shell, I have been told by those from the right and left who could correctly observe their effect, that they burst, and with great effect. The short range at which they were fired would of course hardly admit of any very appreciable deviation from a direct course, such as has been remarked of the projectile. The piece, I have since learned, was taken by the enemy; with it there were but eight or ten rounds of shell, and about twenty blanks. I do not think it was possible to have saved the piece from capture, for it would have required a full half hour to have gotten it down to the river, when if it were shipped upon the boat it would have been necessarily to the exclusion of the wounded, who were being conveyed to the opposite shore. Indeed, I very much doubt if it could have crossed at all, for the scow sunk with its weight of men the next trip after I returned in it. The horses belonging to the piece were all shot; and I learn from Capt. Vaughan, who has since been over to bury the dead, that five of them lay dead in one heap. I regretted that the canister which was to be sent over to us did not reach us, as with it I might have at least kept the enemy sufficiently in check to have given time to many of the wounded who were left on the Virginia side to have escaped."

The report of the Confederate General Evans states his killed and wounded at three hundred. He speaks of his force as twenty-five hundred men, without artillery, engaged against ten thousand with five batteries. The force to which he was opposed was about twenty-one hundred, with one piece of artillery that was served effectively, the other three being fired only at intervals. The Confederate forces engaged were the Eighth Virginia, and Seventeenth and Eighteenth Mississippi Regiments. The First Mississippi was held in reserve.

The Massachusetts Fifteenth lost, in killed, wounded, and missing, three hundred and twenty-two, including a Lieut-Colonel and fourteen out of twenty-eight line officers who crossed. The Massachusetts Twentieth lost, in all, one hundred and fifty-nine. The Tammany companies lost one hundred and sixty-three. The First California Regiment lost three hundred, killed, wounded, and missing.

Meantime at Edwards' Ferry, where the facilities for transportation consisted of two scows and a yawl boat, Gen. Stone was preparing to push forward to the road by which the enemy's retreat would be cut off, if driven. He says: "The additional artillery had already been sent, and when the messenger, who did not leave the field until after three o'clock, was questioned as to Colonel Baker's position, he informed me that the Colonel, when he left, seemed to feel perfectly secure, and could doubt less hold his position in case he should not advance. The same statement was made by another messenger half an hour later, and I watched anxiously for a sign of advance on the right, in order to push forward Gen. Gorman. It was, as had been explained to Colonel Baker,

impracticable to throw Gen. Gorman's brigade directly to the right by reason of the battery in the woods, between which we had never been able to reconnoitre.

"At four P. M., or thereabouts, I telegraphed to General Banks for a brigade of his division, intending it to occupy the ground on this side of the river near Harrison's Island, which would be abandoned in case of a rapid advance; and shortly after, as the fire slackened, a messenger was waited for, on whose tidings should be given orders either for the advance of General Gorman to cut off the retreat of the enemy, or for the disposition for the night in the position then held.

"At five P. M. Captain Candy arrived from the field and announced the melancholy tidings of Colonel Baker's death, but with no intelligence of any further disaster. I immediately apprised General Banks of Col. Baker's death, and I rode quickly to the right to assume command. Before arriving opposite the island, men who had crossed the river plainly gave evidence of the disaster, and on reaching the same I was satisfied of it by the conduct of the men then landing in boats.

"Orders were then given to hold the island and establish a patrol on the tow-path from opposite the island to the line of pickets near the Monocacy, and I returned to the left to secure the troops there from disaster, and make preparations for moving them as rapidly as possible.

"Orders arrived from Gen. McClellan to hold the island and Virginia shore at Edwards' Ferry at all risks, indicating at the same time that reinforcements would be sent, and immediately additional means of intrenchments were forwarded, and Gen. Gorman was furnished with particular directions to hold out against any and every force of the enemy."

The crossing was ultimately continued, and by Tuesday morning four thousand infantry, a section of Ricketts' battery, and Van Alen's cavalry detachment were safely on the Virginia shore. Five hundred feet of intrenchment was thrown up. At 3 A. M. on Tuesday, Gen. Banks arrived and took command.

