THE FIRST UNION VICTORIES.
FEDERAL NAVY--BLOCKADE-RUNNING--BALLS, POWDER, AND EQUIPMENTS BROUGHT
FROM ENGLAND FOR CONFEDERATES--THE FIRST HATTERAS EXPEDITION--CAPTURE
OF FORT HATTERAS AND FORT CLARK--CAPTURE OF HILTON HEAD AND PORT
ROYAL--GENERAL BURNSIDE'S EXPEDITION TO ROANOKE ISLAND--FEDERAL
VICTORY AT MILL SPRINGS, KY.--CAPTURE OF FORT HENRY BY FEDERAL FORCES
UNDER GENERAL GRANT--FALL OF FORT DONELSON--BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE.
When the war began, the greater part of the small navy of the United
States was in distant waters--off the coast of Africa, in the
Mediterranean, on the Asiatic station--and for some of the ships to
receive the news and return, many months were required. Twelve vessels
were at home--four in Northern and eight in Southern ports. The navy,
like the army, lost many Southern officers by resignation or
dismissal. About three hundred who had been educated {67} for its
service went over to the Confederacy; but none of them took with them
the vessels they had commanded. The Government bought all sorts of
merchant craft, mounting guns on some and fitting up others as
transports, and had gunboats built on ninety-day contracts. It was a
most miscellaneous fleet, whose principal strength consisted in the
weakness of its adversary. The first purpose was to complete the
blockade of Southern ports. Throughout the war this was never made so
perfect that no vessels could pass through; but it was gradually
rendered more and more effective. The task was simplified as the land
forces, little by little, obtained control of the shore, when a few
vessels could maintain an effective blockade from within. But an
exterior blockade of a port in the hands of the enemy required a large
fleet, operating beyond the range of the enemy's fire from the shore,
in a line so extended as to offer occasional opportunities for the
blockade-runners to slip past. But blockade-running became exceedingly
dangerous. Large numbers of the vessels engaged in it were captured or
driven ashore and wrecked. The profit on a single cargo that passed
either way in safety was very great, and special vessels for
blockade-running were built in England. The Confederate Government
enacted a law providing that a certain portion of every cargo thus
brought into its ports must consist of arms or ammunition, otherwise
vessel and all would be confiscated. This insured a constant supply;
and though the Southern soldier was often barefoot and ragged, and
sometimes hungry, he never lacked for the most improved weapons that
English arsenals could produce, nor was he ever defeated for want of
powder. A very large part of the bullets that destroyed the lives and
limbs of National troops were cast in England and brought over the sea
in blockade-runners. Clothing and equipments, too, for the Confederate
armies came from the same source. Often when a burial party went out,
after a battle, as they turned over one after another of the enemy's
slain and saw the name of a Birmingham manufacturer stamped upon his
buttons, it seemed that they must have been fighting a foreign foe. To
pay for these things, the Confederates sent out cotton, tobacco, rice,
and the naval stores produced by North Carolina forests. It was
obvious from the first that any movement that would shut off a part of
this trade, or render it more hazardous, would strike a blow at the
insurrection. Furthermore, Confederate privateers were already out,
and before the first expedition sailed sixteen captured merchantmen
had been taken into the ports of North Carolina.
[Illustration: ON BOARD THE FIRST BLOCKADE-RUNNER CAPTURED.]
Vessels could enter Pamlico or Albemarle Sound by any one of several
inlets, and then make the port of Newbern, Washington, or Plymouth;
and the first of several naval and military expeditions was fitted out
for the purpose of closing the most useful of these openings, Hatteras
Inlet, thirteen miles south of Cape Hatteras. Two forts had been
erected on the point at the northern side of this inlet, and the
project was to capture {68} them; but, so new was everybody to the art
of war, it was not at first intended to garrison and hold them.
The expedition, which originated with the Navy Department, was fitted
out in Hampton Roads, near Fortress Monroe, and was commanded by
Flag-officer Silas H. Stringham. It numbered ten vessels, all told,
carrying one hundred and fifty-eight guns. Two were transport
steamers, having on board about nine hundred troops commanded by Gen.
Benjamin F. Butler, and two were schooners carrying iron surf-boats.
