ox me 196 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. campaign, events were transjpirlng in the W-^st which were giving extraordinary lessons of example ^nii cncopragement to the Southern States bordering on the Atlantic and (julf. These events were taking place in Missouri. The campaign ip that State was one of the most brilliant episodes of the wpjr, one of the most remarkable in history, jand one of thp mo^t fruitful in the lessons of the almost miraculous achievements of a people stifred by the enthusiasm of revolution. To the direciiop of ihe'^c events we must now divert pur narmtive. !?' THE MISSOURI CAMPAIGN. The riots in St. Louis, to which r?ference has already been made, were the inaugurating sceo'^s of the revolution in Mis- souri. The Federal government had commenced its pro- gramme of subjugation with a high hand. On the lOt of May, a brigade of Missouri militia, encamped under the law of the State for organizing and drilling the ipilitia at Gamp Jqek.son, on the western outskirts of St. Louis, had been forced to surrender unconditionally on the demand of Captain (after wards General) Lyon of the Federal Army- Ir. the riots ^^icitod by the Dvitch spldierly in »St. Louis, numbers of citizens h$ul been murdered in cold blood ; a reign of terror was established ; and the most severe measures were taken by the Federal authority to keep in subjeetixjn the excitement and Ts^gQ of the people. St. Louis was environed by a lins of piilitary po^ts; all the jirms and amnmn'tion in the city were seized, and the houses of citizens searched for concealed mui- tions of war. The idea of any successful resistance of Mis- souri to the Federal power was derided. " Let her stir," said the Lincolpites, " find the lion'ft paw will crush out her paltry existence." The several weeks that elapsed betwtjt'n the fall of Foyt Sumter and th' early part of June were oci^qpied by the Seoep- sionists in Missouri with efforts to gain time by negotiation u^d with preparations for the contest. At length, finding further delay impossible. Governor Jackson issued his proclamation, calling fir fifty thpusanfl vqluntcers. At the tipie of issuing THE F/R8T TBAR OF THE WAR, 137 this jM-odamati.m, on the 13th of June, 1861, the governor was advibed oi the purpuse at the Federal authorities to send an effective force from St. Louis to Jefferson oily, the capital of the State. He determined, therefore, in move at once with the State records to Boonville, situated on the south bank of the Missouri, eighty m'-ss from Jefierson city. Before his departure from the latter place, he had conferred ^pon Ster- ling Price the position of jnajor-general of the army of Mis- souri, and had aloo appointed nine brigadier-generals. These were Generala Parsons, M. L. Clark, John B. Clark, Slack, Barris, Stein, Raines, IVTcBride, and J«ff. Tliampson. There was at the time of the issuance of this proclamation no militar- organization of any description in the State. Per- haps, there hpd not been a militia muster in Missouri for tv^elve or fifteen years, there being no law to require it. The State w»3 without arras pr ammunition. Such was her condition, when, with a noble and tjesperats gallantry that might have |Mit to blush fprever the stale and common excuse of " help- le^sness" for a cringing submission to tyranny, the State of Missouri determined alone and unaided to confront and resist the whplfi power of the Noilh, and to fight it to the issue of liberty or death. Orders were issued by General Prioe, at Jefferson city, to f^p seveia) brigadiers just appointed to organize their forces #9 rapidly gs possible, and sejid them forward to BoonviUe ^d Itcxington. ■ On the 30t]i June, General Lyon and Colonel F. P. Blajr, With seven thousand Feder'tl troops, well drilled and weil ^med, came up the river by \essels, and debarked about five miles below Boonville. To oppose them there the Missouri^ns had but ribpnt eight hundred men, armed with ordinary riflqs and shot guns, without q, piece of artillery, -md with but little ammunition. Lyon's commar.d had eight piece?5 of cannon and the bpst improved small arms. The Missourians were com- manded by Colonel Marmaduke, a graduate of West Point. Under the impression that the forces against him were incon- siderabje, he determined to give them battle ; but, upon ascer- 138 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WaR. |t taining their actual >trength, after he had formed his line, he told his men that they could not reasonably hope to defend the position, and ordered them to retreat. This order they refused to obey. They declared that they would not leave the ground without exchanging shots with the enemy. The men remained on the field commanded by their captains and by Lieutenant- Colonel Horace Brand. } Hght ensued of an hour and a half or more ; the result of whi^u was the killing and wounding of upwards of one hundred of the enemy, and a loss of three Missourians killed and twenty-five or thirty wounded, several of whom afterwards died. *' The barefoot rebel militia," as they were sneeringly denominated, exhibited a stubbornness on the field of their first fight which greatly surprised their enemy, and, overpowered by his numbers, they retreated in safety, if not in order. General Jackson and General Price arrived at Boonville, from Jefferson city, on the 18th June. Immediately after his arrival, General Price was taken down with a violent sickness, which threatened a serious termination. On the 19th, he was placed on board a boat for Lexington, one of the points at which he had ordered troops to be congregated. This accounts for his al'seiice from the battle of Boonville. A portion of the Missouri militia engaged in the action, from two hundred and fifty to three hundred in number, took up their line of march for the Southwestern portion of the State, under the direction of Governor Jackson, accompanied by the heads of the State Departments and by General J. B. Clark and Gei.eral Parsons. They marched some twenty-five miles after the fight of the morning, in the direction of a place called Cole Camp, to which point it happened that General Lyon and Colonel Blair had sent from seven hundred to one thousand of their " Home Guard," with a view of intercept- ing the retreat of Jackson. Ascertaining this fact, Governor Jackson halted his forces for the night within twelve or fifteen miles of Camp Cole. Luckily, an expedition for their relief had been speedily organized south of Cole Camp, and was at that verv moment ready to remove all obstructions in the way THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. 189 of their journey. This expediliun, consisting of about ihred hundred and fifty men, was commanded by Colonel O'Kane, and was gotten up, in a few hours, in the neighborhood south of the enemy's camj). The so-c.iled "Home Guards" con- sisting almost exclusively of Germans, were under the com- mand of Colonel Cook, a brother of the notorious B. F. Cook wfio was executed at Charleston, Virginia, in 1859, as* an ac- omplice of John Brown, in Harper's Ferry raid. Col. O'fCane approached the camp of the Fedrrals after the hour of midnight. They ha result was, that nbout two thousand reported to Brig. Gen. Raiiis, six hundred to Brig. Gen. Slack, and about five hundred each to Brigadier- Generals J. B. Clark and Parsons: making an . ntire force of about three thousand six hundred inc n. Some five or six hun- dred of the number were, however, entirely unarnied ; and the common rifle and the shot, gun constituted the weapons of the armed man, with the exception of the comp iratively few who carri.'^d the muskets taken in tlie fight at Cole Camp. The army was organized by 13 o'clock, the 4th of July, and in one hour thereafter, it took up the line of march for tho Southwest. Before leavin^r, Governor Jackson rccrived intelligence that THE FIRST TEAR OP THE WAR, 141 he Was pursued by (je'ri. Lyon, coming rfown from a northwest- ei-Iy direction, and by Lane and Slargis from the Northwest;' thefr supposed object being to form a junction in his rear, with a force sufficiently large to crush him. He marched his command a distance of twenty-three miles by nine o'clock on the evening of the 4th, at which hour he stopped for the night. Before the next morning, he received authentic intelligence that a column of men, three thousand in number, had been sent out from St. Louis, on the Southwestern branch of the Pacific Railroad for .volla, under the command of Gen. Seigel, and that they had arrived at the town of Carthage, immediately in his front, thus threatening him with battle in the course of a few hours. Such was the situation of the undisciplined, badly-armed Mis- souri State troops, on the morning of the 6th July : a large Federal force in their rear, pressing upon them, while Seigel in front intercepted their passage. But they were cheerfully buoyant in spirit, notwithstanding the perilous position in which they were placed. They resumed their march at two o'clock on the morning of the 5th, and proceeded, without halting, a dis- tance of ten miles. At 10 o'clock, A.M., they approched a cntek within a mjle and a-half ot the enemy, whose forces were in line of battle under Seigel, in the open prairie, upon the brow of a hill, and in thne deiachments, nuinbeiing nearly three thousand men. THE BATTLE OF CARTHAGE. he Missourians arrived on their first important battle fi«!ld with a spirit undiminished by the toil of their march and their sufferinifs. Ihe men were suffering terribly for water, but could find none, the enemy bt^ing b 'tween them and the creek. The line of battle was formed with about twelve hundred men as infantry, commanded by Brigadier-Generals J. B. Clark, Parsons and Slack, und the remainder acting as cavalry, under Brigadier-General Hains-the whole undur thn commad of Gov- ernor Jackson. The infantry were formed, and placed in a line of battle six hiuidred yards from the enemy, on the brow of the hilt fi'onling i(s line. Ihe cavalry deployed to the right and 142 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAE. i"^ [i « left, with the view of charging and attacking the enemy on his right and left wing, while the infantry were to advance from the front. Seigel had eight pieces of cannon. The Missourians had a few old pieces, but nothing to charge them with. While their cavalry were deploying to the right and left, SeigePs bat- teries opened upon their line with grape, cannister, shell and round shot. The cannon of the Missourians replied as best they could. They were loaded with trace chains, bits of iron, rocks, &c. It was difficult to get their cavalry up to the posi- tion agreed upon as the one fi om wliich a general charge should be commenced upon the foe. Seigel would turn his batteries upon them whenever they came in striking distance, causing a stannpede among the horses, and subjecting the troops to a galling fire. This continued to be the case for an hour and thirty-five minutes. Owing to the difficulty of bringing the horses into position, the Brigadier-Gsnerals orden^d the infantry to charge the enemy, the cavalry to cover up at the same time in supporting distance. They advanced in double-quick, with a shout, when the enemy retreated across B^ar Creek, a wMe and deep stream, and then destroyed the bridge over which they crossed. Seigel's forces retreated along the bank of the creek a distance of a mile or mile and a half, and formed behind a skirt of timber. The Missourians had to cross an open field, exposed to a raking fire belore they could reach the coiner of the woods, beyond which the en^nriy had foimed. A number of the cavalry dismounted and acted with the infantry, thus bringing into active use nearly all the small arms brought upon the field. They rushed to the skirt of timber, tmd opened vigorously upon the enemy across the stream, who returned the fire with groat spirit. For the space ;lpck al night. The army v/as divided into three columna; 3^6 first commanded by General McCJuUoch, the second by Qpiieral Pierpe, and the third by General Price. They took nn ibe li^e of march at the hour named, leaving the baggage train behinn, and proceeded in the direction of Spntjgfiel^. The troops were in fine condition and in excellent spirits, ex- pecting to find the enemy posted about eight miles from their Imp* on ^^^ Springfield road, where the natural defences are ycry strong, l)eing a series of eminences oq either sides of the road' They arrived at that locality about sunrise, carefully approached it, and ascertained that the enen.y had retired th? previous afternoon. They followed in pursuit that day a dis- tance of twenty-two miles, regardless, of dust and heat ; twelve ^[\Bf of the distapce ^vithout a drop of water— the troops having no canteens. i n* The weary army encamped on the night of the 8th at Big Sprin*', one mile and a half from Wilson's Creek, and ten nM>es^9»d a half south of Springfield. Their baggage train^ l^^ving been left behind, and their beef cattle also, the troops had wot eaten anything for twenty-four hours, and had been supplied with only half rations for ten days previous. In this exigency, they satisfied the cravings of hunger by eating green corn, without a particle of salt or a mouthful of .neat. The wardrobe of the soldiers or) that night was thus humorously described by oipei of the number : " We had not a blanket, not a tent, nor any clothes, except ihe few we had on our backs, and fourfif^hs pf us were barefooted. Billy Barlow's dress at I circus would be decent in comparison with that of almost any one, from the major-general down to the humblest private." On the pi.xt day, the army moved to Wilson's Creek, and the^e took up camp, that they might be convenient to several large fields from which they could supply themselves with green corn, which, for two days, constituted their only repast. Orders were issued by General McCuUoch to the troops to gj9t I!e*^^y ^P tft^e up the Uq^ of march tp Springfield b^' nine THS FIB8T UAR OF TUB WAl. |4j O'M, P M, with a view of attacliing ,he enemv at W differew po,„,B at daybreak the next morofng. ZeffecHvI force as stated by himself, was five thousand ,I„ e huS infantry, fifteen pieces of anillerv and six ih«„.. i ! armed With fiin-locic muskets, ryel'lnTshotX". """■ After isceiving the order to march, the t»ops satisfied their hunger prepared their gun, and ammunition^, ani Im ^p ' dance before every camp fire. When nine o'clock camf i "L "quence of the threatening appearance of the wr.h'e "d «« want of cartridge boxes ,„%„. the »« ^f The Srs ;: be"?.:: r re-'a:;^!- :— '^ THB BATTLI Op OAE BILI.. The next morning, the lOth August, before sunrise ih,. troops Nvere attacked by the enemy, who had succel'd l! gammg the position he desired. Goncral Lyon atmokcd th»™ rear. From each of these points, batteries opened upon them G.cneral McCulloch's command was soon ready. The mTs^ sourians, under Brigadier-Generals Slack, Clark, MeBride Pawns and Rai„e>, were nearest the position tak™ by S eral Lyon with his main force. General Price ordered them to move thetr artillery and infantry rapidly forward Ad^ vancmg a few hundred yards, he came upo„ [he ma^n body of ^he enemy on the left, commanded by General Lyo. i„ p^„on The .nfantry flnd artillery, yhich General- Price had ordered to Mow htm, e.me up ,o the number of upwards of t JtS «and, and opened on the enemy a brisk and well-mrected fi.e. WoodrnlTs battery opened to that of the enemy under Captaa. Totlen, and a constant cannonading was kenl u^h! tweeu these batteries duriog the action. 'uZZv/lgL^^, Pf Lomsiana volunteers and Mcintosh's regiment of Arkansas »nou„ted nflemen were ordered to the tront, and, „fter plsZ the battery, turned to the left, and soon e„gag;d the ™emy 148 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAK. -with the regiments deployed. Colonel Mcintosh dismounted his regiment, and the two marched up abreast to a fence around a large cornfield, where they met the left of the enemy already posted. A terrible conflict of small arms took place here. Despite the galling fire poured upon these two regiments, they leaped ovev the fence, and, gallantly led by their colonels, drove the enemy before them back upon the main body. During this time, the Missourians, under General Price, were nobly sustaining themselves in the centre, and were hotly engaged on the sides of the height upon which the enemy was posted. Some distance on the right. General Seigei had opened his battery upon Churchill's and Green'a regimentsi, and had gradually made his way to the Springfield road, upon each side of which the Confederates were en- camped, and had established their battery in a strong position. General McCulloch at once took two companies of the Louis- iana regiment which were nearest to him at the lime, and marcl»ed them rapidly from the front and right to the rear, with orders to Colonel Mcintosh to bring up the remainder. When they arrived near the enemy's battery, they found that Reid's battery had opened upon it, and that it was already in confusion. Advantage was taken of this, and soon the Louisianians gallantly charged upon the guns and swept the cannonlers away. Five guns were here taken, and Seigel's forces completely routed. They commenced a rapid retreat with a single gun, pursued by some companies of the Texas regiment and a portion of Colonel Major's Missouri regitnent of cavalry. In the pursuit, many of the enemy were killed and hfs last gun captured. Having cleared their right and rear; it became necessary for the Confederate forces to direct all their attention to the centre, where General Lyon was pressing upon the Missourians with all his strength. To this point, Mcintosh's regiment under Lieutenant Colonel Embry, and Churchill's regiment on foot, Gratiot's regiment, and McRae's battalion, were sent to their aid. A terrible fire of musketry was now kept up along the whole line of the hill U}lon which the enemy was posted. Masses of infantry fell back and again rushed forward. The summit ot the hill was THE PIHST TEAR OP THB WAR. 149 covered With the dead and the wounded. Both sides were fighting with desperation for the field. Carroll's and Green'n regiments, led gallantly by Captain Bradfute, charged Totten's battery; but the whole strength of the enemy we^re ilLTdi! AtthilvT''"^ ' ^'^^'^ ^'^ "^^ °P^"^^ "P«» them. At this critical moment, when the fortunes of the day seemed to be at the turning point, two r-Bgiments of General Pierce>. brigade were ordered lo march from their positions, as reserves to support the centre. Reid's battery was also ordered to move forward, and the Louisiana regiment was again called into action on the left of it. The battle then became general and probably, says General McCulloch, in his official report^ no two opposing forces ever fought with greater desperation mch by inch the enemy gave way, and were driven from theij position. Totten's battery fell back-Missourians, Arkansans Louisianians and Texans pushed forward-the incessant roll of musketry was deafening, and the balls fell thick as hail- stones ; but still our gallant Southerners pushed onward, and with one wild yell, broke upon the enemy, pushing them back, and strewing the ground with their dead. Nothing could witfa. stand the impetuosity of our final charge. The enemy fled and could not be again rallied." ^ Thus ended the battle of Oak Hill, or of Wilson's Creek, as ten. Seigel called it in his official report to the Federal author- ities. It lasted about six hours. The force of the enemy was stated at from nine to ten thousand, and consisted for the most part of well-disciplined, well-armed troops, a large portion of them belonging to the old United States army. They were not prepared for the signal defeat which th ^y suffered. Their loss was supposed to be about Uvo thousand in killed, wounded and prisoners. They also lost six pieces of artillery, several hun- dred stand of small arms, and several of their standards. Maf. hen. Lyon, their chief in command, was killed, and many of their officers were wounded-some of them high in rank. Gen. McGulloch, m his official report, stated the entire loss on the part of his command at two hundred and sixty-five killed, eight ^lundred wounded, and thirty missinff. Of thesf,. th« vtjp. 150 THK FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. sonrians, according to Gen. Price's report, lost one hundred and fifty-six killed, and five hundred and seventeen wounded. The victory was won by the determined valour of each divi- sion of the army. The troops from Texas, Arkansas and Loui- siana bore themselves with a gallantry characteristic of iheif respective States. The Missouri troops were mostly undisci- plined, but they had fought with the most desperate valouir, never failing to advance when ordered. Repeatedly, during the action, they retired from their position, and then returned to it with increased energy and enthusiasm— a feat i^rely per- formed by undisciplined troops. The efficiency of the double- barreljshoi gun and the valnut stock rifle was abundantly de- sionstrated — these being the only arms used by the Missourians in this fight, with the exception of ihe four hundred muskets captured from the enemy on the two occasions already named. Gen. Lyo J, at the head of his regulars, was killed in an &U Itmpt to turn the wing mainly defended by tha arms of the' Missourians. He received two small rifle balls or buckshot iii the heart, the one just above the left nipple, the other immedi- ately below it. He had been previously wounded in the 1^. Uin surgeon came in for his body, under a flag of truce, after the close of the battle, and Gen. Price sent it in his own w*gom But the enemy in his flight, left the body unshrouded in Spring- field. The next morning, August 11 th, Lieut. Col. Guslavos Elgin and Col. R'. H. Mercer, two of the members of Brigadieb- General Clark's staff", caused the body to be properly prepared for burial. He was tmtiporarilj interred at Springfield, in a- metullio cof^n procured by Mrs. Phelps, wife of John S. Phelps, a former member of the Federal Congress from that district, and noM' an officer in the Lincoln army. A few days after- wards, the body was disinterred and sent to St. Louis to await the order of his relatives in Connecticut. The death of Gen. Lyon was a serious loss to the Federals in Missouri. He was an able and dangerous man — a m \n oif Uie times, who appreciated the force of audacity and quick decision in a revolutionary war. To military education and talents, he united a rare energy and promptitude. No doubt* TriE FIRST YbAli OF THE WAR. 151 or scrup'es ur settled his mi'ry.1. A Connecticut Yankee, with- out a trace of chivalric feeling or personal sensibility— one of those who submit to insult with indifference, yet are brave o!i the field— he was this exception to the (jolitics of the late regular army of the United States, that fie was an unmiti- gated, undisguised and fanatical Abolitionist. Shortly after the battle of Oak Hill, the Confederate army returned to the frontier of Arkansas, Generals McCulloch and Price having failed to agree upon the plan of camiJaign 'in Missouri. In Northern Missouri, the bold and active demonstrations df Getl. Harris had made an important diverision of the enemy fh favour of Gen. Price. These demonstrations had been so subi. cessfully made, that they diverted eight thousand men from thb support of Gen. Lyon, and held them north of the river until after ihe battle of Oak Hill, thus making an important contri- bution to the glorious issue of that contest. The history of the war presents no instance of a more herbib determination of a people to accomplish their freedom, tfian that exhibited by the people of Northern Missouri. Occupyitig that portion of the State immediately contiguous to the Federal States of Kansas, Iowa and Illinois, penetrated by two liti^s of railroads, intersecting at right angles, dividing the country north and south, east and west- which lines of railroad Wfete seized and occupied by the enemy, even before the cbmrrletiee- ment of hostilities ; washed on every side by large, navigable rivers in possession of the enemy ; exposed at every point to lh6 inroads of almost conntless Federal hosts, the brave people of Northern Missouri, without preparation or organization, did not hesitate to meet the alternative of war, ib the face of a foe confident in his numbers and resources. On the 21st of June, 1861, a special messenger from Governor Jaclcson overtook, at Paris, Monroe county, Thomas A. Harris, t^ho was then en route as a private soldier to the rendezvous at Bbonville. The messenj,erwas the bearer of a commission by which Thomas A. Harris was constituted Brigadier-General of the Missouri State Guard, and assigned to the duty of organiz- 152 THE FIRST TEAR OP THE WAR. :%■ ing the forces for the defence of that portion of »he State north of the Missouri river. The commission was accompanied by orders from Gen. Sterling Price. At the date of the delivery of the commission and orders, the affair at Boonville had transpired, and the Governor and Gen. Price, with such of the forces as had been hastily collected, were, as already stated, in full retreat before the enemy in the direction of Southwebtern Missouri. Gen. Harris was withoul any organized force whatever ; with- out military supplies of any kind ; without money or any autho- rised agent to pledge the credit of the Stale. He commenced recruiting an army in the face of the enemy. At a public meeting, called by him, he delivered a stirring and patriotic address, caused the oath of allegiance to the South to be ad- ministered to himself in the most public and impressive manner, and, in turn, administered the same oath to fifty-.three men, and organized them into a company, directing them to return to their homes, collect their privaie arms, and join him without delay. When we consider that this bold action was within three hours march of an enemy in force, and tliat it invited his bitter resentment, we can rightly appreciate the heroism and self-sacrificing patriotism of the participators. A false report of the approach of the enemy caused the evacuation of the town of Paris, where quite a number of un- armed troops had assembled. Gen. Harris retired into a stnmg- hold in the knobs of Salt river. He was a Brigadier-General, ■yvith a command of three men, and a few officers whom he had appointed upon his staff. Here without blankets, tents, or any kind of army equipments, he commenced the organization of a guerrilla force, which was destined to render important service in the progress of the war in Missouri. Gen. Harris adopted the policy of secretly organizing his force, the necessity for such secrecy being constantly induced by the continued presence and close proximity of the enemy. The fact, however, that Gen. Lyoi was moving to the South- West in pursuit of Gen. Price, caused him to attempt a diver- sion, which was successiul, as has been stated,, in holding a larg^ THB FIRST YEAH OF THE WAR. 153 Federal force north of the Missouri river. Although the active duties of a guerrilla campaign necessarily involved a delay in organization, yet Gen. Harris was successful in raising a force of two thousand seven hundred and thirty men in the very face of the enemy, and in crossing them over the river; and after araarchofsixly-twomilcs, in iwenty-eight hours, he united his command with Gen. Price in time to participate in the memorable battle of Lexington. To follow Gen. Price's com- mand to that batlle field we must now turn. Late in August, Gen. Price, abandoned by the Confederate forces, took up his line of march for the Missouri river, with an armed force of about f(.ur thousand five hundred men, and seven pieces of cannon. He continued to receive reinforce- ments from the north side of the Missouri river. Hearing that the notorious trio of Abolition bandits, Jim Lane, Montgomery and Jenison were at Fort Scott, with a ma- rauding force of several thousand, and not desiring them to get into his rear, he detoured to the left from his course to the Missouri river, marching directly to Fort Scott for the purpose ofdrivmgthemup the river. On the 7th of September, h^ met with Lane about fifteen miles east of Fort Scott, at a stream called Drywood, where an engagement ensued which' lasted for an hour and a half, resulting in the complete rout of the enemy. Gen. Price then sent on a detachment to Fort Scott, and found that the enemy had evacuated the placn. He continued his march in the direction of Lexington, where there was a Federal army strongly entrenched, under the command' of Col. Mulligan. » Gen. Fremont, who had been appointed by the Federal government to take command of the Missouri department, had inaugurated the campaign with a brutality towards his enemy, a selfish splendor in his cump, and a despotism and corruption more characleristic of an Eastern satrap than an American commander in the nineteenth century. He had published a pro^ clamation absolutely confiscating the estates and slave property of " rebels," which measure of brutality was vastly pleasing to the Abolitionists of the North, who recognized the extinctioh of negro slavery in the South as the essential object of. the •k^ 154 THfi FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. war, but was not entirely agreeable to the government oif Wash- ington, which was not quite ready to declare the extremity to which it ptoposed to prosecute tlie war. On the lOlh of September, just as General Price was about to encamp with his forces for the day, he learned that a de- tachment of Federal troops were marching fr ;rn Lexington to Warrensburg to seize the funds of the bafik in that place, and to arrest and plunder the citizens of Johnson county, in ac- cordance with General Fremont's proclamation and instruc- tions. Although his men were greatly fatigued by several days' continuous and rapid marching. General Price deter- mined to press forward, so as to suprise the enemy, if pos- sible, at Warrensburg. After resting a few hours, he resumed his march at sunset, and continued it without intermission till two o'clock in the morning, when it became evident that the infantry, very few of whom had eaten anything for twenty- four hours, could march no further. He then halted them, and went foward with the greater portion of his mounted njen till he came, about day-break, within view of Warrensburg, ■where he ascertained ihat the enemy had hastily fled about midnight, burning the bridges behind him. A heavy rain com- mencrd about the same lime. This circumstance, coupled with the fact that his men had been fasting for more than twenty-four hours, constrained General Price to abandon the pursuit of the enemy that day. His infantry and artillery having came up, he encamped at Warrensburg, where the citizens vied with each other in feeding his almost famished soldiers. A violent storm delayed the march next morning till the hour of ten o'clock. General Price then pushed rapidly for- ward, still hoping to overtake the enemy. Finding it impos- sible to do this with his infantry, he again ordered a detach- ment of mounted men to move forward, and, placing himself at their head, continued the pursuit to within two and a half miles of Lexington, where he halted for the night, having learned that the enemy's forces had gone within the city. THE FIHSl- YBAH O* THE WAR. the for- The battle of Lexington. About day-break the next morning, a sharp akimiigh took place between the Missouri pickets and the enemy's outposts. A general action was threatened, but General Price, being uri- willing to risk an engagement when a short delay would make success, in his estimation, perfectly certain, fell back two ot three miles, and awaited the arrival of his infantry and cavalry. These having came up, he advanced upon the town, driving in the Federal pickets, until he came within a short distance of the city. Here the enemy's forces attempted to make a stand, but they were speedily driven from every position, and com- pelled to take shelter within their entrenchments. The enemy having strongly fortified the College Building, the Missourians took their position within easy range of it, and opened a brisk fire from the Bledsoe's and Parsons' batteries. Finding, after sunset, that his ammunition, the most of which had been left behind in the march from Springfield, was nearly exhausted, and that his men, most of whom had not eaten any thing in thirty-six hours, required rest and i"ood, General Price with- drew to the Fair Ground, and encamped there. His