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everything. That is victory!"* General Shields, also, in a general order congratulated his command on the "glorious victory" which they had achieved: "They defeated an enemy whose forces outnumbered them, and who are considered the bravest and best disciplined of the Confederate army. He also congratulates He also congratulates them that it has fallen to their lot to open the campaign on the Potomac. The opening has been a splendid success. Let them inscribe 'WINCHESTER' on their banners, and prepare for other victories."

The Confederate commander, General Thomas Jonathan Jackson, better known by his title of "Stonewall Jackson," from an incident, it is said, in this battle of Winchester, of a portion of his command fighting behind a stone wall, was a native of Lewis County, Virginia. Born in 1826, he was yet in the prime of manhood. A graduate of West Point of the class of 1846, with the appointment of 2d Lieutenant in the 2d Artillery, he had served in Mexico with the battery of Captain Magruder, the well known general in the rebel service. Lieutenant Jackson was brevetted captain and major for his gallantry in the campaign of General Scott at Cherubusco and Chapultepec. In 1852 he resigned his rank in the army in consequence of impaired health, and became a Professor in the Military Institute of Lexington, Virginia. His first wife was the daughter of the Rev. Dr. George Junkin, an eminent * General Banks's Order. Strasburg, March 26, 1862.

Presbyterian divine, who has shown his regard for the Union in the publication of an elaborate volume entitled "Political Fallacies-an examination of the false assumptions and refutations of the sophistical reasonings which have brought on this civil war." On the outbreak of the rebellion, it is said, "Jackson, who is an elder in the Presbyterian church, spent a day and a night in endeavoring to convert Dr. Junkin to secession views, the two arguing together during a whole day, and praying together during the night following, without effect, however, upon Dr. Junkin, who was afterward obliged to leave the country and seek refuge in the Northern States." Jackson entered the rebel service as colonel at the very beginning of the war, and was engaged in the first attack upon Harper's Ferry. He confronted General Patterson in his advance in that region previous to the battle of Bull Run, in which he bore a part, and was afterwards on duty with the army in Virginia to the time of his present appearance in the valley of the Shenandoah. Thoroughly in earnest, even fanatical in devotion to the cause which he had espoused, a soldier with a genius for his profession, he brought to the service a local knowledge of the country, a presence of mind in emergencies, and an activity in the field, in pursuit and retreat, which made his name memorable in many an engagement of the war.

* Biographical notice in Appleton's Cyclopædia.

CHAPTER LXI.

THE BATTLE OF PITTSBURG LANDING, APRIL 6, 7, 1862.

THE first prominent mention of Pittsburg Landing, in the affairs of the war, is in a dispatch of Lieutenant Commanding Gwin of the 1st of March, 1862. On that day, being in command of the

gunboat Tyler, at the town of Savannah on the Tennessee river, in Hardin county, bordering on Mississippi, "having learned that the rebels had occupied and were fortifying a place called Pittsburg,

ARMY MOVEMENTS IN TENNESSEE.

nine miles above on the right bank of the river-the best point in the river for that purpose-he determined to attack them." Accordingly, proceeding thither with the gunboat Lexington, Lieutenant Commanding Shirk, when they had advanced to within twelve hundred yards of the place, fire was opened upon them from a battery of six or eight field pieces, one of them rifled. The gunboats drawing nearer, secured an effective range, and soon silenced the batteries. Two armed boats were then landed from each vessel under cover of a discharge of grape and canister, and their small force of ninety men succeeded in driving back the rebels and holding them in check while they destroyed a house in the immediate vicinity of the batteries. The enemy then rallied, and the landing party finding themselves in the presence of a greatly superior force, stated at three regiments, retired to the boats under a heavy fire of musketry from the rebels. The Tyler was "perfectly riddled with balls." The casualties on the Union side, in this bravely conducted affair, were five killed and missing, and five wounded. The injury to the enemy is unknown, but was supposed to be considerable. "I feel confident," says Lieutenant Gwin in his report," that we inflicted a severe loss, as several bodies were seen on the ground and many seen to fall." Lieutenant Gwin also announced his intention of remaining about Savannah, paying Pittsburg a daily visit, which he hoped would prevent the rebels from accomplishing their object. He had assured himself that the enemy were gathering in force on the northern borders of Alabama and Mississippi, with the evident intention of disputing the possession by the Union troops of middle Tennessee.**