It sailed on the 26th of August, 1861, with sealed orders, arrived at
its destination before sunset, and anchored off the bar. Early the
next morning an attempt was made to land the troops through the surf,
at a point three miles from the inlet, whence they might attack the
forts in the rear. But it was not very successful. The heavy surf
dashed the clumsy iron boats upon the shore, drenching the men,
wetting the powder, and endangering everything. About one-third of the
troops, however, were landed, with two field-guns, and remained there
under protection of the fire from the ships. The forts were garrisoned
by about six hundred men, and mounted twenty-five guns; but they were
not very strong, and their bomb-proofs were not constructed properly.
Stringham's flag-ship, the frigate _Minnesota_, led off in the attack,
followed by the _Susquehanna_ and _Wabash_, and the guns of the
smaller fort were soon silenced. The frigates were at such a distance
that they could drop shells into it with their pivot-guns, while the
shot from the fort could not reach them. Afterward the larger work,
Fort Hatteras, was bombarded, but with no practical effect, though the
firing was kept up till sunset. But meanwhile the troops that had
landed through the surf had taken possession of the smaller work, Fort
Clark. They also threw up a small earthwork, and with their
field-pieces fired upon some Confederate vessels that were in the
Sound. The next morning (the 28th) the frigates anchored within reach
of Fort Hatteras, and began a deliberate and steady bombardment. As
before, the shot from the fort fell short of the ships, and neither
could that from the smooth-bore broadside guns reach the fort; but the
pivot-guns and the rifled pieces of one vessel wrought great havoc.
One plunging shell went down through a ventilator and narrowly missed
exploding the magazine. At the end of three hours the fort
surrendered. Its defenders, who were commanded by Samuel Barron,
formerly of the United States navy, had suffered a loss of about fifty
in killed and wounded. They had been reinforced in the night, but a
steamer was seen taking away a load of troops just before the
surrender. The seven hundred prisoners were sent on board the
flag-ship and carried to New York. The victors had not lost a man.
There had been some intention of destroying the forts and blocking up
the channels of the inlet; but it was determined instead to leave a
garrison and establish a coaling station for the blockading fleet. Two
of the frigates remained in the Sound, and within a fortnight half a
dozen blockade-runners entered the inlet and were captured.
[Illustration: LAND FORCES STORMING THE FORTIFICATIONS AT FORT CLARK.
(Two views.)]
{69} [Illustration: FORTS HATTERAS AND CLARK, N. C., CAPTURED ON THE
29th OF AUGUST, 1861.]
[Illustration: GUNBOAT "MENDOTA."]
[Illustration: COMMANDER C. R. P. RODGERS. (Afterward Rear-Admiral.)]
[Illustration: COMMANDER JOHN RODGERS. (Afterward Rear-Admiral.)]
A much larger expedition sailed from Hampton Roads on one of the last
days of October. It consisted of more than fifty vessels--frigates,
gunboats, transports, tugs, steam ferry-boats, and schooners--carrying
twenty-two thousand men. The fleet was commanded by Flag-officer
Samuel F. Du Pont, the troops by Gen. Thomas W. Sherman (who must not
be confounded with Gen. William T. Sherman, famous for his march to
the sea). The expedition had been two months in preparation, and
though it sailed with sealed orders, and every effort had been made to
keep its destination secret, the information leaked out as usual, and
while it was on its way the Confederate Secretary of War telegraphed
to the Governor of South Carolina and the commander at Hilton Head
where to expect it. Bull's Bay, St. Helena, Port Royal, and Fernandina
had all been discussed, and the final choice fell upon Port Royal.
{70} [Illustration: BOMBARDMENT OF FORT WALKER, HILTON HEAD, PORT
ROYAL HARBOR, S. C., BY UNITED STATES FLEET, NOVEMBER 7, 1861.]
A tremendous gale was encountered on the passage; the fleet was
scattered, one {71} transport was completely wrecked, with a loss of
seven lives, one gunboat was obliged to throw her broadside battery
overboard, a transport threw over her cargo, and one store-ship was
lost. When the storm was over, only a single gunboat was in sight from
the flag-ship. But the fleet slowly came together again, and was
joined by some of the frigates that were blockading Charleston Harbor,
these being relieved by others that had come down for the purpose.
They arrived off the entrance to Port Royal harbor on the 5th and 6th
of November. This entrance was protected by two earthworks--Fort
Walker on Hilton Head (the south side), and Fort Beauregard on St.
Helena Island (the north side). These forts were about two and a half
miles apart, and were garrisoned by South Carolina troops, commanded
by Generals Drayton and Ripley. A brother of General Drayton commanded
a vessel in the attacking fleet.
