Mississippi And The Potomac

( Originally Published 1898 )

WHILE the Army of the Potomac, under McClellan, was receiving its lessons in drill, a lively little war was going on in Missouri, which was about equally divided between secessionists and Union men; the division often extending to families, and separating father from son, or brother from brother.

A motley army of Rebels, with no uniforms, and with equipments to a great extent improvised, was collected in the southwest corner of the state, and another crossed the Mississippi to New Madrid. The first army was commanded by Price and Macbride, the other by Pillow. Their united strength was about ten or twelve thousand men. They planned to effect a junction and move on St. Louis, driving the Federals out of the state; to oppose them was only Lyon at Springfield, half way between the two Confederate armies and to the north of them. He was joined by General Sigel, and they mustered about five thousand troops. The Confederates attacked after an exhausting march; but Lyon had sent Sigel round to attack their rear, and at first the day seemed going against them; but Sigel's men were surprised by a body of men under the Union flag, who, upon coming to close quarters, discovered themselves as Confederates, and drove the Federals in a panic. This left Lyon to continue the fight alone, which he did with great valor; but he was killed while leading his column at the enemy, having already been twice wounded. In that charge the enemy were temporarily repulsed, and the Union men seized the opportunity to retreat; they were not pursued: "we were glad to see them go," said a Confederate officer. The total losses on either side were not greatly over a thousand; but the death of Lyon, who had showed the finest soldierly qualities, outweighed that of many ordinary men. The battle was lost largely because raw troops cannot be trusted to carry out maneuvers under fire; but the Confederates were as raw as the Federals. It was numbers that won the day; in personal courage the two sides were alike.

Another defeat which was not a disgrace was sustained by the Union forces under Colonel Mulligan, a valiant fighter, as his name implies. He had with him three thou-sand men, and he intrenched himself on a hill to withstand the attack of Price with fourteen thousand. He was short of provisions and ammunition, and the conflict was hopeless; the army of Price, with plenty of artillery, completely surrounded his position, and might have carried it at once by assault; but being still too green to know their own strength, they proceeded by bombardment. At the end of the day Mulligan still held his position, though he had suffered loss and was in straits for water, and his ammunition was running low. The next day the attack was resumed; bales of hemp were used as movable breastworks by the enemy to approach the works. Mulligan set them afire with hot shot; they were extinguished and again pushed forward; suddenly the firing ceased, for, unknown to the gallant Irishman, a lieutenant of his command had displayed the white flag. He ordered it hauled down, and that the fighting go on.

But his officers protested that this was butchery, and he reluctantly called a council of war, which was unainmous for surrender. "We gave up the place, but I don't know nor care upon what conditions," said Mulligan afterward. His valiant resistance was a stimulus to Northern spirits, and his Irish Brigade carried the word "Lexington" on its banner ever after.

It was now November, and Fremont, who had been in the northeast part of the state, advanced with a considerable force toward the southwest, driving the enemy before him; and at Springfield a Polish officer of his bodyguard charged with one hundred and fifty cavalry upon fifteen hundred Confederates, put them to flight, raised the Uinon flag over the court house, captured the enemy's flag, and rode back. But Fremont apprehended that Price, whom he was pushing back, might be reenforced by an army of ten thousand men under Polk, at Columbus, Kentucky; and he ordered a young subordinate of his, Ulysses S. Grant by name, to make a demonstration on the Mississippi to keep them in check.

Grant had resigned his commission in the regular army after serving through the Mexican war, but had re-enlisted at the outbreak of the Rebellion, and after some incidental disappointments, now found himself heading in the right direction. He set out by river for Cairo with five regiments, some cavalry, and a couple of guns, on the 6th of November. The enemy were in full force at Columbus; but at Belmont, above, there was a detachment which he landed to attack, sending down his gunboats meanwhile to amuse the ten thousand in Columbus. Polk was at first puzzled by Grant's movements, for he believed that a movement on Columbus must be intended, and was at a loss to under-stand why Belmont, on the other side of the river, should be attacked. Comprehending at length that the fighting was to be at the latter place, he began to move troops across the river to take part in it. Grant meanwhile was moving steadily through the woods on the Rebel camp; the fighting was stubborn, and he had his horse killed; but the Rebels gave way at last, and plunged down the steep bank to the river, where they might all have been captured had the Federals acted in a rational manner; but they turned to plundering the camp, and could not be rallied till Polk was upon them, between them and their transports. This was where a little discipline would have been worth many thou-sand men. They were painc-stricken, and could not obey orders; but " We cut our way in here, and we can cut our way out again," said Grant; and at length he reformed them and they succeeded in forcing a way to their boats. When they were ready to leave, Grant went back to look after his rear guard; but the rear guard had deserted its post and was already aboard. Grant himself only escaped by riding his horse down the almost perpendicular clay bank of the river. A plank was thrown out to the shore, and he rode on board the transport. The enemy fired on the boats from the banks; but the boats returned the fire with shell, inflicting some loss. A bullet went through a sofa in the cabin of the transport, on which Grant had a moment before been lying. Each army in this engagement lost about six hundred men. It was only another skirmish; but how near the North came to losing the man who was chiefly instrumental in leading her armies to victory ! What is the meaning of these "narrow escapes"? The ways of God are unsearchable. Washington, Grant, almost all great commanders, have felt death brush against them as he passed. So does the common private in the ranks; and it is often the lives that seem most precious that are lost. But human history is evolved, and that which is to be is accomplished.

The so-called battle of Ball's Bluff was an affair hardly comprehensible. The banks of the Potomac thirty miles above Washington are steep and high, and are wooded to their edge, but at the bluff called after the name of the farmer who lived near it, there is a clearing about seven acres in area. Here, of all places in the world, a force of Federals numbering seven hundred, who had been sent over to reconnoiter, sat down to rest on the 21st of October. On the Maryland shore opposite was Colonel Baker with another force. Hearing firing, and finding that there were not boats adequate to bring the seven hundred back while an enemy was firing at them, Baker, a brave man but no tactician, reasoned that it was incumbent on him to go over to them; since they might hold the enemy in check till he arrived, when the combined forces would be sufficient for victory. The Confederates let him and his men come across, and then developed their attack. Three more Confederate regiments joined the others and fire was opened from the woods. Baker, walking up and down before his men to encourage them, was suddenly assailed by a single warrior, who came out in front of his comrades and killed him with his revolver at five paces' distance. The second in command ordered a retreat, and the Federals began to hurry down the steep slope to the river; the Confederates stood above and shot down the huddled masses at their leisure, and many were drowned in attempting to swim the swift stream. Between seven and eight hundred survivors were captured. If the Federals had arranged this battle especially with a view to insuring their own slaughter, they could not have managed it better.

