shelter under its guns; and under the supposition that she had retired from the fight, Admiral Farragut ordered the fleet to cast off their couplings and come to anchor, with the exception of the light-draught gunboats, which were directed to pursue and destroy the Selma, Morgan, and Gaines. The Metacomet captured the Selma after a brisk engagement, but the Morgan and Gaines succeeded in getting under the protection of Fort Morgan. The former subsequently crept along the shore during the night into Mobile, but the latter was so seriously injured that she had to be destroyed. Several of the large ships were already at anchor, when, shortly before nine o'clock, the Tennessee was seen standing toward the Hartford, with the desperate intention apparently of fighting single-handed the whole fleet. Of the singular combat that followed, the following description is given by Admiral Farragut:

I was not long in comprehending his intentions to be the destruction of the flag-ship. The monitors, and such of the wooden vessels as I thought best adapted for the purpose, were immediately ordered to attack the ram, not only with their guns, but bows on at full speed, and then began one of the fiercest naval combats on record. The Monongahela, Commander Strong, was the first vessel that struck her, and in doing so carried away his own iron prow, together with the cutwater, without apparently doing her adversary much injury. The Lackawanna, Capt. Marchand, was the next vessel to strike her, which she did at full speed; but though her stem was cut and crushed to the plank ends for the distance of three feet above the water's edge to five feet below, the only perceptible effect on the ram was to give her a heavy list. The Hartford was the third vessel which struck her, but, as the Tennessee quickly shifted her helm, the blow was a glancing one, and as she rasped along our side, we poured our whole port broadside of 9-inch solid shot within ten feet of her casement. The monitors worked slowly, but delivered their fire as opportunity offered. The Chickasaw succeeded in getting under her stern, and a 15-inch shot from the Manhattan broke through her iron plating and heavy wooden backing, though the missile itself did not enter the vessel. Immediately after the collision with the flag-ship I directed Capt. Drayton to bear down for the ram again. He was doing so at full speed, when, unfortunately, the Lackawanna run into the Hartford just forward of the mizzen-mast, cutting her down to within two feet of the water's edge. We soon got clear again, however, and were fast approaching our adversary, when she struck her colors and run up the white flag.

She was at this time sore beset; the Chickasaw was pounding away at her stern, the Ossipee was approaching her at full speed, and the Monongahela, Lackawanna, and this ship were bearing down upon her, determined upon her destruction. Her smokestack had been shot away, her steering chains were gone, compelling a resort to her relieving tackles, and several of her port shutters were jammed. In deed, from the time the Hartford struck her until, her surrender, she never fired a gun. As the Ossipee, Commander Le Roy, was about to strike her, she hoisted the white flag, and that vessel immediately stopped her engine, though not in time to avoid a glancing blow. During this contest with the rebel gunboats and the ram Tennessee, and which terminated by her surrender at 10 o'clock, we lost many more men than from the fire of the batteries of Fort

Morgan.

The Tennessee, as was effectually shown by the determined resistance which she made, was

perhaps the strongest vessel ever constructed by the enemy. She was 209 feet in length, with a breadth of beam of 48 feet, had in the centre an external casement, with sloping sides, about 80 feet in length by 30 feet in breadth, and drew about 14 feet of water. Her deck was plated with 2 inches of wrought-iron, her sides with 4 inches, and her casemate with from 5 to 6 inches. Her armament consisted of 4 6-inch broadside rifles, and 2 7-inch pivot rifles, all of the Brooks pattern. But one shot, a 15-inch one from the Manhattan, penetrated her armor, and, in view of the hard pounding which she received, her injuries were on the whole inconsiderable. Admiral Buchanan lost a leg in the action, and ten or twelve of the crew were killed and wounded. The prisoners surrendered numbered 20 officers and about 170 men; and those on the Selma, 90 officers and men. The casualties in the fleet, exclusive of those on board the Tecumseh, were 52 killed and 170 wounded.

Meanwhile, on the 4th, a cooperative body of troops under Gen. Granger had landed on Dauphin Island, in accordance with an arrangement between Admiral Farragut and Gen. Canby, and commenced the siege of Fort Gaines. The rebel commander, Colonel Anderson, seeing that the Federal fleet held uninterrupted possession of Mobile Bay, concluded that further resistance was hopeless, and on the 7th surrendered his garrison of 818 men unconditionally. Fort Powell had been blown up by the rebels on the evening of the 5th. These obstructions being removed and Grant's Pass secured, the fleet was relieved from any apprehensions with regard to obtaining supplies; but it was nevertheless determined to complete the work originally undertaken by the capture of Fort Morgan, which still held out. The troops were accordingly transferred to the rear of the fort, and lines of investment drawn across the sandy spit on which it is situated. On the 22d, fire was opened from the shore batteries and the fleet, and on the next day Gen. Page, the rebel commander, surrendered unconditionally. When possession was taken of the work it was found that, with what Admiral Farragut called "childish spitefulness," he had destroyed many of the guns and other property which had been surrendered. Thenceforth during the year Mobile was effectually cut off from external

commerce.

