Jgioni
cility

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
AT LOS ANGELES

PICTORIAL HISTORY

THE CIVIL

IS THB

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

BY BENSON J. LOSSING.

ILLUSTRATED BY MANY HUNDRED ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD, BY LO83ING AND
BABBITT, FROM SKETCHES BY THE ADTHOB AND OTHEB8.

THREE VOLUMES IN ONE.

VOLUME II.

HARTFORD :
THOMAS BELKNAP, PUBLISHER,

1878.

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1866,
BY BENSON J. LOSSING,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern
District of New York.

JiJL/^I^W.

4-G

PRE FA O E.

HE peculiar circumstances under which this
work has been prepared, caused a much
longer interval between the appearance of
the first and second volumes than was ex-
pected ; but the delay has been an advan-
tage to the book, because it has enabled the
author to procure and use more authentic
and valuable materials than could have been obtained earlier,
especially from Confederate sources.

An essential part of the original plan of the writer, and
which has been carried out, was to make a personal visit to the
principal battle-fields and other places of interest connected
with the Civil War. This could not be done within the Con-
federate lines during the war, and it was difficult to do so in
many places for several months after the conflict had ceased.
As much as possible of this labor was accomplished before the
completion of the first volume, in which the events of the con-
flict, civil and military, to the close of the first battle of Bull's
Run, are recorded.

After the first volume was completed, in the spring of 1866,
the writer made a journey of several thousand miles in visiting
the historical localities within the bounds of the Confederacy,
observing the topography of battle-fields and the region of the
movements of the great armies, making sketches, conversing
with actors in the scenes, procuring documents, and in every
possible way gathering valuable materials for the work. The
writer bore a cordial letter of introduction from General Grant
to any officer commanding a military post within the late Slave-
labor States, asking him to afford the bearer every facility in his
power. To General O. O. Howard the writer was also indebted
for a similar letter, directed to any agent of the Freedmen's
Bureau. These, and the kind services everywhere proffered by,

S34663

4 PEEFACE.

and received from, persons who had been in the Confederate ar-
mies, procured for the author extraordinary facilities for gather-
ing historical materials, and he was enabled to send and bring
home a large amount of valuable matter. This had to be care-
fully examined and collated. In this and kindred labor, and in
the construction of small illustrative maps, and the preparation
of the sketches for the engraver, all by his own hands, months
were consumed, and the delay in the appearance of the second
volume was the consequence.

B. J. L.

THE KIDGE, DOVEK PLAINS, N. Y., September, 1873.

VOLUME II.

CHAPTER I.

EFFECT OF THE BATTLE OF BTTLL's RUN. REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE
POTOMAC. CONGRESS AND THE COUNCIL OF THE CONSPIRATORS. EAST TENNESSEE.

Effect of the Battle of Bull's Kan, page 17. The Story in both Sections Scenes in Richmond and in Washing-
tonA sad Picture, 18. The Story in Europe Hopes and Predictions of the Ruling Classes there Relative
Position of the Combatants, 19. Another Uprising of the People The Exultation of the Confederates The
"United South," bow formed, 20. Sufferings of Southern Unionists The Confederate Army immovable
Jefferson Davis a Marplot, 21. Why the Confederate Army was immovable Alarm of the Conspirators,
22. General McClellan at the Head of the Army of the Potomac Reorganization of that Army, 23. The
Defenses of Washington, 24. Purchase of Arms for the Government Domestic Manufactures of Arms, 25.
Prisoners taken at Bull's Run, in Richmond Tobacco Warehouse Prison and Commissary Winder, 26. ~-
" Richmond Prison Association " Kind Women in Richmond. 27. Object of the War declared by Congress
Measures for crushing the Rebellion opposed, 28 Thaddeus Stevens's Warnings Peace Proposition, 29.
A National Loan authorized, 80. Appeal of the Secretary of the Treasury, and the Response The Pro-
visional Congress of the Conspirators, 81. Jefferson Davis's Misstatements. 82. Determination of Davis
and his Fellow-Conspirators to wage War vigorously-r-Confiseations, 83. Protection of Pirates Davis's
so-called " Departments," and their Heads, 84. Persecution of Union Men, 35. Outrages 1n East Tennes-
see, 86. Brownlow and other Loyalists hunted Blood-Hounds, 87. Unionists in Prison Brutal Order of
Judah P. Benjamin, 88. Brownlow's Defiance His Release, 89. Writs of Garnishment Denunciations
by Pettigru, 40. Pettigru's Actions reviewed, 41.

CHAPTER II.

CIYIL AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI.

Position of National Troops in Missouri Sigel's Pursuit of Price, 42. Battle near Carthage, 43. Slgel's Retreat
to Springfield Lyon's March Southward, 44. He hastens toward Springfield Confederates Marching on
that Town, 45. Lyon goes out to meet them Battle at Dug Springs, 46. Price and McCulloch at variance
The Confederates at Wilson's Creek, 47. Lyon marches out to attack them, 48. Battle of Wilson's
Creek, 49. Death of General Lyon Major Sturgis in command Sigel's Troops lost by a Trick of the Con-
federates, 63. A Drawn Battle Retreat of the National Troops Northward, 54. Guerrillas in Missouri
Activity of Union Troops Civil Affairs in Missouri, 55. Promises of Protection to Slavery Movements
of the Missouri Traitors A Military Despotism proclaimed, 56. Operations of Hardee, Thompson, and
Pillow, 57. Measures for annexing Missouri to the Confederacy, 58. General Fremont in command in the
Western Department His Embarrassments, 59. Aspect of Affairs in his Department Kentucky Neu-
trality a Help to the Insurgents, 60. Cairo and its Vicinity strengthened Pillow anxious for a Union of
Confederate Forces, 61. The Confederates alarmed Polk orders Pillow to fly from Missouri, 62. Activity
of Missouri Secessionists Guerrilla Bands, 63. Fremont proclaims Martial Law throughout Missouri
Secessionists rigorously treated Fremont's Emancipation Proclamation, 64. The Proclamation modified
bf the President Relations of the Government to Slavery, 65.

6 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER III.

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI AND KENTUCKY.

Ben. McCulloch's Proclamation Price's Appeal to the Missonrians, 66. Lexington fortified Price attacks the
Post, 67. Siege of Lexington Mulligan expects Re-enforcements A Severe Struggle, 68. Fremont called
upon for Troops Why Mulligan was not re-enforced, 70. Fremont assailed He puts an Army in motion
Pillow's Designs on Cairo, 71. Kentucky Neutrality Conference between McClellan and Buckner
Magoffln encourages the Secessionists, 72. Union Military Camps in Kentucky Magoffln rebuked by the
President, 73. The Confederates invade Kentucky Seizure of Columbus, 74. Zollicoffer invades Eastern
Kentucky The Kentucky Legislature against the Confederates, 75. General Grant takes Military Posses-
sion of Paducah End of the Neutrality Flight of Secessionists, 76. Ex Yice-President Breckenridge
among the Traitors Operations of Buckner General Anderson's Counter-action, 77. Seed of the Army
of the, Cumberland planted The Confederate Forces in Missouri in check Price retreats toward nrkan-
sas, 78. Fremont's Army pursues him Passage of the Osage Fremont's Plans, 79. The Charge of Fre-
mont's Body-guard at Springfield, SO. Fremont's Army at Springfield Successor National Troops in Eastern
Missouri, 81. Thompson's Guerrillas dispersed Complaints against Fremont, 82. Fremont succeeded in
command by Hunter Preparations for a Battle, 83. Fremont returns to St. Louis His Reception, 84.
General Grant in Kentucky, 85. Expedition down the Mississippi by Land and Water Columbus menaced,
86. Battle at Belmont Grant hard pressed, but escapes, 87. Services of the Gun-Boats The Confede-
rates at Columbus in peril, 88. Zollicoffer's Advance in Kentucky The Unionists aroused Battle among
the Rock Castle Hills, 89. Battle of Piketon, 90 The East Tennessee Unionists disappointed The Con-
federate Foothold in Tennessee and Kentucky, 91.

CHAPTER IV.

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA AND ON THE 8EACOA8T.

Eobert E. Lee in command in Western Virginia Disposition of his Troops, 92. Floyd at Carnifex Ferry
General Cox in the Kanawha Valley, 93. Advance of Rosecrans He crosses the Mountains and confronts
Floyd at Carnifex Ferry, 94. Battle of Carnifex Ferry, 95. Gallantry of the Western Troops, 96. Flight
and Escape of Floyd Insubordination of Wise, 97. Reynolds's Command Lee plans for seizins: and
Holding West Virginia Reynolds wounded, 98. Attempt to capture the Summit foiled Lee repulsed at
F.lkwater, 99. He joins Floyd at Meadow Bluff Conflict near " Traveler's Repose," 100. Rosecransand
Lee between the Gauley and New Rivers Floyd driven from New River, 101. Bon bain's unsuccessful
Pursuit of Floyd Rosccrans retires Kelley in Western Virginia, 102. Battle near Romney Milroy
holds the Cheat Mountain Region He fights Johnston, of Georgia, at Alleghany Summit, 103. Expedition
to Hnntersville Operations on the Seacoast, 104. Burning of 'Hampton by Magruder General Wool at
Fortress Monroe, 105. Expedition to Hatteras Inlet, 107. Captures of the Forts and Hatteras Island But-
ler commissioned to raise Troops in New England, 108. Naval Operations near Cape Hatteras Perils of
the Nationals on Hatteras Island, 109. Hawkins's Proclamation Attempt to establish a loyal Civil Gov-
ernment in Eastern North Carolina, 110. Stirring Events near Pensscola Wilson's Zouaves on Santa
Rosa Island attacked, 111. Battle on Santa Rosa Island, and Repulse of the Confederates Tlie Confede-
rates before Fort Pickens, 112. Attack by Fort Pickensand War-vessels on the Confederate Works Folly
of Hollins on the Mississippi, 113. Naval Engagement at Southwest Pass Incompetency of Rollins, 114,

CHAPTER V,

MILITARY AND NAVAL OPERATIONS ON THE COAST OF SOUTH CAROLINA. MILITARY
OPERATIONS ON THE LINE OF THE POTOMAC RIVER.

Need of Harbors for Blockading Vessels Gathering of a Naval and Military Expedition In Hampton Roads,
115. Composition of the Expedition Its Departure, 116. A Terrible Storm at Sea Joy of the Confede-
rates, 117. The Expedition off Beaufort Harbor Confederate Defenses there, 118. Tatnall and his
"Mosquito Fleet" Plan of Attack, 119. Battle of Port Royal Entrance, 120. Capture of Forts Walker
and Beanregard at Port Royal Entrance, 121. Landing of National Forces at Hilton Head, 122. The Coast
Island Region of South Carolina abandoned to the National Troops, 123. Flight of white Inhabitants-
Capture of Beaufort, 124. Conquests on the Coast of Georgia, 125. Care of the Cotton on the Coast
Islands, 126. Movements against Port Royal Ferry Composition of the Expedition, 127. Battle at Port
Royal Ferry Attempt to close the Harbor of Charleston with sunken Vessels filled with Rocks, 128.
Failure of the Attempt McClellnn and the Army of the Potomac, l'J9. Preparations for marching on
Richmond Retirement of General Scott, 180. Organization and Equipment of the Army of the Potomao

CONTENTS. 7

French Princes on McClellan's Staff, 131. Position of the Army of the Potomac Its Departments, 132.
Reviews Hostile Demonstrations, 133. A Land and Naval Expedition down the Potomac planned Its
Failure The Potomac Blockade, 134. Ileconnoissance near Washington City Committee on the Conduct
of the War, 185. Confederates evacuate Munson's Hill "Quaker Guns," 186. Expedition to Harper's
Ferry, 137. Capture of Harper's Ferry The Combatants along the Potomac, 188. Movements on the
Potomac, 189. Invasion of Virginia, 140. Senator E. D. Baker and his Troops, 141. Battle of Ball's Bluff,
142. A Terrible Scene on the Kiver, 148. Disaster to the National Arms, 144. The Honored Dead-
Explanation demanded, 145. The Case of General Stone, 146. A Prisoner of State, 147. The Baltimore
Plot, 148. How Mr. Lincoln's Life was saved. 149.

CHAPTER VI.

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. THE TRENT AFFAIR. CAPTURE OF ROANOKE ISLAND.

Immobility of the Grand Army of the Potomac, 150. -"Confederate Incursions A Battle near Drainsville, 151.
Feeling in Europe in Favor of the Conspirators Expression of Leading Men in Great Britain, 152. Depar-
ture of Mason and Slidell for Europe as " Embassadors " of the " Confederate States," 158. Their cordial
Reception at Havana They embark for England in the Steamer Trent, and are captured by Captain
Wilkes, 154. Mason and Slidell in Fort Warren Wilkes's Act applauded by all loyal Men, 155. Appro-
val of the Secretary of the Navy The Wisdom of President Lincoln, 156. British Theory and Practice
concerning Neutrals, 157. The British demand the Release of the " Embassadors " Abuse of the American
People by the British Press and Orators, 153, The Liberal Mind of England represented by John Bright
and a few others, 159. The British Government demands the Release of Mason and Slidell, 160. Concilia-
tory Action of the American Government met by Duplicity and Truculence, 161. American Principles
concerning the Rights of Neutrals vindicated, 162. Arguments of the Secretary of State, 168. Surrender
of the "Embassadors" to British Custody, 164. Enemies of the Republic hopeful, 165. The Government
strengthened, 166. The " Bnrnside Expedition "A Terrible Storm, 167. The Expedition at Hatteras
Inlet, 168. The Confederates on Roanoke Island, 169. Attack on the Confederate Works there by the
National Fleet Landing of National Troops. 170. Battle of Roanoke Island. 171. Capture of the Island
and the Confederate Army, 178. Elizabeth City taken, 174. Medals of Honor bestowed, 175. The Nation-
als control Albemarle Bound, 176. Appeal* to the North Carolinians, 177. Spirit of the Loyal and the
Disloyal, 173.

CHAPTER VII.

MILITARY OPERATIONS HT MISSOURI, KEW MEXICO, AND KENTUCKY. CAPTURE OF FORT

HENRY.

Position of the Annies in the Mississippi Valley General Halleck in command of the Department of Mis-
souri, 179. His rigorous Treatment of influential Secessionists, 180. Fugitive Slaves excluded from Mili-
tary Camps Pope in Missouri Price's Appeal to the Missourlans, 181. Activity of the Confederates
Battle on the Blackwater, 182. Halleck declares Martial Law in St Louis Price driven out of Missouri,
188. Hunter's Operations in Kansas, 184 Treason in New Mexico, 185. Loyalty and Disloyalty within
its Borders General Canby and Colonel Slbley, 186. Battle of Valverde Texas Rangers, 187. Sibley's
Victories in, and final Expulsion from New Mexico, 188. Albert Sidney Johnston in the West A Pro-
visional Government in Kentucky, 189. War in Southern Kentucky, 190. Battle of Prestonburg, 191.
Forces of Generals Buell and Zollicoffer in Kentucky, 192. Military Movements in Eastern Kentucky
The Confederates on the Cumberland, 198. Battle of Mill Spring, 194. Its Results Death of Zollicoffer,
195. Beauregard sent to the West, 196. The Confederates in Kentucky and Tennessee, 197. Their Fortifi-
cations in those States A Naval Armament in Preparation at St. Louis, 198. Foote's Flotilla Preparations
to break the Confederate Line, 199. Thomas's Movements toward East Tennessee, 200. Expedition
against Fort Henry, 201. Operations of Gun-Boats on the Tennessee River Torpedoes, 202. Attack on
Fort Henry, 208. Capture of the Post Scene just before the Surrender, 204 Effects of the Fall of Fort
Henry, 205.

CHAPTER VHI.

BIEGE AND CAPTURE OF FORT DONEL8ON.

Gun-Boat Expedition up the Tennessee River, 206. Commodore Foote in the Pulpit, 207. Preparations for
marching against Fort Donelson, 208. Character and Strength of Fort Donelson, 209. Disposition of Forces
for Battle, 210. The Carondtlet Opening of the Battle, 211. Defeat of the National Troops Arrival of

CONTENTS.

General Lewis Wallace's Command, 212. Attack on the Water Batteries, 213. The Confederates prepare
for a Sortie, 214 Severe Battle on the National Eight General Lewis Wallace hastens to McClernand's
Assistance, 215. The Tide of Battle turned by Wallace, 216. Grant on the Battle-Field His Order for
another Attack, 217. Struggle on the National Left Victory for the Nationals. 218. The Confederates in
Council Conduct of their cowardly Leaders, 219. Terms of Surrender, 220. Surrender of Fort Donelson,
221. Effect of the Fall of Fort Donelson, 222. Floyd and Pillow disgraced, 228. The Army Mail -Service,
224. The Army Mail at Washington, 225. A Voyage on the Cumberland Eiver, 226. Visit to Fort Donel-
son, 227. Nashville, 229.

CHAPTER IX.

EVENTS AT NASHVILLE, COLUMBUS, NEW MADRID, ISLAND NUMBER TEN, AND PEA

BIDGE.

Advance of National Troops on Bowling Green, 280. Panic in Nashville Governor Harris crazy with Affright,
281. Destruction of the Tennessee Iron Works Clarksville, 232. Flight of Confederate Troops from
Nashville Floyd and Pillow again on the Wings of Fear, 238. Surrender of Nashville, 284. Expedition
against Columbus Folk's Preparations to ily from it, 285. Capture of Columbus, 236. Mines and Torpe-
does at Columbus Island Number Ten, 237. Beauregard in command of Island Number Ten His Call for
Bells to cast into Cannon, 238. Pope's March on New Madrid Confederates strengthening that Post, 289.
Transportation of Siege Guns Capture of New Madrid, 240. Strength of Island Number Ten Foote
prepared for Action, 241. Attack on Confederate Batteries The Mortar Service, 242. Pope at New Madrid
General Hamilton's Plan for flanking Island Number Ten by the Gun-Boats, 243. Construction of a
Flanking Canal, 244. Passing of Island Number Ten by Gun-Boats Success of the Canal Project, 245.
Island Number Ten abandoned Obstructions in the Eiver, 246. Capture of the Confederate Army, 247.
Effect of the Victory, 248. The Confederates alarmed Memphis and New Orleans in Terror, 249.
National Troops in Arkansas Curtis in Pursuit of Price, 250. Gathering of Confederate Forces Curtis's
Address to the Inhabitants of Arkansas General Van Dorn, 251. His Presence in the Confederate Camp
His Address to his Soldiers, 252. Eelative Position of the National Troops Van Dorn's Flanking Move-
ment, 253. He marches to attack Curtis prepared to receive him, 254 Opening of the Battle of Pea
Kidge Indian Savages led by Albert Pike A severe Struggle, 255. A general Battle Carr's Struggle on
the Eight, 256. Night ends the Battle Preparations by the Nationals for renewing it, 257. Battle
renewed in the Morning The Nationals victorious, 258. Eesult of the Battle Atrocities of Pike's
Indians, 259. Curtis marches toward the Mississippi The Indians, 260.

CHAPTER X.

GENERAL MITOHEL's INVASION OF ALABAMA. THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.

Grant and his victorious Army Expedition up the Tennessee Eiver planned, 261. Grant's Army on Trans-
ports on the Tennessee Skirmish at Pittsburg Landing, 262. Events near Pittsburg Landing Sherman at
Shiloh Church, 263. Movements of Buell's Army Morgan, the Guerrilla Chief, 264. Mitchel's extraordi-
nary March Southward, 265. Capture of Huntsville, Alabama, 266. Memphis and Charleston Eailway
seized Grant's Army near Pittsburg Landing, 267. Its Position on the 6th of April, 268. The Confederate
Army at Corinth Its forward Movement, 269. Preparations for Battle by the Confederates The Nationals
unsuspicious of Danger, 270. Opening of the Battle of Shiloh, 271. First Day of the Battle of Shiloh, 273.
General Grant on the Battle-Field, 274 Defeat of the National Army, 275. General Lewis Wallace's
Troops expected The Cause of their Delay, 276. The Confederates prepare for a Night Attack, 277.
Arrival of Buell's Forces, 278. Opening of the Second Day's Battle on the Eight by Wallace's Troops, 279.
The Struggle on the Left, 280. The final Contest for Victory, 281. Defeat of the Confederates on the
Eight, 282. Flight of the Confederate Army Miseries of the Eetreat, 2S3. Disposition of the Dead Jour-
ney from Meridian to Corinth, 284. Visit to the Battle-Field of Shiloh Journey from Corinth to the
Field, 285. A Night on Shiloh Battle-Field, 286. A Victim of the wicked Eebellion Effects of Shot and
Shell on the Battle-Ground, 287.

CHAPTER XL

OPERATIONS IN SOUTHERN TENNESSEE AND NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA.

Situation of the two Armies near Corinth, 288. The Victory at Shiloh, and its Fruits Public Eejoicings, 289.-~
Forward Movements of the National Army checked by Halleck Mitchel's Troops driven from Tuscumbia

CONTENTS. 9

and Decatur, 290. Mltchel's Operations in the Direction of Chattanooga Halleck moves Cautiously toward
Corinth, 291. The Confederate Army at Corinth National Troops on detached Service, 292. The Siege of
Corinth Its Evacuation Halleck's Surprise, 293. Beauregard's Flight Southward, 294 Change of Con-
federate Commanders Quiet of the National Army under General Halleck, 295. Operations on the Missis-
sippiThe opposing Fleets Siege of Fort Pillow, 296. Battle at Fort Pillow, 297. Evacuation of Fort
Kandolph Naval Battle before Memphis, 29S. Capture of Memphis, 299. Expeditions sent out by General
Mitchel, 800. Raid on the Kailway between Chattanooga and Atlanta, 801. Capture and Execution of the
Kaiders, 802. Battle at Chattanooga Capture of Cumberland Gap, 803. Generals Buell and Mitchel, 804.

CHAPTER XII.

OPERATIONS ON THE COAST OF THE ATLANTIC AND THE GTJLF OF MEXICO.

Expedition against New Berne Landing of the Army below the Town, 805. Battle near New Berne, 806. Eout
of the Confederates Flight of Citizens, 807. Effect of the Capture of New Berne, 80S. Christian Work at
New Berne Mr. Colyer's Schools, 309. Expedition against Fort Macon The Nashville, 810. Preparations
to assail Fort Macon, 811. Siege and Bombardment of the Fort, 812. Fort Macon and its Vicinity in 1864,
813. Expedition to Albemarle Sound Battle of South Mills, 314. Operations in the Rear of Norfolk The
Coast of North Carolina In Possession of National Troops, 315.-^Blockade Runners Expedition against Fort
Pulaskl, 816. Obstructions of the Savannah River, 817. Preparations to bombard Fort Pulaski, 818. Bom-
bardment and Capture of the Fort, 819. Expedition against Fort Clinch, and its Capture, 820. Capture of
Jacksonville, Florida, 321. Capture of St. Augustine, 822. The Atlantic Coast abandoned by the Confede-
rates, 823. Expedition against New Orleans, 324. National Troops at Ship Island, 825. Proclamation of
General Phelps, 826. Operations at Biloxl and Mississippi City, 327.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS.

Plan for the Capture of New Orleans Porter's Mortar Fleet, 329. The Defenses of New Orleans, 829. Confi-
dence of the Confederates In their Defenses The Fleets of Farragut and Porter, 830. Their appearance on
the Mississippi River, 331. Bombardment of Forts Jackson and St Philip, 332. Passage of the Forts by
War-vessels, 388. Battle with the Forts and the Ram Jfanassa*, 8-34. Fearful Struggle of the ffartford,
835. A desperate Naval Battle, 836. Capture of Forts Jackson and St Philip, 889. Excitement in New
Orleans, 840. Flight of Lovell and his Troops, 341. Farragnt approaches New Orleans Destruetion of
Property there, 842. Farragut before the City, 348. Folly of the Civil Authorities Impertinence of a
French Naval Commander, 844. National Troops In New Orleans, 845. General Butler and the absurd
Mayor Monroe Butler's Proclamation. 846. Rebellion rebuked and checked. 347. Martial Law proclaimed
Concessions to the People, 848. Benevolent and Sanitary Measures The Rebellious Spirit of Citizens,
849. Butler's famous " Woman Order "Its Effects, 850. A Traitor hung Butler's Administration, 351.
Effect of the Capture of New Orleans, 852.

CHAPTER XIV.

MOVEMENTS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. THE MONITOR AND MERRIMACK.

Continued Inaction of the Grand Army of the Potomac, 853. Impatience of the President and the People, 354.
Haughtiness of General McClellan, 855. The President orders a Movement of all the Armies McClellan
substitutes Argument for Obedience. Patience of the President, 856. Campaign against Richmond con-
sideredArmy Corps formed, 857. The Confederates evacuate Manassas, 858. " Promenade " of the Army
of the Potomac McClellan relieved of some Burden of Duty, 359. The Mtrrimack and Monitor. 360.
Onslaught of the Merrimack on National Vessels, 361. Destruction of the latter, 862. The Monitor In
Hampton Roads, 368. Battle between the Monitor and Merrimack, 864 Result of the Fight, 365. The
contending Vessels Captain Worden, 366. Movements in Western Virginia, 867. Opposing Forces in the
Shenandoah Valley, 868. Shields at Winchester Skirmish near there, 869. Battle of Kemstown, 370.
The Defense of Washington City made sure. 371. The Confederates on the Peninsula, 872. Army of the
Potomac checked, 873. McClellan complains of a Want of Force, 874 The Siege of Torktown Magruder
deceives McClellan, 875. Confederate Be-enforcementB ent to Yorktown Sufferings of the National
Troops, 876.

10 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV.

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ON THE VIRGINIA. PENINSULA.

The Confederates evacuate Yorktown, 377. Pursuit of the Fugitives Confederate Works at Williamsbnrg, 878.
Hooker's Advance upon them, 379. Battle near Williatnsburg Hooker bears the Brunt, 3SO. Kearney's
Troops on the Field, 381. Hancock's Flank Movement, 332. Close of the Battle of Williamsburg Com-
position of the National Army there, 383. McClellan urged to the Front The Fruits of Victory lost by
Delay, 334. Expedition up the York River National Troops on the Pauiunkey A sharp Fight, 385.
Head-Quarters near the " White House "A Trick to save that Building, 386. Preparations to attack Nor-
folkVigilance of General Wool, 387. He leads Troops against Norfolk Surrender of the City, 388. Events
in the Shenandoah Valley, 389. Battle at McDowell, 390. Kenly attacked at Front Royal, 391. Banks's
Eetreat toward the Potomac Difficulties in the Way, 392. Battle at Winchester, 393. Banks's Retreat to
the Potomac Jackson hastens up the Shenandoah Valley, 894. An exciting Race in that Valley Jackson
and Ewell hard pressed, 395. Battle of Cross Keys, 396. Map of Operations in Upper Virginia, 398. Battle
of Port Republic and Escape of Jackson's Army, 899. A Visit to the Shenandoah Region Weyer's Cave,
400. Passage of the Blue Ridge, 401.

CHAPTER XVI.

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC BEFORE RICHMOND.

Naval Attack on Drewry's Bluff, 402. The Artriy of the Potomac on the Chickahomlny, 403. Skirmish at
Ellison's Mill An inspiriting Order, 404. Inactivity of the Army of the Potomac, 405. Skirmishes near
Hanover Court-House, 406. McClellan calls for Re-enforcements Raids on Railways, 407. The Confede-
rates prepare to attack the Nationals General Casey's Position, 408. Battle of the Seven Pines, 409.
Battle near Fair Oaks Station, 410. Sumner crosses the Chickahominy, 411. Second Battle of Fair Oaks
Station The Confederate Commander-in-Chief wounded, 412. Hooker looks into Richmond and is called
back, 413. " Stonewall " Jackson joins the Confederate Army near Richmond General Robert E. Lee in
command, 414. Public Expectation disappointed Hopes excited, 415. Bold Raid of General J. E. B.
Stuart, 416. Richmond quietly besieged, 417. Lee preparing to strike McClellan, 418. Battle at Mechan-
icsville, 419. The Siege of Richmond abandoned, 420. Preparations for a defensive Battle near Cool Arbor,
421. Battle of Gaines's Farm, 422. The National Army in imminent Peril, 423. Retreat of the Army of
the Potomac to the James River begun, 424. The Confederate Commander deceived, 425. Destruction of
the "White House" and public Property near, 426. Lee pursues McClellan The Latter's insolent Letter
to the Secretary of War, 427. Battle at Savage's Station, 428. Battle at the White Oak Swamp Bridge, 429.
Battle of Glendale, 430. The Army of the Potomac on Malvern Hills, 481. The contending Armies con-
fronting each other there, 432. Battle of Malvern Hills, 483. McClellan on the Galena His victorious
Army ordered to retreat, 434. Position of his Army on the James River, 485. Visit to the Battle-fields
near Richmond, 436. Malvern Hills and the Randolph Mansion, 43S, Fair Oaka and Savage's Station, 439.
Williamsburg and Yorktown, 440.

CHAPTER XVTL

POPE'S CAMPAIGN IX VIRGINIA.

Reported Condition of the Army of the Potomac, 441. The President visits the Army His Perplexity, 442.
The Army of Virginia under General Pope, 443. Withdrawal of the Army of the Potomac from the Vir-
ginia Peninsula, 444 The Confederates plan a Grand Scheme of Invasion, 445. Successful Raids toward
Richmond, 446. Pope in the Field Events near the Rapid Anna, 447. Battle of Cedar Mountain, 448
The Combatants re-enforced, 449. Pope compelled to retreat, 450. Movements on the Rappahannock
Attempts to flank the Army of Virginia, 451. Tardiness of Re-enforcements, 452. Position of the Army of
Virginia, 453. Manassas Junction captured by the ConfederatesCritical Situation of both Annies. 454.
Failure of an Attempt to capture Jackson's Force at Manassas, 455. Battle near Groveton, 456. Jackson
re-enforced by Longstreet, 457. Battle-ground near Groveton, 458. Condition of the two Armies. 459.
Second Battle of Bull's Run, 460. Battle near Chantilly, 461. Relations of Generals Pope and McClellan,
f 462. Dissolution of the Army of Virginia Members of the " Confederate Congress," so-called, 463.

CHAPTER
LEE'S INVASION OF MARYLAND AND HIS RETREAT TOWARD RICHMOND.

Lee's relative Position to the National Army reviewed The Republic in Peril, 464. Lee's Invasion of Mary-
landHis Proclamation, 465. It is scorned by the People of Maryland Barbara Frtetchlc, 466. L<-e's
Scheme of Invasion discovered, 467. McClellan's Advantages, 468. Advance upon South Mountain, 469.

CONTENTS. 11

Battle on South Mountain, 470. Struggle at Crampton's Gap Toombs and Cobb, the Georgia Traitors, 471.
Harper's Ferry invested, 472. Surrender of Harper's Ferry, 473. The Armies in the Antietam Valley,
474. Their relative Position, 475. Preparations for Battle Preliminary Contests, 476. Battle of Antietam,
477. Close of Operations on the Eight, 430. Operations on the Left, and close of the Battle, 481. Lee per-
mitted to escape, 4S2. McClellan ordered to pursue him He halts and calls for Re-enforcements, 483. The
Army of the Potomac again in Virginia A Race toward Richmond Napoleon's Ideas about making War,
484. Slow Movements of the Army McClellan superseded by Burnside, 485. The Army before Fred-
erieksburg, 486. Position of the Confederates at Fredericksbnrg, 487. Attempts to build Pontoon Bridges
Attacks on the Workmen, 4SS. Passage of the Rappahannock by National Troops, 489. Relative Position
of the two Armies, 490. Attack on the Confederate Line, 491. Battle of Fredericksburg, 492. Struggle at
the foot of Marye's Hill, 493. Withdrawal of National Troops, 494. Bnrnsido's new Plan of Operations,
495. Its Execution commenced and suspended Burnside called to Washington City, 496. Ho is super-
seded by General Hooker His Patriotism triumphs over Feeling, 497.

CHAPTER XIX.

EVENTS IN KENTUCKY AND NORTHERN MI8SIS8IPPI.

Condition of Kentucky, 498. John H. Morgan and his Guerrillas, 499. Morgan driven from Kentucky, 500.
Forrest in Tennessee, 501. E. Kirby Smith's Invasion of Kentucky, 502. Cincinnati threatened by the
Confederates, 503. Wallace's Defense of Cincinnati, 504. Bragg's March toward Kentucky Cavalry Fight
near McMinnsville, 505. Bragg's Invasion of Kentucky, 506. His Proclamation to the Kentuckians, 507.
Buell turns upon Bragg, 503. Battle near Perryville, 509. Bragg's Flight from Kentucky, 511. General
Grant in Tennessee, 512. Capture of luka by the Confederates, 518. Battle of Inka, 514. Movements of
General Ord, 515. A Visit to the luka Battle-ground, 516. Graves of Ohio Soldiers, 517. The Confederates
approaching Corinth, 518. Battle of Corinth, 519. Fierce Contest at Fort Robinett Repulse of the Con-
federates Rosecrans pursues them, 522. Buell superseded by Kosecrans, 528.

CHAPTER XX.

EVENTS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE.

Department of the Tennessee Grant's Position, 524. Curtis's March toward the Mississippi Weakness of
Military Force in Arkansas, 525. Land and Naval Forces on the Mississippi, 526. Brief Siege of Vicksburg,
527. The Ram Arkawis Bombardment of Donaldsonville, 523.' Battle at Baton Rouge, 529. The La
Fourche District " repossessed," 580. Generals Banks and Butler -in New Orleans Military Operations in
Missouri, 581. War on its Western Borders, 532. Confederates driven into Arkansas. 533. Battle on Boston
Mountains, 534. Battle of Prairie Grove, 535. Sufferings of Loyalists in Western Texas, 536. Massacre of
Unionists, 537. The Army of the Cumberland, 538. Bragg's Army at Murfreesboro' Jefferson Davis at
Head-Quarters, 539. Rosecrans's Army at Nashville, 540. Activity of his Troops, 541. Advance of the
Army of the Cumberland, 542. Its Appearance before Murfreesboro', 548. Opening of the Battle of Mur-
freesboro', or Stone's River, 544. Disaster to the Right Wing of the National Army, 545. Struggle of
Hazen's Brigade, 546. Progress of the Battle, 547, 548, and 549. Victory for the Nationals Pursuit
delayed, 550. Bragg retreats Southward, 551. Important Cavalry Raids, 552. A Visit to the Murfrees-
boro' Battle-fleld, 558.

CHAPTER XXI.

SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHWEST.

The Army of the Cumberland rests at Murfreesboro' Meeting of the Thirty-seventh Congress, 554. Confisca-
tion and Emancipation proposed, 555. Proposed Compensation for Emancipated Slaves, 556. Temper of
the People of the Border Slave-labor States, 557. The People impatient for Emancipation War Powers of
the President, 553. Preliminary Proclamation of Emancipation Public Anxiety, 559. Definitive Procla-
mation of Emancipation, 560. The original Draft of the Proclamation, 561. Character of the Proclamation
The Instrument, and the Pen with which it was written, 564. First Regiment of colored Troops Scene
In a Live-Oak Grove. 665. The Confederate " Congress," so-called, 566. Jefferson Davis and his chosen
Counselors, 567. Confederate Pirate-Ships, 563. The Pirates Seinmes and Mafflt, 569. Confederate Naval
Commission, 570. Barbarism and Civilization Illustrated by the Alabama and George, Griswold. 571.
Vicksburg and its Importance. 572. Grant's Advance in Mississippi, 573. Serious Disaster at Holly Springs,
674. Sherman's Descent of the Mississippi, 575. Natural Defenses of Vicksburg, 576. Movements at
Chickasaw Bayou in their Roar. 577. Battle at Chickasaw Bayou, 578'. Sherman compelled to withdraw,
679. Expedition against Arkansas Post, 580. Capture of Arkansas Post, 531. Posts on lied River
captured, 582.

12 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXII.

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBTJRG.

Grant's Army reorganized, 583. Projected Canal near Vicksburg, 584. Digging of the Canal, 585. Another
Yazoo Expedition, 5S6. Attack on Fort Pemberton The Expedition a Failure, 5S7. A Third Tazoo Expe-
dition Porter's Gun-boats in Peril Expedition abandoned, 588. Raids by iron-clad Earns, 589. The
Indianola captured by the Confederates Her Destruction caused by a Trick, 590. Passage of the Vicksburg
Batteries by Gun-boats and Transports, 591. Banks's Expedition, and his Arrival in New Orleans, 592.
The National Forces at Galveston, 593. Capture of Galveston by the Confederates, 594 The Interior of
Louisiana, 595. Expedition to the Teche Region, 596. Battle on the Bayou Teche, 597. Attempt to pass
the Port Hudson Batteries, 598. Banks in the Interior of Louisiana, 599. His Triumphant March to the
Eed River, 600. He invests Port Hudson, 601. Grierson's Great Raid in Mississippi, 602. Grant's Army
crosses the Mississippi, 603. Battle near Port Gibson, 604 March of the Nationals toward Jackson, 605.
Battle near Raymond, 606. Battle near Jackson, 607. Capture of Jackson, 608. Pemberton's Forces He
Is compelled to fight, 609. Battle of Champion Hills, 610. Pursuit of the Confederates New Position of
the Confederates, 611. Battle at the Big Black River, 612. Vicksburg invested Porter again on the
Tazoo, 613. Position of the National Troops around Vicksburg, 614

CHAPTER XXIII.

SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON.

The National Troops in Danger, 615. Preparations to storm the "Works at Vicksburg An Attack, 616. Second
Attack, 617. A severe Struggle, 618. The Nationals repulsed, 619. A regular Siege of Vicksburg begun
Weakness of the Confederates, 620. Grant re-enforced Services of Porter's Fleet, 621. Life in the
besieged City, 622. Confederate Troops in Louisiana, 628. Battle at Milliken's Bend Bravery of colored
Troops, 624 Mining the Confederate Works, 625. Pemberton's Proposition to surrender, 626. Interview-
between Grant and Pemberton, 627. Formal Surrender of Vicksburg Celebration of the Fourth of July in
the City, 628. Region of Military Operations in Mississippi, 629. The Spoils of Victory Its Effects, 630.
The Investment of Port Hudson, 631. Assault on the Confederate Works The Charge by colored Troops,
632. Close Siege of Port Hudson, 633.--A severe Struggle, 634. Second Assault on Port Hudson, 635.
Siege of Port Hudson continued, 686. Surrender of the Post and Garrison Banks's Loss, and his Spoils
won The Mississippi River open to Commerce, 637. Effect of the Fall of Vicksburg and Port Hudson at
Home and Abroad A Visit to Vicksburg and its Vicinity, 638. Voyage up the Mississippi A Confederate
Major, 639. The Historical Localities around Vicksburg, 640.

VOLUME II.

1. PORTRAIT OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN STEEL

PLATE FRONTISPIECE

2. INITIAL LETTER . . . . . . .8

8. CONTENTS. VOL. IL 6

4. ILLUSTRATIONS. VOL. II

5. INITIAL LETTER DRAGON OF TREASON .

6. GRIGSBY'S HOUSE, CENTEEVILLE

7. MAP SHOWING THE DEFENSES OF WASHING-

TON ...

8. TOBACCO WAREHOUSE PRISON ....

9. JOHN H. WINDER

10. PRISON ASSOCIATION SEAL ....

11. SEAL OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT .

12. THE SENATE CHAMBER AT MONTGOMERY

13. CONFEDERATE STATE DEPARTMENT SEAL

14. THE TREDEGAR IRON WORKS AT RICHMOND .

15. BLOODHOUND

16. THE COUNTY JAIL AT KNOXVILLE .

17. THE GALLOWS-TREE

18. J. L. PETTIGRU . . . .

19. TAIL-PIECE SWORD AND SCALES . . .

20. INITIAL LETTER SEAL OF MISSOURI

21. SIGEL'S FIELD OF OPERATIONS MAP

22. PLAN OF BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK MAP

23. PORTRAIT OF M. JEFF. THOMPSON .

24. PORTRAIT OF JOHN C. FREMONT

25. FREMONT'S HEAD-QUARTERS IN ST. Louis

26. STEAMBOAT OBSTRUCTIONS ....

27. SPEAR'S TORPEDO

23. RAFT ANCHORED IN THE MISSISSIPPI

29. TAIL-PIECE BROKEN SHACKLES . . .

80. INITIAL LETTER SEAL OF KENTUCKY .

81. SIEGE OF LEXINGTON MAP ....

82. HEAD-QUARTERS AT CAMP DICK ROBINSON .

83. THE BLUFF, AND FOLK'S HEAD-QUARTERS

NEAR COLUMBUS . . . . . * .

84. PORTRAIT OF FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER
35. PORTRAIT OF HUMPHREY MARSHALL

86. SlGEL CROSSING THE OSAGE ....
37. PORTRAIT or DAVID HUNTER

85. FREMONT'S SWORD

89. PONTOON BRIDGE AT PADUCAH ...
40. FIELD OF OPERATIONS AGAINST BELMONT

MAP . .

41.

48.

4o.

44.

45.

46.

4T.

49.

Bfc

51.

88,

;">:{.

54.

56.

50.

BT.

59.

00.

4:5

68.

C4.

05.

66.

07.

68.

70.

78.

73.

75.

70.

77.

7S.

79.

PAGB

BATTLE AT BELMONT MAP .... 87

PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM NELSON ... 90

TAIL-PIECE BROKEN CANNON ... 91

INITIAL LETTER MOUNTAIN SCENERY . . 92

PORTRAIT OK JOSEPU J. REYNOLDS . . 93

ASCENT OF GAULEY MOUNTAIN ... 94

PORTRAIT OF HENRY W. BENHAM ... 95
PLAN OF THE BATTLE OF CARNIFBX FERRY

MAP 96

PORTRAIT OF ROBERT E. LEE . . .97
REGION OF MILITARY OPERATIONS IN WEST-
ERN VIRGINIA MAP 101

PORTRAIT OF ROBF.RT H. MILROY . . . 103

BURNING OF HAMPTON ..... 105

PORTRAIT OF SILAS H. STRINGHAM . . 105

FORT HATTERAS 107

OPERATIONS NEAR CAPE HATTERAS MAP . 109
PORTRAIT OF J. S. HOLLINS . . . .114
INITIAL LETTER WAR VESSEL . . . 115
PORTRAIT OF S. F. DUPONT .... 116
PORTRAIT OF T. F. DRAYTON. . . . 118
FORT WALKER, HILTON HEAD . . . 119
PLAN OF BATTLE AT PORT ROYAL EN-
TRANCE MAP 120

PLAN OF FORT BEAUREGARD .... 121

PORTRAIT OF STEPHEN ELLIOTT, JR. . . 122

POPE'S HOUSE, HILTON HEAD . . . 122

PORTRAIT OF R. S. RIPLEY .... 123

CANNON CAPTURED AT BEAUFORT . . . 124

MARTELLO TOWER ON TYBEE ISLAND . . 125

FORT ON BAY POINT 125

COAST ISLANDS MAP 126

FLAT-BOATS USED FOR LANDING TROOPS . 127

PORT ROYAL FERRY BEFORE THE ATTACK . 127
THE CHANNELS OF CHARLESTON HARBOR

MAP . . . . . . . . . 123

WAR BALLOON . . . . . .132

FAIRFAX COURT-HOUSE . . , . . . 133

QUAKER GUN AT MANASSAS .... 136

GEARY'S HEAD-QUARTERS ON CAMP HEIGHTS 137

PORTBAIT OF E. D. BAKER .... 141

MAP OF TUB BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF . 143
BANKS'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT EDWARDS'

FERRY 1*4

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE

80. FOET LAFAYETTE 146

81. INITIAL LETTER LION ON DECK . . . 150

82. FORAGERS AT WORK 150

83. POETEAIT OP E. O. C. OBD . . . .151
84 POBTRAIT OF CHABLES WILKES . . . 154

85. FOET WARREN 155

86 POETEAIT OF JOHN BRIGHT .... 159

87. PORTRAIT OF LORD LYONS .... 164

83. PORTRAIT OF COUNT MERCIER . , . 165

89. PORTRAIT OF Louis M. GOLDSBOEOTTGH . 166

90. PORTRAIT OF STEPHEN C. ROWAN , . 167

91. PORTRAIT OF AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE , . 16S

92. PORTRAIT OF BENJAMIN* HUGEE . . . 169

93. THE ATTACK ON ROANOKE ISLAND MAP . 171

94. PORTRAIT OF JOHN G. FOSTER . . . 172

95. BURNSIDE'S HEAD-QUARTERS , . . 174

96. NAVAL MEDAL OF HONOR .... 175

97. PORTRAIT OF C. F. LYNCH .... 176

9S. HAWKINS ZOUAVES 177

99. TAIL-PIECE PROCLAMATIONS . . . 17S

100. INITIAL LETTER WATEBFALL . . . 179

101. PORTRAIT or HENRY WAGER HALLECK . ISO

102. PORTRAIT OF HENRY H. SIBLEY . . . 1S6

103. ONE OF SIBLEY'S TEXAS BANGERS . . 1S7
104 PORTRAIT OF A. SIDNEY JOHNSTON . . 1S9

105. BUELL'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT LOUISVILLE . 190

106. PORTRAIT OF THOMAS C. HINDMAN IN 1858 191

107. PORTRAIT OF PON CARLOS BUELL . . 192
103. MAP OF THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRINGS . 194

109. ARMY FORGE ... ... 195

110. REGION OF MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN EAST-

ERN KENTUCKY MAP 197

111. PLAN OF THE FORTIFICATIONS AT COLUMBUS

MAP 138

112. FOOTE'S FLOTILLA 199

113. PLAN OF FORT HENRY 201

114. PORTRAIT OF A. H. FOOTE .... 202

115. TORPEDO .202

116. INTERIOR OF FORT HENRY .... 203

117. TAIL-PIECEDELIVERY OF A SWORD . . 205

118. INITIAL LETTER SEAL OF TENNESSEE. . 206

119. A MORTAR-BOAT 207

120. ROUTE FROM FORT HENRY TO FOBT DONEL-

SON MAP 208

121. LOWER WATER BATTERY, FOET DONELSON 209

122. BIRGE'S SHARP-SHOOTER . . . 210

123. GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS, FORT DONELSON 211
124 POSITION OF TUB GUN-BOATS IN TUB AT-
TACK ON FORT DONELSON .... 213

125. PORTRAIT OF BUSHROD R. JOHNSTON . 214

126. PORTRAIT OF JOHN A. MCCLERNAND . . 215

127. THE GRAVES OF THE ILLINOIS TROOPS . 217

128. CAMP DOUGLAS 220

129. PRISON AT CAMP CHASE, COLUMBUS, OHIO 220

130. PLAN OF THE SIEGE OF FORT DONELSON

MAP 221

131. HALLECK'S SWORD 222

132. VIEW AT FORT DONELSON .... 228

133. TAIL-PIECE BOMB-SHELL .... 229

134. INITIAL LETTER SEAL OF ARKANSAS . . 230

135. BOWLING GREEN AFTER THE EVACUATION . 280
130. FORT BRUCE AND ITS VICINITY . . . 232

137. NASHVILLE AND ITS BRIDGES . . . 233

138. CAPITOL AT NASHVILLE .... 2S4

139. ISLAND NUMBER TEN 237

140. TORPEDOES 237

141. INFERNAL MACHINE 237

142. POPE'S HEAD-QUABTERS NEAR NEW MADRID 239

143. A CANNON TRUCK ...... 240

144. TlIIRTEEN-INCH MORTAR 241

145. ISLAND No. TEN AND ITS DEFENSES MAP . 242

PAGE

146. METHOD OF CARRYING A SHELL . . . 242

147. PORTRAIT OF SCHUYLER HAMILTON . . 243

148. CONSTRUCTING THE CANAL .... 244

149. THE CARONDELET 245

150. SUNKEN VESSELS IN THE MISSISSIPPI . . 246

151. MAGAZINE OPPOSITE ISLAND NUMBER TEX 24T

152. ANCIENT MORTAR 247

153. MAP OF TUB OPERATIONS OF POPE AND

FOOTS 248

154 CONFEDERATE HEAD-QUARTERS, ISLAND

NUMBER TEN 243

155. GRAND JUNCTION, MISSISSIPPI . . . 249

156. PORTRAIT OF SAHUEL R. CURTIS . . . 250

157. PORTRAIT OF EARL VAN DORN . . . 251
155. PORTRAIT OF ALEXANDER ASUOTU . . 254

159. BATTLE-FIELD OF PEA RIDGE MAP . . 253

160. TAIL-PIECE UNFIT FOR DUTY . . .260

161. INITIAL LETTER FOREST SCENE . . . 261

162. PORTRAIT OF CHARLES FERGUSON SMITH . 262

163. PITTSBUEG LANDING IN 1S66. ... 263
164 SUILOH MEETING-HOUSE 263

165. PORTRAIT OF JAMES S. NEGLEY . . . 264

166. FORT NEGLEY 265

167. PORTRAIT OF ORMSBY M. MITCHEL . . 265

168. RUINS OF SIIILOH MEETING-HOUSE . . 263

169. PORTRAIT OF BRAXTON BRAGG . . . 269

170. PORTRAIT OF Vf. J. HARDEE . . .270

171. PICKETS ON DUTY 271

172. PORTRAIT OF B. M. PRENTISS . . . 272

173. PORTRAIT OF ULYSSES 8. GRANT . . . 274
174 A HAND LITTER 275

175. PORTRAIT OF STEPHEN A. HURLBUT . . 276

176. POSITION OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS IN THK

BATTLE OF SIIILOH MAP .... 282

177. MULES CARRYING WOUNDED MEN . . 2s3

178. BURNING HORSES NEAR PITTSBURG LANDING 2S4

179. CONFEDERATE HOSPITAL AT MONTEREY . 265
ISO. OUR HOSTESS AT SHILOB .... 286

181. OUR LODGING-PLACE on THB FIELD OF

SHILOU 286

182. EFFECTS OF A SHOT NEAR. SHILOU MKETING-

HOUSB . 287

183. TAIL-PIECEBROKEN ARMS . . . . 2SI

184. INITIAL LETTER SHATTERED TREES . . 2S3

185. BEAUREGARD'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT CORINTH 283

186. CABIN OF A HOSPITAL STEAKER ON THK

TENNESSEE RIVER 2S9

187. FAR.MINGTON MEETING-HOUSE . . . 292

188. CORINTH AFTER THE EVACUATION . . 293

189. THE SIEGE OF CORINTH 294

190. HALLECK'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT COKINTH . 295

191. PORTRAIT OF CHARLES ELLET . . . 297

192. ELLET'S STERN-WHEEL RAM .... 299

193. ENTRANCE TO THE CAVE .... 302
194 CUMBERLAND GAP AND ITS DEPENDENCIES 304

195. TAIL-PIECE A CANNON IN THE MOUNTAINS 804

196. INITIAL LETTER SEAL OF GEORGIA . . 805

197. OPERATIONS NEAR NEW BERNE MAP . 307

198. BURNSIDE'S HEAD-QUABTERS AT NEW

BERNE 308

199. COLYER'S HEAD-QUARTERS .... 309

200. VIEW AT THE LANDING AT MOREIIEAD CITY 811

201. NEWSPAPER BOAT AT FREDERICKSBUBO . 311

202. FORT MACON IN 1864 313

203. OPERATIONS IN BURNSIDE'S DEPARTMENT

MAP 815

204 A BLOCKADE-RUNNER 316

205. OBSTRUCTIONS IN THE SAVANNAH RIVER . 817

206. CHEVAUX-DE-FRISE . . . . .317

207. PORTRAIT OF QUINCY A. GILMORK . .313

208. SIEGE OF FOBT PULASKI MAP . . 318

ILLUSTRATIONS.

PAGE
319
320
322
824
326

209. BREACH IN FORT PULASKI . . .

210. FORT CLINCH

211. FORT MARION

212. PORTRAIT OP EDWIN M. STANTON

218. FORT MASSACHUSETTS, ON SHIP ISLAND
214 TAIL-PIECE RUINS or THE STEAMER NASH-
VILLE . 827

215. INITIAL LETTEB SEAL OP LOUISIANA. . 828

216. PORTRAIT OF DAVID D. PORTEB . . . 829
211 THE LOUISIANA 880

218. MORTAR VESSELS DISGUISED ... 881

219. ATTACK ON THE FORTS MAP . . 882

220. PORTRAIT OF THEODORUS BAILEY . . 888

221. RAM MANASSAS ATTACKING TUB BROOK-

LYN ,,,, 884

222. SHRAPNEL SHELL 884

223. THE HARTFORD 835

224 PORTRAIT OP CHARLES BOGGS ... 886

225. VIEW OF THE QUARANTINE GROUNDS . . 837

226. THE MANASSAS . . . ... .883

227. PLAN OF FOKT JACKSON .... 889

228. PORTRAIT OP MANSFIELD LOVELL . . 840

229. TWIGGS'S HOUSB 840

230. NEW ORLEANS AND ITS VICINITY MAP . 841
281. THE LEVEK. AT NEW ORLEANS . . . 842
232. GENEUAL BUTLER'S RESIDENCE, NEW OB-

LBASS 848

288. PORTRAIT or GEORGE F. SHBPLEY . . 851
284 LOUISIANA NATIVE GUARD . . . .852
285. TAIL-PIECECAMP CHEST . . . .852

236. INITIAL LETTER SEAL OF VIRGINIA . . 858

237. PORTRAIT OF MONTGOMERY C. Mxios . . 854
288. PORTRAIT OF GEOKGB STONEMAN . . . 859

239. PORTRAIT OP FRANKLIN BUCHANAN . . 860

240. INTERIOR or THE MONITOR'S TURBET . . 860

241. PORTRAIT OF JOHN ERICSSON . . . 868

242. MASHED BOLT 864

243. BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOB AND MEB-

BIMACK, IN HAMPTON ROADS . . . 865

244 PORTRAIT OF JOHN L. WORDEN . . . 366

245. PORTRAIT OF FREDERICK W. LANDER . . 867

246. PORTRAIT OP NATHANIEL P. BANKS . . 868

247. EXODUS OP SLAVES 863

248. PORTRAIT OF JAMES SHIELDS . . . 870

249. MAGRUHER'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT YOBKTOWN 371

250. McCLELLAN'S HEAD-QUARTERS . . .872

251. SCENE AT WARWICK COURT-HOUSE . . 873

252. TAIL-PIECE GABIONS 876

258. INITIAL LETTEB 377

254 PARISH CHURCH IN 1866 . . . .877

255. PORTRAIT OF EDWIH V. SUMNBB . . .873

256. TORPEDO 873

257. EXCELSIOR BBIGADE 330

258. ROAD BETWEEN YOBKTOWW AND WIL-

LIAMSBUBG 881

259. SITE OP THE DAM 882

260. BATTLE OP WILLIAMSBURG MAP . . 883
-v,i. VKST'B HOUSE 885

262. THE MODERN " WHITE HOUSE" . .886

263. McCLELLAN'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT COOL

ARBOR . . . . . .887

264 WOOL'S LANDING-PLACE AT OCEAN VIEW 888

265. JACKSON'S NOTE TO EWELL .... 891

266. POBTBAIT OP RICHARD S. EWELL . . . 898

267 HAND GRENADE 894

263. PORTRAIT OP A. ELZY 896

269. UNION CHURCH AT CROSS KEYS . . . 896

270. OPERATIONS IN UPPER VIRGINIA MAP . 393

271. TAIL-PIECE PUNISHMENTS IN CAMP . . 401

272. INITIAL LETTER GUIDE-POSTS . . . 402

273. AN ARMORED LOOKOUT . . 402

PAGE

274 SITE OP NEW BRIDGE ..... 403

275. ELLISON'S MILL 404

276. PORTRAIT OF FITZ-JOHN PORTER . . . 408

277. PORTRAIT OF SILAS CASEY .... 403

278. PORTRAIT OP HENRY M. NAGLEE . . . 409

279. BATTLE-FIELD OP THE SEVEN PINES . . 410

280. BATTLE OP THE SEVEN PINES AND FAIR

OAKS MAP 411

281. HOOKER'S HEAD-QUARTERS .... 413

282. HOSPITAL AT FAIR OAKS . . . .414

283. PORTRAIT OF J. E. B. STUABT . . .416
2S4 PORTRAIT OP SAMUEL P. HEINTZELMAN . 41T
285. MECHANICSVILLE BRIDGE OVER THE CHICKA-

IIOMINY 419

236. BATTLE or MECUANICSVILLB MAP . . 420
2S7. PORTRAIT OF A. P. HILL . . . .421

238. PORTRAIT OF DANIEL BUTTERFIELD . . 428

239. BATTLE OP GAINES'S FARM MAP. . . 423

290. RUINS OP GAINES'S MILLS . 424

291. PORTRAIT OP ERASMUS D. KEYS . . . 425
29i VIEW AT SAVAGE'S STATION IN 1806 . . 426

293. McCLELLAN'S IlEAD-QlJARTERB ON MALVERN

HILLS ...... .489

294. WILLIS'S Cnrp.ru 429

295. POSITION OP TROOPS ON MALVERN HILLS-

MAP 481

296. THE GALENA 432

297. BATTLE-FIELD OF MALVERN HILLS . . 438

293. WESTOVER 435

299. THE HARRISON MANSION .... 435

800. MECHANICSVILLE 486

801. WALNUT GROVE CHURCH .... 486
302. IlEAD-QUAKTEBS NEAR COOL ARBOR . . 437

308. WHITE'S TAVERN 487

304. VIEW FROM MALVERN HILLS. . . . 483
805. BATTERY AND CHURCH TOWEB ON JAMES

ISLAND 489

306. MCCLELLAN'S HEAD-QUABTBBS AT YORK-
TOWN 440

807. INITIAL LETTEB 441

808. PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL D. STUBGIS . . 443

809. PORTRAIT OF SAMUEL W. CRAWFORD . . 447
310. POPE'S HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR CEDAR MOUN-
TAIN 450

811. CATLETT'B STATION 451

812.
313.
314
315.
316.

453
455
456
457

PORTRAIT or WM. B. FRANKLIN .
THOROUGHFARE GAP .
PORTRAIT or ABNER DOUBLEDAY.
PORTRAIT OF PHILIP KEARNEY
MONUMENT AND BATTLE-GROUND NEAB

GROVETON 453

817. MRS. DOGAN'S HOUSE AT GROVETON . . 458

818. TAIL- PIECE CONGREVE ROCKET . .468

819. INITIAL LETTER SEAL or MARYLAND . . 464

320. PORTRAIT OP BARBARA FIUBTCIHB . . 466

321. BARBARA FRIETCHIE'S HOUSE . . . 466

322. PORTRAIT OP ALFRED PLEASANTON . . 469

323. WISE'S HOUSE, SOUTH MOUNTAIN BATTLE-

GROUND 469

824 BATTLE-FIELD OP SOUTH MOUNTAIN . . 470

825. HARPER'S FERRY MAP 472

326. McCLELLAN'S HEAD-QUARTERS . . . 475

827. SIGNAL STATION ON RED HILLS . . . 475

823. PORTRAIT OP JOSEPH K. F. MANSFIELD . 4^6

829. DUNKEB CHURCH 477

880. VIEW OP THE ANTIETAM BATTLE-GROUND . 478

331. PORTRAIT OP WINFIELD S. HANCOCK . . 480

332. THE BURNSIDE BRIDGE 4SO

333. BATTLE or ANTIETAM MAP . . . .482
334 SUMNER'S HEAD-QUARTERS .... 486
335. FARMERS' BANK, FBEDERICKSBURG . . 486

ILLUSTRATIONS.

836. BRIDGE BUILT BY SOLDIERS OVER POTOMAC

BUN . *

887. THE PHILLIPS HOUSE ON FIRE
833. PLACE OF FRANKLIN'S PASSAGE OF THE
EAPPAHANNOCK

839. SCENE IN FREDERICKSBURG ON THE MORN-

ING OF THE 12TH

840. WALL AT THE FOOT OF MARYE'S HEIGHTS .

841. ARMY SIGNAL-TELEGRAPH ....

842. PORTRAIT OF THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER .

843. BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG MAP

844. APPEARANCE OF ARMY HUTS ....

845. TAIL-PIECE VIRGINIA FARM-HOUSE .

846. INITIAL LETTER

847. PORTRAIT OF JOHN H. MORGAN .

848. FORTIFICATIONS OF THE STATE HOUSE AT

NASHVILLE

849. PORTRAIT OF E. KIHBY SMITH

850. PONTOON BRIDGE AT CINCINNATI .

851. A EAILWAY STOCKADE

852. FORTIFICATIONS AT MUMFORDSVILLE

853. PORTRAIT OF LOVELL H. EOUSSEAU

854. PORTRAIT OF JOSEPH WHEELER

855. IUKA SPRINGS

856. PRICE'S HEAD-QUARTERS ....

857. VIEW or THE IUKA BATTLE- GROUND .

858. BATTLE OF IUKA MAP

859. EOSECRANS'S HEAD-QUARTERS

860. OUR COACHMAN

861. GRAVES OF THE ELEVENTH OHIO BATTERY .

862. PORTRAIT OF WILLIAM S. EOSECRANS .

863. FORT EOBINETT

864. ROSECRANS'S HEAD-QUARTERS

865. BRAGG'S HEAD-QUARTERS ....

866. OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, AND

NORTHERN ALABAMA

867. CONFEDERATE FLAG

868. BATTLE OF CORINTH MAP ....

869. INITIAL LETTER SEAL OF MISSISSIPPI. .

BATON ROUGE

ELLES'S CLIFFS 527

PORTRAIT OF DAVID G. FARRAGUT

FORT BUTLER, DONALDSONVILLE .
PORTRAIT OF JAMES G. BLUNT
PORTRAIT OF FRANCIS J. HERRON
MONUMENT OF TEXAS MARTYRS .
BRAGG'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT MCRFREESBORO'
BRAGG'S PRIVATE EESIDENCE AT MURFREES-

BORO'

LOOK-OUT AT FORT NEGLEY ....
POSITION ON DECEMBER SlsT MAP
MONUMENT ERECTED BY HAZEN'S BRIGADE
POSITION ON NIGHT OF DECEMBER Slsi

MAP

870.
871.
872.
873.
874.
875.
876.
877.
878.

879.

880.
831.
882.

888.

884.

885.
886.
887.

THE NASHVILLE PIKE BRIDGE OVER STONE'S

ElVEK ........

POSITION JANUARY 2o MAP ....

EOSECRANS'S HEAD-QUARTERS . ..
INITIAL LETTER ......

FAO-SIMILE OF THE DRAFT OF THE PRESI-
DENT'S PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION .

888. THE PRESIDENT'S PEN ..... 564

AGE

QQQ

487

OO7.

438

390.

391.

489

392.

OQO

490

OiJO.

394.

491

395.

492

396.

493

897.

495

398.

496

399.

497

400.

498

401.

499

402.

403.

500

404.

501

405.

504

406.

506

407.

506

403.

509

511

409.

513

410.

513

411.

514

412.

515

413.

516

414.

516

415.

517

416.

518

417.

519

520

418.

520

419.

420.

621

421.

522

422.

522

423.

524

424

526

425.

527

426.

527

427.

528

428.

532

429.

534

430.

537

431.

539

yfQO

640

4oZ.
433.

541

434.

544

435.

546

436.

437.

647

438.

439.

649

440.

550

441.

551

442.

554

443.

561

444.

564 j

445.

PAGE

LIVE-OAK GROVE, AT SMITH'S PLANTATION,

PORT EOYAL 565

LIVE OAK AT SMITH'S PLANTATION . . 566

MONUMENT IN CHURCH- YARD AT BEAUFORT 566

PORTRAIT or JAMES A. SEDDON . . . 567

PlRATE-SlIIP SUMTER 568

PORTRAIT OF JOHN NEWLAND MAFFIT. . 569

PORTRAIT OF EAPHAEL SEMMES . . . 669

THE CONFEDERATE NAVAL COMMISSION . 570

THE ALABAMA 571

THE GEORGE GRISWOLD 571

JEFFERSON DAVIS'S EESIDENCE . . . 572

SLAVE LASH 573

LOOK-OUT 575

THE BLACK-HAWK 576

UPPER ENTRANCE TO VICKSBURG . . . 576

ANCIENT MOUND, CHICKASAW BAYOU . . 577

BATTLE OF CHICKASAW BAYOU MAPS . 578

BATTLE- GROUND OF CHICKASAW BAYOU . 679

FORT HINDMAN 681

TAIL-PIECE CAVALRY STABLE IN THE

FIELD 682

INITIAL LETTER AN EMBRASURE . . . 583

PENINSULA OPPOSITE VICKSBURG . . . 584

VlEW SHOWING THE SlTE OF THE CANAL . 584

THE SAMSON 585

A Bow GUN 687

THE YAZOO REGION 588

THE INDIANOLA 589

A LOUISIANA SWAMP 596

EAFT WITH WOUNDED SOLDIERS ON BAYOU

TECHE 697

LANDING-PLACE AT PORT HUDSON . . 698

PORTRAIT OF EICHARD TAYLOR . . . 699

PORTRAIT OF C. C. AUGUR .... 601

PORTRAIT OF BENJAMIN H. GRIEBSON . . 602

GRIERSON'S EAID MAP 603

VIEW ON LAKE PROVIDENCE .... 604

BATTLE-GROUND or JACKSON . . . 607

PORTRAIT OF JOHN C. PEMBERTON . . 608

CHAMPION HILLS BATTLE-GROUND . , 609

THE PASSAGE OF THE BIG BLACK RIVER . 612

PEMBERTON'S HEAD-QUARTERS IN VICKSBURO 613

TAIL-PIECE GRAVE ON THE BATTLE-FIELD 614

INITIAL LETTER AN A TENT . . . 615
MILITARY OPERATIONS AROUND VICKBBUBG

MAP 615

GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT VICKBBUBG . 616

PORTRAIT OF FRANK K. GARDNER . . 620

CAVES NEAR VICKSBURG 622

CAVE-LIFE IN VICKSBUBG .... 622
PORTRAIT OF H. LIEB ..... 628
McPiiERSON's SAPPERS AT FORT HILL. . 625
DEFENSES OF VICKSBURG MAP . . . 626
MONUMENT AT VICKSBURG .... 627
OPERATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI MAP .- . 629
McPiiERSON's HEAD-QUARTERS . . . 630
THE DEFENSES OF PORT HUDSON MAP . 681
DESTRUCTION IN THE WORKS AT PORT HUD-
SON 638

BANKS'S HEAD-QUARTERS, PORT HUDSON , 637

THE SHIRLEY HOUSE . . . . 639

THE CIVIL WAR.

CHAPTER I.

EFFECT OF THE BATTLE OF BULL'S RUN. REORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE
POTOMAC. CONGRESS, AND THE COUNCIL OF THE CONSPIRATORS. EAST TENNESSEE.

HE Battle of Bull's Run, so
disastrous to the National
Arms, and yet so little profit-
able, as a military event, to
the Confederates, was in its
immediate effects a profound
enigma to the people of the
whole country. They could not understand
it. The Confederates held the field, yet
they did not seek profit from the panic and flight
of their opponents, by a pursuit. The Nationals
were beaten and dispersed ; yet, after the first
paralysis of defeat, they instantly recovered their
faith and elasticity. There had been marches, and
bivouacs, and skirmishes, and a fierce battle, within the
space of a week ; and at the end of twenty-four hours
after the close of the conflict, the respective parties in the con-
test were occupying almost the same geographical position
J which they did before the stout encounter.

The people at home, in both sections, were excited by the wildest tales
of overwhelming defeat and disgrace on one side, and the most com-
plete and advantageous victory on the other. It was said, and believed, that
fifteen thousand Confederates had easily and utterly routed and dispersed
thirty-five thousand National troops, 1 and smitten, beyond hope of recovery,

1 See Jefferson Davis's dispatch to the " Confederate Congress," volume I., page 603. On the 2Sth of July,
Generals Johnston and Beauregard issued a joint address to their soldiers, which was full of exultation. " One
week ago," they suid, " a countless host of men, organized into an army, with all the appointments which modern
art and practiced skill could devise, invaded the soil of Virginia. Their people sounded their approach with
triumph and displays of anticipated victory. Their generals came in almost regal state. Their Ministers, Sena-
tors, and women came to witness the immolation of this army, and the subjugation of our people, and to cele-
brate them with wild revelry." After speaking of the battles, the capture of nearly every thing belonging to the
National army, " together with thousands of prisoners," they said, "Thus the Northern hosts were driven by
you from Virginia. .... We congratulate you on an event which insures the liberty of our country. We
congratulate every man of you whose privilege it was to participate in this triumph of courage and truth, to

18 WASHINGTON AND RICHMOND CONTRASTED.

the Army of the Potomac charged with the duty of seizing the Capital of the
insurgents, driving them from Virginia, and relieving the City of Washington
from all danger of capture.

Whilst one section of the Republic was resonant with shouts of exulta-
tion, the other was silent because of the inaction of despondency. Whilst
the Confederates were elated beyond measure by the seeming evidence given
by the battle, of their own superior skill and valor and the cowardice of their
opponents, and thousands flocked to the standard of revolt from all parts of
the Southern States, the Loyalists were stunned by the great disaster, and
the seventy-five thousand three-months men, whose terms of service were
about expiring, were, for the moment, made eager to leave the field and
retire to their homes. Whilst in Richmond, now become the Capital of the
Confederation, the bells were ringing out merry peals of joy, and " the city
seemed lifted up, and every one seemed to walk on air," and " the men in
place felt that now they held their offices for life ;'" where Jefferson Davis
said to the multitude, when referring to the vanquished Nationals, with
bitter scorn, " Never be haughty to the humble ;" where all believed that
Walker's prediction would that day be fulfilled, and the banner of Rebellion
be unfurled from the dome of the Capitol in Washington, 5 and that the " tide
of war would roll from that day northward into the enemy's country " : the
fertile fields and rich cities of the Free-labor States there was terror and
anguish, and the most gloomy visions of a ruined Republic at the seat of the
National Government, and men in place there were not certain of filling their
offices for an hour. Whilst the streets of Richmond were populous with
prisoners from the vanquished army, and eager volunteers pressing on toward
the camp of the victors at Manassas, the streets of Washington were
crowded with discomfited and disheartened soldiery, without leaders, and
without organization the personification of the crushed hopes of the loyal
people.

Such was the sad picture of the situation of the Republic and of the
relative character of the contending parties, much exaggerated,
which was presented to Europe in the month of August." The
first account of the battle, the panic that seized some of the National
troops, and the confused flight of soldiers and civilians back to Wash-
ington, was given to the Elder World through the London Thnes, the
assumed and accredited exponent of the political and social opinions of the
ruling class in England, by the pen of Dr. Russell, 4 who did not see the con-
flict, and who was one of the most speedy and persevering of the civilians in

fight in the battle of Mantissas. Ton have created an epoch in the history of liberty, and unborn nations will
rise up and call you blessed. Continue this noble devotion, looking always to the protection of a just God, and,
before time grows much older, we will be hailed as the deliverers of a nation of ten millions of people. Com-
rades, our brothers who have fallen have earned undying renown, and their blood, shed in our holy cause, is a
precious and acceptable sacrifice to the Father of truth and right Their graves are beside the tomb of Wash-
ington ; their spirits have joined his in eternal commune."

Jefferson Davis addressed the people on his arrival at Richmond, on the evening of the 23d, and boldly
declared that his troops had captured " every thing the enemy had in the field," including ' provisions enough to
feed an army of 50,000 men for twelve months." llichmond papers, July 24. Davis' s exaggeration is made plain
by the statement that it would require more than 12,000 wagons to transport that amount of food.

1 A Rebel War Clerk's Diary at the Confederate States Capital, page 65.

8 See volume I., page 339.

* A Rebel War Clerk's Diary, page 65.

4 See note 8, page 91, volume I.

ENGLISH OPINION. A CHANGE. 19

their eager flight from the suspected dangers of an imaginary pursuit of Con-
federate cavalry. His was, in a great degree, a tale of the imagination,
" founded on fact," and well served the conspirators for a brief season. 1 It
excited among the ruling classes in Europe a derision of the loyal people and
the Government of the United States, and the desires of the enemies of re-
publicanism and the sovereignty of the people were gratified. The ruin of
the Great Republic of the West seemed to them almost as certain as a fact
accomplished. English statesmen and journalists dogmatically asserted it,
and deplored the folly and wickedness of the President and Congress, in
" waging war upon Sovereign States," in vindication of an idea and a prin-
ciple, and attempting to hold in union, by force, a people who had the right
and the desire to withdraw from a hated fellowship. It was declared that
"the bubble of Democracy had burst." There was joyful wailing over " the
late United States ;" and one of England's poets was constrained to write

"Alas for America's glory !

Ichabod vanished outright;
And all the magnificent story

Told as a dream of the night !
Alas for the Heroes and Sages,

Saddened, in Hades, to know
That what they had built for all ages,

Melts like a palace of show! 11

This relative condition of the parties was temporary. The loyal people
instantly recovered from the stunning blow, 2 and in that i*ecovery awakened
from the delusive dream that their armies were invincible, that the Confed-
erates were only passionate and not strong, and that the rebellion could be
crushed in ninety days, as the hopeful Secretary of State had predicted, and
continued to predict. It was evident that the battle just fought was only
the beginning of a desperate struggle with the enemies of the Republic,
who had made thorough preparation for the conflict, and had resolved to
Man the prize at all hazards. With this conviction of danger added to the
sting of mortified national pride, the patriotism of the Loyalists Avas intensely
exercised.

The Government, which had been lulled into feelings of security by the
song of its own egotism, and had hesitated when urged to engage more
troops, " for three years or the war," was now also aroused to a painful sense
of danger and the penalties of misjudgment; and the Secretary of War, who
had refused to sanction a call for a larger body of Pennsylvania volunteers

1 Although nearly disabled by weariness of mind and body, Dr. Russell wrote his famous dispatch to the
Times during the night succeeding his flight from Oentreville, that it might go to England by the next Boston
steadier. " The pen went flying about the paper," ho says, "as if the spirits were playing tricks with it. When 1
I screwed up my utmost resolution, the 'y's' would still run into long streaks, and the letters combine most
curiously, and my eyes closed, and my pen slipped." After a brief nap, he was aroused by ft messenger from
Lord Lyons, to inquire after him, and invite him to supper " I resumed my seat," he says, "haunted by the
memory of tho Boston mail, which would be closed in a few hours, and I had much to tell, although I had not
seen the battle/ 1 On the testimony thus given, the Times said (August 10, 1861) : ' It is evident that the whole
volunteer army of the Northern States is worthless as a military organization .... a screaming crowd;"
and spoke of it as a collection of " New York rowdies and Boston abolitionists, desolating tho villages
of Virginia."

s Five days after the Battle of Bull's Bun, the Secretary of State wroto to Mr. Adams, tho American
Minister in London, saying: "Our Army of the Potomac, on Sunday last, met a reverse equally severe and
unexpected. For a day or two the panic which had produced the result was followed by a panic that seemed
to threaten to demoralize the country. But that evil has ceased already. The result is already 5Ca i a
vigorous reconstruction npqn n scale of greater magnitude anid increased enthusiasm."

20 ANOTHER UPRISING. UNIONISTS REPRESSED.

than its prescribed quota, stating that "it was more important to reduce
than to enlarge the number," 1 was now glad to receive all that might be
offered from every quarter. Then it was that the Pennsylvania Reserves,
called into existence by Governor Curtin, were so speedily transferred from
Harrisburg to Washington, 2 and gave security to the National Capital.
Everywhere the people flew to arms with a feeling of devotion to their
country, deeper, because born of serious contemplation, than when Fort
Sumter was attacked. There was another grand uprising; and within a
fortnight after the Battle of Bull's Run, when the terms of service of the
seventy-five thousand three-months men had expired, more than an equal
number were in camps or in the field, engaged " for three years or the war."
Among them were a large portion of the three-months men, who had re-en-
listed. Nine-tenths of the non-combatants shared in the fervor and the faith
of those who took up arms, and the people of the Free-labor States presented
to the world a sublime spectacle difficult to comprehend. .That terrible crisis
in the life of the nation was promptly met, and the salvation of the Republic
was assured.

In the mean time, the Confederates, flushed with victory, and satisfied
that their so-called attorney-general (Benjamin) had predicted wisely, that
pacification through recognition by France or England, or both, would occur
" in ninety days," and their independence be secured, were wasting golden
moments in celebrating their own valor. 3 Yet, in the manner of that
unthriftiness of time and opportunity, there was a potential force that gave
amazing strength to the Confederacy. There was a prestige in that battle,
and the celebration of the triumph, which almost silenced opposition to the
war; for multitudes, who had loved the Union supremely, and had no faith
in the success of the conspirators, now thought they saw a great revolution
nearly accomplished, and themselves made part of a new nation carved
suddenly by the sword out of the Republic, with whose fortunes it was their
duty and their interest to link themselves. They had already suffered much
from the despotism established by the conspirators ; and now, by an act of

the "Congress,"" threatened with banishment and confiscation,
"to^is^"* 1 tne y were utterly helpless, and sought peace and reconciliation

by a display of zeal in what was dignified by the name of a war
for independence. 4 That "united South" which the conspirators had falsely

1 General Patterson's Narrative of the Campaign in the Shenandoah Valley.

2 See note 2, page 520, volume I.

8 It Is reported that General Buckner, captured at Fort Donelson several months afterward, while on his
-way to Fort Warren, at Boston, as a prisoner of war, said to a gentleman in Albany: "The effect of that battle
was to Inspire the Southerners with a blind confidence, and lull them into false security. The effect upon the
Northerners, on the other hand, was to arouse, madden, and exasperate.' 1

4 The pressure brought to bear on the Union men was terrible, and the youth of that class were driven into
the army by thousands, because of the social proscription to which they were subjected. The zeal of the
women in the cause of rebellion was unbounded, and their influence was extremely potential. Young men who
hesitated when asked to enlist, or even waited to be asked, were shunned and sneered at by the young women;
and many were the articles of woman's npparel which were sent, as significant gifts, to these laggards at home.
Men who still dared to stand firm in their truo allegiance, were denounced as "traitors to their country," and
treated as such ; and the proscription and the persecution became so general and fiery, that Millie Mayfleld was
justified in singing, with scornful lips

"Union men! thrice-fooled fools!

As well might ye hope to bind
The desert sands with a silken thread.
When tossed by the whirling wind,

THE CONFEDERATE ARMY IMMOVABLE. 21

declared months before, now became a fact, and the terrible strife instantly-
assumed the proportions and the vigor of a civil war of unparalleled magni-
tude. Almost the entire resources of the inhabitants of the States in which
rebellion existed were devoted to the cause, and with wonderful energy on
both sides, the great conflict went on. During that conflict, while weaker
men were in practical sympathy with the conspirators, there were thousands
of the best men of the South, imbued with the martyr-spirit which reverences
principle, who could not be made to yield to the terrible pressure, but main-
tained their integrity throughout. These unconditional Unionists suffered
intensely in person and property, and large numbers perished. But the
survivors were many, and offered to the nation, at the close of the war,
the proper instrumentalities for co-operation with the Government in the
reorganization of the disordered Union on a basis of justice, which should
secure for the Republic, for all time, tranquillity and prosperity.

When the shouts of triumph had died away, and the smoke of battle was
dissipated, and the people of the Confederacy saw their victorious army
immovable at Manassas and indisposed to follow up their victory, they
were uneasy, and many a lip queried why " President " Davis, the chief of
the army, returned so quickly to Richmond, and spent time in public boastings
of the achievements of the present and in predictions of the future, instead
of directing Johnston and Beauregard to press on after the fugitives and
capture Washington City, the great and coveted prize ? The immobility of
their army was an enigma. It was an incubus on the spirits of the people.
While their tongues were jubilant, their hearts were misgiving.

Johnston and Beauregard desired to press on, but the wisdom and the
prudence of the first-named officer restrained his own impatience and the
folly and rashness of the Creole ; and the perilous movement was delayed
until it was too late to hope for success. Johnston knew that it would be
madness to follow the retreating Nationals, and hurl his wearied troops
against the strong defenses of Washington, behind which they were resting,
supported by fresh soldiers. But he was anxious to carry out his original
}>lan of crossing the Potomac above the National Capital, cut off that city's
communications with the North, and capture it by a vigorous movement in
the rear. But for a pursuit, or this grand flank movement, there were two
essential requisites lacking namely, a sufficient cavalry force, and means of
subsistence, for which lack Confederate experts hold Davis responsible. It
is agreed that he always seemed to take a delight in thwarting the wishes
of others ; and with a most mischievous obstinacy he followed the dictates
of his own will, passions, and caprice, rather than the counsels of judicious
advisers. This disposition was conspicuous in his appointment to important
offices of his incapable personal and political friends ; and the best of the Con-
federate army officers declare that, by his interference in details, he was a

Or to blend the shattered waves that lash

The feet of the cleaving rock,
When the tempest walks the face of the deep,

And the water-spirits mock,
As the sacred chain to reunite

In a peaceful link again:
On our burning homesteads ye may write,

We found no Union men/ "

WHY THE CONFEDERATE ARMY WAS IMMOVABLE.

marplot in the way of military affairs throughout the Avar. At the begin-
ning he appointed an incompetent and vicious companion-in-arms at a former
period, named Northrop, to the vitally important post of Chief of Subsistence.
This was done in the face of earnest protests ; and now, at the first mo-
mentous trial, this Chief Commissary's incapacity was fatally conspicuous.
Under the sanction, if not at the command of Davis, he refused to allow his
subordinates to purchase supplies for the army at Manassas in the fertile
country adjacent, but sent others to gather them in the rear of the army, and
forward them in daily doles, at heavy expense, by the Orange and Alexan-
dria Railway, exposed to the vicissitudes of war. He allowed no deposits of
supplies to be established near the army ; and on the day of the battle, Beau-
regard had only a single day's rations for his troops. 1 For weeks afterward
this state of things continued, and it was impossible for the army to move

forward with safety, under such
circumstances. 2 There it lay at
Manassas for many weeks, its
officers chafing with impatience,
whilst an immense National army
w r as gathering and organizing,
and drilling in front of Wash-
ington City. Johnston made his
head-quarters at Grigsby's house
in Centreville. 3 He was compelled
to content himself with sending
out scouting and foraging parties,
and guerrilla bands, who some-
times approached within cannon-
shot of the National defenses on Arlington Heights.

The physical disabilities of the Confederates alluded to, were, probably,
not the only reasons for the immobility of their army after the battle. Davis
and his associates at Richmond well knew the strength of the lion of the
North, which their wickedness had aroused. They had promised their dupes
" peaceable secession," because they thought that strength would not be put
forth. They found themselves mistaken, and their cause in great peril ; and
they well knew, that if they should push on to the extremity of seizing Wash-
ington at that time, it would so consolidate and invoke to terrible action the
power of the North, that the conspirators would not hold the National Capi-
tal ten days, nor prevent the utter extermination of the insurgent armies, and
the desolation of their territories by an exasperated people. This moral
effect they dreaded ; so they were content to have the vanity of their fol-
lowers gratified by the accident of a victory at Bull's Run, and hoped to
accomplish, by negotiation and compromise, what they could not expect to
win by arms.

GRIGSBY'S HOUSE, CENTKEVILLE,

1 Statement of General Thomas Jordan, then chief of Beanresrard's staff, in Harper's Magazine, xxxL
610. Jordan says: "Flour bought by speculators in the Valley and London was carried to Richmond, sold to
the Subsistence Bureau, and transported back to Manassas."

9 Late in August, Johnston wrote to Beauregrard : " It is impossible, as the affairs of the commissariat are
now managed, to think of any other military course than a strictly defensive base."

3 From a photograph by Alexander Gardiner, of Washington City.

NEW ORGANIZATION OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 23

The National Government now acted with decision and energy. General
McClellan, Avho, with able subordinates and brave troops, had made a brilliant
and successful campaign in Western Virginia, was summoned to
Washington on the day after the Battle of Bull's Run, a and, Avith '
the approbation of the people, who were loudly sounding his
praises, he was placed in command of the shattered army at and near the
seat of Government. General McDowell, like a true soldier, gracefully with-
drew, and on the 25th of July, the Adjutant-General announced the cre-
ation of a Geographical Division, formed of the Departments of Washington
and of Northeastern Virginia, under the young chieftain, with head-quarters
at Washington City.

Other changes had already been determined upon. On the 'July.
19th, 6 an order was issued from the War Department for the
honorable discharge from the service of Major-General Robert Patterson,
on the 27th, when his term of duty would expire; and General N". P.
Banks, then in command at Baltimore, was directed to take his place
in charge of the Department of the Shenandoah, he being relieved by
General John A. Dix. There was a new arrangement of Military Depart-
ments, 1 and Lieutenant-General Scott, who was the General-in-Chief of the
armies, greatly disabled by increasing infirmities, was, at his own suggestion,
relieved from active duties.

General McClellan turned over the command of the army in Western
Virginia to Brigadier-General Rosecrans, and entered with zeal and vigor
upon the arduous task of reorganizing the army, of which he took charge on
the 27th of July. He brought to the service, youth, a spotless moral charac-
ter, robust health, a sound theoretical military education with some practical
experience, untiring industry, the prestige of recent success in the field, and
the unlimited confidence of the loyal people. He found at his disposal about
fifty thousand infantry, less than one thousand cavalry, six hundred and fifty
artillerymen, and thirty pieces of cannon. 2 He found, in the men, excellent
materials out of Avhich to fashion a fine army, but in a disorganized and com-
paratively crude condition. His first care was to effect a moral improvement
by thorough discipline ; and then, under the sanction of a recent Act of
Congress, to winnow the officers of all the volunteer regiments, and dismiss
all incompetents. By this process no less than three hundred officers were
compelled to leave the service in the course of a few months.

Having laid the moral foundations for an efficient army organization,
McClellan proceeded with skill and vigor to mold his materials into perfect
symmetry. He made the regiment a unit. Four regiments composed a
brigade, and three brigades a division. Each division had four batteries :
three served by volunteers and one by regulars ; the captain of the latter
commanding the entii-e artillery of the division. With the assistance of
Majors William F. Barry and J. G. Barnard, he organized artillery and en-
gineering establishments ; and the dragoons, mounted riflemen, and cavalry

1 The counties of Washington and Alloghany, in Maryland, were added to the Department of the Wi.enan-
dotih, created on the 19th of July, with head-quarters in the fleld ; and the remainder of Maryland, and all of
Pennsylvania and Delaware, constituted the Department of Pennsi/toania, head-quarters at Baltimore. A
Board was also established at this time for the examination of all officers of volunteer regiments.

2 General McClellan's Report to the Secretary of War, August 4, 1SG3.

THE DEFENSES OF THE NATIONAL CAPITAL.

were all reorganized under the general name of cavalry. To Major Barry
were intrusted the details of the artillery establishment ; and Major Barnard
Avas directed to construct a system of defenses for Washington City, on both
sides of the Potomac. In the course of a few months every considerable

eminence in the
vicinity of the
National Capi-
tal was crowned with
a fort or redoubt well
mounted. Early in the
following year the num-
ber of these works w:u
fifty-two, whose names
and locations are indi-
cated on the accom-

MAP SHOWING THE DEFENSES OF WASHINGTON. . .

panymg map. This

system of works was so complete, that at no time afterward, during the war,
did the Confederates ever seriously attempt to assail them. At no time was
the Capital in danger from external foes.

The work of organization was performed with such energy, that in the
place of a raw and disorganized army of about fifty thousand men, in and
around Washington City, at the close of July," there was, at the
end of fifty days, a force of at least one hundred thousand men,
well organized and officered, equipped and disciplined. Of these, full seventy-
five thousand were then in a condition to be placed in column for active
operations. The entire force under McClellan's command, at that time, in-
cluding those under Dix, at Baltimore, was one hundred and fifty-two thou-

alSGl.

1 According to General Orders issued by McClellan on this 33th of September, 1SG1, in which the names anil
locations of these forts were designated, thirty-two of them were then completed. At the beginning of Decem-
ber forty-eight were finished.

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC. 25

sand men, of whom between eight and nine thousand were sick or absent.
This number was continually increased, until, on the first of March, 1862,
when the army was put in motion, its grand total was two hundred and
twenty-two thousand, of whom about thirty thousand were sick or absent. 1
Such was the force with which General McClellan was furnished for the first
campaign in Virginia after the Battle of Bull's Run. It was known as the
GRAND ARMY OF THE POTOMAC, whose existence was a wonder. 8

One of the most serious difficulties encountered by the Government, at
the beginning of the war, was a lack of anns. We have seen how Secretary
Floyd stripped the arsenals and armories in the Free-labor States, and filled
those of the Slave-labor States, when preparations were making for rebellion. 3
The armories at Harper's Ferry and Springfield were the principal ones on
which the Government could rely for the manufacture of small arms. The
former was destroyed in April, and the latter could not supply a tithe of the
demand. It was necessary to send to Europe for arms ; and Colonel George
L. Schuyler was appointed an agent for the purpose," with specific
instructions from the Secretary of War. He purchased 116,000 J 1 U ^ 1 29 '
rifles, 10,000 revolvers, 10,000 cavalry carbines, and 21,000 sabers,
at an aggregate cost of $2,044,93 1. 4 It was not long before the private and
National armories of the United States were able to meet all demands.
The loss of over two thousand cannon at the Gosport Navy Yard 5 was a
serious one ; but the foundries of the country soon supplied the Government
with all that were required.

Of the " absent " soldiers alluded to, more than two thousand were, at
the time in question, in the loathsome prisons of the Confederates, and
suffering intensely from cruel treatment and privations of every kind.
A large portion of these prisoners were captured at the Battle of Bull's
Run. These were taken by railway to Richmond on the 23d and 24th
of July. Among the first who arrived there was Alfred Ely, member of
Congress from the State of New York, 6 and Calvin Huson, his rival can-

1 In a " Memorandum " which General McClellan submitted to the President, on the 4th of August, 1861, ho
said : " For the main army of operations, I urge the following composition :

250 regiments of infantry, say 225.000 men.

100 field batteries, 600 guns 15,000 < ~

28 regiments of cavalry 25,500 "

5 regiments engineer roops 7,500 "

Total 213,000 men."

* " The creation of such an army," said General McClellan, " in so short a time, will hereafter be regarded as
one of the highest glories of the Administration and the nation." In this organization of that army, and the
discipline which it received during the seven months that it remained at Washington City and in the vicinity,
we may fairly look for the groundwork of those successes which it achieved long afterward, to the " glory of the
Administration and the nation."

8 See volume I , page 121.

4 Colonel Sehuyler could not procure arms in England and France on his arrival, and a greater portion of
them were purchased Germany. He bought 70,000 rifles in Vienna, and 27.000 in Dresden. Of the " Small-
arms Association." in En-land, he procured 15,000 Enfleld rifles. The revolvers were purchased in France and
Belgium ; also 10,000 cavalry carbines; and the sabers were bought in Germany. Through the interference of
Confederate agents in France, the French Government would not allow any arms to be taken, by either party,
from its arsenals. See Report of Colonel Schuyler to the Secretary of War, April 8, 1S62.

5 See volume I., page 397.

Mr. Ely was one of the civilians, mentioned in the first volume of this work (page 605), who went ont as a
spectator of the Battle of Brill's Run. He was captured by some South Carolina troops, who ascertained his
name and position, and conducted him to their colonel, E. B. C. Cash, of South Carolina. That officer was
excited by liquor, and, drawing his pistol, was about to shoot the prisoner, when the others interfered. Mr. Ely

NATIONAL PRISONERS IN RICHMOND.

TOBACCO WAREHOUSE PRISON.

didate for the same office, accompanied by Colonel Michael Corcoran and
forty other officers, and a large number of private soldiers. It was at about
ten o'clock, on a moonlit
evening, when they reach-
ed the city, where an im-
mense crowd had assem-
bled. Amid the scoffs and
sometimes curses of the
populace, they were march-
ed three-fourths of a mile
to Harwood's large tobacco
factory, on Main Street,
near Twenty-fifth Street.
It was a brick building,
hastily prepared for the
occasion. Into it officers and men were thrust, to the number of more than
six hundred ;' and they were so closely huddled that it was difficult for any
one to lie down. No doubt this was the best arrangement that could be
made immediately fof the unexpected captives.

On the following morning the officers were waited upon by John H.
Winder, a stout, gray-haired man, from Maryland, and lately a lieutenant-
colonel, by brevet, in the National Army. He was now a Confederate

brigadier-general, in command of the
post at Richmond, and appeared for
the first time on the theater of the
Rebellion as Commissary-General of
prisoners, in which capacity he acted
throughout the war, and gained for
himself the most unenviable notoriety.
He promised the prisoners better quar-
ters, and on that day the officers were
removed to an adjoining building,
where they had a little more room,

light, and air; but neither chair nor
bench to sit upon, nor bed to lie upon.
For a short time they entertained
hopes of a speedy release ; J and a con-
siderable number of men, somewhat
distinguished in the political world, visited Mr. Ely, and made abundant
promises of aid, which they never fulfilled. 3 Yet there were a few persons

JOHN H. WINDER.

was compelled to walk to the railway, at Manassas, about seven miles; and near Beauregard's head -quarters, he,
with Corcoran and several officers, spent the night in an old barn, from which they were marched to the railway
station and sent to Eichmond.

1 In the Appendix to Mr. Ely's Journal, kept during his imprisonment, may be found a complete list of nil
the Bull's Eun prisoners who were confined with him.

2 On the day after his arrival in Richmond. Mr. Ely, at the request of his fellow-prisoners, prepared a
petition to the President, requesting immediate steps to be taken by the Government for their release. It was
signed by the officers, and was forwnrded.

3 Among these were Messrs. Keitt and Boyce, of South Carolina, and Pryor and Bocock, of Virginia, who
were Mr Ely's fellow-members in the Thirty-sixth Congress, and were now occupying seats in the so-called
Confederate Congress.

THE ACTION OF CONGRESS. 27

in Richmond who did not only promise, but afforded all the aid in their
power to the Union prisoners, at this time and ever afterwards. 1

The prisoners in Richmond were soon convinced that the tobacco ware-
house would be their home for some time. As the days wore wearily away,
their sufferings increased, for their treatment became less humane. Yet they
did not yield to melancholy. There Avere some irrepressibly buoyant spirits
among them, and every thing possible to be done to render their situation
endurable, was employed. They fonned a club called The Richmond Prison
Association, of which Mr. Ely was made President," and at their
first meeting, held on the day of organization, they were enli- * ^ '
vened by speeches, songs, and toasts.* This was the more agree-
able beginning of that terrible prison-life to which tens of thousands of the
National troops were exposed during the war, of which more will be recorded
hereafter.

The Thirty-seventh Congress had been in session more than a fortnight
when the battle of Bull's Run was fought, and they had already made several
enactments preparatory to the vigorous prosecution of the war. 3 Yet they
were not unmindful of their obligations to humanity, to endeavor to secure

V *

peace by any just and honorable means. As we have observed, 4 a resolution

was introduced into the House of Representatives,* by Mr. Crit-

tendcn, declaring the sole object of the Government in waging

war to be the preservation of the Union and the vindication of the

National authority. It was " laid over until Monday," the 22d, and

in the mean time the battle at Bull's Run was fought. Notwithstanding

the National Capital was filled with fugitives from a shattered army, and it

1 Distinguished among these benefactors were Mrs. John Van Lew and her daughter. Mrs. Van Lew was an
aged and wealthy widow, who lived In a fine mansion on Church Hill. Warmly devoted to the Union, and ani-
mated by the most generous impulses of humanity, these women continued, throughout the war, merciful minis-
trations lor the comfort of the National soldiers starving and freezing in Llbby prison and on Belle Isle. They
suffered the most withering social proscription, and received the most vulgar abuse from the politicians and the
press of Richmond. They were branded as " Southern women with Northern sympathies ;" and one of the Rich-
mond papers, with characteristic coarseness and ill-breeding, said : " If such people do not wish to be exposed
and dealt with as alien enemies to their country, they would do well to cut stick while they can do so with safety
to their worthless carcasses." In the same paper was a eulojy of " Southern chivalry and refinement." On the
lips of many a dying prisoner lingered a blessing for those ' honorable women."

* For a full account of prison-life in this Richmond tobacco warehouse, see Ely's Journal; Lieutenant
Harris's Pruton Life in Richmond ; five Months in Rebeldom, or Note* from VIA Diary of a Bull's Run
Prisoner ; and General Corcoran Captivity. Among the early prisoners was Lieutenant Isaac W. Hart, of
Indiana, whose praise wns on the lips.of all his fellow-captives, because of his overflowing spirits, viviicity, and
wit He told funny stories and sung good songs. One composed by himself, always provoked hopeful feelings
when he sang It It was entitled "The Prisoner's Song," and its burden was the prospect of a speedy exchange.
Its concluding words were:

"And when we arrive in the Land of the Free,
They will smile and welcome us joyfully ;
And when we think of the Rebel band,
We'll repeat our motto ' Bite and be damned.' "

This motto was on the seal of the Prison Association, which was drawn with * > ^ /VA/J1-BS >S
pen, and attached to each certificate of membership. The annexed copy is from i O >l^

a book containing the autographs of a number of the officers who were captives at \{-& -JJ^{JV\N E-^jfQ^
that time. It may here be mentioned that Mr. Huson, who experienced the kind Hi^p > ^.r^^^
hospitality of Mrs. Van Lew and her family, died while in prison. Mr. Ely was Jrwsfr >.

afterward exchanged for Charles James Faulkner, who was the resident Minister
of the Republic ut the French Court when Buchanan retired from office, and who,
" on his return to the United States, was arrested and imprisoned under a charge PBISON ASSOCIATION BKAL.
of complicity In the schemes of the conspirators.

' See chapter xxiv., volume I.

4 See volume I., page 573.

28 VIGOROUS MEASURES PROPOSED IN CONGRESS.

was believed by many that the seat of Government was at the mercy of its
enemies, Congress, on Monday, deliberated as calmly as if assured of perfect
safety. Mr. Crittenden's resolution was adopted by a vote of 117 to 2 ; and

two days afterwards," one identical with it passed the Senate by
July 24, a yote a i most as decisive. 1 It was such a solemn declaration of the

Government that the conspirators were speaking falsely when
charging that Government with waging war for the subjugation of the Southern
States, the emancipation of the slaves, and the confiscation of property, that it
was not allowed to be published within the bounds .of the Confederacy. The
writer was so informed by Southern men of intelligence, and that they never
heard of the resolution until the war had ceased ; also that, had its declarations
been known, multitudes Avould have paused in their rebellious career, and the
terrible desolation of the South might have been prevented. This was what
the conspirators, who had resolved on rule or ruin, justly feared.

On the same day * the House of Representatives, by an almost
* July 22. unanmious V0te5 anticipated the wishes of the loyal people by
declaring that " the maintenance of the Constitution, the preservation of the
Union, and the enforcement of the laws are sacred trusts which must be
executed; that no disaster shall discourage us from the most ample per-
formance of this high duty ; and that we pledge to the country and the world
the employment of every resource, national and individual, for the sup-
pression, overthrow, and punishment of Rebels in arms."

On the same sad day a bill, reported by the Judiciary Committee
on the 20th, providing for the confiscation of property used for insurrec-
tionary purposes, was considered in the Senate, to which Mr. Trumbull,
of Illinois, the chairman of that committee, offered an amendment, pro-
viding that the master of any slave who should employ him for such pur-
pose should forfeit all right to his service or labor thereafter. It was adopted
by a vote of 33 against 6. When this bill reached the Lower House, on the 2d
of August, it met with strenuous opposition, especially Trumbull's amend-
ment, from Crittenden and Burnet, of Kentucky, Yallandigham, Pendleton,
and Cox, of Ohio, and Diven, of New York, chiefly on the ground that it
would confirm the belief of the slaveholders that the war was Avaged for the
emancipation of their slaves, and, as a consequence, would produce great
exasperation, and increase the rigors of war without increasing the means for
the success of the army. Mr. Crittenden was opposed to the passage of any
penal laws. " Shall we send forward to the field," he asked, " a whole cata-
logue of penal" laws to fight this battle with? Arms more impotent were
never resorted to. They are beneath the dignity of our great cause. They
are outside of the policy which ought to control this Government, and lead
us on to success in the war we are now fighting. If you hold up before your
enemies this cloud of penal laws, they will say, ' War is better than peace :
war is comparative repose.' They will say when they are subdued, or if they
choose now to submit, ' What next ? Have we peace, or is this new army

1 The negatives were Breckinridge and Powell, of Kentucky ; Johnson and Polk, of Missouri ; and Trumbull.
of Illinois. The latter opposed it because of the particular wording of the first clause, and said, " the revolt was
occasioned, in my opinion, by people who are not here, nor in this vicinity. It was started in South Carolina.
I think the resolution limits it to a class of persons [those 'in arms around the Capital 1 ] who were not the
originators of this Rebellion."

CONFISCATION, EMANCIPATION, AND PEACE. 29

of penal laws then to come into action ? Are these penal laws to inflict upon
us a long agony of prosecution and forfeiture ?' No, gentlemen, it is not by
such means that we are to achieve the great object of establishing our Union
and reuniting the country. Sir, these laws will have no efficacy in war.
Their only effect will be to stimulate your adversaries to still more desperate
measures. That will be the effect of this army of penal laws."

Mr. Stevens, of Pennsylvania, strenuously advocated the bill, and espe-
cially Mr. Trumbull's amendment concerning the freedom of slaves employed
for insurrectionary purposes ; and, in reply to the assertions that the insur-
gents would never submit, that they could not be conquered, that they would
" suffer themselves to be slaughtered and their whole country to be laid
waste," he said, " Sir, war is a grievous thing at best, and civil war more
than any other ; but if they hold this language, and the means which they
have suggested must be resorted to, if their whole country must be laid
waste and made a desert in order to save this Union from destruction, so let
it be. I would rather, sir, reduce them to a condition where their whole
country is to be peopled by a band of freemen than to see them perpetrate

the destruction of this people through our agency I warn Southern

gentlemen that if this war is to continue, there will be a time when my friend
from New York [Mr. Diven] Avill see it declared by this free nation that
every bondsman in the South belonging to a rebel, recollect ; I confine it to
them shall be called upon to aid us in war against their masters, and to
restore this Union." 1 The bill was recommitted to the Committee on the
Judiciary, and on the following day a it was reported back with
Trumbuirs amendment so modified as to include only those slaves " ^' 8 '
whose labor for insurrectionary purposes was employed in " any
military or naval service against the Government and authority of the United
States." With the amendment so modified, the bill was passed by a vote of
60 against 48. When it was retumed to the Senate, it was concurred in,
on motion of Mr. Trumbull, and was passed * by a vote of 24
against 11. The President's signature to it made it law on the
same day. This was the first act of Congress, after the beginning of the war,
concerning the emancipation of slaves and the confiscation of property.

We have already observed the peace propositions of Vallandigham, of
Ohio, and Wood, of New York. 2 These were followed, later in the session,
after Clarke, of New Hampshire, had asked and obtained leave of the Senate
to offer a joint resolution declaratory of the determination of Congress to main-
tain the supremacy of the Government and integrity of the Union, by proposi-
tions for securing peace and reconciliation by friendly measures. One of these,
offered in the House of Representatives by S. S. Cox, of Ohio, proposed the
appointment of a committee, composed of one member of Congress from each
State, who should report to the House, at the next session, such amendments
to the National Constitution as should "assuage all grievances and bring
about a reconstruction of the national unity;" also the appointment of a
committee for the purpose of preparing such adjustment, and a conference

i ConyreMional Globe, Aug. 2, 1861; History of the, Anti-slavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and
Thirty-eighth Congre****, by Senator Henry Wilson, chapter I.
5 Volume I., page 573.

FINANCIAL MEASURES OF THE GOVERNMENT.

requisite for that purpose, composed of seven citizens, whom he named, 1 who
should request the appointment of a similar committee "from the so-called
Confederate States," the two commissions to meet at Louisville, Kentucky,
on the first Monday in September following. This was followed by a propo-
sition from "W. P. Johnson, of Missouri, to recommend the Governors of the
several States to convene the respective legislatures for the purpose of
calling an election to select two delegates from each Congressional district,
to meet in convention at Louisville on the same day, "to devise measures
for the restoration of peace to our country." These, and all other proposi-
tions of like nature, Congress refused to entertain, for they were satisfied
that the conspirators, who had appealed to the arbitrament of the sword,
would not listen to the voice of patriotism. The judgment of the majority
was in consonance with a resolution which Mr. Diven, of New York, proposed
to offer, namely : " That, at a time when an armed rebellion is threatening
the integrity of the Union and the overthrow of the Government, any and
all resolutions or recommendations designed to make terms with armed
rebels are either cowardly or treasonable." They recognized war as existing
in all its hideousness in the bosom of the nation, and legislated accordingly.
Acting upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Treasury

C^ r - Chase), Congress authorized a loan of
$250,000,000, for which bonds and Treasury-
notes were to be issued. The bonds were to
be irredeemable for twenty years, and to bear
interest not exceeding seven per cent, per
annum; while the Treasury notes of fifty dol-
lars and upwards were to be payable three
years after date, with annual interest at the
rate of seven and three-tenths per cent, per
annum. For greater convenience in the dis-
bursements of the Government, and the pay-
ment of revenue, Treasury notes were author-
ized in denominations not less than five dollars,
and to the extent of fifty millions of dollars. The Government was allowed
to deposit its funds with solvent banks, instead of confining these deposits
to the National Sub-treasury. This measure, together with the issue of the
bills receivable for specie, relieved the financial pressure at a time when it
threatened serious embarrassments.

To provide for the payment of the interest on this debt, and
to meet other demands, an act 2 was passed for the increase of
revenues from imports, by which new duties were imposed upon
foreign ai'ticles of luxury and necessity. By a provision of the same act, a
direct tax of twenty millions of dollars was to be laid upon the real estate
of the country, in which the amount to be raised in each State was specified,
not excepting those in which rebellion existed. Provision Avas also made for
levying a tax on the excess of all incomes above eight hundred dollars ; but

1 Edward Everett, of Massachusetts ; Franklin Pierce, of New Hampshire; Millard Fillmore, of New York;
Reverdy Johnson, of Maryland; Martin Van Buren, of New York ; Thomas Ewing, of Ohio; and James Outline,
of Kentucky.

5 Sec No. 40 of the Acts and Resolutions passed during the First Session of the Thirty-seventh Congress.

SEAL OF THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

ADJOURNMENT OF CONGRESS. CONFEDERATE CONGRESS. 31

Mr. Chase's suggestion concerning excise duties, and other taxes on special
articles of personal property, legacies, tfec., were not adopted at that time.
Indeed, this system of taxation Avas not put in operation until after it was
modified at the next session of Congress ; for the President, who was in-
vested with power to appoint officers to carry it out, was not allowed by the
act to exercise it until the following February. 1

In the month of September, Mr. Chase sent forth a patriotic appeal to the
people, in behalf of the subscription to the authorized loan. 2 He called for
purchasers at par of one hundred and fifty millions of Treasury notes, bearing
seven and three-tenths per cent, interest, and met with a cordial response
from individuals and banking institutions. The obvious advantages of the
loan caused the first and second issues, of fifty millions each, to be generally
absorbed for investment ; and this mark of confidence in the Government
and the financial system of the Secretaiy filled the hearts of the loyal people
with gladness. We shall, as occasion oifers, hereafter notice the working of
the Treasury Department Tinder the management of Mr. Chase.

When Congress had finished the business for which they were called
together, they adjourned on the 6th of August, after a session of thirty-three
days. They had worked earnestly and industriously, and the product of their
labors consisted of the passage of sixty-one public and seven private acts,
and five joint resolutions. They had made ample provisions for sustaining
the contest against the enemies of the Republic ; and, on the day before the
adjournment, in a joint resolution, they requested the President to " recom-
mend a day of public humiliaiton, prayer, and fasting, to be observed by the
people of the United States with religious solemnity, and the offering of fer-
vent supplications to Almighty God for the safety and welfare of these
States, his blessings on their arms, and a speedy restoration of peace." 3

Whilst the National Congress was in session at Washington, and armies
were contending along the borders of Bull's Run, the Third Session of the
so-called "Provisional Congress" of the conspirators (who, as we have seen,
had left the Senate-Chamber of the Capitol of Alabama, at Mont-
gomery," wherein their Confederacy was formed) was commenced '^ '
in the Capitol of Virginia, at Richmond, on the 20th of July. 4
There was a full attendance. The members assembled at noon, and were
called to order by Howell Cobb, Avhen the Rev. S. K. Tallmadge, of Georgia,
made a prayer. At half-past twelve o'clock, Col. Josselyn, the private secre-
tary of Jefferson Davis, appeared, and delivered to " Congress " a communi-

1 It was estimated by the Secretary of the Treasury, that the real and personal values in the United States,
at that time, reached the vast aggregate of $16,000,000,000, of which $11,000,000,000 were in the loyal States, It
was also estimated that the yearly surplus earnings of the loyal people amounted to over $400,000.000.

2 "The war," said Mr. Chase, "made necessary by insurrection, and reluctantly accepted by the Govern-
ment, must be prosecuted with all possible vigor, until the restoration of the just authority of the Union shall
insure permanent peace. The same Providence which conducted our fathers through the difficulties and dangers
which beset the formation of the Union, has graciously strengthened our hands for the work of its preservation.
The crops of the year are ample. Granaries and barns are everywhere full. The capitalists of the country corns
cheerfully forward to sustain the credit of the Government. Already, also, even in advance of this appeal, men of
all occupations seek to share the honors and the advantages of the loan. Never, except because of the temporary
depression caused by the rebellion, and the derangement of business occasioned by it, were the people of the
United States in a better condition to sustain a great contest than now."

3 The President, by proclamation on the 12th of August, appointed the last Thursday in September lobe
'(bsorved as a day of fasting, humiliation, and prayer.

St e page 547. volume I.

JEFFERSON DA VIS'S MESSAGE.

Till-; SENATE-CHAMBER AT MONTGOMERY. 1

cation from that chief leader of the Rebellion. In that "message," Davis
congratulated his confederates on the accession of States to their league.
He assured them that the National Government had now revealed its inten-
tions to subjugate them by a war "whose folly" Avas "equaled by its wick-
edness," and whose " dire calamities would fall with double severity " on the
loyal people themselves. He charged the President with " a violation of an
armistice" concerning Fort Sumter, 2 and declared the assertion that the
insurgents commenced hostilities, to be " an unfounded pretense." He argued
that the Confederacy was " a great and powerful nation," because the Gov-
ernment had made such extensive preparations for its overthrow ; also that
the nationality of the leagued insurgents had been recognized by the Gov-
ernment, by its establishment of " blockades by sea and land ;" also that the
idea that the inhabitants of the " Confederate States " were citizens of the
United States was repudiated by the Government, in making war upon them
"with a savage ferocity unknown to modern civilization."

With the same disregard of candor which characterized Beauregard's
proclamation at Manassas, in June, and Avith the same evident intention to
"fire the Southern heart," 3 Davis said of the Avarfare of the Nationals:
" Rapine is the rule ; private residences, in peaceful rural districts, are bom-
barded and burnt," and pains taken to have " a brutal soldiery completely
destroy every article of use or ornament in private houses." "Mankind will
shudder," he continued, " to hear the tales of outrages committed on defense-
less females, by soldiers of the United States noAv im r ading our homes." He

1 This picture is from a sketch made by the author, while on a visit to Montgomery, early in April. ISM.
The mahogany furniture was the same as that used by the conspirators at the formation of their Confederacy.
a Set- pages 805 to 809, inclusive, volume I. 3 See paire 650. volume I.

BANISHMENT AND CONFISCATION ACTS. 33

charged the Government with making " special war " on the South, including
the women and the children, "by carefully devised measures to prevent
their obtaining medicines necessary for their cure," with " cool and deliberate
malignity, under pretext of suppressing an insurrection." He spoke of " other
savage practices which have been resorted to by the Government of the
United States," and cited the case of the prisoners taken with the pirate-ship
Savannah, already referred to in this work. 1 After speaking of the annun-
ciation at the seat of Government, that the States were subordinate to the
National authority and had no right to secede, and that the President was
authorized to suspend the privilege of the writ of Habeas Corpus, " when,"
as the Constitution says, " in cases of rebellion or invasion the public safety
may require it," he said: "We may well rejoice that we have severed all
connection with a Government which thus tramples on all the principles of
constitutional liberty, and with a people in whose presence such avowals
could be hazarded." He then spoke of the enthusiasm of the Southern people,
their abundant offers of aid to the Confederacy, and the " almost unquestion-
ing confidence which they display in their government during the impending
struggle;" and he concluded his communication by saying: "To speak of
subjugating such a people, so united and determined, is to speak in language
incomprehensible to them. To resist attacks on their rights or their liberties,
is with them an instinct. Whether this war shall last one, or three, or five
years, is a problem they leave to be solved by the enemy alone ; it will last
till the enemy shall have withdrawn from their borders till their political
rights, their altars, and their homes, are freed from invasion. Then, and
then only, will they rest from this struggle, to enjoy in peace the blessings
which, with the favor of Providence, they have secured by the aid of their
own strong hearts and sturdy arms."

With a determination such as Davis expressed, the " Congress " made
provision for the contest, and for creating that " United South " which had
been proclaimed to the world. For the latter purpose it passed
an act" which authorized the banishment from the limits of the ^ *
" Confederate States " of every masculine citizen of the United
States (with some exceptions named 2 ) over fourteen years of age, who ad-
hered to his Government and acknowledged its authority. The act prescribed
as the duty of all courts of justice to cause the arrest of all Union men who
did not proclaim their allegiance to the conspirators or leave the Confederacy
within forty days, and to treat them as "alien enemies."
Another act* authorized the confiscation of every species of
property within the limits of the Confederacy belonging to such " alien ene-
mies " or absent citizens of the United States, with the exceptions mentioned.
Various measures were adopted for the increase and efficiency of the army
and navy, and for carrying on the immense financial operations of the so-
called government. 3 It was officially reported that there were two hundred

1 See page 557. volume I.

* The citizens of Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, Missouri, the Territories of New Mexico, Arizona, and the
Indian Territory south of Kansas, and the District of Columbia, were cxcepted.

3 Further issues of Treasury notes were authorized, and provision was made for a war-tax, for the creation
of means for their redemption, to the amount of fifty cents upon each one hundred dollars in value of real estate,
slaves, merchandise, stocks of corporations, money at interest or invested in various securities, excepting Con-
iederate bonds, money in hand or in bank, live stock, gold watches, gold and silver plate, pianos, horses, and
pleasure cnmase?.

VOL. IL 3

34 RETALIATION. ATTITUDE OF THE CONFEDERATES.

thousand soldiers in the field ; and Davis was authorized to increase this force
by an addition of four hundred thousand volunteers, to serve for not less than
twelve months or more than three years. He was authorized to send ad-
ditional commissioners to Europe ; and on the last day of the ses-
Ang. 31, g j on an a(jt wag p a s se( i giving him authority to inflict retaliation
upon the persons of prisoners of war. This measure had special
reference to the captives of the pirate-ship Savannah, concerning whom, as
we have observed, 1 Davis had already sent a threatening letter to the Presi-
dent, to which no reply was given. 2 Tinder the provisions of that act, Colonel
Corcoran and other officers were closely confined as hostages, and treated
worse than the pirates were. 3 The latter, as we have observed, were, for the
sake of humanity, treated as prisoners of war, and in due time the hostages
were exchanged.

On the establishment of the so-called government at Richmond, Davis's
committee of advisers, whom he dignified with the title of " Cabinet," was
reorganized. R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, had become his " Secretary of
State." Judah P. Benjamin, his law officer, was made " Secretary of War,"
and was succeeded in his office by ex-Governor Thomas Bragg, of North
Carolina. The other members of the " Cabinet " were the same as those first
appointed. 4 In every phase of its organization, the " new government " was
modeled after the rejected one; and in form, and numbers, and operations, the
Confederacy presented to the world the outward aspect of a respectable nation.
Seals were devised for the use of the several " Departments ;" and on that
made for the "Department of State," which, more than others, might be
seen abroad, was the significant legend, in indifferent Latin, NULLA PATRIA
AMICT^E FIDEI, meaning, No country, no fatherland, that does not keep faith,
or where faith is covered up that is to say, We reject the National Govern-
ment because it is faithless. 5 With this feeling they set about the establish-
ment of a new empire, with wonderful energy, and called forth all of the
industrial resources of the region under their control, with results the most

1 See page 657, volume I.

* This letter was taken by Captain Thomas H. Taylor, with a flag of truce, to the head-quarters of General
McDowell, at Arlington House, when the bearer was conducted to the quarters of General Scott, in Washington
City, where the letter was delivered.

3 See note 2, page 557, volume L The trial of the officers and crew of the Savannah occurred at New York,
in October, 1861. It continued seven days, when, the jury disagreeing, the prisoners were remanded to the cus-
tody of the marshals. In the mean time, William Smith, another Confederate privateersman, had been tried in
Philadelphia, and found guilty of piracy, the penalty for which was death by hanging. Now was afforded an
opportunity for the exercise of that system of retaliation which the Confederate "Congress" had authorized.
Accordingly, on the 9th of November, 1861. Judah P. Benjamin, the Confederate " Secretary of War," instructed
General Winder to select by lot "from among the prisoners of war of the highest rank" one who was to be
confined in a cell appropriated to convicted felons, to be a hostage for Captain Smith, of the Savannah, and to
be executed if he should suffer death. Also to select in the same way thirteen other prisoners of war, the highest
in rank, to be confined in cells used for convicted felons, and to be treated as such so long as the National
Government so treated a "like number of prisoners of war captured by them at sea." This order was read by
General Winder, in the presence of seventy-five captive officers, in the old Tobacco Warehouse, in Richmond,
on the 10th of November. He had six slips of paper, each containing the name of one of the six colonels of the
National Army then held as prisoners. These were handed to Colonel W. K. Lee, of the 20th Massachusetts
Regiment, recently captured at Ball's Bluff, who was directed to place them in a deep tin case provided for the
purpose, when Mr. Ely was directed to draw one out, the officer whose name it should bear " to be held as
hostage for William Smith, convicted of piracy." The lot fell upon Colonel Corcoran, then a prisoner in Castle
Pinckney, in Charleston harbor. The names of the other thirteen hostages were drawn in the same way. They
were: Colonels Lee, Wilcox, Cogswell, Wood, and Woodruff ; Lieutenant-Colonels Bowman and Neff; Majors
Potter, Revere, and Vogdes ; and Captains Rockwood, Bowman, and Keffer. Journal of Alfred Ely, Nov. 10,
1861, pages 210 to 216, inclusive.

4 See page 253. See engraving on page 85.

CONFEDERATE MANUFACTURES. REGIMENT OF SPIES.

astonishing. The blockade becoming more and more stringent every day,
they perceived the necessity of relying upon their own ingenuity and indus-
try for the materials of war ; and forges,
and foundries, and powder manufactories
soon appeared in various parts of the
Confederacy, while those already estab-
lished were taxed to their utmost capacity
in responding to orders. Of these the
great Tredegar Iron Works, at Rich-
mond (see page 36), was the most exten-
sive of its kind within the limits of the
Slave-labor States, and some of the most
effective heavy ordnance used by the
Confederate Army, and projectiles of
various kinds, were made there, directly
under the eye of the so-called government.
The labors of this establishment in the
cause of the rebellion made its name and deeds familiar to every American.

Jefferson Davis was quick to act upon the authority of the decree of the
Confederate " Congress " concerning the banishment of Union men. He

O fJ

issued a proclamation on the 14th of August, in accordance with the intent
of that decree; and then commenced tkose terrible persecutions of loyal
inhabitants within the limits of the "Confederate States," under the sanction
of law, which made that reign of terror in those regions tenfold more dreadful
than before. This, and the Confiscation Act, put the seal of silence upon the
lips of nearly all Union men. Few could leave, for obstacles were cast in
their way. To remain was to acquiesce in the new order of things, or suffer

CONFEDERATE "STATE DEPARTMENT 1 ' SEAL. 1

1 This delineation of the seal Is from a pass which the "Secretary of State" of the Confederacy issued in the
following form :

"CONFEDERATE STATES OF AMERICA.

"To all to tcJvom these present* shall come^G retting :

" I, the undersigned, Secretary of State of the Confederate States of America, hereby request all whom it

may concern, to permit safely and freely to pass, A B , a citizen of the Confederate States of America,

and in case of need to give him all lawful aid and protection.

" Given under my hand and the impression of the seal of the Department of State, at the City of
[SEAL.] Montgomery, May 20, 1861.

" ROBERT TOOMBS, Secretary of State."

While on a visit to Fort Fisher, North Carolina, In the spring of 1S66, the writer met a resident of Wilming-
ton and a native of North Carolina, who had been employed in the secret service of the National Government
during a portion of the war, with the commission of colonel, and in command of a regiment of S50 spies, who
were scattered over the Confederacy. He also entered the service of the Confederacy as a spy, in order that he
might work more efficiently for his Government, and was furnished with a pass like the above, on the margin
of which, it should have been mentioned, was an exact description of the person to whom it was given. He
desired to furnish each of his spies with such a pass. Through some of them in Richmond, he procured a large
number of blank passes. These required the impression of the seal of the "State Department." He went to
Richmond, and through spies there, professedly in the service of the Confederates, he was introduced to Judah
P. Benjamin, then "Secretary of State," and visited his office daily for about a fortnight, endeavoring to ascer-
tain where the seal of the "Department" was kept. He was finally successful. One day, when no one was in
the office but a boy, he sent him on an errand, and then going boldly to the place where the seal was kept,
he made an impression of it in wax. He then started with his own pass to "go into the Yankee lines." He
hastened to Washington, and thence to New York, where he had a seal cut in steel precisely like the original."
With this he stamped the blank passes, which he properly filled up and signed successfully with the forged
name of Benjamin. With these he furnished his spies with passes, and they performed essential service by
gaining information in the camps and at the Capital, and in communicating with the blockading squadrons. The
commander -,if this regiment of spies was arrested several times on suspicion, but was never implicated by suffi*
cient proof.

36 PERSECUTION OF LOYALISTS IN EAST TENNESSEE.

intensely. Then, for the same reason that gave truth to the proclamation of
the despot "Order reigns in Warsaw "there was a "United South" in

THE TBEDEGAR IKON WORKS, AT RICHMOND, VIRGINIA. 1

favor of the conspirators. Under their subordinate officers, civil and mili-
tary, almost unbounded license was exercised, and no man's life, liberty, and
property were secure from violence.

In districts of the Confederacy, such as East Tennessee, where the blight
of slavery was but little known, where a greater portion of the inhabitants
were loyal to their Government, and where the Confederates held sway, the
keenest cruelties were exercised. Those who, in East Tennessee, had voted
for the Union at the election of which Governor Harris made fraudulent
returns,* were continually persecuted. Good and peaceable citizens were
taken before magistrates without cause, and imprisoned without mercy.
They were arrested by the authority of processes issued by J. Crozier Ramsey,
the Confederate district attorney, who was assisted in the work of crushing
the Unionists in that region by R. B. Reynolds, a Confederate commissioner,
and W. B. Wood, a Methodist clergyman from Alabama, who bore the com-
mission of a Confederate colonel. Under the direction and assistance of these
men, loyalists were hunted, arrested, taken to camps and prisons, and insulted
and abused by mobs. Confederate cavalry, as well as infantry, scoured the
country, offering every indignity to men and women, destroying the crops of
the rich and poor alike, turning their horses to feed into fields of growing corn,
burning barns and stacks of hay, and plundering the people of provisions.
The jails were soon filled with loyalists, and an extensive disarming of the
people was accomplished. So thoroughly were they under the control of the
Confederates, that in November Colonel Wood was able to write
to Benjamin, at Richmond, "The rebellion [resistance to Con-
federate outrages] in East Tennessee has been put down in some of the
counties, and will be effectually suppressed in less than two weeks in all the
coimties. Their camps in Sevier and Hamilton Counties," he continued,
"have been broken up, and a large number of them have been made
prisoners. ... . It is a mere farce to arrest them and turn them

1 This view is from the ruins of the Virginia State Arsenal. The works are on the left bank of the .Tames
River, nearly opposite Mayo's Island.
5 See pages 3S8-339, volume I.

LOYALISTS HUNTED, IMPRISONED, AND HANGED. 37

over to the courts They really deserve the gallows, and, if

consistent with the laws, ought speedily to receive their deserts." With
the spirit of this Alabama clergyman, the Loyalists were everywhere ill-
treated, and no measures seemed to be considered too cruel to be employed
in crushing them. 1

Among the most prominent of the East Tennessee Loyalists, who suffered
persecution, were Andrew Johnson and Horace Maynard, members of Con-
gress, and Rev. W. G. Brownlow, D. D., a Methodist preacher, and editor
of the Knoxville Whig} Brownlow's fearless spirit, caustic pen, social
position, and public relations through the press and the pulpit, made him
intensely hated by the conspirators and their friends, and much feared. They
thirsted for his life, and finally the false charge was made, that he was acces-
sory to the burning of several railway-bridges in East Tennessee, 3 to cut off
communication between that region and Virginia. His life had been daily
threatened by Confederate soldiers ; and, at the urgent solicitations of his
family, he left his home in the autumn, and went into another district of his
State. While he was absent, several railway-bridges were burned. Brown-
low was accused of being in complicity with their destroyers, and Colonel
Wood sent out cavalry in search of him, with instructions, publicly given in
the street, at Knoxville, not to take him prisoner, but to shoot him at once. 4

Brownlow was informed of his peril, and, with other loyal men, he
secreted himself in the Smoky Mountains, on the borders of North Carolina,
where they were fed by Loyalists. It was finally resolved by the Confed-
erates to rid themselves of so dangerous an enemy, by giving Brownlow a
pass to go into Kentucky, under a military escort. The " Secretary of War "
at Richmond (Benjamin) was asked for one. He would not give it himself.
He said he greatly preferred seeing Brownlow " on the other side of the
lines, as an avowed enemy ;" 5 and instructed General Crittenden, then in
command at Knoxville, to give him a pass. General Crittenden sent for
Brownlow to come to Knoxville to receive it. He did so, and was on the
point of departure for the Union lines, when he was arrested" for
treason, on the authority of a warrant issued by " Commissioner" * De( j^j 1 1 ber 6 '
Reynolds, on the affidavit of Attorney Ramsey. He was refused

1 Notwithstanding the Loyalists were disarmed, the hatred and cruel passions of the Secessionists were not.
appeased. Two Confederate officers had the following advertisement printed
in the Memphis Appeal :

" BLOODHOUNDS WANTED. We, the undersigned, will pay five dollars
per pair for fifty pairs of well-bred hounds, and fifty dollars for one pair of
thoroughbred bloodhounds, that will take tho tmck of a man. The pur-
pose for which these dogs are wanted, is to chase the infernal, cowardly
Lincoln bushwhackers of East Tennessee and Kentucky (who have taken
advantage of the bush to kill and cripple many good soldiers) to their
haunts and capture them. The said hounds must be delivered at Captain
Hammer's livery-stable by the 10th of December next, where a mustering
officer will be present to muster and inspect them.

" F. N. McXAiRY.
" H. H. HABRIS. BLOODHOUND.

"CAMP COMFORT, CAMPHF.LL Co., TENN., Nov. 16."

9 See page 88, volume I.

* 80 eager were the Confederates to implicate Brownlow in these transactions, that they offered men under
sentence of death their lives and liberty, if they would testify to that effect. The latter spurned the bribe, and
would not sacrifice truth and honor even for the sake of life.

4 Sketches of th nine, Progress, and Decline of Secession. By W. G. Brownlow.

8 Letter of J. P. Benjamin to Major-General Crittenden, Nov. 20th, 1S61.

38 BENJAMIN'S CRUEL ORDER. -MURDERS AT GREENVILLE.

a hearing or bail, but was cast into the county prison at Knoxville, from
which appeals to the honor and good faith of Crittenden and his superiors

were made in vain. There, in a room
so crowded that not all could lie down,
and not a chair, bench, stool, table, or
other article of furniture, excepting a
wooden bucket and tin cup, was to be
seen, he and his associates, some of
them among the best men in the land,
were kept a long time, subjected to the
vile ribaldry of soldiers and guards,
and threats of being hung. Nor were
these threats idle; for, from time to
time, prisoners were taken out and
hung men as innocent of crime as
THE COUNTY JAIL AT KNoxviLL K . infants. These were citizens, charged

with burning the railway-bridges. The alleged crimes of these men and other
Loyalists were set forth by Colonel Wood in a letter to Benjamin,"
"^sei 20 ' m wh i cn he declared that the sentiment of the inhabitants in East
Tennessee was " hostile to the Confederate government," and that
the people were slaves to Andrew Johnson and Horace Maynard. "To release
the prisoners," he said, " is ruinous. To convict them before a court is next to
an impossibility. The bridge-burners and spies ought to be tried at once."
This letter excited the brutal instincts of Benjamin, and he wrote back
instantly 6 from Richmond, saying, "All such as can be identified

4 Nov. 25. i . -, j . i -, -i i . j

m having been engaged in bridge-burning, are to be tried sum-
marily by drum-head court-martial, and, if found guilty, executed on the
spot by hanging. It would be well to leave their bodies hanging in the
vicinity of the burned bridges." He ordered the seizure of all arms that were
"concentrated by these traitors," and said, " In no case is one of the men,
known to have been up in arms against the government, to be released on
any pledge or oath of allegiance. The time for such measures is past. They
are all to be held as prisoners of war, and held in jail to the end of the war."
Acting upon these suggestions, some of those who were charged with
bridge-burning, but not found guilty, were hung under circumstances of great
cruelty. In compliance with Benjamin's savage instructions, they were left
hanging in public places, to receive the indignities of a brutal mob. Such
was the case with the bodies of two victims (Hensie and Fry), who were
hanged together upon the limb of an oak tree, near the railway-station, at
Greenville, Tennessee, by the hands of Colonel Leadbetter, already men-
tioned. 2 He ordered their bodies to hang there four days and nights ; and
when the trains upon the road passed by, they were detained long enough
to allow the passengers to go up and offer insults to the lifeless remains.

I This picture is from a sketch made by the author in May, 1866, and shows the front of the prison. The
window that lighted the room on the lower floor, in which Brownlow was confined, is seen on the right of the
door. In the upper story are two immense iron cages, into which the worst criminals are put, and in these
some of the most obnoxious Loyalists were confined. Out of this loathsome place several were taken to the
gallows.

II See page 174. volume I. This man, who was guilty of enormous crimes, it is said, durins the war. and
fled to Upper Canada at its close, died at Clifton, in that province, of apoplexy, on the 25th of September, 1866.

BOLDNESS OF BROWNLOW. WRITS OF GARNISHMENT.

; December 16,
1861.

This was done, especially by Confederate soldiers on their way to Virginia,
in view of many of the loyal inhabitants of Greenville.

In the midst of these fiery trials, the intrepid Brownlow remained firm,
and exercised the greatest boldness of speech. They dared not hang him
without legal conviction, and they well knew
that he had done nothing worthy of death.
He was not only bold, but defiant. They
offered him life and liberty if he would take
the oath of allegiance to the Confederacy.
He scorned the proposition, saying : " Rather
than stultify myself, and disgrace my family
by such an oath, I agree to die. I never
'could sanction this government, and I trust
no child of mine will ever do it." Whilst
suffering in the Knoxville jail, and almost
daily menaced with death, he wrote to Ben-
jamin a characteristic letter," in
which he said, " You are report-
ed to have said to a gentleman
in Richmond, that I am a bad man, and
dangerous to the Confederacy, and that you
desire me out of it. Just give me my pass-
ports, and I will do for your Confederacy
more than the devil has ever done I will
quit the country !"

This letter, and a visit from General Crittenden (who felt sensitive on this
point), brought one from Benjamin* to the authorities at Knox-

.,, . T . , . . , , 11-11 / i * December 22.

ville, indicating his wish that Brownlow should be sent out 01 the
Confederacy, and regretting the circumstances of his arrest and imprison-
ment ; " only," as he said, because " color is given to the suspicion that
he has been entrapped." He was finally released and sent to Nashville
(then in possession of National troops) early in March. Dr. Brownlow was
a type of the Loyalists of the mountain regions of that State, who suffered
terribly during a great portion of the war. A minute record of the faithful
and fearless patriotism of the people of East Tennessee during the struggle,
and the cruel wrongs and sufferings which they endured a greater portion
of that time, would make one of the most glorious and yet revolting chapters
in the history of the late fierce conflict. Incidents of that patriotism and
suffering will be observed, as we proceed in our narrative.

Let us return a moment to the consideration of the other measure of the
Confederate Congress, designed to force loyal men into a support of the re-
bellion, namely, the Confiscation Act.* From the " Department of Justice,"
at the head of which was Judah P. Benjamin, went out instructions that all

1 This is from a sketch made by the author, in May, 1866. The tree was a vigorous red oak, standing on a
slope overlooking the towji, a few rods northeastward of the Greenville Station. Some person commenced cut-
ting it down a while after the execution, but was restrained by the consideration offered, that it misrht serve the
purpose of a gallows for the punishment of some of those who were engased in the murder of the men who were
hanged there. Near the root of the gallows limb (from which a rope is seen suspended) we observed a sear made
by the passage of a Confederate cannon-ball throush the tree. Its place is marked by a black spot, in the picture.

8 See page 545, volume I., and page 38, volume II.

THE GALLOWS-TREE. 1

PETTIQKU'S DENUNCIATIONS.

persons, Americans or Europeans, having a domicile in the " Confederate
States, and carrying on business or traffic within the States at war with the
Confederacy," were alien enemies ; that the property, of every kind, of these
persons should be seized and held, and that the receivers of the same should
apply to the clerk of courts for writs of garnishment, 1 commanding persons
suspected of holding in trust the property of an alien enemy to appear and
answer such questions, under oath, touching such custody, as might be pro-
pounded. The authorized persons making the seizures were furnished with
a formula of questions for the garnishees, which implied the establishment of
a court of inquisition of the most despotic kind.

The citizen was asked, first, whether he held in trust any property belonging
to an alien enemy ; secondly, what was the character of such property, and
what disposition had been made of any profit, interest, or rent accruing from
the use thereof; thirdly, whether the citizen so questioned had, since the 2 1 st
day of May, 1861, been indebted to such alien enemy or enemies, and if so to
what amount, and to what extent the debts had been discharged, and also to
give the names of the creditors ; fourthly, whether he knew of any property
or interest belonging to such alien enemies, and if so to tell where it might
be found. The citizen was warned that it was his duty, according to the
law, to answer all of these questions, under penalty of indictment for a high
misdemeanor, punishable by heavy fines and imprisonment.

Under this searching sequestration act a vast amount of property be-
longing to owners in the loyal States was seized, swelling the entire loss to
the inhabitants of those States by the repudiation of, or inability to pay,
honest debts by the business men of the South, to about three hundred mil-
lions of dollars. It was one of the strong arms of the despotism established
by the conspirators, and few men had the boldness to oppose its operations.
Yet the constitutionality of the act was questioned in the Confederate courts ;
and in that of the district of Charleston, over which Judge Magrath* presided,

it was opposed in open court by that
stanch loyalist J. L. Pettigru, who,
from the beginning of the rebellion
until his death, defied the conspirators
and their instruments. He was served
with a writ of garnishment, and re-
fused to obey it, telling the court
plainly that such proceedings were no
better than those which made the
English Star Chamber and the Spanish
Inquisition odious to every lover of
liberty. " Was there ever a law like
this endured, practiced, or heard of?"
he asked. " It certainly is not found
among the people from whom we de-
rive the common law. No English
monarch or Parliament has ever sanc-

.1 AMT.S LOUIS PETTIGEU.

1 A writ of garnishment in English law is a warning or notice for a person to appear in court, or give infor-
mation of any kind required. The person named was called a garnishee.

2 See page 49, volume I.

THE POWER OF COURAGE AND PRINCIPLE. 41

tioned or undertaken such a thing. It is no more a part of the law of war
than it is a part of the law of peace." The inquisitors quailed in the presence
of the honest old patriot, and his example and his words blunted the keen
edge of the law. 1 Its enforcement gradually declined, and it became almost
a dead letter during the later period of the war.

At the close of August, Congress and the chief council of the conspirators
at Richmond had each finished its session, and both parties to the contest
were preparing to put forth their utmost strength. Let us leave the con-
sideration of these preparations, and whilst General McClellan is preparing
the grand Army of the Potomac for a campaign, let us return to the observa-
tion of the performances on the theater of war westward of the Alleghany
Mountains.

1 Mr. Pettigru's boldness, and fidelity to principle while the terrible insanity of rebellion afflicted the
people of his State, was most remarkable. He never deviated a line, in word or act, from the high stand of oppo-
sition to the madmen, which he had taken at the beginning of the raving mania. And the respect which his
courage and honesty wrung from those whose course he so pointedly condemned was quite as remarkable. The
Legislature of South Carolina, during that period of wild tumult, elected him to the most important trust and the
largest salary in their gift, namely, to codify the State laws.

Williatn J. Grayson, a life-long friend of Pettigru, and who died during the siege of Charleston, at the age
of seventy-five years, left, in manuscript, an interesting biographical study of his friend. Concerning Mr.
Pettigru's action at the period we are considering, he wrote:

"To induce the simple people to plunge into the volcanic fires of the revolution and war, they were told
that the act of dissolution would produce no opposition of a serious nature ; that not a drop of blood would l>
spilled ; that no man's flocks, or herds, or negroes, or houses, or lands would be plundered or destroyed ; that
unbroken prosperity would follow the Ordinance of Secession ; that cotton -would control all Europe, and secure
open ports and boundless commerce with the whole world for the Southern States. To such views Mr. Petti-
gru was unalterably opposed. He was convinced that war, anarchy, military despotism would inevitably fol-
low a dissolution of the Union; that secession would impart to the abolition party a power over slavery that
nothing else could give them a power to make war on Southern institutions, to proclaim freedom to the
negroes, to invoke and command the sympathy and aid of the whole world in carrying on a crusade on the
Southern States. 11

u Mr. Pettigru saw that bankruptcy would follow war; that public fraud would find advocates in Richmond
as well as in Washington. He opposed these schemes of disorder which have desolated the South. Their pro-
jectors professed to protect her from possible evils, and involved her in present and terrible disasters. The
people were discontented at seeing rats infesting the granaries of Southern industry, and were urged to set
fire to the four corners of every Southern barn to get rid of the vermin. They were alarmed at attacks on
slavery by such men as John Brown and his banditti, and proposed as a remedy to rush into war with the armed
hordes of the whole world. For a bare future contingency, they proposed to encounter an enormous immediate
evil."

42 POSITION OF NATIONAL TROOPS IN MISSOURI.

CHAPTEK II.

CIVIL AND MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MIS8OURL

E left General Lyon in possession of Booneville, Mis-
souri, 1 from which he had driven the Confederates
under Price and Jackson, on the 18th of
June." These leaders, as we have ob-
served, were satisfied that the northern part of the
State was lost to the cause of Secession, for the time,
and they endeavored to concentrate their troops
with Ben McCulloch's more southern men, in the
southwestern part of the Commonwealth. We also

left Colonel Franz Sigel in the vicinity of Holla, pushing with eager Missouri
loyalists toward the Confederate camps, on the borders of Kansas and
Arkansas. 4

Colonel Sigel arrived at Springfield on the 23d of June, where he
was informed that the Confederates, under Governor Jackson, were making
their way from the Osage River in a southwesterly direction. He pushed
on to Sarcoxie, a post-village in Jackson County, where he arrived to-
ward the evening of the 28th, and learned that General Price, with about
nine hundred troops, was encamped at Pool's Prairie, a few miles north
of Neosho, the capital of Newton County, and that other State troops,
under Jackson and Rains, were making their way in the same direction. It
was important to prevent their junction. Sigel resolved to march first on
Price, and capture or disperse his force, and then, turning northward, attack
the other troops, and so open a communication with General Lyon, who, he
had been informed (but incorrectly), had been fighting with the Confed-
erates on the banks of the Little Osage.

Sigel's march from Sarcoxie had just commenced, when a scout brought
him word that Price had fled from Pool's Prairie to Elk Mills, thirty miles
south of Neosho. He at once turned his attention to the troops north of
him, who he supposed were endeavoring to make their way into Arkansas.
He sent forward a detachment of two companies, under Captain Grone, with
two field-pieces, toward Cedar Creek and Grand Falls, on the Neosho, to
occupy a road in this supposed route of the Confederates, and to gain infor-
mation, while he pushed on with the remainder of his command to Neosho,
receiving greetings of welcome from the inhabitants on the way, who had
been pillaged by the insurgents. He had already summoned Colonel Salo-
mon, with his Missouri battalion, to join him at Neosho, and with this addi-

1 See page 642, volume I. See page 543, volume L

BATTLE NEAR CARTHAGE.

tion to his force, he went forward to meet his foe, leaving a single rifle
company, under Captain Conrad, to protect the loyal inhabitants there, with
orders to retreat to Sarcoxie if necessary.

Sigel encamped close by the south fork of the Spring River, southeast of
Carthage, the capital of Jasper County, on the evening of the 4th of July,
after a march of twenty-five miles, where he was informed that Jackson was
nine or ten miles distant, in the direction of Lamar, the county seat of Barton
County, with four or five thousand men. Sigel's force consisted of about
five hundred and fifty men of the Third (his own) Missouri Regiment, and
four hundred of the Fifth (Salomon's) Regiment, with two batteries of artillery,
each consisting of four field-pieces in all about fifteen hundred men. With
these troops, and with his baggage-train three miles in the rear, he slowly
advanced to find his foe on the morning of the 5th, his skirmishers driving
before them large numbers of mounted riflemen, who seemed to be simply
gathering information. Six miles northward of Carthage they passed the Dry
Fork Creek, and, after a brisk march of three miles farther, they came upon the
Confederates, under Governor Jackson, assisted by Brigadier-Generals Rains,
Clark, Parsons, and Slack. They had been marching that morning in search of
Sigel, and were now drawn up in battle order on the crown of a gentle ascent.

Sigel was soon convinced that his foe was vastly his superior, not only in
numbers, but in cavalry, but was deficient in artillery. They had but a few
old pieces, which were charged with trace-chains, bits of iron, and other
missiles. Sigel therefore determined to make his own cannon play an im-
portant part, for they were his chief reliance for success.

The battle commenced at a little past ten o'clock by Sigel's field-pieces,
under Major BischofF, and, after a desultory contest of over three hours, it was
observed that the
Confederate cav-
alry under Rains
were outflanking
the Nationals, on
the right and left.
Sigel's baggage-
train at the Dry
Fork Creek was
in danger, and he
fell back to secure
it. His antagonist
slowly followed,
but was kept at
a respectful dis-
tance by the Na-
tional cannon, two

of which were on each flank, and four in the rear, of the little Union army.
The retreat was made in perfect order, and was but little interrupted by
fighting, excepting at the bluffs at Dry Fork Creek, through which the road
passed. There the Confederate cavalry massed on Sigel's front and tried to
impede his progress. These were quickly dispersed by his guns, and by a
vigorous charge of his infantry.

FIELD Or OPERATIONS.

44 RETREAT TO SPRINGFIELD. LYON IN MOTION.

Finding the presence of an overwhelming force (estimated at full five
thousand men, including a heavy reserve) too great to be long borne with
safety, Sigel continued his orderly retreat to the heights near Carthage,
having been engaged in a running fight nearly all the way. The Confede-
rates 'still pressed him sorely. He attempted to give his troops rest at the
village, but the cavalry of his enemy, crossing Spring lliver at various points,
hung so threateningly on his flank, and so menaced the Springfield road, that
he continued his retreat to Sarcoxie without much molestation, the Confeder-
ates relinquishing the pursuit a few miles from Carthage. The Nationals had
lost in the battle thirteen killed and thirty-one wounded, all of whom were
borne away by their friends. They also lost nine horses, a battery of
four cannon, and "one baggage wagon. In the mean time, Captain Con-
rad and his company of ninety men, who were left in Neosho, had been cap-
tured by the Confederates. 1 The loss of the insurgents, according to their
own account, was from thirty to forty killed, and from one hundred and
twenty-five to one hundred and fifty wounded. 2 They also lost forty-five men
made prisoners, eighty horses, and a considerable number of shot-guns, with
which Jackson's cavalry were armed.

Being outnumbered by the Confederates, more than three to one, Colonel
Sigel did not tarry at Sarcoxie, but continued his retreat by Mount Vernon
to Springfield, where he was joined by General Lyon on the 1 3th,"
who took the chief command. It was a fortunate movement for
Sigel ; for within twelve hours after the battle, Jackson was re-enforced by
Generals Price and Ben McCulloch, who came with several thousand Mis-
souri, Arkansas, and Texas troops.

General Lyon had left Booneville in pursuit of the fugitive Confederates
on the 3d of July, with a little army numbering about twenty-seven hundred
men, with four pieces of artillery and a long baggage-train. The day was
intensely hot. The commander was mounted on an iron-gray horse, accom-
panied by his body-guard, composed of ten German butchers of St. Louis,
who were noted for their size, strength, and horsemanship, and were all well
mounted and heavily armed with pistols and sabers. He reached an im-
portant ferry on the Grand River, a branch of the Osage, in Henry County, on
the 7th, 6 where he was joined by three thousand troops from
Kansas, under Major Sturgis. The whole force crossed the river,
by means of a single scow, by ten o'clock on the 8th. In the mean time,
two companies of cavalry, who crossed on the evening of the 7th, had pushed
forward to gain the ferry on the Osage, twenty-two miles ahead. Near that
point, in the midst of a dense forest, the main army reached the river in the
afternoon of the 9th, when they were stirred by intense excitement, produced
by intelligence of Colonel Sigel's fight near Carthage.

Lyon was now eighty miles from Springfield. Satisfied of Sigel's peril,
he decided to change his course, and to hasten to the relief of that officer,
by forced marches. Early on the morning of the 10th, regardless of the in-
tense heat and lack of sleep, the army moved from the south bank of the

1 Report of Colonel Sigel to Brigadier-General Sweeney, dated Springfield, Jnly llth, 1861.
* Pollard's First Year of tlie War, page 133. It is believed that the entire loss of the Confederates was at
least 800 men.

LYON'S MARCH TO SPRINGFIELD. CONFEDERATE FORCE. 45

Osage, and soon striking a dense forest, sometimes pathless and dark, they
were compelled to make their way among steep hills, deep gorges, swiftly
running streams, miry morasses, ugly gullies washed by the rains, jagged
rocks, and fallen timbers. At three o'clock in the afternoon, when the army
halted for dinner, they were twenty-seven miles from their starting-place in
the morning. The march was resumed at sunset, and was continued until
three o'clock on the morning of the llth, when the commander ordered a
halt. For forty-eight hours, most of the men had not closed their eyes in
sleep. Within ten minutes after the order to halt was given, nine-tenths of
the wearied soldiers were slumbering. They did not stop to unroll their
blankets, or select a good spot for resting ; but officers and privates dropped
upon the ground in deep deep. They had marched over a horrible road,
during twenty-four hours, almost fifty miles. Early the next morning a
courier brought intelligence of Sigel's safety in Springfield, and the remain-
der of the march of thirty miles was made leisurely during the space of the
next two days. 1

Lyou encamped near Springfield," and then prepared to contend with
the overwhelming and continually increasing number of his ene-
mies. Within the period of a few weeks, the Confederates had "^jfj 13
been driven into the southwestern conier of Missouri, on the bor-
der of Kansas and Arkansas. Now they were making vigorous preparations
to regain the territory they had lost. They had been largely re-enforced, and
were especially strong in cavalry. At Cassville, the capital of Barry County,
near the Arkansas line, on the great overland mail route, they established a
general rendezvous ; and there, on the 29th of July, four Southern armies,
under the respective commands of Generals Price, McCulloch. Pearce, and
McBride, effected a junction.

At that time General Lyon, with his little force daily diminishing by the
expiration of the terms of enlistment, was confined in a defensive attitude to
the immediate vicinity of Springfield. He had called repeatedly for re-en-
forcements, to which no response was given. He waited for them long, but
they did not come. Every day his position had become more perilous, and
now the Confederates were weaving around him a strong web of real danger ;
yet he resolved to hold the position at all hazards. 1

At the close of July, Lyon was informed that the Confederates were
marching upon Springfield in two columns (in the aggregate, more than
twenty thousand strong) ; one from Cassville, on the south, and the other
from Sarcoxie, on the west, for the purpose of investing the National camp
and the town. He determined to go out and meet them ; and, late in the
afternoon of the 1st of August, his entire army (5,500 foot, 400 horse, and 18
guns), led by himself, moved toward Cassville, with the exception of a small
force left behind to guard the city. 3 They bivouacked that night on Cave

1 Life of General A r at/ianil Lyon. By Ashbel Woodward, M. D.

1 On the 81st of July, Lyon wrote, saying : " I fear the enemy may become emboldened by onr want of
activity. I have constant rumors of a very large force below, and of threats to attack us with overwhelming
numbers. I should have a much larger force than I have, and be much better supplied."

3 Lyon's force at this time consisted of five companies of the First and Second Regulars, under Major Sturgls ;
five companies of the First Missouri Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews; two companies of the Second
Missouri, Major Osterhaus: three companies of the Third Missouri, Colonel Sigel ; Fifth Missouri, Colonel Salo-
mon; First Iowa, Colonel B:ites; First Kansas, Colonel Deitzlcr; Second Kansas, Colonel Mitchell; two com-

46 THE BATTLE OF DUG SPRINGS.

Creek, ten miles south of Springfield, and moved forward at an early hour in
the morning, excessively annoyed by heat and dust, and intense thirst, for
most of the wells and streams were dry. At Dug Springs, nineteen miles
southwest of Springfield, they halted. They were in an oblong valley, five
miles in length, and broken by projecting spurs of the hills, which formed
wooded ridges. Soon after halting, they discovered, by clouds of dust at the
other extremity of the valley, that a large body of men were there and in
motion. These were Confederates, under General Rains. A battle-line was
formed by the Nationals, and in that order the little army moved forward
toward the enemy, led by a company of Regular Infantry, under Captain
Steele, supported by another of the Fourth Regular Cavalry, under Captain
Stanley, which held the advanced position on the left. Owing to the ridges
in the valley, the real force of each party was easily concealed from the other,
and afforded opportunities for surprises. And so it happened. While the van-
guard of the Nationals was moving cautiously forward, followed by the main
body, and skirmishers were exchanging shots briskly, a large force of Con-
federates suddenly emerged from the woods, to cut off Steele's infantry from
Stanley's cavalry. The latter (about a hundred and fifty strong) immediately
drew up his men in proper order, and when the foe was within the range of their
Sharp's carbines, they opened a deadly fire upon them. The latter numbered
nearly five hundred. They returned the fire, and a regular battle seemed
about to open, when a subordinate officer in Stanley's command shouted
" Charge !" and twenty-five horsemen dashed in among the Confederate in-
fantry, hewing them down with their sabers with fearful slaughter. Stanley
could do nothing better than sustain the irregular order ; but before he could
reach the heroic little band with re-enforcements, the Confederates had broken
and fled in the wildest confusion. "Are these men or devils they fight so?"
asked some of the wounded of the vanquished, when the conflict was over.

When this body of Confederate infantry fled, a large force of their cavalry
appeared emerging from the woods. Captain Totten brought two of his guns
to bear upon them from a commanding eminence with such precision, that his
shells fell among and scattered them in great disorder, for their frightened
horses became unmanageable. The whole column of the Confederates now with-
drew, leaving the valley in possession of the National troops. Thus ended THE
BATTLE OF DUG SPRINGS. Lyon's loss was eight men killed and thirty wound-
ed, and that of the Confederates was about forty killed and as many wounded.
The Nationals moved forward the next morning in search of foes, but were
disappointed. They encamped at Curran, in Stone County, twenty-six miles
from Springfield, and remained in that vicinity until the next day, when
General Lyon called a council of officers, 1 and it was determined
to return to Springfield. The army moved in that direction on
the following morning,' and reached Springfield on the 6th.*

August 4,
1S61.

panies First Regular Cavalry, Captaias Stanley and Carr; three companies First Regular Cavalry (recruits).
Lieutenant Lathrop; Captain Totten's Battery, Regular Artillery, six guns, 6 and 12-pounders; Lieutenant Du
Bois' Battery, Regular Artillery, four guns, C and 12-pounders; Captain Schaeffer's Battery, Missouri Volunteer
Artillery, six guns, G and 12-pounders. Genenil Lyon gave the most important secondary commands to Briga-
dier-General Sweeney, Colonel Sigel, and Major Sturgis.

1 The officers called into the council were Brigadier-General Sweeney, Colonel Sigel, Majors Schofleld,
Shepherd, Conant and Sturgis. and Captains Totttn and Schaeffi-r.

5 Correspondence of the Kew York World and Herald ; Lift of General Lyon. by Dr. Woodward, pages
297 to 801, inclusive.

MARCH OF THE CONFEDERATES ON SPRINGFIELD. 47

The events of the past few days had given great encouragement to botli
officers and men.

The affair at Dug Springs impressed General McCulloch (a part of whose
column it was that had been so smitten there) with the importance of great
circumspection, and, after consultation with some of his officers, he fell back,
and moving westward, formed a junction with the weaker force under Price,
then advancing from Sarcoxie. Information reached them at Cane Creek
that Lyon's force was immensely superior, and McCulloch counseled a retro-
grade movement. Price entertained a different opinion, and favored an
immediate advance. His officers agreed with him, and he asked McCulloch
to loan him arms, that his destitute Missouri soldiers, who were willing to
fight, might be allowed to do so. McCulloch refused. So the matter stood,
when, on the same evening," an order was received by McCulloch,
from Major-General Polk, 1 ordering an advance upon Lyon. He " "Jj'j* '
called a council of his officers, exhibited the order to Price,
and offered to march immediately on Springfield, upon condition that he
should have the chief command of the army. Price, anxious to drive the
Nationals out of Missouri, yielded to the Texan, saying he was " not fighting
for distinction but for the defense of the liberties of his country. He was
willing to surrender his command and his life, if necessary, as a sacrifice to
the cause."*

On taking chief command, General McCulloch issued an order,* direct-
ing all unarmed men to remain in camp, and all others to put
their arms in order, provide themselves with fifty rounds of
ammunition each, and be in readiness for marching at midnight. He
divided the army into three columns ; the first commanded by himself, the
second by General Pearce, of Arkansas, and the third by General Price ; and
at the appointed hour the whole force, full twenty thousand strong, in fine
spirits, moved toward Springfield, expecting to meet Lyon eight miles dis-
tant from their camp, where there were strong natural defenses. They
approached the position cautiously, at sunrise, but were disappointed. They
pushed forward, unmindful of the intense heat, the stifling dust, and the
lack of water ; and on the night of the 1 Oth the wearied army encamped at
Big Spring, a mile and a half from "Wilson's Creek, and about ten and a half
miles south of Springfield. They were in a sad plight. Their baggage-train
was far behind, and so were their beef cattle. The troops had not eaten
any thing for twenty-four hours, and for ten days previously they had
received only half rations. They satisfied the cravings of hunger by eating
green corn on the way, but without a particle of salt or a mouthful of meat.
They had no blankets, nor tents, nor clothes, excepting what they had on
their backs, and four-fifths of them were barefooted. " Billy Barlow's dress
at a circus," wrote one of their number, " would be decent in comparison with
that of almost any one, from the major-general down to the humblest pri-
vate."

On the 9th, the whole' Confederate army moved to Wilson's Creek, at a
point southwest of Springfield, where that stream flows through a narrow
valley, inclosed on each side by gentle sloping hills covered with patches of

1 See page 540, volume I. * Pollard's First Year of the War, page 135.

48 LYON PREPARES FOR BATTLE.

low trees and fields of corn and wheat. They encamped on both sides of the
creek, and for nearly two days subsisted wholly upon green corn. Their
effective force, according to the best estimates, was about fifteen thousand
men, of whom six thousand were horsemen. The latter were indifferently
armed with flint-lock muskets, rifles, and shot-guns ; and there were many
mounted men not armed at all. They had fifteen pieces of artillery. 1 Gen-
eral Price reported the number of Missouri State troops at five thousand two
hundred and twenty-one. The entire number of Confederates encamped on
Wilson's Creek appears to have been about twenty-three thousand.

General Lyon had now only a little more than five thousand effective
men, and prudence seemed to dictate a retreat northward rather than risk a
battle under such disadvantages. But he knew that a retreat at that time
would ruin the Union cause in Missouri, and he was willing to risk every
thing for that cause. He was conscious of the extreme peril by which his
little army was surrounded, but he had reason to hope for success, for he was
in command of good officers, and brave and well-armed men. Yet, in a
council of war, which he called on the 9th, these officers, with great unani-
mity, favored the evacuation of Springfield, in order to save the troops ; but
General T. W. Sweeney vehemently opposed it, and urged making a stand
where they were, and withdrawing from Springfield only on com-
A i86i St9 ' pulsi 011 - 9 O n the same day" each party in the contest prepared
to advance upon the other within twenty-four hours.

Necessity compelled Lyon to go out and meet his foe, for Springfield, situ-
ated on an open plain, could not be made defensible by means at his command.
Every avenue leading from it would soon be closed by the overwhelming
numbers of the Confederates, and the loss of his whole command might be
the consequence. Every thing now depended upon secrecy and skill of move-
ment, and he resolved to march out at night, surprise his enemy, and by a
bold stroke scatter his forces. Twice already he had appointed the hour for
such a movement to begin, but each time prudence compelled him to post-
pone it. Finally, on Friday, the 9th of August, he prepared to execute his
plan that night. He divided his little army into two columns, and made
dispositions to strike the Confederate camp at two points simultaneously. 3

At the same time, as we have observed, the Confederates were preparing

for a similar movement. They were divided into four columns, and ordered

to march at nine o'clock on the night of the 9th, & so as to stir-

b August.

round Springfield and attack the National Army at dawn the next
morning. On account of a gathering storm and the intense darkness, McCul-

1 Pollard's First Year of the War, page 136.

J Woodruff's Life of Lyon, page 308. General Sweeney had been In Springfield some time, from which
place he had Issued a proclamation, on the 4th of July, commanding all disloyalists to cease their opposition
to the Government and to take an oath of allegiance.

8 Lyon's column consisted of three brigades, commanded respectively by Major 8. D. Stnrgis, Liontennnt-
Colonel Andrews, and Colonel Deitzler. Major Stursis's brigade was composed of :i battalion of Regular Infantry,
under Captain Plummer, Captain Totten's light battery of six pieces, a battalion of Missouri Volunteers, under
Major Osterhaus, Captain "Wood's company of mounted Kansas Volunteers, and a company of Regular Cavalry,
under Lieutenant Canfleld. Lieutenant-Colonel Andrews's brigade consisted of Captain Steele's battalion of
Regulars, Lieutenant Du Bois' light battery of four pieces, and the First Missouri Volunteers. Deitzlor's brigade
was composed of the First and Second Kansas and First Iowa Volnnteers, and two hundred mounted Missouri
Home Guards. Sigel's column consisted of the Third and Fifth Missouri Volunteers, one company of cavalry,
under Captain Carr, another of dragoons, under Lieutenant Farrand, of the First Infantry, and a company of re-
cruits, with a light battery of six guns, under Lieutenant Lothrop.

OPENING OF THE BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK 49

loch countermanded the order, and his army, wearied with waiting and
watching, was still in camp on Wilson's Creek on the morning of the 10th. 1
This was a fortunate circumstance for Lyon. He had moved at the appointed
hour ; and as McCulloch, in anticipation of his march upon Springfield, had
withdrawn his advanced pickets, and, feeling no apprehensions of an attack l)y
Lyon with his small force, had not thrown them out again, the Nationals
were afforded an opportunity for a complete surprise of their foe.

The two columns of the National Army were led respectively by Lyon
and Sigel. The former, with Major Sturgis as his second in command,
marched from Springfield with the main body, at five o'clock in the after-
noon of the 9th," to fall upon the Confederates in front, leaving
Sigel, with twelve hundred men and six guns, to gain their rear " isli. 8
by their right. Lyon's force arrived within sight of the Con-
federate guard-fires at one o'clock in the morning, where they lay on their
arms until dawn. Sigel in the mean time had left his position a little south
of Springfield, and was in the Confederate rear at the appointed time, ready
to strike the meditated blow.

Lyon formed a line of battle at five o'clock, 4 and moved 6Au 10
forward to attack the extreme northern point of the Confederate
camp, occupied by General Rains, closely followed by Totten's Battery,
which was supported by a strong reserve. The Confederate pickets were
driven in by Lyon's skirmishers, and the Nationals were within musket-
range of the hostile camp in front of Rains before the latter was aware of
their approach. Rains immediately communicated the astounding fact to
General Price. He told him truly, that the main body of the National Army
was close upon him, and he called earnestly for re-enforcements. McCulloch
was at Price's quarters when the alarming news arrived, and he hastened at
once to his own, to make dispositions for battle.

General Lyon pushed on with vigor when the Confederate camp pickets
were driven in. The mounted Home Guards and Captain Plummer's battal-
ion were thrown across Wilson's Creek, near a sharp bend, and moved on a
line with the advance of the main body, for the purpose of preventing the
left flank of the Nationals being turned. Steadily onward the main column
marched along a ravine, when, on ascending a ridge, it confronted a large
force of Confederate foot-soldiers, composed of the infantry and artillery of
Price's command, under Generals W. Y. Slack, J. H. McBride, J. B. Clark,
and M. M. Parsons. These were all Missouri State Guards. Dispositions
for a contest were at once made by both parties. The battalions of Major
Osterhaus, and two companies of the First Missouri Volunteers, under Cap-
tains Yates and Cavender, of the Nationals, deployed as skirmishers. At the
same time the left section of Captain Totten's Battery, under Lieutenant
Sokalski, fired upon their foe. A few moments afterward, the remainder of
the battery, planted on an eminence more to the right and front, opened with
such destructive effect, that the Confederates broke, and were driven by
Lyon's infantry to the hills overlooking their camp. .

To seize and occupy the crest of the hills from which the Confederates

' Report of General Price to Governor Jackson, August 12th, 1861. Pollard, in his Firnt Tear of the War,
page 137, says, that after receiving orders to march, on the evening of the 9th, the troops made preparation, and
got up a dance before their camp-fires. This dance was kept up until a late hour.

VOL. II. 4

50 BATTLE OF WILSON'S GREEK.

had been driven was most desirable, and for that purpose the First Missouri,
First Kansas, and First Iowa, with Totten's Battery, pushed forward, Major
Osterhaus's battalion being on the extreme right, his own right resting on
the side of an abrupt ravine. A line of battle was immediately formed on
the hill, with the Missouri troops in front, the Kansas troops sixty yards to
the left, on the opposite side of a ravine, and the Iowa troops still farther to
the left. Totten's Battery was planted on an eminence, between the Missouri
and Kansas troops ; and Dubois's Battery, supported by Steele's battalion,
was placed about eighty yards to the left and rear of it, in a position to play
upon a concealed Confederate battery on the crest of a ridge across the
creek, which swept the position of the Nationals. In the mean time, Totten
attacked a masked battery on the left bank of the creek, whose position
could only be known by the flash and smoke of its guns. Directly in front,
under Totten's guns, lay the camp of General Rains, entirely deserted.

The battle now became general. A very severe contest was raging on the
right, where the First Missouri was fighting in thick underwood. It was a
contest involving a struggle between superior arms well used, and over-
whelming numbers. As the ranks of the Confederates were penetrated and
gaps were made, they were immediately filled ; and in this terrible conflict
the line of the Missourians was sadly thinned. Totten was ordered up to
their support, and his canister-shot made awful lanes through a large' body
of Confederates, who, by the trick of carrying a Union flag, approached
quite near for the purpose of capturing his cannon. The deception was dis-
covered in time to allow Totten to punish them severely, and full half an
hour his and Dubois's Battery made a continual roar. In the mean time,
Plummer's battalion, in the bend of the stream, was encountering a large
body of infantry in a corn-field. The fight there was terrific for a while,
when over two thousand Confederates came pouring into the open field
from the woods like a torrent, threatening to overwhelm and annihilate the
Nationals in an instant. The latter, perceiving their peril, retreated in good
order, while shells from Dubois's Battery, thrown with precision, fell among
the pursuers with such fearful effect, that they turned and fled. The Con-
federates had been struggling vigorously and bravely to turn the left flank
of the Nationals ; but now, after such fearful loss and demoralization, they
abandoned the attempt.

Whilst Lyon was thus carrying on the battle on the Confederate front,
Sigel, whose assigned duty was to turn their right, by the rear, had opened
fire. With his twelve hundred men, and battery of six cannon, he had
reached a position within a mile of their camp at dawn. He had moved
with great skill and caution, and his alert little force had cut off several
squads of their enemy in such a way that no intelligence of his approach
could reach the Confederate Army. Almost the first intimation given them
of his presence was the bursting of his shells over their tents near the middle
of their encampment, at the moment when the booming of Lyon's heavy
guns was heard in another part of the field. The dismayed Confederates,
composed of the regiment of Colonel Churchill, Greer's Texan Rangers, and
nearly seven hundred mounted Missourians, commanded by Colonel Brown,
fled, leaving every thing behind them ; when Sigel's men rushed across the
creek, traversed the desolate camp, and formed almost in its center. The

BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK.

Confederates immediately reappeared in strong force of infantry and cavalry,
when Sigel- brought his artillery into a commanding position, and with it
drove his foes into the woods.

Hearing the continued roar of Lyon's heavy guns, Sigel now pressed for-
ward to attack the Confederate line of battle in the rear. He had passed
along the Fayette-
ville road, as far as
Sharp's farm, with
about a hundred
prisoners whom he
had captured, when
the firing at the
northward almost
ceased. Seeing at
the same time
large numbers of
the Confederates
moving southward,
he believed that
Lyon had won a
victory; and that
belief was strength-
ened, when it was
reported to him
that National sol-
diers were ap-
proaching his line.
Orders were given
not to fire in that
direction, and flags
of friendly greeting

were waved, when suddenly the advancing troops raised the Confederate
banner, and two batteries, directly in front of Sigel's force, opened a heavy
and destructive fire upon the Nationals. The Confederates, strong in num-
bers, and dressed like Sigel's men, had so deceived that commander, that they
were allowed to approach within less than musket-shot distance before the
trick was discovered. The consternation in his ranks was terrible, and every
arm seemed paralyzed for a moment. In the sudden confusion the Confed-
erates rushed forward, killed the artillery horses, and, turning the flanks of
the infantry, caused them to fly in the wildest disorder. They rushed into
bushes and by-roads, incessantly attacked by large numbers of Arkansas and
Texas cavalry. The entire battery was captured ; and, in the course of a
few minutes, of his twelve hundred men, Sigel had only about three hundred
left. He saved these and one of his cannon, 1 but lost his regimental flag.
Such now composed the entire remnant of Lyon's second column. 4

PLAN OF THE BATTLE OP WILSON'S OKEEK.

1 Captain Flagg fastened ropes to this gun, and made some of the Confederate prisoners draw it off the field.

The composition of Sigel's corps was not well fitted for a trying position. The term of service of the

Fifth Missouri had expired, and the engagement to remain eight days longer ended on the day before the battle.

52 BATTLE OF WILSON'S CREEK.

There had been a lull in the tempest of war, when this successful strata-
gem of the Confederates was performed. Now the storm burst with in-
creased fury, and the fight was terrific all along the line, as we shall observe
presently.

We left Lyon's column contending with the Confederates in front, when
each party in turn had been compelled to give way, but, equally brave and
determined, had renewed the contest with vigor. At length, as we have
seen, when Sigel was pushing along the Fayetteville road, to strike the Con-
federate rear, the firing had ceased along almost the entire line. The excep>
tion was on the extreme right of the National forces, where the First Mis-
souri, assisted by the First Iowa and Kansas regiments, were valiantly beating
back the foe, in their attempts to turn that flank. They were patiently
carrying on an unequal contest with a superior force, though decimated,
during over four hours' hard fighting. They were almost fainting with weari-
ness and thirst, after having repeatedly driven back their enemy, when a
heavy body of fresh Confederates were seen hurrying forward to give them a
crushing blow. The quick eye and judgment of General Lyon saw the peril
of his comrades, and he ordered the Second Kansas to their support. He
rode forward himself, and perceiving the danger greater than he apprehended,
ordered Totten to send aid from his battery for the right of the contending
Nationals. Lieutenant Sokalski was immediately ordered forward with a sec-
tion, and prompt relief was afforded by his skillful use of his guns.

A new danger to the Nationals now appeared. Eight hundred Confede-
rate cavalry had formed a line of battle, unobserved, behind a ridge, and
suddenly dashed toward the National- rear, where some Kansas troops were
guarding ambulances for the wounded. Volleys from infantry did not check
their movement ; but when they were within two hundred yards of Totten's
Battery, that officer suddenly wheeled his guns, turned them upon the
horsemen, and opened such a deadly fire that they and their beasts fell in
heaps. The effect was marvelous. Those mounted men, who had just
been prouldy scorning all opposition, and feeling sure of turning the tide
of victory in favor of the Confederates with very little more fighting, were
now suddenly scattered in confusion. The check immediately became a
rout, and every man in the saddle sought the shelter of the woods or
intervening ridges. Meanwhile the support of Steele's Battery was trans-
ferred from Dubois's to Totten's. These had just formed in battle line when a
very heavy body of Confederates came pouring out of the woods on Lyon's
front and flank. Instantly the hurricane of war was again in full career over
,that hard-fought field. Backward and forward the contending lines swayed,
their fronts often within a few yards of each other. Every effective man in
Lyon's column was now engaged. For an hour the conflict was terrible, and
all that time it seemed as if a feather's weight would turn the scale in favor
of one or the other. Lyon was seen continually moving along the lines
wherever the storm raged most furiously, encouraging his men by brave
words and braver deeds. Very early in this fierce .engagement his horse
was shot. Then he received a wound in the leg ; another in the head soon

The men sorving the cannon were taken from the infantry, and were mostly recruits. Many officers hnd left,
and a greater portion of the men of the Third Regiment were imperfectly drilled, and had never been under flro
before.

DEATH OF GENERAL LYON. 53

followed, when, partially stunned, he walked a few paces to the rear and
said to Major Schofield, despondingly, " I fear the day is lost." " No, Gene-
ral, let us try once more," was the reply. The commander soon rallied, and,
regardless of the blood still flowing from his wounds, he mounted the horse
of one of Major Sturgis's orderlies, and placing himself in front of the Second
Kansas, who were led by the gallant Colonel Mitchell, he swung his hat over
his head, and calling loudly for the troops to follow, dashed forward with a
desperate determination to gain the victory. Mitchell fell severely wounded,
and his troops asked, " Who shall lead us ?" " I will lead you," said the
chief; *' come on, brave men !" In a few moments afterward a rifle-ball entered
his left side and passed through his body near the heart. He fell in the arms
of his body-servant, Albert Lehman, saying : " Lehman, I am going," and
expired a few seconds afterward.

It was about nine o'clock in the morning when General Lyon fell, and
the command devolved upon Major Sturgis. The Confederates had just been
repulsed along the whole line, and for twenty minutes there was another lull
in the storm. Taking advantage of this respite, Sturgis consulted with his
officers. The little army was dreadfully shattered, and its beloved leader
was slain. In its front were at least twenty thousand men, of whom two-
thirds were effective soldiers. The Nationals had then been without water
nearly thirty hours, and a supply could be had only at Springfield, twelve
miles distant. Certain defeat seemed to await the little band. The loss of
Sigel's column was not then known. His silence was ominous. If he had
retreated, nothing was left for Sturgis to do but to follow his example. The
great question to be decided was, " Is retreat possible ?" It was under con-
sideration when the council was suddenly broken up by the appearance of a
heavy body of infantry advancing from the hill on which Sigel's guns had
been heard. Above them was seen waving the banner of the Union. Pre-
parations were made to form a junction with them, and they had approached
to a covered position within a short distance of Sturgis's line, when a battery
upon a hill in the rear opened a heavy fire upon the Nationals, and the
approaching troops displayed the Confederate flag.

For the third time during the battle the Union soldiers had been deceived
by this stratagem. In this case the Confederates came, having an appear-
ance exactly like Sigel's men, and the battery with which they announced
their true character was composed of Sigel's captured, guns ! Their voice
was the signal for a renewal of the conflict, and they were speedily silenced
by Dubois, supported by Osterhaus and a remnant of the First Missouri. The
battle raged fiercely for a time. Totten's Battery, supported by Iowa and
Regular troops, in the center of the National line, was the special object of
attack. The two armies were sometimes within a few feet of each other, and
faces were scorched by the flash of a foeman's gun. The Union column stood
like a rock in the midst of turbulent waves, dashing them into foam. Its
opponents were vastly its superior in numbers. At length its line, pressed
by an enormous weight, began to bend. At that critical moment Captain
Granger dashed forward from the rear with the support of Dubois's Battery,
consisting of portions of the First Kansas, First Missouri, and First Iowa
Regiments. These poured upon the Confederates a volley so destructive that
their right wing recoiled, leaving the earth strewn with their dead and

54 THE NATIONALS WITHDRAWN FROM SPRINGFIELD.

wounded. The confusion caused by this disaster spread over the entire Con-
federate line, and in broken masses they fell back to the shelter of the woods.
At the same time, their wagon-train was on fire, its huge columns of black
smoke in the distance giving heart to the Nationals by its seeming indications
of a design on the part of the enemy to fly. But this they did not do. They

held the field.

Thus ended, at eleven o'clock in the morning," the BATTLE OP
A is6i t10 ' WILSON'S CREEK,' after a struggle of five or six hours, which
was not surpassed in intensity and prowess, on both sides, during
the great war that followed. 2 The National loss was between twelve and
thirteen hundred, and that of the Confederates was, according to the most
careful estimate, full three thousand. 3 The shattered National troops were
in no condition to follow up the advantage which they had gained in the
closing contest. Their strength and their ammunition were nearly exhausted,
and nothing remained for them to do but to fall back to Springfield. The
order for that movement was given at the close of the battle, and the little
army, joined on the way by a portion of the remnant of Sigel's column,
reached the old camp, still under the protection of a body of Home Guards,
at five o'clock in the afternoon. In the hurry of retreat, the body of General
Lyon was left behind, but it was subsequently recovered. 4

Under the general command of Colonel Sigel, the entire Union force

left Springfield the next morning* at three o'clock, and in good

order retreated to Holla, one hundred and twenty-five miles

distant, in the direction of St. Louis, safely conducting a Government train,

five miles in length, and valued at one million five hundred thousand dollars.

1 The Confederates called this the Battle of Oak Hill.

2 The example of Lyon in the campaign, which for him ended at Springfield, inspired all of his followers
with the most soldierly qualities, and they were eminently displayed afterward. From his little army a large
number of commanders emanated, and were conspicuous, especially in the West. Two year* afterward, a
writer in the Detroit Tribune said : " There was present at "Wilson's Creek the usual complement of officers for
a force of five thousand men. From them have been made six major-generals, and thirteen brigadiers; colonels,
lieutenant-colonels, and majors by the score have sprung from those who were then either line or non-com-
missioned officers. From one company of the First Iowa Infantry thirty-seven commissioned officers are now
in the service. Similarly, one company of the First Missouri has contributed thirty-two. It is a curious fact,
that, of the officers who survived the battle of Wilson's Creek, not one has been killed in battle, and only one
has died from disease. In every battle for the Union the heroes of this terrible contest are found, and nowhere
have they disgraced their old record. ' Is it not worth ten years of life to be able to say, I was in tho campaign
with Lyon ?' "

A poet of the day, apostrophizing the Spirit of Lyon as a terror to the conspirators, wrote :

" For wheresoe'er thy comrades stand

To face the traitors, as of yorn,
, Thy prescient spirit shall command.

And lead the charge once more."

8 See reports of Major Sturgis, August 20th, 1861 ; of Colonel Sigel, Angnst 18th, 1861, and of the subordinate
officers of Lyon's army ; also, reports of Generals Price and McCulloch and their subordinate officers. The
National loss was reported at 223 killed, 721 wounded, and 292 missing. McOulloch repotted the Confederate
loss at 265 killed, 800 wounded, and 30 missing. At the same time, he reported the National loss to be over 2,000.
He had previously said to a National officer, who was with a party at his quarters, under a flag of truce, "Your
loss was very great, but ours was four times yours." See Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War.

General Price, in his report ( August 12th, 1861), says the loss of his command was nearly 700, or nearly one-
fifth of his entire force.

4 Lyon's body was placed in an ambulance to be moved from the field, but in the hurry of departure it was
left. From Springfleld, a surgeon with attendants was sent back for it, and General Price sent it to the town in
his own wagon. In the confusion of abandoning Springfield, the next morning, it was again left behind, when,
after being carefully prepared for burial by two members of Brigadier-General Clark's staff, it was delivered to
the care of Mrs. Phelps (wife of J. S. Phelps, a former member of Congress from Missouri, and a stanch Union
man), who caused it to be buried. A few days afterward it was disinterred nml sont to St. Louis, and from
thei-e it was conveyed to its final resting-place in a churchyard at Eust Hartford, in Connecticut.

MILITARY AND CIVIL AFFAIRS IN MISSOURI. 55

The Confederates, so greatly superior in numbers, did not follow, thereby
acknowledging the groundlessness of their claim to a victory, which was so
exultingly-made. 1 Indeed, McCulloch, in his first official report, only said of
the Nationals, "They have met with a signal repulse." It was not even that.

The Union forces reached Rolla, a point of railway communication with
St. Louis, on the 1 9th of 'August, where " Camp Good Hope " was established.
The southern portion of Missouri was now left open to the sway of the Con-
federates, and they were securing important footholds in the vicinity of the
Mississippi River. In the mean time, Harris, one of Governor Jackson's
brigadiers, had been making a formidable display of power in Northeastern
Missouri He had rallied a considerable force at Paris, and commenced the
work of destroying the Hannibal and St. Joseph Railway. He was driven
away by loyal forces under Colonel Smith, when he organized guerrilla par-
ties to harass and plunder the Union people. Finally, with twenty-seven
hundred men, he joined General Price before Lexington.

Other organized bands of Secessionists had been operating in Northeastern
Missouri at the same time, and had compelled the Unionists to organize and
arm themselves for defense. The latter, under Colonel Moore, formed a
camp at Athens. The Secessionists also organized ; and on the 5th of August,
nearly fifteen hundred of them, led by Martin Green, and furnished with
three pieces of cannon, fell upon Moore's force, of about four hundred in
number, in the village of Athens, where the assailants were repulsed and
utterly routed. The* Unionists now flocked to Moore's victorious standard ;
and these being aided by General Pope, the Secessionists north of the Mis-
souri River were soon made to behave very circumspectly.

In the mean time, the loyal civil authorities of Missouri were making
efforts to keep the State from the vortex of secession. The popular Conven-
tion, which had taken a stand in favor of the Union, as we have observed,*
reassembled at Jefferson City on the 22d of July, and proceeded to reorganize
civil government for the State, which had been broken up by the flight of
the Executive and other officers, and the dispersion of the legislators, many
of whom were in the ranks of the enemies of the Government. The Conven-
tion declared the offices of Governor, Lieutenant-Govemor, and Secretary of
State, to be vacant, by a vote of fifty-six to twenty-five. They also declared
the seats of the members of the General Assembly vacant, by a
vote of fifty-two to twenty-eight." On the following day they pro- *
ceeded to the election of officers for a provisional government, 3 and
appointed the first Monday in November following as the time for the people

l'M-h telegraphed to L. Pope Walker, at Richmond : "We have gained a great victory over the
enemy." General Price spoke of it as "a brilliant victory," ' achieved upon a hard-fought field,'' and said the
Confederates had " scattered far and wide the well-appointed army which the usurper at Washington " had been
for more than six months gathering. The Confederate " Congress," at Richmond, on the 21st of August, in the
preamble to a resolution of thanks tcndereil to McCulloch and his men, declared that it had li pleased Almighty
God to vouchsafe to the arms of the Confederate States another glorious and important victory;" while the
newspaper press exhibited the greatest jubilation. " The next word will be," shouted the New Orleans Picayune
of the 17th of August, u ' On to St. Louis !' That taken, the power of Lincolnism is broken in the whole West ;
and instead of shouting 'Hoi for Richmond!' and 'Ho! for New Orleans!' there will be hurrying to and fro,
among the frightened magnates at Washington, and anxious inquiries of what they shall do to save themselves
from the vengeance to come."

* See prise 4R2. volume I.

Hamilton R. Gamble, Provisional Governor; Willard P. Hall, Lieutenant-Governor; and Mordecai Oliver,
Secr-ta:y of State.

56 CONTEST BETWEEN LOYALISTS AND SECESSIONISTS.

to elect persons to fill the same offices. After transacting other .necessary
business, the Convention issued an Address to the people, in which the state
of public affairs was clearly set forth, and the dangers to the State, in conse-
quence of the hostile movements of the Secessionists within its borders and
invaders from without, were as plainly portrayed. The treason of the Gov-
ernor and his associates was exposed, whereby the action of the Convention
in organizing a provisional government was justified.

On the 3d of August, the Provisional Governor issued a proclamation to
the people, calculated to allay their apprehension concerning one of their
special interests. "No countenance," he said, "will be afforded to any
scheme, or to any conduct, calculated in any degree to interfere with the
institution of slavery existing in the State. To the very utmost extent of
executive power that institution will be protected." This assurance was a
mordant for the loyalty of the Union-loving slaveholders, and the new pro-
visional government received the confidence and support of the majority of
the people. Large numbers of the disaffected inhabitants took an oath of
allegiance, 1 and the friends of order were greatly encouraged.

Whilst the loyal State Convention and the provisional government
were laboring to bring order out of chaos in Missouri, the leaders in rebellion

O O '

there were making the strongest efforts to secure the absolute control of the

o o

Commonwealth. On the day when the Convention sent forth its address,
the disloyal Lieutenant-Governor (Thomas C. Reynolds), then at New Ma-
drid, on the Mississippi River, issued a proclamation to the people of the
State, in which he declared that, acting as Chief Magistrate during the tem-
porary absence of Governor Jackson, he had returned to proclaim, under the
provisions of an act of the disloyal legislature, the absolute severance of
Missouri from the Union. "Disregarding forms, and looking to realities,"
he said, "I view any ordinance for the separation from the North, and union
with the Confederate States, as a mere outward ceremony to give notice to
others of an act already consummated in the hearts of her people," and that,
consequently, " no authority of the United States will hereafter be permitted
in Missouri." With such views of the political rights of the people, it was
natural for him to consign them to the inflictions of a military despotism;
BO, in the same proclamation, he announced that, by invitation of Governor
Jackson, General Pillow, commander of the Tennessee troops in the Confed-
erate service, had entered Missouri, 2 and that he was empowered " to make

1 The following is a copy of the oath which the Confederate leaders had compelled the citizens to take:
"Know all men, that I, , of the County of , State of Missouri, do solemnly swear that I will bear

true allegiance to the State of Missouri, and support the Constitution of the State, and that I will not give aid,
comfort, information, protection, or encouragement to the enemies or opposers of the Missouri State Guard, or
of their allies, the Armies of the Confederate States, upon the penalty of death for treason. 1 '

2 General Pillow landed with his troops at New Madrid, at near the close of July. His first order issued
there was on the 2Sth, prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors to his soldiers. He had sugsested this move-
ment into Missouri at an early period, as one of vast importance in his plans for seizing Bird's Point and Cairo.
Whilst engaged in strongly fortifying Memphis, Randolph, and one or two other points on the Tennessee shore

from Middle Tennessee. The threatening aspect of affairs in loyal East Tennessee at that time so alarmed
Harris that he hesitated, and telegraphed to Pillow on the 22d of June, as follows: " I still approve, but cannot
send troops from here until matters in East Tennessee are settled." Pillow was disappointed and annoyed, ami

PILLOW AND JEFF. THOMPSON. 57

and enforce such civil police regulations as he may deem necessary for the
security of his forces, the preservation of order and discipline in his camp,
and the protection of the lives and property of the citizens ;" in other words,
martial law was established Avithin indefinite limits by this avowed usurper
of the rights of the people. He clothed M. Jeff. Thompson, 1 one of Jackson's
Missouri brigadiers, with the same power; arid he and Pillow, and W. J.
Hardee (who had abandoned his flag, joined the insurgents, and was com-
missioned a brigadier in the Confederate Army), now held military posses-
sion of the southeastern districts of the Commonwealth, and made vigorous
preparations to co-operate with Price and his associates in "expelling the
enemy from the State." Pillow assumed the pompous title of" Liberator of
Missouri" and his orders and dispatches were commenced, "Head-Quarters
Army of Liberation."

Governor Jackson, who had been to Richmond to make arrangements for

on the following day he wrote to the Governor, saying: "I think it exceedingly unfortunate that yon have
suspended the movements forward against Bird's Point and Cairo for the relief of Missouri. The main body of
the force at these two points has been withdrawn, in consequence of the pressure in the East and the rising up of
Missouri, and the work of taking these points would now be of comparatively easy accomplishment. If my move-
ments are to be suspended until East Tennessee ceases to sulk and becomes loyal, it will defer my action to a period
when I cannot assume the offensive state. In my judgment, two, three, or four regiments is a force sufficient
for any probable contingency in view of the position of East Tennessee. Without aid from the forces of Middle
Tennessee I have not the means of advancing, nor will I attempt it. In ten days the enemy will, in all proba-
bility, increase his force at Cairo, and will have his three gunboats, mounting 30 guns, at Cairo, and then it
would be madness to attempt a dislodgment."

Then, aiid for some time afterward, the great want of the Army of Tennessee was arms. In July, Pillow
issued an order directing the gathering up of all the rifles in private hands in Western Tennessee, for the purpose
of having them made of uniform bore and devoted to the public use.

In his appeal to the people, he said: "Seventy thousand additional troops must be raised to protect the
country. These troops can be armed only by the country rifles being procured, and thus converted. . . These
rifles will give you no protection when scattered over the country in your houses. Nothing will save the coun-
try from being overrun and devastated by a more than savage foe, but arms in the hands of organized and drilled
troops." Workshops for the purpose of changing these arms were employed at Memphis, under Captain Hunt,
Asents were appointed to collect the rifles, who were authorized to give certificates of purchase, the weapons to
be afterwards paid for by the Confederate government. Pillow's MS. Order Book.

Among a mass of autograph letters before me is one from General S. B. Anderson to General Pillow, dated
May 18th, 1861, in which he makes an important disclosure concerning evident preparations for revolt having
been made by the authorities of Tennessee, several months before the election of Mr. Lincoln. He says : " I am
using every effort to collect together the, arms of the State issued- to volunteer companies, raised for political
purposes and otherwise, and now disbanded; and in looking over the bonds given for arms, as found in the
Secretary of State's oflice, I find that on the 4fc of July last [I860], there was issued to W. J. Hendricks, J. E.
Crowder, E. E. Moody, and E. Winslow, of Lagrange, West Tenn., the following arms : 6-1 swords and 128 pistols.
These arms are worth looking after, and I would respectfully suggest to you to have them looked after and
gathered up, if not in the hands of such men as are going to take the field."

1 Thompson, who became a notorious guerrilla chief, like Pillow, seemed fond of issuing proclamations and
writing letters, in both of which he indulged much in hyperbole. Many of the latter, written at the period we
are now considering, are before me. The day after Eeynolds issued his proclamation, Thompson sent forth the
following manifesto to the people of Missouri, which is a fair specimen of his style:

" Come, now, strike while the iron is hot ! Our enemies are whipped in Virginia. They have been whipped
in Missouri. General Hardee advances in the center, General Pillow on the right, and General McCulloch on
the left, with 20,000 brave Southern hearts, to our aid. So leave your plows in the furrow, and your oxen in the
yoke, and rush like a tornado upon our invaders and foes, to sweep them from the face of the earth, or force them
from the soil of our State I Brave sons of the Ninth District, come and join us! We have plenty of ammunition,
and the cattle on ten thousand hills are ours. We have forty thousand Belgian muskets coming ; but bring your
guns and muskets with you, if you have them; if not, come without them. We will strike your foes like a
Southern thunderbolt, and soon our camp-fires will illuminate the Merrimac and Missouri. Come, turn out.

"JEFF. THOMPSON, Brig.-General Comd'g." 1

Many Missourians who had fled from the State, late in May and early in June, had entered the Tennessee
Army. It was desirable to have these and other exiled citizens of that State organized for home duty, and
Thompson was sent to Memphis for that purpose. There, on the 14th of June, a meeting of Missourians was
held, and in a series of resolutions they asked Pillow for quarters and subsistence, and the release from service in
the Tennessee Army, such Missourians as had been enlisted. The autograph letter to Pi How inclosing these
resolutions is before me, and is signed by M. Jeff. Thompson, B. Xewton Hart, Thomas P. Hoy, X. J. McArthur,
James George, and Lewis II. Kenncrly.

ADMISSION OF MISSOURI INTO THE CONFEDERACY.

military aid, and the annexation of Missouri to the Confederacy, had just
returned, and from New Madrid he also issued a proclamation."
* A is6i 5> ft was m ^ e f orm f a provisional declaration of the independence
of the State, in which he gave reasons which, he said, "justified"
a separation from the Union. These " reasons " consisted of the usual misrepre-
sentations concerning the National Government, in forms already familiar to the

reader, and were followed by a formal
declaration that Missouri was " a sove-
reign, free, and independent republic."
On the 20th of the same month, the
Confederate "Congress" at Richmond
passed an act to " aid the State of Mis-
souri in repelling invasion by the United
States, and to authorize the admission
of said State as a member of the Con-
federate States of America." Jeiferson
Davis was authorized to "muster into
the service of the Confederate States"
such Missouri troops as might volunteer
to serve in the Confederate Army; the
officers to be commissioned by Davis,
who was also empowered to appoint all
field officers for the same. Missouri was to be admitted into the Confederacy
on an equal footing with the other States, when the Constitution of the
"Confederate States" should be "adopted and ratified by the properly and
legally constituted authorities of said State;" in other words, when the
disloyal fugitive Governor, Jackson, and his friends, and not the people of
Missouri, should so adopt and ratify that unholy league.

By the same act the government of Missouri, of Avhich Jackson was recog-
nized as the chief magistrate, was declared to be " the legally elected and
constituted government of the people and State of Missouri." 1 Measures
were speedily adopted for the consummation of the alliance, and, during a
greater portion of the war, men claiming to represent the people of Missouri
occupied seats in the Confederate " Congress" at Richmond.

At this critical juncture of public affairs in Missouri, John C. Fremont,
.who had been brought prominently before the American people in 1856, as

M. JEFF. THOMPSON.

1 See Acts and Resolution* of the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States, Third Session,
No. 225.

* By proclamation, in September, Jackson called a session of the disloyal members of the General Assembly
of Missouri, at Neosho, on the 21st of October. In his message to that body, on the 28th of October, he recom-
mended, 1st, the passage of an ordinance of secession ; 2d, of an "act of provisional union with the Confederate
States ;" 3d, the appointment of " three commissioners to the Provisional Congress of the Confederate States ;''
4th, the passage of a law empowering the Governor to cause an election to be held for Senators and Representatives
to the " Confederate States Congress" as soon as practicable after Missouri should become a member of the league;
and, 5th. the passage of an act empowering the Governor to issue bonds of the State of Missouri. The pliant in-
struments of the Governor responded cheerfully to his recommendations. An Ordinance of Secession was passed
the same day (October 28th, 1861), and an " Act to provide for the defense of the State of Missouri " was adopted
on the 1st of November. It authorized the issue of what were termed "Defense Bonds," to the amount of
$10,000,000, all of which, of the denomination of $5 and upwards, should bear interest at the rate of ten per cent,
per annum. They were to be issued in denominations not less than $1, and not greater than $500, payable in
three, five, and seven years. They were made a legal tender for all dues. Such was the currency offered to the
people of Missouri as members of (he Confederacy. See Journals of t.'io Senate, <&c., noticed at the close of not*
JL, page 4G4, volume I.

FKEMONT IN MISSOUKI.

the candidate of the newly formed Republican party for the Presidency of
the United States, assumed the command of the Western Department. He
was in Europe when the war broke out, and on the 14th of May, 1861, he
was commissioned a major-general of Volunteers. On receiving notice of
his appointment, he left his private affairs abroad in the hands of others, and
hastened home. He arrived at Boston on the 27th of June,"
bringing with him an assortment of arms for his Government,
and on the 6th of July he was appointed to the important command in

the West just mentioned. 1 He re-
mained a short time in New York,
where he made arrangements for over
twenty thousand stand of arms, with
munitions of war, to be sent to his
Department. On hearing of the dis-
aster at Bull's Run, he left for the
West, and arrived at St. Louis on
the 26th of July, where Colonel
Harding, Lyon's Adjutant-General,
was in command. Fremont had
already issued orders for General
John Pope to proceed from Alton,
in Illinois, with troops to suppress the
armed Secessionists in Northern Mis-

JOHN C. FREMONT.

commenced the destruction of railways, and depredations upon the Unionists.

Fremont made his head-quarters in
St. Louis at the house of the late Colo-
nel Brant, an elegant and splendid
mansion, and proceeded at once with
great vigor in the performance of his
duties. He found disorder everywhere
prevailing. The terms of enlistment of
the Home Guards, or three-months men,
. were expiring ; and these, being com-
posed chiefly of working-men, with
dependent families, and having been
some time without pay, were unwilling
to re-enlist in fact, some yet in the
service were in a state of mutiny on
that account. Fremont was embarrassed. He had very little money at his
disposal to meet the just demands of these soldiers ; neither had he arms for
new recruits, who were now coming into St. Louis in considerable numbers,
and were compelled to remain there in idleness for lack of weapons, when he
was anxious to send them to the aid of Lyon, and to points exposed to cap-
ture. The guns ordered at New York were detained for the use of the Army
of the Potomac. Indeed, the National authorities were, so absorbed in

1 The Western Department was created on the 6th of July, and comprised the State of Illinois, and the
States and Territories west of the Mississippi and east of the Eocky Mountains, including New Mexico. Head-
quarters at St. Louis.

FREMONT'S IIEAD-QUAKTERS

60 AFFAIRS IN FREMONT'S DEPARTMENT.

taking measures for the defense of Washington City, that the care of the
Government was little felt in the West, for a time.

Fremont perceived that he could be useful only by assuming grave
responsibilities, and he resolved upon that course, with the belief that he
would be sustained by his Government. Funds were indispensable, and he
applied to the National Sub-Treasurer at St. Louis for a supply. That officer
had three hundred thousand dollars in his hands, but he refused to let the
General have a dime without an order from the Secretary of the Treasury.
So Fremont prepared to seize one hundred thousand dollars of it by military
force, when the custodian yielded. 1 With these funds he secured the re-en-
listment of many of the three-months men.

With vigor and secrecy, Fremont prepared for offensive and defensive
action. He strongly fortified St. Louis against external and internal foes,
and prepared to place Cairo in a condition of absolute security ; for upon the
holding of these points rested, in a great degree, the salvation of the North-
west from invasion and desolation. He was compelled to choose between
securing the safety of these places, or re-enforcing Lyon ; and wisely, it seems,
he decided upon the former course. Kentucky, professedly neutral, and
with doors closed against Union troops from other States, \\:is giving shelter
and welcome to large bodies of Confederate soldiers in its western districts.
Already full 12,000 Confederate troops were within a circle of fifty miles
around Cairo, in Kentucky and Missouri Pillow, as we have seen, 9 had in-
vaded the latter State at its southeastern extremity with a large number of
troops, preparatory to an immediate advance upon Bird's Point and Cairo,
while Hardee, with a considerable force, was pushing into the interior to
menace Lyon's flank and rear. At the same time Liutenant-Governor Rey-
nolds, in his proclamation at New Madrid,* taking advantage of
*'i86i. 81 the joy of the secessionists, and the depression of the loyalists, on
account of the sad news from Virginia, had said, in connection
with his announcement of the presence of Pillow with Tennessee troops,
*' The sun which shone in its full midday splendor at Manassas is about to
rise in Missouri." Every thing at that moment seemed to justify the predic-
tion. Lyon, with the only considerable National force in the field, was sur-
rounded with the greatest peril, as we have seen ; every county in the Com-
monwealth was in a state of insurrection, and every post held by the
Unionists even St. Louis itselfwas menaced with real danger.

To avert the perils threatening Bird's Point and Cairo, Fremont secretly
and quickly prepared an expedition to strengthen the latter post ; for Gen-
eral Prentiss, its commander, had not more than twelve hundred men in

1 Fremont laid a brief statement of the condition of affairs in Missouri, and his needs, before the President, i n
a letter on the 30th of July. He s:\id: " We have not an hour for delay. There are three courses open for me.
One, to let the enemy possess himself of some of the strongest points in the State and threaten St. Louis, which
is insurrectionary ; second, to force a loan from secession banks here; third, to use the money belonging to
the Government which is in the Treasury here. Of course I will not lose the State, nor permit the enemy a
foot of advantage. I have infused energy and activity into the Department, and there is a thoroughly good
spirit in officers and men. This morning I will order the Treasurer to deliver the money in his possession to
General Andrews, and will send a force to the Treasury to tike the money, and will direct sub-payments, as the
exigency requires. 1 ' The President made no reply ; and this silence, with a dispatch received four diiys before
from a Cabinet minister (Postmaster-General Blair), saying, " You will have to do the best you can, and take
all needful responsibility to defend and protect the people over whom you are specially set," justified his course,
to his judgment.

* See page 56.

THE CONFEDEKATES DECEIVED.

garrison there at the close of July. Mustering about thirty-eight hundred
troops on board of eight steamers, 1 at St. Louis, on the night of the 30th of
July, he left that city at noon the next day with the entire squadron, and
making a most imposing display. Nobody but himself knew the real
strength of the expedition, and the most exaggerated rumors concerning it
went abroad. The loyal people and the insurgents believed that these ves-
sels contained at least twelve thousand men. The deception had its desired
effect. Cairo was re-enforced without opposition. Other points were
strengthened. Pillow, who had advanced some troops, and, with Thompson,
was preparing to seize Cape Girardeau, Bird's Point, and Cairo, and overrun
Southern Illinois, fell back, and became very discreet in action ; and Hardee,
with his independent command, was checked in his movements into the
interior of Missouri.

Pillow, notwithstanding he had about twenty thousand troops at his com-
mand, alarmed by rumors of an immense National force on his front, sent a
dispatch" to Hardee, then supposed to be at Greenville, urging
the necessity for a junction of their forces, before an attempt aA "|| 1 1 st5 '
might be safely made to march on Commerce and Cape Girar-
deau. " Plaving a good deal of work before us," he said, " we should be
careful not to so cripple our forces as to be unable to go forward. . . ;: 1
ought to have your support before engaging the enemy on my front.
. . . . Without the co-operation of your force, I doubt if I can reach
you at Ironton, except in a very critical condition. We ought to unite at
Benton." 4 He informed Hardee that General Thompson, Governor Jackson,
and Lieutenant-Governor Reynolds were with him, and that they all re-
garded the union of the two forces as essential. On the same day General
Polk wrote to Pillow, urging him to " put his troops' in the trenches," and
strongly fortify New Madrid, near which it was proposed to stretch a chain,
to obstruct the navigation of the Mississippi 3 Polk was then gathering

1 Emprens, War Eagle, Jennie Dean, Warsaw, City of Alton, Louisiana, January, and Graham. Gen-
eral Fremont and Staff were on the City of Alton. The squadron was In charge of Captain B. Able.

a Autograph letter of General Pillow, dated, " Head-quarters Army of Liberation, August 5th, 1S61."
' At that time there were various plans proposed for barricading the Mississippi against the " invaders." The
utretching of a chain across was a favorite one, and materials for the purpose were sent up from New Orleans
to Memphis. An anonymous writer, whose autograph letter is before me, dated "New Orleans, July 3d, 1861,"
proposed a plan, by which, he said, " steamboats of the enemy could be as effec-
tually prevented from descending the Mississippi, as from steaming across tho
Alleghany Mountains." The letter contained the annexed illustrative diagram.

Thomas J. Spear, of New Orleans, in a letter dated the 81st of July, proposed a
species of torpedo for the same pur-
pose, which might also be of use in
battle on land. His accompanying
diagram, which is annexed, represents
the manner of using the torpedo in
the river. It was to be attached to
the end of a long rod, projectins,
under water, from the bow of the ves-
sel, and fixed by a tube filled with

SPEAJl'S TOKPEDO.

gunpowder. These plans were not tried; but other obstructions, in the way of
sunken vessels, chevaux de frise of various kinds, and a great variety of torpedoes,
were used during the war. Spear proposed to place his torpedoes on land, at " shoot-
ing distance in front of a chosen place of battle, or in roads over which the enemy
would travel, a few inches underground, with wires attached, so as to explode them
by means of electricity." The plan was to fall back as the enemy approached, and when they were above the
torpedoes to explode them. The illustrations of this note may be explained as follows:

STEAMBOAT OBSTRUCTIONS. A A, rafts anchored between the shore and tho channel. B B, batteries

62 THE CONFEDERATES ALARMED

strength at Randolph and Fort Pillow, on the Tennessee side of the Missis-
sippi. He had prohibited all steamboats from going above New Madrid, had
pressed into the service several Cincinnati pilots, and had ordered up two
gunboats from New Orleans, to operate between New Madrid and Cairo. 1

Fremont returned to St. Louis on the 4th of August, having accomplished
the immediate objects of his undertaking. He had spread great alann among
the Confederates immediately confronting him, who were somewhat dis-
tracted by divided commanders. Polk was chief; 2 and from his
* A i86i St 7 ' head-quarters at Memphis he ordered " Pillow to evacuate New
Madrid, and, with his men and heavy guns, hasten to Randolph
and Fort Pillow, on the Tennessee shore. The ink of that dispatch was
scarcely dry, when he countermanded the order, for he had heard glad tidings
from McCulloch, in front of Lyon. Again, on the 15th, he was so alarmed
by rumors from above, that he again ordered Pillow to abandon New Mad-
rid, and cross to Tennessee with his troops and armament immediately.
The ambitious Pillow, evidently anxious to win renown by seizing Cape
Girardeau, and with that victory to gain possession of Bird's Point and
Cairo, was tardy in his obedience, and the result was, that he kept his head-
quarters at New Madrid until early in September, as we shall hereafter
observe. 3

on the shore. C, raft with heavy battery In the channel. D, floating boom to allow friendly vessels to pas*

through. E, steamer descending the
river Such rafts were constructed at
several places on the Mississippi, in the
form seen in the annexed engraving,
being held by chains, attached to an-
chors, passing over them lengthwise.
They were inefficient, and were soon
abandoned.

SPEAR'S TORPKDO. A, bow of tor-
pedo vessel. B, torpedo. C C, tube
fliled with gunpowder, supported by a
strong framework, to which the torpedo
RAFT ANCHORED IN THE MISSISSIPPI. is attached. D, end of tube to which

the match is applied.

1 Autograph letter of Leonidas Polk to Gideon J Pillow, dated at Memphis, August 5th, 1861.
* General Polk, as we have observed, was Bishop of the Diocese of Louisiana, of the Protestant Episcopal
Church, when the war broke out. A correspondent of the New Orleans Picayune, writing from Richmond on
the d:iy of Folk's appointment as major-general in the Confederate service, related the secret history of his lay-
ing aside the crook of the bishop for the sword of the soldier. He had been urged to take the appointment, his
military education at the West Point Academy being thought sufficient to promise a successful career in the
field. He finally visited Bishop Meade, of Virginia, the senior bishop of the church in the United States, to
consult with him about it. The result was in his case, as in that of General Joseph E. Johnston (who also con-
sulted Bishop Meade as to what was his duty in a similar emergency); he received the approval of the
prelate, and joined the army. It seems that Polk had satisfied himself that he ought to accept the commission,
before he visited Bishop Meade ; for the writer says, that when the latter suggested that the Diocesan of Lotiisi-
and was already holding a commission in a very different army, to which he owed allegiance, the great slave-
holding bishop replied: " I know that very well, and I do not intend to resign it. On the contrary, I shall only
prove the more faithful to it by doing all that in me lies to bring this unhallowed and unnatural war to a speedy
and happy close. We, of the Confederate States, are the last bulwarks of civil and religious liberty , we fight for
our hearthstones and our altars; above all, we fi^ht for a race that has been, by Divine Providence, intrusted to
our most sacred keeping. When I accept a commission in the Confederate Army, therefore, 1 not only perform
the duties of a good citizen, but contend for the principles which lie at the foundation of our social, political,
and religious polity.' 1 ' 1

3 Pillow had always been restive under the restraints imposed by the transfer of the Tennessee Army to
the service of the Confederate authorities, and ho never obeyed the commands of General Polk with alacrity.
Thompson was under the command of Governor Jackson ; and Hardee, who was at Greenville, some distance in
the interior of Missouri, early in August was operating with independence, in a measure, of both Pillow and Polk.
Pillow and Thompson had set their hearts on the seizure of Cape Girardeau and Bird's Point, whilst Hardee
was aiming at a similar result in a different way. Polk, at Memphis, alarmed by rumor of an immense arma-

THE SECESSIONISTS IN MISSOURI 63

News of the Battle of Wilson's Creek, 1 and the death of Lyon, reached
Fremont on the 13th of August. The secessionists in St. Louis were made
jubilant and bold by it. This disposition was promptly met by the Com-
mander-in-Chief. Martial law was declared," and General Mc-
Kinstry was appointed Provost-Marshal. Some of the most " A i^i st 14 '
active secessionists were arrested, and the publication of news-
papers charged with disloyalty was suspended. 2 So tight was held the curb
of restraint in the city that an outbreak was prevented. More free to act in
the rural districts, the armed secessionists began again to distress the loyal
people. In bands they moved over the country, plundering and destroying.
Almost daily, collisions between them and the Home Guards occurred. One
of the most severe of these conflicts took place at Charleston, west of Bird's
Point, on the 19th, 6 when three hundred Illinois Volunteers,
under Colonel Dougherty, put twelve hundred Confederates to
flight. Two days afterward, a battery planted by Thompson, at Commerce,
was captured by National troops sent out from Cape Girardeau ; and every-
where the loyalists were successful in this sort of warfare. But the condition
of public affairs in Missouri was becoming daily more alarming. The provi-
sional government was almost powerless, and Governor Gamble, by a mis-
taken policy, seriously injured the public service at that critical time by
refusing to commission military officers appointed by Fremont. The Presi-
dent commissioned them himself, and the work of organizing a force for the

rnent about to descend the Mississippf and attack that place, was anxious to strengthen it and the supporting
posts above it on the Tennessee shore, and hence his order for Pillowc to evacuate New Mad-
rid and hasten with his troops and heavy guns to liandolph and Fort Pillow. Pillow demurred, August 7,
and charged Polk, by implication, with keeping; back re-enforcements, and thwarting his well-laid 1661.

plans for the liberation of Missouri. Polk retorted, and intimated that Pillow a neglecting to
fortify New Madrid, as he had boon ordered to do, before the Nationals were ready for an offensive movement,
was a blunder that now made the evacuation of that post a necessity. In his dispatch revoking the order for
the evacuation of New Madrid, Polk directed Pillow to break up his base there, send his heavy cannon to lian-
dolph and Fort Pillow, and, marching by the way of Pleasanton, join his forces with those of Hardee at Greenville.
This was also distasteful to the Tennessee commander. He reported that he had tried the path and had been
compelled to fall back to New Madrid on account of unsafe bridges ; also, that he intended to move on Cape
Girardeau by the river road. Polk, was annoyed, and wrote him a long lottcr on the 16th of August, in its tone
deprecatory of Pillow's course ; whilst the restless Thompson, who was now with Hardee, and now with
Pillow, was eagerly urging a forward movement " I would like very much," he wrote on the 16th of August,
"to have your permission to advance, as I am sure that I can take Cape Girardeau without firing a gun, by
marching these moonlight nights and taking them by surprise. Every one gives me the credit of at least 7,000
men, and I have thorn frightened nearly to death." The following day he wrote to Pillow, saying, " If you wish
a legal excuse for advancing, withdraw your control over me for a few hours, and then come to my rescue. "We
must not lose the moon ; the weather may change, and the swamps become impassable."

Hardee, on the contrary, who desired, as a preliminary movement against Cape Girardeau, to seize the post
nt Ironton, the then terminus of the railway running southward from St. Louis, did not seem disposed to aid
Pillow in his designs ; whilst Polk, according to a letter from Lewis G. De Eussey, his aid-de-camp, dated at
Fort Pillow on the 17th of August, was anxious for Pillow and Hardee to join their forces at Benton, and march
upon St. Louis. In this undecided state, the question concerning offensive movements in Missouri remained
until the close of August, when the National forces at Ironton, the Cape, and Bird's Point, had been so increased,
that any forward movement of the Confederates would have been extremely perilous " We can take the Cape,
but what would we do with it?" Pillow, asked significantly on the 29th Hardee, an old and experienced
officer, had positively refused to go forward, and Pillow and Polk would not risk such a movement without his
concurrence. The conduct of the ambitious Pillow in this connnection became so insubordinate, that General
Polk submitted a statement of it to the " War Department," at Richmond, on the 20th of August. " Considering
you have usurped an authority not properly your own," wrote De Eussey, in behalf of Polk, "by which you
have thwarted and embarrassed his arrangements and operations for the general defense, he feels it his duty to
submit to the War Department the position you have thought proper to assume." Events during the few suc-
ceeding days changed all plans. Autograph Letters of folk, ffardee, Pillow, Thompson, and others, from the
close of July to the close of August, 1861.

1 The Confederates, as we have observed, call it the Battle of Oak Hill.

8 Morning Herald, Evening Miaaourian, and War Bulletin.

64 FREMONT'S STARTLING PROCLAMATION.

purpose of sweeping the insurgents out of the State, and clearing the banks
of the Mississippi of "all blockading obstructions to free navigation from St.
Louis to New Orleans, went steadily on.

Satisfied that nothing but martial law and the most stringent measures
toward the secessionists would secure peace and quiet to Missouri, and safety
to the cause, Fremont took the administration of public affairs there into his
own hands, and on the 31st of August he issued a proclamation, in which he
declared that martial law was thereby established throughout Missouri, and
that the lines of the Army of Occupation in that State extended, for the
present, from Leavenworth, in Kansas, by way of the posts of Jefferson
City, Rolla, and Ironton, to Cape Girardeau on the Mississippi River. He
declared that all persons within those lines taken with arms in their hands
should be tried by court-martial, and, if found guilty, should be shot j 1 that
the property, real and personal, of all persons in Missouri, who should be
proven to have taken an active part with the enemies of the Government, in
the field, should be confiscated to the public use, and their slaves, if they had
any, should be thereafter free men; and that all persons engaged in the
destruction of bridges, railway tracks, and telegraphs, should suffer the
extreme penalty of the law. All persons who, by speech or correspondence,
should be found guilty of giving aid to the insurgents in any way, were
Avarned of ill consequences to themselves ; and all who had been seduced
from their allegiance to the National Government were required to return to
their homes forthwith. The declared 'object of the proclamation was to
place in the hands of the military authorities the power to give instantane-
ous'effect to existing laws, while ordinary civil authority would not be sus-
pended, where the law should be administered in the usual manner. 2

General Fremont acted promptly in accordance with his proclamation,
and the greatest consternation began to prevail among the insurgents of
Missouri, when his hand was stayed. He was most bitterly assailed by the
enemies of the Administration, especially because of that portion of his pro-
clamation which related to emancipation and confiscation. In the border
Slave-labor States there arose a storm of indignation which alarmed the
Government ; and the President, anxious to placate the rebellious spirit in
those States, requested Fremont to modify his proclamation concerning
the confiscation of property and the liberation of the slaves, so as
to strictly conform to an act of Congress passed on the 6th of Au-
gust. 3 Fremont declined to do so, and asked the President to openly direct
him to make that modification, for his judgment and self-respect would not

1 M. Jeff. Thompson, already mentioned, and who became the terror of all law-abiding citizens in Missouri,
issued a proclamation on the 2u of September, declaring that he was intrusted by Acting Governor Reynolds
not only with the commission of brigadier-general, but also with "certain police powers," and said: "I do
most solemnly promise that, for every member of the Missouri State Guard or soldier of our allies, the armies
of the Confederate Slates, who shall be put to death In pursuance of the said order of General Fremont, I will
hang, tfraw, and quarter a minion of said Abraham Lincoln."

4 Fremont specified, as reasons for his assuming the administrative powers of the State, the fact that " its
disorganized condition, the helplessness of the civil authority, the total insecurity of life, and the devastation
of property by bands of murderers and marauders," who infested nearly every county in the State, and availed
themselves of the public misfortunes and the vicinity of a hostile force, to gratify private and neighborhood
vengeance, and who found an enemy wherever they found plunder, demanded the severest measures to suppress
these disorders, to maintain the public peace, and " to give security and protection to the persons und property
of loyal citizens."

3 Sic page 29.

THE GOVERNMENT AND SLAVERY. 65

allow him to do it himself. 1 The President accordingly issued an order to

that effect," and a most powerful war measure, which was adopted

by the Government less than a year later, and which now prom- ' ^gei"'

ised, as such, the most efficient aid to the National cause, was

made almost inoperative. Only those slaves who were actually employed

in the military service of the Confederates were to be declared free by the

President's order. So cautiously did the Government move at this time, in

the matter of slaves, that special orders were issued to commanders in other

Departments on the subject, all having a tendency to calm the apprehensions

that a general emancipation of the bondsmen was contemplated. 8

1 " If I were to retract of my own accord, 11 said Fremont, " it would imply that I myself thought it wrong,
and that I acted without the reflection which the gravity of the point demanded. But I did not I acted with
full deliberation, and with the certain conviction that it was a measure right and necessary ; and I think so
still."

* The conservative attitude of the Government In relation to slavery, at that time, however expedient it may
have been as a soothing policy toward the border Slave-labor States, was a disappointment to its friends abroad,
who well understood the object of the conspirators to be the formation of a great empire whoso political and
industrial system should be founded on human slavery. In Western Europe, the long controversy on that sub-
ject in our National Legislature had been watched with great interest; and the more enlightened observers,
when the war broke out, believed and hoped that the prediction of a distinguished member of Congress (Joshua
K. Giddings), made in that body in 1S4S, when members from Slave-labor States Insolently threatened to dis-
solve the Union if their wishes were not gratified, would be fulfilled. He said that when that contest should
come, "the lottrsof our race will then stand forth and exert the legitimate powers of this Government for free-
dom. We shall then have constitutional power to act for the good of our country and to do justice to the slave.
We will then strike off the shackles from his limbs. The Government will then have power to act between
slavery and freedom, and it can then make peace by giving liberty to its slaves." See Giddinga'a History of the
Rebellion, page 481.

They were disappointed when, in Mr. Soward^ carefully written dispatch to Minister Dayton, on the 22d of
April, 1861, they were assured that the majority of the people of the Republic were willing to let the system of
slavery alone, and that whatever might be the result of the war then kindling, it would receive no damage. u The
condition of slavery in the several States," he said, " will remain just the same, whether it succeed or fail. There
is not even a pretext for the complaint that the disaffected States are to be conquered by the United States if the
revolution fail; for the rights of the States, and the condition of every human being in them, will remain sub-
ject to exactly the same laws and forms of administration, whether the revolution shall succeed or whether it
shall faiL In the one case the States would be federally connected with the new confederacy ; in the other, they
would, as now, be members of the United States; but their constitutions and laws, customs, habits, and insti-
tutions, in either case will remain the same. It is hardly necessary to add to this incontestable statement the
further fact that the new President, as well as the citizens through whose suffrages he has come into the .admin-
istration, has always repudiated all designs, whatever and wherever imputed to him' and them, of disturbing
the system of slavery as it is existing under the Constitution and the laws."

The prediction of Mr. Giddings was fulfilled, while those of his friend and co-worker in the anti-slavery
movement, contained in his official assurances, were not They only served to inflict moral injury upon the
cause of the Government, and discourage the friends of humanity ; and such also was the effect of the conserva-
tive action of the Government on the subject of slavery during the earlier period of the war. It was not until
the President issued his Emancipation Proclamation, sixteen months later, that the warmest sympathies of the
lovers of liberty and the rights of man, in the Old World, were manifested for the cause of the Government

VOL. II. 5

MOVEMENTS OF INSURGENTS IN MISSOURI.

CHAPTER III

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI AND KENTUCKY.

ONTRARY to general expectation, the Confederates did
not pursue the shattered little army that was led by
Sigel, from Springfield to Rolla. 1 McCulloch contented
himself with issuing a proclamation to the
i&6i ' P e pl e f Missouri," telling them that he had
come, on the invitation of their Governor,
"to assist in driving the National forces out of the
State, and in restoring to the people their just rights."
He assured them that he had driven the enemy from among them, and that
the Union troops were then in full flight, after defeat. He called upon
the people to act promptly in co-operation with him, saying, " Missouri must
be allowed to choose her own destiny no oaths binding your consciences"
This was all that the Texan did in the way of " driving the enemy out of the
State," after the battle of Wilson's Creek. His assumptions and deportment
were offensive to Price and his soldiers. Alienation ensued, and McCulloch
soon abandoned the fortunes of the Missoun leader for the moment, and, with
his army, left the State.

Price now called upon the secessionists to fill his shattered ranks. They
responded with alacrity, and at the middle of August he moved northward
toward the Missouri River, in the direction of Lexington, in a curve that
bent far toward the eastern frontier of Kansas, from which Unionists were
advancing under General James H. Lane. With these he had some skirmish-

ing on the 7th of September, at Drywood Creek, about fifteen miles east of

the border. He drove them across the line, and pursued them to Fort Scott,

which he found abandoned. Leaving a small force there, he resumed his

march, and reached Warrensburg, in Johnson County, on the

September. '

' llth/ In the mean time, he had issued a proclamation to the
inhabitants of Missouri/ dated at Jefferson City, the capital of the
State, in which he spoke of a great victory at Wilson's Creek, and gave the
peaceable citizens assurance of full protection in person and property.

Lexington, 3 a town on the southern bank of the Missouri River, three
hundred miles, by its course, above St. Louis, and occupying an important
frontier position, was now brought into great prominence as the theatre of a
desperate straggle. It commanded the approach to Fort Leavenworth by
water; and when Fremont was apprised of Price's northward movement,
and the increasing boldness of- the secessionists in that region, he sent a

1 See papr? 54.

2 Capital of Lafayette County, Missouri, and then containing about five thousand inhabitants.

NATIONAL TROOPS AT LEXINGTON.

small force to Lexington to take charge of the money in the bank there, and
to protect the loyal inhabitants. This little force was increased from time
to time, until early in September, when Price was approaching Warrensburg,
the number of Union troops at Lexington was nearly twenty-eight hundred, 1
commanded by Colonel James A. Mulligan, of the " Irish Brigade " of Chicago,
Illinois. Mulligan, with his men, reached Lexington on the 9th of Septem-
ber, after a march of nine days from Jefferson City, and, being the senior
officer, he assumed the chief command. Peabody's regiment had come in, on
the following day, in full retreat from Warrensburg, having been driven
away by the approach of the overwhelming forces of Price. 2

Satisfied that Price would speedily attack the post, Colonel Mulligan
took position on Masonic Hill, northeastward of the city, which comprised
about fifteen acres, and on which was a substantial brick building erected
for a college. He proceeded at once to cast up strong intrenchments on the
eminence, in compass sufficient to accommodate within their area ten thousand
men. His first line of works was in front of the college building. Outside
of his embankments was a broad ditch, and beyond this were skillfully
arranged pits, into which assailants, foot or horse, might fall. The ground
was also mined outside of the fortifications, with a good supply of gunpowder
and suitable trains. But the troops, unfortunately, had only about forty
rounds of ammunition each, and six small brass cannon and two howitzers.
The latter were useless, because there were no shells. Hourly expecting
re-enforcements, Mulligan resolved to defy his enemy with the means at
hand.

On the morning of the 1 1th of September, after a violent storm that had raged
for several hours, Price moved from Warrensburg toward Lexington, and that
night encamped two or
three miles from the city.
Thei'e he rest-
ed until dawn," ' 'j'ggj '
when he drove
in the National pickets,
and opened a cannonade,
with the batteries of Bled-
soe and Parsons, upon
Mulligan's intrenched
camp from four different
points. Their fire was at
first concentrated upon the
stronger works at the col-
lege building. Some outworks were captured, and the Nationals were driven
within their intrenchments ; not, however, until several fierce struggles had

SIKGF, OF LEXINGTON.

' These troops were composed of the Thirteenth Missouri, Colonel Peabody; First Illinois Regiment of
Cavalry, Colonel Marshall; five hundred Missouri Home Guards, and the Twenty-third Illinois, of the Irish
Brigade, Colonel Mulligan.

2 These troops had been sent from Lexington to "Warrensburg, to secure about $100,000 in money. Price
was informed of this movement, and had hurried forward, by forced marches, to seize the treasure before the
National troops could reach there. He was too late, and to his disappointment was added great indignation,
because of caricatures which some of the German officers, who were clever artists, had left behind, illustrative
of the distress of the Confederates when they should find the treasure gone.

68 SIEGE OF LEXINGTON.

been endured. The defense was bravely kept up during the whole day,
when Price, finding his ammunition and his famished men J nearly exhausted,
withdrew, at sunset, to the Fair-grounds, to await the arrival of his wagon-
train and re-enforcements. Mulligan's men immediately resorted to the
trenches, to complete their preparations for a siege.

Mulligan now anxiously looked for expected re-enforcements, while his
men worked night and day in strengthening the fortifications. He was dis-
appointed. His courier, sent with supplications for aid to Jefferson City,
was captured on the way. 4 Hour after hour and day after day went by, and
no relief appeared. Yet bravely and hopefully his little band worked on,
until, on the morning of the 1 7th, General Price, who had been re-enforced,
and now had in hand over twenty-five thousand troops, including a large
number of recruits who had come with their rifles and shot-guns, cut off the
communication of the besieged with the city, upon which they
chiefly relied for water, and on the following day" took possession
of the town, closed in upon the garrison, and began a siege in
earnest. The Confederates had already seized a steamboat well laden with
stores for the National troops; and, under every disadvantage, the latter
conducted a most gallant defense.

General Rains's division occupied a strong position on the east and north-
east of the fortifications, from which an effective cannonade was opened at
nine o'clock, and kept up by Bledsoe's Battery, commanded by Captain Em-
mit McDonald, and another directed by Captain C. Clark, of St. Louis.
General Parsons took a position southwest of the works, from which his
battery, under Captain Guibor, poured a steady fire upon the garrison. Near
Rains, the division of Colonel Congreve Jackson was posted as a reserve ;
and near Parsons, a part of General Steen's division performed the same ser-
vice, whilst sharpshooters were sent forward to harass and fatigue the be-
leaguered troops, who were not allowed a moment's repose.

General Harris (who, as we have seen, 3 came down from Northeastern
Missouri and joined Price at Lexington) and General McBride, scorning all
rules of Christian warfare, stormed a bluff on which was situated the house
of Colonel Anderson, and then used as a hospital, capturing it with its in-
mates, while a yellow flag, the insignia of its character, was waving over it.
It was retaken by the Montgomery Guards, Captain Gleason, of the " Irish
Brigade," eighty strong, who charged, in the face of the hot fire of the foe,
a distance of eight hundred yards up a slope, driving the Confederates from
the building and far down the hill beyond. The fight was desperate, and
some of the sick were killed in their beds. The Guards were finally repulsed.
Captain Gleason came back with a bullet through his cheek and another
through his arm, and with only fifty of his eighty men. " This charge," said
Colonel Mulligan, in his official report, " was one of the most brilliant and
reckless in all history."

1 In consequence of a forced march to Lexington, a large number of Price's soldiers had neither eaten nor
slept for thirty-six hours. Price's Report to Governor Jackson, September 23, 1861.

2 On the 10th he sent Lieutenant Bains, of his ' ; Irish Brigade," with 12 men, on the steamer Sun-shint, on
this errand. The distance to Jefferson City from Lexington is 160 miles. Forty miles belovr Lexington the
steainrr was captured, and those on board were made prisoners.

* See* page 53.

SURRENDER OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS. 69

For seventy-two hours Mulligan's little band maintained the contest with-
out cessation, fighting and laboring on the works alternately beneath a
scorching sun by day and a scarcely less debilitating heat by night, under a
cloudless moon, choked with the smoke of gunpowder, their tongues parched
with thirst from which there was little relief, and at last with ammunition and
provisions completely exhausted. During that time, Colonel Mulligan was
seen at all points where danger was most imminent ; and there were deeds of
courage and skill performed on the part of the besieged that baffle the imagina-
tion of the romancer to conceive. At length, at two o'clock in the
afternoon of the 20th," the Confederates, who had constructed ' 8e ?| nber '

lool.

movable breastworks of bales of hemp, two deep, wetted so as to
resist hot shot, pressed up to within ten rods of the works, along a line forty
yards in length. Further resistance would have been madness. Retreat was
impossible, for the ferry-boats had been seized, and these being in possession of
the Confederates, re-enforcements could not reach the garrison. No water
could be had excepting that which came from the clouds in little showers,
and was caught in blankets and wrung into camp dishes. The stench of
horses and mules killed within the intrenchments was intolerable. 1 The
scant amount of artillery ammunition was of poor quality, and the firearms
of the Illinois cavalry (who composed one-sixth of Mulligan's command)
consisted of pistols only. Major Becker, of the Eighth Missouri Home Guards
(whose colonel, White, had been killed), now, for the second time and with-
out authority, raised a white flag from the center of the fortifications, and the
SIEGE OP LEXINGTON ceased. 1

Colonel Mulligan, who had been twice wounded, now called a council of
officers, and it was decided that the garrison must surrender. That act
was performed. The officers were held as prisoners of war, 3 whilst the pri-
vate soldiers, for whom Price had no food to spare, were paroled. The vic-
tor held all arms and equipments as lawful prize. 4 The National loss in men
had been forty killed, and one hundred and twenty wounded. Price reported
his loss at twenty-five killed and seventy-five wounded. Colonel Mulligan
was soon exchanged, and for his gallant services was rewarded with the

1 There were about 3,000 horses and mules within the intrenchments. These were :t burden of much weight,
under the circumstances. In the center of the encampment, wagons were knocked into pieces, stores were
scattered and destroyed, and the ground was strewed with dead horses and mules. Correspondence of lh
Chicago Tribune.

* The Home Guards seem to have become discouraged early in the siege, and on the morning of the 20th,
after Mulligan had replied to Price's summons to surrender, by saying, " If yon want us, you must take us,"
Major Becker, their commander, raised a white flag. Mulligan sent the Jackson Guard, of Detroit, Captain
McDermott, to take it down. After a severe contest that soon afterward ensued, the Home Guards retreated to
the inner line of the intrenchments, and refused to fight any longer. Then Becker again raised the white flag,
for he was satisfied that resistance was utterly vain, to which conclusion Mulligan and his officers speedily
arrived.

1 These were Colonels Mulligan, Marshall, White, Peabody, and Grover, and Major Van Horn, and 118 other
commissioned officers.

4 The spoils were 6 cannon, 2 mortars, over 3,000 stand of infantry arms, a large number of sabers, about 760
horses, many sets of cavalry equipments, wagons, teams, ammunition, and $100,000 worth of commissary stores.
See General Price's Report to Governor Jackson, September 24th, 1861. "In addition to all this," Price said,
11 1 obtained the restoration of the groat seal of the State, and the public records, which had been stolen from their
proper custodian, and about $900,000 in money, of which the bank at this place had been robbed, and which I
have caused to be returned to it."

The disloyal State Legislature, with Governor Jackson, had held a session in the court-house at Lexington
only a week before the arrival of Colonel Mulligan. They fled so hastily that they left behind them the State
seal and $800,000 in gold coin, deposited in the vault of" the bank there. These treasures, with the magazine,
were in the cellar of the college, which was the head-quarters of Mulligan.

70 CALLS UPOtf FREMONT FOR TROOPS.

offer of the commission of a brigadier-general, the thanks of Congress, and
the plaudits of the loyal people. Congress gave the Twenty-third Illinois
Regiment (which was now called " Mulligan's Brigade") authority to wear
on its colors the name of LEXIXGTOX. Mulligan declined the commission of
brigadier, because he preferred to remain with his regiment.

General Fremont was censured for his failing to re-enforce the garrison at
Lexington. The public knew little of his embarrassments at that time. His
forces Avere largely over-estimated, 1 and he was receiving calls for help from
every quarter. Pressing demands for re-enforcements came from General
Ulysses S. Grant, at Paducah, for the Confederates, then in possession of
Columbus, in Kentucky, Avere threatening an immediate march upon that
place, so as to flank and capture Cairo. General Robert Anderson, com-
manding in Kentucky, Avas imploring him to send troops to save Louisville
from the Confederates ; and a peremptory order Avas sent by Lieutenant-
General Scott to forward live thousand " Avell-armed infantry to
Washington City, without a moment's delay." There were at
that time seventy thousand men under General McClellan in
camp near the National Capital, while Fremont's total force Avas only
about fifty-six thousand men, scattered over his Department, and menaced at
many points by large bodies, or by guerrilla bands of armed insurgents. He
had only about seven thousand men at St. Louis ; the remainder Avere at dis-
tant points. When he heard* of Mulligan's arrival at Lexing-
ton, and of General Price's movements in that direction Avith
continually increasing strength, he did not doubt that General Jefferson C.
Davis, commanding nearly ten thousand men at Jefferson City, and keeping
a vigilant eye upon the Confederate leader, would give him immediate
aid. He had reason to believe that a large portion of General Pope's five
thousand men in Northern Missouri, sent for the purpose under General
Sturgis, 2 would co-operate with the forces of General Lane on the frontier of
Kansas, over two thousand strong, and those of Davis at Jefferson City, in
giving all needed relief to Mulligan. 3 So confident was he that Price Avould
be driven from Lexington by these combined forces, that he telegraphed to
General Davis on the 18th, directing him to send five thousand men to the
South Fork of La Mine River, in Cooper County, where it is crossed by the
Pacific Railway, there to intercept the expected retreat of the Confederates
to the Osage River.

In these reasonable calculations Fremont was disappointed. Whilst

expecting tidings of success, he received from Pope" the sad

epL ' news of Mulligan's surrender. The active and A'igilant Price,

with a force of more than twenty-five thousand men, had been enabled

1 Fremont's force in St. Louis alone, at that time, was estimated at 20,000. A week before the fall of Lex-
ington, Schuyler Colfux, Representative in Congress from Indiana, visited him, and urged him to send forward a
part of that force to confront Price. Fremont informed him how few were his troops in St. Louis then, and the
importance of allowing the false impression of their number to remain. His muster-roll was laid before Colfax,
and it showed that within a circuit of seven miles around the city, the whole number of troops, including the
Home Guards, was less than 8,000. The official returns to the War Department at that date gives the number
in the City of St. Louis at 6,890, including the Home Guards. Speech of Schuyler Colfax, March 7, 1862, cited by
Abbott in his Civil War in America; 282.

2 Major Sturgis had been commissioned a brigadier-general for his gallant service at the Battle of Wilton's
Creek, on the 10th of August.

3 General Pope telegraphed to General Fremont on the 16th, saying: "The troops I sent to Lexinston will
be there the day after to-morrow [the day when the assault on Mulligan commenced], and consist of two full

FREMONT'S FORCES IN MOTION. 71

to beat back re-enforcements for the garrison and to keep the way open for
recruits for his own army. 1 In this work a severe fight occurred at Blue
Mills, 011 the Missouri, thirty miles above Lexington, on the 1 7th,"

' a Sent 1S61

in which the insurgents, commanded by General David R. Atch-
inson, 8 were victorious ; and on the 1 9th, General Sturgis, with a large body
of cavalry, appeared opposite Lexington, but finding no boats for transporta-
tion, and being confronted by two thousand men under General Parsons, he
was compelled to make a hasty retreat northward.

The fall of Lexington was a discouraging blow to the Union cause in
Missouri. Fremont was violently assailed with charges of incapacity, extrava-
gance in expenditure, and a score of faults calculated to weaken his hold
upon the confidence of the people, and the troops in his Department. The
disasters at Wilson's Creek and Lexington were attributed to his remissness
in forwarding re-enforcements ; and he perceived the necessity for prompt
action in the way of repairing his damaged character. In a brief electro-
graph to the Adjutant-General on the 23d, 4 announcing the fail
of Lexington, he said he was ready to take the field himself,
with a hope of speedily destroying the enemy, before McCulloch, who was
gathering strength in Arkansas to return to Missouri, should rejoin Price.
Believing the latter would follow up his success at Lexington, and march in
the direction of Jefferson City or establish himself somewhere on the Missouri
River, he immediately pepared to proceed with a large force in the direction
of the insurgents. On the 2Vth of September he put in motion an army of
more than twenty thousand men, of whom nearly five thousand were
cavalry, arranged in five divisions under the respective commands of
Generals David Hunter, John Pope, Franz Sigel, J. A. McKinstry, and H.
Asboth, and accompanied by eighty-six pieces of artillery, many of them
rifled cannon. While this formidable force is moving forward cautiously,
let us observe the course of events on the borders of the Mississippi, and in
Kentucky, bearing upon the fortunes of war in Fremont's Department.