On the morning of the 7th the order of battle was formed. The bar was
ten miles out from the entrance, and careful soundings had been made
by two gunboats, under the fire of three Confederate vessels that ran
out from the harbor. The main column consisted of ten vessels, led by
the flag-ship _Wabash_, and was ordered to attack Fort Walker. Another
column of four vessels was ordered to fire upon Fort Beauregard, pass
in, and attack the Confederate craft. All were under way soon after
breakfast, and were favored by a tranquil sea. The main column, a
ship's length apart, steamed in steadily at the rate of six miles an
hour, passing Fort Walker at a distance of eight hundred yards, and
delivering a fire of shells and rifled shot. Every gun in the fort
that could be brought to bear was worked as rapidly as possible, in a
gallant defence. After the line had passed the fort, it turned and
steamed out again, passing this time within six hundred yards, and
delivering fire from the guns on the other side of the vessels. Three
times they thus went around in a long ellipse, each time keeping the
fort under fire for about twenty minutes. Then the _Bienville_, which
had the heaviest guns, and was commanded by Captain Steadman, a South
Carolinian, sailed in closer yet, and delivered a fire that dismounted
several guns and wrought dreadful havoc. Meanwhile two or three
gunboats had taken a position from which they enfiladed the work, and
the flag-ship came to a stand at short range and pounded away
steadily. This was more than anything at that stage of the war could
endure, and from the mast-head the troops were seen streaming out of
the fort and across Hilton Head Island as if in panic. A flag of truce
was sent on shore, but there was no one to receive it, and soon after
two o'clock the National colors were floating over the fort. The
flanking column of vessels had attacked Fort Beauregard; and when the
commander of that work saw that Fort Walker was abandoned by its
defenders, he also retreated with his force. The Confederate vessels
escaped by running up a shallow inlet. The loss in the fleet was eight
men killed and twenty-three wounded; that of the Confederates, as
reported by their commander, was eleven killed and fifty-two wounded
or missing. General Sherman said: "Many bodies were buried in the
fort, and twenty or thirty were found half a mile distant." The road
across Hilton Head Island to a wharf whence the retreating troops were
taken to the mainland was strewn with arms and accoutrements, and two
howitzers were abandoned. The surgeon of the fort had been killed by a
shell and buried by a falling parapet. The troops were debarked and
took possession of both forts, repaired and strengthened the works,
formed an intrenched camp, and thus gave the Government a permanent
foothold on the soil of South Carolina.
[Illustration: MAP OF HILTON HEAD, SHOWING ITS TOPOGRAPHY.]
[Illustration: REAR-ADMIRAL S. F. DU PONT.]
[Illustration: BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL T. W. SHERMAN.]
Roanoke Island, N. C., lies between Roanoke Sound and Croatan Sound,
through which the channels lead to Albemarle Sound, giving access to
the interior of the State. This island, therefore, was fortified by
the Confederates, in order to command these approaches. The island is
about as large as that which is occupied by New York City--ten miles
long, and somewhat over two miles wide. In January, 1862, an
expedition was fitted out to capture it, and the command was given to
Gen. {72} Ambrose E. Burnside, who had about fifteen thousand men,
with a battery of six guns, carried on forty transports. The naval
part of the expedition, consisting of twenty-eight vessels, none of
them very large, carrying half a hundred guns, was under the immediate
command of Capt. Louis M. Goldsborough. Among his subordinate officers
were Stephen C. Rowan and John L. Worden. Burnside's three brigade
commanders--all of whom rose to eminence before the war was over--were
John G. Foster, Jesse L. Reno, and John G. Parke.
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL T. F. DRAYTON, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE.]
The expedition sailed from Hampton Roads on January 11, and almost
immediately encountered a terrific storm, by which the fleet was far
scattered, some of the vessels being carried out to sea and others
driven ashore. Five were wrecked, and a considerable number of men
were lost. By the 28th, all that had weathered the gale passed through
Hatteras Inlet into the sounds. The fortifications on the island
mounted forty guns; and in Croatan Sound a Confederate naval force of
eight vessels lay behind a line of obstructions across the channel.