ammuni- tion wagons having been at last brought up, and large rein- forcements having came in, he again moved into town on the 18th, and commenced the final attack upon the enemy's works. Brigadier-General Raines' division occupied a strong position on the east and northeast of the fortifications, from which position an effective cannonading was kept up on the enemy by Bledsoe's battery and another battery commanded by Capt. Churchill Clark, of St. Louis. General Parsons took his posi- tion southwest of the works. Skirmishers and sharp-shooters were sent forward from both of these divisions to harass and fatigue the enemy and cut them off from watet on the north, east and south of the college, and did great service in the ac- complishment of the purposes for which they were detached. Colonel Congreve Jackson's division and a part of General Stein's were posted near General Raines and General Parsons as a reserve. Shoniy after entering the city on the 18lh, Colonel Rives, I! 156 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. I who commanded the fourth division in the absence of General Slack, led his regiment and Colonel Hughes' along the river bank to a point immediately beneath and west of the fortifica- tions, General McBride's command land a portion of General Harris' having been ordered to reinforce him. Colonel Rives, in order to cut off the enemy's means of escape, proceeded down the bank of the river to capture a steamboat which was lying immediately underneath their guns. Just at this moment, a heavy fire was opened upon him from a large dwelling house, known as Anderson's house, on the summit of the bluff, which the enemy was occupying as a hospital, and from which a white flag was flying. Several companies of General Harris' com- mand and the soldiers of the fourth division, who had won much distinction in previous battles, immediately rushed upon and took the place. The important position thus secured was within one hundred and twenty-five yards of the enemy's en- trenchments. A company from Colonel Hughes' regiment then took possession of the boats, one of which was freighted with valuable stores. General BcBride's and General Harris' divisions meanwhile stormed and occupied the bluffs immedi- ately north of Anderson's house. The position of these heights enabled the assailants to harass the enemy so greatly, that, resolving to regain them, he made upon the house a successful assault, and one, said General Price, which would have been honorable to him had it not been accompanied by an act of savage barbarity, the cold-blooded and cowardly murder of three defenceless men who had laid down their arms, and sur- rendered themselves as prisoners. The position thus retaken by the enemy was soon regained by the brave men who had, been driven from it, and was thereforward held by them to the very end of the contest. ,,,, The heights on the left of Anderson's house were fortified by our troops with such means as were at their command. On the morning of the 20th, General Price caused a number of hemp bales to be transported to the river heights, where move- able breastworks were speedily constructed out of them. The demonstrations of the artillery, and partjcuJarly the continued THE FIRST TEAB OT THE WAB. 16t advance of the hempen breastworks, attracted the attention and excited the alarm of the enemy, who made many daring atterii^Ys to drive back the assailants. They were, however J^ulsed in every instance by the unflinching courage and fixed determination of men fighting for their homes. The hempen breastworks, said General Price, were as efficient as the cotton bales at New Orleans. In these severe encounters: McBride's and Slack's divisions, and Colonel Martin Green and his command, and Colonel Boyd and Major Winston and their commands, were warmly commended for their gallant conduct. '^ ^^About two o'clock in the afternoon of the 20th, and after fifty-two hours of continuous fighting, a white flag was dis- played by the enemy on that part of his works nearest to Col. Green's position, and shortly afterwards another was displayed opposite to Col. Rives' p-sition. General Price immediately o^ered a cessation of all firing, and sent forward his sfaft officers to as-, riain the object of the flag, and to open negotia- tions with the enemy, if such should be his desire. It was agreed that the Federal forces should lay down their arms and surrender themselvRs as prisoners of war. The entire loss of the Missourians in this series of battles was but twenty.five killed and seventy-two wounded. The enemy's loss was considerably larger, but cannot be stated here with accuracy. The visible fruits of the victory to the Missourians were great : about three thousand five hundred pri- soners—among whom were Cols. Muligan, Marshall, Peabbdy, White, Grover, Major Van Horn, and one hundred and eighteen other commissioned officers; five pieces of artillery and two mortars; oVer three thousand stand of infantry arms, a large number of sabres, about seven hundred and fifty horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, wagoni, teams, some ammunition, more than #100,000 worth of commissary stores, and a large amount of other property. In addition to all this. General Price obtained the restoration of the great seal of the State, of the public records, and about $900,000 of which the bank at Le-xington had been rob[)ed, in accordance with Fremont's in- m 158 THE FIUftT TEAB OF THf! WAB. stniclions. General Price caused ihe money to be returned at once to the bank. »| ll m 0X9 In his official report of the battle of Lexington, jj^^neral Price paid a high compliinpnt to the command thai |,)^d achieved such rich and substantial fruits of victory. "This victory," he wrote, " b^s demonstrated the fitness of our citizen soldiery for the tedious operation!* of a se^ge, as well as for a dashing charge. They lay for fifty-two hours in the open air, without tents or covering, regardless of the sun and rain, and in the very presence of a watchful and desperate fqe, manfully repelling every assault and patiently awaiting my orders to storm the fortifications. No General ever comnianded a braver or better array. It is composed of the best blood and bravest men of Missouri.'* During the siege, quite a number of citizens came in frona the neighboring country, and fought, as they expressed it, " on their own hooks.*' ^participator in the battle tells an anecdote of an old man, about sixty years of age, who came up daily from his farm, with his walnut-stock rifle and a basket of provisions, and went to work just as if he were engaged in mauling rails or some other necessary labor of his farm- He took his position behind a large stump upon the descent of the hill on which the fortification was constructed, where he fired with deadly aim during each day of the seige. When the surrender was made, and the forces under ColoneJ Mulligan stacked their arms, General Price .ordered that they were not to be insulted by worC or act, assigning as the rea- son therelor, that they had fought like brave men, and were ijntitkd to be treated as such. When CqIo^msI M»JUg*^n ^us- rendered bis sword. General Price asked him for the scabbard. Mulligan replied that he had thrown it away. The genera), upon receiving his sword, returned it to hira, saying, he dis- liked to see a man of his valour without a sword. Mulligan refused to be paroled, upon the ground that his government did not acknowledge the Missouritins as billigerents. While awaiting his exchange, Colonel Mulligan and his wife became the guests of General Price, the geineral 8urrfndciiii?g to tttengi THS FIRST TEAR OP THE WAH. 159 his carnage, and treating them with the most civil and ohliams hospual.ty. The captive colonel and his lady were treated by all the officers and soldiers of f he Missouri army with a courtesy and kindness which they seemed to appreciate. After the first day's conflict, at Lexington, whilst General Price was eneannped at the Fair Grounds near the city, await- ing remforcqments and preparing the renewal of the attack, an episode occurred at some distance from the city, in which the M.ssouxians agam had the satisfaction of inflicting a terrible chastisement upon the bandits of the Lane and Montgomery organization. ^ ^ Gen Price was informed that four thousand men under Lane and Montgomery were advancing from the direction of St Joseph, on the north side of the Missouri river, and Gen Star- gs, with fifteen himdred cavalry, was also advancing from thq Hannibal and St. Joseph railroad, for the purpose of relieving the forces under Mulligan. About twenty-five hundred Mis- sourians, under the immediate command of Col. Saunders were at the same time, hurrying to the aid of Gen. Price, from the santie direction with the Lahe and Montgomerv Jayhawkers- and having reached the run at Blue Mills, thirW miles above' Lexington, on the 17th September, crossed over their force expept some five hundred men, in a ferry boat. Whilst the remainder were waiting to cross over, the Jayhawkers attacked the five hundred Missourians on the north bank of the river. The buttle raged furiously for one hour on the river bottom which was heavily timbered and in many places covered with water. The Missourians were armed with only shot guns and rifles, and taken by surprise, no time was given the.n to qail back any portion of their force on the south side of the river- but they were from the counties contiguous to Kansas, accus' tomed in the border wars since 1854 to almost monthly fights with the Kansas " Jayhawkers," under Lane, and were fired with the most intense hatred r>f him and of them. Gen D R Atchison, former President of the United States -.uate, and well known as one of the boldest leaders in the Stale Rights party in Missouri, had been sent from Lexington bv r,nn P,i«« 160 TBI! FIRST TEAR OP THE WAR. to meet our troops under Col. Saunders and hasten them on to liis army. He was with the five hundred, on the north side of the river, when they were attacked, and by his presence and example cheered them in the conflict. Charging the " Jay- hawkers," with shouts of almost savage ferocity, and fighting with reckless valour, the Missourians drove the enemy back a distance of ten miles, the conflct becoming a hand-to-hand fight, between detached parties on both sides. At length, unable to support the fearful fire of the Missourians at the short distance of forty yards, the enemy broke into open flight. The loss of the Jahawkers was very considerable. Their official report admitted one hundred and fifty killed and some two hundrea wounded. The entire loss of the Missourians was five killed and twenty wounded. The intelligence of this brilliant victor)^ of "the five hundred," was received with shouts of exultation by Price's army at Lexing\on. On the second day after the battle of Blue Mills, Col. Saun- ders, with his command, joined the army at Lexington, and fought gallantly till the surrender of the Federal garrison. In the mean time, Sturgis with his cavalry appeared on the river bank opposite Lexington, expecting to cross over in the boats of Mulligan, and reinforce him to the extent of fourteen hun- dred men. It happened, however, that on the day beibre h'is arrival, Gen. Price's forces had captured all of the enemy's boats, and Gen. Stursris, ascertaining this fact, retreated pre- cipitately in the direction from which he came. Gen. Price had i^ent across the river two thousand men under Gen. Parsons, to meet the forces under Gen. Sturpfis, and they succeeded in cap- turing all the tents and camp equipage of that distinguished Yankee commander. The tents were most acceptable to the Missourians, as they were the first they had obtained in the war, except one hundred and fifty taken at Springfield. Gen. Sturgis did not stop in his flight for three days and three nights. The capture of Lexington had crowned Gen. Price's com- mand with a brilliant victory, and, so far, the Missouri campaign had proceeded, step by step, from one success to another. It •was at this period, however, that Gen. Price found hispcF:irion THE rmsT rEAB OF THE WAR. (gj OTO Of ihe greatest emergency. After the victory of lexin^ ton, he rece ved intelliirence that the Confederate force., under Get^eraU Pdlow and flardee, had been v,ith,lrawn fr^m the onheasern portion of ,he State. Gen. McCulloch h"d re! M with ,'h "'T' r '" """ "'-""''""•««. G^n. Price was left w th the only forces in Missouri, to confront an enemy sovetlty thousand strong, and, being ,,l„,o.s. entirely witru"^ ammnnttton, he was reduced to the necessity of malcing a retro- grade movement. " Before leaving Springfield, Gen. Price had made arrange"! menls for an ample supply of ammunition, then at JacksoL feromiswT'' r ^'"* him in IVrssouri, Gen. McCcdIoch nnr. f ?• '"; ' f' '^"°'^ ^°'' ''' Gen. McCulloch subse- quently declined to furnish the escort an! stopped the train ass,gn,ng as the reason therefor that, under th/c'irc„mstars then existing ,f would be unsafe to send it, and that Gen. Price would be compelled to fall back from the Missouri river before the' overwhelming forces of the enemy moving agains; him under the direction of Gen. Fremont. nu!!!hli"^f "' ""''? "^ transportation, except for a limited number of men and surrounded by circumstances of the most painful and unlooked-for misfortune. Gen. Price was compelled could be more fraught with mortifying reflections to the brave generous and hopeful spirit of such a commander as Gen. Price! Ho had marched from success to success ; he had raised a force from hundreds to tens of thousands ; his army had been swelled to twen.y-three thousand during his stay at Lexington, not nn^r'^rT '^T'^""'^ '°'""'^^'-'' '^^^ ^"^'^ collected on the north bank of the Missouri about the period when he commen- cpd a retreat, compelled by emergencies, which the most daring valor could no longer hope to surmount. Gen. Price advised all who could not accompany him to take care of such arms as hey had, to cherish a determined .spirit, and to hold themselves m readiness for ano'.her opportunity to join Lis standard. In Southeastern Missouri, the operations of the partisan. Jeffi lllOmpson, in mr. nontlnn «■..!#-. Ai »T 1 « . . - r J „,,„ ,^„„ „j-j,_ naruce s command, had 163 THE hbst yeah or the wab. In*: 1. if* attracted some public notice from its adventure, and some inci- dents ')f int«'rest. But the campaign in the Ozark mountains was not productive of any important or serious results. Gen. Thompson and his "Swamp Fox Brigade" gave many rash illustrations of daring in the face of the enemy. At one time, he burnt an impi rfant railroad bridge within filty miles of the city of St. Louis, which was swarming with Federal troops. On a march towards FredericUtown, with a force of twelve hundred m?n, Gen. Thompson encountered a Federal force numberinoj im .'housand men, which he engagrci with such skill and courage as to check the enemy's pursuit and move his little force out of danger. The feat showed extraordinary military skill, when we consider that the small force was extricated with only twenty killed, while the loss of the en^my was counted by hundreds; and that his pursuit was baffled only from the im- pression of a large force opposed to him, which was given by the skill jl disposition of ambuscades. ■ • Gen. Price commenced his retreat about the 27th of Septem- ber. He sent his cavalry forward, and directed them to ;iiake a demonstration in the neighborhood of Georgetown, fift> miles from Lexington, where Fremont was concentrating his forces iwilh a view of suirounding him. With Sturgis or^the north side of the river, Lane on the west, and himself on the east, each advancing upon Lexington, Frcnioni expected to cut off and capture the entire force of the Missourians. Gen. Price supplied his mounted men with provisions for several days, and directed them to make demonstrations on each of the divisions of thn Federals, so as to gain time for the safe retreat of his infantry and artillery. By this means, he succeeded in deceiv- ing the enemy as to his real purpose ; indi' ing Fremont, Lane, and Sturgis to believe, that he was abou* to attack each of them. Each of them fell back, and Fremont commenced ditching. .In the mean time. Price's infantry and artillery were making the best time they could towards the south. They had to en- counter a very serious obstacle in crossing streams swollen by the recent rains. The whole command, fifteen thousand 8tr(Mig, crossed the Osage river in two common flat boats, constructed THB JIRST THAR OF TBB WA«. m for the occasion by men who could boast o( no previous expe- builderr ' ^' ^''''"^''' of military schools, or even as bridge Subsequently, General Fremont was fifteen days en-aged IH' erossmg at^he same place, upon his porvtoon bridges. The su- periority of .he practical man of business, over the scienlifio «ng»neer and-' path-finder," was demonstrated to the great stitisfactwn of the Missourians. . _ Gen. Pricfc oontiniied his retreat to Neosho, at which place Ae Legislature had assembled, under a pFoclamation fromGo- veMor Jackijon. ^. At Neosho, Gen. Price again formed a junction with Gen. WcGulIocb, at the nead of five thousand men. The Leg-isk- ture had passed the Ordinance of Secession, and elected dele- gates to the Provisional Congress of the Southern Confederacy and here Gen. Price had the satisfation of firing one hundred guns m honor «f.the formal secession of Missouri from the United StHf-., to which his service in the field had more than anything else contributed. ^ Gen. McCdloch remained a day or two at Neosho, and then fell back with his foroes to Cassville. Price remained ten days ,n Neosho, and then retreated also to Cassvill., and from Cas-sville to Pinaville, in McDonald County. Meanwhile, Gen Fremont, with his grand army of sixty thousand men, equipped in the most splendid and costly man- nfcir, had concentrated his forces at Springfield, throwing forward an advance of ten thousand men under Gen. Sei-el to Wason's Creek. The Missouri forces at Springfield, under the command of Col. Taylor, were ordered by General Price to fall back upm the approach of the enemy; but in leaving the town they encountered Fremont's body guard, three times their o.vn number, armed with Colt's rifles and commanded by l^cl. Zagoni. A conflict ensued, in which fifty of the enemy were killed and twenfy-five captured, including a Major. The loss of the Missourians was one killed and three wounded. At Pmeville, General Price m^de preparations to receive Fremont, determined not to abane' bailie. 164 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. i- His troops were jnlhasiastic and confident of success, nolwilh- standing the fearful superiority of numbers against them. They were in daily expectation of beinsf led by their commander into the greatest battle of t ■ht. s\hen they leceived the unexpected intelligence thai i ica^ouf iiad been superseded as commander ot the Federal forces. This event had the c^^c^ of demoralising the Federal forces to such an extent, that their numbers would have availed them nothing in a fight with their determined foe. The Dutch, who were ^reaMy attached to Fremont, broke out in open muviny, auJ the acting officers in command saw that a retreat from Springfield was not only a wise precaution, but an actual necessity. They accordingly left that town in the direction of Rolla, and were pursued by Gen. Price to Oceola. From Oceola Gen. Price fell back to Springfield, to forage his army and obtain supplies; and here, for the present, we must leave the history of his campaign. We have now traced that history to a period about the fi^rst of December. From the 20th of June to the 1st of December, General Price's army marched over 800 miles, averaging ten thousand men during the time. What they accomplished, the reader will decide for himself, upon the imperfect sketch here given. They fought five battles, and at least thirty skirmishes, in somd of which from fifty to hundreds were killed on one side or the other. Not a week elapsed between engagements of some sort. They started without a dollar, without a wagon or team, with- out a cartridge, without a bayonet gun. On the first of Sep- lember, they had about eight thousand bayonet guns, fifty pieces of cannon, four hundred tents, and many other articles needful in an army ; for nearly all of which i 160 THE FIRST T£AR OF THB WAR. V r 'i i 5 f^ -. volunteers from ^11 ports of the South were flocking to Haa defence of their country's flag, Mr. Jefferon Davis, of Miflt sissippi, bred a soldier, who, like Mr. Price, was serving his first term in Congress, resign d his seat about the same time, and was soon marching at the head of a Mississippi reg'ment to the field, from w*hich he was destined to return loaded with many honours. So, too, did a brave Missouri regimen^ call to itfl head her own son, who had just doflfed his civil robes to enter a new and untried field of duty and honour. Tho regiment to which Oolone-l Price was attafched was detailed foor daly in what is now the territory of New Mexico. It was by his own arms that that province was subdued, though not without several brilliant engagements, in which ho dis-i played the same gallantry that has so distinguished him in the {H«sent contest. Soan after the close of the Mexican war, a violent poBti* Oftl excitement broke out in Missouri. The slavery agitation bad received a powerful impetus by the introduction into Cott* gress of the Wilmot Proviso and other sectional measuresj whose avowed object was to exclude the South from any portioh of the territory which had been acquired principally by thd bldod of Southern soldiers. The people of the South became justly alarmed at the spread of Abolitionisrn at the North, and no people were more jealous of any encroachment upoti the rights of the South than the citizens of Missouri^ a majority of •whose leading statesmen wereas sound on the slavery question as those of Virginia or South Carolina. In order to cause GoL Benton, who had become obnoxious to a lai-ge portion of the Democratic party by his course on the Texas question, the Wilmot Proviso and other measures of public policy, to resign his seat, and for tho purpose of casting the weight of the State against the surging waves of Abolitionism, a series of resolu- tions, commonly known as the " Jackson resolutions," was introduced into the Senate at the session of 1848-9, by Clai- borne F. Jackson, the present Governor of Missouri, which passed both houses of the General Assembly. These resolu- tions were substantially the same as those introduced the year THE rtRST YEAR OF THE WAR. iW before by Mr. Calhoun, inio the Senate of the Unifcd Stafes. From the Legislature Col. Benton appealed to the people and made a vigorousrcanvass against the Jackson resolutions throu, receiving the vole of the whole Demo- cratic party, was electf-d by a large majority over an eloquent and p -pular Whig, Colonel Winston, a grandson o( Patrick Henry. The administration of Gov. Price was distinguished for an earnest devotion to the material interests of Missouri. At the expiration of his term of office, he received a large vote in the 168 THE FIBST TEAK UF THE .WAR. ti ii Democratic caucus for the nomination lor Unite J States Seii^ lor, bui the choice fell on Mr. Jame'j Green. ^ In the Presidential election ot 1860, in common with Major Jackson, who was the Democratic candidate for governor, and a number of other leading men of his party, Ex-Governor Price supported Mr. Douglas for the Presidency, on the ground that he was the regular nominee of the Democratic pirty. I^e moreover considered Mr. Douglas true to the in-^ stilulions of the South, and believed him to be the only one of the candidates who could prevent the election of the Black Republiqan candidute. The influence of these men carried Missouri for Douglas, Upoa the election of Abraham Lincoln, the Border States were unwilling to rush into dissolution until every hope of i^ peaceful settlement of the question had vanished. This was the position of Missouri, to whose Convention not a single Se^ cessionist was ekded. Governor Price was elected from his district as a Union man, M'ithout opposition, and, on the assem- bling of the Convention, was chosen its President. The Con- vention had not been in session many weeks before the radi- calism of the Black Republican administration, and its hostility to the institutions of the South, became manifest to every un* prejudiced mind. The perfidy and bruta'ity of its odicers in, Missouri were particularly observable, und soon opened the eyes of the people to the tr^ie objects of the Black llepuMican party. The State authorities decided upon resistance to the Federal government ; the Governor issued his proclamation for volunteers ; and of the forces raised under this call, who were denominated the Missouri State Guard, Governor Price was appointed major-general, and took the field. The period of history has scarcely yet arrived for a full ap- preciation of Ihe heroic virtues of the campaign in Missouri, especially as illustrated in the character of the chieftain whom no personal jealousies could distract or unmerited slight turn from the single courss of duty and devotion to his country. He had given the government at Richmond a valuable, but dis- tastelul lesson in the conduct of the war. He did not settle III h THE ilRST YEAR OF THE WAR. 199 down complacently into one kind of policy, refusing to advance because he was on the defensive, but he sought the enemy Wherever he could find him, fought him wh.n ready, and re- treated out of his way when not prepared. His policy was both offensive and defensive, and he, used the one which miaht be demanded by the exigencies of his situation. He was some- thmg better than a pupil of We:U Point—he was a general by nature, a beloved commander, a man who illustrated the Ro- man simplicity of character in the nineteenth century. His troops not only loved him, they were wildly and enthuisastio- ally devoted to him. His figure in the battle-field clothed in a common brown linen coat, with his white hair streaming in the wind, was the signal for wild and passionate cheers, and there was not one of his soldiers, it was said, but who was will- ing to die, if he could only fall within sight of his commander. It is not improbable that had General Price been supported after the battle of Lexington, he would have wrung the State of Missouri from the possession of the enemy. He was forced by untoward circumstances, already referred to, to turn back in a career just as it approached the zenith of success, and he could have given no higher proof of his magnanimity than that he did so without an expression of bitterness or a word of re- crimination. He bore the cold neglect of she government at Richmond and the insulting proposition which President Davis was compelled by popular indignation to abandon, to place over him, as major-general in his department, a pupil of West Point his inferior in rank, with philosophic patience and with* out any subtraction from his zeal for his countrv When his (Officers expressed resentment for the injustice done him by the government, he invariably checked th^'m : stating that there should be no controversies of this kind while the war lasted, and that he was co-ifi lent that posterity would do hiui justice! He was more than right; for a great majority of his living countrymen did him justice, despite the distractions of jealousy in Richmond. t?0 THS FIRST TBMl CF TAB WAR. CHAPTER VI. The Campaign in Wcsteni Virginia. .Gencrul Wise's Command .. Politioid Influences iu Western Virginia. .The Affair of Sc.iry Creek. .General Wise's Re- Wetot to Lewisburg. .Qcuernl Floyd's Brigade. .Tbe Affair of Cross Lanes. .MoVO- raeuts OB the Qauley. .The Affair of Carnifax Ferry.. Dis^agrcement betweta GeneraU Floyd and Wise.. The Tyrees..A Patriotic Woman. .Movements ia Northwestern Virginia. .General Lee. .The Enemy Entrenched on Cheat Moun- tain. .General Rosenciaoz. .Failure of General Lee'sPlanof Attack. .He Removea i6 the Kanawha E,egloil. .Th3 Opportunity of a DccisJTe Battle Lost. .Retreat of Boiencranz. .General H. R. Jackson's Affair on the Greenbrier. .Tfa« Approach of Winter.. The Campaign in Western Vinginia Abandoned. .The Affair on the Alleghany, .General Floyd at Cotton Hill. .His Masterly Retreat. .Review of tho Campaign in Western Virginia. .Sumo of its Incidents. .Its failure and Unfortu- nate Begultn. .Other Movements in Virginia. .The Polaimio Line. .The BATTLsby LxEBBURQ.. Overweening Confidence of tho South. if it a.ji. m •t+- We must return here to the narrative of the campaign ia Virginia. The campaign in the Western portion of the State was scarcely more than a series of local adventures compared with other events of the war. It was a failure from the be* ginning— owing to the improvideme of the government, the want of troops, the hostile character of the country itself^ and a singular military policy^ to which we shall have occasion hereafter to refer. General Wise, of Virginia, was appointed a brigadier-gene* ral without an army. He rallied around him at Richmond a number of devoted friends, and explain<>!d to them his viewa and purposes. Cordially favoring his plans, they went into Ihe country, and called upon the people to rally to the stand* Ard of General Wise, and enable him to prevent the approaoh of IhQ enemy into Kanawha Valley. About the 1st of June, General Wise left Richmond for Xhd Western portion of the State, accompanied by a portion of his staff. At Lewisburg, he was joined by several companies raised and organized in that region. From this point, he pro- THE FlttST TE/'R OF THE 'WJlR. m t^6\i tO'Charlestdn, in the Kanawha Valley, where he nndet^ Iwk, with his rare and characteristic enthusiam, to rally the people to the support of the State. A number of them joined bis corhmand ; but the masses continued apathetic, owing to a ntimfeer of adverse influences, prominent among which wa» tht pblitical position of George W. Summers, the most influential politician of Western Virginia, the leader of the "Unioii ♦» men in the State donvention, and a prominent delegate to the Peace Odriference at Washington. Tfris person threw the weight of his great ihfluence in oppcf Sition to the uprising of the people. He advised them to a Strict neutrality between the public enemy and the supporters of the Confederate government. Notwithstanding all the ap pbals made to his patriotism, ho maintained an attitude of ifldiflfererice, and, by reason of the high estimation in which h« was generally held by the community in which he lived, as a wise and sagacious man, he succeeded iii neutralizing the greater portion of Kanawha and the adjoining counties. Despite, however, the obstacles in his way^ General Wisd succeeded in raising a brigade of two thousand five hundred infantry^ seven hundred cavalry, and three battalions of artil- iery. Of this force, Western Virginia furnished about three* fifths and the East about two-fifrhs. On his arrival at Charles- ton, General Wi^e found C. Q. Tompkins in command of a number of companies; chiefly from Kanawha and the adjacent eounties. These forces, combined with those of the Wise Legion, ahnounted to about four thousand men. General Wise, anxious to give an assurance of support to the strong Southern sentiment reported to exist in Gilmer and Calhoun, sent an expedition into thuse oounties to repress the excesses of the Union men. In the meantime, the enemy had landed considerable forces at Parkersburg and Point Pleasatit on the Ohio River, and had military possession of the neigh^ boring country. His superior facilities for raising troops in the populous States of Ohio and Indiana, and his ample means of the transportation by railroad through those States and by the navigation of the Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, enabled him, in )78 THE FIRST YEAtt OF THE WAR. I? it IM* i' i t,ti H il Iff i a short space of time, lo concentrate a lar^e furcei, vvith adct quale supplies and munitions of war, in the lower part of tlie Kanawha Valley. About the middle of July, the enemy advanced up the river into the county of Putnam, and, on the 17th, Captain Patton, (afterwards Colonel Patton,) with a small force, met and re,, pulsed three regiments of the enemy at Scary Creek, in Putr num county, taking prisoners Cols. Norton and Villiers of tha Ohio troops and Cols. Woodroof and Neff of the Kentucky troops, but who really were from Cincinnaiti. The enemy re- tired, and our forces reiuained in possession of the field. On the evening of the day of the action, General Wise sent down two regiments under Cols. Tompkins and McCausland to rein- force the troops at Scary. Upon arriving at the opposite side of the river, they found that the enemy had fallen back to hi? main forces under the command of General Cox. Being unprepared to hold the position, not havirtg the ade. quate supplies of men and munitions of war, the Confederates fell back in the direction of Charleston. Capt. Patton had been daugerously wounded in the action, and could not be re- moved from the place. C il. Norton, one of the Federal officers captured, was also wounded. He and Capt. Patton were placed in the same house, Col. Norton entering into an arrangement by which Capt. Patton was to be released by the enemy in ex- change for himself. Gen. Cox, on his arrival, repudiated the understanding. He, however, released Capt. Patton on parole as soon as he had partially recovered from his wound. After the action of Scary, the enemy's forces, which had been largely increased, steadily advanced up the valley both by land and water. Gen. Wise, however, was ready to offer battle to the enemy, and was confident of his ability to repulse him. But just about this lime the news of the disaster to Gen. Garnett's comniand at Rich Mountain reached the Ka- nawha Valley, and put a new aspect upon military operations in thqt section. The consequences of this disaster exposed the little army of Gen. Wise to immi nent danger. He .vas in danger of being cut off in ihe rear by several roads from the North* THB FIRST YEAB OP THE WAR. 173 r"i»« M7- t . "^ "'"'s«?