During the few weeks preceding the fall of Lexington, General Pillow, as
we have seen, had been making great efforts to secure the possession of
Cairo by military operations in Missouri. In this effort, as he alleged, he
had been thwarted by a lack of hearty co-operation on the part of Generals
Polk and Ilardee, 3 and he now turned his attention to a plan which he had
proposed at an early day, in which it is probable he had the active sympathies
of the disloyal Governor of Kentucky, namely, the occupation and' intrench-
ing of Columbus, in Kentucky, from which he believed he could flank the
position at Cairo, take it in reA r erse, and, turning its guns upon Bird's Point,
drive out and disperse its force. 4 So early as the 13th of May, c he el - 861
had asked the consent of Governor Magoflin to take possession of
and fortify Columbus ; and in reporting the fact to his " Secretary of War,"

regiments of infantry, four pieces of artillery, and 150 regular horse. These, with two Ohio regiments, which
will reach there on Thursday [19th], will make a re-enforcement of 4,000 men and four pieces of artillery."

1 Martin Green, already mentioned (sec page 55), was at about that time operating successfully in North-
eastern Missouri with 3,000 men. They were effectually broken up by General Pope.

2 Atchinson was atone time a member of the United States Senate, and was conspicuous as a leader of the
Missourians called "Rorder Ruffians," who played a prominent part in the politics of Kansas a few years be-
fore.

3 Autograph letter of General Pillow to L. Pope Walker, "Secretary of War," Sept. 6, 1861.

4 Autograph letter of General Pillow to L. Pope Walker, Sept. 1, 1861.

72 MILITARY AFFAIRS IN KENTUCKY.

he exhibited his contempt for the neutrality of Kentucky, by saying: "If he
(Magoffin) should withhold his consent, my present impression is that I
shall go forward and occupy the position, upon the ground of its necessity
to protect Tennessee." 1 The action of the people and the Legislature of
Kentucky made Magoffin very circumspect. At the election in June, for
members of Congress, there appeared a Union majority of over fifty-five
thousand, and the Governor saw no other way to aid his southern friends
than by insisting upon the strict neutrality of his State in outward form, in

which its politicians had placed it. He had sent Buckner to con-
<tj "gg 1 10 ' fer with General McClellan (then" in command at Cincinnati) on

the subject, who reported that he had consummated an agreement
officially with that officer, for a thorough support of that neutrality. He
declared that McClellan agreed that his Government should respect it, even
though Confederate troops should enter the State, until it should be seen
that Kentucky forces could not expel them ; and then, before troops should
be marched ihto its borders, timely notice of such intended movement should
be given to the Governor; also, that, in case United States troops were com-
pelled to enter Kentucky to expel Confederate troops, the moment that work
should be accomplished the National forces should be withdrawn. McClellan
promptly denied ever making any such agreement with Buckner. 4 Yet
Magoffin insisted upon acting as if such an agreement had been actually
entered into by the National Government ; and Governor Harris, of Tennes-
see, to whom Buckner was directed by Magoffin to make an oral report of
his conference with McClellan, determined, to aid Kentucky in preserving
that neutrality, because it promised his own State the best protection against
the power of the Government troops. 3

While Magoffin endeavored to enforce neutrality as against National
troops, he seems to have given every encouragement to the secessionists that
common prudence would allow. They were permitted to form themselves
into military organizations and enter the service of Tennessee or of the Con-
federate States ; 4 and recruiting for the latter went on openly. The Unionists
soon followed the example, and "Camp Joe Holt" was established near
Louisville, at an early day, as a military rendezvous for loyal citizens. This
was chiefly the work of Lovell II. Rousseau, a loyal State Senator who,
when he left the hall of legislation, prepared for the inevitable conflict for
the National life. At about the same time, William Nelson, another loyal

1 Autograph letter of General Pillow to L. Pope Walker, May 15, 1S61. He appealed to Walker for arms,
and promised him, if he should comply with his request, that he would have 25,000 of the best fighting men in the
world in the field in twenty days. " If we cannot get arms." he said, " it is idle to indulge the hope of successfully
resisting the bodies of Northern barbarians of a tyrant who has trampled the Constitution under his feet." The
Mayor of Columbus, B. W. Sharpe, seems to have been in complicity with Pillow in his designs for invading
Kentucky. On the first of June he informed him by letter, that the citizens there were preparing to mount
heavy guns and to collect military stores.

2 Letter to Captain Wilson, of the United States Navy, June 26, 1S6I.

3 Autograph letter of Isharn G. Harris to General Pillow, June 13, 1SG1.

4 Many young men joined the Tennessee troops under Pillow, and with his army were transferred to the
Confederate service. So early as the middle of May, organizations for the purpose had been commenced in
Kentucky. On the 17th of that month, William Preston Johnston, a son of General A. Sidney Johnston, of the
Confederate Army, in a letter to Governor Harris, from Louisville, said: "Many gentlemen, impatient of the
position of Kentucky, and desirous of joining the Southern cause, have urged me to organize a regiment, or at
least a battalion, for that purpose." He offered such regiment or battalion to Governor Harris, on certain condi-
tions, and suggested the formation of a camp for Kentucky volunteers, at Clarkesvillo or Gallatin, in Tennessee.
This was one of many offers of the kind received from Kentucky by Governor Harris.

NEUTRALITY OF KENTUCKY. 73

Kentuckian, established a similar rendezvous in Garrard County, in Eastern
Kentucky, called " Camp Dick Robinson." Both of these men were after-
ward major-generals in the Na-
tional Volunteer service. The
Government encouraged these
Union movements. All Ken-
tucky, within a hundred miles
south of the Ohio River, had been
made a military department,
at the head of which was placed
Robert Anderson, the hero of
Fort Sumter, who, on the 14th of
May, had been commissioned a
brigadier-general of Volunteers.

When Union Camps Were DAIMHTABTHB AT CAMP DICK ROBINSON.

formed in Kentucky, Magoffin became concerned about the violated neutrality
of his State, and he finally wrote to the President," by the hands
of a committee, urging him to remove from the limits of Ken- ^f^ 19 '
tucky the forces organized in camps and mustered into the
National service. The President not only refused compliance with his
request, but gave him a rebuke* so severe that he did not venture iA ^
to repeat his wishes. 1 A similar letter was sent by the Governor
to Jefferson Davis, softened with Magoffin's assurance that he had no belief
that the Confederates would think of violating the neutrality of Kentucky.
Davis, thus made apparently unmindful of the fact that his " Con-
gress" at Richmond had authorized' enlistments for the Confed-
erate armies in Kentucky ; that his officers were organizing bands of Volun-
teers on its soil, and that already Tennessee troops in his employ had invaded
the State, and carried away six cannon and a thousand stand of arms, replied
that his "government" had scrupulously respected the neutrality of Ken-
tucky, and would as scrupulously maintain that respect " so long as her
people will maintain it themselves."

The loyal Legislature of Kentucky assembled at Frankfort on the 2d of
September. Its action was feared by the conspirators ; 2 and under the pre-
text of an expectation that National troops were about to invade the State,
General Polk, with the sanction of Davis, and Governor Harris, of Tennessee,
and the full knowledge, it is believed, of Governor Magoffin, proceeded to
carry out General Pillow's favorite plan of scorning Kentucky's neutrality,
and seizing Columbus. On the 30th of August, Polk telegraphed to Pillow,
saying: "I shall myself be at New Madrid to-morrow to arrange for the
future ;" and on the 3d of September, De Russey, Folk's aid-de-camp, tele-
graphed to the same officer, that "the general-commanding determines, with
troops now at Union City, to fall at once upon Columbus ;" and directed Pillow

1 The President said that, taking all means within his reach for forming a judgment, he did not believe
it was the popular wish of Kentucky that the Union troops should be removed, and added: "It is with regret I
search, and cannot find, in your not vory short letter, any declaration or intimation that you entertain any desire
for the preservation of the Federal Union.''

2 In the Senate were 2T Union and 11 Secession members, and in the Lower HOGSC 76 Union and 24 Secession
representatives.

INVASION OF KENTUCKY.

to take his whole command immediately to Island ISTo. 10. This was done,
, and on the 4th" Polk seized Hickman and Columbus, and com-

Sept, 1861.

menced the erection of batteries on the bluff near the latter
place. 1 He immediately telegraphed the fact to Davis, at Richmond, and to

THE BLUFF, AND FOLK'S HBAD-QUABTEBS, NEAR COLUMBUS.

Governor Harris, at Nashville.* Then followed some transparent chicanery

1 Columbus is in Ilickman County, about twenty miles below the mouth of the Ohio Eiver.

s On the same day General Polk issued a proclamation, in which he gave as a resison for his violation of the
neutrality of Kentucky, that the National Government had done so by establishing camp depots for its armies,
by organizing military companies within its territory, and by making evident preparations, on the Missouri shore
of the Mississippi, for the seizure of Columbus. It was, therefore, "a military necessity, for the defense of the
territory of the Confederate States, that a Confederate force should occupy Columbus in advance."

When General Fremont heard of this movement, he wrote a private letter to the President, dated the 8th of
September, in which he set fortK a plan for expelling the Confederates from Kentucky and Tennessee.* The
President urged its immediate adoption, but was overruled by his counsellors. Experts say, that hud Fremont's
plan been promptly acted upon, the war that so long desolated Kentucky and Tennessee might have been averted.

* The following is a cony of Fremont's letter:

HEAD-QUARTERS WESTKBN DKVABTMKMT, September*. 1861.
To tit President.

MY DEAI: SIR: I send, by another hand, what I ask you to consider in respect to the subject of the note by your special messenger.

In th:, I desire to ask your attention to the position of affairs in Kentucky. As the rebel troops, driven out of Missouri, had invaded
Kentucky in considerable force, and by occupying Union City, Hickman, and Columbus, were preparing to seize Paducah and Cairo, 1 judged
it impossible, without losing important advantages, to defer any longer a forward movement. For this purpose I have drawn from the
Missouri side a part of the force stationed at Bird' Point, Cairo, and Cape Girardeau, to Fort Holt and Paducah, of which places we
l..ive taken possession. As the rebel forces outnumber ours, and the counties of Kentucky, between the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers, as
well as those along the Cumberland, are strongly Secessionist, it becomes imperatively necessary to have the co-operation of the Union forces
under Generals Anderson and Nelson, as well as those already encamped opposite Louisville, under Colonel Rousseau. I have re-enforced, yes-
terday, Paducah with two regiments, and will continue to strengthen the position with men and artillery. As soon as General Smith, who
commands there, is re-enforced sufficiently for him to spread his forces, he will have to take and hold Mayfield and Lovelaceville, to be in
the rear and flank of Columbus, and to occupy Southland, controlling in its w;iy both the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. At the same
time Colonel Rousseau should bring his force, increased, if possible, by two Ohio regiments, in boats, to Henderson, and taking the Hen-
derson and Nashville Railroad, occupy Hopkinsville, while General Nelson should go, with a force of 5,00 I, by railroad to Louisville,
and from there to Bowling Green. As the population in all the counties through which the above railroads pass are loyal, this movement
could be made without delay or molestation to the troops. Meanivhile, General Grant would take possession of the entire Cairo and Fulton
Railroad, Piketon, New Madrid, and the shore of the Mississippi opposite Hickman and Columbus. The foregoing disposition having been
effected, a combined attack will be made on Columbus, and, if successful in that, upon Hickman, while Rousseau and Nelson will move in
concert, by railroad, to Nashville, occupying the State capital, and, with adequate force, New Providence. The conclusion of this move-
ment would be a combined advance towards Memphis, on the Mississippi, as well as the Ohio and Memphis Railroad, and I trust the
result would be a glorious one to ihe country. In a reply to a letter from General Sherman, by the hand ef Judge Williams, in relation to
the vast importance of securing possession, in advance, of the country lying between the Ohio, Tennessee, i;nd Mississippi, I have to-dy
suggested the first part of the plan. By extending my command to Indiana, Tennessee, and Kentucky, you would enable me to attempt

cation I have made to General Sherman, or repeat it to any one else.

With hig'i respect and regard, I am vary truly yours,

J. C. FREMONT.

LOYALTY OF THE KENTUCKY LEGISLATURE.

on the part of the conspirators, to deceive the people and defend Confederate
honor. Walker, the "Secretary of War," ordered Polk to withdraw his
troops from Kentucky, Avhile Davis, his superior, telegraphed to the same
officer in approval of his movement "The necessity justifies the act." 1
When the authorities of Kentucky demanded from Governor Harris, of Ten-
nessee, an explanation of the movement, that functionary replied with the
false assertion that it had been done without his knowledge or consent ;
" and I am confident," he said, " without the consent of the President. I
have telegraphed President Davis," he
continued, " requesting their immediate
withdrawal."

On the day after Polk invaded Ken-
tucky on the west, and General Felix
K. Zollicoffer, formerly a member of
Congress, with a considerable force had
passed from East Tennessee, through
the Cumberland Mountains, and entered
the State on its eastern border, Magoffin
laid a message before the Legislature,
in which he made special complaint of
Union military organizations within the
State, and asked for the passage of a
law for maintaining for the Common-
wealth an armed neutrality ; also to
request the National Government to
order the immediate disbanding of such organizations. The Legislature
responded by directing the Governor to order, by proclamation, all the Con-
federate troops within the State to leave it immediately. An attempt to
have the Union troops included in the order was promptly voted down.
The Legislature did more. They passed a series of resolutions, by an over-
whelming vote, 2 declaring that the peace and neutrality of Kentucky had
been wantonly violated, -its soil invaded, and the rights of its citizens grossly
injured "by the so-called Southern forces;" and, therefore, by special act,
the Governor was requested to call out the military force of the State, " to
expel and drive out the invaders." It was further resolved that the National
Government should be asked for aid and assistance in that business; that
General Anderson be requested " to enter immediately upon the discharge of
his duties" in that military district, and that they appealed to the people
to assist in expelling and driving out "the lawless invaders of the soil."

FELIX K. ZOLLIO.OFFEE.

1 This was denied by some of the partisans of Davis. I have befo

re me an autograph letter, written by Nash

VUJM3 LOOUIllg lllc lpprVfU4*M UVUDEO IU 11JUL CUWiq IIOU LUC fil UL1 II UilllUIl W I CUC1 V C 1

ins: dispatch, viz. : 'GENERAL POLK, Union City Your telegram received. The n

ecessity must justify tJte act.

"LEONIDAS FOLK, Major- general

General Polk sent a dispatch to Governor MagofHn, announcing to him that military necessity had
pelled him to take possession of Columbus, and that, in reporting to Davis, his reply was, ''the necessity jr.
tho action." That dispatch is before me.

"LEONIDAS POLK, Major General.'"

id com-
istifled

3 In the House, 63 to 26; and in the Senate, 26 to S.

END OF KENTUCKY NEUTRALITY.

Magoffin vetoed these resolutions, and they were promptly passed over
his negative by a large majority. 1 In the mean time, the invasion of Ken-
tucky by Tennessee troops had brought in a National force, under Major-
General Ulysses S. Grant, then in command of the district around
isei. ' Cairo. He took military possession of Paducah," at the mouth of the
Tennessee River, where he found Secession flags flying in different
parts of the town in expectation of the arrival of a Confederate army, nearly
four thousand strong, reported to be within sixteen miles of that place. He
seized property there prepared for the Confederates, and he issued a procla-
mation declaring that he had come solely for the purpose of defending the
State from the aggression of rebels, and to protect the rights of all citizens,
promising that when it should be manifest that they were able to maintain
the authority of the Government themselves, he should withdraw the forces
under his command.

Thus ended the neutrality of Kentucky, in which its politicians had
unfortunately placed it. z That neutrality had suppressed the practical loy-
alty of the State, given freedom to the growth of its opposite, and allowed
Confederate troops to make such a lodgment on its soil, that large National
armies were required to oppose them, and war in its most horrid aspects
filled all its borders with misery. But for that neutrality, Tennessee, whose
disloyal authorities had espoused the Confederate cause, would probably
have been the frontier battle-ground, and the blood and treasure of Kentucky,
so largely spent in the war, would have been spared. Too late to avoid
the penalties of remissncss in duty, Kentucky, five months after the war was
begvin in Charleston harbor, took a positive stand for the Union.

Encouraged by the new attitude of Kentucky, the National Government
determined to take vigorous measures for securing its loyalty against the
wiles of dangerous men. Ex-Governor Morehead, who was reported to

be an active traitor to his country,
was arrested at his residence, near
Louisville, and sent as a State prisoner
to Fort Lafayette, at the entrance to
the harbor of New York. Others of
like sympathies took the alarm and
fled, some to the Confederate armies
or the more southern States, and others
to Canada. Among them was John
C. Breckinridge, late Yice-President
of the Republic, and member of the
National Senate, also William Pres-
ton, late American Minister to Spain ;
James B. Clay, a son of Henry Clay ;
Humphrey Marshall, lately a member
of Congress, and a life-long politician ;
Captain John Morgan, Judge Thomas Monroe, and others of less note.

1 Compelled to issue a proclamation by order of the Legislature. Magoffin put forth one on the 13th as mild
ds possible, simply saying that he was instructed to declaro that "Kentucky expects the Confederate or Tenner-
Bee troops to withdraw from her soil immediately."

2 See page 463, volume I.

HUMPHREY MARSHALL.

ATTEMPT TO SEIZE LOUISVILLE. 77

Breckinridge, Marshall, and Morgan entered the military service of the Con-
federates. The first two were commissioned brigadier-generals, and the latter
became a conspicuous guerrilla chief.

Breckinridge became a zealous servant of the Confederates. He issued
an address, in which he announced his resignation of his seat in the United
States Senate, and in bitter language spoke of the dissolution of the Union,
and the atrocious despotism which he alleged had been established at Wash-
ington ; and he charged his own State Legislature with abject " submission
to eveiy demand o Federal despotism, and woeful neglect of every right of
the Kentucky citizens." It is well suggested that "Mr. Breckinridge, in his
exodus from Kentucky, perpetrated a serious blunder;" 1 for, had he, like
other " friends of the South," remained in Congress, he might have served
the cause of the conspirators more efficiently. He was an able and adroit
politician and legislator, but was an indifferent soldier.

Vigorous military action in Kentucky, besides the seizure of Columbus
and Hickman, speedily followed that act. Simon B. Buckner, the corrupter of
the patriotism of large numbers of the young men of Kentucky, 2 bearing the
commission of brigadier-general in the Confederate service, had established a
camp on the Nashville and Louisville Railway, just below the Kentucky
line. Soon after the seizure of Columbus, he left his camp with a considera-
ble force, with the intention of moving quickly upon Louisville, by the rail-
way, seizing that city, and establishing a Confederate post on the Ohio at
that important point. The telegraph wires were cut, and he was far on his
way before any intimation was given of his approach. The trains due at
Louisville did not arrive, and the managers sent out an engine to ascertain
the cause. It, like a train before it, was seized by Buckner. A fireman
escaped, and, procuring a hand-car, soon returned to Louisville with the
startling news.

General Anderson immediately ordered General Rousseau to move out on
the road with his little force at Camp Joe Holt, 3 and some Louisville Home
Guards. These were his only available forces at that moment. The order
was obeyed with alacrity, and very soon a considerable force, under the chief
command of General William T. Sherman, Anderson's lieutenant, were on
their Avay to repel the invaders the latter, who was in delicate health,
remaining in Louisville to forward re-enforcements. Fortunately, Buckner
had been delayed, near BoAvling Green, by the patriotic act of a young man
of that place, who went quietly up the road and displaced a rail, by which
the engine of the invaders' train was thrown from the track. But for this,
Buckner might have reached Louisville before Anderson could have put any
forces in motion. As it was, he penetrated the county as far as Elizabeth-
town, forty miles from that city, when he heard of the approaching troops.
He thought proper to fall back to Bowling Green, where he established an
intrenched camp, and issued a proclamation" to his "fellow-citizens
of Kentucky," 4 and where he remained for several months. At ' e ^ '
the same time, Sherman established a camp and general rendez-

1 Greeley's American Conflict, 1. 615. * See pag-e 458, volume I. * See page 72.

4 That proclamation abused the National Government and the loyal Legislature of Kentucky. He declared
in it that Confederate troops occupied ''a defensive position 11 in that State, "on the invitation of the people of
Kentucky ;" that he returned to his native State with peaceful intentions, "at the head of a force, the advance of

78 THE SITUATION IN KENTUCKY AND MISSOURI.

vous on Muldraugh's Hill, not far from Elizabethtown, and there laid the
foundation of that notable organization afterward known as the Army of the
Cumberland. On account of Anderson's feeble health, General Sherman
was placed in chief command of the Department of the Cumberland (which
included the States of Kentucky and Tennessee) early in October, when,
with a forecast not then appreciated, he declared that an army of two
hundred thousand men would be necessary to expel the Confederates from
Kentucky and Tennessee, and carry the National banner victoriously to the
Gulf. Because of that assertion, whose wisdom was speedily vindicated, he
was called insane, and for a time he was overshadowed by a cloud of neglect.
Let us now return to a consideration of affairs in Missouri.
We left General Fremont, with a strong force, moving toward the interior
of Missouri. He had strengthened the forces in Eastern Missouri and at
Cairo, that they might keep the Confederates so well employed in that
region, that they could not give aid to Price, nor seriously menace St. Louis.
In this service, as we have seen, they were successful. Hardee dared not
advance much from Greenville ; Pillow was kept in the neighborhood of New
Madrid, without courage to move far toward Bird's Point and Cape Girar-
deau ; and Jeff. Thompson, the guerrilla, contented himself with eccentric raids
and " scaring the Federals to death," as he foolishly supposed and declared.
Fremont went forward, and on the 28th of September he was at Jefferson
City, the State capital, where he adopted vigorous measures for driving
Price from the State. The latter had cause for serious alarm. McCulloch,
as we have seen, had left him and gone to Arkansas, and Pillow and Hardee
had abandoned Southeastern Missouri, and taken position in Kentucky and
Tennessee. McCulloch, who had promised an escort for an ammunition
train to be sent from Arkansas to Price, not only withheld that promised
aid, but arrested the progress of the train, with the pretext that it would be
unsafe in Missouri.

These adverse circumstances compelled Price to retreat toward Arkansas.

He abandoned Lexington on the 30th of September, leaving a

guard of five hundred men there in defense of National prisoners.

A squadron of cavalry, called the " Prairie Scouts," one hundred and eighty

strong, under Major Frank J. White, surprised this party by a bold

dash, 4 dispersed them, made nearly seventy of them prisoners,

released the Union captives, and, bearing away with them the Secession

State flag, joined Fremont's forces, which were then on the Osage River, at

Warsaw, in pursuit of Price. Fremont, with his splendid body-guard of

cavalry, under Major Charles Zagonyi, a Hungarian, 1 had arrived

there on the 16th,' after encountering a severe rain storm. Gen-

which Is composed entirely of Kentuckians," whom he had seduced by false representations from their homes
and their national allegiance ; and that the Legislature of Kentucky was "faithless to the will of the people."
He assured the people that his forces at Bowling Green would be used in aiding Kentucky in maintaining its
strict neutrality, and l; to enforce it against the two belligerents alike."

General Anderson issued a counter-proclamation, in which he said that he, a native of Kentucky, had " come
to enforce, not to make laws," and to protect the lives and property of the people of the Commonwealth. He
called upon the citizens to arm in their might and drive the invader from their soil. "The leader of the hostile
force," he said, " who now approaches, is, I regret to Bay, a Kcntuckian, making war on Kentucky and Kcn-
tuckians," He called them to "rally around the flag our fathers loved." anil bade them trust in God and do
their duty.

1 Zasonyi had been a soldier in his native land, under General Bern. He came to America as an exile.
Offering his services to Fremont at St Louis, he was charged with the duty of recruiting n body of cavalry as

FREMONT'S MOVEMENTS IN MISSOURI.

eral Sigel, who led the advance, had already crossed his force over the
rapidly swelling stream by means of a single flatboat and the swimming of
his horses; but its banks
were now filled to the
brim with the recent
rains, and could not be
forded, nor were boats
or lumber for their con-
struction to be had
there. The ax was
soon heard in the sur-
rounding forest, and in
the course of five days
a rude strong bridge

o o

was constructed, under
the direction of Captain
Pike, of the engineers,

i i .1 i-i 8I6KL CROSSING THE 08AGE.

over which the whole

army, now thirty thousand strong, with eighty-six heavy guns, safely passed,
and moved on in the direction of Springfield, by the way of Bolivar. The
commander was full of confidence in the success of his plans, yet fearful of
official interference with them by the Secretary of War (Cameron) and the
Adjutant-General (Thomas), then in pursuit of him, as he had been informed. 1
That plan was to capture or disperse the forces of Price, and seizing Little Rock,
the capital of Arkansas, so completely turn the position of the Confederate
forces under Polk, PilloAV, Thompson, and Hardee, as to cut off their supplies
from that region, and compel them to retreat, when a flotilla of gunboats
then in preparation near St. Louis, in command of Captain Foote, could easily
descend the river and assist in military operations against Memphis, which, if
successful, would allow the Army and Navy to push on and take possession
of New Orleans. "My plan is New Orleans straight," he wrote on the llth
of October, from his camp near Tipton. " It would precipitate the war for-
ward, and end it soon and victoriously." 2

When Fremont's army was at the Pomme de Terre River, fifty-one miles
north of Springfield," he sent the combined cavalry forces of
Zagonyi and Major White (led by the former), to reconnoiter
the position of the Confederates at the latter place, with instruc-
tions to attempt its capture if circumstances should promise success. The
whole force did not exceed three hundred men. When within a few miles
of Springfield, 4 on the highest point of the Ozark Mountains, they
fell in with some foragers and captured them ; and there a Union

a body-guard for the General. He selected for this purpose young men. nnd formed them Into three companies,
one of which were nearly nil Kentnckians. There were very few foreigners in the guard, and all the office rs were
Americans excepting three, one Hollander and two Hungarians, thfc latter being Major Zagonyi and Lieutenant
Majthenyi. The Guard was mounted on well-equipped blooded bay horses. Each man was armed with two of
Colt's six-barrel navy revolvers, one five-barrel rifle, and a saber.

1 See letters to his wife in Mrs. Fremont's Story of the (riianl.

3 Letter of General Fremont to his wifo, October llth, 1SG1. Mrs. Fremont, daughter of the late Senator
Bt-nton of Missouri, was then at Jefferson City. Her husband had long been in the habit of referring all manner
of work and duties to her as acting principal in his absence, and in that capacity she was now at Jefferson City
and gave him efficient aid. See note on page SSof The Story of the Guard: a Chronicle of the War. By Jessie
Benton Fremont.

o Oct. 23,
1861.

Oct. 24.

80 CHARGE OF FREMONT'S BODY-GUARD.

farmer told Zagonyi that- the Confederate force in the town was full two
thousand in number. He was not daunted by this information, but pushed
forward. One of the foragers who escaped had heralded his coming, and
when he approached the suburbs of the village, on the Mount Vernon road,
at a little past four o'clock in the afternoon, he found twelve hundred in-
fantry and four hundred cavalry well prepared, on the brow of a hill in front
of sheltering woods, to receive him. Zagonyi was still undaunted. Not-
withstanding White's Prairie Scouts had been separated from the Guard,
Zagonyi was determined to fight. Turning to his officers, he said : " Follow
me and do like me !" And to his little band of followers he spoke a few
hurried words, saying : " Comrades ! the hour of danger has come ; your
first battle is before you. The enemy is two thousand strong, and we are
but one hundred and fifty. It is possible no man will come back. If any of
you would turn back, you can do so now !" Not a man moved.

Zagonyi was delighted. " I will lead you !" he exclaimed. " Let the
watchword be, ' The Union and Fremont P Draw sabers ! By the right flank
quick trot march /" and away dashed the bold leader and his comrades
with a shout down a narrow lane fringed with concealed sharp-shooters,
with a miry brook and a stout rail fence ahead to oppose them. These were
all passed in a few minutes, while the fire from the infantry in their front
was terrible. On an eminence nearer stood the Confederate cavalry, ready
to engage in the fray. Already the lane had been strewn with the fallen
men and horses of the Guard, and yet Zagonyi's troops had not struck a
blow. The moment for dealing that blow was now at hand. The word is
given, and Lieutenant Majthenyi, with thirty men, dashed madly upon the
center of the Confederate cavalry, breaking their line, and scattering the
whole body in confusion over the adjoining corn-fields. Then Zagonyi
shouts to the impatient soldiers he is holding in leashes, as it were, " In open
order charge /" and with the impetuosity of a whirlwind they sweep up the
slope in the face of bullets that fly thick as hail. At the same moment fifty
Irish dragoons of Major White's squadron, led by Captain McNaughton, fall
upon the foe, and away scampers almost the entire body of Confederate in-
fantry in wild search for safety. The remnant of the Guard, led by Zagonyi,
follow the fugitive horsemen and smite them fearfully, chase them into the
town, and fight them fiercely in detail in the streets and in the public square
of Springfield, whilst Union women, undismayed by the dangers, come out,
and, waving their handkerchiefs, cheer on the victors. When the conflict
ended, the Confederates were utterly routed ; and of the one hundred and
fifty of Zagonyi's Guard, eighty-four were dead or wounded. 1 The action
had lasted an hour and a half; and in the dim twilight of that bright Octo-
ber evening, the National flag was raised in triumph over the court-house.

At a little past midnight, Zagonyi, with a captured Confederate flag and
only seventy of his Guard, and a few released prisoners, rode proudly but
sadly out of Springfield, because it was unsafe for them to remain. They

1 Dispatch of Major Zagonyi to General Fremont, October 25, 1S61. Report of Major Zagonyi to Colonel J.
H. Eaton, Assistant Adjutant-General, October 28, 1S61. Letter of Major Zagonyi to Mrs. Fremont, quoted in
her Story of the Guard. Narrative of Major Dorsheimer, of Fremont's staff, in the Atlantic. Monthly. The
number of the Guard killed was 15; mortally wonnded, 2 ; the remainder were wounded or made prisoners.
Zagonyi said, "Of the wounded not one will lose a finger." The prisoners were released, and the actual loss
to the Guard was only 17. So Zagonyl said in a latter to Mrs. Fremont, October 23, 1SG1.

OPERATIONS IX EASTERN MISSOURI. 81

fell back until they met Sigel's advance, between Springfield and Bolivar.
The report of this brilliant charge and victory, which had preceded them,
filled the whole army with delight and enthusiasm. " This was really a
Balaklava charge," wrote Fremont. " The Guard numbered only one hun-
dred and fifty. You notice that Zagonyi says he has seen charges, but
never such a one. Their war-cry, he says, sounded like thunder. This action
is a noble example to the army." 1 There had been other noble examples for
the army during its advance in Missouri.*

Fremont's army arrived at Springfield at the beginning of November,
inspirited by news of recent successes in the Department, and the prospect of
speedily ridding Missouri of insurgents. While it had been moving forward,
Lane and Montgomery, who, we have seen, had been driven back into Kan-
sas by Price, 3 had crossed into Missouri again, to cut oft or embarrass the
Confederates in their retreat from Lexington. Montgomery pushed on to
the town of Osceola, the capital of St. Clair County, on the Osage, but was
too late to intercept Price. The armed Confederates at that place, after a
brief skirmish, were driven away, and the village was laid in
ashes, with no other excuse for the cruel measure than the fact aS isGi. 20 '
that it was a rendezvous for the foe, and its inhabitants were all
disloyal.

A month later the National troops gained a signal victory over the guer-
rilla chief, Thompson (who was called the " Swamp Fox," and his command,
the " Swamp Fox Brigade "), at Frederickton, the capital of Madison County,
in Southeastern Missouri. General Grant was in command at Cape Girar-
deau at that time. General Thompson and Colonel Lowe had been roaming
at will over the region between New Madrid and Pilot Knob, Thompson,
with six hundred men, had captured the guard at the Big River Bridge, near
Potosi, and destroyed that structure on the 15th of October, and on the fol-
lowing day he and Lowe were at the head of a thousand men near Ironton,
threatening that place, where they were defeated by Major Gavitt' Indiana
cavalry, and a part of Colonel Alexander's Twenty-first Illinois cavalry,
with a loss of thirty-six killed and wounded. Grant determined to put an
end to the career of these marauders, if possible. Informed that they were
near Frederickton, he sent out a considerable force under Colonel Plummer, 4
to strike them from the East, while Captain Hawkins, with Missouri cavalry,
was ordered up from Pilot Knob on the Northeast, followed by Colonel
Carlin with a body of infantry as a support, 5 to engage and occupy Thomp-

1 An accident occurred to Major White and prevented his being in this action. He had sickened on the way
and been compelled to lag behind. When attempting to overtake his troop?, he was made a prisoner, but escaped
and reached Springfield on the morning after the fight, with a few Home Guards. Stationing 22 of his 24 men
as pickets, he deceived the Confederates in the town with the belief that he had a considerable force with him.
After receiving a flag of truce, and permitting them to bury their dead, he prudently fell back to meet the
advancing army.

a Other detachments of cavalry from Fremont's army, besides those of White and Zagonyi, had been opera-
ting against the Confederates during the march of the main body. One of them, under Major Clark Wright,
routed and dispersed a body of Confederates near Lebanon, in Laclede County, on the 13th of October; and on
the following day the same forces captured the village of Lynn Creek. In the former engagement, after a
charge, and a running fight for a mile and a half, there were about 60 Confederates killed and wounded, while the
Union loss was only one man killed. Eeport of Major Wright, October 13, 1861.

* See page 66.

4 They consisted of the Eleventh, Seventeenth, and Twentieth Illinois, and 400 cavalry.

6 These consisted of parts of the Twenty-first, Twenty-third, and Twenty-eighth Illinois, the Eighth Wis-
consin, Colonel Baker's Indiana cavalry, and Major Schoftuld's Battery.

VOL. II. 6.

82 FEEMONT SUCCEEDED BY HUNTER.

son until Plummer's arrival. They formed a junction at Frederickton,
with Plummer in chief command, and, starting in pursuit of the Confederates,
who they supposed were in full flight, found them about one thousand
strong, well posted and ready for battle, partly in an open field and partly
in the woods, only a mile from the village, with four iron 18-pounders in
position. Schofield opened the battle with his heavy guns. A general
engagement ensued, and, after two hours' hard fighting, the Confederates
fled, hotly pursued by the Indiana cavalry for twenty miles. The Confede-
rate Colonel Lowe was killed early in the action. Their loss was large how
large is not known. The loss of the Nationals was ten killed and twenty
wounded. This defeat and dispersion completely broke up Thompson's
guerrilla organization for a time, which was composed almost wholly of
disloyal and deluded Missourians. They had fought bravely with inferior
arms against superior numbers. 1

We have observed that General Fremont had anticipated an interference
with his plans when he heard that the Secretary of War and the Adjutant-
General were in pursuit of him. They had overtaken him on the
13th," at Tipton, the then Western terminus of the Pacific Rail-
way, about thirty miles south of Jefferson City. The interview of the
officials was courteous and honorable. The Secretary frankly told him that
their errand was to make personal observations of his army, and of affairs in
his Department. Complaints concerning his administration of those affairs
had filled the mind of the President with painful apprehensions, and the
Secretary of War bore with him an order, relieving him of his command,
with discretionary powers to use it or not. The Secretary carried it back to
Washington, and the Adjutant-General made a report highly unfavorable to
the commanding general in Missouri. This was published, and had the two-
fold effect of prejudicing the public mind against Fremont, and revealing to
the enemy secrets which the highest interests of the country at that time
required to be hidden. 2

The assertion was publicly made, after the return of the Government
officials, that the campaign in Missouri was a failure ; and the prediction was
confidently uttered that Fremont's army could never cross the Osage, much
less reach Springfield. The fallacy of this prophecy was proven in less than
a fortnight, when that army lay on the Ozark hills and on the plain around
Springfield; and the campaign failed only, it is believed, because its progress
was suddenly checked when the most reasonable promises of abundant suc-
cess were presented. That check was given on the morning of the 2d of
November, when a courier arrived at head-quarters with an order from Gen-
eral Scott, directing General Fremont to turn over his command to General

1 More than half of their fire-arms were old flint-lock squirrel guns. "Of the dead," wrote an eye-witness,
" not a single one that I saw was dressed in any kind of uniform, the cloth being generally home-made, and but-
ter-nut colored."

a This report was In the form of a journal, and contained a great amount of gossip and scandal, gathered
from subalterns and Fremont's political enemies, which subsequent information showed to be unworthy of
credit. It is due to the Adjutant-General to say that he disclaimed any intention to make that journal public.
It is said that a copy of it was surreptitiously obtained and given to a newspaper reporter, and suspicion at the
time pointed to the Postmaster-Gonera) (whose brother, an officer in the army, it was known had quarrelled with
Fremont), as the one on whom the responsibility of the publication should rest Fremont afterward published
a vindication of his administration in the Department of Missouri, which almost wholly removed from the pub-
lic mind the unfavorable impression n.ade by that journal.

FREMOXT AND HIS ARMY.

David Hunter, then some distance in the rear. This order came when the
army was excited by the prospect of a battle almost immediately. Price had

t first fled to Neosho, 1 when, finding Fremont still in pursuit, he pushed on
to Pineville, in the extreme South-
western part of Missouri. Further
than that his " State Guard " were not

.disposed to go. He was unwilling

:'to leave Missouri without measuring
strength and powers with Fremont,
so he changed front and prepared to
receive him. This attitude gave rise

DAVID HUNTER.

to startling rumors in Fremont's
camp, and, at the moment when he
was relieved of command, it was
reported that Price was marching
on Springfield, and that his van-
guard had reached Wilson's Creek,
ten miles distant, prepared to give
battle on the ground where Lyon
was killed three months before. McCullocli was reported to be at Dug
Springs ; 2 and the number of the combined armies was estimated at forty
thousand men. 3

Hunter had not yet arrived, and Fremont, who had made his troops ex-
ceedingly sorrowful by the announcement in a formal address that he was
about to leave them, 4 was implored by one hundred and ten of his officers to
lead his army against the foe. He promised compliance with their wishes,
if his successor should not reach them by sunset. 5 Hunter failed to do so,
and at eight o'clock in the evening Fremont issued the order of battle, and
the entire camp was alive with enthusiasm. Lyon's plan for surrounding
and capturing the Confederates was substantially adopted. They were to
be assailed simultaneously by Generals Pope and McKinstry in the front, by
Generals Sigel and Lane in the rear, and by General Asboth on the east,
from the Fayetteville road.

1 There Jackson and the disloyal Legislature of Missouri met, as we have observed (note 2, page 57), under
Price's protection.

2 See page 45.

1 General Asboth's report to General Fremont, Nov. 3, 1866.

4 The following is a copy of his address: " SOLDIERS OF THE MISSISSIPPI ARMY: Agreeable to orders this
day received, I take leave of yon. Although our army has been of sudden growth, we have grown up together,
and I have become familiar with the brave and generous spirit which you bring to the defense of your country,
and which makes me anticipate for you a brilliant career. Continue as you have begun, and give to my successor
the same cordial and enthusiastic support with which you have encouraged me. Emulate the splendid example
which you have already before you, and let me remain, as I am, proud of the nble army which I had thus far
labored to bring together. Soldiers! I regret to leave you. Most sincerely I thank you for the regard and con-
fidence you have invariably shown to me. I deeply regret that I shall not have the honor to lead you to the
victory which you are just about to win ; but I shall claim to share with you in the joy of every triumph, and
trust always to be fraternally remembered by my companions in arms."

8 "The intelligence of this determination of the commanding general," wrote an eye-witness, "was at once
communicated from camp to camp, and the greatest enthusiasm prevailed. Every five minutes during the sn>
ceeding two and a half hours, the wildest cheering could be heard from some portion of the army as the informa-
tion was carried to the various regiments. A dozen bands at once proceeded to the head-quarters and serenaded
the General. Crowds of officers gathered in front of his quarters, and greeted him with loud and prolonged cheer-
ins; and, hud the battle occurred according to arrangements, the troops would have fought in the most deter-
mined manner."

FREMONT'S RECEPTION AT ST. LOUIS.

Nov. 8
1861.

General Hunter arrived at head-quarters at midnight, and Fremont, after
informing him of the position of affairs, laid before him all his plans. The
order for battle was countermanded, 1 and nine days afterward
Major-General II. "W. Halleck was appointed to the command of
the Missouri Department.

On the morning of the 4th, Fremont and his Staff left the
army for St. Louis. The parting with his devoted soldiers was
very touching, and his reception in St. Louis" was an
ovation like that given to a victor. Crowds of citi-
zens greeted him at the railway station and escorted
him to his head-quarters. An immense torch-light procession
passed through the streets that night in honor of his arrival ;*
and at an assemblage of the citizens, resolutions of confidence
and sympathy, and an address, were adopted. Afterward he
was presented with an elegant sword in token of profound re-
gard, which was inscribed with these words : " To THE PATH-
FINDER, BY THE MEN OF THE WEST." 3

Disappointed and disheartened, the National army com-
menced a retrograde inarch from Springfield toward St. Louis
at the middle of November, followed by a long train of vehicles
^swoRiT' filled with Union refugees. The women of Springfield, who had
welcomed Zagonyi, and the Union men everywhere throughout

1 Price seems not to have moved his army from Pinevllle, but his scouts penetrated to the front of the
National troops, and thus caused the alarm.

2 "The General was to have been at home by nine in the morning; but the management of the train being in
other hands, they were delayed until nearly that hour In the evening. But patient crowds had kept their watch
through the loner day, and by night it was a sea of heads in .all the open spaces around our house. The door-
posts were garlanded, and the very steps covered with flowers touching and graceful offerings from the Ger-
mans. China-asters and dahlias, with late roses and regular bouquets of geraniums, beautified the entrance and
perfumed the air; and when the General did make his way at last through the magnificent assemblage, it was
to be met by the wives and children of the German officers he had left at Springfield. Unknown to me, they
had come to speak their hearts to him, but they had more tears than words. Touched to the heart already, tho
General was not prepared for the arrival of citizens American as well as German who came to thank him for
past services, and ask to stand by him in the hour of disgrace. Meantime, the unceasing cheers and shouts of
the vast crowd without sounded like the tide after a high wind. I could not stand it; I went far up to the top
of the house, and in the cold night air tried to still the contending emotions, when I saw a sight that added to
the throbbing of my heart Far down the wide avenue the serried crowd was parting, its dark, restless masses
glowing in the lurid, wavering torchlight, looking literally like waves; and passing through them came horse-
men, stamped with the splendid signet of battle, their wounded horses and bullet-torn uniforms bringing cries
of love and thanks from those for whom they had been battling. When they halted before the door, and tho
sudden ring and flash of their drawn sabers added new beauty to the picture, I think only the heart of a Hainan
could hare failed to respond to the truth and beauty of the whole scene. Were not these men for the king to
delight to honor? Who could have foreseen what was tho official recognition already preparing for them?''*
Mrs. Fremont, in her Story oft'ie Guard, page 201.

3 Fremont had long before been called The Pathfinder, because of his wonderful explorations among the
Eocky Mountains. The blade of the sword now presented to him was made at Solingen, on the Rhine. Tho
scabbard was of silver, with a design near its upper part, four inches in length. In its center was a bust of
Fremont sculptured out of gold, in high relief, with a rich border of diamonds, and on each side a sculptured
figure of fame. In the rear of the hilt was a hollow, arched at the top so as to form a canopy for a figure of
America, at the foot of which, in the midst of appropriate surroundings, was a medallion of blue enamel, bearing
the initials J. C. F. iu diamonds. The cost of the sword was $1.000.

* " The official recognition " referred to by Mrs. Fremont is indicated in the following electrographs :

ST. Louis, Missorm, November 11, 1861.
Maj.-Gen. GEORGE B. MCCLELLAN, Commanding-in-Chief, Washington, D. C.:

I would regard it as an act of personal courtesy and kindness to me, if yon will order my Body-Gnard to remain with me, subject to no
orders in this department but my own. It is composed of educated and intelligent young men, to whom the country and I owe more than

the usual corsideration accorded to the rank and file of the army.

J. a FBEMOHT, Ifaj.-Gtn. U. S. A.

HEAD-QUARTOS* OF THE Ar.MV, WASHINGTON, JfOT. 11, 1861.

Maj.-Oen. J. C. FREMONT:

Before receiving your dispatch, I had given instructions that the cavalry corps, known as your Body-Ouarrl, should be otherwise dis-
posed of. Official information had reached this city that members of that body had at Springfield expressed sentiments rendering their

NATIONAL TKOOPS IN KENTUCKY.

that region who had received Fremont as a liberator, dared not remain, for
they expected, what really happened, that General Price would follow up
the receding army, and they would be made to suffer for their loyalty.
Price did follow, with more than fifteen thousand men, in three columns ;
and all South-western Missouri below the Osage was soon delivered into the
power of the Confederates.

When at the point of being deprived of his command, Fremont sent an
order to General Grant at Cairo, directing him to make some co-operating
movements. That officer, as we have observed, had taken possession of
Paducah, in Kentucky," on hearing of the invasion of that State by
General Polk. He had proceeded to strengthen the position by '^s^ 8 *
casting up fortifications there ; and by order of General Fremont,
an immense pontoon bridge was thrown across the Ohio, half a mile below the

* Nov. 2.

PONTOON BRIDGE AT PADUCAH,

town. 1 He also seized and occupied Smithland, not far from the mouth of the
Cumberland River, and thus closed two important gateways of supply for the
Confederates in the interior of Kentucky and Tennessee, from the Ohio.

When Fremont's order for co-operation reached Grant, and was followed
the next day by a dispatch,* saying, " Jeff. Thompson is at Indian
Ford of the St. Franois River, twenty-five miles below Green-
ville, with about three thousand men, and Colonel Carlin has started
with a force from Pilot Knob; send a force from Cape Girardeau and
Bird's Point, to assist Carlin in driving Thompson into Arkansas," he was
ready to move quickly and effectively. Grant had already sent Colonel

1 A pontoon bridge is a portable structure made to float on boat-shaped buoys, and used by an army on its
march for the purpose of crossing rivers where bridges may have been destroyed, or a fordable river made
impassable by rains. The more modern boats used for the purpose are made of vulcanized india-rubber, and
consist of cylinders peaked at each end, so as to offer very little resistance to a current.

The river at Paducah is 3,600 feet across. The bridge was constructed of coal-barges, strongly braced to-
gether, and otherwise connected by trestle-work planked over. It was capable of bearing the heaviest ordnance
and thousands of men.

continuance in the service of doubtful expediency. With every desire to gratify your wishes, I do not see exactly how I can violate every
rule uf military propriety. Please reply.

GKO. B. McCLKLLAN, Com.-in-Chief.

General Fremont tried to find out what were the offensive sentiment* that had been expressed by members of his Guard, which had
caused this harsh official action toward them ; but to his application for a reconsideration of their case, in order that the truth might be dis-
covered, General McClellan made no reply. The Guard was mustered out of service on the 28th of November, 1861. It is said that the
offensive sentiments alluded to were those of Fremont's emancipation proclamation. It was well known that ome of the Guard
wre outspoken against the slave system, whose supporters had commenced the war against the Government.

EXPEDITION DOWN" THE MISSISSIPPI.

Oglesby to Commerce and Sikeston, to pursue Thompson in conjunction with
some troops from Ironton, and had been informed that Polk was sending
re-enforcements to Price from Columbus. In this situation of affairs, he
determined to threaten Columbus by attacking Belmont, a little village and
landing-place on the Missouri shore opposite, and break up the connection
between Polk and Price. Oglesby's force was deflected toward New Madrid,

and Colonel TV. H. L.Wallace,
of Illinois, was sent from
Cairo to re-enforce him. The
movement on Belmont would
keep Polk from interfering
with Grant's troops in pursuit
of Thompson.

General Charles F. Smith,
a soldier of rare qualities, was
now in command at Paducah.
Grant requested him to make
a demonstration toward Co-
lumbus, to attract the atten-
tion of Polk, and at the same
time he sent a force down the
Kentucky shore to Ellicott's
Mills, about twelve miles
above Columbus. When these deceptive movements were put in
1861 operation, Grant went down the Mississippi from Cairo," with
about three thousand troops, mostly Illinois Volunteers, 1 in four
steam transports, convoyed by the wooden gunboats Tyler and Lexington,
commanded respectively by Captains Walke and Stemble. They lay at
Island No. 1, eleven miles above Columbus, that night. There Grant received
information that Polk was sending troops across to Belmont, to cut off Colo-
nel Oglesby. At dawn the next morning, he pressed forward and landed
his forces at Hunter's Point, on the Missouri shore, three miles above Bel-
mont, where a battalion was left to guard the transports from an attack by
land, whilst the remainder pushed on and formed a line of battle two miles
from the village. In the mean time, the gunboats had moved down and
opened fire upon the Confederate batteries on the Iron Banks, a short distance
above Columbus, on the Kentucky shore, and two hundred feet above the
river, where twenty heavy guns were planted. Colonel Fouke took command
of the center of the attacking column, Colonel Buford of the right, and Colonel
Logan of the left. Polk was surprised. He was looking for an attack only in the
rear, for General Smith was threatening him at Mayfield. He at once sent over
three regiments, under General Pillow, to re-enforce the regiments of Russell
and Tappen (the former acting as brigade commander), then holding Belmont.

FIELD OF oi-tKATIONa AO'AINST BELMONT.

1 These consisted of a part of General John A. McClernand's Brigade, composed of the Twenty -seventh,
Thirtieth, and Thirty-first Illinois, commanded respectively by Colonels N. B. Buford, Philip B. Fouke, and
John A. Logan; and a company of cavalry led by Captain J J. Collins. To these were added another company
of cavalry nnder Lieutenant J. R. Catlin, and Captain Ezra Taylor's Chicago Light Artillery of six pieces and
114 men, all Illinois Volunteers. Also the Twenty-second Illinois, Colonel H. Dougherty, and the Seventh
Iowa, Colonel Lauman.

BATTLE OF BELMONT.

Grant moved forward, with Dollins' cavalry scouring the woods to the
right, and, deploying his whole force as skirmishers, he fought from tree to
tree, and drove back the foe to their intrenched camp, which was protected
by a strong abatis of slashed
trees. 1 Behind these, opposing
Grant's left, lay the Thirteenth
Arkansas and Ninth Tennessee ;
and opposite his left was a bat-
tery of seven guns, commanded
by Colonel Beltzhoover, and
Colonel Wright's Tennessee regi-
ment. Against these the Nation-
als charged over the fallen timber,
captured the battery, and drove
the Confederates back across the
low level ground to the river,
and some of them to their boats.
In this movement Pillow's line
was broken into a confused mass
of men. The powder of the Con-
federates was nearly exhausted.
The victory was complete ; but
the ground being commanded by
the heavy guns on the bluffs at
and near Columbus, it was un-
tenable. The victors gave three cheers for the Union, set fire to the Confed-
erate camp (having no wagons, in which to carry away property), and fell
back with captured men, horses, and artillery, toward their landing-place
in the morning.

Polk determined not to allow Grant to escape with his victory and booty.
He opened upon him with some of his heaviest guns, and sent General Cheat-
ham with three regiments to cross the river above, and land between Grant
and his flotilla. At the same time the chief crossed, at the head of two
regiments, to aid Pillow in his chase of the Nationals. The Confederates
now were not less than five thousand strong, and pressing hard. There was
desperate fighting for a short time. Grant pushed on in good order toward
his landing-place, under fire of the Confederate batteries on the Iron Banks,
turning once to punish severely some of Cheatham's troops on his flank, and
once again to send back in confusion some of Pillow's men, under Colonel
Marks, who had endeavored to cut him off from his boats. He finally reached
his landing-place, and embarked, after suffering severely. The fight had been
gallant on both sides. 8 The gun-boats had performed most efficient service in

BATTLE OF BELMONT.

1 Abatis is a French word for rows of felled trees, having their smaller branches cutoff and the larger ones
sharpened, and placed with their ends toward the approach of assailants, either in front of a fort or an intrenched
camp. Sometimes the smaller branches are left, and so intertwined as to make it extremely difficult to pene-
trate the mass, excepting by cannon-balls.

* In a general order, Nov. 8th, General Grant said : " It has been my fortune to have been in all the battles
fought in Mexico by Generals Scott and Taylor, save Buena Vista, and I never saw one more hotly contested,
or where troops behaved with more gallantry." In his report on the 12th, he spoke in highest terms of General
McClernand, as being in the midst of danger throughout the engagement, displaying coolness and judgment

88 THE CONFEDERATES UKEASY.

engaging the Confederate batteries, protecting the transports, and covering
the re-embarkation. Indeed, to Captains Walke and Stemble, who managed
their craft with the greatest skill and efficiency, the country was mostly in-
debted for the salvation of that little army from destruction or capture. 1 At
five o'clock in the afternoon, the flotilla, with the entire force, was on its way
back to Cairo, carrying away two of Beltzhoover's heavy guns, the others
having been recaptured. Grant had lost four hundred and eighty-five men, 2
and Polk six hundred and thirty-two. 3 Cotemporaries and eye-witnesses on
both sides related many deeds of special daring by individuals.

The repulse of Grant did not relieve the Confederates of a sense of
impending great danger, for intelligence was continually reaching Colum-
bus of the increase of National forces on the Ohio border. General Mansfield
Lovell, then in command at New Orleans, was solicited to send up re-en-
forcements ; and Governor Pettus, of Mississippi, and Governor Rector, of
Arkansas, were implored for aid. But these men perceived the peril threat-
ened by the land and water campaign commanded by Fremont, which events
had sufficiently developed to make it fully suspected by the Confederates,
and they dared not spare a man. Lovell answered that he had no more troops
than were necessary to defend New Orleans, whilst both Pettus and Hector
considered themselves deficient in strength for the expected conflict. 4 Gov-
ernor Harris, of Tennessee, was urged to increase his efforts in
' N is6i 14 ' ra i sm g volunteers. He had telegraphed to Pillow," saying : " I
congratulate you and our gallant volunteers upon their bloody
but brilliant and glorious victory ;" and a week later he added, " I am or-
ganizing, as rapidly as possible, thirty thousand volunteers and militia,
armed with country guns." The hope thus held out was fallacious, for nearly
all the troops that Harris could then muster, by force or persuasion, were soon
needed in the interior of his State, in keeping in check the Loyalists of East

and having had his horse shot three times. Grant's horse was also shot under him. Colonel Dougherty, of the
Twenty-second Illinois, was three times wounded, and finally taken prisoner. Major McClurken, of the Thir-
tieth Illinois, and Colonel Lauman, of the Seventh Iowa, were badly wounded. Among the killed were Colonel
Wentz, of the Seventh Iowa, Captains Brolaski and Markle, and Lieutenant Dougherty. The Twenty-second
Illinois lost 23 killed and 74 wounded; and the Seventh Iowa had 26 killed and 80 wounded, including nearly
all of its field officers. The loss of property was estimated at 25 baggage wagons, 100 horses, 1,000 overcoats, and
1,000 blankets. One man was killed and two wounded on the gunboats.

Among the Confederates killed was Colonel John V. Wright, of the Thirteenth Tennessee, and Major But-
ler, of the Eleventh Louisiana. Wright was a Democratic Congressman, and an intimate friend of Colonel Philip
B. Fouke, of the Illinois Volunteers. "When they parted at the close of the session of 1860-61," says Mr. Qreeley,
(American Conflict, i. 597), Wright said to his friend, ' Phil, I expect the next time we meet it will be on tho
battle-field.' Their next meeting was in this bloody struggle."

1 After the transports had departed from before Columbus, and gone some distance up the river, followed by
the gunboats, Captain Walke was informed that some of the troops had been left behind. Ho returned with the
Tyler, and met detached parties along the banks. He succeeded in rescuing nearly all of the stragglers from
capture.

2 Eighty-five killed, 801 wounded, and 99 missing. General Pillow, whose performances on this occasion
were the least creditable, with his usual bombast and exaggerations, spoke in his report of his "small Spartan
army" withstanding the constant fire of three times their number for four hours. Pollard's First Year of the

War, 203.

* Official reports of Grant and Polk, and their subordinate officers; private letter of General Grant to his
father, Nov. 8th, 1861 ; Grant's Revised Report, June 26th, 1865; Pollard's First Year of the War. The latter
gives the Confederate loss as it is above recorded. MS. Reports of Acting Brigadier-General R. M. Russell,
Nov. 9, and of Colonels E. Ricketts, Jr., and T. H. Bell, Nov. 11, 1861.

4 A little later, Governor Pettus changed his views, and, in a special message to the Mississippi Legislature,
he suggested to that body the propriety of sending such troops as could "be immediately raised and armed, to
assist in the defense of the important post of Columbus. I deem the safety of our position and forces at Colum-
bus as of such vital importance to this State," he said, "as to claim the prompt and decisive action of all the
Bute authorities."

KENTUCKY INVADED BY ZOLLICOFFER. 89

Tennessee ; in aiding Zollicoffer in his invasion of Southeastern Kentucky,
already alluded to ; l and in supporting Buckner in his treasonable operations
in his native State. Zollicoffer had advanced to Barboursville, the capital
of Knox County, so early as the 19th of September, where he dispersed an
armed band of Kentucky Unionists, and captured their camp. He pro-
claimed peace and security in person and property for all Kentuckians, ex-
cepting those who should be found in arms for the Union ; but his soldiers
could not be restrained, and the inhabitants of that region were mercilessly
plundered by them.

Zollicoffer's invasion aroused the Unionists of Eastern Kentucky, and
they flew to arms. A large number of them were mustering and organizing
under Colonel Garrard, a plain, earnest, and loyal Kentuckian, at a point
among the Rock Castle Hills known as Camp Wild Cat. It was in a most
picturesque region of one of the spurs of the Cumberland Mountains, on the
direct road from Cumberland Gap toward the rich " blue-grass region " of
Kentucky. Upon this camp Zollicoffer advanced on the 18th of October,
with seven regiments and a light battery. When intelligence of his ap-
proach was received, Colonel Garrard had only about six hundred effective
men to oppose him. Others in sufficient numbers to insure a successful re-
sistance were too remote to be available, for the invader moved swiftly,
swooping down from the mountains like an eagle on its prey.
Yet when he came, on the morning of the 21st," he found at
Camp Wild Cat, besides Garrard's three regiments, a part of
Colonel Coburn's Thirty-third Indiana, and Colonel Council's Seven-
teenth Ohio regiments, and two hundred and fifty Kentucky cavalry, under
Colonel Woolford, ready to resist him. With the latter came General
Schoepf, an officer of foreign birth and military education, who assumed the
chief command.

The position of the Unionists was strong. Zollicoffer with his Tennes-
seans and a body of Mississippi " Tigers " boldly attacked them, and was
twice repulsed. The first attack was in the morning, the second in the after-
noon. The latter was final. The contests had been very sharp, and the
latter was decisive. The camp-fires of Zollicoffer's invaders were seen that
evening in a sweet little valley two or three miles away from the battle-
ground. Promptly and efficiently had Garrard's call for help been responded
to, for toward the close of the second attack a portion of Colonel Steadman's
Fourteenth Ohio also came upon the field to aid the Kentuckians, Indianians,
and Ohioians already there ; and when the invaders had withdrawn, others
were seen dragging cannon wearily up the hill for the defense of Camp Wild
Cat.

A little later a trial of strategy and skill occurred in the most eastern

1 Zollicoffer, like Polk, made necessity the pretext for scorning the neutrality of Kentucky. On the 14th
of September he telegraphed to Governor Magoffin, informing him of his occupation of three mountain ranges
in Kentucky, because it was evident that the Unionists in Eastern Kentucky were about to invade East Ten-
nessee, to destroy the great railway and its bridges. He said, apologetically, that he had delayed that "pre-
cautionary movement,' 1 until it was evident that " the despotic Government at Washington " had determined
to subjugate first Kentucky and then Tennessee, whom he regarded as twin sisters. With the old plea of the
unrighteous, that "the end justifies the means, 1 '' he declared that he felt a "religions respect for Kentucky's
neutrality, 11 and would continue to feel it, so long as the safety of the Confederate cause would permit. He
Issued an order at the same time, setting forth that he entered Kentucky to defend "the eoil of a sister State
against an invading foe."

90 BATTLE OF PIKETOX, KENTUCKY.

portion of Kentucky, between about three thousand loyalists, under General
William Nelson, and a little more than a thousand insurgents, under Colonel

* O

John S. Williams. The latter were
at Piketon, the capital of Pike
County, and were marched against
by General Nelson's force from Pres-
tonburg, on the Big Sandy

" N i V SGL ber ' River - He senta Cornel
Sill, with nearly one-half
of that force, 1 to march by way of
John's Creek to gain the rear of Wil-
liams at Piketon, whilst with the re-
mainder he should move forward and
attack his front, so bringing him be-
tween two fires, and compelling him
to surrender. Some one, counting
positively on success, telegraphed to
Washington that this result had been

accomplished, and that a thousand prisoners had surrendered. The whole
country was thrilled by the good news, for it seemed as if a way was about
to be opened for the relief and the arming of the suffering loyalists in East
Tennessee.

Truth soon told a different story. Nelson had moved on the 9th with his
main column* directly toward Pikeville, twenty-eight miles distant, a bat-
talion of Kentucky volunteers, under Colonel C. A. Marshall, in advance.
They met picket-guards eight miles from that village. The road now lay along
a narrow shelf cut in a high mountain side, ending in a steep ridge at Ivy
Creek, which bent around it. There lay the Confederates in ambush, and
did not fire until Marshall's battalion was close upon them. Then a volley
was poured upon his men, and a sharp skirmish ensued. Confederates on the
opposite side of the creek joined in the attack; but, after a contest of almost
an hour and a half, all the insurgents fled, leaving thirty of their comrades
dead on the field. How much greater was their loss was not ascertained.
Nelson's loss was six killed and twenty-four wounded. He did not pursue
far, and, as he had no cavalry, Williams escaped. The latter was too watch-
ful and discreet to be caught in the trap laid for him by Nelson. Seeing his
danger, he fled to the fastnesses of the mountains at Pound Gap, carrying
with him a large amount of cattle and other spoils.

General Nelson entered Pikeville on the 10th, where he found Colonel
Sill and his division, who, after fighting on the way, had arrived the previous
evening, and given Williams's troops a few shot and shell when they departed.
On the same day Nelson had the pleasure of saying to his troops, in an order
issued from " Camp Hopeless Chase," that " In a campaign of twenty days,

1 Sill's troops for this occasion were the Thirty-third Ohio (his own regiment), a light battalion, under Major
Hart, composed of portions of the Second, Thirty-third, and Fifty -ninth Ohio, and two Kentucky couipanic-s; one
hundred and forty-two mounted men. mostly teamsters, commanded by Colont-1 Metcalf; thirty-six volunteers,
under Colonel Apperson, and a section of artillery (two rifled C-pounders), under Colonel Rohor Vncher.

2 This was composed of the greater portions of the Second, Twenty-first, and Fifty -ninth Ohio Volunteers,
under Colonels Harris. Norton, and Tyffe; a battalion of Kentucky volunteers, commanJed by Colonel C. A.
Marshall, and two sections of artillery, in charge of Captain Konkle.

EESULTS OF A FALSE ALARM. 91

you have driven the rebels from Eastern Kentucky, and given repose to that
portion of the State." He alluded to their privations, and then said : " For
your constancy and courage, I thank you, and, with the qualities which you
have shown that you possess, I expect great things from you in the future."

The East Tennessee patriots were compelled to wait and suffer longer.
Bright hopes had been excited among them by the repulse of Zollicoffer at
Camp Wild-Cat ; and many from the great valley between the Allegheny
and Cumberland ranges, had made their way to the camps of the Unionists
in Kentucky, fully persuaded that they would soon return with a victorious
host as liberators of East Tennessee. It might have been so, had not Gen-
eral Schoepf been deceived by false reports concerning the strength of the
insurgents at the mountain gaps, and the movements of others who were
occupying Bowling Green, in the heart of Kentucky, under General Buck-
ner, and who at that time were too weak to make any aggressions. Startled
by a report that a large force from Bowling Green was marching to strike
his flank, Schoepf fell back hastily toward the Ohio, making two days' forced
marches, and leaving behind him and along the road ample evidence of a
precipitate and rather disastrous flight. Not a platoon of soldiers had gone
out from Buckner's camp in that direction. That retrograde movement of
Schoepf extinguished the hope of speedy relief in the hearts of the East
Tennesseans.

Now, at the middle of November, the Confederates had obtained a firm
foothold in Tennessee, and occupied a considerable portion of Southern Ken-
tucky, from the mountains to the Mississippi River ; also a greater portion
of Missouri south of the Missouri River. At the same time the National
authorities were making vigorous preparations to drive them southward.
At this interesting point, let us leave the consideration of events westward
of the Alleghenies for a time, and glance at stirring scenes eastward of that
lofty range of mountains, and on the sea-coast.

55%

92 CONFEDERATE TROOPS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.

CHAPTEE IY.

MILITAET OPERATIONS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA, AND ON THE SEA-COAST

N the autumn of 1861, the Confederates made a
severe struggle for the possession of West Vir-
ginia. They hoped, by the employment of other
commanders than those who had failed there, to
recover all that had been lost in the summer by the
dispersion of Garnett's forces at Carricksford, 1 and
the pushing of the incompetent Wise out of the
Kanawha Valley, as we have observed. 2 General
Robert E. Lee was sent with re-enforcements to
take command of the troops left by Garnett and Pegram in Northern Vir-
ginia. He made his head-quarters at Huntersville, in Pocahontas County.
His entire force, early in August, numbered full sixteen thousand men. He
placed a strong guard on Buffalo Mountain, at the crossing of the Staunton
turnpike, and extended his line northward from the Warm Springs, in Green-
brier County. General Floyd, the late Secretary of War, 3 had, in the mean
time, taken chief command of his own and Wise's troops, in the region of
the Gauley River. 4 With these two armies acting simultaneously, it waa
intended to expel the National troops from Western Virginia, and menace
Ohio. Floyd was to sweep down the Kanawha Valley, and drive General
Cox, of Ohio, beyond the border, while Lee should scatter the Union army,
under General Rosecrans (McClellan's successor), 6 in Northern Virginia,
and, planting the Confederate flag at Wheeling, threaten Western Penn-
sylvania.

Floyd took a strong position between Cox and Rosecrans, at Carnifex
Ferry, 6 on the Gauley River, just below Meadow Creek, and eight miles from
Summersville, the capital of Nicholas County. He left Wise with his force,
called " Wise's Legion," at Pickett's Mills, to prevent a flank movement from
Hawksnest, a mountain on the southern side of the Gauley, near which, on

1 See page 634, volume I. l See page 637, volume I. 3 See page 145, volume I.

4 Wise was so great a boaster, and so poor a performer, that his signal failures as a military leader on all
occasions caused him to be much ridiculed. The following is a specimen of some of the shafts of wit that were
cast at him through the newspapers of the day

" There was a man of Accomac,

And he was bully Wise ;
He jumped into K an aw ha' s bush,

And scratched out both his eyes;
And, when he saw he lost his eyes,

With all his might and main,
From Kanawha he quickly flies,

To brag, and run again."
* See page 537, volume I. Carmfeaa is a Latin word, signifying a villain, or villainous.

EVENTS IN" THE ZANAWHA VALLEY.

the New River, Cox's main force was then stationed. Floyd had just settled
his command at Carnifex Ferry, when he received intelligence that some
National troops were apprdaching from the direction of Summersville, north
of him. These were the Seventh Ohio, under Coionel E. B. Tyler, who, as
a fur-trader, had made himself well acquainted with that region. Floyd had
been placed in a perilous position in passing over the Gauley, by the cap-
sizing of a ferry-boat. His command was severed ; most of his cavalry and
four pieces of artillery being on the southern side of the river, whilst his in-
fantry and a small portion of his cavalry were on the opposite shore. Tyler
had information of this affair, and hoped to strike Floyd before he could re-
unite his troops. But he was a little too late. He was encamped at Cross
Lanes, not far from Summersville, on the night of the 25th of
August, and, while at breakfast the next morning," his command a ^g|j 26 '
was surprised by a force of Virginians sent out stealthily by
Floyd, severely handled, and dispersed with the loss of about fifty men.

General Rosecrans, soon after this defeat of Tyler, marched to the aid
of Cox against Floyd. He issued a stirring proclamation to the loyal inhabi-
tants of Western Virginia, and promised them ample protection. General
Cox, of Ohio, in the mean time, had advanced from Charleston to the site
of Gauley bridge, which Wise, in his hasty flight, had burnt ; and, at the
junction of New River with the Gauley, 1 he had reported to Governor Pier-
pont, on the 29th of July, that the Kanawha Valley was " free from the
Secession troops," and that the inhabitants were denouncing Wise " for his
vandalism." He had moved up the Kanawha, by land and water, having
under his control a number of steamboats. His whole force proceeded cau-
tiously, for masked batteries were
dreaded. His scouting parties were
very active. One of these, under
Colonel Guthrie, composed of the
First Kentucky cavalry, routed a
Confederate troop at Cissonville.
Others were driven from their camps,
and as Cox moved steadily onward,
Wise, as we have observed, becoming
alarmed, 2 abandoned his strong in-
trenchments at Charleston, and fled
up the river, burning the bridges over
the streams in his rear. When ap-
proaching the abandoned town, Cox
captured a Confederate steamer, and
on the 25th of July he entered the
village, just after the Confederate rear-guard had left. He found the fine
suspension bridge over the Elk River in ruins, and Wise beyond his reach ;
so he fortified his position there, and, with some of his troops, followed his
fugitive foe as far as the confluence of the New and Gauley Rivers, and took
position, as we have observed, in the region between them.

JOSEPH J. REYNOLDS.

1 New River rises among the spurs of the Blue Eidge, in North Carolina, and, uniting with the Gauley, forms
the Great Kanawha.

2 See i>age 537, volume I.

MARCH OF ROSECRANS TOWARD THE KANAWHA.

General Rosecrans had organized a strong column of nearly ten thousand
men at Clarksburg, on the Baltimore and Ohio Railway ; and early in Sep-
tember he marched southward, with several of his best Western regiments,
to attack Floyd, wherever he might be found, leaving the remainder of his
force under General Reynolds, who was in command of the Cheat Mountain
division, to watch and oppose Lee. He soon ascertained that Floyd was at
or near Carnifex Ferry, and he pushed forward in that direction, through
Lewis, Braxton, and Nicholas Counties, by way of Weston, Jacksonville, and
Braxton Court House, to Summersville. His route lay along some of the

wildest of the mountain roads, over the
western spurs of the Alleghenies, and
among the most charming and picturesque
scenery of Western Virginia. Sometimes
his troops thridded deep and gloomy
ravines, and narrow defiles, and then
climbed the steepest hillsides ; at times
along slippery winding paths, among
beetling crags, catching here and there,
at some sharp angle, glimpses of distant
mountain groups, and fertile valleys
covered with corn. 1 Especially rugged
was the Gauley mountain range, over
which the army climbed, after leaving
Suttonsville, on the Elk, and the valley
of its tributary, the Big Birch Creek.
Rosecrans reached the summit of the
mountain at noon, on the 9th,"

a Sept, 1S61. . . ,,

when a magnificent panorama
of lofty wooded ranges met the eye. On
that height, near Muddlethy Bottom, they
began to feel the foe. He had an ad-
vanced camp in the vicinity, and there
picket-firing commenced. Union cavalry
dashed forward, and Floyd's vedettes
were soon seen scampering toward Sum-
mersville, with information of the ap-
proach of the National troops. The
latter passed through that town with
General Benham's brigade in the advance,
on the morning of the 10th, a few hours

after the Thirty-sixth Virginia had left it and fled to Floyd's intrenchments

at the Ferry.

The little army moved cautiously forward from Summersville, properly

1 The ascent, of one of these steep mountain pathways by a portion of the Twelfth Ohio Regiment was
described by an eyewitness as presenting a singularly picturesque appearance. This was accomplished a short
time before the march of the army now under consideration, when those troops were making their way over the
mountains south of the Gauley, to reconnoiter Floyd's position. A part of the ascent was made at night, in the
light of torches. The troops were compelled to go in sinsle file, sometimes crawling on their hands and knees,
and at midnight they reached the summit The sketch given in the text is from the pencil of one who accom-
panied the army.

AliCE.NT OF (iAULEY MOUNTAIN.

BATTLE OF CARXIFEX FERRY 95

fearing an ambuscade. The Tenth Ohio, under Colonel Lytle, led the way ;
and, at about two o'clock in the afternoon, the vanguard came in sight of
Floyd's works, a mile distant, be-
yond a deep wooded valley. These
occupied a bald eminence on the
north side of the Gauley River,
which here swept in a curve, so that
each flank of the Confederate in-
trenchments rested on the stream.
Over that eminence, and throusrh

7 O

these works, passed the road to Car-
nifex Ferry, a passage of the river
just below Meadow Creek, and a
battery of twelve guns was so placed
upon the hill as to sweep this road
back for full a mile, in the face of
Rosecrans' approach.

Placing his entire force in proper HENRY w. BENHAM.

order for conflict, the commander or-
dered Benham to advance with his brigade and make a reconnoissance, in force.
That brigade was composed of three Ohio regiments and two batteries. 1 The
order was promptly obeyed. The Tenth Ohio still led, and at half-past three
o'clock in the afternoon, when Lytle's skirmishers emerged from the woods into
an open field of corn, they found themselves near some of the Confederate
works. Musket firing immediately commenced, first lightly, but soon it was a
perfect storm of lead from the entire Confederate front. The remainder of the
regiment was ordered forward to the aid of the skirmishers, and the colors
were placed in front, with the intention of attacking the main Confederate bat-
tery. This drew upon them the concentrated fire of the foe. The storm was
BO heavy that the line recoiled and broke, but it was soon rallied, and the
batteries of Schneider and McMullen were ordered up to the support of the
smitten regiment.

Benham was now satisfied that Floyd's weakest point was on his right
wing, and he resolved to attack him there. He ordered the Twelfth and
Thirteenth Ohio to advance, pass the deep valley on his left, and under cover
of the woods make the attack. While this movement was in progress,
Colonel Lytle dashed up the hill with his regiment, to assail the intrench-
ments in the center. He was so warmly received that he was compelled to
direct his men to seek shelter from the storm. He had received a severe
wound in his leg, and his horse was fatally shot. He took refuge in a
deserted house between the two fires, and lay there until the conflict ceased.
His regiment, discouraged at the loss of their Colonel, became somewhat
scattered in the woods, but kept up an incessant firing.

Colonel Smith, in the mean time, had opened upon Floyd's right, and
Colonel Lowe with the Twelfth Ohio was led by Adjutant-General Hartsuff
into the woods, in a position to work his way up under cover and form on

1 These were the Tenth, under Colonel Lytle, the Twelfth, under Colonel Lowe, and the Thirteenth, under
Colonel Smith. A battery of two rifled 6-poumiers was commanded by Captain Schneider, and another of four
mountain howitzers was in charge of Captain McMullen.

BATTLE OF CARNIFEX FERRY.

Smith's right, so as to threaten more positively the extreme right flank of
the Confederates. Lowe was pushing rapidly forward, when he was instantly
killed by a musket-ball that pierced his forehead and entered his brain.
Hartsuif hurried McMullen's battery into a position to play effectively on
the principal redoubt, whilst Schneider's on the right of the road completely
commanded the entire front of the Confederate works. Two of Floyd's guns
were soon silenced, and the fire of the others became weaker.

In the mean time Rosecrans was busy on the hill to the right of the road,
exposed to the hottest of the fire, in forming Colonel Robert L. McCook's
Brigade the Third, Ninth (his own regiment), and Twenty-eighth Ohio
for co-operation in the movement, with Scammon's Brigade a little in the
rear as a reserve. McCook's Regiment was composed mostly of Germans,
and these were to lead the column. When they were ready for an advance,
Adjutant-General Hartsuff was sent to bring the brigade forward. McCook,

who had been restive in inac-
tivity while the battle had
been raging for nearly an
hour, now glowed with de-
light. He was acting as
brigadier, and was eager for
usefulness and renown. He
dashed up and down his line
like a weaver's shuttle, dis-
tinguished from other officers
by his citizen's dress and
slouched hat. He told his
men what was to be done,
and what was expected of
them, and asked them if they
were ready to do it. He was
answered by cheers that
smothered the roar of battle on the left. Then standing high in his
stirrups, and snatching his hat from his head, he waved it in the air, and
shouted, " Forward, my bully Dutch ! "We will go over the intrenchments
if every man dies on the other side !" Another volley of cheers broke from
the column as it moved forward at the double quick to storm the intrench-
ments, with the calm Hartsuff at their head. Down into the densely wooded
ravine they plunged, and McCook's Ninth and Colonel Mohr's Twenty-
eighth Ohio were already feeling the severe storm from the intrenchments,
and fighting bravely, when they were suddenly checked by an order from
Rosecrans to halt. The General had more minutely examined the plan
(which Hartsuff had submitted and begged permission to carry out) for
storming the works in front, and perceiving, as he thought, too much peril
to his troops involved in it, he countermanded the order when the movement
was in mid career, and at the moment when Colonel Smith, with the Thir-
teenth Ohio, was at the point, apparently, of successfully carrying the works
on Floyd's right. The troops were all recalled from the assault, after fight-
ing between three and four hours.

It was near the end of twilight when this conflict, known as the BATTLE

PLAN OF THE BATTLE OP CAKNIFKX FEKEY.

LEE IN WESTERN VIRGINIA. 97

OF CARNIFEX FERRY, ceased. Rosecrans intended to renew it in the morn-
ing, and his troops- lay on their arms all night, some of them within a hun-
dred yards of the intrenchments. When day dawned," Floyd,
Avho had been wounded in the arm, had fled. Terrified by the
fury of the assault on the previous day, he had stolen softly away
in the dark, leaving a large amount of ammunition, arms, stores, and equipage
behind. He crossed the Gauley over a hastily constructed bridge of logs,
which he broke down behind him, destroyed the ferry-boat, and hastened to
Dogwood Gap, and thence to a secure spot on the summit of Big Sewell
Mountain, near New River, thirty miles distant from the 'battle-field. After
resting there a few days, he pushed on to Meadow Bluff, whilst Wise, who
had refused to send him re-enforcements at the Ferry, and now refused to
follow him, 1 strengthened the position on Big Sewell Mountain, and called
it " Camp Defiance."

The Ba~ttle of Carnifex Ferry was regarded as a decided victory for the
Nationals, and an excellent test of the quality of the soldiers. These troops,
with the exception of the cavalry of Stewart, of Indiana, and Schaumberg,
of Chicago, were all from Ohio. They went into the battle after a hard
march of seventeen miles, not more than four thousand strong, and fought
nearly two thousand men, behind intrenchments, 4 for three or four hours,
losing fifteen killed, and seventy
wounded. The Confederates report-
ed their loss at one killed and ten
wounded. 3

The expulsion of Floyd from Car-
nifex Ferry was soon followed by a
conflict between the forces of General
Reynolds, of the National army, and
those of General Lee, of the Confede-
rate army, at important posts among
the mountains farther to the north-
ward. Reynolds's troops, forming
the first brigade of Rosecrans's Army
of Occupation in Western Virginia,
consisted of the Thirteenth, Four-
teenth, and Fifteenth Indiana Regi- ROBERT E. LEE.

1 Wise could not reconcile his pride and duty. The former prevailed, and made him insubordinate. He
refused to send re-enforcernents to Floyd, at Carnifex Ferry, and the latter declared to his superiors at Richmond
that the failure to receive them was a capital reason for his inability to hold that position. Wise, at that time,
according to Pollard, was endeavoring to win laurels exclusively for himself in another direction ; but, as usual,
he failed. He was quick to follow Floyd in his retreat befiro danger; but, as soon as that danger seemed
remote, he again became insubordinate, and, as we have observed in the text, remained on the summit of Big
Sewell Mountain, and established " Camp Defiance " there. There, on the ISth, he made a speech to his Legion,
in which he told them that hitherto he had never retreated, excepting in obedience to superior orders, and that
there he was determined to make a stand, notwithstanding his own troops numbered only 1,TOO, while those of
his foe were reported by Floyd to be 15,000. He did not believe this statement ; " nevertheless, they must be
prepared to fight great odds, front and rear, for successive days."

2 Pollard, in his First Year of the War, page 165, says : -'The force of General Floyd's command was 1,740
men. Others put it at a much higher number. It was probably about 2,000."

3 Report of General Rosecrans to Adjutant-General Townsend, September llth; of General Benham to
General Rosecrans, September 13th ; of Colonels Lytle and Smith, and Lieutenant-Colonel White, September
llth, 1861 ; and of General Floyd, to the Confederate " Secretary of War," September 12th ; also army corre-
spondence of the Cincinnati Gazette and LyncKburg (Va.) Republican.

VOL. II 7

98 REYNOLDS AND LEE AMONG THE MOUNTAINS.

ments, the Third and Sixth Ohio, detachments of the First and Second Vir-
ginia, Burdsall's Ohio, and Bracken's Indiana cavalry, and Loomis's Michigan
Battery. With these forces he held the roads and passes of the more wes-
terly ranges of the great Allegheny chain, from Webster, on the Baltimore
and Ohio Railway, to the head waters of the Gauley, among the spurs of the
Greenbrier Mountains. His head-quarters, at the time of Rosecrans's move-
ment from Clarksburg, were at Cheat Mountain Pass (Crouch's), at the
western foot of the hills over which goes the highway from Huttons-
ville to Staunton. There he had the Thirteenth Indiana, Colonel Sullivan,
with two pieces of .artillery, and a small cavalry force. These were disposed
along the approaches to the Pass, to guard against surprise. On the Sum-
mit of the Cheat, as we have observed, General McClellan had left Colonel
Kimball with the Fourteenth Indiana as an outpost, 1 which that officer had
strengthened, and where he now had the aid of about forty cavalrymen.

General Lee's head-quarters, at this time, were at Huntersville, in Poca-
hontas County. His scouts were active everywhere, and so were those of
Reynolds. The adventures of these men during several weeks furnish
material for the wildest romances. The opposing parties frequently met,
and engaged in sharp conflicts ; and scarcely a day passed that the sound
of the desultory firing of small-arms was not heard among those solitary
hills. Scouting became a most exciting pleasure to many who were
engaged in it ; but time and circumstances soon brought about more sober
work.

It was evident, from the movements of Lee's scouts on the mountains, early
in September, that he was contemplating an expedition against some of
Reynolds's important posts, for the purpose of capturing his army in detail,
or of breaking through and severing his lines of communication, and marching
to the Ohio ; or, possibly, for the interception of Rosecrans in his march
toward the Gauley. He was watched with sleepless vigilance, and on the
day after Floyd's retreat from Carnifex Ferry, it was evident that he was
moving against the post on the Summit, and another at Elk Water, at the
western foot of the mountain, seven miles from the former by a bridle-path
over the hills, and eighteen by the road. His object was to secure the great
Cheat Mountain Pass, and have free communication with the Shenandoah
Valley at Staunton. For this purpose he marched from Huntersville on the
night of the llth of September," with nine thousand men, and
nearly a dozen pieces of artillery. He had succeeded, with great
difficulty, in placing his troops to make a simultaneous attack upon the
Summit, Elk Water, and the Pass. A storm was sweeping over the moun-
tains, and favored the expedition. At midnight the telegraph wires between
Kimball, at the Summit, and head-quarters, were cut, and all communication
ceased. The last message to the Colonel from General Reynolds was one
from Elk Water, warning him of impending danger. It was heeded, and
promptly acted upon. The bridle-path between the Summit and Elk Water
was immediately picketed, and, on the morning of the 1 2th, a horseman was
gent down the mountain with dispatches for Reynolds. He met some
wagons without horses or men. It was a supply-train, that had been moving

1 See page 536, volume I.

A STRIFE FOR THE SUMMIT. 99

up under the escort of the Twenty-fifth Ohio, and had been cut of He
hastened back with the news, when Colonel Kimball, at the head of the
Fourteenth Indiana and twelve dragoons, hurrieed to the spot, near which
they met the Confederates in force, and drove them. Kimball then detailed
one hundred men, under Captain Higgins, to re-enforce Captain Coons, who
was closely invested on a ridge near the Pass. They fought their way
down, and found Coons stubbornly holding his position, having repelled
every assault. In a short time the Confederates in that vicinity, driven at
several points by the men of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Indiana, and
Twenty-fourth* and Twenty-fifth Ohio, were discomfited and dispersed, and
in their flight cast away every thing that might encumber them. So the
attempt to reach the rear of the National works on the Summit was foiled,
and another pprtion of the Confederate troops, which appeared on and near
the Cheat River, on the front and flank of Kimball's position, were at about
this time routed by a few Indiana and Ohio troops, under Captain Foote, of
the Fourteenth Indiana. The Confederates engaged in this attempt upcii
the Summit and the Pass were nearly five thousand in number, and were led
in person by General Anderson, of Tennessee. 1 The troops that opposed
them did not number more than six hundred.

General Reynolds, who had hastened around to Elk Water, was ignorant
of these important movements on the mountain. He arrived
there toward evening," and found a large force of Confederates, 8e , p Q c 1 12 '

lobl.

under General Lee, threatening the position. They were kept at
a respectful distance by the Parrot guns of Loomis's battery, and all was
silent at the gathering of darkness on the evening of the 12th. Reynolds
was satisfied that Kimball had performed all that could be done in defense
of his post, yet he was determined to open communication with him. He
ordered Colonel Sullivan to take his Thirteenth Indiana, and cut his way, if
necessary, by the main road ; and Colonels Morrow and Moss were ordered
to do the same by the bridle-path. These troops left at three o'clock on the
morning of the 1 3th ;* the former from the Pass, and the latter
from Elk Water. They found their prescribed work already
performed. They secured the provision train, and reached the Summit at
dawn. At the same time Lee advanced in heavy force upon Elk Water,
with the apparent intention of making a direct attack. Reynolds's pickets
were driven in, when a 10-pounder Parrot gun of Loomis's battery was
pushed about three-fourths of a mile to the front, and did such execution that
the Confederates withdrew. In that position both armies remained until
night, when Lee withdrew still farther under cover of the darkness, and on
the following day took post along the slopes of the Greenbrier Mountains,
about ten miles from Elk Water. He attempted a flank movement on the
Cheat Summit, on the 15 th, but was driven away. The repulse of Anderson
on the mountain had satisfied Lee that his grand strategic plan for severing
and destroying Reynolds's army, and pushing on to the Ohio, had failed.
In the encounters during these two or three days, .the Nationals lost ten

1 General Anderson's brigade consisted chiefly of Tennessee and Arkansas troops, with some Virginians.
Those employed against the Summit and the Pass were the Twenty-third, Twenty-fifth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-
seventh Virginia Regiments, a Virginia battery under Colonels Talliafero and Heck, and the First,. Seventh, and
Fourteenth Tennessee, under Colonel Manly.

100 BATTLE ON THE GREENBRIER.

killed, fourteen wounded, and sixty-four prisoners. The Confederate loss
was about one hundred killed ! and wounded, and ninety prisoners. 2

Lee, having failed in his designs against Reynolds, withdrew from the
Cheat Mountain region with a greater part of his force, and joined Floyd at
Meadow Bluff, at the close of September. He had left General
^ ^" J ac kson, f Georgia, with about three thousand men, on
the Greenbrier River, at the foot of Cheat Mountain, and a
small force at Huntersville, to watch Reynolds. He now proceeded to fortify
Wise's position on Big Sewell Mountain, which confronted the Nationals on
and near the Gauley River and New River, and there, as the senior officer,
he concentrated his own forces, and those of Floyd and Wise, and found
himself in command of an army of at least twenty thousand men. 3

Reynolds now resolved to act on the offensive. At the beginning of
October he moved with about five thousand men upon Jackson's intrenched
camp, on the Greenbrier, near a noted tavern, called " Travelers' Repose," on
the Staunton pike. His forces, composed of Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, and
Virginia troops, left the summit of Cheat Mountain at a little before
midnight, 4 for " an armed reconnoissance," as he termed it. They
reached the front of the Confederates, twelve miles distant, at dawn, when
the Ninth Indiana, under Colonel Milroy, drove in the advance pickets.
KimbalPs Fourteenth Indiana took position directly in front, and Loomis's
battery was planted within seven hundred yards of the works, where it
opened fire. Howe, of the Fourth Regular Artillery, and Daum, also in
command of artillery, brought their guns into position at about the same
distance. Three of the Confederate cannon were disabled, when heavy re-
enforcements for the garrison were reported to be near. The Nationals
were eager to storm the works before these should arrive, but the General
would not permit it. They were allowed to make a flank movement on the
Confederate right, and attempt a dislodgment. The Confederates, per-
ceiving their design, were prepared at that point, and with a terrible storm
of .grape and canister they repulsed the assailants. Reynolds lost ten
killed and thirty-two wounded. Jackson's loss in the picket-firing and in
the trenches was estimated at over two hundred. The engagement had
lasted about seven hours. Reynolds fell back to Elk Water.

1 Among the killed was Lieutenant-Colonel John A. Washington, of General Lee's staff. He was the former
owner of the mansion and mansion-farm of the estate of Mount Vernon, which he sold to the Ladies' Mount
Vernon Association a few years before the war broke out. He was out on the evening of the 13th, with two other
officers, reconnoitering the works at Elk Water, when he was shot dead by three Minie bails, from a picket post
of the Seventeenth Indiana. These penetrated his breast, which was covered by a rich white satin vest In his
pocket was found a complete description of the works at Elk Water. His remains were tenderly cared for, and
sent to General Lee the next morning. Washington was about forty years of age.

a Report of General J. J. Reynolds to Assistant Adjutant-General George L. Hartsuff, September 17th. 1861 ;
of General Robert E. Lee to L. Pope Walker, September 18th. 1861 ; The CJieat Mountain Campaign, in Ste-
venson's Indiana Roll of Honor ; Pollard's First Year of the War. Whilst evidently giving Lee full credit
for rare abilities as an engineer, Pollard regarded him as incompetent to execute well. He says: " There is
.reason to believe that, if General Lee had not allowed the immaterial part of his plan to control his action, a
glorious success would have resulted, opening the whole northwestern country to us, and enabling Floyd and
Wise to drive Cox with ease out of the Kanawha Valley. Regrets, however, were unavailing now. General
Lee's plan, finished drawings of which were sent to the War Department at Richmond, 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 execution."

3 When Lee arrived at Floyd's camp at Meadow Bluff, he wrote to Wise, advising him to foil back without
delay. Wise hesitated, and invited General Lee to visit him, and inspect his position. Lee did so, and, satisfied
that it was the most advantageous place of the two, ordered him to remain. This tacit approval of Wise's in-
subordination offended Floyd ; but the concentration of all the forces under Lee prevented any ill consequences.

KOSECKANS AND FLOYD ON NEW EIVER.

101

Lee's position on Big Sewell Mountain was directly in front of that
of Rosecrans, who occupied the country in the crotch formed by the Gau-
ley River and New River. His main camp was on New River, and his
lines extended down to the Gauley. The breach between Wise and Floyd
widened, and, late in September," the former was recalled to
Richmond by the Confederate " Secretary of War." Lee held '^i^
Wise's position on Big Sewell for about three weeks, in sight of
Rosecrans, who had been re-enforced ; ! but did not venture to attack him.
The latter then fell back, without Lee's knowledge, and concentrated his
forces near the junction of the rivers. Lee, too, was then recalled to Rich-
mond, 2 and was soon afterward sent to take charge of the coast defenses of
South Carolina and Georgia. 3 Floyd and Rosecrans were once more com-
petitors for the possession of the Kanawha Valley. The former, late in Oc-
tober, took position on the left bank of New River, and erected batteries
there a little above its junction with the Gauley, and on the first of Novem-
ber he opened an annoying fire on the National camp. Already very
troublesome raids had been made by small parties of Confederates, and on
one occasion they had approached within twelve miles of Charleston.

Floyd's batteries now commanded the road over which Rosecrans's sup-
plies had to pass to his camp at the junction, and it was resolved to dislodge
or capture him. Troops were thrown across for that purpose. An attempt
of General Schenck to cross behind Fayetteville, and strike Fldyd's rear,
was frustrated by a sud-
den flood in New River,
and the Confederates
were struck only in the
front, opposite the
mouth of the Gauley,
by the First Ken-

REGION OF MILITARY OPERATIONS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.

tucky, under Major Leeper. This was gallantly performed, 6 and
Floyd recoiled. General Benham had crossed below the mouth

* Nor. 12.

1 His army now numbered about 10,000 men, composed of the brigades 'of Generals Cox, Benham, and
Schenck, the latter bavin? been transferred from the Army of the Potomac.

2 Lee's campaign in Western Virginia was a failure, and the hopes centered on him were signally disap-
pointed. The Confederate historian of the war, Pollard, commenting on Lee's failure to attack Rosecrans, fays
(i. 171): "Thus the second opportunity of a decisive battle in Western Virginia was blindly lost. General Lee
making no attempt to follow up the enemy, who had so skillfully eluded him; the excuse alleged for his not
doing so being mud. swollen streams, and the leanness of his artillery horses."

3 See Lee's letter of resignation, note 3, page 421, volume I.

102 DEFEAT AND FLIGHT OF FLOYD.

of New River, with his brigade. Rosecrans, fearing Floyd would retreat,
ordered Beiiham to push forward at once to Cassidy's Mills, on his flank and
rear, to intercept him. This was not accomplished in time, and Floyd fled
precipitately, strewing the way with tents, tent-poles, working utensils, and
ammunition, in his efforts to lighten his wagons. Benham pressed his rear
heavily through Fayetteville, and on the road toward Raleigh ; and near
the latter place he struck the Confederate rear-guard of four hundred cavr
airy, under Colonel Croghan, 1 who was mortally wounded.

Onward Floyd sped, with Benham close at his heels ; but the pursuit was
ended near Raleigh, after a thirty miles' race, by the recall of Benham, and
the fugitive escaped to Peterston, full fifty miles southward from his point
of departure. He soon afterward took leave of his army, in a stirring
proclamation, praising his men for their courage and fidelity, and remind-
ing them that for five months "hard contested battles and skirmishes
were matters of almost daily occurrence." General Rosecrans also issued an
address to his troops, in which he recapitulated their services, and -implored
them to prepare for greater deeds in the future. 4 Thus ended the campaign
in the Kanawha Valley. 3

But little more effort was needed to rid "Western Virginia of the insur-
gents. Already General Kelly, who had behaved so gallantly at Philippi
in June, 4 had struck them a severe blow on the spot where Colonel Wallace
first smote them a few months before. 5 Kelly had recovered from his
severe wound, and, with the commission of Brigadier-General, was in
command of troops in the autumn, guarding the Baltimore and Ohio
Railway along its course through West Virginia. Ascertaining that a
considerable insurgent force, consisting of cavalry, under Colonel Angus
McDonald, and militia under Colonel Monroe, was at Romney, preparing

1 St. George Croahan was a son of the eminent Colonel George Croghan, who so gallantly defended Fort
Stephenson, at lower Sandusky, in the War of 1812. His family were residing in Newburgh, on the Hudson
River, at this time.

* Rosecrans said : "When our gallant young commander was called from us, after the disaster of Bull's Eun,
this department was left with less than 15,000 tnen to guard 300 miles of railroad, and 300 miles of frontier, ex-
posed to bushwhackers, and the forces of Generals Floyd, Wise, and Jackson. The northwestern pass into it
was fortified and held, Cheat Mountain secured, the rebel assaults there victoriously repelled, and the Kanawha
Valley occupied. A inarch of 112 miles, over bad roads, brought you upon Floyd's intrenched position, whence
the rebels were dislodged and chased to Sewell. Finally, your patience and watchings put the traitor Floyd
within your reach, and though, by a precipitate retreat, he escaped your grasp, you have the substantial fruits
of victory. Western Virginia belongs to herself, and the invader is expelled from her soil. In the name of our
Commander-in-Chief, and in my own, I thank you."

3 On the 10th of November, a most unhappy event occurred in the extreme southwestern portion of Vir-
ginia. The village of Guyandotte, on the Ohio River, near the Kentucky line, was held by a small Union force
Tinder R. V. Whaley, a loyal Virginian, commanding the Ninth Virginia Regiment, who had a recruiting station
there. At eight o'clock in the evening, a guerrilla chief, named Albert G. Jenkins, who, with his mounted men,
had been for some time carrying on a distressing warfare in that region, dashed into the little village, surprised
the Union force, and made over 100 of them prisoners. They killed every m:m who resisted. With prisoners
and plunder, Jenkins fled the next morning. It was reported that the Secessionists in the village had entrapped
many of the Union soldiers in the coils of social enjoyments, and then gave Jenkins notice that he could easily
win a prize. This so exasperated Colonel John J. Zeigler, a loyal citizen of Wayne County, who was in com-
mand of the Fifth Virginia, and who entered the town the next morning, that he ordered the houses of the dis-
loyalists to be burned. Almost the whole village was laid in ashes. Jenkins had represented his section of
Virginia in Congress.

The guerrilla bands who infested portions of Virginia during the whole war, were composed of the disloyal
citizens of that State. Seme of them gave themselves names significant of their character and intentions. A
portion of one of these bands, composed of residents of Flat Top Mountain, in Mercer County, were captured near
Raleigh, in Western Virginia, by Colonel (afterward General) Rutherford B. Hays, of Ohio, and he found by
papers in their possession, that their organization was known as "The Flat Top Copperheads," their avowed ob-
ject being the destruction of the lives and property of Union men.

4 See page 496, volume I. 8 See page 518, volume I.

MILKOY IF WESTERN VIRGINIA. . 103

for a descent on the railway, he led about twenty-five hundred Ohio and
Virginia troops against them, from the New Creek Station, along the route
first traversed by Wallace. He came upon the insurgents a few miles from
Romney, at three o'clock in the afternoon of the 26th of October, drove in
their outposts, and, after a severe contest of about two hours, completely
routed them, capturing their three cannon, much of their camp equipage,
a large number of prisoners, besides killing and wounding between thirty
and forty in the fray. This victory paralyzed the rebellion in that region
for a time. It was followed by a proclamation from General Kelly, assu-
ring the inhabitants that full protection should be given to those who were
peaceable, at the same time telling them that, if they joined in guerrilla ,
warfare, they should be treated as enemies. He required all Avho had taken
up arms against the Government to lay them down immediately, and take
an oath of allegiance to the National Government. For a while that region
of the State enjoyed repose.

Soon after Reynolds's attack on Jackson, at " Travelers' Rest," a large
portion of the Cheat Mountain troops were sent to Kentucky, and Colonel
Robert H. Milroy, who had been commissioned a Brigadier-
General," was kept with a single brigade to hold the mountain " s ^' 8 '
passes. Reynolds was ordered to report in person to General
Rosecrans, who at the close of the Kanawha campaign had retired to Wheel-
ing, and, in December, Milroy succeeded to the command of the Cheat
Mountain division of the army. Milroy had at first established his head-
quarters on Cheat Summit, and vigorously scouted the hills in that region,
making the beaxitiful little Gi-eenbrier Valley lively with frequent skirmish-
ing. Jackson had withdrawn from Camp Bartow at " Travelers' Rest," and,
being ordered to Georgia, had left
his command of twelve hundred Con-
federates and about eight hundred
Virginians with Colonel Edward
Johnston of Georgia, to confront
Milroy. He made his head-quarters
at Allegheny Summit ; and Milroy,
when he took chief command, estab-
lished his at Huttonsville, in Tygart's
Valley.

Milroy determined to attack
Johnston, and for that purpose moved
a little over three thousand men on
the 12th of December. He directed
Colonel Moody of the Ninth Indiana
to lead his regiment, with a detach-
ment of the Second Virginia, around to make a flank movement, and charge
and capture a battery on a bluff commanding the Staunton pike. At the
same time the Twenty-fifth Ohio, Colonel Jones, with detachments of the
Thirteenth Indiana, and Thirty-second Ohio, was to assault Johnston's front.
This was done, but Colonel Moody did not arrive in time to co-operate with
Jones. The fight was continued, but Jones was not successful. The Con-
federates became the aggressors, and they in turn were discomfited. Milroy

104 . EVENTS ON THE SEA-COAST.

had lost about one hundred and fifty men when Moody commenced his
flank attack. This, too, was unsuccessful, and the whole force retired in
good order, unpursued by the Confederates. The losses on both sides appear
to have been about equal, and amounted to very nearly two hundred men
each. Both parties had fought with the most commendable valor.

Milroy was not discouraged by his failure on the Allegheny Summit.
Late in December he sent a force to break up a Confederate post at Hun-
tersville, and capture or destroy military stores there. The main expedi-
tion consisted of a battalion of the Twenty-fifth Ohio, and a detachment of
the Second Virginia, with Bracken's cavalry, and was commanded by Major
Webster, of the first-named regiment. Other troops were sent to co-operate
with these. The expedition was successful. After a weary march of about
fifty miles, the ground covered with snow, the post was attacked, the Con-
federates were dispersed, a large -amount of stores were burned, and the jail,
which was used for the confinement of Union prisoners, was partially
destroyed. This event closed the campaign of 1861 in Western Virginia*
and armed rebellion in that region was effectually crushed.

Whilst the scenes we have just recorded were transpiring in the Middle
Mississippi Valley, and in West Virginia, others even more remarkable, and
quite as important in their relations to the great contest, were occurring on
the sea-coast. Let us see what official records and narratives of eye-wit-
nesses reveal to us on this subject.

In a previous chapter, 1 we have considered some stirring events at and
near Fortress Monroe, in Southeastern Virginia. In Hampton Roads, in
front of that fortress, a great land and naval armament was seen in August,
1861, destined to strike a severe blow at the rebellion farther 'down the
coast. It had been collected there while the smoke of the once pleasant
village of Hampton, near, was yet making the air of Old Point Comfort
murky with its density. Let us see how that village, whose ruins have
already been depicted in this work, 2 came to destruction.

We have observed that, after the disastrous Battle of JBulPs Itun, Gen-
eral Butler, in command at Fortress Monroe, was compelled to reduce the
garrison at Newport-Xewce, and to abandon the village of Hampton, the
latter movement causing a general exodus of the colored people living
there," who flocked into the Union lines. The whole country
J ?!, 26 ' between Old Point Comfort and Yorktown was now left open to

IBOl. . A

Confederate rule ; and General Magruder, commanding at the
latter post, moved down the peninsula with about five thousand men,
infantry, cavalry, and artillery, to menace Newport-lSTewce, and take position
at or near Hampton, for the close investment of Fortress Monroe. A de-
serter 3 had swum across Hampton Creek, and given General Butler such
timely notice of the movement that preparations were made at both posts
for Magruder's warm reception.

Camp Hamilton, commanded by Colonel Max Weber, was soon alive
with preparations for battle, and a force stationed at the redoubt at Hamp-

* Chapter XXI., volume I. * See pages 511, 512, and 514, volume I.

* Mr. Mahew, of the State of Maine. He was in Georgia when the war broke out, and had been pressed into
the Confederate service.

BURNING OF HAMPTON.

105

' Aug. 7,
1861.

BTTBNING OF HAMPTON.

ton Bridge ' were ordered to oppose the passage of the foe at all hazards.
These were attacked late in the evening, and repulsed," and soon
afterward the town was set on fire in several places. This was
done, as it afterward appeared, by order of General Magruder,
whose judgment and feelings were at that time in subjection to his passions,
excited by the too free use of intoxicating drinks. It was at about mid-
night when the town
was fired, and before
dawn it was almost en-
tirely in ashes, with a
greater portion of the
bridge. The Confede-
rates ran wildly about
the village with blazing
firebrands, spreading
destruction in all direc-
tions. Even the vener-
able parish church, built
in colonial times, and
standing out of danger
from the conflagration
of the village, was not
spared ; it having been
fired, according to testimony subsequently given, by the special order of
the drunken Magruder. 2 The cruelty of this destruction was at first charged
upon the Union troops, but the truth was soon known, and the odium fixed
where it belonged. Magruder contented himself with this performance, and
withdrew his forces to Big Bethel and Yorktown.

It was at about this time that General Butler was relieved of his com-
mand at Fortress Monroe, and Major-
General John E. Wool was put in
his place. Butler was not assigned to
any other duty ; but he was not long
idle. The generous and sagacious
Wool gave him the command of all
the volunteer troops outside of the
fortress. This service was a tem-
porary one. Weeks before, a Union
prisoner (Daniel Campbell, of Maine),
who had escaped from Hatteras In-
let, brought information to Commo-
dore Stringham, commanding in
Hampton Roads, that through that
pass English blockade-runners were
continually carrying in supplies of

SILAS H. 8TRINGHAM.

1 Sec page 514, volume I.

3 The troops employed for the purpose were all Virginians, under the respective commands of Captains
Goode, Phillips, Sullivan, and Curtis; the whole under the control^ of Colonel J. J. Hodges. Many of thesa
troops were citizens of Hampton, and set fire to their own property, to prevent, as they said, its " being occupied
by Northern Vandals."

106 EXPEDITION AGAINST HATTEEAS.

arms, ammunition, and clothing for the Confederates, and that two forts
guarded the Inlet. Stringham informed General Butler of these facts, and
the latter sent the report to Washington, with suggestions that land and
naval forces should be sent to capture the forts at the Inlet, and close up
the passage. The suggestion was acted upon, and, at the time we are con-
sidering, a small squadron of vessels was in Hampton Roads for the purpose,
on which were to be borne nine hundred land troops. Butler volunteered
to command these troops. His offer was accepted, and on Monday, the 26th
of August," at one o'clock r. M., the expedition departed, the
squadron being under the command' of Commodore Silas II.
Stringham. 1 General Butler took passage in the flag-ship (the Minnesota)^
and his troops were on the transports George Peabody and Adelaide* The
frigate Cumberland was ordered to join the squadron. The expedition
rendezvoused off the Hatteras inlet to Pamlico Sound (at the western end
of Hatteras Island, and about eighteen miles from the Cape) at
five o'clock on Tuesday afternoon, 4 when preparations were
immediately made for landing the troops in the morning, twelve hours
later.

Two forts, named respectively Hatteras and Clark, occupied the western
end of Hatteras Island. The troops were to be landed a short distance up
the beach, to attack them in the rear, while the vessels should assail them
in front. The Pawnee, Monticello, and Harriet Lane were to be sent for-
ward to cover the landing of the forces, and take position, at first, about
two miles from the forts. These movements began at the ap-
pointed hour." Breakfast was served at four o'clock. The Cum-
berland (sailing vessel) was there, and was taken in tow by the Wabash.
Dragging her charge to a proper position, the Wabash opened fire on the
forts at a quarter to ten o'clock, and the Cumberland joined in the work.
The flag-ship (Minnesota) was near, and soon passed inside the other two
and engaged in the fight. The Susquehanna, which had joined the expe-
dition, came up at eleven o'clock, and at once opened fire. In the mean
time a few of the troops had landed near a wreck, about two miles up the
beach, under the direction of General Butler, who, with the marines, had
gone on board the Harriet Lane. A heavy surf made the landing very dif-
ficult, and it was effected by only a little over three hundred men, who were
completely covered by the guns of the Monticello and Harriet Lane.

The assault on the Confederate works had continued for more than four
hours, when the firing ceased on both sides. The flags of the forts were
down, and the men from the smaller work had fled to the greater, which
was Fort Platteras. Some of the Coast Guard, under Mr. Weigel, of Colonel
Weber's command, who had landed, took possession of the former, and raised
the Union flag over it ; and it was believed that both works were about to

1 The vessels composing the squadron were the Minnesota, Captain G. A. Van Brune ; Wabash, Captain
Samuel Mercer; Monticello, Commander John P. Gillls; Paionet, Commander 8. C. Rowan; Harriet Lane,
Captain John Faunce; chartered steamer Adelaide, Commander H. S. Stellwagen ; George Peabody, Lieu-
tenant R. P. Lowry; and tug Fanny, Lieutenant Pierce Crosby. The Minnesota was the flag-ship. The trans-
port, Service, was in charge of Commander Stellwagen, who had made the preparations.

* a These troops consisted of 500 of the Twentieth New York, Colonel Weber- 220 of the Ninth New York,
Colonel Hawkins ; 100 of the Union Coast Guard, Captain Nixon ; and 60 of the Second United States Artillery,
Lieutenant Lamed.

BATTLE AT HATTER AS INLET. 107

be surrendered. The Monticello was ordered to go cautiously into the
Inlet, followed by the Harriet Lane, and take possession of them ; but it
had proceeded only a
short distance, when fire
was opened upon it from
Port Hatteras, and at
the same time a tug-
steamer was seen ap-
proaching, having in
tow a schooner filled
with troops, for the re-
lief of the fort. The
Minnesota, Susquehan-
na, and Pawnee imme-
diately reopened fire on
the fort, and the attack

was kept up until half-past six, when the whole squadron, excepting the
Pawnee and the Harriet Lane, hauled off for the night. The Monticello was
much exposed during the fight, and, at one time, her capture or destruction
seemed inevitable ; but she was finally taken out of range of the heavy guns
of the fort, without much damage.

Early on the morning of the 29th the contest was renewed. -During the
preceding evening, Major W. S. G. Andrews, the commander of the two forts
(who had been absent on the main), accompanied by Samuel Barren, who
was in command of a little Confederate navy in charge of the defenses of
Virginia and North Carolina, and then lying in Pamlico Sound, not far from
the Inlet, arrived at Fort Hatteras. They found Colonel Martin, who had
conducted the defense during the day, completely prostrated by fatigue,
and it was agreed that Barren should assume the chief command of the fort,
which he did. Guns were speedily brought to bear on Fort Clark, then
supposed to be held by the Nationals, and the batteries were placed in
charge of fresh troops. But Fort Clark was not held by Butler's troops.
They were well and cautiously handled by their commander, Colonel Weber,
and had been withdrawn toward the landing-place. Not far from the fort
they had placed in battery during the night two howitzers and a rifled
6-pounder cannon, landed from the fleet. These were very serviceable in the
hands of Lieutenant Johnson, of the Coast Guard, who, early in the morning,
beat off the Confederate steamer Winsloic, commanded by Arthur Sinclair
(who had abandoned his country's flag), which was filled with re-enforcements

1 Fort Hatteras was the principal work, and mounted ten guns. Fort Clark was a square redoubt, about 750
yards northward of it, and mounting seven guns. The former occupied a point on a sandy beach, and was
almost surrounded by water. It could only be approached on the land side by a march of 500 yards circuitonsly
over a Ions neck of land, within half musket-shot of its embankments, and over a narrow causeway, only a few
feet in width, which was commanded by two 82-pounder guns loaded with grape and canister shot. The
parapet was nearly octagon in form, and inclosed about three-fourths of an acre of ground, with several suf-
ficient traverses.

Mr. Fiske, acting aid-de-camp of General Butler, performed a gallant feat When Fort Clark was abandoned,
he swain ashore, through quite heavy breakers, with orders from Butler to Colonel Weber. He entered the fort,
and found books and papers there containing much valuable information. He formed them into a package,
strapped them on his shoulders, and swam back with them to the general. After the capitulation, the Confede-
rate officers expressed their surprise at the accuracy of Butler's information on the previous day, being ignorant
that their own documents had furnished It

108 CAPTURE OF FORTS HATTER AS AWD CLARK.

for the garrison. The Harriet Lane, in the mean time, had run in shore to
assist the land forces who had moved up to Johnson's battery.

The Susqaehanna was the first of the squadron to open fire on the fort
on the second day. The Wabash and Minnesota followed, and a little later
the Cumberland sailed in and took part in the fight. The Harriet Lane also
came up and became a participant. The pounding of the fort was too severe
to be borne long, and Barren attempted the trick of hauling down his flag,
and assuming the attitude of the vanquished ; but the Nationals were not
deceived a second time. At almost eleven o'clock a white flag appeared over
the fort, and the firing ceased. The tug Fanny, with General Butler on
board, moved into the Inlet to take possession of the works. The Confede-
rate vessels in the Sound, with troops on board, fled at her approach. The
Harriet Lane and the transport Adelaide followed the Fanny in, and both
grounded, 1 but they were finally hauled off The forts were formally
surrendered, under a capitulation signed by the respective commanders. 9
" No one of the fleet or army was in the least degree injured," said Butler,
in his report to General Wool. He added, that the loss of the Confederates
was " twelve or fifteen killed and thirty-five wounded." 3

The capture of the forts at Hatteras Inlet was a severe blow to the Con-
federates, and opened the way to most important results, beneficial to the
National cause, as we shall observe hereafter. 4 General Butler had been
ordered to destroy the forts, and not attempt to hold them. He was so im-
pressed with the importance of preserving them, that, after consultation with
Stringham and Stellwagen, he returned immediately to Fortress Monroe,
and hastened to Washington with the first news of the victory, to explain
his views to the Government in person. It was determined to hold them,
and the troops, which had only been provisioned for five days, were imme-
diately supplied. Butler was now commissioned by the Secretary
'^ptember, of War" to go to New England and "raise, arm, uniform, and

lool.

equip a volunteer force for the war." He did so. What was
done with them will be revealed when we come to consider events at Ship
Island, in the Gulf of Mexico, and at New Orleans.

Colonel Hawkins was left, with the portion of his Ninth New York
(Zouaves) that had joined the expedition, to garrison the post at Hatteras

1 This was an anxious moment for the Unionists, for, by these accidents, a valuable ship of war and a trans-
port filled with troops were under the guns of the fort, and within the. power of the Confederates.

1 The capitulation was signed on board the flag ship Minnesobi, August 29th, 1S61, by " S. H. Stringham,
Flag Officer Atlantic Blockading Squadron," and " Benjamin F. Butler, Major-General U. S. Army, command-
ing," on one part, and " S. Barren, Flag Officer C. S. Navy, commanding naval forces, Virginia and North
Carolina," " William F. Martin, Colonel Seventh Light Infantry, N. C. Volunteers," and " W. S. G. Andrews,
Major, commanding Forts Hatteras and Clark." It was agreed that commanders, men, forts, and munitions of
war should be immediately surrendered to the Government of the United States, in terms of full capitulation,
" the officers and men to receive the treatment of prisoners of war." Barron had proposed that the officers and
men should "retire" (in other words, not be detained as prisoners), the former to go out with their side-arms.
The proposition was rejected. The prisoners were taken to New York, and afterward exchanged.

9 Reports of General Butler, August 30th, and of Commodore Slringham, August 30th and September 1st,
1361, and other subordinate officers ; also of " Commodore " Barron and Major Andrews, of the Confederate
service, September 1st, 1861. The number of troops surrendered, including the officers, was 715, and with them
1,000 stand of arms, 5 stand of colors, 31 pieces of cannon, vessels with cotton and stores, and 75 kegs of gun-
powder. One of the flags was new. and had been presented, within a week, by the women of New Berne, North
Carolina, to the " North Carolina Defenders." General Wool's General Order, No. S, August 31st, 1861.

4 General Wool issued a stirring order, announcing the victory, and Secretary Welles congratulated String-
ham and his men for the " brilliant achievement accomplished without the loss of a man on the Union Bide."

STRUGGLE FOR HATTERAS ISLAND.

109

Sept. 17,
1861.

OPERATIONS NEAB CAPE HATTERAS.

and hold the Island and Inlet. Late in September he was re-enforced by
Colonel Brown and his Twentieth Indiana regiment. In the mean time an
expedition had been secretly prepared for following up the victory at Hat-
teras, by seizing and holding the whole coast of North Carolina washed by
the waters of Pamlico and Albemarle Sounds, and threatening Norfolk, still
held by the Confederates, in the rear. 1

The first object was to close the passages to these Sounds from the sea.
Accordingly, a little naval force was sent" to
break up a Confederate post at Ocracoke Inlet, a
few miles down the coast from Hatteras. Commo-
dore Rowan sent Lieutenant J. T. Maxwell to perform this
service. He went in the tug Fanny, with a detachment
of mariners and soldiers of the Naval Brigade which had
been organized in
Hampton Roads.
The tug towed a
launch, and the Sus-
quehanna accompa-
nied them. An
earthwork, little in-
ferior to Fort Hat-
teras, was found on
Beacon Island, com-
manding the Inlet ; but this, called Fort Ocracoke, and older Fort Morgan
near, were abandoned. They were disabled by Maxwell.

In the meantime the Confederates were evidently preparing to throw a
force on to Roanoke Island, to the northward of Hatteras, with the intention
of recovering their losses at the Inlet, and keeping open two small inlets to
Pamlico, above Cape Hatteras. Hawkins sent Colonel Brown,*
with his Twentieth Indiana, up the island to a hamlet called Sept 29>
Chicomicocomico, partly to defend the professedly loyal inhabitants there,
but more particularly to watch the Confederates, and, if possible, prevent
their gaining possession of Roanoke. The regiment was landed in small
boats/ with very scant supplies. The Fanny was sent with cge t 30
stores/ but was captured by the Confederates, who thus obtained dOct 1-
property of the value of one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
The most important loss was the camp equipage, provisions, and intrenching
tools of Brown's regiment. It defeated his undertaking ; for when, on the
4th of October, a squadron of five or six Confederate steamers, bearing over
two thousand men, composed of North Carolinians and Georgians, who had
taken possession of Roanoke Island," bore down from Croatan Sound, with
the evident intention of attacking him, he was compelled to retreat. Troops
were landed from the steamers at Keneekut and Chicomicocomico, above
and below Brown's Camp, under cover of shells thrown from the armed vessels.
The Indianians succeeded in escaping to Cape Hatteras, where they were met
by five hundred of Hawkins's Zouaves, supported by the Susquehanna
and Monticello. They had lost about fifty men, most of whom were cap-

1 See page 39T, volume I.

110 A LOYAL DEMONSTRATION.

tured while straggling. 1 A number of the islanders had followed them ;
and all had suffered much from hunger, thirst, and fatigue, during that
exciting march of twenty-eight miles. The Confederate vessels were a
part of the little fleet in that region, under the command of Lieutenant
Lynch, who had lately abandoned his flag and joined the insurgents. The
assailants fled back to Roanoke, and after that left Hatteras in the undis-
puted possession of the National forces. General Mansfield was sent from
Washington with five hundred troops, to still further strengthen the position.
He was soon relieved by Brigadier-General Thomas S. Williams, of the Regu-
lar Army.

While these events were transpiring, Colonel Hawkins, in pursuance of
the humane and conciliatory policy of the Government toward misguided
and misinformed inhabitants, issued a proclamation to the people of North
Carolina, in which he exposed the misrepresentations of the intentions of
the Government put forth by the conspirators and their allies, assuring
them that the war was waged only against traitors and rebels (who were
called to lay down their arms and have peace), and that the troops had
come to give back to the people law, order, and the Constitution, and all their
legitimate rights. To this there was a public response by the inhabitants
in the immediate vicinity of Hatteras, who professed to be loyal. A conven-
tion of the citizens of Hyde County was held," which, by resolu-
0< i86i 12 ' tions, offered the loyalty of its members to the National Govern-
ment. A committee was appointed to draw up a statement of
grievances, and a declaration of independence of Confederate rule was put
forth, in form and style like that issued in 1776. 8 A more important conven-
NOV la t * on was keld at Hatteras a month later,* in which appeared
representatives from forty-five Bounties in North Carolina. That
body assumed the prerogatives of the State, and by a strong ordinance pro-
vided for the government of North Carolina in allegiance to the National
Constitution. This promise of good was so hopeful that the President, by
proclamation, ordered an election to be held in the First Congressional Dis-
trict of North Carolina. The people complied, and elected a representa-
tive" (Charles Henry Foster), but he was not admitted to Con-
gress, 3 because of some technical objection. This leaven of
loyalty, that promised to affect the whole State, was soon destroyed by
the strong arm of the Confederates in power.

1 The Indiana Regiment was peculiarly unfortunate at Hutteras. In the affair near Chicomicocomico, it had
lost its stock of winter clothing. This disaster was followed by a fearful storm on the night of the 2<l of Novem-
ber, which swept along the coast, and bringing the sea in with such violence that it submerged Hatteras Island
between the forts, threatening instant destruction to Fort Clark, the smaller one, occupied by the regiment. Its
pick were much distressed by removal for safety ; and nearly one-half of its new supply of winter clothing
was swept away.

8 This Declaration bore tho signatures of Rev. Marble Nash Taylor, of the North Carolina Methodist Confer-
ence, Caleb B. Stowe, and William O'Neal.

8 This movement was brought prominently before the citizens of New York by Mr. Taylor, one of the signers
of the Declaration of Independence, at a meeting over which Mr. Bancroft, the historian, presided, in which he
said that " some 4,000 of the inhabitants living on the narrow strip of land on the coast had, on the first arrival
of the troops, flocked to take the oath of allegiance, and this had cut them off from their scanty resources of
traffic with the interior. They were n poor race," he said, " living principally by fishing and gathering of
yoakum, an evergreen of spontaneous growth, which they dried and exchanged for corn." The yoaknm is a
plant which is extensively used in that region as a substitute for tea.

The appeal of Mr. Taylor in behalf of these people waa nobly responded to by generous gifts of money, food,
and clothing.

EVENTS AT FORT PICKENS. HI

Whilst the stirring events just mentioned were occurring on the coast
of North Carolina, the vicinity of Fort Pickens, on the waters of the Gulf of
Mexico, had again become the theater o^f conflict. We have observed how
that fortress was saved from seizure by the insurgents at Pensacola in the
spring of 1861, and the arrival in June, at Santa Rosa Island (on which the
fort stands), of the New York Sixth, known as Wilson's Zouaves. 1 These
troops and a small blockading squadron, with a garrison in the fort, were
stationed there for the purpose of securing from capture by the Confederates
that fortress, whose possession was so much coveted by them. Although no
serious hostilities occurred between these forces and the insurgents on the

main, who threatened them, the former were not inert, but dispelled the
uneasiness of camp and deck life by an occasional disturbance of the quiet
of their foe, sometimes by threatening a descent on the coast, and at others
by firing on some supply-vessel of the Confederates, moving in Pensacola
Bay. On the night of the 2d of September," a party from Fort
Pickens, under Lieutenant Shepley, burned the Dry Dock at the
Navy Yard at Warrington; and, on the night of the 13th of the same month,
about one hundred men, under Lieutenant John H. Russell, of Commodore
Merwin's flagship Colorado, crossed over to the Navy Yard, and before
daylight boarded a large schooner (the JudaK), which was being fitted out
as a privateer, and lying at the wharf there. They spiked a ten-inch
columbiad, with which she was armed, and burnt her to the water's edge.
By the use of muffled oars they eluded the vigilance of the sentinels until it
was too late for useful resistance.* This was a most daring feat, for at the
Navy Yard near by there were at least a thousand Confederate soldiers.
" They were led by an officer with the courage of forty Numidian lions, and
their success was perfect," said an account of the affair written by an officer
at the Navy Yard.

The Confederates soon became the aggressors. Early in October, they
made an attempt to surprise and capture Wilson's troops on Santa Rosa
Island. About fourteen hundred picked men, chosen mostly from Georgia
troops and from some Irish volunteers, and commanded by General Ander-
son, assisted by General Ruggles, crossed Pensacola Bay in the evening on
several steamers, and at two o'clock in the morning* landed at
Deer Point, on Santa Rosa Island, four or five miles eastward of
the encampment of the Zouaves. Anderson divided his force into three
columns, and in this order marched upon the camp, wherein there was no
suspicion of danger near. The pickets were suddenly driven in, and the
Zouaves were completely surprised.

The Confederate war-cry was, " Death to Wilson ! no quarter !" 3 The
Zouaves fought desperately in the intense darkness, while being driven back
by superior numbers to the cover of batteries Lincoln and Totten, situated

1 See chapter XV., volume I.

9 Lieutenant liussell lost three men killed and twelve wounded. The planning and fitting out of the
expedition was intrusted to Captain Bailey, of the Colorado. Lieutenant Russell was promoted to Commander
on the 4th of October.

* Common report had given to Wilson's men the character of being mostly New York "roughs," and the
people of the South were tnught to believe that they were selected for the purpose of plunder and rapine. It
was on that account that the troops at Pensacola hated them, and resolved to give them no quarter. Wilson,
in a characteristic letter to General Arthur, of New York, reporting tha affair, says, alluding to wild rumors on

112 BATTLE ON SANTA ROSA ISLAND.

one on each side of the island, and about four hundred yards from Fort
Pickens. They numbered only one hundred and thirty-three effective men.
They were met in their retreat by two companies, under Major Vogdes, sent
out of the fort by Colonel Harvey Brown, its commander, to aid them. Two
other companies, under Major Arnold, immediately followed, and the com-
bined force returned and charged upon the Confederates. The latter had
already plundered and burnt the camp, 1 and were in a disorganized state. In
this condition they were driven in great confusion to their vessels, terribly galled
by the weapons of their pursuers. As the vessels moved oif with the retreat-
ing assailants, several volleys of musketry were poured upon them, and one
of the launches, loaded with men, was so riddled by bullets that it sank.
In this affair the Nationals lost, in killed, wounded, and prisoners; sixty-four
men. Among the latter was Major Vogdes. The Confederates lost about
one hundred and fifty, 2 including those who were drowned. Such was the
confusion in which they fled to their boats, that, according to the statement
of one of their officers, they shot down their own friends in numbers. " Night
skirmishing is a dangerous business," he said, " especially in an unknown
country, as was the Island of Santa Rosa." So ended THE BATTLE OF SANTA
ROSA ISLAND.

Fort Pickens had been silent during the entire summer and autumn of
1861, until late in November, when its thunders were heard for miles along
the coast, mingling with those of some vessels of war there, in a combined
attack upon the forts and batteries of the Confederates on the main. The
garrison at Fort Pickens then numbered about thirteen hundred men, under
Colonel Brown. The number of the Confederates, whose works stretched along
the shore, from the Navy Yard to Fort McRee, in a curve for about four miles,
was about seven thousand, commanded, as in the spring, 3 by General Braxton
Bragg. His defenses consisted of Forts McRee and Barrancas, and fourteen
separate batteries, mounting from one to four guns each, many of which
were ten-inch columbiads, and several thii*teen-inch sea-coast mortars.

Having determined to attack Bragg's works, Colonel Brown invited flag-
officer McKean, who was in command of the little blookading squadron there
(composed of the Niagara, Richmond, and Montgomery)* to join him. Mc-
Kean prepared to do so, and at a little before ten o'clock, on the morning of the
22d of November," the heavy guns of Fort Pickens opened upon
some transports at the Navy Yai'd. This was the signal for
McKean to act. The Niagara was run in as near Fort McRee as tHe depth
of water would allow, accompanied by the Richmond, Captain Ellison. The
latter became instantly engaged in a hot contest with the fort and the water

the main after the fight, "They are exhibiting my head and hair in Pensacola the reward is already claimed ;
also an old flag which I nailed to a flagstaff on the 4th of July, which has been hanging there ever since : nothing
left, however, but the stars. The leaders have cut it iip in pieces, and have pinned it on their bosoms as a
trophy. Every one in Pensacola has my sword and uniform. I must have a large quantity of hair, and plenty
of swords and uniforms. They say if I was to be taken alive, I was to be put in a cage and exhibited."

1 This camp was on the sea-sido of the island, a short mile from Fort Pickens. The tents were arranged in
parallel lines, forming pleasant avenues, and each was sheltered by u canopy of boughs and shrubs, to protect it
from the hot sun. Santa Rosa Island is a long and narrow sand-bank, with an average width of about half a
mile.

2 Report of Colonel Harvey Brown to Adjutant-General E. D. Townsend,. October 1 1th, 1861 ; also of Colonel
Wm. Wilson to General Arthur, October 14th, 1861 ; Correspondents of the Atlantic Intelligencer and Augusta
Constitutionalist. See map of Pensacola Bay and vicinity, on page 368, volume I.

s See page 871, volume I.

THE BOAST OF ROLLINS. 113

battery, and was soon joined in the fight by the Niagara. The guns of Fort
Pickens were also brought to bear upon Fort McRee ; and at noon the artil-
lery of the former and of Battery Scott, and also of the two vessels, were
playing upon the devoted fortress and the surrounding batteries. The guns
of McRee were all speedily silenced but one. Those of Barrancas were soon
reduced to feeble efforts ; and from those at the Navy Yard, and one or two
other batteries, there was no response for some time before the close of the
day.

The bombardment from Fort Pickens was resumed early the next mor-
ning," but, owing to the shallowness of the water, the vessels could
not get within range of Fort McRee. The fire of Pickens was * N ^ 1 23 '
less rapid, but more effective than the day before. McRee made
no response, and the other forts and the batteries answered feebly. At three
o'clock in the afternoon, a dense smoke arose from the village of Warrington,
on the west of the Navy Yard, and at about the same time buildings in
Wolcott, at the north of the yard, were in flames. These villages were
fired by the missiles from the fort, and large portions of them, as well as of
the Navy Yard, were laid in ashes. The bombardment was kept up until
two o'clock the next morning, when it ceased. 1

After this bombardment of two days, there was quiet on Pensacola Bay
until the first day of the year, 6 when another artillery duel

11- -, 11 i'. i . * * January 1,

occurred, lasting nearly twelve hours, but doing very little dam- 1562.
age to either party.

Looking farther westward, along the Gulf of Mexico, we observe little
sparks of war threatening a conflagration at several points, at about the
time when the events we have just considered were occurring on the shores
of Pensacola Bay. One of the most notable of these minor hostilities was
exhibited at the mouth of the Mississippi River, on the 12th of October, and
was first announced by Captain Hollins, an old officer of the National navy,
whose merits were much below his pretensions, as the Confederates, to whom
he offered his services when he abandoned his flag, in May, 1861, soon learned
to their cost. Hollins startled the public with a telegraphic dispatch to his
employers at Richmond, boasting of a successful attack on the National
blockading fleet at the Southwest Pass of the Mississippi. He claimed to
have driven all the vessels aground on the bar there, sinking one of them
and " peppering well " the others. 4 The official account of this affair showed
the following facts :

J. S. Hollins was placed in command of a peculiarly shaped iron-clad ves-
sel called a " ram," and named Manassas. At about four o'clock in the mor-
ning" this ram was seen approaching the little blockading squad-
ron, consisting of the war steamer Richmond, sloops-of-war Vin-
cennes and Preble, and steam-tender Water- Witch, all under the

1 Report of Colonel Brown, November 24th, 1861 ; also of Commodore McKean to Secretary "Welles, Novem-
ber 25th, 1861 ; report of General Bragg to Samuel Cooper, November 27th, 1861..

2 The following is a copy of the dispatch, dated at -Fort Jackson, below New Orleans, October 12th, 1S61 :
u Last night I attacked the blockaders with my little fleet I succeeded, after a very short struggle, in driviug
them all aground on the Southwest Pass bar, except the Preble. which I sitnlc.

" I captured a prize from them, and after they were fast in sand I peppered them well. There were no
casualties on our side. It was a complete success. HOLLISS."

VOL. II. 8

114

CONFLICT AT SOUTHWEST PASS.

3. 8. HOLLIN8>

command of Captain John Pope. 1 The Manassas was close to the Richmond
before she was discovered, and by the time the watch could give the alarm,
her iron prow had struck the vessel "abreast the port fore-channels," tearing

a coal schooner that was alongside from
her fastenings, and staving a hole in
the ship's side, about five inches in cir-
cumference, two feet below the water-
line. The ram then drew off, and, pass-
ing aft, made an ineffectual attempt to
breach the Richmond's stern. The
crew of the assailed vessel had promptly
hastened to quarters at the first alarm,
and, as the monster passed abreast of
the ship in the darkness, had given
it a volley from the port battery, but
with what effect was not known until
some time afterward.

A signal of danger had been given
to the other vessels. They at once
slipped their cables and got under
way, with orders to run down to the Pass, while the Richmond should
cover their retreat. This was done at five o'clock. In an attempt to pass
the bar, the Richmond and Vincennes grounded, at about eight o'clock, in
the morning, where they were bombarded for a while by the Jfanassas, and
some fire-rafts were sent down to burn them. A little later, Commander
Robert Handy, of the Vlncennes, mistaking the meaning of a signal from
Pope, abandoned his ship, placed a slow match at the magazine, and with
his officers and crew fled, some to the Richmond and some to the Water-
Witch. Happily, the fire of the match expired, and Handy and his men re-
turned to the ship and saved her. The fire-rafts sent down by Hollins were
harmless, and at ten o'clock the Confederate " Commodore " withdrew and
ran up to Fort Jackson, to send news of his great "victory" to Richmond.
The only damages inflicted by Hollins were slight bruises on the coal
schooner, sinking a large boat, and staving Captain Pope's gig. When his
dispatch and the facts were considered together, they produced great merri-
ment throughout the country at the expense of the weak Confederate " Com-
modore."

The Manassas would have been a formidable enemy to the blockaders at
the mouth of the Mississippi, in the hands of a competent officer. It was
so considered by the Government ; and the apprehension that others of like
character might be speedily fitted out at New Orleans, hastened the prepara-
tions already commenced for sending an expedition to the Lower Mississippi,
for the purpose of controlling it and its connecting waters, and taking pos-
session of the great commercial city on its banks. This expedition and its
results will be hereafter considered.

1 This squadron had been placed there by Flag-officer McKean, commander of the squadron off Pensacola,
for the purpose of guarding the several entrances to the Mississippi, and erecting a battery at the head of the
passes, which would command the entire navigation of the river.

NAVAL EXPEDITIONS. 115

CHAPTEE T.

MILITARY AND NAVAL OPERATIONS ON THE COAST OF SOUTH CABOLINA. MILITARY
OPERATIONS ON THE LINE OF THE POTOMAC RIVER.

AMPTON ROADS presented a spectacle, in October,
similar to that, late in August, of the Hatteras expe-
dition ; but more imposing. It was a land and naval
armament, fitted out for. a descent upon the borders
of lower South Carolina, among the coast islands
between Charleston harbor and the Savannah River.

The want of some harbors under the control of the
Government in that region, as stations, and as places
of refuge of the blockading vessels during the storms of autumn and winter,
had caused the Government to take action on the subject even before the
meeting of Congress in July. So early as June, a Board of army and navy
officers was convened at Washington City. 1 The Board, after careful inves-
tigations, made elaborate reports, and, in accordance with their recommen-
dations, expeditions were planned. The Secretary of the Navy, with the
help of his energetic assistant, Mr. Fox, had so far matured an expedition
for the Southern coast, that, early in October, rumors of it began to attract
public attention. It became tangible when in Hampton Roads a large
squadron was seen gathering, and at Annapolis a considerable land force
was collecting, which, it was said, was to form a part of the expedition.
Whither it was to go was a mystery to the public, and its destination was
so uncertain to the popular mind, that it was placed by conjecture at almost
every point of interest between Cape Hatteras and Galveston, in Texas.
Even in official circles its destination was generally unknown when it sailed,
so well had the secret been kept.

The land forces of the expedition, which assembled at Annapolis, in
Maryland, about fifteen thousand in number, were placed in charge of Briga-
dier-General T. W. Sherman, acting as major-general. The naval portion
of the expedition was placed under the command of Captain S. F. Dupont,
who Wad served as chairman of the Board of Inquiry just mentioned. The
fleet was composed of fifty war vessels and transports, with twenty-five coal
vessels under convoy of the Vandalia. These, with the troops, left
Hampton Roads and proceeded to sea on a most lovely October
morning," having been summoned to the movement at dawn by
the booming of a gun on the Wabash, the Commodore's flag-ship.
The destination of the expedition was not generally known by the partici-

1 This Board was composed of Major John G. Barnard, of the Engineer Corps of the army, Professor Alex-
ander Bache, of the Coast Survey, and Captains Samuel F. Dupont and Charles H. Davis, of the Navy.

116 AN EXPEDITION IN MOTION.

pants in it until it was well out to sea, when, under peculiar circumstances,
as we shall observe, it was announced to be Port Royal entrance and

harbor, and the coast islands of South
Carolina.

The army under Sherman was
divided into three brigades, com-
manded respectively by Brigadier-
Generals Egbert S. Viele, Isaac J.
Stevens, and Horatio G. Wright ; all
of -them, including the chief, being
graduates of the West Point Military
Academy. The transports which
bore these troops were about thirty-
live in number, and included some
powerful steamships. 1

The Wtibash led the way out to
sea, and its followers, moving in

8. T. DTJPONT. ' ' P

three parallel lines, and occupying a

space of about twelve miles each way, made a most imposing appearance.
The war-vessels and transports were judiciously intermingled, so that the
latter might be safely convoyed. 2 During a greater portion of the day of
departure, they moved down the coast toward stormy Cape Hatteras, most
of the vessels in sight of the shore of North Carolina, and all hearts cheered
with promises of fine weather. That night was glorious. The next day
was fair. The second night was calm and beautiful. There was no moon
visible; but the stars were brilliant. The dreaded Cape Hatteras was.
passed in the dimness with such calmness of sea, that on the following
morning a passenger on the Atlantic counted no less than thirty-eight of
the fifty vessels in sight from her deck. But, on that evening, the aspect of
the heavens changed, and the terrible storm, already mentioned, which swept
over Hatteras so fearfully at the beginning of November, was soon encoun-
tered, and the expedition was really " scattered to the winds." So complete
was the dispersion, that, on the morning of the 2d of November, only a
single vessel might be seen from the deck of the Wabash. Fortunately,
there were sealed orders on board of each vessel. These were opened, and the

1 The Atlantic and Baltic, each carrying a fall regiment of men anil a vast amount of provisions and stores,
were of the larger class. Among the other more notable vessels may lie named the Vanderbiit, Ocean
Queen, Ericsson, Empire City, Daniel Webster, and Great Republic, the latter having been employed in the
British service for the same purpose during a part of the Crimean war. Among the lesser vessels were five or
six ferry-boats, calculated, on account of their capacity and light draught, for landing troops in shallow and still
waters. The entire tonnage of the transports was estimated at about 40,000 tons.

2 The vessels moved in the following order and connection : The Wabash was flanked by the gunboats
Pawnee, Ottawa, Curlew, Isaao P. Smith, Seneca, Pembina, Unadilla, Penguin, and K. B. Forbes. The
Baltic, towing the Ocean Express, led the column on the left, and was supported by the Pocahonta*. The
Illinois towed the Golden Eagle, and was followed by the Locust Point, Star of the South, Parkersburg,
SelvKlere, Alabama, Coatsacoalcas, Marion, Governor, and Mohican.

The Atlantic led the central lino, and was followed by the Vanderbiit, towing the Great Republic; the
Ocean Queen, towing the Zenas Coffin; and these were followed by the Winfeld Scott, Potomac, Caltatcba,
Oriental Union, K. B. Forbes, Vixen, and 0. M. Petit.

The Empire City led the right, followed by the Ericsson, Philadelphia, Ben De Ford, Florida, Roanoke,
Matansas, Daniel Webster, Augusta, Mayflower, Peerless, Ariel, Mercury, Ovceola, and two ferry-boats.
The twenty-five coal-barges, convoyed by the Vandalia, had been sent out the day before, with instructions
to rendezvous off the Savannah River, so as to mislead as to the real destination of the expedition.

TERRIBLE STORM AT SEA. 117

place of rendezvous, off Port Royal, was made known. In that fearful storm
four transport vessels were lost, 1 but not a dozen persons perished. It was
most remarkable how small was the aggregate amount of disaster suffered
by so large a number of vessels in company, by a storm so severe that at
times it was a hurricane. Some were compelled to part with freight, in
order to insure salvation. The gunboat Mercury lost one of her two rifled
guns, thrown overboard to lighten her ; and the Isaac P. Smith was saved
by parting with eight 8-inch guns in the same way. The side-wheel steamer
Florida, carrying nine guns, was disabled, and put back in distress ; and the
Belvidere and two New York ferry-boats (Ethan Allen and Commodore
Perry] were compelled to go back to Fortress Monroe, where they gave the
first public notice of the storm and the dispersion of the fleet.

The sad news disturbed the loyal people with alarm and distress until the
small amount of disaster was known, while the Confederate newspapers
were jubilant with the expressed idea that the elements were in league with
them in destroying their enemies. "The stars in their courses fought against
Sisera," one of them quoted, and added, " So the winds of heaven fight for
the good cause of Southern independence. Let the Deborahs of the South
sing a song of deliverance." That joyous song was very brief, for, whilst it
was swelling in full chorus, a voice of wailing went over the Southern land,
such as had not been heard since its wicked betrayers had raised their arms
for the destruction of the Republic and the liberties of the people.

On Sunday morning' 1 the storm began to abate, and the vessels
of the expedition to reassemble around the flag-ship. When "^s^ 8 '
passing Charleston harbor, Commodore Dupont sent in Captain
Lardner with the Seneca, to direct the Susquekanna, on blockading duty
there, to proceed to Port Royal; and on the following morning, at eight
o'clock, the Wabash anchored off Port Royal Bar in company with twenty-
five vessels, whilst many others were continually heaving in sight in the dim

The expedition was now on the threshold of a theater of great and im-
portant events, with many difficulties and dangers still before it. The awful
perils of the sea had been passed, but there were others, no less fearful, to be
encountered in the works of man before it. There were also grave dangers
beneath the waters on Avhich that armada floated, for the insurgents had, as
we have observed, 2 removed lighthouses, beacons, buoys, and every help to
navigation all along the Southern coasts. Yet a remedy for this evil was
found in the person of Commander Charles H. Davis (the fleet captain, and
chief of Dupont's staff), and Mr. Boutelle, of the Coast Survey, a man of

1 The lost vessels were the Governor, Peerless, Osceola, and Union. The Governor, Captain Lltchfield,
was a steam transport. It foundered on Sunday (Nov. 3), having on board a battalion of marines, numbering
350. All were saved by the frigate S'tl/ine (see pige 366, volume I.), Captain Kingold, excepting a corporal and six
men, who were drowned, or crushed between the vessels; nearly all the arms and half of the uccoutertnents of the
marines were favi'd, and about 10,000 rounds of cartridges. The Peerless was a small Lake Ontario steamer,
loaded with beef cattle. Its officers and crew were saved by the gunboat Mohican, Captain Gordon. The pro-
peller Osceola, Captain Morrcll, also loaded with beef cattle, was wrecked on North Island, near Georgetown,
S. C., and its people, 20 in number, wore made prisoners. The Union, Captain Sawin, was a new and stanch
steamer, and went ashore off Beaufort, N. C., with a large quantity of stores, which were lost Its crew and
passengers, and a few soldiers, in all 73 persons, were captured and taken into the interior. The stanch steamer
Winfteld Scott, with 500 men of the Fiftieth Pennsylvania regiment, barely escaped destruction.

2 See page 453, volume I.

118

CONFEDERATES AT PORT ROYAL ENTRANCE.

great scientific skill, who had recently been engaged in making a minute
examination of this coast. By these well-informed men the channel entrance
to Port Royal Sound was found, and so well buoyed in the course of a few
hours that the fleet might enter with perfect safety. At three o'clock in the
afternoon Commodore Dupont was informed that all of his gun-boats and
transports drawing less than eighteen feet water might go forward without
danger. The movement commenced at once, and at twilight these vessels
were all anchored in the roadstead of Port Royal.

To oppose the further progress of the expedition, the Confederates had
earthworks on each side of Port Royal entrance. The one on the northern
side, at Bay Point, Phillip's Island, was named Fort Beauregard, and that
on the southern side, near Hilton Head, Hilton Head Island, was called
Fort Walker. The latter was a strong regular work, with twenty-four guns ;
and the former, though inferior to it in every respect, was formidable, being
armed with twenty guns.

Fort Walker was manned, when the expedition arrived, by six hundred
and twenty men, 1 under General T. F. Drayton, a wealthy land-owner, whose

mansion was not more than a mile
distant from it, standing a few yards
from . the beach, and overlooking a
beautiful expanse of land and water.
He was a brother of Captain Percival
Drayton, commander of the Poca-
hontas, of this expedition. On the
beach at Camp Lookout, six miles
from Fort Walker, were sixty-five men
of Scriven's guerrillas, who acted as
scouts and couriers for the commander.
These forces were increased, before the
battle commenced, to one thousand

eight hundred and thirty-seven men. 2
The force on Bay Point was six hun-
dred and forty men, commanded by
Colonel R. G. M. Dunovant. 3 Of these, one hundred and forty-nine, con-
sisting of the Beaufort Volunteer Artillery, garrisoned Fort Beauregard,
under the immediate command of Captain Stephen Elliott, Jr., of Beaufort.
Dunovant's infantry force was stationed so as to protect the eastern portion
of Phillip's Island, and the entrance to Trenchard's Inlet.

In addition to these land forces, there was a little squadron called the
"Musquito Fleet," under Commodore Josiah Tatnall, a brave old veteran of
the National navy, who served with distinction in the war of 1812, but who
had been seduced from his allegiance and his flag by the siren song of
supreme State sovereignty. He had followed the politicians of his native

T. F. DRAYTON.

1 Two companies of Wagner's South Carolina First Regiment of Artillery, three companies of Hayward's
Ninth South Carolina Volunteers, and four companies of Dunovant's Twelfth South Carolina Volunteers, under
Major Jones.

4 The re-enforcements were composed of 450 infantry from Georgia, under command of Captain Berry; Cap-
tain Eeed's battery of two 10-pounder howitzers and 50 men, and Colonel DC- Saussure's Fifteenth South Carolina
Volunteers, numbering 650 men.

3 See page 133, volume I.

PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE. 119

Georgia in the wicked ways of treason, and in the course of a few months he
had fallen from his high position of an honored commander, kindly placed
by his Government in a retreat of ease and comfort, at the naval station at
Sackett's Harbor, on Lake Ontario, in New York, to be the chief manager of
a little flotilla of eight small armed steamers that had been employed in
navigating the shallow waters among the Coast Islands, and losing, by lack
of success, even the respect of those whose bad cause he had consented to
serve. His achievements on the occasion we are now considering consisted
of a harmless show of opposition to the fleet when it anchored in Port Royal
roadstead ; a successful retreat from danger when a few shots were hurled at
his vessels ; assisting in the flight of the Confederate land forces upon Hilton
Head Island, and in the destruction of his own flotilla to prevent its capture
by his late brothers in the National navy.

On Tuesday, the 5th," Commander John Rogers, a passenger .
with Dupont, on his way to his own ship, the Flag, accompanied
by General Wright, made a reconnoissance in force of the Confederate Avorks
in the Ottawa, supported by the Curlew, Seneca, and Smith. The forts on
both shores opened upon them, as they desired they should, and an engage-
ment of about three-qiiarters of an hour ensued, by which the strength and
character of those works were fairly tested. In the mean time, the great
Wabash had passed safely over the bar, and every thing was now ready for
an attack. It was delayed by an ugly wind oif shore, and meanwhile the
Confederates were re-enforced and their works were strengthened.

Thursday, the 7th, dawned gloriously. The transports were all in sight,
and in the light of the morning sun a grand spec-
tacle was speedily presented. It had. been ascer-
tained by Rogers and Wright that Fort Walker,
on Hilton Head, was by far the most powerful of
the defenses, and upon it the bolts of the fleet were
chiefly hurled. The order of battle " comprised a
main squadron ranged, in a line ahead, and a flank-
ing squadron, which was to be thrown off on the
northern section of the harbor, to engage the
enemy's flotilla (Tatnall's), and prevent them tak-
ing the rear ships of the main line when it turned
to the southward, or cutting off a disabled vessel." 1 FOET WALKE ^ HILTOK HEAD.
That flotilla was then lying at a safe distance between Hilton Head and Paris
Islands.

The plan of attack was to pass up midway between Forts Walker and
Beauregard (which were about two miles apart), receiving and returning the
fire of both; and at the distance of two and a half miles northward of the
latter, round by the west, and closing in with the former, attack it on

1 Keport of Commodore Dupont to the Secretary of the Navy, November llth, 1S61. The main sqnadron
consisted of the WabaJi, Commander C. R. P. Rogers, leading; frigate Susquehanna, Captain J. L. Lardner;
sloop Mohican, Commander L. W. Gordon; sloop Seminole, Commander J. P. Gillis; sloop Pawnee, Lieutenant
commanding T. II. Stevens; gunboat Pembina, Lieutenant commanding J. P. Baukhead; sailing sloop Van-
dalia. towed by the Isaac P. Smith,, Lieutenant commanding J. \V. A. Nicholson. The flanking squadron con-
sisted of the gunboats Bienville, Commander Charles Sreodman, leading; Seneca, Lieutenant commanding
Daniel Ammen; Curlew, Lieutenant commanding P. G. Watmough; Peng-win, Lieutenant commanding F. A.
Budd ; and Augusta, Commander E. G. Parrott.

120

BATTLE OF PORT ROYAL ENTRANCE.

its weakest flank, and enfilade its two water faces. 1 The vessels were to pass
abreast of the fort very slowly, in the order of battle, and each avoid becom-
ing a fixed mark for the Confederate guns. On reaching the shoal ground
making off from the extremity of Hilton Head, the line was to turn to the
north by the east, and, passing to the northward, to engage Fort Walker
with the port battery nearer than when first on the same course. These
evolutions were to be repeated. The captains of the vessels were called on
board the Wabash, and fully instructed in the manner of proceeding ; and
this plan of pursuing a series of elliptical movements was strictly followed
in the engagement that ensued.

The signal to get under way was given at eight o'clock in the mor-
ning, and the action commenced at about half-past nine, by a
* 1861. ' S un at Fort Walker, which was instantly followed by one at Fort
Beauregard. The Wabash immediately responded, and was fol-
lowed by the Susquehanna. After the first prescribed turn, the signal for
closer action was given, at a quarter past ten, the Wabash passing Fort
Walker at a distance, when abreast, of eight hundred yards. In the desig-
nated order the fight went on. At half-past eleven the flag of Fort Walker
was shot away, and the heavy guns of the Wabash and Susquehanna had

so " discomforted the enemy," as
Dupont reported, and the shells
from the smaller vessels were
falling so thickly upon them at
the enfilading point, 2 that their
fire became sensibly weaker and
weaker, until their guns ceased
altogether to reply. At a quar-
ter past one p. M., the Ottawa
signalled that the fort was aban-
doned.

Fort Beauregard was also
silent and abandoned. The gar-
risons of both had fled for their
lives. According to the official
and unofficial reports of the Con-
federate officers and correspond-
ents, Fort Walker had become
the scene of utter desolation, at
noon. Dismounted cannon lay
in all directions, and the dead
and dying were seen on every
side. The place had become utterly untenable, yet it was a perilous thing

PLAN OF BATTLE AT 1'OET EOTAL ENTRANCE.

1 Dupont's Report

* Commander John Rogers, in a letter to a friend, said :

" During the action I looked carefully at the fort with a powerful spy -glass. Shell fell in it, not twenty-eight
in a minute, but as fast as a horse's feet beat the ground in a gallop. The resistance was heroic ; but what could
flesh and blood do against such a fir;' ?

" The Walash was a destroying angel, hugging the shore, calling the soundings with cold indifference, slow-
ing the engine so as only to give steerage- way, signalling to the vessels their various evolutions, and at the same
time raining shells, as with target practice, too fast to count."

RETREAT FROM BAY POINT.

121

to leave it. An open space of a mile, directly in range of the National guns,
lay between the fort and a thick wood to which they must go for shelter.
Across this they ran, each man for himself, divested of every thing that
might make him a laggard. Each of the wounded was placed in a blanket
and borne away by four men, but the dead were left. The garrison, with
their commander, ran six miles across the island, to Seabrook, where they
embarked for Savannah.

So too at Fort Beauregard the retreat had been hasty. General Drayton
had vainly endeavored to send over re-enforcements to the little garrison
there, that fought bravely
and well. Seeing danger
of being cut off from retreat,
Colonel Dunovant ordered
them to flee while there was
a chance for safety. Leav-
ing an infernal machine in
Fort Beauregard for a mur-
derous purpose, 1 and a note
for Commodore Dupont, 9
Captain Elliott and his com-
mand retreated with the rest
of the troops, first to St.
Helen's, then to Port Royal
Island, and then to the
main, with all possible haste, for the Charleston and Savannah Railway.

The loss on board the fleet during the action was very slight. 3 Dupont
reported it at thirty-one, of whom eight were killed. The Confederate
officers reported their loss in both forts at fifty, of whom ten were killed in
Fort Walker, but none in Fort Beauregard. On the evening: succeeding the

f CJ O O

battle, a procession of seventeen boats, from the Wabash, conducted the
remains of the dead to their burial-place on Hilton Head, near Pope's man-

PLAN OF TOUT BEAUREGARD.

1 The fair fame of Captain (afterwards General) Elliott as a humane man and honorable soldier received an
unerasable blemish by an act at this time perfectly consistent with the fiendish spirit of the conspirators, but
not at nil so with what common report says was his own. He left the Confederate flag flying, and its
halliards so connected with a percussion-cap apparatus, that when the victors should enter the fort and attempt
to pull down the ensign of treason, a mine of gunpowder beneath would bo exploded. Fortunately, the arrange-
ment was so defective that no life was lost by a partial explosion that occurred.

2 The following is a copy of Elliott's note to Dupont:

" Bay Point, Nov. 7th, 1861.

" We are compelled to leave two wounded men. Treat them kindly, according to the poet's saying 'Hand
ignara mall miseris truccurrcre disco.' 1 We abandon our untenable position that we may do the cause of the
Confederate States better service elsewhere. Respectfully,

"STEPHEN ELLIOTT, JR."

The Latin quotation in the above is a line from Virgil's .iBnead, in which Dido, remembering her own mis-
fortunes, pities the errors of .^Encas. It says, " Not unacquainted with misfortune, I have learned to succor the
distresses of others." I am indebted to the Rev. John Woart (who was chaplain at the U. S. General Hospital
at Hilton Head when I visited that post in April, 1S66) for a copy of Elliott's note, taken from the original by
Captain Law, of the N&w Hampshire, then in that harbor. The humane injunction of Elliott was in a spirit
directly opposed to his act in the matter of the infernal machine. lie doubtless acted under the orders of his
superiors. Captain Elliott became a brigadier-general, and commanded Fort Sumter during a greater portion
of the siege of that fortress. He was blown up by the explosion of the mine at Petersburg, when one of his arms
was broken. lie died at Aiken, South Carolina, in March, 1866.

3 The vessels engaged were all more or less injured by the Confederate cannon. The Wabaxh was struck
thirty -four times. Its mainmast was inj ured beyond hope of repair, its rigging was cut, and it was made to leak
badly.

122

LANDING OF NATIONAL TROOPS.

' Nov. 8,
1861.

STEPHEN ELLIOTT, JR.

sion, in a grove of palm and orange trees, not far from the fort ; and on the
following day," Dupont issued a stirring general order, in which,
after speaking in praise of his officers and men, he said : " The
flag-officer fully sympathizes with the officers and men of the

squadron, in the satisfaction they
must feel at seeing the ensign of the
Union once more in the State of
South Carolina, which has been the
chief promoter of the wicked and
unprovoked rebellion they have been
called upon to suppress." The flags
captured at the forts were sent to
the Navy Department, where they
were put to a better use as curtains
for a window.

Up to the time when the forts were
silenced, the land forces were only
spectators of the conflict ; then it was
their turn to act, and promptly they
performed their duty. The transpoi'ts
containing them at once moved for-
ward, the launches were prepared, and a flag of truce was sent ashore to ask
whether the garrison had surrendered. There was no one there to respond.
The Union flag was hoisted by Commander Rogers, 1 amid the greetings of
cheers from the fleet and transports ; and very soon the surface of the water
was dark with a swarm of troops in boats made specially for such occasions.
Early in the evening, the brigades of Generals Wright and Stevens had landed
on the beach, which was so flat that the water is always shallow a long dis-
tance out. Wright's men landed first, close by Fort Walker ; and so eager
were they to tread the soil of South Carolina, that many of them leaped
from the boats and waded ashore. Fort Walker was formally taken posses-
sion of, and General Wright
made his head-quarters near
it, at the abandoned mansion
of William Pope, and the
only dwelling-house at that
point. It had been the head-
quarters of General Drayton.
General Stevens's brigade,
consisting of the Seventy-
ninth New York and Eighth Michigan, crossed over to Bay Point the next
morning, and took possession of Fort Beauregard. The victory was now
complete, and the universal joy which it created in the Free-labor States
found public expression in many places; for it seemed as if the hand of

POPE'S HOUSE, HILTON HEAD.

1 "Commodore Dupont," Rogers wrote to a friend, "had kindly made me his aid. I stood by him, and I
did little things which I suppose gained me credit So, when a boat was sent on shore to ask whether they had
surrendered, I was sent I carried the Stars and Stripes. I found the ramparts utterly desolate, and I planted
the American flag upon those ramparts with my own hands first to take Dossession, in the majesty of the United
States, of the rebi-1 soil of South Carolina."

SHERMAN'S PROCLAMATION.

123

retributive justice, so long withheld, was about to be laid heavily upon the
chief offender, South Carolina. 1

"A thrill pervaded the loyal land
When the gladdening tidings came to hand ;

Each heart felt joy's emotion !
The clouds of gloom and doubt dispersed,
The sun of hope through the darkness burst,
And the zeal the patriot's heart had nursed

Burned with a warm devotion."

The joy of the Loyalists was equaled in intensity by the sadness of the
Secessionists everywhere. The latter perceived that an irreparable blow had
been dealt against their cause, and throughout the Confederacy there was
much wailing, lamentation, and bitter recriminations. It was believed that
Charleston and Savannah would soon be in possession of the National forces,
and that Forts Sumter and Pulaski would be " repossessed " by the Gov-
ernment.

General R. S. Ripley, an old army officer who had abandoned his flag,
was the Confederate commander of that sea-coast district, 2 having his head-
quarters at Charleston. He had arrived
on Hilton Head just before the action
commenced,.but retired to Coosawhatchie,
on the main, satisfied that no glory was
to be achieved in a fight so hopeless on
the part of his friends. It was under his
advice that the Confederate troops aban-
doned that region to the occupation of
the National forces. The latter fact was
officially announced by General Sherman,
in a proclamation to the people of South
Carolina on the day after the battle.
Unfortunately, a portion of that procla-
mation was couched in such terms, that
neither the personal pride nor the politi-
cal pretensions of the rebellious leaders
was offended. It was so lacking in positiveness that they regarded it with
perfect indifference. 3 Indeed, it was difficult to get them to notice it at all.

K. 8. EII'LET.

1 In all the cities and towns in the Free Labor States flags were flung out, and in many places salvos of can-
non wore fired. The chimes of Trinity church, in the city of New York, beneath its great flag that floated from
its spire, rang out two changes on eight bells, and twelve airs, under the direction of Mr. Ayliffe, the celebrated
chimist The airs wcreas follows: Hail Columbia; Yankee Doodle; Airfroin "Child of the Regiment;" Home,
Sweet Home; Last Rose of Summer; Evening Bells; Star Spangled Banner Airs by De Beriot; Airs from 'Fra
Diavolo ;" Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean ; Hail Columbia ; and Yankee Doodle.

The Secretaries of War and of the Navy publicly tendered to the commanders of the expedition and to their
men thanks, and the latter issued a General Order on the 16th of November, in which it was directed that a
national salute should be fired from each navy-yard at meridian on the day after the reception, to commemorate
the signal victory. ,

a See page 311, volume I.

* He acknowledged their pretensions to State sovereignty by speaking of " the dictates of a duty " which ho
owed "to a great sovereign State;" and he flattered them by speaking of them as "a proud and hospitable
people, among whom he had passed some of the pleasantest daysof his life." Then he assured them that they were
in a state of active rebellion against the laws of their own country, and that the civilized world stood amazed at
their course, and appalled by the crime they were committing against their " own mother." He narrated some

124 FLIGHT FEOM THE COAST ISLANDS.

Messengers were sent with it, under a flag of truce, first to Port Royal Island,
and thence to the main. The Confederate officers they met told them there
were no " loyal " citizens in South Carolina, and that no others wanted it,
and advised them to turn back with their bundle of proclamations. They
acted upon this recommendation, and so ended the attempt to conciliate the
South Carolinians.

General Sherman set vigorously to work to strengthen his position on
Hilton Head, for it was to be made a depot of supplies. Mechanics and
lumber had been brought out in the transports. Buildings were speedily
erected; also an immense wharf; and in a short time the place assumed the
outward appearance of a mart of commerce. Meanwhile, Dupont sent his
armed vessels in various directions among the islands and up the rivers of
the coast of South Carolina, in the direction of Charleston ; and before the
close of November, every soldier occupying earthworks found here and there,
and nearly every white inhabitant, had abandoned those islands and fled to
the main, leaving the negroes, who refused to accompany them, to occupy
their plantations and houses. Everywhere, evidences of panic and hasty
departure were seen ; and it is now believed that, had the victory at Port
Royal been immediately followed up, by attacks on Charleston and Savannah,
both cities might have been an easy prey to the National forces. Beaufort,
a delightful city on Port Royal Island, where the most aristocratic portion of

South Carolina society had summer residences, was entered," and
1S61 ** s arms an( i munitions of war seized, without the least resistance, 1

there being, it was reported, only one white man there, named
Allen (who was of Northern birth), and who was too much overcome with
fear or strong drink to give any intelligible account of affairs there.* The
negroes everywhere evinced the greatest delight at the advent of the " Yan-
kees," about whom their masters had told them fearful tales ; and it was a
most touching sight to see them men, women, and children flocking to
the island shores when the vessels appeared, carrying little bundles contain-
ing all their worldly goods, and with perfect faith that the invader was their

of their crimes, implored them to pause, and warned them that they would bring great evils upon their State.
He assured them that he and his troops would respect any constitutional obligations to them, and begged them
to believe that if, in the performance of their duty in enforcing the National authority, some of those obligations
should he neglected, such neglect came only because of the " necessities of the case." The general had been
specially instructed by the War Department to treat all slaves as General Butler had been authorized to treat
them at Fortress Monroe, and t-j assure all loyal masters that Congress would provide just compensation to them
for the loss of the labor of their slaves taken into the public service.

1 Among the trophies secured at Beaufort, and now (186T) preserved at the Washington Navy Yard, was a

6-pounder brass ciinnon, which had been captured from the
British while marauding on the coast of South Carolina during
the war of 1S12. It was deposited in the trophy room of the
National Arsenal, at Charleston, and there it remained until
the conspirators in that city seized it, with the other public
property, and appropriated it to their use. According to their
code of ethics, the act of seizure conferred the right of owner-
ship, and so they had the name of " South Carolina " engraved
CANNON CAPTITBED AT BEAUFORT. upon the cannon. It also bore the date of its construction,

" 1S03." Its carriage was modern, having been made after its
capture from the British. It, too, was of brass, and was decorated with stars.

a Report of Lieutenant Sproston, of the Seneca, who was the first to land at Beaufort. 'He says that while
he was talking with Mr. Allen, at his store in Beaufort, an intelligent mulatto boy dismounted from a horse, and
said, " The whole country have left, sir, and all the soldiers gone to Port Royal Fe.rry. They did not think that
you could do it, sir." He informed him that there were then about 1,000 soldiers at the ferry, a portion of whom
were the Beaufort Artillery, under Captain Elliott

CONQUEST ON THE GEOKGIA COAST.

125

Nov., 1861. ggl

deliverer, expressing a desire to go on board the ships, evidently fearing that
their masters would return. 1 The latter had used great exertions, by per-
suasion, threats, and violence, to induce their slaves to accompany them in
their flight to the interior, but Avith very little success. 4

With equal ease Dupont took possession of Big Tybee Island, at the
mouth of the Savannah River, from which Fort Pulaski, which was within
easy mortar distance, might be assailed, and the harbor of Savannah perfectly
sealed against blockade runners. On the
approach of the National gunboats, the de
fenses, which consisted of a strong martello
tower erected there during the war of 1812,
and a battery at its base, were abandoned, and
on the 25th" Dupont wrote to
the Secretary of War : " The flag
of the United States is flying over the terri-
tory of the State of Georgia." 4

Before the close of the year the National
authority was supreme from Wassaw Sound,
below the mouth of the Savannah, to the
North Edisto River. Every fort on the
islands in that region had been abandoned,
and there was nothing to make serious oppo-
sition to National authority. 5 But at the
close of November, and in the month of
December, over the curious net-work of creeks and rivers on that coast
hung the black clouds of extensive conflagrations, evincing intense hostility
to that authority by the South Carolinians. Vast quantities of cotton were
on the islands when the National forces came ; and, when the first panic had

MARTELLO TOWER ON TYBEE ISLAND. 8

1 Nowhere in the South were the negroes so shut out from all knowledge of the world as among these coast
islands. Their masters assured them that the ' Yankees" were coming to steal them and sell them into bondage
in Cuba ; and some described the " Northerners " as monsters who would devour them, or kill and bury them in
the sand. But most of these simple people did not believe a word of these tales ; on the contrary, they believed
the Lord had sent the "Yankees" to take them out of bondage. This faith and hope was most remarkable.

2 When the National forces reached Beaufort, the negroes, finding themselves sole occupants of the place
and property, had begun to pillage. They reported that their masters, before their departure, had tried to drive
them back into the woods, in the direction of the main, and numbers of them had been shot and killed. Com-
mander Eogers, in a letter to a friend (Nov. 9th), said: "A boat which came off to the Seneca paid one man
(giving his name) shot six of the negroes."

8 This was the appearance of the tower when I sketched it, in April, 1SGC. Its height had been somewhat
diminished by demolishing a portion of its upper part, on which rested a roof. Such towers had been erected
early in the present century along the British coasts, as a defense against an expected invasion by Bonaparte.
The lower story was. used for stores, and the upper, being bomb-proof, as secure quarters for the men. The walls
terminated in a parapet, behind which cannon were placed. The tower at Tybee was built of solid masonry,
like the best of those on the British coast.

4 Besides those on Hilton Head, and at Day Point on Phillip's Island, there were five other fortifications on

these islands, namely, on Botany Bay Island,

North Edisto ; on Otter Island, St. Helena's
Sound ; on Fenwick's Island ; on Bay Point,
on the South Edisto River; and on Sam's
Point, on the Coosaw River. The little
sketch here given of the Ibrt on Bay Point,
South Edisto, conveys an idea of the general
form of these works, which were constructed
of loose earth, and blocks of tough marsh
sod.

8 See map on page 126.

FOET ON BAY POINT.

126

THE COAST ISLANDS AND COTTON.

passed by, planters returned stealthily and applied the torch to that which
was gathered and ungathered, that it should not fall into the hands of the
invaders. 1

In this connection it
is proper to say, that
so soon as the report
of the existence of a
vast quantity of aban-
doned cotton on these
coast islands cotton of the

1862.

COAST ISLANDS.

most valuable kind 2 reached
Washington, an order went forth
for its secure preservation and
preparation for market. Agents were
appointed for the purpose, and the
military and naval authorities in that region
were directed to give them all necessary aid.
Measures were taken to organize the negro population
on the islands, and to carry forward all necessary work
on the abandoned plantations. This business was left
in the control of the Treasury Department, and was
efficiently and wisely managed by Secretary Chase, who appointed
Edwin L. Pierce as a special agent for the purpose.
At the beginning of February following," Mr. Pierce
reported that about two hundred plantations on fifteen of the
South Carolina coast islands were occupied, or under the control of the

1 The Cliarlesion Mercury of Nov. 30th, 1861, said : " The heavens to the southwest were brilliantly illu-
. mlnated with the patriotic flames ascending from burning cotton. As the spectators witnessed it, they involun-
tarily burst forth with cheer after cheer, and each heart was warmed as with a new pulse. Such a people can
never be subjugated. Let the holy flames continue to ascend, and let the demons of hell who come here on their
.diabolical errand learn a lesson and tremble. Let the torch be applied wherever the invader pollutes our soil,
and let him find, as is meet, that our people will welcome him only with devastation and ruin. Our people arc
In earnest, men, women, and children, and their sacrifice will ascend as a sacred holocaust to God. crying aloud
for vengeance against the fiends in human shape who arc disiracing humanity, trampling down civilization, and
would blot out Christianity. Patriotic planters on the seaboard are hourly applying the torch to their crops of
cotton and rice. Some are authorized by military authorities to destroy their crops, to prevent ravages by the
enemy. Plantations on North Edisto and in the neighborhood, and elsewhere on the const of South Carolina,
are one sheet of flames and smoke. The commanding officers of all the exposed points on our coast have re-
ceived positive instructions to burn or destroy all property which cannot be conveniently taken away and is
likely to be seized by the enemy/ 1

1 The " Sea Island Cotton " of commerce is the product of a narrow belt of coast islands along the shores of
South Carolina, and in the vicinity of the mouth of the Savannah Eiver. The seed was obtained from the Ba-
hama Islands, and the first successful crop raised in South Carolina was on Hilton Head Island, in 1790. It is
of the arborescent kind, and noted for its long fiber, adapted to the manufacture of the finest fabrics and the
best thread. It always brought a very high price. Just before the war, when the common cotton brought an
average, of ten or twelve cents a pound, a bale sent from South Edisto Island brought, in Liverpool, one dollar
and thirty-fire cents a pound.

MOVEMENT AGAINST PORT ROYAL FERRY.

127

FLAT BOATS USED FOR LANDING TROOPS.

Union forces, and that upon them, there was an aggregate negro population
of about eight thousand, exclusive of several thousand colored refugees at
and around Hilton Head. The industrial operations in this region under
the control of the Government will be further considered hereafter.

The only stand made by the Confederate forces in defense of the South
Carolina coast islands, after the battle of the 7th of November, was at Port
Royal Ferry, on the Coosaw, at the close of the year. They had a fortified
position there, and a force estimated at eight thousand strong, under Generals
Gregg and Pope, from which it was determined to expel them. A joint land
and naval expedition against this post was undertaken, the former com-
manded by Brigadier-General
Stevens, and the latter by
Commander C. R. P. Rogers.
The troops employed by Ste-
vens were Colonel Frazier's
Forty-seventh and Colonel
Perry's Forty-eighth New
York regiments, and the Sev-
enty-ninth New York High-
landers, Major -Morrison ; Fif-
tieth Pennsylvania, Colonel
Crist ; Eighth Michigan, Colo-
nel Fenton; and the One Hundredth Pennsylvania ("Round Heads"),
Colonel Leasure, of Stevens's brigade; in all about four thousand five
hundred men. The naval force assembled at Beaufort for the purpose was
composed of the gun-boats Ottawa, Pembina, Hale, and Seneca, ferry-boat
Ellen, and four large boats belonging to the Wabash, each of them carrying
a 12-pounder howitzer, under the respective commands of Lieutenants Upshur,
Luce, and Irwin, and Acting Master Kempff.

The expedition moved in the evening of the 31st of Dece.mber."
A large portion of the vessels went up the Broad River, on
the westerly side of* Port Royal Island, to approach the Ferry by Whale

Creek; and at the same time General
Stevens's forces made their way to a
point where the Brick Yard Creek, a
continuation of the Beaufort River,
unites with the Coosaw. There he was
met by Commander Rogers, with
launches, and his troops were embarked
on large flat boats, at an
early hour in the morning. 4
The Ottaioa, Pembina, and
Hale soon afterward entered the Coo-
saw, and at Adams's plantation, about
three miles below the Ferry, the land
and naval forces pressed forward to
the attack, two of the howitzers of the Wabash accompanying the former,
under Lieutenant Irwin.

Stevens threw out the Eighth Michigan as skirmishers, and the gun-boats

1861.

Jan. 1,

1S62.

PORT ROYAL FEREY BEFORE THB ATTACK.

128

BATTLE OF PORT ROYAL FERRY.

opened a brisk fire into the woods in their front. The Seventy-ninth New
York led. Very soon a concealed battery near the Ferry was encountered.
It opened upon them with grape and canister, but was soon silenced by
a close encounter, in which the Eighth Michigan bore the brunt. The
Fiftieth Pennsylvania pressed forward to the support of these and the
Highlanders, but very little fighting occurred after the first onset. The
Confederates, seeing the gun-boats Seneca, Ellen, Pembina, and Ottawa
coming forward, abandoned their works and fled, and the Pennsylvania
"Round Heads" passed over the Ferry and occupied them. At four
o'clock in the afternoon, General Stevens joined them. The works were
demolished, and the houses in the vicinity were burned. General Stevens's
loss was nine wounded, one of them (Major Watson, of the Eighth Michigan)
mortally.

While the National forces were thus gaming absolute control of the South
Carolina coast islands, and the blockading ships, continually multiplying on the
Atlantic and on the Gulf, were watching every avenue of ingress or egress for

violators of the law, the Government,
profiting by the hint given by the
insurgents themselves, several months
before, in sinking obstructions in the
channel leading up to Norfolk, 1 pro-
ceeded to close, in like manner, the
main entrances to the harbors of
Charleston and Savannah. For that
purpose a number of condemned mer-
chant vessels, chiefly whalers, were
found in NCAV England harbors, and
purchased by order of the Secretary
of the Navy. Twenty-five of them,
each of three or four hundred tons
burden, were stripped of their cop-*
per bottoms, and were as heavily
laden as their strength would permit, with blocks of granite, for the purpose
of closing up Charleston harbor. In their sides, below water-mark, holes
were bored, in which movable plugs were inserted, so that when these vessels
reached their destination these might be drawn, and the water allowed to
pour in.

This " stone fleet," as it was called, reached the blockading squadron off
Charleston at the middle of December, and on the 20th, sixteen of the
vessels, 4 from New Bedford and New London, were sunk on the bar at the
entrance of the Main Ship channel, 3 six miles in a direct southern line from
Fort Sumter. This was done under the superintendence of Fleet-captain
Charles H. Davis. They were placed at intervals, checkerwise, so as to form

1 See page 398, volume I.

2 One of these vessels was named Ceres. It had been an armed store-ship of the British navy, and ns such
was in Long Island Sound during the old war for Independence, when it was captured by the Americans.

8 There are four channels leading out from Charleston harbor. The Main Ship channel runs southward along
Morris Island. Maffitfs channel, on the northern side of the entrance, is along the south side of Sullivan's Island.
Between these are the North channel and thn Swash channel, the former having eight, and the latter nine feet of
water on the ban The Main Ship channel had fifteen feet, and Maffitt's channel eleven.

THE CHANNELS OF CHARLESTON HAKBOE.

FAILURE OF THE STOXE FLEET. 129

disturbing currents that would perplex but not destroy the navigation.
Indeed, the affair was intended by the Government, and expected by those
acquainted with the nature of the coast, the currents, and the harbor, to be
only a temporary interference with navigation, as a Avar measure, and these
experts laughed at the folly of those who asserted, as did a writer who
accompanied the fleet, that " Charleston Bar is paved with granite, and the
harbor is a thing of the past." l The idea that such was the case was fostered
by the Confederates, in order to " fire the Southern heart ;" and their news-
papers teemed with denunciations of the " barbarous act," and frantic calls
upon commercial nations to protest by cannon, if necessary, against this
" violation of the rights of the civilized world." The British press and
British statesmen sympathizing with the insurgents joined in the outcry,
and the British Minister at Washington (Lord Lyons) made it the subject
of diplomatic remonstrance. He was assured that the obstructions would be
temporary, and he was referred to the fact that, since they had been placed
there, a British ship, in violation of the blockade, had run into Charleston
harbor with safety, carrying supplies for the enemies of the Government.

The work of the " stone fleet " was a failure,* and the expected disaster
to Charleston, from its operations, did not occur. But a fearful one did fall
upon that city at the very time when this " stone fleet " was approaching.
A conflagration commenced on the night of the 14th of December, and con-
tinued the following day, devouring churches and public buildings, with
several hundred stores, dwellings, manufactories, and warehouses, valued,
with their contents, at millions of dollars.

Let us now turn from the sea-coast, and observe events at the National
capital and in its vicinity, especially along the line of the Potomac River.

We left the Confederate army, after the Battle of Bull's Run, lying in
comparative inactivity in the vicinity of its victory, with General Joseph E.
Johnston as its chief commander, having his head-quarters at Centrevillc. ;!
We left the Army of the Potomac in a formative state, 4 under General
McClellan, whose head-quarters were in Washington City, on Pennsylvania
Avenue, opposite the southeast corner of President Square. He was busily
engaged, not only in perfecting its physical organization, but in makinp p a
solid improvement in its moral character. He issued orders that com-
mended themselves to all good citizens, among the most notable of which was
one" which enjoined " more perfect respect for the Sabbath." He
won "golden opinions" continually, and with the return of every * !gg, 6 '
morning he found himself more and more securely intrenched in
the faith and affections of the people, who were lavish of both.

General McClellan's moral strength at this time was prodigious. The
soldiers and the people believed in him with the most earnest faith. His
short campaign in Western Virginia had been successful. He had promised,
on taking command of the Army of the Potomac, that the war should be
" short, sharp, and decisive ;" and he said to some of his followers,* &
while the President and Secretary of War were standing by,

1 Special correspondence of the New York Tribune, Dec. 26th, 1861.

8 A similar attempt had been made to close Ocracoke Inlet, In September, but with the same lack of success,
the old hulks being either carried to sea by the strong currents, or so deeply imbedded in the sand as to be
harmless.

1 Sec page 22. See page 25.

VOL. II. 9

130 RETIREMENT OF GENERAL SCOTT.

" Soldiers ! We have had our last retreat. We have seen our last defeat.
You stand by me, and I will stand by you, and henceforth victory will
crown our efforts." 1 These words found a ready response from the soldiers
and the people, and they were pondered with hope, and repeated with praise.
In them were promises of the exercise of that promptness and energy of
action, in the use of the resources of the country, that would speedily bring
peace. In the hearts of the people still rang the cry of " On to Richmond !"
while their lips, taught circumspection by the recent disaster at Bull's Run,
were modestly silent. The soldiers, eager to wipe out the disgrace of that
disaster, were ready to obey with alacrity, at any moment, an order to march
on Richmond. And it was evidently the determination of the commander,
all through the earlier weeks of autumn, to strike the foe at Manassas, as
quickly as possible, and march triumphantly on the Confederate capital. 9
But the retirement of Lieutenant-General Scott from the chief command of
i * ne National Army," 3 and the appointment of McClellan to fill
his place, imposed new duties and responsibilities upon the lat-
ter, and his plan of campaign against the insurgents in Virginia was
changed,

The new organization of the Army of the Potomac was perfected at the
middle of October, when at least seventy-five thousand well-armed and fairly
disciplined troops were in a condition to be placed in column for active
operations against the Confederates in front of Washington. At that time
the National city was almost circumvallated by earth-works, there being no

1 This little speech was on the occasion when Governor Curtin, accompanied by the President and Secretary
of War, presented a set of flags to the Pennsylvania Brigade of General McCall, on Arlington Heights.

a Mr. Swinton. in his History of the Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac (note on page 69), says :
"Though General McClellan used to keep his own counsel, yet General McDowell tells me he was wont, in their
rides over the country south of the Potomac, to point toward the flank of Manassas, and say, ' We shall strike
them there." 1 "

3 General Scott was then in the 76th year of his age, having been born in June, 1786. He had been for some
time suffering from physical and mental infirmities, and was incapable of performing, in any degree of efficiency,
the duties of his office at that important time. His voluntary retirement from active military duty was a fortu-
nate circumstance for the country and his own reputation, and he descended into the quiet of private life after
a most distinguished military career of more than fifty years' duration, followed by the benedictions of a grateful
people. It was on his recommendation that General McClellan, his junior by forty years, was made the Com-
mander-in-chief of all the armies of the Republic. See General Orders, No. 94, dated Washington, November
1st, 1861.*

General Scott left Washington city immediately after he retired from active command, accompanied by his
staff, the Secretaries of War and the Treasury, and other distinguished officials. General McClellan bade him
an affectionate farewell at the Washington railway-station, and the veteran was conveyed easily on a couch fitted
up for his use. He was everywhere greeted by the people with the most earnest 'demonstrations of respect. In
New York, a committee of the Chamber of Commerce and the Union Defense Committee made formal callsupon
him, tendering him addresses, to which he replied in the most feeling manner. He expressed confidence in the
ultimate success of the National cause, and spoke in highest terms of President Lincoln, to whom he was politi-
cally opposed. " I had n<> part nor lot in his election," he said. " I confess that he has agreeably disappointed
inc. He is a man of great ability, fidelity, and patriotism."

On the 9th of November, General Scott departed for Havre, in the steamship Aragb, his heart cheered by
intelligence, by way of Richmond, of the victory of Dupont at Port Royal, and the capture of Beaufort.

The following letter of the President was embodUd in the order:

" EXECUTIVE MiNgiow,
" Wathington, Xovtmber lit, 1861.

" On the 1st day of November, A. r>. 1861, upon his own application to the President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General
WINFIELD SCOTT is ordered to be placed, and hereby is placed upon the Hat of retired officers of the Army of the United States, without
ledurtion in his current pay, subsistence, or allowance.

" The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that General SCOTT has withdrawn from the active control of the
army, while the President and a unanimous Cabinet express their own and the nation's sympathy in his personal affliction, and their pro-
fuund sense of the important public services rendered by him to MS country during his long and brilliant career, among which will tver
be gratefully distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the Flag, when assailed by parricidal rebellion.

"ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

.-v FOREIGN PRINCES IN THE ARMY. 131

less than thirty-two forts completed and armed for its defense, and to these
sixteen were added in the course of six 'weeks. 1 Provisions, stores, ammuni-
tion, and clothing, were on hand in the greatest abundance, and the chief
commander was furnished with numerous and efficient staff officers, 2 among
whom were two French Princes of the House of Orleans, who had just
arrived at the capital, with their uncle, the Prince de Joinville, son of the
late Louis Philippe, King of the French. These were the Count of Paris
and the Duke of Chartres, sons of the late Duke of Orleans, who wished to
acquire military experience in the operations of so large a force as was there
in arms.

A prominent member of the then reigning family in France, whose head
was considered a usurper by the Orleans family, had just left this country
for his own. It was the Prince Jerome Bonaparte, a cousin of the Emperor
Napoleon the Third, who, with his wife, had arrived in New York in the
preceding July, in his private steam yacht. He went to Washington, where
he was entertained by the President, and visited the Houses of Congress and
the army on Arlington Heights and vicinity. He passed through the lines
and visited the Confederate forces under Beauregard, at Manassas. Return-
ing to New York, he started on a tour to Niagara, Canada, and the Western
prairies, with the princess. At the middle of September, he went from New
York to Boston and Halifax in his yacht, and so homeward.

It was only a few days before Prince Jerome's departure from New York
that the Prince de Joinville arrived there, with members of his family. He
came to place his son, the Duke of Penthievre (then sixteen years of age), in
the Naval School at Newport. He brought with him his two nephews above
named, who offered their services to the Government, with the stipulation
on their part that they should receive no pay. Each was commissioned a
captain, and assigned to the staff of General McClellan. They remained in
the service until the close of the Peninsula campaign, in July, 1862, and
acquitted themselves well.

1 See map and foot-note on page 24 of this volume. On the 7th of December, Chief Engineer -Barnard re-
ported that the defenses of Washington city consisted of about forty-eight works, mounting over 300 guns, some
of which were of very large size, and added, " that the actual defensive perimeter occupied is about thirty-five
miles, exceeding the length of the famous, and hitherto the most extensive fortified by extemporized field-works
lines of Torres Vedras by several miles."

Concerning the creation and use of heavy ordnance at that time, Swintoh says : " The task of forming an
artillery establishment was facilitated by the fact that the country possessed, in the regular service, a body of
accomplished and energetic artillery officers. As a basis of organization, it was decided to form field-batteries of
six guns (never less than four guns, and the guns of each battery to be of uniform caliber), and these were
assigned to divisions, not to brigades, in the proportion of four batteries to each division; one of which was to
be a battery of regulars, and the captain of the regular battery was in each case appointed commandant of the
artillery of the division. In addition, it was determined to create an artillery reserve of a hundred guns, and a
siege-train of fifty pieces. This work was pushed forward with so much energy, that whereas, when General
McClellan took command of the army, the entire artillery establishment consisted of nine imperfectly equipped
batteries of thirty guns, before it took the field this service had reached the colossal proportions of ninety-two
batteries of five hundred and twenty guns, served by twelve thousand five hundred men, and in full readiness
for active field duty. 1 " Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, page 65.

a The following officers com posed the staff of General McClellan soon after taking the command of the Army
of the Potomac: "Major 8. Williams, Assistant Adjutant-General; Captain Albert V. Colburn, Assistant
Adjutant-General; Colonel E. B. Marcy, Inspector-General; Colonel T. M. Key, Aid-de-Camp; Captain N. B.
Sweitser, 1st Cavalry, Aid-de-Camp ; Captain Edward McK. Hudson, 14th Infantry, Aid-de-Camp ; Captain L.
A. Williams, 10th Infantry, Aid-de-Camp; Major A. J. Myer, Signal Officer; Major Stewart Van Vliet, Chief
Quartermaster; Captain H. F. Clarke, Chief Commissary ; Surgeon C. S. Tripler, Medical Director; Major J. G.
Barnard, Chief Engineer; Major J. N. Macomb, Chief Topographical Engineer; Captain Charles P. Kingsbury,
Chief of Ordnance ; Brigadier-General George Stoneman, Volunteer Service, Chief of Cavalry J Brlgadler-
Uenerul W. F. Barry, Volunteer Service, Chief of Artillery."

132 THE DEPARTMENTS OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

McClellan had organized every necessary department thoroughly, and had
endeavored to place at the head of each the best men in the service. 1 These
had been active co-workers with him, and their several departments were
in the best possible condition for effective service. The main body of the
army was now judiciously posted, for offense or defense, in the
immediate vicinity of Washington City, with detachments on the
left bank of the Potomac as far up as "Williamspoi't, above Har-
per's Ferry, and as far down as Liverpool Point, in Maryland, nearly oppo-
site Acquia Creek. 2

At the close of September a grand review had been held, when seventy

o Oct. 15,
1861.

1 The Engineers, as we have observed, wore placed In charge of Major J. G. Barnard,
and the Artillery under the chief command of Major William F. Barry. The Topo-
graphical Engineers were commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel John N. Macomb, and a
Signal Corps, formed by Major Albert J. Myer, the inventor of a most efficient system
of signalling, was placed in chanre of that officer. This system was first practically tested
during the organization of the Army of the Potomac, and, as we shall observe hereafter, It
performed the most essential and important service on land and water, in reconnoitering
and in directing the fire of artillery, where objects, such as hills or woods on land, or bluffs
or wooded points on the shores of rivers, intervened between the belligerents. The value
of that service during the war cannot be estimated. A full explanation of its operations,
with illustrations, may be found in another part of this work.

The Telegraphic operations of the army were intrusted to Major Thomas J. Eckert.
In this connection. T. S. C. Lowe, a distinguished aeronaut, was employed, and for some time
balloons were used with great efficiency in reconnoitering, but later in the progress of the war
they fell into disuse. Mr. Lowe made experiments with his balloon in connection with the
telegraph so early as June, 1S61, and by perfect success demonstrated the feasibility of the
joint use of the balloon and telegraph in reconnoitering. At the height of full five hundred
leet above Arlington Heights, Mr. Lowe telegraphed to the President, at Washington, as
follows :

" SIE : From this point of observation we command an extent of country nearly fifty
miles in diameter. I have pleasure in sending you this first telegram ever
dispatched from an aerial station, and acknowledging indebtedness to your
encouragement for the opportunity of demonstrating the availability of the
science of aeronautics in the service of the country.

" I am your Excellency's humble' servant,

"T. S. C.LOWE."

War-balloons were first regularly used by Louis Napoleon in the Italian War,
in 1S59. Their success there commended their introduction
into the National army, and the attention of the military
authorities was early called to the subject. On receiving the
above dispatch, Mr. Lincoln invited Mr. Lowe to the Execu-
tive mansion. He introduced him to General Scott, and he was
soon afterward employed as an aeronaut in the militarj" ser-
vice. When in use, the balloon is kept under control by strong
cords in the hands of men on the ground, who, when the
reconnoissance is ended, draw it down to the place of depar-
ture.

The Medical Department of the army was placed in
charge of Surgeons Charles S. Tripler and Jonathan Letterman,
who in turn performed the duties of Medical Director. The
Quartermaster's Department was intrusted to Major S. Van
Vliet. The Subsistence Department was placed in charge
of Captain H. F. Clarke ; and to the control of the Ordnance
Department was assigned Captain C. P. Kingsbury. Colonel
Andrew Porter was made Provost-Marshal General of the

Army of the Potomac; and Colonel Thomas G. Garrett, of the General's staff, was made Judge Advocate.
See General McClellan's Report on the Organization of the Army of the Potomac, and its Campaigns in
Virginia and Maryland.

4 The different divisions were posted as follows: "Hooker at Budd's Ferry, Lower Potomac; Heintzelman
at Fort Lyon and vicinity ; Franklin near the Theological Seminary ; Blenker near Hunter's Chapel ; McDowell
at Upton's Hill and Arlington ; F. J. Porter at Hall's and Miner's Hills; Smith at Mackall'a Hill; McCall at
Langley; Buell at Tenallytown, Meridian Hill, Emory's Chapel, Ac., on the left bank of the river; Casey at
Washington; Stoneman's cavalry at Washington ; Hunt's artillery at Washington ; Banks at Darnestown, with
detachments at Point of Rocks, Sandy Hook, Williamsport, &c. ; Stone at Poolesville ; and Dix at Baltimore,
with detachments on the Eastern shore."

WAR BALLOON.

DANGERS POINTED OUT.

133

thousand men of all arms were assembled and maneuvered. It was the
largest military force ever gathered on the American Continent, and gave
the loyal people assurance of the safety of the Republic. And to these
troops, regiment after regiment,. at the rate of two thousand men each day,
and battery after battery, was continually added from the teeming popula-
tion and immense resources of the Free-labor States. A little
later," there was another imposing review. It was of artillery a ^^
and cavalry alone ; when six thousand horsemen, and one hun-
dred and twelve heavy guns, appeared before President Lincoln, the Secre-
tary of State, Prince de Joinville, and other distinguished men. Their
evolutions were conducted over an area of about two hundred acres : the
cavalry under the direction of General Palmer, and the artillery under the
command of General Barry. The whole review was conducted by General
Stoneman.

But drills, parades, and reviews were not the only exhibitions of war
near the Potomac during these earlier days of autumn. There was some
real though not heavy fighting between
the opposing forces there. The auda-
city of the Confederates was amazing.
Soon after the Battle of Bull's Run,
General Johnston had advanced his
outposts from Centreville and Fairfax
Court House to Munson's Hill, only
six miles in an air-line from Washing-

ton City, where the Confederate flag
was flaunted for weeks, in full view of
the National Capitol. At other points
above the city, his scouts pressed up
almost to the Potomac, and he was at
the same time taking measures for
erecting batteries at points below the Occoquan Creek, for the purpose of
obstructing the passage of supplies up that river, for the National army
around Washington. The probability of such a movement had been per-
ceived at an early day by vigilant and expert men.

So early as June, the Navy Department had called the attention of the
Secretary of War (Mr. Cameron) to the importance, in view of the possible
danger, of seizing and holding Matthias Point, in order to secure the
navigation of the river. At different times afterward,* the attention of
the President, General Scott, and General McClellan was called to the
matter by the same Department, but nothing was done until toward the
close of September, when Confederate batteries were actually planted there. 3
Then it was proposed to send a land force down the Maryland side of the
river, and crossing in boats, covered by the Potomac flotilla, take possession
of the shore just above Matthias Point. The Secretary of the Navy, having

1 This is a view of one of the most frequently mentioned buildings in the records of the Civil War. It is
from a sketch made by the author in 1866. It gives the name to the village around it, which is the shiretown of
the county. The village was much injured during the war.

2 July 1st, August 2()th, and August 81st.

3 It appears by an autograph letter before me, written by Colonel Wade Hampton, at Freestone Point,
between Occoquan and Dumfries, and dated September 24th, 1861, that a battery was completed at that place, and

FAIRFAX COURT HOUSE. 1

134 THE POTOMAC RIVER BLOCKADED.

use for the Potomac flotilla elsewhere, was anxious that the movement
should take place at once. 1 Preparations were accordingly made to send
four thousand of Hooker's division for the purpose. The Navy Department
furnished transportation, and Captain Craven, the commander of the flotilla,
gathered his vessels in the vicinity of Matthias Point, to co-operate in an
attack on the batteries there. In the mean time the chief engineer (Major
Barnard) reported adversely, 2 and the project was abandoned.

On the assurance of sufficient aid from the Navy Department, it was
agreed that a land force should march down the right bank of the Potomac,
capture all batteries found there, and take permanent possession of that
region. This project was also abandoned, because McClellan believed that
the movement might bring on a general engagement, for which he did not
feel prepared. No attempt was afterward made to interfere with the Con-
federates in their mischievous work, and early in October Captain Craven
officially announced that the navigation of the Potomac was closed, and the
National capital blockaded in that important direction. Craven was so
mortified because of the anticipated reproach of the public for the supposed
inefficiency of his command, that he made a request to be assigned to duty
elsewhere. The President, who had warmly seconded the Navy Depart-
ment in urging McClellan to take measures for keeping the navigation of
the river open, was exceedingly annoyed ; whilst the nation at large, unable
to understand the cause of this new disaster, and feeling deeply mortified
and humiliated, severely censured the Government. 3 That blockade, so dis-
graceful to the Government, was continued until the Confederates voluntarily
evacuated their position in front of Washington, in March following.

was ready for action at that date. His letter was addressed to Colonel Thomas Jordan, Beauregard's Assistant
Adjutant-General. He says the works were constructed under Captain Lee, whose battery and a long 32-pounder
rifled gun were there. The latter had been sent there by General Trimble, a Maryland traitor, then in the Con-
federate army. He reported that he had every thing in readiness to open fire the previous evening. A fringe of
trees had been left standing on tho point, to conceal the troops while erecting the works. These were cut down
on the night of the 23d.

1 At that time (late in September) there were in the Potomac the Pawnee, Pocahontas^ and Seminole, thruo
heavily armed vessels, and the ft. B. Forbes, with two very formidable guns on board. These vessels had been
detailed to go with Dupont's expedition to Port Royal, and it was urged by the Navy Department that thi-y
should first be employed in destroying tho Confederate batteries on the river, and assisting the Army of tho
Potomac in taking possession of their positions.

z He referred to the fact that High Point, Freestone Point, and Cock-pit Point, and thence down to Chapa-
wausic Creek, opposite Hooker's quarters at Budd's Ferry, were eligible places for batteries, and considered it
unwise to attempt the capture of any already completed, unless a campaign was about to be opened in that
direction. He concluded that the best way to prevent the erection of batteries, and to keep open navigation, was
to have a sufficient naval force patrolling the Potomac. See McClellan" s Report, page 50. In a review of tho
Peninsula Campaign, Major (then General) Barnard, alluding to this project, says (page 16), if it had been
attempted "a Ball's Bluff affair, ten times intensified, would have been the certain result."

3 General McClellan, in his report to the Secretary of War of the operations of the Army of the Potomac
while under his command, made in August, 1S63 (nearly two years after the events here recorded), attributed
the failure to keep the navigation of the Potomac open, at this time, to the remissness of the Navy Department
in not furnishing a sufficient number of armed vessels for the purpose. G. V. Fox, the Assistant Secretary of
the Navy, in his testimony before the Committee on the Conduct of the War (i. page 239), attributes that failure
partly to the remissness of the War Department, under the management of Cameron, but chiefly to the failure
of General McClellan to furnish a force from his immense army in time to have taken and held possession of the
Virginia shore of the river. The Committee on the Conduct of the War, in their summary of the testimony
of both Mr. Fox and General McClellan, says : " After repeated efforts, General McClellan promised that 4,000
men should be ready, at a time named, to proceed down the river. The Navy Department provided the neces-
sary transports for the troops, and Captain Craven, commanding the Potomac flotilla, upon being notified to that
effect, collected at Matthias Point all the boats of his flotilla at the time named. The troops did not arrive, and
the Navy Department was informed of the fact by Captain Craven. Assistant Secretary Fox, upon inquiring of
General McClellan why the troops had not been sent, according to agreement, was informed by him that his
engineers were of the opinion that so large a body of troops could not be landed, and therefore he had concluded
not to send them. Captain Fox replied that the landing of the troops was a matter of which the Navy Dvpart-

HOSTILE MOVEMENTS ON THE POTOMAC. 135

As the Army of the Potomac rapidly increased in numbers and equip-
ment in Virginia in front of Washington, it required more space than the
narrow strip between the river and the advance posts of the Confederates,
and early in September it was determined to acquire that space by pushing
back the intruders. Already there had been several little skirmishes be-
tween the pickets and the outposts of the confronting contestants. On the
5th of August, a detachment of the Twenty-eighth New York, under Captain
Brush, mostly firemen, attacked a squad of Confederate cavalry in Virginia,
opposite the Point of Rocks, killing and wounding eight men, and capturing
nine prisoners and twenty horses; and on the 12th a detachment of the
Tenth New York, under Captain Kennedy, crossed the Potomac from Sandy
Hook, and attacked and routed some Virginia cavalry at Lovettsville.

On the 12th of September, a reconnoissance was made
toward Lewinsville, four or five miles from Camp Advance, at
the Chain Bridge, by about two thousand men, under the command of Gen-
eral William F. Smith, 1 in charge of a brigade at that post. They had
accomplished a topographical survey, for which purpose they were chiefly
sent, and were returning, when they were attacked by a body of Virginians, 2
under the command of Colonel J. E. B. Stuart, afterward the famous general
leader of cavalry in the Confederate army. Stuart opened heavily with his
cannon, which at first disconcerted the National troops. The latter were
kept steady until Griffin's Battery was placed in position, when its guns
soon silenced those of the Virginians, and scattered their cavalry. Then the
National troops, having accomplished their object, returned to their post near
the Chain Bridge " in perfect order and excellent spirits," with a loss of
two killed and ten wounded. 3

ment had charge ; that they had provided the necessary means to accomplish the landing successfully ; that no
inquiry had been made of them in regard to that matter, and no notification that the troops were not to be sent.
It was then agreed that the troops should be sent the next night. Captain Craven -was again notified, and again
had his flotilla in readiness lor the arrival of the troops ; but no troops were sent down at that time, nor were
any ever sent down for that purpose. Captain Fox, in answer to the inquiry of the Committee, as to what reason
was assigned for not sending the troops according to the second agreement, replied that the only reason, so far
as he could ascertain, was that General McClellan feared that it might bring on a general engagement. The Presi-
dent, who had united with the Navy Department in urging its proposition, first upon General Scott and then
upon General McClellan, manifested great disappointment when he learned that the plan had failed in conse-
quence of the troops not being sent. And Captain Craven threw up his command on the Potomac, and applied
to be sent to sea, saying that, by remaining here and doing nothing, he was but losing his own reputation, as the
blame for permitting the Potomac to bo blockaded would be imputed to him and the flotilla under his command."

As the reports of the Committee may be frequently referred to in this work, it is proper to say that it was
a joint committee of both Houses of Congress, appointed in December, 1861, consisting of three members of the
Senate and four members of the House of Representatives, with instructions to inquire into the conduct of the
war. The Committee consisted of B. F. Wade, Z. Chandler, and Andrew Johnson, of tho Senate, and D. W.
Gooch, John Covode, G. W. Julian, and M. F. Odell, of the House of Representatives. They constituted a per-
manent court of inquiry, with power to send for persons and papers. When Senator Johnson was appointed
Military Governor of Tennessee, his place on the Committee was supplied by Joseph A. Wright, of Indiana.

1 These troops consisted of the Seventy-ninth (Highlanders) New York Militia ; battalions of Vermont and
Indiana Volunteers, and of the First United States Chasseurs; a Cavalry company, and Griffin's West Point
Battery.

z These were the Thirteenth Virginia Volunteers, Eosser's Battery of the Washington Artillery, and n
detachment of cavalry.

s Reports of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaler and Adjutant Ireland, and dispatch of General McClellan, all dated
September llth, 1S61. General McClellan joined the column at the close of the affair. Colonel Stuart (Con-
federate) gave a glowing account of the confusion into which the Nationals were thrown by his first attack, and
gave the affair the aspect of a great victory for himself. He reported ' fearful havoc in the ranks of the enemy."
" Our loss," he said, "was not a scratch to man or horse." Stuart's Report, Sept. 11, 1S61.

Stuart appears to have been accused of rashness on this occasion, in exposing his cannon to the danger of
capture. In an autograph letter before me. dated at Munson's Hill. September 14th, and addressed to General
Longstreet, he repels the accusation, and declares that at no time was a piece of his cannon ' in a position that it

136 AN INGENIOUS DECEPTION.

Three days after the affair near Lewinsville, the pickets on the right of
the command of Colonel John W. Geary, of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania,
stationed three miles above Darnestown, in Maryland, were
attacked" by four hundred and fifty Virginians, who had boldly
crossed the Potomac. A spirited skirmish for about two hours
ensued, resulting in a loss to the assailants of eight or ten killed, and several
wounded, and their utter repulse. Geary's loss was one killed ; and his gain
was great animation for the troops under his command, who were charged
Oct. 9 w i ta holding the country opposite Harper's Ferry. A little later,
< Oct. 16. National troops permanently occupied Lewinsville, 4 Vienna/ and
<*Oct n. Fairfax Court House/ the Confederates falling back to Centreville
without firing a shot. They had evacuated Munson's Hill on the 28th of
September, when the position was formally taken possession of by the Na-
tionals, who had been for some time looking upon it from Bailey's Cross-
roads with much respect, because of its apparently formidable works and
heavy armament. These had been reconnoitered with great caution, and pro-
nounced to be alarmingly strong, when the fort was really a slight earth-
Avork, running irregularly around about four acres on the brow of the hill,
without ditch or glacis, " in every respect a squirming piece of work," as an
eye-witness wrote. Its armament consisted of one stove-pipe and two logs,
the latter with a black disc painted on the middle of the sawed end of each,
giving them the appearance, at a distance, of .the muzzles of 100-pound Par-

rott guns. These " Quaker Guns," like
similar ones at Manassas a few months
later, had, for six weeks, defied the
Army of the Potomac. In a house near
the foit (which was soon made into a
strong regular work), Brigadier-Gen-
eral James Wadsworth, who was placed
in command, there made his head-quar-
ters ; and on the roof he caused a sig-
nal-station to be erected, from which
there was an interchange of intelligence
with another station on the dome of
the capitol at Washington. There the
<JUAXKB GUN AT MAKASSAR writer visited General Wadsworth, late

in November, 1861, and found that

ardent and devoted patriot, who had left all the ease and enjoyments which
great wealth and a charming domestic circle bestow, and for the sake of his
endangered country was enduring all the privations incident to an arduous
camp life. His quarters were humble, and in no respect did his arrange-
ments for comfort differ from those of his brother officers.

On the day of the grand review of the cavalry and artillery of the Army

could not have safely retreated from before an army of 10,000 advancing at the double-quick." Longstreet sent
Stuart's letter to General Johnson, with an indorsement, testifying to the judicious disposition of the cannon in
the ensrairvment.

1 This is from a photograph by Gardner, of Washington City, and represents one of the logs in the form of a
cnnnon, and painted black, that was found in an embrasure at Manassas, after the Confederates withdrew from
that post, in the spring of 1862.

HOSTILITIES AT HARPER'S FERRY.

137

' Oct. 8,
1S61.

of the Potomac, 1 there was an important movement in the vicinity of Har-
per's Ferry, which led to a still more important one a week later. On that
day," Major J. P. Gould, of the Thirteenth Massachusetts, was sent across
the river to some mills a short distance above Harper's Ferry,
to seize some wheat there belonging to the Confederates. 2 The
movement was made known to General Evans, 3 commanding in
the vicinity, and quite a heavy force was sent to oppose them. 4 Geary was
called upon for re-enforcements. He promptly responded by crossing the river
with about six hundred men and four pieces of cannon, the latter under the
respective commands of Captain Tompkins of the Rhode Island Battery, and
Lieutenant Martin of the Ninth New York Battery. 5 The wheat was secured
and made into flour ; and Geary was about to recross the river with his
booty, on the morning

of the 16th, when his
pickets, on Bolivar
Heights, two and a
half miles west of Har-
per's Ferry, and ex-
tending from the Poto-
mac to the Shenandoah,
were attacked by Con-
federates in three col-
umns, consisting of in-
fantry and cavalry, and
supported by artillery.
The pickets were driven
into the town of Bolivar. Geary, who, with his main body, was on Camp
Heights, 6 an eminence around the foot of which nestles the village of
Harper's Ferry, rallied them, and a general fight ensued. In his front, on
Bolivar Heights, were a large body of troops and three heavy guns, and
suddenly there appeared on Loudon Heights on his left, across the Shenan-
doah River, another large body of men, with four pieces of cannon, which
with plunging shot might terribly smite the little National force, and com-
mand the ferry on the Potomac.

Geary sent a company of the Thirteenth Massachusetts, under Captain
Schriber, to guard the fords of the Shenandoah, and prevent troops crossing
there and joining those on Bolivar Heights. He then had only four hundred
and fifty men left to fight his foe on his front. With these he repelled three

1 See page 132.

* His force consisted of three companies of the Third Wisconsin, and a section of Captain Tompkins's Rhode
Island Battery.

3 This was Colonel Evans, -who commanded the extreme left of the Confederates at the stone bridge, at the
opening of the battle of Bull's Run, on the morning of the 21st July, 1861. See page 590, volume I.

4 This force consisted of the Thirteenth and Nineteenth Mississippi, Eighth Virginia, Ashby's Virginia
Regiment of cavalry, and Rogers's Richmond Battery of six pieces, the whole commanded by General Evans in
person.

6 The remainder of Geary's force consisted of four companies of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania and three
of the Third Wisconsin.

Geary's quarters were at the large Government house on Camp Heights, delineated in the engraving, in
which Generals Kenley, Banks, and Miles were afterward quartered. It was in a terribly dilapidated condition
when the writer visited and sketched it, early in October. 1866, its outer walls scarred by shot and shell, and Its
interior almost a ruin. On the left of the picture is seen the western slope of Loudon Heights, across the
Shenandoah.

GEARY'S IIEAD-QUAETEKS ON CAMP HEIGHTS.

138 NATIONAL VICTORY AT HARPER'S FERRY.

fierce charges of Ashby's cavalry, and withstood the storm of bullets from a
long line of infantry on Bolivar Heights, until joined, at eleven o'clock, by
Lieutenant Martin, with one rifled cannon, with which he had crossed the
Potomac Ferry under a galling fire of riflemen on Loudon Heights. These
two companies of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania turned the Confederate
left near the Potomac, and gained a portion of the Heights. At the same
time, Martin opened a telling fire on the Confederate cannon in front, and
Tornpkins silenced two guns on Loudon Heights. The main body moved
forward at this crisis, charged the foe, and in a few minutes were in possession
of Bolivar Heights from river to river. It was now half-past one o'clock in
the afternoon. The Confederates fled, and were driven up the valley in the
direction of Halltown. They did not cease their flight until they reached
Charlestown, on the line of the railway between Harper's Ferry and Win-
chester, a distance of six miles.

Major Tyndale arrived from Point of Rocks with five companies of Geary's
regiment immediately after the capture of the Heights. He brought with him
the standard of the Twenty-eighth Pennsylvania. It was immediately unfurled,
" and under its folds," wrote the victor, " we directed the fire of our artillery
against the batteries and forces on Loudon Heights, and soon succeeded in
silencing every gun and driving away every rebel that could be seen. The
victory was now complete." 1 Geary's troops rested until evening, when, there
being no military necessity for holding Bolivar Heights at that time, he
crossed the Ferry with his whole command and resumed his position in Mary-
land. His loss was four killed, seven wounded, and two taken pi'isoners.
The loss fell chiefly on the Wisconsin troops. 2 The loss of the Confederates
is unknown.

Still more important movements were made on the line of the Potomac
River as the beautiful month of October was passing away. At that time
Major-General Banks was in command of troops holding the Maryland side
of the river from Darnestown to Williamsport. Brigadier-General Charles
P. Stone (who had been assigned to the command of a special corps of obser-
vation on the right flank of the Army of the Potomac), with a considerable
body of troops, then had his head-quarters at Poolesville, a short distance from
Conrad's and Edwards's Ferries, on the Potomac River. These ferries were
not far from Leesburg, the capital of Loudon County, Virginia, where it
was reported that the Confederate left, under General N. G. Evans, was
strong in numbers. The troops under Stone confronted this left wing,
and commanded the approaches to Leesburg, a village at the terminus of the
Alexandria, Loudon, and Hampshire railway, and which was the key to the
upper interior communication with the Valley of the Shenandoah. Between
the two ferries just named (which were four or five miles apart) was Harri-
son's Island, three miles in length and very narrow and nearly equally divi-
ding the river.

1 Report of Colonel John W. Geary, October 13th, 1861. In that report Colonel Geary mentioned the fact
that the Honorable Daniel McCook (father of the several McCooks who served the Union cause as general
officers so well throughout the war) was In the engagement, gun in hand, as an "amateur soldier."

8 In his report General Geary said : "The four men who were killed were afterward charged upon by the
cavalry and stabbed through the body, stripped of all their clothing, not excepting shoes and stockings, and left
in perfect nudity. One was laid out in the form of crucifixion, with his hands spread and cut through the palms
with a dull knife. This inhuman treatment incensed our troops exceedingly, and I fear its consequences may
be shown in retaliating hereafter."

MOVEMENTS ON THE UPPER POTOMAC. 139

On the 1 7th of October it was reported (erroneously) that the Confederates
had evacuated Leesburg. General McClellan then determined to make a
thorough reconnoissance of the Confederate left, to ascertain their strength,
and to cover the operations of his topographical engineers in
making a map of that region. He accordingly ordered" General ^gfiL 9 '
McCall, who held the advanced command in Virginia on the right
of the National line, to move forward and occupy Drainsville, about half
way between the Chain Bridge and Leesburg. He did so, and pushed his
scouts forward to Goose Creek, within four miles of the latter place.

On the following morning, 6 General Banks telegraphed to

j Oct. 20

General McClellan from Darnestown, saying, " The signal station
at Sugar Loaf telegraphs that the enemy have moved away from Leesburg."
McCall had also reported to McClellan the previous evening that he had not
encountered any opposition, and that it was reported that the Confederates
had abandoned the town. On the strength of Banks's dispatch, and without
waiting for later information from Drainsville, McClellan notified"
General Stone of the movement of McCall. He assured him that
" heavy reconnoissances " would be sent out that day " in all directions " from
Drainsville, and desired him to keep " a good lookout on Leesburg," to see
if it had the effect to drive the Confederates away, adding, "Perhaps a slight
demonstration on your part would have the effect to move them." This
dispatch reached Stone before noon. He acted promptly, and at evening he
telegraphed to the Chief that he had made a feint of crossing the river, during
the afternoon, at two places, and had sent out a reconnoitering party toward
Leesburg, from Harrison's Island, adding, "I have means of crossing one
hundred and twenty-five men once in ten minutes at each of two points."
To this dispatch he received no reply.

The feint had been made at the ferries of Edwards and Conrad, already
mentioned. The brigade of General Gorman, Seventh Michigan, two troops
of the Van Alen cavalry, and the Putnam Rangers were sent to the former,
where a section of Bunting's New York Battery was on duty. To the latter
Stone sent a battalion of the Twentieth Massachusetts, under its commander,
Colonel Lee, a section of Vaughan's Rhode Island Battery, and Colonel
Cogswell's New York (Tammany) Regiment. The ferry was at that time de-
fended by a section of Ricketts's Battery. Colonel Devens was sent to
Harrison's Island in two flat-boats from the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal,
bearing four companies of his Massachusetts Fifteenth. One company of the
same regiment was already there. A reserve, numbering about three thou-
sand men, was held in readiness to co-operate, should a battle ensue. With
this reserve was the fine body of Pennsylvanians known as the First Cali-
fornia regiment, commanded by Colonel E. D. Baker, then a representative
of the State of Oregon in the National Senate. These movements, at first

O f

designed as a feint, resulted in a battle.

McCall had made a reconnoissance on Sunday, the 20th/ which

, , . , J , d October.

had evidently caused an opposing movement on the part 01 the
Confederates. An infantry regiment of these had been observed marching
from Leesburg and taking shelter behind a hill, about a mile and a half from
the position of the Nationals at Edwards's Ferry. In order to disperse or
intimidate these, General Gorman was ordered to deploy his forces in their

140 INVASION OF VIRGINIA.

view. Three flat-boats, filled with troops, were maneuvered as if crossing,
and shot and shell were cast into the place where the foe was concealed. This
demonstration caused the Confederates to retire, and at twilight Gorman's
force returned to camp.

In the mean time, a scouting party of about twenty men had been sent
out from Harrison's Island under Captain Philbrick, of the Fifteenth Massa-
chusetts. They ascended the steep bank on the Virginia side, opposite the
island, known as Ball's Bluff, which rises about one hundred and fifty feet
above the Potomac. Philbrick went a short distance toward Leesburg,
when he discovered, as he supposed, a small camp of Confederates, appa-
rently not well guarded. Upon receiving information of this fact, General
Stone, who supposed that McCall was near to assist, if necessary, sent orders
to Colonel Devens to cross from Harrison's Island with five companies of his
regiment, and proceed at dawn to surprise that camp. Colonel Lee was also
ordered to cross from the Maryland shore with four companies of his regi-
ment and a four-oared boat, to occupy the island after Devens's departure, and
to send one company to the Virginia shore, to take position on the heights
there, and cover his return. Two mountain howitzers were also to be sent
stealthily up the tow-path of the canal, and carried over to the opposite side
of the island, so as to command the Virginia shore. These orders were
promptly obeyed. Devens advanced at dawn, but the reported camp could
not be found. It proved that other objects had been mistaken for tents.
He marched cautiously on to within a mile of Leesburg, without discovering
scarcely a trace of a foe. There he halted in a wood, and sent a courier to
General Stone for further orders.

Devens had been watched by vigilant Confederates. 1 Evans and his main
force lay on Goose Creek. Riflemen and cavalry were hovering near, and
waiting a favorable opportunity to strike Devens. He had a slight skirmish
with the former, in which one of his men was killed and nine were wounded,
when he fell back in safety and in perfect order toward the bluff, at about
eight o'clock in the morning, and halted within a mile of the little band
under Colonel Lee. While tarrying in an open field of about eight acres, he
received a message from General Stone, directing him to remain there until
support could be sent to him. The remainder of Devens's regiment had been
brought over by Lieutenant-Colonel Ward. His entire force consisted of
only six hundred and twenty-five men.

In the mean time, Colonel Baker, who was acting as brigadier-general,
in command of the reserves, had been ordered to have the California Regi-
ment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar, at Conrad's Ferry at sunrise, and
the remainder of his command ready to move early. In order to divert
attention from Devens's movement, Colonel Gorman was directed to send
two companies of the First Minnesota Regiment, Colonel Dana, across the
river at Edwards's Ferry, under cover of Ricketts's cannon, to make a recon-

1 " An English Combatant " in the Confederate service, in a volume entitled Battle-fields of the Smith, from
SulFs Bun to Gettysburg (page 80), says that there were several Marylanders in Evans's camp who were em-
ployed as spies. Among these was a wealthy young farmer named Elijah White, who resided near Poolesville.
He belonged to a company of Confederate cavalry, and often crossed the Potomac by swimming his horse, and
gathered valuable information for the insurgents. He sometimes went even to Baltimore, where he held con-
ference with the secessionists, and always returned with assurances that ninety-nine of every hundred of the
Marylauders were rebels.

COLONEL BAKER AND HIS TROOPS.

141

noissance toward Leesburg ; and a party of the Van Alen cavalry, led by
Major Mix, were ordered to sconr the country in the direction of that town,
and after gaining all possible information concerning its topography, and the
position of the Confederates, to hasten back to the cover of the Minnesota
skirmishers. These movements were well performed. The scouts came
suddenly upon a Mississippi regiment, when shots were exchanged without
much harm to either party.

At a little past noon, Devens and his band were assailed by Confederates
under Colonels Jenifer and Hunton, in the woods that skirted the open field
in which they had halted. Infantry attacked the main body on their left,
and cavalry fell upon the skirmishers in front. His men stood their ground
firmly ; but, being pressed by overwhelming numbers, and re-enforcements
not arriving, they fell back about sixty paces, to foil an attempt to flank
them. This was accomplished, and they took a position about half a mile in
front of Colonel Lee.

In the mean time Colonel Baker had been pressing forward from Conrad's
Ferry, to the relief of the assailed troops. Ranking Devens, he had been
ordered to Harrison's Island to take the chief command, with full discre-
tionary powers to re-enforce the party on the Virginia shore, or to withdraw
all of the troops to the Maryland
shore. He was cautioned to be care-
ful with the artillery under his con-
trol, and not to become engaged with

' O O

greatly superior numbers.

When Baker found that Devens
had been attacked, he decided to re-
enforce him. It was an unfortunate
decision, under the circumstances,,
and yet it then seemed to be the only
proper one. The task was a most
difficult and perilous one. The rivet-
had been made full by recent rains,
and the currents in the channels on
each side were very swift. The
means for transportation were en-
tirely inadequate. There had been no expectation of such movement, and
no provision had been made for it. There was only one SCOAV, or flat-boat,
for the service, between the Maryland shore and Harrison's Island, and at
first only two skiffs and a Francis metallic life-boat were on the opposite
side. To these were soon added one scow ; and these four little vessels com-
posed the entire means of transportation of several hundred troops and
munitions of war.

McClellan had not ordered more than a " demonstration " by a
small portion of Stone's troops, in conjunction with those of McCall ; biit
Stone, to whom the chief had not intimated his object in ordering "heavy
reconnoissances in all directions " in that vicinity, and who knew that there
were forty thousand troops within easy call of his position, naturally con-
sidered that they were to complete the expulsion of the Confederates from
the Potomac. He therefore made what disposition he might to assist in the

E. D. BAKEE.

142 BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF.

movement, in conjunction with McCall, and, as he supposed, with the divi-
sion of General Smith, known to be within supporting distance. 1 He was
ignorant of the very important fact that, on the previous evening, General
McClellan had ordered McCall to fall back from Drainesville. It was so.
At the very time when Baker was preparing to pass over the reserves in
force, McCall, by order of McClellan, was marching back to his camp near
the Chain Bridge, and Smith was without orders to do any thing in particu-
lar, thus making the peril that threatened the Nationals at Ball's Bluff
much greater for want of this support.

Colonel Baker, like General Stone, was ignorant of this damaging move-
ment, and was pressing on in high spirits, with the most wearisome and per-
plexing toil in slowly passing his troops in three scows, 2 when, hearing the
sound of battle on the Virginia shore, he hastened over in a small skiff, leav-
ing instructions to forward the artillery as quickly as possible. His Cali-
fornia regiment had already crossed and joined Devens and Lee. A rifled
6-pounder of Bunting's Rhode Island Battery, under Lieutenant Bramhall,
followed them. Two howitzers under Lieutenant French were already
there ; and, just before Baker reached the Bluff, a detachment of Cogswell's
Tammany Regiment had climbed the winding path leading up from the river.
Baker now took command of all the forces on the Bluff, numbering nineteen
hundred. 3 These were immediately formed in battle order, and awaited
attack.

The ground on which the Nationals were compelled to give battle was
unfavorable for them. It was an open field, surrounded on three sides by a
dense forest, and terminating on the fourth at the brow of the high bluff at

O O

the river. With their backs to the stream, the Union forces were prepared
for the contest, which was begun at three o'clock in the afternoon, by General
Evans, who hurled the Eighteenth Mississippi, under Colonel Burt, upon
Baker's left flank, and the commands of Jenifer and Hunton upon his front. 4
These came from the woods, that swarmed with Confederates, and were
received with the most determined spirit. The battle instantly became
general and severe. Colonel Featherston, with the Seventeenth Mississippi,
joined in the fray. Bramhall and French soon brought their heavy guns to
bear, and were doing good execution, when both officers were borne wounded
away, and their pieces were hauled to the rear, to prevent their falling into
the hands of their foe. A greater calamity speedily followed. The gallant
Baker was seen here and there in the thickest of the fight, encouraging his
men by words and deeds, and when the battle had lasted nearly two hours
he fell dead, pierced with many bullets. 5

1 See page 135.

5 The current was so strong and deep that it could be navigated by the scows only by dragging them up the
Maryland shore above the island, and letting them float diagonally across the stream until they touched the
island. The voyage from the latter to the Virginia shore was accomplished in the same way. The operation
was very slow, and the passage of the few troops occupied about three hours.

3 Baker's entire force consisted of the California Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar, 570; the New York
Tammany Regiment, Colonel Milton Cogswell, 360; and portions of the Fifteenth Massachusetts, Colonel
Devens. 653 and of the Twentieth, Colonel Lee, 313 total, 1,901.

4 The attacking troops were Evans's brigade, composed of the Eighth Virginia, and Thirteenth, Seventeenth,
and Eighteenth Mississippi.

6 Colonel Baker was probably killed instantly. Eye-witnesses Bay that a tall, red-haired man appeared
emerging from the emoke, and approaching to within five feet of the commander, fired into his body the con-
tents of a self-cocking revolver pistol. At the same moment a bullet entered his ekull behind his ear, and a

A TERRIBLE SCE?JE.

143

The immediate command now deyolved upon Colonel Lee, but Cogs-
well, his superior, soon took the control of affairs. Seeing the desperate
situation of the troops, with an overwhelming force on their front and flanks,
and a deep and turbulent river in their rear, Cogswell ordered them to
move to the left, and attempt to cut their way through to Edwards's Ferry,
about three miles distant, where they might receive the aid of the force
there under General Stone. This movement was about to take place, when
the Tammany Regiment, deceived by the beckoning of a Confederate officer,
whom they mistook for a National one, dashed off on a charge in the direc-
tion indicated by the deceiver, carrying with them the rest of the line.
Then a destructive fire at close distance was poured upon the whole column
by the Thirteenth Mississippi Regiment, Colonel William Barksdale, which
advanced from the direction of the ferry. Cogswell's plan was frustrated,
and he gave orders for his whole force to retire immediately to Harrison's
Island, and thence to the Maryland shore.

That retreat almost instantly became a rout. Down the steep declivity
the Nationals hurried, in wild disorder, to reach the boats, while the Con-
federates, who had followed them up to the brow of the bhiff with ball and
bayonet, fired into the straggling mass below with murderous effect. The
fugitives huddled on the shore,
formed in some order at first,
and kept up the hopeless fight
for a time, while endeavoring
to cross the flood to Harrison's
Island. Only one large flat-
boat was there, and that, with
an over-load of wounded and
others, at the beginning of its
first voyage, was riddled with
bullets, and sunk. The small-
er vessels had disappeared in
the gloom, and there was no
means of escape for the Umon-
ists but by swimming. This
was attempted by some. Seve-
ral of them were shot in the
water, 1 and others, swept away
by the current in the darkness,
were drowned. 2 A little more than

rBl. ,^/M\. y\ -

*?.*,. & '""TLl -

MAP OF TUB BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF.

one-fourth of the whole of Cogswell's

'sing from a Mississippi Yager wounded his arm and made a terrible opening in his side. jCaptain Beirel, of the
California regiment, who was close by Baker, caught the slayer of his friend by the throat, just as he was
stooping to seize the colonel's sword, and with his pistol blew out his brains. Baker had enjoined many of his
California regiment that if he should fall in battle, not to let the Confederates get possession of his body. Beirel,
the avenger, and the brave leader of company G of that regiment, acting upon these instructions, raised the
precious burden in his arms and bore it away amid a shower of bullets, and delivered it to Major Young, who
conveyed it safely to the river and took it across.

1 Pollard says (i. 1S1) that after the Nationals had surrendered, "the Confederates kept up their flre upon
those who tried to cross, and many not drowned in the river were shot in the act of swimming."

a The gallant Captain Beirel was among the last who left the shore and swam across the river. He was
compelled to drop his sword midway, in order to save his life. Many of the men, before they surrendered, threw
their arms into the river. Bramhall's gun had been spiked and completely disabled. It was brought to th*
bluff and tumbled over, with the intention of having it go into the river.

144

DISASTER AT BALL'S BLUFF.

command, including himself and Colonel Lee, were made prisoners, and
marched off to Leesburg, whilst Colonel Devens escaped on his horse, that
swam across the turbulent Potomac. A few were saved from captivity by
stealing along under the banks, and making their way to Gorman's camp
below.

While the contest was raging at Ball's Bluff, General Stone, who was at
Edwards's Ferry with about seven thousand troops, had been sending over
the remainder of Gorman's brigade to co-operate with Baker, all the while
unsuspicious of the perilous condition of the troops of that commander. He

had received information from
time to time that Baker was
perfectly able to hold his po-
sition, if not to advance ; and,
believing that he would re-
pulse and drive his assailants,
he was prepared to push
Colonel Gorman forward to
strike the retreating forces on
their flank. He felt anxious,
however, and at four o'clock
telegraphed to General Banks
for a brigade of his division, to place on the Maryland shore, in support of
the troops on Harrison's Island and the severely pressed combatants 011 Ball's
Bluff. 1

A little while afterward, the sad news of Baker's death was received, and
Stone hastened forward to take command in person. On his way he was
met by some of the fugitives, with the tale that the Confederates were ten
thousand strong, and that all was lost. Still ignorant of the position of
McCall, he left orders to hold Harrison's Island, and then hastened back to
Edwards's Ferry, to secure the safety of the twenty-five hundred troops that he
had sent across the river. There he was joined by General Banks,
at three o'clock in the morning:," who took the chief command.

Orders arrived at about the same time, from General McClellan,
to hold the Island and the Virginia shore at all hazards, and intimating that
re-enforcements would be sent. 2

So ended the BATTLE OF BALL'S BLUFF, 3 in disaster to the National arms.
In the camps of the Unionists, in the vicinity of the battle, on that gloomy
night of the 21st of October, there was darkness and woe, while the little

BANKS'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT EDWARDS'8 FERRY.

1 Stone had kept McClellan advised of the progress of affairs at Ball's Bluff during the afternoon, and tho
latter commander, toward evening, ordered General Banks to send one brigade to the support of the troops on
Harrison's Island, and to move with the other two to Seneca Mills, ready to support General Stone, at Edwards'a
Ferry. See MoClellan's Report, page 34.

* Reports of General Charles P. Stone and his subordinates, October 23th, 1861, and of General N. G. Evans,
tho Confederate commander, October 25th, 1S61. The latter report was, in several respects, marred by mis-
representations. It represented the Confederate force at only 1,709, omitting to state the fact that there was a
strong reserve of Mississippi troops, with six guns, posted so as to repel any troops that might approach from
Edwards's Ferry. From the best information since obtained, it is agreed that Evans's force numbered 4,oOO. His
report also claimed that, with his small force of 1,700, eight thousand Nationals were fouirht and beaten, and that
the Confederates killed and captured a greater number than their whole force engaged. It also declared that
long-range cannon were fired upon the Confederates from the Maryland side of the river, when there were no
heavy guns there at the time of the battle.

8 This is called the Battle of Leesburg by Confederate writers.

THE HONORED DEAD. 145

village of Leesburg, near by, whither the captives were taken, was brilliantly
illuminated, and the Confederates there were wild with joy. The Union loss
was about one thousand men and three cannon. Nearly three hundred men
were killed, and over five hundred were made prisoners and taken to Rich;
mond. 1 The Confederate loss was about three hundred. According to General
Evans's report, he had one hundred and fifty-thi-ee killed, including Colo-
nel E. R. Burt, of the Eighteenth Mississippi, and two taken prisoners.
He did not mention the number of his wounded, which was reported to be
large.

The death of Senator Baker was felt as a national calamity. 5 He was
one of the ablest men of his time as a statesman and orator. Thoroughly
comprehending the great issue, and the horrible crime of the conspirators, he
had eagerly left the halls of legislation (where he had combated the friends
of the criminals with eloquent words, and voted for abundant means to crush
the rebellion) to lead his countrymen into battle for the right. The achieve-
ments of his little band at Ball's Bluff, who composed a part of the Army oi
the Potomac, assisted greatly in effacing from the escutcheon of that army
the stain it received at the battle of Bull's Run.

Again, as in the case of the battle of Bull's Run, the grieved, arid disap-
pointed, and mortified loyal people demanded an explanation of the catas-
trophe. To the most inexpert there appeared evidence of fatal mismanagement.
General McClellan, General Stone, and Colonel Baker all received censure at
different times, and by different persons ; the first, for remissness in duty in
not informing Stone of the retrograde movement of McCall, and sending
re-enforcements ; the second, for sending troops across the river without ade-
quate transportation for a larger body at a time ; and the third, for rashness
in crossing at all and engaging the Confederates, double his own in numbers.

There was a natural clamor for investigation, and, on the assembling of
Congress, the House of Representatives passed a resolution asking the

1 Twenty-four of tho prisoners wore officers, namely, two colonels, one major, one adjutant, one assistant-
surgeon, seven captains, and twelve lieutenants. The colonels were M. Cogswell (Captain of the Eighth U. 8.
Infantry), of the Forty-second New York Volunteers, and W. Kaymond Lee, of the Twentieth Massachusetts
Volunteers. The major was P. J. Rivers, of tho latter regiment At Leesburg, General Evans (who was repre-
sented as a tall, strong man, of unusual length of limb, and in manners courteous and dignified) offered the cap-
tains a parole on the condition that they should not, unless exchanged, again "bear arms against the Southern
Confederacy." They refused to accept it, and were sent to Richmond by way of Manassas, arriving there at nine
o'clock in the morning of the 24th of October, where they were greeted with many jeers from an immense crowd,
inch as "I say, Tanks, how do yon feel?' 1 The captains were confined in the tobacco warehouse, already men-
tioned on page 26, where they were soon brought under the petty tyranny of the notorious General Winder.
A full account of the experience of the captains may be found in a little volume entitled " Prison Life in the
Tobacco Warehouse at Ridimond" by Lieutenant William C. Harris, of Baker's California regiment.

9 In a general order issued by McClellan, on the day after the battle, he announced the. death of Baker, and
spoke of him as one having " many titles to honor," as a patriot ' zealous for the honor of his adopted country "
(he was born in England), cut off "in the fullness of his power as a statesman, and in the course of a brilliant
career as a soldier distinguished in two wars." When Congress met, in December, the Senate appointed n day
(the llth of that month) for the consideration of the death of this distinguished member. The President was
there to participate in the mournful proceedings. Most touching eulogies were pronounced by the dead hero's
compatriots of the Senate. From that body went resolutions to the House of Representatives, where like pro-
ceedings were held ; and all over the country there was general grief because of the fall of that noble man. In
California, which had been his chosen residence for a long time, the news of his death created a profound sensa-
tion. It reached San Francisco a few days after the battle, the line of telegraph between the Atlantic and
Pacific oceans having been just completed. That line was opened for messages on the 25th of October, when a
communication (the first) was sent by Judge Field to President Lincoln. While they were preparing in San
Francisco, on the following day, to fire a salute in honor of this important event, a dispatch from the East
announced the death of Baker. Rejoicing was changed into mourning, and the celebration was deferred.

VOL. II 10

146

THE CASE OF GENERAL STONE.

Dec. 16,
1861.

Feb. 8,
1862.

Secretary of War " whether any, and, if any, what measures had been taken
to ascertain who was responsible for the disastrous movement of
the National troops at Ball's Bluff." It was answered" that
General McClellan was of the opinion that " an inquiry on the
subject of the resolution would, at that time, be injurious to the public ser-
vice." But General McClellan had already answered that inquiry, so far as
one of the commanders was concerned. He was at Stone's head-quarters, at
Poolesville, twenty-four hours after the disaster, and from there had telegraphed
to the President, saying, " I have investigated this matter, and General Stone
is without blame. Had hisordeBs been followed, there could (or would) have
been no disaster." 1 This was unknown to the public. They were dissatis-
fied with the apparent desire on the part of the General-in-chief to stifle
investigation, and more than ever he was held to be personally responsible
for the disaster.

For a time there were warm discussions in Congress on the subject.
Finally a victim appeared to propitiate the public feeling, in the
person of General Stone, who was arrested* by order of the
War Department and sent to Fort Lafayette, at the entrance
to New York Bay, and then used for the confinement of political priso-
ners. There he was detained until the following August, when, without
trial, or any public proceedings whatever, he was released. That fort-
ress being a place of
durance for men charged
with treasonable acts,
this gallant and truly pa-
triotic officer suffered pa-
tiently and silently, for
a greater portion of the
war, under the imputa-
tions of disloyalty. He
was imprisoned without
public accusation, was
held a prisoner about
six months, in profound
ignorance of any charges against him, and was released without comment by
the power that closed the prison doors upon him. 2

But little more remains to be said concerning affairs at Ball's Bluff.

FOET LAFAYETTE.

1 Dispatch to President Lincoln, Tuesday evening, October 22d, 1861. General Stone well knew that the
public would naturally blame him for the disaster, he being in chief command there, and he had suggested to
General McClellan that he should desire a court of inquiry, when that officer showed him the above satisfactory
vindication by the highest authority.

* The proceedings in this case were extraordinary. So full was the acquittal of all blame accorded by Gene-
ral McClellan to General Stone, in his dispatch to the President, that Stone was not only retained in command,
but his force was increased to the number x>f 12,000 men. For about a hundred days Stone was luisily engaged in
his duties, and had just submitted to McClellan a plan for the capture of General D. H. Hill and his force of 4.500
men, lying opposite his camp, when he was ordered to Washington, and placed before the Committee on the Conduct
of the War, to answer charges against his loyalty. His explanations were such that the Committee simply
reported to the Secretary of War that, on the points to which his attention had been called, "the testimony
was conflicting."