All Tuesday night the whistles of the locomotives bringing Confederate reinforcements to Leesburg were distinctly heard. On Tuesday morning Gen. McClellan was disposed to hold the position on the Virginia side, but further information caused a change of purpose. A bridge of boats taken from the canal, together with others passing up and down which were stopped, was formed, and on Wednesday the entire force returned to the Maryland shore.

The first cause of failure consisted in the lack of suitable means of transportation. The Federal force at Ball's Bluff was evidently outnumbered and overpowered. The crossing was at an exceedingly unfavorable spot; it was the same as crossing two ferries at a point where the current being narrow, becomes swifter. The movement should have ceased with what had been done on Sunday night. No suitable preparations were made for that afterward undertaken.

The Hatteras expedition having proved successful, the Government was encouraged to prosecute with all diligence a much greater and more formidable undertaking, which it had already projected. The finest harbor on the Southern Atlantic coast was that of Port Royal in South Carolina-a broad estuary, formed by the junction of Broad and Port Royal Rivers, and Archer's Creek and their debouchure into the Atlantic. The interlacing of these and other rivers in the vicinity has formed a large group of islands, of which Hilton Head, Hunting, St. Helena, Paris, and Port Royal are the principal. This harbor is situated about halfway between Charleston and Savannah, with both which cities it has an interior water communication. The parish, of which these islands form the greater part, was the richest agricultural district in South Carolina. It was the most important seat of the production of the fine long-stapled Sea Island cotton, and was also largely engaged in the rice culture. It was the largest slaveholding parish in that State, having 32,000 slaves to less than 7,000 whites. The village of Beaufort and the adjacent country on Port Royal and the other interior islands was the summer residence of the wealthy planters of South Carolina.

The Government at first seems to have purposed sending the expedition to some other point (perhaps Savannah) on the coast, but wisely referred the final decision of the point to be first attacked, to the thorough professional knowledge and skill of the flag-officer of the expedition, Com. S. F. Dupont, who, after much deliberation and consultation with the Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Mr. Fox, fixed upon Port Royal, as being the best spot from which to move either northward or southward. The preparations for the expedition were on an extensive scale, and required a longer period for the completion of all its equipments than was at first expected. It finally set sail from Hampton Roads on the 29th of October, consisting of fifty vessels, including transports. A fleet of twenty-five coal vessels, to supply the necessary fuel, had been despatched the previous day.

The naval vessels connected with the expedition were the Wabash (the flag-ship), the Susquehanna, and the gunboats Mohican, Seminole, Pawnee, Unadilla, Ottowa, Pembina, Isaac Smith, Bienville, Seneca, Curlew, Penguin, Augusta, R. B. Forbes, and Pocahontas, the steam-tug Mercury, the frigate Vandalia, and the little steam-cutter Vixen. There were also thirty-three transports, many of them of the first class, such as the Baltic, Ocean Queen, Vanderbilt, Illinois, Cahawba, Empire City, Ariel, Daniel Webster, Coatzacoalcos, Ericsson, Oriental, Philadelphia, S. R. Spaulding, Winfield Scott, Atlantic, &c., &c.; and such sailing vessels as the Great Republic, Ocean Express, Golden Eagle, &c. The naval command was, as has already been said, assigned to Com. S. F. Dupont, but the transports carried out an army of about 15,600 troops, under the com

mand of Acting Major-General Thomas W. Sherman. This force was divided into three brigades, commanded respectively by BrigadierGenerals Egbert S. Viele, Isaac J. Stevens, and Horatio G. Wright. The first brigade consisted of the 3d New Hampshire, 8th Maine, 46th, 47th, and 48th New York regiments; the 2d brigade of the 8th Michigan, 50th Pennsylvania, Roundhead Pennsylvania, and 79th New York (Highlanders); the 3d brigade of the 6th and 7th Connecticut, the 9th Maine, the 4th New Hampshire, and the 3d Rhode Island, with Hamilton's (late Sherman's) battery of six rifled cannon, and a battalion of Serrell's volunteer engineers.