On February 7th, the National gunboats, advancing in three columns,
shelled Fort Bartow--the principal fortification, on the west side of
the island--and the Confederate gunboats. The latter were soon driven
off, and in four hours the fort was silenced. The transports landed
the troops on the west side of the island, two miles south of the
fort, and in the morning of the 8th they began their march to the
interior, which was made difficult and disagreeable by swamps and a
lack of roads, and by a cold storm. On the 9th, the Confederate
skirmishers were driven in, and the main line was assaulted, first
with artillery, and then by the infantry. The Confederate left wing
was turned; and when the national troops had nearly exhausted their
ammunition they made a brilliant bayonet charge, led by Hawkins's New
York zouave regiment, and stormed the works, which were hastily
abandoned by the Confederates, who attempted to reach the northeast
shore and cross to Nag's Head, but more than two thousand of them were
captured. Fort Bartow still held out, but it was soon taken, its
garrison surrendering. In this action the national loss was two
hundred and thirty-five men killed or wounded in the army, and
twenty-five in the navy.
On the 10th, a part of the fleet, under Captain Rowan, pursued the
Confederate fleet up Albemarle Sound, and after a short engagement
defeated it. The Confederates set fire to their vessels and deserted
them, destroying all but one, which was captured. Rowan then took
possession of Elizabeth City and Edenton. The flying Confederates had
set fire to the former; but Rowan's men, with the help of the colored
people who remained, put out the fire and saved the city.
In this naval battle one of the first medals of honor won in the war
was earned by a sailor named John Davis. A shell thrown by the
Confederates entered one of the vessels and set fire to it. This was
near the magazine, and there was an open barrel of powder from which
Davis was serving a gun. He at once sat down on the barrel, and
remained there covering it until the fire was put out.
General Burnside next planned an expedition in the opposite direction,
to attack Newbern. His forces, numbering about eight thousand men,
sailed from Hatteras Inlet in the morning of March 12th, and that
evening landed within eighteen miles of Newbern. The next day they
marched toward the city, while the gunboats ascended the river and
shelled such fortifications and Confederate troops as could be seen.
The roads were miry, and the progress of the troops was slow. After
removing elaborate obstructions and torpedoes from the channel, the
fleet reached and silenced the forts near the city. The land forces
then came up and attacked the Confederates, who were about five
thousand strong and were commanded by General Branch. After hard
fighting, the works were carried, and the enemy fled. They burned the
railroad bridge over the Trent River, and set fire to the city; but
the sailors succeeded in extinguishing the flames in time to save the
greater part of the town. Burnside's loss in this battle was about
five hundred and fifty killed or wounded; that of the Confederates,
including prisoners, was about the same. Fifty-two guns and two
steamers were captured.
Ten days later, Beaufort, N. C., and Morehead City were occupied by
the National troops without opposition. Burnside's army was now broken
up into comparatively small bodies, holding the various places that
had been taken, which greatly diminished the facilities for
blockade-running on the North Carolina coast.
The year 1862 opened with indications of lively and decisive {73} work
west of the mountains, and many movements were made that cannot be
detailed here. One of the most gallant was in the region of the Big
Sandy River in eastern Kentucky, where Humphrey Marshall had gathered
a Confederate force of about two thousand five hundred (mostly
Kentuckians) at Paintville. Col. James A. Garfield (afterward
President), in command of one thousand eight hundred infantry and
three hundred cavalry, drove him out of Paintville, pursued him beyond
Prestonburg, came up with him at noon of January 10th, and fought him
till night, when Marshall retreated under cover of the darkness,
leaving his dead on the field.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL JESSE L. RENO.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN G. PARKE.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL JOHN G. FOSTER.]
[Illustration: VICE-ADMIRAL S. C. ROWAN.]
[Illustration: REAR-ADMIRAL LOUIS M. GOLDSBOROUGH.]
In the autumn of 1861 a Confederate force, under Gen. Felix K.
Zollicoffer, had been pushed forward by way of Knoxville to eastern
Kentucky, but was defeated at Camp Wildcat, October 21st, by seven
thousand men under General Schoepff, and fell back to Mill Springs at
the head of steamboat navigation on the Cumberland. Zollicoffer soon
crossed to the northern bank, and fortified a position at Beech Grove,
in the angle between the river and Fishing Creek. The National forces
in the vicinity were commanded by Gen. George H. Thomas, who watched
Zollicoffer so closely that when the latter was told by his superiors
he should not have crossed the river, he could only answer that it was
now too late to return. As Zollicoffer was only a journalist, with
more zeal than military knowledge, Gen. George B. Crittenden was sent
to supersede him. Thomas was slowly advancing, through rainy weather,
over heavy roads, to drive this force out of the State, and had
reached Logan's Cross-roads, within ten miles of the Confederate camp,
when Crittenden determined to move out and attack him. The battle
began early on the morning of January 19, 1862. Thomas was on the
alert, and when his outposts were driven in he rapidly brought up one
detachment after another and threw them into line. The attack was
directed mainly against the National left, where the fighting was
obstinate and bloody, much of the firing being at very close quarters.