General Stone heard nothing more of the matter until the night of the 8th of February, when, after being
engaged at Willard's hotel, in Washington, in the examination of maps until almost midnight, ho was retiring to
his residence, he found General Sykes, an old friend, and then commander of the city guard, waiting for him,

A PRISONER OF STATE. 147

Supposing all the troops to be on the Virginia side of the Potomac, McClellan
telegraphed to Stone to intrench himself there, and to hold his position, at
all hazards, until re-enforcements should arrive. At the same time he ordered
Banks to remove the remainder of his division to Edwards's Ferry, and send
over as many men as possible to re-enforce Stone. These orders were
promptly obeyed. Intrenchments were thrown up ; large numbers of

with orders from General McClellan for his arrest, and immediate departure for Fort Lafayette.* He exchanged
his military for citizen's dress, said a few consoling words to his wife, and departed for Sykes's quarters, where
he was kept until morning, and then sent under a guard to Fort Hamilton, near Fort Lafayette. Before leaving
he had written to the Adjutant-General, asking for information* concerning his arrest, not doubting that there
was some strange misunderstanding in the matter. On the 10th be was in the custody of Colonel Burke, at
Fort Hamilton, and was then taken over to Fort Lafayette in a hoat There he was confined in a casemate fifty-
four days, receiving the most kind treatment. There he again wrote to the Adjutant-General, requesting a copy
of charges, and a trial, but, as before, was denied any response.

In the mean time, General Stone's friends had unsuccessfully endeavored to obtain justice for him at Washing-
ton. When his brother-in-law, on his way thither, stopped in New York, to consult with Lieutenant-General Scott,
the astonished veteran, who had not till then heard of his arrest, indignantly exclaimed, " Colonel Stone a traitor 1
Why, if he is a traitor, I am a traitor, and we are all traitors. While holding Washington last year, he was
my right hand, and I do not hesitate to say that I could not have held the place without hitn."t

After the lapse of fifty-four days, General Stone was transferred to Fort Hamilton, where he had larger
liberty. He was released on the 16th of August, by an order from the War Department, sent by telegraph. He
immediately applied for orders to active duty; and on returning to Washington he searched in vain in the office
of the Adjutant-General and of the War Department for the order for his arrest; the law requiring the officer
issuing such order to give a statement in writing, signed with his own name, and noting the offense, within
twenty-four hours. Halleck, then General-in-Chief, knew nothing about it Stone then went to the President,
who said he knew nothing about the matter, but kindly remarked, "I could never be made to believe
General Stone was a traitor." In endeavors to give to his country his active services in the war he was thwarted,
and it was not until May, 1863, that he was allowed to enter again upon duty in the field, when he was
ordered to report to General Banks, then the commander of the Department of the Gulf. He served faithfully
during the remainder of the war, until prostrated by malarious fever before Petersburg, when the service lost a
meritorious and patriotic officer.

In this connection, the following letter, written to the author by the Superintendent of the Metropolitan
Police of the City of New York, may be appropriately given. It furnishes interesting additions to the history
of Mr. Lincoln's journey from Philadelphia to Washington, in February, 1861, given in the first volume of this
work.

"Office of the Superintendent of Metropolitan Police,
"300 Mulberry Street

" New York, August 18ZA, 1866.

"BKNSON J. LOSSING, Esq., "V

" Poughkeepsie, New York.

" DEAR SIR : On reading your description of the manner in which the late President Lincoln was induced 1
to change his route in going to the City of Washington, in February, 1861, I was impressed with the faithfulness,
so far as the narrative goes, but regretted that it was not more full in showing how and to whom the country is
indebted for the safety of his valuable life at that important period.

" It will be remembered that there was much uncertainty at the beginning of the late rebellion as to what
course the conspirators designed taking to carry out their plans ; and, with the view of ascertaining their pur-
pose, in the latter part of December, 1860, I detailed two of my most intelligent detectives to proceed to Wash-
ington, with instructions to endeavor to discover the secret plans of the conspirators, if they had any, for taking
possession of the seat of Government, and to communicate with Senator Grimes, of Iowa, on the subject I
did not know the Senator personally at that time, but I had a reputation of hiui that justified me in confiding
in him.

"On Friday, January 4th, 1861, 1 received a note from Hon. Schnyler Colfax, requesting me to send a num-
ber of detectives to Washington, for the same purpose that I had already dispatched the two alluded to. I then

In the report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War (Part II., page 18) is a statement of General McClellan, that on the day
of the arrest he received information from a refugee from Leesburg, whUSi, in his mind, " tended to corroborate some of the charges made
against General Stone," which he reported to the Secretary of War, and received orders to arrest the General and send him imme-
diately to Fort Lafayette. What those charges were, neither the Committee on the Conduct of the War nor General McClellan ever made
public.

t When, late in 1860, General Stone, who had left the army (in which he held the commission of captain by brevet, awarded for meri-
torious services in Mexico), was in Washington City, General Scott desired him to rally around him the loyal men of the District of
Columbia. He complied, and on the 1st of January, 1861, hewas made Inspector-general of the District. He at once commenced organising
and instructing volunteers and when Fort Sumter was attacked he had under him no less than 3,000 well-organized troops fit for service.
He was the first man mustered into the service for the defense of the Capital. That was done on the 2d day of January, 1881. He was in
romman.l of the troops in Washington during the dark days at the close of April, when that city was cut off from th loyal people. During
those seven days, he slept but three hours in his bed, all dther rest being taken in his military cloak. All the outposts around Washington
were under his command until the passage of a portion of the army into Virginia, in May (see pa<*e 4SO, 481, and 482, volume L), and som
of his troop* were the first to encounter the pickets of the insurgents.

148

THE BALTIMORE PLOT.

troops were crossed, and active preparations were in progress for moving

strongly upon the Confederates, when, on Tuesday night," Gene-

'^j 28 ' ral McClellan arrived at Poolesville. Then, as he says, he

" learned, for the first time, the full details of the affair." The

preparations for a forward movement, which promised the most important

results for the National cause, were immediately suspended, and orders were

determined to go that night myself, and take with me another of my men. I purposed looking the field over,
with the view of ascertaining the probability of such an attempt being made. In the morning of Saturday I
found a want of harmony among the friends of the Union scarcely any two looked at the crisis through the same
medium. Mr. Colfax invited me to attend a meeting of a sort of committee of members of both houses of Con-
gress, at the residence of Senator Trumbull, that morning. It numbered about a dozen persons, and there were
bout twelve different opinions among them as to the ultimate designs of the conspirators. The extreme views
were entertained by Senator Trumbnll and Rep. E. B. Washburn. One of these gentlemen regarded the ' matter
as nothing more than the usual Southern vaunting; that the South had been badly defeated, and the secession
talk meant nothing but braggadocio; that they had had things so long their own -way, it could not be expected
of them to quietly submit to defeat; a few weeks and all would be peaceful again.' The other gentleman wa
of opinion 'that the Southern men meant every word they uttered; that they had been preparing for this
thing since 1832; that he was convinced they had selected this time because they think themselves ready, while
we are not ; that they have made preparations which we know nothing about ; that their plan was to destroy the
Government and to start one of their own ; and that to take possession of Washington was more than half the
battle. 1

"None of the remaining gentlemen agreed with either of these, nor with themselves.

" While at this meeting, I learned that a large number of detectives had been sent for to all the larger cities.
East, North, and West, and among these it was mentioned that Marshal Kane, of Baltimore, had been applied to,
and had promised to send ten detectives. I told the gentlemen plainly the Marshal would betray them ; that
his sympathies were with the South in any movement they would make; that but a few weeks before he had
declined an invitation to exchange a detective of his for one of mine, on the ground that he had but one in his
force, and consequently he conld not now furnish them with ten. In reply, I was informed that Mr. Corwin had
confidence in Marshal Kane, and they also had confidence in Mr. Corwin. So, as they decided to hold on to the
Marshal and his bogus detectives, I concluded not to act with them.

" I then called on a number of other members of Congress, without finding much improvement ; the excep-
tional case was Senator Grimes. One distinguished Senator informed me that he was in counsel with Jefferson
Davis, and that in a day or two t/iey would be able to adjust all apparent differences.

" After that I went among the people, and soon found that Mr. Washbnrn was nearer right than any other
member of Congress I had talked with. I also found that the safety of the country depended on Lieutenant-
General Scott, and I determined to consult with him; but I feared the General could not spare sufficient time to
talk with me as fully as I desired, and then concluded to see one of his confidential officers. On inquiring, I
learned that two of General Scott's family had great influence with him, Col. Eobt. E. Lee and Capt Chas. P.
Stone. I do not know what induced me to select Captain Stone in preference to Col. Lee, but I did so, and
called on the Captain at his quarters. We conversed freely in regard to the impending trouble, and especially
of the danger in which Washington stood. I informed him I would leave three of my detectives in the city,
and, at his request, agreed to instruct them to report to him verbally any things of importance they should
discover.

" I stopped in Baltimore that night on my way homj, and ascertained from Marshal Kane himself the plan
bjr which Maryland was to be precipitated out of the Union, against the efforts of Govr. Hicks to keep it there ;
and with Maryland also the District of Columbia. He told me Maryland would wait for the action of Virginia,
and that action would take place within a month; and 'that when Virginia seceded through a convention,
Maryland would secede by gravitation.' It was at this interview I ascertained Fort McHenry to be garrisoned
by a corporal's guard, consisting of one man, and that the Baltimore police were keeping guard on the outside,
to prevent the roughs from capturing it prematurely. I communicated the facts to Captain Stone, and on tho
following Wednesday, January 9th, troops from Washington took possession of tho fort, under orders from
General Scott

" At a subsequent visit to Washington I called, of course, on Captain Stone, and informed him of the purposes
contemplated in Baltimore. He then requested me to put some of my men on duty there, and instruct them
to report to him in person, by word of mouth, and not by mail, as he could not trust the mails. I had previously
placed two men there, and on my return selected a third, whom I sent directly to Captain Stone for special
instructions. Under these instructions, this officer, David S. Bookstaver, remained at Baltimore until February
23d, when I relieved him. During that period, while apparently occupied as a music agent, Bookstaver gave
particular attention to the sayings and doings of the better class of citizens and strangers who frequent music,
variety, and book stores, while the other two detectives .had joined an organization of rebel roughs, destined
to go South or elsewhere, whenever their services should be required.

"It was on the evening of Wednesday, February 20th, that Bookstaver obtained the information that made
it necessary for him to take the first train for Washington. Before going, he posted a letter to me, briefly
tatin-r the condition of things, and of his intention to go on the four o'clock morning train and report. I shall
complete this narrative with an extract from a letter written by Captain Stone on the subject

''It is impossible, with the time now at my disposal, to give you any thing like a detailed history of the
information derived fi^jin your men, and from dozens of letters and reports from other sources, addressed gome-

HOW MR. LINCOLN WAS SAVED. 149

given for the entire force to recross the river to the Maryland side. Generals
Banks and Stone, and the troops under their commands, were disappointed
and mortified, for they knew of no serious impediments then in the way of
an advance. General McClellan subsequently said, that " a few days after-
ward," he " received information which seemed to be authentic, to the effect
that large bodies of the enemy had been ordered from Manassas to Leesburg,
to cut off our troops on the Virginia side ;" and that their " timely with-
drawal had probably prevented a still more serious disaster." 1 Plain people
inquired whether sufficient re-enforcements for the Nationals, to counteract
the movement from Manassas, might not have been spared from the almost
one hundred thousand troops then lying at ease around Washington, only a
few miles distant. Plain people were answered by the question, What do
you know about war ?

times to the General-in-Chief and sometimes to myself, which served to convince both of us that there was
imminent danger that Mr. Lincoln's life would be sacrificed, should he attempt to pass through Baltimore at the
time and in the manner published in the newspapers as the programme of his journey.

" 'The closing piece of information on the subject was brought by one of your men, Bookstaver. He had
for weeks been stationed in Baltimore, and on the morning of Thursday (two days before the intended passage
of Mr. Lincoln through Baltimore) he arrived by the early train andreported to me. His information was
entirely corroborative of that already in our possession; and at the time of making my morning report to the
General-in-Chief, I communicated tJiat. General Scott had received from other sources urgent warnings also, and
he stated to me that it was almost a certainty that Mr. Lincoln could not pass Baltimore alive by the train on the
day fixed. "But," said the General, " while you and I know this, we cannot convince these gentlemen that
Mr. Lincoln is not coming to Washington to be inaugurated as quietly as any previous President."

'"I recommended that Mr. Lincoln should be officially warned; and suggested that it would be altogether
best that he should take the train of that evening from Philadelphia, and so reach Washington early the next
day. General Scott said that Mr. Lincoln's personal dignity would revolt at the idea of changing the programme
of his journey on account of danger to his life. I replied to this, that it appeared to me that Mr. Lincoln's per-
sonal dignity was of small account in comparison with the destruction, or, at least, dangerous disorganization
of the United States Government, which would be the inevitable result of his death by violence in Baltimore;
that in a few days more the term of Mr. Buchanan would end, and there would (in case of Mr. Lincoln's death)
be no elected President to assume the office; that the' Northern cities would, on learning of the violent death
of the President-elect, pour masses of excited people upon Baltimore, which would be destroyed, and we should
find ourselves in the worst form of civil war, with the Government utterly unprepared for it

" ' General Scott, after asking me how the details could be arranged in so short a time, and receiving my
suggestion that Mr. Lincoln should be advised quietly to take the evening train, and that it would do him no
harm to have the telegraph wires cut for a few hours, he directed me to seek Mr. W. H. Seward, to whom he wrote
a few lines, which he handed me.

" ' It was already ten o'clock, and when I reached Mr. Seward's house he had left : I followed him to the
Capitol, but did not succeed in finding him until after 12 M. I handed him the General's note ; he listened
attentively to what I said, and asked me to write down my information and suggestions, and then, taking the
paper I had written, he hastily left.

'"The note I wrote was what Mr. Frederick Soward carried to Mr. Lincoln in Philadelphia. Mr. Lincoln
has stated that it was this note which induced him to change his journey as he did. The stories of disguise are
all nonsense ; Mr. Lincoln merely took the sleeping-car in the night train. I know nothing of any connection
of Mr. Pinkerton with the matter.'

" The letter from which the above extract is made was sent to me by General Stone, in reply to an inquiry
of mine, made in consequence of having seen an article in a newspaper which gave the whole credit of the move-
ment to a person who I supposed had little to do with it. My opportunity for knowing who the parties were
that rendered this service to the country was very good, but I thought it advisable to have the testimony of one
of the most active in it to sustain my views. For obvious reasons, I have not called on either of the other living
parties to the matter, regarding the above sufficient to satisfy all reasonable persons that the assassination con-
summated in April, 1S65, would have taken place in February of 1861 had it not been for the timely efforts of
Lieutenant-General Scott, Brigadier-General Stone. Hon. Wm. H. Seward, Frederick W. Seward, Esq., and David
S- Bookstaver, of the Metropolitan Police of New York.

" I ana, very respectfully, yours, <fcc.,

"Jonw A. KENNEDY."'

1 See General McClellan's Report, page 84.

150

; ALL QUIET ON THE POTOMAC."

CHAPTEK VI.

THE AEMT OF THE POTOMAC. THE TRENT AFFAIE. CAPTTTEE OP EOANOKE ISLAND.

OR the space of nearly two months after the disaster
at Ball's Bluff, the public ear was daily teased with
the unsatisfactory report, "All is quiet on the Poto-
mac !" The roads leading toward the Confederate
camps, near Bull's Run, were never in better condition.
The weather was perfect in serenity. The entire
autumn in Virginia was unusually magnificent in all
its features. Much of the time, until near Christmas,
the atmosphere was very much like that of the soft
Indian summer time. Regiment after regiment was rapidly swelling the
ranks of the Army of the Potomac to the number of two hundred thousand
men, thoroughly equipped and fairly disciplined ; while at no time did any
reliable report make that of the Confederates in front of it over sixty thou-
eand. Plain people wondered why so few, whom politicians called " raga-
muffins " and " a mob," could so tightly hold the National Capital in a state
of siege, while the " bravest and best men of the North," fully armed and
provisioned, were in and around it, and Nature and Patriotism invited them
to walk out and disperse the besiegers, lying not two days' march from that
Capital. But what did plain people know about war ? Therefore so it was
that they were satisfied, or tried to be satisfied, with a very little of it from
time to time, though paying at enormous rates in gold and muscle for
that little. And so it was that when, just before Christmas, the " quiet on
the Potomac " was slightly broken by an event we are about to consider,
the people, having learned to expect
little, were greatly delighted by it.
Let us see what happened.

When McCall fell back from
Drainsville, the Confederates reoccu-
pied it. His main encampment was
at Langley, and Prospect Hill, near the
Leesburg road, and only a few miles
above the Chain Bridge, on the Vir-
ginia side. The Confederates became
very bold after their victory at the
Bluff, and pushing their picket-guards
far up toward the National lines, they
made many incursions in search of
forage, despoiling Union men, and distressing the country in general. With

FORAGERS AT WORK.

BATTLE NEAR DRAIJSTSVILLE. 151

McClellan's permission, McCall prepared to strike these Confederates a blow
that should make them more circumspect, and stop their incursions. He had
observed that on such occasions they generally left a strong reserve at
Drainsville, and he determined to attempt their capture when an oppor-
tunity should offer. Later in December the opportunity occurred, and he
ordered Brigadier-General E. O. C.
Ord to attempt the achievement ; and
at the same time to gather forage
from the farms of the secessionists.

Ord, with his brigade, 1 undertook
the enterprise on the
20th. McCall ordered '
Brigadier-General Reynolds to move
forward with his brigade toward
Leesburg, as far as Difficult Creek,
to support Ord, if required. When
the force of the latter was within
two miles of Drainsville, and his
foragers were loading their wagons,
the troops were attacked by twenty-
five hundred Confederates, under K - - c - ow> -
General J. E. B. Stuart,* who came up the road from the direction of Centre-
ville. A severe fight ensued. The Confederates were greatly out-
numbered, and were soon so beaten that they fled in haste, carrying in
their wagons little else than their wounded men. The brunt of the battle
had fallen on the Sixth and Ninth Pennsylvania, the Rifles, and Easton's
Battery. The National loss consisted of seven killed and sixty wounded ;
and their gain was a victory, and " sixteen wagon-loads of excellent hay, and
twenty-two of corn." Stuart reported his loss at forty-three killed and one
hundred and forty-three wounded. 3 He had been induced to attack superior
numbers by the foolish boast of Evans, that he had encountered and whipped
four to his one ; and he tried to console his followers by calling this affair a
victory for them, because McCall did not choose to hold the battle-field, but
leisurely withdrew to his encampment. This little victory greatly inspired
the loyal people, for it gave them the assurance that the troops of the Army
of the Potomac were ready and able to fight bravely, whenever they were
allowed the privilege.

While the friends of the Government were anxiously waiting for the
almost daily promised movement of the Grand Army toward Richmond, as
the year was drawing to a close, and heai*ts were growing sick with hopes
deferred, two events, each having an important bearing on the war, were in

1 His brigade was composed of Pennsylvania regiments, and consisted of the Ninth, Colonel Jackson ; Tenth.
Colonel MeOlmont ; Twelfth, Colonel Taggart ; Bucktail Rifles, Lieutenant-Colonel T. L. Kane ; a battalion of
the Sixth ; two squadrons of cavalry, and Easton's Battery in all about 4.000 men.

2 His troops consisted of the Eleventh Virginia, Colonel Garland; Sixth South Carolina, Lieutenant-Colonel
Seagrist; Tenth Alabama, Colonel Harvey; First Kentucky, Colonel T. H. Taylor; the Sumter Flying AYtil-
lery, four pieces. Captain Cutts ; and detachments from two North Carolina cavalry regiments, 1.000 in number,
under Major Gordon. Stuart was also on a forasinj expedition, and had about 200 wagons with him.

Report of General McCall, December 20, 1861 ; also, General Stuart to General Beaiiregard, December 21,
1861.

152 OPINIONS OF THE BRITISH ARISTOCRACY.

progress ; one directly affecting the issue, and the other affecting it inciden-
tally, but powerfully. One was the expedition that made a permanent lodg-
ment of the National power on the coast of North Carolina ; and the other
was intimately connected with the foreign relations of the Government. Let
us first consider the latter event. The incidents were few and simple, but
they concerned the law and the policy of nations.

We have already noticed the fact that the conspirators, at an early period
of their confederation against the Government, had sent representatives to
Europe, for the purpose of obtaining from foreign powers a recognition of the
league as an actual government. 1 These men were active, and found swarms
of sympathizers among the ruling and privileged classes of Europe, and
especially in Great Britain. There was an evident anxiety among those
classes in the latter country to give all possible aid to the conspirators, so
that the power of the Republic of the West, the hated nursery of democratic
ideas, might be destroyed by disintegration resulting from civil dissensions.*

Fortunately for the Republic, the men who had been sent abroad by the
conspirators were not such as the diplomats of Europe could feel a pro-

1 See page 259, volnme I.

* We have already observed the "precipitate and unprecedented" proceedings, as Mr. Adams termed it, of
the British Government, and the leaders of public opinion in England, in allowing to the insurgents the privi-
leges of belligerents. [Chapter XXIV., volume I.] In Parliament and out of it, no favorable occasion was
omitted, by many loading men, to speak not only disparagingly, but often very offensively, of the Government
and people of tho Republic. The enemies of free institutions and supporters of privileged classes acted upon
the old maxim of political craft, " Divide and Govern," and they exerted all their powers to widen the breach
between the people of the Free and Slave-labor States. Sir Edward Bulwer Ly tton, the author, who had received
the honors of knighthood, which allied him to tho aristocratic class in Great Britain, appeared among the willing
prophets of evil for the Republic. He declared in an address before an Agricultural Society, cm tho 25th of
September, 1S61, that he had " long foreseen and foretold to be inevitable " a dissolution of the American Union ;
and then again, mounting the Delphic stool, he solemnly said: "I venture to predict that tho younger men here
present will live to see not two, but at least four, and probably more th.xn four, separate and sovereign Common-
wealths arising out of those populations which a year ago united their legislature under ono President, and
carried their merchandise under one flag." He rejoiced in the prospect that so gladdened his vision, and said :
" I believe that such separation will be attended with happy results to the safety of Europe, and the develop-
mant of American civilization." The desire for such separation was evidently engendered in the speaker's
mind by an unpleasant horoscope of the future of tho Great Republic. " If it could have been possible," he said,
' that, as population and wealth increased, all the vast continent of Am.-rica, with her mighty seaboard, and tho
fleets which her increasing ambition as well as her extending commerce would have formed and armed, could
have remained under one form of government, In which the executive has Tittle or no control over a populace
exceedingly adventurous and excitable, why, then, America would have hung over Europe like a gathering and
destructive thunder-cloud. No single kingdom in Europe could have been strong enough to maintain itself
against a nation that had once consolidated the gigantic resources of a quarter of the globe."

A little later, Earl Russell, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, in an after-dinner speech at Newcastle-npon-
Tyne, declared that the struggle in America was " on the one side for empire, and on the other for power," and
not for the great principles of human liberty, and for the life of the Republic, for which the Government wan
really contending. A little later still, tho Earl of Shrewsbury, speaking with hope for his class, at the old city
of Worcester, said that .he saw in America the trial of Democracy, and Its failure. He believed tho dissolution
nf the Union to be inevitable, and that men there before him would live to " sec an aristocracy established in
America." In the same hour, Sir John Pakington, formerly a cabinet minister, and then a member of Par-
liament, told the same hearers, th.;t, "from President Lincoln, downward, there was not a man in America who
would venture to tell them that he really thought it possible that by the force of circumstances the North could
hope to compel the South to again join them in constituting the United States." Sir John Bowring, an
eminent English scholar, in a kindly letter to an American friend in England, expressed his solemn conviction of
the utter separation of the States, and intimated that the Government lacked the sympathy of Englishmen because
it had not "shown any disposition to put down slavery/' Overlooking the fact that the fathers of the Republic
fought for the establishment of liberty for all, and that the conspirators were fighting for tho establishment <<f
tho slavery of the many for the benefit of the few. he made a comparison, and said, ' It does not appear to me
thafyou are justified in calling the Southerners rebels. Our statesmen of the time of George III. called Wash-
ington and Franklin by that name." Lord Stanley, who had traveled in the United States a dozen years before,
and better understood American affairs, said, in a speech early in November, that a Southern Confederacy would
be established. " He did not think it reasonable to blame the Federal Government for declining to give up half
their territory without striking a blow iu its defense ;" but the real difficulty in this case, in his mind, was

NEW CONFEDERATE COMMISSIONERS. 153

found respect for; 1 and at the beginning of the autumn of 1861 it was pain-
fully evident to their employers that they were making no progress toward
obtaining the coveted good of recognition. It was therefore determined to
send men of more ability to vindicate and advocate their cause at the two
most powerful Courts of Europe, namely, Great Britain and France. For
these missions, James Murray Mason 8 and John SlidelP were appointed.
They were original conspirators. The former was a native of Virginia, and
the latter of New York, but long a resident of Louisiana. The former was
accredited to the Court of St. James, and the latter to the Court of St. Cloud.
Both had been prominent members of the Senate of the United States, and
both were somewhat known in Europe. Mason was justly supposed to pos-
sess a sufficiency of that duplicity (which unfortunately too often characterizes
a diplomatist), to cover up the real objects of the conspirators and win for
them the good offices of confiding English statesmen. Slidell (whose wife
was an accomplished French Creole of Louisiana) was well versed in the
French language and habits ; and for adroit trickery and reckless disregard
of truth, honor, or justice, he was rightly supposed to be a match for the
most wily employe of the Emperor of France, honest or dishonest. These
men were duly commissioned as " Ambassadors " for the " Confederate States
of America," and their proposed work was regarded as of vital importance
to the interests of the Confederacy.

The blockade of the Southern ports of the Republic was then very strin-
gent, and it was some time before these men found an opportunity to leave
the country. They finally went to sea on the 12th of October,
in the small steamship Theodore, which left Charleston harbor at
a little past midnight, while rain was falling copiously, and in the darkness
escaped the notice of the blockading fleet. Mason was accompanied by his
secretary (Mr. McFarland), and Slidell by his wife and four children, and
his secretary (Mr. Eustis) and his wife, who was a daughter of Corcoran,
the eminent banker of Washington City. The Theodore touched first at

involved In the question, " If they conquer the Southern States, what will ttiey do with them when they have got
them ?" IIo pictured to himself the need of the establishment of a powerful military government to keep them
in subjection. IIo wisely recommended great caution in judging of American affairs.

Mr. Gladstone, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in a Speech at Edinburgh, in January, 1S62, expressed there
the opinion that the National Government could never succeed dn putting down the Rebellion, and if it should,
he said, it "would only be the preface and introduction of political difficulties far greater than even the military
difficulties of tho war itself." This speech was delivered just after the surrender of Mason and Slidell to the
British Government; and Mr. Gladstone, evidently unmindful of the true greatness of fixed principles of
action as inseparable from mere worldly interests, was ungenerous enpngh to make that display of honor,
honesty, and consistency on the part of our National Government an occasion for disparaging that Government
and the people, by charging them with instability of purpose, if not cowardice. He tauntingly said : "Let us
look back to tho moment when tho Prince of Wales appeared in the United States of America, and when men
by the thousand, by tens of thousands, and by hundreds of thousands, trooped together from all parts to give
him welcome as enthusiastic, and as obviously proceeding from the depths of the' heart, as if those vast coun-
tries had still been a portion of the dominions of our Queen. Let us look to the fact that they are of necessity a
people subject to quick and violent action of opinion, and liable to great public excitement, intensely agreed on
the subject of the war in which they were engaged, until aroused to a high pitch of expectation by hearing that
one of their vessels of war had laid hold on the Commissioners of the Southern States, whom they regarded
limply as rebels. Let us look to the fact that in the midst of that exultation, and in a country where the prin-
ciples of popular government and democracy are carried to extremes that even, however, in this struggle of
life and death, as they think it to be that even while ebullitions were taking place all over the country of joy
and exultation at this capture that even there this popular and democratic Government has, under a demand of
a foreign Power, written these words, for they are tho closing words in the dispatch of Mr. Seward: 'The fonr
Commissioners will be cheerfully liberated.' "

1 See page 260, volume L See page 3S4, volume I. * See page 231, vo'.amo I.

154

WILKES IN SEARCH OF TRAITORS.

CDARLK8 WILKES.

Nassau, New Providence, a British port, where blockade-runners and
Confederate pirate-ships always found a welcome and shelter during the

war, and thence went to Cuba. At
Havana, the " Ambassadors " were
greeted with the most friendly ex-
pressions and acts, by the British
Consul and other sympathizers, and
there they took passage for St.
Thomas," in the British
jggj ' mail-steamer Trent, Cap-
tain Moir, intending to
leave for England in the next regular
packet from that island to Southamp-
ton.

The National Government heard
of the departure of Mason and Slidell,
and armed vessels were sent in pursuit.
None of these won the prize. That
achievement was left for Captain
Charles Wilkes, of the navy, to perform, an officer of world- wide fame, as the
commander of the American Exploring Expedition to the South Seas, a quarter
of a century before. At that time he was on his way home from the coast of
Africa, in command of the National steam sloop-of-war San Jacinto, mounting
thirteen guns. He put into the port of St. Thomas, and there hearing of the
movements of the pirate ship Sumter, he departed on a cruise in the Gulf
of Mexico and among the West India Islands in search of it. At Havana he
was informed of the presence and intentions of the Confederate " Ambassa-
dors," and after satisfying himself that the law of nations, and especially the
settled British interpretation of the law concerning neutrals and belligerents,
would justify his interception of the Trent, and the seizure on board of it of
the two " Ambassadors," he went out & in the track of that vessel
in the Bahama Channel, two hundred and forty miles from
Havana, and awaited its appearance. He was gratified with that apparition
toward noon on the 8th of November, when off Paredon del Grande, on the
north side of Cuba, and less than a dozen miles distant.

On the appearance of the Trent, all hands were called to quarters on the
San Jacinto, and Lieutenant D. M. Fairfax, a kinsman of Mason by mar-
riage, was ordered to have two boats in readiness, well manned arid armed,
to board the British steamer, and seize and bring away the "Ambassadors"
and their secretaries. When the Trent was within hailing distance, a request
was made for it to heave to. It kept on its course, when a shell fired across
its bow made a demand that was heeded. Fairfax was sent on board of the
Trent, but found he could do nothing in the matter of his errand without the
use of physical force. Captain Moir had declined to show his papers and his
passenger-list, and the " Ambassadors " had treated with scorn the summons
to go on board the San Jacinto, which, like all the other acts of Fairfax, had
been done with the greatest courtesy and propriety. 1 A proper force was

4 Nov. 2.

1 The appearance of Lieutenant Fairfax on board the Trent, with a warrant for the arrest of Mason and

CAPTURE OF MASON AND SLIDELL.

155

sent, and Mason and Slidell, compelled to yield to circumstances, went
quietly on board the San Jacinto with their secretaries. The Trent, with
the families of Slidell
and Eustis on board,
and its large number
of passengers, was per-
mitted to proceed on its
voyage, after a deten-
tion of only little more
than two hours. The
captives were conveyed
first to New York and
then to Boston Harbor,
where they were fur-
nished with quarters in
Fort Warren, 1 then used as a prison for political offenders, under the charge
of Captain Dimick, the defender of Fortress Monroe against the Virginia
insurgents.*

The act of Captain Wilkes was universally applauded by loyal men, and
filled the land with rejoicings because two of the worst of the conspirators
were in the custody of the Government. For the moment men did not stop
to consider either the law or the expediency involved in the act. Public
honors were tendered to Commander Wilkes, 3 and resolutions of thanks were
passed by public bodies. He partook of a public dinner in Boston. The
New York Historical Society, while he was present at a stated
meeting," elected him an honorary member of that body, by
acclamation. Two days afterward, he was publicly received by

FOKT WABEKK.

a Dec. 3,
1661.

, Slidell, and their secretaries, produced great excitement. The Captain was asked to show his passenger-list.
He refused to do so. Fairfax then said that the vessel would not be allowed to proceed until h was satisfied
whether the men he was seeking were on board or not. These, hearing their names mentioned, came forward.
They protested against arrest, and in this act they were joined by Captain Moir, and by the Mail Agent, Captain
Williams, of the Royal Navy, who said he was the " representative of Her Majesty."

The " Ambassadors " refused to leave the Trent, except by force. Fairfax called to his aid Lieutenant
Greer, who came on board with a few marines. The Lieutenant then took Mason by the shoulder, and, with
another officer on the opposite side, conducted him to the gangway of the steamer, and handed him over to
Greer. He then returned for Slidell, who gave him to understand that a good deal of force would be required
to make him go. The passengers gathered around in great commotion, making contemptuous remarks, with
threats of violence, and one cried out, " Shoot him I" The wife and daughter of Slidell joined in vehement pro-
tests, and the latter struck Fairfax in the face, according to the testimony of Capt. Williams, who told the story
of this cabin scene in an after-dinner speech at Plymouth. " Some of the public papers," he said, " have described
her as having slapped Mr. Fairfax's face. [Here his audience cried out, ' Served hiin right if she did,' and ' Bravo.']
She did strike Mr. Fairfax," he continued, and the audience gave cheers in her honor. "But she did not do it
with the vulgarity of gesture which has been attributed to her. Miss Slidell was with her father in the cabin,
with her arm encircling his neck, and she wished to be taken to prison with her father. (Hear, hear.) Mr.
Fairfax attempted to get into the cabin I do not say forcibly, for I do not say a word against Mr. Fairfax, BO
far as his manner is concerned he attempted to get her away by inducements. In her agony, then, she did strike
him in the face three times. I wish that Miss Slidell's little knuckles had struck me in the face. I should like
to have the mark forever." Exclamations of " Oh !" and laughter followed this assertion.

The marines were called in, and Slidell was compelled to go. McFarland and Eustis went quietly, under
protest.

1 Fort Warren is on George's Island, and commands the main entrance to Boston Harbor. It is a strong
work of masonry, with five fronts, the southern, eastern, and northern ones being seen in the little sketch.
Around the main work is a ditch 30 feet in width. The entire circuit of the fort is 3,136 feet. Against the
south front is an outwork of much strength, which is seen in the sketch.

2 See page 498, volume I.

3 The crew of the San Jacinto presented to Lieutenant Fairfax, on board that vessel, in Boston Harbor, a
beautiful silver poblet. with national, naval, and military devices on it, and the inscription, " Presented to
Lieutenant Fairfax, by the crew of the San Jacinty, as a slight token of their esteem and love."

156 CAPTAIN WILKES'S ACT APPROVED.

the authorities of the City of New York ; and on his arrival in Washington
City, toward the middle of December, he was made the recipient of special

honors. Already the Secretary of the Navy had written to him"
"^sgj 80 ' a congratulatory letter on the "great public service" he had

rendered "in capturing the rebel emissaries, Mason and Slidell,"
who, the Secretary said, "have been conspicuous in the conspiracy to dissolve
the Union ; and it is well known that, when seized by you, they were on a
mission hostile to the Government and the country." He assured him that
his conduct had "the emphatic approval of the Department." In his annual
report, submitted to Congress three days afterward, the Secretary as em-
phatically approved Wilkes's course, and at the same time remarked that his
generous forbearance in not capturing the Trent must not be " permitted to
Constitute a precedent hereafter for the treatment of any case of similar
infraction of neutral obligations by foreign vessels engaged in commerce or
the carrying trade."

On the first day of the Session of Congress,* the House of

Representatives, on motion of Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, tendered
" the thanks of Congress to Captain Wilkes, for his arrest of the traitors
Slidell and Mason." By a further resolution, the President was requested,
in retaliation for the outrageous treatment of Colonel Corcoran, then a
prisoner in the hands of the Confederates, in confining him in the cell of a
convicted felon, to subject Mason to like treatment in Fort Warren. 1

By most of the writers on international law in the United States, in-
structed by the doctrines and practices of Great Britain, the essays of British
publicists, the decisions of British courts, and by the law as laid down by
the Queen's recent proclamation, 8 the act of Captain Wilkes was decided to
be abundantly justified. But there was one thoughtful man, in whom was
vested the tremendous executive power of the nation at that time, and whose
vision was constantly endeavoring to explore the mysteries of the near
future, who had indulged calmer and wiser thoughts than most men at that
moment, because his feelings were kept in subjection to his judgment by a
sense of heavy responsibility. That man was Abraham Lincoln. The author
was in Washington city when the news reached there of the capture of the
conspirators, and he was in the office of the Secretary of War when the elec-
trograph containing it was brought in and read. He can never forget the
scene that ensued. Led by the Secretary, who was followed by Governor
Andrew of Massachusetts, and others, cheer after cheer was given by the
company, with a will. Later in the day, the writer, accompanied by the late
Elisha Whittlesey, First Comptroller of the Treasury, was favored with a
brief interview with the President, when the clear judgment of that far-seeing
and sagacious statesman uttered through his lips the words which formed
the key-note to the judicious action of the Secretary of State afterward. " I
fear the traitors will prove to be white elephants," said Mr. Lincoln. "We
must stick to American principles concerning the rights of neutrals. We
fought Great Britain for insisting, by theory and practice, on the right to do

1 Eeport of the Proceedings of Congress in the Congressional Globe, Dec. 2d, 1861.

1 See pase 567. volume I. of this work. In that proclamation, after enumerating many acts that would l>e
n violation of the duty of neutrals; the Queen specified that of" carrying officers, soldiers, dispatches," et cetera.
Mason and Slidell were civil officers of the Confederacy, and were themselves living dispatches.

MIGHT MAKES RIGHT. 157

precisely what Captain Wilkes has done. If Great? Britain shall now pro-
test against the act, and demands their release, we must give them up, apolo-
gize for the act as a violation of our doctrines, and thus forever bind her
over to keep the peace in relation to neutrals, and so acknowledge that she
has been wrong for sixty years." 1

That demand speedily came. When intelligence of the affair on board
the Trent reached England, and details were given by " Captain Williams,
R. N".," in a public communication dated at sea, November 9th (and also in
his after-dinner speech already mentioned), in which he so highly colored a
few facts that the courteous acts of Lieutenant Fairfax were made to appear

1 For more than a hundred years Great Britain had denied the sanctity of a neutral ship, when her interests
teemed to require its violation. That Power had acqnired full supremacy of the seas at the middle of the last
century, and Thompson had written that offering to British pride, the song of "liulo Britannia, 1 ' boastingly
asserting that

When Britain first, at Heaven's command.

Arose from out the azure main,
This was the charter of the land,

And guardian angels sung the strain
Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves 1
Britons never shall be slaves!"

Conscious of its might. Great Britain made a new law of nations, for its own benefit, in 1756. Frederick the
Great of Prussia hnd declared that the goods of an enemy cannot be taken from on board the ships of a friend.
A British orderin Council was immediately Issued, declaring the reverse of this to be " the law of nations," and
forbidding neutral vessels to carry merchandise belonging to those with whom she might be at war. So yiola-
tive of the golden rule was this order, that the publicists of Great Britain found it necessary, out of respect for
the opinions of mankind, to put forth specious sophistries to prove that England was not ambitious!

Under what was called u The Rule of 1756," the-British navy began to depredate upon the commerce of the
world. The solemn treaty made by Great Britain with Holland, eighty-two years before, in which it was
c-xpressly stipulated that free ships should make free poods that a neutral flag should protect a neutral bottom
that the contraband of war should be strictly limited "to arms, artillery, and horses, and to Include naval
materials," was wantonly violated by the possession of might. The vessels of Holland were not only prohibited
from carrying naval stores, but were seized, and their cargoes used for the benefit of the English war-marine.
From that time until the present, Great Britain has steadily adhered to "The Rule of 1756," excepting in a few
instances, when it suited her interests to make a temporary change in her policy. So injuriously did this
' Rule," practically enforced, operate upon the commerce of the world for England's benefit, that in 1780 the
northern powers of Europe Russia, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland formed a treaty of alliance, called the
" Armed Neutrality," to resist the pretensions and evil practices of Great Britain. The doctrine of the league
was that of Frederick, but much enlarged. Armaments were prepared to sustain the doctrine, but Great
Britain's naval strength was too great, and the effort failed.

In 1793, when Great Britain was at war with France, "The Rule of 1756" was again put into active
operation. By an order in Council, it was directed that "all vessels laden with goods, the produce of any colony
of France, or carrying provisions or supplies for such colony, should be seized and brought in for adjudication."
This was aimed at American commerce, which was then exciting the envy of the British. To that commerce ,
France had then opened all her West India ports. The order was secretly circulated among the British cruisers,
and captures were made under it before its existence was known in London I For that treachery, English states-
men and publicists offered the selfish excuse that it was " British policy to maintain for that power the suprem-
acy of the seas," that its children might continue to sing "Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves."

These aggressions were soon followed by more serious outrages against the rights of friends, or nentrals.
Great Britain declared its right to search any vessel on the high seas, and take therefrom any subject of her*
found there. This was a "new law of nations," promulgated by Great Britain to suit her necessities. Her
cruisers roamed the seas, and held no flag to be an absolute protection of what was beneath it Seamen -were
continually dragged from American vess?ls and placed in the British navy. The British cruisers were not
very particular when they wanted seamen, and under the pretext of claiming the subjects of His Majesty,
about 14,000 American citizens were forced into the British service in the course of twelve or fifteen years. K
This practice was one of the chief causes of the war declared against Great Britain by the United States in
1312. In the midst of that war, when overtures for peace on righteous terms were offered by the Americans,
the right of search and impressment was insisted upon by a carefully prepared manifesto of the noting head of
the British Government, in which it was declared that ' if America, by demanding this preliminary concession,
intends to deny the validity of that right, in that denial Great Britain cannot acquiesce, nor will she give coun-
tenance to such pretensions by acceding to its suspension, much less to its abandonment, as a basis on which to
treat" The war went on, and when it was ended Great Britain yet maintained the doctrine laid down in "The
Rule of 1756." and continued to insist, until 1361, upon the right of a nation at war to enter the ship of a neutral
power in search and for the seizure of its subjects, or articles contraband of war, or things intended to be injuri-
ous to the British nation. In doctrine and practice, Great Britain justified the act of Captain Wilkes.

158 ABUSE BY THE ENGLISH PRESS.

like rude outrages, a storm of indignation was raised. The most violent and
coarse abuse of Americans was uttered by a portion of the British press ; and
the most absurd threats of vengeance on the offending nation were put forth.
Of the courteous and accomplished gentleman, Captain Wilkes, the London
Times, the accredited exponent of- the opinions of the Government and the
ruling class, said : " He is unfortunately but too faithful a type of the people
in whose foul mission he is engaged. He is an ideal Yankee. Swagger and
ferocity, built up on a foundation of vulgarity and cowardice these are hia
characteristics, and these are the most prominent marks by which his country-
men, generally speaking, are known all over the world. To bully the weak,
to triumph over the helpless, to trample on every law of country and custom,
willfully to violate all the most sacred interests of human nature, to defy as
long as danger does not appear, and, as soon as real peril shows itself, to
sneak aside and run away these are the virtues of the race which presumes
to announce itself as the leader of civilization and the prophet of human
progress in these latter days. By Captain "Wilkes let the Yankee breed be
judged."

Other publications, of higher and lower character than the Times, used
equally offensive language; 1 and the Government itself, without waiting
to hear a word from the United States on the subject, at once assumed a
belligerent position, and made energetic preparations for war. So urgent
seemed the necessity, that not an hour of procrastination was permitted. All
through Sunday, the 1st of December (immediately after the arrival of the
passengers of the Trent], men were engaged in the Tower of London in pack-
ing twenty-five thousand muskets to be sent to Canada. On the
De ^ ber ' 4th," a royal proclamation was issued, prohibiting the exporta-
tion of arms and munitions of war ; and the shipment of saltpeter
was stopped. A general panic prevailed in business circles. Visions of
British privateers sweeping American commerce from the seas floated before
the English mind, and no insurance on American vessels could be obtained.
American securities dropped amazingly, and large fortunes were made by
wise ones, under the shadow of high places, who purchased and held them
for a " rise" ! Orders were issued for a large increase in the naval squadrons
on the North American and West India stations, and powerful transports
were called for. The great steam-packet Persia was taken from the mail-
service, to be employed in carrying troops to Canada. The immense iron-
clad Warrior, supposed to be invincible, was fitted out for service in haste.
Armstrong and Whit worth cannon were purchased by the score ; and pre-
parations were made for sending various conspicuous batteries and regiments

1 The Saturday Jt&oieto, conducted chiefly by members of the British aristocracy, said with a bitter sneer,
"The American Government is in the position of the rude boor, conscious of infinite powers of annoyance,
destitute alike, of scruples and of shame, recognizing only the arbitration of the strong arm, which repudiates
the appeal to codes, and presuming, not without reason, that more scrupulous States will avoid or defer mich an
arbitration as long as ever they can." The London Punch gave, in one of its cartoons, a picture representing the
relative position of the two Governments at that crisis. America appeared as a diminutive blusterer, in the
form of a slave-driver, and carrying an American flag. Before him is a huge English sailor, impersonating
Great Britain, who says to the little American, "You do what's right, my son, or I'll blow you out of the
water." "Now, mind you, sir," says the Briton, to a most uncouth American Commodore "no shuffling an
ample apology or I will put the matter into the hands of my lawyers, Messrs. Whitworth and Armstrong,"
alluding to the popular cannon invented by men of that name, and then extensively manufactured in England,
and afterward furnished in considerable numbers to the Confederates.

THE WISDOM OF JOHN" BRIGHT.

159

to the expected " seat of war." It seemed, from the action of the British
Government, and the tone of the utterances of many of the British writers'
and speakers, that the time had 'come when the calamity of civil war that
had overtaken the Republic of the West was considered England's oppor-
tunity to humble her rival. And it was with infinite delight that the con-
spirators at Richmond contemplated the probability of war between the two
countries, for in that event they felt sure of achieving the independence of
the Confederacy, and procuring its recognition as a nation by the powers of
Europe.

Yet all Englishmen were not so ungenerous and mad. The great mass
of the people the governed class of Great Britain continued to feel kindly
toward the Americans, 1 and there were leading men, who, in the qualities of
head and heart, towered above the common level of all society in England as
Chimborazo rises above the common height of the Andes, who comprehended
the character of our Government, the causes of the rebellion, and the war it
was making upon the rights of man ; and with a true catholic and Christian
spirit they rebuked the selfishness
of the ruling class. Among these,
John Bright, the Quaker, and emi-
nent British statesman, stood most
conspicuous. In the midst of the
tumultuous surges of popular excite-
ment that rocked the British islands
in December and January, his voice,
in unison with that of Richard
Cobden, was heard calmly speaking
of righteousness and counseling
peace. He appeared as the cham-
pion of the Republic against all its
enemies, and his persuasions and
warnings were heard and heeded by
thousands of his countrymen. All
through the war, John Bright in
England, and Count de Gasparin in France, 2 stood forth conspicuously as the
representatives of the true democracy in America, and for their beneficent
labors they now receive the benedictions of the good in all lands.

There were other men in Great Britain who had an intelligent conception
of the machinery of our Government, and who could not be deceived by the
sophistries of the disciples of Calhoun into a belief that the armed enemies
of the Republic were any less rebels against sovereign authority than would
a like band of insurgents be in Lancashire, or any county of England, arrayed

1 In a speech in Parliament on the 17th of February, 1962, when appropriations for the army expenses in
the contemplated war with the United States were under consideration, John Bright said : " A large portion of
the people of this country see in it a Government, a re;il Government ; not a Government ruled by a mob, and
not a Government disregarding law. They believe it is a Government struggling for the integrity of a great
country. They believe it is a country which is the home of every man who wants a home, and moreover they
believe this that the greatest of all crimos which any people in the history of the world has ever been con-
nected with the keeping in slavery four millions of human beings is, in the providence of a Power very
much higher than that of the Prime Minister of England, or of the President of the United States, marching on,
as I believe, to its entire abolition.' 1

8 See note 4, page 569, volume I.

JOHN B EIGHT.

160 HASTE OF THE BEITISH GOVERNMENT.

against the Crown. They well understood that if the American insurgents,
whose fathers helped to form the Republic which they were trying to destroy,
and who had perfect equality in public affairs with the whole nation, could
be justified in rebelling against it, the Irish people a conquered nation, and
made a part of Great Britain against their will had the fullest warrant for
rebelling against their English conquerors at any and at all times. Among
these men we find the names of John Stuart Mill, Professors Goldwin Smith
and J. E. Cairnes, Rev. Baptist Noel, Henry Vincent, Layard, the eminent
Eastern traveler, the eloquent young O'Donoughue, 1 and others less con-
spicuous ; while Lord Brougham, who for sixty years was an opponent of
slavery, and was known to be thoroughly conversant with the structure of
our Government, and an admirer of its practical workings, following the lead
of the spirit of his class, took sides with the slaveholders, and said most
unkind words. Ivinglake, the eminent author and member of Parliament,
announced, as a principle which he "had always enforced," that " in the policy
of states a sentiment never can govern ;" that ideas of right, justice, philan-
thropy, or common humanity should have no influence in the dealings of one
nation with another, "because they are almost always governed by their
great interests," which he thought to be a sound principle ; while Thomas
Carlyle, the cold Gothicizer of the English language, dismissed the whole
matter with an unintelligible sneer.

The British Government, acting tipon ex parte and, as was afterward
found to be, unreliable testimony in the person of Captain Williams, treated
the proceedings on board of the Trent as " an act of violence which was an
affront to the British flag and a violation of international law ;" and as soon

as the law officers of the Crown had formally pronounced it BO,
* *is6i 8 ' ^ or d John Russell, the Foreign Secretary, sent a letter," by a

special Queen's messenger (Captain Seymour), to Lord Lyons, the
British Ambassador at "Washington, authorizing his Lordship to demand from
the Government of the United States the liberation of the captives and their
restoration to the protection of the British flag, and " a suitable apology for
the aggressions which had been committed," at the same time expressing a
hope that that Government would, of its own accord, offer such redress,
" which alone could satisfy the British nation." 2

On the same day when Earl Russell dated his dispatch to Lord

Lyons, 4 Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, in a confidential note
to Mr. Adams, the American Minister in London, 3 alluded to the affair, and

1 "The O'Donoughue," us he was called, was of one of tho most oncietit families in Ireland. He was less
than thirty years of age at that time, of great beauty in form and feature, polished in manners, eloquent in speech,
of proven courage, and a man o/ the people In his instincts. In the great Rotunda in Dublin, this man boldly
declared to an audience of 5,000 persons, after the reception of the news of the Trent affair, that if war should
come, Ireland would be found on the side of America. This declaration was received with the most vehement
applause.

9 Lord John Russell sent with his dispatch the following private note to Lord Lyons: " Should Mr. Sewnrd
ask for delay, In order that this grave and painful matter should be deliberately considered, you will consent ,
to a delay not exceeding seven days. If at the end of that time no answer is given, or if any other answer is
given except that of a compliance with the demands of Her Majesty's Government, your lordship is instructed
to leave Washington, with all the members of your legation, bringing with you the archives of the legation,
and to repair immediately to London ; if. however, you should be of opinion that the requirements of Her
Majesty's Government are substantially complied with, you may report the fncts to Her Majesty's Government
for their consideration, and remain at your post till you receive further orders."

* See page 56T, volume I.

STOCK SPECULATIONS. 1G1

mentioned the fact that no words on the subject had passed between himself
and the British minister, and that he should say nothing until advised of the
action of the British Government in the matter. At the same time he called
Mr. Adams's attention to the fact that Captain TVilkes did not act under
instructions from his Government, and therefore the subject was free from much
embarrassment. Mr. Seward expressed a hope that the British Government
would consider the subject in a friendly temper, and declared that it might
expect the best disposition on the part of the Government of the United
States. He gave Mr. Adams leave to read his note, so indicative of a desire
to preserve a good understanding with the Cabinet of St. James, to Earl Russell
and Lord Palmerston (the Prime Minister), if he should deem It
expedient. Mr. Adams did so,* and yet the British Government,
with this voluntary assurance that a satisfactory arrangement of
the difficulties might be made, continued to press on its warlike measures
with vigor, to the alarm and distress of the people. 1 The fact that such
assurance had reached the Government was not only suppressed, but, when
Tumors of it were whispered, it was semi-officially denied, 2 And when the
fact could no longer be concealed, it was, by the same authority, affirmed,
without a shadow of justice, that Mr. Adams had suppressed it, at the same
time suggesting, as a reason, that the minister might profit by the purchase
of American stocks at panic prices. 3 The most absurd stories concerning the

1 Licutenant-General Scott was In Paris at the time of the arrival of the news of the capture of the con-
spirators. He wrote and published a rery Judicious letter (Dec. 8), in which he gave assurance of friendly feel-
Ing toward Great Britain on the part of the Government of the United States. But this semi-official declaration
from so high a source was not allowed to have any weight

8 Letter of Charles Francis Adams to Mr. Seward, January 17th, 1862.

* Letter of Charles Francis Adams to Mr. Seward, January 17th, 1S62. An incident occurred on this side of
the Atlantic in connection with the Trent affair, and stock speculations, which gave rise to much comment Dr.
Russell, the correspondent of the London Times (see page 858, volume I.), was then in Washington City, and
remained there for some time. He had so persistently disparaged the National Government and its supporters,
and predicted success for the rebellion with an earnestness which indicated the wish that is "father to the
thought,' 1 that the confiding courtesy which had been shown him by the National authorities was withdrawn.
He was now, it was said, in daily and intimate intercourse with Lord Lyons. On the 26th of December, Secre-
tary Seward communicated to that Minister his letter announcing that Mason and Slidell would be given up to
the British Government The fact was intended to be kept in most profound secrecy from the public for the
moment; but on the following day Russell possessed of the secret, was allowed to telegraph to a stock specula-
tor in New York : " Act as though you heard some very good news for yourself and for me, as soon as you get
this." At that time, operations in New York, in Government stocks, were active and remunerative. Those
stocks had been depressed by the menaces of war. Words that would give assurance of peace would send them
up. These had been spoken in secret; and the first man who was allowed to profit by them pecuniarily was a
British subject, a representative of the British journal in the interest of the Crown, most abusive of the Ameri-
can people, and who was then in intimate relations with the British embassy. What is still more strange is the
Tact that in violation of a positive order to the Censor of the Press and Telegraph at Washington, to suppress all
Communication concerning the Trent affair, this dispatch, so palpably burdened wit.h contraband information,
was allowed to be sent forty-five minutes after the order for suppression was received. Still more strange is the
fact that, while the reporters of the Press were not allowed to send any dispatches, for all of which they were
ready to pay, on the back of the favored Dr. Russell's message (the original is now before the author) were
these words, written in pencil : " Mr. Russell's messages are free, by order of Mr. Sanford," who was the Censor.
For a further elucidation of this subject, see the Report of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Bepre-
tentatives, on the Censorship of the Press at Washington.

With words calculated to keep up the excitement and alarm, and warlike measures on the other side of the
Atlantic, and still further to depress the stocks of the United States, Russell wrote to the London Times, on the
day when his profitable dispatch was sent to New York free, saying: "As I write there is a rumor that Messrs.
Slidell and Mason are to be surrendered. If it be true, this Government is broken up. There is so much vio-
lence of spirit among the lower orders of the people, and they are so ignorant of every thing except their own
politics and passions, so saturated with pride and vanity, that any honorable concession, even in this hour of
extremity, would prove fatal to its authors. It would certainly render them so unpopular that it would damage
them in the conduct of this civil war." He had already ventured to make many predictions of evil to the Repub-
lic. So early as the previous April he had said to Europe, through the Times. "The Union is gone forever, and
no serious attempt will be made by the North to save it" In August he had said, "General bankruptcy is

VOL. II. 11

162 CONSISTENCY OF THE GOVERNMENT.

temper of the American Government, calculated to inflame the public mind
and excite a warlike spirit, were put forth, such as the following, paraded
conspicuously in the columns of the London Times:

" During the visit of the Prince of Wales to America, Mr. Seward took

O '

advantage of an entertainment to the Prince to tell the Duke of Newcastle

he was likely to occupy a high office ; that when he did so it would become
his duty to insult England, and he should insult her accordingly."

In the mean time, Earl Russell's demand was communicated to the Gov-
ernment at Washington. It produced much indignation in the public mind,
and there was a general disposition to give a flat refusal. The legality of
Captain Wilkes's act was not doubted by experts in international law. Bri-
tish precedents were all in favor of it ; and even a writer in the London
Times, two days before the date of Earl Russell's dispatch, admitted this
fact, and complained only of the informality of Captain Wilkes, in taking
the " Ambassadors " out of the Trent, instead of taking the ship itself with
all on board into port, to have the case adjudicated in a court of admiralty.
Such was a feature of the decision in the case, of the law officers of the
crown, in alluding to which Mr. Adams said, "In other words, Great Britain
would have been less offended if the United States had insulted her more." 1

In opposition to popular feeling and opinion, the Government decided to
restore Mason and Slidell to the protection of the British flag; and the
Secretary of State, in a very able letter to Mr. Adams, for the ear of the
British Government, discussed the subject in the light in which the Presi-
dent had viewed it from the beginning. He corrected the misrepresentations
of Captain Williams as to the facts of the capture, declaring that Captain
Wilkes was not acting under instructions from his Government, but only
" upon his own suggestions of duty ;" 2 " that no orders had been given to
any one for the arrest of the four persons named," and that the United States
had no purpose or thought of doing any thing " which could affect in any
Avay the sensibilities of the British nation."

Then, with the Queen's proclamation in mind, Mr. Seward spoke of the
captives as pretended " Ministers Plenipotentiary, under a pretended com-
mission from Jefferson Davis, who had assumed to be president of the insur-
rectionary party in the United States," and so publicly avowed by him, and
argued that it was fair to presume that they had carried papers known in
law as dispatches. 3 He also stated that it was asserted by competent autho-
rity that such dispatches, having escaped the search, were actually carried
to England, and delivered to the emissaries of the conspirators there ; 4 also,

inevitable, and Agrarian and Socialist riots may be expected pretty soon." He had declared, so late as Doc. 28d,
that Mr. Seward would "refuse, on the part of his Government, to surrender Mason and Slidell and their secre-
taries;" and in the first days of 1862, ho said, "The fate of the American Government will be sealed if January
passes without some great victory."

1 Mr. Adams to Mr. Seward, Nov. 29th, 1861.

2 Captain Wilkes said in a second dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, that he carefully examined all the
authorities on international law at hand Kent, Wheaton, Vattel, and the decisions of British judges in the
admiralty courts which bore upon the rights and responsibilities of neutrals. Knowing that the Govern-
ments of Great Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal had acknowledged the Confederates as belligerents, and
that the ports of these powers were open to their vessels, and aid and protection were given them, he believed
that the. Trent, bearing agents of that so-called belligerent, came under the operations of the law of the right
of search.

3 See note 2, page 156.

4 This service for the Confederates was performed, it is said, by Captain Williams, E. N., Her Majesty's
only representative on the Trent.

MR. SE WARD'S ARGUMENT. 163

that the assumed characters and purposes of Mason and Slidell were well
known to the officers of the Trent, including Captain Williams.

Having prepared the way for argument, the Secretary entered upon it
by a consideration of the inquiries : "First, Were the persons named and their
supposed dispatches contraband of war? Second, Might Captain Wilkes
lawfully stop and search the Trent for these contraband persons and dis-
patches? Tliird, Did he exercise that right in a lawful and proper manner?
Fourth, Having found the contraband persons on board, and in personal
possession of the contraband dispatches, had he a right to capture the per-
sons ? Fifth, Did he exercise the right of capture in the manner allowed
and recognized by the law of nations ? If all these inquiries shall be re-
solved in the affirmative," said the Secretary, " the British Government will
have no claim for reparation."

These questions, excepting the last, were affirmatively argued by the
Secretary, with the assumption that the British doctrine was correct. The
conclusion from his reasoning was inevitable, that every thing had been done
in strict conformity to the law on the subject of neutrals, as expounded by
British authority, excepting the failure of Captain Wilkes to exercise the
right of capture in the manner allowed and recognized by the law of nations.
Here the Secretary frankly admitted that there had been a fatal irregularity.
To meet the requirements of law, Wilkes should have been less generous and
humane. 1 It was his business to capture lawfully, but it was that of a court
of admiralty to decide upon the question of holding the vessel or its contents
as a lawful prize. It was not for the captor to determine the matter on the
deck of his vessel

Having concluded his argument, which British jurists and publicists, and
the practice of the British Government, admitted was unanswerable, the
Secretary, after briefly summing up in an interrogatory the iniquitous features
of the " right of search," so strictly maintained by the British, said r " If I
decide this case in favor of my own Government, I must disallow its
most cherished principles, and reverse and forever abandon its essential
policy. The country cannot afford the sacrifice. If I maintain these prin-
ciples and adhere to that policy, I must surrender the case itself. It will be
seen, therefore, that this Government could not deny the justice of the claims
presented to us in this respect, upon its merits. We are asked to do to the
British nation just what ice have always insisted all nations ought to do ^mto
us." The Secretary added that, if the safety of the Union required the de-
tention of the conspirators, it would be the duty of the Government to detain
them ; but the condition of the rebellion, " as well as the comparative unim-
portance of the captured persons themselves," he said, happily forbade him
i from resorting to that defense. He continued by delicately alluding to the
'injuries inflicted on his countrymen by the British in the past, when exer-
cising power hi the manner they now complained of, and said : " It would

1 In his dispatch to the Secretary of the Navy, Captain Wilkes said It -was his determination to take pos-
session of the Trent, and send her to Key West as a prize, for resisting the search, and carrying those " Ambas-
sadors, whom he considered as ' the embodiment of dispatches ;' " but the reduced number of his officers and
crew, and the large number of passengers on board bound to Europe, who would be put to great inconvenience
in not being able to join the steamer from St. Thomas to Europe, "decided him to allow them to proceed."
This weak point in the proceedings was noticed by the Secretary of the Navy, both in his congratulatory letter
to Captain Wilkes and his Annual Report.

164

SURRENDER OF MASON" AXD SLIDELL.

tell little for our claims to the character of a just and magnanimous people,
if we should so far consent to be guided by the law of retaliation as to lift up
buried injuries from their graves to oppose against what national consistency
and the national conscience compel us to regard as a claim intrinsically right.
Putting behind me all suggestions of this kind, I prefer to express my satis-
faction that, by the adjustment of the present case upon principles confessed
to be American, and yet, as I trust, mutually satisfactory to both of the
nations concerned, a question is finally and rightly settled between them
which heretofore, exhausting not only all forms of peaceful discussion, but
also the arbitrament of war itself, for more than half a century alienated
the two countries from each other, and perplexed with fears and apprehen-
sions all other nations."

The Secretary then announced that the four persons confined at Fort

Warren would be "cheerfully liber-
ated," and requested Lord Lyons to
indicate the time and place for re-
ceiving them. The latter ordered the
British gun-boat Rinaldo to proceed
to Provincetown, Massachusetts, for
that purpose, where, on the 1st of
January, 1862, the prisoners were de-
livered to the protection of the British
flag. They were conveyed first to
Bermuda, and then to St. Thomas,
where they embarked for England,
and arrived at Southampton on the
29th of the same month. 1

So began and ended, in the space
of eighty-three days, the event known
as "the Trent affair," which cost Great Britain ten millions of dollars for
unnecessary warlike preparations, and the people of the two nations con-
cerned four times that amount, in consequence of the derangement of their
industrial operations. While the result was full of promise of good for the
two nations, it was pregnant with promises of disaster to the conspirators
and their cause. It was so imexpected and discouraging to them and their
sympathizers in America and Great Britain, who hoped for and confidently
expected a war between the two Governments that would redound to the

LORD LYONS.

1 When the captives could no longer serve a political purpose for the ruling class in Great Britain, they
Bank into their proper insignificance, and, as a general rule, Mason was treated with courteous contempt by the
public authorities and cultivated people everywhere. The Liverpool Post, imitating the severer example of the
London Times* gave the following contemptuous notice of their arrival, on which occasion they were almost
unnoticed: " Messrs. Mason and Slidell have arrived. Already the seven weeks' heroes have shrunk to their
natural dimensions, and the apprehensions expressed by the London Times, by ourselves, and by other jour-
nals, lest they should have a triumphal reception, already seems absurd."

* The Timtt, in an editorial, said they were " about the most worthless booty" it would be possible to extract from the jaws of the
American lion, for it recognized in them the lending revilen of Great Britain for many years, and the promoters of discord between the
two Governments, hoping thereby to bring on war, when the opportunity for the conspirators against the Republic would be presented.
The Tim,; hoped Englishmen would let the " fellows," as It called them, alone. " England would have done just as much,'' it said, " for
two negroes." This language produced both indignation and alarm throughout the Confederacy, for it was significant of a policy on the
part of Great Britain in favor of entire non-interference. The Richmond Enquirer said, " England may dishonor herself if she will She
mny prove false to her duty if she choose. Thank Heaven, we are not dependent upon her, nnd her course will not affect ours. ....
John Bull is a surly animal, we know, but such gratuitous rudeness shows a want of practical sense as well as good manners."

ENEMIES OF THE GOVERNMENT HOPEFUL. 165

benefit of the insurgents, that they could not conceal their chagrin and disap-
pointment. They had tried to fan the flame of discord between the Cabinets
of Washington and London. In England, Liverpool was the focus of efforts
in aid of the rebellion. There the friends of the conspirators held
a meeting, 01 which was presided over by James Spence, who, for ^g^ 28 '
a time, was the fiscal agent of the Confederates and a bitter
enemy of the Republic. On that occasion the act of Wilkes was denounced
as a gross violation of the honor of the British flag, for Avhich, according to
a resolution offered by Spence, the most ample reparation should be demanded.
In concert with these expressions, a sympathizing friend in the American
Congress (C. L. Vallandigham, of Ohio) offered a resolution* in
the House of Representatives, in which the President was en-
joined to maintain the position of approval and adoption by the Government
(already assumed by the House) of the act of Captain Wilkes, "in spite of
any menace or demand of the British Government," and declaring that " this
House pledges its full support in upholding now the honor and vindicating
the courage of the Government and people of the United States against a
foreign power." " We have heard the first growl of the British lion," said
the author of the resolution, " and now let us see who will cower. The time
has now come for the firmness of this House to be practically tested, and I
hope there will be no shrinking."*

Fortunately, better counsels prevailed in Congress, and out of it. 3 The
loyal people acquiesced in the wise decision of the Government, and soon
rejoiced that it had sustained Ameri-
can principles in a case so tempting
to a different course, for thereby the
nation was amazingly strengthened.
This act of the Government was
warmly commended by the best men
in Europe, and gratified those powers
who, like the United States, had been
in vain endeavoring to persuade Eng-
land to a righteous and unselfish
course concerning the sacred rights

o o

of neutrals. M. Thouvenal, the
French Minister for Foreign Affairs,
had expressed, in a confidential note r ,
to Count Mercier, the representative

/> 171 , -ITT I 3 COUNT MERCIER.

ot -b ranee at Washington, a desire

that the captives might be delivered up, in accordance with the liberal

1 The meeting was called by the following placard, posted all over the- town : " OTTTUA&I ox THE BRITISH
FLAG TUB SOUTHERN COMMISSIONERS FORCIBLY REMOVBD FROM A BRITISH MAIL STEAM-BU. A public meeting
will be held in the Cotton Salesroom at three o'clock." 1

* Proceedings of Congress, reported in the Congressional Globe, December 16, JS6L The resolution, by a
rote of 109 to 16, was quietly disposed of by being referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The 16 who
voted against laying the resolution on the table were : Messrs. Allen, G. H. Brown, F. A. Conckling, Cox,
Cravens, Haight, Holman, Morris, Noble, Nugen, Pendleton. Shier, T. B. Steele, Vallandigham, Vandaver, and
C. A. White.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations (Charles Sumner) approved the action of the
Government, and made it the occasion of an elaborate speech in that body. He declared that in the dispute
Great Britain was " armed with American principles, which throughout our history have been constantly, deliber-
ately, and solemnly rejected." Speaking of the release of the prisoners, he said: "Let the rebels go. '.

166 THE GOVERNMENT STRENGTHENED.

principles of the Republic ; and the Prussian and Austrian Governments,
through their respective Ministers, had also given their views of the policy of
releasing the prisoners, in deference to the principles to which the Americans
were so firmly pledged. To their communications, which were read to Sec-
retary Seward, that Minister made the most friendly responses ; and from
that time, during the entire war, there was never any serious danger of the
recognition of the independence of the so-called " Confederate States " by
France and England, however much their respective Governments may have
wished for a reasonable excuse to do so. This the conspirators, and their
chief supporters North and South, well knew ; yet they continued to deceive
the people within the Confederacy with false hopes of foreign aid, while
they were being robbed of life, liberty, and property by their pretended
friends. So persuaded was the Secretary of State that war would certainly
be averted, that, with a playful exhibition of his consciousness
J is62 2 ' of the 8tren g tn of tne Republic, he telegraphed" to the British
Consul at Portland, Maine, that British troops that must be sent
over to fight the Americans might pass through the United States territory,
whilst on their way to Canada to prepare for hostilities !

The public mind was jnst becoming tranquil after the excitement caused
by the Trent affair, when its attention was keenly fixed on another expedi-
tion to the coast of North Carolina,
already alluded to. The land and naval
armaments of which it was composed
were assembled in Hampton Roads
early in January, 1 862, ready for depar-
ture, after a preparation of only two
months. Over a hundred steam and
sailing vessels, consisting of gun-boats,
transports, and tugs, and about sixteen
thousand troops, mostly recruited in
New England, composed the expedi-
tion. General Ambrose Everett Burn-
side, an Indianian by birth,
a "West Point graduate, 4
and a resident of Rhode Island when
the war broke out, was appointed the

commander-in-chief, and the naval operations were intrusted to Flag-Officer
Louis M. Goldsborough, then the commander of the North Atlantic Naval
Squadron.

Prison doors are opened ; but principles are established which will help to free other men and to open the
gates of the sea. Never before in her active history has Great Britain ranged herself on this side. Such an
event is an epoch. Novus sceclorum nasdtur ordo. To the liberties of the sea this Power is now committed.
To a certain extent this course is now under her tutelary care. If the immunities of passengers, not in the
military or naval service, as well as of sailors, are not directly recognized, they are at least implied ; while the
whole pretension of impressment, so long the pest of neutral commerce, and operating only through the law-
less adjudication of a quarter-deck, is made absolutely impossible. Thus is the freedom of the sea enlarged, not
only by limiting the number of persons who are exposed to the penalties of war, but by driving from it the
most offensive pretension that ever stalked upon its waves. To such conclusion Great Britain is irrevocably
pledged. Nor treaty nor bond was needed. It is sufficient that her late appeal can be vindicated only by a
renunciation of early, long-continued tyranny. Let her bear the rebels back. The consideration is ample, for
the sea became free as this altered Power went forth upon it, steering westward with the sun on an errand of
liberation."

THE BURNSIDE EXPEDITION.

1G7

1862.

The military force which, like Butler's, 1 had been gathered at Annapolis,
was composed of fifteen regiments and a battalion of infantry, a battery of
artillery, and a large number of gunners for the armed vessels, who were able
to render service on land if required. The whole force was divided into three
brigades, commanded respectively by Generals John G. Foster, of Fort Sumter
fame, Jesse L. Reno, and John G. Parke. 4 The fleet was divided into two col-
umns for active service, intrusted respectively to the charge of commanders
' S. F. Hazard and Stephen C. Rowan. 3 Every thing necessary for the peculiar
service assigned to the expedition was furnished and arranged. The fleet
guns were equipped with ship and field carriages, that they might be used
on land or water ; and the cannon were mostly of the newest construction.
A well-organized signal corps accompanied the expedition, and there were
two extensive pontoon trains. Fully equipped in every way, the expedition,
whose destination had been kept a profound secret, left Hampton
Roads on Sunday, the llth of January," and went to sea.

When it was known that the expedition had actually gone out upon the
Atlantic at that inclement season, there was great anxiety in the public
mind. The storm of November, by
which Dupont's fleet had been scat-
tered, was vivid in memory, and
awakened forebodings of like evil.
They were well founded. A portion
of Goldsborough's fleet now met with
a similar fate off tempestuous Cape
Hatteras. Its destination was Pam-
lico Sound, which was to be reached
through Hatteras Inlet. The voyage
had been lengthened by a

heavy fog on Sunday,* and, \

on Monday night those vessels of the
fleet which had not reached the
stiller waters of the Inlet were
smitten and scattered by a terrible
tempest. Four transports, a gun-boat, and a floating battery were wrecked.
Among these was the fine steamer City of New York, Captain Nye. It
went down in sight of the shore/ with four hundred barrels of
gunpowder, one thousand five hundred rifles, eight hundred

1 See page 106.

* The first brigade (Foster's) was composed of the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-
seyenth Massachusetts regiments, and the Tenth Connecticut. The second (Reno's) consisted of the Twenty-first
Massachusetts, Fifty-first Pennsylvania, Fifty -first New York, Ninth New Jersey, and Sixth New Hampshire.
The third (Parke's) was composed of the Fourth and a battalion of the Fifth Rhode Island, the Eighth and
Eleventh Connecticut, the Fifty-third and Eighty-ninth New York, and Belgier's Rhode Island Battery of 106
men, 120 horses, four 10-pounder Parrott guns, and two 12-pounder field howitzers.

1 The fleet consisted of thirty-one gun-boats, with an aggregate armament of ninety-four guns. These were
the Brickner, commanded by J. C. Giddings ; Ceres, S. A. McDermaid ; Chasseur, John West ; Com. Barney, E.
D. Renshaw ; Com. Perry, C. H. Flusser ; Delaware, S. P. Qnackenbush ; Granite, E. Boomer ; Granite, W.
B. Avery; Gen. Putnam, W. J. Hoskiss; Huzzar, Fred. Crocker; Hunchback, E. R. Calhonn; Ileteel, H. K.
Davenport; J. N. Seymour, F. S. Welles; Louisiana, Hooker; Lockwood, S. L. Graves; Lancer, B. Morley;
Morse, Peter Hayes; Philadelphia, Silas Reynolds; Pioneer, C. S. Baker; Picket, T. P. Ives; Rocket, James
Lake ; Ranger, J. B. Childs ; Stars and Stripes, Reed Werden ; Southfleld, Behm ; Shawsheen, T. S. Wood-
ward; Shrapnel, Ed. Staples; Underwriter, Jeffers; Valley City, J. C. Chaplin; Vidette, ; White-

htad, French ; Young Rover, I. B. Studley.

STEPHEN C. ROWAN.

' Jan. 12.

168

ROANOKE ISLAND,

shells, and other stores and supplies ; but no human life perished with it.
Nor was any man lost in the other vessels that were wrecked ; but of a party
who went ashore from one of the transports* yet outside, three
were drowned by the upsetting of their boat on its return. These
were Colonel J. W. Allen, of Burlington, New Jersey, com-
mander of the Ninth Regiment from that State ; the surgeon, F. S. Weller ;
and the mate of the transport.

It was several days before all of the surviving vessels of the expedition
entered the Inlet. The weather continued boisterous. Many of them drew
too much water to allow them to cross the bars ; and the remainder of the
month of January was spent in overcoming the difficulties of that perilous
passage, and in making full preparations for moving forward over the still
waters of Pamlico Sound.

General Burnside (whose head-quarters were on the S. -R. Spaulding)
with his officers and men had been unwearied in their assistance of the sea-
men. Time was precious. Delay was very injurious, for the Confederates,
accurately divining the destination of the fleet that was worrying its way
through that " perilous gut," as Goldsborough called it, had made prepara-
tions for its reception. The newspapers of the North had not yet learned
to be as discreet as those of the South, 1 but vied with each other in giving
early revelations of military and naval movements. Through these channels
the Confederates had obtained very accurate knowledge of the force that
was coming. With the logic furnished by the nature of the coasts and

waters of Pamlico and Albemarle
Sounds, and the points in their vicin-
ity which it was evident the Nation-
als intended to. seize, they correctly
argued that Roanoke Island, about
thirty miles from Hatteras Inlet,
would be the first object of attack-
It is situated between Pamlico and
Albemarle Sounds, with a narrow
channel on each side, called respect-
ively Roanoke Sound and Croatan
Sound. This island, well fortified
and manned, presented the only eifec-
tual barrier to an invasion from the
sea of the entire north-eastern coast
of North Carolina, and the rear ap-
proaches to Norfolk and Portsmouth in Virginia. In some respects it was
almost as important as Fortress Monroe, and deserved the special attention
of the Confederates.

At the time of the approach of Burriside's expedition, Roanoke Island

1 At a very early period: of the war, a censorship of the press was established by the conspirators, which was
extremely rigid from the beginning. No contraband intelligence was allowed to be given ; and as the contest
progressed, and the despotism at Richmond became more and more absolute, even the opinion* of the conduct-
ors of the press in general were in complete subjection to that despotism. That control was really of essential
service in carrying on the war, for the National authorities could never find any reliable information concerning
the Confederate forces in the Southern newspapers. So early as May, 1861, General Leo requested the press of
Virginia to keep silent on the subject of military movements.

AMHR08K E. BCTSNSIDK.

DEFENSES OF ROANOKE ISLAND.

BE1WAJHN HTTGEK.

and its vicinity were under the command of Brigadier-General H. A. Wise,
the Department commander being Major-General Benjamin Huger, of South
Carolina, whose head-quarters were at Norfolk. Owing to the illness of
General Wise, who was at Nag's Head, on a narrow strip of sand lying
between Roanoke Sound and the sea,
that stretches down from the main
far above, Colonel H. M. Shaw, of
the Eighth North Carolina Regiment,
was in chief command of the forcest
on the island. These consisted of
his own regiment ; the Thirty-first
North Carolina Volunteers, under
Colonel J. V. Jordan; three com-
panies of the Seventeenth North
Carolina, under Major G. II. HilL,
and four hundred and fifty men,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Anderson.

Several batteries had been erected
on prominent points of the shores of
Roanoke, which commanded the
Sounds on its eastern and western
sides ; and upon its narrowest part, between Shallowbag Bay and Croatan
Sound, was a strong redoubt and intrenched camp, extending across the
road that traversed the middle of the island. These several fortifications
mounted about forty heavy guns. There were batteries also on the main^
commanding the channels of Croatan Sound..

Vessels had been sunk in the main channel of Croatan Sound, and heavy
stakes had been driven in its waters from the main to the island, to obstruct
the passage of vessels. Above these obstructions was a flotilla of small gun-
boats a sort of " Musquito fleet " like that of Tatnall at Port Royal eight
in number, and carrying eleven guns. These were commanded by Lieuten-
ant W. F. Lynch, late of the National navy, who had abandoned his flag,
received a commodore's commission from the conspirators, and was now
charged with the defense of the coast of North Carolina.

After a reconnoissance, Commodore Goldsborough slowly moved his fleet
of seventy vessels, formed on the morning of the 5th of February,"
toward Croatan Sound, fifteen of the gun-boats leading, under the
immediate command of Rowan, and followed by the armed transports. On
the following day Lynch sent the Curlew, Captain Hunter,, to reconnoiter the
approaching fleet,, and her commander reported it at anchor six miles below
Roanoke Island. That evening was dark and misty, and the morning of the
7th was lowery for a time. At length the sun broke forth in splendor, and
at about ten o'clock Goldsborough, hoisting the signal, "This day our
country expects every man to do his duty," advanced his gun-boats in three
columns, the first being led by the Stars and Stripes, Lieutenant Werden ^
the second by the Louisiana, Commander Alexander Murray ; and the third
by the Hetzel, Lieutenant H. R. Davenport. Goldsborough made the South-
field his flag-ship.

At eleven o'clock, a bombardment was opened upon Fort Barto w, on Pork

a 1862.

170 LANDING TROOPS ON EOAXOKE.

Point, toward the northern end of the island, and, within thirty minutes
afterward, a general engagement between the gun-boats and the batteries on
Croatan Sound ensued. The Confederate flotilla joined in the fight, but
was soon driven beyond the range of the National guns, \tith the Curlew,
its largest steamer, so badly disabled, that it began to sink, and was soon
afterward beached, under cover of the guns of Fort Forrest, on Redstone
Point. 1 These vessels disposed of, Goldsborough concentrated his fire upon
Fort Bartow, at a range of about three-fourths of a mile. Its flagstaff was
soon shot away, the barracks were set on tire, its guns began to give feeble
responses, and its walls of sand to fall into a confused mass, under the weight
of shot and shell hurled upon them.

The * army transports now came up, and preparations were made for
landing them on the island at Ashby's Harbor, about two miles below Fort
Bartow. They were confronted by two thousand men, and a battery of
three pieces in the neighboring woods ; but these were soon dispersed by a
storm of shells from the gun-boats. Meanwhile the Confederate flotilla had
returned to the attack, and, after an engagement for bout an hour, had
been compelled again to retire, considerably damaged.

At midnight," in the midst of a cold rain-storm, eleven thou-
F i86a.~ 8 ' san< ^ troops were safely put on shore. 2 They were without
shelter, and at an early hour the next morning they moved
forward to attack the intrenchments in the interior of the island, to which
all of the Confederate forces out of the other redoubts had now repaired.
The advancing column was under the command of General Foster, who
was next in rank to Bumside. These works were about five miles from
the landing-place at Ashby's Harbor, 3 and were situated on land flanked on
both sides by a morass. They occupied a line a greater portion of the way
across the narrower part of the island. The main work to be attacked
could be reached only by a narrow causeway, which was well protected by
a battery of three guns, mounted on an earthwork. Within the intrench-
ments to be assailed were about twenty-five hundred troops, under the com-
mand of Colonel Shaw.

Foster led the way with his brigade, which was accompanied by a
battery of six 12-pounder boat howitzers, brought from the naval launches,
and commanded by Midshipman B. F. Porter. The brigades of Reno and
Parke followed. The road being swampy and fringed with woods, the march
was slow and cautious. The first pickets encountered fired their pieces and
ran for their lives. Foster pressed on, and soon coming in sight of the Con-
federate works, he disposed his troops for action by placing the Twenty-fifth
Massachusetts, Colonel Upton, in line, with the Twenty-third Massachusetts,

1 Lynch, who was a man of very moderate ability and courage, was disheartened. He wrote to Mallory
that he should endeavor to get the guns from the Curlew, and with the squadron proceed to Elizabeth City, from
which he would send an express to Norfolk for ammunition. There he would make a final stand, and would
blow up the vessels rather than they should fall into the hands of his enemy.

* The water was so shallow that the launches and other small boats could not get very near the shore, and
the soldiers were compelled to wade several hundred feet through the water, sometimes sinking deeply into the
cold ooze.

s Much valuable Information concerning Eoanoke Island, the position of the Confederates, and the best
place for landing was obtained from a colored boy named Thomas E. Robinson, the slave of J. M. Daniel, of Eoan-
oke, who ten days before had escaped to Ilatteras. He was taken with the expedition.

BATTLE OF ROANOKE ISLAND.

171

Colonel Kurtz, for a support. With musketry and cannon he opened t!ie
battle, and was hotly answered by musketry and cannon. The fight was
severe, and soon the Twenty-seventh Massachusetts, Colonel Lee, came to
the aid of their fellow New Englanders, by falling upon the sharpshooters
in the woods, on the left of the Confederate line. To relieve the Twenty-
third Massachusetts, the Tenth Connecticut, Colonel Russell, came up to the
support of the Twenty-fifth, from the former State.

THE ATTACK ON ROANOKE ISLAND.

The Confederates made a gallant defense ; and the fight raged fiercely.
Reno brought up his brigade to the help of Foster's. These were the Twen-
ty-first Massachusetts, Colonel Maggi ; Fifty-first New York, Colonel Fer-
rero ; Fifty-first Pennsylvania, Colonel Hartrauf, and Ninth New Jersey.
He pushed through the tangled swamps and took a position on Foster's
right, with the intention of turning the Confederate left flank, where Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Frank Anderson was in command of a battalion of " Wise's
Legion." The fight in that direction soon became warm, while it continued
to rage fiercely in the front. Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, and
New Jersey troops were zealous rivals in deeds of daring, fortitude, courage,
and generosity. They continually gained advantages, but at the cost of
heavy work. Parke came up with his Fourth Rhode Island, Colonel Rod-
man ; the first battalion Fifth Rhode Island ; the Eighth Connecticut ; and
Ninth New York, Colonel Hawkins, and gave timely aid to the Twenty-third
and Twenty-seventh Massachusetts.

With all this pressure of overwhelming numbers, the Confederates still

172

BATTLE OF BOANOKE ISLAND.

held out. At length the artillery ammunition of the Nationals began to
fail, and they were suffering very severely in killed and wounded. Victory
could now be won only by a charge. That movement was resolved upon.
Major E. A. Kimball, of Hawkins's (Ninth New York) Zouaves (a hero
of the Mexican war, who fought gallantly in every battle, from Vera Cruz
to the City of Mexico), perceiving the necessity, and eager to serve hia
country (for whose cause he finally gave his life), offered to lead the charge
across the causeway against the main battery, with the bayonet. The de-
lighted Foster said, " You are the man, the Ninth the regiment, and this is
the moment ! Zouaves, storm the battery !" he shouted " Forward !" In

an instant they were on the run
across the causeway, yelling fear-
fully, and cheered by their admiring
comrades on every side, who cried
out, " Make way for the red-caps !
They are the boys 3" Colonel Haw-
kins, who was leading two companies
in a flank movement on the left, see-
ing his men rushing to the perilous
performance, could not resist his
impulses, and, joining them, pressed
forward the whole battalion, shout-
ing, " Zou ! Zou ! Zou !" and closely
followed by the Tenth Connecticut.
The frightened Confederates, after
firing once, had fled, and into the
battery the Zouaves rushed, with
none to oppose them, almost simultaneously with the Fifty-first New York
and Twenty-first Massachusetts, who had attacked the Confederates on their
right. The colors of the Fifty-first, being at the head of the regiment, were
first planted on the captured battery, and at the same time the State flag of the
Massachusetts Twenty-first was triumphantly displayed. The fugitives, in
their haste, had left every thing behind them. There lay their dead and
wounded as they had fallen. Their heavy guns were in perfect order,
and the knapsacks and blankets of the routed soldiers were strewn about
the works.,

General Foster, who had skillfully directed these successful movements,
in person,, now re-formed his brigade,, whilst Reno, with the Twenty-first
Massachusetts and Ninth New Yorl^ started in pursuit. Foster soon fol-
lowed and overtook Reno,, who was maneuveiing to cut off the retreat of
about eight or nine hundred Confederates on the left, near Weir's Point.
With a part of his force, Reno pushed on in that direction. Hawkins, with
his Zouaves, hurried toward Shallowbag Bay,, where, it was said, the Con-
federates had a two-gun battery. Foster pressed forward with an adequate
force, and was on the heels of the fugitives, after a chase of five or six miles,
when he was met by a flag of truce, borne by Colonel Pool, of the Eighth
North Carolina, carrying a message from Colonel Shaw, who, as we have
observed, was the senior acting officer in command on the Island, asking
what terms of capitulation would be granted. " Unconditional surrender I"

JOHN G. POSTER.

EFFECTS OF THE BATTLE. 173

was Foster's reply. These were accepted, and two thousand Confederates
soon laid down their arms as prisoners of war.

In the mean time, General Reno had received the surrender of about eight
hundred Confederates, under Colonel Jordan ; and Colonel Hawkins, after
taking possession of the deserted battery on Shallowbag Bay, captured about
two hundred Confederates, who were seeking a chance to escape from the
island to Nag's Head. Among these was Captain O. Jennings Wise, son of
the General in command, and editor of one of the bitterest of the rebellious
journals in Richmond, who had been severely wounded while fighting
gallantly. 1

To complete the conquest of the Island, General Foster sent a force to
capture Fort Bartow, which Goldsborough had been bombarding while the
land battle had been going on. Its inmates had retired, and at a little past
four o'clock in the afternoon the National flag was unfurled over its walls, when
Goldsborough signalled to his fleet, " The fort is ours." This was followed
by the most joyous cheers. In the mean time the Confederate steamer
Curlew, which, as we have observed, had been beached under the guns of a
battery on Redstone Point, on the main, had been fired by the insurgents,
together with the barracks at that place, and the remainder of the flotilla had
fled up Albemarle Sound. So ended, in triumph for the National cause, the
conflict known as THE BATTLE OF ROANOKE.* It disappointed the prophets
of evil at home and abroad, and spread consternation throughout the Con-
federacy. There, on Roanoke Island, where the first germ of a privileged
aristoci-acy had been planted in America, 3 the first deadening blow had been
given to the hopes of an oligarchy, fighting for the establishment of such a
social system. The " Government " at Richmond (and especially Jefferson
Davis and his " Secretary of War," Benjamin) were severely censured for
alleged neglect in making Roanoke Island and its approaches impregnable.
Davis, in a " message to Congress," cast reflections upon the troops there ;
but a committee of that body, appointed to investigate the matter, declared
that the battle was " one of the most gallant and brilliant actions of the
war," and laid the blame, if any existed, on Huger and Benjamin, especially
on the latter, who, it was said, had positively refused to put the Island in a
state of defense. 4

1 His father, who, as we have observed, Was 111, had remained with a part of the ** Legion" at Nag's Head.
The wounded son had been placed in a boat to be sent to his camp, when it was fired upon, and compelled to
return. He was tenderly cared for by Colonel Hawkins and his officers, but died toward noon on the following
day.

2 Report of General Burnside to General McClellan, Feb'y 10th, 1862; of Generals Poster, Reno, and Parke ;
of Commodore Goldsborough to Secretary Welles, Feb'y 9th, 1862; of Commander Lynch to R. 8. Mallory, Feb'y
7th, 1S62 ; and accounts by other officers and eye-witnesses on both sides.

1 There, in the year 15S7, Mniiteo, a native chief, who had been kind to colonists sent to that coast by Sir
Walter Raleigh, was, by that baronet's command, and with the approval of Queen Elizabeth, invested with the
title of Lord of Rocmoke, the first and last peerage created in America. Nearly a hundred years later, an attempt
was made to found in North Carolina an aristocratic government, with the nominal appendages of royalty, it
being designed to have orders of nobility and other privileged classes in exact imitation of English society of
that period.

* Pollard, the Confederate historian of the war, says, that records showed that Wise, who assumed the command
there on the 7th of January, had "pressed upon the Government the importance of Roanoke Island to Norfolk."
In a report to Benjamin, on the 13th of that month, he said the canals and railroads connecting with Norfolk
14 were utterly defenseless." Later he reported that " a force at Hatteras, Independent of the Burnside expedition,
was amply sufficient to capture or pass Roanoke Island in twenty-four hours." Wise also asked for re-enforce-
ments from Huger's fifteen thousand men, lying idle around Norfolk. He was answered by a peremptory order,
when Bnrnside's expedition was passing into Pamlico Sound, to proceed immediately to Eoanoke Island and

174 ELIZABETH CITY TAKEN.

The conquest was complete, and Burnside, taking up his quarters at a
house near Fort Bartow, prepared at once for other aggressive movements on

the coast. In his report, he
generously said, " I owe every
thing to Generals Foster,
Reno, and Parke," and sadly
gave the names of Colonel
Charles S. Russell and Lieu-
tenant-Colonel Vigour de Mon-
teuil 1 as among the killed.
The number of his prisoners
amounted to about three

BUENsiDE'8 HEAD-QUAKTEE8. thousand. Many of the troops

on the Island escaped to Xag's

Head, and thence, accompanied by General Wise and the remainder of
his Legion, they fled up the coast toward Norfolk. 2 The spoils of victory
were forty-two heavy guns, most of them of large caliber, three being
100-pounders. 3

The Confederate flotilla was immediately followed" by Captain

^is62 9 ' R wan - It had gone up Albemarle Sound thirty or forty miles,

and into the Pasquotank River, toward Elizabeth City, not far

southeast of the Great Dismal Swamp. Rowan's fleet consisted of fourteen

vessels, the Delaware being his flag-ship. On the morning of the 10th it

was in the river near Elizabeth City, and confronting seven steamers and a

schooner armed with two 32-pounders, and a four-gun battery on the shore,

and one heavy gun in the town in front. The whole force was in charge of

Commander Lynch.

Rowan opened fire, upon flotilla and batteries at about nine o'clock.
After a short but very severe engagement, Lynch, who was on shore, sig-
nalled for the abandonment of the vessels, when they were run aground

defend it. The neglect of Benjamin was so notorious, that the Committee held him responsible. The public
indignation was intense, and yet, in the face of all this. Davis, assuming the attitude of a Dictator, as he really
was, with his usual haughty disregard of the opinions of others and the wishes of the people, promoted Benjamin
to the position of "Secretary of State." The insult was keenly felt, but the despotism of the conspirators was
too powerful to allow much complaint from the outraged people.

In his report to General Hnger, Wise said Eoanoke Island was the key to all the defenses of Norfolk. It
unlocked two sounds Albemarle and Currituck ; eight rivers the North, West, Pasquotank, Perquimmons,
Little, Chowan, Eoanoke. and Alligator: four canals the Albemarle and Chesapeake, Dismal Swamp, North-
west, and Suffolk; two railways the Petersburg and Norfolk, and Seaboard and Eoanoke. At the same time
it guarded four-fifths of the supplies for Norfolk. Its fall, Wise said, gave lodgment to the Nationals in a safe
harbor from storms, and a command of the seaboard from Oregon Inlet to Cape Henry, at the entrance of Chesa-
peake Bay. "It should have been defended," he said, "at the expense of twenty thousand men, and many
millions of dollars."

1 The entire National loss in the capture of Eoanoke was about 50 killed and 222 wounded. That of the
Confederates, according to Pollard (i. 231), was 23 killed, 53 wounded, and 62 missing. Colonel Monteuil
was the commander of a regiment of New York Volunteers, known as the D'Epineuil Zouaves. These had
accompanied the expedition as far as Hatteras, when, for the want of transportation, they were sent back to
Fortress Monroe. Their Lieutenant-Colonel remained with the army, and in the battle he served as a volunteer.
With a Sharp's rifle he fought gallantly in the ranks of Hawkins's Zouaves, was shot through the head while
urging these forward in the notable charge, with the words " Charge, mes enfant ! Charge, Zouaves!" In honor
of this brave and devoted soldier, General Burnside named one of the captured batteries Fort de Monteuil.

3 On the 13th of February, Wise issued a characteristic ' Special Order No. 1," from "Canal Bridge, Curri-
tuck County, N. C.," informing the public that the flag of Captain 0. Jennings Wise would be raised for true
men to rally around.

* New names were given to the forts. Fort Bartow was changed to Fort Foster; Fort Huger to Fort Eeno ;
and Fort Blanchard to Fort Parke.

MEDALS OF HONOR BESTOWED.

175

and set on fire. Then the Confederates fled, and Lynch, retiring to the
interior of North Carolina, was not heard of again during the war until he
reappeared at Smith ville, when Fort Fisher was captured, early in 1865.

Shortly after the flight of the Confederates, Acting Master's-Mate J. H.
Raymond planted the National flag on the shore battery, and thus proclaimed
the first conquest achieved by the Nationals on the main of North Carolina.
The battle had lasted only forty minutes, and Rowan's loss was only two
killed and five or six wounded. 1 The number lost bv the Confederates was

1 An extraordinary example of heroism was exhibited during this engagement by John Davis, a Finlnnder,
who was a gunner's mate on board the Valley City. A shell entered that vessel, and, exploding in the masa-
zine, set fire to some wood-work. Davis was there, and, seeing the imminent danger to the vessel and all on
board, because of an open barrel of gunpowder from which he had been serving, he seated himself upon it. and
so remained until the flames were extinguished. For this brave act the Secretary of the Navy rewarded him
with the appointment of acting-gunner in the navy (March 11, 1S62), by which his salary was raised from $300
to $1,000 a year. Admiring citizens of New York raised and presented to him $1,100. The Secretary of the
Navy, by authority of an act of Congress, approved Dec. 21. 1S61. presented him with a Medal of Honor, on which
are inscribed the following words : " PERSONAL VAI.OR JOHN DAVIS, GUNNER'S MATE, U. 8. S. VALLEY CITY,
Albemarle Sound, February 10th, 1S62." Such medals were afterward presented to a considerable number of
gallant men In subordinate stations, for acts of special bravery "before the enemy." Davis was the first
recipient.

The act of Congress authorized the Secretary to cause two hundred of these Jferfah of Honor to be pre-
pared, and to be bestowed by him upon "such petty officers, others of inferior rating, and marines, as should
most distinguish themselves by their gallantry in action and other commendable qualities during the present
war." These were made of bronze, in the form of a star
of five rays, with a device emblematic of Union crush-
ing the monster Rebellion, around which is a circle of
thirty-three smaller stars, representing the thirty -three
States then (1S61) composing the Union. The medal
is suspended from the flukes of an anchor, which in
turn is attached to a buckle and ribbon. The Secretary
directed that the medal should be worn suspended
from the left breast, by a ribbon all blue at top for half
an inch downward, and thirteen vertical stripes, alter-
nate red and white for eight-tenths of jm inch. The
name of the recipient to be engraved on the buck, with
his rating, the name of the vessel in which he was
serving, and the place where, and the date when, his
meritorious act was performed. The picture here given
of the medal an American " Legion of Honor " is
the exact size of the original. For fuller particulars
concerning the MEDAL OF HONOR, see Regulations for
the Government of the United States Navy, 1865, page
140.

The following is a list of the names (320 in number)
of those to whom medals were awarded : James Mc-
Cloud, Louis Richards, Thomas Flood, James Buck,
Oscar E. Peck, Thomas Gehegan, Edward Farrel, Peter
Williams, Benjamin Sevearer, John Davis, Charles
Kenyon, Jeremiah Regan, Alexander Hood. John
Kelley, Daniel Lakin, John Williams, John Breese,
Alfred Patterson, Thomas C. Barton, Edwin Smith,
Daniel Harrington, John Williams, J. B. Frisbee,
Thomas Bourne, William McKnight, William Martin,
John Greene, John McGowan, Amos Bradley, George
Hollat, Charles Florence, "William Young, William
Parker, Edward Wright, Charles Bradley, Timothy
Sulli7an, James Byrnes, John McDonald. Charles Rob-
inson, Pierre Leno, Peter Colton, Charles W. Morton,
William Martin, Robert Williams, George Bell, William
Thompson, John ^Villiams, Matthew Arthur, John
Mackic, Matthew McClelland, Joseph E. Vantine, John
Rush, John Hickman, Robert Anderson, Peter Howard,
Andrew Brinn, P. R. Vaughn, Samuel Woods, Henry
Thielberg, Robert B. Wood, Robert Jordan, Thomaa
W. Hamilton, Frank Bois, Thomas Jenkins, Martin Me-

Hugh, Thomas E. Corcoran, Henry Dow, John Woon, NAVAL MEDAL OK HONOB.

Christ. Brennen, Edward Ringgold, James K. L. Dun-

176

CONTROL OF ALBEMARLE SOUND.

large, but was never ascertained. Only one of the Confederate vessels (the
Ellis] was saved from destruction ; and it was with difficulty that the town was
preserved, for the insurgents, when they abandoned their vessels, set fire
to it in several places. It was a most barbarous act, for only a few defense-
less women and children remained in the town. These at once experienced
the humanity of the Nationals, who showed them every kind-
^seij 11 ' ness ' w ^ en > on the following day," they took possession of the

place.

This success was followed up by other movements for securing the con-
trol of Albemarle Sound and the adjacent country, as well as the waters
through which communication was held with Norfolk. To this end, Rowan

sent Lieutenant A. Maury, with a
part of his fleet, to take posses-
sion of Edenton, near the western
end of the Sound* This was easily
done on the day after the capture
of Elizabeth City, 6 a body
of flying artillery station-
ed there having left it

precipitately without firing a shot.
Maury destroyed a schooner on the
stocks and eight cannon, and then
passed on, capturing vessels on the
Sound. On the following
day," Lieutenant Jeffers,
with some of the fleet, proceeded to
the Chesapeake and Albemarle Canal,
that traverses the Dismal Swamp on
its way from the Elizabeth River to the Pasquotank, for the purpose of

c Feb. 18.

w. F. IYNCH.

can, Hugh Melloy, William P. Johnson, Bartlett Laffey, Richard Scward, Christopher Nugent, James Brown,
William Moore, William P. Brownell, William Talbot, Richard Stout. George W. Leland, Horatio N. Young,
Michael Huskey, John Dorman, William Farley, J. Henry Denig, Michael Hudson, William M. Smith, Miles M.
Oviatt, Barnett Kenna, William Halsted, Joseph Brown, Joseph Irlam, Edward Price, Alexander Mack, William
Nichols, John Lawson, Martin Freeman, William Dinsmore, Adam Duncan, Charles Deakin, Cornelius Cronin,
William Wells, Hendrick Sharp, Walter B. Smith, George Parks, Thomas Hayes, Lebbeus Simkins, Oloff Smith,
Alexander H. Truett, Robert Brown, John H. James, Thomas Cripps, John Brazell, James II. Morgan, John
Smith, James B. Chandler, William Jones, William Doolen, James Smith, Hugh Hamilton, James Mclntosli,
William M. Carr, Thomas Atkinson, David Sprowle, Andrew Miller, James Martin, William Phinney, John
Smith, Samuel W. Kinnard, Patrick Dougherty, Michael Cassidy, George Taylor. Louis G. Chaput, James Ward,
Daniel Whitfield, John M. Burns, John Edwards, Adam McCulloch, James Sheridan, John E. Jones, William
Gardner, John Preston, William Newland, David Naylor, Charles B. Woram, Thomas Kendrick, James S. Roan,
tree, Andrew Jones, James Seanor, William C. Connor, Martin Howard, James Tallentine, Robert Graham, Henry
Brutsche, Patrick Colbert, James Haley, John F. Bickford, Charles A. Read, William Smith, William Bond,
Charles Moore, George II. Harrison, Thomas Perry, John Hayes, George E. Read, Robert Strahan, James H. Lee,
Joachim Pease (colored), William B. Poole, Michael Aheam, Mark G. Ham, John W. Loyd, Charles Baldwin,
Alexander Crawford, John Laverty, Benjamin Loyd, David Warren, William Wright, John Sullivan, Robert T.
Clifford, Thomas Harding, Perry Wilkes, John Hyland, Michael McCormick, Timothy O'Donohue, George

Butts, Charles Asten, John Ortega, Maurice Wagg, R. H. King, Wilkes, Demming, Bernard Harley,

William Smith, Richard Hamilton, Edward J. Houghton, Oliver O'Brien, Frank Lucas, William Garvin, Charles
J. Bibber, John Neil, Robert Montgomery, James Roberts, Charles Hawkins, Dennis Conlan, James Sullivan,
William Hinnegan, Charles Rice, John Cooper, Patrick Mullin, James Saunders, James Horton, James Rountry,
John H. Ferrell, John Ditzenbach, Thomas Taylor, Patrick Mullin, Aaron Anderson or Sanderson (colored), Charles
H. Smith, Hugh Logan, Lewis A. Horton, George Moore, Luke M. Griswold, John Jones, George Pyne, Thomas
Smith, Charles Reed, John 8. Lann, George Schutt, John Mack, John H. Nibbe, Othniel Tripp, John Griffiths,
Edward Swatton, John Swatson, Phillip Bazaar, George Province, Augustas Williams, Auzella Savasre. John
Jackson, Robert M, Blair, Anthony Williams, James W. Verney, Asa Bettram, John P. Ericson, Clement Dees,

APPEALS TO THE FORTH CAROLINIAN'S.

disabling it. They found Confederates engaged in the same work, who fled
on the approach of the Nationals. The latter sunk two schooners in the
canal and departed. Finally, on the
19th, the combined fleet set out from
Edenton on a reconnoissance, which
extended up the Chowan River as far
as Winton (which was partially de-
stroyed), and the Roanoke to Ply-
mouth. The Perry, bearing Colonel
Hawkins and a company of his Zou-
aves, received a volley of musketry
from the high bank near the latter
place, when Rowan ordered the town
to be shelled. It was nearly all de-
stroyed excepting the church.

The power of the Government was
so fully displayed in this region, while
its justice and clemency were pro-
claimed by Burnside and Goldsborough
conjointly, in an address to the people
of North Carolina, issued on the 1 8th, that the great bulk of the inhabitants,
naturally inclined to loyalty, were anxious to render full submission. The
proclamation assured them that the expedition was not there for the purpose
of invading any of their rights. On the contrary, it came to protect them
under the rightful authority of the National Government, and to close the
desolating war which their wicked leaders had commenced. They were
admonished of the truth, that those leaders were imposing upon their cre-
dulity, deceiving them by fictions about the intentions of the Government,
such as destroying their property, injuring their women, and liberating their
slaves. " We are Christians as well as yourselves," they said, " and we pro-
fess to know well and to feel profoundly the sacred obligations of the charac-
ter. Xo apprehensions need be entertained that the demands of humanity
or justice will be disregarded." ..." We invite you, in the name of
the Constitution, and in that of virtuous loyalty and civilization, to separate
yourselves at once from these malign influences, to return to your allegiance,

HAWKINS ZOUAVE.

George W. McWilliams, John Angling, William Dnnn, Robert Summers, Joseph B. Hayden, Isaac N. Fry,
Edward R. Bowman, William Shipman, William G. Taylor, George Prance, Thomas Jones, William Campbell,
Charles Mills, Thomas Connor, David L. Bass, Franklin L. Wilcox, Thomas Harcourt, Gurdon H. Barter, John
Rannahan, John Shivers, Henry Thompson, Henry S. Webster, A. J. Tomlin, Albert Burton, L. C. Shepard,
Charles H. Foy, James Barnum, John Dempster, Edmund Haffee, Nicholas Lear, Daniel S. Milliken, Richard
Willis, Joseph White, Thomas English, Charles Robinson, John Martin, Thomas Jordan, Edward B. Young,
Edward Martin, John G. Morrison, William B. Stacy, Henry Shntes, John Taylor, John Harris, Henry Baker,
James Avery, John Donnelly, John Noble, John Brown, Richard Bates, Thomas Burke, Thomas Robinson,
Nicholas Irwin, John Cooper, John Brown, John Irving, William Blagdeen, William Madden, James Machon,
William H. Brown, James Mifflin, James E Sterling, Richard Dennis, Samuel W. Davis. Samuel Todd, Thomas
Fitzpatrick, Charles Melville, William A, Stanley, William Pelham, John McFarland, James G. Garrison, Thomas
O. Connell, Wilson Brown.

The following named persons, having had Medals of Honor awarded to them for distinguished service in
battle, and having again performed acts which, if they had not received that distinction, would have entitled
them to it, were authorized to wear a bar attached to the ribbon by which the medal is suspended: John Cooper,
Patrick Mullen.

The following persons, whose names appear on the above list, forfeited their medals by bad conduct:
Joseph Brown, John Brazell, Frank Lucas, John Jackson, Clement Dees, Charles Robinson, John Martin, Rich-
ard B;itfS.

VOL. II. 12

178 SPIRIT OF THE LOYAL AND DISLOYAL.

and not compel us to resort further to the force under our control. The
Government asks only that its authority may be recognized; and, we
repeat, in no manner or way does it desire to interfere with your laws, con-
stitutionally established, your institutions of any kind whatever, your prop-
erty of any sort, or your usages in any respect."

This appeal alarmed the Confederate leaders in that State, and the Gover-
nor, Henry T. Clark, issued a counter-proclamation a few days
afterward, in which he denounced the expedition as an attempt
to deprive the inhabitants of liberty, property, and all they held
" most dear as a self-governing and free people." He called upon them to
supply the requisitions just made by Jefferson Davis for troops to repel the
enemy. " We must resist him," he said, " at all hazards, and by every
means in our power. He wages a war for our subjugation a war forced
upon us in wrong, and prosecuted without right, and in a spirit of vengeful
wickedness, without a parallel in the history of warfare among civilized
nations." He assured them that the Government was increasing its efforts
" and straining every nerve " not to regain its rightful authority, but to over-
run the country and subjugate the people to its domination, its " avarice and
ambition." " I call upon the brave and patriotic men of our State to volun-
teer," he said, " from the mountains to the sea."

Such was the opposing spirit of the Government, and the conspirators
against its life. The former was anxious for peace, the latter were zealous
for war. The former, battling for right, justice, and the perpetuity of
free institutions, and conscious of the righteousness of its cause, was firm but
mild, patient, and persuasive ; the latter, battling for wrong, injustice, and
the perpetuation of slavery for the negro, and serfdom for the poor white
man, with no warrant for their acts but selfishness, were bitter, vehement,
and uncompromising; continually appealing to the passions of the people
rather than to their reason and judgment, and by fraud and violence dragging
them into the vortex of rebellion, in which their prosperity and happiness
were sadly wrecked.

Here we will leave the National forces for a while in the waters of North
Carolina, preparing for another important victory, which they achieved a
month later, and observe the progress of military events westward of the
Alleghanies during the later days of autumn, and the winter of 1861-62.

WESTERN MILITARY DIVISIONS. 179

CHAPTEK VII.

MILITARY OPERATIONS IN MISSOURI, NEW MEXICO, AND EASTERN KENTUCKY CAP-
TURE OF FORT HENRY.

OWARD the close of the autumn of 1861, the attitude
of the contending parties, civil and military, in the
great basin of the central Mississippi Valley was ex-
ceedingly interesting. We left the National army in
Southern Missouri, at the middle of November, dis-
pirited by the removal of their favorite leader, slowly
\ making their way toward St. Louis under their tempo-
rary commander, General Hunter, while the energetic
Confederate leader, General Price, was advancing, and reoccupying
the region which the Nationals abandoned. 1 We left Southern Ken-
tucky, from the mountains to the Mississippi River, in possession
of the Confederates. Polk was holding the western portion, with
his head-quarters at Columbus ; General Buckner, with a strongly
intrenched camp at Bowling Green, was holding the center; and
Generals Zollicoffer and Marshall and others were keeping watch
and ward on its mountain flanks. Back of these, and between them and the
region where the rebellion had no serious opposition, was Tennessee, firmly
held by the Confederates, excepting in its mountain region, where the most
determined loyalty still prevailed.

On the 9th of November, 1861, General Henry Wager Halleck, who had
been called from California by the President to take an active part in the war,
was appointed to the command of the new Department of Missouri. 2 He had
arrived in Washington on the 5th, a and on the 19th took the com-
mand, with Brigadier-General George W. Cullum, an eminent
engineer officer, as his chief of staff, and Brigadier-General Schuyler Hamilton
as assistant chief. Both officers had been on the staff of General Scott. The
head-quarters were at St. Louis. General Hunter, whom Halleck superseded,
was assigned to the command of the Department of Kansas. 3 General
Don Carlos Buell had superseded General Sherman, and was appointed
! commander of the Department of the Ohio ; 4 and the Department of Mexico,
which included only the territory of New Mexico, was intrusted to Colonel
E. R. S. Canby. Such was the arrangement of the military divisions of the
territory westward of the Alleghanies late in 1861.

1 See page 84.

5 It included Missouri, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Arkansas, and that portion of Kentucky lying
west of the Cumberland River.

3 This included the State of Kansas, the Indian Territory, west of Arkansas, and the Territories of Nebraska,
Colorado, and Dakota.

4 This included the State of Ohio, and the portion of Kentucky lying eastward of the Cumberland River,
which had formed a part of Sherman's Department of the Cumberland.

ISO HALLEOK'S TREATMENT OF SECESSIONISTS.

General Halleck was then in the prime of life, and he entered upon his
duties with zeal and vigor. He was possessed of large mental and physical

energy, and much was expected of him.
He carefully considered the plan ar-
ranged by Fremont for clearing the
States of Kentucky, Tennessee, Mis-
souri, and Arkansas of armed insur-
gents, and secm-ing the navigation of
the Mississippi by sweeping its banks
of obstructions, from Cairo to New
Orleans. 1 Approving of it in general,
he pushed on the great enterprise with
strong hopes of success.

Halleck's first care was to establish
the most perfect discipline in his army,
to overawe the secessionists, and to
relieve the loyal people of Missouri of
the effects of the dreadful tyranny in-
flicted by the latter, many of whom were engaged in armed bands in
plundering the inhabitants, desolating the property of Union men, and
destroying railways and bridges. Refugees were then crowding into the
Union lines by thousands. Their miseries cannot be described. Men, women,
and children were stripped, plundered, and made homeless. Naked and
starving, they sought refuge and relief in St. Louis. Seeing this, the com-
mander determined to apply an effectual remedy. In a general order, he
directed the Provost-Marshal of St. Louis (Brigadier-General Curtis) to in-
quire into the condition of these refugees, and to take measures for quartering
them " in the houses of avowed secessionists," and for feeding and clothing
them at the expense of that class of citizens, or others known to have been
guilty of giving " assistance and encouragement to the enemy."
" jggj ' He also further ordered" wealthy secessionists to contribute for
the support of these refugees, and that all who should not volun-
tarily do so should be subjected to a levy, either in money, food, clothing, or
quarters, to the amount often thousand dollars each. This order was rigid Jy
enforced, and many wealthy citizens were made to pay liberal sums. One
prominent merchant, named Engel, who ventured to resist the order by
appealing to the civil courts, was ordered out of the Department. This was
the last appeal of that kind.

Determined to put a stop to the continual outflowing of information to
the Confederates from within his lines, Halleck issued some very stringent
orders. The earliest of these was Order No. 3,* which forbade
fugitives entering or remaining within his lines, it having been rep-
resented to him that they conveyed contraband information out of them. 2
This order was a subject of much comment, because of its seeming tender-
ness for the rebellious slaveholder, and cruelty toward the bondman seeking

1 See pajre 79.

1 " In order to remedy this evil." ran the order, "it is directed that no such person be hereafter permitted to
enter the lines of any camp, or of any forces on the march, and that any now within snch lines be immediately
xcluded therefrom."

POPE IX MISSOURI. PRICE'S APPEAL. 181

freedom. That it was a mistake, subsequent experience fully demonstra-
ted; for throughout the war the negro, whether bond or free, was uni-
formly the friend and helper of the National cause. General Halleck had
been misinformed, and upon that misinformation he acted with the best
intentions, one of which was to prevent the betrayal of the secret of his
camps, and another that he might keep clear of the questions relating to
masters and slaves, 1 in which Fremont had been entangled, to his hurt.

In the order of the 4th of December, concerning the treatment of avowed
secessionists, Halleck further directed that all rebels found within his lines
in the disguise of pretended loyalty, or other false pretenses, or found giving
information to the insurgents, should be " arrested, tried, and, if condemned,
shot as spies." This and all other orders, concerning the disloyalists by
whom he was surrounded, were enforced; and he directed that any one
attempting to resist the execution of them should be arrested and imprisoned,
to be tried by a military commission. Many offenders being women, it was
declared that " the laws of war make no distinction of sex."

To enforce these laws, it was necessary to use military power, especially
in the suppression of the bands of marauders who were then sweeping over the
country. He accordingly sent General John Pope, who, as we have already
observed, had been active in that Department, to disperse the encampments
of these guerrillas in Western Missouri. Pope had been acting with vigor
during the latter part of summer and the early autumn. The people of a
district where outrages were committed had been held responsible for them.
He had quartered his troops on such inhabitants, and required from them
contributions of horses, mules, provisions, and other necessaries. He had
organized Committees of Safety, on which were placed prominent secession-
ists, charged to preserve the peace ; and in a short time comparative good
order was restored. Now Pope was charged with similar duties. On the
7th of December, he was assigned to the command of all the National troops
between the Missouri and Osage Rivers, which included a considerable por-
tion of Fremont's army that fell back from Springfield. Price was advanc-
ing. He had made a most stirring appeal by proclamation to the Missouri-
ans to come and help him, and so help themselves to freedom and independ-
ence. The Governor (Jackson), he said, had called for fifty thousand men, but
only five thousand had responded. " Where are those fifty thousand men ?"
he asked. "Are Missourians no longer true to themselves? Are they a
timid, tune-serving race, fit only for subjugation to a despot ? Awake ! my
countrymen," he cried, " to a sense of what constitutes the dignity of the
true greatness of a people Come to us, brave sons of the Mis-
souri Valley ! Rally to our standard ! I must have the fifty thousand men.
. . . . Do you stay at home for protection? More men have been
murdered at home than I have lost in five successive battles. Do you stay
at home to secure terms with the enemy ? Then I warn you the day soon
may come when you will be surrendered to the mercies of that enemy, and
your substance given to the Hessians and the Jay hawkers. 2 . . . Leave

1 Letter of General Halleck to General Asboth, December 20, 1861.

a A name given to certain rangers or guerrilla bands of Kansas and especially those under Colonel Jenni-
son, who was active against the insurgents.

182 BATTLE ON THE BLACK WATER.

your property to take care of itself. Come to the Army of Missouri, not for
a week or a month, but to free your country.

' Strike till each armed foe expires !
Strike for your country's altar fires!
Strike for the green graves of your sires,
God and your native land !'

Be yours the office to choose between the glory of a free country and a just
government, or the bondage of your children. I, at least, will never see the
chains fastened upon my country. I will ask for six and a half feet of Mis-
souri soil in which to repose, for I will not live to see my people enslaved."

This appeal aroused the disaffected Missourians, and at the time when
Pope was ordered to his new field of operations, about five thousand recruits,
it was said, were marching from the Missouri River and beyond to join
Price. To prevent this combination was Pope's chief desire. He encamped
thirty or forty miles southwest from Booneville, at the middle of Decem-
ber, and after sending out some of the First Missouri cavalry, under Major
Hubbard, to watch Price, who was then at Osceola with about eight thou-
sand men, and to prevent a reconnoissance of the main column of the Nation-
als, he moved his whole body" westward and took position in the
isei ' country between Clinton and Warrensburg, in Henry and John-
son counties. There were two thousand Confederates then near
his lines, and against these Lieutenant-Colonel Brown, of the Seventh Mis-
souri, was sent with a considerable cavalry force that scattered them.
Having accomplished this, Brown returned to the main army, 6

Dec. 18. fe ' r '

which was moving on Warrensburg.

Informed that a Confederate force was on the Blackwater, at or near
Milford, North of him, Pope sent Colonel Jefferson C. Davis and Major Mer-
rill to flank them, while the main body should be in a position to give immedi-
ate aid, if necessary. Davis found them in a wooded bottom on the west
side of the Blackwater, opposite the mouth of Clear Creek. His forces were
on the east side, and a bridge that spanned the Blackwater between them
was strongly guarded. This was carried by assault, by two companies of
the Fourth Regular Cavalry, under Lieutenants Gordon and Amory, supported
by five companies of the First Iowa cavalry. Gordon led the charge in per-
son, and received several balls through his cap. The Confederates were
driven, the bridge was crossed, and a pursuit was pressed. Unable to
escape, the fugitives, commanded by Colonels Robinson, Alexander, and
Magoffin (the latter a brother of the Governor of Kentucky), surrendered.
The captives were one thousand three hundred in number, infantry and cav-
alry ; and with them the Nationals gained as spoils about eight hundred
horses and mules, a thousand stand of arms, and over seventy wagons
loaded with tents, baggage, ammunition, and supplies of every kind.

At about midnight the prisoners and spoils were taken into Pope's camp,
and the next day the victors and the vanquished moved back in the direc-
tion of Sedalia, Pope's starting-place. In the space of five days the infantry
had marched more than one hundred miles, and the cavalry double that
distance. During that time they had captured nearly fifteen hundred pri-
soners, with the arms and supplies just mentioned. They had swept the

PRICE DRIVEN OUT OF MISSOURI. 183

whole country west of Sedalia, in the direction of Kansas, far enough to
foil the attempts of recruits to reach Price in any considerable numbers, and
to compel him to withdraw, in search of safety and subsistence, toward the
borders of Arkansas.

Among the captured on the Blackwater, were many wealthy and influen-
tial citizens ol Missouri. This event dealt a stunning blow to secession in
that State for the moment, and Pope's short campaign gave great satisfaction
to all loyal people. Halleck complimented him on his " brilliant success,"
and feeling strengthened there by, he pressed forward with more vigorous
measures for the complete suppression of the rebellion in his Department
westward of the Mississippi River. On the 23d of December he declared
martial law in St. Louis ; and by proclamation on the 25th this system of
rule was extended to all railroads and their vicinities. 1 At about the same
time General Price, who had found himself relieved from immediate danger,
and encouraged by a promise of re-enforcements from Arkansas, under Gen-
eral Mclntosh, concentrated about twelve thousand men at Springfield,
where he put his army in comfortable huts, with the intention of remaining
all winter, and pushed his picket-guards fifteen or twenty miles northward.
This demonstration caused Halleck to concentrate his troops at Lebanon, the
capital of Laclede County, northeastward of Springfield, early in February,
under the chief command of General (late Colonel) S. R. Curtis. These
were composed of the troops of Generals Asboth, Sigel, Davis, and Prentiss.

In the midst of storms and floods, over heavy roads and swollen streams,
the combined forces moved on Springfield in three columns, the
right under General Davis, the center under General Sigel, and
the left under Colonel (soon afterward General) Carr. On the
game day they met some of Price's advance, and skirmishing ensued ; and
on the following day about three hundred Confederates attacked Curtis's
picket-guards, but were repulsed. This feint of offering battle was made by
Price to enable him to effect a retreat. On the night of the 12th
and 13th* he fled from Springfield with his whole force. Not a
man of them was to be seen when Curtis's vanguard, the Fourth Iowa,
entered the town at dawn the next morning. There stood their huts, in
capacity sufficient to accommodate ten thousand men. The camp attested
a hasty departure, for remains of supper and half-dressed sheep and hogs, that
had been slain the previous evening, were found.

Price retreated to Cassville, closely pursued by Curtis. Still southward
he hastened, and was more closely followed, his rear and flanks continually
harassed during four days, while making his way across the Arkansas border
to Cross Hollows. 9 Having been re-enforced by Ben McCulloch, near a range
of hills called Boston Mountains, he made a stand at Sugar Creek, where,
in a brief engagement, he was defeated,' and was again compelled
to fly. He halted at Cove Creek, where, on the 25th, he reported

1 The proclamation of the 25th was issued in consequence of the destruction or disability, on the 20th, of
about one hundred miles of the Missouri railroad, by some men returned from Price's army, assisted by inhab-
itants along the line of the road, acting by pre-concert On the 28d, Halleck issued an order, fixing the penalty
of death for that crime, and requiring the towns and counties along the line of any railway thus destroyed, to
repair the damages and pay the expenses.

2 During the operations of this forward movement of the National troops, Brisadier-General Price, son of
the chief, was captured at Warsaw, together with several officers of the elder Price's staff, and about 500
recruits.

184 HUNTER'S OPERATIONS IN KANSAS.

to his wandering chief, Jackson, saying, " Governor, we are confident of the
future." General Halleck, quite as " confident of the future," was now able
to report to his Government that Missouri was effectually cleared of the
armed forces of insurgents who had so long infested it, and that the National
flag was waving in triumph over the soil of Arkansas. In accomplishing this
good work, no less than sixty battles and skirmishes, commencing with Boone-
ville at the middle of June, 1 and ending at the middle of the suc-

a 1S62

ceeding February," had been fought on Missouri soil, resulting
in an aggregate loss to both parties, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, of
about eleven thousand men.*

While Halleck was thus purging Missouri, Hunter, with his head-quarters
at Fort Leavenworth, was vigorously at work in Kansas, on the west of it. 8
The general plan of his treatment of the rebellion, which was rife on the
Missouri border, was set forth in a few words addressed to the
Trustees of Platte City,* concerning an outlaw named Gordon^
who, with a guerrilla band, was committing depredations and
outrages of every kind in that region. Hunter said, "Gentlemen, I give
you notice, that unless you seize and deliver the said Gordon to me at these
head-quarters within ten days from this date, or drive him out of the
country, I shall send a force to your city with orders to reduce it to ashes,
and to burn the house of every secessionist in your county, and to carry
away every negro. Colonel Jennison's regiment will be intrusted with the
execution of this order." Jennison, who was the commander of the First
Kansas cavalry, was well known to the people as an ardent anti-slavery
champion during the civil war in Kansas in 1855, 4 and a man ready to execute
any orders of the kind. That letter, the power given to Jennison, and a
proclamation issued by the latter a short time before, 5 made the secessionists
very circumspect for a while, and " all quiet in Kansas " was a frequent report
in the Spring of 1862.

Active and armed rebellion was at this time co-extensive with the slave-
labor States. Colonel Canby found it ready to meet him even in the remote 1
region of New Mexico, in the shape of invaders from Texas. Like Halleck
and Hunter, he attacked the monster quickly and manfully.

1 See rage 540, volume I.

2 Several of these skirmishes were so light, and so unimportant in their bearings upon the great Issues, that
the narrative of this general history has not been unduly extended by a record of them. Such record belongs
to a strictly statistical and military history of the war. During the last fortnight of the month of December,
1861, the Nationals in Missouri captured 2,500 prisoners, including 70 commissioned officers; 1,200 horses and
mules; 1,100 stand of arms; 2 tons of powder ; 100 wagons, and a large amount of stores and camp equipage.

3 Preparations had been made for organizing an army in Kansas to go through the Indian Territory and a
portion of Southwestern Arkansas and so on to New Orleans, to co-operate with the forces that were to sweep
down the Mississippi and along its borders. James H. Lane, then a member of the United States Senate, was to
command that army. Owing to some difficulties, arising from misapprehension, the expedition was abandoned*
and Lane took his seat in the Senate at Washington.

* See note 2, page 181.

6 Jennison had said to the Inhabitants of Lafayette, Cass, Johnson, and Pettis Counties, in Missouri:
" For fonr months our armies have inarched through your country. Tour professed friendship has been a fraud ;
your oaths of allegiance have been shams and perjuries. You feed the rebel army, you act as spies while

claiming to be true to the Union Neutrality is ended. If you are patriots, yu must fight ; if you are

traitors, you must be punished." .... He told them that the rights and property of Union men would be
everywhere respected, but " traitors," he said, " will everywhere be treated as outlaws enemies of God and
men, too base to hold any description of property, and having no rights which loyal men are bound to respect*
The last dollar and the last slave of rebels will be taken and turned over to the General Government Playing
war is played out, and whenever Union troops are fired upon the answer will boom from cannon, and desolation
will follow."

TREASON IN NEW MEXICO. 185

We have seen the loyal people of Texas bound hand and foot by a civil
and military despotism after the treason of General Twiggs. 1 The con-
spirators and their friends had attempted to play a similar game for attaching
New Mexico to the intended Confederacy, and to aid Twiggs in giving over
Texas to the rule of the Confederates. So early as 1860, Secretary Floyd
sent Colonel "VV. -H. Loring, of North Carolina (who appears to have been an
instrument of the traitor), to command the Department of New Mexico,
while Colonel George B. Crittenden, an unworthy son of the venerable Ken-
tucky senator, who had been sent out for the same wicked purpose as Loring,
was appointed by the latter, commander of an expedition against the Apaches,
which was to start from Fort Stannton in the Spring of 1861. It was the
business of these men to attempt the corruption of the patriotism of the
officers under them, and to induce them to lead their men into Texas and give
them to the service of the rebellion. One of these officers (Lieutenant-Colonel
B. S. Roberts, of Vermont), who had joined Crittenden at Fort Staunton,
perceiving the intentions of his commander, refused to obey any orders that
savored of a treasonable purpose, and procuring a furlough, he hastened to
Sante Fe, the head-quarters of the Department, and denounced Crittenden to
Colonel Loring. He was astonished when, instead of thanks for his patriotic
service, he received a reproof for meddling with other people's business, and
discovered that Loring was also playing the game of treason. Roberts was
ordered back to Fort Staunton, but found an opportunity to warn Captain
Hatch, the commander at Albuquerque, and Captain Morris, who held Fort
Craig (both on the Rio Grande), as well as other loyal officers, of the treachery
of their superiors. The iniquity of Loring and Crittenden soon became known
to the little army under them, and they found it necessary to leave suddenly
and unattended. Of the twelve hundred regular troops in New Mexico, not
one proved treacherous to his country.

Loring and Crittenden made their way to Fort Fillmore, not far from El
Paso and the Texas border, then commanded by Major Isaac Lynde, of Ver-
mont. They found a greater portion of the officers there ready to engage in
the work of treason. Major Lynde professed to be loyal, but, if so, he was
too inefficient to be intrusted with command. Late in July, while leading
about five hundred of the seven hundred troops under his control toward the
village of Mesilla, he fell in with a few Texas insurgents, and, after a slight
skirmish, fled back to the fort. He was ordered to evacuate it, and march
his command to Albuquerque. Strange to say, the soldiers were allowed to
fill their canteens with whisky and drink when they pleased. A large por-
tion of them were drunken before they had marched ten miles, and then, as
if by previous arrangement, a Texas force appeared on their
flank." The soldiers who were not prostrated by intoxication "^il^ 1
wished to fight, but, by order of a council of officers, with Lynde
at their head, they were directed to lay down their arms as prisoners of war.
Lynde's commissary, Captain A. II. Plummer, who held seventeen thousand
dollars in Government drafts, which he mi<jht have saved, handed them over

O '

to Baylor, the commander of the insurgents. For this cowardice or treachery,
Lynde was simply dismissed from the army, and Plummer was reprimanded

1 See chapter XI., volume L

186

LOYALTY AND DISLOYALTY IN NEW MEXICO.

a Feb. 16,
1S61.

and suspended from duty for six months. Thus, at one sweep, nearly one-
half of the Government troops in New Mexico were lost to its service. The
prisoners were paroled, and then permitted to go on to Albuquerque. Their
sufferings from thirst on that march were terrible ; some of them seeking to
quench it by opening veins and drinking their own blood !

It was now thought that New Mexico would be an easy prey to the Texas
insurgents. Miguel A. Otero, its delegate in the National Con-
gress, had endeavored, by a published address," to incite the in-
habitants of New Mexico to rebellion, while Governor Abraham
Rencher, of North Carolina, took measures to defend the Territory against
the insurgents. His successor, Henry Connolly, was equally loyal. So also

were the people ; and when, at this junc-
ture of affairs, Colonel Canby arrived
as Commander of the Department, he
was met with almost universal sym-
pathy. He successfully appealed for
a regiment of volunteers to the Gover-
nor of the neighboring Territory of
Colorado, and these, with his few regular
troops and New Mexico levies, made
quite a respectable force in numbers,
when Canby was informed that Colonel
Henry H. Sibley, a major by brevet in
the National army, and a Louisianian,
who had abandoned his flag and put
himself at the head of a band of insur-
gents known as Texas Rangers, some
of them of the worst sort, was invading the Territory. His force was for-
midable in numbers (twenty-three hundred) and in experience, many of
them having been in successive expeditions against the Indians.

Sibley issued a proclamation to the people of New Mexico, in which he
denounced the National Government and demanded from the inhabitants aid
for and allegiance to his marauders. Confident of success, he moved slowly,
by way of Fort Thorn, and found Canby at Fort Craig, on the
Rio Grande, 4 prepared to meet him. A reconnoissance satisfied
him that, with his light field-pieces, an assault on the fort would
be foolish. He could not retreat or remain with safety, and his military
knowledge warned him that it would be very hazardous to leave a well-
garrisoned fort behind him. So he forded the Rio Grande at a point below
Fort Craig, and out of reach of its guns, for the purpose of drawing Canby
out. In this he was successful. Canby at once threw a force across the
river, 1 to occupy a position on an eminence commanding the fort, which it
was thought Sibley might attempt to gam.

In the afternoon of the following day, some cavalry, under Captain Dun-
can, and a battery were sent across, and drew a heavy cannonade from the
Texans. The infantry were nearly all thrown into confusion, excepting

HENRY H. BIBLKT.

4 Feb. 19,
1862.

These consisted of the Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Regular Infantry, under Captains Selden and Wingate,
and the volunteer regiments of Colonels Carson and Pine.

BATTLE OF VALVERDE. 187

Colonel Kit Carson's regiment. The panic was so great that Canby ordered
a return of all the forces to the fort. That night the exhausted mules of the
Texans became unmanageable, on account of thirst, and scampered in every
direction. The National scouts captured a large number of these, and
also wagons, by which Sibley was greatly crippled in the matter of trans-
portation.

At eight o'clock the next morning," Canby sent Lieutenant-
Colonel Roberts, with cavalry, artillery, and infantry, 1 across the ^j 21 '
Rio Grande ; and at Valverde, about seven miles north of the fort,
they confronted the vanguard of the Texans under Major Pyron, who were
making their way toward the river. The batteries opened upon Pyron, and
he recoiled. Desultory fighting, mostly with artillery, was kept up until
some time past noon, when Canby came upon the field, and took command in
person. In the mean time, Sibley, who was quite ill, had turned over his
command to Colonel Thomas Green, of the Fifth Texas regiment. Canby,
considering victory certain for his troops, was preparing to make a general
advance, when a thousand or more Texans, foot and horse, under Colonel
Steele, who had gathered in concealment in a thick wood and behind sand-
hills, armed with carbines, revolvers, and bowie-knives, suddenly rushed
forward and charged furiously upon the
batteries of McRea and Hall. The Texas
cavalry, under Major Raguet, charged upon
Hall's battery, and were easily repulsed ; but
those on foot, who made for McRea's battery,
could not be checked. His grape and canister
shot made fearful lanes in their ranks, but
they did not recoil. They captured the
battery, but not without encountering the
most desperate defenders of the guns in
McRea and his artillerists, a large number
of whom, with their commander, were killed.
McRea actually sat upon his gun, fighting
his foe with his pistol until he was shot. The
remainder of the Nationals, with the excep-
tion of Kit Carson's men and a few others, panic-stricken by the fierce charge
of the Texans, fled like sheep before wolves, and refused to obey the com-
mands of officers who tried to rally them. That flight was one of the most
disgraceful scenes of the war, and Canby was compelled to see victory
snatched from his hand when it seemed secure. The surviving Nationals
took refuge in Fort Craig. Their loss was sixty-two killed and one hundred
and forty-two wounded. The loss of the Texans was about the same.

Sibley well comprehended the situation. The fort could not be taken,

1 These were composed of a portion of Roberts's and Colonel Valdez's cavalry ; Carson's volunteers ; the
Fifth, Seventh, and Tenth Regulars, and two batteries, commanded respectively by Captain McRea and Lieutenant
Hall.

* These Rangers who went Into the rebellion were described as being, many of them, a desperate set of
fellows, having no higher motive than plunder and adventure. They were half savage, and each was mounted
on a mustang horse. Each man carried a rifle, a tomahawk, a bowie-knife, a pair of Colt's revolvers, and a lasso
for catching and throwing the horses at a flying foe. The above picture is from a sketch by one of Colonel
Canby's subalterns.

188 VICTORIES AND FLIGHT OF INSURGENTS.

and the spirit shown by a large portion of Canby's troops satisfied him that,
notwithstanding his loss of transportation by the capture of his mules and
wagons, he need riot fear a pursuit. So, passing on and leaving his wounded
at Socorro, thirty miles above Fort Craig, Sibley pressed forward to Albu-
querque, fifty miles farther, which was at once surrendered. His destination
was Santa Fe, and he was marching with perfect confidence .of success there,
when his vanguard, under W. R. Scurry, was met near Fort Union, in the
Canon Glorietta, or Apache Pass, fifteen miles from the capital of New Mexi-
co, by about thirteen hundred National troops, under Colonel John P. Slough.
These were mostly Colorado Volunteers, with a few regulars. A greater
part of these had just traversed the mountain wilderness from Denver, and
during the latter part of their journey, after hearing of Sibley's approach to
Santa Fe, they had marched at the rate of forty miles a day. In that nar-
row defile, where flanking was out of the question, a very severe fight
between the infantry and artillery of both parties occurred," in
wn i c h the Texans were victorious, after a loss of thirty-six killed
and sixty wounded. The National loss was twenty-three killed
and fifty wounded. 1

Sibley entered Santa Fe without further resistance. His army was
greatly crippled, and the people were either indifferent or actively opposed
to him. He seized whatever property might be useful to him, and hoped
to hold his position ; but a month had not elapsed before he was compelled
to fly back to Albuquerque, which he had made his depot of supplies, for
these were threatened by the forces of Colonel Canby, approaching from
below. He accomplished that purpose, but was so satisfied that he could
not hold New Mexico, that he evacuated Albuquerque on the 12th of
*1S62 April,* leaving his sick and wounded in hospitals there and at
Santa Fe. After skirmishing with his opponents along the
river, each party moving on opposite sides of the stream, and perceiving
imminent danger to his whole command, Sibley fled under cover of the
night to the mountains, with his scanty provisions on pack mules, dragging
his cannon over rugged spurs and along fearful precipices, for ten days.
Then he again struck the Rio Grande at a point where he had ordered sup-
plies to meet him. He then made his way to Fort Bliss, 2 in

May 4. . .

Texas," a wiser if not a happier man. Canby did not follow him
over the mountains, but returned to Santa Fe, and reported to the Secretary
of War that Sibley, who had been compelled to evacuate New Mexico, had
left behind him, " in dead and wounded, and in sick and prisoners, one-half
of his original force."

Let us now observe events eastward of the Mississippi River, within the
Departments of Generals Halleck 3 and Buell, 4 having a connection with the

1 On the previous morning, In a skirmish with Pyron's Cavalry, Colonel Slough took fifty-seven prisoners,
but losing tifteen of his own men. In the fight just recorded, Major Chivington, with four Colorado com-
panies, gained the rear of the Texans, and was inflicting serious injury upon them, when he heard of Slough's
defeat, and was compelled to withdraw.

2 At Albuquerque, according to Sibley's report, the brothers Raphael and Manuel Armijo were so warmly
interested in the Confederate cause that they placed at his disposal stores valued at $200,000. They fled over
the mountains with Sibley. Their generosity and sacrifices so touched his heart, that he expressed a hope that
they might not be forgotten by the "Confederate Government" in the final settlement.

8 See page 179. * See page 179.

PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT IN KENTUCKY.

189

grand plan for expelling the Confederates from Kentucky, and liberating
Tennessee from their grasp.

"We have seen how the loyalists in the Kentucky Legislature foiled the
efforts of the Governor and his political friends to link the fortunes of that
State with those of the " Southern Confederacy." These efforts were met,
as we have observed, by the occupation of the whole southern portion of the
commonwealth by Confederate troops, all of which were within the Depart-
ment commanded by General Albert
Sidney Johnston. That officer had
been an able veteran in the army of
the Republic, and was then about
sixty years of age. He was a Ken-
tuckian by birth, and his sympathies
were with the conspirators. He was
on duty in California when the war
was kindling, and was making pre-
parations, with other conspirators
there, to array that State on the
side of the Confederacy, 1 when he
was superseded in command by Lieu-
tenant-Colonel E. V. Sumner, of Mas-
Bachusetts. Johnston then abandon-
ed his flag, joined the conspirators in
active rebellion, and was appointed
by Jefferson Davis to the command of the " Western Department," with
his head-quarters at Xashville.

Under the shadow of Johnston's protection, and behind the cordon of
Confederate troops stretched across the State, the disloyal politicians of
Kentucky proceeded to organize an independent government for the com-
monwealth. They met at Russellville, the capital of Logan County, in the
southern part of the State, on the 29th of October. They drew up a mani-
festo, in which the grievances of Kentucky were recounted, and the action
of its Legislature denounced. They then called upon the people of the
State to choose, " in any manner" they might see fit, " delegates to attend a
' Sovereignty convention,' " at Russellville, on the 1 8th of November. At
the appointed time, about two hundred men from fifty-one counties, not
elected by the people, assembled, and with difficult gravity adopted a
" Declaration of Independence," and an " Ordinance of Seces-
sion,"" and then proceeded to organize a " Provisional Govern- ' ^ j J^ '
ment," by choosing a governor, a legislative council of ten, a
treasurer, and an auditor. 2 Bowling Green was selected as the new capital
of the State. Commissioners were appointed to treat with the " Confede-
rate Government," for the admission of Kentucky into the league ; 3 and
before the close of December the arrangement was made, and so-called

ALBERT SIDNEY JOHNSTON.

1 Annual Cyclopaedia for 1SG2. Article A. S. Johnston.

8 George W. Johnson, of Scott County, was chosen Governor. The ministers of the Legislative Council
were: William B. Machin. John W. Crockett. James P. Bates. James S. Critman, Philander JR. Thompson, J.
P. Bnrnside, II. W. Bruce. J. W. Moore, E. M. Bruce, and George B. Hod ire.

* The Commissioners were : Henry C. Burnett, W. E. Simons, and William Preston.

190

THE WAR IS SOUTHERN KENTUCKY.

*Dec. 16.

representatives of that great commonwealth were chosen by the " Legisla-
tive Council " a to seats in the " Congress " at Richmond. 1 The
'^sci 16 ' People had nothing to do with the matter, and the ridiculous
farce did not end here. All through the war, disloyal Kentuckiana
pretended to represent their noble old State in the supreme council of the
conspirators, where they were chosen only, a great portion of that time, by
the few Xentuckians in the military service of Jefferson Davis.

While these political events in Kentucky were in progress, military
movements in that quarter were assuming very important features. General
Johnston concentrated troops at Bowling Green, and General Hardee was
called from Southeastern Missouri, to supersede General Buckner in com-
mand there. The forces under General Polk at Columbus were strength-
ened, and Zollicoffer, having secured the important position of Cumber-
land Gap, proceeded to occupy the rich mineral and agricultural districts
around the upper waters of the Cumberland River. He issued a
proclamation* to the people of Southeastern Kentucky, declaring,
in the set phrases used by all the instruments of the conspirators, when
about to plant the heel of military despotism upon a community, that he
came as their " liberator from the Lincoln despotism " and the ravages of
" Northern hordes," who were " attempting the subjugation of a sister
Southern State."

In the mean time, General Buell had organized a large force at Louisville,
with which he was enabled to strengthen various advanced posts, and throw

forward, along the line of the railway
toward Bowling Green, about forty thou-
sand men, under General Alexander McD.
MoCook. As this strong body advanced,
the vanguard of the Confederates, under
General Hindman (late member of Con-
gress from Arkansas), fell back to the
southern bank of the Green River, at
Mumfordsville, where that stream was
spanned by one of the most costly iron
bridges in the country. 3 This was partially
destroyed, in order to impede the march
of their pursuers. The latter soon con-
structed a temporary one. For this pur-
pose, a greater portion of Colonel Auguste
Willich's German regiment (the Thirty-
second Indiana), forming McCook's vanguard, were thrown across the river,
where they were attacked/ at Rowlett Station, by a regiment of
mounted Texas Rangers, under Colonel Terry, supported by two

SPELL'S HEAD-QPABTEBS AT LOUISVILLE.'

1 These were : Henry C. Burnett, John Thomas, Thomas L. Burnett, 8. H. Ford, Thomas B. Johnson, George
W. Ewing. Dr. D. V. White, John M. Elliott, Thomas B. Monroe, and George B. Hodge. On the day when
these men were chosen by the " Council," two of them Henry C. Burnett and Thomas Monroe were sworn in
at Richmond as members of the Confederate Senate. Of such usurpers of the political rights of the people, the
" Confederate Congress," so called, was composed.

2 This Is a view of General Buell's head-quarters on Fourth Street, between Green and Walnut Streets, in
the most aristocratic portion of the city of St. Louis.

8 See page 851, volume L

BATTLE OF PRESTONBURG. 191

regiments of infantry and a battery of six guns. The Nationals, though
greatly outnumbered, and attacked chiefly by cavalry and artillery,
repulsed the assailants with ball and bayonet, killing Terry and thirty-two
others, wounding about fifty, and
losing eight killed and ten wounded
themselves. 1 In this work they were
aided by a battery on the north side
of the river. Seeing re-enforcements

crossing, the Confederates withdrew
toward Bowling Green, slowly fol-
lowed by the Nationals.

In the mean time, stirring scenes
were in progress in the extreme
eastern part of Kentucky, and move-
ments there caused a brief diversion
of a part of Buell's army from the
business of pushing on in the direc-
tion of Tennessee. Humphry Mar-
shall was again in the field, at the

head of about twenty-five hundred insurgents, and at the beginning of
January was intrenched in the neighborhood of Paintsville, in Johnston
County, on the main branch of the Big Sandy River, that forms the boundary
between Kentucky and Virginia. Colonel James A. Garfield, one of the
most energetic young men of Ohio, was sent with the Forty-second Ohio
and Fourteenth Kentucky regiments, and three hundred of the Second Vir-
ginia cavalry, to dislodge him. Garfield followed the course of the river
in a march of greatest difficulty and danger, at an inclement season. When
Marshall heard of his approach, he fled in alarm up the river toward Pres-
tonburg. Garfield's cavalry pursued, and, in an encounter with
those of Marshall," at the mouth of Jennis's Creek, they killed " J JJjJ'
some, and drove the others several miles. On the following day,
Garfield also set out with about eleven hundred of his force in pursuit, and
overtaking Marshall in the forks of Middle Creek, three miles above Pres.
tonburg, where he was strongly posted with three cannon on a hill, he gave
battle, fought him from one o'clock in the afternoon until dark, and drove
him from all his positions. Garfield, having been re-enforced by seven
hundred men from Paintsville, was enabled to make the victory for the
Unionists at the BATTLE OF PRESTOXBURG, as it is called, complete. The
National loss was two killed and twenty-five wounded. That of the insur-
gents was estimated at sixty killed, and about one hundred wounded or
made prisoners. 9 The ponderous Marshall was not heard of afterward as a

military leader. Because of his services on this occasion, Gar-

.... J an - ii-

field was commissioned* a brigadier-general of volunteers.

1 Eeport of General Buell to General McClellan, December 18, 1861. General Hindman, In his report on
the 19th, said General Terry and three of his regiment were killed, three other* slightly wounded, and only six
missing. As they left a much larger number dead on the field, Hindman's report must have been incorrect

1 Garfleld, in his report, says that twenty-seven dead insurgents were found on the field the next morning.
The Richmond papers reported the battle as a success for the insurgents, in which they lost only nine killed
and the same number wounded ; while the loss of the Nationals was " from 400 to 500 killed, and about the
ume number wounded !" Such was the usual character of the reports in the Confederate newspapers, under the

192 FORCES OF ZOLLICOFFER AND BUELL.

This victory on the Big Sandy was soon followed by another of the
greatest importance, on the borders of the Cumberland River, farther west-
ward. Zollicoffer, as we have observed, had established himself in the

region of the upper waters of the Cumberland. At the close of

the year" he was strongly intrenched at Beech Grove, on the
north side of that river, opposite Mill Spring, in Pulaski County, at the bend
of the stream where it receives the White Oak Creek. On a range of hills
that rise several hundred feet above the river, and with water on three sides
of him, he had constructed a series of fortifications ; and on the opposite, or
south side of the Cumberland he had also erected supporting works. There
he had gathered a large part of his force, composed of infantry, cavalry, and
J1862 artillery; and there, early in January, 6 he was joined by Major.

General George B. Crittenden, already mentioned, 1 who had been
discharged from the National army because of his intemperance, and had
espoused the cause of the conspirators, while a brother was in the military
service of the Government, in the same State. He ranked Zollicoffer, and

assumed the chief command." On the same day he inflicted a

Jan. 6.

long and bombastic proclamation on the " people of Kentucky,"

closing with the appeal, " "Will you join in the moving columns of the

South, or is the spirit of Kentucky dead ?"

At this time General Buell had under his command about one hundred

and fourteen thousand men, composed chiefly of citizens of Ohio, Indiana,

Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minne-
sota, Pennsylvania, and loyalists of
Kentucky and Tennessee, with about
one hundred and twenty-six pieces
of artillery. 4 This large army was
divided into four grand divisions,
commanded respectively by Brigadier-
Generals Alexander McDowell Mc-
Cook, Ormsby M. Mitchel, George
II. Thomas, and Thomas L. Critten-
den, acting as major-generals, aided
by twenty brigade commanders.
These divisions occupied a line
across the State, nearly parallel to
that held by the Confederates.
McCook's, as we have observed, was

in the vicinity of Mumfordsville. Brigadier-General William Nelson was

eye of the conspirators at Richmond. "With the most absurd mendacity, they made the deceived people believe
that in every fight the Confederates won a victory over vastly superior numbers, killing, wounding, and
capturing the Nationals by hundreds and thousands. These, false reports were made on purpose to deceive the
people, so as to draw men into the army, and money from the pockets of the dupes of the conspirators.

1 See page 185.

3 The contributions of these States to Buell's army were as follows: Ohio, thirty regiments of infantry, two
rndahalf of cavalry, and eight batteries of artillery; Indiana, twenty-seven regiments of infantry, one and a
half regiment of cavalry, and five batteries of artillery; Illinois, three regiments of infantry; Kentucky,
twenty-four regiments of infantry, four of cavalry, and two batteries of artillery ; Pennsylvania, three regiments
of infantry, two of cavalry, and one battery of artillery ; Michigan, three regiments of infantry, and one battery
of artillery : Wisconsin, three regiments of infantry; Minnesota, two regiments of infantry and one battery of
artillery ; Tennessee, two regiments of infantry.

MILITARY MOVEMENTS IN EASTERN KENTUCKY. 193

about ten miles farther east, with a considerable force, and Mitchel's was
held as a reserve to aid McCook in his contemplated attack on Hindman, at
Cave City. General Thomas was at Columbia, midway between Bowling
Green on the west, and Somerset on the east, and Crittenden was in the
extreme eastern part of the State, in the direction of Cumberland Gap.

To General Thomas was assigned the duty of attacking the Confederates
at Beech Grove and Mill Spring, where, at the middle of January, there were
about ten thousand effective men, with nearly twenty pieces of artillery. If
successful there, Thomas was to push on over the Cumberland Mountains
into the great valley of East Tennessee, seize the railway that traversed that
region, and afforded quick communication between the Confederate armies in
the West and in Virginia, and liberate the East Tennesseeans from their ter-
rible thrall. It was a great work to be performed, and Thomas was precisely
the man for the task. He entered upon it with alacrity. He divided his force,
giving a smaller portion to the care of General Schoepf at Somerset, while he
led the remainder in person, in a flank movement from Columbia, by way of
Jamestown. He reached Logan's Cross Roads, ten miles from Beech Grove,
on the 1 7th," where, during the prevalence of a heavy rain-storm,
he gathered his troops and made disposition for an immediate ' ^J^'
attack. In the mean time the Confederates had left their in-
trenchments, and had marched to meet him. General Crittenden, satisfied
that Zollicoffcr's position was untenable against superior numbers, 1 had
determined to take the offensive. The Fishing Creek, which lay between
the forces of Thomas and Schoepf, was so swollen by the rain that he hoped
to strike the Nationals before these divisions could unite. He called a
council of war on the evening of the 18th, when it was unanimously agreed
to make the attack. 2 Zollicoffer was immediately ordered to lead the column.
He started at midnight, Carroll's Brigade following his. 3 Following these
as a reserve were the Sixteenth Alabama, Colonel "Wood, and Branner's
and McClellan's battalions of cavalry. The whole force was between four
and five thousand strong. At early dawn, Zollicoffer's advance met thje
Union pickets.

General Thomas had been advised of this movement. He had made
dispositions accordingly, and the pickets, encountered by the Confederate
vanguard, were of Woolford's cavalry. These fell slowly back, and Wool-
ford reported to Colonel M. D. Manson, of the Tenth Indiana, who was in
command of the Second Brigade, stationed in advance of the main body.
That officer formed his own and the Fourth Kentucky (Colonel S. S. Fry)
in battle.order, at the junction of the Somerset and Mill Spring Roads,

1 The line of intrenchtnents was so extensive that the force was not sufficient to defend it thoroughly. The
face of the country was such that there was bad range for artillery. At the same time, the country around the
post could not furnish adequate subsistence for the army. At the time in question, tho troops were reduced to
a single ration of beef and a half ration of corn a day, the latter being parched, and not issued as meal.

3 Correspondence of the Louisville Courier, by an eye-witness, January 25th, 1S2.

1 Zollicoffer's Brigade was composed of the Fifteenth Mississippi, and the Tennessee regiments of Colonels
Cummings, Battle, and Stanton. marching in the order here naraod. with four guns commanded by Captain
Eutledge, immediately in the rear of the Mississippians. Carroll's troops we're composed of the Tennessee regi-
ments of Colonels Newman. Murray, and Powell, with two guns commanded by Captain McClnng. marching
in the order named. Colonel Wood's Sixteenth Alabama was in reserve. Cnvalry battalions in the ri>nr: Colonel
Branner on the right, and Colonel McClellan on the left. Independent companies in front of the advance regi-
ments. Following the whole were ambulances, and ammunition and other wagons.

VOL. II. 13

194

BATTLE OF MILT, SPRING.

about five miles from the latter place, to await attack, and then sent a
courier to inform Thomas of the situation. The commanding general
hastened forward to view the position, when he found the Confederates
advancing through a corn-field, to flank the Fourth Kentucky. He immedi-
ately ordered up the Tennessee brigade and a section of artillery, and sent
orders for Colonel R. L. McCook to advance with his two regiments (Ninth
Ohio, Major KaBmmerling, and Second Minnesota, Colonel H. P. Van Cleve)
to the support of the vanguard.

The battle was opened at about six o'clock by the Kentucky and Ohio
regiments, and Captain Kinney's Battery, stationed on the edge of the field,
to the left of the Fourth Kentucky. It was becoming very warm when
McCook's reserves came up to the support of the Nationals. Then the Con-

federates opened a most galling fire
upon the little line, which made it
waver. At that moment it was
strengthened by the arrival of the
Twelfth Kentucky, Colonel W. A.
Hoskins, and the Tennessee Brigade,
who joined in the fight. The conflict
became very severe, and for a time it
was doubtful which side would bear
off the palm of victory. The Nation-
als had fallen back, and were hotly
contesting the possession of a com-
manding hill, with Zollicoffer's Bri-
gade, when that General, who was at
the head of his column, and near the
crest with Colonel Battle's regiment,
was killed. The Confederate General
Crittenden immediately took his
place, and, with the assistance of
Carroll's Brigade, continued the
struggle for the hill for almost two
hours. But the galling fire of the
Second Minnesota, and a heavy
charge of the Ninth Ohio with bayo-
nets on the Confederate flank, com-
pelled the latter to give way, and they retreated toward their camp at Beech
Grove, in great confusion, pursued by the victorious Nationals to the sum-
mit of Moulden's Hill. ^ From that commanding point Standart's and Wet-
more's Batteries could sweep the Confederate works, while Kinney's Bat-
tery, stationed near Russell's house on the extreme left, opened fire upon
the ferry, to prevent the Confederates from escaping across the Cumberland.
Such was the situation on Sunday evening," at the close of the
battle, -v^hen Thomas was joined by the Fourteenth Ohio, Colonel
Stedman, and the Tenth Kentucky, Colonel Harlan ; also by General

1 REFERENCES. The figures 1, 2, 8, 4, 5, and 6, refer to the first and succeeding positions of the Tenth Indi-
nnn Regiment in the battle ; 8, denotes the second position of the Fourth Kentucky; 9, the second position of
the Second Minnesota; 10, the third position of the Fame; and 11, the second position of the Ninth Ohio.

MAP OF THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRING. 1

EESULT OF THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRING.

195

Schoepf, with the Seventeenth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-eighth Ohio. Disposi-
tion was made early the next morning to assault the Confederate intrenchments,
when it was ascertained that the works were abandoned. The beleaguered
troops had fled in silence across the nver, under cover of the darkness,
abandoning every thing in their camp, and destroying the steamer N(>ble
Ellis (which had come up the river with supplies), and three flat-boats, which
had carried them safely over the stream. 1 Destitute of provisions and
forage, the sadly-smitten Confederates were partially dispersed among the
hills on the borders of Kentucky and Tennessee, while seeking both. Crit-
tenden retreated first to Monticello, and then continued his flight until he
reached Livingston and Gainesborough, in the direction of Nashville, in
order to be in open communication with head-quarters at the latter place,
and to guard the Cumberland as far above it as possible.

Thus ended the BATTLE OF MILL SPUING (which has been also called the
Battle of Beech Grove, Fishing Creek, and Somerset), with a loss to the
Nationals of two hundred and forty-seven, of whom thirty-nine were killed,
and two hundred and eight were wounded; and to the Confederates of

three hundred and forty-nine, of whom

one hundred and ninety-two were
killed, sixty-two were wounded, and
eighty -nine Avere made prisoners.
Among the killed, as we have seen,
Avas General Zollicoff'er, whose loss, at
that time, was irreparable. 2 The
spoils of victory for Thomas were
twelve pieces of artillery, with three
caissons packed, two army forges, 3 one
battery wagon, a large amount of am-
munition and small arms, more than a
thousand horses and mules, wasrons,

O /

commissary stores, intrenching tools,

ARMY FORGE.

1 Some accounts say that the Ellis was set on fire by the shells of the Nationals, but the preponderance of
testimony is in favor of the statement in the text. The Confederates hoped to prevent immediate pursuit by
leaving nothing; on which their foe could cross the river.

The Confederates suffered terribly in their retreat. "Since Saturday night," wrote one of their officers,
" we had but an hour of sleep, and scarcely a morsel of food. For a whole week we have been marching under a
bare subsistence, and I have at length approached that point in a soldier's career when a handful of parched
corn may be considered a first-class dinner. We marched the first few days through a barren region, where
supplies could not be obtained. I have more than once seen the men kill a porker with their guns, cut and
quarter it, and broil it on the coals, and then eat it without bread or salt. The sutfering of the men from the
want of the necessaries of life, of clothing, and of repose, has been most intense, and a more melancholy spectacle
than this solemn, hungry, and weary procession, could scarcely be imagined."

* Zollicoffer was killed by Colonel Fry, of the Fourth Kentucky. That officer, according to his own state-
ment in a letter to his wife, was leading his regiment in a charge upon the Mississippians, when he was mistaken
for a Confederate officer by Zollicoffer. The latter rode up to Fry, saying, as he pointed toward the Mississip-
pians, " You are not going to fight your friends, are you f" At that instant Zollicoffei-'s aid, Major Henry M. Fogg,
of Nashville, fired at Fry, wounding his horse. Fry turned and fired, killing Zollicoffer, not knowing at the
time his person or his rank. Ho was covered in a white rubber coat, and on the previous evening had his beard
shaved off, so as not to be easily recognized. The aU of Zollieoffer was mortally wounded at the same time.
Zoilicoffer's body was taken to Mtimfordsville, and sent by a flag of truce to General Hindman. It was honored
with a funeral salute at the National camp when it was carried over Green Eiver.

8 The army forge is a part of the equipment of a corps of artillery or cavalry in the field, and is portable. It
consists of a four-wheeled carriage, with compartments in which a blacksmith's outfit of fuel and implements
may be carried, and may be made ready for use in the course of half an hour. The fore and the hind wheels of
the carriage may be separated " unlimbered " the same as those of a cannon. Attached to the fore wheelsare

196 BEAUREGAKD SENT TO THE WEST.

and camp equipage. The men in their flight left almost every thing behind
them, except the clothing on their persons. 1

This victory was considered one of the most important that had yet been
achieved by the National arms. It broke the line of the Confederates in
Kentucky, opened a door of deliverance for East Tennessee, and prepared
the way for that series of successful operations by which very soon afterward
the invaders were expelled from both States. The Government and the
loyal people hailed the tidings of the triumph with great joy. The Secretary
of War, by order of the President, issued an order announcing the event,
and publicly thanking the officers and soldiers who had achieved the victory.
He declared the purpose of the war to be " to pursue and destroy a rebellious
enemy, and to deliver the country from danger ;" and concluded by saying,
" In the prompt and spirited movements and daring at Mill Spring, the
nation will realize its hopes," and " delight to honor its brave soldiers."

The defeat was severely felt by the Confederates ; for they were wise
enough to understand its significance, prophesying, as it truly did, of further
melancholy disasters to their cause. The conspirators perceived the urgent
necessity for a bold, able, and dashing commander in the West, and believing
Beauregard to be such an one, he was ordered to Johnston's
J jg^ 7 ' Department," and General G. W. Smith, who had been an active
democratic politician in New York city, was appointed to suc-
ceed him at Manassas.* Crittenden was handled without mercy by the critics.
He was accused of treachery by some, and others, more charitable, charged
the loss of the battle to his drunkenness. All were compelled to acknowledge
a serious disaster, and from it drew the most gloomy conclusions. Their
despondency was deepened by the blow received by the Confederate cause
at Roanoke Island soon afterward ; 3 and the feeling became one of almost
despair, when, a few days later, events of still greater importance, and more
withering to their hopes, which we are about to consider, occurred on the
Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers. 4

So active and skillful had Johnston been in his Department, in strength-
ening his irregular line of posts and fortifications for nearly four hundred

the boxes for supplies nnd Jools, and to the rear wheels the bellows and forge, ns seen in the engraving When
needed for use, the anvil Is taken out and placed on a block made from any neighboring tree, and the work may
be speedily begun.

1 Report of General Thomas to General Buell, dated at Somerset, Kentucky, Jan. 31, 1862 ; also the reports
of his subordinate officers.

2 On leaving the army at Manassas, Bcanregard issued a characteristic address to them, telling them he
hoped soon to be back among them. " I am anxious," he said, "that my brave countrymen here in arms, fronting
the haughty array and muster of Northern mercenaries, should thoroughly appreciate the exigency.'' Alluding
to their disquietude because of long inaction, and the disposition to give up, he said it was no time for the men
of the Potomac army " to stack their arms, and furl, even for a brief period, the standards they had made glorious
by their manhood."

* See page 178.

4 These are remarkable rivers. The Tennessee rises in the rugged valleys of Southwestern Virginia,
between the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains, having tributaries coining out of North Carolina and
Georgia. It sweeps in an immense curve through Northern Alabama for nearly three hundred miles, from its
northeast to its northwest corner, and then entering Tennessee, passes through it in a due north course, when,
bending a little near the Kentucky border, it traverses that State in a northwesterly direction, and falls into the
Ohio seventy miles above its mouth. It drains an area of forty thousand square miles, and is navigable for
small vessels to Knoxville, five hundred miles from its mouth.

The Cumberland River rises on the western slopes of the Cumberland Mountains, in Eastern Kentucky,
sweeps around into Middle Tennessee, and turning northward, in a course generally parallel to the Tennessee
River, falls into the Ohio. It is navigable for large steamboats two hundred and flfty miles, and for smaller
ones, at high water, nearly three hundred miles farther.

THE CONFEDERATES IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE. 197

miles across Southern Kentucky, and within the Tennessee border from Cum-
berland Gap to Columbus on the Mississippi, that when General Thomas had
accomplished the first part of the work he was sent to perform, it was thought
expedient not to push farther, seriously, in the direction of East Tennessee
just at that time. It was evident that the Confeder-
ates were preparing to make an effort to seize Louis-
ville, Paducah, Smithville, and Cairo, on the Ohio, in
order to command the most important land and water
highways in Kentucky, so as to make it the chief battle-
ground in the West, as Virginia was in the East, and
keep the horrors of war from the soil of the more
Southern States. As Charleston was defended on the

KEGIOX OF MILITARY MOVEMENTS IK EASTERN KENTUCKY. 1

Potomac, so New Orleans was to be defended by carrying the war up to the
banks of the Ohio. Looking at a map of Kentucky and Virginia, and con-
sidering the attitude of the contending forces in each at that time, the reader
may make a striking parallelism which a careful writer on the subject has
pointed out. 9

Governed by a military necessity, which changing circumstances had
created, it was determined to concentrate the forces of Halleck and Buell in
a grand forward movement against the main bodies and fortifications of the
Confederates. Thomas's victory at Mill Spring had so paralyzed that line
eastward of Bowling Green, that it was practically shortened at least one-
half. Crittenden, as we have observed, had made his way toward Nashville,
and left the Cumberland almost unguarded above that city ; yet so moun-
tainous was that region, and so barren of subsistence, that a flank move-

1 For an account of other movements In Eastern Kentucky, see Chapter III. of this volume.

* " If Washington was threatened in the one quarter, Louisville was the object of attack on the other. As
Fortress Monroe was a great basis of operations at one extremity, furnishing men and arms, so was Cairo on
the west ; and as the one had a menacing neighbor in Norfolk, so had theother in Columbus. What the line of the
Kanawha was to Northern Virginia, penetrating the mountainous region, the Big Sandy, with its tributaries
emptying also in the Ohio, was to the defiles of Eastern Kentucky. What Manassas or Richmond was, in one
quarter, to the foe, Bowling Green, a great railway center, was to the other. As Virginia was pierced on the
east by the James and the Rappahannock and the York, so was Kentucky on the west by the Cumberland and
Tennessee ; and as the Unionists held Newport News [Newport-Newce], a point of great strategic importance at
the mouth of one of these streams, so were they in possession of Paducah, a place of equal or greater advantage,
at the entrance to another." History of the War for the Union, by E. A. Duyckinck.

198 CONFEDERATE WORKS IN KENTUCKY AND TENNESSEE.

ment in that direction would have been performed with much difficulty
and danger.

The great body of the Confederate
troops, and their chief fortifications,
were between Nashville and Bowling
Green and the Mississippi River, and upon
these the combined armies of Halleck
and Buell prepared to move. These
fortifications had been constructed with
skill, as to location and form, under the
direction of General Polk, and chiefly by
the labor of slaves. The principal works
were redoubts on Island No. 10, in the
Mississippi River, and at Columbus, on its
eastern bank; Fort Henry, on the Ten-
nessee River, and Fort Donelson, on the
Cumberland River. The two latter were
in Tennessee, not far below the line di-
viding it from Kentucky, at points where
the two rivers approach within a few miles
of each other.

During the autumn and early winter, a naval armament, projected by
Fremont for service on the Mississippi River, had been in preparation at St.
Louis and Cairo, for co-operation with the military forces in the West. It
consisted, at the close of January, of twelve gun-boats (some
new and others made of river steamers), carrying one hundred
and twenty-six heavy cannon and some lighter guns, 1 the whole commanded
by Flag-officer Andrew Hull Foote, of the National navy. Seven of these
boats were covered with iron plates, and were built very wide in proportion
to their length, so that on the still river waters they might have almost the
steadiness of stationary land batteries when discharging their heavy guns.
The sides of these armored vessels were made sloping upward and downward
from the water-line, at an angle of forty-five degrees, so as to ward off shot
and shell ; and they were so constructed that, in action, they could be kept
" bow on," or the bow toward the enemy. Their hulls were made of heavy
oak timber, with triple strength at the bows, and sheathed with wrought-
iron plates two and a half inches in thickness. Their engines were very
powerful, so as to facilitate movements in action ; and each boat carried a
mortar of 13-inch caliber. 2

These vessels, although originally constructed for service on the Missis-
sippi River, were found to be of sufficiently light draft to allow them to
navigate the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers, into whose waters they
were speedily summoned, to assist an army which General Halleck had
placed under the command of General Grant, in an expedition against Forts

FLAN OF THE FORTIFICATIONS AT COLUMBUS.

1862.

1 None of the cannon were less in metal than 82-ponnders. Some were 42-pounders ; some were nine and
ten-inch Navy Columbiads, and the bow guns were rifled 84-pounders.

1 The larger of these vessels were of the proportion of about 175 feet to 50 feet, and drawing, when armed
and laden, about five feet of water. They were manned by Western boatmen and Eastern volunteers who h:.il
been navigators, commanded by officers of the National navy.

PREPARATIONS TO STRIKE THE CONFEDERATE LINE. 199

Henry and Donelson. Notwithstanding repeated assurances had been given
to Mallory the Confederate Secretary of the Navy that these forts would
be, in a great degree, at the mercy of the National gun-boats abuilding, that
conspirator, who was remarkable for his obtuseness, slow method, and indif-
ferent intellect, and whose ignorance, even of the geography of Kentucky
and Tennessee, had been broadly travestied in " Congress," 1 paid no atten-
tion to these warnings, but left both rivers open, without placing a single
floating battery upon either. This omission was observed and taken advan-
tage of by the Nationals, and early in February a large force that had
moved from the Ohio River was pressing toward the doomed forts, whose

FOOTERS FLOTILLA.

capture would make the way easy to the rear of Bowling Green. By that
movement the Confederate line would be broken, and the immediate
evacuation of Kentucky by the invaders would be made an inexorable
necessity.

Preliminary to this grand advance, and for the double purpose of study-
ing the topography of the country, and for deceiving the Confederates con-
cerning the real designs of the Nationals, several reconnoissances, in con-
siderable force, were made on both sides of the Mississippi River, toward
the reputed impregnable stronghold at Columbus. One of these minor expe-
ditions, composed of about seven thousand men, was commanded by General
McClernand, who left Cairo for Fort Jefferson, and other places below, in river
transports, on the 10th of January." From that point he penetrated
Kentucky far toward the Tennessee line, threatening Columbus
and the country in its rear. At the same time, General Paine marched with
nearly an equal force from Bird's Point, on the Missouri side of the Missis-
sippi, in the direction of Charleston, for the purpose of supporting McCler-
nand, menacing New Madrid, and reconnoitering Columbus ; while a third
party, six thousand strong, under General C. F. Smith, moved from Paducah
to Mayfield, in the direction of Columbus. Still another force moved east-
ward to Smithland, between the Tennessee and Cumberland Rivers ; and at
the same time gun-boats were patrolling the waters of the Ohio and Missis-
sippi, those on the latter threatening Columbus. These reconnoitering

1 Pollard's First Year of the Far, page 237.

1862.

200 THOMAS'S MOVEMENT TOWARD EAST TENKESSEE.

parties all returned to their respective starting places preparatory to the
grand movement.

These operations alarmed and perplexed the Confederates, and so puzzled
the newspaper correspondents with the armies, that the wildest speculations
about the intentions of Halleck and Buell, and the most ridiculous criti-
cisms of their doings, filled the public journals. These speculations were
made more unsatisfactory and absurd by the movements of General Thomas,
immediately after the Battle of Mill Spring, who, it was then believed by
the uninformed, was to be the immediate liberator of East Tennessee. He
had crossed the Cumberland River in force, after the battle of Mill Spring,
at the head of navigation at Waitsboro, and had pushed a column on toward
Cumberland Gap. Predictions of glorious events in the great valley between
the Alleghany and Cumberland Mountains were freely offered and believed ;
but the hopes created by these were speedily blasted. The movement was
only a feint to deceive the Confederates, and was successful. To save East
Tennessee from the grasp of Thomas, Johnston sent a large body of troops by
railway from Bowling Green by way of Nashville and Chattanooga to Knox-
ville, and when the Confederate force was thus weakened in front of Buell,
Thomas was recalled. The latter turned back, marched westward, and
joined Nelson at Glassgow, in Barren County, on Hardee's right flank. In
the mean time, Mitchel, with his reserves that formed Buell's center, had
moved toward the Green River in the direction of Bowling Green. These
developments satisfied Johnston that Buell was concentrating his forces to
attack his front, so he called in his outlying posts as far as
" J ise^ 7 ' P ru( lence would allow, and prepared" for the shock of battle, that
now seemed inevitable.

The combined movements of the army and navy against Forts Henry and
Donelson, arranged by Generals Grant and C. F. Smith, 1 and Commodore
Foote, and approved by General Halleck, were now commenced. The chief
object was to break the line of the Confederates, which, as we have observed,
had been established with care and skill across the country from the Great
River to the mountains ; also to gain possession of their strongholds, and to
flank those at Columbus and Bowling Green, in the movement for clearing
the Mississippi River and valley of all warlike obstructions. Fort Henry, lying
on a low bottom land on the eastern or righ tbank of the Tennessee River,
in Stewart County, Tennessee, was to be the first object of attack. It lay at
a bend of that stream, and its guns commanded a reach of the river below it
toward Panther Island, for about two miles, in a direct line. The fort
was an irregular field-work, with five bastions, the embrasures revetted
.with sand-bags. It was armed with seventeen heavy guns, twelve of
which commanded the river. Both above and below the fort was a

1 General Smith seems to have been fully instructed by Fremont with the plan of his Mississippi Valley
campaign. An officer under Smith's command (General Lewis Wallace), in a letter to the author, says: "One
evening General Smith sent for me. At his head-quarters, before a cozy tire, he opened his map on the table,
and with fingers now on his map, then twirling his great white moustache, and his gray eyes all the time as
bright as the flames in his grate, he painted gloWingly the whole Tennessee River campaign. I recollect dis-
tinctly his stopping at Corinth, and saying emphatically, 'Here will be the decisive battle.' He finished the
conversation by saying that the time was come. The troops at Cairo, strongly re-enforced, and those at
Paducah would very shortly embark. In the mean time I was to go to Smithland, at the mouth of the Cumber-
land River, and get the regiments there in condition to march. He handed me an order to that effect, and I
executed it."

EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT HENRY.

201

PLAN OF FOl'.T HENRY.

creek defended by rifle-pits, and around it was swampy land Avith back-
water in the rear. It was strong in itself, and so admirably situated for
defense, that the Confederates were
confident that it could not be cap-
tured. At the time we are considering,
the garrison in the fort and the troops
in camp within the outer works, con-
sisting of less than three thousand
men, 2 were commanded by Brigadier-
General Loyd Tilghman, a Marylander,
and graduate of \Test Point Academy,
and it was supplied with barracks and
tents sufficient for an army fifteen
thousand strong.

General Halleck, as we have seen,
had divided his large Department into
military districts, and he had given the command over that of Cairo to
General Grant. This was enlarged late in December, so as to
include all of Southern Illinois, Kentucky west of the Cumber-
land River, and the counties of Eastern Missouri south of Cape
Girardeau. Grant was therefore commander of all the land forces to be
engaged in the expedition against Fort Henry. 3 To that end he collected
his troops at the close of the reconnoissance just mentioned, chiefly at Cairo
and Paducah, and had directed General Smith to gain what information he
could concerning the two Tennessee forts. Accordingly, on his return, that
officer struck the Tennessee River about twenty miles below Fort Henry,
where he found the gun-boat Lexington patrolling its waters. In that
vessel he approached the fort so near as to draw its fire, and he reported to
Grant that it might easily be taken, if attacked soon. The latter sent the
report to General Halleck.

Hearing nothing from their chief* for several days afterward, Grant and
Foote united, in a letter to Halleck, 6 in asking permission to storm
Fort Henry, and hold it as a base for other operations. On the ' J ""g 2 28 '
following day Grant wrote an urgent letter to his commander
setting forth the advantages to be expected from the proposed movement,
and on the 30th an order came for its prosecution. 4 The enterprise was

' Dec. 20,
1861.

1 REFERENCES. The A's denote the position of twelve 32-pounders ; B, a 24-pounder barbette gnn; C, a
12-inch Columbiad; D, 24-pounder siege-gun ; E E, l.J-*>ounder siege-guns; F, Flag-staff; H, Draw-bridge; K,
Well; M, Magazine; O, Ordnance Stores; P, Adjutant's Quarters; Q, Head-quarters; R, Officers' Quarters.

a These were divided into two brigades the first, under Colonel A. Hieman, was composed of the Tenth
Tennessee (his own), consisting of about 800 Irish volunteers, under Lieutenant-Colonel McGavock; Twenty-
seventh Alabama,.Colpnel Hughes; Forty-eighth Tennessee, Colonel Voorhies; Tennessee battalion of cavalry,
Lieutenant-Colonel Gantt; and a light battery of four pieces, commanded by Captain Culbertson. The Second
Brigade, under Colonel Joseph Drake, of the Fourth Mississippi Regiment, was composed of his own troops
under Major Adair; Fifteenth Arkansas, Colonel Gee; Fifty-first Tennessee, Colonel Browder; Alabama
battalion, Major Garvin ; light battery of three pieces, Captain Clare; Alabama battalion of cavalry; an inde-
pendent company of horse, under Captain Milner; Captain Padgett's Spy Company, and a detachment of
Rangers, commanded by Captain Melton. The heavy artillery manned the guns of the fort, and were in charge
of Captain Jesse Taylor. Report of General Tilghman to Colonel Mackall, Johnston's Assistant Adjutant-
General, Feb. 12, 1S62.

3 The number )f troops officers and men under General Grant's command, who were fit for duty at the
middle of January. 1S62. was 24,608.

4 Grant and his Campaigns, by Henry Coppee, pages 39 and 40.

202

OPERATIONS OF GUN-BOATS ON THE TENNESSEE.

a 1S62.

immediately begun, and on Monday morning, the 2d of February," Flag-
officer Foote left Cairo with a little flotilla of seven gun-boats 1
. (four of them armored), moved up the Ohio to Paducah, and on
that evening was in the Tennessee River. He went up that stream cau-
tiously, because of information that
there were torpedoes in it, and on

'Feb. 3. Tuesda y morning,* at
dawn, he was a few miles
below Fort Henry.

Grant's army, composed of the
divisions of Generals McClernand and
C. F. Smith, had, in the mean time,
embarked in transports, which were
convoyed by the flotilla. These
landed a few miles below the fort,
and soon afterward the armored
gun-boats (JEssex, St. Louis, Caron-
delet, and Cincinnati) were sent for-
ward by Grant, with orders to move
slowly and shell the woods on each

ANDREW H. FOOTE.

side of the river, in order to discover
concealed batteries, if they existed. At the same time the Conestoya and
Tyler were successfully engaged, under the direction of Lieutenant Phelps,
in fishing up torpedoes. 2

1 These were the armored gun-boats Cincinnati (flag-ship), Commander Stembcl ; CarondeM, Commander
Walke; Essex. Commander W. D. Porter; and/S*. Louis, Lieutenant Commanding Panlding; and the wooden
gun-boats Lexington, Lieutenant Commanding Shirk ; Tyler, Lieutenant Commanding Givin ; and Conestoya,
Lieutenant Commanding Phelps.

2 Information concerning these had been given by a woman
living near the banks of the river. The "Jessie Scouts," a dar-
ing corps of young men in Grant's army, went into a fagn-hoiiso
wherein a large number of women were gathered for safety. When
their fears were allayed, one of the wornen said that her hus-
band was a soldier in Fort BVnry. ' By to-morrow night, madam,"
said one of the scouts, "there, will be no Fort Henry our gun-
boats will dispose of it." "Not a bit of it," was the reply; "they
will all be blown up before they get past the Island" meaning
Panther Island. The scouts threatened to carry her away a pri-
soner if she did not tell all she knew about them, when she told
them that torpedoes had been planted all along the channels near
the island, and gave them directions as to their locations. Acting
upon this information, these little floating mines were searched for,
and eight of them were found. They were cylinders of sheet iron,
five feet and a half long, pointed at each end, each containing,
in a canvas bag, seventy-five pounds of gunpowder, with a simple
apparatus for exploding it by means of a percussion cap, to bo
operated upon by means of a lever, extending to the outside, and
moved by its striking a vessel. These were anchored in the river (
a little below the surface. The rise in the river at this time had
made them harmless, and it was found that moisture had ruined
the powder.

TOKI'EDO.*

* EXPLANATION. A. the shell of the Torpedo ; B, air chamber, made of sheet zinc, and tightly fastened : C, a chamber, or sack contain-
ing gunpowder ; D, a pistolVith the muzzle in the powder, having its trigger connected with the rod E. That rod had prongs, which were
designed to strike the bottom of a vessel in motion in such a way that it would operate, by a lever and cord, on the pistol, discharging it in
the powder, and so exploding the torpedo under the bow of the vessel. E, F, heavy iron twnds, to which the anchors or weights, G, G, we-e
attached. The torpedo was anchored so as to meet a vessel 'guing against the current, the direction of which is indicated by the arrow.

ATTACK ON FORT HENKY. 203

By the morning of the 6th, every thing was in readiness for the attack,
which was to be made simultaneously on land and water. McClernand's
division 1 moved first, up the eastern side of the Tennessee, to get in a position
between Forts Henry and Donelson, and be in readiness to storm the former
from the rear, or intercept the retreat of the Confederates, while two brigades
of Smith's division, 2 that were to make the attack, marched up the west side
of the river to assail and capture half-finished Fort Hieman, 3 situated upon
a great hUl, and from that commanding point bring artillery, to bear upon
Fort Henry.

There had been a tremendous thunder-storm during the night, which
made the roads very heavy, and caused the river to rise rapidly. The conse-
quence was, that the gun-boats were in position and commenced the attack
some time before the troops, who had been ordered to march at eleven
o'clock in the morning, arrived. The little streams were so swollen that
they had to build bridges for the passage of the artillery ; and so slow was
the march that they were compelled to hear the stirring sounds of battle
without being allowed to participate in it. 4

It was at half-past twelve o'clock at noon when the gun-boats opened
fire. The flotilla had passed Panther Island by the western channel, and the

INTERIOR OP FORT HENRY.

armored vessels had taken position diagonally across the river, with the
unarmored gun-boats Tyler, Lexington, and Conestoya, in reserve. The
fort warmly responded to the assault at the beginning (which was made at
a distance of six hundred yards from the batteries), but the storm from the

1 This was the First division, and consisted of two brigades, composed of the Eighth, Eleventh. Eighteenth,
Twentieth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-ninth, Thirtieth, Thirty-first. Forty-fifth, and Forty-eighth Illinois Regi-
ments ; with one Illinois cavalry regiment, and four independent cavalry companies, and four batteries of
artillery.

* This, the Second division, comprised the Seventh, Ninth, Twelfth, Twenty-eighth, and Forty-first Illinois
Regiments, the Eleventh Indiana, the Seventh and Twelfth Iowa, the Eighth and Thirtieth Missouri, with a
considerable body of cavalry and artillery.

8 So named in honor of Colonel A. Hieman, of Tilghman's command, who was at the head of a regiment of
Irish volunteers. Hieman was a German, and a resident of Nashville. He was an architect, and a man of taste,
culture, and fortune.

* General Lewis Wallace, who commanded one of the brigades that marched upon Fort Hieman, in a letter
to the author soon after the affair, said : " The whole march was an exciting one. When wo started from our
bivouac, no doubt was entertained of our being able to make the five miles, take up position, and be ready for

204 CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY.

flotilla was so severe, that very soon the garrison became panic-stricken.
Seven of the guns were dismounted, and made useless ; the flag-staff was
shot away ; and a heavy rifled cannon in the fort had bursted, killing three
men. The troops in the camp outside the fort fled, most of them by the
upper Dover road, leading to Fort Donelson, and others on a steamer lying
just above Fort Henry. General Tilghman and less than one hundred
artillerists in the fort were all that remained to surrender to the victorious
Foote. 1

The Confederate commander had behaved most soldierly throughout, at

times doing a private's duty at the guns. His gallantry, Foote said in his

report, " was worthy of a better cause." Before two o'clock he hauled down

his flag and sent up a white one, and the BATTLE OF FORT HENRY

"^862 6 ' ceased," after a severe conflict of little more than an hour. 2 It
was all over before the land troops arrived, and neither those on
the Fort Henry side of the river, nor they who moved against Fort Hieman,
on the other bank of the stream, had an opportunity to fight. The occupants
of the latter had fled at the approach of the Nationals without firing a shot,
and had done what damage they could by fire, at the moment of their
departure.

" A few minutes before the surrender," says Pollard, " the scene in and
around the fort exhibited a spectacle of fierce grandeur. Many of the cabins
in and around the fort were in flames. Added to the scene were the smoke
from the burning timber, and the curling but dense wreaths of smoke from
the guns ; the constantly recurring, spattering, and whizzing of fragments
of crashing and bursting shells ; the deafening roar of artillery ; the black
sides of five or six gun-boats, belching fire at every port-hole ; the volumes
of smoke settled in dense masses along the surrounding back-waters ; and up
and over that fog, on the heights, the army of General Grant (10,000),
deploying around our small army, attempting to cut off its retreat. In the

the assault at the appointed hour. Never men worked harder. The guns of the fleet opened while we were yet
quite a mile from our objective. Our line of march was nearly parallel with the line of fire to and from the
gun-boats. Not more than seven hundred yards separated us from the great shells, in their roaring, fiery pas-
sage. Without suffering from their effect, we had the full benefit of their indescribable and terrible noise.
Several times I heard the shot from the fort crash against the iron sides of the boats. You can imagine the
excitement and martial furor the circumstances were calculated to inspire our men with. I was all eagerness to
push on with my brigade, but General Smith rode, like the veteran he was, laughing at my impatience, and
refusing all my entreaties. lie was too good a soldier to divide hi* column."

1 Report of Commander Foote to the Secretary of the Navy, February 6, 1862. Commander Stembel and
Lieutenant-Commander Phelps were sent to hoist the Union flag over the fort, and to invite General Tilghman
on board the commodore's flag-ship. When, an hour later, Grant arrived, the fort and all the spoils of victory
wore turned over to him. General Tilghman, and Captain Jesse Taylor of Tennessee, who was the commander
of the fort, with ten other commissioned officers, with subordinates and privates in the fort, were made prisoners.
It was said that the General and some of his officers attempted to escape, but were confronted by sentinels
who had been pressed into the service, and who now retaliated by doing their duty strictly. They refused to
lot them pass the line, such being their orders, and threatened to shoot the first man who should attempt it

a The National loss was two killed and thirty-%ight wounded, and the Confederates had five killed and ten
wounded. Of the Nationals, twenty-nine were wounded and scalded on the gun-boat Essex, Captain W. D.
Porter; some of them mortally. This calamity was caused by a 32-pound shot entering the boiler of the Essex.
It had passed through the edge of a bow port, through a bulkhead, into the boiler, in which, fortunately, there
was only about sixty pounds of steam. In its passage it took off a portion of the head of Lieutenant 8. B.
Brittain, Jr., one of Porter's aids. He was a son of the Eev. S. B. Brittain, of New York, and a very promising
youth, not quite seventeen years of age. He was standing very near Commander Porter at the time, with one
hand on that officer's shoulder, and the other on his own cutlass. Captain Porter was badly scalded by the
steam that escaped, but recovered. That officer was a son of Commodore David Porter, famous in American
annals as the commander of the Essex in the war of 1S12; and he inherited his father's bravery and patriotism.
The gun-boat placed under his command was named Essex, in honor of his father's memory.

EFFECTS OF THE CAPTURE OF FOET HENRY. 205

midst of the storm of shot and. shell, the small force outside of the fort had
succeeded in gaining the upper road, the gun-boats having failed to notice
their movements until they were out of reach. To give them further time,
the gallant Tilghman, exhausted and begrimed with powder and smoke,
stood erect at the middle battery, and pointed gun after gun. It was clear,
however, that the fort could not hold out much longer. A white flag was
raised by the order of General Tilghman, who remarked, ' It is vain to fight
longer. Our gunners are disabled our guns dismounted ; we can't hold out
five minutes longer.' As soon as the token of submission was hoisted, the
gun-boats came alongside the fort and took possession of it, their crews
giving three cheers for the Union. General Tilghman and the small garrison
of forty were taken prisoners." 1

The capture of Fort Henry was a naval victory of great importance, not
only because of its immediate effect, but because it proved the efficiency of
gun-boats on the narrow rivers of the West, in co-operating with land troops.
On this account, and because of its promises of greater achievements near,
the fall of Fort Henry caused the most profound satisfaction among the
loyal people. Halleck announced the fact to McClellan with the stirring
words, " Fort Henry is ours ! The flag of the Union is re-established on
the soil of Tennessee. It will never be removed." Foote's report, brief and
clear, was received and read in both Houses of Congress, in open session ;
and the Secretary of the Navy wrote to him, " The country appreciates
your gallant deeds, and this Department desires to convey to you and your
brave associates its profound thanks for the service you have rendered."

The moral effect of the victory on the Confederates was dismal, and drew
forth the most serious complaints against the authorities at Richmond, and
especially against Mallory, the so-called " Secretary of the Navy." Painful
apprehensions of future calamities were awakened ; for it was felt that, if
Fort Donelson should now fall, the Confederate cause in Kentucky, Ten-
nessee, and Missouri must be ruined. The first great step toward that event
had been taken. The National troops were now firmly planted in the rear
of Columbus, on the Mississippi, and were only about ten miles by land from
the bridge over which was the railway connection between that post and
Bowling Green. There was also nothing left to obstruct the passage of gun-
boats up the Tennessee to the fertile regions of Northern Alabama, and
carrying the flag of the Republic far toward the heart of the Confederacy.

1 Firt Year of the War, page <;88.

206 GUN-BOAT EXPEDITION UP THE TENNESSEE.

CHAPTEE YIIL

THE SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF FORT DONELSON.

HE fall of Fort Henry was followed by immediate
preparations for an attack on Fort Donelson, on the
Cumberland River. Preparatory to this was a recon-
noissance up the Tennessee River. Lieiitenant-Com-
mander S. L. Phelps was sent up that river
" ^m ^ on ^ e evenm f tne day f battle," with a
detachment of Foote's flotilla, consisting
of the (Jonestoga, Tyler, and Lexington, to reconnoiter the borders of the
stream as far toward its upper waters as possible. When he reached the
bridge of the railway between Memphis and Bowling Green, he found the
draw closed, its machinery disabled, and some Confederate transports just
above it, escaping up the river. A portion of the bridge was then hastily
destroyed, and the work of demolition was completed the following day by
Commander Walke, of the Carondelet, who was sent up by General Grant
for the purpose. The fugitive transports were so closely pursued that those
in charge of them abandoned all, and burned two that were laden with military
stores. 1 In this flight an officer left papers behind him which gave an im-
portant official history of the Confederate naval preparations on the western
rivers.

Onward the little flotilla went, seizing Confederate vessels and desti-oying
Confederate public property as far up as Florence, in Alabama, at the foot
of the Muscle Shoals. When Phelps appeared in sight of that town, three
Confederate steamers there, loaded with' supplies, were set on fire, but a part
of their contents, with other property on shore, was saved. A delegation
of citizens waited upon the commander to ask for kind treatment for their
families, and the salvation of the bridge that spanned the Tennessee there.
He assured them that women and children would not be disturbed, as he and
Ms men were not savages ; and as to the bridge, being of no military ac-
count, it should be saved.

Returning, Lieutenant Phelps recruited a number of loyal Tennesseeans,
seized arms and other Cdnfederate property in several places, and caused the

1 " The first one fired," says Lieutenant Phelps, in his report to Commodore Foote, " had on board a
quantity of submarine batteries; the second one was freighted with powder, cannon-shot, grape, balls, &c.
Fearing an explosion from the fired boats, I had stopped at the distance of a thousand yards; but even there
our skylights were broken by the concussion." The boat was otherwise injured; and he said, " the whole river
I'nr half a mile round about was completely beaten up by the falling fragments and the shower of shot grape,
balls, <kc." He also said that the house of a reported Unionist was blown to pieces. It was believed that the
vessels were fired in front of it for the purpose of destroying it.

FOOTE IN THE PULPIT AT CAIRO. 207

flight of a considerable number of troops from Savannah, on the eastern bank
of the river, which he had prepared to attack. His reconnoissance was a
perfect success. It discovered the real weakness of the Confederacy in that
direction, the feasibility of marching an army into the heart of the Con-
federacy, and, better than all, it developed the most gratifying evidences of
genuine Union feeling in Tennessee, Mississippi, and Alabama. The river
banks in places were crowded with men, women, and children, who greeted the
old flag with the greatest enthusiasm. " I was assured at Savannah," he said,
" that, of the several hundred troops there, more than one-half, had we gone
to the attack in time, would have hailed us as deliverers, and gladly enlisted
with the National forces." Over and over again he was assured that nothing
but the dreadful reign of terror then prevailing kept thousands from openly
expressing their attachment to the old flag. " Bring us a small organized
force, with arms and amnmnition," they said, " and we can maintain our
position." 1

The report of this reconnoissance was very cheering, and it was deter-
mined to capture Fort Donelson as speedily as possible, and then, with a
heavy force, march across Tennessee and penetrate Alabama. Foote had
already hurried back to Cairo with the
Cincinnati, JZssex, and St. J^ouis, to
prepare mortar-boats for the new enter-
prise, leaving Commander Walke, of
the Carondelet, in charge of a portion
of his flotilla at Fort Henry. With
the spirit of the old Puritans (from
whom he was descended 2 ), who were
everr eady to fight or pray, as circum-
stances might require, he went into the
pulpit of the Presbyterian church at
Cairo, on fhe Sunday after the capture
of Fort Henry, 3 and preached a stirring
sermon from the words of Jesus" Let A MOHTAE-BOAT.*

not your hearts be troubled. Ye believe in God ; believe also in me." He
poured forth eloquent sentences in humble thanks to Almighty God for the
recent victory, and inspired all who heard him with burning zeal in the
National cause.

General Grant, at the same time, was making vigorous preparations for
attacking Fort Donelson. 5 Re-enforcements were arriving in Cairo, where

1 Report of Commodore Foote, Feb. 6th, 1862.

2 lie was a son of Senator Samuel Foote, of Connecticut, whose resolution concerning the public lands
occasioned the famous debate in the Senate of the United States between Daniel Webster and" Robert Y. Hayne.

8 The congregation were disappointed by the non-appearance of their pastor at the proper time, and Foote
was invited to conduct the religious services of the occasion.

4 This represents a mortar-boat They were constructed for strength and steadiness of position. On a broad
float were walls of wood, about eight feet in height, plated with iron on the outside, and sloping, so as to more
easily ward off shot. In each was a single heavy mortar, with ammunition below water-mark, a tent for shelter,
and other conveniences.

5 The following named officers composed General Grant's personal Staff at this time : Colonel J. D. Web-
ster, Chief of Staff; Colonel J. Eiggin, Jr., Volunteer Aid; Captain J. A. Rawlins, Assistant Adjutant-General;
Captains C. B. Logan and W. S. Hillyer, Aids; and Lieutenant-Colonel V. B. McPherson, Chief Engineer.
According to the report of the Adjutant-General, Grant had under him in the district of Cairo, on the 10th of
January, 1862, 26,875 men, officers and privates.

208 PREPARATIONS TO MARCH AGAINST FORT DONELSON.

they were rapidly gathering. He reorganized his army, with McClernand
and Smith at the head of the principal divisions, as before, while a third
division was formed of small proportions at first, but destined to be enlarged
by six regiments sent around by water. The latter division was under the
command of Lewis Wallace, of the famous Eleventh Indiana Zouave Regi-
ment, 1 who was promoted to be a brigadier-general on the day of the capture
of Fort Henry.* With McClernand's division were the field batteries of
Schwartz, Taylor, Dresser, and McAllister ; and with Smith's were the heavy
batteries of Richardson, Stone, and Walker, the whole under the command
of Major Cavender, chief of artillery.

On the llth, General Grant called a council of war, which was composed
of his division commanders and several acting brigadiers. " Shall we march
on Donelson, or wait for further re-enforcements ?" was the question con-
sidered. Information that heavy re-enforcements were hastening toward
that stronghold carried a decision in favor of an immediate march against
it ; and in general field orders the next morning," Grant directed
186& 2 ' one ^ McClernand's brigades to move at once by the telegraph
road directly upon Fort Donelson, and to halt within two miles
of it ; his other three brigades to march by the Dover Ridge road, to within

the same distance, to
unite with the first
in forming the right
wing in the invest-
ment of the fort. Two
of Smith's Brigades
were to follow by the
Dover Road, and
these were to be fol-
lowed, in turn, by the
troops on the left bank of the river, then occupying Fort Hieman, as soon as
they could be sent forward. Smith was directed to occupy the little village
of Dover, on the river bank, a short mile above the fort, if possible, and thus
cut off the retrea't of the Confederates up the stream.

Let us observe the character and strength of the works to be assailed,
called Fort Donelson.

In the center of Stewart Coimty, in Tennessee, was its shire town of
Dover, situated on the left bank of the Cumberland River, where that
stream, running nearly due north, makes an abrupt turn to the westward,
and, after flowing about half a mile, as suddenly turns to the northward. At
this turn, about a mile below Dover, Fort Donelson was constructed, with
two water batteries near the river's edge, and all so arranged as to have a
large number of guns trained directly down the stream. The country in
that vicinity is broken into a singular conglomerate of hills and knolls,
divided by deep valleys and ravines, rendering possession easy, and
attack very difficult. Upon one of these hills, terminating at the river, and
broken by hollows, Fort Donelson was built. Its lines were irregular, and
inclosed almost one hundred acres of land. Below it was Hickman's Creek,

1 See page 516, volume I. 5 His commission was dated September 3d, 1861.

CHARACTER AND STRENGTH OF FORT DONELSON.

209

a sort of back-water of the Tennessee, seldom fordable, excepting at the dis-
tance of a mile or more from the river. Just above the fort, and between it
and Dover, was a small cr.eek, flowing through a ravine.

The water batteries were admirably planted for commanding the river
approaches from below. They had strong epaulments, or side works, and

LOWEB AVATEB BATTEKY.

their embrasures were revetted with coffee-sacks filled with sand. The lower
or principal battery was armed with eight 32-pounders, and one 10-inch
Columbiad; and the other bore a heavy rifled cannon that carried a 128-
pound bolt, flanked by two 32-pound carronades. 1 The only guns in the
fort (which was at a mean elevation above the river of nearly one hundred
feet) were four light siege-guns, a 12-pound howitzer, two 24-pounders, and
one 64-pound howitzer. Back of the fort the forest was cut down, and sup-
porting field works were erected for the use of infantry and artillery. Still
farther back, at the mean distance of a mile from the fort, was an irregular
and detached line of light intrenchments for riflemen, fronting landward,
with a parapet of logs and earth, which commenced at Hickman's Creek, and
extended to a back-water on Hysmith's farm, above Dover, thus completely
surrounding the fort and the town landward. In front of these intrench-
ments was a roAV of slashed timber, forming strong abatis. Altogether,
the post seemed to have been made by nature and art almost impregnable.
And within these intrenchments, when Grant appeared before them to make
an assault, were more than twenty thousand effective men. 8 It was expected

1 A carronado is a short piece of ordnance, having a large caliber, and a chamber for the powder like a
mortar. It is similar to the howitzer. Its name is derived from Carron, a place in Scotland, where it was first
manufactured.

8 These consisted of thirteen regiments of Tennessee troops, two of Kentucky, six of Mississippi, one of
Texas, two of Alabama, four of Virginia, two independent battalions of Tennessee infantry, and a regiment of
cavalry, under the afterward famous leader Colonel A. B. Forest With these were artillerymen for manning
six batteries of light cannon, and seventeen heavy guns.

YOL. II. 14

210

DISPOSITION OF FORCES FOR BATTLE.

that this force behind fortifications would check the further advance of the
Nationals up the Cumberland, and thus secure the safety of Nashville.
Johnston clearly perceived the importance of the post, and when it was
threatened by the attack on Fort Henry, which was only twelve miles dis-
tant, he gave it all the re-enforcements in his power. " I determined," he said,
" to fight for Nashville at Donelson, and have the best part of my army to
do it," and so he sent sixteen thousand troops there, retaining only fourteen
thousand men to cover his front at Bowling Green. 1

It is difficult to conceive how a veteran soldier like Johnston could have
intrusted a business so important as the command of so large a force, on so
momentous an occasion, to such weak men as Gideon J. Pillow and John B.
Floyd, who were successively placed in chief command of Fort Donelson, at
that time. But so it was. Pillow had arrived there on the 10th of the
month, and with the aid of Major Gilmer, General Johnston's
chief engineer, had worked diligently in strengthening the de-
fenses. On the 13th he was superseded by Floyd, who, as we have observed,
had fled from Virginia with his followers. 8 He had been ordered from Cum-
berland City by General Johnston, to hasten to Fort Donelson, and take chief
command. He arrived there, with Virginia troops, on the morning of the
13th. General Simon B. Buckner was there at the head of re-enforcements
from Bowling Green, and he was the only one of the three possessed of suf-
ficient ability and military knowledge to conduct the defense with any hope
of success ; yet he was subordinate to the other two, until, as we shall observe
presently, their fears overcame their honor, and in the hour of extreme

necessity they invested him with the chief
command, and deserted him.

The morning of the 12th* was
like one in spring, so warm and
balmy was the atmosphere. At an early
hour, the divisions of McClernand and Smith,
preceded by cavalry, in all about fifteen
thousand men, began their march over the
hilly country toward Fort Donelson, leaving
behind them a brigade at Fort Hicman,
under General Wallace, who was placed in
command of that post and Fort Henry.
At the same time, Foote was moving up the
Cumberland with his gun-boats, convoying
transports filled with troops that were to
constitute Wallace's Third Division. The
columns, commanded respectively by Colo-
nels Oglesby and W. H. L. Wallace, of
the First division, and Colonels Cook and
Lauman, of the Second division (who were
acting brigadiers), while moving across the
wooded country between the two rivers, met with no armed men ; and early in

Feb.

SERGE'S SHARP-SHOOTER.

1 Letter of General Johnston to " Congressman " Barksdale, at Richmond, March 18, 1862.
1 See page 102.

THE CARONDELET. OPENING OF BATTLE. 211

the afternoon they came in sight of the fort, drove in the pickets, and proceeded,
with some severe skirmishing, to take their prescribed positions, as nearly
as possible. Every thing was in readiness for battle before morning, and at
dawn" the attack was commenced by the sharp-shooters of Colo-
nel Berge (Sixty-sixth Illinois Regiment 1 ), who advanced upon '^s^ 31
the Confederate pickets, and thus disclosed the position of the
Nationals. The batteries of the Confederates, on the land side, were at once
opened, while the water batteries engaged the Carondelet, a solitary iron-
clad gun-boat in the river. During a desultory lire from the Confederates,
Grant rapidly posted his troops for the most vigorous work. McClernand
was placed on the right, with Oglesby's Brigade at the extreme, and Smith's
was posted on the left, opposite the northwest portion of the fort. The
light artillery was planted, with proper infantry supports, upon the various
roads, to repel approaching columns, while the heavier guns, under the
direction of Major Cavender, were brought to bear upon those of the
fort.

With this general disposition of his troops along a line nearly four miles
in length, Grant, who had made the house of Mrs. Crisp, about two miles
from Dover, at the head
of Hickman's Creek, his
head-quarters, refrained
from a general attack,
while waiting for the ar-
rival of the gun-boats
and Wallace's Third Di-
vision. Yet heavy artil-
lery firing and brisk skir-
mishing were kept up all
the forenoon, and Berge's
sharpshooters, concealed
behind logs and trees,

spread terror among the Confederate gunners, who were rapidly picked off
by them. Finally, with a determination to make a lodgment upon the
Confederate intrenchments, McClernand, at about noon, ordered Colonel
Wallace to capture a formidable battery, known as the Middle Redoubt, on
a hill west of a valley, which separated the right wing under Buckner from
the right center commanded by Colonel Hieman. The troops employed
for this purpose were Illinois regiments the Seventeenth, Major Smith,
commanding ; the Forty-eighth, Colonel Hayne ; and the Forty-ninth,
Colonel Morrison covered by McAllister's battery. They were placed
under Hayne, who was the senior colonel. Dashing across the intervening
knolls and ravines, and up toward the battery, with great spirit, they found
themselves confronted by superior numbers. Their line not being long
enough to envelope the works, the Forty-fifth Illinois, Colonel Smith, were

1 This regiment, armed with the Henry rifle, were organized as sharp-shooters by General Fremont. Each
man was chosen because of his skill as a marksman. The regiment first appeared in action in the siege now
under consideration. They were afterward conspicuous at the battle of Shiloh, and the siege of Corinth. They
were also in active service in Sherman's Campaign in 1S64, where they were highly complimented by Generals
McPherson and Logan, for having held a ridge at Resaca against a brigade of Confederates. I am indebted to
Lieutenant X W. Bill, of the regiment, for the sketch from which the engraving on page 210 was made.

212 DEFEAT OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS.

sent to their support on the right. They, too, displayed great courage in
the face of a galling fire. The Confederates were concentrated in defense
of the position with two supporting field batteries, and soon began to show
strength in front of Oglesby's brigade. Schwartz's battery was first
advanced to meet this new danger, and then Taylor was directed to throw
forward two sections of his battery to that position. The fight for a little
while was severe and stubborn, when the Nationals were repulsed. Similar
movements on the left by a portion of Colonel Lauman's brigade were
equally unsuccessful, and in both cases the National loss was heavy. The
troops, somewhat discouraged, fell back to the position they occupied in the
morning, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the gun-boats and expected
re-enforcements.

That night the National troops were terribly smitten by an unexpected
enemy. The spring-like morning, during which many of them, in expecta-
tion of a battle, had laid aside their overcoats and blankets, was succeeded
by clouds and chilliness in the afternoon, heavy rain in the evening, and sleet
and snow and severe frost at midnight, the mercury having rapidly fallen
at that hour to only ten degrees above zero. The besiegers were bivouacked
without tents, and dared not light a fire, because it immediately became a
mark for the guns of the besieged. Their food was scant, and some were
without any ; and in that keen wintry air, the ground like iron, and mailed
in ice, with insufficient clothing, no shelter, and half starved, the weary,
worn, and intensely-suffering troops sadly and anxiously awaited the dawn
and the expected re-enforcements. The Confederates, who lay upon their
arms all night in the trenches, were equal sufferers.

Conscious of the peril of his situation, Grant had sent a courier to
General Wallace at Fort Henry, to bring over the garrison there imme-
diately. The order reached that officer at about midnight. At

F }k' G ^ 4 ' dawn" he marched for Fort Donelson, with the Eleventh Indiana,
the Eighth Missouri, and his battery in charge of Company A,
Chicago Artillery. A crust of sleet and snow covered the ground, and the
air was full of drifting frost. With cheering, and singing of songs, and
sounding of bugles these troops pressed on, and at noon the general reported
at Grant's head-quarters, and dined with him on crackers and coffee.

In the mean time the gunboats and transports had arrived, and with them
the re-enforcements that were to form the Third Division. The advent of the
latter was most timely. They were landed with their artillery three miles
below the fort, and, rapidly clearing the woods before them, were standing
around Grant's head-quarters soon after Wallace's arrival there. He was at
once placed in command of them, 1 and posted between McClemand and Smith,
thereby (with two of Smith's regiments, under McArthur, posted on McCler-
nand's extreme right) completing the absolute investment of the fort and its
outworks. He was ordered by Grant to hold that position, and to prevent

This division consisted of two brigades, commanded respectively by Colonels Craft and John M. Thayer.
The first brigade (.Craft's) was composed of the Thirty-first Indiana, Colonel Osborn; Seventeenth Kentucky
Colonel Mcllenry ; Forty-fourth Indiana, Colonel Reed; and Twenty-fifth Kentucky, Colonel Shackelford. The
second brigade (Thayer's) was composed of the First Nebraska, Colonel McCord ; Seventy-sixth Ohio, Colonel
Woods ; and Fifty -eighth Ohio, Colonel Steadman. Three regiments (Forty-sixth Illinois, Colonel Davis ; Fifty -
sevonth Illinois, Colonel Baldwin; and Fifty -eighth Illinois, Colonel Lynch) came np the next day during the
action, and were attached to Colonel Thayer's command.

ATTACK ON THE WATER BATTERIES.

213

February,
1S62.

the enemy from escaping in that direction ; in other words, to repel any sally
from the fort. Rations that had been brought forward were now issued to
the half-starved men of the line, and all the preparations for a general assault
were soon completed.

The gun-boat Carondelet, Commander Walke, which had arrived two
days before, and made a diversion in favor of Grant 1 on the 13th, had the
honor of opening the assault on Fort Donelson, at three o'clock in the after-
noon of Friday, the 14th, a and was immediately joined by the
armored vessels St. Louis, Pittsburg, and Louisville. These
formed the first line. The second line was composed of the unar-
morcd gun-boats Conestoga, Tyler, and Lexington. The whole were under
the personal command of Commodore Foote, who had not been able to get
his mortar-boats in readiness to accompany the expedition.

The flotilla made direct war upon the water-batteries, with the intention
of silencing and passing them, so as to gain a position to enfilade the faces
of the fort with broadsides. The fight was severe. Never was a little
squadron exposed to so terrible a fire.
Twenty heavy guns were trained upon it,
those from the hill-side hurling plunging
shot with awful precision and effect, while
only twelve boat-guns could reply. Yet,
in the face of this terrific storm, Foote, with
his flag-ship (St. Louis) and the other
armored boats, slowly moved nearer and
nearer in the desperate struggle, until he
was only four hundred yards from the bat-
teries. Very soon the upper one of four
guns was silenced, the men were flying from
both to the fort above, and the victorious
vessels were on the point of shooting by,
when the Louisville, assailed by flying mis-
siles and a cross fire, was disabled by a shot
which cut away her rudder-chains. Utterly
helpless, she drifted away with the current
of the narrow river. The flag-ship was
very soon in a similar condition, and the
commodore was severely wounded in the
foot by a falling piece of timber. The other two armored vessels were terribly
wounded, and a heavy rifled cannon on the Carondelet was bursted during
the engagement.

For more than an hour the tempest of iron had been beating furiously

1 That diversion was more in the form of a reconnoissance, and the operations of the gun-boat were extremely
useful The Carondelet lay behind a jutting promontory, secure from the heavier shots from the shore, ai.d
hurled shot and shell into the fort and on the water batteries with great effect. The commander of these
batteries afterward declared that the fire of the Carondelet did more actual damage to his gang than the heavy
bombardment on the following day. A shot from the Carondelet, on the morning of the 13th, killed Captain
Dixon. one of the best of the Confederate engineers, and that vessel was specially singled out for injury on the
14th, for, as a Confederate officer (Paymaster Nixon) said, "She was the object of our hatred;" and added,
" Many a gun was leveled at her alone."

* I am indebted to the courtesy of Commander Walke, of the Carondelet, for the above sketch showing the
position of the flotilla at the beginning of the attack on the water batteries.

POSITION OF TOTS GPK-BOAT8 IN THK ATTACK
ON FOKT DONELSON. 1

214 THE CONFEDERATES PREPARE FOR A SORTIE.

upon the four armored vessels, and so perilous became the condition of them
all, that Foote ordered them to withdraw. Then the fugitives from the shore
batteries ran back to their guns, and gave the retiring flotilla some deadly
parting blows. The four vessels received during the action, in the aggregate,
no less than one hundred and forty-one wounds from the Confederate shot
and shell, 1 and lost fifty-four men killed and maimed.

After consultation with General Grant and his own officers, Foote set out
for Cairo, for the purpose of having the damages to his flotilla repaired, and to
bring up a competent naval force to assist in carrying on the siege with greater
vigor. 2 Grant resolved to wait for his return and for large re-enforcements,
meanwhile strengthening his own weak points, holding the Confederates
tightly in their intrenchments, and cutting off their supplies, with a possibility
of starving them into a surrender. The besieged were conscious of their peril,
which would increase with every hour of delay. The officers of divisions and
brigades held a council of war on the evening of the 14th," over
which Floyd, the chief commander, presided. He gave it as his
opinion that the fort was untenable with less than fifty thousand
men to defend it, and proposed, for the purpose of saving the garrison, to
make a sortie next morning, Avith half his army and Forrest's cavalry, upon
McClernand's division on Grant's right, crush it, or throw it back upon "Wal-
lace, and by a succeeding movement on the center, by Buckner, cast the
whole beleaguering army into confusion, or rout and destroy it, when the
liberated troops might easily pass out into the open country around Nash-
ville. This plan, promising success, was agreed to by unanimous consent,
and preparations were made accordingly.

The troops designated for the grand sortie, about ten thousand in
number, were under the command of Generals Pillow and Bushrod R.

Johnston, the former being chief.

' O

They were put in motion from
Dover at five o'clock

* Feb. 15.

on baturday morning ;*
Colonel Baldwin's brigade of three
regiments of Mississippi and Ten-
nessee troops in advance, followed
by four Virginia regiments, under
Colonels Wharton and McCausland,
and several more under Colonels
Davidson, Drake, and others. These
were accompanied by Forest's
cavalry and thirty heavy guns, with
a full complement of artillerists.
This main body were directed to
attack McClernand's troops, who
occupied the heights that reached to the river, just above Dover. Buckner
was directed to strike Wallace's division, which lay across the Wynne's

1 Fifty-nine shot struck the St. Louis, thirty-six hit the Louisville, twenty-six wounded the Carondeltt,
and twenty shot were received by the Pittxburg.

* Report of Commodore Foote to the secretary of the Navy, on board his flag-ship, Feb. 15th, 1862.

BCSIIROD B. JOHNSTOX.

BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON.

215

Ferry road, at about the same time, so that it should not be in a condition
to aid McClernaud. Pillow expected, he said, " to roll the enemy in full
retreat over upon General Buckner, when, by his attack in flank and rear,"
they"" could cut up the enemy and put him completely to rout." 1

McClernand's division was well posted to resist the assailants, had they
been on the alert ; but the movement of the Confederates appears not to
have been even suspected. Reveille was just sounding, and the troops were
not under arms ; and so sudden and vigorous was Pillow's attack, that the
whole of Grant's right wing was seriously menaced within twenty minutes
after the presence of the Confederates was observed. Then vigor and skill
marked every movement, and Pillow's attempt to throw cavalry in the rear
of McArthur, on Oglesby's extreme right, was thwarted.

The attack was quick, furious, and heavy. Oglesby's brigade had
received the first shock of the battle, and gallantly withstood it until their
ammunition began to fail. Colonel W. H. L. Wallace's brigade hastened to
their relief, but the pressure was so
tremendous that Oglesby's line all gave
way, excepting the extreme left, held by
the Thirty-first Illinois, whose commander,
Colonel John A. Logan, inspired his
troops with such courage and faith by
his own acts, that they stood like a wall
opposed to the foe, and prevented a panic
and a rout. In the mean time the light
batteries under Taylor, McAllister, and
Dresser, shifting positions and continually
sending heavy volleys of grape and can-
ister shot, made the line of the assailants
recoil again and again. But the fresh
troops continually pressing forward in
greater numbers kept its strength unim-
paired, and very soon the whole of Mc-
Clernand's division was in such a perilous situation, that at about eight
o'clock he sent to General Lewis Wallace, commanding the Third Division,
for immediate assistance. As the latter was assigned to the special duty of
preventing the escape of the Confederates, he applied to head-quarters for
instructions. Grant was away in conference with Commodore Foote.
Again McClernand sent for assistance, saying substantially that his flank
was turned, and his whole command was endangered. Wallace took the
responsibility of immediately ordering Colonel Cruft to move his brigade on
to the right, and report to McClernand. An incompetent guide took Cruft
too far to the right, where he was fiercely assailed by a greatly superior
force, and compelled to bear the brunt of battle for a time. He struggled
gallantly with an equally gallant foe, charging and receiving charges with
varied fortunes, until his antagonists gave up the fight.

In the mean time General Buckner had made his appearance, in consider-

JOHN A. MCCLERNAND.

> Pillow's report to Captain Clarence Derrick, "Assistant Adjutant-General," written at his home fa
Columbia, Tennessee, on the 18th of February, 1862.

216 BATTLE OF FORT DONELSON.

able force, to attack the left of the center of Grant's line, and produce the
confusion as directed in Floyd's programme. There seemed to be much
peril to the National troops in this movement, and the danger seemed more
imminent when some frightened fugitives from the battle came crowding up
the hill in the rear of Wallace's Division, and a mounted officer dashed
along, shouting, " We are cut to pieces !" It was here that the whole of
McClernand's line, including Craft's men, was rapidly falling back. Colo-
nels Logan, Lawler, and Ransom were wounded, and a large number of
subalterns had been killed, yet there was no confusion in that line. This
was the crisis of the battle, and it was promptly met. To prevent a panic
in his own brigade, Wallace ordered Colonel Thayer to move on by the
right flank. Riding at the front, he met the retiring troops, moving in
good order and calling for ammunition, the want of which had been the chief
cause of their misfortune. He saAV that every thing depended iipon prompt
action. There was no time to wait for orders, so he thrust his third brigade
(Colonel Thayer commanding) between the retiring troops and the flushed
Confederates, who were rapidly following, formed a new line of battle across
the road, with the Chicago artillery, Lieutenant Wood, in the center, and the
First Nebraska, Fifty-eighth Illinois, Fifty-eighth Ohio, and a company
of the Thirty-second Illinois on its right and left. Back of these was a
reserve, composed of the Seventy-sixth Ohio, and Forty-sixth and Fifty-
seventh Illinois. In this position they awaited attack, while McClernand's
retiring troops, halting near, supplied themselves with ammunition from
wagons which Wallace had ordered up.

These preparations were just completed when the Confederates (the
forces of Pillow and Buckner combined 1 ) fell heavily upon the battery and
First Nebraska, and were cast back by them as the rock throws back the
billows. "To say they did well," said Wallace, "is not enough; their
conduct was splendid. They alone repelled the charge ;"* and the Confede-
rates, after a severe contest, retired to their works in confusion. " They
withdrew," said Buckner, " without panic, but in some confusion, to the
trenches." 3 This was the last sally from the fort, for, by the timely and effec-
tual interposition of the Third Division, the plans of the Confederates were
frustrated. " I speak advisedly" wrote Captain W. S. Hillyer (Grant's Aid-
de-camp) to General Wallace the next day, on a slip of paper with pencil,
" God bless you ! you did save the day on the right !" Poor Pillow, with his
usual shallowness, had sent an aid, when McClernand's line gave way, to tele-
graph to Johnston, that " on the honor of a soldier " the day was theirs ; 4 and
he foolishly persisisted in saying, in his first report, a few days afterward,
that the Confederates had accomplished their object, when it was known to
all that they had utterly failed.

It was at about noon when the Confederates were driven back to their
trenches. General Grant seemed doubtful of his ability to make a successful
assault upon their works with his present force, and at about three o'clock
in the afternoon he called McClernand and Wallace aside for consultation.

1 General Pillow's first Report * Report of General Wallace. * Report of General Buckner.

* On the strength of this, Johnston sent a dispatch to Richmond, announcing a great victory, and on Mon-
day the Richmond Enquirer said : " This splendid feat of arms and glorious victory to our cause will send a
thrill of joy over the whole Confederacy."

BATTLE OF FORT DONELSOX. 217

They were all on horseback. Grant held some dispatches in his hand. He
spoke of the seeming necessity of falling back and intrenching, so as to
stand on the defensive, until re-enforcements and Foote's flotilla should
arrive. His words were few, as usual, and his face was flushed by strong
emotions of the mind, while he turned his eyes nervously now and then on
the dispatches. It was suggested that McClernand's defeat uncovered the
road by which the enemy might escape to Clarksville. In an instant the
General's countenance changed from cloudiness to sunshine. A new thought
took possession of him and he acted instantly on its suggestions. Grasping
the dispatches more firmly, he ordered McClernand to retake the hill he had
lost, while Smith should make a simultaneous attack on the Confederate
right. 1

The new movement was immediately begun. McClernand requested
Wallace to retake the ground lost in the morning. A column of attack was
soon formed, with the Eighth Missouri, Colonel Morgan L. Smith, and the
Eleventh Indiana (Wallace's old regiment), Colonel George McGinnis (both
led by the former as a brigade), moving at the head. Two Ohio regiments,
under Colonel Ross, formed a supporting column. At the same time, Colonel
Cruft formed a line of battle at the foot of the hill.

The Eighth Missouri led the van, closely followed by the Eleventh
Indiana ; and when about half way up the hill, they received a volley from its
summit. The ground was broken, rough, and partly wooded. The Nationals
pressed on, and the struggle was fierce and unyielding for more than an hour.
Gradually the Confederates were pushed back, and their assailants soon
cleared the hill. They drove the insurgents to their intrenchments, and
would have assailed them there had not an order reached Wallace, when
he was only one hundred and fifty yards off the works, to halt and retire
his column, as a new plan of operations was in contemplation lor the next
day. That commander was astonished and perplexed. He was satisfied
that Grant was not informed of the entire success of his movement. He
was also satisfied that if he should fall back and give up the hill (it was then
five o'clock in the evening) the way would be opened for the Confederates
to escape under cover of
approaching darkness. So
he assumed the responsi-
bility of disobeying the or-
der, and he bivouacked on
the field of victory. All
of that keen wintry night
his wearied troops were
busy in ministering to the
wants of the wounded, and
in burying the many Illi- raE GRAVES OF THK " TROOPS.'

i General Sherman says that General Grant told him that, at a certain period of the battle, "he saw that
either side was ready to give way if the other showed a bold front, and he determined to do that very thing,
to advance on the enemy, when, as he prognosticated, the enemy surrendered." Sherman's Letter to the
Editor of the United States Service Magazine. January, 1S65.

This is from a sketch made by the author early in May, 1S66. This burial-place, surrounded by a rude
wattling fence, was in Hysmith's old Held, in the edge of a wood, near where McArthnr's troops were posted.
The trees and shrubbery la the adjoining wood showed hundreds of marks of the severe battle.

218 THE CONFEDERATES IN COUNCIL.

nois troops who had fallen in the conflict of the morning. They also made
preparations for storming the Confederate works at an early hour on the
following day.

While Wallace was carrying on the successful movement on the Con-
federate left, Smith was assailing their intrenchments on their right. He
posted Cavender's heavy guns so as to pour a murderous fire upon these and
the fort. Lauman's Brigade formed the attacking column, while Cook's
Brigade, posted on the left, was ordered to make a feigned attack.

Lauman was directed to carry the heights on the left of the position that
had been assailed on Thursday. He placed the Second Iowa, Colonel Tuttle,
in the van. These were followed by the Fifty-sixth Indiana as a support.
These, in turn, were closely followed by the Twenty-fifth Indiana and Seventh
and Fourteenth Iowa, while Berge's sharp-shooters were deployed as skir-
mishers on the extreme right and left of the column. When all were in readi-
ness, General Smith rode along the line, told the troops he would lead them,
and directed them to clear the rifle-pits with the bayonet alone. At a given
signal, the column moved, under cover of Captain Stone's Missouri Battery ;
and Smith, with a color-bearer at his side, rode in advance, his commanding
figure, flowing gray hair, and courageous example, inspiring the men with
the greatest admiration.

Very soon the column was swept by a terrible fire from the Confederate
artillery. It wavered for a moment, but the words and acts of the General
soon restored its steadiness, and it moved on rapidly. When Tuttle was
within range of the Confederate muskets, he placed himself at the head of
his men and shouted " Forward !" Without firing a gun, they charged upon
the Confederates with the bayonet, driving them from their intrenchments,
and, in the midst of cheers from a thousand voices, the National standard
was planted upon them. When darkness fell, General Grant knew that his
plan, so suddenly conceived in a moment of anxiety, had secured a solid
triumph that the rich fruit of victory was ripe and ready to fall into his
lap. There was joy in the National camp that night, while terror brooded
over the imprisoned Confederates.

" How shall we escape ?" was the important question anxiously considered
by the Confederate leaders that night, especially by Floyd and Pillow ; the
former terror-stricken, because of the danger of falling into the hands of the
Government, against which he had committed such fearful crimes ; and the
latter suffering unnecessarily for the same reason, his vanity magnifying his
own importance much beyond its true proportions. A Council of War was
held at Pillow's head-quarters, in Dover, at midnight, to consider the matter.
There were criminations and recriminations, and Floyd and Pillow seemed
to think of little else than the salvation of themselves from the power of their
injured Government. Buckner, too, desired to escape, and it was resolved to
effect it, if possible, by cutting their way through the supposed weak right
of the National lines, at five o'clock in the morning, and press on toward
Nashville.

Colonel Forest was ordered, at about two o'clock, to ascertain the position
of the Nationals, and the practicability of escaping by the river road. He
reported, that the position from which the Confederates had been driven by
Wallace in the afternoon, on the left, by which lay their projected course of

ACTION OF COWAKDLY LEADERS. 219

escape, was held by a large body of troops, and that the back-water above
Dover coiild not be crossed except by cavalry. Again the council deliberated,
when is was agreed that the cost of an attempt to cut their way out would
probably be the loss of the lives of three-fourths of the troops. " No com-
mander," said Buckner, " has a right to make such a sacrifice." Floyd agreed
with him, and quickly said, " Then we will have to capitulate ; but, gentle-
men," he added, nervously, "I cannot surrender; you know my position with
the Federals : it wouldn't do, it wouldn't do." Pillow then said to Floyd,
" I will not surrender myself nor the command ; will die first." " Then,"
said Buckner, coolly, " I suppose, gentlemen, the surrender will devolve upon
me." The terrified Floyd quickly asked, "General, if you are put in com-
mand, will you allow me to take out, by the river, my brigade ?" " If you
move before I shall offer to surrender," Buckner replied. " Then, sir," said
Floyd, " I surrender the command." Pillow, who was next in rank, and to
whom Floyd oifered to transfer the command, quickly exclaimed, " I will not
accept it I will never surrender." While speaking, he turned toward Buck-
ner, who said, " I will accept, and share the fate of my command." 1

When the capitulation was determined upon, Floyd and Pillow, who, it
has been justly remarked, had already disgraced the name of American
citizens, proceeded to disgrace the character of a soldier also, 2 by stealing
away under cover of the night, deserting, in the most cowardly manner, the
soldierly Buckner and the brave men who had defended the post. In order
to aid their flight, the latter allowed Forest to attempt to cut his way out
with his cavalry. In too much haste to save himself, Floyd did not wait for
all of his Virginians to get ready to escape with him, but with a few of them,
hastily collected, he embarked on a steamer at Dover, followed by the curses
and hisses of thousands on the shore, and fled to Nashville. 3 Pillow sneaked
away in the darkness, and, in perfect safety at his home in Columbia, in
Middle Tennessee, he sat down a few days afterward to write a report to his
indignant superiors. Forest and his horsemen, about eight hundred in num-
ber, also escaped. There is not in all history a meaner picture of the conduct
of traitors than that afforded by the Council of War at Dover, on Sunday
morning, the 16th of February, 1862.

That Sunday morning dawned brightly upon the Union army. At day-
break, Wallace prepared to storm the Confederate intrenchments, and while
making dispositions for that purpose, a bugle in the direction of the fort
sounded a parley. Dimly seen in the morning twilight was an officer with
the bugler, bearing a white flag, and at the same time a similar flag was
seen waving over the fort, in token of a willingness to surrender. Wallace

*-* o

immediately rode to Buckner's quarters. The latter had posted a letter to
Grant, asking for the appointment of commissioners to agree upon terms of

i Sworn statements of Colonel Forest, Major Gnstavus A. Henry, Major W. H. Haynea, and Hunter Nichol-
son, who were present at the council.

5 CoppeVs Grant and his Campaign*, page 66.

3 An epigrammatist of the day wrote concerning Floyd's escape, saying :

"The thief is a coward by nature's law;

Who betrays the State, to no one is true;
And the brave foe at Fort Donelson saw
Their light-fingered Floyd was light-footed toa

220

TERMS OF SURRENDER.

capitulation, and suggesting an armistice until noon. Wallace immediately
sent word to Grant that Dover was surrendered, and his troops were
in possession of the town. This made Grant's reply to Buckner short and
explicit. He considered Buckner and his troops as simply rebels in arms,
with no right to ask any terms excepting such as humanity required, so he
said, " No terms other than unconditional and immediate surrender can be
accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works."

Grant's reply irritated the helpless Buckner, and, with folly equal to his
chagrin, he answered, " The distribution of the forces under my command,
incident to an unexpected change of commanders, and the overwhelming
force under your command, compel me, notwithstanding the brilliant success

CAMP DOUGLAS.

of the Confederate arms yesterday, to accept the ungenerous and unchival-
rous terms which you propose." This was followed by the speedy surrender
of the fort, with thirteen thousand five hundred men, as prisoners of war
(including the sick and wounded), a large proportion of whom were sent to
Camp Douglas, near Chicago ;' also three thousand horses, forty-eight field-

1 Generals Buckner and Tilghman, who were captured at Fort Henry, were sent to Fort Warren, in Boston
Harbor. Leading Unionists of Kentucky asked for the surrender of Buckner to the civil authorities of that

State, to be tried for treason against
that commonwealth. The application
was refused, and he was afterward ex-
changed.

Camp Douglas was so named in
honor of Senator Douglas, and was situ-
ated on land that had belonged to him.
In this camp many of the Western
regiments, that performed such signal
service, were drilled. It was converted
into a prison, and early in April, 1862,
after the battle of Shiloh, it contained
PBISON AT CAMP CHASE, COLUMBUS, OHIO. ful1 8 > 000 captives, most of whom were

from Alabama, Mississippi, and Texas.

The passage of these prisoners through the country to their destinatiog produced a profound sensation. A St.
Louis journal mentioned the arrival there of ten thousand of them, on ten steamers.

A large number of the captives at Forts Henry and Donelson were also sent to Camp Chase, at Columbus,

SURRENDER OF FORT DONELSOX.

221

pieces, seventeen heavy guns, twenty thousand muskets, and a great quan-
tity of military stores.1 On the following day, two regiments of Tennessee

PLAN OF TUB SIEOE OF TORT DONELSON.

troops, that came up to re-enforce the garrison, in ignorance of the surrender,
were also made prisoners. During the siege, the Confederates had lost, it

Ohio, which was BO named in honor of the Secretary of the Treasury. The prison there was in the southeast
corner of the camp. The strong inclosure was about sixteen feet in height, built of two-inch pine plank, with
scantling well bolted and braced. The picture shows the exterior of the prison and the guard-houses.

1 A participant in the scenes at Fort Donelson wrote as follows concerning the surrender: " One of the
grandest sights in the whole siege, and one which comes only once in a century, was the triumphal entry into
the Fort on Sunday morning. . . . The sight from the highest point In the fort, commanding a view of
both river and camp, was imposing. There were on one side regiment after regiment pouring in, their flags
floating gayly in the wind ; some of them which had been rent and faded on the fields of Mexico, and others with
* Springfield ' emblazoned on their folds; one magnificent brass band pouring out the melodies of 'Hail Co-
lumbia,' ' Star Spangled Banner,' ' Yankee Doodle,' etc., in such style as the gazing captives had never heard, even
in the palmy days of peace. On the other was a spectacle which surpasses all description. The narrow Cumber-
land seemed alive with steamers. First came the gun-boats, firing salutes : then came little black tugs, snorting
their acclamations ; and after them the vast fleet of transports, pouring out volumes of black smoke, their banners
floating gayly in the breeze, firing salutes, their decks covered with people sending deafening shouts in response
to those from the shore. The scene was sublime, impressive, and will not easily be forgotten."

222 EFFECT OF THE FALL OF DONELSON.

was estimated, two hundred and thirty-seven killed, and one thousand and
seven wounded. The National loss was estimated at four hundred and forty-
six killed, one thousand seven hundred and forty-five wounded, and one hun-
dred and fifty prisoners. The latter had been sent across the river, and
were not re-captured. 1

The victory at Fort Donelson was of the greatest importance to the
National cause, and the official announcement of it, 2 spreading with speed
of lightning over the land, produced intense joy in every loyal bosom. Cities
were illuminated, heavy guns thundered forth National salutes ; and every-
where the flag of the Republic was flung to the breeze, in token of profound
satisfaction. The news filled the conspirators with despair, and terribly
depressed the spirits of the soldiers of the Confederate army. By it Europe
was made to doubt the success of the rebellion ; and at some courts it pro-
duced the first serious thoughts of abandoning the cause of the conspirators.
Its effect, in all relations, was similar to that of the capture of Burgoyne
and his ai'my at Saratoga, in 1777. So powerful was the impression, that the
Confederate Commissioners abroad felt compelled to do all in their power to
belittle the event, and, by taking advantage of the general deficiency of
knowledge of American geography, 3 to satisfy the ruling class that it was of
no military importance whatever. In that effort the Commissioners failed.

At Richmond the fall of Fort Donelson caused emotions of mingled anger
and dismay. The loss of Roanoke Island, a few days before, had greatly
alarmed and irritated the conspirators ; and now the chief of the Confede-

1 Reports of Generals Grant, McClernand, Wallace, and subordinate officers; and of Floyd, Pillow, and
Buckner, and their subordinates. Also written and oral statements to the author by participants in the action.
* Commander Walke, in the Carondetet, carried the first news of the victory to Cairo,
from which it was telegraphed to General McClellan by General George W. Cullnni, Hallcck's
Chief of Staff, then at Cairo, saying: "The Union flag Coats over Donelson. The Carondelet,
Captain Walke, brings the glorious intelligence. The fort surrendered at nine o'clock yesterday
(Sunday) morning. Generals Bnckner, Bushrod R. Johnston, and 15,000 prisoners, and a large
amount of materials of war, are the trophies of the victory. Loss heavy on both sides. Floyd,
the thief, stole away during the night previous with 5,000 men, and is denounced by the rebels
as a traitor." He then spoke of the good conduct of Commodore Foote, and announced the
fact that, notwithstanding his Bufferings from the wound in his foot, he would immediately
make, an attack on Clarksville, an important post about forty miles above. lie concluded by
saying, " We are now firing a National salute from Fort Cairo, General Grant's late post, in
honor of the glorious achievement"

The women of St. Louis, desirous of testifying their admiration of General Ilalleck, In
whose Department and by whose troops these victories had been achieved (and because of his
energy in suppressing secession in Missouri), ordered an elegant sword to be made by TilTany <fc
Co., of New York, to be presented to him in their name. This was done in the parlor of the
Planters' Hotel, in St Louis, on the evening of the 17th of March, 1SC2, by Mrs. Helen Budd,
who spoke in behalf of the donors. In his brief reply, General Ilalleck assured the women of
St. Louis that it should be "used in defense of their happiness, their rights, and their honor,
and solely in behalf of justice." The weapon was an elegant one, richly ornamented with
classical designs.
HALLECK'S SWORD.