All operations of this kind, from the battle of Bull Run to the time when Grant began to hammer at the line of defense extending between Bowling Green and Columbus, were in the nature of what boxers would call sparring for an opening, and to learn each other's style and resources. No comprehensive scheme of a general campaign had been worked out on either side. Indeed the Confederates, though they were successful in most of the engagements, were in a defensive attitude; they made no attempt to invade North ern territory. They evidently misunderstood the Northern situation and purposes, and fancied the war was practically over; and this seduced them into neglecting preparations, military and financial, which would have served them well later on. They were confident that they could protect them-selves in their own chosen country, and did not think it worth their while to become aggressive. Their commissariat was inefficient, and they wasted power in incoherent activities. They gradually retreated before our advance in western Virginia, which was resolutely loyal; for the mountaineers had never had slaves, and owned no sympathy for those who did. Operations by sea during this first year of the war were favorable at the North; Pamlico Sound, within Cape Hatteras, was lost to the South by the capture of the two forts at Hatteras Inlet by Commodore Stringham, and their occupation by General Butler. Later, on the 29th of October, the forts at Port Royal were assaulted by Commodore Dupont of the Federal navy and garrisoned by a force under General Thomas W. Sherman. The efforts of the South were confined to blockade-running and to privateering, in both of which they were fairly successful: the privateer "Savannah" ran the blockade at Charleston in June; but her career was stopped by the United States brig "Perry," after she had captured one prize. The "Petrel," another privateer, was captured through the mistake she made in attacking the United States frigate "St. Lawrence," under the delusion that she was a merchantman. Suddenly the black sides of the war-ship grinned horribly with tiers of guns, and the "Petrel" was sunk before she could get out of range. Captain Semmes, however, of the privateer "Sumter," from New Orleans, achieved fame and made several valuable captures; but he was finally bottled up by the Uinted States "Tuscarora" in the Bay of Gibraltar, and could escape only by selling his vessel.

The most stirring sea affair of the year was the holding up of the British ship "Trent" by Captain Wilkes of the United States steamer "San Jacinto," and the taking from her of the Confederate commissioners Slidell and Mason. These gentlemen were on their way to Europe to try to negotiate an alliance with England or France; being encouraged thereto by the recognition of belligerency which these countries had almost immediately accorded to the Confederacy. The seizure of them by Wilkes, while under the protection of a neutral flag, was contrary to international usages; and England, who was very sensitive to infringements of these usages when committed . by any other nation than herself, made preparations for war. Her attitude to-ward the North throughout the war was covertly hostile; she favored the South for two reasons : first, because she perceived that the prosecution of the war would weaken both South and North, and, if it were decided by the victory of the South, would render America no longer formidable; and secondly, because the blockade of Southern ports was inconvenient to England. Northern feeling was much aroused; it was thought that England was taking advantage of our embarrassment to injure us; and there was a large party who advocated accepting her offer of battle. But Lincoln was not a man to risk the ruin of his country on a point of pique; England was technically in the right, and this country could not afford to fight in defense of a wrong, even were she otherwise in a condition to face so powerful a nation as England on the sea. The act of Captain Wilkes was therefore disavowed, and Slidell and Mason were re-turned. But there was a latent purpose in the North to "take it out" of England when opportunity hereafter served. Fortunately for the peace of the world, the prolongation of the war, and the complexion of affairs afterward, prevented this; but the incident kept alive a feeling of hostility to England which can hardly be said to have disappeared entirely even yet.

At the close of the year, then, the record showed that while the South had won the most considerable battles, the North had secured West Virginia, Kentucky and Missouri; had established a tolerably effective blockade of the whole Southern coast, and had got possession of Fort Monroe, Fort Pickens, Hatteras Inlet and Port Royal. She had besides been successful in various small battles or skirmishes. In the ability of the general officers, both sides seemed on an equality; and the courage of the men on the field of battle was also equal. In this connection it may be observed that raw soldiers had been found to be almost as trustworthy as regulars for charges in the face of the enemy, or for holding positions against attack; what they lacked was steadiness in the face of either success or reverse; if they found them-selves flanked, or were for any reason bewildered and thrown into confusion, they were apt to run. Only discipline and experience could correct these faults; and the armies on either side were sure of getting abundance of both. Operations in the field were now conducted on a scale, and with numbers, hitherto unequaled in warfare; and of course the chances of losing one's bearings were correspondingly increased.

By the time the year 1862 had set in, the Northern plan of campaign was mainly settled; there was to be no more sparring, but fighting in earnest. Half a million men were ready to serve on the Union side, and perhaps a hundred and fifty thousand less on the side of the South. Operations were carried on over a vast area, but the vital movement was that against the Confederate defense on the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers, for the command of the east and west railway. In this, co-operated Thomas on the east, and Buell and Grant, assisted by the gunboats of Commodore Foote, on the rivers. The defense was conducted by Beauregard and A. S. Johnston. The chief and decisive engagements were the capture by Grant and Foote of Forts Henry and Donelson, which compelled the evacuation by the Confederates of Columbus and Bowling Green; the great battle of Shiloh, which opened Corinth to the Federals; the three weeks' siege and capture of Island No. 10, in the Mississippi below Columbus, by Foote and Pope; and the surrender of Memphis. At this juncture Bragg, of the Confederates, who was stationed at Chattanooga, marched on Louisville, his course taking him across the states of Tennessee and Kentucky, with the object of cutting off the Union communications. Buell, who was moving southward, fell back to Nashville, and then, divining Bragg's plan, he raced against him for the Ohio, where he arrived first and received large re-enforcements. This obliged Bragg to fall back to Perryville, forty miles south by west of Louisville; here he turned on Buell and a severe battle was fought, Bragg getting away that night; and Buell, who had suffered him to es-cape, was superseded by Rosecranz. Grant, meanwhile, whose force had been weakened by the re-enforcements sent to Buell, was threatened by Price and Van Dorn, with a view to the recapture of Corinth. Grant maneuvered, with the aid of Rosecranz, to defeat them separately; but owing to a misunderstanding, Price escaped Rosecranz, and uniting with Van Dorn, the two besieged Rosecranz in Corinth, but were defeated, and pursued with loss. Assuming command of Buell's army at Nashville, Rosecranz set out to encounter Bragg at Murfreesboro', twenty-five miles south-east. Each general attacked the other's right. Bragg was at first successful, falling on his enemy as the latter's left was crossing a small river. Sheridan, however, supported Rosecranz's weak right until his left could get into action; upon which the Confederates charged in vain. Renewing the attack two days later, and being again repulsed, Bragg retreated; but the losses on both sides had been enormous--a fourth part of the number engaged. Chattanooga was thus laid open to the Federals.

