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This decisive action on the river-a a musket ball above the knee, though memorable spectacle in sight of the in- not at first considered alarming, proved habitants of Memphis, which will live in fatal. Colonel Ellet was carried to Cairo, history as one of the most remarkable where he died on the morning of the events of the war-was followed by the 21st June, a fortnight after the engagefollowing correspondence between Flag-ment. He was a native of Pennsylvania, Officer Davis and the mayor of the city: born in 1810, and had long been known "United States Flag Steamer Benton, off by his eminent scientific acquirements Memphis, June 6, 1862. Sir-I have and services to his country. He was an respectfully to request that you will sur-engineer of distinguished reputation, havrender the city of Memphis to the author-ing planned and built at Fairmount, ity of the United States, which I have across the Schuylkill, the first wire susthe honor to represent. I am, Mr. May- pension bridge in the United States. He or, with high respect, your most obedient had also been employed in various railservant, C. H. Davis, flag officer com- road and other engineering enterprises manding, etc. To his Honor, the Mayor in Virginia and elsewhere, and early in of the city of Memphis." To this his the present year had excited considerable honor replied: "Mayor's office, Memphis, attention by a pamphlet criticising the June 6, 1862. C. H. Davis, flag-officer course of General McClellan in his concommanding, etc.: Sir-Your note of duct of the war on the Potomac. He this date is received and contents noted. was the author also of several valuable In reply, I have only to say that as the scientific essays on the physical geogracity authorities have no means of defence, phy of the Mississippi, and had, some by the force of circumstances the city is years before the commencement of the in your hands. Respectlfully, John Park, war, advocated the employment of steam Mayor of Memphis." A second note battering rams in coast and harbor defrom Captain Davis the same forenoon fences. He had now carried out his ideas closed the correspondence: "Sir, the un- by his own energy and perseverance; dersigned, commanding the naval and destined to fall-the only victim in a military forces of the United States in triumph mainly attributable to his exerfront of Memphis, has the honor to say tions. His brother, Lieutenant-Colonel to the mayor of this city that Colonel Alfred W. Ellet, his associate in the acFitch, commanding the Indiana brigade, tion, was afterwards appointed a brigawill take military possession immediately. dier-general of volunteers. Colonel Fitch will be happy to receive the coöperation of his honor the mayor and the city authorities in maintaining peace and order. To this end he will be pleased to confer with his honor at the military headquarters, at three o'clock, this P. M. Yours, etc.".

So the important city of Memphis, a third great stage in the progress down the Mississippi, followed the fortunes of Columbus, New Madrid and Fort Pillow, and was regained to the Union. Unhappily, the victory cost the life of the engineer to whose persistent endeavors the brilliant success was mainly attributable. The wound of Colonel Ellet, a shot from

The possession of Memphis, with the consequent command of the river below to Vicksburg, exposed the enemy to attack in Arkansas by the main navigable waters of the State-the White river, descending in a south-easterly course from Missouri, and the Arkansas, penetrating its central portions. The battle at Pea Ridge in March had given the Union troops of General Curtis a firm footing in the north-western quarter, and though his forces were diminished by the withdrawal of a portion of his command to Corinth, he was enabled seriously to threaten the rebel capital on the Arkansas, and finally to cross the country in

EXPEDITION UP WHITE RIVER.

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face of the enemy after several skirmish-plosion and its effects were fearful. One es, in which the advantage was on the hundred and seventy-five men enclosed Union side, to Helena, on the Mississippi. in the close iron armor of the gunboat, The army left Batesville, on the upper with no aperture for the passage of air waters of White river, on the 24th of but through the ports and the scanty June, with twenty days' rations, and by skylights, were exposed to this terrible a series of adventurous forced marches, suffering. Forty or fifty at once fell arrived at Helena on the 11th of July. fatally overpowered by the vapor. Previously to their setting out, an expe- Others lay in restless agony of torture, dition of a mixed land and naval force while those who were able plunged had been sent from Memphis to ascend through the port holes into the river in the White river, where several tran- hope of escape. While these were ensports of the enemy had taken refuge, deavoring to reach the opposite shore, and the passage of the stream was ob- they were deliberately fired at with musstructed some distance above its mouth ketry by the rebel soldiers from the bank. by a battery on the shore. The gun- The cutters of the Conestoga, which went boats St. Louis, Lexington, Conestoga, to the rescue, were also fired upon. More and Mound City, under the command of than two-thirds of those on board the Captain Kilty, composed the naval part of Mound City, officers and men, were reportthe expedition, while Colonel Fitch's 46th ed as having perished in this dread catIndiana regiment constituted the military astrophe. Captain Kilty was severely force. The fleet reached the mouth of scalded. While this merciless work was White river, one hundred and seventy going on, Colonel Fitch reached the rear miles below Memphis, on the 14th of June, of the upper battery, and quickly sucand cautiously ascending the stream on ceeded, in a hand and hand encounter, the 17th, at seven in the morning, came in which the gunners were shot at their upon the rebel works-a lower and an posts, in its capture. Captain Fry, forupper battery, on a high bluff on the merly an officer in the United States south side of the river, in the vicinity of navy, the rebel commander, was woundSt. Charles, about eighty-five miles from ed in the shoulder by a musket ball, and the Mississippi. The Mound City and it is said his life was with difficulty saved St. Louis received the fire of the first by an Indiana captain. The guns of the battery without injury; when, passing on battery had been taken from a gunboat, to another bend of the stream, they which was sunk, with several transports, encountered a second battery which in the river, as obstacles to the Union proved of a more formidable character. fleet. Eight brass and iron guns were A vigorous cannonading was kept up on captured. The Union casualties were both sides, while Colonel Fitch, who had trifling, except the severe loss from the landed with the Indianians, two miles and escaping steam. The rebel loss was said a half below, was proceeding round the not to be less than thirty killed and southern declivity of the bluff to take the wounded. A few prisoners were taken, works in the rear. While Captain Kilty the greater part of Captain Fry's comwas expediting this movement by signals, mand having escaped by flight. After and waiting its fulfillment, arresting the the action a portion of the fleet profire of the gunboats, lest the advancing ceeded up the river in quest of cerparty should be injured, a shot from one tain transports, but were compelled of the 42-pounders of the rebel battery to return by the low state of the struck the Mound City on the port side, water.* and passing through the iron-lined casemate, entered the steam drum. The ex