In the course of the year, says the Secretary of the Navy, "the three English-built piratical cruisers which, under the rebel flag, have, during the last two years, roamed the seas, robbing and destroying our merchantmen, shunning all armed antagonists, and have found refuge and protection, and too often supplies and other assistance, in neutral ports, have terminated their predatory career." These were the Alabama, the Florida, and the Georgia-the first sunk off Cherbourg by the Kearsarge, the second captured in Bahia harbor by the Wachusett and the third captured at sea, off the coast of

Depth.

82 66 17

83

66

66

Horse-power, two engines of. 800 each. 400 h. power. Tonnage.. 1,150 1,080 Armament of the Alabama.-One 7-inch Blakely rifle; one 8-inch smooth-bore 63-pounder; six 82-pounders. Armament of the Kearsage.-Two 11-inch smooth-bore guns; one 30-pounder rifle; four 82-pounders.

The Kearsarge had twenty-two officers and one hundred and forty men, and the Alabama, so far as can be ascertained, about one hundred and forty officers and men, the greater part of the ship's company consisting of British subjects. Her gunners were trained artillerists from the British practice-ship Excellent. Availing himself of an ingenious expedient for the protection of his machinery, first adopted by Admiral Farragut in running past the rebel forts on the Mississippi in 1862, Capt. Winslow had hung all his spare anchor-cable over the midship section of the Kearsarge on either side; and in order to make the addition less unsight ly, the chains were boxed over with inch deal boards, forming a sort of case, which stood out at right angles to the side of the vessel.

At twenty minutes past ten on Sunday morning, June 19th, the Alabama was seen standing out from Cherbourg harbor, accompanied by the French iron-clad Couronne, and followed by the steam yacht Deer-hound, whose owner, an Englishmen named Lancaster, was on board with his family, ostensibly to witness the engagement, but really, as it subsequently appeared, to act as a tender to the Alabama. Upon seeing the Alabama approach, Capt. Winslow kept out to sea a few miles, in order "that the positions of the ships should be so far off shore that no questions could be advanced about the line of jurisdiction." Upon reaching a point about seven miles from the land the Kearsarge put about, and steered directly for the Alabama, which first opened fire at a range of about a mile. The following account of the fight that ensued is given by Capt. Winslow:

Immediately I ordered more speed; but in two minutes the Alabama had again loaded, and fired another broadside, and following it with a third, with out damaging us except in rigging. We had now ar

rived within nine hundred yards of her, and I was apprehensive that another broadside, nearly raking ordered the Kearsarge sheered, and opened on the as it was, would prove disastrous. I accordingly Alabama.

The positions of the vessels were now broadside to broadside, but it was soon apparent that Captain Semmes did not seek close action. I became then fearful lest, after some fighting, that he would again make for the shore. To defeat this I determined to keep full speed on, and with a port helm to run under the stern of the Alabama, and rake, if he did not prevent it by sheering and keeping his broadside to He adopted this mode as a preventive, and, as a consequence, the Alabama was forced, with a full head of steam, into a circular track during the engagement.

us.

The effect of this manoeuvre was such that, at the last of the action, when the Alabama would have made off, she was near five miles from the shore; and had the action continued from the first in parallel lines, with her head in shore, the line of jurisdiction would no doubt have been reached.

The firing of the Alabama from the first was rapid and wild; toward the close of the action her firing became better. Our men, who had been cautioned against rapid firing without direct aim, were much more deliberate; and the instructions given to point the heavy guns below rather than above the water line, and clear the deck with the lighter ones, were fully observed. I had endeavored with a port helm to close in with the Alabama, but it was not until just before the close of the action that we were in a her surrender. The effect of the training of our men position to use grape; this was avoided, however, by was evident; nearly every shot from our guns was telling fearfully on the Alabama, and on the seventh rotation on the circular track she winded, setting fore trysail and two jibs, with head in shore.

Her speed was now retarded, and by winding her port broadside was presented to us with only two guns bearing, not having been able, as I learned af terward, to shift over but one. I saw now that she was at our mercy, and a few more guns well directed brought down her flag. I was unable to ascertain whether they had been hauled down or shot away, but a white flag having been displayed over the stern, followed by two guns fired to leeward, our fire was reserved. Two minutes had not more than elapsed before she again opened on us with the two guns on Kearsarge was immediately steamed ahead and lay the port side. This drew our fire again, and the

across her bows for raking.