A simultaneous attempt by Grant in co-operation with Sherman to capture Vicksburg, further down the Mississippi, was defeated by a brilliant cavalry raid by Van Dorn, destroying Grant's supplies at Holly Springs. Grant had meant to descend the river with Porter from Memphis, while Sherman was to make his attack at Chickasaw Bayou, north of Vicksburg. Sherman, knowing nothing of the event which kept Grant from moving, made his attack accordingly, but was repulsed. Farragut had al-ready captured New Orleans; Burnside had got possession of Roanoke Island, controlling the coast of upper North Carolina. Successes in Florida and Georgia put every city on the coast except Savannah, Charleston and Wilmington into Federal hands; to counterbalance these victories, the iron-clad "Merrimac" entered Hampton Roads and sunk the "Cumberland" and destroyed the "Congress" ; but on her return to finish her work on the rest of the fleet next day, she was challenged by the "Monitor," and obliged to retreat. This duel may be said to have saved the Union cause; for had the "Merrimac" not been opposed, she and other vessels of her sort could have destroyed the Union fleet, Fort Monroe, and the other coast defenses in Union possession; checked the Peninsular campaign, which was then in progress; given free egress for Southern Cotton, and won the support of Europe for the Confederacy.—Let us now examine some of these operations from a closer point of view.

At the beginning of the combined movements to break the Columbus-Bowling Green line, Buell was at Louisville. Zollicoffer, a Confederate, was at Mill Spring on the Cumberland River, some hundred miles to the south. Against him Buell sent General Thomas, who, after a march in the mud, made ready to attack; but the Confederates decided that they themselves would attack, and they moved by night on Thomas's camp at Logan's Cross-Roads, ten miles away. Thomas was too experienced a soldier to be caught off his guard; but the impact of the Confederates against his left was not to be resisted ; Zollicoffer himself, in a rubber coat which hid his uniform, directed the attack. In the misty drizzle of the January dawn things were of ambiguous aspect, and Colonel Frye, a Federal officer, found himself rubbing elbows with the officer in the rubber coat; each mistook the other for one of his side. "Are you fighting your friends?" asked the Confederate, as Frye was ordering his men to fire on a Mississippi regiment.-"Certainly not!" returned Frye, staring : and at that moment Zollicoffer's aid recognized Frye's uniform and emptied his pistol at it. Frye could take a hint, even on a January morning; he drew his revolver, fired a bullet through Zollicoffer's breast, and was off, himself untouched. Zollicoffer's death took the heart out of his men; the Ninth Ohio drove through their center with a bayonet charge; they turned, and in a few minutes were utterly routed. Thomas pursued them back to Mill Spring, and made arrangements to cut off their escape; but a steamer stole up in the night and had ferried almost all the troops across the river be-fore dawn. When she was discovered, a shot from the battery at the river bank sunk her; the stable door was once more shut after the horse had escaped. But abundant munitions of war remained to console the victors. The battle demolished Confederate resistance in the east, and Grant, Buell and Foote could conduct their operations with an undivided mind.

The Tennessee and Cumberland rivers, running nearly parallel for the last hundred miles of their course, empty into the Ohio within about ten miles of each other, and forty miles east of the Ohio's junction with the Mississippi„ at Cairo. Roads were almost non-existent in this region, and indeed in most parts of the United States, at this time, and the only means of extended travel were by waterway or railway. The Tennessee and Cumberland, therefore, must be guarded to prevent the Federals from penetrating the Confederate line. This was done by the erection of Forts Henry and Donelson, about eighty or a hundred miles south of the mouths. Had it not been for the opposition of McClellan, this defense would have been attacked by the Union troops earlier in the war. But McClellan, just then, could think of nothing but drill, and Richmond. On the 2d of February, however, Grant got permission to attack Fort Henry on the Tennessee (the western of the two rivers), and was off from Cairo with seventeen thousand men. The flotilla, protected by iron-clad gunboats, took the army up the river in two installments; some torpedoes obstructing the channel were removed, and on the morning of the 6th the troops and gunboats advanced to the assault. The Confederates, who had but four thousand men, were additionally handicapped by the fact that a freshet in the river had inundated their fort, so that they were fighting mid-leg deep in water. On the other hand, the roads were almost impassable, and delayed Grant's march till the fight, conducted between the fort and gunboats, was over. It was a lively artillery duel, and the flagship was disabled; but the gun-boats and the river combined finally prevailed, and Tilghman, having got most of his garrison safely off on the road to Fort Donelson on the Cumberland, twelve miles away, hauled down his flag, and the victors actually sailed into his works.

While Grant was preparing to follow on to Fort Donelson, he sent the gunboats up the river into Alabama to destroy whatever military works they could find. He reconnoitered Fort Donelson, and found it mounted on a high hill at the bend of the Cumberland—a position almost impregnable compared with that of Fort Henry. The approach up the river was commanded by two water batteries; it was skirted by log redoubts and earthworks with abattis extending for three miles up and down stream. The guns were heavy, and the garrison numbered twenty thousand men; for Johnston, who commanded in this district, had concentrated all his best troops here. Unfortunately he had in-trusted the command to General Floyd, formerly Secretary of War under Buchanan, a man destitute of honor and courage. Grant knew Floyd's character, and planned his attack accordingly.

