Trent into the boats, and were forthwith transferred, with their baggage to the San Jacinto.

This novel and startling incident immediately convulsed the inhabitants of the loyal and the disloyal States with intense though very dissimilar emotions. The former rejoiced that the Rebels had been foiled in their purpose and mission. The latter were at first overwhelmed with indig nation and dismay. But when they began to contemplate the possible consequences of the act, to hope that England might resent the fancied insult to her flag, and to imagine that the Federal Government would thereby become involved in an expensive and ruinous war with that nation, exultation assumed the place of every other feeling in their breasts. The San Jacinto proceeded with her prisoners to Boston, whence they were immediately transferred to Fort Warren, in the harbor of that city. Then followed the universal discussion throughout the land, of the ques tions of the legality of the arrest, the duty of the Federal Government in the premises, and the probable policy of England in regard to the matter. Different opinions were expressed by eminent and learned men on the subject. But the prevalent sentiment was, that the arrest and capture were perfectly justifiable, so far as the abstract and settled principles of international law were concerned, and the uniform practice of England herself in similar cases; and that the government of that country could not, if it had any regard for consistency of conduct, take the least offence at the arrest of the Rebels when on board an English neutral vessel.

Though the legality of the capture of the Rebel commissioners might be clear, so far as the abstract principles of law were concerned, the prudence and policy of their surrender, in case the British Government should demand it, was quite a different question. The people of the United States, therefore, waited with intense anxiety to learn what course England would adopt in the premises. As was generally apprehended by those who understood most correctly the spirit of that government, it immediately demanded the unconditional surrender of Mason and Slidell, as a reparation due for the fancied insult which had been inflicted on the British flag. Their conduct demonstrated that the British Government eagerly seized the opportunity which was thus afforded, to embarrass and annoy the people of the United States, in the darkest and most critical moment which had occurred in their career since the period of the storms and struggles of the Revolution, and extort from them while thus embarrassed a humiliating and superfluous concession, which, under other circumstances, would have been resolutely refused.

The Rebel commissioners were forthwith surrendered. Mr. Seward, the Secretary of State, in a long and elaborate communication which he addressed to Lord Lyons, the British minister then resident at Washington, set forth, with great ability, the reasons which induced the

ARGUMENT OF MR. SUMNER IN THE SENATE.

175

Federal Government to pursue that policy. He admitted that the four prisoners were contraband of war; that Captain Wilkes had the right to search the Trent for their persons; that the right of search had been exercised in this case in a lawful manner; that Captain Wilkes had the right to seize the Rebels when thus found; but he contended, on the other hand, that this right of seizure had not been exercised in a legal manner. He held that Captain Wilkes ought to have also taken possession of the vessel which conveyed the Rebels; that he ought to have brought her into a Federal port; that he ought to have had her tried, condemned, and confiscated by a Federal tribunal; and that in no case should he have permitted her to proceed on her voyage to England. Because he failed in adhering to all these technical formalities, Mr. Seward contended that the whole proceeding became legally vitiated ab initio. At a later period Mr. Sumner discussed the subject in the Senate, and vindicated the surrender of the Rebels on no other grounds. He affirmed that the arrest could not be justified by American precedents and practice; that the Federal Government had never regarded the dispatches of a hostile nation as contraband; that that government had heretofore considered no persons as contraband except those actually engaged in the military or the naval service of an enemy; and that it had always opposed and condemned the alleged power on the part of any single officer, to adjudicate and decide personal rights by the tribunal of the quarter deck. These positions Mr. Sumner defended with immense erudition and with some logical force. Nevertheless, the question still remained undetermined in the tribunal of popular judgment and common sense, whether in such cases it was proper and just to pursue toward England that policy which was indicated by English, or that indicated by American precedents, and to myriads of intelligent thinkers it seemed clear, that the British Government ought not to pursue a particular line of policy toward the whole world, and claim the right of search and of arrest in such cases, against all other nations, and then demand, when the occasion served their interest, that all other nations should be required, under precisely similar circumstances, to pursue toward them a policy directly opposite to their own. When, therefore, the rebel commissioners were surren dered to the British authorities, it was done chiefly from motives of expediency, which were concealed and disguised under delicate tissues of elaborate and far-fetched special pleading, which were intended rather to excuse the act, than to demonstrate its validity and correctness in the light of abstract equity, and the established principles of international

law.