Here Zollicoffer, thinking the Fourth Kentucky was a Confederate
regiment firing upon its friends, rode forward to correct the supposed
mistake, and was shot dead by its colonel, Speed S. Fry. When, at
length, the right of the Confederate line had been pressed back and
broken, a steady fire having been kept up on the centre, the Ninth
Ohio Regiment made a bayonet charge on its left flank, and the whole
line was broken and routed. The Confederates took refuge in their
intrenchments, where Thomas swiftly pursued and closely invested them,
expecting to capture them all the next morning. But in the night they
managed to cross the river, leaving behind their wounded, twelve guns,
all their horses, mules, and wagons, and a large amount of stores. In
the further retreat two of the Confederate regiments disbanded and
scattered to their homes, while a large number from other regiments
deserted individually. The National loss in killed and wounded was two
hundred and forty-six; that of the Confederates, four hundred and
seventy-one. Thomas received the thanks of the President for his
victory. This action is variously called the Battle of Fishing Creek
and the Battle of Mill Springs.
{74} [Illustration: BURNSIDE'S EXPEDITION OFF FORT MONROE.]
When Gen. Henry W. Halleck was placed in command of the Department of
Missouri, in November, 1861, he divided it into districts, giving to
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant the District of Cairo, {75} which included
Southern Illinois, the counties of Missouri south of Cape Girardeau,
and all of Kentucky that lies west of Cumberland River. Where the
Tennessee and the Cumberland enter Kentucky from the south they are
about ten miles apart, and here the Confederates had erected two
considerable works to command the rivers--Fort Henry on the east bank
of the Tennessee, and Fort Donelson on the west bank of the
Cumberland. They had also fortified the high bluffs at Columbus, on
the Mississippi, twenty miles below the mouth of the Ohio, and Bowling
Green, on the Big Barren. The general purpose was to establish a
military frontier with a strong line of defence from the Alleghany
Mountains to the Mississippi.
[Illustration: THE BURNSIDE EXPEDITION CROSSING HATTERAS BAR.]
[Illustration: ROANOKE ISLAND, N. C., AND CONFEDERATE FORTS.]
A fleet of iron-clad gunboats had been prepared by the United States
Government for service on the Western rivers, some of them being built
new, while others were altered freight-boats.
After a reconnoissance in force by Gen. C. F. Smith, General Grant
asked Halleck's permission to capture Fort Henry, and, after
considerable delay, received it on the 30th of January. That work was
garrisoned by three thousand men under Gen. Lloyd Tilghman. Its
position was strong, the ravines through which little tributaries
reached the river being filled with slashed timber and rifle-pits, and
swampy ground rendering approach from {76} the land side difficult.
But the work itself was rather poorly built, bags of sand being
largely used instead of a solid earth embankment.
On the morning of February 2d the fleet of four iron-clad and two
wooden gunboats, commanded by Flag-officer Andrew H. Foote, left
Cairo, steamed up the Ohio to Paducah, thence up the Tennessee, and by
daylight the next morning were within sight of the fort. Grant's land
force was to coöperate by an attack in the rear, but it did not arrive
in time. The gunboats moved up to within six hundred yards, and opened
a bombardment, to which the guns of the fort immediately responded,
and the firing was kept up for an hour. The _Essex_ received a shot in
her boiler, by which many men were wounded or scalded, including Capt.
William D. Porter, son of Commodore David Porter who had won fame in
another _Essex_ in the war of 1812-15. Otherwise the fleet, though
struck many times, was not seriously injured. On the other hand, the
fire from the gunboats knocked the sand-bags about, dismounted seven
guns, brought down the flagstaff, and, together with the bursting of a
rifled gun in the fort, created a panic. All but about one hundred of
the garrison fled, leaving General Tilghman with the sick and a single
company of artillerists; and, after serving a gun with his own hands
as long as possible, he ran up a white flag and surrendered. The
regret of the victors at the escape of the garrison was more than
counterbalanced by their gratification at the behavior of the gunboats
in their first serious trial. After the surrender, three of the
gunboats proceeded up the Tennessee River to the head of navigation,
destroyed the railroad bridge, and captured a large amount of stores.