- unaer tnese cncumstanrpu s ,.5, "=-.ifii:r>^:.'£» Rernaining in that vicinity some ten days laborioaslv on «o«. • T "^ *"® ^ssent^al materials for an aetiv« rSo'iro""^" «.se,f. again p.pa.d .oTaC; Vm^i^ 'i™. General Floyd arrived at the Greenbrier iHe fli^t inslaree, ,o pmceed wUh ^, ". °''''"'''' '" River, with the ^iew Ttle Zf ! r™?"' '° ^^'''™ G?n. Gamed ■ h„t L t- • ? "i« «lreating forces of - udriieit, but, on his arriva at the Sweet Snrino. f between Generals Floyd and WisetLenl. i^r T: "1" "S rnfs—rdeS™ r- F~^ tr/f «d fro. Lo::tra:;r„aXtzr;:t r/ Ka ,r:::: ntrw- t^^^"-" :'- -"■'"'^•^« oocnpied the same Iu;dTir,'"' ^'™ ^'f "^^ "P "'"' to Dn-wood a,n ,fu u .'™ ""■n"'^""'' ""n advanced .He .„::;^^ iji- retL* rvrc rr t:''"/"'"'-'' of artillery were n„,|.d ,„ u„ ! ";. There l wo pieces flanking movem^r ^1 " , " "P™ '5" """• «"'' P«"™' » where fhere w™ /;,,,"; he'Trl I r'^™'''r^ *^"'^' thousanrl Th^ ^ Federal force of several Mm! I '"^"^ <'om'r.ancl then moved down to Pickef^« Mills, near Hamilton'v within a few miles of the enl".: 1^ THS FIR9T Y£AR Of THE WAK. h' 1^ li •camp. At this point, infot-mp,tion was obtaii^d that the tewt llaisvk* ^«s^ where ihe main body of Cox's forces were $tati9^led pn fiS^W lliver, seven miles east of Gauley Bridg'^' Floyd's brigade proceeded by a r^id march, and reached Carnifax Ferry f^bout noon of ihe sapjo day. On his ftprivft^ there, he learned uiat the enemy had drawn ia his commaada at Cross Lann Cincinnati. In this he failed peeuniarily. Tho wa, £ niefi'M , ",^"?'^''""'''* """^^^'^^ "^-^ «--"'«"- North ^t U,e entire object of his campaign to "«urround- the Dutch general- and hi. p.l.ular manners and amubio deportment towards our prisonerroo 010^ U^^ one occasion, procured him the respect of his enemy. , ^'^ moio Uw^ ,| fi|.if' 182 THE FIBST YEAR OF THE WAR. fy t' Staunfon and Parkershurgh road, where he was five or six thousand strong, Jacksiin's forces did march round ihis posi- tion, under commaiid of Col. Rusf, of Arkansas, lhroui?h extra- ordiniiry difficulties and perils and under circumslances of terrible exhausi ion. The troops had to ascend the almost per- pendicular mountain sides, but finady succeeded in obtaining a position in front of and to the west of the enemy. The attack of this force upon the enemy on Cheat Mountain was under- stood to be, in tlje plan of Gen. Lee, a signal for the attack by his forces upon the enemy at Crouch's. Col. Rust, liowevcr, discovered the enemy on the mountain to be safely protected by block houses and other defences, and concluding that the attack could not be made with any hope of success, ordered a retreat. The signal was not given according to the plan of Gen. Lee, and no attack was made by his forces, which re- treated without firing a gun back to Valley Mountain. it is understood that Gen. Lee, did not exjiect Col. Rust to make an attack with any certainty or even probability of suc- cess ; his purpose being for Col. Rust to hold the enemy in position at Cheat Mountain Pass, while he was engaging them at Crouch's. The fact however, is, that Cheat Mountain Pass was, by the nearest road to Crouch's, ten miles distant ; and there are strong reasons for believing that, if Gen. Lee had made the attack upon the enemy at the latter position, they Would have been captured to a man, notwithstanding the failure to hold the forces in check at Cheat Mountain. Such was the impression of the Federals themselves. If the enemy had been captured at Crouch's, a march of ten miles down the Valley River by Gen. Lee would have brought his forces in the rear of the enemy at Huttonsville, cutting off his supplies, and, with Jackson on the other side, compelling him to the neces- eity of surrender. It is to be regretted that Gen. Lee filled to make the attack at Crouch's, and to realize the rich results of his well-matured plan. Had he defeated the enemy at Crouch's, he would have been within two days' march of the position from which Gen. Garnetl had retreated, and could have held Rosencranz in THE FIRST YEAR OP THE WAM. 18$ pheck, who was at tlrat time making his way to Carnifax Ferry to oppose Floyd. There is reason to believe that if Gen. Lee had not allowed the immaterial part o( his plan to control his action, a glorious success wonld have resulted, openin'' the whole Northwestern country to us, and enabling Fioyd°and Wise to di ive Cox with ease out of the Kunawha Valley. Re- grets, however, were unavailing now. Gen. Lee's plan, finished drawings of which were sent to the War Department at Rich- mond, was said to have been one of the best laid plans that ever illustrated the consummation of the rules of strategy, or ever went awry on account of practical failures in its execu- tion. Having failed in his plan for dislodging the enemy from Cheat Mountain, and thus relieving Northwestern Virginia of his presence, Gen. Lee determined to proceed to the Kanawha region, with a view of relieving Gens. Floyd and Wise, and possibly drive the enemy to the extreme western borders of Virginia. Accordingly, in the Ic;.- ; part of September, he ordered the prmcipal portion of his command to take up a lino of march in that direction. It has already been stated that Gen. Floyd had fallen back. With his forces to Meadow Bluff, while Gen. Wise stopped to ^he east of the summit of Big Sewell. In this jposition Gen. Lee found them on his arrival. He took up his headquarters with Gen. Floyd, and, after examining his position, proceeded to Sewell, where Gen. Wise still remained in front of the^ enemy. He decided to fortify Wise's position. Gen. Floyd's command, except a garrison at \feadow Bluff, returned to Big Sewell. He had been largely reinforced since he left the Gauley River. The position on Big Sewell was made exceed- ingly strong by a breastwork extending four miles. The whole Confederate force here under thi? command of Gen. Lee was nearly twenty thousand. This formidable army remained for twelve or fifteen days within sight of the enemy, each apparently awaiting an attack from the other. Thus the time passed, when, one morning, Gen Lee discovered, much to his surprise, that the enemy lie had been so long hesitating Lifl 164 TOE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. to dttaek tto longer conrronted him. Rossncranzs had dij«ap. peered in tfie night, and reached his old position on the Ganley, ihirty-two miles distant, without annoyance from the Confed- erate army. Thus the second opportunity of a decisive batlla in Western Virginia was blindly lost, Gen. Leo making no attempt to follow up the enemy who had so skilfully eluded him ; the excuses alleged fi;r his not doing so being mud, swol- len streams, and the leanness of his artillery horses. In withdrawing from the Cheat Mountain region, Gen. Lee had left a force of some twenly-fivc hundred men at Greenbrier River, and, while he was playing a strategy, in the Kanawha Valley, this Utile force had achieved a signal victory over an apparently overwhelming force of the ( nsmy. The force on the Greenbrier at the fool of Cheat Mountain was under com- mand of Gen. H. R. Jackson, of Georgia. A small force had also been left on the Alleghany Mountain, at Iluntersville and perhaps other localities in that region. On the 3rd of October, the enemy, thinking that he might strike a successful blow, in the absence of Gen. Lee and the larger portion of his command, came down from Cheat Moun- tain, five thousand s'rong, and attacked Jackson's position on the Greenbrier The attack was gallantly repulsed. The most unusual brilliant incident of the battle was the conduct of our pickets, whi) held the entire column of this enemy iti check for nearly an hour, pouring into the head of it a galling fire, not withdrawing until six pieces of artillery had opened briskly upon them, and full battalions of infantry were out- flanking them on the right, and then retiring in such order, and taking sucli advantage of the ground, as to reach their camp with but a trifling loss. The action was continued by a severe artillery engagement, when, after hours' interchange of fire, in which we could not bring more than five pieces into action to return the fire of the enemy's right, he began to threaten seriously cur front and right, by heavy masses of his infmtry. He |iid been repulsed at one point of the so-called river,, (in fact, a shallow stream, about twenty yards in width,) by the 3rd Arkansas regiment. THE FIIWT TEAR OF THE WAR. 185 As the designs of his column were fully developed, the !2th Georgia refi:imem were ordered to take position near the stream while a battery commanded by Capt. Shumaker was directed to open fire upon the same column. The encounter was but of short duration. In a short time, tho unmistakeable evidences of the enemy's rout became appanjnt. Distinctly could their officers be heard, with words of mingled command, rcmon- •trance and entreaty, attempting to rally their battalions into line, and to bring them to thecha.-e, but they could not be in- duced to re-form their broken ranks, nor to emerge from the cover of the woods, m the direction of our fire. Rapidly, and in dis- order, they returned into the turnpike, and soon thereafter tho entire force of the enemy-artillery, infantry and cavalry- retreated in confusion along the road and adjacent field.. The engagement lasted from seven in the mornincr to half, past two o'clock in the altemoon, at which time the enemy, who had come with artillery to bombard and demoralize the small force of Confederates ; with infantry to storm the camp • with cavalry to rout and destroy them, and with four days^ c«oife.rfm/,o«*,n his haversacks, to prosecute a rapid march ei her towards Staunton or towards HuntersvUlc, was in precipi- late retreat back to his Cheat Mountain fastnesses. His lo.s in Jcilled and wounded was estimated at from two hundred and fifty to three hundred. That of the Confederates was very inconsiderable, not exceeding fifty in alJ. The approaching rigours of a winter in the mountains, gave warning of a speedy termination of the campaign in Western Virginia, m which, in fact, we had no reason to linger for any fruits we had gaint^d. The campaign was virtually abandoned uy the government, in recalling Gen. Lee shortly 'after he had allowed the opportunity of a decisive hattle with Rosencranz to escape him. He was appointed to take charge of the coast defences of South Carolina and Georgia. Gen. Wi.e was or- dered to report to Richmond ; Gen. Loring was sent with his command to reinforce Gen. T. F. Jackson, (" Stonewall,") at Winchester ; and Gen. H. P. Jack.^n was transferred to duty m the South. -With the exception of Gen Floyd's command. 186 TUB FIRST YEAR OF THE WAB. 'M which still kept Ihe field ih the rrgion of the Gauley, and a force of twelve hundreLJ men on the Alleghany Mountain, the Confederate forces were withdrawn from Western Virginia, after the plain failure of the campaign, and in the expectation that the rigours of the advancing winter season would induce the enemy to retire from the mountains to the Ohio. > The last incident of battle in the campaign was a brilliant one. On the 13ih of December, the whole of the enemy's forces, under Gen. Reynolds, were brought out to attack the position commanded by Col. Edward Johnson, of Virginia, with Lis little force on the Alleghany. The enemy had been con- ducted to our position by a guide, a Union man. The Federals, on the flank, where the principal attack was made, numbered fully two thousand. They were gallantly met by our troops, who did not exceed three hundred at this time, being a portion of Hansborough's battalion, the 31st Virginia. These were reinforced by a few companies of Georgia troops, who came ap with a shout, and joining the tioops who had been forced back by overwhelming numbers, pressed upon the enemy with a desperate valour and drove him from his almost impenetrable cover of fallen trees, brush and timber. Many of the officers fought by the side of their men, and the enemy was pushed .down the mountain, but with serious loss to the gallant little command. In describing the conduct of his nien. Col. Johnson wrote to the War Department, ** I cannot speak in terms too exaggerated of the unflinching courage and dashing gallantry of those five hundred men, who contended from a quarter past 7, A. M., until a quarter to 2, P. M., against an immensely superior force of the enemy, and finally drove them from their position and pursued them a mile or more down the mountain." The casualties in this small force amounted to twenty killed and ninety-six wounded. Gen. Floyd was the last of the Confederate generals to leave the field of active operations in Western Virginia. After the retreat of Rosencranz from Sewell Mountain, Gen. Floyd, at his own request, was sent wiih his brigade, by way of Rich- ards' Ferry and Raleigh and Fayette Court-horuse, to Cotton THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. 187 Hill, on ihe west side of the Kanawha. Here he again con- fronted Rosencranz and his whole force encamped at Hamil- ton's, at Hawk's Nest, at Tompkins' farm, and at Stodin's, near the falls. Cotton Hill is in Fayette coanly, on the Kanawha, opposite the mouth of the Gauley ; tlie Raleigh and Fayette turnpike passes over the hill, crossing the Kanawha River at the ferry below the falls, where it intersects the Kanawha turn- pike leading from Lewisburg to Charleston. From the position of Cott?)n Hill, the several camps of Rosencianz, referred to, could be distinctly seen, stretching to the distance of several miles. Gen. Floyd reached this point after a fatiguing march of eleven days, and occupied the landings of all the approaches to his position, at Bougen's Ferry, Matthews' Ferry, Mont- gomery's Ferjy at the falls and Loop Creek. For three weeks, he continued to challenge the enemy to battle, firing at him' across the river, annoying him considerably, cutting of his communication with the Valley of the Kanawha and holding in check his steamboats, which ran up to Loop Creek shoals at high tides. For several days, the communication of the Fede- lals, between their corps on the opposite sides of the Gauley, was entiiely suspended. Gen. Floyd continued to challenge, insult and defy the enemy with his little six pounders at Cotton Hill, while Rosencranz, before he would accept the challenge made to his already superior numbers, waited for heavy reir^^ Corcemenls from the Ohio. ' At last being largely reinforced by the way of Charleston, Rosencranz planned an attack upon Cotton Hill, and moved by several distinctly indicated routes, namely, Miller's, Montgom- ery's and Loop Creek Ferries, all concentrating at Fayetteville, nine miles from Cotton Hill. He expected the most brilliant results from his overpowering numbers and well-conceived de- Bigns, and was confident of cutting off the retreat of Floyd and capturing his command. His force was fifteen thousand men: that of Floyd did not exceed four thousand effective men, his raoks having been reduced by sicknes?, and the old story of promised reinforcements never having been realized to him. In these circumstances, Gen. Floyd made a retreat, the success of v^ttfilli 188 THE FIRST YKAR OF TUB WAR. irl "s "Wliich was one of the most admirable incidents of a campaign, which ha, at least, had ahx-ady di; in the Northwestern campaign of the War of 1812. The «nemy, after pursuing Gen. Floyd fur twenty miles, turned back in the direction of Fayette Court House, leavini» hira to retire at his leasuro to Southwestern Virginia. It was from here that General Floyd was transferred by the government to ibc now imposing theatre of war in Tennessee and Kentucky. A minuter history of the campaign in Western Virginia than the plan of our work admits, would enable us to cite many in- stances of individual gallantry and self-sacrifice. They would show the good conduct, of small parties of Confederates on many occasions. In concluding the narrative of the general evcots of the war In Western Virginia, we may add a very brief men- tion of some of those occurrences, which were only incidents of the campaign, which did not affect its general results, but whioh &h«>wed instances of gallantry that, on a larger scale of execu- tion, might have accomplished verv important results. While the enemy had possession of the Kanawha Valley, Col, J. Lucius Davis' cavalry, of the Wise Legion, was sent to Big Coal River, thirty-five miles from Fayette Court House. On reaching Big Coal, they gave rapid chase to a marauding party of Federals and overtook them at Tony's Creek, where a fight took place on the 1 1th September, which resulted in the total rout of the enemy, with a loss of about fifty killed and wounded, about the same number of prisoners, and the capture of all his provisions, munitions, &c. The Confederates sus- tained no loss whatever. The action lasted three hours, the remnant of the enemy having been pursued to a point within twelve miles of Charleston. The cavalry returned with their trophies, after having traversed, in twenty-four hours, a dia- THE FIRST TEAB OF THR WAR, 189 tance of sevenly-fivo or eighty miles oversfeep mountain trails, bridle paths and rocky fords. Col. J. Lucius Davis, in hii re* port of the affair, speaks of Lieut. Col. Clarkson as the hero of the expedition. On the 25th September, Col. J. W. Davis, oC Greenbrier' at the head oJ two hundred and twenly.five militia of Wyom- ing, Logan and Boone counties, were attacked at Chapmans- ville, by an Ohio regiment commanded by Col. Pratt. The militia fought well, and were forcing the enemy from the field When their gallant leader, Col. Davis, received a desperate and as was thought at the lime, a mortal wound. The unfortunato circumstance reversed the fortune of the field. This militia retreated and the enemy returned to the field. Col. Davis was taken by the Ohio troops, and remained in their hands till his partial recovery from his wounds, when he was paroled. The troops under CoL Davis lost but two killed and two wounded, wbHe the loss of the Ohio troops in killed and wounded exceed- ed fifty, from the best information Col. D. was able to obtain. Col. Jenkins' cavalry rendered efficient service in tiie Ka* nawha Valley, and kept the enemy all the time uneasy. On the 9lh November, they made a gallant dash into the town of Guyandott«, on the Ohio River. a»d routed the forces of the enemy stationed there, killing and wounding a number of them, and taking nearly on« hundred prisoners. Federal reinforce^ ments afterwards came up to the town, and, on the pretence that the Confederates had been invited to attack it by resident Secessionists, gratified a monstrous and cowardly revenge by fifing the larger portion of the town, although many of the in- habitants had come out to meet them on the bmks of the rivcr» waving white flags and signifying the most unquallified sMbmis- sion. Women and children were turned into the street, many^ of ihem beii)g forced to jumpfro;n ths windows of their houses td escape the flames. We have already adverted to the causes which canfributed to makb the campaign in Western Virginia a ftiJure. The cause which fornighed the moat popular excuse for its ineffective- ness— the disloyally of the resident population— was, perhaps, 190 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. If the least adequate of them all. That oisloyalty has been hngely magnified by those interested, in finding excuses in it for their own inefficiency and dissappointment of public expectation. While Maryland, Kentucky and other regions of the South, which not oi>ly submitted to Lincoln, but furnished him with troops, were not merely excused, but were the receipients of overflowing sympathy, and accounted by a chariiable stretch of imagination " sister States " of the Southern Confederacy, an odium, cruelly unjust, was inflicted upon Western Virginia} despite of the fact that this region was enthralled by Federal troops, and, indeed, had never given such evidences of sym- pathy with the Lincoln government as had been manifested both by Maryland and Kentucky by their contributions of troops and other acts of deference to the authorities at Wash- ington. It is a fact, that even now, ''Governor" Pierpont, the creature of Lincoln, cannot get one-third of the votes in a single county in Western Virginia. It is a fact, that the Nor- thern journals admit that, in a large portion of this country, it is unsafe for Federal troops to show themselves unless in large bodies. The unfortunate results of the campaign in Western Virginia abandoned to the enemy a country ol more capacity and grani deur than, perhaps, any other of equal limits on this continent} remarkable for the immensity of its forests, the extent of its mineral resources, and the vastness of its water power, and possessing untold wealth yet awaiting the coal-digger, the salt dealer and the manufacturer. While the events referred to in the foregoing pages were transpiring in Western Virginia, an inauspicious quiet, for months after the battle of Manassas, was maintained oh the lines of the Potomac. A long, lingering Indian summer, with roads more hard and skies more beautiful than Virginia had seen for many a year, invited the enemy to advance. He steadily refused the invitation to a general action; the ad- vance of our lines was tolerated to Munscj's Hill, within a few miles of Alexandria, and opportunities were sought in vain by the Confederates, in heavy skirmishing, to engage the lines ini riMT TEAR or the wab. Itl of he (WO a™ie,. The gorg.ous pagoanl on .he Poloroac wb,c ,, by ,l,e do,e of the y.ar, had c,„ ,ho Northern Z2 three hundred mii:io„» of doJIars, did no. move, The " W Napoleon" was .willed a, a daslard i., .I,e Sou.hern new,! pape... They profes«,d .o discover in hi, «„wi,ling„":, ,„ fi«h, he near aoh.evemen. of iheir independenee, whl how! ever .he fac. was, .he inac.ivi.y of .he Federal brce, o'lL Nonhern fron..or of Virginia only in.pli.d .ha. immense pre paraxon, were gomgonin «,h.rdirec;ions while .he Sou.he™ people were co.nplacen.ly en.er,ained with .he parades r" vrews and pompoo, idleness of an army, .he common sold'ienr THE BATTLE OF I.EKSBURO. ^ The quiet however, on the lines of the Potomac was broken by an episode in the month of October, which, without being important m Us military results, added lustre to our armf The incident, referred to was the memorable action of W burg, m which a small portion of the Potomac army drove an enemy four times their number from the soil of Virginia kill, liig and taking prisoners a greatc.r number than the whole Confederate force engaged. nf ^I'^r^T! ^'^"^'"^ ^''" Persuaded that no important force ot the Confederates remained along the Upper Potomac, and in obedience to orders from headquarters, commenced his pas- sage of the river on Sunday, the 20lh of October, at Harrl* son 8 Island, a point of transit about six miles above Edward's ferry, and nearly an equal distance from Leesburg A force oi five companies of Massachusetts troops, commanded by Col Devins, effected a crossing at the ferry named above, and. a few hours thereafter, Col. Baker, who took command of all the Federal forces on the V.rginia side, having been ordered by Stone to push the Confederates from Leesburg, and hold the p^ace, crossed the nver at Conrad's Ferry, a little south of Harrison's Island. The brigade of Gen. Evana (one of the heroic and con- 10S THE FIBST TEAR OF THB WAR. spicuous actors in the bloody drama of Manassas,) which had occupied Lcesburgj consisted of four regiments, viz: the Sth Virginia, the 13th, the 17th and the I8th Mississippi. H&v* ittg a position on Goose Creek, they awaited the approach of the overwhelming numbers of the eaemy, the force which he had thrown across the nver being between seven and eigbl thousand strong. The enemy had effected a crossing both at Edward's Ferry, and Ball's Bluff, and preparations were mad© to meet him in both positions. Lieut. Col. Jenifer, with four of the Mississippi cornpanits. confronted the immediate ap- proach of the enemy in the direction of Leesburg ; Col. Hun* ton, with his regiment, the 8th Virginia, was afterwards ordereid to his support, and, about noon, both commands were united and became hotly engaged with the enemy in their strong position in the woods. Watching carefuUy the action, Gen. Evans saw the enemy was constantly being reinforced, and at half-past two o^cloch, P. M., ordered Col. Durt to march bis regiment, the' 18tb Mississippi, and attack the left flank of tie enemy, while Cola. Hunton and Jenifer sttacked him in front. On arriving at his position. Col. Burt was received with a tremendous fire from the enemy, concealed in a ravine, and was compelled to divide his refjinent to stop the flank movement of the enemy. At this time, about three o'clock, finding the enemy were in large force, Gen. Evans onlered Col. Featherston, with his regiment, (he 17th iMio.iiisippi, to repair, at double-quick, ta the support of Col. Burt, where he, arrived in twenty minutes^ and I ho action became general along the whole line of tha Confederates, and was hot and brisk for more than two hours. The Confederates engaged in the action numbered loss than eighteen hundred men; the 13th Mississippi, with six piccesof artillery, being held in reserve. Th*^ troops engaged on our side fought w'lh almost savage desperation. The firing was irregular. Our troops gave a yell and volley ; then loaded and fired at will lor a few mtnutes ; then gave another yeli and volley. For two houra the enemy was steadily driven near (he banks of the Potom;iC, The Federal commander. '.' y- i ' «iJ 1HE FIRST YEAR or TOE WAR. 193 Col. Baker, had fallen at the hcii] nf hi. » i -a, wi,„ „i,ne„.,y „e„vored v hifc ^IT" \T: '''" """^ com nued to fall bad.- fjan i? ^""""and. As ihe f-ncmy charge «„J .frivo h:^"i„';;';„f ^4.°"'°"''' '"' ""'•"' f-« '° The rout of tl.e encmv near ilie hlntt. nf .1 • rallinj. The ero..l„^/. f ,„e iver 'll / "'" '■"' "P" <''o.»a„d fiv. hundred ,nen,eeord,",^'V.r °" ""'" '"""' Siono, were thrown aero., i, I ° r " ""P"" "' «<"• were never ,„.,e.pa, • beZ ,h ''?'"'',\''i'=l' "'='"y of .hem „„ 1'^''^' tteiore them a a red the fni» iron. „,e eliff above Alf wa^te to^^'^f '""' "" """ ^"' One of ,ho Federal ofliefr a^U e t ;d ! T '"'' '"™''^- charged up the hill a . *^' ^°™° companies. re™revin,';h:1.„;'L,„l'~ Sr ''^■™T°"'"°"• han Oiher portions of the ! , " '*™'>' "' '"-' •»'Sira»nt. -e, Lpt ; ;L:'r"S: zr^ttr. "" ^""^"^' Th« last act of the fraiypflv ttta- .1 ^^11. .. . "" "^aseay Was the most «'#.Li.«u, 1 -. p-ding 01 liicm all. A (lai boat «« ,/ ' ""° """ "''* A uai Doat, on returning to the island. V I 194 Trtt! FIRST 'TEAR OP THE' WAS. 11 < tfRB huhn with the manglccT, the weary, and the dying. tli« fiaiek ar^d the dead were hurdled together in one struggiiatg mangled mass, and all went down together in that dolefol river, ncv»'r again to rise. The Northern ncwspai^rs, with characterislie and persistent falsehood!, pretended that the Leesburg affair was nothing— m mere reconnoissancc iiv which the Federals accompHshod their object— a skirmish in which they severely punished the « rebel«"— an affair of ontpogta in which they lost a few mew, WOtbldg like s» many as the '* rebels,'* &c. But the truth $i h&t came out, 8ta»k and horrible. The defeat of Leesburg wos named in the F^ederal Congress as " most humrliating,** **a great national calamity,'* and as' another kmel added to the ehaplet of the "rebellion.'' , The Feder3>l soldiers who had sirflered most ^etetely in thiis action w<>re frot^i New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. They had given an exhibition of cowardicg, quite equal, iH d«»gTee, at least, to its display at Manassas. There were no instances among them of desperate stubbornness, of calm fVonfc, of heroic courage. There was but erne tint of glory to gwild the bloody pictiire, and that was in the circumstance ©f tho fall tif their gallant commander. Col. Baket, who had been shot several times through the body, and, at iM«t, through the bead, in his despetaio and conspicuous effort to rally his broken forces. Col. Bkikor was United States Senator fiom Ore^n. He had served with difelinction in the Mexican war; was since a member of Congress from Missouri ; e«ugrated t^o California, where he long held a leading position at the bar, and, being disappointed in an election to Congress from that State, re* moved io Oregon^ where he was retiurned United States Sena- tor to Washington. In the opening: of the war, he raised what ttKM called a ** California" Regiment, recruited in New York and New Jeiaey, and at llw last session of the Federal Con- gress had distinguished himself by his extreme views of the subjugation of the South, and its reduction to a " territori^al" (SOOJiHiOii* sic was B' UliSU Ui inuuj oCuuIIlpiicijiiJuut^j v. ts—.- THE rmST TEAR OF THE WAK. 193 than ordinary gifts „f eloquence, and. omside of hi, „„iuieal a„on3, was re.peced for his bra.ory. chi::,i:;;*rf tlie " Dark nml Bloody Or-u-id ". .Proticlion of ih.i N..i%h Wf8t by Kentucky. .Uow tlie Ptbt of OiatituJe IIii« Bvi-n llopHi.l. . A Oliincj ill tlie lluil- forJ Coil vention.. The Gubiiniitoiial Cnnvuss of IS.'.'J in K.iiUieky. .Divi>=ion of rimif8..0lht-r Cuses for tlio DisL.yiilty of Kt'i>tu9 thought, of even a prouder and bolder spirit thai* flowed in the blood of the Old Dominion. THE FIRST YEAR OP THE WAR. 197 ^\ar discovers ir.illis in 1I13 condition of society which would never olhcrwiso havo been known. It often sboivs a spi-n ofdcvolion uliere it ha I b en least expected ; it decides the claims of superior pafriotis n and jsupcrior coura-c onon in nivor of communities which have laid less elainUo these qual.lics than others; and it not infrequently exposes dis- loyally, rottenness or apathy on the part of iho.e who had for- merly superior reputation for attacliment to the cause which they arc found to desert or to assail. It is not to be supposed f r a moment, that while the posU Uon of Kentucky, like that of Maryland, was one of reproach, H IS to mar the credit due to that porion of the people of each who, in the face of instant difficulii.s, and at the expense of extraordinary sacrifices, repudiated the decision of th^ir States to remain under the Fideril government, and expatriated themselves, that they mig!.t espouse the cause of liberty in tho South. Tho honor due snc!» men is in fact iticreascnl by tho conaiJeration that their Stales remained in the Union and compelled them to fly their hom?s, that they might to.tifv their devotionio the South and her cause of indeoendence.' Siill the justice of history mu.t be maintained. The demonstra- tions of sympathy wit', ih< South on tho part of the States referred to-AIaryland and Kentueky^cunsidered cither ia proportion to what was oflered the Lincoln government by these States, or wit!i rc^^pcct to the numbers of their popula- tion, were sparing and exeepti,)nal ; and alih:)Ugh these aomon- strations on the part of Kentucky, from the great and brilliant names associated with them, were perhaps even more honor- able and more usclul than the examples of Southern spirit offered by Maryland, it is unquestiontbly, though painfully true, that many of tlu^ pc>o;)lo o( K.