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APPREHENSIONS OF COLONEL BAKER.

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regiment, of the Massachusetts fifteenth, and of the New York Tammany regiment.

When Colonel Baker received the order to make this movement, he expressed his surprise at it, and intimated that, under the circumstances, it was equivalent to his own death-warrant and a disaster to the Federal arms. Nevertheless, he prepared instantly to obey it. Never was an important military operation attempted under more unpropitious circumstances. General Stone had provided no proper means for transporting the troops; and what was more portentious still, he had neglected to furnish any facilities for escape across the river should his forces be compelled to retreat. Three miserable scows were procured to convey the Federal troops to the Virginia side. Scarcely had they reached the opposite shore, about nine o'clock in the morning of the 21st, when they were attacked by the Rebels with an overwhelming superiority of num bers. Notwithstanding this disadvantage the Federal troops fought with the utmost desperation, and stood their ground with heroic firmness during a large portion of the day. But in the afternoon the Rebels received heavy reinforcements, which gave them a superiority that was resistless. In vain did the bravest of men sternly confront their foes. In vain were prodigies of valor lavishly wasted. The overwhelming masses of the Rebels, led on by General Evans of South Carolina, surrounded them on all sides. Renewed assaults exhausted their failing energies. No reinforcements came, as they should have come, to the Union troops. General Stone seemed strangely to have forgotten the men whom he had ordered into the jaws of destruction. The result was, that toward the close of the day the Rebels were victorious, in spite of the utmost fortitude on the part of the forces under Colonel Baker. The Rebels. drove the latter to the brink of the steep bluff which bordered the river, and afterward they poured their deadly fire upon the unwilling fugitives below while they sought to flee over the stream and beyond the reach of the guns of their assailants. The most necessary means of transport for the troops not having been provided, many perished beneath the waves. Many were slain by the sharpshooters of the Rebels as they stood defenceless upon the shore. But before the flight began, Colonel Baker had fallen while cheering on his men to a most desperate charge. Never did a patriot and hero perish in a more noble cause, or under more glorious circumstances. While urging on his men to the unequal combat he was pierced with five bullets. It was with difficulty that his body was rescued from the desecrating touch of the triumphant foe. Lieutenant-Colonel Wistar, an able and valuable officer, was severely wounded during the engagement, in which he had distinguished himself by his coolness and his valor. The broken remains of the Federal troops the victims either of official stupidity or of official perfidy—reached the opposite banks of the Potomac in the most pitiable plight. They

were destitute of every thing necessary to their comfort. With great difficulty the wreck of this brave corps made their way back to their former encampment. The loss of Colonel Baker, who died the most heroic death which could be suffered by an officer of the army of the Union, was one of the chief incidents connected with this unfortunate expedition.

The report of the death of Edward Dickinson Baker overwhelmed the community with profound sorrow; for he had gained their admiration and esteem in an eminent degree. He fully merited the popular interest which he had excited. He was in truth a remarkable man; his life and genius were marvelous and romantic. He had been left an orphan in his youth; and he became the sole architect of his high fame and fortune. He crossed the snowy Alleghanies on foot, at the commencement of his public career, and sought in the then remotest West the most inviting arena for his exertions. He there devoted himself to the profession of the law, and at the bar of Springfield, Illinois, his eloquence made him the formidable and justly feared antagonist of Douglas and Lincoln. He was sent to Congress from that State in 1845, and he soon distinguished himself in the national councils. In the Mexican war, his demeanor was that of a brave and skilful soldier. At San Francisco, whither his adventurous disposition afterward allured him, he took exalted rank as an orator and a statesman. Over the bleeding remains of his chivalrous friend Broderick, who was killed in a duel, he delivered one of the most magnificent and touching orations which ever fell from human lips. That oration was characterized by such overwhelming pathos, by such brilliant and gorgeous imagery, by such appropriate and impressive reflections, that it produced a profound and indelible impression upon a whole generation of readers. It created for him a national reputation. It was a masterpiece which alone would have rendered his rame immortal. After taking his seat in the Federal Congress as Senator from Oregon, he delivered a powerful address in answer to a specious argument of Mr. Breckinridge, superior to any other which the events of the Rebellion had yet elicited. As an officer he was equally admirableprudent, dauntless, patriotic. He passed away prematurely from the stage of action; but his memory will live with fadeless beauty and lustre in the hearts of myriads of his admiring countrymen.

In the battle of Ball's Bluff the loss of the Federal troops was very heavy. The killed, wounded, and prisoners, amounted to almost two thousand men. The circumstances under which this disaster occurred, added greatly to the intensity of that emotion of mingled indignation and regret, with which the nation beheld the slaughter or the captivity of so large a number of their bravest and best troops.