port side, while the wounded were sent below until the surgeon's quarters would hold no more. A solid shot coming through the bow struck a gunner on the neck, completely severing head from body. One poor fellow lost both legs by a cannon-ball; as he fell he threw up both arms just in time to have them also carried away by another shot. [Yet he survived.] At one gun, all the crew on one side were swept down by a shot which came crashing through the bulwarks. A shell burst between the two forward guns in charge of Lieutenant Tyson, killing and wounding fifteen men.

When Farragut asked by signal why the Brooklyn had stopped, the answer was, "Torpedoes." At which he exclaimed, "Damn the torpedoes!" and ordered that more steam be put on and the Hartford to pass the Brooklyn and take the lead. She was so near to the Brooklyn that while she steamed ahead, the Metacomet, her running mate, had to back water, to secure a short turn to the left of the Brooklyn's stern. This sent them across the line of torpedoes. The primers of some of these were heard snapping under the ships, but the torpedoes failed to explode. The Confederate ship Selma kept in front of the Hartford and raked her, thus doing more damage than all the rest of the Confederate fleet. Two other gunboats were well taken care of by the Hartford's broadsides.

When the fleet was about a mile inside the bay the Metacomet, which was the fastest vessel there, was cast loose from the Hartford and, commanded by Captain James E. Jouett, soon overhauled the Selma, which was retreating before her. One shot wounded the Selma's captain and killed her first officer, and thereupon she surrendered. The gunboat Gaines, smashed by the gunfire of the Hartford, was run ashore and set

on fire by her crew. Another, the Morgan, escaped by running into shallow water.

The fleet came to anchor in the bay; and a little later the ram Tennessee, leaving the shelter of Fort Morgan, made straight for her enemies-three monitors and ten wooden vessels. She had the advantage over them from the fact that almost any shot rolled off harmlessly from her thick, sloping iron sides, and especially from the fact that she was alone and at liberty to fire in any direction, while they must avoid firing into one another. Yet she had vulnerable points. But they all up anchor and rushed at her, trying to run her down. The monitors were slow in turning, and two of the wooden vessels got at the ram first, ramming her amidships, but without harming her in the least, while they were badly damaged themselves. She drove toward the flagship as if to run her down, but suddenly changed her course and the bows of the two vessels just grazed as they passed. The Hartford poured out a whole broadside at the ram, but to no effect, while she herself received a shell that killed five men and wounded eight. In the general rush to get at the ram the Lackawanna struck the Hartford amidships and cut into her so deeply as almost to create a panic. But the Admiral, finding that there was no damage down to the water-line, ordered his ship to drive again, full speed, at the ram. The Lackawanna, coming up for a second blow at the ram, was in imminent danger of striking the flagship again; whereat the Admiral said to the signal officer: "Can you say 'for God's sake' by signal?" The signal officer informed him that he could. "Then say to the Lackawanna, 'For God's sake get out of our way and anchor. Though no shot that the fleet could send would

pierce the side of the ram, the many that it did send found spots for execution after a while. The smokestack was entirely shot away, as was also the flag-staff, and a shot from one of the monitors cut the rudder chains. The monitor Chickasaw hung close at her stern and hammered away with 11-inch solid shot, which loosened the plates and, according to the Tennessee's pilot, sent some of them flying into the air. Admiral Buchanan, her commander, was severely wounded, and she ran out a white flag and surrendered. Two of her men had been killed, and nine wounded. The total casualties in the Confederate fleet were twelve killed and twenty wounded. In Farragut's fleet fiftytwo were killed, and one hundred and seventy wounded. Fort Gaines surrendered the next day, and Fort Morgan about a fortnight later.

Much has been said about Admiral Farragut being "lashed to the mast" in this battle, as if it were an act of bravado, like nailing the colours. The simple truth is, that as the smoke thickened he ascended into the rigging to get a view; and because a shot might cause him to fall an officer had a ratlin passed around him and tied to the rigging.

Brownell's masterpiece describing this battle, in which he took part, has many noble passages:

"Fear? A forgotten form!

Death? A dream of the eyes!

We were atoms in God's great storm
That roared through the angry skies.

"O Mother Land, this weary life

We led, we lead, is 'long of thee:
Thine the strong agony of strife,
And thine the lonely sea.

"Nor shalt thou want one willing breath,

Though, ever smiling round the brave,
The blue sea bear us on to death,

The green were one wide grave."

OF

The Battle of Cedar Creek

October 19, 1864

F all the elements that entered into the great problem of the Civil War, the Shenandoah Valley (or Valley of Virginia, as it is also called) was one of the most important and most puzzling. It was like a lane down which at almost any time a Confederate detachment could be sent to threaten Washington; but it could not be used conversely to threaten Richmond, for the farther a force marched up the valley the farther it was from that capital. Then, too, the fertility of the valley made it a granary, from which the Confederate army drew great supplies, and it was also a direct road to the best farming lands of Maryland.

When, in 1864, General Grant assumed command of all the National forces, and undertook his campaign in Virginia, he wished to have this element eliminated from the problem. When Early's raid, in which he fought the battle of the Monocacy, had culminated in the burning of Chambersburg, Pennsylvania (July 30th), Grant took up the subject in earnest. His solution, stated briefly, was, that if the enemy traversed the valley again he must find it necessary to carry his provisions with him. Grant would have been satisfied to retain General David Hunter in command there; but Hunter, believing that he did not possess the con

fidence of the authorities at Washington, resigned for the good of the service. Grant then chose General Philip H. Sheridan, though Secretary Stanton objected to him as too young for so important a command. He was then in his thirty-fourth year. Sheridan, who was to have a force of about 30,000 men, distinctly understood his instructions and was exactly the man to carry them out. He received the Sixth, Nineteenth, and Eighth Corps of infantry-commanded by Generals Wright, Emory, and Crook-and the cavalry divisions of Torbert, Merritt, Custer, and Lowell.

Early was still on the Potomac above Harpers Ferry, loading his wagons with wheat on the battlefield of Antietam when he learned that Sheridan was moving southward toward Winchester to cut off his communications, whereupon he hastily retreated and took a position to cover that place. Sheridan's position was on Opequan Creek, facing west toward the town. Here he was attacked, August 21st, and after a fight in which he lost 260 men he fell back to Halltown, and waited for a proper opportunity; Early meanwhile making various raids in the lower valley. The opportunity came in the middle of September, when Lee had called away a large part of Early's force, and another part was at Martinsburg, twenty miles away. Sheridan set his army in motion early on September 19th, and battle was joined by noon and continued till dark. After some varying fortune, he drove everything before him. The enemy, though in rout and confusion, escaped up the valley in the darkness, leaving their wounded behind and losing five guns and nine battle-flags. The popular account of this action in all the newspapers was summed up in the declaration that Early "was sent whirling through Winchester."