-ntucky were tho active allies of Lincoln, and the unnatural enemies of those united to them by iin^jige, blood and common institutions. See note A at end of the work. A brief review of sonu^ of tho most remarkable circuni stances in the hi toryo, ■. -mucky is nut inappropiiate to tho Bubject of the existing war. r« iiiiminU ■PWf ^^Ki 1 ' . , 108 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. Kentucky lias boen denominated "the Dark and Bloody Gro-und" of the savage aborigines. It never was t'he habita- tion of any nation or tribe of Indians; but from the period df the earliest aboriginal traditions to the appearance of the vA\ilci man on its soil, Kentucky was the field of deadly conflict be- tween the Northern and Southern warriors of the forest. When, shortly after the secession of the American colonies from the British Empire, thi j contested land was penetrated by the bold adventurous white men of Cardhna and Virginia, who constituted the third party for dominion, its title of the •• Dark and Bloody Ground" was appropriately conlinued. And when, after the Declaration of American Independence, Great Britain, with a view to the subjugation of the United States, formed an alliance with the Indian savages, and assigned to them the conduct of the war upon all our Western frontier, the territory of Kentucky became still more emphatically tlie park and Bloody Ground. Nor did the final treaty of peacis between Great Britain and the United States bnng peace to Kentucky. The government of Great Britain failed to fulfill its obligations to surrender the Western posts from which their savage allies had been supplied with the munitions of war, bcrt still held them, and still supplied the Indians with arms and ammunition, inciting them to their murderous depredations upon the Western border. This hostile condition continued in Kentucky until tlie eele- btated treaty of Jay, and the final victory over the savage enemy achieved by General Wayne, and the conseqnent treaty of peace which he concluded with them in 1795. By this treaty of peace, the temple of Janus was closed in Kentucky for the first time in all her history and tradition. The battles in these wars with the savage enemy were not oil In Kentucky, nor were they for the defence of the inhabi- tants of Ohio, who were unable to protect themselves against their barbarous foes. How this debt has been paid by the de- scendants of these Ohio people, the ravages of the existing war sufficiently demonstrate. Peace was continued in Kentucky for about twenty ye rs. TtiV FIE&T YZAS. OF THB W^n, 199 There were commotions and grand enterprises vvhwh wo cannot even mention ht-re. Butthoy were all terminalail by the pum chase of Louisiana by Mr. Jefferson, in iSOO. The rntfinatioB of .the treaty by which this vast Sou hern and Western domin- ion was acquired at the price olfifieen millions of dollars,, was opposed by the Northern politicians, uhose desceiaj the Stale by a large plurality. They com nenced at on ear'y day to combat the movements of secession in the South. Pt>puhr assemblies and conventions were called to phdgetheii:sp|ves to the support of the Union in every con. l.n^^'ney. The piily, as represented in these sisscmblies, united all the friends of Mr. Bell, and the great body of those of Mr. IJongias and of Mr. Guthrie. By this combination aa orgfinizaiion wis eflectid which was able to control and direct public opinion in the subsequent progress of cvrnts. At its regular session in 1859-60, the Legislature had or- ganisjcd an active body of volunteer militia, denominated the tSlal-^ Guard, and General Buckner had been appointed ita liigh^st omcer. This army, as it migl.t be called, was fuund to consist of the finpst officers and best you'h ni'-n in the Slate. It was necessarily, by the provisions of the Constitu- tion, under the command of the Governor; but as Governor Magoffin was supposed to be a Southern Rights man, and the fict appealing that nearly all of the State Gu.rJ was fivon- bletothei^anec.iuse, and that they could not bo made tho pohliersofthedespotio government of the North, he was in ofi^ct d.'privcd of their command, and measures were taken for forcing out of their hands tha public arms with which they hnvl been furnished, and for the organization of a new corp, to be ; !? ', 209 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. commanded by the officers and partisans of Abraham Lincoln. In the meantime, as if to make their professed detertfiination cf neutrality eni'clivc, the Legislature proceeded to arm with muskets their "Ilotne Guard.«," as tlteir new army was caUed. With this pro<,-rarnme before tlte people, the Legislature took a recess, probably to await the progre-s of events, when the mask of neiitrality might be thrown off, and their real purpoaeB iniglit safely be announced to the people. Gov. Magoffin** refusal to furnish troops to answer the re- quisition of the Federal government (to which reference ha$ already been made in another part of this work), ap|>eared aH the time to meet with the approval of the entire [people of Ken- tuclcy. The enemies of the South acquiesced in the decision of the G,t)vernor only until the period arrived when the farice of neutrality might be conveniently broken, and the next step ventured, which would be union with the North. With tbo pretence of neutrality, and thti seductive promises of a tr«bda with both belligerents, which would enrich Kentucky and fill her cities \ itb gold, a coasiderabie portion of the people wero heW blinded or willingly entertained, while the purposes of the Lincoln governmpjQt with respect to their Stale were being Irieadily fulfilled. In the election olf members of the Congress called by Lin- coln to meet in special session on the 4lh of July, 1861, men of Northern principles were elected from every district m Kentucky save one; and in the same condition of the publie miind, the members of the Legislatufe were elected in August^ the result being the reluru of a large majority of nierabejRl ostensibly for the purpose of maintaining the ground of neo- Irality, but with what real designs was soon discovered. The electicm of the Lincoln rulers having been thus accompilshedb the measiwes all the time contemplated and intended wero easily put in course of execution. In a short timo every Stata Riguis newspaper was suspended ; every public man standing in defence of the South was threatened with arrest and prose, cution ; and the raising of a volunteer corps for tho defence of tlte South was totally suppressed. THE FinST TEAR OF TBX WA», SOS Immediately after the decfaration of war by the Linodln govfirinnent,a number of young men in Kentucky, oct^aled by impuisps of pfitric/tism, and attesting the spirit of the on- fient chivalry of their State, had commf-nced raisin.* volunteer ?ls, if not actually °de. sired by tliem, for the purpose of diminishing the opposition in the State to their sinister designs. By the removal of its mera- bcrs, and by the aets of the Legislature already mentioned, the admirable army of the "State Guard of Kentticky " was tnoared 'soil held iha sacred ashes of a dozen gener-* THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. 205 lions of his ancestors, was one of peculiar ausa3tnc?s and in- teresf. The picture of ihe scene alone was sunicicnt lo illus. Ira:e aid adorn the progress of n geat revoUjtion. It was that of a venerable patriot, a man of one of the greatest his. lorionl names on the coniinrnt, jnst escaped from the minioas of (he despot, who had driven him from a Stale in which ho liad hved, Ihe light of the htw, irreproachable as u man, be- loved by his companions, h-inoured by his f.rofojsion, and vetie- iil/e in year?, voluntarily and proudly abjuring an alleganco vhicli DO longer returned to l.im the rights of a citizen, but \vonM have made him an obsequious slave ; and with all' the dignity of one thus honoured and respected and conscious of Ids rectitude, appearing in the presence of a Conf.-derate court «f justice, and, with the pure eloquenc3 of truth, ofFering the remain ng years of his life to the service of the new govern- ment, which had arisen as the sticcossoi- of the old Union, as it was in its purer an 1 brighter day*. Mr. IJreckinridge reached Nashville by a very circuitous route, a lew days alter his departure from Lexington, and after 0^ briif sojourn in the former place, proceeded to Bowl!n«» Green and there entered into a compact with a number of his old constituents who had taken refog.j in the camp of General Buckner, that they would lake up their arms iu defence of the T\g}AH and liberties of their country, and never lay them dowii lill the invader was driven from the soil of Kentucky. Shortly n'tei wards, he received the appointment of brigadier-general in the army of the Confederate States, and was assigned to the command of a brigade of his fellow-citizens of Kentucky. Col. Humphrey Marshall received, at the same time, th« appoint-' nicnt of brigadier-genaral, and was assigned to the district of Southeastern Kentucky at:d South .vestern Virginia. Colonel Johnson was subsequently chosen Provisional Governor of Kentucky by the friends of the Confederate government in that State. ^ To reconcile the people of Kentucky to the Lincoln govern- ment, h^ partisans had told them at the outset that they had the right lo insist upon the strict obscrvatico of neutrality. As -• f tjoe THH riHST YEAR OP THE WAR. cfvents pregiie^ed, lliey ascilbed the violalion ©f Keiiilucky*« neutrality to the acts of the Southern government, in the face of fL^its about which there can be iro disjKito. The facts a je that the Federal forces n'cre prepa. spoflsib!Jity of th« first invasion of Kentoeky. The Federals had ccmmistjioned Gen. Rosseaiw, at Lo«iii?viHe, ^o raiae a bri>» gad« fbr the invasion of the South, bat whilst the ifec»uits were cnlisied in LfttrisviiJe, the camp was kepi at Jefferson ville, on the Indiaina si<]e of the river, until the Lincoln commander be». came satisfied that the temper of the people of Louisville wmild tolerate « parade of Northern salidiers on their streets* Thesi, and not till then, vvera the Northern soldiers boldly marched across the State in ihe direction of Nashville. Gen. Buckner took possession of the railroad, and statiioned himself ait Bowl- ing Green, in Sonthern Kentucky, aboat. thirty miles from the Tennessee line. The partisains of Lincoln, still delerrwioetii to blind the people by all sorts of false represeutatioivs, established a camp called '' Dick Robinson,'' near I^xington, and t>h«rjb made up an army composed of recruits from Ohio, vagabond* from Keaatucky, and Andrew Johnson men fron* Tei^sdnesiaee. They insisted that no invasion was contemplated, that their forces were meiely a " Home Gna«rd" orgaBi2a1ionof a purely doiensive character. They did not hositat«, however, to lob tbe arsenals of the United Slates of their nawskets, bayonets and caniK)n, and pli>ce them at the disposal of such; inliskmaas leaders asr George D. Prentice, Tom Ward and Garret l>avi^ With these aitms '«Dick Robinson's" camp was replenislicd, and «t this memorable spot of the congregation! of the rao»t viliaiA^ ous characters, an army was raised in Kentucky for the mfOr S(ion (A the South. , The causes which led to the occupation of Kentucky by the Confederate States were plain and abundant. Finding |hat their own territory was about to be invaded through Kentucky, THE riR«T TRAR OTTH^ WAl. 207 into a mrstaken secmily. were unarrm-d, and in jhn^erofb«. teg subjogatect by the Federal forces, , he Confederate armies were marched rnto thai Stale f^ repd ,he enrmv and prer^m their oecnpauon cnf eeitain, sttategic points which wo«ld ha>re given them great advantages in the contest-a 8«ep which was J.i8t,fied not only by the necessities of selfldt-fence on th. part of the Confederate States, but, al.o by a desire to aid tte people of Kentucky. It was never intended by tJie Coi^feder rtc government to conquer or coerce the people of that Slate • but ott the contrary, it was declared by our g.n«rals that they wou d wrhdraw their troops if the Federal government would *o likewise. Proclamation was also made of the desire to re^ Bpect tire netitrality of Kentucky, and the intention to abide by the wishes of her peoj^le, as soon a» they weiie free to express ineir opinions. ' Upon the oocnpadoniof Columbus by the Co. federates, m the early part of September, the Lrgislarure of Kentucky adopted fesGluiions calling upon them, through G<>veri,«- Ma<^offin to retire Gen Polk, who was i« command of the Confederates at Columbus, had already published a procfemation, clearly explaaning his position. He declared in this proclamati4 ♦bat the Federal government having disregarded the neutrality ^f Kentucky, by establishing camps and depots of armies, and fry organizing military companies within their territory and by constructing a military work on the Missouri shore, imme. Hmtely opposite and commanding Columbus, evidently intended to cover the landing of troops for the seiz.iTe of that town, it Mad become a military necessity involving the defence of th« terntory of the Confederate Sta-. thai the Confederate force, shcmid occupy Columbus in advance. the act of Gen. Polk found the most abundant justification in the history of the concessions granted to the Federal govern, mem of Keniucky ever since the war began. Since the efcc^ tion of Lincoln, she had allowed the seizure in her ports (P». ducah) of property of citizens of the Confederate States. She had, by her members in the Congress of the United Stale*, voted sui»pii^d of men and money to carry on the war against 208 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAn. the Confedorate Slates. She had allowed the Federal go- vernmrnt to cut timber from her foics!s for the purpose of building armed boats for the invasion of the Southern Slates. Sle was permitting to be enlisted in her territory troopi», net only from her own citizens, but from the citizens of other Stalef», for thfs purpo.-e o^ being armed and used in oflensve warfaro against the Confjderalc SlHtcs. At camp "Dick Robinson,'* in the county of Garrard, it was said that there w«'re already ten thousand Hoops, .n which ir.en from Tennessee, Ohio, In- diana and IHin(,i.s were mustered with Kentuckiaiis intu lim service ol the United States, and armed by the government i\t the avowed purpose cf giving aid to the disaflTected iti ona of the Confederate Slates, and of carrying out the desigiis of that government for their subjugation. AVhen Gen. PolU t(H»!c possession of Columbus, he found that the enemy, in form da- b!e numbers, were in position on theoppf>siio bank <.f thi river wi.h their cannon turned upon Columbus, ihat many of itio citizens had lied in terror, and that not a word cf assurance of safety or protection had been addressed to them. In reply to the demand made through Governor Magoffin for the withdrawal cf the Confederate troops ftum Keniucky, Gen, Polk oflered to comply on cuudiiion that the Siate would agreo that the troops of the Federal government be wiJidrawn siimil- taneously, with a guaranty, (v\h-ch he would give recipr.cally for the Confederate government,) that tie Federal lro>p!i (shouUl not he allowed to enter or cccupy any part of Kenucky in the future. This proposition for a simultaneous withdrawal of forces, was derided by the partisans ol Lincoln in Keutucky and else where. Gen. Polk had taken possession of Columbus on the 4th of September. The Federals were then occupyinj? Faducah, at the mouth of the Tennessee River. The town of Cario, at Iho mouth of the Ohio, had been previously oocupied by h strcng Federal foice. New Madrid, on the Missouri .^ide of tiic Mia- aissippi, was occupied by »Souihern troops under the command of Gen Jelf Thompson. EttiJy in the Kummer, it was known that the Federals \ver» 1 go- so of lales. «, net rfaro »on/* emiy >, Fn- ) lltA n fi r >3 of >S (jf t(K>!c I dr- iver, Itio :e of i 1 for greo' nul- sally i>>p!i icky vval cJiy hof I, Ht Iho ]ia« iiid en -',•,'.>■/,*■/ /'// //v,.v Sa!-f,>/j.' . /'////■■ 2^AJ.CS[EPI1,E®1E1IT EoLEIF; ttirei land vern «eve thef teleg safet Ciirr weel Cros and I bridi; desp( neuti the- ( subjt feels peopl triolii Kenti will { mena ately At forth again to be opinic mcnt, On ih mand camp staug£ tion c Feder to me.i gracel THE FIRST YEAR OP THE WAR. 209 threatening the invasion of East Tennessee by way of Camber-' land Gap. To counteract their designs, the Confederate ffc' vernment sent Brigadier-General Zollicoffer, with a force of several thousand men, by way of Knoxville, East Tennessee to the point threatened. On the 14th September, Gen. Zollicoffer telegraphed Governor Magoffin, of Kentucky, as follows : '*The safety of Tennessee requiring, I occupy the mountain passes at Cumberland, and the three long mountains in Kentucky. For weeks, I have known that the Federal commander at Hoskins' Cross Roads was threatening the invasion of East Tennessee, and ruthlessly urging our people to destroy our own road and bridges. I postponed this precautionary movement unfil the despotic government at Washington, refusing to recognize the neutrality of Kentucky, has established formidable camps in the^ centre and other parts of the State with a view, first to subjugate your gallant State, and then ourselves. Tennessee feels and has ever felt, towards Kentucky as a twin-sister; their people are as one people in kindred, sympathy, valour and pa- triolism We have felt, and .till feel, a religious respect for Kentucky s neutrality. We will respect itas longasour safety will permit. If the Federal force will now withdraw from their- menacing position, the force under my command shall immedi- ately be withdrawn." At the same lime General ZolHcoffer issued an order setting forth that he came to defend the soil of a sister Southern State against an invading foe, and that no citizen of Kentucky was' to_be molested in person or property, whatever his political opinions, unless found in arms against the Confederate govern- ' ZTX%'''^ '"f ^°'^'"^^' '^ '^'^ ^"-«^y by his coun^is. Un lie 19th of September, a portion of Gen. ZolhcofTer's com- mand advanced to Barboursville, in Kentucky, and di^Lrsed a camp of some fifteen hundred Federals, without any serious stauggle He continued to advance cautiously in the direc- tion of Somerset driving the enemy before him. A large Federal orce, chiefly from Ohio and Indiana, was sent forward to meet him TI,i« expedition was speedily brought to a dis- £[raceluJ and rninrkno /.n!"»'"": " '• >^- •~ "^ cohu.uciuu. xjciore getting nearenougli o ,1 ' ^9. '"^^ FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR, to Zollicoffer to confront him, Gen. Shroept, the commander of the Yankee expedition was induced to believe that General. Hardee was advancing from Bowling Green on his flank. What was known as the " Wild Ciit Stampede " ensued. The retreat of the panic-stricken soldiers, vyhich for miles was performed at the double-quick, rivalled the agile performances at, Bull Run. {"or many miles the route of the retreat was covered with brol^en wagons, knapsacks, dead horses and men who hadsunk by the wayside from exhaustion. The flight of the Federals was continued for two days, although there was no enemy neai; them. Such was the result of the first expedition sent to cap- ture Zollicoffer and to invade the South by,way of Cumberland Gap. Another design of the Federals was to invade Southwestern Virginia from Eastern Kentucky, by way of Prestonsburg and Pound Gap, with the view of seizing upon the Salt Works apd lead Mines in this portion of Virginia, and of cutting off" rail- road communication between Richmond and Memphis. To thwart this design, there was raised in the neighborhood of Prestonsburg a force little exceeding a thousand rnen, vrh(^[ were placed under the command of Col. Williams. To capture the *' rebels" at Prestonsburg, a considerable force was sent' after them under the command of Gen. Nelson, of Kentucky. This somewhat notorious officer reported to the Lincoln gov- ernment that his expedition had been brilliantly successful ; his command, according to his owji account, having fallen upon the "rebels" at Piketon, captured upwards of a thousand of them^ killed five hundred or more, wounded a great number, and scat- tered the few remaining ones like chaff' before the wind. This aniyuncement caused intense joy in Cincinnati, and, indeed^ throughout, the North; but the rejoicings were cut suddenly short by the authentic account of the aff'^ir at Piketon, which occurred on the 8th of November, and in which the Confede- rates lost ten killed and fifteen wounded, while they ambushed, a considerable body of Nelson's men on the river cliff; neatf that place, and killed and wounded hundreds of them. Owing to ih ' superior force of the Federals, however, Col. Williams^ little command fell back to Pound Gao. THE PlHSt YEAR OP tills W'Alf. m He had not more than 1,010 men, including sick, teamstet^, and men on extra duly. Ke described the little army that haJ Held in check an apparently overwhelming force of the enemy as an " unorganized, half-armed and bare-footed squad " He - wrote to Richmond : " We want good rifles, clothes,' gfeat- coats, knapsacks, haversacks and canteens ; indeed, everything almost except a willingness to fight. Many of our mert ar? bare-fooled, and I have seen the blood in their tracks as thev' iwarehed." ^ There had long been unpleasant Indications on the Tennessee border of disloyalty to the South. In what was called Eastern Tennessee ihei-e was reported to be a strong "Union'*' party This section was inhabited by an ignorant and uncouth populfttion squalled among the hills. The Union faction in' East Tennessee was the product of the joint influences of three men, differing widely in tastes, habits of thought and political opm.on, but concurring in a blind and bigoted devotion to the wl^^"^"!^^' government. These men were Andrew Jackson, Wflliam G. Brownlow and T. A. R. Nelson. The first of these was a man who recommended himself to the ignorant moun- tam people of Tennessee by the coarseness and vulgarity of his manners; but beneath his boorish aspect he had a strong native intellect, was an untiring political schemer, and fbr more' than twenty years had exercised a commanding control over' the ruJe mountaineers of Tennessee, who for an equal length of lime had held the balance of power between the old Whig' and Democratic parties in that State, voting first with one and^ len with the other' iJolitical organization. Brownlow, « the' pardon," the haranguer of mabs in churches and at the hust- mg^, and who, by his hatred of Andrew Johnson, h^d once' made himself an ultra pro-slavery oracle of the Methodist Chtirch; found Unionism so strong an element of popular par* tfsan strength in East Tennessee, that he was forced to cc operate with his old enemy. The sincerest and most respecta-' ble of the trio was Nelson, an accomplrsbed orator, a poet and' drt«amer besulc^, having no likeness to the people among whom a^^„.^,., „.„. .,rj-,3,ujj must or Ills lime la P'^^ _. i ;i 1 ■ % '1 f 'i f\ ' ■' t- I uuu 213 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. the secluded occupations of a scholar, in which vocation he wag both profound a)id classical. There could be no sJran<'^er com- bination of lalent and characlcr than in these ihree men, who had been brought together by a single sympathy in opposition to the cau?e of the South. The Union party in Tennessee was for a long time occult } its very existence was for a considerable period a matter of dispute among Southern politicans ; but it only awaited the operations of the enemy in Kentucky to assist and further their designs by a pudden Insurrection among themselves. Their de- monstrations were, however, premature. Early in November there was a conspiracy formed on the pait of the Unionists for burning all the bridges on the East Tennessee and Virginia and Georgia and Tennessee railroads. The designs of the conspirators were consummated in part by the destruction of two or three bridges in East Tennessee, and of one in Georgia. The bridge across the Holston, at Strawberry Plains,, on the. East Tennessee and Virginia road, was saved by the heroic and self-sacrifiing act of an humble individual, named Edward Keelan, at that time the sole guard at the place. Ho fought, the bridge-burning party— more than a dozen in number— with such desperation and success, that they were forced to re- lire without accomplishing their object. One of the parly was (killed, and several badly wouded. Keelan was wounded in a number of places. Upon the arrival of friends, a few minutes ftfter the occurrence, he exclaimed to them, "They have killed me, but I have saved the bridge." Luckily the wounds did not prove mortal, and the hero of Strawberry Plains still lives. The. Federal expedition to Pound Gap was of the same char- acter with all the other invasions from the Northwestern territory in this contest. The troops were from Ohio and other Northwestern States, the occupiers of the lands bounti- fully granted by Virginia to the Federal government, and by that government liberally distrtbuted among the ancestors of the people attempting the invasion of Virginia and the South. This territory had been won by a Virginia army, composed of volunteers from this State and from the district of Kentucky, THE rinST YEAR OP THE WAR. 213 then a part of , he Old Dom;nion. The bold and successfd enterpr,se of George Rogers Ciark in the conquc.t of all that Western .errUory, constitutes one of the mos romantic and br, !hant chapters of the history of the Revolution. ' ' VVe turn from the operations on the Kentucky and Virginia border, which were in effect abandoned by the enemy o the n.ore acttve theatre of the war in Kentucky' in theT4hbor bood of the waters of the Ohio and Tennessee. It was to hese waters that the enemy in fact transferred his plans of i^ea'nrf "' ^'A'°"'' '"""^'^ ^"^^"^'^^ ^^ Tennessee by means of amph.bious expeditions, composed of ganboats and land forces Further on in the course of events te shall find he front of the war on the banks of the Tennessee instead of those of the Potomac, and we shall see that a war which the Somhern people supposed lingered on the Potomac, was sud- de^ily transferred, and opened with brilliant and imposing s^nes on the Western waters. But it is not proper to LJi pate with any comment the progress of events. Gen. Polk had b en completing his works for the defence of Columbus While thus engagad, be was assailed on the 7th November by the enemy in strong force from Cairo. THE BATTLE OF BELMOJIT. Before daybreak on the morning of the 7th of November, Gen. Polk was mformed that the enemy, who were under the command ofGen. Grant, had made their appearance in he nver,vithgun>boats and transports, and were landing a con' stderable force on t e Missouri shore, five or six mills above Be^mon ta small village. Gen. Pillow, whose division was nearest the po,nt immediately threatened, was ordered to cross the river and to move immediately with f,.ur of his regiments to the relief of Col. Tappan, who was encamped at Belmont. Our little army had barely got in position, when the skir- mishers were driven in, and the shock took place between the opposing forces. The enemy were numerous enough to have surrounded the little Confederate force with triple lines. Sev- eral aite.iipts were made by the enemy's infantry to flank the f^H THE FIBST TEAR OF TUB WA». flight ?Lml left wing of the Confederates ; but the attempt on the right was defeated by the deadly fire and firm altitude of that wing, composed of the regiments of Colonels Russell and Tappan, the I3th Arkansas and the 9th Tennessee, command- ed by Col. Russell as brigade oommander. The attempt to turn the left wing was defeated by the destructive fire of Beltz- hocver*ji battery and Col. Wright's regiment, aided by a line of felled timber extending obliquely from the left into the bot- tom, The two wings of the line stood firm and unbroken for eeveral iioUrs, but the centre, being in the open field, and greatly exposed, once or twice faltered. About this time Col. Behzhoover reported to Gen. Pillow that his amunitioa was exhausted ; Col. Betl had previously reported his vegiment out of ammunition, and Col. Wright that one battalion of his regiment had exhausted its ammunition, ^he enemy's force being unchecked, an*! now emerging into the ee 13 fuxu.shod only as a characteristic epccimou. B18 THE FIRteT TEAR 6V THE WAR. i^fl •eneniy, if he had not been imposed upon by false teprtsehta- iiona of the number of Our forces at Bowling Green. Wheh iJen. Johnston was about to assume command of the Westerh Department, the government charged him with the duty of de- ciding the question of occupying Bowling Green, Kentucky, which involved not only military but political considerations. At the time of his arrival at Nashville, the action of the Legis- lature of Kentucky had put an end to the latter consideration •by sanctioning the formation ofconipahi^s menacing Tennessee, by assuming the cause of the government at Washington, and by abandoning th6 heutrality it professed ; and, in consequence of their action, the occupatidti of Bowling Green becartie necessary as an act of self-defence, &t least in the first step. About the middle of September, Gen. Buckner advanced With a «dtingPolicy..The Spirit of the War in the North. .Administration of th« C.vd Pohty of the Southern Army.. Tho Quartermaster's Department. .Tb« Hygiene of the Camps. Kavagea of tho Southera Army by Disease. .TBb Devo- tion of the Women of the South. Since the commencement of the war, the South had enter- tained prospecls of foreign intereferene, at least so far as to involve the recognition of her government by England and France, anJ the raising of the blockade. Such prospects, continued from month to month, had an unhappy effect in weakening the popular sentiment of self-reliance, in turning the attention of the people to the result of external events, and in amusing their attention with misty illusions. ^ These prospects were vain. By the close of the year, tho South had learned the lesson, that tlie most certain means of obtaining injury, scorn and calumny from foreign people, was to attempt their conciliation or to seek their applause, and that not until she had proved herself independent of the opinions of Europe, and reached a condition above and beyond the help of England and France, was she likely to obtain their amity and justice. It had been supposed in the South, that the interest of Eu- rope in the staples of cottou and tobacco would effect a raiain- THE FIRST YEAH OF THE WAR. JJJ Of file blockade, at least by the fall of tho year The «„• .OS o„ ,l,ese s„bjec.a ^vere thou-ht to be corcteivo F™ ^ tlenvej an annual revenue of $38 000 000 fl^rl ,' poly of ,I,e lobaceo trade ; and Great 6^11^ . ""°T a revenue of #350,000,000 per annum ft, m A ''" '^'°^^'' Five.nHo„,or,ouls,Y.4rdX:r^^ or the other ,n theooiion mannfaoture ; and the sZl ,^ ated, ^vith reason, that the bloekado wouW be raisfd bv f "' .ntervention, rather than that one-.ixth of t^e f ^«" .he British ,,,es -ould be por:i:.;d „ be . w7o« TenT' Among the statesmen of Great Britain, however a dilTeren. calculatton prevailed, and that was, as long as tirX. ifcon mgences of the future held out the least hope of roidil I alternative of war with the Washington Rovernmem ,„"!,• a pom. to escape it. „ was arguedf thatTt 3d 'e ebe„:: ^Plrit of selfish caiouiation JirLt::/ whth'wTe Z:Z of England had not reached that point to require her to „,e, fere, ,n any manner, in the American war-ll at i, wl ?,l! oident'l'f the Itaf ""™ '" "" ''"''''•'' «' -" - <""" i- About the fall ofihe year, the South had be-^un to feel ,„ erely the effects of the blockade. Supplies of Xu ua goo^ " and even provtsions, were becoming scarce. The evi f°.