The white flag was still flying, and our fire was again reserved. Shortly after this her boats were seen to be lowering, and an officer in one of them dered and was fast sinking. In twenty minutes from came alongside and informed us the ship had surrenthis time the Alabama went down, her mainmast, which had received a shot, breaking near the head as she sunk, and her bow rising high out of the water although it is stated she discharged three hundred as her stern rapidly settled. The fire of the Alabama, and seventy or more shell and shot, was not of seri ous damage to the Kearsarge. Some thirteen or foureen of these had taken effect in and about the bull, and sixteen or seventeen about the waste and rigging.

to receive the officers and crew of the Alabama, The boats of the Kearsarge were at once sent but so rapidly did she go down that it was impossible to save them all without assistance. Capt. Winslow accordingly requested the Deerhound, which had meanwhile come alongside, to assist in the rescue of his prisoners. The crew of the privateer were by this time strug gling for their lives in the water, and many of the wounded men went down. In the confusion

of the moment the Deerhound, after picking up forty-one persons, including Semmes, who was wounded, steamed off toward the English coast, and when observed had got too much the start to be overhauled. The total number brought on board the Kearsarge was sixty-nine, of whom seventeen were wounded; and twelve were picked up and carried into Cherbourg by two French pilot boats. Several of the wounded died soon after, and the total number of officers and men belonging to the Alabama who were landed in France or England, amounted to one hundred and fifteen. The casualties of the Kearsarge amounted to only three wounded. This most remarkable sea fight between single ships that has occurred within the century was witnessed by thousands of spectators on the French shore, and the result produced a profound impression in Europe and America. The conduct of Semmes in throwing his sword into the sea after surrendering, and also in allowing himself to be carried into a neutral port by the Deerhound, formed the subject of severe strictures in the United States.

The Florida, while lying in the neutral port of Bahia, Brazil, was captured by Capt. N. Collins

of the Wachusett, as appears by the following brief report:

ST. THOMAS, W. I. ISLANDS, Oct. 31. Hon. GIDEON WELLES. Sir: have the honor to report the arrival here of this ship, with the rebel steamer Florida in company. The Florida, with 58 men and 12 officers, was captured about 3 o'clock on the morning of the 7th of October, in the bay of San Salvador, Brazil, by the officers and crew of this ves sel, without loss of life. We also captured five of the officers, including her commander. The remainder of her crew were on shore.

carried away and her bulwarks cut down. This vesThe Florida had her mizzen-mast and main-yard sel sustained no injury, A detailed report will be handed to you by Paymaster W. W. Williams. Very respectfully your obd'nt serv't, N. COLLINS, Com. U. S. Steam-sloop Wachusett. In November the Florida was brought into Hampton Roads, and while lying there to await the decision of the delicate international questions which her capture evolved, was accidentally run into by a steam transport and sunk.

The Georgia was captured by the Niagara on August 15th. Although having no armament on board at the time, she was seized as a lawful prize, and sent to the United States for adjudication.

It is proper to notice the measures which had been adopted to maintain the large armies which fought the battles in 1864. The acts of the Congress at Richmond, by which their armies were formed, were revised at the beginning of 1864. On December 28, 1863, it was enacted that no person liable to military service should be permitted, or allowed to furnish a substitute for such service; on January 5, 1864, it was enacted that no person liable to military service should be exempted by reason of his having furnished a substitute. In February, a general military act was passed.

Under the provisions of this bill, almost the whole male population could be employed either in the army or in raising supplies.

On the

eases......

Remainder

1,299,700

331,650

1,631,350

200,000

340,515

225,000

765,515

865,835

86,594

........

50,000

186,584

729,251

86,462

692,789

Deduct 10 per cent. for exemptions for disability and other causes..

Subject to military duty. Left the country.

Total........

It was also stated at that time that if onethird of this number (230,932) were added to the army in the field, it would consist of

461,844 men. From this it might be inferred that the force then in the field was 230,912. This is about the number of veteran troops estimated to be in the service at the beginning of the year, to which 120,000 conscripts were added. The number of youths passing annually from sixteen to seventeen years of age, was estimated at 62,000.