The delay caused to his advance by the rains enabled heavy re-enforcements to reach him by order of Halleck, and before the critical moment arrived, his fifteen thousand men had been increased to near thirty. On the morning of February 12th, a warm, spring-like day, he marched in two divisions along parallel roads. McClernand and Smith led the divisions till, toward sunset, they startled the enemy's pickets. In the morning a line was formed covering the land side of the enemy's works. While this was being done, sharpshooters were thrown forward to harass the enemy. Finding his line too thin, Grant sent back to Fort Henry for Lew Wallace, who had been left in charge there with the rear guard. He was stringing out his men over eight miles of country ; and if the twenty thousand men in the fort made a sally at any point, it must be successful. But Grant thought that Floyd would not make a sally, and therefore he took chances. In his plan of battle, he had intended to use his troops only to hem in the enemy, letting the gunboats reduce the water batteries and guard the approaches up and down stream. But matters turned out differently. In the first place, McClernand, much annoyed by a battery on the Confederate left, ordered it taken, though it was a very strong position, and was defended by five regiments against the three which were to attack. The assault was gallantly delivered and long sustained, but it failed, and the loss was heavy. Night fell and with it came a frost, which added to the discomfort of the soldiers. But in the morinng Wallace arrived with his command, and was stationed on the Uinon left. If Floyd had made a sally that night, he would have been successful; but now his chance was gone. The following afternoon the gunboats arrived, and opened their bombardment, receiving a vigorous reply. They inflicted serious damage on the works, but two of them were disabled, and at evening all dropped down stream out of range. The honors were with the fort; but Floyd had become alarmed, and wished to retreat. During the night ten thousand of his troops were massed on the left of the fort, whence a road goes southward to Charlotte. In the morning the sally began, the brunt of it falling on McClernand. His division was forced back, Lew Wallace hesitated to support him without orders from Grant, who had gone down the river to confer with Foote, and it was not until late in the day that he threw his command across the path of the advancing Confederates and checked them. At that moment Grant rode up.

He had not anticipated any sortie from Floyd, and had to make his dispositions at a moment's warning. Happeinng to hear from one of the soldiers that the Confederates were carrying three days' rations, he at once perceived that their purpose had been not to attack, but to fight their way out. He ordered Wallace to retake the position won that morning from McClernand, and then, riding to the Federal left, he directed General Smith to carry the formidable works on the Confederate right.

Wallace intrusted the assault of the position held by the Confederate Pillow to Colonel Morgan Smith with a Missouri and an Illinois regiment. They met a killing fire, but continued to go forward; Colonel Smith's cigar was cut from his mouth by a bullet; a soldier handed him another, which he lit, and went on. A few minutes later the Union men were in the works, and the line of escape which Pillow had opened, but had delayed to take advantage of, was closed again. Meanwhile, at the other end of the line, General Smith, on horseback, his gray hair blowing out behind him, was leading an even more perilous assault. The enemy's fire was very terrible; the hill was steep; concealed rifle-pits and breastworks commanded every part of it; a formidable abattis delayed the assailants at the most difficult montent; as they went forward, the ground behind them was strewn with bodies dead or wounded. General Smith was the most conspicuous figure there, but his bearing put a new heart in every man who followed him. The setting sun flung the shadows of the Federals before them as at last they reached the crest of the hill and poured into the works. The Confederates fled, nor could the valiant Buckner rally them. It was a great day for the Smiths. It was an ill day for Floyd and Pillow; and to make it worse, the latter, after his success in the morning, had telegraphed to Johnston that he had won a great victory, and the news appeared in all the Southern journals the next morning, at the very time that Fort Donelson was being unconditionally surrendered, and Pillow and Floyd, abandoning their trust, had saved themselves by flight, followed by the hisses of their own men. For Floyd, fearing to fall into Federal hands with his record in the War Department, had devolved his command upon Pillow, and Pillow had shifted it to Buckner; who, after their departure, sent word to Grant to ask him what terms he would accord him. All the world has heard Grant's reply : "No terms except an immediate and unconditional surrender can be accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works."

On the Sunday morning, February 17th, the Federal troops marched into the fort with flags flying and bands playing, while gunboats fired salutes along the river front, and thousands of spectators cheered. "Had I been in command, general, you wouldn't have got Donelson so easily," remarked Buckner to Grant, afterward. "I shouldn't have tried it in the way I did," was Grant's reply. For in war, as in everything else that men do, the personal equation tells.

This victory took Kentucky and Tennessee from the South, caused the evacuation of Columbus and Bowling Green and Nashville, and depressed Southern stock in Europe. And all over the North gossips were saying to one another, "This fellow Grant seems to be a good man—who is he? U. S. Grant:—Unconditional Surrender Grant, I suppose!"

But Grant had enemies other than those openly opposed against him; and some of these, induced by what dishonorable jealousy we need not inquire, sought to crush him in the bloom of his fame. An anonymous letter of abuse was sent to Halleck at Washington; his replies to inquiries from Halleck were kept back in the telegraph office; and he was suddenly suspended from command. Before the slanders were refuted, and he was reinstated, valuable time had been lost. He had already planned a movement on Corinth, and now commenced it; but Johnston, one of the best generals of the Confederacy, had foreseen that this railroad center would be attacked, and had been preparing its defense. Beauregard, Polk, Van Dorn, the brave braggart, and Braxton Bragg assembled there from all quarters with all the men they could muster, till the total reached fifty thou-sand. Grant had to work against different material from that which he had encountered at Fort Donelson.