^'' augmented every day in the results of a baneful s,^ rit of Lie,? auon, which indulged in monstrous extortion and oo'uTd' -h p„bl,c spmt, tnaking opportunities of mercena y .Xmu a wast M "f " •"" >'"===^"'- of 'ho ooun'y. m« '•If i:iit!mv- " --i "J my. 9Ktt TUE nnST TEAB Of TRK WAm«i The resources of the South were such, however, that anyw thing like famine or actual starvation, of any portion of the people, v.as not to be apprehended. The changes which hap- pened in the circumstances and pursuits of people, were not always as unfortunate as they appeared, and, in the end, not unfrcquently proved an advantage to them and to the pros- perity of the country, Many "lew enterprises were started;' many sources of profitable ' • r r vere nought out; and many instances of the diversion oi tr industry were occasioned, which promised to become of permanent advantage in develop- ing the: resources of the country in minerals and manufactures^ and introducing provision crops on an enlarged scale in^ tho Cotton States of the Confederacy. In the month of December occurred an event which promised the most fortunate conseijuences to the South, with respect to foreign intervention and her release from the blockade. The Confederate government had deputed Mr. James M. Mason; of Virginia, and Mr. John Slidell, of Louisiana, Commissioners, respectively, to England and France. They had escaped th© blockade at Charleston on a; Confederate vessel, and arriving at the neutral port of Havana, had left there on the 7th day of December in a British mail steamer, the Trent^ commanded by Capt. Moir. The next day after leaving port, the British vessel^ while in the Bahama channel, was intercepted by the Federal' steam fiigate San Jacinto, Commander Wilkes, being brought to by a shotted gun, and boarded by an armed boat*s crew. The persons of the Commissioners and their Secretaries, Messrs. Eustis and Macfarland were demanded ; they claimed the pro- tection of the British flag, and refused to leave it except at the instance of actual physical force, which Lieut. Fairfax, who; bad boarded the vessel, then declared^ he was ready to use. The Trent was an unarmed steamer, and, as resistance was hopeless^ the Commissioners were surrendered under a distinct' and pHSsionate protest against a piratical seizure of ambassa* dors under a neutral flag. This outrage done by a Federal vessel to the British flag, when it was learned in the South, was welcome news, as it wa»i inolrft\««. «w^.. THE iiBST YEAR OF THJB WAR. 22$ the capture of he cC™- '""'""'' '""' '" ">« '^'""h. over Ihc incident of the 1^,^ T , f''""^ '" '^ •" ""' '«vor j dispense, °,a„S it was S ^ °'',"'"'' "'™'^' ^^ " '"«-»»' deck and in he lro„M of M. ' , "^ '"''8'"^"''n, that on ita blockade hL; a, iXt ,0^™""'"= ^""""^ '"« "^^ "^'"e. the polic/and mind of 1hrN„;.h Th"""'' f -joteris.ic of had, a, Hrst. gone into ..^ZZt the arS'^f l"" "•*'•"* ».onen; the newspapers designated i as "»-,/ T""* viciorv in the fi.lH •» .u l =. , ° " ^' worth more than a ment,atWa8hin<«imh»,r '''""'"^"- Thegovem- de«d.Xt WiLT''^r"" "^ the cabinet had been . en- Btess to ,!i^ ul' "'"' " •"•oP"""!"" introduced into Con- Ss'rfutrc? ::""',"■'"'''"''' "^ ^ ""•"- ™'" ceils in Fort Warll,„ "^ " "'"' condemned to close ".itted up„i iua'r ^ ''"'"^° ""' '""* "'^ ■'°"- i„.'r l!'*!'!'- "'• Adams, the representative of the AV..h. "=■""=""='""»"' "' ^-"i™. Mr. Seward had advised hirrt li y S24 THE FIRST TEAR OP THK WAR. to make no explanations, as ihe Washington Cabinet thought it better that the gioumi taken by the British Government 'should be first made known to them. The ground of its claims was never furnished by the British government. Its demand for reparation and apology was entirely naked and evidently disdained to make a single argument on the law question. With unexampled sliamelessness, Mr. Seward made the plea himself for the surrender of the commissioners; he argued that they could not be the subjects of a judicial proceeding to determine their status, because the vessel, the proper subject of such a proceeding, had been permitted to escape ; and with a contemptible affeclalion of alacrity to offer, from a returning sense of justice, what all the world knew had been extorted from the alarms of cowardice, he declared that he " cheerfully " surrendered the commissioners, and did so in accordance with long-established American doctrine. In surrendering the commissioners, the Washington govern- ment took the opportunity to declare its rc-assurcd hopes of the Union, and to express its contempt for the Southern revo- lution. In his letter to Earl Russell, Mr. Seward took par- ticular pains to declare, that " ihc safety of the Union did not require the detention of the captured persons;" that an "effectual check " had been put to the ''existing insurrection, " and that its " waning pioporlions " made it no longer a sub- ject of serious consideration. The declaration was false and affected, but it contained an element of truth. There is no doubt thai, at the time it yvas made, the power of the revolution in the South was declining; and a rapid survey of the political posture and of events irans- piring in the latter half of the year 1861 ^ffords painful evi- dence of relaxation on the part of the Confederate government, and of instances of weakness and abuse that the people, who had pledged everything and endured everything in a contest for freedom, had no right to expect. REVIEW OF AFFAIRS AT THE CLOSE OF THE TEAR 1861. The justice of history compels us to state that tw^o causes— the overweeninor confidence of the South in tho sunerior THB FinST y^AR QF.THK WAH. Z2^ va or of Its people, induced by the unfortunate victory of Manassas, and ihe vain delusion, continued from month to month, that European interference was certain, and that peace was near at hand-conspired, about this time, to reduce the Southern cauge to a cri.icul condition of apathy Western Virginia had been abandoned to the enemy almost With mdiflerence, and with an apathetic confidence in^n army that was in danger of becming demoralized, and in th. pros, pects of, European interference, which were no brighter Uian ormerly, except in imagination, ihe South carelessly observed the immense preparations of the North, by sea and land to extenfl the area of the contest from the coasts of Carolina to the Slates on the Mississippi, and to embrace her whole terri- tory with the lengthening arras of the war. While the enemy was busy making his immense naval pre- parations agamst our sea coast, and building scores of gunl boats on the Upper Mississippi to drive our armies out of Kentucky and Tennessee, the Southern government had shown the most extraordinary apathy; the spirit of our armies was evidently decaying, and abuses of extraordinary magnitude had crept into the civil administration of our affairs. No corres- pondmg activity was manifested by us in the line of naval en, terprise adopted by the enemy. Means were not wanting for at least some eniulation in this respect. Large appropriaUoos had been made by Congress for the construction of gun-boais and objects of river defence ; the State of,Virginia had turnpd over to the Confederate governmem the best navy-yard on the continent and two armories with their machinery; and with the means and appliances at Gosport and Richmond, it is not dpubted that wUh proper activity, the government rnight haYC create^ a consideral^le fleet. ^^n ^ ,fH Thfl North had improved the ac^vantage, of its possession of a navy by increasing its a«ml?ers. Nearly a hundred, vesspls Qt different descriptions were purchased by it, and fleets of gun-b:jats fitted cut for operations qn the coast and rivqrs 1 wo naval expeditions had already, before the close of tbe year, been seut down the Carolina coast, and, without accotn- plishmg much, had given serious indipaiinna of ..-ha ~ -^ i-i ! i ! I ■ .:i ! ! 226 THE FIBST YEAR OF THE WAR. expected from this arm of the service on the slight fortifications of our ocean frontier. On the 29lh of August, a naval expedition from Fortress Monroe, under commnnd of Commodore Stringham and Major- General Butler, had reduced the two forts at Hatteras Inlet, and had signalized their victory by the capture of fifteen guns and 615 prisoners, among whom was Commodore Barron, the Confederate officer in command. The capture of Port Royal, on the Sputh Carolina coast, on the 7th of November, by the bombardment of Forts Walker and Beauregard, gave to the enemy a point for his squadrons to find shelter, anil a convenient naval depot. The attack was made on the 7th of November by a Federal fleet, numbering fifteen war steamers and gun-boats, under command of Captain Dupont, flag officer of the South Atlanli blockading squadron. The attack was easily successful by the bombardment of the forts at the entrance of the sound. It may be imagined how inefficient our defences must have been when the fact is, that they J ielded after a bombardment which continued precisely four hours and thirty minutes ; the condition of Fort Walker at this time being, according to the official report of General Drayton, who was in command, " all but three of the guns in the water front disabled and only five hundred pounds of pow- der in the magazine." But these were only the first lessons of Ihe enemy's power and our improvidence in defences, that were to be taught us on the coast. The privateering service had yielded us but poor fruits. The Savannah, the first of the privateers, was captured, and her crew treated a^i pirates, at least so far as to load them with irons and confine them in felons' cells. With the exception of the Sumtei 'in awkwardly rigged bark) and one or two others, the privateers of the South were pretty closely confined within their own harbors and r'vers by the blockading fleets. The *♦ militia of the seas," that it was predicted, in the early part of the war, would penetrate into every sea, and find splendid prizes in the silk ships of China and the gold-freighted steamers of California, had proved but an inconsiderable annoyance to THIS FIRST TEAR 0*> THE WAR. tST fte extensive commercial marineof (he North ; it had caplured durmg the year bu. fifty pri„s i„ smacks, schooners and mail merchantmen, and by this time the South had learned thaw'" pnvateenng resources were about as delosive as that other early and crude expectation of adventitious aid in the war- the power of '• King Cotton." ne!' »nd""°"^' '"^"f' '"'"' "" ""'y '''Peotations of the man- ner and conduct of a war are disappointed by the progress of ._s events and its invariable law of success in the stern Tmpe- tit,ons force without reference to other circumstanced, was sa.d a. the beginning of the war, that, while cotton would •• bnng Europe to i,s knees," the Southern pr.vateers Zld cut up he commerce of the North, and soon bring the merce nary and money-making spirits of .'hat section "o^ZZZ Neuher result was realized. At the close of ,he vear ISel; the South appeared to be fully convinced that it was" waging a war m whtch it could n. longer look for aid to exteTnfa' d adventmous croumstances; that it could no longer hope to obtamrts independence from European interference, or from «p.ure of a financial system in the North , and that it had no blule-field"'" "" '"' '" ""' ^'"" '"' "'""^y '-'^ "^"■e Beyond the events briefly sketcled in this and the foregoing ehapters, there were some incidents which were interctiL a! X'r?o?lIt''Tf '%"'""' "'^'•' "P "• ">» =l»^« of 'he year 1861 to which a full reference has been impossible in a work which professes to treat only ,ue material parts of the impo" tant campaigns of the year. • lue impor- ts JI'T"" IT'T^^ "f *"'= "^^ P'obaWy tl>» attack on nf ,h i?r,- n ""^ " "" '""■'"'"'■ "f Pensacola, on the nigh, ?r„L ,h J 0«*"' »d the storming by picked companC from the M.ssiss.pp,, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Florida regtmems of the camp which had been made on the island by lndr"°'",K^"'^-"'"r" ^°"^™^- Landing fom steamer^ small band ol Confederatps marfi-^d « — >= ^u--.- • -, --.t_j ...aji-,,v« cmiie lureu or lour. miles Wi ,i "(Ti k m mm ft8 THB FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. f in the darkness of llie night over an unkown and almo^ impassable ground, killing the enemy's pickets, storming hij* entrenched camp, driving ofllhe notorious regiment of New York bullies, with their colonel flying at their head, and bura •istant adjutant general with rank of captain, but relinquished his rank in line ia 1851. As a commander he was courageous, energetic and methodical, and he ob- tained the respect of the South for his chivalric disposition, his courteous behavionr to prisoners, and his uniform recognition of the laws and amenities of civilized warfare. Gen. Henry Wnger Halleck, before the war, had been but little known and thai only as an author of some military works, and a prominent land lawyer, deeply Tersed in Mexican titles, at the bar of San Francisco, California. He was a pupil of West Point, and had been brevetted captain for meritorious services in Oalifor^ nia during the Mexican war. He was appointed Secretary of State of the provinoo of California in the military governments of Generals Kearney, Mason and lliley, and was a member of tlie Convention to form and one of the committee to draft the St-fite Constitution of California in 1S49. Hs sul2Hrouo>rttl*' di-"'^r'i^>"*"^d fro7!« [ THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAB. est Federal government had united the whole North, bronght an army of half a million men into the field, and swelled the pro- portions of the war far beyond any expectations of the world. The policy of monotonous defence had been perseverinfflv pursued by the authorities of the Confederacy. On the skle of the enemy, it had more than repaired the damage inflicted upon them in many brilliant battles, and had left them at perfect leisure, in the very presence of our forces, to devise mature and make trial of any plan of campaign or assauh which they thought expedient. A large portion of Virginia and important regions on the Southern seaboards were now occupied by the enemy, who would never have' ventured forth to such distances, if they had been menaced nearer home. The strictly defensive policy was sustained by elaborate arguments. It i& not within the design of our work to canvas the logical value of these arguments ; but it is to recognise as a fact the natural and almost universal impression made upon the popular mind of the South, that it could not be good generalship which left the enemy at perfect leisure to mature all his preparations for aggression, and that it could not be a glorious system of warfare which never ventured an aggressive movement and which decimated its armies by inaction. In the administration of the civil polity of the Southern army, as^distinguished from its command, there were abuses cSnf *"*'T' """^ "^Tfi ^^""'^ '"^ bis innumerable Mexican Client, in California as a lawyer and land speculator. ^u\L f \t o^V" 'f:f y "^" ^'^me person who might have been seen quietlj f Itf n^""" the Planters' House to headquarters in St. Louis. He does not look JnTfi 1 Tin "'^ '° appearances, but looks, in his new and rich, though plala .«,Lh „ \ ^"? '" ^°''''^''^ '^'''^''- I" *"'"', he bear, a mU stWking re- ZlZZ^lZt fuf'Tr f-'^'''''^' '""°" '^"^^^'^ ••' -^--tals, with a wid . the IZ H- . '"'^'"^ "" *''' ^''^ "^ ^^' »^«'"^' "t «° ««"t« ""gle with When n" h ; '^rr"" w f °"* "' ■•" ^^^^ •« ^^^y "'"^P'^ -^ busi„L.like. general n he field but is the impersonation of the man of peace. His face i. Sin tt^:? tha?H""'"°' 'r •"^'«'"">' ^-'' -' -^^-"« t32 •THE nttST TE/uR OP THlB WAK. and defetets which were oohstant sources of newspapet comment. In the Quartermaster's department, however, the results ac- complished by the energy of its directors were little less than surprising, and received the marked cohimendatioh of a eomi tntttee of the Provisional Congress, appointed to enquire into ihe civil polity of the army. That the immense army ttow in the service of the Confederate Slates, suddenly collected, men find officers generally inexperienced in camp life and military duty, should be clothed, armed and moved with the facility of a perrtianent organization, was not to be expected ; and yet, ivilh but few exceptions, this result was accomplished. Major Alfred M. Barbour, of Virginia, was appointed Chief Quarter- master of the army of the Potomac, our principal corps d'arinies in the field ; and his remarkable resources of judgment), h\^ vast energy, and his untiring devotion to his extensive du- ties in the field, coniribated most important results in the emer- gencies of the many sudden and rapid movementsof our forces in Virginia, in the remarkable campaign in that State of the Spring of 1862, Such contributions lo the public service are hot to be depreciated by the side of more visible, and in the popular mind, more brilliant achievements of the war. The labors of the Quartermaster's department penetrate the entire military establishment, breathe life into the army, nurture its growth, aud give it strength and efficiency in tiie fiMd ; vigi- lant, prepared nnd present, it moves unnoticed amid the stir- ring events of the field, and obscured by the dust and smoke of the Combat, it remains unobserved even while collecting the fruits of victory. The most distressing abuj?es were visible in the ill-regulated hygiene of our camps. The ravages of disease among the army in Virginia were terrible; the account of its extent were suppressed in the newspapers of the day, and there is 110 doubt that thousands of our brave troops disappeared from notice without a record of their end, in the namele,>«8 graves that yet mark the camping ground on the linus of the Potomac, and amona t|je wild mountains of Virginia. THK riRST rCAR OV THE WAR. 233 ^'^r camps were scourged wifh fever, pneumonia and diar- !!^li, I™T" '^^ ^^'^""'^ ^"^ '" W^^tern Virginia ^«tl f;,^V^TTP' '" Cheat Mountain and in thb Vidinity of the Kanawha Valley most intensely. The wet and «KiTf' . ";?' '*'" clifficuUy of transportation, exposure to o6M«nd ram without tents, the necessary consequences of the fwquent forward and retrograde movements, as well as the want 6f suitable food for either sick or well men, produced most of Ihe sickness, and greatly aggravated it after its accession The regulalioijs requiring reports from the regiments as to the number of sick, their diseases, and the wants of the medi- cal station, were, but in few instances, complied with. The re- sult of this neglect was, that upon a change of position i-i the army it was the unhappy consequence that the number of sick greatly exceeded that indicated by the reports. They were hunied to the rear, where the accommodations, both as to food shelter and medical attendance, being all insufficient, there was great suffering and great mortality. The suffering of our army evoked, on the part of the South- err people, demonstrations of patriotic devotion and generosity such, perhaps, as the world had never seen. The patriotism of our citizens at home was manifested in unremitting efforts to supply the warts and relievo the sufferings of the soldiers, sick and well. The supply of money, clothing and hospital stores. from this voluntary and generous source, is estimated in mil- lions of dollars.* It was the most cheering indication of the spirit of our people in the cause of independence. The women of the country, with the tenderness and generosity of their sex not ,,nly loaded railroad cars with all those appliances for the comfort of the sick, which their patriotic ingenuity could devise, but also came to the rescue in clothing those who were OffiTT ^j"7'"S;»f' 'il^ulious (e9ti,„ate,l in money) were listed at the Passport Office, m Il.ci.mond, during the lust (h.ee mor.th. ,.f the vear 1801. The list com! prises ahnoHt exclusively (he .lonatious .«ade to the annV of the Poton.a , oTth^ Toluntn.y supplies sent to the army i„ Missouri, Arluiusus and Kentueky, there is to aecount whatever; but. as the eame patriotic d.votion animated onr people eve,y where, there .8 no reason to donbt that an equal amount of elothing. itore« ^., h.-»(l h.en sent to those troops. With this oaleulation. the whole, amount of n I 234 THE FIRST TEAR OF THIS WAS. well and bearing arms in the field. They made large pecuni- ary contributions, took charge of the hospital established by the States, and, as matrons of those institution li, carried clean- liness and comfort to the gallant soldier, far from home and kindred. A committee of the Provisional Congress placed oa record the thanks of the country to the women of the South, for their works of patriotism and public charity, and declared that our government owed them «* a public acknowledgment of their faithfulness in the glorious work of effecting our independence." contributions for the last quarter of Ibe year 1861, could not have fallen ehort of three millioua of dollars : North Carolina $825,417 Alabama 81*7,600 Mississippi 272,6*70 Georgia 244,886 South Carolina 137,206 Texas 87,800 Louisiana 61,960 Virginia. . . . ; 48,070 Tennessee ; . . . 17,000 Florida. 2,350 Arkansas 960 11,616.898 THB FIRST TEAK OP THE WAH. 235 CHAPTER IX. Prospects of the Tear 1862. .The Lines of the Potomac. .General JacksonV Expedition to Wincheeter. .The Batllk of Mill Speinos in Kentcckt. .General Crittenden .Death of General Zollicoffer. .Sufferings of Crittenden's Army onlh. Retreat., ComparatiTeTTntrnportance of the Disaster. .The Battle of Wora Island .Importance of the Island to the South. .Death of Captain Wise. .Cause, of the Disaster to the South .. Investigation in Congress. .Censure of the Govern- Bent. .Interviews of General Wise with Mr.-.Benjamln, the Secretary of War. .Mr. JrSS ^«"T«lby J»g'«/'. l'»t Retained in the Cabinet. .His Promotion by President Davis. .Condition of the Popular Sentiment ^ The year 1862 was to bring in a train of disasters to the South. Taking a brief glance at the lines of the Potomac, we siiall thereafter have to find the chief interest of the war in other directions-in the West and on the sea^joast. In December last, Gen. Thomas J. Jackson was sent from Gen. Johnston's line to Winchester with a force at his disposal of some ten thousand men. Had the same force been placed at the command of Gen. Jackson in early autumn, with the view to an expedition to Wheeling, by way of the Winchester and Parkersburg road, the good eifects would in all proba- bility, have shown themselves in the expulsion of the Federal* from Northwestern Virginia. Ontho first of January, 1862, Gen. Jackson marched wit^ his command from Winchester to Bath, in Morgan county, and from the latter place to Romney, where there had been a large Federal force for many weeks, and from which point they had committed extensive depredations on the surrounding country. General Jackson drove the enemy from Romney and the neighboring country without much fighting. His troops, however, endured the severest hardships in the e jeditl in. lhe» sufferings were terrible in what was the severest poit^on oi l.,8 winter. They were compelled at one time to struggle • ii m 336 THE FIRST YCAR OT TUB WAK. through an almost blinding storm of snow and sleet, and to bivouac at night in the forests, without tents or camp equip- age. Many of the troops were frozen on the march, and died from exposure and exhaustion. The heroic commander, whose courage had been so bril- liantly illustrated at Manassas, gave new proofs of his iron "will in this expedition and the subsequent events of his cam- paign in the upper portion of the Valley of Virginia. No one would have supposed that a man, who, at the opening of the war, had been a professor in a State military institute— that at Lexington, Virginia— could have shown such active deter^ minatioii and grim energy in the field. But Gen. Jackson had been brought up in a severer school of practical experience than West Point, where he had graduated twenty years before ; he had served in the memorable campaign from Vera Cruz to Mexico ; and an iron will and stern courage, which he had from nature, made him peculiarly fitted to command.* But • At the Beige of Vera Cruz, Jnokson commanded a batteiy and attracted attention by the coolness and judgment Avilb which ho worthed his guns, and -wim promoted first lieutenant. For his conduct at Cerre Gordo, he was bievettej cftptain. He was in all Scott's battles to the city of Mexico, and behaved so well that lie was brovelted major for his services. To his merits as a commander h of their sweeping and exZ Zl^t^TJ'Trr. over the dead bodies of Vanliees Th. .„ ^ ' ^^'^^ driven back before the cha^ of Oen ZoS •"" """"'' Already, he was ascendingfhe ll hui ,^'^""="^"' T"""^" heaviest firing, old the ba..re ^L S/Uf/^ "'"r ""' ments, and .he brigade of Gen. Car«,ll :arL "r^uTp "T r:i«^wt^:tra;trr^^^^^^^^^^ once gained, the day was ours * ^"^ "^^'^^ w=^:it?trLt;:srxrrii?:;s^ s^:r:rs^riHi"^^^^^^^^ — - landed by C„7 Fry H T ''^'^"?'"'=''y "^S-des, com- Kentuokia^ns lb a Li^.X'T ' ''™''*'','^ '"« °^ ""« coffer got very near th™ col FriraHe' "t"' ^f " regiment. Gen 7nli;n«ff • T . ^"® "S^* o^ ^lis Agnmcoatc:ncltrht;„TrrT:ef'''"°''''-'''''-'- each other for friends a„H ji ^ . P^"''' "'''«''' «ln.ost at the same t' , . n ^'f *'" """"»' n>«lake «l.o. at Colonel Trv hT ,""" °^ *'™- ^""'^"'f'^''^ «id. next moment the F^Zeral 1?: ^ TT^'i *'' ■""'«• ^he Genera, raising his haTd.ott!:^,';; ^*f .'' "■«■ "» balls. ~ "■ '®"' P'crced oy several ;;f,' ■lit;! : 240 THB FIRST TKAR OF THE WAR. At ihe announcement of the death of Gen, ZoUicofTefr, m iodden gloom pervaded the field and depressed the Tennessee troops, who had been devotedly attached to him. Gen. Gritr tendon essayed all that personal example could do to retnieve the sinking fortunes of the day. He, in person, rode up to ihe front of the fight, in the very midst of the fire of the enemyi To gain tl.e disputed hill, the fight was still continued. Charge after charge was driven back by the heavy forces of the enemy^ After a conflict of three and a half hours, our troops com» menced to give way. The pursuit was checked oy several stands made by the little army, and the entrenchments at Camp Beech Grove were reached in the afternoon, with a loss on our side of about three hundred killed and wounded, and probably fifty prisoners. The advance of the ei.emy arrived late in the evening before the Confederate entrenchments and fired upon them with shot and shell. Night closing in put a stop to further demonstr*- tions. Our men, tired and worn out as they were, stood be* hind the breastworks until midnight, when orders came for them to retreat quietly across the river. A steamer, with three barges attached, commenced the work of transportation. Gan? non, baggage wagons and horses were abandcaed : everything was lost save what our men had on their backs, and yet the whole night was consumed in getting the army over the river, which was very high at the time. The line of retreat was taken up towards Monticello, Gen. Crittenden having determined to citrike for the Cumberland at the highest point where boats could land with safety, in order to be in open communication with Nashville. The retreat was one of great distress. Mauy of the troops bad become demoralized, and, without order, dispersed through the mountain by-ways in the direction of Monticello. " We reached Monticello," writes an officer of one of the regiments in the retreat, "at night, and then we were threatened 'with itar /ation-ran enemy far more formidable than the one we left beyond the river. Since Saturday night, we had but an hour of sleep land scarcely a morsel of food. For a whole week, we THE FIRST YEAR OF THIS WAR. 241 ful of p,.!;ed CO., r..yZoltZltlTr T' " "*"•'• mawhed Ihe first few days through ,h! "'°'-''="' "''"''''■• We plies could not be o.^.iZ'Zt^'T^'''"' """^ '"P" men kill a porker will, theirauns r„ ! " °"'' ""=» "" i. on the coals, and then Taf U wUhoof T'T "' """ '"■°" suffering of the men from 7e wa,Tt If 1 '"* '"' ''"• '''''« of clothing, and of reoo,^ T Z "eeessaries of life, procession, could scarcely be l,„a.ted >'' ^''' ""'' ""'"' e Jeto:r^„rntiitwrn'r£rt "t-, •"■ '^« ^-f""- Schoepfl-s brigade had crT "fj tt r'^ "' "'" ••"'"=■ «=»• attack which Gen. Thomas Tad ;„M" P^P^^'o-^ '» the .renehments on Monday Ealt.t '" "''"' "^ "■" «"" «aed by the Confederates in effect '» 7 •"'"*' "^ =-='"" covered '^ing in the river, aL wis borntr .l""!' *"' ** enemy. They congratulated . hi. , ?^ ""* '''^"' "f "■« -he last hope 'f theCTe „r ' Mhe" rels'- " f°^ "1 ""' o" troops filed away, and the artiner7„ f°°« ""'"""■« «' entrenchments, in doubt for a Imen.T^T'' "* P'^^ o" "■«> -eplied to or not, when wori camChat 7hetr "t """ "^"^ abandoned. As the enemy marXd into .h "'""'"" "«« hardly a cheer. Thev had hT^H 7 " """"P ">«'« wa. Confederates, and ^tfeltXapS^r^" "^ '-''' however, a rich spoil of viotory-everythTnf /„ r ,^. ™''"""'' our poor soldiers an armv Th. „ ^ '^'" """ "«'<'» considerab... value. I. ^4.01'':^ f^ Zr T "^ Parrottguns, with caissons filled with, "^""^ "'"''»'<► fourh„,.e wagons, and upwards of .orr''""' '''»'''■"» the present generation ever prc^ucld suchl ""^ """"-"f among Tennesseeans. He wal a m! f """'P'™""' grief at! was a man maip nfot^^ —._«. ■ii4.' «|ff b 'J MiHh THB FIRST TEAR OF THE WAB. po83e9j»ed in a remarkable degree the confidence of his nrmy and' of the Tennessee peoj)le. He was devoted lo the interests of the South, and, during a long career in Congress, was one of the few members of the Whig party who voted uniformly with Southern men on all questions involving her honor and wel- fare. Made a brigadier-general, he was assigned to the depart- ment of East Tennessee at an early period of the war, and had exhibited rare address and genuine courage and military talents in Ihe administration of his responsible conjmand. It was a melancholy mode which his army chose of testifying their ap- preciation of iiis ability as a commander, in giving up all for lost when he was shot down ; but it certainly afforded a marked testimony of their confidence in his generalship. The body of GeneralZollicofFer fell into the hands of the enemy. His body was treated by the Federals as ravages only would be guilty of. His face bore no expression such as is usually found upon those who fall in battle— no malice, no reck- less hate, not even a shadow of physical pain. It was calm, placid, noble. " Poor fellow," wrote the officer who visited \« a m,l„ary district, under Brigadier-Genral H Tw^ and a tached to the command of Maior^eneral Huger c'm' mandmg the department at Norfolk. ^ Immediately upon (he secession of the State of North Caro n» from ,he government of the United States, and the aZ tjon of the Constitution of the Confederate Stat^ of America he au.hor.l.es of iha. Slate oommenced .he construe"™ of forttfications a. Hatteras and Oregon Inlets, and other poinds upon her coast which were no. completed when he Stat .ransferred her for.s, arsenals, army, n'avy a'nd coast 5 fenc t to. he Confederate government. Shortly thereafter the atuck was made upon Forts Ha.teras and Clarke, and they were aken and the fortifications a. Oregon Inlet ^ere abandon d and the armament^ stores and amo,unition were removed to Roanoke Island. The enetny immediately appeared in force m Pamheo Soun.l, ,he waters of which are connected wi.h Al bemarle and Currituck Soun.l, by means of the .1™ ,U ,' Sounds of Croatan and Roanoke. The Island o( Roanok; be n ' .. uated between these two latter sounds, commanding the oh2 nels of each, became, upon the /all of Ha.teras aiad the a ,^ ■ *ft:)i«|!. 244 THB FIRST TSAR OF THE WAR. donment of Oregon Inlet, only second in importance to Fortress Monroe. The island then became the key which unlocked all Northeastern North Carolina to the enemy, and exposed Ports- mouth and Norfolk to a rear approach of the most imminent danger. Such was the importance of Roanoke Island. It was threat- ened by one of the most formidable naval armaments yet fitted out by the North, put under the command of Gen. Burnside, of Rhode Island. It might have been placed in a state of de- fence against any reasonable force, with the expenditure of money and labor supposed to be within the means of the gov- ernment. Ample time and the fullest forewarnings were given to the governnicnt for the construction of defences, since, for a full month, Gen. Wise had represented to the government, with the most obvious and emphatic demonstrations, that the defen- ces of the island were wholly inadequate for its protection from an attack either by land or water. The military defences of Roanoke Island and its adjacent waters on the 8th of February, the day of its surrender, consis- ted of three sand forts, a battery of two 32-pounders, and a re- doubt thrown across the road in the centre of the island, about seventy or eighty feet long, on the right of which was a swamp, on the left u marsh. In addition to these defences on the shore and on the island, there was a barrier of piles, extending from the east side of Fulker Shoals, towards the island. Its object was to compel vessels passing on the west of the island to ap- proach within reach of the shore batteries ; but up to the 8th of February, there was a span of 1,700 yards open opposite to Fort Bartow, the most southern of the defences, on the west side of the island. The entire military force stationed on the island prior to^ and at the time of, the late engagement, consisted of the 8th regiment of North Carolina State troops, under the command of Col. H. M. Shaw; the 31st regiment of North Carolina volunteers, under the command of C<»1. J. V. Jordon, and three companies of the 17th North Carolina troops, under the com- ill Alffii- manninfir the several forts*. man .