The weather, which was unsettled when the fleet left Hampton Roads, soon changed into a storm of wind of great violence, which, increasing on the 31st October, became on Friday, Nov. 2, a hurricane from the southeast, and scattered the ships so widely that, on Saturday morning, but one of the whole fleet was in sight from the deck of the Wabash. On Sunday the wind had moderated, and the steamers and ships began to reappear. The Isaac Smith had been compelled to throw her battery overboard to keep from foundering; the Governor and the Peerless, two of the transports, sank; but the soldiers and crews were saved except seven of the marines on the Governor, who were drowned by their own imprudence. On the morning of the 4th, Com. Dupont anchored off the bar of Port Royal harbor, with twenty-five of his vessels in company. The channel of the harbor was that day found, sounded out, and buoyed under the direction of Commander Davis, the fleet captain. The gunboats and lighter transports were, before dark of the same day, anchored inside of the bar, in the secure roadstead, and Com. Tatnall's (Confederate) fleet chased under their own batteries. The next day a reconnoissance in force was made by the Ottawa, Seneca, Curlew, and Isaac Smith, which drew the fire of the Confederate forts, and showed which was the strongest. On the 5th, the Wabash and Susquehanna, and the large transports crossed the bar, and the buoys which marked the shoal lines were planted. A storm postponed the attack until the 7th, when it was commenced at about half-past nine o'clock, A. M., and continued for four hours, closing with the complete rout and flight of the enemy's force from both forts. The fortifications were Fort Walker, on Hilton's Head Island, at the right of the channel-a strong earthwork mounting twentythree guns, all of the heaviest calibre and most approved pattern for sea-coast defence, some of them rifled, and several imported from England since the war commenced. A small outwork, mounting a single rifled gun, had been erected near the fort and beyond it on the sea front. Fort Beauregard, at Bay Point, on Phillips or Hunting Island, on the left bank of the channel, 2 miles from Fort Walker, was also a strong work, though not as formidable as Fort

Walker. It mounted 20 guns of the same general character as those in the other fort, and was supported by an outwork nearly a half mile distant, mounting 5 guns. About 2 miles above the forts, where the Port Royal or Beaufort River joins the Broad, Com. Tatnall's (Confederate) fleet of six or seven gunboats was stationed. The circumstances thus detailed influenced Com. Dupont in deciding upon his plan of attack. He first stationed his transports at anchor, beyond the range of the guns of the forts; then leading the way with the Wabash, followed immediately by the Susquehanna, Mohican, Seminole, Pawnee, Unadilla, Ottawa, Pembina, and Vandalia, towed by the Isaac Smith, he passed up the centre of the channel, delivering his fire at the forts on each side, and, sailing in an ellipse, passed down within 600 yards of Fort Walker, firing slowly and deliberately, but never losing the range. Meanwhile the Bienville, Seneca, Curlew, Penguin, and Augusta had passed up on the left side of the channel, pouring their broadsides into Fort Beauregard, and then taking a station where they could cut off Tatnall's fleet from any participation in the fight, and at the same time maintain a destructive flanking fire upon the weak left flank of Fort Walker.

This

ities had imposed this step upon him. office was created and tendered to General Scott after the close of the Mexican war, in which he conducted the American arms with so much glory into the very halls of the Montezumas.

Born near Petersburg, in Virginia, June 13, 1785, he entered the army as captain of light artillery, May 3, 1808, and served his country with unvarying success for more than half a century. In that time he proved his right to rank with the first commanders of the age. He was twice honored with a gold medal from Congress for distinguished services, and now retired from active duty with the reputation, after fifty years of command, of never having lost a battle when he was present in person. To accomplish his purpose, he addressed the following letter to the Secretary of War:

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the line of vessels traversed their elliptical circuit, the last time aided by the fire of the Pocahontas, the R. B. Forbes, and the Mercury tug, which came up about twelve o'clock, M. At the completion of the third circuit, the guns of the forts were mostly disabled, and the garrisons, consisting in Fort Walker of two South Carolina regiments, and in Fort Beauregard of one, had fled in a terrible panic, leaving their weapons, overcoats, and even their watches and papers behind them. The Federal loss was: killed, 8; wounded seriously, 6; wounded slightly, 17. Total killed and wounded, 31. Confederate loss not known, but considerably larger than this. With these forts were captured 48 cannon, 43 of them of excellent quality, and mostly of large calibre, and large quantities of ammunition and stores. On the 9th of November the Seneca, Lieut. Ammen commanding, proceeded to Beaufort, and found the town in possession of the negroes, the whites having fled. The other islands were successively occupied, and on the 25th Nov. Com. Dupont reported to the Navy Department that he had taken possession of Tybee Island, commanding the entrance of the Savannah River. Meantime the troops under Gen. Sherman, though debarred by the circumstances from any active participation in the capture of the two forts, had not been idle. Having landed on Hilton Head, they occupied and strengthened the fortifications, and made that point the base of further operations on Savannah, Charleston, and other places. On the 31st of October Gen. Winfield Scott, the Lieutenant-General of the army of the United States, or the executive officer under the President, who is the commander-in-chief, determined to resign his position. Age and its infirm

It is under such circumstances-made doubly painful by the unnatural and unjust rebellion now raging in the Southern States of our (so late) prosperous and happy Union-that I am compelled to request that my name be placed on the list of army officers retired

from active service.

As this request is founded on an absolute right, granted by a recent act of Congress, I am entirely at liberty to say it is with deep regret that I withdraw myself, in these momentous times, from the orders of a President who has treated me with distinguished kindness and courtesy; whom I know, upon much personal intercourse, to be patriotic, without sectional partialities or prejudices; to be highly conscientious in the performance of every duty, and of unrivalled activity and perseverance.

address for the last time, I beg to acknowledge my And to you, Mr. Secretary, whom I now officially many obligations for the uniform high consideration I have received at your hands; and have the honor to remain, sir, with high respect, your obedient WINFIELD SCOTT. servant,

This letter was laid before a Cabinet meeting called for the purpose of considering it, and it was concluded, under the authority of a recent act of Congress, to place Gen. Scott on the retired list of the army, with the full pay and allowances of his rank. At 4 o'clock on the afternoon of the same day the President, accompanied by the Cabinet, proceeded to the residence of General Scott, and read to him the official order carrying out this decision.

The venerable general, oppressed by infirmity and emotion, rose with difficulty to make to the President his acknowledgments, which he did in touching terms, concluding with the declaration that the kindness manifested toward him on this occasion he felt to be the crowning reward of a long life spent in the service of his country, and his deep conviction of the ultimate triumph of the national arms and the happy termination of the unnatural war.

The President responded, expressing the profound sentiment of regret with which the country, as well as himself, would part with a public servant so venerable in years, and so illustrious for the services he had rendered.

The following was the official order:

On the first day of November, A. D. 1861, upon his own application to the President of the United States, Brevet Lieutenant-General Winfield Scott is ordered to be placed, and hereby is placed, upon the list of retired officers of the army of the United States, without reduction of his current pay, subsistence, or allowances.

The American people will hear with sadness and deep emotion that Gen. Scott has withdrawn from the active control of the army, while the President and unanimous Cabinet express their own and the nation's sympathy in his personal affliction, and their profound sense of the important public services rendered by him to his country during his long and brilliant career, among which will ever be gratefully distinguished his faithful devotion to the Constitution, the Union, and the flag, when assailed by parricidal

rebellion.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

On the same day an order was issued by the President, directing Maj.-Gen. George B. McClellan to assume the command of the army of the United States.