[Illustration: SIEGE TRAIN, HILTON HEAD.]
[Illustration: SMITH'S PLANTATION, PORT ROYAL.]
[Illustration: PREPARING COTTON FOR GIN.]
[Illustration: BURNING OF AMERICAN MERCHANTMAN "HARRY BIRCH" IN
BRITISH CHANNEL, BY CONFEDERATE STEAMER "NASHVILLE."]
In consequence of the battle of Mill Springs and the fall of Fort
Henry, the Confederate Gen. Simon B. Buckner, who was at Bowling Green
with about ten thousand men, abandoned that place and joined his
forces to those in Fort Donelson. Gen. Ormsby M. Mitchel, by a forced
march, promptly took possession of Bowling Green with National troops;
and General Grant immediately made dispositions for the capture of
Fort Donelson. This work, situated at a bend of the river, was on high
ground, enclosed about a hundred acres, and had also a strong
water-battery on the lower river {77} front. The land side was
protected by slashed timber and rifle-pits, as well as by the
naturally broken ground. The gunboats went down the Tennessee and up
the Cumberland, and with them a portion of Grant's force to be used in
attacking the water front. The fort contained about twenty thousand
men, commanded by Gen. John B. Floyd, who had been President
Buchanan's Secretary of War. Grant's main force left the neighborhood
of Fort Henry on the morning of February 12th, a portion marching
straight on Fort Donelson, while the remainder made a slight detour to
the south, to come up on the right, strike the Confederate left, and
prevent escape in that direction. They chose positions around the fort
unmolested that afternoon, and the next morning the fighting began.
After an artillery duel, an attempt was made to storm the works near
the centre of the line, but it was a failure and entailed severe loss.
The gunboats and the troops with them had not yet come up, and the
attack was suspended for the day. A cold storm set in, with sleet and
snow, and the assailants spent the night without shelter and with
scant rations, while a large part of the defenders, being in the
trenches, were equally exposed.
[Illustration: A FEDERAL CAVALRY CHARGE.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL FELIX K. ZOLLICOFFER, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: COLONEL SPEED S. FRY. (Afterward Brigadier-General.)]
Next morning the fleet appeared, landed the troops and supplies three
miles below the fort, and then moved up to attack the batteries. These
were not so easily disposed of as Fort Henry had been. It was a
desperate fight. The plunging shot from the fort struck the gunboats
in their most vulnerable part, and made ugly wounds. But they stood to
the work manfully, and had silenced one battery when the steering
apparatus of two of the gunboats was shot away, while a gun on another
had burst and the flag-officer was wounded. The flag-ship had been
struck fifty-nine times, and the others from twenty to forty, when
they all dropped down the stream and out of the fight. They had lost
fifty-four men killed or wounded. But the naval attack had served to
prevent an immediate sortie, and so perhaps ultimately saved the
victory for Grant.
That night a council of war was held within the fort, and it was
determined to attack the besiegers in the morning with the entire
force, in hopes either to defeat them completely or at least to turn
back their right wing, and thus open a way for retreat toward the
south. The fighting began early in the morning. Grant's right wing,
all but surprised, was pressed heavily and borne back, the enemy
passing through and plundering McClernand's camps. Buckner sallied out
and attacked on the left with much less vigor and with no success but
as a diversion, and the fighting extended all along the line, while
the Confederate cavalry were endeavoring to gain the National rear.
Grant was imperturbable through it all, and when he saw that the
attack had reached its height, he ordered a counter attack and
recovery of the lost ground on the right, which was executed by the
division of Lew Wallace, while that of C. F. Smith stormed the works
on the left. Smith rode beside the color-bearer, and, in the face of a
murderous fire that struck down four hundred men, his troops rushed
forward over every obstruction, brought up field guns and enfiladed
the works, drove out the defenders, and took possession.
{78} [Illustration: BATTLE OF MILL SPRINGS, LOGAN CROSS ROADS,
KENTUCKY, JANUARY 19, 1862.]
Another bitterly cold night followed, but Grant improved the time to
move up reinforcements to the positions he had gained, while the
wounded were looked after as well as circumstances would permit.