3 The amazing territorial extent of the United States is but little comprehended in Europe, and the relative

position of places mentioned in connection with the war seemed to be very little understood, even by some of

the best informed writers and speakers. This lack of exact information led writers on American affairs into the

most absurd speculations as well as serious blunders. An illustrative example was found in the summary of

war news from America in the Paris Sfoniteiir, at about the time we are considering. Speaking of the capture

of Roanoke Island, and of Elizabeth City, in Eastern North Carolina,* the writer observed:

"Feb., 1S62. "The Federal army landed, and proceeded toward Elizabeth City, which it found evacuated

and burned by the Southern troops, from there a detaclanent advanced as far as th.6

Tennessee Hiner, and thus occupies the principal road between Memphis and Columbus. This movement

establishes the troops of General Burnside in the rear of the great army of the Potomac." Elizabeth City, on

the Atlantic roast, and the Tennessee River, at the point indicated, are fully 750 miles apart, in an air line, and

at least 1,200 miles by any route troops might be taken.

FLOYD AND PILLOW DISGRACED. 223

rates, with as much dignity as possible, commented seriously on their calami-
ties in a message to his " Congress." Official information had not reached
him. " Enough is known," he said, " of the surrender of Roanoke Island to
make us feel that it was deeply humiliating." Of the disaster at Fort Donel-
son, he said : " I am not only unwilling but unable to believe that a large
army of our people has surrendered without a desperate effort to cut its way
through the investing forces, whatever may have been their numbers, and to
endeavor to make a junction with other divisions of the army." 1 A little
later, in transmitting to his " Congress " the reports of Floyd and Pillow,
he said they were " incomplete and unsatisfactory. It is not stated," he said,
" that re-enforcements were at any time asked for ; nor is it demonstrated to
have been impossible to have saved the troops by evacuating the position ;
nor is it known by what means it was found practicable to withdraw a part
of the garrison, leaving the remainder to surrender ; nor upon what authority
or principle of action the senior generals abandoned responsibility by trans-
ferring the command to a junior officer." Notwithstanding General John-
ston attempted to gloss the cowardice of Floyd and Pillow, 2 Davis, in the
communication we are considering, said : " I have directed, upon the exhibi-
tion of the case as presented by the two senior Generals, that they should be
relieved from command, to await further orders, whenever a reliable judg-
ment can be rendered on the merits of the case." 3

Davis himself, it has been charged since the close of the rebellion (for
all spoke of him during the war with bated breath), was continually inter-
fering in military affairs, and with the action of skillful commanders most
mischievously. 4

Generals Grant, McClernand, and Wallace 5 issued orders congratulating
their victorious troops ;' and General Halleck, who had drawn from General

1 Message of Jefferson Davis to the Confederate Congress, Feb. 28th, 1862.

* General Johnston said in a private letter to Jefferson Davis: "Although the command was irregularly
transferred, it was not apparently to avoid any just responsibility, or from any lack of personal or moral intre-
pidity." Johnston conld not have been aware of the disgraceful scene in the midnight council at Pillow's quar-
ters in Dover, when he wrote that apology. The temper of the Conspirators in Richmond was in no mood to
receive an apology. They had been elated beyond measure by Pillow's premature boast of victory, and now
the disappointment was of corresponding force.

* Jefferson Davis's message to his "Congress." March llth, 1862.

4 So say military experts, and those most intimately acquainted with his official conduct. " Twenty years
hence," says a politician of Mississippi, who was a fellow-worker in rebellion with Davis in Richmond, ' no one
will be heard to deny that to the direct and unwise interferences in great military movements, on the part of
Davis, are to be attributed nearly all the principal disasters of the war. In the gross mismanagement of the War
Department, under the supervision and control of Mr. Davis himself, may safely be charged the calamitous
occurrences at Forts Donelson and Henry, and at Roanoke Island." War of the Rebellion, by Henry S. Foote.

6 For their services in the siege of Fort Donelson. Generals Grant, McClernand, and Wallace were each
promoted to Major-General of volunteers, the commission of the former bearing the date of the surrender (Feb-
ruary 16, 1S62), and the other two of March 21st, 1S62.

* Grant said (February 17th), after congratulating his troops on their " triumph over the rebellion, gained
by their valor," that " for four successive nights, without shelter during the most inclement weather known in
this latitude, they faced an enemy in large force in a position chosen by himself. Though strongly fortified by
nature, all the additional safeguards suggested by science were added. Without a murmur this was borne,
prepared at all times to receive an attack, and with continuous skirmishing by day, resulting ultimately in
forcing the enemy to surrender without conditions. The victory achieved is not only great in the effect it will
have in breaking down rebellion, but has secured the greatest number of prisoners of war ever taken in any battle
on this continent. Fort Donelson will hereafter be marked in capitals on the map of our united country, and
the men who fought the battle will live in the memory of a grateful people."

McClernand, in a field-order (February ISth), said : " You have continually led the way in the Valley of
the Lower Mississippi, the Tennessee, and the Cumberland. You have carried the flag of the Union farther
South than any o:her land forces, marching from the interior toward the sea- board.

u Being the first division to enter Fort Henry, you also pursued the enemy for miles, capturing from him,

224 THE ARMY MAIL-SERVICE.

Hunter's Kansas Department some of the re-enforcements which he had sent
to Grant, said, in a letter to him," " To you, more than to any
F is62. 9 ' t ner man ou t of this Department, are we indebted for our success
at Fort Donelson. In my strait for troops to re-enforce General
Grant, I applied to you. You responded nobly, placing your forces at my
disposition." The Secretaries of War and of the Xavy also issued congratu-
latory orders. The Government and people were satisfied that a withering
blow had been given to the rebellion, and that henceforth its proportions
would be less, and its malignity not so dangerous to the life of the Republic.
At Forts Henry and Donelson was successfully begun that army mail-
service which was so admirably organized and so efficiently executed during
the war by Colonel A. H. Markland. It was suggested to General Grant by
Colonel Markland, who was the special agent of the National Post-office
Department. It was immediately adopted, and was ever afterward warmly
cherished by that sagacious commander; and to him is justly due much of
the credit of making it practically eifective in blessing the officers and soldiers
of the armies of the Republic during the great struggle. The perfection of
the system was exhibited even so early as at the capture of Forts Henry and
Donelson, and it never failed to give ample satisfaction to all, until the end
of the war. 1

The peculiar army mail-service organized under the auspices of General
Grant was finally extended to all Departments, and was managed by Colonel
Markland, who was made the general superintendent of the mails of the
armies of the Republic. Soldiers in camp or on the march, and even under
the fire of the enemy, received letters from home with as much regularity as
if they had been residents of a large city. That system was not introduced
into the Army of the Potomac while McClellan commanded it. One much
less perfect and efficient, which he found in operation, was continued. That
was established when the troops under the first call began to assemble around
Washington, in April and May, 1861. The chaplain of each regiment was
recognized as " regimental post-master," and he usually called at the Wash-
ington City Post-office for the army mail. When the army was increased

In his flight, six field-pieces, many of his standards and flags, n number of prisoners, nnd a great quantity of
military stores. Following the enemy to this place, you were the first to encounter him outside of his intrench-
mcnts. and drive him within them." After recounting their exploits, he said : ' The battle-field testifies to your
valor and constancy. Even the magnanimity of the enemy accords to you an unsurpassed heroism, and an
enviable and brilliant share In the hardest-fought battle and most decisive victory ever fought and won on the

American continent." " The dealh-knell of rebellion is sounded ; an army has been annihilated ;

nnd the way to Nashville and Memphis is opened."

1 The origin aud general efficiency of that service is stated In the following letter to the author, dated,
' Head-quarters Armies of the United States, Washington, D. C., July 00th, 1366 :"

li DEAR SIB : Among the subjects that occupied my mind when I assumed command at Cairo, In the fall
of 1SC1, was the regular supply of mails to and from the troops ; not only those in garrison, but those on the
march when active movements should begin. When I commenced the movement on Fort Henry, on Jan. 7,
1S62, a plan was proposed by which the mails should promptly follow, and as promptly bo sent from the army.
So perfect was the organization, that the mails were delivered to the army Inline liately upon its occupation of
the fort. Within one hour after the troops began to march into Fort Donelson, the mail was being distributed
to them from the mail wagons. The same promptness was always observed in the armies under my command,
up to the period of the final disbandment. It Is a source of congratulation that the postal service was so con-
ducted, that officers and men were in constant communication with kindred nnd friends at home, and with as
much regularity as the most favored in the large cities of the Union. The postal system of the army, so far as
I know, was not attended with any additional expense to the service. The system adopted by me was sug-
gested and ably superintended by A. H. Markland, special agent of the Post-office Department.

" Respectfully, .fee.,

" U. S. GBANT, General."

THE ARMY MAIL AT WASHINGTON. 225

and fully organized, the commanding officer of each regiment selected a
reliable man from the non-commissioned officers or privates to act as mail
messenger, and that system was continued until the troops were called to
the field in the spring of 1 86fi. Then the mails were " brigaded," placed in
canvas bags, labeled and addressed to the brigade, and forwarded to their
destination by steamer or railway, under military authority. The Post-office
Department had no further control of the army mail after it left the post-
office at Washington City

During the Peninsula campaign, the mail for the Army of the Potomac
was forwarded from Washington by way of Baltimore and Old Point Com-
fort, the Potomac being blockaded by shore batteries. At the same time,
the troops in the Shenandoah Valley were supplied with a mail service by
way of Harper's Ferry, the mails being sent under military control to that
place, over the Baltimore and Ohio railway, and there furnished to the
brigades when called for. Owing to the peculiar condition of affairs in that
region, much of the time there was very little regularity in the delivery of
the mails, and communication between the army and home was at times very
uncertain.

The mails for these armies, and also for the Army of the James, were all
distributed in the Post-office at Washington City, where they were assorted
into regiments, batteries, and independent commands. Rosters, for the
guidance of the postmaster at Washington, were furnished when troops
changed localities. In his office boxes were prepared and labeled for the
respective regiments ; and at one time no less than eight hundred regiments
and batteries, which extended over the seaboard to New Orleans, and the entire
Shenandoah Valley, had the mail matter for them thus prepared for distribu-
tion. After being thus sorted, these mails were delivered to authorized mili-
tary agents, who attended to their transmission. In this way hundreds of
thousands of letters passed to and from the army daily. 1

The regularity with which the great armies of Grant, Sherman, Thomas,
and others in the West were supplied with mails, under the general superin-
tendence of Colonel Markland, was marvelous. He and his assistants seemed
to be almost ubiquitous. No danger was so appalling, and no obstructions
were so apparently insurmountable as to deter these messengers of good.
They endured all that the army endured perils, fatigues, and privations. The
mail was nearly always in advance of the armies, or moving in a direction to
meet them, and yet Colonel Markland never lost one, by capture, over which
he had personal control. When Sherman reached tide-water, after his march
for the sea, the mail for his army was in readiness for distribution ; and the

1 "For months," says Mr. S. J Bowen, the postmaster of Washington City, in a letter to the author, on the
22d of July, 1866, "we received and sent an average of 250.000 military letters per day. It is believed that this
number was exceeded after General Sherman's army reached Savannah, and up to the time of the review of the
troops in this city in the month of May, 1S65."

"Taking into consideration," continues Mr. Bowen, "the quantity of mail matter, consisting of letters,
newspapers, packages of clothing, and other articles of every conceivable kind that passed through this office to
and from our armies, it is surprising that so few losses occurred. Almost every package reached the person to
whom it was addressed, and the failure of letters to find their owners in 'due course of mnil 1 was extremely
rare. Indeed, I think the armies were provided with mails with just about as much certainty as people are in
large cities, and with about as little delay.

"The only loss of any moment that occurred to the Post-office Department, on account of this heavy mail
service, wns in mail-bags. It Is estimated that at least thirty thousand of these were sent out which never found
their way back to this office, although every effort was made by us to have them returned."

VOL. 1115

226 A VOYAGE ON THE CUMBERLAND RIVER.

first vessel to reach King's Bridge, on the Ogeechee River, was the mail
steamer. Subsequently, when Sherman marched through the Carolinas, and
after the hard-fought battle of Bentonville, he met the mail for his army on
the evening of the day of that battle. 1

That army mail-service presents to the contemplation of those who com-
prehend its extent and usefulness, one of the moral wonders of the great con-
flict ; and in its salutary influence and value seems second only to the Sanitary
Commission or the Christian Commission. It kept entire armies in continual
communion, as far as possible, with home and kindred a circumstance of
incalculable benefit to the soldier and the service. It prevented that terrible
home-sickness with which raw troops are often prostrated. It also exercised
the affections, and, in a remarkable degree, brought the sweet influences of
the domestic circle to bear most powerfully in strengthening the men against
the multiform temptations of the camp, and the yearnings for family joys
which so often seduce the less favored soldier to desert ; while courage and
patriotism were continually stimulated by heroic words from patient and
loving ones at home.

The writer visited the theater of events recorded in this chapter, early in
May, 1866. He left Nashville in the steamer Tyrone, toward the evening
of the 5th. Most of his fellow-passengers, as far as Clarksville, sixty miles
down the Cumberland River, consisted of about two hundred colored
soldiers, who had just been paid off and discharged from the service. The
few white passengers on board, and the officers and crew of the Tyrone, who
were mostly secessionists, were greatly relieved when these soldiers debarked
at midnight, for the fearful massacre of negroes at Memphis had just
occurred, and they did not know what might be the temper of these troops
on that account. They were in dread of personal danger. But there was
no occasion for alarm. The preparations made for surrendering the steamer
to the soldiers, on demand, and taking the women and children ashore in the
yawl-boat, as well as the more belligerent one for giving the negroes a
shower of hot water from the boiler, in the event of an uprising, were quite
unnecessary. The writer, who mingled among and conversed with many of
the soldiers, never saw a more orderly and well-disposed company of men,
just loosed from military discipline, than they. There was only one intoxi-
cated man among them. They were too full of joy to think of mischief.
The shores of the Cumberland resounded with their songs and laughter, for

1 Letter to the author by General Markland, August 20, 1866. In a letter to Colonel Markland, written in
May. 1865, General O. O. Howard says: "For more than a year the Army of the Tennessee has been cam-
paigning in the interior of the Southern States, a great portion of the time far separated from depots of supplies,
find connected with home and friends only by a long and uncertain line of railroad, that was, for the most part,
overworked to supply provisions, or, moving off without base or lines of communication, the army only touched
at points not always previously designated. During all this time, from Chattanooga to Atlanta, from Atlanta to .
Savannah, and in the homeward campaign across the Carolinas, you, my dear Colonel, have received the warmest
thanks from officers and men for your interest, energy, and uniform success in bringing to them the mail, often
immense from accumulation, forwarding it promptly, by sea or by land, for distribution. During the campaign
of four months against Atlanta, the mail was received with great regularity. On the 13th December, the very
day our communication was opened on the Ogeechee River with Admiral Dahlgren's fleet, the mail-boat, with
your personal charge, was the first to pass the obstructions and greet the Army of the Tennessee. When our
army arrived at Goldsborough, having lie n marching 500 miles without communication, it found letters from
home in waiting, and you were there to welcome us again. From this time till we left Raleigh, tn route for Wash-
ington, all mail matter was regularly received, and you still provided for us while the army was encamped in
sight of the capital."

General Sherman, in a letter to General Markland, bore similar testimony.

VISIT TO FORT DONELSOtf. 227

they were all happy in the thought of money in their pockets, and the greet-
ings of friends at home.

The Tyrone lay at Clarksville until daylight, when the writer had the
opportunity to make a sketch of Fort Bruce and its vicinity, events at which
will be considered presently. We left there while breakfasting ; and nearly
all of that beautiful day we were voyaging on that winding and picturesque
river, whose bosom and shores have been made historical by great events.
At about two o'clock in the afternoon we passed the ruins of the Cumberland
Iron Works, and at three o'clock we landed at the site of Dover. The little
village, with its church, court-house, and almost one hundred dwellings and
stores, when Fort Donelson 1 was built, had disappeared. The public build-
ings and most of the private ones had been laid in ashes during the war, and
only a few dilapidated structures remained.

At Cooley's tavern, near the landing-place (in which General Tilghman
had quartered), the writer was introduced to Captain James P. Flood, the
commander of the famous Flood's Second Illinois Battery, who performed
gallant service at Dover, in repelling an attack by the cavalry of Forest and
Wheeler. He had settled there as a lawyer, and was familiar with every
foot of the battle-ground. He kindly offered to accompany the writer to the
points of interest in connection with .the battle, and took him to the house
of G. M. Stewart, near the fort, an old and leading citizen of Stewart County,
who had been faithful to the old flag, and had suffered much for its sake
during the war. Mr. Stewart and his son (who had been in the Union
service) kindly offered to go over the field of conflict with us. He fur-
nished saddle-horses for the whole company, and at twilight we had
traversed the entire line of works, in front of which the divisions of McCler-
nand and Wallace fought, and visited the head-quarters of General Grant.
Near McClernand's extreme right, in Hysmith's old field, we found the
grave-yard of the Hlinois troops, delineated on page 217. We followed the
lines toward the center in their devious way through the woods, and clear-
ings covered with sprouting oaks, and came to the burial-place of the dead
of the Eleventh Illinois Regiment, similar in appearance to the other, and
having a board in the center with the names of the killed upon it. Every-
where the trees were terribly scarred by bullets, and cannon-shot and shell,
giving evidence of the severity of the battle. All through these woods and
openings, we found the detached lines of the Confederate intrenchments half
concealed by the already rank growth of grass, and bushes shoulder high,
and blackberry shrubs and vines, then white with blossoms. Nature was
rapidly hiding from view these evidences of man's iniquity.

Grant's head-quarters, as we have observed, were at the house of Mrs.
Crisp, a short distance from the road leading from Dover to Fort Henry.
Mrs. Crisp, a stout, kind-hearted, good-natured old lady, was still there,
and refreshed us with a draught of the finest spring water. She did
not approve of National troops in general, but had most pleasant recollec-
tions of General Grant and his staff. She committed to our keeping kind

1 This fort was so named in honor of Andrew Jackson Donelson, the adopted son of President Jackson, and
who at that time was occupying the " Hermitage," a few miles from Nashville. He warmly espoused the cause
of the conspirators.

228

VIEW AT FORT DOXELSON.

compliments to the General, and then, at almost sunset, we bade her farewell
and galloped back toward Dover, diverging to the left to visit Fort Douel-
son, and sketch the scene of the battle on the river between the armed
vessels and the water-batteries. The sun was just setting behind some thin
clouds when we arrived there, and it was soon too dark to allow the use of
the pencil. So we rode to Dover, supped with Mr. Stewart, and lodged at
Cooley's.

Wishing to take passage on the first steamer that should pass up the
Cumberland the next morning, the writer avose at dawn, and found Mr.
Stewart, as previously arranged, ready, with two saddle-horses, to visit the
fort. We breakfasted before sunrise, and then rode over the lines of the
famous stronghold on which the Confederates had spent so much labor, and
placed so much dependence. These, too, were half hidden by shrubbery and
viues, and in the course of a very few years it will be difficult to trace the

- *l

VIEW AT POET DOXELSON. 1

outlines of these fortifications. Between these and Dover, we visited a
strong work on a commanding eminence, built by the National troops under
the direction of Captain Flood and others, but which was never made use of.
From the hill overlooking the water batteries I made the accompanying
sketch, and had just finished it when a steamer came in sight below, at the
point where Foote's armored vessels, ranged in a line, assailed the Confede-
rate works. Remounting our horses, we hurried back to Dover, reaching

1 This is a view looking down the river, in which tho remains of the upper water battery nre seen in the
foreground. In the distance, on the left, near wh ch is seen a steamboat, is the prumonmry beliim! which the
Carondelet lay while bombarding the Confederate works on the 13th. The fort lay on the top of the hill on the
extreme left Across the river is seen the shore to which Pillow escaped when he stoU- out of the fort.

RETURN TO NASHVILLE. 229

there just as the steamer was moored at the gravelly bank. It was the
Emma Floyd, one of the most agreeable boats on the Cumberland, and with
its intelligent pilots, John and Oliver Kirkpatrick, and their wives and chil-
dren, the writer spent most of the day in the pilot-house, listening to the
stories of the adventures of these men while they were acting as pilots in the
fleets of Farragut and Porter, during those marvelous expeditions on the
Mississippi, its tributaries, and its mysterious bayous, carried on in connec-
tion with the armies of Grant and Banks. After a delightful voyage of
twenty-four hours, we arrived at Nashville, where the writer was joined by
his former traveling companions, Messrs. Dreer and Greble, of Philadelphia,
with whom he afterward journeyed for six weeks upon the pathways and
battle-fields of the great armies in Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.

The aspect of Nashville, and especially its surroundings, had materially
changed since the author was there in 1861. The storm of war had swept
over the country in its vicinity with fearful effect. The city itself had not
suffered bombardment, yet at times it had been in imminent danger of such
calamity ; first on the approach of the forces of Grant and Buell, and after-
ward when it was held by the National troops and was threatened by the
Confederates. The hills had been stripped of their forests, pleasure-grounds
had been robbed of their shade-trees, and places of pleasant resort had been
scarred by trenches or disfigured by breastworks. Buildings had been
shattered by shot and shell or laid in ruins by fire ; and at every approach
to the city were populous cemeteries of soldiers who had fallen in defense
of their country.

In the Capitol were stores of correspondence and other papers captured
from Pillow and his fellow-traitors, and these were placed at the disposal of
the author, who also had the good fortune to meet in Nashville General
Ewell, one of the most estimable of the Confederates who took up arms
against the Government, as a man and as a military leader. He kindly al-
lowed him to make abstracts of his later reports, in manuscript, concerning
operations in the Shenandoah Valley, in which he and " Stonewall Jack-
son" were associated, and also furnished him with information relative to
the evacuation of Richmond, and the destruction of a great portion of it
by fire immediately succeeding that event, when Ewell was in command
of the post. That subject will be considered hereafter.

230

ADVANCE ON BOWLING GREEN.

< Feb. 11,
1862.

CHAPTER IX.

EVENTS AT NASHVILLE, COLUMBUS, NEW MADRID, ISLAND NUMBER TEN, AND

PEA RIDGE.

HEN Fort Donelson fell, Kentucky and Missouri, and all
of northern and middle Tennessee were lost to the Con-
federates, and the more Southern States, whose inhabit-
ants expected to have the battles for their defense
fought in the border Slave-labor States, were exposed
to the inroads of the National armies.

The terror inspired all along the Confederate line
by the fall of Fort Henry, and the forward movement
of General Mitchel, of Buell's army, from his camp at
Bacon's Creek, across the Green River at Mumfords-
ville, toward Bowling Green, simultaneously with Grant's investment of
Fort Donelson, caused that line, which seemed so strong almost
to invincibility a few weeks before, to crumble into fragments
and suddenly disappear as a mist. General Johnston clearly
perceived that both Bowling Green and Columbus were now untenable, and
that the salvation of his troops at each required the immediate evacuation
of these posts. He issued orders accordingly, and when Mitchel, having
marched forty-two miles in thirty-two hours, reached the northern bank of
the Barren River, on whose southern border Bowling Green 1 stood, the main
- -,^ body of Johnston's

troops, seven or eight
thousand strong, had
left it and fled south-
ward. Mitchel found
the bridges on that
stream all destroyed ;
and when, on the same
night, Colonel Turchin
crossed it below the
village, with his bri-
gade, the heavens were

BOWLDTfl GRKBN AFTER THK BVACUATIOK. illuminated by tllC

flames of the burning railway station-house, and Confederate stores in the

1 Bowling Green is about 74 miles from Nashville, and contained a little less than 3,000 inhabitants when
the war broke out. Around it are numerous little hills or "knobs," on which the insurgents planted batteries
and made the post very strong. Our litle picture shows the appearance of Bowling Green, in the vicinity of
the railway station, on the day after the evacuation.

PANIC IN NASHVILLE. 231

center of the town. These had been fired by Texas Rangers, left behind for
the purpose, and who were then just moving off on a railway train. Mitchel's
troops were exhausted by their forced march in the keen frosty air, and the
labor of removing trees from the roads which the Confederates had cut down ;
and the water in the stream being too high to ford, his army did not cross
until the next day, when they found Bowling Green to be almost barren of
spoils. Half a million dollars' worth of property had been destroyed, and
only a brass 6-pounder, and commissary stores valued at five thousand dollars,
remained. The Confederates had also removed, during the preceding four
days, a large quantity of provisions and stores to Nashville.

Imminent danger now impended over Nashville. Johnston, as we have
seen, had declared that he fought for that city at Fort Donelson. When the
latter fell, Nashville was doomed, and its disloyal inhabitants were pale with
terror.

On the day of the surrender, the intelligence of the sad event reached the
city just as the people were comfortably seated in the churches, for it was
the Christian Sabbath. Pillow's foolish boast 1 and dispatch founded upon it*
had allayed all fears ; now these were awakened with ten-fold intensity. The
churches were instantly emptied, and each citizen seemed to have no other
thought but for personal safety. 3 That the town would be speedily occupied
by the Government troops, no one doubted. Grant's vigor had been tested.
It had been observed that he did not stop when a victory was gained, but
pushed forward to reap in full all of its advantages. So they gave up all as
lost. The public stores were thrown wide open, and everybody was allowed
to carry off provisions and clothing without hindrance.

The panic among the Secessionists was fearful. Governor Harris, the
worst criminal of them all, was crazy with alarm. He rode through the
streets with his horse at full speed, crying out that the papers in the capital
must be removed. 4 He well knew what evidence of his treason was among
them. He and his guilty legislature gathered as many of the archives as
possible, and fled by railway to Memphis, 5 while the officers of banks, bear-

1 See page 216. This boast had so assured the citizens that all was safe, that they felt no apprehensions of
evil. Indeed, they had indulged in rejoicings over the victory of the Confederates at Fort Donelson. For this
reason, the astounding news that now reached them was more appalling.

a The dispatch was headed in large letters ENEMY RETREATING ! GLORIOUS RESULT! I OUB BOYS FOLLOW-
ING ASD PEPPERING THEIR REAR! ! A COMPLETE VICTORY ! 1

* u An earthquake," says Pollard (i. 247), "could not have shocked the city more. The congregations at
the churches were broken up in confusion and dismay; women and children rushed into the streets, wailing
with terror; trunks were thrown from three-story windows in the haste of the fugitives, and thousands
hastened to leave their beautiful city in the midst of the most distressing scenes of terror, confusion, and
plundering by the mob."

The panic of the people was natural. They had been deceived and misled, by false teachers in their midst,
Into the belief that the people of the North were half savages. Among these teachers, who should be held
responsible for much of the sufferings inflicted by the war. was W. E. Ward, a clergyman who, in his paper,
called The Banner of Peace, published at Nashville, had just said: "We have felt too secure, we have been
too blind to the consequence of Federal success. If they succeed, we shall see plunder, insult to old and young,
male and female, murder of innocents, release of slaves, and causing them to drive and insult their masters
and mistresses in the most menial services, the land laid waste, houses burned, banks and private coffers
robbed, cotton and every valuable taken away before our eyes, and a brutal, drunken soldiery turned loose upon
us. Who wants to see this? If you do not believe, you will see it; look at Missouri."

4 Nashville correspondent of the Richmond Dispatch, Feb. 17, 1862.

At Memphis, on the 19th, Governor Harris issued a proclamation, in which he deplored the loss of Fort
Donelson, and the danser that threatened the capital, and told the people that henceforth Tennessee was to
become the battle-field in which her inhabitants would show to the world that they were worthy to be weat
they had solemnly declared themselves to be 'freemen." He encournsred, or discouraged them by the
announcement that he would take the field at their head ; and then in turgid phrases he tried to arouse them

232

DESTRUCTION OF THE TENNESSEE IRON WORKS.

ing away specie from the vaults, and citizens encumbered with their most
valuable effects that were portable, crowded the stations of the railways
leading to Decatur and to Chattanooga. Every vehicle was brought into
requisition, and hack-hire was raised to twenty-five dollars an hour. This
fearful panic was increased when a portion of the troops, flying from Bowl-
ing Green, came rushing into the city across the railway and the Suspension
bridges, and a rumor spread over the town that the victors at Fort Donelson
were making their way rapidly up the Cumberland.

The rumor was true. On the evening of the day after the surrender of
Fort Donelson," Commodore Foote sent the St. Louis up the
Cumberland to the Tennessee Iron Works, six or seven miles
above Dover. These belonged, in part, to John Bell, the candi-
date of the " Constitutional Union Party " for President, in 1 860,' who, as
we have observed, had early espoused the cause of the conspirators. 2 There
appeared to be sufficient evidence of these works having been employed in
the interest of the rebellion to warrant their destruction, and they were laid
in ashes. Nothing remained of them, when the writer passed by the spot
in the spring of 1866, but three tall chimneys, ruined machinery, and heaps
of brick.

On the 19th, the commodore, with the gun-boats Cairo, Lieutenant-com-
manding Bryant, and Conestogq, Lieutenant-commanding Phelps, ascended

> Feb. 16,
1862.

FORT BRUCE AND ITS VICINITY.*

the river to Clarkesville (a city on its right bank, of about two thousand
inhabitants before the war, and the capital of Montgomery County), with
the intention of attacking an unfinished fort there, which the Confederates

O f

to resist the Union armies. He had, he said, in a message to the Legislature on the 20th, organized and put into
the field since May, 1861, "for the Confederate service, fifty-nine regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, eleven
cavalry battalions, and over twenty independent companies, mostly of artillery." Fifteen thousand of these
troops, he said, had been armed by the "Confederate Government," and to arin the remainder he called for " the
sporting guns " of the citizens.

1 See page 30. volume I.

2 See page 874, volume I.

* The National troops completed the work and named it Fort Bruce, in honor of the loyal Colonel Bruce,
of Nashville. The engraving shows its situation at the bend of the Cuuibeiland, about half a mile below
Clarksville. It commanded the river up and down. The mouth of the Red River ia seen at the center of the
picture, near a storehouse. On the Clarksville side of that stream was a small redoubt, called the Mud Fort, it
being overflowed and covered with sediment at hish water. This sketch was made by the writer from the deck
of the Emma Floyd, while lying at Clarksville, looking down the river.

FLIGHT OF CONFEDERATES FROM NASHVILLE.

233

were erecting on the high bluff at the mouth of the Red River, a small
stream that enters the Cumberland just below the town. The garrison,
startled by the general panic, fled, and, in defiance of the wishes and remon-
strances of the citizens of Clarkesville, set fire to the fine railway bridge
that spanned the river at that place. Colonel Webster, Grant's chief of
staff, and Lieutenant Phelps, immediately went ashore and hoisted the
National flag over the fort. Two-thirds of the terrified citizens of Clarkes-
ville had fled when Foote arrived. At the suggestion of the late venerable
Cave Johnson, and one or two others, he proclaimed full protection to all
peaceable citizens, at the same time warning them not to display any seces-
sion flags or other evidence of rebellious feeling.

General Smith, with the advance of the National army, marched up to
Clarkesville and took command there ; while Foote returned to Cairo for
more gun-boats, for the purpose of attacking Nashville. In the mean time
General Johnston and his forces from Bowling Green had continued their
flight southward as far as Murfreesboro, twenty-five miles on the way
toward Chattanooga, 1 leaving General Floyd, the fugitive from Fort Donel-
son, with a few troops to secure the immense amount of stores and provisions
in Nashville. Pillow, the other fugitive from Fort Donelson, and Hardee,
who had come down from Bowling Green, were directed to assist Floyd in
the business. The assignment to the perilous duty of remaining nearest the
dreaded Nationals seemed like punishment inflicted on Floyd and Pillow by
Johnston for their cowardice. If so, it was successful ; yet it was injurious
to the Confederate cause, for these men, unwilling to risk their persons again,
suffered terribly from fear, and counseled flight, as before. Floyd,
on hearing that Foote's gun-boats were coming, gave orders on
Monday" for the Confederate stores to be thrown open to the public ;
two steam-packets,
which were being
changed into gun-
boats, to be burned ;
and the two bridges*
at Nashville to be
destroyed. Against
the last act the citi-
zens most vehement-
ly protested, and it
was postponed until
Tuesday night, when
they were both burn-
ed by Floyd's order ;
and he and Pillow
literally scampered
away southward by

Feb. IT,
1862.

NASHVILLE AND ITS BRIDGES

1 It was supposed by the Confederates that the Nationals would push on toward East Tennessee, and It
was for the purpose of confronting such movement that Johnston took position at Murfreosboro.

2 The wire suspension-bridge was a beautiful structure, and cost about $150,000. A large portion of the
*tck belonged to the slain General Zollicoffer, and was the chief reliance for support, of his orphaned daughters.
J5ut Floyd and Pillow wished to put a gulf between themselves and the Nationals, that they might save
their own worthless persons ; and so the claims of orphans and the prayers of citizens were of no avail.

234

SURRENDER OF NASHVILLE.

the light of the conflagration. 1 The troops that remained longest in Nash-
ville were Forest's cavalry, led by that brave captaim

During the remainder of the week, Nashville was the theater of the
wildest anarchy, and neither public nor private property was safe for an
hour. Happily for the well-disposed inhabitants, Colonel Kenner, of the
Fourth Ohio cavalry, of Mitchel's division, entered the city on Sunday
evening, the 23d, and endeavored to restore order. He was immediately
followed by the remainder of his commander's force, who encamped at Edge-
field, opposite Nashville, and there awaited the arrival of General Buell.
That officer came on the 25th, and on the same morning the Conestoga
arrived from Clarkesville, as a convoy to transports bearing a considerable
body of troops, under General Nelson. These had not been opposed in
their passage up the river, for the only battery on its banks between the two
cities was Fort Zollicoffer, on a bluif, four or five miles below Nashville,
which Avas unfinished, and was then abandoned. The citizens of Nashville,
believing General Johnston would make a stand there, had commenced this
fort on the south or left bank of the Cumberland, and were much incensed
by its sudden abandonment.

Pursuant to previous arrangement, the mayor of Nashville (R. B. Cheat-
ham) and a small delegation of citizens crossed over to Buell's quarters at
Edgefield, and there made a formal surrender of the city." Gen-
eral Buell at once issued an order congratulating the troops
" that it had been their privilege to restore the National banner
to the Capitol of Tennessee."* He expressed a belief that the hearts of a
greater portion of the people of that State would be rejoiced by the fact ;

and he assured the in-
habitants that the
rights of person and
property should be
respected. On the
following day, Gen-
eral Grant and staff
arrived, and he and
General Buell held a
consultation about
future movements.
Colonel Stanley Mat-
thews, of the Fifty-
first Ohio Volunteers,
was appointed Pro-
vost-Marshal, and or-
der was speedily re-

1862.

CAPITOL AT NASHVILLE.

1 A greater portion of the cannon at Nashville were spiked, and many of them were placed upon the
bridges before they were flred, and when these perished in the flames, the cannon went to the bottom of the
Cumberland

The Capitol of the State of Tennessee is one of the finest of its kind in the United States. It is in the
center of four acres of ground in the midst of the city, and crowns a hill that rises 197 feet above the Cumberland
River. It is composed of fossilated limestone, taken from quarries near the city, and its style is of the most
beautiful of the Grecian orders, with four porticoes, whose columns are 33 feet in heisrht. It is a parallelogram
in form, 140 by 2TO feet in size, and is surrounded by a terrace 17 feet in width and six in height. The pinnacle

EXPEDITION AGAINST COLUMBUS. 235

stored. Railroad connection with Louisville was soon opened, and the
inhabitants were invited to resume their avocations.

The capture of Nashville, the flight of the Governor and Legislature of
Tennessee from the State capital, and the virtual dissolution of civil govern-
ment in that Commonwealth, imposed upon the National authorities the duty
of providing a substitute for the people. It was resolved to appoint a mili-
tary governor to administer the public affairs of the State under martial
law ; and Andrew Johnson, formerly a chief magistrate of that Common-
wealth, and then one of is representatives in the United States Senate, was
appointed" to that responsible position, with the military rank of
Brigadier-General. 1 He reached Nashville on the 12th of March, "^f 4 '
and, in a speech to the citizens assembled that evening, he
promised friendship and protection to the loyal, and gave them to under-
stand that "intelligent and conscious treason in high places" would be
punished.

Another bloodless victory soon followed the capture of Nashville. Six
days after the formal surrender of that city, General Halleck telegraphed to
General McClellan from St. Louis, 4 " Columbus, the Gibraltar of

. 4 March 4.

the West, is ours, and Kentucky is free, thanks to the brilliant
strategy of the campaign by which the enemy's center was pierced at Forts
Henry and Donelson, his wings isolated from each other and turned, com-
pelling thus the evacuation of his stronghold of Bowling Green first, and now
Columbus."

The history of the latter event may be told in few words. When it was
evident to the conspirators at Richmond that the " Gibraltar " was untenable,
the so-called Secretary of War instructed Polk, through Beauregard, " to
evacuate Columbus, and select a defensive position below." Polk chose that
section of the Mississippi and its shores which embraces Island Number Ten,
the main land in Madrid Bend on the Kentucky shore, and New Madrid.
Defensive works had been thrown up at the two latter places during the
preceding autumn, and now measures were immediately taken for strongly
fortifying Island Number Ten.

So early as the 25th of February, Polk ordered the removal of the sick
from Columbus, as a preparatory step toward the evacuation of that post, and
assigned the command of the river defenses at the position chosen to General
I. P. McCown, whose division was ordered thither on the 27th. The
remainder of the troops, excepting the cavalry, left Columbus on the 1st of
March. General Stuart's brigade went by steamer to New Madrid, and the
remainder marched by land to Union City, in Tennessee, 2 under General
Cheatham. The removal of special articles of value to Jackson, Tennessee,

of its cupola is 200 feet from the ground. In compliance with the request of Mr. Strickland, its architect, his
remains are inclosed in its walls, with a proper inscription on the outside ; and so that imposing pile has become
his monument. The cost of the building was over $1,000,000. The population of Nashville, at the time we are
considerins, was about 24,000 souls.

In our little sketch is seen a cabin in front of the Capitol. It was used by the architects durinz the erection
of the great ; building and in it Governor Harris was living, it is said, in a very frugal manner, when he was
gammoned to fly from Nashville.

1 See page 226, .volume I.

'This is at the intersection of the Nashville and Northwestern and the Mobile and Ohio Hallways ; th
former leading directly to Hickman, on the Mississippi River.

236 CAPTURE OF COLUMBUS.

had been accomplished at that time. Then the cavalry set fire to the military

buildings of the post, and, accompanied by Polk and his staff

*iS62 Ch ' followed the retiring columns, at three o'clock in the afternoon

ofthe2d. al

In the mean time preparations had been made to capture Columbus, with
its troops and munitions of war. When Foote returned to Cairo from
Clarkesville, he collected a flotilla of six gun-boats, commanded respectively
by Captains Davis, Walke, and Stembel, and Lieutenants-commanding Paul-
ding, Thompson, and Shirk ; four mortar-boats, under the general command
of Lieutenant-commanding Phelps, assisted by Lieutenant Ford, of the Ord-
nance Corps, and Captain George Johnson, of Cincinnati ; and three trans-
ports. The latter bore a small land force of little more than two thousand
men, 2 commanded by Brigadier-General W. T. Sherman (who was in com-
mand at Paducah), accompanied by General Cullum, of Halleck's staff. The
flotilla left Cairo before daylight on the morning of the 4th,* and
at sunrise was in sight of the fortified bluff's at Columbus. Prepa-
rations were made for attack. Humor had declared that the fort had been
evacuated. It was cautiously approached, even after a farmer, a professedly
Union man, had assured the commodore that the troops had fled. At length
the National flag was dimly seen waving over the Confederate works. It
might be a trick. Colonel Buford and a detachment of the Twenty-seventh
Illinois were landed to reconnoiter. They were soon clambering up the steep
bluffs with shouts of triumph. Troops were in the fortifications, but they
were friends. A detachment of the Second Illinois cavalry, under Lieutenant
Hogg, two hundred and fifty strong, who had been sent out as scouts from
Paducah, had entered the place at five o'clock the day before, and hoisted
the Stars and Stripes over the main work of that stronghold. 3 They found
the town deserted by nearly all of its disloyal inhabitants. 4 There was evi-
dence of great haste in the evacuation, " considering," says General Cullum,
" the quantities of ordnance and ordnance stores, and number of anchors, and
the remnant of the chain which was once stretched over the river, 5 and a large

1 Report of Major-General Leonidas Polk to Colonel Thomas Jordan, March ISth, 1862. " In five days," said
Polk, in his report, ' we removed the accumulation of six months, taking with us all our commissary and quarter-
master stores an amount sufficient to supply my whole command for eight months; all our powder and other
ammunition and ordnance stores (excepting a few shot, and gun-carriages), and every heavy gun in the fort.
Two 32-pounders in a remote outwork were the only valuable guns left," These, with some smaller ones, were
spiked. "The whole number of pieces of artillery comprising our armament," he continued, " was one hundred
and fifty." General Cullum's report contradicts that of Polk concerning the removal of nearly all that was
valuable, for a large quantity of ordnance and ordnance stores, he says, was found there.

2 These were composed of Colonel Buford's Twenty-seventh Illinois, and a battalion each of the Fifty -fourth
and Seventy-fourth Ohio, and Fifty-fifth Illinois regiments, commanded by Majors Andrews and Sawyer.

s Eeport of Commodore Foote to the Secretary of the Navy, March 4, 1862; also of General Cullum to
General McClellan. on the same day.

General Polk, in his report, says, "The enemy's cavalry, the first of his forces to arrive after the evacuation,
reached Columbus in the afternoon of the next day [March 3], twenty-four hours after the last of our troops had
left"

4 A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette, who accompanied Commodore Foote, mentioned " Mrs.
Sharpe, wife of the ex-mayor of Columbus,' 1 as the only woman he met with in his rambles through the town.
She said she had stuck up for the Union cause while the secessionists threatened to pull her house down. Her
husband, she said, had been " forcibly carried off by the rebels." See notice of Sharpe's letter to General
Pillow, note 1, page 72.

6 This was a contrivance of General Pillow, and, like most of his military operations, was a failure. It was
a huge affair, stretching down from the bluffs into the Mississippi, with its Missouri shore end loose, and the
most of it lying at the bottom of the river.

MINES AND TOPvPEDOES AT COLUMBUS.

237

supply of torpedoes remaining. 1 Desolation was visible everywhere huts,
tents, and barricades presenting but their blackened remains." A number
of heavy cannon had been spiked and rolled off the bluff into the river.
A train on fire, connected with both ends of a magazine, was cut, and safety
was soon secured. A garrison of a little over two thousand men, including
four hundred cavalry, was left to hold the post.

We have observed that Polk and his confederates, on retiring from Co-
lumbus, took position on the Mississippi shores and Island Number Ten

ISLAND NTTMBEB TEN.*

below. !N"ew Madrid, on the Missouri side of the river, 3 to which many of the
troops went, had been much strengthened by Jeff. Thompson, 4 who had occu-
pied it for some time, and had strong military works there, one of which was

1 These torpedoes were numerous nn<l formidable, and, had men been there to fire those in the river, by the
electrical batteries on the shore, there might have been much damage done to Foote's flotilla, had it gone ni-ar.

These, and "infernal machines, 1 ' found in mines in the bluft", at-
tested the great danger to which the National forces would huvo
been exposed in an assault upon the Confederate works, which
were of immense strength from the water to the table-land above.
In the bluff near the grand battery above Columbus a cavern
was discovered, in which were found electrical machines, having a
connection by wires with portable mines in several directions,
so arranged as to destroy troops that
might be gathered above them.
These mines were iron casks, some-
thing of a pear shape, about three
feet in height, with an Iron cap,
fastened with eight screws. In each

was a 4-ponnd shell, with grape and eanister shot, "surrounded by about two
bushels of coarse powder," wrote an eye- witness. On the bottom of each cask was
a wooden box, to which, ami entering the powder, were fastened Insulated wires,

connecting with the electrical machines in the cavern. Several other caverns were found with these machines
connecting with mines, to the number, it was supposed, of nearly one hundred. The torpedoes found in the river
and on the shore were pointed cylinders, about three feet in length, containing fllty or sixty pounds of powder,
which was to be ignited by electricity. The electrical machines were very much like those used in telegraph
offices.

4 This was the appearance of Island Number Ten, to the eye of the author, from a Mississippi steamer in
April, 1866. It lies in a sharp bend of the Mississippi, about 40 miles below Columbus, and within the limits of
Kentucky.

*N ew Madrid is the capital of New Madrid County, Missouri. 79 miles below Cairo, and 947 miles above
New Orleans, by the winding river. Island Number Ten is about ten miles above it. The islands in the Missis-
sippi, fr-im the mouth of the Ohio River downward, are distinguished by numbers, this, as its namo implies,
b.'inz the tenth. * See page 68.

INFKKXAL, MACHINE.

238 BEAUREGARD AND HIS CALL FOR BELLS.

called Fort Thompson. 1 The post was now in charge of General Gantt, of
Arkansas. The town was at the junction of a bayou and the Mississippi, at
a sharp turn of that stream, and was naturally an eligible position to repel
an enemy approaching by water, from above or below. In addition to its
land defenses, it was now guarded by a flotilla of six gun-boats, carrying from
four to eight heavy guns each, which had been sent up from New Orleans,
under the command of the incompetent Hollins. 8 The country around New
Madrid being flat, and the water in the river, at the time we are considering,
very high, the cannon of the flotilla commanded the land approaches to the
town for a long distance. This post, although about a thousand miles away
from New Orleans, was, with Island Number Ten, a few miles above, regarded
as the key to the lower Mississippi, and the metropolitan city on its banks,
and therefore an object of great importance to both parties.

When the garrison at New Madrid was re-enforced from Columbus, it
was placed under the charge of General McCown, while the troops on Island
Number Ten were commanded by General Beauregard. 3 These officers had
scarcely established their quarters at their respective posts, when they
were disturbed by the thunder of the Union troops, who were bent upon the
redemption of the navigation of the Mississippi from the control of
rebel cannon and vessels. It was confidently expected at Richmond, how-
ever, that, at this great bend in the river, they might say to the National

1 This was an irregular bastionecl work, mounting fourteen heavy guns, and situated about half a milo below
New Madrid. There was another similar, but smaller work at the upper end of the town, mounting seven heavy-
guns. Between them was a continuous Hue of intrenchments and defensive works.

2 See page 114.

3 Beauregard, who had just been appointed to the command of the Department of Mississippi, was in
immediate command of the troops, and the property at Jackson, Tennessee, after the evacuation of Columbus;
and, inspired by an appeal from the Ordnance Department at Richmond,* he there indulged in his favorite
amusement of issuing sensation orders. He sent forth one dated the 8th of March, addressed "To the Planters
of the Mississippi Valley," telling them that more than once a people fighting with an enemy less ruthless than
theirs, for "imperik'd rights not more dear and sacred." for "homes and a land not more worthy of resolute and
unconquerable men." and for " interests of far less magnitude than theirs, had not hesitated to melt and mould
into cannon the precious bells surmounting their houses of God, which had called generations to prayer. The
priesthood," he told them, "had ever sanctioned) and consecrated the conversion, in the hour of their country's
need, as one holy and acceptable in the sight of God. We want cannon," he continued, "as greatly as any
people who ever, as history tells you, melted their church bells to supply them;" so he, their General, called
upon them to send their "plantation bells to the nearest railroad depot," subject to his order, "to be melted
into cannon for the defense of their plantations." There was & liberal response to this call, and not only " planta-
tion bells" but church bells were offered for the purpose. " In some cities," wrote a soldier in the Confederate
army, "every church gave up its bell. Court-houses, factories, public Institutions, and plantations, sent theirs.
And the people furnished large quantities of old brass of every description andirons, candlesticks, gas-fixtures,
and even door-knobs. I have seen wagon-loads of these lying at depots, waiting shipment to the foundries.''
See Thirteen MontJisin the Rebel Army, by an impressed New Yorker (William G. Stevens), page 84.

These brazen contributions were all sent to New Orleans, where they were found by General Butler, who
sent the bells to Boston, to be used for a more peaceful purpose. They were sold at auction there in August
following, by Colonel N. A. Thompson, who prefaced the sale by a patriotic speech.

Ten days before Bcauregard's appeal for bell-metal, his Surgeon-General, Dr. Choppin, whom he had sent to
New Orleans, after the fall of Fort Donelson, for the purpose, issued in that city the following characteristic
address to his Creole brethren:

'SOLDIERS OF NEW ORLEANS: You are aware of the disasters which have befallen our arms in the West.
Greater disasters still are staring us in the face. General Beauregard the man to whom we must look as
the saviour of our country sends me among you to summon you to a great duty and noble deeds invoking
arid inspired by the sacred love of country and of priceless liberty, he has taken the deathless resolution de lea
venr/tr ou de les suivre. And, with the immortal confidence and holy fervor of a soul willing, if need be, to
meet martyrdom, he calls upon you to join him, in order that he may restore to our country what she has lost,

Tin, an essential article in the manufacture of brass cannon, was so scarce within the bounds of the Confederacy, that the Ordnance
Department solicited the people to contribute bells for the purpose. It is said that sufficient bell-metal was sent to Richmond, from Freder-
icksburg alone, to make two light batteries.

POPE'S MARCH ON NEW MADRID.

239

forces, " Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther ;" but, like most of their cal-
culations, this one signally failed.

While Johnston was pressing southward through Nashville with his
fugitive army from Bowling Green, and Polk was trembling in his menaced
works at Columbus, Halleck was giving impetus to a force destined to strike
a fatal blow at the Confederates at New Madrid. He dispatched General
Pope from St. Louis on the 22d of February, with a considerable body of
troops, chiefly from Ohio and Illinois, to attack that post. Pope went down
the Mississippi in transports, and landed at Commerce, in Missouri, on the
24th. He marched from there on the 27th, and three days afterward two
companies of the Seventh Illinois cavalry, under Captain "Webster, and a com-
pany of independent cavalry, under Captain Noleman, encountered the guer-
rilla chief M. Jeif. Thompson with about two hundred mounted men. These
were routed, and pursued with great vigor to Thompson's lines at New
Madrid, losing in their flight three pieces of artillery, and throwing away
guns and every thing else that might lessen their speed. In the mean time
Pope's main column moved on, traversed with the greatest difficulty over-
flowed miry swamps, 1 and on the day when the National standard was
unfurled at Columbus" it appeared before New Madrid. Pope
found the post occupied by five regiments of infantry and several
companies of artillery, with Hollins's flotilla on the river. Satis-
fied that he could accomplish very little with his light artillery, he encamped
out of range of the gun-boats, and sent
Colonel Bissell, of the Engineer Corps,
to Cairo for heavy cannon.

While Pope was waiting for his
siege-guns, the Confederates were
strengthening New Madrid by re-en-
forcements from Island Number Ten;
and on the 1 2th, when the cannon from
Cairo arrived, there were about nine
thousand infantry, besides artillery,
within the works in front of Pope,
commanded by Generals McCown,
Stuart, and Gantt. Meanwhile, three
gun-boats had been added to Hollins's
flotilla.

Fearing the Confederates might be re-enforced from below, Pope sent
Colonel J. B. Plummer, of the Eleventh Missouri, to Point Pleasant, ten or
twelve miles down the river, to plant a battery, and blockade it at that

i March 8,
1S62.

POPE'S HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR NEW MADRID.

and lead you on to glory and independence. In tones rigid and sullen as the tellings of the funeral knell, bi t
with clarion accents that should send a quiver through every heart, and string the nerves of every man, he
cries out the final refrain of that Immortal hymn

" ' Anx armes citoyens 1 formez vos bataillong,
Marchons I
Marchons
Qn'nn sang impur abreuve nos slllons !'

M ' Creoles of Louisiana, on to the work !' "

1 '-The men, 11 said a newspaper correspondent, "waded in inud, ate In It, slept in it, were surrounded by it,
as St. Helena is by the ocean.*'

240

CAPTURE OF SEW MADPJD.

a March 12,
1862.

S March 18.

point. He took with him three regiments of infantry, three companies of
cavalry, and a field battery of 10-pound Parrott guns. He formed rifle-pits
for a thousand men, and planted his cannon in sunken batteries below them.
This was done with perfect success in the face of cannonading from the Con-
federate gun-boats. This position commanded the passage of the river in the
rear of Island Number Ten, and prevented supplies being furnished to that
post across the peninsula formed by Reel Foot Lake and Madrid Bend.

Pope's four siege-guns (three 32-pounders and an 8-inch mortar) arrived at
near sunset," and at dawn the next morning (thirty-five hours after
they left Bird's Point, on the Cairo and Fulton Railway) they were
in position, within half a mile of Fort Thompson.' On that work

and Hollins's flotilla he at once opened
a vigorous cannonade and bombard-
ment.* They replied with
equal vigor, but in the course
of a few hours three of the cannon in the
fort were dismounted, and three of the
gun-boats were disabled. The fierce
artillery duel continued throughout the
whole day, 3 the Nationals continually
extending their trenches, for the pur-
pose of pushing their heavy batteries
to the river bank during the night.
General Paine, in the mean time, was
making demonstrations against in-

O -?

trenchments on the Confederate right, supported by General Palmer's divi-
sion. The Confederate pickets were driven in, and when night fell the entire
insurgent force at New Madrid, on land and water, were in a perilous posi-
tion. Their commanders perceived this, and during a furious thunder-storm,
at about midnight, while the Twenty-seventh and Thirty-ninth Ohio and
Tenth and Sixteenth Illinois were on duty guarding the rifle-pits and bat-
teries, they evacuated the post and fled to Island Number Ten, leaving
almost every thing behind them. 4 So precipitate was their flight that their
suppers and lighted candles were in their tents, and their dead were left
unburied. New Madrid presented a most pitiable spectacle. The original
inhabitants had fled, and it had evidently been sacked and plundered by its
Confederate occupants, for household articles were scattered in every direc-
tion. The human loss of the Confederates in this quick, sharp siege is not
known. One hundred new graves and many bodies left unburied showed it
to have been severe on the land. That of the Nationals was fifty-one killed
and wounded. 5

A CANNON TRUCK. 1

1 These guns were carried twenty miles by railway, and dragged on trucks (such as is delineated In the
engraving) twenty miles farther, over a miry road most of the way.

5 The heavy guns were handled by companies A and H, of the First U. S. Eegular Infantry, under Captain
Mower.

3 See page 583, volume I.

4 They left thirty-three cannon, several thousand stand of small arms, a magazine full ol fixed amnr.nition,
several hundred boxes of musket cartridges, tents for an army of ten thousand men, intrenching tools, and a
large number of horses, mules, and wagons.

* Report of General John Pope to General Cullum, March 14, 1S62; and statements to the author by eye-
witnesses.

STRENGTH OF ISLAND NUMBER TEN..

241

March 14.

March 15.

Just before daylight on the morning after the siege, Brigadier-General
David S. Stanley, whose command had been in the trenches all night, was
relieved by Major-General Schuyler Hamilton ; and, a little after dawn, a flag
of truce appeared with information that the place was abandoned. When
the fact was certified, Hamilton sent Captain Mower and his artillerists to
plant the national flag on Fort Thompson. At almost the same
hour," Commodore Foote left Cairo with a powerful fleet, com-
posed of seven armored gun-boats, one not armored, and ten
mortar-boats, 1 for the purpose of co-operating with General Pope. At Colum-
bus he was joined by the Twenty-seventh Illinois, Colonel Buford, and some
other troops,* and moving down to Hickman, on the same shore
of the Mississippi, he took possession of that place. 2 He did not
tarry, but, pressing forward, his fleet appeared in sight of Island Number
Ten the next day,' when he carefully reconnoitered the Confeder-
ate position and prepared for a siege.

Under the skillful and energetic management of General Beauregard,
Island Number Ten had been made the most impregnable to assault of all
the posts in the Mississippi valley. On the day of his ai-rival
there/ he had assumed the command of the Department of the
Mississippi, to which, as we have observed, he had recently been appointed,
and had called General Bragg from Pensacola to his aid. He issued a
stirring order, from Jackson, Tennessee,' addressed to the inhabi-
tants of his department, announcing his assumption of the
command, and calling upon the men to arouse in defense of their " mothers,
wives, sisters, and children." If high-sounding words and good engineering
could have made Island Number
Ten impregnable, it would have
been so.

On Saturday night/

J i March 15.

Commodore loote was
prepared for action, and on Sunday
morning he commenced the siege
with a bombardment by the rifled
guns of the JBenton, his flag-ship.
This was followed by the mortar-
boats, moored at proper points along
the river shore, from which these
immense pieces of ordnance hurled
tons of iron upon the devoted island 3

March 5.

TIIIETEEN-IXCn MORTAR.

1 The fleet consisted of the gun-boats Benton, Lietrtenant Phelps acting flag-captain ; Cincinnati, Comman-
der Stembel ; Carondelet, Commander Walke; Mound City, Commander Kelley; Lowitiville, Commander
Dove ; Pittsburg, Lieutenant Thompson ; St. Louis. Lieutenant Paulding; and Conestogd (not armored), Lien-
tenant Blodgett. The mortar-boats were in charge of Captain H. E. Maynadier, commander of the squadron :
Captain E. B. Pike, assistant commander; and Sailing-Musters Glassford, Gregory, Simonds, and Johnson.

1 Hickman had been visited by National gun-boats once before. On the day when it was first occupied by
the Confederates," the Tyler and Lexington approached that place, where they encountered a
Confederate gun-boat called Tlie Yankee. With this, and a masked battery of four rilled can- a Sept 4,
non on the shore, just above IIickman,the Tyler and Lexington fought about an hour, driving 1361.

Th Yankee to Hickman, silencing the shore battery, burning the tents near.it with hot shot,
and scattering the insurgents.

* The mortar was one of the earliest forms of cannon, being in use in Europe as early as 1435. Its name Is
derived from its form, which resembles the apothecaries' utensil of that name. The more ancient form is seen

VOL. II. 16

242

ATTACK ON CONFEDERATE BATTERIES.

and the batteries on the Kentucky shore opposite. All day long the bom-
bardment was kept up, and vigorous responses were made, with very little
injury to either party. 1

Meanwhile a battery of the Second Illinois artillery was landed on the
Missouri shore, in a position to assail the Confederate fleet near the island.

This battery was active and effec-
tual, and did excellent service the
next day, when a most deadly
attack was made on the Confed-
erate works, after meridian, by a
floating battery of ten guns, formed
of the gun-boats Cincinnati, Sen-
ton, and St. Louis, lashed side by
side, followed by the Carondelet,
Pittsbury, and Mound City. They
went nearer to the works, and
pounded them severely. Heavy
blows were given in return, and
the second day of the siege was as barren of decisive results as the first.
" Island Number Ten," said Commodore Foote to the Secretary
1862. of the Navy, " is harder to conquer than Columbus, as the island

ISLAND NUMBER TEN AND ITS DEFENSES.*

in the little engraving on page 247. Tho great mortars use<l in sieges on land nml water, during the late
war, were truly monster-weapons for destruction. Our picture shows one used on land, mounted and worked
precisely as were those on the mortar-boats. It is what is technically termed a 13-inch mortar, that
is to say, it will receive a bomb-shell thirteen inches in diameter. Its weight was 17,000 pounds. It was
discharged by means of a cord attached to a percussion lock. The immense balls or shells used for these mor-
tars were so heavy (weighing over two hundred pounds), that one man could not handle one of them, and they
were carried from the magazine to the mortar by tho
method delineated in the engraving. In the river-
service, during the late war, the mortar-boats were
firmly moored to the bank, and a derrick was set up
on the shore in a position to drop the ^hell into the
mouth of the monster after a bag full of powder had
gone down its throat.

A correspondent of the Chicago Times, who was
at the bombardment of Island Number Ten, thus
graphically describes the manner of using these im-
mense cannon : " The operation of firing the mortars,
which was conducted while we were near by, is inter-
esting and rather stunning. The charge is from
fifteen to twenty-two pounds. The shell weighs 230
pounds, and is thirteen inches in diameter. For *
familiar illustration, it is about the size of a large
soup-plate, so your readers may imagine, when they
sit down to dinner, the emotions they would experi-
ence if they happened to see a ball of iron of those
dimensions coming toward them at the rate of a thousand miles a minute. The boat is moored alongside the
shore, so as to withstand tho shock firmly, and the men go ashore when the mortar is to be fired. A pull of the
string does the work, and the whole vicinity is shaken with the concussion. The report is deafening, and the
most enthusiastic person gets enough of it with one or two discharges. There is no sound from the shell at
this point of observation, and no indication to mark the course it is taking, but in a few seconds the attentive
observer, with a good glass, will see the cloud of smoke that follows its explosion, and then the report come
back with a dull boom. If it has done execution, the enemy may be seen carrying off their killed and wounded.'"

i During the bombardment of this day, Commodore Foote was informed of the death, at New Haven, Con-
necticut, of his second son, a promising boy thirteen years of age. It was so unexpected that, for a moment
the brave warrior was overcome. He soon rallied, and pushed on the combat with great vigor, making private
sorrow subordinate to public duty.

9 The figures on this map denote the numbers of the batteries, as given by the Confederates. It will be seen
that the channel of the river was completely covered by them at the approaches of the island from above.

METHOD OF CARKYIXO A SHELL.

POPE AT NEW MADRID.

243

shores arc lined with forts, each fort commanding the one above it." And
BO the siege went on, with varying fortunes, until the first week in April,
when Foote's flotilla was yet above Island Number Ten, and
Beauregard telegraphed" to Richmond that the National guns ^^ ^
had "thrown three thousand shells and burned fifty tons of
gun-powder " without damaging his batteries, and killing only one of his
men. The public began to be impatient, but victory was near. 1

While Commodore Foote was pounding away at Island Number Ten
and its seven supporting shore-batteries, General Pope was chafing at New
Madrid with impatience for decisive action. His guns easily blockaded the
river, but he wished to do more. He desired to cross it to the peninsula and
attack the island in the rear, a movement that would insure its capture
with its dependencies, their garrisons and munitions of war. The river
there was about a mile in width, and with a current then flowing at the speed
of seven or eight miles an hour. The opposite shore was lined with batteries
garnished with guns of heavy caliber. Until these could be silenced, it
would be madness to attempt to cross the river with any means at Pope's
command. He tried to induce Foote to allow some of his armed vessels to
run the batteries of Island Number Ten, and, after silencing these Tennessee
shore-batteries, transport the troops across. Foote would not incur the risk,
and Pope was at his wit's end, when
General Hamilton came to his relief
with a most extraordinary proposi-
tion. It was the construction of a canal
from the bend of the Mississippi, near
Island Number Eight, across the neck
of a swampy peninsula, to the vicin-
ity of New Madrid, of sufficient
capacity to allow the passage of gun-
boats and transports, and thereby
effectually flank Number Ten and
insure its capture. He offered to
undertake the task with his division,
and to execute the work in the space
of two weeks, under the general

SCHtTTI.EU HAMILTOW.

direction of Lieutenant Henry B.
Gaw, of the Engineers.

General Pope favored General Hamilton's proposition, and directed Colo-
nel Bissell to perform the task, with the plans so modified as to allow only
transports and barges to pass through. Bissell set about it with his regi-

i While Foote was carrying on this siege, Colonel Buford with the Twenty-seventh Illinois, Colonel Hogg
with the Fifteenth Missouri, and Colonel Foster with a battalion of the Twenty-second Missouri, accompanied
liy a battery of six rided cannon, under Captain Spatsmon, of the Second Illinois artillery, and 200 of the
Second Illinois cavalry, went to Hickman on the gun-boat Louisville. They landed quietly, and soon after-
ward pushed on toward Union City, an important point at the junction of railways south of Columbus, occu-
pied by rx Confederate force composed of the Twenty-first Tennessee infantry and a battalion of cavalry, in all
about 1,000 men. Their way led through a densely wooded country. Their inarch was rapid, and they fell
suddenly upon their enemies and scattered them at the first onset. After burning their camp, and effectually
purging Union City of armed insurgents, the Nationals returned to Hickman and re-embarked for Island Num-
ber Ten.

244

HAMILTON'S FLAKKIFG CAKAL.

April 4,
1862.

attested.

ment, with great vigor, assisted by some of Buford's command. Four light-
kraft steamers and two or three gun-barges were sent down from Cairo for
use in the work ; and, after nineteen days of the most fatiguing labor, a canal
twelve miles long, one-half the distance through a growth of heavy timber, 1
was completed;" a wonderful monument to the engineering skill
and indomitable perseverance of the Americans.* In the mean
time Foote had not been idle, as Beauregard's electrograph
The upper (Rucker's Battery) or number one of the seven forts on

the Kentucky shore
had received his
special attention,
and on the night of
the 1st of April an
expedition to take
it by storm was set
in motion under the
command of Colonel
Roberts, of the For-
ty-second Illinois,
who was accom-
panied by only for-
ty of his men. They
went in five boats
manned by armed
crews picked from
the steamers Ben-
ton, St. Jsouis, Cin-
cinnati, Plttsburg^
and Mound City a hundred men in all, seamen and soldiers and, pulling
directly for the face of the battery, met with no other opposition than
the fire of two sentinels, who scampered away. The six guns of the battery
were spiked, and thus one of Foote's most formidable opponents was
silenced.

This daring feat was followed on the night of the 3d* by
another. Pope had frequently implored Foote to send a gun-boat
to his assistance. At length the gallant Captain Walke obtained permission
of the commander to undertake to run by the Confederate batteries with
the Carondelet. This perilous feat was successfully performed at midnight,
during a tremendous thunder-storm. The flashes of lightning revealed her
to the Confederates, and she was compelled to run the gantlet of a heavy
fire from all of the batteries. She did not return a shot; and Foote was
moon rejoiced by hearing the booming of three signal-guns from her deck,
which was to be his assurance of her safety. 4 She was received at New

CON8TKUCTINO THE CANAL. 8

April.

1 Through this timber a way, at nn average of fifty ft-et in width, was cut by sawing off trees, in some places
four feet under water.

2 Ut-port of General Pope to General Hallcck, April 9, 1862. Statement of General Hamilton to tho author,
June 7, 1S63.

3 In this picture the accompanying gun-barges are seen to the right and Ipft of the steamer.

4 The weak sides of the Carondelet, where the iron plates did not cover them, wcro protected by bales of

PASSING THE CONFEDERATE BATTERIES. 245

Madrid with the wildest demonstrations of delight, the soldiers catching up
in their arras the sailors who rowed Walke's gig ashore, and passing
them from one to an-
other. The Carondelet
was the first vessel that
ran the Confederate
blockade on the Mis-
sissippi River ; and her
brave commander and
his men received the
special thanks of the
Secretary of
the Navv " April 12)

J> 1S62.

for his cou-
rageous and important m CAEONDELCT>
act. On the following

morning, 6 the Benton, Cincinnati, and Pittsburg, with three
boats, opened a heavy fire upon a huge floating battery of
sixteen guns, which the Confederates had moored at Island Number Ten.'
Unable to defend it, the Confederates imperfectly scuttled the monster,
and cut it loose. It drifted down the river and lodged a short distance
above Point Pleasant. So one by one advantages were gained by the
Nationals.

The impatient Pope, satisfied that he could not rely upon the flotilla for
much aid on his side of Island Number Ten, had caused several floating
batteries to be constructed of coal-barges, at the upper end of the canal,
with which he intended to silence the guns on the Kentucky shore, opposite
his position, and cover the passage across of his troops.* These were com-
pleted when the canal Avas finished, and on the 5th of April they, with
four steamers and some barges, were brought through that channel into
the bayou which empties into the Mississippi at New Madrid. There all
were kept concealed until every thing was in readiness for a forward
movement.

On the morning of the 6th, Pope sent the Carondelet down the river
toward Tiptonville, with General Granger, Colonel Smith, of the Forty-third
Ohio, and Captain L. B. Marshall, of his staff, to reconnoiter the stream
below. They found the whole Kentucky and Tennessee shore for fifteen
miles lined with heavy guns, at intervals in no case more than a mile apart,
and between these intrenchments for infantry were thrown up. On their

hay, lashed firmly together. She was cast loose at ten o'clock, and very soon afterward the furious thunder-
storm commenced. The thunder above and the artillery below kept np a continual and fearful roar. The ves-
sel was about half an hour passing th*e batteries, and in that time forty-seven shot were fired at her, but not one
touched her. Statement of Captain Walke to the author.

1 This was formerly the " Pelican Floating Dock," in New Orleans, and had been towed up the river over
nine hundred miles.

* Each battery was constructed of three heavy coal-barges, lashed together and bolted with iron. The
middle one carried the men and the guns, and was bulk-headed all around so as to give four feet of thick-
ness of solid timber, sides and ends. The outside barges had a layer of empty water-tight bum-Is securely
lashed, then layers of dry cotton-wood rails and cotton, closely packed, so that a shot before reaching the
middle barge mnst pass through twenty feet of rails and cotton. The empty barrels were intended us flonta,
in the event of the outer barges being pierced by shot below water-mark. Each battery had three heavy guns
protected by traverses of sand-bags, and carried eighty sharp-shooters.

246

ISLAND NUMBER TEN ABANDONED.

return, the Carondelet silenced a battery opposite Point Pleasant, and Captain
Marshall, with a few men, landed and spiked its guns.

That night, at the urgent request of Pope, Foote ordered the Pittsburg^
Lieutenant Thompson, to run the blockade. It was done, and she arrived at
New Madrid at dawn on the 7th, when Captain Walke went down the river
with the two gun-boats to silence batteries near Watson's Landing, below
Tiptonville (Tennessee), where Pope intended to disembark his troops (then
on the steamers that had passed through the canal), on the Tennessee shore,
in the rear of Island Number Ten. A few days before, he had established
batteries of 32-pounders, under Captain Williams, of the First Regular
Infantry, opposite that point.

The troops on the steamers comprised General Paine's division, and con-
sisted of the Tenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, and Fifty-first Illinois regi-
ments, with Houghtailing's Battery. A heavy rain-storm was sweeping over
the country, but it did not impede the movement. Captain Walke performed
his assigned duty admirably, and struck the final blow that secured a victory
for the Nationals. At noon he signaled to Pope that the batteries, were
silenced. The steamers with the troops immediately moved forward, and
when they commenced crossing the broad river (which Pope said was

the most magnificent
spectacle he had ever
seen), it was ascertained
that the Confederates
were abandoning their

batteries along that por-
tion of the Tennessee
and Kentucky shore.
Walke's victory assured
the latter that all was
lost, and their only
thought was concerning

o o

safety in flight. There
was now equal commo-
tion on Island Number Ten. Positive information concerning the flanking
canal had been given at Confederate head-quarters there, but the story was
not believed until the steamers were seen emerging from the bayou at New
Madrid, when hope forsook them. Sinking their gun-boat, Grampus, and
six transports in the river between the island and New Madrid, so as to
form, as they supposed, effectual obstructions to navigation, they abandoned
every thing and fled.

It was important to capture the fugitives, and for that purpose Pope

directed Stanley and Hamilton, who had come down by land, to cross their

divisions. He pushed his troops on toward Tiptonville as fast as they were

landed. They met and drove back the Confederates, w r ho were attempting

to fly toward Union City. These were joined at Tiptonville that night by

many fugitives from Island Number Ten. The wildest confusion prevailed

among them. They were driven to the swamps by Pope's

" ^sea ^ advancing forces, and, at four o'clock in the morning," hemmed

in on all sides, and finding it impossible to escape, they sur-

BUNKBX VESSELS IN THE MISSISSIPPI.

CAPTURE OF ISLAND NUMBER TEN.

247

o April 4,
1S62.

Aprils.

rendered unconditionally, laid down their arms, and received each his
parole.

At almost the same hour, Commodore Foote received a flag of truce
from Island Number Ten, with an offer to surrender the island to him.
Up to that time, the Confederates on the island had been ignorant of
the disaster that Walke and Pope had inflicted upon their friends below,
and those who had fled in that direction expected to find shelter behind
the batteries near Tiptonville. There had been grave doubts in the
minds of the commanders on the island concerning their ability
to hold it, ever since the Carondelet ran the blockade," and
Beauregard's quick perceptions were satisfied that the siege
must soon end in disaster and perhaps disgrace. So, on the morning after
the passage of that vessel, 6 he turned over the command on
the island to General McCall, leaving McCown in charge of the
troops on the Tennessee and Kentucky shores, and, with a considerable
body of the best troops, departed for Corinth, in Upper Mississippi, there to
prepare to check a formidable movement of the Nationals toward Alabama
and Mississippi, by way .of Middle Tennessee and the Tennessee River, which
we shall consider presently.

On assuming command, McCall issued a flaming order announcing it, 1 and
within thirty-six hours afterward he, too, satisfied of imminent danger,
ordered his infantry and Stewart's battery to the Tennessee shore, in a posi-
tion favorable to escape, leaving only the artillerists on the island. The latter
was the force that offered to surrender to Foote, and the entire number of
his prisoners was only seventeen officers, three hundred and sixty-eight pri-
vate soldiers, four hundred sick, and one hundred men employed on the Con-
federate vessels. The number of prisoners taken by Pope and Foote together
was seven thousand two hundred and
seventy-three, including three generals
and two hundred and seventy-three field
and company officers. The spoils of vic-
tory were nearly twenty batteries, with
one hundred and twenty-three cannon and
mortars, 2 the former varying from 32 to

100-pOUnderS ; seven thousand Small arms; MAGAZINE OPPOSITE ISLAND NUMBER TEN.

an immense amount of ammunition on the island and in magazines at points

* The following is a copy of the order which was found at the Confederate head-quarters on tho Island:
"SOLDIERS, We are strangers, commander and commanded, each to the other. Let me tell you who I am.
I am a general made by Beauregard a general selected by Heauregard and Bragg for this command, when they
knew it was in periL They have known me for twenty years; together we have stood on th3 fields of Mexico.
Give them your confidence now; give it to mo when I havu earned it.
Soldier* ! the Mississippi valley Is intrusted to your courage, to your
discipline, to your patience. Exhibit the vigilance and coolness of \-.\r
night and hold it."

2 Among the mortars on the island was an ancient one, already rilliidr.l
to, made of bronze and bearing the name of George the Second of England,
which fact declared that it was more than one hundred years old. It wns
formerly in Jackson Square, New Orleans, where it was regarded as a pre-
cious trophy, it having been captured by the Americans from the British
during the battle near that city, at the close of 1S14 and the beginning of
1815. Many of the cannon were from the Navy Yard at Norfolk. See pagw
897, volume L

ANCIENT MORTAR.

248

EFFECT OF THE VICTORY.

along the Kentucky and Tennessee shores ; many hundred horses and mules

with wagons, et cetera, and four steamers afloat.

Never was a victory more complete and decisive, for very few men

escaped and very little property was destroyed. 1 During the whole of Ins

operations in the siege, Pope did
not lose a man, nor meet with an
accident; and the casualties in
the fleet were very few. There
did not seem to be evidence of
much loss of life on the part of
the Confederates ; but every-
where, from Beauregard's and
McCall's head-quarters on the
island to the smallest tent, there
were proofs of the greatest haste
in leaving. Among other things
found at head-quarters was a
bundle of important official pa-
pers, one of them containing a
drawing of Fort Pillow on the
river below.

The victory at Island Number
Ten produced the most profound
sensation throughout the entire
republic. Its importance to each
party in the conflict could scarcely

be estimated. The announcement of it went over the land simultaneously
with that of the hard-won triumph at Shiloh on the Tennessee
. River,* which we shall consider presently, and was followed, a few
days afterward, by that of the capture of Fort Pulaski, at the

mouth of the Savannah River. Every loyal heart was tilled with joy and

hope, and Government securities, which

were at two and a half and three per

cent, below par, immediately com-
manded a premium. The Confederates

almost despaired. It was probable

that Memphis, one of their strongholds

on the Mississippi, where they had im-
mense Workshops and armories, Would CONFEDERATE iiF.AW-QtTAKTKBS, ISLAND NUMBKR TEN.'

soon share the fate of Columbus. It was probable that the great river would
speedily be patrolled from Cairo to New Orleans by the almost invincible
armored vessels of the Government, and the rich supply-country west of that
stream be separated from the rest of the confederacy. They also appre-
hended that the great line of railway running almost parallel with the Missis-
sippi, between Southwestern Tennessee and New Orleans, would be seized

1 The value of the captured property was estimated at over a million of dollars. The steamers that wer*
Mink were easily r.iised.

* The fiL'un-s on this map refer to the numbers of the islands.

1 In this little picture is seen a representation of one of the "plantation bells " that Beanresmrd called for

MAP 01'- TU2 OPE11ATIOJJS OF POP* AND FOOTK.*

THE CONFEDERATES ALARMED.

249

by National troops. Panic everywhere prevailed along the "Father of
Waters " below Island Number Ten. Martial law was proclaimed in Mem-
phis, and the specie of the banks there was removed to places of supposed
safety. Many inhabitants fled ; and the troops that " guarded the city," and
secessionists that remained, proposed to lay it in ashes if it could not be
saved from "northern invaders;" but the mayor somewhat allayed the
panic caused by this proposition by publicly proclaiming (" not as magis-
trate," he said, "but as John Park"), that "he who attempted to fire his
neighbor's house, or even his own, whereby it endangers his neighbor's,
regardless of judge, jury, or the benefit of clergy, I will have him hung to
the first lamp-post, tree, or awning."

The disloyal inhabitants of New Orleans were also filled with the most
dreadful apprehensions. The Governor of Louisiana (Moore), who had been
chiefly instrumental in that State in bringing on the war, issued a despairing
appeal to the people j 1 while in Richmond, the head-quarters of the conspira-
tors, the most gloomy apprehensions were entertained by them and by the
disloyal inhabitants. " The trepidations and mumiurings, the croakings and
prophesyings of doom that have possessed many of the citizens of Rich-
mond during the past week," wrote a resident of that city, " would be enough
to make us despair of the republic, if we could suppose the masses of the
people of the Confederate States were equally timorous and irresolute."*

There were reasons for despondency, for upon every breeze of intelli-
gence from the West, for several weeks preceding, were borne to Richmond

GRAND JUNCTION, MISSISSIPPI.

tidings of disaster to the Confederate cause. There. were desperate reasons
why the most vigorous efforts should be put forth to stay the southern march
of the Nationals; and conscriptions and impressments were commenced.

1 "This is not the honr for vain regrets or despondency," said Moore. " No, not even for hesitation. An
Insolent and powerful foe Is already at the castle gate. The current of the mighty river speaks to us of his fleets
advancing for our destruction, and the telegraph wires tremble with the news of his advancing columns. In
the name of all most dear to ns, I entreat you to go and meet him." But there was little disposition to comply
with the Government's wishes. When a letter from General Beauregard, which he sent by his Surgeon-Gen-
eral, Dr. Choppin (see note 3, page 238), making an urgent demand for New Orleans to send 5.000 troops to him
at once, " to save the city," and it was read by the Surgeon to the First and Second City Brigades, who were
called oat, tlieir reply was, "We decline to go."

1 Richmond correspondent of the Memphis Appeal.

250

NATIONAL TROOPS IN AEKANSAS.

Jackson, in Tennessee, and Grand Junction, 1 on the southern border of that
State ; Corinth, in Mississippi, and Decatur, in Alabama, all of them along
the line of the Charleston and Memphis Railway, that stretches from the
Mississippi to the Atlantic seaboard were made places for the rendezvous
of troops from Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama. And while Johnston
was fleeing southward before the followers of the energetic Mitchel, to join
his forces to those of Beauregard, the latter was gathering an army at
Corinth .to confront a most serious movement of the Nationals up the Ten-
nessee River, already alluded to.

While Grant and Foote were pulling down the strongholds of rebellion
in Middle Tennessee and Western Kentucky, the National troops, under

Generals Curtis, Sigel, and others,
were carrying the standard of the
Republic, in triumph into Arkansas,
in the grand movement down the
Mississippi Valley toward the Gulf.
We have observed how Price was ex-
pelled from Missouri and driven into
Arkansas. He was closely followed
by the National forces under the
chief command of General Samuel R.
Curtis, of Iowa, who crossed the line
on the 18th of February, his troops
cheering with delight as they saw the
old flag waving in triumph over the
soil of another of the so-called Con-
federate States. On the same day,
General Halleck sent a thrill of joy
to every loyal heart, by telegraphing to General McClellan, " The flag of
the Union is floating in Arkansas. . . . The army of the Southwest is
doing its duty nobly."

Curtis pushed on, notwithstanding his effective, fighting force was con-
tinually diminishing, by the planting of guards along his extended line of
communication with his sources of supply and re-enforcements. He captured
here and there squads of Missouri recruits for Price's army ; fought the halt-
ing Confederates at the strong positions of Sugar Creek,* the Cross Hollows,
and other places in mountain defiles ; and his cavalry penetrated as far as
Fayetteville, the capital of Washington County, near the northwestern border
of the State. The Confederates fled so hastily from Cross Hollows that they
left behind them their sick and wounded, and stores that they could not take
away. They burned their extensive barracks there, left poisoned provisions

SAMUEL R. CURTIS.

1 Grand Junction was a very important point, being at the junction of tho Charleston and Memphis Rail-
way and the railway from New Orleans to Jackson, in Tennessee. It was only about two miles northward of the
State of Mississippi. During all the time that the Confederates held that section of the country, Grand Junction
was the scene of large gatherinirs of troops. See page 343, volume I.

a Here, on the 20th of February, some of Curtis's cavalry, under Colonel Ellis, and Majors McConnel!,
Wright, and Bolivar, made a desperate charge on a brigade of Louisianians, under Colonel Hubert. Two regi-
ments of infantry, under Colonels Phelps and Heron, and Captain Hayden, with his Dubuque Battery, followed
in support of the National cavalry. There, was a sharp but short fight, and tho Confederates were dispersed.
The loss of the Nationals was nineteen, killed and wounded.

GATHERING OF CONFEDERATE FORCES.

251

in the pathway of their flight, 1 and, setting fire to Confederate stores and
buildings at Fayetteville when they left it, went over the range of hills
known as the Boston Mountains, in much confusion. This march of the
Nationals was one of the most extraordinary of the war. The little army
had moved at the rate of twenty miles a day, often fighting, and enduring
great privations from inclement weather and insufficient food.

General Price, meanwhile, had been joined by Ben McCulloch, with
Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas troops, and his force had become fully equal
in numbers to that of Curtis. The latter, glancing back over his long line
of communications, and reflecting on the fact that his troops had been sub-
sisting mostly upon what had been taken from the Confederates since he had
entered Arkansas, considered it prudent to retrace his steps, and take a
stronger position nearer the Missouri border. He accordingly fell back from
Fayetteville to Sugar Creek, not far from Bentonville, the capital of Benton
County, Arkansas. On the 1st of March he issued an address to the inhabi-
tants of Arkansas, who had fled from their homes on his approach, to remove
from their minds the false impressions which the Confederates had given them
of the character of his army and the object of its presence in their State. He
assured all peaceable citizens of safety and protection in person and property,
and he called upon the deluded ones who had taken up arms to lay them
down at once and take an oath of allegiance to their common country.

Curtis did not wait for a response to his friendly communication. He
was aware that his foe was rapidly increasing in numbers, and behind the
sheltering hills was preparing to strike a heavy blow. Suddenly came the
startling intelligence that Price
and McCulloch had been joined
by General Earl Van
Dorn," one of the most
dashing and energetic of
the Confederate officers, who had
lately been appointed*

'Jan. 29.

commander of the Trans-
Mississippi Department ; 3 also by
General Albert Pike, 3 at the head
of a considerable body of half-civi-
lized Indians, making the whole
Confederate force, including large
numbers of Arkansas compulsory
recruits, about twenty-five thousand
strong. 4 These were in and near
Boston Mountains at the beginning
of March. Van Dorn, the senior officer, was in chief command, and he was

1 March 2,
1862.

E.VIII, VAN I>OEN.

1 They left poisoned provisions at a place called Mud Town, of which forty-two of the officers and soldiers
of the Fifth Missouri cavalry partook. Several of them died, and all suffered much. Halleek's dispatch to
McClellan, Feb. 27, 1862.

* He had> come from Richmond with instructions from Davis to stop the march of the National troops
south ward.

3 See jiaire 475, volume I.

4 Arkansas. Louisiana, and Texas troops under McCulloch, 13,000. Choctaw, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and other
Indians, with two white regiments under Pike, about 4,000; and Missouri troops under Price, about 8,000.

252 VAN DOKtf IN THE CONFEDERATE CAMP.

rallying the whole Confederate army in that quarter, to drive Curtis back into
Missouri. The forces of the latter, of all arms, did not at that time exceed
eleven thousand men, with forty-nine pieces of artillery, including a mountain
howitzer. Satisfied that he must soon fight a greatly superior force, he
at once prepared for the encounter by so arranging his troops as best to
present a strong front to the foe from whatever point he might approach.
His head-quarters were near Cross Hollows, on the main road and telegraph
line from Fayetteville to Springfield. 1

The advent of General Van Dorn in the Confederate camp was a cause
for great rejoicing. Forty heavy guns thundered a welcome, and the chief
harangued his troops in a boastful and grandiloquent style.* For the pur-
pose of encouraging the people to take up arms, he caused telegraphic dis-
patches to be published, falsely proclaiming a great battle at Columbus, in
which the Nationals had lost three gun-boats and twenty thousand men ; and
he told his dupes that the way was now opened to drive the invaders from
the soil of Arkansas, and give a final and successful blow for a Southern Con-
federacy. 3 Van Dorn's preliminaries were followed by vigorous measures.
Two days afterward his troops were in motion for offensive action, and ani-
mated by a full expectation of gaining a victory whenever they should meet
the Nationals.

1 The following was (he disposition of the National forces on the 4th of March. The First nnd Second
Divisions, under General Sigel and Colonel Asboth, were at Cooper's farm, near Osage Springs, four miles
southwest of Bentonville, the capital of Benton County, under general orders to move round to Sugar Creek,
about fourteen miles eastward. The Third Division, under General Jefferson C. Davis (acting major-general),
was at Sugar Creek ; and the Fourth Division, under Colonel E. A. Carr (acting brigadier-general), was near Cross
Hollows, about twelve miles from Sugar Creek. Large detachments were out for forage and information, under
< .'olcmcl Vandever, Major Conrad, and others, and sonic of them were too distant to engage In the battle that
speedily ensued.*

*" Soldiers," he cried, "behold your leader! He comes to show you the way to glory and immortal
renown. He comes to hurl back the minions of the despots at Washington, whose ignorance, licentiousness,
and brutality arc equaled only by their craven natures. They come to free your slaves, lay waste your planta-
tions, burn your villages, and abuse your loving wives and beautiful daughters." Van Dorn had sent forth a
characteristic address to "the young men of Arkansas, Texas, and Northern Louisiana." ' Wo have voted to be
free," he said. u We must now fisht to be free, or present to the world the humiliating spectacle of a nation of
braggarts, mom contemptible than the tyrants who seek to enslave us. The flag of our country is waving on the
southern borders of Missouri planted there by my hands, under authority from our chief magistrate. It repre-
sents all that is dear to us in life. Shall it wave there in melancholy loneliness, as a full leaf in our primeval
forests, or shall its beautiful field and bright stars flaunt in the breeze over the bright battalions of Arkansas, of
Texas, and of Louisiana, as they are marshaling to do battle with Missouri for victory, for honor, and for inde-
pendence? Awake, young men of Arkansas, and arm! Beautiful maidens of Louisiana, smile not upon the
craven youth who may linger by your hearth when the rude blast of war is sounding in your ears ! Texas chiv-
alry, to arms ! Hardshipsand hunger, disease and death are preferable to slavish subjugation ; and a nation with
a bright page in history and a glorious epitaph is better than a vassuled laud with honor lost, and a people sunk
in infamy."

* General Curtis's second report to General Halleck.

* The following wrw the (-(imposition of General Curtis's army t tliis time :

Firit /;iinin, commanded by Colonel Peter J. Otterhans, consisted of the Thirty-sixtli Illinois Twelfth and Seventeenth Mluourl,
battalion of the Third Missouri; the Twenty-fifth and Twenty-fourth Illinois, under Colonel Color , two battalioni of Illinois cavaln ,
and batteries A. nnd B, twelve guns. There was also a brigade of two regiment! under Colonel Greasel.

Tkt i-ccond Lirititm. commanded by Colonel (acting Brigadier General) Atboth, consisted of two brigades, the first commanded by
Col net Schaeffer, and composed of the Second Missouri and Second Ohio Battery, tlx puns, under Lieutenant Chapman. The Second
Brigade, Colonel Joliet, wat composed of the Fifteenth Missouri ; the Sixth and a battalion of the Fourth Missouri rjtvalry , and a flying
battery of six puns, under Captain Elbert. These two divisions were commanded by General Sigel.

Tie Third Eivition, under Brigadier-General J. C. Davis, consisted of two brigade* ; the first composed of the Eighth, Eighteenth, and
Twenty-second Indiana ; and an Indiana battery of six guns WAS comm.-.nded by Colonel Barton. The second, commanded by Colon. 1
White, was composed of the Thirty-seventh Illinois and Ninth Missouri, and the First Missouri cavalry, wi.h a battery of four guns.

Tie Fourth Diniion, under Colonel Eugene A. Carr, wm composed of two brigades. The first, under Col- nel Dodge, consist i-c < f the
Fourth Iowa, Thirty-fifth Illinois, and an Iowa battery under Curtain Jones. The Second Brigade, under Colonel \ anderer, was coin-
posed of the Ninth Iowa, Twenty-filth Missouri, Third Illinois Cavalry, ind a Dukuque battery f six guns under Captsln Hay.ien. Tht-n.
were also two batbiliont of the Third Iowa cavalry under Captain Bnssey,ar d a battery of four mountain howitzers under Captain Ste- ens,
that were not brigaded. There wus alto a battalion of cavalry under Major Bowen, acting at General Curtti't body guard.

POSITION OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS. 253

The morning of the 5th" (when Van Dorn moved) was blustery, and snow
covered the ground. Curtis was unsuspicious of the movements
of his enemy until two o'clock in the afternoon, when scouts and
fugitive citizens came hurrying to his tent, in which he was writing, with the
startling intelligence that the Confederates were approaching in large force
from the direction of Fayetteville, that their artillery had already passed that
place, and that their cavalry would be at Elm Springs, not more than twelve
miles from head-quarters, that night. Curtis at once determined to concen-
trate his forces in Sugar Creek Valley, not far from Mottsville, and a short
distance south of Pea Ridge, a portion of a spur of the Ozark Mountains, on
the highway between Fayetteville and Springfield, where there was a good
point for defense and an abundance of water, and where General Davis had
already thrown up intrenchments. 1 He gave orders accordingly, and there,
on the morning of the 6th of March,* the greater portion of his t
troops were gathered, excepting those under General Sigel and a
few who wore vet abroad. Sigel had moved his camp c from Osage

7 . . . * March 1.

Springs to a point nearer Bentonville, to secure a better position

for obtaining forage. He now found his command, and a train of two hun-

o o >

dred wagons, placed in a perilous position by Van Dorn's sudden and unex-
pected advance ; but, as we shall observe presently, he extricated them with
small loss.

Van Dorn had marched rapidly from his camp near the Boston Mountains,
in the edge of the Indian Country, about fifty miles from Pea Ridge, accom-
panied by Generals Price, McCulloch, Mclntosh, and Piko. Informed of the
strength of Curtis's position in front, he left the direct road at Fayetteville,
and, marching more westward through Bentonville, struck the highway near
the State line, about eight miles north of Sugar Creek, in the rear of the
Nationals, thereby, as he thought, cutting off Curtis's supplies and re-enforce-
ments, and securing him and his army as captives. It was while he was on
that march from Fayetteville that his approach was made known. 1 *
He encamped that night at Cross Hollows,* which Carr had left ;
and Sigel, by a skillful movement in sending cavalry to Osage Springs to
cover his right flank, safely conducted his train from McKissick's farm, west
of Bentonville, to the latter place, and secured it from the grasp of the Con-
federates. Leaving a rear-guard (Thirty-sixth Illinois and a portion of the
Second Missouri) at BentonvHle, he sent his train forward toward Sugar
Creek. Mistaking an order, Colonel Schaeffer with the Second Missouri also
went forward, leaving only about six hundred men and five pieces of light
artillery behind. These were surrounded by a battalion of cavalry forming
Price's body-guard, and Louisiana infantry. Fortunately, Sigel had remained
with his rear-guard, and he handled his little band BO skillfully and bravely
that they cut their way through, and, changing front, they fought and fell

1 That valley is low, and from a quarter to half a mile wide. The hills are high on both aides, and the main
road froiU'Fayetteville, by Crops Hollows to KeilsvJlle, Intercepts the valley nearly at right angles. The road
from Fayetteville, by -Bentonvtlle, to Keltsville is quite n d6tonr. but It also comes np the Sugar Creek Valley.
General Sturgi*'s Second He-port.

* Tills is a place at the hend waters of the Ostijre Creek, and not far from those of Sugar Creek. It was so
named beeanse throe hollows, or rnvines. from 75 to 100 feet wide, there cross each other. It was to this strong:
position that General Price flVd when he left Missonri, and from which Curtis dn/rt htm in the march to
Fajrrtteville.

254

FLANK MOVEMENT OF THE CONFEDERATES.

i March.
1862.

back alternately along the cross road leading through Leetown to the Elk-
horn Tavern, until they were met by re-enforcements sent out by Curtis, when
the pursuit ended. In this gallant affair Sigel lost twenty-eight killed and
wounded and about fifty made prisoners. 1 The latter were chiefly Schaeffer's
men, who had fallen into an ambuscade. The remainder joined the forces
of Davis and Carr at the west end of Pea Ridge, an elevated table-land
broken by ravines, and inclosed in a large bend of Sugar Creek.

Van Dorn completed his flank movement on the night of the
6th," and proceeded to attack the Nationals early the following
morning. He left a small force to make a feint on their front,
while Pike, with his Indian followers, took position about two miles to their
right, to divert their attention from the main point of attack in their rear.
Price occupied the main road not far from the Elkhorn Tavern, north of Curtis's
camp, and McCulloch and Mclntosh lay north of Sigel and Davis, after the
National army had changed position, as we shall observe presently. In the
mean time Curtis had been busy in felling trees to block the avenues of
approach to his camp, and the roads running parallel to the main highway.
Breastworks had been speedily constructed at important points, and a bat-
tery had been planted and masked near the passage of the main road across
Sugar Creek, under the direction of General Davis. His position was strong.
On the morning of the 7th, Curtis was first informed of Van Dorn's flank
movement, which seriously threatened the communication between his camp
and his resources. The peril was extreme, and prompt action was necessary.
He at once changed his front to rear, bringing his line of battle across Pea
Ridge, and prepared to fight. The number of his foes was more than double
that of his own, but there was no alternative. lie must either fight or make
a perilous flight. His ample preparations to receive Van Dorn in his front
were now useless, and he was compelled to meet the skillful Mississippian on
a field of the latter's own choosing. In that change of front, the First and

Second divisions, under Sigel and
Asboth, were on his left, the Third,
under Davis, composed his center,
and Carr's Fourth division formed
his right. His line of battle stretched
between three and four miles, from
Sugar Creek to Elkhorn Tavern.
Confronting this was the Confede-
rate line, with Price and his Mis-
sourians on their right, Mclntosh in
the center, and McCulloch on their
left. A broad and deep ravine called
Cross Timber Hollow, covered with
fallen trees, intersected the lines of
both armies, and made maneuvering
very difficult.

At about half-past ten in the

1 Congratulating his troops on the 15th of March, Sigel said of this affair "On the retreat from Bentonvill*
to Sugar Creek, a distance of ten miles, you cut your way through an enemy at least five times stronger than
yourselves."

ALEXANDER A8BOTH.

BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE. 255

morning,' Colonel Osterhaus was sent out with a detachment of the Third
Iowa cavalry and some light artillery (Davidson's Peoria Battery),
supported by the First Missouri cavalry, Colonel Ellis, and Twenty- * M ^ 7 '
second Indiana, Colonel Ilendricks, to fall upon Van Dora's cen-
ter before he could fully form in battle order. Just as this movement had
commenced, and Curtis was giving instructions to division commanders
at Asboth's tent, word came to him that his pickets, under Major Weston
(Twenty-fourth Missouri), on his extreme right, near Elkhorn Tavern, had
been heavily attacked. Colonel Carr was at once sent to the support of
Weston, and a severe battle ensued. Thus opened the fight on that eventful
morning. Meanwhile Osterhaus had advanced about a mile beyond Lee-
town, and attacked what seemed to be a small body of Confederates in the
edge of a wood and shrub-oak thicket. He brought three cannon (Davidson's
Battery) to bear upon them, and they were apparently dispersed. Then he
moved forward with the Iowa cavalry, to clear the woods of any insurgents
that might be left, when he fell into a trap which had been laid for him.
The woods swarmed with Confederates. The charge of the cavalry was
broken, and they were driven back in disorder upon their supports, hotly
pursued by Van Dorn's horse and foot. Two guns were captured by the
latter, and a total rout and dispersion of the attacking column seemed inevi-
table, when General Davis and his division, who had bivouacked on the alert
all the night before, came to the rescue, with General Sigel, who appeared
on the Confederate flank. Curtis had at first ordered Davis to the relief of
Carr on his extreme right, but, deeming the peril to Osterhaus the most
imminent, he directed him to hasten to his aid. Davis changed his march
skillfully under fire, and advancing through Leetown his Second brigade, 1
commanded by Colonel Julius White, he was soon fighting heavily with
McCulloch and Mclntosh, and Pike's Indians, under himself and Ross. The
battle was fierce and destructive. The Confederates were continually re-en-
forced. Davis and Osterhaus recoiled and recovered alternately; and the
line of battle swayed like a pendulum. The issue of the strife seemed doubt-
ful, when the Eighteenth Indiana, who had been ordered to attack the Con-
federate flank and rear, performed the duty so vigorously with ball and
bayonet that they drove them from that part of the field, strewed it with
the dead and wounded bodies of Texans and Indians, and recaptured the two
cannon which, amid the shouts of the victors, were instantly trained upon
their foe. That regiment and the Twenty-second (Colonel II. D. Wash-
burn), from the same State, were conspicuous for their gallantry on the
occasion. The latter had engaged a large force of Arkansas troops and
Indians, and put them to flight.

The Confederates had now become fugitives in turn. In their flight they
left their dead and wounded on the field, among whom were Generals
McCulloch and Mclntosh, mortally hurt. The insurgents tried to re-form at
their former position on the Bentonville road, but the arrival, at about this
time, of Sigel with two batteries of heavy artillery (18-pounders) settled the
issue of the day. After a brief but sharp artillery duel, the Confederates
were driven back, and Sigel's heavy guns, with Osterhaus's command, were

1 See sub-note, page 252.

256 BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE.

moved toward the right to assist Colonel Carr, if necessary. The day was
fast wearing away, and, there being no indications of a disposition on the part
of the Confederates to renew the fight, Davis's command bivouacked on the
field they had so nobly assisted in winning. 1

While the battle was raging in the center, Curtis's right wing was heavily
pressed. Colonel Carr had moved up the main road toward Elkhorn Tavern ;
Colonel Dodge's brigade filing off to the road leading from that place to Ben-
tonville, where Captain Jones, of the Iowa Battery, opened upon the Con-
federates, and a smart artillery fight ensued, in which infantry were engaged.
Colonel Vandever's brigade passed about half a mile beyond the tavern, and
Captain Hay den's Dubuque battery at about nine o'clock also opened upon the
Confederates. 4 Very soon there was fighting along the whole line of Carr's
division, and one of the guns of the Dubuque battery was captured by the
foe. So fierce and heavy was the work of the Confederates, that Carr was
driven back a short distance after an hour's hard fighting. Still hard pressed,
he fought on. H} sent for re-enforcements, but all Curtis could spare were a
few cavalry, his body-guard, and a little mountain howitzer, under Major
Bo wen. He told the gallant Colonel to stand firm, and he did so. Again,
w;hen Carr thought he could hold out no longer, Curtis sent him word to
"persevere" and he should receive succor. He did so at a fearful cost how
fearful, the records of the sad havoc made in the ranks of the Fourth and
Ninth Iowa, and Twenty-fourth and Twenty-fifth Missouri, bear witness. A
little later, when Curtis was satisfied that his left and center were safe, he sent
first some artillery and a battalion of infantry to Carr's aid. Then he ordered
General Asboth to move to the right with his division, by the Fayetteville
road, and take position at the Elkhorn Tavern, while Sigel should re-enforce
Davis, and, if proper, press toward the Elkhorn also. Asboth was accom-
panied by the Commanding General, who arrived at Carr's position at about
five o'clock, and found him severely wounded in the arm, but fighting bravely.
Many of his officers were disabled, and his dead and maimed, composing
nearly one-fourth of his entire command, strewed the ground, over which he
had been pushed back about a mile. For seven hours he had contested the
field inch by inch, under a continuous fire.

The re-enforcements were timely, and prevented more severe disaster.
General Asboth planted his cannon in the road and opened a heavy fire at
short range, but was soon severely wounded, while his guns became silenced
for want of ammunition. The fight, for a time, was very fierce. The Second
Missouri regiment became hotly engaged ; and the Foui*th Iowa, who were
falling back in good order, after exhausting their ammunition, quickly obeyed
a command to make a bayonet charge, and so recovered the field they had
abandoned. One of Curtis's body-guard was shot dead, and an orderly near
the General was hit with a bullet. The pressure on his line was yet heavy

1 This has been called The Battle of Leetown, it having been fought near that village.

* Colonel Vandever had been to Huntsville, in Madison County, for the purpose of capturing a regiment of
Insurgents there. These had left two days before. On> receiving a message from General Curtis, announcing
the approach of Van Dorn, Vandever made a forced march of forty-one miles to the National camp, making only
three halts, of fifteen minutes each, during the entire distance. The infantry consisted of the Ninth Iowa and
Twenty-fifth Missouri. Vandever arrived on the evening of the 6th, and went into the fight refreshed. Another
expedition under Major Conrad, consisting of about six hundred infantry, a section of artillery, and a battalion
of cavalry which had been sent toward the borders of the Indian Nation, did not return in time to engage In tha
battle.

BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE. 257

and unabated, and Asboth had directed his now useless cannon to be taken
back to a place of safety, when a courier came from Sigel to herald his near
approach. Animated by these tidings, the Nationals stood firm until their
ammunition was entirely exhausted and night fell. The Confederates fired
the last shot, but the Nationals held the field. 1 The wearied Union troops
slept that night on their arms. Their right had suffered disaster, but their
center had driven the Confederates from the battle-ground, and their left was
untouched. In such condition (the lacking being supplied with ammunition),
they awaited the dawn to renew the conflict. Their foe, severely smitten
and disheartened by the loss of two generals and scores of maimed and
slaughtered comrades, were quite willing to have an opportunity for repose.
Both armies lay among the dead and dying during that gloomy night.

Van Dorn, who had been a greater part of the day in command of the
troops that fought Carr, now concentrated his whole available force on
Curtis's right. He lodged at the Elkhorn Tavern that night, and made
preparations to open the battle in the morning. Curtis was vigilant, and
easily penetrated his enemy's designs ; so, notwithstanding the weariness of
his troops, he effected a change of front during the darkness. At two o'clock
in the morning he was joined by Sigel and his command, who had been com-
pelled to make a wide circuit in order to reach that position, and at a little
after sunrise the Nationals were almost ready for battle, the whole four
divisions so posted as to fight Van Dorn with vigor.

Curtis and his troops were in fine spirits, and felt confident of victory.
The silence of the Confederates so late in the morning seemed ominous of
weakness, and when a stir was observed among them, the General, fearing
they might be moving off, did not wait for Asboth and Sigel to get into
position, but ordered Davis, who occupied the center in the new line, to
open the battle. Davis at once deployed Colonel Pattison's brigade a
few hundred yards to the right of the Fayetteville road, to support Klaus's
First Indiana battery, which was placed at the edge of an open field, between
the hills at Elkhorn Tavern and the National camp. Davidson's battery
was placed in a similar position on the left of the road, supported by White's
brigade. These batteries opened fire briskly, and were responded to with
terrible energy from batteries which the Confederates had planted during
the night, some of their heavy guns sending raking shot, and compelling the
National right to fall back to avoid them.

The battle-line was soon perfected, with Asboth and Sigel a little to the
rear of the remainder. Curtis well knew the ground and the relative position
of his foe. He ordered his right to move forward to a position occupied the
night before, while the left was so extended as to command Pea Ridge and
make a flank movement on that wing almost impossible. Upon an eleva-
tion on the extreme right, which commanded Van Dora's center and left,
he planted the Dubuque battery, with orders for the right wing to sup-
port it, and very soon its commander, Hayden, opened a galling fire on
the Confederates. Captain Davidson, with his First Iowa battery, also opened
fire on their center, and thus skirmishing was kept up until Sigel's command
on the left was in perfect readiness, when the decisive action commenced.

1 This was called by the Confederates the Battle of Elkhorn.
VOL. II. 17

258

NATIONAL VICTORY AT PEA EIDGE.

Sigel first ordered Colonel Coler to post his Twenty-fifth Illinois along a fence
in open view of the Confederate batteries, which immediately opened fire on
them. At the same time, Sigel placed a battery of six guns on a rise of
ground in their rear. Then the Twelfth Missouri wheeled into line on the
right of Color's regiment, and another battery of heavy guns was planted in
a similar position behind these. Then other regiments and other batteries
were brought into line ; and, when all were in readiness, the infantry lay
down in front of the heavy guns, and a terrible cannonade was opened.
Battery after battery of the Confederates was silenced in the course of two
hours, and so horrible .was the tempest of iron that fell upon Van Dorn and
his followers that they were compelled to fly to the shelter of the ravines of

Cross-Timber Hollow. Sigel's
/i infantry at the same time crept
steadily forward, and the troops
of the center and right pressed
onward and joined in the fight.
When the Confederates fled,
Sigel's whole division were seen
climbing up and occupying the
rugged hills from which the in-
surgents had been driven. 1

The flight of Van Dorn's
troops was so sudden, rapid,
and scattering, that it was dif-
ficult for Curtis to determine
which way to follow them with
the best effect." General Sigel
pushed forward along the main
road toward Keitsville, where
General Price had been posted.
He too had fled, and the Con-
federate army, so strong and so
confident of victory twenty-four
hours before, was broken into
fragments. 3

BATTLE-FIELD OF PEA EIDGE.

1 "The upward movement of the gallant Thirty-sixth Illinois," said Curtis, in his report, "with its dai
blue line of men and its gleaming bayonets, steadily rose from base to summit, when it dashed forward into I
forest, driving and scattering the rebels from these commanding heights. The Twelfth Missouri, far in advni

' with its dark-
:>rward into the

forest, driving and scattering the rebels from these commanding heights. The Twelfth Missouri, far in advance
of others, rushed into the enemy's lines, bearing off a flag and two pieces of artillery. Everywhere our line
moved forward and the foe as gradually withdrew. The roar of cannon and small arms was continuous, and no
force could then withstand the converging line and concentrated cross-fire of our gallant troops. Our guns
continued some time after the rebel fire ceased, and the rebels had gone down into the deep caverns through
which they had begun their precipitate flight. Finally, our firing ceased. The enemy suddenly vanished."

2 " Following down the main road, which enters a deep canon, I saw some straggling teams and men running
in great trepidation through the gorges of the mountain. I directed a battery to move forward, which threw a

W UIO U%UD BMWlUMWf IVUU WOU "" 1 "!Hl .IJUIlcim V 111U , JL CMUpTU VH I lie

dead and care of the wounded." General Curtis, in his official report.

* Reports of General Curtis and his subordinate officers; also of Generals Van Dorn and Price.

THE RESULT OF THE BATTLE. 259

The hard struggle during those early days of Spring," in the extreme
northwestern corner of Arkansas, called by the general name of
the BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE/ notwithstanding its magnitude, was "
not of very great importance in its bearing upon the results of the
war. There was heavy loss incurred by both parties. 3 Although victory was
awarded to the Nationals, the spoils that fell into their hands were of incon-
siderable consequence, for Van Dorn managed very skillfully in carrying
away nearly all of his artillery and baggage. Indeed, his whole design
in giving battle on the morning of the 8th was to blind Curtis to the
fact that he was withdrawing his troops and materials of war. His army
was not captured, nor was it more than temporarily dispersed. There was
great gallantry displayed on both sides, sufficient to receive the highest
praise from, and give the greatest satisfaction to, the friends of each, 3 but a
stain that cannot be effaced tarnishes the glory of all the achievements of
the Confederates on that occasion, because of their employment of Indians in
that campaign, whose savage atrocities on the field of Pea Ridge are too well
authenticated to be denied. 4

Both parties tacitly agreed to fight no more in that exhausted section of
the State, and both soon disappeared from the scene of this conflict. Van
Dorn collected his scattered forces on the road between the Elkhorn Tavern
and Bentonville, about eight miles from the battle-field, made an arrange-

1 The Confederates gave it the general title of Battle of Elkhorn.

* General Curtis reported his loss at 1.851 killed, wounded, and missing, of whom more than one-half (701)
were of Colonel Carr's division. Among the slain was Colonel Hendricks. The loss of the Confederates wa
never reported. It could not have been less than that of the Nationals. Pollard (i. 277) says Van Dorn esti-
mated his entire loss at "about 600."

* Van Dorn wrote to his superiors at Richmond, saying, " During the whole of this engagement I was with
the Missourians under Price, and I have never seen better fighters than these Missouri troops, or more gallant
leaders than General Price and his officers. From the first to the last shot, they continually rushed on, and
never yielded an inch they had won ; and when at last they had orders to full back, they retired steadily and
with cheers."

In a stirring address to his troops from "Camp Pea Ridge," a week after the battle, Sigel said : "Ton may
look with pride on the few days just passed, during which you have so gloriously defended the flag of the
Union. From two o'clock on the morning of the sixth, when you left McKissick's farm, until four o'clock in
the afternoon of the ninth, when you arrived from Keitsville in the common encampment, you marched fifty
miles, fought three battles, took not only a battery and a flag from the enemy, but more than one. hundred and
fifty prisoners. . . . You have done your duty, and you can jnstly claim your share in the common glory
of this victory. But let us not be partial, unjust, or haughty. Let us not forget that alone we were too weak to
perform the great work before us. Let us acknowledge the great services done by all the brave soldiers of the
Third and Fourth divisions, and always keep in mind that 'united we stand, divided we fall.' Let us hold out
and push the work through not by mere words and great clamor but by good inarches, by hardships and
fatigues, by strict discipline and effective battles.

" Columbus has fallen, Memphis will follow, and if you do in future as you have done in these days of trial,
the time will soon come when you will pitch your tents on the beautiful shores of the Arkansas River, and there
meet our own iron-clad propellers at Little Rock and Fort Smith. Therefore keep alert,, my friends, and look
forward with confidence."

4 According to the statement of eye-witnesses, and a correspondence between Generals Curtis and Van Dorn,
commenced when the latter asked (March 9th) the privilege of burying his dead, the Indians, under Pike and
Ross, tomahawked, scalped, and shamefully mangled the bodies of National soldiers. These Indians, many
of whom claimed to be civilized, were maddened with liquor, it is said, before the battle of the 7th, that they
might allow the savage nature of their race to have unchecked development. In their fury they respected none
of the usages of war, but scalped the helpless wounded, and committed atrocities too horrible to mention. When
Curtis made the charge against these allies of the insurgents, Van Dorn did not deny it, but sought to break iti
force by accusing the Germans in Curtis's army of murdering prisoners of war.

We have already observed (pages 474 to 477, inclusive, volume I.) how the conspirators had tampered with
the civilized and half-civilized Indians in the regions bordering on Kansas and Texas, and how in August, 1861,
the Cherokees tendered their support to the Confederate cause. That was after the battle of Wilson's Creek,
which the emissaries of the Confederates made the Indians believe was an overwhelming defeat to the Union-
ists, and utter destruction of the National power in Missouri. The battle of Bull's Run was represented as a com-
plete discomfiture of the Government; and the flight of the Union army from that field, and the death of Lyon,

260

INDIANS EMPLOYED BY THE CONFEDERATES.

ment with Curtis for burying the Confederate dead, and, after accomplishing
that humane object, withdrew ; Curtis gave his army ample rest on the field
of his victory, and finding no foe to fight in that section of Arkansas, he
marched in a southeasterly direction to Batesville, the capital of Independ-
ence County, on the White River, where he arrived on the 6th of May.

and the falling back of the Union troops in Missouri after the battle of Wilson's Creek, fixed the impression on
the minds of the Indians that henceforth the Confederate "Government" would be the only legitimate and
powerful one on which they could rely.

While Chief Eoss and his associates were perplexed by indecision, Ben. McCulloch and his Texans, who,
as we have seen, abandoned Price in Missouri, marched to the Indian border, and required the Creeks and
Cherokees to decide immediately to which cause they would adhere, on penalty of having their country ravaged
by 20,000 Texas and Arkansas troops. This produced the council at Tahlequ.ih on the 20th of August, and th
message of Chief Koss, printed on page 476, volume I. A large minority of both nations, led by the Creek
Chief Opothleyolo, resisted the Confederates and their Indian adherents. Between these and the Indian insur-
gents a battle was fought on the 9th of December, 1861, on Bushy Creek, 180 miles west of Fort Smith, when
Opothleyolo and his followers, us we have observed, were driven into Kansas. The Indian Territory was then
left in the undisputed possession of the Confederates; and there it was that Pike collected about 4,000 warriors,
who appeared in the Battle of Pea Eidge. This was the only battle in the war in which any considerable num-
ber of Indians were engaged ; and it was agreed by the Confederate officers that they damaged their cause more
than they aided it. Pike and his Indians eoon afterward disappeared from the stage, and were not again sum-
moned to action. In his oflicial report, General Van Dorn does not mention that any assistance was derived
from the plumed Pike and his dusky followers. That degenerate Bostoninn (see note 1, page 475, volume I.)
soon took off his Indian costume and was hidden in the shadows of obscurity until the close of the war, when be
re-appeared for a moment as a suppliant for mercy, and was granted a full pardon by President Johnson.

GRANT AND HIS ARMY. 261

CHAPTER X.

GENERAL MITCHEL'S INVASION OF ALABAMA. THE BATTLES OF SHILOH.

ET us return to Tennessee, and observe what
Generals Grant and Buell did immediately after
the fall of Fort Donelson, and the flight of the

* O

Confederates, civil and military, from Nashville.

We left General Grant at the Tennessee capi-
tal, in consultation with General
Bucll." His praise was upon every F I$^'
loyal lip. His sphere of action had
just been enlarged. On hearing of his glorious
victory at Fort Donelson, General Halleck had assigned* him to
the command of the new District of West Tennessee, which em-
braced the territory from Cairo, between the Mississippi and Cumberland
Rivers, to the northern borders of the State of Mississippi, with his head-
quarters in the field. It was a wide and important stage for action, and he
did not rest on the laurels he had won on the Tennessee and Cumberland, but
at once turned his attention to the business of moving vigorously forward in
the execution of his part of the grand scheme for expelling the armed Con-
federates from the" Mississippi valley. For that purpose he made his head-
quarters temporarily at Fort Henry, where General Lewis Wallace was in
command, and began a new organization of his forces for further and impor-
tant achievements. Foote's flotilla was withdrawn from the Cumberland, and
a part of it was sent up the Tennessee River, while its commander, as we
have observed, went down the Mississippi with a more powerful naval arma-
ment to co-operate with the land troops against Columbus, Hickman, Island
Number Ten, and New Madrid.

An important objective was Corinth, in Northern Mississippi, at the inter-
section of the Charleston and Memphis and Mobile and Ohio railroads, and
the seizure of that point, as a strategic position of vital importance, was
Grant's design. It would give the National forces control of the great rail-
way communications between the Mississippi and the East, and the border
slave-labor States and the Gulf of Mexico. It would also facilitate the capture
of Memphis by forces about to move down the Mississippi, and would give
aid to the important movement of General Curtis in Arkansas. Grant was
taking vigorous measures to accomplish this desirable end, when an order
came from General Halleck,' directing him to turn over his forces . March 4
to his junior in rank, General C. F. Smith, and to remain himself
at Fort Henry. Grant was astonished and mortified. He was unconscious
of acts deserving of the displeasure of his superior, and he requested Halleck

262 EXPEDITION UP THE TENNESSEE.

to relieve him entirely from duty. That officer, made satisfied that no fault
could justly be found with Grant, wrote a letter to head-quarters that removed
all misconception, and on the 14th of March the latter was restored to the
chief command. 1 This satisfied the loyal people, who were becoming im-
patient because of seeming injustice toward a successful commander.

Meanwhile the troops that gathered at Fort Henry had been sent up the
Tennessee in transports. The unarmored gun-boats Tyler and Lexington
had gone forward as far as Pittsburg Landing, at the termination of a road

from Corinth, and about twenty miles
from that place. There they were as-
sailed by a six-gun battery, which, after
a mutual cannonade, was silenced.
When the report of this success reached
General Smith, sixty-nine transports,
with over thirty thousand troops, were
moved up the river. 3 The advance
(Forty-sixth Ohio, Colonel
aM S 10 ' Worthington) landed at Sa-
vannah,* the capital of Har-
din County, on the eastern bank of the
stream, and took military possession of
the place. General Smith, whose head-
quarters were on the steamer Leonora,
CHARLES KELSON SMITH.* immediately sent out scouts in the di-

rection of Corinth, where Beauregard

was straining every nerve to concentrate an army to oppose this formidable
movement. Their reports satisfied him that the Confederates were not then
more than ten thoiisand strong in his front, and that their capture or dis-
persion would be an easy matter. He hoped to be allowed to move upon
them at once, and, as a preparatory measure, he ordered General Lewis Wal-
lace, with his division, to Crump's Landing on the west side of the river,
four miles above Savannah, and thence sixteen miles westward to Purdy,
a village on the railway between Humbolt, in Tennessee, and Corinth, to
destroy portions of the road and important bridges in that vicinity, and
especially one with extended trestle-work at each end, a few miles south
of Purdy. This was a hazardous undertaking, for General Cheatham, with
a large force of the Confederates, was lying near, in the direction of Pittsburg
Landing. But it was successfully accomplished by a battalion of Ohio
cavalry, under Major Hayes, in the midst of a series of heavy thunder-

1 It seems that some malignant or jealous person had made Grant's consultation with Buell at Nashville seem
like an oflVnse against General Ilalleck, his immediate chief; and the march of General Smith's forces up the
Cumberland from Fort Donelson was condemned as a military blunder. Grant's inability, on account of sufficient
reasons, to report the exact condition of his forces at that time was also a cause of complaint; and, without
inquiry, he was suspended from the chief command for ten days. See CoppeVs Grant and his Campaign*.
Note on page 81.

a "It is difficult to conceive any thing more orderly and beautiful," wrote General Wallace to the author,
soon afterward, " than the movement of this army up the river. The transports of each division were assembled
together in the order of march. At a signal, they put out in line, loaded to their utmost capacity with soldiers
and materials. Cannon fired, regiments cheered, bands played. Looking up the river, after the boats had one
by one taken their places, a groat dense column of smoke, extending far as the eye could reach, marked the
sinuosities of the stream und hnn? in the air like a pall. It was, indeed, a sight never to be forgotten."

* From a photograph by Brady, taken before the war.

EVENTS NEAR PITTSBURG- LANDING.

263

showers. A train, crowded with Confederate troops, came down while the
bridge and trestle-work were burning, and escaped capture by reversing the
engine and fleeing at railway speed.

PITTSBURG LANDING, IN 1866.

General Sherman's division was sent farther up the river to Tyler's Land-
ing," at the mouth of. Yellow Creek, just within the borders of
Mississippi, to strike the Charleston and Memphis railway at ^ C h 14 '
Burnsville, a little east of Corinth. Floods prevented his reaching
the railway, when, by order of General Smith, he turned back and disem-
barked at Pittsburg Landing, and took post in the vicinity of Shiloh Meeting-
house, a little log-building in the forest, about two
miles from the Tennessee River, that belonged to the
Methodists. General Stephen A. Hurlbut took pos-
session of Pittsburg Landing 1 without opposition,
and held it in quiet until the night of the

4 March.

20th, when a scouting party, composed
of detachments of the Fourth Illinois and Fifth Ohio
cavalry, three hundred and fifty strong, and nearly
one hundred infantry, all under Lieutenant-Colonel
Heath, went out in the direction of the railway, near

SIHI.OH MEKTINO-HOU8K.

1 Pittsbnrg Landing was the projected site of a commercial river-town, to rival Savannah, below it, and
Hamburg, above it. The only buildings there were a store-house on a terrace, at the mouth of a ravine near
the shore, and a dwelling-house, on the high bank above, which served as a post-office. When the writer visited
the Landing, in April, 1866, only a few scattered bricks and some charred wood were to be seen on tho site of the
buildings. In the view here given, the spectator Is looking down the Tennessee River from across tho ravine
and creek, at the mouth of which, as we shall hereafter observe, the gun-boats Tyler and Lexington lay on Sun-
day night, April 6th and 7th. The river had been made brim full by recent rains ut the time of the author's visit.

264

NASHVILLE AND JOHN MORGAN.

luka. These encountered, and, in a skirmish in Black Jack Forest, dispersed,
six hundred Confederate horsemen, on their way to surprise and attack Hurl-
but's encampment. 1 These had come from Beauregard's army at Corinth.

While the movement up the Tennessee was going on, General Buell's
army was slowly making preparations to march southward overland and
join Grant's at Savannah. It was not until the 28th of March, when Grant's
position had become a perilous one, as we shall observe, that Buell left Nash-
ville. A part of his force, under General Mitchcl, went in the direction of
Huntsville, in northern Alabama, to seize and hold the Memphis and Charles-
ton railway at that place, while the main body under Buell, composed of the
division of Generals Thomas, McCook, Nelson, Crittenden, and T. J. Wood,
moved more to the westward by way of Columbia, at which place they left
the railway.

General James S. Negley was left in command of reserves at Nashville,

where he immediately commenced cast-
ing up strong fortifications on the
surrounding heights for its defense.
Among these, Fort Negley was the
most formidable and conspicuous. It
was erected on the most commanding
hill near the city; and on other emi-
nences redoubts and block-houses were
soon built.

The Confederates under Johnston, as
we have observed, hastened from Nash-
ville to Murfreesboro, twenty-five miles
below, on the railway leading to Chat-
tanooga. 8 From that point they went
across the country in a southwesterly
direction, to form a junction with the

J AMI'S 6. NEC LEY.

1 This skirmish was maintained by the advanced company of Illinois cavalry, nndcr Captain George Dodge.
* It was at about this time that John Morgan, tho famous guerrilla chief, first became conspicuous. The
Confederate Congress had given its sanction to what tho Spaniards call guerrilla warfare, which was carried on in
small bands by troops not under any brigade-commanders, roaming at pleasure, with power to take any thing
from foes or neutrals, but generally responsible to the major-general commanding In their department. They
became, in many instances, mere roving bands of marauders and plunderers, equally terrible to all parties.
Among the most noted of these was Morgan, a young man about thirty-five years of age, six feet in height, well
made, strong, ngile, and perfect master of himself. lie had a keen, bluish-gray eye, a light complexion, sandy
hair, and generally wore a moustache. Before the war he was known as a generous and jolly horse-loving and
horse-racing Kentuckian, and he had great influence over his associates. lie was an admirable horseman and
precise marksman. lie was nn inexorable disciplinarian, and demanded implicit obedience. He once ordered
one of his troopers to perform some perilous act in battle. The man did not move. "Do you understand my
orders?' 1 asked the chief. "Yes, Captain, bnt I cannot obey," was the answer. "Then good by," said Morgan,
and shot him dead. Turning to his men, he said, " Such bo tho fate of every man disobeying orders in the face
of an enemy." After that, no man waited for a second order.

"We shall meet this bold rider frequently westward of tho mountains and in East Tennessee. Here -we will
notice a single act of his, at about tho time we are considering, which illustrates his coolness and daring. It is
said to have been performed just after Johnston had fled from Nashville, and Morgan was scouting and foraging
in his rear. IIo went into the city dressed as a farmer, with a load of meal, which he gave to the National Com-
missary, saying that there were some Union men out in his region, but they had to be careful to avoid the-
rebel cavalry. He dined at the St Cloud hotel, and, at the table, sat by the side of General McCook, who was
so cruelly murdered afterward. He was pointed out as the generous Union farmer who had made the gift to
the commissary, and he was persuaded to take the value of it in gold. Then he secretly informed the general
that a band of Morgan's cavalry was camping near his residence, and that if one or two hundred horsemen
would come to his house he would show them how to capture the noted rough-rider. They were sent, and were
all captured by Morgan. See Tliirteen Montlm in the htbe! Army, by tin impressed New Yorker.

MITCHEL'S EXTRAORDINARY MARCH.

265

KORT NKGLET. 1

forces of Beauregard at Corinth. This was effected on the 1st of April,
and the united armies lay upon the line of the Mobile and Ohio railway
from Corinth south
to Bethel, and on the
Memphis and Charles-
ton railway, from Cor-
inth east to luka. They
were joined by several
regiments from Louisi-
ana ; two divisions from
Columbus, under Gen-
eral Polk; and a fine
corps from Mobile and
Pensacola, commanded
by General Bragg. " In
n umbel's, in discipline,
in the galaxy of the distinguished names of its commanders, and in every
article of merit and display, the Confederate army in the vicinity of Corinth
was one of the most magnificent ever assembled by the South on a single
battle-field." 2 The whole number of effective troops was about forty-five
thousand. It was this army that Grant and Buell were speedily called upon
to fight near the banks of the Tennessee.

General Mitchel performed his part of the grand movement southward

with the most wonderful vigor and
success. With the engines and cars
captured at Bowling Green, his troops
had entered Nashville. He was sent
forward, and occupied Murfreesboro'
when the Confederates abandoned
it in March. After he parted with
the more cautious Buell at that place,
on the moving of the army southward
at the close of March," his

OUMSHY M. MITCIIEL.

own judgment was his
guide, and his was practi
cally an independent command. Be-
fore him the insurgents had destroyed
the bridges, and these he was com-
pelled to rebuild for the passage of
his troops and munitions of war.

This work was done so promptly, that his army was seldom even halted in
waiting. On the 4th of April he was at Shelbyville, the capital of Bedford
County, Tennessee, at the terminus of a short railway branching from that
which connects Nashville with Chattanooga. This was almost sixty miles
from Nashville, and there he made his deposit of supplies. At that point he

1 This is a view of the front of Fort Negley, or the face toward the country, commanding the southern
pproa'-hes to Nashville, as it appeared when sketched by the author in May, 1866
1 Pollard's F irt Year of the W/tr. puge 295.

266 CAPTURE OF HUNTSVILLE.

struck across the country with a supply-train, sufficient for only two days'

provisions, in the direction of Huntsville, making forced marches all the way.

On the 10th a he left Fayetteville, in Lincoln County, Tennessee,

"ffJi'' crossed the State line the same day, and entered Northern Ala-

IBO'2. '

bama, somewhat depressed in spirits by a rumor that Grant had
been terribly defeated in a battle near Pittsburg Landing. Mitchel had
passed through a very hostile region, but now began to perceive some signs
of loyalty among the inhabitants, 1 and before midnight he was cheered by
another *rumor that Grant had been victorious and that Beauresjard was in

flight toward Corinth. Both rumors were true, as we shall observe pres-
ently.

Mitchel had pushed on with his cavalry to within eight miles of Hunts-
ville, the capture of which and the seizure of the Memphis and Charleston
railway there was the chief objective of his rapid march. There he halted
for his artillery and infantry to come up, that he might prepare for striking
a decisive blow. His entire march had been so -rapid and well masked that
the Confederate leaders were puzzled. They could obtain no positive infor-
mation of his whereabouts or his destination. It was only known that he
was moving southward with the apparent fleetness of a northern gale, and
was spreading consternation among the inhabitants into whose midst his
armed hosts suddenly appeared.

At this last halting-place no tents were pitched, for work Avas to be
done before the dawn. The weary troops slumbered around their camp-
fires in the evening, and when the half-moon went down, at

ApHlll. .

a little past two o clock in the morning,* they were summoned
to their feet by the shrill notes of a bugle. They were soon in motion
toward Huntsville, with one hundred and fifty of Kenner's Ohio cavalry
and a section of Captain Simonson's battery, in advance, supported by
Turchin's brigade, the whole commanded by Colonel Kenner, who, as we
have observed, was the first to enter deserted Nashville. What force might
meet them, none could conjecture. Every thing must be developed by action.
Two working parties, well supported by troops, were sent with picks and
crowbars to tear up the railway at the east and west of the town, while the
cavalry moved directly upon the city and the railway station.

Never was a surprise more complete. It was accomplished at a little
before dawn,' while the inhabitants were yet in bed. " The
clattering noise of the cavalry," wrote a spectator, " aroused them
from their slumbers in the dawn of the morning, and they nocked to door
and window, exclaiming, Avith blanched cheek and faltering tongue, ' They
come ! they come ! the Yankees come !' Men rushed into the streets almost
naked, the women fainted, the children screamed, the darkies laughed, and
for a time a scene of perfect terror reigned." Seventeen locomotives, more
than one hundred passenger cars, a large amount of supplies of every kind,
and about one hundred and sixty prisoners were the spoils of this bloodless
victory.

1 On this day's march, MitcheTs army passed the extensive estate of L. Pope Walker, the Confederate
"Secretary i if State." which stretched along the road for miles. The mansion had been deserted, and the furni-
ture removed ; but a host of slaves remained who <rave the " Yankees" a cordial welcome. One of the slave*
had a heavy iron ring and bolt fastened to one of his legs, which he said he had worn for three months.

MEMPHIS AND CHARLESTON RAILWAY SEIZED. 267

General Mitchel did not tarry long at Huntsville. Appointing Colonel
Gazeley, of the Thirty-seventh Indiana, Provost-Marshal, and finding him-
self in possession of an ample supply of rolling stock on the railway, he
immediately organized two expeditions to operate along its line each way
from Huntsville. One, under Colonel Sill, went eastward as far as Steven-
son, at the junction of the roads leading to Chattanooga and to Nashville,
where five locomotives and a considerable amount of other rolling stock were
captured. The other, under Colonel Turchin, went westward to Decatur 1
and Tuscumbia, south of Florence, from which an expedition was sen't south-
ward as far as Russellville, the capital of Franklin County, Alabama. Neither
of these expeditions encountered any serious opposition, and on

, , . , 1-1. -rr "April, 1862.

the IGth" Mitchel said to his soldiers, "You have struck blow
after blow with a rapidity unparalleled. Stevenson fell, sixty miles to the
east of Huntsville. Decatur and Tuscumbia have been in like manner seized,
and are now occupied. In three days you have extended your front of opera-
tions more than one hundred miles, and your morning guns at Tuscumbia
may now be heard by your comrades on the battle-field made glorious by their
victory before Corinth." 2 He had placed his army midway between Corinth
and Nashville, opened communication with Buell, and controlled the naviga-
tion of the Tennessee for more than one hundred miles. For these achieve-
ments, accomplished without the loss of a single life, Mitchel was com-
missioned a Major-General of Volunteers, and, with orders to report to the
War Department directly, his force was constituted an independent corps.

Let us turn again to the banks of the Tennessee, and see what was occur-
ring there. .

General Grant arrived at Savannah on the 1 7th of March, and made his
head-quarters at the house of Mr. Cherry, eight or nine miles below Pitts-
burg Landing, which General Smith had chosen for his own. The latter
had already selected the position of the army in the vicinity of Pittsburg
Landing. On its right was Snake Creek, and on its left Lick Creek, streams
which formed good natural flank defenses against approach. The whole
country for miles around was mostly covered with woods, in some parts
filled with undergrowth, and at others presenting a beautiful open forest,
composed of large red oak trees. Pittsburg Landing, the post on the river
nearest to the Confederates, was protected by the gun-boats Tyler and Lex-
ington. Sherman's division formed a sort of outlying picket, while those ot
McClernand and Prentiss were the real line of battle, with General C. F.
Smith's, commanded by W. H. L. Wallace, in support of the right wing,
and Hurlbut on the left. 3 Lewis Wallace's division was detached and
stationed at Crump's Landing, to observe any movements of the Confed-
erates at Purdy, and to cover the river communications between Pittsburg
Landing and Savannah. The latter was made the depot of stores, to which
point General Halleck at St. Louis continually forwarded supplies of every
kind.

1 Here the railway southward from Nashville connects with the Memphis and Charleston road.

2 General Mitchel's thanks to his soldiers. Camp Taylor, Huntsville, April 16th, 1862.

8 Letter of General Sherman to the Editor of the United State* Service Magazine, January, 1865. "The
ground was well chosen," General Sherman wrote: "On any other we surely would have been overwhelmed
as both Lick and Snake Creeks forced the enemy to confine his movements to a direct front attack, which new
troops are better qualified to resist than when the flanks are exposed to real or chimerical danger."

268

POSITION OF GRANT'S ARMY.

From the time of Grant's arrival at Savannah" until the first "week in April,
very little of interest occurred. The commander-in-chief continued
k* s nea< l-quarters at Savannah; and there seemed to be very little
apprehension of any attack from the Confederates. No breast-
works were thrown up, or abatis formed in front of the National army, at
whose rear lay the broad and deep Tennessee River. The greater portion

&t '

^'> : 'j ft

ETTIN8 OF 8IIILOII MEBT1NO-IIOTJ8E.

of General Sherman's division was then lying just behind Shiloh Meeting-
house. 1 General Prentiss's division was encamped across the direct road to
Corinth, and General McClernand's was behind his right. These three divi-
sions formed the advanced line. In the rear of this, between it and the
Landing, lay General Hurlbut's division, and that of General Smith, under
General W. H. L. Wallace. 2 General David Stuart's brigade, of Sherman's
division, lay on the Hamburg road, near its crossing of Lick Creek, on
the extreme left. General Lewis Wallace's division was still at Crump's
Landing.

Such was the disposition of Grant's army on the eventful Sunday morn-
ing, April 6, 1862. Nearly four miles intervened between parts of Sher-

1 The meeting-house (see page 263) was destroyed after the battle there, early in April. Near it some of the
severest of that struggle occurred. The above picture shows the appearance ot its site when the author visited
it, four years after the contest. Nothing remained but a few logs of which it was bulk. Several had been
carried away, to be manufactured into canes.

* General Smith was then so ill at his head-quarters at Savannah that ho could not tako the field. In passing
from General Lewis Wallace's head- quarters on a steam-boat, two or three weeks before, he Ml from the guard
into his yawl, and abraded his leg between his knee and his foot. The hurt disabled him, and it resulted in a
fever, which, in connection with chronic dysentery, contracted while serving in Moxico, proved fatal. He died
at the house of Mr. Cherry, on the 25th of April, 1862.

THE CONFEDERATE ARMY AT CORINTH.

man's division; and large gaps existed between the divisions of McClernand
and Prentiss. The extreme left of the line was commanded by unguarded
heights, overlooking Lick Creek, which were easily approached from Corinth.
The eleven thousand men at Corinth three weeks before had increased to
over forty thousand, and the skillful Johnston and active Beauregard were
at their head. Re-enforcements had been continually arriving there, while
General Buell was making easy marches across Tennessee, to the assistance
of Grant, and great uncertainty existed as to the time when he might be
expected.

On the first of April, Johnston was informed that Van Dorn and Price
were making their way toward Memphis from Central Arkansas, with thirty
thousand troops, and would join him within a week. A day or two after-
ward he heard of the approach of Buell, and at once prepared for an advance
upon Grant. His right, under General John C. Breckinridge, 1 eleven thou-
sand strong, rested at Burnsville, ten
miles east of Corinth ; his center, more
than twenty thousand in number,
under Generals Hardee and Bragg,
were massed at Corinth ; and his left,
under Generals Polk and Hindman,
about ten thousand, extended north-
ward from the Memphis and Charles-
ton road. His cavalry pickets were
continually scouring the country in
all directions, and were surprised and
gratified by never falling in with a
scout or vedette from the National
lines, though sometimes approaching
within a mile and a half of them.
Informed of this fact, and made fully
acquainted, by spies and resident in-
formers, of the position and number of his opponent's army, Johnston was
about to move forward on the 5th," to attempt to penetrate its
center, divide it, and cut it up in detail, when information reach-
ed him that the troops from the west would certainly join him the next
morning.

The Confederate forces were now within four miles of the National camp.
They had moved silently forward by separate routes, in a heavy rain-storm,
toward Shiloh, as the region around Shiloh Meeting-house was called, and on
the morning of the 5th these divisions had joined on the range of rugged hills on
which stood the little hamlet of Monterey, seven or eight miles from Corinth.
Cautiously and silently they had moved still farther on, and halted near the
intersection of the roads leading to Hamburg and Pittsburg "Landing, and
there it was resolved to wait for Van Dorn and Price. Yet there was peril
in delay. If Buell should arrive, Johnston's golden opportunity might be
lost. Becoming satisfied that evening that his forward movement was
unknown to Grant, the chief commander called a council of war at eight

BRAXTON BRAGG.

"April, 1S62.

1 See page 76.

270

PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE.

o'clock, and, after a deliberation of two hours, it was resolved to strike their
enemy a blow before the dawn. Pointing toward the Union camp, at the
close of the council, Beauregard said : " Gentlemen, we sleep in the enemy's
camp to-morrow night." 1

The greatest precautions were now taken by the Confederates to prevent
any knowledge of their presence reaching the Nationals. No one was per-
mitted to leave the camp, and no fires were allowed, excepting in holes in
the ground. It was a chilly and cheerless night, and many of the soldiers
lay down in the gloom supperless. At three o'clock in the morn-
" 1862. m o" tne whole army was in marching order, in three lines of
battle, the first and second extending from Owl Creek on the
left to Lick Creek on the right, a distance of about three miles, supported by
the third and a reserve. The first line was commanded by General Hardee,
and was composed of his own corps and Gladden's brigade of Bragg's corps,
with artillery following by the main road to Pittsburg Landing. The cav-
alry was in the rear and on the wings. Bragg's corps, composing the second
line, followed in the same order, at the distance of five hundred yards. At

the distance of about eight hundred
yards behind Bragg was Polk's corps,
in lines of brigades, deployed with
their batteries in rear of each brigade,

O '

also moving on the Pittsburg Land-
ing road, supported by cavalry on
the left wing. The reserves, com-
manded by Breckinridge, closely fol-
lowed Polk's (third) line, its right
wing supported by cavalry.

In this order the Confederate
army was slowly advancing to battle
early on Sunday morning, the 6th of
April,* over the rolling wooded coun-
try, while the Nationals were repo-
sing in fancied security. It was one
of the most delightful of those spring

mornings, which so often give exquisite pleasure to the dwellers in that
region ; and he who in the gray dawn of that eventful day should have
stood at the house of the widow Rey, on a branch of the Owl Creek, within
the sound of voices of Sherman's camp near the Shiloh Meeting-house, would
not have believed a prophecy that within an hour that Sabbath stillness
would be broken by the tumult of battle, and those quiet woods just robed
in the most delicate green, and enlivened by the songs of birds, would within
sixty minutes be filled with sulphureous smoke, and all the hideous sounds

W. J. HABDKK.

1 Statement of "An impressed New Yorker" (Thirteen Months in the Rebel Army, page 147), who was on
Breckinridge's staff, and was present at the council.

7 General Johnston issued a stirring order to his troops when they were about to move, saying : " I have put
you in motion to offer battle to the invaders of your country.- With resolution and disciplined valor, becoming
men fighting as you are, for all that is worth living or dying for, you can but march to decisive victory over the
agrarian mercenaries who have been sent to despoil you of your liberties, your property, and your honor." He
told them that the eyes and hopes of eight millions of people were resting upon them, and assured them that
their generals would lead them to victory.

OPENING OF THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.

271

and imasres of infernal war. So it was. Hardee's advance first touched

heavily and destructively Sherman's left, 1 and glancing off from that com- .
uiander's skillful foil, fell with crushing force upon Prentiss's division. 2 The
pickets of each and five companies under Colonel Moore, sent out by Prentiss
to reconnoiter, were driven in at daylight, and the advancing foe reached the
camp of the Nationals almost as soon as did the assailed out-lying troops.
It was a complete surprise. Many of the officers were yet slumbering;
others were dressing ;
others were washing
or cooking, and oth-

O /

ers were eating break-
fast. Their guns
were unloaded, and
accouterments were
strewn around with-
out order. Many
of the troops were
without a sufficient
supply* of ammuni-
tion. The first inti-
mation that the Con-
federates were close
upon them in force,
was the wild cry of
the flying pickets
rushing into the
camps, and the
scream and crash of shells, and the whistle of bullets as they flew on deadly
errands through the tents and the forest. A few minutes afterward, Hardee's
eager troops were pouring like a flood into the camps of the bewildered
Nationals, fighting desperately here, driving half-dressed or half-armed
fugitives there, and dealing death and terror on every hand. It was an
unexpected assault, followed by the most fearful results.

Hildebrand's brigade of Sherman's corps, which was the first attacked,
was lying near Shiloh Meeting-house, at which point Sherman's artillery,
under Captain Ezra Taylor, was stationed. Ruggles's division of Bragg's
corps, with Hodgson's battery, made the direct assault, and Hildebrand's
brigade, composed largely of comparatively raw troops, was driven from its
camp almost without a struggle, for a panic seized some of the companies at
the first onslaught. Buckland's and McDowell's had just time to fly to arms
and form in battle order, when they, too, were attacked by the brigades of
Pond and Anderson, of Ruggles's division, with a heavy artillery fire. For a

PICKETS ON DUTY.'

1 The troops here attacked were those of the brigade of Colonel Tlildebrand, composed of tho Fifty-third.
Fifty- ninth, and Seventy-seventh Ohio, and Fifty-third Illinois; Colonel Buckland's brigade, composed of the
Forty-t-ighth, Seventieth, and Seventy-second Ohio; and Colonel McDowell's brigade, composed of the Sixth
Iowa, Fortieth Illinois, and Forty-sixth Ohio.

a This w;is composed of the Twelfth Michigan. Sixteenth and Eighteenth Wisconsin, Eighteenth, Twenty-
third, and Twenty-fifth Missouri, and Sixty-first Illinois.

* This is from a sketch by W. Homer, published in Harper's Weekly, showing tho manner of watching for
an enemy by out-lying pickets in the woods.

272 FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE.

while the conflict raged fiercely along the whole of Sherman's line. That
.gallant officer was seen in the thickest of the fight, exposing his life to quick
destruction every moment, in 'encouraging his men to resist the tremendous
assault, and escaping with only the hurt of a bullet passing through his hand.
He tried in vain to rally Hildebrand's brigade, but he kept those of Buck-
land and McDowell steady for some time, while Taylor's heavy guns
did admirable execution. These, heavily pi-essed, were soon compelled to
fall back to an eminence across a ravine, where they made a gallant stand
for a while.

In the mean time, McClernand, who lay in the rear of Sherman,. 1 and at
first supposed the firing to be only picket skirmishing, had thrown forward
his left to' the support of the smitten Hildebrand, and these troops for a while
bore the shock of battle. This was at about seven in the morning, and before
nine o'clock a greater part of Sherman's division was virtually out of the
fight. His flanks had been rolled up by fresh troops under Bragg ; and Polk,
with the third Confederate line, was soon moving toward Sherman's rear,
endangering his communication with the rest of the army and with the river.
He collected and reorganized his broken columns, keeping up a desultory
fight until, in the afternoon, he formed a new battle-line on a ridge in advance
of a bridge over Snake Creek, by which General Lewis Wallace's division,
ordered up from Crump's Landing, had been expected.

Turned by the steadiness of a portion of Sherman's division, and the
troops of McClernand, the Confederates threw nearly their whole weight

upon Prentiss. Only his first brigade,
under Colonel Peabody, 2 was there
to receive them, the second brigade
being near the landing. These men,
though surprised and bewildered,
fought obstinately for a while, but
in vain. The foe was in their midst,
and a wall of living men, strong with
ball and bayonet, was closing around
them, ready to crush them out and
make an open way for the Confede-
rates to the river. Prentiss had
asked Hurlbut for help. Veatch's
brigade was sent, but it was not suf-
ficient. Then the brigades of Wil-
liams and Lauman were ordered to

his assistance, when back upon these Prentiss was pushed by Wither's divi-
sion of Bragg's corps. At that perilous moment seeming relief came, but it
was only a mockery. McArthur's brigade of W. H. L. Wallace's division
had been sent to the aid of Stuart's brigade of Sherman's division, on the

1 McClernand's division was composed of three brigades. The first, commanded by Colonel Hare, was com-
posed of the Eighth and Eighteenth Illinois, and Eleventh and Thirteenth Iowa. The second brigade, com-
manded by Colonel C. C. Marsh, consisted of the Eleventh, Twentieth, Forty-fifth, and Forty-eighth Illinois.
The third brigade was led by Colonel Raith, and was composed of the Seventeenth, Twenty-ninth, Forty -third,
and Forty-ninth Illinois. Attached to this division were the fine batteries of Schwartz, Dresser, McAllister, and
Waterhouse.

2 The Twenty-fifth Missouri, Sixteenth Wisconsin, and Twelfth Michigan.

FIRST DAY OF THE BATTLE OF SHILOH. 273

extreme left, which was in danger of being cut off if Prentiss's hard-pressed
troops should perish. McArthur took a wrong road, and came directly upon
Withers. He engaged him gallantly, and for a time there seemed to be a
prospect of salvation for the environed troops. But McArthur was soon
compelled to fall back. Prentiss's second division was hurried up, but it
was too late. In the struggle, Peabody had been killed, Prentiss had become
separated from a greater portion of his division, and it fell into the wildest
confusion. By ten o'clock in the morning, it had practically disappeared.
Fragments of brigades and regiments continued to fight as opportunity
offered, and a large number of the division drifted behind new-formed lines,
particularly those of Hurlbut. Prentiss and three of his regiments, over
two thousand in number, maintained an unassailed position until late in the
afternoon, when they were captured, sent to the rear of the Confederate
army, and then marched in triumph to Corinth, as prisoners of war.

We have seen how McClernand's left hastened to the support of Hilde-
brand. As Sherman's line fell back, McClernand was compelled to bring in
the remainder of his brigades to the protection of his left ; for against that
the Confederates, elated by their success in demolishing Prentiss, now hurled
themselves with great force. McClernand's whole division formed a front
along the Corinth and Pittsburg Landing road, with his batteries in good
position, and there, until ten o'clock, he foiled every attempt of his foe to
gain that road. Very soon a new peril appeared. The falling back of Sher-
man gave the Confederates a chance to flank McClernand's right, and quickly
they seized the advantage. They dashed through the abandoned camps and
pressed onward until driven back by Dresser's rifled cannon, which had
smitten them fearfully. But reserves and fresh regiments pressing up toward
the same point, with great determination and overwhelming numbers, com-
pelled McClernand to fall back. His batteries were broken up, 1 many
of his officers were wounded, and a large number of his men lay dead or
mutilated on the field. The division fell slowly back, fighting gallantly,
and by eleven o'clock it was in a line with Hurlbut's, that covered Pitts-
burg Landing.

We have alluded to the perilous position of the brigade of Stuart, of
Sherman's division, on the extreme left of the National line,* to whose assist-
ance General W. H. L. Wallace sent McArthur. It was posted about two
miles from Pittsburg Landing on the Hamburg road, near the crossing of
Lick Creek. Its position was isolated, and could be easily reached by the
foe by a good road from Corinth ; but, as it was intended to land Buell's
forces at Hamburg, it was thought the brigade might be safely left there
until that event. But the Confederates did not wait for the arrival of Buell ;
and now, when they were thundering away at the front of Sherman,
McClernand, and Prentiss, his advance was more than half a day's usual
march away. The isolated brigade was, therefore, placed in great peril. So
isolated was it, that the first intimation its commander had of disaster on

I Dresser had lost several of his rifled cannon, three caissons, and eighteen horses. Schwartz had lost half
of his guns and sixteen horses; and McAllister had lost half of his 24-pound howitzers.

1 David L. Stuart was a resident of Chicago, and was then, as colonel of a regimbnt frojn Illinois, acting
brigadier-general, in command of a brigade composed of the Fifty-fifth Illinois, and Fifty-fourth (Zouaves) and
Seventy-first Ohio regiments.

YOL. H 18

274

GRANT OX THE BATTLE-FIELD.

the right was the cessation of firing in that direction, the scream of a shell
in its passage among the branches above him, and in the apparition of a Con-
federate column of cavalry and infantry bearing down upon him by the forest
road from Corinth to Hamburg. That column was mostly composed of
Breckinridge's reserves. He had planted batteries on heights near the ford,
and under cover of these his troops rushed to the attack. For ten minutes
a desperate conflict ensued, when Stuart fell back and sent to Wallace for
aid. It was furnished, as we have seen, but missed its aim. McArthur,
however, so vigorously fought the Confederates that Stuart's force was saved
from capture, and was enabled to retreat to a place of comparative safety,
where its shattered members were brought into order.

It was now twelve o'clock at noon." The Confederates had full posses-
sion of the ground on which lay the first line of the National
arm y i n the morning, and of the camps of Sherman, McClernand,
Prentiss, and Stuart. Three of the five divisions of that army on
the field had been thoroughly routed, and all were hemmed within a narrow
strip of ground between the triumphant Confederate line and the broad and
rapid Tennessee River. General Grant, who was at his head-quarters at

Cherry's, eight miles away when the
battle commenced, 1 had hastened to
the field at the summons of the
cannon's roar. He reached it at
about eight o'clock, and at ten was
with Sherman, when the battle was
hottest. He comprehended the peril
that threatened his whole army, and
he took vigorous measures to avert
it by re-forming the shattered bri-
gades, re-establishing batteries and
new lines, and ordering General
Lewis Wallace, at Crump's Landing,

to hasten to the field of strife with
his fresh division. Buell's advance
was at Savannah, but could not
come in time, perhaps, to assist in
the struggle, and he Relieved that he must win or lose the battle without
them.

The gap made by the demolition of Prentiss's brigade and Stuart's retreat,
through which the Confederates expected to rush upon Hurlbut and push
him into the Tennessee River, was speedily closed by General W. H. L. Wal-
lace, who marched with his remaining brigades and joined McArthur, taking
with him the Missouri batteries of Stone, Richardson, and Webber, which
were all under the command of Major Cavender. Hurlbut had been stationed
in open fields ; now he fell back to the thick woods between his camp and

tJLTSBF.S 8. GRANT.

1 There was some disposition to censure General Grant for having his head-quarters so far away from the
bulk of his army. It Is proper to remember that Savannah was the point toward which his expected re-enforce-
ments, under Buell, were to join him ; and it was essential for him to be where he could, at the earliest moment,
confer with that commander, after he should reach the Tennessee. Grant spent most of each day with his main
army, returning to his quarters in a steamer at evening.

DEFEAT OF THE NATIONAL ARMY. 275

the river, and there, from ten o'clock in the morning until between three and
four o'clock in the afternoon, he and Wallace held the Confederates in check,
fighting a greater part of the time, and hurling back tremendous charges by
the massed foe. On both sides death had been reaping a bountiful harvest.
The brave General Wallace had fallen, mortally wounded, and been carried
on a litter from the field. General Gladden, of the Confederate army, had
been killed, and their Commander-in-
chief, General A. S. Johnston, who had
almost recklessly exposed himself, had
also been mortally hurt at about half-
past two o'clock. 1

The superior force of the Con-
federates pressed Hurlbut further to-
ward the river at four o'clock. At
that time the gallant Wallace fell, and
the command devolved on General
McArthur. His division, animated by
his words and deeds, had been fighting
hopefully, but they too were now com-
pelled to retreat, to avoid being flanked A nA*i-i.nra.*
and surrounded, as Prentiss had been.

They took position in a line with Hurlbut's men, about half a mile from
the river, having lost only a single heavy gun, which was afterward re-
covered.

The day was now fairly lost. The victorious Confederates occupied the
camps of all the Union divisions on the field excepting Wallace's, 3 and just
in the rear of that the broken and terribly smitten army had now gathered in a
space of not more than four hundred acres on a rolling plateau, very near the
high banks at Pittsburg Landing, below which four or five thousand fugitives
from the battle-field, chiefly inexperienced troops, were ignobly sheltering
themselves from the storm of war. The army could fall back no farther.
Its next retrograde movement could only be into the flood of the Tennessee,
for there were not transports enough there to carry over it a single division. 4

1 Johnston was hit by a piece of a shell that burst near him. It struck his thigh, half way between his hip
and knee, cutting a wide path, and severing the femoral artery. Governor Harris, of Tennessee (his brother-in-
law), who was his chief of stiff, was at his side. Ten minutes after he was lifted from his horse he died. John-
ston was one of the bravest and most accomplished officers in the Confederate army. His death was concealed
from his troops at that time, and it was not publicly made known until the army had returned to Corinth.
Johnston's body was left on the field when the Confederates fled the next day, and was buried there. In January,
1S67, his remains were taken to Austin, in Texas, for re-interment. The disloyal mayor and other citizens of
Oalveston asked permission of General Sheridan, the military commander of that district, to honor the remains
by a public demonstration of respect in that city, to which Sheridan replied, in a note to the mayor:

" SIR : I respectfully decline to grant your request. I have too much regard for the memory of the brave
men who died to preserve our Government to authorize Confederate demonstrations over the remains of any one
who attempted to destroy it " P. H. SUEUIDAN,

" Major-Gen. U. S. A.' 1

3 This shows the manner of carrying the wounded from the field when unable to walk. These litters are
made as portable as proper strength will allow, and so constructed as to fold up. They are composed of two
poles with a canvas stretched between, and strap yokes for the bearers.

3 The Nationals had lost a division commander (Prentiss), a large number of field officers, and about three
thousand men as prisoners, besides many killed and wounded, together with a great portion of their artillery,
about twenty flags, colors, and standards, thousands of small arms, and a large supply of forage, subsistence,
and munitions of war.

* It is related that Bnell. when talking with Grant about the peril of giving battle with a deep river so nearly
at his back, Inquired, " What would you have done had yon been pressed once more on Sunday evening ?" " Put

276 AN UNFORTUNATE MISUNDERSTANDING.

The only hope of salvation seemed to be in the co-operation of the gun-
boats, which now might give them aid in fighting^ or the help of Buell's

vanguard, then on the opposite shore,
or the advent of Lewis Wallace with
his fine division, 1 who had been
anxiously expected all the afternoon.
As the columns were pushed back
from one position to another, Grant
anxiously listened for the noise of
Wallace's cannon thundering on the
flank of the Confederates. Early in
the morning he had sent him word to
hold his troops in readiness to march
at a moment's warning, " certainly
not later than eleven o'clock." At
half-past eleven Wallace received an
order from his chief to move up and
take position "on the right of the

army, and form a line of battle at a right angle with the river." Time passed
on ; the Confederates were pressing hard ; the disorganized brigades were in
great confusion and falling back toward the river's brink. Yet Wallace did
not come. Grant sent one of his staff to hurry him up. He did not come.
Then he sent his adjutant-general (Captain Rawlins) to urge him forward,
and yet he did not appear. Night had fallen, and the discomfited army lay
huddled in great peril on the banks of the Tennessee, when the seemingly
tardy General arrived. He was afterward censured for the delay, for the
impression went abroad that, had he promptly responded to Grant's call,
victory for the National army might have been achieved on that day, for he
was a skillful commander, and his men, fresh and spirited, had been well
tried, and found sufficient in all things. A few words of explanation, after-
ward given, made the record of that prompt and gallant officer clear to the
apprehension of his chief and the people, and showed that the whole delay
had occurred in consequence of a blunder of omission committed by Grant's
messenger who bore the order for his advance. 2

my troops across the river," was Grant's reply. "But you had not transportation sufficient," answered Buell.
" Plenty," responded Grant, " to take over all that would have been left when we had done fighting."

1 Wallace's division was composed of three brigades, stationed on the road from Crump's Landing to Purdy,
the first at the Landing, the second two miles out, and the third two miles and a half farther, at Adamsville.
Owing to the pushing back of an Ohio brigade, that had been sent out to reconnoiterln the direction of Purdy,
his division marched as far as Adamsville in a drenching rain, on Friday night (April 4), and there a brigade
was left. The first brigade, commanded by Colonel Morgan L. Smith, was composed of the Eleventh and
Twenty -fourth Indiana and Eighth Missouri. The second, commanded by Colonel John M. Thayer, was com-
posed of the First Nebraska, Twenty-third Indiana, and the Fifty-sixth and Fifty-eighth Ohio. The third brigade,
under Colonel Charles Whittlesy, was composed of the Twentieth, Sixty -eighth, Seventy-sixth, and Seventy-
eighth Ohio. To the division were attached Thnrber's Missouri and Thompson's Indiana Batteries ; also the
third battalion of the Fifth Ohio, and third battalion of the Eleventh Illinois cavalry.

2 General Grant, as we have seen, had ordered General Wallace to place his division u on the right of the
&rmy." That position in the morning was about four wiles from Pittsburg Landing. The messenger who bore
the order not only omitted to inform Wallace that the " right "' had been beaten back, and was thus much nearer
Pittsburg Landing, but had told him (as he doubtless supposed truly) that the Confederates were being repulsed
at all points. Believing it to be yet in its morning position at the right of Shiloh Meeting-house, Wallace
promptly put his whole division (excepting two regiments left at Crump's Landing) in motion half an hour after
receiving the order, by the nearest route to the supposed "right of the army." When he had proceeded, as
rapidly as the miry roads would allow, for about six miles, the roar of battle quickening the steps of his soldiers,

PREPARATIONS FOR A NIGHT ATTACK. 277

By the side of a little log house which had lately been the post-office of
Pittsburg Landing, and constituted the " village," General Grant and his
staff Avere grouped at sunset on that fearful Sunday evening, while there was
a lull in the storm of war. They were in continual expectation of another
attack, but Grant felt confident of final victory. 1 Buell's^vanguard was in
sight, and Wallace was expected to appear at every moment. If the assail-
ants could be kept at bay a few hours, all would be well Preparations to
withstand them were hastily made. The quiet time was improved, and in a
semicircle around the army, half a mile back from the bluff, slight earthworks
of half-moon form were quickly thrown up, and twenty-two heavy guns were
mounted on them, under the direction of Colonel Webster, Grant's chief of
staff, and manned by artillerists selected from all the batteries.

These guns were scarcely in position, toward the close of twilight, when
a lurid glare lighted up the surrounding forests, and shot and shell from
Confederate cannon on the left and center of the Nationals came crashing
through the trees in the direction of the Landing, but falling short of the
intended victims. These were quickly answered by Grant's guns, when the
Confederate brigades in full force pressed forward from their new line, that
stretched between the positions of Stuart and Ilurlbut in the morning, from
Lick Creek across the Corinth road, and tried to cross a ravine that sepa-
rated them from the Nationals, in order to give a final and crushing blow to
the latter. This force was large, composed of Chalmers on the right, with
Breckinridge in the rear ; and ranging to the left, the reduced brigades of
Withers, Cheatham, Huggles, Anderson, Stuart, Pond, and Stevens were
engaged. They were bravely met by the National infantry, composed of
portions of all the brigades, and by the well-directed artillery, 2 and were kept
at bay until a force that had not yet been brought into action was placed in
position and commenced work. This was composed of the gun-boats Tyler
and Lexington, under the general command of Lieutenant William Gwin.
They came up to the mouth of the little creek that traverses a short ravine
at Pittsburg Landing, and were soon hurling 7-inch shells and 64-pound shot
up that hollow in the bluff, in curves that dropped them in the midst of
the Confederates. General Nelson, who led Buell's advance, had crossed the
river with Ammon's brigade, and bore an important part in repelling the
assailants. The crushing blow which the latter expected to give was foiled,
and the palm of victory, which they confidently expected to hold before mid-
night, eluded their grasp. Three hours before that midnight, the roar of
battle, which had been kept up during the evening, had ceased, and Beau-
he -was overtaken by Captain Rawlins and another, and from them first learned that the National troops had
been beaten back toward the river. His rontc would take him to an isolated and dangerous position in the rear
of the Confederates, so he retraced his steps, crossed over to the river road near Snake Creek, by the nearest
possible route, passed that stream over a bridge, and took his assigned position on the right of the army. He
had marched and countermarched, in consequence of misinformation and lack of information, about sixteen
miles, which had consumed the whole afternoon.

1 A remark made by General Prentiss seems to have been the cause of Beanregard not pressing an attack
that night That general asked Prentiss if the Nationals had any fortifications at the river, to which he replied,
" You must consider us poor soldiers, general, if you suppose we would have neglected so plain a duty." The
truth was, the Nationals had not a single fortification anywhere on or near that battle-field until after Beaure-
gard ceased to fight on Sunday evening. Had he pressed forward, he might have captured the entire army.

2 Among these pieces were two long 32-pound siege guns, but there seemed to be no one to work them,
wheji Dr. Cornyn. surgeon of the old First Missouri artillery, offered his services for the purpose. They were
accepted, and the guns were worked most efficiently.

278 ARRIVAL OF BUELL'S FORCES.

regard, who succeeded the slain Johnston in supreme command, ignorant of
the arrival of Buell, and feeling confident of victory in the morning, was
writing a glowing dispatch to Adjutant-General Cooper from his quarters in
Shiloh Meeting-house, announcing a complete victory. 1

We have observed that the vanguard of Buell's army,* composed of Nelson's
division, made its appearance, opposite Pittsburg Landing, toward Sunday
evening." It had reached the Tennessee River, at Savannah, on
* ne previous day; and, on the same evening, the commanding
General arrived there. On the following morning, hearing the
sound of heavy guns up the river, Buell hastened to Grant's head-quarters,
at Cherry's, for information. The latter had just started for Pittsburg Land-
ing in a steamer, having left orders for Nelson's division to be sent up at
once. It started early in the afternoon, leaving its cannon to be forwarded
by water, on account of bad roads, and arrived opposite the Landing, as we
have observed, toward sunset. Buell reached there at about the same time,
and requested Grant to send vessels down to bring up Crittenden's division^
which had just arrived at Savannah. These, and the remainder of Nelson's
division, and Wallace's, from Crump's Landing, had taken positions before
midnight, and were preparing, in the midst of a drenching rain, to renew the
conflict in the morning. All night long Buell's troops were arriving by land
and water ; and, at intervals of ten or fifteen minutes, the gun-boats were
hurling a heavy shell into the camps of the Confederates, wearying and worry-
ing them with watching and unceasing alarm. By these they were com-
pelled to fall back from their position, from' which they intended to spring
upon the Nationals during the night, and they lost more than half the
ground they had gained by the retreat of the Unionists on Sunday after-
noon.

The morning of the 7th dawned gloomily upon the battle-field, which was
overshadowed by heavy clouds, distilling a drizzling rain. Before sunrise
the conflict was opened by Geneial Lewis Wallace, whose division had been
disposed in battle order at a little past midnight, and formed the extreme
right of the newly established line of the army. Captain Thompson's field

1 The following Is a copy of the dispatch, dated " Battle-field of Shiloh, April 6, 1862 : We have this
morning attacked the enemy in a strong position in front of Pittsburg, and after a severe battle of ten hours,
thanks to Almighty God, gained a complete victory, driving the enemy from every position. The loss on both
sides is heavy, including our commancler-in-chief, General Albert Sidney Johnston, who fell gallantly leading
his troops into the thickest of the fight."

2 Buell's forces, that reached the field of action in time to participate in its events, consisted of three divi-
sions, commanded respectively by Generals William Nelson, Thomas T. Crittenden, and Alexander McDowell
McCook. Nelson's division was composed of three brigades: the first, commanded by Colonel Ammon, con-
sisted of the Sixth and Twenty -fourth Ohio, and Thirty-sixth Indiana ; the second, Colonel Bruce, consisted
of the First, Second, and Twentieth Kentucky ; the third, Colonel Ilazen, was composed of the Forty -first Ohio,
Sixth Kentucky, and Ninth Indiana.

General Crittenden's division consisted of three brigades : the first, commanded by General Boyle, was
composed of the Nineteenth and Fifty-ninth Ohio, and Ninth and Thirteenth Kentucky; the second, Colonel
William L. Smith, consisted of the Thirteenth Ohio, and Eleventh and Twenty-sixth Kentucky, with Menden-
hall's regular and Bartlett's Ohio batteries.

General McCook's division was composed of three brigades : the first, General Rousseau, consisted of the
First Ohio, Sixth Indiana, Third Kentucky (Louisville Legion), and battalions of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and
Nineteenth regulars ; the second brigade, General Johnson, consisted of the Thirty-second and Thirty-ninth
Indiana, and Forty-ninth Ohio; the third brigade, Colonel Kirk, was composed of the Thirty-fourth Illinois,
Thirteenth and Twenty-ninth Indiana, and Seventy-first Pennsylvania.

The division of General T. J. Wood was too far in the rear to reach the scene of action in time to partici-
pate in the battle. That of General Thomas was still farther in the rear.

OPENING OF THE SECOND DAY'S BATTLE. 279

guns first awakened the echoes of the forest and brought both armies to their
feet. These shelled the Confederates, who were strongly posted, with artil-
lery, upon a bluff across a stream and a deep wooded ravine in front of
"Wallace. The response was vigorous, and Thurber came to Thompson's aid.
The conflict was brief. One of the rifled guns of the Confederates was speed-
ily silenced, and its supporters were falling back. At that moment General
Grant arrived, and directed Wallace to press forward and attack the Con-
federate left, commanded by General Bragg in person, and consisting of the
division of General Ruggles, and the brigade of Colonel Wobue, of Breck-
inridge's reserves. This was done with his brigades en echelon, his line at
right angles with the river. The Confederates were soon driven from the
hill, and their places were occupied by Wallace's victorious troops. There a
halt was made for Sherman's division, which lay to the left, to come up in
support.

Wallace was now on the edge of an open field, and a wood and low
swampy grounds, along Snake Creek, formed an impassable flank defense.
Perceiving this, and that the left flank of the Confederates was exposed by
the falling back of the force on the bluff, he attempted to turn it. To do so,
it was necessary to change his front. This was skillfully done by a left half-
wheel of the whole division, leaving a gap between it and Sherman's right,
which was expected to move forward at once.

While this movement was in progress, a heavy column of the foe was
seen in the woods, across an open field, making rapidly toward their endan-
gered left, evidently for the purpose of turning Wallace's right. Buell's vete-
rans had made Grant's left too strong for Beauregard to hope to win his
expected victory there, and he was now seeking it on the National right.
But there he found as determined a foe. Wallace ordered up Thompson's
battery, which played upon the moving column with terrible effect until its
ammunition was exhausted, when Thurber's was sent forward and continued
the work most effectually. The flank movement was checked, and then Con-
federate cavalry attempted to take the battery. They were driven back by
the skirmishers of the Eighth Missouri. Then a heavy column of infantry,
with Watson's Louisiana Battery of destructive steel rifled cannon moved
against Wallace's advance, when his first brigade, Colonel M. L. Smith,
easily repelled them. For an hour and a half the contest went on, the bulk
of Wallace's division all the while enduring a furious cannonade, but well
sheltered, as they lay in wooded hollows, waiting for Sherman to come up.

While Wallace was holding the Confederates in check, Sherman, who
had been waiting to hear the thunders of Buell's cannon advancing along
the main Corinth road, moved forward with a resolution to obey Grant's
command to retake the camp, lost the day before. At the same time Wallace
ordered his division to advance. The first brigade led the way from the
woods into and across an open field, beyond which, on a thickly wooded
ridge, not far from Shiloh Meeting-house, the foe was posted. The division
moved steadily on under an ordinary fire down into a slight hollow, and up
a gentle slope toward their foe, when suddenly the woods were all ablaze
with musketry, and the destructive Louisiana Battery hurled its bolts with
fearful effect. Sherman's advance recoiled, when Wallace, whose flank was
thereby exposed, ordered a halt.

280 THE SECOND DAY'S BATTLE.

Let us see what has been doing on the left meanwhile. Buell's forces on
the field lay near Pittsburg Landing, and composed the center and left wing
of Grant's new line of battle, upon which it was expected the Confederates
would fall in the morning. Only the divisions of Nelson and Crittenden
were well in hand at dawn. The former had quietly called up his men at
four o'clock, and soon afterward he notified his general of his readiness for
motion. Crittenden was ready at the same time, and when the booming of
Wallace's heavy guns on the right was heard, they both moved forward,
Nelson's division leading, with Ammon's brigade on the extreme left, Bruce's
in the center, and Hazen's on the right. Nelson's artillery, which was to
be sent up by water, had not yet ai'rived, but the battery of Mendenhall,
of the regular service, and Bartlett's Ohio Battery, were on the field.
McCook, who had been moving all night, so as to be a participant in the
impending battle, had just arrived at Pittsburg Landing with
kis division when Nelson and Crittenden began their march, at
half-past five in the morning.*

Nelson moved forward through the open woods and some cleared fields
over the rolling plateau for about a mile before encountering the Confede-
rates in force, when, at six o'clock, he was assailed by their artillery, and
halted. Mendenhall's battery was brought into action, and Crittenden
took a commanding position on the right of Nelson, with Bartlett's battery
posted at his center. A contest was maintained for some time, when
McCook's division arrived on the ground, accompanied by General Buell,
who assumed the direction of affairs. McCook's forces were formed on
Crittenden's right, and some straggling troops that were on the field the
day before were placed on McCook's right, making Buell's entire line
about a mile in length, extending from a point southeastward of the Ham-
burg road, and across the Corinth road, so as to touch Hurlbut on the left
and at the rear of McClernand. The entire National line formed an irregu-
lar curve.

While Buell's force was getting into position, Mendenhall and Bartlett
fought three batteries of the Confederates in front of Nelson and Crittenden.
The foe was evidently in strong force. A little to the rear of his left was the
high, open wooded ridge on which Sherman and McClernand were encamped
on the morning of the 6th, and this was an objective, according to Grant's
order already alluded to. Forward Buell's column moved, and Nelson's
division first felt the shock of battle, which soon became general along the
whole line. Colonel Hazen, with his brigade, made a gallant charge and
seized one of the Confederate batteries, but was driven back by superior
numbers thrown into the woods on Crittenden's left, and a cross-fire of artil-
lery, sustaining a heavy loss. Colonel Smith's brigade of Crittenden's divi-
sion then advanced into the woods and repulsed the Confederates, and at
the same time Terrell's Regular Battery of 24-pound howitzers was brought
on the field and advanced to Nelson's left, near the Hamburg road, then
heavily pressed by great numbers. Its effect was most salutary, for it soon
silenced the right battery of the Confederates ; but Terrell was speedily forced
back, with Ammon's brigade, when a regiment from Boyle's brigade re-en-
forced Nelson's left, and it again moved forward and drove the foe. This
exposed the Confederates at their second and third batteries, from which

BATTLE OF SHILOH. 281

they were soon driven by the concentrated fire of Mendenhall and Terrell,
with a loss of several of their cannon.

Meanwhile McCook's division had been fighting the Confederate center,
pushing it back step by step, until it was driven from its position. The
action of that division was commenced by General Rousseau's, which was
well supported by Generals Kirk and Gibson, Willich's regiment, and two
regiments of Hurlbut's division. 1 After expending its ammunition, and
marching to the rear for a supply, it was seen moving " in splendid order,
and steadily to the front, sweeping every thing before it," 2 smiting the
foe so severely that he was driven from his position, and lost one of his
batteries at the first onset. 3 It was in front of this division that the Con-
federates, commanded by Beauregard in person, assisted by Bragg, Polk,
and Breckinridge, made their last decided stand, in the woods beyond
Sherman's old camp, near Shiloh Meeting-house, where we left that officer
and Wallace confronting them. Two brigades of General T. J. Wood's
division had just reached the field, but not in time to participate in the
engagement. But they relieved the weary fighters, and sealed the doom of
the Confederates, who now abandoned all hope of conquering the National
left, and concentrated on their right, as we have observed.

It was now long past noon. Wallace had again changed his front for
attack, with Sherman on his left as a support. Again his first brigade had
moved forward, when a squadron of Confederate cavalry dashed out of the
woods toward his temporarily exposed flank. These were repulsed by the
Twenty-third Indiana, aided by an oblique fire by the First Nebraska. But a
greater peril was menacing Wallace's whole division, at that moment. Sher-
man's forces, touching his left, had again given way, and were followed by a
heavy mass of desperate Confederates, who were eagerly pushing forward to
isolate Wallace from the rest of the National army. The situation of the
gallant Indianian was extremely critical for a while. He immediately
ordered up Colonel Charles R. Woods, of the reserves, with his Seventy-
eighth Ohio. These, with a regiment sent by General McClernand, and the
Eleventh Indiana, Colonel McGinniss, whose front and flank had been attacked,
stoutly held the ground, with the gallant Thurber ready to act with his
artillery if required, until Colonel August Willich, with his splendid Thirty-
second Indiana, of McCook's division, dashed against the Confederates, and
drove them back. 4 Meanwhile Sherman had recovered his line, and the
brigade of the wounded Colonel Stuart (now commanded by the skillful
Colonel T. Kilby Smith) and that of Colonel Buckland, supported by two
24-pound howitzers of McAllister's battery, moved forward abreast of Rous-
seau's Kentucky brigade. Wallace's troops, who had entered the woods, also

1 Hnrlbnt's shattered division, which had fought on the previous day, was held in reserve much of the time
nt the rear and left of McClernand.

* See General Sherman's report.

* General Rousseau had the honor of retaking General McClernand's head-quarters on Sunday morning.
At the outer edge of that encampment the dead body of General A. S. Johnston was found.

4 Speaking of this movement in his report, General Sherman said : " Here I saw Willich's regiment advance
upon a point of water-oaks and thicket, behind which I knew the enemy was in great strength, and enter Tt in
beautiful style. Then arose the severest musketry-fire I ever heard, and lasted twenty minutes, when this
splendid regiment had to fall back. This green point of timber Is about five hundred yards east of Shiloh
Meeting-house, and it was evident here was to be the struggle."

282

BATTLE OF SHILOH.

pressed steadily forward, while " step by step, from tree to tree, position to
position," said that officer, " the rebel lines went back, never stopping again
infantry, horses, and artillery all went back. The firing was grand and terrific.
Before us was the Crescent regiment of New Orleans ; shelling us on the right
was the Washington artillery, of Manassas renown, whose last stand was in
front of Colonel Whittlesey's command. To and fro, now in my front, then
in Sherman's, rode General Beauregard, inciting his troops, and fighting for
his fading prestige of invincibility. The desperation of the struggle may be

POSITION OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS IN THK BATTLES OF SHILOH. 1

easily imagined. While this was in progress, far along the lines to the left
the contest was raging with equal obstinacy. As indicated by the sounds,
however, the enemy seemed retiring everywhere. Cheer after cheer rang
through the woods, and each man felt the day was ours." 2

And so it was. Heavily pressed on all sides, the Confederates gave way,

1 The general position of the Confederates may be understood, by considering that on both days their lines
were parallel to those of the Nationals.

2 Wallace's report.

FLIGHT OF THE CONFEDERATES.

283

and flying through the National camps of Sunday morning, they burned
their own, and with a powerful rear-guard under Breckinridge, 1 they hurried,
in a cold, drizzly rain that soon changed to hail, with their sick and wounded
in every conceivable conveyance, 2 to the heights of Monterey that night, far
on the road toward Cor-
inth, but happily pursued
by the conquerors only
as far as the bluffs and
swamps of Lick Creek.
They were astonished at
the fact that they were not
more vigorously follow-
ed, 3 for Breckinridge, it
was thought, could easily
have been separated from
the remainder of the Con-
federate army and cap-
tured, and Beauregard's whole force might have been dispersed or made
prisoners. 5 Thus ended THE BATTLE OF SHILOH.'

Although the Confederates had utterly failed in their intentions, and were
thoroughly vanquished and driven from the field, with an acknowledged
loss of nearly eleven thousand men, 7 Beauregard telegraphed to Richmond

-MULES CARRYING WOUNDED MEN. 4

1 Breckinridge' 8 command was strengthened by the eavalry regiments of Forest, Adams, and the Texas
Bangers, making the effective force of the rear-gnard about 12,000 men.

* That retreat must have been a terrible experience for the sick and wounded. " Ilere," wrote an eye- wit-
ness, "was a long line of waions loaded with wounded, piled in like bags of grain, groaning and cursing, while
the mules plunged on in mud and water, belly deep, the water sometimes coining into the wagons. Next came
a straggling regiment of infantry, pressing on past the train of waj.'ons; then a stretcher borne upon the shoulders
of four men, carrying a wounded officer ; then soldiers staggering along, with an arm broken and hanging down,

or other fearful wounds which were enough to destroy life I passed long wagon-trains, filled with

wounded and dying soldiers, without even a blanket to shield them from the driving sleet and hail, which fell
in stones as large as partridge-eggs, until it lay on the ground two inches deep. Some three hundred men died
during that awful retreat, and their bodies were thrown out to make room for others, who, although wounded,
had struggled on through the storm, hoping to find shelter, rest, and medical care."

1 Beauregard expected a vigorous, and possibly disastrous pursuit, and said to Breckinridge, "This retreat
mutt not be a rout I You must hold the enemy back, if it requires the loss of your last man." " Your orders
shall be executed to the letter," was the reported reply. See Pollard's First Tear of the War. page 802.

4 The picture shows the method of carrying sick and wounded on mules, which was in practice at the earlier
periods of the war by both parties. The horse-litter, on which men who could not sit up were carried, is shown
in the front figure ; and the Cacolet, in which men wounded in the upper extremities were carried sittins, is
seen in the figure behind. When good ambulances came into use, these methods were abandoned or became rare
exceptions.

* A rapid and persistent pursuit would have created a complete rout of the now weary, broken, and
dispirited rebels. Two hours more of such fighting as Buell's fresh men could have made would have demor-
alized and destroyed Beanregard's army. Thirteen Months in Hie Rebel Army, by an impressed New Yorker,
page 169.

* See reports of Generals Grant and Bnell and their subordinate commanders; also of General Beauregard
and his division commanders. A very spirited, and, it is said, correct account was given in the Cincinnati
Gazette, written by its army correspondent " Agate " (Whitelaw Reid), who was an eye-witness of the battles.
The author has been favored with the written and oral statements of participants in the battle on both sides.

7 Beauregard reported his loss at 1,723 killed, 8,012 wounded, and 957 missing ; total, 10,697. General Grant
reported his entire loss, including about 4.000 prisoners, 1,735 killed, 7,882 wounded, and 3,956 prisoners; total,
13,573. It was probably about 15,000, and there is reason to believe that Beauregard's was not less. Among
the killed in the Confederate army, on Monday, was George W. Johnston, " Provisional Governor of Kentucky "
(see page 1S9), who was with the Kentucky troops in the action. His horse was shot under him on Sunday, and
on Monday he was in the ranks. General Hindman had a very narrow escape, just before the retreat, on Mon-
day evening. While leading his men, in a fearful struggle, a small shell entered the breast of his horse and
exploded in his body. The horse was blown into fragments, and his rider, with his saddle, was lifted about
ten feet in the air. His staff-officers near supposed he was killed, and one of them exclaimed, " General Hind-

284

THE BATTLE-FIELD OF SHILOH.

April 8,
1862.

from Corinth, almost twenty miles from the battle-field, twenty-four hours after
his flight,* " We have gained a great and glorious victory. Eight
to ten thousand prisoners, and thirty-six pieces of cannon." 1 Con-
scious that his misrepresentations would be exposed by facts in a
few days, he added : " Buell re-enforced Grant, and we retired to our in-
trenchments at Corinth, which we can hold." He had sent a flag of truce
that morning from Monterey, where he had a hospital, asking Grant to allow
him to send mounted men to the battle-field, to bury his dead. Grant
refused. He informed him that, owin<j to the warmth of the weather, that

' O t

office of humanity had already been attended to by his own army. " I shall
always be glad," wrote Grant in his reply, " to extend any courtesy consist-
ent with duty, especially so when dictated by humanity." 2 There was also
a sanitary consideration in this matter. It was important for the health of

the National army,
which might remain
some time in that vici-
nity, that the bodies of
men and horses should
be removed from the
surface of the ground.
The former were buried
and the latter were
burned.

The writer visited
the battle-field of Shi-
loh late in April, 1866.
At seven o'clock in the
evening of the 23d, he
left Meridian in Missis-
sippi, for a journey of about two hundred miles on the Mobile and Ohio
railway to Corinth, near the northern borders of the State. It was a cool
moonlit night, and the topography of the country through which that
railway passed, and over which Grierson had raided and Confederate troops
and National prisoners of war had been conveyed, might be easily discerned.
At twenty miles from Meridian it was a rolling prairie, with patches of
forest here and there, and broad cotton-fields, stretching in every direction
as far as the eye could comprehend. That character it maintained all the

BURNING HOBSES NEAR PITTSBURG LANDING.

man is blown to pieces. 11 At that instant Hindman sprang to his feet nnd shouted, " Shut np there ! Tm worth
two dead men yet Get another horse. 11 In a few moments he was again in the saddle, but he was so much
shocked that he was unable to take the field the next day.

1 In this number Beauregard evidently ncluded all the cannon he had captured on Sunday, but did not
mention the fact that on Monday he had lost nearly as many.

2 Most of the prisoners taken at Shiloh were sent to Camp Donglass at Chicago. They were generally in a
most miserable condition when captured. A lady at Chicago, writing to a friend, said : " But I have not told you
how awfully they were dressed. They had old carpets, new carpets, and rag carpets old bed-quilts, new bed-
quilts, and ladies 1 quilts, for blankets. They had slouch hats, children's hats, little girls 1 hats, and not one
soldier cap on their heads. One man had two old hats tied to his feet instead of shoes. They were the most
ragged, torn and worn, and weary-looking set I ever saw. Every one felt sorry for them, and no one was dis-
posed to speak unkindly to them. Some of them looked wireless and happy enough, and some looked very sad,
and others would be very good-looking if they were well dressed and in good company. Even the officers
were the most forsaken looking set of men I ever dreamed of. We have sent them newspapers and books, but
we find that very few of them can read. 11

FROM CORINTH TO PITTSBURG LANDING. 285

way to a more hilly country withiu thirty or forty miles of Corinth. With
an interesting traveling companion (John Yerger, of Jackson, Mississippi),
the night passed pleasantly away. We arrived at the reviving village of
Corinth, which had been nearly destroyed during the war, at about
half-past eight o'clock in the morning," where we breakfasted. " Af ^ 6 ^
The writer spent the time until past noon in sketching the head-
quarters of officers, National and Confederate, around the village, and then
started for Pittsburg Landing, about twenty miles distant, in a light wagon
drawn by a powerful horse driven by an intelligent young man, a brother
of the owner of the conveyance. He was a native of that region, and had
been in the Confederate army. He was acquainted with all the roads in the
direction of the Landing, and with most of the localities of interest con-
nected with the great battle. With his knowledge, and the assistance of
an official map of the battle, very little difficulty was found in identifying
them.

We first visited the pi-incipal fortifications around Corinth. About two
and a half miles northward of the village, we passed out through the inner
line of Confederate works, and were soon beyond the desolated region that
had been stripped of its trees by the army, and riding through magnificent
red oak forests, whose leaves were yet
too tiny to give much shelter from the
sun, then shining with great warmth.
For nearly nine miles the country was
gently rolling, and well watered with
little streams, when, approaching Pea
Ridge, it became hilly and very pic-
turesque. On that ridge we came- to
the site of the once pretty little hamlet
of Monterey, where the only building
that remained was a store-house, which
the Confederates had used for a hospi-
tal. Near it was a ruined house, around

which were the remains of what had OONFEDEBATK HOSPITAL AT MONTKRKT.

doubtless been a fine flower-garden.

From Monterey to some distance beyond Lick Creek the country was
hilly, very little cleared, and less cultivated, dotted here and there with
miserable log-houses, and mostly covered with woods. Half-way between
Monterey and Shiloh Meeting-house we crossed the recently overflowed Lick
Creek Bottom, partly upon a log causeway built by the National army when
moving on Corinth, and partly in the deep mud. Driftwood had been floated
into barricades on the causeway in many places, and a more difficult journey
cannot well be conceived. A horse less powerful than ours could not have
dragged us through the sloughs. It gave us a vivid impression of the diffi-
culties experienced by the armies in taking their artillery and wagon-trains
through that region. Happily, our journey over that wooded and tangled
" bottom " did not exceed half a mile in distance, when we forded clear and
pebbly Lick Creek, climbed the hills on its opposite side, and, just at sunset,
crossed a little tributary of Owl Creek, and halted in perplexity at the forks
of the road, near the ruins of a house in open fields. It was the site of poor

286

A NIGHT ON SHILOH BATTLE-FIELD.

widow Key's, not far from that of Shiloh Meeting-house, near which Hardee
formed his forces for assault on the morning of the 6th. 1 We were, as we
soon ascertained, at the parting of the ways for Hamburg and Pittsburg
Landings. While deliberating which to take, and considering seriously
where we might obtain supper and lodging, for the gloom of twilight was

gathering in the woods, the questions were settled
by a woman (Mrs. Sowell) on a gaunt gray horse,
with her little boy, about six years of age, striding
the animal's back behind her. She kindly con-
sented to give us such entertainment as she could.
" It is but little I have," she said, in a pleasant,
plaintive voice, and we expressed our willingness
to be content therewith. So we followed her
through the woods and a few open fields for nearly
a mile in the direction of Pittsburg Landing, and
at dark were at her home, not far from McCler-
nand's camp on Sunday morning, where the battle
raged with so much fury. All around it were the
marks of war in scarred, decapitated, and shattered
trees, and the remains of clothing and accouter-
ments strewing the ground.

Our hostess was a widow, with six children.

CUE HOSTESS AT SHILOH T .. . . . . -

Her husband was dying with consumption when

the battle commenced. She did not leave him, but remained in the house
with her children throughout that terrible storm of war. A heavy shell went

OUB LODGING-PLACE ON THE FIELD Of BHILOH.

through her house, and several trees standing near it were cut off or shat-
tered by them. " The Lord was with me," she piously said, as we sat at her
humble table, lighted by a lamp composed of wick and melted lard in a tin
dish, and supping upon hoe-cake without butter, just baked in the ashes, some
fried bacon, and coffee without milk or sugar. " My husband died, but my
children were spared," she said ; " but God only knows what will become of
them in this desolated country, without a school or a church." We had just

Bee page 270.

THE EFFECTS OF BATTLE.

287

come in from the enjoyment of the bright moonlight, and balmy April air,
and the burden of the whippowil, and felt that peace and serenity
imparted by nature in repose, that inclines one to forgive as we hope to be
forgiven. The sweet spell was broken when, in that dingy and battered
cabin, lighted by a few blazing fagots and the primitive lamp, with only
one half-bottomed chair and a rude box or two to sit upon, we looked
upon that lonely, suffering, educated woman, with her six really pretty
and intelligent boys and girls, half clad, but clean, struggling for the right
to live an example of like misery in thousands of households, once pros-
perous and happy, thus crushed into poverty by the wickedness of a few
ambitious men. In that presence, the Rebellion seemed doubly infernal, and
the spirit of forgiveness departed.

We slept soundly in one of the log houses, with our horse stabled in
an adjoining room, nailed up for the night, to keep him from the clutches
of prowling bushwhackers, and the pigs grunting under our open floor;
and at dawn we went out, while the cuckoo's song was sweetest and the
mocking-bird's varied carols were loudest,
and rambled far over the battle-field, meet-
ing here a tree cut down by shot near
its base, there a huge one split by a shell
that passed through it and plunged deeply
into another beyond, and everywhere little
hillocks covering the remains of the slain.
After an early breakfast we rode to Pitts-
burg Landing, and made the sketch seen
on page 263, and then, riding along the
greater portion of the lines of battle from
Lick Creek to Owl Creek, we visited the
site of Shiloh Meeting-house, made a drawing
of it, and again striking the Corinth road
at the ruins of widow Key's house, re-
turned to that village by way of Farming-
ton, where Paine and Marmaduke had a skirmish, 1 in time to take the after-
noon train to the scene of another battle, luka. Springs, twenty miles east-
ward.

EFFECTS OF A SHOT NEAR SHILOH MEETING-
HOUSE.

See page 292.

288

SITUATION OF THE TWO ARMIES.

CHAPTEE XI.

OPERATIONS IN SOUTHERN TENNESSEE AND NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA.

IEWING events in the light of fair analysis and com-
parison, it seems clear that a prompt and vigorous
pursuit of the Confederates from Shiloh would have
resulted in their capture or dispersion, and that the
campaign in the Mississippi Valley might have ended
within thirty days after the battle we have just con-
sidered. Within a few days afterward, the Lower
Mississippi, with the great city of New Orleans on
its banks, was in the absolute possession of the
National forces. Mitchel was holding a line of unbroken communication
across Northern Alabama, from Florence to the confines of East Tennessee ;
and the National gun-boats on the Mississippi were preparing, though at
points almost a thousand miles apart, to sweep victoriously over its waters,
brush away obstructions to navigation, and meet, perhaps, at Vicksburg, the
next " Gibraltar" of the Valley. Little was to be feared from troops coming
from the East. They could not be spared, for at that time General McClellan
was threatening Richmond with an immense force, and the National troops
were assailing the
strongholds of the Con-
federates all along the
Atlantic coast and the
waters of the Gulf of
Mexico.

Beauregard's army
was terribly smitten
and demoralized, and
he had sent an imploring
cry to Richmond for
immediate help. 1 The
way seemed wide open
for his immediate de-
struction; but the judgment of General Halleck, the commander of both

1 On the day after his arrival at Corinth, Beauregard forwarded a dispatch, written in cipher, to General
Cooper, at Richmond, saying he could not then number over 85,000 effective men, but that Van Dorn might join
him in a few days with about 15,000. He asked for re-enforcements, for, he said, u if defeated here, we lose the
Mississippi Valley, and probably our cause." This dispatch was intercepted by General Mitchel, at Huntsville,
f.nd gave, doubtless, a correct view of Beauregard's extreme weakness thirty-six hours alter he fled from Shiloh.

* This was the dwelling of Mr. Ford when the writer visited Corinth, late in April, 1866. It stood upon the
brow of a gentle slope in the northwestern suburbs of the village.

BBAUREGABD'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT CORINTH.*

VICTORY AND ITS FRUITS.

289

April.

Grant and Buell, counseled against pursuit, and for about three weeks the
combined armies of the Tennessee and Ohio, not far from seventy-five thou-
sand strong, rested among the graves of the loyal and the disloyal (who
fought with equal gallantry) on the field of Shiloh, while Beauregard,
encouraged by this inaction, was calling to his standard large re-enforcements,
and was casting up ai'ound the important post of Corinth a line oi fortifica-
tions not less than fifteen miles in extent.

Meanwhile the people everywhere had become acquainted with the true
outline history of the great battle of Shiloh, and began to perceive its sig-
nificance. Jefferson Davis, who, on the reception of Beauregard's
dispatch of Sunday evening, 8 had sent an exultant message to the A ^ 6 '
Confederate " Senate," 1 had reason to change his tone of triumph ;
while the orders that went out from the War and Navy Departments at
Washington* on the 9th, 4 for demonstrations of thanksgiving and
joy throughout the army and navy for the victories gained at Pea
Ridge, New Madrid, Island Number Ten, and Shiloh, and the proclamation
from the Executive Department recommending the same in the houses of
public worship through-
out the land, were not
stripped of their power
by the fingers of truth.
They were substantial
and most important
victories for the Govern-
ment, over which the
loyal people had reason
to rejoice. Yet the lat-
ter battle was a victory
that carried terrible
grief to the hearts of
thousands, for in the
fields and forests around
Shiloh hundreds of
loved ones were buried, and the hospital vessels that went down the
Tennessee with their human freight, carried scores of sick and wounded
soldiers who never reached their homes alive.

General Halleck arrived from St. Louis, his head-quarters, on the 12th
of April," and took command in person of the armies near Pitts-
burg Landing. He found General Grant busily engaged in prepa-

1 He told them that, from " official dispatches received from official sources," he was able to announce, " with
entire confidence," that it had "pleased Almighty God to crown the Confederate arms with a glorious and
lecisive victory, after a hard-fought battle often hours." He spoke in feeling terms of the death of Johnston,
nd of his loss as "irreparable."

9 The order from each Department directed that, on the Sunday next after receiving it, chaplains should offer
n each behalf a prayer, "giving thanks to the Lord of Hosts for the recent manifestations of His power, in tho
overthrow of rebels and traitors," and invoking a continuance of His aid in delivering the nation, " by nrms, from
,he horrors of treason, rebellion, and civil war."

The President recommended (April 10) to the people, at their "next weekly assemblage in their accustomed
places of public worship " which should occur after notice of his proclamation should be received, to especially
acknowledse and render thanks to " onr Heavenly Father for the inestimable blessings He had bestowed, and to
implore His continuance of the same;" also to implore Him to hasten the establishment of fraternal n-lations at
nome, and "among all the countries of the earth."

VOL. IL-19

CABIN OF A HOSPITAL STEAMER ON THE TENNESSEE RIVBB.

1862.

290 A FORWARD MOVEMENT CHECKED.

rations for an advance upon Corinth while Beauregard was comparatively
weak and disheartened, not doubting that it would be ordered on the arrival
of his chief. He had sent Sherman out in that direction with a body of
cavalry on the day after the battle, who skirmished some with horsemen of
Breckinridge's rear-guard and drove them, and who found a general hospital
with nearly three hundred sick and wounded in it. The roads, made miry
by the recent rains, were strewn with abandoned articles of every kind, testi-
fying to the precipitancy of the retreat. Sherman returned the same night,
and was sent up the Tennessee, accompanied by the gun-boats as far as East-
port, to destroy the Memphis and Charleston railway over Big Bear Creek,
between luka and Tuscumbia, and cut off Corinth from the latter place, where
Colonel Turchin had large supplies. This expedition was arranged before
Halleck arrived, and was successfully carried out, after which such demonstra-
tions ceased for a while. No movement of importance was again made toward
Corinth until about the first of May, when Monterey, nine or ten miles in
that direction, was occupied by National troops. General Pope
had arrived in the mean time," with the Army of Missouri, twenty-
five thousand strong, and these, with some regiments from Curtis,
in Arkansas, made Halleck's forces a little over one hundred thousand in
number.

General Mitchel, in the mean time, with his few troops and the cordial
assistance of the negroes, who acted as spies and informers, 1 had been holding
a hundred miles of the Memphis and Charleston railway, on Beauregard's
most important flank, tightly in his grasp. Turchin held Tuscumbia,* at the
western end of his line, until the 24th of April, when a Confederate force
advanced from Corinth, for the purpose of seizing his stores (one hundred
thousand rations, which had been sent to him by way of Florence), in such
strength that he was compelled to fly; but he carried away the coveted
property and fell back to Decatur, skirmishing on the way. He was yet hard
pressed, so, burning a part of his provisions (forty thousand rations), he fled
across the Tennessee River* at Decatur, his rear-guard under
Colonel Lytle firing the magnificent railway bridge that spanned
the stream at that place. 3 It was the only bridge over the Tennessee
between Florence and Chattanooga, excepting one at Bridgeport, eastward
of Stevenson, which was then the eastern extremity of Mitchel's occupation
of the railway.

At this time Mitchel's left was threatened by a considerable force under
General E. Kirby Smith, that came up from Chattanooga ; and the Confede-
rates were collecting here and there in his rear in alarming numbers. His
chief objective was now Chattanooga, from which point he might operate

1 General Mitchel informed the writer, Lite in the summer of that year, that he could not have held the rail-
way from Tuscumbia to Stevenson so long as he did. had it not been for the nssistance of the negroes. He
found, near Huntsville, an intelligent one who was a car[>enter. Having worked at his trade alonv the wholo
line of the railway then held, he knew trusty slaves on plantations all along its course, and of the Tennessee
River. He employed this man to organize, among his fellow-slaves, a l>nnd of informers, who should watch the
river and the railway, and report to him any hostile movements of the Confederates. To every man who should
give important information he offered freedom from slavery, among the rewards. They were faithful, and he
often checked incipient movements against his posts, in consequence of information received from these slaves.

9 See page 267.

1 That bridge, lyinz npon massive stone piers, was one of the finest of the kind in the South. It was not
yot rebuilt when the writer visited Dex:atur and crossed the Tennessee in a IVrry-boat late in April, 1S66

MITCHEL'S OPERATIONS. 291

against the great system of railways which connected the eastern and west-
ern portions of the Confederacy, and by their destruction or control to isolate
the active body of that organization beyond the mountains from the scheming
head at Richmond, and so paralyze its whole vitality. Mitchel proposed to
reach out from Chattanooga a helping hand to East Tennessee in destroying
the Confederate forces at Knoxville, Greenville, and Cumberland Gap ; and
another, as a destructive one, smiting the great founderies of the Confederates
at Rome, and breaking up the railway connection between Chattanooga and
Atlanta. Already a secret expedition for the latter purpose had been set on
foot ; and it was more important for Mitchel to extend his conquests to Chat-
tanooga than to hold the posts at Decatur and Tuscumbia. Accordingly,
when Colonel Turchin was driven from the latter place, Colonel Sill, at
Stevenson, was ordered to Bridgeport, in the direction of Chattanooga, at
which point a fine railway bridge crossed the Tennessee River.

When Turchin fled from Decatur, he was ordered to the support of Sill.
Lytle's brigade of Ohioans joined that leader on the 28th, between Steven-
son and Bridgeport, and, four miles from the latter place, a severe skirmish
occurred the next day." Mitchel, on hearing of the danger to his
left, had hastened thither to take command in person. The skir-
mish resulted favorably to the Nationals. The Confederates were
driven beyond the Tennessee, at Bridgeport, with a loss of sixty-three killed,
many wounded, and two pieces of cannon. They attempted to destroy the
great bridge 1 there, but failed. A detachment of Mitchel's troops crossed it
in pursuit, captured two cannon on the eastern side, and, pushing on as far
as Shell mound station, destroyed a Confederate saltpeter manufactory in
Nickajack Cave, at the base of the mountain, half a mile southward of the
railway. 1 Having secured the post at Bridgeport, Mitchel wrote to the
Secretary of War on the first of May,* "The campaign is ended,
and I now occupy Huntsville in perfect security, while in all
Alabama north of the Tennessee River floats no flag but that of the Union."

Let us now return to a consideration of events in the vicinity of Corinth.

General Halleck's army commenced a cautious forward movement on the
27th of April,' and on the 3d of May his advance, under Sher-
man, was in the vicinity of Monterey, within six or seven miles
of Beauregard's lines. It had been re-organized with the title of the Grand
Ann)/ of the Tennessee, and Grant was made his second in command. That
General's army was placed in charge of General George H. Thomas, and
composed the right wing. General Pope commanded the left, and General
Buell the center. The reserves, composed of his own and Wallace's divisions,
were in charge of General McClernand. The whole force now slowly
approaching Corinth, and cautiously casting up breastworks, numbered about
one hundred and eight thousand men.

Beauregard prepared to meet Halleck. He too had been re-enforced,
and his army was re-organized. Price and Van Dorn had arrived with a large

1 The river is there divided by an island, and the bridge was a long and important one, as it continued at a
considerable elevation over the island.

* This is a most remarkable cave, and has been explored for more than a mile. F<>r some distance from its
month it is spacious enonzh for a man to ride on horseback. This opening in the mountain is plainly visible
from the railway near Shelltnound station.

292

MOVEMENT TOWARD CORINTH.

i April 28,
1862.

body of Missouri and Arkansas troops ; and General Mansfield Lovell, who
had fled from New Orleans when Butler's troops and the National gun-boats
approached that city," had just arrived with his retreating force.
In addition to these, the army had been largely increased by
militia who had been sent forward from Alabama, Mississippi, and
Louisiana, the States immediately threatened with invasion. The organiza-
tion of the corps of Hardee, Polk, Breckinridge, and Bragg, was continued.
The whole number of Beauregard's troops was about sixty-five thousand.
Most of them were the best drilled and best tried fighting men in the Confed-
eracy. Bragg was Beauregard's second in rank, and commanded the Army
of the Mississippi. Van Dorn was placed at the head of the re-enforcements,
and Breckinridge of the reserves. The whole force was within intrenched
lines. 1 Such was the condition and position of the contending
armies on the 3d of May.*

On that day General Pope sent out Generals Paine and Palmer with
detachments 2 on a reconnoissance in force toward the hamlet of Farmington,
an outpost of the Confederates, about five miles northwest of Corinth, and
then in command of General Marmaduke, of Missouri. 3 His troops, about
forty-five thousand strong, were in the woods around the little log meeting-
house near the hamlet. Marmaduke
made very little resistance when
attacked, but fled to the lines at Cor-
inth, leaving as spoils for the victors
about thirty of his command slain and
a hundred wounded; also his camp,
with all its supplies, and two hundred
prisoners. The National loss was two
killed and eleven wounded. The cav-
alry and artillery pushed on to Glen-
dale, a little east of Corinth, and
destroyed the railway track and two
important trestle-bridges there. In the

mean time, General Wallace had sent out" Colonel Morgan L.
Smith, with three battalions of cavalry and a brigade of infantry,
upon the Mobile and Ohio railway, who fought the Confederates in a wood,
and destroyed an important bridge and the track not far from Purdy, by
which supplies and re-enforcements for Beauregard, at Jackson, Tennessee,
were cut off. 4

'- :^ '-^ '*"~- . -

FAKMINGTON MEETING-HOUSE.

' April 30.

1 These defense? were mostly along the brows of the first ridges outside of the villase of Corinth, extending
from the Memphis and Charleston railway on the east, and sweeping around northward, crossed the Mobile and
Ohio railway to the former road, about three miles westward of Corinth. See map of the battle-field, on page
294. At every road crossing there was a redoubt, or a battery with massive epaulements. Outside of these works
on the north were deep lines of abatis.

2 These troops were composed of the Tenth, Sixteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-seventh, Forty-second,
and Fifty-first Illinois volunteers; the Tenth and Sixteenth Michigan volunteers ; Tates's Illinois sharp-shoot-
ers; Houghtai ling's Illinois and Hezcock's Ohio batteries; and the Second Michigan cavalry.

3 See page 540, volume I.

* This was a timely movement, for, while the bridge was burning, an engine that had been sent up from
Corinth to help through three trains heavily laden with troops from Memphis, and hurrying forward by the longer
way of Humbolt and Jackson, because the direct road was of insufficient capacity at that time, came thundering
on. The Nationals, who lay in ambush, captured it, and ran it off at full speed into the ravine under the burn-
ing bridge. The re-enforcements for Beauregard were thus effectually cut off.

EVACUATION" OF CORINTH.

293

Pope left a brigade to hold Farmington and menace Beauregard's right.
Twenty thousand men, under Van Dora, fell upon them on the
9th," and drove them back. Eight days afterward, Pope re-occu- -Jo*? 1
pied the post with his whole force, and, at the same time, Sher-
man moved forward and menaced the Confederate left. On the 20th,
Halleck's whole army was engaged in regular siege-operations, casting up
field-work after field-work, so as to invest and approach Corinth, and at the
same time engaging in skirmishing with all arms, in force equal to that
employed in battles at the beginning of the war. Steadily the army moved
on, and, on the 28th, it was at an average distance of thirteen hundred yards
from Beauregard's works, with heavy siege-guns in position, and reconnois-
sances in great force in operation on flanks and center. In these the Con-
federates were driven back. On the following day, Pope expelled them from
their advance batteries, and Sherman planted heavy guns within a thousand
yards of Beauregard's left.

Hal leek expected a sanguinary battle the next morning,* and
prepared for it. He felt confident of success, and quite sure of
capturing or dispersing the whole Confederate army, for he had a greatly
superior force ; had cut Beauregard's railway communications on the north
and east of Corinth, and had sent Colonel Elliott on the night of the 27th
to strike the Mobile and Ohio railway in his rear.

Halleck's expectations were not realized. All night the vigilant ears of
his pickets and sentinels heard the continuous roar of moving cars at
Corinth, and reported accordingly. At dawn skirmishers were thrown out,
but no foe appeared. How strange ! Then the earth was shaken by a series
of explosions, and very soon heavy smoke rolled up from Corinth. What
did all this mean ? "I cannot explain it," said Halleck to an inquiry by
Sherman ; and then ordered that officer, to advance and " feel the enemy if
still in his front." This was done, but no enemy was found. Beauregard

i May 80.

CORINTH AFTER THE EVACUATION.

had entirely evacuated Corinth during the night. For two or three days
he had been sending toward Mobile his sick and his most valuable stores ;
and twenty-four hours before, he had sent away in the same direction a part
of his effective force, with nearly all of his ordnance. The rear-guard had
left for the south and west during the night, allowing many pickets, unsus-
picious of the movement, to be captured. They had blown up the magazines,
and fired the town, store-houses, and railway station ; and when
the Nationals entered* they found the smoldering ruins of many

' May 30.

294

BEAUREGARD'S FLIGHT.

dwellings, and warehouses filled with Confederate stores. Thus ended THE
SIEGE OF CORINTH ; and thus the boastful Beauregard, whose performances
generally fell far short of his promises, was utterly discomfited. 1 He
staggered at Shiloh and fell at Corinth.

The fugitives were pursued by the brave Gordon Granger from Farm-
ington to Guntown, on the Mobile and Ohio railway, a little more than forty
miles south of Corinth, and there the chase ended. Few captures were

made, excepting of
stragglers. The ex-
pedition of Colonel
Elliott, with his Iowa
cavalry, had not ma-
terially intercepted
Beauregard in his
flight, for he did not
strike the road until
two o'clock on the
morning of the 30th,
when the Confede-
rates were pressing
southward in force.
He destroyed much
property at Boonville,
and produced a panic,
but the raid had little
to do with the great
result, except to ex-
pedite it. 9

Beauregard collect-
ed his scattered troops
at Tupelo, on a tribu-
tary of the Tombig-
bee, in a strong posi-
tion, and on the 13th of June reported to head-quarters at Richmond that he
was "doing all practicable to organize for defensive operations." He soon
afterward turned over his army temporarily to General Bragg, and sought

1 Bcauresard had issued the following address to his combined army on the 8th of May: ^ Soldi tm cf
Sliiloh and Elkhorn :* We are about to meet once more in the shock of battle the invaders of our soil, the
despoilers of our homes, the disturbers of our family ties, face to face, hand to hand. We are to decide whether
we are freemen, or vile slaves of those who are only free in name, and who but yesterday were vanquished,
although in largely superior numbers, in their own encampments, on the ever-memorable field of Shiloh. Let
the impending battle decide our fate, and add a more illustrious page to the history of our revolution one to
which our children will point with noble pride, saying, 'Our fathers were at the battle of Corinth.' I congratu-
late you on your timely junction. With our mingled banners, for the first time during the war, we shall meet
our foe in strength that should give us victory. Soldiers, can the result be doubtful ? Shall we not drive buck
to Tennessee the presumptuouscnercenaries collected for our subjugation? One more manly effort, and. trust-
ing in God and the justness of our cause, we shall recover more than we lately lost. Let the sound of our vic-
torious guns be re-echoed by those of Virginia on the historic battle-field at Yorktown. v t

8 Colonel Elliott's movement, without doubt, hastened Beauregard's departure. When it became known to
that General, a train of box and flat cars, with flying artillery and 5,000 infantry, were kept running up and down
the road continually, to prevent Elliott's reaching it. lie struck it at Boonville, at a little past midnight on the

THE SIEGE OF CORIlfTH.

The Confederates, us we have observed, called the
\ It to happened that the Confederate! had fled f on

:onflict between Curtis and Vi
Yorktown, before McCle'ln,

!\ Dorn, at Pe-v Ridpe, the Battle of Elkhorn.
)n the day this address wns issued.

CHANGE OF COMMANDERS.

295

HALLECK'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT COKIXTII.*

repose and health for a few days at Bladen Springs, in Alabama. Jef-
ferson Davis, whose will was law in the Confederacy, on hearing of this,
directed Bragg, his favorite, to take permanent command of that army, and
he "passionately declared" that Beauregard should not be reinstated,
" though all the world should urge him to the measure." 1 This was a for-
tunate circumstance for the National cause.

Although the possession of Corinth was of great military importance,
and the news of it was hailed with delight by the loyalists, it could not be
considered a victory, in
its proper sense. The
Confederate army had
escaped, with its can-
non and most of its
stores, thereby frustra-
ting and deranging the
plans of Halleck ; and
it was soon again ready
for offensive opera-
tions. This result was
charged to Halleck's
tardiness; and experts
declared their belief
that, if he had remain-
ed in St. Louis a week
longer, Grant, left free to act, would have captured Beauregard's army, sup-
plies, and munitions of war.

After the evacuation of Corinth, no military operations of importance
were undertaken by the Grand Army of the Tennessee while General Halleck
was in personal command of it. The Confederate fortifications at Corinth
were much weaker than Halleck supposed, and Avere indeed unworthy of
Beauregard, whose skill as an engineer was acknowledged by all. These
Halleck proceeded to strengthen for defense, and as the heat of summer
would make the Tennessee River too shallow for transportation for his sup-
plies, the railways leading to Columbus from Corinth were put in order. A
portion of the army was picketed along the railway between luka and
Memphis ; and General Buell was sent with the Army of the Ohio toward
Chattanooga, where the active Mitchel was keeping General E. Kirby Smith,
the Confederate commander in East Tennessee, in a state of continual alarm for
the safety of his department. Mitchel begged Buell to march the combined
forces into East Tennessee, but the more cautious General declined to do so. 1

80th, destroyed the switch, track, depot, locomotives, twenty-six cars filled with supplies, 10,000 small arms,
three pieces of artillery, and a large quantity of clothing and ammunition. He also captured and paroled 2,000
sick and convalescent soldiers, whom he found in a very suffering condition.

1 Notes of an interview of a "Congressional Committee" with Davis, who requested the restoration of
Beauregard, nited by General Jordan, in Harper 's Magazine, xxxi., 616. While Beauregard was at Bladen, he
wrote a letter to the Confederate General Martin, in which he expressed a coincidence of opinion with ' Stone-
wall Jackson," that the time had come for raising the black flag in other words, giving no quarter but killing
every foe, armed or disarmed, in battle. " I believe," 1 he said, "it is the only thing that will prevent recruiting
at the North.'' See The Weekly Reginter, Lynchburg, Virginia, April 16, 1864.

2 This was the dwelling of Mr. Symington when the writer visited Corinth, late in April, 1S66. It was one
of the houses in the suburbs of the village that survived the war.

3 Oral statemert of General Mitchel to the author, in August, 1S62.

296 OPPOSING FLEETS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

McClernand's reserve corps, employed in keeping open communication
with the Tennessee River, was now broken up, and General Wallace was
sent to preserve and protect the Memphis and Ohio railway between Hum-
bolt and the City of Memphis. He made his head-quarters at the latter
place ; and very soon afterward Halleck was called to Washington, to occupy
the important position of General-in-Chief of all the armies of the Republic
in the place of McClellan, leaving General Thomas at Corinth, and General
Grant again in command of his old army, and Avith enlarged powers.

We have just observed that Wallace made his head-quarters in Memphis.
How came that city, one of the Confederate strongholds, and most impor-
tant posts, to be in possession of the Nationals ? Let us see.

We left Commodore Foote and his fleet, after the capture of Island
Number Ten, ready, at New Madrid, 1 for an advance down the Mississippi
River. This was soon begun, with General Pope's army on transports.
Memphis was the main object of the expedition ; but above it were several
formidable fortifications to be passed. 2 The first of these that was encountered
was Fort Wright (then named Fort Pillow), on the first Chickasaw bluff,
about eighty miles above Memphis, and then in command of General Yille-
pigue, a Creole of New Orleans, who was educated at West Point as an
engineer. He was regarded as second only to Beauregard. His fort was a
very strong one, and the entire works occupied a line of seven miles in cir-
cumference. There Memphis was to be defended from invasion by the river
from above. Jeff. Thompson was there, with about three thousand troops,
and Hollins had collected there a considerable flotilla of gun-boats.

The siege of Fort Pillow was begun by Foote with his mortar-boats on
the 14th of April, and he soon drove Hollins to shelter below the fort. Gen-
eral Pope, whose troops had landed on the Arkansas shore, was unable to
co-operate, because the country was overflowed ; and, being soon called by
Halleck to Shiloh, Foote was left to prosecute the work alone. Finally, on
the 9th of May, the painfulness of his ankle, because of the wound received
at Fort Donelson, compelled him to leave duty, and he was succeeded in
command by Captain C. H. Davis, whose important services with Dupont
at Port Royal we have already observed. 8

Hollins, meanwhile, had reformed his flotilla, and early in the morning

of the 10th" he swept around Point Craighead, on the Arkansas

shore, with armored steamers. Several of them were fitted with

strong bows, plated with iron, for pushing, and were called " rams."

Davis's vessels were then tied up at the river banks, three on the eastern and

four on the western side of the stream.

Hollins's largest gun-boat (Melted), finished with a sharp iron prow,
started for the mortar-boat No. 16, when its commander, Acting-master
Gregory, made a gallant fight, firing his single mortar no lees than eleven
times. 4 The gun-boats Cincinnati and Mound City, lying not far off", came

1 See page 248.

2 These were Fort Osceola, on Plum Point, on the Arkansas shore; Fort Wright, on the first Chicknsaw
bluff; Fort Harris, nearly opposite Island Number Forty, and Fort Pillow, just above Memphis. Fort Pillow was
named in honor of the Confederate General; Fort Wright in honor of Colonel Wright, of the Tennessee troops,
who cast up fortifications there a year before; and Fort Harris after the fugitive Governor of Tennessee.

3 See page 117.

4 The engines of the McRta were protected by railway iron, and other parts were shielded by bales cf

BATTLE AT FORT WRIGHT.

297

to his assistance. The McRea then turned upon the former with great fury,
striking her port quarter, and making a large hole. The Cincinnati gave
the rain a broadside, when the latter drew off, struck the gun-boat again on
her starboard side, making an ugly wound. The assailed vessel gave its
antagonist another broadside, when the ram Van.Dorn, that now came up,
struck her in the stern. The Mound City hastened to help her companion,
and as she bore down she hurled a heavy shot at the McRea, which dis-
mounted its bow gun, which was about to be discharged at her. Seeing this,
another ram (the Sumter) hastened to the support of the McRea, and, in
spite of two broadsides from the Mound City, she pressed on and struck the
bow of the latter vessel with such force, that a breach was made in her
through which the water poured in large streams. The Sumter was about
to strike its victim again, when the gun-boat Benton gave her a broadside
with telling effect.

The Confederate gun-boats were lying on the Tennessee shore, mean-
while, and firing at the National vessels every few minutes, while the how-
itzers of Fort Pillow were throwing shells, but without effect. Finally, the
Benton sent a shell that pierced the McRea. Hot steam instantly enveloped
the vessel, killing and scalding many of its people, and causing its flag to be
struck in token of surrender. The conflict, which had continued for an hour,
now ceased. The McRea floated away and escaped; the Cincinnati and
Mound City were too much injured to give chase, and the former soon sunk
to the bottom of the Mississippi. The Union loss in the engagement was
four men wounded. That of the Confederates was said to have been heavy,
especially on the McRea, by the steam. Among the wounded was Captain
Stembel, of the Cincinnati, very severely, a ball having entered his body at
the right shoulder, and passing out at his throat.

For more than three weeks the two
flotillas lay off Fort Pillow, watching
each other, and in the mean time that
of Davis had been re-enforced by a
" ram " squadron under Colonel
Charles Ellet, Jr., the eminent civil
engineer, who built the Niagara
Suspension Bridge. He had recom-
mended the use of such vessels, and
had been constructing them under
the authority of the Secretary of
War. 1 But when, with this addition,
the National fleet was ready for
another trial of strength, at the be-
ginning of June, there was no foe to
encounter at Fort Pillow. The flight

CIIABLES ELLET.

cotton, behind which there was a large number of Jeff. Thompson's sharp-shooters, to pick off the officers of the
National vessels. The " rams " proper were protected by cotton and filled with sharp-shooters, yet it was seldom
that a man appeared on their decks.

1 These vessels were river boats, some with stern wheels and some with side wheels, whose bows were
strengthened by the addition of heavy timber, and covered with plates of iron. Their chief business was to
destroy vessels by powerful collision. Their average cost to the Government was between $25,000 and $30,000
each.

298 NAVAL BATTLE BEFORE MEMPHIS.

of Beauregard from Corinth had filled the garrison with alarm, and on the
night of the 4th" they evacuated that post in great haste, leaving
every thing behind them, blowing up their magazines, and burning
their barracks and stores. The National standard was hoisted over the works
the next morning. The fugitives went down the river in transports, accom-
panied by the Confederate fleet. Fort Randolph was also evacuated, and
Colonel Ellet, whose ram fleet was in advance of the now pursuing flotilla,
raised the flag over that stronghold likewise.* The same evening
the flotilla of gun-boats 1 anchored at about a mile and a half above
Memphis, and the ram fleet 2 a little farther up the river. The Confederate
fleet, 3 now commanded by " Commodore " Montgomery, in place of Hollins,
was then lying on the Arkansas shore, opposite Memphis, with steam up,
and ready for action.

At dawn on the morning of the 6th," the National vessels,

June.

with the Cairo in the advance, moved slowly toward the Con-
federate fleet, in battle order. When within long range, the Little Rebel
hurled a shot from her rifled cannon at the Cairo, to which the latter
answered by a broadside. So the conflict was opened in front of the popu-
lous city of Memphis, whose inhabitants, suddenly aroused from repose,
quickly covered the bluffs and roofs as most anxious spectators of what soon
became a severe naval battle. This was waged for a time between the gun-
boats, when two of the Confederate rams {Beauregard and Price) pushed
swiftly forward to engage in the affray. The watchful Colonel Ellet saw this
movement, and instantly took a position in front of the gun-boats with his
flag- vessel, the ram Queen of the West, followed by the ram Monarch, Cap-
tain Dryden. They both made for the two Confederate rams, when the
latter, unwilling to fight, tried to get away. The Queen dashed first at the
Beauregard (which opened fire), and missed her, but was more successful in
chasing the Price. She struck the wheel-house of that vessel with her iron
prow, crushing it, and so damaging the hull that she was compelled to run
for the Arkansas shore, to avoid sinking in deep water. The Beauregard
now turned furiously upon the Queen, when both vess*els rushed toward each
other at full speed. The skillful pilot of the former so managed his vessel
as to avoid a blow from the latter, but gave one to the Queen so heavily
that she was disabled. Her consort, the Monarch, hastened to her relief.
Cashing at the Beauregard, she stove in her bow, and caused her to sink in
the space of a few minutes, but in water so shallow that her upper works
were above it. A white flag waved over the ruined vessel, and the fight of
the terrible rams ceased. The Monarch found the Queen in the midst of the
smoke, badly wounded, and towed her to a place of safety at the shore.

The National gun-boats continued pressing hard upon those of the Con-
federates, which were steadily falling back. A conquering blow was soon
given by the Benton, whose 50-pound rifled Parrott gun hurled a ball at the

1 Benton, Captain Phelps; Carondelet, Captain Walke; kt. Louis, Lieutenant-commanding McGonigle;
Louisville, Captain Dove; Cairo, Lieutenant Bryant.

' These consisted of the Monarch Queen of the West, Lioness, Switzerland, Mingo, Lancaster Xo. 3,
Fulton, Hornet, and Samson, all under the general command of Colonel Ellet.

3 It consisted of the General Van Dorn (Hoilins's flagship), General Price, General Bragg, General
LoveH, Little Rebel, Jeff. Thompson, Sumter, and General Benuregard.

CAPTURE OF MEMPHIS.

299

Z/o veil with such precision and effect that she was made a wreck in an instant,
and besran to sink. In less than four minutes she went to the bottom of the

Mississippi, where the water was seventy-five feet in depth. A greater por-
tion of the officers and crew of the Lovell went down with her, or were
drowned before help could reach them. The battle continued only a short
time after this, when the Confederates, having only four vessels afloat
(Thompson, Bragg , Sumter, and Van Darn), and these badly injured, made
for the shore, Avhere they abandoned all their craft but one, and fled for life
and liberty. The Van Dorn escaped down the river, the sole survivor of
the Confederate fleet. Not a man had been killed on board the National
gun-boats during the action. What the Confederate loss was, iu killed and
wounded, is not known. About one hundred of them were made captives.

Jeff. Thompson, then in command in Memphis, after providing for the
safe flight of his troops, had stood upon the bluff and watched the strange
naval battle. When he saw his friends vanquished, he galloped away and
joined his retreating troops.

The National fleet was now
drawn up in front of Memphis,
and Commodore Davis sent a
request to the Mayor of the city
to surrender it. That officer
(John Park 1 ) replied, that, as the
civil authorities had no means
for defense, the city was in his
hands. The National flag had
already been raised there.
Colonel Ellet, at the conclusion
of the ram fight, informed that
a white flag was waving in the

O O

city, approached the shore on his vessel, and sent his son, Charles R. Ellct,
with a message to the Mayor, saying, that the bearer would place the
National ensign on the Custom-house and Post-office, " as evidence of the
return of the city to the care and protection of the Constitution." The
Mayor made a reply to this note, substantially the same as that to Com-
modore Davis ; and young Ellet^ with Lieutenant Crankell, of the Fifty-
ninth Illinois, and two men of the boat-guard, unfurled the Stripes and Stars
over the Post-office, in the midst of an excited and threatening populace.

Immediate military possession of Memphis followed the reply of Mayor
Park to Commodore Davis, and Colonel Fitch, of the Forty-sixth Indiana,
was appointed Provost-marshal. So it was that General Wallace, of Grant's
army, was permitted to enter and occupy Memphis without resistance. His
advent was hailed with joy by the Indiana regiment there and the Union
citizens, for they were not strong enough to repress the secessionists, or guard
the city against the incursions of Jeff. Thompson's guerrillas.

All Kentucky, Western Tennessee, and Northern Mississippi and Alabama
were now in the possession of the National authorities, and it was confidently
expected that East Tennessee would almost immediately be in the same

ELLET'S STERN-WHEEL RAM.

1 Sec page 249.

300 EXPEDITIONS SEXT OUT BY MITCHEL.

position. When General Buell joined Mitchel, after the close of the siege of
Corinth, the latter, as we have observed, urged that officer to march directly
into the great valley between the Cumberland and Alleghany Mountains, by
way of Chattanooga and Cleveland, for it then seemed an easy matter to do
so. Buell would not consent, and again East Tennessee, made confident of
speedy liberation by so large an army on its borders, was doomed to bitter
disappointment, and the endurance of still greater afflictions than it had yet
suffered.

Although Mitchel had assured the Secretary of War" that his
"^gL 1 ' campaign was ended, 1 and that he occupied Huntsville in perfect
security, he was not idle nor less vigilant than before. He not
only watched, but worked, and scouts and raiders were continually out on
special duties, the chief object being to keep danger from his rear, and the
door open into East Tennessee and Northern Georgia. Colonels Turchin and
Lytle were sent northward along the line of the Nashville and Decatur rail-
way, while General Negley was operating in that vicinity, and farther east-
ward, dispersing the Confederate forces at various points. On the 1 3th of
May, the latter went out from Pulaski on that railway, and, supported by
Colonel Lytle, at Athens below, drove a gathering force of Confederates from
Rogersville, in Alabama, across the Tennessee River. 9

Later, Colonel Turchin, who was at Athens, was attacked by Confede-
rates* and driven away. In the assault and pursuit, many of the
citizens of that village joined. With re-enforcements Turchin
returned, and drove the Confederate troops out of the town, when his exas-
perated soldiers sacked and pillaged the houses of secessionists there, because
of their active complicity in the hostile movements. For this Colonel Turchin
was tried by a court martial, and acquitted. He was promoted to brigadier-
general while the investigation was going on.

On the same day, 4 General Negley, who, in a forced march of

'June 4. , -, ,. , i V

twenty miles, had climbed over an almost impassable mountain,
northeastward of Stevenson, surprised a Confederate camp of cavalry under
General Adams at its foot, at a place called Sweeden's Cove, on the road
between Winchester and Jasper, and drove them from it. After a very
severe skirmish near Jasper, in which Colonel Hambright led the Nationals,
the Confederates were routed and dispersed, leaving as spoils their ammu-
nition and commissary wagons with supplies ; also arms scattered along the
pathway of their flight, and twelve prisoners. Adams escaped without his
hat, sword, or horse, borrowing one of the latter from a negro on which to
fly. Negley lost two killed and seven wounded. 3

But one of the most important of the expeditions sent out by Mitchel,
and, indeed, one of the most daring of the war, was the secret one, already
alluded to, sent to break up the railway between Chattanooga and Atlanta.
This expedition was composed of twenty-two picked men, 4 led by J. J.
Andrews, who had been for several months in the secret service under

1 See page 291. * Reports of Generals Mitchel and Negley, May 14th and ISth, 1862.

3 Report of General Negley to General Mitchel, June 4, 1862.

4 Two of -these (Andrews and Campbell) were civilians, and citizens of Kentucky ; the remainder were,
soldiers, selected from the Second, Twenty -first, and Thirty-third Ohio regiments of volunteers, Sill's brigade.
Their names were as follows : J. J. Andrews, William Campbell, George I). Wilson, Marion A. Ross, Perry G.

RAID ON A GEORGIA RAILWAY. 301

General Buell. He had proposed the expedition to Buell at Nashville, and
that officer directed General Mitchel, then at Murfreesboro, to furnish him
with the means for carrying it out. 1 Mitchel did so with alacrity, for it
promised to be of vast service to him in executing his designs against the
Confederates beyond the Tennessee River ; and that band of young men left
in detachments on their perilous errand at about the time when that daring
general commenced his march for Alabama. They passed within the Con-
federate lines at Wartrace, on the Nashville and Chattanooga railway,
thirteen miles from Murfreesboro, traveling on foot as Confederate citizens
making their way from oppression in Kentucky to freedom in Georgia. In
this disguise they went over the rugged Cumberland mountains. Most of
them met at Chattanooga, on the day that Mitchel took possession
of Huntsville." Some, who had arrived sooner, had gone by rail-
way to Marietta, in Georgia, the 'final rendezvous of the party
before commencing operations. On the same evening the whole party were
at the latter place.

The designated point at which to begin their bold raid on the Georgia
State road was at Big Shanty, eight miles above Marietta, and a short dis-
tance from the foot of the Great Kenesaw Mountain, where several regiments
of Confederate troops were stationed. With an early train the next morn-
ing, all but two of the party, who were accidentally left behind, started for
that place. While the conductor and engineer were at breakfast, the raiders
uncoupled the engine and three empty box-cars from the passenger cars, and
started at full speed up the road, 2 leaving behind them wonderers who could
scarcely believe the testimony of their own eyes. On they went with the
fleetness of the wind, answering all questions satisfactorily, where they were
compelled to stop, with the assurance that it was a powder-train for Beaure-
gard. After going five miles on their journey, they cut the telegraph wires
and picked up about fifty cross-ties. Before reaching Adamsville, at a curve
on the summit of a high embankment, they tore up the rails of the road, and
placed some of the ties in such position on the bank that a passing train was
hurled off and down the precipice. At this point Andrews said, exultingly,
" Only one more train to pass, boys, and then we will put our engine to full
speed, burn the bridges after us, dash through Chattanooga, and on to
Mitchel at Huntsville."

But more than one train had to be passed before they could commence
their destructive work ; and just as they had begun it, well up toward Cal-
houn, they were made to desist and flee by the sound of the whistle of a pur-
suing train. When this came to the break in the road just mentioned, the
engineer of the train they had passed, made acquainted with the circum-
stances, reversed his engine, and it became a pursuer. Then occurred one
of the most thrilling races on record. Both engines were put at full speed,
and away they went, thundering along, to the amazement of the inhabitants,

Shadrack, Samuel Slavens, Samuel Robinson, John Scott, W. W. Brown, William Knight, J. R. Porter. Mark
Wood, J. A. Wilson, M. J. Hawkins, John Wollam, D. A. Dorsey, Jacob Parrott, Robert Buffum, William
Bensinger, William Reddick, E. H. Mason, William Pettinger.

1 Letter of General Buell to the adjutant-general, Angust, 1S63.

3 Andrews, the leader, W. W. Brown, and William Knight, had taken position on the locomotive ; Brown
being the engineer, while J. A. Wilson, mounted on one of the box-cars, acted as brakesman.

302 CAPTUEE AND EXECUTION OF EAIDERS.

who had no conception of the urgency of the errand of both. That of the
pursued, having the less burden, was fleetest, but its time was consumed by
stopping to cut telegraph wires and tear up rails. The latter, and also ties,
were cast upon the track ; but very soon the pursuers were too close to allow
the pursued to do this, or to allow them to take in a supply of fuel and water.
Their lubricating oil became exhausted; and, such was the speed of the
machine, that the brass journals on which the axles revolved were melted.
Fuel failing, the fugitives despaired ; and, when within fifteen miles of Chat-
tanooga, Andrews ordered them to leave the train, and every man to seek
his own safety. They jumped from the train while it was in
motion, and fled for shelter to the tangled forests of Georgia,
around the sinuous Chickamaujja Creek."

Notice of this chase had been telegraphed to Chattanooga, and produced
great consternation. A stupendous man-hunt was at once organized. Re-
wards were offered ; every ford, ferry, cross-road, and mountain pass was
picketed ; and thousands of horsemen and foot soldiers and citizens, and
several blood-hounds, scoured the country in all directions. The whole party
were finally captured and imprisoned; and thus ended one of the most
adventurous incidents in history. 1 Twelve of them, after, being confined at
Chattanooga, were taken to Knoxville for trial, and kept in the iron cages
there in which Brownlow and his friends had suffered, in the county jail.*
Andrews, the leader, soon afterward escaped from the prison at Chattanooga,
but, after intense suffering on the shores and little islands of the Tennessee
River, was re-captured, taken to Atlanta with eight of his comrades, and

was there hanged without trial. Seven
of those who were taken to Knoxville
had been tried by a court-martial as
spies, when the cannon of General
Mitchel, thundering near Chattanooga,
broke up the court, and the prisoners,
against whom there was not a particle
of evidence to support the charge,
were soon afterward conveyed to At-
lanta. After a brief confinement, the
seven who had been arraigned at
Knoxville were taken out and hanged.
Eight of those bold and patriotic young

ENTRANCE TO THE CAVE. ,1 ,-1 -i ., .

men thus gave their lives to their

country. 8 Eight of their companions afterward escaped from confinement,
and six were exchanged as prisoners of war in March, 1863. To each of the
survivors of that raid, the Secretary of War afterward presented a medal
of honor. 4 "When the writer visited tue National cemetery at Chatta-

1 The adventure commanded the admiration of both parties. "It was the deepest laid scheme, and on the
grandest scale, 11 said an Atlanta newspaper, on the 15th of April, l; that ever emanated from the brains of any
number of Yankees." Judge Holt, in an official report, said: ''The expedition, in the daring of its conception,
had the wildness of a romance, while, in the gigantic and overwhelming results it sought, and was likely to
accomplish, it was absolutely sublime."

3 See page 37.

8 These were, Andrews, Campbell, O. T). Wilson, lloss, Shadrack, Stevens, Robinson, and Scott.

4 This medal was precisely like that presented to naval heroes. Instead of an anchor at the connective
between the medal and the ribbon, there was an eagle surmounting crossed cannon, and some balls.

BATTLE AT CHATTANOOGA.

nooga, in May, 1866, he saw, in the cave that forms the receiving vault, 1
seven coffins, containing the remains of the seven young men who were
hanged at Atlanta, and which had lately been brought from that city for
re-interment. 8

Before General Buell's arrival, General Mitchel had made an effort to
seize Chattanooga. His force was too small to effect it, for Kirby Smith, com-
manding the Confederates in East Tennessee, was skillful, active, and watch-
ful. Mitchel had asked for re-enforcements, but they were not afforded.
Finally, General Xegley, three days after his successful attack on Adams,
near Jasper, having made his way rapidly over the rugged ranges of the
Cumberland Mountains, suddenly appeared opposite Chattanooga. It was on
the morning of the 7th of June when he arrived. Toward evening he

o o

had heavy guns in position; and for two hours he cannonaded the town
and the Confederate works on Cameron's Hill and at its base. The guns of
his enemy were silenced ; and that night the inhabitants fled from the town.
During the darkness Smith was re-enforced, and some of his infantry took
positions to annoy Negley greatly. The latter opened his batteries again at
nine o'clock, and before noon the Confederates had all been driven from the
town and their works, and had commenced burning railway bridges, east-
ward of Chattanooga, to impede a pursuit. Considering the inferiority of
his numbers, and the approach of re-enforcements for Smith, Negley prudently
withdrew. Reporting to the military governor of Tennessee, he said, " The
Union people in East Tennessee are wild with joy."

Here, it now seems, was presented a golden moment in which to accom-
plish great results, but it was not improved. With a few more regiments, -
Negley might have captured and held Chattanooga ; and Buell and Mitchel
could doubtless have marched into East Tennessee with very little resist-
ance, and so firmly established the National power there that it might not
have been broken during the remainder of the war. But General Buell would
not consent to such movement, even when the thunder of Negley's cannon
at Chattanooga made the Confederates in all that region so fearful, that they
were ready to abandon every thing at the first intimation of an advance of
their adversary. See how precipitately they fled from Cumberland Gap,
their " Gibraltar of the mountains," and the fortified heights around it, when,
ten days after the assault on Chattanooga, General George W. Morgan, with
a few Ohio and Kentucky troops, marched against it" from
Powell's Valley. Twenty miles his soldiers traveled that day, * J j8it^
climbing the Cumberland Mountains, dragging their cannon up
the precipices by block and tackle, and skirmishing all the way without
losing a man. They were cheered by rumors that the foe had fled. At sunset
they were at the main works, and the flags of the Sixteenth Ohio and
Twenty-second Kentucky were floating over those fortifications in the
twilight. The Confederate rear-guard had departed four hours before ; and
the whole force had fled so hastily that they left almost every thing behind
them. They had been supplied with food chiefly by plunderers of the Union

1 This cave nml the National cemetery will be considered hereafter.

2 For a minute account of the daring adventures of Andrews and his party of young soldiers, see a well-
written volume from the pen of one of them (Lieutenant William Pettinger, of the Second Ohio), entitled. Dar-
ing and Sn/ering: A History of the Great Fnilroad Adrenture.