Grant had about thirty thousand men at Donelson, and Buell, at Nashville, had thirty-seven thousand. These must be united, and the Confederates would be outnumbered. Grant got his army down to Pittsburg Landing on the Tennessee, twenty miles north of Corinth, and his camp extended to Shiloh church. He was waiting for Buell; but he neglected to fortify his position, and meanwhile rode off to look for news of Buell at the Landing. The Confederates knew that Buell was expected, and that if they wished to have the advantage in the battle, they must not wait to be attacked. A council of war decided to surprise the Federal camp at daybreak on the 5th of April. Whether it was a surprise, or whether it had been anticipated, may never be deter-mined; the Southerners think it was a surprise; Sherman and Grant appear to be of another opinion. At all events the preparations to withstand it were not effective. The pickets were driven in early in the morning of the 6th, and though a line was formed after a fashion by Prentiss's regiments, it did not stand before the rush of General Hardee's troops. Had Hardee pressed on he might have carried the commands of Sherman and McClernand; but his men stopped to plunder Prentiss's camp, and they found the second Federal line more stubborn. As the battle continued over the uneven ground, it became divided into a number of separate engagements. Sherman was pressed hard by Hardee, supported by Bragg, and began to be outflanked. He was separated from Prentiss, but was joined by McClernand, and held his own. The nature of the ground and the confusion made it impossible for Grant to control the entire movements, and he applied himself to keeping the various divisions up to their work, being solicitous chiefly to defend his position at Pittsburg Landing during the day; for on the morrow Buell would arrive. But the Federals were being worsted, and numbers of them had given up the fight and were struggling for places of safety along the river bank. At two in the afternoon Sherman and McClernand, on the right, were being slowly forced back, until they had lost a mile ; Prentiss and Wallace, hastily intrenched on a low hill, were holding the key of the Federal battle, and the day depended upon their resistance. Bragg attacked it again and again, and was repulsed with terrible slaughter. This was the "Hornet's Nest" which sent forth so many fatal stings to its assailants. Further on the left was the brigade of Hurlbut, intrenched on a similar hill, and making a like defense. General Johnston, seeing that his men were faltering, rode along the line and told them that he would lead them. He did lead them up the hill and over the first line, when he was struck in the leg by a ball, but maintained his seat for a time, not to dishearten his men. An artery had been severed, however, and he soon bled to death. It was an untoward moment for him to die, the best man in the Confederate armies; had he lived out that day, he might have defeated Grant and saved the Confederacy. His troops were put under the command of Beauregard, and for a while were kept in ignorance of their loss. Bragg now attacked Prentiss's and Wallace's position in the flank, and carried it, Prentiss being surrounded and captured and Wallace mortally wounded; but they had resisted for four hours, and, as it turned out, that was enough. Yet the battle was now practically won for the Confederates; for the Federals were shut in by their line on one side, and by the Tennessee and Snake Creek on the others. Bragg was about to head the final charge.

But an aid of Beauregard's rode to his side and delivered an order stopping the pursuit, lest the men be exposed to the gunboat fire : the "victory was sufficiently complete." The same order had been given to Polk, and he was drawing back. "Is a victory ever sufficiently complete!" exclaimed Bragg. But he obeyed, and the firing ceased. It was near eveinng, and the armies lay down where they were. Before daylight Nelson's, McCook's and Cullenden's divisions of Buell's army had arrived; and also Lew Wallace's force of seven thousand men. The latter had been on the march since the previous day, but had taken a road which would have brought him to the rear of the Confederate's attack, and might have changed the fortune of the day; but Grant, who had been looking for him by the river road, and was uneasy at his non-appearance, had sent messengers who found him and caused him to countermarch. The things that might have been and were not, in war, are past reckoning. Wallace and his seven thousand were welcome on any ternis.

With twenty-five thousand fresh troops, it was Grant who attacked the next morning. The Confederates were no longer in the conquering humor of the day before; the death of Johnston was known, and the reinforcement of the Federals; and they felt that Beauregard's incomprehensible blunder had taken victory out of their very teeth. They fought, but with the assurance that they would be defeated; and that assurance, in battle, is seldom mistaken. They gave back, point after point, like a reluctant tide; until toward evening Beauregard admitted his defeat and turned for Corinth. The night march along the narrow and difficult road, beaten upon by a rain which changed into a cutting hail, was terrible; there was little provision for the wounded, and three hunderd men died of exhaustion by the way. They had lost altogether nearly eleven thou-sand, and had inflicted a still greater loss on their enemy. But few defeats are so hard to bear as that which should have been a victory.

The battle had been a strange, anomalous, perplexed affair, full of heroic courage, of mistakes, of accidents; fought by troops as yet little accustomed to war, and showing the lack of military experience. But in such a school, lessons are quickly learned, and the soldiers who survived those two tremendous days might well claim the title of veterans. War had few horrors that could find them unprepared.

The capture of Roanoke Island, in Pamlico Sound, where the Confederates had fortified themselves after being driven from Hatteras Inlet, had been accomplished by General Burnside in January; and he followed it up by taking Beaufort and Fort Macon at the Southern extremity of the Sound. The Federals were greatly superior in numbers to their enemy in these encounters, and met with few difficulties and small losses. The true center of interest was still in the west. Polk, after being forced from his strong position at Columbus by the fall of Donelson, had betaken himself to the tenth island below Cairo in the Mississippi, placed at the bend of a sharp horseshoe curve, and easily fortified. The little town of New Madrid, further down the stream, but, owing to the upward bend of the river after passing Island No. 10, further north also, was likewise occupied. Pope soon captured the latter place, but Island No. 10 detained him several weeks, and he finally caused its evacuation by digging a canal twelve miles long across the neck of land made by the bend of the horseshoe, which gave him control of the lower river without running the gantlet of the Confederate batteries on the Island. Foote's gunboats had bombarded these works in vain for three weeks; but the garrison now prepared to escape, and ran right into the arms of a Federal force which Pope had placed along their route. Seven thousand prisoners, with guns and other material, were the reward of this operation; and Foote, descending the river, met and defeated a Confederate fleet above Fort Pillow, and that stronghold was abandoned. Still pushing southward, the Union gunboats engaged a second fleet off Memphis and destroyed it, compelling the surrender of the town. This action was on the 5th of June. It had been rendered possible by the battle of Shiloh, which broke the Confederate power in that region. The Union line now extended from Memphis, through Corinth, nearly to Chattanooga, and was confronted by the Confederates at Holly Springs, Iuka and Chattanooga, commanded by Van Dorn, Price and Bragg respectively. While the Federals were considering whether to make an attack or to await one, Bragg suddenly passed by their left flank and set off northward. Buell, fearing that his purpose might be to get in his rear, fell back on Nashville, where an. intercepted dispatch indicated that Louisville, three hundred miles away, was Bragg's destination. There was no one there to oppose him, and unless Buell could out march him, Nashville was lost, and other valuable things also. At Frankfort, Bragg was joined by Kirby Smith from Knoxville, and his advance was continued, Buell racing him on a line constantly approaching his own. The two armies would have arrived simultaneously, had not a burned bridge at Bards-town delayed Bragg, which gave Buell the advantage by a day. He was reinforced at this point till he mustered a hundred thousand men; quite enough to crush Bragg; but the Uinon general had taken a leaf from McClellan's book, and tarried to organize, while Bragg worked his will to the south of him. By the time Buell was ready to attack, Brag was on his way back, with a baggage train forty miles long full of plunder. The battle of Perryville, fought on October 8th, was sharply debated, the success at first being with the Confederates, and half of the Union army not being engaged at all. At the end of the day, owing in large measure to Sheridan's efficiency and courage, there was little advantage on either side, the Federals having lost about four thousand, and the Confederates rather less. But Bragg perceived that he could not hope to win against Buell's numbers, green though most of the troops were; and during the night he slipped away. He had tried to dragoon Kentucky into the Confederacy; but though their hearts might be willing, their property kept them back, and they would not respond to his summons. But the supplies he took back with him were of great use to the meagerly furnished Southern army. Retreating by way of Cumberland Gap, he was not pursued by Buell, who retired to Nashville, and was superseded by Rosecranz; for to the minds of the government at Washington, an ounce of energy and dash, at this juncture, was worth a pound of caution.