In the northeastern border of the State, the Union forces, few in numbers, were watching the gaps of the Cumber

Flag-Officer Foote to the Hon. Gideon Welles. Cairo, March 3, 1862. Reports of Lieutenant-Commanders Gwin and Shirk

335

land mountains, with an occasional adventurous skirmish with the rebel troops in that region. On the 10th of March, Colonel James Carter, with his regiment of loyal Tennesseeans, left Camp Cumberland ford and traversed the mountains some forty miles to Big Creek Gap, in the neighborhood of Jacksboro' in Campbell county, where he encountered a body of rebel cavalry. Two of the latter were killed, four badly wounded, and fifteen taken prisoners, including a lieutenantcolonel. The tents of three companies with various camp equipage and a number of horses were obtained. Lieutenant Myers and a private of the Union party were wounded. Another brilliant affair of a similar character was conducted by Colonel Garfield, a few days after, from the camp at Piketon, Kentucky. A scouting party from the 22d Kentucky and 40th and 42d Ohio, with a hundred Ohio cavalry-about seven hundred in all-set out on the 13th of March for Pound or Sounding Gap, a pass in the Cumberland mountains about forty miles to the southeast, where a band of guerrillas had established themselves to the annoyance of the surrounding country. The march was a difficult one, along narrow paths, through rain and snow, in "fathomless, endless mud." Arriving at Elkton Creek, two miles from the gap, on the night of the 15th, he sent his cavalry up the road toward the front of the enemy's position, to divert their attention, while the next morning, Sunday, he led the infantry over the mountains by a precipitous path to take the rebel camp in flank. Emerging from the woods, he discovered the camp in a ravine, with the enemy apparently formed on an opposite hill. He drew up his line in front of them, when observing that they were falling back, he dashed through the ravine and up the hill, with fixed bayonets for a decisive charge. The enemy did not wait for the attack, but, availing themselves of their knowledge of the mountains, fled, leaving the military

property in the camp, and commissary General Grant. His army, when it buildings, a spoil to the assailants. They reached its destination, embraced the diwere effectually ransacked, and what visions of Generals McClernand, Charles could not be carried off was burnt. The F. Smith, Lewis Wallace, A. S. Hurlbut, Union troops occupied the gap during W. T. Sherman, and B. M. Prentiss. the rest of the day and night, feasting on General McClernand, distinguished by the enemy's larder, supplying themselves his military conduct at Belmont and Donwith guns and clothing previous to their elson, had been just created a majorreturn, without loss or injury, to Pike- general of volunteers. General Smith, ton. Several of the enemy were said to the hero of Fort Donelson, accompanied be wounded in this affair. A reconnois- the expedition with his troops to Savansance in force was made on the 22d from nah, on the Tennessee, where he was taken Camp Cumberland ford to Cumberland ill, and in consequence of his sickness, Gap. There was some skirmishing, and the command of his division in the apan artillery duel was carried on with the proaching battle fell to General W. H. S. enemy, at too great a distance, however, Wallace. This officer was a native of to be effective on either side. Maryland. His parents emigrating to Illinois in his boyhood, he there grew up, and adopted the profession of the law. He had enlisted as a private in the Mexican war, and fought at Buena Vista as adjutant of Colonel Hardin's Illinois regiment. When the rebellion broke out he was chosen colonel of the 11th Illinois regiment of volunteers, with which he rendered important service at Cairo, and in the military operations in its vicinity. He was with the advance of General Grant's army at Fort Henry and Donelson, where his bravery gained him the appointment of brigadier-general. General Lewis Wallace, of Indiana, we have seen in action throughout the war, from the carliest scenes in Western Virginia to the storming of Fort Donelson, in which he bore a leading part. He was now majorgeneral of volunteers, in command of the 3d division of General Grant's army. Brigadier-General Stephen A. Hurlbut, commanding the 4th division, was a native of South Carolina, but a citizen of Illinois. He had recently been engaged in repressing the disturbances in Northern Missouri, whence he had been sent by General Halleck to his present important command on the Tennessee. W. T. Sherman, of Kentucky, will be remembered as the successor of Major Anderson in command of the army in that State, and the predecessor of General