304

CAPTURE OF CUMBERLAND GAP.

people. They saw a prospect of a sudden cessation of that supply, so they
fled while a way of escape was yet open.

The cautious Buell and the fiery Mitchel did not work well together, and
the latter was soon called to Washington City and assigned to the command
of the Department of the South, with his head-quarters at Hilton Head,
leaving his troops in the West in charge of General Rousseau. For a short

OTMBEBLAND GAP AND ITS DEPKNDBNCIES.

time afterward there was a lull in the storm of war westward of the
Alleghany Mountains, but it was the precursor of a more furious tempest.
During that lull, let us observe and consider events on the Atlantic coast,
along the northern shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and on the Lower Missis-
sippi.

1 Cumberland Gap is a cleft in the Cumberland Mountains, five hundred feet in depth, and only -wide enouch
at the bottom in some places for a roadway. It forms the principal door of entrance to southeastern Kentucky
from the great valley of East Tennessee, and during the war was a position of great military importance. 1:
was very strongly fortified by the Confederates at the beginning of the contest, and supporting works were con-
structed on all of the neighboring heights. The relative position of these, their names, and a general outline of
the mountains at the Gap, and in the vicinity, are seen in the above topographical sketch, by Dr. B. Howard, of
the United States Army, from the western side. A email force, well provisioned, might have held the Gup
against an Immense army.

EXPLANATION. A, Fort State corner; B, a fort not named; C, Fort Colonel Churchill; I>, the Gap; E, Fort
Colonel Rains; F, Fort Colonel Mallory; G. G, G, G, stockades and rifle-pits; I, Lewis's Gap; L, Fort Colonel
Hunter; M, Kentucky road through the Gap; O, Baptists' Gan; P. Earthworks then recently constructed.

EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW BERNE. 305

CHAPTER XII,

OPERATIONS ON THE COASTS OF THE ATLANTIC AND THE GULF OF MEXICO.

E left General Burnside in Albemarle Sound, after the cap-
ture of Roanoke Island and the operations at Elizabeth
City, Edenton, and Plymouth, 1 preparing for other conquests
on the North Carolina coast. For that purpose he con-
centrated his forces, with the fleet now in command of
Commodore Rowan (Goldsborough having been ordered
to Hampton Roads), at Hatteras Inlet. New Berne, the
capital of Craven County, at the confluence of the rivers Trent and Neuse,
was his first object of attack. 8

The land and naval forces left Hatteras Inlet on the morning of the 12th
of March," and at sunset the gun-boats and transports anchored
off" the mouth of Slocum's Creek, about eighteen miles from New
Berne, where Burnside had determined to make a landing. His troops
numbered about fifteen thousand. The landing was begun at seven o'clock
the next morning,* under cover of the gun-boats ; and so eager 4 ^^^
were the men to get ashore, that many, too impatient to wait for
the boats, leaped into the water, waist deep, and waded to the land. Then
they pushed on in the direction of New Berne, in a copious rain, dragging
their heavy cannon, 3 with great difficulty and fatigue, through the wet clay,
into which men often sank knee deep. The head of the column was within
a mile and a half of the Confederate works at sunset, when it halted and
bivouacked. During the night the remainder of the army came up in
detachments hour after hour, meeting no resistance. The gun-boats mean-
while had moved up the river abreast the army, the flag-ship Delaware lead-
ing. A shore-battery opened upon her at four o'clock in the afternoon, but
was soon quieted by her reply.

The main body of the Confederates, under the command of General
Branch, consisted of eight regiments of infantry and five hundred cavalry,
with three batteries of field-artillery of six guns each. These occupied a line
of intrenchments extending more than a mile from near the river across the
railway, supported by another line, on the inland flank, of rifle-pits and
detached intrenchments in the form of curvettes and redans, for more than
a mile, and terminating in a two-gun redoubt. On the river-bank and cover-

1 See Chapter VI. pages 170 to 175, inclusive.

2 New Berne was a poiiff of much military importance. It was near the head of an extensive and navigable
arm of the sea. and was connected by railway with Beaufort harbor at Morehead City, and Ealeigh, the capital
of the Stole.

* Among them were six naval howitzers that Rowan put ashore, under Lieutenant R. 3. McCook, to assist
in the attack.

YOL. II. 20

306 BATTLE OF NEW BEROTL

ing their left was Fort Thompson, four miles from New Berne, armed with
thirteen heavy guns ; and other works and appliances, prepared by good
engineering skill, for the defense of the river-channel against the passage of
gun-boats, were numerous. 1

At daylight on the morning of the 14th," the army moved forward in
three columns, under Generals Foster, Reno, and Parke. A heavy

^ * a y * r a s ^ ort ti me u P on the l an( l an( i water, but it was
soon dissipated. Foster, with the first brigade, marched up the
main country road to attack Fort Thompson and the Confederate left. Reno,
with the second brigade, followed nearer the line of the railway, to fall upon
their right ; and Parke, with the third brigade, kept such position that he
might attack their front or assist the other two brigades.

Foster began battle at eight o'clock. 8 At the same time Reno pushed on
toward the Confederate right flank, while Parke took position on their front.
Foster was supported on his left by the boat-howitzers, manned by Lieuten-
ants McCook, Hammond, Daniels, and Tillotson, with marines and a detach-
ment of the Union Coast Guard. Before the Confederate center was placed
a 12-pounder steel cannon, under Captain Bennett, of the Cossack, who
was assisted in its management by twenty of that ship's crew ; and on the
left of the insurgents was Captain Dayton's battery, from the transport
Highlander.

Foster's brigade bore the brunt of the battle for about four hours. In
response to his first gun, the assailed ran up the Confederate flag with a
shout, and opened a brisk fire which soon became most severe. There was a
hard struggle for the position where their intrenchments crossed the railway,
and in this the Second Massachusetts and Tenth Connecticut were con-
spicuous. General Parke gave support to Foster until it was evident that
the latter could sustain himself, when the former, with his whole brigade
excepting the Eleventh Connecticut, Colonel Mathews, went to the support of
Reno in his flank movement, which that officer was carrying on with success.
After he had fought about an hour, he ordered the Twenty-first Massachu-
setts, Colonel Clark, to charge a portion of the Confederate works. It dashed
forward at the double-quick, accompanied by General Reno in person, and in
a few moments was within the intrenchments, from which it was as speed-
ily driven by two of Branch's regiments. This was followed by a charge of
the Fourth Rhode Island upon a battery of five guns in its front, supported
by rifle-pits. The battery was captured, the National flag was unfurled
over it, and its occupants and supporters were driven pell-mell far away

1 A little below Fort Thompson was Fort Dixie, four guns. Between Fort Thompson and the city were
Forts Brown, Ellis, and Lane, each mounting eight guns; and a mile from New Berne was Union Point Bat-
tery, of two guns, manned by a company of public singers. In the channel of the Neuse were twenty-four
sunken vessels, several torpedoes,* and submerged iron-pointed spars, planted so as to pierce the bottoms of ves-
sels ascending the river. On the left bank of the Neuse was a succession of redoubts, over half a mile in
extent, in the midst of woods and swamps, for riflemen and field-pieces.

2 His troops consisted of the Twenty-third, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, and Twenty-seventh Mas-
sachusetts, commanded respectively by Colonels Kurtz, Stevenson, Upton, and Lee; and the Tenth Connecti-
cut, Colonel Drake.

__ _

* These torpedoes consisted of cylinder nf iron, about ten inches in diameter, into which fitted a heavily loaded bomb-shell, rating
on springs. The torpedo was placed on the point of heavy timber, in the form and posit on of eknauz-de-frii, held firmly at the bottom
of the river by stones in a box, and lying at an angle of forty-five degrees in the direction of an approaching vessel. The shell was so
arranged, that when a vessel should strike the cylinder on the point of the timber, a percussion cap would be discharged and the shell
exploded. These were very formidable missiles, but the gun-boaU did not go near them.

CAPTURE OF NEW BEKKE.

307

from their lost guns and breast-works. The victory was made com-
plete by the aid of the Fifth Rhode Island and Eighth and Eleventh Con-
necticut.

All this while, Reno was losing heavily from the effects of another bat-
tery. So he called up his reserve regiment (the Fifty-first Pennsylvania,
Colonel Hartrauft), and ordered it
to charge the work. It was done
gallantly, and the Fifty-first New
York, Twenty-first Massachusetts,
and Ninth New Jersey participated
in the achievement and the triumph.
Foster, meanwhile, hearing the
shouts on the left when the order
to charge was given, had directed
his brigade to advance along the
whole line. Pressed at all points,
on front and flank, the Confederates
abandoned every thing and fled,
pursued by Foster to the verge of
the Trent. The fugitives were more
fleet than he, and, burning the rail-
way and turnpike bridges behind
them that spanned the Trent (the
first by sending a raft of flaming
turpentine and cotton against it),
they escaped. So ended the BAT-
TLE OF NEW BERNE.'

The National squadron, in the
mean time, had co-operated with the
army in the attack on Fort Thomp
son, and in driving the Confede-
rates from the other batteries on
the shore. When these were
evacuated, the gun-boats passed

the obstructions and went up to the city. The Confederate troops had
fired it in seven places, and then hurried to Tuscarora, about ten miles
from New Berne, where they halted. Large numbers of the terrified citizens
had abandoned their homes and fled to the interior. No less than seven
railway trains, crowded to overflowing with men, women, and children, left
New Berne for Goldsboro' on the day of the battle. " The town of New
Berne," says Pollard, " originally contained twelve hundred people ; when
occupied by the enemy, it contained one hundred people, male and female,
of the old population." Pollard did not count the large number of colored
loyalists who remained as " people."

General Foster's brigade was taken over the Trent and to the city
wharves by some of Rowan's boats, and took military possession of New
Berne. General Burnside made the fine old mansion of the Stanley family,

OPERATIONS NEAR NEW BERNK.

1 See reports of General Btirnslde and his subordinate officers, and of Commodore Bowan.

308

EFFECT OF THE CAPTURE OF NEW BERNE.

in the

lowin

suburbs of the town, his head-quarters, and there, on the fol-
day, he issued an order, appointing General Foster military

governor of the city,
and directing the places
of public worship to be
opened on Sunday, the
16th, at a suitable hour,
in order that the chap-
lains of the different
regiments might hold
divine service in them ;
the bells to be rung as
usual On the same
day Burnside issued an
order, congratulating
his troops on account
of the "brilliant and
hard-won victory," and

KB w BE***.

directed each regiment
engaged in it to place the name of New Berne on its banner. In his
report, he spoke in the highest terms of the courage and fidelity of his
troops, and gave to the general-in-chief (McClellan) the credit of planning the
expedition. 1

In this battle the Nationals lost about one hundred in killed and four
hundred and ninety-eight in wounded. Among the former were Lieutenant-
Colonel Henry Merritt, of the Twenty-third Massachusetts, and other gallant
officers and men. The loss of the Confederates was much less in killed and
wounded, but two hundred of them were made prisoners. 8 The spoils of
victory were many and important, ; 3 and the possession of the town of New
Berne, by which the Wilmington and Weldon Railway, the great line of
travel between the North and the South, was exposed, gave to the National
cause in that region an almost incalculable advantage. Its moral effect was
prodigious, and greatly disheartened the enemies of the Government, who
saw in it " a subject of keen mortification to the South." 1

In the midst of the horrors of war at New Berne, and almost before the
smoke of battle was dissipated, the Christian spirit of the friends of the
Government was made conspicuous in acts of benevolence by the generous
deeds of Vincent Colver, a well-known citizen of New York, and the oricri-

nator of the CHRISTIAN COMMISSION of the army, whose holy ministrations,
nearly co-extensive with those of the UNITED STATES SANITARY COMMISSION,
in the camp, the field, and the hospital, throughout almost the entire period
of the war, will be considered hereafter. Mr. Colyer was with Burnside's

1 " I beg to say to the general commanding the army," he -wrote, " that I have endeavored to carry out the
very minute instructions given me hy him before leaving Annapolis, and thus far events have been singularly
coincident with his anticipations."

8 They reported their loss at 64 killed, 101 wounded, and 413 missing.

* These were the important town and harbor of New Berne ; eight batteries mounting forty -six heavy guns ;
three batteries of light artillery of six guns each ; two steamboats ; a number of sailing vessels ; wagons, horses,
and mules ; a large quantity of ammunition and army supplies ; the entire camp equipage of the Confederates;
and much turpentine, rosin, and cotton,

4 Pollard's first Year <tfth War, i. 283.

CHRISTIAN WORK AT NEW BERNE. 309

expedition for the two-fold purpose of distributing to the sick and wounded
the generous contributions of patriotic and charitable citizens, and to exer-
cise a fostering care of the poor and ignorant colored people, from whose
limbs the hand of the loyal victor had just unloosed the shackles of hopeless
slavery.

Mr. Colyer began his blessed work on Roanoke Island in February, and
now, at the middle of March, he was made busy in the same high vocation
at New Berne. When his labors *n the hospitals were finished, he was
placed in charge of the helpless of that town of every kind, by
an order issued by Bumside," which read thus : " Mr. Vincent M is6^ 80 '
Colyer is hereby appointed Superintendent of the Poor, and will
be obeyed and respected accordingly." 1 Mr. Colyer took for his head-
quarters a respectable dwelling in the
town, and at once began the exercise
of the most commendable form of
benevolence, in finding remunerative
employment for the healthy destitute. 2
He opened evening schools for the edu-
cation of the colored people, in which
over eisrht hundred of the most eager

o o

pupils were nightly seen, some of
General Foster's New England soldiers
acting as teachers. But this promising,
benevolent work was suddenly stopped
by Edward Stanley, who

1 j i A j& i it, * May. COLTER'S HEAD-QUARTERS.

had been appointed* by the

President military governor of North Carolina, and whose policy was that
of a large class of Unionists in border slave-labor States, namely, to preserve
slavery, and, if possible, the Union. The closing of the schools was the first
administrative act of the new governor, in conformity with the barbarous
laws of North Carolina, which made it, he said, " a criminal offense to teach
the blacks to read." He also returned fugitive slaves to their masters ; and
the hopes of that down-trodden race in that region, which were so delight-
fully given in promises, were suddenly extinguished. 3 '

Having taken possession of New Berne, Burnside proceeded at once to
further carry out the instructions of General McClellan by leading a force

1 On the 24th of April, General Foster issued an order that all passes given to negroes by Mr. Colyer to go out
of the lines be respected at the outposts, and that all persons outside, inquiring for him, be sent to him
unquestioned.

2 Mr. Colyer gave employment to every able-bodied man that could be found ; and in the course of the four
months that he administered the duties of his office under Burnside there, colored men built three first-class
earthwork forts : one at New Berne, another on Roanoke Island, and a third at Washington, North Carolina.
They also performed much labor as carpenters and blacksmiths, and were made useful in loading and discharging
cargoes for about three hundred Government vessels, serving as crews on about twenty steamers, and as gangs
of laborers in several departments. More than fifty of them were employed in the perilous duty of spies, going
sometimes three hundred miles within the Confederate lines, and bringing back the most reliable information,
because the negroes were uniformly loyal to the National cause.

During the four months that Mr. Colyer was in New Berne, he and his assistants cared for and kept from
want and suffering over eight hundred people.

* When this fact was told to President Lincoln, he said, with great earnestness, "Well, this I have always
maintained and shall insist on, that no slave who once comes within our lines a fugitive from a rebel shall ever
be returned to his master. For my part, I have hated slavery from my childhood." This was said at about tho
time when he had written a proclamation of emancipation, which, by the advice of the Secretary of State, was

310 EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT MACON.

against Fort Macon, that commanded the important harbor of Beaufort,
North Carolina, and Bogue Sound. 1 That fort, with others, it will be remem-
bered, was seized by Governor Ellis, early in 186 1, 2 before the so-called seces-
sion of the State. Its possession by the Government would secure the use
of another fine harbor on the Atlantic coast to the National vessels engaged
in the blockading and other service, an object of great importance. It stands
upon a long spit or ridge of sand, cast up by the waves, called Bogue Island,
and separated from the main by Bogue" Sound, which is navigable for small
vessels. At the head of the deeper part of Beaufort harbor, and at the
terminus of the railway from New Berne, is Morehead City, thirty-six miles
from the former ; and on the northern side of the harbor is Beaufort, the
capital of Carteret County, and an old and pleasant town, which was a
popular place of resort for the North Carolinians in the summer. Into that
harbor blockade-runners had for some time been carrying supplies for the
Confederates. 3

General Burnside intrusted the expedition against Fort Macon to the
command of General Parke, at the same time sending General Reno to make
further demonstrations in the rear of Norfolk. Parke's forces were trans-
ferred by water to Slocum's Creek, from which point they marched across the
country and invested Morehead City, nine days after the fall of
New Berne - a The latter P lace was evacuated. On the 25th, a de-
tachment, composed of the Fourth Rhode Island and -Eighth
Connecticut, took possession of Beaufort without opposition, for there was
no military force there.

In the mean time a flag had been sent to Fort Macon with a demand for
its surrender. It was refused, the commander, Colonel Moses T. White
(nephew of Jefferson Davis), declaring that he would not yield until he had
eaten his last biscuit and slain his last horse. Vigorous preparations were at
once made to capture it, and on the llth of April General Parke made a
reconnoissance in force on Bogue Spit, drove in the Confederate pickets, and
selected good points for the planting of siege-guns. At that time regular
siege operations commenced, and the garrison was confined within the limits
of the fort, closely watched, for it was expected that in their supposed des-

withheld for some months, for prndential reasons. See Mr. Colyer's Report of the Christian Mission to the
United States Army, from August, 1861, to August, 1862. In that report may be found most interesting details
of work and experience among the freedmen on the Atlantic coast.

1 "Having gained possession of which [New Berne], and the railroad passing through it, you will at once
throw a sufficient force upon Beaufort, and take the steps necessary to reduce Fort Macon and open that port."
McClellan's Instructions, January 7h, 1S62.

3 See page 161, volume I.

s The Confederates owned a war steamer called the N~ahmlle, commanded by Captain R. P. Pegram. At
the beginning of February, 1862, she was lying in the harbor of Southampton, England, with a cargo of stores
valued at $8.000,000. Kear her was the United States gun-boat Tuscarora, Captain Craven, carrying nine heavy
guns, which had been sent over for the special purpose of watching the Nadimlle, and capturing her when sho
should put to sea. The British authorities, sympathizing with the Confederates, notified Captain Craven that
the Tuscarora would not be allowed to leave the port until twenty-four hours after the Nashville should depart.
The British war-ship Dauntless lay near, ready to enforce the order, and the armored ship Warrior was within
call, if necessity should require its presence. The result was, that on the 8d of February the Nashville left
Southampton, eluded the chase of the Tuscarora, that commenced twenty -fonr honrs afterward, and ran the
blockade into Beaufort harbor on the 28th of the same month, with her valuable cargo. She had coaled on the
way at the friendly English port of Bermuda, where, on the 22d of February, an order was promulgated pro-
hibiting the use of that port as a coal d6pot by the United States. This was one of many similar exhibitions
of the professed neutrality of Great Britain during the war. The Nashville remained in Beaufort until the night
of the 17th of March, when she again ran the blockade, and went to sea to depredate upon American merchant-
vessels.

PREPARATIONS TO ASSAIL FOKT MACON.

311

perate strait they might make a sudden and fierce sortie, but there was only
some picket skirmishing occasionally. Ordnance and ordnance stores were
rafted over from a wooded point near Carolina City by General Parke, and
batteries were constructed behind sand dunes on Bogue Spit. Gun-boats

VIEW AT inS LANDING AT MQREIIEAD CITY. 1

were co-operating with them, and the garrison, composed of about five
hundred North Carolinians, was cut off from all communication by sea and
land. 5

Three siege batteries were erected on Bogue Spit behind sand-hills, the
sides and front being formed by sand-bags. The most distant, under Lieu-
tenant Flagler, of the New York Third Artillery, was in the borders of a
marsh, about fourteen hundred yards from the fort, and mounted four ten-

1 This is a view looking westward of the causeway, on which lies the railway track from the main at More-
head City to the wharf at deep water. Morehead City is seen in the distance, and Bogue Sound and Spit appear
on the left, where the vessels are seen. The single bird indicates the place of Morehead City; the two birds, the
site of a fort erected by the Nationals; the three birds, the wooded point at Carolina City from which ordnance
and supplies were sent over to the Spit; and the four birds show the position of the landing-place on the Spit
from which the siege-guns were taken to thi-ir proper places. The picture is from a sketch made by the writer
from the deck of the Ben Deford, in December, 1S64.

2 Two of the companies in the fort were young men from Beaufort, and there, in sight of their homos, they
were really prisoners. They resorted to various devices to keep up communication with their friends. Among
others, they would send out tiny vessels, witli sails all set, to drift across the bay, around the marshes, to Beaufort,
carrying letters or other kinds of messages. On a thin

board, thus set afloat on the 20th of April, was inscribed
the following message : " To the Ladys of etnifort, we
are still induring the privations of War. witli unexosted
Hopes if this vcssil due reac hur port of destiny you
will find that we are still well and alive and will not lecve
till we sea the ruins of theas old "Walls we have had
several scurmish fights with the Yankee Piket Card, the
old topsail gards sends there best Respects to all there
Lady friends of Beaufort and surrounding country. 1 '

Such contrivances for communication were used else-
where. While the contending armies were on the Rap-
pahannock, the pickets of both sides would send news-
papers backward and forward across the stream in that
way. Our little picture shows one in the possession of
Lieutenant C. A. Alvord, Jr., of General CaldwelPs staff,
which he brought from the Rappahannock. It is made
of a piece of thin board, about twenty-three inches in

length, with a strip of the same for a keel, and a rudder mewsrArBB-noAT AT

of tin. Two small sticks formed masts, and the. sails
were made of checked cotton cloth. On it a newspaper was-sentover by the insurgents from the Frederteks-
burg side of the river.

312 SIEGE AND BOMBARDMENT OF FORT MACON.

inch mortars. The second was about two hundred yards in front of it, under
Captain -Morris, of the First Regular Artillery, and mounted three long 30-
pound Parrott guns ; and the third was one hundred yards still nearer the
fort, composed of four 8-inch mortars, and commanded by Lieutenant Prouty,
of the Third New. York Artillery. When these batteries were completed, the
gun-boats Daylight (flag-ship) ; State of Georgia, Commander Armstrong ;
and Chippewa, Lieutenant Bryson, and the barque Gemsbok, Lieutenant
Cavendish, took position for battle outside the Spit, within range of the fort.
Burnside came down from New Berne, and passed over to the batteries ; and
at six o'clock, on the morning of the 25th of April," Flagler
opened fire with his 10-inch mortars, directed by Lieutenant
Andrews of the Signal Corps, and his accomplished young assistant, Lieu-
tenant Wait.' The other batteries followed, and in the course often minutes
the fort replied with a shot from Captain Manney's 24-pounder battery On
the terreplein. The heavy columbiads and 32-pounders en barbette joined
in the cannonade, and at eight o'clock the fort, belching fire and smoke like
an active volcano, was sending a shot every minute. The National batteries
were responding with equal vigor, and the war vessels were doing good
service, maneuvering in an elliptical course, like Dupont's at Port Royal
Entrance, and throwing heavy shot and shell upon the fortress. But the
roughness of the sea, caused by a southwest wind, compelled them to with-
draw after fighting an hour and a quarter. The land batteries kept at work
until four o'clock in the afternoon, when a white flag, displayed on Fort
Macon, caused their firing to cease. Captain Guion, of the garrison, came
out with a proposition from Colonel White to surrender; and before ten
o'clock the next morning 4 the fort was in the possession of
the National forces, with about five hundred prisoners of war. 8
Burnside was present, and had the pleasure of seeing the ensign of the

1 In cases like this, where the mortars and guns were so situated behind obstructions to vision that the range
conld not be precisely known, nor the effects of missiles sent determined, the services of the members of the
Signal Corps were most important. As an illustrative example, I quote from the report of Lieutenant Andrews
on this occasion : "I was the only [Signal] officer on duty on- Beaufort station, until Lieutenant Marvin Wait
reported for duty. My station was at a right anzle with the line of firo, so that I was enabled to judge with
accuracy the distance over or short a shot fell. The 10-inch shell were falling, almost without exception, more
than three hundred yards beyond the fort. Lieutenant Wait anil mysi-lf continued to signal to the officer in charge
until the correct range was obtained. The 8-inch shell were falling short we signaled to the officer in
charge of that battery with the same effect The same was the case with the battery of Parrott guns, which was
too much elevated. From the position of our batteries, it was impossible for the officers in charge to see how
their shots fell, but owing to the observations made by Lieutenant Wait and myself, and signaled to them from
time to time, an acctfrate range was obtained by all the batteries, and was not lost during the day. After 12 J/.,
every sJiot fired from our batteries fell in or on the fort"

Lieutenant Wait (son of John T. Wait, of Korwich, Connecticut) was then only a little more than nineteen
years of age. He had acquired great skill in signaling, and, for his services on this occasion, Major Myer, the
chief of the Signal Department, presented him with a very beautiful battle-flag. A few months later he gave
;his young life to his country, while gallantly battling with his regiment (Eighth Connecticut) on the field of
Antietam.

3 The capitulation was signed by Colonel M. T. White, General J. G. Parke, and Commodore Samuel
Lockwood. The troops of the garrison were held as prisoners of war on parole until duly exchanged. Ths
officers were allowed to retain their side-arms; and both officers and men had the privilege of saving their pri-
vate effects. In this conflict the Nationals lost only one man killed and two wounded. The Confederates lost
seven killed and eighteen wounded. The fruits for the victors were the important fort; the Command of
"Beaufort Harbor; 20,000 pounds of powder; 150 10-inch shells; 250 32-pound shot; 150 8-inch shot, and 400 stand
of arms. See Reports of General Bnrnside and Commodore Lockwood, April 27, 1862.

On the day after the surrender Burnside issued a congratulatory order, in which he said he took particular
pleasure "in thanking General Parke and his brave command for the patient labor, fortitude, and courage
displayed in the investment and reduction of Fort Macon," and declared that the troops had "earned the right
to wear upon their colors and guidons the words, ' FORT MACOX, April 25, 1862.' "

FORT MACON AND ITS VICINITY.

313

Republic, and the new colors of the Fifth Rhode Island battalion, which had
just been presented to it by the women of Providence, unfurled over the
fort. 1

The writer visited and sketched Fort Macon in December, 1864, while
accompanying the expedition under General Butler against Fort Fisher.
The transports bearing his troops, and the J3en Deford, his head-quarters
ship, had been furnished with water and fuel for only ten days. Having
waited three days at the place of rendezvous, twenty-five miles at sea, off
Fort Fisher, for the arrival of the war-vessels that were to co-operate with
the soldiers, it was necessary to run up the coast seventy miles to Beaufort
for a new supply of fuel and' water. This gave the writer a wished for
opportunity to visit Beaufort Harbor and its surroundings. We entered it
during one of the heaviest gales known on that coast for thirty years, and
were detained there four days, during which time we visited the old town
of Beaufort, the more modern Morehead City, Carolina City, the Bogue
Banks or Spit, and Fort Macon. The latter is at the eastern point of the
Spit, upon an elevation above the common level, composed of a huge mound
of sand thrown up for the purpose. The fort was built of brick and stone,

FOKT MACON IX 1864. a

and named in honor of Nathaniel Macon, a distinguished statesman of North
Carolina. Built for defense against a foreign foe, its principal strength in

1 The Confederate flag that was displaced by the National banner was made of the old United States flag
that was over the fort when the insurgents seized it, more than a year before. The red and white stripes had
been ripped apart, and then put together so as to form the broad bars of the Confederate flag. The superfluous
stars had been cut out, and the holes thus made were left.

* This view is from the ramparts, near the sally-port, looking seaward. The lower and the upper terreplein,
on whicli forty-nine heavy guns and some mortars were then mounted, en barbette, are seen, the first being a part
of the outer works, and the second the surmounting of the walls of the citadel (eighteen feet in height), which
were casemated, covered with turf, and surrounded a large parade. In the foreground is seen an iron 82-
ponnder.

314 BATTLE OF SOUTH MILLS.

masonry and guns was toward the sea, and it perfectly commanded the nar-
row ship channel at the entrance to the harbor.

We found Fort Macon very much in the condition in which Burnside
observed it when he entered it, excepting the absence of fragments of shot
and shell and cannon and carriages, made by the National missiles. On its
wall, landward (seen in shadow in the engraving), that bore the brunt of the
bombardment, were the broad wounds made by shot and shell ; and here and
there the remains of furrows made by them were seen on the parades, the
ramparts, and the glacis. After passing half an hour pleasantly with Cap-
tain King, the commandant, and other officers of the garrison, and making
the sketch on the preceding page, we departed for the Sen Deford in the
tug that took us from it and on the following day left the harbor for the
waters in front of Fort Fisher.

While Parke and Lockwood were operating at Beaufort Harbor, troops
under General Reno were quietly taking possession of important places on
the waters of Albemarle Sound, and threatening Norfolk in the rear. The
movement was partly for the purpose of assisting Parke in his siege of Fort
Macon, and partly to gain some substantial advantages on the Sounds.

Reno's force consisted of the Twenty-first Massachusetts, Fifty-first
Pennsylvania, the Sixth New Hampshire, and a part of the Ninth and
Eighty-ninth New York. They advanced in transports up the Pasquotank
to within three miles of Elizabeth City, and, landing cautiously
* A i862 19 m * ne n *o n V a P ar t f them under Colonel Hawkins were pushed
forward to surprise and intercept a body of Confederates known
to be about leaving that place for Norfolk. Hawkins took with him por-
tions of the Ninth and Eighty-ninth New York, and Sixth New Hampshire ;
and a few hours later he was followed by General Reno and the remain-
der of the troops.

Hawkins was misled by a treacherous or incompetent guide, and, march-
ing ten miles out of his way, lost so much time that in retracing his steps he
came in behind Genei'al Reno. Meanwhile the Confederates had been
apprised of the movement, and when the Nationals were within a mile and a
half of South Mills, near Camden Court-house, they were assailed with
grape and canister shot from the foe, who were in a good position with artil-
lery, having a dense forest in their rear for a protection and cover, and
swamps on their flanks. The attack was bravely met. Reno's superior num-
bers soon flanked the Confederates, and the latter hastily withdrew. A gun-
boat under Captain Flusser had, in the mean time, driven the foe out of the
woods along the river-banks. Hawkins's Zouaves had made a gallant charge,
but were repulsed, and in this the chief loss to the Nationals occurred.
They had fifteen killed, ninety-six wounded, and two made prisoners. The
loss of the Confederates is not known. They left thirty killed and wounded
on the field. This engagement is called THE BATTLE OF SOUTH MILLS.
The defeat^ of the Third Georgia regiment in the fight produced much
consternation in Norfolk.

General Reno allowed his wearied troops to rest on the battle-field about
six hours, when they returned to the boats. For Avant of transportation, he
was compelled to leave some of his killed and wounded behind.

Winton, at the head of the Chowan ; Plymouth, at the mouth of the

OPERATIONS IN THE REAR OF NORFOLK.

315

July 17,
1862.

Roanoke ; and Washington, at the head of the Pamlico River, were all
quietly occupied by the National forces. 1 This occupation so widely dis-
persed Burnside's troops,
which at no time num-
bered more than .sixteen
thousand, that he could
no longer make aggres-
sive movements. The Gov-
ernment had no troops to
spare to re-enforce him;
and matters remained
comparatively quiet in his
department until the mid-
dle of July, when he was
hastily summoned to Fort-
ress Monroe"
with all the
forces he could
collect; for the Army of
the Potomac, on the Vir-
ginia Peninsula, under
General McClellan, was
then apparently in great
danger. General Burnside

promptly obeyed the sum-
mons, leaving General Fos-
ter in command of the
department. During the
four months of his cam-
paign in that region, Burn-
side had exhibited those
traits of character that marked him as an energetic, sagacious, and judi-
cious commander, and led to his appointment to more important posts of
duty.

For the remainder of the year, the coasts of North Carolina were in the
possession of the National troops. Its ports were closed, either by actual
occupation or by blockading vessels, and its commerce ceased entirely,
excepting such as was carried on by British blockade-runners. These, in
spite of the greatest vigilance of the blockading squadrons cruising off its
entrances, constantly entered the Cape Fear River, with military supplies
and necessaries for the Confederates, until the fall of Fort Fisher, at the
beginning of 1865. These blockade-runners were steamships, built expressly

OPERATIONS IN BtTRNSIDK 8 DEPARTMENT.

1 At about this time, an expedition under Commodore Eowan was sent to obstruct the Dismal Swamp
Canal, in the rear of Norfolk. Eowan left Elizabeth City on the 23d of April, with the Lockwood, WIMehead,
and Putnam, each with an officer and a detachment of troops. In the afternoon ho landed one hundred men
(fifty on each bank), and then, with a launch on the canal carrying a heavy 12-pounder, went forward about two
miles. They sunk a schooner in the canal, and filled the stream, for about fifty yards above it, with stumps and
trunks of trees, brush, vines, and earth. In this work they met with no opposition. In fact, the Confederates
themselves had evidently abandoned the use of the canal, for they had obstructed it farther on toward
Norfolk.

316

EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT PULASKI.

A BLOCKADE-UUXNEK.

for the purpose, and were remarkable for strength and speed. They drew
but little water, and had raking smoke-stacks. Every part of them was

painted a gray color, so
that they could not be
seen even in a very light
fog. Their achieve-
ments in supplying the
Confederates with arms,
ammunition, and the
necessaries and luxuries
of life, will be consid-
ered hereafter.

"While Burnside and
Rowan were operating
on the coast of North
Carolina, Sherman and
Dupont were engaged in movements on the coasts of South Carolina and
Georgia, having for their first object the capture of Fort Pulaski, and ulti-
mately other important points and posts between the Savannah River and
St. Augustine in Florida.

We have seen that at the close of 1861 the National authority was
supreme along the coast from Wassaw Sound, below the Savannah River, to
the North Edisto, well up toward Charleston. 1 National troops were
stationed as far down as Daufuskie Island ; and so early as the close of
December, General Sherman had directed General Quincy A. Gillmore,
his Chief Engineer, to reconnoiter Fort Pulaski and report upon the
feasibility of a bombardment of it. Gillmore's reply was, that it might
be reduced by batteries of rifled guns and mortars placed on Big Tybee
Island, southeast of Cockspur Island, on which the fort stood, and across
the narrower channel of the Savannah ; and that aid might be given
from a battery on Venus Point of Jones's Island, two miles from Cock-
spur, in the opposite direction. While waiting orders from Washington on
the subject, the Forty-sixth New York, Colonel Rosa, was sent to occupy
Big Tybee.

At about this time" explorations were made by the Nationals for the pur-
jan 1862. P ose ^ finding some channel by which gun-boats might get in
the rear of Fort Pulaski. Lieutenant J. H. Wilson, of the Topo-
graphical Engineers, had received information from negro pilots that con-
vinced him that such channel might be found, connecting Calibogue Sound
with the Savannah River. General Sherman directed him to explore in search
of it. Taking with him, at about the first of January, 1862, seventy Rhode
Island soldiers, in two boats managed by negro crews and pilots, he thridded
the intricate passages between the low, oozy islands and mud-banks in that
region (always under cover of night, for the Confederates had watchful
pickets at every approach to* the fort), and found a way into the Savannah
River above the fort, partly through an artificial channel called Wall's Cut,
which had for several years connected Wright's and New Rivers. He

1 See page 125.

OBSTRUCTIONS IN SAVANNAH RIVER.

317

reported accordingly, when Captain John Rogers made another reconnois-
sance at night, and so satisfied himself that gun-boats could navigate the
way, that he offered to command an expedition that might attempt it. Sher-
man and Dupont at once organized one for the purpose. The land troops
were placed in charge of General Viele, 1 and the gun-boats were commanded
by Rogers. Another mixed force, under General H. G. Wright 4 and Fleet-

OBSTBaCTIOXS IN TUB SAVANNAU EIVEE.*

captain Davis, was sent to pass up to the Savannah River, in rear of Fort
Pulaski, by way of Wassaw Sound, Wilmington River, and St. Augustine
Creek. The latter expedition found obstructions in St. Augustine Creek ;
but the gunboats were able to co-operate with those of Rogers in
an attack" on the little flotilla of five gun-boats of Commodore " J *^ S '
Tatnall, which attempted to escape down the river from inevi-
table blockade. Tatnall was driven back with two of his vessels, but the
others escaped.

The expedition, having accomplished its object of observation, returned
to Hilton Head, and the citizens of Savannah believed that designs against
that city and Fort Pulaski were abandoned. Yet the Confederates multi-
plied the obstructions in the river in the form of piles, sunken vessels, and
regular chevaux-de-frise / and upon the oozy islands
and the main land on the right bank of the river
they built heavy earthworks, and greatly enlarged
and strengthened Fort Jackson, about four miles
below the city. Among the most formidable of the
new earthworks was Fort Lee, built under the
direction of Robert E. Lee, after his recall from Western Virginia, in the
autumn of 1861.

Soon after the heavy reconnoissance of Rogers and Wright, the Nationals
made a lodgment on Jones's Island, and proceeded, under the immediate
direction of General Viele, to erect an earthwork on Venus Point, which
was named Battery Vulcan. This was completed on the llth of February,
after very great labor, 4 and with a little battery on Bird Island, opposite

1 These troops consisted of the Forty-eighth New York ; two companies of New York volunteer engineers,
end two companies of Ehode Island volunteer artillery with twenty heavy guns.

1 Wright's troops consisted of the Fourth New Hampshire, Colonel Whipple; Sixth Connecticut, Colonel
Chatfield ; and Ninety-seventh Pennsylvania, Colonel Guess. ' .

* This is from a sketch made by the author from the deck of a steam-tug, just at sunset in April, 1S66.
These were only the remains of the formidable obstrnctions. those from the main channel having been removed.
Th<* scene is nf-ar Fort Jackson. On the right are seen earthworks on a small island, and on the left the shore
of the main lami. while in the distance Is the City of Savannah.

* A causeway waa built across the island, chiefly by the Forty-eighth New York, over which heavy mortars

CHEVAUX-DB-FBISK.

318

BOMBARDMENT OF FOKT PULASKI.

(Battery Hamilton), effectually closed the Savannah River in the rear of
Fort Pulaski. That fortress, as we have already observed, 1 was a strong
one on Cockspur Island, which is wholly a marsh. Its walls, twenty-five

feet in height above high water, pre-
sented five faces, and were casemated
on all sides, and mounted one tier of
guns in embrasures and one en barbette.
The absolute blockade of Fort Pu-
laski may be dated from the 22d of
February. Preparations were then
made on Tybee Island to bombard it.
Nearly all of the work had to be
done in the night, and it was of the
same laborious nature as that per-
formed on Jones's Island. It took
about two hundred and fifty men to
move a single heavy gun, with a
sling-cart, over the quaking mud
jelly of which Tybee Island is com-
posed ; and it was often with the
greatest difficulty that it was kept from going down twelve feet to the
bottom of the morass, when, as sometimes it happened, it slipped from the
causeway or a plat-
form. 8 Patiently the
work was carried
on under the super-
vision of General
Gillmore, who was
in chief command,
and on the 9th of
April eleven bat-
teries, containing an
aggregate of thirty-
six guns, were in
readiness to open fire on the fort. 3 On that day the commanding General

QTJTNCT A. GILLMOBE.

BIEGB OF FOKT PULASKI.

were dragged. The islands near the mouth of the Savannah are formed of mnd, of jelly consistency, from four to
twelve feet in depth, and resting on half liquid clay. The surface is covered with a light turf of matted grass-
roots. Over this the causeway was built, of poles covered with loose planks; and upon this road mortars weigh-
ing more than eight tons were dragged, and placed in battery on heavy plank platforms. This labor was all per-
formed at night

1 See page 179, volume I.

4 " No one," said Gillmore in his report, " can form any but a faint conception of the Herculean labor by
which mortars of eight and a half tons weight, and columbiads but a trifle lighter, were moved in the dead of
night over a narrow causeway bordered by swamps on each side, and liable at any moment to be overturned,
and buried in the mud beyond reach."

* These were batteries Stanton and Grant, three 10-inch mortars each ; Lyon and Lincoln, three columbiads
each ; ur>isid&, one heavy mortar ; Sherman, three heavy mortars ; Ilalleck, two heavy mortars ; Scott, four
columbiads; Sigel, five 30-poundcr Parrott, and one 4S-pounder James; McClellan, two 84-pounders and two
64-pounders James; Totten, four 10-inch siege mortars. Totten and McClellan were only 1.660 yards from the
fort; Stanton was 3,400 yards distant. Each battery had a service magazine for two days' supply of ammuni-
tion, and a depot jKiwder magazine of 3,000 barrels capacity was constructed near the Martello tower, printed on
page 126, which was the landing-place for all supplies on Tybee.

CAPTUKE OF FORT PULASKI.

319

' March 81,

1862.

issued minute orders for the working of the batteries, which was to com-
mence at daybreak the next morning. 1

General David Hunter, who had just succeeded General Sher-
man" in the command of the Department, arrived at Tybee on
the evening of the 8th, accompanied by General Benham as dis-
trict commander. At sunrise on the morning of the 10th, Hunter sent
Lieutenant J. II. Wilson to the fort, with a summons to the commander of
the garrison (Colonel Charles H. Olmstead, of the First Georgia Volun-
teers) to surrender. It was refused, the commander saying, " I am here to
defend this fort, not to surrender it," and at a quarter past eight o'clock the
batteries opened upon it. They did not cease firing until night, when five
of the guns of the fortress were silenced, and the responses of the others were
becoming feeble. All night long, four of Gillmore's guns fired at intervals
of fifteen or twenty minutes : and at sunrise the next morning*

J , . , , . JAprilll.

the batteries commenced alresh, and with the greatest vigor. It
was soon evident that the fort, at the point on which the missiles
from the three breaching batteries (Sigel, Scott, and McClellan) fell, was
crumbling. A yawning breach was visible ; and yet the fort kept up the
fight gallantly until
two o'clock in the
afternoon, when pre-
parations were made
to storm it. Then a
white flag displayed
from its Avails caused
the firing to cease,
and the siege to end
in its surrender. Ten
of its guns were dis-
mounted ; and so de-
structive of masonry
had been the Parrott
projectiles (some of
which went through
the six or seven feet
of brick walls) that
there was imminent
danger of their pierc-
ing the magazine and exposing it to explosion. 3 The Nationals, who were
under the immediate command of General Viele, had only one killed. The
Confederates had one killed and several wounded. It was a very hard fought
but almost bloodless battle. The spoils of victory were the fort, forty-seven

III FULASKI. 2

1 See the report of General Gillmore, dated April 30, 1862.

2 This is a view of the angle of the fort where the great breach was made. It was copied by permission,
from a drawing that accompanied General Gillmore's report, published by D. Vanostrand, New York. It was
sketched on the morning after the battle. When the writer visited Fort Pulaski, in April, 1866, this breach was
repaired, but the casemates within it were still in ruins.

3 Gillmore's breaching batteries had been ordered to assail the eastern half of the pancoupe, covering the
south and southeast faces, so as to take in reverse, through the opening formed by them, the powder magazine.
These batteries were established at the mean distance of 1,700 yards from the scarp walls of the fort.

320

EXPEDITION AGAINST FORT CLINCH.

heavy guns, a large supply of fixed ammunition, forty thousand pounds
of gunpowder, and a large quantity of commissary stores. Three hundred

men were made prisoners. 1 By this victory, won on the first
aA is62 1V anniversary of the fall of Fort Sumter," the port of Savannah was

sealed against blockade-runners. The capture of Fort Jackson
above, and of the city, would have been of little advantage to the Nationals
then, for the forces necessary to hold them were needed in more important
work farther down the coast.

While Gillmore and Viele were besieging Fort Pulaski, Commodore
Dupont and General Wright were making easy conquests on the coast of

Florida. Dupont left Port Royal on the 28th of February, 6 in
862< the Wabash, with twenty armed vessels, and six transports
bearing land forces, and on the 1st of March arrived in St. Andrew's Sound,
north of Cumberland and St. Andrew's Islands. Leaving the Wabash, Du-
pont raised his flag on the smaller war vessel Mohican, and, at ten o'clock
on the 2d, the fleet anchored in Cumberland Sound, between Cumberland
Island and the Georgia main. Its destination was Fort Clinch,* on the

FORT CLINCH.

northern extremity of Amelia Island, a strong regular work, and prepared
by great labor for making a vigorous defense. Outside of it, along the
shores, were heavy batteries, well sheltered and concealed behind sand-hills
on their front, while on the southern extremity of Cumberland Island was a
battery of four guns. These, with the heavy armament of Fort Clinch, per-
fectly commanded the waters in the vicinity.

Dupont had expected vigorous resistance at Fort Clinch, and he was
incredulous when told by a fugitive slave, picked up on the waters, that the
troops had abandoned it, and were fleeing from Amelia Island. The rumor
was confirmed', and Dupont immediately sent forward Commander Drayton,
of the Pawnee, with several gun-boats, to save the public property there
and prevent outrages. He then returned to the Wabash, and, going outside,
went down to the main entrance to Fernandina harbor. There he was
detained until the next morning. Meanwhile Drayton had sent Lieutenant
White, of the Ottawa, to hoist the National flag over Fort Clinch. This

1 Report of General Hunter, April 13; of General Benham, April 12, and of General Gillmore, April SO,
1862.

a So named in honor of Brigadier-General Clinch, who was active in the war of 1812. lie was the father-in-
law of General Robert Anderson.

CAPTURE OF JACKSONVILLE. 321

was the first of the old National forts which was "repossessed" by the
Government.

The Confederates fled from the village of Fernandina, 1 near the fort, and
also from the village of St. Mary's, a short distance up the St. Mary's River.
These were at once occupied by National forces. Fort Clinch was garrisoned
by a few of General Wright's troops, and Commander C. R. P. Rogers, with
some launches, captured the Confederate steamer Darlington, lying in the
adjacent waters. The insurgent force was utterly broken up.
" We captured Port Royal," Dupont wrote to the Secretary of the
Navy," " but Fernandina and Fort Clinch have been given to us."

News reached Dupont that the Confederates were abandoning every post
along the Florida coast, and he took measures to occupy them or hold them
in durance. Commanfier Gordon was sent with three gun-boats to Bruns-
wick, the terminus of the Brunswick and Pensacola railway. He took pos-
session of it on the 9th of March. The next day he held the batteries on
.the islands of St. Simon and Jekyl, and on the 13th he proceeded with the
Potomska and Pocahontas through the inland passage from St. Simon's
Sound to Darien, on the Altamaha River, in Georgia. This place, like Bruns-
wick, was deserted, and nearly all of the inhabitants on St. Simon's and
neighboring islands had fled to the main. In the mean time Dupont sent a
small flotilla, under a judicious officer, Lieutenant Thomas Holdup Stevens,
consisting of the gun-boats Ottawa, Seneca, Pembina, and Huron, with the
transports I. P. Smith and Ellen, to enter the St. John's River, twenty-five
miles farther down the coast, and push on to Jacksonville, and even to
Pilatka, if possible. Stevens approached Jacksonville on the evening of the
llth of March, 6 and saw large fires in that direction ; and on the
following day he appeared before the town, which was abandoned
by the Confederate soldiers. 2 The fires had been kindled by order of General
Trapier, the insurgent commander of that district, who directed the houses,
stores, mills, and other property of persons suspected of being in favor of the
Union, to be burnt. Under that order, eight immense saw-mills and a vast
amount of valuable lumber were burned by guerrillas. On the appearance
of Stevens's flotilla, the corporate authorities of the town, with S. L. Burritt
at their head, went on board his vessel (the Ottawa) and formally surrendered
the place. The Fourth New Hampshire, Colonel Whipple, landed and took
possession, and it was hailed with joy by the Union people who remained
there.

Two days before Jacksonville was surrendered to Stevens, Fort Marion
and the ancient city of St. Augustine, still farther down the coast, 3

March 11.

were surrendered to Commander C. R. P. Rogers, who had crossed*

1 Fernandina was the eastern terminus of the Cedar Keys and Fernandina Railway, that crossed from the
island to the main on trestle-work. A train was just starting on the arrival of Drayton. In the Ottawa he
pursued It about two miles, firing several shots at the locomotive, but without doing much damage.

* So large a number of Northern people inhabited Jacksonville at the beginning of the war, that It was
called by the natives a "Yankee town. 1 ' But many of them were secessionists, and of 400 families who were
there when Dupont arrived on the coast, only 70 remained when Stevens appeared. Jacksonville was one of the
most beautiful, as well as the most flourishing and important cities in Florida; but this beginning of misery
for the inhabitants did not end until it was nearly all destroyed during the war.

* 8t Augustine Is the capital of St. John's County, Florida, and is situated on an estuary of the Atlantic,
called North River, and two miles from the ocean. It is upon a plain a few feet nbove the sex It i the oldest
town in the United States founded by Europeans. The Spaniards built a fort there in 1665.

VOL. TL 21

322

CAPTURE OF ST. AUGUSTINE.

FORT MARION.

the bar in the Wabash. With a flag of truce, and accompanied by
Mr. Dennis, of the Coast Survey, he landed, and was soon met by the
Mayor of the town, who conducted him to the City Hall, where he was
received by the Common Council. He was informed that two Florida com-
panies, who had garrisoned the fort, had left the place on the previous evening,

and that the city had
no means for resistance,
if thei'e was a disposi-
tion to fisrht. On as-

suring the authorities of
the kind intentions of
his Government toward
all peaceful citizens,
they formally resigned
St. Augustine into his
hands. Fort Marion, a
decayed castle of heavy
walls, built by the
Spaniards early in the
last century (and which was seized by the insurgents early in 1861 1 ), with its
dependencies, passed into the hands of the Nationals. On the top of the
broad walls of the fort, huts and tents were soon erected.

The capture of St. Augustine was followed by a visit of National gun-
boats to Musquito Inlet, fifty miles farther down the Florida coast, into
which it was reported light-draft vessels were carrying English arms and
other supplies for the Confederates, which had been transhipped from the
British port of Nassau. The boats were the Penguin, Lieutenant Budd,
who commanded the expedition, and the Henry Andrew, Acting-master
Mather. On their arrival, a small boat expedition, composed of forty-three
men, under Budd and Mather, was organized for a visit to Musquito Lagoon.
While returning, the two commanders, who were in one boat, landed at
an abandoned earthwork and dense grove of live oaks. There they were
fired upon by the concealed foe. Budd and Mather, and three of the five
men composing the boat's crew, were killed, and the remaining two were
wounded and made prisoners. The other boats were fired upon when they
came up, and their passengers suffered much ; but under the cover of night
they escaped.

In this expedition the Nationals lost five killed and eleven wounded.
Had it been entirely successful, all Florida might have been brought tinder
the control of the National forces for a time, for there was panic everywhere
in that region after the fall of Fort Pulaski. Pensacola was soon
a f terwar d evacuated" by the Confederate General, T. N. Jones,
who burnt every thing that he could at the navy yard, at the
hospital, and in Forts McRee and Barrancas, and retreated toward the
interior. But, as events proved, the Nationals could not have held Florida
at that time. Because of their weakness in numbers, their conquests resulted,
apparently, in more harm than good to the Union cause. At first, the hopes

1 See page 170, volume I.

THE ATLANTIC COAST ABANDONED. 323

they inspired in the breasts of the Union people developed quite a wide-
spread loyalty. A Union convention was called to assemble at Jacksonville
on the 10th of April, to organize a loyal State Government, when, to the
dismay of those engaged in the matter, General Wright prepared to with-
draw his forces, two days before the time when the convention was to
meet. General Trapier would of course return, so the leaders were com-
pelled to fly for their lives with the National troops, instead of attempting
to re-establish a loyal government. In consequence of a sense of insecurity
caused by this event, very little Union feeling was manifested in Florida
during the remainder of the war.

Dupont returned to Port Royal on the 27th of March, leaving a small
force at different points to watch the posts recovered. He found Skiddaway
and Greene Islands abandoned by the Confederates, and the important
Wassaw and O^sabaw Sounds and the Vernon and Wilmington Rivers
entirely open to the occupation of National forces. So early as the llth of
February, General Sherman, with the Forty-seventh New York, had taken
quiet possession of Edisto Island, from which all the white inhabitants had
fled, burning their cotton on their departure. By this movement the
National flag was carried more than half way to Charleston from Beaufort.
And so it was, that on the first anniversary of the attack on Fort Sumter,
the entire Atlantic and Gulf coast, from Cape Hatteras to Perdido Bay,
excepting the harbor of Charleston and its immediate surroundings, had
been abandoned by the insurgents, and the National power was su-
preme. To Dupont and the new Commander of the Department of the
South (General Hunter) Charleston was now a coveted prize, and they
made preparations to attempt its capture. That movement we will consider
hereafter. *

Turning again to Hampton Roads, we see General Butler and some
troops going out upon another expedition, with his purpose a profound
secret, but which proved to be one of the most important movements
of the first year and a half of the war. It was the expedition against New
Orleans.

We have seen 1 that so early as September, 1861, General Butler was
commissioned by the Secretary of War to go to New England and " raise,
arm, and uniform a volunteer force for the war," to be composed of six
regiments. Unavoidable collision with the efforts of State authorities to
raise men ensued, and at one time it seemed as if Butler's mission would be
fruitless. To give him more efficiency, the six New England States were
constituted a Military Department, and Major-General Butler was made its
commander while engaged in recruiting his division. He worked to th'at

o o o

end with untiring energy, in the face of opposition ; and it was not long
before his six thousand troops and more were ready for the field. The
Government had then turned its attention to the posts on the Gulf of Mexico
and its tributary waters, and the seizure of Mobile and New Orleans, and
the occupation ot Texas, formed parts of its capital plan of operations in that
region. Butler was called upon to suggest the best rendezvous for an expe-
dition against Mobile. He named Ship Island, off the coast of Mississippi,

324

EXPEDITION AGAINST NEW ORLEANS.

between Mobile Bay and Lake Borgne (a low sand-bar, lying just above low
water, and averaging seven miles in length and three-fourths of a mile in
width), as the most eligible point for operations against any part of the Gulf
Coast. Thither some of his troops were sent, in the fine steamship Consti-
tution^ under General J. W. Phelps, whom Butler well knew, and honored
as a commander at Fortress Monroe and vicinity. The Constitution returned,
and two thousand more of the six thousand men embarked, when an electro-
graph said to Butler, in Boston, "Don't sail. Disembark."

The Government was then trembling because of the seeming imminence

o o

of war with Great Britain, on account of the seizure of Mason and Slidell.
They were in P'ort Warren, and the British Government had demanded their
surrender. This made the authorities at Washington pause in their aggressive
policy, to wait for the development of events in that connection. But the
tremor was only spasmodic, and soon ceased. The work against treason was
renewed with increased vigor. Edwin M. Stanton, who was in Mr. Bucha-
nan's Cabinet during the closing days of his administration 1 a man pos-
sessed of great physical and mental energy, comprehensiveness of intellectual

grasp, and great tenacity of will, had
superseded Mr. Cameron
J i a 862 13 ' as Secr etary of War, and
a conference between him
and General Butler resulted in a
decision to make vigorous efforts to
capture New Orleans, and hold the
lower Mississippi.

When that decision was referred
to General McClellan, the latter
thought such an expedition was not
feasible, for it would take fifty thou-
sand men to give it a chance of suc-
cess, and where were they to come
from ? He was unwilling to spare a
single man of his more than two
hundred thousand men then lying at
ease around Washington City. His question was promptly answered. New
England was all aglow with enthusiasm, and its sons were eagerly flocking
to the standard of General Butler, who asked for only fifteen thousand men
for the expedition. Already more than twelve thousand were ready for the
field, under his leadership. Two thousand were at Ship Island ; more than
two thousand were on ship-board in Hampton Roads ; and over eight thou-
sand were ready for embarkation at Boston.

President Lincoln gave the project his sanction. The Department of the
Gulf was created, and General Butler was placed in command of it. On
the 23d of February* he received minute, orders from General
McClellan to co-operate with the navy, first in the capture of New
Orleans and its approaches, and then in the reduction of Mobile, Galveston,
and Baton Rouge, with the ultimate view of occupying Texas. To his New

EDWIN M. STANTON.

ft 1862.

1 See page 146, volume I.

THE NATIONALS AT SHIP ISLAND. 325

England troops were added three regiments, then at Baltimore, and orders
were given for two others at Key West and one at Fort Pickens to join the
expedition. On paper, the whole force was about eighteen thousand, but
when they were all mustered on Ship Island they amounted to only thirteen
thousand seven hundred. Of these, five hundred and eighty were artillery-
men and two hundred and seventy-five were cavalry.

On the day after receiving his instructions, General Butler left Washington
and hastened to Fortress Monroe. To Mr. Lincoln he said, " Good-bye, Mr.
President ; we shall take New Orleans or you'll never sec me again ;" and
with the assurance of Secretary Stanton, that " The man who takes New
Orleans is made a lieutenant-general," 1 Butler embarked at
Hampton Roads," accompanied by his wife, his staff, and fourteen " ^g^ 25 '
hundred troops, in the fine steamship Mississippi. Fearful perils
were encountered on the North Carolina coast, and vexatious delay at Port
Royal ; 2 and it was thirty days after he left the capes of Virginia before he
debarked at Ship Island. 6 There was no house upon that desolate ,

. 'March 25.

sand-bar, and some charred boards were all the materials that

could be had for the erection of a shanty for the accommodation of Mrs. Butler.

The furniture for it was taken from a captured vessel.

When the war broke out, there was an unfinished fort on Ship Island, to
which, as we have observed, Floyd, the traitorous Secretary of War, had
ordered heavy guns. 3 The insurgents of that region took possession of it in
considerable force/ and, during their occupation of it for about
two months, they made it strong and available for defense. They
constructed eleven bomb-proof casemates, a magazine and barracks, mounted
twenty heavy Dahlgren guns, and named it Fort Twiggs. When rumors of
a heavy naval force approaching reached the garrison, they abandoned the
fort/ burnt their barracks, and, with their cannon, fled to the
main. On the following day, a small force was landed from the
National gun-boat Massachusetts, and took possession of the place. They
strengthened the fort by building two more casemates, adding Dahlgren and
rifled cannon, and piling around its outer walls tier? of sand-bags, six feet in
depth. Then they gave it the name of their vessel, and called it Fort
Massachusetts. 4 The Constitution arrived there with General Phelps and
his troops 5 on the 3d of December, and on the following day*

he issued a proclamation to the loyal inhabitants of the south-
western States, setting forth his views as to the political status of those

1 Parton's General Butler in New Orleans, page 194

a The captain of the Mississippi appears to have been utterly incompetent. On the night after leaving
Hampton Roads, he ran his vessel on a shoal off Hatteras Inlet, and barely escaped wrecking. On the following
day it struck a sunken rock, five miles from land, off the mouth of the Cape Fear, and an hour later, while leaking
badly, it was hard fast on the Fryingpan Shoals, and partly submerged, when relief came in the gun-boat Mount
Vernon, Commander O. S. Glisson, of the blockading squadron off Wilmington. The Mivsi/mippi was taken
to Port Royal and repaired, and was again run aground while passing ont of that harbor, when her commander
was deposed.

3 See page 123, volume I.

4 This fort was on the extreme western end of the island. It was nearly circular In shape, and built of brick.
The sand-bags made its walls bomb-proof. Outside of the fort was a redoubt, built of sand-bags, upon which a
heavy Dablgren gun was mounted, BO as to command the channel leading into the really fine harbor, in which
vessels might find shelter from the worst storms on the Gulf.

6 These were the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts. Colonel Jones, Ninth Connecticut, Colonel Cahill.and Fourth
Battery Massachusetts Artillery, Captain Manning.

326

PROCLAMATION OF GENERAL PHELPS.

States and the slave-system within their borders. It pointedly condemned
that system, and declared that it was incompatible with a free government,
incapable of forming an element of true nationality, and necessarily danger-
ous to the Republic, when assuming, as it then did, a political character. He
pictured to them the blessings to be derived from the abolition of slavery,

FOET MASSACHUSETTS, OX SHIP ISLAND.

and declared that his motto and that of his troops coming among them was,
FREE LABOR AND WORKING-MEN'S RIGHTS.

This proclamation astonished Phelps's troops, provoked the pro-slavery
officers under his command, and highly excited the people to whom it was
addressed, who heard it, and who used it effectually in " firing the Southern
heart " against the " abolition Government " at Washington. It was too far
in advance of public opinion and feeling at that time, and General Butler,
whose views were coincident with the tenor of the proclamation, considering
it premature, and therefore injudicious, said, in transmitting his briga-
dier's report ot operations at Ship Island, that he had not authorized the
issuing of any proclamation, " and most certainly not such an one." So
General Phelps and those of his way of thinking were compelled to wait
a year or two before they saw a public movement toward the abolition of
slavery.

All winter Phelps and his troops remained on the dreary little island,
unable, on account of great and small guns in the hands of the neighboring
insurgents, to gain a footing on the adjacent shore, and waiting in painful
anxiety, at the last, for the arrival of General Butler and the remainder of
his command, who, at one time it was feared, had gone to the bottom of the
sea. Their advent produced joy, for the troops well knew that the stagna-
tion of the camp would soon give place to the bustle of preparations for the
field. That expectation was heightened when, a few hours after he landed,
Butler was seen in conference with Captains Farragut and Bailey, of the
navy, who were there, in which his Chief of Staff, Major George C. Strong,
and his Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Godfrey Weitzel (both graduates of
West Point) participated. The latter had been engaged in the completion
of the forts below New Orleans, and was well acquainted with all the region
around the lower Mississippi.

At that conference, a plan of operation against the forts below New

CAPTURE OF BILOXI AND PASS CHRISTIAN. 327

Orleans and the city itself was adopted, and was substantially carried out a
few weeks later.

While preparations for that movement were in progress, some minor
expeditions were set on foot. One against Biloxi, a summer watering-place
on the Mississippi Main, was incited by the conduct of some Confederates
who violated the sanctity of a flag of truce, under circumstances of peculiar
wickedness. A little girl, three years of age, the daughter of a physician
and noted rebel of New Orleans, was cast upon the shore at Ship Island
after a storm, in which it was supposed her father had perished. She was
kindly cared for by Mrs. Butler; and, as the child knew the name of her
grandfather in New Orleans, the General determined to send her there. For
that purpose Major George C. Strong, General Butler's chief, of staff, took
her in a sloop, under a flag of truce, to Biloxi, with money to pay her
expenses to New Orleans. There she was left to be sent on. The sloop
grounded on her return in the evening, and, while in that condition, an
attempt was made to capture her by men who had been witnesses of Major
Strong's holy errand. By stratagem he kept the rebels at bay until a gun-
boat came to his rescue.

On the following day, an avenging expedition, commanded by Major
Strong, proceeded to Biloxi. It was composed of two gun-boats (Jackson
and New London}, and a transport with the Ninth Connecticut, Colonel
Cahill, and Everett's battery on board. Fortunately for the Biloxians,
they were quiet. Their place was captured without opposition, and the
Mayor was compelled to make a humble apology in writing for the perfidy
of his fellow-citizens in the matter of the flag of truce.

Leaving Biloxi, Major Strong went westward to Pass Christian. While
his vessels lay at anchor there that night, they were attacked by three Con-
federate gun-boats, that stole out of Lake Borgne. The assailants were
repulsed. Major Strong then landed his troops, and, making a forced march,
surprised and captured a Confederate camp three miles distant. The soldiers
had fled. The camp was destroyed, and the public stores in the town on
the beach were seized and carried away. Major Strong also captured Mis-
sissippi City.

328

PLAN FOR THE CAPTURE OF NEW ORLEANS.

CHAPTEK XIII.

' Jan. 20,
1862.

HIP ISLAND -was the place of rendezvous for the naval
as well as the land portion of the forces destined for the
capture of New Orleans. The naval force was placed
under the command of Captain David G. Farragut, a
loyal Tennesseean, who sailed from Hampton Roads in the
National armed steamer Hartford, on the 2d of Febru-
ary, 1862, and arrived in the harbor of Ship Island on the
20th of the same month, having been detained by sick-
ness at Key West. He had been instructed by the Secretary of
the Navy" to proceed with all possible dispatch to the Gulf of
Mexico, with orders for Flag-officer McKean, on duty there, to
transfer to the former the command of the Western Gulf squadron. He was
informed that a fleet of bomb-vessels, under Commander David D. Porter
(with whose father Farragut had cruised in the Essex during the war of
1812), would be attached to his squadron, and these were to rendezvous at
Key West. He was directed to proceed up the Mississippi so soon as the
mortar-vessels were ready, with such others as might be spared from the
blockade, reduce the defenses which guarded the approaches to New Orleans,
and, taking possession of that city under the guns of his squadron, hoist the
American flag in it, and hold possession until troops could be sent to him.
If the Mississippi expedition from Cairo should then not have descended the
river, he was to take advantage of the panic which his seizure of New
Orleans would produce, and push a strong force up the stream, to take all
their defenses in the rear. " Destroy the armed barriers which these deluded
people have raised up against the power of the United States Government,"
said the Secretary, " and shoot down those who war against the Union ; but
cultivate with cordiality the first returning reason, which is sure to follow
your success." With these instructions, and with plans of the known works
on the lower Mississippi, furnished by General Barnard, who constructed
Fort St. Philip, One of the chief of those works, Farragut proceeded to the
performance of the duties required of him.

Porter's mortar fleet had been for several months in preparation at the
Navy Yard at Brooklyn, and had caused a great deal of speculation. It con-
sisted of twenty-one schooners of from two hundred to three hundred tons
each, made very strong, and constructed so as to draw as little water as pos-
sible. They were armed with mortars of eight and a half tons weight, that
would throw a 15-inch shell, weighing, when filled, two hundred and twelve
pounds. Each vessel also carried two 32-pounder rifled cannon. They rendez-

THE DEFENSES OF NEW ORLEANS.

329

DAVID D. PORTER.

voused at Key West ; and when all were in readiness, it was arranged that
the forts below New Orleans should be first attacked by Porter's fleet, Far-
ragut and his larger and stronger ves-
sels remaining in a reserve just outside
of the range of the Confederate guns,
until they should be silenced by the
mortars. Failing in that, Farragut
was to attempt to run by the forts.
When this should be accomplished, he
was to clear the river of the Confede-
rate vessels and isolate the forts from
their supplies and supports, when
General Butler should land his troops
in the rear of Fort St. Philip, the
weaker fortification, and attempt to
carry it by assault. If success should
crown these efforts, the land and naval
forces were to pass on toward New
Orleans in such manner as might seem best. For these purposes, the com-
bined forces were ready for action at the middle of April.

The Confederates had made the most ample provisions, as they thought,
for the sure defense of New Orleans. The infamous General Twiggs, 1 whom
the Louisiana insurgents had called to their command, had been superseded
l>y Mansfield Lovell, formerly a politician and office-holder in the City of
New York. He was assisted by General Ruggles, a man of considerable
energy. Lovell everywhere saw evidences of Twiggs's imbecility ; and, when
he was informed of the gathering of National ships and soldiers in the Gulf,
he perceived the necessity of strongly guarding every avenue of approach to
New Orleans. 2

Lovell's special efforts for defense were put forth on the banks of the Mis-
sissippi, between the city and its passes or mouths. 3 The principal of these
were Forts Jackson and St. Philip, the former built by the Government, and
the latter was an old Spanish fortress, which had figured somewhat in the
war of 1812. These were at a bend of the Mississippi, about seventy-five
miles above its passes. They occupied opposite sides of the stream, and were
under the immediate command of Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Higgins, a
Virginian. The general command of the river defenses was intrusted to
General J. K. Duncan, formerly an office-holder in New York, who was
regarded as one of the best artillerists in the Confederate service. The
armament of the forts, for which they were prepared, was one hundred
and fifty guns each. Between Fort Jackson, on the right bank of the river,

i See page 265, volume I.

4 This was by far the largest and most important city within the bounds of the Confederacy. It Is on the
eastern side of the Mississippi River, about one hundred miles above its passes, or mouths, and has two extensive
bodies of water lying to the north and east of it, named, respectively, Lake Pontchartrain and Lake Borgne. Its
population was about 170,000 when the -war began. Being at the outlet to the sea of th vast products of the
region watered by the Mississippi and Its tributaries, it had the largest export trade of any city in the world.

* The principal passes by which the waters of the Mississippi flow into the Gulf of Mexico, through vast
morasses, are five in number, and named respectively, the Southwest, South, Southeast, and East Pass, and
Pass & 1'Outre. The seaward edge of these passes lies almost directly upon the arc of a circle with a radius of
fifteen miles.

330

CONFIDENCE OF THE INSURGENTS.

and the opposite shore, seven hundred yards distant, a heavy iron chain-cable
was stretched upon buoys made of cypress logs, and covered by a battery
at each end. Adjoining Fort Jackson a formidable water-battery was
constructed ; and under the guns of the forts lay a fleet composed of thirteen

gun-boats, a powerful iron-
clad floating battery called
the Louisiana, and the ram
Manassas, already men-
tioned. 1 Also numerous fire-
rafts, prepared to send down
to destroy the invading fleet.
In and around New
Orleans was a force estimated
at about ten thousand men,
which the newspapers mag-
nified, for the purpose of
alarming the Nationals and strengthening the faith of the people.* That
faith in the defenses of the city was very strong, for they believed them to be
impregnable. Never doubting that impregnability, the citizens continued their
occupations as usual. One of the journals boastingly said, " Our only fear
is, that the northern invaders may not appear. We have made such exten-
sive preparations to receive them, that it were vexatious if their invincible
armada escapes the fate we have in store for it." 3 " The authorities at Rich-
mond were so well assured of safety, by General Duncan, that they refused
even to entertain the possibility of a penetration of the outer line of
defenses, even when the mortar-fleet had begun its work." 4

All things were in readiness for assault on the 17th of April. The
fleets of Farragut and Porter 5 were in the river, and Butler, with about
nine thousand troops, 4 was ready at the Southwest Pass, just below, to

THE LOUISIANA.

1 See page 118.

* The New Orleans Picayune of April 5 said, " We have 82,000 infantry, and as many more quartered in
the neighborhood. In discipline and drill they are far superior to the Yankees. We have two very able and
active generals, who possess our entire confidence General Mansfield Lovell and Brigadier-General Ruggles.
For Commodore, we have old Hollins a Nelson in his way."

8 New Orleans Picayune, April 5, 1862.

4 Pollard's First Year of the War, page 310.

6 These consisted of forty-seven armed vessels, eight of which were large and powerful steam sloops-of-war.
Farragut's fleet was composed of the steamers Hartford (the flag-ship). Captain Wainright; sloops Pensacola,
Captain Morris, and Brooklyn, Captain Craven, 24 guns each; Richmond, Captain Alden, 26; Mississippi,
Captain M. Smith, 12; Iroquois, Commander De Camp, and Oneida, Commander S. P. Lee, 9 each; sailing
sloop-of-war Portsmouth, 17; gun-boats Varuna, Captain Boggs, 12 ; Cayuga, Lieutenant Harrison, 5 ; Winona,
Lieutenant Nichols, 4 ; Katalidin, Lieutenant Preble, 6; lta>ska. Lieutenant Caldwell, 5; Eineo, Lieutenant
Ransom, 5; Wisaahickon, Lieutenant A. N. Smith, 5; Pinola, Lieutenant Crosby; Kennebec, Lieutenant Rus-
sell, 5; Sciota, Lieutenant Donalson, 6; schooner Kittatinny, Lieutenant Lamson, 9; Miami, Lieutenant
Harroll, 6; Clifton, 5; and Westfield, Captain Renshaw, 6. There were twenty mortar- vessels, in three divisions,
the first, or Red, of six vessels, und^r Lieutenant Watson Smith, in the Norfolk Packet; the second, or Blue,
of seven vessels, commanded by Lieutenant Queen, in the T. A. Ward ; and the third, or White, of seven ves-
sels, commanded by Lieutenant Breese, in the Horace Be.iles. The names of the mortar-vessels were: Norfolk
Packet, Oliver II. Lee, Para, C. P. Williams. Orlettu, William Bacon, T. A. Ward, Sidney C. Jones, Mat-
thew Va-ssar, Jr., Maria J. Carlton, Orvetta, Adolphe Hugel, George Mangham, Horace Beales, John Grif-
fith, Sarah Bruin, Racer, Sea Foam, Henry James, Dan Smith, accompanied by the steamer Harriet Lane,
4 (Porter's flag-ship), and the gun-boat Owasco, Lieutenant Guest, 5. Some were only armed tugs, intended
for the purpose of towing the mortar-schooners into position.

Butler's troops, borne on five transports, consisted of the following regiments: On the Mississippi, the
Commanding General and the Twenty-sixth Massachusetts, Colonel Jones ; Thirty-first Massachusetts, Colonel
Gooding, and Everett's Sixth Mass.ichua-jtti battery. On the 3fatansas, General Phelps, with t^:o .Ninth Con-

NATIONAL VESSELS IN THE MISSISSIPPI. 331

co-operate. 1 So early as the 28th of March, Fleet-captain Henry H. Bell had
made a reconnoissance well up toward Fort Jackson, with two gun-boats, and
found a thick wood covering the shores of the Mississippi for about four miles
below it. This was favorable for the intended operations of the Nationals.

On the 8th of April, a detachment of the coast-survey party made a
minute examination of the river-banks
under the protection of the Owasco;
and, on the 18th, two divisions (four-
teen vessels) of Porter's flotilla were
moored under cover of the wood, on
the shores just below Fort Jackson.
To prevent the discovery of his move-
ment, Porter had daubed the hulls of
his vessels with Mississippi mud, and
clothed their masts and rigging with
the boughs of trees, in such a way
that they could not, at a distance, be
distinguished from the forest. As

1 //T>' j 55 J 11 J MORTAR VESSELS DISGUISED.

when " 13irnam wood moved " toward

Dunsinane," the strategy was successful, and his vessels were moored at
desirable points without being discovered, the nearest one being two thou-
sand eight hundred and fifty yards from Fort Jackson, and three thousand
six hundred and eighty from Fort St. Philip. The remaining division (six
vessels) was moored on the opposite side of the river, at a little greater
distance from the forts, the hulls of the vessels screened by reeds and willows
to conceal their character. The Mississippi was full to the brim. It was
rising, and gradually submerging the adjacent country. The chain and its
supports at Fort Jackson had been swept away by the flood, and only slight
obstructions appeared in its place, composed of eight hulks and some of the
cypress logs chained together.

The battle was begun before nine o'clock on the morning of the 18th, by
a shot from Fort Jackson. As soon as Porter was ready, the Owctsco opened
fire, and the bombardment was commenced by the fourteen mortar-vessels,
concealed by the woods, and the six in full view of the forts. Porter was
in a position on the Harriet Lane to observe the effects of the shells, and he
directed their range accordingly ; and by ten o'clock the conflict was very
warm. It was continued for several days with very little intermission, the
gun-boats taking part by running up when the mortar-vessels needed relief,
and firing heavy shells upon the forts.

Perceiving little chance for reducing the forts, Farragut prepared to
execute another part of his instructions by running by them. On A ril 1862
the 20th he called a council of captains in the cabin of the Hart-

necticut, Colonel Cahill, and Holcomb's Second Vermont battery. On the Great Republic, General Williams,
with the Twenty-first Indiana, Colonel McMillen; Fourth Wisconsin, Colonel Paine, and Sixth Michigan, Colo-
nel Cortinas. On the North America, the Thirtieth Massachusetts, Colonel Dudley, and a company each of
Reed's and Durivage's cavalry. On the Will Farley, the Twelfth Connecticut, Colonel Demlng.

^ On that day the Confederates sent down a "fire-ship" a flat-boat filled with wood saturated with tar
and turpentine to burn the fleet. It came swiftly down the strong current, freighted with destruction ; but it
was quietly stopped in its career by some men in a small boat that went out from the Iroquois, who seized it
with grappling irons, towed it to the shore, and there let it burn out in perfect harmlessness.

332 BOMBARDMENT OF FORTS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP.

ATTACK ON TUX POETS.

ford, when that measure was decided upon. General Butler, who had
arrived with his staff, had been up in a tug to take a look at the obstructions,
and had reported that they must be opened before any vessels could pass,
especially when under fire. So, at ten o'clock that
night, iinder cover of intense darkness, the wind blow-
ing fiercely from the north, Commander Bell, with the
Pinola and Itaska, supported by the Iroquois, Eenne-
bec, and Winona, ran up to the boom. The Pinola ran
to the hulk under the guns of Fort Jackson, and an
attempt was made to destroy it by a petard, but failed.
The Itaska was lashed to the next hulk, when a rocket
thrown up from Fort Jackson revealed her presence, and
a heavy fire from the fortress was opened upon her.
The vigorous application of chisels, sledges, and saws for
half an hour parted the boom of chains and logs, and the
hulk to which the Itaska was lashed swung round and
grounded the latter in the mud, in shallow water. The
Pinola rescued her. Two hours afterward an immense
fire-raft came roaring down the stream like a tornado,
and, like its predecessors on similar errands, it was
caught, and rendered harmless to the vessels it was
intended to destroy.

Day after day the bombardment was continued, and night after night the
fire-rafts were sent blazing down the stream. Fort Jackson, the principal
object of attack, still held out. On the first day of the assault, its citadel
was set on fire by Porter's shells and destroyed, with all the clothing and
commissary stores, the garrison suffering severely for several hours from the
intense heat of the conflagration. On the 1 9th, the mortar-schooner Maria
J. Carleton was sunk by a rifle-shell from Fort Jackson, and, at the same
time, the levee having been broken in scores of places by exploding shells,
the waters of the Mississippi had flooded the parade-ground and casemates
of the fort. For six days the bombardment continued, with such slight
effect that Duncan reported that he had suffered very little, notwithstanding
his barbette guns had been disabled at times, and that twenty-five thousand
heavy shells had been hurled at him, of which one thousand had fallen within
the fort. 1 " God is certainly protecting us," he said. " We are still cheer-
ful, and have an abiding faith in our ultimate success."

At sunset on the 23d," Farragut was ready for his perilous
forward movement. The mortar-boats, keeping their position,
were to cover the advance with their fire. Six gun-boats (Harriet Lane,
Westfield, Owasco, Clinton, Miami, and Jackson, the last towing the Ports-
mouth] were to engage the water-battery below Fort Jackson, but not to
make an attempt to pass it. Farragut, with his flag-ship Hartford, and the
equally large ships Richmond and Brooklyn, that formed the first division,
was to keep near the right bank of the river, and fight Fort Jackson,
while Captain Theodorus Bailey, with the second division, composed of

1 Duncan was not singular among Confederate officers in making other than the most exaggerated reports
l.>r the public. The number of shells thrown was about five thousand, and the number that entered the fort
about three hundred.

> April, 1862.

THE WAR VESSELS PASS THE FORTS. 333

the Pensacola, Mississijjpi, Oneida, Varuna, Katahdin, Kineo, Wissa-
hickon, and Portsmouth, was to keep closely to the eastern bank, and
fight Fort St. Philip. To Captain
Bell was assigned the duty of attack-
ing the Confederate fleet above the
forts. He was to keep in the channel
of the river with the Sciota, Winona,
Iroquois, Pinola, Itaska, and Ken-
nebec, and push right on to his as-
signed work without regard to the
forts. General Butler and his staff
went on board the Saxon, and at
eleven o'clock at night a signal from
the Itaska, that had run up to the
boom, announced the channel clear
of obstructions, excepting the hulks,
which, with care, might be passed.

The night was very dark, owing to THBODOKUS

a heavy fog ; and the smoke from

the steamers settled upon the waters, and shrouded every thing in almost
impenetrable gloom.

At one o'clock in the morning," everybody was called to 'April 24,
action. There was an ominous silence at the forts, which the
inexperienced thought indicated their evacuation. It was not so. Energetic
preparations for a more formidable assault were going on there. The fleet,
now in command of Commodore Whittle, was summoned to .1 rendezvous
near the fort; and other preparations indicated that a knowledge of the
movement about to take place below had been communicated to the Con-
federate commanders.

The fleet moved at two o'clock, and at half-past three the divisions of
Farragut and Bailey were going abreast up the swift stream, at the rate of
four miles an hour. Then the mortars (the vessels still at their moorings),
which were prepared for the most rapid tiring, opened a terrible storm on Fort
Jackson. Not less than half a dozen enormous shells were screaming through
the thick night air, with their fiery trails, at the same moment. Steadily
the fleet moved on, when the discovery of the Gayuga, Captain Bailey's
ship, just as she had passed the opening in the boom, caused the forts to
break their long silence, and bring heavy guns to bear upon her. She did not
reply until she was close under those of Fort St. Philip, when she gave that
work heavy broadsides of grape and canister as she passed by. The Pensa-
cola, Mississippi, Varuna, and Portsmouth were following close in the wake
of the Cayuga, and in all respects imitated her example ; and the whole of
Bailey's division passed the forts almost unharmed, excepting the sailing
vessel Portsmouth, which, on firing a single broadside, lost her tow and
drifted down the river.

Captain Bell was less fortunate. The Sciota, Iroquois, and Pinola
passed the forts, but the Itasca was disabled by a storm of shot, one of which
pierced her boiler, and she drifted helplessly down the river. From that
storm the Winona recoiled, and the Kennebec, becoming entangled in the

334

SHIPS AND FORTS IN CONFLICT.

obstructions, lost her way in the intense darkness, and finally returned to
her moorings below.

The waning moon was now just above the horizon, and the mi?t and
smoke had become less dense. Farragut, in the fore-rigging of the Hartford,
had been watching the movements of Bailey and Bell through his night-
glass with the greatest interest, while the vessels under his immediate com-
mand vere slowly approaching Fort Jackson. When he was within a mile
and a quarter of it, the heavy guns of that fortress opened with a remarkable
precision of aim, and the Hartford was struck several times. Farragut had
mounted two guns upon the forecastle, and with these he promptly replied,
at the same time pushing ahead directly- for the fort. When he was within
half a mile of it, he sheered off and gave the garrison such broadsides of
grape and canister that they were driven from all their barbette guns. But the
casemate guns were kept in full play, and the conflict became very severe.
The Richmond soon joined in the fight ; but the Brooklyn lagged behind, in

consequence of becom-
ing entangled with one
of the hulks that bore
up the great chain.

As soon as the
Brooklyn was extri-
cated and turned its
bow up the river, the
ram Manassas came
down upon it furiously,
and fired from its trap-
door, when within about
ten feet of the ship, a
heavy bolt at the Brook-
lyn's smoke-stack, which fortunately lodged in some sand-bags that protected
her steam-drum. The next moment the ram butted into the ship's starboard
gang-way, but the chain armor that had been formed over the sides of the
Brooklyn so protected it that the Manassas glanced off and disappeared in
the gloom.

The Brooklyn had been exposed to a raking fire from Fort Jackson while,
entangled in the boom and encountering the Manassas. She had
just escaped the latter, when a large Confederate steamer assailed
her. She gave it a broadside that set it on fire and consigned it to
swift destruction. Then pushing slowly on in the dark she sud-
denly found herself abreast Fort St. Philip, and very close to it.
She was in a position to bring all her guns to bear upon it in
the course of a few mimites. This was done with powerful
effect. " I had the satisfaction," said Captain Craven in his re-
port, "of completely silencing that work before I left it, my
men in the tops witnessing, in the flashes of the bursting shrap-
nel, 1 the enemy running like sheep for more comfortable quarters."

KAM MANA86A8 ATTACKING THE BROOKLYN.

SHRAPNEL
SHELL.

1 A Shrapnel shell Is sometimes spherical nnd sometimes conical, like that represented In section in the
engraving. They are hollow spheres or cones of iron, filled with musket-balls or grape-shot, with sufficient srnn-
powder to explode them when Ignited hy a fuse. Tlie bulls are then scattered and arc very destructive.

A HEAVY BOMBAEDMENT.

335

Commodore Farragut, in the mean time, " was having a rough time of it,"
as he said. While battling with the forts, a huge fire-raft, pushed by the
Manassas, came suddenly upon him, all a-blaze. In trying to avoid this,
the Hartford was run aground, and the incendiary came crashing alongside
of her. " In a moment," said Farragut, " the ship was one blaze all along
the port side, half way up to the main and mizzen tops. But thanks to the
good organization of the fire department, by Lieutenant Thornton, the
flames were extinguished, and at the same time we backed off and got
clear of the raft. All this time we Avere pouring shells into the forts, and
they into us, and now
and then a rebel steam-
er would get under
our fire and receive our
salutation of a broad-
side."

Before the fleet had
fairly passed the forts,
the Confederate gun-
boats and rams appear-
ed and took part in the
battle, prod ucing a scene
at once awful and grand.
The noise of twenty
mortars and two hun-
dred and sixty great
guns, afloat and ashore, was terrific. The explosion of shells, sunken deep in
the oozy earth in and around the forts, shook land and water like an earth-
quake; and the surface of the river was strewn with dead and helpless
fishes stunned by the concussions. " Combine," said Major Bell, of Butler's
staff, "all that you have ever heard of thunder, and add to it all you
have ever seen of lightning, and you have perhaps a conception of the scene."
And all this noise and destructive energy the blazing fire-rafts, the floating
volcanoes sending forth fire and smoke, and bolts of death, and the thunder-
ing forts, and the ponderous rams, were all crowded, in "the greatest
darkness just before the dawn," within the space of a narrow river "to<>
narrow," said Farragut, " for more than two or three vessels to act to advan-
tage. My greatest fear was that we should fire into each other ; and Captain
Wainwright and myself were hallooing ourselves hoarse at the men not to
fire into our ships."

We have observed that the fleet had not fairly passed the river obstruc-
tions before the Confederate rams and gun-boats appeared. 1 The Cayuga
encountered that flotilla as soon as she passed Fort St. Philip. The ram

THE II ART FORT).

1 There were six rams, named Warrior, Stonewall Jackson, Defiance. Resolute. Governor Moore, and
General Quitman, commanded respectively by Captains Stephenson, Philips, McCoy, Hooper, Kennon, and
Grant. These were river steamers, made shot-proof hy cotton bulk-heads, and furnished with iron prows for
pusMng. The ram Manassas, then commanded by Captain Warley, was an entirely different affair. She was
thus described by an eye-witness: "She is about one hundred feet long and twenty feet beam, and draws from
nine to twelve feet water. Her shape above water is nearly that of half a sharply pointed erg-shell, so that a
shot will glance from her. no matter where it strikes. Her back is formed of twelve-inch oak, covered with one-
and-a-half-inch bar iron. She has two chimneys, so arranged as to slide down in time of action. The pilot

336

A DESPERATE NAVAL BATTLE.

Manassas, the floating battery Louisiana, and sixteen other armed vessels,
all under the command of Captain Mitchell of the Louisiana, were, for a few
moments, intent upon her destruction. To stand and fight would have been
madness in Captain Bailey, for no supporting friend appeared. So he exer-
cised his skill in steering his vessel in a manner to escape the butting of the
rams, and the attempts to board her. Thus he saved the Cayuga. He did
more. In his maneuvers he was offensive as well as defensive, and compelled
three of the Confederate gun-boats to surrender to him before the Varuna,
Captain Boggs, and the Oneida, Captain Lee, came to his rescue. Then the
Cayuga, which had been struck forty-two times during the struggle, and
much damaged in spars and rigging, moved up the river pursuant to Far-
ragut's orders to Bailey as leader of the fleet.

The Vamna was now the chief object of the wrath of the foe, and

terribly its vials were poured upon
her. Commander Boggs said, in his
report, that immediately after passing
the forts, he found himself " amid a
nest of rebel steamers." His vessel
rushed into their midst, and fired
broadsides into each as he passed.
The first one that received the
Vanilla's fire seemed to be crowded
with troops. Her boiler was exploded
by a shot, and she drifted ashore.
Soon afterward the Varuna drove
three other vessels (one a gun-boat)
ashore, in flames, and all of them
blew up. She was soon afterward
furiously attacked by the ram Gov-
ernor Moore, commanded by Beverly
Kennon, who had abandoned his flag. It raked along the Varuna's port
gangway, killing four and wounding nine of her crew. Boggs managed,
he said, " to get a three-inch shell into her, abaft her armor, and also several
shot from the after rifled gun, when she dropped out of action, partially dis-
abled."

Meanwhile another ram, its iron prow under water, struck the Varuna
a heavy blow in the port gangway. The Varuna's shot in return glanced
harmlessly from the armored bow of her antagonist. Backing off a short
distance, and then shooting forward, the ram gave the Varuna another blow
at the same place, and crushed in her side. The ram, becoming entangled,
was drawn around nearly to the side of the Varuna, when Boggs gave her
five 8-inch shells abaft her armor from his port guns. " This settled her,"
said Boggs, " and drove her ashore in flames." Finding his own vessel sink-
ing, he ran her into the bank, let go her anchor, and tied her bow up to the

CHARLES BOG08.

house is in the stern of the boat She is worked by a powerful propeller, but cannot stem a strong current She
carries only one gun, a 68-pounder, right in her bow.

"There is only one entrance to her, through a trap-door in her back. Her port-hole is famished with a
heavily plated trap, wlrch springs np when the gun is run out and falls down when it Is run back. HOT tho
crew get their light and air, I cannot pretend to say."

CAFfURE OF THE QUARANTINE GROUNDS.

337

trees. All that time her guns Avere at work crippling the Moore, and they
did not cease until the water was over the gun-trucks, when Boggs turned
his attention to getting the wounded and crew out of the vessel. Just then,
the Oneida, Captain Lee, came to the rescue of the Varuna, but Boggs
" waved him on " after the Moore, which was then in flames. The
latter was surrendered to the Oneida by her second officer. She had
lost fifty of her men, killed and maimed ; and Kennon, her commander,
had set her on fire and fled, leaving his wounded to the cruelty of the
flames. 1

Thus ended one of the most desperate combats recorded in the history
of the war. It was " short, sharp, and decisive." Within the space of
an hour and a half after the National vessels left their anchorage, the
forts were passed, the struggle had occurred, and eleven of the Confede-
rate vessels, or nearly the whole of their fleet, were destroyed. The National
loss was thirty killed and not more than one hundred and twenty-five
wounded.

When Captain Bailey withdrew with the crippled Cayuya, and left the

VIEW AT THE QUARANTINE GROUNDS.*

Varuna to continue the fight, he moved up the river to the Quarantine Sta-
tion, a short distance above Fort St. Philip. On the west bank of the river
opposite was a battery, in charge of several companies of Confederate sharp-
shooters of the Chalmette (Louisiana) regiment, commanded by Colonel
Szymanski, a Pole. On the approach of the Cayuga they attempted to flee,
but a volley of canister-shot from her guns made them halt, and they became

1 Eeport of Captain Charles Boggs to Commodore Farragut, April 29th, 1862. In his report, Captain Boggs
warmly commended a powder-boy named Oscar Peck, only thirteen years of age, whose coolness and bravery
were remarkable. Seeing him pass quickly, Boggs inquired where he was going in such a hurry. "To get a
passing-box, Sir," he replied: "the other was smashed by a ball." 1 When the Varuna went down, the boy was
missed. He had stood by one of the guns, and had been cast into the water. In a few minutes he was seen
swimming toward the wreck. When he got on the part above water, on which Boggs was standing, he gave the
i^snal salute and said, " All right, Sir ; I report myself on board."

* This is a view of the quarantine grounds, its buildings, and a store-house, built of brick, belonging to the
Government, and .situated on the east or left bank of the Mississippi, just above the forts. This was the first
Government property in Louisiana '-repossessed" by the Government The store-house Is seen on the right.
The next building was a hospital, and the small housj noxt to it was General Butler's head-quarters when he
took possession of the grounds.

VOL/II. 22

338 THE LAND TROOPS ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

prisoners of war. The battle was now over, and all of Farragut's ships,
twelve in number, that had passed the forts joined the Cayuga. Then the
dead were carried ashore and buried.

While this desperate battle was raging, the land troops, under General
Butler, had been preparing for their part in the drama. They were in the
transports at the Passes, and had distinctly heard the booming of the guns
and mortars. The General and his staff, as we have observed, were on the
Saxon. She followed close in the rear of Bailey's division, until the plunging
of shells from the forts into the water around her warned the commanding
General that he had gone far enough. So eager had been his interest in the
scenes before him, that he had entered the arena of imminent danger without

' O

perceiving it. He ordered the Saxon to drop a little astern, to the great
relief of her Captain, to whom a flaming shell would have been specially
unwelcome, for his vessel was laden with eight hundred barrels of gun-
powder. Almost at the same moment the Manassas, that had been terribly

pounded by the Mississippi,
and sent adrift in a helpless
state, was seen moving down
into the midst of Porter's
mortar-fleet. Some of these
opened fire upon her, but it
was soon perceived that she
was harmless. Her pipes
were all twisted and riddled
by shot, and her hull was well
battered and pierced. Smoke
was issuing from every open-
ing, for she was on fire. In a few minutes her only gun went oif, and
the flames burst out from her bow-port and stern trap-door. Giving a
plunge, like some huge monster, she went hissing to the bottom of the Mis-
sissippi.

Farragut had now thirteen of his vessels in safety above the forts, and he
prepared to move up to New Orleans, while Porter, with his mortar-fleet,
was still below them, and they were yet firmly held by the Confederates.
The time for Butler to act had arrived. Half an hour after Farragut had
reached the Quarantine, he sent Captain Boggs in a small boat, through
shallow bayous in the rear of Fort St. Philip with dispatches for Butler and
Porter. The former had already procured the light-draft steamer Miami
from Porter, and had hastened to his transports. These were taken to Sable
Island, twelve miles in the rear of Fort St. Philip, and from that point the
troops made their way in small boats through the narrow and shallow
bayous with the greatest fatigue, under the general pilotage of Lieutenant
Weitzel. Sometimes the boats were dragged by men waist deep in cold and
muddy water; but the work was soon and well accomplished, and on the
night of the 27th Butler was at the Quarantine, ready to begin the meditated
assault 'on Fort St. Philip the next day. His troops were landed a short
distance above the fort, under cover of the guns of the Mississippi and
Kineo. A small force was sent across the river to a position not far above
Fort Jackson.

THE MANASSA8.

CAPTURE OF FOETS JACKSON AND ST. PHILIP.

339

In the mean time Porter had been pounding Fort Jackson terribly with
the shells from his mortars. On the 26th, he sent a flag of truce with a
demand for its surrender, and saying that he had information that .Commo-
dore Farragut was in possession of New Orleans. On the following morning,
Colonel Iliggins, the commander of the forts, replied that he had no official
information of the surrender of New Orleans, and, until such should be
received by him, no proposition for a surrender of the works under his com-
mand could be entertained for a moment. On the same day, General Duncan,
then in Fort Jackson, issued an address to the soldiers, as the commander
of the coast defenses, urging them to continue the contest, saying : " The
safety of New Orleans and the cause of the Southern Confederacy our
homes, families, and every thing dear to man yet depend upon our exertions.
We are just as capable of repelling the enemy to-day as we were before the
bombardment." But the soldiers did not all agree with him in opinion.
They sa\v the blackened fragments of vessels and other property strewing
the swift current of the Mississippi, and were satisfied that the rumors of the
fall of New Orleans that had reached them were true. They had also heard
of Butler's troops in the rear of Fort St. Philip. So that night a large por-
tion of the garrison mutinied, spiked the guns bearing up the river, and the
next day sallied out and surrendered themselves to Butler's pickets on that
side of the river, saying they had been impressed, and would fight the Gov-
ernment no longer.

Colonel Iliggins now saw that all was lost, and he hastened to accept the
generous terms which Porter

had offered. While these
terms were being reduced to
writing in the cabin of the
HarrietLane* Mitchell towed
his battery (the Jsouisiana),
which lay above the forts,
out into the strong current,
set her on fire, and aban-
doned her, with her guns all
shotted. He expected she
would blow up in the midst
of the mortar-fleet, but the
explosion occurred when she
was abreast of Fort St.
Philip, when a flying frag-
ment from her killed one of
its garrison. She at once
went to the bottom of the
river, and the remaining Confederate steamers surrendered without resii?.-

PLAN OF FOKT JACKSON.

1 The capitulation was signed on the part of the Nationals by Commanders David D. Porter and W. B
Renshaw, and Lieutenant W. W. Wainright, commander of thu Harriet Lane; and on tho part of the Confede-
rates by General J. K. Duncan, commander of the coast defenses, and Colonel Edwin Iliggins, the commander
of the forts. The writer was informed by an officer of the navy who was present at the surrender of Fort Jack-
son, that when the flag-officer of that work was asked for the garrison flag, which was not to be seen, he pro-
tended to be ignorant of its whereabouts. He appeared to be unduly corpulent, and, on a personal examination.
it was found that his obesity was caused by the flag, which was wrapped around his body.

340

EXCITEMENT IN NEW ORLEANS.

ance. 1 Commodore Porter turned over the forts and all their contents to
General Phelps. Fort Jackson was only injured in its interior works, and
Fort St. Philip was as perfect as when the bombardment began. 2 No reliable
report of the losses of the Confederates in killed and wounded was ever
given. The number of prisoners surrendered, including those of the Chal-
mette regiment and on board of the gun-boats last taken, amounted to nearly-
one thousand. The entire loss of the Nationals, from the beginning of the
contest until New Orleans was taken, was forty killed and one hundred and
seventy-seven wounded.

Porter told Higgins the truth when he said Farragut was in possession

of New Orleans. The city was really
lost when the Commodore's thirteen
armed vessels were lying in safety
and in fair condition at
^SS** 1 the Quarantine." Of this
imminent peril of the city
General Lovell had been impressed
early that morning. He had come
down in his steamer Doubloon, and
arrived just as the National fleet
was passing the forts. He came near
being captured in the terrible me*lee
on the river that ensued, and sought
safety on shore. Then he hastened
to New Orleans as fast as courier
horses could take him, traveling
chiefly along the levee, for much of the country was overflowed. He arrived
there early in the afternoon, and confirmed the intelligence of disaster which
had already reached the citizens. A
fearful panic ensued. Drums were
beating ; soldiers were seen hurrying
to and fro ; merchants fled from their
stores ; women without bonnets and
brandishing pistols were seen in the
streets, crying, " Burn the city ! Never
mind us ! Burn the city !" Military
officers impressed vehicles into the ser-
vice of carrying cotton to the levees
to be burned. Specie, to the amount
of four millions of dollars, was sent out
of the city by railway ; the consulates
were crowded with foreigners deposit-

MANSFIF.I.n LOVELL.

TWIGOS'8 HOUSE. 3

1 There seems to have been no kindly co-operation between the forts and the Confederate fleet, and some
very spicy correspondence occurred between General Duncan and Captain Mitchell. The former, in his official
report, declared that the great disaster was " the sheer result of that lack of cheerful and hearty co-operation
from the defenses afloat " which he had a right to expect.

* Over 1,800 shells fell inside of Fort Jackson, 170 in the water-battery, and about 3,000 in the ditches
around the works. For minute particulars of the battle and its results, see the reports of Captains Farragut and
1'ortcr, and their subordinate commanders; of General Butler and those under his command; and of General

Duncan and Colonel Higgins, of the Confederate forces.

* This was the appearance of Twiggs's residence when the writer viaited it, in the spring of 16(36. It was :>

MILITARY EVACUATION OF NEW ORLEANS.

341

ing their money and other valuables for safety from the impending storm ;
and poor old Twiggs, the traitor, like his former master, Floyd, fearing
the wrath of his injured Government, fled from his home, leaving in the
care of a young woman the two swords which had been awarded him for
his services in Mexico, to fall into the hands of the conquerors who speedily
came. 1

On his way to New Orleans, Lovell had ordered General Smith, who was in
command of the river defenses below the town, known as the Chalmette bat-
teries, 8 to make all possible resistance ; and in the city he tried to raise a thou-
sand volunteers, who should make a desperate attempt to board and capture
the National vessels, but
he found only one hun-
dred men who evinced
sufficient courage or
desperation to under-
take the perilous task.
Lovell was satisfied
himself, and he

con-
vinced the city authori-
ties that the regular and
volunteer troops under
his immediate command
were too few to make
resistance, and he could
not rely on the mili-
tia conscripts, nor a
regiment of free colored
men Avho had been
pressed into the service,
in the presence of foes
that they might wel-
come as their friends.
These considerations,
and the fact that, on
account of the height
of the river surface at
that time of flood, a gun-boat might pass up to Kenner's plantation, ten
miles above the city, and command the narrow neck between the river and
the swamp, across which the railway passes, and thus prevent the troops
and supplies going out, or supplies and re-enforcements going into the town,
made it absolutely necessary that they should escape as soon as possible.
So Lovell prepared to abandon New Orleans. He disbanded the conscripts,
and sent stores, munitions of war, and other valuable property up the
country by steamboats and the railroad ; and while a portion of the vol-
unteers hastened to Camp Moore, on the Jackson and New Orleans

large brick house, at the junction of Camp and Magazine Streets, and was then used by Oeneral Canby, the com-
mander of the Department, as the quarters of his paymaster.

1 Parton's Butler in New Crleaw, page 264

a These were on each side of the river. There were five 32-|>ounders on one side and nine on the other.

BW ORLEANS AND ITS VICINITY.

342

DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY AT NEW ORLEANS.

railway, seventy-eight miles distant, the regiment of colored troops refused
to go.

With nine vessels Farragut proceeded up the river on the morning of the
25th, and when near the English Turn he met evidences of the abandonment
of New Orleans by the Confederates in the form of blazing ships, loaded with
cotton, that came floating down the stream. Soon afterward, he discovered the
Chalmette batteries on both sides of the Mississippi, a few miles below the
city, and at once made dispositions to attack them. The river was so full
that his vessels completely commanded the Confederate works. Moving in
two lines, they proceeded to the business of disabling them. The gallant
Bailey, who had not noticed the signal for close order, was far ahead
with the Cayuga, and for twenty minutes she sustained a heavy cross-
fire alone. Farragut pressed forward with the Hartford, and, passing the
Cayuga, gave the batteries such destructive broadsides of shell, grape,
and shrapnel that at the first discharge the Confederates were driven
from their guns. The Pensacola and the Brooklyn, and then the remainder
of the fleet, followed the Hartford's example, and in the course of twenty
minutes the batteries were silenced and their men were running for their
lives.

The victors were now in the midst of a terrific scene. The river was
strewn with fire rafts, burning steamers, and blazing cotton bales, and over-
hung by an awful canopy of black smoke, sent up by the great conflagration.
As soon as it was known that the National vessels were approaching the
city, another great panic prevailed, and the work of destruction of property
commenced, by order of the Governor of Louisiana and General Lovell. 1 In
a very short time a sheet of flame and pall of smoke, caused by burning cot-
ton, sugar, and other staples of that region, were seen along the levee for the

distance of five
miles. Foolish
ly'believing that
the cotton which
they regarded
as king was the
chief object of
the Nationals,
the infatuated
people sent it
in huge loads

to the levee to
be destroyed. In
front of the va-
rious presses along the river front it was piled and fired, and in this way no
less than fifteen thousand bales, valued at one million five hundred thousand
dollars, were consumed. More than a dozen large ships, some of them
laden with cotton, and as many magnificent steamboats, with unfinished gun-
boats and other vessels, were soon wrapped in flames and sent floating down
the river, the Confederates hoping they might destroy the approaching

THB LEVEE AT NEW ORLEANS.

> Pollard, i. 316.

OOMMODOEE FARRAGUT AT NEW ORLEANS. 343

vessels. 1 But the latter all escaped, and at about one o'clock in the after-
noon Farragut's squadron was anchored off the city, while a violent thunder-
storm was raging.

New Orleans was now utterly defenseless. Lovell was there, but a
greater portion of his troops had been sent away, with the concurrence of
the'civil authorities, who wished to spare the town the horrors of a bombard-
ment. Captain Bailey was sent ashore with a flag, bearing a summons from
Farragut for the surrender of the city, and a demand that the Confederate
flag should be taken down and that of the Republic raised over the public
buildings. Bailey made his way through a hooting, cursing crowd to the
City Hall, escorted by sensible citizens. To the demand for surrender, Lovell
returned an unqualified refusal, but saying, that as he was powerless to hold
the city against great odds, and wishing to save it from destruction, he
would withdraw his troops and turn it over to the civil authorities. At the
same time he advised the Mayor not to surrender the city, nor allow the flags
to be taken down by any of its people.

Acting upon this foolish advice, the Mayor (John T. Monroe), one of the
most unworthy of the public men of the day, refused to surrender the city or
take down the Louisiana flag from the City HalL This refusal was in the
form of a most ridiculous letter to Farragut, in which the Mayor declared
that, while his people could not prevent the occupation of the city by the
National forces, they would not transfer their allegiance to a government
they had deliberately repudiated.* In the mean time a force had landed from
the Pensacola, which was lying opposite Esplanade Street, and, unopposed,
hoisted the National flag over the Government Mint ; but as soon as they re-
tired it was torn down and dragged in derision through the streets by young
men belonging to the Pinckney Battalion, and a gambler named William B.
Mumford. 3 This act was hailed, with acclamation by the secessionists of
New Orleans, and caused paragraphs of praise and exultation to appear in
the public journals. It ended in a serious tragedy, as we shall observe
presently.

In reply to the Mayor's absurd letter, the patient Farragut referred to the
pulling down of the flag, the indignities to which it was subjected, and the
insults offered to his officers, and said, with a meaning which the most obtuse
might understand, " all of which go to show that the fire of this fleet may
be drawn upon the city at any moment, and in such an event the levee would,
in all probability, be cut by the shells, and an amount of distress ensue to the
innocent population which I have heretofore endeavored to assure you that
I desire by all means to avoid." He concluded by saying, " The election,
therefore, is with you-; but it becomes my duty to notify you to remove the
women and children from the city within forty-eight hours, if I have rightly
understood your determination."

1 The shipyard at Algiers, opposite New Orleans, was burned, and with it an immense, armored ram called
Mississippi, which was considered the most important naval structure which the Confederates had jet
undertaken:

9 " As to the hoisting of any flag," he said, " than the flag of our own adoption and allegiance, let me say to
you, Sir, that the man lives not in our midst whose hand and heart would not be palsied at the mere thought of
such an act; nor could I find in my entire constituency so wretched and desperate a renegade as would dare to
profane with his hand the sacred emblem of our aspirations."

- 1 There was no guard left at the Mint to defend the flag, but a watch was set in the top of the Pensacola,
from which a howitzer hurled grape-shot at the men who pulled down the flag, but without effect.

344 FOLLY OF THE CIVIL AUTHORITIES.

To this message the absurd Mayor returned a most ridiculous answer as
ridiculous, considering the circumstances, as the mock-heroic babble of a
circus harlequin in which he uttered nonsense about "murdering." women
and children, 1 and charged Farragut with a desire to " humble and disgrace
the people." After solemnly assuring the Commodore that such satisfaction
he could not obtain, he said dramatically, " We will stand your bombard-
ment, unarmed and undefended as we are. The civilized world will consign
to indelible infamy the heart that will conceive the deed and the hand that
will consummate it." The substance of the Mayor's letter was, as has been
observed, " ' Come on shore and hoist what flag you please. Don't ask us to
do your flag-raising.' Slightly impudent, perhaps ; but men who are talking
from behind a bulwark of fifty thousand women and children can be impu-
dent if they please."*

To the insolence of the Mayor was added the greater impertinence of the
commander of a French ship-of-war which had just arrived, who wrote a
note to Farragut that his Government had sent him to protect the persons
and property of its thirty thousand subjects in New Orleans, and that he
demanded sixty days, instead of forty-eight hours, as the time to be given
for the evacuation of the city by the inhabitants. He concluded with a threat,
saying, " If it is your resolution to bombard the city, do it ; but I wish to
state that you will have to account for the barbarous act to the power which
I represent." The veteran commodore was sorely perplexed, and, while
revolving in his mind what to do, he was relieved by the intelligence of the
surrender of the forts below. He now felt that he could afford to wait, for
the speedy possession of New Orleans by General Butler's troops was made
an almost absolute certainty. Up to that moment it was believed by the
citizens that the forts below could not be taken, and this was the chief reason
for the defiant attitude of the public authorities there. Now their tone was
changed, and, to appease Farragut, he was semiofficially informed, in a pri-
vate manner, that the hauling down of the flag from the Mint was the
" unauthorized act of the men who performed it." 3

On the following day, Captain Bell landed with a hundred marines, put
the National flag in the places of the ensigns of rebellion on the Mint and
Custom House, locked the door of the latter, and returned with the key to
his vessel. Those flags were undisturbed. The occupation of the " Euro-
pean Brigade," a military organization in New Orleans, ostensibly for the
purpose of aiding the authorities in the protection of the citizens
from unruly members, but really in the interests of the Confederates,
composed of British, French, and Spanish aliens, was now almost at
an end, and the English members of it, who admired the frequent displays
of " British neutrality " elsewhere, now imitated it by voting at their armory,
that, as they would have no further use for their weapons and accouterments,

1 u Onr women and children cannot escape from your shells, if it be your pleasure to murder them on a
mere question of etiquette ; but if they could, there are few among them who would consent to desert their
families and their homes and the graves of their relatives in so awful a moment : they would bravely stand in
sight of your shells, rolling over the bones of those who were dear to them, and would deem that they died not
inglorious! v by the side of the tombs erected by their piety to the memory of departed relatives.*

r P;trton's Butler in Neic Orleans, p:ge 274.

8 These wore W. B. Mumford (who cut it loose from the flagstaff). Lieutenant Holmes. Sergeant Burns, and
James Reed, all but Mumford members of the Pincksu-y Battalion of Volunteers.

NATIONAL TROOPS IN NEW ORLEANS. 345

they would send them to Beauregard's army at Corinth, as " a slight token
of their affection for the Confederate States."

On the 30th, a Farra<?ut informed the city authorities that he

, J , -April, 1862.

should hold no further intercourse with a body whose language
was so offensive, and that, so soon as General Butler should arrive with his
forces, he should turn over the charge of the city to him, and resume his
naval duties.

Let us see what General Butler had been doing for the few preceding
days.

A few hours after Mumford and his companions had pulled down the
National flag, General Butler arrived and joined Farragut on the Hartford ;
and, in his report to the Secretary of War on the 29th, he foreshadowed his
future act by saying : " This outrage will be punished in such manner as in
my judgment will caution both the perpetrators and abettors of the act, so
that they shall fear the stripes if they do not reverence the stars of our ban-
ner." He hastened back to his troops, and took measures for their immediate
advance up the river. His transports were brought into the Mississippi, and
these, bearing two thousand armed men, appeared oft* the levee in front of
New Orleans on the first of May. The General and his staff", his wife, and
fourteen hundred troops, were on the same vessel (Mississippi) in which
they left Hampton Roads sixty-five days before. Preparations were made
for landing forthwith. In his order for the movement, he forbade the plunder
of all property, public or private, in the city ; the absence of officers and
soldiers from their stations without arms or alone; and held the com-
manders of regiments and companies responsible for the execution of the
orders.

At four o'clock in the afternoon* the debarkation of a part of

4 May 1.

the troops at the city commenced, while others were sent over
to occupy Algiers, opposite New Orleans. A company of the Thirty-first
Massachusetts was the first to land. These were followed by the remainder
of the regiment ; also by the Fourth Wisconsin, Colonel Paine ; and Everett's
battery of heavy field-guns. These formed a procession and acted as an escort
for General Butler and his staff, and General Williams and his staff; and to
the tune of the " Star Spangled Banner " they marched through Poydras and
St. Charles Streets to Canal Street, under the guidance of Lieutenant Weigel,
of Baltimore, one of Butler's aids, who was familiar with the city. They took
possession of the Custom House, whose principal entrance is on Canal Street,
and there the Massachusetts regiment was quartered.

Strict directions had been given not to resent any insults that might be
offered by the vast crowd that filled the side-walks, without orders ; but if a
shot should be fired from a house, to halt, arrest the inmates, and destroy the
building. Every moment the crowd became greater and more boisterous,
and the patience of the troops was much tried during that short march.
Their ears were assailed by the most offensive epithets, vulgar and profane,
applied to the General and his troops, 1 yet the consciousness of supporting
power behind the pacific order caused them to march silently on to their

1 Before the troops landed, voices from the crowd that covered the levee had been heard calling for " Pica-
yune Butler." and asking him to show himself. The General was willing to have a practical joke, well satisfied

346 GENERAL BUTLER IN NEW ORLEANS.

destination. Captain Everett posted his cannon around the Custom House,
and comparative quiet prevailed in New Orleans that night. Colonel De-
ming's Twelfth Connecticut landed, and bivouacked on the levee by the side
of Butler's head-quarters ship, the Mississippi, on board of which the com-
manding general spent the night. At an early hour in the evening, he
had completed a proclamation to the inhabitants of New Orleans, in which
his intentions, as the representative of the Government, were explicitly
stated. 1 .<,

General Butler had resolved to act with strictest justice toward the
deluded people, and to be kind and lenient to all who showed a disposition
to be peaceable. But his first trial of the temper of those with whom he had
to deal was discouraging. He sent his proclamation to the office of the
True Delta newspaper, to be printed as a hand-bill. The proprietor flatly
refused to use his types in such an act of " submission to Federal rule." Two
hours afterward an officer with a file of soldiers (half a dozen of whom were
printers) had possession of the True Delta office, and the proclamation was
soon issued in printed form. Meanwhile, Colonel Deming had encamped in
Lafayette Square, and General Butler had taken possession of General Lovell's
recent head-quarters in the St. Charles Hotel, not far distant, established his
own there, and invited the city authorities to a conference. The silly Mon-
roe told the General's messenger that the Mayor's place of business was at
the City Hall. It was intimated to him that such a reply would not satisfy
the commanding general ; so the Mayor, taking counsel of prudence, waited
upon General Butler at the St. Charles, with Pierre Soule, formerly a repre-
sentative in Congress, and some other friends. The interview was instruc-
tive to both parties. There appeared a wide difference of opinion as to the

that the real merriment would be on the side of himself and friends; so he requested the lively air of "Picayune
Butler" to be played when they should debark. But none of the band-masters had the music, and the more
appropriate National airs were the first that the citizens of New Orleans heard when the troops landed.

1 In that proclamation, General Butler called upon all who had taken up arms against their Government to
lay them down, and directed all flags and devices indicative of rebellion to be taken down, and the American
flag the emblem of the Government to be treated with the greatest respect. He told them that all well-
disposed persons, natives or foreigners, should be protected in person and property, subject only to the laws of
the United States ; and he enjoined the inhabitants to continue in their usual avocations. He directed the
keepers of all public property whatever, and all manufacturers of arms and munitions of war, to report to head-
quarters. He directed that shops and places of amusement should be kept open as usual, and the services in the
churches and religious houses to be held as in times of profound peace. Martial law was to be the governing
power; and to the Provost-Marshal, keepers of public houses and drinking saloons were required to report and
obtain license, before they were permitted to do business. ile assured the inhabitants that a sufficient number
of soldiers would be kept in the city to preserve order; and that the killing of any National soldier by a dis-
orderly mob should be punished as murder. All acts interfering with the forces or laws of the United States
were to be referred to a military court for adjudication and punishment. Civil causes were to be referred to the
ordinary tribunals. The levy and collection of taxes, excepting those authorized by the United States, were for-
bidden, oave those for keeping in repair and lighting the streets, for sanitary purposes. The use, in trade, of
Confederate bonds or other evidences of debt was forbidden, excepting those in form of bank notes, which con-
stituted the only circulating medium, and the use of the latter was to be allowed only until further orders. No
seditious publications were to be allowed ; and communications or editorials in newspapers, which should give
accounts of the movements of the National soldiers, were not permitted to be circulated until the same had
been submitted to a military censor. The same rule was to be appMed to telegraphic dispatches. It was
requested that any outrages committed by the National soldiers upon the persons or property of the citizens,
.should be reported to the provost-guard. Assemblages of persons in the streets were forbidden; and the/nunici-
pal authority was to be continued, so far as the police of the city and its environs were concerned, until sus-
pended. To assist in keeping order, the " European Brigade," which, as we have observed, had professedly been
employed for that purpose, on the evacuation of the city by Lovell and his troops, were invited to co-operate
with the military authorities. The General said, in conclusion : "All the requirements of martial law will be
imposed, so long ns, in the judgment of the United States authorities, it may be necessary; and while it is
desired by these authorities to exercise this government mildly, and after the usages of the past, it must not be
supposed that it will not be vigorously and firmly administered, as the occasion calls for it."

REBELLION REBUKED AND CHECKED. 347

status of the inhabitants of New Orleans in relation to the General Govern-
ment ; and the dividing line was so distinctly seen at this interview, that
there could be no question about it thereafter. Butler took the broad national
ground that the inhabitants in general had been in rebellion against their
lawful Government ; that the authority of that Government, being supreme,
rightfully demanded the allegiance of the people ; and that no other authority,
except that sanctioned by the Government, could be allowed in the manage-
ment of the public affairs of the city. Soule and his friends persisted in
regarding Louisiana as an independent sovereignty, and the object of the
primary allegiance of its citizens. They considered the National troops as
invaders and intruders, and, as a sequence, the people as doing right in treat-
ing them with contempt and abhorrence, and fully justified in driving them
from the city if they could.

An instant reply to this assumption was practically given. An immense
mob had collected in the street in front of the St. Charles. They were exas-
perated by the seizure of that building by General Butler, and threatened
violence. Cannon had been planted and a regiment had been posted for the
protection of head-quarters, but, while the General and the city authorities
had been in conference, the conduct of the populace had become so alarming,
that General Williams sent word to Butler that he feared he could not con-
trol them. The General calmly replied : " Give my compliments to General
Williams, and tell him, if he finds he cannot control the mob, to open upon
them with artillery." The Mayor and his friends sprang to their feet in
consternation. " Don't do that, General," exclaimed the terrified Monroe.
" Why not, gentlemen ?" said Butler. " The mob must be controlled. We
can't have a disturbance in the street." The lunatic Mayor had partially
recovered his senses in Butler's presence, and, going out to the balcony, he
informed the mob of the General's orders, and advised them to disperse.
That evening the inhabitants of New Orleans, who chose to listen, heard " The
Star Spangled Banner " and other National airs, to which their ears had long
been strangers, played by a band on the balcony of the St. Charles. 1

Within twenty-four hours after this occurrence, the temper of the people
and that of General Butler were mutually understood ; and his proclamation,
which was not issued until the 6th of May, was a rule for all loyal or disloyal
citizens. It had been read at the conference at the St. Charles just men-
tioned, when Soule declared that it would give great offense, and that the
people, who were not conquered, and could not be expected to act as a con-
quered people, would never submit to its demands. " Withdraw your troops,
General," said the distinguished and accomplished Frenchman, " and leave
the city government to manage its own affairs. If the troops remain, there
will certainly be trouble."

This threat, though uttered in smooth terms, brought a withering rebuke
from the commanding general. " I did not expect to hear from Mr. Soule a
threat on this occasion," he said. " I have long been accustomed to hear
threats from southern gentlemen in political conventions ; but let me assure
the gentlemen present that the time for tactics of that nature has passed,
never to return. New Orleans is a conquered city. If not, why are we

1 Purton's Buffer in 2few Orleans, page 285.

348 MAKTIAL LAW IN NEW ORLEANS. ,

here ? How did we get here ? Have you opened your arms and bid us
welcome ? Are we here by your consent ? Would you or would you not
expel us if you could ? New Orleans has been conquered by the forces of
the United States, and, by the laws of all nations, lies subject to the will of
the conquerors." 1

In accordance with this doctrine General Butler found it necessary to ad-
minister the affairs in the Department of the Gulf, of which he was the com-
mander. In his interview with the Mayor- and Soule, he had generously
offered to leave the municipal government of New Orleans to the free exer-
cise ol all its powers so long as it should act in consonance with true
allegiance to the General Government, and that offer had been answered
by a threat. He saw clearly that compromise was out of the question, and
that rebellion must be treated as rebellion, and traitors as traitors. He
accordingly commenced a most vigorous administration of public affairs.
Major Joseph W. Bell was appointed Provost-Judge and Colonel Jonas H.
French Provost-Marshal. At the same time an effort was made to remove
all causes for unnecessary irritation, and to conciliate the people. The
General left the St. Charles Hotel, and made his military head-quarters in the

house of General Twiggs, and his private
residence in the fine mansion of Dr. Camp-
bell, on the corner of St. Charles and Julia
Streets, which was afterward occupied by
General Banks.

The Common Council having accepted
a generous proposition of the General, the
civil city government was allowed to go
on as usual. The troops were withdrawn
from the vicinity of the City Hall, and
camps on public squares were broken up.
Quite a large number of the soldiers were
sent to Carrolton, under General Phelps,
where a permanent camp was formed.
Others, under General Williams, went up
the river with Commodore Farragut, to
take possession of and hold Baton Rouge. Others were sent to points in the
vicinity of New Orleans, and in the course of a few days the wish of Soule
was literally complied with, for the troops were all withdrawn from the city,
excepting a sufficient number retained to act as an efficient provost-guard.

These concessions did not necessarily imply any relaxation of all proper
authority. They were mistaken as such, however, and the rebellious spirit,
which was made quiet only by compulsion, soon began to show itself. That
spirit speedily learned that the commander of the Department was a real
power within the sphere of his assigned duty, that must not be resisted.
Sensible men also perceived that he was a power fraught Avith much good
for the city, which had been ruled for years by vicious politicians of the
Monroe school.* He established the most perfect order, and instituted a

1 Parton's Butler in Neto Orleans, page 29!X

1 "For seven years past." said the True Deltsi. on the 6th of May, in commenting on Butler's proclamation,
"the world knows that this city, in all its departments judicial, legislative, and executive had been at the

THE REBELLIOUS SPIRIT IN NEW ORLEANS. 349

system of cleanliness for the promotion of the health of the citizens, before
unknown to them, and which is yet in successful operation. On his arrival,
ribald voices in the crowd on the levee had cried out, " "Wait till Yellow Jack
[yellow fever] comes, old Cock-eye ! He'll make you fly 1" But " Yellow
Jack " was not allowed to come ; and that terrible scourge has not appeared
in New Orleans since General Butler made it clean, and taught the inhabit-
ants to keep it so. Residents there declared to the author, when he visited
that city in the spring of 1866, that gratitude for incalculable blessings
should prompt the inhabitants to erect a statue of General Butler in one
of the public squares, in testimony of their appreciation of a real bene-
factor.

General Butler organized plans for the alleviation of the distress among
the inhabitants, and invited the civil authorities to unite with him in the
merciful work. But they were deaf to the voice of righteousness. With-
holding relief from their starving fellow-citizens, they sent provisions to the
camps of the insurgents who had fled from the city. 1 In every possible way
attempts were made to thwart the orders and wishes of General Butler while
he was feeding the starving poor by thousands, and was working day and
night to revive and restore the business of the city, that its wonted pros-
perity might return. Among his troops there was perfect order. No man
had been injured, and no woman had been treated with the least disrespect.
But the corrupt Mayor was surly and insolent. The newspapers were barely
restrained from seditious teachings. The foreign consuls, and foreign popu-
lation generally, sympathized with the spirit of resistance ; and many of the
women who claimed to be of the better sort, taking advantage of the wide

I O O

latitude in speech and action allowed to their sex in American society, were
particularly offensive in their manifestations of contempt for the General and
his troops. When Union officers approached, they would leave the sidewalks,
go round them in the middle of the street, and with upturned noses would
utter some insulting words, often more vigorous than elegant. They would
draw away their skirts when a private soldier passed them, and leave street
cars and church pews when Union officers entered them. They wore seces-
sion colors on their bonnets ; in feminine schools they kept the pupils sing-
ing rebel songs ; groups on balconies turned their backs on passing soldiers,
and played airs that were used with rebellious words; and in every con-
ceivable way they insulted the troops. These things were patiently borne,
as sensible men endure the acts of imbeciles or lunatics, notwithstanding
they were indicative of the hellish spirit that was making war on the Govern-
ment and the rights of man ; and the follies of these deluded women were
the subjects of much merriment among the troops. But when, at length,
a woman of the " dominant class," with the low manners of the degraded of
her sex, deliberately spat in the face of two officers, who were walking peace-
fully along the street, General Butler determined to arrest the growing evil
at once, and on the 15th of May the town was startled by an order that
struck the root of the iniquity, by placing such actors in their appropriate
social position.

absolute disposal of the most godless, brutal, ienorant, and ruthless ruffianism the world has ever heard oi
since the days of the jrreat Roman conspirators.''
1 See Butler's Order, May 9, 1862.

350 BUTLER'S "WOMA^ ORDER."

That order 1 was intended to work silently, peacefully, and effectually.
And so it did. The grave offense was not repeated. Sensible and virtuous
women did not indulge in such vulgarities, and were not touched by the
order. The foolish women recovered their senses through its operation ; 2 and
so did the Mayor and his accomplices in crime, when the power of their out-
raged Government was felt by the former, by arrest and threatened imprison-
ment in Fort Jackson; by Soule, the ablest of the instigators of treason in
Louisiana, as a prisoner in Fort Warren ; and by one of the leaders of the
mob, when he stood a felon on the scaffold, in the midst of a vast number
of his fellow-citizens, because of his overt act of treason in pulling down the
National flag from the Government Mint. 3

The Mayor had made the publication of the " "Woman Order " the occa-
sion of a most impudent and absurd letter to General Butler, saying, among
other things, " Your officers and soldiers are permitted by the terms of this
order to place any construction they may please upon the conduct of our
wives and daughters, and upon such construction to offer them atrocious
insults." 4 This letter was answered by the deposition and arrest of the

1 The following is a copy of the document known as the " Woman Order," 1 which the General himself framed
from a similar one, and for a similar purpose, which he had read long before in a London newspaper :

" HEAD-QUARTERS, DEPARTMENT OF THE GULP,

NEW ORLEANS, May 15, 1862.
" General Order No. 2S:

"As the officers and soldiers of the United States have been subject to repeated insults from the women
(calling themselves ladies) of New Orleans, in return for the most scrupulous non-interference and courtesy on
our part, it is ordered that hereafter, when any female shall, by word, gesture, or movement, insult or show con-
tempt for any officer or soldier of the United States, she shall be regarded and held liable to be treated as a
woman of the town plying her avocation.

" By command of

" MAJOR-GENERAL BUTLER.
"GEORGE C. STRONG, Assistant Adjutant-General, Chief of Staff."

* Mr. Parton says that one of the women " a very fine lady " who lost her senses and behaved indiscreetly.
and who, in sweeping her skirts away from possible contact with passing Union officers, lost her balance, fell
in the gutter, and received the proffered aid of one of them, which she spurned, afterward declared that &he
really felt grateful to the officer at the time for his politeness, and added, " Order 28 [the ' Woman Order "]
served the women right"

8 See page 843.

* This willful perversion of the plain letter and spirit of the " Woman Order " was made the key-note of a
cry of indignation that was heard in every part of the Confederacy, and was echoed by the friends of the con-
spirators in the North and in Europe. "Do not leave your women to the merciless foe," appealed "The daugh-
ters of New Orleans" to "every Southern soldier." . . . " Bather let us die with you, oh, our fathers ! Kather,
like Virginius, plunge your swords into our breasts, saying, 'This is all we can give onr daughters. 1 '' The
Governor of Louisiana said: "It was reserved for a Federal general to invite his soldiers to the perpetration
of outrages, at the mention of which the blood recoils with horror." A Georgian offered a reward of $10.000
"for the infamous Butler's head ;" and " A Savannah Woman " suggested a contribution " from every woman in
the Confederacy" "to triple the sum." Paul E. Hayne, the South Carolina poet, was again inspired to write
nonsense (see page 104, volume I.), and said:

" Yes ! but there's one who shall not die

In battle harness ! One for whom
Larks in the darkness silently

Another and a sterner doom !
A warrior's end should crown the brave
For him, swift cord 1 and felon grave 1"

Lord Palmerston, the British premier, in the plenitude of his admiration for the insurgents, and remember-
ing "how savages in red coats had been wont to conduct themselves in captured cities " on the Peninsula, and
naturally supposed that "patriots in blue coats would follow their example," made himself appear exceedingly
absurd before the world by mentioning the matter in Parliament, and saying, " An Englishman must blush to think
that such an act hsjs been committed by one belonging to the Anglo-Saxon race." Beau regard, whose wife ami
mother, living in the house of John Slidell, in New Orleans, were there treated in tho most tender and respectful
manner by the commanding general, first applied to that officer, it is said, the vulgar epithet of ' Butler the
Beast," and it was freely used by every enemy of the Government. South and North, until the end of tin-
strife.

TltlAL AND EXECUTION OF A TRAITOR.

351

G ,EOK F.

Mayor, 1 and the appointment of General G. F. Shepley, of Maine, as Mili-
tary Governor of New Orleans, who at once organized an efficient police
force and made the city a model of
quiet and good order. This vigor
was followed by the arrest of William
B. Mumford, his trial and conviction
by a military court, and his execution
as a traitor in the presence of a vast
multitude, who quietly dispersed to
their homes, with the salutary reflec-
tion that the Government had indeed
" repossessed " its property, and was
exercising its rightful authority in
the city of New Orleans. 2

Of the details of General Butler's
administration in the Department of
the Gulf, until he was superseded by
General Banks, ' at the middle of
December following how he dealt
with representatives of foreign governments ; with banks and bankers ; with
the holders of Confederate money and other property; and with disloyal
men of every kind, from the small offender in the street to the greater
offender in public positions and in the pulpit it is not our province here to
consider. 3 Suffice it to say, that it then seemed wise and salutary in the
necessary assertion of the sovereign authority of his Government ; and, to the
candid student of events there, it yet seems to have been wise and salutary.
Promptness and decision marked every step of his career. 4 Measures for the

1 The terrified official hastened to explain his letter, when Butler agreed to release him from the penalty of
imprisonment on condition that he should withdraw the letter and make an apology. This he did in the
most humble manner.

2 Mumford was a professional gambler, and consequently an enemy of society. He was about forty-two
years of age. He was in the crowd in front of the St. Charles on the occasion of the General's conference with
the Mayor and his friends, already alluded to, boasting of his exploit with the fl:ig, inciting them to riot, and
daring the National officers to arrest him. He continued his attitude of defiance, and became so dangerous to
good order, as a leader of the turbulent spirits of New Orleans, that his arrest and punishment was a necessity.
His overt act of treason was clear, and his execution had a most salutary effect. Mumford is the only man who,
up to this time (1S67), has been tried, condemned, and executed for treason since the foundations of the
National Government were laid.

3 In Mr. Parton's work, which has been so frequently referred to, and whose full title is, General flutter in
New Orleans . History of the Administration of the Department of the Gulf in the Year 1862 ; with an
Account of the Capture of New Orleans, may be found full details of that administration.

* So vigorous and efficient, so uncompromising with treason and rebellion, was Butler's administration of
affairs in Mew Orleans, that the conspirators, and particularly the chief of the Confederacy, who had been his
political associate a few years before, regarded him as an arch-enemy more to be dreaded than balls or bayonets.
Their fears of him and personal hatred led them to the perpetration of the most foolish acts.
At about the time when Butler left New Orleans, Jefferson Davis issued a notable proclama- Dec. 23,
tion,' for the purpose of "firing the Southern heart," in which he professed to review Butler's 1862.

administration of affairs there. In connection with a recitation of Butler's alleged crimes, he
pronounced him "to be a felon, deserving of capital punishment,' 1 and ordered that he should not be "treated
simply as a public enemy of the Confederate States of America, but as an outlaw and common enemy of man-
kind ; and that, in the event of his capture, tho officer in command of the capturing force do cause him to be
immediately executed by hanjing." He also ordered that the same treatment should be awarded to all com-
missioned officers serving under Butler. In addition to these Instructions, he ordered that all negro slaves cap-
tured in arms against the Confederacy, and all commissioned officers of the United States serving in company
with them, who should be captured, should be delivered to the executive authorities of the respective States to
which the negroes belonged, " to be dealt with according to the laws of said States."

There is not, probably, any intelligent and candid man in the Union to-day, and especially among the resi-
dents of New Orleans at that time, who does not agree, in honest opinion, with the verdict of a competent

352

THE LOUISIANA NATIVE GUARD.

public good were continually planned and executed, and toward the close of
summer he took the first step in the employment of negroes as soldiers, which
the enemies of the Government had practised there. When General Banks
arrived to take command of the Department, there were
three regiments of these soldiers, with two batteries
manned by them, well drilled for his use, under the
common name of the Louisiana Native Guard.

The loss of New Orleans was the heaviest blow the
Confederacy had yet received, and for a while it stag-
gered under its infliction. " It annihilated us in Louisi-
ana," said the Confederate historian of the war ; " dimin-
ished our resources and supplies, by the loss of one of
the greatest grain and cattle countries within the limits
of the Confederacy ; gave to the enemy the Mississippi
River, with all its means of navigation, for a base of
operations, and finally led, by plain and irresistible
conclusion, to our virtual abandonment of the great and
fruitful valley of the Mississippi." 1

Let us now return to a consideration of the Army of
the Potomac, which we left in a quiet condition after
the little flurry at Drainsville, at near the close of the
year.

LOUISIANA NATIVE GUARD.

historian (Parton), that " each of the paragraphs of Jefferson Davls's proclamation which relates to General
Butler's conduct is the distinct utterance of a lie."

A few days after the proclamation was issued, Richard Yeadon, a prominent citizen of Charleston, publicly
offered* a reward of $10,000 " for the capture and delivery of the said Benjamin F. Butler, dead or
Jan. 1, alive, to any proper Confederate authority." And ' A Daughter of South Carolina," in a letter
1863. to the Cfiarleston Courier, said, "I propose to spin the thread to make the cord to execute the
order of'our noble President, Davis, when old Butler is caught, and my daughter asks that she
may be allowed to adjustilt around his neck."
1 Pollard's first Year of the War, page 321.

IMMOBILITY OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

353

CHAPTEK XIV.

MOVEMENTS OF THE AEMT OF THE POTOMAC. THE MONITOR AND MEEKIMACK.

HE Grand Army of the Potomac had gained strength in
numbers and discipline during the months it had been
lying in comparatively quiet camps around the National
Capital. The battles of Ball's Bluff and Drainsville,
already mentioned, had kept it from rusting into absolute
immobility ; and the troops were made hopeful at times
by promises of an immediate advance upon the Confed-
erates at Manassas. But at the beginning of the year
1862, when that army numbered full two hundred thousand men, the pros-
pect of an advance seemed more remote than ever, for the fine weather that
had prevailed up to Christmas was succeeded by storms and frost, and the
roads in many places soon became almost impassable. Very little prepara-
tion had been made for winter quarters, and much suffering and discontent
was the consequence. 1 The people were exceedingly impatient, and were
more disposed to censure the Secretary of War than the General-in-Chief, for
they had faith in the latter. They were gratified when Mr. Cameron left the
office, and they gave to the new incumbent, Mr. Stanton, their entire confi-
dence. 2

The President was much distressed by the inaction of the great army.
He could get no satisfaction from the General-in-Chief, when he inquired why
that army did not move. Finally, on the 10th of January, he summoned
Generals McDowell and Franklin to a conference with himself and his Cabi-
net. Never, during the whole war, did he exhibit such despondency as at

1 Various efforts were made by many officers to break the monotony of the camp and keep the soldiers
cheerful. With this view, the musical " Hutchinson Family " were permitted, by Secretary Cameron, to visit
the camps and sing their simple and stirring songs. They were diffusing sunshine through the army by delight-
ins crowds of soldiers who listened to their voices, when their career ofusefulness was suddenly arrested by the
following order:

By direction of General McClellan, the permit given to the ' Hutchinson Family ' to sing in the camp,
and their pass to cross the Potomac, are revoked, and they will not be allowed to sing to the troops."

Why not ? The answer was in the fact, that they had sung Whittier's stirring song, lately written, to the
tune of Luther's Hymn, "Ein feste burg ist unser Gott," in which, among eight similar verses, was the fol-
lowing:

" What gives the wheat-field blades of steel ?

What points the rebel cannon T
What sets the roaring rabble's heel
On th 1 old star-spangled pennon?
What breaks the oath
Of th' men o' th' South ?
What whets the knife
For the Union's life?
Hark to the answer : SLAVERY ! "

s Edwin M. Stanton succeeded Simon Cameron, as Secretary of War, on the 18th of January, 1S62.
VOL. 1123

354 IMPATIENCE OF THE PRESIDENT AND PEOPLE.

that conference. He spoke of the exhausted condition of the treasury; of
the loss of public credit ; of the delicate condition of our foreign relations ;
the critical situation of National affairs in Missouri and Kentucky since Fre-
mont left the Western Department / the lack of co-operation between Gen-
erals Halleck and Buell, and the illness of the General-in-Chief, which then,
it was -said, confined him to his house. He said he was in great distress
under the burden of responsibility laid upon him. He had been to the
house of the General-in-Chief, who did not ask to see him. He must talk to
somebody, and he had sent for McDowell and Franklin to obtain a military
opinion as to the probability of an early movement of the army. " If some-
thing is not soon done," he said in his simple way, " the bottom will be out
of the whole affair ; and, if General McClellan does not want to use the army,
I would like to borrow it, provided I can see how it could be made to do
something." 1

The President, supported by public opinion, had resolved that something
must be done by the army of the Potomac immediately, under the direction
/f General McClellan, or some other officer, and arrangements were in pro-
gress to that effect, when the General-in-Chief, who had been too ill to see
, the President on the 10th, was out, and " looking quite well," on

Jan., Jooz. ' A

the following day. McDowell and Franklin, meanwhile, had
been charged by the President with the duty of submitting a plan of a cam-
paign. The former was decidedly in favor of an advance in heavy force
upon the front and flanks of the Confederates at Manassas, whose numbers
he was satisfied had been greatly exaggerated. 2 Such movement, if success-
ful, would end the disgraceful blockade of the Potomac, and drive the army
that was really besieging the National Capital back upon Richmond. Gen-
eral Franklin, who had been somewhat informed by General McClellan of

his plans, was in favor of moving on
Richmond by way of the Lower Che-
sapeake and the Virginia Peninsula.
They consulted with Quartermaster-
General Meigs (who agreed with
McDowell), Colonel Kingsbury, the
Chief of Ordnance of the Army of
the Potomac, General Van Vliet, the
Chief Quartermaster, and Major
Shiras, the Commissary of Sub-
sistence.

The subject was discussed by
these military officers and the Presi-
dent and his Cabinet on the same
evening* when McDowell

l> Jan. 11. .

and Franklin, being in
general agreement as to the neces-

MONTGOMERY C. MEIGS.

1 Notes by General McDowell of a conference -with the President and others, on the subject of the move-
ment of the Army, cited by Mr. Swinton, in his Campaigns of t'ne Army of the Potomac, page 79 Mr.
Swinton says he submitted these notes to Mr. Lincoln, daring the summer of 18&4, who declared that they wore
substantially correct

2 At the first meetins of the Cabinet to consider the subject, Mr. Seward stated, that from Information
whieh he had received from an Englishman, j -at from the Confederate lines, he wns satisfied that thev might

HAUGHTINESS OF GENERAL McCLELLAN. 355

sity now of moving directly upon Manassas, recommended such move-
ment. But there was a difference of opinion in the Cabinet. 1

Two days afterward there was another meeting of those officers with the
President and his Cabinet. . General McClellan was present, but took no
part in the discussion. He seemed offended ; and in, reply to some apologetic
remarks from McDowell, in explanation of the position in which he and
Franklin were placed, the General-in-Chief curtly remarked, " You are entitled
to have any opinion you please." When the President asked McClellan
" what and when any thing could be done, the latter replied, with more force
than courtesy, that the case was so clear that a blind man could see it ; and
then spoke of the difficulty of ascertaining what force he could count
upon ; that he did not know whether he could let General Butler go to Ship
Island, 2 or whether he could re-enforce Burnside." 3 To the direct question of
the Secretary of the Treasury, to the effect as to what he intended doing with
his army, and where he intended doing, McClellan answered, that the move-
ments in Kentucky were to precede any from Washington. 4 This part of
the plan of the General-in-Chief (the movements in the West) was soon
gloriously carried out, as we have already observed ; and before the Army of
the Potomac had fairly inaugurated its campaign, in the spring of 1862, the
active little army under Grant, and the forces of Buell and Pope, in connec-
tion with Foote's gun-boats and mortars, had captured Forts Henry and
Donelson, Nashville and Columbus ; had driven the Confederates out of Ken-
tucky ; had seized the Gibraltar of the Mississippi (Island Number Ten) ;
and had penetrated to Northern Alabama, and fought the great battles and
won a victory at Shiloh. 5

At that conference, McClellan expressed his unwillingness to develop his
plans, " always believing," he said, " that in military matters the fewer
persons knowing them the better." He would tell them if he was ordered
to do so. The President then asked him if he counted upon any particular
time ; he did not ask what time that was, but had he in his own mind any
particular time fixed when a movement could be commenced. The General
replied he had. " Then," rejoined the President, " I will adjourn this
meeting." 6

A few days after this conference, General McClellan, at the request of the
President, laid before the latter a plan for moving against Richmond. It
was to abandon his present base, and proceed toward the Confederate
capital by way of the Lower Chesapeake. The President disapproved of
the plan, because of the long time it would take to prepare for the move-
concentrate in front of the National army, at short notice, 108,000 men. General Wool, who had excellent means
for obtaining correct information, had satisfied himself, and had so reported, that not one-half that number
of Confederate soldiers were in all Virginia, It was afterward clearly shown that General Wool's estimate was
not too low, and "that from October to March, Johnston never had an effective force of more than 40.000 under
his orders, and that his preparations for an evacuation were begun as early as October, 1861 ; and that, after that
time, he lay simpjy in observation." So declared W. H. Hurlburt, a public writer, who had many and rar
facilities for knowing the strength of the Confederates.

1 The Postmaster-General (Montgomery Blair) strongly urged McClellan's plans of moving at some future
time by way of the Peninsula, because of the great obstacles of bad roads and immense forces to be encountered
on the other route; to which the Secretary of the Treasury (Mr. Chase) replied that it was probable that, after
losing much time and millions of money, there would be found as many obstacles to success on the newly pro-
posed route. The Secretary of State (Mr. Seward) thought that a victory by the Army of the Potomac smnt
ichere was desirable, it mattered not where. McDowell's Notes.

2 See page 324. a See page 315. * McDowell's Notes. See Chapters VII., VIII, IX s,1 X.
McDowell's Notes.

356 THE ARMIES ORDERED TO MOVE.

ment, and the importance of striking a blow immediately. He could no
longer endure the delays of the General-in-Chief, and without consulting him,
he, as commander-in-chief of the army and navy of the Republic, issued an
order on the 27th of January," known as General War Order
No. 1, in which he directed the 22d of February following "to
be the day for a general movement of the land and naval forces of the
United States against the insurgent forces." 1 He also declared that the
heads of executive departments, and especially the Secretary of War and
of the Navy, with all their subordinates, as well as the General-in-Chief,
with all commanders and subordinates of the land and naval forces, should
" severally be held to their strict and full responsibilities for prompt execu-
tion of the order."

This proclamation sent a thrill of joy through every loyal heart. Four
days later the President issued a special order to McClellan, directing him
to form all the disposable force of the Army of the Potomac, after provi-
ding safely for the defense of Washington, into an expedition for the imme-
diate object of seizing and occupying a point upon the railroad southwest
of Manassas Junction, the details of the movement (which was to take place
on or before the 22d of February) to be left to the discretion of the Gene-
ral-in-Chief. The object was to flank the insurgents at Manassas and Cen-
treville, relieve Washington, threaten Richmond, and paralyze the main
strength of the rebellion by destroying its most formidable army. Secretary
Stanton at the same time urged McClellan to take immediate steps " to
secure the reopening of the Baltimore and Ohio Railway, and free the banks
of the lower Potomac from the rebel batteries which annoyed passing
vessels." 8

Instead of obeying the President's order, McClellan remonstrated against
its execution. The patient Lincoln listened to all he had to say, and on the
3d of February wrote him a kind note, saying : " You and I have distinct
and different plans for a movement of the Army of the Potomac ; yours to
be down by the Chesapeake, up the Rappahannock, to Urbana, and across
land to the terminus of the railroad on the York River; mine to move
directly to a point on the railway southwest of Manassas. If you will give
satisfactory answers to the following questions, I shall gladly yield my plan
to yours: 1st. Does not your plan involve a greatly larger expenditure of
time and money than mine ? 2d. Wherein is victory more certain by your
plan than mine ? 3d. Wherein is victory more valuable by your plan than
mine ? 4th. In fact, would it not be less valuable ; in this, that it would
break no great line of the enemy's communications, while mine would ?
Sth. In case of disaster, would not a retreat be more difficult by your plan
than mine ?"

McClellan did not reply to the President's kind note and important
inquiries ; but on the same day he sent a long letter to the Secretary of
War, in which he recited a history of his connection with the Army of the

1 He specially ordered the array " at and around Fortress Monroe, the Army of the Potomac, the Army of
Western Virginia, the array near Mumfordsville [BueU's] in Kentucky, the army and flotilla [Grant's and
Foote's] at Cairo, and a naval force in the Gulf of Mexico [Farragufs and Porter's] to be ready to move on
unit day."

* General MoClellan's Report, page 42.

CAMPAIGN AGAINST RICHMOND CONSIDERED. 357

Potomac, and its organization ; complained of the total absence of a general
plan of operations under the administration of General Scott ; and declared
that it was his intention to gain, through the forces in the West, the control
of the Eastern Tennessee Railroad, and then have attacks made simul-
taneously on Nashville and Richmond. He developed his plan for operations
by the Army of the Potomac against Richmond by way of Chesapeake Bay,
already mentioned, the base being Urbana, on the lower Rappahannock, and
presented a long array of arguments in its favor. He arrayed against the
President's plan the advantage possessed by the Confederates in holding a
central defensive position ; the uncertainties of the weather ; the necessity
of having long lines of communication, and the probable indecisiveness even
of a victory. McClellan was so impressed with apprehensions of the sad
fate that might befall his army by following the President's plan, that he
declared he should " prefer to move from Fortress Monroe as a base, to an
attack upon Manassas."

The President was not convinced by the General's arguments, but, in con-
sequence of the latter's steady resistance and unwillingness to enter upon the
execution of any other plan than his own, 1 he consented to submit the matter
to a council of twelve officers, which was held at head-quarters on the 27th of
February. The decision was made in favor of McClellan's plan, by a vote
of eight against four.* ' The President acquiesced ; and on the same day
orders went out from the War Department for procuring transports, and
preparations for the forward movement went rapidly on.

On the 8th of March the President, in a general order, directed the Army
of the Potomac to be divided into four corps, and designated as their respec-
tive commanders Generals Keyes, Sumner, Heintzelman, and McDowell.
Apprehending, because of some indications, that the General-in-Chief
intended to take nearly the entire Army of the Potomac with him, the Presi-
dent, on the same day," issued another order, directing that no
change of the base of operation of that army should be made
without leaving a competent force for the protection of Washing-
ton ; that not more than fifty thousand troops should be moved toward the
scene of intended operations, until the navigation of the Potomac from
Washington to the Chesapeake should be " freed from the enemy's batteries
and other obstructions ;" that the new movement on Chesapeake Bay should
begin as early as the 18th of March, and that the General-in-Chief should
" be responsible that it so moves as early as that day ;" and that " the army
and navy co-operate in an immediate effort to capture the enemy's batteries
upon the Potomac, between Washington and the Chesapeake Bay."

At this moment events were occurring that caused a material modification
of the plans of the General-in-Chief. A new war-power had just been crea-
ted, and was about to manifest its strength in Hampton Roads. The Moni-
tor, whose exploits we shall consider presently, was on its way to those
waters. At the same time a movement of the insurgents in front of Wash-

1 See Life, Public Services, and State Papers of Abraham Lincoln, by Henry J. Raymond, page 267.

8 The council was composed of Generals Fitz-John Porter, Franklin, W. F. Smith, M'Call, Blenker, Andrew
Porter, Naglee, Keyes, McDowell, Sumner, Heintzelman, and Barnard. The first eight voted in favor of McClel-
lan's plan, Keyes qualifying his vote by the condition that the army should not move until the rebels were driven
from the Potomac.

358 COXFEDEKATES EVACUATE MANASSAS.

ington was more immediately affecting the Army of the Potomac. On the

day after the President's order just cited, the General-in-Chief

eJ ^62. 9 ' received information that the Confederates had abandoned Cen-

treville and Manassas, and were falling back toward Richmond,

by which McClellan's proposed flank movement by way of the lower Rap-

pahannock was made unnecessary.

Preparations for this retirement had been commenced three weeks before
by a quiet removal of the army stores and munitions, but the officers of
McClellan's secret service seem to have been in profound ignorance of the
fact, and by their reports were strengthening his belief that the number of
the Confederates on his front was so great, that the utter discomfiture of
his army would be risked by advancing against them at Manassas. 1 But
from the statements of the Confederate commanders, and writers in the
interest of the rebellion, it appears that Johnston had at no time during the
winter intended to make a stand at Manassas, for his troops were too few in
number and too scantily provided to make even a show of strong resistance.
It was this weakness of his forces, and the order of the President for the
forward movement of all the National armies on the 22d of February, and
not a knowledge of McClellan's intended flank movement, as the latter after-
ward supposed, that caused Johnston to flee from Manassas.* The removal
of his stores and war materials commenced a few days before the prescribed
time for McClellan to advance upon his position. It was a masterly move-
ment, and evinced that ability which has caused Johnston to be regarded by
experts on both sides as by far the most able of the commanders of the Con-
federate armies.

On receiving information of the evacuation of Centreville
and Manassas,* McClellan crossed the Potomac, and issued orders
for the immediate advance of the whole army toward the abandoned
posts, not, as he afterward explained in his report, for the purpose of pur-
suing the retiring Confederates, and pushing on toward Richmond, but to
" get rid of superfluous baggage and other impediments which accumulate
so easily around an army encamped for a long time in one locality," and to
" give the troops some experience in the march and bivouac preparatory to
the campaign." 3 His advance, composed of Colonel Averill's cavalry,

1 On the day -when Johnston's little army -withdrew from Manassas, E. J Allen, the chief of McClellan's
secret service corps, reported to his commander that the forces of the Confederates " at that date " were as fol-
lows: At Manassas, and within twenty miles of it, 98,000 men, at Leesburg and vicinity, 4,500; and in
the Shenandoah Valley 18,500, making a total of 115,000. He also reported that they had about 300 field-guns,
and from 26 to 30 siege-guns ''in front of Washington," See General McClellan's Report, pages 56 and 57. At
the same time General Wool at Fortress Monroe, and General Wadsworth, back, of Arlington Heights, had the
most reliable information that, ten days before the evacuation, not 50,000 troops were in front of the Army of
the Potomac. Subsequent investigations and statements reduce that number below 40,000.

2 In his report, made seventeen months after this occurrence, McClellan says: "The retirement of the
enemy toward Richmond had been expected as the natural consequence of the movement to the Peninsula,"
and adds that " it was done immediately on ascertaining that such a movement was intended." See McClellan's
Report, page 54. The evacuation was commenced almost a fortnight before the council of officers decided on
the "movement to the Peninsula." That Johnston was ignorant of the intended flank movement at the time
of the evacuation, is evident from a remark of an English officer then serving under him, who said, in speaking
of the forces there : " In fact, McClellan was quietly maturing plans for the seizure of Centreville and Manas-
sas, when Johnston suddenly gave orders for a general retreat, and all our army began to move rapidly south-
ward." See Battle-fields of the South, from Bull Run to Fredericksburg ; by an English Combatant,
Lieutenant of Artillery on the Field Staff.

3 McClellan's Report, pages 54, 55.

"PROMENADE" OF THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC.

359

i March 14,
1862.

GEOKCiE STONEMAN.

reached Centreville on the 10th. The works there and at Manassas Junc-
tion were abandoned, and yet the Confederates were not far away for four
days afterward." General
Stoneman, who had been
sent out with a heavy
force of cavalry to push their rear
across the Rappahannock, saw them
in large numbers at Warrenton J unc-
tion. On account of difficulty in
procuring subsistence, heavy rains,
and bad roads, Stoneman did not
molest the retiring army, and the
pursuit, if it may be so called, ended
here. On the following day the
main body of the Army of the Poto-
mac, under the mask of a strong
reconnoissance of the corps of How-
ard and Sumner toward the Rappa-
hannock, moved back to Alexandria. Stoneman's advance retired at- the
same time, followed some distance, in spite of mud and weather, by the
cavalry of Stuart and Ewell, a battery of artillery, and some infantry. 1
Then the Confederates moved leisurely on and encamped, first behind the
Rappahannock, and then in a more 'eligible position beyond the Rapid
Anna. 2

This " promenade " (as one of McClellan's aids, of the Orleans family,
called it) of the Army of the Potomac disappointed the people, and con-
firmed the President's opinion, indicated in an order issued on the llth, that
the burden of managing that army in person, and, as general-in-chief, direct-
ing the movements of all the others, was too much for General McClellan to
bear. By this order he kindly relieved that officer of a part of the tmrden. 3
To General Halleck was assigned the command of the National troops in the
Valley of the Mississippi, and westward of the longitude of Knoxville in
Tennessee ; and a Mountain Department, consisting of the region between
the commands of Halleck and McClellan, was created and placed under the
command of General Fremont. The commanders of Departments were
ordered to report directly to the Secretary of War.

The notable events in Hampton Roads, that modified McClellan's plans
for marching on Richmond, occurred at this juncture. It was known that
the Confederates were fashioning into a formidable iron-clad ram the fine
steam-frigate Merrimack, which, as we have observed, was burned and
sunk at Norfolk in the spring of 186 1. 4 She had been raised; and, in
accordance with a plan furnished by Lieutenant John M. Brooke, formerly

1 Stoneman's report to General McClellan, March 16, 1862.

a This is the correct orthography of the name of one of three rivers in that part of Virginia, which has been
generally written, in connection with the war, Eapidan. These small rivers are called, respectively, North
Anna, South Anna, and Rapid Anna; the word Anna being frequently pronounced with brevity. Ann.

3 " Major-General McClellan." said the order, "having personally taken the field at the head of the Army
of the Potomac, until otherwise ordered, he is relieved from the command of the other Military Departments,
lie retiinins the command of the Department of the Potomac.' 1 ''

4 See page 808, volume I.

360

THE "MERRIMACK" AND "MONITOR."

FEANKLIX BUCHANAN.

of the National navy, she was transformed into a destructive implement
of war, and named Virginia. 1 The world had never before seen a floating
engine of war equal to this. From the spoils of the Norfolk Navy Yard she
was completely equipped, and her commander was Captain Franklin Bucha-
nan, an experienced officer of the
National navy (who had been forty-
five years in the service), assisted
by Catesby Ap R. Jones, another
traitor to his flag.

This terrible battery was com-
pleted at the beginning of March,
and its appearance in Hampton
Roads was then daily expected.
Meanwhile another engine of de-
struction, of novel form and aspect,
had been prepared at Green Point,
Long Island, a short distance from
New York, under the direction of
its inventor, Captain John Ericsson,
a scientific Swede, who had been a
resident of the United States for twenty years. This vessel, almost a dwarf
in appearance by the side of the Merrimack, presented to the eye, when afloat,
a simple platform, sharp at both ends, and bearing a round revolving iron
Martello tower, twenty feet in diameter and ten feet high, and forming a
bomb-proof fort, in which two 11-inch Dahlgren cannon were mounted. 2

1 The Herrimack or Virginia, appeared, when afloat, like a huge roof. This and her sides -were composed
of heavy oak timber, twenty-eight inches in thickness, covered six inches deep by railway iron bars and iron
plates. A bulwark, or false bow, was added, and beyond this was a strong oak and iron beak, thirty-three feet
long, after tho fashion of those on the western waters, already mentioned. She was made apparently shot-
proof; was propelled by two engines of great power, and carried on each side four SO-poundor rifled cannon, and
at the bow and stern a gun that would hurl a 100-pound solid shot, or 120-pound shell. She was furnished with
furnaces for beating shot, and apparatus for throwing hot water. Iler engines and other apparatus were all
below water-mark.

1 The deck of the Monitor was only a few inches above water. Tho round revolving tower was twenty
feet in diameter and ten fee* in
height above the deck. The
smoke-stack was made with tele-
scopic slides, so as to be lowered
in action. The hull was sharp at
both ends, the angle at the bow
being about eighty degrees to the
vertical line. It was only six
feet six inches deep, with a flat
bottom, and was 124 feet in
length and 34 in width at the
top. On this hull rested another,
five feet in height, of the same
form, that extended over the
lower one three feet seven inches
all around, excepting at the ends,
where it projected twenty-five
feet, by which protection was
afforded to th anchor, propeller.
and rudder. The whole was built
of light three-inch iron, and was
very buoyant Its exposed parts INTERIOR OP THE MONITOR'S TURRET.

were guarded by a wall of white

oak. thirty inches in thickness, on which was laid iron armor six inches thick. A shot, to reach the lower hull,
would have to pass through twenty-five feet of water, and then strike an inclined iron plane at an angle of about

ONSLAUGHT OF THE "MERKIMACK." 361

This little vessel, full of the most destructive power, was called by the
inventor The Monitor} She too was completed at the beginning of March,
and when General Wool, at Fortress Monroe, and Captain Marston, the
commander of the squadron in Hampton Roads, informed the authorities at
Washington that the Merrimack was ready for action, the Monitor was
ordered to proceed to the expected scene of her performance.

At a little before noon on Saturday, the 8th of March, the dreaded Merri-
mack was seen comins: down the Elizabeth River toward Hampton

a isg2.

Roads, accompanied by two ordinary gun-boats. At the same time,
doubtless by pre-concert, two other Confederate gun-boats had come down
from Richmond and made their appearance in the James River, a short dis-
tance above Newport-Newce. The sailing frigate Congress, commanded by
Lieutenant Joseph B. Smith, and the sloop of war Cumberland, Lieutenant
George M. Morris in temporary command, were lying in the mouth of the
James River, off Newport-Newce.* Toward these the Merrimack moved.
The flag-ship of the squadron (Roanoke), Captain John Marston, and the
steam frigate Minnesota, Captain Van Brunt, were lying at Fortress
Monroe, several miles distant. These were signaled to come to the assistance
of the menaced vessels. They could not reach them in time to serve them
much. The Merrimack, with her ports closed, paid no attention to the
heavy shot from her intended victims, for they were turned away by her
armor, as harmless as so many beans.

The Merrimack pushed right on in the face of the storm, and struck the
Cumberland such a tremendous blow with her beak, under her starboard
fore-channels, that a chasm was opened through which water flowed
sufficient to drown the powder-magazine in thirty minutes. At the same time
she opened her ports and delivered a most destructive fire. The Cumber-
land fought desperately in this death-grasp with the monster, and the conflict
continued until half-past three o'clock, when the water had risen to her main
hatchway, and she began to careen. Morris then gave the Merrimack a part-
ing fire, and ordered his men to jump overboard and save themselves. The
dead, and the sick and wounded, who could not be moved, to the number of
about one hundred, were left on board, and these -went down with her a little
while afterward, in fifty-four feet of water. The top-mast of the Cumber-

ten degrees. The deck, lying flush with the sides of the tipper hull, was also armored.and made bomb-proof,
and nothing was seen on it but the tower or citadel (turret, it is technically termed), the wheel-house, and a box
covering the smoke-stack. The insurgents spoke of the vessel as a " Yankee cheese-box set on a plank."

The only entrance into the vessel that boarders of it could find was from the top of the turret, and then
only one man at a time could descend. That turret was made of eight thicknesses of one-inch iron plate, so
overlapped that at no spot was there more than one inch thickness of joint. The roof was of plate iron, per-
forated and shell proof, and placed on wrought iron beams six inches down the cylinder. In this was a sliding
hatch to give light, and allow the employment of musketry if the vessel should be boarded. The turret was
turned by a contrivance connected with the double-cylinder engine that propelled the vessel, and so placed that
the governor could control its motion in taking aim. The two heavy guns, as seen in the engraving on the
preceding page, moved on wrought iron slides across the base of the turret, on well-fitting carriages, and their
muzzles were run out into the port-holes with ease. Such was the strange weapon of war destined to measure
strength with the Merrimack.

1 To Captain Fox, the Assistant-Secretary of the Navy, Ericsson wrote when proposing this name, that it
would admonish the insurgents that their batteries on banks of rivers would no longer be barriers to the passage
of the Union forces, and that it would prove a severe monitor to the leaders of the rebellion. He also said
it would be a monitor that would suggest to the Lords of the English Admiralty the impropriety of completing
their four steel-clad ships, then on the stocks, at the cost of three and a half millions of dollars apiece.

* The Congress carried fifty guns, and the Cumberland twenty-four guns of heavy caliber.

362 DESTRUCTION OF THE "CUMBERLAND" AND "CONGRESS."

land remained a little above the water, with her flag flying from its peak. 1
The writer saw that spar, yet above the water, near Newport-Newce, in the
spring of 1865, when on his way to Richmond, just after its evacuation by
the Confederate troops.

While the Merrimack was destroying the Cumberland, her assistant
gun-boats were assailing the Congress. That vessel fought her foes right
gallantly until the Cumberland went down, when, with the help of the
Zouave, she was run aground, under cover of the strong batteries at New-
port-Newce. There the Merrimack also assailed her, sending raking shot
through her, while the Congress could reply only with her stern guns, one
of which was soon dismounted by the Merrimack'' s shot, and the other had
the muzzle knocked off The gallant Lieutenant Smith, Acting-Master
Moore, and Pilot William Rhodes, with nearly half of her crew, were soon
killed or wounded. Her hull was set on fire, and she had not a gun to bring
to bear on her assailants. Further resistance would have been folly, and at
half-past four Lieutenant Pendergrast hauled down her flag. 8 She was form-
ally taken possession of by a Confederate officer, when a tug came alongside
to take off the remainder of the crew, that she might be immediately burned.
The batteries on shore drove off the tug, when the Merrimack again opened
upon the battered vessel, notwithstanding a white flag was flying over her in
token of surrender. After giving her a few shells, the ram proceeded to
attack the Minnesota, that had come up, and, during this absence of the ter-
rible monster, the crew of the ruined vessel escaped. The Merrimack
returned at dark, and set the Congress on fire with hot shot. While burning,
her guns went off one by one, and at midnight her magazine, containing five
tons of powder, exploded with a terrible noise and utterly destroyed her.
Only one-half of her crew of four hundred and thirty-four men responded to
the call of their names next morning at Newport-Newce. 3

We have noticed the attack on the Minnesota. Flag-Officer Marston had
quickly responded to the signal for aid from the Cumberland and Congress.
His own ship was disabled in its machinery, but, towed by two tugs, it was
started for the expected scene of action. At the same time the Minnesota
(steam frigate) was'ordered to hasten in the same direction. Her main-mast
was crippled by a shot sent from Sewell's Point when she was passing, and
when within a mile and a half of Newport-Newce she ran aground. There

1 Lieutenant Morris to Commander Eadford, March 9, 1862. There were 876 souls onboard the Cumberland
when she went into action. Of these, 117 were lost and 23 were missing. The gallantry of her officers and crew
was the theme of great praise, and painting and poetry celebrated their heroism. Lieutenant Morris, who was
commanding in the absence of Captain Radford, was the recipient of special commendations from the Secretary
of the Navy, in a letter to him on the 21st March. Just a week later, twelve citizens of Philadelphia, all personal
strangers to him, presented to Lieutenant Morris, at the house of K. W. Learning, an elegant sword, saying, in a
letter to him, that it could have " no worthier recipient than the brave sailor who fought his ship while a plank
floated, fired his last broadside in sinking, and went down with his flag flying at the peak." On the sword was
the motto in Latin, " I sink, but never surrender." The citizens who presented the sword were Joseph E.
Ingersoll, Charles D. Meigs, M. D., Horace Binney, Jr., J. S. Clark Hare, Thomas A. Biddle, J. Fisher Learning,
Ellwood Wilson. Lewis A. Scott, Clement Biddle, George W. Norris, J. Forsyth Mcigs, Eobert W. Learning.

3 McKean Buchanan, brother of the commander of the Merrimack, was an officer on board the Congress,
and was in charge of the berth-deck during the terrible struggle. In a letter to the Secretary of War afterward,
he said, " I thank God I did some service to my country."

* It is supposed that a capital object in this raid of the Merrimack was to destroy these two vessels, and
seize the National camp at Newport-Newce. During the conflict, many shells were thrown into that camp. Aware
of the danger that threatened it, General Wool had early forwarded re-enforcements, by land, from Fortress
Monroe.

ARRIVAL OF THE "MONITOR" IN HAMPTON ROADS.

363

she was attacked by the Merrimack and two of the Confederate gun-boats,
the Jamestown and Patrick Henry? Fortunately, the water was so shallow
that the Merrimack could not approach within a mile of her. She fought
gallantly, and at dusk her assailants, considerably crippled, withdrew, and
went up toward Norfolk. 8 Marston did not get up in time with the Roan-
oke to join in the fight. His vessel was grounded, and so was the frigate
St. Lawrence, towed by the gun-boat Cambridge, that was trying to join in
the conflict. 3

' The night after the battle" was one of greatest anxiety to the
loyal men on the northern borders of Hampton Roads. It was
expected the savage Merrimack would bear down upon the fast-
grounded Minnesota in the morning, destroy her and perhaps others of the
squadron, escape to sea, and appear like a besom of destruction in the
harbors of the seaboard cities of the North. There seemed to be no compe-
tent human agency near to avert these threatened disasters, when, at a little
past midnight, a mysterious thing came in from the sea between the capes
of Virginia, lighted on its way by the burning Congress, and appearing to
the wondering eyes of sentinels, who had no warning of its existence nor its
expected advent, like a supernatural
apparition. It was, indeed, a strange
but substantial reality, for it was
Ericsson's Monitor, on its trial trip
to fulfil the stipulation of the con-
tract with the Government, that she
was not to be accepted until after a
successful trial of her powers before
the heaviest guns of the enemy, and
at the shortest range. She was in
command of Lieutenant John L.
Worden, of the Navy, 4 and had been
towed to the Roads by the steamer
Seth Low, with two others as a con-
voy. Her sea-worthiness had been
tested by a heavy gale and rolling
sea, that had been encountered on
her way from New York. Worden reported to the flag-officer in the Roads
for orders on his arrival, and was immediately sent to aid the Minnesota.
He was in conference with her commander (Captain Van Brunt) &
at two o'clock on Sunday morning.* The Monitor lay along-
side of the grounded vessel, " when," said Van Brunt afterward, " all on

l The armed vessels that assisted the Merrimack in her raid, were the Patrick Henry, Commander
Tucker, 6 guns; Jamestown, Lieutenant-Commanding Barney. 2 gnns; and Raleigh, Lieutenant-Commanding
Alexander; Beaufort, Lieutenant-Commanding Parker, and Teaser, Lieutenant-Commanding "Webb, each one
gun.

* Commodore Buchanan and several others on board the Merrimack were wounded. The Commander
was so badly hurt that Captain Jones, his second in command, took charge of the vessels. Two of her guns
were broken ; her prow was twisted; some of her armor was damaged; her anchor and all the flag -staffs were
shot awuy, and the smoke-stack and steam-pipe were riddled. Report of Catesby Ap R. Jones to Flag- Officer
F. Forest, March a 1862.

8 Report of Flag-Offlcer John Marston to the Secretary of the Navy, March 9, 1862; also, of Lieutenants
Morris and Pendergrast

4 See page 365, volume I.

JOHN ERICSSON.

364 BATTLE BETWEEN THE "MONITOR" AND "MERRIMACK."

board felt that we had a friend that would stand by us in an hour of
trial."

That Sabbath morning dawned brightly. Before sunrise the dreaded
Merrimack, with her attendants, was seen coming down the Elizabeth River
again, to begin anew her savage work. The drums of the Minnesota beat
to quarters, and the people hidden in the Monitor prepared for battle. As
the Merrimack approached, the stern guns of the Minnesota were opened
upon her, when the Monitor, to the astonishment of friend and foe, ran out
and placed herself alongside the huge monster. She seemed like a pigmy at
the foot of a giant. What she lacked in size she possessed in power, but it
was power yet untried. It was immediately put ^ forth. Her invulnerable
citadel began to move, and from it her guns hurled ponderous shot in quick
succession. These were answered by broadsides from her antagonist ; and
in this close and deadly encounter, in which the blazes of opposing guns met
each other, these strange combatants struggled for some time, each
thoroughly illustrating the wonderful resisting power of armored ships,
which had just been manifested in a less degree on the Tennessee River.
Neither of the mailed gladiators was damaged in the terrible onset.

The Monitor now withdrew a little, and each commenced maneuvering
for advantage of position. The Monitor sought her antagonist's port-holes,
or some vulnerable part of her armor, that she might send a shot through to
her vitals, 1 while the Merrimack pounded her foe awfully with her heavy
shot, some of them masses of iron weighing two hundred pounds each, and
moving at the rate of two thousand feet in a second. They struck her deck
and turret without bruising them, and many of the projectiles went over the
little warrior that lay so close to the water's edge. Heavy round shot and
conical bolts that struck the turret, glanced off as pebbles would "fly from
contact with solid granite, they receiving more harm than their intended
victim.*

The Merrimack was wasting precious time in fighting an invulnerable
and more agile antagonist ; so she left the Monitor, and again made a furious
assault on the grounded Minnesota. As she approached, Van Brunt opened
upon her with all his broadside guns and a ten-inch pivot-gun, " a broad-
side," he said, " which would have blown out of the water any timber-built

1 The following description, by Captain Ericsson, will explain the way in which the guns of the Monitor
were made to bear on her antagonist: " On one side of the turret there is a telescope, or reflector, the image
being bent by a prism. The Sailing-Master, having nothing to do, was to turn the turret Ho not only looked
through the telescope, but by means of a small wheel, turned the turret exactly where he liked. He did that
to admiration, pointing exactly on the enemy. As the Monitor went round, the turret kept turning (it no
doubt astonished Captain Buchanan), so that, wherever the Monitor was, in whatever position it was placed,
the two bull-dogs kept looking at him all the time."

The Monitor had some wrousrht-iron shot that were first forged into square blocks and then turned into
spheres in a lathe, each weighing 1S4 pounds. These were not used, as the Dahlgren guns had not been tested
with them. It was Ericsson's opinion that the armor of the Merrimack would have proved no defense
against them.

2 The annexed picture shows the effect produced upon a 100-pound solid iron
bolt, now in the Naval Museum at Washington City, by its striking the turret It
was mashed like a piece of lead, while the turret was uninjured by it The effect of
such a blow, as we shall observe hereafter, was somewhat stunning to persons within
the turret " You were very correct," wrote Engineer Stimers to Captain Ericsson,
" in your estimate of the effect of shot upon the man inside of the turret when it struck
near him. Three men were knocked down, of whom I was one. The other two had to
be carried below ; but I was not disabled at all, and the others recovered before the
MASHED BOLT. battle was over."

END OF THE BATTLE IN HAMPTON EOADS. 365

ship in the world," but with very little effect. The Merrimack sent in
return one of her terrible shells, that went crashing through the Minnesota
to midships, exploding two charges of powder on its way, bursting in the
boatswain's apartments, tearing four rooms all into one, and setting the ship
on fire. The flames were soon extinguished. Another of her shells pene-
trated the boiler of the tug-boat Dragon and exploded it. Meanwhile at
least fifty solid shot, from the Minnesota, had struck the Merrimack without
the least effect, but her fiery little antagonist was bearing down upon her,
and soon commanded her whole attention. "The latter placed herself between
the combatants, and compelled the Merrimack to change her position. In

BATTLE BETWEEN THE MONITOR AND MEEEISIACK, IN HAMPTON ROADS.

so doing she grounded, when Van Brunt again brought all his guns to bear
upon her. Her situation was a critical one, and as soon as she got afloat
again she turned her prow toward Norfolk, when the Monitor gave chase.
The monster suddenly turned upon its pursuer and ran with full speed upon
the little warrior, its huge beak grating over the deck of the Monitor. It
was more damaged by the contact than the vessel it assailed. This was
instantly followed by the plunge of a heavy shot through the armor of the
Merrimack, and the concentration of the guns of the latter on the turret and
pilot-house of the Monitor. The encounter was desperate, but suddenly
ceased, and the combatants withdrew ; the Monitor making her way toward
Fortress Monroe, and the Merrima.ck and her tenders toward Norfolk. The
Minnesota, relieved of immediate danger, was lightened by throwing some
heavy guns overboard, and was put afloat at two o'clock the next morning. 1
During the combat, the gallant Captain Worden, whose record in the
history of the Navy is without blemish as a man and a soldier, had suffered
severely. He had stationed himself at the pilot-house, while Lieutenant
Greene managed the guns, and Chief Engineer Alban C. Stimers, who was
on board in the capacity of Government inspector, worked the turret. Nine

1 Report of Captain G. J. Van Brtint to the Secretary of the Navy, March 10, 1862; Letter of Engineer A.
C. Stimers to Captain Ericsson, March 9; oral statements to the author by Captain Worden, an-d various
accounts by contemporaries and eye-witnesses ; also, Report of Lieutenant Jones to the Confederate "Secretary
of the Navy " at the close of the first day's engagement

366

THE COMBATANTS. CAPTAIN WORDEN.

times that turret was struck by the Merrimactfs projectiles. The side armor
was hit eight times by them ; three times they struck and glanced from the

deck, and twice they gave the pilot-
house the most vulnerable point
a heavy blow. One of these struck
fairly in front of the peep-hole, at
which Worden was watching his foe.
It shivered some cement, and cast it
so violently in his face that it blinded
him for several days, and so shocked
him, that for a time he was insen-
sible. 1 In the turret, Stimers and
two others were knocked down by
the concussion, when it was struck ;
but, with the exception of Worden,
no one was very seriously injured on
board the Monitor. He was taken to
Washington City, where, for a few
days, his life was in peril, but he
recovered arid performed other gallant exploits during the war. His cour-
age in going out upon the Atlantic at that stormy season, in an untried vessel
of strange fashion, and his bold fight with and glorious success against the
most formidable warrior then afloat, belonging to the Confederates, won for
him the most unbounded admiration. It was felt that he was the savior of
his country at a most critical period ; for had the Merrimack not been checked
as she was, who shall say what conquering power she might not then, before
the National navy was much clad in armor, have exerted in securing a
triumph for the conspirators ? Worden the warrior, and Ericsson the inven-
tor, shared in the public gratitude. On the day of the battle, Chief Engi-
neer Stimers wrote to the latter, saying, " I congratulate you upon your great
success. Thousands have this day blessed you. I have heard whole crews
cheer you. Every man feels that you have saved this place to the nation by
furnishing us with the means to whip an iron-clad frigate, that was, until our
arrival, having it all her own way. with our most powerful vessels."

The Merrimack, whose exploits on Saturday had caused joy

" *w62 h 9 ' throughout the Confederacy, 3 was so much disabled on Sunday,"

and had acquired such a wholesome respect for the Monitor, that

1 Worden had no thought for himself. When he recovered from his insensibility, his first question was, " Is
the Minnesota safe ?" He had been ordered to her assistance, and that was his special duty. When informed
that he had not only saved that ship, but driven off the Merrimack, he said, " I don't oare. then, what becomes
of me." While lying in a critical state at Washington, he received the most assiduous attentions from every-
body that could administer them ; and it is said that the tender-hearted President, when he first visited him,
wept like a father over the blinded hero, to whom he felt extremely grateful for his inestimable services for the
National cause.

8 This is from a fine likeness of Captain Worden, taken before his injury on board the Monitor.

3 " By this daring exploit," said the Norfolk Day Book* ' we have raised the James River blockade without
foreign assistance, and are likely, with the assistance of the Virginia [Jferrimack], to keep open the communi-
cation." The Charleston Mercury said exnltingly : " The'iron-clad steamer Virginia cnst $185,000 to fit her
np, and in one day destroyed $1,000.000 worth of Yankee property.'' Even so late as the llth. or two days after
the Monitor had sent the Merrimack back to Norfolk a disheartened cripple, Jefferson Davis, in a message
to the "Congress" at Richmond, claimed a triumph for the Confederates, saying, "The disparity of forces
engaged did not justify the anticipation of so great a victory."

MOVEMENTS IN WESTERN VIRGINIA.

367

' March 13.

she did not again invite her little antagonist to combat, 1 and it was believed
that the free navigation of the James River by the National gun-boats would
speedily follow. Impressed with this idea, and influenced by the masterly
movement of Johnston from Manassas, General McClellan somewhat changed

* O

his plan for moving on Richmond. He called a Council of War at Fairfax
Court House, by which it was decided to go down the Chesa-
peake and debark the army at Fortress Monroe, instead of
Urbana or Mob-Jack Bay, and from that point, as a base of supplies, press
toward the Confederate capital. This plan was approved by the President,
on the condition that a sufficient force should be left for the perfect security
of Washington City, and to hold Manassas Junction. 2

Preparations for the new movement were immediately commenced. It
was important for the security of Washington, to hold the Confederates in
check in Western Virginia and in the Shenandoah Valley. Movements to
this end had been made very soon after the close of the campaign in Western
Virginia, recorded in Chapter IV. Early in January, the gallant and accom-
plished General Lander, who was suffering from a wound i-eceived in a skir-
mish at Edwards's Ferry, a few days
after the battle of Ball's Bluff, in
October, took command of a force to
protect the Baltimore and Ohio Rail-
way. He had a wily and energetic
opponent in " Stonewall Jackson,"
who was endeavoring to gain what
Floyd, and Wise, and Lee had lost,
and to hold possession of the Shenan-
doah Valley. Lander, with a force
of about four thousand men, made a
series of rapid movements against
him. With only four hundred horse-
men, he dashed upon him in the night
at Blooming Gap, in the
middle of February,* cap-
tured seventeen of his commissioned
officers and nearly sixty of his rank and file, and compelled him to retire.
Lander also occupied Romney, but fell back on the approach of Jackson's
superior force, when the latter took post at Winchester.

Lander's career as an independent commander was short. His wound
became painful from constant exertions, and this, with anxiety and exposure,
brought on disease which assumed the form of a fatal congestion of the brain.

' Fob. 14.

PRKPEKIOK W. LANDER.

1 The huge prow of the Merrlmack was twisted by her collision with her foe ; her flag-staff and anchor
were shot away; her pipes for smoke and steam were riddled; and her commander (Buchanan) and seven of her
crew were killed and wounded. Another Confederate gun-boat lost six men. The entire loss of the Nationals,
during the two days of conflict, was not much short of 400 men, besides the fine frigates Congress and Cumber-
land, the tug Dragon, and damage inflicted on the Minnesota, and the property in the two vessels first-named.

- General McClellan issued a stirring address to his soldiers, in the form of a General Order, in which he
said : " For a long time I have kept you inactive, but not without a purpose. You were to be disciplined and
instructed. The formidable artillery you now have had to be created. Other armies were to move and accom-
plish certain results. I have hold you back that you might give the death-blow to the rebellion that has dis-
tracted our once happy country The period of inaction has passed: I will bring you now face to face

with the rebels, and only pray that God may defend the right."

368

OPPOSING FORCES IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.

NATHANIEL P. BANKS.

He died on the 2d of March, when his country lost one of its ablest

defenders. For his brief but valuable services in Western Virginia, the

Secretary of War had publicly thanked him. General Shields,

* F is62 17 ' an ther brave soldier, who had done good service in Mexico,

was appointed Lander's successor in command of the troops

of the latter.

In the mean time General Banks, commanding the Fifth Corps, had sent

a force under Colonel Geary to reoc-
cupy Harper's Ferry, 1 as the first step
toward seizing and holding the Shenan-
doah Valley. He took command there
in person late in February, and with his
forces occupied the heights near the
feriy ; also Charleston and Leesburg, and
other important points on each side of the
Blue Ridge. Jackson, who had occupied
places directly in front of Banks, was
pushed back to Winchester, where he was
posted with his division of nearly eight
thousand men, when, early in March,
Johnston evacuated Manassas. That
evacuation was followed by the retire-
ment of Jackson up the Shenandoah Val-
ley, on the approach of Union troops under Generals Hamilton
and Williams. 4 He retreated to Mount Jackson, about forty
miles above Winchester, where he was in direct communication with a force
at Luray and another at Washington, on the eastern side of the mountain,
not far from Thompson's Gap. Shields pursued" Jackson to his

e March 19

halting-place, creating the greatest consternation among the
inhabitants. The secessionists fled
southward, while their few slaves, sud-
denly relieved from bondage to their
fugitive masters, took their departure,
by every possible mode of conveyance,
toward the National lines. Shields
found his antagonist too strong to
warrant an attack, and he fell back to
Winchester, for the twofold purpose of
safety and drawing Jackson from his
supports. He was closely pursued by
Jackson's cavalry, under Turner Ashby,
one of the most dashing of the Con-
federate cavalry officers in that region.

To Banks had been assigned the duty of covering the line of the Poto-
mac and Washington City, after the movement agreed upon in council at
Fairfax Court House had been conditionally sanctioned by the President,
and he was ordered to place the bulk of his force at Manassas Junction and

" March 11.

EXODUS OF SLAVES.

1 See page 138.

SKIRMISH NEAR WINCHESTER. 369

vicinity, and to repair the Manassas Gap Railway, so as to have a rapid and
direct communication with the Shenandoah Valley. Accordingly, on the
retirement of Jackson up the valley, he put the first division of his corps
in motion for Centreville, under General Williams, leaving only the division
of Shields and some Michigan cavalry in Winchester.

Spies informed Jackson of the weakening of Banks's army in the Valley,
and he immediately moved down to attack him at Winchester. General
Shields, who was in immediate command there, had a force of about six
thousand infantry, seven hundred and fifty cavalry, and twenty-four guns,
well posted on a ridge, so as to cover the roads entering Winchester from
the south. This position was about half a mile north of the village of
Kernstown, and two and a half south of Winchester.

Toward the evening of the 22d of March, Ashby's cavalry drove in
Shields' s pickets, when the latter moved a small force to oppose the assailants.
While directing it in person, his arm was shattered above his elbow by the
fragments of a shell, which also wounded his side. He was prostrated, but
was able to make dispositions for a vigorous encounter with his foe the next
day. 1 Under cover of the night he pushed forward the brigade of Colonel
Kimball, of the Fourteenth Indiana, to Kernstown, supported by Damn's
artillery, well posted. Colonel Sullivan's brigade was placed within support-
ing distance, as a reserve in Kimball's rear. In that order the troops reposed
until morning, when a reconnoissance obtained no positive information of
any Confederate force immediately in front, excepting Ashby's cavalry.
Genei'al Banks believed General Jackson to be too weak or too prudent
to attack Shields, and at ten o'clock that morning" he departed
for Washington City by Avay of Harper's Ferry, in obedience to oM j8g2 22 '
a summons from Head-quarters, leaving his staff-officers to start
for Centreville in the afternoon. He was soon made to retrace his steps by
the sounds of battle in his rear.

At the time when the National scouts saw nothing but Ashby's cavalry,
Jackson's whole force was strongly posted in battle order, with artillery on
each flank, in an eligible situation half a mile south of Kernstown, com-
pletely masked by woods, which were filled with his skirmishers; and within
an hour after Banks left Winchester, Confederate cannon opened upon Kim-
ball. Sullivan's brigade was immediately ordered forward to Kimball's sup-
port, and a severe action was commenced by artillery on both sides, but at
too great distance to be very effective.

Jackson now took the initiative, and, with a considerable force of all arms,
attempted to tuni Kimball's left flank, when an active body of skirmishers,
under Colonel Carroll, composed of his regiment (the Eighth Ohio) and three
companies of the Sixty-seventh Ohio, were thrown forward on both sides of
the Valley Turnpike, to oppose the movement. These were supported by
four guns of Jenks's artillery. The Confederates were repulsed at all points,
and Jackson abandoned his designs upon the National left, massed a heavy
force on their right, and sent two additional batteries and his reserves to sup-

' Jackson had ten regiments of Virginia infantry, with 27 cannon and 290 cavalry. His force was, accord-
ing to Pollard, " 6000 men, with Captain McLaughlin's buttery of artillery, and Colonel Asbby's Cavalry."
First Year of the War, 284.

VOL. II. 24

370

BATTLE OF KERNSTOWN.

JAMF.8 SHIELDS.

port the movement. With this combined force he pressed forward to turn
and crush his adversary's left. Daum's artillery could not check the move-
ment, and imminent peril threatened
the Union army. Informed of this,
Shields, who from his bed was in a
measure conducting the battle, order-
ed Colonel E. B. Tyler's brigade 1 to
the support of Kimball, and directed
the latter to employ all of his dispo-
sable infantry in an attempt to carry
Jackson's batteries, and then to turn
his left flank and hurl it back on its cen-
ter. The execution of this important
and perilous order was inti'usted to
the gallant Tyler and his fine bri-
gade. The Confederates were pressed
back to a stone fence, which gave
them shelter, where a desperate
struggle ensued with Jackson's fa-
mous "Stonewall brigade." For a little while the result was doubtful,
when the Fifth and Sixty-second Ohio and Thirteenth Indiana, of Sullivan's
brigade, and the Fourteenth Indiana, Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania, and parts
of the Eighth and Sixty-seventh Ohio, of Kimball's brigade, hastened to the
support of Tyler. The combined forces dashed on the Confederates, forced
them back through the woods, and sent them in full retreat up the Valley,
with a heavy loss, 2 but in good order, for their discipline was perfect. So
ended the BATTLE OF KERNSTOWN.

The National troops bivouacked on the battle-field the night after the
victory, and at an early hour in the morning began a vigorous pursuit of the
Confederates toward Strasburg. Meanwhile, Shields, who was satisfied that
re-enforcements for Jackson could not be far off, had sent an express after
Williams's division, then far on its way toward Centreville. Banks, who
was informed by telegraph of the battle, had already ordered it back. He
also hastened to Winchester, took command in person, and followed the
retreating Confederates up the valley almost to Mount Jackson. This
demonstration of Jackson's, and information that he might instantly call re-
enforcements to his aid, caused the retention of Banks's forces in the Shenan-
doah Valley, and the appointment of General James Wadsworth to the
command of the troops left for the immediate defense of the National
Capital. He was made military governor of the District of Columbia.

. In the mean time General McClellan had been forwarding his forces to
Fortress Monroe, preparatory to an advance on Richmond. He left Wash-
ington on the 1st of April, on which day he sent to the adjutant-general a

1 The Seventh and Twenty-ninth Ohio, Seventh Indiana, First Virginia, and One Hundred and Tenth
Pennsylvania.

5 Jackson left behind 2 cannon, 4 caissons, many small arms, and about 300 prisoners. He reported his
killed to be 80, and his wounded at 342. Shields reported 270 of the Confederate dead found on the battle-field
after the conflict, and estimated Jackson's entire loss at nearly 1500. The National loss, according to his report,
was nearly 600 men, of whom 10-3 were killed, and 441 were wounded. Among the slain was Colonel Murray,
of the Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania.

THE DEFEXSE OF WASHIXGTOST SECURED.

371

statement of the number and intended disposition of tlie forces which he left
behind : a part for the immediate defense of the Capital, and the remainder
for other operations more remote, but whose chief business was to secure
Washington City. The number left was a little more than seventy-three
thousand. 1 A few days later, he had under his command, at Fortress
Monroe, one hundred and twenty-one thousand men (exclusive of the forces
of General Wool), which had been sent thither within a little more than
thirty days, in transports furnished by the Assistant Secretary of War, John
Tucker. 2

The movements of " Stonewall " Jackson, General Ewell, and other active
commanders in the Upper Valley of the Shenandoah and its vicinity, had
made it important to strengthen Fremont in the Mountain Department, and
for that purpose Blenker's division of ten thousand men was withdraAvn from
the Army of the Potomac before McClellan left Washington. A further
reduction of the force under his command was made at this time, in conse-
quence of a report of General Wadsworth, that the troops left for the imme-
diate defense of Washington were insufficient. 3 This matter was referred to

the Adjutant-General,

(L. Thomas), and Gen-

eral E. A. Hitchcock,

and, on their decision

that the force was inad-

equate, the army corps

of General McDowell

was detached from

McClellan's immediate

command, and ordered

to report directly to the

Secretary of War. It

was not withdrawn

from active co-operation

with McClellan. On

the contrary, it was in

a position, experts say, to perform the best service in such co-operation,

while it would serve the other purpose of covering Washington, for it was

to occupy a position to prevent Johnston turning back from the Rappahan-

nock to sack the National Capital, and also to keep Confederate troops in

that region and over the Blue Ridge from joining those at Richmond.

MAORI-DEE'S HEAD-QUARTERS, TORKTOWN.*

1 Of these 18,000 were to remain in garrison at and in front of Washington ; 7,730 at Warrcnton ; 10,859 nt
Manassas; 85,467 in the Shenandoah Valley; and 1,350 on the Lower Potomac. See McClellan's Report
rage 66.

2 Report of Assistant Secretary of War Tucker, April 5, 1S62. Besides the soldiers, these transports, con-
sisting of 13 steamers, 183 schooners, and fS barges, conveyed 44 batteries, 14,592 beasts, 1,150 wagons, 74 ambu-
lances, several pontoon bridges, telegraph materials, and an immense amount of equipage. The only loss sus-
tained in this work of transportation consisted of S mules and 9 barges, the cargoes of the latter being saved.

s Wadsworth reported his force fit for duty at 19.022, nearly all of thenTnew and imperfectly disciplined,
and several of the regiments in a disorganized condition. At the same time he was under orders from McClel-
lan to send three regiments to the Peninsula. one to Budd's Ferry, and 4000 men to Manassas and Warrcnton.
The absence of these would reduce the force in and around Washinston to less than 15 000 men.

4 This was the appearance of the old Oourt-TTouse (which was Magruder's head-quarters in YorUown"),
with the ruins of buildings near it in 1S63. It stands a short distance from the famous mansion of the Nelson
family, which was bombarded during the siege of Yorktown in 17S1

372 THE CONFEDERATES ON" THE PENINSULA,

At this time General J. B. Magrudei', whom we have already met at Big
Bethel and the burning of Hampton, was in command of eleven thousand
men on the Virginia Peninsula, between the James and York rivers, with
his head-quarters at Yorktown, which he had fortified. Magruder had
intended to make his line of defense as far down the Peninsula as Big
Bethel, at positions in front of Howard's and Young's Mills, an.d at Ship
Point, on the York River. But when he perceived the strong force gathered
at Fortress Monroe, he felt too weak to make a stand on his proposed line,
and he prepared to receive McClellan on a second line, on Warwick River.
He left a small body of troops on his first line and at Ship Point, and dis-
tributed his remaining force along a front of about thirteen miles. At
Yorktown, on Gloucester Point opposite, and on Mulberry Island, on the
James River, 1 he placed fixed garrisons, amounting in the aggregate to six
thousand men, so that along a line of thirteen miles in front of McClellan's
great army, there were only about five thousand Confederate soldiers behind
incomplete earth-works. General McClellan estimated Magruder's force at
from fifteen thousand to twenty thousand men, while the eight thousand
troops under Huger at Norfolk, he supposed to be fifteen thousand in
number.

When General McClellan arrived at Fortress Monroe, he found fifty-eight
thousand men and one hundred cannon of his army there. Large numbers
of troops were continually arriving. Perceiving the importance of marching
upon Magruder before he could be re-enforced by Johnston, and hoping by
rapid movements to drive or capture him and press on to Richmond, McClel-
lan put his whole force then in readiness at Fortress Monroe in motion up the
Peninsula, on the morning of the 3d of April. He had counted upon the
co-operation of the remnant of the naval force in Hampton Roads in the
reduction of the Confederate water-batteries on the York and James rivers,
and Flag-officer Goldsborough had offered to extend such assistance in storm-
ing the works at Yorktown and Gloucester, provided the latter position should
be first turned by the army. He was reluctant to weaken his force, for the
Merrimack was hourly expected, with renewed strength, and the James River
was blockaded by Confederate gun-boats on its bosom and Confederate bat-
teries on its shore.

McClellan's invading force moved in two columns, one along the old
Yorktown road and the other by the Warwick road. These were led
respectively by Generals Heintzelman and Keyes. The former, on the right,

led the divisions of Generals Fitz John Porter and
Hamilton, of the Third Corps, and Sedgwick's
division of the Second Corps ; while Keyes led
the divisions of Generals Couch and W. F. Smith,
of the Fourth Corps. They pressed forward, and
on the following day the right, accompanied by
McClellan, was at Big Bethel, and the Commander-
in-chief made his head-quarters at a house very near
IIEAD-QITABTEKS. the spot where the gallant Greble fell, ten months

1 This Tfs sometimes called Mulberry Point, for it is not actually an island now, the channel between it
and the former main having b<.-en closed.

AHMY OF THE POTOMAC CHECKED. 373

before. 1 The left was at the little village of Warwick Court House at the
same time.

The army moved slowly on until the afternoon of the 5th, without any
impediment excepting almost
impassable mud, when the ad-
vance of each column was
confronted and made to
halt by Magruder's fortified
lines, the right near York-
town, on the York, the left
near Winn's Mill, on the
Warwick River. The latter
stream heads within a mile

Of YorktOWn, and, flowing BCMK AT WABWICK coum-noosi'

across the Peninsula, falls into

the James River. In front of these lines McClellan's continually augmenting
army remained a month, engaged in the tedious operations of a regular siege,
under the direction of General Fitz John Porter, casting up intrenchments,
skirmishing frequently, and oil one occasion making a reconnoissance in force,
which resulted in an engagement disastrous to the Nationals. This was by
the division of General Smith of the Fourth Corps, who attacked
the Confederates at Dam No. 1, on the Warwick, between the " A ^l 16 '
mills of Lee and Winn. The movement was gallantly made,
but failed. The vanguard of the Nationals (composed of four Vermont com-
panies, who had waded the stream, waist deep, under cover of the cannon of
Ayre's battery, and who were re-enforced by eight other companies) was
driven back across the river 3 with the loss of a hundred men, and was poorly
compensated by inflicting upon the foe the loss of seventy-five men. This
repulse confirmed McClellan in his belief that an immense force of Confeder-
ates was on his front, and Magruder (who had resorted to all sorts of tricks
to mislead his antagonist) was enabled to write truly on the 3d of May, the
day befoi'e he fled from Yorktown, " Thus, with five thousand men, exclusive
of the garrison, we stopped and held in check over one hundred thousand of
the enemy." 4

McClellan had reasons for being extremely cautious. His Government
was evidently withholding from him its perfect confidence, and he began to
fear that it might, in a degree, withhold its support also. The detachment
of Blenker's division from his command disturbed him, but when McDowell's
corps was also detached, and he was refused the control of the ten thousand

1 See page 508, volume I.

8 In this little sketch is seen the house, with two chimneys on the outside of the gable on the left, which
was occupied by General Keyes on the night of the 4th of April.

8 Among the really brave men who fell at this time was private William Scott of the Third Vermont, who,
a few months before, had been sentenced by McClellan to be shot for sleeping on his post. Secretary Cameron
pardoned him, and no braver soldier was found in the ranks of the patriots. He was among the first who crossed
the Warwick Eiver in this movement,

4 Magruder's report to Cooper, May 3, 1862. A British officer (Colonel Freemantle). who spent three months
with the Confederate army, says Magruder told him ' the different dodges he resorted to to blind and deceive
McClellan as to his strength," and said he was greatly amused and relieved " when he Raw that general with his
nuiinificent army besrin to break ground before miserable earth-works defended by only 8,000 men." IVeemantle-s
Three Months in the Southern /States.

374 McCLELLAN'S COMPLAINTS.

troops under General Wool at Fortress Monroe, he was alarmed. The use
of all these troops formed a part of his plan of operations against Richmond.
He knew the ability and energy of Johnston, and anticipated what really
happened, namely, the movement toward Richmond of the bulk of the Con-
federate army when it Avas ascertained that the National army was in force
on the Peninsula. He therefore, from his head-quarters before Yorktown,
sent a remonstrance to the Government" against a further diminu-
tion of his force, declaring it to be his opinion that he would
have to fight all the available troops of the Confederates not far from his
position. " Do not force me to do so," he said, " with diminished numbers ;
but, whatever your decision may be, I will leave nothing undone to obtain
success." He urgently requested Franklin's division of McDowell's corps to
be sent to him, and it was done.

Two days later, 6 McClellan telegraphed to the War Department that it
was clear that he would have the whole Confederate force on

* April 1.

his hands, " probably not less than one hundred thousand men,
and possibly more ;" and in a dispatch to the President, on the same day, he
assured him that his own force, fit for duty, did not exceed eighty-five thou-
sand men. This statement astonished the President. McClellan had
wearied him with complaints that he was not properly sustained, when the
Government was doing all in its power for him compatible with its para-
mount duty to secure the capital. "Your dispatches," wrote the kind-
hearted President/ "complaining that you are not properly

'August 9. A . , ,., ' , , -/ v M

sustained, while they do not onend me, do pain me very much.
He then explained why Blenker's division was withdrawn, pointed to the
necessity that held Banks in the Shenandoah Valley, and reminded the
General that the explicit order that Washington should, " by the judgment
of all the commanders of army corps, be left entirely secure," had been
neglected, and that was the reason for detaining McDowell. " There is a
curious mystery about the number of troops now with you," continued the
President. " When I telegraphed you on the 6th, saying you had a hundred
thousand with you, I had just obtained from the Secretary of War a state-
ment taken, as he said, from your own returns, making one hundred and
eight thousand then with you and en route to you. You now say you will
have but eighty-five thousand men. when all en route to you shall have
reached you. How can the discrepancy of twenty-three thousand, be accounted
for ?"' The President then urged McClellan to strike a blow instantly. " By
delay," he said, " the enemy will relatively gain upon you ; that is, he will
gain faster by fortifications and re-enforcements than you can by re-enforce-
ments alone. And once more let me tell you," he said, " it is indispenr ible
to you that you strike a blow. I am powerless to help this. You will do
me the justice to remember, I always insisted that going down the Bay in
search of a field, instead of fighting at or near Manassas, was only shifting
and not surmounting a difficulty ; that we would find the same enemy, and
the same or equal intrenchments, at either place. The country will not fail
to note is now noting that the present hesitation to move upon an
intrenched enemy is but the story of Manassas repeated." The President

1 This question was not answered then, nor has it been since. In his final report, McClellan gave the Presi-
dent's letter, but makes no comment on the significant question.

THE SIEGE OF YORKTOWN. 375

closed with an assurance that he never had a kinder feeling toward the
General than he had then, nor a fuller purpose to sustain him, so far as in his
most anxious judgment he consistently could. His last words were "But
you must act."

McClellan did not heed the closing injunction. Almost a month longer
he hesitated in front of Magruder's feebly manned lines, digging parallels,
forming batteries and redoubts, and preparing for an assault upon Yorktown
with as much caution as did the American and French armies on the same
field in 1781 ;' and at the close of April, when his preparations were almost
completed, he reported the number of his entire army on the Peninsula,
exclusive of General Wool's force at Fortress Monroe, which was fully
co-operating with him, 2 at one hundred and thirty thousand three hundred
and seventy-eight, whereof one hundred and twelve thousand three hundred
and ninety-two were present and fit for duty. Franklin's division, which he
so much desired, and with which he promised to invest and attack Gloucester
Point immediately, as the preliminary to an assault on Yorktown, was
promptly sent to him; but those troops, over twelve thousand strong, were
kept in idleness about a fortnight on the transports in the York River,
because, as McClellan alleged, his preparations for the attack were not com-
pleted when they arrived. He afterwards complained that the lack of
McDowell's corps to perform the work he had promised to assign to Frank-
lin, namely, the turning of Yorktown by an attack on Gloucester, was the
cause of his failure to attack Yorktown, and " made rapid and brilliant ope-
rations impossible." Another and more restraining reason seems to have
been the inability, during that fortnight, to decide whether to attempt to
flank his foe or to make a direct attack upon him, until it was too late to do
either.

In the mean time the Confederates had been active. Magruder, as we have
observed, had made his five thousand men deceive McClellan with the
appearance of an overwhelming force, and had kept him at bay ; while
Johnston, so soon as McClellan's movement was developed, put his army,
then on the Rapid Anna, in motion for Richmond, and there kept it well
in hand for the defense of the Confederate capital. General Robert E. Lee
was then Jefierson Davis's Chief of Staff, and both he and Johnston con-
sidered the Peninsula, with the probability of the York and James rivers on
each flank being opened to the National gun-boats, entirely untenable.

Soon after McClellan's arrival before Yorktown, Johnston visited and
inspected the works there, and, being satisfied that its defenses were inade-
quate, urged the military authorities at Richmond to withdraw the troops,
for he had no doubt that McClellan would (as he easily could have done)
capture Yorktown, and with gun-boats and transports push rapidly to the
head of the Peninsula. Johnston's desire was to concentrate all his forces
around Richmond, and give the National troops a decisive battle there. He
was overruled ; and it was determined to hold the Peninsula, if possible,

1 He established a depot of supplies at Ship Point, on the Poquosin River, an arm of Chesapeake Bay, near
the mouth of the York River. His first parallel was opened at about a mile from Yorktown, and under its pro-
tection batteries were established along a curved line extending from the York River on the right to the head
of the Warwick River on the left with a cord about a mile in length. He constructed 14 batteries and 3
redoubts, and fully armed them with heavy siege-guns, some of them 100-pounders and 200-pounders.

McClellan's dispatch to the President, April 7, 1862.

376 RE-ENFORCEMENTS SENT TO YORKTOWN.

until Huger might dismantle the fortifications at Norfolk, destroy the naval
establishment there, and evacuate the seaboard. 1 At that time the whole
sea-coast below Norfolk to St. Augustine, excepting at Charleston and its
immediate vicinity, was in possession of the National forces. For the pur-
pose of holding the Peninsula temporarily, re-enforcements were sent down
from Richmond when it was known that McClellan was intrenching, 4 and
Johnston took command at Yorktown in person.

The spectacle was now exhibited of one party nervously hesitating to
strike, while the other party was as nervously anxious to flee from the expected
blow. And here began that series of tardy movements which distinguished
McClellan's campaign on the Peninsula, in which disease consumed more
brave men than the storms of battle swept away. 3

1 Battle-field* of the South, by an English Combatant, page 169. Mr. Swinton says (Campaigns of the
Army of the Potomac, page 103) that this exposition of the views and wishes of the Confederate commander
was given to him by Johnston himself.

2 General Magruder, in his report, declared that he expected an attack immediately after the arrival of
McClellan, and his troops slept in the trenches ; " but," he said, " to my utter surprise, he permitted day after
day to elapse without an assault" In a few days Magruder perceived earth-works rising in front of his, and
took heart " Be-enforcements," he said, "began to pour in, and each hour the army of the Peninsula grew
stronger and stronger, until anxiety passed from my mind as to the result of an attack upon us."

3 Twenty of the thirty days, during which the army lay before Yorktown. were stormy ones. Heavy thun-
der-showers followed each other in quick succession. The wearied and heated men who worked in the trenches,
or who were on duty under arms, were compelled to rest on the damp ground at night, by which they were
chilled. Fevers followed. " In a short time," says Dr. Marks, " the sick in our hospitals were numbered by
thousands, and many died so suddenly that the disease had all the aspect of a plague." The Peninsula Cam-
paign in Virginia, by Kev. J. J. Marks, D. D., page 138.

General J. G. Barnard, McClellan's Engineer-in-Chief, in his report to his commander at the close of the
campaign says, after speaking of the toils of the troops for a month in the trenches, or lying in the swamps of
Warwick : " We lost few men by the siege, but disease took a fearful hold of the army ; and toil and hardships,
unredeemed by the excitement of combat, impaired their morale. We did not carry with us from Yorktown so
good an army as we took there. Of the bitter fruits of that month gained by the enemy, we have tasted to our
heart's content."

EVACUATION OF YORKTOWN.

377

fey* C-i

-i(V7 "Jo

CHAPTER XY.

THE APvMY OF THE POTOMAC ON THE VIRGINIA PENINSULA.

1862.

ENERAL McCLELLAN'S batteries would all have
been ready to open on the Confederate works on the
morning of the 6th of May ;" but there
was then no occasion for their use, for those
works were abandoned. So early as the 30th of April,
Jefferson Davis and two of his so-called cabinet, and
Generals Johnston, Lee, and Magruder, held a council
at the Nelson House, 1 where, after exciting debates, it
was determined to evacuate Yorktown and its dependencies. A wholesome
fear of the heavy guns of the Nationals, whose missiles had already given a
foretaste of their terrible power, and also an expectation that the National
gun-boats would speedily ascend the two rivers flanking the Confederate
Army, caused this prudent resolution. The Merrimack had been ordered to
Yorktown, but it had so great a dread of the watchful little Monitor that it
remained at Norfolk. Already some war-vessels, and a fleet of transports
with Franklin's troops, as we have observed, were lying securely in Posquo-
tin River, well up toward Yorktown. These considerations caused immediate
action on the resolutions of the council. The sick, hospital stores, ammuni-
tion, and camp equipage were speedily sent to Richmond, and on the night
of the 3d of May, the Confederate garrisons at Yorktown and Gloucester,
and the troops along the line of the Warwick, fled toward Williamsburg.
Early the next morning 6 General McClellan telegraphed to the

' May 4.

Secretary of War that he was in possession of the abandoned

1 This was a large brick house in Yorktown, which belonged to Governor Nel-
fcon, of Virginia, and was occupied by Cornwallis as head-quarters duringa part of
the period of the siege of that post in 1781, when, at the instance of the owner, who
was in command of Virginia militia encased in the siege, it was bombarded and
the British General was driven out When the writer visited Yorktown in 1848,
the walls of that house exhibited scars made by the American shells and round
shot on that occasion. When he was there in 1866 the house, which had survived
twa sieges more than eighty years apart, wasstill well preserved, and the scars made
in the old War for Independence were yet visible. At his first visit he found the
grave-yard. attached to the old Parish Church in Yorktown, and not far from the
N<-lson House (in which two or three generations of the Nelson family were
buried), in 'excellent condition, there being several fine monuments over the

graves of leading members of that family; but at his last visit that cemetery PARISH CHFKCH IN 1866.
was a desolation those monuments were mutilated, and the place of the steeple

of the Church (which the Confederates used for a quarter-master's depot, and whose walls and roof only were
preserved) was occupied by a signal-tower, erected by Magruder. The Nelson house was used as a hospital by
tiie Confederates.

378

CONFEDERATE WORKS AT WILLIAMSBURG.

post, and added : " No time shall be lost. I shall push the enemy to the
wall." 1

At that hour a vigorous pursuit of the fugitives had begun by the cavalry
and horse-artillery under General Stoneman, followed along the Yorktown
road by the divisions of Generals Joseph Hooker and Philip Kearney, and
on the Winn's Mill road, which joins the former within two miles of Wil-
liamsburg, by the divisions of Generals W. F. Smith, Darius N. Couch, and
Silas Casey. Those of Generals Israel B. Richardson, John SedgAvick, and
Fitz-John Porter, were moved to the vicinity of Yorktown, to be ready to
go forward as a supporting force, if required, or to follow Franklin's division,
which was to be sent up the York River to West Point, to co-operate with
the pursuing force on the flank of the fugitives, and to seize that terminus of
the Richmond and York River railway. General Heintzelman was at first
charged with the direction of the pursuit, but the General-in-Chief changed
his mind, and directed General Edwin V. Sumner, his second in command, to

go forward and conduct the opera-
tions of the pursuers. McClellan
remained at Yorktown, to make
arrangements for the dispatch of
Franklin up the York.

The Confederates had, some
months before, constructed a line of
strong works, thirteen in number,
across the gently rolling plateau on
which WiUiamsborg stands. These
were two miles in front of that city
at the narrowest part of the Penin-
sula, the right resting on a deep

^S^Si^lH } Hi^F\i .' IT T^' -II

ravine near the James River, and the
left on Queen's Creek, near the York
River. The principal work was Fort
Magruder, close by the junction of
the Yorktown and Winn's Mill roads. It was an earth-work with bastion
front, its crest measuring nearly half a mile, surrounded by a wet ditch, and
heavily armed. The others were redoubts, similar to those cast up around
Washington City. At these works the retreating Confederates left a strong
rear-guard to check the pursuers, while the main body should have time to
place the Chickahominy River between it and the advancing Nationals.

EDWIN V. SUMNER.

1 Yorktown presented to the victors evidences of great precipitation in the final departure of
well as deliberate preparation for a diabolical reception of the Nationals after the
flight of the garrison. The Confederates left most of their heavy guns behind
them, all of which were spiked. They also left their tents standing; and near
wells and springs, magazines; in the telegraph office, in carpet bags and barrels of
flour, and on grassy places, where soldiers might go for repose, they left buried
torpedoes, so constructed and planted under bits of board, that the pressure of the
foot of man or beast would explode them. By these infernal machines several
men were killed, and others were fearfully wounded. Mr. Lathrop, Heintzelman's
telegraph operator, had his foot blown off above the ankle. "The rebels." wrote
General McClellan, "have been guilty of the most murderous and barbarous con-
duct in planting torpedoes here. I shall make the prisoners remove them at their
peril." By his order some Confederate officers, who were prisoners, were com-
pelled to search for and exhume them. They knew where they were planted,
and it was a fitting work for such men to perform.

the troops, as

ATTACK ON THE CONFEDERATES. 379

When Stoneman approached these lines he was met by Confederate cav-
alry, and these, with the guns of Fort Magruder and its immediate support-
ers, caused him to halt, fall back about four miles, and wait for the infantry.
Hearing of this repulse, Hooker, who was not far in the rear of a brick
church on the Yorktown road, was impatient to move forward, but the way
was blocked by Smith's division. Therefore he sought and obtained
leave of Heintzelmau to throw his command on the Hampton or Warwick
road ; and in the mean time Sumner, with Smith's division, moved on to the
point where Stoneman was halting, at five o'clock in the evening. These
bivouacked for the night. Hooker pressed forward along the Hampton road,
and took position on the left of Smith's at near midnight. Rain was then
falling copiously, and the roads were rendered almost impassable. There all
rested until dawn," when Hooker again pressed forward, and at
half-past five came in sight of the Confederate works, the spires "May 5,
of Williamsburg appearing in the distance across the open level
land. Before the Nationals for nearly half a mile the way was obstructed
by felled trees, and the open plain beyond was thickly dotted with rifle-
pits.

Knowing that thirty thousand troops were within supporting distance of
him, and the bulk of the Potomac Army within four hours' march, Hooker
made an immediate advance upon the Confederate works, believing that he
could sustain a conflict until aid might reach him, if needed. At half-past
seven o'clock General Grover was directed to make the attack, by sending
into the felled timber the First Massachusetts on the left, and the Second
New Hampshire on the right, with orders to skirmish up to the verge of the
open fields, to pick off the Confederate sharp-shooters and artillerists. At
the same time the Eleventh Massachusetts and Twenty-sixth Pennsylvania
were directed to form on the right of the New Hampshire regiment, and ad-
vance as skirmishers until they should reach the Yorktown road ; while
Weber's battery was pushed forward into the open field, within seven
hundred yards of Fort Magruder. This drew the fire of the Confederates,
which killed four of the artillerists and drove off the remainder. The battery
was soon re-manned by volunteers from Osborn's, and with the assistance of
BramhalPs, which was now brought into action, and also sharp-shooters, Fort
Magruder was soon silenced, and the Confederates in sight on the plain were
dispersed.

Patterson's brigade (Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth New Jersey) was
charged with the support of these batteries, and was soon heavily engaged
with Confederate infantry and sharp-shooters, who now appeared in great
numbers. Hitherto the opponents of the Nationals were composed of only
the Confederate rear-guard ; now Longstreet's division, which had passed
on through Williamsburg, had been sent back by Johnston to support that
rear-guard, for the pressure of the pursuers was greater than the hitherto
tardy movements of McClellan had given reason to expect. These were
fresh and strong, and Hooker was compelled to send the First Massachusetts
and Seventieth and Seventy-second New York (Excelsior Brigade), under
Brigadier-general Grover, to the aid of Patterson. In the mean time the
Eleventh Pennsylvania and Twenty-sixth Massachusetts had reached the
Yorktown road, and Colonel Blaisdell, who led them, was directed to clear

380

BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.

EXCELSIOR BRIGADE.

that way for the advance of the National forces, and form a connection with

lleintzelman's corps.

Hooker was sorely pressed. The Confederates
were heavily massed in front of Patterson and
his supports. At half-past eleven o'clock he sent
a note to Heintzelman, asking immediate assist-
ance. That officer was absent, and Hooker was
obliged to fight on unaided. At one o'clock the

O O

battle had assumed gigantic proportions, and
Hooker's last regiments (Seventy-third and Sev-
enty-fourth New York) had been sent into the
fight. He was losing heavily and making no
apparent head-way, for as the conflict pro-
gressed fresh Confederate troops under Pickett,
Gholson, Pryor, and others hastened back from
the direction of the Chickahominy to assist their
struggling comrades, until a large portion of
Johnston's army in that region were in the con-
flict. Three times the Confederates had made
fierce charges on Hooker's center, with the hope
of breaking his line, but were repulsed, and as
often the places of the defeated ones were filled
with fresh troops. Once a dash was made from the direction of Fort Magru-
der, which resulted in the capture of five of Weber's guns, and between two
hundred and three hundred. prisoners.

For almost nine consecutive hours Hooker's division fought the foe
Tinaided, 1 excepting by the brigade of General J. J. Peck, of Couch's
division, which arrived on the field early in the afternoon, and was posted on
Hooker's right. There it acted as a continually repelling foil to the attacks
of the Confederates, until near night, when it was relieved by two other
of Couch's brigades. Finally the ammunition of some of Hooker's regi-
ments, and also of the artillery, began to fail, 2 and no supply train had yet
come up. The rain had made much of the road between Yorktown and
Williamsburg an almost impassable slough, through which, and over the
little wooded hills, whose trees the fugitives had cast in the way, and across
miry ravines coursed by swollen brooks, cannon and wagons had to be
dragged with almost a snail's pace. Hooker had called repeatedly on Sum-
ner for help, but could get none, for that officer had ordered a large portion
of the troops in hand to the right, under Hancock, to keep the Confederates
in check in that direction, and to flank the works if possible. 3 So he. fought
on, maintaining his ground until between four and five o'clock, when the
gallant and dashing Philip Kearney came up with his division, with orders

1 Hooker found it impossible to use cavalry to advantage, and he was compelled to decline the proffered
services of Brigadier-general Emory, and of Colonel Averill of the Third Pennsylvania cavalry, excepting for re-
connoitering purposes. To Averill, and Lieutenant McAlister of the Engineers, Hooker publicly expressed his
thanks ; the latter having carefully reconnoitered such of the Confederate works as were concealed from view.

4 Some of the shattered regiments were supplied with ammunition for a time only from the cartridge-boxes
of their fallen comrades on the field.

3 " History will not be believed," said Hooker, in his report of the battle (May 10, 1862), " when it is told that
my division were permitted to carry on this unequal struggle from morning until night unaided, in the presence
of more than 80,000 of their comrades with arms in their hands. Nevertheless it is true."

KEARNEY'S TROOPS ON THE FIELD.

381

from Ileintzelman (who with his staff had arrived on the ground early in the
afternoon) to relieve Hooker's worn and fearfully thinned regiments. Kear-
ney pressed to the front, and Hooker's troops withdrew from the fight and
rested as a reserve. They had lost in the battle one thousand seven
hundred of their companions.

Kearney deployed Berry's brigade to the left of the Williamsbiirg road,
and Birney's to the right, and at the same time two companies of Poe's

KOAD BETWEEN TORKTOWN AND WILLI AMSBUBG.

Second Michigan were pressed forward to cover the movement, and drive
back Confederate skirmishers, who were almost silencing the National
batteries. Thus Major Wainwright, Hooker's chief of artillery, was en-
abled to collect his gunners and re-open the fire from several quiet pieces.
At that moment the fearfully shattered New Jersey Fifth went promptly to
their support. The battle, which was lagging when Kearney arrived,
was renewed with spirit, and the Nationals began to slowly push back
their foe.

The heavy felled timber prevented all direct forward movement, and
Kearney ordered the Thirty-eighth New York (Scott Life-guard), Colonel
Hobart Ward, to charge down the road and take the rifle-pits in the center
of the abatis by their flank. This duty was gallantly performed, with a loss
to the regiment of nine of its nineteen officers. It did not quite accomplish
Kearney's full desire, and he ordered the left wing of the Fortieth New York
(Mozart), Colonel Riley, to charge up the open field and take the rifle-pits in
reverse. Riley was hotly engaged in front, and the movement was per-
formed under the lead of Captain Mindil, Birney's chief of staff, and the
Confederates were driven out. By this time the rear brigade of the division

382

HANCOCK'S FLANK MOVEMENT.

SITE OF THB DAM. 1

had been brought up by General Jameson, and a second line was established
under a severe fire. Disposition was at once made for further vigorous
operations, when profound darkness fell upon the armies, the struggle ceased,
and the wearied National soldiers rested on the soddened battle-field.

Meanwhile Hancock
had been successfully en-
gaged in his flank move-
ment. He had been dis-
patched by General Smith
at an early hour, with
about twenty-five hun-
dred men, 1 to seize and
hold an unoccupied re-
doubt at the extreme left
of the Confederate posi-
tion, which had been
thrown up by Magruder,
but was unknown to
Johnston and his officers. It was upon a high bank above a ravine com-
manding a dam on Cub Dam Creek, a little tributary of Queen's Creek, about
a mile and a half eastward of the Yorktown road. Hancock crossed the
creek, took possession of the redoubt without opposition, and also of another
one twelve hundred yards in advance of it, which was unoccupied. Two
more redoubts stood between these and Fort Magruder, and a few shells and
the bullets of sharp-shooters soon drove the Confederates from them. But
Hancock's force was too small to make their occupation by it a prudent act,
and he determined to wait for re-enforcements.

The occupation of the two redoubts on his extreme left by Hancock was
the first intimation that Johnston had of their existence. He at once per-
ceived the importance of the position, for it was on the flank and rear of the
Confederate line of defense, and seriously menaced its integrity. He directed
General Hill to send a sufficient force to drive back the Nationals, and to this
duty General Jubal Early, with a force of Virginia and North Carolina troops,
was assigned.

Hancock had earnestly called for re-enforcements, but they did not come.
Twice General Smith had been ordered to send them, and each time the
order was countermanded just as they were about to move, for Sumner was
unwilling, he said, to risk the center by weakening it. So, instead of re-en-
forcements, Hancock received an order to fall back to his first position. He
was slow to obey, for he felt the importance of his forward movement, but
when, at about five o'clock, he saw the two redoubts nearest Fort Magruder

1 These consisted of parts of his own, find of Davidson's brigade, which was then under his command. Of
his own brigade he chose for this duty the Fifth Wisconsin, Forty -ninth Pennsylvania, and Sixth Maine ; and
from Davidson's, the Seventh Maine and Thirty-ninth New York Volunteers. These were accompanied by
Lieutenant Crowen's New York battery of six guns, and Wheeler's battery.

2 This is a sketch of tha appearance of the site of the dam when the writer visited the spot in June, 1S66.
It is from a rude bridge then recently thrown across the stream. The redoubt was on the high bank directly
over the little figure. Here the bank, as in many other places on the Peninsula, presented layers of perfect sea-
shells (mostly escollop and oyster), the position of which is indicated in the sketch by the horizontal shaded
lines near the fisrure. This dam was destroyed by Confederates while National troops were crossing the creek
below, and the flood thus let loose drowned several soldiers.

CLOSE OF THE BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG.

383

re-occupied by Confederates, and a force moving on his front, and pressing
forward with the war-cry of " Bull Run ! Bull Run !" he retired beyond the
crest of a ridge, not far from the dam, disputing the ground as he fell back,
and there formed a line of battle and awaited Early's approach. When that
force was within thirty paces of his line he ordered a general bayonet-charge.
This was executed with the most determined spirit. The Confederates broke
and fled with precipitation, with a loss of over five hundred men. Hancock
held his position until Smith sent re-enforcements, by order of McClellan,
who had arrived near the field of action, and soon afterward the contest ceased
all along the line. So ended the BATTLE OF WILLIAMSBURG. That post was

UNION

CONFEDERATE

BATTLE OP WILLIAMSBtTKO. 1

already won, for Hancock held the key of the position. McClellan reported
the entire National loss in this battle at two thousand two hundred and
twenty-eight, of whom, four hundred and fifty-six were killed and fourteen
hundred wounded. That of the Confederates was, according to careful esti-
mates, about one thousand.

This battle, in which so much of the precious blood of the young men of
the country was shed, 3 appears to have been fought without any controlling
mind in charge of the movement, or much previous knowledge of the
locality and the Confederate works. The Commander-in-Chief was twelve

1 In this plan, a and b indicate the two redoubts on the extreme left of the Confederates, taken by Hancock,
and c the point to which Stoneman fell back to wait for re-enforcements.

2 McClellan's report to the Secretary of War, August 4, 1863 ; reports of his division and brigade commanders
engaged in the battle ; reports of General Johnston and his subordinate officers, and oral and written statements
to the author by actors in the struggle.

3 No army in the world had ever exhibited an equal proportionate number of so many educated and highly
respectable young men as this ; and never did greater coolness or valor appear. Among the scores of young men
who perished early in this campaign, and who were good examples of the best materi.'ils of that army, were
Captain Henry Brooks O'Rci'.ly, of the First Eegiinent, New York Excelsior Brigade, and Lieutenant William
I)e Wolf, cf Chicago, of the regular arrny, who had performed gallant service in the battles of Belmont and Fort
Donelson. The former fell at the head of his company, while hi.s regiment was maintaining the terrible contest
i:i front of Fort Magruder, in the afternoon of the 5th of May. He had just given the words for an assault, " Boys,
follow me I Forward, march !" when ho fell, and soon expired. Lieutenant Do Wolf was in charge of a battery
of Gibson's Flying Artillery in the advance toward Williamsburg on the 4th, and in the encounter in which
Stoneman and his followers were engaged with the Confederate cavalry on the day before the battle, and while
valiantly doing his duty, he was severely wounded. Typhoid fever supervened, and he died a month later at
Washington city. It would be a delightful task to record the names of all the brave who thus perished for their
country, but we may only speak of one or two now and then as examples of true patriots and representatives of
the Army of Liberty.

384 THE FRUITS OF VICTORY LOST BY DELAY.

miles distant during most of the battle, and did not arrive near the field

^ '

until near its close. A sudden change of commanders conducting the pur-
suit seems to have produced some confusion and misapprehension. When
Kearney arrived on the field he ranked Hooker ; and all day long there was
uncertainty as to who was in command, each general appearing to fight as ho
considered best. 1 In consequence of this there was great confusion in the
advance. The troops of different commands became mixed, and much delay
ensued. So much was a head needed, and so tardy were re-enforcements,
that while Hooker was heavily engaged, at noon, Governor Sprague and the
Prince de Joinville rode in great haste to Yorktown, to urge McClellan to go
immediately to the front. " I suppose those in front can attend to that little
matter," was his short reply ; but he was finally induced to mount his horse
at two o'clock, and at five, when Kearney and Hancock were about giving
the blow that won the victory, he approached the battle-field, ascertained
that more than " a skirmish with the rebel rear-guard " was in progress, and
gave some orders. The fighting soon afterward ceased, and he counter-
manded his order on leaving Yorktown for the divisions of Sedgwick and

o o

Richardson to advance, and directed them to accompany Franklin to West
Point.

At ten o'clock that night, when Longstreet had commenced his flight
from Williamsburg with such haste as to leave nearly eight hundred of his
wounded men to become prisoners, and was following the more advanced of
Johnston's army, in a rapid march toward the Chickahominy, McClellan
telegraphed to the War Department, from " Bivouac in front of Williams-
burg," that the Confederates were before him in force, probably greater than
his own, and strongly intrenched. He assured the Secretary, however, that
he should " run the risk of holding them in check there." 2 Experts on both
sides (among them several of McClellan' s Generals) declared their belief that,
had the fugitives been promptly and vigorously pursued the next morning,
the National army might easily have followed them right into Richmond ; s
but the Commanding General, in his report, made fifteen months afterward,
declared that the mud was too adhesive to allow him to follow the retreating
forces along the roads Avhich the latter traveled with such celerity. They
were safely encamped under the shelter of the fortifications around Rich-
mond before he was ready to move forward from Williamsburg.

On the morning after the battle" the National troops took

a ^^ 6 ' possession of Williamsburg, and General McClellan, from the

house of Mr. Vest, Johnston's late head-quarters, telegraphed to

the Secretary of War a brief account of the events of the previous day, and 1

concluded with the prediction that was so terribly fulfilled " We have other

1 Report of the Committee on tho Conduct of the War, 1. 20.

2 According to the Confederate official reports, the entire body of troops under Johnston, then below the
Chickahominy, did not exceed 80,000 in number, while McClellan's " present and fit for duty " (within adis-'
tance of twelve miles ofthe battle-field) was about 100.000. The commanding General seems to have been sin-
gularly uninformed or misinformed concerning the country before him, during this campaign. He refused to
receive information from the loyal negroes, preferring to take tho testimony of Confederate, prisoners. He offi-
cially declared that information concerning the forces and position of the enemy ' was vague and untrust-
worthy," and when he commenced his inarch up the Peninsula, he did not know, he snys, whether "so-called
Mulberry Island was a real island," or which was ' the true course of the Warwick River across the Peninsula,'*
or that the Confederates had fortifications along that stream. Soe McClellan's Report, page 74.

3 See Report of tho Committee on the Conduct of tho War, i. 20.

NATIONAL TROOPS ON THE PAMUNKEY. 385

battles to fight before reaching Richmond." At Williamsburg the pursuit
really ended, and Johnston was permitted to place the Chickahominy and
its malarious borders between himself and his tardy opponent.

The flank movement up the York was not commenced in time to perform
its intended service as such. Franklin's long waiting division was not
dispatched for that purpose until the
day of the battle at Williamsburg,
when it was debarked at Yorktown
and re-embarked. It arrived at the
head of York that night,
and on the following morn- "^sek 6 "
ing" Newton's brigade land-

~ O

ed and took position on a plain of a
thousand acres of open land, on the
right bank of the Pamunkey, one of the
streams that form the York river. 1
Within twenty-fours hours afterward

* *"-"- " -.^^^yp^?-=-?= i;

Franklin's whole division had encamped
there, and gun-boats had quietly taken

n 1-,-r , -r> . i , ..i VEST'S HOUSE.*

possession ol \Vest Jroint, between the

two rivers, and the National flag was unfurled over that little village, from
which every white person had fled. In the mean time General Dana had
arrived with a part of Sedgwick's division, but remained on the transports.
The divisions of Richardson and Porter soon followed.

No signs of Confederate troops appeared at first, but that night one of
Franklin's vedettes was shot near the woods that bordered the edge of the
plain. On the following morning a considerable force of Confederates
was seen, when Dana landed, and the Sixteenth, Thirty-first, and Thirty-
second New York, and the Ninety-fifth and Ninety-sixth Pennsylvania, were
ordered to drive from the woods what was supposed to be a body of scouts
lurking there in front of a few Confederate regiments. They pushed into the
forest and were met by Whiting's division and other troops, forming the
rear-guard of Johnston's retreating forces, when a spirited engagement
began, chiefly by Hood's Texas brigade and Hampton's (South Carolina)
Legion, on the part of the Confederates. The contest was continued for
three or four hours, when the cannon on the gun-boats, and batteries that
were speedily landed, drove the foe from their shelter in the woods, and
kept them at bay. In this encounter the Nationals lost one hundred and
ninety-four men, mostly of the Thirty-first and Thirty-Second New York.
The loss of the Confederates was small. The National force now at the
head of York was sufficient to hold it firmly, as a secure base of supplies for
the Army of the Potomac.

As we have observed, McClellan's pursuit of Johnston nearly ended
at Williamsburg, where his sick and wounded were placed in the buildings

1 These are the Pamunkey and the Mattapony. Strictly speaking, these streams do not form the York
Kiver, for it is really along estuary of Chesapeake Bay, and the two rivers are only its chief affluents.

* This was a large brick house, on the main street in Williamsburs, belonsins to William M. Vest, and was
nsed by the commanders of both armies. Its appearance in June, 1SC6, when the writer visited Williamsburg,
is given in the above sketch.

YOL. II. 25

386

HEAD-QUARTERS NEAR THE WHITE HOUSE.

THE MODEBN "WHITE HOUSE."

of the venerable William and Mary College, and in portions of the Asylum
for the Insane. While these were thus provided for, the men fit for
duty were allowed to rest more than two days, until the main body of the
army moving up from the direction of Yorktown should arrive. Then, on the
, 8th, General Stoneman was sent forward with the advance to open

May, 1862.

a communication with P ranklin, at the head of York, followed by
Smith's division, on the most direct road to Richmond, by way of New Kent
Court-House. The roads were left in a wretched condition by the fugitive
Confederate Army, and the General-in-Chief, with the advance portion of his
force, did not reach the vicinity of the White House, 1 at the head of the navi-
gation of the Pamunkey, and about eighteen miles from Richmond, until the

16th. He arrived at
Tunstall's Station, on
the Richmond and York
River railway, on the
18th, and on the 22d he
made his head-quarters
at Cool Arbor, 8 not far
from the Chickahom-
niiny, and between
eight and nine miles
from Richmond. His
advanced light troops
had reached Bottom's
bridge, on the Chicka-
hominy, at the crossing of the Xew Kent road, two days before. The Con-
federates had destroyed the bridge, but left the point uncovered. Casey's
division of Keyes's corps was thrown across, 4 and occupied the
heights on the Richmond side of the stream, supported by
Heintzelman.

i The " White House," as it was called, was the property of Mary Custis Lee, a great-granddaughter of
Mrs. Washington, daughter of George W. P. Custis, the adopted son of Washington, and wife of the Confederate
Commander, Kohert E. Lee. It stood on or near the site of the dwelling known as " The White House," in
which the widow Custis lived, and where the nuptial ceremonies of her marriage with Colonel George Washing-
ton were performed. That ancient house, then so honored, had been destroyed about thirty years before, and
the one standing there in 1862 was only a modern structure bearing the ancient title. It was occupied, when
the war broke out, by a son of Robert E. Lee. The wife and some of the family of Lee, who were there, fled
from it on the approach of the National army, at the time we are considering. The first officer who entered the
house found, on a piece of paper attached to the wall of the main passage, the following note :

"Northern soldiers, who profess to revere Washington, forbear to desecrate the home of his first married
life the property of his wife now owned by her descendant.

(Signed) " A GRANDDAUGHTER OF MRS. WASHINGTON"."
See The Siege of Richmond, by Joel Cook, page 169.

This misrepresentation, made to save from injury property that was not in existence until more than thirty
years after Washington's death, had the effect, for a while, to have it guarded, by order of the Commanding
General, with as much care as if it had been the Tomb of the Father of his Country. Members of the Second regi-
ment of cavalry, of which Robert E. Lee was Lieutenant-colonel when he abandoned his flag, were detailed to
guard the house ; and so sacred was it held to b>, that the suffering sick soldiers, who greatly needed the shelter
of its roof, were not allowed even to rest upon the dry ground around it. The false story of Its history was
soon exposed, and it was left to the fate that overtook the property of other rebellious Virginians.

a Cool Arbor derived its name from a tavern, at a delightful place of summer resort in the woods for the
Richmond people, even so early as the time of the Revolution. The derivation of the name determines its
orthography. It has been erroneously spelled Coal Harbor and Cold Harbor. The picture on the next page is a
view of the house known as New Cool Arbor, not far from the site of the old one. It was yet standing when the
writer visited the spot in June, 1S66. It was on a level plain, and near it was a National cemetery into which
the remains of the slain Union soldiers buried in the surrounding fields were then being collected and reinterred.

6 May 20.

PREPARATIONS TO ATTACK NORFOLK. 387

In the mean time a most important movement had been made in McClel-
lan's rear by the Confederates at Norfolk, and by General Wool at Fortress
Monroe. Wool, who saw the eminent advantage of the James River as a
highway for the supplies of an army on the Peninsula, had, ever since
McClellan decided to take that route to Richmond, urged the Government
to allow him to attempt the .capture of Norfolk, and thus make the breaking
up of the blockade of the James an easy matter. But it was not until after
the evacuation of Yorktown, when President Lincoln and Secretaries Chase
and Stanton visited Fortress Monroe, that his suggestions were favorably
considered. He then renewed his recommendations ; and when, on the
8th," he received positive information that linger (who, with Burn- o 1S62
side in his rear and McClellan on his flank, saw that his position
was untenable) was preparing to evacuate that post, orders were given for
an immediate attempt to seize Sewell's Point, and march on Norfolk.
Arrangements were
made with Commo-
dore Goldsborough to
co-operate; and a large
number of troops were
embarked on trans-
ports then lying in
Hampton Roads.
Goldsborough attack-
ed the Confederate
batteries on the point,
which replied with
spirit. The Merrimack

. U'CLBLLAX'0 HEAD-QUARTERS AT COOL ARBOR.

came out to assist

them, when the National vessels withdrew, and the troops were disembarked.
The enterprise was abandoned for the time ; but information that reached
head-quarters a few hours later revived it.