After the minor engagements with Van Dorn and Price, Rosecranz moved south to intercept Bragg, who was bound on another foraging tour. Both generals had in the neighborhood of fifty thousand troops. On the night of December 30th they lay within striking distance, the lines running north and south, the country level fields with clumps of cedar, and the stream of Stone River flowing parallel with the army lines. Knowing that Crittenden's division faced the weakest point of the Confederate line, while McCook confronted the strongest, Rosecranz decided to pivot on the latter, and wheel Crittenden forward, driving the enemy be-fore him. Bragg, on the other hand, had arranged to beat back McCook, and pivoting on Breckinridge, sweep the Federals to the northward. Had both attacks been made simultaneously, the two armies would have revolved round a central point; but the Confederates were the first to move, and the Union right was outflanked and fell back. The struggle was desperate, and there was hand to hand fighting with the bayonet. But in less than an hour the Confederates had won the ground at this point, and McCook's division was cut to pieces. Three miles away, meanwhile, Rosecranz was directing Crittenden, not knowing what had befallen. The information he presently received did not convince him of the full extent of the reverse, and he sent insufficient reenforcements, and orders for McCook to hold his ground. But even Sheridan was now in full retreat. Rousseau, with his reserve, stayed the backward movement for a time, and then Rosecranz rode up, through the thick of the fire. He formed his new line at right angles to the first one, answering to the wheel of the Confederates. His best men and best generals were there, and his own example was an inspiration. Against this line the Confederates dashed themselves all day in vain. At nightfall, Rosecranz held his position, and the two armies rested for the night. Bragg had expected the Federals to retreat under cover of darkness, but finding them standing fast in the morning, he resolved to attack. Breckinridge was sent. to take an enfilading Union force on a hill and drive them on to the river; the hill was taken after a bloody fight, but in pursuing them to the river the Confederates ran into a trap, and were cut to pieces by ambushed infantry, and a battery of artillery under Crittenden. Bragg did not renew his attack, but prepared to fly; and before midnight he was gone, leaving twenty-five hundred wounded in Murfreesboro'. In no battle of the war had there been fiercer fighting than in this; and it was Rosecranz's invincible determination not to be beaten that saved it. "Bragg is a good dog," he had remarked, with a touch of grim humor, during the engagement, "but Holdfast is a better." Van Dorn, earlier in the year, had been finally defeated by Curtis in a desperate battle at Pea Ridge in northwestern Arkansas; and the tug of war was transferred to other regions.

The northern part of the Mississippi had been cleared, but the part below Vicksburg and including it was still in Confederate hands; and when Stanton, in conversation with Butler at Washington, had suddenly exclaimed, "Why can't New Orleans be taken?"—the Massachusetts lawyer-general had sententiously replied, "It can." ln the spring a fleet of forty-seven vessels under Captain Farragut, carrying several thousand troops commanded by Butler, appeared off Forts Jackson and St. Philip, defending the river approach, and began to bombard them. Green boughs covered them, so as to render them indistinguishable from the wooded banks where they lay. The firing continued for six days, breaking distant windows by the concussion, and stunning fish in the water, but not seriously injuring the forts. Farragut became impatient, and taking counsel of his daring, resolved to run the batteries. He protected his boats with chain cables and sand bags, eut the cable which had been stretched across the river above, and began the ascent, delivering and receiving a tremendous fire. Having passed the batteries, he had next to dispose of the fleet of thirteen ships which was in wait for him; he destroyed all but one, and kept on. On rounding the bend where New Orleans came in sight, the cotton bales along the levees were set on fire, with the ship-ping, and the smoke and flame roared up and down the water front for a distance of five miles, while drifting fire-rafts set his own vessels ablaze. Butler, attacking the forts in their rear, forced their surrender and occupied New Orleans, while Farragut continued up stream to Baton Rouge and Natchez, and still pushing upward, passed the batteries of Vicksburg, and joined the fleet above. Butler was made military governor of New Orleans, and his administration of it was one of the picturesque features of the war. The inhabitants did not love him; but he was an able and successful administrator.

On the 8th of March of this eventful year a naval battle took place in Hampton Roads which put an end to all the navies of the past, and laid the basis of those of the future. The experiment of protecting ships with railroad iron and cables had already been tried several times during the war, with good results, such armor being generally applied for the occasion only; but the Confederates were the first to construct an armored defense for a vessel upon anything like scientific principles. When the Norfolk Navy Yard had been abandoned, the steam frigate "Merrimac" had been scuttled and sunk; but later, Norfolk again coming into their possession, they raised her, and covered her with a super-structure of iron plates, strong enough to resist ordinary cannon-shot, and sloping like the roof of a house. An iron beak was added in front, to enable her if necessary to ram an enemy. The whole was covered with grease, so that missiles might more readily slip aside from her metal scales. This ugly and formidable contrivance was brought into the Roads on Saturday morning, and after demanding the surrender of the United States sloop-of-war "Cumberland," Captain Morris, and meeting with refusal, she opened fire. Her broadside crashed through the "Cumberland" at close range, but the answering fire of the "Cumberland" re-bounded from her armament like "hail from a roof of slate," as Longfellow describes it in his famous poem. The "Merrimac," not to be detained longer, rammed her antagonist, and the "Cumberland" sank, with a final broadside as she went under, and her flag still flying from the mast-head.

The United States frigate "Congress" was the next victim of this monster; her captain ran her ashore, but the "Merrimac" swung across her stern and sent shot into her till she surrendered, unable, like the "Cumberland," to make any impression on that iron hide. The "Minnesota," another steam frigate, dropped down to help her consort, but ran aground, and was exposed till sunset to the attacks of the gunboats which had accompanied the "Merrimac," and to an occasional shot from the latter. At the approach of night the Confederate champion steamed back to Norfolk, intending to resume her meal the next morning. The battle had been watched by a crowd from on shore; the day had been clear, and the features of the affair could be plainly seen ; but a strong current of air setting along the coast prevented any sound being heard from the heavy guns; though in the other direction they were audible for over fifty miles.

