*

The London Times, a journal whose judgments of men were taken in the cotemporary world almost as the sentences of history, frequently compared Jackson to Napoleon. "He was," said this great organ of European opinion, "one of the most consuminate Generals that this cen tury has produced. That mixture of daring and judgment, which is the mark of Heaven-born' Generals distinguished him beyond any man of his time. Although the young Confederacy has been illus trated by a number of eminent soldiers, yet the applause and devotion of his countrymen, confirmed by the judgment of European nations, have given the first place to Jackson. The military feats he accomplished moved the minds of the people with astonishment, which it is only given to the highest genius to produce. The blows he struck at the enemy were as terrible and decisive as those of Bonaparte himself."

There can be no doubt in history of the military genius of Jackson. There is a certain ignorant idea of genius as a thoughtless and careless disposition of mind, which gets its inspirations without trouble, and never descends to actual labour. Such was not the genius of Jackson; and such is not true genius. He was an active, laborious thinker; he wrestled with great thoughts; he had his silent calculations; but having once apprehended the true thought, and got to a point in his meditations, he acted with a rapidity, a decision, and a confidence, that scorned hesitation, refused longer to think, and took the appearance of impetuous inspiration.

Danger, in a certain sense, intoxicated him. But it did not produce that intoxication which confuses the mind, or makes it giddy with a crowd of images. It was that sort of intoxication which strings the nerve, stimulates the brain, concentrates the faculties, and gives a consciousness of power that is for the moment irresistible. In battle, he was not much in motion; but his eyes glowed; his face was blazoned with the fire of the conflict; his massive jaw stiffened; his voice rang out sharp and clear; every order and remark was as quick and pertinent as if it had been studied for hours. One could scarcely recognize in this figure of intense activity, all alive, with every faculty at play, the man who used to occupy himself with rambling soliloquies in the rear of his tent; who presented the appearance of an inanimate figure-head in his pew at the Presbyterian

calm, decided tone; and from what he says there is no appeal, for he seems to know every hole and corner of this valley as if he had made it, or, at least, as if it had been designed for his own use. He knows all the distances, all the roads, even the cow-paths through the woods, and goat-tracks along the hills. I have frequently seen him approach in the dead of night, and enter into conversa. tions with sentinels, and ride off through the darkness. In my opinion, Jackson will assuredly make his mark in this war, for his untiring industry and eternal watchfulness must tell upon a numerous enemy unacquainted with the country, and incommoded by large baggage-trains."

church in Lexington; and who often got up out of his camp-bed at night to spend hours in silent prayer and meditation.

It may readily be imagined that the wonderful career of Jackson and his personal eccentricities drew upon him a crowd of apocryphal anecdotes in the newspapers. Some of them were very absurd. His person was as variously represented in newspaper paragraphs as if, instead of being familiar to thousands, he inhabited the dim outlines of another century. One journal described him as an absurdly ugly man with red hair; another gave his portrait as that of an immense brain, and features on which nature had stamped the patent of nobility. One newspaper correspondent declared that he always wore the brim of his cap on the middle of his nose. Another declared that he was an execrable rider, and looked like a loose jumping-jack on horseback.

There is a popular disposition to discover something curious or grotesque in great men. But there was really but little of this sort to be discovered in Jackson, and scarcely anything that could be pointed out as objects of vulgar curiosity. It is true his figure was queer and clumsy; but the features of his face were moulded in forms of simple grandeur; and its expression was as unaffected as that of Lee himself. He was not an ugly man. The vulgar might call him such; and the newspaper passion for caricature did so represent him. Nor did he have in face or figure those marks which the silly admiration of woman expects to find in military heroes. He did not wear long, greasy hair falling over his shoulders; he did not stand in dramatic attitudes; he did not keep his eyes unnaturally stretched; he did not thrust out his chest, as if anxious to impose himself upon public attention. His features were singularly simple and noble. A broad forehead, rising prominently over his eyes, and retreating at that easy angle which gives a certain majesty to the face, covered a massive brain; his nostrils were unusually large; his jaw heavy and well-set; and, although his features were coarse, they were combined in that expression of dignity and power which, to the intelligent and appreciative, even among women, is the greatest charm of the masculine face.