*Correspondence New York Tribune. Off St. Charles,

Ark., June 17, 1862.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

GENERAL BANKS' COMMAND IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY, MARCH-MAY, 1862.

GENERAL BANKS arrived on the battle field of Winchester, Sunday, March 23d, in the afternoon, before the close of the engagement. That night the enemy retreated, Jackson taking the lead with his force, and, as usual, leaving Ashby with his cavalry to cover the retreat. The next morning General Banks was early in pursuit, and following hard upon the rear of the enemy, with frequent skirmishing of the artillery and cavalry, pursued them that day beyond Strasburg. A correspondent with the Union forces describes the method of the retreat: "Ashby has two brass howitzers and two regiments of cavalry, the men of which are all mounted, and with these most of the fighting is done. The plan of the retreat is this: while Jackson marches straight on, Ashby follows a mile or two in rear with his cavalry and mounted battery. When he comes to a hill commanding the road he stops, plants his guns, and awaits the approach of our column. As soon as the advance guard of cavalry appears in sight, a shell or two is thrown at them, the cavalry scatters, and rushes back for the artillery. By the time they have come up Ashby's men have limbered up and moved off to another hill. Our guns give them a shell as they go, and the advance, which has been retarded an hour by the operation, is commenced again. By such maneuvers as these Ashby gains time enough for Jackson to retreat decent

ly."

The wounded of the enemy were found everywhere along the road, and, much to the surprise of some of them, were treated with the most considerate

Correspondence New York Post. Strasburg, March

29, 1862.

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kindness by the Union soldiers. They had been taught that they would receive no quarter from the invaders, who were bent upon indiscriminate pillage and devastation. Their leaders, however, who had sent their sons to the rebel army, did not hesitate, while freely avowing their hostility to the government, to ask for protection for their farms and property. The humors of another class, of growing importance in the war, are described by the correspondent just cited: "At one house on the road to Strasburg I found an intelligent negress who told me that Jackson had stopped there to dine on his advance, and again on his retreat. That he had said they were sure to whip the Yankees, and promised her master he would give him Lincoln's skull for a salt gourd when he came back. I asked what the negroes thought about the war, and why they didn't avail themselves of this chance to free themselves more generally. They thought they had better wait, they said. Mr. Lincoln, they thought, was a-going to make a law to make them all free, and they would wait for him, and then they could go according to the law.' They didn't believe, she said, that the Yankees would sell them off to Cuba, as her master had always told her, and some of them had run off, but she had two children and did not know where to go, nor what to do with her family, so she thought she would wait for Mr. Lincoln. She told me that the rebels were very boastful when they went down to Winchester, but when they came back they were very tired and hungry, and didn't say much about the fight, only that they had retreated the Yankees back to Winches

BANKS' PROGRESS IN THE VALLEY.

ter." After resting a week at Strasburg, where he had established his headquarters, General Banks, on the 1st of April, pursued the enemy twelve miles, through a succession of valleys and wooded hills, to Woodstock, skirmishing as usual with Colonel Ashby's retreating cavalry by the way, and seven miles beyond to Edenburg. At Woodstock, which was occupied by the Union forces, the Federal guns were planted on a hill on one side of the town, while the rebel artillery held a similar position on the other. A number of buildings in the town were struck by the shot of the contending parties, but only one person appears to have been killed, a soldier of the 29th Pennsylvania regiment. Several of the road and railway bridges were burnt by the enemy in their retreat. The advance of General Banks' corp was compelled to halt at Edenburg-where there was some sharp skirmishing, with loss to Ashby's cavalry-till the bridge across the creek at this place could be rebuilt. This work having been completed, with other preparations for the advance, General Banks, on the 17th, entered Mount Jackson, pursuing the enemy beyond to New Market, of which he took possession on the following day. General Shields conducted the advance, having sufficiently recovered from the wound in his arm at the battle of Winchester to ride in a buggy, while the reserve was led by Brigadier-General A. S. Williams. The latter was a native of Connecticut who had settled in Michigan, been a lawyer and editor, and served as officer of a volunteer regiment in the Mexican war. He had been engaged in organizing the volunteer regiments in Michigan, and was now in command of the 1st division of General Banks' army corps.