The great movement on foot of the Union armies in Tennessee at this time was the junction of the forces of Generals Grant and Buell on the upper waters of the Tennessee River, with a view of controlling the lines of railway communication connecting the Mississippi with the East, and the border slave States of the rebellion with the Gulf of Mexico. As Columbus had been evacuated, and Island No. 10 was on the point of surrender in consequence of the victories ending in the occupation of Nashville, so the conquest of Memphis would be facilitated by advancing the Union forces to Corinth in Mississippi, the junction of the Memphis and Charleston and Mobile and Ohio Railroads. Tennessee would thus be firmly held in the grasp of the national army. It was a bold step from the lines in Kentucky at Bowling Green to the heart of the enemy's country at the northern boundaries of Mississippi and Alabama. Yet in the course of a month this change had been effected. The Union army, in possession of the capital, was pushing its advance to the southern boundary of Tennessee, and the best generals of the Confederacy were forming new lines of defence in States bordering on the Gulf.

The "Tennessee Expedition," as it was called, was commanded by Major

General

THE UNION ARMY ON THE TENNESSEE.

337

Brigadier-signed for a night attack on his encampment at Pittsburg Landing.*

Buell in the department.
General Prentiss, by his command at
Cairo, had been identified with the war
from its commencement.

While General Grant's force was thus gathering to the scene of action by the Tennessee River, General Buell's army was proceeding overland from Nashville, by way of Columbia. The divisions of Generals Nelson, McCook, Thomas, and Crittenden, followed by General T. J. Wood's division, accompanied him on the advance to Savannah, while General Mitchell's division was sent down the line of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, to cut off the communication of the enemy by the Memphis and Charleston railroad with the east. General Negley commanded the reserve at Nashville of these officers. General Nelson will be remembered for his services in Kentucky, his native State, in enlisting recruits for the Union service, and thwarting the plans of the rebels. Rough in manner, he was an an energetic officer, of great bravery and resolution in the field. Brigadier-General Alexander McDowell McCook, a member of the Ohio family so honorably distinguished in the war, was a graduate of West Point of the year 1852. As an officer of the 3d regular infantry, he had borne an active part in the Indian campaigns in New Mexico, from whence he returned to serve as instructor in infantry tactics at the National Academy. On the fall of Sumter, he was sent to his native State, where he was speedily elected Colonel of the 1st Ohio volunteers. He was in command of this regiment at Bull Run, returned with it to Ohio, and when it was mustered out of service recruited it again. His appointment as brigadier-general dated from the 3d of September, 1861. He had since been attached to the Department of the Cumberland, and with his brother, Colonel Robert McCook, was prominent in the opening military operations in Kentucky. General George H. Thomas will be remembered by his victory at Mill Spring.