The Secretary of War, in his report at the session of Congress in November, alludes to the enlistment of negroes as at that time unnecessary. He says:

While it is encouraging to know this resource for further and future efforts at our command, my own judgment does not yet either perceive the necessity or approve the policy of employing slaves in the higher duties of soldiers; they are confessedly inferior in all respects to our white citizens in the qualifications of the soldier, and I have thought we have within the military age as large a proportion of our whole population as will be required or can be advantageously employed in active military operations. If, then, the negro be employed in the war, the inferior is preferred to the superior agent for the work. In such a war as this, waged against foes bent with malignant persistence on our destruction, and for all that man holds priceless-the most vital work is that of the soldier, and for it wisdom and duty require the most fitting workmen. The superior instrumentalities should be preferred. It will not do, in my opinion, to risk our liberties and safety on the negro while the white man may be called to the sacred duty of defence. For the present it seems best to leave the subordinate labors of society to the negro, and to impose its highest, as now existing, on the superior

class.

The use of the slaves as soldiers with the reward of freedom to those who survived, was strongly advocated during the year. From the beginning of hostilities they were the laborers on the fortifications in all parts of the Confederacy. At the same early period both the free and slave offered their services, and the former in considerable numbers enrolled themselves. In June, 1861, the Legislature of Tennessee passed an act to authorize the Governor to receive into the military service free persons of color between the ages of fifteen and fifty. Pay and rations were assigned to them. In September one regiment, numbering fourteen hundred, appeared on the field at the review of troops in New Orleans. In February, 1862, the subject of enrolling the free negroes was discussed in the Legislature of Virginia, and an act passed to provide for their enlistment. The next step was the threat to draft slaves to work on the fortifications when refused to hire them. This was made by Gov. Brown, of Georgia, in November, 1862. During the next year they were extensively employed as pioneers, sappers, cooks, nurses, and teamsters, and their employment as a military arm in defence of the country was advocated in Congress. In February, 1864, Congress passed an act making all "male free negroes (with certain exceptions) between the ages of eighteen and fifty," liable to perform such duties in the army, or in connection with the military defences of the country, in the way of work upon

"

fortifications, or in Government works, etc., as the Secretary of War might from time to time prescribe, and providing them rations, clothing, and compensation. The Secretary of War was also authorized to employ for similar duty twenty thousand male negro slaves, and their owners were guaranteed against escape or death. He was authorized to impress the slaves when he could not hire them; and general orders No. 32, March 11, 1864, directed the enrolment of the free negroes, and their assignment to the performance of the duties and impressment of slaves was ordered by the mentioned in the act. Also the employment same general orders.

A bill to arm the slaves passed the House of Congress in the spring of 1865, but was lost in the Senate by one vote. The Legislature of Virginia instructed her Senators to vote for it. Whereupon it was reconsidered in the Senate in the following form:

A Bill to Increase the Military Forces of the Confeder ate States.

The Congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That in order to provide additional forces to repel invasion, maintain the rightful possession of the Confederate States, secure their independence, and preserve their institutions, the President be, and he is hereby, authorized to ask for and accept from the owners of slaves the services of such number of able-bodied negro men as he may deem expedient, for and during the war, to perform military service in whatever capacity he may direct.

SECTION 2. That the General-in-Chief be authorized to organize the said slaves into companies, battalions, regiments, and brigades, under such rules and regulations as the Secretary of War may prescribe, and to be commanded by such officers as the President may appoint.

SEC. 3. That while employed in the service the said troops shall receive the same rations, clothing, and compensation as are allowed to other troops in the same branch of the service.

SEC. 4. That if, under the previous section of this act, the President shall not be able to raise a suffcient number of troops to prosecute the war successfully and maintain the sovereignty of the States and the independence of the Confederate States, then he is hereby authorized to call on each State, whenever he thinks it expedient, for her quota of three hundred thousand troops, in addition to those subject to military service under existing laws, or so many thereof as the President may deem necessary, to be raised from such classes of the population, irrespect ive of color, in each State, as the proper authorities thereof may determine.

SEC. 5. That nothing in this act shall be construed to authorize a change in the relation of the said slave. The Senate amended it as follows:

Provided, That not more than twenty-five per cent, of the male slaves between the ages of eighteen and forty-five in any State shall be called for under the provisions of this act.

It was then passed and sent to the House, where the amendment was approved by the following vote:

YEAS.-Messrs. Anderson, Barksdale, Batson, Baylor, Blandford, Bradley, H. W. Bruce, Carroll, Clark, Clopton, Conrad, Darden, De Jarnette, Dickinson, Dupre, Elliott, Ewing, Funstein, Gaither, Goode, Gray, Hanley, Johnston, Keeble, Lyon, Machen, Marshall, McMullen, Menees, Miller, Moore, Murray,

Perkins, Read, Russell, Simpson, Snead, Staples, Triplett, and Villere 40.