Within the fort another council of war was held. Floyd declared it
would not do for him to fall into the {79} hands of the Government, as
he was accused of defrauding it while in office. So he turned over the
command to Gen. Gideon J. Pillow. But that general said he also had
strong reasons for not wanting to be a prisoner, so he turned it over
to Gen. Simon B. Buckner. With as many of their men as could be taken
on two small steamers, Floyd and Pillow embarked in the darkness and
went up the river to Nashville. The cavalry, under Gen. N. B. Forrest,
also escaped, and a considerable number of men from all the commands
managed to steal away unobserved. In the morning Buckner hung out a
white flag, and sent a letter to Grant, proposing that commissioners
be appointed to arrange terms of capitulation. Grant's answer not only
made him famous, but gave an impetus and direction to the whole war:
"No terms other than an unconditional and immediate surrender can be
accepted. I propose to move immediately upon your works." Buckner, in
a petulant and ill-considered note, at once surrendered the fort and
his entire command. This numbered about fourteen thousand men; and
four hundred that were sent to reinforce him were also captured.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL HENRY W. HALLECK.]
[Illustration: COLONEL JAMES A. GARFIELD. (Afterward Major-General.)]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL C. F. SMITH.]
[Illustration: CAPTAIN CUSTER, U. S. A., AND LIEUTENANT WASHINGTON, A
CONFEDERATE PRISONER.]
General Pillow estimated the Confederate loss in killed and wounded at
two thousand. No undisputed figures are attainable on either side.
Grant began the siege with about fifteen thousand men, which
reinforcements had increased to twenty-seven thousand at the time of
the surrender. His losses were about two thousand, and many of the
wounded had perished of cold. The long, artificial line of defence,
from the mountains to the Mississippi, was now swept away, and the
Confederates abandoned Nashville, to which Grant might have advanced
immediately, had he not been forbidden by Halleck.
When the news was flashed through the loyal States, and bulletins were
posted up with enumeration of prisoners, guns, and small arms
captured, salutes were fired, joy-bells were rung, flags were
displayed, and people asked one another, "Who is this Grant, and where
did he come from?"--for they saw that a new genius had suddenly risen
upon the earth.
Both before and after the defeat and death of General Lyon at Wilson's
Creek (August, 1861), there was irregular and predatory warfare in
Missouri. Especially in the western part of the State half-organized
bands of men would come into existence, sometimes make long marches,
and on the approach of a strong enemy disappear, some scattering to
their homes and others making their way to and joining the bodies of
regular troops. In Missouri and northern Arkansas guerilla warfare was
extensively carried on for more than a year. Many terrible stories are
told of the vengeful spirit with which both sides in this warfare were
actuated. It is quite possible these stories were exaggerated, but it
is certain that many cold-blooded murders were committed. Very few of
the guerillas were Unionists.
Gen. John C. Frémont, who commanded the department, believing that
Price was near Springfield, gave orders for the concentration at that
place of all the National forces in Missouri. But Price was not there,
and in November Frémont was superseded by General Halleck, some of
whose subordinate commanders, especially Gen. John Pope, made rapid
movements and did good service in capturing newly recruited regiments
that were on their way to join Price.
Late in December Gen. Samuel R. Curtis took command of twelve thousand
National troops at Rolla, and advanced against Price, who retreated
before him to the {80} northwestern corner of Arkansas, where his
force was joined by that of General McCulloch, and together they took
up a position in the Boston Mountains. Curtis crossed the line into
Arkansas, chose a strong place on Pea Ridge, in the Ozark Mountains,
intrenched, and awaited attack. Because of serious disagreements
between Price and McCulloch, Gen. Earl Van Dorn, who ranked them both,
was sent to take command of the Confederate force, arriving late in
January. There is no authentic statement as to the size of his army.
He himself declared that he had but fourteen thousand men, while no
other estimate gave fewer than twice that number. Among them was a
large body of Cherokee Indians, recruited for the Confederate service
by Albert Pike, who thirty years before had won reputation as a poet.