\X ^^i. X^it '.jor G. H. THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR. £46 ^n the 7th of February, there were but one thousand and twenty-four men left, and two hundred of them were upon the flick list. On the evening of the 7fh of February, Brig. Gen. Wise sent from Nagg's Head, under the command of Lieut. Col. Anderson, a reinforcement, numbering some four hundred and fifty men. The whole force was under the command of Brig. Gen. Wise, who, upon the 7th and 8th of February, was at Nagg's Head, four mih s dif^tanl from the island, confined to a sick bed, and entirely disabled from participating in the ac tion m person. The immediate command, therefore, devolved upon Col. H. M. Shaw, the senior ofiicer present. On the moruing of the 7th of February, the enemy's fleet proceeded steadily towards Fort Bartow. In the sound be- tween Roanoke Island and the -nain land, upon the Tyrrell side, Commodore Lynch, with his squadron of seven vessels, had taken position, anrl at eleven o'clock the enemey's fleet consisting of about thirty gun-boats and schooners, advanced in ten divisions, the rear ones having the schooners and trans- ports in tow. The advance and attacking division again sub- divided, one assailing the squadron and the other firing upon the fort with nine-inch, ten-inch and eleven-inch shell, sphcri- cal case, a few round shot, and every variety of rifled projec- tiles. The fort replied with but four guns, (which were all that could be brought to bear,) and after striking the foremost vessels several times, the fleet fell back, so as to mask one of the guns of the fort, leaving but three to reply to the fire of the whole fleet. The bombardment was continued throughout the day, and the enemy retired at dark. The squadron, under the command of Commoilore Lynch, sustained their position most gallantly, and only retired after exhausli. g all their ammunition, and having lost the steamer Curlew and the Forest disabled. In the meantime, the enemy had found a point of landing out of the reach of our field pieces, and defended by a swamp from the advance of our infantry. The enemy having effected a landing here, our whole force took position at the redoubt or breastwork, and placed in battery their field-pieces with ncces- ary artillerymen, under the re.prctivo commands of Captain Schemerhorn, and Lieutenants Kinney and Seldon. Two com- "''■'- ■ >i £46 THE FIRST TEAR OP THE WAR. 1 panics of the Eighth and two of ih.v, T' i'v first were placed at the redoubt to support the artillery- 'I'l.r <• c< mpanics of the Wise Legion, deployed to iho riylit ami left as skirnnishers. The remainder of the infantry were in |e key to nil the rear defences of Norfolk. It unlocked two sounds, Albemarle and Currituck ; eight rivers, the North, West, Pasquotank, (he Pcrquimnions, the Little, the Chowan, the Roanoke, and the Alligator: four canals, the Albemarle and Chosapettke, tiie Dismal Swamp, the Northwest Canal and the Suffolk; two railroads, the Petersburg and Norfolk, and the Seaboard and iwoano,er walk nor crawl remained for more than two days where , they fell. Some of our men lay wounded before our eartH- works ^ at night, calling for help and water, and our troops who went , out to bring them in were discoverd in the moonlight and , fired upon by the enemy. Many of our wounded were not re- ^covered until Sunday morning— some of them still alive, but WH' : i 31 258 THE riRST TEAR OF THE WAR. blue with cold, and covered with frost and snow. It would have been merciful if each army had been permitted, under a flag of truce, to bring off its wounded at the close of each day ; but it was not so, and they lay in the frost and sleet between thd two armies. For nearly a week a large portion of our troops had been guarding their earth-works, and from the day of the battle Ihey had been out in force night and day. Many of them in the rifle pits froze their feet and hands. The severity of the cold was such that the clothes of many of the troops were so stiff from frozen water, that could they have been taken off, they would have stood alone. At the meeting of general officers called by Gen. Floyd on Friday night, it was unanimously determined to cut open a route of exit, and thus to save our army. The plan of attack agreed upon and directed by Gen. Floyd, was that Gen. Pillow, assisted by Gen. Bushrod Johnson, having also under his com- mand commanders of brigades, Col. Baldwin, commanding Mis- sissippi and Tenessee troops, and Col. Wharton and Col. McCausland, commanding Virginians, should, with the main body of the forces defending our left wing, attack the right wing of the enemy occupying the heights reaching to the bank of the river; that General Buckner, with the forces under his command, and defending; the right of our line, should strike the enemy's encampment on the Winn's Ferry road ; and thai each command f hould leave in the trenches troops to hold them. The attack|on the left was delayed, aa Gen. Pillow moved out of his position in the morning. He found the enemy pre- pared to receive him in advance of his encampment. For two hours this principal portion of the battle-field was hotly and stubbornly contested, and strewn with piles of dead. The Federal troops in this quarter fought with a steadiness and de- termination rarely witnessed, and the exhibition of their cour- age on this field afforded a lesson to the South of a spirit that it had not expected in an enemy whose valour it had been ac- customed to deride and sneer at since the battle of Manassas. THE FIRST YEAR OF TBB WAR. 259 The Federals did not retreat, but fell back fighting us and con- lesling every inch of ground. Being forced to yield, they re- tired slowly towards the Winn's Ferry road, Buckner's point of attack. '^ On this road, where Gen. Buckner's command was expected to flank the enemy, it had been forced to retire from his bat- tery, ana as the enemy continued to fall back, Gen. Buckner's troops became united with the forces of Gen. Pillow in en- gaging the enemy, who had again been reinforce.i. The en- lire command of the enemy hafl been forced to our right wing and ill front of Gen. Buckner's position in the entrenchment The advantage was instantly appreciated. The enemy drove back the Confederates, advanced on the trenches on the ex- treme right of Gen. Buckner's command, getting possession, after a stubborn conflict of two hours, of the most important and commanding position of the battle-field, being in the rear of our river batteries, and, advancing with fresh forces towards our left, drove back our troops from ihs ground that had been won in the severe and terrible conflict of the early part of the day. The field had been won by the enemy after nine hours of conflict. Night found him in possession of all the ground that had been won by our troops in the morning, and occupying the most commanding portion of our entrenched work, to drive- him from which the most desperate assaults of our troops had been unsuccessful. The enemy had been landing reinforce- mcnts throughout the day. His numbers had been augmented to eighty-two regiments. We had only about 13,000 troops all tuld. pf these we had lost in three diflferent battles a larce proportion. The command had been in the trenches night and day, exposed to the snow, sleet, mud and ice-water, without shelter, without adequate covering, and without sleep. To re- new the combat, with any hope of successful result, was obvi- ously vain. A c(»uncil of general officers was called at night. It was sugaested that a desperate onset upon the right of the enemy's forces on the ground might result in the extrication of a con- ?m .TIJB FIRST YEAR QF THE WAR. sideiable proportion of the comrpand. A majority of the coun- cil rejected this proposition. Gen. BucUner rentiirked, that it would cost the command three-fourths its present numbers to cut its way out, and it was wrong to sacrifice three-fourlhs to 1 savje ope-fourth ; that no officer had a right to cause such a isacrifice. The alternative of the proposition was a surrender . of the position and command. Gen. Floyd and Gen. Pillovy, .^ach declar. d that they would not surrender themselves pri- soners. The former claimed thai he had a right individually to determine that he would not survive a surrender. Ho said ,tbat he would turn over the command to Gen. Buckner, if he .(Gen Floyd) could be allowed to withdraw his own particular brigade. To this Gen Buckner consented. Thereupon, the command was turned over to General Pillow, he passing it in- stantly to Gen. Buckner, declaring that "he would neither sur- render the command nor himself.'* Col. Forrest, at the head ,of an efficient regiment of cavalry, was directed to accompany . Gens. Floyd and Pillow in what was supposed to be an effort to pass through the enemy's lines. Under the.se circumstances, Gen. Buckner accepted the command. He sent a flag of truce , to the pnemy for an armistice of six hours, to ijegotiate for , terms of capitulation.* Before the flag and coipmunication were delivered, Gens. Pillow and Floyd had retired from the garrison,. and by daylight were pursuing their retreat towards , Nashville, the largest portion of the command of the latter toil- ing in their flight along the banks of the Tennessee, but with- in out a pursuing enemy to harass .them. , JhjBii^urrpndei; of Dpnalspn was rendered ijiemprable by the '-1*1 ■' • The following is a correct list of the Confederate prisoners taken at Fort Don- ' «l8on. The number was reported in the newspapers of the time, Soutbas well as 1 1. North, to.have been much larger: Floyd's Virginia Artillery, 34; Guy's Virginia , ,^^^i)lery,.d9 ; French's Virgini^. Artillery, 43 ; Murray's Battery, 97 ; Oumberland . Battery, 66 ; Fiftieth "^ennesse.), 4S5 ; Fourteenth jlIissiBsippi, 826; Third Mis- sissippi, 830 ; Seventh Texas. 364 ; Twenty-sixth Mississippi, 427 ; Twenty-seventh Alabama, 180; Third Tennessee, 627 ; Tenth Tennessee, 608 ; Forty-second Tea- (.^Dfisset, 494;,Forty-enghth T^POessee, 249; Forty-ninth Tennessee, 450 ; Twenty- j..«xth^^e,np(^f^e«(, 65; Second K«^ntuoky, ^36 ; Third Alabama, 84; Fiftieth Vir- ffinift, 19 ; Fifty-first Tennessee, 17/ Total, 5,079. TrtB tlKSt TEAR OF THE t!»Afe. ^f hardest fighting that had yet occurred in therwaf, and by one' of the most terrible and sickening battle-fields ihat had yet' mai'ked its devastations or had ever appealed to the 1 orror- stricken senses of humanity; The conflict had run through four days and {;^ijr nights ; in which a Confederate force not exceeding 13,000, a large portion of whom were illy armed^' had contended with an army at leaist three limes its number.' The loss of the Federals was immense, and the proofs of an^ uttdeniable courage were left in the number of their deAd on the field. In his official report' of the battle, Gem Floyd con^^ jectures that the enemy's loss in killed and wounded reached a numbers beyond 6,000. The same authority gives our loss at 1,600. Both statements are only conjectural. ThiEi scene of action had been mostly in the woods, although' there were two open places of an acre or two where the fight' had raged furiously, and the ground was covered with deftdJ Ail the way up to our entrenchments the same scene of death was presented. There was two miles of dead strewn thickly, mingled with fire-arms, artillery, dead horses, and the para-' phernalia of the battle-field. Federals and Confederates weres promiscuously mingled, sometimes grappling in the fierce death' throe; sometimes facing each other as they gave and received^ the fatal shot and thrust, sometimes hudiled in grotesque) shapes, and again heaped in piles, which lay six or seven feet deep. Many of the bodies were fearfully mangled. The artil- lery horses had not hesitated to tread on the wounded, dyingii and dead, and the ponderous crtillery wheels crushed limbs' and skulls. It was an awful sight to behold weak, wounded men lifting their feeble hands beneath the horses' hoofs. The ■ village of Dover, which was within our lines, contained in every- room in every house sick, wounded or dead men.^ Bloody rags were everywhere, and a door could not be opened- without hearing groans. " I could imagine," says an eye-witness of the field of car- nage, "nothing more terrible than the silent indications of agony that marked the features of the pale corpses which lay at every step. Thoi>.»h dead and rigid in every muscle, they 262 THE riAST TEAR OF THE WABt Still writhed and seemed to turn to catch the passing breeze for a cooling breath. Staring eyes, gaping mouths, clenched hands, and strangely contracted limbs, seemingly drawn into the smallest compass, as if by a mighty effort to rend asunder some irresistible bond which held them down to the torture o^" which they died. One sat against a tree, and, with mouth and eyes wide open, looked up into the sky as if to catch a glance at its fleeting spirit. Another clutched the branch of an over- hanging tree, and hung half-suspended, as if in the death pang he had raised himself partly frbm the ground ; the othc had grasped his faithful muskef, and the compression of his mouth told of the determination which would have been fatal%A foe had life ebbed a minute later. A third clung with bolh'handa to a bayonet which was buried in the ground. Great numbers lay in heaps, just as the fire of the artillery mowed them down, mangling their forms into an almost indistinguishable mass." The display of courage on the part of the Federal troops was unquestionable. The battle, however, was fought against us by Western men, there not being in the ranks of the enemy, as far as known, any man east of the Ohio. The Southern .people, whib contemning the fighting qualities of the New England ''Yankee" and the Pennsylvania Dutchman, were constrained to give to the Western men credit for their bravery ; and many of our ovv^n officers did not hesitate to express the opinion that the Western troops, particularly from Southern lili- nois, Minnesota and Iowa, were as good fighting material as there was to be found on the continent. A Confederate officer relates a story of an extraordinary display of spirit on the field of Donelson by a regiment of Zouaves from Southern Illinois— the " Egypt " regiment as it was called. It bad been complete- ly shattered by the fire of artillery, and was scattered over the fields in what the Confederates supposed to btj an irretrievable rout. A le-,v sharp rallying words from their color-bearer, and the men, who a few minutes ago were fugitives, flocked to their colors, at the double-quick, from different parts of the field, and re-formed in the very face of the advancing Ibe. The /all of Fort Donelson develuptd ihu crisis in iho West, THE FIRST TSAR 0¥ THE WAH. 263 which had long existed. The evacuation of Bowling Green had become imperatively necessary, and was ordered before and executed while the battle was being fought at Donelson. Gen. Johnston awaited the event opposite Nashville. The re- sult of the conflict each day was announced as favorable. At midnight on the I5th February, Gen. Johnston received news of a glorious victory— at dawn of a defeat. The blow was most disastrous. It involved the surrender of Nashville, which was incapable of defence from ifs position, and was threatened not only by the enemj^'s ascent of the Cumberland, but by the advance of his forces from Bowling Green. Not more than 11,000 eflective men had been left under Gen. Johnston's command to oppose a column of Gen. Buell, of not less than 40,000 troops, while the army from Fort Donelson, with the gun-boats and transports, had it in their power to ascend the Cumberland, so as to intercept all commu- nication with the South. No alternative was left but to evacu- ate Nashville or sacrifice the army. The evacuation of Nashville was attended by scenes of panic and distress on the part of the population unparalleled in the annals of any American city. The excitement was intensified by the action of the authorities. Governor Harris hastily con- vened the Legislature, adjourned it to Memphis, and, with the legislators and the State archives, left the town. An earthquake could not have shocked the city morj. The congregations at the churches were broken up in confusion and dismay ; women end 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 and confusion, and of plunder by the mob. Gen. Johnston had moved the main body of his command to Murfreesboro'— a rear guard being left in Nnshville under Gen. Floyd, 'Ai ,• liad arrived from Donelson, to secure the stores and provls ons, in the first wild excitement of the panic, the store- houses iiud been thrown open to to the poor. It is believed that hundreds of families, among the lower orders of the popu- 2^4 THE FIRST YEAS OF THE WAW^ , ".V lation, secured and secreted government stores enough to open' respectable groceries. It was with the greatest difficulty that' den. Floyd could restore order and get his martial law into' anything like an effective system. Blacks and whites had to be^ chased and captured and forced to help the movement of W ernment stores. One man, who, after a long chase, was cap-" tured, offered fight, and was in consequence sbnt and badly' wounded. Not. 1. ss than one million of dollars in stores was lost through the ads of the cowardly and ravenous mob of Nashville. Gen. Floyd and Col. Forrest exhibited extra(!rdinary energy' and efficiency in getting off government stores. Col. Forrest" remained in the city about twenty-four hours, with only forty' men, after the arrival of the enemy at Edgefield, These officers* were assisted by the voluntary efforts of several patriotic ciii-' zons of Nashville, who rendered them great assistance. These shameful scenes, enacted in the evacuation of Nash^ ville, were -k 'hing more than the disgusting exhibitions of any mob brutalized by its fears or excited by rapine. At any rate, the city speedily repaired the injury done its reputation by a temporary panic, in the spirit of defiance that its best citizens^' and especially its ladies, offered to the eneiriy. We discover*' in fact the most abundant evidence in the Northern newspapers' that the Federals did not find the ' Union " sentiment that' they e^xpected to meet with in the capital of Tennessee, and that, if there were any indications whatever of such sentiment, they were " found only among the mechanics and laboring classes of the city." The merchants and business men of Nashville,,. as a class, showed a firm, unwavering and loyal attachment to the cause of the South. The ladies gave instances of patriotism that were noble testimonies to their sex. They refused tha visifs of Federal officers, and disdained their recognition ; they' collected a fund of money for the especial purpose of contribut- ipg to the needs of our prisoners ; and, says a recipient of the bounty of the.-e noble women, as soon as a Confederate prison- er was paroled and passed inio the next room, he found pressed in his hands there a sum of money given him by the ladies of Nashville. Many of the most respectable of the people had 1 THE FIRST YEAR OF THE WAR.' g^ been constrained to leave their homes rather than endure the presence of the ^nemy. The streets, which, to coi;firm the pre- dictions of Northern newspapers of th" welcomes that awaited the «' Union " army in the South, should have been gay and decorated, presented to the enemy nothing but sad and gloomy' aspects. Whole rows of houses, which, but a short while ago were occupied by families of wealth and respectability, sur- rounded by all the circumstances that make homes happy and prosperous, stood vacant, and the gaze of the passer-by wad' met, instead of, a^ in former days, with fine tapestry windoW' curtains and neatly polished marble steps, with pands of dust- dimmed glass. On the whole, the experience of the enemy in Nashville wis vastly instructive. The fact that, wherever he had gone, he had converted luke-warm Southern districts into secession strongholds, or had intensified the sentiment of opposition to ^,!!^V was as unexpected to him as it was gratifying to us. This' experience was universal in the war from the date of the occupation of Alexandria, which had voted overwhelmingly fot' the Union in the preliminary stages of the revolution, and' w&^^' subsequently as thoroughly Southern as any town in the Con- federacy, down to the occupation of Nashville, which had, at' first, given some signs of weak submission to its fate, and after- wards spurned its invaders with a spirit of defiance, reckless of consequences. In the neighborhood of Nasf-ville, the eneitiy was constantly harfassed by local parties oi adventurers, who shot his picket^; watched his movements, and attacked detached portions of his forces at various poihts. The whole country rang with thrf exploits ofthe gallant and intrepid cavalier. Captain John H. Morgan, and his brave men in the vicinity of Nashville. Hitf squadron belonged to Gen. Hardee's command, and he had been left in command ofthe forces at xMursfreesboro" to watch the movements ofthe Federals, which he not only did effectu- ally, but enacted a number of daring adventures within the lines of the enemy. Scarcely a day passed without aomc such exploit of Captain m ■|| m rplji <66 THE FIHST TKAR OF THE WAB. Morgan and his intrepid parlizans. Once he im aily snrceedf-d in catpuring a Federal general. Another ('.>, he utlacked a party of scouts, and killed the captain, "ihf next, exploit was to rush into the canrip of some regiuifnt, asid carry off a train of wagons. The most daring of his adventures was his sudden appearance in the rear of the enemy, entering with forty brave followers the town of Gallatin, twenty-six miles north of Nashville, on the Louisville and Nashville railroad. On entering the town, Capt. Morgan immediately seized upon the telegraph office and the depot. He had presented himself at the telegraph office, carelessly asking the operator what was the news, when thft individual, never for a moment imagining who it was that addressed him, replied that there were rumors that "the rebel scoundrel," Morgan, was in the neighborhood, and proceeded to illustrate his own -nlour by flourishing a re- volver, and declaring how anxious ht, *o encounter the man who was creating so much uneasiness and alarm in the country. *' You are now speaking to Captain Morgan," was the quiet reply of the partisan ; " I am he 1" At these words, the pistol dropped from the hands of the operator, who entreated the mercy of his captor. The poor fellow easily submitted to the task assigned to him of sending a dispatch, in the name of Capt. Morgan, to Prentice, the notorious editor of the Louis- ville Journal, politely offering to act as his escort on his pro- posed visit to Nashville. After this amunement, Capt. Morgan and his men awaited the arrival of the train from Bowling -Green. In due time the train came thundering in ; Capt. Mor- gan at once seized it, and taking five Federal officers who were passengers and the engineer of the train prisoners, he burned to cinders all of the cars, with their contents, and then filling the locomotive with turpentine, shut down all the valves, and started it towards Nashville. Before it had run eight hundred yards, the accumulation of steam caused it to explode, shiver- ing it into a thousand atoms. Capt. Morgan then started southward with his prisoners, and made his way safely to the Confederate camp. On another occasion while returning alonp tow^ards Mur« THE PIBST TEAR OF THE WAfc. 267 freesboro', Capt. Morgan encountered a picket of six of the enemy, and captured them and their arms. It was accom- phshed by a bold adventure. He discovered the pickets in a house, and having on a Federal overcoat, assumed a bold front and riding up to the sergeant rebuked him for not attending properly to his duty, and ordered that the whole party should consider themselves under arrest, and surrender their arms The soldiers not doubting for a moment that they were ad- dressed by a Federal officer, delivered up their muskets. As they were marched Into the road, with their faces turned from their camp, the sergeant said, « We are going the wrong way, colonel." « We are not." was the reply. « J am Captain Morgan.'' ^ The name of Captain Morgan was fast becoming famous as that of a partisan leader. He was induced to abandon his present field of operations to accept promotion in the army being appointed to a colonelcy in the regular military ser-' vice, for which he had been urgently recommended by Gen. xiarciee. Since falling back to Murfreesboro', Gen. Johnston had managed, by combining Crittenden's division and the fugitives from Donelson, to collect an army of 17,000 men. His object was now to co-operate with Gen. Beauregard for the defence of the Valley of the Mississippi, on a line of operations south of Nashville. The line extending from Columbu.s, by way of Forts Henry and Dorieison, had been lost. The disaster had involved the surrender of Kentucky and a large portion of Tennessee to the enemy ; and it had become neces.«ary to re- organize a new line of defence south of Nashville, the object of which would be to protect the railroad system of the Southwest, and to insure the defence of Memphis and the JVJississippi. The work of putting the Mississippi River in a state of corn- plate defence had been entrusted to Gen. Beauregard. On abandoning Columbus, he had taken a strong position about forty-five miles below it, at Island No. 10. This locality was looked upon as the chief barrier to the progress of the Federals ■■??'!' f w-*:i 2Sd THE FIRST VEAR OF THt! WAR. dftWn' the Mississippi. At fhfe island, a bemi occurs in thtf river of several miles fxlent. Around and upon this curve ' were located the tows of New Ma 'rid and Point Pleasant'.' t The distance around the bf nd was about thirty miles, whereas the distance across by land from Tiptonvi'le below to theislaiid" above did not exceed five miles. It was calculated that eve«' should the enemy hold Point Pleasant, and :^et possession of New Madrid by our evacuation of that po.st a^ o, our communi-' cations by water to Tiptonville, and thence b> land acrovs thel^ bend to Island No. 10, would still remain intact. The island' was thought to be impregnable. It was flanked on the Mi**i souri side by an extensive swamp, and on the other side by a> lake of several miles extent, which rendered it impossible for the enemy to jtpproach the position by land. With this indication of the situation in the Wes and thei- operations fur the defence of Memphis and the Mississippi, to' which the Southw^aid movemtnl of Gen. Johnston towards th«i left bank of the Tennessee was expected to contribute, we miast** leave, for a short period, our narrative of the movements and^ events of the war in this direction. The serious disaster at Donelson appears to have been fiilty appreciated by the Confede^ate government ; and its announde^ ment in Richmond was followed/ to the surprise of the publicj' by a comvrtunicatibtl from President Davis to Congress/ on the> 11th of March, declaring the official reports of the affair ini' complete and unsatisfactory, and " relieving from command** Gens. Flojd and Pillow. The main causes of dissatisfactiott" Indicated by the President were, that reinforcements were not^ asked for by the commanding generals at Donelson, and that* the senior generals " abadoned responsibility," by transfer''' ring the command to a junior officer. This act of President' Davis was the subject of warm and protracted argument in Congress and in the newspapers. It was shown, by evidence produced before Congress, that, no reinforcements had been' asked for, decause it was known how much the command of' Gen. Johnston had already been weakened by sending Floyd*S' and Buckner's forces to Uonelson; because an overwhelming T^^.^Tip^T XEAB QV JS^S WA"- '*^9 fQJ«e of he enemy was prssin^ on his rear ; ,and,b^ause,Gen. Ji)hns on . troops were or. the march between JJowl..pg Q^n ..^d lS^a3hviI!e, and eould not reach Fort Oonelsoniin timTto ,^ftnge the forfunegof,the day. t'me lo ^ith refer^;ice loth., second i.8signment of ^csuse.of.^he Pfpsjdent's .'jspleasure, it was agreed on all sides that the transfer o: the command by the senior general, waa irregular. .L ''V. Tu"' ^'•"^'^ '°^^« P»«9ident by Gen. John. ml, and was, therefore, wholly relieved from any suspicion of the gloze of an official report, that officer had djrict^ noTen «ure upon Gens Floyd and Pillow. On the coTt aV^iif he' .confidenee of this private letter, he wrote to the pf s de't "Ihe^ommam . as : rregularly transferred., and devolved on the junior general, but not apparently to aypidany ^ re^ . sW-b,hty or fromany want of personal or moralintS" .and.he expressed continued ''cpnfidence in. the gallantry the , energy, and the devotion to the Confederacy " of hnih r of Gen. Floyd, by assigning him, after the fall of DoaelJon o the^important duty of proceeding to Chattanooga to de lend the approaches towards Northern Alabama and Georflia iTmic Tr"'"''''^'" .^^^^^^" ^he Mississippi and the it- lantic This V as the private and unrestrained testimony of Gen. Johnston. With a superior military sensitive^Z of «,.e,nlarity,» Mr. Davis repudiated the LplanaLroi the commandmg general in the field; deprived Gens. Floyd and nnbr °- r """'"'" "^'^ «'=""^-* ^« convince the • pubhc mind .hat its government was not above the errors of judgmeni .r the partialities of human affection ' Pe.l^sp.,itionoftheConrederate prisoners taken at Fort .,:^onelson gave an exhibition of vile perfidy on the part of the ^, North to which there was no parallel to be found in the history „ of civilized warfare, or in all the crooked paths of mS ajplornacy. Instead of these prisoners being discharged "^ he North according to the understanding e> ..ingbetwfent I two governments, they were carried off into the Western IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET {MT-3) 4 /h. 1.0 If :: IIIIM 32 I.I I' I - 6" IM M M 1.8 11.25 11.4 ill 1.6 % <^ /] /^ /A *i ''> ^ I •'// Photographic Sciences Corporation ?3 WSST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.y. MS80 (716) 872-4.^03 .■^ L« ^"^f ^ /o rank &f C" of war; that any surplus remaining on either sidf nf>.?l ^changes should be released, and°that herea Lt" dtn^To whole continuance of the war, prisoners taken on "mZ Ja should be paroled within ten djjs after their oaptur^ and f Jivered on the frontier of their own country ' ^'" .wo™rl"'*"f r"'''"^ "Sreed to all the propositions excek -.el of ^,„ ,,„p.,, bTcr r;in'\nT;ruii:L^ States, n the war of 1812. and General Cobb accepted I He also objected to the provisions in anothpr ii.« 1.1 .. squired each party to pay the expenses of ^S^t^iJ pnaoners .0 the frontier of the country of the prilTr The p«.v s,„„ met hisentire approval, but he did not feel aXri«rf by h s ,ns racbons, to incorporate it into .he prop„«dcS •Xr ■ ' '•'"* '" """" -" «°'— ^i ,J,^ ''"7»»' closed with the promise f«,m General Wool bathe would notify General Cobb, as «,an as he could h^ from his government, on that point. On the first of March General Cobb held hi. «cond interview WU, b,m, ,„ which he (General Cobb) proposed .0 en,e 1"! c«'M contains 'he stipulations previously «. forth. ^„e,M Wool then ..plied that, his government Jould no. .^e ,^ ,'l^ Wr i THE FIBST TEAK OF THE WAR. ^|)roposi!i n that, each party shoi?ld, pay the expense of tr^ns- ..porting their prisoners to the frontier, when General Cpbb promptly waived it, thua leaving the cartel free from all his objections, and just what General Wool had himself proposed , io,,hi8 letter oli the 13th ^"^pbraary to Qerieral Huger. '' ^^ Upon this, Genera) WoqI informed General Cobb that his government had changed his instructions and abruptly broke ^fiffipp negoli^tion. ^.^a the.meaptfme our goyiernnj^^pt, in, a very, cu^^o,us,or ,y;^y ^/f(iQ^i?hl,Wtip^P^tiop of;the,gpOcl..fi^|^fe pf fhe^jf^rth,,jti^4 ^irjBcfpd ^,,tii[^tpej:swn, whoj,Wrfire ,^.