It was stated in a previous chapter that Columbus, on the Mississippi River, in Kentucky, was occupied by Gen. Polk with Southern troops, and Paducah, on the Ohio, likewise in Kentucky by Gen. Grant, with troops from Illinois. Meantime a small body of the enemy occupied a position near Belmont, on the Missouri side of the Mississippi River, under Col. Tappan. This force Gen. Grant determined to dislodge or capture. Early on the morning of Sept. 7th, he therefore landed with a force a few miles above Belmont. This movement was detected by the enemy, and Gen. Pillow was ordered to cross from the Kentucky side to aid Col. Tappan. Gen. Grant immediately advanced upon the enemy's position, now reenforced by Gen. Pillow. A sharp contest ensued for some hours, when Gen. Pillow finding it impossible to maintain himself without reenforcements and a further supply of ammunition, fell back in some confusion to the river bank. At this time reënforcements arrived, and a flank movement up the river upon Grant was made by the enemy. Meantime the camp of Col. Tappan's forces had fallen into the possession of Gen. Grant, and he had also planted batteries to attack the steamers bringing reënforcements across the river. The flank movement disconcerted the Federal troops, and, apprehending an attack in the rear, they fell back to the transports and rapidly embarked, leaving many dead and wounded behind. The loss of the enemy was 632 in killed, wounded, and missing. That of Gen. Grant was 84 killed, 288 wounded, and 235 missing.

An event occurred at this time in the capture of Messrs. Mason and Slidell, which produced a profound sensation, from the serious questions which it raised.

The British mail steamer Trent, belonging to

the line of English merchant steamers which run from Vera Cruz and Havana to St. Thomas, carrying the mail by contract, and thence connecting with a line to England, left Havana on the morning of the 7th of November, under the command of Captain Moir, having on board Messrs. J. M. Mason and John Slidell-the former sent by the Government of the insurrectionary States, as ambassador to England, and the latter to France. Nothing of interest occurred till about noon on the 8th, when in the narrow passage of the old Bahama channel, opposite the Panador Grande light, a steamer was observed ahead, apparently waiting, and showing no colors.

We

An officer of the U. S. steamer San Jacinto thus reports the affair: "About 11.40 A. M., the lookout at the masthead reported a smoke as from a steamer from the westward, and about 11 A. M. she was visible from the deck. We were all ready for her, beat to quarters, and as soon as she was within reach of our guns, every gun of our starboard battery was trained upon her. A shot from our pivot gun was fired across her bow. She hoisted English colors, and showed no disposition to slacken her speed or heave to. hoisted the 'Star Spangled Banner,' and as soon as she was close upon us, fired a shell across her bow, which brought her to. Our captain hailed her, and said he would send a boat on board, and ordered Lieutenant Fairfax to board her; he went in the second cutter; at the same time Lieutenant Greer was all ready in the third cutter to shove from the port side should his assistance be required. On coming alongside the packet, Lieutenant Fairfax ordered the other officers to remain in the boat with the crew until force should become necessary, and he went on board alone. The captain of the mail steamer refused to show his papers and passenger list, knowing very well the object of our visit and the character and mission of the commissioners. But Mr. Mason being recognized, a part of the armed crew was ordered from the boat, and came on board. Messrs. Mason and Slidell were then requested to come on board the San Jacinto, but declined, and said that they would only yield by force; Mr. Slidell making the remark that it would require considerable force to take him on board the San Jacinto.' Lieutenant Fairfax then ordered Mr. Houston to return to our ship and report that the Confederate commissioners were on board the mail steamer, and refused to come on board the San Jacinto by other means than force. Lieutenant Greer then shoved off and went alongside the Trent, sent his armed crew and marines on board, and stationed them at both gangways, and then, after a 'gentle application' of force, the four gentlemen were taken in the second cutter and conveyed on board of our ship, where they were received by Captain Wilkes at the gangway, and shown into his cabin, which they afterwards occupied. Two other boats were then sent on board to remove the luggage, and the ladies having declined

the hospitalities offered them, at 3.30 we parted company from the Trent."