The death of Jackson cast a shadow on the fortunes of the Confederacy, that reached to the catastrophe of the war. It was not only a loss to his country; it was a calamity to the world: a subtraction from the living generation of genius: the extinction of a great light in the temples of Christianity. The proposition was eagerly made in the South to erect to his memory a stately monument. The State of Virginia sent an artist to Europe to execute his statue. Thousands followed him to the grave, and consecrated it with tributes of affection and the testimonies of devotion. Who, then, regarding this fervour of admiration and gratitude, could have supposed that the Southern mind could ever

become so chilled in any change of events, or in any mutation of fortune, as to forget alike its debts of gratitude and its objects of pride in the glorious past; and that the time could ever come when the household effects of Stonewall Jackson would be sold under the hammer of an auctioneer, and the family of this man committed to the trials and chances of poverty!

CHAPTER XXIII.

VICKSBURG, THE SECOND PRIZE OF THE WAR.-GEN. GRANT.-WHAT HIS PERSISTENCY WAS
WORTH.-HIS NEW SCHEME OF ATTACK.-TWO PARTS OF THE ENTERPRISE.-PORTER'S
GUNBOATS RUN THE BATTERIES.-GRANT'S MARCH FROM MILLIKEN'S BEND.-BLINDNESS
OF GEN. PEMBERTON AT VICKSBURG.-ANTECEDENTS AND CHARACTER OF THIS COM-
MANDER. HIS EXTREME INCOMPETENCY.-PRESIDENT DAVIS BLAMED.-HIS CAPRICE AND
OBSTINACY.-GRANT CROSSES THE MISSISSIPPI AND MOVES TOWARDS PORT GIBSON.-GEN.
JOHNSTON'S TELEGRAM TO PEMBERTON.-CRITICAL OPPORTUNITY OF THE CAMPAIGN.—
PEMBERTON REFUSES TO USE IT, AND DISREGARDS JOHNSTON'S DESPATCH.—BATTLE OF
PORT GIBSON.—EXTRAORDINARY VALOur of BOWEN'S COMMAND.-GRANT TURNS GRAND
GULF AND MOVES UPON JACKSON.—GEN. JOHNSTON'S ARRIVAL AT JACKSON.-SITUATION
AND STRENGTH OF THE CONFEDERATE FORCES.-EVACUATION OF JACKSON.-JOHNSTON
OFFERS A SECOND OPPORTUNITY OF ATTACK TO PEMBERTON. THE LATTER DISOBEYS THE
ORDER AND COMMITS A FATAL ERROUR.-SHERMAN'S INCENDIARY RECORD IN JACKSON.—
HIS USE OF THE FIRE-BRAND.-GRANT FORCES BATTLE UPON PEMBERTON.-BATTLE OF
BAKER'S CREEK.-TREMENDOUS EXERTIONS OF STEVENSON'S DIVISION. GEN. LORING
FAILS TO SUPPORT HIM, REMAINS INACTIVE, AND IS CUT OFF IN THE RETREAT.—PEMBER-
TON'S NEW POSITION UPON THE BIG BLACK.—ITS STRENGTH.—IT IS SHAMEFULLY ABAN-
DONED. DISGRACEFUL RETREAT OF PEMBERTON'S ARMY.-THE FATE OF VICKSBURG VIR-
TUALLY DECIDED AT THE BIG BLACK.-GEN. JOHNSTON ORDERS THE EVACUATION OF
VICKSBURG. PEMBERTON ENTRAPPED THERE.-SIEGE AND SURRENDER OF VICKSBURG.-
CONFIDENCE OF THE GARRISON RESTORED.-PROSPECT OF RELIEF FROM JOHNSTON.-HOW
IT WAS VISIONARY.-TWO ASSAULTS OF THE ENEMY REPULSED.-PAINFUL OPERATIONS OF
SIEGE. SUFFERINGS OF THE GARRISON.-JOHNSTON HAS SOME HOPE OF EXTRICATING THE
GARRISON. TAYLOR'S ATTACK AND REPULSE AT MILLIKEN'S BEND. PEMBERTON'S DE-
SPATCH TO JOHNSTON. THE REPLY: SOMETHING MAY YET BE DONE TO SAVE VICKS-
BURG."-JOHNSTON PREPARES TO ATTACK ON 7TH JULY.—PEMBERTON SURRENDERS ON
FOURTH OF JULY.-HIS CONFERENCE WITH GRANT.—A TERRIBLE DAY'S WORK-EXTENT
OF THE DISASTER TO THE CONFEDERATE CAUSE.-SURRENDER OF PORT HUDSON.-OTHER
EVENTS IN THE REGION OF THE MISSISSIPPI CONNECTED WITH THE FALL OF VICKSBURG.-
OPERATIONS IN THE TRANS-MISSISSIPPI.-BATTLE OF HELENA.-OBJECT OF GEN. HOLMES'
MOVEMENT ON HELENA.-AN EXTRAORDINARY MARCH.-AN EXTRAORDINARY COUNCIL OF
แ
WAR. GEN. PRICE PROTESTS AGAINST AN ATTACK.-HE IS ORDERED TO TAKE GRAVE-
YARD FORT. HE SUCCEEDS. THE OTHER ATTACKS FAIL.-DISASTROUS RETREAT OF GEN.
HOLMES. THE CAMPAIGN IN LOWER LOUISIANA.—GEN. TAYLOR'S CAPTURE OF BRASHEAR
CITY AND ITS FORTS.-HIS OPERATIONS IN THE LAFOURCHE COUNTRY.-HIS SUCCESSES
NEUTRALIZED BY THE FALL OF VICKSBURG AND PORT HUDSON.-BANKS RETURNS TO NEW
ORLEANS AND THE ENEMY HOLDS THE ENTIRE LINE OF THE MISSISSIPPI.