|c;ppfii|!i,ed ,toX(pj[pns' cel|8andthr.e.atj^p,ed with the gallows. (f<>\s. .Jjice, dogs well and Wood „an4 jM^J9r JR^vere were s^nt tot^i^ir .^ (9,w», ,cP|ijintry ; , t,he remaining hostages were , brpught on jp.wple .^^om, distant points to Richmpnd, on their way to be d^|iyej;ed .)ip„ at the , expanse of this gpvernment, apd their surfr^ei^jder was only suspended on receipt of intelligence f om Gf^ifiifal Cobb, that . he saw ^reason to suspect bad faith on the part of the enemy. ' . , , . "yhe perfidy of the North was , ,^sely ac^conjplislied.* [The h'i\ * This act of deception ou the part of the North was but one of a ?.ong eeries of acts of Yankee perfidy, and of their abnegation of the rights of oivilised' war. ri.'^.ben McDowell left /Washington city tQ takOpRichinond, his .iiri^jrjrfia supplied ■with handcuffs to iron Rebels. After the battle of Bull's Run they, sent a white flag to ask permission to bury their dead. It was humanely grantecf. Tlwiy left 'their dead to bury, their dead,, and attempted, under the protipction of that Hite ,Liag, to erect batteriee for our destruction. On the bntUei^ield; of AI - ,tifl9 ©f; oiir bray? seaman. , At ^ewbern, iij violation of the , J'nwb of wfc r, tbey^ at- teJipted to shell a city containing several thousand women and children, before either demanding a surrender or giving the cttiiens notice of their inteniions, ' A Kentucklan went into a Federal cartjp to reclaim a figitivo slave, and they tied a biin up and gave him twenty „,„, a. C tls :: td ri^' "'■ ^''"°''' "" authenlic aceotinis and le.t!l f u "" ""' '" • ^-i 'h^ .hips, leaving rZlltr, T i^ 'n^d fv^ "'" ^"^ p-p.e/.ha. haKdrcrr: ;; IS;.:^: 276 THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. of that treaty, by declaring the Federal blockade effective, for no other reason than that " considerable prudence was neces- sary in the American question." In the House of Commons, Mr. Gregory asserted that the non-observation of the Treaty of Paris was a deception for the Conffjderale Slates, and an ambuscade for the interests of commerce throughout the world. The Northern army had remained quiet on the Potomac, amusing the Southern people with its ostentatious parades and gala-day sham fifchts, while the government at Washington was preparing an onset all along our lines from Hatteras to Kan as. Burnside had captured Roanoke Island in the East, while Fort Henry on ^he Tennessee and Fort Donelson on the Cumber- land had sent the echo back to Albemarle. Buffeting sleet and siorm and by forced marches the enemy had seized Bowl- ing Green, while Siegel lell suddenly upon Springfield ; the enemy's gun-boats threatened Savannah, and Gen. Butler hur- ried off his regiments and transports to the Gulf for an attack via Ship Island upon New Orleans. In his message to Congress, President Davis declared that the magnified proportioils of the war had occasioned serious disasters, and that the effort was impossible to protect by our arms the whole of the territory of the Confederate States, sea- board and inland. To the popular complaint of inefficiency in the departments of the government, he declared that they had done all which human power and foresight enabled them to accomplish. * The increase of our territory since the opening of the war was scarcely a cause for boast. The addition of new States and Territories had greatly extended our lines of defence. Missouri had been unable to wrest from the enemy his occu- pancy of her soil. Kentucky had been admitted into the Con- federacy only to become the theatre of active hostiliti'js, and, at last, to be abandoned to the enemy. The Indian treaties effected by the Provisional Congress, through the mediation of Gen. Albert Pike, had secured us a rich domain, but a trouble- some and worthless ally. It was possible, however, that in this domain there might be secured a rich inheritance for pos- THE riHST YEAR OF THB WAB. 877 tenty. h comprised an area of more than eighty thoaaand square miles, diversified by mouatains filled with iron, coal and' other mineral treasures, and broad-reaching plains, with the Red River running along its southern border, the Arkansas River almost through its centre, and their tributaries reticula- ting Its entire surface. At the time of the inauguration of our permanent govern- ment, there was, however, one aspect of our affairs of strilcinir encouragement. It was the condition of the finances of (he government. We had no floating debt. The credit of the government was unimpaired among its own people. The total expenditures for the year had been, in round numbers. $170,000,000; less than one-third of the sum expended by the enemy to conquer us, and less than the value of a single article of export — the cotton crop of the year. In the Federal Congress it was estimated that, at the end of the fiscal year, (Jtme, 1862,) the public debt of the Northern •In December last, Col James Mcintosh was sent from Arkansas into the Ohe- rokee Nation to chastise the rebellious Creek Chief Opoth-layoho-la, which ho d.d with good effect. The results of the incursion were thus enumerated by CoL Molntosh: « We captured one hundred and sixty women and children, twenty ne- JJvll h" ^.Tr^'/T"*^, ^'^' "^ °^^"' '^»^"' fi^« hundred Indian horsey p etely broken up and h.s force scattered in every direction, destitute of the rim- plest elements of subsiEteace." ■."» »iui wili^'^'^^J'o?"'"^ ^"°* '""^"'^'"^ *''" Osage country-Hs extent being nn. Missouri and Kansas) embraces an area of 82,073 square miles-more than fifty- two miU'ons of acres, to wi t : ' The land of the Ciierokees, Osages, Quepaws, Senecas, and Senecas and Shawnee«L 88,106 square miles, or 24,388,800 acres. E °nf?»r p""''' "i ?«"'°°'««> 20.fi8l square miles, or 18,140,000 acres. mlH or lM;o,?or^^^^^^^^^^ ^"' ''' ''^"'''^^' '-' °^'«^--' ^«'^«^ «0— Total 82.078 square miles, or 62,628,800 acres. Orlr^^'l^^V'"'"^^ °^ CLerokees, 23,000; Osages, 7,600; Quapaws, 820; Stt' '^'^^O 5 f «'"'"" ". 2,500. Reserve Indians, 2.000; Choct;ws, 17,600; and Chiekasaws. 4,700. -making an aggregate of 71,620 souls. *!,«»• l°» ? Tr^'^ "' '° "''"^ ■■"^P"''''' "»"y « njagnifiegnt one. It is one of th brightest and fairest parts of the great West, and only needs the development of Its resources to become the equal of the most favored lands on this continent. 378 TAB riRST TBAR OF THE WABi government would be about $760,000,000, and that the de- mands on the treasury, to be met by taxation, direct and indi- rect, would not be less than $166,000,000 per annum. The problem of the Northern finances was formidable enough. It was calculated that the Federal tax would be from four to- six times greater lor each State than their usual assesmenta heretofore, and doubts were expressed, even by Northern jour nals in the interest of the government, if it could be raised ini any other way than by practical confiscation. The South, however, had already lingered too long in the^ delusive promise of the termination of the war by the breaking down of the finances of the Northern government, and had' entertained the prospects of peace in the crude philosophy and calculations of the newspaper article, without looking to thosa great lessons of history which showed to what lengths a war might be carried despite the difficulties of finance, the confines of reason, and the restraints of prudence, when actuated by that venom and desperation which were shown alike by the people and government of the North. The very extent of the l^orthern expenditure should have been an occasion of alarm, instead of self-'complacency to the South ; it showed the tre* mendous energy of the North and the overpowering measure* of its preparation ; if argued a most terrible degree of despera? tion; and it indicated that the North had plunged so far into the war, that there was but little sane choice between striving tp wade through it, and determining to turn baqk with cettajflj and inevitable ruin in its face. Fortunately, the lesson of its late disasters were not en- tirely lost upon the government of the Confederate States.* They happily gave fresh impulses to the authorities, and wera productive of at least some new and vigorous political mea- sures. The most important of these was a conscript bill for il^creasing our forces in the field. The enlargement of the pro- portions of the war demaEided such a measure; the confiictj^. in which we were now engaged, extended from the shores of the Chesapeake to the confiines of Missouri and Arizona. .: The measures and expressions of the government plainljp THB riRsnp ITRAII oi- vok wa». tn hitimated to the people, who had been so persistently Jncreda- lous of a long war, that it had become pmpable that the war would be continued through a series of years, and that prepara- tions for the ensuing campaigns should be commensurate with tmch a prospect. In Congress, resolntions were passed urging the planters to suspend the raising of cotton, and to plant provision crops, so as to provide for the support of the army. This change in the direction of our industry, besides increasing the capacity of the South to sustain itself, aimed a blow at the well-known selfish calculations of England to repay herself for past losses from the blockade, in the cheap prices expected from the excessive supply of two years' crop of cotton in the South. The South was not to be the only or chief loser in the dimiilished production of her great staple and the forced change- in her industrial pursuits. For every laborer who was diverted from the culture of cotton in the South, perhaps, four times as many elsewhere, who had found subsistence in the various era^ ployraent* growing out of its use, would be forced also out of their usual occupations. The prospect of thus bringing ruin upon the industrial interests of other countries was not pleasing to the people or our government ; although it was some consoi lation to know that England, especially, might yet feel* through this change of production in the South, the conse- quences of her folly and the merited fruits of her injustice to a people who had been anxious for her amity, and had at one time been ready to yield to her important commercial privile^s. In the growing successes of the Northern armies, the spirit of the Southern people came to the aid of their government With a new power and generosity that was quite willing to for- pt all its shortcomings in the past. The public sentiment had been exasperated and determined in its resolution of resis- tance to the last extremity by the evidences of ruin, barbarism dnd shameless atrocities that had marked the paths of the pro- gress of the enemy. The newspapers were filled with accounts of the outrages of the enemy in the districts occupied by him. By his barbarous law of confiacation, widows and orphans had t80 THB FIRST TCAR Of TUB WAR. been stripped of death*s legacies ; he had overthrown munici- palities and State governments; he had imprisoned citizens without warrant, and regardless of age or sex ; he had destroyed •commerce, and beggared the mechanic and manufacturer ; he had ripped open the knapsacks of our captured soldiery, robbing them of clothing, money, necessaries of life, and even of the instruments of their surgeons. The Southern people considered that they were opposing an enemy who had proved himself a foe to mankind, religion and civilization. The venomous spirit of Abolition had been free to develop itself in the growing successes of the Northern arms. It is a curious commentary on the faith of the people of the North, or rather a striking exposure of the subserviency of all the -expressions of opinion on the part of that people to considera- 'tions of expediency, that, in the begining of hostilities, even after the proclamation of war by President Lincoln, when it was yet thought important to affect moderation, fugitive slaves from Virginia were captured in the streets of Washington, and, by the direct authority of the Northern government, returned to their masters ! A few months later, negro slaves were kid- napped from their masters by the Federal army, under the puerile and nonsensical pretence of their being " contraband of war." The anti-slavery purposes of the war rapidly developed from that point. The Northern journals declared that the ex- cision of slavery was one of the important objects of the war; that the opportunity was to be taken in the prosecution of hos- tilities to crush out what had been the main cause of difference, and thus to assure the fruit of a permanent peace. In his message to the Federal Congress in December, Mr. Lincoln had hinted that « all indispensible means,^^ must be employed to preserve the Union. An order was published by an act of Congress, making it the occasion of dismissal for any army officer to return any negro slave within his lines to his master. It was followed by the explanation of Mr. Lincoln's former hint. In an executive message to the Federal Congress, the policy of " the gradual abolishment of slavery," with the pre- tence '* of pecuniary aid" to States adopting such policy, was THB n8RT TEAR OF THE WAR. 281 advised ; it was approved in the House of Representatives by a vote of 8b to 31; and about the same time a bill wai introduced into the Senate for the forcible emancipation of the negro slaves in the district of Columbia, which was subsequent- ly passed. ^ .These bitter exhibitions of the North had envenomed the war; its sanguinary tides rose higher; its battle-fields emu- iated m carnage the most desperate in moJern history; flags of truce were but seldom used, and the amenities of intercourse between belligerents were often slighted by rude messages of defiance. Battles had been frequent and really bloody. But they were no longer decisive of a nation's fate. The campaign covered the whole of a huge territory, and could on-ly be L cided by complicated movements, involving great expenditure ol troops and time. The Southern people, however, were again roused, and nothmg was wanting but wisdom, energy and capacity on the part of the government to have inaugurated another series of brilliant achievments, such as those which rendered illustrious the first months of the war, The rush of men to the battle- field, which was now witnessed in every part of the South was beyond all former example; and if the government had met this mighty movement of the people with a corresponding amplitude of provision and organization, the cause of the South might have been reckoned safe beyond poradventure. President Davis refused to concede anything to public senti- ment with reference to the re-organization of his cabinet ; al- though it is to be remarked that the demand for change was made not by a popular clamour, which a wise ruler wou^ have done right to disregard and to contemn, but by that quiet, con- servative and educated sentiment which no magistrate in a re- publican government had the right to disregard. Mr. Mallory was retained at the head of the Navy; Mr. Benjamin was promoted to the iSecretaryship of the State, and the only material change in the Cabinet was the introduction as Secre- tary of War of General Randolph, of Virginia, a gentleman whose sterling personal worth made him acceptable to all par- 883 THE FIRST TCAB OF THE WAR. ties, and p-.omlsed at least some chanf^^e for the better in th* administration. The Contiederate Congress had passed a bili to create th« office of commanding general, who should take charge of the military movements of the war. The bill was vetoed by Presi^ d«nt Davis ; but, at the same time, the unsubstantial show-of compliance which had been made with reference to the cabinet was repeated with reference to th? commanding general, and Mr. Davis appoijited Gen. Lee to the norninal office of com- manding genera), the order, however, which nominated him providing that he should " act under the direction of the Preaii- dent." Thus it was thai Mr. Davis kept in his hand the practical control of every military movement on the iheatr© (rf the v/ar; and it is very carious, indeed, that the servile newspapers, which applauded in him this single and imperious control of the conduct of the war, were unmindful of the plain and consigtenl justice of putting on his shoulders that exoln* $ive responsibility for disasters whi«h is inseparable from the honours of practical aurocracy. We have referred to the dark period and uncompromising auspices in which the permanent government of the Gonfed* 0rate States was inaagaraled. Across the dreary tract of disi- aster there were, however, sudden and fitful gleams of lighti Euch aa the undaunted cowrage of our troopa and the variable accidents of war might give in stich circumstances of misgov- ornment as were adverse or embarrassing to a grand scale of successes. Of these and of the disasters mingled with them we shall pn.oeed to treat in the progress of the narrative of the external eventa of ihe war. THE NAVAL ENGAQEMF^V IN HAMPTON ROADS. In the piogress of the war, attention had been directed, on both sides, to differeat classes of naval structure, composed of iron, such as floating baiteries, rams', &.c. On the 12th of October, an affair had occurred near the mouth of the Missis*- sippi River, in which a partially submerged iron ram, the Ma- nasaaf; pAUu-MpcI tho Federnl blockading fleet at the head of THB FIWBT TEAR OF t-H« WAK, iBi the Passes, sinking one of them, the Preble, and driving the remaimferofthefleetoutofthe river. This, the first of our naval exploits, wa.s to be followed by adventures on a hmer and more brilliant scale. ^ Asfar kck as the month of June, 1861, the little energy ^splayed by the Naval Department had been employed m biiildKig a single iron-clad naval structure. In the destruction ^ the navy yaid at Norfolk, at the commencement of the war the steam frigate lVferrirar.c had been burned and sunk, and hw engme greatly damaged by the enemy. However, the bottom of the hull, boilers, and heavy and costly parte of the engine were but little injured, and it was proposed of these to eoostruet a casemated vessel with inclined iron-plated sides a^ submerged ends. The novel plan of submerging the en4B rfthe ship and the eares of the casement was the peculiar and distinctive feattti« ^ the Viiginia, as the new structure was called. It was never before adopted. The resistance of iroa plate» to heavy ordnance, whether presented in vertical planes or at low angles of inclination, had been investigated in Eng. land before the Virginia was commenced ; but, in the absence of accurate data, the inclination of the plates of the Virginia an«lihwr thickness and form had to be determined by actual experiment. With^the completion ofthe Virginia, the Confederate squad* eon m t a lames River, under command of Flag Office- Frank- iin Buchanan, was as follows : Steamer Virginia, ten ouns; steamer Ptnrick Henry, twelve gujis ; steamer Jamestown, two guns ; and gun-boat. Teazer, Beaufort and Raleigh, each one gtm— total, 27 guns. On the morning of the 8th of March, about eleven o'clock, the Virgmia left the navy yard at Norfolk, accompanied bi the Raleigh and Beauforf, and proceeded to Newport News to ejigage the enemy's frigates Cumberland and Congress, and ttieir gnn-boats and shore batteries.. On passing SewelPs ft'omr, (.apt. Buchanan made a speech to the men. It was ' lacouic. He sajd : '' My men, you are now about to face the — bhall have no reason to complain of not tight- I MnAmvr J, V — X vru m^-i'} 284 THE FIRST TEAR OF THB WAR. ing at close quarters. Remember you fight for your homes and your country. Yon see those ships— you must sink them. I need not ask you to do it. I know you will do it." At this time, the Congress was lying close to the batteries at Newport News, a little below them. The Cumberland was lying immediately opposite the batteries. The Virginia passed the Congress, giving her a broadside, which was returned with very little effect, and made straight for the Cumberland. In the midst of a heavy fire from the Cumberland, Congress, gun- boats and shore batterries concentrated on the Virginia, she stood rapidly on towards the Cumberland, which ship Capt. Buchanan had determined to sink with the prow of ihe Vir- ginia. On board the Yankee frigate, the crew were watching the singular iron roof bearing down upon them, making all manner of derisive and contemptuous remarks, many of them aloud, and within hearing of those on board the Virginia, such as : " Well, there she comes." " What the devil does she look like ?" " What in h-11 is she after ?" " Let's look at that great Secesh curiosity,*' etc. These remarks were cut short by a discharge from the Virginia's bow gun, which swept from one end of the Cumberland's deck to the other, killing and wounding numbers of the poor deluded wretches. In a few minutes thereafter, the Virginia had struck her on her starboard bow ; the crash below the water was distinctly heard, and, in fifteen minutes thereafter, the Yankee vessel, against whom an old grudge had long existed for her participation in the burning of the navy yard, sunk beneath the water, her guns being fought to the last, and her flag flying at her peak. Just after the Cumberland sunk. Commander Tucker was seen standing down Jamer. River under full steam, accompanied by the Jamestown ^nd Teazer. Their escape was miraculous as they were under a galling fire of solid shot, shell, grape and canister, a number of which passed through the vessels without doing any serious injury, except to the Patrick Henry, through whose boiler a shot passed, scalding to death four persons and wounding others. Having sunk the Cumberland, the Virginia turned her atten- THE FIRST TEAR OF THE WAR. 885 tion to the Congress. She was some time in getting her proper position, m consequence of the shoalness of the water To succeed in this object, Captain Buchanan was obliged to run the ship a short distance above the batteries on James River in order to wind her. During all the time her keel was in the mud, and, of course, she moved but slowly. The vessel wa» thus subjected twice to all the heavy guas of the batteries in passing up and down the river. It appears that while the Virginia was engaged in getting her position it was believed on the Congress that she had hauled off. The Yankees left their guns and gave three cheers. Their elation was of short duration. A few minutes afterwards the Virginia opened upon the frigate, she having run into shoal water. The « Southern bugaboo," into whom the broadside of the Congress had been poured without effect, not even faizing her armour, opened upon the Yankee frigate, causing such carnage, havoc and dismay on her decks, that her colours were in a few minutes hauled down. A white flag was hoisted at the gaft and half-mast, and another at the main. Numbers of the crew instantly took to their boats and landed. Our fire immediately ceased. The Beaufort was run alongside with instructions from Captain Buchanan to take possession of the Congress, secure the officers as prisoners, allow ihe crew to land and burn the ship. Lieutenant Parker, commanding the Beaufort, received the flag of the Congress and her surrender from Commander William Smith and Lieutenant Pendergrast with the side arms of these officers. After having delivered themselves as prisoners of war on board the Beaufort, they were allowed, at their own request, to return to the Congresl to assist in removing the wounded to the Beaufort. They never returned, although they had pledged their honour to do so, and in witness of that pledge had left iheir swords with Lieut. Alexander, on board the Beaufort. The Beaufort had been compelled to leave the Congress under p perfidious fire opened from the shore, while the frigate had two white flags flying, raised by her own crew. Deter^ minnH thai tUa r*^r.»_^ -i u . . . i. .. . ..,„, .„^. ^.^uQi^Bs 3uuuiu noi again laii into ihe hands n Ma 986 THB FiaST TSAR Or TAX WAB. ■ of the enemy, Oaplain Buchanan remarked : " That abip tmiit ts burned^" whe« the sugi^stion was gallantly reapoadfed to by Lieutenant Minor, who volunteered to take a boat aad burn her. lie hai scarcely reached witMn fifty yards of the 'Cen- gress, when a deadly fire was opened upon him, woundkBghim severely and several of his men. On witnessiog this vile teeaehery, Captain Bmehanan instantly re-called the boat, and ordered the Congress to be destroyed by hot shot and incendiary shell. The illumination of the ijcene was splendid ; the explo- sion of the frigate's magazine, a little past midnight, arouse^ persons asleep in Norfolk and signalled to ihera the complete- ness of our victory. In the perfidious fire from the shore, Captain Buchanan had been disabled by a severe wound in the thigh from a Minie ball, and the command of the ship had been transferred to Lieut. Catesby Jones, with orders to fight her as long as the men could stand to their guns. At this time the steam frigate Minnesota and Roanoke, and the sailing frigate St. Lawrence, which had come up from Old Point, opened their fire upon the Virginia. The Minnesota grounded in the North channel, where, unfortunately, the shoalness of the channel prevented the near approach of the Virginia. She continued, however, to fire upon the Minnesota, until the pilots declared that it was no longer safe to remain in that position, when she returned by the South channel (the middle ground being necessarily between the Virginia and Minnesota, and the St. Lawrence and Roan- oke having retreated under the guns of Old Point) and again had an opportunity to open upon her enemy. Night falling about this time, the Vii^inia was anchored off Sewell's Point. The next morning (Sunday) the contest occurred between the Monitor (the Ericsson battery) and the Virginia. The Yankee frigates, the Roanoke and St. Lawrence, had retreated to Old Point — <'the apothecary shop," as it was facetiously styled by our men—and the Monitor had gone up on Si^turday night to assist the Minnesota, which was still aground. The daylight revealed, lying near the Minnesota, the celbrated iron battery, a wonderful looking structure that was justly compared Tail FIMT TEAS OT -cat wm. Mr he.ng of a Pl«t<>o,a„ Waokoea,. At 8 o>cl«k the Ykginia 4 Wg from half a mife to alose quarters, io whioh the iw» iZ, teavy .h„g«on the iroa ,ide, of each beini the X e<^« rf *e t=mfio _^»a«aonade. Again and again the nranLirkif to.«y jvuh .., black, evolving oupofa, fled bef^^tirv^ ginu.. It was, as one of our olBcera remarked •• like -'a^"^"ot! un ^r I '°°"" ""'"« •'"' -"^ hy the Monitor having ;rededr;rs::*'^"^'«'"'" '^'''"' «''»« ■"— -* 288 THE FIRST TKAR OF THE WAR. She Steamed back amid the cheers of victory. In the direcllon of Newport News could be seen the spars of the Cum- berland above the river she had so long insolently barred ; but of her consort there was not even a timber head visible to tell her s.ory. This was not all the Virginia had done. The Minnesota was disabled and riddled with shot. Within eight and forty hours the Virginia had successfully encountered the whole naval force of the enemy in the neighborhood of Norfolk, amounting to 2,890 men and 230 guns ; had sunk the Cumber- land, probably the most formidable vessel of her class in the Federal navy, consigning to a watery grave the larger portion of her crew of 360 men ; bad destroyed the crack sailing frigate Congress, with her enormous armament ; and had crip- pled in the action the Minnesota, one of the best steamers of the enemy's navy. Our casualties were two killed and nineteen wounded, and the Virginia had come out of the action with the loss of her prow, starboard anchor and all her boats, with her smoke stack riddled with balls and the muzzles of two of her guns shot away, but with no serious damage to her wonderful armour, that had sustained a cannonade such as never before was inflicted on a single vessel. The exploits of the Virginia created immense excitement in the North and a marked interest in Europe, as illustrating a novel and brilliant experiment in naval architecture. As an ex- ample of the sharp and practical energy of the Northern govern- ment, and its readiness to avail itself of all nieans in the pro- secution of the war, it may be mentioned that in five days after the occurrence of the Confederate victory in Hampton Roads, a bill was introduced into the Senate at Washington, appropriat- ing nearly fifteen millions of dollars lor the construction of additional iron-clad vessels. ^ In Great Britain and France, and on the Continent generally, public attention was strained to a pitch of fearful anxiety on the subject of changes in naval architecture, and their adap» tation to the new exigences that had arisen in warf;ire on the water. All the European governments that had a strip oi sea- coast busied themselves to turn to profit the lesson the Virginia THE mnr TEAS or TllE W*Bi 289 had guTn them. Denmark voted a million „f rix dollar fo, U.e co„s,root,on of ,™„.plated vessel,, whik, Swceden M Crown Pnnoe to assist at the trial trip of the Frenoh frigate La Gouronne, the largest iron war steamer afloat. Italy Cd already some vety fine ir„„ ve,selsK,f.war, and her oitC, »ere hard a. wort on others. Austria was officialising S of the resolution in warfare at sea on the very day tbaHn imperial commission reported her huge land forfresses a" defiant of every known means of assault, and the Pr^Iln, j-ople and government, regard the engageLnt f^nZ: ton Roads ^as one of "the most important events- of The The Confederate States government might have learned Til 'TT'7 'r""' '""" "" "="»y ""hieved by the "^ g.ma. In.v,ead of one such vessel, we might have had ten h^ •he Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Mallory, possessed the abi% «« I Eeal essential to his responsible p.«i,ion. The cost was not a matter of the slightest consideration. A vessel buiU at an expense of half a million was oh.ap enough, wTen in he first essay she had destroyed Ihriee her Jalue of the enWs property. The State of North Carolina and the ConfedeX had spen at leas, a million of dollars already in futile 3 to defend the eastern coast of that State.' If that sum had waters'Tt' !^ ."f"'"'^ iron-clad vessels suitable to ^^ wate« on the Carolina coast, all of our disasters in that d rectton mi,ht have been prevented, excepVperhaps, the one at Halleras, and oar ports on that portion of our coast teot TnT , r k'°° °' '""'"'^ "'""'"" "f "<•»«» have been ex- pemled t an by augmenting the power of our infant navy. H.mt "•" ^''&""'* ^^ achieving her memorable victory in Hampton Roads, a battle had oommen«,d in the extreme nor' west portion of the State of Arkansas, which had buro» character, since the opening of the war. It will be recollected that, in a previous chapter, we left Gen. Price about the close of the vear I8RI ™.