The prospect for the North, at the end of this day, was dark. An engine of war which could visit any part of the coast and bombard any town with absolute impunity to itself was a new thing in war, and might alter the entire aspect thereof. But a man of geinus had been at work in the North for several months past, and the result of his labors appeared in the very inck of time. The "Monitor" had been launched at New York, and had been making a troublous voyage thence to Hampton Roads ever since; she was commanded by Lieutenant Worden, one of those brave men whose bravery is not overcome by unprecedented conditions. The vessel, to all appearance, was a flat raft of steel, rising but a few inches above water; her decks projected over the lines of her hull like a sort of horizontal eaves, and were heavily plated with metal. In the center of her deck uprose a round turret, like a pill-box, which revolved by steam-power, and carried two eleven-inch guns, which could thus be directed toward any point of the compass. The vessel was small, and as the men had to live below the water-line, in their iron box, their discomfort, especially in a sea-way, was intense. But the "Monitor" was not designed to fight on the high seas, but for the defense of harbors; nor was she built for a pleasure-yacht, but for solid fighting. She was, at that time, the only machine in the world capable of resisting the "Merrimac." She was built by John Ericsson, a Swede, who had lived in England from his twenty-third to his thirty-sixth year, and in America since then ; he had already gained distinction by applying the principle of the screw to steam navigation, and by the invention of the caloric engine; and he afterward invented the solar engine and the torpedo-boat destroyer. But for his timely aid, the Civil War might have had another termination. Worden was happily selected to command the new creation in action.

The "Monitor" took her station near the stranded "Minnesota" ; and when, on the beautiful Sunday morning of March 9th, the "Merrimac" steamed back to her work, this little thing came forth to meet her. She did not look formidable, with only two guns and no visible hull; but it soon appeared that her two guns were as good as twenty, and her sunken hull made it impossible to hit her effectively. The turret was a difficult object to strike, and as it was plated with eight inches of iron, the balls of the "Merrimac" produced no impression on it when they struck. She was much quicker in maneuvering than was her unwieldy foe; and though in point of size and seeming power the Confederate vessel was beyond comparison superior, in actual effect the "Monitor" was the more formidable of the two. Her heavy balls pounded the "Merrimac" until the latter found even her armament insufficient; she prevented her from attacking the "Minnesota"; and the attempts of the "Merrimac" to ram her were wholly ineffective, for the great iron beak slid harmlessly over her steel deck. At length, therefore, the defeated monster turned tail and steamed away, sending back a parting shot which struck the pilot house or conning-tower in which Worden was directing his fight, and rendered him insensible and partly blinded him; this being the only casualty on board. The battle was never renewed. The "Merrimac" was afterward blown up in Norfolk harbor; and the "Monitor" foundered in a heavy sea off Cape Hatteras, while on her way to Beaufort. Sixty vessels of her type were built during the war; and the modern armored battleship comprises some of her essential features, with modifications which experience suggested.

While the contest for the possession of the Mississippi and the western states had been going on with the advantage on the Union side, there was in progress a stubborn struggle in Virginia, in which the Federals aimed at Richmond, and the Confederates, while defending their capital, occasionally menaced Washington. Indeed, Washington was a much more vulnerable point for the North than was Richmond for the South; the capture of the former would have opened the way for an invasion of the North; whereas the South could best be attacked along the Mississippi. Having in view the relative strength and resources of the South and North, it might have proved better strategy for the former to abandon any attempt to push operations in the latter's territory, and confine her whole strength to repelling the fatal blows which Grant and the generals with him were delivering at her vitals. But the fact remains that the best leaders of the South, and her finest armies, were concentrated in Virginia during the entire war; and it was there that her chief successes were gained. These successes how-ever did her no good, save in so far as they occasioned the slaughter of tens of thousands of Union soldiers. But they also cost the lives of an almost equal number of Southern men; and the South could repair such losses far less easily than could her antagonist. The battles fought by the Confederacy in Virginia were brilliant, and the strategy shown by her generals was consummate, and superior in most cases to that of the Northern leaders. But while Stonewall Jack-son, Robert E. Lee, and the rest, were victorious in this or that particular battle, the very life was gradually being hammered out of the South; her money and her men were being exhausted. She was like a skillful boxer who is slowly worn down by the mere exertion of fighting a gladiator of inferior activity and skill, but of indomitable strength and endurance. The advantage on "points" was hers; but she must finally succumb nevertheless.

Richmond might be approached in two ways; by marching overland directly south from Washington; or by sending troops by water to the Peninsula between the York and James Rivers, and forcing the way up the Peninsula in a northwesterly direction; the latter being the shorter and apparently the easier route of the two. It was this route which McClellan chose; but it left the other route to be protected against Confederate attack, and it involved (as McClellan found to his cost) many difficulties of its own. Lee and Jackson outgeneraled the Union leaders again and again, and Lincoln tried one after another with the same result of failure. It was not until Grant had captured Vicksburg and assumed the commandership in chief of all the Union armies, that the tide turned. Grant himself came to Virginia, and there, in a series of mighty battles, fought Lee to a standstill. With Lee's surrender; the war was practically at an end. But it was not until the South had shown that, with men and money in sufficient quantity, she would have been unconquerable.