NAYS.-Messrs. Atkins, Baldwin, Chambers,_Colyar, Cruikshank, Fuller, Gholson, Gilmer, Hartridge, Hatcher, Herbert, Holliday, J. M. Leach, J. T. Leach, Logan, McCallum, Ramsay, Rogers, Sexton, J. M. Smith, Smith of North Carolina, Turner, Wickham, Wilkes, Witherspoon, Mr. Speaker-26.

When the bill was on its passage in the Senate, after the instructions of the Virginia Legislature, Mr. Hunter, of Virginia, said: When we left the old Government we had thought we had got rid forever of the slavery agitation; that we were entering into a new Confederacy of homogeneous States where the agitation of the slavery question, which had become intolerable under the old Union, was to have no place. But to his surprise he finds that this Government assumes the power to arm the slaves, which involves also the power of emancipation. To the agitation of this question, the assumption of this power, he dated the origin of the gloom which now overspreads our people. They knew that if our liberties were to be achieved it was to be done by the hearts and the hands of free men. It also injured us abroad. It was regarded as a confession of despair and an abandonment of the ground upon which we had seceded from the old Union. We had insisted that Congress had no right to interfere with slavery, and upon the coming into power of the party who, it was known, would assume and exercise that power, we seceded. We had also then contended that whenever the two races were thrown together, one must be master and the other slave, and we vindicated ourselves against the accusations of Abolitionists by asserting that slavery was the best and happiest condition of the negro. Now what does this proposition admit? The right of the central Government to put the slaves into the militia, and to emancipate at least so many as shall be placed in the military service. It is a clear claim of the central Government to emancipate the slaves.

If we are right in passing this measure we were wrong in denying to the old Government the right to interfere with the institution of slavery and to emancipate slaves. Besides, if we offer slaves their freedom as a boon, we confess that we were insincere, were hypocritical, in asserting that slavery was the best state for the negroes themselves. He had been sincere in declaring that the central Government had no power over the institution of slavery, and that freedom would be no boon to the negro.

He now believed, as he had formerly said in discussion on the same subject, that arming and emancipating the slaves was an abandonment of this contest-an abandonment of the grounds upon which it had been undertaken. If this is so, who is to answer for the hundreds of thousands of men who had been slain in the war? Who was to answer for them before the bar of Heaven? Not those who had entered into the contest upon principle and adhered to the principle, but those who had abandoned

the principle. Not for all the gold in California would he have put his name to such a measure as this, unless obliged to do it by instructions. As long as he was free to vote from his own convictions nothing could have extorted it from him.

Mr. Hunter then argued the necessity of freeing the negroes if they were made soldiers. There was something in the human heart and head that tells us it must be so; when they come out scarred from this conflict they must be free. If we could make them soldiers, the condition of the soldier being socially equal to any other in society, we could make them officers, perhaps, to command white men. Some future ambitious President might use the slaves to seize the liberties of the country, and put the white men under his feet. The Government had no power under the Constitution to arm and emancipate the slaves, and the Constitution granted no such great powers by implication.

Mr. Hunter then showed from statistics that no considerable body of negro troops could be raised in the States over which the Government had control without stripping the country of the labor absolutely necessary to produce food. He thought there was a much better chance of getting the large number of deserters back to the army than of getting the slaves into it. The negro abhorred the profession of a soldier. The commandant of conscripts, with authority to impress twenty thousand slaves, had, between last September and the present time, been able to get but four thousand; and of these, thirty-five hundred had been obtained in Virginia and North Carolina, and five hundred from Alabama. If he, armed with all the powers of impressment, could not get them as laborers, how will we be able to get them as soldiers? Unless they volunteer they will go to the Yankees; if we depend upon their volunteering we can't get them, and those we do get will desert to the enemy, who can offer them a better price than we can. The enemy can offer them liberty, clothing, and even farms at our expense. Negroes now were deterred from going to the enemy only by the fear of being put into the army. If we put them in they would all go over.

In conclusion, he considered that the measure, when reviewed as to its expediency, was worse than as a question of principle.

A benevolent association, known as the Richmond Ambulance Corps, was early formed to look after the wounded in battle. Their agency was similar to the Sanitary Commission of the north. They have followed the Virginian army and been present in every battle. They have every appurtenance necessary in their humane vocation, such as hospital supplies, sugar, tea, coffee, etc., with utensils for preparing every thing on a large scale.

The stringency of the blockade compelled the inhabitants to manufacture the materials for war. The Ordnance Department organized twelve arsenals, eight armories, seven large