On the following day General Wool, with Colonel T. J. Cram (his
Inspector-general, and an accomplished topographical engineer) and Secre-
tary Chase, made a reconnoissance toward Willoughby's Point, and along
the coast toward the sea, when it was decided to land five thousand troops
at a summer watering-place called Ocean View, by which the works on
Sewell's Point could be taken in reverse, and a direct route to Norfolk
be opened. The troops were again embarked, and a bombardment was
opened on Sewell's Point from Fort Wool, in the Rip Raps, 1 to deceive the
Confederates with the appearance of a design to renew the attempt to land
there.

At a little past midnight, the troops, artillery, infantry, and cavalry, 2
under the immediate command of Brigadier-general Max Weber, were
in readiness for debarkation at Ocean View, and early in the morn-

1 An unfinished fortification that commanded the entrance to Hampton Roads, in front of Fortress Monroe.
It was at firstcalled Fort Calhimn. Its name was chansed to Wool, in honor of the veteran General.

2 The troops composing the expedition contested of the Tenth, Twentieth, and Ninety-ninth New York;
Sixteenth Massachusetts; First Delawnrn; Fifty-eighth Pennsylvania; one hundred mounted riflemen; Fol-
let's battery of light artillery, and Howard's battery.

388

CAPTURE OF NORFOLK.

ing" a landing was effected unopposed, under the direction of Colonel Cram.
The water was so shallow that the troops were compelled to pass
^gL 10 ' ashore on platforms laid on old canal barges. The entire move-
ment was successful ; and at eight o'clock in the morning
General "Wool, accompanied by the President and the two Secretaries, and
Generals Mansfield and Yiele, took command in -person. The infantry were
immediately pushed forward to secure the bridge over Tanner's Creek. 1
They found it on fire, and received shot from cannon on the opposite side of
the stream. Supposing this to indicate intended opposition, the artillery
was hurried forward, but on its arrival the foe had disappeared. The troops
pushed forward, and at five o'clock in the afternoon reached the lines of the
strongly intrenched camp of the Confederates, where they found twenty-

WOOI/S LANDING-FLACK AT OCEAN VIEW.

nine mounted cannon, but no troops. Onward they marched, and just
before reaching the city they were met by a flag cf truce, heralding the ap-
proach of the Mayor with a, proposition to surrender the town. Iluger had
been instructed not to attempt to hold the city against any demonstration
of National troops ; and when he was informed that Wool had landed
at Ocean View, he turned over Norfolk to the keeping of Mayor Lamb, and
with his troops fled towards Richmond. Norfolk was formally surrendered
to General Wool ; and from the City Hall he issued an order announcing the
fact, appointing General Viele Military Governor, and directing that all the
rights and privileges of peaceable citizens should be carefully protected.
The venerable commander then rode back to Ocean View (thus making
a journey on horseback that day of thirty-five miles), and reached Fortress
Monroe at near midnight with the pleasing intelligence of his success, for the
anxious President and Secretary of War. On the following morning he

1 Dy reference to the map on pasre 399, volume I., the reader will have an idea of the direction of the move-'
ment. Ocean View was on Willougbby's beach, about at the edge of the map, and the outward roail w:\s tht
one followed by the troops.

EVENTS IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY. 389

received publicly expressed thanks for his achievement. 1 At dawn the same
momma- a bright lio-ht was seen in the direction of Norfolk, and then an ex-

O O ~

plosion was heard. The fleeing Confederates had set the Merrimack,
other vessels, and the Navy Yard on fire, and by a slow match communicating
with her magazine, the monster ram was blown into fragments. 2 SewelFs
Point and Craney Island, both strongly fortified, were abandoned. 3 The
Confederate gun-boats in the James River fled toward Richmond, and
the navigation of that stream was opened to the National vessels. 4 The
Confederates destroyed all they could by fire before they departed, but left
about two hundred cannon in fair condition, to become spoils of victory.
Two unfinished armored vessels were among those destroyed.

While the stirring events we have just considered were occurring in
Southeastern Virginia, important military movements were seen in the
Shenandoah Valley and the adjacent region on both sides of the Blue Ridge.
There were three distinct Union armies in that region, acting independently
of, but in co-operation with, the Army of the Potomac. One was in the
Mountain Department, under Fremont ; another in the Department of the
Shenandoah, under Banks ; and a third in the newly created Department of
the Rappahannock, under McDowell. At about the time of the siege of
Yorktown, early in April, General Fremont was at Franklin, in Pendleton
County, over the mountains west of Harrisonburg, with fifteen thousand
men ; General Banks was at Strasburg, in the Valley, with about sixteen
thousand ; and General McDowell was at Fredericksburg, on the Rappa-
hannock, with thirty thousand.

When the appearance of McClellan on the Peninsula drew Johnston's
main body from the Rapid Anna to the defense of Richmond, Washington
was relieved, and McDowell's corps was ordered forward to co-operate with
the Army of the Potomac ; and for this purpose Shields's division was
detached from Banks's command and given to McDowell, making the force
of the latter about forty-one thousand men and one hundred guns. Such
was the disposition of the National forces in Virginia at the close of April,
when " Stonewall Jackson," who, as we have .observed, was driven up the
Shenandoah Valley after his defeat by Shields at Kernstown, again com-
menced offensive operations.

Jackson remained a few days at Mount Jackson, after his flight from
Winchester, and then took a position between the South 'Fork of the Shenan-

1 "The skillful and gallant movements of Major-general John E. Wool, and the forces under his command,''
said Secretary Stanton.in an order issued by direction of the President, on the llth, " which resulted in the
surrender of Norfolk, and the evacuation of strong batteries erected by the rebels on Sewell's Pointand Craney
Island, and the destruction of the rebel iron-clad steamer Merrimack, are regarded by the President as among
the most important successes of the present war; he therefore orders that his thanks, as Commander-in-Ohiefof
the Army and Navy, be communicated by the War Department to Major-general John E. Wool, and the officers
and soldiers of his command, for their gallantry and good conduct in the brilliant operations mentioned."

2 The Jferrimack, then in command of Commodore Tatnall, was at Craney Island, for the two-fold pur-
pose of protecting Norfolk and guarding the mouth of the James Eiver. The land troops had fled without
informing Tatnall of the movement, and the unfortunate old man, seeing the Navy Yard in flames, and all the
works abandoned, could do nothing better than to destroy his ship and fly, for with his best efforts ho could not
pet her into the James Eiver.

3 Craney Island was much more strongly fortified now for the defense of Norfolk than it was in 1813. See
Lowing's Pictorial Field-Book of the War of 1S12 Captain Case, of the Navy, was the first man to land on
the abandoned Island, and to pull down the ensign of rebellion and place the National flag there.

4 Reports of Colonel T. J. Cram and Flag-officer Goldsborough ; Narrative of Henry J. Raymond ; Letter of
Genenil Wool to the author, May 23. 1S62.

390 BATTLE AT MoDOWELL.

doah and Swift Run Gap, eastward of Harrisonburg, in Rockingham County.
There he was joined" by the division of General R. S. Ebrell,
fr m Gordonsville, and also two brigades under Edward S. John-
son, who had an independent command in Southwestern
Virginia. Jackson's entire force was now about fifteen thousand men, while
General Banks was lying at Harrisonburg, not far away, his force reduced
to about five thousand men by the withdrawal of Shields's division.

Jackson was watching Banks closely, with orders to hold him, while
General Lee, with a strong column, should push beyond the Rappahannock
to cut off the communication between Winchester and Alexandria, 1 when he
was startled by the information that one of Fremont's brigades, under Gen-
eral Milroy, was approaching from the direction of Monterey, either to join
Banks or to fall upon Staunton. He perceived that such a junction, or the
occupation of Staunton, might give to the Nationals the possession of the
Shenandoah Valley, and he took immediate measures to prevent the catastro-
phe. Leaving Ewell to watch Banks, he moved rapidly upon Staunton, and
from that point sent Johnson, with five brigades, to attack Milroy. The lat-
ter, greatly outnumbered, fell back to the Bull Pasture Mountains and took
post at McDowell, thirty-six miles west of Staunton, whither Schenck hast-
ened with a part of his brigade to assist him. Jackson had also hurried
from Staunton to assist Johnson, and on the 8th he appeared with a large
force on a ridge overlooking the National camp, and commenced planting a
battery there. Milroy led a force to dislodge him, 2 and for about five hours
a battle, varying in intensity, was fought with great gallantry on both sides.
Darkness put an end to the conflict. Schenck (who ranked Milroy) saw that
the position of the Nationals was untenable, and by his direction the whole
force retreated during the night to Franklin, having lost two hundred and

o o / o

fifty-six men, of whom one hundred and forty-five were only slightly
wounded. Jackson reported a loss of four hundred and sixty-one, of whom
three hundred and ninety w r ere wounded. Among the latter was General
Johnson. It was a fairly drawn fight, and yet Jackson, whose troops largely
outnumbered the Nationals, and had every advantage of position, sent a
trumpet-toned note to Ewell the next morning, saying, "Yesterday God
gave us the victory at McDowell."

Jackson pursued the Nationals to Franklin, where he heard from Ewell
that Banks was evidently preparing to fly from Harrisonburg. So he hast-
ened back to McDowell, recrossed the Shenandoah mountains to, Lebanon
Sulphur Springs, rested a little, and then pressed forward to fall iipon Banks.
The latter had fled to Strasburg pursued by Ewell, and Jackson pushed on,
joining the latter at New Market. Then he led the united forces into the
Luray Valley, between the Massanutten Mountain and the Blue Ridge, and
hastened toward Front Royal, to cut off Banks's retreat in that direction,

1 On the 5th of Mav Lee wrote to Ewell that ho had ordered North Carolina troops to report to him at Gor-
donsville, and said: ' I desire that those troops shall not be drawn to Swift Run Gap unless your necessities
require it. the object being to form a strong column for the purpose of moving beyond the Rappahannock. to cut
off the enemy's communication between Winchester and Alexandria." Autograph letter of Robert E. Lee.
This was precisely such a movement as the Government anticipated, and which might have resulted in the cap-
ture of Washington, had not the corps of McDowell been left for its defense.

- These consisted of the Twenty-fifth, Thirty -second. Seventy-fifth, and Eighty-second Ohio and Third
Virginia, with a 6-pounder of the Twelfth Ohio battery, under Lieutenant Bowen.

AFFAIR AT FRONT ROYAL.

391

if he should attempt to join McDowell by way of the Manassas Gap
railroad.

Ashby's cavalry so perfectly masked this movement that Banks was not
aware of it, and almost without a warning Ewell fell" with crush-
in^ force on the little garrison of Front Royal, of about a thou- " ^ '
sand men, under Colonel Kenly. 1 That gallant Mary lander 5 made
a spirited resistance against the overwhelming force, ten times his own in

FAC-8IMILB OF JACKSON'S NOTE *> KWELL. 3

number, but he was driven from the town. He made a stand on a ridge a
mile distant, from which he was soon pushed across the river. He attempted
to burn the bridge behind him over the Shenandoah, but failed. His pur-
suers put out the flames, and he was soon overtaken by the cavalry of Ashby
and Flournoy, when he again gave battle. In that encounter he was severely

1 These were composed of two companies each of the Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania and Fifth New York
cavalry, one company of Captain Mapes's Pioneers, and a section of Knapp's battery. Kenly was charged with
the protection of the road and bridges between Front Royal and Strasburg. One company each of the Second
Massachusetts, Third Vfisconsin, and Twenty-seventh Indiana were posted along that road.

When the writer was at Nashville, early in May, 1S66, he was permitted by General Ewell, then residing
there, to peruse and make extracts from tho manuscript records of his brigade, kept by his young adjutant. In
it was the statement, that when Swell's force was near Front Royal, a young woman was seen running toward
them. She had "made a circuit to avoid the Yankees," and she sent word to General Jackson, by officers who
\vent to meet her, "to push on only one regiment in the town, and that might be completely surprised; if we
pressed on we might get the whole." This " yonng lady " was the afterward notorious rebel spy, Belle Boyd,
"who was to my eye," recorded the adjutant, "pleasant and lady-like in appearance, and certainly had neither
'freckled face, red hair and large mouth,' as tho New York /TeraWsaid she had. She seemed embarrassed by
the novelty of her position, and very anxious that we should push on."

* See page 553, volume I.

8 This is an exact fac-si mile of Jackson's entire note to Ewvll. with all its blots, carefully copied from the
original, kindly placed in the hands of the author by the late Fnnk Henry

392 BANKS'S EETREAT TOWARD THE POTOMAC.

wounded, and himself and seven hundred of his men, with a section of rifled
10-pounders and his entire supply-train, fell into the hands of the victors. 1

Banks was at Strasburg, about fifteen miles distant, unsuspicious of great
danger being so near, when, at evening, he was startled by intelligence of
Kenly's disaster^ and the more astounding news that Jackson, at the head of
about twenty thousand men, 2 was rapidly making his way toward Win-
chester. It was Jackson's intention to cut Banks off from re-enforcements
and capture or disperse his troops. Banks had perceived his danger too soon,
and with his usual energy and skill he resumed his flight down the valley at
nine o'clock the next morning," his train in front, escorted by
cavalry and infantry, and with a rear-guard or covering force of
cavalry and six pieces of artillery, under the command of
General John P. Hatch. The vanguard was led by Colonel Dudley Donnelly,
and the center by Colonel George H. Gordon.

Just as the column had passed Cedar Creek, three miles from Strasburg,
word came that the train had been attacked at Middletown, two miles farther
on. The news was instantly followed by a host of frightened fugitives, refu-
gees, and wagons, " which," says Banks, " came tumbling to the rear in
wretched confusion." The column was instantly reorganized, with the train
in the rear, 3 and Colonel Donnelly, pushing on to Middletown, encountered
a small Confederate fprce there, which Avas easily driven back on the Front
Royal road by Knipe's Forty-sixth Pennsylvania, supported by Cochran's
New York Battery and the Twenty-eighth New York, Lieutenant-Colonel
W. H. Brown. Broadhead's First Michigan cavalry now took the lead, and
soon reported the road clear to Winchester, thirteen miles below Middle-
town ; but before Banks's main body had all passed the latter A'illage, the
Confederates occupied it in large numbers. The rear-guard were com-
pelled to fall back to Strasburg. Making a circuit to the Northward, Tomp-
kins's First Vermont cavalry rejoined Banks at Winchester the next morning,
and De Forest's Fifth New York cavalry made its way among the moun-
tains of the Potomac with a train of thirty-two wagons and many stragglers,
and joined Banks at Clear Spring. The main column meanwhile had moved
on and encountered a Confederate force near Newton, eight miles from Win-
chester, which was repulsed by the Second Massachusetts, Twenty-eighth
New York, and Twenty-seventh Indiana : and by midnight 6 the

j May 24 . .

extraordinary race for Winchester was won by Banks, who
had made a masterly retreat with very little loss, and had concen-
trated his infantry and artillery there. Broadhead's cavalry first entered
the city.

1 On the same day the Thirty-sixth and Forty-fourth Ohio, under Colonel George Crook, stationed at Lewis-
burs, in West Virginia, were furiously attacked by General Heth, with three Virginia regiments of Confederates.
The assailants were soon repulsed, with a loss of arms, 400 prisoners, and about 100 killed and wounded besides.
Colonel Crook, who was wounded in the foot, lost 11 killed and 51 wounded. Heth arrested pursuit by burning
the bridge over the Greenbrier River.

a His force consisted of Ashby's cavalry, the brigades of Winder, Campbell, and Fulkerston, the command of
General E. S. Johnson, and the division of General Ewell, composed of the brigades of Generals Elzy, Taylor,
and Trimble, the Maryland line, consisting of the First Maryland and Brockenborough's battery, under General
George H. Stewart, and the Second and Sixth Virginia cavalry, under Colonel Flournoy.

3 In view of a possible necessity for a return to Strasburg, Banks sent Captain Abert. of the Topographical
Engineers, to prepare the Cedar Creek bridge for the names. Abert and the accompanying troops (Zouaves
d'Afrique, Captain Collins) were cut off from the column, had a severe skirmish at Strasburg, and did not rejoin
the army until it was at Williamsport, on the Potomac.

BATTLE AT WINCHESTER.

393

KICIIARD 8. EWKLL.

The retreating troops found very little time for rest. The Confederates,
composed entirely of Ewell's corps, were closing around them in vast num-
bers compared to their own. Banks's
force was less than seven thousand
effective men, with ten Parrott guns
and a battery of 6-pounders, smooth-
bore cannon. The Confederate force
was full twenty thousand in number.
The leaders of the latter felt confident
that on the morrow they would see
the capture or destruction of their
opponents. Yet they did not idly
revel in these pleasing anticipations.
Like a vigilant soldier, as he was,
Ewell, who bivouacked within a mile
and a half of Winchester, began
operations to that end before the
dawn. The equally vigilant Banks
was on the alert, and at daylight his

troops were in battle order. Colonel Gordon, commanding the right, was
strongly posted on a ridge, a little south of the city, and Colonel Donnelly
was in charge of the left. Xear the center, the troops were well sheltered
from their foes by stone walls. General Hatch (who was cut off at Middle-
town), with Tompkins's cavalry, had rejoined the army just in time to par-
ticipate in the battle.

The battle opened furiously in front of Winchester." Ewell " Ma / 25 -
had placed a heavy body of troops on the Berry ville road, to pre-
vent re-enforcements reaching Banks from Harper's Ferry, and regiments
were heavily massed on the National right, with the evident intention of
turning it. This danger was so boldly and bravely met, that the Confede-
rates Avere kept in check for five hours by a steady and most destructive
fire. 1

In the mean time Jackson's whole force had been ordered up, 2 and Banks's
signal officers reported the apparition of regimental standards in sight that
indicated a strength equal to twenty-five thousand men. The Union com-
mander perceived that further resistance would be only a prelude to destruc-
tion. In anticipation of this contingency, his trains had been sent toward
the Potomac, and now an order for retreat was given. Under a most galling
fire of musketry the army broke into a column of march, and, covered "by a
rear-guard composed of the Second Massachusetts and Third Wisconsin,
passed rapidly through Winchester, assailed in the streets by the secession-

1 " One regiment," says Banks in his report, "is represented, by persons present during the action, and after
the field was evacuated, as nearly destroyed."

4 The battle thus far had been fotisht by Ewell without the aid of Jackson, and even without his knowledge
of what was occurring in front of Winchester, for he was seven miles in the rear. So ignorant was he of the
situation of affairs at the front, that at the moment when Banks was about to retreat. Colonel Ontchfield came
to Ewell with orders from Jackson to fall back to Newton, seven miles distant, for the Nationals were being
heavily re-enforced. Jackson supposed Ewell to be four or five miles from Winchester, when, as we have
observed, he had encamped within a mile and a half of the city the evening before. It is evident from the man-
uscript daily record of Ewell's brigade, consulted by the writer, that to Ewell, and not to Jackson, is due the
credit of driving Banks from Winchester.

394 JACKSON'S KETREAT.

ists of both sexes. 1 On leaving the city in some confusion (but finally in good
order), it moved rapidly on toward Martinsburg, twenty-two miles distant,
in three columns, and reached that point late in the afternoon. There the
wearied and battle-worn soldiers rested less than two hours, and then, press-
ing on twelve miles farther, reached the Potomac, opposite Williamsport, in
the course of the evening, 2 where soon afterward a thousand camp-fires were
blazing on the hill-sides. Jackson had halted his infantry a short distance
from Winchester, but George H. Stewart had followed the fugitives with
cavalry to Martinsburg, where the pursuit was abandoned. Three days
later a Confederate brigade of infantry drove a small Union force out of
Charlestown.

Within the space of forty-eight hours after hearing of Kenly's disaster at
Front Royal, Banks, with his little army, had marched fifty-three miles, with
an overwhelming force on his flank and immediate rear a part of the way,
and fought several skirmishes and a severe battle. Jackson attributed his
failure to crush Banks to the misconduct of Ashby and his cavalry, who,
stopping to pillage the abandoned wagons of Banks's train between Middle-
town and Newton, did not come up in time to pursue the fugitives after the
battle at Winchester. 3

After menacing Harper's Ferry, where General Rufus Saxton was in com-
mand, Jackson began" as hasty a retreat up the Valley as Banks had
M *862 ma< 3e down it, for he was threatened with immediate peril. Gene-
ral Shields, as we have observed, had been ordered to join McDowell
in a movement toward Richmond, to co-operate with McClellan. He reached
McDowell's camp with eleven thousand men on the day of the battle of
Winchester. 4 On the following day the President and Secre-

* May 23. =

tary of War arrived there, when McDowell, whose army was
then forty-one thousand strong, was ordered to move toward Richmond on
the 26th. That order was countermanded a few hours later, for, on their
return to Washington, the President and his War Minister were met by
startling tidings from the Shenandoah Valley. The safety of the National
capital seemed to be in great peril, and McDowell was ordered to push
twenty thousand men into the Valley by way of the Manassas Gap Rail-
road, to intercept Jackson if he should retreat. At the same time Fremont
was ordered by telegraph to hasten with his army over the Shenandoah
Mountain to Harrisonburg for the same purpose, and with the hope that
he and the troops from McDowell might join at Strasburg in time to head

1 " My retreating column,'' said Banks, u suffered serious loss In the streets of Winchester. Males and
n/f females vied with each other in increasing the number of their victims, by firing from the houses,
throwing hand-grenades, hot water, and missiles of every description." Report to the Secretary of
War, June, 1S62.

Hand-grenades are usually small shells, about two inches and a half in diameter, and are set on
fire by a short fuse. They arc sometimes made of other forms, with a percussion apparatus, as seen
in th annexed illustration. This kind is used more on the water, and has a stem with guiding
feathers, made of paper or parchment.

2 Banks's loss during this masterly retreat, exclusive of Kenly's command, and the sick and
wounded left in hospitals at Strasburg and Winchester, was 3S killed, 155 wounded, and 711 missing,
making a total of 904. Only 55 of his 500 wagons were lost, and not a gun was left behind. A large
amount of commissary and quarter-master's stores were destroyed. Jackson's reported loss, includ-
ing that at Front Royal, was 63 killed and 329 wounded. He also reported that he captured 2 guns.
9,354 small arms, and about 8.050 prisoners, including 750 siclc and wounded. The actual number of
prisoners was a little less than 3.000.
IIANI> * Jackson's Report to the Confoderate "Secretary of War." " Xever," he said, "have I seen an

GREXAPK. opportunity for cavalry to reap a richer harvest of the fruits of victory."

A RACE IN THE SHENANDOAII VALLEY. C95

off Jackson. McDowell obeyed, but with a heavy heai-t, for, lie said, " it is a
crushing blow to us all."

Fremont's army made as rapid a march as possible over the mountain
region, through drenching rains, and with five days' rations of hard bread.
He took a more northerly road to the Valley than the one from Franklin to
Harrisonburg, and reached Strasburg on the evening of the 1st of June,
a little too late tg intercept Jackson, for the latter had passed through that
town a few hours before. Next morning Shields's vanguard of cavalry, un-
der General Bayard, reached Strasburg, too late likewise for the intended
service of interception. And now began a race up the Valley as exciting as
the one down it ten days before. Shields marched vigorously up the South
fork of the Shenandoah, between the Massanutten Mountains and the Blue
Ridge, along the lateral Luray Valley, hoping to head his foe at some point
above, while Fremont followed directly in his rear, up the North fork, along
the great pike to Harrisonburg. The rains had swelled many of the little
mountain tributaries of the Shenandoah into torrents too formidable to ford
with safety, and Jackson destroyed all the bridges behind him, and sent cav-
alry through the Massanutten passes to break down or burn those in front
of Shields. Thus he kept his prisoners at least a day in his rear, reaching
Harrisonburg on the 5th of June.

Jackson now perceived that his only chance for escape was to cross the
swollen Shenandoah at Port Republic, where there was a strong bridge ; so,
after a brief rest, he diverged to the southeast from the pike to Staunton,
for that purpose. Another object in view was to prevent Shields, who was
near at hand on the east side of the river, crossing the stream or forming a
junction with Fremont, when the united forces would equal his own in
numbers.

Jackson's rear was well covered with his cavalry (Second and Sixth Vir-
ginia), under General Turner Ashby. About two miles from Harrisonburg
this rear-guard was attacked by a reconnoitering party of cavalry, under
Colonel Percy Wyndham. A smart skirmish ensued, and at first the
Nationals were repulsed, with the loss of that leader and sixty-three of his
men, who were made prisoners. 1 General Bayard and Colonel Cluseret then
pushed forward with cavalry and infantry, when Ashby, hard pressed, called
for an infantry support. General Stewart's brigade was ordered up, and
was soon engaged in a sharp fight, in which the little band of Kane's Penn-
sylvanians (Bucktail Rifles) performed uncommon deeds of valor. Kane
was wounded and made prisoner, and lost fifty-five of his men. Ashby was
killed. His death was a severe blow for the Confederates. They regarded
his loss as equal to that of a regiment, for he was one of the most fearless
and enterprising of their cavalry commanders. 2

Fremont was so close upon the Confederates, that the latter were obliged
to turn and fight before attempting the passage of the Shenandoah at Port
Republic. Jackson left Ewell with three brigades (Elzy's, Trimble's, and

)9G

BATTLE OF CROSS KEYS.

"June, 1S62.

Stewart's) of the rear division of his army at Union Church, about seven
miles from Harrisonburg, to keep back the Nationals and gain time, while he
should throw forward his own division to cover the bridge at Port Republic,

five miles farther on, and prevent
Shields from crossing it.

Ewell strongly posted his force,
about five thousand strong, on a
ridge that crossed the road near the
church, with his flanks well pro-
tected by woods. This excellent
position was chosen by General
Elzy. Trimble was a little in ad-
vance of the center ; Stewart was on
the right, and Elzy on the left. In
that position he was attacked on
Sunday morning, the 7th,"
by Fremont, who had
moved out of Harrisonburg at six
o'clock, and at nine was ready for

A. ELZY. *

battle. Schenck was on the right, 1

Milroy in the center, 2 and General Stahl on the left, 3 forming a line about a
mile and a half in length. Between Milroy 's right and Schenck's left were
the Sixtieth Ohio, Eighth Virginia, and the Garibaldi Guards of Blenker's

' O O

division, commanded by Colonel Cluseret. Stahl's wing was supported by
Bohlen's brigade, and the remainder of
Blenker's division was held as a re-
serve. The Nationals moved steadily ; S5|^ i
to the attack, down through a little
valley and up a slope, in the face of a
storm of shot and shell. At eleven
o'clock the conflict was general and
severe. It was specially so at the cen-
ter, and continued several hours, Mil-
roy and Schenek all the while gaining
ground; the former with heavy loss.
The brunt of the battle fell upon him
and Stahl, and upon Trimble on the part
of the Confederates. Stahl's troops

,, ,, UNION C1H-KCII AT CKOSS KEYS.*

finally gave way, and an order was

given at about four o'clock for the whole line to fall back, at the moment
when Milroy had penetrated Ewell's center, and was almost up to his guns.
That daring soldier obeyed, but with the greatest reluctance, for he felt sure

1 With the Thirty-second, Fifty-fifth, Seventy-third. Seventy-fifth, and Eighty-second Ohio.
5 With the Second, Third, and Fifth Virginia and Twenty-fifth Ohio.

3 With the Eighth, Forty-first, and Forty-fifth New York and Twenty-seventh Pennsylvania, with the
remnant of the brave Hucktttils who survived the battle on the previous day.

4 This little picture shows the appearance of the church when tho writer sketched it, in October, 1866.
It was built of brick, and stood in a grove of oaks, a short distance from the Port Republic road from Harrison-
bnrqr. Its interior was a ruin, and its walls showed many scars of heavy shot and shell. In front of it was a
cemetery, in a substantial inclosurc. Fremont used the church for a hospital.

BATTLE OF PORT REPUBLIC. 397

of victory. The Confederates occupied the battle-field that night, and the
Nationals rested where their first line was formed in the morning. 1 So ended
the BATTLE OF CROSS KEYS.*

Ewell, whose position was an excellent one, intended to renew the battle
with his repulsed enemy at dawn, but was called to aid Jackson in his ope-
rations at Port Republic. His troops slept on their arms, and just as day
was breaking they silently moved toward the Shenandoah, carrying with
them all of their wounded comrades excepting those who were mortally
hurt. Fremont followed them closely" in battle order, with Mil-
roy on the right, Blenker on the left, and Schenck in the center. " ^^ '
The brigades of Stahl and Bayard formed the reserve.

In the mean time there had been stirring events at Port Republic. Jack-
son had crossed the Shenandoah, and was occupying the town when
Fremont and Ewell were fighting at Cross Keys. The vanguard of
Shields's force, under acting Brigadier-general Carroll, had been pressing up
the eastern side of the Shenandoah from Conrad's Store, and a portion of it
had arrived near Port Republic almost simultaneously with Jackson's
advance. On Saturday, the 7th, Carroll had been ordered to hasten to that
point, destroy the bridge, seize Jackson's train, and fall on his flank. With
less than a thousand infantry, one hundred and fifty cavalry, and a battery
of six guns, he went forward and halted that night within six miles of
Port Republic. He was informed that Jackson's train was parked there,
with a large drove of beef cattle. With the cavalry and five pieces of artil-
lery he dashed into the town, 6 for the purpose of capturing the ,
coveted prize ; drove Jackson's cavalry-guard out, and took pos-
session of the bridge. Had he burned that structure instantly he
might have ruined Jackson, for he would have cut him off from Ewell,
who was fighting Fremont a feAV miles distant. But he waited for his
infantry to come iip, and during that interval he was attacked by a superior
force and driven out to a point two miles from the town, where in the after-
noon he was joined by General E. B. Tyler and his brigade, two thousand
strong, who had hastened to his assistance, and now took command. 3

While awaiting orders from Shields, Tyler was infoi-med that the Con-
federates were on his front in large force, endeavoring to outflank him on his
left, and with all the approaches to the town and bridge covered by
artillery. Ewell had escaped the pursuit of Fremont, and had crossed the
bridge, and so strongly re-enforced Jackson that the latter justly felt almost
invincible. Tyler quickly counteracted the flanking movement by employ-
ing nearly his whole force, which did not exceed three thousand men,
in opposing it. With these, after being pushed back a little by the assail-
ants, he drove into the woods about eight thousand Confederates, some

1 The National loss in this battle was 664, of which two-thirds fell on Stahl's brigade. The losses wore dis-
tributed as follows: Stahl's brigade, 427 ; Milroy's, 118; Bohlen's, 80; Cluseret's. IT; Schenek's, 14; Buektail's,
8. Schenck's brigade inflicted a severe loss on the foe. chiefly by his artillery, while his own force suffered less
than the others. One of the companies of the Bucktail liifles lost nil of its officers, commissioned and non-
commissioned. Captain Nicholas Punka, of Fremont's Staff, was killed.

2 On the battle-ground was once a tavern, whose sign-board had the device of two keys crossed. Near it
was a store and two or three dwellings, and a fourth of a mile distant the Union Church. This little settlement
was known as the Cross Keys.

3 The map on the opposite page shows the theater of events we have just been considering in this
chapter, and of some a little later. It may be consulted with profit by the reader of succeeding chapters.

398

OPERATION'S

UPPER VIRGINIA.

Ifsfc. o ffi

jfr

HS li W^%

CROSS HOYS

fizfr '

PORT REPUBLIC^

ESCAPE OF JACKSON'S ARMY. 399

of whom then crossed over and joined the regiments of General Winder, of
Ewell's division, which was on Tyler's right, and where a battle had begun
that soon became heavy. General Dick Taylor's Louisiana brigade, which
had flanked and attacked General Tyler's left, but was driven back, now
made a sudden dash through the woods that completely masked it, upon a
battery of seven guns under Lieutenant-colonel Hayward, and captured
it. With his own regiment (Sixty-sixth Ohio), and the Fifth and Seventh
Ohio, Colonel Candy, who was in the rear of the battery, made a spirited
counter-charge, and re-captured it with one of the Confederate guns, but the
artillery horses having been killed, lie was unable to take it off. Instead of
the guns, he took with him, in falling back, sixty-seven of Tayloi''s men
as prisoners.

So overwhelming was the number of Jackson's troops that Tyler was
compelled to retreat. This Avas done in good ordei-, " save the stampede of
those who ran before the fight was fairly opened." 1 He was pursued about
five miles, gallantly covered by Carroll and his cavalry. " Upon him I
relied," said Tyler, " and was not disappointed." 3 In the engagement and
retreat the Confederates captured four hundred and fifty prisoners, and
eight hundred muskets. So ended THE BATTLE OF PORT REPUBLIC ; 3

O '

and Jackson telegraphed to Richmond, saying " Through God's blessing
the enemy near Port Republic was this day routed, with the loss of six
pieces of his artillery." The battle was disastrous in its results, but glorious
for the officers and men of the National army engaged in it. It was one of
the brilliant battles of the war. 4

Jackson kept Tyler in check until his main body crossed the bridge,
when his rear-guard set it on fire. The sounds of battle and the sight
of columns of smoke had hastened the march of Fremont. When he came
near Port Republic he found, the bridge in flames, the Shenandoah too deep
to be forded anywhere, and his enemy beyond his immediate grasp. Here
ended the pursuit here ended the famous race of Fremont, Shields, and
Jackson up the Shenandoah Valley, which was skillfully won by the latter.
On the following morning" the National army began to retrace
its steps, and, in the midst of a drenching rain, it reached " June 9 9 .
Harrisonburg toward evening. Fremont fell back to Mount
Jackson and Shields to New Market, when both commanders were called to
Washington. Jackson re-crossed the Shenandoah and encamped at Weyer's
Cave, 4 two miles from Port Republic, and on the 1 7th he was
summoned, with a greater portion of his army, to assist in 6June 12 '
the defense of Richmond.

The writer, accompanied by two friends ( S. M. Buckingham and H. L.

i Tyler's Report to Shields, June 12, 1862.

* Report of General Tyler to General Shields, June 12, 1S62. The National troops employed in thif
struggle were the Seventh Indiana; Fifth. Seventh, and Twenty-ninth Ohio; and the First Virginia, with sec-
tions of Captains Clarke and Huntinston's batteries, on the right; and the Eighty fourth and One Hundred and
Tenth Pennsylvania; Sixty-sixth Ohio, and sections of Captains Clarke, Huntington, and Robinson's batteries,
and a company each of the Fifth and Sixty -sixth Ohio, as skirmishers, on the left, which was the key of tha
position.

8 Port Republic is a small village on the eastern hank of the south fork of the Shenandoah River, pleasantly
situated on a plain. It is a post village of Rockingham County.

4 General Ewell declared to the writer, that in that engagement the Confederate troops were three to one <| ^
the Nationals in number, and that it was a most gallant flght on the part of the latter.

400 A VISIT TO THE SHENANDOAH REGION.

Young), visited the theater of events recorded in this chapter early in
October, 1866. Having explored places made famous by the exploits of
Sheridan and others at a later period of the war, from Harper's Ferry to
Winchester, and' at Kernstown, Middletown, Cedar Creek, and Fisher's Hill,
we left Strasburg for Harrisonburg at nine o'clock in the evening,"

J^ 5 ' in an old-fashioned stage-coach, making three of nine passengers
inside, with a remainder on the top. Our route lay along the
great Valley Pike from Winchester to Staunton, a distance of fifty miles,
and AVC were at breakfast in Harrisonburg the next morning at eight o'clock.
An hour later we were on our way to the battle-fields of Cross Keys and
Port Republic, in a well-worn and rusty pleasure-carriage belonging to a
colored man, the proprietor of a livery-stable, who furnished us with an
intelligent colored driver and a good team of horses. ^t was a very
beautiful morning ; and in the clear atmosphere the lofty hills of the Blue
Ridge on the east, the Short Shenandoah Mountains on the west, and the
Massanutten range northward, were perfectly defined. Our driver was a
competent guide, being familiar with the events and the localities in that
region, and we anticipated a day of pleasure and profit, and were not
disappointed.

A mile south of Harrisonburg we turned to the left up a rough, lane-like
road, that skirted the field upon a ridge in which Ashby was killed. The
place of his death was at the edge of a wood two hundred yards north of
the road. The abrupt southern end of Massanutten Mountain, on which
Jackson had a signal-station while Banks lay near him, arose like a huge
buttress above the general level, seven miles to our left, while before iis and
to the right was a beautiful hill country, bordered by distant mountain
ranges. We soon came to the battle-ground of Cross Keys, sketched the
Union Church (see page 396), that was in the midst of the storm of conflict,
and rode on to Port Republic, twelve miles from Harrisonburg, where we
passed over a substantial new bridge on the site of the one fired by E well's
rear-guard. After spending a little time there, we rode through the once
pretty but then dreadfully dilapidated and half-deserted village, forded the
Shenandoah (which was very shallow because of previously dry weather)
a little above the town, and rode on two miles to the house of Abraham
Mohler, the owner of Weyer's Cave near by, where we ordered dinner, and
then proceeded with a guide to explore the famous cavern. Near it was the
camping-ground of Jackson. We climbed a steep ridge, about one hundred
and fifty feet above a tributary of the Shenandoah at its base, entered a
rocky vestibule, each with a lighted tallow candle, and went down by rough
paths and sometimes slippery acclivities far into the awful depths of the
mountain, along a labyrinth of winding passages among the rocks. Cham-
ber after chamber, recess after recess, passage after passage was visited until
we were many hundred feet from the daylight. Here we were compelled
to stoop because of the lowness of the roof; there its glittering stalactites
were ninety feet above us ; and everywhere we had the most strange and
wonderful visions of cavern scenery. Nowhere did we find regularity of
forms, nor abundant reasons for many of the. fanciful names given to the
localities, which Cooke's valuable little guide-book contains.

This is not the place nor the occasion to describe this really great wonder

WEYER'S CAVE.

401

of nature a wonder worthy of a voyage across oceans and continents to
see ;' so we will dismiss the consideration of it by saying that we ascended
into upper air and the sunlight at a late hour in the afternoon, with appetites
that gave a keen relish to a good dinner at Mohler's, for we had eaten
nothing since breakfast. After dinner we rode on by a good highway,
parallel with the Valley Pike, toward Staunton, passing the site of what is
known as the Battle of Piedmont (to be mentioned hereafter) at sunset, and
arrived at our destination at a late hour in the evening. We spent the next
day (Sunday) in Staunton, and on Monday morning departed by railway for
the scenes of strife eastward of the Blue Ridge, along the hollow of Rockfish
Gap in that range, and through the great tunnel. Magnificent was the
panorama seen on our right as we emerged from that dark artificial cavern
in the mountains. Skirting the great hill-side along a terrace, we saw, a
thousand feet below us, one of those beauteous and fertile valleys with which
the mountain regions of Virginia abound. Others opened to our view as we
descended gradually into the lower country. We passed the seat of Jeffer-
son, near Charlottesville, at noon, dined at Gordonsville, and lodged that
night at Culpepper Court-House. Our experience at the latter place will be
considered hereafter.

1 This cave is seventeen miles northeast from Staunton, in the northern extremity of Augusta County. It
is on the eastern side of a high hill that runs parallel with the Blue Kidge, and a little more than two miles from
it. It was accidentally discovered by a hunter a German named Barnard Weyer about the year 1804. A
short distance from it, in the same hill, is Madison's Cave, so well described by Jefferson in his Notes on Vir-
ginia, at a time when this far greater cave was unknown.

VOL. II. 26

402

ATTACK ON DREWRY'S BLUFF.

CHAPTER XVI,

THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC BEFORE RICHMOND.

E left the Army of the Potomac within a few miles of
Richmond, its advance light troops at Bottom's Bridge,
and the head-quarters of its commander at Cool Ar-
bor.

When Huger fled from Norfolk, and the Jtfemmack
was blown into fragments, the Confederate gun-boats
in the James River retired to Richmond, closely followed
by a flotilla of armed vessels under the command of
Commodore John Rodgers, whose flag-ship was the iron-
clad Galena. She was accompanied by the Monitor,
Aroostook, Port Royal, and Naugatuck. They moved up the stream with
great caution, for it was known that the Confederates had erected bat-
teries on the shores at different points, and it was believed that guerri-
llas were abundant on the banks.
From an armored look-out near the
mast-head of the leading vessel, a
vigilant watch for these was kept,
but the squadron met with no seri-
ous impediment until it confronted
a formidable battery on a bank
nearly two hundred feet in height,
called Drewry's Bluff, at a narrow
place in the river, about eight miles
from Richmond. Below this bat-
tery were two separate barriers,
formed of spiles and sunken ves-
sels, and the shores were lined with
rifle-pits filled with sharp-shooters.

The Galena anchored within six hundred yards of the battery, and

opened fire at near eight o'clock in the morning." An hour later

* ^sT^ 15 ' ^ e Monitor ran above the Galena, but could not bring her guns

to bear upon the elevated battery, and fell back. A sharp fight

was kept up until after eleven o'clock, when the ammunition of the Galena

was nearly expended. Then the flotilla withdrew. Rodgers lost in this

attack twenty-seven men, and a 100-pounder rifled cannon that burst on

board the Naugatuck, and disabled her. The commander of the battery,

AW AKMOEED tOOK-OUT. 1

From a sketch by J. H. Schele.

ARMY OF THE POTOMAC ON THE CHICKAHOMINY.

Captain E. Farrand (once of the National Navy), reported his loss at fif-
teen. Rodgers fell back to City Point. 1

The James and York rivers were now both offered as a highway for sup-
plies for the Army of the Potomac, and General McClellan was left free to
choose his base. He decided to continue it at the head of York until he
should form a junction with McDowell's troops. The operations in the She-
nandoah Valley, just recorded, speedily postponed that junction indefinitely,
for, as we have seen,
McDowell was ne-
cessarily detained to
fisrht Jackson and

Ewell, and to watch
an active foe beyond
the Rapid Anna
River, who was then
threatening Wash-
ington City.

The two great
armies were now in
close proximity be-
fore Richmond, with
the sluggish marsh-
bordered Chickaho-
miny between them.
Their first collisions
occurred on the 23d
and 24th of May:
one near New Bridge, a short distance from Cool Arbor, where the Fourth
Michigan. Cavalry, .under Colonel Woodbury, waded the river, 3 and after a

1 The appearance of this flotilla in the James, simultaneously with the advance of McClellan toward the
Chickahominy, produced the greatest consternation in Richmond, especially among the conspirators. "Gene-
ral Johnston Is falling back from the Peninsula," wrote a niece of the chief conspirator to her mother, "and

Uncle Jeff, thinks we had better go to a safer place than Richmond Ho is miserable. He tries to

be cheerful and bear up against such a continuation of troubles : but oh, I fear he cannot live long, if he does not
get some rest and quiet !" In this state of mind, the conspirator seems to have sought refuge in a Christian
sanctuary. " Uncle Jeff.," wrote the pitying niece, " was confirmed last Tuesday, in St. Paul's Church, by Bishop
Johns. He was baptized at home in the morning before church." See Pollard's Second Year of the War,
page 81.

There was a general expectation that Richmond would be in the hands of McClellan within a few days.
Every preparation was made by the Confederate authorities to abandon it. The " archives of the Govern-
ment" were sent to Columbia, i:i South Carolina, and to Lynchburg. The railway tracks over the bridges were
covered with plank, to facilitate the passage of artillery. Mr. Randolph, the "Secretary of War," said to an
attendant and relative, " You must go with my wife into the country, for to-morrow the enemy will be here.' 1
The Secretary of the Treasury had a special train, the steatn of the locomotive continually up, ready for flight.
A Rebel War Cleric's Diary, ii. 126.

Disgusted and alarmed by the trepidation of the conspirators, the Legislature of Virginia, then in session,
passed resolutions (May 14) calling upon the so-called "Government of the Conl'edciatc States" to defend
Richmond at all hazards, and resolved, with a clearness that deprived the trembling Confederates of every
excuse but fear, that " the President be assured that whatever destruction or loss of property of the State or
Individuals shall thereby result, will be cheerfully submitted to." This action was in accordance with the
wishes of Johnston, and it is believed by his inspiration. But for this, the conspirators would have been seen
An pale affright flying for personal safety to the Carolinas.

2 This was the appearance of the rude bridge and the locality when the writer sketched it, at the close of
May, 1866.

* In dry weather this stream is fordable at all points, but rains render it almost impassable for cavalry and
artillery. The average width of the river in that vicinity is between forty and fifty feet. Heavily timbered
bottoms spread out from it, from half a mile to a mile in width, and in some places it is bordered by extensive

SITE OF NEW BRIDGE. 5

404

SKIRMISH AT ELLISON'S MILL.

smart skirmish captured thirty-seven of the Fifth Louisiana, then guarding
that point, drove the remainder, and held the position. The other was
at and near Mechanicsville, seven or eight miles from Richmond, when a
part of McClellan's right wing was advancing toward the Chickahominy.
At Ellison's Mill, about a mile from Mechanicsville, a part of Stoneman's

command, with Davison's brigade of Franklin's corps, encoun-
* ^L 23 ' tered" the Confederates in considerable force, infantry, cavalry,

and artillery. A brisk skirmish ensued, and at sunset the Con-
federates fell back to Mechanicsville, from which they were driven across the
Chickahominy the next morning. On this ground a battle was fought a
month later.

This bold dash was followed the next day by an inspiriting general order
from McClellan, that indicated an immediate advance of the whole army on
Richmond. 1 Every thing was ready for such movement. The troops were

ELLISON'S MILL,*

rested ; the material necessary for building bridges for crossing the Chicka-
hominy had been prepared ; 3 the weather was not very unfavorable, and
nothing seemed to offer an excuse for an hour's delay. The Commander-in-

swamps, traversed by small streams, that are overflowed after rains. The river rises in the hill country north-
west of Richmond, and is subject to a sudden increment of volume. With these features and condition, it
formed a line of great difficulty between the contending armies.

1 The order was read in all the camps. It directed the troops as they advanced beyond the Chickahominy
to prepare for battle at a moment's notice, and to be entirely unencumbered, with the exception of ambulances ;
to carry three days' rations in their haversacks, and to leave their knapsacks with tho wagons, that were parked
on the left bank of tho stream. After giving snch directions, he told them "to bear in mind that the Army of
the Potomac had never yet been diecked" and directed the soldiers to "preserve in battle perfect coolness and
confidence, the sure forerunners of success." This seemed almost like cruel irony to the worn soldiers, who
were painfully conscious that Magruder, with 5,000 men, had " checked " the Army of the Potomac for a wholo
month before Yorktown.

3 This is a view of Ellison's Mill and the scene of the skirmish, and of a battle a little later, as it appeared
when the writer sketched it, at the close of May, 1866. The Confederates were posted on the hills, on which
the houses are seen beyond the stream, and the Nationals were on the heights near the Mill, up which the road
to Gains's Mill passes.

* Johnston had caused all the bridges across the Chiekahominy to be destroyed. General Barnard, McClel-
lan's Chief Engineer, says in his report (page 21), that "so far as engineering operations were concerned, tho
army could have been thrown across the river as early as the 28th of May, when the Confederates near New
Bridge could have been taken in the rear, and deprived of the power of making any formidable resistance to
the passage of the right wing." In a review of the Peninsula campaign, Barnard says, "No very extensive work
was anticipated, as the bottom lands were quite dry. and no inundation had yet occurred, or was anticipated.
General McClellan was not waiting for the bridges, but the bridges were waiting for General McClellan."

IMMOBILITY OF THE AEMY. 405

Chief had been promptly informed" from Washington of the reasons and
the necessity of countermanding the order for McDowell to move
on from Fredericksburg to join him, and he had as usual sent ^^ '
back a complaining remonstrance, and charges of a withholding
of troops from him. Nevertheless he issued that order of great
promise. 4 lie had said to the Secretary of War, ten days before,
" I will fight the enemy, whatever their force may be, with whatever force
we may have ;" and the Secretary could see no reasons for a change now in
the General's resolution, for, so long as the Confederate force that kept
McDowell back was withheld from Richmond, McClellan was comparatively
as strong in power to fight his enemy as if McDowell was with him, and
Jackson and Ewell were confronting that soldier on the Chickahominy
instead of on the Shenandoah or Rappahannock. The fact that McDowell
could not then re-enforce him, imposed upon McClellan the obvious duty of
acting with uncommon vigor before his enemy could be strengthened, for his
was an offensive and not a defensive movement.

But McClellan seems not to have acted with the vigor that was expected,
and the President evidently feared he would not, for, at about the time when
the commander issued the order indicating a general advance, Mr. Lincoln,
filled with just apprehensions for the safety of the capital, because of the
movements in the Shenandoah Valley, telegraphed to him, saying " I think
the time is near when you must either attack Richmond, or give up the job
and come to the defense of Washington." On the following day' e Ma 2&
he informed McClellan of the successful retreat of Banks, and
asked him if he could not cut the railway between Richmond and
Fredericksburg ; and also what impression he had of the intrenched works
for the defense of Richmond. The General replied that he did not think the
Richmond works formidable, and that he had cut the Virginia Central rail-
way in three places. 1 He also assured the President that he was " quietly
closing in upon the enemy, preparatory to the last struggle," but thought it
necessary to secure his flanks against " the greatly superior forces " in front
of him.

For several days afterward, operations on the flank of the great army
made the sum of its action. That army, fully prepared for an instant for-
ward movement, and eager to perform it, not only lay passive, but was
dangerously severed by the fickle Chickahominy, 2 whose power for mischief,
when fed by rains, the commander was constantly setting forth. Instead of
moving his whole force upon the works, which he did not consider formidable,
he thought it best only to order a part of General Fitz-John Porter's corps
(the Fifth) to Hanover Court-House, to secm-e his menaced right flank, and
keep the way open for McDowell to join him. This detachment moved
by way of Mecnanicsville, at three o'clock on the morning of the 27th,
General W. H. Emory in the advance, with the Fifth and Sixth Regular
Cavalry, and Benson's horse battery. These were followed by General
Morell's division, composed of the brigades of Generals Martindale, But-

1 This was done by cavalry under Stoneman.

2 u I have two corps [Koyes's and Hointzehnan's] across the Chickahominy, within six miles of Richmond ;
the others on this side [left] at other crossinss within same distance, and ready to cross when bridges are com-
pleted." McCk-Han's dispatch to the President, May 25, 1862.

406

SKIRMISH NEAR HANOVER COURT-HOUSE.

terfield, and McQuade, with Berdan's sharp-shooters, and three batteries
under Captain Griffin. Colonel G. K. "Warren, with his provisional brigade, 1

moved along another road towai'd the
same point, and for the same pur-
pose.

After marching fourteen miles
through mud, caused by a heavy
shower in the morning, and meeting
a little resistance, Emory came upon
the Confederates in force at noon,
two miles from the Court-House, and
was brought to a halt by the fire of
artillery. He was speedily joined by
the Twenty-fifth New York and Ber-
dan's sharp-shooters, when a battle-
line was formed, and skirmishing was
kept up until the arrival of General
Butterfield, with four of his regi-
ments, 8 when a quick and furious charge was made upon the Confede-
rates, which routed them after a contest of an hour, with a loss of one
of their guns, captured by the Seventeenth New York. They were hotly
pursued some distance, and in the mean time Martindale, with a part of his
brigade, pushed on to Peake's Station, on the Virginia Central railway,
encountered a Confederate force there, and drove it toward Ashland, upon
the Richmond and Fredericksburg railroad, not far from the birthplace of*"
Henry Clay.

While moving with a part of his brigade 3 toward Hanover Court-House,
after this exploit, Martindale was attacked by a superior force that came up
by railway from Richmond. He maintained his ground for an hour with
great gallantry, until re-enforced by Porter, who was at the Court-House.
On hearing of the attack on his rear, Porter at once faced his column about,
recalled the cavalry sent in pursuit of the routed Confederates, and sent the
Thirteenth and fourteenth New York, with Griffin's battery, directly to Mar-
thidale's assistance. The Ninth Massachusetts and Sixty-second Pennsyl-
vania were sent to take the Confederates on the left flank, while Butterfield,
with the Eighty-third Pennsylvania and Sixteenth Michigan, hastened
through the woods still farther to the left of the foe. Warren, who had been
delayed in repairing bridges, now came up, when the Confederates, out-
numbered, fell rapidly back, keenly pursued. They lost seven hundred and
thirty of their men made prisoners, and left two hundred dead on the field.
They also lost one howitzer, a caisson, many small arms, two railway trains,
and their camp at Hanover Court-House. 4 The National loss was three

1 This was composer! of the Fifth and Thirteenth New York, First Connecticut artillery, acting as infantry,
Sixth Pennsylvania cavalry, and Weedon's Rhode Island Battery.

2 Twelfth and Seventeenth New York, Eighty-third Pennsylvania, and Sixteenth Michigan.

3 The Second Maine, the Twenty -fifth and a portion of the Forty-fourth New York, and a section of Martin's
battery.

* The troops thus smitten were of the division of General L. O'B. Branch, composed chiefly of men from
North Carolina and Georgia. These had been ordurcd to Virginia after Branch's defeat at New Borne, by
Burn side.

CALLS FOR RE-ENFORCEMENTS. 407

hundred and fifty. At two o'clock the next morning" McClellan telegraphed
to the Secretary of War that Porter had gained " a truly glori-
ous victory" with his "magnificent division" "not a defeat, M jJ 60 28 '
but a complete rout " and that he had " cut all but the Rich-
mond and Fredericksburg Railroad." He expressed his belief that the Con-
federates were " concentrating every thing on Richmond," and that Washing-
ton was in no danger ; and he told the War Minister that it was " the policy
and duty of the Government" to send him "by water all the well-drilled
troops available," as " the real issue " was " in the battle about to be fought in
front of Richmond." He concluded by saying " If any regiments of good
troops remain unoccupied, it Avill be an irreparable fault committed." 1

Having reason for believing that General Anderson, who was specially
charged with confronting McDowell, was still at Ashland, McClellan
ordered General Sykes's division of regulars to move on the 28th from New
Bridge to Hanover Court-House, to be in a position to support General
Porter; and, during that and the following day, expeditions went out in
various directions to destroy railway and other bridges, for the purpose of
obstructing the passage of re-enforcements and supplies to Johnston's army.
The railway bridge over the South Anna was destroyed by a party under
Major Williams, and the Richmond and Fredericksburg road was cut. A
part of Emory's cavalry, under Captain Chambliss; drove the Confederates
from Ashland, and destroyed a railway bridge and broke up the road and the
telegraph in that vicinity. When these raids on the Confederate communi-
cations were accomplished, Porter withdrew to his camps with the main
army, which was lying quietly on the Chickahominy, the extreme right being
at Meadow Bridge. McClellan had again telegraphed to his superiors, telling
of Porter's "complete victories," speaking of the greater force than he
expected before him, and of the risk he was running in moving at all, and
declaring " I will do all that quick movements can accomplish, but you
must send me all the troops you can, and leave to me full latitude as to
choice of commanders." 1

Three days afterward there were " quick movements " in the Army of the
Potomac. The skillful and vigilant Johnston had observed with special satis-
faction the perilous situation of that army, cut in twain by the Chicka-
hominy, and its commander's almost timid caution, and he resolved, on the
30th, & to strike its portion lying on the Richmond side of the

. * Mav.

stream, and cut it off before it could be joined by troops on the

other side. He ascertained that Casey's division of Keyes's corps held an

advanced position on both sides of the Williamsburg road, half a mile

1 The patient President calmly rebuked the General for his forgetfulness of his own duty in assuming to
teach the Government its business, and said 4i I am very glad of General F. J. Porter's victory ; still, if it was a
total rout, I am puzzled to know why the Richmond and Fredericksburg railway was not seized again, as you
say you have all the railroads but that I am puzzled to sec how, lacking that you can have any excepting the
scrap from Eichmond to West Point. The scrap of the Virginia Central, from Richmond to Hanover Junction,
without more, is simply nothing. That the whole of the enemy is concentrating on Richmond, I think cannot
be certainly known to yon. Saxton at Harper's Ferry informs us that large forces, supposed to be Jackson's and
Ewell's, forced his advance from Charlestown to-day. General King telegraphs us from Frodericksbnrg, that
contrabands give certain information that 15,000 left Hanover Junction Monday morning, to re-enforce Jackson.
I am painfully impressed with the importance of the struggle before you, and shall aid you all I can, consist-
ently with my view of due regard to all points." Lincoln's dispatch to McClellan, May 28, 1S621

2 McClellan's dispatch to the Secretary of War, May 23, 1S62.

408

PREPAKATIONS TO ATTACK THE XATIOXALS.

BILA8 CASEY.

beyond a point known as the Seven Pines, 1 six miles from Richmond ;*
that Couch's division of the same corps was at the Seven Pines, his

right resting at Fair Oaks Station, on
the Richmond and York River rail-
way; that Kearney's division of
Heintzelman's corps was on the same
railway, three-fourths of a mile in
advance of Savage's Station; and
that the division of Hooker of the
latter corps was guarding the ap-
proaches of the White Oak Swamp,
that lay between these divisions and
the Chickahominy.

The country thereabout is quite
level, and was then mostly wooded
and dotted with marshes. In that
region the roads radiate from Rich-
mond, and gave Johnston advantages
of position for attack or retreat. In a
degree they suggested the points of attack at the time in question, and it was
arranged accordingly. General Longstreet was ordered to go out by the
Williamsbxirg road, with his own and D. H. Hill's divisions, the latter
in advance, to attack the Nationals in front, while General Huger should
move down the Charles City road toward their left flank, and General G.
W. Smith should follow the New Bridge road toward the " Old Tavern ;"
and then take the Nine Mile road toward their right at Fair Oaks Station.
These columns were to move simultaneously at dawn," but the rain
had made the roads so soft, that it was ten o'clock before Hill's
division began to move toward Keyes's front.
General Casey, who was in the advance, had intimations of an intended
attack that day, and was vigilant. 3 He was busily engaged in constructing
a redoubt, sinking rifle-pits, and forming an abatis and when, about eleven
o'clock, he was apprised of the approach of the Confederates in force, he
ordered his men to take their arms. At the same time two hissing shells
came heralding the enemy near, and made the soldiers quicken their abandon-
ment of spades and axes for the weapons of war. They were none too soon
in arms, for at a little past noon the Confederates came in heavy force.
Casey's picket-line, with the One Hundred and third Pennsylvania, that had
been sent to its support, was driven in, and Spratt's battery, with supporting
troops under General Naglee, 4 who were in front of the works, were soon in

May 31,
1862.

1 This was the name of a country tavern near which were seven large pine trees. Only three were standing
when the writer visited the spot, nt the close of May, 1866.

* The advance to this position had been ordered by McClellan a few days before, contrary to the
opinion and advice of both Keyes and Casey. See Report of the Committee on the Conduct of the War,
i. 21.

3 Casey's pickets had that morning captured Lieutenant "Washington, one of Johnston's aids, and he was
sent to Keyes. His conduct satisfied the National officers that an attack was about to be madi\ Besides, it
had been reported that the rumbling of cars on the Richmond and York River railroad had been heard all
night, indicating the transportation of troops and supplies.

4 These were the One Hnndred and fourth Pennsylvania, Colonel W. W. H. Davis; the Eleventh Maine,
and Ninety-third and One Hundredth New York Volunteers.

BATTLE NEAR THE SEVEN PINES.

409

fierce conflict with the foe. Bates's battery, under Lieutenant Hart, was
in the unfinished redoubt. Wessel's brigade was in the rifle-pits, and
Palmer's brigade was behind as a reserve. Naglee, with great persistence,
kept the Confederates in check for some time by most gallant fighting,
and then fell back to the remainder of the division in the rifle-pits,
which had been strengthened by the Ninety-third Pennsylvania, of Peck's
brigade.

The Confederates soon gained a position on Casey's flanks. Perceiving
the peril of his artillery, that officer ordered a bayonet charge to save it.
This was gallantly performed by the One Hundredth New York, One Hun-
dred and Fourth Pennsylvania, and the Eleventh Maine, under the immedi-
ate direction of General Naglee. The
troops sprang forward with a tremen-
dous yell, and drove back the foe to
the adjacent woods. From that cover
the pursuers were assailed by a most
murderous musket-fire, and out of it
swarmed the Confederates in over-
whelming numbers. The battle raged
more furiously than ever, until about
three o'clock, when General Rains
had got in the rear of the redoubt,
and the rifle-pits were nearly enveloped
by the multitude of Confederates.
Casey's position was no longer tena-
ble, and he ordered his troops to fall
back to the second line in possession
of Couch. They did so, with the loss
of six guns and many gallant officers
and men. 1 The cannon in the redoubt were seized by General Rhodes, and
turned upon the fugitives. Notwithstanding the great odds against them, 9
and the fearful enfilading fires to which they were exposed, Casey's men
brought off three-fourths of their cannon.

Early in the action General Keyes had sent to Heintzelman for aid, but
because of some unaccountable delay it did not arrive until it was almost too
late. Seeing Casey's peril, he ordered forward several of Couch's regi-
ments to his relief. On these (the Fifty-fifth New York, and Twenty-third,
Sixty-first, and Ninety-third Pennsylvania) the tempest of battle fell most
destructively. These were followed by the Seventh Massachusetts and
Sixty-second New York ; but all were pressed back to Fair Oaks Station,
where they joined the First U. S. Chasseurs, under General John Cochran,
and Thirty-first Pennsylvania, who were stationed there, and fought despe-
rately under the orders of Generals Couch and Abercrombie. The embank-
ments of the railway there formed a good breastwork for the Nationals.

HKNET M. NAOLEB.

1 Among the officers killed was Colonel James M. Brown, of the One Hundredth New Tork, and Colonel
Q. D. Daily and Major Van Valkenburg, of the First New York Artillery. The gallant Colonel Davis, of tha
One Hundred and Fourth Pennsylvania, was severely wonnded.

2 Casey's division numbered only a little more than four thousand men. The number of the assailants
i.-as estimated at njore than thirty thousand.

410

BATTLE NEAR FAIR OAKS STATION.

With the assistance of Generals Devens and Naglee, Keyes formed a line
at the edge of the woods, composed of the First Long Island and Thirty-sixth
New York.

In the mean time Heintzelman had pressed forward with re-enforcements,
and at a little past four o'clock Kearney appeared with Berry and Jameson's
"brigades. At about the same time General Peck led the Ninety-third and
One Hundred and Second Pennsylvania across an open space exposed to
an awful shower of balls, to assist the terribly smitten right ; and for an
hour he sustained a sharp contest near the Seven Pines, when he was forced
to fall back. The Tenth Massachusetts had also been led by Keyes to
the assistance of the crumbling right, which was heavily pressed by the
corps of General G. "W. Smith. That officer, who was accompanied by Gen-
eral Johnston, had been held in check by .the latter until four o'clock, the
Confederate chief waiting to hear the muskets of Longstreet and Hill,
which were to be the signal for the flank attack. These sounds did not

reach him, but when informed of what his center had been doing, he imme-
diately threw forward Smith's command, which fell upon the Nationals
at Fair Oaks Station, and a terrible conflict ensued. The fresh Confederates
severed Couch's command, turned his left, interposed between him and
Heintzelman, and p*ushed Kearney back to the border of the flooded
White Oak Swamp. It seemed for a time as if the whole Army of the
Potomac on the Richmond side of the Chickahominy was doomed to
destruction.

At that critical moment relief came. When Heintzelman was informed
of the heavy attack on Casey, he sent an officer with the news to Generals

BATTLE-FIELD OF THE SEVEN PINES. 1

McClellan and Sumner. The former was at New Bridge, and the latter was
between the railway and Bottom's Bridge, at the head of the center of the
army. The vigilant Sumner was so deeply impressed with the danger to
which the left wing of the army across the Chickahominy would be exposed,

1 This is a view on Sykes's farm, in front of the site of the Seven Pines tavern, where Casey's division
fought so desperately after the charge of Naglee. This was the appearance of the farm-house and its surround-
ings when the writer sketched it, on the anniversary of the battle, 1S66, from under a tree that was much
scarred by the bullets.

SUMNER CROSSES THE CHICKAHOMINY.

411

in the event of a rain-storm, that, without orders from head-quarters, he had
summoned Colonel E. E. Cross, of the Fifth New Hampshire, 1 so early as
the 25th, to construct a bridge across the stream nearly in front of his posi-
tion. Fortunately, it was completed on the evening of the 30th, when the
river was high and rising. There was then no other bridge over which the
army might cross, excepting Bottom's and the railway bridge ; and this,
known as the Grape-vine bridge, became an instrument of salvation for the
Army of the Potomac.

Being satisfied that the attack on his left wing was serious, General
McClellan ordered Sumner to prepare to move at a moment's warning.
That officer had al-
ready done so, and
when, at half-past
two o'clock, a fur-
ther order reached
him to cross the
stream, he was ready
and moved immedi-
ately. By this readi-
ness he saved at
least an hour's time
an hour most pre-
cious, as we shall
observe presently.
The passage was
difficult, owing to
the flood. 2 Sedg-
wick's division cross-
ed first, closely fol-
lowed by Richard-
son's, and, with the
former, Sumner
reached the field at
the moment when Couch and Heintzelman were separated, and all seemed
lost. Had the precious hour just alluded to been spent in preparation, all
might have been lost.

Sumner now assumed the command. Sedgwick at once formed in line of
battle, in -the edge of a wood near Fair Oaks, with the First Minnesota on
the right flank, and soon made the advancing Confederates recoil by hurling
upon them a storm of canister from twenty-four guns. Then moving forward
his whole line, he swept the field and recovered nearly all that Couch had
lost. Meanwhile Gorman's brigade of Sedgwick's division had deployed in
battle line on the crest of a gentle hill, in the rear of Fair Oaks, and swept

1 This was one of the most useful and gallant regiments in the service. Cross was both skillful and brave^
and his activity knew no rest His men were noted for their skill in building, and had erected a signal-tower
100 feet high in front of Yorktown. They were so noted for their work as soldiers, also, that the regiment
acquired the name; of "the fighting Fifth." We shall meet it hereafter.

J The logs that formed the corduroy approaches to the bridge were all afloat, and were held only by tho
stumps of trees between which they lay ; and the Grape-vine bridge waa held to its place over the boiling flood
imly by ropts attached to trees.

BATTLE OF SEVEN PINES AND FAIR OAKS.

412 SECOND DAY'S BATTLE AT FAIR OAKS.

down to the relief of Abercrombie, where Cochran's TJ. S. Chasseurs and
Neill's Twenty-third Pennsylvania were fighting desperately. Then came
heavy volleys of musketry enfilading the National right, when Sedgwick
ordered the gallant General Burns to deploy the Sixty-ninth and Seventy-
second Pennsylvania to the right, himself leading the Seventy-first and One
Hundred and Sixth Pennsylvania in support of Gorman. The strife there
was intense. For a moment the National line was bent and seemed ready to
break, but the clear voice of Burns calling out " Steady, men, steady !"
gave them such inspiration that they broke into loud cheers, and held
the position firmly. In the face of their terrible volleys the Confederates
pressed on, and charged Brady's battery, whose murderous fire of canister,
poured into their compact ranks, made fearful lanes, and sent them back in
confusion to the woods in their rear. It was at about this time (sunset)
that General Johnston, the Confederate Chief, was seriously wounded by
the fragment of a shell, and was carried from the field, leaving that
wins: in charge of General G. W. Smith, who was also disabled soon after-

o o *

ward.

Undismayed by their repulse and the loss of their Chief, the Confederates
again advanced, just as darkness came on, and endeavored to outflank Sum-
ner's right, where General Dana had joined Gorman. After fighting heavily
for some time, Sumner ordered a bayonet charge by five of his regiments. 1
This was bravely performed. The regiments leaped two fences between
them and their foes, rushed upon the Confederate line and broke it
into dire confusion. It was now eight o'clock in the evening, and the
battle of Saturday, May 31, ceased. Richardson's division and Sumner's
artillery, which had been mired near the Chickahominy, came up during
the evening ; and Kearney's brigades, that had been driven to the White
Oak Swamp, also rejoined the army lying on the battle-field of Fair
Oaks.

The conflict was renewed by the Confederates early in the

" 'I'sea. 1 ' morning* with Richardson's brigade. The latter was on the alert.
His troops were prepared for battle when, at three o'clock, his foes
drove in their pickets. He posted a battery of 1 0-pounder rifled Parrott guns,
under Captain Hazard, so as to command an open field on his right front ; and
directly in front of his line he placed the brigade of General French, and a
regiment of General O. O. Howard's brigade. The remaining regiments of
Howard's brigade formed a second line, and the Irish brigade of General
Thomas F. Meagher, with eighteen pieces of artillery, formed the third. The
battle was now begun by General Pickett, supported by General Roger A.
Pryor, with a part of Huger's division, which did not get up in time to join
in the battle on the previous day. Pryor fell upon French, and Howard went
to his support. Mahone came up to the aid of Pryor. Finally Meagher was
ordered to the front, and after a desultory conflict of nearly three hours, in
which a part of Hooker's command was engaged, and General Howard lost
his right arm, the Confederates fell back, and did not renew the contest.
They remained on the ground of Casey's camp during the day, as a cover

1 Thirty-fourth and Eighty-second New-York, Fifteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts, and Seventh
Michigan. The first three were of Gorman's brigade, and the t wo latter of Dana's brigade.

HOOKER LOOKS INTO RICHMOND.

413

HOOKER'S IIEAD-QUAKTEKS. 2

to the movement of their munitions of war and camp equipage to their
lines at Richmond, and at evening they went in that direction them-
selves.

On the following morning Heintzelman sent Hooker with a strong recon-
noitering party toward the Confederate capital. He went within four miles
of the city without
meeting any armed
men, excepting a few
pickets. On hearing of
this temerity, McClel-
lan ordered him back
to Casey's camp, 1
where, at the house of
George Turner, he es-

O '

tablished his head-quar-
ters, and fortified it;
and orders were given
to throw up a line of
strong intrenchments
in front of Fair Oaks,
to protect the army
while building bridges
over the Chickahominy. 3 Hooker established a hospital at a house near Fair
Oaks Station, around which the tents of the sick and wounded were soon
grouped. The losses in THE BATTLE OF FAIR OAKS or THE SEVEN PINES"
were very heavy, and about equal on both sides, amounting in the aggregate
to about seven thousand each. 5 This was heavy, when it is considered that
not more than fifteen thousand men on either side were engaged in the con-
flict. Casey's division, that so gallantly withstood the first shock of battle,
lost one-third of its- number. 6 The whole affair was managed on the part of
the Nationals without any controlling end, for the Commander-in-Chief was

1 His order was " General Hooker will return from his brilliant reconnoissance ; we cannot afford to lose his
division."

a This was the appearance of Hooker's head-quarters when the writer sketched it, at the close of May,
1866. Jn the foreground, on the right, is seen a part of the fortifications cast up there, and the trees in front of
the two buildings, under which was Casey's tent.

* McClellan's Eeport, page 1 13. The General gave as a reason for recalling Hooker, that the bad state
of the roads would not warrant an attempt to march on Eichmond, or hold a position so near it. It was
the opinion of several of his general officers that had Hooker been allowed to press on, with the supports at
hand, he could have gone into Eichrnond, for the Confederates were disheartened by the loss of their chief,
and demoralized by the events of the two preceding days. McOlellan said on the same day, in a dispatch to
the Secretary of War : " The morale of my troops is now such that I can venture much. I do not fear odds
against me."

4 Both titles are correct, and yet the use of them as synonyms in describing the battle would give an erro-
neous impression. In front of the place known as The Seven Pines, and at Fair Oaks Station positions but a
short distance apart the heaviest engagements of the great battle were fought on the same day, and partly by
the same troops.

8 Among the National officers killed or disabled in this battle were Colonel Bailey and Major Van
Valkenburg, of the artillery, and Colonels Biker, Brown, Eipley, and Miller, of the infantry. Among
the wounded were Generals Naglee, Devens, Howard, and Wessels, and Colonel Cross, of the Fifth New
Hampshire.

* This division, though composed in a large degree of raw troops, performed wonders of prowess, as we
have seen ; yet. in consequence of misinformation, it was exposed to severe public censure by McClellan's first
dispatch to the Secretary of War, in which he said that it "gave way unaccountably and discreditably." Con-
vinced of his error, the General so informed the Secretary a few days afterward, and, iu a degree, made repara-
tion for the injury.

414

JACKSON JOINS LEE NEAR RICHMOND.

not near the field, and scarcely knew what was going on there until all
fighting had ceased on the second day.

For nearly a month after the battle just recorded, the Army of the Poto-
mac lay along the line of the Chickahominy, a few miles from Richmond, in
a very unhealthful situation, 1 quietly besieging the Confederate capital, and
apparently preparing to take it by storm. In the mean time the Confederates
concentrated their forces there for its defense. " Stonewall Jackson," having
accomplished his purpose in the Shenandoah Valley, crossed the Blue Ridge,
and, by a series of quick and inexplicable movements, made himself and his
troops appear almost ubiquitous, and so puzzled the authorities at Washing-
ton and the Generals in
the field, that it seemed
to them that he was as
likely to be then sweep-
ing down the Shenando-
ah Valley as to- be mov-
ing toward Richmond.
That he was somewhere
between the Rappahan-
nock and Shenandoah,
and the city of Rich-
mond, with thirty or
forty thousand troops,
no one could doubt.
"Neither McDowell,
who is at Manassas, nor
Banks and Fremont, who are at Middletown," the Secretary of War tele-
graphed to McClellan, so late as the 24th of June, "appear to have any
accurate knowledge on the subject." The fact was, that on the 17th Jack-
son commenced a march of his main body toward Richmond, leaving a bri-
gade of cavalry and a battery at Harrisonburg, to watch the movements of
the Nationals in the Valley, and on the 25th he arrived at Ashland, sixteen
miles from Richmond, with about thirty-five thousand men, prepai-atory to a
blow on McClellan's right. Robert E. Lee had succeeded Joseph E. Johnston
in command of the Army of Northern Virginia, and was now concentrating
his troops to resist McClellan.

The position of the Army of the Potomac was now peculiar and unfor-
tunate, and required great skill and caution in its management. So long as
it was inactive, it was necessary to hold a large force behind the Chickahom-
iny, for the protection of its line of communication with its supplies at the

1 The troops on the Richmond side of the Chickahominy were soon strongly intrenched in the vicinity of
Fair Oaks and the Seven Pines. Keyes was on the extreme flank, by the White Oak Swamp. On his right was
Heintzelman, and still farther to the right Sumner occupied ground on both sides of the railway. Still farther
to the right was the division of Franklin, that crossed on the 5th of June. The line presented nearly four miles
of front. The line of intren<'.hments was at an average distance from Richmond, in a direct line, of about five
miles. The country was mostly level. In wet weather a greater portion of it was a swamp, and in dry weather
it was dotted with stagnant pools.

Fitz-John Porter's corps remained behind the Chickahominy, his right resting near Meadow Bridge, well
up toward the Central Virginia railway-crossing, with Stoneman's cavalry scouting on his flank, to watch the
approaches between Mm and the Pamunkey to the lino of communication with the depot of supplies at the
White House.

2 In this picture a good representation is given of the army wagon, used by thousands during the war.

HOSPITAL AT FAIR OAKS. a

PUBLIC EXPECTATION DISAPPOINTED. 415

White House, on the Pamunkey. Had that base of supplies been changed
to a point on the James River immediately after Rodgers drove the Confed-
erate gun-boats to Richmond, and held that highway, it would doubtless
have given a great advantage for maneuvering against that capital. Now,
it was necessary, in order to move forwai-d, either to thus change the base
or to throw the entire army across the Chickahominy, vigorously attack the
Confederate lines, and, if unsuccessful, then to make the base on the James,
as was afterward done by compulsion. This was the alternative presented
to the Commander-in-Chief, and his habitual indecision, which seemed chronic
in his character, caused a delay until his foe would no longer permit him to
consider. 1

During the three weeks' siege of Richmond public expectation was kept
constantly on the alert, by frequent assurances that the decisive battle would
be fought "to-morrow." On the 2d of June, the day when Hooker looked
into Richmond, the Commander said : " I only wait for the river to, fall to
cross with the rest of the force and make a general attack." Anxious to
give him every possible support, the President ordered five regiments at
Baltimore to join him; .placed the disposable force at Fortress Monroe at
his service, and notified him that McCall's division of McDowell's corps
would be sent to him by water from Fredericksburg as speedily as possible.
In reference to that notification the General said in a dispatch : a " I shall be
in perfect readiness to move forward and take Richmond the
moment McCall reaches here, and the ground will admit the pas- " J ^ 7 '
sage of artillery."

The loyal people were delighted by this assurance; and when it was
known that McCall's forces had arrived at the White House, a few days
later,* they expected immediate intelligence of the fall of Rich-
mond, for word had come that Jackson and Ewell had just been
fighting Fremont and Shields near the upper Shenandoah, 2 so that these
forces were yet withheld from Lee. But already McClellan had tele-
graphed c the dampening intelligence " I am completely checked
by the weather. The Chickahominy is in a dreadful state ; we
have another rain-storm on our hands." In the same dispatch there was a
sentence ominous of an indefinite delay. It ran thus " I present for your
consideration the propriety of detaching largely from Halleck's army [in the
Mississippi Valley] to strengthen this " an operation that would require
two or three weeks at least. The Secretary of War gave him cordial
assurance of his desire to give him every possible aid, and informed him that
preparations were made for sending to him the remainder of McDowell's
corps, that officer being directed to co-operate fully with him. But the terms
of that co-operation, which was simply that McDowell should retain an inde-

1 It seems proper here to remark that in his Report, made more than a year later, General McClellan says
that a dispatch to him, received from the Secretary of War on the ISth of May, informing him that McDowell
had been ordered to m;irch to his assistance by the shortest route from Fredericksburg, rendered it impossible
for him to use the James River as a line of operations. " It forced me," he said, " to establish our depots on the
Pamunkey, and approach Richmond from the north." It was eleven days before that dispatch was sent that
Rodgers went up to Drewry's Bluff; and General Barnard, the Chief Engineer of the Army of the Potomac,
says that the decision to make "the depot of supplies on the Pamunkey, and approach Richmond from the
north,'" was made at Roper's Church, on the llth, or ten days before the receipt of the dispatch from the Secre-
tary of War.

7 See pages 396 and 397.

416 STUAET'S BOLD RAID

pendent command, were so offensive to McClellan that lie answered " If I
cannot control all of his troops I want none of them, and would prefer
to fight the battle with what I have, and let others be responsible for the
result." 1

This dispatch was written just after a most mortifying event had
occurred. General J. E. B. Stuart, one of the most active of the Confederate
cavalry officers, had on that and the previous day made a circuit entirely

around the Army of the Potomac,
with fifteen hundred cavalry and
four pieces of horse artillery. 8 He
attacked and dispersed two squad-
rons of the Fifth Regular Cavalry at
Hanover Old Church, under Captain
Royall, and sweeping around almost
to the White House, by Tunstall's
Station, seized and burned fourteen
Avasjons and two schooners laden

with forage at Garlick's Landing,
above the White House, on the
Pamunkey; captured and carried
away one hundred and sixty-five
prisoners, and two hundred and sixty
mules and horses; rested three hours,
and during the night crossed the
Chickahominy, near the Forge

Bridge, on hastily provided ones, and then leisurely returned to Rich-
mond, on the morning of the 15th, by the Charles City road. This
was the first of many similar but far more destructive raids,, by both
parties during the war. It produced great commotion in the Army of the
Potomac, but on the night of the 14th, McClellan reported "all quiet in
every direction."

For ten days longer all was quiet on the Chickahominy ; but during that
time the Confederates were taking measures to strike a blow at the Army
of the Potomac, which, when it was given, came near being a fatal one.
Stuart's raid was more a reconnoissance for information than an expedition
for destruction. It was determined to draw Jackson quietly from the Shenan-
doah Valley, and have him suddenly and unexpectedly strike the right flank
of McClellan's army near Mechanicsville, and uncover the passage of that
stream, when a heavy force would join him, sweep down the left side of the
Chickahominy toward the York River, and seize the communications of the

1 Dispatch to the Secretary of War, June 14, 1862. In that angry dispatch he made an ungenerous Insinu-
ation of inordinate ambition on the part of a brother officer. McDowell had politely telegraphed to him his
desire to have McCall's division of his own corps placed so as to join htm immediately on his arrival. Because
of this request, which was in accordance with orders from the War Department on the 8th, the angry General
said " I do not feel that, in such circumstances as these under which I am now placed, General McDowell
should wish the general interest to be sacrificed for the purpose of increasing his command." Already loyal
newspapers had intimated that it was possible that McDowell might take Richmond without waiting for Mc-
Clellan. but there is no evidence that the former had any such intentions. Nor could the latter have been
moved by such purely personal considerations, for in the same dispatch ho said, "you know I have none."

a Portions of the First, Fourth, and Ninth Virginia cavalry, and two squadrons of the Jeff. Davis
Legion.

J. K. B. STUART.

THE QUIET SIEGE OF RICHMOND.

417

Army of the Potomac with the White House. To mask this movement,
and to give the impression to both McClellan and his Government
that more formidable operations were to be begun in the Sheiiandoah
Valley, Lee sent Whiting's division in that direction, in a way that would
be easily discovered by the National scouts. As we have observed, the
movement was successful, and Jackson suddenly appeared at Ashland on the
25th of June.

McClellan had promptly informed the Secretary of War" of
the rumored movement of Whiting, but on the same day, pos-
sessed of other information, he telegraphed to him that a general
engagement might take place at any hour, and adding " After to-morrow
we shall fight the Rebel army as soon as Providence will permit." Two
days later he informed the President that his defensive works would be com-
pleted the next day, and then expressed a desire to lay before the Executive his
"views as to the present state of military affairs throughout the whole
country," and also, he said, to " learn the disposition, as to numbers and
positions, of the troops not under my command in Virginia and elsewhere." To
this request, so extraordinary and inexplicable under the circumstances, the
President kindly replied that he would be glad to have him give his views,
if, he said, " it would not direct too much of your time and attention from
the army under your immediate command ;" but he thought it best not to com-
municate the information respecting the armies asked for, either by letter or
telegraph, as it might reach the Confederates. 1

And so the siege of Richmond went quietly on. Works had been thrown
up, bridges built, re-enforcements called for, and abundant complaints
uttered. Finally, on the 25th, General Heintzelrnan's corps, with a part of
Reyes's and Sumner's, was ordered to
move forward on the Williamsburg
road, through a swampy wood, for
the purpose, the commanding general
said, " to ascertain the nature of the
ground " beyond, " and to place Gene-
rals Heintzelman and Stunner in a
position to support the attack in-
tended to be made on the Old Tavern
on the 26th or 27th, by General
Franklin, by assailing that position
in the rear." The movement was
made, a fight ensued, in which the
brigades of Sickles and G rover, of
Hooker's division, bore the brunt,
assisted by Kearney, and resulted in
a loss to the Nationals of five hun-
dred and sixteen men killed and wounded. This is called THK BATTLE
OF OAK GROVE. General McClellan reported that the coveted point
was gained with very little loss, and that "the enemy were driven from
their camp."

BAMrTET, P. IIKINTZELMAN.

McCtellan's Report, page 11&

VOL. II. 27

418 LEE PREPARING TO STRIKE MoOLELLAN.

On returning from overlooking the affair at the Oak Grove, McClellan
telegraphed to the Secretary of War, that " contrabands" had just informed
him that Jackson was at or near Hanover Court-House, and that Beauregard
had arrived in Richmond the day before, with re-enforcements. He said he
was inclined to think Jackson would attack his right, and that if the reports
were true, that the Confederate force was two hundred thousand in number,
he would " have to contend against vastly superior odds." He gave the
Government to understand that he considered himself " in no way responsi-
ble" for the inferiority of his numbers; and in seeming anticipation of
defeat, he disclaimed all responsibility for that also. 1 More than a week
previously he had wisely prepared for a defeat, by making
m arrangements for a change of base from the Pamunkey to the
James, in the event of disaster. 8

Lee's preparations for striking McClellan a fatal blow, or to raise the
siege of Richmond, were completed on the 25th of June, and on the follow-
ing morning information that reached the latter of the advance of Jackson on
his right, caused him to abandon all thought of moving toward the Confede-
rate Capital. He at once took a defensive position, and prepared for a
retreat to the James River. 8 He considered the positions of the troops on
the Richmond side of the Chickahominy as reasonably secure, yet measures
for a passage for their retreat through the White Oak Swamp were pru-
dently taken. On the other side of the Chickahominy the right wing, con-
sisting of the corps of Fitz-John Porter, about twenty-seven thousand
strong, was also strongly posted. It was composed of the divisions of
Morell, Sykes, and McCall, with a large portion of the cavalry reserve.
Porter had ten heavy guns in a battery on the banks of the Chickahominy.
McClellan says he was satisfied that he had to deal with double his own
numbers, but, relying iipon the character of his followers, he felt " contented
calmly to await the bursting of the coming storm." 4

He did not wait long. General Lee called a council of general officers on
the 25th, 5 when it was resolved to begin the movement on McClellan's
right, already mentioned, at three o'clock the next morning. Jackson was
to advance, take with him Branch's troops, near Hanover Court-House, and
turn the Beaver Dam Creek back of Mechanicsville. General A. P. Hill was
to cross the Chickahominy at Meadow Bridge, and move on Mechanicsville ;

1 " I will do all that a General can do with the splendid army I have the honor to command," he said, " and
if it is destroyed by overwhelming numbers, can at least die with it and share its fate. But if the result of tho
action, which will probably occur to-morrow, or within a short time, is a disaster, the responsibility cannot be
thrown on my shoulders; it must rest where it belongs." Dispatches to the Secretary of War, June 25, 1862,
at six o'clock in the evening.

To this dispatch the President replied, that the General's suggestion that he might be overwhelmed by
200,000, and his talk as to whom the responsibility would belong, pained him very much. " I give yon all I
can," said Mr. Lincoln, "and act on the presumption that you will do the best you can with what you have ;
while you continue, ungenerously I think, to assume that I could give you more if I would, I have omitted, and
shall omit, no opportunity to send you re-enforcements whenever I possibly can."

On the 20th General McClellan had reported the force under his command at 156,833, of whom only 115,102
were present or fit for doty ; the remainder, 29,511, being absent on furlough, or sick, and under arrest Lee's
troops, it has been since ascertained, numbered about 75,000, and Jackson increased the number to about 110,000.
Beanregard was not at Richmond.

* Report to the Secretary of War, August 4, 1868, page 123.

* Report, page 124.

4 Report, page 124.

5 Composed of Generals Lee, Baldwin, Jackson, A, P. Hill, D. H. Hill, Huger, Longstreet, Branch,
Wise, Anderson, Whiting, Ripley, and Magruder.

BATTLE OF MECHANICSVILLE.

419

and when the Mechanicsville bridge should be uncovered, Longstreet
and D. II. Hill were to cross, and proceed to the support of the troops on
the left side of the stream. This movement would leave only the divi-
sions of linger and Magruder between McClellan's left, at Fair Oaks, and
Richmond.

The projected movement of the Confederates was delayed until the after-
noon of the 26th, when, at about three o'clock, A. P. Hill crossed the Chicka-
hominy, and drove a
regiment and bat-
tery at Mech.anics-
ville, back to the
main line near El-
lison's Mill. The
movement had been
discovered in time to
call in all the pickets
and prepare for the
shock of battle. The
Nationals were now
strongly posted on
the heights overlook-
ing Beaver Dam
Creek, near Ellison's
Mill. There McCall's
Pennsylvania Re-
serves, eight thou-
sand five hundred
strong, with five batteries, occupied a position commanding the stream
below and the open fields beyond, over which the Confederates must ap-
proach. These, with two regiments of Meade's brigade as reserves, were
well supported by Morell's division and Sykes's regulars. General Rey-
nolds held the right, and General Seymour the left, and the brigades of
Generals Martindale and Griffin were deployed on the right of McCall. The
bridges over the creek had all been destroyed, and trees were felled along
its margin.

In the face of these formidable obstacles, and a heavy fire of artillery
and infantry, the leading brigades of Hill, followed by Longstreet's, moved
to the attack. Then they massed on the National left to turn it, expecting
Jackson to fall on its right at the same time ; but the movement was foiled
by Seymour, who stoutly opposed it. There Avas a terrific battle, and the
Confederates were hurled back with fearful carnage. Night fell, and at nine
o'clock THE BATTLE OF MECHAXICSVILLE ceased. 2 The Nationals were

MECIIANIC8VILLE BRIDGE OVEE THE CIIIOKAITOMINY. 1

1 This is a view of the bridge from the Meehanicsville side of the stream as it appeared when the writer
sketched it, at the close of May, 1866. The Chickahominy was then "up," and overflowing the wooded bottom.
In the distance toward Richmond is seen the edge of the high plain, along which was a line of heavy fortifica-
tions erected by the Confederates, and which commanded the Chickahominy for a long distance.

4 This occurred on the same ground where the skirmish was fought on the 23d, and this battle-ground also
is seen in the picture of Ellison's mill and vicinity on page 404. The road from Mechanicsville approaching th
Beaver Dam Creek, runs along the foot of the distant eminences, almost parallel with the stream, and there the
approaching Confederates presented a flank to the fire of their foes.

420

SIEGE OF RICHMOND ABANDONED

BATTLE OF MECHANICS VILLK.

masters of the situation. Expecting a renewal of the fight in the morning,
the gallant Reserves rested on their arms that night. 1

Notwithstanding the Nationals gained a decided victory at Ellison's
Mill, McClellan was satibfied that the time had come for him to fly to the

James River. He ascertained that
Jackson had passed the Beaver Dam
Creek above, and was gajriing his flank.
Lee's intention to strike McClellan's
communications with his base at the
White House was clearly developed,
and the latter was left to choose be-
tween a concentration of his whole
army on the left bank of the Chicka-
hominy, by means of the several bridges
that now spanned it, and there give
general battle to Lee's army ; to con-
centrate his whole force on the right
bank, and march directly on Richmond ;
or to transfer the right wing to that side
of the stream, and with his supplies
retreat to the James River. Experts
say that a skillful and energetic com-
mander would not have hesitated a
moment at such juncture in concentra-
ting his forces and marching on Richmond, whose defenses were manned
by only about twenty-five thousand men. Thus lie might have severed
Lee from this force and his supplies, and turned upon and crushed him.
Indeed, Magruder tremblingly expected this movement ; and it was a
theme of just wonder among many of the Confederate officers that it was
not made, for Richmond was then really at the mercy of the Army of the
Potomac. 8

McClellan chose the less hazardous course, and commenced a retreat
toward the James River, for which, as we have observed, he had prepared
several days before. " To that end," he said, "from the evening of the 26th
every energy of the army was bent." He had already ordered Colonel
Ingalls, the Quartermaster at the White House, to send the stores and
munitions of war of every kind to Savage's Station, bum what he could
not remove, and forward as many supplies as possible up the James. He
also sent his wounded to Savage's Station, and prepared to cross the Chicka-
hominy with the right wing for the flight, a perilous thing to do at that
crisis, for Jackson and Ewell had crossed the Beaver Dam Creek above, cut

1 The National loss was about four hundred. According to a statement mode to Mr. Swinton (Campaigns
of the Army of tin Potomac, note, page 145) by General Longstrect, the Confederate loss was between three
and fonr thousand.

* In his report (August 12,1862) General Magruder said: "Had McClellan massed his whole force in
column, and advanced it against any point of our line of battle, as was done at Austerlitz under similar circum-
stances by the greatest captain of any age. though the head of his column would have suffered greatly, its
momentum would have insured him success, and the occupation of our works about Richmond, and conse-
quently the city, might have been his reward. His failure to do so is the best evidence that our wise corn
nander fully understood the character of his opponent" Reports of the Operations of the Army of Northern
Virginia, i. 191.

PREPARATIONS FOR ANOTHER BATTLE. 421

off Stoneman and his cavalry from the Army, and would doubtless fall upon
Porter's flank in the morning, while the troops of Longstreet and the Hills
would attack his front.

In order to save his heavy guns and supply-train, and keep Jackson from
interfering with the removal of the public property at the White House,
McClellan found it necessary to hold the Fifth Corps back for that purpose,
and, as we have observed, the soldiers slept on their arms after the fight at
Ellison's Mill. During the night most of the heavy guns and wagons were
thrown across the river, and at a little before dawn" the troops
were skillfully withdrawn to a strong position near Gaines's Mills, * ^g^ 27 '
between Cool Arbor 1 and the Chickahominy. There, in line of
battle, on the arc of a circle, and covering the approaches to the bridges
(Woodbury's and Alexander's) over which the troops were to cross the river
and join those on the Richmond side, the Fifth Corps awaited attack. A few
of the siege-guns were yet in posi-
tion there, and those which were
passed over the stream were planted
so as to cover the approaches to the
bridges. Morell's division occupied
the left, near a deep ravine traversed
by a brook, and Sykes's division of
Regulars and Duryea's Zouaves were
on the right, extending toward Cool
Arbor. McCall's division formed a
second line, his left touching Butter-

/ o

field's right ; Seymour's brigade and
the horse-batteries of Roberts and
Tidball commanded the rear, and
cavalry under General Philip St.
George Cooke 8 were performing
vedette and flanking-service near the

Chickahominy. On that field, where Grant and Lee fought so desperately
two years later, Porter was now preparing to give battle to a foe greatly
his superior in numbers. It proved to be, before the conflict ended, thirty-
five thousand against seventy thousand.

Porter was attacked at two o'clock in the afternoon* by A. P. Hill,
who led the advance of Lee's column, and had been waiting

* June 27.

for Jackson, who was to form the left of the Confederate line, to
come up. 3 Longstreet was held back for the same purpose. The brunt of
the attack fell first upon Sykes, who threw the assailants back in great con-
fusion, and with heavy loss.' Many of these, so easily repulsed, were re-
enforcements who had just come up from the sea-board, and had never been
under fire before. Longstreet was at once ordered forward to their relief
with his veterans. He was directed to make a feint on Porter's left, but was
so promptly and stoutly met that he was compelled to make a real attack or

1 A tavern called New Cool Arbor was nearer Dr. Gaines's than Old Cool Arbor, as will be observed by
reference to the map.

* Five companies of the Fifth Regular Cavalry, two squadrons of [the First Regular, and three squadrons of
the Sixth Pennsylvania Cavalry.

The divisions of A. P. Hill, Anderson, and Whiting, formed the center.

422 BATTLE AT GAINES'S FARM.

effect nothing. So he resolved to carry the heights by assault. While he
was preparing to do so the corps of Jackson and D. H. Hill's division
arrived, the former taking position on Longstreet's left, and the latter, after
severe and successful fighting, gaining his destined point on the extreme left
of the Confederate line. E well's division, in the mean time, came into action
on Jackson's right, and two of the latter's brigades were sent to assist A. P.
Hill.

The Confederate line was now in complete order, and made a general
advance. Porter, hard pressed, sent to McClellan for aid, but the Com-
mander-in-Chief, persuaded that the Confederates between himself and
Richmond outnumbered his own forces, could spare only Slocum's division
of Franklin's corps. 1 He was not aware that Magruder, who was making a
great show and noise on his front, was repeating his successful game of
deception practiced in the vicinity of Yorktown, and that he was at the
head of only twenty-five thousand men, opposed to McClellan's sixty
thousand, well intrenched, and was trembling for the safety of his army and
the capital.*

Slocum's division crossed Alexander's bridge, and made Porter's force
about thirty-five thousand strong. It reached him at half-past three o'clock,
when the whole of Lee's army on that side of the river Avas in the action.
So imminent was Porter's peril that the re-enforcements were divided, even
to regiments, and hastily sent to weak points. The conflict was terrible,
especially on the left, between the houses of Adams and Dr. Gaines. Indeed,
the struggle along the whole line was fierce and persistent for hours, and
the issue for a long time was extremely doubtful.

At five o'clock Porter again called for aid, and McClellan sent him the
brigades of ' French and Meagher, of Richardson's division. They went for-
ward at a quick pace, but before they could reach the river the Confederates,
at about six o'clock, had rallied every available platoon in their ranks for a
desperate effort to break or crush the National line. Brigade after brigade
was hurled against the Union line, striking it here and there in rapid succes-
sion and tremendous force, where it appeared weak, hoping to break it. But
for a long time it stood firm, though continually thinned and weakened
by carnage. Finally, when Jackson, with the divisions of Longstreet and
Whiting, made a furious assault upon the National left, Butterfield's gallant

1 McClellan made inquiries from time to time of Heintzelman, Keyes, Franklin, and Snmnor, about
sparing men from their respective corps to send to Porter, and their reports were all discouraging, for Magru-
der, by great skill in his display of troops, made each believe that his particular position might be assailed at
any time by an overwhelming force. See telegraphic correspondence between McClellan and these command-
ers, June 26 and 27, 1862, in McClellan's Report, pages 128, 129.

Magruder, as we have observed, managed with his inferior force to keep tip a flurry of excitement all along
the front of the National army during the whole day, threatening first one point and then another, and
finally, at the middle of the afternoon, when Porter was most needing re-enforcements, he caused Burns's
pickets to be attacked by a strong force. Burns sent word to Hancock to prepare for action. The messenger
had just arrived when the latter was assailed with shot and shell from an unsuspected Confederate battery, fol-
lowed by a furious attack of infantry. Burns on one side and Smith on the other supported Hancock with their
Napoleon and Parrott guns, and very soon the latter repulsed his assailants. In this engagement, sometimes
called The Second Battle of Fair Oaks, two Georgia regiments were dreadfully shattered, and the colonel of one
of them was captured. He proved to be L. Q. C. Lamar, one of the most active men in the incipieut stages of
the rebellion In the South. See page 59, volume I.

* Alluding to this crisis, Magruder in his report (Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia, i. 191) says :
u I considered the situation of our army as extremely critical and perilous. The larger part of it was on the
opposite side of the Chickahominy ; the bridges had all been destroyed ; but one was rebuilt, and there were but
25.000 men between his (McClellan's) army of 100,000 men and Richmond,"

BATTLE AT GAINES'S FARM.

423

DANIEL litTTTERFIELD.

brigade, which had been repelling the heaviest of the attacks for more than
an hour unassisted, now, sorely pressed on the front and flank, gave way
and fell back toward the woods on
the Chickahominy, leaving the bat-
teries of Allen, Weedon, Hart, and
Edwards, exposed. These made a
desperate defense, but, being with-
out support, fell back with a loss of
several guns. Then the center
bent, and, with the right, fell back
in the same direction, toward
Alexander's bridge. Seeing this,
Porter called up all of his reserved
and remaining artillery (about
eighty guns in all), covered the
retreat of his infantry, and for an
instant checked the advance of the
victors. Just at that moment Gen-
eral St. George Cooke, without
orders, attacked their flank with
his cavalry, which was repulsed and thrown into great disorder. The horses,
terrified by the tremendous roar of nearly two hundred guns, and the rattle
of thousands of muskets, rushed back through the Union batteries, giving

N , the impression that

it was a furious
attack of Confede-
rate cavalry. This
made the artil-
lerists recoil, and
Porter's whole
force was pressed
back to the river.
To this circum-
stance Porter at-
tributed his failure
to hold the field,
and to take off all
of his guns and
wounded.

Porter's troops
were now pressing
toward the bridge,
many of them in
fearful disorder, and for a moment all seemed to be lost, for the Confederates
were in crushing force just behind them. But relief for the fugitives was at
hand. French and Meagher had just crossed the bridge, covered by the
heavy guns in position on the Richmond side of the river, and, gathering up
the vast multitude of stragglers, checked the flight. They advanced rapidly
to the front, with cheers that thrilled with joy the fainting hearts of the

BATTLE OF GAINES'S FARM.

424

EETEEAT TO THE JAMES KIVER BEGUN.

Unionists. Behind them the shattered brigades were speedily formed,
while the batteries of Griffin and Martin poured a destructive storm of shot
and shell upon the head of Lee's column. Seeing fresh troops on their front,
and ignorant of their number, the Confederates fell back and rested upon
the field they had won, at a fearful cost to themselves and their foes. Thus
ended the sanguinary BATTLE OF GAINES'S FARM.'

During the night the thinned and exhausted regiments of Porter's corps

were safely with-
drawn to the other
side of the river ;
the regular infantry
forming the rear
guard, and destroy-
ing the bridges after
them. The cavalry
of Stoneman and
Emory, who had
been cut off from
Porter's force, pro-
ceeded to the White
House, and thence to
Yorktown, and re-
joined the army on
the James River.
With this movement
ended the siege of
Richmond, for now
McClellan abandoned all thoughts of capturing it, and studied only how he
should transfer his army and supplies to the bank of the James. That even-
ing he informed his General officers of his determination to fly and not to
fight, and gave orders accordingly, directing Keyes to advance with his
corps through the White Oak Swamp, across the creek that traverses it, and
take position on the other side, so as to cover the passage of troops and
trains.

Before day-break the next morning" General McClellan went
^862 28 ' to Savage's Station, and remained there all day, superintending
the movement, which was commenced at an early hour. By
noon Keyes was in the prescribed position. During the day Porter's shat-
tered division was moved across the swamp, and placed in positions covering
the roads leading from Richmond toward White Oak Swamp and Long

1 The Confederates in their reports called it The Battle of the Chickahominy. For full details see tho
reports of General McClellan, and of General Porter and his subordinates; also, of General Lee and his subor-
dinates, contained in volume I. of the Reports oft.'ie Army of Northern Virginia. The losses on both side:*
may be given only in numbers derived from estimates, as McClellan says, " no general returns were made until
we had arrived at Harrison's Landing," several days afterward. The estimates make tho National loss in thi.i
battle about S.OOO men, of whom 6.000 were killed and wounded. Among those who were captured was General
John F. Reynolds. The Confederate loss was probably about 5,000. Porter lost 22 guns, three of which ran
off the bridge into the river.

2 This is a view of the ruins of Dr. Gaines's mills, near which the battle was fought, as they appeared when
the writer sketched the spot, at the close of May, 1866. The one in the foreground was a floui-ing-mill, built of
brick; and the other, more distant, across the stream, of which only the flume and wheel remained, was a saw-
mill. The road seen on the slope is in the direction of Mechanicsville.

BUINB OP GAIN'S MILLS.'

THE CONFEDERATE COMMANDER DECEIVED.

425

ERASMUS D. KEYES

Bridge ; and at night McCalFs weakened division was also moved forward
for a similar purpose. These were followed by a train of five thousand
wagons laden with ammunition, pro-
vision, and baggage, 1 and a drove of
twenty-five hundred beef cattle, all
of Avhich had to make the passage of
the swamp along narrow causeways
and defiles. Yet so perfectly was
the movement masked from the Con-
federates, that they had no suspicion
of it until the night of the 28th. To
allow the trains and the cattle to
get well forward, the corps of Sum-
ner and Heintzelman, and Smith's
division of Franklin's corps, were
ordered to form an interior line, and
remain on the Richmond side of the
White Oak Swamp \intil dark of the
29th, in a position to cover the roads
to Richmond, and also Savage's Station, on the railway, where Slocum's
division was left as a reserve. Then they were to fall back across the
swamp, and join the fugitive army. The left of this covering force rested
on Keyes's old intrenchments, to the left of the Seven Pines, and the right
so as to cover Savage's Station.

There was a little flurry on the morning of the 28th, when Franklin's
corps withdrew from Golding's farm in front of Woodbury's Bridge. The
Confederates opened their artillery on Smith's division from Garnett's Hill,
and from Porter's late position on Gaines's Hill, beyond the Chickahorniny.
This was followed by an attempt of two Georgia regiments to carry the
works about to be abandoned, when they were driven back by the Twenty-
third New York and Forty-ninth Pennsylvania, Avho were on picket duty
with a section of Mott's battery. This repulse confirmed the Confederates
in the belief that McClellan's army was all behind his intrenchments, pre-
paring for another attack.

Lee was deceived. He supposed McClellan might at once throw his
united force across the river, and give battle to preserve his communication
with the White House ; or else, if it was his intention to relinquish the siege of
Richmond, that, having possession of the lower bridges of the Chicka-
hominy, he would follow the way down the Peninsula which Johnston came
up. So he kept the great bulk of his army on the northern side of the river,
ready for battle if it should be offered, or to strike the retreating forces on
flank and rear ; and he sent Stuart and Ewell to seize the railway and cut
McClellan's communication with the White House. They found that supply-
station abandoned, a greater portion of the stores and munitions of war
removed, and the remainder, with the White House itself, in flames. 2

1 Orders were given to the different commanders to load their wagons with ammunition and provisions, and
only necessary baggage, and to destroy all property which could not be taken away.

2 An order had been sent that mornins to the commander at tho White Hoise to apply the torch to every
thing there not already removed, so soon as indications of danger should appear. Warning thereof was quite

426 DESTRUCTION AT THE WHITE HOUSE.

Lee was perplexed by these circumstances, for Huger and Magruder all
that day reported the National fortifications in front of the Richmond lines
to be fully manned. That night the amazing fact was disclosed to the Con-
federate commander that a greater portion of the Army of the Potomac had
departed, not to give battle on- the northern side of the Chickahominy, nor
to retreat down the Peninsula ; but to take a new position near the James
River, with that stream as a highway for supplies, and a theater for the co-
operation of a naval force, by which its offensive and defensive power would
be wonderfully strengthened. He made instant preparations for a pursuit
to crush that army before it could gain its destined goal.

McClellan left Savage's Station at an early hour on the morning of the

VIEW AT SAVAGE'S STATION IN 1866. 1

29th, and moved across the White Oak Swamp toward the front of his
retreating columns. He had issued the day before" two extraor-
1862 ' dinary documents. One was an order for the sick and wounded
men who could not march, to be left at Savage's Station with
surgeons, rations, and medical stores, to fall into the hands of the Confede-
rates. 2 The other was a dispatch to the Secretary of War, which has no

early given, when the cars sent with supplies toward Savage's Station were turned back at Dispatch Station by
reports that the Confederates were near. Before the close of the day an immense amount of provisions, stores,
and munitions of war was there committed to the flames. The gallant Lieutenant George Sibbald Wilson, of
Poughkeepsic (who gave his young life to his country in consequence of a wound received at Fredericksburg),
who was among those detailed for that service, gave a graphic description of the scene in a letter to his mother,
now before the writer. "Such quantities of elegant new tents," he said; ''of nice beds for tho sick ; of fine
liquors and wines, cordials and medicines, oranges, lemons, beef, corn, whiskey ; immense quantities of hay ;
boxes on boxes of clothing, and every thing conceivable for use and comfort were committed to the flames."

The White House itself, as we have observed, was not spared. It was a small and common wooden struc-
ture (see page 886), surrounded by a field shaded by locust-trees. The patriotic impulses given by the written
misrepresentation of its owner, which made McClellan say, officially, " I have taken every precaution to secure
from injury this house, where Washington passed the first portion of his married life I neither occupy it
myself, nor permit others to occupy it, or the grounds in the immediate vicinity" ha<l been succeeded by
feelings of contempt. At the time wo are considering it was occupied by Roman Catholic Sisters of Charity,
who accompanied the National army for tho relief of distress.

1 This is a view of Savage's Station as it appeared when the writer sketched it, at the close of May, 1S66.
In the foreground is seen the cellar and foundation wall of Savage's house, and between it and the site of the
station on the left a pleasant grove, in which many of the wounded in the Battle of Guinea's Farm found grate-
ful shelter from the hot sun. Savage's house was the general hospital at this place at the time considered in the
text, and the out-buildings and about three hundred tents around them were filled with wounded men.

8 The Commander ordered all the ambulances to depart empty, instead of currying away the disabled; for
' four or five thousand wounded and sick men would so embarrass the army, that its escape might be impos-
sible." The Peninsula Campaign, by J. J. Marks, D. D., page 239.

LEE PURSUES McCLELLAN. 427

equal in history. 1 In a most unhappy state of mind he moved to the front
with his staff, giving general orders to his commanders how to resist pursuit,
and directing Keyes to move on to the James River, and occupy a defensive
position near the high open ground of Malvern Hill. Porter was to follow
him and prolong the line toward the right, and the trains were to be pushed
forward to the James and placed under the protection of the gun-boats.

At about the hour when McClellan left Savage's Station, Lee put his
troops in motion in pursuit." Magruder and Huger were ordered
to push along the Williamsburg and Charles City roads, to strike * Ju ^ 29 '
the fugitives on flank and rear; Longstreet and Hill to cross
the Chickahominy at New Bridge, and move by flank routes so as to
intercept the retreat ; and Jackson was to cross at the Grape Vine Bridge and
sweep with his usual celerity down the right bank of the Chickahominy.

McClellan had twenty-four hours the start in this exciting race, and his
trains and a large part of his army were well on toward the James before the
pursuit began. Yet that advantage did not secure his army immunity from
a terrible struggle for life with its foe. It began on the extreme rear, on the
morning of the 29th, when Magruder approached Savage's Station. Seeing
this menace, Sumner, who had vacated his position at Fair Oaks early in the
morning, and taken position on Allen's farm, near Orchard Station, moved
his corps to Savage's, uniting there with Smith's division of Franklin's corps,
and taking chief command. The divisions of Richardson and Sedgwick
were formed on the right of the railway, fronting Richmond, the latter join-
ing that of Heintzelman's left.

Magruder made a furious attack on Sedgwick's right at about nine
o'clock* but was easily repulsed. Supposing the Nationals to be

7 J r rr s * June 29.

advancing, he sent to Huger for aid. Two brigades were for-

1 After reporting the battle of the previous day, he said : " Had I 20,000 or even 10,000 fresh troops to use
to maneuver, I could take Richmond ; but I have not a man in reserve, and shall be glad to cover my retreat
and save the material and personnel of tho army. If we have lost the day, we have yet preserved our honor,
and no one need blush for the Army of the Potomac. I have lo^t this battle because my force was too small.
I again repeat, that I am not responsible for this, and I say it with the earnestness of a general who feels in his
heart the loss of every brave man who has been needlessly sacrificed." He told the Secretary that he hoped to
retrieve the fortunes of the day, but to do it he must send " very large re-enforcements, and send them at once."
Then, repeating the assertion that tho Government must not hold him responsible for the result, he said : " I
feel too earnestly to-nisht. I have seen too many dead and wounded comrades to feel otherwise than that the
Government has not sustained this army. If you do not do so now the game is lost. If I save this army now
I tell you plainly that I owe no thanks to you or any other persons in Washington. You have done your best
to sacrifice this army."

Military history may be searched in vain for an instance where such language of an officer to his superior was
not followed by arrest or instant dismissal from the service. It appears utterly inexcusable, judged by General
McClellan's official report made more than a year afterward, in which it is repeated, and especially in the clear
light of subsequent investigation. It was a precedent for the most mischievous insubordination throughout the
army. Had General Casey, when, after tho Battle of Seven Pines, he looked sadly upon one-third of his entire
division killed or maimed, and felt keenly the injustice of his commander's stinging words of censure, sent a
note to the Commander-in-Chief, saying (and with more reason) : " Because of your wretched blunder in
placing me in the position I was in. without adequate support, I lost the day, you and not I must be held
responsible; if any' of my division are saved, I tell yon plainly I owe no thanks to you you have done your
best to sacrifice it," he would probably have been arrested on a just charge of most dangerous insubordination,
and perhaps tried by a drum head court-martial, and shot before sunset by the order of his chief, as an example
to the army. The act would have been justified by military discipline and precedent. But the patient and for-
bearing President, who was specially insulted by the dispatch, only replied, after telling the irate general that
re-enforcements should be sent to him as fast as possible : " If you have had a drawn battle or a repulse, it is
the price we pay for the enemy not being in Washington. We protected Washington, and the enemy concen-
trated on you. H-id we stripped Washington, he would have been upon us before the troops sent could have
got to you. Less than a week ago, you notified us that ro -enforcements were leaving Itichmond to come i:i
front of us. It is the nature of the case, and neither you nor the Government is to blame "

428 BATTLE OF SAVAGE'S STATION.

warded, but these were withdrawn when it was ascertained that the
Nationals in their works were only a covering party for the retreating
army. Magruder accordingly made dispositions to attack them. Unfor-
tunately Heintzelman, on Sumner's left, who had been directed to hold the
Williamsburg road, had mistaken the order and fallen back entirely across
the White Oak Swamp, leaving a gap of three-fourths of a mile between
Sumner and Franklin, and placing his own troops too distant to be of imme-
diate service.

Magruder perceived this weakness, and at about four o'clock in the
afternoon he fell upon his enemy with great violence. He was gallantly met
and repulsed by the brigade of General Burns, supported by those of Brooke
and Hancock. The Sixty-ninth New York also came up in support, while the
batteries of Pettit, Osborn, and Bramhall took an effective part in the action.
The conflict raged furiously until between eight and nine o'clock in the even-
ing, when Magruder recoiled. He had expected aid from Jackson, but the
latter had been too long delayed in re-building the Grape Vine bridge.
Darkness put an end to the fight, and thus ended THE BATTLE OF SAVAGE'S
STATION.' Covered by French's brigade as a rear-guard, the National
troops all fell back to White Oak Swamp that night, according to McClel-
lan's original order (now repeated), and by five o'clock on the following
morning" they were beyond the creek, and the bridge over which
"icco" 80 ' almost the entire Army of the Potomac and its trains had

I "-'-'. "

passed was destroyed behind them. Twenty-five hundred
wounded men had been left at Savage's Station, by order of the Command-
ing General. It was a sad necessity, for many of them were afterward
intense sufferers in Confederate prisons.

On the morning of the 30th McClellan had reached Malvern Hills,
which he considered the key to his contemplated new position, and made
the mansion-house on the estate that covered their southern extremity his
head-quarters. 2 There he made arrangements with Major Myer, the Chief of
the Signal Corps, for instant communication with his army and the gun-
boats, and then went on board the Galena, to confer with Commodore
Rodgers. By this time a greater part of the army had emerged from the
White Oak Swamp into the high open region of Malvern Hills, well covered

1 Speaking of this battle, an eye-witness said that, as nsual, the Confederates had hurled heavy bodies of
troops against the National line here and there, for the purpose of breaking it. Sometimes the troops would
recoil, but ' there was General Burns," said the narrator, " who, with clothes and .hat pierced, and face covered
with blood, still rallied and cheered his men." On one occasion, two exposed companies commenced to march
off the, field. "The General expostulated, entreated, commanded them, all in vain. At length, taking off his
torn hat and throwing it down, he besought thorn not to disgrace themselves and their general. This last appeal
was successful. They returned and. fought more desperately, to wipe out the cowardice of a moment." The
same writer says '* After the enemy was repulsed at Savage's Station, General Suinner sent to General McClel-
lan for, as he expressed himself, 'orders to push the enemy info the Chickahominy.' The General's reply was,
' The rear-guard will follow the retreat of the main body of the army.' On the reception of this command, the
greatest conttemation and displeasure reigned among both officers and men. Many openly rebelled they
wished to sacrifice themselves in any way rather than by a disgraceful retreat." Dr. Marks's Peninsula Cam-
paign, page 254

8 The picture on page 429 shows the appearance of the house when the writer visited it, at the close of May,
1866. It was upon the southern extremity of the Malvern Ilills, and from the lawn in front of it there was a com-
prehensive view of the lowlands and the James River, in the vicinity of Turkey Bend. The view southward was
bounded by City Point in the distance. The old mansion was of brick, and had a modern addition of wood.
During the old war for independence, the estate was owned by one of the Randolph family. It was the head-
quarters of Lafayette while he was pursuing Cornwallis down the Peninsula. The writer has in his possession
two autograph letters by the Marquis, dated at " Malvern Hills," in the year 17S1.

BATTLE IN WHITE OAK SWAMP.

McCLELLAN'S HEAD-QUARTERS ON MALYKRN IIILI.8.

in the movement by a rear-guard under Franklin, and very soon the van
reached the vicinity of the river at Turkey Bend. The supply trains were
pushed forward to Hax-
all's plantation, and the
artillery parks were on
Malvern Hills.

This position had not
been gained without a
severe struggle. Frank-
lin had been left with
a rear-guard 1 to hold the
passage of White Oak
Swamp Bridge, and cover
the withdrawal of the
trains from that point.
The pursuit was in two
columns : one, composed of the corps of Longstreet and A. P. Hill, which
was joined by Jackson's command, followed directly on the track of the
fugitive army ; the other, under Magruder and Huger, pushed along the
Charles City road to the right of the retreating troops. Jackson had been
ordered on the morning of the 30th to sweep around toward the Chicka-
hominy, so as to gain their left and rear, but was checked by the destruction
of a bridge ; and when, at noon, he sought to cross the White Oak Swamp
Bridge, he found it destroyed, and was there met by Smith, Richardson, and
Naglee, and the batteries of Ayres and Hazard, who kept him at bay during
the*day and evening. Hazard was mortally wounded., and his force was so
cut up that his battery was withdrawn. Ayres kept up a cannonade with
great spirit all the afternoon. The Nationals retired during the night,
leaving three hundred and fifty sick and wounded behind, and some disabled
guns, as spoils for the Confederates next morning.

While this contest for the passage of the bridge was in progress, a very severe

battle occurred at Glen-
dale, or Nelson's Farm,
about two miles distant.
There, at the intersection
of the Long Bridge road
and the Quaker or Willis
road, along which the

' O

Nationals had fled, and
not far from Willis
Church, McCall's division
was posted, Meade's bri-
gade on the right, Sey-
mour's on the left, and

WILLIS CntTECH. 8

' l Composed of his own corps, the division of General IMchardson, and Naglee's brigade. Slocum's division
was on the right of the Charles City road.

2 This was the appearance of the building and its surroundings when the writer sketched it, at the close of
May, 1866. It is a few rods from the scene of the hottest of the battle of Glendale or Frazier's Farm, in a
beautiful grove, where the tents of a burial-party were pitched. It was founded by " Fathi-r Willis " of the
Methodist Church, and was built just before the war.

430 BATTLE OF GLENDALE.

that of Reynolds (who was a prisoner), under Colonel S. G. Simmons, of the
Fifth Pennsylvania, in reserve. The artillery was all in front of this line.
Randall's regular battery was on the right, Cooper and Kerns's opposite the
center, and Dietrich's and Kennerheim's (20-pounder Parrotts) on the left.
Sumner was some distance to the left, with Sedgwick's division ; Hooker was
at Sumner's left, and Kearney was at the right of McCall.

Longstreet and Hill had hurried "forward to gain this point before McClel-
lan's army could pass it, hoping there to cut that army in two and destroy it.
But they were a little too late. When Longstreet (who was accompanied by
Lee and Jefferson Davis) found himself confronted there, he waited for Magru-
der to come up, and it was not until between three and four o'clock in the

afternoon" that he began an attack. He fell heavily upon McCall,
J i862 8 whose force (Pennsylvania Reserves), when he reached the

Pamunkey, was ten thousand, but had been reduced by sickness,
fatigue, and fighting, to six thousand. The Confederates attempted
by the weight of their first blow to crush his left, but were repulsed by
a charge of the Fifth, Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Pennsylvania Reserves,
led by Colonel Simmons, who captured two hundred of them and drove the
remainder back to the woods. Then the fugitives turned, and by a mur-
derous fire made the pursuers recoil, and flee to the forest in the rear of
their first position. In that encounter the slaughter was dreadful. Simmons
was mortally wounded, and the dead or maimed bodies of hundreds of his
comrades strewed the field.

This first struggle was quickly followed by others. Backward and forward
the contending lines were swayed by charges and counter-charges, for two
hours. To break the National line and to capture its batteries seemed to be
the chief object of the assailants. Cooper's battery, in the center, was taken,
and then retaken, together with the standard of an Alabama regiment ; and
this was followed by the appearance of General Meagher, with his Irish
brigade, who made a desperate charge across an open field, and drove the
Confederates to the woods. By a gallant charge of a brigade (Fifty-fifth
and Sixtieth Virginia), Randall's battery on the right was also captured,
and the greater portion of its supporting regiment was driven back, when
McCall and Meade rallied their infantry for its recapture. A terrible hand-
to-hand fight ensued, and the reserves were repulsed, but they carried back
with them their recovered guns. In this encounter, just at dark, Meade was
severely wounded, and McCall, who had lost all of his brigadiers and was
reconnoitering, was captured. Then the command devolved upon Seymour.
The noise of battle had brought some of the troops of Hooker and Kearney
to the field of action just at dark, and soon afterward the sound of cheering
from the First New Jersey brigade (General Taylor) startled the wearied
and broken Confederates, and they fell back to the woods. These fresh
troops recovered a part of the ground lost by the Reserves. So ended THE
BATTLE OP GLENDALE.'

1 The Confederates call it the Battle of Frazier's Farm, it having been fought on a part of Frazier's and
a part of Nelson's farms. The battle was fought desperately by both sides ; on the part of the Nationals, in
accordance with the judgment and discretion of the corps commanders, for the Generul-in-Chief was entirely
ignorant of what was going on until " very late at night," as he said in his Report (page 138). when his aids
returned to give him "the results of the day's fighting along the whole line, and the true position of affairs."
He had been a part of the day on board of a gun-boat in the James River, according to his report, and another

THE NATIONAL TROOPS ON MALVERN HILLS.

431

4 1862.

While the Confederates were waiting for the dawn to renew the battle,
the National troops were all silently withdrawn ; and early the
next day" the Army of the Potomac, united for the first time BJ 1 ^ 1 '
since the Chickahominy first divided it, was in a strong position
on Malvern Hill, and its communication with a new base of supplies on the
James assured. Terrible had been the experience of that army during the
preceding seven days terrible indeed had been its losses, and other afflic-
tions. The high and dry land of Malvern Hills, and the sight of the James
River, inspired the worn and wearied soldiers with gladness and hope ; for
they believed that they might now
change front, repel their pursuers,
rest a little, and then be called upon
to march victoriously upon Rich-
mond.

The troops were posted, under
the direction of General Barnard, in
a strong position, on the
1st of July.* Porter had
reached Malvern Hills the day before,
and placed his troops so as to com-
mand all the approaches to it from
Richmond and the Swamp. The last
of the trains and reserve of artillery
arrived at about four o'clock in the
afternoon, and at about that hour
General Holmes, who had been sum-
moned to Richmond from the south
side of the James, and had marched
down the river road with his bri-
gade and a part of Wise's, appeared
on the left of Porter (he having
changed front, with his face toward
Richmond), and opened fire upon
him with artillery. Holmes soon
found himself overmatched, for Por-
ter had ample artillery at command, and withdrew so hastily that he left
two of his guns behind. When the army had all arrived the next day, it
was posted with its left and center resting on Malvern Hills, while the right
curved backward through a wooded country, toward a point below Haxall's,
on the James.

Malvern Hills form a high plateau, sloping toward Richmond from bold

part of the day at his quarters, only two or three miles from the scene of strife, the din of which, it would seem,
was calculated to draw every interested soul into the vortex of the struggle, for it was a decisive point The
subordinate commanders well knew that if the army should be beaten there it would be ruined, and so they
fought desperately for victory and won it, and then made arrangements, without the knowledge of the com-
manding General, to save it, by silently withdrawing during the night. All this had been accomplished before
McClellan's aids (as he said) had informed him of " the true position of affairs." General Barnard, McClellan''g
Engineer-in-Chief, says, in speaking of this fact given in the General's Report : "It may well be doubted
whether, in all recorded reports or dispatches of military commanders, a parallel to this extraordinary avowa)
can be found. We suppose it the especial business of a general to know at each moment ' the true position of
affairs,' and to have some agency in ruling it.''

POSITION OF TROOPS ON MALVERN HILLS.

432

THE CONTENDING ARMIES.

THE GALENA,

banks toward the river, and bounded by deep ravines, making an excellent
defensive position. Yet it was not considered a safe one for the army to
halt, for it was too far separated from supplies. So, on the morning of the
first, McClellan again went on board the Galena, to accompany Captain
Rodgers, to " select the final location for the army and its depots." This

was fixed at Harrison's
Bar, a short distance
down the river. While
he was there a heavy
cannonade was com-
menced on Malvern
Hills.

The National line of
battle was formed with
Porter's corps on the
left, near Crew's house
(with Sykes's division
on the left and Morell's
on the right), where
the artillery of the
reserve, under Colonel
Hunt, was so disposed on high ground that a concentrated fire of sixty guns
could be brought to bear on any point on his front or left ; and on the high-
est point of the hill Colonel Tyler had ten siege-guns in position. Couch's
division was placed on the right of Porter ; next on the right were Kearney
and Hooker ; next Sedgwick and Richardson ; next Smith and Slocum ;
then the remainder of Keyes's corps, extending in a curve nearly to the
river. The Pennsylvania Reserves were in the rear of Porter and Couch, as
a reserve. The left, where the weight of attack was expected, was very
strong, and the right was strengthened by slashings, 1 and its flank covered
by gun-boats. The map on page 431 shows the positions.

Lee concentrated his troops near Glendale oil the morning of the
1st ;" but owing to the nature of the country, and his lack of infoi*-
mation concerning it, he did not get his line of battle formed and
ready for attack until late in the afternoon, but had kept up an artillery
fire here and there, after ten o'clock. He formed his line with the divisions
of Jackson, Ewell, Whiting, and D. II. Hill, on the left (a largo portion of
EAvell's in reserve), and those of Magruder and Huger on the right, while A.
P. Hill's and Longstreet's were held in reserve on the left, and took no part
in the engagement that followed.

Lee resolved to carry Malvern Hills by storm, and for that purpose
massed his troops on his right. He posted his artillery so that by a concen-
trated fire he expected to silence those of the Nationals, when Armistead's
brigade of Huger's division was to advance with a shout and carry the bat-
tery immediately before it. That shout was to be the signal for a general
advance with fixed bayonets to " drive the invaders into the James." This

. July, 1862.

BATTLE OF MALVERN HILLS.

433'

movement was more easily planned than executed. Unforeseen contingen-
cies arose; and when, between three and four o'clock in the afternoon,
a heavy fire of artillery was opened upon Couch and Kearney, and D. H.
Hill, believing that he heard the proposed signal-shout for a general advance,
pushed forward upon Couch's front, he found his troops almost unsupported.
" Instead of ordering up one or two hundred pieces of artillery to play
on the Yankees," he said, " a single battery (Moorman's) was ordered up
and knocked to pieces in a few minutes ; one or two others shared the same
fate of being beat in detail." 1 The Confederates were repulsed by cannon
and musket, and driven back in confusion to the woods near the Quaker
road. Then the National right, on the hills resting near Biuford's, was
advanced several hundred yards to a better position.

Meanwhile Magruder and Huger had made a furious attack on Porter
at the left. The brigades of Kershaw and Semmes, of McLaw's division,
charged through a dense wood nearly up to Porter's guns ; and a similar
dash was made by Wright, Mahone, and Anderson, farther to the right, and
by Barksdale, nearer the center. But all were repulsed, and for a while fight-
ing nearly ceased. It was only a lull in the storm. With a recklessness or
desperation equaled only by his blunders in arrangements for the battle,*

BATTLE-FIELD OF HALVERN 11ILLS. 3

Lee ordered another assault on the " tier after tier of batteries grimly
visible on the plateau, rising in the form of an amphitheater, one flank of the
Yankees protected by Turkey Creek, and the other by gun-boats." 4 His shat-

1 Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia, i. 186.

tf icao UHM uit'ii; wwuv^ .iu<! uriuiiiii^ .1 IHTH.CI |WM*lvm limn liic^ .

J This is a view from Crew's house, near which some of Porter's batteries were planted, overlooking the fields
where the Confederates advanced to the charges on Porter and Couch. In the distance is seen the line of the
dark pine-woods near Glendale, from which the assailing columns emerged. This was the appearance of the
spot when the writer made the sketch, at the close of May, 1S66.

* D. H. Hill's Report

epor
VOL. II. 28

434 RETREAT TO HARRISON'S LANDING.

tered columns were re-formed in the dark pine-forest, not more than half a
mile in front of the National line, and at about six o'clock in the evening
he opened a general artillery fire upon Couch and Porter, and his infantry
rushed from their covering at the double-quick, over the open undulating
fields, to storm the batteries and carry the hill. They were met by a most
withering fire of musketry and great guns; but as one brigade recoiled,
another was pushed forward, with a culpable recklessness of human life,
under the circumstances. Finally, at about seven o'clock, when a heavy mass
of fresh troops, under the direction of Jackson, were charging Couch and
Porter, and pressing them sorely, Sickles's brigade of Hooker's division, and
Meagher's Irish brigade of Richardson's division, were ordered up to their
support, and fought most gallantly. At the same time, the gun-boats in the
river were hurling heavy shot and shell among the Confederates, with ter-
rible effect, their range being directed by officers of the Signal corps stationed
upon a small house a short distance from McClellan's quarters. The conflict
was furious and destructive, and did not cease until almost nine o'clock
in the evening, when the Confederates were driven to the shelter of ravines,

O ' i

and woods, and swamps, utterly broken and despairing. 1

So ended THE BATTLE OF MALVEKN HILLS.* The victory for the
Nationals was decisive, and it was clear to every officer in the Army of
the Potomac, that a vigorous movement toward Richmond in the morning
(only about a day's march off) would not only lead to its immediate posses-
sion by that army, but the dispersion or capture of Lee's entire force. But
other counsels prevailed. McClellan had been nearly all day on the Galena,
and at times made somewhat anxious by the roar of battle. 3 He was sent
for toward evening, and reached the right of the army while the battle was
raging furiously on the left, at the time of the final struggle just recorded.
Immediately after the repulse of the assailants, he issued an order for the
victorious army to "fall back still farther" 4 to Harrison's Landing, a point

1 According to the testimony of some of Lee's officers (see Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia.
Yolnme I.), the whole Confederate army was in the greatest disorder on the morning after Ihe battle " thou-
sands of straggling men asking every passer-by for their regiment; ambulances, wagons, and artillery
obstructed every road.''

* Reports of General McClellan and his subordinate officers; also of General Lee and his subordinates; pub-
lished narratives of eye-witnesses and participants in the battles, and oral and written statements to Die. author
by officers and soldiers of the Potomac, army.

The agsregate loss during the sovcn days' contest before Rie.hmond, or from the battlu at Meehanics-
Tille until the posting of the army at Harrison's Ear, was reported by McClellan ut 1.5S2 killed, 7,709
wounded, and 5,953 missing, making a total of 15,249. Lee's losses were never reported. He declared that ho
captured 10,000 prisoners, and took 52 pieces of cannon and 35,000 small arms.

* Dr. K. E. Van Gricson, Surgeon of the Galena, kept a diary of events at that time, in which he recordi-d
that General McClellan went on board of that vessel at nine, o'clock in the morning, and retired to tho cabin " for a
little sleep." They arrived at Harrison's Bar at noon, when Generals McCU-lian and Franklin went ashore and
remained about an hour. On their return, the Galena started u;> the river. " As we pass np, M says the
diary, '-wo can hear heavy firing. After passing Carter's Landing, it increases to a perfect roar. McClellan,
though quietly smoking a cigar on the quarter-deck, seems ft little anxious, and looks no\v and then
Inquiringly :it the signal officer, who is receiving a message from shore. After a while tho Mgnal officer
reports, 'Heavy firing near Porter's division;' next came a message de:nandi:ig his presence on shore. A
boat is manned, and McClellan left." That message, according to Dr. Marks, was from Ileintzc'man, who
tent him word that the troops "noticed hia absence, and it was exerting a depressing influence over them,
nd he could not be answerable for the consequences if ho longer held himself aloof from the scene of
action and danger." 77(6 Peninsula Campaign in Virginia, page 299. When asked by tho "Committee
on the Conduct of the \Var" (Report, i. 436) whether he was on board a gun-boat during any part of that day.
McClellan replied: "I do not remember; it is possible I may havo been, as nay camp was directly on the
river."

General McClellan's Report, page 140.

POSITION OF THE ARMY ON THE JAMES.

435

1S62.

on the James a few miles below, and then returned to the Galena.* This
order produced consternation and the greatest dissatisfaction, for it seemed
like snatching the palm of victory from the hand just opened to receive it. s
However, it was obeyed, and by the evening of the 3d of July,"
the Army of the Potomac was resting on the James ; and on the
8th, what was left of Lee's Army of Northern Virginia was behind the
defenses at Richmond. JMcClellan made his head-quarters in the mansion at
Berkeley, the seat of the Harrison
family, near Harrison's Landing, 3 and
began calling loudly for re-enforce-
ments, to enable him " to accomplish
the great task of capturing Richmond
and putting an end to the rebellion." 4
Thus ended the campaign against
Richmond.

The writer, accompanied by his two
Philadelphia friends already alluded to,
visited the theater of events recorded
in this chapter at the close of May,
I860. After a delightful railway-jour-
ney of about two days from Green-
ville, in East Tennessee, stopping one night at Lynchburg, we arrived at
Richmond on the 20th. When the object of our journey was made known

THE HAKr.ISOX MANSION.

1 Dr. Grieson's Diary, cited in Greeley's American Conflict, ii. 167.
3 " Even Fitz-John Porter's devotion to his cliief was temporarily shak

ken by this order, which elicited his

3 The pictuiK above shows the appearance of the mansion at the time the writer was there, in the spring

of 1SC5, when it was a signal-sta-
tion. It was the residence of Dr.
Starkc when the war broke out.
It is about five miles below City
Point, on the opposite side of the
river. There President Harrison
was born. The estate was called
Berkeley. A short distance below
- m*&&? ^. on the same fide of the river, is
III '* the old family mansion of the

Westover estate, that belonged to
the Byrds in colonial times. It
was famous as the center of a
refined social circle on the Vir-
ginia Peninsula, and became noted
in connection with Benedict Ar-

WE8TOVEE. POPE'S HEAD-QUARTZES.

nold's movements in Virginia,
after he took up arms against his country. The annexed picture shows its appearance in the spring of 1S65. It
was then the property of John Seldon. Its landing, one of the best on t'.ie James, was made the chief depot of
supplies while the Army of the Potomac lay between it and Berkeley, well sheltered by Herring Creek and a
swamp.

4 On the morning of the battle of Malvern Hills, McClellan telegraphed to Washington for fresh troops, and
aying he should fall back to the river, if possible. The President immediately replied, that if he had a million
of men it would be impossible to get them to him in time for the emergency. lie frankly informed McClellan
that there were no men to send, and implored him to save his army, even if he should be compelled to fall
back to Fortress Monroe, adding, with faith "We still have strength enough in the country, and will bring
It out 1 ' On the next day,'McCK-llan telegraphed for fifty thousand fresh troops, when the President assured
dim that there were not at his disposal sufficient troops by 15,000 men to make the estimated sufficient

436

VISIT TO THE BATTLE-FIELDS NEAR RICHMOND.

to Major-general Alfred H. Terry, then in command at Richmond, he kindly
furnished us with every facility for an exploration of the battle-grounds in
that vicinity. He placed his carriage and four horses at our disposal for
several days ; and we had competent guides as well as most genial com-
panions in Colonels Martin, Graves, and Sullivan, of General Terry's Staff,
who had participated in the stirring military events between Old Point
Comfort and Richmond.

Our first trip was made on a wet day, which gave us a realizing sense of
that " altogether abnormal " state of the season of which the commander of

the Army of the Potomac wrote, four years before, when waiting for fairer
skies and drier earth to
permit him to take
Richmond. We rode
out to Mechanicsville,
passing through the
lines of heavy fortifica-
tions constructed by the
Confederates along the
brow of a declivity, on
the verge of a plain
that overlooked the
Chickahominy. We
passed that stream and
the swamps that border
it (see picture on page 419) without difficulty, and were soon in Mechanicsville,
a hamlet of a few houses, seated around a group of magnificent oak trees,
which bear many scars of battle. At Mechanisville we turned in the direc-
tion of Cool Arbor, passing and sketching Ellison's Mill, and the battle-
ground around it. A little farther on we came to a beautiful open wood,
mostly of hickory trees, in which was the Walnut Grove Church, a neat
wooden structure, painted white, wherein the wounded of both parties in the
strifes in that vicinity had found shelter from sun and storm.

Soon after passing the ruins of Gaines's Mills (see picture on page 424), a

little farther eastward, we found the country
nearly level, and almost denuded of the
forests that covered a large portion of it
before the war. Now it had the desolate
appearance of a moorland. Not a fence
was visible over a space of many miles. As
we approached the site of the New Cool
Arbor tavern, we came to the heavy works
thrown up by the Confederates at a later
period of the war, and saw between these
and others, constructed by the Nationals, a
mile farther on, in the scarred and broken

MECHAMCSVILLE.

WALNUT GROVK CHIIRCU.

ftnard for the National Capital. He bffrsred the General not to ask of him impossibilities, and told him that,
if he thought he was not strnnsr enough to take Richmond, he did not ask him to do it then. Utterly
unmindful of the kind and candid statements of the President, the General telesraphed on the 3d fur 100.000
men, "more rather than less," with which to "take liichinond and end the rebellion;" and on the 4th he

COOL ARBOR AND ITS VICINITY.

437

,jj* WAT-'

' /? '**sL*-:^ri4-i

HEAD-QUARTERS NEAE COOL ARBOR.

trees, the evidences of the fierceness of the battle there between Grant and

Lee, to be described hereafter. Over the plain between New and Old Cool

Arbor (see map on page 423), where the deadly strife occurred, a National

cemetery was laid out, and a burial party was there, gathering from the

fields and forests around the remains of the Union soldiers, and interring

them in this consecrated ground. The graves of fifteen hundred were

already there. After thoroughly exploring the battle-ground, and sketching

the remains of a general's head-quarters in a wood near Old Cool Arbor, 1

we turned our faces toward

Richmond. We crossed the

Chickahominy at New Bridge

(see picture on page 403),

and, after a stormy day,

which made sketching and

explorations difficult, reached

the city at sunset, having

journeyed about fourteen

miles.

On the follow-
ing morning* we * 'f^L 50 '
crossed the James

River and drove down to Drewry's Bluff. That day's experience will be con-
sidered hereafter, when we come to the record of events on the south side
of the James, at a later period of the war.

On the morning of the 31st we started for Malvern Hills, about fifteen
miles distant. We went out on the Charles City road, stopping to sketch

the small but now famous White's tavern, then
kept by an Englishman and his wife. We crossed
the borders of the White Oak Swamp, and near
the junction of the Charles City, Long Bridge,
and Quaker roads, followed a little miry by-way
that brought us out to the field of the sanguinary
battle of Glendale. In the woods, where the
slain were laid in shallow graves, we saw the
whitened bones of many of them ; and on Fra-
zier's Farm, where a portion of the battle in the
open fields was fought, we observed another
National cemetery, in which were scores of mounds already. The burial

repeated that call. To these demands, which began to seem like studied annoyances, the patient President
calmly replied as before, and told him that the governors of loyal States had offered him 300,000 men for the
field; when McClellan, as if to give those annoyances more force, actually wrote a letter to Mr. Lincoln,
advising him how he should conduct his administration, especially in regard to the matter of slavery, In which
the conspirators and their friends were so deeply Interested. After telling Mr. Lincoln what his duty was in
regard to confiscations, military arrests, <kc., he said that the military power should net be allowed to interfere
with slavery, and gave it as his opinion, that, unless the principles of the Government on that point should be
made known and approved, the effort to obtain requisite force to sustain the war would be almost hopeless.
" A declaration of radical views," he said. " especially upon slavery, will rapidly disintegrate our present
armies." Not agreeing with the General in this view, and believing it to be the duty of the latter to attend to
the management of the army under his command rather than to that of the National Government, the President
declined to discuss the matter.

1 This was a delightful place for head-quarters. In an open wood a canopy of bonghs was formed, under
which the tents were pitched, and rude seats were constructed among them. Every thing but the tents remained.
These have been inserted to give more reality to the picture, and to exhibit the usual forms of the tent*.

WHITE'S TAVERN.

438

MALVERN HILLS.

party at work there had their tents pitched in the grove about Willis's
Church (delineated on page 429).

We passed down the Quaker road through an almost level country,
broken by ravines and water-courses for a mile or two, in the track of the
fugitive Army of the Potomac, and at about one o'clock reached the beauti-
ful open fields of Malvern Hills, Avhere we had a pleasant reception at the
old mansion the head-quarters of McClellan (see picture on page 429) by
the family of Mr. Wyatt, the occupant. In a deep shaded ravine, on the
southeastern slope of the hill, where a copious stream of pure spring water
flows out of a bank composed of a mass of perfect sea-shells and coral, 1

FHOM MA1.VERN IITLT.S.*

beneath the roots of huge trees, we lunched ; and at the small house, not far
off, where Major Myer had his signal-station during the battle, we were fur-
nished with rich buttermilk by a fat old colored woman, who said she was
" skeered a' most to death " by the roar of the storm of brittle. After
sketching the charming view southward from the grove in front of the man-
sion, we proceeded to explore the battle-ground on which the hottest of the
fight occurred. The theater of that conflict was on the farms of Cornelius

1 There were immense escnlop and ordinary sized oyster-shells closely imbedded, with small ammonitos
and clam shells. The coral was white, and in perfect preservation. This layer of marine shells and the spring
are more than a hundred feet above the James Kiver. Such layers occur throughout the n-gion between Ilich-
mond and the sea, sometimes near the surface, and often many feet below it. O:i the buttle-srotind of the Seven
Pines we saw many pieces of coral that had lain so near the surface that the plow had turned them up.

* This is one of the most extensive and charming views in all that region. The sketch comprehends the
scenery around Turkey Bend, on the James River, looking southward from Malvern Hills tnansion. From that
position City Point (its place denoted by the three birds on the left) was visible, and the country no the Appo-
mattox toward Petersburg. The two birds on the right denote the position of the gun-bo-ts in the James that
took part in the battle.

FAIR OAKS AND SAVAGE'S STATION.

439

Crew, Dr. Turner, John W. West, E. II. Poindexter, James "W. Binford, and
L. H. Kemp. Crew's, near which the artillery of Porter and Couch was
planted, had been a fine mansion, with pleasant grounds around it ; but both
mansion and grounds told the sad story of the desolation which had been
brought to all that region by the scourge of war. Only two very aged
women inhabited the shattered building, the garden was a waste; the shade-
trees had disappeared, and only a single field was in preparation for culture.
Late in the afternoon we left Malvern Hills, and returned to Richmond
by the New Market or River road.

On the morning of the first of June, we rode out to the battle-grounds of
the Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, and of Savage's Station. Our journey was
on the Williamsburg road, as far as its junction with the Nine Mile road,
when we followed the latter to Fair Oaks Station, seven miles from
Richmond. There were no buildings visible there. We rode on to the
site of the Seven Pines Tavern, where a burial party were filling a
National cemetery with the remains of the Union dead ; and crossing open
fields beyond, we reached Savage's Station, about four miles from Fair Oaks,
at noon. It was a warm, sunny day, and the shade of the grove there (see pic-
ture on page 426) Avas very grateful. There we lunched, and had a brief inter-
view with Mr. Savage, who was living in a small house a few yards from the site
of his mansion, which was destroyed by accident after the battle there. He
was courteous, but outspoken concerning his hostility to his Government
and his contempt for the Yankees, preferring to live in poverty in the midst
of his eight hundred desolated acres, to allowing one of the despised
" Northerners" to become his neighbor by a sale of a rood of his surplus land
to him. We admired his pluck and pitied his folly. He was a fair example
of that social dead-weight of pride and stupidity tha,t denies activity and
prosperity to Virginia.

We returned to Richmond before sunset, and early the following morn-
ing went down the river by steamer to visit Williamsburg and Yorktown.
The weather was de-
lightful, and the banks
of the James were clad
in richest verdure, hid-
ing in a degree the
deserted fortifications
that line them all the
way from Richmond to
City Point. Water was
flowing gently through
the Dutch Gap Canal ;
and City Point, where
a year before a hun-
dred vessels might be
seen at one time, now presented but a solitary schooner at its desolated
wharf. At about noon we passed James Island, with its interesting
tower of the ancient church in which the first settlers in Virginia wor-
shiped, and near which we saw the battery erected and armed in the
interest of the conspirators, at the expense of a wealthy planter named Allen,

BATTREY AND CHURCH-TOWEE ON JAMESTOWN ISLAND.

440

WILLIAMSBURG AND YORKTOWX.

whose vast domain was in that vicinity. Soon afterward we debarked at
Grover's Landing, eight miles from Williamsburg, rode to that ancient
capital of Virginia in an old ambulance, and during the afternoon visited
Fort Magruder and its dependencies, and other localities connected with the
battle there. We spent the evening pleasantly and profitably with the
eminent Professor B. S. Ewell .(brother of General R. S. Ewell), the Presi-
dent of William and Mary College, who was the Adjutant-General of Joseph
E. Johnston until he was superseded in command by Hood, at Atlanta.

On the following morning we rode to Yorktown, twelve miles down the
Peninsula, and spent the remainder of the day in visiting objects of interest
in the vicinity. The old British line of circumvallation had been covered by
the modern works ; and the 'famous cave in the river-bank in which Corn-
wallis had his head-quarters, after he was driven out of the Nelson House,
had been enlarged and converted into a magazine. The town appeared
desolate indeed, the only house in it that seems not to have felt the ravages
of war being that of Mrs. Anderson, of Williamsburg, in which McClellan
and all of the Union commanders at Yorktown had their quarters. It was
still used for the same purpose, there being a small military force there.

We observed that the names of
the few streets in Yorktown had
been changed, and bore those of
"McClellan," " Keyes," "Ells-
worth," and others. The old
" Swan Tavern," at which the
writer was lodged in 1848, and
the adjoining buildings, had
been blown into fragments by
the explosion of gunpowder
during the war.

On the morning of the
4th, a we left York-
town for Grover's
Landing, passing on the way the house of Mr. Eagle, a mile from the town,
where General Johnston had his quarters and telegraph station just before
the evacuation. We were again on the bosom of the James in a steamer at
nine o'clock, and arrived at Richmond toward evening. Remaining there
one day, we departed for the North, tovisit the fields of strife between the
South Anna and the Rappahannock.

McOLELLAN'S II K AD-QUARTERS IN YOBKTOWK.

June, I860.

CONDITION OF MoCLELLAN'S ARMY. 441

CHAPTEK XVII.

POPE'S CAMPAIGN IN VIRGINIA.

'ERY grievous was the disappointment of the loyal people
when they knew that the Grand Army of the Potomac had
been driven from the front of Richmond, had abandoned
the siege, and had intrenched itself in a defensive position
in the malarious region of the James River, beneath the
scorching sun of midsummer, where home-sickness and camp-sick-
ness in every form were fearfully wasting it. They were perplexed
by enigmas which they could not solve, and the addresses of
General McClellan and of the Chief Conspirator at Richmond made
these enigmas more profound; each claiming to have achieved
victory, and promising abundant success to his followers. 1 And most
astounding to the Government was the assurance of the commander of that
army on the third day after the battle of Malvern Hills, when the shattered
but victorious host was lying between Berkeley and Westover, that he had
not " over 50,000 men left with their colors !"* What has become of the
remainder of the one hundred and sixty thousand men who within a hun-
dred days have gone to the Peninsula ? was a problem very important for
the Government to have solved, and the President went down to the head-

1 On the 4th of July, General McClellan said, in a congratulatory address to his troops : " SOLDIERS OF THK
ARMY OF TUB POTOMAC Tour achievements of the last ten days have illustrated the valor and endurance of
the American soldier. Attacked by superior forces and without lope of re-enforcementa, you have suc-
ceeded in changing your base of operations by a flank movement, always regarded as the most hazardous of
military expedients. You have saved all your material, all your trains, and all your guns except a few lost in
battle, taking in return guns and colors from the enemy. Upon your march you have been assailed day after
day with desperate fury, by men of the same race and nation, skillfully massed and led. Tinder every disad-
vantage of number, and necessarily of position also, yon have in every conflict beaten back your foes with
enormous slaughter. Your conduct ranks you among the celebrated armies of history. No one will now
question that each of you may always with pride say, ' I belonged to the Army of the Potomac. 1 * * *
On this our Nation's birth-day, we declare to our foes, who are rebels against the best interests of mankind,
that this army shall enter the capital of the so-called Confederacy; that our National Constitution shall prevail,
and that the Union, which can alone injure internal peace and external secnrity to each State, 'must and shall
be preserved,' cost what it may in time, treasure, and blood."

On the following day (-July 5). JcSVrson Davis issued an address to hits s ililiers, in which, after speaking of
the " series of brilliant victories" they had won, he said : "Ten days ago an Invading army, vastly superior to
you in numbers and materials of war, closely beleaguered your capital, and vanntingly proclaimed its speedy
conquest * * * With well-directed movements and death-daring valor you charged upon him
from field to field, over a distance of more than thirty-five miles, and, spite of his re-enforcements, compelled
him to seek shelter under cover of his gun-boats, where he now lies cowering before the army he so lately
derided and threatened with entire subjugation. Well may it be said of you, that you have done enough for
glory ; but duty to a suffering country and to the cause of constitutional liberty claims for you yet further
efforts. Let it be your pride to relax in nothing which can promote your own future efficiency, your own great
object being to drive the invaders from your soil, carrying yonr standard beyond the outer boundaries of the
Confederacy, to wring from an unscrupulous foe the recognition which is the birthright of every independent
ommunity."

* Dispatch by telegraph to the Secretary of War, July 8, 1862.

442 THE PRESIDENT VISITS THE ARMY.

quarters at Harrison's Landing" in search of that solution. There he found

the remains of that splendid army greatly disheartened. Sadly

" taw 8 anc ^ wear ^7 it na <l waded through the mud and been pelted by a

pitiless storm while marching from the field of its victory on Mal-

vern Hills to its present humiliating position, during the night succeeding the

contest. It had been covered from an attack on its march by a rear-guard of

all arms Tinder Colonel Averill, and menaced continually by Stuart and his

cavalry, and columns of infantry pushed forward by Lee. These found the

National army too strongly posted to make a repetition of the blunder

before Malvern Hills n safe experiment, and on the 8th Lee ceased pursuit

and withdrew his army to Richmond, having lost, as nearly as now can be

ascertained, since he took the command less than forty days before, about

nineteen thousand men.

The President found the Army of the Potomac "present and lit for duty"
nearly forty thousand souls stronger than its commander had reported
on the 3d, and his hopes were revived to the point of belief that it might
speedily march against Richmond. But he was unable then to get a reply
to his question, Where are the seventy-five thousand men yet missing ? !
While he was there, the future movements of the Army of the Potomac was
the subject of serious deliberation. It was known that the Confederates,
aware of the weakness of the force left in defense of Washington, were
gathering heavily in that direction ; and the withdrawal of Lee's army to
Richmond, on the day of the President's arrival at McClellan's head-quarters,
indicated an abandonment of the pursuit, and a probable heavy movement
northward. In view of the possible danger to the capital, and the fact that
McClellan did not consider his army strong enough by " one hundred thou-
sand men more, rather than less," to take Richmond, it was thought advisable
by the President, and by several of the corps commanders of the Army of
the Potomac, whose sad experience before the Confederate capital had
shaken their confidence in their leader, to withdraw the army from the
Peninsula and concentrate it in front of Washington. To this project
McClellan was opposed, and at once took measures to defeat it.

Here we will leave the army on the Peninsula for a little while, and
observe events nearer the National capital, with which its movements were
intimately connected. To give more efficiency to the troops covering Wash-
ington, they were formed into an organization called the Army of Virginia,
and placed under the command of Major-General John Pope, who was
called from the West* for the purpose. The new army was

June 26. . . /

arranged in three corps, to be commanded respectively by

1 The President found about 36,050 mr-n with McClellan, leaving 75,000 unaccounted for. This information
perplexed him very much, and on the 13th, after his return to Washington, he wrote to the Chief of the Army
of the Potomac, asking for an account of the missing numbers. The General replied on the 16th. in which he
reported 88,665 " present and fit for duty ;" absent by authority, 84,472 ; absent without authority, 3,778 ; sick,
July 20 l fi . 619 ! mnking a total of 143,580. A week later the Adjutant-general's office reported the total
of the Army of the Potomac, exclusive of General Wool's command, and a force under Burn-
side that had been ordered from North Carolina, 153,314, of whom 101,691 wjre present and fit for duty.

The Government was much disturbed by one fact in General McClellan's report of his numbers, namely,
that over 34.000 men, or more than three-fifths of the entire number of the army which he had reported on tha
3d, were absent on furloughs, granted by permission of the commanding General, when he was continually calling
for re-enforcements, and holding the Governmomt responsible for the weakness of his army. The President
said, in reference to this extraordinary fact: " If you had these men with you, you could go into Richmond in
the next three days. 1 '

THE ARMY OF VIRGINIA. 443

Major-Generals Fremont, Banks, and McDowell. Pope having been Fre-
mont's junior in Missouri, the latter was unwilling to serve under him, and
he was permitted to relinquish his
command, Avhich was given to Major-
General Sigel. In addition to those
three corps was a force in process of
organization at Alexandria, under
Brigadier-General Sturgis; and the
troops in the forts around Wash-
ington were placed under Pope's
command. His force, exclusive of
the latter, numbered about fifty
thousand, of which nearly forty
thousand were disposable for motion.
The cavalry numbered about five
thousand, but were poorly mounted,
and not in good condition for ser-
vice. These troops were posted

* f l SAMUEL D. 8TUKCI8.

from Fredericksburg to Winchester

and Harper's Ferry in the Shenandoah Valley ; and their commander was
charged with the threefold duty of covering the National capital, guarding
the Valley entrance to Maryland in the rear of Washington, and threatening
Richmond from the north, as a diversion in favor of McClellan.

Pope assumed command on the 28th of June, with Colonel George D.
Haggles as his efficient Chief-of-StafiT. It was his intention to concentrate
his troops eastward of the Blue Ridge, press on well toward Richmond, and
there unite with McClellan in the operations of the siege, or strike an inde-
pendent blow at the Confederate capital, as circumstances should dictate.
But while he was gathering up his scattered forces, the retreat from before
Richmond began, and all chances for McClellan to be re-enforced by land
were thus destroyed. There was nothing better for Pope to do, then, than to
place his army in front of any Confederate force whose face might be turned
toward Washington, make a diversion in favor of the sorely smitten troops
on the Peninsula, and enable them to withdraw from that unhealthful posi-
tion without further loss. He accordingly withdrew Sigel and Banks from
the Shenandoah Valley, and placed them at the eastward of the Blue Ridge,
in position to watch the region they had left, the former taking post at Sperry-
ville, near Thornton's Gap, and the latter a few miles eastward of him.
General Ricketts, of McDowell's corps, was posted at Waterloo Bridge, on
the Upper Rappahannock, between Warrenton and Sperryville; and General
Rufus King, of the same corps, who was at Fredericksburg, was ordered to
remain there, cover that city, and protect the railway between it and Aquia
Creek, where there was a National depot of supplies.

Pope wrote a letter to General McClellan, cordially offering his co-opera-
tion with him, and asking for suggestions. The answer was cold in manner
and vague in terms, and satisfied Pope that there could be no useful co-work-
ing between the Army of the Potomac and the Army of Virginia without a
General-in-Chief, competent and authorized to control their movements.
At his suggestion, it is said, a General-in-Chief was appointed. Halleck

444 WITHDRAWAL OF THE TROOPS FROM THE PENINSULA.

was called" from the West 1 to Washington to serve in that capacity, and

entered upon the duties of that office on the 23d of July.
""isca. 11 ' -ket us * urn ^ ac k a moment, and observe events at Richmond
and on the Peninsula, remembering that spies in the employ-
ment of the conspirators, and aided by persons out of the Confederacy who
were in sympathy with them, were almost hourly giving information to
Davis and Lee of the aspect of affairs in the National camps and in the
National councils.

Immediately after his arrival at Washington, General Halleck visited
General McClellan 4 at Harrison's Landing, to obtain exact infor-
mation of the state and prospects of the army there. McClel-
lan at first demanded of Halleck fifty thousand new troops to enable
him to take Richmond, but finally agreed to make the attempt with an
addition of twenty thousand. After consulting with a council of general
officers, a majority of whom, upon learning the actual state of affairs,
recommended the withdrawal of the army from the Peninsula, Halleck has-
tened back to Washington, and there received a dispatch from McClellan,
saying that a re-enforcement of at least thirty-five thousand men must be
sent.

It was now evident at the seat of Government that the Confederates
were preparing to move in force northward, and that it was not safe to send
any troops to the Peninsula. The only alternative was to withdraw those
that were there, and unite them with Pope's in covering Washington City.
Accordingly, on the 30th of July, Halleck telegraphed to McClellan to send
away his sick (twelve thousand five hundred in number) as quickly as possi-
ble, preparatory to such movement ; and on the third of August, when it
was evident that Lee was preparing for a movement toward Washington in
full force, Halleck ordered him to withdraw his army from the Peninsula
immediately, and transfer it to Aquia Creek, on the Potomac. That this
might be done with the expedition demanded by the exigency of the case,
McClellan was authorized to assume control of all the vast fleets of war-ves-
sels and transports on the James River and Chesapeake Bay. Already
Burnside's army, which had been ordered from North Carolina, as we have
August i observed, 9 and was at Newport-Newce, had been ordered' to

Aquia Creek. 3

Informed of these orders, the conspirators determined to attempt the cap-
ture of Washington before the junction of the two armies could be accom-
plished ; and this would have been done but for the valor of the little force
left for its defense, directed by energetic officers whose hearts were deeply

1 See page 296. See page 315.

8 We have observed that when it was first proposed to withdraw the Army of the Potomac from the
Peninsula, General McClellan placed himself in decided opposition to the measure. With every disposition
compatible with the highest public good to give him an opportunity to recover what he had lost by disastrous
slowness and indecision, the Government, -when on the 17th he asked for Burnside's entire army in North Caro-
lina to be sent to him, complied with his request tie "dreaded," he said, "the effect of any retreat on the
morale of his men;" bat it was evident that their courage was not easily broken, for he had just assured the
Government that his army was "in fine spirits," after one of the most distressing series of retreats on record.
So late as the 28th of July, he urged that he should be " at once re-enforced by all available troops ;" and so
earnest was he in insisting upon the wisdom of his own opinion, that he paid no attention to Halleck's order of
the 30th, to remove the sick. When that order was repeated, on the 2d of August, he replied that, until he was
informed what was to be done with his army, he could not decide what course to pursue, with his sick, and
added : " If I am kept longer in ignorance of what is to be effected, I cannot be expected to accomplish the

A GRAND SCHEME OF INVASION. 445

engaged in their country's cause, for it was more than twenty days after
McClellan was ordered to transfer his army to Aquia Creek before that order
was executed.

Satisfied that no further movements against Richmond would be made at
that time, the conspirators, as we have observed, resolved to march north-
ward in heavy force. A show of power had been kept up in the Shenandoah
Valley and eastward of the Blue Ridge, to keep Pope from re-enforcing
McClellan. It was determined in the conclave of conspirators at Richmond
to repeat, on a grand scale, the exploit of Jackson in driving Banks out
of the Shenandoah Valley ;' and to arouse the people to action, and to swell
the ranks of the Confederate Army, rumors were set afloat that efforts were
about to be made, on a scale that promised entire success, to " drive the
invaders from the soil" of the slave-labor States; to penetrate the regions
beyond the Ohio and the Susquehanna, and to dictate terms of peace at the
point of the bayonet in the cities of Cincinnati and Philadelphia. The peo-
ple of the Confederate States were made to expect a speedy vision of Jeffer-
son Davis in the chair of Dictatorship at Washington City, and Robert E.
Lee, his cordial co-worker, laureled in state at his former home in Arlington
House, in sight of the National capital.

These were dreams that were almost realized before the heats of summer
had departed. Fortunately for the cause of Right, there were spies in Rich-
mond also, who informed the Government of this scheme in time for it
to take countervailing measures. It knew far better than the Commander of
the Army of the Potomac, on the banks of the James, that the Army of
Virginia, near the Rappahannock, was necessary for the defense of the
National capital, and acted accordingly.

At this point we may properly resume the narrative of the movements
of the Army of Virginia.

General Pope did not go to the field until near the close of July, but
issued his orders from Washington City. He had determined to seize Gor-
donsvillc, if possible, and cut off railway communication between Richmond
and the Shenandoah Valley, so as to impede the progress of any Confederate
movement northward. For this purpose he directed General Rufus King, at
Fredericksburg, to send forward detachments of cavalry to operate on the
line of the Virginia Central railroad. These movements resulted in breaking
up that road at several places. This being accomplished, General Banks was
ordered forward with an infantry brigade, and all of his cavalry, to march
upon and seize the village of Culpepper Court-House, on the Orange and Alex-
object in view." To this extraordinary dispatch Halleck simply answered, that it was expected that McClellan
would have sent off his sick according to orders, u without wailing to know what were and would be the
instructions of the Government respecting future movements;" and that the President expected him to carry
out instructions given him with all possible dispatch and caution." McClellan's Report, page 155.

Hulleek's orders for the transfer of the army to Aquia Creek were met by a protest on the part of McClel-
lan on the 4th. He informed the General-in-Chief, at the timo when Stonewall Jackson, with a force greater
than Pope's, was massing at Gordonsville, preparatory to a movement in heavy force on Washington, that
Pope's army was "not necessary to maintain a strict defensive in front of "Washington and Harper's Ferry,'"
and that "the true defense of Washington" was "on the banks of the James, where the fate of the Union was
to be decided." He asked his superior to rescind the order, and assured him that if he did not, he should obey
it "with a sad heart." McClellan's Report, page 154 Under the restraining influence of the kind-hearted Presi-
dent, Hallcck wrote a long reply, rebutting McClellan's propositions and assertions, and adhering to his order to
remove his troops as quickly as possible.

1 See page G94.

446 SUCCESSFUL RAIDS TOWARD RICHMOND.

andria railway. He did so, when lie was further ordered 1 td send General
Hatch, with all his cavalry, to seize Gordonsville, destroy the rail-
wa y * r severa l m il e s east of it in the direction of Richmond, and
push on a detachment to Charlottesville at the same time, for the
purpose of burning the bridges and breaking up the road. This movement
was attempted, but it was so tardy that the advance of Jackson's corps,
under Ewell, sent from Richmond, occupied Gordonsville the day before
Hatch approached it. The latter was then ordered to go over the Blue
Ridge, from Madison Court-House, with nearly two thousand picked horse-
men,, to a point whence he might easily fall upon and destroy the railway in
the rear of Gordonsville, and, if successful there, to push on and demolish
the tracks and bridges between Charlottesville and Lyuchburg. This move-
ment was also unsuccessful. Dissatisfied with Hatch, Pope relieved him of
his command, and made General John Buford the chief of Banks's cavalry
in his stead/

Detachments sent out by General King from Fredericksburg made bold
dashes toward Richmond. One composed of the Ira Harris Light Cavalry,
under Colonel Davies, made a forced march on the 19th, and at dawn the
following morning* they struck the Virginia Central railroad at
Beaver Dam Creek, thirty-five miles from Richmond, destroyed
it there, with the telegraph line, for several miles, and burned the rail-
way depot, containing a considerable amount of provisions and munitions
of war. This raid produced great consternation, and a second one, two days
afterward, was equally successful and alarming. The rough riders met and
defeated a troop of horse near Carmel Church, burning their camp and sev-
eral car-loads of corn, and broke the telegraph between Richmond and Gor-
donsville. When returning they encountered Stuart's cavalry, drove them
across the South Anna, and pursued them to within sight of Hanover Junc-
tion. All this was done in the space of twenty-nine hours, without the loss
of a man on the part of the Nationals.

In the mean time General Pope had been making arrangements to take
the field in person. On the 14th" he issued an address to his
army calculated to increase the coldness of McClellan toward
him, 2 and within a few days afterward he issued orders respecting the
intended carter of his army in Virginia which greatly stirred the Confede-
rates, and caused Jefferson Davis to issue a countervailing manifesto in the
form of a General Order, and in a characteristic letter he instructed Lee
to "communicate it to the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United
States." 3

1 General Pope's Report to General G. W. Cullum. January 2", 1863.

* Pope told his army that he had come from the West, where they had always "seen the backs of their
enemies" from an army who sought its adversary, and whose policy was ''attack and not defense," He pre-
sumed he had been called to pursue the same system and vigor, and he said it was bis purpose to do so. He
wished them to forget certain phrases. He had heard constantly, he said, of "taking strong positions and hold-
ing them of lines of retreat and bases of supplies." The strongest position a soldier should desire to occupy,
he said, "is one from which he can most easily advance against the enemy. Let us study tho probable lines of
retreat of our opponents," he added, ''and leave our own to take care of themselves. Let us look before and
not behind." The disastrous retreats which General Pope was compelled to make after these declarations, gave
keenness to many a sarcastic allusion to this famous address, which really reflected upon McClellan and hi
officers, though Pope disclaimed any intention to do so.

* In general orders on the 18th, he directed his troops to subsist upon the country in which they were ope-
rating as far as possible, the supplies to be taken by the officers in command. This was to prevent mere pillage.

EVENTS NEAR THE RAPID ANNA. 447

Pope assumed the command of his army in the field in person on the
29th of July. The bulk of that army then lay between Fredericksburg, on
the Kappahannock, and Culpepper Court-House, and preparations were made
to drive Jackson from Gordonsville, which he had held since the 19th, pi-e-
paratory to an advance toward the Rappahannock. Informed of Pope's
strength, that daring officer was afraid to move forward without more
troops. He called for re-enforcements, and they were speedily sent.
Alarmed by recent raids that threatened his communications with his great
source of near supplies, the Shenandoah Valley, and satisfied that he need
not fear attack from McClellan, Lee sent the corps of A. P. Hill to Jackson,
which made the force of the latter about twenty-five thousand strong
enough to attempt aggressive movements. Jackson sent heavy pickets
toward the Rapid Anna, and the Seventh Virginia Cavalry, under General
W. E. Jones, occupied Orange Court-House.

Both armies soon advanced in force. Pope's lay between Culpepper
Court-House and Sperryvillc. A reconnoitering force under General S. W.
Crawford went out from Culpepper,
and drove the Confederates from
Orange Court-House ; and the Ra-
pid Anna was picketed by the
cavalry of Buford and Bayard from
the foot of the Blue Ridge to the
Raccoon Ford, eastward of the
railway.

On the morning of the 8th"
Jackson had thrown his

3 ^ T> ., August, 1S62.

advance across the Rapid
Anna, in the vicinity of Barnett's
Ford, and driven the National
cavalry back upon Culpepper just
as Pope arrived there. Crawford
was sent with his brigade to assist
the cavalry in retarding the progress
of Jackson, and, if possible, to ascertain his real intentions, for his move-
ments were perplexing. Pope had been specially directed to preserve his

Vouchers for such property wore to be given, stating on their face that they would be payable at the conclusion
of the war, upon sufficient testimony that the owners had been loyal to the Government since the vouchers
were given. He ordered trains to be dispensed with where it was known that the region to be traversed could
furnish supplies.

On the same day Pope issued an order directing that no supply or baggage trains should accompany cavalry
unless by special order, the men to carry two days' cooked rations, and contributions to be levied on villages
and neighborhoods through which they should pass. On the same day another order was issued, declaring that
the inhabitants along the lines of railways and telegraphs should be held responsible for any injury done to
them, and for any attacks on trains or stragglers from the army by bands of guerrillas in the neighborhood ; and
that, in case of damage to roads, the citizens within five miles of it must be turned out en masse to repair them.
In an earlier order it was also directed that if any soldiers, or legitimate followers of the army, should be fired
upon from any house, the same should be razed to the ground. Another order directed all disloyal citizens
within the linos of the army to be arrested, and those taking the oath of allegiance, or giving security for good
behavior, to be allowed to remain ; all others to be sent beyond the lines, and if found within them again, to be
treated as spies. On the ICth, General Steinwchr issued an order for the arrest of five of the most prominent
citizens of Pace County, to be held as hostages, and to suffer death if any of the soldiers under his command
Hiould be killed by "bushwhackers,' 1 as lurking armed citizens were called.

These several orders had for their object the facile movements of the forces; the appropriation of supplies
that would inevitably be given to the enemy if not so appropriated; and the suppression of that system of war-

SAMUEL W. CRAWKORI>.

448 BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN.

communication with the Rappahannock at Fredericksburg at all hazards, and
to that end he now made his movements conform. He could not determine,
all day long, whether Jackson intended to strike Madison or Culpepper
Court-House ; so, as offering the greater safety to his communications,
he drew his army still closer to the latter place, where he had his head-
quarters, and on the morning of the 9th he sent Banks forward to Cedar
Run with his whole corps, consisting of about eight thousand men, to join
Crawford 1 near Cedar or Slaughter's Mountain, eight miles southward, take
command of all the forces there, attack the enemy as soon as he should
appear, and rely upon re-enforcements from head-quarters. Sigel was ordered
to advance from Sperryville at the same time, to the support of Banks.

Jackson had now gained the commanding heights of Cedar Mountain.
From that eminence he could look down upon the National camps and esti-
mate the strength of his foe. The vision satisfied him that he had but little
to fear, so he sent Ewell forward with his division under the thick mask of
the forest. Early's brigade of that division Avas thrown upon the Culpepper
road, and the remainder took position along the western slope of the moun-
tain, and planted batteries at an altitude of two hundred feet above the
common level below, so as to sweep the open cultivated country. Four
guns, meanwhile, had been advanced to the front, and these, with the more
elevated ones, opened fire on Crawford's batteries, while a part of Jackson's
corps, under General Charles S. Winder, was thrown out to the left under the
covering of the woods. Hill's division came up soon afterward ; and when,
at five o'clock in the afternoon, the Confederates threw out skirmishers, with
a heavy body behind them ready to take the initiative, they had about
twenty thousand veteran soldiers in line of battle, very strongly posted. .

Against these odds Banks moved at five o'clock across the open fields
and up gentle slopes, in the face of a fearful storm from artillery and infantry,
and fell almost simultaneously upon Early on Jackson's right, and upon his
left, commanded by General Taliaferro. The attacking force was composed
of the divisions of General Augur, the advance led by General Geary,* and
the division of General Williams, of which Crawford's gallant brigade was a
part. The battle at once became general, and for an hour and a half a fierce

fare In which the citizens of that section of Virginia wore almost universally engaged, known as "bushwhack-
ing," which was cowardly and murderous in all its effects. These orders were justified by the common usages
of war among civilized nations; and yet the crafty and malignant chief conspirator, who seems to have been
ready at all times to entertain propositions to assassinate, by the hand of secret murder, the officers of Gov-
ernment at Washington,* issued an order for the purpose of " firing the Southern heart," declaring that the
National authorities had u determined to violate all the rules and usages of war. and to convert the hostilities
hitherto waged against armed forces into a campaign of robbery and murder against unarmed citizens and til-
lers of the soil." He ordered that Generals Pope and Steinwehr, and all commissioned officers under their
respective commands, should not be considered as soldiers, but as out-laws; and in the event of their capture,
to bo held as hostages for the lives of bushwhackers or spies, one of each to be hung for every man executed
under the orders above mentioned.

1 Craw-ford's brigade was composed of the Forty-sixth Pennsylvania, Tenth Maine, Fifth Connecticut, and
Twenty-eighth New York, with Best's battery of Regulars.

a Geary's brigade was composed of the Fifth, Seventh, and Twenty-ninth Ohio, and Twenty-eighth Penn-
sylvania, with Snapp's battery.

* Se page 523, volume L At about the time we are now considering, a Georgian named Burnham wrote to Jefferson Davis, pmrc-
Ing to organize a corps of fivehundred assassins, to be distributed over the North, and sworn to murder President Lincoln, members of hit
cabinet, and leading Republican Senators, nnd other supporters of the Government This proposition was made in writing, and wa
regnlrrly filed in the "Confederate War Department," indorsed, "Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War, by order of th
President," and signed " J. C. Ivcs," Other communications of similar tenor, "respectfully referred " by Jefferson Davis, were placed
oo file in that " War Department."

THE BELLIGERENTS RE-ENFORCED. 449

struggle was carried on, in which uncommon deeds of valor were performed
by the respective combatants. " I have witnessed many battles during this
war," wrote a newspaper correspondent, " but I have seen none where the
tenacious obstinacy of the American character was so fully displayed." 1 The
Nationals, outnumbered by more than two to one, and failing to receive re-
enforcements in time, 2 were forced back by overwhelming weight, after
incurring and inflicting a terrible loss of human life. 3 At dusk, Ricketts'
division of McDowell's corps arrived on the field, and took position to relieve
Banks and check the pursuit of the Confederates, 4 and artillery-firing was
kept up until midnight. Late in the evening Sigel's corps began to arrive. 5
So ended the BATTLE OF CEDAR MOUNTAIN, or of Cedar Run, as the Con-
federates call it. None was more desperately fought during the war. A
part of the sanguinary struggle was hand to hand, under the dark pall of
smoke that obscured the moon.

These re-enforcements kept Jackson in check, who held fast to his moun-
tain position until the night of the llth," when, informed of the
approach of National troops from the Rappahannock, and alarmed
for the safety of his communications with Richmond, he fled precipitately
across the Rapid Anna, leaving a part of his dead unburied. He was pur-
sued as far as that stream by Buford, with cavalry and artillery, and in the
course of a day or two heavy rains placed almost impassable waters between
the belligerents. 6 Pope made his head-quarters at the house of Robert Hud-
son, the proprietor of the Rose Hill estate, on which, and that of Mrs. Crit-
tenden, nearer the foot of Cedar Mountain, the principal part of the battle
was fought. On the verge of the battle-field, where both parties claimed to
have achieved a victory, the wearied troops rested on their arms the night
succeeding the day of conflict a night remarkable for its brilliancy, the
moon being at its full.

Generals Pope and Jackson were both re-enforced soon after the Battle
of Cedar Mountain. The latter retired to Gordonsville, where he was joined
by the van of Lee's army, composed of the divisions of Longstreet, two

1 New York Herald, August 10, 1SC3.

a The battle was somewhat unexpected to Pope. The cannonading that opened late in the afternoon was
so desultory, that Banks reported he did not expect an attack, and supposed that no great infantry force had
come forward. The mask of the forest had completely concealed tht.'m, and tho large number of the Confede-
rates in his front was unsuspected by Banks. When, towards evening, the sounds of a heavy battle reached his
o.irs, Pope ordered McDowell to send forward Ricketts' division, directed Sigcl to bring his men upon the
ground as quickly as possible, and then hastened lo the front, where he arrived before tho close of the action.

3 The dead bodies of both parties were found mingled in masses over the whole ground of the conflict.
The National loss was about two thousand men killed and wounded, and that of the Confederates was about the
same. General Crawford's brigade came out of that terrible fight a mere remnant. Some regiments, like those
of the One Hundred and Ninth Pennsylvania and One Hundred and Second New York lost half of their number,
dead or wounded. General Geary, with one Pennsylvania and five Ohio regiments, made one of the most des-
perate charges during the battle, and was severely wounded, with most of his officers. General Auger was also
badly wounded; and General Prince, while passing from one part of his command to another, in the dark, was
made prisoner. Lee, in his report (Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia, page IS), says he captured "400
prisoners, including a brigadier-general, 5,300 stand of small arms, one piece of artillery, several caissons, and
three colors. 11 Among Lee's officers who were slain was General C. S. Winder.

4 Lee says that Jackson made preparations to push on and " enter Culpepper Court-House before morning,"
but was detained by the knowledge of Banks^ re-enforcements.

5 On receiving orders to move, Sigel sent to inquire, which route he should take, and while waiting for an
answer, the precious hours that might have taken him to the front and secured a victory were lost.

Reports of Generals Pope and Lee, and of their subordinates. Pope specially commended the. brave cor.-
dtiot of General Banks in the fight, who, he said, " was in the front, and exposed as much as any man in hia
command. 1 ' He also made special mention of the gallantry of Generals Augur, Geary, Williams, Gordon, Craw-
ford, Prince, Green, and Roberts.

VOL. II 29

450

POPE COMPELLED TO RETREAT.

brigades under Hood, and Stuart's cavalry. Pope was joined by eight
thousand of Burnside's soldiers under General Reno, and other troops under
General King ; and ten regiments under General Stevens, that had just come

up from the South
Carolina coast, had
moved from Frede-
ricksburg, and were
within supporting
distance. Pope was
also authorized to
call on General Cox
for the greater por-
tion of his troops in
Western Virginia.
Thus strengthened,
he moved forward
and formed a line
with his right under
Sigel, on Robertson's
River, his left under
Reno, at Raccoon

POPE'S HBAD-QTTARTEB8 IO1AR CTOAB MOUNTAIN. 1 Ford aild his CCntCF

under McDowell, occupying the flanks of Cedar Mountain.

It was intended to hold this position until the Army of the Potomac
should join the Army of Virginia, but before that was accomplished Pope
found it necessary to fall back. Some Confederate cavalry were surprised
and captured at Louisa Court-House, and from them positive information
was obtained that Lee was about to throw his whole army with crushing
force upon Pope, and to seize his communications with Fredericksburg and
the capital. 2 Pope was immediately ordered to retire behind the North
Fork of the Rappahannock, 3 which he did in good order" and
without loss, taking position so that his left rested at Kelly's
Ford and his right at Rappahannock Station, whore the Orange
and Alexandria railway crosses the North Fork. The Confederate cavalry
had closely pursued, and on the 20th and 21st, Lee's army, in heavy force,
reached the river, Longstrcet, with Fitz-Hugh Lee's cavalry taking position
opposite Pope's left, and Jackson, with Stuart's cavalry, posting themselves
at Beverly Ford, above Rappahannock Station. There had been some brisk
skirmishing between the cavalry of Bayard and Stuart all the way from
Cedar Mountain, but no very severe fighting excepting near
Brandy Station,* where the Nationals Avere worsted and driven
across the Rappahannock.

1 This was the appearance of Mr. Hudson's house on Uose Hill when the writer visited and sketched it, in
October, 1S66. Mr. Hudson and his family were living there. He was then seventy-five years of age. They
remained in the house during the battle. Several of Banks's cannon were planted near it. and several soldiers
wore killed in the yard in front and at the side of the house. Cedar Mountain, which is nbont a mile distant
from Hudson's, is seen. In the sketch, between the two locust-trees on the right.

2 Stuart was with the party, and narrowly escaped capture. His adjutant was not so fortunate. On his
person was found an autograph letter from General Lee, dated the 15th, in which the intended movement was
mentioned. See Lee's Report accompanying the Reports of tho Army of Northern Virginia, pase 19.

* A few miles above Fredericksburg the Rappah-innock forks, the more southern brunch being the Kapid
Anna, ar.d the other the North Fork.

Aug. IS, 19,
20, 1S62.

* August 20.

MOVEMENTS ON THE RAPPAIIANNOCK.

451

During the 20th and 21st there was an artillery conflict along the Rappa-
hannock for seven or eight miles, the Confederates trying to force a passage
of that stream in front of the" Nationals, while the latter, well posted, con-
tinually repulsed them. On the second day it was clear to Lee and his
officers that they could not succeed, so they began the more formidable
movement of a march up the stream, to cross it above and flank Pope's army.
This movement was masked by leaving a strong force at Beverly Ford under
Longstreet. Pope had expected and dreaded this ; for, being still under
strict orders to keep up a communication with Fredericksburg, he was too
weak in numbers to extend his right any farther up the stream. He tele-
graphed to Washington that he must either be re-enforced or re-
treat, and was assured" that if he could hold on two days longer ""^M?*^
he would be so strengthened by troops expected from the Penin-
sula that he would be able to resume the offensive. But on the morning of
the 25th, the designated time, only seven thousand troops of that army had
reached him. 1

In the mean time Pope had determined to paralyze the dangerous flank
movement, if possible, by the perilous one to himself of throwing his whole
force across the Rappahannock, and falling furiously upon the flank and rear
of the Confederates. He saw clearly that he must either do this or abandon
the line of the Rappahannock and retire to Warrenton Junction, or retire to
Fredericksburg and abandon the Orange and Alexandria railway, and thus
leave open the direct approaches to Washington. Arrangements for the
bold movement were made, when a heavy rain-storm set in and frustrated it.
The river was raised several feet before morning, and the bridges wei-e
destroyed, and all the fords were drowned. At the same time Stuart was
making fi raid on Pope's
rear, with a part of
Robertson's and Lee's
cavalry, and two guns,
to cut the rail way. He
had crossed the river
the previous day at
Waterloo Bridge and
vicinity, and under
cover of intense dark-
ness, the rain falling
copiously, he pushed
on unmolested to War-
renton, and around to
Catlett's Station, at
which Pope's army CATLSTT , 8 8TATIOIf

trains were then parked,

and guarded by about fifteen hundred infantry and five companies of cavalry.
Stuart fired a portion of the trains, but did not succeed in doing much dam-
age, on account of the rain. lie captured Pope's field quartermaster witli

1 These wore 2,500 Pennsylvania Reserves, under General Ueynolds, ntul the division of General Kearney,
4.5DO strong, which on that day was at Warrenton Junction.

452 TARDINESS OF RE-ENFORCEMENTS.

his papers, burned a few wagons, and carried off about two hundred prison-
era, taken from the hospitals. The disgrace inflicted, it was thought, was
more serious than the damage. 1 Stuart recrossed the Rappahannock at
Warrenton Springs, after a little skirmishing.

The National capital was now in imminent danger, and slowly the Army
of the Potomac was coming up to its relief. 2 Still it was coming, and Pope
was made to believe that almost immediately he would be re-enforced by
forty thousand or fifty thousand fresh troops, who had been resting for more
than a month. 3 His own force had become much weakened by fighting and
marching, and at this time its effective men did not exceed forty thousand
in number. 4 But with the hope of immediate support, he massed his army
in the neighborhood of Rappahannock Station," for the purpose

* Au 1 ?io t ^ f falling upon the portion of the Confederates that had crossed

the river above him, and was then supposed to be stretched
between "Waterloo Bridge, the Sulphur Springs, and Warrenton. lie looked
to the swollen river as a sufficient barrier to any attempt of the Confederates
on its right bank to get between himself and Fredericksburg.

Sigel was directed to march his whole corps upon Sulphur Springs, sup-
ported by Banks and Reno, and McDowell (joined by the Pennsylvania
Reserves, under Reynolds) was ordered, at the same time, to march directly
upon Warrenton, that he might join with Sigel in pushing the Confederates
back to Waterloo Bridge. General Halleck was requested to send Franklin's
corps (which had arrived at Alexandria from the Peninsula) to Gainsville,
,on the Manassas Gap railway, eight miles west of the Junction. Sturgis,
. at Alexandria, had been ordered* to post strong guards along

* August 22.

the railway between Manassas Junction and Catlett Station ;
and directions had been criven to the commander at Manassas Junction, for

o /

1 Pope in his report says, the raid was " attended with bnt little damage," but " was most disgraceful to the
force which had been left in charge of the trains."

* General Halleck bad repeatedly urged General McClullan to hasten the departure of his army from the
Peninsula. On the 9th, he informed him of the perils with which Pope's army and the capital were threatened,
and said, " Considering the amount of transportation (an immense number of vessels in the James and at Hamp-
ton Roads) at your disposal, your delay is not satisfactory. You must move with all celerity." On the follow-
ing day Halleck informed McClellan of the battle between Pope and Jackson, at Cedar Mountain, and said,
"There must be no further delay in your movements; that which has already occurred way entirely unex-
pected, and must bo satisfactorily explained." To these electrographs McClellan replied, that a lack of trans-
portation was the cause of delny ; and he assured the General-in-Chief that he was doing all in his power to carry
out his orders. See McClellan's Report, pages 159-160.

* After the first few days succeeding the retreat to Harrison's Landing, Leo's army having fallen back to
Richmond, with the exception of a brigade of cavalry left to watch the movements of the Army of the. Potomac,
there was very little service, excepting camp duty, for that army to perform. Immediately on its arrival upon
the little peninsula formed by the James and Herring Creek, between Harrison's Point and Westover, the
approaches to it were strongly fortified. It soon became evident that troops were gathering on the south side
of the James, In the neighborhood of Petersburg. On the 30th of July, McClellan was informed from Wash-
ington that they were moving, when Hooker was ordered to advance with his division and Pleasanton's
cavalry, and seize Malvern Hills as a menace of Richmond. He drove the Confederates from the Hills (Aug. 5),
captured 100 of them, nnd pushed cavalry under Averill as far as White Oak Swamp Bridie, where they cap-
tured 28 men and horses of the Tenth Virginia cavalry. Hooker was satisfied that if he had been allowed to
follow. up this movement with any considerable number of troops, Richmond might have been taken with ease.
McClellan. had received a peremptory order to transfer his army to Acquia Creek, and it could not be done.
Meanwhile General French, with a considerable Confederate force and 43 guns, had gone down the south side
of the James to assail McClellan's camp. He appeared suddenly at Coggin's Point, before daylight on the
morning of the first of August, and opened fire on the camp and vessels. So Boon as McClellan's guns were
brought to bear on him, he ceased firing and withdrew. McClellan sent a force across the James that drove the
Confederates back to Petersburg, and strongly fortified Coggin's Point.

4 Sigel's corps hod become reduced to about 9,000 effectives; Banks's to 5,000 ; McDowells's, Including
Reynolds's division that had come from the Peninsula, was only 15,000; Reno's was 7,000; and the cavalry,
greatly reduced in its equipment of horses and arms, did not exceed 4,000.

POSITION OF THE ARMY OF VIRGINIA.

453

Aug. 23.
1862.

Aug. 24.

the first division of re-enforcements that should arrive to halt and take
part in the works there, pushing forward its cavalry to Thoroughfare Gap.

Sigel with his supporters (Banks and Reno), moved slowly up the left side
of the Rappahannock, and drove the Confederates from GreatRun."
After re-building the bridge the latter had destroyed, he pushed
forward, and, under the fire of artillery from the opposite side of
the Rappahannock, took possession* of Sulphur Springs the next morning,
and went on toward Waterloo Bridge. The latter point Avas occupied by
Buford's cavalry at noon, 6 and Sigel's advance under Milroy
arrived there late in the afternoon.

Pope's army now faced westward, with Sigel's corps and Buford's
cavalry near the Rappahannock, at
Waterloo Bridge, and Banks just
behind them. Reno was near Sul-
phur Springs ; McDowell, with the
divisions of Ricketts and King, was
at Warrenton ; and Heintzelman, 1
who had just arrived from the Pen-
insula, was at Warrenton Junction.
Porter had been reported as near
Bealton Station,* and it was expected
that he would press forward and
join Reno ; while Franklin was ex-
pected to take post on Heintzelman's
right. Sturgis and Cox were hourly
expected at Warrenton Junction.

Such was the position of Pope's
army, now about sixty thousand

strong, on the 25th of August, the day on which Jackson, who led Lee's forces
engaged in the great flank movement, crossed the Rappahannock at Hinsorfs
Mill, four miles above Waterloo Bridge, passed through Orleans, bivouacked
at Salem, and, moving with his accustomed celerity, the next day"
crossed the Bull's Run Mountains at Thoroughfare Gap to Gaines-
ville, where he was joined by Stuart with two cavalry brigades, and at
twilight reached Bristow Station, on the Orange and Alexandria railway, in
Pope's rear, and between him and Washington and Alexandria. This move-
ment had been so thoroughly masked that Pope was completely deceived,
and on the previous evening, when Jackson was reposing at Salem, between
Thoroughfare and Manassas Gaps, he sent word to McDowell at Warrenton,
that he believed "the whole force of the enemy had marched for the
Shenandoah Valley, by way of Luray and Front Royal." From information
received from an officer of the signal corps, at noon that day, Banks was of
the same opinion. So little was Jackson expected at the rear of the army
that two trains of cars ran up to Bristow Station, and were captured by
him.

Jackson knew the peril of his position, and the necessity for quick

1 Heintzo.linan was not well prepared for action at once. He had been sent forward by railway, without
rtille'v, or wasrons, or horses for his field officers, and only f.mr rounds of ammunition to each man.

2 Porter had but a small supply of provisions, and barely forty rounds of cartridges to each man.

WM. B. FRANKLIN.

Auir 20.

454 THE CONFEDERATES AT MANASSAS.

action. lie immediately dispatched Stuart with his cavalry, supported by
two infantry regiments under General Trimble, to Manassas Junction, with
general instructions to " throw his command between Washington City and
the army of General Pope, and to break up his communications." This
order was obeyed, and while Jackson was destroying Bristow Station, Stu-
art, before midnight, surprised the post at Manassas Junction, captured
three hundred men, eight guns, and a la^e quantity of public property, and
an immense amount of stores. 1 Some of the surprised party at the Junction
fled to Union Mills, on Bull's Run, where Colonel Scammon, with the
Eleventh and Twelfth Ohio, of General Cox's division, was stationed, and
gave the alarm. Scammon immediately advanced upon the Junction, but
after a severe skirmish at dawn, he was driven across Bull's Run, and made
to retreat toward Alexandria by an overwhelming force, for Jackson had
advanced with the rest of his command to the Junction, leaving General

Ewell, with the Fifth Virginia cavalry, under Colonel Rosser, at Bristow
Station. The Confederates, elated by their success, swept over the country
along the line of the railway as far as Burke's Station, a few miles from
Alexandria, and then around by Fairfax Court-House,* almost to Centreville.
In the mean time Brigadier-General George W. Taylor, with the First,
Second, Third, and Fourth New Jersey Infantry, of Franklin's division, had
moved out from Alexandria by railway, to assist Scammon, and recover what
was lost at the Junction ; but the Confederates were too strong for him.
His troops were soon routed, and in the conflict he lost a leg.

Pope and Lee were now both in a most critical position. The communi-
cations of the former with his re-enforcements and supplies were cut; and in
the moving army of the latter, between Longstreet and Jackson, there was a
gap of two marches, which Pope might occupy to Lee's mortal hurt. But
Pope was not in a condition to take advantage of the occasion ; yet he made

a skillful use of the means at his command. lie ordered"
tt ^s^ 2 '' McDowell, with Sigel and Reynolds, to hasten, to Gainesville

that night, and there intercept Longstreet at the head of Lee's
main column ; and Reno was directed to move in parallel roada to Green-
wich, followed by Kearney's division of Heintzelman's corps, with orders to
communicate with, and support McDowell if necessary. Pope, in the mean
time, had moved along the railway towards Manassas Junction, with Hook-
er's division of Heintzelman's corps. He directed Porter to remain at
Warrenton Station until Banks should arrive there to hold it, and then to

1 They captured 175 horses, 200 new tents, 10 locomotives, 7 trains loaded with provisions and munitions of
war, and a vast amount of commissary and quartermaster stores.

8 This vicinity was the scene of many gall.int deeds during the earlier part of the war, when the tv;o
armies were posted near it. We have already (page 487, vol. I.), noticed the gallant dash into the village of
Fairfax Court-llonse, by Lieutenant O. II. Tompkins, with a handful of cavalry, at the beginning of the war:
but one of the most brilliant feats in that neighborhood was performed at Burke's Station, by only fourteen
members of the Lincoln (New York) cavalry, under Lieutenant Hidden, on the 9th of March, 1SC2, at about the
time of the evacuation of Manassas. General Kearney had ordered the gallant Hidden to move forward
cautiously with hU little squad of men and " feel the enemy's position." They came suddenly upon 150 of the
Confederate cavalry at Burke's Station. There was a strong temptation for a dash. The lieutenant and his
men could not resist it, arid that gallant young leader at their head Ml upon the astounded foe with cheers and
shouts. Some fled and others fought desperately. The victory finally rested with the Nationals, but at the
cost of the life of Hidden. His comrades bore back his dead body, with eleven of the Virginia cavalry as
prinone.rs. Kearney, who saw the whole movement declared it to be one of the most brilliant he hr.d ever
Been, and took each man by the hand on his return, an! complimented him for his bravery.

ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE JACKSON'S FORCE,

455

Aug. 28,
1862.

hasten forward to Gainesville, where it was expected the impending battle
would be fought.

McDowell's movement was successfully accomplished without fighting.
Hooker was not so fortunate. On approaching Bristow Station, late in the
afternoon, he encountered Ewell. A sharp action ensued, by which each
party lost about three hundred men. Ewell was driven away with a Joss of
part of his baggage, but he destroyed the bridge and railway track, and
thus retarded pursuit, while he hastened to join Jackson at Manassas.
Hooker's ammunition failed, and he could not pursue vigorously.

Pope now believed that by a vigorous movement in the morning he
might " bag the whole crowd '" at Manassas Junction. For that purpose he
ordered McDowell, at Gainesville, to move rapidly toward the Junction very
early the next morning. " Ren6 was ordered to march at the same
time from Greenwich to the Junction, and Kearney was directed to
make his way to Bristow Station, for Jackson, hard pressed, might
mass his troops and attempt to turn the National right at that point, seeking
a way of escape. In order to make the right still further secure from a flank
movement, Porter was ordered to move forward to Bristow Station at one
o'clock in the morning. He did not obey, but waited until daylight before
he moved, at which time Jackson had fortunately taken another direction,
and "no serious consequences followed this disobedience of orders.'" 1 The
Confederate leader had perceived Ms peril, and at three o'clock that morning
had taken steps to evacuate Manassas, and seek a junction- with Longstreet.
He destroyed an immense amount of his captured stores, and as the way
between himself and Longstreet, along the Manassas Gap railway, was
blocked by National troops, he marched through Centreville, to gain, by a
more circuitous route,
a position where he
might easily join Lee's
main army, then ap-
proaching Thorough-
fare Gap.

This movement
might have been
thwarted, had Pope's
orders been promptly
carried out by all.
Sigel, instead of ad-
vancing from Gaines-
ville at dawn, as direct-
ed by McDowell, did
not leave there until
nearly three hours later, and Porter did not arrive at Bristow Station until
after ten o'clock, when, instead of pushing forward with his fresh corps, he
asked permission to remain there and rest his men. 3 In the mean time the

1 Pope's order to McDowell, AUR. 27, 1862. Pope's Report to Hallcck, January 27, 1863.

3 Pope in his report says that the divisions of Sykcs and Morell had been resting in camp all the day and
nisht before, and that Porter's corps " was by far the freshest in the whole array,' 1 and was in better condition
lor servlM than any troops wo hnd.

THOROUGIIPAEIC GAP.

456 BATTLE NEAR GROVETON".

prompt Kearney, who had arrived at Bristow at eight o'clock in the morning,
was sent forward in pursuit of Ewell, followed by Hooker, and, with the
divisions of Kearney and Reno, Pope reached Manassas Junction at noon,
just after Jackson with his rear-guard had left. He at once pushed all his
available forces upon Centreville in pursuit, and ordered McDowell to march
for that place, and Porter to come up to Manassas. Unfortunately McDowell
had sent Ricketts' division toward Thoroughfare Gap, but with the remain-
der of his force he pushed on according to orders.

Kearney drove Jackson's rear-guard out of Centreville late in the after-
noon," and the main body of the Confederates fled by way of the
" A "^ 2 23 ' Sudley Springs road and Warrenton turnpike, 1 destroying the
bridges over the little streams behind them. Their faces were
toward Thoroughfare Gap, from which was coming their help, and toward
evening a strong force under Ewell and Taliaferro encamped on the wooded
hills at the west side of the Warrenton pike, near the battle-ground of Bull's
Run the year before. 4 King's division of McDowell's corps was
J i86i 21 * n c l se pursuit, and when they had reached a point desired by
the watching Confederates,*! he latter fell furiously upon their
flank. A sanguinary battle ensued. The brunt of it, on the part of the
Nationals, was borne by Gibbon's brigade, nobly supported by that of

Doubleday's under its gallant com-
mander. It continued until dark-
ness interposed, when the advantage
was with the Confederates. The
losses on each side were very heavy.
Taliaferro was badly wounded, and
Ewell lost a leg.

Pope was now at Centreville ;
and, on hearing of this encounter,
made immediate arrangements for
crushing Jackson by circumambient
pressure before he could form a
junction with Longstreet. He di-
rected McDowell and King to

maintain their positions at all haz-
ards; told Kearney to push for-

ABNKR DOUBLKDAY. If r\ '11

ward from Centreville at one

o'clock in the morning,' and follow Jackson closely along the Warrenton

pike, to prevent his retreat northward toward Leesburg, and

' A is62 2 ordered Porter, whom he supposed to be at Manassas Junction,

to move upon Centreville at dawn. But Longstreet's rapid

march, quickened by a knowledge of Jackson's danger, defeated the plan.

He had passed through Thoroughfare Gap before King's division was

attacked, and near its entrance, between it and Haymarket, had encountered

Ricketts' division, with the cavalry of Buford and Bayard, which had

marched to confront him. An active engagement ensued, and ended only

with the sunlight. The heaviest of the battle fell on the Eleventh Pennsyl-

1 See map on page 583, volume I.

ATTEMPT TO REGAIN LOST ADVANTAGES. 457

vania, which lost about fifty men. Longstreet was held in check for a while ;
but when, from his superior force, he sent out flanking parties (a strong one
to Hope well Gap), Ricketts yielded to necessity and fled toward
Gainesville, rapidly followed early the next morning 8 by his " A "gg ) 29 '
antagonist.

Pope's advantage was lost on the morning of the 29th. His army was
scattered and somewhat confused, while the chances for a junction of Jack-
son and Longstreet momentarily increased. King had been compelled to
abandon the Warrenton pike, and had fallen back to Manassas Junction, to
which point Ricketts had also hastened. This left the way open for a speedy
embrace of the two Confederate leaders, and the advance of Lee's entire
army. Pope perceived it, and endeavored to regain what was lost by order-
ing Sigel, supported by Reynolds, to advance from Groveton and attack
Jackson in the wooded heights near, at dawn, while lie should get the
remainder of his force well in hand. He ordered Heintzelman to push for-
ward from Centreville with the divisions of Hooker and Kearney toward
Gainesville, to be followed by Reno, who was to attack promptly and heavily,
while Porter, with his own corps and King's division, was to move upon the
road to Gainesville from Manassas, for the purpose of turning Jackson's flank
at the junction of that highway and the Warrenton pike, and to fall heavily
upon his rear.

Jackson, who now commanded the "Warrenton road, by which Lee was
approaching, had determined to maintain his advantageous position at all
hazards until relief should come. His troops were posted along the cut and
grading of an unfinished railway, his right resting on the Warrenton pike,
and his left near Sudley's Mill. The greater portion of his troops were
under shelter of thick woods a little in the rear.

Sigel, with the division of Carl Schurz on his right, that of Schenck on
his left, and Milroy in the center, advanced to attack at five o'clock in the
morning, 4 and at seven a furious bat-
tle was begun. Until ten .

* August 29.

o'clock Sigel steadily gain-
ed ground, in the face of a destructive
storm of missiles, when it became evi-
dent that Jackson had been re-enforced,
and was assuming the offensive. It
was so. Longstreet, with the vanguard
of Lee's whole army, which had been
sti'eaming through Thoroughfare Gap
all the morning, unopposed, had reach-
ed the field of action. Yet, against
inevitably increasing odds, the Nation-
als maintained the sanguinary strug-
gle until near noon, when Kearney's
division arrived on the field by the
Sudley Springs road, and took position on Sigel's right. At the same time
Reno came up by the Gainesville road to the support of the center, and Rey-
nolds, with the Pennsylvania Reserves, placed himself on the extreme left-
Hooker arrived by the Sudley road at two in the afternoon, to the relief

PHILIP KEARNEY.

458

BATTLE-GROUND NEAR GROVETON.

of Scliurz and Milroy, who had been fighting since morning without tasting
food, and had almost expended their ammunition.

At noon the Nationals outnumbered the Confederates, and from that
time until half-past four o'clock the battle assumed the aspect of a series
of severe skirmishes. Then Pope ordered Porter into action, with directions
to attack and attempt to turn the Confederate right, which he supposed to be
that of Jackson's troops; and soon afterward Heintzelman and Reno were
ordered to assail their left and front in support of Porter's movement. But
that movement was not made, in consequence, Porter says, of not receiving
the order until dusk ; so the brunt of battle fell upon Heintzelman and

MONUMENT AHD BATTLE-GROUND NBAtt GROVKTON.*

Reno. It was desperate and gallant on both sides. Grover's brigade of
Hooker's division penetrated two of Jackson's lines by a bayonet charge,
and after a severe hand to hand struggle got possession of the railway
embankment on the Confederate left, but at the cost of thirty per cent, of

1 This is a view of the monument on the battle-field near Groveton, a? it appeared when the writer visited
and sketched it, early in June, 1S66, with his traveling companions, Messrs. Dreer and Greble. We rode out
from Manassas Junction in an ambulance early in the morning, and went over the b ittle-ground of Bull's Run,
visiting the monument near the site of Mrs. Henry's house (see pages 594 and 603, volume I.), and, follow ing the

line of the retreat of the National troops, went down to

j?v_ the Warrenton turnpike, and westward to Groveton, a

hamlet of a few dilapidated houses, on the slope, of a
hill. We passed through a lane near the ruins of Mrs.
Henry Dogan's stone house, which remained as the shot
and shell had left it after the battle. Pope's cannon
were brought to bear upon it to drive out Confederate
sharp-shooters. Ascending a hill through open fields,
we soon reached the monument, from which we had a
fine view of the country over which tho battles of July
21, 1SC1, and the close of August, 1862, were fought On
the monument (which was built by the same hands, and
of the same material as that near the site of the Henry
house, see page 607, volume I.) was this inscription : - IK
MEMORY OF THE PATRIOTS WHO FELL AT GROVETON,
AUGUST 28, 29, AND 30, 1862." We arc looking toward
Manassas Junction, the place of which is indicated by
the two birds. The single bird to the right indicates
Groveton. Returning, we passed near Chinn's house,

MRS. DOGAN'S HOUSE AT GROVETON. in which Colonel Broadhead, wounded in this vicinity,

died; also tho Pittsylvania house, and the store-house

of Mr. Mathews, inentioned in the account of the battle of Bull's Run, in volume I. These were among the.
few houses in that region which had survived the war.

CONDITION OF THE TWO ARMIES. 459

its force. Kearney, meanwhile, had struck Jackson's left at the point occu-
pied by A. P. Hill, doubled his flank upon his center, and assisted Hooker in
holding the railway intrencnment for a time. This was a critical moment
for the Confederates, for their ammunition was nearly exhausted, and Jack-
son's left had been driven back nearly a mile.

King's division of McDowell's corps had come into action about sunset,
and boldly advanced beyond the general line of the Nationals, but was soon
brought to a stand. Heavy re-enforcements, composed of a fresh division
of Longstreet's corps, had come to the aid of Jackson. Among them was
Hood's famous Texan brigade. By these and McLaws' Louisianians, Kear-
ney's regiments, most in advance, were driven back with the loss of a gun,
four flags, and one hundred men made prisoners ; but soon afterward dark-
ness put an end to the struggle. Porter, on receiving Pope's order at twi-
light, made a- disposition for attack, but it was too late. So ended THE
BATTLE OF GROVETOX, with a loss of not less than seven thousand men on
each side. 1

Pope's entire army (excepting Banks's force at Bristow's Station) and a
part of McClellan's was in the action just recorded. Fasting, sickness, and
marches, and the casualties in battle, had greatly reduced the number of his
effective men. It was estimated at only about forty thousand on the night
of the battle of Groveton. 9 It had failed to accomplish the intentions of its
commander in keeping Lee and Jackson apart and destroying the latter, and
it was now decidedly the weaker party, for Lee's army had just become
a powerful unit. Prudence counseled a retreat across Bull's Run, and even
to the defenses of Washington, but Pope resolved to try the issue of another
battle on the morrow, and BO his troops rested on their arms that night.
For this determination he had not sufficient warrant. He had received no
re-enforcements or supplies since the 26th, and had no positive assurance
that any would be sent. He confidently expected rations and forage from
McClellan at Alexandria, who was to supply them, but it was not until the
morning of the 30th, when it was too late to retreat and perilous to stand
still, that he received the disheartening information, that seemed like a cruel
mockery, that rations and forage would be " loaded into the available wagons

1 Reports of Generals Pope and Lee, and their subordinate commanders. Pope, in his report, severely cen-
sured PorU-r, Buying, " His force took no part whatever in the action ; but were suffered by him to lie on their
arms within sinht iind sound of the battle during the whole day. So far as I know," lie said, ' he made no effort
whatever to comply witli my orders, or to take any part in the action ;" aud declared that had he obeyed his
orders, the whole or a greater part of Jackson's force might have been crushed or captured. ' I believe," he
said " in fact I am positive that at five o'clock on the afternoon of tho 29th, General Porter had in his front
no considerable force of tho enemy." He said he believed at the time of the battle, and when he wrote his
report (.January, 1SC3), that it was an easy matter for Porter "to have turned the right flank of Jackson, and to
have fallen in his rear," and that a decisive victory for the Nationals might have been gained before Jackson
could have been joined by any of the forces of Longstreet.

In his report, Pope says that Longstret-t did not reach the right of Jackson until about sunset, and he sup-
posed Jackson's riL'ht to be the extreme of that wing of the Confederate Army. He was mistaken. According
to fair inferences drawn from Lee's report (Reports of the Army of Nortlu-rn Virginia, i. 23, 24), and tho posi-
tive statements of other commanders of that army engaged in the action, contained in volume II., Longstreet
had position on Jackson's right as early as noon that day, and if Porter had received the order at the time Pope
thought he dkl, it is vary doubtful whether he could have carried it out successfully. Portsr says, as we have
observed in the text, that he did not receive the order until dusk, when it was too late to execute it. Nearly
the whole of Longstreet's corps had been directly in front of him for several hours when Pipe's order reached
him.

1 His men were greatly fatigued by the intens'e labors of the fortnight preceding. For two days they had
eaten but little. The cavalry and artillery horses had been ten days in harness and two days without food.

460 SECOND BATTLE OF BULL'S RUN.

and cars " so soon as lie should send a cavalry escort for the train ! a thing
utterly impossible. 1

Pope saw that he had no alternative. He must fight. So he put his line
in V shape early the next morning, pivoting on the Warrenton pike. Rey-
nolds occupied the left leg, Porter, Sigel, and Reno the right, and Heintzel-
man was posted on the extreme right. Pope had resolved to attack Lee's
left, and at the same time the latter had made disposition during the night to
attack Pope's left. Lee's movements for that purpose, in which he withdrew
some of his troops from ground he had occupied the previous evening, gave
Pope the impression that his foe was retreating along the Warrenton pike,
and he was not undeceived until ten o'clock the next day. Meanwhile he
had telegraphed to Washington the joyful tidings that the Confederates
were "retreating to the mountains." Under this impression he ordered
McDowell to follow with three corps, Porter's in the advance, along the
Warrenton pike, and attack the fugitives, and Heintzelman and Reno, sup-
ported by Ricketts' division, were directed to assail and turn the Con-
federate left.

The attempt to execute this movement developed a fearful state of
affairs for the National army. As Butterfield's division moved up the hill
near Groveton, the eminence near the edge of the woods suddenly and unex-
pectedly swarmed with the Confederates, who, instead of retreating, had
been massing under cover of the forest in preparation for an offensive move-
ment. They at once opened a fierce fire of shot, shell, and bullet on the
Nationals, and at the same time clouds of dust on the left indicated that the
foe, in great numbers, were making a flank movement in that direction. To
meet this peril McDowell ordered Reynolds to leave Porter's left, and hasten
to the assistance of Schenck and Milroy, on whom the threatened blow
seemed about to fall. This exposed Porter's key-point, when Colonel G. K.
Warren, without orders, moved up with his little brigade of a thousand
men and took Reynolds's place. Ricketts, in the mean time, had hastened to
the left, and the battle soon became very severe. Porter's corps, which had
been made to recoil by the force of the first unexpected blow, was rallied,
and performed special good service, especially Warren's gallant little band
of volunteers, and a brigade of regulars under Colonel Buchanan. For a

7 O O

while victory seemed to incline to the Nationals, for Jackson's advanced line
was steadily pushed back until about five o'clock in the afternoon. Then
Longstreet turned the tide. He found a commanding point on Jackson's
right, and with four batteries he poured a most destructive raking artillery
fire upon the Nationals. Line after line was swept away, and very soon the
whole left was put to flight. Jackson immediately advanced, and Long-
street moved in support by pushing his heavy columns against Pope's center.
Hood, with his two brigades, charged furiously upon Ricketts and Reynolds,
followed by the divisions of Evans, R. II. Anderson, and Wilcox, supported
by those of Kemper and Jones, and at the same time Lee's artillery was
doing fearful execution on Pope's disordered infantry. Terrible was the
struggle until dark, when it ceased. The National left had been pushed
, . _ _ _ ,

1 The letter was written by General Franklin by direction of General McC'u-llan. u Such a letter," said
Pope in his report, "when we were fighting the enemy, and Alexandria was swarmins with troops, needs no
comment"

BATTLE OF CHANTILLY. 461

back a considerable distance, but though confused, it was unbroken; and
it still held the "Warrenton turnpike, by which alone Pope's army might
safely retreat.

Pope had now no altei'native but to fall back toward Washington. He
issued an order to that effect at eight o'clock in the evening."

o o

The whole army was directed to withdraw during the night "^gf^ 80 '

across Bull's Run to the heights of Centreville. This was done

chiefly by way of the Stone Bridge ;' the brigades of Meade and Seymour,

and some other troops, covering the movement. The night was

very dark, and Lee fortunately did not pursue ; and in the morning*

Bull's Run once again divided the two great armies. So ended THE SECOND

BATTLE OF BULL'S RUN.

Pope was joined at Centreville by the corps of Franklin and Sumner,
making his force a little more than sixty thousand, and fully equal to that
of Lee. The 31st was passed by the Nationals in comparative quiet, but a
severe struggle was had on the following day. Lee was not disposed to
attack his foe in his strong position at Centreville, so he sent Jackson on
another Hanking enterprise at an early hour of the morning of the 31st.
Jackson took with him his own and Swell's divisions, and with instructions
to turn and assail Pope's right, he crossed Bull's Run at Sudley Ford, and
pushed on to the Little River turnpike. There, turning to the right the
following day,' he marched down that highway toward Fairfax
Court-IIouse.

Pope, in the mean time, suspecting this movement, had fallen back to
positions covering Fairfax Court-Housc and Germantown, directed Sumner
on the morning of the 1st of September to push forward two brigades toward
the Little River pike, and ordered Hooker eai-ly in the afternoon to Fairfax
Court-IIouse, in support of Sumner.* Just before sunset Reno met Jack-
son's advance (Ewell and Hill) near Chantilly. A cold and drenching
rain was falling, but it did not prevent an immediate engagement. Reno,
with the remains of two divisions, was sharply attacked, when Hooker,
McDowell, and Kearney came tip to his assistance. The conflict was severe
for a short time, when General Isaac J. Stevens, who was in command at the
battle of Port Royal Ferry, 3 now leading Reno's second division, ordered a
charge, which he led in person, and was shot dead. His command fell back
in disorder, and to some extent put the remainder of Reno's force in ton-
fusion. Seeing this, General Kearney advanced with his division and re-
newed the action, sending Birney's brigade to the fore front. A furious
thunderstorm was then raging, which made the use of ammunition difficult ;
but, unheeding this, Kearney brought forward a battery and planted it in
position himself. Then, perceiving a gap caused by the retirement of
Stevens's force yet remaining, he pushed forward to reconnoiter, and was
killed just within the Confederate lines. He, too, was shot dead just at sun-

1 See page 5S7, volume L

* He ordered McDowell to move along the road to Fairfax Court-IIouse as far as Difficult Creek, and con-
nect with Hooker's left ; Reno to Chantilly; Heintzelman to take post on the road between Centreville and
Fairfax, in the roar of Ileno: Franklin to take petition on McDowell's left and rear; and Sigel and Porter to
unite with the ri:rht of Sumner, who was on the left of Heintzelman. Banks, who, with the wagon-train, had
come on from Bristow Station, was ordered to pursue the old Rraddock road in the direction of Alexandria.

3 See page 128.

462 GENERALS POPE AND MoCLELLAN.

set, and the command of his division devolved on the able Birney, who
instantly ordered a bayonet charge by his own brigade, composed of the
First, Thirty-eighth, and Fortieth New York. These, led by Colonel Egan,
executed the orders with great bravery, and pushed back the Confederate
advance some distance. Birney held the field that night, and the hours of
darkness were spent in the sad task of burying the dead. 1 Precious were the
lives on the Union side that were lost in this, THE BATTLE OP CHANTILLY,*
a battle that ended the campaign of General Pope, and also his military
career in the East. 3 He had labored hard under many difficulties, and he
bitterly complained of a lack of co-operation with him in his later struggles
by McClcllan and some of his subordinates. 4

By order of General Halleck, the broken and demoralized army was with-
drawn within the fortifications around Washington the next day,"
a8 i862 2 ' Avnen it was allowed a brief rest. Pope now repeated with
greater earnestness his request, made before he took the field, to
be relieved of the command of the Army of Virginia, and allowed to return
to the West, and it was granted. The Army of Virginia disappeared as a

1 By reference to the large Map of Operations in Upper Virginia, on page 398 of this volume, and to the
smaller maps on pages 5S6, 5SS, 594. and 602 of volume I., the reader will have a fair idea of the region of Pope's
campaign, and of the field of conflict in the vicinity of Manassas.

1 Among them "were Generals Kearney and Stevens, and Major Tildcn, of the Thirty-eighth New York.
Kearney wns well known to General Lee, and th:U loader sent his body to Pope's head-quarters the next morn-
ing, with a flag of truce. Stevens led the attack at the head of the Seventy-ninth (Highlanders) New York, with
the colors of that regiment, which had fallen from the hands of a wounded sergeant In the Second Battle of
Bull's Bun, on the 80th, Colonel Fletcher Webster, son of Daniel Webster, fell ; and, on the snme day. Colonel
George W. Pratt, of the Twentieth New York, son of the Honorable Zadock Pratt, was mortally wounded nenr
Gainesville. On the same day Colonel Broadhead, of the regular army, received his death- wound on the Bull Run
battle-ground; also Colonels O'Connor, Cantwcll, and Brown. Among the wounded were Major-General Robert
C. Schenck, and Colonel Hardin, of the Pennsylvania Reserves.

The National loss in Pope's campaign, from the Battle of Cedar Mountain to that of Chanlilly, was never
officially reported in full. The most careful estimates make it, including the immense number of stragglers who
never returned to their regiments, almost 30,000. Lee's losses during that time amounted probably to 15,000.
He claimed to have taken 7,000 prisoners, with 2,000 sick and wounded, thirty pieces of artillery, and 20,000
small arms.

* Reports of Generals Pope and Lee and their subordinates.

* According to Pope's Report, 20,500 men were all of the Army of the Potomac that joined him in active
operations " all," he said, " of the 91,000 veteran troops from Harrison's Landing which ever drew trigger undrr
my command, or in any way took part in the campaign." ..." Porter's corps," he said, " from unnecessary and
unusual delays, and frequent and flagrant disregard for my orders, took no part whatever, except in the battle of
the 30th of August." Pope- afterward formally preferred charges against Porter of " misconduct Ixjfore the-
enemy." Porter was tried by a court-martial, which, in January, 1S63, pronounced* verdict of jruilty, and he
was sentenced to be "cashiered, and be forever disqualified from holding any offictfof trust or profit under thu
Government of the United States.'' At the request of the President the whole case was reviewed by Joseph
Holt, then Judge Advocate-General, when the sentence was approved and executed.

Strenuous but ineffectual efforts were made by the President and tEe General-in-Chief t'> bring the Army
of the Potomac to the aid of the Army of Virginia in confronting Lee, and through it to furnish Pope with sup-
plies. The official electrographs that passed between the President and General Halleck and General McClcllan
exhibit the same indisposition on the part of the latter to promptly comply with the orders of his superiors that
was shown while he was on the Peninsula. He seemed more disposed to give his advice than to obey com-
mands ; and while failing to afford the required aid to Pope, he affected to misunderstand explicit orders, and indi-
cated his unwillingness to act under superior authority by saying in a dispatch to Ha'dcck on the 27th of August:
" I am not responsible for the past, and cannot be for tho future, unless I receive authority to dispose of the
available troops according to my judgment." After thwarting the efforts of the Government to get Franklin's
corps to a position to give Pope greatly needed assistance on the 29th, and Halleck had telegraphed to him.
saying, " I want Franklin's corps to go far enough to find out something about the enemy. . . . Our people must
move more actively, and find out where the enemy is; lam tired of gucssc*," MeCIeilnn telegraphed to the
President, saying: " I am clear that one of two courses should be adopted. First, to concentrate all our avail-
able forces to open communication with Pope. Second, to leave Pope to yet out of his scrap f, and at once use
ll our means to make the Capital safe." See McClellan's Report P-i?o 175.

It was not until Pope was defeated and driven across Bull's Rim to Centreville that the corps of Franklin
and Suujner were permitted to take a position within supporting distance. It is clear to the comprehension of
the writer, after a careful analysis of reports and dispatches, that had these corps and Porter's been allowed to
give timely assistance to Pope, as they could have done, Lee's army might have been captured or dispersed, and

THE CONFEDERATE "CONGRESS." 463

separate organization, and became a part of the Army of the Potomac ; and
General McClellan, in compliance with the wishes of a large
majority of his surviving officers and men, was invested with " ^ '
the command of all the troops for the defense of the capital.

The sad results of Pope's campaign, and of that on the Peninsula, cast a
pall of gloom over the spirits of the loyal people for a moment. But it was
soon lifted ; while the conspirators and their followers and friends were made
jubilant and hopeful. 1

perhaps a death-blow given to the rebellion. In view of all the testimony, and especially of that given in
McClellan's Report, it does not seem to be a harsh judgment to believe that the 'commando' of the Army of the
Potomac and his friends were willing to see Pope defeated. "Pope's appointment to the command, an<1 his
address to his army on opening the campaign" (see page 446), says a careful writer, "had been understood by
them as reflcctins on the strategy of the Peninsula campaign; and this was their mode of resenting the indig-
nity." See Greeley's American Conflict, ii. 192.

1 On the 2<1 of September Davis sent into the " Congress "" .it Richmond a message announcing news of
complete triumph, from Lee, and said: " From these dispatches it will be scon that God has again extended his
shield over our patriotic army, and has blessed the cause of the Confederacy with a second signal victory on the
field [Bull's Uun] already memorable by the gallant achievement of our troops."

The following are the names of the members of the so-called " Confederate Congress'' nt this time:

"SENATE."

Alabama *Clement C. Clay, *William L. Tancey Arkansas *Robert W. Johnson, Charles B. Mitchell.
Florida James M. Baker, 'Augustus E. Maxwell. Georgia Benjamin H. Hill, 'Robert Toombs. Ken-
tucky *IIenry C. Burnett, *Williatn E. Simms. Louisiana Thomas J. Semtnes, Kdward Sparrow. Missis-
sippi 'Albert G. Brown, James Phclan. Missouri "John B. Clark, R. S. T. Peyton. North Carolina
George Davis, William T. Dortch. South. Carolina 'Robert W. Barnwell, *Jnmes L. Orr. Tennessee Lang-
don C. Haynes, Gustavus A. Henry. Texas William S. Oldham, 'Louis T. Wigfall. Virginia *R. M. T.
Hunter, *Wm. Ballard Preston.

"lIOUSR Or REPRESENTATIVES."

Alabama Thomas J. Foster, *William R. Smith, John P. Rails, *J. L. M. Curry, 'Francis S. Lyon, Win.
I*. Chilton, *David Clopton, *James S. Pugh, *Edward L. Dargan. Arkansas Felix L. Batson, Grandison D.
Koyston, Augustus II. Garland, Thomas B. Hanly. Florida James B. Dawkins, Robert B. Hilton.
Georgia Julian Ilartridge, C. J. Munncrlyn, Hines Holt, Augustus II. Kenan, David W. Lewis, William W.
Clark, 'Robert P. Frip[>c, *Lucius J. Gartrcll, Hardy Strickland, *Augustus R. Wright. Kentucky Alfred
Boyd, John W. Crockett, II. E. Read, Gco. W. Ewing, 'James S Clirisman, T. L. Burnett, II. W. Bruce, 6. 8.
Scott, E. M. Bruce, J. V.'. Moore, Robert J. Breckenridge, John M. Elliott. Louisiana Charles J. Vlllerc,
*Charics M. Conrad, Duncan F. Kenner, Lucicn J. Dupre, John F. Lewis, John Perkins, Jr. 3[ississipj>i J.
W. Clapp, *r.eubcn Davis, Israel Welch, II. C. Chambers, *O. R. Singl. ton, E. Barksdalc, 'John J. McRao.
Missouri W. M. Cook, Thomas A. Harris, Casper W. Bell, A. II. Conrow, Georgo G. Vest, Thomas W. Free-
man, John Hyer. North Carolina *W. N. II. Smith, Robert R. Bridgera, Owen R. Keenan, T. D. McDowell,
Thomas S. Ashe, Arch. II. Arrington, Robert McClean, William Lander, B. 8 Oaithor, A. T. Davidson. South
Carolina *John McQueen, *\V. Porclier Miles, L. M. Aycr, *Milledge L. Bouham. James Farrow, *William W.
Boyce. Tennessee Joseph T. Heiskcll, William G. Swan, W. II. Tebbs. E. L. Gardenshire, *IIenry S. Foote,
'Meredith P. Gentry, *Gi-orge W. Jones. Thomas Menoeso, *J. D. C. Atkins. *John V. Wright, David M. Cur-
i-in. Texan 'John A Wilcox. *C. C. Herbert, Peter W. Gray, I>. F. Sexton, M. D. Graham, Win. B. Wright
riryinia *M. R. II. Garnett, John R. Chambliss, James Lyons, *Roger A. Pryor, 'Thomas S. Bococke, John
Goode, Jr., J. P. Holcombe, *D. C. De Jarnett, 'William Smith. *A. R. Boteler, John U. Baldwin, Walter R.
Staples, Walter Preston, Albert G. Jenkins, Robert Johnson, Charles W. Russell.

Those marked with the * had been members of the United States Congress.

464 THE REPUBLIC IN PERIL

CHAPTEK XVIII.

LEE'S INVASION OF MARYLAND, AND HIS RETREAT TOWARD RICHMOND.

NLY thirty days had passed by since Lee was in the
attitude of a defender of the Confederate capital,
with two large armies threatening it from different

o o

points, when he was seen in the position of an exult-
ant victor, ready to take the offensive in a bold
menace of the National capital. He sent troops to
check Pope, and the effect was the withdrawal of
the Army of the Potomac from the Peninsula.
Relieved of all danger in the latter direction, he
moved in .heavy force and pushed the Army of Virginia across the Rappa-
hannock before the other great army lent it any aid ; and now, at the begin-
ning of September, he saw both armies which had threatened him, shattered
and disordered behind the strong fortifications of the National capital,
where McClellan concentrated them to defend that capital from an expected
assault. From Fortress'Monroe to the head waters of the James and the
Rappahannock, and far up the Potomac and the intervening country, as well
as the wliole valley of the Shenandoah to its northern entrance at Harper's
Ferry, there were no National troops, and the harvests in all that region
were poured into the Confederate granary.

The Republic now seemed to be in great peril, and the loyal people were
very anxious. Long before the disastrous termination of the campaign on
the Peninsula, thoughtful men were losing faith in the ability, and some
in the patriotism of the commander of the Army of the Potomac ; and it was
clearly seen that if one hundred and fifty thousand to two hundred thousand
men could not make more headway in the work of crushing the rebellion
than they had done under his leadership during full ten months, more men
must be called to the field at once, or all would be lost. Accordingly the
loyal Governors of eighteen States signed a request that the President
should immediately take measures for largely increasing the effective force
in the field. He had already, by a call on the 1st of June, drawn forty
thousand men, for three months, from Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New
York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. In compliance with a request of the gover-
nors, he called for three hundred thousand volunteers " for the war," on the
1st of July ; and on the 9th of August, when Pope was struggling with
Jackson near the Rapid Anna, he called for three hundred thousand men for
nine months, with the understanding that an equal number of men would be
drafted from the great body of the citizens who were over eighteen and less
than forty-five years of age, if they did not appear as volunteers.

LEE'S INVASION OF MARYLAND. 465

1 These calls met with a hearty response, and very soon men were seen
flocking to the standard of the Republic by thousands. The Conspirators at
Richmond well knew that such a response would be made, and while they
were wickedly deceiving the people of the Confederacy with the idea that
" the Lincoln government," as they said in derision, was bankrupt in men
and money, they were trembling with fear because of its wealth in both,
which they well comprehended. Therefore they instructed Lee to take
immediate advantage of the fortunate situation in which McClellan's failure
to sustain Pope had placed him, to act boldly, vigorously, and even despe-
rately, if necessary.

Lee saw clearly that an assault on the fortified National capital would be
foolish and disastrous, and he conceived the idea of throwing his army across
the Potomac to the rear of Washington, when, perhaps, after sweeping vic-
toriously on to the Susquehanna, he might return and seize Baltimore and
the National city. He believed the people of " sovereign " Maryland were
chafing under the domination of the Government, and were ready to give all
the support in their power to the Confederate cause ; and that the presence
of his army would produce a general uprising in that State. The conspira-
tors at Richmond were in accord with Lee in this view, and he made instant
preparations for throwing his army across the Potomac.

Lee was joined on the 2d" by the fresh division of D. H. Hill, from
Richmond, and this was immediately sent as a vansruard

a Sent. 1S62

toward Leesburg. The whole Confederate army followed, and
between the 4th and 7th it had crossed the Potomac by the fords in the
vicinity of the Point of Rocks, and encamped not far from the city of Fred-
erick, on the Monocacy River. There General Lee formally raised the stan-
dard of revolt, and issued a proclamation* in words intended to
be as _ seductive to the people of that commonwealth as those of
Randall's impassioned appeal, entitled " Maryland ! my Maryland !'" Lee
declared it was the wish " of the people of the South " to aid those of
Maryland in throwing off the " foreign yoke " they were compelled to bear,
that they might be able to " again enjoy the inalienable rights of freemen,
and to restore the independence and sovereignty of their State ;" and he
assured them that his mission was to assist them with the power of arms
'' in regaining the^r rights," of which they had "been so unjustly despoiled."
Lee discoursed as fluently and falsely of the " outrages " inflicted by the
generous Government which he had solemnly sworn to protect, and against
which he was waging war for the perpetuation of injustice and inhumanity, 9

1 See page 555, volume I.

1 In a speech at the raising of the National flag over Columbia College, in New York, immediately after the
ittack on Fort Sumtcr, in April, 1861, Dr. Francis Lieber admirably defined the characterof soldiers like Robert
E. Lee, who professed to believe in the State supremacy, but who had served in the armies of the Republic and
<!oserted their flag. " Men," he said, " who believed, or pretended to believe in State sovereignty alone, when
M' 'cssion broke out, went over with men and ships, abandoning the flag to which they had sworn fidelity ; thug
shewing that all along they served the United States like Swiss hirelings and not as citizens, in their military
service. They did more : not only did they desert the service of the United States, on the ground that their indi-
vidual States, to whom they owed allegiance, had declared themselves out of the Union : but in many cases
they took with them, or attempted to take with them, the men who owed no such allegiance, being either
foreigners or natives of other American States. In other cases they actually called publicly on their former
c.omrades to be equally faithless, and desert their ships or troops. The Swiss mercenaries used to act inon-
oobly. Once having sold their services, and having ta'ion the oath of fidelity, they used to remain faithful nnto
leftth."

VOL. II. 30

466

LEE'S PROCLAMATION SCORNED.

as did Jefferson Davis, his coadjutor in the monstrous crime; but he soon
found to his shame and confusion that the disloyal Marylanders like Bradley
Johnson, who had joined the Confederate army, had deceived him by false
representations, and that, with the exception of a large rebellious faction in the
more Southern slaveholding counties, the people of that State looked upon
the gigantic iniquity of the conspirators and their abettors with abhorrence.

He was met with sullen scorn in the
form of appai'ent indifference, and he
was soon made to feel that under that
passivity there was burning a spirit
like that of the venerable and more
demonstrative Barbara Frietchie, of
Frederick, one of the true heroines of
whom history too often fails to make
honorable mention. 1 Lee lost more
men in Maryland by desertion than
he gained by his proclamation. Had
there been nothing repulsive in the
work to which they were invited, the
filthy and wretched condition of Lee's
troops would have made the citizens
of Maryland scornful of such an
" army of liberators."
McClellan was informed of Lee's movement on the morning of the 3d,
and immediately put his troops in motion to meet the threatened peril.
His army was thrown into Maryland north of Washington, and on the 7th,

BARBARA FRIETCHIR.

1 Barbara Frietchie (who died in June, 1864) lived
close to a bridge which spans the stream that courses
through Frederick. When, in this invasion of Maryland,
" Stonewall Jackson " marched through Frederick, his
troops passed over that brid?e. He had been informed
that many National flags were flying in the city, and he
gave orders for them all to be hauled down. Patriotic
Barbara's was displayed from one of the dormer-win-
dows, seen in the sketch of her house here given, from
a drawing made by the writer in September, 1866, in
which, just beyond it, the bridge is seen. Her flag was
pulled down. The remainder of the story has been told
in the following words of John G. Whittier :

Up rose old Barbara Frietchie then,
Bowed with her fourscore years and ten ;
Bravest of all in Frederick town.
She took up the flag the men hauled down ;
In her attic window the staff she set,
To show that one heart was loyal yet
Up the street came the rebel tread,
Stonewall Jackson riding ahead.
Under his slouched hat left and right
He glanced : the old flag met his sight,
u Halt!" the dust-brown ranks stood fast
" Fire !" out blazed the rifle-blast.
It shivered the window, pane and sash ;
It rent the banner with seam and gash.
Quick, as it fell from the. broken staff,
Dame Barbara snatched the silken scarf;
She leaned far out on the window-sill,
And shook it forth with a royal will.

BABBABA FBlETCniE'8

"Shoot," if you must, this old gray head,
But spare your country's flag," she said.
A shade of sadness, a blush of shame,
Over the face of the leader came ;
The nobler nature within him stirred
To life at that woman's deed and word :
'Who touches a hair of yon gray head
Dies like a dog! March on!" he said.
All day long through Frederick street
Sounded the tread of marching feet
All day long that free flag tost
Over the heads of the rebel host

LEE'S PLANS DISCOVERED. 467

leaving General Banks in command at the National capital, he hastened to
the field, making his head-quarters that night with the Sixth Corps at Rock-
ville. His army, composed of his own and the forces of Pope and Burnside,
numbered a little more than eighty-seven thousand effective men. It
advanced slowly toward Frederick by five parallel roads, and was so disposed
as to cover both Washington and Baltimore. The left rested on the Poto-
mac, and the right on the Baltimore and Ohio railway. 1

Great caution was necessary, for the real intentions of Lee were unknown.
Fortunately, these were discovered on the 13th, when McClellan's advance
entered Frederick, after a brisk skirmish with the Confederate rear-guard,
and found there a copy of Lee's general order issued on the 9th. It revealed
the fact that he was not to make a direct movement aarainst Washington or

o o

Baltimore, so long as McClellan lay between him and the two cities ; but so
soon as he could draw him toward the Susquehanna by menacing Pennsyl-
vania, and thus take him away from his supplies, he might attack and
cripple him, and then march upon one or both of those cities. To accomplish
this he designed to take possession of Harper's Ferry (which he believed
would be evacuated on his crossing the Potomac) and establish communica-
tion with Richmond by way of the Shenandoah Valley ; and then, marching
up the Cumberland Valley, endeavor to draw McClellan toward the heart of
Pennsylvania.

Lee's maneuvers for the end proposed were most hazardous in their
character, under the circumstances. He ordered Jackson to go over the
South Mountain 2 by way of Middletown, and then, passing by Sharpsburg
to the Potomac, cross that river above Harper's Ferry, sever the Baltimore
and Ohio railway, and intercept any troops that might attempt to escape
from the Ferry. Longstreet was to follow the same road to Boonsborough,
westward of the South Mountain ; while McLaws, with his own and Ander-
son's division, was to march to Middletown, and then press on toward
Harper's Ferry and possess himself of Maryland Heights, on the left bank
of the Potomac, overlooking that post, and endeavor to capture it and
its dependencies. General Walker was to cross the Potomac at Qheeks'
ford, and, if practicable, take possession of London Heights, on the right
bank of the river, at the same time, and co-operate with Jackson and
McLaws. D. H. Hill's division was to form the rear-guard of the main
body, and Stuart's cavalry was to cover the whole. The troops ordered to
Harper's Ferry were directed to join the main army at Hagerstown or
Boonsborough after capturing that post.

1 The right wing was composed of the First and Ninth Corps, nnder General Burnside ; the center, of the
Second and Twelfth Corps, nnderGeneral Sumner, and the left, of the Sixth Corps, under General Franklin. The
First Corps (McDowell's) was placed under General Hooker; the Ninth, of Burnside's command, was undi-r
General Reno; the Twelfth was Banks's, which was now under General Mansfield, who had not before taken
the field. Porter's corps remained in Washington until the 12th, and did not join the army until it reached th
vicinity of Sharpsburg. General Hunt was made Chief of Artillery, and General Pleasanton commanded tho
cavalry division.