The army of the Potomac was moved down the river from Washington on transports and landed at Fortress Monroe on the 4th of April, 1862, to the number of about one hundred thousand. Yorktown was their first objective point, on the southern bank of York River; it was occupied by Magruder with twelve thousand men, five thousand of whom were thrown out as an external defense ; and such was the ability with which a line over twelve miles long was defended, that McClellan was kept at bay a month. He sent to Washington for heavy siege guns, but before he could open fire with them, Magruder, having accomplished his purpose, withdrew upon Richmond. It was at this time that Norfolk was abandoned, and the "Merrimac" blown up. General Joseph E. Johnston was at that epoch in command of the Confederate armies in Virginia, and, in order to guard his baggage train, he had left a strong force at Williamsburg, about the center of the Peninsula, which became engaged with the Federal advance. General Joseph Hooker, to whom the nickname of "Fighting Joe" was applied, led the Union forces, and a savage battle took place which lasted nine hours. McClellan was still behind at Yorktown, not suspecting that an engagement would occur. There was no connected handling of the Union soldiers, but they fought as they thought best. Hooker distributed his skirmishers among the trees and kept up a fire which temporarily silenced Fort Magruder; he was charged, but held his ground. While he was fighting, another body of Union -soldiers under Smith was standing idle not far off, thirty thousand strong; and it was not till evening that they be-came engaged on their own account. Hooker, however, was not to be entirely abandoned; for General Kearney came up from below, at the sound of firing, and was just in time to support Hooker as he was beginning to fall back. Kearney charged with the bayonet and drove the enemy back; but night came on before the advantage could be followed up. At the same time Hancock, then a young officer, found and occupied some deserted redoubts on the right, and had a sharp brush with the enemy; McClellan arrived as the fighting ceased, ordered the positions to be held, and prepared for an attack the next day; but by the time he was ready, it was found that the enemy had escaped. McClellan did not pursue, but rested in Williamsburg. When he finally resumed his march, he found no obstructions but muddy roads, and kept on until Richmond was but eight miles distant. Tt seemed ready to fall into his hands; but there were years of time and hundreds of thousands of lives between him and his quarry.

Nevertheless, Richmond was in a panic, and every one, from Jefferson Davis down, feared their time was come; for they did not yet know McClellan. In spite of urgings from Washington, he would not move without reenforcements; and these could not be sent, because Stonewall Jackson was threatening a descent on Washington the moment Macdowell should stir. "Either attack, or give up the job," Lincoln telegraphed; but McClellan would do neither. Meanwhile rains had so swollen the little rivers amid which his army lay that it was divided into two parts. Johnston was quick to appreciate this weakness, and sallied forth with thirty thousand against Casey with eighteen. The charge was overwhelming, and the Federals slowly withdrew, though Kearney delayed the retreat for a while. But after fighting from noon till five o'clock, with constant losses and re-verses, the day was saved at the last moment by General Sumner, who came across a log bridge over the Chickahominy with a battery of guns. The Confederate general Johnston was wounded by a shell at the head of a charging column, and his followers fled. All the night the rain poured down, as it pours nowhere but on the Peninsula, and the Virginia mud was knee-deep. In the morning the Federals renewed the battle and drove the Confederates before them; thus winning the battle of Fair Oaks after it had been lost. Such changes of fortune were not uncommon in the war.

For a whole month after this fight—when he might have marched into Richmond without resistance—McClellan lay supine in the mud, planning, but doing nothing. The interval was improved by the Confederates to raise a large army and devise a plan of campaign. The result was to bewilder McClellan and create a panic in Washington to offset that which had lately been felt in Richmond.

Stuart made a cavalry raid in McClellan's rear, between him and Washington, destroying supplies and threatening his communications by rail. Macdowell, with thirty thou-sand men, who was marching to join McClellan, was also hindered by this move. To further delay their junction, Johnston ordered Jackson to threaten Washington by way of the Shenandoah Valley. Jackson, re-enforced by Ewell, chased Banks across the Potomac. With his fifteen thou-sand men he paralyzed sixty thousand and created a commotion that was unprecedented; never did the North so fear actual invasion as at that juncture. The union of Macdowell and McClellan was prevented, and Richmond saved for the time being. McClellan conceived the idea of changing his base from the York to the James River, thus obviating the peril to which Jackson's operations had exposed him. The same day that he had fixed upon to make this move, Lee, who had taken charge of the active campaign, attacked the Federal right at Mechaincsville. He was repulsed, but the Federals fell back to Gaines Mill, and held the bridge across the Chickahominy till night. By this time Lee had fathomed McClellan's purpose, and attempted to take advantage of it. Magruder went round by a road that cut his line of retreat, and struck him in the rear. But the Federals showed the benefit of their long drilling, and held their own steadily till night, when the retreat was resumed. As the columns passed Frayser's Farm they were once more assailed by Hill and Longstreet, but without effect. At length they assembled on Malvern Hill, and here was fought the last of the "Seven-Days' battles," on the 1st of July.

Malvern Hill is a high plateau, with the James River to the south of it; it is of oblong shape, about a mile and a half in length, and has in front a concave form, with terraces rising one above another; the summit is bare of timber. It slopes down from its height of less than a hunderd feet to low meadows and wooded marshes, with streams traversing them; a road ascended it on the north. Weary with their six days' tramp through woods and swamps, with the enemy ever hanging fiercely on flank and rear, hither came the troops of McClellan's Grand Army of the Potomac. They planted sixty cannon on the slopes, and behind them were ten thousand rifles. It was a position nearly impregnable; but Lee, believing that he had McClellan on the run, made one of his few tactical mistakes, and determined to force him to surrender. He did not reflect that a retreat conducted with such order and steadiness showed that the morale of the army was not broken, and that the men would fight when they were allowed to do so.

McClellan was not present on Malvern Hill; he was ensconced in one of the gunboats on the river; but Fitz John Porter commanded the troops. He had not imagined that Lee would venture to storm the hill, but from its summit he saw the regiments forming and deploying. Here were the Union troops to take revenge for all that they had suffered since the movement began.

The conditions of the battle were of elemental simplicity. The Confederates had to advance across half a mile of swampy meadows, and ascend the hill. From the moment they came in sight, they would be exposed to a withering fire, which would more and more converge upon them as they drew near; until, if they ever gained the slope, it was almost impossible that any man would live to mount it. That it could be captured, so long as the fire continued, was an impossibility. Officers and men knew that they were being sent to certain death; but Lee and Jackson scrupled not to send them. "My men will be annihilated : nothing in the world can live there," said a colonel who received from Jackson the order to advance. "I take care of my wounded and bury my dead," was Jackson's reply—the least manly utterance of his ever reported. Charge after charge was hurled back without effort; the Confederates never got near enough to cause a moment's anxiety. They fell by thousands. At dark only they gave up the effort, utterly beaten and disheartened.

Nothing now intervened between McClellan and Richmond but the shattered remnants of a defeated, exhausted and demoralized army. Lee had brought his whole strength into this contest, and had none left now that it was over. He was helpless, and he and all with him knew it. All through that July day, in swampy ground, making terrific exertions, his men had fought and died; and for more than a week previous they had struggled through sweltering woods, in dust, in water, breathlessly pursuing a constantly disappearing foe. The Confederacy, in that hour, was on its knees; McClellan had but to advance, and in two days he could dictate terms of peace from Richmond.