The commissioners made a protest to Captain Wilkes on the next day, in which they say that when the Trent got withing hailing distance, her captain inquired what was wanted? The reply was understood to be: "They would send a boat." Both vessels were then stationary, with steam shut off. A boat very soon put off from the ship, followed immediately by two other boats, with full erews, and armed with muskets and side-arms. A lieutenant in the uniform of the United States navy, and with side-arms, boarded the Trent, and, in the presence of most of the passengers then assembled on the upper deck, said to Captain Moir that he came with orders to demand his passenger list. The captain refused to produce it, and formally protested against any right to visit his ship for the purpose indicated. After some conversation, implying renewed protests on the part of the captain against the alleged object of the visit, and on the part of the officer of the San Jacinto that he had only to execute his orders, the latter said that two gentlemen, naming Messrs. Slidell and Mason, were known to be on board, as also two other gentlemen, naming Messrs. Eustis and McFarland, and that his orders were to take and carry them on board the San Jacinto. On first addressing the captain, he announced himself as a lieutenant of the United States steamer San Jacinto. The four gentleman named being present, the lieutenant addressed Mr. Slidell and afterwards Mr. Mason, repeating that his orders were to take them, together with Messrs. Eustis and McFarland, and carry them on board his ship. Messrs. Slidell and Mason, in reply, protested in the presence of the captain of the Trent, his officers and passengers, against such threatened violation of their persons and their rights, and informed the lieutenant that they would not leave the ship they were in unless compelled by the employment of actual force greater than they could resist, and Messrs. Eustis and McFarland united with them in expressing a like purpose. That officer stated that he hoped he would not be compelled to resort to the use of force, but if it should become necessary to employ it, in order to execute his orders, he was prepared to do so. He was answered by the commissioners that they would submit only to such a force. The lieutenant then went to the gangway where his boats were, the commissioners going at the same time to their state rooms on the next deck below, followed by Capt. Moir and by the other passengers. The lieutenant returned with a party of his men, a portion of whom were armed with side-arms, and others, appearing to be a squad of marines, having muskets and bayonets. Mr. Slidell was in his state room immediately by and in full view. The lieutenant then said to Mr. Mason that, having his force now present, he hoped to be relieved from the necessity of calling it into actual use. The gentleman again answered

that he would only submit to actual force greater than he could overcome, when the lieutenant, and several of his men, by his order, took hold of him, and in a manner and in numbers sufficient to make resistance fruitless; and Mr. Slidell joining the group at the same time, one or more of the armed party took like hold of him, and those gentlemen at once went into the boat.

One account says, an exciting scene took place between Mr. Slidell, his eldest daughter, a noble girl devoted to her father, and Lieut. Fairfax. With flashing eyes and quivering lips she threw herself in the doorway of the cabin where her father was, resolved to defend him with her life, till, on the order being given to the marines to advance, which they did with bayonets pointed at this defenceless girl, her father ended the painful scene by escaping from the cabin by a window, when he was immediately seized by the marines and hurried into the boat. The commissioners were taken by the San Jacinto to Fortress Monroe and transferred to Fort Warren, in Boston harbor, where they remained as prisoners.

A most intense excitement was aroused in England upon the arrival of the news of the transaction. Preparations for war with the United States were commenced, troops were sent to Canada, and a formal demand was made for the surrender of the commissioners, and an apology for the act by the Government.

On the 30th of November, Mr. Seward writes to Mr. Adams that Capt. Wilkes, in the steamer San Jacinto, had boarded a British colonial steamer, and taken from her deck two insurgents who were proceeding to England on an errand of treason against their own country. He then proceeds:

We have done nothing on the subject to anticipate the discussion, and we have not furnished you with any explanations. We adhere to that course now, beby the British Government should be first made known cause we think it more prudent that the ground taken to us here, and that the discussion, if there must be one, shall be had here. It is proper, however, that you should know one fact in the case, without indicating that we attach much importance to it, namely, that, in the capture of Messrs. Mason and Slidell on without any instructions from the Government, the board a British vessel, Capt. Wilkes having acted subject is therefore free from the embarrassment which might have resulted if the act had been specially directed by us.

Earl Russell on the same day writes to Lord Lyons, the British Minister at Washington, relating the facts of the case as he had received them from the commander of the colonial steamer Trent, and thus states the demands of his Government in relation to the matter:

friendly relations which have long subsisted between Her Majesty's Government, bearing in mind the Great Britain and the United States, are willing to believe that the United States naval officer who committed the aggression was not acting in compliance with any authority from his Government, or that if misunderstood the instructions which he had received. he conceived himself to be so authorized he greatly For the Government of the United States must be