UNIONISTS OF TENNESSEE.

465

In the mean time, Colonel Fitch signaled the gun boats to cease firing, and advancing on the rebel works, carried them with a shout, without the loss of a man. The rebel commander was wounded and taken prisoner, and the place with all its ordnance and ammunition fell into our hands.

In the mean time, Curtis was making his slow, perilous way across the state of Arkansas. Cut off from his base of operations, and compelled to live on the country through which he passed, considerable solicitude was felt for his safety.

At New Orleans, Butler still maintained his vigorous rule. He had come in collision with the French and English consuls, boldly seizing large amounts of money found in their possession, which he declared had been put there for safe keeping by the rebels. Men and women were hurried without ceremony, to fort Jackson; Pierre Soule and the sheriff of the city sent under arrest, north; and the traitors given to understand that the only alternative was submission or punishment.

The army under Halleck was divided up into different corps, in order to hold the vast territory that had fallen into our hands. Naglee advanced against Chattanooga and took it; but it unfortunately was again abandoned to the enemy.

A heavy force under Buell advanced into the heart of the country, and it was supposed its destination was East Tennessee. This was hailed with delight by the people; for that portion of the state, though still under rebel sway, was loyal to the Union, for which she was enduring all the pains of martyrdom. From the outset of the rebellion, the people, though isolated and alone, had never acknowledged the southern confederacy. This had brought upon them the concentrated wrath of the treacherous government, and guerrilla bands had been sent among them to hunt down and destroy every man who dared to avow his love for the old

466

REBEL BARBARITES.

flag. Their cry for help moved the deepest sympathy of the nation, but the government could do nothing for them without interfering seriously with the general plan of the campaign. Though apparently deserted, and shut in by hostile armies, they still suffered on in hope. Those who could, men, women and children, abandoned their homes, and made their dangerous way to the northern armies—the men, many of them, to enlist under the Union flag, and the women and children to seek the protection denied them at home.

For many years editor of the

Others formed themselves into patriotic bands, and took to the mountains to defend themselves till the longed for help could arrive, and secretly destroyed the rail road bridges that facilitated the transportation of troops and supplies to the different rebel armies. These latter when caught were hung without mercy. Unsubdued to the last, they proclaimed their loyalty at the foot of the gallows, and dying, hurled defiance in the face of their murderers. The harrowing details of the sufferings of this noble people, during the Winter and Spring, would fill a volume. Chief among them was Parson Brownlow, as he was called. Knoxville Whig, he early took ground in his paper against the rebellion, and wielding a trenchant pen, dealt the leaders of it telling blows. For a long time he kept the Stars and Stripes flying over his office, and when the rebels threatened to tear it down, he declared he would shoot the first man who dared to touch it. Once, being away, a rebel officer came to his house to take it down, but was met by the Parson's daughter with a pistol in her hand, who declared she would shoot him on the spot if he made the attempt. The parson's profession (for he was widely known as a methodist clergyman) protected him a long time from personal violence, but his influence was too potent to be disregarded, and his office was finally shut up, and himself thrust into prison. Threats having proved unavailing, bribes were tried on the old pa

JOHNSON AT NASHVILLE.

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triot, but in vain. He was then given permission to leave for the north, but, instead of being allowed to go, was kept locked up till a dangerous fever prostrated him, and he lay for weeks at the gate of death. Too feeble to turn in his bed, he was constantly insulted by his enemies, and scarcely a day passed that he was not threatened with the gallows. In this condition, though physically prostrated, his spirit remained unshaken, and he employed his little remaining strength in exhorting his fellow prisoners to remain firm in their loyalty. One by one they were taken from him, to be tried or executed; and in daily expectation of sharing their fate, he prepared his dying speech to be delivered just before he should swing off. But after months of suffering, he was finally released, and during the Spring came north, to electrify the people with the recital of his own wrongs, and those of his fellow Unionists. The north had boasted of its loyalty, but till now did not know the full meaning of the word. Those, who had never ceased to abuse the border states, and sneer at the loyalty of their people, were abashed at the story that the fearless Parson told. To be faithful to the Union, had cost them something more than money and words-it had demanded imprisonment, poverty, the loss of all things and the felon's doom.

Though the people could not reach these noble Tennesseeans, they opened their purses and hearts to their fearless representative, and cheers and blessings and material aid followed him wherever he moved.

At Nashville, Johnson the governor, labored unweariedly to restore tranquillity to the distracted state. He called Union meetings, and appealed in stirring language to the people to come heartily back to the old Union. Trade was opened with the city, and cotton and tobacco that had escaped the torch of the rebels began to flow north.

But the work he had undertaken was an arduous one

468

CUMBERLAND GAP TAKEN.

secessionists plotted around him, and spies lurked on every side. Even the mayor and common council of the city refused to take the oath of allegiance, while most of the clergy openly defied him. His sway though quiet, was firm, and his gloved hand closed like iron on traitors, no matter what their rank, or how sacred their profession. The clergy who refused to take the oath of allegiance were thrown into prison to await a convenient opportunity to be sent south to the government they upheld.

In the mean time General Morgan took possession of Cumberland Gap, which was considered the key to East Tennessee. The position was too strong to be taken by a direct attack, and after taking his division across a difficult country, he ascended the precipitous sides of the Pine and Cumberland mountains, dragging his artillery up after him by the aid of block and tackle-two hundred men being required to bring up each piece. He thus succeeded in flanking the position, which, as soon as the astonished rebels discovered, they, on the eighteenth abandoned it without risking a battle. It was now hoped that East Tennessee would be released from its thraldom, and the day of deliverance come to the thousands of Unionists in whom for a long time "hope deferred had made the heart sick."

CHAPTER XXXVII.

JUNE, 1862.

FREMONT STARTS IN PURSUIT OF JACKSON-HIS ENERGY-HIS CAVALRY AMBUSHED-BATTLE OF CROSS KEYS-RETREAT OF JACKSON AND ATTACK ON

SHIELDS' ADVANCE, AT PORT REPUBLIC-ABANDONMENT OF THE PURSUIT— PUBLIC DISAPPOINTMENT AT JACKSON'S ESCAPE-OBJECT OF HIS RAID-PERPLEXITY OF GOVERNMENT-THE PRESIDENT REORGANIZES THE VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT-GENERAL POPE PLACED IN COMMAND-HIS ADDRESS TO THE ARMY-MOVEMENT AGAINST CHARLESTON-BATTLE OF JAMES ISLAND-HEROISM OF THE EIGHTH MICHIGAN AND SEVENTY-NINTH HIGHLANDERS-OUR DEFEAT-CAUSE OF DISGRACE OF BENHAM..

HILE these events were occurring in the west, move

WHD

the Atlantic slope. Fremont no sooner received the orders from Washington to intercept Jackson in his retreat from Winchester, than he put his army in motion. He left Franklin on Sunday, the twenty-fifth of May, and striking across the Shenandoah mountains, carried his enthusiastic columns with all his artillery trains and wagons over roads that would have seemed impassable to a less energetic man. Accomplishing a march of a hundred miles during the week, he arrived on the first of June, within five miles of Strasburg, where he overtook Jackson in full retreat. Colonel Cluseret commanding the advance brigade came upon the enemy strongly posted with artillery, which immediately opened on him. Fremont in the rear, rapidly brought forward his main column, and formed in line of battle. The rebel leader however, declined the fight. He could not afford to stop here and risk a battle, while a strong force was marching from Fredericksburg up the Shenandoah to intercept his passage, and Banks was hurrying back from the Potomac to avenge his late dis