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sublime spectacles of the glorious pomp and circumstance of war which form the bright, delusive side of a picture in which horror, misery, and death so sadly and so universally predominate.

Having arrived within artillery range the enemy quickly planted a dozen cannon, so as to rake the third Ohio and forty-second Indiana with terrible effect. Their infantry continued to advance under the cover of their fire. These two Federal regiments responded to the Rebel fire with great gallantry, until a full third of their numbers strewed the ensanguined field with their fallen bodies. Colonel Bently, of the third Ohio, was remarkable for his dauntloss heroism in the midst of that terrific storm of musketry. His men stood as firmly as rocks in the midst of an ocean tempest, and hurled continuous volleys of flame and shot into the ranks of the enemy; but they were compelled at last to give way by a cause which they could not control. A barn filled with hay, near which the right wing of the third Ohio rested, took fire. It soon became enveloped in flames. The heat was so intense that the faces of many of the men were blistered. At length they were compelled to break their ranks, and retire from their position. The fifteenth Kentucky, after resisting the enemy for a while with great heroism, was also compelled to retire. But the success of the enemy in this part of the field was not yet ended. The retreat of the third Ohio and fifteenth Kentucky left the gallant tenth Ohio regiment in an exposed position. Colonel Lytle expected to receive a charge on his front. But the Rebels, whom the rising ground here partially concealed, stole around unobserved to their flank, and suddenly rushed upon them from an unexpected quarter. The tenth had been ordered to lie upon their faces. The Rebels surprised them in that unfa vorable position. They sprang to their feet instantly, and made a desperate effort to change their front and charge upon the foe. It was impossible, however, to accomplish this under the withering fire which assailed them, and they soon broke and fled. It was in this awful moment of chaos and terror that the gifted and dauntless Lytle fell pierced with balls while in vain attempting to stem the overwhelming tide of disaster and defeat.

During the progress of these events an immense body of Rebels, filing to the left, attacked the divisions of Generals Sheridan and Mitchel, who occupied the Federal right and right centre. They charged up the hills on which these troops were posted; but their audacious valor was vain. They met a reception which shattered their masses into bloody fragments. They were eventually compelled to retire, and were pursued by the valiant legions of Mitchel beyond Perryville. By this time the seventeenth brigade had been reformed, and charged on the foe, supported by the ninth and twenty-eighth brigades. Then ensued a desperate combat half an hour in duration. It was now nearly sundown. Once more the Rebels made a furious charge upon the Federal lines, as if determined to

grasp the victory from unwilling fate. The discharges of artillery on both sides became terrific. At length its thunder ceased, as darkness spread its sable mantle over the scene. The Union army reposed upon their arms during the night, while the enemy leisurely resumed their retreat, and ultimately escaped into Tennessee through Powell's gap. The Federal forces did not pursue them. It was, in fact, little better than a drawn battle. The Federal loss in the division of General Rousseau was nineteen hundred and fifty killed and wounded. The loss in the remaining portions of the army was about four thousand, including killed, wounded, and missing. The enemy captured three hundred of these during the engagement.

The invasion of the soil of Kentucky, which General Bragg had conducted, proved eminently successful to the Rebel interest, and the opposition which General Buell had effected to his purposes amounted to very little. Bragg succeeded in capturing fifteen hundred wagon loads of provisions, clothing, and other necessaries for his army. He obtained several thousand valuable horses and mules, five thousand beeves and other cattle, together with an immense amount of groceries and domestic goods, gathered from the stores of Lexington, Frankfort, Danville, Harrodsburg, and other places. In consqeuence of Buell's slow pursuit he was permitted to retire to a safe retreat, in possession of all this plunder, without having been attacked more than once during the period of five months, in which that general held command of the numerous and powerful army of the Ohio. Bragg had been allowed to traverse the richest portions of the State of Kentucky undisturbed; to perpetrate the farce · of inaugurating a governor at Frankfort; to rob, defraud, and terrify the citizens of one of the most wealthy and populous States in the Union, and then to make good his escape without the least interference. It is not singular, therefore, that this commander was removed by the Federal Government. This was done on the 30th of October, and General Rosecrans was appointed in his stead. The campaigns of General Buell had borne so little fruit in the way of Union successes that a more energetic and efficient commander was needed.