The Federal army of the Potomac had been stationed in the vicinity of Washington, during several months, assiduously employed in perfecting their discipline, and their familiarity with military evolutions, when, on the 20th of December, General McCall determined to send out a large

foraging party, and to make a reconnoissance in force with a portion of the troops under his command. He had ascertained that a considerable number of Rebels had taken a position at Dranesville, and he resolved to attack them. He gave orders to General Ord to march thither with his brigade. General Reynolds was directed also to advance to Difficult Creek with the forces under his command, to support him. The troops which were thus brought into service consisted of the sixth, ninth, tenth, and twelfth Pennsylvania Reserves, the first regiment of rifles, and Easton's battery. In the march toward the enemy, the rifles, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, led the advance, with Easton's battery, and a portion of the first Pennsylvania cavalry. At half past one o'clock these troops encountered the Rebels, posted near Dranesville, and the action immediately commenced. A portion of the Rebel forces were concealed in the dense woods, and it was some time before their exact position could be ascertained. The guns of Easton's battery were brought to bear upon them with great effect. They then advanced, for the purpose of turning the left of the Federal troops, but General McCall, who had by this time reached the scene of action with his staff, detected and foiled this movement. He immediately notified Colonel McCalmot, who commanded the left of the Federal forces, of the impending danger; and such a disposition was instantly made as defeated the purpose of the enemy, and compelled them to return to their position.

Meanwhile the engagement was progressing with spirit in the centre and on the right wing of the Union troops. The ninth infantry, under Colonel Jackson, had encountered the Rebels and overpowered them. In the centre, the sixth regiment, under Colonel Ricketts, together with the Bucktail rifles, under Lieutenant-Colonel Kane, received and repulsed the charge of the foe with much gallantry. As the enemy retreated, the Federal troops advanced, until the rout became precipitate and complete. As the victors proceeded through the woods, they met numerous evidences of the heavy losses which the enemy had suffered; for the ground was strewn with the dying and the dead, with mangled horses, shattered gun carriages, caissons, arms, ammunition and clothing. The defeat of the Rebels was complete, and their flight ignominious. General McCall ordered the pursuit to be continued for a mile beyond the scene of conflict by two regiments; but so rapid was the pace of the fugitives that it was impossible to overtake them. A hundred dead Rebels were afterward counted on the field; their wounded, who where doubtless more numerous, they carried away with them. They had probably four thou sand men in the action, and were therefore more numerous than their assailants. The loss on the Federal side was seven killed and sixty wounded. After this engagement, General McCall proceeded to collect forage. He obtained sixteen wagon loads of hay and twenty-two of corn, with which he returned to his camp. The brigade of General Reynolds

THE BATTLE OF MILL SPRINGS.

177 did not reach the battle-field until the contest was over, though they made the latter part of the march with the utmost possible celerity.

The engagement of Dranesville was one of the most spirited and successful which had occurred during the progress of the war. General McCall, the chief hero of the day, was a veteran officer, a native of Philadelphia. He entered the United States army in 1818. After several promotions, he served with distinction under General Worth in Florida. He acquired fresh laurels at the battle of Resaca de la Palma, and in July, 1846, was appointed adjutant to General Zachary Taylor, with the rank of major. In 1850 he became inspector-general, with the rank of colonel. He afterward retired from the service, and resided near West Chester, Pennsylvania, until the commencement of the Rebellion. He was then appointed major-general of the fifteen regiments which were authorized to be raised by the Legislature of Pennsylvania. Immediately after the battle of Manassas, the services of these troops, with those of their commanding officer, were tendered to the Federal Government, and accepted. The victory of Dranesville was a worthy continuation of General McCall's previous achievements. He subsequently accompanied the army of General McClellan in the Peninsula, and took a prominent and distinguished part in several of the great battles which were fought in the vicinity of Richmond. At length, in the fearful conflict on the 30th of June, he was taken prisoner, and removed to the Rebel capital; but after a short captivity he was released.