By the middle of March the advance of General Grant's expedition, commanded by General C. F. Smith, had arrived at Savannah, and was engaged in active preparation for the occupation of the important strategic points beyond. On the 15th, General Lewis Wallace's division was landed on the left bank of the river, marched to Purdy, some sixteen miles to the west, and destroyed the railroad bridge, and a portion of the railway from Humboldt to Corinth, cutting off a train heavily laden with troops, which arrived while the bridge was burning. On the night of the following day an expedition was set on foot from the Union encampment which had been formed at Pittsburg Landing, with the intention of intercepting communication on the Memphis and Charleston Railroad. It consisted of detachments of the 4th Illinois and 5th Ohio Cavalry, and had proceeded only a few miles, when, at about nine o'clock in the evening, the enemy was encountered at Black Jack Forest, and a sharp skirmish ensued between the advance company of the Illinois troops, eighty-six cavalry, commanded by Captain George Dodge-and a rebel body of five hundred cavalry. A gallant charge was made upon the line of the enemy, which was broken, the foe retreating into the woods. "If it is difficult," says Major Sunger, in his report of the affair, "to conduct an action by night, on horseback, and in a forest; it is much more hazardous to pursue, under like difficulties, an unrelenting foe, in his own country, and on his own ground. It was therefore deemed prudent not to pursue. We took two prisoners on the spot. Four of our men were wounded-none severely-and none killed." The rebel loss was not ascertained. General Hurlbut had the satisfaction to learn that he had met and defeated an enterprise of the enemy de- Camp Shiloh, March 28, 1862.

*Major W. D. Sunger to Brigadier-General Hurlbut

arms and equipments at once to braver, firmer hands, and return to his home. Our cause is as just and sacred as ever animated men to take up arms; and if we are true to it and to ourselves, with the continued protection of the Almighty, we must and shall triumph."

Brigadier-general Thomas L. Crittenden to the task before us, let him transfer his was the son of the Hon. John J. Crittenden, and in striking contrast with his brother, General George B. Crittenden, who had joined the rebellion, and whom we have seen in arms against his native State, had been honorably distinguished by his services in repelling the enemies of the Union from Kentucky.

The enemy was thus, at the end of March, threatened at the main points of its line in Mississippi, Alabama, and East Tennessee, with an active and efficient force, including the reserves at hand, of not less than a hundred thousand men. The danger was not likely to escape their attention. One of the best officers of the Confederate service, General A. S. Johnston, who had conducted the retreat from Nashville, fully impressed with the demands of the occasion, was in command on the line of the Southern railroad from that city, preparing to join his corps to that of General Beauregard, who, after a month of preparation in the south-west, following his retirement from Manassas, had just placed himself, with health impaired by his recent attack of illness, at the head of the army of the Mississippi. On the 5th of March he issued the following general order from his headquarters at Jackson, Tennessee "Soldiers-I assume this day the command of the army of the Mississippi, for the defence of our homesteads and liberties, and to resist the subjugation, spoliation, and dishonor of our people. Our mothers and wives, our sisters and children, expect us to do our duty, even to the sacrifice of our lives. Our losses since the commencement of the present war, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, are now about the same as those of the enemy. He must be made to atone for those reverses we have lately experienced. Those reverses, far from disheartening, must nerve us to new deeds of valor and patriotism, and should inspire us with an unconquerable determination to drive back our invaders. Should any one in this army be unequal

As a corollary to these patriotic propositions, General Beauregard, a few days after, addressed this extraordinary appeal to the planters of the Mississippi valley: "More than once, a people fighting with an enemy less ruthless than yours; for imperilled rights not more dear and sacred than yours; for homes and a land not more worthy of resolute and unconquerable men than yours; and for interests of far less magnitude than you have now at stake, have not hesitated to melt and mould into cannon the precious bells surmounting their houses of God which had called generations to prayer. The priesthood have ever sanctioned and counselled the conversion, in the hour of their nation's need, as one holy and acceptable in the sight of God. We want cannon as greatly as any people who ever, as history tells you, melted their church bells to supply them; and I, your general, entrusted with the command of the army embodied of your sons, your kinsmen, and your neighbors, do now call on you to send your plantation bells to the nearest railroad depot, subject to my order, to be melted into cannon for the defence of your plantations. Who will not cheerfully and promptly send me his bells under such circumstances? Be of good cheer; but time is precious." The request, thus artfully urged, covering the rebellion with the glories of history and the sanctities of religion, was not without its effect upon an impressible people, ready to make far greater sacrifices for a cause which many, doubtless, had sincerely persuaded themselves to be worthy of every effort of their devotion. A Mobile editor, ten days after the date of the bell-metal proclamation, announced that

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