During the concluding portion of the month of September, and in October, 1862, a number of events occurred of minor importance, a brief allusion to which will here be sufficient. On the 20th of September, a conflict took place at Shepardstown ferry, Virginia, in which the Corn Exchange regiment of Philadelphia fought bravely and suffered severely. On the 22d of that month General Bragg advanced upon Louisville, and on the next day he demanded its surrender to the Rebel forces. On the 28th a skirmish took place on the Blackwater river, Virginia. On the 1st of October skirmishing occurred near Louisville, Kentucky; and the Sabine Pass, in Texas, was captured by Federal troops. On the 4th of October Federal gunboats shelled Galveston, Texas, and compelled the

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Rebels to evacuate the place. On the same day a battle was fought at Bardstown, Kentucky, after which the town was occupied by the Union troops. On the 6th of October Richard Hewes was inaugurated by Braxton Bragg at Frankfort, as Governor of Kentucky. Treasonable speeches were made on the occasion by that general, and by Humphrey Marshall. On the same day they burned the railroad bridge at Frankfort, and the new governor evacuated the place immediately afterward. On the 9th an engagement took place between a small number of Union and Rebel troops in the same vicinity. On the 11th spirited skirmishes occurred at Helena, Arkansas, and at Danville, Kentucky. On the 15th a successful Federal expedition proceeded up the Apalachicola river, Florida. On the same day Union troops occupied the town of Paris, Kentucky. On the 16th skirmishes took place near Shepardstown and Charlestown, Virginia. On the 20th a battle occurred at Neuga creek, Missouri. On the 22d skirmishes were fought at Hedgesville, Virginia; at Maysville, Arkansas; at Pocotaligo and Frampton, South Carolina. On the 25th another fight occurred on the Blackwater, Virginia, and the Union troops entered Donaldsonville, Louisiana. On the 30th skirmishes took place at Upperville and Petersburg, Virginia, and the Union troops occupied Thibodeaux, Louisiana. On the 31st of October another contest occurred on the Blackwater, and the town of Franklin, Virginia, was destroyed. On the same day Union gunboats bombarded the Rebel batteries at Lavaca, in Texas, and took possession of Tampa Bay, in Florida.

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CHAPTER XXXIII.

EXPLOITS OF THE CONFEDERATE CRUISER, THE ALABAMA-HER PECULIAR STRUCTUREEFFORTS MADE TO CAPTURE HER-THEIR FAILURE-THE EXPEDITION SENT BY GENERAL MITCHEL AGAINST THE CHARLESTON AND SAVANNAH RAILROAD-INCIDENTS OF THE UNDERTAKING-BATTLES-THEIR RESULTS-RETURN OF THE EXPEDITION-VARIOUS RECONNOISSANCES MADE BY THE ARMY OF THE POTOMAC-IMPORTANT RESULTS ACCOMPLISHED

BY THEM-OCCUPATION OF SNICKER'S, ASHBY'S, AND THOROUGHFARE GAPS BY THE FEDERAL TROOPS-BRILLIANT ENGAGEMENT NEAR MAYSVILLE, ARKANSAS-FLIGHT OF THE REBELSSUCCESSFUL RECONNOISSANCE OF CAPTAIN DAHLGREN TO FREDERICKsburg, virgINIASKIRMISHES AT PHILOMEL AND NEW CREEK, VIRGINIA, AND AT WILLIAMSTON, NORTH CAROLINA-ABORTIVE ATTEMPT OF THE REBELS UNDER MORGAN AND FORREST TO CAPTURE NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE-FEDERAL EXPEDITION TO THIBODEAUXVILLE, LOUISIANA-RECONNOISSANCE OF GENERAL M'PHERSON TOWARD HOLLY SPRINGS, MISSISSIPPI-APPROACH OF THE FEDERAL ARMY UNDER BURNSIDE TO FREDERICKSBURG-THE CITY SUMMONED TO SURRENDER THE REFUSAL EMBARRASSING DELAY OF BURNSIDE'S OPERATIONS.

AMONG the many sources of annoyance to the loyal citizens of the United States which occurred during the progress of this civil war, the achivements of the Rebel steamer Alabama were not the least troublesome. This vessel became the most renowned of those piratical cruisers which were called into existence by the proclamation of Jefferson Davis, referred to in the preceding part of this volume, and which granted letters of marque and reprisal to such citizens of the Confederate States, as might apply for them. The boldness and skill of her officers and crew soon rendered her formidable on the high seas; and the number and rapidity of her conquests earned for her a prominent though unenviable place in the annals of the war.

This vessel was commanded by Captain Semmes, a person who, until his promotion to that post, had been unknown to fame. Among her other officers was Lieutenant Howell, a brother-in-law of Jefferson Davis. She registered twelve hundred tons burthen; was two hundred and twenty feet in length, thirty-two in width, had two decks, and was painted black. She carried three long thirty-two pounders on each side, and was pierced for two more amidships. She had a hundred pound rifled pivot gun forward on the bridge, and a sixty-eight pounder on the main deck. She had also tracks laid forward for a pivot bow-gun, as well as tracks aft for a pivot stern-chaser. Her cannon were all of English manufac ture. She was barque-rigged, and could sail thirteen knots an hour under canvas, fifteen knots under steam. She was provided with the flags of all nations, which she used as occasion required; but she generally unfurled the Red Cross of St. George to the breeze when she approached a vessel. Her crew numbered a hundred and thirty men, whom she took