On March 5, 1862, Van Dorn moved to attack Curtis, who knew of his
coming and formed his line on the bluffs along Sugar Creek, facing
southward. His divisions were commanded by Gens. Franz Sigel and
Alexander S. Asboth and Cols. Jefferson C. Davis and Eugene A. Carr,
and he had somewhat more than ten thousand men in line, with
forty-eight guns. The Confederates, finding the position too strong in
front, made a night march to the west, with the intention of striking
the Nationals on the right flank. But Curtis discovered their movement
at dawn, promptly faced his line to the right about, and executed a
grand left wheel. His army was looking westward toward the approaching
foe, Carr's division being on the right, then Davis, then Asboth, and
Sigel on the left. But they were not fairly in position when the blow
fell. Carr was struck most heavily, and, though reinforced from time
to time, was driven back a mile in the course of the day. Davis,
opposed to the corps of McCulloch, was more successful; that general
was killed, and his troops were driven from the field. In the night
Curtis re-formed and strengthened his lines, and in the morning the
battle was renewed. This day Sigel executed some brilliant and
characteristic manoeuvres. To bring his division into its place on the
left wing, he pushed a battery forward, and while it was firing
rapidly its infantry supports were brought up to it by a right wheel;
this movement was repeated with another battery and its supports to
the left of the first, and again, till the whole division had come
into line, pressing back the enemy's right. Sigel was now so far
advanced that Curtis's whole line made a curve, enclosing the enemy,
and by a heavy concentrated artillery fire the Confederates were soon
driven to the shelter of the ravines, and finally put to rout. The
National loss in this action--killed, wounded, and missing--was over
thirteen hundred, Carr and Asboth being among the wounded. The
Confederate loss is unknown. Generals McCulloch and McIntosh were
killed, and Generals Price and Slack wounded. Owing to the nature of
the ground, any effective pursuit of Van Dorn's broken forces was
impracticable.
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL JOHN B. FLOYD, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: LIEUTENANT-GENERAL SIMON B. BUCKNER, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: BRIGADIER-GENERAL G. J. PILLOW, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL BUSHROD JOHNSON, C. S. A.]
The Confederate Government had made a treaty with some of the tribes
in the Indian Territory, and had taken into its service more than four
thousand Indians, whom the stories of Bull Run and Wilson's Creek had
apparently impressed with the belief that they would have little to do
but scalp the wounded and rob the dead. At Pea Ridge these red men
exhibited their old-time terror of artillery, and though they took a
few scalps they were so disgusted at being asked to face half a
hundred well-served cannon that they were almost useless to their
allies, and thenceforth they took no further part in the war. It is a
notable fact that in the wars on this continent the Indians have only
been employed on the losing side. In the French and English struggle
for the country, which ended in 1763, the French had the friendship of
many of the tribes, and employed them against the English settlers and
soldiers, but the French were conquered nevertheless. In the
Revolution and the war of 1812, the British employed them to some
extent against the Americans, but the Americans were victorious. In
the great Rebellion, the Confederate Government {81} attempted to use
them as allies in the West and Southwest, and in that very section the
Confederate cause was first defeated. All of which appears to show
that though savages may add to the horrors of war, they cannot
determine its results for civilized people; nor can irresponsible
guerilla bands, of which there were many at the West, nearly all in
the service of the Confederacy.
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL SAMUEL R. CURTIS.]
[Illustration: MAJOR-GENERAL EARL VAN DORN, C. S. A.]
[Illustration: BREVET MAJOR-GENERAL A. ASBOTH.]
[Illustration: BATTLE OF PEA RIDGE, MARCH 6, 1862.]
"At the close of Mr. Buchanan's administration nearly all the United
States Indian agents in the Indian Territory were secessionists, and
the moment the Southern States commenced passing ordinances of
secession, these men exerted their influence to get the five tribes
committed to the Confederate cause. Occupying territory south of the
Arkansas River, and having the secessionists of Arkansas on the east
and those of Texas on the south for neighbors, the Choctaws and
Chickasaws offered no decided opposition to the scheme. With the
Cherokees, the most powerful and most civilized tribes of the Indian
Territory, it was different. Their chief, John Ross, was opposed to
hasty action, and at first favored neutrality, and in the summer of
1861 issued a proclamation enjoining his people to observe a strictly
neutral attitude during the war between the United States and the
Southern States. In June, 1861, Albert Pike, a commissioner of the
Confederate States, and Gen. Ben. McCulloch, commanding the
Confederate forces in Western Arkansas and the Department of Indian
Territory, visited Chief Ross, with the view of having him make a
treaty with the Confederacy. But he declined to make a treaty, and in
the conference expressed himself as wishing to occupy, if possible, a
neutral position during the war. A majority of the Cherokees, nearly
all of whom were full-bloods, were known as Pin Indians, and were
opposed to the South." (_Battles and Leaders_, Vol. I., pp. 335-336.)
After the battle of Wilson's Creek had been fought, General Lyon
killed, and the Union army defeated, Chief Ross was easily convinced
that the South would succeed, and entered into a treaty with the
Confederate authorities.
{82} [Illustration: GALLANT CHARGE ON OUTWORKS OF FORT DONELSON,
FEBRUARY 13, 1862.]
{83}