„„„."i„J o..,l_ T 890 THE riBST TKAR OF THK WAR. field, Missouri, for the purpose of being within reach of sn^. plies, and protecting: that portion of the State from domestic depredations and Federal invasion. About the latter part of January, it became evident that the enemy were concentrating in force at Rolla, and shortly thereafter they occupied Leba- non, Believing that this movement could be for no other pur- pose than to attack him, and knowing that his command was inadequate for such successful resistance as the interests of the army and the cause demanded, General Price appealed to the commanders of the Confederate troops in Arkansas to come to his assistance. He held his position to the very last moment. On the 12th of February, his pickets were driven in and re- ported the enemy advancing upon him in force. General Price commenced retreating at once. He reached Cassville with loss unworthy of mention in any respect. Here the enemy in his rear commenced a series of attacks, running through four days. Retreating and lighting all the way to the Cross Hol- lows, in Arkansas, the command of Gen. Price, under the most exhausting fatigue, all that time, with but little rest for either man or horse, and no sleep, sustained themselves, and came ihrough, repulsing the enemy upon every occasion, with great determination and gallantry. Gen. Van Dorn had recently been appointed to the command of the Confederate forces in the Trans-Mississippi district. A ' happy accord existed between him and Gen. Price, and a pri- vate corrospondence that had ensued between these two mili- tary chieftains, on the occasion of Gen. Van Dorn's appoint- ment by President Davis to take command in Arkansas and Missouri, not only showed a spirit of mutual appreciation and compliment highly honorable to both, but developed a singu- lar similarity of views (considering that the letter of each was written without knowledge ot that of the other) with reference to the conduct of the war. Learning that General Price had rapidly fallen back from Springfield before a superior force of the enemy, and was endeavoring to form a junction with the divisioii of General McCulloch at Boston Mountain, Gen. Van. Dorn, who was then THil FIRST TEAK OF THB WAB. 291 at Pocahontas, Arkansas, resolved to eo in np««« . . i »a„d of *e combined .'oroe, o[ pX "JdTcuI «h' T reached their headquarter, on the S,d of Marc" TH« BATTLB OP KLK HORN. The enemy, under the command of Gens Curtis «n,i «• i h^ hahed o„ Sugar Creek, fif.y.five n,iL° di«a" wSL wl' .force variously estimated at from seveu.een "o rwenTjTol, Aousand, he was wai.ing st.il further reinfc,ceme„ s bet^Z would aovance. Gen. Van Dora resolved to make ^7^ tack at once. He sent for Gen. Albert Pike to M.I 'j h» o.mma„d of Indian warriors, and, ^ Ihe' '^C n^of^h 4th cf March moved with the divisions of Price and McC„l loch by way of Fayetleville and Ben.onville, to atlackXe e„ emy's camp on Sugar Creek. The whole for^e unde hilo„m mand was about sixteen thousand men ^ A. Benionville, General Siegel's division, seven thouwnd rtrong narrowly escaped a surprise and fell bU. our advZe m'^rSL*"' ""^ "" «'"«' ■" «-«- ^-k, a^« «r aispositrzf "^:^t:it;"-- ^:" 7- become eeneral Tho „.. i ^" ** *^^°^'*' *ne action had •/c^uuit* general. ihe attack was made from iho „«..u j o^s'GeTT ^r^ """"^'^'^'^ -"o:::er";r r:' o Clock, Gen. Van Dorn sent a dispalch to Gen McfinllnT who was attacking the enemy's lef.; prop„,in^L him fo h„M ward't^r-th""": ,'t'^ '«" ■'"vine: mi"g!;L''r:„"f:';^ ward over the whole line, and easily end the battle Zr •he drspatch was penned, Gen. McCull„eh had fa it andt J.ctortous advance of his division upon tl,e s Ln" p„'s™„„ tf the enemy's front was checked by .he fall of himself and G=f sucoBM. It appears that two musket balls bv lillin,, .>.. i lau. Mcculloch and Mcintosh, had prevenj u o,^ ^^^ .great vctory. Notwithstanding the confusion tZuc^ "2 lh,s umrmely ocurrence. Gen. Van Dorn prised forward w.th •he attack, sustained by ,he resistless charge, of the Mi J"ri m nlB riRSt tKAB of TflTE ^A*. I division. At tiightfad, the enemy had been rfriven back iVdm the field of battle, and the Confederates held his enttenchmcnt^ and the greater part of his commisary stores, on which ottr half-famished men fed. Our troops slept upon their arms near- ly a mile beyond the point where the enemy had made his last Btand, and Gen. Van Dorn's headquarters for the night were at the Elk Horn Tavern — from which locality the battlefield de- rived its name. We had taken during the day seven cannon and about two hundred prisoners. > On the morning of the 8lh, the enemy, having taken a strong position during the night, re-opened the fight. The action soon became general, and continued until about halfpast nine o'clock, by which time General Van Dorn had jom-pleled his arrangements to wiihdraw his forces. Finding that his right Wing was much disorganized, and that the batteries were, ohe after another, retiring from the field, with every shot expended, General Van Dorn had determined to withdraw his forces in the direction of iheir supplies. This was accomplished with almost perfect success. The ambulances, crowded with the wounded, were sent in advance ; a portion of McCulloch*s di- vision was placed in position to follow, while Gen. Van Born disposed of his remaining force as best to deceive the enemy as to his intention, and to hold him in check while executing \i' An attempt was made by the enemy to follow the retreating column. It was effectually checked, however, and, about 2 P. M., the Confederates encamped about six miles from the field of battle, all of the artillery and baggage joining the army in safety. They brought away from the field of battle Ihtee hundred prisoners, four cannon and three baggage wagons. Our loss in killed and wounded was stated by Gen. Vata Dorn to be about six hundred, as nearly as could be ascertain- ed, while that of the enemy was conjectured to be more than seven hun'-^red killed, and at least an equal number wounded. Gen. Curtis, in his official r©|)ort, gives no statement of his loslS, but simply remarks that it was heavy. The entire engage- ment extended over the space of three days, the 6th, 7lh attd 8th of March. The gallantry of out soldiers had be^n utirlvial- Ta«! riwT »m nr the w*». ?!>» ed. More Ih.n h,lf o, our troops were r,w levic ,rmed with .hot guns and couniry rifles, The enemy w.re armed w h «gpe„or gans of the latest patents, such a. revolving rifles Z b«> bayonets, rifled eannon, n,o«nted howi.zers, *o. 0ar^2 had foreed then, by inches from one position „ another, Zf «Uhough compelled to fall baek at lust, were Je ,o mate ^i dole mma ,on gooJ never to permit .1« enemy ,o advanc^ SoutlL .1 J r "t "8™""-' "•">" Gen. Pike, had not come up i» tee to ake any ,mpor.ant part in .ha bailie. Some of ibe red men behaved well, and a portion of , horn assisted in lakin^ a batery, bui , hey were dilfieuli ,„ manage in the d.afe^ln- roar of an.llery lo which they were unaeeuslomed and we™ naturally amazed at the sight of g„„s ,hat ran on whJel" to sounds of bailie as loud as iheir own war whoop : and the S ^rh'ethrV'"'^''' """""'" "'''" f"-' -Vre' ma! f iwel „? ^, '""'; '■°".'"=' ^""'"•'"S, crashing monsler, as twelve pounders runnmg along on wheels. Gen. Van Dom, mh,s official report of the bailie, does no.menlion that any J. flslanee was derived from the Iudinus-a„ ally thai had, per- haps, cost us much more Ironble, expense and annoyanee than *s, brrru,.'" '""'"'' ""*" '=™"'' """" '"^ <==--,-?- J^ h^,H r'JTi' '*'" ^'r""' "•""P'- f™™ ">« noble veteran, who had led them so long, down lo the meanest privale, be- haved wilh a courage, Ihe fire and devotion of which never, fo, a moment, slackened. The pe.sonal testimony of Gen. Van Born to ihe.r noble conduct was a jus. and magLnimou; tr.b! whol. nf ,H '° '" 8°'™""^"' ^' Richmond : " During th<, Prie! 1 . ■ r^^S™^'"- ' -^' -i'l> 'be Missourians under Pr ce, and I have never seen beiier fighters than ihese Mis- officer"'? '"•.7'«/''"''"' 1°"''"^ "'™ «^"- P"=<= ""d bi^ officers. From Ihe firs, lo the last shol, they eonlinually rush- ed on and never yielded an i„e', ihey had won ; and when a, las. they reecvcd orders ,o fall back, Ihey relired steady and tion but would neiiher retire from the field nor cease lo evno» uis lue 10 dancer." i-— 294 TRB FIRST TEAR OF THI WAS. Nor is this all the testimony to the heroism of Gen. Price oir the famous battle-fields of Elk Horn. Some incidents are re- lated to us by an officer of his conduct in the retreat, that show aspects of heroism more engaging than even those of reckless bravery. In the progress of the retreat, writes an officer, " every few hundred yards we would overtake some wounded soldier. As soon as he would see the old general, he would cry out, ' General, I am wounded ! ' Instantly some vehicle was ordered to stop, and the poor soldier's wants cared for. Again and again it occurred, until our conveyances were crowd- ed with the woundpd. Another one cried out, * General, I am wounded ! ' The general's head dropped upon his breast, and his eyes— bedimmed with tears — were thrown up, and he look- ed in front, but could see no place to put his poor soldier. He discovered something on wheels in front, and commanded : *Halt, and put this wounded soldier up; by G-d, I will save my wounded, if I loose the whole army ! ' This explains why the old man's poor soldiers love him so well." Although, in the battle of Elk Horn, our forces had been com- pelled to retire, and the affair was proclaimed in all parts of the North as a splendid victory of their arms, there is no doubt,, in the light of history, that the substantial fruits of victory were with the Confederates. The enemy had set on a march of in- vasion, with the avowed termination to subjugate Arkansas and capture Fort Smith. But after the shock of the encounter at Elk Horn, he was forced to fall back into Missouri, leaving several hundred prisoners in our hands, and more than two thousand killed and wounded on the field. The total abandon-^ ment of their enterprise of subjugation in Arkansas is the most Conclusive evidence in the world, that the Federals were rsf- ed by Gen. Van Dorn, and that this brave and honorable sojn- muxider had achieved for his country no inconsiderable fcuCUEus, The fall of Gen. Ben McCulloch was esteemed as a national calamity, and, in his official report of the battle, Gen. Van Dorn declared that no successes could repair the loss of the gal- lant dead whr l-itl fallen on the well-fought field. Gen. Mc- ,y v'Ks airt; ady historical at the time of the break- re? /luuon. Twenty-six years ago he served in Culloch's n^^ iug out of tb TH8 FIRST YBAH OF THE WA*. eo5 the battle of San Jacinto, afterwards passed hi., time on the Texan frontier in a succession of hardships and .Jangerssucb as lew iren Iiave seen, and subsc.iuently. in the Mexican wai on the bloody field of Buena Vista, received the public and official thanits of Gen. Taylor for his heroic conduct and services. McCulloch, as a soldier, was remarkable for his singular oa- pacities lor parlizan warfare, and, in connection with Walker Hays Pnd Chevallie, had originated and rendered renowned tho .lame of -Texas Ranger." These daring adventurers did A- '"/^'ir^^g ^he independence ofthe Texan Republic, and in defending ,ts borders from the ruthless and enterprising Camanche. In the war of the United States with Mexico, they rendered invaluable service as daring scouts, and inaugurate* the best and m(,st effective cavalry service that has ever beea known m the world. The moment Lincoln's election became known, McCulloch Identified himself as an unconditional secessionist, and repaired to lexas to take part in any movement that might grow out of the presence of over 8,000 United States troops in that State. He was unanimously selected by the committee of Public Safe- ty to raise the men necessary to compel the surrender of San Antonio, wuh its arsenal and the neighboring forts, four or five in number. Within four days, he had travelled one hundred and fifty miles, and stood before San Antonio with eight huu- dred armed men, his old comrades and neighbors. His mission succeeded. Texas looked to him with confidence as one of her strong pillai. in case of war. She sent him abroad to procure arms ; but, before he had fully succeeded, President Davis ap- pointed him brigadier-general, and assigned him to the com- mand »>j the Indian Territory. He was killed in the brush on a slight elevation by one of the sharpshooters of the enemy. He was not in uniform, but his dress attracted attention. He wore a dress of black velvet patent-leather high-top boots, and he had on a light-colored! broad-brimmed Texan hat. The soldier who killed him, a pri- vate m an Illinois regiment, went up and robbed his body of a gold watch. ^ IB$ THE F1B8T YKAR OF TVV, WAR. Gen. Mcintosh, who liad been very much distinguished all through Ihe operations in Arkansas, had fallen on the battle- field, abou. the same time that McCulloch had been killed. During the advance from Boslorx Mountain, he had been placed in command of the cavalry brigade and in charge of Ihu nickels, lie was alert, daring and devoted to his duty. His kindness of disposition, with his reckless bravery, had attached the troops strongly to him, so that, after McGulloch fell, had he remained to lead them, all would be well with the right wing , but, after leading a brilliant charge of cavalry, and carrying the en- emy^s battery, he rushed into the ihickest of the fight again at the bead of his old regiment, and was shot through the heart. A noble boy from Missouri, Churchill Olarke, conunanded a battery of artillery, and during the fierce artillery action of the •Vlh and 8th, was conspicuous for the daririg and skill which he exhibited. He fell at the very close of the action. While there was, in Richmond, great anxiety to construe aright the imperfect mi uncertain intelligence which had ar- rived there, by devious ways from Arkansas, news i cached the Southern capital of a brilliant and undoubted victory stili fur- ther to the West, in the distant territory of New Mexico. This victory had been achieved wepkl before the slow intelligence of it reached Richmond. Although it had taken place on°a re^ mote theatre, and was but little connected with the general form tufles of tiie war, tha vict<3ry of Valvcrdo had a good effect upouj thq spirits of the Southern people, which had been so lung de? pressed and darkened by a baneful train of disasters. THE BATTLE OF VALVERDE. The Cotifederates marched from Mesilla, in Arizona, upon Fort Craig, about 175 miles dislanl, nm\ there fought the bat- tle and won the victory of Valverde, on the 21st of March. Gen. Sibley, with his command, numbering, rank and file, two, thousand three hundred men, lelt Fort Thorn, eighty miles beJow Fort Craig, about, the 12th of February. On arriving, in the vicinity of Fort Craig, he I'lirned from sontc prisoners, captured near the post, that Gen. Cunby was in command of THK rtpST TEAS OF THB WAR. 29% tl>ft Fertance in territory, having a population of seven or eight thousand, the Federals having evac- uated. The victorious Confederates still pressed towards Santa Fe, the capital city of the great central plateau of interior America, which the Federals had also evacuated, and fallen back on Fort Union, about sixty miles notheast of Santa Fe, and one of the strongest fortifications in America. Thus the Texans had marched about three hundred mile* from Mesilla, defeated the Federals and destroyed their army in a pitched battle, ejected them from their two chief cities, and driven them out of the territory to their outposts on its eastern limits. ' The result of the battle of Valverde was encouraging, and the prospect was indulged that New Mexico was already con- quered, and that the Confederate States held the Southern ove^ land route to California. Referring to the progress of the campaign in Virginia, w« shall find its plans and locality widely changed, the line of the Potomac abandoned, and the long and persistent struggle of the Federals for the possession of Richmond transferred to a new, but not unexpected theatre of operations. Gen, Joseph E. Johnston had determined to change his line on the Potomac, as the idea of all offensive operations on it had been abandoned, and it had become necessary, in his opinon, that the main body of the Confederate forces in Virginia should be in supporting distance and position with the army of the Peninsula; and in the event of either being driven back, that they might combine for final resistanc before Richmond. The discretion of falling back from the old line of the Poto- mac wa^ confided bv Presidisnt Davis entirs!" to Gen. Jishnpton THE riSST TBAB OF THB WAB. 299 who enjoyed a rare exemption from official pragmatism at Richmond, and was in many things very much at liberty to pursue the counsels of his own military wisdom. For the space of three weeks before the army lefts it en- trenchments at Manassas, preparations were being made for falling back to the line of the Rappahannock, by the quiet and gradual removal of the vast accumulations of army stores; and with such consumate address was this managed, that our' own troops had no idea of what was intended until the march was taken up. The first intimation the enemy had of the evacua- tion of Manassas was the smoke of the soldiers' huts that had been fired by our army. That the strategic plans of the enemy were completely foiled by the movement of Gen. Johnston, was quite evident in the tone of disappointment and vexation in which the Northern newspapers referred to the evacuation of Manassas, which, unless there had been some disconcert of their own strategy by such an event, they would have been likely to regard as a considerable advantage on their side in letting them further into the territory of Virginia.* THE BATTLE OF KERNSTOWV. While our forces deserted the old line of the Potomac, it was determined not to leave the Valley of Virginia undefended, and the command of Gen. Johnston was left in the neighbor- hood of Winchester, to operate to the best advantage. Near the town of Winchester occurred, on the 23d of March, • It was lated by Senator Chandler, on the floor of the Federal Senate, that Gen. McOlellan had an army of two hundred and thirty thousand men in and around Washington, when Oen. Johnston evacuated Manassas. The force of the latter, all told, could not have exceeded twenty-fivt thoutand men ; so reduced had It been by furloughs and sickness. Yet , for months, this smaU force gave a stand- log offer of battle to the hordes of MoClellan. So well timed was the falling back of Gen. Johnston, that the day his rear, guard left Manassas, the advance guard of the enemy took possession of Bnickersville Ferry, prepartory to a movement on his left flank. It was MoOIellan'a purpose to move on both flanks and in front at (he same time, and tl;u8 envelope the Confederate army. The strategy of Jonst^n foiled him and saved his owa army from destruction. ■;i / 5$0^ THJP FIRST VEAR OF THJB W^^. I wUat was known as the battle of Kernstowo. The Federal were attacked by our forces uncjer Gen. Jackson, the engage^, ment having been brc ught on by the gallant Col. Ashby, whp had been fighting the enemy wherever he had shown himself in the Valley. The Confederate for<;es amounted to six thousand roon, with Capt. McLaughlin's battery of artillery and Colouel Ashby's cavalry. AH the troops engaged were from Virginia, except a few companies from Maryland, It was thought thai ther« would be but a very small force at ;that point of attack, but the enemy proved to be nearly eighteen thousand strong, vfiih a considerable number of field pieces. They occupied 9, rising ground and a very advantageous position. Geu. Banks had concluded that there was no enemy in front cjfcept Ashby's force of cavalry ; that Gen. Jackson would no^ venture to separate him^seif so far from the main body of the Coijfederate army as to offer him battle, and under these im- pressions Jie had Ipft for Washington. On Sunday morning, Gen, Shields, who had been left in command of the Federals, satisfied that a considerable force was before him, concentrated his whole force, and prepared to give battle. The action qon^- menced about four o'clock in the evening, and terminated when night closed upon the scene of conflict. Our men fought with desperation until dark, when the firing on both sides ceqeed. During the night, Gen. Jackson decided to fall back to Cedar Creek, and prepare there to make successful opposition with his small force, should thp enemy advance. The enemy was left in possession of the field of battle, two guns and four caissons, and about three hundred prisoners. Our loss was about one hundred killed, and probably twice that number wounded. The loss of the enemy was certainly more than double. At one jieriod of the fight our men had got posses- sion of a stone wall, which formed the boundary of two fields, and, dropping on their kncesi and fired deadly volleys into the advancing lines of the enemy. The Confederates carried off the greater p(ntion o.^ the wounded up the Valley. Their re-» treat was conducted in perfect order; and even Gen Shields, in his account of the aflfair, which were very much exagffe* itrt WSST tEAR t)F THE WAR. 3(^1 t&fed,of(idui*6,foi- the purposes of popular sensation in the l>»orth, testified of the Confederates, that "such was their saU lantry and high state of discipline, that at no time darin- the battle or pursuit did they give way to panic.'* The enemy had but little reason to boast of the battle? of Kernstown. In fact, the aflflnr was without general significa. t.on. ^ It was an attack by the Confederates, undertaken on fa se information, gallantly executed, and, although Unsuctess- ft.1, was not disastrous. The Northern troops had made no ad- Vance m the Valley ; from the Manassas line they hadact.ally retired; nor had they any considerable body of troops this .ide ofCentreyiUe. Whether they would ever attempt to execute their original plan, of a march through Piedmont to Richmond #as now rWore than problematical. * The greater portion of our dead left on the fiteld of battle ^ere buried tinder the direction of the Mayor of Winchestef Some fifiy citizens collected the dead, dug a great pit on the' battle-field, and gently laid the poor fellows in their last wst- SHg pM«b. ft was a sad sight, and saddef still to see #omeh looking carefully dt every corpse to tty to identify the bodies of their friends. Scarcely a fartiily in the country but had a feMWe there. But their suffering did not nullify the titbU Southern women of Winchester. Every feelittg, testified a Federal officer Who witnessed the sad and harrowing scefles of the bottle-field, seemed to have been extinguished in theit in- tense harred^ctf « the Yankees." ^' They would say, « You may bring the whole fdtte of the North here, but you can never conquer us-we shall shed our last drop of blood » » &e CoK Ashby cbvered the retreat of the army, and by hi's tire- 16SS energy, made hi'ittself, as Oh many other occasions the term of the Yankees. The daring feats and heroic exploits df this brave officer i^m universal themes of admiratioh hi ftte »Oufli, attd Wtf/e ^hearsfed by ^he people of the Valley, ^o idoliiied hfrtfi, with infinite gtatification and delight. A few tttotrths befbve, wheh WMchester had been evacuated, undar ttihts from the War DepattnfieWt, he had beett tinwilling tb ", auu njiu lingered DeniHcl, Watching the ap. so< THB riBST TEAR OF THE WAR. proach of the haughty and unprincipled foe into this ancient town of the Valley. He waited until the Federal column had filled the streets, and, within two hundred yards of them, cheered for the Southern Confederacy, and then dashed off at full speed for the Valley turnpike. He reached it only to find his way intercepted by two of the enemy's pickets. Nothing daunted, he drew his pistol and shot down one of the pickets, and seizing the other, dragged him off a prisoner, and brought him safely to the Confederate lines. It was adventures like these, as well as extraordinary gallantry in the field, that made the name of the brave Virginia cavalier conspicuous through- out the South, and a lower of strength with those for whose homes and firesides he had been struggling. The personal appearance of Col. Ashby was not striking. He was of small stature. He wore a long black beard, and had dark glittering eyes. It was not generally known that the man who performed such deeds of desperate valor and en- terprise, and who was generally pictured to the imagination as a fierce, stalwart and relentless adventurer, was as remarkable for his piety and devoutness as for his military achievraents. His manners were a combination, not unusual in the truly re- fined spirit, of gentleness with the most enthusiastic courage. It was said of him, that when he gave his most daring com- mands, he would gently draw his sabre, waive it around his head, and then his clear, sounding voice would ring out the simple but thrilling words, "Follow me." In such a spirit we recognize the fine mixture of elements that the world calls heroism. The Northern forces pursued neither the retreat of Johnston from Manassas, nor that of Jackson from Winchester. On the contrary, they withdrew the forces first advanced, and blocked the road between Strasburg and Winchester. It was known, however, about this time, that the camps at Washington had been rapidly diminished, and that McClellan had totally disap- peared from the scene. At the same time an unusual confi- dence was expressed in the Northern journals that Richmond would now fall almost immediately into the hands of their gen- THE FIRST TBAB OF THE WAB. 303 erals. Then followed the daily announcements of fleets of transports arriving in Hampton Roads, and the vast extension of the long line of tents at Newport News. These were evi- dent indications of the intention of the enemy to abandon for the present other projects for the capture of Richmond, so as to make his great eflbrt on the Peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers. Gen. Magruder, the hero of Bethel, and a commander who was capable of much greater achievements, was left to con- front the growing forces on the Peninsula, which daily menaced him, with an army of seventy-five hundred men, while the great bulk of the Confederate forces were still in motion in the neighborhood of the Rappahannock and the Rapidan, and he had no assurance of reinforcements. The force of the enemy was ten times his own ; they had commenced a daily oannonad- ing upon his lines; and a council of general officers was con- vened, to consult whether the little army of seven thousand five hundred men should maintain its position in the face of ten- fold odds, or retire before the enemy. The opinion of the council was„unanimous for the latter alternative, with the ex- ception of one officer, who declared thai every man should die in the entrenchments before the little army should fall back. "ByG— , it shall be so!" was the sudden exclamation of Gen. Magruder, in sympathy with the gallant suggestion. The resolution demonstrated a remarkable heroism and spirit. Our little force was adroitly extended over a distance of several miles, reaching from Mulberry Island to Gloucester Point, a regiment being posted here and there, in every gap plainly open to observation, and on other portions of the line the men being posted at long intervals, to give the appearance of num- bers to the enemy. Had the weakness of Gen. Magruder at this time been known to Ihe enemy, he might have suffered the consequences of his devoted and self-sacrificing courage ; but as it was, he held his lines on the Peninsula until they were reinforced by the most considerable portion of Gen. Johnston's forces, and made the situ, ion of a contest upon which the at- tention of the public was unanimously fixed as the most deci- sive of the war. € sd4 fflE PIWST IrBAR OF THE WAR. It is our purpose at this time to follow up the dcvelopfe. ments of the situation on the Peninsula. We must, for the present, leave afTairs there in the crisis to which we have brought them, while we refer to a serious recurrence of xHh- asters about this time on our sea-coast and rivers, where again the lesson was repeated to us of the strperiority of the enerfly on the water, not by any mysterious virtue Of gun-boats, tMat Sbleiy on account of the ina-lequte prtBparations of the govfern- fnent. On the 4th of March, the town df Newbem, in North Catb- lina, was taken by the Federals, under command of Genfeml Burnside, after a feeble resistance. The day before, the Fede- rals had landed about ten thousand troops fifteen miles below NeWbern, and at the Same time had ascended the river with a fleet of gun-boats, which, as they advanced, shelled the woods in every directicii. The next morning the fighting was com- menced at early dawn, and continued until half-past teh o'clodlc when our forces, being almost completely surrounded, were tompelled to retreat. All the forts on the river were atoah- doned. Fort Thompson was the most formidable of these. It tur f.irce al N,.»l„.r„ ,. , '^*°' "'*' ''"""'n five .hou Jnd-1 „art o 1 ""^ '"--^'^l-'ale-no, ™„,e ,|,a„ oounler, whatever force GfrnZ!- , > '*'"f""'=">«"'s, to en- «gai„s, them. G , Bmnch IZZt '"" ' °'""'' '» """« federate forces and wh^l I ■ '" «"'""''"<' of li.e Con- compelled o^tlrN^tbet'ri™'" °"''-™''»'"'™'' -- broughri.- „ toll:,, with :: "'"'"• """"' ""^ a«d the troops. i»s "I, J "'\^;<"""'-'"' 'he people position vvi, in ety 72toZwt ^''''' ''" '"""'""' road. E„, few per/onrrt ° , in'^t e ."oT" T ""f""^ left for Goldsboro', all crowded to ove, flowZbv f I"- "? d.ers and pinio-stricken people. T hd t^^ n^ '™ *" ' gnn.b„als fdl within twenly (!„; feet of h. 7. " '"^'"^' moved off. Women andcl.Mren wer ^ve a,™ hv. !'","• " mny miles f.m Newborn, .ome 1^:, rof.att^tlT ■ u . . /^^"'""ssion to the enemv The wi... 1 '""vr'"''"^ ™'"^'-'' -'™ h„„dre7,;oo^e "■ "'^> "• ine old population. . ,tJu,lii« J2dl day of AdHI nn„ „.„ tar, of the Sooth CarolVnTLr-^ "''';"'° «'"" "" ''-"">- tile walls of For. Wr sT'l' T""*"" "P"" '^''"'=° •""- V«r,ary „f the oven, wa,!.^?'^^'^ "™"»"' ""= «'■'> =•""'- de«.„ce of the oi,y „, Swannal ha sn^td :'ed 'fo rv""' Ws. iiftcr a brief bomburdme.if Ti "le Van- J' '.or^pn tUat the enemy's halteries had V S06 THE riRST TEAR OF THE WAR. been " silenced." It seems that they were not silent nntil our flag was struck. The surrender was unconditional, and the garrison, consisting of more than three hundred men, four of whom had been wounded and none killed, were made prisoners of war. Another Confederate disaster on the coast shortly ensued in the surrender of Fort Macon. This fort, on the North Caw>- lina coast, was surrendered on the 25th of April, after a bom- bardment from the enemy*s land batteries of less than twelve hours. It commanded the entrance to Beaufort harbor, and was said to be the most formidable fortification on the North Carolina coast. For these painful and almost humiliating disasters on our coast and rivers, a ready but plausible excuse was always at hand. A ipost pernicious and false idea appeared to have taken possession of the public mind with reference to the es- sential superiority of the enemy on water. A very obvious reflection of common sense dissipates the idea of any essential advantage which the enemy had over us on the water. The failures in our defences had been most unjustly attributed to the bug-bear of gun -boats, when they ought to have been as- cribed to no more unavoidable causes than our own improvi- dence and neglect. The suggestion of common ^ense is, that if it was possible to make a vessel ball-proof, it was certainly much easier to make a fortification ball-proof. The excuse had been persis- tently made for our lark of naval defences, that it was difficult to supply the necessary machinery, and almost impossible, with the limited means at our di^^po (>' ii( GH AFTER XII. The Campaign in the Mis^iesippt Valley. . Bombardment of Island No. 10. .The Scenes, Incidents and Rt-solts. .Fruits of the Northern Victory. .Movements of the Fedeiil'8 on «heTerttf«!»fce'River.';The Battik ofSriloh. . A " Lo.-t O^portim»*y" . . Death of Gen. Albert Sidney Johnston. .Compiuison Between the Biittles of Shiloh and Manassas. .The Federul Expedition into North Alabama.. Withdrawal of the Confederate Forces from the Trans-Mis>i8sippi District. .General Price imd His Command.. The Fall of New Orleans.. The Flag Imbroglio. .MajorGeneral Butler. .Caui^es of the Disaster. .Its Results and Consequences. .The Fate of the Valley of the Mississippi, The last period of our narrative of events in Tennessee, left Gen. Johnston making a Soutlnvard movement tovvaids ihii left bank of tiie Tennessee River, for the object of the defence of Memphis and the^Mississippi River, and indicated the important position of Island No. 10, forty-five miles below Columbus, as still in possession of tne Conlederatos, This important position in the Mississippi River was de- fended by General Beauregard with extraordinary vigour and success against the fleet of the enemy's gun-Loats, under the command of Flag-Officer Foote. The works were erected vvi:h the highest engineering skill, were of great strength, and with their nulural advantages, were thought to be imprejnable. The bombardment of Madrid Bend and Island No. 10 com- menced on the 15th of March and continued constantly night and day. On the 17th a general attack, with five gun-boats and four moi tar-boats, was made, which lasted nine h urs. The attack was unsuccessful. On the 1st of April General Beauregard telegraphed to the War Defiarlment at Richmond that the bombardment had continued for fifteen days, in which time the enemy had thrown three thousand shells, expending about one hundred thousand pounds of powder, with the result on our side of one man killed and none seriously wounded. The TUB nllsT TBM 0» TtM w»» gg^ g"t.:fyi„g.st9W.me„t was al*, m„de irt 0«,eral teaure«anl-, dspa cWs ,ha. our baH.ri., we,« entirely i„„„,. W^Tad' disabled on* .rf,hee„emyVg„„.boa.aa„dLo,he,svar,V„'^^^ ea^o be sunk, and U,e results of , he bombardment, so far aHt' ^,y of ,he.,nvmo,bl« power of Yankee gun-boat* would at last be