2 This is a continuation into Pennsylvania of the ranges of the Blue Ridge in Virgir.ia, severed hy the Poto-
mac at Harper's Ferry and vicinity. A lower range, called the Catoctin or Kittoctan Mountains. pases near
Frederick, and is a continuation north of the Potomac, of the Bull's Run Mountains. See map on page 586,
Volume I. Several roads cross these ranges, the hest being the old National r.iad from Haltimorn to Cumber-
land, passing through Frederick and Middletown. tho latter being the most considerable village in the Kittoctan
Valley. The principal passes or gaps in the South Mountain range made memorable by this invasion were
Crampton's and Turner's, the former flv miles from Harper's Ferry.

468 MOVEMENTS OF THE NATIONAL ARMY.

This bold design of separating his army, then far away from his supplies,
by a river liable to be made impassable in a few hours by a heavy rain, and
with a pursuing force in superior numbers close behind, marked Lee as a
blunderer, unless, as he " fully understood the character of his opponent,"
as Maoruder had lately said, 1 he counted upon his usual tardiness and inde-
cision. McClellan's army had moved between six and seven miles a day
since he entered Maryland, watching rather than pursuing, for reasons
already alluded to, and Lee doubtless supposed that pace would be kept up.

When Lee's plan was discovered, on the day after he moved westward
from Frederick," the National army was in the vicinity of that
Sept is, city, excepting Franklin's corps of about seventeen thousand
men, which was several miles nearer Harper's Ferry. Between
him and that post was only the division of McLaws, not move than twenty
thousand strong, while at the Ferry was a garrison of nine thousand men
strongly posted, but unfortunately under Colonel D. II. Miles, who behaved
so badly on the day of the first battle of Bull's Run.* There were twenty-
five hundred troops under General White, engaged in outpost duty at Mar-
tinsburg and Winchester, and these, with the garrison at the Ferry, were
under the direct control of General Halleck.

McClellan now possessed the rare advantage of knowing his opponent's
plans, and a divided army to operate against, and it was believed that he
would order Franklin to push vigorously forward, followed by heavy sup-
ports, to crush McLaws and save Harper's Ferry. But this was not a part
of his plan. When Lee crossed into Maryland, McClellan, like the Confede-
rate leader, considered Harper's Ferry to be untenable, and before he left
Washington he advised its evacuation, and the employment of its garrison
in co-operation with his army. As on the Peninsula, lie seems now to have
been haunted with the specter of an overwhelming force on his front, and
began calling for re-enforcements. Four days after he took the field he
again advised Halleck to order Miles to leave Harper's Ferry and join his
army ; and on the same day, in a long letter to the General-in-Chief, he coun-
seled the abandonment of Washington City to the rebels, if that should be
necessary to re-enforce his army in Maryland, and then trust to luck for the
recapture of it. 3

The National army moved in pursuit, from Frederick, in two columns, the
right and center toward Turner's Gap, in South Mountain, in front of Mid-
dletown, Burnside leading the advance ; and the left, composed of Franklin's
corps, toward Crampton's Gap, in the same range, in front of Burkittsville.
Lee was so coitfident that McClellan would be tardy, that he ordered Long-
street to follow Jackson and take post at Hagerstown, with a great portion
of his corps (leaving only D. H. Hill's division to guard Turner's Gap 4 ), and

1 Sec note 2, page 420. 2 See page 606, volume I.

1 To this portion of his extraordinary letter Halleck replied: " You attach too little importance to the
capital. I assure you that you are wrong. The capture of this place will throw us back six months, if it should,
not destroy us. Beware of the evils I now point out to you. You saw them when here, but you seem to for-
cet them in the distance." 1 Letter to McClellan, September 18, 1S62.

4 Turner's Gap is a deep and rugged pass, about 400 feet above the base of the mountain, with a crest on
each side, one of them rising 600 feet higher. A good turnpike crossed the mountain eastward of the pass or
hollow, and a good road went over it just westward of the pass. Crampton's Gap was a similar pass, and
opened into Pleasant Valley, back of Maryland Heights, a few miles from Harper's Ferry.

ADVANCE UPON SOUTH MOUNTAIN.

469

ALFRED PLEASANTON.

to send six brigades to assist McLaws (who was guarding Crampton's Gap)
in his operations for seizing Maryland Heights and Harper's Ferry.

Lee was mistaken. The discov-
ery of his plan had led to more vig-
orous action in the National army,
and on the following
day" a startling appari- " ^g^ 1 * 1
tion met the eyes of the
Confederates on South Mountain.
Stuart had reported the previous
evening that only two brigades
were in pursuit, and Hill felt quite
eure that he could defend the Gap
with his five thousand troops, not-
withstanding they were somewhat
scattered ; but at an early hour in
the morning Pleasanton's cavalry,
with a battery, was seen moving along
the pike toward the Gap, followed by
Cox's Kanawha division of Reno's command, while nearly the whole
National army was streaming down the Kittoctan hills, and across that
most lovely of all the valleys in Maryland in which Middletown is nestled.

Pleasanton followed the Hagerstown pike. The First Brigade of Cox's
division, Colonel E. P. Scammon, composed of the Twelfth, Twenty-third,
and Thirtieth Ohio, and McMullin's Ohio battery, marched along the Boones-
borough road to reconnoiter the crest at the south of the Gap, followed
by the Second Brigade, Colonel Crook, consisting of the Eleventh, Twenty-
eighth, and Thirty-sixth Ohio, Simmons's battery and Scambeck's cavalry in
support. . They soon ascertained that a considerable force held that part of
the mountain, when Reno ordered an advance to an assault, promising the
support of his whole corps. Wilcox, Rodman, and Sturgis were ordered
forward, and at an early hour in the forenoon, after some skirmishing, Cox

reached the borders of the Pass. Un-
der cover of a portion of the guns of
the two batteries, he pressed up the
wooded and rocky acclivity. He was
at first confronted by General Garland,
whose division was soon so badly cut
up, and so disheartened by the loss of
its commander, who was killed early
in the action, that it fell back in con-
fusion, and its place was supplied by
that of Anderson, supported by
Rhodes and Ripley. These held the
position firmly for a long time, but,
finally, by hard and persistent fighting

HOUSE, SOUTH MOUNTAIN BATTLE-FIELD. 1

1 This is a view of Wise's house when the writer sketched it, at the beginning of October, 1866. It is on
the Sharpsburg road, about a mile and a half south from Keedy's tavern, on the pike at Turner's Gap.

470

BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN.

Cox gained a foothold on the crest, not far from the house of Daniel Wise, an
earnest Union man.

It was now noon, and up to this time only the divisions of Cox and Hill
had been engaged. Very soon the battle assumed far greater proportions.
Hill had sent for Longstreet to come to his help, and between two and three
o'clock two of his brigades arrived. These were soon followed by Long-
Btreet himself with seven more brigades, making the Confederate force
defending the two crests and the Gap, nearly thirty thousand strong.
Meanwhile, during a partial lull of two hours in the contest, the divisions
of Wilcox, Rodman, and Sturgis arrived and took position. Then at about
two o'clock Hooker's corps came up, and at once moved to the right along
the old Hagerstown road, to crush the Confederate left at the higher crest.
An hour later a general battle-line was formed with Ricketts' division on the
right, King's, commanded by General Hatch, in the center, and resting on

the turnpike, and
Reno's on the left.
The Confederates
had much the advan-
tage of position, for
the hillsides up which
the Nationals toiled
were steep and rocky,
yet they nowhere fal-
tered, and at four
o'clock fighting was
general along the
whole line. The
ground was contested
at many points inch
by inch. Hatch was
wounded, when
Doubleday took his
command, his own
passing to the care
of Colonel Wainright, of the Seventy-sixth New York, who was soon dis-
abled. Hooker had pressed steadily forward on the right, and at dusk had
flanked and beaten the Confederate left.

The strife on the National left where Reno had gained a foot-hold on the
mountain was very severe, and continued until dark. At about sunset the
commanding general, who was at the head of his line, was killed in an open
field in front of a thick wood while watching the movements of his foe. He
died almost at the moment of victory, for at that time the position was
fairly within the grasp of his friends. His command devolved on General
Cox.

Meade had followed Hooker from the Kittoctan Creek, and went into

1 This little picture shows the appearance of that portion of the battle-field on South Mountain, where
General Reno was killed, as it appeared when the writer visited it, early in October, 1866. The field was dotted
with evergreen shrubs. The place where Eono fell is marked by a stone set up by Daniel Wise, whose son
owned the land. It is seen near the two figures. Not far from the spot was a chestnut tree, that bore the scars
of many wounds made during the battle.

BATTLE-FIELD ON BOOTH MOUNTAIN. 1

STRUGGLE AT CRAMPTON'S GAP. 471

action with great gallantry on the right of Doubleday (Hatch's .division)
and fought heavily, his brigades being skillfully managed by General Sey-
mour and Colonels Magiiton and Gallagher. General Duryee, with his fine
brigade of Ricketts' division, which had performed signal service under its
gallant commander during the later struggles of Pope with Lee, was just
coming up to the support of Meade, when the contest of that point ceased.
Meanwhile the brigade of Gibbons and Hartsuff had pushed steadily up the
turnpike along the Gap, fighting bravely and winning steadily, until almost
nine o'clock in the evening, when, having reached a point near the summit
of the Pass, their ammunition was exhausted. But the victory was secure.
Gibbons and Hartsuff were relieved at midnight by the arrival of the
divisions of Gorman and Williams, of Sumner's corps. Richardson's
division had taken position in the rear of Hooker's resting soldiers ; and
Sykes's regulars and the artillery reserve were at Middletown. McClellan's
right column was ready to resume the action in the morning, but Lee, who
was with his troops toward evening, withdrew his forces during the night.
So ended THE BATTLE OF SOUTH MOUNTAIN.'

While this contest was going on at Turner's Gap, Franklin was endeavor-
ing to force his way over the mountain at Crampton's Gap, for the relief of
Harpers Ferry. That pass was defended by three brigades of McLaws'
force, who were commanded by the notorious Howell Cobb, Buchanan's
treasonable Secretary of the Treasury. 2 In pursuance of McClellan's instruc-
tions, Franklin appeared at Burkittsville, before Crampton's Pass, at noon on
the 14th," on the road leading to Rohersville in Pleasant Valley,
back of Maryland Heights, with a fine body of troops from New
York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. He formed a line of battle with
Slocum's division on the right of the road running through the Gap, and

1 Reports of Generals McClellan and Lee, and their subordinate commanders. McClellan reported his loss
at 812 killed, 1,234 wounded, and 22 missing; total, 1.568. The Confederate loss In killed and wounded was
about the same, besides 1,500 prisoners, making the entire loss about 8,000.

8 See page 44, volume I. Cobb was instructed to hold Crampton's Pass until the capture of Maryland
Heights and Harper's Ferry should be completed, u even if he lost his last man in doing it." See McLawa'
Eeport, ii. 165 of the Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia.

Howell Cobb and Robert Toombs, two of the leading traitors of Georgia, were now general officers In
Lee's army. They had been chiefly instrumental in bringing the people of their State under the galling yoke
of the despotism at Richmond, and were loud in their professions of willingness to " die for the cause of Southern
independence." Their performances always fell short of their promises. They were ever ready "to spill the
blood of all their relations," and to sacrifice the property of all their neighbors for the "holy cause," but on
all occasions they were careful not to expose their own blood and property to waste. In an address to the
people of Georgia, Issued a few months earlier than the time we are considering, Cobb and Toombs, Cobb's
brother Thomas, and M. J. Crawford, held the following language: "The foot of the oppressor is on the
soil of Georgia. He comes with lust in his eye, poverty in his purse, and hell in his heart. He comes a robber
and a murderer. How shall you meet him ? With the sword at the threshold ! With death for him or
for yourself! But, more than this let every woman have a torch, every child a firebrand let the loved homes
of youth be made ashes, and the fields of our heritage be made desolate. Let blackness and ruin mark your
departing steps, if depart you must, and let a desert more terrible than Sahara welcome the Vandals. Let every
city be leveled by the flames, and every village be lost in ashes. Let your faithful slaves share your fortune
and your crust. Trust wife and children to the sure refuge and protection of God, preferring even for these
loved ones the charnel-house as a home, than loathsome vassalage to a nation akeady sunk below the contempt
of the civilized world. This may be your terrible choice, and determine at once, without dissent, as honor and
patriotism and duty to God require."

Most carefully did the demagogues who issued the grandiloquent manifesto, of which this is a fair speci-
men, avoid the funeral pile to which they invited their neighbors. With supreme contempt of the common
sense of the people of their State, they attempted thus to " fire the Southern heart." It was a miserable
failure, and those men who constituted themselves dictators of public opinion in Georgia, became objects of
scorn and contempt. At the close of the war. Toombs, overrating his importance, fled in terror from the
country. This act, and his boastings and cowardice throughout the war, won for him the just title given him
by a distinguished rebel, of The Humbug of the Confederacy.

472

HARPER'S FERRY INVESTED.

Sept 11,
1862.

Smith's on the left. The brigades of Bartlett and Torbett, of Slocum's
force, supported by Newton, advanced steadily upon Cobb at the base of
the mountain, driving him from his stone- wall defenses up the acclivity. On
the left, the brigades of Brooks and Irwin, of Smith's division, charged up
the mountain in the same manner. After a struggle of several hours, in
which the Nationals had much the superiority in numbers, the latter gained
the crest of the Pass, and the Confederates fled down the western side of
the mountain. 1

Franklin was now only six miles from Harper's Ferry, and was compe-
tent to fly to its relief. Let us see what was the condition of aft airs there at
this critical juncture, and what happened.

The post at Harper's Ferry, as we have observed, was in command of
Colonel D. II. Miles. A large amount of military stores had been collected
there, which must be sacrificed if the garrison should be withdrawn. Hal-
leek determined to hold it until McClellan should succor the garrison, and
orders were given accordingly to the commander. McClellan advised
another course ; but on the day of the struggle at Turner's and Crampton's
Gaps, he sent Miles word to " hold out to the last extremity," as he might
" count on every effort " to relieve him. In the mean time Jackson, by quick
movements, had crossed the Potomac at Williamsport" and
marched rapidly upon Martinsburg. General Julius White, in
command of troops there, fled with them to Harper's Ferry. He
ranked Miles, but deferred to his position as an old army officer, and offered
to serve under him. The junction of these forces, with some from Winches-
ter, made the garrison over twelve thousand strong.

At noon of the 13th Jackson was in full force in the rear of Harper's
Ferry, and at once placed himself in communication with Walker and
McLaws. The former was already on London Heights, .across the Shenan-
doah, and the latter was struggling for Maryland Heights, across the Poto-
mac. The summits of these mountains are within cannon-shot of each

other, and command Harper's

Ferry below, into which plung-
ing missiles of every kind might
be hurled.

Heedless of the danger that

might soon brood on those
heights, Miles had done nothing
worthy of a skillful or loyal
commander to save his post and
garrison below. He had placed
a few troops under Colonel T.
H. Ford, of the Thirty-second
Ohio, 2 on Maryland Heights, but did not comply with that commander's
requisition for intrenching tools, that he might fortify his position ; so,
on the 12th, when McLaws' advance appeared on the crest of the Elk

1 Franklin's loss was 115 killed and 418 wounded ; total, 533. His gain consisted of 400 prisoners, 1
caisson, and 700 small arms. Cobb's loss was upwards of 600.

2 These were the Thirty-second Ohio, Thirty-ninth, One Hundred and Fifteenth, and One Hundred and
Twenty-sixth New York, and part of a Maryland regiment.

HARPER'S FERRT.

SURRENDER OF HARPER'S FERRY. 473

Mountain, two or three miles northward, and soon commenced skirmishing, 1
Ford had only a slight breast-work of trees, with an abatis in front of it,
near the crest, for defense. He repelled an assault in force at an early hour
on the 13th, but when it was renewed a little later, by Kershaw, some of his
troops gave way and fled in great confusion. They were rallied, but the
Confederates had secured such vantage-ground that, under cover of darkness,
at two o'clock the next morning, Ford, hopeless of aid from Miles, spiked
his guns and withdrew to Harper's Ferry.

All was now lost, unless Miles could hold out until succor could come
from Franklin. Harper's Ferry was completely invested early on the 14th,
the great hills around it, excepting Bolivar Heights, on which the Nationals
had batteries, being then in possession of the foe. From these commanding
positions an artillery fire was opened in the afternoon. McLaws had pushed
forward to the Potomac at Sandy Hook, and barred the way to escape down
the river, and General Wright, with artillery, was well posted at the foot of
Maryland Heights. " Hold out to the last extremity, Colonel Miles," said
McClellan by messenger, " and, if possible, reoccupy Maryland Heights with
your whole force. The Catoctin Valley is in our possession, and you can
safely cross the river at Berlin." But Miles did no such thing. At nine
o'clock that night he allowed his cavalry, two thousand strong, under Col-
onel Davis, to depart, and before morning eleven of Ewell's guns were taken
across the Shenandoah, and so planted as to assail the National batteries on
Bolivar Heights, in reverse. At dawn no less than nine batteries opened upon
the garrison. The portion of it on Bolivar Heights was driven to the lower
hill, near the town, and the certain destruction of all seemed impending.
Miles soon displayed a white flag, and at eight o'clock terms of surrender
had been agreed upon. Miles was then dead. His white flag had not been
readily seen, and the firing had continued for thirty or forty minutes. A
shot killed him, and the duty of surrendering devolved upon General White.
Nearly twelve thousand men became prisoners of war, and a considerable
amount of spoils fell into the hands of the victors. 8 The conduct of Miles
was such, according to sworn testimony, that his loyalty to the cause of
the Republic is suspected. 3

Lee now possessed Maryland Heights and Harper's Ferry, but found
himself in such peril that the victory seemed like a snare. Franklin's advent
in Pleasant Valley on the morning of the 15th was a specter that appalled
him. The severance of his army by his enemy was threatened, and he took
measures to concentrate it. He withdrew his troops from South Mountain
across Pleasant Valley and Elk Ridge, and took position in the Antietam

1 McLaws and Anderson had evacuated Pleasant Valley on the day when Jackson captured Martinsburs:.
McLaws at once ordered Kersbaw to take his own and Barksdale's brigades up a rough mountain road to the
crest of the Elk Mountain, and to follow tlie ridge to Ford's position on Maryland Heights.

* The number of men surrendered was 11,583, half of them from New York, and the remainder from Ohio
and Maryland. Most of them were raw levies, some of them being three months men, under the President's
call of the first of June. The spoils were 73. cannon, 13,000 small arms, 200 wagons, and a large quantity of
tents and camp equipage.

1 A Commission appointed to investigate the matter showed that Miles had been ordered a month before
the surrender to fortify Maryland Heights, but had neglected to do so ; that he had refused to furnish Ford with
intrenching tools; that two days before the surrender he had paroled sixteen Confederate prisoners and allowed
them to pass into the Confederate lines, by which the foe might obtain full information ; that he had held a pri-
vate interview with a captured Confederate officer, and paroled him ; that he allowed him to pass back into his
own lines, and that he appeared among the first to reach the National camp as one of the victors.

474 THE AKMIES Iff THE ANTIETAM VALLEY.

Valley, in the vicinity of Sharpsburg. Jackson also, seeing the menacing
peril, had left the matter of capitulation at Harper's Ferry to A. P. Hill, and
with the remainder of his command recrossed the Potomac, and by swift
marches rejoined Lee on the Antietam Creek. McLaws saw that his own
force might be crushed by a vigorous movement on the part of Franklin,
and as the surrender of Harper's Ferry seemed to give him leave to with-
draw, he abandoned Maryland Heights, passed the Potomac at
J i&62. 1T ' *ke Ferry, and made his way to Lee by Shepherdstown. Walker
had already abandoned Loudon Heights, and made his way by
the same route toward the main army. By these quick movements Lee's
forces became . consolidated before McClellan was ready to strike him a
serious blow. On the 16th of September the Confederate Army was well
posted on the heights near Sharpsburg, on the western side of the Antietam
Creek, which traverses a very beautiful valley, and falls into the Potomac
six miles above Harper's Ferry.

When McClellan observed the Confederates retreating from South Moun-
tain, on the morning of the 15th,* he ordered his whole army for-
ward in pursuit. Lee's plans were thwarted, and he found him-
self compelled to fight ; and with the troops in hand that morning he made
as great a display of power as possible, that Jackson and his other leaders,
who had been operating against Harper's Ferry, might bring up their forces.
This stratagem was successful. McClellan was so impressed with the idea
that overwhelming numbers were on his front, that he hesitated, and finally,
as he says in his report (page 200), he " found that it was too late to attack
that day." That hesitation and delay was fatal. At ten o'clock in the
morning he had sent a thrill of joy through the country by announcing to
the General-in-Chief the utter demoralization and decimation of the Con-
federates, and the assurance that he was " following as rapidly as the men
could move ;'" but sadness followed, for the hopes excited by that announce-
ment were not realized.

There was some sharp skirmishing on the 15th ; first with cavalry and
then with artillery. McClellan's vanguard of horsemen overtook the cover-
ing cavalry of the Confederates at Boonsborough, charged upon them, killed
and wounded a number, and captured two hundred and fifty men and two
guns. And when the main body of the Nationals approached the Antietam
Creek, on the Keedysville and Sharpsburg roads, the Confederates opened
their artillery upon them, and received some sharp responses. This was
the sum of the conflict on the 15th.

On the morning of the 16th" both armies were actively preparing for
battle. The bulk of the Confederate forces, under Longstreet
and D. H. Hill, stood along the range of heights between Sharps-
burg and the Antietam, which flowed between the belligerents. Longstreet
was on the right of the road between Sharpsburg and Boonsborough, and
Hill on the left. Hood's division was posted between Hill and the Hagers-
town road, north of Miller's farm, so as to oppose an expected flank move-

1 See McClellan's dispatches. He erroneously supposed his troops had been fighting the whole of Lee's
army, and he reported accordingly. " It is stated," he said, " Lee gives his loss at 15,000," and added, " We are
following as rapidly as the men can move." This announcement on the morning of the 15th caused the Presi-
dent to telegraph to McClellan, saying, ' God bless you and all with you ; destroy the rebel army if possible."

POSITION OF THE TWO ARMIES.

475

raent in that direction ; and near that point, in the rear, Jackson's exhausted
troops were posted in reserve, his line stretching from the Hagerstown road
toward the Potomac, and protected by Stuart with cavalry and artillery.
Walker was posted on Longstreet's right with two brigades a little south
of Sharpsburg, near Shaveley's, farm. General Lee had his quarters in a
tent, as usual, on the hill close by Sharpsburg, where the National ceme-
tery now is, and from that point he overlooked much of the country that
was made a battle-field the next day.

Along the line of the Confederate Army, the Antietam (a sluggish stream
with few fords) was spanned by four stone bridges 1 of like architecture, three
of which were strongly
guarded. McClellan
made his head-quarters
at the fine brick man-
sion of Philip Pry,
about two miles north-
east of Sharpsburg, east
of the Antietam, and
on each side of him in
front his army was
posted. On the right,
near Keedysville, and
on both sides of the
Sharpsburg pike, stood the corps of Sumner and Hooker. In advance, on
the right of the turnpike and near the Antietam, General Richardson's divi-
sion of Sumner's corps was posted. In line with this, on the left of that
road, was Sykes's regular division of Porter's corps, protecting bridge No.
2. Farther down the stream, on the left, and not far from No. 3, Burnside's
corps was posted. Upon a ridge of the first line of hills east of Antietam,
between the turnpike and Pry's house, and in front of Sumner and Hooker,

batteries of 24-pounder Parrott guns, com-
manded by Captains Taft, Langner, and
Von Kleizer, and Lieutenant Weaver, were
planted. On the crest of the hill, above
bridge No. 3, were batteries under Captain
Weed and Lieutenant Benjamin. Frank-
lin's corps and Couch's division were far-
ther down in Pleasant Valley, near Browns-
vjlle, and Morrell's division of Porter's
corps was approaching from Boonsborough,
and Humphrey's from Frederick. A de-
tachment of the Signal Corps, under Major
Myer, had a station on Red Ridge, a spur
of South Mountain, which overlooked the
entire field of operations, and from that

HCOLELLAN'S HEAD-QITABTEEB.

SIGNAL-STATION ON BUD HILLS.

1 The upper, or No. 1. was at the crossing of the Keedysville and Williauisport road; No. 2 was on the
Keedysville and Sharpsburg turnpike, two miles below : No. 3 was about a mile below this and Sharpsbnrg, on
the Rohersville and Sharpsburg road; and No. 4 near the mouth of the creek, on the Sharpsburg and Harper's
Ferry road.

476

PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE.

point it performed very important service. Such was the general position
of the contending armies on the 16th of September.

The Confederates opened an artillery fire on the Nationals at dawn, but
it was afternoon before McClellan was ready to put his troops in position for
attack, the morning having been spent in r^connoitering, finding fords, and
other preparations required by prudence. There was found to be a lack of
ammunition and rations, and these had to be supplied from tardily approach-
ing supply-trains. Finally he was in readiness, and at two o'clock in the
afternoon Hooker was ordered to cross the Antietam at and near bridge No.
1, with the divisions of Ricketts, Meade, and Doubleday, and attack and

turn the Confederate left. Sumner
was directed to throw over the stream
during the night General Mansfield's
corps (Twelfth), and to hold his own
(Second) ready to cross early the
next morning. Hooker's movement
was successful. Advancing through
the woods he struck Hood, and after
a sharp contest, commenced with
Meade's Pennsylvania Reserves, near
the house of D. Miller, and which
lasted until dark, the Confederates
were driven back. Hooker's men
rested that night on their arms upon
the ground they had won from their
foe. Mansfield's corps (divisions of
Williams and Greene) crossed the
Antietam during the evening in Hooker's track, and bivouacked on Poffen-
berger's farm, a mile in his rear.

The night of the 16th was passed by both armies with the expectation of
a heavy battle in the morning. Few officers found relief from anxiety, for
it was believed by many that it might be a turning-point in the war. Only
the Commander-in-Chief of the National army seems to have had a lofty
faith that all would be well. He retired to his room at a little past ten
o'clock, and did not leave it until eight o'clock the next morning, when the
surrounding hills had been echoing the sounds of battle which had been rag-
ing within a mile of head-quarters for three hours. Then, with some of his
aids, he walked to a beautiful grove on the brow of a declivity near Pry's,
overlooking the Antietam, and watched ^he battle on the right for about two
hours, when he mounted his horse and rode away to Porter's position, on the
right, where he was greeted, as usual, by the hearty cheers of his admiring
soldiers. 1

The contest was opened at dawn" by Hooker, with about eighteen thou-
sand men. He made a vigorous attack on the Confederate left,
commanded by Jackson. Doubleday was on his right, Meade
on his left, and Ricketts in the center. His first object was to
push the Confederates back through a line of woods, and seize the Hagers-

JOBEPII K. r. MANSFIELD.

* 8 i&62. 17 '

1 Oral statement to the author, by Mr. and Mrs Pry.

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 477

town road and the woods beyond it in the vicinity of the Dunker Church,

where Jackson's line lay. The contest was obstinate and severe. The

National batteries on the east side of the

Antietam poured an enfilading fire on

Jackson that galled him very much, and

it was not long before the Confederates

were driven with heavy loss beyond the

first line of woods, and across an open

field, which was covered thickly in the

morning with standing corn. 1

O O .

Hooker now advanced his center under
Meade to seize the Hagerstown road and
the woods beyond. They were met by a
murderous fire from Jackson, who had
just been re-enforced by Hood's refreshed
troops, and had brought up his reserves.
These issued in great numbers from the
woods, and fell heavily upon Meade in the

cornfield. Hooker called upon Doubleday for aid, and a brigade under the
gallant General Hartsuff was instantly forwarded at the double-quick, and
passed across the cornfield in the face of a terrible storm of shot and shell.
It fought desperately for half an hour unsupported, when its leader fell
fleverely wounded.

In the mean time Mansfield's corps had been ordered up to the support of
Hooker, and while the divisions of Williams and Greene, of that corps,
were deploying, the veteran commander was mortally wounded. The
charge of his corps then devolved on General Williams, who left his division
to the care of General Crawford. The latter, with his own and Gordon's
brigade, pushed across the open field and seized a part of the woods on the
Hagerstown road. At the same time Green's division took position to the left
of the Dunker Church.

Hooker had lost heavily by battle and straggling, yet he was contending
manfully for victory. Doubleday's guns had silenced a Confederate battery
on the extreme right, and Ricketts was struggling against a foe constantly
increasing, but was bravely holding his ground without power to advance.
The fight was very severe, and at length the National line began to waver
and give way. Hooker, while in the van, was so severely wounded in the
foot that he was taken from the field at nine o'clock, and to McClellan's
head-quarters at Pry's, leaving his command to Sumner, who had just arrived
on the field with his own corps. Up to this time the battle had been fought
much in detail, both lines advancing and falling back as each received re-en-
forcements.

Sumner at once sent General Sedgwick to the support of Crawford and

1 Hood had tx-cn withdrawn during the nlsrht, and his troops had been replaced by the brigades of Lawton
and Trimble, of Swell's corps, with Jackson's "Stonewall Brigade" under P. K. Jones, supported by the
remaining brigades -of EwelL Jackson, surrounded by the remnant of -his old command, was in charge of the
Confederate left. Tbat remnant, according to his report, was not more than 4,000 strong, it having been almost
decimated by fighting from the Rapid Anna to the Potomac, and by straggling in Maryland. '

In this encounter the Confederate leaders Lawton and Jones were woundod, and Early took the place of
the former In command.

478

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.

Gordon, and Richardson and French bore down upon the foe more to the
left, when the corn-field, already won and lost by both parties, was regained
by the Nationals, who held the ground around the Dunker Church. Victory
seemed certain for the latter, for Jackson and Hood had commenced retiring,
when fresh troops under McLaws and Walker came to Jackson's support,
seconded by Early on their left. These pressed desperately forward, pene-
trated the National line at a Gap between Sumner's right and center, and
the Unionists were driven back to the first line of woods east of the Hagers-
town road, when the victors, heavily smitten by the National artillery, and

VIEW OF THE ANTIETAM BATTLE-GBOUND. 1

menaced by unflinching Doubleday, withdrew to their original position near
the church. Sedgwick, twice wounded, was carried from the field, when the
command of his division devolved on General O. O. Howard. Generals
Crawford and Dana were also wounded.

It was now about noon, and fighting had been going on since dawn.
The wearied right needed immediate support. It came at a timely moment.
Franklin had come up from below, and McClellan, who remained on the
east side of the Antietam, sent him over to assist the hard-pressed right.
He formed on Howard's left, and at once sent Slocum with his division
toward the center. At the same time General Smith was ordered to retake

1 This was the appearance of the scene when the author sketched it, at the beginning of October, 1863. The
view is from the grove, mentioned in the text, from which McClellan watched the battle, according to the state-
ment of Mr. Pry, who accompanied him. The birds in the picture are over certain localities. The single bird
on the left is over Alfred Ctirt's barn, whose house is seen in the middle ground. The two birds are over th'
Dunker Church ; the three birds denote the place of Mumma's house ; the four birds indicate the position of
burying-ground , and the five birds are over the spot at the edge of the woods, in the extreme distance, where
General Mansfield was killed.

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 479

the ground over which there had been so much contention and bloodshed.
Within fifteen minutes after the order was given it was executed. The
Confederates were driven from the open field and beyond the Hagerstown
road by gallant charges, accompanied by loud cheers, first by Franklin's
Third Brigade, under Colonel Irwin, and then by the Seventh Maine. In-
spired by this success, Franklin desired to push forward and seize a rough
wooded position of importance ; but Sumner thought the movement would
be too hazardous, and he was restrained.

Meanwhile the divisions of French and Richardson had been busy. The
former, with the brigades of Weber, Kimball, and Morris (the latter raw
troops), pushed on toward the center, Weber leading; and while he was
fighting hotly, French received orders from Sumner to press on vigorously
and make a diversion in favor of the right. After a severe contest with the
brigades of Hill (Colquitt's, Ripley's, and McRae's) not engaged with Jackson,
the Confederates were pressed back to a sunken road in much disorder. In
the mean time the division of Richardson, composed of the brigades of
Meagher, Caldwell, and Brooks, which crossed the Antietam between nine
and ten o'clock, moved forward to the attack on French's left. Right gal-
lantly did Meagher fight his way up to the crest of a hill overlooking the
Confederates at the sunken road, suffering dreadfully from a tempest
of bullets; and when his ammunition was almost exhausted, Caldwell,
aided by a part of Brooks's brigade, as gallantly came to his support and
relief.

Hill was now re-enforced by about four thousand men, under R. H.
Anderson, and the struggle was fierce for a while, the Confederates trying
to seize a ridge on the National left for the purpose of turning that flank.
This was frustrated by a quick and skillful movement by Colonel Cross with
his " Fighting Fifth '" New Hampshire. He and the Confederates had a
race for the ridge along parallel lines, fighting as they ran. Cross won it,
and being re-enforced by the Eighty-first Pennsylvania, the Confederates were
driven back with a heavy loss in men, and the colors of the Fourth North
Carolina. An effort to flank the right at the same time was checked by
French, Brooks, and a part of Caldwell's force, 8 and a charge of the Con-
federates directly on Richardson's front was quickly repulsed. The National
line was steadily advanced until the foe was pushed back to Dr. Piper's
house, near the Sharpsburg road, which formed a sort of citadel for them,
and there they made an obstinate stand. Richardson's artillery was now
brought up, and while that brave leader was directing the fire of Captain
Graham's battery, he was felled by a ball that proved fatal. 3 General W. S.
Hancock succeeded him in command, when a charge was made that drove
the Confederates from Piper's in the utmost confusion, and only the skillful

show of strength by a*few of his fresh troops prevented a fatal severance of

* ____

1 See note 2, page 410.

1 Colonel Francis C. Barlow performed eminent service at this point in the struggle. With the Sixty-first
and Sixty-fourth New York he attacked the flank of the Confederate force that was trying to enfilade the
National line, and captured three hundred of the men and three flags. With these two regiment?, assisted by
Kimball's brigade, he so gallantly charged the Confederates on the right of Caldwell, that they were repulsed
and scattered in great confusion.

* General Richardson was taken to McClellan's head-quarters (Pry's), where ho died after suffering seven
weeks.

480

BATTLE OF ANTIETAM.

WINFIELD S. HANCOCK.

Lee's line. 1 The Nationals were deceived, and did not profit by the ad-
vantage gained. Night soon closed the action on the right and center, the

Unionists holding the ground they
had acquired. In the struggle near
the center, the gallant General
Meagher was wounded and carried
from the field, and his command
devolved on Colonel Burke, of the
New York Sixty-third.

During the severe conflicts of
the day, until late in the afternoon,
Porter's corps, with artillery, and
Plcasanton's cavalry, had remained
on the east side of the Antietam as
a reserve, and in holding the road
from Sharpsburg to Middletown and
Boonsborough. Then McClellan
sent two brigades to support the
wearied right, and six battalions of Sykes's regulars were thrown across
bridge No. 2, on the Sharpsburg road, to drive away the Confederate
sharp-shooters, who were seriously interfering with Pleasanton's horse batte-
ries there. Warren's brigade was sent more to the left, on the right and
rear of Burnside, who held the extreme left of the National line. This
brings us to a notice of the operations of the day under the directions of
Burnside.

The left was resting on the slopes opposite bridge No. 3, at Rohrback's
farm, a little below Sharpsburg, which was held on the morning of the
17th by the brigade
of Toombs (Second
and Twentieth Geor-
gia), supported by
sharp-shooters and
batteries on Long-
street's right wing,
commanded by D. R.
Jones. Burnside
was directed, . at
eight o'clock in the
morning, to cross
that bridge, attack
the foe, carry the
heights on the oppo-
site bank of the
Antietam, and ad-
vance along their
crest upon Sharps-
burg. It was a task

THE BURNSIDK BEIDGE.

1 D. II. Hill, in his report, speaking of the struggle at this point, declared that "affairs looked very critical,"
for the Nationals were within a few hundred yards of the lull which commanded Shurpsbunj and the Confederate

CLOSE OF THE BATTLE OF ANTIETAM. 481

of greatest difficulty, for the approaches to the bridge were in the nature of a
defile, exposed to a raking fire from the Confederate batteries, and an enfila-
ding one from their sharp-shooters. In several attempts to cross the bridge
Burnside was repulsed. Finally, at about one o'clock in the afternoon, the
Fifty-first New York and Fifty-first Pennsylvania charged across and drove
its defenders to the heights. Gathering strength at the bridge by the cross-
ing of the divisions of Sturgis, Wilcox, and Rodman,, and Scammon's bri-
gade, with the batteries of Durell, Clark, Cook, and Simmons, Burnside
charged up the hill, and drove the Confederates almost to Sharpsburg, the
Ninth New York capturing one of their batteries. Just then A. P. Hill's
division, which had been hastening up from Harper's Ferry, came upon the
ground, and under a heavy fire of artillery charged upon Burnside's extreme
left, and after severe fighting, in which General Rodman was mortally
wounded, drove him back almost to the bridge. In that charge General L.
O'B. Branch, of North Carolina, was killed. The pursuit was checked by
the National artillery on the eastern side of the stream, under whose fire
the reserves led by Sturgis advanced, and the Confederates did not attempt
to retake the bridge. Darkness closed the conflict here, as it did all along
the line.

Hill came up just in time, apparently, to save Lee's army from capture or
destruction. Experts say that if Burnside had accomplished the passage of
the bridge and the advance movement an hour earlier, or had Porter been
sent a few hours sooner to the support of the hard-struggling right, that
result would doubtless have ensued. It is easy to conjecture what might
have been. "We have to do only with what occurred. Looking upon the
event from that stand-point, we see darkness ending one of the most memo-
rable days of the war because of its great and apparently useless carnage,
for the result was only hurtful in the extreme to both parties. 1 With the
gloom of that night also ended the conflict known as THE BATTLE OF ANTIE-
TAM, in which McClellan said (erroneously as to the number of troops)
" nearly two hundred thousand men and five hundred' pieces of artillery
were for fourteen hours engaged.* Our soldiers slept that night," he said,
" conquerors on a field won by their valor, and covered by the dead and
wounded of the enemy."

"When the morning of the 18th dawned, both parties seemed willing not

rear. lie rallied two hundred men, find made attacks with surprising effect " The Yankees were completely
deceived by this boldness," said Mill in bis report (Reports of the Artny of Northern Virginia, ii 117), "and
induced to believe that there was a larje force in our center."

1 For details of the Battle of Antietam (which the Confederates call the battle of Sharpsbnrg), see the
reports of Generals McClellan and Lee, and their subordinate commanders. From these sources, and from writ-
ten and oral statements from actors in the scene, the author has constructed the foregoing outline narrative.

The losses in that battle were very severe. From careful estimates, made after consulting the most reliable
statements, it appears that McCIellan's army was in round numbers 87,000 men, and that of Lee about 60,000.
Couch's division of 5.000 men was"too far away from the battle on that day to be available, having been sent, for
some purpose, toward Harper's Ferry. McClellan reported his entire loss on that day at 12.469 men, of whom
2,010 were killed. He estimated the loss of Lee as much greater. No reliable official statement seems to have
been made by the Confederate commander. The losses of the Unionists fell heavily upon particular brigades
at particular points in the battle. That of the gallant Dnryee, for example, returned from th i field with not
more than twenty men and four colors. Statement to the author by General Dury6e. See also History of
Duryee's Brigade, by Franklin B. Hough, page 19. The carnage on the other side also fell on particular bri-
gades. Jackson, in his report says "more than half of the brigades of Lawton and Hays were either killed or
wounded, and more than a third of Trimble's ; and all the regimental commanders in those brigades, except
two. were killed or wounded."

2 McClellan's Report, page 210.

YOL. IT. 31

482

LEE PERMITTED TO ESCAPE.

to renew the strife. Lee was really in a sad plight, for he could not easily
call to his aid any re-enforcements ; his supplies were nearly exhausted, and
his army was terribly shattered and disorganized. 1 A careful estimate has
made his losses at that time, since he commenced the invasion of Maryland,
a fortnight before, nearly thirty thousand men. 8 McClellan's army was also

greatly shattered ;
but on the morn-
ing after the battle
he was joined by
fourteen thousand
fresh troops under
Couch and Hum-
phrey. It is cer-
tain now that
with these, and
the effective re-
mains of his ar-
my, he might
cap-

easily

tured

Lee's

day.

were

have
or ruined
army that

But there
grave con-
siderations to be
heeded. McClel-
lan afterward said,
" Virginia was
lost, Washington
menaced, Mary-
land invaded the
National cause
could afford no
risks of defeat." 3
He therefore hesi-
tated, and finally,
in opposition to
the advice of
Franklin and
others, he deferred
a renewal of the

battle until the next morninjj. When that morning dawned, and he sent his

O O '

cavalry to reconnoiter, the National army had no foe to fight, for Lee, with
his shattered legions, had recrossed the Potomac under cover of darkness,

BATTLE Of ANTIETAM.

1 We have before remarked that Lee lost more by desertion than he gained by recruits in Maryland. In his
report of the Maryland campaign, he says the privations of rest and food, and general lack of supplies, " com-
pelled thousands of brave men to absent themselves, and many more had done go from unworthy motives.
This great battle was fought by less than 40,000 men on onr side."

8 He lost 6,000 made prisoners ; also 15,000 small arms, 13 cannon, and 39 battle-flairs.

' McClellan's Report, page 211.

McCLELLAN ORDERED TO PURSUE LEE. 483

and was on the soil of his native Virginia, with eight batteries under Pen-
dleton on the river-bluffs, menacing pursuers.

That evening" at dusk General Porter ordered General Griffin, s ep t 19,
with his own and Barnes's brigade, to cross the Potomac to
carry Lee's batteries. It was done, and four of their guns were
captured. On the following morning,* a part of Porter's divi-
sion made a reconnoissance in force. "When a mile from the ford they
were surprised by A. P. Hill, who lay in ambush, and they were driven back
into and across the river in great disorder, with the loss of two hundred men
made prisoners. The Confederates held the Virginia bank of the stream all
that day, and on the next, Lee moved leisurely toward Martinsburg, destroy-
ing the Baltimore and Ohio railroad much of the way, with Stuart lingering
on his rear to cover that retreat, and to deceive McClellan by a show of
numbers and vigor. Stuart recrossed the river at Williamsport on the same
day, when he was driven back by General Couch with a heavy force of all
arms. McClellan then sent General Williams to retake Maryland Heights ;
and two days later* General Sumner occupied Harper's Ferry, and
threw- pontoon bridges across the Potomac and Shenandoah
rivers at that place.

Lee rested a few days, and then moved leisurely up the Shenandoah Val-
ley to the vicinity of Bunker's Hill and Winchester, breaking up the railway
much of the distance between the latter place and Harper's Ferry. McClel-
lan, meanwhile, had begun to call for re-enforcements and supplies, as pre-
requisites to a pursuit. His disorganized army needed re-organization. His
cavalry force was greatly weakened by casualties in battle, fatigues, and
a distemper which disabled four thousand horses ; and clothing, shoes, and
camp equipage, were greatly needed. On the 27th rf he renewed
aa application made on the 23d for re-enforcements, and then
informed the Government that he intended to hold his army where it was,
and " attack the enemy should he attempt to recross into Maryland." The
Government was astounded by this declaration, and the loyal people, remem-
bering the fatal restraints which had for months been holding the crallant

~ * O ~

Army of the Potomac from substantial victories, were very impatient. The
President hastened to that army' to find out its actual condition
by personal observation. He was so well satisfied that it was
competent to move at once in pursuit of Lee, that on the 6th he instructed
McClellan to "cross the Potomac and give battle to the enemy, or drive him
South. Your army must now move," he said, " while the roads are good."
Twenty days were spent in correspondence between the commander of
the Army of the Potomac and the National authorities before that order was
obeyed, the former calling for and receiving re-enforcements and supplies,
and complaining of a lack of both to make it safe to move forward. 1 At
length, when the beautiful month of October, during which the roads were
perfect, had nearly passed by, and Lee's army was thoroughly rested, sup-

1 McClellan complained of n want of horses, of shoes, of clothing, and of transportation, when the record
shows that not a single requisition was left unanswered by immediate and full supply. His quartermaster-
general declared before the army crossed the Potomac that complaints concerning clothing, particularly, were
' gronndless." and that every requisition was promptly mot See General Halleck's letter to the Secretary of
War. October 28th, 1S62. In reading the correspondence and the testimony concerning the delay in moving the
Army of the Potomac, and the commander's continual complaints of a lack of men and supplies to^make pursuit

484 NATIONAL ARMY AGAIN IN VIRGINIA

plied, re-enforced, and his communications with Richmond were re-established,
McClellan's advance began to cross the Potomac, on a pontoon-

" ^862 26 ' bridge at Berlin," and on the 2d of November he announced that
his whole army was once more in Virginia, prepared to move
southward on the east side of the Blue Ridge, instead of pursuing Lee up the
Shenandoah Valley, on its western side.

Meanwhile Stuart, with eighteen hundred cavalry, had recrossed the river
at Williamsport, and made once again a complete circuit of the Army of the
Potomac without loss. He pushed on as far as Chambersburg, in Pennsyl-
vania, where he destroyed a large amount of property, 1 and captured and
paroled nearly three hundred sick and wounded soldiers found in the hospital
there. Then he made a sweep around to the Potomac below McClellan's
left, and recrossed into Virginia at White's Ford.

When the Army of the Potomac, now over one hundred thousand strong, 5
was ready to cross the river, Pleasanton, with his cavalry, led the way at
Berlin. Burnside followed, leading an immense wagon-train, and others fol-
lowed him. Perceiving this movement, the Confederates began retreating
up the Shenandoah Valley, followed by Generals Sedgwick and Hancock a
short distance. By the 4th, & the National army, re-enforced by
the divisions of Generals Sigel and Sickles from Washington, occu-
pied the whole region east of the Blue Ridge, with several of its gaps, from
Harper's Ferry to Paris, on the road from Aldie to Winchester, and on the
6th McClellan's head-quarters were at Rectortown, near Front Royal. The
Confederates, meanwhile, were falling back, and so, from the Potomac to
Front Royal and Warrenton, the two great armies moved in parallel lines,
with the lofty range of the Blue Ridge between them, and Richmond as the
seeming objective.

That race was watched with the most intense anxiety. It was hoped
that McClellan, with his superior force and equipment and ample supplies,
might capture or disperse the army of his opponent by gaining its front, and
-striking it heavy blows on the flank through the mountain passes. But Lee
was, as usual, too quick for his opponent. Anticipating this movement of

or fighting a safe operation, one is reminded of the famous letter of Napoleon to Marshal Augereau, on the 21st
of February, 1814, which selves his idea of making war. The marshal had given excuses similar to those of
McClellan for inaction. Napoleon said:

"What ! Six hours after receiving the first troops from Spain you are not yet in the field I Six hours' rest
is quite enough for them. I conquered at Nangis with ft brigade of dragoons coming from Spain, who from
Bayonne had not drawn rein. Do you say that the six battalions from Nimes want clothes and equipage, and
are uninstructed? Augereati, what miserable excuses! I have destroyed 80,000 enemies with battalions of
conscripts, scarcely clothed, and without cartridge-boxes. The National Guard arc pitiful. I have here 4,000
from Angers and Brctagne, in round hats, without cartridge-boxes, but with good weapons; nnd I have made
them tell. There is no money, do you say? But where do you expect to get money but from the pockets of
the enemy? You have no teams? Seize them! Tou have no magazines? Tut, tut, that is too ridiculous !
I order you to put yourself in the field twelve hours after you receive this letter. If you are still the Augereau
of Castiglione, keep your command. If your sixty years are too much for you, relinquish it to the oldest of your
general officers. T7ie country is menaced and in danger. It can only be saved by daring and alacrity, and
not by vain delays. Tou must have a nucleus of 6,000 picked troops. I have not so many : yet I have destroyed
.three armies, captured 40,000 prisoners, taken 200 pieces of artillery, and thrice saved the capital. The enemy
are in full flight upon Troyes ? Be before them. Act no longer as of late. Resume the method and spirit of
'93. When Frenchmen see your plume waving in the van, and you, first of all, exposed to the enemy's fire, you
will do with them whatever you will."

1 This consisted of a large quantity of military supplies, clothing, 5,000 muskets, the railway buildings,
including station-house and machine-shops, and several trains of loaded cars.

2 Lee reported his force then present at 86.583, of whom 73,554 were fit for doty. His entire army, present
and absent, numbered 153,790.

BUKNSIDE SUPERSEDES McCLELLAN. 485

his foe, he had pushed Longstreet rapidly forward, and on the day after
McClellan's army had crossed the river, that able general had crossed the
Blue Ridge, and was at Culpepper Court-House" in heavy force,
between the Array of the Potomac and Richmond, ready to dispute ^se^ 3 '
the advance of the latter in its direct line of march toward the Con-
federate capital. Nothing but a quick and vigorous movement, by which
Lee's army might be severed and destroyed in detail, could now secure a sub-
stantial victory for the Nationals. Would it be done ? Experience shook
its head ominously. The faith of the Government and of the loyal people in
McClellan's ability or disposition to achieve a victory by such movement
was exhausted, and on the 5th of November an order was issued from the
War Department relieving him of his command, and putting General Burn-
side in his place. This order, borne by General Buckingham, was received
by McClellan late in the evening of the 7th, at which time Burnside was in
the tent of the chief.

Twice before, the command of that army had been offered to Burnside,
who came from North Carolina with the prestige of a successful leader. He
had modestly declined it, because he felt himself incompetent for the station.
That modest estimate of his ability now made him shrink from the honor
and the grave responsibilities ; but duty at that critical moment, and the
peremptory orders of his Government, compelled him to take both, and with
the spirit of the assurance, " I'll try," he assumed the command on the 10th
of November. 1

Burnside's sense of the magnitude of his trust made him exceedingly
cautious, and instead of going forward to the point of a great battle, to
which McClellan's movements seemed tending, with promises of success, 5 he
occupied about ten days getting the army, now one hundred and twenty
thousand strong, well in mind and hand, and in reorganizing it. 3 He also
adopted a new plan of operations, by which the capture of Richmond rather
than the immediate destruction of Lee's army was made the objective. The
National army was moving rapidly away from its base of supplies into, an
enemy's country, at a season when inclement weather might be expected ;
while the Confederate Army was continually nearing its base of supplies.
Burnside therefore determined, with the acquiescence of the General-in-Chief,
to make Aquia Creek, connected by railroad with Fredericksburg, his base,
and to operate from that point by a nearer route to Richmond than Gor-

1 At that time the A rmy of the Potomac was massed near Warrenton, as follows : " The First, Second, and
Fifth Corps, reserve artillery, and general head-quarters, at Warrenton ; Ninth Corps on the line of the Uuppa-
hannock, in the vicinity of Waterloo; the Sixth Corps at New Baltimore; the Eleventh Corps at New Balti-
more, Gainesville, and Thorouslifare Gap; Sickles's division of the Third Corps, on the Orange and Alexandria
railroad, from Manassas Junction to Warrenton Junction; Pleasanton across the Rappahannock at Amisville,
Jefferson. fce.. with his pickets at Hazel River, facing Longstreet, six miles from Culpepper Court-House;
and Bayard :it Kappahannock Station." See McClellan's Report, page 237.

3 At th:it time Lee's army was in a perilous position. A great part of it, as we have observed, was under
Longstreet, in the vicinity of the Rapid Anna; while Jackson, with a heavy force, was in the Shenandoah
Valley, near Chester and Thornton's Gaps. A vigorous movement forward at this time must have fatally
severed the two forces. To effect that object seems to have been McClellan's design. " I doubt.'' he said,
"whether, during the whole period that I had the honor to command the Army of the Potomac, it was in such
excellent condition to fight a great battle."

* He consolidated the six corps of the army into three grand divisions of two corps each. The Right Grand
Division, commanded by General Sumner, was composed of the Second Corps, General Couch, and the Ninth
Corps, General Wilcox. The Center Grand Division, under General Hooker, was composed of the Third Corps,
General Stoneman, and the Fifth Corps, General Butterfield. The Left Grand Division, under General Franklin,
was composed of the First Corps, under General Reynolds, and the Sixth Corps, under General W. F. Smith.

486

BURNSIDE BEFORE FREDERICKSBURG.

donsville.

Nov., 1862.

In accordance with this resolution, his forces began to move
toward Fredericksburg on the 16th. a Meanwhile Jackson had

Nov. 15.

been making some demonstration north and west of Winchester,
for the purpose of detaching a part of Burnside's force in that direction, but
failed ; while Lee, with the great body of his troops, had retired to Gordons-
ville.

Sumner led the movement* down the left bank of the Rappahannock, to-
ward Falmouth, opposite Fredericksburg, with the expectation
of crossing the river at once, and taking possession of the city
and the commanding heights in its rear. A
feint was made toward Gordonsville, to mask
this movement, but Lee penetrated it, and
put in motion a countervailing force down
the right bank of the river. The head of
Sumner's column arrived at Falmouth on
the 17th, and was assailed by a light battery
already planted on the heights back of Fred-
ericksburg. This was soon silenced by
Petitt's battery, planted on the highest hill
back of Falmouth, in the mansion on the
summit of which, on his arrival toward even-
ing, General Sumner made his quarters.
He was anxious to cross over and seize those
heights. The bridges were destroyed, but
the stream was fordable just above Fal-
mouth. The town was occupied by a regi-
ment of Virginia cavalry and Barksdale's Mississippi brigade of sharpshoot-
ers, their leader making his quarters where McDowell had made his, in the
fine brick building of the Farmers' Bank, corner of George and Princess
Streets. The city and those heights might then have been easily taken, but
Burnside thought it best not to do so
until his communications with Aquia
Creek were established. Besides, ex-
pected pontoons had not arrived, and
a sudden rain might cut off the occu-
pying force from the main army, and
expose it to capture by the rapidly
approaching legions of Lee. So no
attempt to cross was made. 1

Four days after his arrival, when a
greater portion of the National army
was near Falmouth, and its cannon
commanded Fredericksburg, Sumner
demanded the surrender of
the city/ The authorities replied, that while it should not be

BUHNER'S UEAD-QUARTERS.

FARMERS BANK, FREDKF.ICK8BLT.O.

< NOV. 21.

1 Without a shadow of truth. General Lee encouraged hi* troops and the deceived people by solemnly
declaring in his official report that "the advance of General Sumner reached Falmouth on the afternoon of the
17th, and attempted to cross the Rappali:.nnck, but was driven back by Colonel Ball with the Filteenth Vir-
ginia cavalry, four companies of Mississippi infantry, and Lewis's light battery."

THE CONFEDERATES AT FREDERICKSBURG.

487

BRIDGE BUILT BT SOLDIERS OVER POTOMAC RUN.

used for offensive operations against the National army, any attempt of that
army to occupy it would be stoutly resisted. Expecting an immediate
assault in response to this refusal, a greater portion of the inhabitants fled,
and Barksdale's sharp-shooters were distributed throughout the town in
ambush behind buildings.

Immediately after the arrival of the National army before Fredericksburg,
a large force was de-
tailed to repair the rail-
way between that city
and Aquia Creek, its
base of supplies. The
Confederates had de-
stroyed all of the
bridges and much of
the track, but it was
soon put in sufficient
order for temporary
purposes. The bridges
were rebuilt rudely
but strongly of wood,
the most notable speci-
men of which was that
over the Potomac Creek, that traversed a deep ravine. It was four hundred
feet in length, and its top was ninety feet above the water. 1

Before this line of communication was established, the Confederates had
made the seizure of Fredericksburg and the heights behind it impossible
without a severe battle. Lee's army, eighty thousand strong, had pushed
forward toward the Rappahannock as rapidly as possible, and at the close of
November* it lay in a semicircle around Fredericksburg, each
wing resting on the river ; its right at Port Royal, below the city,
and its left six miles above the city. Lee's engineers had been very busy,
and had constructed two lines of fortifications along two concentric ridges a
mile apart, extending from the river, a mile and a half above the city, to the
Fredericksburg and Richmond railway, three miles below the town. These
had grown without the possible interference of the Nationals, for not until
the second week in December were pontoons, which had been ordered, ready
for constructing bridges to cross the river. So formidable were their works
then, that a direct attack in front, with Lee's main force behind them, would
be almost like madness.

Arrangements were made to cross the river at Skenker's Neck, twelve

O '

miles below Falmouth, and turn the Confederate right. This was discovered,
and Lee sent so heavy a force in that direction that the enterprise was aban-
doned. Yet those preparations had so engaged Lee's attention, that he kept
a large force down the river to prevent such movement ; and Burnside felt
satisfied that he might successfully make a sudden crossing, and attack Lee's

1 The picture shows the appearance of that structure. The two stone piers were the remains of the old
bridge. A writer of the day said : " It is a precarious thing in appearance, the track simply propped upon
trestle-work of round logs, and as the trains creep over the abyss, the impressions of the spectators are not, in
the aggregate, comfortable."

ol862.

488

PERILOUS BRIDGE BUILDING.

front and fatally penetrate it, while his army was thus divided. Prepara-
tions for forcing the passage of the Rappahanrrock were made accordingly.
The topgraphy of the river shores favored the enterprise, for Stafford
Heights, where the Nationals lay, were close to its banks, and commanded
the plain on which the city stands, while the heights on which Lee's batte-
ries were planted were from three-fourths of a mile to a mile and a half from
the banks. Such being the case, there seemed to be nothing to oppose
the construction of the bridges but the Mississippi sharp-shooters in the
city.

Every thing was in readiness on the 10th of December. During that
night Stafford Heights, under the direction of General Hunt, chief of artil-
lery, were dotted by twenty-nine batteries containing one hundred and forty-
seven guns, so arranged that they commanded the space between the town
and the heights back of it, and might protect the crossing of the troops. Burn-
side's head-quarters Avere at the house of Mr. Phillips, on the heights, a mile
from the river, from which he could survey the whole field of operations.
The Grand Divisions of Sumner and Hooker, sixty thousand strong, lay in
front of the city, and that of Franklin, forty thousand strong, two miles
below. It was arranged to throw five pontoon bridges across the Rappa-
hannock for the passage of these troops three of them opposite the city, and
two where Franklin was to cross.

Before daylight on the morning of the llth the engineers were quietly
but vigorously at work making the bridges, covered by the Fifty-seventh

and Sixty-sixth New
York, of Zooks's bri-
gade, Hancock's divi-
sion, and concealed by
a fog. They had one
of the bridges about
two-thirds completed,
when they and their
work were discovered.
This drew upon them
a shower of rifle-balls
from the Mississippiuns
THU PHILLIPS HOUSE ON fiR E .i concealed behind Avails

and houses on the city side of the stream. At the same time a signal-gun
was fired to call the Confederate hosts to arms, for General Lee had expected
this movement, and was prepared for an attack. The fire Avas so severe that
the engineers were driven away. Several attempts to reneAV the work were
foiled by the sharp-shooters. Nothing could be done while these remained
in the town, and only artillery might effect their expulsion. So, at about
ten o'clock in the morning, Burnside ordered the batteries on Stafford
Heights to open upon the city, and batter it down, if necessary. The
response to that order was terrific. More than a hundred guns fired fifty
rounds each before the cannonade ceased, Avhen the city Avas awfully shattered,
and on fire in several places. Under cover of this cannonade a fresh attempt

1 This is a view of the Phillips House in flames, tuken by the photographic process by Mr. Gardiner, of
Washington City, while it was burning.

PASSAGE OF THE RAPPAHANNOCK.

489

was made to finish the bridges ; but, strange to say, the sharp-shooters were
there yet, and the effort failed. These must be dislodged. Volunteers were
called for to cross the river in the open pontoon-boats, and drive them from
their hiding-places, which cannon on the heights could not reach. The
Seventh Michigan and Nineteenth and Twentieth Massachusetts, of Howard's
division, offered their services for the perilous undertaking. These dashed
across as rapidly as possible, and as soon as a sufficient number had landed,
they rushed up the bank, drove the Mississippians from their shelter, cap-
tured nearly one hun-
dred of them, and took
possession of the river-
front of the town. 1 The
pontoon-bridges were
soon completed ; but at
the loss, at this point
and at Franklin's cross-
ing-place, nearly two
miles below, of three
hundred men. 2

That evening How-
ard's division of Couch's
corps crossed the river,
drove the Confederates
(Seventeenth andEight-
eenth Mississippi and Eighth Florida) out of Fredericksburg, and occupied
the battered and smoking city. 3 Fortunately for the Nationals, there was
another thick fog the next morning, and under its cover, and the wild firing
in the mist from the Stafford Hills, the remainder of Sumner's Right Grand
Division crossed to the city side of the Rappahannock. A large portion of
Franklin's Left Grand Division crossed at the same time, while the Center
Grand Division, under Hooker, 4 remained on the Falmouth side, .in readiness,

PLACE OF FRANKLIN'S PASSAGE OF THE BAPPAHANNOCK.

1 In this gallant exploit a drummer-boy of the Seventh Michigan, named Robert II. Hendershot, dis-
tinguished himself. It was his twelfth birthday, having been born on the llth day of December, 1850. He
volunteered to go, and with his drum slung to his back he jumped into one of the boats. His captain ordered
him out, telling him he was too small for such business. ' May I help push off the boat, Captain ?" said the boy.
"Yes," was the reply. He purposely let the boat drag him into the river, and, clinging to it, he so crossed the
stream. A large number of the men in the boat were killed, and as the boy climbed up the bank his drum was
torn in pieces by the fragment of a shell. He seized a musket belonging to one of his slain companions, and
fought gallantly with the rest. His bravery was brousht to the notice of Burnside, who warmly commended it.
It was published abroad. The Tribune Association of New York presented him with an elegant new drum, and
the proprietor of the Eastman Business College, at Poughkeepsie, offered to give him a home, a full support, and
a thorough education, without charge ; which generous offer the boy accepted, and he at once entered that
institution.

a Franklin was opposed by sharp-shooters in rifle-pits in front of his bridges, n^ar the month of Deep Run.
These he soon dislodged, and by noon his bridges were ready for use. The above view of the place where
Franklin's pontoons were laid is from a sketch made by the author in June, 1S66, from the right bank of the
river, and nearly opposite the site of the residence of Washington, when he was a boy. For a picture of that
residence, see Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, ii. 219. The river here is much wider than in front of
the city.

3 Eye-witnesses describe the scene in Fredericksburg after the bombardment on the llth as sad in the
extreme. Several buildings which had been set on fire were yet smoking, and very few had escaped wounds
from the missiles. The streets were filled with furniture, carried out to be saved from the flames only to be
destroyed by other causes. Fortunately, the few inhabitants who remained took refuge in cellars, and not one
was killed. The picture in the text on the next page is from a sketch by Henry Lovie, made on the morning
after the bombardment.

4 See noto 3, page 485.

490

POSITION OF THE BELLIGERENTS.

if the movement succeeded, " to spring upon the enemy in their retreat."

The entire day" was consumed in the crossing, and in recon-

ll> isci 2 ' nosering the position of the Confederates, and that night the

National troops lay on their arms, ready for the expected battle

in the morning.

The Confederates, with three hundred cannon well posted on the heights,
were also ready for action; for Jackson's force, whose extreme right had

been posted eighteen
miles down the river,
had been called in,
and the whole of
Lee's army, eighty
thousand strong, was
ready to oppose the
Nationals. 1 Its left
was composed of
Longstreet's corps,
with Anderson's di-
vision resting upon
the river, and those
of McLaws, Pickett,
and Hood, extending
to the right in the
order named. Ran-
som's division sup-
porte.d the batteries
on Marye's and Wil-
lis's Hills, at the foot of which Cobb's brigade and the Twenty-fourth North
Carolina were stationed, protected by a stone wall. 2 The immediate care of
this important point was intrusted to General Ransom. The Washington
(New Orleans) Artillery, under Colonel Walton, occupied the redoubts on
the crest of Marye's Hill, and those on the heights to the right and left were
held by part of the Reserve artillery, Colonel E. P. Alexander's battalion,
and the division batteries of Anderson, Ransom, and McLaws. A. P. Hill,
of Jackson's corps, was posted between Hood's right and Hamilton's crossing
on the railway, his front line under Pender, Lane, and Archer occupying the
edge of a wood. Lieutenant Walker, with fourteen pieces of artillery, was
posted near the right, supported by two Virginia regiments, under Colonel

1 When Lee was satisfied that Burnside was moving on Fredericksburg, he ordered Jackson to cross the
Blue Ridge and place himself in position to co-operate with Longstree.t. A little later both he and Longstreet
were ordered to Fredericksburg, when the division of D. II. Hill was sent to Port Royal 10 oppose the passage
of gun-boats, which had appeared there. The rest of Jackson's division was disposed so as to support Hill. The
cavalry brigade of General W. II. F. Lee was stationed near Port Royal, and the furds of the Rappahannock
above Fredericksburg were closely watched. On the 23th of November, Wade Hampton crossed and made a
rfconnoissance as far as Dumfries and Occoquan, and captured two hundred Nationals and some wagons ; and at
about the same time a part of Beales's regiment of Lee's brigade dashed across the Rappahannock in boats,
below Port Royal, and captured some prisoners. Hill and some of Stuart's horse-artillery had a skirmish with
the gun-boats at Port Royal on the 5th of December, and compelled them to retire. Lee's Report, volume I.
of the Reports of the Army of Northern Virginia, pages SS and 39.

2 The little picture on page 491 shows the appearance at this point on a road at the foot of Marye's Hill, and
just below his mansion, when the writer sketched it. in June, 1S66. The stone wall is on the city side of the
road on which the Confederates were posted. The tents of a burial-party, encamped nearer the Rappahannock
at the time, are seen in the distance.

SCENE IN FREDERICKSBUKG ON THE MORNING OF THE 12TH.

ATTACK ON THE CONFEDERATE LINE. 491

Brockenborough. A projecting wood at the front of the general lines was
held by Lane's brigade. Hill's reserve was composed of the brigades of
Thomas and Gregg, with a part of Field's. The divisions of Early and
Taliaferro composed Jackson's second line, and D. H. Hill's was his reserve.
The cannon of the latter were well posted so as to command the open ground
between the heights and the city. The
t plain on Jackson's right was occupied
by Stuart, with two brigades of cavalry
and his horse artillery, and his line ex-
tended to Massaponax Creek. 1

A council of officers was held on
the evening of the 12th, when Burnside
submitted his plan of attack the next
morning, which was for the whole
force on the south bank of the Rappa-
hannock to advance, and, by sudden
assaults along the whole line, attempt
to penetrate and carry the fortified
heights occupied by the Confederates.

The Right and Left Grand Divisions, under Sumner and Franklin, were to
perform the perilous work ; and, to give Franklin sufficient strength, two
divisions from Hooker's command (his own and Kearney's) were sent to re-
enforce him, making his whole number about fifty-five thousand men, or one-
half of the effective force of the army.

It was expected that Franklin would make the main attack at dawn, and
that upon its results would depend the movements of Sumner; but he did
not receive his promised instructions until after sunrise, and then they were
so open to misinterpretations that he was puzzled to know precisely how to
act. They seemed, however, to demand that he should keep his whole com-
mand in position for a rapid movement on the old Richmond road, and to
send out an armed reconnoissance, with a single division, to attack and seize

* o /

some point of the heights. He accordingly threw forward Meade's division,
supported by Gibbon's on its right, with Doubleday's in reserve. Meade
had not proceeded far when he was confronted by a Confederate battery,
placed by Stuart on the Port Royal road. This he silenced, and then
pressed on, his skirmishers clearing the way, and his batteries shelling the
woods iu his front. All was silence on that front for a while, when a terrible
storm of shell and canister, at near range, fell upon him. He pressed on, and
three of his assailants' batteries were hastily withdrawn. lie still pressed
on. Jackson's advanced line, under A. P. Hill, was driven back with a loss
of two hundred men made prisoners and several battle-flags. Meade still
pressed on ; crossed the railway and up to the crest of the hill, to a new
military road, just constructed by Lee to connect his wings, where he
encountered Gregg, with his South Carolina veterans, on Lee's second line.
These gave Meade such a warm reception that he was obliged to halt,
when Early's division swept forward at a double-quick, assailed his flanks,
and compelled him to fall back with heavy loss.

1 Lee's Report, March 6, 1863.

492

BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.

Gibbon now came up gallantly to Meade's support, but was repulsed,
and when the shattered forces of both were made to fly in confusion, Gene-
ral Birney advariced with his division of Stoneman's corps in time to check
the victorious pursuers, who pressed up to within fifty yards of his guns.
But the Nationals were unable to advance, for Stuart's cavalry, on Lee's
extreme right, strongly menaced the left. At length, when charge after
charge had been repulsed, Reynolds, with re-enforcements, pushed the Con-
federates back to the Massaponax, where they kept up the contest with spirit
until dark. The three divisions in the battle on the left that day composed
Reynolds's corps, and by their gallantry, and that of the divisions of Birney
and Sickles (the latter taking the place of Gibbon's), of Stoneman's corps,
presented such a formidable front that Jackson did not hazard an advance
against them that day, but stood on the defensive. 1 Smith's corps, twenty-
one thousand strong, was near and fresh, and had not been much engaged in
the battle throughout the day. 2

Let us see what Sumner was doing while a part of Franklin's corps was
struggling so fearfully on the left.

Sumner was to attack the Confederate front when Franklin should fairly
inaugurate the battle with a prospect of success. The conditions were com-
plied with. At eleven o'clock he and his staff repaired to the Lacey House,
near the river opposite Fredericksburg, from which he could have a full
view of the operations of his division. Couch's corps (Second) occupied the
city, and Wilcox's (Ninth) the interval between Couch and Franklin's right.
Upon Couch fell the honor of making the first attack. At noon he ordered
out French's division, to be followed and supported by Hancock. 3 KimbalFs

1 Reynolds lost In the struggle full 4,000 men. Meade lost nbout forty per cent, of his whole command, and
many valuable officers were slain or wounded. General C. F. Jackson was killed ; and General George I). Bay-
ard, who commanded the cavalry on the left, was mortally wounded by a shell, and died that night. He was
only twenty-eight years of age, and was on the eve of marriage. His loss was widely felt General Gibbon
was wounded and taken from the field.

Bayard's brigade was famous for good deeds throughout the war. It was distinguished for gallantry in the
following engagements before the death of its first leader: Woodstock, Harrisonbtirg, Cross Keys, Cedar
Mountain, Brandy Station, Ilappahannock Station, Gainesville, Bull's llun, Warrenton, and Fredericksburg.
After Bayard's death the brigade was formed into a division, under General Gregg, and served throughout the
campaigns in Virginia under Stoneman, Pleasanton, and Sheridan. A portrait of the gallant Bayard, and a pic-
ture of the " Bayard Badge,' 1 will be found in the third volume of this work.

2 The army signal-telegraph was used with great
effect on the left that day. Its lines extended from Burn-
side's head-quarters, at the Phillips house, across the
Eappahannock to Franklin's quarters, a distance of about
four miles. The wire was of copper, insulated, coiled on
a drum or reel, and carried in a cart or by hand, ns
seen in the engraving, by the motion of which it was
unwound. Each c:irt carried a series of reels, and each
reel contained a mile of wire. The line was laid on
light poles or on fences, and was operated upon wherever
the cart or the men halted for the purpose, by a simple
process. This telegraph was worked without batteries,
and was so simple that it could be used, after one day's
practice, by any soldier who could easily read and write.
As we have observed, it was made useful on the day of
the battle described in the text, when operations at
various points were immediately made known by it at
head-quarters. The cart or the men were often seen well
up to the front of the battle, and exposed to all its con-
sequences.

3 French's was composed of the brigades of Kimball, Anderson, and Palmer. Hancock's was composed of
th brigades of Zook, Meagher, and CaldwelU

AKMY BIGNAL-TELKOKAPH.

BATTLE OF FREDERICKSBURG.

493

brigade led, and the whole force, as it moved swiftly to the assault from the
town, suffered greatly from the converging fire of the artillery on the
heights, which swept the plain below. Those batteries could be but little
affected by the National guns on the distant Stafford Hills.

On Marye's Hill, and behind a stone wall, on the road at its foot, near
the town, already mentioned, Longstreet was posted, with heavy reserves
behind him. Upon this formidable host, under the storm of iron from the
heights which made great lanes through his ranks, French threw his columns,
and was met by murderous volleys at short range from Barksdale's riflemen,
who had been summoned to position behind the wall. The struggle was brief,
and French was driven back shattered and broken by the loss of nearly half
his command, while the victors shouted and yelled in wildest exultation
Hancock, Avho was close behind,
now closed up, and with such por-
tions of French's command as were
still organized, advanced in the
face of a like terrible tempest of
bullet, ball, and shell. His bri-
gades fought most gallantly, es-
pecially that of Meagher, composed
of regiments of Irishmen, 1 which
dashed itself time after time
against the force at the stone wall,
but without success, until the
groiind was strewn with two-thirds
of its number. 2 After a struggle
of only about fifteen minutes, Han-
cock was driven back with great
slaughter. Of five thousand six
hundred veterans, led by able and tried commanders, whom he took into
action, two thousand and thirteen had fallen ! Yet the struggle was main-
tained. Howard's division came to the aid of French and Hancock, and
those of Sturgis and Getty, of the Ninth corps, made several attacks in sup-
port of the struggling Second, but still no advance could be made. Finally
Burnside ordered Hooker across, with such of his force as he had in hand,
saying, as he looked from the north bank of the river upon the smoking
heights for which his troops had been unsuccessfully struggling for hours,
" That crest must be carried to-night." 3

Hooker crossed with three divisions, but on surveying the ground and
learning the situation of affairs, was so well satisfied of the hopelessness of
the enterprise, that he hastened to Burnside and begged him to desist from
further attacks. Burnside would not yield, so Humphrey's division, four
thousand strong, was sent out from the city by Hooker with empty muskets,
to use the bayonet only. They followed the track of French, Hancock, and
Howard. When almost up to the fatal stone wall, which they intended

1 The Sixty-third, Sixty-ninth, and Eighty-eighth New York, the Twenty-eighth Massachusetts, and One
Hundred and Sixteenth Pennsylvania.

2 In his official report General Meagher said : "Of the 1200 I led into action, only 2SO appeared on parade
the next morning!"

3 Swinton's Campaigns of the Army of the Potomac, page 251.

THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER.

494 WITHDRAWAL OF THE NATIONAL TROOPS.

to storm, these troops were hurled back by terrible A'olleys of rifle-balls,

leaving seventeen hundred of their number prostrate on the field. Night

soon closed the awful conflict," when the Army of the Potomac

"^g 13 ' had nearly fifteen thousand less effective men than when it began
the battle on the previous day. 1 It was evident to the command-
ers engaged in the conflict that it would be useless to make any further
attempt to carry the position by storm; but General Burnside, eager to
achieve victory, prepared to hurl his old corps (the Ninth) on the following
morning against the fatal barrier which had withstood French, Hancock,
Howard, and Humphrey. He was dissuaded by the brave Sumner, who was
supported in his opposition to the proposed movement by nearly every gene-
ral officer; and it was finally determined to withdraw the troops to the
6 D ec 14 . 15 north bank of the Rappahannock. For two days* they remained
on the Fredericksburg side, while Lee, evidently ignorant of the
real weakness and peril of his foe, fortunately maintained a defensive posi-
tion, and was engaged during that time in strengthening his works in antici-
pation of another attack. On the morning of the 1 6th he was astonished by
the apparition of a great army on the Stafford Hills, and seeing none in front
of his line. During the night of the 15th Burnside had quietly withdrawn
his entire force and all his gnns, taken up his pontoon bridges, and offered
Lee full permission to occupy Fredericksburg. The latter accepted the
boon, and boasted of a great victory, in terms wholly irreconcilable with
truth and candor. 2

The disaster at Fredericksburg touched Burnside's reputation as a judi-
cious leader very severely, and for a while he was under a cloud. Prompted
by that noble generosity of his nature which made him always ready to
award full honor to all in the hour of victory, he now assumed the entire
responsibility of the measures which had caused a slaughter so terrible with
a result so disastrous. That generosity blunted the weapons of vituperation
which the friends of the late commander of the Army of the Potomac and
the enemies of the Government were too ready to use. 8

Although it was plain that his officers and men distrusted his ability, yet
Burnside did not stop to offer excuses, 4 but, eager to do what he might to

1 Hooker reported the loss In his Grand Division at 3,543; Franklin in his at 4.679, and Sumner in his at
5,494, making a total, with a loss of 60 of the engineers, of 13,771. Of this number 1,152 had been killed, 0,101
wounded, and 3,234 missing. Many of the latter soon rejoined the army, while seventy per cent, of the wounded
ranked ns " slightly," and soon recovered.

Lee at first reported his loss at " about l.SO 1 ), killed, wounded, and missing," bat the detailed reports of
Longstreet and Jackson made the number 5,309, including some prisoners. The Confederate loss was probably
about one-half that of the reported loss of the Nationals.

* In a General Order on the 21st, congratulating his troops on their success in repelling the National army,
he said the latter had given battle "in its own time, and on ground of its own selection P Also, that less than
20,000 Confederates had been engnged in the battle, and that those who "had advanced in full confidence of vic-
tory," made " their escape from entire destruction " thi ir boast His own report, given in March the following
year, and those of his subordinates, refute these statements. Lee, as we shall observe from time to time, was
adroit in the use of "pious frauds" of this kind, by which his own lack of that military genius which wins
solid victories was artfully concealed from .ill but his more able subordinates.

8 In his report to General Halleck on the 19th, he declared that he owed "every thing to the brave officers
and soldiers who accomplished the feat of recrossing the river in the face of the enemy. For the failure in the
attack," he continued, "7 am responsible." Alluding to the fact that the plan of moving to Fredericksbnrg
from Warrenton. instead of pursuing Lee toward the Rapid Anna, was not favorably considered by the authorities
at Washington, and that the whole movement was left in his own hands, he said that fact made him "more
responsible."

4 Bnrnside and his subordinates concurred in the opinion, that had the pontoons arrived earlier, so that the
army might have been transferred to the south side of the Rappahannock before Lee could concentrate his forces

BURNSIDE'S NEW ENTERPRISE.

495

crush out the rebellion, and knowing well the value of time at that critical
moment, he planned and proposed to execute measures for an immediate
advance on Richmond. His plan was to make a feint above Fredericksburg,
but to cross about six
miles below, at the Sed-
don Farm, with his
main body, to turn the
position of the Con-
federates. At the same
time twenty-five thou-
sand cavalry, with four
guns, were to cross at
Kelley's Ford, and
sweep through the
country in the rear of
Lee's army, to cut its
communications with
Richmond, raiding
along the line of the
Virginia Central and
Orange and Alexan-
dria rail ways to Lynch-
burg, destroving tracks

/ O

and bridges, and the
locks of the James
River Canal, as circum-
stances might allow,
and then, turning east-
wai-d, strike the Rich-
mond and Danville
road, cross the Notta-
way River, and after
destroying important
portions of the road
between "VVeldon and
Petersburg, join General Peck, then in command at Suffolk. At the same
time other bodies of mounted men were to sweep over the countiy, to distract
the Confederates and conceal the real object of the general movement.

These movements had just commenced when Burnside received a dispatch
from the President," directing him not to enter upon active opera-
tions without his knowledge. He was surprised, for the General- '^jo 30 '
in-Chief had instructed him not to send any thing over the wires
concerning his plans, but to act according to his own judgment. He had
mentioned his plans to no one. His generals only knew that the passage of
the river on the flank of the foe was to be attempted. The order was inex-
plicable. But Burnside instantly obeyed. He recalled the cavalry expedi-

there, the success of Burnside's plans wonld doubtless have been secured. The delay In getting the pontoons
earlier, or rather in the starting from Washington, appears to have been occasioned by a misunderstanding as tn
who should attend to the forwarding of them.

BATTLE 1>K rUEDKMCKSBURQt

496 PATRIOTISM ON" TRIAL.

tion and hastened to Washington, to ask a reason for the interference. The
President informed him that general officers of his army had declared that
such was the feeling in that army against its commander, that its safety
would be imperiled by a movement under his direction. Of these clandes-
tine complaints to the President the General-in-Chief and the Secretary of
War were ignorant, and they had nothing to say.

Never was the spirit of a man more sorely tried than was that of Burn-
side at this time. The country looked to him for acts that should retrieve
the misfortunes at Fredericksburg, yet the General-in-Chief would not
sanction any forward movement, and it was evident that there was a secret
conspiracy among some of his general officers to effect his removal. His
patriotism soared high above self, and he returned to the army with a
determination to take the responsibility of doing something more for the
salvation of his country. He ascertained that some of the details of his
cavalry expedition had been communicated by traitors in his army to seces-
sionists in Washington, and by them to Lee, and he abandoned that move-
ment and proposed to cross the Rappahannock at Banks's and United States
fords, above Fredericksburg, and endeavor to flank his foe and give him
battle. For that purpose his army was speedily put in motion. The Grand
Divisions of Franklin and Hooker ascended the river by parallel roads, while
Couch's made a feint below the city. The reserve corps, now under Sigel,
was ordered to guard the line of the river and the communications with the
army.

Every thing was in readiness to cross the river stealthily on the night of
the 20th, when a terrible storm of wind, snow, sleet, and rain came on, such
as had seldom been known in that region, and for hours the troops who had
approached the fords were hopelessly mired and almost immovable. They
were discovered by the foe at dawn, and Lee was soon fully prepared
to meet them. Even under these cii'cumstances Burnside would have
attempted to cross and give battle at an early hour, could he have gotten his
bridges in position. This was impossible, and there that army remained
until its three days' cooked provisions in haversacks were nearly exhausted,
and the supply-trains could not come up. It was led back to its old camps

as quickly as possible,
and huts were at once
built for the comfort
of the troops. This was
known in the army as
the " Mud March."

Burnside now pro-
ceeded to Washington,
bearing a general or-
der for instant dismis-
sal from the service of
the officers who, as he
had ascertained, had

ArPEARANCK OF ARMY HUTS.

made clandestine com-
munications to the President concerning the defection of the troops toward
their leader, and for other purposes. These he charged with " fomenting

BURNSIDE SUPERSEDED.

497

discontent in the army." 1 He was competent to issue the order on his own
responsibility; but, in compliance with judicious advice, he submitted it to
"the President. Mr. Lincoln was perplexed. He appreciated the patriotism
and soldierly qualities of Burnside, yet he could not consent to the suspen-
sion or dismissal of the officers named, even had there been greater personal
provocation. He talked with Burnside as a friend and brother, and it was
finally arranged that the General should be relieved of the command of the
Army of the Potomac, and await orders for further service. This was
done, and Major-General Hooker succeeded him in the command. 2 The
arrangement made at that time, whereby the country might be best served,
was highly creditable to the President and to General Burnside.

Here we will leave the Army of the Potomac in winter quarters on the
Rappahannock, and consider the stirring events in the great Valley of the
Mississippi since the siege of Corinth, and the capture of New Orleans and
Memphis.

1 In that order Generals Hooker, Brooks, and Newton were named for ignominious dismissal from the
service, and Generals Franklin, \V. F. Smith, Cochran, and Ferrero, and Lieutenant-Colonel J. II. Taylor, were
to be relieved from duty in the Army of the Potomac. Generals Franklin and Smith, without the knowledge
of Burnside, wrote u joint letter to the President on the 2lst of December, expressing their belief that Burnside's
plan of campaign could not succeed, and substantially recommending that of McClellan, by the James River and
the country on its borders. The President replied tli.it they were simply suggesting a plan fnuight with u tho
old difficulty," and he appeared to be astonished, as Franklin had distinctly advised bringing the army away
from the Peninsula.

* January 26, 1S63. By the order relieving Burnside from the command, Franklin was also relieved. So
also was General Surnner. at his own request. Ho soon afterward died, at Syracuse, Now York.

VOL. II. 32

498 CONDITION OF KENTUCKY.

CHAPTER XIX.

EVENTS IN KENTUCKY AND NORTHERN MISSISSIPPI

E left the Lower Mississippi, from its mouth to New
Orleans, in possession of the forces under General
Butler and Commodore Farragut, at the beginning of
the summer of 1862 ;' and at the same time that river
was held by the National forces from Memphis to St.
Louis. General Thomas was at the head of a large
force holding Southwestern Tennessee, 2 and Generals
Buell and Mitchel were on the borders of East Ten-
nessee, where the Confederates were disputing the
passage of National troops farther southward and
eastward than the line of the Tennessee River. Beauregard's army was at
Tupelo and vicinity, under General Bragg. 3 Halleck had just been called to
Washington to be General-in-Chief, and Mitchel was soon afterward trans-
ferred to the command of the Department of the South, with his head-quar-
ters at Hilton Head.

Although the great armies of the Confederates had been driven from
Kentucky and Tennessee, the absence of any considerable Union force
excepting on the southern borders of the latter State, permitted a most dis-
tressing guerrilla warfare to be carried on within the borders of those com-
monwealths by mounted bands, who hung upon the rear and flanks of the
National forces, or roamed at will over the country, plundering the Union
inhabitants. The most famous of these guerrilla leaders was John II. Mor-
gan, already mentioned. 4 He professed to be a leader of cavalry attached
to the Confederate army, and so he was, but such license was given to him
by the Confederate authorities, that he was as frequently a commissioned
free-booter in practice as a leader of horsemen in legitimate warfare.

Morgan's first exploit of much consequence having the semblance of reg-
ularity was his invasion of Kentucky with about twelve hundred followers,
under the conviction that large numbers of the young men of his native
State would flock to his standard, and he might become the liberator of the
commonwealth from the " hireling legions of Lincoln." He left Knoxville,
in East Tennessee, on the 4th of July, crossed the Cumberland Mountains,
and entered Kentucky on its southeastern border.

On the 9th of July, Morgan, assisted by Colonel Hunt, routed a detach-
ment of Pennsylvania cavalry under Major Jordan, at Tompkinsville, in
Monroe County, when the commander and nineteen others were made prison-
ers, and ten were killed or wounded. The assailants lost ten killed, inclu-

Bee the latter part of chapter XIII. 2 See page 296. * See page 294. See page 264.

MORGAN AND HIS GUERRILLAS. 499

ding Colonel Hunt. On the following day Morgan issued a characteristic
proclamation to the citizens of Kentucky, declaring that he and his follow-
ers (who from the beginning to the end were mere guerrillas, in the fullest
sense of that term) appeared as their liberators, and saying : " Everywhere
the cowardly foes have fled from my avenging arm. My brave army," he
continued, "is stigmatized as a band
of guerrillas and marauders. Believe
it not. I point with pride to their
deeds as a refutation of this foul asser-
tion." He declared that the Confede-
rate armies were rapidly advancing to
their protection, and said: "Greet
them with the willing hands of fifty
thousand of Kentucky's bravest sons.
Their advance is already with you."
Morgan's men, at that time, really
formed the advance of the Confede-
rate hosts, whose business was to ter-
rify the Unionists of Kentucky, re-
cruit from the ranks of the secession-
ists, and prepare the way for a formi- JOHN n. MORGAN.
dable invasion by Bragg.

Morgan's force was soon increased by several hundred recruits from the
young men of Kentucky, and he roamed about the heart of the State, plun-
dering and destroying with very little molestation. On the 12th"
he attacked and defeated Unionists under Lieutenant-Colonel
Johnston at Lebanon, Kentucky, the termination of the Lebanon branch of
the Louisville and Nashville railway. He captured the place, and made the
commander and twenty-six soldiers and Home Guards prisoners. His raid
was so rapid and formidable that it produced intense excitement throughout
the State. General Boyle, who was in command at Louisville, issued a pro-
clamation 5 ordering every able-bodied man to " take arms, and
aid in repelling the marauders ;" and directed him, if he did not,
to remain in his house forty-eight hours under the penalty of being shot if
found out of it.

Morgan pressed on toward the Ohio. On the 14th he destroyed the long
railway bridge between Cynthiana and Paris, and the next day he laid waste
a portion of the track of the Lexington and Louisville railway, and the tele-
graph along its border. Two days afterward' he led his entire

J ' July IT.

force 1 against three hundred and fifty Home Guards at Cynthi-
ana, on the Covington and Cincinnati railway, under Lieutenant-Colonel
Landrum. These maintained a severe fight with the guerrillas, but were
overpowered and dispersed after losing thirteen killed and thirty-four
wounded, and inflicting a loss on the assailants of twenty-four killed and
seventy-eight wounded. '

Cincinnati was now not far distant, and Morgan cast longing eyes
toward its treasures of every kind. His approach had inspired it and its

1 Morgan's force was now about 2.200 in number, and was composed of three regiments, comprising Ken-
tuckians, Tennesseeans, Georgians, Mississippians, Texans, and South Carolinians.

500

MORGAN DRIVEN FROM KENTUCKY.

neighbors on the Kentucky shore with terror, and its capture appeared
to be probably an easy task. But Morgan went no farther northward
at this time, for Green Clay Smith, of Kentucky, with a superior cavalry
force, was on his track, and he retreated southward by way of Richmond,
and rested at Clarksville, on the Cumberland, 1 which, with a large quantity
of military stores, was captured a month later" by nine hundred
roving Confederates under Colonel Woodward. 8 Morgan's
band, on the retreat, was practically nothing but a marauding
party, everywhere stealing horses and robbing stores, Avithout inquiring
whether their plunder belonged to friend or foe. Other marauding bands,
mostly Kentuckians, were harassing the citizens of that commonwealth
throughout its length and breadth, 3 and terror prevailed in all its borders.

Aug. 19,
1S62.

FORTIFICATIONS OF THE BTATE-IIOU8B AT WASIIVILLE.*

Another bold leader of Confederate horsemen at this time was Brigadier-
General N. B. Forrest, 5 who commanded the Second Brigade of cavalry.

1 See page 232.

2 The garrison consisted of a portion of the Seventy-first Ohio regiment, under Colonel Mason.

' At about this time guerrillas entered Henderson (July 15), on the Ohio below Louisville, and robbed tho
hospital there of its blankets and othur supplies. Piloted by some Indiana traitors, the same party crossed tho
river, captured the hospital at the village of Newburg (July 21), paroled the sick found there, and carried away
the supplies. A few days before, some guerrillas dashed into Memphis, captured the militia force stationed
there, robbed the stores, and fled with their plunder.

4 This picture shows the appearance of the front of the Capitol or State-House at Nashville, looking toward
the Cumberland below the city. In the immediate foreground are seen the earth-works thrown up directly in
front of the granite steps leading up to the entrance, and near the group of three persons is seen the platform
for cannon at an angle of the works. The fine lamp-posts and lamps seen in the picture, which flank the steps at
each of the four great entrances, are made of iron, the group of figures being life-sizo and beautifully modeled.
A portion of the city Is seen below, and the Cumberland and ranges of hills beyond in the distance. This was
the appearance when the writer made the sketch, in May, 1S66.

* See page 213.

FORREST IN TENNESSEE.

501

While Morgan was spreading consternation in Kentucky, he was operating
as boldly in the heart of Tennessee, and, like the former, was preparing the
way for a more formidable invasion. On the morning of the 13th of July he
suddenly appeared before Murfreesboro', below Nashville, with about three
thousand men, 1 and attacked the smaller National force there under General
T. L. Crittenden, and Colonel W. W. Duffield of the Ninth Michigan. 2 After
a severe engagement in and near the town, the Nationals were defeated, and,
with their leaders, were made prisoners. Forrest seized a quantity of valu-
able stores and decamped with his booty for other hostile operations.

Forrest's appearance so near Nashville produced much anxiety for the
safety of that city, and the strengthening of the post by fortifications upon
the surrounding hills was pushed on with great vigor by General Negley,
who was in command there. The State-House in the city was strongly for-
tified by casting up earth-works for cannoa immediately around it, so that it
became a powerful citadel overlooking the town and the surrounding country ;
and the most active preparations were made to meet an expected attack. At
the same time the guerrillas were bold. They made raids to within sight of
the city, and during the whole month of August it was seriously threatened.
An attempt was also made" by some guerrillas, under Woodward,
who captured Clarksville, to retake Fort Donelson, then held by " ^g^ 25 "
a part of the Seventy-first Ohio, under Major J. H. Hart. Wood-
ward had about seven hundred men, foot and horse. He demanded the
surrender of the fort. Hart refused, and Woodward made an attack. He
was soon repulsed with heavy loss, and fled ; while the Nationals behind
their intrenchments did not lose a man.

While these raids were agitating Tennessee and Kentucky, Bragg was
moving with a view to the recovery of these States. He and Buell had
marched in nearly parallel lines eastward toward Chattanooga, the former
on the north of the Tennessee River, and the latter south of it. Bragg
moved Avith the greatest celerity, and
won the race, and with full forty
thousand men he turned his face to-
ward the Ohio. His force was divided
into three corps, commanded respec-
tively by W. J. Hardee, Leonidas
Polk, and E. Kirby Smith. The
latter was sent to Knoxville, and the
former two held Chattanooga and its
vicinity. Buell disposed his army in
a line stretching from Huntsville, in
Alabama, to McMinnsville, in War-
ren County, Tennessee. His head-
quarters, late in August, were at
Huntsville, and General Thomas com-
manded the left wing at McMinnsville.

K. KIRBY SMITH

1 Forrest's force was composed of one regiment each from Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee, and two from
Georgia.

1 The National force was composed of portions of the Ninth Michigan and Third Minnesota infantry regi-
ments, companies of the Fourth Kentucky and Seventh Pennsylvania cavalry, and two companies of Hewitt's
Kentucky hattery ; in all about 2,000 men.

502 INVASION OF KENTUCKY.

So lay the opposing armies when E. Kirby Smith left Knoxville, and
passing through Big Creek Gap of the Cumberland Mountains, with about
six thousand men and a train of one hundred and fifty wagons, pene-
trated Kentucky by way of Knox County. By this movement he so com-
pletely outflanked and imperiled General G. W. Morgan, at Cumberland
Gap, 1 that the latter blew up the works there and fled toward the Ohio,
harassed nearly all the way by seven hundred of John Morgan's guerrillas.

Smith's troops marched rapidly with very little encumbrance, and sub-
sisted most of the way over the mountain region upon green corn, with the
anticipation of living on the fat of the land in the Blue Grass region of Ken-
tucky, and perhaps reveling in the luxuries of Louisville and Cincinnati.
His cavalry, under Colonel J. S. Scott, nine hundred strong, led the invasion,
and scattered among the people a proclamation, telling them that good
treatment would be the reward of good behavior, but hanging and destruc-
tion of property would be the fate of every man who should fire from the
woods on the Confederate troops.

Smith's course was in the direction of Frankfort, at which point he might
choose Louisville or Cincinnati as his grand objective in further movements.
His invasion caused wide-spread alarm ; and to Indiana and Ohio, where
troops were in readiness for the field, all eyes were turned for power to roll
back the fearful tide. Major-General Lewis Wallace had just been assisting
Governor Morton in raising troops in Indiana. He offered to command a regi-
ment for the crisis, and one was given him. He took with him to Louisville
the Sixty-sixth Indiana, and offered his services to General Boyle, whom he
ranked. They were accepted, and with the Sixty-sixth he hastened to
Lexington, where he was put in command of all the troops there. But they
were too few. He called for more from the region north of the Ohio, and
they hastened to his standard in large numbers, for he was exceedingly
popular. Leading men of Kentucky also flocked thither, and he was about
to move forward to relieve Morgan at Cumberland Gap, and confront Smith
with men full of the most glowing enthusiasm, when he was suddenly super-
seded in command by General William Nelson. The change dampened the
ardor of the troops, especially those of Indiana.

Meanwhile Smith moved rapidly forward. His cavalry penetrated to

Richmond, in Madison County, fighting and routing a battalion of Union

cavalry at London, capturing one hundred and eleven of them, and repeating

the exploit on a smaller scale at other places. The main body pushed on

with celerity, and when approaching Richmond it was met by the force

organized by Wallace and then commanded by General M. D. Manson, for

Nelson had not arrived. That force was superior to Smith's in the number

of its men and weapons ; but it was largely composed of raw troops. Yet

Manson pressed forward to meet the invader. They came in col-

aA i862' li s i n a little beyond Rogersville," and a severe battle was fought

for three hours, when Manson was driven back, fighting gallantly.

At this juncture Nelson arrived and took command, and half an hour
afterward his troops were utterly routed and scattered in all directions.
Nelson was wounded, and Manson resumed command ; but the day was

i See page 803.

CINCINNATI THREATENED BY THE CONFEDERATES. 503

lost. Smith's cavalry had gained the rear of the Nationals, and stood in the
way of their wild flight. The disaster -was terrible. General Manson, hurt
by his horse falling on him, was made a prisoner : a fate shared by several
hundred of his fellow-soldiers. The dispersion of his force was complete,
and his losses very heavy. 1 Considering the rawness of the troops and their
lack of discipline (some of them not over thirty days old as soldiers, and
many who had not yet experienced a battalion-drill), the prowess displayed
by them in THE BATTLE OF RICHMOND marked it as one of the most credit-
able engagements of the war on the part of the Nationals.

The elated victors pushed on to Lexington, where they were warmly wel-
comed by the secessionists of that stronghold of slavery in Ken-
tucky. 5 Their approach frightened the Legislature (then in session) " s ^ 2 '
from Frankfort. They adjourned to Louisville, whither the ar-
chives of the State and about a million of dollars in treasure from the banks of
Richmond, Lexington, and Frankfort were carried. The movement was
timely, for Smith tarried but little anywhere on his triumphal march. He
did not then go farther toward Frankfort, however, but pushed on north-
ward through Paris to Cynthiana, from which point he might at his option,
as it appeared, strike Cincinnati or Louisville. The former city seemed to
be more at his mercy, and he turned his face in that direction, confidently
expecting to possess himself of its treasures of food, clothing, arms, and
munitions of war in the course of a few days.

The invader was confronted by an unexpected force near Cincinnati.
When Wallace was deprived of his command at Lexington, he returned to
that city. When intelligence of the disaster at Richmond reached there, he
was ordered to Lexington by General Wright, then in Louisville, to resume
command of the shattered forces. At Paris he was recalled to Cincinnati to
provide for its defense, and half an hour after his arrival* in that
city he issued a stirring proclamation, as commander of that and
the cities of Covington and Newport opposite, in which he officially informed
the inhabitants of the approach of the Confederates in strong force, and that
the preservation of these towns from the consequences of war must be effected
by the active co-operation of the citizens. He ordered all places of business
to be closed, and the citizens of Cincinnati, under the direction of the mayor,
to assemble an hour afterward in convenient public places, to be organized
for work on intrenchments on the south side of the river. 3 He also ordered
the ferry-boats to cease running, and proclaimed martial law in the three
cities just named.

This was a bold, startling, but necessary measure. In accordance with
the principle expressed in his proclamation, "Citizens for the labor Sol-

1 These have been estimated only. There were no full official returns made. It is supjiosed to have been
about equal between the belligerents. The National loss was estimated at about 5,000, killed, wounded, and
prisoners. Manson was well supported In the struggle by General Cruft, who, as we hare seen, distinguished
himself at the siege of Fort Donelson. See page 215.

1 Encouraged by their friendly demonstrations, Smith issued a proclamation to the Kentuckians, assuring
them that he came as a liberator, in the spirit of the State Supremacy Doctrine of the Resolutions of 1793. He
had come, he said, to test the truth of what he believed to be a foul aspersion, that Kentnckians willingly joined
in an attempt to subjugate their Southern brethren. Like all the other Confederate leaders, he talked about
" the Northern hordes," who wore treading the ' sacred soil of the South."

* " This labor," said the proclamation, * ought to be that of love, and the undersigned trusts and believes It
will be so. Anyhow, it must be done. The willing shall be properly credited ; the unwilling promptly visited.
Tho principle adopted is, Citizens for the labor Soldiers for the battle."

504

WALLACE'S DEFENSE OF CINCINNATI.

diers for the battle," Wallace had demanded the services of all able-bodied
men. The response was wonderful In the course of a few hours he had at
his command an army of workers and fighters forty thousand strong. While
many did not believe that danger was so nigh, 1 all confided in the General,
and the citizens and soldiers of Cincinnati, and Dickson's brigade of colored
men, and the " Squirrel Hunters " from the rural districts of Ohio, streamed
across a pontoon bridge that had been erected in a day under Wallace's

POKTOON BRIDGX AT CINCINNATI.*

directions, and swarmed upon the hills around Covington. There was a
most stirring and picturesque night-march over that floating bridge, on
which tons of supplies and many heavy cannon were also passing. Within
three days after the proclamation was issued, a line of intrenchments, ten
miles in length and semicircular in form, was thrown up, extending from the
river bank above Cincinnati to the river bank below it, well armed and
fully manned. 3 Steamers had been suddenly converted into gun-boats, and
the river above and below the pontoon bridge was patroled by a large num-
ber of them.

The work for protection, so promptly commenced and vigorously carried
forward, was scarcely completed when General Heath, with full fifteen thou-
sand of Smith's invading troops (whose ranks had been swelled by volun-

1 "If the enemy should not come, after all this fuss," said a doubting friend to the General, "you will be
ruined." " Very well," he responded ; ' but they will come, and if they do not, it will be because this satne fuss
has caused them to think better of it."

2 This is a view of the passage of the troops over the pontoon bridge nt Cincinnati on the night of the 81 of
September, 1862. The bridge was laid along the line of the Suspension Bridge since erected. The unfinished
piers of that bridse are seen on each side of the Ohio, in the picture.

* The principal work was named Fort Mitchel, in honor of the brave commander and philosopher then in
the army.

BRAGG'S MARCH TOWARD KENTUCKY. 505

tcers from among the Kentucky secessionists), appeared. He was astounded
and alarmed by the preparations to receive him, and retreated in haste*
under cover of darkness and a heavy thunder-storm, dismayed and
disheartened. When the danger was averted, Wallace led several
of the volunteer regiments back to Cincinnati, where he was
greeted with the huzzas of thousands of citizens, who regarded him as their
deliverer, 1 and he was the recipient of public honors suggested by a sense of
gratitude.*

Foiled in his attempt against Cincinnati, Smith turned his face toward
Louisville. He took possession of Frankfort, the capital of Kentucky, on
the day when Heath fled from before Wallace's lines.* There

. , . , . ,, ' Sept 12.

he organized a city government, and issued a proclamation, tell-
ing the inhabitants that they must join his standard or be considered his
enemies. Here he awaited an opportunity to join his forces to those of
Bragg, which for almost three weeks had been moving northward.

Bragg crossed the Tennessee River at Harrison, just above Chattanooga,
on the 21st of August, with thirty-six regiments of infantry, five of cavalry,
and forty guns. Louisville was his destination. He pushed forward among
the rugged mountains around the Sequatchee Valley, that lie well eastward
of Nashville, and, sending out a strong cavalry force toward Buell's left at
MrMinnsville as a feint, had fairly flanked that leader's army, gained his
rear, and was well on his way toward the Cumberland before the latter had
fairly penetrated the Confederate general's designs.

The cavalry movement toward McMinnsville resulted in a serious fight
near there. The horsemen were under General Forrest, who for several
days had been hovering around Lebanon, Nashville, and Murfreesboro', and
finally, on Saturday afternoon, the 30th of August, appeared a short distance
from McMinnsville, making their way toward the road from that place to
Murfreesboro', to cut off BueH's communications. Colonel E. P. Fyife, of the
Twenty-sixth Ohio, was ordered to take three regiments and prevent the threat-
ened disaster. With his own regiment in advance, and the Seventeenth and
Fifty-eighth Indiana following, he pressed forward five miles in sixty minutes,
through woods, fields, and creeks, and soon afterward, when nine miles from
his starting-place, encountered the foe, fifteen hundred strong. After a short
struggle the Confederates were routed, and driven in such haste and confu-
sion that they left every encumbrance behind them. Fyffe's troops were of
General T. J. Wood's division, and were highly complimented by that com-
mander in a general order.

Supposing Bragg was aiming at Nashville, Buell now took measures

1 Wallace Issued an address to tho citizens of Cincinnati, Coving-ton, and Newport, commending their
alacrity, fortitude, and bravery. "The most commercial of people." he said, "you submitted to a total suspen-
sion of business, and without a murm'ir adopted my principle 'Citizens for labor Soldiers for b.ittle. 1 In
coming times, stranarers viewing the works on the hills of Newport and Covington will ask, ' Who built those
intrenchmonts ?' You can answer, 'We bailt them.' 1 If they ask, ' Who guarded them?' you can reply, 'We
helped In thousands.' If they inquire the result, your answer will be, 'The enemy came and looked at them, and
stole away in the night.' "

* On the 17th of October following, the authorities of Cincinnati publicly expressed their gratitude to Wal-
lace for bis services rendered to the city in its hour of peril ; and on the 14th of March, 1863, the Legislature of
Ohio, by joint resolutions, thanked him for " the signal service he had rendered the country at large " in the
Army of tho Republic, and especially ' for the promptness, energy, and skill exhibited by him in organizing the
forces, planning the defense, and executing the movements of soldiers and citizens under his command at Cin-
cinnati, which prevented the rebel forces under Kirby Smith from desecrating the free soil of our nolile State."

506

BRAGG'S INVASION OF KENTUCKY.

A RAILWAY STOCKADE.

accordingly. He pushed his army forward to Lebanon to cover it ; but was
soon satisfied, by an intercepted dispatch, that his opponent was pressing
toward Louisville, and was threatening the main line of supplies for Buell's
army, the Louisville and Nashville railway. At assailable points on this

important highway he posted
troops as soon as possible,
and had strong stockades
built for its protection.

Bragg crossed the Cum-
berland at Carthage, east-
ward of Lebanon, entered
Kentucky on the 5th of Sep-
tember, and made his head-
quarters at Glasgow, the capital of Barren County, where a railway connects
with that between Nashville and Louisville. Breckenridge had been left in
Tennessee with a lanje force of all arms, to retard Buell and invest Nash-

ville, then garrisoned by the divisions of Thomas, Negley, and Palmer, under
the command of General Thomas.

advance under General J. R. Chalmers, about eight thousand

' * '

stron g> w i tn seven guns, pushed on toward Louisville, and on the
14th, a two brigades 1 of the division of the Kentucky traitor, S. B.

Buckner, under General Duncan, of Mississippi, encountered a little more

than two thousand Na-

tional troops, under

Colonel T. J. Wilder,'

at Mumfordsville, where

the railway crosses the

Green River, and where

a stockade and strong

earth-works had been

hastily constructed on

the south side of the

stream and on each side

of the road. Duncan

arrived on Saturday

evening, and demanded

an unconditional sur-

render. It was refused,

se >t 1862.

Sept. 14.

FORTIFICATIONS AT MUMFORD8VILI.E.

and at four o'clock the next morning* the Confederates drove in
the National pickets. A battle began in earnest at dawn, and
raged for about five hours, when four hundred of the Fiftieth Indiana, under
Colonel C. L. Dunham, came to the aid of the garrison. The assailants were
repulsed with heavy loss. 3

Assured of final success, the Confederates remained quiet until the 16th,

1 Composed of Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama troops.

a These consisted of about 200 recruits of the Seventeenth Indiana, and. Sixty-seventh and Eighty-ninth of
the same State, and one company each of the Eighteenth Regulars, of cavalry, and of the Louisville Provost
Guards. Their guns consisted of three 12-pounders and a 3-inch rifled cannon, under Lieutenant Mason. The
Thirteenth Indiana and Thirty-third Kentucky batteries were also there and in position.

3 The writer is indebted to Stephen Bowers, chaplain of the Sixty-seventh Indiana, for the above plan of
the fortifications, and also for an interesting account of the affair we are considering.

BRAGG'S PROCLAMATION. 507

when a large portion of Bragg's main body, under General (Bishop) Polk,
appeared upon the hills on the north side of the river, overlooking the
National camp, not less than twenty-five thousand strong. Wilder had been
re-enforced by two regiments (Sixtieth and Eighty-fourth Indiana), but
opposed the invaders with only four thousand effective men. He sustained
a severe fight nearly all day, hoping Buell, then at Bowling Green, would
send him promised relief. But relief did not come ; and when, at sunset, the
demand for a surrender was repeated, and Wilder counted forty-five cannon
in position to attack his little force, he called a council of officers. It was
agreed that further resistance would produce a useless sacrifice of
life. At two o'clock in the morning" Wilder surrendered, and his s ^ t7 '
troops marched out at six o'clock with all the honors of war. 1

Bragg was greatly elated by this event, and, counting largely on the
usual tardiness of Buell, as Lee had done on that of McClellan, he felt
assured of soon making his head-quarters in Louisville, or, at least, of plun-
dering rich Kentucky as much as he desired. On the 18th he issued a
proclamation from Glasgow, in which he repeated the declarations of his
subordinates, that the Confederate Army had come as the liberators of Ken-
tuckians " from the tyranny of a despotic ruler," and " not as conquerors or
despoilers. Your gallant Buckner," he said, "leads the van; Marshall
[Humphrey] is on the right ; while Breckenridge, dear to us as to you, is
advancing with Kentucky's valiant sons to receive the honor and applause
due to their heroism." He told them that he must have supplies for his
army, but that they should be fairly paid for; 3 and he appealed to the womeu
of Kentucky for encouragement, assuring them that he had come as a chival
rous knight-errant to succor them from " fear of loathsome prisons or insult
ing visitations " thereafter. " Let your enthusiasm have free rein," he said.
" Buckle on the armor of your kindred your husbands, sons, and brothers
and scoff with shame him who would prove recreant in his duty to you, his
country, and his God."

From Mumfordsville Bragg's troops moved northward without opposi-
tion, and, on the 1st of October, formed a junction with those of Kirby
Smith, at Frankfort, where they performed the farce of making Richard
Hawes, formerly a Congressman, "Provisional Governor of Ken-

* Oct. 4.

tucky." 6 At the same time Bragg's plundering bands were
scouring the State under the "provisional" administration of bayonets,
dashing up sometimes almost to Louisville, and driving away southward
thousands of hogs and cattle, and numerous trains, bearing in the same
direction bacon and breadstuffs of every kind. In every town the goods of
merchants were taken, and worthless Confederate scrip given in exchange. 3

1 Report of Colonel J. T. Wilder, September 18th, 1862. Wilder reported his entire loss diirrnsr the- siege at
thirty-seven killed and wounded. "The enemy," he said, "admit a loss of 714 killed and wounded on Sunday
alone."

* It is notorious that Bragg, who was a supple Instrument of Jefferson Davis, and was his special favorite on
that account, had not the means, nor manifested the least intention to pay for any thing. When, a Itttle later, he
retreated from Kentucky, he plundered the region through which he passed of cattle, horses, and supplies of
every kind that came in his way, without inquiring whether he took from friends or foes, or offering even
promises of remuneration. The invasions of Kirby Smith and Braxton Bragg were plundering raids, like John
Morgan's, on a greater scale. It was the wealth of Kentucky, and Southern Ohio and Indiana, which they
marched from the Tennessee River to secure, and not the hope of subjugation or permanent occupation.

' The Lexington Observer, in an article on the amount of plunder carried away by the marauders, says the
Richmond Examintr was not far wrong when it said that " the wagon-train of supplies brought out of Ken-

508 BUELL TURNS UPON BRAGG.

Regarding Kentucky as a part of the Confederacy, for her professed repre-
sentatives were in the " Congress " of the conspirators at Richmond, the
conscription act was enforced there at the point of the bayonet. And so
the insane policy of "neutrality," which had brought the war into Kentucky,
yielded its fruit of wide-spread distress, until the whole people held out
their hands imploringly to the National Government, which marty of them
had aifected to despise, begging for deliverance from Buckner and Brecken-
ridge, and other native and foreign " liberators."

To that cry for help Bucll responded, but in a manner that seemed to the
impatient loyalists and suffering Kentuckians almost as if he was in league
with Bragg for the punishment of that Commonwealth. He left Nashville
on the 15th of September, and made his way to Louisville, in an apparent
race with Bragg for that city. He won it in the course of a fortnight, but
all that time his opponent was gathering in the spoils he came for without
hindrance. The Government was dissatisfied, and relieved Buell, but at the
urgent request of his general officers he was reinstated, with the understand-
ing that he should take immediate measures for driving the marauders from
Kentucky. Buell's army was then about one hundred thousand strong,
while Bragg had not more than sixty-five thousand, including Kirby Smith's
troops.

Buell turned toward his opponent on the 1st of October. His army was
.arranged in three corps, commanded respectively by Generals Gilbert, Crit-
tenden, and McCook. General George H. Thomas, who was Buell's second
in command, 1 had charge of the right wing. It moved over a broad space,
its right under the immediate command of Crittenden, marching by way of
Shepherdsville toward Bardstown, to attack Bragg's main force, and the
remainder moving more in the direction of Frankfort. The right soon began
to feel the Confederates. Bragg fell slowly back to Springfield, impeding
Buell as much as possible by skirmishing, that his supply-trains might get jv
good start toward Tennessee.

At Springfield Buell heard that Kirby Smith had evacuated Frankfort

and crossed the Kentucky River, and that Bragg was moving to concentrate

his forces at Ilarrodsburg or Perryville. He at once ordered the central

division of his army, under Gilbert, to march on the latter place :

Oct 1 862.

and, toward the evening of the 7th," the head of the column,
.under General R. B. Mitchell, fell in with a heavy force of Confederates
^within five miles of Perryville, drawn up in battle order. These were
pressed back about three miles without fighting, when General Sheridan's
division was ordered up to a position on heights' near Doctor's Creek, and
General Schoepff 's was held in reserve. When these dispositions for battle
were completed it was nightfall.

Buell was with Gilbert. Expecting a battle in the morning, he sent for

tucky by General Kirby Smith was 40 miles long, and brought a million of yards of jeans, with a large amount
of clothing, boots and shoes, and two hundred wagon-loads of bucon, 6.000 barrels of pork, 1,5'.H) mules anil
horses, and a large lot of swine." This was a very small portion of the property swept out of the State during
this raid. Seventy-four thousand yards of jeans were stolen from one establishment in Frankfort, and one per-
son in Lexington was plundered of jeans and linseys valued at $106,n03. "For four weeks," said th Obfstrvtr,
" while the Confederates were in the vicinity of Lexington, a train of cars was running daily southward, carry-
ing away property taken from ihe inhabitants, and at the same time huge wagon-trains were continually moving
ifor the same .purpose."

1 Placed in that position on the 1st of September.

BATTLE OF PERRYVILLE.

509

the flank corps of Crittenden and McCook to close up on his right and left,
and, if possible, surround the foe. A great drouth was then prevailing, and
the necessity for making a circuitous march to find water caused half a day's
delay in the arrival of Crittenden. Meanwhile Bragg, perceiving the threat-
ened peril, had begun to retreat. He was anxious to secure the exit of his
plunder-trains from the State, and when informed of the delay of Crittenden,
he resolved to give battle at once to the other corps, and, if successful, to
fall upon the delayed one on its arrival, or retreat with his spoils. His
troops then consisted of five divisions; two under Hardee, and one each
under Anderson, Cheatham, and Buckner: the whole immediately com-
manded by Major-General Polk. Smith was retreating farther to the east,
taking with him the " Provisional Government " in the person of poor
" Governor " Hawes, and Withers had been sent to assist him.

There was a sharp engagement early in the morning of the 8th, when the
Confederates attempted to repel the brigade of Colonel D. McCook, 1 of
Sheridan's division, which Gilbert had ordered forward, accompanied by
Barnett's battery and the Second Michigan cavalry, to occupy high ground,
and to secure a watering-place. A desultory battle ensued, which lasted
until nearly ten o'clock, when, just as General R. B. Mitchell's division was
getting into line of battle on the right of the eminence occupied by McCook,
the Second Missouri, of Pea Ridge fame, 2 with the Fifteenth Missouri as a
support, came to McCook's aid. The Confederates were quickly repulsed
and driven back into the woods, heavily smitten on the flank by the Second
Minnesota battery. In this engagement a part of the Ninth Pennsylvania
cavalry performed gallant service. Thus ended the preliminary battle of
that eventful day.

Mitchell and Sheridan were ordered to advance and hold the ground
until the two flank corps should arrive. The head of that of McCook, under
General Rousseau, moving up from
Macksville, on the Harrodsburg road,
reached a designated point on Gil-
bert's left at ten o'clock in the morn-
ing. Only two of McCook's three
divisions (Rousseau's and Jackson's)
were present, that of Sill having .been
sent toward Frankfort. Rousseau ad-
vanced with his cavalry to secure the
position, and the batteries of Loomis
(Michigan) and Simonson (Indiana)
were planted in commanding positions,
when a rcconnoissance was ordered to
Chaplin's Creek, with the view of ob-
taining, if possible, a better position,
where water for the troops might be
had. This was done, and when Mc-
Cook returned to his command, at about noon, his batteries were engaged in

1 Composed of the Eighty-fifth, Eighty-sixth, and One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Illinois, and Fifty-second
Ohio.

* See page 256.

LOVELL H. KOITSSKATT.

510 BATTLE OF PERRY VILLE.

an ineffectual duel with those of the Confederates. He ordered their com-
manders to save their ammunition, and seeing no enemy in force, and having
no apprehensions of a battle until he should offer one, he proceeded to the
right of his line.

The foe was even then coming stealthily upon him. Cheatham's division,
well masked, had stolen up to McCook's left, which was composed chiefly
of raw troops, under General Terrell, of Major-General James S. Jackson's
division, and fell suddenly upon them in flank, with horrid yells. By a
bullet of their first volley Jackson was instantly killed, 1 and the raw and
vastly outnumbered brigade of Terrell broke and fled in utter confusion,
leaving most of the guns of Parsons's battery as trophies for the victors. In
an attempt to rally his troops Terrell was mortally wounded, and died that
night.

Fierce indeed was this charge, and when Terrell's force melted away the
Confederates fell with equal fury upon Rousseau's division, standing ready
and firmly at the foot, of the hill to receive it. An attempt to flank and
destroy Rousseau's left was gallantly met by Starkweather's brigade, and
the batteries of Bush and Stone, who maintained the position for nearly
three hours, until the ammunition of both infantry and artillery was nearly
exhausted, and Bush's battery had lost thirty-five horses. The guns were
drawn back a little, and the infantry, after retiring for a supply of ammuni-
tion, resumed their place in the line, not far from Russell's house.

Meanwhile Rousseau's center and right, held respectively by the brigades
of Colonels L. A. Harris and W. H. Lytle, had fought stubbornly, repelling
attack after attack led by Bragg in person, but losing ground a little, when
the Confederates made a desperate charge upon Lytle's front, and hurled
back his brigade with heavy loss. Lytle was wounded, as he supposed
mortally, and refused to be carried from the field. This opened the way for
the victors to Gilbert's flank, held by Mitchell and Sheridan, whose front
had been for a short time engaged. And now the true mettle of Sheridan,
so tried in many a hard-fought battle afterward, was proven. He held the
key point of the Union position, and was determined to keep it. In the
morning he had driven the foe out of sight, and had just repelled an assault
on his front, when he was obliged to meet the triumphant force which
had thrown back Rousseau's right. He quickly turned his guns upon them,
and was fighting gallantly, when Mitchell pushed up Carlin's brigade to the
support of Sheridan's right. This force charged at the double quick, broke
the line of the Confederates, and drove them through Perry ville to the pro-
tection of batteries on the bluffs beyond. 2

In the mean time the brigade of Colonel Gooding had been sent to the
aid of McCook. Forming on the extreme left of the National line, it fought
with great persistence for two hours against odds, and losing full one-third
of its number, 3 with its commander, whose horse was shot under him, made
prisoner. It was not until about this time (four o'clock in the afternoon)

1 General Jackson was a member of Congress from the Second Kentucky District, having been chosen by a
very large majority over his secession opponent in 1861.

* In this charge the Nationals captured fifteen heavily loaded ammunition wagons, two caissons with their
horses, and a train-guard of one hundred and forty men.

8 The brigade numbered only 1,423, and lost 549, killed, wounded, and missing.

BRAGG'S FLIGHT FROM KENTUCKY.

511

that Buell was aware that a battle of much account really one of the most
sanguinary battles of the war, in proportion to numbers engaged had been
in progress. It had been raging for several hours, when he received from
McCook a request for re-enforcements. 1 Buell at once sent them, and also
orders for Crittenden, who was approaching, to hurry forward. The latter
was too late to engage decisively in the conflict, 8 which ended at dark, when
the Confederates, who had chosen their position for battle, were repulsed at
all points. So ended the destructive BATTLE OF PEBRYVILLE, or Chaplin's
Hills, as it is sometimes called. 3 Preparations were made by the Nationals
for a renewal of the conflict in the morning. Gilbert and Crittenden moved
early for that purpose, but during the night the Confederates had retired in
haste to Harrodsburg, where Bragg was joined by Kirby Smith and General
Withers, and all fled toward East Tennessee, leaving twelve hundred of
their sick and wounded at Harrodsburg, and abandoning at various points
about twenty-five thousand barrels of pork. 4 The retreat was conducted by
General Polk, and covered by the cavalry of the active General Wheeler.
They fled into East Tennessee by way of Danville, Stanford, Crab Orchard,
and Mount Vernon, followed by a large portion of Buell's army to Rock
Castle River, in Rock Castle County.
A division of Crittenden's corps
was pushed on as far as Wild Cat
and London, and then returned to
Columbia, when the main army
was put in motion for Nashville,
under General Thomas, and Buell
went to Louisville. 5 The Govern-
ment was so dissatisfied with the
result of this campaign against
Bragg 6 that Buell was relieved of
command," and Major-
General Rosecrans, who
had won substantial
victories in Mississippi, was put in
his place. Then the designation of
the Army of the Ohio, which
Buell had commanded, was changed to that of the Army of the Cumber-
la d.

Oct. 80,
1862.

JOSEPH WHEELEB.

1 See General Buell's Report to General Halleck, October 10, 1862.

a Wagner's brigade of Crittenden's corps went into action on Mitchell's right just at the close.

3 Buell reported his effective force which advanced on Perryville, 5S,000, of whom 22,000 were raw troops.
He reported a loss in this battle, of 4,343, of whom 916 were killed, 2.948 wounded, and 489 missing. Among the
killed were Generals Jackson and Terrell, and Colonel George Webster, of the Ninety-eighth Ohio, who com-
manded a brigade. The Confederate loss is supposed to have been nearly the same as that of the Nationals in
number. Bragg claimed to have captured fifteen guns and four hundred prisoners.

* So much property was abandoned on the way, or destroyed because of the inability of the Confederates to
carry it with them, that it is probable they lost more in the way of outfit, waste of horses and mules, and the
necessary expenses, than they gained by this great plundering raid.

* Reports of Generals Buell and Bragg, and their subordinate officers. Supplemental Report of the Com-
mittee on the Conduct of the War, volume II.

6 The Confederates were equally disappointed, not because of any lack of effort on the part of Bragg, but
because of the absence of demonstrations of a general feeling in Kentucky in favor of the conspirators. It was
supposed that on the appearance of a large force like that of Kirby Smith, or the main army under

512 GENERAL GRANT IN TENNESSEE.

We have said that Rosecrans had won substantial victories in Mississippi.
Let us look at the record.

When Halleck was called to Washington City, as we have observed,
General Grant was left in command of his old army, and of the district of
West Tennessee, with enlarged powers. 1 General Pope was called to Vir-
ginia, and General Rosecrans, who had gained fame in Western Virginia,
was placed in command of that leader's forces, under Grant, to occupy
Northern Mississippi and Alabama in the vicinity of Corinth, and eastward
to Tuscumbia. His division was known as the Army of the Mississippi,
with head-quarters at Corinth.

From June until September there were not many stirring military events
in the region of Grant's command, excepting such as were connected with
guerrilla operations, and he had an opportunity to reorganize and discipline
his troops. So well had he disposed of his forces, and kept himself informed
of the positions and numbers of the Confederates by continual cavalry recon-
noissances, that he was able, without much danger to his district, to send
troops, under orders from Washington, to Louisville, to the aid of Buell,
Avhile the latter was operating against Bragg and Smith, when moving toward
Kentucky. This weakening of his forces tempted the Confederates in Mis-
sissippi, under Generals Price and Van Dorri, 2 to move toward the Tennessee
River at the beginning of September ; not, however, without the knowledge
of the vigilant Grant, who was prepared to meet them.

When Bragg moved northward, supposing Rosecrans was crossing the
Tennessee in pursuit, in conjunction with Buell, he ordered Price to follow.
The latter, preparatory to such movement, first sent a heavy cavalry force,
under General Armstrong, to cut Grant's communications and prepare the
way for getting between him and Buell, and to operate on the latter's flank
and rear while Bragg was moving into Kentucky. Armstrong advanced

OO O J O

boldly, with over five thousand horsemen, to strike the Union forces at Boli-
var, in Tennessee, and sever the railway there. He was repulsed"
" A i86> 8 ' ^7 less than one thousand men, under Colonel Leggett. On the
following day he approached Jackson, and was again repulsed.

This was repeated on the 1st of September at Britton's Lane, after a battle

sr, there would be a general uprising in Kentucky that would swell the ranks of the invaders to a volume
sufficient to enable them to sweep triumphantly the rich States of Ohi", Indiana, and Illinois, and bear back to
the Tennessee, and beyond, food and clothing sufficient for the Confederate armies for a year. But with the
exception of the great slaveholding region around Lexington, the people with whom the invaders came, in con-
tact were either generally passive or openly hostile : and so manifest was this feeling, that thousands of those
who had joined the marauders dared not remain in the State, but fled with them, and became burdensome con-
sumers of food. As in Maryland, so in Kentucky, the people generally refused to espouse the cause of tne
conspirators, who were confused and greatly disheartened by the disappointment of all their calculations of
aid from these two powerful border States. Pollard, the Confeder tc historian, said (ii. 162) that "the South
was bitterly disappointed in the manifestations of public sentiment in Kentucky," and that " the exhibitions of
sympathy" were "meager and sentimental, and amounted to little practical aid " of the Confederate cause.
"Indeed," he says, " no subject was at once more dispiriting and perplexing to the South than the cautiousand
unmanly reception given to our armies, both in Kentucky and in Maryland." He attributed it to a " dread of
Yankee vengeance and a love of property," and expressed the belief that professions of attachment to the
"Southern canse" in those States were made with no higher motive than "selfish calculation."

1 See page 296.

2 When about to march for Kentucky, Bragg informed 6 Van Dorn and Price of his movement, and that he
s . OQ should leave to them "the enemy in West Tennessee." Van Dorn had then established batte-
ries at Port Hudson, secured the mouth of the lied River, and the navigation of the Mississippi

to Vicksburg, and. being at liberty to devote more time to the northern portion of his department, he took posi-
tion, accordingly, not far south of Grand Junction.

CAPTURE OF IUKA.

513

of four hours with Illinois troops, under Colonel Dennis. Armstrong fled,
leaving one hundred and seventy-nine dead and wounded on the field.

Grant promptly informed Rosecrans," then at Tuscumbia, of this raid.
The latter hastened to luka, a little village on the Memphis and
Charleston railway, in Tishamingo County, Mississippi, a place of " s ^ 1>
summer resort, on account of its healthfulness, the beauty
of its surroundings, and especially for its fine mineral springs. There a
large amount of stores had been gathered. Leaving the post in charge of
Colonel R. C. Mur-
phy, of the Eighth
Wisconsin, with or-
ders to remove the
property to Corinth
or destroy it, Rose-
crans marched west-
ward with Stanley's
division to Clear
Creek, seven miles
east of Corinth, and
encamped. Mean-
while the Missouri
leader, Sterling

Price, had moved
northward from the
vicinity of Tupelo,
with about twelve
thousand troops. lie
reached Jacinto on
the 10th of September, when Murphy and his little force fled toward Corinth'.
Price moved forward, occupied luka, captured the National property there,
and made his head-quarters at the fine mansion of Colonel J. L. Moore.

Grant had watched these movements in aid of Bragg with great inter-
est, that he might penetrate the plans of the Confederates. The time had

now come for him to act vigorously^
and he put two columns in motion to
crush the forces of the Missourian : one
under General Rosecrans, to attack
his flank and rear, and another under
General Ord, to confront him. This
combined movement began early in the
morning of the 18th of September.
General Ord, with about five thousand
men, moved down to Burnsville, on the
railway, seven miles west of luka, fol-
lowed from Bolivar by as many troops
under General Ross as Grant could

IUKA 8PBING8. 1

PRICE'S IIEAD-tiUAKTEUS.

1 This laa view at the mineral springs in the village of luka, as it appeared when the writer sketched it,
late in April, 1866. There are two springs in a swale on the bank of luka Creek, a small stream that flows
slang the eastern border of the village. These were covered with neat pavilions. Close by the railway near by

VOL. II 33

514 BATTLE OF IUKA,

spare. Rosecrans, meanwhile, moved with the separated divisions of Gene-
rals Stanley and C. S. Hamilton from Clear Spring with about nine thousand
troops, through a drenching rain, and all bivouacked that night at Jacinto,
on the Mobile and Ohio railway, nearly twenty miles southward from luka.
On the morning of the 19th they pushed on in light marching order toward
luka, with Mizner's cavalry, driving a Confederate guard from Barnett's
Corners ; and early in the afternoon Hamilton's division, moving cautiously,
in expectation of hearing the co-operating guns of Ord, and skirmishing
almost continually, was within two miles of luka, on densely wooded heights,
at a cross-road connecting the highways' running from the village to Jacinto
and Fulton respectively. There Hamilton formed a line of battle and
advanced his skirmishers, who found the Confederates in strong force and

position along a deep ravine behind the
crest of the hilL The skirmishers were
driven back, and a severe battle was
immediately begun.

The ground, covered with under-
brush, was difficult to operate upon ;
but, after much exertion, the Eleventh
Ohio battery, \mder a heavy fire of
grape, canister, and shell, was put in
position on the crest of the hill, so as
to command the road in front, with the
Fifth Iowa, Colonel Matthias, and
Twenty-sixth Missouri, Colonel Boom-
er, in support. At the same time

Colonel Eddy, with the Forty-eighth Indiana, was holding ground under a
terrible fire r a little in front of the battery to whose assistance the Fourth
Minnesota, Captain Le Gro, and Sixteenth Iowa, Colonel Chambers, were
speedily sent. The struggle of these few regiments against more than three
times their number, led by General Price in person, was brave and unflinch-
ing, until Colonel Eddy was mortally wounded, and the remainder of his
regiment was hurled back in disorder, leaving the battery (every horse of
which had been killed, and seventy-two of the men, including nearly all of
the officers, had been slain or wounded) to be seized by the Confederates.
For the possession of these guns desperate charges and counter-charges were
made, and they were repeatedly taken and retaken, until they were finally
dragged from the field by the Confederates. The bravery of its commander,
Lieutenant Sears, was specially commended.

While this struggle was going on, in which the movements were imme-
diately directed by Brigadier-Generals Sanborn and Sullivan, Stanley's

^as a very commodious public-house, well arranged for a pleasant summer residence, and called " luka Springs
Hotel." When the writer was there a new proprietor was renovating it, the hotel and the grounds around the
springs having been utterly neglected during the war. The house had been used as a hospital by both parties.
Wearied and famished from excessive travel and lack of sleep and food, the author found absolute restoration by
reposing there over night and part of a day, and making free use of the water. It must be a delightful place in
summer, when the house and grounds are in order, for both invalids and pleasure-seekers.

1 This little sketch shows the appearance of the battle-ground and the Jacinto road in front of the position
of the Eleventh Ohio battery, looking toward luka. The largest tree with the immense wart was thickly dotted
with the scars made by bullets and canister-shot, and those of the whole woods around It showed tokens of the
battle.

BATTLE OF IUKA.

515

division had come up, but the nature of the ground was such that more
troops than were then engaged could not well be inade useful, and only the
Eleventh Missouri, 1 which was pushed to the front, and which gallantly
assisted the Fifth Iowa and Twenty-sixth Missouri in driving the Confeder-
ates back to the ravine, participated in the battle. Stanley himself had been
for some time at the front, assisting Hamilton and his officers. Colonel
Perczel, with the Tenth Iowa and a section of Immell's battery, had foiled

C ^."INDIANA

d zevMissouni
e IOT"IOWA

BT.H IOWA
IS IOWA.
IT 1 "" IOWA
! 4T. MINNESOTA

BATTLE OF IUKA.

UNION
CONFEDERATE

the Confederates in an attempt to turn the National left, and soon afterward
they were driven to the shelter of the hollows toward the town. Darkness
came on, and THE BATTLE OF IUKA ended.

Where was Ord during the battle ? He was expected to co-operate with
Rosecrans, but did not. A greater portion of the day he had been watching
the movements of a Confederate force upon Corinth, which proved to be
only a feint. Leaving a portion of his force to strengthen the garrison at
Corinth, he hastened to Burnsville, where he arrived at four o'clock, and
found Ross waiting with about three thousand men. Grant ordered him
immediately forward with about five thousand men, with directions to halt
within four miles of luka, until he should hear Rosecrans's guns. A high
wind from the northward prevented this, and there Ord lay in expectation
of the summons until the next morning, when, hearing the sound of cannon,
he pushed forward to luka, but not to find an enemy. Rosecrans and his
victorious troops were there. They had rested on their arms during the

1 This regiment, though organized in Missouri, was composed of citizens of Illinois, with the exception of
about twenty men. For over half an hour it held its position in this battle without having a single round of
ammunition.

516

VISIT TO IUKA BATTLE-GROUND.

Sept 23,
1S62.

BOSECRANS'S IIEAD-QUABTERS.

night, expecting to renew the conflict in the morning ; but when Stanley

went forward at dawn for the purpose, he found that Price had fled south-
ward along the Fulton road, under

cover of the darkness, leaving behind

him the guns of the Eleventh Ohio

battery. A pursuit was immediately

commenced that lasted all day, but

Price had too much the start, and

escaped. Marching to Ripley, in Mis-
sissippi, he joined" the larg-
er force under Van Dorn,
a detachment of which had

been menacing Corinth, as we have

seen, on the day of the battle at luka.

Ord returned to Bolivar, and Rose-

crans remained a few days in luka,

making his head-quarters at the house of II. C. Brinkley, situated upon a hill

a little eastward of the village. 1

o *.-*"-

The writer visited luka toward the close of April, 1866, and went over
the battle-ground with Major George, a resident of the village, who had

been one of the most active of the
scouts of Forrest and Roddy in that
region, and participated in the battle
just described. We rode out in a car-
riage drawn by a span of spirited
horses, driven by a colored boy only
eight years and a half old, who man-
aged them and the breaks of the vehi-
cle, when going down steep hills and
gullied ways, with all the skill of an
experienced man. We passed along
the Jacinto road to the crest of the
hill on which the Eleventh Ohio battery
was planted. It had been cleared of
trees and underbrush, but a new growth

t O

nearly covered the ground, which at
one place was white with the bleached
bones of one hundred and fifty horses.
Near by were the graves of the slain men of the Ohio battery, at the head

1 The disparity in numbers in this conflict was very great. " I say boldly,'' reported General Hamilton on
the 23d of September, " that a force of not more than 2.SOO men met and confronted a rebel force of 11,000 on a
field chosen by Price and a position naturally very strong, and with its every advantage inuring to the enemy."
In another part of his report he says: " My division marched nineteen miles, fought a desperate battle with
seven regiments against a rebel force, under General Price, of not less than eighteen regiments, won a glorious
victory, lying at-night on their arms, and the following morning chased the fleeing enemy fifteen miles." In a
general order, issued on therein, Rosecrans repeats this substantially, and told them that they might well be
proud of the battle of luka. He reported his loss at 732, of whom 144 were killed, 593 were wounded, and forty
were missing. Among the wounded was the- gallant Colonel Boomer, of the Twenty-sixth Missouri. We have
no official returns of the Confederate loss. Pollard says it was about 300; but Rosecrans estimates from various
data, such as 265 of them buried by his troops and over 700 wounded left In the hospitals, their total lossfat
1,488. lie captured from them 1,629 stand of arms, 18,000 rounds of ammunition, and a large quantity of equip-
ments and stores.

OUK COACHMAN.

THE GRAVES OF OHIO SOLDIERS.

517

332

of many of which were rude boards, each bearing the name of the sleeper
beneath. 1 The kind-hearted major showed much feeling, as he leaned on one
of them and mused, while the writer was making the annexed sketch. " Poor
fellows !" he said, " they fought bravely. The war is over, and we are now
friends. If you meet with any of their relatives, tell them to write to Major
George, and he will do every thing in his power to restore to them the
remains of their friends." After visiting every part of the battle-field, and
making the sketches herewith given, we returned to luka, and the next
morning the writer journeyed toward Nashville.

Corinth, where stirring events occurred at the close of May, 8 became the
theater of more stirring events early in October. Rosecrans arrived there
from luka on the 26th
of September, and pre-
pared to meet an ex-
pected attack upon the
post by the combined
armies of Price and
Van Dorn. Ord, as we
have seen, returned to
Bolivar. Grant made
his head-quarters at
Jackson, in Mississippi.
Sherman was holding
Memphis, and Rose-
crans, with about twen-
ty thousand men, was
left to hold Corinth
and the region around it. The earth-works constructed there by Beauregard
and Halleck had been strengthened under the direction of General Cullum,
but they were modified, and new ones were constructed by Major F. E.
Prime, Grant's Chief-Engineer, which were better adapted for the use of a
smaller force than occupied them in May. The new line was made especially
strong westward of Corinth, from which direction the foe was expected, and
was much nearer the town than the old ones.

Immediately after their junction at Ripley, a point about half way
between Jacinto and Holly Springs, Price and Van Dorn prepared to march
upon Corinth, the key to the military possession of Tennessee and co-opera-
tion with Bragg. If Coi-inth could be taken, and the force there driven
back on the Tennessee and cut off, Bolivar and Jackson would easily fall,
and then, upon the arrival of the exchanged prisoners of war, West Tennes-
see might soon be in possession of the Confederates, and communication with
Bragg be established through Middle Tennessee. So reasoned
Van Dorn. 3 Regarding " the attack on Corinth as a military Se ^^
necessity," he moved forward" in command of the combined forces

1 Many of the boards had fallen down or been removed. Those standing, and seen in the picture, contained
the following names: Lieutenant R. Bauer, Sergeant M. V. B Hall, Corporal S. C. Gilinore, Privates W. H.
Bolser, C. Schefteni, C. P. Oleen, W. Crawford, J. Ettle, J. W. Brewer, J. II. Ingersoll, J. T. Malson, J. Dean, J.
Casey, J. Taylor.

2 See page 293. See Van Dora's Report, Oct 20, 1862.

GRAVES OF TUB ELEVENTH OHIO BATTERY-MEN'.

518 CONFEDERATES THREATENING CORINTH.

(he ranked Price), numbering about twenty-two thousand men, and struck
the Memphis and Charleston railway at Pocahontas," about half way between

Corinth and Grand Junction. On the night of the 2d the Confed-
1B62 1 era te Army bivouacked at Chewalla, only ten miles from Corinth.

It was difficult for Rosecrans to determine whether Van Dorn's
destination was Corinth, Bolivar, or Jackson. He was prepared for any emer-
gency. His cavalry " the eyes of the army," as Rosecrans called them
were on the alert in every direction, and troops were thrown out toward
the foe, to meet his advance. Skirmishing ensued, but it was not until the

morning of the 3d 6 that Rosecrans felt assured that Corinth was

4 October. ~

Van Dorn's objective. Then, before dawn, he disposed his troops
to meet him. Hamilton's division formed the right, Davies's the center, and
McKean's the left ; and a brigade of three regiments, under Colonel Oliver,
with a section of artillery, was thrown well forward beyond Beauregard's
old works, on the Chewalla road, along which it was ascertained the Confed-
erates were advancing. The cavalry was disposed so as to watch every
highway radiating from Corinth, for the commanding general, being unable
to find a map of the country, was illy informed concerning the northwesterly
approaches to the town. Such was the position of Rosecrans's army for bat-
tle on the morning of the 3d.

Colonel Oliver felt the pressure of the advancing force early that morn-
ing." It was their vanguard, under General Mansfield Lovell, 1
which at about half-past seven encountered Oliver, who was
well posted on a hill, with orders to hold it so firmly that the strength
of the foe might be developed. He was soon hard pressed, when General

McArthur was sent to his support.
McArthur found the foe numerous,
and he, too, was soon heavily pushed,
and the Confederates moving to out-
flank him ; but he called up-four regi-
ments from McKean's division to his
assistance. Meanwhile Rosecrans,
informed that the foe was in strong
force, had directed Davies to send up
two regiments. By this time a skir-
mish that seemed to be a feint to
make a more important movement
was developing into a regular battle,
when the Confederates made a despe-
rate charge, drove the Nationals
from the hill, and captured two guns.

It was now evident that the Confederates had come to recapture Corinth,
with its immense stores, and that this was the beginning of the struggle.
McKean's division was accordingly drawn back to the ridge next beyond the
inner intrenchments, in front of the town, with orders to close with his right

BATTLE OF CORINTH. 519

on Davies's left. Hamilton's division was moved so as to touch Davies's
right, and Stanley took position in close echelon with McKean, near Corinth.

While these movements were going on, the Confederates were pressing
heavily on the National center. Davies was pushed back. He called upon
Stanley for aid. Colonel Mower was sent with a brigade, and had just
arrived, and Hamilton was coming in through a thicket on Lovell's left,
when darkness fell, and the struggle ceased. Many brave men of the
National army had fallen. General Oglesby was severely wounded, and
General Hackelman was killed. The Confederates, elated by seeming suc-
cess, enveloped Rosecrans's front, and rested on their arms with assurance
of victory in the morning. Van Dorn believed Corinth would be his before
the rising of the sun. So early as three o'clock, when McKean fell back, he
had sent a shout of triumph to Richmond by telegraph, 1 that was followed
by a melancholy moan thirty hours later.

The battle was renewed before dawn the next morning." Both parties
had spent the night in preparing for it. Rosecrans and his staff
were on the field all night. The National' batteries around
Corinth were well manned, and a new one, mounting five guns,
and called Fort Richardson, was constructed during the dark hours by
sappers and miners,
composed of negro
slaves, under Captain
Gau, at the left of Ham-
ilton's division. 2 The
Confederates had also
thrown up redoubts,
one of which was not
more than two hundred
yards in front of Bat-
tery Robinett, that
covered the Chewalla
road northward from

Corinth. It was that Confederate battery that opened the fight. Its shells
fell in the streets of Corinth, producing great consternation among the non-
combatants. It was not answered until daylight, when Captain Williams,
from Battery Williams (which, with Robinett, protected Stanley's division),
opened his 20-pounder Parrott guns upon it, and silenced it in three minutes.
The Confederates fled with two of the guns, leaving a third as a trophy for
the Nationals.

This disconcerted the Confederate plan of attack, which was for Price on

1 u Our troops," he said, "have driven the enemy from their position. We are within three-fourths of a
mile of Corinth. The enemy are huddled together about the town. Some on the extreme left still trying to
hold their position. So far all is glorious."

4 The butteries of the new fortifications constructed by Major Prime extended from a point near the rail-
way, close to the southern borders of Corinth, around west of it to a point due north from the starting-point.
These were named Battery Madison, Lathrop, Tanurath, Phillips, Williams, Robinett, Powell, and Richardson.
See map on page 522.

* This is a view of Fort Robinett and the ground in front of it, as it appeared on the morning after the
battle, with the exception of the dead bodies of the Confederates which strewed the ground. It is from a photo-
graph made that day by G. S. and C. T. Smith, of Jackson, Mississippi, who kindly gave the writer a copy of it
when he was there in April, 1366.

520

BATTLE OF CORINTH.

their left to open a cannonade (as he did) to attract the attention of the
Nationals and keep them employed in that direction, while Lovell, on the
right in strong force, should storm the works on the National left. The
sudden crushing out of Price's battery changed the plan. It was followed
by the severe musket-firing of skirmishers in the thickets between the bel-
ligerents, and random thunderings of batteries. Finally, at a little after
nine o'clock, the Confederates, in heavy masses, suddenly came out from
cover northward of the railway, advanced rapidly along the Bolivar road,
and in wedge form fell fiercely upon Davies and Fort Powell on the National
right center, intending to penetrate Corinth. The struggle was very severe.
Grape and canister shot made fearful lanes through the Confederate ranks,
yet they pressed up most gallantly in the face of the storm. 1 A portion of
Davies's division gave way, but was soon rallied. The sudden weakness

encouraged the assail-

r s > ' '' "7

forward, captured
Powell, and a score of
them penetrated the
town to the head-quar-
ters of Rosecrans, on
the public square, which
they captured. Shel-
tered by its portico and
angles, they fired upon
the Nationals on the
opposite side of the
The column that had pushed

EOSECRANb'6 HEAD-QUARTERS. 1

square. But their triumph was short lived.
Davies back was in turn assailed by a section of Immell's battery, supported
by the Tenth Ohio and Fifteenth Minnesota, and driven toward the forest,
when Sullivan cominc: to the aid of Davies, Fort Powell was retaken. This

O '

was accomplished by a charge of the Fifty-sixth Illinois. At the same time,
the guns of Hamilton (who had fallen back with Davies) on the extreme
riht were makin dreadful havoc in the Confederate ranks. The foe was

1 An eye-witness (correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial) says the soldiers u marched
death, leith tlieir facet averted, like men striving to protect thenuelve* against a driving storm o

* This was the appearance of the house when the
writer sketched it, late in April, 1S66. It was the resi-
dence of Hampton Mark. During the battle, at the time
mentioned in the text, it w:;s much injured ; but at tho
time of the writer's visit it was in good order. The
cot-respondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, who was
present, says, " Seven rebels were killed within the little
inclosure in front of the General's cottage.". Obliquely
across the square was the public-house, known as the
" Verandah Hotel," kept by Dr. Gibson, the post-master
of Corinth, when the writer visited that place. This was
the head-quarters of General Bragg at the time of the
siege of Corinth, nt the close of May, 1S62, and was one
of the few dwellings in that village that survived the
storms of the war. It was used as a hospital, and bore
many scars made by the conflict. During the occupa-
tion of Corinth by the Confederate Army, General A. 8.
Johnston's quarters were at the Tishamingo Hotel (which
was burned), Folk's were at the house of the Widow
Hayes, aud Hardee's at the house of Dr. Stout.

steadily to

BEAGO'8 HEAD-QUARTERS.

OPERATIONS IN KENTUCKY, TENNESSEE, &o. 521

522

BATTLE OF CORINTH.

speedily hurled back in great disorder, and casting away all incumbrances,
fled to the woods, closely pursued by the victors with shouts of- triumph.

In the mean time Lovell, whose attack on the National left was to have
been simultaneous with that of Price on the right, had done his best. He
sent forward a heavy skirmish-line, and with four columns
of attack, composed chiefly of Texans and Mississippians,
he pressed on in the face of the artillery fire from two bat-
teries, and fell upon Fort Robinett and the adjacent lines.
A bloody battle ensued, and great bravery was exhibited
on both sides. Forts Robinett and Williams swept the
approaching lines fearfully with grape and canister. Stead-
ily those lines moved on and reached the ditch, where they
paused for a moment a fatal moment before making the
contemplated charge. Then Colonel Rogers, a brave acting-
brigadier of Texas, with the new Confederate flag 1 in one
hand, and a revolver in the other, leaped the ditch, scaled the parapet,
and, with five companions, fell forward dead within the fort. There was

CONFEDERATE FLAG.

FTTAMNRATH

UNION
CONED ERATC

BATTLE OF CORINTH.

a power behind that parapet unsuspected by the Confederate leader. It was
the Ohio brigade of Colonel Fuller, 2 which had lain prone until the foe was

1 By a recent act of the " Congress " at Richmond the design of the Confederate flag bad been 'changed.
Instead of the "Stars and Bars" first adopted (see page 256, volume I.), it was a white flag, with the Unioa
represented by stars on a blue field, arranged in the form of a cross. This was the style of the flag until the
close of the war.

9 Composed of the Twenty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, Forty-third, and Sixty-third Ohio, and Eleventh Mis-
souri, Colonel Mower.

ROSECRANS SUPERSEDES BUELL. 523

at the ditch, when portions suddenly rose and delivered such murderous
volleys that the assailants recoiled. In a moment they rallied and came
again to the encounter. The Eleventh Missouri and Twenty-seventh Ohio
gave them fearful volleys, and then the word " Charge !" rang out along the
line. The Nationals poured over the parapet, engaged in a terrible hand-to-
hand fight with the assailants, and soon sent them flying in wildest confusion
to the shelter of the forest. By noon THE BATTLE OF CORINTH was ended,
and the whole Confederate force was retreating southward.

Rosecrans ordered five days' rations and a rest until the next morning
for his gallant troops (who had been inarching and fighting for forty-eight
hours), preparatory to a vigorous pursuit. Just before sunset General
McPherson arrived, with five fresh regiments sent by General Grant, and
early in the morning he went forward as the advance of the pursuers, and
followed the Confederates fifteen miles that day. In the mean time another
division from Grant, under Generai-Hurlbut, which had been pushed for-
ward to attack the Confederate rear or intercept their retreat, had met the
head of Van Dora's column near Pocahontas, on the morning of the 5th, and
was driving it back across the Hatchee, toward Corinth, at Davis's Bridge,
when General Ord, who ranked Hurlbut, came up and ^ook the command.
There was severe fighting there, in what is known as THE BATTLE OP THE
HATCHEE, where the Confederates lost two batteries, and three hundred men
made prisoners. Ord had fallen severely wounded during the engagement,
and Hurlbut resumed the command. 1 His force was inferior, and he did not
pursue. The Confederates made a wide circuit, and crossed the Hatchee at
Crown's bridge, a few miles farther south, burning it behind them. McPher-
son, coming up, rebuilt it, and on the following day" pushed on in
pursuit. The greater portion of the National army followed the ' gg, 6 '
fugitives to Ripley, and their gallant leader, satisfied that he
could soon overtake and capture or destroy Van Dorn's army, was anxious
to continue the pursuit. Grant thought it best not to go farther, and Rose-
crans was recalled. The fugitives had been followed forty miles by the
main body of the victors, -and sixty miles by the cavalry. 2

A few days after his return to Corinth, and while the country was ring-
ing with his praises, Rosecrans was relieved from his command, and ordered
to report at Cincinnati, where he found orders for him to supersede Buell in
command of the Army of the Ohio, which, as we have observed, was now
called the Army of the Cumberland.

1 In this conflict General Veatch was also wounded. Ord's loss in that pursuit was heavier than that of
the flying Confederates, who made a stand at three well-covered places, in succession.

2 General Kosecrans reported his loss in the battle of Corinth and in the pursuit at 2.359, of whom 311 were
killed, 1,812 wounded, and 232 missing. We have no official report of the loss of the Confederates. Rosecrans
estimated it at 1.428 killed, 5.692 wounded, and 2,243 prisoners, making a total of 9.363 Pollard admits that
their loss was more than 4.500. Among the trophies were 14 flags, 2 guns, and 8.800 small arms. Rosecrans says
that, according to the Confederate authority, they had 38,000 men in the battle, and that his own force was less
than 20,000. General Hackelman was among the loyal slain.

524 DEPARTMENT OF THE TENNESSEE.

CHAPTEK XX.

EVENTS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI AND IN MIDDLE TENNESSEE.

HE repulse of the Confederates at Corinth was
followed by brief repose in the Department over
which General Grant had command, and which,
by a general order of the 16th of October, was
much extended, and named the Department of the
Tennessee? with head-quarters at Jackson. He
made a provisional division of it into four dis-
tricts, commanded respectively by Generals W.
T. Sherman, S. A. Hurlbut, C. S. Hamilton, and
T. A. Davies the first commanding the district
of Memphis, the second that of Jackson, the third the district of Corinth,
and the fourth the district of Columbus.

Vicksburg, a city of Mississippi, situated on a group of high eminences
known as the Walnut Hills, on the eastern bank of the Mississippi River, at
a bold turn of the stream, and a point of great military importance, had
been fortified by the Confederates, 4 and was daily growing stronger. It was
becoming a Gibraltar for them in opposing the grand scheme of the Nationals
for gaming the command of the Great River, and thus severing important
portions of the Confederacy. Toward the seizure of that point operations
in the southwest were now tending.' Vicksburg was not in General Grant's
department, but its capture became his great objective, as well as that of
others, and for that purpose a large portion of his forces had moved south-
ward, and at the beginning of December had taken post between Holly
Springs and Coldwater, on the two railways diverging from Grenada, in Mis-
sissippi, and the Tallahatchee River, behind which lay the Confederates in
strength. There he was prepared to co-operate with the National forces
westward of the Mississippi, and on the river below. That we may have a
clear understanding of the relations of these co-operating forces, let us glance
a moment at their antecedents, and especially their more recent movements.
These forces, in other forms and numbers, we left, in former chapters, some
under General Curtis, after the battle of Pea Ridge, 3 and others under Gene-
ral Butler 4 and Admiral Farragut. 5

Let us first follow the fortunes of Curtis's army after the battle of Pea
Ridge. We left it at Batesville, on the White River, in Arkansas, on the

1 The newly organized Department included Cairo, Forts Henry and Donelson, Northern Mississippi, and
those portions of Tennessee and Kentucky lying west of the Tennessee River.
4 Here was the first blockade of the Mississippi. See page 164, volume I.
* * See page 253. * See page 352. See page 845.

CURTIS'S MARCH TOWARD THE MISSISSIPPI. 525

6th of May, 1 where Curtis expected to find gun-boats and supplies, in charge
of Colonel Fitch. The lowness of the water in the river had prevented their
ascent, and one of the war-vessels had been destroyed by explosion in a
struggle with a Confederate battery at St. Charles. This was a great disap-
pointment to Curtis, for he had expected to advance on Little Rock, the
capital of Arkansas. Being compelled to depend for his supplies by wagon-
trains from Rolla, far up in Missouri, he did not feel warranted in making
aggressive movements, and he remained at Batesville until the 24th of June,
when he moved on toward the Mississippi, crossing the Big Black River on
pontoon bridges, and traversing a dreary country, among a thin and hostile
population, until he reached Clarendon, on the White River, a little below
the mouth of the Cache River.

Curtis was joined at Jacksonport" by General C. C. Washburne, with
the Third Wisconsin cavalry, which had made its way down from
Springfield, in Missouri, without opposition. Southward the whole " J 6 e 7 ^
army moved, across the cypress swamps and canebrakes that
line the Cache, and on the 7th of July the advance (Thirty-third Illinois),
under Colonel A. P. Hovey, was attacked by about fifteen hundred Texas
cavalry, led by General Albert Rust. Hovey halted until Lieutenant-Colo-
nel Wood came up, with the First Indiana cavalry and two howitzers, when
these re-enforcements made an impetuous charge, and put the foe to flight
with heavy loss. They left one hundred and ten of their dead to be buried
by the victors. The latter lost eight killed and forty-five wounded.

Curtis was again doomed to disappointment on reaching the White River
at Clarendon, where he expected to meet gun-boats and supplies. These had
gone down the river only twenty-four hours before his arrival. He was now
short of provisions, and the people being intensely hostile, he felt compelled
to go to the Mississippi by as short a journey as possible. After a most
wearisome march of sixty-five miles, he reached Helena, in Phillips County,
between the llth and 13th of July. Washburne, with twenty-five hundred
cavalry and five howitzers, had marched that distance in twenty-four hours.
The infantry brought with them a few Arkansas volunteers, and a large num-
ber of negroes, who sought liberty and protection under the old flag.

Both the National and Confederate powers were weak in Arkansas at
this time. Price and Van Dorn, with their armies, and a large number of
the Arkansas troops, had been called to Corinth and vicinity, and when Gov-
ernor Rector summoned militia to defend his capital when Curtis menaced it,
the response was so feeble that he fled from the State, leaving the archives to
be carried to Arkadelphia, more in the interior. Ten regiments had been
drawn from Curtis to re-enforce the army in Tennessee about to attack
Corinth, and he had not strength enough to seize the Arkansas capital. Rec-
tor's flight left the State without a civil head, and John S. Phelps, of Mis-
souri, was appointed its military governor, but he could not take his seat in
the capital, and his authority was nominal.

In the mean time National war-vessels had ascended the Mississippi to
Vicksburg, and above, and exchanged greetings with others which had come
down from Cairo. When New Orleans was fairly in the posses&ian of the

1 See page 260.

526 LAND AND NAVAL FORCES ON THE MISSISSIPPI.

military power under Butler, Commodore Farragut sent a portion of his
force up the river, for the purpose of reducing such posts on its banks as
were held by the Confederates. Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana, was
captured on the 7th of May without resistance. The Mayor refused to sur-
"render it formally. So Commander Palmer, of the Iroqtiois, landed, and

BJLTOB EOUGK.

"repossessed" the National arsenal there. 1 Farragut arrived soon after-
ward, and the naval force moved on, with the advance under Commander S.

P. Lee, on the Oneida, as far as Vicksburg," without opposition.
May,is62. There the troop8 o f Lovell, who fled from New Orleans, after
j M 1& having halted at different places, were now stationed. Lee sum

moned* the city to surrender, and was answered by a respectful
refusal by the Mayor, and a preposterous note of defiance from "James L.
Autry, Military Governor and Commandant Post." 2 -M. L. Smith, the " Brig-
adier-General Commanding," also refused, and Lee prudently awaited the
arrival of Farragut with the remainder of his squadron, a portion of Porter's
mortar-fleet, and transports with four thousand land troops under General
Thomas Williams. The latter were sent by General Butler to occupy and
hold places that might be captured by the navy. It was expected that bat-
teries would be found on the bluffs at Port Hudson, Elles's Cliffs, Natchez,
and Grand Gulf, hut no serious resistance was offered at those places. Wil-
liams landed below Elles's Cliffs, and made a circuit in the rear to capture a
:battery on their crown, but the troops had fled with their guns. There were
no signs of opposition at Natchez, but fearing it at Grand Gulf, the troops
landed, took possession of the town, and, in retaliation for being fired upon,
they burned it before they left.

The whole force appeared off Yicksburg on the 26th of June, and that
night the gun and mortar boats opened fire on the formidable Confederate
batteries there. These were too elevated to be much damaged by the bom-
bardment, and, after two days of almost ineffectual firing, Farragut deter-

1 See notice of its capture by the insurgents on page 181, volume I. The large turreted building seen in the
above picture, above al. the others, is the State-House of Louisiana.

1 " I have to state," sairt Autry, " that Mississippians don't know, and refuse to learn, how to surrender to
an enemy. If Commodore Farragut or Brigadier-General Butler can teach them, let them come and try."

BRIEF SIEGE OF VICKSBURG.

527

mined to run by them. This he did without much harm, 1 at three o'clock
on the morning of the 28th, with the flag-ship Hartford and six other vessels,
leaving the mortar-fleet and transports below, and met the gun and mortar
flotilla of Commodore Davis, and the steam-rams, under the younger Ellet

ELLES'S CLIFFS. 1

(the elder having just died at Cairo), who had come down from Memphis.
Williams, under the direction of Farragut, made an attempt, with twelve
hundred negroes, to cut a canal across the peninsula opposite Vicksburg,
through which his transports might pass in safety, but failed ; and such was
the result of a bombardment by the floating batteries above and below the
town. So, in the course of a few days, the siege was temporarily abandoned.
A startling rumor now reached Farragut, to the effect that a formidable
" ram " was lying in the Yazoo River, which empties into the Mississippi
above Vicksburg. She had been commenced at Memphis, and two days
before the evacuation of Fort Pillow 3
she was towed down the river with
materials sufficient to finish her. She
was now completed, with low-pres-
sure engines possessing in the aggre-
gate nine hundred horse-power, and
was named Arkansas.* Farragut
sent the gun-boats Carondelet and
Tyler, and Ellet's ram, the Queen of
the West, to reconnoiter her position.
They passed cautiously up the Yazoo
on the 15th, about six miles, when
suddenly they encountered the for-
midable foe. A sharp contest ensued,
in which the armored Carondelet,
Captain Walke, bore the most con-

DAVID O. FAKRAGUT.

1 He lost by the flro, of the batteries fifteen killed and thirty wonnded.

2 This is from a sketch of the Cliffs made by the writer from the steamer Indiana, in April, 1S66. These
cliffs, on the east bank of the river, are at a sharp turn in the stream, about eighteen miles below Natchez.
They are of yellow clay, and rise from one hundred and fifty to two hundred feet above the water.

3 See page 298.

4 This was a sea going steamer of 1,200 tons burden, and had a cutwater composed of a sharp, solid beak of

528

ATTEMPT TO DESTROY THE RAM "ARKANSAS."

spicuous part. After a severe contest, in which the Carondelet was badly
injured and lost fourteen men killed and wounded, and the Arkansas twenty-
five killed and wounded, the latter, beating off and much damaging her
antagonists, made her way down the Yazoo into the Mississippi, and tock
shelter under the batteries at Vicksburg.

Farragut now ran past the Vicksburg batteries again, and anchored
below, and he and Davis abandoned the bombardment of that post. On the
22d" another attempt was made to capture or destroy the Arkan-
sas. The Essex, Captain "W. D. Porter, and Ellet's Queen of the
West were employed for the purpose, while the gun-boats were bombarding
the batteries above and below the town. The attempt was not successful,
and, as the river was falling fast, and thus made naval operations less
efficient, the siege of Vicksburg was abandoned, under instructions from
Washington, and Farragut's fleet returned to New Orleans on the 28th. His
transports having been annoyed by the firing upon them of a guerrilla band
at Donaldsonville, on the left bank of the river, at the mouth of the Bayou

a July, 1862.

FOBT BUTLER, AT DONALD8ONVILLK. 1

La Fourche, he ordered that village to be bombarded, after warning the
inhabitants of his intention. Much of the town was destroyed. 6
It was afterward occupied by National troops, who built a strong

earthwork there, and named it Fort Butler.

When Farrajjut descended the river, General Williams and the land-

O '

troops debarked at Baton Rouge, for the purpose of permanently occupying
it. Re-enforcements were sent to him, and Farragut took a position to give
him aid in holding the place if necessary. Williams's troops were suffering
severely from sickness, and this fact, in an exaggerated form, having been
communicated to Van Dorn by resident secessionists, he organized an expe-
dition to capture the post. It was composed of about five thousand men,
under General J. C. Breckenridge, who expected to be aided by the ram

cast-iron, sixteen fee t in length, covering' the bow ten feet, and bolted through solid timber eight feet. She was
covered with T-rail iron, with heavy thick timber bulwarks and cotton-pressed c.iseinatins, and was impervious
to shot She had a battery of ten 64-pounders and 82-pounders rifled, and was commanded by the best officers
in the Confederate service. Statement of Captain Walke.

1 This was the appearance of Fort Butler and vicinity when the writer sketched it from the Indiana, jnst
at the close of a bright April day, 1866. The mouth of the Bayou La Fourche is seen between the small building
on the left and the fort

BATTLE OF BATON HOUGE. 529

Arkansas. He approached the city with General Daniel Ruggles, of Massa-
chusetts, leading his left wing, and General Charles Clarke his right. 1 With
his entire force moving along the two roads that enter Baton Rouo-e from

o o o

the southwest, he made a vigorous attack at the early morning twilight of
the 5th of August.

Williams was expecting an attack, and had well disposed his troops to
meet it, both from land and water, as Confederate gun-boats had come out
of the Red River, and the Arkansas was expected. His forces consisted
of only about twenty-five hundred effective men. The regiments were very
thin, on account of sickness. He posted the Fourth Wisconsin on Bayou
Gros, on the extreme left, with a portion of Manning's battery in the
Arsenal grounds on its left. On the right of that regiment was the Ninth
Connecticut, with four of Manning's guns, in the Government cemetery.
To the left of the Greenwell Springs road was the Fourteenth Maine ; and
next came the Twenty-first Indiana, posted in the woods in rear of the
Magnolia Cemetery, with four guns of Everett's battery. Then the Sixth
Michigan was posted across the country road on the right of the cemetery
and the Clay Cut road, with two guns. In the rear of the two last-named
regiments was the Seventh Vermont, near the Catholic Cemetery, and next
the Thirtieth Massachusetts, forming the right, posted about half a mile in
the rear of the State-House, and supporting Nim's battery. 4

The first blow in the attack fell upon the Fourth Maine, Second Indiana,
and Sixth Michigan. They were at first pushed back, when General Wil-
liams ordered up the Ninth Connecticut, Fourth Wisconsin, and a section of
Manning's battery to the support of the left, and the Thirtieth Massachusetts
and two sections of Nimm's battery to the support of the right. The battle
raged fiercely for about two hours, and in the hottest of the fray the Twenty-
first Indiana was grandly conspicuous. It lost all of its field-officers before
the end of the action. 3 Seeing this, General Williams placed himself at its
head, exclaiming, " Boys ! your field-officers are all gone ; I will lead you."
They gave him hearty cheers, when a bullet passed through his breast, and
he fell dead. He had just issued directions for the line to fall back, which it
did in good order, with Colonel T. W. Cahill, of the Ninth Connecticut, in
chief command. The Confederates, dreadfully smitten, also fell back, and
then retreated. So ended THE BATTLE OF BATON ROUGE.*

The dreaded Arkansas, which was expected to sweep every National
vessel from the Mississippi, and " drive the Yankees from New Orleans," did
not appear in time for the fight. On the following morning, Porter, with the
Essex, accompanied by the Cayuga and Sumter, went up the river to meet
her. They found her five miles above Baton Rouge, when an engagement
ensued. Owing to defects in her engines, the Arkansas became unmanage-
able, when she was headed to the river-bank, and set on fire. Her maga-
zine exploded, and the monster was blown into fragments.

1 Breckenridge's troops consisted of two Louisiana, two Mississippi, six Kentucky, and two Tennessee
regiments, and one Alabama regiment, with thirteen guns and a considerable guerrilla force.

2 Report of Lieutenant Godfrey Weitzel to General Butler, August 7, 1S62.

8 Lieutenant-colonel Keith and Major Hayes were severely wounded, and Adjutant Latham was killed.

4 See reports of Colonels Cahill, Dudley, and others, and Lieutenant Weitzel. The National loss was reported
eisrhty-two killed, two hundred and fifty-five wounded, and thirty-four missing. The Confederate loss is not
known. The Nationals took about one hundred of them prisoners.

VOL. II. 34

530 LA FOURCHE DISTRICT "REPOSSESSED."

Soon after the repulse of the Confederates at Baton Rouge, that post
was evacuated by the Nationals, and Porter ascended the river to reconnoiter
batteries said to be in course of construction at Port Hudson. He passed
up above to Bayou Sara to coal, where guerrillas fired upon him. The little
town was destroyed in consequence. Because of the fiendish act of armed
citizens of Natchez in firing on a boat's crew who went on shore to procure
ice for sick men, that city was bombai'ded by the Essex, set on fire, and cap-
tured. The Essex then turned back, and on her passage down
a8 iS62. T ' ^ e r * ver ^ a( ^ a snoi 't and sharp contest" with the growing bat-
teries at Port Hudson.

General Butler was satisfied, at the beginning of September, that the
Confederates hud abandoned all idea of attempting to retake New Orleans,
and he sent out some aggressive expeditions. The most important move-
ment of this kind was to " repossess " the rich district of La Fourche, on
the west side of the Mississippi, and for that purpose he sent the gallant
Weitzel, then a brigadier-general, with a brigade of infantry, with artillery
and Barnet's cavalry. Late in October, Weitzel landed at Donaldsonville,
and traversed the region in its rear and south of it with very little difficulty,
October a ^ ter a sharp fight near Labadieville on the 2Vth. 4 The Confede-
rates, under McPheeters, were there on both sides of the Bayou La
Fourche, with six pieces of artillery. Weitzel brought up his cannon and
moved to the attack, with the Thirteenth Connecticut and Seventy-fifth New
York in advance. A battle was soon opened, in which the Eighth New
Hampshire and Twelfth Connecticut gallantly co-operated with the other
two regiments. The batteries of Thompson and Carruth did eminent ser-
vice. The Confederates were driven and pursued about four miles. Weitzel
lost eighteen killed and seventy-four wounded. He captured two hundred
and sixty-eight prisoners and one piece of artillery.

Weitzel now marched on through the country to open communication
with the city by the bayou, and the railway connecting Brashear City with
New Orleans. It was almost entirely abandoned by the white people, and
the negroes received the victor joyfully as their deliverer. The industrial
operations of the district were paralyzed, and General Butler thought it
expedient, as a state policy and for the sake of humanity, to confiscate the
entire property of the district. He did so, and he appointed a commission
to take charge of it. 1 By that commission the negroes were employed and
subsisted, and the crops were saved. Two Congressional distiicts in Louisi-
ana were now recovered, and in December the loyal citizens of New Orleans
elected to seats in Congress Benjamin F. Flanders and Michael Hahn, the
number of Union votes in the city exceeding by a thousand the number of
votes cast for secession.

General Butler was superseded in the command of the Department of the

Gulf late in the autumn' by General Banks. The latter arrived at

New Orleans on the 14th of December, and was received by the

commanding general with great courtesy. Banks formally assumed his new

duties on the 16th, and on the 24th, Butler, after issuing an admirable fare-

1 This commission consisted of Major J. M. Bell, Lieutenant-colonel J. B. Kinsman, and Captain Fuller, of
the Seventy-fifth New York Volunteers, the latter being made provost-marshal of the district.

WAR REKINDLED IN MISSOURI. 531

well address to the citizens, 1 embarked in a steamer for New York. His
administration had been marked by great vigor and justice, as the friend and
defender of the loyal and the oppressed, and the uncompromising foe of the
rebellious. 9 He took with him thirteen thousand seven hundred soldiers for
the capture of New Orleans, and he turned over to his successor seventeen

thousand eight hundred well-drilled and disciplined men, among whom, tv>

we have observed, Avere regiments of colored troops.

^ In the mean time some active military operations had been in progress

[ in Missouri and Arkansas. For some time General Curtis, whom we left at
Helena, 3 was unable to do much more than menace Little Rock and watch
and smite guerrilla bands, which, in conjunction Avith others in Missouri,
soon crystallized into quite a formidable army, as we shall observe presently.
Since the autumn of 1861, General J. M. Schofield, Lyon's second at the
battle of Wilson's Creek, 4 had been in command of the militia of Missouri,
and in June, 1862, that State was erected into a separate military district,
with Schofield at its head. He was vigilant and active ; but when Curtis
withdrew to the Mississippi, and left Arkansas and Southern Missouri open
to the operations of guerrilla bands, then numerous in the Avestern part of
the former State, he found his forces inadequate to keep down the secession-
ists in his district. When Price crossed the Mississippi, early in May, he
sent back large numbers of Missourians to recruit guerrilla bands for active
service during the summer, and these, at the middle of July, were A r ery
numerous in the interior, and Avere preparing to seize important points in the
State. To meet the danger, Schofield obtained authority from the Governor
to organize all the militia of the State. This drew a sharp diA'iding line
betAveen the loyal and disloyal inhabitants. He soon had fifty thousand
names on his rolls, of whom nearly twenty thousand were ready for effective
service at the close of July, Avhen the failure of the campaign against Rich-
mond so encouraged the secessionists in Missouri, that it Avas very difficult
to keep them in check.

Schofield's army of A'olunteers and militia Avas scattered OA T er Missouri in
six divisions, 5 and for tAVO months a desperate and sanguinary guerrilla Avar-

1 See Parton's Sutler in New Orleans, page 603.

a General Cutler found a large portion of the wealthier and more influential of the inhabitants of New
Orleans, native and foreign, bitterly hostile to the Government. He also found that, in consequence of tUeir
rebellion, there was wide-spread distress arnons the poorer classes of the city, and he resolved to make the
nuthoi-sof their misery contribute largely to their relief. He discovered a list of contributors to the fund raised
for the promotion of the rebellion, with the amount of their subscriptions, and he at once assessed them, for the
relief of the poor, twenty-five per cent of that amount. In various ways he made them play the part of bene-
factors of the poor. During the few months he was there, he collected, by fines, forfeitures, confiscations, taxa-
tion, and assessments, $1,038,000, all of which, as documentary evidence shows, he faithfully applied to the
public service. He expended $525.000 in feeding the poor of New Orleans ; he sent to the Government Treasury
$345,000 ; and handed to the quartermaster and commissary of his successor about $200,000. He was cursed by
the rebellious, and beloved by the loyal and oppressed.

In his farewell address General Butler said: "I saw that this rebellion was a war of the aristocrats against
the middling men of the rich against the poor: a war of the land-owner against the laborer; that it was a
struggle for the retention of power in the hands of the few against the many; and I found no conclusion t.> it,
save in the subjugation of the few and the disinthrallment of the many. I therefore felt no hesitation in taking
the substance of the wealthy, who had caused the war, to feed the innocent poor who had suffered by the w;;r.
And I shall now leave you with the proud consciousness that I carry with me the blessings of the humble and
loyal, under the roof of the cottage and in the cabin of the slave, and so am quite content to incur the sneers of
the salon or the curses of the rich."

3 See page 525.

* See page 50.

s Colonel John M. Neill, of the Missouri State Militia, commanded the northeastern part of the State; Gen-
eral Ben Loan the northwestern; General James Totten the central; General F. B. Brown the southwestern;

WAR IN MISSOURI.

1S62.

4 Ails?. 10.

Aug. 11.

fare was carried on in the bosom of that Commonwealth, the chief theater
being northward of the Missouri River, in McNeill's division, where insur-
gent bands under leaders like Poindexter, Porter, Cobb, and others, about
five thousand strong, were very active. On the 6th of August,"
McNeill, with one thousand cavalry and six guns, and Porter,
with about twenty-five hundred men of all arms, had a desperate fight of
four hours at Kirksville, in Adair County. Porter was defeated, with a loss
of one hundred and eighty killed and about five hundred wounded, and
several wagon-loads of arms. McNeill's loss was twenty-eight killed and
sixty wounded. Four days later, 6 Colonel Odin Guitar, with six
hundred horsemen and two guns, attacked and routed Poindex-
ter's guerrillas, twelve hundred strong, while crossing the Chariton River
in the night. Many of the guerrillas were driven into the river and were
drowned. The survivors fled northward to join Porter, when they met Ben
Loan, who forced them back and exposed them to another severe blow by
Guitar. The forces of both guerrilla chiefs, as well as those of Cobb, were

C? * '

broken up and dispersed. From April until September, the loyal and dis-
loyal warriors in Missouri" were engaged in about one hundred combats.

An attempt to aid the Missouri guerrillas was made by their more
southern brethren early in August. Nearly eight hundred of these, under
Colonel Hughes, attacked and captured' Independence, on the
western border, with three hundred and twelve Missouri cav-
alry, under Lieutenant-colonel Buell ; and, at about the same time, General
Coflfey, with fifteen hundred cavalry from Arkansas, invaded Southwestern
Missouri, and pushed on rapidly northward to form a junction with Hughes

and seize Lexington. He was fol-
lowed by Colonel Clark Wright, with
twelve hundred Missouri cavalry,
and a combination was immediately
formed to capture him, but failed. 1
The insurgent bands formed a junc-
tion, and in a combat at Lone Jack,
in Jackson County, with Major Fos-
ter, who had sallied out of Lexington
with eight hundred cavalry, they
were successful. Foster was defeated,
was wounded, and lost two of his
guns. Cofiey then pressed on with
about four thousand five hundred men,
when he was alarmed by intelligence
that General James G. Blunt, then
commanding in Kansas, was threatening his line of retreat with a strong
force, while the commands of Loan and Wright were concentrating upon

JAMES G. BLTTNT.

Colonel J. M. Glover, of the Third Missouri cavalry, at Kolla; and Colonel Lewis Merrill, of the National
Volunteer cavalry, at St. Louis.

1 Totten was directed by Schofield to strike Hughes before he could join Coffey, while General Blunt, in
Kansas, was requested to send a force from Fort Scott to co-operate In cutting off Coffey's retreat. At the same
time Colonel Fitz-Henry Warren, with the First Iowa cavalry, was sent from Clinton with 1.800 men to effect a
junction with Major Foster, whom Totten had sent out from. Lexington in search of Hughes.

CONFEDERATES DRIVEN INTO ARKANSAS.

him. He suddenly turned his face southward, and, eluding Blunt while
covered with darkness, he fled back into Arkansas with very little loss, hotly
pursued to the borders of that State.

Missouri was now somewhat relieved, but the Confederates were gather-
ing in force in Arkansas, where they were joined by conscripts from Southern
Missouri, and a large number of troops from Texas. Their entire number
was estimated to be fifty thousand at the middle of September, with General
T. C. Hindman 1 in chief command, assisted by Generals Rains, Parsons,
Cooper, McBride, and others. So threatening was this gathering,
that Schofield took the field in person, and General Curtis sue-
ceeded him" in command of the District of Missouri.

Schofield had at this time, at and near Springfield, over ten thousand
troops, of whom eight thousand were available for active operations, after
providing means for keeping open his communications. This was called the
Army of the Frontier. Of these about five thousand were cavalry. He
had also sixteen pieces of artillery, with a complement of men and horses.
With these he moved toward Arkansas, with the knowledge that a con-
siderable body of the foe was on his immediate front. General Salomon led
the advance of over four thousand men. His vanguard was attacked at
Newtonia,* Avhen he moved forward with his whole force and
joined in the struggle. After a contest which lasted all day, he
was defeated, but with little loss, and retreated to Sarcoxie, covered by the
brigade of Colonel Hall.

Schofield pressed on to Sarcoxie, where he was joined by General Blunt,
and the combined forces, ten thousand strong, pushed forward to attack the
Confederates at Newtonia, whose number was estimated at about fifteen
thousand. Blunt and Totten approached at different points, when the Con-
federates, who were illy equipped, fled without striking a blow, and were
chased about thirty miles into Arkansas.

Schofield moved cautiously on, keeping his communications well guarded,
and on the 1 7th of October he was on the old battle-ground of Pea Ridge.
The Confederates were divided, a part, under General Cooper, having gone
westward to Maysville, for the purpose of cutting the communications with
Fort Scott, while the main body, under the immediate command of Rains,
with about three thousand cavalry in the rear to mask the movement, were
retreating toward Htmtsville, in Madison County. Blunt was sent after
Cooper, while Schofield, with his main army, made a forced march over the
White River Mountains toward Huntsville, resting eight miles from that
village, where Rains had encamped the day before.

Blunt made a hard night's march, and on the morning of the 22d of
October" attacked Cooper at old Fort Wayne, near Maysville,
captured his four guns, routed his men, and drove them in disor-
der toward Fort Gibson, in the Indian Territory. Schofield did not even get
sight of the foe at Huntsville, for on his arrival there he found they were in
full retreat over the mountains toward Ozark, with a determination to
avoid a battle until expected re-enforcements should arrive. He pur-
sued them some distance, when he turned northward, and marched to

1 See page 191.

534

BATTLE OF BOSTON MOUNTAINS.

FRANCIS J. HERRON.

Cross Hollows and Osage Springs, near Pea Ridge. 1 There he learned
that between three and four thousand Confederate cavalry were encamped

on White River, eight miles from
Fayetteville. He immediately or-
dered General Francis J. Herron to
march with about a thousand cavalry
to attack their rear, and General
Totten to advance from Fayetteville
and fall on their front. Herron first
reached the foe. It was

Oct., 1862.

at the dawn of the 28th.
His attack was so vigorous that the
Confederates fled to the mountains,
leaving their camp equipage behind.
Missouri was now comparatively se-
cure from danger, and the importance
of the services of Schofield was
gratefully acknowledged by the loy-
alists of that State. Late in November he was compelled by sickness to
resign his command, and leave it in charge of General Blunt.

General Hindman now prepared to strike a decisive blow for the recovery
of his State. By a merciless conscription, and the concentration of scattered
forces, he had collected in the western part of Arkansas over twenty thou-
sand men at the close of November. Blunt, with the First division, was
then at Lindsay's Prairie, fifteen miles south of Maysville, and
on the 26th* was informed that Hindman's advance, consisting of
a strong body of cavalry under Marmaduke, was at Cane Hill, about
thirty miles south of him. On the following morning Blunt went for-
ward with five thousand men, provisioned for four days, and thirty pieces of
artillery, to attack Marmaduke. They marched twenty-seven miles that day,
bivouacked at night, and at dawn the next morning his advance, composed
of only two hundred of the Second Kansas cavalry, and his own staff and
body-guard, with two mountain howitzers and Rabb's battery, were within
half a mile of Marmaduke's camp before >they met with resistance. The
main body had been' detained, and an artillery duel was kept up until their
approach, when Marmaduke retreated to his reserves on the Boston Moun-
tains, and took a good position on a height. Blunt, with his entire force,
assailed him vigorously, and, by a charge of the Second Kansas cavalry,
Third Cherokee Indians, and Eleventh Kansas infantry, he was driven away
and compelled to retreat in the direction of Van Buren. Blunt then took
position at Cane Hill. His loss in THE BATTLE OF BOSTON MOUNTAINS was
four killed and thirty-six wounded. Marmaduke had seventy-five killed.
The number of his wounded is not known.

Hindman now determined to crush Blunt, and on the 1st of December he
crossed the Arkansas River at Van Buren with about eleven thousand men,
including two thousand cavalry, and joined Marmaduke at a point fifteen
miles northward. Informed of this, Blunt sent to Herron, then in Missouri,

i November.

1 See map on page 258.

BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE. 535

for assistance. That excellent officer was at Wilson's Creek when the mes-
sage reached him, and within three hours afterward his divisions (Second and
Third), which were fortunately much nearer the Arkansas border, were mov-
ing southward with guns and trains at the rate of twenty miles a day. They
were at Elk Horn on the 5th," when Herron sent forward his cav-
alry, three thousand strong, under Colonel Wickersham, for the D igg ber '
immediate relief of Blunt, and, pressing on with the main army, he
reached Fayetteville on the morning of the 7th, having marched all night.
Resting there only one hour, he marched on for Cane Hill, and at the end of
less than six miles he met a part of the cavalry he had dispatched from Elk
Horn, who had been smitten and broken ten miles from Cane Hill by Mar-
maduke's horsemen.

Herron was now in a perilous position. For two days Blunt had been
skirmishing with what he supposed to be the advance of Hindman's main
army, when the fact was the Confederates had turned his left, were making
for Blunt's trains, under the charge of General Salomons, at Rhea's Mill,
and were interposing between him and Herron's infanti'y and artillery. This
alarming fact he discovered on the 6th, and two hours afterward Wicker-
sham, with four cavalry regiments, 1 arrived at Cane Hill, and reported that
Herron would be at Fayetteville the next morning. Blunt tried to warn
Herron of his danger, but failed, because of the vigilance of Marmaduke's
cavalry ; and that active and earnest officer was allowed to march on until he
met the mounted vanguard of his enemy in force, at a little settlement on
Illinois Creek, called Prairie Grove.

Herron was divested of his cavalry, and had only about four thousand '
men ready for action. He was in a strong position, and might have made a
good defensive stand, but, unconscious of great danger near, and being intent
on the relief of Blunt, he drove the Confederate cavalry across the Creek,
when he was confronted by a force of infantry and artillery under Hindman,
Parsons, and Frost, nearly twenty thousand strong. They were well posted
on a wooded ridge, three-fourths of a mile from the ford, and so thoroughly
masked that Herron did not suspect their real numbers. He pushed a light
battery across to feel the foe. It was instantly driven back. Under cover
of a feint of another advance, he pushed a battery (Murphy's) across the
creek half a mile farther down, and opened partially on the flank of the foe.
During the surprise and confusion which this occasioned, and which gave the
impression that his force was much larger than it really was, he pushed three
full batteries across the ford in his front, supported by three full regiments. 2
These, within sixty minutes, silenced the guns of their antagonists, and <
then, advancing across open fields, hurling before them a storm of grape and
canister, they pushed up to within a hundred yards of the ridge. Then
the Wisconsin and Iowa regiments were ordered to charge and capture the
Confederate battery on their front. This was done in a few minutes, but
they were unable to hold it, and fell back, when the foe, resolved on captur-
ing Herron's batteries, dashed forward, but were repulsed in turn with heavy
loss. Now two fresh regiments, under Colonel Houston (Twenty-sixth Indi-

1 Second Wisconsin, First Iowa. Tenth Illinois, and Eighth Missouri.

2 These were the batteries of Captain Backof, and Lieutenant-. Forest and Boeries. The supporting regi-
ments were the Ninth Iowa, Twentieth Wisconsin, and Ninety -fourth Illinois.

536 SUFFERINGS OF TEXAN LOYALISTS.

ana and Thirty-seventh Illinois), came up gallantly, charged upon and recap-
tured the Confederate battery, but they too were compelled to fall back.

While Herron was thus struggling, at half-past two o'clock in the after-
noon, Blunt came up and fell upon the Confederate left, where the troops
had been massed to turn Ilerron's right. A severe battle ensued. Blunt
brought three batteries to bear, which soon drove those of the Confederates
and their supporters back into the woods, where Colonel Wier, with a heavy
force, 1 charged upon them. Then ensued a musketry fight for three hours,
the National artillery doing admirable service at the same time. Lieutenant
Tenney, with six 10-pounder Parrotts, unsupported, repelled a heavy
infantry attack, during which the Confederate General Stein, of Missouri,
fell. At about the same time an attempt to capture the batteries of Rabb
and Hopkins was repelled, to the great hurt of the assailants. Night ended
the conflict, and the Nationals slept on their arms on the battle-field, expect-
ing to renew the struggle in the morning. But the Confederates had no
desire for more fighting, and retreated under cover of the darkness. Before
the dawn, Hindman asked for a personal conference with Blunt concerning
the burial of the dead. It was granted, but proved to be only a trick to
keep back a pursuit of his flying army, which, as Blunt soon afterward
learned, had commenced departing several hours before. The Confederates,
having left their transportation south of the mountains, marched rapidly and
escaped. Thus ended the sanguinary BATTLE OF PRAIRIE GROVE.*

While the war was thus progressing in the region of the lower Missis-
sippi, on its western side, it was seen in many of its distressing aspects still
farther west in Texas, the extreme southwestern State of the Republic. From
the time when Twiggs betrayed it into the hands of the Confederates, 3 the
loyal people of that State suffered intensely from the cruelties of the insur-
gents. In Western Texas, where there were few slave-holders, and conse-
quently more patriotism, the Union element was very strong and pertinacious,
and the inhabitants were both hated and feared by the banditti of the con-
spirators, who moved over the country with fire and rope to destroy property
and strangle loyal citizens.

The sufferings of the Texan loyalists were intensified early in the summer
of 1862, after the reverses of the Confederates in Tennessee, when Texas
was placed under martial law, and a merciless conscription was enforced.
The country was scoured by guerrilla bands, who committed the most
atrocious crimes, robbing and murdering all who were even suspected of
being friends of their country. Great numbers of the loyalists attempted
to flee from the State to Mexico, singly and in small parties. The earlier
fugitives escaped, but a greater portion were captured by the guerrillas and
murdered. One of the organs of the conspirators (San Antonio Herald)
said exultingly, " Their bones are bleaching on the soil of every county from
Red River to the Rio Grande, and in the counties of Wise and Denton
their bodies are suspended by scores from the Black Jacks."

1 The Tenth and Thirteenth, and a part of the Second and Eleventh Kansas and Twentieth Iowa.

f Reports of Generals Blunt and Herron. and General Hindman. The National loss in this engagement
was 1.14S, of whom 167 were killed, 798 wounded, and 183 missing. A greater portion of the latter were cap-
tured by Marmaduke when he first attacked Herron's cavalry. General Blunt estimated the Confederate loss
at about 8.000, as his command buried about 1,000 killed on the battle-field. Hindman reported bis loss at
1,317, and claimed to have captured 'J75 prisoners, 5 flags, 23 wagons, and more than 500 small arms.

* See chapter XI., volume I.

MASSACRE OF TEXAN LOYALISTS,

537

A notable and repi-esentative instance of the treatment received by the
Texan loyalists at the hands of their oppressors is found in the narrative of
an attempt of about sixty of them, mostly young Germans belonging to the
best families in "Western Texas, to leave the country. They collected at
Fredericksburg, on the frontier, intending to make their way to New
Orleans by way of Mexico, and join the National army. On the night of
the 9th of August they encamped on the edge of a cedar brake, on the
Nueces River, about forty miles from the Rio Grande. They had moved
with such secrecy that they scarcely felt any apprehension of danger from
the guerrillas, who were scouring the country with orders to kill all Union
men. But they were betrayed, and a leader named Duff sent over one hun-
dred men to surprise and destroy them. At near daylight they approached
the camp, and captured one of the party. His life was offered him as a
reward if he would lead them to the camp of his companions. He refused,
and was hanged. The guerrillas then fell upon the patriots who were sleep-
ing. A desperate struggle ensued, and at length, opposed by overwhelming
numbers and superior weapons, the Unionists were conquered, but not until
two-thirds of their number were killed or wounded. The survivors fled
toward the Rio Grande. Some escaped, and others were captured, tortured,
and hung. The wounded, already in the hands of the insurgents, were mur-
dered in the most barbarous manner by bullets, bayonets, bowie-knives, and
hanging. Some, who were actually dying, were dragged to trees and hung
by the fiends. The commander of the butchers, Lieutenant Lilley, afterward
boasted that he killed several of the wounded with his own hands, " empty-
ing two revolvers " in shooting them ! The lives of forty of the sixty
young men were sacrificed at an expense to the murderers of eight killed
and fourteen wounded in the battle. When the banner of the Republic
gave protection to the loyalists of
Texas, three years later, measures
were taken to collect the remains of
the slain and bury them. This was
accomplished, and a fine monument
was erected to their memory. 1

Some attempts had been made to
" repossess " important points in
Texas, especially the city of Galves-
ton. So early as the 1 7th

a 1862.

of May," Henry Eagle,
commander of the war vessels in
front of Galveston, summoned the
town to surrender, under a threat of
an attack from a land and larger

naval force that would soon appear.
" When the land and naval forces ap-
pear, we shall reply," w r as the an-
swer; and so matters remained until
the 8th of October following, when Galveston was formally surrendered by

1 The writer is indebted to the Honorable Daniel Cleveland, the first Union Mayor of San Antonio after the
close of the war, for the substance of the above narrative, and more in detail, both oral and written, and for a

MONUMENT OF TKXAS MAKTYRB.

THE ARMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.

its civil authorities to Commander Renshaw, of the National navy, the Con-
federate troops retiring on his approach with four steam-vessels of war. A
small military force was placed in the city, and this, with the vessels, held
possession until the close of the year.

We have now made note of the antecedents and position of the National
troops westward of the Mississippi toward the close of the year 1862, des-
tined to co-operate with the army of General Grant against Yicksburg. We
left the latter encamped between Holly Springs and Coldwater, and the Tal-
lahatchee River. 1 Let us leave this region for a while, and follow Rosecrans
to his new field of operations after his splendid victory at Corinth.

Rosecrans found the Army of the Ohio, now the Army of the Cumber-
land, in a sad condition. It was greatly wasted in substance by marches
and conflicts, and demoralized by lack of success " its spirit broken, its
confidence destroyed, its discipline relaxed, its courage weakened, and its
hopes shattered." 2 It was showing in full measure the feeling of grievous
disappointment which the loyal people were suffering because of the failure
of Buell's campaign. With the exception of Nashville, then garrisoned by
the small divisions of Negley and Palmer, and invested and threatened by a
confident foe, there was little to show as the result of nine months' weary
campaign by the Army of the Ohio. Its effective force was reduced from
about one hundred thousand men to sixty-five thousand. About thirty-
three thousand, or one-third of the whole army, were absent from their com-
mands, ten thousand of them being in hospitals. Its cavalry was weak in
number and equipment, and the rough-riders of Morgan and Forrest had so
very little fear of or respect for it, that it was with .the greatest difficulty that
the communications of the army with its depot of supplies at Louisville
could be kept open. Such was the condition and morale of the Army of the
Cumberland (now known as the "Fourteenth Army Corps"), gathered at
and around Bowling Green and Glasgow, when General Rose-
crans assumed the command of it, on the 30th of October, and
proceeded to reorganize it. 3

photograph of the monument, from which the above picture of it was made. " Upon the arrival of the United
States troops nt San Antonio, early in August, 1865," says Mr. Cleveland, "General Men-it furnished a small
cavalry escort to the Hon. E. Degener (who had had two sons murdered in this battle), who, with other
bereaved relatives, went to the battle-field and collected the remains of the murdered heroes, and brought them
to the little town of Comfort, about fifty miles northwest of San Antonio, near which place most of them had
lived, where, on the 10th day of August, the anniversary of the battle, they were buried. The funeral cere-
mony was peculiarly solemn and imposing. A little band, consisting of the survivors of the battle, the wives
and children, parents and relations, of the deceased, had gathered from different portions of the State. Mr
Degener delivered a short oration, a military salute was fired, and, midst the sobs and tears of the bereaved
mourners, all that was mortal of the heroic dead was committed to its final resting-place. On the 10th of August,
A. D. 1866, a stone monument was raised by their relatives over their graves with appropriate ceremonies. So
died and were buried as noble a band of patriots as God ever inspired with sublime courage to do heroic deeds
and die heroic deaths in the great cause of human freedom."

On one side of the monument are the words, FIDELITY TO THK UNION ; and on the other the name s of those
who perished.

1 See page 524.

* Annals of the Army of the Cumberland, by John Fitch, the Provost-Judge of that army.

s The army was arranged in three grand divisions. The risht, composed of the divisions of General J. W.
Sill, Philip II. Sheridan, and Colonel W. E. Woodruff, was placed in charge of Major-General Alexander McD.
McCook ; the center, under Major-General George H. Thomas, composed of the divisions of General L. II.
Rousseau, J. S. Negley, E. Dumont, and S. S. Fry; and the left, under T. L. Crittenden, composed of the
divisions of Generals T J. Wood, H. P. Van rleve. and W. S. Smith. Rosecrans placed the cavalry in charge
of Major-General D. S. Stanley, of the Army of the Mississippi, and appointed the accomplished Julius P.
Garesche his Chief of Staff. Captain J. St Clair Morton was his Chief Ensrineer, and Colonel William Trnesdall
was appointed Chief of the Army Police. The services of the latter officer cannot be too highly estimated. He

BRAGG'S ARMY AT MURFREESBORO'. 539

When General Bragg perceived that the pursuit by the Nationals was
relinquished after his army had crossed the Cumberland River, he halted his
forces, and finally concentrated them, about forty thousand in number, at
Murfreesboro', on the Nashville and Chattanooga railway, a little more than
thirty miles southeast from Nashville, where he lay several weeks threaten-
ing the capital of Tennessee, but apparently without any fear or expectation
of an attack from his opponent. He
professed to be there to aid the Ten-
nesseeans in "throwing off the yoke
of the Lincoln despotism." Another
object was to cover and defend the
great cotton-producing regions of the
Confederacy, and to hold the great
lines of railway from those regions
into the food-producing States of Ten-
nessee and Kentucky.

While lying at Murfreesboro' with
a feeling of absolute security, Bragg
was visited by Jefferson Davis, who

i . . -, . -. BRAGO'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT MITRFREE8BORO'. 1

was his guest at his private residence

in the fine mansion of Major Manning, within the suburbs of the town.
That visit was made the occasion of festivities. Balls, parties, and lesser
social gatherings at the houses of the secessionists in Murfreesboro', made
the Confederate officers very happy. During that period Morgan, the
guerrilla chief, was married to the daughter of Charles Ready, who was a
member of the National Congress in 1853. Davis and the principal army
officers were at the wedding. General (Bishop) Polk, assuming the cassock
of the priest for the occasion, 8 performed the ceremony ; and the party had
the pleasure of dancing upon a floor carpeted with the flags of their coun-
try, which they took delight in thus dishonoring. But this season of joy
and fancied security was short. Buell was no longer at the head of a tar-
dily moved army. A loyal, earnest, and energetic soldier was its leader,
and he soon disturbed the repose of his enemy.

Rosecrans perceived the peril that threatened Nashville, and took imme-
diate steps to avert it. General McCook, with his grand division, moved in
that direction on the morning of the 4th of November. His advance was
not a moment too soon. On the next day the Confederates made
a demonstration against the city. Forrest, with about three ^.^ 5>
thousand cavalry and some artillery, attacked the National
picket line south of the town, between the Franklin and Lebanon Pikes, and

gathered about him an army of spies and scouts, and designed a detective system of great perfection, by which
the active friends of the Confederates of both sexes were found out, and their nefarious practices stopped. Nor
were his services confined to the regulation of secret enemies. He made sutlers deal honestly as far as possible,
and had a general police supervision over every department of army operations.

1 This was the house of Mrs. Elliott, not far from the public square in Mnrfreesboro'. It was also the
head-quarters of General Thomas when the National Army occupied Mnrfreesboro 1 , early in 1S63.

2 Lieutenant-Colonel Freemantle, of the British Coldstream Guards, in giving an account of General Polk,
says (Three Months in the Southern States, page 144) the latter explained to him the reasons "which had in-
duced him temporarily to forsake the cassock." He did so with reluctance, he said, and intended, so soon as the
war should cease, to resume his Episcopal functions, "in the same way as a man, finding his house on fire, would
use every means in his power to extinguish, the flames, and would then resume his ordinary pursuits." Colonel

540

ROSECRANS'S ARMY AT NASHVILLE.

BRAGG'S PRIVATE RESIDENCE IN MCBFREESBOBO'.

caused the opening of the batteries of Forts Negley and Confiscation. The
pickets, by order, fell back, so as to bring the Confederates under the guns

of Fort Negley. The latter
were too cautious to fall into
the trap, and General Neg-
ley sallied out and drove
them far toward Franklin,
after an artillery fight for
several hours. Almost at
the same time Morgan, with
twenty-five hundred men
and one gun, made a dash
on the Sixteenth Illinois
Infantry, under Colonel
Smith, on the north side of
the river, with the evident
intention of driving them
and destroying the railway
and pontoon bridges over
the Cumberland at Nash-
ville. 1 He was repulsed,
with the loss of a regimen-
tal flag and twenty-four
men. But the attempt to
capture the city before Rose-
crans's arrival was not abandoned ; and when, on the afternoon of the 6th,
McCook's vanguard reached Edgefield, opposite, their ears were saluted with
the booming of Confederate cannon. General Sill entered the city on the
following morning, when its safety was made secure, and the sentinel in his
look-out at Fort Negley Boon reported that no enemy was to be seen in any
direction.

The remainder of Rosecrans's force, excepting the main body of the
center Division, which had arrived north of the Cumberland to protect
the communications with Louisville, speedily arrived. The divisions were
thrown out around the city southward, covering the roads in that direc-
tion ; and for about six weeks he remained there collecting supplies of
various kinds, preparatory to a movement in full force upon Bragg at
Murfreesboro'. Late in November the latter was reported to be with a large
part of his army within nineteen miles of Nashville, Morgan, with a heavy
body of cavalry and mounted infantry, covering his right, and Forrest his
left, while Wheeler was posted at Lavergne and Wharton at Nolens ville.
Bragg's right wing was commanded by E. Kirby Smith, his left by Hardee,
and his center by Polk.

Freemantle said: " He is very rich, and I am told he owns seven hundred negroes." The apprehended danger
of these having their natural rights restored to them, in accordance with his Master's golden rule, was clearly
the Bishop's incentive to take up arras against the rights of man. Those ' seven hundred negroes," burning
with a desire for freedom, was the Bishop's " house on fire."

1 A correspondent of the Philadelphia Press, writing from Nashville on the sixth, says that for several days
before, the secessionists of that city had been in fine spirits, and wagers were freely offered that the city would
be in the hands of Brasg before Eosecrans could arrive. It was confidently predicted that the railway bridge
would be destroyed before that time.

ACTIVITY OF ROSECRANS'S TROOPS.

541

Nov. 26

1S62.

* Nov. 27.

LOOK-OFT AT FORT

Bragg's superior cavalry force gave him great advantage, and Morgan
was continually threatening and often striking the National supply-trains
between Nashville and Mitchellsville until the railway was completed,
toward the close of November." Meanwhile Stanley had
arrived and assumed command of the cavalry
and he very soon drove those raiders from the
rear, and made them circumspect everywhere.
He sent out detachments in many directions. Colonel
John Kennett, acting chief of cavalry, captured a large
quantity of Confederate stores, and drove Morgan across
the Cumberland. A little later 4 he drove a Texan
regiment fifteen miles down the Franklin
pike. On the same day Wheeler was
driven out of Lavergne by General E. N. Kirk,
and wounded. Sheridan pushed the foe back on
the Nolensville road, and Colonel Robeits, of the
Forty-second Illinois, surprised and captured a
squad of Morgan's men, under Captain Portch, on
the Charlotte pike.

These operations warned the Confederates that they had energetic men to
oppose, and that warning was emphasized by the gallant act of Major Hill,
who, with the Second Indiana, chased for about eighteen miles a Confederate
force that had dashed across the Cumberland and captured a train and its
escort taken from his command at Hartsville, forty-five miles northeast from
Nashville. Hill recovered every thing, and killed about twenty of the foe.
For this he was publicly thanked by Rosecrans, while some of his cowardly
men of the escort, who had suffered themselves to be captured that they
might be paroled and sent home, were severely punished. 2 A more perma-
nent disaster to the Nationals occurred at Hartsville soon after this. Gen-
eral Thomas threw forward to this place from Castilian Springs, in front of
Gallatin, about two thousand men of Dumont's division, who were placed in
charge of Colonel A. B. Moore, of the One Hundred and Fourth Illinois.
These were surprised, and fifteen hundred of them were captured by Morgan,
with the same number of cavalry and mounted infantry, notwithstanding
the remainder of Dumont's division was at Castilian Springs, nine miles
distant. The surprise was at seven o'clock in the morning," and
seemed to be without excuse. Moore was severely censured,
chiefly because of his alleged want of vigilance and preparation. He had
neglected to fortify or intrench his camp, and his vedettes were few and care-
less. His captive men were hurried to Murfreesboro', stripped of their
blankets and overcoats, and then taken to the National lines for exchange,

1 During the entire war large trees were nscd by both sides for the purposes of look-outs for sentinels or
officers of the signal corps. A platform was constructed among the higher branches, which was reached by
means of cleats on the trunks, and ladders among the limbs. The above sketch shows the appearance of one
of two look-outs close to the ramparts of Fort Negley, at Nashville, and also a sentry-box at an angle of the
Btock:ule citadel within the fort Sec sketch of the fort on page 265.

a Th's method of getting home without the danger attending- desertion had become a great evil, and Roso-
crnns determined to put a stop to it. In the case here mentioned the crime was so clear that he ordered fifty of
the delinquents to be paraded through the streets of Nashville, with ridiculous night-caps on their heads, pre-
ceded by a fife and drum playing the Rogue's March. They were sent in disgrace to the parole camp in Indi-
ana. This severity lessened the eviL

542 ADVANCE OF THE AJiMY OF THE CUMBERLAND.

contrary to an agreement between Rosecrans and Bragg. The former
waived the matter for that time, and received his plundered men. 1

The BATTLE OF HAETSVILLE was followed, two days later," by a dash of
Wheeler, with a heavy force of cavalry and mounted infantry,

* iw> 9 ' u P on a National brigade 2 under Colonel Stanley Matthews, guard-
ing a forage train at Dobbins's Ferry, on Mill Creek. After a
short fight Wheeler was repulsed, and Matthews took his train to camp
unharmed. Three days after this, General Stanley allowed his men to try
the efficacy of two thousand revolving rifles, which he had just received.
j They pushed down the road toward Franklin, drove the Confed-

erate vedettes from that village,* obtained some important infor-
mation, and returned with a few prisoners.

Such were a few of the minor operations of the Army of the Cumber-
land, while its commander was preparing for more important movements.
The hour for those movements had now arrived. On Christmas eve he had
in store at Nashville thirty days' provisions and supplies. Bragg had no
idea that Rosecrans would advance and undertake a winter campaign, and
had sent a large portion of his cavalry to operate upon his antagonist's lines
of communication and supply. The loyal people, worried by the tardiness
and failure of Buoll, had become exceedingly impatient of further delay ;
yet the commanding general Avas very properly deaf to the public clamor,
for it is seldom an intelligent expression. But now, being fully supplied,
and his army well in hand, 3 he determined to move upon Bragg.

At dawn on the morning of the 26th of December, a chilling rain falling
copiously, the National army moved southward: McCook, with three
divisions (fifteen thousand nine hundred and thirty-three men), along the
Nolensville pike, toward Triune ; Thomas, with two divisions (thirteen
thousand three hundred and ninety-five men), by the Franklin and Wilson's
pike ; and Crittenden, with three divisions (thirteen thousand two hundred
and eighty-eight men), on the Murfreesboro' pike, toward Lavergne. The
brigade of engineers under Morton numbered seventeen hundred men.

These covered all the roads leading southward from the city. It was
intended that McCook, with Thomas's two divisions at Nolensville as a sup-
port, should attack Hardee at Triune, and if the latter should be beaten or
should retreat, and the Confederates should meet the Nationals at Stewart's
Creek, five miles south of Lavergne, Crittenden was to attack them.
Thomas was to come in on the left flank, and McCook, in the event of Har-
dee's flight southward, was to move with the remainder of his force on his
rear. Stanley was to cover these movements with his cavalry, which he dis-
posed in good order. 4

1 The plunder of prisoners of war -was a common occurrence in the army of Bragg, whose sense of honor
seldom troubled his conscience in such matters. With the same lack of that soldierly quality that marked his
conduct toward the gallant Worden, at the beginning of the strife (see pnge869, volume I.), he now behaved
toward his antagonist Eosecrans complained of the robbery and violation of the agreement Brngs wrote
characteristic replies, and then, to " fire the Southern heart," he published his replies in the Confederate news-
papers. He also permitted and justified the violations of flags of truce, and showed himself so perfidious that
Eosecrans refused to have any further intercourse with him excepting by shot and shell.

9 Fifty-first Ohio, Thirty-fifth Indiana, Eighth and Twenty-flrst Kentucky, and a section of Swallow's
Seventh Indiana battery.

s The Army of the Cumberland now fit for duty numbered 46,910 men, of whom 41.421 were infantry, 2,223
artillery, with 150 guns, and 3.266 cavalry, the greater portion of the latter being raw recruits.

4 Colonel Minty, with the First brigade, moved along the Murfreesboro' pike in advance of the left wing.

ROSECRANS APPROACHING MURFREESBORO'. 543

The Nationals had scarcely passed beyond their picket lines when they
were heavily pressed by large bodies of cavalry, well supported by infantry
and artillery. Sharp skirmishing ensued. The country, heavily wooded
with oak forests and cedar thickets, grew rougher and rougher, and more
difficult to traverse, and more easily defended. Yet McCook, his advance
under Generals Davis and Sheridan skirmishing all the way, rested that
night at Nolensville, and Crittenden, with the left, after considerable skir-
mishing, reposed near Lavergne. Long after dark, Rosecrans, with his staff,
who left Nashville at noon, arrived at McCook's head-quarters.

Hardee was reported to be in heavy force at Triune, seven miles in front
of McCook, and there it was expected he would give battle the next morn-
ing ; but on McCook's advancing at mid-day, after a heavy fog had been lifted
from the country, it was found that his foe had decamped, leaving a battery
of six pieces, supported by cavalry, to dispute the crossing of Wilson's
Creek. These were soon driven, and McCook rested at Triune
that night." Crittenden, in the mean time, had driven the Con- ^sea 27 '
federates out of Lavergne, and, in the face of continual opposi-
tion, advanced to Stewart's Creek, a deep stream with high banks, where
Rosecrans expected the Confederates would make a stand. They did not,
however, and their attempts to burn the bridge behind them failed, owing
to a charge on their rear-guard by the Third Kentucky. After brisk skir-
mishing with portions of HascalPs brigade, the Confederates fell back in
disorder.

The following day was the Sabbath. The troops all rested, excepting
Rousseau's division, which was ordered to move on to Stewartsburg, and
Willich's brigade, which returned from a pursuit of Hardee as far as Riggs's
Cross Roads, on his way to Murfreesboro'. On the following
morning* McCook pushed on from Triune to Wilkinson's Cross
Roads, six miles from Murfreesboro', with an advanced brigade at Overall's
Creek, while Crittenden, moving on the Murfreesboro' pike, with Palmer in
advance, followed by Negley, of Thomas's corps, skirmished to the West
Fork of Stone's River, to within a short distance of Murfreesboro', Avhen
Palmer, deceived, erroneously signaled to head-quarters at Lavergne that
the Confederates were evacuating the town. Crittenden was directed to
send a division across the stream to occupy Murfreesboro.' General Ilarker
was ordered to lead in that duty. His brigade crossed, drove the Confede-
rates, and found Breckenridge in strong force on his front, whereupon Crit-
tenden wisely took the responsibility of recalling him. Harker recrossed
after dark without serious loss. On the following morning McCook moved
toward Murfreesboro' from Wilkinson's Cross Roads, and fought his way
almost to Stone's River, a little west of that town ; and before evening
nearly the whole of the National army was in an irregular line, more than
three miles in length, in front of the Confederates, who were in strong posi-
tion on the river before Murfreesboro. 1

The Second brigade, under Colonel Zahn, of the Third Ohio, moved along the Franklin road. The reserves,
composed of nine regiments, and commanded by Stanley himself, preceded McCook's command on the Nolens-
vllle road. Colonel John Kennett commanded the left of the cavalry ; and the Fourth regulars, under Captain
Otis, was reserved for courier and escort duty.

1 Brass's army was disposed as follows: The left wins in front of Stone's River, and the rlsht wing in
the rear of the stroam. Folk's corps formed the left wing and Ilardeo's the right Withers's division formed

544

PREPARATIONS FOR BATTLE.

Both armies prepared for battle on the night of the 30tli. Roseci'ans lay
with Crittenden on the left, resting on Stone's River, Thomas in the center,
and McCook on the right. These leaders met the commander at his quarters
at nine o'clock that evening, when they received instructions for the morn-
ing. Rosecrans determined to throw his left and center heavily on Brecken-
ridge at daybreak, crush him, wheel rapidly and attack with strong power
the front and flank of the Confederate center, and then, sweeping through
Murfreesboro', gain the rear of that center and their left, cut off their line
of retreat, and destroy their army in detail. For this purpose McCook was
to occupy the most advantageous position, taking every precaution to secure
his right, and to receive and make an attack as circumstances might deter-
mine, and thus to hold all the force on his front for three hours, if possible.
Thomas and Palmer were to open with skirmishing, and gain the Confede-
rate center and left as far as the river, and
Van Cleve's division of Crittenden's force
was to fall upon Breckenridge and make
the proposed sweep into Murfreesboro'.

The troops breakfasted at dawn of the
31st. Before sunrise Van Cleve crossed
the river, and Wood was in readiness with
his division to follow him in support.
Meanwhile a counter-movement of the Con-
federates seriously interfered with Rose-
crans's plan. Bragg had resolved to attack
the National right at dawn, and for that
purpose had massed his troops on his left
under Hardce, in front of McCook. These
in the dim morning twilight emerged sud-
denly and unexpectedly from thick woods
so unexpectedly that some of the battery
horses had been unhitched and led to a
stream to drink only a few minutes before.
The four brigades under Cleburne led, and
charged furiously upon McCook's extreme
moved. The divisions of Cheatham anu
McCown struck nearer the center, and at both points the National skirmish-
ers were instantly thrown back upon their lines. Toward these the assail-
ants pressed rapidly, in the face of a terrific storm of missiles, losing heavily
every moment, but never faltering, and, falling with crushing force upon
the brigades of Willich and Kirk, pressed them back in confusion. Kirk
was severely wounded, and AVillich, having his horse killed under him, was
made prisoner. Edgarton's battery and a part of Goodspeed's were cap-

POSITION, DECEMBER 8l8T.

rierht before Van Cleve

had

Polk's first line, and Cheatham'e the second. Breckenridge'B formed the first line of Hardee's and Cleborne'*
the second. The two lines were eight hnndred to one thousand yards apart. McCowan's division formed the
reserve opposite th center, on high ground, and Jackson's brigade the reserve of the right flunk, under tlie
direction of Hardee. Bragg ordered the cavalry to fall back on the approach of the Nationals, Wbet-ler to form
on the ri^ht and Wharton on the left, for the protection of the flanks of the line, and Pegram to go to the rear
as a reserve. He ordered all supplies and baggage to be in readiness for an advance or a retreat, and, in the
event of the latter, Folk's corps was to move on Shelbyville and Hardee's on the Manchester pike trains in
front, cavalry in the rear.

BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO'. 545

tured, and the guns were turned upon the fugitives. A large number of
Johnson's scattered division was captured by the Confederates.

Following up this success, the victors fell with equal vigor upon
McCook's left, composed of the divisions of Sheridan and J. C. Davis.
They struck them on the flank. After a sharp struggle, Davis gave way.
Sheridan fought longer and most desperately with the foe on his front, flank,
and rear. Twice his gallant division changed front and drove back its
assailants, but finally, outnumbered, and nearly surrounded, its ammunition
exhausted, and every brigade commander killed or wounded, 1 it fell back in
good order almost to the Nashville pike, with a loss of Houghtailing's bat-
tery and a part of Brush's. As these brigades fell back they fought gal-
lantly, but the columns of the Confederates were too heavy to allow them to
make serious resistance.

It was now eleven o'clock in the morning. The right wing, comprising
full one-third of the army, was thoroughly broken up, and Bragg's cavalry
were in Rosecrans's rear, destroying his trains and picking up his stragglers.
McCook had early called for help, but it was not furnished, as the com-
mander-in-chief supposed the right could hold its position until other con-
templated movements should be made ; but when Rosecrans (whose head-
quarters were not far from the site of the National cemetery since established
there, a little more than two miles from Murfreesboro') was informed that
the right wing was being driven, he directed General Thomas to give aid to
Sheridan. Rousseau, then in reserve, was immediately sent with two bri-
gades and a battery to Sheridan's right and rear, but it was too late. Crit-
tenden had been ordered to suspend the operations of Van Cleve against
Breckenridge, and to cover the crossing of the river with a brigade, and
Wood was ordered to discontinue his preparations for following, and to hold
Hascall in reserve.

When the right wing was broken up, it seemed as if the Nationals had
lost the day. They had been driven from nearly one-half of the ground
occupied by them at dawn, and hundreds of men had been lost. But there
were able leaders and brave fighters left. They had hard work to perform.
The Confederate batteries, in chosen positions, were playing fearfully upon
the center, under the gallant Thomas, where Negley's division, in the cedar
woods, was desperately fighting the victors over Sheridan and Davis.
Negley's ammunition began to fail, his artillery horses became disabled,
and a heavy column of the foe was crowding in between him and the
remnant of the right wing. These circumstances compelled him to
recoil, when Rousseau led his reserve division to the front, and sent a
battalion of regulars, under Major Ring, to Negley's assistance. These
made a successful charge, but with heavy loss, and caused the Confederates
to fall back.

The brunt of the battle had now fallen upon Thomas, whose command
was chiefly in and near the cedars. The assailants of Sheridan pressed
farther toward the National rear, until they reached a position from which
they poured a concentrated cross fire on Negley and Rousseau. This com-

1 General J. W. Sill was killed early in the action, and at a later period Colonels Roberts and Schaeffer, each
commanding a brigade, fell dead at the head of their troops.

VOL. II. 35

546

STRUGGLE OF HAZEN'S BRIGADE.

pelled Thomas to withdraw from the cedar woods, and form a line on the
open ground between them and the Nashville pike, his artillery taking a
position on an elevation a little to the southwest of that highway. In this
movement the brigade of regulars, under Lieutenant-Colonel Shepherd, were
exposed to a terrible fire, and lost twenty-two officers and five hundred and
two men in killed and wounded. It held its ground against overwhelming
odds, with the assistance of the brigades of Beatty and Scribner, and the
batteries of Loomis and Guenther.

The position now taken by Thomas was firmly held, and enabled Rose-
crans to readjust the line of battle to the state of affairs. But the dreadful
struggle was not over. ' Palmer's division, which held the right of the

National left wing,
and which had mov-
ed at eight o'clock
in the morning to

cover Negley's left,
and ' successfully
fought and repulsed
an attack on his rear,
was assailed with
great fierceness on
his front and right
flank (which was ex-
posed by Negley's
retirement), while
the new line was a
forming. His right
brigade, under Cruft,
was forced back,
when the assailants
fell upon the flank of the Second, commanded by Acting Brigadier-General
William B. Ilazen, of the Forty-first Ohio Volunteers, who was posted on a
gentle rise of ground a cotton-field between the Nashville pike and the
Nashville and Chattanooga railway, now marked by the burial-ground of
those of his command who fell on that occasion. He had but one regiment at
first to protect this flank, but two battalions from the reserves soon came to its
assistance. That brigade was the chief object in the way of complete vic-
tory for the Confederates, aiid in double lines, some in rear, some on flanks,

MONUMENT ERECTED BY HAZEN's BRIGADE. 1

1 This was the appearance of the burial-ground and the monument on the battle-field of Murfreesboro 1 , as
It appeared when the writer sketched it, early in May, 1866. It is on the spot where Hazen's brigade had its
struggle the severest part of the battle on the 81st of December. The lot is oblong, forty by one hundred
feet in size, surrounded by a substantial wall of limestone, found in the vicinity. In it are the graves of sixty-
nine men of the brigade, buried there, and at the head of each grave is a stone, with the name of the occupant
upon it A substantial monument of the same kind of stone is within the inclosure. The wall and the monu-
ment were constructed by Ilazen's men soon after the battle. The monument, which is seen at the left of the
railway by travellers going toward Nashville, is ten feet square at the base, and about the same in height, and
bears the followinz inscriptions:

West side. ' Ilazen's Brigade. To the memory of its soldiers who fell at Stone Kiver, December 31st,
13C2. Their faces toward Heaven, their feet to the foe."

South tride. "The veterans of Shiloh have left a deathless heritage of fame upon the field of Stone
River. Killed at Shiloh, April 7, 1S62, Captain James Haughton, First Lieutenant and Adjutant T. Patton, and

BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO'.

547

and some in front, they made desperate attempts to demolish it. The gal-
lant Hazen felt that his little band must decide the question of victory or
defeat for the Nationals, and so at the cost of one-third of his brigade he

* O

beat back the foe, time and again, until
Rosecrans was enabled to form his new line
for vigorous action. To Hazen's brigade is
freely given the honor of saving the day,
and perhaps the Army of the Cumberland.
Thirteen hundred men, 1 skillfully handled,
had kept thousands at bay, by repelling
them time after time, and stayed the tide
of victory for the Confederates, which had
been rolling steadily forward for hours.

But the struggle was not yet over.
Bragg's entire army, excepting a portion of
Brecken ridge's division across the river,
was still pressing hard upon the Nationals,
but in every attempt to break the newly-
formed line they were repulsed with much
slaughter. The gallant Wood, though
severely wounded in the foot at ten o'clock
in the morning, kept the saddle all day,
and, with Van Cleve, skillfully fought the
Confederate left under Breckenridge, and
repulsed his charges. Wood's batteries
had done nobly. Indeed, gallantry and skill were exhibited by both sides
in every part of the field. The day closed, and darkness ended the battle,
leaving the Nationals "masters of the original ground on their left, and
the new line advantageously posted, with open ground in front, commanded
at all points by their artillery." 1

Rosecrans had lost heavily in men and guns, 3 yet he was not discouraged.

POSITION, NIGHT OF DECEMBER SlST.

First Lieutenant Joseph Turner, Ninth Indiana Volunteers; First Lieutenant Franklin E. Pancoast and Second
Lieutenant Chauncey H. Talcott, Forty-first Ohio Volunteers ; Second Lieutenant Anton Hund, Sixth Kentucky
Volunteers"

Eaxt Me. "Erected 1S63, npon the ground where they fell, by their comrades, Forty-first Infantry,
Ohio Volunteers, Lieutenant-Colonel A. Wik-y : Sixth Infantry, Kentucky Volunteers, Colonel W. C. Whita-
ker ; Ninth Infantry, Indiana Volunteers, Colonel W. II. Black ; One Hundred and Tenth Infantry, Illinois Vol-
unteers, Colonel T. S. Casey; Cockerill's Battery, Company F, First Artillery, Ohio Volunteers, Nineteenth
Brigade Bnell's Army of the Ohio, Colonel W. B. Hazen, Forty-first Infantry Ohio Volunteers Com-
manding." 1

North aide. "The blood of one-third of its soldiers, twice spilled in Tennessee, crimsons the battle-flag of
the brigade, and inspires it to greater deeds. Killed at Stone's River, December 31, 1362, Lieutenant-Colonel
George T. Colton and Captain Charles 8. Todd, Sixth Kentucky Volunteers ; Captain Isaac M. Pettit, Ninth
Indiana Volunteers; First Lieutenant Calvin Hart and First Lieutenant I. T. Patchin, Forty-first Ohio Volun-
teers; Second Lieutenant Henry Kesslcr, Ninth Indiana Volunteers; Second Lieutenant Jesse G. Payne, One
Hundred anil Tenth Illinois Volunteers."

1 These were comprised in four thin regiments, namely, Sixth Kentucky, Colonel W. C. Whittaker ; Ninth
Indiana, Colonel W. H. Blake; One Hundred and Tenth Illinois, Colonel T. S. Casey; and Forty-first Ohio,
Colonel A. Wiley.

* Rosecrans's Report to Adjutant-General Thomas, February 12, 1863.

* More than 7,000 - men were missing from the ranks at the close of the day. Several regiments had lost
two-thirds of their officers. Johnson's ablest brigadiers, Willich and Kirk, were lost, the former being a prisoner,
and the latter severely wounded. Sill, Schaeffer, and Roberts, Sheridan's brigadiers, were dead. Wood and Van
Cleve were disabled by wounds, and no less than ten Colonels, ten Lieutenant-Colonels, and 1 six Mnjors were
missing. Sheridan alone had lost seventy-two officers. Nearly two-thirds of the battle-field was in the posses-

548 BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO'.

He established head-quarters that night" at a log hut near the Nashville

pike, and there he called a council of general officers. These had
18. W< seen n * s gallant bearing throughout the day, as he rode from

point to point where danger to his troops was most apparent, and
recognized the wisdom of his orders in the fact of success. He had been
seen on every part of the field, directing the most important movements
with perfect composure. When the head of the accomplished Garesche, his
warm friend and his chief of staff, was shot off while he was riding by his
commander's side, the General simply remarked, " I am very sorry, but we
cannot help it ;" and when it was erroneously reported to him that McCook
was killed he made a similar reply, adding, "This battle must be won."
With that determination he went into the council and said, "Gentlemen,
we conquer or die right here." For his admiring officers his will was
law. It was resolved to continue the fight, 1 and the Army of the Cumber-
land rested that night in full expectation of renewing the struggle the next
morning.

Bragg was confident of final victory. He sent a jubilant dispatch to
Richmond, saying that, after ten hours' hard fighting, he had driven his foe
from very position excepting his extreme left (held by Hazen), maintained
the field, and had as trophies four thousand prisoners, two brigadier-generals,
thirty-one pieces of .artillery, and two hundred wagons and teams. He
expected Rosecrans would attempt to fly toward Nashville during the night,
and was greatly astonished in the morning to find his opponent's army not
only present, but in battle order. He began to doubt his ability to conquer
his foe, and moved more circumspectly. He attempted but little, and the
sum of that day's operations was some heavy skirmishing and occasional
artillery firing. That night both armies, alert and anxious, slept on their
arms.

Friday morning* found Rosecrans with his army well in hand, and in an

advantageous position. During the preceding evening Van Cleve's
ises. division of Crittenden's corps, then commanded by Colonel

Beatty, of the Nineteenth Ohio, had been thrown across Stone's
River, and occupied an eminence commanding the upper ford, nearly
a mile below the bridge of the Nashville turnpike. Bragg, during the
night, had stealthily planted four heavy batteries to sweep the National
lines, and with these he suddenly opened a terrific fire at eight o'clock in the
morning, to which Hascall's division was more immediately exposed, and
made to suffer severely. Estep's battery was quickly disabled, but Bradley's,
and the guns of Walker and Sheridan's divisions, soon silenced the cannon
of the assailants. Then there was a partial lull until about three o'clock in
the afternoon, yet it was evident from skirmishing along Beatty's front that
.the foe was massing in that direction.

sion of the Confederates, and they had captured one-fifth of all of Kosecrans's artillery. Subsistence trains had
been captured or destroyed ; lines of communication were threatened by Confederate cavalry ; artillery ammu-
nition was not abundant; the obtaining of supplies was uncertain, and the wearied soldiers were resting fitfully
on that cold and rainy December night without sufficient food or shelter.

1 During the preceding evening Rosecrans had mode a personal examination of the ground in the rear, as
far as Overall's Creek, and had resolved to await the attack of his foe, while his provision train nnd a supply of
ammunition should be brought up. On the arrival of these, should the Confederates not attack, the Nationals
were to commence offensive operations.

BATTLE OF MURFREESBORO'.

549

Meanwhile Rosecrans, adhering to his plan of turning Bragg's right, and
taking Murfreesboro', had strengthened Van Cleve's division with one of
Palmer's brigades. lie was examining the position in person, when suddenly
a double line of Bragg's skirmishers, followed by three heavy columns of
infantry and three batteries, emerged from the woods and fell heavily upon
Van Cleve's force. The assailants were Breckenridge's entire corps, with
ten Napoleon 12-pounders, commanded by Captain Robertson, and two
thousand cavalry under Wharton and Pegram, aided by a heavy enfilading
fire from Bishop Polk's artillery near the center. Beatty's (Van Cleve's)
first line (Fifty-first Ohio, Eighth Kentucky, and Thirty-fifth and Seventy-
eighth Indiana) checked the assailants for a moment, but by the sheer pres-
sure of superior force it was compelled to give way. The reserve (Nine-
teenth Ohio, and Ninth and Eleventh Kentucky) then went forward and
fought gallantly, but was soon compelled to fall back to avoid the conse-

THE NASHVILLE PIKE BRIDGE OVER STONE'S RIVER. 1

quences of a flank movement of the foe. The Nationals were speedily driven
in confusion across the river, with heavy loss, closely followed by the
increasing numbers of the Confederates the entire right wing of Bragg's
army in three heavy lines of battle, who swept down the slopes to the
edge of the stream.

In the mean time Crittenden's chief of artillery had massed his batteries
along the rising ground on the opposite side of the river, so as to sweep
and enfilade the foe with fifty-eight guns, while. the remainder of the left
wing was well prepared for action. These guns opened with murderous
effect on the pursuers, cutting broad lanes through their ranks. At the
same time the divisions of Negley and J. C. Davis, with St. Clair Morton's
engineers, pushed forward to retrieve the disaster. A fierce battle ensued.

1 This was the appearance of the locality when the writer sketched it, early in May, 1S66, when fortifica-
tions thrown up by the Nationals were seen on both sides of the pike, on the Murfreesboro' side of the stream.
The shores of the stream are rough with bowlders, and some have supposed that these gave the namo to
it, which is generally called Stone Eiver. Its name was derived from a man named Stone, and its proper
orthography is that given in the text. In the above picture Redoubt Brannon, named in honor of General Bran-
non, whom we met at Key West (see pacre 361, volume I.), is seen on the right of the pike. It was one of a
scries of redoubts which, with lines of intrenchments, the whole seven miles in extent, were erected by the
Nationals and named Fort Rosecrans.

550

VICTORY FOR THE NATIONALS.

Both sides massed their batteries, and plied them with powerful effect. Both
felt that the struggle would be decisive. And so it was. For a time it
seemed as if mutual annihilation would be the result. Finally Stanley and
Miller, with the Nineteenth Illinois, Eighteenth, Twenty-first, and Seventy-
fourth Ohio, Seventy-eighth Pennsylvania, Eleventh Michigan, and Thirty-
seventh Indiana, charged simultaneously, and drove the Confederates rapidly

before them, capturing a battery and the
flag of the Twenty-sixth Tennessee. The
latter was a trophy of the Seventy-eighth
Pennsylvania. This charge decided the
day. In twenty minutes the Confederates
lost two thousand men. At sunset the
entire line had fallen back, leaving about
four hundred men captives.

So ended, in complete victory for the
Nationals, THE BATTLE OF MURFREESBOKO',
one of the greater conflicts of the war. It
shed great luster upon Rosecrans, who was
seen in the last as well as in the first day's
conflict, on various parts of the field, di-
recting the fire of the batteries and the
movements of the troops, and continually
exposed to imminent personal danger.
With forty-three thousand four hundred
men, he had fought his foe, fully his equal in
number, 1 on ground of the latter's choosing.
He was highly commended for his persist-
ence under the discouragements of early
disasters and severe losses, 8 and the lips of
the loyal were everywhere vocal with his praises.

When the Confederates gave way Rosecrans would have chased, but
darkness was coming on, and rain was falling copiously. Crittenden's entire
corps was thrown across the river, and before morning it Avas sufficiently
intrenched to defy the foe. Rain fell heavily the next day, but it did not
repress the ardor of the victorious Nationals. At ten o'clock a long-ex-
pected ammunition train came up. Batteries were constructed some at
points in range of Murfreesboro' and preparations were made for another
struggle. Thomas and Rousseau drove the Confederates from the cedar
woods without much opposition, and at midnight Bragg stealthily retreated

POSITION, JANUARY 2D.

1 Reports of General Rosecrans and his subordinate commanders. Also the Reports of General Bragg and
his subordinates. Ilosccrans reported the number of his forces in battle at 43,400, and estimated those of Bragg
at 62,720. To this he added, that the Confederates had at least fifteen per cent, the advantage in the choice of
the ground and knowledge of the country. Bragg reported his force in the fight at the beginning at 35,000. lie
had 132 regiments of infantry, 20 regiments of cavalry, and 24 smaller organizations of horsemen. lie also had
12 battalions of sharp-shooters and 23 batteries of artillery. These numbered over 60,000, at the lowest calcula-
tions of these regiments.

1 Rosecrans officially reported his loss nt nearly 12,000, while Bragg estimated it at 24,000. Rosecrans had
1,538 killed, 7.245 wounded, and about 3,000 made prisoners. Brags: claimed to have taken 6,273 prisoners. He
admitted a loss on his part of 10.000. of whom 9,000 were killed and wounded. Among hiskillod were General
G. J. Rains (see pasre 542, volume I.) and Roger W. Hanson, of Kentucky. Generals Chalmers and Adams were
among his wounded.

BRAGG'S RETREAT SOUTHWARD. 551

through Murfreesboro' in the direction of Chattanooga. He had telegraphed
cheerily to Richmond on the first," saying in conclusion, " God

a Jan. 1S68.

has granted us a happy New Year." On the 5th he telegraphed
from Tullahoma, saying : " Unable to dislodge the enemy from his intrench-
ments, and hearing of re-enforcements to him, I withdrew from his front
night before last. He has not followed. My cavalry are close on his front."
Bragg' s retreat was not known to Rosecrans until daylight, when he had
too much the start to warrant a pursuit by the inferior cavalry force of the
Nationals. He had fled so precipitately that he left about two thousand of
his sick and wounded, with attendant surgeons, in his hospitals. The next
day was Sunday, and all remained
quiet. Early on Monday morning
Thomas advanced into Murfreesboro',
and drove the Confederate rear-guard
of cavalry six or seven miles toward
Manchester. Two divisions of the
army followed and occupied the town
that day, and Rosecrans made his
head-quarters in the village, at the
house of E. A. Keeble, a member of
the Confederate " Congress."

While the movements of Rosecrans
and Bragg were tending to the great

, , , -, . *" . KOSECBANS'S HEAP-QUARTERS.

battle just recorded, the superior cav-
alry forces of the latter were busy in the rear of the former, as we have
observed, in endeavors to destroy his communications and his trains. For-
rest had been detached, with three thousand five hundred cavalry, to operate
in West Tennessee upon the communications between Grant and Rosecrans,
and between both and Louisville : and for a fortnight before the battle of

' O

Murfreesboro' he had been raiding through that region, much of the time
with impunity, destroying railway tracks and bridges, attacking small
National forces, and threatening and capturing posts. He crossed the Ten-
nessee at Clifton, in the upper part of Wayne County, on the 13th of Decem-
ber, and,, moving rapidly toward Jackson, seriously menaced that post.
Sweeping northward, destroying tracks and bridges, he captured Humbolt,
Trenton, and Union City, and menaced Columbus, the head-quarters of Gen-
eral Sullivan.

At Trenton Forrest captured and paroled seven hundred troops,* under
Colonel Jacob Fry, making the number of his paroled prisoners
since he crossed the river about one thousand. On his return he ' ^i^ '
was struck at Parker's Cross Roads, between Huntington and
Lexington, first by a force of sixteen hundred men, under Colonel C. L.
Dunham, and then bv General Sullivan,' who came suddenly

" . Dec. 81.

upon the raiders with two fresh brigades under General Haynie 1

and Colonel Fuller, 8 just as Dunham's train was captured, his little band 3

1 One Hundred and Sixth and One Hundred and Nineteenth Illinois, Thirty-ninth Iowa, and Iowa Union
Brigade of 200 men. In all, a little more than 1,200 men.
3 Twenty-seventh, Thirty-ninth, and Sixty-third Ohio.
Fiftieth Indiana, Thirty-ninth Iowa, One Hundred and Twenty-second Illinois, and Seventh Tennessee.

552 IMPORTANT CAVALRY RAIDS.

surrounded, and a second demand for a surrender had been made by Forrest
and refused. Sullivan made a fierce onslaught on Forrest, whose troops
were utterly routed, with a loss of fifty killed, one hundred and fifty wounded,
and four hundred prisoners, including the latter. The Union loss was two
hundred and twenty, of whom twenty-three were killed, one hundred and
thirty-nine wounded, and fifty-eight missing. Forrest himself came very
near being captured. His Adjutant (Strange) was made prisoner. Forrest
fled eastward, recrossed the Tennessee at Clifton, and made his way to
Bragg's army, below Murfreesboro'.