THE object of the enemy's operations, second to Richmond, was distinctly the possession of Vicksburg and the opening of the whole length of the Mississippi River. Enormous efforts had been made to obtain these two great prizes. Five attempts upon Richmond had failed. Three at tempts upon Vicksburg--that of Porter's fleet; that of Sherman's army; and that of Grant, which may be designated as an attempt to force a passage to the rear of the town, including the project of a canal across the isthmus and the enterprises known as the Yazoo Pass and Sunflower Expeditions-had accomplished nothing. Foiled again at Chancellorsville, in the great aim of the Virginia campaign, the enemy turned with renewed vigour upon the second object of the war, and public attention was immediately directed to the great campaign likely to decide the fate of the Mississippi Valley.

Gen. Grant had already obtained a great reputation for persistency—a slight title to merit, it may be remarked, when a commander has at his disposal abundant means, and at his back a government so generous and rich as never to call its officers into account for the loss of life and of treasure in any case of ultimate success. He now proposed to change his plan of operations against Vicksburg. He determined to invest the town, and having turned the defences on the Mississippi and Yazoo Rivers, to cut off the defenders from all communication with the east. One part of the enterprise was to run Porter's gunboats and a number of transports past the works at Vicksburg; while a land force, consisting of two corps, under Grant in person, should march from Milliken's Bend to Carthage, a distance of thirty-five miles, interrupted by marshes and streams. Both movements succeeded. On the 16th and 22d April, two fleets of gunboats and transports ran the batteries with insignificant disaster, and repeated the lesson that had been taught more than once in the war, that, unless where obstructions have been placed, steamers will run the gauntlet of almost any fire. By the last of April, Grant, having marched down the west bank of the river, and joined Porter's gunboats at Carthage, was ready to execute the next step in his scheme of attacking Vicksburg from the south

east.

His adventure was a complete surprise to Gen. Pemberton at Vicksburg. This commander, who had been appointed to what the Confederates designated as the department of Mississippi and East Louisiana, had been so blind as to suppose Grant's object was not Vicksburg, but Bragg's army in Tennessee, and as late as the middle of April, he had proposed to order troops to Tullahoma, under the delusion that Rosecrans would be reinforced from Grant's army. The mistake was characteristic of a commander who was in no way qualified for the great trust to which he had been exalted. The appointment of Gen. Pemberton to the defence of