On the 19th, General Banks wrote to the Secretary of War from the latter place: "To-day I have been to the bridges on the south fork of the Shenandoah, in the Masanutton valley, with a force of cavalry, infantry and artillery,

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to protect the two important bridges that cross the river. We were within sight of Luray at the south bridge. A sharp skirmish occurred with the rebels, in which they lost several men taken prisoners. Their object was the destruction of the bridges. One of the prisoners left the camp on the bank of the Rappahannock Tuesday morning. There were no fortifications there up to that time. Other reports indicate a stronger force at Gordonsville and a contest there, the whole resulting in a belief that they are concentrating at Yorktown. I believe Jackson left this valley yesterday. He is reported to have left Harrisonburg yesterday for Gordonsville by the mountain road. He encamped last night at McGaugey town, eleven miles from Harrisonburg." These rumors were fully confirmed as the troops advanced toward Harrisonburg. On the 22d General Banks again wrote to Washington, announcing that "the rebel Jackson has abandoned the valley of Virginia permanently, and is on the way to Gordonsville by the way of the mountains. Every day brings its prisoners and numerous deserters from the rebels." Two days after a strong reconnoissance was made by the Union forces in the direction of Staunton, and an entry made into that town without opposition from the enemy. The Shenandoah divided Jackson's rear guard from the Union forces at Strasburg and other points of the valley. The command of General Banks, resting from its labors, congratulated itself that its work was accomplished in freeing the region from the rebel army.

The situation, however, was not without its anxieties for the future. "It is very hard," wrote a correspondent from Harrisonburg at the end of April, to find out from the inhabitants, even those who want to give information, what Jackson's forces are, or what his intentions are. The Secessionists are sullen and silent, the Unionists afraid, and those who want to conciliate us too ignorant to tell much

The successful movement of General Banks was, in fact, so far as any material advantages were concerned, limited to the temporary possession of the lower portion of the valley. It was expected by the public that he would occupy Staunton, and, at least, threaten the enemy on the line of the Virginia Central Railway; but from necessity or policy his outposts were, early in May, called in, and his main force fell back to Strasburg, whence a large portion of his command was withdrawn by the Manassas Railway for the reinforcement of the army in Eastern Virginia. The main army of the Potomac, under General McClellan, had embarked for the Peninsula, and, after weeks of military preparation, was about making its entrance into Yorktown; while Fredericksburg had just surrendered to the forces of General McDowell, who, having been detained for the defence of Washington, and longing to coöperate directly with McClellan, had pushed his corps to the Rappahannock, where he was ready for either movement.

about anything. Not one man in twenty the Confederate service, and was one of knows anything, even about the roads the rebel officers in the field at Bull five miles from his own house, the sub- Run. ject on which they ought to be best informed. Contrabands are our great resource. They can always be relied on as truthful, and willingly give any information they have, while their shrewdness and careful observation often find out matters of great importance. From them, and some refugees lately come in, Jackson's force is estimated at seven thousand infantry, twenty-four to thirty pieces of cannon, and all of Ashby's cavalry, one thousand or fifteen hundred strong. These are now posted on the other side of the south fork of the Shenandoah, eighteen miles from Harrisonburg, and somewhere near there there is some prospect, though not a strong one, of a battle. Jackson has received some reinforcements, and more are said to be on the way. The 10th Virginia Regiment, raised in Rockingham county, and numbering about five hundred men, has certainly come, and the whole of Ewell's brigade, of which it is a part, is said to be coming. If this comes, Jackson will have 10,000 men, with artillery and cavalry, with which, in a good position, he can make a hard fight. But he certainly will not fight where he is now. His army lies in a plain on the other side of the south fork of the Shenandoah, with no elevated positions for his artillery, and the whole position commanded by hills on this side of the river, at the foot of which the river flows."*

General Richard Stoddard Ewell, who was reported as coming with his command to the aid of Jackson, was a native of the district of Columbia, a graduate of West Point of the year 1840, and had proved himself a cavalry officer of merit in the war with Mexico, and subsequently in the Indian campaigns on the frontier of that country. Resigning his commission in the United States army, he had been appointed a Brigadier General in *New York Evening Post, May 5, 1862.

The enemy, meanwhile, was not idle. General Ewell was gathering his men in front of the Union forces, in the eastern portion of the valley, while farther to the south, Jackson, crossing its western boundary, assailed the troops of General Milroy, in Highland county, and compelled their retreat to Franklin, where a successful stand was made, by assistance from the command of General Fremont. Towards the end of May, the enemy, relying, doubtless, on the comparative weakness of General Banks' diminished forces, and with the design of diverting, at least, a portion of the accumulating Union forces from the attack upon Richmond, commenced the aggressive in the valley of the Shenandoah. The attack was first made at Front Royal, where the Manassas Railway crosses the Shen

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