On the 13th of January, 1862, an important change took place in the Federal Cabinet, the announcement of which surprised, and perhaps gratified, the nation. On that day Simon Cameron, the Secretary of War, was notified by Mr. Lincoln that he was relieved from the duties of his office, and that he had been appointed minister plenipotentiary to Russia, in the room of Cassius M. Clay. Edwin M. Stanton, a distinguished lawyer, originally from Ohio, but at that time a resident of Washington, was selected as the successor of the retiring secretary.

On the 19th of January the Federal forces under General G. H. Thomas, and the Rebel troops under General Felix Zollicoffer, who had been gradually approaching each other in Kentucky, met; a desperate battle was fought between them near the village of Mill Springs; and the inhabitants of the loyal States were cheered by the announcement of a splendid and decisive victory to the Federal arms. Previous to this date General Zollicoffer had intrenched himself in a fortified position about fifteen miles southwest from Somerset, and twelve miles from the Cumberland river. This position commanded the whole of the surrounding country, and held the citizens of Pulaski, Wayne, and Russel counties in subjection to the Rebel power. General Thomas had formed the resolu tion to attack these entrenchments in conjunction with the troops under General Schoepff, who was then posted at Somerset. Accordingly, he

commenced his march from Jamestown toward the position of the enemy. On the 17th, General Zollicoffer having been informed, by some treasonable means, of the contemplated enterprise of the two Federal commanders, determined to defeat it by marching forth from his works, attacking General Thomas first, and having routed him, to assail General Schoepff, thus vanquishing his opponents in detail.

The hostile forces first came in contact at seven o'clock on the morning of the 19th, when the pickets of Colonel Manson's troops, who had been posted in the advance, were driven in. It was soon evident that the Rebel army was approaching in full force. The distant firing aroused the Federal camp, and a portion of the tenth Indiana regiment was ordered forward to the support of the pickets. The whole of that regiment soon afterward advanced against the enemy, who were gradually forming into line, regiment by regiment, and taking their positions on the scene of conflict. After the firing had continued for half an hour, an attempt was made, by a body of Rebel cavalry, to outflank the Federal troops which had thus far been engaged. The movement was partially successful; and the right wing, consisting of the tenth Indiana, under Colonel Kise, was compelled to fall back to avoid being surrounded. The order to retire was judiciously given; for at that period of the battle the Rebel forces continually rolled forward like an inexhaustible flood; they advanced with loud and frantic yells, intended to intimidate their foes; and the superiority of their numbers, at that juncture, might have given them an advantage which would have seriously affected the issue of the day. While thus retiring in good order, the fugitives were met and supported by the fourth Kentucky, the ninth Ohio, and the second Minnesota regiments. The combat was then renewed with desperate energy on both sides. The enemy had been strengthened by large accessions on their extreme left; and a portion of the tenth Indiana was ordered to that point, to assist the troops there engaged.

The nature of the ground rendered the operations of the troops exceedingly difficult, being covered, for the most part, by tangled brushwood, fallen logs, or growing corn. It was also difficult to place the artillery in favorable positions, for the same reasons. Nevertheless, as the battle progressed, the batteries of Whitmore, Standard, and Kinney, performed efficient service. The guns of the Rebels, however, did less damage than these, as they were aimed too high. The vicissitudes of the conflict reached over a mile in extent, and were various and vacillating, as hour after hour wore away. Within the limits of the battle-field, several positions were of superior importance; and around these positions the most desperate combats occurred. A log-house and stable were of this class, and both parties contended, in a long and bloody struggle, for the possession of them. At last the ninth Ohio remained masters of the position. This position, though valuable, still left the issue of the contest uncertain;