Morgan, the guerrilla, was raiding upon Rosecrans's left and rear, while
Forrest was on his right, lie suddenly appeared in the heart of Kentucky,
where he was well known and feared by all parties. He dashed up toward
Louisville along the line of the railway, and after skirmishing at Nolens ville

and other places, he suddenly appeared before Elizabethtown,"
'^gg 2 27 ' then garrisoned by five hundred men of the Ninety-first Illinois,

under Lieutenant-Colonel Smith. They were too few to combat
successfully Morgan's three thousand. These surrounded the town,* and,

without warning to the inhabitants, fired over a hundred shot

and shell into it. Smith had no artillery, and was compelled to
surrender, when Morgan's men, as usual, commenced destroying property,
stealing horses, and plundering the prisoners. They even robbed the sick
soldiers in the hospital of blankets, provisions, and medicines. 1 After
destroying the railway for several miles, Morgan made a raid to Bardstown,

where ha saw danger, and turning abruptly southward/ he made

Dec. 30

his way into Tennessee by way of Springfield and Campbellsville.
A counter-raid was made at about this time, by a National force under
Brigadier-General S. P. Carter, the object being the destruction of important
railway bridges on the East Tennessee and Virginia railway, which con-
nected Bragg's army with the Confederate forces in Virginia. Carter started
from Winchester, in Kentucky, on the 20th of December, and crossed the
mountains to Blountsville, in East Tennessee, where he captured one hun-
dred and fifty North Carolinians, under Major McDowell, with seven hun-
dred small arms, and a considerable amount of stores. He destroyed the
great bridge, seven hundred and twenty feet long, that spanned the Holston
there. He then pushed on toward Jonesboro', and destroyed a railway
bridge over the Watauga, at Clinch's Station, where, in a skirmish, he cap-
tured seventy-five men. He menaced Bristol, but went no farther east at
that time. Then he recrossed the mountains and returned to Winchester,
after a ride of seven hundred miles, having lost but twenty men, most of
them made prisoners, and inflicted a loss on the Confederates of five hundred
men and much property.

The writer visited the battle-ground of Murfreesboro' early in May, 1866.

He went down from Nashville by railway, on the morning of the

9th/ with Messrs. Dreer and Greble, and soon after their arrival

they called at the house of the Post Chaplain, the Reverend Mr. Earnshaw,

of the Methodist denomination, whom the writer had met in Washington

City a few months before. He was actively engaged in the work of estab-

1 See Morgan and hit Captors, by Rev. F. Senour, page 85.

A VISIT TO MUEFREESBORO' BATTLE-GROUND. 553

lishing a National Cemetery on the Murfreesboro' battle-ground, and collect-
ing therein the remains of the slain Union soldiers in that vicinity. He
would be absent on that duty until noon, so we went to the quarters of Cap-
tain Whitman, the energetic quartermaster, then absent on duty, under the
direction of General Thomas, in visiting the battle-fields of the West, and
looking up the graves of Union soldiers, preparatory to their removal to
National cemeteries at different places. His son, an earnest, patriotic young
man, kindly furnished us with an ambulance and horses, and accompanied
us to places of interest around and within Murfreesboro'. We were hospita-
bly entertained at dinner by his mother and sister, after which we were
joined by Chaplain Earnshaw, and all rode out on the Nashville pike to the
battle-field, passing on the way the heavy earth-works cast up in the vicinity
of the village by the National troops. After crossing Stone's River we saw
marks of the battle everywhere upon trees that had survived the storm.
Especially prominent were these evidences around the monument on the spot
where Hazen's brigade fought, and in the cedar woods few trees had escaped
being wounded. The few surviving trees near the monument were terribly
scarred, and one, seen in the picture on page 546, beyond the wall, had its
top cut oft' by a passing shell.

The National Cemetery at Murfreesboro' is on the battle-ground between
the railway and the Nashville pike. It was partly inclosed when we were
there by a fine cut-stone wall, of material from limestone quarries near by.
It is at nearly the center of the field of conflict, and covers the slope, on
the crest of which Loomis's battery was planted during a part of the strug-
gle there, supported by the Eighth Wisconsin. The cemetery includes six-
teen acres of ground, well laid out, with a large square in the center, on
which it is designed to rear a monument. Mr. Earnshaw was indefatigable

o o

in his labors in the holy work of collecting there, in consecrated ground, the
remains of the defenders of their country, and erecting a suitable monument
to their memory. Already he had gathered there the remains of six thou-
sand of the patriots who died that the Republic might live.

Having completed our explorations and sketches during the day, we
supped with Chaplain Earnshaw and his interesting family, and left for
Chattanooga with the next morning's train. To that earnest patriot and
zealous Christian minister, and to the equally earnest and patriotic Captain
Whitman, the writer is indebted for many kind attentions and much valu-
able information, while at Murfreesboro' and since.

554 SLAVERY CONSIDERED IN CONGRESS.

OHAPTEE XXI.

SLAVERY AND EMANCIPATION. AFFAIRS IN THE SOUTHWEST.

HE Army of the Cumberland was compelled by absolute
necessity to remain at Murfreesboro' until late in 1863.
That necessity was found in the fact that its supplies had
to be chiefly drawn from Louisville, over a single line of
railway, passing through a country a greater portion of
whose inhabitants were hostile to the Government. This
line had to be protected at many points by heavy guards,
for Bragg's cavalry force continued to be far superior to
that of Rosecrans, and menaced his communications most seriously. But
during that time the Army of the Cumberland was not wholly idle. From
it went out important expeditions in various directions, which we shall con-
sider hereafter.

We have now taken note of the most important military operations of
the war to the close of 1862, excepting some along the Atlantic coast after
the capture of Fort Pulaski, the land and naval expedition down the coasts
of Georgia and Florida, in the spring of 1862, and the departure of Burnside
from North Carolina in July following, to join the Army of the Potomac. 1
The immediately succeeding events along that coast were so intimately con-
nected with the long siege of Charleston, that it seems proper to consider
them as a part of that memorable event.

Let us now take a brief view of civil affairs having connection w r ith
military events, and observe what the Confederate armed vessels were doing
in the mean time.

The second session of the Thirty-seventh Congress commenced on the 2d
of December, 1861.. It was a most important period in the history of the
country. A civil war of unparalleled magnitude and energy was raging in
nearly every slave-labor State of the Republic, waged on the part of the
insurgents for the destruction of the old Union, that the slave system might
be extended and perpetuated ; and on the part of the Government for the
preservation of the life of the Republic and the maintenance of its constitu-
tional powers. The people and the lawgivers had been much instructed by
current events during the few months since the adjournment of
Congress," and when that body now met both were satisfied that,
in order to save the Republic, Slavery, the great corrupter of private and
public morals, and the fuel of the fiery furnace in which the nation was then
suffering, must be destroyed. Therefore much of the legislation of the

. ' See chapter XII.

CONFISCATION AND EMANCIPATION PROPOSED.. 555

session then commenced was upon the subject of that terrible evil, for it was
resolved to bring all the powers of the Government to bear upon it, posi-
tively and negatively : positively, in the form of actual emancipation, under
certain conditions and certain forms, such as confiscation ; and negatively,
by withholding all restraints upon the slave. Introductory to this legisla-
tion was a notice of Senator Trumbull, of Illinois, given as soon as Congress
was organized, that he should ask leave to introduce " a bill for the confisca-
tion of the property of rebels, and giving freedom to persons they hold in
slavery." Such bill was accordingly introduced on the 5th of December,
when the conspirators and the opposition immediately sounded the alarum-
bell of " unconst nationality" so often heard during the struggle, and warned
the people of the designs of the Government party to destroy their liberties
by revolution and despotism. The enlightened people, perfectly compre-
hending the alarmists, calmly responded by their acts, " We icill trust them."
They agreed with Madison, one of the founders of the Republic, and called
" the Father of the Constitution," that in a time of public danger such as
then existed, the power conferred upon the National Legislature by the
grant of the Constitution for the common defense had no limitation upon it,
express or implied, save the public necessity. They remembered his wise
words : " It is in vain to oppose constitutional barriers to the impulse of self-
preservation : it is worse than vain," and acted accordingly.

For a long time the public mind had been much excited by the common
practice of many of the commanding officers of the army of capturing and
returning fugitive slaves to their masters. The bondsmen generallv had the

idea that the Union army was to be their liberator, and with that faitli they
flocked to it, when it was in camp and on its marches, 1 and it seemed specially
cruel to deny them the kindness of hospitality. But that denial was a rule,
and so early as the 9th of July, at the extraordinary session of Congress,
Mr. Lovejoy, of Illinois, had called the attention of the House of Represen-
tatives to the subject, in a resolution which was passed by a vote of ninety-
three yeas against fifty-five nays, that it was "no part of the duty of soldiers
of the United States to capture and return fugitive slaves." On the 4th of
December following he introduced a bill, making it a penal offense for any
officer or private of the army or navy to capture or return, or aid in the cap-
ture or return, of fugitive slaves. On the same day, Mr. Wilson of Massa-
chusetts gave notice in the Senate of his intention to introduce a bill for a
similar purpose. 9

1 That faith has been alluded to on page 124, and illustrated in note 1. page 125. It was almost universal,
and had been engendered unwittingly by the slave-holders themselves. As a rale, there was very little atten-
tion paid to the presence of a slave during conversation, it seeming to be the practical idea that they understood
but little more than a horse or a dog. When the Republican party was formed, in 1856, the slave-holders every-
where, when they met, asreed that the election of Fremont to the Presidency might lead to the abolition of
slavery. This was said at the tables, in the presence of waiting-servants. These repeated it to those of the
kitchen, and they, in turn, to those of the plantations. It was also vehemently avowed at political gatherings,
where the colored people were generally numerous. Such opinion was more positively stated when Mr. Lincoln
was elected, and the story, on the authority of the masters, that slavery was now to be abolished, went from lip
to lip throughout the domain of the slave-labor States. The bondmen believed it, and they regarded Mr. Lincoln
as their temporary Messiah, and the armies that came in his name as the power that was to make them free.
Such was the visible origin of their wonderful faith. That faith was finally justified by events, and the conse-
quence is. that the freedmen are universally loyal to the Government that asserts their manhood.

2 Perceiving the general lack of knowledge of the laws of war, particularly as touching the subject of the
slaves of the country. Dr. Francis Lieber, the eminent publicist, suggested to General Halleck when he became
General-in-Chief, in July, 1362, the propriety of issuing, in some form, a code or set of instractions on inter-

556 PROPOSED COMPENSATION FOR FREED SLAVES.

It is not the province of this work to record in detail the legislation upon
this important subject. 1 .Suffice it here to say, that measures, having a ten-
dency to the great act of final emancipation, offered more as necessary means
for suppressing the rebellion than as acts of justice and righteousness, were
pressed with earnestness by the party in Congress known as Republicans,
and were as earnestly opposed by the party in that body known as Demo-
crats. The former, having a majority, usually carried their favorite measures ;
while the President, wise, cautious, and conciliatory, although sympathizing
with the Republicans, stood as a balance between the two extremes. He
saw clearly that the people were not yet educated up to the lofty point of
justice which demanded, on moral as well as- political grounds, the instant
and universal emancipation of the slaves, and he therefore interposed objec-
tions to extreme measures, and proposed partial and gradual emancipation,
in forms that would conciliate the slave-holders of the border slave-labor
States. "With this spirit he recommended Congress to pass a joint resolution
that the Government, in order to co-operate with any State whose inhabi-
tants might adopt measures for emancipation, should give to such State
pecuniary aid, to be used by it at its discretion, to co mpensate it for the
inconvenience, public and private, produced by such change of system. It
was also proposed to colonize the freedmen somewhere on the American
continent.

This emancipation proposition was commended to Congress more as a
test of the temper of the slave-holders, and especially of those of the border
States, and to oifer them a way in which they might escape from the evils
and embarrassments which emancipation without compensation (a result
now seen to be inevitable, without the plan proposed) would produce, rather
than as a fixed policy to be enforced, excepting with the strong approval of
the people. A joint resplution in accordance with the President's views was
passed by both houses, 2 and was approved by the Executive on the 10th of
April ; but the conspirators, their followers, and friends everywhere rejected
this olive-branch of peace, while the more strenuous advocates of Confisca-
tion and Universal Emancipation did not give it their approval. In the
mean time Congress had taken an important practical step forward in the
path of justice by abolishing slavery in the District of Columbia, over whose
territory it had undisputed control. 3

national rules of war, for the use of officers of the army. Dr. Lieber had already issued an important pamphlet
on the subject of Guerrilla Warfare, which had attracted much attention. Halleck pondered the suggestion, and
finally summoned its author to Washington City, when Secretary Stanton, by a general order, appointed a com-
mission for the purpose, of which Dr. Lieber was chairman. Their labor resulted in the production of the cele-
brated code written by the chairman, which was published in April, 1S63, by the War Department, as ' General
Order No, 100." It was a new thing in literature, and suggested to an eminent European jurist. Dr. Bluntschli,
the idea of codifying, In a similar manner, the whole law of nations. In the portion of his work on the Modern
Law of War, soon afterward published, nearly the whole of this American code found a place.

1 A comprehensive view, in succinct detail, of measures concerning this subject, may be found in a volume
entitled Anti-Slavery Measures in Congress, by Henry Wilson, of the National Senate.

a This bill was passed by a vote in the House of eighty-nine yeas against thirty -one nays, and in the Senate
by thirty-two yeas against ten nays. The President resolved to give the experiment a fair trial. As indicative
of that determination, when General Hunter, in command of the Department of the South, issued an order, on
the 9th of May following, declaring all the slaves within that department to be thenceforth and forever free,
without any apparent military necessity for such an act, the President issued a proclamation reversing the
order, and declaring that he reserved to himself the power proposed to be exercised by a commander in the field
by such proclamation. This manifesto silenced a great clamor which Hunter's proclamation had raised, and
demonstrated the good faith of the Executive toward the slave-holders.

* The bill for tfcis purpose was passed by a vote of ninety-two yeas against thirty-eight nays in the House

TEMPER OF BORDER SLAVE-LABOR STATES. 557

Mr. Lincoln believed his proposition to pay for emancipated slaves would
detach the border slave-labor States from an interest in the Confederacy, and
thus speedily put an end to the war. Anxious to consummate it, he invited
the Congressmen of those States to meet him in conference in the
Executive Chamber. They did so," and he presented to them a " 3 ^ z 12 '
carefully prepared address on the subject. But he was forcibly
taught by that conference, and its results, that the policy which had been so
long tried, of withholding vigorous blows from the rebellion out of deference
to the border slave-labor States, was worse than useless. A majority of the
Congressmen submitted a dissenting reply, and told the President plainly
that they considered it his duty " to avoid all interference, direct or indirect,
with slavery in the Southern States." A minority report concurred in the
President's views; but- their slave-holding constituents, -generally, scouted
the proposition with scorn, and the authorities of not one of the States whose
inhabitants were thus appealed to responded to him. And a draft of a bill
which he sent into Congress on the day of the conference* was
not acted upon by that body. It was evident that the majority
of the people, and their representatives in the National Legislature, were not
in a mood to make any further compromise with the great enemy of the
Republic, or concessions to its supporters.

Meanwhile a bill providing for the confiscation of the property of rebels,
which involved the emancipation of slaves, had been passed by

i i -t i -n i i -i ' March 18.

Congress and approved by the President/ entitled " An Act to
make an Additional Article of War," to take effect from and after its pas-
sage. It prohibited all officers or persons in the military or naval service of
the Republic from using any force under their commands for the purpose of
restoring fugitive slaves to their alleged masters, on penalty of instant dis-
missal from the service. Congress had also recently passed " An Act to
Suppress Insurrection, to Punish Treason and Rebellion, to Seize and Con-
fiscate Property of Rebels, and for other purposes," which the President
approved on the 16th of July, and which declared the absolute freedom of the
slaves of rebels under certain operations of war therein defined. 1

This gave the President a wide field for the exercise of Executive power,
not only in freeing a large portion of the slaves in the country, but in
employing 1 them against their former masters in the suppression of the rebel-
lion ; and he was vehemently importuned to use it immediately and vigor-
ously. The patient President held back, hoping the wiser men among

of Representatives, and in the Senate by twenty-nine yeas against fourteen nays. It was approved by the
President on the 16th of April, 1S62.

1 It provided that all persons, after the passage of the bill, who should commit treason against the Republic
should suffer death, and all his slaves, if ho had any, should be free ; or suffer a fine of $10,000, with the loss of
his slaves: that any person found guilty of aiding treason should be subject to a fine of $10,000 and the loss of
his slaves by their beinf* made free ; and that both classes of traitors should be forever excluded from office under
the Government: that it should be the duty of the President to seize the property of all office-holders, civil and
military, in the so-called " Confederate States," or persons who, having property in the loyal States, should aid
the rebellion: that all persons who, engaged in the rebellion, should not, within sixty days after the President
should duly proclaim the law, desist from their crimes, their property of every kind should be confiscated : that
all fugitive slaves from rebellious masters, or persons who should give aid and comfort to rebels, and all slaves
captured from such persons, or who had deserted from the rebel army, or from any territory deserted by the
rebels, should be deemed captives of war, and should be forever free : that the President should have authority
to employ such freedmen, with their own consent, for the suppression of the rebellion, and to make provision for
colonizing them ; and that he should be authorized to extend a pardon and amnesty ti such rebels as, in his
judgment, should be worthy of mercy.

558 THE PEOPLE IMPATIENT FOR EMANCIPATION".

the insurgents might heed the threats contained in the muttering thunders
of Congress, in which were concentrated the tremendous energies of the peo-
ple against these cherished interests. This hesitancy produced great disqui-
etude in the public mind. The more impatient of the loyal people began to
accuse the President of not only faint-heartedness, but whole-heartedness in
the cause of freedom, and charged him with remissness of duty. 1 Finally a
committee, composed of a deputation from a Convention of Christians of all
of the denominations of Chicago, waited upon him," and presented
" ^.862 13 ' k* m w i tn a memorial, requesting him at once to issue a proclama-
tion of Universal Emancipation. The President, believing that
the time had not yet come (though rapidly approaching) when such a pro-
clamation would be proper, made an earnest and argumentative reply ;
saying, in allusion to the then discouraging aspect of military affairs under
the administration of McClellan in the East and Buell in the West, " What
good would a proclamation of emancipation from me do, especially as we
are now situated ? I do not want to issue a document that the whole world
would see must necessarily be inoperative, like the Pope's bull against the
Comet ! Would my word free the slaves, when I cannot even enforce the
Constitution in the rebel States ?" He concluded by saying : " I view this
matter as a practical war measure, 8 to be decided on according to the advan-
tages or disadvantages it may offer to the suppression of the rebellion."
But before the departure of the Committee the President assured them of
his sympathy with their views. " I have not decided against a proclamation
of liberty to the slaves," he said, " but hold the matter under advisement.
And I can assure you that the subject is on my mind, by day and night, more
than any other. Whatever shall appear to be God's will, I will do." 3

The President prayerfully considered the matter, and within a week
after the battle of Antietam he issued* a preliminary procla-
mation of emancipation, in which he declared it to be his pur-
pose, at the next meeting of Congress, to again recommend pecuniary aid in

1 On the 9th of August Horace Greeley addressed an able letter to the President on the subject, through his
journal, the New York Tribune, to which Mr. Lincoln made a reply, it giving him a good opportunity to
define his position. In that reply he declared it to be bis "paramount object to sure t/ie Union, and not
either to save or destroy slavery.''' 1 " If I could save the. Union without freeing a slave. I would do it," he said.
"If I could save it by freeing all the slaves, I would do it; and if I could do it by freeing fOBie and leaving
others alone, I would iilso do that. What I do about slavery and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps
to save the Union ; and wh.it I forbear, I forbear because I do not believe it would help to save the Union."

8 While there was great doubt and perplexity in the minds of all as to what were the real powers of the
Government, and especially of the President, underthe Constitution, and the ablest jurists disagreed in opinion,
Mr. William Whiting, a lawyer in extensive practice in Boston, wrote a most lucid and conclusive treatise on
the subject, entitled, " Tfie War Powers of the President and the Legislative Powers of Congress in rela-
tion to Rebellion, Treason, and Slavery" which was accepted as sound and conclusive. It was principally
written in the Spring of 1S62, with the exception of the chapter on the operation of the Confiscation Act of
July 17, 1862. This able treatise caused Mr. Whiting to be called into the service of the Government, as Solici-
tor to the War Department. It is proper to add that Mr. Whiting, whose sole desire in preparing the treatise
and in responding to the call to Washington was to serve his country, remained there until the close of the
war, steadily refusing all compensation for his services, or even the reimbursement of his expenses. His trea-
tise and his name will ever hold a deservedly conspicuous place in the annals of the war ; the first as an unan-
swerable argument in defense of the acts of the President and Congress in saving the Republic, and the latter
as that of an unselfish patriot.

3 It has been the popular belief that Mr. Lincoln's preliminary proclamation \vas forced from him by out-
side pressure, and especially by the delegation from Chicago. The late Owen Lovejoy, M. C., has left on record
the following statement, the substance of which he had from the President's own lips:" He had written the
proclamation in the summer, as early as June, I think, and called his Cabinet together, and informed them that
he had written it, and he meant to make it; but wanted to read it to them for any criticism or remarks as to its
features or details. After having done so, Seward suggested whether it would not be well to withhold its pub-

PRELIMINARY PROCLAMATION OP EMANCIPATION. 559

the work of emancipation and colonization to the inhabitants in States not
in rebellion. He then declared that on the first of January next ensuing, the
slaves within every State, or designated part of a State, the people whereof
should then be in rebellion, should be declared " thenceforward and forever
free ;" such freedom to be maintained by the whole force of the Govern-
ment, which should not, at the same time, repress any efforts the slaves might
make for their actual freedom. He also declared that any State in which
rebellion had existed that should have in Congress at that time"
representatives chosen in good faith, at a legal election, by the a>Ian - ^
qualified voters of such State, should have the benefit of such
conclusive evidence of its loyalty, and be exempted from the operations of
the threatened proclamation. He called their attention to the acts of Con-
gress approved March 13, 1862, and July 16, 1862, bearing upon the subject,
as his warrant for the warning.

It seemed as if this preliminary proclamation would indeed be as " inop-
erative as the Pope's bull against the Comet." It was made instrumental in
" firing the Southern heart " and intensifying the rebellious feeling, for it
was pointed to by the conspirators, and their followers and friends in all
parts of the Republic, as positive evidence that the war was waged, not for
the restoration of the Union, but for the destruction of slavery, and the
plunder of the inhabitants of the slave-labor States. This was vehemently
asserted, notwithstanding the clear and evidently sincere assurances of the
President to the contrary notwithstanding the document itself opened
with the solemn declaration, " that hereafter, as heretofore, the war will be
prosecuted for the object of practically restoring the constitutional relation
between the United States and each of the States, and the people thereof."

During the hundred days which intervened between the issuing of this
proclamation and the first of January this kindly, considerate, and warning
proclamation, which gave to the conspirators and their associates in crime
ample time for reflection and calm decision millions of hearts in both
hemispheres were stirred with emotions of greatest anxiety. Philanthro-
pists and lovers of righteousness, whose aspirations rose above the consider^
ations of temporary expedients, and the vast multitude of the slaves, who
were all deeply interested in the decision, trembled with a fear that the
liberal terms of reconciliation might be accepted, and thereby the great act
-of justice be delayed. And when it was seen that the rebels were still
more rebellious, and waged war upon the Government more vigorously
and malignantly than ever, the question was upon every lip, Will the
President be firm? He answered that question on the appointed day by
issuing the following

PROCLAMATION.

Whereas, On the 22d day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand
eight hundred and sixty-two, a proclamation was issued by the President of the
United States, containing, among other things, the following, to wit:

lication until after we had gained some substantial advantage in the field, as at that time we had met with many
reverses, and it might be considered a cry of despair. He told me he thought the suggestion a wise one, and so
held over the Proclamation until after the battle of Antietam." Letter to William Lloyd Garrison, February
22, 1864.

560 DEFINITIVE PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION.

"That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and sixty -three, all persons held as slaves within any State or designated
part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United
States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free ; and the Executive Govern-
ment of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will
recognize and maintain the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts to
repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts they may make for their actual
freedom.

" That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation,
designate the States and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respec-
tively, shall then be in rebellion against the United States; and the fact that any
State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith represented in the
Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a
majority of the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the
absence of strong countervailing testimony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such
State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion against the United States."

Now, therefore, I, Abraham Lincoln, President of the United States, by virtue of
the power in me vested as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United
States in time of actual armed rebellion against the authority and Government of the
United States, and as a fit and necessary war measure for suppressing said rebellion,
do, on this first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred
and sixty*three, and in accordance with my purpose so to do, publicly proclaimed for
the full period of one hundred days from the day first above mentioned, order and
designate, as the States and parts of States wherein the people thereof, respectively,
are this day in rebellion against the United States, the following, to wit :

Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana (except the parishes of St. Bernard, Plaqucmines, Jef-
ferson, St. John, St. Charles, St. James, Ascension, Assumption, Terre Bonne,
Lafonrche, Ste. Marie, St. Martin, and Orleans, including the city of New Orleans),
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virginia
(except the forty-eight counties designated as West Virginia, and also the counties of
Berkley, Accomac, Northampton, Elizabeth City, York, Princess Anne, and Norfolk,
including the cities of Norfolk and Portsmouth), and which excepted parts are, for
the present, left precisely as if this proclamation were not issued.

And by virtue of the power and for the purpose aforesaid, I do order and declare
that all persons held as slaves within said designated States and parts of States are,
and henceforward shall be free ; and that the Executive Government of the United
States, including the military and naval authorities therebf, will recognize and main-
tain the freedom of said persons.

And I hereby enjoin upon the people so declared to be free to abstain from all
violence, unless in necessary self-defense ; and I recommend to them that, in all cases
when allowed, they labor faithfully for reasonable wages.

And I further declare and make knoAvn that such persons, of suitable condition,
will be received into the armed service of the United States, to garrison forts, posi-
tions, stations, and other places, and to man vessels of all sorts in said service.

And upon this act, sincerely believed to be an act of justice, warranted by the
Constitution, upon military necessity, I invoke the considerate judgment of mankind,
and the gracious favor of Almighty God.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my name, and caused the seal of the
United States to be affixed.

Done at the City of Washington, this first day of January, in the year of
[L. s.] our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, and of the Indepen-
dence of the United States the eighty-seventh.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

By the President.
WILLIAM H. SEWARD, Secretary of State.

(/f jZsfCv

That on the first day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three,

1 all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in

rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free; and the Executive Govern-

* ment of the United States, including the military and naval authority thereof, will recognize and maintain

' the freedom of such persons, and will do no act or acts* to repress such persons, or any of them, in any efforts

/, they may make for their actual freedom.

'/ That the Executive will, on the first day of January aforesaid, by proclamation, designate the States

ti and parts of States, if any, in which the people thereof, respectively, shall then be in rebellion against the

I/ United States ; and the fact that any State, or the people thereof, shall on that day be in good faith repre-

4 sented in the Congress of the United States, by members chosen thereto at elections wherein a majority of

fl the qualified voters of such State shall have participated, shall, in the absence of strong countervailing testi-

y mony, be deemed conclusive evidence that such State, and the people thereof, are not then in rebellion

/, against the United States. /,

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VOL. II. 36

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564

PROCLAMATION" OF EMANCIPATION.

x/WL^C&txX^c^

sT2 * #-v

<rf <^/yify^uetc t&s ^

Jisi^uAjivd j

THE PRESIDENT'S P.EN.'

This Proclamation, considered in all its relations, was one of the most
important public documents ever issued by the hand of man. And as time
passes on, adding century to century of human history, it will be regarded
with more and more reverence, as a consummation of the labors of the
Fathers of the Republic, who declared the great truth, that " all men are
created equal." With that belief, the writer has inserted, for the gratifica-
tion of the present generation and of posterity, the form of the proclamation
as it came from the hand of the President, and of the pen with which it was
written.

Unlike the preliminary proclamation, it was wonderfully potential. The
loyal portion of the nation was ready for the great act, and hailed it with

1 This is a picture of the pen with which President Lincoln wrote the original draft of his Proclamation, a
fac-simile of which is given on this and the three pages preceding. The pen was given to Senator Sumner by
the President, at the request of the former, and by him presented to the late George Livermore, of Boston,
from whom the writer received a photograph and a pencil drawing of it. It is a steel pen, known as the
"Washington," with a common cedar handle all as plain and unostentatious as the President himself.

The original draft of the Proclamation is on four pases of foolscap paper, from which a perfect fac-simiio
was made for the author of this work by the Government photographer, a few days after it was written, by
permission of the President, and under the direction of his Private Secretary, John G. Kicolay. In speaking
of it to the author the President said: "I wish to make an explanation of the cause of the last formal paia-
gr.iphs being in another's hand-writing, and the appearance of a tremulousness of hand when I signed the
paper. It was on New Year's day. Before I had quite completed the proclamation, the people began to call
upon me to present the compliments of the season. For two or three hours I shook hands with them, and
when I went back to the desk, I could hardly hold a pon in the hand that had been so employed. So I used tho
hand of my private secretary in writing the closing paragraphs, having nothing more to add to the proclamation.
I then signed it, with a tremulous hand, as you will perceive, made so, not from any agitation caused by the act,
\>ut from the reception of my visitors."

The fac-similc here given was made a little smaller than the original, to adapt it to the size of the pg<s but
is pi-rfect in every part. The original was presented by the President to the man.'iirers of a Sanitary Fair in
Chicago, for the benefit of the soldiers, who sold it to T. B. Bryan, Esq., of that city, for the sum of $3,000.

FIRST REGIMENT OF COLORED TROOPS.

565

joy, while the disloyal portion, and especially the conspirators, were struck
with dismay, for it was a blow fatal to their hopes. It dissipated the charm-
ing vision of a magnificent empire within the Golden Circle, 1 founded on
human slavery, which the conspirators had presented to the imaginations of
their cruelly deceived dupes. It touched with mighty power a chord of
sympathy among the aspirants for genuine freedom in the old world ; and
from the hour when that proclamation was promulgated, the prayers of true
men in all civilized lands went to the throne of God in supplication for the
success of the armies of the Republic against its enemies. And from the
moment when the Head of the nation proclaimed that act of justice, the
power of the rebellion began to wane. Already freedmen by thousands had

LIVE-OAK GROVE AT SMITH'S PLANTATION, PORT KOYAL.

entered the public service, and large numbers were enrolled soldiers in the
army of the Republic ; and the first utterance of tidings by the mouth of
man to freedmen of the Proclamation of Emancipation, was made to a regi-
ment of them in arms beneath the shadows of a magnificent live-oak grove
near Beaufort, in South Carolina, within bugle-sound of the place where
many of the earlier treasonable movements in that State were planned. In
Beaufort district, the stronghold of slavery, the first regiment of colored
troops, under the provisions of the act of Congress, was organized, and
it was to these that a public servant of the Republic announced the glad
tidings. 1

1 Sec page 187, volume I.

1 When the writer visiteri the village of Beaufort, in South Carolina, early in April, 1SC6, he spent an evening
with Dr. Brisbane, the Government Tax-Collector of the District. He was born in South Carolina, but had been

566

TIIE CONFEDERATE "CONGRESS."

While a large portion of the time of Congress, during the session of
1861 -'6 2, was consumed in the consideration of military measures, and
especially the subjects of slavery, confiscation, and emancipation, the finan-
cial affairs of the country, and public interests of every kind, were attended
to with great assiduity. The financial measures and their operations and
results will be considered hereafter. Let us now turn for a moment, and see
what the Conspirators were doing at Richmond while their armies were in
the field.

The Confederate "Congress," so called, reassembled in Richmond on
the 18th of November, 1861, and continued in session, with closed doors
most of the time, until the 18th of February, 1862, when its term as a " Pro-
visional Congress," made up of men chosen by conventions of politicians
and legislatures of States, expired. On the same day a Congress, profes-

driven fp>m the State morp than twenty years before, because he emancipated his slaves. lie was residing in
Wisconsin when the rebellion begun. When Beaufort came into the permanent possession of the National

forces, he was appointed tax-collector of the district from
which he had been driven. In that district the first regiment
of colored troops for the National army was organized. They
were stationed on Smith's plantation (sec m.tp on page 126),
about a mile and a half from Beaufort, near the ruins of the
old Spanish fort Carolina, which gave the name to the State;
and there, in a magnificent oak-grove near the water. Dr.
Brisbane addressed them and a largo concourse of people,
white and colored, on the 1st of January, 1SC3. There he who
had been driven from that, his native soil, because he emanci-
pated little more than thirty slaves, announced that on that
day the President of the United States had proclaimed free-
dom forever tkrce millions of slaves! What changes time
and circumstances bring! When the writer had visited and
sketched that grove, and strolled over the remains of the
Spanish fort, and through the desolation of the once beautiful
garden in front of the Smith mansion, hedged in by pal-
mettos, his attention was called to a huge oak, on the gentle
bank of Beaufort River, with double stems, between which,
were seats. On one of them, overlooking the harbor of Bean-
fort and Lady's Island, a Massachusetts Doctor of Divinity
sat and wrote, a few years before, a largo portion of a book
devoted to a Defence of Xegro Slavery !

LITE OAK AT SMITH'S PLANTATION.

Dr. Brisbane was living in the flne old mansion of Edmond Khctt, one of tbo most viol, nt of the South
Carolina secessionists, in which it is said the treasonable " Southern Association " h< M its iiu-etings (see note 1,
page 91, volume I.), and where the form of the South Carolina
Ordinance of Secession, afterward offered by Inglis in the Con-
vention, was discussed. Beaufort was the summer resort of
the aristocracy, so called, of South Carolina, and in its church-
yards lie the remains of many distinguished persons. In that
of the Episcopal church, and not far from the new-made grave
of General Elliott, the writer saw and sketched a white marble
monument in the form of a palmetto-stem, on the recumbent
slab at the foot of which was the following suggestive inscrip-
tion : " Sacred to the memory of Hugh Toland, son of Melvin
and Eliza Sams. Born December 81st, 1S46. Died July 29th,
I860. A youthful son of South Carolina, he sought to serve
her, even while preparing for her better future service, and
entered the State Military Academy in his seventeenth year.
Carrying with him the impress of his childhood's training, he
exhibited to his Alma Mater a respectful devotion akin to that
which animated him as a son. His courteous bearing, high-
toned sentiments, and exemplary conduct for nearly four years
secured for him the high esteem of his professors and affec-
tionate regards of his fellow-cadets. All grieve for their loss.
This tribute is paid by his commanding officer. 'What I do, thnu knowcst not now, but thou shait kno\r
hereafter.' John siii. 17."

MONtTSTENT IN CHtTRCHTAKD AT BKAtTFORT.

JEFFERSON DAVIS AND HIS COUNCIL.

567

sedly elected by the people, 1 commenced its session under the " Permanent
Constitution of the Confederate States." In this assembly all of the slave-
labor States were represented excepting Maryland and Delaware. 2 The oath
to support the Constitution of the Confederate States was administered to
the " Senators " by R. M. T. Hunter, of Virginia, and to the " Representa-
tives " by Ho well Cobb, of Georgia. Thomas Bocock, of Virginia, was
elected " Speaker." On the following day the votes for " President " of the
Confederacy were counted, and were found to be one hundred and nine in
number, all of which were cast for Jefferson Davis. 4 Three days
afterward" he was inaugurated President for six years. He chose * ^g^ 22 '
for his , " Cabinet " Judah P. Benjamin, of Louisiana, as " Secre-
tary of State ;" George W. Randolph, of Virginia, " Secretary of War ;"
S. R. Mallory, of Florida, " Secre-
tary of the Navy ;" C. G. Memmin-
ger, of South Carolina, " Secretary
of the Treasury ;" and Thomas II.
Watts, of Alabama, "Attorney-
General." Randolph resigned in
the autumn of 1862, when James
A. Seddon, a wealthy citizen of
Richmond, who figured conspicu-
ously in the Peace Convention at
Washington, 4 was chosen to fill
his place.

The Confederate " Congress "
passed strong resolutions in favor
of prosecuting the war more vigo-
ously than ever, and declared, by
joint resolution, that it was the
unalterable determination of the people of the Confederate States " to suffer
all the calamities of the most protracted war," and that they would never,
" on any terms, politically affiliate with a people who were guilty of an
invasion of their soil and the butchery of their citizens." With this spirit
they did prosecute the war on land, and by the aid of some of the British
aristocracy, merchants, and shipbuilders they kept afloat piratical craft on
the ocean, that for a time drove most of the carrying trade between the
United States and Europe to British vessels.

We have already noticed the commissioning of so-called "privateers"
by the Confederate "Government," 5 and some of their piratical operations

1 In most instances theso elections were as much the voice of the people as was that held in Virginia, in
accordance with the following proposition of a leading paper in Richmond in the interest of the conspirators:
"It being necessary to form a ticket of electors, and the time being too short to call a Convention of the peo-
ple, it was suggested that the Richmond editors should prepare a ticket, thus relieving the people of the trouble
of making selections. The ticket thus formed has been presented. Among tho names we- find those of Win.
L. Gogsrin, of Bedford, and R. T. Daniel, of Richmond; E. II. Fitzhugh, of Ohio County; John R. Edmunds,
of Halifax, and C. W. Newton, of Norfolk City. Every district in the State is embraced in this editorial
report."

s For a list of the members of the " Provisional Congress " see page 463.

3 The votes were as follows: Alabama, 11; Arkansas, 6; Florida, 4; Georgia, 12; Louisiana, 8; Mississippi
0; North Carolina, 12; South Carolina, 8; Tennessee, 13 ; Texas, S; Virginia, IS.

4 See chapter X., volume I.

5 See page 872, volume I.

JAMES A. 8EDDOIT.

568 CONFEDERATE PIRATE SHIPS.

in the spring and summer of 1861. 1 Before the close of July, more than
twenty of those depredators were afloat, and had captured millions of prop-
erty belonging to American citizens. The most formidable and notorious
of the sea-going ships of this character, were the NasJwille, Captain 11. B.
Pegraiu, a Virginian, who had abandoned his flag, and the Sumter, Captain
Raphael Semmes. The former was a side-wheel steamer, carried a crew of
eighty men, and was armed with two long 1 2-pounder rifled cannon. Her
career was short, but quite successful. She was finally destroyed by the
Montauk, Captain Worden," in the Ogeechee River.* The career
"Feb. as, Q f t ^ e g um f er ^ w hich had been a New Orleans and Havana
packet steamer, named Marquis de Hal>ana, was also short, but
much more active and destructive. She had a crew of sixty-five men and

twenty-five marines, and was
heavily armed. She ran the
blockade at the mouth of the
Mississippi River on the 30th
of June,* and was
pursued some .dis-
tance by the Brooklyn. She
ran among the West India
islands and on the Spanish
Main, and soon made prizes of
many vessels bearing the Ameri-
can flag. She was everywhere
received in British colonial ports
with great favor, and was afforded every facility for her piratical operations.
She became the terror of the American merchant service, and everywhere
eluded National vessels of war sent out in pursuit of her. At length
she crossed the ocean, and at the close of 1861 was compelled to seek shelter
under British guns at Gibraltar, where she was watched by the Tuscarora.
Early in the year 1862 she was sold, and thus ended her piratical career.

Encouraged by the practical friendship of the British evinced for these
corsairs, and the substantial aid they were receiving from British subjects in
various ways, especially through blockade-runners, the conspirators deter-
mined to procure from those friends some powerful piratical craft, and made
arrangements for the purchase and construction of vessels for that purpose.
Mr. Laird, a ship-builder at Liverpool and member of the British Parliament,
was the largest contractor in the business, and, in defiance of every obstacle,
succeeded in getting pirate ships to sea.

The first of these ships that went to sea was the Orcto, ostensibly built
for a house in Palermo, Sicily. Mr. Adams, the American minister in Lon-
don, was so well satisfied from information received that she was designed
for the Confederates, that he called the attention of the British Government
to the matter so early as the 18th of February, 1862. But nothing effective
was done, and she was completed and allowed to depart from British waters.
She went first to Nassau, and on the 4th of September suddenly appeared

1 See pages 555 to 553, Inclusive, volume L

* The appearance of the remains of the Naehvitte in the Ogeechee River is seen in the tail-piece on pr.ge
827.

THE PIRATES SEMMES AND MAFFIT.

569

JOITS NEWLAXD MAFFIT.

off Mobile harbor, flying the British flag and pennants. The blockading
squadron there was in charge of Commander George II. Preble, who had
been specially instructed not to give offense to foreign nations while enfor-
cing the blockade. He believed the Oreto to be a British vessel, and while
deliberating a few minutes as to what he should do, she passed out of range
of his guns, and entered the harbor with a rich freight. For his seeming
remissness Commander Preble was summarily dismissed from the service
without a hearing an act which sub-
sequent events seemed to show was
cruel injustice. Late in December
the Oreto escaped from Mobile, fully
armed for a piratical cruise, under the
command of John Newland Maffit,
son of a celebrated Irish Methodist
preacher of that name. Maffit had
been in the naval service of the Re-
public, but had abandoned his flag,
and now went out to plunder his
countrymen on the high seas "with-
out authority." 1 The name of the
Oreto was changed to that of Florida.
Her career will be noticed hereafter.

The most famous of all these pirate
ships built in England for the conspirators was the Alabama, made for the
use of Semmes, the commander of the Sumter. As in the case of the Oreto,
Mr. Adams called the attention of the British Government to the matter,

but every effort to induce it to interpose
its authority, in accordance with the letter
and spirit of the Queen's proclamation of
neutrality,* was fruitless. The Ttiscarora
watched her, but in vain. She was allowed
to depart, with ample assistance, and
under false pretenses she was supplied
with cannon and other materials of war
by an English merchant vessel, in a Por-
tuguese harbor of the Western Islands.
When all was in readiness, Captain
Semmes and other officers of the Sumter
were brought to her by a British steamer,
and she left for Cardiff, to coal. Semmes
took formal command, mustered his crew,
and read his commission, duly signed and
sealed by the Confederate " Secretary of the Navy." A copy of that com-
mission, in blank, is given on the following page. 4

1 See note 1, page 656, volume L * See page 567, volume I.

* This is from a photograph by Ferranti, of Liverpool, taken in the summer of 1S64.

* That copy is a perfect fac-simile of the original, a little less than one-third the size. The original was
engraved n England, and printed on elegant vellum, and it was much superior in material and execution to
the commissions issued by our own Navy Department. The space within the wreath, on the trophy vignette
t the bottom, was the place of the seal.

RAPHAEL SEMJJE8. 3

570

CONFEDERATE NAVAL COMMISSION.

With orders from the Conspirators " to sink, burn, and destroy every-
thing which flies the ensign of the so-called United States of America,"
Semmes went forth on the ocean in the Alabama to achieve fame as one of

**mi(*0*(jF**iti <fy, ?-3^?f*ap'^fe3^Ss2SI

tkOte*^. . ., . V^^^^^fWr''^^^^^^^

"</! v> ""?" ',//7 ~y- , .. (jf / <#//

OONFEPEEATE KAVAL COMMISSION.

the most eminent sea-robbers noted in history, and succeeded. His vessel
had neither register nor record, no regular ship's papers, no evidence of
transfer; and no vessel captured by her was ever sent into any port for
adjudication. All the forms of law of civilized nations for the protection of

BARBARISM AND CIVILIZATION ILLUSTRATED.

571

THE ALABAMA.

private rights, and all the regulations of public justice which discriminate
the legalized naval vessel from the pirate, were disregarded. Although she
was a British vessel, manned chiefly by British subjects from a British
armed with British cannon, and
provided with coal and other
supplies from British soil, she
had no acknowledged flag nor
recognized nationality, nor any
accessible port to which she
might send her prizes, nor any
legal tribunal to adjudge her
captures. She was an outlaw,
roving the seas as an enemy of
mankind, for plunder and de-
struction, and her commander
was a pirate, whose career as such
was as cowardly as it was criminal. For a year and a half, while care-
fully avoiding contact with our National vessels of war, he illuminated the
seas with blazing merchant-ships. During the last ninety days of 1862, he
destroyed by fire no less than twenty-eight helpless vessels. The subsequent
career of the Alabama will be considered hereafter.

While this British ship was upon the sea, commissioned for destruction,
a notable American ship was also on the sea, but for a widely different pur-
pose. The blockade caused a lack of the cotton supply in England, and the
greatly advanced price of that article made the manufacturers either run
their mills only a part of each day, or shut them up altogether. This caused
wide-spread distress among the poorly remunerated operatives in those mills,
on which, in Lancashire alone, nearly a million of stomachs depended for food.
Starvation invaded that region, and a most pitiful cry of distress came over

the sea. The just indignation of the
loyal Americans, because of the con-
duct of the ruling classes of Great

Britain, and especially because of the
conduct of the Government in the
matter of the pirate-ships, was quench-
ed by the emotions of common hu-
manity, and the citizens of New York
alone, whose merchants suffered most
by the piracies, contributed more than
one hundred thoxisand dollars for "the
relief of starving English families.
They loaded the ship George Griswold
with food, and sent her out on an
errand of mercy, while at the same time they were compelled to send with
her a Government war-vessel to protect her from the torch of the pirate, which
had been lighted at the altar of mammon by British hands! The loyal

1 This was the appearance of the ship while she was a-loadins: at her wharf on the East River. Hish up on
her risking was a piece of canvas, on which were the words, " CONTRIBUTIONS FOE LANCASHIRE. FBKK.UT
FRKK."

THE GEORGE GRISWOLD. 1

572 VICKSBURG AND ITS IMPORTANCE.

Americans forgive their British brethren for their unkindness in the hour
of trial, but all the waters of the Atlantic cannot wash out the stain.

Let us now turn again to a consideration of military events, whose theater
of action, at the close of 1862, was nearly coextensive with the area of the
slave-labor States. Up to that time the loyal States had furnished for the
war, wholly by volunteering, more than one million two hundred thousand
men, of whom, on the 1st of January, 1863, about seven hundred thousand
were in the service. Sickness, casualties in the field, the expiration of terms
of enlistment, discharges for physical disability, and desertions, had greatly
thinned the original regiments. 1

The most important movement at the close of 1862 was that of the
beginning of the second siege of Vicksburg, which resulted in its capture at
the following midsummer, and which engaged the services of nearly all the
troops westward of the Alleghanies, directly or indirectly, during several
months. Though a city of only between four and five thousand inhabitants
when the war broke out, the position of Vicksburg soon became one of the
most important on the Mississippi River in a military point of view, while its
peculiar topography made its conversion into a strong defensive post an easy
matter. Port Hudson below (about twenty-five miles above Baton Rouge),
another position of great natural strength, was now quite heavily fortified,

and growing in defen-
sive power every day.
Between these fortified
places, only, the Missis-
sippi was free from the
patrol of National war-
vessels. Here was now
the only connecting
link between the por-
tions of the Confede-
racy separated by the
Mississippi, and here
alone could the vast

JEKKKR80N DAVIS 8 RESIDENCE. 1

supplies of the grain

:and cattle growing regions of Western Louisiana and Texas be passed safely
over the great river to Confederate armies, which, with those of the Nationals,
were exhausting the regions eastward, between it and the mountain ranges
that project into Georgia and Alabama. The importance of holding this
connecting link firmly was felt by the Confederates, and when, in the autumn
of 1862, Jefferson Davis visited his home within the bounds of that link, and
was returning, he declared in a speech at Jackson that Vicksburg and Port
Hudson must be held at all hazards. The Nationals, equally impressed with
ithe importance of destroying that link, now bent all their energies to effect

1 The fearful waste of an army may be comprehended by considering the statement made by General Meade,
in a reply to an address of welcome from the Mayor of Philadelphia, that from March, 1862, when the Army of
the Potomac left its lines in front of Washington, to the close of 1S63, not less than 100.000 men of that army bad
been killed or wounded

8 This is a view of Davis's mansion on his estate below Vicksburg, from a photograph by Joslyn. of that
city. When it was taken, the front of the house over the colonnade bore the words, in large black letters, "TnB
HOUSE JEFF. BUILT. " The region was then in possession of the National forces, and Union soldiers occupied

GRANT'S ADVANCE IN MISSISSIPPI. 573

it. At that time the Confederate forces at and near Yicksburg were under
the command of General John C. Pemberton, a Pennsylvanian, who had
lately been commissioned a lieutenant-general, and ranked both Van Dorn
and Lovell.

We left the main forces of General Grant confronting -the Confederates
on the Tallahatchee. 1 Grant's plan was for General Sherman, then at Mem-
phis, to descend the river with troops in transports from that city, and from
Helena, in Arkansas, and, with a gun-boat fleet, make an attack on Vicks-
burg. At the same time, General McClernand was to go down with troops
from Cairo and re-enforce Sherman soon after his attack. Grant himself was
to advance rapidly in the mean time upon the main body of the Confederate
troops under Van Dorn, north and eastward of Vicksburg, and, if they should
retreat to that place, follow them, and assist Sherman in the reduction of the
post.

On the 4th of November Grant transferred his head-quarters from Jack-
son (Tennessee) to La Grange, a few miles west of Grand Junction, on the
Memphis and Charleston railway. He had concentrated his forces for a
vigorous movement in the direction of Vicksburg. On the 8th he sent out

o o

McPherson, with ten thousand infantry, and fifteen hundred cavalry under
Colonel A. L. Lee, to drive a large body of Confederate cavalry from Lamar,
on the railway southward of him. It was accomplished, and the Confede-
rates were gradually pushed back to Holly Springs, on the same railway.

It was now evident that the Confederates intended to hold the line of the
Tallahatchee River, for there Pemberton had concentrated his forces and
cast up fortifications. Grant at once prepared to dislodge them, and on the
'20th of November he moved toward Holly Springs with his main body,
Hamilton's division in the ^advance. In the mean time Generals A. P. Hovey
and C. C. Washburne had crossed the Mississippi" from Helena,
landed at Delta, and moved in the direction of Grant's army. ^geg 20 '
Their cavalry was distributed. That of Washburne pushed
rapidly eastward to the Cold Water River, where they captured a Confede-
rate camp. Moving swiftly down that stream and the Tallahatchee, they
made a sweep by way of Preston, and struck the railway at Garner's
Station, just north of Grenada, where the railways from Memphis and Grand
Junction meet, and destroyed the road and bridges there. They then went
northward to Oakland and Panola, on the Memphis road, and then struck
across the country southeast to Coffeeville, on the Grand Junction road.

the mansion and the plantation. Davis was the owner of a large number of slaves, and on his estate were found
every implement employed in slave-labor and its management in that rich cotton district Among other things
found there was a lash for beating the slaves,
represented in the engraving, which Colonel
James Grant Wilson, of General Banks's staff,
sent to his home in Poughkeepsie. It is a SLAVE-LASH.

terrible instrument for punishment The

lash is twenty-five inches in length and a little more than two inches in width, composed of five thicknesses of
heavy leather, sewed together with saddler's thread in seven rows, making the whole half an inch thick. This
lash is inserted in a handle made of hickory, a little more than a foot long, and fastened by three screws on each
side. Sometimes these lashes had holes in them, an inch in diameter, into which the flesh of the victim would
rise when the blow was inflicted. Such was the kind of scepter with which Capital ws to rule Labor in the
horrid empire of injustice within "The Golden Circle" projected by Davis and his fellow-conspirators, find for
the establishment of which they attempted to destroy the Republic.
1 See page 524

574 SERIOUS DISASTER AT HOLLY SPRINGS.

Having accomplished the object of their expedition, Hovey and Washburno
returned to the Mississippi.

This raid, in which the railways on which the Confederates depended
were severely damaged, and the rolling stock destroyed, while Grant was
pressing in front, disconcerted Pemberton, and he fell back to Grenada, and
by the 1st of December Grant held a strong position south of Holly Springs,
and commanding nearly parallel railways in that region, as we have observed
on page 524. He pushed on to Oxford, the capital of Lafayette County,
Mississippi, and sent forward two thousand cavalry, under Colonels Lee and
T. L. Dickey, to press the rear of Van Dora's retreating column.

*^gg 2 5 ' At Coffeeville, several miles southward, these encountered" a
superior force of Van Dora's infantry and some artillery, and,
after a sharp struggle, were driven back several miles, with a loss of one
hundred men, killed, wounded, and missing.

Grant, with his main army, remained at Oxford. 1 The railway had been
put in running order as far southward as Holly Springs, and there he had
made his temporary depot of arms and supplies of every kind, valued, late
in December, at nearly four millions of dollars. That very important post
was placed in charge of Colonel R. C. Murphy, with one thousand men, who,
as we have seen, abandoned a large quantity of stores at luka on the
approach of the Confederates.* He now permitted a far greater disaster to
befall the National cause. His treasures were a powerful temptation to Van
Dorn, and Grant was so satisfied that he would attempt to seize them, that
he had enjoined Murphy to be extremely vigilant. On the night of the 19th
he had warned him of immediate danger, and sent four thousand men to

O '

make the security of the stores absolutely certain ; but Murphy seems not to*
have heeded it. He made no preparations, by barricading the streets or
otherwise, for defense. When, at daybreak the next morning,*
Van Dorn and his cavalry burst into the town like an over-
whelming avalanche, he was met by very little resistance. He captured
Murphy and a greater portion of his men, gathered what plunder his troops
wanted for personal use, and burned all the other public property, not sparing
even a large hospital, filled with sick and wounded soldiers. The Second
Illinois cavalry refused to surrender, and gallantly fought their way out with
a loss of only seven men. Murphy accepted a parole, with his
soldiers ; and on the 9th of January' General Grant, in a severe
order, " to take effect," he said, " from December 20th, the date of his cow-
ardly and disgraceful conduct," dismissed Murphy from the army. J

After remaining at Holly Springs ten hours, engaged in pillaging and

1 Grant had a very efficient staff. Among the principal and most active officers were Brigadier-General J.
D. Webster, a most skillful artillery officer, and then superintendent of military roads. Lieutenant-Colonel J.
A. Rawlins was his chief of staff, and Captain T. 8. Bowers was his most trusted aid-de-cainp. The two latter
remained on his staff throughout the entire war.

* See page 513.

* In an order on the 23d of December, General Grant spoke of the surrender as " disgraceful," and declared
that with "all the cotton, public stores, and substantial buildings about the depot," Murphy might easily have
kept the assailants at bay until relief arrived. He pointedly condemned the acceptance of a parole by Murphy
for himself nnd men. a cartel having been agreed to. by which each party was bound to take cnre of its own
prisoners. Had Murphy refused parole for himself and men, Van Dorn would have been " compelled." Grant
eaid, " to have released them unconditionally, or to have abandoned all further aggressive movements for the
time being."

SHERMAN'S DESCENT OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

575

destroying, blowing up the arsenal, and burning the public property, 1 Van
Dona's men departed at five o'clock in the evening, highly elated, and imme-
diately afterward assailed in rapid succession the National troops at Cold-
water, Davis' s Mills, Middleburg, and even Bolivar, but without other success
than the effect produced upon Grant by a serious menace of his communica-
tions. 9 Two hours after they had left Holly Springs, the four thousand troops
which Grant had dispatched by railway tore-enforce Murphy arrived. They
had been detained by accident on the way, or they might have reached the
place in time to have saved the property. Its loss was a paralyzing blow to
the expedition, for Grant was compelled to fall back to Grand Junction, to
save his army from the most imminent peril, and perhaps from destruction.
This left General Pembertou at liberty to concentrate his forces at Vicksburg
for its defense.

In the mean time General Sherman had been preparing for his descent
upon Vicksburg. While in command of the right wing of the Army of the
Tennessee, with his head-quarters at Memphis, he had
thoroughly drilled his troops, and put that important
post in the most complete defensive state. In Fort
Pickering he had constructed one of the finest of the
numerous look-outs that were so extensively used
by both parties during .the war, from which, on
several occasions, notice of the approach of guerrillas
was given in time to save the place from pillage.

Sherman left Memphis with a little more than
twenty thousand troops in transports, on the day of
the sad disaster at Holly Springs,' leaving
as a guard to the city a strong force of
infantry and cavalry, and the siege-guns
in place with a complement of artillerists. He pro-
ceeded to Friar's Point, a little below where Hovey
landed, where he was joined by Admiral D. D. Por-
ter (whose naval force was at the mouth of the Yazoo
River) in his flag-ship Slack Hawk, and with the
gun-boats Marmora and Conestoga to act as a con-
voy. On the same evening the troops at Helena
embarked, and joined Sherman at Friar's Point, and
made his entire force full thirty thousand strong.

Arrangements for future action were completed the following morning* by
the two commanders. The army and navy moved down the
stream, and were all at the mouth of the Yazoo River, about
twelve miles above Vicksburg, on the 25th. 3 The plan was to make an
attack upon Vicksburg in the rear, with a strong force, and for that purpose

Dec. 20,

1SG2.

'Dec. 22.

1 The kind and value of the public property destroyed was as follows : 1,809,000 fixed cartridges and other
ordnance stores, including 6,000 rifles and 2,000 revolvers, $1,500,000; 100,000 suits of clothing and other quarter-
masters' stores, $500,000 ; 5,000 barrels of flour and other commissary stores, $500,000 ; medical stores, $1,000,000 ;
1,000 bales of cotton and $600,000 worth of sutlers' stores.

1 It was at about this time, as we have observed (page 551), that Forrest was making his raid in West
Tennessee.

* The fleet consisted of more than sixty transports, besides a number of gnn-boats (some of them armored),
anl some mortar-boats.

576

NATURAL DEFENSES OF VICKSBURG.

TIfll BLACK HAWK.

the fleet and army passed up the Yazoo (which, in a great bend, sweeps

round within a few miles of Yicksburg 1 ) twelve miles, to John-

a Dec. 26, gt on ' s Landing, the troops debarking" at points in that vicinity

along the space of three miles, without opposition.

To understand the difficulties in Sherman's way, we must consider, for a
moment, the topography of his field of intended operations. The bluffs or

hills on'Svhich Vicks-
bursr stands rise a little

below the city, and ex-
tend northeast twelve
or fifteen miles to the
Yazoo River, where
they terminate in
Haines's Bluff. In the
rear of the city the
ground is high and
broken, falling off

gradually toward the
Big Black River,t welve
miles distant. Thia
range of hills, fronting the Mississippi and the Yazoo, was fortified along its
entire length, and the only approach to Vicksburg by land was up their
steep faces, through which roads were cut in a manner indicated by the
engraving. At the base of these bluffs were rifle-pits. To render the

o o * .

approach still more difficult, there is a deep
natural ditch, called Chickasaw Bayou,
extending from the Yazoo, below Raines's

O *

Bluff, passing along near the base of the
bluffs for some distance, and emptying
into the Mississippi. Added to this is a
deep slough, whose bottom is quicksand,
and supposed to have once been a lake
which stretched along the foot of the
bluffs, and entered the bayou where the
latter approached them. These formed a
natural moat in front of the fortifications,
while on the plain over which Sherman had
to approach the bluffs the cypress forests
were felled in places, and formed a diffi-
cult abatis.

Sherman's army was organized in four divisions, commanded respectively
by Brigadier-Generals G. "W. Morgan, Morgan L. Smith, A. J. Smith, and
Frederick Steele. The first three divisions had three brigades each, and the
fourth one (Steele' s), four. In the plan of attack Steele was assigned to the

UPPER KNTRANCK TO YICKSBURO. 1

1 The Yazoo Elver Is a deep and narrow stream formed by the Tallahatchec and Tallobusha Rivers, which
unite in Carroll County, Mississippi. It runs through an extremely fertile alluvial plain.

4 This Is a view on what is called the Valley road, the one entering Vicksbnrg from the north, nearest the
river. At the point where this little sketch was taken was a strong palisade, and near it was a block-house, both
of which were well preserved when the writer visited Vicksburg, in April, 18(58.

MOVEMENTS AT CIIIOKASAW BAYOU. 577

command of the extreme left, Morgan the left center, M. L. Smith the right
center, and A. J. Smith the extreme right. The latter division not having
arrived from Milliken's Bend (where it had remained as a support to a force
under Colonel Wright, sent to cut the railway on the west side of the Mis-
sissippi, that connects Vicksburg with Shreveport) when Sherman was ready
to advance, General Frank P. Blair, of Steele's division, was placed in
command on the extreme right. All of these divisions were to converge
toward the point of attack on the bluffs at or near Barfield's plantation,
where only, it had been ascertained, the bayou could be crossed at two
points one at a sand-bar, and the other at 'a narrow levee. Both were
commanded by Confederate batteries and rifle-pits. The battery at the
levee was on an ancient In-
dian mound, 1 near the bank
of the bayou, and could sweep
nearly the whole ground over
which the Nationals must
advance. Everywhere on
that advance the ground was
so soft that causeways had

, , .. ^. ANCIENT MOUND, CHICK A8AW BAYOU.

to be built for the passage

of the troops and cannon. Difficulties were found to be much greater and

more numerous than was anticipated.

The army was ready to move on the 27th, a and the center divisions,
including Blair's, marched slowly toward the bluffs, driving the
Confederate pickets, silencing a battery on the left where Steele
was to join the forward movement, and cheered by the confidence of the
commanding general that full success would crown their endeavors. Alas !
he did not then know of the disaster at Holly Springs, the recoil of Grant
from Oxford, and the heavy re-enforcements which Pemberton had been
sending to Vicksburg. He knew that the line that he was to attack was
fifteen miles in length, and supposed there were only fifteen thousand men
to man it, and he believed that, with his superior force concentrated at some
point, he might break through the line, demolish it in detail, and march
triumphantly into Vicksburg. He knew the position to be assailed was a
strong one, but he was not aware of the ample preparations, by rifle-pits rising
tier above tier upon the slopes, and batteries crowning every hill, to enfilade
his troops at every point, and make success almost an impossibility. In
ignorance of the strength before him, and expecting Grant's co-operation on
the morrow, Sherman reposed on the night of the 27th, his army bivouacking
in the cold air without fires.

The army pressed forward on Sunday morning, the 28th, driving the
pickets of the Confederates across the bayou. Steele, moving on the
extreme left, was soon checked by a slough and cypress swamp, across
which there was no passage excepting by a corduroy causeway, enfiladed by
the Confederate batteries and rifle-pits. Meanwhile Morgan had advanced
under cover of a heavy fog and the fire of his artillery against the Confede-
rate center. He pressed on to a point at the bayou where it approaches

1 The little sketch above shows the appearance of the ancient mound when the writer visited it, in 1866. It
was about t\vi.-nty-flve feet in height.

VOL. II. 37

578

BATTLE OF CHICKASAW BAYOU.

nearest the bluffs, and where it was impassable. He held his ground there
throughout the day and the following night. At the same time M. L.
Smith had advanced far to the right, and before noon was disabled by a sharp-
shooter's ball wounding his hip, when his command devolved on General
David Stuart. A. J. Smith pushed forward on the extreme right until his
pickets reached a point from which Vicksburg was in full view.

Steele's division was brought around that night to a point a little below
the junction of the bayou with the Yazoo, and on the morning of the 29th,
General Sherman, aware that the force of the Confederates on his front was
rapidly increasing, ordered a general advance of his whole army. Morgan,
being nearest the bayou and the bluffs, was expected to cross early and
carry the batteries and heights on his front ; but at the dawn the Confede-
rates opened a heavy cannonade upon him, and it was almost noon before he
thought it prudent to move forward. Meanwhile detachments had been
constructing bridges over the bayou, for the purpose of crossing to assail the
foe on the bluffs, and when Morgan was ready to move, Blair had come up
with his brigade and was ready to go into the fight, with Thayer, of Steele's
division, as a support.

Blair had moved forward between the divisions of Smith and Morgan,
and obliquing to the left, which exposed him to a severe flank fire, in which
Colonel J. B. Wyman, of the Thirteenth^llinois, was killed, he crossed Mor-
gan's track, and there detached two regiments to the support of that com-
mander. With the remainder he worked his way to the front of Morgan's
left, near the house of Mrs. Lake, and at the van of Steele he crossed the
bayou over a bridge his men had built, and advanced to the slough, whose

bottom was a quicksand, and its
banks were covered with a snarl
of felled trees. Over this they
passed, Blair leaving his horse
floundering in the shallow water
with its unstable bed. Dashing
through the abatis, and followed
by Thayer, with only a single regi-
ment (Fourth Iowa) of his brigade
then in hand, he pressed across a
sloping plateau, captured two
lines of rifle-pits, and fought des-
perately to gain the crest of the
hill before him, while De Courcy's
brigade of Morgan's command,
which had crossed the bayou,
charged on his right. But the
effort was vain. The assailants
suffered terribly, for the hills were swarming with men, bristling with
weapons, and ablaze with the fire of murderous guns. It was a struggle of
three thousand in open fields below with ten thousand behind intrenchments
above. Pemberton, who had arrived and was in command, had been re-en-
forced by three brigades from Grenada, released by Grant's retrograde move-
ment, and he defied Sherman. Blair and his companions were compelled to

THE BATTLE OF CHICKASA-W BAYOTT.

A NEW PLAX OF OPERATIONS.

579

retreat. He had lost one-third of his brigade, and De Courcy, by a flank
charge by the Seventeenth and Twenty-sixth Louisiana, lost four flags, three
hundred and thirty-two men made prisoners, and about five hundred small
arms. 1 So heavy and active was the force on the bluffs, that all attempts to
construct bridges were frustrated, and they were abandoned. General A. J.
Smith's advance (Sixth Missouri) had crossed the bayou at a narrow sand-
bar on the extreme right, but could not advance because of the cloud of
sharp-shooters that confronted them. So they lay below the bank until
night, and then withdrew. Darkness closed the struggle, when Sherman
had lost nearly two thousand men, and his foe only two hundred and seven.
Thus ended THE BATTLE OP CHICKASAW BAYOU.

General Sherman was loth to relinquish his effort against Vicksburg.
He had ordered another attack on the left after Blair was repulsed, but

BATTLE-GROUND AT CHICKA8AW BAYOU. 8

wisely countermanded it ; but that night, while rain was falling copiously,
he caused his men to rest on their arms without fire, preparatory to another
strun-fi-le in the mornin<r. During the night he visited Admiral Porter on

oo o o c?

board his flag-ship, and concerted a fresh plan of attack, but on the follow-
ing day," after a careful estimate of his chances for success, and
despairing of any co-operation on the part of Grant, he con- ' ^ G2 '
eluded to abandon the attempt to penetrate the Confederate
lines, but to try and turn them. He proposed to go stealthily up the Yazoo

1 In this attack Lieutenant-Colonel Dister, of the Fifty-eighth Ohio, and Major Jaensen, of the Thirty-fl-st
Missouri, were killed. Colonel T. C. Fletcher, of the latter regiment, who is now (1867) Governor of Missouri.
and his Lieutenant-Colonel, Simpson, were wounded. Fletcher was made a prisoner.

5 This was the appearance of the battle-ground of Chiokasaw Bayou when the writer sketched it, just at
evening of a warm day in April, 1S66. The view is taken from the road (see map on page 5TS), on the slope of

580 YAZOO EXPEDITION ABANDONED.

with the land and naval forces, and attack and carry Haines's bluff, on their
extreme right, while by some diversion on the bayou the Confederates should
be prevented from sending re-enforcements there in time to oppose the
National army in securing a firm footing. The latter was then to take the
remaining Confederate fortifications in flank and reverse, and fight its way
to Vicksburg.

Preparations were made for this flank movement to begin at midnight of

the 3 1st. A dense fog interposed. The enterprise became

known to Pemberton, and it was abandoned. Rumors of Grant's

retreat to Grand Junction had reached Sherman, and he resolved to return

to Milliken's Bend on the Mississippi. The troops were all re-embarked, and

ready for departure from the Yazoo, when the arrival of General McCler-

nand, Sherman's senior in rank, was announced.* On the 4th of

b3 ^ January that officer assumed the chief command, and the army

and navy proceeded to Milliken's Bend. The title of Sherman's

force was changed to that of the Army of the Mississippi, and was divided

into two corps, one of which was placed under the command of General

Morgan, and the other under General Sherman.

Before McClernand's arrival Sherman and Porter had agreed upon a plan
for attacking Fort Hindman, or Arkansas Post, on the left bank, and at a
sharp bend of the Arkansas River, 1 fifty miles from the Mississippi, while
Grant was moving his army to Memphis, preparatory to a descent of the
river, to join in the further prosecution of the siege of Vicksburg. McCler-
nand approved of the plan, and the forces moved up the Mississippi to
Montgomery Point, opposite the mouth of White River. On the 9th the
combined force proceeded up that river fifteen miles, and, passing through a
canal into the Arkansas, reached Notrib's farm, three miles below Fort Hind-
man, at four o'clock in the afternoon, when preparations were made for landing
the troops. This was accomplished by noon the next day," when
cjon - 10) about twenty-five thousand men, under McClernand, Sherman,
Morgan, Stewart, Steele, A. J. Smith, and Osterhaus, were ready,
with a strong flotilla of armored and unarmored gun-boats, under the imme-
diate command of Admiral Porter, to assail the fort, garrisoned by only
five thousand men, under General T. J. Churchill, who had received orders
from General T. II. Holmes at Little Rock, then commanding in Arkansas,
to "hold on until help should arrive or all were dead." The gun-boats
moved slowly on, shelling the Confederates out of their rifle-pits along the
levee, and driving every soldier into the fort, 2 and in the mean time the land
troops pressed forward over swamps and bayous, and bivouacked that night
around Fort Hiudman, without tents or fires, prepared for an assault in the
morning.

the bluff which Blair attempted to carry. The Chickasaw Bayou is seen winding through the plain in the fore-
ground. The solitary stem of a tree in the middle marks the place where there was an encounter on the 27th,
when some Confederate pickets were captured, and all were driven hack. The belt of trees in the distance
marks the line, of the Yazoo. The Indian mound is not far beyond the most distant point seen in the bayou.
on the extreme left.

1 This point is the first high land on the Arkansas, after leaving the Mississippi. There the French had
a trading post and a settlement as early as 1685, and gave it the name which it yet bears. The Confederates ha.l
strongly fortified it, and nnmed the principal work Fort Hindman. in honor of the Arkansas general. It was .1
regular square, bastioned and casemated work, with a ditch twenty feet wide and eight deep, and was armed with
twelve srnns.

8 The vessels engaged In this bombardment were the Iron-clash Cincinnati, De Kalb, and Lcnrisville.

CAPTURE OF ARKANSAS POST.

581

FORT IIINDMAN.

At about noon on 'the llth, McClernand notified Porter that the
army was ready to move upon the fort. The gun-boats opened fire at
one o'clock, and soon
afterward the brigades
of Hovey, Thayer,
Giles A. Smith, and T.
Kilby Smith, pushed
forward at the double-
quick, finding tempora-
ry shelter in woods and
ravines with which the
ground was diversified.
In a belt of woods,
three hundred yards
from the Confederate
rifle-pits, they were
brought to a halt by a
very severe fire of mus-
ketry and artillery, but they soon resumed their advance with the support of
Blair's brigade, and pushed up to some ravines fringed with bushes and fallen
timber, within musket range of the fort. Morgan's artillery and the gun-boats
had covered this advance by a rapid fire, and, with the batteries of Hoffman,
Wood, and Barrett, had nearly silenced the Confederate guns. Parrott
guns (10 and 20-pounders), under Lieutenants Webster and Blount, had per-
formed excellent service in dismounting cannon that most annoyed the gun-
boats. In this movement Hovey had been wounded by a fragment of a
shell, and the horse of Thayer had been shot under him.

General A. J. Smith now deployed nine regiments of Burbridge's and
Landrum's brigades, supported by three more regiments in reserve, and
drove the Confederate advance on the right, back behind a cluster of cabins,
from which shelter they were dislodged by a charge of the Twenty-third
Wisconsin, Colonel Guppy. Smith, meanwhile, pushed on his division until
it was not more than two hundred yards from the fort, while Colonel Shel-
don, of Osterhaus's division, had sent Cooley's battery, supported by the One
Hundred and Eighteenth and One Hundred and Twentieth Ohio, and Sixty-
ninth Indiana, to within two hundred yards of another face of the fort.
They cleared the rifle-pits before them, and the One Hundred and Twentieth
Ohio attempted to scale and carry by assault the eastern side of the fort,
but were prevented by a deep ravine in addition to the ditch.

At a little* past three o'clock, the guns of the fort having been silenced,
and Sherman's right strengthened by the Twenty-third Wisconsin, Nine-
teenth Kentucky, and Ninety-seventh Illinois, of Smith's division, McCler-
nand ordered an assault, when the troops dashed forward under a dreadful
fire, Burbridge's brigade, two regiments of Landrum's, and the One Hun-
dred and Twentieth Ohio, bearing the brunt. The Confederates saw that all
was lost, and raised a white flag just as the One Hundred and Twentieth
Ohio, followed by the Eighty-third Ohio and Sixteenth Indiana, under Bur-
bridge, were pouring over the intrenchments on the east, while the troops
of Sherman and Steele, which had stormed the works farther to the north

582

POSTS ON RED RIVER CAPTURED.

and west, were also swarming over the works. General Burbridge had the
honor of planting the standard of the Republic on the fort, which General
Smith had placed in his hands in acknowledgment of his bravery. The gar-
rison flag was captured by Captain Ennes, one of General Smith's aids. So
ended THE BATTLE OF ARKANSAS POST, in which the army and navy won
equal renown. 1

After dismantling and blowing up Fort Hindman, burning a hundred
wagons and other property that he could not take away, embarking his pris-
oners for St. Louis, and sending an expedition in light-draft steamers, under

General Gorman and Lieutenant Commanding J. G. Walker," up
1862 13 ' the Wllite River to capture Des Arc and Duval's Bluff, 2 McCler-

nand, by order of General Grant, withdrew with his troops and
the fleet to Napoleon, on the Mississippi, at the mouth of the Arkansas
River. Grant had come down the river from Memphis in a swift steamer,
and at Napoleon he and the other military commanders, with Admiral Por-
ter, made arrangements for the prosecution of the campaign against
Vicksburg.

1 See Reports of General McClernand and his subordinates; Admiral Porter, and General Churchill.
McClernand reported his loss at 977, of whom 129 were killed, 831 wounded, and 17 missing. The fleet lost
three killed and twenty-six wounded. Churchill reported his loss at not exceeding 60 killed and 80 wounded,
but McClernand saw evidences of a much greater number hurt. The spoils of victory were about 5,000 prison-
ers, 17 cannon, 8,000 email arms, and a large quantity of ordnance and commissary stores.

8 The expedition was successful. Both places were captured without much trouble. Des Arc was quite
a thriving commercial town on the White River, in Prairie County, Arkansas, about fifty miles northeast of
Little Rock. Duval's Bluff was the station of a Confederate camp and an earth-work, on an elevated position,
a little below Duval's Bluff. With some prisoners and a few guns, this expedition joined the main forces at
Napoleon on the 19th. A post at the little village of St. Charles, just above Port Hindwan, was captured at
about the same time.

GRANT'S ARMY REORGANIZED.

581

22)

CHAPTER XXII.

THE SIEGE OF VICKSBUBG.

ICKSBURG MUST BE TAKEN," was the fiat
of General Grant, in obedience to the will of
the loyal people, and he made instant prepara-
tions for the great work on his return to Mem-
phis from the conference at Napoleon. The
Government was fully alive to the importance
and difficulties of the undertaking, and had
sent him re-enforcements for the purpose. He
had already adopted an important measure for the promotion of the effici-
ency of his army, by organizing it into four corps, known as the
Thirteenth, Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Army Corps. 1
By this arrangement the Commander-in-chief was relieved of
much official drudgery, and the generals under him commanding corps had
a wider field in which to display their own powers.

General Grant was fully sensible of the importance of the acts of Con-
gress, and the proclamation of the President authorizing the enlistment and
use of colored troops ; and being a soldier and not a politician, and a manly
citizen, who loved justice more than popularity, heartily approved of those
measures, and, in orders, said : " It is expected that all commanders will
especially exert themselves in carrying out the policy of the administration,
not only in organizing colored troops, and rendering them efficient, but also
in removing prejudices against them." "As the servant of a great Repub-
lic," says an accomplished writer on military affairs, " he left to the Depart-
ments of the Government their specific duties, while he performed his own." 2
It was evident that a direct assault upon the defenses of Yicksburg by
the army and navy would result in failure, and Grant determined to move
upon them in reverse or rear. How to get a base for such operations was a

1 By a General Order issued on the 22d of December, 1S62, in which the new organization was announced,
the command of the Thirteenth Corps was assigned to Major-General John A. McClernand. It was composed
of the Ninth Division, General G. W.Morgan; Tenth Division. General A. J. Smith, and "all other troops
operating on the Mississippi River below Memphis, not included in the Fifteenth Army Corps." The command
of the Fifteenth Corps was assigned to Major-General W. T. Sherman. It was composed of the Fifth Division,
General Morgan L. Smith; the division from Helena, Arkansas, General F. Steele, and the forces in the "Dis-
trict of Memphis." The command of the Sixteenth Corps was assigned to Major-General S. A. Hurlbnt. It
was composed of the Sixth Division, General J. McArthnr; the Seventh Division, General I. F. Quimby;
Eighth Division, General L. F. Ross ; Second Brigade of Cavalry, A. L. Lee ; and the troops in the "District of
Columbus," commanded by General Davies, and those in the "District of Jackson," under General Sullivan.
The command of the Seventeenth Corps was assigned to Major-General J. B. McPherson. It was composed of
the First Division, General J. W. Denver; Third Division, General John A. Logan; Fourth Division, General
J. G. Lauman ; First Brigade of Cavalry, Colonel B. H. Grierson ; and the forces in the " District of Corinth,"
commanded by General G. M. Dodge.

3 Grant and his Campaigns, by Henry Copp6e, page 152.

584

PEOJECTED CANAL NEAR YICKSBURG.

vital question, and his attention was turned alternately to the Canal that
General Williams attempted to cut, 1 Milliken's Bend, Lake Providence, the
Yazoo Pass, and Steele's Bayou. All of these routes were tried, as we shall
observe, before in another way he achieved the desired end.

It was determined first to complete Williams's canal across the peninsula
opposite Yicksburg, which was traversed by the Shreveport and Yicksburg

railroad the great highway over which large
quantities of supplies for the Confederates were
transported from Western Louisiana. That cut-
off was five or six miles from Vicksburg. By it,
when completed, that city would be isolated, and
through it troops and supplies might be safely
transported out of reach of the Yicksburg batte-
ries to a new base of supplies below that town.
It also seemed probable that it would make a
new channel for the Mississippi, and leave Yicks-
burg on the borders of a bayou only.

For the prosecution of this work McClernand,
by order of Grant, moved with his army down
the Mississippi on the day after the
conference at Napoleon." In conse-
quence of detention by a storm, it did
not reach its destination at Young's Point, on the
right bank of the river, nearly opposite the mouth

of the Yazoo, until late on the 21st. On the following day the troops
landed, and took post a little farther down the river, so as to protect the

>Jan. 9,
1863.

PENINSULA OPPOSITE VICKSBrEO.

VIEW SHOWING THE BITE OF THB CANAL. 8

line of the canal. There also Porter's fleet, strengthened by the addition of
several armored vessels, such as the Chillicothe, Indlanola, Lafayette, East-

1 See page 527.

1 This is a view of the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, and the site of the canal, from a sketch by the author,
taken from "Battery Castle," in the southern portion of the city, looking southwest In making this sketch
the writer stood upon the top of a mound in "Battery Castle," in which was mounted a 32-pounder rifled can-
non, known as " Whistling Dick." It had belonged to the Confederates, and from the hill near the marine hospital
it had been one of the most destructive enemies of the National gun-boats during the siege. The Confederates
gave it the significant name. Its projectile was a short pointed solid shot, whose straight lines would form

FAILURE OF THE CANAL PROJECT. 585

port, and other gun-boats rendezvoused, and immense power was immedi-
ately brought to bear on the cutting of the canal, and other operations of a
vigorous siege.

General Grant, as we have observed, hastened back to Memphis after the
conference at Napoleon, and immediately commenced moving his troops,
which had been gathered there after the disaster at Holly Springs, down the
Mississippi, to assist in the siege of Vicksburg. These troops had been
pushed to Memphis from Grand Junction as rapidly as possible, and were
now reorganized and in readiness for other work. All these veterans of the

Army of the Tennessee, excepting detachments left to hold posts in that
State, and the divisions of Logan, were there, and with ample provisions
and other supplies, they were now borne swiftly, on more than a hundred
transports, upon the rapid current of the
rising Mississippi, and were before Vicks-
burg at the beginning of February. Grant
himself arrived at Young's Point
on the 2d," and assumed command
in person. Already the work on the canal
(which was only a mile in length) had been
vigorously prosecuted by the soldiers with
their picks and shovels, and by the powerful THE

dredsre .Samson, with its immense and never-

O t

tiring iron scoop. The earth was cast up on the western side of the canal,
on which the troops were encamped, to form a levee for protection against
overflow in that direction. Day after day the great ditch grew deeper and
longer, and day after day the waters of the Mississippi arose higher and
higher, until their surface was full eight feet above the bottom of the canal.
The river threatened a destructive overflow, and its menaces were met by
piling up a great bulkhead at the upper end of the ditch. But the river was
too powerful for puny man. On the 8th of March it broke through the bar-
rier, drove the workmen to the levee, filled the ditch, submerged thousands
of implements of labor, and flooded the camps. The river refused to make
this canal its main channel, or more than a bayou, nearly dry at low water,
and it was evident to the Commander-in-Chief that the canal project was a
failure.

In the mean time General Grant had employed others of his now redun-

altnost a right-angled triangle. In the picture the Mississippi is seen sweeping sharply around the peninsula,
and approaching itself within a mile where the canal was cut. The canal is indicated by the broad white line
beyond the trees on the peninsula. Its terminus below the city was at a point hidden by the tree near the
house on the left of the picture. There was a little hamlet on the peninsula, at the terminus of the railway
opposite Vicksburg, called De Soto. The river was full, and the peninsula was partially submerged when tho
sketch was made.

The fortification from which this view was taken was named " Battery Castle," because it was on the site
of u fine castellated building, tho property and residence of Armistead Burwell, a leading lawyer of Vicksburg,
who, on account of his stanch patriotism in adhering to his Government, was driven from his house by the
traitors of Mississippi. He remained an exile at St. Louis until after the capture of the city by the Nationals.
After that event, and when Grant had a new line of fortifications constructed for the defense of the post, Mr.
Burwell's house was demolished to make room for a battery. The writer met this unselfish loyalist at the head-
quarters of General T. J. Wood, in April, 1S66. and was deeply impressed by the purity and zeal of his devotion
to his country. Notwithstanding he had been ruined pecuniarily by tho war, he refused to apply to the Gov-
ernment for compensation for the loss of his mansion taken for the public use. When the writer remarked that
it would be clearly a rightful claim, he replied: "No, it will only lead the way to a host of dishonest claims
npon my Government, and I will not ask it." The Government should seek to reimburse such men for their
losses, without waiting for them to submit claims.

586 ANOTHER YAZOO EXPEDITION".

dant troops in preparing another way to reach the vitals of the Vicksburg
defenses. It was by cutting a channel from the western shore of the Missis-
sippi, forty or fifty miles above Vicksburg, across a narrow neck of land into
Lake Providence, from which there was a continuous water communication
to the great river, far below the city to be assailed, through bayous Baxter
and Macon, and the Tensas River, as also into the "Washita and Red rivers.
This would be a long and tedious way by which to reach the Mississippi,
and the chief object to be gained in opening it was the establishment of a
communication with General Banks, in command of the Department of the
Gulf, to whom had been assigned the duty of reducing Port Hudson, below.
Another side cut was attempted from Milliken's Bend into bayous that con-
nected with the eastern branch of the Tensas, and so through other bayous
with the Mississippi, near New Carthage. At the same time other troops
were employed in the more promising labor of opening a way for light-draft
gun-boats and transports with troops from the Mississippi, near Milliken's
Bend, through Moon Lake into Yazoo Pass, the Cold Water and Talla-
hatchee rivers, and so into the Yazoo, or River of Death,' which is formed
by the Tallahatchee and Yallobusha rivers. CJrant hoped to have his troops
reach the Yazoo safely, and make another attempt, in connection with the
gun-boats, to carry Haines's Bluff and press on to Vicksburg, as Sherman
hal desired to do. It was reported that the Confederates were building gun-
boats and transports on those two chief affluents of the Yazoo, and the
destruction of these was an important object of the proposed expedition.

About five thousand men were assigned to the Yazoo expedition. It was
led by General L. F. Ross, with a division of McClernand's corps, and the
Twelfth and Seventeenth Missouri, of Sherman's corps ; and with it went
the large gun-boats Chillicotke and De Kalb, five smaller ones, and nearly
twenty transports, under the control of Lieutenant Watson Smith. These
vessels passed out of the Mississippi on a swift current, through a broad cut
in the levee, at the mouth of the tortuous bayou leading to Moon Lake, and
a fearful voyage they had until the power of the redundant waters was modi-
fied by diffusion over the swamps. They swept among lofty and overhang-
ing forest-trees, that demolished smoke-stacks and nearly all besides above
the decks ; and everywhere fallen and submerged trees, and sharp and diffi-
cult turns in the channel, were encountered. Three days were consumed in
making their way twelve miles to the Cold Water, and they were constantly
exposed to Confederate sharp-shooters .on the shores. While rudders and
wheels were badly wounded, the vessels were not seriously injured.

At the mouth of the Cold Water two mortar-boats joined the expedi-
tion," and the whole flotilla moved cautiously down the Talla-
al is63 h 2 ' na tchee, when, just as it approached a sharp bend in the stream,
near the little village of Greenwood, ten miles from its conflu-

O '

ence with the Yallobusha, it encountered* a strong fortification called Fort

Pemberton, in command of Major-General W. W. Loring. Near

' M i868 n> ^ a ra ^' w ^ a sun ^ en steamboat, had been placed to obstruct

the Tallahatchee. The fort consisted of a line of breast-works

thrown across the narrow neck a mile in width, where the two rivers approach

1 Tazoo Is the Choctaw word for River of Death. This stream was so named by the Indians, because of the
fetal malarious fevers that brooded along its borders.

FAILURE OF THE SECOND YAZOO EXPEDITION.

587

A BOW GUN.

each other within that distance two or three miles above their junction. Its
best guns were placed so as to sweep the Tallahatchee. In front of it was a
slough that formed an excellent substitute for a ditch, and near the rivers it
was flanked by low, oozy earth. It was a formidable barrier to the further
progress of the expedition. The Chillicothe, heavily mailed, attempted to
run by, but was made to recoil by a blow from a 32-pound shell, when she
backed around the
point at the sharp bend
in the stream, and
opened upon the fort
with a heavy bow gun.
After fighting for an
hour in this half-shel-
tered position, she
withdrew, when the
De Kalb came forward,
fought two hours, and
in turn gave up the
contest.

On the following
day Gene-
ral TCn<5<5 "March 12,

itoss, 1863
under cov-
er of a forest, erected a land battery in front of the Confederate works,
and at ten o'clock on the moniing of the 13th, its guns and those of both
war-vessels opened simultaneously upon Fort Pemberton. The attack
was kept up during the day, with considerable damage to the fort, but this
was repaired that night, and the fire of the Nationals the next morning was
returned with great spirit. After a short time the struggle ceased, and was
not renewed until the morning of the 16th, when the gun-boats opened fire
on the fort. The Chillicothe was soon hulled by an 18-pound Whit worth
shot, which entered one of her port-holes, and struck and exploded a shell,
by which three of her men were killed and fourteen were wounded. The
Chillicothe then withdrew, but the De Kalb and the land batteries kept up
the contest until sunset.

Ross was now satisfied that the fort could not be taken with the force at
his command, and he retreated by the route he came. On the way he was
met by General Quinby,* of McPherson's corps, with some troops,
who ranked Ross, and took command. He returned to the front
of Fort Pemberton, and was about to assail it, when he received ' March 23 -
orders' to return to the Mississippi.

There was still another effort made at this time to gain a footing in the
rear of Vicksburg. Admiral Porter, whose zeal, energy, and skill in thrid-
ding the creeks and bayous of that strange region with his gun-boats were
most remarkable, had thoroughly reconnoitered Steele's bayou from Swan
Lake to the Yazoo. He was informed by the negroes that there was a chan-
nel to be found at that high-water period leading from the bayou into the
Sunflower Creek, and so into the Yazoo, between Haines's Bluff and Yazoo
City, of sufficient depth for the lighter iron-clads. At the latter place

588

THIRD YAZOO EXPEDITION.

" Commodore " Lynch, of Elizabeth City fame, 1 had a ship-yard, where he
completed the Arkansas ; and there, and in the Yallobusha, between Green-
wood and Grenada, were moored for safety about thirty steamers and other
vessels, which escaped from New Orleans when Farragut approached that
city the year before. The destruction of these, and a lodgment behind
Vicksburg, were advantages to be gained by a successful movement to the
Yazoo, and Grant determined to attempt it. He accompanied Porter in
person up Steele's Bayou in the ram Price, preceded by several
" M fo r l h 15 ' armored gun-boats, and, turning into the Black Fork, that led to

1868. ' ' '

Deer Creek and the Sunflower through the Rolling Fork, found
it greatly obstructed by the overhanging and interlacing boughs, and the
fallen trunks of trees.

Porter's boats were now in a perilous position, for the Confederates,
apprised of the expedition and its progress, were gathering in strength in
that direction, to capture or destroy the fleet. Grant hastened back to
Young's Point, and ordered a pioneer force and a division of Sherman's

corps to ,push across Eagle Bend to
Steele's Bayou (there only a mile from
the Mississippi), to the relief of Porter,
and to assist in the labors of the expe-
dition.

While these were slowly progress-
ing against great difficulties, the Con-
federates, advised of the movement,
were making ample preparations for
the reception of the fleet in the Yazoo.
The expedition was withdrawn just as
the difficulties of the passage were over-
come, for General Grant had planned
new schemes for accomplishing his great
object. A record in detail of the naval
and military operations in the Yazoo
region, during a part of the winter and
early spring of 1863, would fill a volume
with narratives more wonderful than
romance affords.

While these events were occurring
among the network of bayous in that
region, there were some stirring scenes
on the Mississippi. It was known that
Confederate transports were in the river
below Vicksburg, supplying the troops
at that place and at Port Hudson with
necessaries, and it was determined to
destroy them. The ram Queen, of the West, commanded by Colonel C. L.
Ellet, was prepared to run by the batteries at Vicksburg. She was
armed with a 30-pounder Parrott as a bow gun on her main deck, and

TUB TAZOO KEfllON.

See page 176.

ADVENTURES OF COLONEL ELLET. 589

one 20-pounder and three 12-pounder brass cannon on her gun-deck.
She was manned by a good crew, well armed, and was accompanied by
a squad of soldiers ; and her machinery was protected by three hundred
bales of cotton. Thus prepared, she went down the river before dawn on
the morning of the 2d of February (the day Grant arrived at Young's Point),
first to attack and destroy the steamer City of Vicksburg, that lay under
the guns of the batteries at the city, and then to push farther down the river.
After receiving a terrible cannonade while attacking the steamer, she passed
on down, and just below Natchez destroyed three others. She ran a few
miles up Red River, and, returning, repassed the Vicksburg batteries.

On the 10th of February" she was started on another raid down the river,
to capture Confederate transports, pass the Port Hudson bat-
teries, if possible, and effect a junction with the fleet of Farragut
below that point. Accompanied by the gun-boat J)e Soto and a coal-barge,
she again ran by \ r icksburg, went up the Red River to the Atchafalaya, and,
entering that stream, captured* a train of army-wagons ; and at
Simmsport, a little farther on, a quantity of stores. Returning
to the Red River, she went up that stream also, and, a little above the mouth
of the Black River, captured the small steamer Era, laden with corn and
other supplies, and bearing a few Texan soldiers. These were paroled, and
the Era was left in charge of a guard.

T^^Q- Queen of the West pushed on about twenty miles farther, toward a
battery on the river called Fort Taylor, making the captured pilot of the Era
ply his vocation on the ram. When turning a point near the fort the fellow
ran her aground, when the Confederate guns opened upon her so severely
and accurately that she was soon utterly disabled, and Ellet and his crew
were compelled to leave her as a prize and retreat on floating bales of cotton.
The De Soto, lying just below, picked them up. Going down the river, that
vessel was also run into the bank by the treacherous pilot, and lost her
rudder, when she and the coal-barge were scuttled and sunk.

The Era was now Ellet's last refuge. Throwing her corn overboard, she
was made to go down the stream as rapidly and lightly as possible, the rebel
pilot, strange to say,
still at the helm, when
he ran her ashore just
after reaching the Mis-
sissippi. Four armed
boats were then in
close chase, the leader
being the powerful
iron-clad ram Webb.

THE INDIANOLA. 1

which had been lying

at Alexandria, about sixty miles up the Red River. After much exertion the
Era was loosed, and went slowly up the river, when she met the powerful
iron-clad Indianola, just above Elles's Cliffs, 9 coming down in a fog. When

1 The Indianola was a new vessel, seventy-four feet in length, fifty feet beam, and every way one of the
finest in Porter's fleet. She was heavily armored all round, excepting some temporary rooms on deck. She was
pro elled by seven engines, and was armed with 9 and 11-inch Dahlgren guns.

2 See page 527.

590 THE " INDIANOLA." SUCCESSFUL TRICK.

the mist dispersed the Webb in chase was in sight. She turned and fled, and
was pursued a short distance, when the chase was relinquished, and the Era
went safely up to a point below Vicksburg, notwithstanding she was fired
at from Confederate batteries at Grand Gulf.

The appearance of the Indianola (Lieutenant-commanding Brown) was
very opportune. She had left her anchorage at the mouth of the Yazoo on
the night of the 13th of February, and silently drifted by Vicksburg undis-
covered, until she had nearly passed the lower batteries. These opened upon
her, but without serious effect, and were followed by others quite as harm-
less. She rescued Ellet, as we have seen, and then went on down the Mis-
sissippi, expecting to sweep it of all Confederate craft. She blockaded the
mouth of the Red River a few days, and then turned her prow up the Mis-
sissippi, intending to go up the Big Black River, if possible, as far as the
bridge of the Vicksburg and Jackson railway, which was one of the objects
of her voyage. When, at half-past nine o'clock in the evening of
the 24th," she was nearly abreast of Grand Gulf, she was sud-
denly assailed by the ram Webb, the captured Queen of the West, which the
Confederates had repaired, and two smaller gun-boats, which, without the
knowledge of Lieutenant Brown, had gone up the Mississippi. The attack
was so furious and skillful that the Indianola was soon disabled. Seven
times the ram had struck her, and at last stove in her stern. Finding her in
a sinking condition, her commander surrendered her, and she was immedi-
ately run ashore. And now the Confederates had nothing to fear on the
Mississippi between Vicksburg and New Orleans, for at that time (near the
close of February) Farragut and his fleet were on the Gulf coast.

The Confederates immediately began to repair the Indianola, with the
expectation of holding sway with her and their other craft over the Missis-
sippi, between Vicksburg and Port Hudson at least, when, by a trick fatal to
their schemes, their hopes were blasted. Porter fitted up a worthless flat-
boat in imitation of a ram, with smoke-stacks made of pork-barrels, and set
it afloat one night on the current of the river, without a man on board. It
was believed by the Confederates, when they discovered it, to be a most
terrible iron-clad monster, and as it passed sullenly by in the darkness it drew
a tremendous fire from the Vicksburg batteries. On it went, appearing more
terrible as it seemed to defy shot and shell. "Word was hastily sent to the
Queen of the West, at "Warrenton, to beware of the impending danger,
whereupon she fled for her life. Orders were also sent for the Indianola to
be instantly destroyed, to prevent her being captured by the awful ram.
The ti'ick was soon discovered, and other orders were sent to save the Indi-
anola ; but it was too late. Lighted gunpowder had blown her into frag-
ments, and her cannon had gone to the bottom of the great river.

When General Grant withdrew his forces from the bayous he determined
to send troops down the west side of the Mississippi by land, and make a
lodgment at New Carthage, the first point below Vicksburg that could be
reached in that way while the river was so full. General McClernand, with
the Thirteenth Army Corps, moved in that direction on the 29th of March,
and the Fifteenth and Seventeenth Corps were ordered to follow him as
speedily as supplies of food and ordnance stores could be afforded them.
The roads were heavy and the movements slow, and when the head of

PASSAGE OF THE VICKSBURG BATTERIES. 591

McClernand's column reached a point only two miles from Carthage, it was
found that breaches in the Bayou Vidal had caused that town and its neigh-
borhood to be made an island, by the submerging of the country around it.
The army was compelled to make a circuitous march of twelve miles further,
around Bayou Vidal, and so the work was accomplished after overcoming
great difficulties.

In the mean time measures had been in preparation for another and more
daring experiment. It was no less than the passage of Porter's fleet, with
transports and barges, by the heavy batteries at Vicksburg. The object was
to afford means for carrying the troops across the Mississippi from Carthage,
and to have gun-boats to cover the movement and the landing. Porter was
ready for the attempt on the 16th of April. The gun-boats selected for the
purpose were the Benton, Captain Green ; Lafayette, Captain Walke ; Price,
Captain Wood worth; Louisville, Commander Owen ; Carondelet, Lieutenant
Murphy ; Pittshurg, Lieutenant Hoel ; Tascumbia, Lieutenant Shirk ; and
Mound City, Lieutenant Wilson. All of these were iron-clad excepting the
Price. They wei-e laden with supplies for the army below, and were well
fortified against missiles from the batteries by various overlayings, such as
iron chains, timbers, and bales of cotton and hay. The transports chosen for
the ordeal were the Forest Queen, Henry Clay, and Silver Wave. These, too,
were laden with supplies for the army, with their machinery protected by
baled hay and cotton. It was arranged for the iron-clads to pass down after
dark in single file, a few hundred yards apart, each engaging the batteries
as it passed, so that the transports might go by under cover of the smoke.

At dark of the 16th* every thing was ready for the perilous enterprise.
Silently the armored vessels moved down the river, the Benton
leading, followed by the Lafayette, with the gun-boat Price and a
coal-barge in tow, and the other vessels in the prescribed order. All was
silent and dark at Vicksburg, until, at nearly eleven o'clock, the ten vessels
were abreast the city and its defenses, when suddenly the heights seemed all
ablaze with lightning and the air fearfully resonant with thunder, as the
batteries opened on the fleet. Their fire was returned with spirit, and
under cover of the curtain of smoke the transports hastened down the river.
The Silver Wave passed tmhiirt ; the Forest Queen was so badly wounded
that she had to be towed, and the Henry Clay was set on fire, and, being
deserted by her people, went flaming and roaring down the river until she
was burned to the water's edge and sunk. Of all the men who passed down
with the fleet only one was killed and two were wounded. They were on
the Benton. The affair was eminently successful, and Grant at once ordered
six more transports, 1 similarly prepared, to run by the batteries. They did
so on the night of the 22d of April, with the loss of only one of them (the
Tigress), which was struck below water-mark, and sunk on the Louisiana
shore, some distance below. The others were injured, but were soon made
ready for use again.

Grant now prepared for vigorous operations against Vicksburg from the
line of the Big Black, on its left flank and rear Awaiting this movement,
let us see what was occurring in the Department 01 the Gulf, under the com-

1 These were the Tigress, Anglo-Saxon, Cheeseman, Empire City, fforisona, and Moderator.

592 BANKS'S EXPEDITION.

mand of General Banks, having reference to and bearing upon the grand
object of opening the Mississippi and severing the Confederacy.

General Banks, as we have observed, 1 assumed command of the Depart-
ment of the Gulf on the 16th of December. He found the disloyal inhabit-
ants restive under the restraints imposed by General Butler, and tried the
policy of conciliation. It was not received in the gentle and honorable spirit
with which it was given, and arrogance, defiance, open contempt for the
National power, and revived hopes of the speedy expulsion of the " Yankees "
from New Orleans, were soon the visible results. His mild policy was a
failure, and he was compelled to use the strong arm, as his predecessor had
done. 2

The destination and special object of an expedition under General Banks,
fitted out in the north during the autumn of 1862, was the subject of much
speculation. Banks succeeded better than most others in keeping that des-
tination a secret, and the curiosity of the public mind was about as much
satisfied by inquiries, as was that of one of the General's staff officers, who,
anxious to know where they were going, adroitly inquired, " Shall I take
thick or thin clothing with me, General ?" Banks more adroitly answered,
" You had better take both." By the time the expedition sailed it was gene-
rally believed that Texas was its destination. General Andrew J. Hamilton,
the newly appointed Provisional Governor of Texas, was in New Orleans,
anxiously awaiting its arrival, with that expectation ; and the loyal people
of Texas were stretching forth their hands toward the Government in piteous
petitions for relief from one of the most terrible despotisms the world had
ever experienced.

When Banks arrived in New Orleans, he found there, as we have
observed, seventeen thousand five hundred well-disciplined men, whom his
predecessor turned over to him. These, with the troops that accompanied
him, made an army at his command of about thirty thousand men, with the
designation of the Nineteenth Army Corps. With these he was expected to
co-operate with Grant in opening the Mississippi, and in taking possession of
the Red River region, and expelling the Confederates from Louisiana, with a
view to the speedy restoration of the National authority in Texas. The
task before him, as we shall observe, was much greater than was anticipated,
and for a long time afterward Texas remained bound in chains. Even the
important positions of Sabine Pass and Galveston, which the Government
had "repossessed," were wrested from it within a month after Banks' s arrival.
Let us see how it happened.

We have observed how Galveston was surrendered to Commodore Ren-
shaw without resistance, 3 when the civil and military authorities retired to
the main land. To make the possession of the city and island 4 more secure,

1 See page 580.

2 ' These Southern people," remarked an English writer who went to New Orleans with General Banks,
" with their oriental civilization and institutions, cherish something of the eastern impression, that kindness ami
conciliation imply weakness, originating in a fear of inflicting punishment. They hated Butler, and feared him;
now the more foolish sort hope for a certain amount of impunity to the treason yet latent among thorn."

8 See page 638.

4 The City of Galveston is at the northeastern end of Galveston Island, an extensive sand-spit near the
entrance to Galveston Bay, into which empty the rivers San Jacinto and Trinity. The island, at the time we
are eonsiderinsr, was connected with the innin land by a wooden bridge about two miles in U-nirth. Its hnrbor
is one of the few on that cheerless coast of the Gulf of Mexico that may fairly cUiui the dignity of that title.

THE NATIONAL FORCES AT GALVESTON. 593

General Banks, at the request of Renshaw, sent thither from New Orleans
the Forty-second Massachusetts, Colonel Burrill. Three companies (two
hundred and sixty men) of that regiment arrived there at near the close of
December, and were landed" and encamped on the wharf. In
front of the town lay the gun-boats Westfield, Clifton, Harriet ^j^ 28 "
Lane, Otcasco, Coryphaeus, and Sachem, under the command of
Commodore Renshaw, whose relations with the Confederate leaders were so
cordial that he enjoyed perfect quiet.

General John B. McGruder had been sent to Texas from Virginia, and
was then in chief command in that Department. He had so high an opinion
of Renshaw's courtesy and conciliatory spirit, that he went from Houston to
Virginia Point, opposite Galveston, and passed over one night with eighty
men, and inspected the defenses of the city He found the long wooden
bridge connecting that island with the mainland in good order and unpro-
tected, and in view of other evidences of a feeling of perfect security, he
was satisfied that he might make an easy conquest of the city with a few
troops. But could he hold it ? Probably not ; so he took four steamboats
from the adjacent rivers, put guns on them, and fortified them with cotton-
bales. At the same time he collected all the available Confederate troops,
volunteers, and arms, in his power, and with this land and naval force, such
as it was, he proceeded .to attack the National land and naval force at Gal-
veston before dawn on the morning of the first of January, 1863.

The secessionists of Galveston were in such high spirits on the previous
day, and there were so many enigmatical assurances of a speedy change of
affairs there, that it was easy to perceive that mischief for the National
forces was impending. Renshaw, who was in command of these forces on
land and water, was warned that an attack was contemplated, yet no extra-
ordinary preparations for resistance were made. Under his direction the
handful of Massachusetts troops had been encamped on the wharf, their
only protection from an assault from the city being an open space of water,
made by taking up the wharf planks, and a barricade formed of them.

At about midnight, while the moon was shining brightly, Magruder
crossed the long bridge on a train of cars, with his troops and field-pieces,
and, proceeding to within two squares of the camp of the Massachusetts sol-
diers, planted his artillery there so as to bear upon Renshaw's squadron.
In the mean time the armed Confederate steamers were seen in the bay,
approaching. These were tardy, and Magruder became nervous, for he was
anxious to attack before daylight. The moon went down at four o'clock,
and, under cover of the darkness, a storming party five hundred strong and
a battalion of sharp-shooters attacked the Massachusetts troops. At the
same time Magruder's cannon opened on the gun-boats. The storming party
were repulsed and the assailing field-pieces were silenced, and all appeared
to be going well for the Nationals, when the Confederate steamers came up,
amply manned by a portion of Sibley's brigade, who, we have seen, were
driven out of New Mexico. 1 Two of the steamers (Bayou City and Nep-
tune) fell at once upon the Harriet Lane, Captain Wainwright, sweeping
her decks with a murderous fire of small arms. She gave the Neptune a

1 See page 1S&.

VOL. II. 38

594 CAPTURE OF GALVESTON.

blow in return, which sent her to the bottom of the harbor. The only can-
non on the Bayou City (a 68-pounder) had bursted, and it seemed as if she,
too, must speedily succumb, when, by a quick maneuver, she ran her bow
into the wheel of the Harriet Lane, held her fast, careened her so that she
could not bring her guns to bear, and allowed Sibley's soldiers to swarm over
on her deck. A brief resistance by an inferior force followed, and when
Captain Wainwright was killed, and Lieutenant-commanding Lee was mor-
tally wounded, she was captured. The Owasco, coming up to her assistance,
was kept at bay by the sharp-shooters and the fear of the Lane's captured
cannon, now in the custody of the Confederates, and she withdrew to a safe
distance.

Meanwhile the West field ^ Renshaw's flag-ship, which went out to meet
the Confederate steamers in Bolivar Channel, had run hard aground at high
tide, and signaled for assistance, when the Clifton hastened to her relief.
During the absence of the latter the attack began. Observing this, Ren-
shaw ordered her back. She opened upon Fort Point batteries, and drove
the Confederates up the beach ; and at about sunrise a flag of truce came to
her commander, Lieutenant Law, with a demand for a surrender of the fleet.
Law refused, and time was given to communicate with Renshaw, on the
Westfield. He, too, rejected the proposal, ordered the National vessels and
troops to escape, and, as he could not get his own ship off, he resolved to
blow it up, and with officers and crew escape to two of the transports. The
firing of the magazine was done prematurely by a drunkard, it was said,
and Commodore Renshaw, Lieutenant Zimmerman, Engineer Green, and
about a dozen of the crew, perished by the explosion. Nearly as many
officers and men were killed in the Commodore's gig, lying by the side of
the Westfield.

In the mean time, while flags of truce were flying on the vessels and on
shore, the Massachusetts troops, with artillery (which they had not) bearing
upon them, were treacherously summoned to surrender by General R.
Scurry. 1 Resistance would have been vain, and they complied, 2 satisfied
that when the Harriet Lane should be relieved from contact with the
Bayou City, she would be too much for the Clifton or the Owasco. Law
fled in the latter, with the remains of the fleet, to New Orleans. Before the
Harriet Lane could be repaired and got out to sea as a Confederate pirate
shij), Farragnt sent a competent force to re-establish the blockade of Galves-
ton, and Magruder's victory was made almost a barren one. 3 Just as that
blockade was re-established under Commodore Bell, with the Brooklyn as

1 Richardson Scurry was a native of Tennessee, and was a representative in Congress from Texas from
1851 to 1858.

5 Report of Captains .Tamos 9. Palmer and Melancthon Smith, and Lieutenant-commanding L. A. Kim-
berly (who composed a court of inquiry appointed by Admiral Farragut), dated January 12, 1863. The Confed-
erates acknowledged the bad faith on their part. An eye-witness, in a communication in the Houston
Telegraph. January 6, 1S68, declared that the flag of truce was only a trick of the Confederates to gain time. It
was evident, he said, that if the Harriet Lane could not be speedily disengaged, the Nationals would escape,
and the flag was to make a delay. " A truce of three hours was agreed upon," said the writer. " During the
truce with the vessels, the unconditional surrender of the Massachusetts troops was demanded and complied
with." Magruder, in his official report, declared that Renshaw had "agreed to surrender." If that be true,
the conviction is forced upon us that Renshaw was it traitor, and was acting in concert with Magruder.

3 Mngruder's spoils were only the Harriet Lnnt, and her property, the 260 officers and men of the Forty-
second Massachusetts, and about 120 on board of the Harriet Lane, made prisoners. His loss he reported at 26
killed und 117 wounded, and the steamer Neptune.

INTEKIOR OF LOUISIANA. 595

his flag-ship, a strange sail appeared in the distance," when the gun-boat
Hatteras was sent to make her acquaintance. At first the stranger
moved off slowly, and Lieutenant Blake, commanding the Hat- "^^
teras, gave chase and prepared for action. He overtook the
tardy and even waiting fugitive, and on hailing her was informed that she
was the British ship Vixen. Blake was about to send a boat aboard, when
the craft was revealed as the pirate ship Alabama. A ,hot fight ensued,
which ended in the destruction of the Hatteras. Her heaviest guns were
32's, while the Alabama had a 150-pounder on a pivot, and a 68-pounder.
There was a vast disparity in their power. The Hatteras was sunk, but her
crew were saved, and the Alabama went into the friendly British port of
Kingston, Jamaica, for repairs.

Ten days later two National gun-boats (Morning Light and Velocity],
blockading the Sabine Pass, were attacked by two Confederate steamers
(John Bell and Uncle JBen) that came down the Sabine. They were driven
out to sea and captured, with guns, prisoners, and a large amount of stores.
And so when Grant was beginning the siege of Vicksburg in earnest, not a
rood of Texas soil was " repossessed " by the National authority.

General Banks began offensive operations immediately after his arrival.
On the 18th of December he sent General Cuvier Grover with ten thousand
men to reoccupy Baton Rouge, preparatory to an advance on Port Hudson.
This was done without serious opposition, but the advance was delayed,
because the Confederate force there was stronger than any Banks could then
march against it. So he turned his attention to the rich sugar and cotton
districts of Louisiana west of the Mississippi, for the purpose of weakening
or destroying the Confederate forces there, for they might give him much
trouble on his flank and rear, and seriously menace New Orleans. Already
National troops had overrun a portion of the territory between the railway
from New Orleans to Brashear City, and the Gulf, but between that road
and the Red River National troops had not penetrated, excepting in La
Fourche district, 1 : nd the inhabitants were mostly disloyal.

The country in which Banks proposed to operate is a remarkable one.
It is composed of large and fertile plantations, extensive forests, sluggish
lagoons and bayous, passable and impassable swamps, made dark with
umbrageous cypress-trees draped with Spanish moss and festooned with
interlacing vines, the earth matted and miry, and the waters abounding in
alligators. At that season the country was almost half submerged by the
superabundant waters of the Mississippi and its tributaries, and the great
bayous. A single railway (New Orleans, Opelousas, and Great Western
railroad) then penetrated that region, extending from New Orleans to
Brashear City, on the Atchafalaya, a distance of eighty miles, at which
point the waters of the great Bayou Teche meet those of the Atchafalaya,
and others that flow through the region between there and the Red River.
The latter gather in Chestimachee or Grand Lake, and find a common out-
let into the Gulf of Mexico at Atchafalaya Bay.

These waters formed a curious mixture of lake, bayou, canal, and river
at Brashear City, and presented many difficulties for an invading army.

See page 530.

596

EXPEDITION TO THE TECHE REGION.

These difficulties were enhanced by obstructions placed in the stream?, and
fortifications at important points. Near Pattersonville, on the Teche, was
an earthwork called Fort Bisland, with revetments ; and well up the Atcha-
falaya, at Butte a la Rose, was another. There was also an armed steamer
called the /. A. Cotton, on the Bayou Teche. These were intended to dis-
pute the passage of those
important waters by Na-
tional gun-boats from Red
River, or forces by land
from New Orleans.

Some operations by Na-
tional forces had already
been made on the Teche,
and it was now determined
to drive the Confederates
from their strong places in
the vicinity of Brashear
City, and to destroy their
gun-boat. An expedition
for that purpose was led by
General Weitzel, accompa-
nied by a squadron of gun-
boats under Commodore
McKean Buchanan, who
fought his traitor brother so
bravely on the Congress in
Hampton Roads. 1 Weitzel
left Thibodeaux on the llth
of January," and placing his infantry on the gun-boats at Brashear City, he
sent liis cavalry and artillery by land.* All moved slowly up the
Bayou to Pattersonville, and at Carney's Bridge, just above, they
encountered the first formidable obstacles. These consisted of the piles of
the demolished bridge, against which lay a sunken old steamboat laden with
brick, and in the bayou below, some torpedoes. Just above these was the
very formidable steamer Cotton, ready for battle, and batteries (one of them
Fort Bisland) were planted on each side of the bayou, and defended by the
Twenty-eighth Louisiana and artillerymen, in all about eleven hundred men.
Buchanan proceeded to attack the obstructions and the batteries on the
morning of the 15th,* when, after a short engagement, the stern
of the Kinsman was lifted fearfully but not fatally by a torpedo
that exploded under it. Just then a negro, who had escaped from the Cotton
for the purpose, warned them of another torpedo just ahead. 3 Without

A LOUISIANA SWAMP.

1368.

t Jan.

1 See note 2, page 862. His squadron consisted of the gun-boats Calhoim (flag-ship), Kinsman, Estrella,
and Diana.

3 Weitzel's force consisted of the Eighth Vermont, Seventy-fifth and One Hundred and Sixtieth New York,
Twelfth Connecticut, Twenty-first Indiana, Sixth Michigan, n company of the First Louisiana Union cavalry,
and artillery under Lieutenants Bradley, Can-nth, and Uriggs. A portion of the Seventy-fifth New York, under
Captain Fitch, volunteered as sharp-shooters

* A correspondent of the New York Timex, with the expedition, wrote that one of the torpedoes fished up
bort the name of a New York firm who manufactured them, and remarked, concerning the good offices of the

BATTLE ON THE BAYOU TEC HE. 597

heeding the warning, Buchanan passed on in the Calhoun^ standing on her
bow with his spy-glass in his hand, in the face of a fierce cannonade from
the vessel and the batteries, and prominently exposed to the sharp-shooters
of the foe. Presently his acting chief-engineer, standing near him, was
wounded in the thigh by a spent ball from a rifle-pit, and the Commodore
said, " Ah, you've got it !" The next moment a ball passed through the
brave and beloved commander's head, and he fell dead.

The Eighth Vermont was now in the rear of the Confederates, and clearing
the rifle-pits, while the batteries of the Fourth Maine and Sixth Massachusetts
(Lieutenants Bradley 's and Carruth's), supported by Fitch's sharp-shooters
and the One Hundred and Sixtieth New York, had flanked the defenses on
the south side of the bayou, and were raking the Cotton with a terrible
enfilading fire. She and the Confederate land forces soon retreated, the latter
leaving forty of their number prisoners. Two or three times the Cotton
returned to the fight and retired, and finally, at two o'clock on the morning
of the 16th, she was seen unmanned, and floating sullenly on the bayou, as
the nucleus of a vast sheet of flame. Having destroyed this monster and
driven the Confederates from their works, the expedition went no farther,
but returned to Brashear City, with a loss of seven killed and twenty-seven
wounded. The latter were
placed upon a raft, and towed
down the bayou by a steamer
in the night of the loth, after
the battle had ceased. The
air was very mild and soft,
and in the pale light of the
moon, which rose at a little
past midnight, the sufferers
had a more comfortable voy-
age than they could have had

*. BAIT WITH WOUNDED 8OLDIEE8 ON BAYOU TKCIIK.

in the close air of a steamer.

Ineffectual efforts to open the Bayou Plaquemine so as to capture Butte
a la Rose followed the expedition to the Teche, when the enterprise was
abandoned, and General Banks concentrated his forces (about twelve thou-
sand strong) at Baton Rouge, for operations in conjunction with Admiral
Farragut, then on the Lower Mississippi. The latter, on hearing of the loss
of the Queen of the West and the De SotoJ determined to run by the bat-
teries at Port Hudson with his fleet, and recover the control of the river from
that point to Vicksburg. 8 For this purpose he gathered his fleet at Prophet's
Island, a few miles below Port Hudson, on the 13th of March,"
and on the same day Banks sent forward about twelve thousand
men to divert the attention of the foe while the fleet should perform the
proposed perilous act. These drove in the pickets before them, while the

fnaritive slavo who warned them of their danser. " While ppoplc in the North are enrichlnz themselves l>y man-
ufacturing these hellish things to blow our bruve men to atoms. ap<xir black 'animal' down here has friend-
ship and humanity enough U> come and warn them off from their terrible doom."

1 S.-e pose 5S9.

J His fleet consisted of the frisates Hartford (rtaz-ship). ifinsisvippi. Richardson, and Monongafiela ; the
gun- bouts Etmex, Albatross, Kineo, Genesee, and Sachem, and six inortir-boats.

598

ATTEMPT TO PASS PORT HUDSON BATTERIES.

gun-boats Essex and Sabine, and the mortars, bombarded the Confederate
works.

Farragut intended to pass the batteries the next morning, under cover
of a vigorous attack by the troops ; but the night being very dark, he con-
cluded not to wait until morning, but as silently as possible glide up the river
in the gloom. The fleet moved accordingly, at a little past nine in the
evening. The Hartford, Captain Palmer, led, with the Admiral on board,
and the gun-boat Albatross lashed to her side. The other frigates followed,
each with a gun-boat attached. But the darkness was not sufficiently pro-
found for the quick vision of the vigilant sentinels, who had equally quick
ears. The approach of the fleet was discovered, and soon rockets and other
signal-lights were streaming in the air. Then an immense bonfire suddenly
blazed out in front of one of the heaviest batteries, lighting up the scene for
several miles around, and fully revealing the approaching fleet. Still the
vessels moved on, when a heavy gun from the west side of the river fired on

LANDINO-PtACE AT POET HUDSON. 1

the Hartford. She replied, and instantly the batteries along the Port Hud-
son bluff opened their thunders. The mortar-boats responded ; and as the
frigates and their gun-boats severally came within range of the batteries, as
they moved slowly up the stream, gave them broadside after broadside, while
the howitzers on their tops and their heavy pivot bow-guns were very active.
Several of the batteries were so high and well managed that the fleet could
not harm them,* and the advantage was all on the side of the Confederates.

1 This is a view of the river-front of the hinh bluff whereon the little village of Port Hudson stood, and the
Confederate works were constructed. No place on the river, excepting Vicksburg, was better adapfc-d lor
defense than this. The landing-place (known as Hickcy's) at the foot of the bluff is a very difficult one, owing
to the strong eddies, and the high banks extend a lon<: distance from this point.

4 The srnns in the works on the edge of th hi-rh Muff would be pointed downward at the proper anplo to
Strike the vessels, run out, discharged, and instantly run back out of the way of harm from shot from below

BANKS IN THE INTERIOR OF LOUISIANA.

599

61863.

The air soon became thick with sulphurous smoke, and when the bonfire
was a smoldering heap the darkness was most profound. Still the fight
went on, and grape, canister, and shrapnel shot, and the bullets of sharp-
shooters, swept murderously over the decks as the vessels went
nearer the bluff, and when, at one o'clock in the morning," after a ' M j3^ 14 '
contest of an hour and a half, the tiring ceased, only the Hartford
and her consort, the Albatross, had passed by. The Mississippi had run
aground abreast the central heaviest battery, where her commander
(Melancthon Smith) fought her under the concentrated fire of many large
guns for half an hour, when he abandoned her and set her on fire. Lightened
by the consumption of the flames, she floated down the river with her fine
armament of twenty-one heavy guns and two howitzers, and was blown into
fragments several miles below by the explosion of her magazine. The other
vessels of the fleet, badly bruised, returned to their anchorage near Prophet's
Island, and General Banks, whose force was too light to attempt the capture
of Port Hudson at that time, whose garrison was reported to be sixteen
thousand effective men, returned to Baton Rouge ; not, however, with the
intention of abandoning the enterprise.

Banks now sent a large portion of his movable troops again into the
Louisiana region west of the Mississippi. He concentrated his forces at
Brashear City, on the Atchafalaya, when, on the 10th of April,*
General Weitzel crossed over to Berwick without opposition, but
discovered that the Confederates were in considerable force on his front,
under General Richard Taylor, one of the most active of the trans-Mississippi
Confederate leaders. General Emory's division crossed on the 12th, and all
moved toward Franklin, driving the foe before them until he reached Fort
Bisland and his other works near Pattersonville, where he made a stand.
On the same day Banks sent General Grover with his division, on transports
and four gun-boats, 1 up the Atcha-
falaya and Lake Chestimachee to
Irish Bend, a short distance from
Franklin, and on the flank of the
Confederates, with the intention of
gaining their rear and cutting off their
retreat, should they be driven from
Fort Bisland. It was a most difficult
landing-place, and besides the delay
in getting ashore, Grover was com-
pelled to withstand a vigorous attack.
He repelled the assailants, but the
time consumed in the struggle en-
abled Taylor to abandon Fort Bis-
land and escape. Taylor burned seve-
ral steamboats at Franklin and fled
toward Opelousas, destroying the
bridges behind him, and making a stand at Vermilion Bayou. He had been
followed rapidly by cavalry, artillery, and WeitzePs brigade, with a part of

BICHABD TAYLOR.

These were the Calhoun, Old/ton, Egtrelhi, and Arizona.

600 BANKS'S MARCH TO THE RED RIVER.

Emory's division, under Colonel Ingraham, as a support. So close was the
pursuit, that Taylor could not get five transports, laden with commissary
stores and ammunition at New Liberia, out of harm's way, and these, with
an incomplete iron-clad gun-boat, were destroyed.

Emory came up with Taylor at Vermilion Bayou on the 17th. The
latter was driven after a sharp contest, burning the bridges behind him ;
and on the 20th Banks entered Opelousas in triumph, and sent cavalry to
Washington, six miles farther on. During this retreat the Queen of the
West, which, as we have seen, was captured in the Red River by the
Confederates, 1 and had come down the Atchafalaya to Lake Chestimachee,
was assailed by the National gun-boats and destroyed, and her crew were

made prisoners of war. And on the day when Banks entered

Opelousas," the gun-boats, under Lieutenant-commanding A. P.

Cooke, captured Butte a la Rose, with its garrison of sixty men,
two heavy guns, and a large quantity of ammunition, and opened the way
through the Atchafalaya to the Red River, the Arizona passing through and
reaching Admiral Farragut above Port Hudson, on the 2d of May.

On the 22d of April Banks moved on from Opelousas toward Alexandria,
General William Dwight, of Grover's division, with detachments of cavalry
and artillery, leading. Taylor retreated before these to Fort De Russy.
That post he also abandoned as Banks came rapidly on, and fled through
Alexandria toward Shreveport. 2 Admiral Porter had ascended the Red
River with a fleet of gun-boats, and seized Alexandria on the 6th of May,
and on that evening the advance of Banks's column, under General Dwight,
entered the town. Weitzel was pressed forward in pursuit of Taylor nearly
to Grande Ecore, beyond Natchitoches, when the fugitive force had so
diminished that it was of little account, and the chase was abandoned. The
most considerable and by far the most fertile region of Louisiana was now

in the possession of the Government forces, and on the 7th of

A 1863

May* Banks wrote officially : " We have destroyed the enemy's
army and navy, and made their reorganization impossible by destroying or
removing the material. We hold the key of the position. Among the evi-
dences of our victory are two thousand prisoners, two transports, and twenty
guns taken, and three gun-boats and eight transports destroyed." 3

Banks's attention was now turned again to the Mississippi, for it was
many weeks before General Taylor was able to organize a respectable force
of Confederates in Louisiana. Banks had been informed by Farragut, while
he was at Brashear City, that Grant would send him twenty thousand men
from his large army near Vicksburg, to assist in the capture of Port Hudson,
Avith the intention of then employing the combined forces in the capture of

1 See page 589.

1 On the march a letter from Governor Moore, of Louisiana, to General Taylor, fell into the hands of Gene-
ral Banks. It contained an order from the Governor for Taylor to retreat slowly to Alexandria, and, if pressed,
to retire to Texas. An Intercepted letter showed that on the day before the advance of Banks's army from the
vicinity of Brashear City, Taylor had intended to attack that post.

8 At Opelousas Banks issued an order (May 1st, 1863) announcing his purpose of organizing "a corps
d'arm6e " of colored troops, to be designated as the " Corps d'Afrique," to consist, ultimately, of eighteen regi-
ments, infantry, cavalry, and artillery. He expressed a desire to detail, for temporary or permanent duty, the
best officers of the army for the organization, discipline, and instruction of that corps, with the conviction thnt
it would render important service to the Government. The prejudices and opinions of men. he said, were in no
way involved in the transaction, and he signiflcuntly inquired, " Why should not the negro contribute whatever
is in his power for the cause in which he is as deeply interested as other men ?" '

BANKS INVESTS PORT HUDSON. 601

the former place. Banks was preparing for these movements, when, on the
12th of May, he received a letter from Grant, dated two days before, inform-
ing him that he had crossed the Mississippi in force, and had entered on the
campaign along the line of the Big Black River, which resulted so gloriously.
He asked Banks to join him in this new movement against Vicksburg ; but
the latter, wanting sufficient transportation on the Red River, and unwilling
to leave New Orleans and the " repossessed " territory of Louisiana at the
mercy of the strong garrison at Port Hudson, and the possible force General
Taylor might gather, declined. He sent General Dwight to Grant with
satisfactory proof of the wisdom of his decision, and on the 14th and 15th
of May he put his army in motion at Alexandria for an investment of Port
Hudson. Grant having sent word back by Dwight that he would endeavor
to spare Banks five thousand men for an effort to capture that stronghold,
all the transports at hand were laden with troops, and the remainder were
marched to Simm's Port. There they crossed the Atchafalaya, and moved
down the west side of the Mississippi to a point opposite Bayou Sara, where
they crossed on the night of the 23d, and proceeded to invest Port Hudson
from the north on the following day." At the same time General
C. C. Augur, marching up from Baton Rouge, invested it on the " M 1 a ^ 4 '
south with three thousand five hundred men.

Here we will leave General Banks for a while, and follow General Grant
in his campaign on the flank and rear
of Vicksburg.

We left Grant late in April, with
troops, transports, and gun-boats, be-
low Vicksburg, prepared to cross and
open a new series of operations against
that stronghold. At that time some

of his cavalry which had been left in iw;

Tennessee were engaged in a most ^SuU^^T*

extensive and destructive raid through
Mississippi, spreading terror every-
where in the region of its track. The
story may be thus briefly told, though
in its details it presents one of the
mpst remarkable events on record.
On the 17th of April, Colonel Benia-

* C. C. AUGUR.

min H. Grierson, of the Sixth Illinois

cavalry, left La Grange, Tennessee, with his own regiment, and the Seventh
Illinois and Second Iowa, the latter commanded respectively by Colonels
Edward Prince and Edward Hatch, marched southward, sweeping rapidly
through Ripley, New Albany, Pontatoc, Houston, Clear Spring, Starkville,
and Louisville, to Newton, in the heart of the rich western portion of Mis-
sissippi, and behind all of the Confederate forces with which Grant had to
contend. These horsemen were scattered in detachments, as much as pru-
dence would allow, striking the Confederate forces which had been hastily
gathered here and there to oppose them, breaking up railways and bridges,
severing telegraph-wires, wasting public property, and, as much as possible,
diminishing the means of transportation of the Confederates in their efforts

602 GRIERSON'S RAID.

to aid the army at Vicksburg. Their marches were long and very severe
each day, often through tangled swamps, dark and rough forests, and across
swollen streams and submerged plains. At Newton, being below Jackson,

they turned sharply to the southwest
toward Raleigh, and pushed rapidly
through that town to Westfield and
Hazelhurst. They halted at Gallatin,
where they captured a 32-pounder rifled
Parrott gun, with fourteen hundred
pounds of gunpowder, on the way to
Grand Gulf. They pushed on to Union
Church, a little behind Natchez, where
they had a skirmish, when, turning back,
they struck the New Orleans and Jack-
son railway a little north of Brookhaven,
and proceeded to burn the station-house,
cars, and bridges at the latter place.
Then they went to Bogue Chitto with a

u. GIBSON. 8imilar re8ult > and Passing southward

to Greensburg, in Louisiana, they march-
ed rapidly westward on the Osyka and Clinton road to Clinton, fight-
ing Confederates that lay in ambush at Araite River, and losing Lieutenant-
Colonel Blackburn, of the Seventh Illinois, who was mortally wounded.

The 2d of May was the last day of the great raid. They marched early,
burned a Confederate camp at Sandy Creek Bridge, and, a little later, cap-
tured Colonel Stewart and forty-two of his cavalry on Comite River. This
was the crowning act of their expedition, and at noon on that

0i iS63 2 day" the troops that remained with Grierson, wearied and worn,
and their horses almost exhausted, entered Baton Rouge, in the
midst of the plaudits of Banks's troops stationed there.

Grierson had sent back the Second Iowa and about one hundred and
seventy-five men of other regiments, and with a little less than one thousand
men he made the raid, one of the most remarkable on record. In the space
of sixteen days they had ridden six hundred miles in a succession of forced
marches, often in drenching rain, and sometimes without rest for two days,
through a hostile country, over ways most difficult to travel, fighting men
and destroying property. They killed and wounded about one hundred of
the foe, captured and paroled full five hundred, destroyed three thousand
stand of arms, and inflicted a loss on the Confederates of property valued at
about six millions of dollars. Grierson's loss was twenty-seven men and a
number of horses. Twenty-five horses were drowned in crossing an over-
flowed swamp, eight miles wide, on the Okanoxubee River. The smallness
of his loss of men and horses was remarkable, considering the hazards,
fatigues, and privations they had encountered. Detachments sent out here
and there to destroy were chased and attacked by some of the thousands
sent for the purpose from Vicksburg and Jackson, and sometimes they
would be compelled to ride sixty miles in a day, over blind, rough, and miry
roads, in order to regain the main body. During the twenty-eight hours
preceding their arrival at Baton Rouge, the whole t>ody had traveled

GRANT'S ARMY CROSSES THE MISSISSIPPI.

603

1S63.

seventy-six miles, engaged in four skirmishes, and forded the Comite River,
in which many of the horses were compelled to swim. Grierson's experience
caused him to declare that the Confederacy was but " a shell," and subse-
quent events justified the opinion.

Grant's first movement toward the Big Black region was to direct Porter

o o

to make a naval attack on the batteries of Grand Gulf. This was done on
the morning of the 29th of April," and after a contest of five hours
and a half the lower batteries were silenced. The upper ones
were too high to be much affected. The Confederates had field-batteries
that were moved from point to point, and the sharp-shooters who filled the

rifle-pits on the hill-sides were extremely
mischievous to the people on the gun-
boats. It was evident that the post
could not be taken ; so at a little past
noon Grant ordered a cessation of the
battle, and directed Porter to run by
the batteries with gun-boats and trans-
ports, as he had done at Vicksburg and
Warrenton, while the army should
move down to a point opposite Rod-
ney, where it might cross without much
opposition. At six o'clock that eve-
ning Porter again attacked the bat-
teries, and under cover of the fire all
the transports passed by in good con-
dition. Three of Porter's gun-boats
were much injured in the fight and in
the passage of the batteries, and he lost
twenty-four men killed and fifty-six
wounded. The injured vessels were soon re-
paired and made ready for active service.

Informed by a negro that there was a good
road from Bruinsburg (half-way between Grand
Gulf and Rodney) to Port Gibson or the Bayou
Pierre, in rear of Grand Gulf, Grant decided to
cross at that point. At daylight the next morn-
ing the gun-boats and transports commenced
ferrying the troops. So soon as the Thirteenth
corps, under McClernand, was landed, it was
pushed forward toward Port Gibson with three
days' rations, followed by the Seventeenth corps under McPherson, which had
lately come down from beautiful Lake Providence, 1 as fast as it crossed the
river. The advance was met by a Confederate force the next morn-
ing* at two o'clock, eight miles from Bruinsburg, where the foe was
pressed back, but was not pursued until daylight. McClernand then pushed on

1 The picture on page 604, giving a view of a portion of the shore of Lake Providence, a little west of the
Mississippi, in Upper Louisiana, is from the pencil of Henri Lovie. The fine building in the foresrround was the
bead -quarter!) of General McPherson during the time his troops were encamped on the lake. It was the resi-
dence of Dr. Sellers.

GRIERSON'S RAID.

i May 1.

604

BATTLE OF PORT GIBSON.

VIEW ON LAKE PROVIDENCE.

to the parting of roads, four miles from Port Gibson, each running along a
ridge with deep hollows on each side. There he was confronted by a strong
force from Vicksburg, under General John Bowen, with troops advan-
tageously posted on the two roads and the broken ridges around them.

McClernand's troops were divided for the occasion. On his right were
the divisions of Generals Hovey, Carr, and Smith, and on his left that of
General Osterhaus. The former, superior in numbers pressed the foe on its

front steadily back to
Port Gibson, while the
latter was unable to
move forward until he
was re-enforced by a
brigade of General Lo-
gan's division of the
advance of McPher-
son's corps. Another
brigade of the same
division was sent to
the help of McCler-
nand, and after a long
and severe struggle the
Confederates were re-
pulsed, late in the after-
noon, with heavy loss, and pursued to Port Gibson. Night coming on, the
Nationals halted and rested on their arms, expecting to renew the contest in
the morning. But the Confederates had fled across Bayou Pierre during the
night, burned the bridges over the two forks of the bayou behind them, and
retreated toward Vicksburg. So ended THE BATTLE OF PORT GIBSOX.

The bridges were rebuilt and the pursuit of the Confederates was con-
tinued. Meanwhile Porter was directed to assail Grand Gulf again, but on
approaching it, on the 3d of May, he found it deserted. The Confederates
there, flanked by the Nationals at Port Gibson, had joined with the defeated
troops in their flight toward Vicksburg. The Nationals followed them
closely to Hankinson's Ferry, on the Big Black, skirmishing and taking
prisoners on the way. 1 Grant at once made arrangements for a change of
his base of supplies from Bruinsburg to Grand Gulf.

In the mean time General Sherman, with the Fifteenth corps, had been
operating on the Yazoo again. He had been left above Vicksburg, with the
expectation of soon following McClernand and McPherson down the west
side of the Mississippi. On the 28th of April Grant sent him word that he
intended to attack Grand Gulf the next day, and suggested that he should
make a feint simultaneously on Haines's Bluff. Sherman was quick to act,
and at ten o'clock on the morning of the 29th he started from Milliken's
Bend for the mouth of the Yazoo, with Blair's division, in ten steamers.
There he found three iron-clads 2 and several unarmed gun-boats, under Cap-

1 The National loss in the Battle of Port Gibson (called by some the Battle of Thompson's Hill) was S40 men.
of whom 130 were killed and the remainder wounded. They captured three guns, four flays, and 580 prisoners.
Mack Hawk, DeKalb, and Choctaio.

MARCH OF THE ARMY TOWARD JACKSON.

tain Breese, in readiness to go forward. They passed up the river and spent

the night at the mouth of the Chickasaw Bayou. Early the

next morning" they went within ran^eof the batteries at Haines's "^L 6 '

s J s 1863.

Bluff, and for four hours the armored gun-boats and the Tyler
assailed the fortifications there. Then there was a lull in the fight until
toward evening, when Blair's brigade was landed on the south side of the
Yazoo, as if to attack. The bombardment was resumed and kept up until
dark, when the troops were quietly re-embarked. The assault and menace,
with reconnoissances, were repeated the next day, when Sherman received
an order from Grant to hasten with his troops down the west side of the
river to Grand Gulf. Sherman kept up his menaces until evening, when he
quietly withdrew his whole force to Young's Point, whence Blair's division
was sent to Milliken's Bend, there to remain until other troops, expected
from above, should arrive. The divisions of Tuttle and Steele marched
rapidly down the west side of the Mississippi to Hard Times, crossed the
river there, and on the following day* joined Grant's troops at Ma 8
Hankinson's Ferry, on the Big Black. Sherman's feint was
entirely successful in keeping re-enforcements from the Confederates at Port
Gibson.

Grant, as we have observed, had expected to send troops down the river to
assist Banks in operations against Port Hudson, intending, in the mean time,
to remain at Grand Gulf, and collect there ample supplies of every kind.
Circumstances compelled him to change his purpose, and on the 7th of May
he moved his army forward on two nearly parallel roads on the eastern side
of the Big Black River. These columns were led respectively by Generals
McClernand and McPherson, and each was followed by portions of Sher-
man's corps, which had been divided for the purpose. The immediate desti-
nation of the army was the important railway that connects Vicksburg with
Jackson, the capital of the State of Mississippi, and also that capital itself,
immediately in the rear of Vicksburg. Grant intended to have McClernand
and Sherman strike the railway between the stations of Bolton and Edwards,
while McPherson, bending his course more to the east, should march rapidly
upon Jackson by way of Raymond and Clinton, destroy the railway and
telegraph lines, seize the capital, commit the public property there to the
flames, and then push westward and rejoin the main force.

Very little serious opposition to the Nationals was experienced until the
morning of the 1 2th of May, when the van of each column was approaching
the railway. On the previous evening Grant had telegraphed to Halleck
that he was doubtless on the verge of a general engagement ; that he should
communicate with Grand Gulf no more, unless it should be necessary to send
a train with a heavy escort, and that he might not hear from him again
in several weeks. He and his army were now committed to the perilous but
extremely important task of capturing Vicksburg. That night McClerna7id's
corps was on and near the Baldwin's Ferry road, and not far from the Big
Black River; Sherman's, in the center of the forming line, and accompanied
by General Grant, was at and beyond Auburn ; and McPherson's was eight
miles to the rirjht, a little in advance of Utica, in the direction of Ravmond.

O 7 *

When, early in the morning of the 12th, the troops moved forward, they
began to encounter stout resistance. The most formidable opposition was

606 BATTLE OF RAYMOND.

in front of McPherson, who, two or three miles from Raymond, the capital
of Hinds County, Mississippi, encountered two Confederate brigades about
six thousand strong, under Generals Gregg and Walker (commanded by the
former), well posted near Farnden's Creek, with infantry on a range of hills,
in timber and in ravines, and two batteries commanding the roads over
which the Nationals were approaching. Logan was in the advance, and not
only received the first heavy blow at about ten o'clock, but bore the brunt
of the battle that ensued. Brisk skirmishing had begun sometime before
with the advance cavalry, under Captain Foster It speedily developed into
a severe though short struggle.

The Confederates were mostly concealed in the woods, but their fire was
soon drawn by Logan's Second brigade, 1 which advanced toward their cover-
ing. Soon afterward De Golyer's (Eighth Michigan) battery was ordered
forward to assist in dislodging the foe, when for the first time the latter
opened their batteries. Finding it impossible to silence the Michigan guns,
the Confederates dashed forward to capture them, when they were repulsed
with heavy loss by two shells that burst among their advancing troops.
They fled beyond the creek and rallied.

McPherson now ordered an advance upon the new position of the Con-
federates. The movement was led by General Dennis's brigade, supported
by General Smith's. A very severe conflict ensued, in which the Twentieth
Ohio, Twentieth Illinois, and Twenty-third Indiana, lost heavily. The Con-
federates were pushed back a little, yet they maintained an unbroken front,
when the Eighth Illinois, Colonel Sturgis, charged furiously upon them with
fixed bayonets, broke the line into fragments, and drove them from the creek
in wild disorder. So ended THE BATTLE OF RAYMOND. It had lasted about
three hours.

The Confederates rallied and retreated in fair order though Raymond
toward Jackson, followed cautiously by Logan, who occupied the town an
hour after the fight, 2 and found there Jackson newspapers of the day before,
announcing, in grandiloquent style, that the " Yankees had been whipped at
Grand Gulf and Port Gibson, and were falling back to seek the protection
of their gun-boats. 3 " During the engagement McPherson and Logan were
seen riding along the lines directing the battle, and exposed to death every
moment. This conduct greatly inspirited their troops.

McClernand and Sherman had skirmished pretty heavily while McPher-
son was struggling at Raymond, and when the result of that struggle was
known to Grant, he ordered the other ^corps to move toward Jackson. He
had learned that General Joseph E. Johnston, the ablest of the Confederate
leaders, was hourly expected at Jackson, to take the command of the Con-
federate troops in that region in person. Perhaps he was already there.
" I therefore determined," Grant said in his report, " to make sure of that
place, and leave no enemy in my rear."

1 Composed of the Twentieth, Sixty-eighth and Seventy-eighth Ohio, and Thirteenth Illinois.

2 The Union loss in this battle was 442, of whom 69 were killed, 841 wounded, and 82 missing. The loss of
the Confederates was 823, of whom 103 were killed, and 720 were wounded and made prisoners. In (his engage-
ment the Eighth Illinois and Seventh Texas, which faced each other at Fort Donelson, now had a fierce encoun-
ter. "The Eighth Missouri (Union) and Tenth Tennessee (Confederate), both Irish regiments, here met,
and," the correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial said, "exchanged compliments with genuine Hibernian
accent"

3 Correspondent of the Cincinnati Commercial, May 13, 1863.

BATTLE OF JACKSON.

607

On the morning of the 13th," McPherson pushed on to Clinton, which he
entered unopposed at two o'clock in the afternoon, and bes^an

fc. May, 1863.

tearing up the railway between that town and Jackson, oner-
man was marching at the same time on the direct road from Raymond to
Jackson, while McClernand was moving to a point near Raymond. That
night was a tempestuous one. The rain fell heavily, and made b
wretched roads. But the troops under Grant were never over-
come by mud, and early the next morning* Sherman and McPherson pushed
on toward Jackson.

McPherson moved at five o'clock, with General Crocker's division (late
Quinby's) in advance. At nine these encountered and drove in the Confed-
erate pickets, five miles from Jackson ; and two and a half miles from that
city they were confronted by a heavy Confederate force, consisting chiefly
of Georgia and South Carolina troops, which had arrived the previous even-
ing, under General W. II. T. Walker. These were discovered by Crocker
when he gained the brow of a gentle hill, arranged in battle order along the
crest of a ridge over which the road to Jackson passed, and in a shallow
ravine at its foot. Their artillery was chiefly on their right, near the road,
and between the two armies were broad open fields.

Crocker disposed his forces in battle order while a heavy shower of rain
was falling, and at eleven o'clock they moved to the attack slowly and cau-

**ttR*7
^^^^^

BATTLE-GBOtTND NEAB JACKSON. 1

tiously, preceded by a line of skirmishers. The First Missouri battery had
been placed near a cotton-gin in the open field, and Crocker now threw out
two brigades (Colonel Sanborn's and Colonel Holmes's) on the right and left
of it, supported by Colonel Boomer's. His skirmishers were soon met by
such volleys from the infantry in the hollow, that they were recalled.
Crocker saw that the foe in that hollow as well as on the crest of the hill,
must be dislodged, or the National troops must retire ; so he ordered a
charge by his whole line, with loaded muskets and fixed bayonets. Instantly

1 This is a view on the principal battlc-srround near Jackson, as it appeared when the writer sketched it,
late in April, 1S66. It was taken from the open field over which Crocker's troops advanced to the charge. In
the middle ground traversed by a fence is seen the ravine out of which the Confederates were driven, and on
the crest of the hill, where they broke and fled, are seen the chimneys of the mined mansion of O. P Wright, on
whose farm the battle was fousrht. The brow of the hill on the left, where the road passes over, is the place
where the Confederate cannon were planted.

608

CAPTURE OF JACKSON".

the troops moved steadily forward with, banners flying, unchecked by heavy
volleys of musketry, and pushed the Confederates out of the ravine, and up
the slopes to the crest where their* artillery was planted. Still onward
Crocker pressed, when the astonished Confederates broke and fled toward
the city, closely chased for a mile and a half to the earthworks which formed
the inner defenses of Jackson. There the batteries of McMurray and Dillon
poured a storm of grape and canister upon the swarming Confederates, and
under its cover the Nationals were halted and re-formed, with the intention
of immediately assailing the works. But there was no occasion. They
were empty. The garrison had fled. Sherman had come up and shelled
them out of their works at another point, and now troops and civil officers
and leading secessionists had evacuated the city and fled northward, the
Governor carrying away as many State papers as possible, and the State
Treasurer bearing away the public funds. McPherson and Sherman entered
Jackson in triumph, finding there seventeen cannon which the Confederates
had abandoned ; and standing around the Deaf and Dumb Institute, which
was used as a hospital, were tents enough to shelter an entire division.
They found the commissary and quartermaster stores in flames.

So ended THE BATTLE OF JACKSON, in the capture of the city, and the
unfurling of the National flag over the State House of Mississippi by the
Fifty-ninth Indiana. General Grant entered the town that night, and learned
that General Johnston had arrived, taken command of the Department, and
ordered Pemberton to move out immediately from Vicksburg, cross the Big
Black River, and fall upon the National rear. The reason of the flight of
the troops northward from Jackson now seemed plain. No doubt Johnston
intended to have them form a junction with Pemberton, and crush Grant
by the weight of superior numbers. Grant perceived the menacing peril,
and instantly took measures for striking Pemberton before such junction
should be effected. For this purpose he gave orders for a concentration of
his forces in the direction of Edwards's Station, which was about two miles

from the railway bridge over the
Big Black River. McPherson was
directed to retrace his steps to Clin-
ton the next morning,"
and McClernand's scat-
tered divisions' were or-
dered to march simultaneously
toward Bolton's Station and concen-
trate, while Sherman was directed
to remain in Jackson only long
enough to cause a thorough destruc-
tion of the railways, military facto-
ries, arsenal, bridges, a large cotton
factory, stores, and other public
property, and then to rejoin the main
army.

May 15,
1863.

JOHN C. PEMBERTON.

1 One division of McClernand's troops was then in Clinton, another at Mississippi Springs, a third at Ray-
mond, and a fourth, with Blair's division of Sherman's corps, with a wagon train between Raymond and Utica.

PEMBERTON COMPELLED TO FIGHT.

609

Early on the morning of the 16th General Grant was pretty accurately
informed, by two persons who had been employed on the railway, and who
had come through Pemberton's lines, of the position, strength, and intentions
of that commander, who had been for two or three days near Edwards's
Station. They informed him that Pemberton's force was about twenty-five
thousand strong, composed of eighty regiments, with ten batteries of artil-
lery, and that he was moving forward with the intention of attacking the
National rear. This was confirmatory of information already received, and
Grant resolved to strike first. Blair was ordered to push forward Math his
division toward Edwards's Station, and McClernand and Osterhaus were
directed to follow immediately, while McPherson was ordered to keep up
communication with McClernand on another road. In order to prevent any
miscarriage, Grant sent Lieutenant-Colonel Wilson, of his staff, to McCler-
nand, to explain the situation, and urge him to move promptly. Then the
Commander-.in-Chief hastened to the front, to have a personal direction of
the movements there.

Pemberton, who appears to have been a rather tardy and timid leader,
had advanced a few miles eastward from his fortifications near Edwards's
Station. On the day of the battle at Jackson," he had received a
dispatch from Johnston at that place, "suggesting, not order- a5 ^ 14 '
ino\" he afterward said, a combined attack on McPherson at

O ' %

Clinton, when Pemberton called a council, and, pursuant to its decision, pre-
pared to attack the next morning, quite unconscious that his chief had
already been made a fugitive by the very troops he was about to fall upon.
A branch of Baker's Creek was so swollen by the rains that he was
delayed until the
afternoon, when he
advanced four or
five miles to a strong
position on broken
ground, near the
railway, and not far
from Baker's Creek,
known as the Cham-
pion Hills, where he
received a note from
Johnston directing
him to move north-
ward, so as to form
a junction with that
officer's shattered
forces. Pemberton
at once sent his
trains back to the
Big Black, and was
about to follow with his troops, when he found Grant close upon him, and he
felt compelled to remain and fight. He was posted across the main Vicks-
burg dirt road that led to Edwards's Station, with a high undulating hill on
the left, crowned with a dense forest. General "W. W. Loring commanded
VOL. II. 39

CHAMPION HILLS BATTLE-GROUND.

610 BATTLE OF CHAMPION" HILLS.

his right. General John Bowen, who had been driven from Port Gibson,
led his center, and General Carter L. Stevenson commanded his left. To
reach Pemberton's line from the road the Nationals had to cross two open
fields, and ascend a steep slope dotted with stumps of trees, exposed to the
fire of the foe in thick woods.

General Hovey's division held the advance in front of Pemberton, and
when Grant arrived" his skirmishers were close to the pickets of
aM i863 6 ' kis f e & n< l his troops were coming rapidly into line. McPher-
son's corps (excepting Ransom's brigade), which soon came up,
was thrown to the right of the road, and threatened Pemberton's rear.
There were promises of immediate success in case of a strife, but Grant,
unwilling to risk a battle without evidently sufficient numbers to gain a vic-
tory, forbade an attack until McClernand's corps should be near. That corps
was advancing from Bolton's Station, and Grant sent an urgent messenger
for its commander to hasten forward. Then he listened anxiously, but in
vain, for McClernand's guns. He knew the belligerents were too close
together to allow much delay. At length firing commenced, and at
eleven o'clock a battle had fairly begun. Hovey's division, composed of
Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Wisconsin troops, was bearing the brunt. His first
brigade, mostly Indiana troops, under General McGinnis, opened the battle
gallantly. The Confederates brought two batteries of four guns each to
bear upon them from a ridge. One of these was charged upon and captured
by the Eleventh Indiana' and Twenty-ninth Wisconsin, and the other by the
Forty-sixth Indiana. But after a severe struggle for an hour and a half,
against constantly increasing numbers (for Pemberton massed his troops on
his right so as to crush and turn Grant's left), Hovey's infantry were com-
pelled to fall back half a mile, to the position of his artillery, leaving behind
them the captured guns. There Hovey was re-enforced by a portion of
Crocker's (late Quinby's) division, when he re-formed, and, massing his
artillery, which was strengthened by the addition of Dillon's Wisconsin bat-
tery, he renewed the fight with great spirit.

In the mean time Logan's division of McPherson's corps (its second bri-
gade, under General M. D. Legget, forming on the right of Hovey) had fallen
upon Stevenson, on Pemberton's left. Seeing this, Pemberton sent two of
Bowen's brigades to assist Stevenson, and ordered General Loring to join
Bowen and the remainder of his division, in further attempts to crush and
turn Grant's left. Loring refused obedience, and seemed like a man
demented. The battle went on without him, with varied fortunes, until late
in the afternoon, when Stevenson's line, which had fought most gallantly,
began to bend under Logan's severe pressure, and at five o'clock broke and
fell back in confusion. Meanwhile the divisions of Osterhaus and Carr, of
McClernand's corps, had come up, but did not engage very severely in the
battle.

With that demolition of Pemberton's left, the Confederates became
so confused and disheartened that nothing better seemed left for them
than flight. Loring, with his troops sharing the panic of their leader, had

1 This waa the famons rpsimcnt of Zonnvos. first organized by Colonel (nfterward Mnjor-Ocnern') J.t-wis
Wallace. See page 517, volume I.

PUKSUIT OF THE CONFEDERATES. 611

already moved from the field, leaving his artillery behind, and a large num-
ber of his men as prisoners, and was making his way to Johnston's camp at
Canton. Seeing this, Pemberton ordered his whole army to retreat toward
the Big Black, when Grant, who had been on the field directing his troops
in battle, ordered the fresh brigades of Osterhaus and Carr to follow with
all speed to that river, and to cross it if possible. In his flight, and in this
instant pursuit, Pemberton lost many of his troops made prisoners. Thus
ended THE BATTLE OF CHAMPION HILLS, or Baker's Creek, as it is sometimes
called, it having been fought near that stream. It was " fought mainly,"
Grant said in his report, " by General Hovey's division of McClernand's
corps, and Generals Logan and Quinby's divisions (the latter commanded by
General M. M. Crocker) of McPherson's corps." 1

The Confederates were pursued until after dark that night, with a loss of
some men, and a train of cars loaded with provisions and ordnance stores
captured, and a large quantity of similar and other stores which they them-
selves burned. McClernand accompanied the pursuing party, with whom
he bivouacked that night on the hill overlooking Edwards's Station, and the
broad and fertile plain between it and the Big Black. Early the following
morning a beautiful Sabbath morning in May" the pursuit was
resumed, but not continued long, for it was found that the Con- ^ 17 '
federates were well posted on both sides of the Big Black at the
railway bridge, and were strongly fortified. On the bottom, near the eastern
bank of the stream, they had a line of well-armed works, in front of which,
and about a mile from the river, was a bayou that formed an efficient ditch,
with a line of rifle-pits behind it. On the opposite side of the river the
bank was steep and covered with works, well armed with heavy guns ; and
back of these, at a little distance, was a forest. Behind the defenses on the
eastern side of the river, to meet the first onset of the pursuers, were the
brigades of Green, Villepigue, and Cockrell. Just above the railway bridge,
Pemberton had constructed a passage-way for troops, composed of steamboat
hulks.

General Carr's division occupied the extreme advance of the pursuing
columns. A heavy line of skirmishers, supported by two brigades of his
division, were deployed in the woods on the right of the road, while Oster-
haus's division was similarly posted on the left of it. Very soon Carr's skir-
mishers were hotly engaged with those of the foe, which had come out to
meet them, and speedily a severe battle was raging between the two armies
in the thick forest. This continued for about three hours, when General
Lawler, commaTiding Carr's extreme right, discovered a good opportunity .
for a charge. He gave the order, and right gallantly his brigade, composed *

1 The National loss In the battle, as reported by Grant, was 2.457, of whom 426 were killed, 1.842 wounded,
and 189 missing. Hovey's division alone lost 1,202, or one-third of its entire number. The Confederate loss is
unknown, as no official account was given. It was estimated in killed and wounded as quite equal to that of.
the National forces, besides almost 2,000 prisoners, IS guns, and a large quantity of small arms. Among
their killed was General Loyd Tighlman, who was captured at Fort Henry the previous year. He was killed
by a shell from one of the suns of the Chicago Mercantile battery. Indiana was more largely represented in the
desperate battle of Champion Hills than any other State.

The Twenty-fourth Iowa was called the " Methodist regiment," its principal officers and a large portion of
its men being of that denomination. They fought most gallantly, anil at evening, after the battle was over,
they held a religious meeting, and made the hills resound with the grand air and stirring words of " Old

Hundred.

612

BATTLE OF THE BIG BLACK RIVER.

of the Twenty-first, Twenty-second, and Twenty-third Iowa, and Eleventh
Wisconsin, sprang forward with cheers, and drove the foe to his intrench-
raents ; not, however, without suffering fearfully from an enfilading fire from
a curtain of the Confederate breast-works, which prostrated one hundred
and fifty of their number. Undismayed, they waded the bayou, pressed for-
ward, delivered and received heavy volleys of bullets, and rushed upon the
foe with fixed bayonets before the latter had time to reload. Meanwhile
many of the Confederates within the iiitrenchments fled to the other side of
the river, and communicated to the troops there their own irrepressible panic.

They expected the Nationals would immediately cross the river and assail
them, and so they burned the two bridges, cut off the retreat of their com-
rades who were yet fighting, and fled pell-mell toward the safer region of
the defenses around Vicksburg, making the inhabitants of that city pale with
affright, and forebodings of the greatest calamities impending. Pemberton
and his staff, it is said, tried to prevent the incendiarism and stop the flight,
but in vain. The assailed garrison, about fifteen hundred strong, were cap-
tured, with seventeen guns (a part of them taken from Grant the day before),
several thousand stand of arms, and a large quantity of commissary stores,
and losing, besides, twenty killed and two hundred and forty-two wounded.
Thus ended THE BATTLE OP THE BIG BLACK RIVER, in which Osterhaus was
wounded, when his command devolved temporarily upon Brigadier-General
A. L. Lee.

McClernand could not immediately follow the fugitives toward Vicks-
burg. Their retreat was covered by the batteries and sharp-shooters on the
high western bank of the river, who for hours kept the Nationals from con-
structing floating bridges. Grant's only pontoon train was with Sherman,
who, under his chief's orders, and while the events we have just been consid-
ering were occurring, had been making his way from Jackson to Bridgeport,
on the Big Black, a few miles above the railway bridge. He arrived there

1 This was the appearance at the passage of the railway travel between- Jackson and Vicksburg, over the
Big Black River, as it appeared to the writer when he made the sketch, In April, 1S66. from the eastern side of
the stream, while on his way from Vicksburg to Jackson. The passengers had crossed the river on the pontoon
bridge seen in the sketch, and while waiting for the cars to start the drawing was made. On the left are seen
UK- piers of the railroad bridge destroyed by the Confederates, and beyond the stream are the high banks, with
the forest near, on which the Confederate batteries were planted.

PORTER AGAIN ON THE YAZOO. 613

during the afternoon of the 17th, and prepared to cross the stream in the
morning. The Confederates at the railway bridge, finding themselves
flanked, fled to Vicksburg. Then McClernand's men constructed a floating
bridge there and just above, over which his and McPherson's corps crossed
the next morning at about eight o'clock. Sherman crossed at the same
hour," and all pressed on over the wooded and broken country
toward Vicksburg. Three miles and a half from that city Sher- ' ^eg 18
man turned to the right and took possession of the Walnut Hills,
near the Chickasaw Bayou, 1 without opposition, and cutting off the Confed-
erates at Haines's Bluff. McPherson followed Sherman's track some distance
to the point where he turned to the right, and halted, while McClernand,
advancing on the line of the retreat of the Confederates, on the direct high-
way from Jackson to Vicksburg, bent his course a little to the left, and took
position at Mount Albans, so as to cover the roads leading out of Vicksburg
on the southeast. So, on the morning of the 19th of May, Grant's army,
which for more than a fortnight had subsisted off the country in which it was
moving, completely invested Vicksburg on the land side, and, by a success-
ful movement of Admiral Porter, his base of supplies was changed from
Grand Gulf to the Yazoo.

Let us see what Porter did. On the morning of the 16th* he
went to the Yazoo. He left several of his iron-clad steamers
below Vicksburg, while others in the Yazoo were ready for co-operation with
Grant. When on the 18th he heard the booming of guns in the rear of the
city, he knew that the army was approaching, and very soon he saw through
his glass National troops on the Walnut Hills. These were Sherman's men.
Porter immediately sent Lieutenant-Commander Breese up the Yazoo with
the De Kalb, Choctaw, Romeo, and Forest Rose, to open communication
with the army, which was accomplished
in the course of a few hours. The De
Kalb then pushed on toward Haines's
Bluff, which the Confederates had al-
ready commenced to evacuate. The
latter fled precipitately, leaving every-
thing behind them, such as stores, am-
munition, gun-carriages, and an admira-
bly constructed camp. All these Porter
destroyed, and the next day he sent
Lieutenant Walker, with five gun-boats,
to Yazoo City. Walker found the navy,
yard and vessels in flames, and the

citizens ready to surrender the town, PKMBKKT0 * 8 HEAD-QUARTERS IN VICKSBCRG.'

with fifteen hundred sick soldiers in the hospital. Other public prop-
erty which the Confederates had not destroyed Walker burned, 3 and then

1 See mup on page 578.

* This is a view of the fine residence of C. A. Manlove, on Cherry Street, Vicksburg, when the writer
sketched it, in 1S66, which was occupied by General Peinberton as his head-quarters during the siege of Vicks-
burg. It is a brick building, stuccoed, with a pleasant garden in front of it

Among the vessels on the stocks at Yazoo City was the Republic, a ram three hundred and ten feet in
length and seventy-five in width. Also another called the Mobile, which was ready for plating. The navy-
yard was well supplied with machinery and workshops, and such as were not on fire when he arrived, Walker
committed to the flames.

614 YICKSBUKG CLOSELY INVESTED.

returned without opposition, excepting by some ambushed riflemen and a
battery at Liverpool Landing, where he was fired upon, and lost one killed
and eight wounded. Before Walker's return Porter had forwarded to Grant's
army much needed supplies.

Now, with nothing to fear on rear or flank, excepting the troops under
General Johnston, beyond the Big Black, Grant closely invested Vicksburg,
and commenced the siege proper, with Sherman occupying the right of his
line, McPherson the center, and McClernand the left. Peinberton had
reorganized his shattered army within his defenses, with General Martin L.
Smith on his left, General Forney in the center, General Stevenson on the
right, and General Bowen in reserve. He had received a letter from John-
ston, written on the 1 7th, saying : " If Haines's Bluff be untenable, Vicks-
burg is of no value and cannot be held If it be not too late,

evacuate Vicksburg and its dependencies, and march to the northeast:"

It was indeed " too late," and Pemberton, perplexed by conflicting orders
from General Johnston and Jefferson Davis, 1 was compelled to remain and
see the commencement of a close siege of his position, when he had only
sixty days' rations for his troops.

1 Davis appears to have been exceedingly anxious to keep the horrors of war from his own State, without
regard to the sufferings of others. He had sent Johnston to Tennessee in November previous, with full powers
to control the armies under Bragg, E. Kirby Smith, and Pemberton. and yet he was continually interfering with
his plans of campaign, and making every thing bend to the defense of his own State of Mississippi. When
Bragg, menaced by Kosecrans in December, needed strengthening, he ordered Stevenson's brigudf of ten
thousand men to be detached from Bragg's command, and sent, without sufficient transportation, six hundred
miles, to re-enforce Pemberton. Johnston had earnestly protested against the measure, but in vain, and Davis,
stimulated by his inordinate conceit, and reveling in power, treated Johnston's opinions almost with contempt
And now, when Johnston was more intent upon saving Pemberton's army than Vicksburg of Port Hudson, and
directed him to unite his forces and beat Grant, saying, "Success will win back all you will abandon to gain it,"
Davis, without Johnston's knowledge, telegraphed to Pemberton (May 7, 1863) to hold both Vicksburg and Port
Hudson. It was this order that made Pembertou so weak that he could not avoid being finally shut up in
Vicksburg by Grant

POSSESSION OF VICKSBURG DESIRABLE.

615

CHAPTER

SIEGE AND CAPTURE OP VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON.

N immediate assault upon the defenses of Vicksburg
seemed to Grant an imperative necessity. His army
was not strong enough to invest the post so abso-
lutely as to make a sortie by Pemberton, for the
purpose of joining his forces with Johnston, in
Grant's rear, an impossibility. He was holding a line
almost twenty miles in extent, from the Yazoo to
the Mississippi at Warrenton, and so thin on its
extreme left that it was little more than a series

of pickets. Johnston was at Canton, receiving re-enforcements from

Bragg's army, in Tennessee, for his five thousand troops with whom he fled

from Jackson. 1 He was making every exertion in his power to collect a force

sufficient to warrant him in falling upon Grant's rear, and endeavoring to

compel him to raise the siege. That danger was imminent, and there seemed

but one way to avert it,

and that was by a speedy

capture of the post and

garrison. If Grant could

possess himself of Vicks-

burg immediately, he

might turn upon John-

ston and drive him from

the State of Mississippi,

and, holding all of the

' ~

railroads, and practical
military highways, effect-
ually secure to the Na-
tionals all territory west
of the Tombigbee River,
thereby saving the Gov-
ernment the sending of
re-enforcements to him
which were so much
needed elsewhere. In

n . -. . -, MILITARY OPERATIONS ABOUND VICKSB17R8.

view oi impending dan-

ger, and of the importance of the immediate capture of Vicksburg, and with

the belief that in the then demoralized state of Pemberton's army, because

1 See page 60S.

616

ASSAULT ON THE CONFEDERATE WORKS.

May, 1863.

of recent reverses, the task would be comparatively easy, Grant resolved
to attempt it. His troops were impatient to possess the object of their toils
for months, and he was satisfied that, if an immediate assault should end in
failure, they would work better in the trenches while prosecuting a regular
siege, than they would do if denied an opportunity to capture the post by
direct assault. Grant therefore prepared to storm the Confederate works on
the day after the arrival of his troops before them, which had occurred on
the anniversary of Farragut's advent there the year before. He made his
head-quarters in his tent, pitched in a canebrake near an immense tree, in the
edge of a wood on the farm of E. B. Willis, about three miles northeast
from Vicksburg, and there he issued his orders for assault.

Grant ordered the attack to be commenced at two o'clock in the after-

noon of the 19th -" Jt was be g un ty Sherman's corps, which was
nearest the works on the northeastern side of the city, which lay
on both sides of the. old Jackson road, the one on the right, in approaching

the town, known as
Fort Hill, and the one
on the left as Fort. Beau-
regard. The attack
was directed upon the
former. Blair's divi-
sion took the lead, fol-
lowed by Tuttle's as a
support. As it moved,
it occupied both sides
of the road. The ground
was very rough, and
was cleft by deep
chasms, in which were
trees standing and
trees felled ; and along
the entire front of the Confederate works was such a tangle of hills and
obstacles that the approach was excessively difficult and perilous.

There had been artillery skirmishing and sharp-shooting all the morning :
now there was to be close work. Both parties were nerved for the task.
Steadily Blair's regiments moved on, and their first blow was given to Gene-
ral Schoup's Louisiana brigade, which struck back powerfully and manfully.
After a slight recoil, Blair's troops moved on across the ditcli to the exterior
slope of the works, where the Thirteenth Regulars, of General Giles Smith's
brigade, planted the flag of the Republic, but at the cost of seventy-seven of
its two hundred and fifty men, its leadei-, Captain Washington, being among
the fatally wounded. The Eighty-third Indiana and One Hundred and
Twenty-seventh Illinois also gallantly gained the slope, but all were unable

1 This is a view of the place of Grant's head-quarters, as it appeared when the writer sketched it, on the 19th
of April, 1866. He was accompanied to the spot by Captain White, of General T. J. Wood's staff, who was on
the staff of General Legget during the siege, and was very often at head-quarters. There they found the insu
lator of Grant's telegraph, seen in the picture on the sapling between the large tree and the tent The position
nnd form of Grant's tent and its veranda, composed of a rude frame-work covered with cane-leaves, were eivtn
to the writer by Captain White, and a delineation of it. which he pronounced correct, was added to th<^ sketch,
and so restores the appearance of the head- quarters at the time of the siege.

GRANT'S HEAD-QUARTERS AT VICKSBUKG.'

SECOND ATTACK ON THE CONFEDERATE WORKS. 617

to enter, in the face of the most determined resistance. Perceiving that they
were exposed to destruction in detail, Sherman recalled them at dark to
places of safety behind the hills, and the assault was abandoned. The other
corps succeeded in getting into good positions nearer the Confederate works
while this struggle was going on at the right, but did not participate much
in the contest of the day.

Two days succeeding this attack were occupied in heavy skirmishing, in
bringing up from the Yazoo and distributing supplies to the army, making
roads, planting cannon, and otherwise preparing for another assault. Grant
informed Admiral Porter of his intentions, and requested him to
ensjasre the batteries on the river front, on the night of the 21st,"

O O ' <J

as a diversion, as he intended to storm their works on the land side with his
entire army the following morning. Porter opened fire accordingly, and all
night long he kept six mortars playing upon the town and the works, and
sent the Benton, Mound City, and Carondelet to shell the water batteries
and other places where troops might be resting. It was a fearful night in
Vicksburg, but the next day was more fearful still. It dawned gloriously.
The sky was unclouded, and the troops and citizens within the circum-
vallating lines of the Confederates were so encouraged by the failure of the

O O J

assault on the 1 9th, that they haa no doubt that the garrison could hold out
until succor should arrive.

Grant ordered an assault by his whole line at ten o'clock on the morning
of the 22d. That there might be perfect concert of action, the corps com-
manders set their watches by his, and at a proper time the chief took position
near McPherson's front, where he might overlook much of the field of strife.
At the appointed hour the storming columns all moved forward, while Por-
ter's mortars and the cannon of his gun-boats were pelting the batteries and
the city furiously with shot and shell, and receiving in return many a crush-
ing reply from the mouths of " Whistling Dick," on the main fort, 1 and other
heavy guns.

As on the 1 9th, so now, Blair's division formed the advance of Sherman's
column, its van being the brigade of General Hugh S. Ewing, of the Thirtieth
Ohio, with those of Giles Smith and T. Kilby Smith following in support.
In the advance sharp-shooters were actively skirmishing, and with them was
a small party carrying materials for bridging the ditches. At the same time
five batteries (Wood's, Barrett's, Waterhouse's, Spoor's, and Hart's) were
concentrating their fire upon Fort Hill, or the northeast bastion of the works
at the designated point of attack.

Onward the van moved, with no signs of a foe on their front until they
reached the salient of the bastion, and were near the sally-port, when there
sprang up before them on the parapet, as if from the bosom of the earth, two
rows of sharp-shooters, whose terrible volleys swept down the first line near
them in an instant. The rear of the column then attempted to push on, but
was repulsed with severe loss. Bending their course a little to the right,
Ewing's braves crossed the ditch on the left face of the bastion, and, climbing
the slope, planted the National flag near the top of the parapet, and there
sheltered themselves from the sharp-shooters on their flank, in holes which

See note 2, ]>age 584.

618 A SEVERE STRUGGLE.

they burrowed in the bank for the purpose. Meanwhile Giles Smithes
brigade had taken a position where it seriously menaced the parapet at
another point, and that of T. Kilby Smith, deployed on an off slope of the
spur of a hill, assisted Ewing in keeping the Confederates quiet within the
works by firing at every head seen above the parapet. The storming party
held their ground under cover of the artillery, but when, finally, the brigades
of Giles Smith, in connection with that of Ransom, of McPherson's corps,
attempted to carry the parapet by assault, they were repulsed with heavy
loss.

While this struggle was occurring, Steele's division had been fighting at
the Grave-Yard Bastion, half a mile farther to the right of Fort Hill, as des-
perately, and without gaining any visible advantage. It had pushed across
deep chasms and ravines, and made its way up to the parapet in the face of
a heavy fire. It failed to carry it, but held the hillside until dark, when it too
was withdrawn. But while these struggles were going on, between twelve and
one o'clock, Grant was encouraged by a dispatch from McClernand on the
left, " stating positively and unequivocally that he was in possession of, and
still held, two of the enemy's forts ; that the American flag waved over
them," and asking him " to have Sherman and McPherson make a diversion
in his favor." 1 On the strength of this assurance, Sherman renewed the
assault on his left front, by sending Tuttle forward. Mower's brigade charged
up to the position from which Ewing had been repulsed, and the colors of
his leading regiment (Eleventh Missouri) were soon planted by the side of
those of Blair's storming party, which remained there. After heavy loss and
no substantial advantage gained, this second storming party was withdrawn
under cover of darkness.

Turning farther toward the left, we find McPherson's corps in the center,
vying with Sherman's in the spirit of its attacks, and sharing with it the
calamities of heavy losses and the mortifications of defeat. It is believed
that McPherson lost ten men to one of the assailed party, in his endeavors
to carry the main fort, near the Vicksburg and Jackson railway. He gained
some ground, but most of it was abandoned in the evening.

On the left McClernand assailed the works most gallantly, but with less
positive success than he seems to have supposed. Precisely at the appointed
hour his storming party, composed of the brigades of Lawler and Landrum,
rushed impetuously upon the works southeast of the city, and within the
space of fifteen minutes carried the ditch, slope, and bastion of the redoubt
immediately on their front. Sergeant Griffith and eleven privates of the
Twenty-second Iowa entered it as conquerors, but all were prostrated within
it but Griffith, who escaped, and took with him thirteen prisoners. Mean-
while the colors of the Forty-eighth Ohio and Seventy-seventh Illinois had
been raised on the bastion, and the brigades of Benton and Burbridge,
inspirited by the success of Lawler and Landrum, had carried the ditch and
slope of another strong earthwork, and planted their colors there. At the
same time a gun of the fort had been disabled by shot from a piece of the
Chicago Mercantile battery, which Captain White had dragged by hand to
the ditch, and fired into an embrasure.

1 St-e General Grant's Report, -Inly 6. 1S6S.

THE NATIONALS REPULSED. 619

Believing his winnings thus far to be permanent, McClernand sent the
dispatch to Grant already mentioned, to which the latter replied by telling
him to order up McArthur, of his own (McClernand's) corps, to his assist-
ance. Before receiving this order McClernand had sent another dispatch
similar to the first, and this was soon followed by a third, in which he said,
"We have gained the enemy's intrenchments at several points, but are
brought to a stand ;" and in a postscript informed Grant that his troops
were all engaged, and he could not " withdraw any to re-enforce others."
Grant, who was in a commanding position, " could not see his possession of
the forts," he said, " nor the necessity for re-enforcements, as represented
in his dispatches," and expressed to both Sherman and McPherson his doubts
of their correctness ; yet, unwilling to allow any opportunity to capture
the post to escape, he ordered Quinby's division of McPherson's corps to
report to McClernand. He also made the diversion in his favor already men-
tioned, which, Grant said, " resulted in the increase of our mortality list full
fifty per cent., without advancing our position or giving us other advan-
tages." 1 Two hours later, McClernand informed Grant that he had lost

O '

no ground ; that some of his men were in two of the forts, which were com-
mandetl by the rifle-pits in the rear, and that he was hard pressed. He had
really gained no substantial advantage. He attributed his failure to do so
to a lack of proper support, McArthur being some miles distant when
Grant's order came to call him up, and Quinby not arriving until twilight. 2
Meanwhile Osterhaus and Hovey, on the left of McClernand, had been
unsuccessful in their assaults. Porter had joined in the fight from the river
with his mortars and gun-boats, increasing the horrors of the day in the city. 3
Night closed in with positive defeat and heavy loss to the National

1 See Grant's Report, July 6, 1863.

1 In a congratulatory address to bis troops. General McClernand reflected upon General Grant and the dis-
position of his troops at the time of the assault. The commanding-general, perceiving in this great danger to
the harmony and efficiency of the army, and unwilling to allow such a phase of insubordination to become a
precedent, relieved General McClernand from command, on the 15th of June, and assigned it to General
E. O. C. Ord.

* Grant had requested Porter to shell the hill batteries at Vicksburg on the morning of the assault, from
hnlf-past nine until half-past ten o'clock, to annoy the garrison while the army should attack. Accord-
ingly, in the morning the Mound City, Senton, Tuscumbia. and Carondelet were sent down the river, and
made an attack t the prescribed time on the hill batteries, opposite the canal, and soon silenced them. Porter
then pushed three of them up to the water batteries, leaving the Tuscumbia to keep the hill batteries still.
They had a furious flght with the water batteries, and were repulsed after receiving several wounds. "This,"
said the Admiral, " was the hottest flght the gun-boats had ever been under, the water batteries being more on
a level with them than usual." Tet he did not have a man killed, and only a few were wounded. His vessels,
fighting bow on, were not much damaged. Report of Admiral Porter to the Secretary of the Navy, May
23, 1S63.

"We have remarked that the day of the assault was a terrible one in Vicksburg. The following notice of It,
from the diary of a citizen during the siege, from the 17th of May to the 4th of July, gives a vivid picture of
those horrors : ' Friday, May 22. The morning of this day opened in the same manner as the previous one
had closed. There had been no lull in the shelling all night, and as daylight approached, it grew more rapid
and furious. Early in the morning, too, the battle began to rage in the rear. A terrible onslaught was madeon
the center first, and then extended farther to the left, where a terrific struggle took place, resulting in the
repulse of the attacking party. Four gun-boats also came up to engage the batteries. At this time the scene
presented an awfully sublime and terrific spectacle three points being attacked at once, to wit, the rifle-pits, by
the army in the rear; the city, by the mortars opposite ; and the batteries, by the gun-boats. Such cannon-
ading and shelling has perhaps scarcely ever been equaled, and the city was entirely untenable, though women
and children were on the streets. It was not safe from behind or before, and every part of the city was alike
within range of the Federal guns. The gun-boats withdrew after a short engagement, but the mortars kept up
shelling, and the armies continued fighting all day. Several desperate charge? were made in force against the
lines, without accomplishing their object. It would require the pen of a poet to depict the awful sublimity of
this day's work. The incessant booming of cannon, and the bans of small arms, intermingled with the howling
ot shells and the whistling of Minie balls, made the day truly most hideous."

620

VICKSBURG REGULARLY BESIEGED.

May 21.

army, 1 and at eight o'clock in the evening the troops were recalled from the
more advanced and exposed positions, leaving pickets to hold the ground
which had been absolutely gained.

" After the failure of the 22d," Grant said in his report, " I determined
upon a regular siege." The post was completely invested. The Nationals
held military possession of the peninsula opposite Vicksburg, and Admiral
Porter, with his fleet and floating batteries (scows bearing 13-inch mortars
and 100-pounder Parrott guns, moored under the banks securely, where they
could throw shells into the city), firmly held the water in front of the town.
The beleaguered garrison was composed of only about fifteen thousand
effective men, out of about thirty thousand within the lines, as Grant was
officially informed five days after the assault, with short rations for only a
month, and their commander calling earnestly on Johnston for aid. 5 But the
latter was almost powerless to help. " I am too weak to save Vicksburg,"
he wrote to Pemberton on the 29th," in reply to a dispatch that
reached him. " Can do no more than attempt to save you and
your garrison." General Frank K. Gardner, at Port Hudson, to whom, so

early as the 19th*, Johnston had sent
orders to evacuate that platee and
join Pemberton, was now also call-
ing for help, 4 and telling
his chief that National
troops were about to cross the
Mississippi at Bayou Sara, above
him, and that the whole of Banks's
force at Baton Rouge was on his
front. Johnston could only repeat
his orders for the evacuation, and
say, "You cannot be re-enforced.
Do not allow yourself to be invested.
At every risk save the troops, and
if practicable move in this direction."
This did not reach Gardner, for be-
fore he could receive it Port Hudson was invested, and the sad fruits of
Jefferson Davis's interference with Johnston's orders were fast ripening.
And all that Johnston could do for Pemberton, at that time, was to send
him, by smugglers, about forty thousand percussion caps. 3

When the victory at Champion Hills was won, Grant declared that the
capture of Vicksburg was then secured. Yet he relaxed no vigilance or
efforts. Now, when he felt certain that the post must soon fall into his

1 The National loss was almost 8,000 men.

a On the 27th of May Pemberton sent out a courier with a disn-tch to Johnston, in which he said:" I
have 15,000 men in Vieksburar, and rations for thirty d:iys one meal a day.* Couic to uiy aid with 30,000 men.
If you cannot do this within ten days, you had better retreat. Ammunition is almost exhausted, especially
percussion caps." The courier (Douglas, of Illinois, who was tired of the Confederate service) carried this dis-
patch to Grant, by which the poverty and weakness of his antagonist were revealed.

1 General Joseph E. Johnston's Report to S. Cooper, November 1, 1863.

* In the Diary of a Confederate in Pemberton'i army, then in the city, quoted In the Rebellion Record, the writer said, May 26th:-
' We have been on half rations of coarse corn bread and poor beef for ten days." On the 1st of June he wrote :-" We are now entinc
henn bread, and half rationn of that." He recorded that the beef gave out on Uu- 10th of June, and that they were " drawing a quarter of
a pound of bacon to the man."

FRANK K. GARDNER.

SERVICES OF PORTER'S FLEET. 621

hands, he made that event doubly sure by calling re-enforcements to his
army. His effective men, after the assault, did not exceed twenty thousand
in number, but to these were very soon added the divisions of General Lau-
man and four regiments from Memphis, with the divisions of Generals A. J.
Smith and Kimball, of the Sixteenth corps. These were assigned to the
command of General Washburne. On the llth of June General Herron
arrived Avith his division from the Department of Missouri, and on the 14th
two divisions of the Ninth corps came, under General Parkc. Now the
investment of Yicksburg was made absolute, with Sherman's corps on the
extreme right, McPherson's next, and extending to the railway, and Ord's
(late McClernand's) on the left, the investment in that direction being made
complete by the divisions of Herron and Lauman, the latter lying across
Stout's Bayou, and touching the bluffs on the river. Parke's corps, and the
divisions of Smith and Kimball, were sent to Haines's Bluff, where fortifica-
tions commanding the land side had been erected to confront any attempt
that Johnston might make in that direction.

Meanwhile Admiral Porter had made complete and ample arrangements
for the most efficient co-operation on the river, and his skill and zeal were
felt throughout the siege. While his heavier vessels and the mortars and
great Parrott guns on the scows already mentioned were doing effective work
in the immediate operations of the siege, 1 his smaller vessels were patrolling
the river, to keep its banks clear of guerrillas, who were gathering in
strength on the western side, and to prevent supplies reaching Vicksburg.
And so skillfully were his vessels handled during the close siege, that only
one of them was badly disabled, 9 and, with the exception of the casualties on
that vessel, he lost only six or seven men killed and wounded. 3

For a month General Grant closely invested Vicksburg. Day after day
he drew his lines nearer and nearer, crowning hill after hill with batteries,
and mining assiduously in the direction of the stronger works of his foe,
with the intention of blowing them high in air. Day and night, with only
slight intermissions, his heavy guns and those of Porter were hurling shot
and shell with fearful effect into the city, and its suburbs within the lines,

1 For forty-two days the mortar-boats were nt work without Intermission. During: that time they fired
7,000 mortar shells, and the gur.-boats fired 4,500 shells. Porter's Report.

1 The Cincinnati, Lieutenant George M. Bache commanding. She had boen prepared with bales of hay
find cotton, and sent to assist in silencing a troublesome water battery. After being fired at several times by
- Whistling Dick.'' as she moved down without being hit, she went on with a full head of steam toward the
pusition assigned her, under the fire of all the river batteries. At length a ball entered her magazine, and caused
it to be drowned, and she began to sink. Shortly afterward her starboard tiller was carried away. Her com-
mander ran her ashore at the peninsula, where she sunk. In attempting to swim ashore from her, about fifteen
of her people were drowned. Twenty-five were killed and wounded. The Cincinnati went down with her
colors nailed to the stump of her mnst She was afterward raised.

3 Keportof Admiral D. D. Porter, dated ' Black Hawk. July 4, 1S63." The printins-presson board the flag-
ship was employed for other than official business. To while away the tedious hours of the officers and men, ;v
journal was printed on a broad-side, entitled, The Slack Haick Chronicle, ami contained notices of the events
of the siege on land and water as it progressed, often in a strain of wit and humor that must have been agreea-
ble to the readers. The first number, issued on the 8th of June, Is before the writer. It is well printed on dull
yellow paper, in two columns. ''Terms, 2.000 dollars per annum in Confederate notes, or equal weight in cord-
wood." It informed the public, " that no special reporter belonged to the establishment," and therefore nothing
but the truth might be expected. The contents were composed generally of short Items. In noticing the dis-
aster to the Cincinnati, the editor said: "On the morning of May 2", the gun-boat 'Cincinnati,' packed with
I1 kinds of fenders, went down to co-operate with General Sherman in an attack on a water battery and rittY-
l>its. Said battery, having grown during the night, sent some ugly customers after our gun-boat, which vessel
etired on finding the place too hot for her. havinsr first received three or four shots in her bottom. Not wishing
t<> be annoyed by the enemy, she wisely sunk in three fathoms of water, out of reach of the enemy's shot, when
the officers and crew coolly went in to bathe."

622

LIFE IX THE BESIEGED CITY.

making it hell for the inhabitants, and the soldiers too, who sought shelter
for limb and life in caves dug in the steep banks where streets passed through
the hills. In these the women and children of whole families, free and bond,
found protection from the iron hail that perforated the houses, plowed the
streets, and even penetrated to these subterranean habitations, where gentle

CAVES NEAB VICKSBTTOG.

women were waiting and praying for deliverance, and where children were
born. 1 It was a terrible ordeal, and yet during that long siege very few per-
sons, not in the army, lost their lives.

Pemberton's only hope for deliverance was in the ability of Johnston to
compel Grant to raise the siege. With that hope he held out against a mul-

J The streets of Vicksburg are cut through the hills, and houses are often seen far above the street passen-
gers. In the perpendicular banks formed by these cuttings, and composed of clay, caves were dug at the begin-
ning of the siege, some of them
sufficiently large to accommodate
whole families, and in some in-
stances communicating with ouch
other by corridors. Such was the
character of some made on Ma'n
Street, opposite the house of Col-
onel Lyinnn J. Strong, for the use
of his family and others, and of
which the writer made the accom-
panying sketch, in April. 1SC6. The
caves were then in a partially
ruined state, as were most of
them in and nronnd Vicksljurp,
for rains had washed tbe banks
away, or had caused the filling of
the caves. In this picture the ap-
pearance of the caves in their
best estate is delineated, with fur-
niture, in accordance with descrip-
tions given to the writer by the
inhabitants.

A graphic account of events in
these crypts is given in a little volume entitled, My Care-Life in Yick*btirg, ly a Lady, published in New
York in 1S64. It was written by the wife of a Confederate officer who was in the besieged city, and lived in
one of these caves with her child and servants.

The picture in the text above gives a good idea of the external appearance of these caves, in the suburbs
the city. It is from a sketch made by the writer on the -old Jackson road, where the Second Mississipp
regiment was stationed during a portion of the siege. In the view the spectator is looking down toward
Vicksburg. A plain, and the bluffs on the border of the Mississippi, are seen in the distance.

CAVE-LIFE IN VICKSBrr.O.

CONFEDERATE TROOPS IN LOUISIANA.

623

titude of temptations to yield. 1 On the 14th" Johnston sent him word that
all he could attempt to do was to save the garrison, and sug. Ojuneil863
gested, as a mode of extrication and conjunction, a simultaneous
attack upon Grant's line at a given point by his own troops without, and
Pemberton's within. He asked the latter to designate the point of attack,
north of the railroad (nearer Johnston's communications) ; and he then
informed him that General Taylor (whom Banks, as we have seen, 2 had
driven from the heart of Louisiana, and who was gathering forces there
again) would endeavor, with eight thousand men from Richmond, in that
State, to open communication with him from the west side of the river.
Already that commander had sent between two and three thousand troops,
under General Henry McCulloch (brother .of Ben., who was killed at Pea
Ridge), to strike a blow. It was leveled at a little force, chiefly of colored
troops, called the " African brigade," stationed at Milliken's Bend, under
General Elias S. Dennis, composed of about fourteen hundred 3 effective men,
of whom all but one hundred and sixty (the Twenty-third Iowa) were
negroes.

McCulloch's blow fell first, though lightly, on the Ninth Louisiana (col-
ored), commanded by Colonel H. Lieb, who went out on a reconnoissance
from Milliken's Bend toward Rich-
mond, on the 6th of
June, 6 preceded by two
companies of the Tenth Illinois cav-
alry, Captain Anderson. Lieb went
within three miles of Richmond,
where he encountered Taylor's pick-
ets, and fell slowly back at first.
It was evident that a heavy force
was in his front. Very soon some
of the cavalry came dashing back,
hotly pursued, when Lieb formed
his troops in battle order, and with
one volley dispersed the pursuers.
He continued to fall back, and the
Confederates, in strong number,
horse and foot, pursued nearly up to the earthworks at the Bjnd.

It was now night, and the Confederates lay on their arms, expecting to
make an easy conquest of Dennis's force in the morning. The

c jn ne 7.

latter was on the alert, and when, at three o'clock," the Con-

1 The misfortunes of Petnberton, before he was driven into Vicksburg by Grant, had been construed by
some into crimes He was even accused of treasonable intentions of "selling Vicksbnrg.' 1 These charges
reached him. Stung by them, he took a public occasion to repel them. After the failure of Grant's assault on
the 22d, he made a speech to the citizens and soldiers. " You have heard." he said, " that I am incompetent
and a traitor, and that it was my intention to sell Vicksburg. Follow me, and you will see the cost at which I
will sell Vicksburg. When the last pound of beef, bacon, and flour the last grain of corn, the last co\v find
hog, and horse and dog, shall have been consumed, and the last man shall have perished in the trenches, then.
and only then, will I sell Vicksburg."

2 See page fino.

3 These were the Tw^y-third Iowa, white ; and Ninth nnd Eleventh Louisiana and First Mississippi,
colored.

624 BATTLE OF MILLIKEN'S BEND.

federates rushed to the assault, with the cry of " No quarter ! '" they were
met by a volley that made them recoil for a moment, but before the inex-
perienced blacks could fire more than another volley, they had rushed over
the intrenchments. Then occurred a most sanguinary hand-to-hand fight for
several minutes, with bayonets and clubbed muskets, the colored troops con-
testing every inch of ground with the greatest obstinacy, and answering the
question often asked, "Will the negroes fight?" with a distinct affirmative,
and in repetition of what had been done a few days before at Port Hudson. 2
Combatants were found after the struggle close together, mutually transfixed,
the white and the black face the master and the slave close together and
equal in death.

The Confederates drove the -Nationals from their works to the levee,
where a sharp contest was kept up until noon. Fortunately for the Nation-
als, Porter had received word the night before of the investment of Milli-
ken's Bend, and had ordered the gun-boats Choctaw and Lexington to the
aid of the garrison. This order was obeyed. They joined the troops in the
struggle, and at meridian the Confederates were repulsed, and were pursued
a short distance, with a loss estimated at one hundred and fifty killed and
three hundred wounded. The National loss was one hundred and twenty-
seven killed, two hundred and eighty-seven wounded, and about three hun-
dred missing. 3 A week later, the Confederates were driven out of Richmond

o t

by an expedition from Young's Point, composed of the command of General
Mo wry, and the marine brigade under General R. W. Ellet.

Grant pressed the siege with vigor as June wore away. Johnston was
beyond the Big Black, chafing with impatience to do something to save the
beleaguered garrison, but in vain, for he could not collect troops sufficient
for the purpose, while Pemberton, still hoping for succor, fought on, and suf-
fered with the heart-sickness of hope deferred. Finally, on the
2 1st", he sent a messenger to Johnston, who had moved out from
Canton as far as Vernon, near the Big Black, recommending him to move
north of the railroad toward Vicksburg, to keep the attention of the
Nationals attracted to that side, while the garrison should move down the
Warrqnton road at the proper time, break through the investing line, and,
crossing the Big Black at Hankinson's Ferry, escape. Evidently doubting
the success of his proposed movement, Pemberton suggested to Johnston,
the next day, the propriety of abandoning Vicksburg, and proposing to Grant
the passing out of all the troops " with their arms and equipage." Johnston
declined taking this step, because he said it would be a confession of weak-

1 It is asserted, upon what seems good authority, that orders went out from' the chief conspirators at Rich-
mond, after the promulgation of the President's Proclamation of Emancipation, to give no quarter to colored
troops, and the officers commanding them. That certainly was the. practice in several instances. In the fight
here just recorded, the Confederates seem to have made it their special business to kill the officers commanding
the colored troops. The casualties among them showed this.

* Up to about this time there had been no good opportunity to try the mettle of the negroes in open battle
Those upon whom this first trial fell were, like all the others, inexperienced and raw recruits, having had very
little time for discipline or drill. The valor with which they fought here, and at Port Hudson a few days before,
satisfied the loyal public, and the Confederates, that the negro henceforth would be n power in military opera-
tions: The writer met Colonel Lieb at Vicksburg in April. 1866, who informed him that his experience at Mil-
liken's Bend at the time we are considering, and ever afterward, with negro troops, satisfied him that there is
no better material for soldiers than they. Colonel Lleb had held distinguished rank in military service in
Europe, and had much experience in the discipline of troops.

3 See Report of General Elius S. Dennis to J. A. TCnwlins. A?s'stant Adjutant-General, June 16, 1S63.

MINING THE CONFEDERATE WORKS. 625

ness on his part, but told Pemberton that when it should become necessary
to make terms, they might be considered as made under his authority. As
Pemberton had assured him that he had sufficient supplies of short rations to
last until the first week in July, Johnston hoped something might yet occur
by which the garrison might be saved.

We have observed that Johnston moved out to Vernon. This was
noticed by Grant's vigilant scouts, when he ordered Sherman" to
proceed with five brigades and oppose his further advance. With ""^g^ 22 '
these, and some re-enforcements, Sherman constructed defenses
from Raines's Bluff to the Big Black that defied Johnston, and he was obliged
to look for another approach to Yicksburg to co-operate with Pemberton in an
effort on the part of the latter to escape. He took position between Browns-
ville and the river, and on the night of the third of July he sent a messenger
with a note to Pemberton, informing him that a diversion would be made to
enable the latter to cut his way out. The message was intercepted by Gen-
eral Ewing, 1 and two days afterward such news reached Johnston from Yicks-
burg that he fell back in haste to Jackson.

Toward the close of June the most important of Grant's mines was com-
pleted. It extended under Fort Hill Bastion, on the right of the old Jack-
son road, in front of McPherson, under whose direction it was constructed.
The trench had been
excavated in the usual
zig-zag way, by work-
men behind an im-
mense gabion, which
was rolled before as a
protection, with a
movable redoubt form-
ed of gabions behind
them, armed with a
cannon, and" manned
by artillerists and
sharp-shooters to keep
the garrison behind
their parapets. Min-

. . licPHEBSON'8 6APPEB8 AT FORT HILL. 5

ing and counter-mining

had been going on for some time, but this was the first that was ready for

destructive work. Between four. and five o'clock in the afternoon

* June.

of the 25tlr it was fired. The explosion was terrific. The garri-
son, expecting the event, were partly removed, and but few were injured.
But a great breach was made. A part of the face of the fort was thrown

1 This message (the original), written on a small pleeo of paper, was, until lately, In possession of the
writer. It was found on the person of the spy, folded into a small space, and concealed between the cloth and
the lining of the breast of his coat

* This little picture Illustrates the manner of approach to the fort by the sappers and miners. The ground
is given as It appeared when the writer visited the spot, in April, I860, and made a sketch from the ditch. The
men and their implements have been introduced to illustrate the subject. To the reader, uninformed in military
terms, it may bo proper to say that pabion is a French nameariven to cylindrical baskets of various sizes, rnado
of small branches of trees, open at both ends, and used to revet the, interior slopes of battt-ries, the cheeks of
(nbrasnres, and to form the parapet of trenches. The baskets, when used, are filled with earth. For an illus-
traMon, see the tail-piece on page 376 of this volume.

VOL. II. 40

626

PEMBERTON PROPOSES TO SURRENDER.

' June 28,
1863.

down, and a bloody struggle ensued when the Nationals attempted to go in
and the Confederates sought to keep them out. Hand to hand they fought,
and backward and forward over the ramparts went murderous hand-gre-
nades. Three days later," another face of Fort Hill Bastion was
blown away, and another struggle ensued. Other mines were
ready for infernal work, and Grant was preparing for another
general assault. The long, gaunt fingers of Famine were busier than ever
with the life-tissues of the beleaguered. Fourteen ounces of food had become
the allowance for each person for twenty-four hours, and the flesh of mules
had become a savory dish !'

Pemberton had now lost hope. For forty-five days he had been engaged
in a fearful struggle, and he saw nothing but final submission. Reason and
humanity demanded a cessation of hopeless strife, and so, at about eight
o'clock on the morning of the 3d of July, he caused a white flag to be dis-
played on the crest of a
hill above the camp of
General Burbridge, of
A. J. Smith's corps. It
was borne by Major-
General Bowen and
Colonel Montgomery,
of Pemberton's staff,
who conveyed a letter
from their chief to Gene-
ral Grant, in which he
proposed the appoint-
ment of three commis-
sioners on each side, to
arrange terms for the

capitulation of the post.
"I make *this proposi-
tion," he said, " to save
the further effusion of
blood,which must other-
wise be shed to a fright-
ful extent, feeling my-
self fully able to main-
tain my position a yet
indefinite period." To
this note General Grant
replied, saying: "The
effusion of blood you
propose stopping by this
course can be ended
at any time you may choose, by an unconditional surrender of the city and gar-

1 " This day," wrote a citizen of Vicksburg in his diary, under date of June 80, " we heard of the first mule-
meat being eaten, tome of the officers, disgusted with the salt jnnk, proposed to slaughter some of the fift
mules as an experiment ; as. if the siege lasted, WP must soon come to that diet. The soup from it was quite
-rich in .taste and appearance. Some of the ladies ate of it without knowing the difference."

DEFENSES OF VICKSHUKQ.

INTERVIEW BETWEEN GRANT AND PEMBERTON.

627

rison. Men who have shown so much endurance and courage as those now in
Vicksburg, will always challenge the respect of an adversary, and I can assure
you will be treated with all the respect due them as prisoners of war. I do
not favor the proposition of appointing commissioners to arrange terms of
capitulation, because I have no other terms than those indicated above."

General Bowen expressed to General Smith a strong desire to con-
verse with General Grant. The latter declined this, but consented to meet
General Pemberton between the lines in McPherson's front at any hour that
afternoon which the Confederate commander might choose. The hour of
three was appointed. The moment Avhen the leaders approached the place
of meeting was announced by a signal-gun fired by the Nationals, which
was answered by the Confederates.
Grant was accompanied by Generals
McPherson, Ord, Logan, and A. J.
Smith ; Pemberton, by General Bow-
en and Colonel Montgomery. They
met on the southern slope of Fort
Hill, to the left of the old Jackson
road; and after introductions and a
few minutes conversation, the two
chiefs withdrew to the shade of a
live-oak tree, where they sat down on
the grass and held a private confer-
ence. 1 It ended by Grant promising
to send Pemberton a proposition in
Avriting before night, and both agree-

o o ' o

ing that hostilities should cease while

the subject was under discussion.

Toward evening Grant sent Gen-
eral Logan and Lieutenant-Colonel
Wilson, of his staff, with a letter to
Pemberton, in which he proposed that,
on the acceptance of his terms, he
should march in one division as a guard and take possession the next morn-
ing at eight o'clock ; that as soon as paroles could be prepared and signed,
the vanquished should march out of the National lines, the officers taking
with them their regimental clothing the staff, field, and cavalry officers one

MONUMENT AT VICKSBURG.

1 The live-oak tree under which Grant and Pemberton held their private conference was very soon after-
ward hewn down, and converted into the forms of canes and other objects by the officers and soldiers, as memen-
toes, and on its site a handsome commemorative monument was erected, which is delineated in the above
engraving, as it and its suiroundings appeared when the writer sketched it in April, 1866. The monument was
of white veined marble, about twelve feet in height, composed of an obelisk and base, and surmounted by a
sphere. It was very much mutilated by having piocc-s knocked off of every cdice, and also of the devices, by
relic-seekers, and the lettering obliterated by the rebellious, it is said. It was difficult to determine the charac-
ter of the devices on it, or decipher the inscription. I was informed that they were as follows : On one Bide of
the obelisk was an eagle bearing the Goddess of Liberty on its wings, as it hovered over a group of implements
of war, and holding in its talons a shield, and in its beak a ribbon, with the National motto, E PLUKIBUS UNUM.
The monument bore the inscription, " To the Memory of the Surrender of Vicksburg, by Lieutenant-General J.
G. Pemberton, to Major-General U. S. Grant, TJ. S. A., on the 4th of July, 1S63."

It was evident that no monument of stone could long endure the vandalism of relic-seekers, so the. rnutil.i-
tod one was removed toward the close of I860, and a new and appropriate one erected on its base, which wi!!
forever defy the destructive hand. It is an immense iron cannon, of very nearly the proportions of the
marble obelisk, and is surmounted by a huge shell, which takes the place of the sphere.

628 FORMAL SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG.

horse each, and the rank and file to be allowed to take all their clothing, but
no other property. He consented to their taking from their own stores any
amount of rations necessary, and cooking utensils for preparing them ; also,
thirty wagons (counting two two-horse or mule teams as one) for transpor-
tation.

At three o'clock on the morning of the 4th, General Legget, quartered
at Fort Hill, received Pemberton's reply to Grant, and immedi-
ately forwarded it to his chief's head-quarters by Captain W. J.
White, of his staff. Colonel Bowers received it and read it to the General.
Pemberton accepted the terms proposed, in the main, but wished to amend,
"in justice," he said, "to the honor and spirit of his troops," by having
permission granted for them to march out with their colors and arms, and to
stack them in front of the Confederate lines ; also, that the officers should
"retain their side-arms and personal property, and the rights and property of
citizens be respected." Grant instantly wrote a reply, refusing to accede to
Pemberton's amendments in full. He declined subjection to any restraint
concerning the citizens, at the same time giving assurances that they should
not suffer undue annoyances. He consented to the marching out of the
brigades, at ten o'clock in the morning, to the front of their respective posi-
tions, when, after stacking their arms, they should retire inside, and remain
prisoners of war until paroled. Unwilling to suffer any further delay, he
gave Pemberton to understand that if these modified terms were not
accepted he should open fire upon him at nine o'clock.

Pemberton accepted the terms. McPherson's corps was immediately
placed under arms as a guard during the ceremonies of surrender. At ten
o'clock on that ever-memorable holiday of the nation,* the bri-
gades began to march out. In the course of three hours their
arms were stacked, and they were again within their intrenchments.

McPherson had been commissioned to formally receive the stipulated
surrender from Pemberton. When the work was finished, he was joined
by Grant and Logan, and the three leaders, with their respective staff officers,
and, accompanied by Pemberton and his staff, rode into the city in triumph
at a little past noon. Already the National flag had been raised on the
Court-House, while the joyous soldiers were singing the stirring song begin-
ning

"Yes, we'll rally 'round the flag, boys, we'll rally once again,

Shouting the battle-cry of Freedom !
We'll rally from the hill-side, we'll gather from the plain,
Shouting the battle-cry of Freedom !"

By three o'clock the possession of the post was absolute, and Porter's
powerful fleet and the flotilla of transports were lying quietly at the levee.
That evening, in commemoration of the National birthday, the soldiers
regaled the citizens of Vicksburg with fire-works more harmless than those
which, for more than forty nights, had coursed the heavens above them like
malignant meteors, heralding war, pestilence, and famine. McPherson made
his head-quarters at the fine mansion of Dr. Balfour, on the corner of Craw-
ford and Cherry Streets, whence he issued a stirring congratulatory address
to his soldiers, and Grant returned to his modest tent in the distant cane-

OPERATIONS IN MISSISSIPPI.

629

630

THE SPOILS AND EFFECTS OF VICTORY.

brake 1 for the iright, the greatest conqueror of the war thus far. After they
were duly paroled, and were supplied with three days' rations,
. t ^ ie van( l u i s h e( l soldiers were escorted" across the Big Black

River, and sent on their way rejoicing to Johnston at Jackson.
The spoils of the great^ victory were more important in character and

number than any that
had yet been won dur-
ing the war.* Its effect,
in connection with the
great National victory
at Gettysburg, in Penn-
sylvania, won simulta-
neously, and which we
shall consider presently,
was most disastrous to
the cause of the Con-
spirators. 3 The Fourth
of July, 1863, marked
the turning-point in the
war, and thenceforth the star of the Republic was evidently in the as-
cendant.

Notwithstanding his troops were much exhausted by forced marches,
battles, and the long siege, and he had reported that they absolutely required
a rest of several weeks before they would be fit for another campaign, Grant

MCPHEBSON'S HEAD-<JUAKTEES.

1 See page 616.

a General Grant thus stated the result of the operations of his army from Port Gibson to Vicksbnrg:
"The result of this campaign has been the defeat of the enemy In five battles outside of Vicksburg; the
occupation of Jackson, the capital of the State of Mississippi, and the capture of Vicksburg and its garrison, and
munitions of war; a loss to the enemy of thirty -seven thousand (37,000) prisoners, among whom were fifteen
general officers; at least ten thousand killed and wounded, and among the killed Generals Tracy, Tilghman,and
Green, and hundreds, andporhaps thousands, of stragglers, who can never bo collected and reorganized. Arms
and munitions of war for an army of sixty thousand men have fallen into our hands, besides a large amount of
other public property, consisting of railroads, locomotives, cars, steamboats, cotton, &o, and much was destroyed
to prevent our capturing it."

He summed up his loss, in the series of battles known as Port Gibson, Fourteen Mile Creek (skirmish),
Raymond, Jackson, Champion Hills, Big Black railroad bridge, and Vicksburg, at 9,855, of whom 1,223 were
killed, 7,095 wounded, and 637 missing. "Of the woi;ndcd," he said, "many were but slightly wounded, and
continued on duty; many more required but a few days or weeks for their recovery. Not more than one-half
of the wounded were permanently disabled." General Grant's Report, July 6,.1S63-

The 87,000 prisoners were not all captured at Vicksburg. The number there paroled, including G,0f!0 of tho
sick and wounded in the hospitals, was 27.000, of whom only 15,000 were reported fit for duty. The generous
terms of surrender, and the paroling of the prisoners, was complained of. Of this Grant said, in his report:
"These terms I regard more favorable to the Government than an unconditional surrender. It saved us the
transportation of them North, which at that time WOTlld have been very difficult, owing to the limited amount
of river transportation on hand, and the expense of subsisting them. It left our army free to operate against
Johnston, who was threatening ns from the direction of Jackson ; and our river transportation to be used for
the movement of troops to any point the exigency of the service might require."

* The blow was unexpected to the Conspirators. They knew how strong Vicksburg was, and were con-
fident that the accomplished soldier, General Johnston, would compel Grant to raise the siege. Even tho Daily
Citizen, a paper printed in Vicksburg, only two days before the surrender (July 2) talked as boastfully as if
perfectly confident of success. In a copy before the writer, printed on wall-paper, the editor said : "The great
Ulysses the Yankee generalissimo surnamed Grant has expressed his intention of dining in Vicksburg op
Saturday next, and celebrating the Fourth of July by a grand dinner, and so forth. When asked if he would
invite General Joe Johnston to join him, he said, ' No ! for fear there will be a row at the table,' Ulyxse* must
get into the city before he dines in it. The way to cook a rabbit is, 'first catch the rabbit,' Jic/' In another
paragraph, the Citizen eulogized the luxury of mule-meat and fricasseed kitten.

When the National troops entered the city, they found the forms of this issue of the Citizen standing,
when some soldier-printers, taking out a paragraph at the bottom of the fourth column, inserted the following
in its stead, and printed a few copies on the wall-paper found in the office : " Two days bring about great

THE INVESTMENT OF PORT HUDSON.

631

found it necessary to take immediate measures for driving Johnston from his
rear, and for that purpose he dispatched Sherman, with a large force. The
result will be noticed hereafter. He also prepared to send an 'expedition
under General Herron to assist Banks in the reduction of Port Hudson,
when he received intelligence of events at that stronghold which made the
expedition unnecessary. Let us observe what those events were.

We left General Banks investing Port Hudson, or Ilickey's Landing, 1
lute in May. His troops
were commanded by
Generals Weitzel, Au-
ger, G rover, D wight,
and T. W. Sherman, and
the beleaguered garrison
were under the com-
mand of General Frank
K. Gardner, as we have
observed. 2 The troops
with which Banks cross-
ed the river at Bayou
Sara formed a junction
on the 23d"

May, 1863.

with those

which came up from

Baton Rouge under

Auger and Sherman, and

the National line on that

day occupied the Bayou

Sara road, about five miles from Port Hudson. At Port Hudson Plains,

Auger, on his march, encountered and repulsed a force of Confederates

under Colonel Miles, the latter losing one hundred and fifty men.;

and on the day of the investment 6 the Confederates were driven

within their outer line of intrenchments. Weitzel, who had covered

changes. The banner of the Union floats over Vicksburg. General Grant has ' caught the rabbit,' he has dined
in Vicksburg, and he did bring his dinner with him. The 'Citizen' lives to see it. For the last time it appears
on wall-paper. No more will it eulogize mule-meat and fricasseed kitten urge Southern warriors to such diet
never more. This is the last wall-paper edition, and is, excepting this note, from the types as we find them."

Johnston sent the astounding news of the surrender of Vicksburg to the Conspirators on the 7th. It was a
staggering blow, and Jefferson Davis and his friends endeavored to blind the people to the fact that the
disaster was mainly due to his incompetence to direct, and his mischievous interference with the military

THE DEFENSES OP POET HTTDSON.

J May 24.

meled with the orders of his incompetent official superior in Richmond. " The news of the fall of Vicksburg,"
wrote John R. Thompson from Richmond to the Atlanta Appeal, " has awakened here the bitterest sorrow,
not unmingled with surprise ..... The Sentinel, the Government organ, holds General Johnston mainly
responsible for the result, and the immediate representatives of the Administration are said to blame him in
"

unmeasured terms.

unmeasure terms.

1 See page 598. We have before observed that Port Hudson was on a high bank or bluff, on the east side
of the Mississippi, at a sharp bend. Its fortifications were well arranged for defense. Below the landing
'

ten miles in extent, and terminating at Thompson's Creek. The guns with which these works were armed
were very heavy, and there were light batteries that might be moved to strengthen any part of the line.
1 See page 620.

632 ASSAULT ON THE CONFEDERATE WORKS.

Banks's march from Alexandria, had arrived and made the investment of the
fort complete, for Admiral Farragut, with the Hartford, Albatross, and
one or two other gunboats above Port Hudson, and the Monongahela,
Richmond, Essex, and Genesee, with mortar-boats under Commander
C. H. B. Caldwell, below, held the river, and were shelling the Confederate
works at intervals, day and night.

Banks was informed that the Confederates were withdrawing from the

post, and on the 26th was told that very few were behind the works.
The defenses were thoroughly reconnoitered without gaining positive infor-
mation concerning the strength of the garrison, and he determined to
develop it by a general assault. Orders were given accordingly, and on
the morning of the 27th" his artillery opened upon them with

May, 1863. . . .,.,. J

spirit, and continued nrmg during nearly the whole day. it
was intended for the infantry to assail the works at the same time at
all points, under the fire of the great guns, but unfortunately there was a
miscarriage. At about ten o'clock, while the batteries were zealously at
work, Generals Weitzel, Grover, and Payne, on Banks's right, made a vig-
orous attack, but it was long past noon before Auger in the center, and
Sherman on the left, were fairly at work. The navy was fully up to time,
and from the Hartford and Albatross above, and the Mononnahela, Rich-
mond, Essex, and Genesee below, and the mortar-boats, Farragut poured
a continuous stream of shells upon the garrison (which was still in full force)
with marked effect. Already his shells had driven them from their first
battery on the river below, and now, by taking their landward batteries in
reverse, while they were hotly engaged with the troops, several of the
heavy guns were dismounted by the naval missiles. The battle was furious,
and never did men fight with greater determination than Banks's little force
against the odds of an equal number behind strong intrenchments, which
were defended in front by rifle-pits, and approached only through thick
abatis, over which swept, like a besom of destruction, the shells from Con-
federate guns.

On the National right the struggle was most severe; the First and
Second Louisiana colored troops vying with their white companions-in-arms
in deeds of valor, and in fortitude under heavy pressure. These made three
desperate charges upon the batteries, losing heavily each time, and justifying
by their courage and deeds the hopes of their commander, and winning his
special commendation. 1 The Nationals gained ground continually, as hour
after hour wore away. They crossed Big Sandy Creek, and, at four o'clock,
drove the Confederates through woods to their fortifications. On the left
and center there was equal bravery ; and along the whole line, at sunset, the
Confederates, who had fought gallantly, were behind the shelter of their
works. The Nationals moved close up to these, and they and their antago-
nists held opposite sides of the parapet. The troops on the right continued
to hold this position, but those on the left, exposed to a flank fire, withdrew
to a belt of woods not far off. So ended the first general assault upon Port

1 This first important trial of the mettle of negro troops, repeated a few days later at Milliken's Bend (see
page 624), produced a profound impression in the army and throughout the country. "The position occupied
by these troops," said General Banks in his report, " was one of importance, and called for the utmost steadiness
and bravery in those to whom It was confided. It gives me pleasure to report that they answered every expecta-

CLOSE SIEGE OF PORT HUDSON.

633

Hudson, in which many a brave man passed away. 1 The National loss was
two hundred and ninety-three killed and fifteen hundred and forty-nine
wounded. The Confederate
not exceed
killed

three
and

loss did
hundred
wounded.

Banks was not disheart-
ened by this disastrous fail-
ure, lie occupied the next
day in burying his dead,
under the protection of a
truce, and then he went to
work with a determination
to reduce the post by a
regular siege. Bravely his
men worked in the hot June
sun, exposed every moment
to the bullets of the expert
sharp-shooters of the foe.
Day after day his cannon
and Farragut's great guns
shelled the works, disabling
many of their guns, and
giving the interior of their
fortifications the sad aspect
of almost universal destruction.

DESTRUCTION IN TUB WORKS AT PORT HUDSON.

They disturbed the repose of the garrison

tlon. In many respects their conduct was heroic. No troops could be more determined or more daring. They
mode, during the day, three charges upon the batteries of the enemy, suffering very heavy losses, and holding
their position at nightfall with the other troops on the right of our line"

The Confederates and their friends in the Free-labor States had sneered so much amleo persistently at the
Idea of negroes fighting, or being disciplined into efficient troops, that the intelligence of these tests was received
by the loyal people with the most generous enthusiasm.

" Niggers won't fight," ah, ha 1
"Niggers won't fight," ah, hal
" They are no good for war,

One in a hundred."
Let Mississippi's shore,
Flooded with negro gore,
Echo back evermore
" See our six hundred 1"

said a writer in the Albany Evening Journal, in imitation of Tennyson's " Charge of the Six Hundred " at Bala-
klava ; and George II. Boker, of Philadelphia, wrote that noble tribute to the valor of the Second Louisiana,
which closes with :

"Hundreds on hundreds fell;
But they are resting well.
Scourges and shackles strong
Never shall do them wrong.
O, to the living few.
Soldiers, be just arid true !
Hail them as comrades tried,
Fight with them side by side;
Never, in field or tent,
Scorn the black regiment"

1 Among the slain were Colonels Clark, of the Sixth Michigan, D. S. Cowles, of the One Hundred and
Twenty-eighth New York, Payne, of the Second Louisiana, and Chapin, of the Thirtieth Massachusetts. Gene-

634 A SEVERE STRUGGLE.

incessantly, day and night, and wore them down with fatigue and watching :
while their provisions were becoming scarce, their medical stores exhausted,
and famine was threatened. They were completely hemmed in, and could
receive nothing from the outer world but pure air, the sunlight, and the
messengers of death from their foes. Banks's little army, then not exceed-
ing twelve thousand effective men, was also closely hemmed in by a cordon
of intensely hostile inhabitants; and since the raid of Grierson and his
troop, Confederate cavalry had been concentrating in his rear, while
General Taylor was gathering a new army in the regions of Louisiana,
which the National troops had almost abandoned for the purpose of com-
pleting the task of opening the Mississippi. These might be joined by
a force from Texas sufficient to capture New Orleans, while General
Johnston might sweep down in the rear of Grant and fall upon Banks at
any moment.

There was peril before and peril behind, and Banks felt the necessity of a
speedy reduction of Port Hudson. He accordingly planned another assault,
and on the llth of June" he attempted to establish a new line
within easy attacking distance of the Confederate works, so as to
avoid the dangers of a movement on their front over a broad space of ground.
Under a heavy fire of his artillery the troops advanced at three o'clock in
the morning, and made their way through the abatis, when the movement
was promptly met by the garrison, and a severe struggle ensued. At first
some of the Confederates were driven within their works, and the Nationals,
under General Birge, attempted to scale them, but were repulsed. The
only soldier who reached the parapet was the gallant young Connecticut
officer, Lieutenant Stanton Allyn, who gave his life to his country not long
afterward, when his body was buried in the soil of Louisiana. 1 His men,
accustomed to his courage and skill, followed him willingly in the desperate
struggle; but the terrible fire from the works hurled them back, and the
entire attacking force was driven beyond the abatis with heavy loss, a con-
siderable number having been made prisoners.

This failure was followed three days later* by an attempt to carry the
works by storm. At that time Banks's army lay mostly in
two lines, forming a right angle, with a right and left, but
no center. The division of Grover, on the upper side of the post, extended
nearly three miles, from near the mouth of Thompson's Creek into the
interior, within supporting distance of General Auger's division, which
extended from near that point about the same distance to the river below
Port Hudson, and within hailing distance of the fleet. When the final dis-
position for assault was made, General Gardner was entreated to surrender
and stop the effusion* of blood, 2 but refused, hoping, like General Pemberton

ral T. W. Sherman was very seriously wounded, but finally recovered with the loss of a leg, and General Neal
Dow, of Main \ was slightly wounded. Colonel Cowles, of Hudson, New York, one of the noblest men in the
army, was wounded in the thickest of the fight by a bayonot thrust, and died half an hour afterward.

1 It was afterward removed to his native State.

a Banks sent a note to General Gardner on Saturday, the 13th, demanding an unconditional surrender of
the post. He complimented the commander and his garrison for their courage and fortitude, and demanded the
surrender in the name of humanity. He assured him of the overwhelming force of the Nationals in men and
cannon, and that Gardner's dispatch to Johnston, telling of his straits and the dangers of starvation, had been
intercepted, and the weakness of the post made known.

SECOND ASSAULT ON PORT HUDSON. 635

at Vicksburg, even while shot and shell were spreading death and destruc-
tion all around him, 1 that Johnston would come to his rescue.

It was arranged for the main attack to be made by Grover and Weitzel
on the extreme northeasterly angle of the Confederate works, while Generals
Auger and Dwight should make a feint or a real attack, as circumstances
might determine, on the right of the works. He was directed to press up
stealthily through a ravine, and rush over the defenses simultaneously with
the attack on their left.

On the National right two regiments were detailed as sharp-shooters
(Seventy-fifth New York and Twelfth Connecticut), to creep up and lie on
the exterior slope of the breastworks, followed by another regiment (the
Ninety-first New York), each man carrying his musket and a five-pound
hand-grenade, to throw over the parapet. A third regiment (Twenty-fourth
Connecticut) was detailed to carry sand-bags full of cotton, with which
to fill the ditch in front of the breastworks, and enable the storming"
party to pass easily. These were to be followed by the regiments of
Weitzel's brigade, under Colonel Smith, of the One Hundred and Fourteenth
New York, to be supported by the brigades of Colonels Kimball and Mor-
gan, under the general command of General Birge, the whole forming the
storming party on the right. In conjunction with these, and on their left,
moved a separate column under General Paine, composed of the old division
of General Emory. Both parties were under the command of General
Grover, who planned the attack. Acting Brigadier-General Dudley's
brigade, of Auger's division, was held in reserve. It was intended to have
Weitzel's command 2 effect a lodgment inside of the Confederate works, and
thus prepare the way for the operation of Paine's division. 3

This movement commenced just at dawn" (first along a covered way to
within three hundred yards of the works), and was met by a most
determined resistance by the Confederates, who, informed of it,
were massed at the point of attack. The skirmishers, making
their way over rough and vine-tangled ground, in the face of an incessant
fire in the front, reached the ditch, where they were terribly smitten by an
enfilading one, that drove them back; and even the hand-grenades were
made to plague their bearers, for they were caught up by the besieged and

1 It appears from the diary of a captured Confederate soldier (J. A. Kennedy, of the First Alabama), that
one of Bunks' s heavy guns had been named by the besieged, as we have observed one of the Confederate can-
non at Vicksburg was "Whistling Dick," and that it was the means of great destruction. Under date of
u Juno 9," he wrote : ' Whistling Dick is at work to-day, tearing our camps all to pieces. Our sick have been
removed to the ravine. It is difficult to get something to eat The Yankee artillery is playing upon us
all round The Hessians burned our commissary with a shell to-day."

a Wi-itzel's command was composed of his own brigade (Eighth Vermont, .Twelfth Connecticut, and Seventy-
fifth and One Hundred and Fourteenth New Tork), and the Twenty-fourth Connecticut and Fifty-second Mas-
sachusetts, of Grover's division. The Seventy-fifth New York and Twelfth Connecticut, forming a separate
command under Colonel Bubcock, of the first-named regiment, were detailed as skirmishers.

* Paine's column advanced to the assault in the following order : In the advance, as skirmishers, the Eighth
New Hampshire and Fourth Wisconsin. Behind these were five companies of the Fourth Massachusetts, Ono
Hundred and Tenth New York, and four companies of the Third Brigade. Closely upon these followed the
Third Brigade, under Colonel Gooding, composed of the Thirty-first, Thirty-eighth, and Fifty-third Massa-
chusetts, and One Hundred and Fifty-sixth and One Hundred and Seventy-fifth New York. Then a part of the
Second Brigade, under Colonel Fearing, composed of the One Hundred and Thirty-third and One Hundred and
Seventy third New York, the remainder of the brigade being detailed as skirmishers. After the Second Brigade
followed the First, under Colonel Ferris, composed of the Twenty-eighth Connecticut (his own). Fourth Massa-
chusetts, and four companies of the One Hundred and Tenth New York. Nirnm's battery and pioneers accom-
panied the column.

June 14,
18G3.

636 SIEGE OF PORT HUDSON CONTINUED.

sent back to explode among the assailants. Yet steadily the assaulting
column moved up and made a series of vigorous attacks, but effected little,
so heavily were the works manned at the point of the blow. Meanwhile,
Dwight was fighting desperately on the left, but without effecting an
entrance into the works, and Auger was as gallantly struggling, but to as
little purpose. Success was with the Confederates. The Nationals were
repulsed at all points, and at eleven o'clock in the morning the struggle
ceased. Banks had lost in this assault about seven hundred men, and Gene-
ral Paine, whose division had borne the brunt of the battle, was among the
wounded. Yet he had gained a decided advantage by the operation. Paine
and Weitzel on the right had advanced much nearer to the Confederate
works than they were before, where their men intrenched and began the
erection of new batteries, while on the left General Dwight carried and
held a hill which commanded the " citadel " a vital point of the intrench-
ments and he was thereby enabled a few days later to seize and hold
another point on the same ridge with the " citadel," within ten yards of the
Confederate line.

Now again the siege went on in the usual way. There was mining
and counter-mining. The shells from the army and navy poured upon
the garrison, and fearfully increased the miseries of the worn and half-
starving troops. Gun after gun on the Confederate works was disabled,
until at length only fifteen effective ones remained on the landward side ;
only twenty rounds to each man of the ammunition for small arms was
left, and the garrison were beginning to subsist on mule-meat, and even
fricasseed rats. 1 At the same time, Banks had nearly completed a mine, by
which thirty barrels of gunpowder would have been exploded under
the "citadel." The beleaguered garrison could have held out but a
few days longer. Their gallant leader had begun to despair of aid from
Johnston, and was at his wit's end, when he and his troops were suddenly
startled by the thunder of cannon and loud cheering along
* ne wno ^ e National line" and upon the river squadron, followed
by the shouts of pickets " Vicksburg has surrendered !" This
was the knell to Gardner's hopes. At midnight he sent a note by a flag
to General Banks, inquiring if the report were true, and if so, asking for a
cessation of hostilities, with a view to the consideration of terms for surren-
dering the position. Banks assured Gardner that he had an official dispatch
from General Grant to that effect, dated on the 4th instant, but he refused
his consent to a cessation of hostilities for the purpose named. Gardner
then called a council of officers, composed of General Beale, Colonels Stead-
man, Miles, Lyle, and Shelby, and Lieutenant-Colonel M. J. Smith, when it
was agreed to surrender, and the commander proposed to Banks the
appointment of joint commissioners to arrange the terms. This was agreed
to, and General Charles P. Stone, Colonel Henry W. Birgc, and Lieutenant -
Colonel Richard B. Irwin were chosen for the purpose on the part of Banks.
The terms agreed upon were the surrender of the post and its appurtenances,
the officers and privates to receive the treatment due prisoners of war, and

1 The garrison's supply of meat gave out on the 30th of June, when Gardner ordered mules to be slain for
food. " Many of the men, as if in mockery of famine, caught rats and ate them, declaring that they were better
than squirrels." Narrative of a Confederate writer, dated Mobile, July 20, 1863.

SURRENDER OF PORT HUDSON.

637

7, 1863.

BANKS'S IIEAD-QUABTEF8, FOBT 1IUU8ON.

to retain their private property ; the garrison to stack their arms and colors
in submission on the following day. The surrender was duly completed early
in the morning of the 9th, when six thousand four hundred and
eight men, including four hundred and fifty-five officers, became
prisoners of war, and the National troops took possession of the post. 1 The
little hamlet of Port Hudson, within
the lines, composed of a few houses
and a small church, Avas in ruins.
General Banks found comfortable quar-
ters at the farm-house of Riley's plan-
tation, not far distant, which had sur-
vived the storm of war. Farragut,
with the veteran Hartford and the
Albatross, moved down to Port Hud-
son, and received the cordial greetings
of the troops.

Banks's loss in men during the siege
of forty-five days was about three
thousand, and that of Gardner about
eight hundred. The spoils of victory were the important post, two steamers,
fifty-one pieces of artillery, five thousand small arms, and a large quantity
of fixed ammunition for the latter and for cannon. Banks stated that
his winnings for the campaign which then ended so gloriously for the
National arms, amounted to ten thousand five hundred and eighty-four pris-
oners, seventy-three guns, six thousand small arms, three gun-boats, eight
transports, and a large quantity of cotton, cattle, and other property of
immense value.

This conquest gave the final blow in the removal of the obstructions, to
the free navigation of the Mississippi River by Confederate batteries, for
which Fremont planned and worked so earnestly in the first year of the
war, and for Avhich the "Western troops fought so gallantly and persistently.
The first of these obstructions, as we have seen, was erected at Vicksburg,*
and there the finishing blow was really given, for the fall of Port Hudson
was but a consequence of the siege and surrender of Vicksburg. The Mis-
sissippi was now open to the passage of vessels upon its bosom, from
St. Louis to New Orleans, and its waters, as the President said, imob-
structed by batteries or other impediments, now " went unvexed to the
sea." On the 16th of July the steamer Imperial, from St. Louis, arrived
at New Orleans, making the first communication of the kind between
those cities for two years. On the 28th of the same month she returned
to her wharf at St. Louis, announcing the fact that the great highway of
the commerce of the Mississippi Valley was again open, and was hailed
with the welcoming shouts of thousands of citizens.

The captui-e of Vicksburg and Port Hudson, by which powerful portions
of the Confederacy were severed and weakened, was hailed with the most

1 General Banks deputed General George L. Andrews to receive the surrender. To him General Gardner
offered his sword. Andrews received it, but immediately n-turncd it to the general, complimenting him for
maintaining the defense of the post so gallantly.

1 See n-ig" 1B4, -volume I.

638 THE FALL OF VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON.

profound satisfaction by the loyal people of the Republic. Occurring at the
moment when the aggressive power of the Confederates was fatally smitten
at Gettysburg, it gave assurances of the final triumph of the Government
over its enemies. It dismayed the conspirators, and destroyed the hopes of
the ruling classes abroad, who, until that time, had believed they would
speedily see an ignominious ending of the great experiment of republican
government in America. It utterly confounded those prophets among the
political leaders in the Free-labor States who sympathized with the con-
spirators, and who, at that very moment, as we shall observe hereafter, were
prophesying, in apparent accordance with their own wishes, the speedy tri-
umph of Jefferson Davis and his legions, civil and military. In the blindness
of partisan zeal, they were unable to discover the great lights of eternal prin-
ciples that were illuminating the pathways of those who were contending
for the life of a great Nation and the Rights of Man. They and the conspir-
ators seemed to forget that there is a God whose throne is established upon
JUSTICE and MERCY, whose ear is ever open to the cry of the oppressed, and
whose arm is ever bared in the defense of the righteous.

The writer visited the theater of events described in this and the prece-
ding chapter in April, 1866. He had spent a few days in New Orleans, where
he had experienced the kind courtesies of Generals Sheridan and Hartsuif,
and held interviews with several Confederate leaders, mostly temporary visit-
ors there. Among these was General Frank K. Gardner, the commander at
Port Hudson, who was residing in the city, and pursuing the business of a
civil engineer, and from him the writer received interesting facts then, and

O * O 7

afterward by letter, concerning the siege of Port Hudson, and also of Mobile,
where Gardner was in command at a later period of the war.

The writer left New Orleans on the fine river steamer Indiana, on the
afternoon of the 16th," intending to stop at Port Hudson that

A nrll 1 9fifl

night. The weather was fine, and the Mississippi was full to the
brim with the spring flood, so that from the main deck we had a perfect view
of the country on both sides of the great river. Among the passengers was
a short, stout man, a little past sixty years of age, who happened to be the
first one whom the writer addressed. When the former found that the lat-
ter was from the North, he began to curse the " Yankees " furiously.
Remembering the wisdom uttered by the sacred sage, that " a soft answer
turneth away wrath," the author soon allayed the passions of his elder, and
during the remainder of the voyage they journeyed pleasantly together.
The wrathful man had been a major in Forrest's cavalry, and was a citizen
of Vicksburg. He imparted to the author a great deal of information con-
cerning the interior of the Confederate cavalry service, in which he was
largely engaged, and of the leading men in that service. He said Forrest
expressed his principles of action in that service by saying, " War means
fight, and fight means kill we want butfeiv prisoners." This major had been
an imprisoned spy in Sherman's camp at Vicksburg, under sentence of death
by hanging the next morning. He was confined in a shanty. A heavy
rain-storm came up in the evening, and while the guard was engaged for a
moment in taking measures to keep out the water, the prisoner sprang into
the black night, and, being well acquainted with the region, escaped.

We passed Baton Rouge early in the evening, and just afterward we

VOYAGE FROM NEW ORLEANS TO VICKSBURG. 639

glided by the roaring mouth of an immense crevasse, or breach in the levee,
out of which a flood was pouring into the lower ground on the western side
of the river, and submerging rich plantations over an area of hundreds of
square miles. Informed that Port Hudson was a desolation, and then with-
out a lodging-place, and that we should pass it at midnight, the writer con-
cluded to omit his intended visit there, feeling little regret, for the kind
hands of friends, the photographic art, and official records, had already given
him more information concerning things and events there than he could pos-
sibly have learned by personal observation. Toward morning we passed the
mouth of the Red River, and at sunrise were abreast the bluff, on the east
side of the Mississippi, on which Fort Adams stood, a little north of the
boundary-line between the States of Mississippi and Louisiana.

To the writer, who was a voyager on the Mississippi for the first time,
the scenery was most strange. On each side were wide clearings, on which
now were the ruins of many rich plantations, bordered by swamps covered
with cypress-trees, and lying lower than the river, for the Mississippi, like
the Nile, is now running upon a 1'idge, the ground sloping gently to these
morasses. Here and there an alluvial bluff was seen, breaking the monotony,
and everywhere at that high-Avater season the green points that project
into the river, and shores covered with cotton-wood, shrubs, and larger trees,
were crumbling and disappearing in the flood. After a detention of some
hours, because of an accident to our steamer, we passed up the river, and,
at near midnight, landed at Vicksburg.

During the writer's visit at Vicksburg he was the recipient of the kindest
courtesies from Major-General T. J. Wood (then the commander of the
Department of the Mississippi) and his family, and from members of his
staff, and other officers stationed there. General Wood offered the services
of an ambulance, horses, and driver, and the company of one of his staff, in
visiting the places of historic interest about Vicksburg. Fortunately for the
writer, that companion Avas Captain W. J. White, Avho, as has been already
observed, Avas a member of General Legget's staff during the siege and at
the time of the surren-
der. We visited to-
gether every place and
object of interest in the
city and along the lines,
from beloAV the rail-
way, on the Warrenton
road, to Chickasaw
Bayou, and finding
here and there Union
people, who had suf-
fered much "in mind,
body, and estate."
Among these Avas the
family of Mr. Shirley, who was a leading laAvyer of Vicksburg. His house
was on the old Jackson road, not far from Fort Hill, and was occupied by
General Logan as his head-quarters. Being on a lofty eminence, overlooking
much of the field of operations, it was the freauent resort of General Grant

THE SHIRLEY HOUSE.

640 VISIT TO VICKSBURG AND VICINITY.

and other commanders during the siege. It was also a target for Confede-
rate shot and shell, by which it was much shattered. It was still in a dilapi-
dated state when we visited it, and dined with Mrs. Shirley and her daughter.
The husband and father, who was quite aged, had sunk under the operations
of anxiety, privations, and exposure in the woods, ravines, and caves during
the siege, and died soon after the city was occupied by the National troops.
The accomplished daughter kept a diary during the siege, each day's record
closing with a prediction that success would crown the efforts of the Unionists.
" The wish was father to the thought," and her patriotism was rewarded
with the possession of the heart and hand of the gallant Colonel (afterward
General) Eaton, of the National army. At the time of our visit she was a
young bride.

From Mrs. Shirley's we rode to the head-quarters of General Grant, in the
cane-brake, and then over the rough Walnut Hills to Chickasaw Bayou, passing
on the way the house of Dr. Smith, who acted as guide to General S. D. Lee,
in the fight with Sherman. He accompanied us to the theater of strife, and
pointed out the various localities of interest connected with that conflict.
After making a drawing of the battle-ground on the bayou, delineated on page
579, in the presence of the doctor, we left him and passed on to the Valley
road, along the bottom, between the hills and the bayou, sketching the Indian
Mound (see page 577) on the way, and rode into Vicksburg from the north
through the deep cuts in the hills, just as a thunder-storm, which had been
gathering for some time, fell upon the city. On the following morning the
writer departed by railway for Jackson, and the region of Sherman's destruc-
tive march toward Alabama as far as Meridian, the stirring events of which
will be considered presently.

EN'D OF VOLUME II.

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